THE TEACHINGS OF THEOSOPHY

THE STORY OF A REMARKABLE WOMAN -- RONA ABBOTT

[Pictured above with Dudley Gower, and some of the paintings in her "COSMIC BIRTH" Series]

By JULIAN HANCOCK

Rona Abbott has lived and painted Theosophy for most of her life.

This article originally was intended to describe how a particular series of paintings, titled "Cosmic Birth", came to be produced. But as I interviewed the artist, a fascinating and inspiring story unfolded of a lifetime of insight, dedication and prolific creativity.

Rona's artistic career began at the age of five, when her parents used to give her pencil and paper to draw on, to keep her quiet during the sermon in church. She remembers one day doing a drawing to illustrate a hymn titled "Bringing in the Sheaves", but to her young mind it sounded like "Bringing in the Sheets", so she produced an illustration of a clothes line of washing.

"When the minister asked to see my drawing, everybody roared laughing and I was quite offended," she said. These first attempts of a small child to capture on paper religious themes which she didn't understand, were the beginning of an evolutionary process which has been the core of Rona's personal and artistic lives.

She first became involved with the Theosophical Society when she was in her early thirties, but says she was really brought up on Theosophy. "My father was very much into these sort of things, and he used to read Geoffrey Hodson's books," she said. (Geoffrey Hodson was a prominent New Zealand Theosophist, and prolific author of books on Theosophy and allied subjects. Many of his books included illustrations of nature spirits and other forces invisible to the naked eye, base on clairvoyant observations by the author.)

"Although my father didn't belong to the Theosophical Society, he was a librarian and I can remember him reading Geoffrey Hodson's books. Even when he died he had one on the bedside table," Roma said. "He became a vegetarian and believed in a lot of the concepts of the society. One of my earliest memories is going up to the rock pools at the beach, looking for sand fairies, because my father told me they lived in the sea anemones and under the shells.

"I can remember seeing two tiny little shells on the bottom of a rock pool and they were identical. I said to my father: 'I think the sand fairy has left her shoes behind. Can I take them home?' And he said: "Oh well, I don't think that she'll mind." When I got home I said to my mother: 'Here's some sand fairy shoes,' and she said: "Your father's been putting all that nonsense in you head again.'"

Many years passed before Rona first encountered the word Theosophy while looking through a dictionary, and wondered what it meant. "It said, 'Divine Wisdom,' and when I went into it a bit further, I found that it was the Ancient Wisdom of the God within. After making some enquiries I eventually found that there was a branch of the society in Newcastle, where I was living, and I joined. Several year slater I wound up being president

. "I think I already believed in the teachings of the Society, but it was very satisfying to find that I wasn't isolated with my beliefs. Theosophy to me is a way of life and it's useless unless it can be put into practice. You can have all the concepts and teachings under the sun, but if they're not actually lived in a day to day setting they don't have any validity at all. That applies to any religion, but Theosophy is not just a religion, it's the synthesis of science, religion and philosophy."

But now let us go back and take a look at the evolution of Rona's art which led, inevitably it would appear, to the ultimate synthesis of personal philosophy and art in the series "Cosmic Birth". She studied art at Newcastle Art School from 1950 to 1955, and later taught at the school. She also taught art at several schools in the Newcastle area, including St. Aloysius Girls' School, Hamilton. Between 1962 and 1975 her work was shown in a number of joint and solo exhibitions in Newcastle and Sydney, and is currently represented at Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, Maitland City Art Gallery, and many institutional and private galleries in Australia and overseas.

The culmination of her career came with a retrospective exhibition held at Maitland City Art Gallery in 1978, which gave an overview of her work from 1949 to 1978. Rona explains the significance of a retrospective exhibition: "It's really a teaching exhibition. People come from art schools and school situations to look at the evolution of an artist's work over a period of many years. In an artist's lifetime, to have a retrospective exhibition is a big achievement and a big honour, because not every artist has one. You have to have achieved a lot over a long time in order to be able to put one together, because it usually covers from 30 to 50 years of work. It's not a selling exhibition. In my case, paintings came from all over Australia, from different private and public collections."

