Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00490)

Zack: > During that
> time, the T.S. in Boston hired a first-rate lawyer, contested the lawsuit
in
> court, and eventually won!
I wish I saw some winners. The court did NOT decide in favor of one group
over the other, but rather how best to divide the resources between the two
factions. The Besant-Bailey contingent was considerably larger numerically
and so was awarded $400,000, while the Blavatsky folks were awarded $200,000.
 That is out of one million or so, meaning that about $400,000 was given up
to lawyers and courts.

Sad.
> In my opinion, the lawsuit was fought
> over the issue of money: who would control the proceeds gained from the
sale
> of the old building to Boston University.
I wish I could agree. Rather, the lawsuit was fought over ideology, and the
money issue caused the ideology issue to become more pressurized than it
already was. The lawsuit was about who HAS and who HAS NOT the right to call
themselves Theosophists, WHAT IS Theosophy, etc.

The court, of course, had no insight into these issues, and the product of
the wrangling was VERY HOSTILE feelings on both sides, and a great loss of
resources. To present the outcome as a "victory" for EITHER side is
inaccurate, self-serving and MAINTAINS the polarized, hostile feelings in an
"us versus them" mentality. I think the whole question of who "won" the
lawsuit should be dropped, particularly by those Theosophists who have the
misfortune of living in the Boston area.

> Although I can think of at least five serious students of
> the Secret Doctrine, it is likely that more members are studying AAB's
> writings than HPB's writings.
That you can think of 5 serious S.D. students out of your 80 or so membership
is itself revealing. At the present time, according to my friends still
participating at (your) Besant lodge, there is no Secret Doctrine class at
all, rather a (small) Bailey class (5 people or so) made up of my old (large)
S.D. class (15 people or so) held at Harvard University.

It really upsets me that no Secret Doctrine presence is maintained now either
at Harvard University nor at the Arlington T.S., because so much work was
 put into building those centers up for the study of the original teachings
and the infusion of Theosophical thought into the mainstream public and into
a prestigious Univesrity. It was a grand experiment, and it collapsed quite
ignobly. I am very sad about this, but I suppose that is the karma of all of
us involved.

Rich