Theos-Talk Archives (June 1994 Message tl00028)

Paul Johnson,

     Perhaps counting members in the theosophical organizations
may be even more problematical than it might seem on the surface.
Of course the Adyar Society is easy to estimate.  They are the
only ones who publish their membership statistics--and you are
right, they are shrinking worldwide, and barely holding in the
U.S., in spite of the fact that they have an indirect national
campaign to attract members through ~Quest~ Magazine.

     As for the Pasadena Society, things are quite different.
Information concerning membership, or even the circulation of
membership of the Pasadena Society, it must be kept in mind that
they are a little fussier about who joins.  Unlike Adyar and
U.L.T., Pasadena seems to take the step of becoming a member more
seriously, because they want to know your motivations for
joining.  I have known people who have actually been denied
membership in the Pasadena T.S., but never heard of anyone ever
(in recent history) being turned down in the Adyar Society or
U.L.T.  Therefore, whatever Pasadena's membership is, it may be
smaller than the other two, but they also seem to be more
selective.

     As for U.L.T., you estimated membership by multiplying the
number of Lodges by the average membership in a Lodge.  However,
it is likely that the majority of the membership is not involved
with a Lodge.  (After all, 60% of the American Section Adyar T.S.
are unattached members.)  In order to be affiliated with U.L.T.,
all you have to do is fill out a card.  Theoretically, you are a
member for life, even if you never step into another Lodge again.
How many people have attended a meeting or two and decided not to
be involved with a Lodge, or perhaps live in an area where there
is no Lodge? Or perhaps signing their application was the last
theosophical action they ever took.  For U.L.T., there may be
quite a lot that fall into one of these categories.

     All things considered, it is very possible that U.L.T. may
indeed have 10 to 20 thousand affiliates worldwide, even if only
a thousand or so are active in the Lodges.

     Another consideration has to do with dues.  Adyar is the
only Organization to collect them.  That makes accountability of
membership easy.  If you miss paying your dues in the Adyar
(American Section) Society, they stop sending you the ~American
Theosophist~ and you go on the inactive list. Consequently, the
turnover in the American Section Adyar T.S. is somewhere around
98% (that is about 98 out of 100 don't renew their membership in
the first three years.  I don't know the loss in the other
sections of the Adyar T.S., but I suspect a similar picture.

     But that begs the question as to how meaningful membership
counts may be.  My guess is that there are a significant number
of members in all three organizations who may be completely
inactive, or lost any real interest in the Organization, yet may
still have quasi theosophical interests--this may be especially
true in the Pasadena Society and U.L.T.  But even in the Adyar
T.S., I knew a woman who became completely opposed to the
Organization philosophically six months after joining it, and
would not participate in a Lodge.  Yet she maintained an at-large
membership for twenty years, solely out of respect for the fact
that they were keeping H.P.B.'s Collected Writings in print.
Though, she may be an exception, I have met many others who do
not participate in the Adyar T.S., yet maintain a membership out
of respect for the three objects.

     So, a more meaningful question for me would be: How many
people are there in the world who are students of theosophy and
practice its tenets as a way of life, regardless of their
membership or non-membership in a theosophical Organization?
Frankly, some of the most knowledgeable students of theosophy I
have ever met were not members of any theosophical Organization.
My guess is that if such a count could be taken, it would be a
very small group indeed.

Peace

Jerry Hejka-Ekins