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Can you feel the quality of a spiritual teacher?

I got a book for review recently that I put down within a few minutes because it made me all jittery. A few days ago we had a spiritual teacher do a lecture at our local theosophical lodge, and he turned the room quiet. We didn’t even have questions to last the full time set [...]

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The karma of disease and health

The relationship between karma and disease is a controversial one. There is the common sense view that since disease is unwelcome, it ‘must be’ bad karma. On the other hand there is a long tradition of theosophical thought saying that bad karma doesn’t exist. I was reading up on a related topic this summer and [...]

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Remembering Blavatsky – White Lotusday

On May 8th theosophists all over the world, whatever theosophical organization they belong to, commemorate Blavatsky’s passing on May 8th 1891. This day is called White Lotusday. Traditionally quotes from three texts are read: The Bhagavad Gita, The Voice of the Silence and Light of Asia. So here goes from chapter ten of the Bhagavad [...]

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Bliss, Atman, Brahman – Jnana Yoga Q&A

Today I got a Jnana Yoga question from Roy: “How can Bliss be part of the essence of Brahman? The ego seeks bliss, i.e. to feel good (at minimum a feeling of well being), even at the expense of truth. Doesn’t the concept of Bliss being part of the essence of Brahman ultimately fulfill the [...]

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Thinking for yourself – spiritual virtue no. 2

Of all the virtues and values I’m discussing in this series, thinking for yourself is probably the least ‘spiritual’. A lot of people associate spirituality more with ‘intuition’ (or even emotion as some have noted in the comments) than with thinking. Yet thinking for yourself is a central concept in many new religious movements. It [...]

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Blavatsky on Yoga

Since we’ve been studying the yoga suttras in the The Hague lodge of the Theosophical Society (inspiring meetings), I thought I’d look up what H.P. Blavatsky has to say about the subject. Unfortunately I find she’s so busy debunking misconceptions rampant in her time, she finds little room to talk about the real thing. Some [...]

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Looking at the body spiritually

Last week I explained how theosophists look at consciousness: how it is mapped. In doing so I almost completely ignored the biological basis of life. The phenomena I want to map today are considered by the sciences of biology and medicine as aspects of the body – to the extent that is that these phenomena [...]

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Attachment and addiction – about spiritual hierarchy

My post yesterday explored addiction – specifically addiction to electronics. Addiction is any habit that can’t be stopped easily. Some addictions are chemically based. Addiction to coffee, chocolate and cigarettes for instance are hard to break habits because the brain has changed in response to those substances. This is true even after a person has [...]

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Blavatsky on Krishna – signs of respect

It has been said that Blavatsky’s work started out with a Western approach. Her book ‘Isis Unveiled’ has been described as ‘Egyptian’. From a theosophical standpoint this is preposterous – and anyone who has looked at index will have to agree. One early reference to Indian spirituality is this one: Blavatsky refers to the washing [...]

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