Theos-Talk Archives (April 2001 Message tt00127)

Frank, I'm also not a person who can measure the "radiation of the thought
powers into the astral world," and I'm afraid that ordinary people like us
will just have to observe and draw conclusions from the material signs. HPB
did say something to the effect that analogy and correspondence are
important keys to understanding something about the nature of those non
physical levels. I think this is a notion that we can apply without using
any powers beyond those available to our ordinary intelligence. If there
is discord on the physical level, I think we can safely surmise that there
are corresponding discords on others.

I don't know how many Buddhas, if any the TS had evolved. To my knowledge,
I never met one. However, I have met a few members who believed they were
highly evolved, if not on the threshold of Buddhahood. I have also met
several who believe they are the reincarnation of Blavatsky or Judge, and
one who tried to tell me that I was the reincarnation of Judge! Another
who has regular conversations with Blavatsky, and several others who have
daily meetings with the Masters. That is all fine for them. For myself,
I'm stuck with the ordinary common sense and discretion that I have evolved
for myself in this and perhaps other lives. My own impression has been that
the TS and other similar organizations attract a significant number of very
marginal people. In my almost forty years of involvement with the
organization and hundreds of people I have met, I would say that I have met
less than a half dozen people whose characters have evoked any deep respect
on my part--none of those people have ever held a significant office in the
TS, and only a couple maintained the membership for very long. And of
those two, they are not actively involved.

The internet has done a lot to change how we communicate, and hopefully is
becoming a useful medium to better inform those who are interested in
Theosophy. But the internet is just a new technology and is no better or
worse than those who use it.

It is interesting that Radha blames the members for the low level of the TS.
When people elect candidates for office, it is with the expectation that
they will improve matters, and create an environment for higher level
activity. On the other hand, I had a lovely old aunt who use to tell me
that people elect into office exactly the people they deserve. If my aunt
was right, then in an ironic way, Radha is perfectly correct in blaming the
members for not insisting on a better leader.

I'm sure that there are a lot of capable people who, if in office, could do
a great deal to benefit the TS and the members. But alas, Ramadoss is
right, the bylaws are such that the present leadership have almost complete
control over who may run for any of the major offices, let alone win. I
once had a political science professor tell the class that the first
priority of every elected official is to stay in power. My experience has
been that as a rule, he is right on this--and the exceptions are very rare
indeed.

jhe