Version: October 10, 2004
In the Inner Temple of thy
Heart, on the Mystic altar of Compassion wrought therein of
essences distilled of holy aspiration, of anguished prayers, of
sacrificing Love and Service of countless lives in aeons past,
burns a Living Flame of Life fed by the quenchless Love of God,
commingled with the fragrances of thy noblest ideals of Beauty,
Truth, and Service to all thine Other Selves, and uniting thee
with the Divine in all creatures throughout the Seven Worlds of
Being.
If thou wouldst keep the
noxious weeds of self from choking life's pure stream `twixt thee
and God, then each day offer thou thyself on that Altar Flame of
Sacrifice in the Inner Temple of thy Heart, whatever be the pain,
so that the dross of all thy lower selves be burned away, leaving
thee each day an Image true and splendid of the Shining One
within -- Thine Own True Self Divine.
As springtime slowly
unfolds here in Central California and the nature forces bathe
our senses in renewal, healing, and growth on the physical plane,
our thoughts must turn to that same process which is happening on
the inner, spiritual planes. Humanity reaches to understand the
Unity of all life and transcend the artificial barriers of time,
distance, language and culture. In this process, we sometimes
feel that God is distant from us. However, we are told that
"Eternally beating, ever beating, the rain of spiritual
influences falls ceaselessly on humanity, refreshing, quickening
and awakening the human more and more to interdependent
greatness, spiritually, morally, and materially, with All That
Is."
We must all strive to open
our inner eyes and ears to this rain of spiritual influences and
allow that refreshing, quickening and awakening to light up our
beings, linking us to every part of the manifested Universe.
In this issue of The
Temple Artisan we explore through various articles the
responsibility of the Temple in helping humanity find that
self-responsibility which leads to awakening to the spiritual
influences coming from that Light.
-- Eleanor L. Shumway
Guardian in Chief
The evolutionary path from
God to atom and back to God proceeds on a downward arc of
differentiation, through an upward arc of unification, leading to
a conscious return to the Godhead. In the complete cycle, some
degree of self-consciousness is gained by the traveler on the
path. All things and beings are on this evolutionary path; all
are a part of God. Those entities which have been on this path
longest have a greater awareness of their unity with God.
Necessarily, there must be a point on this path where the return
wave to the Godhead begins for each evolving unit, and the
humanity of this cycle of manifestation on earth has been passing
this nadir during our present centuries.
All progress on this return
path is marked by what may be called organization. The animal,
vegetable and mineral kingdoms of nature are meticulous evidence
of response to laws of organization. Our own awareness of life
has extended from ourselves to our families, our race, and our
nation -- each a kind of organization. The strength derived from
this extension of common bonds is reflected in guilds, college
associations, labor unions, professional associations, political
and religious affiliations. All of these recognize the
possibilities of achievement for a group when the individual
interests are aligned with the well-being of the group. Long ago,
the Master indicated the mystical power to be attained "where two
or three are gathered in my name." The human body is a practical
example of the endowment of an organization of cells with a
higher degree of consciousness.
The critical point of return
is where the physical being is compelled to separate its
consciousness from animal needs and sensual satisfaction. The
physical body is no less sacred, but a process of transmutation
sets in whereby ideals, morals, ideas, ethics, principles and
laws of life supersede individual rights. We begin to see those
rights as depending on the rights of others. The awareness of
this interdependence incarnates in each evolving person, one
experience at a time. Eventually races and nations, or segments
of them, come under the power of this consciousness, and dimly
perceive what has been eternally proclaimed as humanity's goal --
the unity of all people.
Against such a background,
the Temple of the People may well be included in the definition
of an ordered group; however, the Temple definition may be
qualified in part by what it is not. The Temple is not a secret
organization. The Temple is not a casual grouping of people,
sharing convenient interests of simply ordinary curiosity or
purposes. Neither is it an academic society for stimulation or
satisfaction of intellectual pursuits. Especially, it is not a
private approach to what are popularly called extrasensory
perceptions, sensitivities or psychic phenomena, however defined.
The Temple has no favors or concessions to offer any member, new
or old. The Temple is not a status group at any level --
individual or Cosmic. The Temple is subject to no change,
success, or failure as determined by any worldly or personal
standard. It is non-political and non-sectarian. The Temple is
not a cooperative enterprise; neither is it intended as a refuge
for a tiny band of people. The Temple is not a splinter group of
any other organization. It is not committed to any school of
philosophy, psychology, art, science, economics, politics,
spiritualism, astrology, New Thought, vegetarianism or any other
isolated fragment of similar definition. The Temple of the People
is not another church or sect or religion, as these words are
used conventionally.
The Temple is an organization
based on centralization derived from the Hierarchy of Masters.
The history of the Temple of the People is one of continuity, and
is the progression of the work started by H. P. Blavatsky in New
York City in 1875. With her death in 1891, the line of Agency for
this Lodge movement fell on the shoulders of William Quan Judge.
