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Re: Theos-World Re: What year was C.W. Leadbeater born?

Jul 26, 2004 08:14 AM
by Bart Lidofsky


prmoliveira wrote:
He declared that a poor and malnourished South Indian boy would one day become a spiritual teacher and a great speaker, greater even than Annie Besant, most horrendous heresy and blasphemy according to the theological principles of HUBA.
Well, I'm in general agreement with Chuck's comments on Leadbeater, but I DO need to comment that Leadbeater declared Krishnamurti to be the new vehicle for the Christ, not just a spiritual teacher and great speaker.

As Chuck pointed out, one often has to fight their way through the language, paradigms, and postulates of the time in order to figure out what the Theosophical writers of the late 19th and the early 20th century were really talking about. One thing that I have noticed is that it is less necessary to do this with the Mahatma Letters than with the writings of Blavatsky, and less necessary to do so with the writings of Blavatsky than with the writings of Leadbeater or the transcribed talks of Besant.

There are levels of interpretation, however. The major problem comes not with people who think that Theosophy begins and ends with some particular teacher or set of teachers (although that IS a problem); it is when they believe that Theosophy begins and ends with THEIR INTERPRETATION of some particular set of teachers. I have seen several occasions where statements seem to be ridiculous, but, if one accounts for the writers being misinformed in matters of terminology, or basing their comments on faulty source material, or simply lacking a vocabulary for what they are describing, they make much more sense. During a current events discussion at my Lodge, I took advantage of the then-current news that DNA analysis had shown that Neanderthal Man was our genetic cousin, NOT our genetic ancestor. This, in turn, took out most of the opposition to the anthropological theory that humanity (the physical body part) originated in Africa, and crossed the Sahara into the rest of the world. I felt that fit in well with Leadbeater's contention that humanity (the physical body part) originated in China, and crossed the Gobi into the rest of the world. Yet, because of a simple difference in geographic location, followers of Leadbeater insisted that the fossil evidence must be wrong, and would not accept the fact that Leadbeater was less than 100% correct, as opposed to being 90% correct.

Similarly, I frequently point out that the rejection of the concept of "potential energy" in the Mahatma Letters makes sense when one realizes that what they describe, and what scientists call "potential energy", are two very different things. It is much easier to assume that Sinnett had incorrectly described the concept to them, and they were commenting on Sinnett's description, not what scientists call "potential energy". Yet, purists insist that potential energy does not exist, because the Mahatmas said so, and the Mahatmas are infallible, even though that creates a paradox, since the Mahatmas have said they ARE fallible. Once again that little business of "interpretation" comes in, where a writer is infallible, except when they are saying they are fallible, which is simply modesty, or blinds for the unwary, though the only blinds are when they say they are fallible, because, of course, they are infallible...

The primary literature of Theosophy is a good starting point. There is a general sense in the primary literature which I use as my personal compass; if a later writing fits with the spirit, I will consider it more strongly than if a later writing violates that spirit. So, for example, I find a basic Brotherhood of Humanity to be in the spirit of the primary literature, so that literature which denies this, or even has the concept of "some brothers are more brothers than others" (often conveniently forgetting that we were on an involutionary path from the previous "root races"), I tend to reject.

Bart





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