Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00473)

>JRC

That's a real good idea. Do it with some imagination & verve! You talk about
others participating. It's not the worst idea to have some input from
others. like I chair a committee. We produce letters & flyers. I write them
& then circulate them to the rest of the committee for input. The end
results come out pretty good.
I want to tell you that I had just last week suggested to John Mead to start
up theos-basic & I was going to put on it Shirley Nicholson's "A Program
for Leading The Spiritual Life" which I consider good beginners material. I
haven't heard anything back from John Mead but frankly I like your idea
better & also if you do it it'll go faster than if I start something. I
have more irons in the fire than I can handle espcially since I'm not
speedy Gonzales anymore. What do you say Grand Pooh Bah?
Liesel
Member Theosophy International
Member Human Race

To Alan our Grand Poobah -: members of TI and the rest of the
>Cyber-Theosophists on the theos-l list:
> Greetings ...
>Having been of late making a considerable amount of noise about what
>TSA HQ has been doing and not doing it is certainly my responsibility
>to come up with suggestions for alternatives though I must admit I doubt
>they'll be listened to - which I'll do in a post soon ... BUT! as I was
>thinking this over I happened to also have a conversation with a
>neighbor who began asking me a bit about Theosophy and I found myself
>coming to the same conclusion I had several times before and that I've
>heard others on the list speak to: That there is very little
>introductory material that's any good. [And this is one of the things
>that disturbs me about HQ ... all the time and money spent fighting about
>by-laws suing Lodges ... yet somehow after more than a *century* our
>organization has *yet* to produce introductory literature written in an
>inviting tone...].
> So! While I don't have all that much time I've decided to take a
>shot at writing a decent Introduction to Theosophy ... defining the
>parameters of conceptual complexity and vocabulary for the following
>audience: Teens to 20's in age a High School education or equivilent
>reading skills and no knowledge of spiritual or religious concepts
>beyond those of mainstream exoteric religion.
> [As simplistic as this sounds it has long been my belief that a
>significant reason for low mewmbership may come from the fact that
>Theosophy resembles an enormous and beautiful temple full of ornate art
>and brilliant stained-glass windows ... but somebody forgot to put any
>*doors* on the thing when it was being built. We have a body of very
>intense and highly intellectual literature but have failed to build the
>series of graduated conceptual steps needed to make it accessable to any
>but a very few - like a university that only teaches doctoral level
>courses expects students to enroll already having mastered the
>undergraduate level ... but not noticing that there *is* no undergraduate
>level teaching *anywhere* in the subjects they are teaching ...].
> SO! I'm wondering whether Theosophy International might care to
>help out with this little endeavor as its first group project for global
>Theosophy I'd like it to be something that could used in many different
>countries ... would anyone mind if I periodically posted Chapters as
>they are written and they'll be short and simple on the list for
>comment suggestions etc.? Should I maybe use another of the theos-
>lists? How about other non-TI theos-l members ... care to participate?
> [And I'm certainly amenable to not involving the list at all if
>that is what people prefer ... but it has occured to me that we have a
>*tremendous* amount of knowledge scattered among the members of the list
>and as important and much rarer a diversity of views from almost every
>current perspective and a number of different nations ... and I thought
>maybe this might be one means of precipitating a bit of it into service -
>in an area where Theosophy clearly needs to be served ...]
>
> SO! Any comments from TI members? From non-TI list members? From
>people who think I'm a dufus and will get it all wrong -:?
> And as I now take to sketching the chapters & structure tell
>me especially those who have previously mentioned their desire to have
>a book they could refer people to .. ... what general topics would you
>consider to be absolute *essentials* for an introductory book?
> Toodles -JRC
>