The formation of the Temple was known to both of these great
souls, who themselves were building toward that end. In 1898 at
Syracuse, New York, the Temple of the People was co-founded by
Francia LaDue and William H. Dower, with Francia LaDue as the
first Guardian in Chief of the Temple. Both of them were members
of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society under W. Q.
Judge. Masters of the Great White Lodge who had directed the work
of Blavatsky and Judge likewise directed the formation of the
Temple, set forth its Teachings and organization and the
appointment of the Temple Agents. In 1903, the Temple was moved
to Halcyon, California, where it is incorporated under the laws
of that state.
The fundamental Truths which
have been, are, and will be the basis of all major and most
lesser religions of all ages of the world are cyclically set
forth for all races and civilizations, from the dawn to the night
time of all human evolution. These Truths have never been lost.
As with the light of the sun, they know no darkness; their Light
shines somewhere constantly, no matter how clothed in orthodoxy
or priestcraft. The Temple Teachings are one such vehicle by
which those Truths are again presented to the world.
Being much more than
exclusively religious, the spiritual Light of the White Lodge
accounts for every effort, discovery and development for the good
of humanity -- in scientific and technical fields, in the arts,
in all fields of economics, and their relation to all kingdoms of
nature. This source of love, power and intelligence has dominated
the present as it has dominated the past.
Since 1875, the White Lodge
has used this movement as a focal point for the promotion,
origin, and dissemination of this vital help to humanity. The
motive was not to create change simply in technology and the
material world, but in the thinking and feeling of people toward
each other. The results of this effort have produced a new
world.
Each age or religion of
people recognizes what it calls God, by whatever name. This
omnipotent entity is the Father/Mother, the source and control of
all manifestation. And subordinate to God, but no less sacred,
are hosts of Angels and Masters who act under Divine Law.
Familiar to all religions is the Messiah, the Christ, the Avatar.
Familiar to people in every race is the one basic, primordial law
which comes from these Great Souls in one voice, a law which
simply may not be superseded. It is known to us as the Golden
Rule: "Do unto others as you would that they do unto you." Every
significant religion is founded on this law. Every great leader
has proclaimed it; all of our history swirls around this ideal.
There may be those who doubt that such a man as Jesus actually
lived 2,000 years ago, but there can be no doubt that His
Teaching has been by far the greatest influence in the succeeding
centuries. The Teachings of the Temple have proclaimed the coming
of an Avatar. The mission of the Temple, its reason for being,
has been to announce that arrival and to provide a groundwork of
preparation and a center for spiritual work. Whether such an
Avatar has been walking this earth in this time, 2,000 years
after Jesus, whether or not anyone can claim to have seen that
Teacher, no one can deny the quickening impact of Light and Power
over the earth today. Such is overwhelmingly evident by the
intensity of opposition to the Golden Rule, and the desperation
of its opponents. Its force may be easily discernible in
struggles on every level of our activities today, for each
individual person on earth is a battleground for the Christ and
the anti-Christ. The whole world is a mass reflection of its
inhabitants, and we are a reflection of the world. Nothing that
contradicts the Golden Rule may stand unexposed in its Light. The
balance of Truth prevails.
Never in the history of this
humanity has the possibility for a higher life been made more
realistic to all inhabitants of this earth. The Temple relates
these ideals to all people. People are daily choosing what they
will have and, as does a seed, each choice will grow to its own
fruition. This worldwide process of choosing marks a dividing of
the evolutionary path: people are making their decisions here and
now.
The Temple of the People
represents to all beings one gate through which they may at some
time freely walk to a state of more spiritual responsibility, or
may as freely choose to remain behind in a world governed by
self-interest until another comparable cycle comes into
manifestation. This is the natural evolutionary step which we
must now take or leave.
While most people know of the
Golden Rule, few are aware of its power of attraction, which
guides and draws their Higher Selves to the Light. This is the
foundation of the Temple. It is a fixed place on the evolutionary
path to which each atom and person has grown in consciousness.
Only through this gate can we now proceed toward a greater
consciousness of our fellow humans and their God, and recognize
our dependence on both as we travel toward Masters, Angels and
Christs. The Temple is a fixed point in this geometrical
progression from atom to star, from atom to God.
The Great World Religion,
embodied in its highest form, is called Truth. It is presented in
this cycle, in part, as the Teachings of the Temple. Designed by
the Masters of the Great White Lodge to help the humanity of this
age, the work of the Temple of the People is not optional -- it
is essential, providing help of a lasting quality to every
problem -- spiritual, mental, moral, material. The value of this
help is not in theoretical concepts, but in the direct,
matter-of-fact cause and effect relation of an ideal to its most
material expression, however incomplete or distorted that
expression may seem to be.
