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A Special Issue
By Eldon B. Tucker

This is a special issue on the topic of what Theosophy is and where it is going in today's world. It first appeared as the 100th issue of THEOSOPHY WORLD in October 2004, with some additional material in the November 2004 issue.

Nearly everything in this issue was written in September 2004 by many theosophical friends throughout the world. They represent a broad spectrum of backgrounds and views. Additional materials from THEOSOPHY WORLD can be found on its website at: http://www.theos-world.com

People were asked if they would write something short, perhaps a few paragraphs to a page or so. Contributions were to be in the writer's own words, without quotes by Blavatsky, the Masters, Judge, Purucker, Tingley, Leadbeater, Besant, Krishnamurti, or anyone else.

Each contribution is a personal viewpoint, where someone is writing down their thoughts in their own words. They were told not to bother with citations since the viewpoints they present would be their own, and not an official statement that others, especially new students, have to accept as authoritative.

As editor, I might say that the views expressed do not all match what I think of Theosophy. Even so, I find it valuable to show what is going on in the Movement, since our future grows out of the present, and we theosophical students are that present.

Read it over. See what you think. Then ponder. Come up with your own perspective on Theosophy and its future. What is it really? Where is it actually going? It's really up to all of us, including you, what happens next.

What is Theosophy and Where it is going in Today's World?
By Rick Nurrie Stearns

Theosophy in its essence is a concept that does not have existence outside of the minds maintaining it. Being a set of concepts it has no real life itself and consequently no future.

Theosophy as presented by the theosophical organizations of today has become much like the dead language of Latin. Latin is useful for scholars, academicians and historians but it no longer serves a need in society at large. The useful teachings, concepts and principles presented in the original theosophical teachings have been absorbed and disseminated into other movements and teachings that are better suited to serve the needs of our time.

Those who justify theosophy's meager appeal as proof of it being superior and only for the special few make of it a cult and mock the spirit of its founding principles. To cling to a crumbling institution is unwise and senseless.

Embodying the core spiritual truths presented in Theosophy is the only way that theosophist can serve humanity and thus keep the teachings alive. Then the theosophist becomes like Gandhi who made his life his message.

A Challenge to the Theosophists
By Wesley Amerman

'Theosophists,' either individually or as members of the various Theosophical Societies, have a long history to live down. No one living today, of course, had anything to do with the problems of the early twentieth century, when our predecessors chased after 'Ascended Masters' and made gurus out of brilliant but fallible men and women. However, we are still in danger of repeating the mistakes of the past and of failing to learn from them.

Many 'Theosophists' today do not know much about Theosophy, and those that do talk mostly among themselves. Two things - Ignorance of Theosophy and isolationism - have deadened the practical expression of theosophical thought so that it is virtually stillborn in the Twenty First Century.

Unless we know what it is that we are trying to share with the world, of what value can it possibly be? This does not mean that there has to be unanimity among Theosophists as to doctrines, since we are all entitled to our personal opinions as to which authors to read and what their relative merits might be. Still, the variety of metaphysical and philosophical systems loosely called 'theosophical' is so diverse and contradictory that the thinking public, not to mention academia, long ago quit giving much credence to the hodge-podge of ideas called 'theosophy.'

When, for example, prominent Theosophical writers of the early Twentieth Century encouraged prayer to an outside Deity, and others seriously proclaimed the coming of the next Avatar, many people wrote them off as crackpots.

Attending lectures and participating in study classes and workshops may help our inner, spiritual life and make us feel good about ourselves, but it ultimately does little or nothing for the world at large. The occasional visitor who drops by and finds solace in Theosophy can find virtually the same ideas in any good book store under a score of names and headings. We can try to convince ourselves that individual insights somehow 'leaven' the minds and hearts of collective human family, but do we really know this to be true?

So, we really do not know what we have, we talk mostly among ourselves and the world goes on, still in need of Theosophy and not much the better for over a hundred years of effort. What should and what can we do? Here are a few proposals:

First, we should recognize that there are no easy fixes. What took a century to develop cannot change overnight, but we can make some beginnings to alter our course. There are always entrenched interests that will resist change, not only on the merits of it but also because it is change. Yet, rudderless, fragmented, and aging, all Theosophical groups are barely hanging on, book sales are lagging and Theosophia (Divine Wisdom) has hardly a functioning vehicle in the world.

