Theos-Talk Archives (December 2006 Message tt00377)

Dear Friends, 


This is the second and final part of  Geofrey Farthing's answers to 
my questions, in a November 2000 text.   

In this part, he discusses the theosophical movement and its future. 

Regards, Carlos Cardoso Aveline. 


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FIVE 

How did you discover the enormous distance in occult quality between 
the original exposition of Theosophy (HPB-Masters) and its second 
version, by C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant? Did you have, then, a 
sense of having lost time? 

FARTHING  -- My discovery of the differences came about from John 
Coats having given me a copy of The Mahatma Letters, with their 
detailed account of what happens after death. This account does not 
reconcile with what is given in the Leadbeater/Besant literature. 
One of the major differences is the matter of the Etheric Double. I 
could simply not reconcile the two teachings on that score. At first 
I felt that I was not understanding either of them properly and that 
the limitation was mine. I could not believe that well-informed and 
gifted people like Leadbeater and Besant had `got it wrong'. Somehow 
or another the fault lay in me and I wrestled over this problem for 
perhaps 2 years. During this time I studied in detail the 
classification of man's principles from both points of view (e.g. 
Blavatsky in The Key) and tried hard to reconcile them, but they are 
not reconcilable. Eventually of course this led to my publishing the 
booklet "The Etheric Double?"

Another point of great difficulty was the Masters' views on religion 
and the close association of the Liberal Catholic church with the 
Theosophical Society. This again is irreconcilable.

As to my reactions on making these discoveries, I had been so long 
in the process that I was not surprised or dismayed but I do 
remember having to make a decision as to whether from then on I was 
going to accept the Masters as teachers or the Leadbeater/Besant 
partnership. In the light of all the evidence obviously it had to be 
the Masters and H.P.B., and this I did. Having made that decision 
everything else seemed to fall into place. All the problems and 
difficulties were eradicated.

SIX

What is the impact and influence of institutions like Liberal 
Catholic Church and Masonry over the theosophical movement as 
originally conceived by the Mahatmas and H.P.B.? 

FARTHING  -- I was never attracted to Masonry but under the 
influence of John Coats I could have become very interested in the 
Church. I do not know how I was saved from this but my `mentor' as 
described in "Deity, Cosmos and Man" indicated very clearly to me 
that such institutions, whilst they made one feel comfortable as a 
member of a brotherhood or other worthy group, they did nothing 
whatever to further one's real spiritual growth. That was entirely a 
matter for one's self. Having genuinely discovered that my 
attraction to the Church disappeared completely.

I was President of the T.S. in England from 1969 to 1972. During 
this time I let it be known quite openly that I was a Master/H.P.B. 
man; this was not acceptable to the generality of members. There was 
a strong Church and Masonic faction in the Society,  the members of 
which eventually got together and voted me out of office. This was a 
considerable blow to me as I had given up my job - quite a lucrative 
one and of some influence - to come and work for the Society. Being 
voted out was a hurtful experience but in a way it was a blessing. I 
was free of all other duties and could get on with my study and my 
writing.

SEVEN 

Along the  20th century, especially after the decade of the 20s, 
HPB/Masters literature slowly regained room. "The Collected Writings 
of H.P.B." took decades to appear in 14 volumes plus an index 
volume.  The "Mahatma Letters to A.P.Sinnett" and the "Letters From 
the Masters of the Wisdom" got translated to several languages and 
attracted more and more attention among the students. Now there are 
some 20 biographies of H.P.B. And yet it seems to be far from 
enough. What else should be done? 

FARTHING -- Concerning the resuscitation of interest in the 
Master/H.P.B. literature, I feel that this has been very slow and 
hardly perceptible in the Adyar Society. I do not think we need any 
more literature at this time, whether it be biographies on H.P.B. or 
anything else. What we have to do is to try to encourage people to 
read what we already have. 

