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Theosophy
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The name Theosophy is often used in modern times to refer to the religio-philosophic doctrines of the Theosophical Society founded in New York City in 1875 by Henry Steel Olcott with William Quan Judge and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Blavatsky's magnum opus, one of the major foundational works of this Theosophy, was published in 1888 as The Secret Doctrine.[2] Theosophical Societies and Organizations remain active in more than 52 countries around the world.[a] Theosophy has also given rise to or influenced the development of other mystical, philosophical, and religious movements.[3]
Contents
Etymology
The word theosophia appeared in both Greek and Latin in the works of early church fathers as a synonym for "theology".[4] The "theosophoi" are "those who know divine matters."[5] Theosophy was also often used synonymously with theology.[6] The term "theosophy" has continuously had different meanings ascribed to it.[7] As such, the use of the term in antiquity, or even using a strictly etymological definition, is not common in the academy.Traditional and Christian theosophy
Antiquity and Medieval ending c. 1450 CE
The term theosophy was used as a synonym for theology as early as the 3rd century CE[4] The 13th century work Summa philosophiae attributed to Robert Grosseteste made a distinction between theosophers and theologians. In Summa, theosophers were described as authors only inspired by the holy books, while theologians like Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Origen were described as persons whose task was to explain theosophy. Therefore, the terms were the opposite of the present-day meaning.[6]In Jewish mysticism, the theosophical[8] doctrinal system of Kabbalah (Hebrew: "received tradition") emerged in late 12th-century southern France (the book Bahir), spreading to 13th-century Spain (culminating in the late 13th-century book Zohar). Kabbalah became the basis of later Jewish mystical development. The theosophical Kabbalah in Judaism was recast into its second version, Lurianic Kabbalah, in 16th-century Ottoman Palestine. From the Renaissance onwards, syncretic non-Jewish traditions of theological Christian Cabala and magical Hermetic Qabalah studied the Judaic texts, incorporating its system into their different philosophies, where it remains a central component of Western esotericism. Gershom Scholem, the founder of Jewish mysticism academia, saw Medieval and Lurianic Kabbalah as the incorporation into Judaism of Gnostic motifs,[9] though interpreted strictly monotheistically. At the centre of Kabbalah are the 10 Sephirot powers in the divine realm, their unification being the task of man. In Lurianism, man redeems the sparks of holiness in materiality, rectifying the divine persona from its primordial exile.
16th and 17th century
During the Renaissance, use of the term diverged to refer to gnostic knowledge that offers the individual enlightenment and salvation through a knowledge of the bonds that are believed to unite her or him to the world of divine or intermediary spirits.[5] By the 16th century the word theosophy was being used in at least one of its current meanings.[5][by whom?]. Christian theosophy arose in Germany in the 16th century. Inspired to a considerable extent by the works of Paracelsus (1493–1541),[10] theosophy flourished in the works of Aegidius Gutmann (1490–1584), Valentin Weigel (1533–1588), Heinrich Khunrath (1560–1605), Johann Arndt (1555–1621), and Kaspar Schwenckfeld (1490–1584).[citation needed] The term had not yet reached a settled meaning, however, as the mid-16th century Theosophia by Johannes Arboreus provided a lengthy exposition that included no mention of esotericism.[11]The work of the 17th-century German Christian mystic Jakob Boehme (1575–1624) strongly contributed to spread the use of the word "theosophy", even though Boehme rarely used the word in his writings. It is on account of the title of some of his works, but these titles appear to have been chosen more by the editors than by Boehme himself.[12] Moreover, Boehme gave the word "theosophy" a limited meaning, making it clear that he was not conflating nature with God.[13]
There were relatively few theosophers in the 17th century, but many of them were prolific.[14] Outside of Germany, there were also theosophers from Holland, England, and France. This group is represented by Jan Baptist van Helmont (1618–1699), Robert Fludd (1574–1637), John Pordage (1608–1681), Jane Leade (1623–1704), Henry More (1614–1687), Pierre Poiret (1646–1719), and Antoinette Bourignon (1616–1680).[15] Theosophers of this period often inquired into nature using a method of interpretation founded upon a specific myth or revelation, applying active imagination in order to draw forth symbolic meanings and further their pursuit of knowledge toward a complete understanding of these mysteries.[5][16]
In Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652), Kircher assigned the word theosophy to the methaphysics of the Egyptians and to Neo-Platonism, and thus he gave once again the word one of its most generally accepted meanings, that of divine methaphysics.[17]
18th century
