Theos-Talk Archives (June 1996 Message tl00746)

At 11:51 AM 6/23/96 -0400, you wrote:

Alex wrote:
>>Chris: It not only "negates the importance of their work" it negates
>>everything about their work. Do you know anyone who considers the sexual
>>molestation of pre-pubertal boys anything other than an extremely "bad
>>thing"? If a person can't be trusted in one thing, is it wise to trust them
>>in any thing? Is a man who abuses children a man who can be trusted as a

Chris wrote:
>If that were so we might not place much weight on Einstien's theory- he had
>trouble simply opening a door by himself.  But we didn't say, "Gee, look how
>dumb he is.  He can't even open a door, the rest of his stuff must be dumb
too."

I agree with Chris here. Alexis wants to apply his black and white reasoning
on everybody. When he notices that they have done something that is (in his
opinion) decidedly "bad" then they have to be "bad", period. He doesn't see
the human dilemma. We are striving with our imperfections, we have higher
aspirations and base desires, sometimes side by side. There are countless
examples of people, like great artists and composers, who have brought forth
divinely inspired works, only to go and mess up their private lives by
uncontrolled negative emotion and ego idiosyncrasies. In Alexis' case it is
obvious that we have to deal with a person with serious flaws of character.
Should we judge him as a "bad" person, just because that is so? Indeed, one
would have to assume that A is aware of some of his negative and destructive
tendencies himself. Does he judge himself as harshly as he judges others?
Probably not. And I don't think we should either.

>
>>encourage people to prostrate themselves to her, to be considered a reliable
>>guide. Is a person whose sense of values is so skewed as to allow them to
>>closely associate themselves with people like the Nazis, to be trusted as a
>>teacher or guide?

So far, A has not been able to take this "Nazi connection" anywhere. There
may have been some contacts with this or that person who was a fascist. So
what? What did AB et al do in this context? Talking to a sinner is not
necessarily a sin. I'd like to see something more than the statement that
there was some friendly contact with a presumably "bad" person. Did AB
conspire to replace democracy with fascism? Did she help fund Moussolini?
What did she/they do, more than befriending this person?

>
>Actually I usually don't tend to research the history of the writers of the
>books I read before (or even after, usually) I read them.  I read them and
>take them for what they are, or at least how I interpret them.  I don't try
>to put them in their historical context to understand what the writer was
>talking about at that time.  I try to make sense of it for my time.  I do
>this at least for occult books anyway.

A very sensible approach. I happen to know about SERIOUS flaws in the
characters of R Wagner, Mario Lanza, Jussi Bjoerling etc. Does this mean
their music and singing are "bad"? Of course not. Come on Alex, get real.
Every person is a battle ground where good and evil fight. Sometimes we take
a stand for this side, sometimes for the other. This applies to you, me, AB
and everybody.

>>>>>Exactly.  Another good point.  Many of the core writings delve into such
>>>>>aspects of physical reality.  Occult Chemistry is a very interesting one if
>>>>>I may say so :-)

I will try to get this book. Do you like it only for its "esoteric" content
or does it have any value from a more "scientific" view point?

Bjorn