This help requires no
waiting, no qualifying, no training, no vast expenditure of
means, no mass conversion of people. Neither does it require the
contacting of illusive Masters in remote and inaccessible
seclusion, nor unnatural initiations or ceremonies or rituals of
daily living. On the contrary, the Temple represents a truth that
the fulfillment of any need, great or small, is nearest the need
itself. The Teachings point out the relation of suffering to all
healing -- spiritual, mental, and physical. It points out the
relation of hunger and deprivation to the fulfillment of the need
by bodily food or spiritual sustenance. The supply has never
failed, though it has often gone unused, abused or unrecognized.
The most abstruse problem in science or philosophy will be better
understood as it becomes related to the good of all humanity.
The relation of the world's
problems to their solutions may be referred to as opportunity.
The Temple of the People involves all humanity, and is made up of
people everywhere who recognize their indebtedness to the
Hierarchy of Elder Brothers and Sisters who have traveled the
path before them, whose wisdom and sacrifice have made it
possible for people today to have reached this point in human
development. Each person on the path is a bridge for others, and
just as those before have smoothed the road for this time, so the
present aspirants provide help and guidance for those who are
"behind" them, so to speak, awaiting their help and guidance so
they too may take their proper place and enter the gate. The
design for sharing the true wealth and power of the world is
through earning the right to understand it and pass it on in a
useful form to the earth and her people.
The organization of the
Temple contains the nucleus for the growth of unity between all
people. It provides for that eventuality realistically, teaching
that something cannot be had for nothing. The war, starvation,
disease and poverty that exist in every person must be changed by
themselves into their opposites. The Temple teaches this law of
transmutation. The powers of endurance, the correlation of
self-examination and self-responsibility, the application of
Spiritual Will to the facing of daily problems, pain and
suffering -- this constitutes the actual study of the Teachings.
The development of tangible alignment with those who have won
such understanding -- this is the objective for studying the
Teachings. The realization that divine power is not self-created
but is simply earned, and may be passed on to others less
fortunate -- this realization of selflessness is the
Temple-taught key to all attainment. These facts define the
organization of the Temple. The power indicated by the word
"compassion" is integrated by thought, word and deed into the
Temple Teachings. Less than that is simply not the Temple. No
principle, no law in all manifestation is ignored. No detail of
their relation to us in everyday living is overlooked. The exact
correlation of principle to application forms the substance of
the Teachings; their enactment forms the organization of the
Temple of the People.
In the geometrical plan for
the building of this humanity, each member of the human race is
being fitted for their proper emplacement as a living stone in
the Temple of Humanity. While only the Master's eyes may see and
understand that plan in its total splendor, each one of us being
so fitted may also see that eventuality taking place in our own
daily life and needs. This perception gives essential meaning to
each day.
-- Harold E. Forgostein
Fourth Guardian in Chief
I will endeavor to realize
the Presence of the Avatar
as a Living Power in my life.
The world came to us while the night was dark:
"Be Builders in the twilight of the Dawn;
Prepare a place for Him who cometh nigh."
The order came from Hierophants of Light.
Stones we were -- rough-hewn, battered, scarred,
Stupefied by Pride and blinded by Conceit.
Humbled we are and bound by the years and the days of God,
Ready to build a place of Peace, if so we may --
The Temple we were to build of Mastership and Love,
White with the Light of the Sun,
Towering up to the stars,
Lighting the world of Man.
Now, of our hopes, and our tears and our lives,
We are building a place of Peace for our souls;
We are raising a house where the Powers may speak,
Where the Christ may bless, and the Master come --
Birthed in pain, and storm and loss;
Founded in comradeship and love;
Builded in friendship square and true;
Facing the rising sun in the East,
May this House of Love illumine the Dawn.
May this stone of Hope, this Center Stone,
Be true in its place;
May every heart and every hand that helps in this work
Be the hand of a friend, and the heart of a friend.
Though the building be hard, and the trial deep,
May we win to the end.
Three walls we must raise to the span of the roof,
Of Love, and Faith, and Hope undimmed.
United we stand in the dawn of a day.
We are building now entwining Hearts,
Where Golden Love may strengthen the walls.
Here may the Masters speak.
Here may the Christos come.
Here may we kneel in Peace.
Here may we kneel in Love.
-- John 0. Varian
Recently I was asked about
the function of the Temple in modern times, how it interacts with
the community, and what people at the Temple do during the day.
This was my answer:
For us, the function of the
Temple in our lives today centers around living the Golden Rule,
not only within the geographical boundaries of Halcyon but
throughout the world in which we find ourselves. Our studies help
us to understand ourselves and others in terms of the Unity of
all life. Since moving here from Syracuse, New York in 1903,
Temple members have always interacted in all possible ways with
the surrounding communities and the county. We pay county taxes,
our fire protection comes from Oceano, police protection is
provided by the Sheriff, and the roads are maintained by the
county. Our children go to the local schools.
