Theosophy Trust - MEMORIAL LIBRARY

The Greek philosopher Plotinus frequently spoke of a "secret gnosis", or secret knowledge, that could be acquired by spiritual disciplines, and he equated it with " theosophia ", or Theosophy.In her essay on "What Is Theosophy?", and in her Theosophy books,H.P. Blavatsky explains what Plotinus meant from a standpoint that only an initiate into the Mysteries could fully understand: "The Alexandrian Theosophists were divided into neophytes, initiates, and masters, or hierophants; and their rules were copied from the ancient Mysteries of Orpheus, who, according to Herodotus, brought them from India. Ammonius obligated his disciples by oath not to divulge his higher doctrines, except to those who were proved thoroughly worthy and initiated, and who had learned to regard the gods, the angels, and the demons of other peoples, according to the esoteric hyponia, or under-meaning. "The gods exist, but they are not what the hoi polloi, the une

Humanity has been cursed by false and distorted ideas of whether the consequences of one's actions inexorably return to oneself – as in the Eastern traditions – or whether one can short circuit one's responsibility of one's thoughts, feelings and outward actions (such as words). Many think by confessing one's "sins" to a priest or a therapist that one can thereby escape the results of those sins, or that the effects that flow from a particular action can be avoided by the giving of money to churches or some other form of sacrifice. All of these perverted attitudes rest upon the assumption – never clearly and openly stated – that the Law is something that is outside of us, that it is external to our nature, and thus in the hands or control of some external beings or forces. Robert Crosbie put the matter in this vein: "The ideas we entertain of the Supreme, of Law, of Nature, and of our own Being govern the actions we perform. When we were ch

Writing of the relationship of any one individual life to the life of All, Robert Crosbie writes: "The life of each of us is the Universal Life. Many imagine that Life means existence in a physical body, and that only; that outside of physical existence there is no life. But Life includes all things and forms from the highest spiritual down to life in its grossest form; it is the same Life all through, common to all. It is the One Life, the One Spirit in each and all, so that in each being of every grade there lies the potentiality of All- Being. There is that in each which is beginning less and endless, which is changeless; and that, though illimitable, invisible, inconceivable, can be realized by every human being. Some illustrations will bring this fact forcibly to our minds. We speak of ourselves, of our identity. We say, "I was a child; when I was a young man or woman; when I was middle-aged; as I am today; as I will be in the future." Now, what is That

We are all a prey to those fears that tend to disrupt the very instrument by means of which true concentration may be attained; but it may be attained. The peculiar power and nature of concentration is that, when complete, the attention can be placed on any subject or object to the exclusion of every other for any given length of time; and this thinking principle – this mind of ours which has been flitting about – can be used to shape itself to the object gazed upon, to the nature of the subject thought about.  While the mind takes the shape of the object, we get from that shape the form, the characteristics of every kind that flow from it; and when our inquiry is complete, we are able to know everything that can be known of the subject or object. Such a height of concentration we can easily see is not to be attained by intermittent efforts, but by efforts made from "a firm position assumed" with the end in view. All efforts made from that basis are bound to be of a