Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl01006)

Jerry S. writes,

> Its a benevolent
> racism that the SD teaches.  As Doss said, its like a big brother
> with a smaller brother or sister.  The big brother protects and loves
> the little baby sibling, even while knowing his superiority.  Why
> do you suppose, so few theosophists are black, Rich?  If you
> were black, would you still feel the same way?


Why do you think I'm NOT black?  I can't speak for your experience, Jerry,
but it's not mine.  Here in San Francisco ULT we have a relatively small
lodge, but 45% of the "core" associates are black.  That's WAY more than the
national percentage of blacks in the population.  Los Angeles is even more
diverse, and there are PLENTY of blacks there too, in leadership roles no
less.  In fact more than half the Los Angeles lodge is Hispanic, with tons of
Asians and blacks too.  While we're on the subject, I know over a dozen gay
people in ULT circles, and at least half ULT-ers are women.

So at least in ULT, I don't see a problem with diversity.  It's been this way
since it was founded.

And while I am not trying to pretend that racism has not been supported with
misshapen ideas twisted perversely from Theosophical texts, I think it is a
mistake to get on our "high horses" and presume to re-model the doctrines of
the Masters on the shifting sands of public opinion and political
correctness.  If that makes me a racist, then so be it.  One gets called
plenty of names in the process of growing up, why should we expect it to stop
now?

I think it is manifestly illogical, however, to say we can speak of the
differing development among individuals, but not groups.  For the individual,
as the Buddhists point out, is nothing more than a collection of "heaps"
him/herself.  There are no individuals apart from groups, and if individuals
have characteristics, then so must groups because every individual is made up
of "sub-groups" of elements, and belongs to "supra-groups" of communities.

The problem is trying to TWIST the Secret Doctrine's teaching on "races" into
the modern notion of "races" (which is indeed "racist").

Everyone knows that nations have characteristics, which is borne out in their
language, dress, speech, values, government, spirituality, etc. etc. etc.
 It's hard to argue with this.  HPB and the Mahatmas are using "race" as a
super-ordinate group which incorporates many nations, either vertically (as
lineages of peoples through time) or horizontally (across the geographic
globe at any given period) and probably both.  But this is not what is today
called race, which is judged by OUTER characteristics.

To think that when HPB says "race" she means something even vaguely like
"blacks" or "Hispanics" is to BUTCHER the teaching, and then with such inept
understanding, to inevitably fall into error, thence racism.  This is called
"materializing the teachings."

To clarify the meaning of "race" in HPB's Theosophy, I offer a quote which
one Theos-L subscriber forwarded to me privately (imagine that!):

 From BCW  5. (Boris de Zirkoff puts together
some quotes from HPB & TSR [see 134-35] which
make a convincing case that it was written by
the Tiravellum Mahatma. In which case this
makes the following quote VERY authoritative.)

"The Occultist can by following the (to him)
well distinguishable and defined *auric
shades and gradations of color in the inner-man*
unerringly pronounce to which of the several
distinct human families, as also, to what
particular respective group, and even small
sub-group of the latter belongs such or another
people, tribe, or man." [BCW 5, 213]

Thus, not skin color or physiognomy are final
evidences, but the aura. As read by an Adept
of course.