Theos-Talk Archives (May 2004 Message tt00203)

May 26 2004



Re: What is THEOSOPHY 


Dar Friends: 

Let me offer what a wise student once wrote for you to conisderation:


" Theosophy is that ocean of knowledge which spreads from shore to shore ofthe evolution of sentient beings; unfathomable in its deepest parts, it gives the greatest minds their fullest scope, yet, shallow enough at its shores, it will not overwhelm the understanding of a child. 

It is wisdom about God for those who believe that he is all things and in all, and wisdom about nature for the man who accepts the statement found in the Christian Bible that God cannot be measured or discovered, and that darkness is around his pavilion. 

Although it contains by derivation the name God and thus may seem at first sight to embrace religion alone, it does not neglect science, for it is thescience of sciences and therefore has been called the wisdom religion. 

For no science is complete which leaves out any department of nature, whether visible or invisible, and that religion which, depending solely on an assumed revelation, turns away from things and 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 and the religious, Theosophy is a scientific religion and a religious science. 

It is not a belief or dogma formulated or invented by man, but is a knowledge of the laws which govern the evolution of the physical, astral, psychical, and intellectual constituents of nature and of man. 

The religion of the day is but a series of dogmas man-made and with no scientific foundation for promulgated ethics; while our science as yet ignores the unseen, and failing to admit the existence of a complete set of inner faculties of perception in man, it is cut off from the immense and real field of experience which lies within the visible and tangible worlds. 

But Theosophy knows that the whole is constituted of the visible and the invisible, and perceiving outer things and objects to be but transitory it grasps the facts of nature, both without and within. It is therefore completein itself and sees no unsolvable mystery anywhere; it throws the word coincidence out of its vocabulary and hails the reign of law in everything and every circumstance. 

That man possesses an immortal soul is the common belief of humanity; to this Theosophy adds that he is a soul; and further that all nature is sentient, that the vast array of objects and men are not mere collections of atomsfortuitously thrown together and thus without law evolving law, but down to the smallest atom all is soul and spirit ever evolving under the rule of law which is inherent in the whole. 

And just as the ancients taught, so does Theosophy; that the course of evolution is the drama of the soul and that nature exists for no other purpose than the soul's experience.

The Theosophist agrees ...[to] the assertion that there must be beings in the universe whose intelligence is as much beyond ours as ours exceeds that of the black beetle, and who take an active part in the government of the natural order of things. 

Pushing further on by the light of the confidence had in his teachers, the Theosophist adds that such intelligences were once human and came like all of us from other and previous worlds, where as varied experience had been gained as is possible on this one.

We are therefore not appearing for the first time when we come upon this planet, but have pursued a long, an immeasurable course of activity and intelligent perception on
other systems of globes, some of which were destroyed ages before the solarsystem condensed. 

This immense reach of the evolutionary system means, then, that this planeton which we now are is the result of the activity and the evolution of some other one that died long ago, leaving its energy to be used in the bringing into existence of the earth, and that the inhabitants of the latter in their turn came from some older world to proceed here with the destined workin matter. And the brighter planets, such as Venus, are the habitation of still more progressed entities, once as low as ourselves, but now raised upto a pitch of glory incomprehensible for our intellects.
 
The most intelligent being in the universe, man, has never, then, been without a friend, but has a line of elder brothers who continually watch over the progress of the less progressed, preserve the knowledge gained through aeons of trial and experience, and continually seek for opportunities of drawing the developing intelligence of the race on this or other globes to consider the great truths concerning the destiny of the soul.

These elder brothers also keep the knowledge they have gained of the laws of nature in all departments, and are ready when cyclic law permits to use it for the benefit of mankind. They have always existed as a body, all knowing each other, no matter in what part of the world they may be, and all working for the race in many different ways. In some periods they are well known to the people and move among ordinary men whenever the social organization, the virtue, and the development of the nations permit it. For if they were to come out openly and be heard of everywhere, they would be worshippedas gods by some and hunted as devils by others. In those periods when theydo come out some of their number are rulers of men, some teachers, a few great philosophers, while others remain still unknown except to the most advanced of the body. 

