Theos-Talk Archives (August 2001 Message tt00201)

Katinka:

You're doing what all the theosophical groups, when
at their best, encourage their members to do. That
is to share Theosophy in an individual way to the
best of one's ability.

Each group, including Adyar, Pasadena, and the
ULT, has a particular approach and favorite secondary
source authors. Adyar has Leadbeater and Besant.
Pasadena has Purucker, Tingley and Judge. ULT has
Crosbie and Judge. The point in common among
the groups is a shared respect for Blavatsky's
works.

Besides favorite authors, the groups have different
approaches to theosophical work, and may appeal to
people of differing temperaments.

Each group has a certain momentum, a certain
inertia, and seeks to maintain the status quo
regarding its role in the Theosophical Movement.
Workers supporting the current leaderships and
directions are appreciated. Workers supporting
change are sometimes welcomed and sometimes seen
as enemies and expelled or shunned.

It's natural to expect a group to have its websites
and published literature to be consistent with
the established approach of the group's. There
would be limits to how much individual deviation
or innovation would be tolerated.

On the other hand, personal sites like yours
are not a threat to the direction of any
theosophical organization, because each site
is a statement of it's author's and not a
statement of the organization itself. It's only
when a personal website appears to represent
the theosophical group, that it's not appreciated.

I see the future of the movement being towards
more independent, autonomous work by individuals
out of their own creativity. One reason the
theosophical groups exist is to help people find
their own way, to become self-directed in their
efforts, taking the initiative to do good in the
world. This is the opposite of obedient sheep
that never stray from the flock, that bleat in
unison, show up faithfully adding to the organizational
member count -- but never find that source of
creative energy, an energy that demands that it
be expressed in life.

-- Eldon


At 07:10 AM 8/21/01 -0700, you wrote:

> Hi doss,
>
> Well, the TS-Adyar in my country is supportive of my dutch,
> unmoderated e-mailgroup. So, organizations can choose not
> to be controlling. And I am pretty certain that if I were
> to volunteer managing the dutch website, I could link to
> outside subjects. But for some reason, I would feel
> censored even before I started. This would be
> self-censorship, I don't think the top-people know enough
> about the internet to have an opinion on the subject. I
> have to take that back: They do want other
> (non-theosophical) organisations to link to them, so I
> suppose they would not mind linking to other organizations.
> But, being an independent spirit, I don't even take the
> risk. This is MY website, nobody is going to control it but
> ME (and geocities). >:-) (is that a devil-like smiley? It
> is meant to be ;-0 ) Never thought I'd be using a devil
> like smiley. But well, I suppose I am just a tad bit
> protective of my internetactivities.
>
> Katinka
> > From: ramadoss@infohwy.com
> > Subject: Re:
> >
> > At 01:06 AM 8/20/01 -0700, Katinka Hesselink wrote:
> > >And on an official website of the TS, I
> > >suppose I would think twice before linking to other
> > >subjects. But then, that is the reason why my site is
> > >independent.
> >
> > Dear Katinka:
> >
> > Thanks for your reasoned feedback. The point I quote
> > above indicates the
> > flexibility and an individual being able to put up a
> > website just goes to
> > show the power of the individual in the Internet age and
> > does it portend
> > the future direction of the movement away from
> > organizations to that of
> > individuals. Soon organizatons may become unimportant
> > except for those who
> > are comfortable with them for one reason or the other.
> >
> > Also, we have the active maillists only because of their
> > independence from
> > organizations, because organizations generally tend to
> > love controlling and
> > censoring what goes on, and I suspect they have not come
> > to terms to adjust
> > to the new environment over which no one has any control.
> >
> > mkr