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The Mahatma Letters To A. P. Sinnett
''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett'' is a book published in 1923 by A. Trevor Barker. () According to Theosophical teachings, the letters were written between 1880 and 1884 by Koot Hoomi and Morya to A. P. Sinnett. The letters were previously quoted in several theosophical books (e.g. '' The Occult World'' by Sinnett), but not published in full. The letters were important to the movement due to their discussions on the theosophical cosmos and spiritual hierarchy. From 1939, the original letters were in the possession of the British Museum but later the British Library. The book was both praised and criticized by theosophists. Dr H. N. Stokes called the book "the most authoritative work of a theosophical nature ever made accessible to the public. It is simply transcendent in its importance." Criticism Patterson wrote about theosophical occult phenomena, "What if these signs and wonders are proofs of something very different?... Instead of a message from beings of supernal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koot Hoomi
Koot Hoomi (also spelled Kuthumi, and frequently referred to simply as K.H.) is said to be one of the Mahatmas that inspired the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875. In Theosophy it is believed that he engaged in a correspondence with two English Theosophists living in India, A. P. Sinnett and A. O. Hume. Their correspondence was published in the book '' The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett''. Skeptics have described Koot Hoomi and the other Mahatmas as a hoax. Stein, Gordon. (1993). ''Encyclopedia of Hoaxes''. Gale Group. p. 224. Personal features Little descriptive references to K.H. occur in '' The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett'' and the writings of Mme. Blavatsky. The name Koot Hoomi seems to be a pseudonym. We find a reference to a "Rishi Kuthumi" in several Puranas, as for example in the Vishnu Purana (Book 3, Chapter 6) where he is said to be a pupil of Paushyinji. In reference to this Mme. Blavatsky wrote: The name of Rishi Koothumi is mentioned in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Esotericism
Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian, Judeo-Christian religion and Age of Enlightenment rationalism. It has influenced, or contributed to, various forms of Western philosophy, mysticism, Western religions, religion, science, pseudoscience, Western art history, art, Western literature, literature, and Western culture#Music, music. The idea of grouping a wide range of Western traditions and philosophies together under the term ''esotericism'' developed in 17th-century Europe. Various academics have debated numerous definitions of Western esotericism. One view adopts a definition from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating "esotericism" as a perennial philosophy, perennial hidden inner tradition. A second perspective sees esotericism as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born British comparative philologist and oriental studies, Orientalist. He was one of the founders of the Western academic disciplines of Indology and religious studies. Müller wrote both scholarly and popular works on the subject of Indology. He directed the preparation of the ''Sacred Books of the East'', a 50-volume set of English translations which continued after his death. Müller became a professor at Oxford University, first of modern languages, then Diebold Professor of Comparative Philology, of comparative philology in a position founded for him, and which he held for the rest of his life. Early in his career he held strong views on India, believing that it needed to be transformed by Christianity. Later, his view became more nuanced, championing ancient Sanskrit literature and India more generally. He became involved in several controversies during his career: he was accused of being a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alvin Boyd Kuhn
Alvin Boyd Kuhn (September 22, 1880 – September 14, 1963) was an American Theosophist, lecturer, and self-published author. He was a proponent of the Christ myth theory. Harpur, Tom. (2004). '' The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light''. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers. Biography Born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Kuhn studied the Ancient Greek language at university. He obtained his B.A. in 1903 and started his career working as a language teacher in high schools. He enrolled in summer sessions at Columbia University in 1926 and 1927, and then quit teaching to devote to full-time studies in 1927. His thesis, ''Theosophy: A Modern Revival of the Ancient Wisdom'' was, according to Kuhn, the first instance in which an individual has been "permitted" by any modern American or European university to obtain his doctorate with a thesis on Theosophy. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of South Africa
The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 students, including international students from 130 countries worldwide, making it one of the world's mega universities and the only such university in Africa. As a comprehensive university, Unisa offers both vocational and academic programmes, many of which have received international accreditation. It also has an extensive geographical footprint, providing its students with recognition and employability in many countries around the world. The university lists many notable South Africans among its alumni, including two Nobel Prize winners: Nelson Mandela, the first democratically elected president of South Africa, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Founded in 1873 as the University of the Cape of Good Hope, the University of South Africa (comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Jenkins
