H.P.

Blavatsky and Theosophy: An Introduction

"Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, popularly called either Madame Blavatsky or simply HPB, stands out as the
fountainhead of modern occult thought...." J. Gordon Melton, New Age Encyclopedia, 1990.

"Helena Petrovna Blavatsky...is surely among the most original and perceptive minds of her time....[In her
two major books]....lies...the first philosophy of psychic and spiritual evolution to appear in the modern
West...." Theodore Roszak. The Unfinished Animal. 1975.

"Blavatsky's esoteric synthesis has served as a basic source for later esotericists, literati, scientists, and entire
movements, including the New Age. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she is as visible today as any
modern trendsetting guru, and she will most likely remain the most memorable and innovative esotericist of
the 19th century." James A. Santucci in Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, 2005.

The most basic fact of our existence is our awareness of self. We know we are alive but we see that people
around us shift and change. Some are born; others die. But does death annihilate our consciousness, as well as
destroy the body? Is there some kind of life after death? Why were we born in the first place? And having been
born, why do we live? Many are asking, "What's it all about?"

Yet in our modern world, reliable answers to such important questions are hard to discover. Many of us
cannot find really satisfying answers from materialistic science, academic philosophy, or orthodox religion
(Christian or otherwise). There is also a great proliferation of occult, metaphysical, Eastern and New Age
groups offering their own "answers" to these perplexing questions. For the seeker with a genuine hunger for
truth, the task of choosing among these conflicting authorities and contradictory answers can be difficult and
confusing.

"But surely somewhere," our minds cry out, "there must be available satisfying answers to these questions.
Surely somewhere there must be preserved a true universal knowledge concerning humanity and the world in
which we live. Surely somewhere there is such a source of wisdom."

During the late 19th century, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) pointed to that Source of Wisdom.
She called it the Ancient Wisdom and gave to it the Greek name of Theosophia or Theosophy ("Divine
Wisdom" or "the wisdom of the gods"). H.P. Blavatsky stated that there is an ancient school of Adepts or
Masters who know directly, inwardly and truly this Divine Wisdom. Madame Blavatsky said that she was
taught Theosophy by some of these Adepts.

Madame Blavatsky was the chief founder of the modern Theosophical Movement which was established to
form the nucleus of a worldwide association of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or
color. She is also the author of The Secret Doctrine, the great sourcebook on Theosophy. This work in two
large volumes shows the universality and the great age of the Theosophical system of thought. H.P.B.
promoted a greater Western acquaintance with Eastern religions and philosophies and brought the teachings
of reincarnation and karma into common knowledge in the Western world.

A forceful and gifted individual, H.P. Blavatsky wrote in a forthright and powerful style challenging the
confusion and absurdities of religious orthodoxy, exposing some of the fallacies of materialistic science, and
assailing some of the claims of 19th century Spiritualism. She presented ideas and teachings which seemed
like pretentious nonsense to her orthodox contemporaries. Furthermore, H.P.B. demonstrated psychic powers
of a startling character, and said she was in contact with certain highly evolved Masters.

It was inevitable that H.P.B. should make enemies on every hand who published slanderous untruths as to her
dishonesty, the fraudulence of her psychic phenomena, the non-existence of her Masters, and the
worthlessness of Theosophy. But how much of truth is there in these accusations? Careful, detailed research
into the primary source documents clearly shows that the attacks on H.P.B. lack a solid basis.

And though it is still fashionable in some circles to write disparagingly about Madame Blavatsky, the fact is
that many of the things she said, that were incomprehensible to 19th century scholarship and science, have
been confirmed by scholars and scientists in the last 100 years. Recent developments and advances in
parapsychology and transpersonal psychology make it clear that the psychic and spiritual faculties H.P.
Blavatsky wrote about and that she herself manifested are actual powers and abilities of the human psyche and
spirit.

In order to present the Theosophical or Occult Philosophy to the world, Madame Blavatsky wrote Isis
Unveiled (1877), The Secret Doctrine (1888), The Key to Theosophy (1889), The Voice of the Silence
(1889) and other works.

What did H.P. Blavatsky teach? She outlined the fundamental principles of Theosophy which deal with (1)
the unity of LIFE, (2) the law of cycles, and (3) the progressive unfoldment of consciousness in all kingdoms
of nature (both visible and invisible). H.P.B. taught the origin and development of the universe and the origin
and evolution of humanity. She described the birth, growth and death of planets and solar systems, and set
forth humanity's evolution and history on this planet. H.P.B. outlined the tree and its branches: the original
Esoteric Teaching or Primordial Tradition and some of its branches extant in the various world religions,
ancient mythologies, and metaphysical philosophies.

She gave out the truth in detail about the complex sevenfold nature (spiritual and psychological) of a human
being and about life after death. She taught the twin doctrine of karma and reincarnation. Madame Blavatsky
also set forth a clear and comprehensive rationale for psychic and spiritualistic, mystical and spiritual
phenomena and experiences. Madame Blavatsky taught that self- responsibility, ethics and altruism (service to
others) are essential to true spiritual unfoldment. She pointed towards humanity's future destiny and
evolution and showed the Path which each of us must travel in order to awaken our latent spiritual powers
and abilities and to realize our essential identity with the UNIVERSAL SELF.

What of the influence of Madame Blavatsky and her teachings? During her lifetime, H.P.B.'s brilliant
conversations, profound knowledge of occult subjects, and reputation for psychic powers drew worldwide
attention to her work. Since her death in 1891, her teachings have influenced the thinking of inquiring minds
throughout the world. The writings of H.P. Blavatsky and her Masters furnish suggestions, clues and
guidance for the study of Nature and Humanity, such as few other existing sources can supply.
 A Brief Overview of Theosophy [1]
by James A. Santucci
[James A. Santucci is professor of religious studies and linguistics at
California State University, Fullerton and editor of Theosophical History.]

