Theosophy

For the Theosophical journal see Theosophy (periodical)

Theosophy derives from the Greek term θεοσοφία (theosophia), from θεός (theos), "god", "gods" or "divine", and σοφία (sophia), wisdom; variously translated as divine wisdom, the wisdom of God or the gods, or wisdom in things divine. The term is first found in writings of Porphyry (AD 234–c. 305), a well-known Alexandrian philosopher who belonged to the Neo-Platonic school. In the course of time, several people and movements spiritually inclined also adopted the denomination of "theosophers" or "theosophists" for themselves. That was the case of Meister Eckhart in the 14th century, a group of Renaissance philosophers such as Paracelsus in the 16th century, Robert Fludd, Thomas Vaughan, and Jacob Boehme in the 17th; and Emanuel Swedenborg and Karl von Eckartshausen in the 18 th century, among others. Finally, the theosophical movement reappeared in the 19th century with the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875 by H. P. Blavatsky, H. S. Olcott, W. Q. Judge, and others.

H. P. Blavatsky, states that "theosophia properly means not a knowledge of "God" but of gods, i.e., divine, that is superhuman knowledge". In The Theosophical Glossary, she describes the term further as follows:

Theosophia (Gr.). Wisdom-religion, or "Divine Wisdom". The substratum and basis of all the world-religions and philosophies, taught and practised by a few elect ever since man became a thinking being. In its practical bearing, Theosophy is purely divine ethics; the definitions in dictionaries are pure nonsense, based on religious prejudice and ignorance of the true spirit of the early Rosicrucians and mediæval philosophers who called themselves Theosophists.

Neo-Platonic theosophy

The origin of the term theosophia is unknown, but it is likely to have been coined by the Neo-Platonic (a philosophical school founded by Ammonius Saccas, who was born ca. 175). Based on the writings of the famous Platonist Prof. Alexander Wilder, H. P. Blavatsky suggests that the term was commonly used by all Neo-Platonists. However, researches made in the late 1980s by scholars James Santucci and Dr. Jean-Louis Siémons showed that it is only with the third-generation Neo-Platonist Porphyry (234–305) that we find the term in writing for the first time. In Porphyry’s view, the divine wisdom is a state of illumination that can be attained by self-exertion. The theosophos (Gr. θεόσοφος) tries "by himself, to elevate himself, alone to alone, to a communion with the divine." With Iamblichus (250–325), the pure mystical meaning given to the term by Porphyry acquires a more occult or magical significance. He proposed that the theosophia can be attained through theurgy (Gr. θεουργία), a series of religious rituals and magic operations aimed at elevating consciousness. Proclus (412–485) uses the term in yet another way to denominate specific spiritual doctrines, making reference to a local 'Hellenic theosophy', but also to a foreign or barbarian (that is, non-Greek) theosophy, referring to Chaldean doctrines.

Christian theosophy

Many early Christians, including a number of Church Fathers, were students of Neo-Platonic teachers. They also adopted the term theosophia, but used it in a more Christian sense to mean "the Wisdom of God". Clement of Alexandria (150–215) talks about a theosophos as one who writes "driven by divine inspiration," and thus in time this term came to be used to refer to the prophets of old. An important difference between the Neo-Platonic and Christian concepts of theosophia, is that in the former view no one is a born theosophos—he becomes such by long exertion, application to philosophy, self-purification and contemplation of the divine. In the Christian view the divine wisdom is bestowed by God—as He chooses—upon the prophet, in the form of a revelation. After the Neo-Platonists disappeared in the 6th century, the term theosophia continued to be used in Christianity during the Middle Ages, but frequently in a lower sense as a synonym of theologia. In the 9th century, after the re-discovery of the works of Pseudo-Dionysius (a Christian Neo-Platonist that lived ca. 500) the term regained a lofty meaning among great mystics such as Meister Eckhart, J. Tauler, John of Ruysbroeck, and others. It was through their writings that 17th to 19th century European mystics such as Boehme, Saint-Martin, Swedenborg, and others, inherited the term theosophy and adopted it as their own. With these “theosophers” (as they came to be known) the term became popular, being on the title of a number of books during the 1700s. There continued to be publications on Christian theosophy until the middle of the 19th century.

