Theosophical Society

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the
This article relies on references to primary sources. (February 2011)
This article is incomplete. (June 2011)

Part of a series on

Theosophy

Theosophy

Western Theosophy[show]

Theosophical Society (1875)[show]

 V

 
 T

 
 E

Part of a series on

Spirituality

 Spirituality
 Outline of spirituality

Religion[show]

Traditional spirituality[show]

Modern spirituality[show]
 Influences on modern spirituality[show]

Practices & experience[show]

Category:Spirituality

 V

 
 T

 
 E

The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance theosophy. The original organization,

after splits and realignments has (as of 2011) several successors.[1]

Contents

  [hide] 

 1 History

o 1.1 Formation

o 1.2 The Hidden Masters

o 1.3 Schisms

 2 The "World Teacher"

o 2.1 Jiddu Krishnamurti

 3 Controversy and racial beliefs

 4 Related individuals and organizations

 5 See also

 6 References

 7 External links

History[edit]
Formation[edit]
Notes of meeting proposing the formation of the Theosophical Society, New York City, 8 September 1875

The Theosophical Society was officially formed in New York City, United States, in November 1875 by Helena
Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others. Its initial objective was the "study and
elucidation ofOccultism, the Cabala etc."[2] After a few years Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India and
established the International Headquarters at Adyar, in Madras (Chennai). They were also interested in
studying Eastern religions, and these were included in the Society's agenda.[3] After several iterations the
Society's objectives evolved to be:

1. To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without

distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour.

2. To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and

science.

3. To investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in

man.

The Society was organized as a non-sectarian entity. The following was stated in the Constitution and Rules of
the Theosophical Society

ARTICLE I: Constitution
4. The Theosophical Society is absolutely unsectarian, and no assent to any formula of belief, faith or creed
shall be required as a qualification of membership; but every applicant and member must lie in sympathy with
the effort to create the nucleus of an Universal Brotherhood of Humanity
...
ARTICLE XIII Offences
1. Any Fellow who shall in any way attempt to involve the Society In political disputes shall be immediately
expelled.
2. No Fellow, Officer, or Council of the Theosophical Society, or of any Section or Branch thereof, shall
promulgate or maintain any doctrin[e ]as being that advanced, or advocated by the Society. [4]

The Society reformulated this view in a resolution passed by the General Council of the Theosophical
Society on December 23, 1924.[5]

The Hidden Masters[edit]

The Society's seal incorporated the Swastika,Star of David, Ankh, Aum andOuroboros symbols

Seal of the Theosophical Society - Door decoration at Kazinczy Street 55, Budapest(Hungary).

One of the central philosophical tenets promoted by the Society was the complex doctrine of The Intelligent
Evolution of All Existence, occurring on a Cosmicscale, incorporating both the physical and non-physical
aspects of the known and unknown Universe, and affecting all of its constituent parts regardless of apparent
size or importance. The theory was originally promulgated in the Secret Doctrine, the 1888 magnum
opus of Helena Blavatsky.[6] According to this view, Humanity's evolution on Earth (and beyond) is part of the
overall Cosmic evolution. It is overseen by a hidden Spiritual Hierarchy, the so-called Masters of the Ancient
Wisdom, whose upper echelons consist of advanced spiritual beings.
Blavatsky portrayed the Theosophical Society as being part of one of many attempts throughout the millennia
by this hidden Hierarchy to guide humanity – in concert with the overall Intelligent Cosmic Evolutionary scheme
– towards its ultimate, immutable evolutionary objective: the attainment of perfection and the conscious, willing
participation in the evolutionary process. These attempts require an earthly infrastructure (such as the
Theosophical Society) which she held was ultimately under the inspiration of a number of Mahatmas, members
of the Hierarchy.[7]

Schisms[edit]

Theosophical Society, Adyar, India, 1890

After Helena Blavatsky's death in 1891, the Society's leaders seemed at first to work together peacefully. This
did not last long. Judge was accused by Olcott and then prominent Theosophist Annie Besant of forging letters
from the Mahatmas; he ended his association with Olcott and Besant in 1895 and took most of the Society's
American Section with him. The original organisation led by Olcott and Besant remains today based in India
and is known as the Theosophical Society - Adyar. The group led by Judge further splintered into a faction led
by Katherine Tingley, and another associated with Judge's secretary Ernest Temple Hargrove. While
Hargrove's faction no longer survives, the faction led by Tingley is today known as the Theosophical
Society with the clarifying statement, "International Headquarters, Pasadena, California". A third organization,
the United Lodge of Theosophists or ULT, in 1909 split off from the latter organization.

