Theos-Talk Archives (May 2009 Message tt00219)

Can there be such a thing as Pseudo-Theosophy, false teachings even
false teachers????

What did H.P. Blavatsky write about such things?

BELOW are some excerpts from her writings:

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"Look around you and observe. While two-thirds of civilized society
ridicule the mere notion that there is anything in Theosophy,
Occultism, Spiritualism, or in the Kabala, the other third is
composed of the most heterogeneous and opposite elements."

"Some believe in the mystical, and even in the supernatural (!), but
each believes in his own way. Others will rush single-handed into the
study of the Kabala, Psychism, Mesmerism, Spiritualism, or some form
or another of Mysticism."

"Result: no two men think alike, no two are agreed upon any
fundamental occult principles, though many are those who claim for
themselves the ultima thule of knowledge, and would make outsiders
believe that they are full-blown adepts. . . . "

"Some limit ancient wisdom to the Kabala and the Jewish
Zohar. . . . .Others regard Swedenborg or Boehme as the ultimate
expressions of the highest wisdom; while others again see in
mesmerism the great secret of ancient magic. One and all of those who
put their theory in practice are rapidly drifting, through ignorance,
into black magic."

"Happy are those who escape from it, as they have neither test nor
criterion by which they can distinguish between the true and the
false. . . . "

"A portion of the true [esoteric] sciences is better than a mass of
undigested and misunderstood learning. An ounce of gold is worth a
ton of dust. . . . " (1)
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"Great are the desecrations to which the names of two of the Masters
[Koot Hoomi and Morya] have been subjected. There is hardly a medium
who has not claimed to have seen them."

"Every bogus swindling Society, for commercial purposes, now claims
to be guided and directed by 'Masters' often supposed to be far
higher than ours! Many and heavy are the sins of those who advanced
these claims, prompted either by desire for lucre, vanity, or
irresponsible mediumship . . . ."

"The sacred names of Occultism and the holy keepers thereof have been
dragged in this filthy mire, polluted by being associated with sordid
motives and immoral practices, while thousands of men and women have
been held back from the path of truth and light through the discredit
and evil report which such shams, swindles, and frauds have brought
upon the whole subject." (2)
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". . . A new and rapidly growing danger. . . is threatening . . . the
spread of the pure Esoteric Philosophy and knowledge. . . . I allude
to those charlatanesque imitations of Occultism and Theosophy. . . . "

"By pandering to the prejudices of people, and especially by adopting
the false ideas of a personal God and a personal, carnalized Saviour,
as the groundwork of their teaching, the leaders of this 'swindle'
(for such it is) are endeavoring to draw men to them and in
particular to turn Theosophists from the true path."

". . . A close examination will assuredly reveal. . . materials
largely stolen . . . from Theosophical writings. . . [and] distorted
and falsified so as to be palmed off on the unwary as revelations of
new and undreamed of truths. But many will neither have the time nor
the opportunity for such a thorough investigation; and before they
become aware of the imposture they may be led far from the Truth."

". . . Nothing is more dangerous to Esoteric Truth than the garbled
and distorted versions disfigured to suit the prejudices and tastes
of men in general." (3)
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"?.save us from the impudent distortion of our theosophical
teachings?."

"....deliver us. . . from . . . the 'Solar Adepts' as they dub
themselves, and their sun-struck followers. . . ."

". . . . They plagiarized from our books, set up sham schools of
magic, waylaid seekers after truth by deceiving them with holy
names. . . [and] misused and desecrated the sacred science?."

"?.Before the appearance of modern Theosophical literature it
was 'Spirits' and 'Controls' that were ever in the mouths of these
folk; now the living 'adepts' are served up with every sauce. It is
ever and always Adepts here, Hierophants there. . . ."

"The angels from the 'Summer Land' are going out of fashion just now,
for Spiritualists begin to know better and to discriminate. But
because the 'adept' idea, or rather their philosophy, begins to gain
ground, this is no reason why pretenders of every description should
travesty in their . . . productions the teachings, phraseology, and
Sanskrit terms out of theosophical books; or why, again, they should
turn round and make people believe that these were given them by
other 'Hierophants,' in their opinion, far higher, nobler and grander
than our teachers."

"The great evil of the whole thing is, not that the truths of
Theosophy are adopted by these blind teachers, for we should gladly
welcome any spread, by whatever means, of ideals so powerful to wean
the world from its dire materialism - but that they are so interwoven
with mis-statements and absurdities that the wheat cannot be winnowed
from the chaff, and ridicule, if not worse, is brought to bear
upon. . . [the Theosophical] movement. . . ."

"How shall men discern good from evil, when they find it in its close
embrace?"

"The very words, 'Arhat,' 'Karma,' 'Maya,' 'Nirvana,' must turn
enquirers from our threshold when they have been taught to associate
them with such a teeming mass of ignorance and presumption. . . ."