Theosophy or "Divine Wisdom" according to Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-91) and her followers, refers
to the Ultimate Truth of the Supreme, the Cosmos, and Humanity. It is a Truth that in its pure form is
primordial, in that it existed from the dawn of Humanity; esoteric, since only those few individuals capable of
understanding such knowledge are allowed to receive it; and universal, because all great minds throughout the
world enunciated the same Wisdom. Though esoteric, at least a portion of the Wisdom was "known in every
ancient country having claim to civilization." [2]

Furthermore, it was Blavatsky’s contention that the Wisdom could be partially recoverable from a
"comparative study and analysis" [3] of selected philosophers (Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus,
Patañjali, and Shankara) or schools of philosophies (the Greek Mystery Schools, Neo-Platonism, Vedanta,
Taoism, Cabalism), and the sacred writings of the great historical religions (Christianity, Hinduism,
Buddhism).

A study of these philosophers, schools, and religions by Blavatsky, under the guidance of two Masters of this
Ancient Wisdom [4] —one usually identified by the initials K. H. (Koot Hoomi), the other by the initial M.
(Morya)—led to the writing of her two great works, Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine, works that partially
revealed the Ancient Wisdom in a modern form. [5]

The "Truth" that has been revealed in The Secret Doctrine [SD], the principal source of modern theosophical
doctrine, [6] and works based on its contents may be summarized in the following statements:

(1) a single, Supreme, Eternal, Immutable, Unknown and Unknowable, Infinite Principle or Reality [SD
1:14];

(2) the fundamental unity of all existence: no thing is apart from the Infinite Reality [7] ;

(3) the eternal, manifested Universe and everything within it is subject to the "law of periodicity, of flux and
reflux, ebb and flow": such is the doctrine of cycles [SD 1:17];

(4) the evolution of nature—material and spiritual [8] —reflects progressive development and not merely
repetitive action [SD 1:43, 277-78; 11:6531;

(5) the evolution of the individual is not limited to one life but continues through innumerable lives made
possible by the process of reincarnation, the entrance of Self—the trinity of Spirit, Soul, and Mind —into
another (human) body [9] ;
(6) this evolution is brought about by the Law of Cause and Effect— Karma —a teaching that assigns full and
individual responsibility to the individual who performs the action as well as providing the impetus to future
births or incarnations [10] ;

(7) the structural framework of the universe, humanity included, is by nature septenary in composition [SD
II:605-41] [11] ;

(8) the cyclic, evolving universe is hierarchical in constitution, each component—for instance, our Solar
System, Planetary Round, Globe Round—repeating the same divisions of time as the Universal Solar System
but on different scales [SD II:68f., 434f.];

(9) with regard to Humanity evolution on the Earth is taking place in seven major groups called Root Races,
each of which is divided into seven sub-races. At the present time, we humans belong to the fifth sub-race (the
Anglo-Saxon) of the fifth Root Race (Aryan) [SD 1:610; II:lf., 86f., 300f., 434f., 688f.];

(10) the individual is in actuality the microcosm, a "miniature copy of the macrocosm" [SD 1:274], or to put
it in terms of the Hermetic Axiom:

As in the Inner, so is the Outer; as is the Great, so is the Small; as it is above, so it is below;
there is but ONE LIFE AND LAW; and he that worketh it is ONE.
Nothing is Inner, nothing is Outer;
nothing is GREAT, nothing is Small;
nothing is High, nothing is Low, in the Divine economy [12] ;

(11) the universe is guided and animated by a cosmic Hierarchy of sentient beings, each having a specific
mission [SD 1:274-77].

Endnotes

[1] This article has been excerpted from "The Aquarian Foundation" by James A Santucci.

[2] H.P. Blavatsky, "What is Theosophy?," in Boris De Zirkoff, H. P. Blavatsky: Collected Writings, Volume II (Wheaton, IL: The
Theosophical Publishing House, 1967), 89.

[3] James A. Santucci, Theosophy and the Theosophical Society (London: Theosophical History Centre, 1985), 1.

[4] Men who are highly evolved morally, intellectually and spiritually and who belong to a Brotherhood (the Great White Lodge, as it
is sometimes called) preserving the Wisdom of the Ages and guiding the evolution of humanity. See H.P. Blavatsky, "The
Theosophical Mahatmas," Theosophical Articles by H.P. Blavatsky, Volume 1 (Los Angeles: The Theosophy Co., 1981), 302, 301-7;
and Bruce F. Campbell, Ancient Wisdom Revived: A History of the Theosophical Movement (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1980), 53f.

The connection of Theosophy with the Masters is stated in clear terms by Annie Besant in her address to The Theosophical Congress
held at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, aptly titled "Theosophy is a System of Truths Discoverable and Verifiable by Perfected
Men":
These truths [are] preserved in their purity by the great brotherhood, given out from time to time as the evolution of man permits the
giving; so that we are able to trace in all the religions the source whence they flow, the identical teaching which underlies them. [The
Theosophical Congress Held by the Theosophical Society at the Parliament of Religions, World’s Fair of 1893, at Chicago, IL, September 15,
16, 17: Report on Proceedings and Documents, (NY: American Section headquarters, 1893), 24.]

[5] Charles D. Ryan, What is Theosophy? (San Diego: Point Loma Publications, Inc., 1975): 3. The following quote from The Secret
Doctrine is pertinent:

The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages, and its cosmogony alone is the most stupendous and elaborate system...
It is useless to say that the system in question [of ancient cosmogony] is no fancy of one or several isolated individuals. That it is the
uninterrupted record covering thousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences were made to test and to verify the
traditions passed orally by one early race to another, of the teachings of higher and exalted beings [Masters], who watched over the
childhood of Humanity... No vision of one adept was accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the visions— so obtained as to
stand as independent evidence — of other adepts, and by centuries of experiences. [1:272-3 of the edition cited in note 6.]

