Altered States of Consciousness in Early Theosophy (II)
The Theosophical Society has been preoccupied with altered states of consciousness from the very beginning and in general with understanding human nature. The Theosophical Society neither accepted humanity as a purely biological phenomenon, nor the idea that the mind is simply the brain. In fact, consciousness itself is not a purely human trait but exists in all the kingdoms of nature in various degrees—giving rise to different experiences. But what is consciousness and what is an altered state of consciousness according to Theosophy? Were the perspectives developed new or old? The first lecture will focus on H. P. Blavatsky’s understanding of consciousness and her description of various types of consciousness, especially as they are described in The Secret Doctrine (1888) and in the Esoteric Instructions that were given to members of the Esoteric Section. It will also highlight the comparative interest in synthesizing or aligning the terminology from various religious and philosophical traditions from around the world. Among them especially Neoplatonism, Kabbalah, Buddhism, and Hindu philosophy.
The second lecture will explore how consciousness and altered states of consciousness were described and used by later theosophists, such as Annie Besant, C. W. Leadbeater, Geoffrey Hodson and Alice A. Bailey. Some of the practices involved in altering consciousness were meditation, learning the correspondences between the things in cosmos, purification, and training the third eye. Altered states were for example important for understanding and exploring the hidden spiritual world, including colors, atoms, devas, and energies and the spiritual process of evolution that runs through all of nature. Operating in other states of consciousness was also seen as the natural outcome of initiation and experience of the higher planes or worlds in a conscious state. Finally, this second lecture will offer a short perspective on how this theosophical focus on the evolution of consciousness and the expansion of consciousness has become key to the “spiritual revolution” in more current times in alternative spirituality and philosophy.