Theos-Talk Archives (October 1997 Message tl00355)

In message <2.2.32.19971022181158.01290884@mail.eden.com>,
ramadoss@eden.com writes
>In this days of "democracy" it is time that we all need to know where the
>TSA is going so that we can get whole hearted and creative support of
>everyone not simply those sheep who can't think or are afraid of thinking.

It doesn't look like that to me, neither in the US or here in the UK.
The TS as such seems to be simply spiralling downward.  Maybe here and
there (as seems to be happening in New Zealand) there is still some real
theosophical work being done, but here and in the US it doesn't need
people to pay dues to a Society any more when that Society is not seen
to be doing its job.
>
>The TIT as it is constituted now, has a great built-in danger, in that TIT
>is not answerable to anyone if TSA folds up and also TIT can then change its
>internal setup in such a way it does even give up the properties it has
>taken control of and the Trustees can become self-perpetuating. This is a
>potential problem. Such a thing is not far fetched. Similar things have
>happened elsewhere in the past.

So maybe one day TIT could end up with all of the property and find some
legal way to carve it up for its own purposes.  A number of people I
have spoken to in the TS here are worried about the same thing - the
loss of the assets, especially the properties, the buildings, the
libraries.

However, theosophy is not about property, is it, Doss?  And the core
writings from HPB onwards are increasingly entering the public domain as
each year goes by, and can be downloaded for free, and distributed for
free on disks by those who have the will and the means; and it takes
only a little will and not too much in the way of means.  Soon we will
all be able to write to our own CD-Disks and even now we can use the
100MB Zip Disks.

Printers can do so much now, right on our own desks.  I can reproduce
some of the early booklet reprints on a one-off basis for little cost,
properly formated, stitched and trimmed - up to 32pp of text.  Even now
I have on my hard disk Vol 1 of *The Theosophical Voice* of 1908, which
only ran to three issues.  It dealt with the CWL affair.  Some of the
dissenting texts of the time are also on the website (below).  TUP
online (there is a link from the same website) has a number of
theosophical classics waiting for download. (Click on 'Classic Texts
Plus').  All just waiting there for the price of a phone call.  So who
needs to pay $30 or even $10 to an increasingly anachronistic
institution?  Those of us on the internet have this great mailing list
(thanks again to the foresight and enterprise of John Mead!) where we
can discuss theosophical ideas, controversies - whatever we will, and
from any part of the world where there is internet access.

*MY* TS lodges are theos-l and ti-l.  There are no committees, every one
of us pays her/his own way, and we can all talk to each other privately
by e-mail whenever we wish.  I meet with you all from an end room in an
old farmhouse in the extreme southwest of Britain, almost at the very
tip of Cornwall, with the Atlantic Ocean just along the road.  What do I
need with premises in Illinois, London, (350 miles away) or Bristol (200
miles away)?  Nothing at all.  We are entering a new age - let's get
with it, maybe by helping those without the internet or computers to get
access to them?  The message for the new age is simple - get connected!

Sincerely,

Alan