AUXILIARY ORGANIZATIONS OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
We have already pointed out the existence of many auxiliary groups of the Theosophical Society, which allowed it to penetrate and work in the most diverse circles, usually without any reference being made to its special doctrines, and without setting forth any other goal than 'universal brotherhood' and certain moralizing tendencies which could hardly seem compromising. After all, one must be careful not to frighten with overly extravagant claims those whom one would like to attract imperceptibly as unwitting accomplices. The history of the Old-Catholic Church provides us an example of this pretense. Theosophists are motivated by a keen desire for propaganda, which despite their contrary claims reveals just how Western they are, since the Eastern mentality, and the Hindu mentality in particular, has a deep repugnance for proselytism. And their methods of infiltration strangely recall those of many Protestant sects.
Moreover, one should not think that this kind of behavior is limited exclusively to the most recent period of the Theosophical Society, for this external action has developed along with the Society itself. Thus we read in a work by Mme Blavatsky:
Have you not heard of the Nationalist clubs and parties which have sprung up in America since the publication of Bellamy's
book? [1] They are now coming prominently to the front, and will do so more and more as time goes on. Well, these clubs and this party were started in the first instance by Theosophists; thus one of the first, the Nationalist Club of Boston, (Mass.), has Theosophists for President and Secretary, and the majority of its executive belong to the T.S. In the constitution of all their clubs, and of the party they are forming, the influence of Theosophy and of the Society is plain, for they all take as their basis, their first and fundamental principle, the Brotherhood of Humanity as taught by Theosophy. In their Declaration of Principles they state: "The principle of the Brotherhood of Humanity is one of the eternal truths that govern the world's progress on lines distinguishing human nature from brute nature.' What can be more Theosophical than this? [2]
At about the same time an 'Altruist Society' was formed in Nantes, which had a program offering such a wide range of subjects as hygiene, morality, philosophy, sociology, and included a section on Theosophical studies that soon became the 'Altruist Branch of the Theosophical Society', the second branch of the Theosophical Society in France. [3]
Here we have examples of each of the two types of organization whose nature we must make clear. There are those that, without having any official ties to the Theosophical Society, are nonetheless led or inspired by Theosophists, such as the American 'Nationalist Clubs' mentioned by Mme Blavatsky. To limit ourselves to associations of this kind found in France-at least until recently-we shall mention the following culled at random from Theosophist publications: 'Vegetarian Society of France'; 'League for the Organization of Progress'; 'Independent Moral Assistance' (Assistance to the Elderly); 'Women's Holiday Association'; 'Society of Criminalogy [sic] and Social Defense'; 'Idealist Society', International Union for the Realization of a Higher Ideal in Literature, Arts, and Thought'; and
there are surely many others. In the same order of ideas, we have already noted the role played by Theosophists in propagating the 'Scout movement', we may add that Theosophists are present in great numbers among various groups of more or less Protestant tendencies, such as for example the society 'Faith and Life'.[4]
As for associations such as the 'Altruist Society' of Nantes, which, although not always bearing its label, are clearly auxiliary organizations of the Theosophical Society and are entirely subordinate to it, we have already said that today most are to be found under what is called the 'Order of Service of the Theosophical Society', which describes itself as 'an attempt to apply Theosophy with a view to providing for the needs of all classes of mankind.' Here is a list of the main branches of this 'Order of Service', with the head office of each indicated. [5]
Education: 'Uplifting the Depressed Classes'-Alleppey; 'League of Education'-Rangoon (Burma); 'Theosophical Education'Amsterdam; 'Moral Education'-Paris; 'Harmonious Education'The Hague; 'National Education'-Muzaffurpur (India); 'League for the Education of Young Girls'-Benares; 'League for Education'Brussels; 'Golden Chain' and 'Round Tables' for youth.
