Learning from the past, drawing on the present: Theosophy and Tradition

Learning from the past, drawing on the present: Theosophy and Tradition

In its unfolding Theosophy and the Theosophical Society draw inspiration from the past and the present, under the guidance of its own internal life-currents. This weaves a web of creative activity in which all members can participate by becoming consciously engaged. In this presentation I follow one such strand of potential development, that of moving from theory to praxis. I begin with an over-arching framing narrative drawn from the Pythagoreans. From this location I move to an overview of Wouter Hanegraaff’s book, Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination: Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity. From here I move to a brief discussion of the work of David Reigle, specifically some of his blogs on creation accounts in the Buddhist scriptures. The implications of these three angles of engagement pose questions and present opportunities which I believe are central to the Theosophical enterprise.