Aurobindo, Art, joke, W.Q. Judge, Thubten Chodron - My spiritual Newsletter July 2010
In July I made the following new squidoo lenses relating to
spirituality: Susan Seddon Boulet Goddess Paintings An artist whose art
is still popular in the pagan scene, Susan Seddon Boulet will mostly be
remembered for her goddess art. The mystical style of her paintings
(mostly, but not exclusively, water color) strikes a core in ...
Reviewed in the West as the only decent biography of Sri Aurobindo
Goshe, from politician, to poet and guru. This guy lived a fascinating
life and Peter Heehs describes as many aspects of it as the Sri
Aurobindo archives can help enlighten us on. In India this is a
controversial book. It’s even been banned ...
In response to a post by MKR to Theos-talk who has been saying he would
have liked the topic of membership decline discussed openly at the world
congress. (July 22nd 2010) I think everybody knows that the TS has
faced a downward membership trend since the 1930s. What can the study of
statistics do to ...
I took some nice pictures, but Tom Dede from Hungary is a professional
photographer and took over 1000 photographs. He gave me permission to
use them, but needed some time to select the best ones. Then of course I
made my selection and did some photoediting and here is the result.
Since this is officially ...
It’s no secret the Theosophical Society has been losing members since
the 1930′s. What’s less well known is that this has meant a large
inheritance for the lodges and sections: in the form of money and
property. Recently though several such estates have made headlines on
theosophical forums: Teckels park in England is being sold ...
I’m reviewing a Dutch book here today: Het Web der Schepping, Theosofie
en Kunst in Nederland, van Lauweriks tot Mondriaan, by Marty Bax. I
won’t be repeating that exercise often, however in this case it’s really
worth it. There are few good books about the history of theosophy in
the Netherlands. It’s obviously a niche ...
Hi MKR [In response to something he wrote on Theos-talk, July 19th
2010], You wrote: > In the recent world Congress, I thought the
leaders from the Sections will > have an informal or formal session
addressing the membership growth issue. I > am disappointed that
there was none and are we to take it ...
There were two tribes dwelling near each other. God decided to walk
between them. But God wore a two colored hat. One side was red; the
other side was blue. So when the two tribes discussed this visit by God,
they ended up in argument. “God wore a blue hat. No! God wore a red ...
Just to make it clear that the TS Adyar does not discriminate against
that third founder of the Theosophical Society, I want to draw attention
to the review of ‘Echoes of the Orient’, the writings of William Quan
Judge, in The Theosophist of July 2010. The review by A. Kannan consists
mostly of quotes. For ...
These are some of the pictures I took and people took for me at the
world conference organized by the Italian Section of the Theosophical
Society Adyar, in Rome 2010. There were 524 registered visitors. © admin
for Modern Theosophy, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: pictures, Theosophical World ...
There was some complaining before hand, and during the congress, on the
workshops. I thought for instance that it was impossible to do a
workshop with a hundred people. It turns out though: it IS possible. And
the person who showed me that (though she didn’t have to take on that
challenge, because only 20 ...
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 ...
When the word ‘selfish’ is used, it usually means there is a moral
judgement of someone else involved. As the Americans say ‘walk the
talk’… I think the amount of talk is inversely proportional to the
mileage of the walk. -Edi Bilimoria The easiest question to ask is the
hardest to answer. Because the real ...
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 ...
Creating Bridges: Spirituality & Philosophy: Spirituality in Daily
Life, Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron A kind heart is one of the principal
things we are trying to develop. If we run around childishly telling
others, “I’m this religion, and you’re that religion. But, mine is
better,” it is like turning chocolate frosting into garbage: what was
delicious ...
Comment
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Comment by Joe Fulton on August 31, 2010 at 1:48pm -
Commenting specifically on why the TS doesn't get more members...
There's a saying that "All politics is local". The TS, being a membership-based organization is not immune to this reality.
We'll get to that in a few minutes, but first...
There are several approaches to membership based organizations:
a) Center around a cause and encourage people to focus their efforts around that cause. Examples of this are the National Geographic Society, the Society for Science & the Public (Science News) and the American Automobile Association (AAA). These groups draw memberships primarily from subscriptions and have a value proposition that emphasizes the services provided to members.
Secondly, there are fraternal organizations, Such as the TS, Eagles, FreeMasons and the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA) which exist as a function of local chapter activity. The primary draw is rooted in fellowship and the notion of community. The affiliation with a national or international organization implies a larger community and common membership benefits.
Third, and this site is an example, is one of a purely web-based organization. Our costs are minimal (~$19.95/mo) and our primary draw is the content present on the site and the opportunity to participate in our forums, blogs and groups. Membership is defined by pretty much whoever signs up. Other groups of this nature are Slashdot and Facebook.
Since we're talking about membership based organizations who rely on local chapters (I did say that I'd come back here) there are some value judgments that have to take place. The primary contact is through the local group. Therefore, healthy local groups are essential. The parent organization needs to either provide guidance, resources or both for the local branch to operate at maximum effectiveness.
Within the Theosophical tradition, there evolved a very strong tradition of local autonomy. This is a very powerful meme. "HQ" can't really come in and tell local groups what to do, and besides it's an all volunteer army. Very few ppl in the movement get paid for their efforts. The primary means of supporting local groups is through incentives, and historically, in the American Section the incentives took the form of where speakers went on tour. The logic was sound. A well known speaker was going to go to larger groups who were willing to devote some effort into publicity and already had an active public program.
For today, as a thought, similar resources should be devoted to developing web presences, primarily on a local basis. Having a Facebook page is nice, but again, with a branch based organization, "all politics is local". Groups should be incentived to develop web presences and become active in their local communities. It would be real interesting to see what other successful membership based groups do with their local branches.
Any ideas?
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