The Society

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

The first issue of Theosophy Forward appeared in March - April 2009 and ever since many hundreds of articles have been published in it. I had no experience whatsoever with running an e-magazine, so I needed to learn very fast. In those first days my brother Hans in the Netherlands helped out by hosting the site and John Algeo in the USA was the one who, in his own, distinctive manner, taught me how to edit, write and keep up with the task of an editor-in-chief. A very supportive and excellent co-worker in the first years, and he definitely needs to be mentioned here, was Anton Rozman from Slovenia, who, for some time produced wonderful e-books for Theosophy Forward. These gems are still to be found in TF’s archives. Unfortunately Anton had to stop collaborating with us in 2015,.

This second quarter editorial is not meant to be an historic overview of TF the magazine since its inception, but wishes to inform all of our readers, the world over, that the e-magazine is being maintained by a fabulous dream team of 19 (!!) volunteers. There are editors, regular contributors, translators and installers. When for example an article is edited and ready to be published on Theosophy Forward’s Joomla template the installers come into action. This is quite an operation if one realizes that per issue around 70 (!) articles need to go onto the website, plus around 80 or more images. So, no doubt, without all those fine workers Theosophy Forward would simply not exist. Let me introduce them to you:

Translators:

Installers:

Regular contributors:

Editor

Roger Price – Belgium

Editor-in-chief and compiler

Jan Nicolaas Kind – USA and Brazil

Last but certainly not least TF is fortunate enough to have full technical support from the IT team at Olcott in Wheaton, headed by Chris Bolger.

About issues in the Theosophical Society

How to solve an issue … ?

Let’s assume that the TS Adyar is an organization with around 27,000 members, and let’s for a moment also assume that out of that total membership 50 persons probably do not like each other, and that out of those 50 perhaps 10 are acting foolishly by going after each other, in flagrant contradiction with our first object.  

This is, as shown, only a very small minority in the TS who are acting against its spirit. If we take the numbers 50 and 10, it would mean, but a trivial 0,2% and 0,04% respectively of the total TS Adyar population. We could look at the TS as a human body. It is clear that it only takes one bite from an infected mosquito to disease the whole human body. In my estimation, even one person, let alone, say, 10 acting with self-serving malice is more than enough to infect the TS corpus. As with the human body, the remaining 99.8% of healthy members on their own might not know how to counteract the toxins injected by the few.

Let’s see how to go about this

In our Theosophical circles we often use the expressions, “inside” and “outside”, as if the Theosophical world, the inside, is somehow separated from the world at large, the outside. Inside and outside are words we use to describe the same thing from different perspectives. The TS is a micro-reflection of society, our world as a whole. I believe that when you come to look at it, inside and outside do not really exist. There is but one reality, one life, or whatever you want to call it, representing the same Truth. 

The remaining 99.8% of healthy, optimistic and constructive members can certainly work towards solutions for issues that appear as obstacles on our path. That is much better than finger pointing from the side-line, just being critical observers. The healing process can start from within, rather than from an outside interference. An active membership distributing healthy cells through the body, functions as an antidote for the poison others try to spread. This cure cannot be attained by a meditative withdrawal from the world, but, on the contrary, by active participation in life – dedicating oneself to rigorous effort and, in doing so, unveiling our divine powers and waging the spiritual fight right in the midst of the world and its nature.

The spiritual fight is tough at times, we should not underestimate its challenges. When there is much potential, light and hope for a better world, the counter, or dark forces at the same time become dangerously active, trying to eliminate the good, causing disharmony and conflict. We can observe that all around us, it is an occult law. In trying to combat those who are out there with the sole objective to take us out, to discredit our movement, we must be alert, fair but resolute in order to maintain harmony and peace. This struggle requires commitment and trust. We need to be vigilant and separate the wheat from the chaff. And yes, sometimes we need to even speak up loud and constructively deal with a situation.

The Ancient Wisdom was specifically designed for just this task of introducing harmony and peace in situations of apparent conflict, paradox and contradiction. Therefore, we need to take a firm step back from the workings of the phenomenal world and carefully observe them in order to get a better understanding of these forces. If we aim to achieve unity and wholeness, doing away with conflicts and disharmony, we must understand that we do everything under the influence of three fundamental forces in nature.

These three forces are known as the three Gunas (Sanskrit) and by studying them one will arrive at a deep understanding of the way in which the Gunas function.

Let’s take a closer look at the qualities of the three Gunas which constantly surround us:

1. Sattva = purity, truth, harmony and rhythm.
2. Rajas = mobility, activity, passion, drive and creativity.
3. Tamas = sloth, illusion, ignorance - but also the positive qualities of tenacity and perseverance.

We’d need to learn to deal with these three Gunas and with all of the qualities associated with them. We need to begin to understand them and finally to weave them into a magnificent and divine whole.

This great exercise - in the course of which one force is conquered while another is nurtured and yet another is further developed – will bring about growth in the individual, inducing a deepening insight and heralding the beginning of freedom.

The study of the Gunas delivers us tools to better deal with ourselves and the world around us.

If you are interested and want to know more, follow this link:

https://www.tlayt.org/a-study-of-the-three-gunas-sattwa-rajas-and-tamas/

Enjoy reading this second quarter issue of Theosophy Forward, and I would like you to pay extra attention to Jonathan Colbert’s article entitled: “Concentric Circles: WHY I SUPPORT ITC (International Theosophy Conferences)” which is, like this Editorial, also published in the category The Society.