Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00312)

At 10:38 PM 4/11/96 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>>Alexis writes>
>> I also aprehend there is a great danger in using a so-called
>>"psychological" approach to theosophy as it tends to either avoid or
>>euphemise reality into psychological states of physical human
>>consciousness, and they, as I see it, are the least important aspects of
>consciousness.
>
>>Jerry S.>
>>Agreed.  But psychogenesis will not replace cosmogenesis or homogenesis but
>rather supplement them.
>
>Richard Ihle writes>
>Jerry, one reason I like you so much is that I can always trust you to
>overlook my more off-the-mark ideas or at least disagree with them in a way
>which still gives me credit for some minimal thing--having spelled
>*euphemize* in the conventional way or something. . . .
>
>Anyway, when I first read Alexis' sentence above, I sort of passed over it,
>believing it to be one of those "from-the-hip" responses we all fire from
>time to time--i.e., something which a person with more leisure might like to
>call back and work on a little before others started arguing against it etc.
>
>Thus, I was surprised when you said you "agreed" with his statement.  I went
>back and tried to find what it was you could have been agreeing with.  Here,
>as I see it, is what it contends:
>
>
Richard: It might have been more helpful if you asked me what I meant.
That'susually the best way to find out what soeone means. Is it not?

What I see as the primary danger in "psychologizing" metaphysics, and I
presume you do agree that "theosophy" and "metaphysics' have a relationship.
Is that the Jungian "psychologization" of various states of consciousness
that we all agree to call "metaphysical" is far too easily interpreted as
pathology. When "enlightenment" for instace, is simply considered a
"psychological state" then it can easily be equated with any other such
state as utterly delusional or hallucinogenic. "Psycholgizing" maymake
states of consciousness respectable, but it does, I fear, tend to detract
from their reality.

There now, that's not all that "far out" is it?

alexis dolgorukii