Theos-Talk Archives (July 1996 Message tl00752)

Maybe theosophy cannot be all things to all people, like Frank suggest.  I think
many have called theosophy  the Un-NewAge preferring to refer to it as the
ancient wisdom at book publishing conventions etc.  But this doesn't get at the
core appeal of theosophy which remains a mysterious attractor to me still.  In
the American Theosophists it is noted that Elvis studied the Secret Doctrine
among other works and called his last back-up group the "Voices" in honor of THE
VOICE OF THE SILENCE (oh dubious honor!).  Maybe Elvis was the "King" and worthy
of all the bakti devotion that he mysteriously inspired, we just really didn't
get to see the real Elvis perhaps.   The Black Velver Elvis paitings still leave
me a little nauseus but I never saw the auric quality in the paintings of the
Masters either, though they did have nice Hollywood-Svengali eyes.  Show biz has
always been a part of spirituality--if we  only had  a Krishnamurti-type that
could sing  rock ballads (?)  The Beatles I think were more used than is
commonly known by the Mahrishi,  money grubbing drug producers, record producers
and wall street types.  They represented us as  spiritual seekers.  The four
little  young mini -Gutamas on a wild, big, rich holiday and the media let us
participate vicariously in their spiritual and artistic experiments.    When
the party turned sour, there was nothing to do,but break up and then we got
disco.  Now there is a gold mine for spiritual analysis.  The total spiritual
bankruptcy  and materialism of disco as a reaction to the Eastern mysticism  and
midly revolutionary politics of the Beatles.  Pop music, Madonna
notwithstanding, has never recovered its supposed spiritual basis that some of
us ageing 60's types thought it one had during the Viet Nam war.  .  Is this why
country music   has become the "opiate" of choice for the masses.  You know what
you get when you play a country and western record backward, "I got my pickup
back, I got my dog back and I got my baby back !) And while we are on music,
does anybody really like Scriabin.  There is another really moldy piece about
him in the American Theosophist.  Give me a movie like "2001" or even "Babe"
anyday for theosophical inspired art.  I say go John Algeo and don't stop!  And
Kandinsky-schminsky too.

Namaste
Keith Price