[6] H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, 2 volumes in 1 (Los Angeles: The Theosophy Company 1974). This is a facsimile of the
original 1888 edition.

[7] Commander Robert Bowen, "The Secret Doctrine and its Study," in Foundations of Esoteric Philosophy by Ianthe H. Hoskins
(London: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1980), 17, 64.

[8] William Q. Judge, The Ocean of Theosophy (Los Angeles: The Theosophy Company 1915), 61 [reprint of the original 1893
edition].

[9] Ibid., 60f.

[10] Ibid., 89f., 90: ". . . Karma produces the manifestation of it [the cause] in the body brain, and mind furnished by reincarnation."
For a general overview of Karma and reincarnation as it is taught in Blavatsky’s writings, see Ronald Neufeldt, "In Search of Utopia:
Karma and Rebirth in the Theosophical Movement" in Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments, Ronald W Neufeldt, ed.
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986), 233-55.

[11] In Isis Unveiled 1:508, Blavatsky observes that "Everything in this world is a trinity completed by the quaternary, and every
element is divisible on this same principle." The edition employed is published by The Theosophy Company (Los Angeles, 1982), a
photographic facsimile reproduction of the original 1877 edition.

[12] Bowen, "The Secret Doctrine and its Study," 18, 65-66.
 Basic Ideas of Theosophy
Geoffrey A. Farthing
The field of Esoteric Science [Theosophy] is as vast as life itself, for it embraces the whole of Nature, visible
and invisible. Nevertheless, the more one advances in its study, the more one recognizes that this limitless
scheme of things, though having "neither conceivable beginning nor imaginable end," is an orderly,
integrated whole, in which every part is intimately related to every other part. It may be compared to a wheel
in which the hub, spokes, and rim, although distinctive in form and function, are inseparable parts of one
whole. It follows that the student may begin his exploration from any point he chooses; sooner or later, he
will reach every corner of the field.

In this book, the order in which the various aspects of the subject are approached is determined by the three
principles which are characteristic of the whole system. These are: the principle of unity, the principle of law,
and the principle of evolution. The contents of the chapters in which the subjects are studied in greater detail
are briefly summarized in the numbered sections below.

1. The unity of all things

All existence is one thing. This one thing is variously called the One Life, the One Reality; it is the source of
Being, and of all beings; it is in everything—in fact, it is everything, for there is nothing else.

¼ the root of all nature, objective and subjective, and everything else in the universe, visible and
invisible, is, was, and ever will be one absolute essence, from which all starts, and into which
everything returns. (1)

In all subsequent study, this fundamental fact must never be lost from sight; all forms that come into being,
from atoms to men, are animated by the same Life; the forms disintegrate, the Life remains. We human
beings are one with it; our life is that Life.

Explaining how Theosophy views "God, Soul, and Man," Mme Blavatsky states:

In their origin and in eternity the three, (2) like the universe and all therein, are one with the absolute
Unity, the unknowable deific essence ¼ (3)

[See what H.P. Blavatsky writes about the first fundamental proposition in The Secret Doctrine.]

Although for purposes of study we divide the field of Esoteric Science into various aspects, it must constantly
be reaffirmed that the aspects are facets of a unity. The moment one lets this idea slip from the mind, "(and it
is most easy to do so when engaged in any of the many intricate aspects of the Esoteric Philosophy) the idea of
separation supervenes, and the study loses its value." (4)
2. Origins

The universe and all that is in it are subject to a timeless process described as "Days and Nights," alternating
periods of activity and rest. According to the occult teaching, there is no creation, in the sense of something
being made out of nothing. There is indeed nothing new under the sun.

We believe in no creation, but in the periodical and consecutive appearances of the universe from the
subjective on to the objective plane of being, at regular intervals of time, covering periods of immense
duration. (5)

There is therefore nothing that can properly be called a beginning, for what is commonly called creation is
only the periodical re-emergence of things—forms or entities—which already existed. With the coming of
night, everything seems to disappear, merged into a uniform darkness; as the sun rises, all things once more
reappear—temporarily, just as their disappearance had been temporary. The time-scale may vary from the few
hours of life of an insect or the three-score years and ten of the life of man, to the almost incalculable duration
of a sun or a universe. Nevertheless, whether the periods be long or short, the alternation remains, a
manifestation of the universal law of periodicity.

[For more information, see Geoffrey Farthing's Origins: Part I and Origins: Part II.]

3. The sevenfold nature of Cosmos and man

One of the esoteric keys to the understanding of life is analogy, as given in the Hermetic axiom, "As above, so
below." The universe is the macrocosm, the great ordered whole, and man is its miniature reflection, the
microcosm. Our experience of ourselves shows us that, as human beings, we function in a variety of ways, in
physical action and in such modes of consciousness as thinking, feeling, and dreaming. Esoteric Science
teaches that these modes of consciousness occur at different levels, from the sensory or objective to the deeply
inner or subjective. Furthermore, these levels themselves are a reflection, in the individual, of universal planes
of being: just as individual physical action takes place on the physical plane, using the material of that plane,
so mental activity—thought—takes place on the mental plane, using the material of that plane. There are,
according to Esoteric Science, seven such planes in Nature, and similarly there are seven states of
consciousness in man, in which he "can live, think, remember, and have his being." (6)

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's The Occult Constitution of Man and Cosmos: Part I and The
Occult Constitution of Man and Cosmos: Part II. See also Mr. Farthing's diagram on The Seven Principles
of Man.]

