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Henry Steel Olcott and the Theosophical Society

Article/ by Anon., Theosophy Magazine, November, 1912

To the mentally lazy or obtuse, Theosophy must remain a riddle; for in the world mental as in the world spiritual each man must progress by his own efforts. The writer cannot do the reader’s thinking for him, nor would the latter be any the better off if such vicarious thought were possible. —H. P. Blavatsky, Key to Theosophy.

It is above all else essential that true discrimination should be added to whatever of earnestness and sincerity the student may possess. And it is only by self-induced and self-devised efforts that this true discrimination can be acquired. It cannot be bestowed. It does not pass by any grant or inheritance. And it can only be developed by “doing service, by strong search, by questions, and by humility.”

From such efforts the student may discern the order and relatedness of persons and events to each other and to the CAUSE underlying all, permeating all.

THEOSOPHY is the cause, the origin, basis and genius of every Theosophical movement or organization; forms in itself the common ground of interest and effort, above and beyond all differences of opinion as to persons or methods.

The Three Fundamental Propositions of Theosophy are so because they are universal in existence and in application. There is Spirit, Soul and Matter everywhere. When we forget this, when we ignore this, when we essay to annul this eternal conjugation, we do but slip and stumble in the endless mazes of delusion.

The Theosophical Movement can only be understood by understanding and applying the teachings of Theosophy. It can then be seen that the Theosophical Movement began far back in the night of Time, and has since been moving through many and various peoples, places and environment. Its source is in that long and unbroken line of Elder Brothers of Humanity, Beings who were perfected in this and former periods of evolution. They have always existed as a body, all knowing each other, no matter in what part of the world they may be, all having a single doctrine, and all working for the race in many different ways.

Wherever thought has struggled to be free, wherever spiritual ideas, as opposed to forms and dogmatism, have been promulgated, there the great Movement is to be discerned. All who love Brotherhood are parts of that great whole denominated the Theosophical Movement. Its unity throughout the world does not consist in the existence and action of any single organization, but depends upon the similarity of work and aspiration of those in the world who are working for it, and he who can, to any extent, assimilate the Master, to that extent he is the representative of the Master, and has the help of the Lodge and Its work.

The great work of the real Theosophical Movement is aided by working organizations, but is above them all. That grand work does not depend upon forms, ceremonies, particular persons or set organizations. Hence organizations of Theosophists must vary and change in accordance with place, time, exigency and people.

The Theosophical Society will then appear in its proper light as an effect, a visible organization, a machine for conserving energy and putting it to use. As such it is not and cannot be universal, nor continuous, and like all such bodies, it must change from time to time, as human defects come out, as the times change, and as the great underlying spiritual Movement compels such alterations. Thus, those of us who follow after and worship a mere organization are making fetishes and worshipping a shell.

It should be abundantly clear that the line of transmission of the Wisdom of the Lodge and Its efforts for the advancement of the race through the Theosophical Movement and Theosophical Societies is spiritual and not physical. In the same way it is self-evident that no question of “successorship” or “authority” should ever have arisen with regard to Madame Blavatsky, Mr. Judge or Colonel Olcott, the three Founders of the Theosophical Society.

There is no question anywhere as to who brought THEOSOPHY to the Western world, nor is there any reason to believe that the Messenger, H. P. Blavatsky, failed to deliver all that was to be given out until 1975—the time stated by her for the advent of the next Messenger. Madame Blavatsky could no more pass on her attainments to another than could Shakespeare, Milton or Beethoven pass on theirs. Whatever of “authority” pertains to her must rest upon the Message she brought, its comprehensiveness, its completeness, its continuity and reasonableness; in other words, on its philosophical synthesis, a thing missed alike by the superficial and the contentious, by the indolent, the superstitious, and the dogmatic. Equally, whatever of “succession” may obtain among her associates, followers and students of every degree is measurable only by their adhesion to and following of the lines laid down by her, and not by any externalities whatever.

The life and efforts of H. P. Blavatsky and of William Q. Judge, as everywhere shown in their actions and in their writings, were one and inseparable in devotion to the service of “that great orphan—Humanity.” They gave themselves consistently and untiringly to the teaching and spread of THEOSOPHY and the furthering of the Theosophical Movement. To them the Theosophical Society was never anything but a vehicle, a channel, a body to be used, changed, patched, discarded if need be, for a more serviceable instrument.

It needs but a study and comparison of their writings and activities to ascertain this beyond all cavil. Such study and comparison will yield the student a clear and certain perspective that can be obtained in no other way. He will then have a sure basis for deductions in regard to Theosophy, the Movement, the Society and the positions therein of two out of the three persons associated from the commencement of the work of the present cycle, and a sure guide in threading his way through the perplexities of the last twenty years.

The same study and comparison of the life work and writings of Colonel Olcott will set forth with equal clearness his place and function in this Trinity.

His connection with the Society was direct, immediate and sustained. From 1875 until his death in 1907 all his ability and zeal, all his loyalty and devotion, were unsparing and undeviating in the direction, sustentation and care of that Society. To him the Society of which he was elected President, and of which during long years he called himself the President-Founder, was more than the Ark of the covenant: it was the Covenant itself. He literally gave to the Society his life. He fought for it, wrote for it, traveled for it, suffered for it. For Colonel Olcott the Theosophical Society was the Movement; was Theosophy. In it he lived and moved and had his being. In all his writings for the Theosophist, in his well-nigh numberless proclamations, “executive notices,” “addresses,” and “official documents,” one thing shines paramount, incessant, all-important—the Theosophical Society.

Colonel Olcott lived according to his light, worked according to his understanding, and performed a mighty and a valiant service. While for the sake of Truth—for those who serve as for those who seek—his errors of mind and brain can neither be glossed nor ignored, we may well believe that he did all he could and the best he knew, and the Master has said that he who does that, does enough. That he was unable to distinguish between the vessel and its content was his Karma, rather than his fault.

Once assigned to his rightful position as the steadfast and devoted head of the Society formed to make a vehicle for Theosophy, his efforts appear brilliant, glorious, worthy of emulation. It is only when we falsely strive to make of him a Messenger, Teacher or Guide, that we do wrong to him and to ourselves.

The enduring work of Colonel Olcott is to be looked for in India and the Farther East, rather than in Europe or America. There his name is imperishably associated with the reunion of the dissevered and opposed wings of the great Buddhist congregation. There his long residence and labor went far to break the hard and barren soil of caste and creed and schism. To him more than to any other is due the fraternal commingling in some degree on the Theosophic platform of those who for long centuries had felt it contamination to breathe the air of their brethren of another sect.

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