Ali Ritsema - The Netherlands

Theosophy Forward is a well chosen title.

Yes, Theosophy will move forward, it always will. The question for the Theosophical Society as a channel for Theosophy is how to move forward? How can the Theosophical Society serve best as a vehicle? What is the real mission of the Theosophical Society?

Very clear statements have been made by the Mahatmas and H.P.B. which can help us or strengthen us in our search for how to move forward.
In Mahatma Letter 112 (chronological, or 81 in the 1st to 3rd editions) KH refers to a stifling grey fog, symbolizing the vicious state of India in 1883, which—no doubt—in the rest of the world will not be much better nowadays, and he states: “Here and there twinkles a point of light which marks a nature still somewhat spiritual, a person who aspires and struggles after the higher knowledge. If the beacon of Aryan occultism shall ever be kindled again, these scattered sparks must be combined to make its flame. And this is the task of the T.S.”

Theo Curans

The Planetary Union (PU) or União Planetária is a Brazilian organization that is being confused with the Theosophical Society. That confusion is not adequately recognized in the following statement from the minutes of the recent General Council meeting at Adyar:

Planetary Union, an organization created by members of the Brazilian Section, which broadcasts theosophical lectures to 66 cities in Brazil by cable TV, to all Central and South America by satellite, and globally on the Internet, was explained in detail.  The organization is a non-profit entity and managed independently of the TS so as to place no financial burden or risk on the assets of the TS in Brazil.  The directors are all TS members who receive no remuneration.  The President noted that this is a new idea and each Section needed to be free to develop its own way of promoting Theosophy.

Jan Nicolaas Kind - Brazil

The Freedom of the Society Resolution affirms the independence of our Society from all other organisations.  The time has come to study the content and significance of this important Resolution, and — more importantly — to apply it as necessary.

The Freedom of the Society Resolution:

The Theosophical Society, while cooperating with all other bodies whose aims and activities make such cooperation possible, is and must remain an organization entirely independent of them, not committed to any objects save its own, and intent on developing its own work on the broadest and most inclusive lines, so as to move towards its own goal as indicated in and by the pursuit of those objects and that Divine Wisdom which in the abstract is implicit in the title ‘The Theosophical Society’. Since Universal Brotherhood and the Wisdom are undefined and unlimited, and since there is complete freedom for each and every member of the Society in thought and in action, the Society seeks ever to maintain its own distinctive and unique character by remaining free of affiliation or identification with any other organization.

Wies Kuiper - The Netherlands

In our Dutch Section, a quarter to a third of the members are unattached to any local group. In addition, the Section has nine Lodges (some of which own their own buildings but whose members are mainly older) and seven Study Centers (whose members are often younger). No new Lodges have been chartered for some fifty years. Yet most of the Study Centers have seven or more members, some as many as twenty-five members. The Study Center members do not want to be concerned with the organizational details of a Lodge, such as formal rules and officers.

I suspect that the Netherlands is not unique in this situation, but that other countries also have many unattached members and more new Study Centers than traditional Lodges.

The Society’s international rules envision a nineteenth-century structure that is not realistic for the twenty-first century in many countries. How should those rules be changed?