It would be subversive of the ends they have in view were they to make themselves public in the present civilization, which is based almost wholly on money, fame, glory, and personality. For this age, as one of them has already said, "is an age of transition," when every system of thought, science, religion, government, and society is changing, and men's minds are only preparing for an alteration into that state which will permit the race to advance to the point suitable for these elder brothers to introduce their actual presence to our sight. They may be truly called the bearers of the torch of truth across the ages; they investigate all things and beings; they knowwhat man is in his innermost nature and what his powers and destiny, his state before birth and the states into which he goes after the death of his body; they have stood by the cradle of nations and seen the vast achievements of the ancients, watched sadly the decay of those who had no power to resist the cyclic law of rise and fall; and while cataclysms seemed to show auniversal destruction of art, architecture, religion, and philosophy, theyhave preserved the records of it all in places secure from the ravages of either men or time; they have made minute observations, through trained psychics among their own order, into the unseen realms of nature and of mind, recorded the observations and preserved the record; they have mastered the mysteries of sound and color through which alone the elemental beings behind the veil of matter can be communicated with, and thus can tell why the rain falls and what it falls for, whether the earth is hollow or not, what makes the wind to blow and light to shine, and greater feat than all—one which implies a knowledge of the very foundations of nature—they know what the ultimate divisions of time are and what are the meaning andthe times of the cycles. 

But, asks the busy man of the [of the present century,] if these elder brothers are all you claim them to be, why have they left no mark on history nor gathered men around them? Their own reply...is 

"We will first discuss, if you please, the one relating to the presumed failure of the 'Fraternity' to 'leave any mark upon the history of the world.'They ought, you think, to have been able, with their extraordinary advantages, to have 'gathered into their schools a considerable portion of the more enlightened minds of every race.' 

How do you know they have made no such mark? Are you acquainted with their efforts, successes, and failures? Have you any dock upon which to arraign them? How could your world collect proofs of the doings of men who have sedulously kept closed every possible door of approach by which the inquisitivecould spy upon them? 

The prime condition of their success was that they should never be supervised or obstructed. What they have done they know; all that those outside their circle could perceive was results, the causes of which were masked from view. To account for these results, men have, in different ages, invented theories of the interposition of gods, special providences, fates, the benign or hostile influences of the stars. 

There never was a time within or before the so-called historical period when our predecessors were not moulding events and 'making history,' the factsof which were subsequently and invariably distorted by historians to suit contemporary prejudices. 

Are you quite sure that the visible heroic figures in the successive dramaswere not often but their puppets? We never pretended to be able to draw nations in the mass to this or that crisis in spite of the general drift of the world's cosmic relations. The cycles must run their rounds. Periods of mental and moral light and darkness succeed each other as day does night. The major and minor yugas must be accomplished according to the established order of things. And we, borne along on the mighty tide, can only modify anddirect some of its minor currents."

Mme. Blavatsky offered a survey in her article: WHAT IS THEOSOPHY:  

[ " To attribute such ideas to men like Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Porphyry, Proclus--shows either intentional misrepresentation, or Mr. Webster's ignorance of the philosophy and motives of the greatest geniuses of the later Alexandrian School. To impute to those whom their contemporaries as well as posterity styled "theodidaktoi," god-taught--a purpose to develop their psychological, spiritual perceptions by "physical processes," is to describe them as materialists. As to the concluding fling at the fire-philosophers, it rebounds from them to fall home among our most eminent modern men of science; those, in whose mouths the Rev. James Martineau places the following boast: "matter is all we want; give us atoms alone, and we willexplain the universe." 

Vaughan offers a far better, more philosophical definition. "A Theosophist," he says--"is one who gives you a theory of God or the works of God, whichhas not revelation, but an inspiration of his own for its basis." In this view every great thinker and philosopher, especially every founder of a newreligion, school of philosophy, or sect, is necessarily a Theosophist. Hence, Theosophy and Theosophists have existed ever since the first glimmeringof nascent thought made man seek instinctively for the means of expressinghis own independent opinions. 

There were Theosophists before the Christian era, notwithstanding that the Christian writers ascribe the development of the Eclectic theosophical system to the early part of the third century of their Era. Diogenes Laertius traces Theosophy to an epoch antedating the dynasty of the Ptolemies; and names as its founder an Egyptian Hierophant called Pot-Amun, the name being Coptic and signifying a priest consecrated to Amun, the god of Wisdom. But history shows it revived by Ammonius Saccas, the founder of the Neo-PlatonicSchool. He and his disciples called themselves "Philalethians"--lovers of the truth; while others termed them the "Analogists," on account of their method of interpreting all sacred legends, symbolical myths and mysteries, by a rule of analogy or correspondence, so that events which had occurred inthe external world were regarded as expressing operations and experiences of the human soul. 

