The History of the German Section of the Theosophical Society 1902-1913

GA 250 — 3 July 1903, London

4. Report on the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the British Section of the Theosophical Society

Written Report by Rudolf Steiner “Der Vâhan”, Volume V, No. 1, July 1903

On July 3, 4 and 5, the thirteenth annual meeting of the British Section of the Theosophical Society was held in London. Linked to this general assembly was a meeting of the general secretaries of the British, Dutch, French, Italian and German sections to discuss the way in which the annual meetings of the “Association of European Sections” should be organized in the future. One of these sections will invite the representatives of the others to visit it each year; the section extending the invitation and the location of the meeting will be decided upon for the following year. The details of this were discussed in a preliminary meeting on July 3. It was agreed that at the annual meeting the general secretaries would give reports on the progress of the Theosophical movement in their countries and that common matters would be discussed. The closer contact of the members of the Theosophical movement in the different countries will be sought at these meetings, so that the great international principle of the Theosophical movement will become more and more effective. At the same time, it was decided to collect the reports on the movement given by the general secretaries in annual communications. Van Manen of the Dutch section was elected editor of these communications. Following the kind invitation from the general secretary of the Dutch section for next year, it was decided to accept and to choose Amsterdam as the location for the next annual meeting. On the evening of July 4, the general secretaries of the above-mentioned sections gave speeches in which they pointed out the progress of the Theosophical movement in the individual countries. Dr. Rudolf Steiner, the General Secretary of the German Section, was able to point to less success due to the short existence of our section; he spoke of the special tasks that the German national spirit presents to the Theosophical movement and of the hopes and prospects that we may have if we make the seeds of Theosophy fruitful in German intellectual life. - Both the preliminary discussion and the meeting itself were personally led by the President of the Theosophical Society, who was present in London. - This was also the case for the meetings of the British Section itself, which held a business meeting on July 4 and organized speeches on July 5. From the business meeting, it should be emphasized that the representatives of the foreign sections, including Dr. Rudolf Steiner from our German Section, gave welcoming speeches and that Bertram Keightley, the former General Secretary of this Section, was re-elected, but in such a way that Mrs. Hooper was appointed to independently manage the affairs as Deputy General Secretary for the duration of his stay in India.

President H. S. Olcott opened the meeting on July 5 with an address in which he spoke about the founding, goals and tasks of the Theosophical Society, and in which he particularly pointed out that no belief in dogma would be promoted by the “Theosophical Society,” that unity should be sought in the various creeds, so that the element of brotherly love in the broadest sense would be instilled into humanity through the Society. — Bertram Keightley spoke about the “Coming Psychic Wave.” He pointed out the interest that is currently being shown from a wide variety of quarters in certain psychic phenomena and powers. But this interest is mostly directed towards the personal, as for example in “Christian Science”. The theosophical movement, on the other hand, emphasizes the impersonal, the selfless; under its influence, the “psychic wave of the present” alone can take on a promising character for the future. - Finally, G. Mead expounded the “Christ-Mystery in the Earliest Christianity.” He emphasized that, in his opinion, the universal-human character of Christ, born in the depths of the soul, had greater significance for the early days of Christianity than the facts that a later time placed at the starting point of Christianity.