A SKETCH OF
From the writings of Annie Besant, a pioneer of the
Theosophical Movement
and President of the Adyar based Theosophical Society from
1907 to 1933
Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF24 – 1DL
theosophycardiff@uwclub.net
Annie Besant 1847 - 1933
A Sketch of Theosophy
byAnnie Besant
A lecture delivered at
Hindhead,
Sometimes, in a very large
subject, people are apt to float about a little vaguely. Now Theosophy is a
very large subject, and very much talked about; but constantly, if you speak to
anyone about it, you find that their ideas are exceedingly vague. And I
thought, perhaps, this afternoon I could do no better service with regard to
the subject than to try to give you certain definite points, so that you might
at your leisure, if you wish, take those as fixed points around which you might
study, realising each in its own place, and then
following the broad line of study that attracts you most by your temperament,
by your own line of thinking. Now there are very many ways in which such a
subject can be divided, and I am going to take an exceedingly natural division:
the way in which anyone of you may regard yourself, the natural divisions of
yourself; and then show you one or two of the Theosophical teachings belonging
especially to each of these divisions.
For a moment, thinking of yourself, you evidently have a body. On that no
discussion can arise. Now, related to the body, to the working of consciousness in the body, is the great
branch of human thought that we call Science, Science which observes through
the senses, classifies its observations and reasons upon them through the
brain; there you have a great department of human thought which, by its method
of working, is inevitably connected with our physical plane. The senses are its
means of observation, the consciousness working in the brain is its instrument
for classifying, arranging, all the phenomena that it observes. Then you find,
still looking at yourself, that after the body comes your emotional nature, the
nature by which you feel, which is connected with pleasure and pain, connected
with desires, the things you like and dislike, and then with love, the feeling
for beauty — everything which in your ordinary thought you class as emotional.
There, again, is a great department of human thought, and in that there are two
subdivisions: one, the question of conduct, of virtues and vices, which are
really only emotions made general and permanent instead of being special and
fleeting; thus Morality distinctly links itself on to our emotional nature.
Then, in addition, you have the field of Art, where the emotion of Beauty finds
its natural expression. The emotional, then, will be a second department of
Nature with which we shall have to deal in Theosophy.
Going beyond the emotions you find the mind, and thought obviously is connected
with philosophy, that which seeks to answer the problems
of life in a way which satisfies the reason. And lastly there is something
behind all these, more inner, or higher, than the three I have mentioned — the
spiritual nature, that which finds its natural expression in Religion, that
which is ever seeking after God, and finds in religious thought that which
meets its aspirations, and shows the road which leads to the realisation of the Divine. Now that is a fairly simple and
obvious division of your own nature; the body, the emotions, the mind, the
Spirit. And yet it is a division which is practically inclusive. It takes in
the whole of your nature. You might, indeed, subdivide each of these again; but
we may ignore the subdivisions for our purpose, and content ourselves with that
simple division of man. Now , in all these departments of human thought,
Theosophy has something to say. It has something to say about Religion, about
the science of Religion, and about the various forms of thought which express
the same fundamental religious truths. It is also a Philosophy answering the
problems of life to the reason. It has a very clear idea of the way in which
Morality may be rendered compelling, and may be seen as part of the great law
of the Universe which cannot be disregarded save at the peril of the man who
does disregard it. And then it also has a good
deal to say as to Science. Thus it covers the whole field of human
thought, and puts forward certain great ideas in each of these fields, worthy,
I think, of your consideration, as supplying many very suggestive ideas to
illuminate matters which are often puzzling and obscure.
First, then, as to Religion. What has Theosophy to say on this question? Fundamentally,
it declares the capacity of man to know God. I do not mean belief, nor
speculation; I mean knowledge; and by knowledge of God I mean knowledge as
definite, as real and as experimental as the Science of our time is in relation
to the physical world. And for the same reason: man is able to know the
physical world because he has in his body senses which enable him to answer to
impressions coming from outside. That is the condition of knowledge, that you
can answer from within yourself to anything which is outside you, and unless
you are able thus to answer, it is not to you an object of knowledge. It may be
a matter of belief, or speculation; but nothing is an object of knowledge to
you unless you yourself are able to cognise it,
unless you have the means of knowledge within yourself. Now the whole
contention of those who have declared that man could not know God has
been that man had no faculties adapted to gain the knowledge. All those during
the last quarter of the nineteenth century, who called themselves Agnostics,
based their position on the contention
that man could know the physical world, for he had senses to observe it; he
could know the intellectual world, for he had reason, which he could utilise. But beyond the senses and the reason, it was
contended, man had no faculties whereby knowledge could be obtained; and the
very word Agnostic, “without knowledge", implies that that great scheme of
knowledge known in the old days as the Gnosis was entirely beyond the reach of
the faculties of man.
