Theos-Talk Archives (May 1997 Message tl00220)

At 01:17 AM 5/18/97 -0400, Jaqtarin Samantha Triele wrote:
>Thank you for the wonderful excerpt, Doss.  I don't find much material
>where I am.

      The material I posted is from a very rare book by Wood which I
accidentally discovered. Very few have ever seen this book even in
Theosophical Circles.

>
>With regards to dependence, and using the allegory, it seems that one has
>to play the monkey before one becomes the kitten.  You have to search for
>and realize the mother before the mother can carry you.  Wood seemed to
>touch on the concerns about secrecy as well.  His dislike of the E.S. was
>partly due to the fact that he hated wondering if one person knew more
>than the other and they were not willing or "able" to share it.  All of us
>dislike secrets even though we understand the "human" need for them.  When
>most people discover something, they want to be recognized for it.  They
>don't want someone else to get the credit for their understanding.  Also,
>people keep secrets simply because they don't want anyone to know that
>THEY know, for fear of rejection, and/or reverance.  I personally
>LOVE(sarcasm) the veil people throw on secrets which would help a person
>"evolve".  It goes something like this: "Well, I can't tell you, 'cause it
>might hurt you."  The truth is, they won't tell you because they don't
>trust you.  I like it when people are honest about it.  When they tell me
>straight out that they don't trust me with the information, I can at least
>know the more important truth, (their distrust), and I can find out why
>they don't trust me.  Usually, secrets come about due to misconceptions of
>people.  I am somewhat divided on my opinion regarding secrets.
>Particularly when it involves "the masses".  The E.S. is most likely
>concerned about the widespread knowledge of spirituality.  The knowledge
>can be and is abused.  If I knew something that could save mankind or
>destroy it, I would probably be very picky about who I gave the
>information to.

  I would like to add that soon after Krishnaji dissolved the Order of the
Star of the East and gave his very famous "Truth is a Pathless Land" speech,
Annie Besant had the courage to shut down the E.S. world wide. No one of a
lesser stature would have been able to do it and yet command the support all
Theosophists. In about a year, according to Wood, many of her close friends
beseeched to re-open because they found the members could not self-control
themselves and needed the oversight and control and she relented and
reopened. I will try to post the exact description of Wood of this incident.





>
>However, Those Who Know do not need to be or act superior to Those Who
>Don't Know.  I think that Wood probably disliked the arrogance more than
>the secrecy.  I know very little about the structure and the people of the
>E.S. or the Co-Masonry (if that is the correct title).  Therefore, I
>cannot pass personal judgement upon them.  There reasons for secrecy seem
>to be well established, however, if they are as arrogant as others say
>they are, then I have to shake my finger at them.
>
>The rise of the Co-Masonry seemed to be very conniving as well, with
>respect to Wood's description of it.  There was a lot of "behind the
>scenes" BS going on.  I cannot agree with that kind of action.  If they
>were thinking about setting it up, they should have told people they were
>going to do it.  Instead, they told people they "might" do it while in the
>process of preparing the way for doing it.  They hurt a lot of people in
>the process.  Also, they lost one of the most important aspects of a
>society... trust among members.  It is sad indeed.

   We get into the fundamental question of interlocking membership and
leadership of Co-Masonry, LCC with that of the TS.

   Annie Besant was well aware and sensitive to administratively mixing TS
and Masonic. So in Adyar which has nearly 300 acres of land, much of it
undeveloped, she made it a point of building a separate building outside the
Adyar campus. Also while the Masonic meetings do take place during the time
of the International Convention, it is never listed in the official program
of the TS Convention.

But a couple of years ago, in the American Section Annual Convention, the
masonic program was explicitly listed and also the specific type of meeting
was also listed. In addition, when this was going on there was a litigation
going on the Federal District court in Denver between the membership who
wanted (and felt it appropriate for whatever reason) to be dictated by the
Paris based Frenchmen and women and the membership who asserted their
independence from Paris and wanted not to be dictated by any foreign outfit
and TS members were on both sides. In such a situation, when one faction was
holding the program during Annual Convention, it was seen as the TS
leadership pushing the Paris faction due to many of the top TS leaders
solidly behind the Paris faction. Such instances do not help TS (at least in
the physical plane) but is divisive and cannot but hurt the TS.  While any
member of TS can be a member of any other organization as it is a private
matter, when the leadership gets involved it is a different matter. For
example when George Arundale was elected as the International President, he
stopped calling himself as Bishop Arundale. I think he also resigned his
Bishopship.

YMDMV

        ...........doss