Theos-Talk Archives (January 1997 Message tl00723)

A QUESTION OF THE PARANORMAL:  YOU BE THE JUDGE
OF WHAT JOHNSON WRITES

K. Paul Johnson writes in his rejoinder to my HOUSE OF CARDS about
some of the cases that I quoted in Part II of my critique.  Here are Johnson's
comments.  After his comments I quote the cases Johnson refers to.  Please
read these accounts and ask yourself which case is more paranormal?  Which
case shows elements of the paranormal?  Compare these 
cases for yourself.  Which case appears "more like paranormal
visitations than normal physical visits."  Would anyone like to hazard a 
guess as to what my reply would be to Johnson's comments?  

Happy thinking!!

Daniel Caldwell


Johnson's comments are as follows: 
___________________________________________________
PART II

     In his case for evaluating all claims by Col. Olcott about
the Masters by a single standard, Mr. Caldwell cites a letter
in which Olcott reported being awakened from sleep in Ceylon in
1881 by Morya, who made him take dictation for an hour.  He
then goes on to describe a case where Morya "showed himself" to
Olcott and HPB, and an "appearance" by Morya before six other
people.  All of these are equated with the Ooton Liatto case,
which is much more clearly one of *physically* present people
conversing with Olcott.  But Mr. Caldwell does not seem to
recognize that these "appearances" sound more like paranormal
visitations than normal physical visits.  How can he assume
that such appearances, if genuine, were not Ranbir Singh, since
he does not know whether or not the maharaja was capable of
such phenomena?  What does he know of other people who were,
who might therefore be more plausible candidates for the Morya in
these stories?  This section of his argument shows naivete in
conflating different categories of evidence.  The principle
which seems to elude Mr. Caldwell is that extraordinary claims
require extraordinary proof.  My explanation of HPB's
relationship with the Masters relies on ordinary factors and is
based on ordinary historical evidence.  Mr. Caldwell is
defending extraordinary claims about HPB and the Masters, on
behalf of which he cites evidence of a far more dubious and
ambiguous kind.
__________________________________________________
[End of Johnson's comments]

Now I quote Olcott's accounts as given in HOUSE OF CARDS:
_________________________________________________
CASE A:  OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING OOTON LIATTO. 

"...I was reading in my room yesterday (Sunday) when there 
came a tap at the door---I said 'come in' and there entered the
[younger] Bro[ther] with another dark skinned gentleman of 
about fifty....We took cigars and chatted for a while....[Then
Olcott relates that a rain shower started in the room. Olcott 
continues the account:] They sat there and quietly smoked their
cigars, while mine became too wet to burn....finally the younger 
of the two (who gave me his name as Ooton Liatto) said I
needn't worry nothing would be damaged....I asked Liatto 
if he knew Madam B[lavatsky]....the elder Bro[ther]...[said] that
with her permission they would call upon her. I ran 
downstairs---rushed into Madams parlour---and---there sat these same
two identical men smoking with her and chatting....I said 
nothing but rushed up stairs again tore open my door and---the men
were not there---I ran down again, they had disappeared---
I . . . looked out the window---and saw them turning the
corner...." (Olcott's account is given in full in Theosophical 
History, Jan., 1994.) 
_________________________________________________
CASE B:  OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MORYA IN CEYLON

"...on the night of that day [Sept. 27th, 1881] I was awakened 
from sleep by my Chohan (or Guru, the Brother [Morya]
whose immediate pupil I am)....He made me rise, sit at my
 table and write from his dictation for an hour or more. There 
was an expression of anxiety mingled with sternness on his 
noble face, as there always is when the matter concerns H.P.B., to
whom for many years he has been at once a father and a 
devoted guardian. . . ." (Quoted in Hints On Esoteric Theosophy,
No. 1, 1882, pp. 82-83.
_____________________________________________________
CASE C:  OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF MEETING MORYA AT BOMBAY

In his diary for Jan. 29, 1882, Colonel Olcott pens this brief entry:

"M[orya] showed himself very clearly to me & HPB in her garden....
she joining him they talked together...." 
_____________________________________________________

CASE D:  OLCOTT'S ACCOUNT OF SEEING MORYA AT BOMBAY WITH
SIX OTHER WITNESSES

"We were sitting together in the moonlight about 9 o'clock upon
the balcony which projects from the front of the bungalow.
Mr. Scott was sitting facing the house, so as to look through 
the intervening verandah and the library, and into the room 
at the further side. This latter apartment was brilliantly 
lighted. The library was in partial darkness, thus rendering 
objects in the farther room more distinct. Mr. Scott suddenly 
saw the figure of a man step into the space, opposite the 
door of the library; he was clad in the white dress of a 
Rajput, and wore a white turban. Mr. Scott at once recognized 
him from his resemblance to a portrait [of Morya] in Col. 
Olcott's possession. Our attention was then drawn to him, 
and we all saw him most distinctly. He walked towards a 
table, and afterwards turning his face towards us, walked 
back out of our sight...when we reached the room
he was gone....Upon the table, at the spot where he had 
been standing, lay a letter addressed to one of our number. The
handwriting was identical with that of sundry notes and letters 
previously received from him...." The statement is signed by:
"Ross Scott, Minnie J.B. Scott, H.S. Olcott, H.P. Blavatsky, 
M. Moorad Ali Beg, Damodar K. Mavalankar, and Bhavani
Shankar Ganesh Mullapoorkar." (Quoted from Hints On Esoteric 
Theosophy, No. 1, 1882, pp. 75-76.) 

>From Olcott's diary for Jan. 5, 1882, 

"Evening. Moonlight. On balcony, HPB, Self, Scott & 
wife, Damodar....[etc]...M[orya] appeared in my office. 
First seen by Scott, then me....Scott clearly saw M's 
face....M left note for me on table in office by which he stood...."
_____________________________________________________

And just for the fun of it, I throw in Olcott's 1879 encounter 
with the Master Morya at Bombay.  I quoted this case in Part I
of HOUSE OF CARDS.  Does this 1879 event have more
paranormal elements to it than the Ooton Liatto account?  
_________________________________________________
"This same Brother once visited me in the flesh at Bombay, 
coming in full day light, and on horseback. He had me called 
by a servant into the front room of H.P.B.'s bungalow 
(she being at the time in the other bungalow talking with those 
who were there). He [Morya] came to scold me roundly 
for something I had done in T.S. matters, and as H.P.B. was 
also to blame, he telegraphed to her to come, that is to say, 
he turned his face and extended his finger in the direction of 
the place she was in. She came over at once with a rush, 
and seeing him dropped to her knees and paid him reverence. 
My voice and his had been heard by those in the other 
bungalow, but only H.P.B. and I, and the servant saw him." 
(Extract from a letter written by Colonel Olcott to A.O. Hume 
on Sept. 30, 1881. Quoted in Hints On Esoteric Theosophy, 
No. 1, 1882, p. 80.)    
_________________________________________________

YOU BE THE JUDGE. . . .