Nick the Pilot
Well-Known Member
IG,
You asked,
"Sounds like Theosophy is based on critical reasoning and not faith, would you agree?"
--> It is actually based on both. Critical reasoning is a factor because each Theosophist must choose what to believe, no other Theosophist has the right to tell them what to believe. But faith is also a factor, in that Theosophists are asked to consider ideas that do not make sense to the logical/scientific mind (for example, the idea that time does not exist during the periods between universes). This does entail leaps of faith, but the person chooses to make these leaps of their own free will, rather than being forced into it by dogma.
"Would you classify Theosophy as a science and not a faith-based religion?"
--> I cannot give a yes or no answer to this question. It is not that simple. Theosophy says that true science and true religion are in absolute agreement, so perhaps it could be said that Theosophy is both science and religion. Let’s consider the quesiton as to whether Theosophy is a religion. Theosophy is not a religion, it is all religions combined together — the idea here being that Theosophy is the sum total all of relgions, and is the study of all religions as they struggle to explain what really happens when we die, what other planes of existence and levels of consciousness are like in the universe, how we fit into these levels of consciousness, and what our goal in life is. There is one more idea to mention here. Theosophy proposes that the gods that created earth and humanity (the gods — plural — which are mentioned in Genesis 1:26) wrote out a record of what they did. Each religion claims to have a copy of that record (Christians and Jews have their Genesis, Hindus have their Vedas, Buddhists have their Sutras, etc.) Theosophy says it has the first copy of the creation story record as written by those gods that has been translated from their original language directly into English. It is Theosophy’s relationship to this text that effects whether a person calls Theosophy a science, a religion, or the sum total of all religions. The question of faith — whether to believe that this text is genuine — is up to each person to decide, and that decision is always faith-based to some extent. Each Theosophist is not required to believe any of this, but merely to consider some of these ideas (especially ideas like reincarnation and karma) and see if these ideas will fit into their own personal belief system.
I would like to mention one example of faith. Theosophy has struggled for some time with the question as to whether Jesus was a deity. Christian Theosophists say he was, Buddhist and Hindu Theosophists say he was not. This debate has raged within Theosophy for decades, has caused ill-will among some members, and even caused the London group to splinter into two groups many years ago. But each member is free to pursue his/her answer to this question as a matter of his/her own faith. This is a contentious problem within Theosophy, but Theosophy allows it (and Theosophy is one of the few organizations that welcomes people on both sides of this divisive bebate to be members of the Society). The ongoing struggle of some Theosophists trying to "bring Jesus in" while other members try to stop this from happening has been one of the more 'colorful' aspects of the Society over the last 100 years.
You asked,
"Sounds like Theosophy is based on critical reasoning and not faith, would you agree?"
--> It is actually based on both. Critical reasoning is a factor because each Theosophist must choose what to believe, no other Theosophist has the right to tell them what to believe. But faith is also a factor, in that Theosophists are asked to consider ideas that do not make sense to the logical/scientific mind (for example, the idea that time does not exist during the periods between universes). This does entail leaps of faith, but the person chooses to make these leaps of their own free will, rather than being forced into it by dogma.
"Would you classify Theosophy as a science and not a faith-based religion?"
--> I cannot give a yes or no answer to this question. It is not that simple. Theosophy says that true science and true religion are in absolute agreement, so perhaps it could be said that Theosophy is both science and religion. Let’s consider the quesiton as to whether Theosophy is a religion. Theosophy is not a religion, it is all religions combined together — the idea here being that Theosophy is the sum total all of relgions, and is the study of all religions as they struggle to explain what really happens when we die, what other planes of existence and levels of consciousness are like in the universe, how we fit into these levels of consciousness, and what our goal in life is. There is one more idea to mention here. Theosophy proposes that the gods that created earth and humanity (the gods — plural — which are mentioned in Genesis 1:26) wrote out a record of what they did. Each religion claims to have a copy of that record (Christians and Jews have their Genesis, Hindus have their Vedas, Buddhists have their Sutras, etc.) Theosophy says it has the first copy of the creation story record as written by those gods that has been translated from their original language directly into English. It is Theosophy’s relationship to this text that effects whether a person calls Theosophy a science, a religion, or the sum total of all religions. The question of faith — whether to believe that this text is genuine — is up to each person to decide, and that decision is always faith-based to some extent. Each Theosophist is not required to believe any of this, but merely to consider some of these ideas (especially ideas like reincarnation and karma) and see if these ideas will fit into their own personal belief system.
I would like to mention one example of faith. Theosophy has struggled for some time with the question as to whether Jesus was a deity. Christian Theosophists say he was, Buddhist and Hindu Theosophists say he was not. This debate has raged within Theosophy for decades, has caused ill-will among some members, and even caused the London group to splinter into two groups many years ago. But each member is free to pursue his/her answer to this question as a matter of his/her own faith. This is a contentious problem within Theosophy, but Theosophy allows it (and Theosophy is one of the few organizations that welcomes people on both sides of this divisive bebate to be members of the Society). The ongoing struggle of some Theosophists trying to "bring Jesus in" while other members try to stop this from happening has been one of the more 'colorful' aspects of the Society over the last 100 years.
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