Theos-Talk Archives (February 1997 Message tt00012)

On this topic -- one thing strikes me as so important for good
meetings and strong lodges: not to do the same exact thing over
and over and over.

Some of the ULT lodges (and the one I happen to be in) have a
habit of reading the same books over and over each year, from
doing them to death.  I don't think we should grow away from
our basic books, but we can try to use in them in new and
creative ways.

One example of this we are trying in San Francisco is to read the
OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY, a real classic by Mr.  Judge, in a new way.
What we are doing is to assign to each member of the group
responsiblity for one or more chapters.

Then we go through the book, which that member facilitating
discussion, and after the chapter is read, that member brings in
relevant magazine and newspaper articles on the topic, drawn from
THEOSOPHY magazine, other Theosophical journals, current
newspapers and scientific journals.  That way we pause after each
chapter and see how students have APPLIED those ideas, how modern
science has moved forwad (or backward) from positions Mr.  Judge
outlines in his 19th century work.

As you can imagine, this considerably widens our horizons and
allows us to learn fundamental doctrines from our Teacher Mr.
Judge while keeping abreast of relevant developments on that
topic today.

Of course this means we are reading the book very, very slowly,
taking a few weeks after each chapter for the articles.  But
then, what's the rush? I think it's way better than simply
reading the book cover to cover for 40 years in a row which is
(no kidding) what the lodge has done thus far.  Not surprisingly
our membership had grown quite low but is now increasing.

What are other creative ideas?

Rich