Conversations in Theosophy (SFTS Lodge, 1/25/26): Strength to Love

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew, 18:20)

SFTS Lodge Altar

In our first Conversations in Theosophy of 2026, we honored the memory of the great Bodhisattva Dr. Martin Lither King, Jr., sharing readings from his "Strength of Love" sermons and discussing the relevance of their message in this time of trial and tribulation.

Published in 1963, "Strength of Love" is a collection of sermons which he started writing during a fourteen day jail sentence during protests in Albany, Georgia (July 1962) and finished before launching protests in Birmingham, Alabama (early 1963).

• King worried that the force of his spoken words would not make the transition to the printed page and wrote in the book’s preface that his reservations had “grown out of the fact that a sermon is not an essay to be read but a discourse to be heard. It should be a convincing appeal to a listening congregation ...” - The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University 

For our Conversation in Theosophy, Lodge President Mary Power read aloud from the first sermon in the collection, "A Tough Mind and A Tender Heart." 

In our circle's ensuing dialogue, the striking resonance of the sermon's message with the Theosophical Society's Three Avowed Objects was highlighted.

• To form a nucleus of universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color.
• To encourage the comparative study of religion, philosophy and science.
• To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in humanity. 

The message of Dr. King's sermon also resonates strongly with the Theosophical Society's Motto, "No Religion Higher Than Truth," AND the second line that this Lodge has added since the era of those great American sages, Joe and Guin Miller, "No Religion Greater Than Love."

Here are three short video clips from the presentation, interspersed with quotes from the text.

•  There is little hope for us in our personal or collective lives until we become tough minded enough to rise about the shackles of half-truth and legends. The shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of soft minded. A nation of soft minded men is purchasing its own spiritual death through an installment plan. - MLK, Jr., "Strength of Love," 1963.  

    

• Jesus reminds in a striking way that the good life demand combining the toughness of th serpent with the tenderness of the dove. To have serpent-like qualities devoid of dove-like qualities is to be passionless, mean and selfish. To have dove like qualities without serpent like qualities is to be sentimental, aimless, and empty. We must combine in our characters antithesis strongly marked. - MLK, Jr., "Strength of Love," 1963

• There is another way which combines tough mindnes with tender heartedness. It is tough minded enough to resist evil. It is tender hearted to resist it with love. It avoid the complacency and the do-nothingism of the soft minded and the violengoog_23981734ce and bitterness of the hard hearted - MLK, Jr., "Strength of Love," 1963

"Unarmed Truth & Unconditional Love Will Have the Final Word in Reality" - MLK Day 2026

Mantelpiece Altar, Theosophical Society of San Francisco

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." 

- MLK, Nobel Peace Prize Speech, Oslo, October, 1964

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Under Arrest, Montgomery, Alabama, 1958.
Photo Credit: Charles Moore

NOTE: MLK came from the future, & brought with him a message so powerful that its delivery cost the messenger his life. No monument could ever contain the greatness he conjured, but your radiant mind can mirror it, & your overflowing heart can pour it forth. Choose to live this truth. Choose to live from the future into the now. Choose indomitable compassion & dauntless courage. The goddesses of love & justice call to you from within your psyche-soma-soul. - Richard Power

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Grosse Point High School in 1968, Detroit
Photo Credit: Tony Spina

"Love is the supreme, unifying principle of life." - MLK, 1965

The Embrace" depicts the arms of MLK Jr. and Coretta Scott King
wrapped around each other.

“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted. The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been nonconformists. In any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist!” 

- Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Strength to Love” (1963)

A photograph taken after the announcement that MLK had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

“Jesus recognized the need for blending opposites. He knew that his disciples would face a difficult and hostile world, where they would confront the recalcitrance of political officials and the intransigence of the protectors of the old order. He knew that they would meet cold and arrogant men whose hearts had been hardened by the long winter of traditionalism. ... And he gave them a formula for action, ‘Be ye therefore as wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.’ ... We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.” - Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Strength to Love” (1963)

Photo Credit: Dick DeMarsico, World Telegram. 1964.

