27 Mar The Theosophical Society and Bad-Rock-Star Behavior
If you were interested enough to pick up this book, you’ve undoubtedly been influenced by the Theosophical Society (TS) whether you know it or not. The TS has been a major conduit for Eastern thought into the West, and is thus a progenitor of alternative spirituality and the New Age movement. The main beliefs include karma, reincarnation, the essential Oneness of all, and that there is a perennial philosophy underlying the world religions.
The Theosophical Society was begun in New York City in 1875. One of its founders was Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (July 1831 – May 1891), the Russian occultist, author, philosopher, world traveler, and one of the most flamboyant spiritual rock stars of all time. Even her biographers don’t believe all the tales she told, as she deliberately falsified and glamorized her past.
However much was true, it is a wonderful saga: Madame Blavatsky began traveling the world in search of esoteric knowledge while still quite young, and claimed she met a group of adepts, the Masters of Ancient Wisdom, who communicated with her telepathically and directed her to go to Tibet to develop her psychic powers. She wrote two highly influential books, Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy, gaining an international following. Madame was highly charismatic, had incredible energy and a terrible temper, swore profusely, was obese, chain smoked, and had “utter disregard for the Victorian code of morality.” Helena Blavatsky lived by no rules other than her own.
Rumors (some of which she propagated) circulated concerning her exploits include many signs of bad-rock-star behavior: public accusations that she produced fake paranormal phenomena, that she contacted spirits of the dead, that she saved an opera singer from being murdered, that she survived a shipwreck, that she studied with First Nations people in Quebec, that she was a Russian spy. It is a known fact that Blavatsky was a bigamist, that is, married to two men at the same time, and that one of her husbands sued for divorce when she refused to consummate the marriage. She lived in a celibate relationship with Colonel Olcott, another founder of the TS, in an apartment in New York called the Lamasery which was decorated with spiritual figures and taxidermied animals. There they gave lectures and held séances.
The TS was involved in the World Teacher Project in the 1880s-1929. The TS had felt it was the right time for an appearance of a World Teacher, and when they discovered the 14-year old Jiddu Krishnamurti (see page xxx) proclaimed him the One. He was taken in, extensively taught esoteric secrets and groomed for the role. In 1929 when he was to be presented to the world, much to the dismay of the TS, Krishnamurti took the stage and announced that he was not the World Teacher. He subsequently left the TS and went on to teach his own version of spirituality.
The organization Blavatsky helped create, the TS, became internationally known and still exists today, influencing people as reputable as Gandhi and Thomas Edison. There are over 121 lodges of the group charted around the world. The Theosophical Society is visible in LA history in the Krotona movement (see page xxx), Manly P Hall and PRS (see page xxx), Krishnamurti (see page xxx), and its local chapters, and through its themes run through New Thought and others.
The International Headquarters of the TS is in Pasadena, although there is no physical location, only a PO Box.
www.theosociety.org
This is an excerpt from Catherine Auman’s book Guide to Spiritual L.A.: The Irreverent, the Awake, and the True
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