Theos-Talk Archives (May 1999 Message tl00007)

> WHY I'M NOT INTERESTED by Perry Spiller

> At the risk of being overly forthright, I generally found
> Theosophy -- and theosophists -- too theosophically-minded to be
> of any earthly value. Well, more-or-less so. And mostly so.
> However, I did learn a lot from them before moving on.

Well, that is good, isn't it. To be sad of him moving on is 
making the cup half-empty. I am glad he learned something. 
I think that for many people that is exactly what the T.S. 
is for: it shows a road. That does not mean that people 
have to follow it by staying (active) members. 

> My personal spiritual development finds little that's edifying in
> abstract and sometimes abstruse concepts. I have an urgent need
> for wisdom that deals with (and helps me deal with) the
> here-and-now.
My personal development does find something in that. 
To each his own. We cannot stop talking about those 
subjects only because there are people who want to talk 
about something else. Nor do the T.S.-es have to be for 
everyone who is searching for truth. Let us just do our 
jobs and as long as there are the funds for publishing 
books and magazines and lodges with active interest, let us 
not worry to much!
On the other hand practical wisdom is something that people 
talk about in the T.S.. As far as action goes: that is up 
to the individual member, in my oppinion. We do not need an 
organisation for that. Or if we do, (Amnesty is a good 
example of a usefull organisation in this field and there 
are numerous others) the T.S. is not it.  
====================
 M.K.R.:
> I think the above comment is very telling. While much of the theoretical
> material is of great value and important, for the common man and woman,
> what they are looking forward is action. Not some theory.

> It may be time to brain storm and find out what is missing and why the
> fire and energy that we saw in the early days of TS is lacking today.

Perhaps the fire you admire about the early days of the TS 
was not so much in the TS as a whole but in HPB. She 
complained very of members being only interested in talking 
about ethics, while not ever doing anything. So even in 
those days the TS was only as firy as the people in it. Of 
course HPB had fire enough. 
Expecting the TS (any TS) to suply the fire is probably 
unrealistic. There will be fire in our lives when we TRY 
for ourselves to apply the practical wisdom she supplied 
buried in theory. But in fact the TS does offer even to the 
not so intellectual student plenty of advice on the 
pitfalls in the first stages of the path. This is probably 
part of what Perry Spiller has learned. That is not so bad. 

I do think we could be doing more to help extract the 
jewels of ethical advice from the jewels of abstract 
thought. And I am not even mentioning the volumes of 
unorganised matter on almost any subject thinkable that we 
call the Collected Writings. 

Katinka 
----------------------
NHL Leeuwarden
hesse600@tem.nhl.nl