Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00348)

Hello Bart,

I think you had a good idea with that web site. During the 70s and into 
the the mid 1980s when TSA was still promoting Lodges and seeking to 
interact with the membership, your discussion board would have been a 
wonderful resource. Unfortunately, since that time, lodges have become 
increasingly irrelevant in TSA. A Little history: 

Under Dora Kunz's administration (1975-1986) the Lodges and the members 
became the primary focus of the TSA. Her innovative work of reviving 
Lodges and Federations paid off in terms of a growing membership which 
at one point rose to about 7,800--as far as I know, the largest 
membership TSA has ever had, and has never since achieved. When Dora 
left office in 1986, the new administration, under Dorothy Abbenhouse 
(1987-1992), began the process of abandoning Dora's rather innovative 
programs. In other words, the policy of focusing upon the membership as 
TSA's primary mode for promulgating Theosophy was beginning to be 
withdrawn. However, spokespersons for the new administration said 
otherwise. During this transition period, a field work project was 
organized. Linda Jo Pym was given the job of making it go. But she was 
put into a very bad position, since the lodge leaders already got the 
message that they were being abandoned, even if they were not being 
specifically told so. The Field Work Committee's initial mission 
statement was rather transparent. It was something like: "to make the 
Lodges *feel like* they are being supported by Olcott Headquarters." I 
wrote Linda Jo and suggested she would get a better response from the 
Lodge and Federation leaders leaders if the mission statement was simply 
something like: "To be supportive to the lodges." But the mission 
statement was not changed. The project lasted about two years and then 
abandoned. Under John Algeo's administration (1993-2002), the focus 
moved towards centralization and consolidation within the National 
Headquarters. During this shift, the TSA membership, at one point, 
dropped to under 4,000, and Lodges and Federations steadily began to 
fold. Consequently, the member-at-large population began making up a 
greater and greater percentage of the total membership. A "National 
Lodge" was formed, under the control of Headquarters, which effectively 
encouraged and accelerated this new demographic. 

I still believe that Theosophical work can still be done on an 
individual level, but from my own experience at Los Angeles Lodge, I 
found that after Dora Left office, the constant interference from 
Krotona and Olcott was actually making our efforts much more difficult 
and their results less fruitful. My wife and I eventually moved to 
Central California where there is no Lodge or Study Group. We concluded 
that chartering another Lodge or Study Group under TSA would only 
continue to bind us to the restrictions, criticism and negative karma. 
We considered chartering under ULT or Pasadena, but had no reason to 
believe that things would be much different there either. We further 
concluded that the Theosophical Movement is for more important than the 
organizations. Therefore, we decided to independently continue our work 
under the same original program laid out in the beginning, and promote 
the same objects and the same teachings. Otherwise, we would be 
completely unconnected to the TSA. As a result, we have achieved much 
greater success in promulgating Theosophical ideas to the public in this 
little town of Christian conservatives, then we were able to do under 
the auspices of the TSA while working in the vast metropolis of Los 
Angeles. Interestingly, our members are of a very different demographic 
than that of TSA. They are much younger. When working with the TSA 
from 1963 until 1990, the national demographics showed that the member's 
ages mostly ranged from their mid 50s through their mid 70s. Most of 
our members are in their 30s and 40s, and they stay with us year after 
year. 

Over the years, I have tried to encourage discussions on the topic of 
communicating Theosophy to a post modern generation. I am still deeply 
interested in this subject and recently tried to get a discussion going 
here by playing off of Dallas' traditional twentieth century approach as 
a contrast to a post modern one. Dallas' sweetly and patiently went 
along with my effort. Thank you Dallas. I did get a lot of good 
responses, but the vast majority of them were sent to me privately. 
Apparently, there is a reluctance to discuss that subject on a public 
discussion board. I'm not sure why. My guess is that TS workers know 
that these boards are monitored and are fearful of being identified as 
being among those who are trying to bring about fundamental changes 
which the TSA has traditionally resisted. Advocates for change are too 
often looked upon as being disloyal. 

While I was not successful in getting a discussion going here, I did 
succeed in making new friends, and continue to dialogue with them 
privately.

Jerry




Bart Lidofsky wrote:

>Jerry Hejka-Ekins wrote:
> 
>
>>points. I am trying to say that the TS is about more than finances, it 
>>is also about members. 
>> 
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>	A couple of years back, I set up a list largely for discussion of 
>running the TS from a lodge level, where people could communicate with 
>each other, and share experience and resources. It went over like a lead 
>balloon (and no, it was NOT moderated).
>
>	Bart
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>Yahoo! Groups Links
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