The first group in the exhibition was four oils painted on sugar bag, because when Rona was young she couldn't afford to buy canvas. "I used to buy sugar bags for sixpence and wash them and press them with a damp cloth and size them up with glue size and undercoat," she said. "These works were called 'Still Life with Pumpkins', 'Birth of a Baby', 'Cactii with Plants' and 'Genesis.' Now, here again, we have the beginning of my Theosophical thinking when I was about 14 years old."

Because of the vastness of Rona's artistic output -- she says she's sold literally thousands of paintings -- it is impossible in the space available to describe all the themes she has explored. Descriptions of just a few periods in her career should give the general idea.

"An exhibition of my works in 1962 was based on the primordial world from a microscopic viewpoint," she said. "I used to get various substances from the chemist and dissolve them with heat, then watch them crystallize under a microscope. I used to drag ponds to get samples of primitive life forms like amoebas and single-celled animals and volvoxes, which are sort of between the animal and plant kingdoms. By studying these things it gradually came to me to do a series of paintings base on the primæval world.

"The idea behind this was to show how ageless forms develop and evolve from plant to animal. So that's quite a Theosophical thing I was doing, even that long ago. "I also used to collect slivers of rock and put those under the microscope and sort of godown into that. I'd find that within that would be such a vast world, which is the same concept as we have in the Society when we say: 'The macrocosm and the microcosm are one.' What you see in the minutest is the same in the largest. It's the same principle, the same patterns for existence, the same blueprint. It's just that it's on a different dimension."

In about 1969, when she was getting interested in the Theosophical Order of Service, Rona did a painting inspired by the rock opera "Tommy", on the theme of war. "I was struck by the horror of war and what it actually did, and there I got into the ideas of harmlessness and all those Eastern ideas," she said. "Then I went onto paintings that were called 'Revelation' and 'Path', and in these I was taking symbols of all the different cultures and symbols of alchemy and from different religions and combining them into pictures."

It pains me to have to give so cursory a sketch of such a rich career and such a rich life, speaking of which I forgot to mention that Rona got married and raised four children concurrently with this torrent of creativity. So determined was she to continue with her work that when she was house-bound with four very young children, she used to lock all the doors and windows, place breakable objects out of reach, then climb into the playpen with her paints and easel, and give the children the REST of the house to play in. It seems that nothing can ever interrupt or quell this talented woman's passion to express, mainly on canvas, her wonderment and awe at the myriad manifestations of the divine intelligence.

But now I must move on to the main theme of this article: the painting of the "Cosmic Birth" series. These were inspired by and based on the Stanzas of Dzyan, an ancient Tibetan manuscript which is the basic source material for Theosophical teachings.

[From Left]The Web of the Universe. The twin poles of the one reality, father-mother, spin a web to produce the universe. Within the web is the yin and yang -- the twin energies which are always manifest.

The Hierarchy of Beings, dwelling within the Ecstasy of Oneness -- standing on the brink of forever poised, seeing with unforgetting eyes the self-imposed burdens of men. They're offering with outstretched arms compassionate assistance to all who seek and earn their aid.

The word Theosophy comes from the Greek "theosophia" meaning "Divine Wisdom." This Divine Wisdom has various aspects and is more than just a teaching. If you ask members of The Theosophical Society, "What is Theosophy?" a variety of answers will be given. Some will say that it is a world-view which gives meaning and purpose to life. Others will say it is a spiritual philosophy which has been with us since time immemorial. Still others will stress that it is a way of life, a path that leads to peace and understanding through selfless service. Theosophy is all these and more.

Hence, Theosophy has been called by different names such as the Ancient or Ageless Wisdom, the Wisdom Religion, the Wisdom Tradition and the Perennial Philosophy. The most important principle of Theosophy is its presentation of a holistic world-view which emphasises the unity and interconnectedness of all life, the basic oneness of all peoples and all species of life on earth. Theosophical teachings point to a spark in each of us that is always part of the Divine Life or Source from which all arises, and affirm that all life is ultimately One.

