The History of the Esoteric School 1904–1914, Volume One

GA 264 — Munich

To George R.S. Mead

Regarding the election of Annie Besant, head of the Esoteric School, as president of the Theosophical Society, which led to the separation of the Esoteric School.

Mead sent a letter, dated March 3, 1907, to Rudolf Steiner asking that Mead's March 1, 1907, circular letter to the T.G. branches opposing Annie Besant's candidacy be brought to the attention of the German Section. According to a typewritten template in German and English. (Date after the English text, which has May for March due to an error, also in the first line.)

Munich, May 6 [March] 1907 My dear colleague,

Thank you very much for your letter of March 3rd, including the information about the election of the president.

To be honest, I think the worst thing about the whole matter is that the idea could arise within society to associate such a matter as the election of the president with some manifestation of the transcendental world. The mere fact that something like this could be made public is bad enough. Because whatever may happen now, the confusion it causes will be difficult to repair. I would therefore have preferred to remain silent about the whole Mahatma affair in our section, to ignore the word “appointment” and to announce the nomination of Mrs. Besant as a personal opinion of our dear Olcott. In this way we would have simply gone about our business as usual, ignoring the unfortunate developments in Adyar. This did not seem unjustified to me, because Olcott's statements in this regard can only be attributed to the debilitating effects of his illness.

Of course, I am only talking about the German section. Now, however, the announcement of the matter and the discussion in the other sections is making such a policy more and more of an impossibility. And anyone like me who has to work in a young, up-and-coming section that has recently made good progress is faced with a difficult situation at the moment.

This is due to the following:

We cannot put our members in a situation where they can be influenced by some kind of supernatural manifestation in an election that is free according to the statutes.
We expose ourselves to ridicule in the non-Theosophical world if these manifestations become known in any way. I would not hesitate for a moment to accept this ridicule and scorn quietly if a pertinent principle were at stake. Here, not only is that not the case, but the situation is rather that one would give up the right to ever refer to the experiences of the higher worlds if one made a point of referring to these Mahatma manifestations. And in view of the way in which I have so far directed the German Theosophical movement, it is almost impossible in the long run to merely shrug my shoulders when a question concerning the content of this matter is raised. After all, the members have a right to hear an opinion on the subject. But the moment I express this opinion of mine, I destroy much of what I have built up here.

For all these reasons, just as I have not published anything about the supernatural in Adyar within the German Section, I must also reserve my decisions regarding the publication of your valuable communications. However, I will never fail to work to ensure that purely administrative matters are not confused by the introduction of supernatural things. I have informed Mr. Sinnett that I will not initiate the election before May 1. Perhaps by then there will still be a possibility to repair the fatal situation created by Adyar.

Personally, I would just like to add with regard to the one point of your circular that I naturally consider it quite impossible for the president of our Society to be the head of an esoteric school.

Yours very sincerely

Rudolf Steiner