Theos-Talk Archives (July 2001 Message tt00123)

Jerry,

I'm glad you see the basic thrust and strategy of the "United Team" proposal.

I personally give no thought to Lodge membership numbers; it is off my radar screen, other than the overall view that we need to do more as a "Theosophical Movement" in order to catch humanity's attention in general, as proposed in the way that we come together and act together in a new very wise and skilled "United Team [Writing] Action" -- and on a completely separate and new and neutral web site. Millions and millions of people could become interested, and become life-time students, without ever actually seeing or entering a Theosophical Lodge, and studying on their own.

As far as giving newcomers only a "pleasant future life" view, as you say, in "99.99% of all Theosophical articles on karma and reincarnation", I have never experienced that, when in years past I was actually near the NYC ULT and went often. We were always discussing all phases of karma & reincarnation, when we were discussing it at all. And the same thing goes concerning what I have always read in THEOSOPHY magazine (I have every single issue since it began in 1912, and have read every word). If you will actually read, if you haven't already, my Introductory "Setting the Stage" book, which is especially geared to newcomers at every level of knowledge in everyday life and science, religion, and philosophy, you will see that I, who happens to be ULT trained, so to say,
have not presented to humanity, in the 166 articles, any karma & reincarnation that only speaks of a "pleasant future life": http://www.wisdomworld.org/setting.html ; (and read it from a fellow student who is strategically trying to see what I mean and what an "introductory" mix of articles on various subjects that I have compiled and presented to newcomers; and read it from the point of view of putting yourself in the reader's shoes, and see if you think it is a reasonable and well-rounded sequential presentation that has a chance of not scaring the reader away, not turning him or her off, and might have a good chance that the reader might become a life-long student if he or she actually diligently followed my suggestion to maintain the self-discipline and read the 166
articles in sequence). And when you go to the much, much larger "Additional" section, http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/index.html -- you will see a large variety of sections and subjects, containing series of articles and groupings of articles, that are also a great mix of subjects geared for both newcomers and novices, as well as scholars, religionists, scientists, philosophers, and experts in many many fields and subjects, and only a relatively small portion are on karma and reincarnation, and they too do not simply present the subject in a "pleasant future life" view. The bottom line is that I have not experienced that shallow, confined, and rosy karma & reincarnation view in my studies at the ULT Lodge and in all of THEOSOPHY magazine.

I Present THEOSOPHY magazine on my web site, because that is what I was a student of as a ULT Associate, and have been impressed with its style and content, and consider it a strong sample of what undistorted Theosophy is all about; showing the caliber of writings and collations, from just this one group within the Theosophical Movement, on a wide variety of subjects. It shows and suggests, for starters, the types of articles that could, currently and forever on into the future, be endlessly generated on a current basis to humanity, including point-counterpoint discussions with all experts in every field, on every social subject under the sun, as well as every science, religion, and philosophy -- generated by the "United Team Action", consisting of people from all
Theosophical organizations, as well as those from none.

Fraternally,

John DeSantis
(Compiler)
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You may find a great deal of the Truth that you are searching for here:

Wisdom World web site (Main Page):
http://www.wisdomworld.org/index.html

The Index page of the Introductory, "Setting the Stage" book:
http://www.wisdomworld.org/setting.html

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Gerald Schueler wrote:

> John,
> Thanks very much for the clarification of your intended scope. Focusing on beginners is fine and you should have no problems. I apologise for over-reacting.
>
> Just a thought here. I have heard that TS membership tends to remain relatively constantly low, with a fairly high turnover rate (new members quiting or not renewing). So, have you given any thought at all (and you may not have yet) as to how the TSs are supposed to keep these folks after they join? This was actually the main concern, festering in the back of my mind, in my last post. Having come to Theosophy and having read the literature and maybe even signing up with one of the TSs, what enticement/attraction is there for them to stay? My thought here is that promising them that their good deeds now will guarantee a more pleasant future life (which is how I interpret 99.99% of all Theosophical articles on karma and reincarnation) likely won't cut it. Just a thought.
>
> Jerry S.