Category: The Key To Theosophy (1889): H. P. Blavatsky

"Enq:  Please elucidate this difference a little more.   Theo:  The Society is a great body of men and women, composed of the most heterogeneous elements.   Theosophy, in its abstract meaning, is Divine Wisdom, or the aggregate of the knowledge and wisdom that underlie the Universe - the homogeneity of eternal GOOD; and in [...]

"Enq:  Yes it is rather difficult to draw the line of demarcation between the abstract and the concrete in this case, as we have only the latter to form our judgement by.   Theo:  Then why make an exception for the T.S.?  Justice, like charity, ought to begin at home.   Will you revile and [...]

"Enq:  This is pure Altruism, I confess.   Theo:  It is.  And if only one Fellow of the T.S. out of ten would practice it ours would be a body of elect indeed. But there are among the outsiders those who will always refuse to see the essential difference between Theosophy and the Theosophical Society, [...]

"Enq:  Is moral elevation, then, the principle thing insisted upon in your Society?   Theo:  Undoubtedly! He who would be a true Theosophist must bring himself to live as one.   Enq:  If so, then, as I remarked before, the behavior of some members strangely belies this fundamental rule.   Theo:  Indeed it does. But [...]

"Enq:  But is a man expelled, or resigning, from the section free to reveal anything he may have learned, or to break any clause of the pledge he has taken?   Theo:  Certainly not. His expulsion or resignation only relieves him from the obligation of obedience to the teacher, and from that of taking an [...]

"Enq:  Have you any ethical system that you carry out in the Society?   Theo:  The ethics are there, ready and clear enough for whomsoever would follow them. They are the essence and cream of the world's ethic's, gathered from the teachings of all the world's great reformers.   Therefore, you will find represented therein [...]

"Enq:  Will you now explain the methods by which you propose to carry out the second object?   Theo:  To collect for the library at our headquarters of Adyar, Madras, (and by the Fellows of their Branches for their local libraries), all the good works upon the world religions that we can.   To put [...]

"Enq:  What laws do you mean?   Theo:  We call them Karmic laws; but you will not understand the full meaning of the term unless you study Occultism. However, my argument did not rest on the assumption of these laws but really on the analogy of the plant.   Expand the idea, carry it out [...]

"Enq:  This refers to the common origin of religions, and you may be right there. But how does it apply to practical brotherhood on the physical plane?   Theo:  First, because that which is true on the metaphysical plane must be also true on the physical. Secondly, because there is no more fertile source of [...]

"Enq:  What do the written statutes of your Society advise its members to do besides this? On the physical plane, I mean?   Theo:  In order to awaken brotherly feeling among nations we have to assist in the international exchange of useful arts and products, by advice, information, and cooperation with all worthy individuals and [...]