J. G. Crabbendam, General Chairman
Henk Lindemans, Local Chairman
Jan Hoogervoorst, Translator
Introduction by Mr. Crabbendam.
Henk Lindemans: It is my very great pleasure and my privilege to welcome you here to the Rotterdam Lodge which tonight is the host for the members from the Delft Lodge and for some members from Dordrecht and, as you see, for many members from our whole country. I am sure I am speaking for them too when I welcome you with the most warm feelings of my heart.
This midday when I left my office, I asked myself in what spirit I could best prepare myself for tonight, and I thought I could not do better than to read again the message from our late leader, Colonel Arthur Conger, in the article in the December 1950 Forum. I myself had a feeling, a vague impression when I read it the first time, that Colonel Conger set a door ajar. I could not really understand his full meaning. But since you have begun your work, since we have heard you speak at these meetings in our country, I saw that the door was wide open, and indeed the message became fully clear to me. I now see that every line there is becoming practiced through the work of our new leader, and I would thank you for what you have done already.
JAL: Thank you, thank you very much, Henk, for that very beautiful welcome.
As I indicated last night in The Hague, I cannot understand what bit of karma I have been blessed with to have had this marvelous opportunity to see the Masters' work break through into the new cycle with such force and such support and such bright spiritual light that, as Brother Crabbendam suggested, the opposition to that force must scamper. There is a tremendous amount of history in the Theosophical Movement all rolled up into these dynamic days we are now living in. There is, and it isn't hard to see, something of every one of the leaders of the past in the present moment, and more dynamically so than it has been at any previous change of leadership. Now don't, for heaven's sake, give me credit for that. I have nothing to do with it. My job as I see it under these circumstances is to help you, each member, to recognize the full force and keynote of all the leaders of the past, and the particular adaptation of that force at this time, all rolled into one strong effort for the work of the Masters.
Henk Lindemans was right when he said that Colonel Conger's editorial opened a door slightly. Subsequent events have opened the door a little more, but it isn't wide open yet. In that little editorial Colonel Conger put a dozen volumes of occult truths in the space of just about one printed page or a little more.
I think this would be a good time to tie into that thought a question which was brought in from Delft. It was a comment combined with a question which in essence was this, and if I misinterpret it I wish you would correct me. The letter spoke of documents and the possibility that there are occult reasons why a document could be given at one time, but might be superseded by a verbal instruction at a later time without any explanation given. His commentary dwells upon the occult aspect of our work and the Society. I think we are face to face today with the fact that we must realize that this is an occult organization. I don't mean occult in the sense of the occult sciences; I use that word in the sense of true occultism, true altruism, that occultism which works with nature and with nature's laws, and is more concerned with the spirit behind actions than with the actions themselves. I mentioned in the Congress, if I recall correctly, the fact that when something develops in the Theosophical Society that creates a difference of opinion, there is always so much thunder and lightning. The question has been asked a number of times: why is not the matter discussed and handled quietly like any other circumstance? Well, the real reason is because this is an occult organization and is operated and guided by occult laws and not by man-made rules and regulations.
I wish I could answer some of the questions that are in the minds of some members with regard to certain aspects of a change in leadership, and particularly where documents of one kind or another seem to be playing a minor part. The real reason is the occult answer. And the person who wrote this from Delft is to be commended very highly for seeing completely through the circumstances which he writes about. He has the answer. There is no need for any answer of mine except to say that where in our organization the occult laws operate, we should never be guided by appearances. As the Master told us in The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, appearances are the stumbling block of every true occult student. They always will be if we allow our decisions and our judgment to be affected by what appears to be so. There is only one way to find out and get beneath the appearances, and that is to test them, test them thoroughly, with the formula that every FTS should know: Is the motive a personal or an impersonal one? Is the act intended to benefit a few or everyone? These are the simple questions to ask always, and we will have no trouble making decisions.
