Theos-Talk Archives (January 1997 Message tl00368)

On Sun, 12 Jan 1997, Tom Robertson wrote:
> 
> Not "expecting" people to change and approving of evil are two very
> different things.
	Wow. Now I'm "evil". An unexpected honor.  

> There is a significant moral difference between "flame-bait," which, as far
> as I can tell, merely means "whatever the majority disagrees with," and
> "flames," which are patently the antithesis of what is conducive to a
> spirit of brotherhood.  
	Lots of people disagree with majority opinions here without being
flame-bait. Those who make delibrately inflammatory comments generally get
the flames they seek.

> Disagreements do not affect civil discussion.
> Personal attacks do.  That you approve of personal attacks made by those
> with whom you agree and disapprove of those who disagree with you means
> that you sanction, and therefore deserve, to be personally attacked
> yourself.  I'll let that be your karma, though, rather than incur the same
> kind of weighty karma that bitter hypocrites like JRC have built up for
> themselves.
	*Way* cool. I've gone beyond "hypocrite" and entered the rarefied
and distinguished realm of the "bitter" hypocrite with weighty karma.
Actually, you seem as though you'd quite like to get the job of "Lord of
Karma" - you could visit your retribution on all you judge. Curious that
you'll accuse Ann of approving or disapproving on the basis of her
personal agreement ... in the same post as you say that when you flame
people you are apparently fighting "evil", while when people flame you,
they are accumulating "weighty" karma. Wow - not only do you feel
qualified to judge who has or has not the right to call themself a
"Theosophist", you now feel qualified to make definitive statements about
who is accumulating karma - and apparently the complex question of karma
can now be easily answered (this should end all those needless discussions
on the list): Definition: Negative karma is stuff that pisses Tom
Robertson off. Positive karma is stuff that pleases Tom Robertson. We can
call it the "Robertson Standard for Karmic Calculations".
	How wonderful that you'd call me a hypocrite for making personal
attacks in a post where you personally attack me. 

 > 
> >A mailing list without some
> >controversy or conflict is going to be boring as Hades.  
> 
> The blindness to the distinction between an evil spirit and disagreement
> that this statement reflects is astonishing.  
	Oooohhhh ... the old "you're blind" argument. Tell me Tom - is
calling someone a "bitter hypocrite with weighty karma" an "evil spirit"
or merely a "disagreement"? I suspect a considerable number of people are
"blind" to the distinction you make. 

> Come to the Seattle Lodge of
> the TS some time.  There, you will see all conceivable disagreements freely
> expressed, particularly in the way those who have been members for almost
> 80 years go out of their way to encourage newcomers to say whatever they
> think 
	As is the case with most Lodges. But this on-line Lodge has
considerably more diversity than most Lodges. 

> (with, of course, the important caveat that Alice Bailey's name never
> be mentioned, since, after all, this _is_ the TS, and we have our limits)
	Very curious that you would continue commenting on a situation
that you have not investigated, claim to have no intention of
investigating, and say you have minimal interest in. 

> with never a sign of any kind of personal insults of which you are so fond.
> It makes this list look like a war zone.  And the last thing it is is
> BORING.  THAT is my idea of brotherhood.
>
Perhaps you'd like me to offer a dozen *personal attacks* you've made
against individuals on this list. 

And again, when you cease to attack *me*, I'll cease to respond with
attacks. If you approach me with an elevated tone, I will so respond to
you. It is completely within your power to harmonize part of the feeling
that this list is a "war zone". And yet you continue to attack. Its
getting more and more difficult for you to appear as a poor innocent
"fighter of evil". 
								-JRC