The Society

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

Thought – One

I vividly remember how my dear mother, in the early 1950’s when I was a child of 5 or 6, would hold and firmly squeeze my hand while walking across busy streets with traffic in the centre of Amsterdam. It was that sort of feeling you get as a child, that your mum wants to take care of you in a potentially dangerous situation. The squeezing I had instinctively taken for granted, but there was one particular street near the Royal Palace and Dam square, called the Raadhuisstraat (English: Town Hall street) where, if we went across there, the squeezing increased to an almost intolerable level. A few years later, I must have been around 7 or 8 years old, and after I had repeatedly asked my mother why the squeezing on that particular street always seemed to increase, she took the time – and had the courage – to tell me why.

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

My name is Perry Coles, I am from Perth Western Australia, and I joined the Theosophical Society in 1991.

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

My name is Shikhar Agnihotri. I live in Lucknow, India, a city which may be familiar to many members of the TS around the world due to Dr. I.K.Taimni, an eminent Theosophist, being from this city. I became a member of the TS in 2008.

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

My name is Smitapragyan Patro. I am from Utkal Theosophical Federation, India. I have been a member of TS since 2006.

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

My name is Robert Béland and I live in the province of Québec, Canada. I became a member of the Theosophical Society forty years ago.

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

Nancy Blott, Oklahoma City, became a member the TSA 1986; Life Member-2016.

Tim Boyd – India, USA

Tim Boyd, International President of the Theosophical Society - Adyar

Photo: © Richard Dvořák 

At our most recent General Council meeting, a mission statement for the Theosophical Society (TS) was finalized. Although many statements have been made related to the mission and purpose of the TS, particularly by H. P. Blavatsky (HPB), in the 143-year history of the TS there has never been a formal mission statement.

In The Key to Theosophy, in a short section titled “The Abstract and The Concrete”, HPB addresses the subject of the relationship between Theosophy and the Theosophical Society. One of the things she says is that “Theosophy is divine nature, visible and invisible, and its Society human nature trying to ascend to its divine parent.”

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

Greed is a disease

The world’s most devastating illness today is greed. The greed virus has fully infected our behavior and even more lamentably, our thinking. Greed has influenced how we deal with others, the environment, politics, education, religion, our sexual conduct. Human beings are even willing to go to war because of greed; it has made us earthlings corrupt.

In most dictionaries greed is described as follows: an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, food, or other possessions

On a website that didn’t mention the name of the author, I found this quote:

“Money and greed are powerful forces that become corrupting influences on people and their environment. As money is seen to equal power, the wealthy people therefore are seen to have more power, giving them more authority over the poor. This creates a separation in the different socio-economic classes, which ultimately creates inequality in a community. Because of this, greed comes into play, causing chaos as violence erupts in order for a person to obtain what they want. Corruption is seen as those who have higher authority are able to abuse their power and get away with it.”

Greed is one of seven basic character flaws or “dark” personality traits. We all have the potential for greedy tendencies, but in people with an especially strong fear of lack – deprivation – greed can become all-consuming.

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

Hello Berlin, hello fellow seekers,

From Brasilia greetings to all participants assembled in Berlin for ITC 2018. The theme for this gathering “What is a Life Worth Living?” is a true invitation for deliberations, dialogues and lots of intensive listening.

Hand in hand, working together

Our spiritual quest, at times it looks more like a struggle, is not always an easy one. Our world in its current state challenges us. When there is much potential, light and hope for a better world, the counter, or dark forces at the same time become dangerously active, trying to eliminate the good, causing disharmony depression and conflict. We can observe that all around us, it is an occult law. We don’t have search for it, it is so visible: intolerance on many levels, while many of our sisters and brothers who, in spite of the so-called connections through smart phones and social media, are so terribly disconnected.

In order to make certain that Theosophists in years to come will still be able to shine light in the darkness, our commitment and trust are essential. It was often said that Theosophy is not a noun but that it is and will always s be a verb. ITC is working for the future and it is doing that here and now in Berlin, because the now is here, another time does not exist. It is the only true moment in which one can express life: the eternal active present.

ITC is on-going experiment, a work in progress of which all of you are a part. Theosophy as such cannot solve the issues the world is facing, but through Theosophy mankind is able to find keys to go inward and start the so much needed process of regeneration and self-realization.

Jonathan Colbert – USA

It is certainly an honor to offer some impressions of the ITC (International Theosophy Conferences) gathering this year from July 26^th through July 29^th. Overall, for me and for many others I have talked to, the ITC gathering this year had a special quality of both mind and heart. I used to hear sometimes a couple of decades ago, unfortunate statements from Theosophists, like, “I like Theosophy but I’m not so sure I like theosophists.” Maybe people are still saying things like that even nowadays, but I don’t hear it anymore. In fact, for me at least, it is such a joy and such a great privilege to come together annually through the ITC conferences with Theosophists of seemingly various stripes and colors, each time in a new year and a new place. I’m wondering if in time, the theosophical movement will consist of just students of theosophy, wherever and however situated.

Participants ITC 2018, Berlin

Foreboding signs did pop up in the immediate days prior to the conference. Even though there was enthusiasm a year earlier at Philadelphia about this year’s conference, as the time approached this year, there was a certain quotient of pre-conference jitters and doubts about whether or not a purely working conference with little or no lectures would end up being too corporate and mechanical. Additionally, there were the jokes about how the three hot topics – religious intolerance, end-of-life-issues and depression – were, well, depressing! Furthermore, astrology types were saying something about a full Lunar Eclipse; that Mars would be closer than in a long time; and that Mercury would be in one of its three retrograde cycles for 2018. Seemingly bearing out the dire prognostications of the astrological soothsayers, on the way to the conference itself, there were numerous baggage transfer problems at airports causing several attendees, especially coming from The United States, to become separated from their suitcases for days in a row!

Yet, by the end of the conference, I had never seen so many bright and shiny smiles and faces, so many happy hearts all gathered in one place. How did this happen? As mentioned, this year’s conference was heavy on study circles and light on lectures. The experiment was to see if you could have a true theosophical working conference. Corporations do these in order to bring about a fundamental “change process” drawing from a wider field of participants within the organization to get new ideas and generate new initiatives, instead of utilizing a more traditional intra-department, top-down approach to achieve such an end. In this way participants are invited that represent a wide variety of expertise, experience, geography and demographic within the corporation to analyze given problems, come up with solutions to them and to implement these in the form of new policies and programs going forward.

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

George Wester from Perth, Western Australia.

Been involved with the TS since the early 80’s, became a member in 1986

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

I am Sonal Murali. I am a native of Gujarat in Western India and have been living in various parts of India since 1983. I joined the TS in 1979.