Theosophy Notes
As
93 Imperialism.
Hints of the culture of British
Raj, not as bad as a lot of prejudice paints. Kipling not to be taken
too
seriously. Mohini. Blavatsky’s dislike of miscegenation. The comic
character of
it all. Comic character of Indian nationalism. The seriousness of the
postcolonial
world, with al the touchiness about national myths.
Theosophy,
religious subversion.
103
Gurdjieff, like Blavatsky.
Fraud too. But philosophically and religiously interesting. At one time
like a
serious deconstruction. Things to be taken seriously, like socialism,
which was
and still is. Anti-colonialism, which may sound so liberating but which
is
really in the service of socialism. Theosophy as intellectual history.
The
anticolonial egalitarian movement which has swept the world.
Deconstruction which
has achieved such a hold in the universities. Idea of reversing that.
Gurdjieff.
So called secondrateness.
Charisma so called.
110 Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon
(Peter Washington). Isherwood, Huxley etc. Significance of all this
theosophy.
Effect of Huxley on my spiritual development. Feelings about theosophy,
spiritual development, orthodoxy. All depending on where one is coming
from. So
many different places from where one is coming, so many considerations.
It is
not even that the C of E has lost all its point. The place all such
ideas
should have in our minds …
Kierkegaard
and his ‘leaps of
faith’. This very Christian claim, which thrives on the idea of the so
called
bankruptcy of reason. Deep irrationalism which creeps in like some kind
of
parasite.
So how is it
to be combated?
Herein comes gnosticism. And this too is Nietzsche’s point. Always the
aspiration that the new theosophy should take over the existing
institutions. Even
the churches.
Huxley,
Gurdjieff, Blavatsky, Leary.
Very wishy-washiness of the Church of England its real strength. That
we should
gain access to these things by intellectual understanding. Different
modes of
access to theosophical wisdom. Determine the one we want. Our own,
antidemocratic will to power. Think of the primary consideration.
Theosophy,
Krishnamurti as Christ.
Validity of this as religion, inventing new myths.
274 Theosophy. All the delightful
things it may be possible to think. Idea of fun things to think. Like
making your
own religion. Theosophy from Bulwer-Lytton
and Zanoni.
Mme
Blavatsky’s religion. Religion
as extension of art.. Art as the deliberate creation of significant form
an
223 Significance of Leary. His
psychedelic
manuals said to look ‘more than a little silly now’. But they did not
seem
silly to me. Form of theosophy. Variation on enlightenment. Showman,
shaman.
Ginsberg. Development of my theme of the twentieth century pundit. Kind
of
delightful anarchy. A form of affirmation if we can relate to it. Mme
Blavatsky.
239 Religion, The common theosophy
that pervades normal experience. Theosophy, shamanism. Nomadic hordes
of the
steppe. Non racist. A late rather than an early stage in history
246 Philosophy as undermining
religion. Even the theosophical kind of religion promoted by Aldous
Huxley and furthered
by Leary. Drug religion, related to the shamanism of the people of the
steppes
pp
374 Philosophical ideas and
theosophical ideas. Theosophical ideas often regarded as
anti-philosophical, menticidal.
No need for this to be so. But let us think in terms of the changes we
would
like our ideas to effect. Think of the Rosicrucian manifestos.
zz
168 Ecstatic theosophy. Aim
towards the most desirable, in the context of various pseudo
cosmologies.
Imaginary wisdoms, cosmologies. Imaginary structures of the universe
and
pedigrees of wisdom. See the context in which the ancient world moved
to Christianity.
The Jewish tradition offered all kinds of short cuts. Imaginative
atmosphere of
the 1st 2nd and 3rd
ac
98 Nietzsche
proclaimed ‘God is
dead’ barely a century ago.
For religion
some kind of theosophy
can do very well. Of the most undogmatic kind, but recognising that
surrounding
the central ideas teachings and scriptures of the major religions, just
for a
start, there is something worth understanding. Launch yourself into
into this
study, and you will lose the need for dogmatic faith.
ar
114 Blavatsky as Bulwer groupie. Isis Unveiled
as full of unacknowledged
quotes from Zanoni and the Last Days of
Pompeii.
170 Wisdom of Shakespeare, wisdom
of the Great Pyramid. Heretics. Plato. We feel the deepest wisdom, yet
we have
deep reservations about certain views. So we could not surrender
ourselves even
to someone like Shakespeare, as a complete Master much as he has to
teach us.
Important question here to do with understanding other cultures. Buddhism
Judaism etc. To what extent are we ourselves tabooed or excluded?
Idea of a
genius. Adulation that is involved. Shakespeare is so superior because
of his psychological
insight. The most important thing seems to be his capacity to overcome
what
obscures. The theosophical as the fellowship against the ochlocratic.
Idea of
the theosophical transcendence of the barriers between religions. The
Jew who
appreciates Wagner. One wants to feel a fellowship that transcends the
barriers
people themselves set up. Whole significance of esotericism. Suppose
that to my
hero I am rubbish who does not deserve to live. Idea of the esoteric
that
allowed communication between Christian, Muslim, pagan, and Jew.
oo
36 The theosophist is one who
lifts the veils. Isis Unveiled is a
very good title for Blavatsky’s book. Thus it is open to us hippy
theosophists
to enjoy the churches. For all they shout about their own truth claims,
all
that is merely necessary.
111 Theosophy. To me the ideas of
Stirner and Nietzsche
seem pre-eminently true. Yet life can go on without them.
From the mystical point of view no ideas are especially true, an idea
is as
true as its opposite.
202 Renaissance neoplatonism is
strongly attractive to me. Though it is usually regarded as a poor kind
of philosophy,
it cannot help appearing wise. Theosophical emphasis on individual
perfection,
on the form of wisdom. By a kind of symbolistic shorthand it achieves
all the
general aims that are sought from philosophy.
JSM
2007