In the 18th century, the word theosophy came into more widespread use among some philosophers. However, the term "theosophy" was still "practically absent" throughout the entire eighteenth century in dictionaries and encyclopedias, where it only appeared more and more frequently beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century.[18] Theosophers themselves used the word theosophy sparingly, at least up until the middle of the nineteenth century.[19] Johann Jakob Brucker (1696–1770) included a long chapter on theosophy in his monumental work Historia critica philosophia. (1741). He included theosophers alongside other currents in esotericism in what was then a standard reference in the history of philosophy. German philosophers produced major works of Christian theosophy during this period: Theophilosophia theoritica et practica. (1710) by Samuel Richter (pseudo. Sincerus Renatus) and Opus magocabalsticum et theosophicum. (1721) by Georg von Welling (pseudo. Salwigt, 1655-1727).[citation needed] Other notable theosophers of the period include Johann George Gichtel (1638–1710), Gottfried Arnold (1666–1714), Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702–1782), William Law (1686–1761), and Dionysius Andreas Freher (1649–1728)[citation needed]. By the 18th century, the word theosophy was often used in conjunction with panosophy, i.e., a knowledge of divine things that is acquired by deciphering the supposed hieroglyphics of the concrete universe.[clarify] The term theosophy is more properly reserved for the reverse process of contemplating the divine in order to discover the content of the concrete universe.[20]In England, Robert Hindmarsh, a printer with a Methodist background, formed a "Theosophical Society" in 1783, for translating, printing and distributing the writings of Swedenborg.[21] This society was renamed in 1785 as "The British Society for the Propagation of the Doctrines of the New Church", consisting of Swedenborgian based beliefs.[22][b]
In France, Louis Claude de Saint-Martin (1743–1803) and Jean-Philippe Dutoit-Membrini (alias Keleph Ben Nathan, 1721-1793) contributed to a resurgence of theosophy in the late 18th century.[citation needed] Other theosophical thinkers of this period include Karl von Eckartshausen (1752–1803), Johann Heinrich Jung (1740–1817), Frédéric-Rodolphe Saltzmann (1749–1821), Johann Michael Hahn (1758–1819), and Franz von Baader (1765–1841).[citation needed]. Denis Diderot gave the word theosophie more attention than other encyclopedias of this period by including an article on it in his Encyclopédie, published during the French Enlightenment.[23] The article dealt mostly with Paracelsus and essentially plagiarized Brucker's "Historia".[24]
19th century
Groups such as the Martinist Order founded by Papus in 1891, followed the theosophical current closely linked to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition and Western esotericism. Theosophers outside of the initiate societies included people such as Vladimir Solovyov (1853–1900), whose views have been described as follows: "although empiricism and rationalism rest on false principles, their respective objective contents, external experience, qua the foundation of natural science, and logical thought, qua the foundation of pure philosophy, are to be synthesized or encompassed along with mystical knowledge in 'integral knowledge,' what Solovyov terms 'theosophy.'"[25]Common characteristics
Theosophy actually designates a specific flow of thought or tradition within the modern study of esotericism. Thus, it follows the path starting from the more modern period of the 15th century onward. Faivre describes the "theosophic current" or theosophy as a single esoteric current among seven other esoteric currents in early modern Western thought (i.e., alchemy, astrology, Neo-Alexandrian hermetism, Christian Kabbalah, Paracelsism, philosophia occulta and Rosicrucianism).[26] Christian theosophy is an under-researched area, a general history of it has never been written.[27]Faivre noted that there are "obvious similarities" between earlier theosophy and modern Theosophy as both play an important part in Western esotericism and both claim to deal with wisdom from a gnostic perspective. But he says there are also differences, since they do not actually rely on the same reference works; and their style is different. The referential corpus of earlier theosophy "belongs essentially to the Judeo-Christian type", while that of modern Theosophy "reveals a more universal aspect".[28] Although there are many differences between Christian theosophy and the Theosophical movement begun by Helena Blavatsky, the differences "are not important enough to cause an insurmountable barrier."[29] When referring to the ideas related to Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, the word "Theosophy" is capitalized; otherwise it is not. Theosophy and theosophists refer to Blavatsky's philosophy while theosophy and theosophers refer to Christian theosophy. Some Theosophists were also theosophers.[6] Blavatsky linked her use of the word theosophy to the Neoplatonists and Ammonius Saccas, rather than to the later Christian theosophers.[30]
Theosophers engage in analysis of the universe, humanity, divinity, and the reciprocal effects of each on the other. The starting point for theosophers may be knowledge of external things in the world or inner experiences and the aim of the theosopher is to discover deeper meanings in the natural or divine realm. Antoine Faivre notes, "the theosophist dedicates his energy to inventing (in the word's original sense of 'discovering') the articulation of all things visible and invisible, by examining both divinity and nature in the smallest detail."[5] The knowledge that is acquired through meditation is believed to change the being of the meditator.[31]
Faivre identified three characteristics of theosophy.[32] The three characteristics of theosophy are listed below.
