Theos-Talk Archives (January 1996 Message tl00026)

In the uploads from ~The Secret Doctrine~ which will appear here
on the list from time to time, various conventions will be
observed, and this information file will preface each upload,
amended as necessary.

The first upload is the title page, dedication, and preface, and
is the easy bit!  The only convention needed in this part is the
use of the underscore key [_] each side of a word or words in order
to indicate italics in the original, including book titles.
Where parentheses are seen ["] they appears as such in the
original text.  Thus the word _upload_ here represents that
word in italics, whereas the word "upload" is how it is
printed in the original.

I have yet to fully consult the Gutenburg guidelines for the
best means to acuurately but simply represent the many and
varied accents and foreign words that appear in H.P.B.'s
monumental work, but I thought it would give us all a small
boost to see some small part of the work being done ...

Alan Bain.

THE SECRET DOCTRINE:


THE SYNTHESIS

OF

SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND PHILOSOPHY.


BY

H. P. BLAVATSKY,

AUTHOR OF "ISIS UNVEILED."



"There is no Religion higher than Truth."



VOL. I. COSMOGENESIS.



London: THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED, 7, Duke
Street, Adelphi, W.C.  WILLIAM Q. JUDGE, 117, Nassau Street, New
York.  THE MANAGER OF THE THEOSOPHIST,

Adyar, Madras.

1888

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1888 by H. P.
Blavatsky, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at
Washington, D.C.

"This Work I Dedicate to all True Theosophists, In every
Country, And of every Race, For they called it forth, and for
them it was recorded."

Preface.

The Author - the writer, rather - feels it necessary to
apologise for the long delay which has occurred in the
appearance of this work. It has been occasioned by ill-health
and the magnitude of the undertaking. Even the two volumes now
issued do not complete the scheme, and these do not treat
exhaustively of the subjects dealt with in them. A large
quantity of material has already been prepared, dealing with the
history of occultism as contained in the lives of the great
Adepts of the Aryan Race, and showing the bearing of occult
philosophy upon the conduct of life, as it is and as it ought to
be. Should the present volumes meet with a favourable reception,
no effort will be spared to carry out the scheme of the work in
its entirety. The third volume is entirely ready; the fourth
almost so.

This scheme, it must be added, was not in contemplation when the
preparation of the work was first announced. As originally
announced, it was intended that _The Secret Doctrine_ should be
an amended and enlarged version of _Isis Unveiled._ It was,
however, soon found that the explanations which could be added
to those already put before the world in the last-named and
other works dealing with esoteric science, were such as to
require a different method of treatment: and consequently the
present volumes do not contain, in all, twenty pages extracted
from _Isis Unveiled._

The author does not feel it necessary to ask the indulgence of
her readers and critics for the many defects of literary style,
and the imperfect English which may be found in these pages. She
is a foreigner, and her knowledge of the language was acquired
late in life. The English tongue is employed because it offers
the most widely-diffused medium for conveying the truths which
it had become her duty to place before the world.

These truths are in no sense put forward as a _revelation;_ nor
does the author claim the position of a revealer of mystic lore,
now made public for the first time in the world's history. For
what is contained in this work is to be found scattered
throughout thousands of volumes embodying the scriptures of the
great Asiatic and early European religions, hidden under glyph
and symbol, and hitherto left unnoticed because of this veil.
What is now attempted is to gather the oldest tenets together
and to make of them one harmonious and unbroken whole. The sole
advantage which the writer has over her predecessors, is that
she need not resort to personal speculations and theories.  For
this work is a partial statement of what she herself has been
taught by more advanced students, supplemented, in a few details
only, by the results of her own study and observation. The
publication of many of the facts herein stated has been rendered
necessary by the wild and fanciful speculations in which many
Theosophists and students of mysticism have indulged, during the
last few years, in their endeavour to, as they imagined, work
out a complete system of thought from the few facts previously
communicated to them.

It is needless to explain that this book is not the Secret
Doctrine in its entirety, but a select number of fragments of
its fundamental tenets, special attention being paid to some
facts which have been seized upon by various writers, and
distorted out of all resemblance to the truth.

But it is perhaps desirable to state unequivocally that the
teachings, however fragmentary and incomplete, contained in
these volumes, belong neither to the Hindu, the Zoroastrian, the
Chaldean, nor the Egyptian religion, neither to Buddhism, Islam,
Judaism nor Christianity exclusively. The Secret Doctrine is the
essence of all these. Sprung from it in their origins, the
various religious schemes are now made to merge back into their
original element, out of which every mystery and dogma has
grown, developed, and become materialized.

It is more than probable that the book will be regarded by a
large section of the public as a romance of the wildest kind;
for who has ever even heard of the book of Dzyan?

The writer, therefore, is fully prepared to take all the
responsibility for what is contained in this work, and even to
face the charge of having invented the whole of it. That it has
many shortcomings she is fully aware; all that she claims for it
is that, romantic as it may seem to many, its logical coherence
and consistency entitle this new Genesis to rank, at any rate,
on a level with the "working hypotheses" so freely accepted by
modern science. Further, it claims consideration, not by reason
of any appeal to dogmatic authority, but because it closely
adheres to Nature, and follows the laws of uniformity and
analogy.

The aim of this work may be thus stated: to show that Nature is
not "a fortuitous concurrence of atoms," and to assign to man
his rightful place in the scheme of the Universe; to rescue from
degradation the archaic truths which are the basis of all
religions; and to uncover, to some extent, the fundamental unity
from which they all spring; finally, to show that the occult
side of Nature has never been approached by the Science of
modern civilization.

If this is in any degree accomplished, the writer is content. It
is written in the service of humanity, and by humanity and the
future generations it must be judged. Its author recognises no
inferior court of appeal. Abuse she is accustomed to; calumny
she is daily acquainted with; at slander she smiles in silent
contempt.

_De minimis non curat lex._

H. P. B.  London, _October,_ 1888.

Uploaded by

Alan
--
Member, Theosophy International.
Member, Human Race.