Mr. Crabbendam spoke of the activities here at the Atlanta a fortnight ago. I wish all of you could have shared in them, but it was impossible. I think he has probably given you in Dutch the spirit and the feeling that existed here much better than I can, but I would like to say this: if I had nothing further to take with me at the end of this incarnation than the experience in seeing that General Congress fall together as it did, from the Saturday before until the Monday afterwards, and the way it turned out — if I had nothing to take with me from this incarnation but that, it would be well worth my whole life. It was a beautiful experience. To see the strength from each national section represented, acquire and accumulate the momentum of spiritual force that broke through them at the Congress in Utrecht. And to me, since I talk so much about the unfolding daily karmic script, it represented a signpost so well rooted in the depths of spiritual understanding that it will point the way for centuries to come, of what theosophy is, what theosophy does, and where theosophy is going. I don't think any of us can realize the tremendous importance, historically and otherwise, of that Congress at Utrecht. There has never been anything like it in the annals of theosophic history. And as time goes on and you re-read the report of that Congress, you will understand what I mean. Fortunately we had a tape recording of the whole proceedings — I am grateful to Jan Hoogervoorst for this — and I will be able to take the reels back to the United States where our American companions will be able to hear the proceedings as most of you here have heard them.
I do want to think out loud together with you, either during the intermission or afterwards. I announced last night the slight reorganization of the Dutch Section. I nominated last night a working committee of nine men to help Fred Lindemans, the National Secretary. You can see there is nothing fantastic about it. On the surface it may seem like a radical change, but it is not. All we are doing is taking off the badges, the labels, and getting down to the true spiritual work we have to do, getting away from form and getting more into the spirit of things. That is our whole purpose, and I am sure you are going to find that it will work very much better. As I have said, what were the General Council and are now the branch presidents, will find themselves more able to be of real service to the work than as merely a legislative group that says this man will be president and this man won't. We need no legislation of any kind in the Theosophical Society. All we need is a wider and a broader understanding of what our real problems are, all of us working together with them and solving them. I think that is about all I am going to say at the moment. It is nearly 9 o'clock and the waiters will be here with coffee and tea in a few moments. O my! I always forget about you, Jan, don't I? I should have stopped five minutes ago in order to allow time for the translation.
Intermission — tea and coffee
JAL: I would like to share a question that has just been asked me. It is a simple one but a good one: "Why are there no women on this working committee? Was there a special reason?" Well, I do hope the ladies won't feel slighted. If I know the ladies at all, I think that the committee will have a strong feminine influence insofar as the women having a voice is concerned. Now I don't mean by that that the men do exactly what the ladies say! I will be perfectly frank: I did not even give it a thought when the names of the committee came to my mind. I spoke to Cor this afternoon, as she was on the Dutch Board: I asked if she minded not being on again. I have not even spoken to George Lindemans; I take it for granted that he is satisfied. We are concerned with working for the best interests of the work in Holland, and if I have been able to penetrate the character of the Dutch women, they are the type of women who do not have to have a formal, prominent place in order to be happy. If I guess correctly they are happy in helping the men to do a real job.
Now another point: I do not want anyone to feel with regard to this committee that it is a set thing and that it will be constituted of the same individuals ad infinitum. It will not be. The one thing that I have learned from Colonel Conger, whom I consider was one of the greatest executives that I have had the privilege of knowing, was never to allow a committee to function too long with the same personnel on it. If we allow wisdom to rule in the work in the Dutch Section, that working committee will be changed from time to time, not because of inefficiency, but in order to allow a greater circulation of the force of the work to flow through different individuals and thus to a greater degree get that force out among the membership. It is awfully hard to put these things into words. Who knows but what one day the whole committee will be of women! I only know this, that if I were asked why that group of men was selected I could not tell you. Honestly, I could not. It is just one of those things. I did not discuss it with anyone. I announced the fact that I thought it would make a good working team. I spoke only five minutes about it to Fred Lindemans after I had made up my mind that the group of men indicated would make a good team to work with Fred. I know that it will work, but if my life depended upon it I could not tell you why. It will be changed as time goes on. The thing to remember is not to have any formalized standards but to "do what comes naturally."
Another question was brought up here during the intermission. I want to try to answer it but I do not quite understand the first part of it. "A true leader will never refuse membership," and I believe that the companion who asked the question said that I made that statement. Is that correct?
Questioner: I believe you made it last night.
