Theos-Talk Archives (August 2005 Message tt00252)

Compare Hugh Shearman's quotes to the following 
written by Boris de Zirkoff:
===============================================================

For some years past, a tendency has existed among some 
[theosophical] students ... to consider theosophy as some sort of 
generalized approach to truth, a tradition, often somewhat 
uncertain, concerning various aspects of the Universe and man, a 
system of ideas and concepts which can hardly be defined with any 
degree of exactness or clarity. It is most likely that this tendency 
owes its origin to a desire to avoid any dogmatic attitude or the 
creation of any kind of creed. The motive may have been laudable, 
but the methods employed have been rather dubious. 

We should never lose sight of the fact that the Esoteric Philosophy 
is a very definite doctrine, a system of thought based on specific 
postulates, on well-defined propositions ... Even a cursory glance 
at the pages of The Secret Doctrine would confirm this fact. That 
work contains innumerable instances where H.P.B. (and the Adept-
Brothers speaking through her) uses such expressions as: "the Secret 
Doctrine teaches," "secret records declare," "The Esoteric 
Philosophy states that ... ," "it is the teaching of the ancient 
occult doctrine," and others. If the student cared to underline 
these passages and then read them consecutively, or place them in 
juxtaposition, he would see at a glance that the "Secret Doctrine," 
as a system of thought, is about as definite as any science or 
philosophy is ever apt to be, and stands in direct opposition to a 
large number of other ideas which have become current in the world 
under the name of one or another religion or philosophy. 

It is perfectly true that the objects of the organized body known as 
The Theosophical Society have never contained any definition of what 
Theosophy is or is not; but it is equally true that the teachings 
promulgated by the Founders and their Superiors are defined in no 
uncertain language throughout the length and breadth of the original 
theosophical literature, leaving no room whatsoever for doubt as to 
what the system of thought known as theosophy is all about, what it 
teaches and what it does not. 

If this state of affairs is at any time considered to be credal in 
nature, and therefore dogmatic, then we will have to assume that the 
statement of 'two and two making four' is also a creed, or that the 
laws governing gravitational and magnetic energies are dogmatic. 

The propositions of the Esoteric Philosophy may seem to be dogmatic 
or may be interpreted as a creed by those of us — probably the 
overwhelming majority of us — -who are yet unable to prove them
to 
ourselves experimentally. This situation is not much different from 
the fact that a beginner in chemistry can hardly prove to himself 
the alleged fact that water is H2O, until he has grasped the methods 
necessary to verify it experimentally. 

If we are prepared to comply with the conditions necessary for a 
personal investigation of the facts of nature defined by the Occult 
Doctrine, we shall be in a position to prove to ourselves 
experimentally the validity of its propositions. How many of us are 
ready to do so? 

In the meantime — and far from any acceptance of ideas on merely
a 
blind belief — we can investigate the coherence of that system of 
thought, its logical interrelatedness, its appeal to both reason and 
intuition, its application in both great and small ways, and its 
practical value in relation to others. Thereby we may become 
gradually convinced of the truth of the propositions and postulates 
of the Esoteric Philosophy, long before the time when it will have 
become possible for us to undertake a 'clinical' investigation of 
the laws involved therein and to manipulate the forces and energies 
of the occult aspects of Nature. 
=================================================
The American Theosophist, November, 1975, "Some Keynotes of Our 
Ancient Gnosis."