Theos-Talk Archives (September 1993 Message tl00063)

Greetings!

Do you know what a privilege it is to go to bed at night
with thoughts about unifying theosophy?  Some of these
participants should be receiving awards for their work!
Not only is this network turning our thoughts toward the
grand design, but I can sense that each of you is also
eager to practice the "highest qualifications."

One point that was made, I believe, and that I'd like to
reiterate is that here we are not just writing our own
point of view, but through our dedication to the SERVE
HUMANITY AND SERVE THE MASTERS, we have occasionally lost
our own point of view in order to say and promote that
which we hope can help the other members of our group as
well as any possible readers of the material.  Unselfishly,
we can put aside our love of the teaching and understanding
of it, to say and discuss whatever it is that the other
members could most enjoy and benefit from.  Even if we do
at times permit ourselves the luxury of expressing our own
opinion, it is in a way in which we are non-attached to our
past, non-attached to what we are saying, and non-attached
to the results of the action.  Now this is really close to
an expression of what love is: putting ourselves aside in
order to contribute in a manner that would benefit the
others.

So it doesn't really matter which writers I like or even
how often I am able to quote from their work, because if
others are benefitting and growing, we're on the right
track.

I would like to present some of my ideas however on this
subject of splits in the society.  I'm glad they happened
for one simple reason.  It offers more people an
opportunity to live and work together.  If we only had one
National Headquarters environment, one in which about
twenty to thirty people live and work together, enjoying
the constant companionship of others with like mind, it
would be a sorry state.  Because of the splits, we have a
perfectly lovely International Headquarters here in
Southern California, as well as a community, Halcyon, which
I don't know much about, and in Santa Barbara, I know there
are at least three homes nestled together sharing their
ideals and their business (landscaping) on a day to day
basis.

What I'm not familiar with and would love to hear about if
anyone else has heard, is how they got their funds and
support.  Not only are there enough funds to permit the
existence of Deodars in Pasadena, but I understand they
have links with groups and people in other countries, just
as Point Loma does.

If you don't know how the National Headquarters in Wheaton
has been able to exist, it is because of the Trust Fund of
Herbert Kern.  The current administrator of this trust is
his son, John Kern.  The building itself was built by
donations from the members of The Theosophical Society in
America (or whoever), and donations are still greatly
depended upon for certain activities.

Also, the matter of Besant and Leadbeater.  All I can say
is that by the support they received from the masters, a
strong message has come across to the generations of
theosophists that follow.  It's more than acceptable to
live a monastic life as a priest or monk.  It's greatly
rewarded to work for the liberation of the poor and to ease
their suffering.  This is a thought I can't compare to the
other writers you so highly regard.  It seems ultimately
easier to exist in a "wisdom school" environment and off
the "fat of Blavatsky," so to speak.

All of this talk about living in harmony with the people of
all nations and the evolution of the world has me a little
light-headed as it is very expansive.  I'd like to make a
point for the opposite idea which is just to work with one
or two individuals for years and years.  I remember a story
by Dora Kunz which particularly drove home this ideal.  She
was reminiscing about her life, not about the work at the
camp in New York nor the work at the Branch to which she
belonged, but about her home life.  She raised one son, who
is now on the Board of Directors.  Her story however is
about her effort at living and expressing theosophy to a
gardener, a man who used to be a drug addict or an
alcoholic or something.  Here was one way in which her
expertise in theosophy had found outlet, one experience for
which she was thankful, but it would seem to many that it
amounted to nothing.  Her influence felt by a handyman who
helped her and her husband with the work around the house
and garden, was a rewarding, learning experience for them
both.  When I think that it wasn't speaking to an
auditorium of thousands, but the constant repeating of
daily activities that marked her life enough to tell the
tale, it really struck me that there is good which can be
done in small ways.  This carries over to her healing work
as well.  She never talks about healing as if it is being
done to all the people in the world.  Her healing, done
with one person at a time for as long as they needed it,
was enough of a lesson for us to learn the principles
behind her work, her brotherliness and her special gift of
clairvoyance and working with the energy states of the
human aura.

If other people feel like I do about meeting and forming
life-long ties with others through the formation of a
group, you'll be able to think, perhaps less globally, and
more....   Well, thank God for that one person to talk to.

I'd also like to give special thanks to Jerry H-E again.
He not only was a founder of the Los Angeles Center for
Theosophic Studies, a branch of the society here in L.A.
that still exists, but if I remember the story correctly,
he spent days and days sitting in a store and selling the
theosophical books.  I don't really know how he did it, but
would love to hear how he managed to eke out a living while
he plugged away all of the earnings from the book sales
into an account which now belongs to the study center and
contains a large sum of money.

So writing books and giving seminars on theosophical
subjects are high qualifications indeed, but there are
other tender sides of people we might not be aware of.

Thanks also to everyone who is letting us know more about
themselves, because it only seems right that by becoming
better acquainted with each other's tastes, studies, past,
and awareness will we be better able to benefit each other.