Blavatsky and neo-theosophy (3/3) Myth Theory, Philosophy of History, Sociology of Pop Culture

Part 1

 

HBO’s  Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God, Docuseries was the 8^th most watched show on Max in its first of three episodes (and the second episode reached #3) . It is the tragic story of Amy Carlson and an alternative spirituality group with an eclectic mix of beliefs and practices with some questionable elements that have raised eyebrows. The theology of Love Has Won has been described as fluid, combining New Age spirituality, conspiracy theories, and elements from mainstream Abrahamic religions.

 

In the first two parts, I examined how certain concepts of esoteric cyclical history may have filtered down into the Love Has Won 'Galactic A-Team' chart in a more modern mass media pop culture form. In this post, I'd like to take a brief look of how these original ideas have been developed along more rational lines. It begins with a passage from H. P. Blavatsky’s Isis Unveiled I, ch. 1, p. 34, about the doctrine of cycles:

‘’Thus, all those great characters who tower like giants in the history of mankind, like Buddha-Siddartha, and Jesus, in the realm of spiritual, and Alexander the Macedonian and Napoleon the Great, in the realm of physical conquests, were but reflexed images of human types which had existed ten thousand years before, in the preceding decimillennium, reproduced by the mysterious powers controlling the destinies of our world.’’ (34)

William Q. Judge elaborates on this notion in The Ocean of Theosophy, chapter 4, 1893; (he further elaborates on the subject in his first essay on the Bhagava Gita, 1895:

‘’In these cycles we can include mixed characters who have had great influence on nations, such as King Arthur, Pharaoh, Moses, Charlemagne reincarnated as Napoleon Bonaparte, Clovis of France reborn as Emperor Frederic III of Germany, and Washington the first President of the United States of America where the root for the new race is being formed.’’

Without getting into the complexities of it, there is a notion of the esoteric role of prominent historical figures, who are involved in the cyclical repetition of archetypal patterns. This concept has actually received one of the more serious studies in the recent academic interest in Theosophical history with a notion that Garry W. Trompf terms 'Macrohistory: Trompf, G. (2013). Theosophical Macrohistory. In Olav Hammer, Mikael Rothstein (Eds.), Handbook of the Theosophical Current, (pp. 375-403). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004235977_019

In the second and best of three papers on Theosophical Macrohistory, he outlines a general overview of the concept in Blavatsky’s writings and the main continuations in other Theosophical writers. As a critical survey, it ambitiously aims to intertwine a historiography, theoretical study, and biography. The critical aspects fail mainly because of the limited space for such an extensive, pioneering undertaking and the limited availability of consistent materials in a burgeoning field of study. It is remarkable that the paper almost succeeds in this, before faltering with superficialities and inaccuracies. It does manage to succeed in touching upon most of the essential problems of the topic and as such can be considered a solid basis for future developments.  He does for example, cite the Blavatsky and Judge passages noticed above, seeing them as more or less consistent and connected (380-81; 390-91). Whatever one thinks of Blavatsky’s ideas, the paper does convincingly establish that her views are intelligible, hence amenable to rational analysis according to academic concepts of macrohistory.

Jeffery Lavoie, despite mixed motives and retaining familiar tired academic misconceptions, has undertaken a solid study of the Theosophical doctrine of cycles, benefiting from the more advanced state of scholarship since Trompf’s paper. Jeffrey D. Lavoie, “Saving Time: Time, Sources and Implications of Temporality in the Writings of H. P. Blavatsky” (PhD diss., University of Exeter, 2015). https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/25014/LavoieJ.pdf?sequence=3

It’s a rather complex subject and as been indicated in the first two posts, the idea has been developed variously in different neo-Theosophical currents. The general notion of individual agency in a context of archetypal history has been developed by several comparative mythology scholars, in considering the relation of myth and history. Mircea Eliade elaborates how historical accounts have a complex interaction with mythology, how poetic historical sagas and even local legends have a tendency to become mythologized: 'A series of contemporary events is given an articulation and an interpretation that conform with the atemporal model of the heroic myth.' (Cosmos and History: , The Myth of the Eternal Return, 1958. Chapter 1, 'Myths and History')

