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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] |
Theosophy
Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Indian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Although many adherents maintain that Theosophy is not a religion, it is variably categorized by Religious studies, religious scholars as both a new religious movement and a form of occultism from within Western esotericism. As presented by Blavatsky, Theosophy teaches that there is an ancient and secretive brotherhood of spiritual adepts known as the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, Masters, who are found around the world but primarily centered in Tibet. These Masters were alleged by Blavatsky to have cultivated great wisdom and supernatural powers, and Theosophists believe they initiated the modern Theosophical movement through disseminating their teachings via Blavatsky. Theosop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farmington Hills, Michigan
Farmington Hills is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northwestern Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Farmington Hills is located roughly from downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was 83,986, making it the second-largest community in Oakland County. Farmington Hills consistently ranks as one of the safest cities in the United States, as well as in the state of Michigan. The area ranked as the 30th safest city in the U.S. in 2010 and as the 2nd safest city in Michigan in 2020. Farmington Hills also ranks as the 36th highest-income place in the United States with a population of 50,000 or more and ranked as 14th America's best cities to live by 24/7 Wall St. in 2016. Although the two cities have separate services and addresses, Farmington, Michigan, Farmington and Farmington Hills are often thought of as the same community. These two cities combined were part of Farmington Townsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Subtle Body
''The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America'' is a 2010 book on the history of yoga as exercise by the American journalist Stefanie Syman. It spans the period from the first precursors of American yoga, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thoreau, the arrival of Vivekananda, the role of Hollywood with Indra Devi, the hippie generation, and the leaders of a revived but now postural yoga such as Bikram Choudhury and Pattabhi Jois. Several critics gave the book positive reviews, praising its wide range and readability; other critics gave it mixed reviews, noting its strengths, but also its lack of a strong continuous argument and its tendency to gossip. Synopsis Syman begins ''The Subtle Body'' by describing in turn the precursors of American yoga, namely Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thoreau. She notes that Emerson's 1856 poem ''Brahma'' concisely introduced Hindu nondualism, repudiating "sacraments, supernaturalism, biblical authority, and ... Christianity". Thoreau, she states, tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (2 August 1832 – 17 February 1907) was an American military officer, journalist, lawyer, Freemason (member of Huguenot Lodge #448, now #46) and the co-founder and first president of the Theosophical Society. Olcott was the first well-known American of European ancestry to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. His subsequent actions as president of the Theosophical Society helped create a renaissance in the study of Buddhism. Olcott is considered a Buddhist modernist for his efforts in interpreting Buddhism through a Europeanized lens. Olcott was a major revivalist of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and he is still honored in Sri Lanka for these efforts. Vice President of the Ananda College Old Boys Association Samitha Seneviratne has said that "Col. Olcott's contribution towards the betterment of our country, nation, religion, justice and good conduct has been so great that he remains in our hearts forever". Biography Olcott was born on 2 August 1832 in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian-born mystic and writer who emigrated to the United States where she co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the primary founder of Theosophy as a belief system. Born into an aristocratic family in Yekaterinoslav, Blavatsky traveled widely around the empire as a child. Largely self-educated, she developed an interest in Western esotericism during her teenage years. According to her later claims, in 1849 she embarked on a series of world travels, visiting Europe, the Americas, and India. She also claimed that during this period she encountered a group of spiritual adepts, the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom", who sent her to Shigatse, Tibet, where they trained her to develop a deeper understanding of the synthesis of religion, philosophy, and science. Both contemporary critics and later biographers have argued that some or all of these f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Census of India, 2011 Indian census, Chennai is the List of most populous cities in India, sixth-most-populous city in India and forms the List of million-plus urban agglomerations in India, fourth-most-populous urban agglomeration. Incorporated in 1688, the Greater Chennai Corporation is the oldest municipal corporation in India and the second oldest in the world after City of London Corporation, London. Historically, the region was part of the Chola dynasty, Chola, Pandya dynasty, Pandya, Pallava dynasty, Pallava and Vijayanagara Empire, Vijayanagara kingdoms during various eras. The coastal land which then contained th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adyar, Chennai
Adyar is a large neighbourhood in south Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is among the most upscale neighborhoods of the city. It is located on the southern banks of the Adyar River. It is surrounded by the Tharamani to the West, Thiruvanmiyur to the South, Besant Nagar to the East, Kotturpuram to the North-West and Raja Annamalai puram to the North across the Adyar River. Property values in Adyar are four times that of similar sized properties in the northern part of Chennai. The Gandhi Nagar region of Adyar is one of the poshest localities in Chennai. History Etymology The neighbourhood gets its name from the Adyar River, which flows through its northern limits. The term ''Adyar'' is the anglicized form of the Tamil word ''aḍai-ārŭ'' ( ''clogged-river''), which is colloquially just pronounced as ''aḍayār''. British India Adyar and the neighbouring Guindy had been used as hunting grounds by British officials of Fort St. George from the 1680s onwards though Adya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Quan Judge
William Quan Judge (April 13, 1851 – March 21, 1896) was an American mystic, esotericist, and occultist, and one of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. Biography Judge was born in Dublin, Ireland. When he was 13 years old, his family emigrated to the United States. He became a naturalized citizen of the US at age 21 and passed the New York state bar exam, specializing in commercial law. Judge was one of the seventeen co-founders of the Theosophical Society. Like Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, he stayed in the organization when others left. When Olcott and Blavatsky left the United States for India, he stayed behind to manage the Society's work, all the while working as a lawyer. When Blavatsky and Olcott left America, they left Theosophy in North America in Judge's hands. While Judge kept in close contact with both Blavatsky and Olcott through correspondence, there was little if any organized activity for the next several years. His d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annie Besant
Annie Besant (; Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English socialist, Theosophy (Blavatskian), theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian Self-governance, self-rule. She became the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917. She became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS), as well as a writer, and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton. Thereafter, she became involved with union actions, including the Bloody Sunday (1887), Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888. She was a leading speaker for both the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF). She was also elected to the London School Board for Tower Division, Tower Hamlets, topping the poll, even thoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western World
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also constitute the West. The Western world likewise is called the Occident () in contrast to the Eastern world known as the Orient (). Definitions of the "Western world" vary according to context and perspectives; the West is an evolving concept made up of cultural, political, and economic synergy among diverse groups of people, and not a rigid region with fixed borders and members. Some historians contend that a linear development of the West can be traced from Greco-Roman world, Ancient Greece and Rome, while others argue that such a projection constructs a false genealogy. A geographical concept of the West started to take shape in the 4th century CE when Constantine the Great, Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, divided the Roman Em ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
