The Theosophical Society

Theosophy is a term which is many hundreds of years old, essentially meaning Divine Wisdom. It has been studied by Pythagoras, the Neo-Platonists, the Egyptian Priests, the Gnostics, and is encompassed within the Indian Vedas. It is the essence that underlies many of the great religions and philosophies of the world.

The Theosophical Society is an organisation which at its heart seeks to encourage its members and the world today to come to understand and live by the Divine Wisdom, by putting into practice what has always been known, if only by the few. The Society maintains the right of individual freedom of thought for every member, encouraging them, through study, service and reflection, to come to understand this perennial philosophy for themselves. Those who join the Society are not asked to give up the teachings of their own faiths. No doctrine, no opinion, by whomsoever taught or held, is in any way binding on any member of the Society, and no teacher or writer has authority to impose opinions on others. All members are urged to defend and act upon these fundamental principles and also fearlessly to exercise their own right of freedom of thought and of expression within the limits of courtesy and consideration for others.

The Society claims no monopoly on the Wisdom Tradition called Theosophy, for it cannot be limited. Fellows of the Society seek to understand this Wisdom ever more fully. All in sympathy with the objects of the Society are welcomed as members.

History of the Theosophical Society

Organized in New York City in 1875, the Society's principal founders were Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the first Russian woman to be naturalized as an American citizen, and Henry Steel Olcott, a prominent lawyer and journalist who became the first President of the Society.

Madame Blavatsky was born 12th August 1831, and died 8th May 1891; she was a Russian of noble birth, whose mother was a social novelist and whose grandmother was an accomplished amateur scientist. As a young woman, she traveled all over the world in search of wisdom about the source and nature of life and the reason for human existence. Eventually, she brought the spiritual wisdoms of the East, and of ancient Western mysteries, to the modern West, where they were virtually unknown. Her writings became the first exposition of modern Theosophy. For most amongst these are Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine, A Key to Theosophy and The Voice of the Silence

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

Colonel H.S. Olcott

Born 2nd Aug1832 - Died 1907

Colonel Olcott was a veteran of the Civil War, during which he had been a special investigator into corruption in the armed services and after which he was a member of the commission appointed to investigate the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. He was also an internationally renowned agricultural authority. Olcott related the timeless wisdom of Theosophy to the cultures of both East and West, applied it to everyday life, and built the Society into an international organization.

Associated with these two were William Quan Judge, a young New York attorney, and a number of other individuals interested in the philosophy expounded by Madame Blavatsky. The latter included General Abner Doubleday, the legendary founder of baseball, and later the inventor, Thomas Alva Edison.

In 1879, the principal founders, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, moved to India, where the Society spread rapidly. In 1882, they established the Society's international headquarters in Adyar, a suburb of Madras (recently renamed Chennai), where it has since remained. They also visited Sri Lanka, where Olcott was so active in promoting social welfare among oppressed Buddhists that even now he is a national hero of that land. Today the Society has members in almost seventy countries around the world.

The Objects and Philosophy of the Society

The Theosophical Society is nonsectarian, nonpolitical, and non dogmatic. Its three declared objects are:

To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour.
To encourage the comparative study of religion, philosophy, and science.
To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in humanity.

The Theosophical Society is composed of individuals united by their approval of its objects, by their dedication to promoting brotherhood, and by their efforts to foster religious and racial understanding. Their bond of union is a common search and aspiration for truth. They hold that truth should be sought by study, by reflection, by service, and not imposed by authority as a dogma.

Theosophists consider that belief should be the result of individual study, experience, and insight, rather than mere acceptance of traditional ideas, and that it should rest on knowledge, not on assertion. They see each religion as an expression of Divine Wisdom, adapted to the needs of a particular time and place, and they prefer the study of various religions to their condemnation, their practice to proselytism. Peace is their watchword, as truth is their aim.

Theosophy offers a philosophy that sees the whole universe as alive and interrelated. It affirms an intelligent order and system guiding the cyclical evolution of all life. It recognizes a purpose for existence in the goal toward which the entire cosmos is progressing. It puts death in its rightful place as a recurring incident in an endless life, opening the gateway to a fuller and more radiant existence. It holds that our body, emotions, mind, and intuition are all aspects of our inner nature and that right living is the result of balance and harmony within ourselves and with the world around us.

The Theosophical Society maintains the right of individual freedom of thought for every member. Those who join the Society are not asked to give up the teachings of their own faiths. No doctrine, no opinion, by whomsoever taught or held, is in any way binding on any member of the Society, and no teacher or writer has authority to impose opinions on others. All members are urged to defend and act upon these fundamental principles and also fearlessly to exercise their own right of liberty of thought and of expression within the limits of courtesy and consideration for others.

The Theosophical Society also has made two important statements with regard to the freedom of the individual member and of the Society.

Freedom of Thought

"As the Theosophical Society has spread far and wide over the world, and as members of all religions have become members of it without surrendering the special dogmas, teachings and beliefs of their respective faiths, it is thought desirable to emphasis the fact that there is no doctrine, no opinion, by whomsoever taught or held, that is in any way binding on any member of the Society, none which any member is not free to accept or reject. Approval of its three Objects is the sole condition of membership.

No teacher, or writer, from H.P. Blavatsky onwards, has any authority to impose his or her teachings or opinions on members. Every member has an equal right to follow any school of thought, but has no right to force the choice on any other. Neither a candidate for any office nor any voter can be rendered ineligible to stand or to vote, because of any opinion held, or because of membership in any school of thought. Opinions or beliefs neither bestow privileges nor inflict penalties.

The Members of the General Council earnestly request every member of the Theosophical Society to maintain, defend and act upon these fundamental principles of the Society, and also fearlessly to exercise the right of liberty of thought and of expression thereof, within the limits of courtesy and consideration for others."

- Resolution passed by the General Council of The Theosophical Society, 1924

Freedom of The Society

"The Theosophical Society, while cooperating with all other bodies whose aims and activities make such cooperation possible, is and must remain an organisation entirely independent of them, not committed to any objects save its own, and intent on developing its own work on the broadest and most inclusive lines, so as to move towards its own goal as indicated in and by the pursuit of those objects and that Divine Wisdom which in the abstract is implicit in the title, The Theosophical Society.

Since Universal Brotherhood and the Wisdom are undefined and unlimited, and since there is complete freedom for each and every member of the Society in thought and action, the Society seeks ever to maintain its own distinctive and unique character by remaining free of affiliation or identification with any other organisation."

- Resolution passed by the General Council of The Theosophical Society, 1949

A definition

Theosophy is the body of truths which forms the basis of all religions, and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. It restores to the world the Science of the Spirit, teaching one to know the Spirit as one's Self and the mind and body as one's servants. It illuminates the scriptures and doctrines of religions by unveiling their hidden meanings, thus justifying them at the bar of intelligence, as they are ever justified in the eyes of intuition. It puts death in its rightful place, as a recurring incident in an endless life, opening the gateway to a fuller and more radiant existence.

Members of the Theosophical Society study these truths, and Theosophists endeavour to live them. Everyone willing to study, to be tolerant, to aim high, and to work perseveringly, is welcomed as a member, and it rests with the member to become a true Theosophist