Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00310)

> Alan wrote:
> > ... it is important, nay,
> > essential, for the theosophical movement in *all* its
> > diversities to bring forth its own scholars, using the scholarly
> > disciplines that would be required in the university colleges.
> >
> Lewis:
> I can see your point, that for theosophy to gain more
> acceptance and credibility it would seem it could benefit from
> the work of scholars in theosophy, but this reminds me of a
> Mahatma letter to Sinnet in which they tell him they were not
> interested in establishing a school for western intellectuals, that
> they had not broken the silence of centuries for the benefit of a few
> western european scholars. They were interested in reaching the
> masses.
> Are you familiar with this reference? I wonder what your take on
> it is. To be more specific, how do we balance (us Librians are always
> seeking balance) the need for scholarly research with the challenge
> of making theosophy more available to the masses?

As Librarians, you should stock *both* - but obviously more of
the "material for the masses". The important thing is, I think,
that those who wish to can go to more serious and scholarly
works if they want to check out the sources of theosophical
ideas and teachings. Let's face it, the SD hardly reads like a
popular novel, but we'd be in a real fix without copies on the
shelf. (1) IMO ~Isis Unveiled~ is an easier read, but again, not for
the beginner. Oh - and scholarship is not necessarily only an
intellectual activity :-).

(1) Ever tried checking out HPB's footnotes and sources quoted
in the text? Oh boy!

Alan