The Society

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

The so-called moderator of the blog/website TheosTalk, once a wonderful source of information, now has gone fully over the top. Impartial participants on this site are no longer welcome as it seems, and the person who calls himself MKR, is primarily occupied with slandering and insulting the current administration in Adyar.

Eldon Tucker

Once upon a time, the website TheosTalk (TT, a service provided to the Theosophical community by Theosophy Network Inc., a tax exempt 501(c) 3 nonprofit corporation), founded in 2000 by Eldon Tucker, was an inspiring meeting place, a sort of global square where Theosophists and others would meet, respectfully exchanging a large range of views and ideas directly or indirectly related to Theosophy. In those early pioneering years, with the internet rapidly developing, TT fulfilled a unique spearhead function. Interesting vivid dialogues and debates would occur and frequently subscribers would hook up with the site, contributing and enthusiastically participating in all that went on there. Although never a participant myself on any social networking site, as that’s not my thing, it was fun and really fascinating to go there and read what others had to share.

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

Krishnamurti

[“Is there a thinking without the word? When the mind is not cluttered up with words, then thinking is not thinking as we know; but it is an activity without the word, without the symbol; therefore it has no frontier; the word is the frontier. The word creates the limitation, the boundary. And a mind that is not functioning in words, has no limitation; it has no frontiers; it is not bound” (J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life])

Elsewhere in this issue of Theosophy Forward you’ll find an extensive report on the Naarden Conference and the final version of the Naarden declaration. Words always limit an idea or an expression, so when we look at the words of the Naarden declaration we could say that the text is “perfectly imperfect.” It is not what the ITC board brought forward; it is what that board compiled from the suggestions that were given by all participants.

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

Jan N. Kind

This editorial was previously published on Theosophy Forward's Facebook page.

[“I think that people who make judgments about other people they don’t even know are shallow, and people who start rumors are shallow, and I really don’t care what shallow people say about me” (Nina LaCour, Hold Still [New York: Dutton Books, Penguin Group, 2009])

What can we actually learn from those who constantly seek conflict and distortion in our Theosophical environment, consequently downgrading any concept of decency we know of, thus selling lies and rumors for truth? Is there indeed anything to be gained from the boring, one-sided, biased and abominable exposes we are regularly confronted with, when we often innocently try to hook up with what are called independent Theosophical discussion sites?

1. 

2. 1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Aspasia Papadomichelaki; I was born in Athens, Greece where I live to this day. I have been indulging in metaphysical research and activities ever since 1973 and in 1992 I became member of the Greek T.S.

1. What is your name, where are you from and how long you have been a member of The TS?

My name is Carlos Gauggel, I am German and Honduran. I consider both countries my Motherland. I have been an active member of the TS for the past 8 years.

1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Wouter A. van Beers and I was born in what now is called Indonesia, but have been living in The Netherlands since 1946. Between 1934 and 1946 I experienced wonderful, but also somber years especially during the Second World War in the former Dutch East-Indies, a Dutch colony which was invaded by Japanese forces in January 1942.

1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Nell van Beers and I am from The Netherlands. I first joined the Young Theosophist (YT) in 1961, which consisted of a group of active students in the cities of Delft and Utrecht and was made Secretary of this group. In 1967 I ultimately became a member of the TS-Adyar

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2. 1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Hans van Aurich. I am a member of the Theosophical Society (Adyar) since 1985. At the same time I became member of the The Hague Lodge of the Dutch Section.

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2. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Cees Slob and during half of my present incarnation I have been a member of the TS Point Loma Blavatsky House and still am.

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2. 1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

I’m Jeff Soule from Washington, DC in the United States and have been a member of the American section for 5 years. I have been exploring esoteric philosophy for far longer.

Editorial

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose”
(Lyndon B. Johnson)

Last January, after the names of the two candidates for the position of the international presidency for the Theosophical Society, Adyar, were announced — Tim Boyd and C. V. K. Maithreya — in the capacity of editor-in-chief of the website Theosophy Forward, I wrote an open letter to all General Secretaries and other office bearers:

“On Saturday January 11 the names of the candidates running for the position of International President of the T.S. Adyar were published. Tim Boyd and Chaganti V. K. Maithreya are on the ballot. The T.S. Adyar is in a fortunate position now to have two candidates of this caliber. This is truly a historical occasion, and the next months are going to be decisive for the T.S. Adyar and Theosophy. Both candidates will play an important role, no matter who the winner ultimately will be. Knowing them rather well, I want to make use of this opportunity to share with you that I’m confident that the candidates won’t become opponents in the negative sense of the word. It’s clear that both of them have pros but also cons, both of them have excellent qualities that can certainly benefit our beloved Society; those qualities have to be utilized to the fullest extent.

“We need to be aware, however, of the lessons to be learnt from the previous election. Read this article: http://www.theosophyforward.com/index.php/the-society/888-adyar-mon-amour.html  

“We can all positively contribute to what lies before us. These elections do not concern only the two contenders. We’re all in this together, so we must all pull our weight. Erroneously downgraded by some, the importance of what happens on the Internet should never be underestimated. In this day and age websites and blogs play vital roles in daily lives, and extra caution is needed at all times; recently revolutions have started and governments have fallen due to the impact of what happens in cyberspace. Obviously transparency is a must, but one needs to be discriminative in separating the sense from the nonsense. I call on all to send both Tim and Maithreya your good thoughts, wishing them Strength, Light, and Wisdom.”

That was my letter in January and many things have happened since then. Tim Boyd was officially elected international president of the Theosophical Society, Adyar, a result announced on April 27. The Theosophical Society, Adyar indeed was fortunate to have had two men of such caliber running.

About the time the names of the candidates were announced, speculations, sickening assumptions, and offensive accusations started to surface as well. The dismay was, and still is, concentrated around what is labelled as the ”Policy of Silence.” We are told, as we were in 2008, that there are conspiracies, deals made behind closed doors, the Theosophical “Cosa Nostra” has struck once more.

Opinions and ideas expressed in the mini-interviews are exclusively of those who are being interviewed. They don’t necessarily represent the ideas and opinions of the compilers of Theosophy Forward.

The responses of the interviewees are not edited for content. Some contributors give short answers to the questions while others touch upon the subject more elaborately.