JAL: Well now, I am glad that came up. That statement was made in connection with the question regarding those members who did not sign the slip for the renewal of their membership. I said that no leader would ever refuse them the right to take up the work once they decided to do so and sent in the slip. I did not mean by that that a leader will never refuse membership to an applicant. That is not correct. A leader will refuse membership in the TS to an applicant if he feels that it is a protection to the work not to receive that applicant as a member. Is that clear for the moment?
Questioner: Yes, thank you.
JAL: Just so we understand each other. You see, that would be a terrific one-way street on which a leader would have to travel to protect the work. On the one hand, he would be given an immense amount of responsibility but, on the other hand, no authority whatever to stem the tide of dark influence that might come to wreck the TS. Don't you see?
Now for the same reason, and that reason only, is it permissible and practical for a leader to cancel membership in the TS. But let us fully understand a distinction here. Some of our, let us say, misguided members are unable to draw the line of demarcation between cancelling the membership in the TS and cancelling the membership in the ES. No leader, no Outer Head, can cancel the membership of any ES member once he has pledged himself. That is only for the Master to do. That has been made clear in the past. But the TS membership can be cancelled by a leader if he feels it is for the protection of the work.
Now I can understand, and especially do I understand in Holland, the quavering thoughts of reaction that came into the minds of many members to what seemed to be my bold and inconsiderate stroke of cancelling the membership of every member in Holland. That has never been done in the history of the Society before, but the Dutch membership had been treated very, very unfairly for quite a few years. When Colonel Conger became the leader and there was that difference of opinion which always comes up, the President of the Dutch Section at that time refused to acquaint the membership with the circumstances concerning Colonel Conger's ascension to office; and in the goodness of their hearts the Dutch Board at that time agreed with the president that they would not communicate with Headquarters unless they let him know first.
Now I am giving you facts that some of you may know, maybe some of you do not; but the unfair part of it was that every Dutch member was not given the opportunity to decide for himself at that time whether he wanted to support Colonel Conger or somebody else. When at any time anybody interferes with the right of each FTS to make his own decision in matters of theosophic interest and policy, something happens. The individual who is so interfered with will find himself sooner or later with a double-barreled decision to make, and doubly hard to make; and the individual who puts that interference in the path of his brothers will find himself one day in a position which none of us would ever care to be in, from the standpoint of an occult institution such as ours.
The Theosophical Society is what it is because it has the force of the Masters behind it, because it is, as I said earlier, an occult institution. There are no rules and regulations that apply to any other organization in this world that apply to this one. This is an organization of hearts, and when one individual tampers with the spiritual heart of another, he is playing with fire in the true sense of the word. There is nothing that will strengthen and make really potent this nucleus of a universal brotherhood but the self-conscious, self-reliant, self-developed heart of each individual member. We have studied our theosophy time and again. We have heard GdeP, or read his words, that each one of us is a god in the making, a solar system in the making, each one of us is even greater than that. Well, how in the name of heaven are we ever going to become that if we don't do it ourselves? Just as the tiny atom is the sun to its own little universe, so are we, and the heart of each one of us is attached to the heart of this universe in which we live. To the degree that we become one with that self-consciously, through self-directed evolution and character building — not doing what John Doe or Mary Smith tells us to do, but doing what we in our inner heart know has to be done — to that degree will each one of us add a building block to the universe that will never be rent asunder. It is for the protection of that inherent right in the heart and soul of every FTS that a leader has his responsibility, and I would not think much of any leader who would not take any means at his command to protect that inherent right in every FTS. We must come fully to the realization today that there is not going to be anyone doing our job for us. We each must do it ourselves. The time is past when we can, like birds with our mouths open, sit down and wait to be fed and told what to do. We know what to do. If we don't know from the technical standpoint, we can always fall back on the Golden Rule which will teach us more about how to get a fuller understanding in our daily life than any other one thing: Do unto others as we would have them do unto us. That goes a long way from the question, but I believe I might have answered it in general.
Questioner: Yes, thank you very much.
JAL: I just would like you to keep in mind one thing. So long as I am Leader I will stop at nothing morally correct, spiritually correct, to protect the interest of each one as an individual building block in that Guardian Wall around the work of Masters, who in turn are the guardians around humanity. That is my job. That is your job to help me do.
