Theosophy.Net
HPB Theosophy
Open discussions on HPB Theosophy. Please be cordial to other members of the Group.
contemporary scholarship and HPB
hi
I am interested in sharing ways of moving hpb's works (ideas and perspectives) from the periphery of current scholarship In various fields of knowledge) to a more central space. In most area's of knowledge her theosophy is simply ignored (sciences, etc). In some fields (ie religious studies) she is a topic of research but her ideas are not seen as valuable perspectives in themselves.
I am of the opinion that we should counter these exclusionary practices. How though do we do it?
David Reigle and David Pratt, (the 2 best writers on current theosophy in my opinion) have shown two ways to go about this. Part of the problem is that society has advanced from the 19th century, while hpb is trapped there in a way. Are her ideas relevant, how do we update them, are they even updatable? Is the processes involved different in different fields, i.e. philosophy vs biology.
How do we undo the marginalisation of theosophical thought in mainstream debates? Or, is it possible that there is no way to do this, in which case do we as 'believers' simply live in our own world, one which is irrelevant to society at large? And if this is the case, why are we content with this compromise?
Rgds, Dewald
Moderator
John
It has always seemed to me that HPB is trapped in the Victorian era. That would have to be overcome.
One main problem is that Theosophists have little respect for science. Many actually believe Sheldrake's criticisms e.g. With that mind-set it is impossible to get anywhere. The Mind-Body problem is in active research by many scientists so they are on top of some of the issues between Science and consciousness (ORCH OR theory is a good try by Penrose et al). I haven't seen anything from HPB that would help the QM approach, or other approaches, to the problem. I expect scientists in this century will solve the remaining issues there. After that, they might look at mysticism/esotericism again (Some scientists did this during the development of QM ~late 1920's and 1930's).
Basically it is a 2-way street. Theosophists have to change and Science has to change. Until both respect each other there is little hope. I think it is easier for Theosophists to change first.
just my .02 cents on the subject.
May 14, 2015