In 1902, Rudolf Steiner became General Secretary of the German/Austrian division of the Theosophical

Society. He maintained a Western-oriented course, relatively independent from the Adyar headquarters. After
serious philosophical conflicts with Annie Besant and other members of the International leadership on the
spiritual significance of Christ and on the status of the young boy Jiddu Krishnamurti (see section below), most
of the German and Austrian members split off in 1913 and formed the Anthroposophical Society. The latter
remains active today and has branches in several countries, including the US and Canada.

The "World Teacher"[edit]

In addition to the stated objectives, as early as 1889 Blavatsky publicly declared that the purpose of
establishing the Society was to prepare humanity for the reception of a World Teacher: according to the
Theosophical doctrine described above, a manifested aspect of an advanced spiritual entity (the Maitreya) that
periodically appears on Earth in order to direct the evolution of humankind. The mission of these reputedly
regularly appearing emissaries is to practically translate, in a way and language understood by contemporary
humanity, the knowledge required to propel it to a higher evolutionary stage.

If the present attempt, in the form of our Society, succeeds better than its predecessors have done, then it will
be in existence as an organized, living and healthy body when the time comes for the effort of the XXth century.
The general condition of men's minds and hearts will have been improved and purified by the spread of its
teachings, and, as I have said, their prejudices and dogmatic illusions will have been, to some extent at least,
removed. Not only so, but besides a large and accessible literature ready to men's hands, the next impulse will
find a numerous and united body of people ready to welcome the new torch-bearer of Truth. He will find the
minds of men prepared for his message, a language ready for him in which to clothe the new truths he brings,
an organization awaiting his arrival, which will remove the merely mechanical, material obstacles and difficulties
from his path. Think how much one, to whom such an opportunity is given, could accomplish. Measure it by
comparison with what the Theosophical Society actually has achieved in the last fourteen years, without any of
these advantages and surrounded by hosts of hindrances which would not hamper the new leader. [8]

This was repeated by then prominent Theosophist Annie Besant in 1896, five years after Blavatsky's death.
[9]
 Besant, who became President of the Society in 1907, thought the appearance of the World Teacher would
happen sooner than the time-frame in Blavatsky's writings, who had indicated that it would not take place until
the last quarter of the 20th century.[10]

Jiddu Krishnamurti[edit]
Main article:  Jiddu Krishnamurti

One of the people who expected the imminent reappearance of the Maitreya as World Teacher was Charles
Webster Leadbeater, then an influential Theosophist and occultist. In 1909 he "discovered" Jiddu Krishnamurti,
an adolescent Indian boy, who he proclaimed as the most suitable candidate for the "vehicle" of the World
Teacher.[11][12] Krishnamurti's family had relocated next to the Theosophical Society headquarters in Adyar,
India, a few months earlier.[13] Following his "discovery", Krishnamurti was taken under the wing of the Society,
and was extensively groomed in preparation for his expected mission.

However, by 1925 Krishnamurti had begun to move away from the course expected of him by the leaders of
the Theosophical Society in Adyar and by many Theosophists. In 1929 he publicly dissolved the Order of the
Star, a worldwide organization created by the leadership of the Theosophical Society to prepare the world for
the Coming of the Maitreya, and abandoned his assumed role as the "vehicle" for the World Teacher.[14] He
eventually left the Theosophical Society altogether, yet remained on friendly terms with individual members of
the Society.[15] He spent the rest of his life traveling the world as an independent speaker, becoming widely
known as an original thinker on spiritual, philosophical, and psychological subjects.
Controversy and racial beliefs[edit]

Blavatsky had posited that humanity evolved through a series of stages called Root Races, the present, the
Aryan, being the Fifth Root Race (of seven). The Root Races do not refer to ethnicities. They represent
evolutionary stages the whole humanity is engaged in, each new Root Race being more advanced than the
previous one. She taught that the earlier stage of evolution took place in Atlantis during the Fourth Root-Race.
The Aryan Root Race was then only one more step in the evolutionary progression, to be eventually
superseded by a more spiritual Root Race, the Sixth. [16]

