Theos-Talk Archives (April 2004 Message tt00422)

While it may be claimed that some of Leadbeater's very general claims 
about the future may bear an approximation to what happened, they hardly 
carry the stamp of originality: read, for example, some of Leadbeater's 
favourite authors like H.G. Wells.
It is Leadbeater's specific claims to knowledge based on his psychic 
abilities that ought to most carefully assessed. My view is that there is 
not a single piece of information presented by Leadbeater as deriving 
from his clairvoyance that (a) was not known at the time or (b) was not 
so vague as be be untestable or (c) has not subsequently been shown to be 
false. Examples of alleged accurate prophecy would be welcomed!

A few examples:

(i) Life on Mars - a detailed description of the grography, people, 
architecture, etc, of Mars is provided in "The Inner Life" (TPH, Adyar, 
1917 - one volume edition - pages 275-285). It bears no relation to what 
is now scientifically known of Mars.

(ii) Life on Mercury - "The Inner Life" (TPH, Adyar, 1917 - one volume 
edition - pages 284). Its inhabitants are "much like ourselves", although 
"somewhat smaller." The claims bear no relation to what is now 
scientifically known of Mercury.

(iii) Remains of civilization on the moon - strangely undiscovered as 
yet. "Man: Whence, How and Whither", TPH, Adyar, 1913:48

(iv) Claims about the nature and place of the origin of the Christian 
Gospels, and their dating: "The Inner Life" (TPH, Adyar, 1917 - one 
volume edition - pages 119-20). Leadbeater claims the Gospels were all 
written at one time in a monastery at Alexandria and based on original 
written in Hebrew. The origin of the Gospels has, it might be said, be 
endlessly explored; strangely, no single scholar supports Leadbeater's 
claim.

(v) the cause of cancer: cancer cells were "exactly like the normal cell 
except that it was a looking glass image of it." (quoted in C. 
Jinarajadasa "Occult Investigations" TPH, Adyar, 1938:58)

Finally, some of the prophecies which accompanied those quoted by Mr 
Oliveira (but which he did not cite): the government of Britain will be 
entirely in the hands of the King, parliament will be abolished; India 
will remain part of the British Empire but be divided into several 
kingdoms; Central Africa will be like Switzerland and full of grand 
hotels. 

And of the TS? It will become a vast and powerful organization, "a 
distinct department in the world's sciences," and publishing huge 
quantities of literature. It will operate "big establishments and 
universities" in all the major nations of the world. The headquarters at 
Adyar will include a vast "georgeous palace" bigger than the Taj Mahal. 
The TS will own both the Adyar River and the land on both sides of it, 
together with an additional square mile along the ocean. ("Man: Whence, 
How and Whither", TPH, Adyar, 1913:460-466)


This, of course, leaves aside Leadbeater's explicit racism. In an article 
reproduced in "The Liberal Catholic" ('The Method of Human Progress' 
XXXIII: June 1, 1961) he writes happily about the "untrammelled savage", 
"an utterly undeveloped human being" who could hope to evole into "the 
highest, the most developed race in the world" - which is the Aryan. He 
notes how vastly superior this race is to the Australian Aboriginal 
people. Perhaps this is Liberal Catholic teaching, since the then 
Presiding Bishop of that Church wrote, in 1994, on the situation in South 
Africa: "Over the years, evolution amongst the Blacks has progressed 
steadily, although by no means fast enough." ("The Liberal Catholic", 
LXIII July 2, 1994:7)

Leadbeater suggested (in "Australian and New Zealand: The Home of a new 
Sub-Race", TPH, Adyar, 1916) that the inferior evolutionary position of 
the Australian Aboriginal people meant they should be "helped" to die out 
(although he was unspecific about the means whereby they might be thus 
"helped"), and that the (then) Australian government's "White Australia" 
policy (keeping Asians, Africans and other "non-white" people out of the 
country) was occultly necessary to prevent inter-racial marriage in the 
Master's plan for the development of a new (white) sub-race. Has the TPH 
recently re-published this interesting work? Perhaps for widespread 
distribution in Australia?

Dr Gregory Tillett