The Society

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

Jan N. Kind

This editorial was previously published on Theosophy Forward's Facebook page.

[“I think that people who make judgments about other people they don’t even know are shallow, and people who start rumors are shallow, and I really don’t care what shallow people say about me” (Nina LaCour, Hold Still [New York: Dutton Books, Penguin Group, 2009])

What can we actually learn from those who constantly seek conflict and distortion in our Theosophical environment, consequently downgrading any concept of decency we know of, thus selling lies and rumors for truth? Is there indeed anything to be gained from the boring, one-sided, biased and abominable exposes we are regularly confronted with, when we often innocently try to hook up with what are called independent Theosophical discussion sites?

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2. 1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Aspasia Papadomichelaki; I was born in Athens, Greece where I live to this day. I have been indulging in metaphysical research and activities ever since 1973 and in 1992 I became member of the Greek T.S.

1. What is your name, where are you from and how long you have been a member of The TS?

My name is Carlos Gauggel, I am German and Honduran. I consider both countries my Motherland. I have been an active member of the TS for the past 8 years.

1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Wouter A. van Beers and I was born in what now is called Indonesia, but have been living in The Netherlands since 1946. Between 1934 and 1946 I experienced wonderful, but also somber years especially during the Second World War in the former Dutch East-Indies, a Dutch colony which was invaded by Japanese forces in January 1942.

1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Nell van Beers and I am from The Netherlands. I first joined the Young Theosophist (YT) in 1961, which consisted of a group of active students in the cities of Delft and Utrecht and was made Secretary of this group. In 1967 I ultimately became a member of the TS-Adyar

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2. 1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Hans van Aurich. I am a member of the Theosophical Society (Adyar) since 1985. At the same time I became member of the The Hague Lodge of the Dutch Section.

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2. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

My name is Cees Slob and during half of my present incarnation I have been a member of the TS Point Loma Blavatsky House and still am.

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2. 1. What’s your name, where are you from and how long have you been a member of the TS?

I’m Jeff Soule from Washington, DC in the United States and have been a member of the American section for 5 years. I have been exploring esoteric philosophy for far longer.

Editorial

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose”
(Lyndon B. Johnson)

Last January, after the names of the two candidates for the position of the international presidency for the Theosophical Society, Adyar, were announced — Tim Boyd and C. V. K. Maithreya — in the capacity of editor-in-chief of the website Theosophy Forward, I wrote an open letter to all General Secretaries and other office bearers:

“On Saturday January 11 the names of the candidates running for the position of International President of the T.S. Adyar were published. Tim Boyd and Chaganti V. K. Maithreya are on the ballot. The T.S. Adyar is in a fortunate position now to have two candidates of this caliber. This is truly a historical occasion, and the next months are going to be decisive for the T.S. Adyar and Theosophy. Both candidates will play an important role, no matter who the winner ultimately will be. Knowing them rather well, I want to make use of this opportunity to share with you that I’m confident that the candidates won’t become opponents in the negative sense of the word. It’s clear that both of them have pros but also cons, both of them have excellent qualities that can certainly benefit our beloved Society; those qualities have to be utilized to the fullest extent.

“We need to be aware, however, of the lessons to be learnt from the previous election. Read this article: https://staging.theosophyforward.com/index.php/the-society/888-adyar-mon-amour.html  

“We can all positively contribute to what lies before us. These elections do not concern only the two contenders. We’re all in this together, so we must all pull our weight. Erroneously downgraded by some, the importance of what happens on the Internet should never be underestimated. In this day and age websites and blogs play vital roles in daily lives, and extra caution is needed at all times; recently revolutions have started and governments have fallen due to the impact of what happens in cyberspace. Obviously transparency is a must, but one needs to be discriminative in separating the sense from the nonsense. I call on all to send both Tim and Maithreya your good thoughts, wishing them Strength, Light, and Wisdom.”

That was my letter in January and many things have happened since then. Tim Boyd was officially elected international president of the Theosophical Society, Adyar, a result announced on April 27. The Theosophical Society, Adyar indeed was fortunate to have had two men of such caliber running.

About the time the names of the candidates were announced, speculations, sickening assumptions, and offensive accusations started to surface as well. The dismay was, and still is, concentrated around what is labelled as the ”Policy of Silence.” We are told, as we were in 2008, that there are conspiracies, deals made behind closed doors, the Theosophical “Cosa Nostra” has struck once more.

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.

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

Sometimes, often unexpectedly, you meet people who make a lasting impression. John Drais was such a person. I met him for the first time in Julian during the ITC (International Theosophy Conferences Inc.) in 2011 and one year later, in 2012, at Olcott – Wheaton during the annual ITC event there. In Julian when I was shooting photos for the Julian photo gallery I “caught” him in between two talks sleeping in the grass under a big tree with a huge black hat covering his head and in Wheaton we had to chance to talk. He was soft-spoken, kind, had a good sense of humor and I was impressed when he explained more about the projects he was involved in. His profound knowledge of H. P. B.’s writings was impressive and his love for Theosophy was evident. Last January, through a friend in Holland, I heard that he had fallen seriously ill and not long after that that he had passed away. I am sorry in a way that I didn’t have the chance to get to know him better. I am sure there will be other opportunities in lives to come, so who knows. In the meantime I wish his partner in life Monica and all those good people active in the Paracelsian Order strength and wisdom. Although his passing was in January, I feel it is very appropriate to publish this obituary to honor this wonderful human being, celebrating his life.

On January 15, 2014 Rt. Rev. John H. Drais passed away in Dulzura, CA

James LeFevour – USA

Mentor

To hear Tim Boyd tell it, it just sounds like stories from his youth, but at the age of nineteen he met and befriended a profound person in Chicago who would become his teacher for decades. Theosophy idealizes people like the person Tim describes, people who give everything they have to the cause of bettering the world and benefiting the people in it, yet we seldom hear their names. You will not find Bill Lawrence’s story written in Theosophical archives, yet he was a true Theosophist by any definition.