Theosophy

Remembering the word of Masters: 'He who does what he can and all that he can, and all that he knows how to do, does enough for us.' This task includes that of divesting yourself of all personality through interior effort, because that work, if done in the right spirit, is even more important to the race than any outward work we can do.

W.Q. Judge, from letter 14 in Letters That Have Helped Me
 
Theosophy unfolds to us two natures, spiritual and material, the one immortal and the other governed by the alternating law of life and death. That stuff that we discard, and that they burn or bury (brain and all), when we have "shuffled off this mortal coil," has been subjected to the alchemy of use and we have changed its nature -- possibly not much, but we have changed it for the better or the worse. Who then are we?

It dawns after a while; and all the words in all the bibles and the dictionaries ever written lack ability to tell the wonder of it when it wakes into the consciousness. That knowledge comes to us in silence, though the world may yell with passion, and there rises in us from within a dignity beyond all measure -- hope that is whole and deathless -- an illimitable patience -- and, like gentle rain on dry earth, the assurance of our own essential divinity.

Talbot Mundy
 
A stalwart in the Adyar TS and true theosophist; Joy Mills has peacefully made her transition this morning, Tuesday, December 29, 2015, at 10:35 AM PST, in her 96th year. She passed as she wished, in her own bed at home in Krotona, Ojai, California.

There will be a memorial celebration for Joy at Krotona at 3 PM January 24.

Joy requested that any donations in her memory be sent to Krotona School of Theosophy.
 
Kabalah is no special volume, nor is it even a system. It consists of seven different systems applied to seven different interpretations of any given Esoteric work or subject. These systems were always transmitted orally by one generation of Initiates to another, under the pledge of the Sodalian oath, and they have never been recorded in writing by any one. . . .

It is not allied to “tradition” but to the seven veils or the seven truths orally revealed at Initiation. . . . Thus, if Kabalah as a word is Hebrew, the system itself is no more Jewish than is sunlight; it is universal.

— H. P. Blavatsky: Collected Writings 7:268
 
Mr Judge's answer points out that one encompassing definition of Theosophy for all times and persons is not possible, or desirable.

The fundamental question, “What is the criterion of Theosophy?” calls for an answer. Has Theosophy the power of growth, progress, and advancement in line with all new expositions of truth? In the minds of many the writings of H.P.B. are regarded as the infallible oracles of Theosophy. But in time criticism is sure to do its work. Consequently it is necessary soon to give out a definition of it much broader, simpler, and more unequivocal than any heretofore offered.

W.Q. Judge — This is in fact a request to formulate and promulgate a dogmatic statement of Theosophy as we understand it. That is, to go completely back on the genius of the Theosophical movement, which is for the destruction of dogmatism. The strength of Theosophy lies in the fact that it is not to be defined. It is the wisdom of the gods, or of nature. This means that evolution, slowly progressing, will bring out new truths and new aspects of old truths, thus absolutely preventing any dogmas or “unequivocal definitions.” Were we to make and declare a definition of Theosophy it would be only the words of those who participated in drawing it up, and not acceptable to all. And were it possible that all would accept, then would be sounded the doom of the movement. Hence the reply to the question, “What is the criterion of Theosophy?” is that it is found in each man’s perception of the Truth: therefore there is no single criterion.

If any persons regard H.P.B.’s writings as the infallible oracles of Theosophy, they go directly against her own words and the works themselves; they must be people who do not indulge in original thinking and cannot make much impression on the times.

As for the Theosophical Society, the moment it makes a hard and fast definition of Theosophy it will mark the first hour of its decay.

Inasmuch as Theosophy is the whole body of truth about man and nature, either known now or hereafter to be discovered, it has the “power of growth, progress and advancement,” since every new truth makes it clearer. But among the truths will not be reckoned at any time the definitions, dogmas, creeds or beliefs laid down by man.

From Echoes of the Orient vol. II:379-80
 
One who has reached to the full comprehension of the name and nature of a theosophist will sit in judgment on no man or action.

Letter from a Master, see HPB's CW VIII:146ff or Letters From The Masters Second series, letter 82.
 
As the white ray of light is decomposed by the prism into the various
colors of the solar spectrum, so the beam of divine truth, in passing through the
three-sided prism of man's nature, has been broken up into vari-colored fragments
called RELIGIONS. And, as the rays of the spectrum, by imperceptible shadings,
merge into each other, so the great theologies that have appeared at different
degrees of divergence from the original source, have been connected by minor
schisms, schools, and off-shoots from the one side or the other. Combined, their
aggregate represents one eternal truth; separate, they are but shades of human error
and the signs of imperfection.

Isis Unveiled II:639
 
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