4. The Hierarchies of Beings

The Scriptures and religious traditions of all cultures make frequent reference to non-human entities,
variously termed Angels, Devas, Gods, Spirits of one kind or another. In mythology these beings appear as
nature-spirits, fairies, sylphs, salamanders, to name but a few. Esoteric Science supports universal tradition in
affirming that the different planes of Nature are peopled by hierarchies of beings, each with characteristic
properties and modes of functioning. In the Bible there are well-known instances of angelic appearances,
singly as "the angel of the Lord" or as "a multitude of the heavenly host." The "thrones, dominions,
principalities, and powers" mentioned several times by St Paul are terms well recognized in angelology for
some of the non-human hierarchies. Everywhere in Nature there is life, manifesting through infinite
gradations of individual lives, for there is neither empty space nor inanimate matter anywhere in the universe.

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's The Hierarchies of Being: Part I and The Hierarchies of Being:
Part II.]

5. Elements and Elementals

These are examples of the hierarchical structure of the Cosmos. The Elements, in Esoteric Science, are seven
in number, the four familiar ones of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, to which it adds a semi-material Ether that is
still invisible to us, and two others which are "as yet absolutely beyond the range of human perception." (7)
Yet all of these, it must always be remembered, are aspects of the One Universal Element, the source of all
objective existence.

These seven elements with their numberless Sub-Elements ¼ are simply conditional modifications
and aspects of the one and only Element. (8)

Elementals is the term used to refer to beings who are beginning a course of evolutionary growth, and who
thus are in the elemental state of growth. In general the term refers to beings who are below the mineral
kingdom in the evolutionary scheme. Their existence is universally recognized in folk-lore under such names
as fairies, elves, gnomes and suchlike, as mentioned earlier. But they are best understood as forces in Nature
rather than as beings having miniature or ethereal human shapes.

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's Elements and Elementals, Part I and Elements and Elementals,
Part II.]

6. Universal Law

It is apparent even to superficial observation that the universe operates according to Law. All our sciences and
technologies are based on the recognition of this fact. This law is not imposed from outside but is the very
nature of the Cosmos. Fundamentally it is the law of cause and effect, action and reaction, by which the
Cosmos as a whole, and all its parts individually, are ordered and regulated. The Law is in itself Wisdom,
Intelligence, and Power; it is the Wisdom that "reacheth from one end [of the Universe] to another mightily;
and sweetly doth she order all things," (9) operating through the Hierarchies of beings by which the Cosmos
is made and maintained as one harmonious whole.

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's Law in Cosmos and Human Life, Part I and Law in Cosmos and
Human Life, Part II.]

7. Akasha and the Astral Light

Here there is introduced a teaching that goes far beyond anything known to today's sciences. Although not
easy to grasp at first, it will be found to throw much light on areas of experience at present little understood
even by psychology, for example, the mystical and psychic.
It has been stated (in paragraph 4 above), that there is no such thing as empty space in the universe. Esoteric
Science teaches that the entire cosmos is pervaded by Akasha, primordial substance, or rather the noumenon—
the non-sensuous reality—beyond substance. In the Theosophical Glossary, Akasha (from a Sanskrit word
meaning "brilliant" or "luminous") is described as "the subtle, supersensuous spiritual essence which pervades
all space." This primordial substance differentiates into all the forms of matter, those of the invisible as of the
visible regions of the universe. Hence the definition of Akasha as "the Universal Soul ¼ from which all that
exists is born by separation or differentiation. It is the cause of existence; it fills all the infinite Space."

The lowest region of Akasha, immediately above the gross physical plane, is termed the Astral Light. It is "the
invisible region that surrounds our globe" and everything in it, and corresponds to the subtle vehicle or
"double" in man, the Linga-sharira. In it is impressed indelibly everything that takes place in the physical,
psychical, and mental realms. It is thus the storehouse of memory, both in the cosmos and in mankind.

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's Akasha and the Astral Light: Part I and Akasha and the Astral
Light: Part II.]

8. Rebirth

In the study of the constitution of man according to Occultism, two aspects of his inner nature are
recognized, one mortal—the psyche or soul, and the other immortal—the spiritual essence. (In everyday
parlance, and in much religious usage, the words "soul" and "spirit" are used loosely and often
interchangeably. Particular attention must be paid to the precise meaning attached to them in the present
study.) The spiritual essence in man, a persistent entity, attaches itself periodically to a succession of
personalities which it projects into the objective world. In so doing, it obeys the universal cyclic law that
operates throughout Nature. The temporary personality comprises a complex mortal non-physical
component, the psyche or soul, housed in a body of flesh.

It will be seen that rebirth, or reincarnation, is not a peculiarity of mankind; it is a particular instance of that
law of alternation of activity and rest, that may be observed in the natural world—the cyclic process of birth,
growth, decay, and death of the form, and the persistence of the life through successive forms.

[For more information see Mr. Farthing's Death and Rebirth, Part I and Death and Rebirth, Part II. See also
H.P. Blavatsky's comments in her Key to Theosophy on: On the Mysteries of Re-incarnation and On Re-
incarnation or Re-birth.]

9. After-Death States

The preceding section states that in the life of man there are alternating periods of activity and rest, or, more
precisely, periods of incarnation—that is, life in a body of flesh—alternating with periods of discarnate
existence, analogous to the twenty-four hour cycle of wakefulness and sleep. In Section 3 of this chapter, some
information was outlined concerning the seven planes of Nature and the seven states of consciousness.
Incarnation is the process of assuming vestures or vehicles through which consciousness can function in the
lower planes; death is the process of withdrawal from these vestures. It must already be evident to the student
that every aspect of Esoteric Science is inextricably related to every other aspect. To understand death and the
after-death states, one must study the sevenfold constitution of man and cosmos, and this must lead to—or be
preceded by—the study of Akasha and the Astral Light. Nevertheless, whatever aspect is being considered, it
must be seen as part of a whole, the functioning of which, in all its parts, is subject to universal law. At every
stage of the study it is necessary to remind oneself of these facts.

