Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00021)

Dear Daniel and All

Daniel, you have reminded us again of a matter of 
potentially greatest significance for any genuine
truth-seeker, that of mindset.

How we think and why we think the way we do, 
is of paramount importance on our spiritual journey. 
It impacts on every opinion we hold and, perhaps 
most importantly, on every decision we make.

As with our individual journey, so too organizations, 
made up of individuals, must attend to a process of 
self-reflection and analysis.

As Betty Bland writes in a recent article 
"Butterflies Are Not Free", both Theosophy and the 
science of chaos theory suggest, "If a butterfly 
flutters its wings in China, there will be a powerful 
hurricane in the Atlantic."
This affirms that each action, however small, 
contributes to the whole effect and moreover that 
each tiny action has a substantially greater effect 
further along the chain.

The current election difficulties of the Theosophical 
Society (Adyar) has brought forth demands from 
such current and past leaders as Bishop Pedro Oliviera, 
Dr John Algeo and Miss Joy Mills for the freedoms 
of thought and expression of individual members 
of their Society to be uppermost in the minds of 
elected officials. 

This is highly commendable, deserving of the 
most sincere support. Openness and frankness, 
transparency and freedom are fundamental to
Theosophy's mandate.

However, from my experience in the Adyar Society 
this is not always the case.
To offer one example, nowhere in any official 
Society newsletter or publication have I seen or 
read an article severely critical of Bishop 
Leadbeater, his writings or behaviour. 
Indeed, in recent years a past contributor to this 
forum was disallowed to rejoin his membership 
of the Adyar Society due to his challenges involving 
Bishop Leadbeater. 
Why might this be so?

Bishop Leadbeater was a proven, compulsive liar. 
Does this matter? Yes it should for an organization 
dedicated to the search for Truth, which includes 
honesty and openness.

He comprehensively contradicted and misrepresented 
teachers he claimed to represent. 
Does this matter? Once again, yes it should for the 
aforementioned reasons.

He made fantastical "clairvoyant" claims that have 
subsequently been proven to be a fantasy of his 
own mind. 
Should this matter? Certainly, if only for the 
reputation of genuine Theosophy.

He climbed naked into bed with naked young boys 
in his care. Should this matter? Surely a response 
is not required? * See below.

Given the immense influence Bishop Leadbeater's 
writings have on new and some older students, 
shouldn't these matters be regularly aired within the 
Adyar Society to ensure that truth, openness and 
transparency remain uppermost in the minds of its 
leaders. This would ensure its members are fully 
informed, most especially because that Society 
publishes, promotes and sells his works? 

Or has the mindset of blind, ill-considered, 
obedient devotion or a perverted sense of 
"freedom" clouded their judgement?

Or indeed, is there an unwritten rule to protect 
Bishop Leadbeater and his past and present devotees 
because they make up a not insignificant proportion 
of interested students in the Adyar Society?

If this is the case, and the Theosophical teachings of 
interconnectedness, interrelatedness and
interdependence (chaos theory) are true, surely leaders' 
mindsets supporting this subterfuge cannot therefore claim 
not to have contributed in part to the current political 
situation where transparency and the free rights of 
members are allegedly being denied?

Regards
Nigel

* For those who have in the past suggested that 
Bishop Leadbeater was training his children in 
sex magic, may I offer this perspective. 
Sex magic involves highly complex and concentrated 
rituals and formulae used within a ceremonial setting. 
It has nothing to do with a male adult getting into bed 
with a young male child and engaging in masturbation, 
a practice Bishop Leadbeater admitted. 
Bishop Leadbeater was a paedophile. 
Those who dispute this, please study the subject.  


