Theosophy

Antti Savinainen – Finland

The author

This essay is largely based on the book Science and Spiritual Practices (2018) by biologist Rupert Sheldrake (b. 1942). Sheldrake is an independent and courageous thinker and seeker with a PhD from the prestigious University of Cambridge. He has published research on plant physiology and parapsychology and developed the idea of the morphic field (more on this later in the article).

In his youth, Sheldrake was an atheist because he felt it was part of the scientific worldview. While studying biology, he found that its methods distanced him from plants and animals because the organisms he was studying had to be killed first. However, the holistic approach of the German philosopher and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe showed that there was another way to study nature. Sheldrake later explored meditation and the spirituality of different religions. He is now an open-minded Christian.

Boris de Zirkoff – USA

[Original cover-photo]

It is imperative for us at all times to make a clear distinction between the Theosophical Society as an organized body, and the Theosophical Movement as a world-wide trend towards universality of outlook and a more spiritual, therefore unified, view of life.

Do Animals Dream? (In the Light of Theosophy)

Do animals dream like we do and, if so, what they are dreaming about? and if they do, about what? It is not easy to figure this out and yet, biologists feel that studying the dream-like states of octopuses, pigeons and spiders, can help us understand the purpose of human dreams. In order to dream, one must sleep, and scientists believe that there is no known animal that does not sleep. It may enable animals to get rid of waste products and toxins that build up when they are active, says Daniela Rößler, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Konstanz in Germany.

Tim Boyd -- USA, India

International President of theTheosophical Society-Adyar, Tim Boyd

I would like to share a few thoughts with you on a subject that may seem a little odd, “The Land and Us”. When we look around the world the land that we all inhabit universally seems to have great importance. No matter where we are from, or from what point of history we tend to look at, the land is the source of some of the highest human expressions.

Jacques Mahnich - France

Jacques Mahnich is an aeronautics engineer, author, lecturer and excellent violinist

Every morning the sun appears on the horizon in its natural amazing splendor. Even though we know that it is the movement of the earth around the sun which causes this regular appearance, this contact with the light is still enchanting. Every evening, we see it disappear without any worry because our experience, since birth, shows us that it will come back to enlighten and warm us the next day. It is the engine of life on this Earth.

Jellyfish, being one of the biologically simplest kinds of animal that lack brain, we would think that they cannot learn. Researchers had generally assumed that learning from experience and adapting a behaviour was limited to biologically complex animals with relatively large brains, which include mice, birds and primates. According to Jan Bielecki at Kiel University in Germany, “Learning is the pinnacle of nervous system performance.” But some studies have hinted that it is possible for simple creatures also to have this ability, and this led Bielecki and his colleagues to investigate learning in jellyfish, which has shown that Caribbean box jellyfish can learn from experience, even though they lack a central brain.

Douglas Keene – USA  

Douglas Keene, who last year succeeded Barbara Hebert as President of the Theosophical Society in America 

When we consider the relationship between strength and unity, we must also consider justice, for justice is an outcome of strength and leads to unity. In fact, each quality can be seen as an essential bridge in the cycle, strength leading to justice, justice leading to unity and finally, unity back to strength. Love is the adhesive which holds the wheel in alignment. Each time that justice is achieved, strength and unity increase. When strength manifests, justice is possible. When we see strength and justice, unity usually follows.

Krishna – Christos

David M. Grossman – USA

Krishna and Christos or Christ are names that reverberate across countries and civilizations deep into the fabric of human history; names that today resonate in the hearts and minds of millions upon millions of people, east and west, names  that represent divine incarnations to many, names that bring peace, inspiration and meaningful direction to people’s lives.

We know two of the world’s great religions revolve around Krishna and Christos, the latter referred to as Jesus the Christ or Jesus Christ. The term Christos was around long before it was conflated and made synonymous with Jesus. Some Gnostics spoke of Jesus as a great prophet who was overshadowed or illuminated by the Christos.

Barbara Hebert – USA

The author

When we think of diversity or the differences we see in our world, we don’t typically think of strength. Yet, diversity provides us with strength. The differences we see allow each of us to choose our own spiritual path, to grow in our own way. Through different perspectives, ideas, and thoughts, each of us can choose, or even create, our own path as we search for Truth. We may be reminded of Krishnamurti’s statement that “Truth is a pathless land.” As many of us can attest, it takes strength and courage to walk the spiritual path.

Tim Boyd – USA, Inda

Recent photo of Tim Boyd, International President of the Theosophical Society Adyar

At the outset of H. P. Blavatsky’s (HPB) Diagram of Meditation she mentions two essentials required in order to engage in the process of meditation. First, she talks about the necessity to “conceive of Unity”, and then she talks about the twin aspects involved in such an effort.

Catalina Isaza-Cantor – Colombia, India

The author resides and works at Adyar

[Note from the editor: this article is based on Catalina’s talk “The Language of the Future”, which she gave during a Zoom meeting organized by the United Lodge of Theosophists in San Diego on September 9, 2023.]

When I started to prepare my presentation, my first step was to do some introspection and try to visualize what or how the language of the future might be. While this question can be answered from many perspectives, I feel that the fact that we are in a theosophical circle, where the common goal is the creation of a nucleus of universal brotherhood/kinship, the approach from unity, fraternity, is fundamental when thinking about a language of the future or for the future.

Esther Pockrandt – Australia

[Part 1: Collective Consciousness]

What is collective consciousness?  Aristotle first argued that the whole is something greater than the sum of its parts. For good? or for bad? 

