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Re: Elitism's source

Oct 01, 1997 11:18 PM
by ramadoss


Let me add my 2 cents on the question of hierarchy vs network structure. I
am not a scholar in any sense nor have any first hand knowledge of the
structure, so I am approaching it from a lay person's simple thinking.

As far as the structure is concerned, all we can do is to speculate since
there appears to be a lot that goes on in the multi-dimensional unseen
world. So from one point of view, it can be seen as our familiar
hierarchical structure. From another point of view it can be seen as a
network. Both may be right. Neither can claim they only are right and the
other view is wrong. May be one of these days (long days lasting
manvantaras) each one of us will have a first hand understanding then the
question will be solved completely.

The reverence that HPB and Olcott and others showed to their Teachers is
simply due to what they learnt from Them and simply one of gratitude for the
help they got.

In the natural order of things, there are those who are better than me in
certain areas and there are those who are worse off. So expanding on this
analogy, visualizing the possibility of some who are far ahead of me is
easy. I do admire any one who achieved a feat. So if some feel reverence to
anyone, it is ok with me, so long as some one does not force me to revere
someone or something or some idea.

As a human being, I am dealing with day to day matters every moment. From
that point of view, it matters very little how the "inner matters" are
organized. It reminds me of an anecdote of Olcott. In a lecture, someone
asked him a question about Solar Logos. He quipped that he is not on talking
terms with Solar Logos, so he is unable to help. I think I can say the same
thing. I am not on talking terms (at least to the best of my knowledge) with
any of the Higher Beings so to me personally it matters very little how the
inner matters are organized. My concern is primarily one of what I can do to
help other humans and living creatures, because it is something I can
immediately and personally relate to in my waking consciousness.

r@e

=================================================

At 03:03 PM 10/1/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Nicole asks a big question, an important one, about where
>elitism comes from.  (Yes, "spiritual elitism" is an oxymoron,
>but that doesn't stop it from being an epidemic.)  In
>Theosophical context, I would say that a hierarchical view of the
>cosmos tends to trickle down to a hierarchical view of
>everything in it.  The Masters are of course the main focus of
>reverence for hierarchy in the Theosophical movement; most of
>you know my conclusion that HPB's sponsors were in reality no
>hierarchy at all but a loose network.  But she was saturated in
>the hierarchical mindset of esoteric Freemasonry,
>Rosicrucianism, etc. from childhood.  And her disciples wanted
>to hear about a grand unified universal brotherhood of wise
>men, not about a bunch of mentors she acquired and often
>dropped along a circuitous life path.  If the central
>authority behind our sacred scriptures is a hierarchy, that
>implies that we can all measure ourselves and one another by
>how high we are on a ladder to adeptship.  That's still the
>raison d'etre of the ES.
>
>That's half the problem with Theosophical elitism, IMO.  The
>other half is the whole idea of occultism/esotericism.  To the
>extent that some "knowledge" has been kept secret for the
>favored few and concealed from the unworthy masses, elitism is
>part and parcel of the allure of esoterica.  Which means that
>the people attracted to these ideas are predisposed to want to
>be an elite.  That goes back a long way, since Gnosticism for
>example reeks of it.
>
>As for where spiritual elitism in general comes from-- that's
>harder.  I have noted before that 95% of the things people say
>in arguments about religion on the Net boils down to "Mine's
>better than yours."  People are competitive because it was an
>evolutionary advantage in terms of physical survival.  But the
>results are grotesque when the drive for oneupsmanship
>translates itself into the so-called spiritual realm.
>
>So I blame that old debbil biology for the drive to outrun,
>outshine, etc. the other guy; and blame the cultural traditions
>of esotericism and belief in hierarchy for the way it has
>manifested in the Theosophical movement.
>
>What do you think?
>


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