Mrs. Hols-Stoutsjedijk: I have noticed for many years that the leader of the TS and the members of the Headquarters staff do such a lot of work every day and many of them have for many years done so at a stretch. Now my question is, how is it that they can do such a lot of work? Of course that question implies another question, namely, what must we do to be able to do so much work every day?
JAL: The question is clear but I do not know if the answer will be clear.
Mr. Crabbendam: But you are willing to try?
JAL: I am willing to try, but I will have to step out of the role of leader in order to give any kind of an intelligent answer I am afraid, and try to move myself back — not to October 5, 1950! — but to October 1942, for example, or perhaps still further back to 1939, as a member of Colonel Conger's staff, for I can only speak from that standpoint. I often asked myself the same question in Washington. When I was working in the Office of the Quartermaster General, I would get up at 5:30 in the morning, work in the office until 5:30 at night, go home in the evening and work with Colonel Conger on theosophical work and the publication of Theosophical Nuggets until 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock, or even 2:30 in the morning if necessary. I myself wondered how I did it, but it was not hard.
You go to work. You go to work, if it means for twenty-four hours in one day, and don't think anything about it. But the secret I think, and I believe others here might probably answer the question better than I can, the secret is love — not sentimental love, but that deep, deep love that is in the heart of each one of us and that keeps the whole universe together. It is that love that does the trick. Nothing is too much to do for Masters and their cause; and when we tune our consciousness into that stream of vital force, something happens. We may almost fall over in our tracks sometimes. I know one Saturday morning at 8:30 we had not touched the current issue of the Forum, but for some reason that we don't know today, Colonel Conger sent for Miss Knoche and myself and said he wanted to get the Forum ready to be put into the mails by tomorrow night so that it could be taken to the post office Monday morning. Well, that was a large order, but we did it. We got busy, and the two of us with Mrs. Minot and Larry Merkel worked all Saturday night, all of Sunday, Sunday night, until about 1:30 when it was ready to go into the mail Monday morning.
What are you going to do? You do what has to be done. It is nothing but love, love of the work and love of Masters' cause. But I would not know how to answer the second part of your question: What can you do to do likewise? Nothing more than you are doing where your karma has placed you, here, there, or elsewhere. But the love that you put into everything you do, whether it is your daily duty as a housewife or as a workman or as a professional man — if you put that love into everything you do, you will find a blooming take place inside of you that cannot be imagined by anything temporal, and you will be able to work, when the need arises, around the clock and not mind it very much.
Those whose karma it has been to be associated with one or more of the leaders at Headquarters, naturally have had their ups and downs and it has not been, nor is it, an easy task. We have had some rough times, and in spite of the fact that the leaders are mild-mannered as a rule — I seem to be the exception — they could cut loose once in a while and are a little rough. Colonel Conger was no exception; GdeP was no exception; and god only knows KT wasn't — she could make the fur fly. We all know HPB!
I may or may not have answered your question very well. I am willing to let Miss Knoche say something if she wishes. She was there under KT, under GdeP, and under Colonel Conger, and now she has another rough road to travel!
Grace F. Knoche: First of all, I don't want you to feel we are not just as human as the rest of you, and have our periods of discouragement and heartache. Nevertheless, it is very true indeed that something outside of ourselves does sustain us when we want with our whole heart to give. There have been times when it seemed as though we were supported by a strength far greater than our own, and I can only believe that we were helped, not for ourselves, but that we might be for the time at least a channel to help our leaders accomplish their work. There is an old saying that I remember as a child Katherine Tingley had up in one of the school rooms. It has stuck by me through many a hard period: "Do the possible, and the impossible will melt away." To me, that has epitomized what our leaders mean to the Society. There is one quality I have noticed in the four I have been privileged to work under, from KT to our present leader — an implicit trust in Masters. No matter how terribly discouraging things may seem to us, with every kind of difficulty, our leaders never become discouraged. They always seem to feel close to that inner source of strength which is, of course, the mainspring of our TS.
JAL: Has the Secretary General anything he would like to say? I have been selfish all this time.
