Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00270)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Jerry Hejka-Ekins <jjhe@c...> 
wrote:


> John Algeo, who we had speak at the 1984 conference, gave the key 
note 
> address at the 94 Conference. He spoke for about forty minutes--
and here 
> is the sad irony to what you wrote above. John's talk was not 
about 
> inter-Theosophical unity. Rather, at the high point of his 
speech, he 
> cited the Letter from the Maha-Chohan as proof that the Adyar TS 
was the 
> only true TS. In other words, he completely deconstructed the 
entire 
> purpose of the conference. 


Jerry:

I had an opportunity to see the video of the 1994 Inter-Theosophical 
Dialogue: The Theosophical Movement - Past & Future. John Algeo was 
not the keynote speaker; he was the last of a panel of speakers to 
address the gathering, and he spoke for approximately 15 min. He 
even invoked the memory of Eunice Layton to end his speech before 
the appointed time. Shirley Nicholson, who was chairing the meeting, 
had given the speakers in the panel up to 20 min each (which Nancy 
and John Coker shared). Incidentally, you also spoke for 15 min in 
the opening panel and I was interested to see your approach of 
paradigm shifts within the Adyar TS, for example. I was also 
impressed with Alan Donant's talk. 

Nowhere in his presentation did John Algeo say that the Adyar TS was 
the only true Theosophical Society. He did quote the Mahachohan's 
communication through K.H. - "the Theosophical Society was chosen as 
the cornerstone of the future religions of humanity", and he made it 
clear that it was a statement made in 1881. He did comment on parts 
of the Chohan's letter and their (according to him, Algeo) 
connections with the three Objects of the TS. It would be 
interesting to hear other comments of how John's talk was perceived.

As you said, he did not address the question of networking among 
theosophical organisations, but presented instead the educational 
vision of the TS in America. Although some of the speakers addressed 
the need for networking, others presented the contribution of their 
own organisations to the past (and the potential future) of the 
Theosophical Movement.

You made it clear in your previous post how difficult the situation 
was at that time and the video shows how nervous some of the 
speakers were. After the closing of the morning programme, the 
camera was left on and I could see some of the familiar faces that I 
had seen in 1983. I think I also saw Eldon Tucker in the group of 
people who were leaving the hall. Was he there?


Pedro