Theos-Talk Archives (January 1997 Message tl00296)

KPJ
>JHE makes public reference to a private matter which I suspect
>the persons named in his post would wish to remain so.

JHE
The denigration of other people through gossip and innuendos
always seems to be a "private matter," and the victim is the last
to know about it.  As long as I can remember, I have felt
uncomfortable about "private" accusations, trials and
condemnations that go on behind people's backs.  It is an art
that many people have perfected--so called Theosophists
unfortunately are not exceptions.  I have known many people who
have been driven from the TS because of this nasty activity.  I
have even seen it happen in Lodges.  Someone either becomes a
threat to someone else, or the party line, or just becomes a
scapegoat to draw attention away from the real problems.  The
gossip runs hot and heavy while the victim is left in ignorance. 
Usually the victim senses that something is going on but no one
will give him/her a straight story.  Instead, the victim is
treated like a leper.  "After all, it is a private matter"  they
will say.  "The accusers do not wish to be known."  "We don't
want this to become public."  What they are really saying is: "we
are out to denigrate you with gossip, and we don't want this to
come out in the open because someone might expose it for the
dirty game that it is."  As for the persons named in my last
post, they have been mentioned before on theos-l.  I said nothing
in my post that would link them to your "private matter" if you
had not informed your readers of it.  Now you have, so the karma
is on you.  

Paul, I think a better approach would have been to follow HPB's
guidelines in the ES Instructions:  Do not listen to gossip. 
When you hear it anyway, let it stop with you.  If you had done
this in the first place, we would not be having this conversation
now.  

A Theosophical explanation that fits the facts as I observe them,
is that Gossip creates a thought form that grows more powerful as
each new person feeds it with their emotional effluvia. 
Eventually, it becomes a destructive and ugly entity of its own
that gets out of control.  My hope is that, my acknowledgement
here of your publicly announced "private matter" will end the
further nourishing of your little monster, but expose it for the
flapdragon that it really started out to be.  

KPJ
>When I confronted JHE about this he vociferously denied it.

JHE
When you first "confronted" me with your story, you had already
tried and condemned me.  You did not ask for my side, but
informed me of my alleged crime and of your alleged evidence. 
That was not a confrontation, but a condemnation.  There is a
difference.
KPJ
>Q. What do JHE, Daniel Caldwell, and John Algeo have in common?
>A. They are all people whose friendship I tried hard to secure
>or maintain, who are thanked for small favors in the
>acknowledgments of my last book, received free copies of both of
>them, and have become implacable enemies for reasons that I
>think have more to do with their belief systems than with me. 

JHE
I received a courtesy copy of your last book from SUNY and I
thanked you for it.  For what it is worth, I never received a
copy of TMR from you.  Rather, I purchased my copy directly from
SUNY.  I bought several copies at the time and sold them through
my mail order book business.  It seems strange to me that you
believe that I tell people "behind your back" not to read your
book.  In reality it is plain to anyone following my comments on
theos-l that I encourage people to read it.  You are also already
aware that I wrote a friendly review for NEW PERSPECTIVES (you
acknowledged receiving it and gave it a "B-" here on theos-l),
and I sell your book through my mail order business.  Doesn't
your perception of this "private matter" seem strange to you in
light of the above undeniable and demonstrable facts?  Think
about it.  

I do not regard myself to be your enemy, and I'm sorry that you
regard me as such.  How did this start?  Is it because I have
publicly commented in the past that I am not convinced of your
thesis in TMR and have given my reasons?  Ever since, it appears
that you have regarded me as your "enemy."  Frankly, I think this
anger of yours against Algeo, Caldwell and myself is your
problem, not mine.  If I regarded you as an enemy, I would not
have invited you to visit and stay with us during your sojourn to
California.  This is something else you might do well to think
about. 

What do you know of my "belief system"?  How do you think my
"belief system" accounts for the very strange behavior you accuse
me of?  Perhaps what Algeo, Caldwell and myself really have in
common is not that we are your "enemies,"  but rather friends who
you have declared to be enemies because we have made it publicly
known that we are not convinced of your thesis in TMR.  

I hope this ends all of this silly crap.   


------------------------------------------                        
   |Jerry Hejka-Ekins,                      |                     
      |Member TI, TSA, TSP, ULT                |                  
         |Please reply to: jhe@toto.csustan.edu   |               
            |and CC to jhejkaekins@igc.apc.org       |            
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