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's Death and Rebirth, Part I and Death and Rebirth, Part II. See also
Mr. Farthing's diagram on the After Death States and Processes. For more on this subject, see Mr. Farthing's
book When We Die. See also H.P. Blavatsky's comments On the Kama-loka and Devachan.]

10. The Nature of Spiritualistic Phenomena

Much confusion is caused by the ignorant association of the word "spiritualistic" with the word "spiritual."
What are commonly called spiritualistic phenomena are in fact psychic phenomena, that is, phenomena
explicable in terms of the lower levels of the next plane, little removed from the physical world perceived by
the ordinary senses. For the most part, this physical world is the only one of which we are aware, because we
do not possess faculties responsive to stimuli on higher planes. In some people—mediums and sensitives—
psychic faculties are more or less developed, enabling them to hear and see things of which others are not
aware. However, there is nothing spiritual in the possession of such faculties, unless they have been brought
under the control of the will of the individual; such conscious control alone can properly be termed spiritual,
for it is a manifestation of the awakened power of the essential man, the Spirit.

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's Spiritualism and Psychism, Part I and Spiritualism and Psychism,
Part II. For more information on the nature of spiritualistic and psychic phenomena, see Mr. Farthing's book
Exploring the Great Beyond.]

11. Evolution

Evolution is the emergence of the possibilities inherent in Nature from latency into active expression. The
word means, literally, unfolding, and it implies the prior process of involution by which the potentialities of
spirit are communicated to matter.

Esoteric Science affirms the universality of the evolutionary process:

The whole order of nature evinces a progressive march towards a higher life. There is design in the
action of the seemingly blindest forces. The whole process of evolution with its endless adaptations is
a proof of this. (10)

Here we must return to the Hierarchies of Sections 4 and 5, for the evolutionary process is not a mechanical
one but "is guided, controlled, and animated by almost endless series of Hierarchies of sentient Beings." (11)

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's Ever-Becoming - The Processes of Evolution: Part I and Ever-
Becoming - The Processes of Evolution: Part II.]

12. Rounds and Races

These are the terms used to indicate states in the great evolutionary cycles. In our cosmic scheme, they are
applied particularly to our Earth and its humanity. Like everything else in Nature, planets have their period of
activity and rest, their days and nights, analogous to human life and death. A grand evolutionary program is
in operation throughout the Cosmos, each part of which—whether it be planet or kingdom of nature or
human group—has to pass through sequential phases of development towards its particular goal.

In the study of the program for humanity, it will be important to note that the term "Race" indicates a stage
in the evolution of humanity. It applies to the development of mental and psychic faculties as well as to the
superficial physical characteristics such as skin color or hair type.

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's Globes, Rounds and Races: Part I and Globes, Rounds and
Races: Part II.]

13. Spiritual Development

If examined in the light of Esoteric Science, this term appears to be a misnomer. Mankind is a stage in an
immense journey, the pilgrimage of the Many to the Everlasting One. The object of the journey is the
realization of the essential unity of life, the experience of the One consciousness which pervades the whole.
The development is in effect the increase in the responsiveness of living instruments, so that the consciousness
of the individual becomes identified eventually with, or merged into, that of the other units of humanity who
have transcended the limitations of purely personal existence.

Human life, with its vicissitudes and suffering, has appropriately been called a training ground, the school of
life, in which the main lesson to be learned is the elimination of selfishness in all its forms. Selfishness, the
"great dire heresy," is a denial of the fact of unity and will be seen as the source of many of the problems of
mankind. Similarly, all that contributes to breaking down the walls of separateness—altruism, compassion,
love—must promote the spiritual evolution of the individual and of the human race.

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's Spiritual Development: Part I and Spiritual Development: Part
II. See also Blavatsky's mystical treatise The Voice of the Silence for more on this subject.]

14. Religion

Various terms have been used to refer to the esoteric tradition, Theosophy. It is Esoteric Science, the Ancient
Wisdom, the Secret Doctrine, and the Wisdom-Religion. But in using this last term, care must be taken not
to see in it a religion comparable to Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity or any other of the religions of man.
The Wisdom-Religion is the source of all of these, and the study of the similarities in their traditions, forms
and doctrines will show that in essentials they must stem from a common origin.

One of the aims that Mme Blavatsky set before herself in The Secret Doctrine is particularly relevant:

to rescue from degradation the archaic truths which are the basis of all religions; and to uncover, to
some extent, the fundamental unity from which they all spring ¼ (12)

The state of religion today, the perpetuation of forms in ignorance of the truths they represent, shows the
need for the wide dissemination of Esoteric Science if that aim is to be achieved.

[For more information, see Mr. Farthing's Religion: Part I and Religion: Part II.]
-oOo-

Throughout the study of Esoteric Science, it should be recognized that what is presented to us here is not
speculation or hypothesis, but knowledge—knowledge possessed by men who, by the development within
themselves of the necessary faculties, made themselves able to investigate at first hand the hidden side of
Nature.

