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| {{otheruses4|the clergyman and Theosophical author|the contemporary author|Charles Leadbeater}} | {{otheruses4|the clergyman and Theosophical author|the contemporary author|Charles Leadbeater}} | ||
| ] | |||
| ⚫ | ], according to ] and ] in ''] '' (1901)]] | ||
| '''C.W. Leadbeater''' (], ] ] - ], ] ]), English clergyman and ] author, contributed to world thought mostly through his |
'''C.W. Leadbeater''' (], ] ] - ], ] ]), English clergyman and ] author, contributed to world thought mostly through his extensive and detailed ] observations that were published over a period of forty years. | ||
| ==Early life== | ==Early life== | ||
| Although some sources state that he was born in 1847, |
Although some sources state that he was born in 1847, a biographer has uncovered sufficient documentation that he was actually born in 1854.<ref>Tillet, Gregory''The Elder Brother'', Routledge & Kegan Paul Books, 1982</ref> | ||
| His father Charles was born in ] and his mother Emma was born in ]. He himself was born in ], Cheshire. By 1861 the family had moved to ], where his father is listed as a "Railway Contractor's Clerk".<ref>1861 Census of England</ref> | His father Charles was born in ] and his mother Emma was born in ]. He himself was born in ], Cheshire. By 1861 the family had moved to ], where his father is listed as a "Railway Contractor's Clerk".<ref>1861 Census of England</ref> | ||
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| Lutyens, repeats the story that Charles and his family had gone to ] "...where his father was a railway contractor, and led a life of adventure in the course of which his father died and his younger brother Gerald was murdered in 1862 by bandits. After returning to England he entered ] but soon had to leave when in 1866 the bank failed in which all the family money was invested."<ref>*Lutyens, Mary. ''Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening''; Avon Books (Discus), New York. 1983 ISBN 0380007347 p 12</ref> | Lutyens, repeats the story that Charles and his family had gone to ] "...where his father was a railway contractor, and led a life of adventure in the course of which his father died and his younger brother Gerald was murdered in 1862 by bandits. After returning to England he entered ] but soon had to leave when in 1866 the bank failed in which all the family money was invested."<ref>*Lutyens, Mary. ''Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening''; Avon Books (Discus), New York. 1983 ISBN 0380007347 p 12</ref> | ||
| His uncle |
His uncle was the prominent Anglican clergyman ]. By this uncle's influence, Charles was ordained an ] priest in 1879 at ] by the ]. By 1881, he is living with his widowed mother at ], where he is listed as "Curate of Bramshott".<ref>1881 Census of England</ref> | ||
| ==Joins Theosophical Society== | ==Joins Theosophical Society== | ||
| His interest in occultism was stimulated by ]'s ''Occult World'', and he joined the ] in ]. The next year he met ] when she came to ]. "When she accepted him , he gave up the church, became a vegetarian, severed all ties with England, and followed her to ]."<ref>Lutyens,"Awakening", Discus p 13</ref> | His interest in occultism was stimulated by ]'s ''Occult World'', and he joined the ](TS) in ]. The next year he met ] when she came to ]. "When she accepted him , he gave up the church, became a vegetarian, severed all ties with England, and followed her to ]."<ref>Lutyens,"Awakening", Discus p 13</ref> | ||
| At this time he was the recipient of a few ] letters which influenced him to go to ], where he arrived at Adyar in 1884. In India he claimed to have received visits and training from some of Blavatsky's Masters.<ref>Leadbeater, C.W. ''How Theosophy Came to Me''.</ref> Leadbeater's own account of his occult and clairvoyant training can be read on-line in , where the reader can assess Leadbeater's credibility for him- or herself. This was the start of a long career in the Theosophical Society. | At this time he was the recipient of a few ] letters which influenced him to go to ], where he arrived at Adyar in 1884. In India he claimed to have received visits and training from some of Blavatsky's Masters.<ref>Leadbeater, C.W. ''How Theosophy Came to Me''.</ref> Leadbeater's own account of his occult and clairvoyant training can be read on-line in , where the reader can assess Leadbeater's credibility for him- or herself. This was the start of a long career in the Theosophical Society. | ||
| == |
==Headmaster in Celon== | ||
| {{Theosophy}} | {{Theosophy}} | ||
| In 1885 Leadbeater traveled with ] (1832-1907), first President of the Theosophical Society, to Burma and Ceylon, now Myanmar and Sri Lanka. In Celon they founded the English Buddhist Academy, with Leadbeater staying behind to serve as its first headmaster under the most austere conditions. <ref>Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 13</ref> This school gradually expanded to become Ananda College, and today has a building named in Leadbeater's honor. <ref>Oliveira, Pedro, CWL Bio, http://www.cwlworld.info/html/bio.html</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ==Return to England== | |||