Now Theosophy takes up exactly the opposite position, declaring that man in his
very nature is such that he is capable of direct knowledge of God; that man in
his innermost essence is a spiritual being, and that, being himself Spirit, he
can know the Universal Spirit whence he comes. Because he is fundamentally
spiritual, therefore, he has within himself capacities for gaining knowledge of
the spiritual. Hence man, as Spirit, can know the Universal Spirit, being able
to respond to impressions that come from that Spirit, and by responding, to
know. And that is the very essence of the idea of Theosophy, that view of man
as Spirit, dwelling in material envelopes certainly, but fundamentally a
spiritual being, and therefore capable of immediate contact with the great
spiritual realities. Theosophy, putting forward that view of human nature, is
perfectly and essentially religious. In the second place, it claims to be the
basis and common truth of all the great religions of the world,
and therefore it does not identify itself with any special form of religion. It
advises people always to remain in the religion to which they belong, to deepen
it, broaden it, spiritualise it. For, in each of the
great religions, from the standpoint of the student of religions, the same
great spiritual truths exist, put into the particular form most suitable for
the time at which the religion was given, most fitted to develop the civilisation at whose root that particular religion lay.
Hence you find Theosophists of every Faith, and that which distinguishes them
is that they hold these great common truths as belonging to all religions, but
follow different forms, different ceremonies, different rites, according to the
special religion to which they belong. Now these common truths are not very
numerous, but they are literally “common”, belonging to every great religion of
the world, living or dead: and the only question which can arise respecting
these is as to the source of these common truths, not as to the fact of their
existence. Everyone who has studied the subject, everyone who knows anything
about the great religions of the world, cannot but be aware that their
fundamental truths are common to them, but in different shapes, conveyed in
different forms of words and ceremonies. Theosophy, dealing with the religions
of the world, accepts these few great fundamental truths which all religions
have in common, which have been believed in all the ages of
the world's history and puts them apart from local rites and customs. marking
them as the treasures of the great Faiths of the world, showing all Faiths as
branches from a single tree.
In the religious or spiritual field, then, these two things are the ideas you
ought to grasp: first, the idea that man as a spiritual being can know God. and
develop the Divine within himself; and secondly, that in each of the religions
of the world there is a body of truths common to all the religions and those
truths are called Theosophy. So that Theosophy in every country is the servant
of the religions of the country endeavouring in every
way possible to be of help and use, and always bringing out these essential
truths, as those that are most important to the particular religion, and that
enable it to link itself with other religions of the present as well as with
great religions of the past.
When from the spiritual side we pass on to the philosophical, or Reason side —
which embraces all the profound questions of existence—we see Theosophy to be
Idealistic as against all the Materialistic schools. We cannot touch on all the
questions, but there are two most important teachings which Theosophy
especially presses on the attention of the western world. I say “especially of
the western world”, because in the East these teachings are common property,
and they are fortunately becoming more and more common in the West. In fact, they have only dropped out of the great
Christian religion during the last thousand years, and are now very quickly
coming again to the front. One of these is called the doctrine of Reincarnation;
the other, the doctrine of Karma, or the Law of Action and Re-action. Now both
of these deal with two of the great problems which are continually occupying
the minds of thoughtful people. How do we find such immense differences between
man and man ? How comes it that one man is to all intents and purposes a fool,
while another is a genius ? What is the explanation of this vast gulf dividing
one human being from another, so that you may have one child born a congenital
criminal, while another may be born a saint ? What explanation can we find
which satisfies the natural demand of human thought for Justice, leaving
entirely aside for the moment the question of Love and Compassion ? You know
how often people, when they are dealing with economic and political questions,
talk about “equality of opportunity", as a just demand. That is a phrase
you continually hear in the mouth of people, who desire to bring about immense
social changes. They admit that men are not equal in capacity, but at least, they
say, we ought to give them equality of opportunity. Now the natural answer of a
thoughtful person to that demand is: It is not so much a question of equality
of opportunity, as of capacity to take the opportunity when it comes.
