It seems I can’t stop writing about theosophy, even now that I’m no longer a member of the TS Adyar. On facebook an African American theosophist asked me if I’d written ‘I’m no longer a member of the Theosophical Society‘. I replied in rather short terms that yes, that was me. I realized soon after [...]
membership
This morning I revoked my membership of the Theosophical Society. Many of you will have seen this coming, of course. Since I’ve been so very visible a member, I think I owe you all something of an explanation. First off: my online work won’t change. I’ll still quote Blavatsky where it fits my topic, the [...]
This is on a personal note. In hindsight I’ve felt stuck in the TS for years. I went to university to study world religion, because I was learned out in the TS. I went back after that, because it was (or felt like) my spiritual home. Now it feels stifling. Quiting that volunteer work, as I’ve [...]
In response to a post by MKR to Theos-talk who has been saying he would have liked the topic of membership decline discussed openly at the world congress. (July 22nd 2010) I think everybody knows that the TS has faced a downward membership trend since the 1930s. What can the study of statistics do to [...]
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 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 [...]
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 [...]
Anton has posted the membership details of the Theosophical Society 2007/2008 on his site. I thought I’d go into that a bit more. Total membership of the Theosophical Society Adyar in 2007: 29,014. The largest section is India with 12,444 registered members. There has been some talk about the lagging administration of the Indian section, [...]
A theosophical lodge is a group of people that comes together to discuss theosophy. Usually there are lectures open to the public, a studygroup of some theosophical book, business meetings and a few holiday meetings. To me the lodges are the center of theosophical work. It’s where we can hatch out our ideas, throw them [...]
