Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00419)

>From Alan Bain.

It cannot have escaped peoples' attention that I have been
promoting THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL with some enthusiasm .....
and so I thought it time to say a few things that seem important
about it.

The 2nd object of the Adyar TS reads: To encourage the study of
comparative religion philosophy and science.

The TI version reads: To encourage and engage in the study of
comparative religion theosophy philosophy and the scientific
method according to individual ability and inclination.

When the Adyar objects are considered there is no commitment to
study anything at all and theosophy as a subject is not even
mentioned an all too familiar peculiarity to the Adyar TS
thinking members.

TI has therefore added theosophy as a specific subject and *at
the same time* expresses a commitment actually to study the
subjects mentioned. On theos-l this is clearly already done as
the quality of the discussions shows.

One correspondent took to task the reference to "scientific
method" as distinct from "science" as such. In attempting the
initial formulation of the TI objects it seemed to me that
"science" as a subject was in this day and age too broad a
definition. The main characteristic of "science" has been so
far as I can see to approach its increasingly large number of
individual subjects or disciplines using the scientific method
of experimentation verification and testing of data.

Being in England I have had during my own studies the
privilege of access to that wondrous institution the British
Library. When I first used it it was more homely and although
already vast called simply the Reading Room of the British
Museum Library.

There I read in the original editions such arcane works as
Cornelius Agrippa's ~Three Books of Occult Philosophy~ and Dion
Fortune's ~The Goat-foot God~.

One interesting fact at that time and maybe still was that
all such material was classified under one simple heading:

OCCULT SCIENCE.

Here too one found works on theosophy of all ages both pre-
and post- HPB. Incidentally it was there that I first found a
book mentioned recently on theos-l ~The Kabbalah~ by Isaac
Meier. Sorry know nothing about him now.

Anyhow you can see why on reflection I altered the rather
vague reference to "science" to "scientific method." Why?
Because as in its own wisdom fairly old if not actually
ancient the British Museum Library implied so ingenuously
that our own favorite topics were subject to its disciplines.
On reading such books as that by Isaac Meier I can see they
were right to do so though I am not so sure about ~The
Goat-foot God~.

Theosophy proper IMHO in all its manifestations *is* a
science even though "science" - in the sense of the scientific
"establishment" - might regard it otherwise.

To follow on from there the third object really comes within
the scope of the second it seems to me. It does help however
to give it a separate mention as the third object links back to
the first like the uroboros serpent in the Theosophical logo.

The quest for truth in other words is an eternal quest. In
subscribing to TI we are articulating our part in that quest
but more importantly the fact that we have it in common; that
it's findings are for sharing - like life itself.

If I discover the truth which is the circle what do I draw?

Alan
--
Member Theosophy International.
Member Human Race.