Theos-Talk Archives (August 2003 Message tt00143)

Zack Lansdowne wrote:
> In Dec. 14, 1992, Dorothy Abbenhouse, National President of the TSA, sent a
> letter to the Theosophical Society in Boston (TSB) that stated in part: "The
> charter of the Besant Lodge, a branch of the Theosophical Society in
> America, is hereby revoked and withdrawn, effective immediately. All members
> of the Besant Lodge are hereby designated members at large. Pursuant to the
> terms of the Bylaws of the Theosophical Society in America, you are hereby
> directed to cause ownership of all property, real and personal or otherwise
> over $200.00 in value, to be transferred into the name of the Theosophical
> Society in America."
For the sake of completeness:

I have heard both sides of the story. I have heard nothing but good 
things about the Independent Theosophical Society of Boston, by the way. 
Have you ever seen RASHOMON (if not, off topic, it is a REALLY great 
film)? Well, it has NOTHING on this story. Both sides have demonized the 
other, but the people I have met and/or corresponded with on both sides, 
I feel are good, decent people. It is one of the reasons why I have 
currently refused all requests to run for office in the TS (although I 
freely admit that, when I was VP of the Northeast Federation, my entire 
set of accomplishments consisted of keeping the seat warm).

However, there is one fact that the documents back up. According to the 
TSA bylaws, if National wants to dissolve a Lodge, they must inform the 
Lodge why it is being dissolved, and give the Lodge 6 months to either 
change its behavior, or explain why it should not be dissolved. I have 
read a cc of the letter sent by National to TSB, and it contained no 
mention or even implication of Alice Bailey. However, the TSB refused to 
even communicate with National for that 6 month period. In my own 
opinion, that alone was grounds for dissolution, in clear violation of 
the 1st Object.

The Board of the TSB was upset. Based on their point of view, they had 
good reason to be upset. They believed that the fix was in, and nothing 
they could do would prevent their dissolution. I, personally, don't. But 
by refusing to even discuss the issue, they took what I consider to be a 
low road, and made the lawsuit inevitable. At the risk of sounding like 
Ramadoss, I believe that if the Internet backchannels of communication 
were widely available at the time, the Lodge would never have been 
dissolved in the first place.

Bart