Plenty of opportunities come in one's way, but the power to grasp an
opportunity, the power to use it, the power to turn it to some really useful
and beneficial purpose, that is not equal, and nothing you can do, even if you
could give equality of opportunity, will destroy the radical difference between
the man who lacks the capacity to grasp, and the man who not only can grasp the
opportunity when it comes, but make it, if it does not present itself to him.
There lies the real crux of this great problem. It may be all very well for a number
of you who are placed in fairly comfortable circumstances, with reasonable
abilities, fair qualifications, education, and so on. People never ask
themselves: "What have I done to deserve all this?" But they ask
quickly enough if any trouble comes along: "What have I done that I should
suffer in this way?" That is quite natural, quite right. Man
fundamentally, in his spiritual nature, is a happy being, for God is Bliss, and
man's divine nature is blissful; hence, when there is anything that frustrates
happiness, man naturally rises up and indignantly asks: Why ? Whereas, when
happiness comes he takes it naturally, as that which ought to be expected in a
reasonable world. But this difference of capacity is the thing which weighs on
the hearts of those who have seen the sadder side of human life.
Now the doctrine of reincarnation gives us a rational explanation of the whole
of that. It is not only that it is a doctrine, as Max Müller
said, which all the greatest minds of our race have accepted, and which
therefore might be presumed to be essentially rational; but it is a doctrine
that appeals to the reason the moment it is stated. Now what does reincarnation
mean? It means that each person, being fundamentally a spiritual being, clothes
himself in matter in order that he may gain knowledge through it in the world
to which that matter belongs. So that we find man surrounded with various kinds
of matter, making up his material envelope, which put him into touch with
different worlds, according to the stage of evolution which that particular man
has reached. Now, when a man begins his human life, he begins in the lowest
possible condition, the condition of ignorance, coming into a world which he
does not know, surrounded by the blinding matter which he will have gradually
to shape into a form in which he may be able to become acquainted with the
outer world, and so to gain knowledge. At that point we all start alike. But we
do not all start at the same time. In successive waves of living spiritual
beings we come into this world. A little experience is gathered in the first
human life. Passing out of life through the gate of death, that experience
brings us sorrow if the experience is of the ignoring of law, happiness if the
experience is that of working in accord with the law, and of course in 1 every case the experience is mixed.
In the intermediate world into which we pass after death, we meet the results
of the evil experiences of this life, and work them out and register them in
consciousness. Passing on then into the heaven-world, we reap all good
experiences which here we have gathered, and change that experience into
faculty. So that when we return again for another gathering of experience in
the physical world, we bring with us the faculties built out of the experience
of the past, and the tendency to think a thing right or wrong, which we call
Conscience — very limited in its early days, but with each life becoming
fuller, clearer, and more accurate, the record of the experiences of suffering
which we have met with in the ignoring of the laws amid which we have lived.
And so, from life to life, with each return, we gain something by the
experience of the past, climbing step by step up the great ladder of evolution
by this continual assimilation of experience and its transmutation into faculty
and conscience. Hence, step by step, we grow out of the brute into the human
being; and then, higher still, into the Divine Man, the Perfect Man, which is
the end of the great cycle of reincarnation. To learn everything that the earth
has to teach, to develop all the possibilities infolded in the germ of divinity
within us, to continue in that cycle of life until at last all its lessons have
been learned, and then 1 to go
forward, a Divine Man for the helping of younger humanities, for the helping of
later worlds, each world giving out its quota of men made perfect for the work
of the great and infinite Universe — that is what reincarnation means. Now, in
the course of these experiences we always have a choice as to whether a little
experience will satisfy us, or whether we demand more and more before we are
willing to learn the lesson. That which is called "sin" in all
theologies is the deliberate choice of the lower after we have learned to
distinguish the lower from the higher. There is no sin for the man who does not
know the higher. The savage does not sin, when he does what we call evil. He is
unmoral, he has not yet reaped the experience which has enabled him to
distinguish. But when we have learned the difference, then, if for a time we
choose the lower when the higher is available, if we tend to descend to the
brute instead of rising to the God, then it is we "sin". And what we
call remorse is the protest of the spiritual nature, when the matter which it
is appropriating for its own purposes drags it downward, despite the knowledge
gained that the higher possibility is within its reach.