| Jinarajadasa relates how Leadbeater had already done some occult investigations but how in May 1894 he did his first past-life reading. | |||
| ⚫ | In 1889, Sinnett asked him to return to England to tutor his son and also ](1878-1945). He agreed and brought with him one of his pupils ](1875-1953). Both Arundale and Jinarajadasa would attend Cambridge, and both would eventually serve as International Presidents of the Theosophical Society. | ||
| At the time london was a center of intellectual activity. The United States had not yet emerged as a world power, Europe was still old world, and London was the hub of the British Empire. And with such distinguished members as Sir ], naturalist ], Sir ] and the Rt. Hon. ], <ref>Mishlove, Jeffrey ''The Roots of Consciousness'', Marlowe, NY, 1993, p. 161</ref> the Theosophical Society was an intellectual hub of the hub. | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| In 1894, Leadbeater began investigating the recent incarnations of several people. The first such past-life reading was at the request of the English painter, theosophist and friend John Varley (1850-1933). By clairvoyantly reading the Akashic Records Leadbeater gave extensive details about Mr. Varley's eight most recent incarnations. These early past life readings may have been published as journal articles, but were not published in book form until the 1940s with C. Jinarajadasa as editor. <ref>Leadbeater, C.W. The Soul's Growth through Reincarnation: Lives of Erato and Spica, Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras, India, 1949, p. 17</ref> Leadbeater's largest past-life project would come fifteen or so years later when, with Annie Besant, he clairvoyantly investigated fifty of the most recent incarnations of the young ] (1895-1986), which were first published as a journal series and then published together in two volumes in 1924. These past-life readings are historically significant because they added substantial detail into our understanding of the process of reincarnation, which until then had been only a vague concept and/or belief. 1894 also saw the publication of his first book, ''The Astral Plane,'' probably the most extensive and detailed description of the spirit world around us that has ever been written, which is still in print today. This he wrote not from scholarship or research but simply from his own clairvoyant experience. | |||
| It is not known, when and why he added seven years to his life, but sometime in the next 20 years, he started claiming to have been born in 1847. On a ship's manifest in 1903 he lists his age as 56, occupation "Lecturer" when he went on a lecture tour to ] and ]. He also notes that he had previously come to ] in 1893.<ref>San Francisco Passenger Lists 1893-1953</ref> | |||
| The following year, at the request of A.P. Sinnett, Leadbeater began to clairvoyantly investigate the atomic structure of all the then-known elements. Leadbeater’s clairvoyant investigations sometimes preceded modern science, as he clairvoyantly observed that atoms were made up of bundles of swirling sub-particles. He meticulously counted the sub-particles of each element known at the time, as well as a few elements like neon, commonly used today in electrical lighting, that were not then known to science. He had discovered one of the principles of modern quantum physics before Max Planck published his 1900 paper on energy and frequency radiation, that became the foundation of modern quantum mechanics, and when a German lad named Albert Einstein was still in high school. This is a matter of the published record as these observations were first published in a theosophical journal in November 1895<ref>''Lucifer''(Lat. morning star, light bearer), November 1895</ref> and in book form in 1908. | |||
| ==Occult Powers== | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | In this year co-worker and friend ] also developed clairvoyance and joined Leadbeater in this work. In a letter dated August 25, 1895, Leadbeater wrote to Francisca Arundale, George's aunt, and narrated how Mrs. Besant became clairvoyant. This letter is now on-line and can be read by clicking . Starting in 1895, they made "...occult investigations together into the cosmos, the beginnings of mankind, chemistry and the constitution of the elements, as well as frequently visiting the Masters together in their astral bodies."<ref>Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 14</ref> | ||
| Annie later is said to have allowed her occult powers to diminish, while Leadbeater's grew stronger. | |||
| The following year, also at the request of A.P. Sinnett, Leadbeater began to clairvoyantly investigate the lost civilizations of Atlantis and Lemuria. These investigations were eventually published in 1925 as ''The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria,'' which included large fold-out maps of precise detail. William Scott-Elliot did the scholarly research and was the secretary for the project, but was listed as the sole author, which indicates that Leadbeater was not possessive about his clairvoyant findings. They were for the benefit of humanity. | |||