The approximately 105 people
who live here in Halcyon are busy living lives no different than
anyone else's. You will find retired folks, teachers, librarians,
painters, engineers, actors, horse trainers, secretaries,
maintenance workers, newspaper reporters, dancers, students, wait
persons, social workers, cooks, LVNs, and massage therapists.
They take their kids to school, serve on the PTA, shop for
groceries, work in their gardens, help their neighbors, and do
all the things that are necessary to function in today's
world.
Not all the people who live
here are members of the Temple, but everyone feels a dedication
to being good neighbors, maintaining the rural ambiance, and
respecting each other's convictions. There are study classes
twice a week in which we study our own teachings, and a Healing
Service every day at noon in which prayers and meditations are
offered for the health and well-being of the entire world. Sunday
morning services include a monthly communion service celebrating
the reunion of Spirit and Matter. During the rest of the month
there are two or three Sunday services which include a speaker
covering a topic of his or her own choice, and, on the last
Sunday of the month, readings of inspirational passages with a
period of silent meditation following each. In addition, there is
a 30-minute meditation meeting every Sunday evening with one
short reading and about 25 minutes of meditation. Whether to
attend any or all of these spiritual events in the Temple is each
person's choice. There is never anything said about attendance or
lack thereof. Sometimes there are only one or two present,
sometimes 30 or 40. In any event, the services and classes are
open and everyone -- member or non-member -- is welcome.
It is our conviction that
each person is responsible for his or her own spiritual
unfoldment. We cannot sit in judgment of anyone else. We can
cheer each other on, hold out comforting arms when the need
arises, and ask for help when we are in turmoil.
The Temple's motto is "Creeds
disappear, Hearts remain," which, together with the Golden Rule,
is the heart of every minute of every day.
-- Eleanor Shumway
The fundamental doctrines of Theosophy are of no value unless they are applied to daily life. To the extent to which this application goes they become living truths, quite different from intellectual expressions of doctrine. The mere intellectual grasp may result in spiritual pride, while the living doctrine becomes an entity through the mystic power of the human soul.
-- W. Q. Judge
The Temple of the People
was founded by Dr. William H. Dower and Mrs. Francia LaDue. Dr.
Dower had become interested in Theosophy while a medical student
in New York and had met William Quan Judge. In the early 1890s in
Syracuse, he organized a branch of the Theosophical Society which
included Francia LaDue. Dr. Dower was also active in causes
relating to Native American rights for the Onondaga tribe in the
area, and eventually both he and Mrs. LaDue were initiated into
the Turtle Clan of the tribe. His advocacy of Native American
rights was closely integrated with his Theosophical beliefs.
By 1898 Dr. Dower and Mrs.
LaDue were asked by the Master to found the Temple in Syracuse,
which they did. As we all know, there are lines of force which
encircle the earth in all directions. These lines intersect and
at these intersections are centers of power that have been used
as places of healing and consecration throughout the ages. We are
hearing again of these points here in America through the
increasingly clear voices of the Native American peoples. The
Master instructed Dr. Dower to continue his medical practice on
the west coast. Mrs. LaDue made two trips to California
investigating these healing centers. She was directed to a place
just east of Oceano and the site was dedicated to the Temple work
in 1903. Those of the original Temple group in Syracuse who could
so arrange their affairs came to join Mrs. LaDue.
A large three-story Victorian
home was purchased to become the Halcyon Hotel and Sanitarium.
With the railroad depot just a convenient, short distance away in
Oceano, people came from all corners of the world to be treated
for many things including drug addiction, alcoholism, nervous
disorders, and tuberculosis. The magnificent sweep of sand dunes
and miles of beach close to the sanitarium were included in Dr.
Dower's treatments. Time spent in tune with the nature forces in
the dunes and at the beach contributed to healing. Dr. Dower also
had the first X-ray machine on the Central Coast and used the
newest kinds of treatment that included color, sound and
electricity. There was a separate facility for the TB patients
with outdoor sleeping pavilions, gentle activities and good food.
All patients were treated without regard to financial status, but
there were pleas in the Temple magazine, the Artisan, for
sponsors for patients. $10 a month was the cost of resident
treatment!
In addition to the focus on
the healing arts, there was an interest in establishing other
opportunities for Temple members to earn a living. Although an
intentional community, Halcyon was never a commune. Members have
always supported themselves in family groups. Land was purchased
by the Temple Home Association and leased to members. Some raised
food crops, some went into poultry production, others tried
commercially producing herbs and flower seeds, while still others
worked in the Art Pottery Studio established in 1909. Pieces of
this pottery are now prized possessions in several museums.
The parlors of the
Sanitarium, as well as those in the home of Mrs. LaDue, about a
mile to the east, were used for Temple study classes, services
and ceremonies. A print shop was started to continue the
publication of this monthly magazine, the Artisan, begun
in 1900 in Syracuse. Pamphlets, study courses, and papers were
sent through the mails to members world-wide. A general store and
fourth-class post office were opened in 1908 just in front of the
print shop; these have been serving the community ever since. The
store and post office were moved half a block in 1949 without
interrupting service.
