Theos-Talk Archives (June 1997 Message tl00510)

Hi

Here is an article from Autumn Equinox 1988 issue of the Theosophical Network.
In the light what the author has said, we can look at the current stauts of
TS and evaluate where it stands today.

.............doss

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A Theosophical Leader Speaks Out

   On the day when Theosophy will have accomplished its most holy and most
important mission-namely, to unite firmly a body of men of all nations in
brotherly love and bent on a pure altruistic work, not on a labor with
selfish motives-on that day only will Theosophy become higher than any
nominal brotherhood of man. This will be a wonder and a miracle truly, for
the realization of which Humanity is vainly waiting for the last 18
centuries, and which every association has hitherto failed to accomplish.

   Orthodoxy in Theosophy is a thing neither possible nor desirable. It is
diversity of opinion, within certain limits, that keeps the Theosophical
Society  a living and a healthy body, its many other ugly features
notwithstanding. Were it not, also, for the existence of a large amount of
uncertainty in the minds of students of Theosophy, such healthy divergences
would be impossible, and the Society would degenerate into a sect, in which
a narrow and stereotyped creed would take the place of the living and
breathing spirit of Truth and an ever growing Knowledge...

   ...lt must be remembered that the Society was not founded as a nursery
for forcing a supply of Occultists-as a factory for the manufactory of
Adepts. It was intended to stem the current of materialism and also that of
spiritualistic phenomenalism and the worship of the Dead. It has to guide
the spiritual awakening that has now begun, and not to pander to psychic
cravings which are but another form of materialism. For by "materialism" is
meant now only an anti- philosophical negation of pure spirit, and, even
more, materialism in conduct and action brutality, hypocrisy, and, above
all, selfishness, - but also the fruits of a disbelief in all but material
things, a disbelief which has increased enormously during the last century,
and which has led many, after a denial of all existence other than that in
matter, into a blind belief in the materialization of spirit....

   ...Therefore it is that the Ethics of Theosophy are even more necessary
to mankind than the scientific aspects of the psychic facts of nature and
man....

    ..Many are the energetic members of the Theosophical Society who wish to
work and work hard. But the price of their assistance is that all the work
must be done in their way and not in any one else's way. And if this is not
carried out they sink back into apathy or leave the Society entirely, loudly
declaring that they are the only true Theosophists. Or, if they remain, they
endeavor to exalt their own method of working at the expense of all other
earnest workers. This is fact, but it is not Theosophy. There can be no
other end to it than that the growth of the Society will soon be split up
into various sects, as many as there are leaders, and as hopelessly fatuous
as the 350 odd Christian sects which exist in England alone at the present
time. Is this prospect one to look forward to for the Theosophical Society?
Is this "Separateness" consonant with the united Altruism of Universal
Brotherhood? Is this the teaching of our Noble Masters? Brothers and Sisters
in America, it is in your hands to decide whether it shall be realized or
not. You work and work hard. But to work properly in our Great Cause it is
necessary to forget all personal differences of opinion as to how the work
is to be carried on. Let each of us work in his own way and not endeavor to
force our ideas of work upon our neighbors...

     ...Thus, then, "Union Is Strength"; and for every reason private
differences must be sunk in united work for our Great Cause....

   ...if we will but unite and work as one mind, one heart. The Masters
require only that each shall do his best, and, above all, that each shall
strive in reality to feel himself one with his fellow- workers. It is not a
dull agreement on intellectual questions, or an impossible unanimity as to
all details of work, that is needed; but a true, hearty, earnest devotion to
our cause which will lead each to help his brother to the utmost of his
power to work for that cause, whether or not we agree as to the exact method
of carrying on that work. The only man who is absolutely wrong in his method
is the one who does nothing; each can and should cooperate with all and all
with each in a large-hearted spirit of comradeship to forward the work of
bringing Theosophy home to every man and woman in the country.

   Let us look forward, not backward. What of the coming year? And first a
word of warning. As the preparation for the new cycle proceeds, as the
forerunners of the new sub-race make their appearance on the American
continent, the latent psychic and occult powers in man are beginning to
germinate and grow. Hence the rapid growth of such movements as Christian
Science, Mind Cure, Metaphysical Healing, Spiritual Healing, and so forth.
All these movements represent nothing but different phases of the exercise
and of these growing powers, - as yet not understood and therefore but too
often ignorantly misused. Understand once for all that there is nothing
"spiritual" or "divine" in any of these manifestations, The cures effected
by them are due simply to the unconscious exercise of occult power on the
lower planes of nature-usually of prana or life- currents. The conflicting
theories of all these schools are based on misunderstood and misapplied
metaphysics, often on grotesquely absurd illogical fallacies. But the one
feature common to most of them, a feature which presents the most danger in
the near future, is this. In nearly every case, the tenor of the teachings
of these schools is such as to lead people to regard the healing process as
being applied to the mind of the patient. Here lies the danger, for any such
process however cunningly disguised in words and hidden by false noses-is
simply to psychologise the patient. In other words, whenever the healer
interferes - consciously or unconsciously-with the free mental action of the
person he treats, it is - Black Magic. Already these so-called sciences of
"Healing" are being used to gain a livelihood. Soon some sharp person will
find out that by the same process the minds of others can be influenced in
many directions, and the selfish motive of personal gain and money getting
having been once allowed to creep in, the one-time "healer" may be
insensibly led on to use his power to acquire wealth or some other object of
his desire....

[Reprinted from "Letters to the American Conventions", by Helena Blavatsky]