77. The Theosophical Movement

The Theosophical Society (founded in 1875 and headquartered in Adyar, India), whose mission is to cultivate the world view also expressed in this journal, has a British, Dutch, French, Italian and German section in Europe. These five sections form a Federation of European Sections. Discussions regarding the fruitful interaction of these sections took place in London on Friday, July 3, 1903, in connection with the general assembly of the British Section. These discussions took on a significant character due to the fact that the founder of the Theosophical Society, who is still its president, Col. H. S. Olcott (who resides in Adyar), personally chaired them. It was decided to create a focus for the joint work of the European sections in the form of annual general assemblies to be held in different European locations. As a result of the gracious invitation of our Dutch colleagues, Amsterdam was chosen as the venue for next year's General Assembly (1904). The task of this assembly will be to discuss the common affairs of the great Theosophical world movement (as far as they affect Europe) and to report on the progress and undertakings of the individual sections. The progress of the movement will be published in the annual bulletin. Mr. J. van Manen was elected editor of the bulletin. On July 4, 1903, a second meeting took place, in which the situation of the Theosophical movement in the individual regions of Europe was discussed. The speakers were Mr. Mead for the English section, Captain Terwiel for the Dutch section, Monsieur Bernard for the French section, Mrs. Cooper Oakley for the Italian section, and Dr. Rudolf Steiner for the German section. Col. Olcott introduced the speakers to the assembly and chaired the meeting. Dr. Rudolf Steiner spoke about the “Connection between the general German spiritual life and 'Theosophy and its prospects in the future of German culture”. The text of this speech will be published in the next issue, along with a report on the interesting general assembly of the British Section, which took place from July 4th to 6th, as there is no space for it in this issue. (The Secretary General of the German Section, Dr. Rudolf Steiner, answers questions regarding the Theosophical Society).