Theos-Talk Archives (June 1996 Message tl00602)

At 09:21 PM 6/17/96 -0400, you wrote:

Alan: I really like the answer you make to Daniel. That makes three of us
who have responded to his plaint. JRC, you, and I, and I think Jerry
Scheuler did too. So then shall we await his response? As JRC rightly
observes: people complain about a lack of serious discussion but when
someone tries to start one, they are completely ignored. He's right. But
let's see if it can change.

alexis dolgorukii

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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