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Skye testifies on the influence
of the books of Alice Bailey:

I loved the Alice Bailey books
with a passion. I felt as
though my heart fearlessly
embraced a universe while I
read them. Group initiation and
the unicity (love that word
Ivan) of all existence became
real to me then and the 3 and 7
ray structure gave me a
scaffold to stand on and the
courage to begin dismantling
many firmly held beliefs. They
made me a much better person
minus the
self righteous saint. After
reading those works my
appreciation for the energies
of life, my command of the
english language and the
ability to think (see thought
forms and beliefs),comprehend
and express myself clearly had
grown 10 fold.

I haven't picked them up for
years, but they hold pride of
place on my bookshelves in
gratitude for those early
years.
_______________________________

Bailey does not appear to be a
favorite of Jerry's:

Alice Bailey takes final
responsibility. I don't know if
it's her or Kut Hoomi or Dwjal
Khul, but someone said: "The
difficulty with the Jew is that
he remains satisfied with the
religion of nearly 5000 years
ago and shows as yet little
desire to change." (The
Reappearance of Christ, p81)

Okay, let's say Kut Hoomi said
it. I guarantee you Alice Bailey
was not baking humintashin for
the local Hadassah at the time.

Dwjal Khul and Kut Hoomi came to
Alice Bailey. Umba and The Other
came to me. They are the same.
I've always known that. I saw a
lot of things happen in those
interactions that, were I of the
personality, could have been
latched onto as having huge
significance. All I held to was
the mantra. Even that I've let go
of. I wouldn't even let them
contaminate me with that. I see a
lot of poison in Alice Bailey.
_______________________________

Marcia tells of middle-class
values and her ex-husband:

I think there is a difference
between middle class values and
being responsible for yourself. I
certainly don't have what I think
of as middle class values.
Whatever that is anyway. I don't
believe in consensus reality. I
think that people who don't take
care of themselves are more tied
to consensus reality and "middle
class values." I have worked very
hard in my life. I put myself
through school while working and
worked all the way through having
three children. A full time
professional job. I come from
lower class parents. My father
was a commercial fisherman amongst
other things.

My first husband is homeless and
spends his days at the library.
When we got married at eighteen I
put him through college. I worked
full time while he went to college.
When he got out he decided he
didn't feel like working. So he
went on to get a masters degree.
After we divorced he lived with
his mother for awhile and then when
she died he lived off his
inheritance until it ran out. Then
he went on the streets cause he
didn't want to work. He writes
letters to the editor from the
library typewriter talking about
people and their middle class
values. When I saw him one day he
said he felt sorry for me cause I
had to take care of my parents.
_______________________________

Tim responded to Marcia thusly:

...And from the impression I've
gotten from your posts, it seems
you feel sorry for yourself as
well. Even though they (probably)
took care of you full-time for at
least 16 years.

When my parents get too old to take
care of themselves, I will care for
them with gratitude at being able to
return some of what was given me.
Even if I have to change diapers, or
feeding tubes, or give them one of
my kidneys. What an opportunity, to
be able to give back a little of what
was given to me.
_______________________________

...and Marcia responded:

Yes and in the middle of it all you
will, on occasion, feel overburdened
and unappreciated. Between the idea
and the act falls the shadow. I
believe that is T.S. Elliot. If you
can't even deal with $18,000 how will
you deal with someone throwing up all
over the place and being scared cause
they are dying (which they are)? And
this is day in and day out for two
years.
_______________________________

Tim also commented on human
complexity:

There is nobody alive that is
completely intellectually-based.
Such a person would be a robot,
unable even to relate to others. On
the other hand, nobody is entirely
emotionally-based either, or they
would be a raving lunatic unable to
think.

People use left brain/right brain
functions to different degrees. There
is no "black and white" as far as
intellect and emotion is concerned.
Many scientists are some of the most
emotional, passionate people (e.g.
Carl Sagan), while many emotional
people are deep thinkers as well.
Putting people into these black and
white categories is foolish. Human
beings are complex animals.
_______________________________

Jerry found something rather
disturbing from Alice Bailey's
book, "Esoteric Healing" and added
a brief comment:

"Today the law [karma] is working
and the Jews are paying the price,
factually and symbolically, for all
they have done in the past. ...
They have never faced candidly and
honestly (as a race) the problem of
why the many nations, from the time
of the Egyptians, have neither liked
nor wanted them. ... The Jewish
problem will be solved by the
willingness of the Jew to conform to
the civilization, the cultural
background and the standards of
living of the nation to which he is
related and with which he should
assimilate. ... It [the solution to
the Jewish problem] will come when
selfishness in business relations and
the pronounced manipulative tendencies
of the Hebrew people are exchanged for
more selfless and honest forms of
activity."

She is justifying the actions of Hitler
while they were being undertaken. With
a few changes here and there, the
paragraph can apply to any marginalized
group.
_______________________________

Kristie holds forth the image and
reality of poverty:

I get very defensive around the issue of
the poor and the homeless, on the other
hand, I have no rose colored glasses
where they are concerned either. I think
my point is, that if we assume credibility
and cause...we are more likely to approach
each situation with an open mind and open
heart...when we (I) cariacature anyone we
miss the point of each other's humanity...
which is above and beyond the form that
our lives take....any kind of judgement -
and I am still capable of those, as you
well know, is a wall to the recognition of
spirit or Awareness in each of us; it
is here that Truth abides and here we
should place our attention and our
awareness and perception...because it
frees us from guilt, blame, projection,
judgement, etc. If one assumes many lives
then it is impossible to tell from the
outer form of a person's life where they
are at in their search for enlightenment....
the bum on the corner may be working out
stuff I haven't even gotten too....I don't
assume that a work ethic, or a middle class
life, or a retirement plan confers moral
superiority or even goodness, let alone any
spiritual insight....I have found much
wisdom in the most unlikely places...wisdom
that was stunning in its insight, elegance
and simplicity...and I have found, my
prejudice and conditioned judgement here, a
shocking paucity of real insight into the
human condition among people who are the
most heralded archetypes of our society's
vision of what makes a good person..status,
a work ethic, stability, means nothing to me,
except that that person had the great good
fortune to be in the right place at the right
time, had the good fortune of happening onto
belief systems that worked in the material
world, had a good upbringing, or a bad
upbringing that pushed them in a more
adaptive direction...it confers no moral
significance as to that human being's worth,
anymore than the so called
failures suggest to me that they are lacking
in worth. I don't share your work ethic. It
didn't work for me, didn't pay off...I made
all the sacrifices, did all the hard work,
did NOT work when my children were little
because I thought a mother ought to be with
her children...gave up finishing college,
stayed at home, counted on the wisom of the
world and its judges to protect me...and got
zip in return....I'm not saying a work ethic
is bad...it confers many advantages in this
world....people are people are people are
people....I used to sit in City Council
meetings, when I was working as a radio
reporter, and amuse myself by wondering
which of the esteemed council members,
businessmen or mayor, would be snatching
little old ladies purses in the first few
weeks on the street, if they were ever to
find themselves totally traumatized, cast
out, abandoned and homeless....to me, that
is the measure of character, no better or
worse a measure than anyone else's....how
would that person act if they were
underneath the glass floor, if they suddenly
became the Other....it's not money to me,
and never will be....money and character
have nothing to do with each other.
_______________________________

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