Theos-Talk Archives (September 1994 Message tl00074)

To Eldon, Daniel Hampson (Eldon says Hampton; it's been appearing
as Hampson.  Hampton? Hampson?) and Everybody

Many months ago, Eldon, I suggested that you quiet down, listen
more, talk less.  I suggest the same today.  You have much of
value to say, but you are much too taken with the sound of your
voice, and the lofty manner of your offerings is much too often
belied by things you say of dubious or less value.  Case in point
- the following pontificating to Daniel regarding his heartfelt
and moving report on encounters with, let us say, false prophets:

"If you want to become a great musician, do you buy a piano, read
books on music, and practice on your own? Or do you take lessons
from accomplished pianists, and possibly enroll in some great
musical school like Juliard (correct spelling, Juilliard - JA)
and learn from the best musical minds that our society has to
offer?

The bigger question regards the Mysteries.  If you want to learn
about occult truths, the hidden knowledge that is not publicly
available, knowledge that deals with other planes of existence,
the nature of consciousness, and the mysteries of our inner
growth, what do you do? Read a book and practice on your own? Or
seek out others to 'help light your fire?'"

As to music, my profession is music, and perhaps I know more than
you do about supreme self-taught musicians who took few or no
lessons and who enrolled with nobody or hardly anybody.  Case in
point - Paul McCartney.  He can't read music, and is one of the
very greatest and most creative musicians of this or any time.
Irving Berlin, much the same story.  George Gershwin, a dazzling
example.  Wagner took a few scraggly lessons over a few scraggly
months then set out on his own.  You picked a bad category for
your sermon, displaying your great ignorance (or ignoring),
torpedoing your sermon.

As for the Mysteries, you fared no better.  Listen to KH on James
Lindsay, The Mahatma Letters, page 27, TUP 1975 Facsimile
Edition: "He asks what hope he may have? I say - <every hope>.
For he has that within himself that so very few possess: an
exhaustless source of magnetic fluid which, if he only had the
time, he could call out in torrents and need no other master than
himself.  His own powers would do the work and his own great
experience be a sure guide for him." One of the very greatest,
most beautiful, and most important passages in all of
theosophical literature.  If you feel inclined to jump on the "so
very few", don't jump.  Are you sure you always know who it is
who stands before you?

By the way, a letter that should have been included in The
Mahatma Letters is a deeply affecting one written by James
Lindsay.  KH's remarks are at least in part a response to it.
The Lindsay letter, the original, is with the originals of The
Mahatma Letters in the British Museum.  I studied all those
originals - the mahatmas, Lindsay, HPB, etc.  - during my visit
to London in 1986.

Cool it, friend.  There is much pruning, softening, and
quickening among your needs.

To Aki Korhonen, Lewis Lucas, Leonard Cole, and Everybody

The exchanges about the Kalevala turned me on.  As Leonard knows,
I spent the summer of 1990 in Finland.  There, I learned things
about the Kalevala I hadn't known before.  I've never read more
than brief summaries of the work, but I can see that it is
certainly one of the more fascinating national epics to cross my
attention.  For one thing, it seems to show the coming of
Christianity, the passing of Christianity, and the post-Christian
return to the native spiritual genius.

I had eye-opening discussions about the Kalevala at the Finnish
Literature Society in Helsinki.  I was told that what one really
wants to get into is not so much the Kalevala itself, the worthy
literary achievement of Elias Lonnrot, but the raw folk poetry
Lonnrot drew on to create the Kalevala.  One of the ladies at the
Finnish Literature Society told me that the Kalevala is a nice
story to curl up with in bed before you go to sleep, but if
you're really serious, get into the unpolished native poetry
which served as the basis for Lonnrot's nice story.

Most of my Finland stay was in Kaustinen, the little village
which hosts one of the world's great annual summer music
festivals.  Near Kaustinen is a most extraordinary place called
Pauanne.  (Pronunciation - Pow uh nuh - accent on first
syllable.) It's hidden away in forest and low-rolling hills.
Very hard to describe.  "Theme park" does it great injustice, but
that gives you a rough idea.  It is one man's vision, one man's
work with his own hands.  It is a tribute to the Kalevala,
particularly to that key idea in the Kalevala, "the return of
Vainamoinen"; the return, it seems to me, of the pre-Christian
spirituality.  Along with the friend from Kaustinen who took me
to Pauanne, I was given a personal tour of the incredible
buildings by the man who conceived and built them.  No one else
was present.  Unforgettable.  Pauanne was not completed when I
was there, so I was lucky to see some of the work-in-progress,
the nuts and bolts explained to me by the creator.  I recommend
as strongly as I can, that anyone seriously interested in the
Kalevala try to get to Finland, talk with the ladies at the
Finnish Literature Society, and pay a visit to Pauanne.

By the way, Aki, you are right about Rudolf Steiner's view of
machines.  Generally, he did see them as "Ahrimanic",
materialistically detrimental to spirit.  On the other hand, at
least in one writing (can't recall its title), he put forward
what seemed to me a different idea.  As I remember it, it said
that sometime in the future a machine would be so finely tuned to
a particular person that only that person could operate it.
Something like that was the subject of considerable discussion by
HPB and others in the early days of theosophy - John Worrell
Keely of Philadelphia and a motor he had invented which would run
only when it was in contact with his personal vibrations.

To Everybody

My catch-up push runs to and concludes on September 3, the last
date of downloading as of this present day, September 16.  All
best.

                                                     Jim Anderson