Printed in the Winter 2022 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Wyatt, Tim, "The Crisis Was the Catalyst" Quest 110:1, pg 14-15
By Tim Wyatt
Hoary old clichés such as “every crisis is an opportunity in disguise” or “necessity is the mother of invention” may sound like platitudes, but the past two years have shown that they resonate with truth. Human beings, as imperfect as they may be, are both ingenious and adaptable when dealing with difficult challenges. Few of these have been more demanding than the Covid-19 pandemic.
Somewhat controversially, I’m suggesting that a microscopic corona-shaped virus, which has killed millions and reshaped everyone’s lives, may have done more to promote the Ageless Wisdom than anything else in recent decades. Could the pandemic have inadvertently accelerated the creation of that elusive and long-sought “nucleus of the brotherhood of humanity” (the Theosophical Society’s First Object)?
This may sound crass, exaggerated, even outrageous. It may appear totally paradoxical that during a worldwide lockdown of travel bans, social distancing, and numerous other restrictions, new connections and networks have been formed—not by face-to-face contact but in cyberspace. Deprived of personal contact, new, ad hoc, often isolated, Theosophical communities have sprung up online over the past few months. There are hundreds of them. My view is that the crisis was the catalyst for the development of these groups.
I’m convinced that a new dynamic energy is fast emerging in the Theosophical movement. For decades, some Theosophists have agonized about how to develop more modern and effective ways of delivering the esoteric teachings than books, lodge meetings, study groups, and conferences (as useful as these can be).
Digital technologies, which enable people in different locations to link up simultaneously online, have been around for a while and are widely used by business and interest groups. But it took a world upheaval for things to begin happening in our own sphere and for words like Zoom or Skype to become common parlance among esotericists.
As someone relatively technophobic and suspicious of the ubiquitous digital invasion, I had deep reservations about much of this development at the start. Somehow (no doubt through necessity) I was able to suspend my prejudices and embrace this brave new world with a zeal I didn’t know I had. To use religious terminology, it was something akin to graduating from being an atheist to a cardinal in a single move.
Since the pandemic struck, I somehow intuitively tapped into this new current of online working. I’ve participated in, organized, or given talks in dozens of these. Across the world, from the U.S. to the Philippines and from Russia to Brazil, new initiatives have emerged. Organizations such as the European School of Theosophy have been especially prolific, putting on 200 presentations in a year.
The Leeds Theosophical Society in Yorkshire, England, where I’m active, has been more modest in its output, with twenty-one fortnightly online talks since last autumn. Other U.K. lodges have put on similar programs. This all stacks up to a lot of activity worldwide, with thousands of participants.
Early on in this process, I realized that in this Zoom and Skype era, there’s no such thing as a local lodge meeting any longer. If we continue to stream lodge events when we eventually meet in person once more, there never will be again. By the second or third talk in Leeds, it struck me that not only were we attracting participants from the local area or even from the rest of the U.K., but visitors from half a dozen European countries, North and South America, Russia, and India were also joining us—despite the time differences.
The upshot is that I’ve probably encountered and communicated with more Theosophists and those with esoteric interests in the past twelve months than during the previous fifteen years of my membership of the TS.
This innovative way of communication was already being used by some Theosophists before the virus hit, but it was low-key. The pandemic suddenly became an accelerant; without it, this process almost certainly wouldn’t have happened as quickly or become so widespread.
Even more importantly, both the infrastructure and inclination now exist for the potential creation of a vibrant and realistic entity we call brotherhood. This century-and-half-old aspiration has been problematic for the TS, not least because of the many different ways it’s been interpreted (or possibly misinterpreted).
This new, fluid, interactive community of the like-minded has been liberated from the restrictions imposed by traditional structured organizations bound by rules, committees, and the inevitable cabals which form. If we’re honest, the history of the TS is replete with internal power struggles, personality clashes, and hostilities bordering on civil war within some Sections down the years, and which continue today.
Would it be an exaggeration to suggest that brotherhood as a living, breathing interconnectedness has gone from being a distant dream to an achievable reality within a few short months? This may be somewhat overoptimistic, but I believe that recent events have provided a fresh impetus to link up the like-minded, which is something to build on.
I know some people still resist this way of doing things. Some, like me, have become somewhat Zoomed out. I also remain extremely wary of invasive technology. Besides, staring at a laptop screen is no substitute for meeting face-to-face, even if you don’t have to leave your kitchen table. But it’s all we’ve had. To my mind we’ve used it well, and I hope we’ll continue to do so.
As we’re reminded every day, not all online interactions are positive or purposeful. You’ve only got to look at the verbal poisons surging through the grubby backwaters of social media to know that this form of communication has its perils. Indeed, one event in which I participated was “Zoom-bombed” by a bunch of foul-mouthed cyberanarchists, who plastered obscenities on the screen for no good reason other than they could. But this was a one-off.
We know esoterically that intention is everything. The way these new online methods have been used for discussion forums or educational endeavors by Theosophists has been, in my opinion, largely positive.
New networks have come into being and grown with the same vigor as the virus itself. These networks have overlapped, sometimes producing new ones. Still more are gestating in people’s minds, to emerge in the delivery rooms of cyberspace sometime soon.
The events I’ve described demonstrate another important (although sometimes unwelcome) Theosophical truth: all archaic forms are destined to perish to make way for new ones. Their destruction is not only inevitable but vital in ensuring that creative progress continues.
Tim Wyatt is an esoteric writer, researcher, and organizer. He is an international lecturer for the Theosophical Society and travels widely across Europe. He is the founder of the School of Applied Wisdom in Leeds, Yorkshire, and also helps to run Leeds Theosophical Society. His books include Cycles of Eternity: An Overview of the Ageless Wisdom and Everyone’s Book of the Dead (reviewed in Quest, summer 2021). These are available from www.firewheelbooks.co.uk.