The Treasure House of Pearls

Anyone following my blog for the last few weeks will know that I have been spending time at Theosophical archives for my master’s research. Today I was at the Theosophical Society’s Dutch headquarters. I have also visited the Theosophical Library in London and the Ritman Library has a Theosophical section too. I have had access to a variety of publications that go back well over a century. For instance, this afternoon I was reviewing 19th century copies of The Theosophist, the journal of the International Theosophical Society, The Theosophical Review, the journal of the British section and The Vahan, the newsletter of the British section. In these publications one finds the basis for the institutional memory. I also looked at the journals for the American and Australian sections and other miscellaneous journals from the T.S. and about the T.S.

Each T.S. section had their own headquarters and each knew the importance of institutional memory. Frequently the journals would reprint material from past journals, not because they were short of material, but because it related to current events, or was used to remind people of the past. One reoccurring section in The Theosophist was “Old Leaves.” These were the diary entries of Olcott from the decade previously. These entries were important for the members to remember the origins of the society and how they started and what they were all about. Other publications were detailed listings of what the various bodies were doing; the lectures that were taking pace, the publications that were going out and being received, and the classes that were being taught. All the lodges reported their activities to the section HQ and then this was published monthly. It is from these kinds of listings that we know when Allan Bennett made presentations to which lodges on which days on which subjects. There is more certainty about what he did a century ago than what any particular O.T.O. body did last month.

There are huge implications to institutional memory. The first is if you don’t know where you have been and what you have done, how do you know where you are now and what you are doing? This means your present lacks the foundation of the past. Being un-rooted means the local bodies float without direction or purpose. This is, indeed, the case. It is why local bodies continually make the same kind of errors over and over again. They have no reference to the past when these mistakes were made and they have no means to learn from them. The next implication is if you don’t know where you are, how do you know where you are going? This goes back to my post about direction. Local bodies lack a direction and by having no past they cannot even grasp onto what has been for direction. Instead they are constantly left in the situation of recreating the wheel and they are continually doing a poor job of it.

Continue Reading »

Tags: History, Amsterdam, Graduate School, Personal, Leadership, O.T.O.

2 Comments »

In a reply to my previous post about the Order having “no destination,” a respondent, Paul, noted some similarities between the problems the Order has and his association with local Christian and Buddhist ministries. He asks:

To ask a somewhat pointed question, why would anyone want to attend or participate in, say, the Gnostic Mass, every week for years on end? What good is it? Will I be saved? Will it make me enlightened? Will the world be saved?

Without knowing it he has hit on one of the most important issue that most people miss, what is the point of doing the local work? Or perhaps more succinctly, what is the point of the Order?

The mission of local churches is fairly well known. They are created to provide services and act as collection points for Christians. During the period directly after the death of Christ, the disciples were convinced that Jesus’ return would be in their life time. However, that did not happen. As a result, the church had to devise a mission for itself and it came up with promulgation of the religion, encouragement of the Christian way of life, and remembrance of Jesus until the second coming. These functions, while strategized on the larger level, are implemented on the local. While the local church’s doctrine is often determined by the higher levels in the hierarchy, the actual person interaction happens on the local level. Charity work, soup kitchens, Mass, religious classes (Sunday school), etc. all are planned on the local level. Why? Let’s face it Christians are just biding their time waiting for Jesus to show back up. This is totally reasonable within their theology. Yet, the Order was designed for something else, and it is this point that the Order leadership has missed.

If one looks at the O.T.O. and its structure today, one will see the same kind of Christian model manifesting in the Lodges. This is no surprise, the O.T.O. has as its model Freemasonry, and its Lodges are basically setup like Christian churches too. But does it have to be like this? Or could there be some other way of structuring the bodies, visualizing its activities, or directing its energies? Indeed it can and must if it is to escape the nihilistic models that are manifesting in Christian Church closures and decreasing membership, as well as the declining membership in Masonry. Continue Reading »

Tags: Judeo-Christianity, Strategic Goals, Thelemic Community, Modernity, Morals/Values/Ethics, Crowley, O.T.O., Thelema

4 Comments »

In London last month, I met the editor of the journal, Theosophical History, James Santucci. Jim was extremely kind and helpful in my research. He suggested contacts, archives, and more to assist in the expansion of my work. He also listened to me drone on about Allen Bennett and at one point replied, “You know, your finding on Bennett’s relationship to Theosophy would be an interesting essay for the journal.” And he was right. After that meeting I spent an afternoon at the Theosophical Lodge of England where I did more and more digging and found a fascinating legacy for interaction between Bennett and Theosophy. I am currently about 5 pages into my essay and I have not even finished the first period when he was in England. But I’ll list a few highlights below.

Allan Bennett’s relationship with The Theosophical Society [in chronological order]:

• Joins Brixton Lodge of the T.S. March, 1893.
• Presents a paper to the lodge regarding the Egyptian Book of the Dead, July 1894.
• Applies to join the Esoteric Section of the T.S. (Summer 1894) [this is based on circumstantial evidence].
• August 1895, Brixton Lodge is dissolved due to W. Q. Judge dispute, and so with it, Bennett’s membership.
• Crowley tells of an even where Bennett “blasted” a doubting Theosophist. No date is given.

[There is a break here where Bennett is involved with the Golden Dawn and then leaves England for Ceylon.]

• July 1901, Hope Lodge of the T.S., Ceylon, Bennett presents a paper on “The Four Nobel Truths.”
• Bennett sends announcement of his ordination and the creation of the International Buddhist Society to the T.S. via a pamphlet. Olcott announces this and replies in The Theosophist, August, 1902.
• Ananda Metteyya (Bennett), begins publishing Buddhism: An Illustrated Quarterly Review. Within the first essay, “The Future of Faith,” A.M. addresses part of it to Theosophists and he claims they misunderstand the Buddha’s doctrine of Annatta.
• Olcott favorably reviews the first issue of Buddhism in The Theosophist, October 1903.
• The Theosophical Review, November 1903, responds to A.M.’s claim that Theosophy misunderstands the doctrine of Annatta.
• Olcott reviews the next four issues of Buddhism in The Theosophist, all favorably, with each subsequent one being more positive (March 1904, June 1904, January 1905, December 1905, of the October issue of Buddhism)
• Various essays or notes in each issue of Buddhism address Theosophy. Clearly A.M. was reading their periodicals and responding in Buddhism.
• March 1908, Vol. II, No II, of Buddhism carries an obituary essay by A.M. about the death of H. S. Olcott (died February 1907).
• June 1908, The Theosophical Review reprints Olcott obituary.
• January 1911, Ananda Metteyya meets Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater while the Theosophist leaders were touring Burma.
• Ananda Metteyya’s essay, “The Religion of Burma,” is serialized in the April and May, 1911 issues of The Theosophist.

As this list indicates, there was an enduring interaction between Bennett and Theosophy. This is actually not too surprising. Bennett had always claimed that he had an early interest in the religions of the East. It makes sense that he was involved with Theosophy as it was the only predominant organization in the west to openly endorse the theologies of the East. Olcott, himself, is considered the first Westerner to convert to Buddhism. Moreover, Ananda Metteyya always claimed in lectures and in Buddhism that Theosophy opened the way for Buddhism to come to Europe and if it had not been for Theosophy, the dharma would never have had a chance to take root in England. His issues with Theosophy, though, were doctrinal and these were never cleared up to his satisfaction. Even in the reprint of the Olcott obituary, the editor makes a footnote pointing out the two differences between A.M.’s interpretation of the dharma and Theosophy’s. Nevertheless, it is clear he thought highly of Theosophy and that Theosophists were essentially brothers in the dharma.

When I am done with the essay and it has been published in Theosophy History, I’ll let people know. If anyone happens to read this and knows of additional pertinent information, please do not hesitate to let me know!

Tags: Religion, History, Travel, Graduate School, Personal, Buddhism, Technical

No Comments »

While it is not directly related to Thelema, I thought I would pass this along. Plutonica.net is running a Erisian Haiku Contest. The winner gets a copy of Francis Breakspear’s Kaostar! My entry, which I spent about 30 second thinking about, is:

A Golden Apple?
For The Fairest? Its All Mine
So Fuck Off!

Tags: Links, Blogs, Personal

No Comments »

I have heard a lot about twitter.com lately. It is like the Facebook status, but can be updated from your phone, online, etc. I have just set up my twitter account so anyone who feels inclined can “follow” my activities can. To be honest, I am not 100% sure what it is all about. Is it a weird kind of web exhibitionism/voyeurism? Should I really be telling people I am grocery shopping or I am in my Occult Trajectories class? Do people really care that I am relaxing at my favorite café reading Umberto Eco while sipping tea by a canal?

To integrate this blog with twitter, I have added a side bar showing my latest “tweets” and when I post on the blog it is supposed to create a tweet from it. One thing I thought would be obvious is the RSS feed of your tweets but I cannot find the link for it. What am I missing? Anyway, let me know if you have a twitter account and if I find your list of activities, like washing the car, brushing your teeth, or watching Beverly Hills 90210 reruns interesting, I’ll follow your account. Oh, and if you have suggestions on how to make twitter more interesting or useful, let me know.

PS: I don’t know why anyone would want to do this, but a text message from twitter says if you send “follow jlcrow1″ to them, through your phone and assuming you have an account, you can get SMS updates of all my tweets…so now you can get an SMS update to know when I have posted on my blog or I am reading at the Ritman library…come on, you know you want to know…

Edit: I now see the RSS feed link.

Tags: Twitter, Blogs, Personal

1 Comment »