my philosophy
Recently someone contacted me on Myspace requesting an explanation of my philosophy, Theosophy. I was happy to try to explain it as the occasion is rare when we meet people with open minds. The following was cut and pasted from my response to her. I thought I'd repost it here.--
Hi J, sorry it took so long to reply to you. It's been a tumultuous holiday. As for your question regarding Theosophy, let me first say that the subject has been a source of un-ending fascination for me and I am all too happy to discuss it's implications as it rarely if ever happens that someone asks me to explain it. Let my response in no way summarize the terms of the philosophy as it relates to everything, is expansive, goes beyond my personal experience and since it's coming from my isolated perspective I'll admit that it will be a limited explanation. I will give it a shot though.
Theosophy means God-Wisdom. Also called "The Perennial Philosophy" as it is the substratum of all our modern religions. It is not a religion in itself but more of a school of thought. After having delved into it a bit I found that it tended to unify conflicting religions when human interpretation and politics are put aside. In Theosophy there is not much talk of God, not because of any encouraged Atheism but because the concept of God is considered beyond mans intellectual grasp and is just that, a "concept" and not the direct knowledge or experience of God. I personally believe in a divine source which you can call God but see no need to box-in the whole of creation with a name.
An over-view of the system of Theosophy will reveal a synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Mystic Christianity (or Gnosis), Zoroastrianism and Science. It has roots in Ancient Egyptian religion.
The logo shows:
The AUM symbol at the top- Hindi symbol of the first vibration of the universe
The Arborous (snake eating it's tail), the Greek symbol of reincarnation
The Tibetan Swastika- which symbolizes the spiritual sun (not to be confused with the inverted and perverted Nazi Swastika)
The Seal of Solomon which symbolizes the union of masculine and feminine energy
and in the center, The Ankh, which is the Egyptian symbol for everlasting life, or reincarnation (also the Aquaba a pan-African symbol for fertility)
I have always been a Theosophist but only realized that there was a name for my ideas about a decade ago. According to Theosophy everything in the entire universe is alive and has a vibration of varying frequency. I believe that the phenomena of [so called] physical existence is a series of gradually progressive courses or grades. The grades progress in levels of complexity, from Gaseous, Mineral, Plant, Animal, Human, and finally Godhood. Each grade accumulating properties of the previous grade as with Humans having acquired gaseous (oxygen), mineral (bone, saliva), plant (circulatory system), and animal faculties (physical qualities), all of which make human life possible.
It can also be said in Theosophy that all of creation begins with Godhood and completes a circuit throughout an evolutionary cycle to reintegrate back into Godhood. I'm not really sure what Godhood means, as it is beyond my comprehension but I believe it is attained through self realization or enlightenment.
What this means to me on a practical level is to integrate the knowledge into my life that we are actually all one being. I believe that the spiritual goal for all humans is to realize this truth on a subconscious level and to relate to the world from this space. Deep understanding of this truth leads one to the teachings of the avatars that we read about, such as Jesus, Krisna, Buddha, and others through out history. When integrated, our understanding of these teachings loose their dogmatic, religious quality and judgments of right and wrong become unnecessary because the heart becomes the moral compass, rather than an external authoritarian influence and universal Love is then understood as the very ground of being. Charity and kindness become matter of fact rather than a method of gaining passage into some golden palace in the sky. When these qualities become conscious habits they are woven into ones life and one begins to create Heaven on earth. Heaven is a state of mind and it starts here and now. I think the goal of Theosophy is to let us know that we are fledgling gods and we are and have been creating our realities all along. I hope this makes sense because I know I tend to babble.
There is a movie out on video called "What the Bleep do we Know?" It's about the realities of Quantum Physics and how they may change our paradigm of the world. I found this film to be very Theosophical.
Hi J, sorry it took so long to reply to you. It's been a tumultuous holiday. As for your question regarding Theosophy, let me first say that the subject has been a source of un-ending fascination for me and I am all too happy to discuss it's implications as it rarely if ever happens that someone asks me to explain it. Let my response in no way summarize the terms of the philosophy as it relates to everything, is expansive, goes beyond my personal experience and since it's coming from my isolated perspective I'll admit that it will be a limited explanation. I will give it a shot though.
Theosophy means God-Wisdom. Also called "The Perennial Philosophy" as it is the substratum of all our modern religions. It is not a religion in itself but more of a school of thought. After having delved into it a bit I found that it tended to unify conflicting religions when human interpretation and politics are put aside. In Theosophy there is not much talk of God, not because of any encouraged Atheism but because the concept of God is considered beyond mans intellectual grasp and is just that, a "concept" and not the direct knowledge or experience of God. I personally believe in a divine source which you can call God but see no need to box-in the whole of creation with a name.
An over-view of the system of Theosophy will reveal a synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Mystic Christianity (or Gnosis), Zoroastrianism and Science. It has roots in Ancient Egyptian religion.
The logo shows:
The AUM symbol at the top- Hindi symbol of the first vibration of the universe
The Arborous (snake eating it's tail), the Greek symbol of reincarnation
The Tibetan Swastika- which symbolizes the spiritual sun (not to be confused with the inverted and perverted Nazi Swastika)
The Seal of Solomon which symbolizes the union of masculine and feminine energy
and in the center, The Ankh, which is the Egyptian symbol for everlasting life, or reincarnation (also the Aquaba a pan-African symbol for fertility)
I have always been a Theosophist but only realized that there was a name for my ideas about a decade ago. According to Theosophy everything in the entire universe is alive and has a vibration of varying frequency. I believe that the phenomena of [so called] physical existence is a series of gradually progressive courses or grades. The grades progress in levels of complexity, from Gaseous, Mineral, Plant, Animal, Human, and finally Godhood. Each grade accumulating properties of the previous grade as with Humans having acquired gaseous (oxygen), mineral (bone, saliva), plant (circulatory system), and animal faculties (physical qualities), all of which make human life possible.
It can also be said in Theosophy that all of creation begins with Godhood and completes a circuit throughout an evolutionary cycle to reintegrate back into Godhood. I'm not really sure what Godhood means, as it is beyond my comprehension but I believe it is attained through self realization or enlightenment.
What this means to me on a practical level is to integrate the knowledge into my life that we are actually all one being. I believe that the spiritual goal for all humans is to realize this truth on a subconscious level and to relate to the world from this space. Deep understanding of this truth leads one to the teachings of the avatars that we read about, such as Jesus, Krisna, Buddha, and others through out history. When integrated, our understanding of these teachings loose their dogmatic, religious quality and judgments of right and wrong become unnecessary because the heart becomes the moral compass, rather than an external authoritarian influence and universal Love is then understood as the very ground of being. Charity and kindness become matter of fact rather than a method of gaining passage into some golden palace in the sky. When these qualities become conscious habits they are woven into ones life and one begins to create Heaven on earth. Heaven is a state of mind and it starts here and now. I think the goal of Theosophy is to let us know that we are fledgling gods and we are and have been creating our realities all along. I hope this makes sense because I know I tend to babble.
There is a movie out on video called "What the Bleep do we Know?" It's about the realities of Quantum Physics and how they may change our paradigm of the world. I found this film to be very Theosophical.
posted by Mr.Magoo at 11:23 AM
<< Home