Robert G. Ingersoll
Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899) was an American attorney, Civil War veteran, and orator known widely as "The Great Agnostic." His recognition in popular culture is documented in Wikipedia. He was an advocate for Freethought, abolitionism, women's rights, and agnosticism, and was noted for his political satire and criticism of the Bible.
Theosophical Society connection
Ingersoll was on friendly terms with Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, according to Boris de Zirkoff.[1]
In his collected letters, he is quoted as writing:
I have read a good deal that has been written by Madame Blavatsky, among other things, two large volumes called 'Isis Unveiled'. I have read a great number of essays on the same subjects, and I am perfectly satisfied that what is called Theosophy is simply unadulterated nonsense...." [2]
A footnote adds, "Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, wrote widely on spiritualism and the occult philosophies. Her miraculous pretensions to communion with the other world have since been thoroughly discredited although at her death she left approximately one hundred thousand disciples."[3]
Writings
He wrote some articles for The Theosophist and other periodicals. The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals list 24 articles by or about Colonel Ingersoll. His speeches were collected and published in twelve volumes.
Notes
- ↑ Letter of Boris de Zirkoff to Ingersoll Guild. August 30, 1958. Boris de Zirkoff Papers. Records Series 22. Theosophical Society in America Archives.
- ↑ Eva Ingersoll Wakefield, editor, The Letters of Robert G. Ingersoll (1951), 277. Letter to D. M. Adams of Los Angeles.
- ↑ Eva Ingersoll Wakefield, editor, The Letters of Robert G. Ingersoll (1951), 277. Letter to D. M. Adams of Los Angeles.