Regarding the concept of race as defined – in a comparatively more limited manner –

by Anthropology, Sociology, and other disciplines, Blavatsky did not encourage superiority by any person or
group, promoting the idea of the common origin and destiny of all humanity, and establishing the principle of
universal brotherhood as the First Object of the Theosophical Society. [17] She also proclaimed religious
tolerance and inclusiveness stating, "Theosophists, collectively, respect the Bible as much as they do the
sacred scriptures of other people, finding in it the same eternal truths as in the Vedas, the Zend-Avesta,
the Tripitakas, etc."[18] Conversely, Austrian/German ultra-nationalist Guido von List and his followers such
as Lanz von Liebenfels, later selectively mixed parts of Blavatsky's occult philosophy
with nationalistic and fascist ideas; this system of thought became known as Ariosophy. Some researchers,
tracing the links between Ariosophy and Theosophy, stated that the latter relies mostly on "intellectual
expositions of racial evolution".[19] However in The Key to Theosophy, Blavatsky had stated that "The Society is
a philanthropic and scientific body for the propagation of the idea of brotherhood on practical instead
of theoretical lines."[20]

Related individuals and organizations[edit]

The following have been at various times associated, or have claimed association, with the original
Theosophical Society, its philosophy, leaders, branches, or descendant organizations. Listed alphabetically.

 Agni Yoga

 Ananda College

 Anthroposophy

 Alice Bailey

 Ascended Master Teachings

 The Bridge to Freedom

 Benjamin Creme

 Buddhist Theosophical Society (of Ceylon)

 Brother XII
  Church Universal and Triumphant

 C.W. Leadbeater

 Elizabeth Clare Prophet

 James Cousins

 Halcyon, California

 Hugh Dowding

 "I AM" Activity

 Anna Kingsford

 Liberal Catholic Church

 Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross

 Nilakanta Sri Ram

 Jorge Ángel Livraga Rizzi

 Schola Philosophicae Initiationis

 Thomas Edison

 Share International

 Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj

See also[edit]

 Annie Besant

 Aryan race – Theosophy

 Ascended Masters

 Charles Webster Leadbeater

 Jiddu Krishnamurti

 Religion and mythology

 Rudolf Steiner

 G R S Mead

 William Quan Judge

References[edit]

1. Jump up^ Melton, Gordon J. (Sr. ed.) (1990). "Theosophical

Society". New Age Encyclopedia.Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale

Research. pp. 458–461. ISBN 0-8103-7159-6. "No single organization or

movement has contributed so many components to the New Age

Movement as the Theosophical Society. ... It has been the major force in
 the dissemination of occult literature in the West in the twentieth century."

In same, see sections "Theosophy" and "Theosophical Offshoots", pp.

xxv–xxvi [in "Introductory Essay: An Overview of the New Age

Movement"]. Note "Chronology of the New Age Movement" pp. xxxv–

xxxviii in same work, starts with the formation of the Theosophical Society

in 1875.

2. Jump up^ See photographic reproduction of the "Notes of meeting

proposing the formation of the Theosophical Society, New York City, 8

September 1875" on this page. File:St-1ata.jpg. Wikimedia Commons.

3. Jump up^ Kirby, W. F. (January 1885). "The Theosophical

Society". Time (London) XII (1): 47-55. (London: Swan

Sonnenschein). OCLC 228708807. Google Books Search. Retrieved

2011-01-12. Profile by the entomologist and folklorist William Forsell Kirby.

4. Jump up^ Olcott, H. S. (January 1891). "Constitution and Rules of the

Theosophical Society". The Theosophist 12 (4): 65-72. (Adyar:

Theosophical Publishing House). ISSN 0040-5892. "As Revised in

Session of the General Council, all the Sections being represented, at

Adyar, December 27, 1890".

5. Jump up^ "About the TS" [see section "Freedom of Thought"]. ts-

adyar.org. Adyar: Theosophical Society Adyar. Retrieved 2011-01-11.

6. Jump up^ Blavatsky, Helena (1888). "The Three Postulates of the Secret

Doctrine". The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and

Philosophy. Volume I: Cosmogenesis. pp. 14–20 [in "Proem"]. London:

The Theosophical Publishing Company. OCLC 8129381. Phoenix,

Arizona: United Lodge of Theosophists. 2005. Retrieved 2011-01-29. "This

electronic version of The Secret Doctrine follows the pagination and style

of the A FACSIMILE OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF 1888" [webpage

editor's description (excerpt)]. Also in same, see "The pith and marrow of

the Secret Doctrine". pp. 273–285 [in "Summing Up"].

7. Jump up^ Blavatsky 1888. "Our Divine Instructors". Volume II:

Anthropogenesis. pp 365–378.Phoenix, Arizona: United Lodge of

Theosophists. 2005. Retrieved 2011-01-29.

8. Jump up^ Blavatsky, Helena (1889). "The Future of the Theosophical

Society". The Key to Theosophy. London: The Theosophical Publishing

Company. pp. 304–307 [context at pp. 306-307. Emphasis in

 original]. OCLC 315695318. Wheaton, Maryland: Theosophy Library

Online. Retrieved 2011-01-29. "Scanned Reproduction from a

Photographic Reproduction of the Original Edition as First Issued at

London, England: 1889".

9. Jump up^ Lutyens, Mary (1975). Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening.

New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux. p. 12. ISBN 0-374-18222-1.

10. Jump up^ Blavatsky 1889 p. 306. Wheaton, Maryland: Theosophy Library

Online. Blavatsky, Helena(1966). "Esoteric Instructions (EI): The Esoteric

Section: Introduction by the Compiler".Collected Writings. Series. Volume

XII. Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books. pp. 478–511 [context at p. 492]. ISBN

978-0-8356-0228-0. Groningen, Netherlands: katinkahesselink.net. Links

retrieved 2011-01-29.

11. Jump up^ Washington, Peter (1995) [Originally published 1993]. "Boys

and Gods". Madame Blavatsy's Baboon: A History of the Mystics,

Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America. New

York: Schocken Books. Hardcover. pp. 126–144. ISBN 978-0-8052-4125-

9.

12. Jump up^ Lutyens pp. 20-21.

13. Jump up^ Lutyens p. 7.
14. Jump up^ Jiddu, Krishnamurti (1929). "Order of the Star Dissolution
Speech". J. Krishnamurti Online. Krishnamurti Foundations. Retrieved

2010-04-27.

15. Jump up^ Lutyens pp. 276, 285. Krishnamurti left the Society in 1931;
Lutyens considered the "last tie" severed with the death of Besant in 1933.

16. Jump up^ Blavatsky 1888. Volume II: Anthropogenesis. Phoenix,

Arizona: United Lodge of Theosophists. 2005. Retrieved 2011-01-29. The

entire volume constitutes a detailed description of the Theosophical

doctrines of the evolution of Humankind, and related subjects.

(Chakras references: pp. 465, 466, 483, 546).

17. Jump up^ Blavatsky 1889. "The Objects of the Society" pp. 39–

41. Wheaton, Maryland: Theosophy Library Online. Retrieved 2011-01-12.

18. Jump up^ Blavatsky 1966 "Neo-Buddhism" pp. 478–511 [context at p.

341]. Groningen, Netherlands: katinkahesselink.net. Retrieved 2011-01-

29.
 19. Jump up^ Spielvogel, Jackson; David Redles (1986). "Hitler's Racial
Ideology: Content and Occult Sources.". Simon Wiesenthal Center

Annual 3. Chapter 9. ISSN 0741-8450. Retrieved 2007-08-22.

20. Jump up^ Blavatsky 1889 "What the Modern Theosophical Society is

not" pp. 16–20 [context at p. 19. Emphasis in original]. Wheaton,

Maryland: Theosophy Library Online. Retrieved 2011-01-12.

External links[edit]

 The Theosophical Society in England

 The Theosophical Society in America

 A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom (PDF).

 Beginnings of the Theosophical Society.

 Blavatsky and The Theosophical Society.

 FAQ on the Theosophical Movement.

 Skeptics Dictionary: entry on Theosophy.

 The Theosophical Network.

 Theosophical Movement 1875–1950.

Categories: 
 Esoteric schools of thought
 Magical organizations
 Theosophy
 Organizations established in 1875
 Theosophical Society

Navigation menu
 Create account

 Log in
 Article
 Talk
 Read
 Edit
 View history

 Main page
 Contents
 Featured content
 Current events
 Random article
 Donate to Wikipedia

Interaction
 Help
 About Wikipedia
 Community portal
 Recent changes
 Contact page
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages
 Azərbaycanca
 Български
 Català
 Dansk
 Deutsch
 Español
 Esperanto
 ‫فارسی‬
 Français
 한국어
 हिन्दी
 Íslenska
 ‫עברית‬
 Magyar
 മലയാളം
 Монгол
 Nederlands
 日本語
 Norsk bokmål
 Polski
 Português
 Русский
 Slovenčina
 Suomi
 Svenska
 తెలుగు

 Türkçe
 Українська
 中文
 Edit links

 This page was last modified on 13 October 2013 at 23:02.

 Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional
terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 
 Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit
organization.

 Privacy policy

 About Wikipedia

 Disclaimers

 Contact Wikipedia

 Developers

 Mobile view