Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00573)

Dear JRC,

Maybe Murray said it all in his short post. I want to try to
respond to some of the things you said, for whatever good it
is.

The only people I know with ESP are 3 well known healers, so
all I can talk about is what I've observed from them. They're
all 3 middle aged or older, & they've somehow established their
credibility within the TS, I really don't know by whose
authority or whose standards, but there seem to be some.
Until you began to speak up, I had no idea that younger people
had such trouble being accepted. I can understand how you felt,
having thought that you'd found a place where you could come
"out of the closet" & be yourself, & then found that it wasn't
so.
I know that there's an abhorrence in the TS of people who are
"frauds" in this direction, that seems to be mostly applying to
mediums. I don't see that it should include people who aren't
geniuses at ESP, such as the few we've had in the TS. We do
have a Third Object, & I myself think it's a most vibrant one,
to poke into all sorts of corners to find out what's new. I
remember how much fun it was, years ago, when biofeedback was
new, & I researched the topic for a talk to my group. I think
that in the TS people with ESP should at least be allowed to be
able to express what they are, & if some are not quite as
skilled as others, well, some singers get to the Met, & some
only get to sing in Cicinnati, but they all have a contribution
to make.

I think it's in keeping with what I've seen from our psychics,
that you & your group are working at turning your abilities
into tools for service. I think sometimes you can have a little
fun with it too. HPB did. Now that you mention it, I can see
that this ability should be developed for use along the
spiritual Path, just as any other. I was thinking of the
warning in "The Voice of The Silence", & it seems to me it's a
warning not to be side tracked by ESP, rather than a warning
against using it. I'm familiar with the notion that it can be
dangerous, & I really don't quite know how that works. I can
see it could be dangerous if someone starts predicting for
others, & then the others are thus influenced to make the
prediction come true. Or if the psychic isn't very skilled, &
the other person acts on the psychic's cockeyed say so. Or if
the psychic is an immoral person, & like for instance uses what
he/she sees to black mail. I would think thorough training in
both psychic ability & in ethics are absolutely essential. HPB
used her abilities in bringing us "The Voice", I believe,
certainly the SD, & the Masters used it to communicate with
Sinnet & Hume. Again, the present day psychics I know use it to
heal 1 way or the other... But they also use it in a capacity
as spiritual teachers. In that instance I don't agree with what
you said. For example I have heard that 1 of them was able to
teach meditating more effectively, because the psychic could
see the effect of meditation on the learner's aura. I think
that Harry's description of force fields rather than bodies,
(which I copied onto Theos-l before) was partly due to what he
could see, partly to that he was an engineer. It made sense to
me, so I adopted that point of view, even though I'm not
psychic. I think one can gain spiritual insights because one
is psychic which one can't gain if one isn't. During the first
few years of my dealings with Harry I tested him a number of
times. I often didn't believe him. Little by little I came to
trust him. He was a Theosophist from when he was little. He'd
put his own imprint on what he believed. So as a spiritual
teacher, which he was to a goodly number of us, he taught from
a long & thorough contact with Theosophy. One facet of his own
imprint came from the fact that he was a very skilled &
powerful psychic.
But I think it would be pure foolishness to just follow blindly
everything psychics say. Some people are authorities & others
aren't, psychic or not.

Lastly the little clique at headquarters... I don't know. The
ES is supposed to train our leaders, but I'm not sure that it
isn't just training an elitist clique. Every time I run up
against 1 of those guys I have to start proving all over again
that I know something about Theosophy, even though I'm not 1 of
them. Several friends & acquaintances one day just disappeared
behind the ES curtain. I get from them that they're very busy.
I don't know at what because I haven't the faintest idea of
what most of them are doing. I think they've cut off because
they're not allowed to say what they're doing. If they're
running the TS, they're running it as if it were a puppet
theater - unseen. I'm also of the opinion that members of the
TS who are not in the ES should have a voice & a hand in TS's
activities, if they want to . If you don't participate, you
soon lose interest, & that might be one of the reasons for our
small membership. I don't know that any of this will change any
time soon. I have the impression that things aren't quite as
cliquish under John Algeo, but I haven't been to Wheaton
lately. I don't know how many people are floating around there
who sincerely believe they're as spiritual as God, and look
down in pity & compassion at the rest of us poor peons.

Liesel