Reform of Social Evils: 'Abolition of Vivisection, Vaccination, and Inoculation'-London, Manchester, and Bournemouth; 'Anti-vivi-section'-New York; 'Medical'-London; 'Sociology and Social Problems'-Manchester; 'Development of Social Purity'-Chicago; 'Development of Temperance and Morality'-Surat (India); 'High Ideals'-Spokane (United States); 'Hospital and Prison Works'Seattle (United States); 'The Abolition of Child Marriage'-India; 'Animal Protection'-Adyar; 'The Seven M's'-Buitenzorg (Dutch
Indies); 'International Mental League for Peace'-Rio de Janeiro; 'League of Mental Union for Peace'-Cuba; 'Wereldvrede' (Universal Peace)-The Hague; 'Belgian Theosophical League for Universal Peace'-Brussels.
Propagation of Theosophy: 'Translation of Works on the Wisdom of Islam' (i.e., Sufism) [7]-Muzaffurpur; 'Braille League' (publication of Theosophical works for the blind)-London and Boston; 'Theosophical University'-Chicago; 'Oasis, for the Propagation of Theosophy among Shipyard Workers'-Toulon; 'Fraternal Union, for the propagation of Theosophy among the working classes'-Paris; 'Science, Religion, and Art'-Brooklyn; 'Bodhalaya', Bombay; 'Theosophical Mission', New York; 'League of Modern Thought', Adyar; 'Esperanto Theosophical League'[8]-London; 'League of Daily Meditation'-London.
Different goals: 'Aesculapius'-Benares and Manchester; 'Fraternity of Healers'-Leyden; 'Order of Helpers'[9]-Melbourne; 'League of Unity'-Paris; 'Reduction of Suffering'-Paris; 'League of Swiss Servants for the Development of Brotherhood and Union'Neuchâtel; 'Belgian Idealistic League'-Antwerp; 'Association of Thought, to prepare the world for the advent of the Master'Capetown; 'Independent Order of the Star of the East' and 'Servants
Later on we shall speak of the most general characteristic of these associations, which may be summarized in the word 'morality', but
let us first note, in what can be called the external activity of the Theosophical Society, the importance given to educational works, without even speaking of the colleges and schools which, in India and elsewhere, are also Theosophist foundations. We have already mentioned efforts made to recruit children indirectly at a very young age, and the organizations especially formed for this purpose, but let us note further that in Paris before the war there was a monthly journal entitled Le Petit Théosophe 'addressed to youth between seven and fifteen years.' However, it should be added that among the said works of education, not all are meant exclusively for children or young people, some also being directed at adults. Thus the Theosophists show a lively interest in the work of 'Summer Schools', which are 'assemblies of men sharing a common ideal making the best of their holidays by spending time together, teaching one another and drawing from contact with sympathetic souls new forces for the struggles of daily life.' Here are some excerpts from an article in a Theosophist journal dedicated to this 'admirable means of propaganda profiting more and more from movements aimed at furthering the progress of mankind':
There are two kinds of Summer Schools. Some are the work of a particular society and are intended above all for members of that society, such as the very successful Schools held each year in England by the Vegetarian Society of Manchester or the Fabian Society, a great number of these being active in Great Britain and the United States. The others, on the contrary, appeal to those linked, albeit loosely, by shared opinions on a given subject. One such example was a spiritist Summer School that gathered together representatives of almost all the Protestant sects of England united by a common desire of fraternity. Likewise, the humanitarian Summer School held in Brighton the last two years brought together free-thinkers, spiritists, Theosophists, occultists, antivivisection activists, vegetarians, city-gardeners [sic], and even materialists. . . Considering the ease with which expression and exchange are facilitated there, it can be said that Summer Schools constitute a real 'Cooperation of Ideas'. We think that the time has come to endow France with a similar
instrument of progress. This year we intend to open a Summer School in the vicinity of Paris, probably in the Fontainbleau forest. As for the number of participants, success is already guaranteed. Many of the Theosophists, Vegetarians, Rhythmicians, Esperantists, Harmonists, and Naturists approached have assured us of their participation. [11]
The war prevented this project from being realized, but it would not be surprising to see it taken up again some day in one or another form. It is easy to imagine what strange unions are formed by people recruited from all these groups, which are most certainly illassorted but in spite of everything are connected by mysterious affinities.
