Theos-Talk Archives (February 1999 Message tt00113)

In a message dated 2/22/99 3:49:45 PM, David Green wrote:

<<According to Dr Bruce Campbell,
the United Lodge of Theosophists is
actually run by the Theosophy Company,
a nonprofit California Corporation.
The Corporation is governed by a board of
7 trustees who have the ultimate power.
Does anyone know who these 7 trustees are?>>

David, I do know who the seven trustees are, but I can assure you they DON'T
"run" ULT, nor do they have "ultimate power."  Listen to my experiences before
you brush off my assessment.

I have been involved in ULT for over a decade, and there are a number of
things I would change about ULT if I had the power to do so (which I don't).
At one time I too thought that the Theosophy Company controlled ULT, but I
have since learned that this simply isn't true.  The board members simply
supervise the printing of books and the activities of the Los Angeles lodge
that require financing, like putting out money for newspaper ads.  The board
members have no direct control over any other lodge or its finances, that I
know of, although the Los Angeles company does hold title to a few of the
buildings of other lodges.  This is (presumably) because some lodges are small
and in danger of closing -- in absence of a clear title-holder, buildings tend
to revert to the state.  But most ULT lodges own their buildings and property
themselves.

Neither this board, nor any one person, "controls" ULT, though I can see the
romantic attraction of such an idea.  I have personally been to half a dozen
lodges, and a numbner of study groups in other areas, and I can report to you
that often they follow very different courses of study.  The New York and Los
Angeles lodges tend to be more formal, and generally keep to Mr. Judge's OCEAN
OF THEOSOPHY, HPB's KEY TO THEOSOPHY and other classics, year after boring
year, no matter whether everyone in the group has read it 100 times before.
It find this boring, although I agree those classical works are important.

Other lodges have video programs (I recently heard of a video series on the
Old Testament being used by the Washington state group) while in San Diego
they are running a study of the social and political effects that various
world religions bring to their adherents.  Santa Barbara is responsible, in
addition to other things, for the Institute of World Culture, which includes
inviting guest speakers, often from universities -- a program similar to that
carried out by the Bombay lodge in India.  (More conservative lodges NEVER
invite guest speakers).  The Paris and Dijon lodges contain members from the
scientific community (cool, huh?) and their programs tend to reflect those
interests.

I certainly don't mind stating that ULT has a problem with power flow, in that
it tends to get bogged down in the hands of the few without any guarantee of
democratic process.  Many lodges tend to have a handful of old-timers that run
the show, and newcomers kind of have to "wait their turn" to have a
significant say in the program of study, or to be permitted to give talks from
the platform.  Other lodges, however, have no problem with this.  In the San
Diego lodge, for instance, I myself witnessed a vote by a show of hands as to
whether for the next year they would continue their world religions study
program.  Their was no consultation with any "leader" and actually the person
who volunteered to supervise that particular study series is a relative
newcomer to that lodge.

So what I've learned about ULT, and what I'm sharing with you, is that while
it does have its problems (and some of its problems are quite significant,
like inflexibility) it is not an organization in the typical sense, and
individual lodges are truly free to act as they wish.  I have found that
lodges tend to bow to the wishes of very senior students in LA and NY, but
this is not always the case, nor is there any mechanism to MAKE people follow
certain lines laid down.  It tends to be a fact that the people who have the
most time to give to ULT are elderly people, retired, with time on their
hands.  After being in the lodge 60 years or more, they tend to have very hard
and fast ideas as to "how things should be done" and don't take well to "back
talk."  As one of the more rebellious associates of ULT, I have certainly felt
pressure to act in certain ways, but this has come from individuals, and not
from any organized program to make me toe the line.

So I encourage you to take ULT lodges independently, and not lump them all
together as a whole.  Why not try visiting a few lodges as an undercover
student, without announcing your interest in studying them sociologically?
And then report what you find.  This will get you farther than allegations
posted to a public forum.

Rich

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