The community, which
presently covers about 125 acres, grew as land was acquired.
There were sage- and lupine-covered sand hills, as well as rich
black bottom land which produced such outsized veggies that the
valley farmers were not allowed to enter them in east coast
shows. Unfair competition was the complaint. The Temple Home
Association laid out a town plan, subdivided a portion of it, and
sold or leased home sites. Temple members and friends built small
cottages and planted small shrubs and trees that grew and grew
over the years to transform our community into a woodsy place,
protected by tall eucalyptus, Arizona cypress, and Monterey pine
trees. The Monarch butterflies make our two eucalyptus groves a
stop-over on their way to Monterey. The sage and lupine are
largely gone, but Halcyon is a magical place in which to grow up.
I treasure those long-ago summers with sea-scented fog fingers
touching my hair as I roamed barefooted through the soft, warm
sand or sat in my favorite tree fort reading the latest Nancy
Drew mystery. I know the nature elementals were probably reading
over my shoulder as they surrounded me with love.
Francia LaDue, also known as
Blue Star, was the first head of the Temple, serving as Guardian
in Chief. In 1908 the Temple was incorporated in California as
"The Guardian in Chief of the Temple of the People, a Corporation
Sole." Upon Francia LaDue's death in 1922, Dr. Dower became the
next Guardian in Chief and supervised the building of the Blue
Star Memorial Temple. Like other sacred constructions, the Temple
is built on lines of mathematical and geometrical symbolism. This
unique structure, surrounded by white pillars supporting the
roof, is triangular in shape, symbolizing the heart, the Unity of
all Life, as well as the many trinities central to the spiritual
core of all the great teachings throughout history. The windows
are placed high to symbolize the Divine Light that comes from
Above and are glazed with a special opalescent glass to diffuse
the sunlight into a golden glow. Its seven doors are symbolic of
the key number of the Universe.
The Temple as a religious
society is non-denominational, with members and friends coming
from a wide variety of religious backgrounds. Daily at noon we
hold a Healing Service, with prayers and meditations directed
toward the health and safety of the world. Sunday morning
services, open to all, include a monthly communion service,
lectures, and a monthly meditation service. The content of these
services comes from the Master and is universal in nature. Temple
members who desire to pursue studies may do so. This study,
service, and continued dedication lead to the priesthood if the
member so chooses. In the Temple the priests do not intercede, as
our teachings clearly state that each person is his/her own
priest in the connection to God or All That Is. Marriages, naming
services, and funerals are some of the other celebrations held in
the Temple. "Creeds Disappear, Hearts Remain," "Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you," and "Judge not, lest ye be
judged" are three basic tenets of the Temple.
When Dr. Dower passed away in
1937, Mrs. Pearl Dower became the third Guardian in Chief. Under
her leadership, the guest house, built in 1930 for guests and
students, was gradually remodeled into the William Quan Judge
Library; the collection currently includes about 12,000 volumes.
This building now also houses the Temple offices and a small
apartment used by visitors. By 1949 the Sanitarium was sold and
the Temple property was consolidated into the present-day pattern
of about 125 acres with the Temple owning 30 of the 52 homes. In
this mix of Temple members and friends and neighbors we have 105
residents, ranging in age from 3 year old to 85 years young.
These represent many professions, many backgrounds, and many
skills. Almost all earn a living outside the community. All
appreciate the caring community spirit. As a child growing up in
Halcyon, I sometimes felt a little too supervised, but I came to
know I was supervised with love and a lot of tolerance. I watch
with a chuckle as the children of today explore the same precious
places, construct new forts in old places, and invent new games
that are copies of everything we did 60 years ago, that we in
turn copied from the first children.
The original group of Temple
members included John and Agnes Varian. John was a chiropractor
practicing at the Sanitarium, and Agnes the first Halcyon
Storekeeper and postmistress. John had first encountered
Theosophy at home in Ireland and found Dr. Dower's group in
Syracuse when he emigrated to the U.S. He had a deep connection
with Irish mythology and wrote wonderful poetry expressing these
ageless mythological truths. He also pinned a special love poem
to his wife's pincushion every day. There was much laughter and a
spirit of adventure in their household of three sons. The boys --
Russell, Sigurd and Eric -- were fascinated with electricity and
its practical and impractical applications, which included
attaching electrical current to bed springs and doorknobs, to the
shocked astonishment of visitors. After high school and college,
Russell, the dreamer, and Sigurd, the expert in practical
applications, did much of their research in Halcyon on the
Klystron tube that made radar possible. They later moved their
operations to Palo Alto and established the Varian Electronics
firm. Eric stayed in Halcyon, raised his family and worked
throughout the Central Coast area as an electrical
contractor.
