Theos-Talk Archives (April 2005 Message tt01936)

Greetings Thalprin,

I think the thoughts you expressed in your message of 25 April 05 were 
excellent.

But what has happened in the meantime?

Why carry out these seemingly vindictive pursuits of some of the members of 
this list with accusations of lying and stupidity? Is it so important to 
you to be the arbiter of rightness and wrongness here?

This (and you haven't been alone in it) is harassment and clutters up the 
list. No wonder so many people have been leaving.

Eldon is being incredibly tolerant, and we need to read his words again 
(reproduced below), and see if we can clear the space for what we know this 
list is supposed to be about.

I've been on theos-l and, later, theos-talk for 10 years, and have rarely 
seen this kind of degeneration of tone. It doesn't have to remain the way 
it is.

Let's all make a collective decision to leave pettiness and accusation 
behind and get into the really good stuff there is to get into.

You can be softer and more pleasant, Terrie - I've seen it. It would be 
nice to see more of that side and enjoy your company more.

Best wishes
Murray



At 23:13 25/04/2005, you wrote:
> Message: 6
> Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 03:42:59 -0000
> From: "thalprin" <thalprin@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: let's behave ourselves on the lsit
>
>
> Yes, please keep the list on-topic, focused on actual study and
> Theosophical exploration AND out of the uck and chatter realms.
>
> It is not always easy I think to have compassion and yet not be
> bullied into accepting nor tolerating unhealthy patternings.
>
> I think I have found that as a owner/moderator (of this list) you
> are quite competent to handle your own business, but thanks for
> looking into and after this matter.
>
> It'd be a shame to see yet another study list utterly destroyed.
>
>
> --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Eldon B Tucker" <eldon@t...> wrote:
> >
> > Over the past month, the number of messages on the list has doubled,
> > exceeding 2000 for April. At the same time, the quality of the
> > postings has gone downhill. There has been a lot of noise, anger,
> > judgment, and superficial and flippant provoking of other people,
> > and there has been an overwhelming flood of materials that most
> > people joining this list to learn and exchange views on Theosophy
> > would consider off-topic.
> >
> > The percentage of ultra-short, often one-line messages has gotten so
> > high and the back-and-forth exchange so frequent that the list is
> > rapidly taking on the appearance of a chat line. The list is a place
> > where people with a shared interest in Theosophy may meet, get to
> > know each other, and exchange ideas. If someone wants to engage
> > another in a chat, there are plenty of free places to do so like AIM
> > and ICQ. Simply email the person an invitation to chat directly (and
> > not post one to the list). If someone wants to engage another in a
> > philosophical discussion, the list is a good place, if one takes the
> > time to write out his or her thoughts.
> >
> > At this point, I am asking that everyone stop the name-calling and
> > judgment of others on the list. I am also asking that everyone
> > voluntarily cut back on the volume of chatter (read "noise"). Worst
> > of all are the one-line messages that refer to something previously
> > said by someone else, but with nothing it the message itself to give
> > someone a clue as to what the other person was talking about.
> >
> > Although there may be an occasional intentional barb that someone
> > writes to provoke another, there are more frequently messages that
> > contained no ill will but were misinterpreted, drawing forth angry
> > replies. Both are bad. Let us have no provocations and taunting, and
> > be less quickly to rise to anger at imagined wrongs.
> >
> > We are all entitled to share what we think. The subject of
> > Leadbeater, Blavatsky, life after death, communication with the
> > dead, the Masters, or the merits of the respective theosophical
> > groups may come up because of a passage quoted from a book, an idea
> > someone expresses, or someone recounting a personal experience or
> > belief. Regardless of the original context, any philosophical topic
> > is ok to discuss; we can all share our ideas. This in no way judges
> > others holding views that differ from our own.
> >
> > In the past month, I have seen about 30 subscribers leave the list,
> > some long-time subscribers. They have been partially replaced by
> > some new lurkers, but the list has lost some good members. I do not
> > want to see this continue to happen. At this point, if things do not
> > start to show signs of improvement, I may have to moderate selected
> > participants if they get carried away, or even unsubscribe them. We
> > are all here to learn, share, and grow. Everyone stop the petty
> > bickering and behave more considerately to others.
> >
> > New people come across us and similar lists and sites as they seek
> > answers to the questions of life. The theosophical philosophy
> > provides one set of workable answers, providing some with a starting
> > point to their quest. Without it and the framework for questing that
> > theosophical groups provide, we have little to offer, so when the
> > philosophy is obscured and the sangha or sense of spiritual
> > community is destroyed, people are turned away cold, not allowed to
> > share in the esoteric philosophy. I do not want to see this happen.