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in-touch.online
Theosophical Order of Service International Newsletter
EN 42 - January 2017
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Dear TS and TOS members and friends,
HAPPY NEW YEAR! We wish you all a joyful and enlightening year ahead.
This is a time for reflection on the year gone by, a time for assessment of how we are doing in our personal, professional and/or family lives on all levels: physical, emotional and spiritual. It's a time, too, to look at what we are doing in the service of those who rely on us to ease their suffering. To that end we've included three annual reports in this newsletter from seasoned National TOS groups that we hope will give other smaller or newer groups ideas about service projects, activities and fundraising. Annual reports, through 30 September, are due to the International Secretary in mid-October of each year from all of our National TOS groups.
One of our TOS focuses is education. Our latest news this issue reports on the first ever National Education Conference for TS/TOS sponsored schools in India. The conference facilitated by Vicente Hao Chin, the President of the Golden Link College in the Philippines and author of several books on theosophical education, looked at current practices at these schools with an eye toward introducing more theosophical concepts into the schools as they move forward into the future.
We want to know what you and your groups are doing. Please send information about your activities, with good quality photos, to: [email protected].
Yours in service,
The TOS intouch.online team:
Nancy Secrest,
International Secretary
Rozi Ulics, Webmaster/Editing
Vicki Jerome, Proofreader
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"Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up."
~Author Unknown ~
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Maria Montessori and Theosophy
by Danelys Valcarcel
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Maria Montessori, Mario M. Montessori, Rukmini Devi Arundale and George S. Arundale in Adyar
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Throughout the history of our Theo-sophical movement there have been a number of influential individuals who were able to implement their spiritual knowledge and ideals in revolutionary social causes, bringing about a radical awakening and renewal to the world at large. Annie Besant particularly stands as one of these great leaders, whose will to serve, and love for humanity, broke through barriers against women, casteism, poverty, cruelty and inequality. One of her major impulses was precisely in the field of education. She involved herself in both the effort to revive traditional Indian culture as well as to educate the vast masses of the illiterate Indian poor.
Not many of the readers may know however, that this remarkable woman was also of profound inspiration and support to Dr Maria Montessori in the development of her unique educational philosophy and method.Read more here.
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TOS Australia - annual report
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We are often asked by our national groups around the world for ideas for projects, activities and fundraising. The TOS Australia is one of our most vibrant groups. We share their annual report here as a source of ideas particularly for our smaller and newer TOS National groups. We thank Jean Carroll, National Coordinator of the TOS in Australia, for her clear and comprehensive report. Read more here.
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Jean Carroll, National Coordinator, TOS Australia
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TOS Canada - annual report
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Lorraine Christensen, Director, TOS Canada
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Prepared by Lorraine A. Christensen, Director of the TOS Canada, this report, with its strong support for the work of the United Nations, is illustrative of the uniqueness of each TOS Section. Read more here.
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TOS France - annual report
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Michel Chapotin, President of the TOS France, submitted this report. Under Michel’s more than capable leadership the French TOS devotes love and care to the suffering around the world especially in the areas of women’s issues and education. We thank the members of the French TOS for all that they do. Read more here.
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A Happy New Year to each and every worker around the globe from the TOS in France.
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What's new on the TOS International website?
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Vicente Hao Chin, Jr, former President, TS Philippines, B.L. Bhattacharyya, National Director, TOS India, Dr Chittaranjan Satapathy, International Vice-President TS and Dr Deepa Padhi, President, Odisha Region
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Theosophical education “focuses on developing qualities and skills in the students that reflect theosophical concepts and values. Qualities that help students to understand themselves and others. Skills that will help prepare students for the whole of life, not just for a job or career. . . . A truly theosophical education emphasizes the child’s inner nature and strives above all to instill values that will flower into an intellectual, emotionally and spiritually integrated mature human being who sees the world through eyes that recognize the ‘light’ in others. It produces men and women who are caring, unselfish and able to think for themselves. A theosophical education is free of dogma, giving children the freedom to learn how to think, not what to think.” (Nancy Secrest, “Theosophical Education: A New Beginning” September 2016)
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Conference on Theosophical Education held in Odisha, India
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In late September 2016, some 45 representatives of twelve TS and TOS schools within India attended the National Conference on Theosophical Education. Organised by Dr Deepa Padhi, President TOS Odisha Region, on behalf of the TS and TOS and held in the city of Bhubaneswar, Odisha State, the goals of the conference were: to integrate theosophical principles into the educational philosophy and methodologies of the schools, to elevate the teaching standard of the schools, including the incorporation of English as the medium of instruction and to plan for the long-term sustainability of the schools. Dr Chittaranjan Satapathy, International Vice-President of the Theosophical Society, inaugurated the conference and gave a fine retrospective on theosophical education within India. Vicente Hao Chin Jr, President of Golden Link College in the Philippines, facilitated the conference. Read the proceedings of the conference here.
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Administrators and teachers of the Olcott Memorial Higher Secondary School
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For over 120 years, the Olcott Memorial Higher Secondary School (OMHSS) has been providing a solid education for underprivileged boys and girls in Adyar, a suburb of Chennai in India.
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TOS fundraising efforts to aid Olcott Memorial Higher Secondary School continue
"Colonel Olcott’s pioneering work for educating the poor children from marginalized sections of society is very well known. The concept that through education the underprivileged and disadvantaged can be enabled to stand on their own feet and fight for what is due to them was formulated and given a practical shape by Colonel Olcott much before similar work was started by Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Ambedkar. Several Olcott Panchama Schools were started in and around old Madras. The first one that was started in 1894 by Col. Olcott using his own meagre financial resources continues today and has since been upgraded recently as Olcott Memorial Higher Secondary School. It was started as a free school with 45 students including nine girls. Even today no fees are charged to any of the students who go through a life transforming experience at the school. Theosophists alone rose above caste considerations to be the first lot of volunteer teachers at the school." (By Chittaranjan Satapathy, Inaugural Address, National Conference on Theosophical Education, 23 & 24 September 2016). For information on how to donate to the school's corpus fund and ensure continuing and improved educations for the children click here.
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Inaugural Address: National Conference on Theosophical Education
by Bro. Chittaranjan Satapathy
It gives me great pleasure to be present at this unique, and perhaps first of its kind, national conference on Theosophical Education.
From the early days of the modern theosophical movement, which started with the establishment of The Theosophical Society in 1875, its pioneers have taken a great interest in education per se and the right kind of education in particular. In a way, a theosophist’s approach to education was greatly influenced by two underlying considerations that Madame Blavatsky gave voice to in The Key to Theosophy: Read more here.
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Announcing the TOS International Conference, 2018
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We are pleased to announce that the third TOS International Conference will take place immediately following the 2018 Theosophical Society World Congress In SINGAPORE!! The back to back TS World Congress and TOS International Conferences will take place in August 2018. Specific place and dates to be determined. Stay tuned for further information.
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"What is it to live Theosophy? It is to sing with joy, to walk with the rhythm of the universe, to speak in tones of beauty, to work with love, to believe with the confidence and faith of the pure in heart, and to know with an assurance and certainty beyond doubt. To live Theosophy is to live completely. To live completely is to have synthesized the mind and heart in the interests of the ONE SELF which is in all, and which is All." - Joy Mills (From: The One and True Adventure p.147)
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