Theosophy Forward

John Algeo – USA

DeRobigne Mortimer Bennett (1818-82) was a Theosophist who deserves to be more widely known. Roderick Bradford is doing his best to see that Bennett’s accomplishments are better recognized. In 2006, Bradford published a 412-page biography: D. M. Bennett: The Truth Seeker (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books). And in 2009, he produced an hour-long video program of the same title (available on both standard-definition DVD and high-definition Blu-Ray DVD from RodBradford@Gmail.com).

Bennett was one of the best known and most effective free-thinkers of the nineteenth century. He fought for freedom of belief and expression against such supporters of the narrow ecclesiastical establishment of that time as Anthony Comstock (1844-1915). Comstock, a virulent “reformer” who got control of what could be legally sent through the U.S. mail, prosecuted Bennett and sent him to prison, ostensibly for circulating immoral literature (shades of Annie Besant) but actually for violating Comstock’s intolerant views. Even during Comstock’s life, his name became a new word in English: “Comstockery,” which the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines as “strict censorship of materials considered obscene [or] censorious opposition to alleged immorality (as in literature).” He was America’s most infamous book-burner.

Bennett came out of a Shaker background. The Shakers were an open-minded religious community that required sexual abstinence of its members. Bennett and another community member, Mary Wicks, fell in love, so left the community to marry. However, the Shakers continued to regard them highly and supported Bennett through the many trials of his life. In 1873, Bennett started a journal called The Truth Seeker (a name suggested by his wife), which became the major free-thought periodical in America. Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments »

Introduction compiled by S. T. Adelante

Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952, philosopher, musician, physician & humanitarian, 1875 - 1965

Albert Schweitzer was born on January 14, 1875, in Kaysersberg, a town near Strasbourg in Alsace, Germany (now part of France). Schweitzer has been called the greatest Christian of his time. He based his personal philosophy on a “reverence for life” and on a deep commitment to serve humanity through thought and action. For his many years of humanitarian efforts, Schweitzer was awarded the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.

By the time he was twenty-one, Schweitzer had decided on the course for his life. For nine years he would dedicate himself to the study of science, music, and theology. Then he would devote the rest of his life to serving humanity directly. Before he was 30, he was a respected writer on theology, an accomplished organist, and an authority on the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. His book The Quest of the Historical Jesus ruffled some scholarly feathers when it was first published in 1905.  He was very courageous in his quest for truth!

In 1904 Schweitzer was inspired to become a medical missionary after reading an evangelical paper regarding the needs of medical missions. He studied medicine from 1905 to 1913 at the University of Strasbourg. He also raised money to establish a hospital in Lambaréné, in French Equatorial Africa. Over the years, he built a large hospital that served thousands of Africans. Schweitzer used his $33,000 Nobel prize to expand the hospital and to build a leper colony. In 1955 Queen Elizabeth II awarded Schweitzer the “Order of Merit,” Britain’s highest civilian honor. Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments »

Prof. Abditus Questor

Introduction: Harry Potter and the Ancient Wisdom

Ancient Wisdom

The Ancient Wisdom is a way of looking at ourselves and our place in the universe that is probably as old as the human species. It is the inner side, the heart, of all the great religions, as well as of simpler forms of spiritual belief held by people around the world. It is likely inherent in us through our shared collective unconscious, perhaps implanted in our nascent human minds by those spiritual forebears of ours whom H.P.B. calls the Lords of the Flame.

The Ancient Wisdom has been communicated in many ways. It is sometimes set forth more or less straightforwardly, as in the philosophical discussions of the Hindu Upanishads or in Madam Blavatsky’s master work, The Secret Doctrine. But more often it is expressed by symbols and allegory, as in the Bhagavad-Gita or in works like The Legend of Bagger Vance (novel written by Steven Pressfield and movie directed by Robert Redford) or in the rituals of Freemasonry. The Ancient Wisdom can arise in any of us by dreams, reveries, or meditations, welling up spontaneously from the archetypes of the collective unconscious—as the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung posited. The Ancient Wisdom is also found in myths from cultures around the globe, as well as in those humble cousins of myth, folk tales or fairy stories, all springing from the collective unconscious.

Today, the most popular and effective conveyance of the Ancient Wisdom may well be through a conscious literary development of the fairy stories of the folk, namely archetypal fantasy. Let’s consider what is meant by “fairy story” and “fantasy.”

The most insightful modern authority on the subject was J. R. R. Tolkien, who himself wrote what was certainly the greatest fairy story of the last century in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien pointed out that fairy stories are not about fairies and often have no such beings in them. Instead, they are about a human hero, who travels away from home to another place, which is enchanted, beautiful, and dangerous. It is the Land of Faërie (an archaic spelling for this “other” world). After many adventures in that other world, the hero returns again home. Tolkien’s first such published work was The Hobbit, which had the subtitle There and Back Again, summarizing the plot movement of the genre. Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments »