Theosophy

Marie Harkness – Ireland

The JOY of Service

It is important to have a clear understanding of what Theosophy actually is. What is Theosophy? It literally means Divine Wisdom, or Wisdom of the Gods. Radha Burnier, former International President (1980–2013) of the Theosophical Society (TS) stated:

Theosophy is not a kind of empty philosophy, or a new sect or religion, but has to do with learning about life and the realization of its beauty and its meaning. Those who work in this way . . . become a light radiating friendship and harmony, kindness and love in action towards all. If we study Theosophy and that does not lead to such a change in the quality of our relationships and our attitude, there is something missing in the way we understand Theosophy.

Marly Winckler – Brazil

The author translated H. P. Blavatsky's Collected Writings Volume 1 into Portuguese

For the first time, Portuguese-speaking readers now have access to the translated version of the Collected Writings of H. P. Blavatsky, originally penned between 1874 and 1878. The monumental task of compiling her writings was undertaken by Boris de Zirkoff, Blavatsky's great nephew, who described her writings as "one of the most impressive products of the human creative mind. Considering their unparalleled erudition, prophetic nature, and spiritual depth, they must be classified among the inexplicable phenomena of the era, by both friends and foes alike. Even a cursory examination of these writings reveals their monumental character."

Douglas Keene – USA

For those that recognize a divinity in ourselves and our universe, we often wonder how to approach it. How do we open ourselves and unlock the secrets of the universe?  What is the formula for spiritual progress, if there is one?  How do we seek and engage our own divinity?  Many traditions have offered answers across the ages. One very simple response might be what I called the 3P’s of spiritual progress.

Andrew Rooke – Australia

Most of us frequently listen to music. We have a radio in the background at home; we hear music in supermarkets as we shop and in the railway station or lift as we make our way to work. Music is an essential feature of modern life. Did you ever think that besides the music blaring from a million radios and televisions that a sea of cosmic music surrounds us, harmoniously vibrating life-atoms that form the vehicles of spiritual forces underlying manifestation? Perhaps the beautiful colors in nature are manifestations of the symphonic harmonies singing about us. From the gurgling of a brook to the complex melodies of a classical symphony, the many forms of music we hear are translations to our plane of music that fills the Universe.

Tim Boyd – India, USA

Tim Boyd speaks

I am told that J. Krishnamurti once made the comment that if there were ten people in the world like him, the world would be transformed. Regardless of one’s opinion of Krishnamurti’s history or status as a “World Teacher”, the statement is worth considering. Coming from the mouth of an average person, a normal reaction to hearing such a statement would bring the idea of delusion or extreme boastfulness. “Who does he think he is?” is the question that would arise. Given the more than seven decades of Krishnamurti’s life of teaching and speaking, and the numerous books by him and about him, we have some sense of who he was and what he might have meant. Clearly the ten transformative people he was talking about were not determined by their personalities, circumstances, or popular regard. Although these are the tags most of us normally use to identify ourselves, to him they were meaningless attributes. The “ten people” referred to something deeper. That something is consciousness.

Svitlana Gavrylenko – Ukraine

The author

What is the object of this system [Theosophy]? THEOSOPHIST: First of all, to inculcate certain great moral truths upon its disciples . . .                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                  H. P. Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy

We correlate our actions in the physical world to consider all circumstances and possible consequences. Likewise, we must relate our actions to the divine moral law that pervades the entire universe. We see harmony and order in the Cosmos, we also know about the law of interconnectedness, interdependence of everything with everything (the so called quality of totality).

Antti Savinainen – Finland

Pekka Ervast

Introduction:

Pekka Ervast (1875‒1934) was an exceptional person whose influence is still felt in Finland today. He left a remarkable literary legacy that centers on Theosophy, esoteric Christianity, the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount, and the wisdom of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.

Ervast was one of the founders of the Finnish Section of the Theosophical Society in 1907 and was elected as the Section’s first secretary general. After various stages, Ervast resigned from the Theosophical Society and in 1920 founded the Finnish Rosy Cross.

