Concept

Theosophy

Overview

Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Indian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Although many adherents maintain that Theosophy is not a religion, it is variously categorized by religious scholars as both a new religious movement and a form of occultism from within Western esotericism.

According to Blavatsky's Theosophy there is an ancient and secretive brotherhood of spiritual adepts known as the Masters, who are found around the world but primarily centered in Tibet. These Masters were said by Blavatsky to have cultivated great wisdom and had supernatural powers; Theosophists believe they initiated the modern Theosophical movement through disseminating their teachings via Blavatsky. Theosophists believe that these Masters are attempting to revive knowledge of an ancient religion once found around the world that will again come to eclipse existing world religions. Theosophy holds a monist position that there exists a single divine Absolute, and articulates an emanationist cosmology in which the universe is perceived as outward reflections from this Absolute. The purpose of human life is spiritual emancipation and the human soul undergoes reincarnation upon bodily death according to a process of karma. Universal brotherhood and social improvement are guiding principles, although there is no particular ethical framework.

Theosophy was established in New York City in 1875 with the founding of the Theosophical Society by Blavatsky and Americans Henry Olcott and William Quan Judge. In the early 1880s, Blavatsky and Olcott relocated to India, where they established the Society's headquarters at Adyar, Tamil Nadu. Blavatsky described her ideas in two books, Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine, which became key texts within Theosophy. Following her death in 1891, there was a schism in the Society, with Judge leading the Theosophical Society in America (TSA) to split from the international organization. Under Judge's successor Katherine Tingley a Theosophical community named Lomaland was established in San Diego, California. At its height in 1895, there were 102 American branches with nearly 6,000 members. The Adyar-based Society was later taken over by Annie Besant, under whom it grew to its largest extent during the late 1920s, then went into decline after the Great Depression. TSA has since been reincorporated as a national section of the global Theosophical Society, which has a global membership of roughly 26,606 across 70 countries, including over 3,550 in the United States.

Theosophy played a significant role in bringing knowledge of Eastern religions to the West and encouraging cultural pride in South Asia. Many prominent artists and writers have been influenced by Theosophical teachings. Theosophy has an international following, and during the 20th century had tens of thousands of adherents. Theosophical ideas have also inspired over 100 esoteric movements and philosophies, among them Anthroposophy, the Church Universal and Triumphant, and the New Age.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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Time, then, and the heaven came into being at the same instant in order that, having been created together, if ever there was to be a dissolution of them, they might be dissolved together. It was framed after the pattern of the eternal nature, that it might resemble this as far as was possible; for the pattern exists from eternity, and the created heaven has been, and is, and will be, in all time. Such was the mind…
Plato, Timaeus
States what Theosophy is; the author is tied to Theosophy in the knowledge graph.
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Open whatever book you will; if the authors are theologians, they will say to you that Socrates, Pythagoras, Zoroaster, Kong-Tse or Confucius, as they call him, are pagans,[461] whose damnation is, if not certain, at least very probable; they will treat their theosophy with the most profound contempt: if they are physicists, they will assure you that Thales, Leucippus, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, Empedocles…
Antoine Fabre d'Olivet, The golden verses of Pythagoras
Opens on Theosophy; names Theosophy.
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This abandonment of self‐responsibility seems to be the fundamental act in specifically religious, as distinguished from moral practice. It antedates theologies and is independent of philosophies. Mind‐cure, theosophy, stoicism, ordinary neurological hygiene, insist on it as emphatically as Christianity does, and it is capable of entering into closest marriage with every speculative creed.(173) Christians who have…
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
States what Theosophy is; names Theosophy.
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Theosophy

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