Another point worthy of note is that propaganda (not only for the rather vague ideas of 'fraternity' and 'morality', but for clearlydefined Theosophist propaganda as well) is frequently practiced in working class circles. In the list given above, we have seen that there is a society in Paris which formally adopts this goal and another one whose action, quite tellingly, is directed solely at the workers of the Toulon shipyard, who seem moreover to form a favorite milieu for all kinds of more or less suspect propaganda, for it is a known fact that this shipyard has frequently revealed itself as a hotbed of revolutionary intrigues. It would be interesting to know just how such workers appreciate certain points of Theosophist teaching-if indeed these points are explained to them. Would they really be flattered, we wonder, to learn for example that they are 'lunar animals' who have attained humanity only in the present 'planetary chain', some of them only during the present 'round', whereas the 'bourgeois' had already become men in the preceding 'chain'? We invent none of this. Leadbeater says it all quite seriously (even using the French word 'bourgeois' in his text). [12] But these things are probably
best passed over in silence when addressing an audience of workers. Be that as it may, on this eminently 'democratic' terrain, Theosophy, better suited to seduce the half-educated, finds itself competing at something of a disadvantage with spiritism, which is more easily grasped by uneducated minds. Indeed, the no less relentless propaganda of spiritism, especially in certain regions, victimizes many in the working-class world. Thus there is a spiritist sect called 'Fraternism' centered in Douai, which had enrolled thousands of members among the miners of the North of France-at least this was true before the war, which must have caused some disruption. There was a similar spiritist sect in Belgium called 'Sincerism' headed by a high-ranking Freemason, the Chevalier Le Clément de Saint-Marcq. In the same region we find yet another striking example in 'Antoinism', a pseudo-religion that had such extraordinary growth in Belgium, and which has even had a temple in Paris since 1913. [13] Its founder, known as 'Father Antoine' who died in 1912 was himself a nearly illiterate former mine worker. He was one of those 'healers' frequently encountered among spiritists and magnetizers, and his
'teachings', considered as a new Gospel by his disciples, amount to no more than a kind of Protestant morality mixed with spiritism, and is of the most lamentable banality. These 'teachings', written down in an almost incomprehensible jargon at times, and in which 'intelligence' is unceasingly denounced as the greatest of evils, are wholly comparable to certain spiritist 'communications'. Moreover, Antoine was formerly head of a spiritist group known as the 'Vinegrowers of the Lord', and his disciples believe in reincarnation, as do ordinary spiritists and Theosophists. When the war broke out, the 'Antoinist religion' was on the verge of receiving official recognition. A bill to this effect had been submitted by the senators Charles Magnette and Goblet d'Alviella, two leaders of Belgian Freemasonry. Since then remarkable stories have been told of the particular respect which the Germans accorded Antoinist temples, a circumstance the sect members attributed to the posthumous protection of their 'Father'. This sect of 'healers' is not entirely unique in kind, for there is another of American origin, known as 'Christian Science', currently trying to establish itself in France and seemingly enjoying success in various circles. [14] Its founder, Mrs [Mary] Baker Eddy, announced that she would come back to life six months after her death, but the fact that this prediction did not come true did not prevent the organization from continuing to prosper, so great is the gullibility of certain people. [15] But to return to Antoinism, the remarkable thing from our point of view is that Theosophists should show a keen sympathy for it, as this excerpt from one of their journals goes to show:
Fundamentally, such a parallel is hardly flattering to Theosophy, but we should be surprised at nothing, for despite the ignorance and intellectual mediocrity he always displayed 'Father Antoine' was considered by certain naïve occultists as 'one of the twelve Unknown Grand Masters of the Rose-Cross.' These same occultists also attributed this quality to several other 'healers' of the same kind, especially Francis Schlatter, an Alsacian emigré in America who rather mysteriously disappeared around 1897. [17] Why not just as well turn these people into 'Mahatmas' of some kind?
