1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?
I'm Patrizia Conte, I live in Italy and I'm a TS member since February 2013
2. Are you active in your Lodge/Section and if so, what do you do?
I’m a member of the Turin’s Lodge, in Piedmont, and I usually help my Lodge with the various aspects of organizing meetings and I take care of the Lodge’s Facebook Page.
I’m also a member of the Italian Executive Committee and I’m involved in a national working group which is active on the theme of communication and activities of the Theosophical Society, seen in the light of new technologies and young people’s needs.
3. How did you first learn about Theosophy or come in contact with the Society?
It was a wonderful gift of fate. I came in contact with the Society when I started to live on my own for the first time. One day, walking my dog, I saw by chance the Turin's Theosophical Lodge, very near to my new house. At that moment I felt a sort of "inner call", therefore I asked for more information by writing an e-mail to the national section. They answered very kindly to all my doubts and inquiries, and after that I was welcomed warmly into the Society, as if I had entered a large and beautiful family.
4. What does Theosophy mean to you?
I think Theosophy is the light coming from the eternal sacred fire, which lives inside the human soul. Indeed, Theosophy lights up the sense of Unity in our consciousness. The awareness which comes from Theosophy is not just a theory, nor a thought, nor a philosophy and surely, it's not a religious certainty, instead it is what makes me see the miracle of Life, when I look into the eyes of another human being and when I find myself blended with that same miracle.
5. What is your favorite Theosophical book and why?
I love many Theosophical books and The Voice of The Silence is probably one of them, which I love even more. But my favorite Theosophical book is that one we are writing together, all of us, at every single moment of our lives and at every single moment of our Theosophical work.
6. What in your opinion is the biggest challenge the TS is facing at the moment?
I think that Life itself is a challenge, beautiful but also hard. Every day of our life, we have to face many challenges caused by ordinary matters, by the historical age in which we live, by the social, political and ecological problems of our environment. Well, this is true and of course, even the TS is facing the same challenges, because we are the Theosophical Society.
And yet, the bigger challenge for every one of us, lies in being aware of the illusion of the separative mind. Therefore, the TS has to work in this world, in this historical age, for the liberation from the same illusion: the illusion of separation. In our world we have to awaken the awareness that we all live under the same Sun, that we are the same miracle. We have to show to this world that the universal brotherhood is not a utopia, instead, it is a fact.
7. Is there anything you would wish for the future of the Theosophical Movement?
I have a strong faith in the three objects of the Theosophical Movement, especially in the first one: to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color. Therefore, what I feel is not a “wish”, but rather the awareness that we have to work together for those three objects, every single moment of our life.
May we always keep this faith alive and shining!
From the editor:
Opinions and ideas expressed in the mini-interviews are exclusively of those who are being interviewed. They don’t necessarily represent the ideas and opinions of the compilers of Theosophy Forward. The responses of the interviewees are not edited for content. Some contributors give short answers to the questions while others touch upon the subject more elaborately.