Georges Dumézil, in "From Myth to Fiction: The Saga of Hadingus", (1970) further elaborates on the complex inter-connection between myth, history and fiction. He considers how the early mythology of a people can be creatively transposed into the epic of their origin or the "history" of their kings, or the source of their fiction. The Saga of Hadingus, written by twelfth-century Danish "historian," Saxo-Grammaticus, provides an instance of this kind of transposition, demonstrating how the saga can be seen as a literary structure derived from the religious structure of the myth. https://www.amazon.ca/Myth-Fiction-Saga-Hadingus/dp/0226169723

Joseph Campbell further considers Freudian and Jungian psychological concepts: archetypal patterns found in mythology are found to appear subjectively in dreams. Therefore patterns of mythical heroes have individual applications.: 'Moreover, if we could dredge up something forgotten not only by ourselves but by our whole generation or our entire civilization, we should become indeed the boon-bringer, the culture hero of the day-a personage of not only local but world historical moment (The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 1949).

Moreover, Eliade furthermore mentions how forms of mythical, archetypal patterns are present in modern mainstream mass media popular culture via novels and films: 'The cinema, that 'dream factory', adopts and uses innumerable mythical motifs: the combat of the hero and the monster, combats and trials of initiation, exemplary figures and images (the 'Young Girl', the 'Hero', the land of paradise, 'Hell', etc.) Even reading has a mythological function (The Sacred and the Profane, 1957, Chapter 4, 'The sacred and the profane in the modern world',p. 174).

Edgar Morin posits the heavy mythologizing power present in the Hollywood star system: 'Thus the stars, patterns of culture in the literal sense of the term, give shape to the total human process which has produced them. The star is indeed a myth: not only a daydream but an idea-force. The characteristic of the myth is to insert itself or incarnate itself somehow within life. If the myth of the stars incarnates itself so astonishingly within reality, it is because that myth is produced by that reality, i.e., the human history of the twentieth century. But it is also because the human reality nourishes itself on the imaginary to the point of being semi-imaginary itself. (The Stars, An account of the star system in motion pictures, 1957) p, 183.

So with a recent article on Robin Williams, this notion of how popular culture figures become viewed as historical figures of some transcendent historical significance takes us full circle, as it where. Whether the archetypal structures appear after the historical events or are coeval with them is debatable, suffice to point out that there is a noticeable tendency in human nature to view historical figures in an archetypal, idealized way (The celebrity worship of "Love Has Won": Why Robin Williams may have resonated with a cult. Melanie McFarland December 4, 2023 https://www.salon.com/2023/12/04/love-has-won-robin-williams-culture/ ).

Blavatsky and recent articles by David Pratt

David Pratt is a good theosophical writer in the Tingley/Purucker/Point Loma/Pasadena tradition, who has a very respectable knowledge of current scientific literature. He has been quite busy lately, writing and updating an impressive number of interesting articles on his website, of which we present some of the most recent ones.

 

The Saptarishi Calendar (Jun 2022)

In Hindu astronomy, the saptarishis (seven sages) are the seven brightest stars of Ursa Major (the Great Bear), which form the asterism known as the Big Dipper or the Plough. 

https://www.davidpratt.info/rishi.htm

 

Secret Cycles (Jan 2022)

The manuscript of an unfinished essay on cosmic cycles and manvantaras, in HPB’s handwriting, exists in the archives of the Adyar Theosophical Society.Some of its pages are missing and some of the sentences are broken off.

https://www.davidpratt.info/secretcyc.htm 

 

Earth's meteoric veil (Sep 2021)

Earth’s magnetic attraction of meteoric dust, and the direct influence of the latter upon the sudden changes of temperature especially in the matter of heat and cold, is not a settled question to the present day, I believe.

https://davidpratt.info/dust1.htm

Poleshifts: theosophy and science contrasted (May 2022)

That worlds are periodically destroyed by fire (volcanoes and earthquakes) and water, in turn, and renewed, is a doctrine as old as man. Manu, Hermes, the Chaldeans, all antiquity believed in this. Twice already has the face of the globe been changed by fire, and twice by water, since man appeared on it. As land needs rest and renovation, new forces, and a change for its soil, so does water. Thence arises a periodical redistribution of land and water, change of climates, etc., all brought on by geological revolution, and ending in a final change in the axis. ... [T]here is a secular change in the inclination of the earth’s axis, and its appointed time is recorded in one of the great secret cycles.

https://davidpratt.info/pole1.htm

 

Space, time and relativity (Nov 2020)

