Dictionary: the·os·o·phy (thē-ŏs'ə-fē)
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n., pl., -phies.
1.Religious philosophy or speculation about the nature of the soul based on mystical insight into the nature of God.
2.often Theosophy The system of beliefs and teachings of the Theosophical Society, founded in New York City in 1875, incorporating aspects of Buddhism and Brahmanism, especially the belief in reincarnation and spiritual evolution.
[Medieval Latin theosophia, from Late Greek theosophiā : Greek theo-, theo- + Greek sophiā, wisdom.]
theosophic the'o·soph'ic (-ə-sŏf'ĭk) or the'o·soph'i·cal (-ĭ-kəl) adj.
theosophically the'o·soph'i·cal·ly adv.
theosophist the·os'o·phist n.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: theosophy
Top Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Religious philosophy with mystical concerns that can be traced to the ancient world. It holds that God, whose essence pervades the universe as an absolute reality, can be known only through mystical experience (see mysticism). It is characterized by esoteric doctrine and an interest in occult phenomena. Theosophical beliefs are found in Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, and among students of the Kabbala, but Jakob Böhme, who developed a complete theosophical system, is often called the father of modern theosophy. Today theosophy is associated with the Theosophical Society, founded by Helena Blavatsky in 1875. See also Annie Besant.
For more information on theosophy, visit Britannica.com.
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Religion: Theosophy
Top Home > Library > Religion & Spirituality > ReligionThere is a hidden side of reality that is controlled by masters of the occult: this is the premise of the Theosophical (divine wisdom) Society. Its founder and guiding light was a woman named Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891). She spent more than twenty years traveling the world, meeting with experts in the occult. She was initiated into secret societies all over the globe. She studied in Egypt, Mexico, Tibet, Canada, and the United States, where she met Colonel Henry Olcott (1832-1907). He was a scientist and a lawyer who had been investigating the new phenomenon of Spiritualism (See Spiritualism) for years. The two of them formed the Theosophical Society in 1875, convinced science and the occult supernatural could expand both mind and spiritual power. In 1878 Blavatsky published Isis Revealed, in which she looked to the wisdom of the ancient masters for guidance in the modern world.
It soon became obvious to them that real wisdom could only be found in the East. So the two traveled to India, where they established their headquarters in Madras, thereby linking their understanding of Theosophy with both Buddhism and Hinduism. They took such a proactive position for Indian independence from Britain that they were soon befriended by the local Hindu intellectual community, and Theosophy began to flourish.
Blavatsky published her most important work, The Secret Doctrines, in 1888, a work that she claimed was based on a lost text called Stanzas of Dzyan. It shows a lot of Hindu influence (See Brahman/Atman) with its imagery of the One universal principle, which flows through all things, pulsing through creation and then returning to the One. All reality is one universal consciousness. Humans, existing at different spiritual levels, are linked to the One.
Later Theosophical leaders developed a whole master hierarchy. Solar Logos rules the solar level. Sanat Kumara, "Lord of the World," resides in Shamballa, another dimension parallel to the one in which we live. The Buddha, the Bodhisattva, and Manu serve there as well. The Seven Rays govern all earthly life, each ruled by a different master. They have appeared from time to time throughout history. We know them by such names as Krishna, Jesus, and Roger Bacon.
Although Theosophy, as might be expected, splintered into many different movements, it is still active today, known by many names. It served a valuable function in that it introduced a lot of Westerners to Eastern thought. For this reason, a good argument can be made that Theosophy was the first of what is now called New Age Religion (See New Age Religions).
Sources: Ludwig, Theodore M. The Sacred Paths: Understanding the Religions of the World. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.
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hilosophy Dictionary: theosophy
Top Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > Philosophy Dictionary(Greek, God + wisdom) Generally restricted to systems, such as that of Swedenborg, of a pantheistic and mystical nature, and in particular that associated with Madame Blavatsky (1831-91), which includes the transmigration of souls, the brotherhood of man, the denial of a personal God and personal immortality, and belief in the fourth dimension.
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US History Encyclopedia: Theosophy
Top Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > US History EncyclopediaTheosophy is defined by its expounders as a religion-philosophy-science brought to America by "messengers of the guardians and preservers of the ancient Wisdom-Religion of the East." Its founder was an eccentric Russian noblewoman, Helena P. Blavatsky. In July 1848, at age sixteen, she was married to a forty-one-year-old government official. She ran away after three months to Constantinople and joined a circus. After extensive travels in the Far East where she claimed to have received instruction from "Sages of the Orient," she came to New York City on 7 July 1873 and, two years later, with William Q. Judge, Henry Steel Olcott, and fifteen others, formed the Theosophical Society. The purpose of the organization was to further a universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, color, sex, caste, or creed; to further the study of the ancient scriptures and teachings such as Brahmanical, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian; and to investigate the "unexplained laws of Nature" and the psychic and spiritual powers latent in man.
At first, the theosophists displayed an interest in spiritualism but later repudiated it, stating that spiritistic phenomena "were but a meagre part of a larger whole." Later, Madame Blavatsky formed what she termed an "esoteric section," which was a select group of promising students gathered to study the more profound teachings of theosophy. Madame Blavatsky left the United States in 1878 and formed theosophical societies in England and India, which recognized her leadership until her death in 1891.
The teachings of theosophy stress universal brotherhood to be a fact in nature on which its philosophy and religion are based. Theosophy proclaims a "Deific Absolute Essence, infinite and unconditioned … from which all starts, and into which everything returns." Man has an immortal soul, but the soul is a tenant of many different bodies in many different lives. Every soul must become perfect before the next stage of existence can be entered upon, and those who go forward most rapidly must wait for all. For this, many reincarnations are necessary. Theosophy accepts the miracles of Jesus but denies their supernatural character, holding that they were accomplished through natural laws.
