First an addendum related to the last Topic of the months, the Adyar Insights. There was a personal (Mr. Kind, Chief-Editor of Theosophy Forward) and an semi-official (GC Members to its TS members) reaction from TS Adyar and here now is the "reaction of the reaction" from Mr. Ramadoss, see here To set record straight and a letter to sections members.
The newest development after
- 04/2017: Mass Kicking out members from Theosophical Society (incl. Mr. Ramadoss), still a law suit in india
- 01/2018: S. Ramu, about it's cancellation of his membership and life membership in the TS and here
- 02/2018: News, Kicking out Janet Lee, (part in the annual meetings of ITC and National Council meeting of TS England) or here a summary, here an impression of Janet
- and other known and unknown cases, all of this with no official information from the TS, cause thoughts about the Why? etc.
Now Mr. Leslie Price from London, another skeptical member oft TS Adyar (England) is under fire, as you can read here:
- Prestigious Blavatsky Lecture by Leslie Price stopped by TSE or
- TS Adyar (UK) changed the passwords on my theosoc. account without notice etc.
It looks - not only to me - like a concerted action. Also I got an e-mail two months ago, "a request of moderation" to stopp such "baseless allegations" and the support on social media decreased after I replied, that I only mirror trends, news etc. However,
So this are some examples, what happened to you (as a member of TS Adyar) if you criticize (well grounded or not) the TS Adyar (head) or if you try to restore transparency. You are kicked out! Criticism seems to be not allowed, transparency unwanted.
And if you (still) criticizing, means in the eyes of TS (in proxy of Mr Kind, but not an official statement of TS Adyar) then you
"acting foolishly... in flagrant contradiction with our first object... acting against its spirit". This "very small minority in the TS ... infect the TS (as a) corpus" like "an infected mosquito". (Source here is the current editorial of Mr. Kind, have a look here under the section "About issues in the TS".
And what's the best to do with an infected mosquito? Yes, you are right.
To dehumanize "awkward" (means skeptical) people is always a necessary step bevor you can "kill" them with consent of the mass (killing means here kill the membership), especially, if they are respected. There are many historic examples for such behavior with fatal consequneces. *1)
And the mass, the "remaining 99.8% of healthy, optimistic and constructive members" are welcome, if they act like the leader(s) expect and if they do not criticize... welcome into the brave new world???
No. Thats no ideal, so let me say this:
- Criticism, if constructive and factual (and thats here often not the case), is a good and important thing, because it helps to improve.
- Those, who discredit people instead of using factual arguments and deny a discussion a priori, are always wrong, because this only shows that they have something to hide, to be at fault or fear to loose the discussion for other reasons.
- Not those, who spread inconvenient facts are guilty, but those, who cause this facts. On the other hand, also here a presumption of innocence is undenieable (facts or fake).
- If you acting intransparent and in secrecy and don't react to any upcoming questions (of members, and there are many questions out there), you don't have to wonder, that people speculate and getting more and more skeptical and dissapointed
Now, evident at least for me without an official statement, the decission was, to clean up TS Adyar of the "awkward" people to solve the problem.
This is indeed a solution, but (from my point of view) not the right or best (if not the worsest) one and what this states in regard to the spirit of (the head of) TS Adyar, I leave up to the readers.
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*1) For a correct understanding: I don't want to insinuate that Mr. Kind want to kill anybody or any membership etc. And for sure, his comparsions with "infected mosquitos" was not intented in this way, as my statement may suggest. He is a respected and commendable member of the Theosophical Movement. But even if we are very angry, such dehumanizing statements are not an option. I think for myself in such situation: Steven, don't get upset about humans. We are all imperfect. You're angry Steven? This is your (deseverd, plenty imperfect) karma, not theirs, think about it. So, Mr Kind, if you read this: Sorry for fingerpointing again. I don't know you personally yet. I believe you doing a great job, maybe sometimes a bit to "enthusiastic", but as I said, who is perfect? It's (and has to be) not against a person, it's (should be always) about a matter - based on facts, opinions, believes etc.