Philip Jenkins (born April 3, 1952) is a professor of history at Baylor University in the United States, and co-director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. He is also the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University (PSU). He was professor (from 1993) and a distinguished professor (from 1997) of history and religious studies at the same institution; and also assistant, associate and then full professor of criminal justice and American studies at PSU, 1980–93. Jenkins is a contributing editor for '' The American Conservative'' and writes a monthly column for '' The Christian Century''. He has also written articles for ''Christianity Today'', '' First Things'', and ''The Atlantic''. Early life and work Jenkins was born in Port Talbot, Wales, in 1952, and studied at Clare College, Cambridge, taking double first–class honours in both History and, in 1974, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vernon Harrison
Vernon George Wentworth Harrison (14 March 1912 – 14 October 2001) was a president of the Royal Photographic Society, and a professional "research worker of disputed documents". Biography Harrison was born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England in March 1912, to a schoolteacher father. Harrison was educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, before reading Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at the University of Birmingham. Subsequently, he undertook three years of postgraduate research in the Physics Department, studying in particular "the use of photography and photomicrography as recording media."Theosophical University Press Online: ''H. P. BLAVATSKY and the SPR: An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mentor
Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and professional growth of a mentee. Most traditional mentorships involve having senior employees mentor more junior employees, but mentors do not necessarily have to be more senior than the people they mentor. What matters is that mentors have experience that others can learn from. According to the Business Dictionary, a mentor is a senior or more experienced person who is assigned to function as an advisor, counsellor, or guide to a junior or trainee. The mentor is responsible for offering help and feedback to the person under their supervision. A mentor's role, according to this definition, is to use their experience to help a junior employee by supporting them in their work and career, providing comments on their work, and, most cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the Theosophy movement, and Henry Steel Olcott, the society's first president. It draws upon a wide array of influences among them older European philosophies and movements such as Neoplatonism and occultism, as well as parts of eastern religious traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. The founders described "Theosophy" as the synthesis of science, religion and philosophy. It notes that the purpose of human life is spiritual emancipation and the human soul undergoes reincarnation upon bodily death according to a process of karma, referring to the principles from Indian religions. Around 1880, Blavatsky and Olcott moved to India, and the organization split into the Theosophical Society (Adyar, India) and the Theosophical Society (Pasade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups such as Mongols, Monpa people, Monpa, Tamang people, Tamang, Qiang people, Qiang, Sherpa people, Sherpa, Lhoba people, Lhoba, and since the 20th century Han Chinese and Hui people, Hui. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of . Located in the Himalayas, the highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain, rising above sea level. The Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century. At its height in the 9th century, the Tibetan Empire extended far beyond the Tibetan Plateau, from the Tarim Basin and Pamirs in the west, to Yunnan and Bengal in the southeast. It then divided into a variety of territories. The bulk of western and central Tibet (Ü-Tsang) was often at least nominally unified under a ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Évariste Régis Huc
Évariste Régis Huc, C.M., also known as the Abbé Huc (1 August 1813 – 31 March 1860) was a French Catholic priest, Lazarite missionary, and traveller. He became famous for his accounts of Qing-era China, Mongolia (then known as "Tartary"), and especially the then-almost-unknown Tibet in his book '' Remembrances of a Journey in Tartary, Tibet, and China''. He and his companion Joseph Gabet were the first Europeans who had reached Lhasa since Thomas Manning in 1812. Life Early life Huc was born in Caylus in the department of Tarn-et-Garonne, France, on 1 August 1813. In 1837, at age 24, he entered the Congregation of the Mission (then better known as the "Lazarites") at their priory in Paris. He took holy orders as a priest two years later. In China Shortly afterwards, he sought the chance to work at the Lazarite mission in China, which had replaced the Jesuits' in 1783. He studied mission work and Chinese at its seminary on Macao under J.G. Perboyre (later m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiritual Hierarchy
Ascended masters, also known as Mahatmas, are believed in several theosophical and related spiritual traditions to be spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans. Through a series of spiritual transformations, or initiations, they are said to have achieved a higher state of being. Although the terms '' mahatma'' and ''ascended master'' are often used synonymously, the Ascended Master Teachings define them differently, associating "ascended master" with a higher level of spiritual attainment, specifically the Sixth Initiation or Ascension. This contrasts with "Masters of Light", "Healers", or "Spiritual Masters", who are said to have taken the Fifth Initiation and reside in a fifth dimension. The term ''ascended master'' was first used by Baird T. Spalding in 1924 in his series of books ''Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East'' (DeVorss and Co.). Godfre Ray King (Guy Ballard) further popularized this concept of spiritual masters wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
