Theos-Talk Archives (July 1996 Message tl00345)

Jerry,

I am sorry to say that perhaps I was wrong. Do not pay much attention to 
"olcott being a successor to Blavatsky"--it's an involuntary mistake, I 
meant "Besant being a successor to Olcott." After more careful studying 
of certain volumes of Blavatsky's Collected Writings, I have found that 
she did insist that the E.S. students are to be pledged to their Higher 
Selves. So she's cleared of my false accusations.

Thanks for your clarification,

Max


On Fri, 12 Jul 1996, Jerry Hejka-Ekins wrote:

> 
> Max writes:
> >Jerry,
> >I cannot provide much evidence right now--my impression is based
> >on my reading during a long period of time. What first comes to
> >my mind is how Olcott as a successor to Blavatsky has been
> >chosen, and how Besant has been chosen next. 
>  
> JHE
> What do you mean by Olcott being a "successor to Blavatsky"?
> Olcott was elected President of the TS in 1875 when it was
> founded.  HPB was Corresponding Secretary from that time until
> 1885, when the General Council asked her to resign.  The only
> other office she held in the TS was General Secretary of the
> British Section from about 1887 until her death in 1891.  It is
> true that Besant did follow Olcott as President of the TS.  She
> was supposed to have been nominated by Olcott for that office, as
> provided by the bylaws.  But as you may know, the circumstances
> behind that "nomination" are very suspicious.  
>  
> JHE
> >>But even in the ES of HPB's day,
> >> members took a pledges to their "Higher Self," not to the 
> >> outer head.  Under Besant, that all changed.
>  
> MAX
> >As to the ES of HPB's days, I browsed through Compiler's
> >Introduction to "Esoteric Instructions" (Blavatsky's Collected
> >Writings, v.12, p. 479-511), and found a lot of refernces to
> >Masters, not all of them being in tune with what you had to say
> >(e.g. p.488 ["The real Head of the Esoteric Section is a Master,
> >of whom H.P.Blavatsky is the mouthpiece for this Section"]). 
>  
> JHE
> Yes, HPB claimed to be the direct representative of the Masters. 
> But as I stated earlier, the members made a pledge to their
> higher selves, *not* to HPB or to the Masters.  Under Besant,
> this changed and she had the members pledge obedience to her. 
> Another important difference is that in HPB's time, the ES was
> *not* formed for the purpose of guiding or manipulating the TS,
> but to give further instruction to those who pledged themselves
> to make an effort towards spiritual development.  Under Besant,
> the ES became an outlet for CWL's revelations, and ES members who
> wanted to be in favor with the Masters were also expected to be
> active in the Liberal Catholic Church, Co-Masonry and if they
> seemed to be promising workers for the cause, they would be
> invited to join the Egyptian Rite. 
>  
> Therefore, I agree with your contention that all of these
> revelations from the Masters, and the idea of obedience to them
> is a major factor in the ruin of the TS.  I also agree that this
> "karma got built in the very structure of the Society, so there
> is little hope for T.S. to survive."  But I disagree that this
> encouragement of "unquestioning obedience" began with HPB and
> HSO.  HPB considered this for the ES but realized that such a
> method was not suitable for a western audience, so she dropped
> the idea immediately.  But Besant adopted this idea when she took
> over the ES.  However, I see a major difference between HPB being
> the "mouthpiece" for the Master's teachings, and the changes AB
> and CWL brought about to made them spokes persons for what the
> Masters desire or do not desire the members to do.  To put it
> another way, HPB encouraged her students towards autonomy, while
> Besant encouraged them towards obedience to the Masters. 
> Obviously this was a distinction that most members were (and
> perhaps still are) unable to make during Besant's time.  Those
> who did recognize this difference, either stayed on as the loyal
> opposition, or left the TS completely.  Those who stayed on as
> the loyal opposition, had the CANADIAN THEOSOPHIST to express
> their views when Besant would not publish them in the journals
> under her control.  For those who left, some of them started
> opposing magazines or Organizations.  The Arcane school and the
> Anthroposophical Society are two examples. 
>  
> Jerry
>  
> ------------------------------------------                        
>   |Jerry Hejka-Ekins,                      |                     
>       |Member TI, TSA, TSP, ULT                |                  
>         |Please reply to: jhe@toto.csustan.edu   |               
>             |and CC to jhejkaekins@igc.apc.org       |           
>  
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