Theos-Talk Archives (June 1997 Message tt00115)

Gail:

>Ah, isn't it interesting. The one thing that we all would like to see is
>for all theosophical students to be UNITED in their effort to learn and
>promulgate the teachings of HPB and her Teachers.  How much stronger we
>would be if we could accomplish it.  Perhaps some ideas on how?...

Your statement on first reading sounds fine, like something that it would
be hard to disagree with. It was basically the statement we used with
the Theosophical Network in the mid-1980's. There are some assumptions
implicit in it, though, assumptions that are not always aggreed to by
everyone joining our theosophical groups.

Some of the assumptions are:

* There are Mahatmas. They are genuinely more evolved than the typical
  seeker or person we might run across in our everyday lives.

* They have an occult hierarchy, with a lineage of teachings or knowledge
  passed down from one generation of Adepts to the next.

* Blavatsky was a bona fide representative of them, and accurately
  presented some of their knowledge.

* The material presented by Blavatsky was as least in part literally true.
  It did not consist completely of blinds, metaphor, and veils.

* The materials presented were dealing with the timeless philosophy, and
  not with now out-of-date references to the science of the 1800's.

* There is something special or precious about the doctrines, something
  that makes it a public service for us to learn and share it with others.

IF (a very big *if*) we make all these assumptions, then the work is cut
out for us. We learn and share the philosophy in our own unique ways.

For the many people we encounter in and outside of theosophical circles
that don't make these assumptions, their worldview, goals, approaches
would be different. In order for us to be inclusive of the wider
theosophical community, we need to embrace others with different
assumptions about life, different goals, but perhaps the same desire to
better oneself and the world. That means that when we talk about our
being united in our efforts to promote the Teachings, we describe our
efforts as *one project within the Theosophical Movement*, and not as
the Movement itself.

-- Eldon