| Leadbeater would spend the rest of his life in daily clairvoyant observation, and in publishing the results of those observations. It should be noted that, thanks to the tireless work of several dedicated volunteers, almost all Leadbeater's and Beasant's books are presently on-line and can be read by clicking . | |||
| == Accused of Pederasty == | |||
| Leadbeater was accused of ], the first accusation coming in ]. | |||
| ⚫ | By this time both Leadbeater and Besant had risen to prominence and were the most popular and saught after speakers in the Theosophical Society. They would remain so for quite a number of years <ref>Warnon, Maurice H. ''''</ref> Leadbeater had also become Secretary of the London Lodge.<ref>, by Jinarajadasa</ref> | ||
| == Confronts Victorian Narrowness == | |||
| Mary Lutyens in "Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening" writes: | |||
| Leadbeater was ahead of his time morally, as Annie Besant was ahead of her time politically. | |||
| *"Then in 1906, after Leadbeater's return to England, the fourteen-year-old son of the Corresponding Secretary of the Esoteric Section in Chicago, whom Leadbeater had taken with him to San Francisco on his first lecture tour, confessed to his parents the reason for the antipathy he had conceived for his mentor, to whom he had at first been greatly devoted -- Leadbeater had encouraged him in the habit of masturbation. Almost simultaneously the son of another Theosophical official in Chicago charged Leadbeater with the same offense without apparently there being any collusion between the two boys. Then a typewritten, unsigned, undated, cipher-letter was produced; it had been picked up by a suspicious cleaner on the floor of a flat in Toronto in which Leadbeater had stayed with the second boy and was said to have been written by Leadbeater. The code was simple and when broken revealed one passage of such obscenity, for those days, that the letter could not by law be printed in England. When decoded the offending passage read: 'Glad sensation is so pleasant. Thousand kisses darling.'"<ref>Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 15</ref> | |||
| In 1903, Leadbeater began an American tour where he spent six months in Chicago giving popular weekly lectures on theosophical themes. As in those days the education of boys and girls was separate, and as he had written a pamphlet on our responsibilities towards children, TS member parents of teenaged boys would often ask that he become a mentor to their sons, who would help with daily correspondence. This would sometimes involve travel together and necessarily close quarters. When giving a series of lectures somewhere Leadbeater and his helpers would usually be guests at members' private homes. | |||
| From the U.S. Leadbeater traveled to Australia in 1905, and then to India for the Theosophical Society convention in December of that year. | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| In February of 1906 four American TS officers wrote to Annie Besant, who was then living in Benares, India, and complained that Leadbeater was teaching young boys in his care "habits of abuse and demoralizing personal practices," i.e. masturbation, which they considered "criminal." The letter was serious and credible, although tardy. It never accused Leadbeater of any homosexual contact. After Leadbeater had received a copy, he promptly replied to it, fully and sincerely. He never denied having so advised some boys, stating that under some circumstances it was the better alternative to being obsessed with impure thoughts and prurient desires. His reply is on-line and can be read by clicking . Most people today would agree with Leadbeater, but in narrow Victorian society his was a minority opinion. | |||
| On the nature of the accusation itself, Leadbeater wrote to Annie Besant in the following words: | |||
| The matter should have ended there. But one signer of the complaint letter, Alexander Fullerton, was General Secretary of the American Section, and apparently had ambitions to succeed the aging Col. Olcott as International President. Everyone knew Leadbeater and Besant were allies and friends. If he could use this incident to bring about the fall of Leadbeater, then Besant would fall with him and Fullerton would be in a better position to succeed Olcott. | |||
| *"...So when boys came under my care, I mentioned this matter to them , among other things, always trying to avoid all sorts of false shame, and to make the whole appear as natural and simple as possible...." - Letter from C W Leadbeater to Annie Besant.<ref>Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 17</ref> | |||
| We will never know the whole truth, but apparently with these unworthy motives of raw ambition Fullerton widely circulated Leadbeater's reply. The finger also points to Fullerton as the one who forged a widely circulated "thousand kisses" letter that was typewritten, unsigned and undated, yet attributed to Leadbeater<ref>Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 15</ref>because a few years later it became known that Fullerton had written similar pederastic letters to one of these boys. He was convicted of child molesting and committed to a mental hospital.<ref>Tillet, ''supra'', p. 95 and p. 295, note 4</ref> | |||
