Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00900)

Alexis writes,

> having the gall to suggest that the entire "Root-Race" and
> so-called Racial Hierarchy concepts of so-called "Core Theosophy" was pure
> balderdash. Actually, I strongly believe it's far more than simply
> "balderdash" it is arrant white supremacist. There's a large body of
opinion
> out there in the real world that strongly believes that Theosophy and the
> Old Nazis were not unconnected. I have, as you know, already defended HPB
> against allegations that she was the primary inspiration for Hitler's
Racial
> Theories. She wasn't,  Nietzsche and Guido von Liszt were. I am beginning
to
> think that those of us who are not racists or other "ists" really had best
> make it clear that we will not accept this aspect of Theosophical
> Institutional History.

There is a lot of contradictory stuff here:

(1)  The root-race teachings of Theosophy are "arrant (?) white supremacist."
(2)  This kind of thinking was involved in Nazism
(3)  HPB was not the inspiration of Nazism
(4)  We won't accept these doctrines from "instituional Theosophy"
(5)  HPB founded these doctrines which became institutionalized.
(6)  Those who don't want to be labelled "racists" had better distance
themselves from this teaching
(7)  We love old HPB


Hmmm.  It seems that if one is going to call the doctrines "white
supremacist" then there is no way to defend HPB from the same label, since
she taught them.

Yet she taught universal brotherhood almost in the same breath.

Was the poor old woman senile, stupid, or unaware of how contradictory all
this seemed?  I think that there is a far deeper teaching going on here.

Jerry S. has pointed out that such Theosophical doctrines aren't "politically
correct."  Well, smoking isn't politically correct either.  But we all know
HPB smoked a ton.  I guess, then, we can conclude that HPB cannot be made to
appear in the image we should like her to appear before the modern audience
of language and thought-police.  Ah well.  She never has "fit in" well, has
she?  Even her own family thought her passing strange.

Yet if one accepts two basic ideas of Theosophy, then the theory of different
stages of development among humans seems almost necessarily entailed:

(1)  Reincarnation is a fact
(2)  Evolution is gradual

If these two doctrines are true (and I'm making no guarantees, just a logical
argument) then we can only assume that all beings are contantly progressing
into higher and higher levels of consciousness and self-awareness.  Then it
seems obvious that not all humans alive today entered the human kingdom all
at the same time.  Some came earlier, some later.  Some have profited from
coming earlier and have become quite spiritual.  Others have squandered the
extra time, and have developed Lower Manas at the expense of Buddhi.

Under a possible third law, (3) evolution is cyclic, then it seems that
beings would have to come in waves, or clumps, up to higher levels of
perception, and thus human "races" (so-called) are required, as bunches of
people move up more or less together.

The question is: how are we going to define these "races"?  By skin color?
 (I defy anyone to find an HPB or Mahatma Letter quote that shows skin color
expresses one's spiritual "development.")  By language?  (ditto)  By costume?
(ditto)

The concept of root races is rather about the development of the inner
principles, primarily Manas, and to judge this development by outer physical
characteristics, or to assume that various "racial" groups (so-called) on the
planet today are even vaguely shadowing what HPB is talking about, seems to
me to miss the teaching entirely.

[Then again, I've been a buffoon before, and I could be totally off base.
 Yup, it's possible.]