As of 2001, there were 130 theosophical study centers and theosophical societies—known as lodges—in the United States.
Bibliography
Campbell, Bruce F. Ancient Wisdom Revised: A History of the Theosophical Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
Greenwalt, Emmet A. The Point Loma Community in California, 1897–1942: A Theosophical Experiment. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1955.
Washington, Peter. Madame Blavatsky's Baboon: Theosophy and the Emergence of the Western Guru. London: Secker and War-burg, 1993.
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Columbia Encyclopedia: theosophy
Top Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopediatheosophy (thēŏs'əfē) [Gr.,=divine wisdom], philosophical system having affinities with mysticism and claiming insight into the nature of God and the world through direct knowledge, philosophical speculation, or some physical process. This system of thought differs from many other philosophical positions in that it begins with an assumption of the absolute reality of the essence of God, from which it deduces the essentially spiritual nature of the universe. Other assumptions frequently found in theosophical doctrine are that God is the transcendent source of all being and all good; that evil exists in the world because of human desire for finite goods and may be overcome by complete absorption in the infinite; and that sacred writings and doctrines are interpreted through allegory. This is the position of much speculative mysticism. However, mysticism generally confines itself to the soul's relation to God, while the theosophist uses these theories to formulate a complete philosophy of humanity and nature.
History
The Neoplatonists, the Gnostics, and the kabbalists are generally considered types of theosophists. Jakob Boehme, regarded as the father of modern theosophy, developed a complete theosophical system attempting to reconcile the existence of an all-powerful and all-good God with the presence of evil in the world. The philosophy and theology of Asia, especially of India, contain a vast body of theosophical doctrine. Modern theosophy draws much of its vocabulary from Indian sources. The Theosophical Society, with which theosophy is now generally identified, was founded in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky; associated with her were H. S. Olcott and W. Q. Judge. Blavatsky wrote The Secret Doctrine (1888, repr. 1964) and Key to Theosophy (1931, rev. ed. 1969). An active exponent of theosophy in Europe, America, and the East was Annie Besant, who added many works to the literature on the subject.
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Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Theosophy
Top Home > Library > Religion & Spirituality > Occultism & Parapsychology EncyclopediaTerm derived from the Greek theos (rod) and sophia (wisdom), denoting a philosophical-religious system that claims absolute knowledge of the existence and nature of the deity, and is not to be confused with the later system evolved by the founders of the Theosophical Society.
This knowledge, or theosophy, it is claimed, may be obtained by special individual revelation, or through the operation of some higher faculty. It is the transcendent character of the godhead of theosophical systems that differentiates them from the philosophical systems of the speculative or absolute type, which usually proceed deductively from the idea of God. God is conceived in theosophical systems as the transcendent source of being, from whom human beings in their natural state are far removed.
Theosophy is practically another name for speculative mysticism. Thus Kabalistic and Neoplatonic conceptions of divine emanations are in reality theosophical, as are the mystical systems of Jakob Boehme and Baader.
Theosophy has also come to signify the tenets and teachings of the founders of the Theosophical Society. This society was founded in the United States in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Col. H. S. Olcott, and others. Its objectives were to establish a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, to promote the study of comparative religion and philosophy, and to investigate the mystic powers of life and matter.
The conception of the Universal Brotherhood was based upon the oriental idea of one life—that ultimate oneness underlies all diversity, whether inward or outward. The study of comparative religion had materialized into a definite system of belief, the bounds of which were dogmatically fixed. It was set forth in the theosophical system that all the great religions of the world originated from one supreme source and that they are merely expressions of a central "Wisdom Religion" vouch-safed to various races of the earth in such a manner as is best suited to time and geographical circumstances.
Underlying these was a secret doctrine or esoteric teaching, which, it was stated, had been the possession for ages of certain Mahatmas, or adepts, in mysticism and occultism. With these Blavatsky claimed to be in direct communication, and she herself manifested occult phenomena, producing the ringing of astral bells, and so forth.
On several occasions these effects were unmasked as fraudulent, but many people believed that Blavatsky was one of those rare personalities who possess great natural psychic powers, which at times failing her, she augmented by fraudulent methods.
The evidence for the existence of the Great White Brotherhood of Mahatmas, the existence of which she asserted, was unfortunately somewhat inconclusive. It rested, for the most part, on the statements of Blavatsky, Olcott, A. P. Sinnett, Charles W. Leadbeater, and other committed Theosophists, who claimed to have seen or communicated with them.
With every desire to do justice to these upholders of the theosophical argument, it is necessary to point out that in occult, or pseudo-occult experiences, the question of hallucination enters very largely, and the ecstatic condition may be responsible for subjective appearances that seem real enough to the visionary.
Again, the written communications of the Mahatmas—the Mahatma letters —give rise to much doubt. One Mahatma employed the American system of spelling, and this was accounted for by the circumstance that his English had been sophisticated by reading American books. A study of these letters leaves little doubt that their style, script, and purpose were nearer to Blavatsky than to Tibetan or Himalayan hermitages.
The revelations of Blavatsky in her books Isis Unveiled (2 vols., 1877) and The Secret Doctrine (2 vols., 1888-97) are an extraordinary mixture of Buddhistic, Brahministic, and Kabalistic matter with a basic theme of religious unity and the persistence of occult and miraculous phenomena throughout history.
The Theosophical Society has numbered among its members many persons of high ability, whose statement and exegesis of their faith has placed it upon a much higher level and more definite foundation.
