Theosophy

Vonda Urban – USA

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[Note from the editor: Vonda Urban (1918–2011) was an American ballroom dance instructor, spiritual teacher, astrologer, and independent scholar of Theosophy who became a well-known figure in Chicago's entertainment and esoteric communities.]

"The feeling of responsibility is inspired by the presence of the Light of the Higher Ego. As the Ego in its cycle of rebirth becomes more and more individualized, it learns more and more by suffering to recognize its own responsibility, by which it finally gains Self-consciousness, the consciousness of all the Egos of the whole Universe ... The feeling of responsibility is the beginning of Wisdom, a proof that ahankara is beginning to fade out, the beginning of losing the sense of separateness. " (The Secret Doctrine, Adyar edition, 1950, Book 5, pp. 552-53.)

Barbara Hebert – USA

Barbara outdoors and “sun-protected”

In the face of the tremendous suffering in our world, we may sometimes feel disheartened or even defeated. We may question our ability to make a meaningful difference or to alleviate the suffering of others. Yet the Ageless Wisdom teachings remind us of the profound power inherent in human beings. Through the exercise of will and focused intention, we not only participate in shaping our own destiny but also influence the mental field of consciousness that connects all living beings.

Tim Boyd – India, USA

 Tim Boyd speaks

The Theosophical Society (TS) came into being 150 years ago. Its purpose was stated by its principal founder as to make it known “that such a thing as Theosophy exists”. During its time it has attracted people from all walks of life, including some of the most advanced thinkers and creative people in the world. All of them knew what it was that drew them to it, but if asked to explain, the answers varied. During the lifetime of H. P. Blavatsky (HPB) her magnetic personality, combined with her enthralling capacity to describe the many strange and remarkable things she had seen in her global travels piqued people’s interest. The fact that she was constantly producing a range of psychic phenomena further added to her attraction.

Harold W. Dempster – USA

There are many different kinds and concepts of freedom. Spiritual, psychological and material are the three kinds that would include all other forms, such as economic and political freedoms, with which we shall not be dealing in this particular article, though we do not deny their importance.

James LeFevour – USA 

The author

We cannot all be chelas. What we can do is learn from those who are, in order to live a more rewarding and virtuous life. Damodar was an early Theosophist, and he worked for Blavatsky and Olcott in the early days of the Theosophical Society. In 1879 he read Isis Unveiled and he rushed to Olcott and Blavatsky in Bombay. He found the Theosophical Society on his path, and he became a member before the age of 18.  

Lauri Livistö – Finland

Idyllic Finnish landscaoe (near Lahti)

[Lauri Livistö is a Finnish writer, translator, and librarian based in Kuopio, Finland. He is best known for his work in translating theosophical and occult literature into English, particularly the works of the prominent 20th-century Finnish theosophist Pekka Ervast.]

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Followers of Jesus Christ cannot have enemies. A theosophist—and any true seeker of truth—cannot have enemies. This is a rather radical claim in times like these, and yet it is a claim that our times truly need—and one that is essential on the spiritual path. The central idea of my presentation is that following the Master is essential for making real progress on the spiritual path. Why is that?

Many traditions teach that ethics must be the foundation of all spirituality. It is the foundation upon which everything is built. The Yogic path, as defined by Patanjali, begins with internal aspirations: the Yamas and Niyamas (https://sewallhouse.com/the-yamas-and-niyamas-the-ethical-foundation-of-yoga/). Moreover, Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), the founder of Anthroposophy, taught that “For every one step that you take in the pursuit of higher knowledge, take three steps in the perfection of your own character.” (https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA010/English/RSPC1947/GA010_c02.html). Buddhism teaches the same thing and expands on the idea: the coarse obstacles of the mind cannot be removed through meditation; ethical practice is needed first. Then, meditation can remove the more subtle problems. 

Sven Eek – USA

The author

(special thanks to Kenneth Small) 

The original founders of the 'Theosophical Movement who are known as Masters M. and K.H. decided well over a century ago to start a Society for the promulgation of certain aims and purposes along religious, philosophical and scientific lines. Throughout the entire period of the last century they were able to find only one person psychologically and spiritually fit to carry out the work they were planning. That person's role in history is yet to be fully established; she was Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.

Dara Eklund

It is an old Hindu aphorism that "An Arch never sleeps."(Quoted by James Fergusson in a History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 210.) Here truly is an image for the triumphant assault on any peak of consciousness. When we are there, our firm hold realized that conquest must exalt the whole of life. There is never any Rest for the conqueror. Just as the view encompassed is greater the higher we go, so must our love become more boundless for the whole. Our vigilance for every life atom on its way up to manhood is just as strong as our aspirations to span the starry heights.

