Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00052)

I just found Vol. II of ~The Inner Life~ by C.W.Leadbeater,
first edition, 1911. The imprint is that of The Theosophical
Office, Adyar, Madras, below which The Theosophical Publishing
Society, London.

~Mars and its Inhabitants~ occupies pp. 410-425, and is complete
fantasy. Having read a great deal of sci-fi in my youth, I am
certain that this material would never have made it past an
editor's desk.

Annie Besant's Foreword to this volume of over 600 pages (Vol.
I may have slightly less) concludes:

"I ... commend this volume and this which follow it to the
earnest study od all our members."

In the Author's note, written at Adyar in July 1911, CWL states:

"... what has been written here represents in all cases the
result of the latest discoveries in connection with these
subjects."

As I became a non-fan of Leadbeater after reading his ~Science
of the Sacraments~ which makes silly claims for the Christendom
in its entirety, I have not read any of his other longer works,
and this discovery has not changed my inclination! I do not for
one moment doubt that CWL genuinely saw many of the things he
says he saw, but that does not make his visions accurate or
reliable.

If anyone wants to encourage me, I might have a go at scanning
the Mars material and uploading it to the list (theos-roots?).

For sure, if *I* had written this stuff, my credibility would be
nil, zero, zilch, ie., absent.

~Isis Unveiled~ is much safer source material, IMO!

Alan