Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00881)

Dear Morten,

Thank you very much for this excerpt. What strikes me most is text of 
his resignation - it displays really high ethical attitude. It seems 
that nowadays we are several light years from it.

Warmest regards,
Anton


--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Morten Nymann Olesen" <global-
theosophy@...> wrote:
>
> To all readers
> 
> 
> My views are:
> 
> >>> Your duty is to your Higher Self, not to some worldly 
institution <<<
> 
> 
> 
> The following biography is interesting, because it shows how high 
ranking members resgined because of non-theosophical activities.
> 
> 
> Richard Harte
> 
> "Richard Harte was a New York newspaper man who worked for the New 
York Telegram. He had been a member of the Aryan T.S. since 1877 and 
a friend of H.S. Olcott before that. In April 1887, Harte attended 
the convention of the American Section of the T.S. at Mott Memorial 
Hall in New York City where he was elected as one of the members of 
the General Council of the American Section. Soon after this he left 
for England.
> 
> In England, he helped to support Madame Blavatsky and the efforts 
of her lodge. With his background in writing, he went on to serve as 
Secretary of the Theosophical Publishing Society, a new venture that 
was started up shortly after his arrival. There has come to be a body 
of thought that Harte was responsible for an early editorial of the 
new magazine, Lucifer. In December 1887, this famous editorial, 
titled "Lucifer to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Greetings!", was 
first printed. It was later to be reprinted by the Theosophical 
Publishing Society along with other such titles as, "Theosophy and 
the Church", "Keely's Secrets", and "Elementals and Elementaries". In 
addition, Harte was also responsible for writing an introduction to 
an article titled "The Hebrew Talisman". This article, originally 
printed in 1836, when coupled with Harte's introduction make for a 
fascinating read.
> 
> Harte's stay in England was short and given subsequent events, this 
may have been regrettable. On October 28th 1888, Harte, with the 
encouragement of his old newspaper friend H.S. Olcott, boarded a ship 
bound for Adyar. Olcott was president of the Theosophical Society 
headquartered in Adyar and his busy schedule meant that he needed 
trusted individuals to help him out. In addition, Harte was also made 
a delegate by the executive committee of the American Section for the 
13th Convention and Anniversary of the T.S. which was held in India. 
He traveled with Charles and Vera (H.P.B.'s niece) Johnston, Baroness 
Kroummess and E.D. Fawcett and Col. Olcott, and they reached Bombay 
on November 10th. Before the month was out, Richard Harte was 
appointed by Col. Olcott as Librarian and Assistant Editor of The 
Theosophist.
> 
> In early 1889, Olcott was leaving on an extended trip to Japan. 
Consequently, on January 7th he appointed a three member commission 
to run things in his absence, one of whom was Richard Harte. While 
Olcott was away, Harte penned two notorious articles, "Applied 
Theosophy" and "The Situation". The implication of these two articles 
was to make Adyar the New Rome. This naturally angered at least two 
of the founding members, W.Q. Judge and H.P. Blavatsky. These 
articles attempted to undermine a central principle of theosophy, 
that being that the individual is responsible for his own karma and 
spiritual progress. Your duty is to your Higher Self, not to some 
worldly institution nor to the president of that institution, no 
matter how noble that institution's or president's intent. If 
allegiance to the institution and its president is compatible with 
your duty, then so be it. There exists no evidence that Olcott was 
involved with these articles and upon his return he accepted the 
following resignation from Harte:
> 
> In order to avoid any suspicion that opinions expressed by me about 
the affairs of the Theosophical Society, etc., are of an official 
nature, or that you are, either directly or indirectly, responsible 
for them, I beg herewith to place in your hands my resignation of the 
office of Secretary of the Theosophical Society, the only official 
position I hold therein.
> 
> Harte continued on until a replacement could be found, with his 
last official duties occuring with the March 1891 issue. There is 
some evidence that he may have remained active with the Society in 
England at least until 1893. Blavatsky may have been forgiving 
towards Harte due to the noxious atmosphere at Adyar that she 
described in a letter at about that time."
> http://www.theosophycanada.com/bios/Harte_Bio.htm
> 
> 
> M. Sufilight
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>