Theos-Talk Archives (May 2009 Message tt00662)

The following observations from the pen of H.P. Blavatsky are as true
today as when they were first published 120 years ago.

One need only update some of the names and subjects to correspond
with the various popular "isms" and "ologies" now in vogue, but the
underlying observations are as valid as when first written by Madame
Blavatsky.

Even reading the posts on Theos-Talk shows that HPB's observations are as true today as when she first wrote them.

Although some longtime Theosophical students of various mindsets may
ignore or dismiss HPB's words, I hope that new inquirers, new
seekers and new students of Theosophy will carefully read and ponder
on what HPB has written.

Now the excerpt:

In "The Key to Theosophy" published in 1889, H.P.B. wrote the
following about the confusion, etc. among many students of Theosophy,
esotericism and occultism:

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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 [theosophical and esoteric] sciences is better
than a mass of undigested and misunderstood learning. An ounce of
gold is worth a ton of dust. . . .
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original 1889 edition, pp. 21-22

Daniel
Blavatsky Archives
http://blavatskyarchives.com