Theos-Talk Archives (June 1998 Message tt00140)

Darren, if it is at all possible CANCEL THE ORDER for that
outrageously, atrociously expensive volume from Kessinger.
Every Theosophical title they have is extremely pricey; never
having seen one I can only assume they're bound in gold plates or
alligator hide.  You can get exactly the same stuff for a quarter
the price in one of the late volumes of the Blavatsky Collected
Writings-- 14 I think, but check.

Alan, I think that Jewish argument you talk about is very
disingenuous.  "Not need an intermediary?"  What about the Mosaic
law?  What about being the chosen people?  Sure, Reform Jews are
about like Unitarians, and mystical Judaism has some wonderful
insights.  And granted, Christianity has erected just as
oppressive a priestly hierarchy and set of exclusivistic rules as
any other religion and is thus quite out of touch with the ethos
of its founder.  But you only have to look at the Orthodox in Israel
today to see how much the focus is on manmade observances as
opposed to direct communion with the divine.  The basic ideas that
God is a lawgiver and we have to obey a set a laws to get on his good side,
and that some ethnic groups or social categories are holier than others and
we should shun the unholy, are fundamentally evil and what Jesus rejected most
emphatically IMO.

Why are they evil?  Until I hear a better definition, I'll hold
to M. Scott Peck's in People of the Lie: evil people behave in
destructive, scapegoating ways while denying all personal
responsibility for their actions.  There's never been anything as
effective as religious codes and hierarchies in bringing that out
in people.

Cheers,
Paul