What are the Theosophical Society?
Theosophy is an occult movement originating in the 19th century with roots that can be traced to ancient Gnosticism and Neoplatonism. The term Theosophical Society, derived from the Greek Theos (“god”) and Sophia (“wisdom”), is generally understood to mean “divine wisdom.” Forms of this doctrine were held in antiquity by the Manichaeans, an Iranian dualist sect, and in the Middle Ages by two groups of dualist heretics, the Bogomils in Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire and the Cathari in southern France and Italy. In modern times, theosophical views have been held by Rosicrucians and by speculative Freemasons. The international New Age movement of the 1970s and ’80s originated among independent theosophical groups in the United Kingdom.
Theosophical Society History:
The contemporary theosophical movement was born with the founding of the Theosophical Society in New York City in 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–91), Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907), and William Quan Judge (1851–96). A Russian aristocrat, Blavatsky immigrated to the United States in 1873 after many years of travel and study in Europe and the Middle East.
Olcott, an American lawyer, newspaperman, and student of spiritualism a 19th-century movement based on the belief that the living can contact the dead soon fell under her sway and became the society’s president in 1875. They moved to India in 1878, eventually settling in Adyar (near Madras), which still serves as the international headquarters of the society.
Branch societies were established throughout India and in the major cities of Europe and North America. A second organization, the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society, was established in London in 1888 to practice occultism and to facilitate the movement of the society’s members to a higher level of consciousness. Blavatsky also wrote the two-volume Isis Unveiled (1877), The Secret Doctrine, also in two volumes (1888), and other works that are recognized as classic expositions of theosophical doctrine.
Theosophy Beliefs:
The various forms of theosophical speculation have certain common characteristics. The first is an emphasis on mystical experience. Theosophical writers hold that there is a deeper spiritual reality and that direct contact with that reality can be established through intuition, meditation, revelation, or some other state transcending normal human consciousness. Theosophists also emphasize esoteric doctrine.
Modern theosophists claim that all world religions contain such inner teaching, and much attention is devoted to deciphering the meaning concealed in sacred texts. In addition, most theosophical speculation reveals a fascination with supernatural or other extraordinary occurrences and with the achievement of higher psychic and spiritual powers. Theosophists maintain that knowledge of divine wisdom gives access to the mysteries of nature and humankind’s inner essence. Finally, theosophy displays a characteristic preference for monism the view that reality is constituted of one principle or substance, such as mind or spirit.
Although theosophists recognize the basic distinctions between the phenomenal world and a higher spiritual reality and between the human and the divine, which suggests dualism, most theosophists also affirm an overarching, all-encompassing unity that subsumes all differentiation. Associated with their monism are the beliefs that God is utterly transcendent and impersonal, that creation is the product of spiritual emanations from God, and that humans are sparks of the divine trapped in the material world who desire to return to their spiritual home.
Although the writings of prominent Theosophists lay out a set of teachings, the Theosophical Society itself states that it has no official beliefs with which all members must agree. It, therefore, has doctrine but does not present this as dogma. The Society stated that the only tenet to which all members should subscribe was a commitment “to form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color”.
This means that there were members of the Theosophical Society who were skeptical about many, or even all, of the Theosophical doctrines while remaining sympathetic to its basic aim of universal brotherhood.
As noted by Santucci, Theosophy is “derived primarily from the writings” of Blavatsky, however, revisions and innovations have also been produced by subsequent Theosophists like Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater. Blavatsky claimed that these Theosophical doctrines were not her own invention, but had been received from a brotherhood of secretive spiritual adepts whom she referred to as the “Masters” or “Mahatmas”.
Theosophical Society Founder:
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to the 3rd century CE. It also encompasses wider religious philosophies like Vedānta, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Qabbalah, and Sufism. The Theosophical Society functions as a bridge between East and West, emphasizing the commonality of human culture.
The Theosophical Society founder is Madame H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in New York in 1875. In 1882, the headquarters of the Society were established in Adyar, near Madras (now Chennai) in India.
The original organization, after splits and realignments, currently has several successors. Following the death of Helena Blavatsky, competition emerged between factions within the Society, particularly among founding members. The organization split into the Theosophical Society Adyar (Olcott-Besant) and the Theosophical Society Pasadena (Judge).
The former group, headquartered in India, is the most widespread international group holding the name “Theosophical Society” today.
Theosophical Society-Adyar is located at Adyar situated in the Indian city of Chennai.
The basic goals of the Theosophical Society are enunciated in the so-called Three Objects:
In pursuing these objectives, society has been a major conduit for Eastern teachers moving to the West and a starting point for many occult teachers and movements.
Although the movement enjoyed some early success, it suffered after Blavatsky became the focus of a major controversy. She claimed to be in regular contact with a brotherhood of Great Masters, or Adepts, who, she asserted, had perfected themselves and were directing the spiritual evolution of humanity.
In 1884 a former employee and confidant accused her of faking the extraordinary phenomena that accompanied the reception of some messages from the Masters. That claim was investigated by William Hodgson, a member of the Society for Psychical Research in London, who concluded that the accusations were true. His report blunted the progress of the Theosophical Society for the rest of Blavatsky’s life.
Despite this setback, Blavatsky continued to make converts. While in England in 1897, she met the prominent British atheist leader Annie Besant (1847–1933), who converted to theosophy and placed her organizational and oratorical skills at society’s disposal.
When Blavatsky died four years later, Besant succeeded her as head of the Esoteric Section. Judge, who had led the American branch of the society while Blavatsky and Olcott were in India, felt slighted at Besant’s appointment and led the American branch out of the international body. After Judge died in 1896, Katherine Tingley (1847–1929) succeeded in the leadership of the Theosophical Society in America. At her instigation, the American headquarters were transferred to Point Loma (San Diego) in California, where a large community thrived for almost half a century.
Tingley’s successor, Gottfried de Purucker (1874–1942), oversaw the sale of the property and the movement of the society’s headquarters to a Los Angeles suburb. This branch of the movement subsequently declined, and, at the end of the 20th century, only a few chapters remained.
Olcott maintained uneasy control over the international movement in the decade following Blavatsky’s death. At Olcott’s death in 1907, he was succeeded as president by Besant, who led the international society for the next quarter-century.
During this time the society experienced its greatest success, and Besant made it welcome in India through her support of Indian nationalism and her founding of numerous schools. She traveled and lectured widely and authored numerous books and articles, which contain useful introductions to theosophical beliefs.
Among Besant’s close associates was the Rev. Charles Webster Leadbeater. Impressed by the aura he perceived from Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), an obscure Indian youth, Leadbeater convinced Besant that Krishnamurti was the coming World Teacher, the messianic figure proclaimed by the Esoteric Section. Besant educated and promoted Krishnamurti and in the 1920s toured the world with him, but in 1929 Krishnamurti suddenly resigned from his designated role and broke with the society.
Membership plunged, and the organization never returned to its earlier strength. Krishnamurti began a career as an independent writer and teacher. In 1930 he made the first of several annual tours through India, the United States, and Europe, where his books and lectures became quite popular; he also founded several schools. His teachings are preserved and disseminated by the Krishnamurti Foundation, which has branches throughout the world.
Assessment Theosophical:
Despite its relatively small membership, the Theosophical Society has been very influential. Society not only pioneered the promotion of Eastern thought in the West but also inspired the creation of more than 100 esoteric religious movements, including the Alice Bailey movement (Arcane School), the I Am movement, the Church Universal, and Triumphant, and the Liberal Catholic Church.
World Religions
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