The system was constructed in a manner akin to genius, and evolved on highly intricate lines. It was, to a great extent, pieced together after the death of the original founder of the society, on which event a schism occurred in the Brotherhood through the claims to leadership of William Q. Judge, of New York, who died in 1896, and who was followed by Katherine Tingley, the founder of the great Theosophical community at Point Loma, California.
Olcott became the leader of the remaining part of the original Theosophical Society in America and India, being assisted in his work by Annie Besant, but a more or less independent organization was founded in England.
A brief outline of the tenets of Theosophy may be stated as follows. It posits a rational belief in its views rather than blind faith, and allows for individual differences of opinion. It professes to be a religious philosophy that holds the germs of all others. It has also its aspect as a science—a science of life and of the soul.
The basic teaching is that there are three absolute truths that cannot be lost, but yet may remain silent for lack of speech. (1) The soul of humanity is immortal and its future is the future of the thing, whose growth and splendor has no limit. (2) The principle that gives life dwells in us and without us, is undying and eternally beneficent, is not heard, or seen, or smelt, but is perceived by the man who desires perception. (3) Each individual is his or her own absolute law-giver, the dispenser of glory or gloom to oneself, decreer of one's life, one's reward, one's punishment.
Although Theosophy posits the existence of an absolute, it does not pretend to knowledge of its attributes. In the absolute are innumerable universes and in each universe countless solar systems. Each solar system is the expression of a being called the Logos, the Word of God, or the Solar Deity, who permeates it and exists above it and outside it.
Below this Solar Deity are his seven ministers, called Planetary Spirits, whose relation to him is like that of the nerve centers to the brain, so that all his voluntary acts come through him to them. Under them are vast hosts or orders of spiritual beings called devas, or angels, who assist in many ways. This world is ruled by a great official who represents the Solar Deity, who is in absolute control of all the evolution that takes place upon this planet. When a new religion is to be founded, this being either comes or sends pupils to institute it.
In the earlier stages of the development of humanity the great officials of the hierarchy are provided from more highly evolved parts of the system, but whenever human beings can be trained to the necessary level of power and wisdom these offices are held by them. They can only be filled by adepts, who in goodness, power, and wisdom are immeasurably greater than ordinary individuals, and have attained the summit of human evolution. These advance until they themselves become of the nature of deities.
There are many degrees and many lines of activity among these, but some of them always remain within touch of the Earth and assist in the spiritual evolution of humanity. This body is called the "Great White Brotherhood." Its members do not dwell together, but live separately apart from the world and are in constant telepathic communication with one another.
Their knowledge of higher forces is so great that they have no necessity for meeting in the physical world, but each dwells in his own country, and their power remains unsuspected among those who live near them. These adepts are willing to take as apprentices those who have resolved to devote themselves utterly to the service of humankind. Blavatsky was presumed to be such an apprentice. One of these masters said: "In order to succeed the pupil must leave his own world and come into ours."
The Theosophical conception of the constitution of the human being is that he or she is in essence a spark of the divine fire belonging to the monadic world. For the purposes of human evolution, this monad manifests itself in lower worlds. Entering the spiritual world it manifests itself there as the triple spirit; one of its three aspects always remains in the spiritual sphere.
The second aspect manifests itself in the intuitional world, and the third in the higher mental world, and these two are collated with intuition and intelligence. These three aspects combined make up the ego, which is individual personality during the human stage of evolution. The way or path towards enlightenment and emancipation is known as karma.
The human personality is composed of a complex organization consisting of seven principles, which are united and interdependent, yet divided into certain groups, each capable of maintaining a kind of personality. Each of these principles is composed of its own form of matter and possesses its own laws of time, space, and motion.
The most gross of those, the physical body, is known as rupa, which becomes more and more refined until we reach the universal self, atma, but the circumstance that determines the individual's powers, tests, and advantages, or in short his or her character, is the karma, which is the sum of bodily, mental, and spiritual growth and is spread over many lives past and future. If in one existence the individual is handicapped by any defect, mental or physical, it may be regarded as the outcome of past delinquencies. This doctrine is common to both Buddhism and Brahminism, from which Theosophy derives.
Returning to concepts of the constitution of the human being, the ego existing in the higher mental world cannot enter the physical world until it has drawn around itself a veil composed of the matter of these spheres, nor can it think in any but an abstract manner without them—its concrete ideas being due to them. Having assumed the astral and physical bodies, it is born as a human being, and having lived out its Earth-life sojourns for a time in the astral world, until it can succeed in throwing off the shackles of the astral body.
When that is achieved the individual finds himself or herself living in the mental body. The stay in this sphere is usually a long one—the strength of the mental constitution depending upon the nature of the thoughts to which one has habituated oneself. But he or she is not yet sufficiently developed to proceed to higher planes, and once more descends into the denser physical sphere to again go through the same round. It is only through that descent that a full recognition of the higher worlds is developed in the individual.
In the higher mental world, the permanent vehicle is a causal body, which consists of matter of the first, second, and third sub-divisions of that world. As the ego unfolds one's latent possibilities in the course of one's evolution, this matter is greatly brought into action, but it is only in the perfect individual or adept that it is developed to its fullest extent. In the causal body, none of the possibilities of the grosser bodies can manifest themselves.
The mental body is built up of matter of the four lower subdivisions of the mental world, and expresses the individual's concrete thoughts. Its size and shape are determined by those of the causal vehicle.
