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

"Enq:  Again, and I say this on the authority of your own Journal, the Theosophist, there's a Rajah of India who donated to the Society 25,000 rupees. Have you not thanked him for his great bounty in the January Theosophist for 1888?   Theo:  We have, in these words, "That the thanks of the Convention [...]

"Enq:  Then I have been told of several large legacies left to the T.S. One - some £8,000 - was left to it by some eccentric Englishman, who did not even belong to the Society. The other - £3,000 or £4,000 - were testated by an Australian F.T.S. Is this true?   Theo:  I heard [...]

"Enq:  But why could not both she and Colonel Olcott do as others - notably many Theosophists - do: follow out their respective professions and devote the surplus of their time to the work of the Society?   Theo:  Because by serving two masters, either the professional or the philanthropic work would have had to [...]

"Enq:  Agreed. Well, have either of the Founders, Colonel H. S. Olcott or H. P. Blavatsky, ever made any money, profit, or derived any worldly benefit from the T.S, as some papers say?   Theo:  Not one penny. The papers lie. On the contrary, they have both given all they had, and literally beggared themselves. [...]

"Enq:  But you cannot deny that the Phallic element does exist in the religions of the East?   Theo:  Nor do I deny it; only I maintain that this proves no more than does its presence in Christianity, the religion of the West. Read Hargrave Jenning's Rosicrucians, if you would assure yourself of it.   [...]

"Enq:  Don't you think your assertion altogether too sweeping? The Englishman has never been over-ready to believe in anything said, and our nation is proverbially known for its love of fair play. A lie has no legs to stand upon for long, and -   Theo:  The Englishman is as ready to believe evil as [...]

"Theo (cont):  Unfortunately, human nature is so constituted that any good said of a person is immediately forgotten and never repeated. But one has only to utter a calumny, or to start a story - no matter how absurd, false or incredible it may be, if only it is connected with some unpopular character - [...]

"Enq:  Yet in the 14 years during which the Society has existed, you must have had ample time and opportunity to show yourselves and your work in their true light?   Theo:  How, or when, have we been given such an opportunity? Our most prominent members had an aversion to anything that looked like publicly [...]

"Enq:  And what led the S.P.R to take the field against you? You were both pursuing the same line of study, in some respects, and several of the Psychic Researchers belonged to your society.   Theo:  First of all we were very good friends with the leaders of the S.P.R.; but when the attack on [...]

"Enq:  For what, and since when, do the Spiritualists hate you?   Theo:  From the first day of the Society's existence. No sooner the fact became known that, as a body, the T.S. did not believe in communications with the spirits of the dead, but regarded the so-called "spirits" as, for the most part, astral [...]