 Douglas Keene -- USA

Many in today’s society feel alienated, lost, and drifting, searching for substance and meaning, often expressed as the desire for purpose. This is most often evident at three developmental points in our lives. Firstly, as young adults, when trying to choose a career or identify how a person might fit into society at large. For many this is a relatively passive choice due to cultural norms, family tradition and expectations, and available avenues of pursuit. This can be a conscious choice, or typically, a necessary default. The second common timeline is in middle age when we have engaged in some pursuit or combination thereof, and find it unsatisfactory, whether it be ill suited to our passion (if we have a passion), repetitive, superficial or just generally unfulfilling.   This is often termed a midlife crisis. This is an opportunity to reassess our values and the trajectory of our lives. Lastly, around the age of retirement from one’s primary profession is when many individuals lose a sense of purpose and attempt to regain it.

Tim Boyd – India, USA

The author, a passionate speaker

As children we learn to perceive differences. Comparison and contrast are normal. We see people who dress like we do, and those who don’t; who worship the same way and those who don’t; who have different facial features and skin color; who speak languages we don’t understand. When we ask questions about them the answers from our elders take root and our worldview takes shape.

At the minimum we become aware of diversity, but we are also informed of qualitative distinctions. It is the normal training of the intellect we receive from family, culture, and social context. It is a training for our capacity to analyze that brings order to the world. In combination with sensations, feelings, and the desires that arise from them, intellect is the function that guides and misguides us in our life journey. Rightly used, it leads toward liberation. In its normal, diminished use, it functions as a potent servant to the countless desires that arise and inhabit our personal consciousness. Kâma-manas is the term used for this mind as an instrument of desire.

What can the Stars teach us about a Living Universe?

Andrew Rooke -- Australia

2,000 years ago, the Bible’s New Testament tells us, three wise men followed the light of a special star to find the birthplace of Jesus Christ. What can the stars teach us today in this technological age? Recent mapping of galaxies on the largest scale reveals that the cosmos resembles a huge spider’s web. Superclusters of galaxies lie bunched in walls or form long filaments that look for all the world like groups of brain cells. Each of these structures is separated by vast voids. Gravity continues to pull thousands of galaxies into enormous structures and Dark Energy drives them outward towards the unknown regions beyond the edge of the observable universe. What can all this mean for students of the Ancient Wisdom?

Tim Boyd – India, USA

The Universal Spiritual Problem

he world’s spiritual traditions differ in many ways — rituals, methods of practice, descriptions of divinity — but in some essential areas, no matter in what time period, location, or culture the tradition has its roots, there is unanimous agreement. One of those areas of agreement is about the essential human problem holding us back from spiritual awareness. The names for this problem are many and vary across traditions: ego, man of clay/ flesh, the Natural Man, personality, lower self, Nafs (Arabic), Nefesh (Hepew), Ahamkâra (Sanskrit), Animal Soul, Egoic Mind, the self-cherishing, deluded mind. In theosophical parlance the term most often used is the “self”, with a lower case “s” to distinguish it from “Self”, the universal shared essence of all life.

Ananya Sri Ram – USA

The Seven Points of Mind Training, attributed to the Indian Buddhist teacher Atisha Dipankara Shrijnana (982-1054 CE), was orally passed down until they were written down by the Kamdampa teacher Lang-ri Thangpa (1054-1123). As the teachings became more widely known, they were summarized by Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje (1101-1175). In the book, Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness by Chogyam Trungpa, one is introduced to the ancient text through a more modern view.

Barbara Hebert – USA

Barbara Hebert, former National President of the TSA, but still very hard working for Theosophy

The things that are happening in our world today may increase our anxiety and even our fear of what will happen in the future. Pandemics, war, brutality, death. The uncertainty may encourage us to make fear-based decisions or to become caught up in a kama-manasic tornado of thoughts and feelings. Neither of these actions are helpful to us or to the world in which we live. There are theosophical concepts that will help us to learn to live without fear. However, it is useful to address a few questions first. What is fear? How does fear impact us? How does our fear impact the world around us? These questions help us understand what is happening and what we want to change. Change requires awareness, and awareness requires self-introspection and self-observation.  

