Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00207)

Paul (NOT Mr. Johnson): "But in fact the majority of Theosophists seem to be
OK with my work-- SOMEBODY's buying it-- and it's only a handful of
self-appointed avengers who feel strongly enough to speak out against it. A
handful is, however, enough to inflict a large measure of pain. But there
does seem to be some principle of equal and opposite reactions here, so I
figure for every kind word my work receives there has to be a mean one to
balance it."

The greatest protection, perhaps, which works well for many, is to receive
praise and blame indifferently and impersonally, and to concentrate on ideas.
 If people feel the need to attack YOU rather than your ideas and work, that
is their delusion.

If you feel the need to perceive attacks on your works and IDEAS as attacks
on you, that is YOUR delusion, and the only one you can do something about.

I have taken plenty of lumps on this board -- not nearly as many as you, I'm
sure -- but the point is, what do I care? People here don't know me, they
only see what I write. They agree or disagree, they praise or scorn, who
cares? It's just ideas, malleable, passing quickly, changing again, and yet
again. A regular tide of ebb and flow, subject leading naturally into
subject. It's not a personal process, but an impersonal process of
discussion and discovery.

I myself find your work purely theoretical and hurtful to the Movement in the
sense that the public will have additional reason to suspect that H.P.B. was
a liar and a charlatan, making up her Masters for purely personal and
political reasons, and thus will cease to believe in or emulate Perfected
Beings as real and living men who can teach and inspire.

But my opinion of your work is not a personal opinion of you. You sound
deeply sincere and dedicated to Theosophy, and you must truly believe that
your work HELPS the Movement, or you would not have attempted it. To this I
can only say congratulations for following your high motivations and noble
intentions. Perhaps they will bear fruit in ways I cannot perceive.

In any case, I hope you experience no more pain, and I hope that people will
confine themselves to discusses the positions and attitudes you present, and
leave off attacking you personally.

Sincerely,
Rich