Theos-Talk Archives (November 1995 Message tl00034)

According to Liesel F. Deutsch:
>
> To Paul & everyone else on this list
>
> I'd like to know who else around here feels or has felt at one time
> that they've been excluded by Theosophists. I've now conversed with 03

This reminds me of a revealing story. My first contact with
the TS was at a summer school. The first morning I went to a
discussion group that was seated in a circle. I was the last
one to arrive and there was only a chair outside the circle.
I sat down totally ignored by the whole group. After hanging
around for 10 minutes with no one making eye contact or the
slightest move to let me in the circle I walked off. No one
looked then either. It was as if I'd been invisible.
That said I should add that since then I've met scores of
wonderful Theosophists and never seen anything quite like that
first impression. But imagine how many people would simply
have never come back after such an experience!

> I remember getting a sympathetic card from Shirley Nicholson to
> the effect that "My God is all that happening to you? I'm sorry."
> That was at least something.
> And sometimes when they weren't too busy I could communicate with
> Lakshmi Narayan or Marie Minor in the Olcott Library. To all other
> Theosophists I seem to have been a non-person. It was my good fortune
> to have come

While we're praising folks I'll add a word of admiration for
Shirley and Lakshmi who both went out of their way to make me
feel welcome on my first trip to Olcott.
>
> Paul let me tell you I know exactly how you feel. I decided to
> stick to my theosophical books that time & forget about the people.
> I don't blame you for going over to the ARE if you feel more comfortable
> there. It's something that just occurred to me this morning. Wheaton
> has got to be more member friendly.
>
Well *I* like you! And also feel that you are one of the more
welcoming presences here on theos-l despite our past
disagreements to newcomers. Maybe that feeling of being
excluded makes one more sensitive to such things when
opportunities arise.

Namaste.