Theos-Talk Archives (August 1995 Message tl00276)

According to Dr. A.M.Bain:
>
> Hierarchies (in this world at least) seem to promote competition
> to be boss hierarch, followed by argument, followed by conflict,
> followed by fighting, followed by war. In short, the
> patriarchal system as we know and hate it. (Well I do, anyhow).

These are attitudes I am inclined to share. But one
thing that has struck me increasingly during the writing of my
new book is that apparent hierarchies have been quite capable
in acting in non-hierarchical ways. The succession of European
women who were in various ways initiated into Asian or African
spiritual lineages (presided over by male hierarchies)
illustrates this. That the Tibetans initiated Alexandra
David-Neel, the Qadrya Sufis initiated Isabelle Eberhardt, that
the Druze and others initiated HPB-- all goes to show that SOME
patriarchal hierarchies were able to suspend their own
authoritarianism to share spiritual treasures with foreigners
and females.