Theos-Talk Archives (December 1994 Message tl00136)

"Charles Webster Leadbeater
"A Biography
"By Hugh Shearman
"The St. Albans Press 1980
"Printed in India
"At the Vasanta Press, The Theosophical Society
"ADYAR, Madras 600020

p. 22 ff.
CENTRE OF CONTROVERSY

"In 1906 Leadbeater's pioneering in another field caused him to
become the centre of a sharp controversy in America.  He had
given private advice on the sex problems of youth to several boys
committed to his educational care.  By modern standards the
advice he gave seems harmless and cannot be construed as
motivated by any sinister intention.  Indeed it was more
conservative and much less permissive than the advice given today
in many books on the subject.  Complaints about what he had
confidentially advised grew rapidly into EXAGGERATED AND QUITE
UNEVIDENTIAL ALLEGATIONS of immoral conduct.

Leadbeater denied anything that he felt to be untrue but refused
to be drawn into controversy or in any sense put on trial.  Until
the allegations were refuted and dismissed by others, he withdrew
from the Theosophical Society and devoted himself to clairvoyant
research in Europe.

"In 1909, invited by Mrs.  Besant, who was now President of the
Theosophical Society, to resume his membership in the Society, he
did so, and settled at Adyar.  Echoes and reactions from the
controversy of 1906 recurred at several periods in his later
life, accompanied each time by much personal abuse and ABSENCE OF
ADVERSE EVIDENCE.  The cause of this trouble was probably not
only the ignorance and the many superstitions prevalent at that
time about sex "(see PS by LFD) " but also the reaction of other
people to a personality much more dominant than Leadbeater
himself possibly realised, for he could be quite curtly
autocratic in taking his own course in life.

"It was at Adyar in 1909 that Leadbeater picked out, as a child
of remarkable qualities the young Jiddu Krishnamurti.  Mrs.
Besant at once took an interest in the boy and, concurring with
Leadbeater's impression of him, made arrangements for his
education.  She later announced that the world was moving towards
one of those cyclic events when a new religion and a new culture
come into being.  She said that, if he proved fit for it,
Krishnamurti would be the "vehicle" through which the "World
Teacher", the Master of the new revelation of spiritual truth,
would speak to the world.  She did not say that Krishnamurti was
that Teacher.  Whether Krishnamurti's subsequent career was
overshadowed and used by a World Teacher and, if so, to what
extent, will remain matters for debate, EVEN IF THE DEBATE DOES
NOT SEEM TO BE A PROFITABLE ONE; but his career was certainly a
justification of Leadbeater's early and immediate recognition of
Krishnamurti's excpetional qualities."

PS by Liesel FD - Here are few things I learned in my "American
Women's History" course 2 years ago about sexual concepts in
those days.  As already mentioned in a previous post, nocturnal
emissions were considered an illness, for which the cure was
castration.  Menses were also considered an illness.  Some women
stayed in bed for their duration.  There was a fetish called
Modesty.  All women were thought to be modest by nature.  Their
modesty was thought to be part of their charm, & it was to be
protected at all cost.  Gynecoligists blushed in embarrassment
when they discussed female gynecology amongst themselves.
Because of this concept of Modesty, female gynecological business
was conducted by touch, with the woman draped modestly under a
blanket ...  that includes bringing babies into the world.
Previously, at medical school, the gynecologists had learned
about female anatomy from charts, such as they were.  There was
an MD in Buffalo NY, a Dr.  James White, who had what he thought
was a corking good idea.  He paid an indigent woman to allow his
medical students to be present when he delivered her baby, while
she was modestly draped under the then customary blanket.  The
medical students said that they'd learned from the experience, &
applauded Dr.  White...  not so the rest of his society.  His
very bold & unheard of act caused quite a furor, & ended with
James White, MD, innovator, getting drummed out of the American
Medical Society.  No further comment is needed from me.

Liesel