Second, we need to move toward recognition of what Theosophy teaches, and what it does not. So-called 'source' Theosophy, represented by the writings of Blavatsky, Judge and their Masters, needs more prominence and be made available as originally printed. Abridgements and collations are fine, so long as they are clearly indicated as such. If we are going to edit what someone else wrote, we at least should have the respect and courtesy to tell the reader. (While scholars would not change a line of Shakespeare without footnoting it to explain why, the same thing has been done, and continues to be done to Blavatsky’s and others’ works, without editorial explanation or comment). Much unnecessary energy and work has gone into correcting this simple but powerfully important problem. A useful but unpopular and therefore unlikely corollary would be for Theosophical publishers to step away from the so-called 'secondary' literature.

Third, in support of this sort of recognition, theosophists need to know what Theosophy is, and what it is not. Learning requires study, whether individually or in groups, and comparative classes that show similarities and differences between Blavatsky and later writers would go a long way toward educating members and the public.

Fourth, we need to expand the dialogue among the various theosophical 'traditions,' as a re-dedication to the Objects of the Theosophical Movement, which represents the thread binding all Theosophical Societies and students together. Te closer we can come to a unified voice, the greater impact we can have on the world.

Finally, with that unified voice, let us make some collective noise! With a renewed sense of common purpose, theosophists could have a lot to share with the world, on subjects ranging from abortion to war, education to genetic engineering, environment to prison reform. Let us put some of our collective energies into annual conferences, press releases, news bulletins, websites, and any practical endeavors that we can find the time and money to fund. There is a huge void in the world’s dialogue on so many important issues, and Theosophy, if anything like we think it to be, has a lot to contribute.

These are just a few suggestions, given in rough outline only and not meant as a complete program, but only intended for consideration as part of an open, honest, and constructive dialogue on the future.

Strive to give back the Divine in yourselves to the Divine in the All.
Plotinus

Could divine wisdom or theosophy be a written system? Would that not contradict the very meaning of the word theosophy? How could intellectual knowledge which is superficial and absent of wisdom be theosophy? Can we win in the battlefield of free thinking and do not surrender to the creation of dogmas?

For so long humanity is in constant but silent battle that seems to not have an end, and whose battlefield is within human mind. The battle between dogmas and freethinking is one of the major causes of conflicts. Two paths are unrolled: the path of those who lost in the battlefield and are prisoners and generators of dogmas, and the path of the freethinkers that are searching for the truth and do not associated it to dead letter.

Within the theosophical circles we can see the reflexes of such battle, and many have already surrendered to the powerful human tendency to dogmatize: quarrels, disagreements, original teachings, non original teachings, this is theosophy this is not theosophy etc. Exactly like Christians, Buddhists, and every other religious movement with intellectual division and conflicts.

Today the word theosophy is generally associated to a set of doctrines based upon the genesis presented into the Secret Doctrine of Blavatsky, and numerous have been the authors that have written books in an attempt to simplify and explain the so called theosophical system. Other interpretation common given for theosophy is the ancient wisdom-tradition, and also the wisdom underlining religion, philosophy and science or the perennial philosophy. A third interpretation is that theosophy is pure altruism, the realization of the oneness of life.

The Greek word theosophy has two compounds: Theos (god) and Sophia. In ancient Greece Sophia (wisdom) was one of Plato’s four cardinals Aretes (Virtues). According to Plato the spiritual harmony of the soul where related to the four cardinal virtues, which he considered expressions of the three basic energies of the Soul. Wisdom was an inner condition that would be an expression of one the three basic energies of the soul.

Divine Wisdom or Theosophy is related to the energies of the soul, consequently can be understood only from within, there are no words in any language able to express the Divine Wisdom or theosophy. You may learn by heart the whole system presented in the work of Blavatsky and in the work of others, you may write, debate, teach, and affirm this knowledge is theosophy. But you will be still trapped by the intellect, consequently unable to know what theosophy is. Theosophy, Divine Wisdom, ought to be a potential alive within human nature, consequently theosophy can’t be the lifeless letter, expressed in any book or writing.

Theosophy is a deep awareness of the unity of life of someone else’s suffering that is also our suffering. It is compassion, altruism and love. Can you teach love, compassion and altruism? You may describe it, transform into words, but you will never be able to make the other to experience it merely by intellectual discussions. It is only the ability to experience it that will teach someone what theosophy, Divine Wisdom, is.

Our great challenge in a world immersed in problems, where violence increases, wars, millions of children die every year of hunger is to try to realize theosophy from within and do not create dogmas. But if one cannot realize theosophy from within, can still be a fighter for freethinking and do not surrender to the battle. Only the cultivation of an open mind, investigative and a pure heart would irrigate the field making possible to flourish theosophy ­ Divine Wisdom.

If you cannot see the light in the eyes of the forgotten children, because you cover it with the darkness of human indifference, you don't know what theosophy is. And many that spread the darkness of indifference think they know what theosophy is and that they are able to discuss about theosophy. But they cannot see, as they cannot see the light in the eyes of the forgotten children, which they are simply generating dogmas, divisions, illusions, and that is not theosophy. Theosophy is the ability to see the light in the eyes of the forgotten children because their hopes, their dreams, their pain and happiness are also our hopes our dreams our pain and happiness.

Theosophy is much more than a body of knowledge - it is what this knowledge points to. Theosophy is an ocean of inner-life just below the surface of existence, where millions of swimmers thrash about trying desperately to keep their heads above water.

When we first experience it, we get a glimpse of things as they are. Though subtle at first, if we pay attention to these brief insights, a new and larger view of life emerges, and it transforms our awareness.

How deep each of us chooses to go, within karmic limits, may vary; yet every person who enters this sea acknowledges the common experience in which all of us participate; and in time we each come to recognize everyone else as an equal participant.

Sooner or later we realize we receive and produce the currents of fortune and adversity that affect others. There is no beginning or end to these currents but all of us choose - consciously or not - what influence we will leave in the wake of our thoughts and actions. It is this understanding of brotherhood that theosophy speaks to - not the utopian ideal, but the actuality.

Neither gender specific nor anthropocentric, in the one life universal, ego is abandoned, altruism arises, and compassion manifests. Upon its collective acceptance, ethics is understood, the disparities of the human condition are lessened, and conflict among peoples and nations disappear.

Buddhas and avatars are at one with this sea of inner-life, so much so that they are perceived by humanity as an ocean of compassion. Others such as Plotinus, Lao-tze, Hypatia, Jacob Boehme, St. Theresa of Avila, Patanjali, and Meister Eckhart, to name a few, have swum in and experienced this ocean. No one is left out, every person who has sought an inspiration of his or her own enters the stream leading to the ocean of compassion.

No book can contain theosophy, though many point to it. Nor is theosophy the same as its principles. Much as the principles of art are necessary to make art and to recognize the artistry of others, so the principles of theosophy are necessary. But just as the principles of art are not art, the principles of theosophy are not theosophy.

If we want to avoid drowning in the chaotic surface of life, an active participation in the depths of life is absolutely necessary. The way to begin is to live to be of help to others.

This is also the end-result, because the foundation of theosophy is Universal Brotherhood. This is what moves us to work selflessly and creatively to awaken that greater inner life within our fellow human beings.

Theosophy, or "Ancient Wisdom," is the accumulated wisdom of the ages. It is the core of the teachings of all the great religions of the past; each one contains an aspect of Theosophy. The "Ancient Wisdom" or Theosophy has been kept pure and uncontaminated by the "Brotherhood of Adepts" of our humanity.

For many generations these Adepts spent centuries studying, checking and verifying these teachings and keeping them secret from the world until humanity became ready.

When the Theosophical Society was founded in 1875, those teachings were revealed for the first time to the world through the writings of H.P. Blavatsky and her Teachers. All books written on Theosophy by later theosophical writers are only their own interpretation of the teachings. They are not the original teachings.

What are we supposed to do with the teachings of Theosophy? If we accept this definition of Theosophy, which is the same definition contained in the teachings themselves, then, we have to accept the same method of learning and verification used by the Adepts.

It means that we are supposed to check and verify those teachings before we accept them as true. This point of the need for verification shows the uniqueness of Theosophy when compared to regular religious teaching that usually demands blind faith from its followers. Theosophy expects from the student a corroboration of the Truth in the teachings. The student is not to believe in them by exercising blind faith.

If the student's approach to Theosophy is correct and accompanied by a pure and unselfish motive and an honest determination to find Truth in the teachings, he will be on his way to self-knowledge. This journey will take him to the inner chamber of his own heart, and through it, to the heart of the universe.

Theosophy is divine wisdom. In that sense, it is changeless and eternal and isn't going to go anywhere in today's world. It was always there, and it will always be there. What does change is the expression it gets in the world. Blavatsky’s theosophy is very different in its expression from the theosophy of Proclus (interest in his work seems to be on the rise). Every expression of theosophy is an earthly reflection of divine wisdom. What we see is merely a bit of the light and a lot of the shadows cast by the light. Unfortunately, as long as we aren’t enlightened ourselves, we are likely to be distracted by the shadows and blinded by the light (or both).

Theosophy isn’t going anywhere, but what people understand of it differs enormously. Some focus on rounds and races, others on transformation. Some focus on comparing religions, others on finding wisdom where they can. Some focus on understanding reincarnation, karma, the All, others start by trying to understand themselves. All these are relevant approaches, because "the means must vary with the pilgrim." And then there is the theosophy that isn’t called theosophy. Each searcher for truth is a theosophist, as long as the basic motivation is the good of mankind.

Still, theosophy isn’t going anywhere. Will it change with the times? Yes, as much as people change with the times. Still, at heart, it will always stay the same. That which changes is by definition merely the temporary guise divine wisdom cloaks itself in, in order for people to understand more of it.

Theosophy isn’t going anywhere. Only if theosophists keep remembering that their own understanding of theosophy is merely one reflection of the truth and that there must be various very different reflections are they likely to be close to the light and not distracted as much by the shadows cast by the light.

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

That timeless Wisdom has had many expressions over time and across cultures, and it will have many more in the future. But contemporary Theosophy is an expression uniquely adapted to the concerns and needs of our time. Yet, as it was intended for a particular cultural milieu, it must adapt itself to changes in that milieu. It must be rearticulated for each generation in language appropriate to that generation, while preserving the essence of the underlying timeless Wisdom. Theosophy in its various articulations must indeed preserve the timeless Wisdom, but not in formaldehyde. Rather its preservation must be of the sort used for a living, growing, and therefore changing thing. All living things change, at the same time preserving their own inmost identity or dharma. And so must Theosophy.

The Theosophical Society is a training ground for those individuals who will commit themselves to a wholehearted cooperation with the work of those great-souled teachers who caused the Society to be founded. The Society recruits new members to their band by spreading knowledge of Theosophy, and it welcomes back into mutual association those who were members of the band of servers in days of yore and who have come back into incarnation to continue their service and their training in how to serve. In speaking of the Theosophical Society here, I do not limit these remarks to my own organization. Today several bodies spring from the same source and identify themselves as Theosophical. Though independent, they cooperate on issues of common interest and they display mutual respect for their differences. They are all training grounds.

If we believe the words of the Maha Chohan, the major work of the Theosophical Society still lies before it. Theosophy has been a powerful influence on the world, in ways that most Theosophists are hardly aware of. And the Theosophical Society is to be the cornerstone, the foundation, of the religious future of humanity. That is a powerful charge. But humanity stands desperately in need of such a cornerstone and foundation, as present events make clear. So it is a powerful challenge to us. The Theosophical Society is an abstraction consisting, in its concrete form, of those who are its members. Only as Theosophists accept the Maha Chohan's challenge will his charge be fulfilled. And that is where we must go, now and always.

What is Theosophy to me? I see it as a spiritual Path, one leading from the mind of a child to the mind of an Adept. The Theosophical umbrella is very broad, and allows for a variety of interpretations and techniques.

In essence, many years ago a group of Adepts decided to record their experiences and observations while in meditation. It was found, over long years of comparing notes, that while a variation of observations were recorded, there were many reports of similar or even identical observations. These similarities slowly over many years became accepted as valid, and in time became known as the Esoteric Tradition, a tradition of interpreted observations made in mutual agreement by high Adepts while in meditation.

H.P. Blavatsky, an Adept herself, came across this Esoteric Tradition, and put it into her own words for the West under the broad title of Theosophy. Her Theosophy is an exoteric interpretation of the meditation experiences of at least one lineage, and probably several, of Adepts at least some of whom were Tibetan Buddhists. It is well known today that recording the observations of Adepts within lineages is typical of Tibetan Buddhism. In addition, her writings indicate an intimate knowledge of Mahayana Buddhism, one that was largely unknown in the West at that time.

Her writings, like all thoughts when put into words, form an exoteric interpretation of esoteric experiences. Her masterful modeling of evolution through conditional reality as presented in THE SECRET DOCTRINE demonstrates her Adeptship. Her Theosophy naturally divides itself into an Exoteric Theosophy and an Esoteric Theosophy, and this fact led her to form an Esoteric Section to her Theosophical Society shortly before her death. After her death, her students have been regurgitating her writings so much that today outsiders, and possibly even some insiders, think that Theosophy is only exoteric.

The major problem that I see for the future is the heavy emphasis currently placed in Theosophical literature on Exoteric Theosophy with an almost total lack of any Esoteric Theosophy. Esoteric Theosophy gives life to the Theosophical Movement, not Exoteric Theosophy. Exoteric Theosophy brings in new students, but without Esoteric Theosophy to fuel their souls they will not remain long. Esoteric Theosophy is the Theosophical interpretation of the Esoteric Tradition, the recorded observations of Adepts. It needs much more emphasis in the theosophical literature if the movement is to continue.

As I see it, THEOSOPHY is a comprehensive view of conditions in all departments of Nature, from the deepest past through the present. It is a record of eternal continuity. It maintains an actual history of the past. It states that the present always emerges from past choices and these choices are both individual and cooperative.

It shows the existence of the present Laws that operate in human relations (such as virtue, generosity, morals, vice, and selfishness) and the life and civilization-supporting laws that operate in the Universe (such as mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics, biology, hydraulics, thermodynamics, atomics, electricity and magnetism, engineering, and healing).

This vast evolutionary urge, an inevitable and basic component of all existence, Theosophy calls "Nature's Ways." In considering this, it posits that "Space" (sometimes called "the Void") is actually many-layered, both tangible and intangible, and a surrounding substantial element in which everything is included.

Insofar as we understand, Nature (a term representing the "Universe") shows an impersonal uniformity best described in its manifestation as the "laws of being and of all life." Further, we see Nature exhibiting sensitivity to all impressions and causes, cooperation in all departments, and a surprising attention to all those minute details that show care and support for all of its milliards of components. The Universe is as alive as our own bodies are.

Theosophy states that each of its component entities (life-atoms) is alive and each is at core a deathless "Monad" (a "spiritual" child of its Universe). Each such "immortal entity" is a "Force of individual power" with the right to work and live wherever nature and the laws of coexistence (Karma) have placed it.

Humans are each a "mind-monad." Each has reached the stage of being independent, having acquired the ability to choose his own "Path." As a "Mind-Power," each is presently learning to understand and control his mind and to distinguish emotions, passions, desires, and feelings from his Power to Think.

Each has all the potentials of the whole Cosmos, and even if he is unaware of it, he has tremendous individual responsibility. This is a highly cherished but important "secret." For this reason, the "power to choose" is most important in the advancement of human intelligence (the mental power of moral choice and self-motivation). Here in the human kingdom, individual paths and "goals" diverge into generosity and selfishness. In man, this power of choice creates individual intelligence.

Each ever-evolving entity - atom, human being, or an Earth - has its own self-evolved, ruling, and independent intelligence. Each has a right to live and work. Under her immutable laws, Nature gives it a position in which it can do so while cooperating with its neighbors intelligently.

To better guide this enormous enterprise, each independent intelligent entity (Monad) lives and coexists under definite laws of behavior and inter-relationship. These laws, ruling the whole of Nature, are called "Karma" in Sanskrit. They have always existed, are immutable, and cannot be transgressed.

A brief expression of this is, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This is "Golden Rule," basic in religion and philosophy. Simply put, it is recognition of the deathless Soul of Man and the universal facts of cooperation, neighborliness, and "Universal Brotherhood." It also speaks to the enormous responsibility under Law of all entities who attain to the final goal of "Wisdom."

As an example of the power of speech and choice, Theosophy offers as a valuable injunction:

Let him say what is true.
Let him say what is useful.
Let him say what is pleasant.
Let him utter no disagreeable truth.
Let him utter no agreeable falsehood.

Theosophy offers for consideration a reasonable philosophical goal for the end of any one course of its many great evolutionary programs, called "Manvantaras." This has been called "Wisdom-ism" or "Sublime Perfection."

As a whole, all beings - human or not, Earths, Worlds, Systems of Worlds, Galaxies, and beyond - are completely filled with an ocean of ever-living monadic entities that cooperatively work towards this elevated and ideal end. In this, Theosophy most emphatically states that brotherhood and cooperation are the sole methods to be employed for final success.

This enormous learning process calls for many embodiments in successive vehicles of flesh and matter. Reincarnation is held to be a universal fact, banishing the fear of "death" from the minds of those understanding that rebirth brings us all together repeatedly. We do not fear sleep, and death is only a longer "sleep." Those who have experienced a near death experience know that there is life after death.

This goal is a common one. It draws friends and relatives back into a unity where they continue to work and assist each other in the path of ideal perfection, and to make possible the progress they are jointly mastering in the here and now.

Theosophy, as at present, is an example of the living progress of history. It welcomes all contributions to its ever-growing record. It always adds such evidence, and it uses a process of review and questioning as a basis for self-criticism and as fuel for present cooperative thought and experience.

It seeks to use the wisdom of the past and bring it into the current context so that today's passing "modernity" is always under consideration. There is an "Eternal NOW." Past, present, and future merge in such a concept.

Theosophy welcomes all considerations and ideas, and provides a forum for reflecting on the evidence provided. In doing this, it reviews all information presently amassed, and it seeks to provide accuracy in response to all.

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