In other words:
How should we deal with members of the Theosophical Society Pasadena or the ULT in the TS Adyar?
We had this come up in our local lodge the other day. We were talking about the program for next year, and the topic of who should go in the board of the lodge came up. The lodge is small: only about 15 members. It’s been very active lately, and three new members came along in the past year alone. So things are looking good, but still, it’s a small lodge. In fact, the board is only two people. One chair & money person (what are those called?), the other the secretary.
Of the members there is one who is very active: she helps out with coffee, tea, selling books, digitalizing the library etc. Yet she’s also a member of one of the ‘rival theosophical organizations’. For that reason she was not asked to be in the board in the past. Yet she has been asked to check the books for the lodge building (a separate foundation). It’s starting to be a bit silly to not ask her in the board.
So she IS going to be asked.
There are several reasons why:
- Active members should be rewarded with recognition for their work. Being a member of the board is a form of recognition.
- Active members who are Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Freemason etc. are not kept out of such responsibility, why should someone who is active in another theosophical organization be suspect?
Do you agree, or did we break an important rule by asking her to take on more administrative responsibility?
Why shouid the differing personalities and
opinions of the past be allowed to adversely affect the present. Surely if Brotherhood is the most important factor
and pragmatically ofcourse .Suitability for the Role on the Comittee. Cheers Paul
Can we talk of Universal Brotherhood when we have concept of rival lodges / organisations !!!
Well, we do have several theosophical organizations and they are ‘rivals’ in the spiritual space. Using different words won’t change the facts.
Unfortunately one of those facts is that the relationship between the various theosophical organizations isn’t very good. Their implicit aims are very different after all.
Of course, there should be no such discrimination. Moreover, there can be different reasons for being members of other organizations. For example, I had problems with joining TS Adyar for more than 10 years and meanwhile joined ULT, where I was admitted without any problems.
Though mostly those meet such problems who live out of the territory of sections, so probable participation in a board isn’t relevant for them.