While on Earth the personality wears the physical, mental, and astral bodies all at once. It is the astral that connects one with the astral plane during sleep or trance. It is easy to see how the doctrine of reincarnation arose from this idea. The ego must travel from existence to existence, physical, astral, mental, until it can transcend the mental world and enter the higher spheres
The Theosophical path to the goal of Nirvana is derived from Buddhistic teaching, but there are also other elements in it—Kabalistic and Greek. The path is the great work whereby the inner nature of the individual is consciously transformed and developed. A radical alternation must be made in the aims and motives of the ordinary mortal. The path is long and difficult, and as has been said extends over many existences. Morality alone is insufficient to the full awakening of the spiritual faculty, without which progress in the path is impossible. Something incomparably higher is necessary.
The physical and spiritual exercises recommended by Theosophy are those formulated in the Hindu philosophical system known as raja yoga. The most strenuous efforts alone can impel the individual along the path, and thus to mount by the practice of vidya, that higher wisdom that awakens the latent faculties and concentrates effort in the direction of union with the absolute.
The way is described as long and difficult, but as the disciple advances he or she becomes more convinced of ultimate success, by the possession of transcendental faculties that greatly assist in overcoming difficulties. But these must not be sought for their own sake, as to gain knowledge of them for evil purposes is tantamount to the practice of black magic.
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Devil's Dictionary: theosophy
Top Home > Library > Literature & Language > Devil's DictionaryA cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce
n.
An ancient faith having all the certitude of religion and all the mystery of science. The modern Theosophist holds, with the Buddhists, that we live an incalculable number of times on this earth, in as many several bodies, because one life is not long enough for our complete spiritual development; that is, a single lifetime does not suffice for us to become as wise and good as we choose to wish to become. To be absolutely wise and good -- that is perfection; and the Theosophist is so keen-sighted as to have observed that everything desirous of improvement eventually attains perfection. Less competent observers are disposed to except cats, which seem neither wiser nor better than they were last year. The greatest and fattest of recent Theosophists was the late Madame Blavatsky, who had no cat.
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The Dream Encyclopedia: Theosophy
Top Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Dream EncyclopediaTheoTsophy is a particular synthesis of religious and occult ideas drawn primarily from the philosophical systems of India, the ancient Gnostics, and the Neoplatonists. The term also refers to a specific religious movement, the Theosophical Society, which was founded in New York in 1875. As a part of the religious phenomenon known as esotericism, Theosophy offers enlightenment to the individual through knowledge of the world of the divine and its hidden mysteries.
Theosophy postulates a rather complex view of the universe, within which humanity's origins, evolution, and destiny after death are delineated. According to its principles, the visible world arises from an omnipresent and immutable divine "source," an immaterial reality, of which-as in Hindu philosophy-the universe is the manifestation and from within which it is worked and guided. The ultimate goal of human life is, as in southern Asian religions, to free oneself from matter (Theosophists believe in reincarnation) and return to the source, with an increased consciousness.
One of the central teachings of Theosophy is that the cosmos is arranged in a series of distinct vibratory "planes" that coexist with the physical plane (the densest of them all) in what may be called a different "dimension." The soul, which is a spark of the divine source, can operate in the lower planes via a series of vehicles or "bodies," with which it clothes itself. The planes closest to the physical are the etheric plane and the astral plane.
During sleep, according to Theosophy, the soul withdraws to these subtler planes. The level at which the soul stops determines the types of dreams the individual will have. As examples of dreams created or influenced by the physical body, C.W. Leadbeater, in his short work Dreams, cites instances in which a sound or other stimulus in the environment is incorporated into a sleeper's dream immediately before the person awakens.
When the soul is operating in the etheric plane, Leadbeater says, we are receptive to the "thought-forms" of other people. By this he means that thoughts radiate out from our minds on the etheric plane, and that these thoughts can be picked up by other minds, usually as an indistinct jumble of images (although, as in ESP, a clear idea can sometimes be communicated directly from one mind to another). These cluttered, disconnected, constantly changing thought-forms are often picked up by the mind during sleep, and this accounts for the disconnected nature of much of our dream experience.
According to Leadbeater, when the soul is operating in the astral body, the dreamer may visit distant scenes of surpassing beauty, … meet and exchange ideas with friends, either living or departed, who happen to be equally awake on the astral plane. He may be fortunate enough to encounter those who know far more than he does, and may receive warning or instruction. He may [also] come into contact with non-human entities of various kinds-with nature-spirits, artificial elementals, or even, though very rarely, with Devas (angels).….
The problem with these experiences, Leadbeater notes, is that the dreamer often does not remember his dreams-not even the more significant ones.
Certain writers in the broader occult-theosophical tradition have asserted that during sleep the soul has the option of advancing itself to the higher planes. For example, the dreamer's soul might attend "classes" in special "classrooms" on the higher planes of existence, though most of us forget what we have learned upon awakening.
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Top Zoroastrianism in the Light of Theosophy
Wikipedia: Theosophy
Top Home > Library > Miscellaneous > WikipediaThis article is about the philosophy introduced by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in association with Ascended Masters. See Theosophy (history of philosophy) for other uses.
Emblem of the Theosophical Society (Adyar) described at [1]
Part of a series on Theosophy
Founders of the T. S.
Helena Blavatsky · Henry Steel Olcott . William Quan Judge
Theosophists
Alfred Percy Sinnett
Abner Doubleday · Geoffrey Hodson
Archibald Keightley · C.W. Leadbeater
Annie Besant · G. R. S. Mead
Katherine Tingley · Ernest Wood
Philosophical concepts
Seven Rays · Root Races
Round · Initiation
Spiritual Hierarchy
Organisations
Theosophical Society
TS Adyar · TS Pasadena
TS Point Loma-Covina · TSA Hargrove
United Lodge of Theosophists
Theosophical texts
Isis Unveiled · The Key to Theosophy
Mahatma Letters · The Secret Doctrine
The Voice of the Silence
More...
