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Sunday 7 November 2021

Blavatsky, Theosophy and the new Eternals movie (Jack Kirby, Marvel Comics)

When I see a pop culture creation that has noticeable theosophical influences, it's usually with mixed emotions, because it often reflects the problematic dilution, distortion, and fragmentation that the original theosophical concepts experienced as it expanded in its first five decades, evolving a form of 'neotheosophy', which is akin to the more popular mixed bag of new age ideas of today (see note A).

With the Eternals, we have a story that was inspired by the 'ancient aliens' trend that can be traced back to books such as 'The Morning of the Magicians' and 'Chariot of the Gods', which are ultimately derived from the original theosophical concepts of spiritual evolution as interpreted through the comparative study of ancient mythologies. This influence was often a slow, indirect, gradual (and very complicated) process where often the creators are not aware of the original theosophical sources, but were rather picked up from second or third hand sources.
 
Basically what occurred was a materialization of the spiritual ideas presented, instead of divine beings and spiritual forces, you have aliens and spaceships. From a purist's standpoint, one could deplore the distortion of the spiritual message in favor of a materialistic interpretation of the mystical worldview it was presenting (which was presented as being in the spirit of traditional cosmologies found in works such as the Vishnu Purana, Plato's Timaeus, the Zohar, etc. boldly integrating Darwinian concepts of evolution, twenty years after his 'Origin of the Species' appeared). It is sort of returning an exoteric covering to the esoteric views that were trying to be introduced, but even then, at least the ancient anthropological accounts are given some sort of serious consideration, and are not simply dismissed as irrational superstitions.
On the other hand, while ideally it would have been better for a more direct and accurate reference to the original theosophical cosmology found in Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine, Esoteric Buddhism and Man, Fragments of a Forgotten History, from the perspective of pop culture entertainment, all these imaginative fictional interpretations can be quite creative and fun, and the discerning viewer can still perhaps appreciate the theosophical elements. What is not so fun, however are the crude racist, colonialist and fundamentalist elements that can be found in works such as 'The Morning of the Magicians' and 'Chariot of the Gods' (not to mention all the dystopic conspiracy theories that they have inspired), which can be considered simplistic distortions that are antagonist to the original theosophical ideas. 
 
But here we are today and it seems that all these cosmic notions still have a certain vitality and may even be forming something of a new science-fiction mythological world view in a kind of eclectic, intuitive way. As a student of theosophy, how do I feel about the movie (which I haven't seen, but have read some reviews and summaries, as well as some of the original Jack Kirby comic books)? 
 
It's seems to be a coherent adaptation of the Kirby story. In Kirby's version, a crude, primal, bluntess co-exists with remarkably sophisticated, grandiose concepts, with a kind of Biblical/mythical cataclysmic eschatology, (which can be considered as a kind of distorted form of the more esoteric, cyclical world view). Moreover, like most of his 1970s creations, there is a tension between personal artistic vision and commercial considerations, hence he was likely discouraged from developing it the the way he wanted, and it remained unfinished (insofar  as the nature of the monthly pamphlet story is to remain perpetually unresolved, as Umberto Eco would say). Although I think that the story-line was eventually grafted onto another of Kirby's grandiose science-fiction mythological interpretations, 'The Mighty Thor' (concluding in #300).

What is interesting with Kirby to me are the flashes of raw, strikingly original, intuitive variations on his initial borrowings from films and books, which sometimes do have more mystical, archetypal overtones than his original pop culture sources and can sometimes rival the complex sophistication of someone like Philip K. Dick, making allowance for the different medium. Sometimes, he comes close to specific theosophical ideas. For example, the 'Watcher' character from the Fantastic Four is actually very similar to spiritual beings presented in the Secret Doctrine (although the concept is related to the Book of Enoch as well, which Blavatsky comments on). His ambitious 'Fourth World' 'New Gods' creations for DC Comics seems to have influenced one of the pre-eminent cinematic science-fiction mythological visions that is 'Star Wars', which also has noticeable traditional esoteric theosophical elements. I'm glad to see that Kirby is starting to be the subject of some serious academic studies. Because Kirby's relation to mythology is not just limited to the ancient aliens theory, but also includes a kind of Joseph Campbell idealism, he probably comes a little closer to the original theosophical perspective.
 
I would need to see more of it, but it seems that, despite the fact that the influence passed through an indirect, watered-down chain, a lot, if not most of the story structure could still be qualified as kind of theosophical (but not literally, more allegorically reflecting some concepts), or noticeably theosophically influenced (just to give one example, the notion of the fourth host idea is similar to the five evolutionary phases that humanity has been through, according to Blavatsky). Less directly, but quite striking is the demiurge-like figure of Arishem, which gives the story quite an interesting Gnostic colouring. Blavatsky, in her commentary on the Pistis Sophia, gives a brief description of the Gnostic philosophy: ''Seeing again that this “Fall of the Soul” from its original purity involved it in suffering and misery, the object that the Gnostic teachers had ever before them, was identical with the problem of “Sorrow,” which Gautama Sâkyamuni set himself to resolve.'' (Blavatsky, Collected Writings, vol. 13, pp. 40)

On a more positive note, I think
that Chloé Zhao is an interesting director. I was happy to see her film Nomadland, with it's wonderful humane message of solidarity, gain Oscar recognition. The more open, inclusive, multi-cultural worldview in the Eternals movie is very welcome. Note that Blavatsky and Olcott alluded to adepts from several different cultures,  Northern and Southern India, Tibet, Persia, China, Egypt; of various European nations, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, English as well as South America, where she said there was a Lodge of adepts. (Charles Johnston in Blavatsky, H. P. Collected Writings, vol. 8 (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1960), p. 400). The movie has received rather mixed mainstream reviews; however I have noticed that at a more popular level, it has been quite well-received. So overall, I think that it seems to be more accessible than the original comic book and hopefully serves to redeem some of the more objectionable insults to the original Blavatskian theosophy as contained in some of the ancient aliens theories.
 
note A: Bhavani Shankar, a respected early theosophist, made the following pithy observation about the post-Blavatskian developments: ''Hence we have the sad spectacle of modern theosophical literature revelling in trivial and weird stories purporting to be past lives of Mahatmas, which read like third rate novels.'' (The Doctrine of the Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 8)
 
Jeet Heer & Robin Ganey Podcast  Eternals, John Milton, William Blake, Erich Anton Paul von Däniken, theological science fiction, Charles Darwin, evolutionary theory as theodicy

Chris Knowles doesn't like 'woke' superheroes, but he has a good take on Kirby, he could write a good book about him.
 
Ryan Silberstein (Good review, discusses Kirby and his influences)
 

Eternals: 10 Things That Jack Kirby Took From Ancient Aliens Theory

Video of Archaeologist  David S. Anderson on Eternals and “Ancient Aliens”
 
Director Chloe Zhao discusses Kirby influence
Bryan Lowry (Kirby's legacy)
 
GreyDog Tales (good overview of the neo-theosophical influence in pop culture - although Sanat Kumara is mentioned in Blavatsky's writings, not at all in the anthropomorphic way explained in the quotation here, which seems more like distorted Roman Catholic theology)
 
‘Eternals’ Director Chloe Zhao Explains the Eastern Philosophy Behind Her Marvel Movie 

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