Theos-Talk Archives (June 1999 Message tl00029)

Dear all,
JRC writes (and educates at least me):

>> "The other side"? Of what? Theosophy is simply a single, 
small, current interation of esoteric traditions that have 
been around for millenia. They need no defense, certainly 
not against the likes of you. Your intense focus
 on the minutiae of the personal lives and correspondence 
of the founders makes it clear you've utterly missed the 
point of Theosophy, and probably couldn't understand in 
anyway. What will you do when you're done, go after
 Plato? You could write one of your scathing, well 
researched critiques of the Buddha - I hear there are some 
doubts about *his* personal life too. But
 don't be too surprised if the world's billion Buddhists 
don't exactly stand in awe of your intellect, and feel they 
need to make a case for "the other side".  Theosophy is 
still around today, not because any one *person* wrote
 this or that private memo, but because the founders 
introduced a set of *ideas*, ideas that every one of them 
considered far larger and more important than their own 
small personalities (something I fear you'd have a
 very difficult time understanding), and these ideas were 
considered by at least a small group of people to be quite 
compelling, interesting, and worthy of their attention.>>

I can second that. No one could stop me from studying 
theosophy, though very many have thought it fit to tell me 
I was a fool or an idiot or at least *strange*. 

>> Everyone that's been on this list for more than a few 
months knows me, my affiliations, and my motives quite 
well. You've never asked. Since you did, my name is John 
Crocker. I graduated from the University of Montana. I've 
been involved in Theosophy, off and on, for 15 years. I've 
periodically been a member of the Wheaton Theosophical 
Society, but am not currently. I've never been involved 
with the ULT, but have friends that are. I could care less 
about the personal lives of the founders, but find the 
philosophical ideas in some of their writings to be 
stimulating, and as worthy of consideration as any other 
school of philosophy is. I've been, in the past, at times 
very critical of official Theosophical organizations, but 
always with the motive of addressing what I considered 
problems, towards the end of improving them, and aiding in 
the expansion and distribution of Theosophical thought. >>

Nice to get to know you. 
>> And thank *you* for being the current comedian onstage. 
Many of your lot have come and gone on this list over the 
years. But we haven't had one for several months now. 
-JRC>>
Thanks for explaining. I now understand better why David 
has been getting so much attention.

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