Theosophical Masters
Sanat Kumara · Maitreya
Manu · Djwal Khul · Morya
Kuthumi · Paul the Venetian
Serapis Bey · Master Hilarion
Master Jesus · Master Rakoczi
Related topics
Agni Yoga · Anthroposophy
Esotericism · Jiddu Krishnamurti
Neo-Theosophy
Liberal Catholic Church
Living Ethics · Alice Bailey
Ascended Master Teachings
Benjamin Creme
v • d • e
Theosophy is a doctrine of religious philosophy and mysticism. Theosophy holds that all religions are attempts by the "Spiritual Hierarchy" to help humanity in evolving to greater perfection, and that each religion therefore has a portion of the truth. The founding members, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907), and William Quan Judge (1851–1896), established the Theosophical Society in New York City in 1875.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 The three objects
3 Basic Theosophical beliefs
3.1 Evolution and Race
3.2 The Septenary
4 History
4.1 Original usage
4.2 The Theosophical Society
4.3 Influence
4.4 Music
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links
Etymology
Main article: Theosophy (history of philosophy)
Blavatsky addressed the name in the beginning of The Key to Theosophy:
It comes to us from the Alexandrian philosophers, called lovers of truth, Philaletheians, from phil "loving," and aletheia "truth." The name Theosophy dates from the third century of our era, and began with Ammonius Saccas and his disciples, who started the Eclectic Theosophical system.
Theosophy, literally "god-wisdom" (Greek: θεοσοφία theosophia), designated several bodies of ideas predating Blavatsky:
The term appeared in Neoplatonism. Porphyry De Abstinentia (4.9) mentioned "Greek and Chaldean theosophy", Ἑλληνική, Χαλδαϊκὴ θεοσοφία. The adjective θεόσοφος "wise in divine things" was applied by Iamblichus (De mysteriis 7.1) to the gymnosophists (Γυμνοσοφισταί), i.e. the Indian yogis or sadhus.
The term was used during the Renaissance to refer to the spiritually-oriented thought and works of a number of philosophers, including: Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, Robert Fludd, and, especially, Jacob Boehme; the work of these early theosophists influenced the Enlightenment theologian Emanuel Swedenborg and philosopher Franz von Baader.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines theosophy as: "Any system of speculation which bases the knowledge of nature upon that of the divine nature", noting it is used in particular with reference to Boehme.
The three objects
The three declared objectives of the original Theosophical Society as established by Blavatsky, Judge and Olcott were as follows:
First — To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color.
Second — To encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Science.
Third — To investigate the unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in man."[2]
Some might however dispute whether these were the original ones. Especially when one reads the original Preamble for the Society in the reference given here:(Preamble of the T.S. Dated October 30, 1875 - reprinted in The The Theosophical Forum, October 1947, pp. 582–7)[3]Another reference is this one from Blavatsky Collected Writings in an article by the Co-founder H. P. Blavatsky, published 1888 titled: "ORIGINAL PROGRAMME” MANUSCRIPT"[4]
Basic Theosophical beliefs
Evolution and Race
Theosophists believe that religion, philosophy, science, the arts, commerce, and philanthropy, among other "virtues", lead people ever closer to "the Absolute." Planets, solar systems, galaxies, and the cosmos itself are regarded as conscious entities, fulfilling their own evolutionary paths. The spiritual units of consciousness in the universe are the Monads, which may manifest as angels, human beings or in various other forms. According to Blavatsky, the Monad is the reincarnating unit of the human soul, consisting of the two highest of the seven constituent parts of the human soul. All beings, regardless of stature or complexity, are informed by such a Monad.
Theosophical writings propose that human civilizations, like all other parts of the universe, develop cyclically through seven stages. Blavatsky posited that the whole humanity, and indeed every reincarnating human monad, evolves through a series of seven "Root Races". Thus in the first age, humans were pure spirit; in the second age, they were sexless beings inhabiting the now lost continent of Hyperborea; in the third age the giant Lemurians were informed by spiritual impulses endowing them with human consciousness and sexual reproduction. Modern humans finally developed on the continent of Atlantis. Since Atlantis was the nadir of the cycle, the present fifth age is a time of reawakening humanity's psychic gifts. Blavatsky said: "these two other senses on the ascending arc be on the same respective planes as hearing and touch", or perhaps rather intuition and telepathy as the reference seems to say.[5][6] The term psychic here really means[says who?] the realization of the permeability of consciousness as it had not been known earlier in evolution, although sensed by some more sensitive individuals of our species. Blavatsky mentioned the psychic to be "the super-ethereal or connecting link between matter and pure spirit, and the physical."[7]
Blavatsky suggested that most of present day humanity belongs to the fifth rootrace, the Aryans[8], which originally developed on Atlantis,.[9] It was her belief that the older races will eventually die out, as the fifth rootrace in time will be replaced by the more advanced peoples of the sixth root race which is set to develop on the reemerging Lemurian continent.[10]
Blavatsky claimed that "The occult doctrine admits of no such divisions as the Aryan and the Semite, accepting even the Turanian with ample reservations. The Semites, especially the Arabs, are later Aryans—degenerate in spirituality and perfected in materiality.".[11] However, this statement was not made in a spirit of attacking any ethnicity.[neutrality is disputed] (The Key to Theosophy, p. 209: "St. Paul said," etc. etc.) In fact, one of the main purposes of the Theosophical Society was "To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour."[12][13](see above at The Three Objects)
