Man from ancient times wants to know about himself, his origins, the universe and answers to fundamental questions of who am I (emphasised by the Indian sage Ramana Maharishi), why am I here and whither am I going? Speculation on these issues took two basic apparently contradictory forms - the rational versus intuitive or the materialist versus the spiritual. Materialists or rationalists believe that matter is primary and mind and consciousness is merely a product of matter or material processes while idealism or spiritualism holds the opposite view that consciousness or mind is the primary force both in the microcosm and macrocosm.
Materialist world view
Philosophical speculation and religious thought on these issues had both these strands from ancient times. In ancient Greece, philosophers like Leucippus, Democritus and the Atomists were regarded as the great materialists of antiquity while Rome produced such materialist thinkers as Zeno, Epicurus and the Stoics. Even in ancient India there were the materialist Carvakas “who denied God, ridiculed the priests, reviled the Vedas and sought salvation in pleasure” (Radhakrishnan).
Before AD 1500 the dominant world view was organic, its scientific framework resting on a few authorities - Aristotle and the Church. In the 13th century Thomas Aquinas combined Aristotle’s comprehensive system with Christian theology, which framework remained unquestioned in Europe throughout the Middle Ages.
This medieval outlook radically changed with the Scientific Revolution which began with Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Bacon, Spinoza, Locke, Newton, Kant, Hegel and Descartes among others and reached its zenith in the Newtonian-Descartes materialist world view as epitomised in Descartes’ celebrated maxim “Cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I exist). This view is that the universe is a mechanical system consisting of separate objects which in turn are reduced to fundamental building blocks whose properties and interactions determined all natural phenomena including living organisms. In biology this was reflected int eh theory of evolution presented by Lamarck, Wallace and Darwin while the origin of life was reflected in either the “primordial soup” theory of scientists like Cyril Ponnampperuma or the alternate view of scientists like Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe that life originated in outer space and was carried to earth by meteorites, asteroids etc.
Ancient spiritualism
Side by side however, was always the spiritualist or idealist view emanating from ancient times. These can be traced back to the Celtic and Scandinavian folklore, Hawaiian legends, Maoris, Mayans and Aztecs, Red Indian folklore etc and continued in the Egyptian mysteries, Assyrian and Chaldean fragmentary records, Greek Eleusinian mystery rites, Greek idealist philosophers like Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus, Iamblichus and the theurgists, Hebrew scriptures like the Kabbala and the Talmud, early Christian fathers influenced by the Hermetica, gnostics, Valentinus, Basilides etc. the tradition is reflected in Islam by Sufism, in Hindusim by the Uapnishads and Puranas, in Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Taoism, Persian Zoroastrianism and Zen in Japan among other traditions.
Modern scientific world view
The existing scientific view of the universe however underwent a radical change at the beginning of the twentieth century when physicists extended their range of investigations into the realms of atomic and sub-atomic phenomena and became aware of the limitations of the classical ideas and had to radically revise many of the concepts about reality.
Modern physics beginning with Einstein, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Edwin Schroedinger, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac, David Bohm etc changed the mechanistic Cartesian view of the world into an organic, holistic and ecological system which related to the view held in mystical traditions especially those of Eastern mysticism. Quantum theory made it clear that even sub-atomic particles are of a duel nature without any objective properties and based on what Heisenberg called the “uncertainty principle.” This discovery of the dual aspect of matter and the fundamental role of probability demolished the classical notion of solid objects. In sub-atomic or particle physics the Cartesian division between mind and matter, the observer and the observed is no longer maintained. In fact, the very fact of observation itself can change the nature of the observed phenomena. Matter or energy is not passive or inert but is in a continuous dancing and vibrating motion, its stability being one of dynamic balance. The relativistic quantum view postulates the universe as a flux with space and time not as absolutes but as a space-time continuum.
As the versatile writer Deepak Chopra puts it “Atoms disappeared when it was discovered that they are made up of energy, mere vibrations in the Void; Energy disappeared when it was found that vibrations are temporary excitations in a field and that the field itself does’nt vibrate but maintains a flat, constant ‘Zero point’; The Zero point serves as the switching point between existence and nothingness.” Physics was drawn step by step into the Void because nothing in the visible word was adequate to explain what had to be explained. As Shakespeare put it “There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
The parallels between the modern scientific view of the Universe and Reality and Eastern mataphysical thought and world view is strikingly brought out in Fritjoff Capra’s classic works “The Tao of Physics” and “The Turning Point.”
