Service Projects for all Humanity

An International Online Service Community, by TOS-USA

Poem by Cindy Sparrow

How clear is the vision!
How it sends waves of Peace throughout the world, riding on the smoke of incense and the sound of bells!
How warm and free it makes you feel inside.

You are standing in a beautiful place, thinking thoughts of Peace.
Reach out your left hand and join hands with another Peace Seeker.
Reach out with your right hand, you will find another Seeker.
These Peace Seekers on your left and right also join hands with others, and they with others still.
On and on, we join hands and send thoughts of peace, compassion and oneness.  read more »

by Rene Wadlow

William Blake
Who beat upon the Wall
Till Truth obeyed his call.
W.B. Yeats

“There have been men who loved the future like a mistress, and the future mixed her breath into their breath and shook her hair about them and hid them from understanding of their times. William Blake was one of these men, and if he spoke confusedly and obscurely it was because he spoke of things for whose speaking he could find no models in the world he knew.”  read more »

The latest issue of the TOS-USA magazine For the Love of Life (Winter/Spring 2008) has been printed and mailed to Theosophical Order of Service members in the USA.  Now, for the first time, you can view or download the online PDF version here.  read more »

At long last I got to visit the TOS in the Philippines last month.  First I attended the heartwarming and uplifting triennial Indo-Pacific Federation Conference.  Afterwards, a big group of us visited the Golden Link School.  This is the theosophically-oriented kindergarten, primary and secondary school about which many have been hearing since its foundation by the TOS in 2002. Some of you have even been donating to it.  read more »

A Study in Synthesis (James H. Cousins, Madras: Ganesh and Co. 1934)
Book review by Rene Wadlow

A national culture is impossible without the individual creative artist; the individual artist is important and unintelligible safe in his relationship to his national culture. Where either tries to do without the other, degeneracy ensues nationally and individually…The true artist is the true patriot, speaking the language of eternity but in the vernacular of his own time and place…Where art does not rise from authentic springs, but is piped from distances by subterranean ways, it becomes troubled, muddied, and at best only reaches a dull mediocrity. But art that embodies the creative impulse of the universe, with high vision and deep emotion, in its own time and place and way, will by the force of its authenticity pass beyond these limits into universal appreciation.  read more »

The Golden Link School is a wonderful project in the Philippines.  It was founded in 2002 by TOS, and is a shining example of successful theosophical work.  At this school, students are motivated by "...awakening their interest in the subject matter instead of using rewards and punishments or threats."  See the very well-done pdf document (full of beautiful photos), get inspired, and find out how you can help.  (The Golden Link school is one of the TOS-USA donation opportunities.  You may contact the School's Chariman, Vicente Hao Chin, Jr.)

by Rene Wadlow

In a world where there is both appreciation and fear of the mixing of cultural traditions, Maurice Béjart was always a champion of blending cultural influences. He was a world citizen of culture and an inspiration to all who work for a universal culture. His death on 22 November 2007 will be a loss, but he serves as a forerunner of what needs to be done so that beauty will overcome the walls of separation. There is a certain symbolism that his death comes on the eve of the Israel-Palestine conference in Annapolis where some steps may be taken toward Middle East peace. One of the Béjart’s most impressive dance sequences was Jérusalem, cité de la Paix in which he stressed the need for reconciliation and mutual cultural enrichment.  read more »

(Fifth in a series by Rene Wadlow)
Tagore Today

The darkness of egoism which will have to be destroyed is the egoism of the Nation.  The ideal of India is against the intense consciousness of the separateness of one’s own people from others, which inevitably leads to ceaseless conflicts.  There my prayer is ‘let India stand for the co-operation of all the people of the world’.  read more »

This is a great website for vegetarian cooking:
http://simple-vegetarian-recipes.com/index.html.  I just had a request from my cousin who wants to go veg, but he was not sure where to start.  I gave him some suggestions and then he found this website and is very pleased with the ideas he found there.  Check it out--and go veg for the sake of your own health and the sake of our planet.  Betty

Mahmoud Watad and Leonard Grob
(Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2007, 221pp.)

The authors introduce their book by writing:

“During the summer of 2004, we interviewed thirty-four Palestinian and Israeli teenagers. These teens were asked to share various aspects of their ordinary, day-to-day lives and their dreams for the future.  We chose to interview young people between the ages of twelve and eighteen as we strongly believe this is an age group that can make a difference in the world…Even after a political solution has been reached, it may still be a matter of generations before demonization of the ‘other’ — Israeli or Palestinian — is replaced by an ongoing process of humanization.”  read more »

Media Release Nov 19th 2007 from http://www.whalesrevenge.com

The Japanese Whaling fleet left the port of Shimonoseki in Japan on Sunday the 18th [Nov. 2007] for the Antarctic to kill over 1000 whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary under the guise of ‘scientific’ whaling. This kill includes 50 endangered fin whales, 50 endangered humpback whales and 935 minke whales. This is the biggest hunt since the moratorium on commercial whaling came into force more than 20 years ago and for the first time in almost three decades the Japanese want to include the humpbacks on their menu.

[Visit http://www.whalesrevenge.com for information on what you can do in protest.]

from Soldier's Heart News, http://www.soldiersheart.net

By Michael Broas

I recently returned to Viet Nam, after being there 37 years ago.  I journeyed with Ed and Kate, my wife Valerie and 10 others, four of whom were other Viet Nam veterans. I am not the same person I was before going.

I read War and the Soul in July and from that time on, my life took a direction all of its own. Something deep within me was touched. For years, I never even considered the thought of going back to a country that for me represented so much lost innocence, grief, terror and confusion.  read more »

(#4 in a series by Rene Wadlow)
W.H. Auden: Poet of the Age of Anxiety

Wystan Hugh Auden, whose birth 100 years ago in 1907, is marked this year by two separate groups of poetry readers.  Each group celebrates half of his poetic life and rather tries to forget about the other half, seeing one part of his life as the perfect image of the modern poet who lost his way.  read more »

The Historical Judgment in Saudi Arab: A 19-year-old girl who was gang raped 18 times by 7 people was sentenced to 90 lashes.  However after the appeal for leniency, her punishment was increased to 200 lashes and 6 months jail term.  Reason: Her lawyer informed the media about this case and it embarrassed the Saudi Government. 

[The webmaster wishes to draw attention to the disclaimer at the bottom of pages of this website.]  read more »

(third in a series by Rene Wadlow)

Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273)

I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Moslem. I am not of the East, nor the West, nor the land, nor the sea… My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless.  read more »