--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "danielhcaldwell" 
<danielhcaldwell@...> wrote:
>
> Nigel Carey once wrote on Theos-Talk
> about "the blindly, obedient mindset" to be found
> among some Adyar TS members.
> 
> Now we find on Theos-Talk a great deal of discussion and
> even complaining, etc. about how elected leaders and officials act 
or 
> don't act in conducting the business of the Adyar T.S.
> 
> I ask:  Have the "mindsets" of these elected leaders
> and officials been created and influenced by the "thought 
atmosphere" 
> engendered by C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant?  
> 
> Or at least to some degree?
> 
> CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES:
> 
> What kind of "mindset" was C.W. Leadbeater encouraging
> when he declared the following???
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> What can I say to you of your [T.S.] President [Annie
> Besant] that you do not know already? Her colossal
> intellect, her unfailing wisdom, her unrivalled
> eloquence, her splendid forgetfulness of self,
> her untiring devotion of work for others - all
> these are but a small part of her greatness;
> they are on the surface, they may be seen by all,
> they leap to the eyes. But there are other qualities,
> other powers, of which you cannot know, because they
> pertain to the secrets of Initiation. She is a
> pupil of our Masters; from the fount of Their
> archaic wisdom she derives her own, the plans which
> she is carrying out are Their plans for the welfare
> of the world. THINK THEREFORE, HOW GREAT AN
> HONOUR IT IS FOR YOU that you should be permitted
> to work under her, for in doing so you are virtually
> working under Them. THINK HOW WATCHFUL YOU SHOULD
> BE TO MISS NO HINT WHICH FALLS FROM HER LIPS, to carry
> out EXACTLY whatever instructions she may give to you.
> 
> Remember...there will be times when you cannot
> understand her motives, for she is taking into account
> many things which you cannot see and of which
> she must not tell you. BUT WHETHER YOU UNDERSTAND
> OR NOT, YOU WILL BE WISE TO FOLLOW HER IMPLICITLY, JUST
> BECAUSE SHE KNOWS.
> 
> THIS IS NOT MERE SUPPOSITION ON MY PART, NO MERE
> FLIGHT OF THE IMAGINATION; I HAVE STOOD BESIDE YOUR
> PRESIDENT IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SUPREME DIRECTOR
> OF EVOLUTION ON THIS GLOBE, AND I KNOW WHEREOF I
> SPEAK. Let the wise hear my words, and act accordingly.
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> 
> [Caps added. Quoted from Adyar Album, p. 45.]
> 
> It might be noted here that one of the HINTS that fell from
> Mrs. Besant's lips (or at least came from her pen!) was as follows:
> 
> "By hard, patient work he [C.W. Leadbeater] has won
> rewards . . . until he stands perhaps the most trusted of his
> Master's disciples ON THE THRESHOLD OF DIVINITY."
> [The Theosophist, November 1911, p. 308 Caps added.]
> 
> And in 1925 Annie Besant herself said the following to the 
> Theosophical world and members of the Adyar T.S.:
> 
> "And now I have to give you, by command of the King, His message,
> and some of the messages of the Lord Maitreya and His great
> Brothers. . . what I am saying, as to matter of announcement, is
> definitely at the command of the King whom I serve.
> 
> His taking possession of His chosen vehicle . . . will be soon.
> Then He will choose, as before, His twelve apostles . . . and their
> chief, the Lord Himself. He has already chosen them, but I have only
> the command to mention seven who have reached the stage of 
Arhatship,
> Who were the 'Arhats'?
> 
> The first two, my brother Charles Leadbeater and myself, . . . C.
> Jinarajadasa, . . . George Arundale, Oscar Kollerstrom, . . . 
Rukmini
> Arundale....
> 
> I left out one and must leave out another. Naturally, our
> Krishnaji [Jiddu Krishnamurti] was one, but he is to be the vehicle
> of the Lord. And the other is one who is very dear to all of us, as
> to the whole Brotherhood: Bishop James Wedgwood. He had borne his
> crucifixion before the seal of Arhatship was set upon him by his 
King.
> Those are the first seven of the twelve whom He has chosen, with
> Himself as the thirteenth. 'Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye do
> well, for so I am.'
> 
> Now the wonder may come into your mind: H.P.B. was the only one
> who was really announced as the messenger of the Master. Since then
> the world has grown a good deal, and it is possible that while the
> few may be repelled, many thousands will be attracted to the
> Christ. . . . Whatever the effect, since He has said it, it is
> done. . ."
> 
> The Theosophist, November, 1925
> 
> Daniel
> http://hpb.cc
>