Theosophy:
- Divine/Human/Nature Triangle: The inspired analysis which circles through these three angles. The intradivine within; the origin, death and placement of the human relating to Divinity and Nature; Nature as alive, the external, intellectual and material. All three complex correlations synthesize via the intellect and imaginative processes of Mind.
- Primacy of the Mythic: The creative Imagination, an external world of symbols, glyphs, myths, synchronicities and the myriad, along with image, all as a universal reality for the interplay conjoined by creative mind.
- Access to Supreme Worlds: The awakening within, inherently possessing the faculty to directly connect to the Divine world(s). The existence of a special human ability to create this connection. The ability to connect and explore all levels of reality; co-penetrate the human with the divine; to bond to all reality and experience a unique inner awakening.
Blavatskyan Theosophy and The Theosophical Society
The emblem of the Theosophical Society
See also: Theosophical Society and Theosophical mysticism
The Theosophical Society was founded in New York City in 1875 with the motto, "There is no Religion higher than Truth".[33] Its principal founding members were Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907), and William Quan Judge (1851–1896).After several changes and iterations its declared objectives became the following:[34]
- To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color.
- To encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Science.
- To investigate the unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in man.
The Society was organized as a non-proselytizing, non-sectarian entity.[36] Blavatsky and Olcott (the first President of the Society) moved from New York to Bombay, India in 1878. The International Headquarters of the Society was eventually established in Adyar, a suburb of Madras. The original organization, after splits and realignments has (as of 2011) several offshoots; all of them accept the three objectives above, and the precepts put forth by Blavatsky. Blavatsky was influential on spiritualism and related subcultures: "The western esoteric tradition has no more important figure in modern times."[37]
Helena Blavatsky was a charismatic, unconventional and controversial woman of mixed Russian and German descent, who had reputedly travelled extensively; she became the major proponent of both theoretical and practical Theosophy.[38] Since its inception, and through doctrinal assimilation or divergence, Theosophy has also given rise to or influenced the development of other mystical, philosophical, and religious movements.[3] Following Blavatsky's death, disagreements among prominent Theosophists caused a series of splits and several Theosophical organizations emerged.[c] The formal successor of the original Society is as of 2011 known as the Theosophical Society Adyar. After a split in 1895, William Quan Judge established a new Theosophical organization in New York City which later eventually moved to Pasadena, California. It is known as of 2011 as the Theosophical Society Pasadena. The latter split yet again; another Theosophical organization, the United Lodge of Theosophists was the result, formed by Robert Crosbie in 1909.
Contemporaries of Blavatsky, including William Quan Judge and Alfred Percy Sinnett, and later exponents have contributed to the development of this Theosophy, producing works that at times expanded on the original concepts.[d] Through the various Theosophical Societies and Organizations, Theosophy remains an active philosophical school with presences in more than 50 countries around the world.