"A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies ... True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring ... When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh ... Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality .. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now ... Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, 'Too late.' There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. Omar Khayyam is right: 'The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on' ... Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter — but beautiful — struggle for a new world ... The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history." - MLK, NYC, April 1967

Martin Luther King Memorial, Washington D.C.  Photo Credit: @zackowicz MyDCcool

THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF SAN FRANCISCO JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 PROGRAM

That's what Theosophy is all about -- wisdom and love. There is a place in The Secret Doctrine where it states very clearly that Theosophy isn't the "love of wisdom," but rather "the wisdom of love." If each one of you thinks back over your life, you will see that it is always feeling that moves you, the feeling of love. - Joe Miller, Great Song: Life & Teachings of Joe Miller (Edited with An Introduction by Richard Power, Forward by Coleman Barks)

THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF SAN FRANCISCO JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 PROGRAM 

ON-LINE Sunday, 1/18/26, at 6 p.m. -  Jeff Curtis presents "Everything from Nothing & the Fullness of the Void" 

IN PERSON: Sunday, 1/25/26, 4 to  6 p.m. - Conversations in Theosophy

ON-LINE: Sunday, 2/15/26,  at 6 p.m., Elaine Santos presents "Heart Chakra Imagery"

IN-PERSON: Sunday, 2/22/26, 4 to 6 p.m. - Conversations in Theosophy

Join us for blessed new year of offerings both in-person and on-line!

In Celebration of Founders Day, November 17,1875 - November 17, 2025

The New York City building in which H.P.B. rented a flat, they call it the “Lamasery.” It is where she wrote "Isis Unveiled," and it is where the "Miracle Club" met.

November 17th is Founders' Day in the Theosophical Society. Yes, it all began on November 17th, 1875. Our Founders, Blavatsky, Olcott & Judge, were (and are) powerful, blessed beings, utterly human in their struggles, utterly holy in their vision and their dedication.Here are brief quotes from all three Founders, one quote for each of the first three decades of the Theosophical Society's great mission

What is it then, which makes me say what in deepest seriousness & a full knowledge of its truth I have said? What is it that makes me not only content but proud to stand for the brief moment as the mouthpiece & figure-head of this movement, risking abuse, misrepresentation, & every vile assault? It is the fact that in my soul I feel that behind us, behind our little band, behind our feeble, newborn organization, there gathers a mighty power that nothing can withstand—the power of truth! - Henry Steele Olcott, Inaugural Address, November 17, 1875

You must bear in mind how many powerful adversaries we have aroused ever since the formation of our Society... Intrinsically, Theosophy is the most serious movement of this age; & one, moreover, which threatens the very life of most of the time-honoured humbugs, prejudices, & social evils of the day — those evils which fatten & make happy the upper ten & their imitators & sycophants, the wealthy dozens of the middle classes, while they positively crush & starve out of existence the millions of the poor. We have to contend against... - H.P. Blavatsky, Key to Theosophy (1889)

Although it contains by derivation the name God & thus may seem at first sight to embrace religion alone, it does not neglect science, for it is the science of sciences & therefore has been called the wisdom religion. For no science is complete which leaves out any department of nature, whether visible or invisible, & that religion which, depending solely on an assumed revelation, turns away from things & the laws which govern them is nothing but a delusion, a foe to progress, an obstacle in the way of man's advancement toward happiness. Embracing both the scientific & the religious, Theosophy is a scientific religion & a religious science. - William Q. Judge, Ocean of Theosophy (1893)

Photos: 1. Lamasery, 2. Olcott & Judge, 3. HPB & Olcott, 4. Olcott, Judge & Besant, 5. Theosophical Society Emblem

THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF SAN FRANCISCO NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 PROGRAM

The Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is December 12th. The San Francisco Lodge of the Theosophical Society is so blessed to be enveloped in Her Love and Protection.

THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF SAN FRANCISCO NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 PROGRAM 

IN-PERSON: Sunday, 11/9/25, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. - MpowerDance Project presents "Water Changes Rock. We Are Here" featuring Courtney Wynn-Sheets & Mary Power

IN-PERSON: Sunday, 12/14/25, 4 to 6 p.m. - Lodge Solstice Holiday Celebration

NOTE: Our Monthly Online Presentations will resume in January with Jeff Curtis on "Opening Thoughts on Something Arising from Nothing.

Join us in 2026 for blessed new year of offerings both in-person and on-line!

SPECIAL EVENT (11/9/25): "Water Changes Rock. Here We Are"

Please join us on November 9, 2025, 2 p.m. - 6 p.m., at the San Francisco Lodge of the Theosophical Society. Your presence will support and elevate this inspired evening of dance art performance.

Schedule:

2 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Opening Reception*

3 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Courtney Wynn Sheets - Artist's Talk (Including "Mementomorium" Slideshow)

MpowerDance Project's Dance Films and Butoh Performance

*This is a non-alcohol event produced by MpowerDance Project and co-hosted by the San Francisco Lodge of the Theosophical Society.
MpowerDance Project is an affiliate member of Independent Arts and Media.

For more information, e-mail us (sftslodge at gmail.com) or inquire via Facebook Messenger (https://www.facebook.com/sfts.lodge)

"Much of my subject matter centers on our embodied connection to Nature, the energies
found there that are also within us, and their relationships to our individuated primal
natures. I often weave in themes related to the political zeitgeist that range from eco-
feminism to human rights. With my watercolor practice I engage with the space, the
water and colors in a way that allows for the unfoldment of harmony and the surrender
of any fixed plans. It allows for divine “accidents,” unexpected magic and an openness
to the Mystery that can’t be described through language. Expressing my true nature
through art is my path to self-actualization, and the integration of my many selves into
wholeness." - Courtney Wynn Sheets

“I dare Butoh. Again and again, I dare the Butoh seed planted in me to push through the husk of what was dark nothingness into shadow and lies of possibility. Butoh lies, where granite waits and oceans hide, before our ancient 4.54 billion rounded rock speaks of time. Without requirement, no one listens to the alchemy of light, sound, movement and stillness. Life dances with primal coherence, in particles and waves and frequency, a rhythm hurling into attraction so unbreakable, with such passion, purpose and commitment for the whole of its body and surrounding space, a moon smiles. That time when a volcano’s burst of laughter created sculpture, when every one of San Andreas’ faults made us tremor, it was a butterfly dreaming to be human. The dance breaks the surface of conformity. It absorbs irradiance until blossoms of color and terrestrial insolation explodes the seed space with its truth. Living magma, turns rock, turns loamy womb of holding. And time disintegrates. It is the water bearer. Time is quenched to the core. Water, within and without, shapeshifts an overflow into a glacier that floats within a stone worn cup of water. Before that time, unseen time, vapor drifts its ghost like fingers, caressing and clinging to solid edges before it gets carried away into another cyclical finality. Each form weaves moments into mystery and meaning.” – Mary Power 2025

"Water Changes Rock. We Are Here" - Art Opening Reception & Exhibition (11/9/25)

On November 9, 2025, at the San Francisco Lodge of the Theosophical Society, MpowerDance presents "Water Changes Rock. We Are Here" - an Art Opening Reception and Exhibition featuring the work of San Antonio based guest artist Courtney Wynn-Sheets and San Francisco local Butoh choreographer and artist Mary Power. 

Please join us on November 9, 2025, at the San Francisco Lodge of the Theosophical Society, from 2 - 6 p.m. Your presence will support and elevate this inspired evening of dance art performance in San Francisco. Together we will bear witness to compelling, mystical, provocative art produced during the first quarter of the 21st Century.

