Service Projects for all Humanity

An International Online Service Community, by TOS-USA

Recently, I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Lance McWilliams, a Colorado man who embodies the spirit of altruism. I’m writing to increase awareness of the work he’s doing in Kenya.

Lance has adopted a rather unusual orphanage in Kisii, Kenya—it’s specifically for deaf orphans. Can you imagine being an orphan? Within the unthinkable poverty and violence so common in Africa? And without the ability to hear or communicate normally with those around you? Such is the plight of these children; and Lance, who is himself deaf, has taken these kids under his wing.  read more »

by Howard Murphet, Quest Books, 1972, 339pp.
Book review by Rene Wadlow

There is, in a period of transition, a need for individuals with the specific talents of organization and the ability to translate doctrines into social policy. Henry Steel Olcott was such an individual.

The last quarter of the 1800s was a period very much like our own — a period of transition with no firm guidelines as to the shape of the period to come. It was a period, like ours, of cross currents, of strong positive and negative movements.  read more »

Gill Farrer-Halls, Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 1998, 160pp.
book review by Rene Wadlow

Eric Hoffer, who spent his working life as a longshoreman in the California ports during the 1940-1950s when labor conflicts were at their worst, has written “ Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul. Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.”

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama who was trained from a young age for spiritual leadership also places his central emphasis on compassion.  read more »

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I am extremely happy to report that we have met and exceeded our fundraising goal for the Golden Link School in the Philippines. For those who may not be familiar, in February of 2008 John Kern of the Kern Foundation approached the TOS/USA with a challenge. He offered to match dollar for dollar any amount we could raise for the Golden Link School up to $30,000. We had until December 31st to do it. When we began our efforts I felt confident that our global TOS community would respond and that we would reach the $30,000 mark. At that time we did not anticipate the global economic downturn that soon engulfed us.  read more »

If you (or someone you know) has combat experience from Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan, you may be eligible for a stress study. If you qualify, you will receive six free private sessions of an advanced self-help technique which has helped many vets release the stress of combat memories. 

These sessions will take place near your home, or over the phone. This study is sponsored by a private research nonprofit not affiliated with any government organization. All personal information is kept completely confidential.  read more »

Patrice Chaplin: City of Secrets (Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 2007, 336pp.)
A book review by Rene Wadlow

Patrice Chaplin is a writer of books and films, and her presentation of the hidden aspects of Gerona, an old Catalan city near Barcelona, has all the characteristics of a film script: short chapters, lively dialogue, and memorable scenes where the action takes place. Catalonia is divided between Spain and France, but there is a cultural unity to Catalan culture, and people have passed across the State frontiers when political events created the need: Spanish Republicans as the Civil War ended in 1939 moved into France; refugees from France and beyond crossed into Spain in the early 1940s as Nazi armies advanced; and anti-Franco activists moved back and forth to France in the 1950s.  read more »

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed in Resolution A/61/L22, the year 2009 as the International Year of Reconciliation “recognizing that reconciliation processes are particularly necessary and urgent in countries and regions of the world which have suffered or are suffering situations of conflict that have affected and divided societies in their various internal, national, and international facets.” The Resolution was introduced by Nicaragua’s representative who stated that “reconciliation between those estranged by conflicts was the only way to confront today’s challenges and heal wherever fraternity and justice were absent from human relations.”  read more »

The Theosophical Order of Service (USA) has been working to improve living conditions on the Reservations for quite some time.  We have provided varying amounts of aid to the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota and the Hualapai in northern Arizona.  Recently we have added the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Eastern Arizona.  We should be able to do more for San Carlos than for the others, because it is closer for us.  read more »

This year, some members of the NY Theosophical Society in NYC have begun collecting items to send to Haiti to help the poor in that country.  A friend of our Lodge goes to Haiti every December, bringing whatever she can to help alleviate the suffering and try to bring a little joy in the lives of the people there.  We have begun collecting toiletries, gently used summer clothing, home supplies and school supplies.  We are hoping to find other contacts to expand this project.

Richard Power, Editor, Wheaton, IL
Quest Books, 2007, 155pp.

This is a good book with a misleading title. These are unpublished lectures by Lama Govinda given at the Human Dimensions Institute in upstate New York to a largely Western audience but not published. The lectures were hardly “lost” but are a welcome addition to his published books such as the well-known The Way of the White Cloud and his more technical writings such as Psychological Attitudes of Early Buddhist Philosophy and Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism. Secondly, Lama Govinda is not a Tibetan Master but a German scholar of Buddhism, born as Ernst Lothar Hoffman.  read more »

I do daily perceive that while everything around me is ever changing, ever dying, there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, and re-creates. That informing power or spirit is God. I see it as purely benevolent, for I can see in the midst of death, life persists. In the midst of untruth, truth persists. In the midst of darkness, light persists. Hence I gather that God is life, God is light, God is love. God is the supreme good.  - Mahatma Gandhi

by Kathryn Tidrick (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006, 379pp.)
A Book Review by Rene Wadlow  read more »

(Editor's Note: October 16 is World Food Day.)
PRESS RELEASE:  Source: http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=38147&lang=en
provided by Diana D.C.

On 7-8 October 2008, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the United Nations marked the anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights which assures everyone’s entitlement "to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food".  read more »

by Gary Lachman, Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 2008, 261pp
Book Review by Rene Wadlow
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I envision an international ideal of service awakening in an emerging class of people who are best called evolutionaries. I see them as soldiers, as youth, and as those who have soldier spirit within them. I see them come together in the name of people and planet to create a new environment of support for the positive growth of humankind and the living earth mother. Their mission is to protect the possible and to nurture the potential. They are the evolutionary guardians who focus their loving protection and affirm their allegiance to people and planet for their own good and for the good of those they serve. They are pioneers, not palace guards. - Jim Chanon, First Earth Battalion  read more »