Kirby Van Mater: I have one thing that has occurred to me to say. I don't know whether the leader would allow it, but I shall say it since he asked me to speak. We love the work and we love it because it is Masters' work, but we also love our leaders for what they are. That love is a protection. It is that love also, whether a person be at Headquarters or any place in the world, which will give him the strength to do that which has to be done, the duty before one. That is all I would say.
Mr. Crabbendam: Thank you very much.
Mrs. Swartinghuis: I have a question: in a letter sent to all FTS on the 6th of March, the leader says that during the last ten years there have been many indications that forces have been arrayed or drawn up to do battle. I would like to ask whether you will be able to tell us something about this. What has contributed to this and why has it been so?
JAL: Right in line with my earlier statements about the occult aspect of this institution, the answer to the young lady's question springs from the occult aspect of life about us in the world. In the approach to the midpoint of any cycle, whether it be 100 years, 1,000 or 2,000 or 5,000, always a transition takes place at that midpoint and the forces of nature give expression to themselves in all kingdoms. What happens on the outer plane that we see as effects have had their beginnings in causes much more deeply rooted. Knowing these occult laws as we have studied them in theosophy, wouldn't we expect as we approach the midpoint, the low-point, of a cycle, that even before we see the results of the activities of the creative as well as the destructive forces, they would be getting ready for the ascending arc of that cycle? The work of both the creative as well as the destructive must change at that time. It will be different on the upward cycle from what it was on the downward cycle. Thus we could see approaching this midpoint the effects of that marshaling or remarshaling of the two forces taking place before the final hour had struck for the transition or change to the upward arc.
Now, I don't mean that we should go around looking for trouble, but we would be very foolish if we did not put to work the knowledge we had gained in our study of theosophy. Thus as we went into the period in the history of the Society that was marked by the death of GdeP, the three-year Cabinet regime, and the succession of Colonel Conger formally at the end of three years, we could see very clearly the marshaling of forces — both creative and destructive.
In line with this I just happened to think of the listing of the leaders of the Theosophical Society from HPB down, on a letterhead I received recently from Holland. I believe it was from Brother van Aller of Utrecht. The dates for the former leaders were as usual, but when he came to Colonel Conger he listed him as leader from 1942-1951. I don't know if Brother van Aller realized what he was doing, but he printed the truth. Colonel Conger's administration as leader of the Theosophical Society, whether the appearance was so or not, did date from the death of GdeP, and I was privileged to see the direct evidence of that fact. Having had the karmic opportunity to be fairly close to the Colonel during the latter days of GdeP's administration and during the three-year interval, and then at the time of the Colonel's assumption of office — all of these opportunities made it very clear that something very, very cogent was taking place in the Society. And I will repeat here again what Colonel Conger said in the Administration Building at Covina nearly two years ago when he introduced the series of lectures for Miss Knoche: that we no longer had to fear any dangers from the outside, but the dangers in the future that we had to look for in our Society were those which would "bore from within." He sounded a keynote there very clearly and plainly that we should be alert to what was going on and be prepared to meet these dangers as they arise. Not only have the leaders seen what was taking place in the marshaling of those forces, but many members whose intuition and devotion have remained firm have seen the same thing, and have stood by and helped the leaders at those times to make the transition and set up the barriers of protection to the work against the destructive forces. Does that answer your question?
Mrs. Swartinghuis: Yes, thank you very much.
Some Utrecht members had to leave at 10:45.
Question: Would the leader be so kind as to elaborate on the new policy called partnership, regarding its background, its objective, its structure or general operation?
JAL: Yes, indeed. It was at Utrecht that this same question was asked in a little different way and I will try to answer it in a little different way, too, because you ask what the policy of this partnership is or is going to be. I would like to explain that one of the fundamental principles of good generalship or leadership, if you want to call it that, in an occult institution such as the Theosophical Society, is never to state one's policy. Now why is that? Crab is nodding his head in confirmation! He knows too.
I had to learn that the hard way, and I mean the very hard way, from Colonel Conger. I am proud to mention his name so often. He is still very very close to us, especially is he close to me, because I was with him for so many years, and I cannot help it, but it will take me a long time not to refer to Colonel Conger so often. Yes, I had to learn it the very hard way from him. In my early days working with him I was a business man, had had my training in the business world. My profession is what we call in America management consultant, what I think the Europeans call efficiency experts. As part of my profession it was necessary if I went into a business to establish for it, if it had not already been done, a clear-cut statement of policy. Without that I could do nothing. I had to find out from the head of the organization or the Board of Directors what was their policy, what was their objective or goal, so that I could map out and help them map out correctly their organization, their functions, their administrative procedures, as well as their operating procedures.
