A Wicked Company by Philipp Blom

This is just a book note, for I have not read it, nor, considering how far I am behind in going through my list, shall I get to it soon. The Mahatmas praised & quoted the Atheist of 200 plus years ago - Baron d'Holbach. This book is about him and his salon of Voltaire, Diderot and other thinkers of that time.

Considering that much of ML letter 10 (the atheist letter) is based on Holbach's writings, theosophists ought to know more about him.

Here is the Introduction to the book:

http://www.philipp-blom.eu/Downloads/INTRODUCTION%20-%20A%20Wicked%...

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Permalink Reply by Max on February 1, 2011 at 12:49pm

Dear Nicholas,

Thanks for your book review. I read the Introduction to the book, borrowed a copy from a local library and am going to read it.

Holbach's writings may be of some interest to spiritual seekers, but I suspect the picking would be sparse. His view of the world was rather poor--it was mechanistic and reductionist (he reduced all things to matter, motion, and pure cause & effect), while on the contrary theosophy paints a much richer picture of a universe that stretches between Mulaprakriti and Parabrahman, has multiple levels of organization, and is managed by hosts of semiconscious (e.g., devas) and highly intelligent (e.g., Dhyanis) beings, its evolution being goal-oriented.

Max