Theosophical Society,
H P Blavatsky
What is Theosophy?
By
H P Blavatsky
According
to lexicographers, the term theosophia is composed of
two
Greek
words--theos "god," and sophas
"wise." So far, correct. But the
explanations
that follow are far from giving a clear idea of Theosophy.
Webster
defines it most originally as "a supposed intercourse with
God
and superior spirits, and consequent attainment of superhuman
knowledge
by physical processes, as by the theurgic operations
of some
ancient
Platonists, or by the chemical processes of the German
fire-philosophers."
This,
to say the least, is a poor and flippant explanation. To
attribute
such ideas to men like Ammonius Saccas,
Plotinus, Jamblichus,
Porphyry,
Proclus, shows either intentional misrepresentation,
or
ignorance
of the philosophy and motives of the greatest geniuses of the
later
Alexandrian School. To impute to those,
whom their contemporaries
as
well as posterity styled "theodidaktoi,"
god-taught, a purpose to
develop
their psychological, spiritual perceptions by "physical
processes,"
is to describe them as materialists. As
to the concluding
fling
at the fire-philosophers, it rebounds from them upon some of the
most
eminent leaders of modern science; those
in whose mouths the Rev.
James
Martineau places the following boast: "Matter is all we want;
give
us atoms alone, and we will explain the universe."
Theosophist,"
he says, "is one who gives you a theory of God or the
works
of God, which has not revelation, but inspiration of his own for
its
basis." In this view every great
thinker and philosopher,
especially
every founder of a new religion, school of philosophy, or
sect,
is necessarily a Theosophist. Hence,
Theosophy and Theosophists
have
existed ever since the first glimmering of nascent thought made man
seek
instinctively for the means of expressing his own independent
opinions.
There
were Theosophists before the Christian era, notwithstanding that
the
Christian writers ascribe the development of the Eclectic
Theosophical
system to the early part of the third century of their era.
Diogenes
Laertius traces Theosophy to an epoch antedating the
dynasty of
the
Ptolemies; and
names as its founder an Egyptian Hierophant called
Pot-Amun, the name being Coptic, and signifying a priest
consecrated to
Amun, the god of Wisdom. But history shows its revival by Ammonius
Saccas, the
founder of the
called themselves "Philaletheians"--lovers
of the truth; while others
termed
them the "Analogists," on account of their method of interpreting
all
sacred legends, symbolical myths, and mysteries, by a rule of
analogy
or correspondence so that events which had occurred in the
external
world were regarded as expressing operations and experiences of
the
human soul. It was the aim and purpose
of Ammonius to reconcile all
sects,
peoples, and nations under one common faith--a belief in one
Supreme,
Eternal, Unknown, and Unnamed Power, governing the universe by
immutable
and eternal laws. His object was to
prove a primitive system
of
Theosophy, which, at the beginning, was essentially alike in all
countries: to induce all men to lay aside their strifes and quarrels,
and
unite in purpose and thought as the children of one common mother;
to
purify the ancient religions, by degrees corrupted and obscured, from
all
dross of human element, by uniting and expounding them upon pure
philosophical
principles. Hence, the Buddhistic, Vedantic and Magian, or
Zoroastrian
systems were taught in the
along with all the philosophies of
pre-eminently Buddhistic
and Indian feature among the ancient
Theosophists
of
persons, a fraternal affection for the whole
human race, and a
compassionate
feeling for even the dumb animals. While
seeking to
establish
a system of moral discipline which enforced upon people the
duty
to live according to the laws of their respective countries, to
exalt
their minds by the research and contemplation of the one Absolute
Truth; his chief object, in order, as he believed,
to achieve all
others,
was to extract from the various religious teachings, as from a
many-chorded
instrument, one full and harmonious melody, which would
find
response in every truth-loving heart.
