Theos-Talk Archives (January 1997 Message tl00017)

>On Tue, 31 Dec 96, Michael <wichm@xs4all.nl> wrote:
>
>>True Theosophy, as formulated at the foundation, is IMHO not a reiteration
>>of thousands of years of speculation on subjects that go far beyond the
>>scope of the present state of the human mind, but an endaevour to look at
>>issues free of  pre-conceived opinions.

Tom answered:
>Somewhere in between ignoring the ideas of others, in effect reinventing
>the wheel, and treating them as unquestioned truth, is the ideal.  It is
>not wrong to have pre-conceived opinions, but it is wrong not to question
>them.  It is impossible not to be dogmatic.   

Michael responds:
A typical example of speculation is that on Adam and Eve. There is not any
shread of evidence in this story. Yet, it had its function thousands of
years ago to put people into the picture religio-historically.
Practically everything in tradition is not based on facts at all. It is our
duty to make sense out of the present state of knowledge.
Tradition has validity in observations about nature, or the human mind,
based on observations and experiences which are timeless.

>
Liesel wrote:
>I also don't agree that there's a certain amount of pain built into this
>world.

Well, look at the suffering in the animal kingdom and its struggle for
survival of the fittest! Don't tell me an animal does not have pain.
Michael
Amsterdam, Netherlands
http://www.xs4all.nl/~wichm/index.html