Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00356)

Yesterday both Eldon & Doss wrote something about the debate over the by
laws revisions & I'd like to respond to some of it.

ET "I've been wondering what we should do about things"
LFD me too

ET ...if the TSA....changes its by laws could it be...shut down by Rhada?"
LFD I think it could & I don't see any rhyme nor reason to the shut downs
in the past except maybe that following Alice Bailey offends. But that's
conjecture. I'd like to get an answer to this from someone in Wheaton.

ET you talk about "if we want more independence..." I'm not sure as to how
much independence from Adyar we actually have. LFD

ET Re believing anything you want vs. teaching The Doctrine.
LFD I think both have their place. I think we should all study Basic
Theosophy to begin with so that we know what our doctrines are. But then
Theosophy is so wide & varied that we should become "a seeker's club" with
everyone pursuing whatever wrinkle interests him/her at the time. I know
that for me my interest wasn't always in 01 particular subject matter. Once
it was Geoffrey Hodson once it was Zen Buddhism a la Xmas Humphreys then
again I came across Lama Govinda and AB and CWL and Harry and Serge Sri
Ram & Jinarajadasa and biofeedback & chaos theory & trying to help 3rd
world families & taking care of my theosophical cats & learning
vegetarian & chanting & Celts... the list is endless. That's what
fascinates me about Theosophy... but the infighting doesn't.

ET "...Positive suggestions for changes in Wheaton's policies..." etc.
LFD I think John Algeo has introduced a number of changes in policy for the
better. Ex.: When Dorothy presided we were just informed that there were by
laws changes. Under John The by laws were published. We were asked to vote
on the revisions even though discussion was painfully brief. From the
letters John sent subsequent to some of the protests he's listening. I
think he really truly believes that these revisions are for the good of the
TS. The thing is he's inherited an aura of distrust which is hard to dispel.
Like I think I should know & not have to ask whether Radha can shut us down
& how independent we are of Adyar. After all I've been a member for not
quite 20 years & I've had contact with the TS for 15 more years beyond
that. How come these things aren't common knowledge? Seems to me I also
remember that what happens at Board meetings is kept secret as well. If so
I'd like to know what for. I think John Algeo has written articles several
times which gave us insights into what goes on in Wheaton. One article in
the AT gave a picture of what everyone on the Wheaton staff does & I
thought that was informative. When I asked for an index of available video &
audio tapes recording lectures & workshops at Wheaton & Ojai I got back a
thick list. There's skads of useful material. Well I think there's got to
be a lot more of this kind of interchange to dispel the aura of distrust
that's been created. I also think that people in the office of the National
Secretary could be a little less stand offish especially since they're an
important point of contact for any new members. I've had some weird
exchanges with them in connection with my new Study Center that I'm trying
hard to make a go of.

Doss you raise the question as to what the relationship is between the
General Council the International President and our national officers.
Who's calling the shots? I think that's a good question.
You'd also like some more backgrounds info on the revisions in order to be
able to vote on them intelligently. I think that's a good request. On some
of those revisions I voted "No" because I wasn't very clear on what they
actually meant.

You talk about unity & cooperation. My greatest objection to all these
goings on is that after John Algeoall along was mending fences & we were
beginning to forget the big fight we had over Bing's elections here whamo
bango comes something else to cause a rift. We need another rift like we
need a hole in the head but maybe it's too late for that already.

OK that's a couple of suggestions.
I think there needs to be a build up of basic trust which used to be there
under Dora but has eroded since then. As for our relationship with Adyar...
I don't know. I've never been there.

Liesel