Madame Blavatsky, who gave the world Theosophy in its modern form in the latter part of the nineteenth century, drew together teachings from sources which included Plato, Confucius, the Vedas, Gautama Buddha, Jesus, the Kabbala, philosophers, scientists and other contemporary thinkers of her day. Her teachings weave a tapestry which depict the Cosmos as permeated with Spirit and Intelligence and divinely guided from within.

She portrayed human beings as both earthly and divine, with vast potential still to be unfolded throughout future cycles of evolution. She also described the human being as sevenfold, with a capacity to develop increasingly higher expressions of emotion, concrete and abstract thought, intuitive insight, compassion, realisation of unity and Spiritual Will. Furthermore, she described superphysical worlds or fields around and within us, from which intelligences and energies play upon us and all of Nature.

Theosophical teachings throughout history have explained life's seeming inequalities as consequences of Karma, the Law of Balance and Harmony. This Law, or reharmonising process, gives us feedback on our actions and provides learning experiences. It expands our perspective to the possibility of many lifetimes through which we grow toward spiritual maturity.

But perhaps most importantly, a way of life is implicit in Theosophy. It implies a regard for all life and actions based on an increasing realisation of our oneness with all others. Theosophical teachings also imply a life which allows our greatest human qualities to unfold such as intuition, understanding, insight, love, compassion and creativity. Anyone can begin to live a theosophical life at any time by seeking to live in harmony with all life, as the growing ecological awareness today demonstrates.

It was mentioned that Madame Blavatsky gave the world Theosophy in its modern form. Just as Theosophy has been taught by many before her, since her death in 1891 others have sought to explore and interpret theosophical teachings in their own way. Members of The Theosophical Society and members of the public attending lectures or seminars are encouraged to question, ponder and consider ideas put forward by various theosophical presenters. Certain teachings will appeal more to some than to others. The Theosophical Society does not claim to have conclusive answers to life's deeper purpose, but does provide an environment for free enquiry and exploration.

A Balanced Approach:
It is sometimes said that we need to balance our lives with study, meditation and service. Too much of any of these can create an imbalance. A truly theosophical way of life is one in which basic principles of the Wisdom tradition are studied in an open-minded way, absorbed in moments of quiet, and put into practice.

Not a Religion, Not a Dogma, Not a Sect: Theosophy is not a religion, although many of its concepts and ideas are found in all the major world religions. It has been said that in one sense Theosophy is religion itself, or the essence of true religion, as has already been mentioned. The theosophical teachings do not encourage dogmatism nor sectarianism as they are based on universal principles.

Shallows and Depths:
The basics of Theosophy are reasonable and easy to grasp, but there are also depths that can challenge and can provide a lifetime of study for those inclined to seriously pursue these teachings. It is suggested that the spiritual Path, towards which Theosophy points the way, can help us reach heights beyond ordinary human conception as it leads to the unfolding of our higher spiritual potential. Theosophy offers a philosophy which allows us to grow without limits while living effectively in our day to day circumstances.

What subjects are studied at meetings of the Theosophical Society?
A considerable range of subjects is presented at meetings of The Theosophical Society. Topics include various aspects of theosophical teachings such as ethical living, modern science and Theosophy, reincarnation, karma, teachings from various religious and philosophical traditions, meditation and practical aspects of spiritual living, to name a few.

Helena Petrovna von Hahn was born at Ekaterinoslav, a town on the river Dnieper, in Southern Russia, on the 12th of August, 1831. She was the daughter of Colonel Peter von Hahn, and Helena de Fadeyev, a renowned novelist. On her mother's side, she was the granddaughter of the gifted Princess Helena Dolgorukov, a noted botanist and writer. After the early death of her mother in 1842, Helena was brought up in her maternal grandparents' house at Saratov, where her grandfather was Civil Governor.