Guido von List (and his followers such as Lanz von Liebenfels) later took up some of Blavatsky's theories, mixing them with nationalism to formulate Ariosophy, a precursor of nazism. Ariosophy emphasized intellectual expositions of racial evolution. The Thule Society was one of several German occult groups drawing on Ariosophy to preach Aryan supremacy. It provides a direct link between occult racial theories and the racial ideology of Hitler and the emerging Nazi party."[14]
The Septenary
Theosophists opine that the most material of the vestures of the Soul are interpenetrated by the particles of the more subtle vesture. For example they claim that -The "Sthula-Sarira" or most material body, is, as science is aware, mostly space at its atomic level (as all matter is known to be), and these interstitial spaces are inhabited by those subtler particles of the Astral Body or Linga sarira, and so on for the other more energy-like envelopes of the Soul. The important thing about this interpenetration of each sheath, is that we see the inner person as a fluid and unbroken continuity, although varying in density/flexibility and energy and therefore more and more susceptible to the behest of the Real Person - the Soul/Higher Self since they are less and less encumbered by material boundaries. Perhaps the image of a suspension or colloid in chemistry is an apt perspective. And since matter is merely the material counterpart of consciousness (ultimately our aspect being pure consciousness), this interpenetration of sheaths allows for consciousness to interpenetrate Man's nature and explains how we are sensitive to what we think of as external stimuli, through the five senses. Theosophy, as well as many other esoteric groups and occult societies, claims in their esoteric cosmology that the universe is ordered by the number seven. The reincarnating consciousness of the monad utilizes spirit/matter forms in seven bodies:
The first body is called sthula-sarira (Sanskrit, from sthula meaning coarse, gross, not refined, heavy, bulky, fat in the sense of bigness, conditioned and differentiated matter + sarira to moulder, waste away). A gross body, impermanent because of its wholly compounded character. The physical body is usually considered as the lowest substance-principle. The physical form is the result of the harmonious co-working on the physical plane of forces and faculties streaming through their astral vehicle or linga-sarira, the pattern or model of the physical body.
The second body is called Linga-Sarira, (Sanskrit, from linga meaning characteristic mark, model, pattern + sarira, from the verbal root sri to moulder, waste away). A pattern or model that is impermanent; the model-body or astral body, only slightly more ethereal than the physical body. It is the astral model around which the physical body is built, and from which the physical body flows or develops as growth proceeds.
The third body is prana (Sanskrit, from pra before + the verbal root an to breathe, to live). In theosophy, the breath of life. This life or prana works on, in, and around us, pulsating unceasingly during the term of physical existence. Prana is "the radiating force or Energy of Atma -- as the Universal Life and the One Self -- its lower or rather (in its effects) more physical, because manifesting, aspect. Prana or Life permeates the whole being of the objective Universe; and is called a 'principle' only because it is an indispensable factor and the deus ex machina of the living man."
The fourth principle is kāma (Sanskrit, from the verbal root kam meaning to desire). Desire; the desire principle is the driving, impelling force. Born from the interaction of atman, buddhi, and manas, kama per se is a colourless force, good or bad according to the way the mind and soul use it. It is the seat of the living electrical impulses, desires, and aspirations, considered in their energetic aspect.
The fifth principle is manas (Sanskrit, from the verbal root man meaning to think). The seat of mentation and egoic consciousness; in humanity Manas is the human person, the reincarnating ego, immortal in essence, enduring in its higher aspects through the entire manvantara. When embodied, manas is dual, gravitating toward buddhi in its higher aspects and in its lower aspects toward kama. The first is intuitive mind, the second the animal, ratiocinative consciousness, the lower mentality and passions of the personality.
The sixth principle or vehicle is Buddhi (Sanskrit, from the verbal root budh to awaken, enlighten, know). The vehicle of pure, universal spirit, hence an inseparable garment or vehicle of atman, which is, in its essence, of the highest plane of akasa or alaya. In man buddhi is the spiritual soul, the faculty of discriminating, the channel through which streams divine inspiration from the atman to the ego, and therefore that faculty which enables us to discern between good and evil: spiritual conscience. The qualities of the buddhic principle when awakened are higher judgment, instant understanding, discrimination, intuition, love that has no bounds, and consequent universal forgiveness.
The seventh is called Atman (Sanskrit). Self; pure consciousness, that cosmic self which is the same in every dweller on this globe and on every one of the planetary or stellar bodies in space. It is the feeling and knowledge of "I am," pure cognition, the abstract idea of self. It does not differ at all throughout the cosmos except in degree of self-recognition. It may also be considered as the First Logos in the human microcosm. During incarnation the lowest aspects of atman take on attributes, because it is linked with buddhi, as the buddhi is linked with manas, as the manas is linked with kama, etc.
See: Encyclopedic Theosophic Glossary
History
Original usage
Theosophists trace the origin of Theosophy to the universal striving for spiritual knowledge that existed in all cultures. It is found in an unbroken chain in India but existed in ancient Greece and is hinted in the writings of Plato (427-347 BCE), Plotinus (204-270) and other neo-Platonists, as well as Jakob Boehme (1575–1624). Some relevant quotations:
...we are imprisoned in the body, like an oyster in his shell.
— The Socrates of Plato, Phaedrus
To the philosopher, the body is "a disturbing element, hindering the soul from the acquisition of knowledge..."
...what is purification but...the release of the soul from the chains of the body?
