Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl01029)

Rich:<I only ask that those of us here who really want to hammer out in-depth
topics like psychism and globes etc. watch our language. Terms are quite
important when you get down to subtleties.>

Eldon and I have had some long arguments over some finer
points in doctrine just to discover that our definitions (semantics) were
different, but our doctrinal ideas were identical. Doubtless this happens
all the time on a network like theos-l. As to psychism, I have already
admitted to using the generally accepted definition, which includes both
kama-manas and buddhi-manas, while HPB defines it for theosophical
purposes as only kama-manas. Imagine my embarrassment - I was
defending kama-manas on theos-l, and wondering why Eldon was so
upset. This kind of terminology problem gets me into a lot of trouble.
It would help if everyone defined their terms, I suppose, but then again
this would make all postings longer. If I use CWL's terminology, for
example, and someone else never read CWL, they may think I am
some kind of nut because it is so un-HPBish. I suppose we will
simply have to learn as we go.

Jerry S.