Theos-Talk Archives (April 2012 Message tt00115)

Yes very interesting and as I see it well-written in many places. 
And I am glad that Cass hightlighted this particular page, which I also came a cross some days back in time.
I am however finding myself in disagreement with some of the historical conclusions in this article about how the TS operated in 1875-1891 or so.
I am preparing a minor article about HOW the object and constitution of the TS --- actually changed and espeically also why ----  in the period 1875-1891 or so...And if another member of the forum already have written such a similar article I will wlecome it being posted on thsi forum or linked.

__________

Thisparticular passage contain some half-truth and conclusions I simply cannot support and I will of time permit, later seek to shoe why in the article I am preparing:

"After the upheaval in the Society in 1884-5, in connection with the so-called exposure of H.Î.Î. as a fraudulent conveyer of messages from the Masters, Colonel Olcott, as President of the Society, purposely allowed the fact of the existence of the Masters and of Their guidance of the Society to be withdrawn into the background of the Society's activities. This did not mean that he did not believe in Them, for as a matter of fact he was the pupil of one of Them, and he never swerved in his intense devotion to his Master. But he was convinced that a kind of subtle danger to the Society arose from the occult element in its teachings. While therefore leaving members quite free to study those teachings as a philosophy, he desired as much as possible to withdraw the Society from any kind of an occult influence emanating from invisible sources.
This policy of the President soon brought about a kind of devitalization of the Society. He himself was unaware of it, but H.Î.Î. saw what was happening. There is on record a Memorandum of hers of a conversation with the Master Î. H., where He visualises the future of the Society as the result of the action of its President in practically putting a barrier to the influence of the Masters in the inspiration of the Society's activities. The Master pointed out that after Colonel Olcott passed away the Society would fall to pieces.

H.Î.Î. therefore determined to revive once again the inner nucleus of the Society, which was intended to exist in it as the Second "Section" of the Society. This determination

of hers was further made inevitable by the clamour of hundreds in the Society who wanted her to be their occult teacher, in order that through her they might come nearer to the Masters. Slowly a group of most devoted workers gathered around H.Î.Î., who were pledged to her conception of the development of the Society, and were willing, if necessary, to adopt a policy which might clash with the policy of the official President of the Society, Colonel Olcott.

Here it can be frankly stated, with no sense of depreciation of the services of the Society's first great President, that Colonel Olcott viewed with displeasure the creation in the Society of an imperium in imperio, a kind of Secret Society whose fiat might dominate the outer Society to its detriment. There arose then a most difficult situation. H.Î.Î. held that the salvation of the Society lay in the resuscitation of its occult nucleus. But the President of the Society was hostile to such a creation, as he was afraid that such a secret nucleus might try in Jesuitical ways to control the Society.

This crisis in the Society, of which only a few were aware, became so acute that Colonel Olcott determined to go to London in 1888, and see if he could come to a solution by direct conversation with H.Î.B., instead of through correspondence. When he started from India, there is little doubt that he was determined to be hostile to the plan of H.Î.Î. The entries in his diaries reveal this trend. Then it was there happened a most striking incident which greatly modified his plans. As his steamer S. S. Shannon"
....and more...






M. Sufilight


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: MKR 
  To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2012 3:44 PM
  Subject: Re: theos-talk History


    
  Thanks for the post. Worth reading by anyone interested in Olcott and the
  history. Let us appreciate and be thankful for the sacrifices the Founders
  made to make theosophy available to the world.

  On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 8:37 PM, Cass Silva <silva_cass@n2_3UrWB-135KIg4M_3svih6Qtoj7pXd1yyHjWMYWm5F2u9tmSZfltwqSud1VwxTePc7hN7YFe2Eidk.yahoo.invalid> wrote:

  > "Thorny and full of pitfalls was the steep path he had to climb up alone
  > and unaided for the first years. Terrible was the opposition outside the
  > Society he had to buildâsickening and disheartening the treachery he often
  > encountered within the Head Quarters. Enemies gnashing their teeth in his
  > face around, those whom he regarded as his staunchest friends and
  > co-workers betraying him and the Cause on the slightest provocation. Still,
  > where hundreds in his place would have collapsed and given up the whole
  > undertaking in despair, he, unmoved and unmovable, went on climbing up and
  > toiling as before, unrelenting and undismayed,. supported by that one
  > thought and conviction that he was doing his duty. What other inducement
  > has the Founder ever had, but his theosophical pledge and the sense of his
  > duty toward THOSE he had promised to serve to the end of his life? There
  > was but one beacon for himâthe hand that had first pointed to him his way
  > up: the hand of
  > the MASTER he loves and reveres so well, and serves so devotedly though
  > occasionally perhaps, unwisely (pp. 36-7).
  >

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