Well, with that background for me to go into the Theosophical Society's work with Colonel Conger and have him almost literally laugh in my face when I asked him what was his policy in this or that regard, taught me much. He would not answer so I asked again, but I still got no answer. In time I found the answer. Simply because this is a different type of institution, an occult institution, governed by occult laws, by laws of the heart and not of the mind, it would be very unwise for any leader to state his policy as a policy, but that policy will always show itself in what takes place from day to day in the work of the organization. It will not take long for the member who has his eyes open and is alert to it, to recognize that policy, not in any words stated by the leader but in results obtained by the efforts of the membership and the leader's staff.
I will have to be a little clearer in order to give you a little bit more as to why that is necessary. If we are in the service of the Masters, and if we believe that the powers of darkness, as HPB tells us over and over again, are ever alert to smother the light that we might give forth, then certainly it would be the mark of unwisdom to state any policy or state any plan that would allow those dark forces to have the jump on us and thus be a step ahead of us. We cannot allow that. We have got to be the one that makes the first step, take the initiative all the time, take the offensive all the time, and keep the dark forces on the defensive all the time. We would never be able to do that if we told everybody far and wide what we were going to do tomorrow or the next day. I think that is about as far as I want to go with regard to the policy of this partnership.
I believe I can answer the other two parts of your question by simply repeating the spirit of what has been said earlier this evening. I visualize this partnership as being a partnership of love of Masters' work, each one of us in our own way according to our own svabhava giving what devotion we can in our day-to-day duties, both our personal duties and our duties to theosophy, with that love of Masters' work of which we spoke in answer to the lady's question about the staff at Headquarters. We must work together with our eyes wide open, our hearts wide open, giving the other fellow an opportunity to express himself and always standing firm in our endeavor to get the best results for Masters' work.
Now the partnership implies that every member has a responsibility with the leader in making this job a real success. That is what I hope it will be: a partnership of every member, each contributing to a greater or less degree. The degree of contribution is not important, because not all of us will have the opportunity to do a great deal, but it is the quality of what we contribute that is important. As I have used the example so often, it is the individual who in the right spirit gives a postage stamp who contributes a quality to this partnership which is just as helpful as someone who is able and karmically in a good position to contribute hours and hours of service as the staff at Headquarters do.
This partnership is nothing new. In reality it always has existed, but we have not been conscious of the fact. It has been my karma and my privilege to attempt to bring home to each one of you the true basis of this partnership and to point out that its roots are imbedded in the true heart of the Great White Lodge. To the degree that we can be conscious and maintain our consciousness of that fact, and let the strength of that stream of spiritual power flow through our daily activities and our work for theosophy, to that degree will this partnership be even more than what I first announced it to be: the greatest partnership this world has ever known.
I've noticed our translator here trying for sometime to get in a word edgewise. I think I owe it to Jan to listen to his question.
Jan Hoogervoorst: Yes; many members whom I spoke with during these days of your tour felt awfully sorry that you must leave us in two or three, or possibly four or five, weeks definitely until next year or two years possibly.
Mr. Crabbendam: He is fishing!
Mr. Hoogervoorst: And I come to my question now: would you be willing to hold a convention in Holland before you leave definitely for the USA?
Mr. Crabbendam: You are asking for his policy. You just heard about a leader not telling his policy.
JAL: Have a good time. I am enjoying it!
Mr. Hoogervoorst: Will the audience rise if they are in support of the idea of having a convention? [The audience rose in a body] You see I was not alone.
JAL: I am going to surprise all of you. I made the statement several times on this tour that some of my critics have accused me of following dictator methods, but they don't know me. I may seem rather forceful when trying to get an idea started, but I assure you that I am not going to do any deciding for you or for anybody else, and I am not going to tell you whether I will or will not attend a convention before I go back to the United States. I am not going to tell you whether you should have one or should not. That is where the Dutch svabhava with the new basis will have to do its own thinking or deciding.