It was the aim and purpose of Ammonius to reconcile all sects, peoples and nations under one common faith--a belief in one Supreme Eternal, Unknown, and Unnamed Power, governing the Universe by immutable and eternal laws. Hisobject was to prove a primitive system of Theosophy, which at the beginning was essentially alike in all countries; to induce all men to lay aside their strifes and quarrels, and unite in purpose and thought as the children of one common mother; to purify the ancient religions, by degrees corruptedand obscured, from all dross of human element, by uniting and expounding them upon pure philosophical principles. 

Hence, the Buddhistic, Vedantic and Magian, or Zoroastrian, systems were taught in the Eclectic Theosophical School along with all the philosophies ofGreece. Hence also, the preeminently Buddhistic and Indian feature among the ancient Theosophists and Alexandria, of due reverence for parents and aged persons; a fraternal affection for the whole human race; and a compassionate feeling for even the dumb animals. While seeking to establish a systemof moral discipline which enforced upon people the duty to live according to the laws of their respective countries; to exalt their minds by the research and contemplation of the one Absolute Truth; his chief object in order, as he believed, to achieve all others, was to extract from the various religious teachings, as from a many-chorded instrument, one full and harmonious melody, which would find response in every truth-loving heart. 

Theosophy is, then, the archaic Wisdom-Religion, the esoteric doctrine onceknown in every ancient country having claims to civilization. This "Wisdom" all the old writings show us as an emanation of the divine Principle; andthe clear comprehension of it is typified in such names as the Indian Buddh, the Babylonian Nebo, the Thoth of Memphis, the Hermes of Greece; in the appellations, also, of some goddesses--Metis, Neitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia, and finally the Vedas, from the word "to know." ...

The central idea of the Eclectic Theosophy was that of a simple Supreme Essence, Unknown and Unknowable--for--"How could one know the knower?" as enquires Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Their system was characterized by three distinct features: the theory of the above-named Essence; the doctrine of the human soul--an emanation from the latter, hence of the same nature; and its theurgy. It is this last science which has led the Neo-Platonists to be so misrepresented in our era of materialistic science. Theurgy being essentially the art of applying the divine powers of man to the subordination of theblind forces of nature, its votaries were first termed magicians--a corruption of the word "Magh," signifying a wise, or learned man, and--derided. Skeptics of a century ago would have been as wide of the mark if they had laughed at the idea of a phonograph or telegraph. The ridiculed and the "infidels" of one generation generally become the wise men and saints of the next. 

As regards the Divine essence and the nature of the soul and spirit, modernTheosophy believes now as ancient Theosophy did. The popular Diu of the Aryan nations was identical with the Iao of the Chaldeans, and even with the Jupiter of the less learned and philosophical among the Romans; and it was just as identical with the Jahve of the Samaritans, the Tiu or "Tiusco" of the Northmen, the Duw of the Britains, and the Zeus of the Thracians. As tothe Absolute Essence, the One and all--whether we accept the Greek Pythagorean, the Chaldean Kabalistic, or the Aryan philosophy in regard to it, it will lead to one and the same result. The Primeval Monad of the Pythagoreansystem, which retires into darkness and is itself Darkness (for human intellect) was made the basis of all things; and we can find the idea in all its integrity in the philosophical systems of Leibnitz and Spinoza. Therefore, whether a Theosophist agrees with the Kabala which, speaking of En-Soph propounds the query: "Who, then, can comprehend It since It is formless, andNon-existent?"--or, remembering that magnificent hymn from the Rig-Veda (Hymn 129th, Book 10th)--enquires: 

"Who knows from whence this great creation sprang?
Whether his will created or was mute.
He knows it--or perchance even He knows not;" 

or again, accepts the Vedantic conception of Brahma, who in the Upanishads is represented as "without life, without mind, pure," unconscious, for--Brahma is "Absolute Consciousness"; or, even finally, siding with the Svabhâvikas of Nepaul, maintains that nothing exists but "Svabhâvât"(substance or nature) which exists by itself without any creator; any one of the above conceptions can lead but to pure and absolute Theosophy--that Theosophy which prompted such men as Hegel, Fichte and Spinoza to take up the labors of the old Grecian philosophers and speculate upon the One Substance--the Deity, the Divine All proceeding from the Divine Wisdom--incomprehensible, unknown and unnamed--by any ancient or modern religious philosophy, with the exception of Christianity and Mohammedanism. 