If thought is vibration, then surely it must, like air or water, pure or polluted, touch and swirl around all of us, collectively and individually, and have an effect. When many come together united in one vision, how powerful this would potentially be also. It certainly would not hurt to experiment with intent, and see if and how our own inner thought ‘clean-up’ would affect the quality of our own relationships, lives and health, to start with.  Some even advise, to be discerning with what type of group energy, or what kind of company one keeps, or exposes oneself to, if one wants, for example, to break habits of addiction or other. The power of One, must not be underestimated! 

Jan Nicolaas Kind – Brazil

Next Step? 

One of the three main founders of the TS, William Quan Judge, at one point in time referring to a discussion he had with HPB in London, remembered what she in her own candid way had told him regarding the nucleus:

You were not directed to found and realize a Universal Brotherhood, but to form the nucleus for one  ; for it is only when the nucleus is formed that the accumulations can begin that will end in future years, however far, in the formation of that body which we have in view. [From: Yours till Death and after, HPB - Reprinted in Sunrise magazine, August/September 1985].

Do saints commit sin if they consume meat? We hear that consuming rajasic/tamasic foods such as, junk food and meat, alcohol can not only harm one’s health but also hinder moksha or liberation. If consuming meat can have such serious consequences, then how some highly realized sages consumed meat? It is important to understand that spiritually realized people or Jeevan Mukta have risen beyond three gunas or qualities and hence what they eat does not affect their spiritual state or mind. In some cases, such beings smoked or consumed meat to take on bad karma or sins of certain devotees under exceptional conditions. Also, they intended to liberate the animals. The Gita (XVIII, 17) says that the one who is devoid of ego and free from any worldly desires and acts selflessly for the betterment of humanity, is not bound by karmic reactions of deeds that may look sinful. However, till such time that one reaches the state of spiritually realized sages, eating meat will result in sin and one’s downfall. One who kills animals for meat is unable to attain heaven or liberation. From the butcher, seller of meat, cook and the one who consumes is committing a sin.

Marja Artamaa – India, Finland

Marja in action

When someone joins the Theosophical Society (TS), they are not requested to accept the existence of the perfected individuals — the Masters of the Wisdom behind the founding of the TS in 1875. The only requirement is that they accept universal brotherhood. There is however a deeper realization, not only of the value of unity, but also the principle of harmlessness and the possibility of practicing it to the maximum extent. This reflects in the way we live — being harmless to animals, Nature as a whole, and people, including their physical, astral, and mental natures.

Boris de Zirkoff – USA   

[Original cover]

The restlessness and confusion of men's minds in the present-day world is the direct result of a shattered and crumbling view of life.

The complacency of an outmoded religion, the false security of a selfish social order based upon political slogans empty of spiritual content, and the banality of quasi-ethical concepts rooted primarily in convenience and the alleged superiority of might over right, these and other familiar landmarks of a dying era are collapsing before our very eyes, and in every part of the habitable world.

Barbara Hebert – USA

Theosophy is available in today’s world in order to help humanity. In fact, this statement is made very clearly by HPB, her teachers, and others. For instance, we can look to the Maha Chohan letter that was written in late 1881 or early 1882 by the Mahatma KH regarding a conversation held with the Maha Chohan about the teachings shared by the Theosophical Society. We read

For our doctrines to practically re-act on the so-called moral code or the ideas of truthfulness, purity, self-denial, charity, etc., we have to preach and popularise a knowledge of Theosophy. It is not the individual and determined purpose of attaining [for] oneself Nirvana (the culmination of all knowledge and absolute wisdom) which is, after all only an exalted and glorious selfishness, but the self-sacrificing pursuit of the best means to lead on the right path our neighbour, to cause as many of our fellow creatures as we possibly can to benefit by it, which constitutes the true Theosophist.

Antti Savinainen – Finland

Introduction 

Although reincarnation is a basic tenet of Theosophy, Hinduism, and Buddhism, teachings about this doctrine differ in these traditions. In Hinduism and Theosophy, for instance, an atman or higher self is behind subsequent incarnations, but this is not the case in mainstream Buddhism. Moreover, both Hinduism and Buddhism maintain that it is possible for a human being to reincarnate as an animal, whereas according to Theosophy, it is impossible.

Envy is the bile on which we choke when we want something that belongs to someone else. It generally stems from competitiveness, emotional insecurity and situational dissatisfaction. Envy is corrosive, particularly because we deny being envious, and instead, try to expose unfairness and punish those who we think were unduly rewarded at our expense. We withhold support, sincere admiration and sometimes, even friendship, and damage another’s reputation in order to enhance our own. We become critics instead of becoming fans. However, the poison of envy can sometimes transform itself into something halfway constructive. At personal level, some people may be able to perform the mental magic of transforming envy into aspiration: “If she can do it, write it, sell it, dammit, I can, too!” writes Judith Sills, a Philadelphia-based clinical psychologist. (Psychology Today, September-October 2008)

A, Trevor Barker

[Note from the editor: Alfred Trevor Barker (b. October 10, 1893- d. July 17, 1941) was a Theosophist, writer, and lecturer. He is well-known in the Theosophical world for his transcription, compilation and publication of the The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett and The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett. For this vital work, he was awarded the Subba Row Medal posthumously in December, 2020. As editor I have, in a way, “rediscovered” his articles for which he was lesser known, but are of high quality. If you want to know more about him follow this link: https://theosophy.wiki/en/A._Trevor_Barker JNK]

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John Algeo – USA

John Algeo speaking at Olcott in Wheaton

Theosophy is a contemporary expression of the timeless Wisdom of humanity, a Wisdom originally derived from teachers greater than us in knowledge and insight.

Boris de Zirkoff – USA

[Original cover photo of Theosophia, the magazine in which this article was publshed] 

When the historian of the future appraises the era we live in today, it is more than likely that he will set down its main characteristics to have been a widespread downfall of ethics, emotional instability, and a loss of reliable ethical standards, resulting in mental and emotional confusion.