And so you find in this teaching of reincarnation that you have before you all
possibility of unfoldment, and no injustice anywhere; that the lowest savage is
only what we were in the past, that to what we are now he will inevitably
climb; that 1 the most splendid
saint was once as you and I now are, and that in ages to come we shall have
climbed to his position. Differences of age there are between us, like the
older and younger members of a family; but all are treading the same road,
growing out of the brute into realised divinity. That
is the Path along which mankind is treading, and that is the splendid hope
which cheers us at every stage of the long journey. And side by side with that
comes the doctrine that Law is Law, as much in the mental and emotional worlds
as in the physical; that we can no more escape the law of action and reaction
in the worlds of thought and feeling, than we can escape it in the physical
world; that that changeless Law which is the expression of the Divine Nature is
to be learned, and that it is our wisdom, having learned it, to obey; that if
we refuse to obey, we cannot break a law of Nature, but we can fling ourselves
against it and bruise ourselves in the flinging. And as we learn to understand
this law, as we learn its application to every phase of human life, we gain
exactly that same power over our own nature that the scientific man gains over
external nature when he has gained a knowledge of its laws. The scientific man
who knows the law is able to use the forces of Nature and to bend them to his
own purposes. As long as he is ignorant, he is helpless and in danger: when he
understands, the law does not bind him, but 1 enables him to do that which he wills to do. That is true
of all laws of Nature. They are not commands, but conditions of fulfilment. Hence, when we know these laws as they affect our
own nature, especially the thought and desire nature, we learn then to utilise those great forces for the building of our own
character; we learn how, with scientific certainty, we can build up virtue and
eradicate vice; and that there is no more chance, no more accident, in these
obscurer regions of our nature, than there is chance or accident in the outer
world where the rule of law is everywhere admitted. Hence in these two great
teachings of reincarnation as method of evolution, and of law as means of
evolution, with those as the foundation of our philosophy, we are able to guide
and shape our lives. We find them answering these great problems to which I
alluded. We find that the knowledge of them puts power into our hands, and
makes us masters of our future. Pass from the realm of thought to the realm of
the emotions. I divided that into two: Morality and Art. Now, as regards
morality, we hardly find, as yet, here in the West that people realise the fact that there is a Science of Morality, as
clear, as definite, and as experimental, as any one of the physical sciences.
You have moral precepts. Your religion gives them to you. But the reason for
the precepts, the facts which underlie the enunciation of certain great moral
laws, these are 1 points which
are not at present understood as they ought to be; so that very often a moral
precept loses its compelling power because it does not immediately recommend
itself to the reason, and no answer is given as to why that precept is
proclaimed. Let me take one as an example: " Do good to those who hate
you". Now, why should you ? That is a question which is very often asked.
One day, I was talking with a man who was not religious, and when I quoted that
precept to him, his retort was: " Why should I ? Why should I do good to a
man who does harm to me ? Shall I not encourage him to do it another
time?" He was not willing to take it as the statement of the great
Teachers of the world. He demanded a reason for obedience. Now the reason is
profoundly simple, although it is not so very often given.
Let me remind you that you are made up of Spirit and matter. In Spirit, which
expresses itself as thought, you get changes of consciousness continually going
on. In the matter which is connected with your consciousness, you get a series
of vibrations, each one of which answers to a change in your consciousness. You
cannot speak of vibrations of consciousness, only changes in it, but each of
these changes is accompanied by a quite definite vibration in matter. Suppose,
then, you have a feeling of anger. That feeling of anger in you will assert
itself in the matter connected with you by violent vibrations. Those vibrations
in you tend to stir 1 up in the
body of any person with whom you meet similar vibrations; and so you have two
sets of similar vibrations increasing each other as they strike against each
other continually. Just as a series of taps given regularly to a pendulum makes
its swing larger and larger, so do these material vibrations in the two people
increase and strengthen the angry emotions in each other. That which stirs up
feeling in the second strikes back against the first, and so you get increasing
anger, until violent passion breaks out and may even lead to crime. Try that —
I said it was an experimental science. Watch your own feeling when you come
across a person in a bad temper, and you will find that though you were quite
good-tempered a moment before, you will become conscious of a feeling of
irritation which will, if unchecked, soon pass into bad temper. It is the
result of the vibrations playing upon you, and the vibrations caused in
yourself, producing the change in consciousness that you know as anger. How is
that to be put an end to when two people meet, so that one angry person may not
provoke another, and bring about a violent quarrel ? By the second person
setting up the opposite emotion, which will be accompanied by a series of
vibrations exactly contrary to the vibrations of anger, and so will tend
gradually to soothe them instead of intensifying them. Just as by two carefully
calculated sounds you can make silence, so you can silence the vibrations of
anger 1 in another by sending
against him a current of good-will.
