Theos-Talk Archives (August 2003 Message tt00060)

Mauri,

My comments are in bold..

You wrote:

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, in 1902 Rudolph 
Steiner (founder of the "Anthroposophical Society" in 1912) 
got "in connection with the Theosophical Society," but 
apparently he found himself out of sympathy with its 
subsequent policy. Having read (so far) most of H.P. 
BLAVATSKY, A GREAT BETRAYAL by A.L. Cleather, I 
wonder if Steiner's lack of sympathy might've had something to 
do with how the Theosophical Movement (at Adyar and 
England?) at that time was headed by Besant and Leadbeater. 
Seems to me that those two were active enough at that time on 
various fronts, and seem to have been turning the 
Theosophical Movement (per ALC) into the "Liberal Catholic 
Church," among other things, apparently. But times, people 
and organizations change, one might suppose?

Yes organizations change. Some would say the T.S. changed with the times. Others would say that Besant and Leadbeater took the T.S. off on a tangent. 


Seems to me one might wonder how the the people who head 
up the TS at Adyar, and elsewhere, might these days regard 
Besant's and Leadbeater's role and status as representatives of 
... whatever? 

I'm sure if you ask people in the various groups they will be happy to share their opinions on the subject (some of which are quite conflicting). If there is one thing that many Theosophists have studied and like to talk about it's Theosophical history. (grin)

Also one might wonder (I wonder, at any rate) 
whether B/L might've had some influence on some of the 
directions taken by Alice Bailey in later years---not that I have 
come across details suggesting that Bailey might've been under 
some kind of B/L influence. My knowledge about Bailey's 
views are sketchy, even sketchier than my knowledge about 
B/L, but ALC has certainly piqued my curiosity about the 
course of the Theosophical Movement after HPB's passing.

I was never attracted to Bailey myself. Read a book or two of hers and never felt like reading more. 


Also, I tend to wonder whether some of todays TS's 
(somewhere, maybe?) might be, at heart, or in some sense, 
maybe, some kind of conscious or unconscious reps of what 
might amount to, or might be seen, by some, as some sort of 
Liberal (or not-so-liberal?) Catholic Churches that might be 
outwardly represented as "Theosophical Societies" (so as to 
deal with whatever perceived "Theosophical threat" from the 
ground up---for all I know---maybe?). 

Perhaps. In the end each group, of course, has it's own individual focus. So in that sense each of them have a specialized view of Theosophy based on what they study and the manner in which they study and teach it.

What Theosophical threat are you talking about?


Of course, on the other 
hand, (at least there's another hand, here, eh?!), whatever 
"today's TS's" might be seen to "amount to," by whoever, one 
might console oneself (?) with the thought " it's all karma" 
(should I mention maya?), after all, and so is, (theoretically?) 
dealable? 

I'm not sure that I am interpreting this statement correctly - but it seems that you are saying basically that todays groups don't amount to much - as in they are not growing? Is that right? If you look at pure numbers (i.e. number of members - the average member age getting older, etc.) I won't argue with you if that's your point.



Not that I haven't sensed much wisdom and 
"Theosophic" meaning (by way of my various interpretations, 
at any rate) in many of the words/posts I have come across on 
these lists. 


Speculatively,
Mauri

Thanks for the interesting speculations...

-Ed









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"What makes a good artist, a good sculptor, a good musician? Practice. What makes a man a good linguist, a good stenographer? Practice. What makes a man a good man? Practice. Nothing else...-Henry Drummond





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