Every Theosophist, then, holding to a theory of the Deity "which has not revelation, but an inspiration of his own for its basis," may accept any of the above definitions or belong to any of these religions, and yet remain strictly within the boundaries of Theosophy. For the latter is belief in the Deity as the ALL, the source of all existence, the infinite that cannot be either comprehended or known, the universe alone revealing It, or, as some prefer it, Him, thus giving a sex to that, to anthropomorphize which is blasphemy. -- H P B ]


The Elder Brothers of Humanity are men who were perfected in former periodsof evolution. These periods of manifestation are unknown to modern evolutionists so far as their number are concerned, though long ago understood by not only the older Hindus, but also by those great minds and men who instituted and carried on the first pure and undebased form of the Mysteries of Greece. 

The periods, when out of the Great Unknown there come forth the visible universes, are eternal in their coming and going, alternating with equal periods of silence and rest again in the Unknown. 

The object of these mighty waves is the production of perfect man, the evolution of soul, and they always witness the increase of the number of Elder Brothers; the life of the least of men pictures them in day and night, waking and sleeping, birth and death, "for these two, light and dark, day and night, are the world's eternal ways." 

In every age and complete national history these men of power and compassion are given different designations. They have been called Initiates, Adepts, Magi, Hierophants, Kings of the East, Wise Men, Brothers, and what not. But in the Sanskrit language there is a word which, being applied to them, at once thoroughly identifies them with humanity. It is Mahatma. This is composed of Maha great, and Atma soul; so it means "great soul," and as all men are souls the distinction of the Mahatma lies in greatness. ...

And if Theosophy ― the teaching of this Great Lodge ― is assaid, both scientific and religious, then from the ethical side we have still more proof. A mighty Triad acting on and through ethics is that composed of Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus. The first, a Hindu, founds a religion which today embraces many more people than Christianity, teaching centuries before Jesus the ethics which he taught and which had been given out even centuries before Buddha. Jesus coming to reform his people repeats these ancient ethics, and Confucius does the same thing for ancient and honorable China.

The Theosophist says that all these great names represent members of the one single brotherhood, who all have a single doctrine. And the extraordinarycharacters who now and again appear in western civilization, such as St. Germain, Jacob Boehme, Cagliostro, Paracelsus, Mesmer, Count St. Martin, andMadame H. P. Blavatsky, are agents for the doing of the work of the Great Lodge at the proper time....
 
Madame Blavatsky brought once more to the attention of the West the most important system, long known to the Lodge, respecting man, his nature and destiny...
 
A Mahatma endowed with power over space, time, mind, and matter, is a possibility just because he is a perfected man. Every human being has the germ of all the powers attributed to these great Initiates, the difference lying solely in the fact that we have in general not developed what we possess the germ of, while the Mahatma has gone through the training and experience which have caused all the unseen human powers to develop in him, and conferred gifts that look god-like to his struggling brother below.

Telepathy, mind-reading, and hypnotism, all long ago known to Theosophy, show the existence in the human subject of planes of consciousness, functions, and faculties hitherto undreamed of. Mind-reading and the influencing of the mind of the hypnotized subject at a distance prove the existence of a mind which is not wholly dependent upon a brain, and that a medium exists through which the influencing thought may be sent. It is under this law that the Initiates can communicate with each other at no matter what distance. Its rationale, not yet admitted by the schools of the hypnotizers, is, that if the two minds vibrate or change into the same state they will think alike, or, in other words, the one who is to hear at a distance receives the impression sent by the other. In the same way with all other powers, no matter how extraordinary. They are all natural, although now unusual, just as great musical ability is natural though not usual or common....

Though the true doctrine disappears for a time from among men it is bound to reappear, because first, it is impacted in the imperishable center of man's nature; and secondly, the Lodge forever preserves it, not only in actualobjective records, but also in the intelligent and fully self-conscious men who, having successfully overpassed the many periods of evolution which preceded the one we are now involved in, cannot lose the precious possessions they have acquired. And because the elder brothers are the highest product of evolution through whom alone, in cooperation with the whole human family, the further regular and workmanlike prosecution of the plans of the Great Architect of the Universe could be carried on, I have thought it well toadvert to them and their Universal Lodge before going to other parts of the subject " [ W , Q, Judge in The OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY ]


Additionally, here are a few ideas that might help: Why was the "chat-group" instituted?



PURPOSE

The living record of Theosophical teachings might be made more
available. And it is a program of lively and practical
Theosophical information exchange. It was recognized that there
would probably be more readers that answerers. A few might feel
moved to do much of the work, and in response others would be
drawn in. But all benefit.

