[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
that no special doctrines or beliefs are obligatory on its members; but, of
course, this applies only to the body as a whole. The Society, as you were
told, is divided into an outer and an inner body. Those who belong to the
latter have, of course, a philosophy, or-if you so prefer it-a religious
Page 31
The Key To Theosophy - HP Blavatsky.txt
system of their own.
Q. May we be told what it is?
A. We make no secret of it. It was outlined a few years ago in The
Theosophist and Esoteric Buddhism, and may be found still more elaborated in
The Secret Doctrine. It is based on the oldest philosophy of the world,
called the Wisdom-Religion or the Archaic Doctrine. If you like, you may ask
questions and have them explained.
The Fundamental Teachings of Theosophy
On God and Prayer
Q. Do you believe in God?
A. That depends what you mean by the term.
Q. I mean the God of the Christians, the Father of Jesus, and the Creator:
the Biblical God of Moses, in short.
A. In such a God we do not believe. We reject the idea of a personal, or an
extra-cosmic and anthropomorphic God, who is but the gigantic shadow of man,
and not of man at his best, either. The God of theology, we say-and prove
it-is a bundle of contradictions and a logical impossibility. Therefore, we
will have nothing to do with him.
Q. State your reasons, if you please.
A. They are many, and cannot all receive attention. But here are a few. This
God is called by his devotees infinite and absolute, is he not?
Q. I believe he is.
A. Then, if infinite-i.e., limitless-and especially if absolute, how can he
have a form, and be a creator of anything? Form implies limitation, and a
beginning as well as an end; and, in order to create, a Being must think and
plan. How can the absolute be supposed to think-i.e., to have any relation
whatever to that which is limited, finite, and conditioned? This is a
philosophical, and a logical absurdity. Even the Hebrew Cabala rejects such
an idea, and therefore, makes of the one and the Absolute Deific
Principle an infinite Unity called Ain-Soph *)
*)Ain-Soph (Greek: toh pan, epeiros), the boundless or limitless, in and of
nature, the non-existing that IS, but that is not a Being.
In order to create, the Creator has to become active; and as this is
impossible for absoluteness, the infinite principle had to be shown becoming
the cause of evolution (not creation) in an indirect way-i.e., through the
emanation from itself (another absurdity, due this time to the translators
of the Cabala) of the Sephiroth.
How can the non-active eternal principle emanate or emit? The Parabrahman of
the Vedantins does nothing of the kind; nor does the Ain-Soph of the
Chaldean Cabala. It is an eternal and periodical law which causes an active
and creative force (the logos) to emanate from the ever-concealed and
incomprehensible one principle at the beginning of every Mah -Manvantara, or
new cycle of life.
Q. How about those Cabalists, who, while being such, still believe in
Jehovah, or the Tetragrammaton?
A. They are at liberty to believe in what they please, as their belief or
Page 32
The Key To Theosophy - HP Blavatsky.txt
disbelief can hardly affect a self-evident fact. The Jesuits tell us that
two and two are not always four to a certainty, since it depends on the will
of God to make 2 × 2 = 5. Shall we accept their sophistry for all that?
Q. Then you are Atheists?
A. Not that we know of, and not unless the epithet of "Atheist" is to be
applied to those who disbelieve in an anthropomorphic God. We believe in a
Universal Divine Principle, the root of all, from which all proceeds, and
within which all shall be absorbed at the end of the great cycle of Being.
Q. This is the old, old claim of Pantheism. If you are Pantheists, you
cannot be Deists; and if you are not Deists, then you have to answer to the
name of Atheists.