Development of Para-Psychology
Side by site with these developments in the physical science were the paralleled developments in Psychology, Neurology, Para-psychology, and Multi-dimensional experiences. The works of psychologists like Freud and Carl Jung demonstrated that the two realities of nature, physical and metaphysical, matter and consciousness, interlace and intermingle with each other. Research into para-psychological experiences such as extra-sensory perception (ESP), out-of-the body experiences (OBEs), near death experiences (NDEs) etc. were carried out by psychical researchers such as Emanuel Swedenborg, J B Rhine, Soal, Tyrrel, Frederick Myers, Edmond Gurney, William James, Richard Hodgson etc who established the Society for Psychical Research in London in 1882 with Prof Henry Sidgwick as first President and in America in 1885.
Their work was carried forward in modern times by such researchers as Raymond Moody, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Kenneth Ring and others and helped by such inventions as the Kirlian Camera which can photograph the astral vibrations surrounding individuals and living objects. These psycho-spiritual bodies or vehicles have their own characteristics and attributes. The sequence of bodies from the densest to the most subtle are the physical, etheric astral, mental, spiritual, cosmic and nirvanic. Mystic literature on these bodies are found in such classic works as the ancient “Egyptian Book of the Dead” the “Tibetan Book of the Dead” (Bardo Thodol) and modern classics such as the “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda etc. While it is difficult to explain these phenomena rationally, at the same time it is difficult to ignore and dismiss reported and documented cases.
Basic principles of theosophy
All these changes discussed above wee anticipated by the Theosophists beginning as stated, from Ammonus Saccs in the third century AD and revived by modern Theosophists. The Theosophical Society has had a long and momentous history being founded in New York, USA on 17th November 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Col Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others and incorporated under the laws of British India on April 3rd, 1905 with its Headquarters at Adyar, Madras (Chennai), India. The Sri Lankan Section of the Theosophical Society with its Headquarters in Colombo is the National Society composed of a number of Lodges to carry out within its jurisdiction the objects of the Society. These objects are:
1. To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.
2. To encourage the study Comparative Religion, Philosophy and Science.
3. To investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man.
Theosophy therefore is a broad based philosophy with the objective of finding out what is the Truth as exemplified by its motto “There is no religion higher than Truth”. A cynic may at this juncture echo Pontius Pilate who asked Jesus “What is Truth?” and did not wait for an answer. Nevertheless, Theosophy is the search and the living of the Path leading to Truth or Reality which can be realized only by deep reflection, by meditation, by the practice of selflessness and service to humanity.
The word Religion which is not usually understood in its real sense means that which binds one back to the source, implying that religion can explain whence we came and therefore where we go and also why we are here. The word religion is derived from “religere”, to bind back (to the source). In the course of history many religions came into being according to the teachings of Great Masters of Wisdom.
Their original pristine teachings were scientific and rational. In course of time however all religions became institutionalized. Commentators made their own interpretations and there grew into being a corpus of dogma and doctrine which clouded the livingness of the original teachings.
While Theosophy does not deny the materialist interpretation of the universe, it postulates that it is only a limited view of Existence and Reality. With our finite fragmented ego-consciousness, we cannot comprehend the vast physical universe and still less the all - pervasive Cosmic Intelligence. As Krishnamaurti put it “Truth is a pathless land” and “You cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion or by any sect. Truth being limitless, unconditioned and unapproachable by any path whatsoever cannot be organized nor should any organization be formed to lead or coerce people along any particular path. “The core of Krishnamurti’s teaching lies in “Choiceless, Effortless Awareness’ somewhat akin to the sage of Jaffna, Yogaswamy’s dictum “Summa Iru” (Just be) which constitutes the core of Advaita philosophy.
One of the great merits of the Theosophical Society is to have drawn the attention of the western world to the immense interest of original religions and philosophies and toe restore a proper valuation to archaic doctrines and ancient thought. Theosophy seeks to liberate man imprisoned in the trammels of matter, by giving him the knowledge and the stimulus that can mobilize invisible forces within him.
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