Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00322)

Coherence and/or Gregory:

>> [not sure who wrote this]
>>I do encourage people to use their "real" names. This actually gives their
>>comments more validity. People who speak from "behind the curtain" are
>>easily ignoredand assumed untrustworthy.

>Is this true? I don't think so. The idea will speak to those receptive to
>it regardless of the traditional or non-tradional pseudonym.

By not wanting to use your personal name you are following the traditional
ULT approach. If you were to carry it to an extreme you and perhaps other
ULT members on 'theos-l' would all sign their email "A Student" and leave
us guessing who said what.

If you were strictly quoting HPB then it does not matter which person
is reading the quote. But if you are writing *your* ideas and understanding
it's important to know you and how you think.

The reason that it's important to know the personality of the speaker
is that despite all attempts to pass on the pure philosophy and not
interject opinion a personal element creeps in. If we know the person
we can take their particular bias into account.

In addition we're not all attempting to speak straight textbook Theosophy.
Most of us are expressing our personal views and understandings and
there's quite a lot of ideas being tossed around that may conflict with
the core teachings. We have an experimental laboratory where we can take
the ideas apart and see how we can put them together again. This is
different than a lecture platform where basic Theosophy is being taught
and where one is expected to be faithful to the teachings when claiming
to be teaching them.

>Would you trust me more or would my comments have more validity if you
>discovered my real name was "Flock-of-Birds-by-the-Lake"?

The name that you're known by is not as important as the fact that you
always use the name so that you can be known and understood.

>William Q. Judge did most of the writing of his lifetime behind pen
>names.

He may have wanted to create the appearance of a more active American
Section in order to inspire hope in members and encourage them to
greater work. How would his magazine look if most of the articles
were written by him?

>The Masters did not use their "real" names.

They certainly would not want the general public to know their true
identities. But they also did not all hide behind a single pseudonym
like "A Master". KH signed his letters as such and so did Morya.

>Names are meaningless. They identify only which "Coherence" did nicely.

Our birthname has a psychological significance. It affects how we
are perceived by others as we grow up. And if we engage in a spiritual
practice like taking various vows to become a practicing Buddhist we
may get another name which has particular significance. In this case
the name has a meaning and the meaning is meant to say something about
our special role in life.

-- Eldon