I will say this, that if the duly constituted members of the Dutch Section — the national secretary, his Working Committee, and his branch presidents — decide to have a convention, and the dates happen to be before the time when I cross the Atlantic, there is the possibility that I could attend one session, but I won't plan it. I cannot plan it. I don't know what I am going to run into in Germany, Sweden, or England. You people here have gotten a great big edge on everybody else. I don't expect I will be able to spend nearly as much time, in fact I know I won't, in Germany and in Sweden, in England and hopefully in Wales, as I have spent here. Whether you would really benefit by my attending a convention this year, or not, that I don't know; and I am not speaking personally. That is something that you all will have to work out with your National Secretary as to whether you are going to have a convention or not. If you decide to have a convention and if the date ties in — not to my plans, because I have no plans — but fits into the daily karmic script, I will be there. If it does not, I am afraid I won't be there, but I assure you that my heart will be there. I say this in no spirit of noncooperation, but that daily karmic script has to dictate it.
Mr. Crabbendam: You had better try to read that daily karmic script, Jan!
JAL: Not at all. I must give expression to my deep appreciation for the thought and the hope that you would want me there, which you have shown here in such a unanimous feeling. We will see what happens. I am not saying anything encouraging or discouraging. The karmic script has to point the way. Do you want to translate that, Jan? Then I will close the meeting.
It is getting pretty late now. This is the last of the series of meetings that I asked for. The result in the cooperation that has come from every quarter of Holland has been typical of the strength of purpose with which Holland does things. Most of you have traveled through Europe as much as I have and more, but in my last trip when I saw Rotterdam and then went to other cities that were bombed, including London, it did not require any effort on my part to see the industry with which Holland recovered from the terrific blow in Rotterdam. I find it impossible really to say anything about Rotterdam without mentioning Amsterdam, Zwolle, Haarlem, Utrecht, and I believe there is a town by the name of Hilversum, Henk, isn't there, as well as Bussum, Ab? I find it impossible to distinguish one from the other really. It is all Holland to me and what it stands for.
I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for the support you have given these meetings all week from last Sunday on. Some of your faces, I have seen at all of them. It has been a real inspiration, and I tell you, if I had had to rely upon my brain-mind to say what needed to be said at these meetings I would have run out of words and thoughts about the second or third night. I want you to know that it was not I who made these meetings and the spirit of them possible. It was you. If it had not been for the inspiration and the power of your deep and devoted love for theosophy that pulled it out of me, and supplied the material which you say I gave you, I could not have done it, and that, in the final analysis, Companions, is this partnership in action. It is a two way street. I cannot give you anything that you don't give me. And you cannot give me anything that I don't give you. Now that is a real partnership.
Thanks to everyone of you. I cannot close this meeting without expressing a word of real gratitude to you, Crab, for the masterly way in which you have chaired this series of meetings. You have been a bulwark of strength far beyond what you realize.
Fred Lindemans: That is true.
JAL: And Fred, the new National Secretary, your silent strength beside me has meant more than I can say.
Mr. Fred Lindemans: I hope I will be much more than that.
JAL: You don't have to say a word, Fred.
To Jan here, your devotion in handling this translation work has given the members the true spirit of what I have said. I don't understand Dutch, but I do understand hearts, and I think I am speaking correctly when I say that Jan did more than his best in interpreting or translating the spirit of my remarks in your own language; and what he has contributed I myself cannot evaluate. I want to thank you, Jan, for the really grand job you have done.
Thank you, Henk, for that beautiful welcome tonight. While this may or may not be what the karmic script will unfold, it may be the last formal session in which I stand before you. I want you all to know that the link in Masters' chain of work which has been welded these days in Holland will never break. Understanding a mite of the law of attraction and repulsion, I think it would be safe to say that it would be pretty hard to keep me from coming back to Holland whenever the opportunity affords itself. The attraction is here, the love is here, and I will come as often as it is practicable for me to come. I thank you again for everything you have done for me. It has meant a tremendous lot.
Thanks to all of you, and may the Masters' blessing be with you all. Good night.
The meeting closed at 11:30 p.m.