A very different kind of Theosophist propaganda operates in artistic and literary circles, [18] and of this we have a recent example. In early 1918 a journal called L'Affranchi made its appearance. By its numbering it made itself out to be a continuation of the former
Theosophe, but the word 'Theosophy' itself never appeared in it. The journal took 'Hierarchy, Fraternity, Freedom' as its slogan, and contained only pseudonymous articles, most dealing with social questions. Discrete references were made to the 'Future Messiah', and certain well-known people, such as Wilson and Kerensky, [19] were presented in veiled terms as precursors. Besides these, there were other articles treating art and its role in 'evolution', as well as bizarre, decadent poems. At the same time the group 'Affranchis' [the 'Emancipated'], for whom the newspaper served as mouthpiece, also made itself known in the most extreme modernist performances and exhibitions (there was even an 'Emancipated Punch and Judy'). Two special publications also appeared: L'Art and Le Travail, and a legal consulting service was even organized at registered offices. The Revue Baltique, 'devoted to the special defence of issues concerning the Baltic countries, which will hold the key to world peace,' belonged to the same group, thereby showing that political and diplomatic concerns were mixed in with literature. [20]
In passing, we mentioned a mark of the admiration Theosophists professed for President Wilson; indeed, the idea of the 'League of Nations' was certainly one that could not fail to seduce and fill these 'humanitarians' with enthusiasm. Thus, in 1918 a 'Union for Peoples' Emancipation' was formed with a 'permanent committee' based in the offices of the Affranchi, and which in its manifesto 'rendered the homage of a grateful world to President Wilson, spokesman of the human conscience,' adding:
A new era dawns for mankind. The terrible period of wars has ended. [23] The League of Nations shall irresistibly oppose the threats of violence and the conquering spirit. The peace program
formulated by President Wilson on the basis of the peoples' right to self-determination is the only guarantee to the world for the permanent establishment of justice and harmony. . . . Anticipating universal opinion, the Union for Peoples' Emancipation will be the sincere interpreter and impartial spokesman of nationalities during the liberating period that begins. It will assist the efforts of all human communities in their evolution toward the good.
In September of the same year this Theosophist group came out with another publication entitled Le Drapeau Bleu [The Blue Flag], 'Journal of the New World' and 'Mouthpiece for the Society of Nations and Classes', with the slogan: 'Evolve toward Unity, in Hierarchy, through Love'; as can be seen, the Theosophists are truly obsessed with the idea of evolution. [24] It seems that the blue flag is a 'symbol of synergy, sympathy, and synthesis in the national and international order'; [25] we have here an example of the pompous and empty expressions currently in use among all groups of this kind, which are enough, however, to impress the naïve. A little later an Italian group of the 'Drapeau Bleu' was also formed under the name 'Società per l'Evoluzione Nazionale', which had as its organ the review Vessillo, and as its motto: 'For the Nation as Individual, for Humanity as Nation.' All this reminds us of the famous 'Congress of
It is important to note that the famous custom of 'a moment of silence' that the Americans introduced into Europe, and which has become one of the main elements of almost all official commemorations since the war, is linked to practices of this sort. There would be much to say in a more general way on the pseudo-religious deviations inherent in the kind of 'civic worship' to which this custom belongs.
Humanity' mentioned earlier; it is very much of the same inspiration and the results will probably not be much more brilliant. Could it really be otherwise when even the officially formed 'League of Nations' cannot survive and when we are already witnessing its collapse? In any case, there is one sure fact: the groups we are dealing with here, and those with which they have certain affinities, are all more or less pacifist and internationalist. However, if the internationalism of the majority of Theosophists is indeed true and sincere, one may well wonder whether it is the same for their leaders who have already given us so many reasons to doubt their sincerity in all things. We shall try to answer this question later on.