Dr. Dower's and Mrs. LaDue's
deep connection to the American Indian culture, which treated the
earth as sacred, as well as to the Temple teachings, which stress
the importance of the contribution of Hiawatha and the League of
the Six Nations to the history of our present-day government, are
graphically portrayed in the collection of paintings in the
Temple's University Center. In the early 1930s, Dr. Dower asked
artist and Temple member Harold Forgostein to paint a particular
picture to be hung in Hiawatha Lodge, the newly-built social
center in Halcyon. Harold, who was raised in Michigan, was then
living in New York City. He found a rich source of inspiration in
the collections of Native American artifacts in the museums and
libraries there. He did the painting Dr. Dower requested and then
began a series of large canvases in oils depicting events in the
life of Hiawatha as well as the contributions of the Indians to
our understanding of nature and the necessity of balance between
humanity and the earth. The 22 paintings, each over 4 feet
square, and the central 4 x 8 panel, are exhibited at regular
intervals in our University Center here in Halcyon.
Harold and his wife, Carolyn,
moved to Halcyon in 1940, where Harold continued to paint, teach,
paint, help Carolyn take care of Mrs. Dower, paint, dig ditches,
paint, cut firewood, paint and paint and paint. He was a deep
student of Theosophy and the Temple teachings, and brought his
considerable knowledge and skill to the job of Guardian in Chief
when Mrs. Dower died in 1968. He continued to be a masterly
teacher and an inspiration to all until his death in 1990.
Since its inception, the
teachings of the Temple have been circulated around the world. A
Temple group began in Germany in the late 1920s, another formed
in London in the '80s, and there are a growing numbers of members
in West Africa and the countries of the former Soviet Union. We
make no push for members, simply answering all questions and
leaving the choice of a spiritual path up to the individual and
to the divine knower that dwells within each one.
As I look back over the
accomplishments of the Temple in the past 103 years, I see much
foundational work: sacrifice, idealism, dedication, frustration,
tolerance, learning, joy and love. Some people have come to
Halcyon expecting a Utopia inhabited by saintly beings and have
left, deeply disappointed. They found a group of ordinary human
beings with ordinary strengths and weaknesses, united by a desire
to live the Golden Rule, knowing that love can and does transcend
all, eventually. It is a simple ideal and a difficult assignment,
but one that we all work on, one that nourishes us as it
challenges the very best within us.
-- Eleanor L. Shumway
To my Temple Children: My
eyes are resting today on those Temple hands which have taken up
many burdens of the world as fast as they fell from other hands
now visible to outer eyes only as tiny pinches of dust, and upon
other hands idly clasped or selfishly engaged in ministering to
the senses alone. These hands all tell me tales none other than I
can read, not only tales of today but of many yesterdays.
There are lines on some of
those hands which run into the lines which are graven on the Hand
of God, but alas! there are lines on other hands which stop
abruptly, far short of those diviner lines.
There are hands I fain would
touch with my own. No beauty of form nor fineness of texture have
these hands, yet the story they tell to one who listens well
makes the heart beat faster.
There are hands which have
girdled a world with a message of hope. There are other hands
which have opened up beds for the last long sleep of comrades and
friends -- hands which have ploughed and watered a thirsty land
that others might have food -- hands which have held up the hands
of the over-wearied and have lifted the Cup of the Holy Grail to
thirsty lips.
Still other hands are there
which have held pen or pencil to the end that others might find
hope and courage to go on living, until the tired brain which
quickened them gave way; hands which have fought with the demon
death at the bedside of the afflicted; hands which have drawn
sweet strains of music to comfort lonely hearts; and yet other
hands roughened by labor in the humbler walks of life, unseen,
unknown by the many, but to the world's disinherited they are
brave and strong and made white as snow by the love light shining
through them.
Temple hands all are these,
upon which my eyes now rest and which one day I shall clasp
within my own.
In order to do anything
well we must have a plan, a program. Therefore, it is well,
perhaps, to outline what the Temple program for the world
consists of. This can be reduced to five definite objects:
First: To formulate the
truths of religion as the fundamental factor in human evolution.
This does not mean the formulation of a creed, but rather the
recognition of the religious instinct in human beings and that
every religion that the world has ever seen has been an attempt
to interpret this primary impulse in human nature. In proportion
as we are able wisely to interpret this impulse will we be able
to understand what true religion is.
Second: To set forth a
philosophy of life that is in accord with natural and divine
law.
Third: To promote the study
of the sciences and the fundamental facts and laws on which the
sciences are based, which will permit us to extend our belief and
knowledge from what is known to the unknown, or in other words,
from the physical to the super-physical, and which, when
accomplished, will corroborate those spiritual teachings which
have been given to mankind from time to time by the Masters of
Light.
Fourth: To promote the study
and practice of Art on fundamental lines, showing that Art is in
reality the application of knowledge to human good and welfare,
and that the Christos can speak to humanity through art as well
as through any other fundamental line of manifestation.
