Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00301)

Pedro,

John's address was spoken of at the time as the "keynote address." Yes, 
you are correct, it was the last talk (which is in itself important to 
note), but he did not speak as one of the panel of speakers. In fact, 
he was with Shirley Nicholson the panel moderator and he was the time 
keeper. 

You are also correct that John did not make a direct statement that the 
Adyar TS was the only true Theosophical Society. To have done so would 
have polarized the audience. If you go back to my original statement, I 
said that he made that "point." I carefully selected my words when I 
made that statement. I also point out that very few Adyar TS members 
even caught the meaning of what he was saying, but non Adyar TS members 
did understand. Also keep in mind that because of conversations I have 
had with John Algeo, Joy Mills and Shirley Nicholson, I was already 
perfectly aware of their attitudes towards the Networking movement. You 
might also consider that if they were to have made a clear statement of 
policy against Networking, it would have just created dissent among the 
members. Not supporting and quietly undermining the effort is much more 
effective.

There was a lot going on at that meeting that was not spoken, not 
translatable to a tape recorder, but transmitted in other ways. 

Yes, Eldon Tucker was also present.

--j



prmoliveira wrote:

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