Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/248

* THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 204 THEOSOPHY. Colonel Henry S. Olcott, William Q. Judge, and others. Its 'objects were: (1) To form the nucleus of a universal brotherhood of humanity; (2) to study and make known the ancient re- ligions, philosophies, and sciences; (3) to in- vestigate the laws of nature and to develop the divine powers latent in man. Blavatsky left New York, December 17,. 1878, and went to India, accompanied by Colonel Olcott, where a system of propaganda was organized and nu- merous branches were formed. Judge remained in New York, and built up the society in the United States. He formed a strong branch, the Aryan Theosophical Society, in New Y'ork City, of which he was president. Madame Blavatsky left the Theosophical Society as an international body with headquarters at Adyar, India, and witii three sections: the Indian, comprising the Orient: the English Section, having jurisdiction over Europe; and the American Section for America. Olcott, at Adyar, was president ; Judge, at New York, vice-president. Each section had a general secretary — Bertram Keightley, of Adyar, of the Indian ; G. R. S. Mead, of London, of "the English; and Judge, of New Y'ork, of the American Section. There was an inner body, the Esoteric Section (E. S.), at the head of which was Madame Bhtvatsky. At her death she was succeeded by Judge and by Annie Besant, of Lon- don, jointl}', both supposedly mouthpieces of an unknow-n master, the real head of the theo- sopliical movement. Charges of fraudulent use of this master's name were preferred against Judge by Mrs. Besant. These charges, though never proved, caused a split between the sup- porters and opponents of Judge. In Boston, in April, 1895, the American Section almost unani- mously declared its autonomy as the "Theo- sophical Society in America" (T. S. in A.), with Judge as president. It had about 150 branches in the United States with several thousand ac- tive members. In so far as these members be- longed to the Esoteric Section, they recognized Judge as the outer head (the real head being the unknown master), and, following their ex- ample, those theosophists throughout the World who believed the charges false formed inde- pendent bodies in their separate countries, called respectively the Theosophical Society in England (T. S. in E.), in Sweden (T. S. in S.), in Aus- tralia, etc. The society under Olcott kept up its organiza- tion, though' the English and American sections were much weakened, 5Irs. Besant remained the head of that Esoteric Section which was con- nected with the society under Olcott. Judge died March 19, 1806, leaving his society in a flourishing condition, but with no successor as head of the Esoteric Section, or the T. S. in A. Katherine A. Tingley then obtained recognition, first from a few members, and through skillful advances from the bulk of the society, as the successor of Blavatsky and of Judge, and as the leader of the theosophical movement throughout the world. Many members at once left the T. S. in A., and more dropped out as she gradually changed the policy of the society. At a conven- tion in Chicago, in February, 1898, she formed "The Universal Brotherhood Organization," of which she was the absolute ruler, and the pos- sessor of all its property. Of the remnants of the T. S. in A. she made a literary department of h(T "Universal Brotherhood." The headquar- ters in New York City were abandoned and she took her remaining followers, not more than a dozen of the old members of the T. S. in A., to Point Loma, near San Diego, Cal., where she formed a colony. Jlrs. Tingley caused the life of the branches of the T. S. in -'i. to become gradually extinct. A few members e.xist here and there, but are not active. The theosophical movement continues, however, on the one hand as the organization under Olcott, as president, and on the other, under the form of independent local societies, recognized as theosophical by their adherence to the three objects of the society founded by Madame Blavatsky. The most active of these independent societies is called "The Tliensophical Society, New Y^ork," and has ex- isted since 1898. THEOSOPHY (Gk. 0eo(To,pla, theosophia, wis- dom in divine things, knowledge concerning God, from 6eo(T6(f>os, theosoplws, wise concerning God, from ffe6s, theos, god -j- iro^Aj, sopAos, wise). A term used to denote a system or systems of phi- losophy based on an inwardly revealed and mystic knowledge of God and the laws of the universe, giving a supersensual insight into their operations. The belief in revelations of this type is of course far anterior to the term theos- ophy, which has been applied to cults of varying tenets and diverse uses of the concepts of divin- ity at different periods. The ancient systems of belief falling under this head may be divided roughly into Oriental and Occidental, the former being the older. The earliest traces of theosophic thought are found in the Sanskrit Upanishads (q.v. ), which represent a revulsion from the ritualism of the Vedas (q.v.) and the Brahmanas (q.v.) to mystic meditation on the nature of the AllSoul or Atman. It is in a sense true that all subsequent Hindu philosophy is theosophic. From. India this mystical speculation spread to Persia, and from the Persians it was absorbed by the Arabs after their conquest of Iran. In a some- what similar sense the Ti-Kiitg and the Tao-teh- Kiiuj of China and the Egyptian Booh of the Dead may be regarded as theosophic. Among the Jews a theosophy whose origin was somewhat analogous to that of the Indian system arose about the beginning of the Christian Era, and attained wide currency in Europe between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. The teach- ings of the Cabbala (q.v.) as represented in the writings of Simeon ben Jochai and !Moses de Leon, however, are so widely different from the theosophy of India as to preclude any idea of Hindu influence. On the other hand, the Cab- balistic doctrines were profoundly modified by what may be regarded as the typical Occidental theosophy, Neo-Platonism (q.v.), represented by Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, Porphyrins, and Pro- elus, and by the Gnostics, represented by Valen- tinus and Basilides. In the Middle Ages theos- ophy was taught by Tauler. Eckhardt. Paracel- sus,' Van Helmont, Robert Fludd. Thomas Vaughan, Heinrich Kunrath, Jakob Boehme, Jo- hann Georg Giehtel, and later by Count Saint IMartin. At different periods in history men appeared, teaching the immortality of the soul, and the existence of a vast cosmos, moved by occult forces, of which cosmos this earth is but an infinitesimal part. They showed the in-