| Another such accusation came later from ] of Chicago, who as an 11-year-old was proclaimed by Leadbeater as future World Teacher.<ref>Lutyens, "Awakening" Discus, p 12</ref> On the denunciation, Mary Lutyens states: "Hubert later swore to Mrs Besant that Leadbeater had 'misused' him, but as he was extremely vindictive by that time, his testimony, though unshaken, was perhaps not altogether reliable.'<ref>Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 45n</ref> | |||
| Fullerton had caused such a commotion that doting Col. Olcott felt obligated to convene an advisory board which met in London in May of 1906 to consider the complaint. At the hearing Leadbeater did not vigorously defend himself. Like Jesus before Pilate, he was content to forgive his enemies. He never expressed any regret for the advise he had given because in his own mind he knew he was right. But his was a minority opinion. | |||
| ⚫ | In the end Olcott accepted Leadbeater's resignation, which Leadbeater had actually submitted before the meeting, as he told Olcott, "to save the Society from embarrassment."<ref>Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 16</ref> | ||
| Leadbeater was never charged or brought to court, though there is a body of evidence that suggests he had sexual relations with students in the United States, India and Australia. Peter Michel, in his biography of Charles W. Leadbeater, writes that these accusations are suspect as they came from those who could be considered his enemies: Alexander Fullerton, Herbert Burrows, ], Hubert van Hook, ] and Hilda Martyn. | |||
| This began a quiet few years, during which Leadbeater lived on the Jersey Islands in the English Channel, in Europe and in Sicily while reflecting on years past and doing clairvoyant research for future books. | |||
| However one of the more suggestive eye-witness accounts was from Mary Lutyens, not an enemy of Leadbeater:<blockquote> | |||
| "Leadbeater 'came prancing down the wharf like a great lion,' as Mary described it, 'hatless and in a long purple cloak, holding on to the arm of a very good-looking blond boy of about fifteen. This was Theodore St John, an Australian boy of great charm and sweetness, who was Lead- beater's current favourite and who slept in his room."<ref>Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 202n</ref> | |||
| </blockquote> | |||
| ==Readmission to Theosophical Society== | ==Readmission to Theosophical Society== | ||
| Less than a year after Leadbeater's resignation, in February of 1907, Col. Olcott died. After a political struggle Annie Besant was elected President of the Society. By the end of 1908, the International Sections voted for Leadbeater's readmission. He accepted and came to Adyar on Feb 10, 1909. He had always loved Adyar and this was to become one of the most productive periods of his life. A young professor ] (1883-1965), who would eventually write several popular books of his own, became Leadbeater's personal secretary during this time. In a 1909 journal article he discribed what "An Hour with Mr. Leadbeater" was like. Wood's article can be read by clicking . | |||
| ==Discovers Krishnamurti== | ==Discovers Krishnamurti== | ||
| Leadbeater's most well-known activity during this time was the discovery, in April of ], of ](1895-1986), on the private beach that formed part of the Theosophical headquarters in ], India. Krishnamurti and his family had been living in the headquarters for a few months before this discovery. Krishnamurti was to be the vessel for the indwelling of the coming "World Teacher" that many Theosophists were expecting. This new teacher would, in the pattern of ], ], ], ], and ] divulge a new dispensation, a new religious teaching. Theosophists believed that the teacher was a spiritual being who would dwell in the body vessel. | |||
| ⚫ | ==To Australia== | ||
| Leadbeater believed he could read past lives, and did so on Krishnamurti who he claimed was really named ''Alcyone'', publishing 30 such past lives in ''The Theosophist'' beginning April 1910 as ''Lives of Alcyone''. "They ranged from 20,000 BC to 624 AD... Alycone was a female in eleven of them."<ref>Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 25</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | Charles Leadbeater stayed in India for some time, writing several books and countless journal articles, and overseeing the raising of Krishnamurti. But eventually he felt called to go to ] for the cause. In 1915 he went to live in ]. He was responsible for the construction of the ] at ] in 1924. While in Australia he came in closer contact with ] who initiated him into ] in 1915 and then in ], as a Bishop himself, consecrated Leadbeater into the ]. | ||
| ==Influence and Legacy== | |||
| Charles Leadbeater stayed in India for some time overseeing the raising of Krishnamurti, but eventually felt that he was being called to go to ] for the cause. | |||
| One biographer would sum up Charles Webster Leadbeater's influence and legacy thus: The range of his writings and the wealth of material that flowed from his prolific pen was vast. Some forty volumes, even more pamphlets, and for much of his life probably five or six journal articles a week, constituted his literary output. Modern metaphysics and New Age spirituality, to be distuingished from dogmatic religion, owe more to him than to anyone else. His concepts and ideas, his popularizing of occult and theosophical terms and principles, run through all modern works on these subjects. <ref>Tillett, ''supra'', quoted from Caldwell, Daniel "Charles Webster Leadbeater:His Life, Writings & Theosophical Teachings," http://theosophylinks.net/</ref> | |||
| Leadbeater's clairvoyance was not without errors, certainly, but they were few and far between. Of a forty-year literary output that totaled perhaps 20,000 pages of clairvoyant observations, his critics would find it difficult to point out even ten pages of observations that are known to be erroneous or are dubious. This would give Leadbeater's clairvoyance an accuracy rate of over 99%. | |||
| ⚫ | ==To Australia== | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| Arguably, over his forty years of leadership in the theosophical movement, Leadbeater's biggest mistake was not in his controversial personal advise to teen-age boys, not in his promotion of Krishnamurti as the World Teacher, which turned out to be wishful thinking, but in his failure to help ] (1880-1949) in 1919, when she was beginning to write books dictated by Djwal Khul, who was one of Leadbeater's mentors in 1884 and who had written most of the ''Secret Doctrine'' through H.P. Blavatsky. | |||
| ==Work as a clairvoyant== | |||
| He remains well known and influential in his work through ] with for instance his books ''The Chakras'' and ''Man, Visible and Invisible'' dealing with the human ] and ], and writing on the function of the Sacraments in the ], to name just a few subjects. Leadbeater's clairvoyance was not without grave errors. In his book ''The Inner Life'' he claims that there is a population of humans on the planet Mars. See . | |||
| Annie Besant died peacefully in 1933. Leadbeater's incarnation also came to an end within six months in Australia on a return trip to Sidney. His last words were, "Carry on."<ref>Tillett, ''supra''</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | ==Works== |
||
| ⚫ | ], according to ] and ] in ''] '' (1901)]] | ||
| ⚫ | ==Major Works== | ||
| *Reincarnation (1898) | |||
| *The Astral Plane (1894) | |||
| ⚫ | *Thought Forms (1901) | ||
| *The Devachanic Plane (1896) | |||
| *Invisible Helpers (1898) | |||
| *The Christian Creed (1898) | |||
| *Clairvoyance (1899) | |||
| ⚫ | *Thought Forms (with Annie Besant)(1901) | ||
| *Man Visible And Invisible (1902) | *Man Visible And Invisible (1902) | ||
| *The Inner Life (1911) |
*The Inner Life (2 vols.)(1911) | ||
| *Textbook of Theosophy (1912) | |||
| *Man: Whence, How and Whither (1913) | *Man: Whence, How and Whither (with Annie Besant) (1913) | ||
| *Occult Chemistry ( |
*Occult Chemistry (1908) | ||
| *The Inner Side Of Christian Festivals (1920) | *The Inner Side Of Christian Festivals (1920) | ||
| *The Science of the Sacraments (1920) | *The Science of the Sacraments (1920) | ||
| Line 82: | Line 91: | ||
| *Glimpses of Masonic History (1926) | *Glimpses of Masonic History (1926) | ||
| *The Hidden Life in Freemasonry (1926) | *The Hidden Life in Freemasonry (1926) | ||
| *The Chakras (1927) |
*The Chakras (1927) | ||
| *] | |||
| For a more complete list of his works, |
Almost all the above titles are on-line and can be found by clicking . For a more complete list of his works, click on . | ||
| == See also == | == See also == | ||
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| {{DEFAULTSORT:Leadbeater, Charles Webster}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Leadbeater, Charles Webster}} | ||
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Revision as of 13:59, 9 December 2007
This article is about the clergyman and Theosophical author. For the contemporary author, see Charles Leadbeater.
C.W. Leadbeater (Feb 16, 1854 Stockport, Chesire, England - Mar 1, 1934 Perth, Western Australia), English clergyman and theosophical author, contributed to world thought mostly through his extensive and detailed clairvoyant observations that were published over a period of forty years.
Early life
Although some sources state that he was born in 1847, a biographer has uncovered sufficient documentation that he was actually born in 1854.
His father Charles was born in Lincoln and his mother Emma was born in Liverpool. He himself was born in Stockport, Cheshire. By 1861 the family had moved to London, where his father is listed as a "Railway Contractor's Clerk".
Lutyens, repeats the story that Charles and his family had gone to Brazil "...where his father was a railway contractor, and led a life of adventure in the course of which his father died and his younger brother Gerald was murdered in 1862 by bandits. After returning to England he entered Oxford University but soon had to leave when in 1866 the bank failed in which all the family money was invested."
His uncle was the prominent Anglican clergyman William Wolfe Capes. By this uncle's influence, Charles was ordained an Anglican priest in 1879 at Farnham by the Bishop of Winchester. By 1881, he is living with his widowed mother at Bramshott, where he is listed as "Curate of Bramshott".
Joins Theosophical Society
His interest in occultism was stimulated by A.P. Sinnett's Occult World, and he joined the Theosophical Society(TS) in 1883. The next year he met Helena Petrovna Blavatsky when she came to London. "When she accepted him , he gave up the church, became a vegetarian, severed all ties with England, and followed her to India."
At this time he was the recipient of a few Mahatma letters which influenced him to go to India, where he arrived at Adyar in 1884. In India he claimed to have received visits and training from some of Blavatsky's Masters. Leadbeater's own account of his occult and clairvoyant training can be read on-line in How Theosophy Came to Me, where the reader can assess Leadbeater's credibility for him- or herself. This was the start of a long career in the Theosophical Society.
Headmaster in Celon
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In 1885 Leadbeater traveled with Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907), first President of the Theosophical Society, to Burma and Ceylon, now Myanmar and Sri Lanka. In Celon they founded the English Buddhist Academy, with Leadbeater staying behind to serve as its first headmaster under the most austere conditions. This school gradually expanded to become Ananda College, and today has a building named in Leadbeater's honor.
Return to England
In 1889, Sinnett asked him to return to England to tutor his son and also George Arundale(1878-1945). He agreed and brought with him one of his pupils C Jinarajadasa(1875-1953). Both Arundale and Jinarajadasa would attend Cambridge, and both would eventually serve as International Presidents of the Theosophical Society.
At the time london was a center of intellectual activity. The United States had not yet emerged as a world power, Europe was still old world, and London was the hub of the British Empire. And with such distinguished members as Sir William Crooks, naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, Sir Edwin Arnold and the Rt. Hon. William Gladstone, the Theosophical Society was an intellectual hub of the hub.
In 1894, Leadbeater began investigating the recent incarnations of several people. The first such past-life reading was at the request of the English painter, theosophist and friend John Varley (1850-1933). By clairvoyantly reading the Akashic Records Leadbeater gave extensive details about Mr. Varley's eight most recent incarnations. These early past life readings may have been published as journal articles, but were not published in book form until the 1940s with C. Jinarajadasa as editor. Leadbeater's largest past-life project would come fifteen or so years later when, with Annie Besant, he clairvoyantly investigated fifty of the most recent incarnations of the young Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986), which were first published as a journal series and then published together in two volumes in 1924. These past-life readings are historically significant because they added substantial detail into our understanding of the process of reincarnation, which until then had been only a vague concept and/or belief. 1894 also saw the publication of his first book, The Astral Plane, probably the most extensive and detailed description of the spirit world around us that has ever been written, which is still in print today. This he wrote not from scholarship or research but simply from his own clairvoyant experience.
The following year, at the request of A.P. Sinnett, Leadbeater began to clairvoyantly investigate the atomic structure of all the then-known elements. Leadbeater’s clairvoyant investigations sometimes preceded modern science, as he clairvoyantly observed that atoms were made up of bundles of swirling sub-particles. He meticulously counted the sub-particles of each element known at the time, as well as a few elements like neon, commonly used today in electrical lighting, that were not then known to science. He had discovered one of the principles of modern quantum physics before Max Planck published his 1900 paper on energy and frequency radiation, that became the foundation of modern quantum mechanics, and when a German lad named Albert Einstein was still in high school. This is a matter of the published record as these observations were first published in a theosophical journal in November 1895 and in book form in 1908.
In this year co-worker and friend Annie Besant also developed clairvoyance and joined Leadbeater in this work. In a letter dated August 25, 1895, Leadbeater wrote to Francisca Arundale, George's aunt, and narrated how Mrs. Besant became clairvoyant. This letter is now on-line and can be read by clicking here. Starting in 1895, they made "...occult investigations together into the cosmos, the beginnings of mankind, chemistry and the constitution of the elements, as well as frequently visiting the Masters together in their astral bodies."
The following year, also at the request of A.P. Sinnett, Leadbeater began to clairvoyantly investigate the lost civilizations of Atlantis and Lemuria. These investigations were eventually published in 1925 as The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria, which included large fold-out maps of precise detail. William Scott-Elliot did the scholarly research and was the secretary for the project, but was listed as the sole author, which indicates that Leadbeater was not possessive about his clairvoyant findings. They were for the benefit of humanity.
Leadbeater would spend the rest of his life in daily clairvoyant observation, and in publishing the results of those observations. It should be noted that, thanks to the tireless work of several dedicated volunteers, almost all Leadbeater's and Beasant's books are presently on-line and can be read by clicking here.
By this time both Leadbeater and Besant had risen to prominence and were the most popular and saught after speakers in the Theosophical Society. They would remain so for quite a number of years Leadbeater had also become Secretary of the London Lodge.
Confronts Victorian Narrowness
Leadbeater was ahead of his time morally, as Annie Besant was ahead of her time politically. In 1903, Leadbeater began an American tour where he spent six months in Chicago giving popular weekly lectures on theosophical themes. As in those days the education of boys and girls was separate, and as he had written a pamphlet on our responsibilities towards children, TS member parents of teenaged boys would often ask that he become a mentor to their sons, who would help with daily correspondence. This would sometimes involve travel together and necessarily close quarters. When giving a series of lectures somewhere Leadbeater and his helpers would usually be guests at members' private homes.
From the U.S. Leadbeater traveled to Australia in 1905, and then to India for the Theosophical Society convention in December of that year.
In February of 1906 four American TS officers wrote to Annie Besant, who was then living in Benares, India, and complained that Leadbeater was teaching young boys in his care "habits of abuse and demoralizing personal practices," i.e. masturbation, which they considered "criminal." The letter was serious and credible, although tardy. It never accused Leadbeater of any homosexual contact. After Leadbeater had received a copy, he promptly replied to it, fully and sincerely. He never denied having so advised some boys, stating that under some circumstances it was the better alternative to being obsessed with impure thoughts and prurient desires. His reply is on-line and can be read by clicking here. Most people today would agree with Leadbeater, but in narrow Victorian society his was a minority opinion.
The matter should have ended there. But one signer of the complaint letter, Alexander Fullerton, was General Secretary of the American Section, and apparently had ambitions to succeed the aging Col. Olcott as International President. Everyone knew Leadbeater and Besant were allies and friends. If he could use this incident to bring about the fall of Leadbeater, then Besant would fall with him and Fullerton would be in a better position to succeed Olcott.
We will never know the whole truth, but apparently with these unworthy motives of raw ambition Fullerton widely circulated Leadbeater's reply. The finger also points to Fullerton as the one who forged a widely circulated "thousand kisses" letter that was typewritten, unsigned and undated, yet attributed to Leadbeaterbecause a few years later it became known that Fullerton had written similar pederastic letters to one of these boys. He was convicted of child molesting and committed to a mental hospital.
Fullerton had caused such a commotion that doting Col. Olcott felt obligated to convene an advisory board which met in London in May of 1906 to consider the complaint. At the hearing Leadbeater did not vigorously defend himself. Like Jesus before Pilate, he was content to forgive his enemies. He never expressed any regret for the advise he had given because in his own mind he knew he was right. But his was a minority opinion.
In the end Olcott accepted Leadbeater's resignation, which Leadbeater had actually submitted before the meeting, as he told Olcott, "to save the Society from embarrassment."
This began a quiet few years, during which Leadbeater lived on the Jersey Islands in the English Channel, in Europe and in Sicily while reflecting on years past and doing clairvoyant research for future books.
Readmission to Theosophical Society
Less than a year after Leadbeater's resignation, in February of 1907, Col. Olcott died. After a political struggle Annie Besant was elected President of the Society. By the end of 1908, the International Sections voted for Leadbeater's readmission. He accepted and came to Adyar on Feb 10, 1909. He had always loved Adyar and this was to become one of the most productive periods of his life. A young professor Ernest Wood (1883-1965), who would eventually write several popular books of his own, became Leadbeater's personal secretary during this time. In a 1909 journal article he discribed what "An Hour with Mr. Leadbeater" was like. Wood's article can be read by clicking here.
Discovers Krishnamurti
Leadbeater's most well-known activity during this time was the discovery, in April of 1909, of Jiddu Krishnamurti(1895-1986), on the private beach that formed part of the Theosophical headquarters in Adyar, India. Krishnamurti and his family had been living in the headquarters for a few months before this discovery. Krishnamurti was to be the vessel for the indwelling of the coming "World Teacher" that many Theosophists were expecting. This new teacher would, in the pattern of Moses, Buddha, Zarathustra (Zoroaster), Christ, and Muhammad divulge a new dispensation, a new religious teaching. Theosophists believed that the teacher was a spiritual being who would dwell in the body vessel.
To Australia
Charles Leadbeater stayed in India for some time, writing several books and countless journal articles, and overseeing the raising of Krishnamurti. But eventually he felt called to go to Australia for the cause. In 1915 he went to live in Sydney. He was responsible for the construction of the Star Amphitheatre at Balmoral Beach) in 1924. While in Australia he came in closer contact with J. I. Wedgwood who initiated him into Co-Masonry in 1915 and then in 1916, as a Bishop himself, consecrated Leadbeater into the Liberal Catholic Church.
Influence and Legacy
One biographer would sum up Charles Webster Leadbeater's influence and legacy thus: The range of his writings and the wealth of material that flowed from his prolific pen was vast. Some forty volumes, even more pamphlets, and for much of his life probably five or six journal articles a week, constituted his literary output. Modern metaphysics and New Age spirituality, to be distuingished from dogmatic religion, owe more to him than to anyone else. His concepts and ideas, his popularizing of occult and theosophical terms and principles, run through all modern works on these subjects.
Leadbeater's clairvoyance was not without errors, certainly, but they were few and far between. Of a forty-year literary output that totaled perhaps 20,000 pages of clairvoyant observations, his critics would find it difficult to point out even ten pages of observations that are known to be erroneous or are dubious. This would give Leadbeater's clairvoyance an accuracy rate of over 99%.
Arguably, over his forty years of leadership in the theosophical movement, Leadbeater's biggest mistake was not in his controversial personal advise to teen-age boys, not in his promotion of Krishnamurti as the World Teacher, which turned out to be wishful thinking, but in his failure to help Alice Bailey (1880-1949) in 1919, when she was beginning to write books dictated by Djwal Khul, who was one of Leadbeater's mentors in 1884 and who had written most of the Secret Doctrine through H.P. Blavatsky.
Annie Besant died peacefully in 1933. Leadbeater's incarnation also came to an end within six months in Australia on a return trip to Sidney. His last words were, "Carry on."
Major Works
- The Astral Plane (1894)
- The Devachanic Plane (1896)
- Invisible Helpers (1898)
- The Christian Creed (1898)
- Clairvoyance (1899)
- Thought Forms (with Annie Besant)(1901)
- Man Visible And Invisible (1902)
- The Inner Life (2 vols.)(1911)
- Textbook of Theosophy (1912)
- Man: Whence, How and Whither (with Annie Besant) (1913)
- Occult Chemistry (1908)
- The Inner Side Of Christian Festivals (1920)
- The Science of the Sacraments (1920)
- The Masters And The Path (1925)
- Glimpses of Masonic History (1926)
- The Hidden Life in Freemasonry (1926)
- The Chakras (1927)
Almost all the above titles are on-line and can be found by clicking here. For a more complete list of his works, click on A Chronological Listing of C.W. Leadbeater's Books and Pamphlets.
See also
Notes
- Tillet, GregoryThe Elder Brother, Routledge & Kegan Paul Books, 1982
- 1861 Census of England
- *Lutyens, Mary. Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening; Avon Books (Discus), New York. 1983 ISBN 0380007347 p 12
- 1881 Census of England
- Lutyens,"Awakening", Discus p 13
- Leadbeater, C.W. How Theosophy Came to Me.
- Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 13
- Oliveira, Pedro, CWL Bio, http://www.cwlworld.info/html/bio.html
- Mishlove, Jeffrey The Roots of Consciousness, Marlowe, NY, 1993, p. 161
- Leadbeater, C.W. The Soul's Growth through Reincarnation: Lives of Erato and Spica, Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras, India, 1949, p. 17
- Lucifer(Lat. morning star, light bearer), November 1895
- Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 14
- Warnon, Maurice H. Biographical Notes
- A Description of the Work of Annie Besant and C W Leadbeater, by Jinarajadasa
- Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 15
- Tillet, supra, p. 95 and p. 295, note 4
- Lutyens, "Awakening", Discus p 16
- Tillett, supra, quoted from Caldwell, Daniel "Charles Webster Leadbeater:His Life, Writings & Theosophical Teachings," http://theosophylinks.net/
- Tillett, supra
References
- AnandGholap.net - Online Most Important Books by C.W. Leadbeater
- Caldwell, Daniel. Charles Webster Leadbeater: His Life, Writings & Theosophical Teachings.
- Michel, Peter. Charles W. Leadbeater:Mit den Augen des Geistes ISBN 3-89427-107-8 (In German; No English translation available)
- Tillett, Gregory. The Elder Brother: A Biography of Charles Webster Leadbeater.
- Lutyens, Mary. Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening; Avon Books (Discus), New York. 1983 ISBN 0380007347
External links
- AnandGholap.net - Online Most Important Books by C.W. Leadbeater
- Leadbeater.NET
- Charles Webster Leadbeater: His Life, Writings & Theosophical Teachings
- Biography, bibliography and digital Library
- Leadbeater Collection online at global.org
- Singapore Lodge - C. W. Leadbeater Biography
- Spirit Writings Biography
- articles by and about C.W. Leadbeater
- Occult Investigations
- Picture and short bio
- Works by Charles Webster Leadbeater at Project Gutenberg
- CWL World
- Articles by and about C.W. Leadbeater