The World Teacher Project
Main articles: Maitreya (Theosophy) and Order of the Star in the East
During the 1890s and 1900s, the international leadership of the
Society and their circle became increasingly convinced that the
appearance of an "emissary" from the Spiritual Hierarchy was imminent;
the expected emissary was further identified as the so-called World Teacher or Maitreya, originally by Leadbeater, who "discovered" fourteen-year-old Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) as the entity's probable "vehicle".[39] Krishnamurti was groomed extensively for his expected messianic role, and a new organization, the Order of the Star in the East
(OSE), was formed in 1911 to support him in this mission. The project
received widespread publicity and enjoyed worldwide following, chiefly
among Theosophists. It also encountered opposition within and without
the Theosophical Society, and contributed or led to years of upheaval,
power struggles and doctrinal schism within Theosophy.[40]
Additional negative repercussions occurred in 1929, when Krishnamurti
repudiated the messianic status claimed on his behalf and dissolved the
OSE; soon after he severed ties with the Society and Theosophy in
general. The adverse reactions and mixed publicity generated by the
entire World Teacher Project, and especially by its demise and
aftermath, damaged the standing of Theosophy and of its institutions.
However, Krishnamurti eventually established a worldwide reputation as
an original and respected independent speaker and thinker on spiritual
and philosophical issues.[41]Post-Blavatskyan Theosophy and new religious movements
Main article: Neo-Theosophy
Contemporaries of Blavatsky, as well as later theosophists,
contributed to the development of this school of theosophical thought,
producing works that at times sought to elucidate the ideas she
presented (see Gottfried de Purucker), and at times to expand upon them.[e]
Since its inception, and through doctrinal assimilation or divergence,
Theosophy has also given rise to or influenced the development of other
mystical, philosophical, and religious movements.[42]During the two decades that followed the death of Blavatsky, a number of leading Theosophists expanded or reinterpreted her own and other theosophical works. Prominent among them were Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934), then considered the Society's main occult investigator, and Annie Besant (1847–1933), who became the International President of the Society in 1907, following the death of Olcott. Some of their (and others') prolific commentaries and newly introduced concepts became subjects of doctrinal debate and dispute; dissidents charged them with straying from Theosophical orthodoxy and derisively labeled such works Neo-Theosophy.[43] However, in later usage the term came to signify presumed theosophical or quasi-theosophical thought advanced by people not directly connected to the Theosophical movement or its institutions, especially former Theosophist Alice Bailey and groups associated with her; and also the people and organizations mentioned below under the heading New Age Movement.
G.R.S. Mead was an early Theosophist. In 1909 he resigned from the Theosophical Society which was Orientalist. Prior to his break from the Society Mead had already begun emphasizing sources from the Western esoteric tradition in his writing. Mead was among the first Theosophists to explicate a "'Western' theosophy deriving from Alexandrian and Hellenistic sources in the early centuries A.D."[44]
Recently it was shown in "Point on I" that the Essence of all Theosophical theories can be summarized by principle: Love, Happiness, Interests. It is called Universal Understanding. It has its origin in Agni Yoga books written by Nicholas Roerich and Helena Roerich.
Influence
The book The Voice of the Silence presented by Blavatsky to Leo Tolstoy
- Following
- India and Sri Lanka
Some early members of the Theosophical Society were closely linked to the Indian independence movement, including Allan Octavian Hume, Annie Besant and others. Hume was particularly involved in the founding of the Indian National Congress.[48]
The Theosophical Society had a major influence on Buddhist modernism[49] and Hindu reform movements, and the spread of those modernised versions in the west.[49]
Main article: Buddhist modernism
Blavatsky and Olcott took part in Anagarika Dharmapala's revival of Theravada Buddhism in Ceylon.[50][51]- Anthroposophy
- New Age movement
Other organizations loosely based on Theosophical texts and doctrines include the Agni Yoga, and a group of religions based on Theosophy called the Ascended Master Teachings: the "I AM" Activity, The Bridge to Freedom and The Summit Lighthouse, which evolved into the Church Universal and Triumphant. These various offshoots dispute the authenticity of their rivals.
- Scholarship
- Art, music, literature
Blavatsky presented her book The Voice of the Silence, The Seven gates, Two Paths to Leo Tolstoy. In his works, Tolstoy used the dicta from the theosophical journal Theosophischer Wegweiser.[60] In his diary, he wrote on 12 February 1903, "I am reading a beautiful theosophical journal and find many common with my understanding."[61]
References
Notes
- For more about how Scriabin was influenced by Blavatsky, see Adamenko, Victoria (2007) [2006]. Neo-mythologism in music : from Scriabin and Schoenberg to Schnittke and Crumb. Interplay series 5. Hillsdale, NY: Pendagon Press. pp. 152–154. ISBN 9781576471258.