The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages, and its cosmogony alone is the most
stupendous and elaborate system: e.g., even in the exotericism of the Puranas. But such is the
mysterious power of Occult symbolism, that the facts which have actually occupied countless
generations of initiated seers and prophets to marshal, to set down and explain, in the bewildering
series of evolutionary progress, are all recorded on a few pages of geometrical signs and glyphs. The
flashing gaze of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel of matter, and recorded the soul of
things there, where an ordinary profane, however learned, would have perceived but the external
work of form. But modern science believes not in the "soul of things," and hence will reject the whole
system of ancient cosmogony. It is useless to say that the system in question is no fancy of one or
several isolated individuals. That it is the uninterrupted record covering thousands of generations of
Seers whose respective experiences were made to test and to verify the traditions passed orally by one
early race to another, of the teachings of higher and exalted beings, who watched over the childhood
of Humanity. That for long ages, the "Wise Men" of the Fifth Race, of the stock saved and rescued
from the last cataclysm and shifting of continents, had passed their lives in learning, not teaching.
How did they do so? It is answered: by checking, testing, and verifying in every department of nature
the traditions of old by the independent visions of great adepts; i.e., men who have developed and
perfected their physical, mental, psychic, and spiritual organizations to the utmost possible degree.
No vision of one adept was accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the visions—so obtained as
to stand as independent evidence—of other adepts, and by centuries of experience. (13)

Endnotes

(1) Blavatsky, H.P. Key to Theosophy, 43

(2) i.e., God, the soul, and man—GAF
(3) Blavatsky, H.P. Key to Theosophy, 83
(4) Bowen Notes, 9
(5) Blavatsky, H.P. Key to Theosophy, 83
(6) Blavatsky, H.P. Key to Theosophy, 89
(7) Blavatsky, H.P. Secret Doctrine {I 12, I 40, I 78}
(8) Blavatsky, H.P. Secret Doctrine {I 12, I 40, I 78}
(9) Wisdom of Solomon (Apocrypha).
(10) Blavatsky, H.P. Secret Doctrine {I 277, I 297, I 320}
(11) Blavatsky, H.P. Secret Doctrine {I 274, I 295, I 317}
(12) Blavatsky, H.P. Secret Doctrine {I viii, I xxi, I 9}
(13) Blavatsky, H.P. Secret Doctrine {I 272, I 293, I 316}

This article has been excerpted from Geoffrey A. Farthing's book Deity, Cosmos and Man, "The Scope and Framework of the Science," Part I, Chapter
II, pp. 11-20. Mr. Farthing's book is an excellent introduction to Theosophy as given in the writings of Madame H.P. Blavatsky and her Adept
Teachers. For more information on this book, see Deity, Cosmos and Man.]
 From Long-Sealed Ancient Fountains
The Origin of Modern Theosophy

Compiled from the Writings of H.P. Blavatsky

and the Mahatmas M. and K.H.

When, years ago, we first travelled over the East, exploring the penetralia of its deserted sanctuaries, two
saddening and ever-recurring questions oppressed our thoughts: Where, WHO, WHAT is GOD? Who ever
saw the IMMORTAL SPIRIT of man, so as to be able to assure himself of man's immortality? HPB, ISIS I vi

From the moment when the foetal embryo is formed until the old man, gasping his last, drops into the grave,
neither the beginning nor the end is understood by scholastic science; all before us is a blank, all after us
chaos. For it there is no evidence as to the relations between spirit, soul, and body, either before or after death.
The mere life-principle itself presents an unsolvable enigma, upon the study of which materialism has vainly
exhausted its intellectual powers. In the presence of a corpse the skeptical physiologist stands dumb when
asked by his pupil whence came the former tenant of that empty box, and whither it has gone. The pupil
must either, like his master, rest satisfied with the explanation that protoplasm made the man, and force
vitalized and will now consume his body, or he must go outside the walls of his college and the books of its
library to find an explanation of the mystery. HPB, ISIS I 336

It was while most anxious to solve these perplexing problems that we came into contact with certain men,
endowed with such mysterious powers and such profound knowledge that we may truly designate them as the
sages of the Orient. To their instructions we lent a ready ear. HPB, ISIS I vi

The work now submitted to public judgment is the fruit of a somewhat intimate acquaintance with [these]
Eastern adepts and study of their science. HPB, ISIS I v

There are, scattered throughout the world, a handful of thoughtful and solitary students, who pass their lives
in obscurity, far from the rumors of the world, studying the great problems of the physical and spiritual
universes. They have their secret records in which are preserved the fruits of the scholastic labors of the long
line of recluses whose successors they are. The knowledge of their early ancestors, the sages of India,
Babylonia, Nineveh, and the imperial Thebes; --- all this, and much more, is recorded on indestructible
parchment, and passed with jealous care from one adept to another. HPB, ISIS I 557-558

From the first ages of man, the fundamental truths of all that we are permitted to know on earth was in the
safe keeping of the adepts of the sanctuary. Those guardians of the primitive divine revelation, who had
solved every problem that is within the grasp of human intellect, were bound together by a universal
freemasonry of science and philosophy, which formed one unbroken chain around the globe. HPB, ISIS I 37-
38

By the training of faculties we all possess, but which they alone have developed to perfection, [these Adepts]
have entered in spirit these various [superphysical] planes and states. For long ages, one generation of Adepts
after another has studied the mysteries of being, of life, death, and re-birth, and all have taught in their turn
some of the facts so learned. HPB, KEY 217
Their spiritual visions, real explorations by, and through, physical and spiritual senses untrammelled by blind
flesh, were systematically checked and compared one with the other, and their nature sifted. All that was not
corroborated by unanimous and collective experience was rejected, while that only was recorded as established
truth which, in various ages, under different climes, and throughout an untold series of incessant
observations, was found to agree and receive constantly further corroboration. The methods used by our
scholars and students of the psycho-spiritual sciences do not differ from those of students of the natural and
physical sciences. Only our fields of research are on two different planes, and our instruments are made by no
human hands, for which reason perchance they are only the more reliable. The retorts, accumulators, and
microscopes of the chemist and naturalist may get out of order; the telescope and the astronomer's horological
instruments may get spoiled; our recording instruments are beyond the influence of weather or the elements.
HPB, KEY 86-87