"Though false coin is the best proof of the existence of genuine
gold, yet, the false deceives the unwary. . . ." (4)
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"?.If the 'false prophets of Theosophy' are to be left untouched, the
true prophets will be very soon--as they have already been--confused
with the false. It is nigh time to winnow our corn and cast away the
chaff."

"? We do not believe in allowing the presence of sham elements in
Theosophy, because of the fear, forsooth, that if even 'a false
element in the faith' is ridiculed, the latter 'is apt to shake the
confidence' in the whole?."

"?However it may be, let rather our ranks be made thinner, than the
Theosophical Society go on being made a spectacle to the world
through the exaggerations of some fanatics, and the attempts of
various charlatans to profit by a ready-made programme. These, by
disfiguring and adapting Occultism to their own filthy and immoral
ends, bring disgrace upon the whole movement?."

"?.One . . . such [bogus Esoteric and Occult Society] just sprung
up . . . is now being nipped in the bud and exposed by our own
Theosophists."

"These are the 'Solar adepts' . . . No event could vindicate the
policy of our journal [Lucifer] better than the timely exposure of
these pseudo-adepts, those 'Sages of the Ages' who bethought
themselves of trading upon the public hunger for the marvellous ad
absurdum. "

". . . . For we have averted thereby a great and new danger to the
Society--namely that of unscrupulous charlatans being taken for
Theosophists. Misled by their lies and their publications filled
with terms from Eastern philosophy and with ideas they had bodily
stolen from us only to disfigure and misapply them--the American
press has already referred to them as Theosophists. . . ." (5)
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"With the spread of the spiritualistic cult, the Messiah craze has
vastly increased, and men and women alike have been involved in its
whirlpools. Given, a strong desire to reform somehow the religious or
social aspect of the world, a personal hatred of certain of its
aspects, and a belief in visions and messages, and the result was
sure; the 'Messiah' arose with a universal panacea for the ills of
mankind. If he (very often she) did not make the claim, it was made
for him. Carried away by the magnetic force, the eloquence, the
courage, the single idea of the apostle pro tem, numbers, for very
varied reasons, accepted him or her as the revelator of the hour and
of all time."

". . . To distinguish the white rays of truth from influx from the
astral sphere, requires a training which ordinary sensitives, whether
avowed spiritualists or not, do not possess. Ignorance emboldens, and
the weak will always worship the bold."

"Some of these apostles denounce alike Spiritualism and Theosophy;
some accept the latter, but weave it anew into a version of their
own; and some have apparently arisen, independently of any other
cult, through the force of their own or somebody else's
conviction...."

"There is an avowed re-incarnation of Buddha in the United States,
and an avowed re-incarnation of Christ. Both have followers; both
have been interviewed and said their best. They and others like unto
them have had signs, illuminations, knowledge not common to men, and
events pointing in a marked way to this their final destiny. There
has even been a whisper here and there of supernatural births. . . .
And the result is sorry to behold, for each seems to be putting the
crown upon his own head."

"Wherever [genuine] Theosophy spreads, there it is impossible for the
deluded to mislead, or the deluded to follow. It opens a new path, a
forgotten philosophy which has lived through the ages, a knowledge of
the psychic nature of man, which reveals alike the true status of the
Catholic saint, and the spiritualistic medium the Church condemns. It
gathers reformers together, throws light on their way, and teaches
them how to work towards a desirable end with most effect, but
forbids any to assume a crown or sceptre, and no less delivers from a
futile crown of thorns."

"Mesmerisms and astral influences fall back, and the sky grows clear
enough for higher light. It hushes the 'Lo here! and lo there!' and
declares the Christ, like the kingdom of heaven, to be within. It
guards and applies every aspiration and capacity to serve humanity in
any man, and shows him how. It overthrows the giddy pedestal, and
safely cares for the human being on solid ground. Hence, in this way,
and in all other ways, it is the truest deliverer and saviour of our
time."

"To enumerate the various 'Messiahs' and their beliefs and works
would fill volumes. It is needless. When claims conflict, all, on the
face of it, cannot be true. Some have taught less error than others.
It is almost the only distinction. And some have had fine powers
imperilled and paralyzed by leadings they did not understand." (6)
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SOURCES quoted:

(1) Blavatsky, H.P. The Key to Theosophy, original 1889 edition, pp.
21-22.

(2) Blavatsky, H.P. The Key to Theosophy, original 1889 edition, p.
301.

(3) Blavatsky, H.P. E.S. Instruction No. I., 1889.

(4) Blavatsky, H.P. "The Year Is Dead, Long Live The Year!," Lucifer
(London), January, 1889.

(5) Blavatsky, H.P. "On Pseudo-Theosophy," Lucifer (London), March,
1889.

(6) Blavatsky, H.P. "Modern Apostles and Pseudo-Messiahs," Lucifer
(London), July, 1890.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc