QUESTIONS WE ALL ASK: WHAT IS THEOSOPHY?

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QUESTIONS WE ALL ASKWHAT IS THEOSOPHY?

• The word theosophy comes from a Greek compound
  meaning god wisdom or wisdom of divine
  things. It was first used in ancient times,
  notably in the 3rd century AD by the disciples of
  Ammonius Saccus in connection with his eclectic
  theosophical school in Alexandria, Egypt. There
  he attempted to show the common truth behind many
  of the systems of thought of his day and how to
  reach essential unity. Later the word was used by
  medieval European Alchemists, Cabbalists,
  Rosicrucians, Hermeticists, Freemasons, and by
  18th century Theosophers. Essentially, however,
  theosophy transcends these particular movements
  it is the reality of the universe, things as they
  actually are, as far as human consciousness can
  encompass them. In this broadest sense, theosophy
  has been expressed countless times throughout the
  ages by individuals and the many religious,
  scientific, and philosophic systems of mankind.
  All of us must discover this aspect of theosophy
  ourselves in our life and thought.
• READ ON FOR OUR COMMENTS ON SOME COMMON QUESTIONS
  ABOUT THEOSOPHY OR EMAIL US AT
  andrewrooke_at_hotmail.com IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE
  QUESTIONS THAN ARE MENTIONED HERE.

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WHAT IS THEOSOPHY?

• WHAT ARE THE MAIN IDEAS OF THEOSOPHY? among the
  basic ideas are the oneness and universality of
  life, consciousness, and substance brotherhood
  as a fact in nature reincarnation karma the
  many facets of our being material,
  psychological, and spiritual and what happens
  to them after death evolution as an unfolding
  from within of divine potential spiritual
  development as opposed to psychism and the occult
  arts and the path of altruism and compassion.
  These ideas can be found in all the worlds major
  religions and form the spiritual heritage of
  mankind. The key of the modern theosophical
  movement is the oneness of all life. The cosmos,
  the solar system, planets, and all earths
  inhabitants are essentially spiritual beings.
  They have the same divine source, and are in the
  process of evolving forth their inner potentials.
  All human beings are inwardly one, forming
  together an integral part of the Earths being.

• WHERE DID THEOSOPHICAL IDEAS COME FROM? Rooted
  in nature itself, they were experienced and
  formulated long ago by human beings advanced far
  beyond the average the Masters of Wisdom, and
  shared by these sages with their fellows and
  disciples. Some of these great people are
  remembered as mythic figures or as founders of
  schools of thought most, however, remain
  unknown. These more evolved human beings not only
  existed in the past, but exist today and exert an
  influence on the rest of mankind through their
  lives, thoughts, and teachings. It is to several
  of these modern sages or advanced human beings
  that HP Blavatsky, principle founder of the
  modern theosophical movement, traced the main
  outline of the teachings she transmitted to the
  world.

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WHAT IS THEOSOPHY?

• IS THEOSOPHY JUST COMPARATIVE RELIGION? many of
  the ideas and certainly the language of much of
  theosophy seem to be based on concepts from
  ancient religions and philosophies, especially
  Hinduism and Buddhism from ancient India. Many of
  the basic ideas of Theosophy seem to come right
  out a textbook on Buddhism with concepts like
  Karma and Reincarnation that we usually associate
  with Indian religion being major topics of
  conversation in theosophical meetings. This
  impression is reinforced by the widespread use of
  complex technical terms in Theosophy which come
  from the ancient Indian language Sanskrit. Terms
  such as Swabhava, Linga Sarira, Nirvana,
  all have a strong Indian flavour to them and many
  technical theosophical discussions sound like
  they are half in a foreign language! This has
  lead many people to think of theosophy as an
  amalgam of Eastern, especially Indian, religions
  made palatable for a Western audience rather than
  a vibrant and living philosophy in its own right
  with truths relevant to a Western audience of the
  here and now. Many theosophical discussions often
  degenerate into discussion of where ideas appear
  in the different cultures and religions of the
  world rather than recognizing that Theosophy is
  really an attempt at revealing the core spiritual
  knowledge whence these religions arose.

• IS THEOSOPHY JUST FOR THOSE PEOPLE INTERESTED IN
  DEVELOPING PSYCHIC POWERS AND THE OCCULT ARTS?
  Many people view theosophy as a school for the
  occult arts. Many of our discussions mention the
  invisible worlds or aspects of the inner
  constitution of man and how these worlds impinge
  and relate to the outer world that we know. This
  can be disturbing and even frightening to many
  people, and so the impression can be that
  Theosophy is a body of knowledge for those
  interested in freaky subjects such as ghosts,
  clairaudience, clairvoyance, reading peoples
  thoughts, etc. Certainly, one of the aims of the
  Theosophical Society is to study the powers
  innate in man, but, is Theosophy just another
  school for the study of the more spectacular
  aspects of occultism? No, Theosophy recognizes
  the reality of the invisible worlds and their
  inter-relation with ours, but it is principally
  interested in developing our true human
  potentials for understanding, patience,
  tolerance, and love as we come to understand our
  place in the oness of the living universe through
  the spiritual knowledge and practice Theosophy
  teaches

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WHAT IS THEOSOPHY?

• WHAT ARE THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL PROPOSITIONS OF
  THEOSOPHY?
• In her masterwork, The Secret Doctrine, HP
  Blavatsky sets forth three fundamental
  propositions of theosophy as follows
• 1/ There is an Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless,
  and Immutable PRINCIPLE on which all speculation
  is impossible, since it transcends the power of
  human conception This Infinity referred to as
  Space, the great Void or Fullness contains, and
  indeed is, everything which exists, past,
  present, and future. It cannot be described or
  limited in any way or it would no longer be
  infinite.
• 2/ This boundless space is the field for the
  cyclic appearance and disappearance of numberless
  worlds, like the regular tidal ebb, flux, and
  reflux, pointing to duality and periodicity as
  fundamental in nature.
• 3/ All beings originate from the same divine
  source and are in essence identical with it.
  Further, each of these sparks of divinity evolves
  by embodying, according to cyclic and karmic law,
  in every form of the phenomenal world,
  developing its individuality at first
  instinctively and later by its own efforts till
  it has passed through all the degrees of
  intelligence, from the lowest to the highest
  through sub-mineral, mineral, plant, human and
  beyond. This last axiom indicates that the
  universe is an organism composed of countless
  lesser organisms, all evolving towards divinity.

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WHAT IS THEOSOPHY?

• IS THEOSOPHY JUST FOR INTELLECTUAL DISCUSSION, OR
  CAN YOU APPLY IT TO DAILY LIFE? rather than the
  many popular misconceptions of Theosophy and the
  work of the Theosophical Society, Theosophy is
  rather a form of character-building. That is that
  we should take seriously the teachings of
  Theosophy and simply put them into action in our
  lives and this will automatically strengthen and
  build our characters and have a beneficial affect
  on those who come into contact with us. Instead
  of looking at Theosophical teachings just as
  fascinating theories and concepts, try for a few
  hours every day to see them as realities and
  change your behaviour to conform with these
  realities. For example, think of Karma and
  Reincarnation as realities. There are many things
  we would do, and more we would not do, if we
  seriously thought of these teachings as actual
  realities. This is putting Inner Theosophy into
  Outer Action, or simply practicing what we
  preach, or as the Buddhist saying goes It is
  necessary to live the life to understand the
  doctrine. Theosophy, along with all the major
  religions of the world, encourage us to treat
  others as we would wish to be treated ourselves
  to sincerely try to live the Golden Rule in our
  daily lives.
• In this way we begin to self-direct our spiritual
  evolution. By this I mean we seriously take hold
  of the possibilities that await us in this and
  future lives. Instead of being blindly blown
  around by the winds of fate, we understand the
  basic laws of the universe from what we are told
  in Theosophy and put them into action. By so
  doing we can contribute toward a more spiritually
  enlightened future for ourselves and others.
  Other people will observe our actions and how we
  behave in certain, especially stressful and
  demanding situations, be impressed by what they
  see, and be attracted to what we have to offer
  them philosophically, and as warm and helpful
  human beings. As the Buddhists would say The
  flowers come into bloom when the sage walks
  through the garden or, as they say in India
  The bees come of their own accord in search of
  honey when the flower is in full bloom.

• IS THEOSOPHY JUST ANOTHER SET OF BELIEFS THAT I
  MUST ACCEPT? No! The theosophical philosophy is
  not just another set of beliefs that must be
  accepted or adhered to blindly rather, it is a
  group of ideas from which a person may take what
  seems correct and useful to him. As with all
  ideas, the meanings received depend largely on
  the background and attitudes we each have when
  looking at these ideas. As we feel out what we
  each believe, we can test our findings by putting
  them into practice in our lives. Thus we begin to
  work more closely with the patterns of nature,
  gradually harmonizing with the whole to which we
  belong and in doing so we are better able to
  serve our fellow human beings.
• Theosophy will be meaningless to us if we have
  not proved the validity of the ideas to ourselves
  individually and this process is going to be
  different and take longer or shorter depending on
  each one of us. It is like a student at
  high-school trying to learn maths it is no use
  just looking up the answers to maths problems in
  the back of the textbook if we do that, well
  never be able to work out the next maths problem
  for ourselves! We need to prove to ourselves
  whether theosophical ideas have any meaning to us
  so that we may become more self-aware and
  spiritually self-reliant like the Masters of
  Wisdom who searched for these same truths ages
  before us. We then may be able to help others
  with these powerful ideas which have the capacity
  to change peoples behaviour for the better. Thus
  we can do our bit to relieve suffering in this
  troubled world.
• This program was prepared for Theosophy Downunder
  by Andrew Rooke. Thanks to the Northwest Branch
  of the Theosophical Society (Pasadena) in the USA
  which provided material for some of the answers.

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WHAT IS THEOSOPHY FURTHER READING

• WHAT IS THEOSOPHY? Charles Ryan from the series
  of manuals on basic theosophical teachings.
• THE OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY William Quan Judge a
  succinct overview from one of the principle
  Founders of the Theosophical Society
• EXPANDING HORIZONS James A. Long questions we
  all ask about the Ancient Wisdom simply
  explained.
• TO LIGHT A THOUSAND LAMPS Grace F. Knoche a
  modern introduction to Theosophy.
• Also available EXPLORING THEOSOPHY a collection
  of articles on basic theosophy offered free of
  charge to seriously interested enquirers. Email
  andrewrooke_at_hotmail.com if you are interested.