Here are some more pictures from 2010 World Congress at Rome:

http://picasaweb.google.com/102457220926978186910/10thWorldCongress2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCIH65vaIr-T4uQE#

Enjoy them.

• Marja Artamaa’s workshop at the Theosophical World Congress…

I came to the World Congress mainly for the people - as I do for any theosophical meeting. And the people were great. I met inspiring and hard working people from all over the world, and have learned about theosophical issues and activities all over the world. I do think in general the atmosphere of this congress was great: relaxed, friendly, cheerful even.

In planning such a congress I do think there are two possible roads to take:

1. Going for a theosophical theme…

I have never been to a theosophical meeting with so much technology: everybody is taking pictures with their own digital cameras. Live streaming and tv's at the back of the hall so everybody can see the speakers properly.

But the one feature of this congress that I think people most enjoy is the pool. It is large enough to take laps in and when it is hot - and it is hot - it is a relief to sit in the brieze by the water.

And sometimes conversations take place…

While we're listening to lectures on brotherhood, some people had some poignant remarks.

For instance, various suggestions were made to replace 'Dear Brothers and Sisters' with

1. Dear friends, monads, and countrymen, lend me your ears
2. Dear permanent atoms ...

Someone else thought that 'dear sister Jane' had a Catholic sound.

Then the insight that 'The last thing a theosophist needs is…

This morning we had the lecture by Professor P. Krishna. His talk was inspiring. He talked about a lot that most of us have heard before: the interconnectedness of everything, ecology and how those isses are caused by people not realizing deeply enough that it's all us. This post is a combination of my notes from Krishna's talk and my own thoughts about the issues the TS is dealing with. It's loosely based also on my talks with individual theosophists at this congress.

What…

I was foolish enough not to take my laptop to the International Theosophical World Congress, so instead of posting this on my blog (of which I don't know the password), I'll post it here.

I thought Linda Oliveira's talk was, in the main, insightful. The title was - ominously - 'why do we belong to the Theosophical Society?'

She started out saying that the question was perhaps surprising, but added that it was a necessary question and a deep…

We had a members meeting in the Dutch TS (Aydar) at the end of May. It was spirited, but business like. That is: we discussed important issues, without scapegoating.

I thought I’d share the main issues. I am glad to see that the tabu on discussing these things is leading to important insights coming out – it’s the only way we can reframe the theosophical work in a way that’s relevant for humanity today. What follows is my current view on where we are and need to go.

So,…

Not only am I going to the World Congress, but I was planning to live-blog it. But now that I’ve seen the proposed program, I’m no longer so sure. In fact, I’m wondering why I’m going in the first place. For entertainment purposes I have put up the program as it was published at the Adyar TS website this week in this post.

Seriously – the theme is ‘Universal…

As any group therapist can tell you, group work is complicated. The history of the churches too can be read as a continuing story of growing and shrinking congregations. One of the reasons new congregations often grow is not just that they offer an approach that works for the time, but also that they're simply, being new, more open to new people. Their group structure isn't fixed yet and so it's easier for them to accommodate and welcome new people.…