Modern Theosophy

At the opening of the last quarter of the 19th century a committee formed by H. P. Blavatsky, H. S. Olcott, W. Q. Judge, and others, founded what they called the Theosophical Society. According to Col. Olcott, the choice of the name of the newly formed Society was subject of discussion in the committee, and several options were suggested, such as the Egyptological, the Hermetic, the Rosicrucian, etc. However, none of them seemed the right one. 'At last,' he recalls 'in turning over the leaves of the Dictionary, one of us came across the word "Theosophy," whereupon, after discussion, we unanimously agreed that that was the best of all.' Olcott explained this name was appropriate because it expressed 'the esoteric truth we wished to reach' and covered the ground of 'methods of occult scientific research.' It does not seem likely that the name for the Society was chosen merely out of a dictionary search, since Madame Blavatsky had already connected her knowledge with the term theosophy a few months before, in a letter to Hiram Corson:

My belief is based on something older than the Rochester knockings [that began the Spiritualistic movement in 1848], and springs out from the same source of information that was used by Raymond Lully, Picus della Mirandola, Cornelius Agrippa, Robert Fludd, Henry More, et cetera, etc., all of whom have ever been searching for a system that should disclose to them the "deepest depths" of the Divine nature, and show them the real tie which binds all things together. I found at last, and many years ago, the cravings of my mind satisfied by this theosophy taught by the Angels and communicated by them that the protoplast might know it for the aid of the human destiny.

Uses of the term by H. P. Blavatsky

In her article "The Beacon of the Unknown" Mme. Blavatsky says there are two Theosophies: that of the true Theosophist and that of the regular fellow of the Theosophical Society. The first is the "true Theosophy, inner Theosophy, that of the soul" and it is connected with the use and development of the spiritual intuition. Here, the term Theosophy is used in its literal sense, as a state of divine wisdom that transcends the intellectual faculties.

The second meaning of the term was defined by H. P. Blavatsky as follows: "Theosophy, as already said, is the WISDOM-RELIGION". In this aspect, theosophy represents a body of teachings which is claimed to form the basis of every religious truth.

A third and more specific meaning was also assigned to the term by Mme. Blavatsky, to refer to the teachings that were given at the time through the Theosophical Society. The phrase "Modern Theosophy" is frequently used in this connection.

Living Theosophy

According to one of the Masters of Wisdom, Theosophy should not be seen a mere intellectual philosophy, but should express itself as a way of living based on love and the search for truth:

Theosophy can only find objective expression in an all-embracing code of life, thoroughly impregnated with the spirit of mutual tolerance, charity, and brotherly love. Its Society, as a body, has a task before it which, unless performed with the utmost discretion, will cause the world of the indifferent and the selfish to rise up in arms against it. Theosophy has to fight intolerance, prejudice, ignorance and selfishness, hidden under the mantle of hypocrisy. It has to throw all the light it can from the torch of Truth, with which its servants are entrusted. It must do this without fear or hesitation, dreading neither reproof nor condemnation. Theosophy, through its mouthpiece, the Society, has to tell the TRUTH to the very face of LIE; to beard the tiger in its den, without thought or fear of evil consequences, and to set at defiance calumny and threats. As an Association, it has not only the right, but the duty to uncloak vice and do its best to redress wrongs, whether through the voice of its chosen lecturers or the printed word of its journals and publications—making its accusations, however, as impersonal as possible. But its Fellows, or Members, have individually no such right. Its followers have, first of all, to set the example of a firmly outlined and as firmly applied morality, before they obtain the right to point out, even in a spirit of kindness, the absence of a like ethic unity and singleness of purpose in other associations or individuals. No Theosophist should blame a brother, whether within or outside of the association; neither may he throw a slur upon another’s actions or denounce him, lest he himself lose the right to be considered as a Theosophist. For, as such, he has to turn away his gaze from the imperfections of his neighbour, and centre rather his attention upon his own shortcomings, in order to correct them and become wiser. Let him not show the disparity between claim and action in another, but, whether in the case of a brother, a neighbour, or simply a fellow man, let him rather ever help one weaker than himself on the arduous walk of life.

