Printed in the Summer 2014 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Boyd, Tim. "President's Diary-" Quest 102. 3 (Summer 2014): pg. 114-115.
Anyone who has been reading this diary during the three years that I have served as president will start to recognize a pattern. Each year in December I have gone to Adyar for the convention, then at the end of January I have traveled to Krotona for the Partners in Theosophy program. So again this year, the end of January found me in sunny Ojai, California at the Krotona Institute of Theosophy. This year’s program was ably led by Nelda Samarel, a past TSA board member, student of Dora Kunz, and retired professor of nursing (among other things). The program was titled “The Art of Leadership: Vision and Practice†and brought together members from around the country.
Krotona is one of a handful of places around the world that are dedicated spiritual centers for the TS work. Although there is necessarily some administrative work that must go on, it is not an administrative center, but a place focused on the cultivation of the inner life as a service to the TS and the world. It has been in its present location on top of Krotona Hill since 1926. One of the results of such longevity is that anyone with even a slight sensitivity quickly becomes aware of an energy that is both peaceful and forceful. Many people from the surrounding community come there just to walk and soak in the feeling. Probably I have said this before in previous diaries, but every time I am there, the thought runs through my mind that I could live here. It happened again this trip.
In February our board of directors came to Olcott for our semiannual board meetings. They were greeted by the subzero temperatures that had become so normal to us Midwesterners during this past winter. Most of our board members came from warmer places—Florida, Portland, Louisiana; even our New Yorkers had had warmer weather.
During one meeting, to add insult to injury, our fire alarm went off, requiring everyone to leave the building immediately. It was not a planned fire drill that we had dreamed up to make the board suffer. It turns out that because of the extreme cold, some vent in the kitchen had frozen shut and the fumes had set off the alarm. What it meant was that we all gathered outside the building for the twenty minutes it took the fire department to arrive, diagnose the problem, and allow us to return. It was eight degrees below zero. In addition to the work done during the meetings, I am certain that our board members returned home with that cherished memory of the camaraderie experienced while huddling together in the subzero weather.
In March I was back in southern California, this time to attend the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Phung Su Chan Ly (Service to the Truth) Vietnamese Lodge in Orange County. Back in October, when we had the Olcott Experience, among other members coming from around the country, Hiep To, president of the lodge, came. At that time he invited me to visit their lodge. We planned the date around my availability. Hiep To was a little concerned because the day that I would be free was not their normal meeting time. He was hesitant because he might “only be able to get thirty to forty people†at that time. I assured him that even if it was only him and me it would be fine. So on March 12, I flew into Los Angeles airport, rented a car, and drove the forty minutes to Garden Grove, where the lodge is located. When I turned onto the street for the meeting, I was on the phone (hands free). I told the person on the other end that I had to end the call so that I could look for the address. As soon as I said it, I said it was not necessary to hang up because “I think I know which house it is.†Across the front of the house there was a twelve-by-three-foot banner that read, “Welcome Mr. Tim Boyd, President of the Theosophical Society in America.†On one side was the emblem of the TS and on the other was a large photo of me. This must be the place.
Before the fall of South Vietnam’s government in 1975 the TS in Vietnam had been extremely active, with over thirteen hundred members, a headquarters building, and many books written and translated into Vietnamese. With the government’s fall, all of that ended. The headquarters was taken, the books were burned, and the members ended up dispersed around the world. Many came to the U.S. Today the TSA has two strong Vietnamese groups, one in Houston, the other in Garden Grove. As soon as our date had been confirmed, Hiep To set to work planning the event. Although he already had a large room in his home that was used for the group’s library and meeting place, he built an addition onto his house that could seat eighty people. He contacted TS and family members around the country. Because my Vietnamese is limited to the words “Phung Su Chan Ly,†and many of the members only speak a little English, he arranged for a translator to participate. In the end over a hundred people attended. Longtime friend and former TSA board member Robert Bonnell and his wife, Leatrice, were some of the handful of non-Vietnamese people attending. Van Ly and his wife, Lien, came with a sizable contingent from the Houston group. Other members came from Seattle. It was a wonderful affair that included homemade vegetarian food, presentation of medals and plaques, and ample time to socialize with some highly motivated and accomplished members. While there, I told the members that after the wonderful way that they had treated me, it was going to be difficult to speak at the American groups.
Two days later found me in Krotona again, this time for a retreat. Professor C. Shinde, the librarian at the Adyar international headquarters, had come to conduct it, and did a fine job. Members came from around the country. It was a welcome opportunity for me to attend a program that I did not have to present.
Back home at Olcott the month closed with a flurry of visitors. Nicholas and Kirsten Van Gelder came down from Madison, Wisconsin for a couple of days. Nicholas is a fourth-generation Theosophist, Theosophical historian, and a nephew of Dora Kunz, past TSA president and world-renowned clairvoyant. Drawing on extensive family archives, Kirsten has written a biography of Dora. It will be released by Quest Books in 2015. While he was visiting, we got Nicholas to give a talk.
Overlapping the Van Gelders’ visit, Glenn Mullin was with us for a week. Glenn is a friend of almost thirty years, and one of the foremost Tibetologists in the world. He has studied with the Dalai Lama’s principal teachers, has written thirty books, and translated many important Buddhist texts into English. Every year for the past twenty-eight years he has visited with us and presented talks and workshops. It is always a lively time when he comes. While he was with us we got a chance to do some planning for another group trip to Tibet (the first one took place in 2007, followed by another in 2008). The idea is to take a small group (maximum twenty-five people) on a tour of the country. The tour would end in Dharamsala with an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We are looking to do it in 2015. Stay tuned.
Overlapping Glenn, Nicholas, and Kirsten, Minor Lile and his wife, Leonie Van Gelder, came to visit. They are officially in my category of “favorite people.†I have known Leonie for thirty plus years. Minor and I served on the TSA board together for six years during John Algeo’s administration. One way or another we get together every year. Often it’s when I visit Indralaya, where they have been managing the camp for years. Since becoming president of the TSA I have prevailed upon them to come out to Olcott every year. I always feel a little bad about it, because in their hearts they are workers, and every time they visit I take shameless advantage of this character trait. Fortunately they seem to love it.
This diary ends with another part of the annual cycle, my visit to the Detroit Lodge. This year, like the past twenty, I made my pilgrimage to Detroit (actually the suburb of Royal Oaks) for our traditional Friday public lecture and Saturday workshop. Over the years we have become so comfortable with each other that our spring visit has become a much-anticipated bright spot for all of us. The comfort and sense of open exploration that I feel with the group always leaves me feeling enriched. Unanticipated insights seem to always bubble up. I am looking forward to next year.
Tim Boyd