Charles Webster Leadbeater

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Charles Webster Leadbeater

Charles Webster Leadbeater (born February 17, 1847 in Stockport , Great Britain , † March 1, 1934 in Perth , Australia ) was a priest , theosophist and occultist .

Charles W. Leadbeater became known as the propagator Jiddu Krishnamurtis , whom he introduced as the born again Christ . At the beginning of the 20th century he was one of the leading and most controversial ideologues of the Adyar Theosophical Society . Since 1916 he was bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church .

Life

Leadbeater spent his teenage years in South America, where his father was employed as a railroad director. He studied in Oxford theology and became a priest in 1879 for the Church of England ordained.

Spiritist and entry into the TG

At that time he was very interested in astronomy and increasingly also in spiritualism and clairvoyance. He took part in seances in London and met spiritist media . It was in this environment that he came into contact with Adyar theosophy, first through Alfred Percy Sinnett's book The Occult World . He gave up the priesthood and joined the Theosophical Society (TG) in London on November 21, 1883 .

Stay in India

On April 7, 1884 he made the acquaintance of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky . After Blavatsky had announced to him one evening that the "Masters" had received his letter, he found a first reply letter on the morning of October 31, 1884, suggesting that he should leave England. The next night he received a second letter from "Master" urging him to leave quickly. On November 4, 1884, he traveled to India .

In Adyar he worked several times interim as editor of the magazine The Theosophist from 1885 and spent his time primarily trying to acquire clairvoyant abilities. In 1886 he visited Ceylon with Blavatsky , where he settled as an assistant to Henry Steel Olcott . There he took part in Olcott's activities for "Buddhist renewal" until 1888 and professed Buddhism without, however, renouncing his Anglican faith. In the following years he developed through occult studies, which he u. a. together with Annie Besant operated, and a corresponding publication activity to one of the most prominent theosophists.

Leadbeater affair

Jiddu Krishnamurti

1906 Leadbeater drew accusations of pedophilia and homosexuality to after seeing the boys entrusted to his masturbation techniques had taught. As a result of the crisis triggered by these allegations, he could no longer be held in his offices and was expelled from the Theosophical Society (TG) in June 1906 . Besant declared that if such a thing is taught to adult men, it deserves "the most severe condemnation"; passing it on to boys is even worse.

From 1907, when Besant became president of the Theosophical Society Adyar (Adyar-TG), she ran Leadbeater's rehabilitation . In 1911 he was again accepted into the Adyar TG with 20 to 2 votes.

Adoption of Krishnamurti

In Besant's household, Leadbeater met the son of a clerk or caretaker employed by her ( Jiddu Krishnamurti ). Leadbeater convinced his father that his son was a reincarnation of the widely expected new world teacher, to whom Blavatsky had already pointed out in 1885. Besant then adopted the boy so that Leadbeater could train him. In Europe, the theosophists presented Krishnamurti as the born again Christ, in Asia they claimed he was Lord Maitreya or Boddhisatva . To promote the appearance of the New Savior, Besant founded the Order of the Star in the East in 1911 , in which Krishnamurti was touted as the coming world teacher. After his followers had turned away from him, since he had nothing new to announce from around 1928, he dissolved his order himself in 1929 and separated himself from the hype surrounding him.

Custody process

In early 1911 Krishnamurti and his brother and Nitya were brought to Europe for further training. After her father learned that Leadbeater had taught the boy generally reprehensible and immoral practices, he filed a lawsuit against Besant in 1912 for the surrender of his son and the annulment of the adoption. In the course of this, there was a custody suit, which the father won in the first instance. The judgment was overturned in the second instance.

Krishnamurti gradually turned away from his former mentor, who later turned to new activities. So Leadbeater traveled to Australia and became involved in Freemasonry . The pro-imperialist Leadbeater rejected the use of Besant and other theosophists for Indian self-government .

Emigration to Australia

In 1915 Leadbeater moved to Sydney . On July 22nd he was ordained bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church there. In the years that followed, he worked with his colleague James Wedgwood over the liturgy that their church had taken over from the Old Catholic Church . His activity polarized in Australia too. The anti-clerical majority of the local Theosophical Society turned against Leadbeater and Besant in 1922 under the motto “Back to Blavatsky” and split off from the parent company in Adyar. In order to be able to spread his views better, he founded the radio station 2GB in 1926 , which he subsequently used as a radio preacher.

Last years

The Liberal Catholic Church, which was still very theosophical, experienced a crisis from 1927 when Krishnamurti increasingly turned against rituals and organizations. In 1930, at the age of 83, Leadbeater moved back to Adyar. He died in Perth on March 1, 1934 while on a trip to Australia .

Works (selection)

literature

  • Jinarajadasa, Curuppumullage : Occult investigations, a description of the work of Annie Besant and CW Leadbeater . Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1938
  • Halbrich, JO: Oriental studies in a lighter vein, the story of belief and doubt in Buddhism, Taoism, Zen, Hermann Hesse, Mme. Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Bishop Leadbeater, Krishnamurti . Toil & Chat, Buenos Aires 1982
  • Michel, Peter: Charles W. Leadbeater, Through the Eyes of the Spirit, the biography of a great initiate . Aquamarin-Verlag, Grafing 1998; ISBN 3-89427-107-8
  • Tillett, Gregory: The elder brother, a biography of Charles Webster Leadbeater . Routledge & K. Paul, Boston 1982; ISBN 0710009267

Web links

Commons : Charles Webster Leadbeater  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst E. Miers : Lexicon of Secret Knowledge (= Esoteric. Vol. 12179). Original edition; and 3rd updated edition, both Goldmann, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-442-12179-5 , p. 371.
  2. ↑ Helmut Zander : Rudolf Steiner. The biography. Piper Verlag GmbH, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-492-05448-5 . P. 198.
  3. ↑ Horst E. Miers: Lexicon of Secret Knowledge (= Esoteric. Vol. 12179). Original edition; and 3rd updated edition, both Goldmann, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-442-12179-5 , p. 317.
  4. ↑ Horst E. Miers: Lexicon of Secret Knowledge (= Esoteric. Vol. 12179). Original edition; and 3rd updated edition, both Goldmann, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-442-12179-5 , p. 371.
  5. ↑ a b Horst E. Miers: Lexicon of Secret Knowledge (= Esoteric. Vol. 12179). Original edition; and 3rd updated edition, both Goldmann, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-442-12179-5 , p. 357.
personal data
SURNAME Leadbeater, Charles Webster
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British priest, theosophist and occultist
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockport
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 1934
Place of death Perth