Priest-Kings entirely disappeared, and when those
words were spoken by one of the Great Ones: "The Society has liberated
itself from our grasp and influence, and we have let it go; we make no
unwilling slaves.... Out of the three Objects the second alone is
attended to; it is no longer either a Brotherhood, nor a body over
the face of which broods the Spirit from beyond the Great Range." And
when that time was well established a change was made in the
organisation of the Society. It was no longer, so to speak, one and
indivisible, but two parts were made--Exoteric and Esoteric; and, as
you know, for some time the Colonel fought against that, thinking it
meant an unwise and dangerous division of authority in the Society,
until, as he was coming over here with his mind in opposition to the
proposal that H.P.B. should form the Esoteric Section, he received, on
board the steamer on which he travelled, a letter from his Master
telling him to carry out what H.P.B. wished; and, ever obedient as he
was, for when his Master spoke he knew no hesitation, when he arrived
here in England he did what he had been told, and authorised the
formation of what was then called the Esoteric Section of the
Theosophical Society. You can read all this for yourselves; it is all
in print. Then came that distinct cleavage of Exoteric and
Esoteric--the two heads, H. S. Olcott and H.P.B., one wielding the
temporal and the other the spiritual authority in the Society. It
meant that the Society had ceased to be the spiritual vehicle it was
in the earlier days. It meant, as was printed at that time, that some
of the members wished to carry on the Society on its original lines,
and so they formed themselves into this Section under her, on the
original lines. So it went on, like that time in the history of
humanity, in order that certain faculties might grow and become
strong, and that the spiritual side for a time might seem apart, and
the other might go its own way unruled. Many difficulties grew out of
it, but still they were not insuperable--a certain clashing of
authorities from time to time, and certain jealousy between the one
and the other. These things were the inevitable concomitants of the
separation, of the differences between the spiritual and temporal
sides, the Spirit and the body, as it were. So things went on until
the President passed away. When H.P.B. left us, she left me in charge
of her work, as her colleague did in Adyar lately, thu