Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00316)

Rich,
I will admit to being an arch-revisionist, but my reasoning is based on the
fact that HPB was a great admirer of the Gnostics who taught exactly what I
am saying.  That being the case, either she was terribly confused about what
she was teaching, or she was tailoring her teachings to the people she had to
deal.  Now there is nothing wrong with that.  In fact, if she had not, there
would be no Theosophical Society today.  But if you look at the totality of
her life and work, to assume that she was intending that her words would be
taken with absolute literality is not going to hold up.
Admittedly, she was not above a bit of "do as I say, not as I do," but she
was too public to get away with much of it if there were not something else
there, something that would withstand the vaguaries of fashion and
middle-class respectability.
One idea I have heard which makes sense to me though I would like to see
documentation on it is that by removing the fear of hell from people's minds,
the early TSers were afraid that people would run out and do anything they
wanted, so they came up with lists of rules to try to calm them down.  This
makes a certain sense if one understands the Victorian mind, which loved
nothing more than to make social systems for other people to live under.  But
we are not Victorians.  We know that the universe does not quite work the way
the materialistic determinists who founded the TS (and if you look at the
material that is exactly what they were even though they refused to admit it)
thought it did.  And that leaves us in a quandary.
Assuming that HPB had some great, universal insight and obviously I do or I
would not be engaging in this entertainment, how much of it was she actually
willing to say knowing the audience she had to deal with?  And if what she
said was not the entire message, what was she really thinking?
Sound familiar?  It is merely taking the methods of textual criticism applied
to the Bible and applying them to Theosophy.  We have always been told, often
by people for whom I will admit I have minimal respect, that the true
teachings are hidden in the works.  They are right.  But they have no idea
how well hidden they are.
Now I will freely admit that this is my interpretation and I can be wrong.
 But given the evidence, it is the best interpretation I can come up with.
 There is just too much stuff that leads in this direction and if you will be
patient I am working on a lengthy piece detailing how I have come to this
conclusion, but it will take a few months more of research before it can be
written.

Chuck the Barbarian MTI, FTSA
Heretic
Troublemaker