Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00253)

In message <m0u7R10-000Jf7C@slip.net>, alexis dolgorukii
<alexei@slip.net> writes
>Alan:
>
>I'm writing because I am wondering something. O.K. I am going to write a
>letter to the people in Moscow who were rejected so cruelly by Radha. But,
>other than commiserate with them, what am I to say? Is THEOSOPHY
>INTERNATIONAL ready to replace Adyar in the eyes of those poor rejected
>Russians?

Reply: Only if we can offer a structure - perhaps along the lines of my
recent suggestions.

> I think I need some really detailed "Introduction to Theosophy
>International" to send them along with my letter.

Reply: JRC was working on something at one time, but depending on
response concerning my reply above, I could possibly put something
together ...

> Also, we need to know, if
>we're inviting them to join us, just what it is we are inviting them to
>join. I mean these are Russians not Anglo-Saxons. How do you think they'll
>react if we tell them that "We're an amorphous, very loosly organized group
>af anarchically inclined extreme individualists, who support the "Three
>Objects" (as re-defined), and on occasion morally support one another". Do
>you think that will be enough for them?

Reply: No.

> We don't really know anything at all
>about the Russian Theosophists other than that they've suffered. For
>instance; how many of them are there? For instance; what is their exact
>relationship with MMe Vigneron? For instance how did they actually become
>Theosophists? Have they been so all along in secret? Or, conversely, is this
>something they've jst found? Or, is it some combination of the two?
>
>The thing I don't want to do is send these pooor folks a nice, polite,
>friendly, but meaningless letter. I have to offer them "something"..but
>what?

Reply:  See above! As some members, especially Alexis, JRC and myself
hope to see TI grow into something larger and more pueposeful than a
purely inward-looking internet chat-line, a structured but non-
hierarchical "family" could welcome them.  It will be little use saying
to them, "Welcome, we'd love to talk to you if you have computers and
can write intelligently in English via the Internet, assuming you have
modems, software, etc., etc., etc."

> Most of the people who are presently members of Theosophy
>International, havn't the vaguest idea what life may have been like inRussia
>during 78 years of grinding, mindless oppression, and deadly foreign
>invasion. I think a Russian who is a Theosophist is a heroic person. After
>all in the West (and other places)Theosophists are viewed with some
>amusement, but in the Soviet Union, being a Theosophist could eartn one, at
>least, beatings, or The Gulag, or a Bullet to the back of the
>head. Being a "secret" theosophist was, like being a "secret Jew" in the
>Spain of the inquisition, an act of considerable bravery, and these folks
>deserve something better than they've gotten.
>
>I'm sending this to you becuase you'rr the "chief instigator of
>Theosophy International and I want your feedback. I also wouldn't mind
>if you put this on the board so that other TI people can react to it.I
>know this, in the letter I'm not going to say anything about being
>Blavatsky's cousin. Most Russians learn about the Dolgorukii in school
>(even under the Communists) as without the Rurickovitchii there is no
>Russia. And so the only thing I think my name will do is show them a
>welcoming Russian presence in the West.
>
>I await more input, the translating is in place.

Reply: The input I would like to see is a positive response to my
suggestions for a proposed structure.  TI members: will you go along
with this without hair-splitting at this stage?  Can we set up the
basics, even if a little imperfect at this early stage, and develop the
refinements as they are seen to be needed when we start to *practice*
what we are preaching (so to speak)?

.. can Alexis say to the Russians - *or anyone else* - "I belong to TI
in San Francisco (or wherever); Alan belongs to TI in Bristol, England,
Rudy belongs to TI in Gilroy," and so on?

.. can we set up or co-operate with existing publishing or book-
providing organisations to offer them something more than just a
friendly word?

.. can we ask *them* to help *us* in spreading the TI ethos around the
world?
>
>alexis , MTI, FTSA

I have posted this to theos-l as the quickest way of replying to Alexis'
questions, as it arrived in my theos-l mailbox.  The TI members agreed
that I should co-ordinate our work, even (to quote one post) facilitate
it.  Will you, If you are a TI member, agree to the revised statement
*as is* for the time being, together with a structure along the lines
suggested.?

I propose, as there is a real need and a real opportunity to respond to
it, to ask you all for a simple vote: YES or NO?

Please reply ASAP to ti@nellie2.demon.co.uk with a simple reply:

Revised statement and structure for TI: YES

or

Revised statement and structure for TI: NO

Okay, we may need to sort out some bugs as we go along, but the Russians
- and maybe others we don't realise - need us *now.*  Whatever our
discussions about the nature of freedom might be, their experience of
one form of it is pretty d... immediate and deserving of a "brotherly"
and "family" response - and soon.

We have some fine words on a fine Web page - can we put them into
*action.*?

You tell me.
>
Alan
---------
THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL:
Ancient Wisdom for a New Age
TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk