If only someone had had a pie handy
One of my favorite things to do in the Olcott Library was to just pull an issue of the old Theosophist off the shelves and start reading. Well, as luck would have it, one afternoon I pulled one of the 1925 volumes and was reading what is the most bizarre collection of eccentric behavior in the history of a bizarre and eccentric period in the history of Theosophy, namely the transactions of the Star Camp at Ommen.
It defies description. How they managed to fit so many credulous fools into one location at the same time is one of the great mysteries and the high, or rather low point of the entire excercise came when poor, crazy Rukmini Devi got up before the assembled multitudes and said, and I kid you not, "Even though I stand before you as an Arhat..."
And she was not kidding. She went to her death still thinking that she was an Arhat.
I stopped reading and closed the volume unable to digest what I had just read. And then the image of something that had happened about ten years earlier appeared in my mind, when a supposed guru was hit in the face with a pie. I smiled and wished, oh so fervently wished, that someone in that mass of humanity had been similarly equipped. Just think how Theosophy would have been improved if, every time, one of its--er--leaders had spouted nonsense someone would have been there to hit the person in face with a cream pie.
Of course poor Annie Besant might have gained so much weight that the would have had to weigh her by dumping her into a swimming pool and measuring the displaced water...
It defies description. How they managed to fit so many credulous fools into one location at the same time is one of the great mysteries and the high, or rather low point of the entire excercise came when poor, crazy Rukmini Devi got up before the assembled multitudes and said, and I kid you not, "Even though I stand before you as an Arhat..."
And she was not kidding. She went to her death still thinking that she was an Arhat.
I stopped reading and closed the volume unable to digest what I had just read. And then the image of something that had happened about ten years earlier appeared in my mind, when a supposed guru was hit in the face with a pie. I smiled and wished, oh so fervently wished, that someone in that mass of humanity had been similarly equipped. Just think how Theosophy would have been improved if, every time, one of its--er--leaders had spouted nonsense someone would have been there to hit the person in face with a cream pie.
Of course poor Annie Besant might have gained so much weight that the would have had to weigh her by dumping her into a swimming pool and measuring the displaced water...
Comment
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Comment by Charles Cosimano on July 22, 2009 at 10:32pm
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Solemnity is death for any idea.
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Comment by EstrellaFugaz on July 22, 2009 at 3:30pm
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hahahahaahaahahaa!!!!!!
Hey, ilustrate me? there isn't any comic-book like "Theosophy for begginers" or something like it??
But the problem with this 'for begginers' type of books they have become a bit too solemn lately....
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Well, Judge was just too boring to do anything too odd, in fact it is amazing that anyone could stay awake in his presence, but Katherine Tingley made Annie and the Bishop look sane by comparison and those idiot cast-off Salvation Army uniforms she dressed her folks in were hilarious. The mere fact that Gottfried dePurucker would allow himself to be seen in public dressed that way removes any credibility that would remain after just hearing his name. (Couldn't he have changed it to Joe Smith or something?)
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I'm kinda like it your cool way of writing. Theosophists should be more like you. It is good to find the funny bone in these 'solemn' matters...
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Hahahaha.... too bad that pepole here in Mexico don't have a pie around...lot of lunatics here also..and we DON't have a T.S. like the one in the 20's and 30's of Adyar...BTW, I would NOT commit no crime, if you could 'ilustrate us' with some other odds behaviors of mr. Quan Judge? I'm No Adyar, nor T.S. of United States, Nor ULT line, i'm just a girl wanting to know the answer...
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If you are able to dig in the Theosophist from around 1910 to 1930 you can find all sorts of lunacy of this type.
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Comment by Duane Carpenter on June 22, 2009 at 11:01am
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Wait Charles there's lots more:
I just downloaded this little excerpt from Besant and Leadbeaters grandiose days from Theos-talk
it surely is a classic in self aggrandizement and what Freud would call the "omnipotence of thought"
____________ _________ _________ __
From: danielhcaldwell
To: theos-talk@yahoogro ups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2009 11:51:06 PM
Subject: Theos-World The Mindset Encouraged in the Esoteric School
The mindset encouraged in the Adyar Esoteric School
at least at the time when Besant and Leadbeater were
around is exemplified in what Leadbeater says of
Besant:
"What can I say to you of your President [Annie
Besant] that you do not know already? Her colossal
intellect, her unfailing wisdom, her unrivalled
eloquence, her splendid forgetfulness of self,
her untiring devotion of work for others - all
these are but a small part of her greatness;
they are on the surface, they may be seen by all,
they leap to the eyes. But there are other qualities,
other powers, of which you cannot know, because they
pertain to the secrets of Initiation. She is a
pupil of our Masters; from the fount of Their
archaic wisdom she derives her own, the plans which
she is carrying out are Their plans for the welfare
of the world. THINK THEREFORE, HOW GREAT AN
HONOUR IT IS FOR YOU that you should be permitted
to work under her, for in doing so you are virtually
working under Them. THINK HOW WATCHFUL YOU SHOULD
BE TO MISS NO HINT WHICH FALLS FROM HER LIPS, to carry
out EXACTLY whatever instructions she may give to you.
Remember...there will be times when you cannot
understand her motives, for she is taking into account
many things which you cannot see and of which
she must not tell you. BUT WHETHER YOU UNDERSTAND
OR NOT, YOU WILL BE WISE TO FOLLOW HER IMPLICITLY, JUST
BECAUSE SHE KNOWS.
THIS IS NOT MERE SUPPOSITION ON MY PART, NO MERE
FLIGHT OF THE IMAGINATION; I HAVE STOOD BESIDE YOUR
PRESIDENT IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SUPREME DIRECTOR
OF EVOLUTION ON THIS GLOBE, AND I KNOW WHEREOF I
SPEAK. Let the wise hear my words, and act accordingly. "
Caps added. Adyar Album, p. 45.
Daniel
http://hpb.cc
My comment on theos-talk on this little gem is as follows:
"Great detective work and research Daniel .
You are truly a modern day scribe. Keeping the torch of wisdom alive for the benefit of humanity.
People are often confused why Alive A. Bailey, Rudolph Steiner and others would want start a new Theosophical organizations.
The quote you have provided explains the rationale perfectly. If one more person compares the esoteric core teachings of AAB to Leadbeater and Besant's nonsense I am going to regurgitate and toss my occult cookies all over this website.
Duane
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