Theos-Talk Archives (December 1999 Message tl00016)

"W. Dallas TenBroeck" wrote:
>
> Dec 2nd
>
> Dear Maureen:
>
> Theosophy is essentially the "religion" of common sense.

	1) THEOSOPHY IS NOT A RELIGION.
	2) THEOSOPHY IS NOT A RELIGION.
	3) THEOSOPHY IS NOT A RELIGION.

	At most, you could say that it is a religious philosophy, or, better, a
methodology for determining one's own religious belief. Certainly there
are some who turn certain Theosohpical writings into a religion (the
Esoteric Section comes to mind immediately, and many of the offshoot
groups, such as CUT, the offshoots of "I AM", etc.), but Theosophy
itself is not one.

	If one REALLY has to make a capsule definition, then one can say that
Theosophy is an attempt to discover the basic principles behind science,
religion, and philosophy, and the Theosophical Societies are
organizations where theosophists join, using certain writings from the
late 19th and early 20th centuries as a base from which to start.

	Bart Lidofsky