Pain never enters our lives gently; it breaks in and rearranges our inner world. “It touches our thoughts, shakes our emotions, questions our beliefs, and sometimes challenges our will to live.” Pain leads some people to close the doors of the heart and others to fall into hopelessness and depression. When misunderstood, pain can become a silent destroyer. But then there are those few courageous people who respond to pain by questioning everything they once believed; they fall temporarily to rise again. “These wounded souls become heroic warriors.” It all depends upon one’s perception, whether one looks upon pain as an enemy or a mentor. When wounds are severe, one witnesses the process of destruction and reconstruction within oneself. “Illusions break; the ego cracks; and expectations collapse. The false identities that once gave comfort begin to dissolve. In that

Boris de Zirkoff – USA

Boris de Zirkoff

[One hundred years ago -An Occult and Literary Challenge - article first published in 1977]

On Saturday, September 29, 1877, the first monumental work of H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, was published in New York by J. W. Bouton. Its title page declared it to be "A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology," and the one thousand copies of the first printing were sold in ten days. Even some of the advance subscribers had to wait for the second printing.

Andrew Rooke – Australia

Profoundly studying the scores of Life's symphony 

We are players in a vast symphony of Life. From sub-atomic particles to star systems, Nature gives evidence of a magnificent balance and harmony like a great orchestra blending countless keynotes into “the Music of the Spheres”. If we can listen to this music even for a moment, we realize that disharmonies will eventually blend with the greater harmony as a natural progression in the survival and development of the Whole. In the process of overcoming disharmony, individual players will learn something from their errors and grow to understand a little more of the greater scheme of the Melody. The ancient wise men of the East call this essentially compassionate process of learning “Karma”, the law of action and reaction, the reaping of what we sow in and our thoughts and actions as we learn the lessons each life has to teach.

Marja Artamaa – Suomi, India

Marja Artamaa, International Secretary (photo taken some time ago in the Besant Hall of the ITC in Naarden, the Netherlands)

AT some point in every life, the question surfaces — quietly, in the middle of an ordinary day, or suddenly, in a moment of crisis or unexpected joy: Why am I here? What does any ofthis mean? Most of us push the question aside. We have things to do. But the question does not go away. It waits. 

Shikhar Agnihotri – India

Shikhar Agnihotri, International Vice-President

The 150^th anniversary of the theosophical movement in modern times is not only an occasion to reflect on the last 150 years but also a time of renewal, of making a conscious choice from the womb of which the future, the new humanity, will take birth within us as individuals and collectively for humanity. Let us try to see if, in the constant demands of daily life which is normally dominated by physical and mental conditionings and habits, it is possible, even if for a fraction of a second, to leave behind the concept of time, and give ourselves an opportunity to have a glimpse of that Oneness/Truth for which Theosophy stands, through a small window of eternity in the mind made shell around us. Consider the theme of this convention, “One World, One Life – The Spirit of a New Humanity”. For a rare few it is a statement of fact in Nature; for some it is a belief that has travelled from generations and has become a way of living; for some others it is an intuitive vision that motivates them to aspire and realise the Unity of Life; but the majority, who earlier used to think of this world only as a coincidental material existence in which comparison-competition-exclusivity-fragmentation are the only ways to live, are being compelled today to look in the direction of interconnectedness and interdependence, as we stand face to face with recurring global situations/problems that manifest themselves as harsh consequences at the local level — war and starvation. 

Deepa Padhi – India

Deepa Padhi, dedicated life always in service of those who are not as privileged as we are

“Liberty is the keynote of the soul’s growth”, says Annie Besant, which reminds us that freedom is not merely political — it is spiritual, intellectual, and moral. Today as we gather for the Besant Lecture, we honour that great woman, whose life was a bridge between East and West, between science and spirituality, between reform and revolution. As we reflect on Annie Besant’s legacy, let us remember that her life was not about theory alone — it was all about action.

Ananya Sri Ram – USA  

The author

From the very beginning of our theosophical studies, a student is encouraged to understand that life does not just exist  in the physical realm, but in the unseen worlds as well. For the serious student, occultism, or that which is hidden, is not a myth, but a fact. A myriad of intelligences dance and swirl, coming together, drifting apart, melding as one, becoming two, and so on. Life unseen is designed, imprints are made, physicality is filled in with structure, form, and color. For some, it is only when they can see something physically that they believe “life” is present. What they often do not understand is that which remains invisible to the human eye and one’s awareness is well and truly alive. 

Invisible and unseen, does not mean absent or empty. For those who know this to be true, daily life takes on a different meaning. 

Tim Boyd – India, USA

 The writer tunes the gong

In gatherings devoted to the inner life, we have a precious opportunity: to turn together toward a single purpose. In a world of fragmentation and dispersion, we enter a space consciously dedicated to inward exploration. This is true whether we are speaking, writing, listening, or studying alone. Over decades, even generations, the places where such activity occurs become magnetized by one’s aspiration, quiet, and contemplation. The atmosphere itself becomes a silent collaborator in our search.