Theos-Talk Archives (July 2001 Message tt00236)

leonmaurer@aol.com wrote:

> I don't know what ax you have to grind, or what anger you are suffering under
> that makes you so eager to discredit ULT... But all I know about the policy
> of that "free association of independent students of theosophy" is what I
> read in its declaration -- plus the freedom, along with the facilities it
> gave me over the past 35 years, to study as deeply as I desired in the
> mysteries of the occult, under my own "self devised and self determined
> efforts -- without ever having to become a (signed up) member, or having to
> make any contribution to its work, except as I might freely volunteer.

I have no real problem with the ULT as it is. I would have no problem
with what the ULT claims to be. If push comes to shove, it doesn't
really have any effect on my world that the ULT is NOT what it claims to
be. However, in a group of organizations which are based on the concept
"There is no religion higher than truth", some people are quite upset
over this.

The ULT does a wonderful job in presenting the works of Blavatsky and
Judge. I have often recommended it to members of the New York
Theosophical Society (TS Adyar) who want to learn more about this
literature. But I have seen too many people who have been thrown out of
ULT meetings for daring to offer interpretations which violate the party
line, or ask the wrong kinds of questions, for me to believe its hype
about being a "free association of independent students of theosophy".
And when I asked on a theosophical list (don't remember if it was this
one or theos-l) about the Board of Directors of the ULT in New York, I
was told that there were none; after I pointed out that, by New York
State law, a not-for-profit corporation REQUIRES a board of directors, I
was told that it STILL didn't exist. If I were sufficiently curious, the
Board of Directors should be a matter of public record, and, if there is
not an active Board of Directors, I could arrange a large amount of
legal problems, but, once again, the ULT provides a valuable service, so
why should I? Let them keep their fictions.

Bart Lidofsky