Although it is institutionally separate, the Finnish Rosy Cross remains a part of the Theosophical movement started by H. P. Blavatsky, whom Ervast loved and respected deeply. Ervast chose the name “Finnish Rosy Cross” (Ruusu-Risti in Finnish) for the new organization to emphasize the ideological and internal link with the movement in esoteric Christianity that some believe originated with Christian Rosenkreutz as early as the fifteenth century.

Christian Rosenkreutz appears in two important tracts published in the early seventeenth century: the Fama fraternitatis (“The Rumor of the Brotherhood”) and the Confessio fraternitatis (“The Confession of the Brotherhood”), which were a major impulse to the spread of the Rosicrucian movement. Some contend that Christian Rosenkreutz was a merely symbolic figure; others contend that he really lived as a historical person.

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Dara Eklund – USA

Dara Eklund and Nicholas Weeks in front of their Moorpark house. This photo was probably taken in 2012

The ancient sages recognized that proof of reality lies ultimately in man himself, testing and discerning the facts of Nature with his divine counterpart within. Know Man and you can know God, say the mystics. According to the Pantheists: know Nature and you may know God. Every outward scene has a counterpart within to be discerned.

David M. Grossman – USA

 It was the work of H.P. Blavatsky, central messenger of the modern Theosophical movement, through her writings and tireless efforts, to paint a living picture of who we are, where we have come from and where we are going, placing us within the historical map that she draws of cyclic evolution as well as to cultivate and spread the vision of Universal Brotherhood in the world.

William Quan Judge, one of the three principle founders of the Theosophical Society,  advised us to use words with care, and this advice is very necessary if we would leave no room for “avoidable” misconceptions. The unavoidable misconceptions are due to the limitations of the readers or of the listeners, their preconceived notions and experience. Three words, especially, need to be used with great care; Ego, conscience, Tradition.

Tim Boyd – India, USA

The author, profound, observant, creative and all-embracing

One of the somewhat paradoxical goals of spiritual practice is to become less self-centered. The results of practice might be described as becoming “unselfed”. Expressed in simple terms spiritual practice focuses on diminishing the limiting influence of the personal self by shifting the center of awareness to a Greater, or Universal Self. It is paradoxical because in order for this shift to take place there has to be an initial commitment of the unrefined personality to the process — a commitment to a future exaltation that to the personal self looks a lot like extinction.

Cary Gardner – USA  

What do we really know about the human family and the pilgrimage of mankind? The Voice of the Silence makes this firm statement.   “To live to benefit mankind is the first step.” How do we benefit mankind?  What do we really know about mankind as a whole?   Our personal life, our family and community provide us with our initial clues.   As we grow older we might have travel experiences, reading and media influences that might reveal more about our fellow man, but our knowledge is fragmentary at best, no matter how well traveled one might be.  How grand is this family of which we are members? Where did we come from and where are we going?

Andrew Rooke – Australia

When the American Plains Indians rode forth to hunt bison 200 years ago, they first said a prayer of apology to their ‘younger brothers’ the animals which they were about to kill only to feed their  families. Such attitudes of humility and identity with the kingdom of life below us humans has, in the past, been little in evidence in our ‘civilized’ society. We often preach peace and brotherhood from the pulpit, but how often do we pause to think that Universal Brotherhood includes all of Nature’s kingdoms and not just our fellow humans?

Andrew Rooke – Australia

What a beauty ..  (Lemur, native to Madagascar)

If you have ever had a beloved pet in your household, you would certainly have wondered, how is it that animals can have such a major impact on us humans by just ‘being there’? Who are the beings we call the ‘Animals’ and how do they relate to the human kingdom?

Antti Savinainen – Finland

Children’s Reincarnation Memories

Reincarnation is among the most central teachings of Theosophy and Anthroposophy, which portray it as an opportunity to evolve as a human being from one life to the next. Our understanding of reincarnation has been shaped by the teachings of Eastern religions and spiritual teachers, which are thought to be based on experiential spiritual knowledge. Understandably, this is not convincing to a person outside spiritual movements.

