Theos-Talk Archives (February 1998 Message tl00179)

In message <34ED13D7.5121B46@sprynet.com>, Bart Lidofsky
<bartl@sprynet.com> writes
>   But. at least according to HPB, theosophy IS religion.

So why does TS literature often say that membership is open to people
of any religion or *none*?  If your remark above is a direct quote, she
does not say that theosophy is *A* religion.

Admittedly, *theos* [god] plus *sophia* [wisdom] implies (!)
something *religious* and clearly many theosophists of the
CWL/Besant era *did* see theosophy as a religion, and even a
religious denomination of a kind.

Unfortunately, if we are to base the whole thing upon the writings of the
[alleged] masters [which they do not seem to have claimed to be] the
famous letter X emphatically denies that *their* view, at least, allows
for a god, let alone one whose pronoun "begins with a capital H."

Ergo, "theosophy" was not the best choice of word, or, the masters
were saying something different from HPB ....

Confusing, ain't it folks ....

Alan
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