— The Socrates of Plato, Phaedo
The Theosophical Society
Modern Theosophical esotericism, however, begins with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891) usually known as Madame Blavatsky. In 1875 she founded the Theosophical Society in New York City together with Henry Steel Olcott, who was a lawyer and writer. During the Civil War Col. Olcott worked to root out corruption in war contracts. Blavatsky was a world traveler who eventually settled in India where, with Olcott, she established the headquarters of the Society in Bangalore. Her first major book Isis Unveiled (1877) presented elements mainly from the Western wisdom tradition based on her extensive travels in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Her second major work The Secret Doctrine (1888), contains a commentary on The Book of Dzyan, and is based upon what she called an Unwritten Secret Doctrine (really the Wisdom tradition or Wisdom Religion allotted to Man), which is described as the underlying basis of all the religions of humanity. These writings, along with her Key to Theosophy and The Voice of the Silence are key texts for genuine students.
Upon Blavatsky's death in 1891, several Theosophical societies emerged following a series of schisms. Annie Besant became leader of the society based in Adyar, India, while William Quan Judge split off the American Section of the Theosophical Society in New York which later moved to Point Loma, Covina, and Pasadena, California under a series of leaders: Katherine Tingley, Gottfried de Purucker, Colonel Arthur L. Conger, James A. Long, Grace F. Knoche, and in March 2006 Randell C. Grubb. The great pulp fiction writer Talbot Mundy was a member of the Point Loma group, and wrote many articles for its newsletter. Yet another international theosophical organization, the United Lodge of Theosophists, was formed by Robert Crosbie. He was a student of William Quan Judge and after his death went to Point Loma in 1900 to help Katherine Tingley's Thesosphical society, and which he left in 1904 to found the ULT in 1909. He experienced a lack of respect for the original work of Blavatsky and W. Q. Judge in Tingley's work and wished to bring that original stream of study back to the world, through a re-presentation of unaltered original writings.
Rudolf Steiner created a successful branch of the Theosophical Society in Germany. He focused on a Western esoteric path that incorporated the influences of Christianity and natural science, resulting in tensions with Annie Besant (cf. Rudolf Steiner and the Theosophical Society); these were seriously exacerbated by Steiner refusing members of the Order of the Star of the East membership in the Theosophical Society's German Section. Steiner was vehemently opposed to The Order of the Star of the East's proclamation that the young boy, Jiddu Krishnamurti, was the incarnation of Maitreya (who was believed to have "over-shadowed" Jesus Christ). (Krishnamurti later repudiated this role and left the Society to pursue an independent career of spiritual teaching.) In 1913 Steiner founded his own Anthroposophical Society; the great majority of German-speaking theosophists joined the new society, which grew rapidly. Steiner later became most famous for his ideas about education, resulting in an international network of "Steiner Schools", also known as Waldorf schools. Other influences of anthroposophical thought include biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophic medicine and the acting techniques of Michael Chekhov.
Charles Howard Hinton, a prominent British intellectual, also wrote extensively about Theosophy. After the death of William Quan Judge, another society, the United Lodge of Theosophists, emerged, recognizing no leader after Judge; it is now based in Los Angeles, California.
Other organizations loosely based on the theosophical teachings of Helena Blavatsky, Besant and Leadbeater include the Agni Yoga, and a group of religions based on Theosophy called the Ascended Master Teachings: the "I AM" Activity, The Bridge to Freedom and The Summit Lighthouse, which evolved into the Church Universal and Triumphant. These various offshoots dispute the authenticity of their rivals. Thus followers of the United Lodge of Theosophists will claim that only " the Writings of HPB, William Quan Judge and Robert Crosbie can be trusted to contain unadulterated concepts and ethical direction."
Influence
At its strongest in membership and intensity during the 1920s the parent Theosophical Society (or Theosophical Society Adyar) had around 7,000 members in the USA. [1] The largest section of The Theosophical Society, the Indian section, at one time had more than 20,000 members, is now around 13,000. In the last several decades, there was a steady increase in membership in India, whereas outside India, the membership has been dropping.[citation needed] In the US, the current membership is around 3,900 which is about the same as it was in 1913, ninety-six years ago.[citation needed][15]
Theosophy or some say Neo-Theosophy was closely linked to the Indian independence movement: the Indian National Congress was founded across the street in 1885 during a Theosophical conference, and many of its leaders, including M. K. Gandhi were associated with theosophy.
The present-day New Age movement is to a considerable extent based on, or rather say derived from, the teachings of Blavatsky, though some writers have described Alice Bailey as the founder of the "New Age movement".[16] However, the term was used prior to Bailey; a weekly Journal of Christian liberalism and Socialism called The New Age was published as early as 1894. [17] James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton, in Perspectives on the New Age wrote, "The most important—though certainly not the only—source of this transformative metaphor, as well as the term "New Age," was Theosophy, particularly as the Theosophical perspective was mediated to the movement by the works of Alice Bailey." [18]Alice Bailey has also strongly influenced the teachings of Benjamin Creme.
Scholar Alvin Boyd Kuhn wrote his thesis, Theosophy: A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom, on the subject - perhaps the first instance in which an individual has been "permitted" by any modern American or European university to obtain his doctorate with a thesis on Theosophy.[19]
Artists and authors who investigated Theosophy, aside from the musicians listed below, include James Jones[20] and L. Frank Baum.
Some prominent Hindu leaders, such as Swami Vivekananda criticized Theosophy.[clarification needed][21]
Music
Composers such as Alexander Scriabin were Theosophists whose beliefs influenced their music, especially by providing a justification or rationale for their dissonant counterpoint. According to Dane Rudhyar, Scriabin was "the one great pioneer of the new music of a reborn Western civilization, the father of the future musician." (Rudhyar 1926b, 899) and an antidote to "the Latin reactionaries and their apostle, Stravinsky" and the "rule-ordained" music of "Schoenberg's group." (Ibid., 900-901) Scriabin devised a quartal synthetic chord, often called his "mystic" chord, and before his death Scriabin planned a multimedia work to be performed in the Himalayas that would bring about the armageddon; "a grandiose religious synthesis of all arts which would herald the birth of a new world." (AMG [22]). This piece, Mysterium, was never realized, due to his death in 1915.
