Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00461)

The Delaware Study Center of the TS (Adyar) was host for the
gathering at Bueno Mano Farm on the Maryland/Pennsylvania
line. Rather than preparing a formal talk, I asked the Study
Center to come up with 5-10 questions that I could mull over in
advance, and planned to open up to general discussion after
responding to those questions.

In preparation for my own talk, I had made handouts giving
lists of the casts of characters of my two SUNY books, as well
as six descriptions from GIFTS DIFFERING of various functions
and orientations (Introverted and extraverted thinking, feeling
and intuition-- the sensing function didn't seem very relevant
to the topic). The latter were distributed prior to breaking
up into small group discussions, where we spent 40 minutes or
so discussing:
1) How DO we see the Masters? (We being members of the TS)
2) Is the concept of the Masters of importance today? If so, why?
3) Should we have a relationship with the Masters today? If
so, why?
These and four other questions were the basis for my talk, and
I'll post on each separately.

As I have said before here, in face-to-face contact with
Theosophists across the US and in Europe and India, I have
found them to be consistently cordial, open-minded and
reasonable. Yet in print (as in reviews and letters to the
editor) and online, some Theosophists have come across as quite
hostile to my work and person. As Jerry mentioned, I had some
anxiety that the always-friendly Mid-Atlantic Theosophists
would have become less friendly in the wake of recent
controversy. Far from it; the entire gathering was the epitome
of Theosophical brotherhood. Ed Abdill and I spoke from very
different points of view, and this was clear to all. But we
both made an effort to give everyone the space to adopt
whatever of either perspective was useful to him/her. It was
as if the distance between our points of view created a trine
rather than a square, so the energy flowed harmoniously and
everyone felt as if they were in a welcoming, non-threatening
space in which to share their own unique outlooks.
Next post-- question 1.