Theosophy

Tim Wyatt – England

[This article explores the vital role Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) played in bringing occult truths to a wider world and to commemorate her co-founding the Theosophical Society exactly a hundred and fifty years ago in 1875] .

Walk down the street and ask a hundred people whether they’ve ever heard of Madame Blavatsky and ninety-nine of them will assure you they haven’t. Of the one per cent who have, few could tell you much about her. Some will have read somewhere that she was a fraud and a charlatan. Should they research her further, they will find she was neither.

 Svitlana Gavrylenko – Ukraine

The author

Who, but us, people involved in Theosophy, knows for sure what tectonic shift in the consciousness of humanity began to occur after Theosophy, the Divine Wisdom, appeared on the arena of planetary thought in new modern armor, which was presented to the world at the end of the 19th century through Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. All her contemporaries were unanimous in the fact that she exerted incredible, almost superhuman forces to fulfill her mission, and even The Mahatma Letters say that she resembled a courageous warrior who, in an unequal battle, made desperate efforts for victory, the victory of truth, the victory of primordial wisdom over the ignorance and materialistic worldview of the then educated society.

 John Vorstermans – New Zealand

[Note from the editor: John Vorstermans, now former National President of the Theosophical Society in New Zealand, looks at questions from a theosophical point of view in today’s world. Published in TheoSopia, September 2015.] 

The Theosophical Society, as far as I am aware, has no view on this subject, however it is one worth exploring and I present some ideas below in this direction.

Boris de Zirkoff – USA

(Original cover photo of Theosophia)

As we ponder over the prevailing circumstances of life, and the difficult conditions in which many students of the Ancient Wisdom live at the present time, certain definite ideas suggest themselves for consideration, in an attempt to help ourselves - all of us in whatever land - to gain a greater perspective, a stronger sense of peace, and a wider vision.

Douglas Keene – USA

The author 

As most would agree, the world seems to be in a state of upheaval.

Violence, and nearly as upsetting, the threat of violence, seems to be everywhere. The Middle East is on the verge of a regional war, the conflict in Ukraine is unrelenting, the major powers creep toward confrontation.

Tim Boyd – India, USA

Lily and Tim Boyd while visiting the house of Ulysses Riedel in Brasilia some years ago

There are a couple of questions we need to ask ourselves: if spirit is an omnipresent reality; and if our deepest nature is like a fragment of spirit, then why are we so resistant to truth? Why is it that even though throughout human history great people have come, lived their lives trying to communicate to us about what is truth and how we can experience it; why is it that as a human family we can remain unmoved by their message? In one of his poems the Nobel laureate poet, T. S. Eliot makes the point that we are “distracted from distraction by distraction”. We cannot hear the “still small voice” of the inner self because of the powerful voices of our many outer selves. The body is hot, cold, hungry. The job needs our time, effort, thought. The family needs emotional and financial support, quality time, food, shelter, and so on. Our hobbies, the church, temple, nation, are also shouting their demands.

Andrew Rooke – Australia

How important is it to strive for Happiness? Everyone has their own ideas of what it is to be happy and most people direct their life-long efforts towards that end. In Australia, our social, economic, cultural, and political institutions are based on the visions of generations of immigrants seeking greater happiness in a new land. 

Tim Boyd – India, USA

Tim Boyd, International President of the TS, and his wife Lily on a visit to the National Headquarters of the Australian Section in Surry Hills, Sydney

Before talking about “Spirituality and the Practical World”, it would be good to establish a common vocabulary. Often, we use words assuming they mean the same thing to all of us. Spirituality and the world are not unknown words to us, but it does not hurt if we give them finer definitions.

Tim Wyatt – England

Tim Wyatt relaxing near Lake Maggiore in Switzerland

The 150th anniversary of any organization clearly provides an excellent opportunity not only to appraise its achievements and failures but to identify viable pathways for the future. In order to do that any collective body needs to undertake an honest analysis of its history so that if necessary, it can re-set its priorities.

Ananya Sri Ram – USA

Included in HPB’s Collected Writings, Vol. VIII is a small essay titled “A Heart-Space of Silence.” For those who are not familiar with it, the authorship is uncertain despite it being in HPB’s papers. The essay follows with edits made for grammar and to neutralize gender. It begins:

In the hours of silent meditation, the student will find that there is one space of silence within where they can find refuge from thoughts and desires, from the turmoil of the senses and the delusions of the mind. By sinking one’s consciousness deep into one’s heart we can reach this place—at first only when we are alone in silence and darkness. But when the need for silence has grown great enough, we will turn to seek it even in the midst of the struggle with self, and we will find it. Only we must not let go of our outer self, or body; we must learn to retire into this citadel when the battle grows fierce, but to do so without losing sight of the battle; without allowing oneself to fancy that by so doing we have won the victory. That victory is won only when all is silence without as within the inner citadel.

