The Esoteric School Lobby

[Anand Gholap]

(Annie Besant was the head of the Esoteric School and Colonel Olcott was the President of TS.)
Mrs. Annie Besant wrote:
“In the T.S. we have a curious mixture. The Exoteric Society is purely democratic - it is only fair to admit this fully. On the other side we have an Esoteric body which is practically autocratic in its constitution ... The existence of a secret body to rule the outer Society made the constitution of the T.S. a mere farce, for it was at the mercy of the inner … All the differences that arose between the Colonel and myself were on this point; he could not believe that I was serious in saying that I would not use the E.S. against him, but slowly he came to understand it ... The greatest power will always be in the hands of the E.S., and not in the head of the Society ... I know that I exercise a quite unwarrantable power. This is what makes some people say there should not be an E.S.T. … We must recognize the danger and try to neutralize it. At any time during the last fifteen years I could have checkmated the Colonel on any point if I had chosen ...”

I could see frustration of some officers in TS regarding the results in Presidential elections. They were wondering how one person can get elected unopposed for around 30 years. It happened again and again in TS history. Different theories were offered to explain this phenomenon. I think all that mystery is solved by above passages of Annie Besant.
Best
Anand Gholap

[William Vollrath]

Thank you. I welcome suggestions from anyone on where to find the current TS bylaws, especially regarding election of international officers and sanctions on/removal of TS members and entire sections.

[Anton Rozman]

Dear Janeth and all,

It seems that it is somehow hard to follow more extensive discussions on this Community therefore I will create a web page and republish on it all relevant posts of this discussion on Esoteric School.

Click on the link to open last 2007 Edition of the TS Rules and Regulations.

On this page you will find links to practically all relevant documents which were published in last two years concerning the situation in the Theosophical Society.

Warmest regards,
Anton

[William Vollrath]

Thank you Anton so much for the bylaw information!! Were you active at the international level at onetime?

[Anton Rozman]

No, William, I wasn't, but I have done some homework.

[Janeth]

Re: Reply by Anton Rozman 1 day ago
>"I will create a web page and republish on it all relevant posts of this discussion on Esoteric School."<---I remember another TC member wanting to use TC postings on another Site and asking TC moderators about that before proceeding.

I understand you want to copy/paste, as you said, "relevant posts of this discussion on Esoteric School" onto another site. Will you show TC moderators the same courtesy the other TC member did?

[Janeth]

>"Reply by Anton Rozman 1 minute ago
>"Dear Janeth, Please, do not ascribe"<---What I infer from your postings when you talk about TS-ES is that you want it to disappear.

Is that what you tried to convey in your comments regarding TS-ES?

That is all I am talking about here, now, TS-ES. I am with you and any other caring and loyal active TS member around the world who wish to see TS being handled in a more effective and cost-efficient manner. Once again, trying to get rid of TS-ES is the most impractical way to accomplish this.

Thank you for your kind reply, Anton.

Best,
J.

[William Vollrath]

I wonder if the, so far unnamed, individuals who are supposedly working so hard on improved by-laws, are focusing on how to improve democratic processes in TS or just on how to quiet the complaints. If it's the former, they should already have requested sample by-laws from numerous other organizations...

[Janeth]

>"Reply by William Vollrath 1 minute ago - I wonder if the, so far unnamed, individuals who are.."<---I have absolutely no doubts whatsoever the GC members who are diligently and lovingly working on the proposal are doing the best they can to help bring TS into the 21rst Century and see it ran in a democratic, efficient and cost-effective manner--for the record, when I say cost-effective manner, I am referring also to mental, emotional, spiritual and physical energy TS Section leaders and other TS leaders employ every day on behalf of Theosophy and its vehicle, the TS which fruits we get to enjoy!!☺

[Anton Rozman]

Dear friends,

In my view we have an organization called the Theosophical Society with its membership and we have a separate, although affiliated organization called the Esoteric School with its own membership and the prerequisite that the membership in the Esoteric School is membership in the Theosophical Society what makes it an affiliated organization. The Theosophical Society has its Constitution which represents definite (democratic) type of relationships and objects which should govern behavior of its members. On the other hand the Esoteric School has its own Rules which determine (autocratic) behavior of its members.

The first problem is that the Constitution of the Theosophical Society and the Rules of the Esoteric School are in collision as they require different type of behavior from their members. The second problem is that the Theosophical Society is public organization while the Esoteric School is secret organization what equally requires different type of behavior from their members.

The third and major problem is that the Esoteric School (with the excuse that its members are better fitted to occupy the leading positions in the Theosophical Society) is substantially influencing the Theosophical Society officers’ nomination and election process and in that way subordinating the Theosophical Society to the Esoteric Section and disrupting the Constitution of the Theosophical Society, what, after all, represents also violation of one of principal aims of the Esoteric School itself.

The abbreviation TS-ES member can therefore represent just a description of a member of the Theosophical Society who is at the same time also member of the Esoteric School and who is, because of mentioned relationship between the Esoteric School and the Theosophical Society and requirements for conflicting types of behavior forced into pathological state of being.

Talking about this discussion on the Esoteric School and strivings of some of us to openly discuss related problems as an attack on the members of the Esoteric School and the Theosophical Society can be well compared with the campaign in regard to the “disenfranchisement of members”. In both cases an attempt to have rational discussion on existing problems was and is vilified on the level of emotional outbursts which tend to represent those who make proposals as those who are actually hurting members of the Theosophical Society or the Esoteric Section.

In my view, the case of “members’ disenfranchisement” was used (along with fierce propaganda) as unprecedented raise to power of a definite person I never witnessed before in my life. Although this was so obvious and flagrant it seems that it leaved the majority of the TS members unaffected.

Therefore we should be careful to not degrade also this discussion on the Esoteric School on the level of supposed “attacks on members” as it is actually such degradation which is bringing harm and alienating interested public from the Theosophical Society. But it seems that this is already too late and that not much rational can be contributed.

Warmest regards,
Anton

[Janeth]

>"On the other hand the Esoteric School has its own Rules which determine (autocratic) behavior of its members."<---Anton, with all due respectyou are not a student of the Theosophical Society Esoteric School, thus you do not have empirical knowledge of it.

Your statement is based on hearsay, thus invalid.

[William Vollrath]

Janeth,

Are we correct to assume you have been or are an ES member?

[William Vollrath]

Even if all ES members belong to TS, which may not actually be true, I remain uncomfortable with the TS-ES designation which tends to combine the two organizations as one. That concept is essentially why there is now a growing distrust of ES influence in the TS.