The colony at Krotona is of more recent origin, and its environment is
similar in some respects to that of Point Loma. Founded in 1912 by A.
P. Warrington, the head of the American section of the Theosophical
Society under Mrs. Besant's leadership, it stands on high ground on the
outskirts of Hollywood, a suburb of Los Angeles, with magnificent views
of the Santa Monica Mountains and of the valley leading to the sea
twelve miles away. This "Institute of Theosophy" takes its name from
the School of Science, Art and Philosophy founded by the great
Pythagoras, and aspires to be to-day what his Krotona was in the
past--a centre of spiritual enlightenment. It is run on co-operative
lines, and on a non-profit basis. There are no "servants" in the
community, and the means of support is from a ground-rent or tax
charged to each house-builder, from the renting of rooms, and from
voluntary donations. The buildings are in picturesque Moorish or
Spanish style, their white walls gleaming amid the brilliant flowers
and luxuriant greenery of this favoured climate. They include a fine
Lending Library and Reference Room, a scientific research laboratory, a
publishing house, an administration building, and many pretty villas
and cottages. There is also a temple, in whose auditorium religious
ceremonies, meetings, lectures and concerts take place, and an open-air
stadium where each year a miracle play is to be produced, the one first
chosen being a dramatisation of Sir Edwin Arnold's "Light of Asia,"
which ran for three weeks in the summer of 1918.
The English Headquarters of the Society are now at 23 Bedford Square,
London.
CONCLUSION
"Tell us then, Mary, what hast thou seen upon thy way?"
"I have seen the shroud and the vestments and the angelic witnesses,
and I have seen the glory of the Resurrected."
Saints and prophets of all lands and all ages bear an unconscious
resemblance one to another. The craving for truth, the unquenchable
desire to escape from reality, leads them into realms of mystery and
dream, where simple peasants and labourers, religious men and
agnostics, philosophers and mystics, all meet together. Their
unsuspicious minds are easily dazzled by the least ray of light, and
deceived by the most unlikely promises, and it is not surprising that
they are often imposed upon and led to accept false ways of salvation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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