Theosophy
is, then, the archaic Wisdom-Religion, the esoteric doctrine
once
known in every ancient country having claims to civilization. This
"Wisdom"
all the old writings show us as an emanation of the Divine
Principle; and the clear comprehension of it is typified
in such names
as the Indian Buddh, the
Babylonian Nebo, the Thoth of
Hermes
of
Neitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia; and, finally, the Vedas, from the
word
"to know." Under this
designation, all the ancient philosophers of
the East and West, the Hierophants of old
the Theodidaktoi of
Greece, included all knowledge of things occult and
essentially
divine. The Mercavah
of the Hebrew Rabbis, the secular and
popular
series, were thus designated as only the vehicle, the outward
shell,
which contained the higher esoteric knowledges. The Magi of
Zoroaster
received instruction and were initiated in the caves and
secret lodges of
apporiheta, or secret discourses,
during which the Mysta became an
Epopta--a Seer.
The
central idea of the Eclectic Theosophy was that of a single Supreme
Essence,
Unknown and Unknowable; for "how
could one know the knower?"
as
inquires Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Their system was characterized by
three
distinct features, the theory of the above-named Essence: the
doctrine
of the human soul; an emanation from the
latter, hence of the
same
nature; and its theurgy. It is this last science which has led
the
Neo-Platonists to be so misrepresented in our era of materialistic
science. Theurgy being
essentially the art of applying the divine
powers
of man to the subordination of the blind forces of Nature, its
votaries
were first decisively termed magicians--a corruption of the
word
"Magh," signifying a wise or learned man. Sceptics of a century ago
would
have been as wide of the mark if they had laughed at the idea of a
phonograph
or telegraph. The ridiculed and the
"infidels" of one
generation
generally become the wise men and saints of the next.
As
regards the Divine Essence and the nature of the soul and spirit,
modern
Theosophy believes now as ancient Theosophy did. The popular Dev
of
the Aryan nations was identical with the Iao of the Chaldeans, and
even
with the Jupiter of the less learned and philosophical among the
Romans; and it was just as identical with the Jahve of the Samaritans,
the
Tiu or "Tiusco"
of the Northmen, the Duw of
the Britons, and the
Zeus
of the Thracians. As to the Absolute Essence, the One and All,
whether
we accept the Greek Pythagorean, the Chaldean Kabalistic,
or the
Aryan
philosophy in regard to it, it will all lead to one and the same
result. The Primeval Monad of the Pythagorean system,
which retires
into
darkness and is itself Darkness (for human intellect), was made the
basis
of all things; and we can find the idea
in all its integrity in
the
philosophical systems of Leibnitz and Spinoza. Therefore, whether a
Theosophist
agrees with the Kabala which, speaking of En-Soph,
propounds
the
query; "Who, then, can comprehend It, since It is formless, and
non-existent?"
or, remembering that magnificent hymn from the Rig Veda
(Hymn
129, Book x.), inquires:
"Who knows from whence this great
creation sprang? Whether his will
created or was mute. He knows it--or
perchance even He knows not."
Or,
again, he accepts the Vedantic conception of Brahma,
who, in the
Upanishads,
is represented as "without life, without mind, pure,"
unconscious,
for Brahma is "Absolute Consciousness." Or, even finally,
siding
with the Svabhavikas of Nepaul, maintains that
nothing exists but
"Svabhavat" (substance or nature) which exists by
itself without any
creator--he
is the true follower of pure and absolute Theosophy. That
Theosophy
which prompted such men as Hegel, Fichte and Spinoza
to take
up
the labours of the old Grecian philosophers and
speculate upon the
One
Substance--the Deity, the Divine All proceeding from the Divine
Wisdom--incomprehensible,
unknown and unnamed by any ancient or modern
religious
philosophy, with the exception of Judaism, including
Christianity
and Mohammedanism. Every Theosophist,
then, holding to a
theory
of the Deity "which has not revelation but an inspiration of his
own
for its basis," may accept any of the above definitions or belong to
any
of these religions, and yet remain strictly within the boundaries of
Theosophy. For the latter is belief in the Deity as the
ALL, the source
of
all existence, the infinite that cannot be either comprehended or
known,
the universe alone revealing It, or, as some prefer it, Him, thus
giving
a sex to that, to anthropomorphize which is blasphemy. True
Theosophy
shrinks from brutal materialization; it prefers believing
that,
from eternity retired within itself, the Spirit of the Deity
neither
wills nor creates; but from the infinite
effulgence everywhere
going
forth from the Great Centre, that which produces all visible and
invisible
things is but a ray containing in itself the generative and
conceptive
power, which, in its turn, produces that which the Greeks
called
Macrocosm, the Kabalists Tikkun
or Adam Kadmon, the archetypal
man,
and the Aryans Purusha, the manifested Brahm, or the Divine Male.
Theosophy
believes also in the Anastasis, or continued
existence, and in
transmigration
(evolution) or a series of changes of the personal ego,
which
can be defended and explained on strict philosophical principles
by
making a distinction between Paramatma
(transcendental, supreme
spirit)
and Jivatma (individual spirit) of the Vedantins.
To
fully define Theosophy, we must consider it under all its aspects.
The
interior world has not been hidden from all by impenetrable
darkness. By that higher intuition acquired by Theosophia, or
God-knowledge,
which carries the mind from the world of form into that of
formless
spirit, man has been sometimes enabled, in every age and every
country,
to perceive things in the interior or invisible world. Hence,
the
"Samadhi," or Dhyan Yog Samadhi, of the
Hindu ascetics; the
"Daimonlonphoti," or spiritual illumination of the
Neo-Platonists;
the
"sidereal confabulation of soul," of the Rosicrucians
or
Fire-philosophers;
and, even the ecstatic trance of mystics and of the
modern
mesmerists and spiritualists, are identical in nature, though
various
as to manifestation. The search after
man's diviner "self," so
often
and so erroneously interpreted as individual communion with a
personal
God, was the object of every mystic; and belief in its
possibility
seems to have been coeval with the genesis of humanity, each
people
giving it another name. Thus Plato and Plotinus call
"Noetic
work"
that which the Yogi and the Shrotriya term Vidya. "By
reflection,
self-knowledge
and intellectual discipline, the soul can be raised to
the
vision of eternal truth, goodness, and beauty--that is, to the
Vision
of God. This is the epopteia,"
said the Greeks. "To unite one's
soul
to the Universal Soul," says Porphyry, "requires but a perfectly
pure
mind. Through self contemplation,
perfect chastity, and purity of
body,
we may approach nearer to It, and receive, in that state, true
knowledge
and wonderful insight." And Swami Dayanund Saraswati, who has
read
neither Porphyry nor other Greek authors, but who is a thorough
Vedic
scholar, says in his "Veda Bhashya" (opasna prakaru ank. 9)--"To
obtain
Diksha (highest initiation) and Yog,
one has to practise
according
to the rules..... The soul in the human body can perform the
greatest
wonders by knowing the Universal Spirit (or God) and
acquainting
itself with the properties and qualities (occult) of all the
things
in the universe. A human being (a Dikshit or initiate) can thus
acquire
a power of seeing and hearing at great distances." Finally,
Alfred
R. Wallace, F.R.S., a spiritualist and yet a confessedly great
naturalist,
says, with brave candour: "It is spirit that alone feels,
and
perceives, and thinks, that acquires knowledge, and reasons and
aspires.....
There not unfrequently occur individuals so
constituted
that
the spirit can perceive independently of the corporeal organs of
sense,
or can, perhaps, wholly or partially quit the body for a time and
return
to it again; the spirit communicates
with spirit easier than
with
matter." We can now see how, after
thousands of years have
intervened
between the age of the Gymnosophists* and our own highly
civilized
era, notwithstanding, or, perhaps, just because of such an
enlightenment
which pours its radiant light upon the psychological as
well
as upon the physical realms of Nature, over twenty millions of
people
today believe, under different form, in those same spiritual
powers
that were believed in by the Yogis and the Pythagoreans, nearly
3,000
years ago.