Helena was an exceptional child, and at an early age was aware of being different from those around her. Her possession of certain psychic powers puzzled her family and friends. At once impatient of all authority, yet deeply sensitive, she was gifted in many ways. A clever linguist, a talented pianist and a fine artist, she was yet a fearless rider of half-broken horses, and always in close touch with nature. At a very early age she sensed that she was in some way dedicated to a life of service, and was aware of a special guidance and protection.

When almost eighteen, she married the middle-aged Nikifor V. Blavatsky, Vice-Governor of the Province of Yerivan, in a mood of rebellious independence and possibly with a plan to become free of her surroundings. The marriage, as such, meant nothing to her and was never consummated. In a few months she escaped and travelled widely in Turkey, Egypt, and Greece, on money supplied by her father.

On her twentieth birthday, in 1851, being then in London, she met the individual whom she had known in her psycho-spiritual visions from childhood --- an Eastern Initiate of Rajput birth, the Mahatma Morya or M. as he became known in later years among Theosophists. He told her something of the work that was in store for her, and from that moment she accepted fully his guidance.

Later the same year, Helena embarked for Canada, and after adventurous travels in various parts of the U.S.A., Mexico, South America and the West Indies, went via the Cape and Ceylon to India in 1852. Her first attempt to enter Tibet failed. She returned to England via Java in 1853. In the Summer of 1854, she went to America again, crossing the Rockies with a caravan of emigrants, probably in a covered wagon.

In late 1855, she left for India via Japan and the Straits. On this trip she succeeded in entering Tibet through Kashmir and Ladakh, undergoing part of her occult training with her Master. In 1858 she was in France and Germany, and returned to Russia in the late Fall of the same year, staying a short time with her sister Vera at Pskov. From 1860 to 1865, she lived and travelled through the Caucasus, experiencing a severe physical and psychic crisis which placed her in complete control over her occult powers. She left Russia again in the Fall of 1865, and travelled extensively through the Balkans, Greece, Egypt, Syria and Italy and various other places.

In 1868 she went via India to Tibet. On this trip H.P.B. met the Master Koot Hoomi (K.H.) for the first time and stayed in his house in Little Tibet. In late 1870 she was back in Cyprus and Greece. Embarking for Egypt, she was shipwrecked near the island of Spetsai on July 4, 1871; saved from drowning, she went to Cairo where she tried to form a Societe Spirite which soon failed. After further travels through the Middle East, she returned for a short time to her relatives at Odessa, Russia in July, 1872. In the Spring of 1873, Helena was instructed by her Teacher to go to Paris, and on further direct orders from him, left for New York City where she landed July 7, 1873.

H.P. Blavatsky was then forty-two years old and in controlled possession of her many and most unusual spiritual and occult powers. In the opinion of the Mahatmas, she was the best available instrument for the work they had in mind, namely to offer to the world a new presentation, though only in brief outline of the age-old Theosophia, "The accumulated Wisdom of the ages, tested and verified by generations of Seers...," that body of Truth of which religions, great and small, are but as branches of the parent tree.

Her task was to challenge on the one hand the entrenched beliefs and dogmas of Christian Theology and on the other the equally dogmatic materialistic view of the science of her day. A crack, however, had recently appeared in the twofold set of mental fortifications. It was caused by Spiritualism, then sweeping America. To quote Helena's own words: "I was sent to prove the phenomena and their reality, and to show the fallacy of the spiritualistic theory of spirits."

In October, 1874, H.P.B. was put in touch by her Teachers with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, a man of sterling worth who had acquired considerable renown during the Civil War, had served the U.S. Government with distinction, and was at the time practicing law in New York. She also met William Quan Judge, a young Irish Lawyer, who was to play a unique role in the future Theosophical work.

On September 7, 1875, these three leading figures, together with several others, founded a society which they chose to call The Theosophical Society, as promulgating the ancient teachings of Theosophy, or the Wisdom concerning the Divine which had been the spiritual basis of other great movements of the past, such as Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, and the Mystery-Schools of the Classical world.

