Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00909)

Well thanks.


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Anton Rozman 
  To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2008 3:54 PM
  Subject: Theos-World Re: Your duty is to your Higher Self, not to some worldly institution


  Morten,

  Thank you very much for this excerpt. The text of resignation is a 
  display of 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]
  >



   

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]