See also
Maitreya (Theosophy)
Sanat Kumara
Kuthumi
Morya
Buddhist Theosophical Society
Great White Brotherhood
Ascended master
Jewish Theosophy
Spiritism
Allan Kardec
Notes
1.^ Bosco Mascarenhas. "The Theosophical Society-Adyar - Emblem". Ts-adyar.org. http://ts-adyar.org/content/emblem. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
2.^ The Theosophist, Vol. 75, No. 6. Page ii.
3.^ A Study of the Evolution of the Objects of the T.S. — from 1875 to 1891 by Grace F. Knoche - www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gfkforum/ourdir.htm#Preamble%20of%20the%20T.S
4.^ "ORIGINAL PROGRAMME" MANUSCRIPT by H. P. Blavatsky, Lucifer Magazine, 1888. - www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v7/yxxxx_019.htm
5.^ Blavatsky Collected Writings, Vol. XII, p. 539
6.^ The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy, Vol. II, p. 300
7.^ The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy, Vol. I, p. 197
8.^ The Theosophical Glossary, p.32 Ârya(Sk.) or Aryan Lit. "the holy"; "originally the title of Rishis, those who had mastered the "Aryasatyani" (q.v.) and entered the Aryanimarga path to Nirvana or Moksha"
9.^ (Blavatsky 1977, p. 249)
10.^ (Blavatsky 1977, p. 421)
11.^ (Blavatsky 1977, p. 200)
12.^ The Key to Theosophy, 2nd ed., p.39
13.^ "CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY", The Theosophist, January 1891
14.^ Spielvogel, Jackson; David Redles (1986). "Hitler's Racial Ideology: Content and Occult Sources.". Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual 3. http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=gvKVLcMVIuG&b=395043. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
15.^ Member statistics past, is at
16.^ Pike, Sarah M. (2004). New Age and Neopagan Religions in America. Columbia University Press. p. 64. ISBN 0231124023.
17.^ History of the New Age periodical, Brown University, Modernist Journals Project
18.^ Lewis, James R. and J. Gordon Melton. Perspectives on the New Age. SUNY Press. 1992. p xi
19.^ Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Ph.D. A Biographical Sketch of his life and work, by Richard Alvin Sattelberg, B.A., M.S..
20.^ Carter, Steven R. James Jones: An American Literary Orientalist Master. Urbana and Chicago: U of Illinois P, 1998, ISBN 0-252-02371-4
21.^ Vivekananda. STRAY REMARKS ON THEOSOPHY The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 4
22.^ Minderovic, Zoran (1915-04-27). "((( Alexander Scriabin > Biography )))". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=41:7982~T1. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
References
Blavatsky, Helena: The Key to Theosophy, ISBN 0-911500-07-3
Blavatsky, H P (1977). The secret doctrine : the synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy. Theosophical University Press. ISBN 9780911500004. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3330475
Carlson, Maria. No Religion Higher than Truth: A History of the Theosophical Movement in Russia, 1875-1922. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-691-05682-X
René Guénon. Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion (2004), Sophia Perennis. ISBN 0-900588-79-9
Roth, Christopher F., "Ufology as Anthropology: Race, Extraterrestrials, and the Occult." In E.T. Culture: Anthropology in Outerspaces, ed. by Debbora Battaglia. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2005.
Washington, Peter Madame Blavatsky's Baboon: Theosophy and the Emergence of the Western Guru (1993), London: Secker & Warburg. ISBN 0-436-56418-1 Review
External links
The Theosophical Network - Worldwide
Online library, including works of G. de Purucker, H.P. Blavatsky and introductory manuals
Theosophical Society - North America
Theosophical Society in Southern Africa
Theosophy Library Online
Theosophical History
Blavatsky Study Center-Blavatsky Archives
Brazilian Society of Eubiose, with teosophical articles and reflexions from Brazil
Esoteric-philosophy.com
[show]v • d • eTheosophy
Founders of the T.S. Helena Blavatsky · William Quan Judge · Henry Steel Olcott
People George Arundale · Alice Bailey · Annie Besant · Radha Burnier · John Coats · Arthur L. Conger · Robert Crosbie · Abner Doubleday · C. Jinarajadasa · Damodar K. Mavalankar · Grace F. Knoche · Jiddu Krishnamurti · C.W. Leadbeater · James A. Long · G.R.S. Mead · Gottfried de Purucker · Nilakanta Sri Ram · Helena Roerich · Nicholas Roerich · Rudolf Steiner · Katherine Tingley · B.P. Wadia
Texts Isis Unveiled · The Key to Theosophy · Mahatma Letters · The Secret Doctrine · The Voice of the Silence · More...
Philosophical concepts Etheric body · Etheric plane · Mental body · Mental plane · Round (Theosophy) · Septenary (Theosophy) · Universal Brotherhood · More...
Institutions, publications Theosophical Society · Theosophical Society Adyar · Theosophical Society Pasadena · United Lodge of Theosophists · Sunrise · The Theosophist · More...
Related articles Agni Yoga · Esotericism · Maitreya · Plane (cosmology) · Spiritual evolution
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Translations: Theosophy
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n. - théosophie
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n. - creencias y prácticas de la Sociedad Teosófica
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