Now there is the simple scientific explanation of the moral precept. The Great
Teacher said: “Return good for evil". but He was expressing in that a
fundamental law in Nature: that you can only stop an evil by the opposite good,
and not by meeting it with a thing of its own nature, a repetition of itself.
Exactly along the same lines the Lord Buddha said: "Hatred ceaseth not by hatred at any time, hatred ceaseth by Love”; and the same reason underlies it. Send
out the love vibrations against the vibrations of hatred, and the hatred dies
away into peace. When you realise that, you see the meaning
of the law. It is completely rational. It is the right way to meet any wrong
emotion in another. In the case of the man I spoke of, the moment I told him
that as a scientific fact, he accepted it. It appealed to reason, by showing
him the natural facts underlying the moral law. And to know that that is a law,
to know that this influence we have upon each other is an influence we can use
for good or evil; that we can extinguish anger or intensify it, and that on us
lies the responsibility. when we meet those who do not know how to rule their
emotions, of supplying the emotion which will hinder the bad and strengthen the
good; this is one of the valuable facts in the Science of Morality that
everyone should know, first taking 1 the
statement; and then experimenting with it, and finding out that the law works
as laws of Nature always work, invariably and changelessly. And there is
another point of enormous importance with regard to Morality. A virtue is
nothing more than a good emotion rationalised, made
permanent and made universal. Look at that for a moment and see if it is true.
Where you love a person, you will always seek to do him good. You will always
be ready to sacrifice your own pleasure for the helping of that person. You
will be continually on the look-out for opportunities of service to the object
of your love. But supposing that you meet a person whom you do not like, or to
whom you are indifferent, your attitude to that person is quite other. You are
not on the look-out for opportunities of service, you are not willing to deny
yourself for him. You remain indifferent, because love is not there. But how,
if you change the emotion of love into the virtue of benevolence ? if, instead
of making it special to the one you love, you make it universal to all with
whom you come in contact ? if, instead of love being the passing emotion, it
becomes the permanent mode of your mind towards the outer world, then the love
emotion has changed into the virtue of benevolence. It is made universal, it is
made permanent, and you have formed a definite part of your character instead
of being moved by the passing emotion of love. It is because all virtues 1 have their roots in love, rationalised, made permanent and universal, that you have
that true statement in the teaching of the Apostle, that “Love is the
fulfilling of the law". You do without law, by love, all that the law
demands. As you realise that, and feel to every child
as you would feel to your own, are as willing to help anyone in trouble as you
would be to help your brother or sister, then you have made the splendid
transmutation of a personal emotion into a universal virtue, and you realise why love lies at the root of all virtues, and why
its opposite, hate, is the root of all vice, that disintegrates and destroys.
And so you rationalise your emotions, you understand
them, you use them, you try to transmute them into the permanent form of
virtues. And when you understand a little further, that your thought has the
power to create in you the virtues that you admire, then you are fully equipped
for the building of character. By thought you create, building up the character
deliberately, consciously, knowing exactly what you are doing; because, instead
of the mere haphazard goodness which so many show out or aspire after, you have
knowledge underlying your aspirations and know how to create.
In the realm of Art, Theosophy gives the inspiration which is wanted for all
true Art. Now Art, in our modern days, has become far too imitative. It
reproduces natural objects. And you call a man an artist who
reproduces very exquisitely and truly. But that is only the alphabet of Art.
The artist is not the man who reproduces but the man who creates. Has it ever
struck you to ask: What is natural Beauty ? And have you thought that all the
beautiful objects round you are divine thoughts materialised
into objects, and shaped and moulded into those
objects by the work of those tiny artificers whom we sometimes call
Nature-Spirits; the lowest orders of the angelic hosts, who are ever turning
the divine thoughts into objects of beauty ? Now man is higher in intelligence
than these workers in Nature. He ought to see more of the divine thought in all
natural beauty than that lower type of intelligence which fashioned the object;
and the artist is the man who can see more of the divine thought than is
expressed in the material object, and gives out to the world that surplusage of beauty which the moulding
of the object has not succeeded in giving. The great creative artists are those
who are able to come into touch with the Divine Mind, to reproduce more beauty
in form than the more limited intelligences could do; those who see beneath the
veil which only gives part of the Divine Beauty, drawing more of it out and
thus transfiguring the object, making what is called the real into the ideal,
the ideal being far higher and truer than the real, because It is nearer to the
Divine Artist who thought. And so, along all lines of Art, Theosophy, in
bringing a new inspiration, makes the possibility of a greater and a higher
Art. Art always flowers out of spiritual ideals, and it is the dullness of
those ideals in our days that has made Art more a copy than a creation. With
the new thrill of life which is passing through the world, with the more
mystical view which is gradually replacing the more literal, with all of that
which is the Theosophical element in Religion, we may look for the birth of a
new Art, even loftier and greater than the splendid Art of the past. And
lastly, in the realm of the physical world, Theosophy brings a new area under
scientific observation. Science has been observing the physical world, and is
now gradually but quite definitely, leaving the visible world for the
invisible, and groping dimly into the world of ether and of force, neither of
which is visible to the physical eye.
Notice Science today and you
will find it studying Force far more than Matter. And Theosophy brings to
Science new apparatus. Not apparatus outside, where almost the limit of
delicacy has been reached, but apparatus in the unfolding powers of the man
himself, that can now be quickened in their evolution, man having reached a
point where these powers are on the very verge, as it were, of bursting out
from bud into flower. Theosophy can bring to the man of science that finer
apparatus of the inner sight, the keener, subtler sight that belongs to the
higher bodies, in addition to that which belongs to the physical body; so that
the scientist may carry on his observations into worlds which at present are,
invisible and intangible, and by that means make his science a science of all
the worlds, and not only of the physical, working with a sight as sure and
certain in the subtler worlds as he is already able to do in the denser world
of physical matter. For, along the lines of Theosophical science, with the
development of these higher faculties and senses, the worlds on the other side
of death become as cognisable to the higher senses as
the physical world is to the physical senses, no longer a matter of theory or
speculation, or hope, but of observation; for the phenomena of these worlds are
just as susceptible of observation as the phenomena of this. It is only a
question of developing the touch with them. Along that line there open up
innumerable subjects for study, of profound interest to every thoughtful and
educated person — new fields, as it were, for observation, new worlds which
come within our reach. And that Cosmic Consciousness, of which Frederick Myers
rather vaguely spoke, is a reality which is within our reach today.
By a perfect science of the
higher consciousness, man may gradually unfold the faculties and raise the
centre of his consciousness higher and higher. Along these lines Science may make new investigations, new research, and vast
fields open up before it to be conquered, as the physical field is already
conquered by man. So that in each of these four great departments of thought,
Theosophy comes to offer you knowledge, to show you the means of gaining the
knowledge, and to point out to you the much vaster fields which lie before
humanity than those which for the most part are recognised
today. If you will take those points I have put to you: in Religion the
knowledge of God and the study of the truths which are common to all religions;
in Philosophy, the study of reincarnation as the method of evolution, and of
the law of action and reaction in the mental and moral world as well as in the
physical; if, in the field of the emotions, you will study the Science of
Morality along the lines I have suggested, and then seek, in developing the
emotion of Beauty, to understand the real object of all true Art; if, in the
physical world, looking at physical Science, you realise
that what has been done here may be done in worlds of subtler matter by similar
means, by the evolution of a higher consciousness, part of the same
consciousness that you use here; then, when you hear the word Theosophy, you
will realise a little more distinctly, I think, the
kind of knowledge that this is bringing within your reach; you will understand
that it is a knowledge to which, if you would master it, you must give the same time, the same study, the same
efforts, as you would give to the mastery of an ordinary science, and, indeed,
much more, remembering that this science is a synthesis of life, dealing with
every department of human thought and of human achievement. Therefore you must
not expect to do more than just grasp some points in it by listening to a brief
hour's lecture. But here, more than in any other field, the study rewards the
student. Just in proportion to the thought, the energy, the faculty, that you
bring to bear upon it will be the reward that, in its turn, it will give to
you. It is possible that hearing of it even thus briefly, some of you may be
stimulated into study, and that the spoken words may prove the impulse to
individual thought and research; Theosophy is full of the greatest
possibilities of happiness, and gives to each one of us that which to some of
us seems to be the most priceless of gifts: it renders life intelligible, and
it brightens it with an eternal Hope.
Theosophy Defined by William Quan Judge
Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF24 – 1DL
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029 2049 6017
_______________________
Find out more about
Theosophy with these links
Cardiff Theosophical Society meetings
are informal
and there’s always a
cup of tea afterwards
The Cardiff
Theosophical Society Website
The
National Wales Theosophy Website
Dave’s
Streetwise Theosophy Boards
If you
run a Theosophy Group then please
Feel
free to use any material on this Website
Theosophy Cardiff’s Instant Guide to Theosophy
Cardiff
Theosophical Order of Service (TOS)
Within the
British Isles, The Adyar Theosophical Society has
Groups in;
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Bradford*Bristol*Camberley*Cardiff*Chester*Conwy*Coventry*Dundee*Edinburgh
Folkstone*Glasgow*Grimsby*Inverness*Isle
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North
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One Liners & Quick Explanations
The main criteria
for the inclusion of
links on this site is
that they are have some
relationship (however
tenuous) to Theosophy
and are lightweight,
amusing or entertaining.
Topics include
Quantum Theory and Socks,
Dick
Dastardly and Legendary Blues Singers.
No
Aardvarks were harmed in the
Includes
stuff about Marlon Brando, Old cars,
Odeon
Cinema Burnley, Heavy Metal, Wales,
Cups of Tea, Mrs Trellis of North Wales.
Cardiff
Theosophical Order of Service
General pages about Wales, Welsh History
and The History of Theosophy in Wales
Her Teachers Morya & Koot Hoomi
The Most Basic Theosophy Website in the Universe
If you run
a Theosophy Group you can use
this as an
introductory handout
Lentil burgers, a
thousand press ups before breakfast and
the daily 25 mile
run may put it off for a while but death
seems to get most of
us in the end. We are pleased to
present for your
consideration, a definitive work on the
subject by a Student of
Katherine Tingley entitled
For everyone everywhere, not just in Wales
Theosophy and the Number Seven
A selection of articles
relating to the esoteric
significance of the Number
7 in Theosophy
The Spiritual Home of Urban Theosophy
The Earth Base for Evolutionary Theosophy
Quick Explanations with Links to More Detailed Info
What is Theosophy
? Theosophy Defined (More Detail)
Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis Anthropogenesis Root Races
Ascended Masters After Death States
The Seven Principles of Man Karma
Reincarnation Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge
The Start of the Theosophical
Society
History of the Theosophical
Society
Theosophical Society Presidents
History of the Theosophical
Society in Wales
The Three Objectives of the
Theosophical Society
Explanation of the Theosophical
Society Emblem
The Theosophical Order of
Service (TOS)
Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
by
Annie Besant
THE PHYSICAL PLANE THE ASTRAL PLANE
KÂMALOKA THE MENTAL PLANE DEVACHAN
THE BUDDHIC AND NIRVANIC PLANES
THE THREE KINDS OF KARMA COLLECTIVE KARMA
THE LAW OF SACRIFICE MAN'S
ASCENT
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Annie Besant Visits Cardiff 1924
An Outline of Theosophy
Charles Webster Leadbeater
Theosophy - What it is How is it Known?
The Method of Observation General Principles
Advantage Gained from this
Knowledge
The Deity The Divine Scheme The Constitution of Man
The True Man Reincarnation The Wider Outlook
Death Man’s Past and Future Cause and Effect
Reincarnation
This guide has been included in response
to the number of enquiries we receive on
this
subject
at Cardiff Theosophical Society
From A Textbook
of Theosophy By C W Leadbeater
How We Remember our Past Lives
Life after Death & Reincarnation
The Slaughter of the
a
great demand by the public for lectures on Reincarnation
Classic Introductory Theosophy Text
A Text Book of Theosophy By C
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
The Occult World
By
Alfred Percy Sinnett
The
Occult World is an treatise on the
Occult
and Occult Phenomena, presented
in readable style, by an early giant of
the
Theosophical Movement.
Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
First Occult Experiences Teachings of Occult Philosophy
Later Occult Phenomena Appendix
The
Seven Principles of Man
By
Annie
Besant
A Student of Katherine Tingley
Katherine Tingley (1847
-1929)Was the founder & President
of the Point Loma
Theosophical Society 1896 -1929
She and her students produced a series of informative
Theosophical works in the early years of the 20th century
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man?
Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation
Karma The Seven in Man and Nature
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky 1831 – 1891
The Founder of Modern Theosophy
Index of Articles by
By
H P Blavatsky
Is the Desire to Live Selfish?
Ancient Magic in Modern Science
Precepts Compiled by H P Blavatsky
Obras Por H P Blavatsky
En Espanol
Articles about the Life of H P Blavatsky
Writings of Ernest Egerton Wood
Theosophy and the Number Seven
A selection of articles
relating to the esoteric
significance of the Number
7 in Theosophy
Index of Searchable
Full Text Versions of
Definitive
Theosophical Works
H P Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine
Isis Unveiled by H P Blavatsky
H P Blavatsky’s Esoteric Glossary
Mahatma Letters to A P Sinnett 1 - 25
A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom
(Selection of Articles by H P Blavatsky)
The Secret Doctrine – Volume 3
A compilation of H P Blavatsky’s
writings published after her death
Esoteric Christianity or the Lesser Mysteries
The Early Teachings of The Masters
A Collection of Fugitive Fragments
Fundamentals of the Esoteric
Philosophy
Mystical,
Philosophical, Theosophical, Historical
and Scientific Essays Selected from "The
Theosophist"
Edited by George Robert Stow Mead
From Talks on the Path of Occultism - Vol. II
In the Twilight”
Series of Articles
The In the
Twilight” series appeared during
1898 in The Theosophical Review and
from 1909-1913 in The Theosophist.
compiled from information supplied by
her relatives and friends and edited by A P Sinnett
Letters and
Talks on Theosophy and the Theosophical Life
Obras Teosoficas En Espanol
Theosophische Schriften Auf Deutsch
Karma Fundamental Principles Laws: Natural and Man-Made
The Law of Laws
The Eternal Now Succession
Causation
The Laws of Nature A
Lesson of The Law Karma Does Not Crush
Apply This Law
Man in The Three Worlds Understand The Truth
Man and His Surroundings The Three Fates The Pair of Triplets
Thought, The Builder Practical Meditation Will and Desire
The Mastery of Desire Two Other Points The Third Thread
Perfect Justice
Our Environment
Our Kith and Kin Our Nation
The Light for a Good Man Knowledge of Law The Opposing Schools
The More Modern View Self-Examination Out of the Past
Old Friendships
We Grow By Giving Collective Karma Family Karma
National Karma India’s Karma National Disasters
Annotated Edition
Published 1885
Preface to the Annotated Edition Preface to the Original Edition
Esoteric Teachers The Constitution
of Man The Planetary Chain
The World Periods Devachan Kama
Loca
The Human Tide-Wave The Progress of Humanity
Buddha Nirvana The Universe The Doctrine Reviewed
Try these if you are looking
for a
local Theosophy Group or Centre
UK Listing of Theosophical Groups
Worldwide Directory of Theosophical Links
General pages
about Wales, Welsh History
and The History of
Theosophy in Wales
and
has an eastern border with
area
is just over 8,000 square miles.
The coastline is almost 750
miles long. The population
of
Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF24 – 1DL
Events Information Line
029 2049 6017
Hey Look! Theosophy in Cardiff
__________________
Modern Theosophy
Dictionary definitions of “Theosophy” do
not adequately convey its meaning as used in the context of the Theosophical Movement.
Modern Theosophy is generally defined by the writings of Helena Petrovna
Blavatsky, William Quan Judge, Alfred Percy Sinnett and later writers in the
same lineage. Theosophy does not have dogma or specific beliefs but rather
presents ideas for consideration with everything being negotiable.
The orginal
Theosophical Society was established in
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