Theos-Talk Archives (December 2006 Message tt00193)

Friends,  
 
There are, it seems, two main and central conceptions of the theosophical movement nowadays. 
 
One, created by H.P. Blavatsky and the Masters, is the original one and it  is destined to prevail as everything that is true. It relates to the Doctrine of the Heart, mentioned in ‘The Voice of the Silence’. 
 
The other view of the movement was created by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater. It is the passing illusion  of the ‘doctrine of the eye’, which  in the first decades of 20th century brought about the  ritualistic and ‘catholic’ version of Theosophy and its associated  practices of naive blind belief.  
 
These two broad and inclusive views of the movement  have  naturally polarized  – with their corresponding magnetisms and energies –  two groups of human groups and individuals. 
 
Power control mechanisms  in the Adyar quarters are rather top-down and Popish in style, while there is a great diversity in the HPB/Masters field, which is rather a network.  
 
Within the HPB/Masters field,  a better sense of unity can be stimulated by now,  without denying due contrast or inter-group differences.  Yet  the differences between these groups should be seen as relatively irrelevant side-issues. By studying  and debating our common philosophy  and living by it as much as we can,  we will be able to see secondary issues just as they are. Thus, the really fundamental  questions will emerge in all clarity.  
 
Some degree of friendly mutual criticism is healthy among these groups and networks of students and within them as well.  But as I see it,  any  deep mistrust or suspicions should be kept at a distance.   When we have self-confidence, we can trust others.  Lack of confidence in others expresses a lack of self-confidence.  As  a Master says,  suspicion “is a heavy armour, and with its own weight impedes more than it protects”. (1) 
 
The  common magnetic field of HPB/Masters students  include the Pasadena TS, the Point Loma groups, the Edmonton TS, the ULT, Blavatsky students within the Adyar TS  and many independent initiatives around the world. 
 
Among these, diversity is healthy while uniformity may be tamasic and asphyxiating. A broad view of things  makes us more capable of having meaningful dialogues with Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Islamists, University scholars and non-believers, among others.  This helps us  build a better  and wider nucleus, or “umbrella”,  of Universal Brotherhood.  That was certainly the editorial perspective created and followed  by HPB and the Masters, in the first years of the magazine “The Theosophist”. 
 
Our philosophy is absolutely universal. Therefore it should,  or must,  be of practical use to every human being.  As William Judge says in the first paragraph of  a famous book, the ocean of  Theosophy “spreads from shore to shore of the evolution of sentient beings; unfathomable in its deepest parts, it gives the greatest minds their fullest scope, yet, shallow enough at its shores, it will not overwhelm the understanding of a child”. (2)  
 
This, I guess,  is a stimulating challenge for the 21st century. 
 
 
Regards,   Carlos. 
 
 
NOTES:
 
(1) “The Mahatma Letters”,  TUP, Pasadena, CA, 1992, 494 pp., see Letter LXII, p.  355. This is Letter 126, p. 425, in the Chronological Edition (Philippines TPH, 1993). 
 
(2) “The Ocean of Theosophy”, W. Q. Judge, Theosophy Company, Los Angeles, 1987, 172 pp., see p. 01. 
 
 
 


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