--------
*
The reality of the Yog-power was affirmed by many
Greek and Roman
writers,
who call the Yogis Indian Gymnosophists--by Strabo, Lucan,
Plutarch,
--------
Thus,
while the Aryan mystic claimed for himself the power of solving
all
the problems of life and death, when he had once obtained the power
of
acting independently of his body, through the Atman, "self," or
"soul;" and the old Greeks went in search of Atmu, the Hidden one, or
the
God-Soul of man, with the symbolical mirror of the Thesmophorian
mysteries; so the spiritualists of today believe in the
capacity of the
spirits,
or the souls of the disembodied persons, to communicate visibly
and
tangibly with those they loved on earth.
And all these, Aryan
Yogis,
Greek philosophers, and modern spiritualists, affirm that
possibility
on the ground that the embodied soul and its never embodied
spirit--the
real self--are not separated from either the Universal Soul
or
other spirits by space, but merely by the differentiation of their
qualities,
as in the boundless expanse of the universe there can be no
limitation. And that when this difference is once
removed--according to
the
Greeks and Aryans by abstract contemplation, producing the temporary
liberation
of the imprisoned soul, and according to spiritualists,
through
mediumship--such a union between embodied and
disembodied
spirits
becomes possible. Thus was it that Patanjali's Yogis, and,
following
in their steps, Plotinus, Porphyry and other
Neo-Platonists,
maintained
that in their hours of ecstasy, they had been united to, or
rather
become as one with, God several times during the course of their
lives. This idea, erroneous as it may seem in its
application to the
Universal
Spirit, was, and is, claimed by too many great philosophers to
be
put aside as entirely chimerical. In the
case of the Theodidaktoi,
the
only controvertible point, the dark spot on this philosophy of
extreme
mysticism, was its claim to include that which is simply
ecstatic
illumination, under the head of sensuous perception. In the
case
of the Yogis, who maintained their ability to see Iswara
"face to
face,"
this claim was successfully overthrown by the stern logic of the
followers
of Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya
philosophy. As to the
similar
assumption made for their Greek followers, for a long array of
Christian
ecstatics, and, finally, for the last two claimants
to
"God-seeing"
within these last hundred years--Jacob Bohme and
Swedenborg--this
pretension would and should have been philosophically
and
logically questioned, if a few of our great men of science, who are
spiritualists,
had had more interest in the philosophy than in the mere
phenomenalism of spiritualism.
The
Alexandrian Theosophists were divided into neophytes, initiates and
masters,
or hierophants; and their rules were
copied from the ancient
Mysteries
of Orpheus, who, according to Herodotus, brought them from
India. Ammonius obligated
his disciples by oath not to divulge his
higher
doctrines, except to those who were proved thoroughly worthy and
initiated,
and who had learned to regard the gods, the angels, and the
demons
of other peoples, according to the esoteric hyponia,
or
under-meaning. "The gods exist, but they are not what
the hoi polloi,
the
uneducated multitude, suppose them to be," says Epicurus. "He is
not
an atheist who denies the existence of the gods, whom the multitude
worship,
but he is such who fastens on these gods the opinions of the
multitude." In his turn, Aristotle declares that of the
"Divine Essence
pervading
the whole world of Nature, what are styled the gods are simply
the
first principles."
