How to Study Theosophy - 1
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- Published: Saturday, 16 July 2022 09:59
Kenneth Small -- USA
Insights and Cautionary Guidance from the Esoteric Teachings of Gottfried de Purucker
When Gottfried de Purucker became the Leader of the Theosophical Society (Point Loma) in 1929, he immediately set in motion changes to the society’s constitution; he renamed Katherine Tingley’s ‘Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society’ to ‘The Theosophical Society, Point Loma’, eliminated or reduced autocratic elements in the constitution and set out on his mission to give emphasis on the study of the core teachings within Blavatsky’s view of theosophy in her “Secret Doctrine” interlinked with the ethical teachings from The Voice of the Silence. Purucker’s expansive knowledge of Theosophy, infused by his classical knowledge of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and Hebrew, emphasis on ethics, Mahayana Buddhism, the symbolic essence of teachings from inner Christianity, created within the PLTS a spiritual/intellectual renaissance during his brief 13 years of teaching. Retrospectively, Theosophical students today (2022) have on occasion over looked Purucker’s view and approach to the study and understanding of these Teachings. This has produced some tendency to even dogmatize or codify these teachings as THE truth. In the notes that follow, I will outline, with a few examples, Purucker’s universal VIEW and his cautionary comments on the need to move beyond crystallized thinking in our approach to the study of the Ancient Wisdom.