Theos-Talk Archives (January 2005 Message tt00400)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Perry Coles" <perrycoles@y...> wrote:



> The question you ask regarding the Mahatmas letter to CWL is a very 
> valid and interesting one I think.
> 
> Leadbeater must have shown some potential.
> Some of his commentaries on the spiritual path in talks on the path 
> of occultism for example show quite a bit of insight imo. (Albeit a 
> very Augustinian style) 
> 
> It's a shame he lost the plot and got caught up in his own ego and 
> psychic delusions and then took Annie Besant along with him.(claiming 
> to be Arhats, second comings, church-iness ect.)
> 
> To me the evidence seems pretty conclusive that he was a child 
> molester and a pathological liar, I can't ignore all the evidence 
> that clearly shows that.
> 
> So why if these tendencies were so strong in his skandas did the 
> Mahatmas encourage him to become more involved in the TS?
> 
> I have to say this is a mystery to me.
> 
> Perhaps the Mahatma's saw more than the negative side of him and 
> wanted to encourage his more harmonious qualities.
> It is said that as we grow in awareness our shadow grows along side 
> to our light.
> 
> My hope is that one day the Adyar Society will be mature enough to 
> allow an open critique and comparison of his teachings with those of 
> Blavatsky and the Mahatma's.... that's all.
> 
> The personality Charles Leadbeater was plainly a very human one but 
> one that had charm and charisma and spun a good yarn but also had 
> some spiritual insight as well.
> His lower nature got the better of him and he crashed.


And what a crash:

Over 1400 articles published in different theosophical magazines world
wide in a span of forty six years.

Active membership in the TS from 1883 to 1906 amd from 1909 to 1934.
Lectured for the Society in many continents. Almost a hundred books
and booklets published and many countries.

His books, translated into many languages, brought the teachings of
Theosophy to dozens of thousands in many continents. It is simply
impossible to compute the number of students that proceeded to study
the original literature of Theosophy after an introductory
acquaintance through his books.

He was the theosophical author under the greatest and most
comprehensive critical and public scrutiny in the past one hundred
years, and attracted the attention of judicial authorities in India
and Australia and was investigated upon, but never prosecuted.

In spite of countless references to him in books, articles and
postings on the Internet as being a pedophile, child molester,
sodomist, black magician, monster and rapist, which have assumed for
some the status of oracular validity, his books continue to sell world
wide, including at amazon.com.

His joint work with Annie Besant on Occult Chemistry has received
renewed attention recently and is due to feature in a biography of the
Nobel Prize for Chemistry of 1922 (Anston). Information has surfaced
that Anston used at that time as a name for a newly discovered
chemical element the same name previously attributed to it by
Leabeater, without giving the due credit for it.

His observations on the inner aspect of ceremonies attracted the
attention of many students, both within and outside the TS.

His books MAN VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE and THOUGHT FORMS (with Annie
Besant) had a distinct influence in the works of Kandinski and other
members of the Modern Art Movement. The original plates of those books
formed part of an exhibition on Modern Art in Chicago in the 1980s.

He always saw has his duty to observe the inner realities of existence
and to report his observations as accurately as possible. He declared,
more than once, that he did not expect people to believe his
clairvoyant descriptions of the unseen world, although he said that
form him they were a reality. 


His was indeed a mighty crash.


Pedro