In theosophy, a distinction is drawn between abstract space and concrete space.¹ Abstract space is the boundless All, the omnipresent divine essence, unfathomable and ineffable. It is universal consciousness, life, substance, force, energy – all of which are fundamentally one. Infinite space comprises a limitless number of concrete, finite spaces or spatial units, each of which is composed of smaller units and nested within a hierarchy of larger units.

https://davidpratt.info/relativ.htm 

 

Re-examination of the experimental evidence for a nonzero aether drift (Sep 2021)

Paulo N. Correa, Alexandra N. Correa, David Pratt, Malgosia Askanas

Journal of Aetherometric Research, vol. 3, 3:1-32, September 2021

Building on the work of pioneering scientists like Nicola Tesla, Wilhelm Reich, and Harold Aspden, Aetherometry has developed a large body of experimental and analytical evidence for a dynamic, massfree aether. The aether is not “luminiferous” (i.e. is not composed of electromagnetic waves), nor is it passively dragged or entrained by the earth in its translatory and rotational motions. Rather, the earth is propelled and entrained by an electric aether, consisting of longitudinal-wave radiation that carries ambipolar (phenomenologically neutral) charge rather than monopolar charge. 

https://davidpratt.info/aetherdrift.htm

 

Lost civilizations of the Andes (Nov 2020)

The Aztecs held that the current age was the fifth. The Incas likewise believed that their own culture was the fifth age, or fifth ‘sun’. In the first age, people were nomads, lived in caves and had to fight off wild animals. In the second, they lived in crude round houses in fixed settlements. In the third age people multiplied, practised weaving, built houses like those of today, grew crops and lived in harmony. The fourth age, or age of warriors, began with internal conflicts; warriors left field and family, and human sacrifices were carried out. Each world-age is said to end with a cataclysm: the first was ended by water, the second by the ‘falling of the sky’ (a poleshift?), the third by fire, and the fourth by air.

https://davidpratt.info/andes1.htm

 

The ancient Americas: migrations, contacts, and Atlantis (Oct 2020)

However, orthodox historians and archaeologists are still clinging to their isolationist preconceptions, and refuse to accept the evidence for widespread cultural diffusionism and intercontinental trade. They tend to vigorously defend their own specialist fields against ‘interference’ from outsiders, and generally feel no incentive, or lack the knowledge, to recognize common cultural traits. Where similarities are acknowledged, they are automatically attributed to ‘independent invention’.

https://davidpratt.info/americas1.htm

 

Reflections on Karma (Jan 2022)

The teaching of karma rules out absolute chance and randomness. H.P. Blavatsky says: ‘It is impossible to conceive anything without a cause; the attempt to do so makes the mind a blank’ (Secret Doctrine, 1:44). Mainstream scientists accept that all events in our macroworld have causes, but most believe that in the submicroscopic quantum realm things can happen without any cause at all. However, not being able to identify a cause does not prove that no cause exists. This means that absolute indeterminism can never be more than an article of faith. As some physicists have pointed out, it is perfectly possible that there are deeper, subquantum levels of causality. 

https://www.davidpratt.info/karma-ref.htm

 

Life beyond death: evidence for survival (Sep 2020)

A contemporary exorcist, Tony Finlay (ch. 8), writes: ‘In my experience, not all invading spirits are hostile or malicious. They may be simply “looking for a home”, reluctant to leave the associations they once had in the living world. Such beings may not induce violent or egregious behaviour in the “victim” but nevertheless, they do distort the normal pattern of a host’s behaviour. As such, they still have to be removed.’ He notes that the need for exorcism is on the rise, and links this to the growing tendency to dabble in the occult.

https://davidpratt.info/survival1.htm

 

Health and Disease: theosophical quotations (Jun 2021)

‘Those who may, after reading our remarks, feel a call to heal the sick, should bear in mind the fact that all the curative magnetism that is forced by their will into the bodies of their patients, comes out of their own systems. What they have, they can give; no more. And as the maintenance of one’s own health is a prime duty, they should never attempt healing unless they have a surplus of vitality to spare, over and above what may be needed to carry themselves through their round of duties and keep their systems well up to tone. Otherwise they would soon break down and become themselves invalids. Only the other day a benevolent healer of London died from his imprudent waste of his vital forces. For the same reason, healing should not be attempted to any extent after one has passed middle life: the constitution has not then the same recuperative capacity as in youth.’ (BCW 4:383-6)

https://www.davidpratt.info/health.htm