Theos-Talk Archives (September 1996 Message tl00322)

Chuck,

>Take heart.  I find the idea of you agreeing with me as frightening as the
>thought of me agreeing with you.

Mutually Assured Disapproval, eh?

                                >You, of course, have a significant
>advantage over me in that you actually knew Hodson, whereas I can only
>judge the man by his writings.  It may be that there was a side of him
>that you did not see, or it may be that the writings themselves are >flawed.
>
>Certainly there is material in my notes that would give a totally
>different picture of me than the one people who know me have, both from
>the fact that there are things I don't talk about and there are ideas I
>play with but don't act on.
>
>The Geoffrey Hodson of the Diaries is a totally different man than the one
>you describe and a far less pleasant one.  The one you describe I regret
>not having known.  The one in the Diaries I regret never having had the
>chance to go after. Which was the real Hodson?  That may be the key to all
>this.

I find it interesting that the tone of his diary "Light of the Sanctuary" is
different from "The Ascent to Yogic Heights", though the former has parts
with the same tone as the latter.

One thing we can be certain of, and that is that no one person will have the
whole picture, nor one medium of expression (writing or personal contact)
reveal the whole story. The historian's dilemma as well as delight.

The nearest to the real Hodson was, for me, when he was in contemplative
mood or experiencing some kind of awe, both of which were pretty common in
his life and probably a constant undercurrent.

The outer stuff was projection, masks and symbols, relatively speaking - all
those things that we on theos-l like to remind ourselves now and then that
all expressions of theo-sophia are.

I say let's keep asking the questions and gently remind each other from time
to time that the answers may be more amazing, as well as more ordinary, than
we currently imagine.

Murray
Member TI and the TS in NZ