Theos-Talk Archives (December 2009 Message tt00192)

Dear Paul,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

My own views in this matter are:

1. Part of the problem lies in what the Masters of the Wisdom sensed in AP Sinnett and many others in the earlier phase of the movement, when they admonished Sinnett to go beyond Their personality to the Idea behind the personality. In other words, the very human tendency to hero-worship and idolize a living human being. If one looks at the supporters of the President, one cannot help being hit by the fact that for them, she is an unquestioned authority and that if one were to question her, then one is crazy, or mad, or a sinner, or something like that. The supporters of the President have, in essence, DEHUMANIZED her. And, you might agree, that where Dehumanization has happened, there CANNOTÂ be respect, and where there is no respect, Love, Compassion, Wisdom, Truth, Beauty and all the other veritable qualities that indicate the Enlightened state -- or even a movement towards it -- cannot shine forth or express themselves.

2. From the above, it follows that in order to HUMANIZE the President, one has to accept that she CAN -- and does -- make mistakes; that she -- as we are -- is not infallible. That is why in the Golden Stairs we are told, "A readiness to give and receive advice and instruction". However, in the case of the President, we may receive advice and instruction from her while -- for her supporters at least -- we may NOT give her any. So then, there is the dichotomy or contradiction between the teachings as they were given out by the Masters of the Wisdom, HPB and some other early Theosophists, on the one hand, and as they are followed or preached by those who took up that line after them and are supposed to keep it alive.

3. There are others who have identified the person of the President with the TS and, strangely and ironically, have left their own selves out of the TS. It is as if solely the President is the entire TS. But a lone individual never makes up a society. Any society needs more than 10 individuals for it to be a body or organization. This leaving out of oneself from the Society amounts to the inability to see that questioning or challenging anything the President does or does not do, does not amount to a going away from the Society. Rather, this questioning is NEEDED to keep the Objects of the TS alive and practical. All the Three Objects of the TS -- to my understanding -- exhort us to keep a door open to what one might call "contrary winds", for our excrescences or impurities are best reflected in what I call the Mirror of Contrariness.

Fraternally

Preethi

--- On Sat, 26/12/09, kpauljohnson <kpauljohnson@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: kpauljohnson <kpauljohnson@yahoo.com>
Subject: Theos-World Why is there SO MUCH FEAR in the Theosophical Society?
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, 26 December, 2009, 6:46 PM







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      --- In theos-talk@yahoogro ups.com, preethi muthiah <seeker_preethi@ ...> wrote:



And what, O Truth Seeker, is FEAR doing in an organization that declares TRUTH as its Motto? Doesn't the contradiction and dichotomy of it hit you, MKR?

> 

> Why is there SO MUCH FEAR in the Theosophical Society? Why is there the FEAR of the President? Where did that FEAR take root?

> 



Dear Preethi:



These are profound questions which go to the heart of my own experience as an author and former member of the TS.  I have worked with library boards throughout my career, but also have served as a board member and officer for local organizations devoted to river preservation, fine arts programs, etc.  Never in all those involvements did I encounter levels of tension and mistrust within an organization that I saw with Theosophists.



You might say it's because the TS is a spiritual organization and things brings out different problems than purely secular organizations have.  True enough, and as an ARE member I saw plenty of infighting and power struggles akin to those of the TS.  But never the kind of pervasive fear of the internal or external enemy that one finds in the TS.



I presume that it all goes back to what we would call childhood trauma if the TS were an individual.  The infighting among the founders, the division into multiple sects, the humiliation of the Hodgson investigation, all within the first generation of the movement, seems to have left an indelible mark.



The readiness of Theosophists to denounce other Theosophists as not being real Theosophists, or being bad Theosophists, or being instruments of enemies of the movement, is absolutely astonishing in comparison to other movements I've observed.  It seems to come from a very deep-seated fear of subversion by internal enemies.  Kind of a spiritual McCarthyism with wild claims about Jesuits and dugpas.



HTH,



Paul





    
     

    
    


 



  






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