The Inaugural Address by the President-Founder, Colonel Olcott, was delivered November 17, 1875, a date which is considered to be the official date of the founding of the Society. Starting from a generalized statement of objectives, namely, "to collect and diffuse a knowledge of the laws which govern the Universe," the Founders soon expressed them more specifically. After several minor changes in wording, the Objects stand today as follows:

1. To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.

2. To encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy and Science.

3. To investigate unexplained laws of Nature, and the powers latent in man.

In September 1877, a powerful impact was made upon the reading and thinking public by the publication of H.P. Blavatsky's first monumental work "Isis Unveiled", which was issued by J.W. Bouton in New York City, the one thousand copies of the first printing being sold within ten days. The New York Herald-Tribune considered the work as one of the "remarkable productions of the century," many other papers and journals speaking in similar terms.

"Isis Unveiled" outlines the history, scope and development of the Occult Sciences, the nature and origin of Magic, the roots of Christianity, the errors of Christian Theology and the fallacies of established orthodox Science, against the backdrop of the secret teachings which run as a golden thread through bygone centuries, coming up to the surface every now and then in the various mystical movements of the last two thousand years or so.

On July 8, 1878, H.P. Blavatsky was naturalized as a U.S. citizen, an event which received publicity in various newspapers. In December of the same year, H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott left for India via England. Arriving in Bombay in February, 1879, they established their Theosophical Headquarters in that city. Soon after landing, they were contacted by Alfred Percy Sinnett, then Editor of the Government Paper, The Pioneer of Allahabad. This contact soon proved of the utmost importance.

After a tour of northwestern India, the Founders returned to Bombay and started, in October, 1879, their first Theosophical Journal, The Theosophist (still published today), with H.P. Blavatsky as Editor. The society experienced then a rapid growth, and some very remarkable people were attracted to it both in India and elsewhere.

During May-July, 1880 the Founders spent some time in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), where Colonel Olcott laid the foundations for his later work to stimulate the revival of Buddhism. They both took "Pancha Sila" or became officially Buddhists. In September and October, 1880, H.P.B. and Colonel Olcott visited A.P. Sinnett and his wife Patience at Simla in northern India.

The serious interest of Sinnett in the teachings and the work of the Theosophical Society prompted H.P. Blavatsky to establish a contact by correspondence between Sinnett and the two Adepts who were sponsoring the Society, Mahatmas K.H. and M. From this correspondence Sinnett wrote The Occult World (1881) and Esoteric Buddhism (1883), both of which had an enormous influence in generating public interest in Theosophy.

The replies and explanations given by the Mahatmas to the questions by Sinnett were embodied in their letters from 1880 to 1885 and were published in 1923 as The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett. The original letters from these Teachers are preserved in the British Library where they can be viewed by special permission in the Department of Rare Manuscripts.

In May, 1882, a large estate was bought in southern India at Adyar, near Madras, and the Theosophical Headquarters were moved there at the end of the year. This center became soon the radiating point for a world-wide activity. Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott engaged in trips to various outlying districts, founded Branches, received visitors, conducted an enormous correspondence with inquirers, and filled their Journal with most valuable and scholarly material the main purpose of which was to revitalize the dormant interest on the part of India in the spiritual worth of their own ancient Scriptures.

It is during this period that Colonel Olcott engaged in widespread mesmeric healings until February, 1884, when he left for London to petition the British Government on behalf of the Buddhists of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). H.P. Blavatsky, then in rather poor health, went to Europe with him. After staying almost five months in Paris and London, H.P.B. visited the Gebhard family in Elberfeld, Germany during the late Summer and early Fall of 1884 and was busily engaged in writing her second work, The Secret Doctrine.

Meanwhile, a vicious attack on her by Alexis and Emma Coulomb (two of her staff members at Adyar) was rapidly building up. She returned to Adyar on December 21, 1884 to learn the details of the situation. She wished to sue the couple, already dismissed from Adyar for their gross libel on her concerning the supposed fraudulent production of psychic phenomena. H.P.B. was, however, overruled by a Committee of leading T.S. members, and in disgust resigned as Corresponding Secretary of the Society. On March 31, 1885, she left for Europe, never to return to Indian soil.