Citations
- Толстой 1935, p. 155.
Bibliography
- Blavatsky, Helena (1888). The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy. London: The Theosophical Publishing Company.
- Blavatsky, Helena (1889). The Key to Theosophy. London: The Theosophical Publishing Company.
- Faivre, Antoine (1987). "Theosophy". In Eliade, Mircea; Adams, Charles J. The encyclopedia of religion 14. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 9780029094808.
- Faivre, Antoine (2000). Theosophy, imagination, tradition : studies in western esotericism. SUNY series in Western esoteric traditions. Translated by Christine Rhone. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791444351.
- Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2008). The Western Esoteric Traditions. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Godwin, Joscelyn (1994). The theosophical enlightenment. SUNY series in Western esoteric traditions. State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791421512.
- Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (2006). "Esotericism". In Hanegraaff, Wouter J. The dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Leiden [u.a.]: Brill.
- Lobel, Diane (2007). A Sufi-Jewish dialogue: philosophy and mysticism in Baḥya Ibn Paqūda's "Duties of the heart". Jewish culture and contexts. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8122-3953-9.
- Nemeth, Thomas. "Vladimir Solovyov". In Fieser, James; Dowden, Bradley Harris. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Martin, TN: University of Tennessee at Martin. ISSN 2161-0002. Archived from the original on 2014-11-08.
- Oxford English Dictionary 17. Oxford University Press. 1989. p. 903.
- McMahan, David L. (2008), The Making of Buddhist Modernism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195183276
- Rix, Robert (2007). William Blake and the cultures of radical Christianity. Burlington, VT [u.a.]: Ashgate. ISBN 9780754656005.
- Santucci, James A. (2005). "The Theosophical Society". In Lewis, James R.; Aagaard Petersen, Jesper. Controversial new religions. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/019515682X.003.0012. ISBN 9780195156829.
- Sellon, Emily (1987). "Blavatsky, H. P.". In Eliade, Mircea; Adams, Charles J. The encyclopedia of religion 2. New York: Macmillan. pp. 245–246. ISBN 9780029094808.
Further reading
- Antes, Peter; Geertz, Armin W.; Warne, Randi Ruth, eds. (2004). New approaches to the study of religion: regional, critical, and historical approaches. Religion and reason 42. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-017698-8.
- Ellwood, Robert S. (1986). Theosophy : a modern expression of the wisdom of the ages. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 237. ISBN 0-8356-0607-4.
- Hammer, Olav (2004) [2001]. Claiming knowledge : strategies of epistemology from theosophy to the New Age. Studies in the history of religions 90. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004136380.
- Judge, William Q. (1893). The ocean of theosophy (2nd ed.). New York: The Path. OCLC 262627129. Also republished, with errors corrected, as "The ocean of theosophy" (PDF). theosociety.org (online ed.). Pasedena: Theosophical University Press. 2011. ISBN 978-1-55700-213-6.
- Carlson, Maria. No Religion Higher than Truth: A History of the Theosophical Movement in Russia, 1875-1922. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-691-05682-X
- Ellwood, Robert S. (1986). Theosophy: a Modern Expression of the Wisdom of the Ages. Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Publishing House. ISBN 978-0835606073.
- Campbell, Bruce F. (1980). Ancient Wisdom Revived: History of the Theosophical Movement. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03968-8.
- Dixon, Joy (2003) [2001]. Divine feminine : theosophy and feminism in England. Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801864995.
- Lavoie, Jeffrey D. (2012). The Theosophical Society: The History of a Spiritualist Movement.
- Greenwalt, Emmett A. (1978). California utopia: Point Loma, 1897-1942.
External links
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- Blavatsky Study Center – Online Blavatsky Archive.
- Theosophical History – Website associated with the independent, peer-reviewed journal of the same name.
- International Theosophical Centre, Naarden, The Netherlands
- Modern Theosophy Large collection of Theosophy related articles
- "Theosophy" – Entry from the online version of the Skeptics Dictionary.
- Theosophy Library Online – Associated with the United Lodge of Theosophists, Phoenix, Arizona.
- Theosophical University Press Online Literature – Associated with the Theosophical Society Pasadena.
- Theosophical History
- Theosophy Network Library and Resources
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