Theos-Talk Archives (March 1997 Message tl00148)

Dear Liesel:

I agree with most of what you have stated. But at the same time, you may
recall that I posted a msg some time ago inquiring if anyone has seen any
of the specific facts and assertions that Tillett made has been disputed. I
have not seen any response so far.

I am not a fan of Tillett. I have been greatly benefitted by CWLs
writings.

At the same time I should say that one of the people Tillett
talked to was one Balford Clarke who worked closely with CWL for many
years and he was also a resident of Adyar for many many years and a
well  respected person. In early 1970s when he was 87, I had the
previlege of his visiting my home for a snack. This along with certain
statements made in Ernest Wood's book "Is this Theosophy?" and the
documented comment of Krishnamurti, I would not simply dismiss everything
that we may find in Tillett's book or elsewhere. I keep an open mind and
also keep in view that great people have great defects.

I hope this is another perspective of the situation.

MKR

PS: Peter Michel is  writing a book on CWL. I hope to find out if he
finds new materials to dispute any of the major assertions made against
CWL in Tillett's book and in other published material.


On Mon, 17 Mar 1997, liesel f. deutsch wrote:

> Thoa Tran, you wrote
>
> >A person in the position of making into law code of ethics for
> >his/her followers should be prepared to have his/her life be an open book.
>
> I don't disagree with that Thoa. But I want you to know, that a long time
> before you joined theos-l, I had a very nasty battle with several of the men
> re CWL. Without going into any of it again, I want you to know Thoa, that my
> Teacher who died 2 years ago, was CWL's pupil, and he told me in no
> uncertain terms that all these nasty allegations re CWL were untrue. There
> are statements by him and other pupils of CWL to the same effect. Some of
> them are in the archives at Wheaton.
>
> I think that when Smallet, or whatever his name is, wrote his book none of
> the people who really knew CWL would have anything much to do with him. I
> think some of them tried and it misfired. Certain people didn't have
> anything good to say about CWL, and apparently they're the ones who talked
> to him. The ones I know, who loved and revered CWL, as do most Adyar
> Theosophists, say that all this accusations are very false. Now I guess it's
> up to you to figure out, if you can at this distance in time, who's telling
> the truth, and who's lying, or else imagining wrong interpretations on
> happenings.
> Just for instance, S. says disparagingly in his book that he got in touch
> with the Outer Head in Adyar, and never got an answer. That made him angry,
> more or less. Well, if he'd known anything at all about the inner workings
> of the Society, as he should have known in order to write an adequate book
> about CWL, he would have known that the ES is an organization whose members
> aren't allowed to acknowledge that they are members, so of course the Outer
> Head didn't acknowledge his letter. He *did* have an interview with Joy
> Mills, who's so high up in the organisation I'm sure she's an important ES
> member, but he didn't realize that. I forget what the outcome of that was.
> If I remember correctly, she didn't tell him very much.
>
> I'm really disgusted that people keep on saying disparaging things about CWL
> from time to time on this list. I don't think it's right to do this to any
> of the theosophical leaders, whether he belongs to your own faction or to
> someone else's. I think theos-l should be a meeting place of all the
> splinter groups of Theosophists, and a place where we show respect for each
> other's differences. Seems to me that Theosophists especially should be
> leaders in respecting people's differences. We're the ones who preach the
> "brotherhood" of "man".
>
> Liesel
>