Fifth: The promotion of a
knowledge of a true social science based on immutable law, the
law showing the relationship between man and man, and man and God
and Nature. When these relationships are once understood we will
instinctively formulate and follow the law of true Brotherhood,
for it is ignorance that perpetuates separateness; and, once
humanity can see spiritually the relation of things, the law of
unity begins to operate instantaneously.
We must remember that the
Universal Temple includes all humanity, so there are many Temple
members who are not affiliated on the outer plane. Through all
who are attuned to the Great Lodge, forces pass for helping
humanity to a higher level, whether one be conscious of the force
passing or not.
RELIGION, SCIENCE AND
ECONOMICS -- These are the foundation stones of The Temple. There
can be no true religion without its scientific basis, and there
can be no right economical system not based on a science that is
religious and a religion that is scientific. Therefore these
three aspects are all-important.
The mysterious things and
forces of past ages are commonplace things of today, and that
which is mysterious and unknown to us today will be commonplace
in proportion in the ages to come. Man is ever lifting the veil
that lies between the causes of the inner world and the effects
of the outer world. He is insatiable in his quest for knowledge
and light, and will never cease until he has consciously mastered
all conditions and forces of both matter and spirit, which means
that he is consciously one with the Godhead.
The Wisdom Religion, from
which all religions and philosophies that have been based on
fundamental truths have come, has ever taught from time
immemorial the essential unity of all life, that everything in
manifestation has come from the One, and that this one
fundamental Unity manifests in diversity, thus bringing into
existence the multitudinous forms, planes and sub-planes of the
Cosmos.
The Wisdom Religion is also a
Wisdom Science, and all true devotees and followers of the Wisdom
Religion who have grasped its fundamentals endeavor to prove by
outer and inner knowledge and correspondences that every true
religion must naturally be scientific, and every fact of Science,
when pushed to its ultimate, is always a religious truth; because
if we probe into the heart or essences of things we find the One
Eternal Living Reality, which is God the Creator, and this
whether we deal with living organisms, like man, or angels, or
animals, trees, and plants, or so called inorganic substances --
minerals, crystals and so on. Modern Science for the last many
years has been on the borderland of what we call the occult or a
knowledge of the essential unity pervading everything in
existence from the tiniest insect to the highest Spiritual Regent
ruling life in its particular cosmical field of work.
In the above, taken in
connection with what occultists know of the Akasha, of which
either is a phase, students can easily see how, as Science pushes
its investigations into this wonderful field of inner causes, it
inevitably touches truths so deep, profound, and comprehensive
that the religious instinct must naturally be aroused. In other
words, the Divine within man is made to vibrate when these deep
unifying truths are grasped; and thus knowledge or science
becomes religion, and religion becomes scientific in the highest
and purest meaning of the word.
-- Temple Teachings
"God is in His Holy
Temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." For many
centuries these words have opened the services of countless
churches given up to the Christian religion, and among all the
priests by whom they were uttered, how many, think you, ever
interpreted them correctly? They are supposed to call the
attention of the worshipers to the fact that God is ready to
listen to the service about to be performed in each individual
church or Temple, which of course is true to a certain extent,
but the words contain so much more truth than such a limited
interpretation can give and are so intimately concerned with the
Temple, that I can voice no greater truth in striving to
interpret the Temple to the understanding of man.
The Temple is the manifested
universe, a priori, but its lesser differentiations
include every atom of matter, force, and consciousness, and every
living thing or creature is a lesser Temple for the indwelling
Spirit of God.
It is only in the silence, in
the innermost depths of each holy Temple, that it is possible for
God to manifest Its self, and it is only in the secret, holy
silences of the Temple, as an organization, that any member of
the same may hope to gain the least concept of its majesty,
power, and glory.
It is, or it should be, the
place, the home of the soul where the Higher Self, the God, comes
face to face with Its self, Its lower self, and speaks and
understands what is spoken. It should be a place into which can
enter nothing that defileth, nothing that can be defiled. At the
same time it should be a place where all the burdens of the soul
can be laid down, where the weary, outworn body can enter into
rest, undisturbed by outer noise and clamor, a place where soul
can meet soul on a common ground, regardless of all the
trivialities of lower life such as position, exterior wealth and
power. It is the holiest of holy places, and until some
appreciation of this fact dawns upon you, you will never find
behind its limitless portals the Key to the Great Mysteries, the
key that will unlock the mysteries of life and death, of being
and non-being, to which your separated selves have looked forward
in yearning since they darted from the Father Ray eons and ages
agone.
Enter thou that Temple door
with me and see what we shall find, but first take the sandals
from thy feet and cover thine head, take the boundaries from
thine understanding, and quiet the fluctuations of thy mind and
behold that which thou shalt see and hear and know!
-- Blue Star
The heart of God is the container of the divine in all things and creatures, and therefore of the divine in thee.