Schedule:

2 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

• Opening Reception*

3 p.m. - 6 p.m. 

• Courtney Wynn Sheets - Artist's Talk (Including "Mementomorium" Slideshow) 
• MpowerDance Project's Dance Films and Butoh Performance

*This is a non-alcohol event produced by MpowerDance Project and co-hosted by the San Francisco Lodge of the Theosophical Society.

MpowerDance Project is an affiliate member of Independent Arts and Media.

“I dare Butoh. Again and again, I dare the Butoh seed planted in me to push through the

husk of what was dark nothingness into shadow and lies of possibility. Butoh lies, where

granite waits and oceans hide, before our ancient 4.54 billion rounded rock speaks of

time.Without requirement, no one listens to the alchemy of light, sound, movement and

stillness. Life dances with primal coherence in particles and waves and frequency, a

rhythm hurling into attraction so unbreakable, with such passion, purpose and

commitment, for the whole of its body and surrounding space, a moon smiles.

That time when a volcano’s burst of laughter created sculpture, every San Andreas fault

made us tremor, it was a butterfly dreaming it was human. The dance breaks the

surface of conformity. It absorbs irradiance until blossoms of color and terrestrial

insolation explodes of the seed space with its truth. Living magma, turns rock, turns

loamy womb of holding. And time disintegrates. It is the water bearer. Time is quenched

to the core. Water, within and without, shapeshifts an overflow into a glacier that floats in

an earthen cup of water. Before that time, unseen time, vapor drifts with ghost like

fingers caressing and clinging to solid edges before it gets carried away into cyclical

finality. Each form weaves moments into mystery and meaning.” - Mary Power 2025

Both artists are lifetime members of the San Francisco Theosophical Society Lodge.

Courtney Wynn Sheets is a self-taught mixed-media artist creating within mediums
from wood sculpting, design, photography, collage, drawing to painting. Her background
includes performing arts with a San Francisco boutique circus, collaborating on interactive sound installations, and making life-cast portraits. Courtney was born in the cornfields of northwest Indiana in analog times, and has lived all over the country including New England, New York City, Tucson, San Francisco, Portland, and Maui. Currently based in San Antonio, she makes her art, co-operates the gallery Space C7, and curates Outrider Art + Objects, a boutique pop-up gallery. As a healing arts practitioner for many years, Courtney Wynn Sheets, works as an end of life educator, death work activist and doula.  

‘Much of my subject matter centers on our embodied connection to Nature, the energies

found there that are also within us, and their relationships to our individuated primal

natures. I often weave in themes related to the political zeitgeist that range from eco-

feminism to human rights. With my watercolor practice I engage with the space, the

water and colors in a way that allows for the unfoldment of harmony and the surrender

of any fixed plans. It allows for divine “accidents,” unexpected magic and an openness

to the Mystery that can’t be described through language. Expressing my true nature

through art is my path to self-actualization, and the integration of my many selves into

wholeness.’ - Courtney Wynn Sheets

For more information, visit http://courtneywynnsheets.com

Mary Power, dancer, choreographer and artistic director of MPOWERDANCE
PROJECT, is a member of the San Francisco non-profit dance community through
Independent Arts and Media. Mary holds a Masters in Exercise Science and
Kinesiology with an extensive teaching background in Sports and Dancemedicine. Her
choreography is sourced from Butoh, Contemporary Dance (Modern, Ballet), African,
Flamenco and other mind-body systems: Pilates, Gyrotonic, Yoga, Martial Arts and body
leverage for partnering/TRX. MpowerDance Project offers interdisciplinary workshops,
dance training classes, performance works, process and performance opportunities,
collaborations with dancers, artists, writers and film makers, musicians, and connects
community experience through dance film media. Through MpowerDance Project, Mary has been producing dance art performance events continually since 2010. And in 2012, MpowerDance Project launched Mary's annual Global Dance Project (GDP), which features free global imaginal content for choreography, dance art and performance via the world wide web.