Even so, there is empirical evidence for reincarnation independent of Eastern religions and spiritual movements. It has been suggested, for example, that past-life memories can be activated by hypnosis. But the results obtained with hypnosis seem very unreliable from the point of view of both scientific and spiritual research, so I will not investigate them further. Here I will focus on scientific research on children’s reincarnation memories and its criticisms. Finally, I will evaluate the results from the perspective of Theosophy.

John Algeo – USA

John Algeo at his best: lecturing at Olcott in Wheaton

An old kabbalistic motto holds that Demon est Deus inversus, "The devil is God upside down," or "The devil is God's complement." The Irish poet William Butler Yeats took, as his mystical name in the kabbalistic Order of the Golden Dawn, the initials of that Latin motto, D.E.D.I. Those letters, however, also spell the Latin verb dedi, which means "I have given" and thus punningly suggests that the diabolic is a divine gift.

Tim Boyd – USA, India

Tim Boyd at the beautiful International Theosophical Centre in Naarden, the Netherlanda

IN all traditions that aim at self-transformation, or human regeneration, there is a necessary emphasis on the need for practice. Some people might resist the discipline and time required to develop and persist in a practice, thinking of it as just another process of conditioning, which it is, but it is paradoxical. Spiritual practice is a process of conditioning that leads to the possibility of freedom from conditioning. The preoccupation with practice in spiritual and religious circles is based on a couple of observations. The first is that whether we recognize it or not, we are continually practicing something.

 Douglas Keene – USA  

  Douglas Keene, National President of the Theosophical Society in America

Service comes in many descriptions and circumstances. This can be as simple as a smile, lending a caring ear, or treating others with respect. Fulfilling our family obligations, work duties, and community responsibilities can all be seen as service and perhaps is needed before we extend our efforts beyond our individual commitments.

Barbara Hebert – USA

Toddlers and young children frequently ask “why?”:  Why is the sky blue?  Why does it rain? Why is grass green? and so on. They are trying to learn about the world in which they find themselves. As seekers for truth, we also frequently ask the question “why?” We want to understand ourselves, the world into which we were born, and the cosmos in which we exist. While these are all valuable questions and help us as we seek, there is an important question that we don’t often consider. It is: Why were we born at this particular time in history?

In the article, “My Fasts” Gandhiji says that his religion has taught him to fast and pray whenever there is distress which one is unable to remove. “What the eyes are for the outer world, fasts are for the inner.” Curiously, he mentions that these fasts undertaken by him are not undertaken for amusement or fame, but because “they are imposed upon me by a higher Power and the capacity to bear the pain also comes from that Power.” The fasts [unto death] undertaken by him are not to be undertaken lightly. “I, must, therefore undertake the fast only when the still small voice within me calls for it….A genuine fast cleanses the body, mind and soul. It crucifies the flesh and to that extent, sets the soul free….Purity thus gained, when it is utilised for a noble purpose, becomes a prayer.” He seems to suggest that fasting and prayer go hand in hand. When one abstains from food and water, it marks the beginning of the surrender to God.

Edited by Hector Tate

[From the last issue of Theosophia a magazine that was published every three months, from May 1944 till June 1981.  It's objectives were: to uphold and promote the Original Principles of the modern Theosophical Movement, and to disseminate the teachings of the Esoteric Philosophy as set forth by H.P. Blavatsky and her Teachers. It's Editor was Boris de Zirkoff.]

Antti  Savinainen – Finland

Rudolf Steiner

Introduction

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) published a series of articles titled How to Know Higher Worlds? (in German Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?) in the journal Lucifer-Gnosis between 1904 and 1905. These articles were published as a book in 1909. Steiner reworked his text extensively several times. The book's title has also changed with the translations: the English translation with all Steiner’s changes appeared with the title Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment. Steiner intended to create such a precise description of spiritual practices and the way to proceed that the presence of a teacher or guru, as required by the old spiritual tradition, would become superfluous.