Theos-Talk Archives (February 1998 Message tt00291)

>From Lorraine Christensen

I liked what you wrote.  I see the Internet's potential to be a unifier
of various TS groups.  We are part of the Worldwide TS Network!
Discussion groups like theos-talk  are making it happen!  It serves as
a practical way for us to live out the first object of the Society.

Lorraine Christensen
henningc@quenet.com

----------
> From: "M K Ramadoss" <ramadoss@eden.com>
> Subject: Internet as a Unifier
> Date: Saturday, February 21, 1998 8:40 AM
>
> I have always felt that Internet is going to have a very far reaching
> effect on the everyone. Its effect is already being felt by those who
are
> interested in Theosophy. Whether this is recognized by the
organizations
> and their leaders is still unclear.
>
> A case in point. When I lived in a large city in India, there was a
ULT
> Lodge and three TS Adyar lodges. The largest TS Lodge and the ULT
were
> within two miles of each other. Both were quite active. In spite of
this,
> the active members of either were not familiar with each others. Much
less
> in all the 13 years I lived, I did not see a single instance they had
any
> joint effort or joint program. I had attended meetings of both the
Lodges -
> TS Adyar and ULT, as a novice not familiar with territorial issues of
the
> organizations.
>
> Lo and behold, after two decades I got interested in Internet e-mail
lists.
> And what do we find? Those interested in Theosophy, belonging to any
of the
> organizations as or none interacting and exchanging ideas, discussing
> various issues and each one is having Theosophy in their hearts. Of
course,
> the leadership, especially the TS Adyar is following the old model.
Have we
> seen any of the elected officials here or on any other non censored
> maillists or newsgroups? Let us be charitable, in that most of them
belong
> to the old generation and grew up in pre-computer culture and it is
> difficult to make cultural adjustment and deal with the new medium.
>
> On a personal level, each one of us is dealing with others without
the
> walls of organizations that tend to separate. Today if I were to
visit the
> city in India, it is very easy for me to visit the lodges of both TS
Adyar
> and ULT and the membership there would welcome me as a fellow
T/theosophist
> rather than as a T/theosophist belonging to the one or the other
> organization. This breakthrough is something that is stunning and
that has
> been accomplished by Internet in a short time.
>
> From this example, I see immense potential of Internet to spread
Theosophy
> as well as unify all of us who are interested in Theosophy.
>
> My 0.02
>
> MKR
>
>