Barbara Hebert - USA 

The challenges we face in our world today seem almost impossible to overcome. We often look to our leaders—religious, political, and spiritual—to make a difference, but it doesn’t happen. Instead of looking outside of ourselves to make change happen, it is time to start looking within. Each of us has the power—as well as the responsibility—to change the world. We cannot wait for others to step up...each one of us needs to take matters into our own hands. 

Antti Savinainen – Finland

The author

H. P. Blavatsky (HPB, 1831–1891), the central founder of the Theosophical movement, has been considered an opponent of Christianity (1) .Christian theologians have viewed HPB as such. Her defense of the 'pagan' traditions of the West and her conversion to Buddhism have accentuated her stigma of anti-Christianity.

David M. Grossman – USA

The author, David Grossman,  is a professional photographer and lives in Brooklyn NY. He is a life-long student of Theosophy, a regular contributor to Theosophy Forward and his articles have also appeared in The Theosophist. The Sunflower is his favorite flower.

Douglas Keene – USA

As we plunge into the darkness and the cold of winter (now in the northern hemisphere) and then begin to climb out again we can’t help but think of the cycles we experience in life. The annual verdant explosion of spring, the gentle breezes of summer and in the involution and withdrawal of autumn touch most of us. The annual trip around the sun causes reflection on past seasons, but begets questions about the future. Day and night, birth and death, and other natural revolutions are constant reminders of the impermanence of all life, including our own. Theosophy teaches that cycles are even more extensive, including root races, rounds, and chains. Planets are born and stars die.

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, November 27, 2003 

In her introductory to The Secret Doctrine HPB tells us: 

“The Wisdom Religion” is the inheritance of a-ll the nations, the world over……
…..-Esoteric Philosophy reconciles all religions, strips every one of its outward, human garments, and shows the root of each to be identical with that of ever other great religion.

Gottfried de Purucker – USA

[Taken from Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy , First Edition. Relevant pages are mentioned]

... if ... our thoughts are running downwards, and we wear away the ... "golden thread" which binds us to our Higher Nature, ... at last the final rupture ... comes, and the soul becomes the "lost soul" ... (167- 68)

There are two classes of this kind of soul ... first ... those ... who through native weaknesses of soul and from lack of spiritual attraction upwards, go to pieces after a certain interval of time ...

Tim Boyd – India, USA

The author

The author, Victor Hugo, expressed a thought with which most of us have become familiar: “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” Then he added: “Not all the armies in the world are more powerful.” Whenever such far-reaching, strong thoughts are shared, we need to examine them to see if they are true, whether our own experience supports it.

On the spiritual path if we try to arrive at some particular place then our mind will start creating a “place.” It is not about giving up one level of hallucination and moving into another level, but to learn to live with reality by giving up hallucination altogether. We need to make an effort to get the Truth and that Truth is existential and not what we make up in our mind. We may see things in terms of culture and what we may be exposed to. It may be that we are optimists or pessimists and may see god or devil in a person, but all these have nothing to do with the reality. To be concerned with reality would mean knowing why we are here, where we have come from and where we will go.

William Quan Judge – USA

Some years ago one of those Masters in whom so many of our members believe directed HPB to write a letter for him to a certain body of Theosophists. In this he said that each member could become, in his own town or city, if earnest, sincere and unselfish, an active center from which would radiate unseen powerful forces able to influence men and women in the vicinity for good; and that soon enquirers would appear, a Branch in time be organized, and thus the whole neighborhood would receive benefit. This seems just and reasonable in addition to its being stated by such high authority. Members ought to consider and think over it so that action may follow.

Michele Sender – USA

Michele Sender *

Members of the Theosophical Society (TS) are entrusted with the task of sharing the living power of Theosophy. In a letter to the American Convention, H. P. Blavatsky (HPB) instructed us to “teach, practise, [and] promulgate that system of life and thought which alone can save the coming [humanity]”. This statement is a useful and inspirational guiding principle, but in order to follow it effectively we must examine something that is essential in all collective effort — how we communicate with each other and how this affects our ability to work together.

Tim Wyatt – England

The author and some cats ... somewhere in Greece

There’s a shadow war and covert fightback unfolding against soul-corroding modernism and mass technophilia. It may soon erupt into a full-scale conflict.  

It’s been happening for a while as a growing minority of people intuitively recoil from a machine-driven, digitised world and all the dangers and addictions this imposes on its eight billion plus inhabitants. 

Tim Boyd – India, USA

Annie Besant was a great individual, not just in terms of her impact on the work of the Theosophical Society (TS) worldwide. She was one of those people who periodically come into the world and touch it in a way that changes things. The changes that came out of the mature portion of her life, when all of the skills, abilities, and experiences were in place, manifested here at the TS and in India. I would like to celebrate her life just a little bit through remembering some of them.