For thousands of years, one initiate after another, one great hierophant succeeded by other hierophants, has
explored and re-explored the invisible Universe, the worlds of the interplanetary regions, during long periods
when his conscious soul, united to the spiritual soul and to the ALL, free and almost omnipotent, left his
body. The mysteries of life as well as death, of the visible and invisible worlds, have been fathomed and
observed by initiated adepts in all epochs and in all nations. They have studied these during the solemn
moments of union of their divine monad with the universal Spirit, and they have recorded their experiences.
Thus by comparing and checking the observations of one with those of another, having been able to ascertain
that the visions of adepts who lived 10,000 years ago are invariably corroborated and verified by those of
modern adepts, to whom the writings of the former never do become known until later --- the truth has been
established. A definite science, based on personal observation and experience, corroborated by continuous
demonstrations, containing irrefutable proofs, for those who study it, has thus been established. HPB, CW V
50-51

The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages, and its cosmogony alone is the most stupendous
and elaborate system. The facts have actually occupied countless generations of initiated seers and prophets to
marshal, to set down and explain. The flashing gaze of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel of
matter, and recorded the soul of things there.

The [Esoteric] system is no fancy of one or several isolated individuals. It is the uninterrupted record covering
thousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences were made to test and to verify the teachings of
higher and exalted beings, who watched over the childhood of Humanity. For long ages, the "Wise Men" of
the Fifth Race had passed their lives in learning by checking, testing, and verifying in every department of
nature the traditions of old by the independent visions of great adepts; i.e., men who have developed and
perfected their physical, mental, psychic, and spiritual organisations to the utmost possible degree.

No vision of one adept was accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the visions --- so obtained as to
stand as independent evidence --- of other adepts, and by centuries of experiences. HPB, SD I 273-273

Every word of [esoteric] information found in my writings comes from the teachings of our Eastern Masters;
and many a passage in these works has been written by me under their dictation. In saying this no supernatural
claim is urged, for no miracle is performed by such a dictation. Space and distance do not exist for thought;
and if two persons are in perfect mutual psycho-magnetic rapport, and of these two, one is a great Adept in
Occult Sciences, then thought-transference and dictation of whole pages, become as easy and as
comprehensible at the distance of ten thousand miles as the transference of two words across a room. HPB,
"My Books," Lucifer, May, 1891.

Great Adepts and Trained Seers

Knowledge of Spiritual Facts by
Personal Experience and from Actual Observation

Compiled from the Writings of H.P. Blavatsky

and the Mahatmas M. and K.H.

The recognition of the higher phases of man's being on this planet is not to be attained by mere acquirement
of knowledge. Volumes of the most perfectly constructed information cannot reveal to man life in the higher
regions. One has to get a knowledge of spiritual facts by personal experience and from actual observation.
KH, Mahatma Letters, 2nd edition, p. 64.

Life, the greatest problem within the ken of human conception, is a mystery that the greatest of your men of
Science will never solve. In order to be correctly comprehended, it has to be studied in the entire series of its
manifestations, otherwise it can never be, not only fathomed, but even comprehended in its easiest form ---
life, as a state of being on this earth. It can never be grasped so long as it is studied separately and apart from
universal life. To solve the great problem one has to become an occultist (1); to analyze and experience with it
personally, in all its phases, as life on earth, life beyond the limit of physical death, mineral, vegetable, animal
and spiritual life; life in conjunction with concrete matter as well as life present in the imponderable atom.
KH, ML 158-159

The adept has learnt the great secret how to penetrate deeply into the Arcana of being. KH, ML 194-195

The world of force is the world of Occultism and the only one whither the highest initiate goes to probe the
secrets of being. Hence no-one but such an initiate can know anything of these secrets. Guided by his Guru
(2) the chela (3) first discovers this world, then its laws, then their centrifugal evolutions into the world of
matter. To become a perfect adept takes him long years, but at last he becomes the master. The hidden things
have become patent, and mystery and miracle have fled from his sight forever. He sees how to guide force in
this direction or that --- to produce desirable effects. The secret chemical, electric or odic properties of plants,
herbs, roots, minerals, animal tissue, are familiar to him. No change in the etheric vibrations can escape him.
He applies his knowledge The means we avail ourselves of are all laid down for us in a code as old as
humanity to the minutest detail. Our laws are as immutable as those of Nature. We build our philosophy
upon experiment and deduction. KH, ML 143-144

There comes a moment in the life of an adept, when the hardships he has passed through are a thousandfold
rewarded. In order to acquire further knowledge, he has no more to go through a minute and slow process of
investigation and comparison of various objects, but is accorded an instantaneous, implicit insight into every
first truth. The adept sees and feels and lives in the very source of all fundamental truths --- the Universal
Spiritual Essence of Nature. KH, ML 241
A MAHATMA (4) is a personage, who, by special training and education, has evolved those higher faculties
and has attained that spiritual knowledge, which ordinary humanity will acquire after passing through
numberless series of re-incarnations during the process of cosmic evolution. Now an entity, that is passing
through the occult training in its successive births, gradually has less and less (in each incarnation) of lower
Manas [Mind] until there arrives a time when its whole Manas, being of an entirely elevated character, is
centred in the higher individuality (5), when such a person may be said to have become a MAHATMA. The
real MAHATMA is then not his physical body but that higher Manas which is inseparably linked to the Atma
(6) and its vehicle (Buddhi 7) --- a union effected by him in a comparatively very short period by passing
through the process of self-evolution laid down by the Occult Philosophy. HPB, Collected Writings, Volume
VI, p. 239.

