Theos-Talk Archives (September 2006 Message tt00210)

New Mission Statement at Wheaton?
  
   I haven't checked it out yet, but in 
the 9-06 "Lucifer7" K. Hesselink says 
that Wheaton TS has removed the "brotherhood" 
part of the Society's purpose or mission 
statement.  Sounds like what the Prayag 
Society was doing, and the adept saying 
they would have nothing to do with mere 
occultists without the brotherhood principle.
The "unity of all life" might past muster,
but only using the "brotherhood" term has
the necessary force behind it, and is 
significant.
  
The article below from the Sept. '06 Lucifer7:
   
  "Theosophical Society in America (Adyar): mission statement"
                            - Katinka Hesselink [2006]
  
The Theosophical Society has had three 
objects for more than a century. They are:
  
- To form a nucleus of the Universal 
Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction 
of race, creed, sex, caste or color.
  - To encourage the study of Comparative 
Religion, Philosophy and Science.
  - To investigate unexplained laws of Nature 
and the powers latent in man. (Source)
   
Of these three objects the first has 
been considered the most important, 
at least since the time H.P. Blavatsky 
and H.S. Olcott arrived in India in 1879. 
  
Strangely enough the 'mission-statement' 
of the Theosophical Society in Wheaton 
(Adyar) rephrases the above, but leaves 
brotherhood out. It is as follows:
  
- "To encourage open-minded enquiry 
into world religions, philosophy, science, 
and the arts in order to understand the 
wisdom of the ages, respect the unity 
of all life, and help people explore 
spiritual self-transformation."
  
A mission statement is merely another 
word for aim or object. So one would 
expect the three objects of the Theosophical 
Society to agree precisely with the 
mission-statement. One would also expect 
the wording of the mission-statement to 
be more modern. In that vein it would 
have been a nice challenge if the board 
of directors of the US-section of the 
TS had found a new sex-neutral way of 
saying that people should treat each 
other well. What else does a 'nucleus 
of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity 
(etc)' mean? But to leave it all out is 
really going too far for me, and for 
several of the people I met in Wheaton 
this summer. This mission-statement 
sounds selfish to me. Great: I find 
an organisation where people will help 
me with my self-transformation en where 
my open enquiry into religions, spirituality 
and science will be supported. Wonderful. 
And there is no suggestion that I 
personally need to do anything at all. 
I don't need to practice loving kindness. 
I don't need to find tolerance in my 
heart for those I've learned to despise 
or ignore. I will perhaps learn to 
respect the unity of all life in abstract, 
but there is no need for me to do 
anything practical at all... 
  
I'm obviously being cynical. In actual 
fact the attempt to form a nucleus of 
the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, 
without distinction of race, creed, sex, 
caste or color is work. It means a 
constant attempt to overcome my conditioning. 
It means reaching out to people. It means 
practicing kindness. It means learning to 
deal with people I may not like. I find it 
very disappointing that the TS in America 
has edited this very important attempt 
out of its 'mission statement' and hope 
they will change things soon.
   
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