In the course of time the chat-group may discuss subjects as :
Theosophy--what it is, where it comes from, what it teaches on
the great subjects of birth and death, ethics and morality, Karma
and Reincarnation, good and evil, and the mysteries of Deity.



TEACHINGS OF THEOSOPHY -- WHAT ARE THEY?

It bases itself on the original teachings of Theosophy and serves
individual students as a basis for communication in regard to
those teachings. It is not particularly interested in the ding
of those who call themselves "Theosophists," but tries to focus
on the philosophy: Is it true? Is it useful? Can it be
understood? Does it assist in daily life? Does it extend the
work of Science?

Although study and understanding of Theosophy are regarded by
many of its advocates and supporters as a lifetime undertaking,
a general view of this philosophy is necessary.


WHAT MAKES US "HUMAN?"

The basic idea is that there is in every human being the latent
capacity for self-knowledge, for self-reliant decision on all the
great questions, and for progress in understanding through the
study and application of philosophy in daily life.

While people may and do learn from one another and, indeed, learn
better and more rapidly in cooperative association than in any
other way-each individual is ultimately responsible for his own
growth, and is himself the only final authority concerning what
he will accept as knowledge and truth.

The best association is one which provides a maximum of
individual freedom and at the same time full opportunity for
contact and collaboration with others who are endeavoring to move
in the same direction.

The ground of unity among students of Theosophy is agreement on
the Objects of the Theosophical Movement and on the proposition
that the teachings of Theosophy are the best available guides to
an understanding of those Objects and to the planning of work in
their behalf.

Stated briefly, they are:


THE 3 OBJECTS OF THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT

I. To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity,
without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color;

II. The study of ancient and modern religions, philosophies and
sciences, and the demonstration of the importance of such study;
and

III. The investigation of the unexplained laws of Nature and the
psychical powers latent in man.


INTELLIGENCE - MIND -- SOUL

Theosophy teaches that human intelligence is essentially an
expression of the soul-reality in every man; that this soul is an
individual, evolutionary pilgrim engaged in a long series of
embodiments (incarnations) through which it grows in knowledge
and ethical awareness, moving toward the climactic development of
perfection as a human being-perfection in terms of the
possibilities of this period of evolution.

It teaches that this cycle of growth proceeds under the
government of natural law-a law which applies as much to the
moral as to the physical life. If this is studied in its
manifold phases and subtle effects, can be understood and relied
upon by human beings. (In the East, and increasingly in the West,
this principle of order is known as the Law of Karma.)


REALITY

Theosophy proposes further that all human souls-as well as the
soul-aspect of everything in nature-is rooted in an ultimate
principle of Reality which is the source of all. This is the old
idea of an unknown and hidden Deity-abstract to intellect, wholly
hidden from sense, yet an absolute presence within all life and
every aspect of being and nature. It is the changeless and
essential unity intuited as the Nameless One, the Primary Reality
which supports the Universe. It is the center and undefined
Subject behind all intelligence, yet not limited or confined by
any form. This principle, Theosophy holds, is the source and
justification of all ethical conceptions, and the deeply felt
premise of all ideals of brotherhood.


WHERE IS THERE GROWTH?

In consideration of the fact that the mind, in its highest sense,
is the place of realization and growth, individual students come
to regard these general principles as meaning that human life is
a continuous process of learning, and that this learning involves
unceasing revision of the terms of individual understanding,
which process, as men gain awareness of its operations, becomes
the best evidence we have of the reality of the Higher Self in
every man.

The evolutionary work pursued by the ego throughout incarnation
after incarnation is held to be the consequence of what the
individual eventually realizes directly of his own destiny as a
spiritual being. This view of soul-growth or development
manifests in primary attention to "self-induced and self-devised
efforts", as distinguished from formalized programs of education
and fixed methods for progress in Theosophy.

These fundamental conceptions or propositions about meaning in
human life are based on a confidence in the capacity of the
students to define for themselves their commitments, and rests
upon the evolutionary principle of self-reliance taught by
Theosophy.

The absence of organizational procedures and apparatus is in
recognition of the idea that these mechanisms are not necessary
to the study of philosophy, which ideally, is not concerned with
externalities, but with study and growth in philosophical
understanding.

A natural question concerns the defining of "Theosophy" and the
selection or limitation of the materials for study.

I hope this may prove to be of interest and help,
                

Dallas


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-----Original Message-----
From: j ross 
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 11:19 AM
To: 
Subject : curiosity

WHAT IS THEOSOPHY?

		
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