About the future of the T.S., I do not have a crystal ball. My 
feeling is that, if the Adyar Society persists in its present 
strategies, with its ignorance of the Masters/H.P.B. literature and 
the idolizing of Krishnamurti, it will just fade out. It does not 
really stand for anything. What life there is in the other 
theosophical movements I do not really know, except that there are 
obviously only a few very earnest students. Hopefully these can get 
together in my Association and form a cadre of true workers for the 
cause, knowing what they are doing. 

Concerning freedom of thought, in my view this has been hopelessly 
distorted. As put over in the 1920's it was quite obviously an 
expedient to allow anybody's opinion, well-informed or otherwise, to 
be regarded as Theosophy. This was a fatal mistake. In point of fact 
no one can interfere with anybody else's thought. What they can do 
is to try to impose a dogma, i.e. a compulsory belief, and to some 
extent the Leadbeater/Besant leadership succeeded in doing that in 
that they got the Liberal Catholic Church and Masonry accepted as 
Theosophy, and later of course Krishnamurti as a world teacher. All 
this had nothing to do with freedom of thought proper and in my view 
much of the later views about the Masters is superstition. 

Of course I agree that anybody should be able to read any literature 
they like, by whatever author it may be. I see it as vitally 
important that people should be free in every respect. We can only 
develop healthily in an atmosphere of complete freedom. 

EIGHT

Do you believe that putting on an equal level, under the item of 
liberty of thought, the real teaching and a teaching distorted by 
fancies, induces the next generations of students to unnecessarily 
lose an important amount of time in their lives, before knowing 
what's true and what is false? 

FARTHING  -- Here again I think people must make up their own minds. 
The big difficulty is that people do not read the original 
literature and have therefore no true yardstick to help them decide 
the quality of whatever it is they are reading. This becomes a 
difficult matter especially when some of the 2nd generation 
literature purports to have come from the Masters. How are we going 
to know whether or not it did unless we are familiar with the 
Masters' scheme of things, their style of writing, etc. Here again 
we have to be careful because I do believe that people with the 
proper faculties working can be inspired by true spiritual entities. 
Surely the criterion must be the quality of what is uttered. For 
example, any reversion to an idea of God, particularly in the 
anthropomorphic sense, would indicate that whoever is writing has 
not got a true vision. Similarly a lot of nonsense is put out about 
the after-death states and ideas of forgiveness of sins.

NINE 

Some people think that HPB literature, written in the 19th century,  
is "outdated". The same people use to study other texts which are  
thousands of years old. Why is HPB not "outdated"? Could the eternal 
be outdated? 

FARTHING  -- It is a view of no substance at all and could only be 
uttered by anyone who had not read the classical literature. The 
literary idiom might be outdated but what is said is eternal Truth, 
unchanging, and in our Manvantara unchangeable. People use the 
words `up-to-date' nowadays in relation to fashions. Such a word 
could not possibly be applied to Theosophy with its "eternal 
verities".

TEN 

What's your view of the work of the HPB-Masters students ?

FARTHING  -- My view is that, with modern communication, we might 
form a body of really energetic enthusiastic people who can act 
as `radiation points' in the parts of the world in which they happen 
to be situated. At this time I am very concerned to revivify an 
interest in the original teachings. For example, I had hoped that my 
Trilogy would have given people an idea of what was entailed in the 
writing of "Isis" and "The Secret Doctrine". Most members of the 
theosophical movement have no idea of what was demanded of H.P.B. or 
of the close cooperation that she then enjoyed with the Masters. 
Further, I do not think that many people have any idea of what a 
Master of the Wisdom is. The idea of a Master has become too 
hackneyed through movements like "I Am", and the claims of other 
individuals to be channelling Masters' messages. It is quite obvious 
that they are not,  but the channellers have not studied the real 
Masters' literature and therefore do not have a proper background 
against which to talk. 

Another area of diversion is in the pronouncements of the psychics, 
even of the stature of Rudolph Steiner. He did good work in 
establishing his schools, etc., and much of what he said about the 
germination of seeds is verified by experience but the background 
framework of knowledge that he adopted was not that of the Masters.  
(......)  

Geoffrey A. Farthing. 

(Answers dated and signed in 22nd November 2000)


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