The Coulomb attack, as was later proved, had no solid foundation whatsoever. It was based on forged and partially forged letters, purporting to have been written by H.P. Blavatsky, with instructions to arrange fraudulent psychic phenomena of various kinds. A Christian missionary magazine in Madras published the most incriminating portions of these letters.

Meanwhile, the Society for Psychical Research (London) had appointed a special committee to investigate Madame Blavatsky's claims. Then, in December, 1884, Richard Hodgson, a member of this S.P.R. committee, arrived in India to inquire into and report on the Coulombs' allegations. Based upon Hodgson's findings, the S.P.R. committee in its final report of December, 1885, branded Madame Blavatsky "one of the most accomplished, ingenious and interesting impostors in history." Mr. Hodgson also accused Madame Blavatsky of being a Russian spy. This "S.P.R.-Hodgson" Report has been the basis for most subsequent attacks on H.P. Blavatsky, as to her dishonesty, the non-existence of her Masters, and the worthlessness of Theosophy.

In 1963, Adlai Waterman (pseudonym of Walter A. Carrithers, Jr.) in his definitive work entitled Obituary: The "Hodgson Report" on Madame Blavatsky, analyzed and refuted Hodgson's contentions against Madame Blavatsky. A more recent refutation of some of Hodgson's charges against H.P.B. is Vernon Harrison's book titled H. P. Blavatsky and the SPR: An Examination of the Hodgson Report of 1885.

This vicious attack had a most unfavorable effect on H.P. Blavatsky's health. Having left India for Europe, she settled first in Italy and then in August, 1885 at Wurzburg, Germany, where she worked on The Secret Doctrine. In July, 1886, she relocated to Ostend, Belgium, and in May of 1887, at the invitation of English Theosophists, she moved to a small house at Upper Norwood, London.

After her arrival in England, Theosophical activities immediately began to move rapidly. The Blavatsky Lodge was formed and started publicizing Theosophical ideas. As H.P. Blavatsky had virtually lost control of The Theosophist, she founded in September, 1887 "Lucifer," a monthly magazine designed, as stated on its title-page, "to bring to light the hidden things of darkness." Also in the same month, H.P.B. moved to 17 Lansdowne Road, Holland Park, London.

H.P.B. continued to write her great work which was finally completed and published in two large volumes in October-December, 1888. Her indefatigable helpers in the transcription and editing of the manuscript were Bertram Keightley and Archibald Keightley, whose financial backing was also of immense assistance. The Secret Doctrine was the crowning achievement of H.P. Blavatsky's literary career. Volume I is concerned mainly with the evolution of the Universe. The skeleton of this volume is formed by seven Stanzas, translated from the Book of Dzyan, with commentary and explanations by H.P.B. Also in this volume is an extended elucidation of the fundamental symbols contained in the great religions and mythologies of the world. The second Volume contains a further series of Stanzas from the Book of Dzyan, which describe the evolution of humanity.

Also in October, 1888, Madame Blavatsky formed the Esoteric Section (or School) of the Theosophical Society for the deeper study of the Esoteric Philosophy by dedicated students, and wrote for them her three E. S. Instructions.

In 1889 H.P. Blavatsky published The Key to Theosophy, "a clear Exposition, in the form of Question and Answer, of the Ethics, Science and Philosophy for the study of which the Theosophical Society has been founded," and the devotional mystical gem called The Voice of the Silence, containing selected excerpts translated from an Eastern scripture, The Book of the Golden Precepts, which she had learnt by heart during her training in the East.

In July, 1890, H.P. B. established the European Headquarters of the Theosophical Society at 19 Avenue Road, St. John's Wood, London. From this address H.P. Blavatsky died on May 8, 1891, during a severe epidemic of flu in England, and her remains were cremated at Woking Crematorium, Surrey.

Against the background of her writings and teachings, her life and character, her mission and occult powers, H.P. Blavatsky is destined to be recognized in time as the greatest Occultist in the history of Western civilization and a direct agent of the Trans-Himalayan Brotherhood of Adepts.