According to Annie Besant

Dr. Annie Besant talks about a primary and a secondary meaning for the word Theosophy. In her view the primary meaning has to do with the development of the ability to gain a "direct" personal knowledge of the divine. This aspect is present in the mysticism and esotericism of different religions:

Theosophy is this direct knowledge of God; the search after this is the Mysticism, or Esotericism, common to all religions, thrown by Theosophy into a scientific form, as in Hinduism, Buddhism, Roman Catholic Christianity, and Sufism. Like these, it teaches in a quite clear and definite way the methods of reaching firsthand knowledge by unfolding the spiritual consciousness, and by evolving the organs through which that consciousness can function on our earth –once more, the methods of meditation and of a discipline of life.

The secondary meaning lies at the level of the basic philosophical and moral teachings shared by different religions:

Theosophy, in a secondary sense–-the above being the primary-–is the body of doctrine, obtained by separating the beliefs common to all religions from the peculiarities, specialities, rites, ceremonies and customs which mark off one religion from another; it presents these common truths as a consensus of world-beliefs, forming, in their entirety, the Wisdom-religion, or the Universal Religion, the source from which all separate religions spring, the trunk of the Tree of Life from which they all branch forth.

Definition by Fritz Kunz

American Theosophist Fritz Kunz gave another perspective on the term in his entry "Theosophy" written for Runes' Dictionary of Philosophy:

Theosophy: (Gr., lit. "divine wisdom") is a term introduced in the third century by Ammonius Saccas, the master of Plotinus, to identify a recurring tendency prompted often by renewed impulses from the Orient, but implicit in mystery schools as that of Eleusis, among the Essenes and elsewhere. Theosophy differs from speculative philosophy in allowing validity to some classes of mystical experience as regard soul and spirit, and in recognising clairvoyance and telepathy and kindred forms of perception as linking the worlds of psyche and body. Its content describes a transcendental field as the only real (approximating to Brahman, Nous, and Pleroma) from which emerge material universes in series, with properties revealing that supreme Being. Two polarities appear as the first manifesting stage, consciousness or spirit (Brahma, Chaos, Holy Ghost), and matter or energy (Siva, Logos, Father). Simultaneously, life appears clothed in matter and spirit, as form or species (Vishnu, Cosmos, Son). In a sense, life is the direct reflection of the transcendent supreme, hence biological thinking has a privileged place in Theosophy. Thus, cycles of life are perceived in body, psyche, soul and spirit. The lesser of these is reincarnation of impersonal soul in many personalities. A larger epoch is "the cycle of necessity", when spirit evolves over vast periods. -- F.K.

Online resources

Articles and pamphlets

• Theosophy at Theosopedia
• Is Theosophy a Religion? by John Algeo
• Theosophy's Most Holy and Important Mission by John Algeo
• Entering the Garden of Theosophy by Mary Anderson
• Theosophy and Truth by George S. Arundale
• Theosophia. Inner Wisdom edited by C. A. Bartzokas
• Is Theosophy Anti-Christian? by Annie Besant
• The Nature of Theosophical Proofs by Annie Besant
• A Rough Outline of Theosophy by Annie Besant
• A Sketch of Theosophy by Annie Besant
• Theosophy by Annie Besant
• Theosophy and Its Evidences by Annie Besant
• Theosophy, Its Meaning and Value by Annie Besant
• The Work of Theosophy in the World by Annie Besant
• Is Theosophy A Religion? by H. P. Blavatsky
• On Pseudo-Theosophy by H. P. Blavatsky
• What is Theosophy? by H. P. Blavatsky
• The Nature and Aim of Theosophy by J. D. Buck
• Dogmatism in Theosophy by William Q. Judge
• Mechanical Theosophy by William Q. Judge
• Practical Theosophy by William Q. Judge
• Theosophy Generally Stated by William Q. Judge
• Theosophy and Orthodoxy by Pedro Oliveira
• What is Theosophy? by Pablo Sender

Books

• Theosophy by Annie Besant
• Theosophy and the Theosophical Society by Annie Besant

Audio

• Theosophy of the Invisible and the Intangible by Rohit Mehta
• Theosophy and the Quest for Meaning by Joy Mills
• Theosophy: Search for the Holy Grail by Joy Mills
• Theosophy: Who Can Say What It Is? by Joy Mills

Video

• Theosophy and the World Religions by Robert Ellwood
• Theosophy: Tradition, Revelation, Innovation by Joy Mills

Social Media

• Theosophy Watch Facebook page
• Theosophy Revealed Facebook page
• The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature Facebook page

Additional resources

• Bibliography on Introductions to Theosophy from the Henry S. Olcott Memorial Library.