Theos-Talk Archives (November 1995 Message tl00342)

At 070200 PM 11/16/95 -0500 Dr. A. M. Bain wrote:
>To so far Liesel Eldon & Rich:
>
>I envisage THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL comprising those who
>subscribe to the the three objects of the TS but in a
>more up to date form based on suggestions by John Mead
>J.Crocker and others and expressed thus:
>
>1. To form a nucleus within the universal human family without
>discrimination with regard to sex including sexual
>orientation creed class or color.
>
>2. To encourage and engage in the study of comparative religion
>theosophy philosophy and the scientific method according to
>individual ability and inclination.
>
>3. To investigate unexplained laws of nature and unrealized
>human potential and abilities.
>
>[Above subject to negotiation and consensus :-]
>
>As I think Eldon mentioned this will be along the lines of ~The
>Theosophical Network~ whereby it is sufficient to declare one's
>sympathy and/or allegiance to the three objects and to be
>registered as having done so. No belief system to be required
>*nor assumed to be held* by any member. Ideally members would
>endeavour to express their ideas in gender-inclusive language
>where this is possible and practical.
>
>There will be no fees no subscriptions although voluntary
>donations and/or contributions *could* be made to specific
>projects or even individuals for particular and specified
>purposes.
>
>Alan
>--
>Member Theosophy International.
>Please send E-mail to: guru@nellie2.demon.co.uk
>-----------------------------------------------
>
In the present Theos-L forum do not we already have an international
collection of individuals interested in Theosophia?.

Every one who is subscribed to Theos-L is I am sure in sympathy with
the three objects. Taking the first object as a participant in this forum
we already are in a situation that we may not know the class color race
religion creed sex age national origin physical handicaps educational
level professional background wealth position etc etc etc of the other
participants unless the participants volunteer the information. In the
absence of these kinds of information there is less opportunity for one to
act in a biased or discriminatory manner towards an individual or group of
individuals. Let us try to actively participate in all discussions to make
it a very useful forum for everyone interested.

One joins the newsgroup by just subscribing to it via e-mail and is
the defacto registration. This setup avoids all problems that come up when
an formal setup is in place. When you want to be out of it just
unsubscribe. No paperwork no record keeping no administrative work!

In this forum everyone will welcome any project that support the
welfare of the humanity and hence details can be posted. However once a
project is started and if this forum is used as a means raising funds by
voluntary contributions it brings about a whole new set of questions which
needs to be carefully looked into. If funds are raised then the question is
who is going to collect and use the funds? What kind of controls are going
to be there to make sure that the contributions are indeed spent for the
project or purpose etc? In money matters generally secrecy slowly creeps in.

I do not want to be seen as being a skeptic. In a very well known
charitable trust with millions of dollars in assets set up for the work of
the world reknowned individual there came a time when the individual did
not have access to the trust funds and the Attorney General of the State and
a new Trust had to sue the old Trust to recover the assets that were donated
for the work. The litigation went on for years and years costing huge sums
of legal fees on both sides. Hence I would keep any kind of fund raising
out of the newsgroup. From what I have seen "money" brings its own isses
and problems.

These are my thoughts and would welcome comments of others.

MK Ramadoss