THEOSOPHY SHAME

[Scott Sands]

I want to introduce a very unpopular unspoken topic. I have seen nothing about it by any Theosophical author. Only after years in Theosophy have I come across it and that has been piece by piece... most of which has been formed by what's not said rather than said. And I still know very little about it.

I bring this up not to rehash and old wound. I bring it up because it has been (from what I can tell) a defining event and possibly a cause for the down turn in TS numbers from a member peak in the past.

The little I know about it has come from other-than TS sources... and if anyone should know about it or talk about it... I think TS members should. Even if it is a darkened spot in TS history.

The topic is Hitlers ideas and beleifs which were inspired the Blavatsky and Theosophy. His idea of the Arian race came from Theosophy. They share the swastika. What else? I'm not sure.

Now he took these ideas and ran with them in his own direction. Commiting atrosities in their name. The down turn in members seems to be around this time also.

We know we cannot hold Theosophy to blame for any of this and it makes sense the TS would not want to acknowledge the connections... but I beleive the only way a shame can be released is to acknowledge and talk about it.

I may be wrong in some of some of what I've stated... which is exactly why I bring this up. We should know and understand what happened so we can explain it to others if asked.

[michaelcarlo]

There is no shame in Theosophy, there is no lie in truth. World War 2 is the historical record of an infant humanity experiencing it's growing pains.

[Suibhne Geilt]

From what I understand, Hitler took the teachings of Madam Blavatsky and perverted them for his own ends using them to justify the holocaust and possibly some of his other more inhuman policies. I think this is neither the fault of Blavatsky or Theosophy in general.

[Katinka Hesselink]

I've written two pieces about this issue. First: Was Blavatsky a Nazi?

and second: Some considerations concerning Blavatsky and Nazism

[Scott Sands]

I look forward to reading these.

Just to rephrase... I am not blaming Blavatsky or the TS. And I kind'a overemphasized the 'shame' purposely to make it less so ( if you know what I mean). But I do think it's a topic that is skirted if possible.

[Maurice Pedro]

I'm an African American and interested in symbolic jewelry. I know that the svastika is a universal symbol of the cycles of life among other things and has been used by all cultures. However I can't wear a svastika medallion or I'll be seriously misunderstood, and you are correct, no one wants to hear an explanation. If I wore a hammer and sickle T shirt people would think it was a popular culture statement, even though Stalin killed as many as Hitler.

[Beautiful Lily]

I don't think anyone skirts the issue. People have posted on this topic before but I guess you haven't seen any of those.

[Katinka Hesselink]

I'd love to do a review that book - but I'd have to get it first and my budget is small these days.

I did finally write up a review about Goodrick-Clarke's book though.

[Vincent]

Well, from what I have read in the works of HPB, she nor any of her followers recommended any kind of holocost. As I understand the Theosophical Society, it is non-political and non-dogmatic. I have attended many meetings at the Baltimore Lodge of the TS, and I am a member of the United Lodge of Theosophists, which also does not concern itself with political movements.

I am grateful that these lodges do not waste any time on politicing. It is wonderfully refreshing. The news media is full of political nonsense. I am also happy to hear that our new president is refusing to speak to lobbyists, and he is promoting the development of 'green energy'.

The NAZI movement supported social Darwinism which is really where it got its genesidal ideas, certainly HPB was not the source, even though she had very harsh words for Roman catholicism.

There is a nice history of all of the theosophical groups:

"Ancient Wisdom Revived" by Bruce Campbell


Best regards,

Vincent

[Katinka Hesselink]

True: Social Darwinism was the root ideology that Hitler himself based his work on. But there's no denying that some of Blavatsky's readers used what she wrote to justify supporting him. However, by the standards of the day, Blavatsky's ideas weren't all that radical - nor did she refer to Jews a lot.

The horrors of WW2 are hard to imagine even today - they were apparently almost impossible to foresee before it happened. Certainly Rudolf Steiner (who lived closer in time and space) had no clue.

[Vincent]

"Certainly Rudolf Steiner (who lived closer in time and space) had no clue."

This is an important point. He was the president of the TS in Germany during the war, and toward the end of the war the lodge had to close because it was considered anti-nazi. Steiner himself had to run to Switzerland to escape the Nazis.

[Konstantin Zaitzev]

> He was the president of the TS in Germany during the war,

It is not exactly so. He was the president till 1913, when he broke away with all his section and formed the Anthroposophical Society. Since then there's no big theosophical section on Germany. He died in 1925.
Yet it's true that both theosophists and anthroposophists were persecuted by the nazis.

[Vincent]

Well, thanks for pointing out the date of his death, I did not know that he died at such an early date. What I wrote was from my memory of something I had read. I found a statement about the persecution of Steiner himself on wikipedia:

"In 1919, the political theorist of the National Socialist movement in Germany, Dietrich Eckart, attacked Steiner and suggested that he was a Jew.[19] In 1921, Adolf Hitler attacked Steiner in an article in the right-wing "Völkischen Beobachter" newspaper, including accusations that Steiner was a tool of the Jews,[20] and other nationalist extremists in Germany were calling up a "war against Steiner". The 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich led Steiner to give up his residence in Berlin, saying that if those responsible for the attempted coup [Hitler and others] came to power in Germany, it would no longer be possible for him to enter the country; [21] he also warned against the disastrous effects it would have for Central Europe if the National Socialists came to power.[22]"

This states that he gave up his Berlin residence, but fails to say that he moved to Switzerland which is what I had gotten from another source.