Theos-Talk Archives (June 1996 Message tl00580)

In message <199606170102.SAA01826@web.azstarnet.com>, Blavatsky
Foundation <blafoun@azstarnet.com> writes
>I, too, would like to see these alternatives with arguments, evidence in support
>of them.  We hear so much talk against core theosophy yet I seldom see anyone
>point out alternatives with the supporting arguments, etc.
>
>Daniel

Do you not think this approach is more than simplistic?  Might it not
simply be possible that in certain areas at least, "core" theosophy is
*wrong*?  Under such a circumstance, there is not necessarily an
alternative.  Consider the statement, "Alan Bain has red hair."  Not
only is this incorrect, but it has always been incorrect.  This Alan
Bain, anyway, has gone from blond to mouse to greyish-white.  IOW, the
statement is false.  Maybe one could argue that the "alternative" is the
*current* truth regarding the color of Alan's hair.  But supposing the
statement is, "Alan Bain has three ears."  This is simply untrue, and to
say that the alternative is two ears is not going to shake the world.

Take the argument a stage further: "Alan is a reincarnation of an
ancient Egyptian slave."  This presupposes that some form of
reincarnation is a fact.  Here are some alternatives:

1. Alan is not a reincarnation of an Egyptian slave.
2. Reincarnation is false.
3. Reincarnation is true, but 1. above is false.
4. Reincarnation is true, but not in the manner presented in "core"
theosophical writings.

A alternative model of reincarnation for 4. could be offered, but could
no more be validated by any scientific approach than the existing
"theosophical" model (which owes, *IMO*, much to the vivid imagination
of C.W.Leadbeater which led Ernest Wood to become sceptical about the
"Lives" of Alcyone and others.

Appeals to "The Masters" are only valid if

1. The "Masters" are or were real living beings.
2. They actually said and wrote the words attributed to them.
3. If 1. and 2. are true, did they give facts or opinions, and if so,
how might these be verified today?

For example, CWL was completely wrong about life on Mars. His other
clairvoyant experiences may have been more accurate, or may not, but how
likely is it that *anyone's* clairvoyant experiences are 100% accurate?

To requote the opening above,

> We hear so much talk against core theosophy yet I seldom see anyone
>point out alternatives with the supporting arguments, etc.

But, if anyone is interested in other models, I offer for deep thought a
quote from "The Company of Avalon" by Frederick Bligh Bond, a British
psychic researcher who left the T.S. in 1909 along with Sinnet, Mead,
Kingsland and others:

[From ~The Company of Avalon~ by F. Bligh Bond, published by Basil
Blackwell of Broad Street, Oxford (England) in 1924.  The book is an
account of some of the results of automatic writing received during
psychic research into the foundations of Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset,
England.]

"In the script of J.A., published under the title The Return of
Johannes, the following significant passages occur. After stating that
to the "Company " of the brethren whose memories are communicated the
Abbey still stands perfect as it was in its prime, or rather, as it was
in the minds of those who conceived its design, we are led to infer that
their united memory can reproduce its entire history. By clothing
themselves in the garment of earth-recollection they can recall its
history as one continuous whole.

'Each one, in his remembrance, is the link which makes for us all the
faire story of Glaston as one continuous whole. So I, being linked in
the spirit with Eawulf who comes from out the Danes in olden time, see
with his eyes, hear with his ears, and live in mine own spiritual life
the life that he lived in his day.... So does Eawulf, and so does Abbot
Kent who loved the Mere and there took his pleasaunce, goe with me and
in me, and I in him to see the sunset imaged in the waters and hear the
tide ycoming in the sedges of Cock Lake ere it reached me over dear
Mere. So being united and yet separate - united in sympathy and yet
separate in that he is hym and I, Johannes - soe, I say, do we have and
live a hundred lives where once we lived but one. Thus are we. Is it not
the Paradise of Saints, and not the Purgatory of Sinners, in which we
all dwell and praise and rejoice as one?'"

Text scanned and posted by Alan Bain
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