In-touch.online Theosophical Order of Service International e-Newsletter EN 52 - October 2019

In this issue: Living Theosophy through Compassionate Service TOS France - In the Light of Theosophy Sand Castles Latest News - New TOS Director in Spain TOS Around the World: USA, India Southern & Western Zones Do We Have Your Group’s Updated Contact Info?

Dear TS and TOS members and friends, Attention! TOS Directors, Presidents and Coordinators, your annual reports for the year ending 30 September 2019 are now due to the International Secretary. Please send your annual report to nancy.tosinternational@gmail.com before the end of October if you have not already done so. Your reports are so very important. We look forward to reading about all of the projects and programs you have been working on all year. Please remember to include pictures! (And send those separately via email so that they can be downloaded as photos.) They add so much to your reports. Highlights from your reports are included in Nancy's report to the President each year, and then in his report to the convention. They may also be used in this TOS e-newsletter, and facts and pictures about what you are doing also make their way into the PowerPoint presentations that Nancy gives when travelling to various countries around the world. This lets people everywhere know what their fellow TOS members in different countries are doing. It can also give other groups ideas and inspiration for their own service work. So we can say that this makes sending in your reports a service in itself. And, speaking of service, please also tell us how we can better serve you by voicing your questions and concerns. We are here to help. For those of you who are planning to come to the Annual TS Convention this year, please remember that it will take place at the Indian TS National Headquarters in Varanasi this year and not at Adyar . You can register on the TS-Adyar website. Did you know that there is a TOS Session within the Convention each year? This year we will have speakers from England and India on the theme, "TOS: Sowing Seeds of Divinity" and Nancy's talk will include an update of TOS work around the world. Yours in service , T he TOS in-touch.online tea m: David Sztain, Editor Nancy Secrest, International Secretary/Editing Rozi Ulics, Webmaster/Editing Vicki Jerome, Proofreader

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Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true. - Robert Brault

Nancy Secrest, TOS International Secretary

Living Theosophy through Compassionate Service By Nancy Secrest So, what is compassion? Although stated in different ways, various viewpoints, scientific, psychological and Buddhist agree that compassion, simply put, is the response to the suffering of others that motivates a desire to help. Compassion is not the same as empathy or altruism, though the concepts are related. Empathy refers to our ability to take the perspective of and feel the emotions of another person. Compassion is when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to help. Altruism is kind, selfless behaviour often ... Read more

TOS France - In the Light of Theosophy “The TOS does not see its role as peripheral to the work of spreading Theosophical teachings nor does it see itself as simply duplicating the work of humanitarian groups. The TOS exists to show the world that Theosophy has much light to shed on contemporary issues of concern and can help people find meaning in suffering.” These words from page two of our TOS International Handbook have been taken to heart by Mr Michel Chapotin in his role as President of the TOS in France. Over the past ten years, he has organised seminars on a great number of practical themes with the distribution of a folder of relevant readings. The French TOS’s latest seminar has been approached particularly creatively as over 60 members and friends have themselves written thoughtful texts for the folder published!

Mr Michel Chapotin Director, TOS France Read more

Betty Bland, former President of the TS in America

Sand Castles By Betty Bland ... Sometimes we would spend weeks or even months on a particular project, and just when it was really coming together, the entire definition of what we were trying to accomplish would change in the twinkling of an eye. This could happen for many reasons—changes in funding, in politics—but the fact was that a huge wave had washed over our machinations and we felt crushed ... Read more

Latest News

New TOS Director in Spain We welcome our newest TOS Director, Alejandro Bueno, from Spain, with open arms and look forward to working with him and the TOS in Spain with renewed vigour and dedication to the "work". Read more

Alejandro Bueno from Spain

TOS Around the World

Members packaging groceries for the elderly at the warehouse of the Humanitarian Service Project

TOS - USA An Afternoon of Service By Ananya Sri Ram Rajan The Theosophical Order of Service in the USA (TOS-US) once again partnered with the Theosophical Society in America (TSA) during our Summer National Convention (SNC) this past July to create an afternoon of service. We originally had four service projects set up for the afternoon, but due to the extreme heat, our outdoor activity of working in the Garden of Remembrance was cancelled. However, ... Read more

South Zone India TOS conference at Bangalore by K. Sivaprasad The South Zone TOS Conference was held at City Lodge in Bangalore on the 17th and 18th August 2019. The TOS regions of Telugu, Rayalaseema, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Chennai, India make up this Zone. Read More

Public garden that had a special show at the time of the conference

Nancy lighting the lamp

West Zone India TOS conference at Bangalore by K. Sivaprasad Our meeting was held on 24-25 August 2019 at Shri Krishna Theosophical Lodge at Amravati. This Zone consists of Maharashtra, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Gujarat. There are 12 active TOS groups in the Maharashtra region. In this gathering 50 members participated ... Read more

Do We Have Your Group’s Updated Contact Info? Please check your country's TOS information on our  website here . You'll find it in the yellow, right-hand column on the home page. Click on your country's name and if the info is not correct, let us know. We want to make sure that your TOS group's information is up-to-date for our new website which is being designed.

By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. - Winston Churchill

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