The Tchang-chub (an adept who has, by the power of his knowledge and soul enlightenment, become exempt
from the curse of UNCONSCIOUS transmigration) may, at his will and desire, and instead of reincarnating
himself only after bodily death, do so, and repeatedly --- during his life if he chooses. He holds the power of
choosing for himself new bodies --- whether on this or any other planet -- while in possession of his old form,
that he generally preserves for purposes of his own. KH, ML 285

When our great Buddha --- the patron of all the adepts, the reformer and the codifier of the occult system,
reached first Nirvana (8) on earth, he became a Planetary Spirit (9); i.e. --- his spirit could at one and the
same time rove the interstellar spaces in full consciousness, and continue at will on Earth in his original and
individual body. For the divine Self had so completely disfranchised itself from matter that it could create at
will an inner substitute for itself, and leaving it in the human form for days, weeks, sometimes years, affect in
no wise by the change either the vital principle or the physical mind of its body. That is the highest form of
adeptship man can hope for on our planet. But it is as rare as the Buddhas themselves. Many are those who
"break through the egg-shell," few who, once out are able to exercise their Nirira namastaka fully, when
completely out of the body. Conscious life in Spirit is as difficult for some natures as swimming is for some
bodies. The planetary Spirit of that kind (the Buddha like) can pass at will into other bodies --- of more or
less etherialised matter, inhabiting other regions of the Universe. KH, ML 43-44

We tell you what we know, for we are made to learn it through personal experience. KH, ML 128

So far as we know, so far as the highest Planetary Spirits have ascertained, the infinite mind displays to them
as to us no more than the regular unconscious throbbings of the eternal and universal pulse of Nature,
throughout the myriads of worlds within as without the primitive veil of our solar system.

So far -- WE KNOW. Within and to the utmost limit, to the very edge of the cosmic veil we know the fact to
be correct --- owing to personal experience; for the information gathered as to what takes place beyond --- we
are indebted to the Planetary Spirits, to our blessed Lord Buddha. KH, ML 138

The ordinary man has no experience of any state of consciousness other than that to which the physical senses
link him. Men dream; they sleep the profound sleep which is too deep for dreams to impress the physical
brain; and in these states there must still be consciousness. How, then, while these mysteries remain
unexplored, can we hope to speculate with profit on the nature of globes which, in the economy of nature,
must needs belong to states of consciousness other and quite different from any which man experiences here?
For even great adepts (those initiated of course), trained seers though they are, can claim thorough
acquaintance with the nature and appearance of planets and their inhabitants belonging to our solar system
only. They know that almost all the planetary worlds are inhabited, but can have access to --- even in spirit ---
only those of our system; and they are also aware how difficult it is, even for them, to put themselves into full
rapport even with the planes of consciousness within our system, but differing from the states of consciousness
possible on this globe; i.e., on the three planes of the chain of spheres beyond our earth. Such knowledge and
intercourse are possible to them because they have learned how to penetrate to planes of consciousness which
are closed to the perceptions of ordinary men. HPB, The Secret Doctrine, II 701

Notes

(1) Occultist. One who practises Occultism, an adept in the Secret Sciences, but very often applied to a mere
student. HPB, KEY 357

(2) Guru (Sk.). "Spiritual Teacher; a master in metaphysical and ethical doctrines; used also for a teacher of
any science. HPB, TG

(3) Chela (Sans.) A disciple. The pupil of a Guru or Sage, the follower of some Adept, or a school of
philosophy. HPB, KEY 324

(4) Mahatma (Sans.) Lit., "Great Soul." An adept of the highest order. An exalted being, who having attained
to the mastery over his lower principles, is therefore living unimpeded by the "man of flesh." Mahatmas are in
possession of knowledge and power commensurate with the stage they have reached in their spiritual
evolution. HPB, KEY 347

(5) Individuality. One of the names given in Theosophy and Occultism to the human Higher Ego. We make
a distinction between the immortal and divine and the mortal human Ego which perishes. The latter or
"Personality" (personal Ego) survives the dead body but for a time in Kama Loka: the Individuality prevails
for ever. HPB, KEY 338

(6) Atman, or Atma (Sans.) The Universal Spirit, the divine monad, "the seventh Principle," so called, in the
exoteric "septenary" classification of man. The Supreme Soul. HPB, KEY 319

(7) Buddhi (Sans.) Universal Soul or Mind. Mahabuddhi is a name of Mahat (q. v.); also the Spiritual Soul in
man (the sixth principle exoterically), the vehicle of Atma, the seventh, according to the exoteric enumeration.
HPB, KEY 323

(8) Nirvana (Sk.). According to the Orientalists, the entire "blowing out", like the flame of a candle, the utter
extinction of existence. But in the esoteric explanations it is the state of absolute existence and absolute
consciousness, into which the Ego of a man who has reached the highest degree of perfection and holiness
during life goes, after the body dies, and occasionally, as in the case of Gautama Buddha and others, during
life. HPB, TG
(9) Planetary Spirits. Primarily the rulers or governors of the planets. As our earth has its hierarchy of
terrestrial planetary spirits, from the highest to the lowest plane, so has every other heavenly body. In
Occultism, however, the term "Planetary Spirit" is generally applied only to the seven highest hierarchies
corresponding to the Christian archangels. These have all passed through a stage of evolution corresponding
to the humanity of earth on other worlds, in long past cycles. Our earth, being as yet only in its fourth round,
is far too young to have produced high planetary spirits. The highest planetary spirit ruling over any globe is
in reality the "Personal God" of that planet and far more truly its "over-ruling providence" than the self-
contradictory Infinite Personal Deity of modern Churchianity. HPB, TG