Theos-Talk Archives (April 1995 Message tl00218)

Keith:

> I have begun to be familiar with internet now, WWW etc., and can
> see how the glut of information and options leads one (me) to a
> kind of shallow consumerism approach sometimes.  There are so
> many groups and options, that it is impossible to be everywhere
> deeply, richly, holistically.

One of my favorite shallow services on Compuserve is the soap
opera news and daily episode summaries.  Talk about seeing karma
in action! And the behind the scenes peeks give me an insight
into the principles of reincarnation.  I think even the shallow
stuff can sometimes be a doorway to wisdom.

But, yes, all the info can be overwhelming.  A friend of mine
subscribes to an astrology news group and she gets about a
hundred messages a day.  Too much for her to keep up with.

> I think this may be good in some ways, bad in others.  I feel
> more like I am at dinner conversation, a la MY DINNER WITH ANDRE
> or something, than standing before a boss, a teacher, a class
> etc.  But maybe newcomers are disappointed by not LEARNING
> theosophy here (I'm not sure they could).

What's so bad with having dinner with Dr.  Bain, Jerry, Rubin,
Astrea, Leisel or K.  Paul? I was starving for conversation about
theosophy and I'm grateful these people are around.

I think if we wanted to start a newcomers-to-theosophy group, it
would have to be another list that would have someone as
focalizer.

> Also I am not really clear about the difference between the
> usenet and what we are on vnet (?), I assume that people have to
> subscribe and unsubscribe.  I tried to join from a menu on usenet
> and WWW and couldn't.  Are we too hard to find for a net surfer?

Usenet is a series of news groups which can be accessed through
the Internet using any number of news readers.  Theos-l is an
automated mailing list that distributes messages you send to it
to all who are on its list.  So any program that can manipulate
Internet mail can communicate with theos-l.  To learn about
theos-l, send an Internet mail message to listserv@vnet.net with
anything you want in the subject header and the single word
"HELP" in the body of the message.  You can learn all about list
servers that way.

> I was told BTW that headquarters after showing brief hope, has
> been very unimpressed by theos-l and it goes unread or they are
> just too busy with other things for the numerous posts etc.

My HQ sources tell me that theos-l has improved with age.  Also,
the posts are printed out, then edited to facilitate quick
reading.

> So be it, who wants the teachers at the lunchroom table anyway,
> or may be they should try being just one of the kids sometimes?
> :+)

Besides, who's going to dare tell a bunch of independent and
feisty theosophists what to do? :-)

- ann