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Re: Theos-World Generational change in the 1980s TM (footnote to JHE's post)

Feb 09, 2005 01:05 PM
by Jerry Hejka-Ekins


Thanks Paul for filling in some more of the details. Your recollections have evoked a few more of mine. It was 1986 or 87 that Michael Revere hosted an inter-theosophical conference in New York City. I did a presentation there on the importance of having an historical perspective of the TM, and presented a portion of our historical introduction we did for new members at Los Angeles Lodge. Michael was pushing for TS people to become members of all the Theosophical Organizations. I thought it was a good idea and did so. So did Eldon, and some others. Around the same time, the Toronto TS had a three day inter-theosophical conference, where my wife and I did a half day workshop on the same subject.
Claire Walker, in Maryland was, as you say, also had a networking newsletter, but became publicly critical of Bing Escudero's ouster from Wheaton when he tried to run for National President. Claire eventually moved to Long Beach and continued her newsletter through Long Beach Lodge. We had some nice talks.

Rick Nurrie and Ken Small did have disagreements but that is all in the past, and they are still in touch with each other. I heard from Rick a few months ago. He is doing fine.

I recall when John and Nancy Coker, and you were part of the Frederick and Tidewater TS (Pasadena) effort. I remember that your group's inter-Theosophical newsletter was called "Theosophical Branchings." Too bad it only lasted a few issues. The Cokers are still at the Pasadena Headquarters and doting over their new grandchild. Grace Knoche is very elderly now, and expectations are rising for a new leader to soon appear.

you write:

The feeling I got, based on some confidential conversations with various people, is that Wheaton "befriended" the Networking effort only to undermine it, and that John Algeo was regarded as the person who behind the scenes most opposed it.

Well, John Algeo's 1994 talk at Ojai makes it very clear that he indeed opposed and sought to undermine the networking effort. Around 1986, I was invited to attend a private meeting of those who were running things in the TS at the time. This meeting was held at Lake Geneva during the annual convention. At that meeting, Joy Mills made it very clear to all present of her opposition to the networking movement. I was sitting next to John Algeo, and asked him to speak up about the positive experience we all had at the 1984 Krotona conference--since Joy was out of the country at the time. John remained mute.
Our initial enthusiasm was characteristic of the baby boomer generation we belong to; our eventual disappointment/alienation was characteristic of many generations of would-be reformers in the Movement.

You are right, of course. We are a generation of would be reformers whose well intended efforts always seem to end up in disappointment. However, I think that we did make a fundamental change--no doubt in the TS (Pasadena), and also in ULT. I think we also made our mark on the TS (Adyar), regardless of their efforts to undermine what we were trying to do. Because of our efforts, people from the diverse Theosophical Organizations (including Adyar Theosophists) have come together in a way they had not done before--even in the time of Purucker's fraternization movement, there was never the same ease of inter-Theosophical fraternization that we have now. After twenty years, there are now Theosophists who never had any idea that things were once very different.

The effort continues through the ULT inter-Theosophical conferences, and on the even playing field of the internet Bulletin Boards. I recall that the idea was originally hatched in an all night talking session in the Coker's kitchen when they were still in Maryland. John proposed it. I remember John making the point that because the internet is an even playing field, whatever was accomplished there could never be controlled by anyone. He was right. Remember when the Wheaton headquarters tried to set up a "regulated" Theosophical Bulletin Board? Participants got tied of having their messages censored, and it appears that their discussion board has since been dropped. When the Cokers relocated to Pasadena, John got with Kim Titchnell and Eldon and set up the first Theosophical discussion Board. I remember that first meeting (you were there too) in the Titchnell house in Pasadena when we all got our first lessons on how to install and program the dial-up software and how to send and receive emails. Eldon programmed mine for me. John was the first Theosophical discussion board host. That was almost twenty years ago.

--j











kpauljohnson wrote:

Hey,

Thanks to JHE for the lengthy and informative reminiscence. As a bit player in the Networking events of the 1980s I can add the East Coast perspective. Michael Revere, a ULT associate from New York, published for a short time a magazine encouraging Theosophical networking, which came to my attention around 1985. John and Nancy Coker, then of Maryland and now of the Pasadena HQ, had already been networking on a local level with Adyar and ULT Theosophists, and I joined them in some cooperative programs. Claire Walker was then in Maryland and very pro-cooperation. We had a series of conferences in the region in the mid-80s and Michael came down for one in 1986. (Later other ULT members participated but alas made nasty scenes a couple of times leaving the other participants with a bad taste.)

He, the Cokers, and I all participated in the Theosophical Network magazine with Rick Nurrie and Ken Small. (Somehow I never met Eldon, which I regret.) We were inspired by the cassette tapes of the Ojai 1984 conference, and Michael traveled across the country meeting people in all branches of the Theosophical Movement. I got especially interested in Theosophical history and attended three conferences in London organized by Leslie Price in the late 1980s. All were attended by a mixture of various types of Theosophists and non-Theosophists; Leslie was an important figure in the Networking developments of the decade.

The impression I got from Pasadena HQ at first was that some members were disturbed by our effrontery in organizing such cooperative events, but Grace Knoche was supportive and invited us to Pasadena for a day of discussion with staff in 1986. The 1988 SD conference was a clear indication of Pasadena's subsequent commitment to networking.

But in the 1990s, despite some official cooperation as for example in the Parliament of Religions, the energy behind the Networking movement dissipated. With the Cokers' move to Pasadena and mine to south-central Virginia, the Frederick and Tidewater branches of the Pasadena TS withered away. Michael Revere married and started a family and I haven't heard anything from him in years. Rick Nurrie and Ken Small had a falling out and Rick left the Theosophical movement entirely, focusing his energies on a magazine he and his wife founded. I continued to lecture regularly for the DC and Maryland lodges and the Charlotte Study Center in the 90s, but the latter failed to survive the departure of John and Louise Mead, and invitations from the former stopped in 1999. Betty Bland had attended the last one I gave and was very friendly to me, but I suspect some Wheaton influence behind the ending of invitations from the two Adyar lodges.

The feeling I got, based on some confidential conversations with various people, is that Wheaton "befriended" the Networking effort only to undermine it, and that John Algeo was regarded as the person who behind the scenes most opposed it. The majority of those most active in the 1980s efforts to insure the healthy survival of the Theosophical movement have fallen by the wayside.
HTH,

Paul






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