Modern Theosophy is classified by prominent representatives of Western philosophy as a "pantheistic philosophical-religious system." Russian philosopher Vladimir Trefilov claimed that Blavatsky's doctrine was formed from the beginning as a synthesis of philosophical views and religious forms of the various ages and peoples with modern scientific ideas. Michael Wakoff, an author of The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, stated that Blavatskian Theosophy was based on Buddhist and Hindu philosophy, and fragments of the Western esotericism with using an "absolutist metaphysics." In The New Encyclopedia of Philosophy it is said that Blavatsky's Theosophy is an attempt to merge into a universal doctrine all religions by revealing their "common deep essence" and detection of "identity meanings of symbols," all philosophies (including esoteric), and all sciences (including occult).
Philosophers about Theosophy
One point of view French philosopher René Guénon wrote that "the theories of the Theosophical Society are so strangely similar to those of Bergson that one may wonder whether they do not both derive from a common source." He stated that the central place of the Theosophical doctrine is occupied by the "idea of evolution." He then wrote that, according to the Theosophical teaching, there are
"seven 'mother-races' succeed one another in the course of a 'world period', that is to say while the 'wave of life' sojourns on a given planet. Each 'race' includes seven 'sub-races', each of which is divided into seven 'branches'. On the other hand, the 'wave of life' successively runs through seven globes in a 'round', and this 'round' is repeated seven times in a same 'planetary chain', after which the 'wave of life' passes to another 'chain', composed likewise of seven planets which will be traversed seven times in their turn. Thus there are seven 'chains' in a 'planetary system', also called an 'enterprise of evolution'; and finally, our solar system is formed of ten 'planetary systems'... We are presently in the fifth 'race' of our 'world period', and in the fourth 'round' of the 'chain' of which the earth forms part and in which it occupies the fourth rank. This 'chain' is also the fourth of our 'planetary system'." Concerning of the "so-called highly secret Tibetan texts" used by Blavatsky in writing her books The Secret Doctrine and The Voice of the Silence, Guénon stated that she has had a "translation of extracts from the Kandjur and Tandjur," published in 1836 by Alexander Csoma de Koros.
Other point of view Ukrainian philosopher Julia Shabanova wrote that, in modern interpretations of the Theosophical doctrine, one can come across the concept of "philosophy of Theosophy." In accordance with this logic, Theosophy should contain, in addition to philosophy, other aspects and manifestations. The specificity of Theosophy is "integrality of the theoretical & practical [approach], metaphysical & existential [points of view], transcendence & immanence, universal & particular, epistemology & ontology." The Theosophical object of knowledge, as well as philosophical one, is "universal, essential, ultimate" one. But, according to Shabanova, [Western] philosophy, striving for the essential, although it allows in its space irrationality, mysticism, or intuitionism, rationally explains the features of the world picture. In Shabanova's opinion, the term "Theosophy" is often applied to the Theosophical teachings, which can be considered the "body of Theosophy." It is necessary, she wrote, to distinguish, first, the transcendental basis of Theosophy as its "universal core," secondly, Theosophy as a "state of consciousness," and thirdly, Theosophy as a systematically formulated teaching. If "Divine wisdom" is the absolute Truth, then "the Theosophical doctrine" reflects the facets of this Truth, represented through "enlightened consciousness" and framed in certain knowledge and representations. Thus, the Theosophical teaching is not Truth, but only a "description" of it. To be proficient in the Theosophical knowledge does not yet mean reaching the "Theosophical state of consciousness," because the accumulation of knowledge is not sufficient for the attainment of "Wisdom." She claimed that the Theosophical teaching gets meaning through the self-realization of man, which is a "way of awakening the Divine wisdom." Shabanova noted a "synthetic character" of the Theosophical teachings, which conditioned by the syncretic nature of the "transcendental nucleus" of Theosophy. For this reason, Theosophy can not be expressed in the form of an "ultimate doctrine," and its various interpretations lead to contradictions both within the Theosophical Society and in external assessments. Blavatsky's definition of Theosophy is quoted in a book by Shabanova:
"Theosophy is... the archaic Wisdom-Religion, the esoteric doctrine once known in every ancient country having claims to civilization. This 'Wisdom' all the old writings show us as an emanation of the divine Principle; and the clear comprehension of it is typified in such names as the Indian Budha, the Babylonian Nebo, the Thoth of Memphis, the Hermes of Greece; in the appellations, also, of some goddesses—Metis, Neitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia, and finally the Vedas, from the word 'to know.' Under this designation, all the ancient philosophers of the East and West, the Hierophants of old Egypt, the Rishis of Aryavarta, the Theodidaktoi of Greece, included all knowledge of things occult and essentially divine." Shabanova wrote that, according to Blavatsky, "Theosophy in its fruition is spiritual knowledge itself—the very essence of philosophical and theistic enquiry." And the genuine Theosophists should have faith in the intangible, omnipotent, omnipresent, and invisible Cause, which "is All, and Nothing; ubiquitous yet one; the Essence filling, binding, bounding, containing everything; contained in all." In 1879, the originator of modern Theosophy first presented the statement on "a single Supreme Essence, Unknown and Unknowable" which was the "central idea of the Eclectic Theosophy." This statement was later developed by Blavatsky in the proem to The Secret Doctrine, where it is said that there is "an Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and Immutable Principle on which all speculation is impossible, since it transcends the power of human conception and could only be dwarfed by any human expression or similitude."
Blavatsky about philosophy
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