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Theosophy An Introductory Study Course

By John Algeo

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Introduction

WE LIVE IN AN AGE OF AFFLUENCE and physical comfort. We drive bulky SUVs, talk incessantly over our cell phones, amuse ourselves with DVDs, eat at restaurants more often than at home, and expect all the amenities of life as our birthright. Yet many of us feel dissatisfied and spiritually empty.

What is wrong?
Is something lacking from our lives? If so, is it just that we need more of what we already have a lot of? Or do we need something radically different? Do we need a different way of looking at the world around us and at ourselves? Do we need a sense of purpose that has nothing to do with machines and comforts? Do we need knowledge of what is really important in life, confidence that such knowledge is available to us, and skill to put that knowledge into practical use?

We have become remarkably successful at manipulating physical laws. With radio, television, radar, computers, the Internet, the World Wide Web, and other electronic devices, we have conquered distance and time. In travel, even into outer space, we have attained an unprecedented degree of efficiency and speed. Dozens of sophisticated instruments orbit the earth, sending us information on conditions and events of which
we would otherwise be quite ignorant, or carrying messages instantaneously from one hemisphere to the other.

We are rightly thankful for achievements that demonstrate so clearly humanity’s intelligent persistence in probing the secrets of our immeasurably rich and complex universe and in making useful the forces with which it abounds. In such achievements, exactitude and precision are essential criteria, and personal emotions are irrelevant to technological progress.

But when it comes to living, the story is different. In our relations with other human beings, in concern for our own health, in our work and our leisure, we do not apply the same intelligence and realism. Why not? Perhaps, by the very nature of living, we cannot be as precise as we can in measuring physical processes. Perhaps the process of living is quite different from science and technology because it requires another sort of view and other ways of relating to the world. Despite our progress in science and technology, we have not yet probed the most important aspects of life—the mysteries of birth and death, of joy and sorrow, of freedom and fate—with the same intensity we have used in investigating the physical universe.

Today the world is changing with bewildering rapidity—not just in technology, but in how we look at it as well. New scientific theories and discoveries are finding their place Only basic information can be presented here. The student should keep in mind also that the explanations given are presented as hypotheses for consideration, not as ultimate pronouncements on any of the various subjects. Because these ideas are metaphysical (or
beyond the physical), they are not subject to laboratory proof and need not be accepted as irrefutable. If, however, they ring true and can be verified by your own experience, they will throw light on many otherwise insoluble problems and, in that way, can prove to be guide stones to further progress on the path of life. The words of Kahlil Gibran in his essay on “Self-Knowledge” are appropriate to keep in mind in pursuing this study:

Say not, “I have found the truth,”
But rather, “I have found a truth.”
Say not, “I have found the path of the soul,”
But rather say, “I have met the soul walking upon the path.”

H. P. Blavatsky has been reported as saying that the study of the great universal principles of Theosophy requires a special kind of mental effort that involves “the carving out of new brain paths.” It is not always easy for us, with our conditioned minds, to submit to so rigorous an undertaking, but once we have overcome our reluctance and inertia, we may find it the most exciting adventure of our lives.

Thanks are due to the following persons, who have assisted in this revision: Adele Algeo, Cecil Messer, Shirley Nicholson, Ananya Rajan, and Donna Wimberley.
J. A