I was foolish enough not to take my laptop to the International Theosophical World Congress, so instead of posting this on my blog (of which I don’t know the password), I’ll post it here. I thought Linda Oliveira’s talk was, in the main, insightful. The title was – ominously – ‘why do we belong to [...]
activities
We had a members meeting in the Dutch TS (Aydar) at the end of May. It was spirited, but business like. That is: we discussed important issues, without scapegoating. I thought I’d share the main issues. I am glad to see that the tabu on discussing these things is leading to important insights coming out [...]
As an exercise in PR, I’d like to profile a typical theosophist. Having such a profile might help us in attracting a few of those theosophists outside the TS that Blavatsky mentioned. That is: we should see this person in our minds when we: Create local and national programs (and avoid boring ones like this), [...]
Not only am I going to the World Congress, but I was planning to live-blog it. But now that I’ve seen the proposed program, I’m no longer so sure. In fact, I’m wondering why I’m going in the first place. For entertainment purposes I have put up the program as it was published at the [...]
I’ve heard people say that the Theosophical Society should become more like the Esoteric School: a place where spiritual growth comes first, and every (other) object of the TS second. Reading The Masters Speak: An American Businessman Encounters Ashish and Gurdjieff by Sy Ginsburg this weekend I started to get the why and the how [...]
As any group therapist can tell you, group work is complicated. The history of the churches too can be read as a continuing story of growing and shrinking congregations. One of the reasons new congregations often grow is not just that they offer an approach that works for the time, but also that they’re simply, [...]
In order for the Theosophical Society to be relevant to this world today, it needs to be relevant to what people care about. Blavatsky latched onto the big spiritual hype of her day: the spiritualist movement. First she looked like their main defender. Then she turned on them to say: hey, all this may be [...]
I’m very glad to see the Theosophy Forward blog back up again. It has comments off, but at least prominent theosophists are communicating online and in clear words where they stand on important issues. [BTW having pings off means they are making it hard for search engines to keep track of what they're writing, not [...]
I was recently reminded that the Dutch TS did use to have a fun night (or open mike night or whatever you call it – we call it ‘bonte avond’, I guess that’s just for Govert if he’s online at his retreat.). I have some good memories of that – singing on stage (I like [...]