For such a small village,
there is much coming and going! Visitors include Alex and
Svetlana Kravtsov and family from the Bay Area; Ivan Ulz from New
York City; Dorothy Green, who stayed with daughter Barbara
Ricardo at Easter; and Tatiana Murashkina from Moscow, Russia,
and her daughter Masha from Davis, California. Tatiana is the
Science Director of the Roerich Center in Moscow.
Rita and Sergey Moiseyev and
family spent several days visiting in the Bay Area with Olga and
Walter Karshat and Olga and Simon Bokman; Eleanor Shumway visited
with family in the Spokane area for a week and then ten days in
Denver with her sister and brother-in-law; the Dunbars left in
mid-May to work in Sequoia National Park for the summer; Barbara
Ricardo visited her daughter and son-in-law in Anchorage, Alaska
for a week; Willy Gommel vacationed for a week with his sister in
Riverside; Susie Clark and Bill Clemmens went to Tennessee,
camping and sightseeing for three weeks; Marti Fast and Kathy
Headtke visited family in Alaska; Maryalice Mankins toured the
rivers of Europe by boat; and the Carlsons spent time with their
family in Laguna.
Easter was celebrated with an
Easter Egg Hunt at the Central Home, followed by services in the
Temple and a very special dinner in Hiawatha Lodge. In the Lodge,
Sergey and Rita hosted a Sing-along Party in May, aided by the
electronic equipment and expertise provided by Annie and Will
Dunbar.
With well-planted gardens and
hundreds of mature trees here in Halcyon, we are always faced
with the problem of the disposal of green waste. In the past we
have always burned the waste. However, with the growing concern
over air quality we are looking for alternate ways to dispose of
garden waste. On April 28, the Air Pollution Control District and
the California Division of Forestry sponsored a chipping day here
in Halcyon, during which 20,414 cubic feet of green waste was fed
through a large chipper and the resulting chips left here for us
to use as mulch and compost. With the able assistance of Chris
Thyrring, Ron Carlson, Aureliano Rodriguez, Frank Zuniga, Marti
Fast, Perry Pederson, and Will Dunbar, the day proceeded
smoothly.
Jamil Smith graduated from
the Arroyo Grande High School and is enrolled in Cuesta Community
College for the fall.
Work is proceeding on
Tennessee Williams's A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur. The
production team, working in the Hiawatha Lodge, consists of Igor
Veller, Director; Elena Pletneva, Director of Acting; and cast --
Irm Balogh, Nashoma Carlson, and Kaety and Linda Rollison. The
production date will be announced.
Cecelia Page retired from
teaching in Guam and returned to live in Halcyon after fifteen
years. She is delighted to be home again permanently after so
many hurried summer visits.
Books for sale: The Delphis Foundation in Moscow, Russia, has published a book entitled Khram Chelovechestva (The Temple of the People). This book is a collection, translated into Russian, of articles, messages, and other writings taken from Temple literature. It is intended to introduce the Temple of the People to Russian-speaking people everywhere. Copies are available upon request from the Temple office in Halcyon for US$15, plus postage.
Temple groups: There are groups in New York City and London, England, as well as several in locations in Germany. Anyone wishing more information about these groups can call the Temple offices in Halcyon.
William Quan Judge Library serves Temple members, residents of Halcyon, and friends with an interest in Theosophy, or who are doing research involving some of our special collections. Our library is staffed by volunteers; hours are Mondays from 9-11 a.m. and 6-8 p.m., and Fridays from 9 a.m.-12 noon. Other hours are by appointment through the Temple office.
The University Center Gallery is open by appointment. Please call the Temple office at (805) 489-2822 for information. This year's exhibition, entitled "The Refreshing Green of Nature," consists of paintings by Harold E. Forgostein, fourth Guardian in Chief of the Temple. Also on display are many interesting artifacts accumulated throughout the Temple's history.
The Temple Healing Service is held at 12:00 Noon each day in the Temple. All are welcome to attend. A Meditation Meeting is held in the Temple on Sunday evening from 7 to 7:30.
Study Classes under the auspices of Temple Officers and various Temple Orders are held regularly in the University Center on Tuesdays and Fridays at 5:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Sunday Services are held at 10:30 a.m. in the Temple. the Feast of Fulfillment (the Communion Service of the Temple) is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month. The last Sunday of each month is a prayer and meditation meeting. Other Sundays are speakers' meetings. The public is cordially invited to all services.
Speakers in the Sunday services were: February 18, Linda Rollison, The Energy Crisis; March 11, Eleanor Shumway, Three Points of View; March 18, Barbara Ricardo reading Ten Rules of Discipleship by Rick Ricardo; April 8, Eleanor Shumway, Let's Keep Things in Perspective; April 22, Willy Gommel, The Really BIG Mystery; May 13, Eleanor Shumway, Mother's Day.
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