Plotinus, the pupil of the "God-taught"
Ammonius, tells us that the
secret
gnosis or the knowledge of Theosophy, has three degrees-opinion,
science,
and illumination. "The means or
instrument of the first is
sense,
or perception; of the second,
dialectics; of the third,
intuition. To the last, reason is subordinate; it is absolute
knowledge,
founded on the identification of the mind with the object
known." Theosophy is the exact science of psychology,
so to say; it
stands
in relation to natural, uncultivated mediumship, as
the knowledge
of
a Tyndall stands to that of a school-boy in physics. It develops in
man
a direct beholding; that which Schelling denominates "a realization
of
the identity of subject and object in the individual;" so that under
the
influence and knowledge of hyponia man thinks divine
thoughts, views
all
things as they really are, and, finally, "becomes recipient of the
Soul
of the World," to use one of the finest expressions of Emerson.
"I,
the imperfect, adore my own Perfect," he says in his superb "Essay
on
the Oversoul."
Besides this psychological, or soul state, Theosophy
cultivated
every branch of sciences and arts. It
was thoroughly
familiar
with what is now commonly known as mesmerism. Practical theurgy
or
"ceremonial magic," so often resorted to in their exorcisms by the
Roman
Catholic clergy, was discarded by the Theosophists. It is but
Jamblichus alone who, transcending the other
Eclectics, added to
Theosophy
the doctrine of Theurgy. When ignorant of the true
meaning of
the
esoteric divine symbols of Nature, man is apt to miscalculate the
powers
of his soul, and, instead of communing spiritually and mentally
with
the higher celestial beings, the good spirits (the gods of the
theurgists
of the Platonic school), he will unconsciously call forth the
evil,
dark powers which lurk around humanity, the undying, grim
creations
of human crimes and vices, and thus fall from theurgia
(white
magic)
into goetia (or black magic, sorcery). Yet, neither white nor
black
magic are what popular superstition understands by the terms. The
possibility
of "raising spirits," according to the key of Solomon, is
the
height of superstition and ignorance.
Purity of deed and thought
can
alone raise us to an intercourse "with the gods" and attain for us
the
goal we desire. Alchemy, believed by so
many to have been a
spiritual
philosophy as well as a physical science, belonged to the
teachings
of the Theosophical School.
It
is a noticeable fact that neither Zoroaster, Buddha, Orpheus,
Pythagoras,
Confucius, Socrates, nor Ammonius Saccas,
committed anything
to
writing. The reason for it is
obvious. Theosophy is a double-edged
weapon
and unfit for the ignorant or the selfish. Like every ancient
philosophy
it has its votaries among the moderns;
but, until late in
our
own days, its disciples were few in numbers, and of the most various
sects
and opinions. "Entirely speculative, and founding no schools, they
have
still exercised a silent influence upon philosophy; and no doubt,
when
the time arrives, many ideas thus silently propounded may yet give
new
directions to human thought," remarks Mr. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie,
himself
a mystic and a Theosophist, in his large and valuable work, "The
Royal
Masonic Cyclopaedia" (articles "Theosophical
Society of New York,"
and
"Theosophy," p. 731).* Since the days of the fire-philosophers, they
had
never formed themselves into societies, for, tracked like wild
beasts
by the Christian clergy, to be known as a Theosophist often
amounted,
hardly a century ago, to a death-warrant.
----------
*
"The Royal Masonic Cycloptedia of History,
Rites, Symbolism, and
Biography."
Edited by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie IX. (Cryptonymus)
Hon.
Member
of the Canongate Kilwinning
Lodge, No. 2, Scotland. New York J.
W.
Bouton, 706, Broadway. 1877.
--------
The
statistics show that, during a period of 150 years, no less than
90,000
men and women were burned in Europe for alleged witchcraft. In
Great
Britain only, from A.D. 1640 to 1660, but twenty years, 3,000
persons
were put to death for compact with the "Devil." It was but late
in
the present century--in 1875--that some progressed mystics and
spiritualists,
unsatisfied with the theories and explanations of
Spiritualism
started by its votaries, and finding that they were far
from
covering the whole ground of the wide range of phenomena, formed at
New
York, America, an association which is now widely known as the
Theosophical
Society.
H.P. Blavatsky
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