Theos-Talk Archives (October 1995 Message tl00235)

Brenda comes as goes as she pleases, apparently, and this seems okay to me.

I have just read what is apparently the only biography on CWL, namely *The
Elder Brother* by Gregory Tillet, published by a major publisher, Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1982.

Flabbergasting, really.

There was of course mentio of his questionable sexual practices, which went
WAY BEYOND teaching masturbation, and the author quotes primary sources from
the people themselves who were CWL's inner students. The evidence is
abundant, and very convincing, not just one or two vague statements but
extensive court records, testimony, eye-witnesses, letters from the boys
themselves, etc.

BUT that is not the primary focus of the book at all. It is rather on CWL's
life and work, and in 21 chapters, only 2 focus on the sexual questions at
length. And what is most marked about CWL's life, from source documents and
his own books and speeches, is the degree to which he was aware of his own
duplicity.

WL conferred initiations on all kinds of people "on the authority of Masters"
and constantly quoted "Master" as the authority for this or that action. He
almost never said "let's do it because of this or that philosophical or
ethical reason." Rather, it was what the Master SAID to do. And as for his
writings, it was almost entirely psychic visions. His writing is far beneath
HPB's, for she gives extensive footnotes and documentation for what she says
-- Plato, Shankaracarya, Tsong-Kha-Pa, etc. etc. etc. She takes on nearly
every human field of knowledge, sums up their (then-) current positions, and
challenges them to go further. HPB almost NEVER says "on my personal
authority, I have seen it in the astral plane, and so it is." It is hard to
find an author more dedicated to backing up what she says with historical and
contemporary secondary material.

The differnce not only in style but in caliber between CWL and the Founders
is more clear to me than ever before, and while this biography has plenty of
nice and generous things to say about CWL (the author is not a Theosophist
and seems to have no personal axe to grind), the evidence is in on CWL's
Theosophy, and it seems very degraded and authoritarian indeed.

Yet when others, like Besant, Arundale, Wedgwood, or Jinarajadasa, spoke "for
the Masters" CWL denied it. They were not allowed to do what he did. When
Krishnamurti started to complain about the ritualism, the costumes, the 2 and
1/2 hour LCC services, the "initiations" CWl would say that the Christ wasn't
speaking through Krishnaji just then. If ever Krishnamurti said something
good about the LCC or whatever, THEN CWL declared that Krishnaji was speaking
for the Christ. Sad.

Quite an education. I hope I haven't pissed people off with the report on
this biography.

Rich