A. Not necessarily so. The term Pantheism is again one of the many abused
terms, whose real and primitive meaning has been distorted by blind
prejudice and a one-sided view of it. If you accept the Christian etymology
of this compound word, and form it of pan , "all," and theos , "god," and
then imagine and teach that this means that every stone and every tree in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl rafalstec.xlx.pl
that no special doctrines or beliefs are obligatory on its members; but, of
course, this applies only to the body as a whole. The Society, as you were
told, is divided into an outer and an inner body. Those who belong to the
latter have, of course, a philosophy, or-if you so prefer it-a religious
Page 31
The Key To Theosophy - HP Blavatsky.txt
system of their own.
Q. May we be told what it is?
A. We make no secret of it. It was outlined a few years ago in The
Theosophist and Esoteric Buddhism, and may be found still more elaborated in
The Secret Doctrine. It is based on the oldest philosophy of the world,
called the Wisdom-Religion or the Archaic Doctrine. If you like, you may ask
questions and have them explained.
The Fundamental Teachings of Theosophy
On God and Prayer
Q. Do you believe in God?
A. That depends what you mean by the term.
Q. I mean the God of the Christians, the Father of Jesus, and the Creator:
the Biblical God of Moses, in short.
A. In such a God we do not believe. We reject the idea of a personal, or an
extra-cosmic and anthropomorphic God, who is but the gigantic shadow of man,
and not of man at his best, either. The God of theology, we say-and prove
it-is a bundle of contradictions and a logical impossibility. Therefore, we
will have nothing to do with him.
Q. State your reasons, if you please.
A. They are many, and cannot all receive attention. But here are a few. This
God is called by his devotees infinite and absolute, is he not?
Q. I believe he is.
A. Then, if infinite-i.e., limitless-and especially if absolute, how can he
have a form, and be a creator of anything? Form implies limitation, and a
beginning as well as an end; and, in order to create, a Being must think and
plan. How can the absolute be supposed to think-i.e., to have any relation
whatever to that which is limited, finite, and conditioned? This is a
philosophical, and a logical absurdity. Even the Hebrew Cabala rejects such
an idea, and therefore, makes of the one and the Absolute Deific
Principle an infinite Unity called Ain-Soph *)
*)Ain-Soph (Greek: toh pan, epeiros), the boundless or limitless, in and of
nature, the non-existing that IS, but that is not a Being.
In order to create, the Creator has to become active; and as this is
impossible for absoluteness, the infinite principle had to be shown becoming
the cause of evolution (not creation) in an indirect way-i.e., through the
emanation from itself (another absurdity, due this time to the translators
of the Cabala) of the Sephiroth.
How can the non-active eternal principle emanate or emit? The Parabrahman of
the Vedantins does nothing of the kind; nor does the Ain-Soph of the
Chaldean Cabala. It is an eternal and periodical law which causes an active
and creative force (the logos) to emanate from the ever-concealed and
incomprehensible one principle at the beginning of every Mah -Manvantara, or
new cycle of life.
Q. How about those Cabalists, who, while being such, still believe in
Jehovah, or the Tetragrammaton?
A. They are at liberty to believe in what they please, as their belief or
Page 32
The Key To Theosophy - HP Blavatsky.txt
disbelief can hardly affect a self-evident fact. The Jesuits tell us that
two and two are not always four to a certainty, since it depends on the will
of God to make 2 × 2 = 5. Shall we accept their sophistry for all that?
Q. Then you are Atheists?
A. Not that we know of, and not unless the epithet of "Atheist" is to be
applied to those who disbelieve in an anthropomorphic God. We believe in a
Universal Divine Principle, the root of all, from which all proceeds, and
within which all shall be absorbed at the end of the great cycle of Being.
Q. This is the old, old claim of Pantheism. If you are Pantheists, you
cannot be Deists; and if you are not Deists, then you have to answer to the
name of Atheists.
A. Not necessarily so. The term Pantheism is again one of the many abused
terms, whose real and primitive meaning has been distorted by blind
prejudice and a one-sided view of it. If you accept the Christian etymology
of this compound word, and form it of pan , "all," and theos , "god," and
then imagine and teach that this means that every stone and every tree in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]