For more information, visit http://mpowerdance.net

MpowerDance Mission

Our project maintains high artistic content through Butoh and contemporary dance,

multidisciplinary collaborations, and interactive manifested production. Our focus

promotes a creative commentary on human-centric views in relation to our biocentric

world, man’s ideas in relation to nature’s laws. Our work eliminates space for misogyny.

We drive with critical thinking, scientific research, real experience, world philosophy and

symbol to create choreography, performance and art. We inspire and connect diverse audiences, both locally (San Francisco) and globally, through the GDP/Global Dance Project, an annual choreographic offering.We build toward sustainability in all relationship, promoting professionalism and friendship with respect among ourselves, other humans, other species and to nature itself. We are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and social awareness.

Thank you for supporting the Arts. 

"The Society will live on into and through the twentieth century ..." - Blavatsky on the Kali Yuga & the Theosophical Society's Mission

So long as the T.S. has a few devoted members willing to work for it without reward & thanks, so long as a few good Theosophists support it with occasional donations, so long will it exist, & nothing can crush it. - H.P.B., Key to Theosophy

Excerpts from H.P. Blavatsky's Key to Theosophy (1889)

To this day no one seems even to feel quite certain whether the Theosophists are a kind of Serpent-and-Devil worshipers, or simply “Esoteric Buddhists”—whatever that may mean. It was useless for us to go on denying, day after day and year after year, every kind of inconceivable cock-and-bull stories about us; for, no sooner was one disposed of, than another, a still more absurd and malicious one, was born out of the ashes of the first.

So long as the T.S. has a few devoted members willing to work for it without reward and thanks, so long as a few good Theosophists support it with occasional donations, so long will it exist, and nothing can crush it.
Enquirer: I have heard many Theosophists speak of a “power behind the Society” and of certain “Mahatmas,” mentioned also in Mr. Sinnett’s works, that are said to have founded the Society, to watch over and protect it.
HPB: You may laugh, but it is so.

We call them “Masters” because they are our teachers; and because from them we have derived all the Theosophical truths, however inadequately some of us may have expressed, and others understood, them. They are men of great learning, whom we term Initiates, and still greater holiness of life. They are not ascetics in the ordinary sense, though they certainly remain apart from the turmoil and strife of your western world.

The Society will live on into and through the twentieth century. It will gradually leaven and permeate the great mass of thinking and intelligent people with its large-minded and noble ideas of Religion, Duty, and Philanthropy. Slowly but surely it will burst asunder the iron fetters of creeds and dogmas, of social and caste prejudices; it will break down racial and national antipathies and barriers, and will open the way to the practical realization of the Brotherhood of all men.

Through its teaching, through the philosophy which it has rendered accessible and intelligible to the modern mind, the West will learn to understand and appreciate the East at its true value. Further, the development of the psychic powers and faculties, the premonitory symptoms of which are already visible in America, will proceed healthily and normally.

It is curious to see how prophetic in almost all things was the writer of Vishnu Purâna when foretelling to Maitreya some of the dark influences and sins of this Kali Yug. For after saying that the “barbarians” will be masters of the banks… There will be contemporary monarchs, reigning over the earth— kings of churlish spirit, violent temper, and ever addicted to falsehood and wickedness... Wealth and piety will decrease until the world will be wholly depraved. Property alone will confer rank; wealth will be the only source of devotion; passion will be the sole bond of union between the sexes; falsehood will be the only means of success in litigation; and women will be objects merely of sensual gratification.

Mankind will be saved from the terrible dangers, both mental and bodily, which are inevitable when that unfolding takes place, as it threatens to do, in a hot-bed of selfishness and all evil passions. Man’s mental and psychic growth will proceed in harmony with his moral improvement, while his material surroundings will reflect the peace and fraternal goodwill which will reign in his mind, instead of the discord and strife which is everywhere apparent around us today.