Theos-Talk Archives (April 2010 Message tt00037)

Internet and future of theosophy

Recently a theosophist from Europe contacted me to discuss the existence of
ning sites in various languages to cater to the needs of the theosophists in
various countries. Some of these are independent and others are not.

This trend blend into perfectly with the basic structure of TS setup by the
Founders in their wisdom, keeping full autonomy at all levels so long as
they do not violate the basic rules of the TS.

Over the years, due to various reasons, TS bureaucracy at all levels,
operated with lack of transparency (and tolerated by members)  and the
organizational leaders took full advantage of the control they had of the
medium of communication they had with membership at Section level.

This mentality is still seems to be widely prevalent (perhaps due to the
aging leadership and also the lack of full  understanding of the mechanism
of Internet and the skills needed to use Internet as an effective tool to
further the interests of TS and theosophy) and the leaders do not seem to
see the writing on the wall in the current environment where Internet is the
most widely used mode of communication, at least in the West and other
developing countries. To see the disconnect is easy. All you need to do is
to notice the lack of participation by the leaders and their
underlings/followers.

While the current leadership can continue to hold the purses of treasury and
the control that comes with it, and the valuable property of lodges whose
charters have been cancelled or withdrawn. With the phenomenon of ning and
other theosophical forums, the soul and action seem to be moving away from
the traditional base of formal lodges with charters etc. It is good, because
what is important is the spreading of the mission of theosophy in the world
and the current formal structure does not seem to attract theosophists as
evidenced by the decline or frozen state of membership in countries outside
India.

This is made worse my the current disunity in TS (which many leaders do not
seem to acknowledge, understand the serious long term serious harm it does
to theosophy and TS, and recognize the urgent need for dramatic and quick
action to quell the disunity) which had its origins in the 2008 election
tactics by some of the leaders.

It looks like Internet is the saviour which will help theosophy and TS to
move into the future bypassing the traditional approach. Let us give our
hand to the efforts in the Internet and make it a success.

MKR

Internet is going to be integral to the success of theosophy in the future


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