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René Guénon
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Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion Hardcover – May 23 2004

by Rene Guenon (Author), James Richard Wetmore (Editor), Alvin Moore (Translator)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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Since the late nineteenth century, the Theosophical Society has been a central force in the movement now known as the New Age. Just as the Communist Party was considered 'old hat' by peace activists in the '60s, so the Theosophical Society was looked upon by many in the 'spiritual revolution' of those years as cranky, uninteresting, and passé. But the Society, like the Party, was always there, and-despite its relatively few members-always better organized than anybody else. Since then, the Society's influence has certainly not waned. It plays an important role in today's global interfaith movement, and, since the flowering of the New Age in the '70s, has established increasingly intimate ties with the global elites. And its various spinoffs, such as Elizabeth Clare Prophet's Summit Lighthouse, and Benjamin Crème's continuing attempt to lead a 'World Teacher Maitreya' onto the global stage-just as the Society tried to do in the last century with Krishnamurti-continue to send waves through the sea of 'alternative' spiritualities. Guénon shows how our popular ideas of karma and reincarnation actually owe more to Theosophy than to Hinduism or Buddhism, provides a clear picture of the charlatanry that was sometimes a part of the Society's modus operandi, and gives the early history of the Society's bid for political power, particularly its role as an agent of British imperialism in India. It is fitting that this work should finally appear in English just at this moment, when the influence of pseudo-esoteric spiritualities on global politics is probably greater than ever before in Western history.
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  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Sophia Perennis et Universalis
  4. Publication date
    May 23 2004
  5. Dimensions
    15.24 x 2.39 x 22.86 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0900588802
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0900588808
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sophia Perennis et Universalis (May 23 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0900588802
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0900588808
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 672 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.39 x 22.86 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

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René Guénon

René Guénon

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4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
13 global ratings

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Oliver St. John
5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Facts about Western Occultism
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2023
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This book, along with its sequel, The Spiritist Fallacy, is a real eye-opener to those of us that have spent much of our lives immersed in the modernist works of the occultists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Here, Guénon shows, with very little need to express opinions as he simply presents factual evidence and the letters and writings of the many people involved with this counter-initiatic movement, the almost unbelievable fantasies and pretensions of these self-proclaimed leaders and propagandists of psychism and ‘evolutionism’.

Contrary to what some others have claimed, Guénon clearly shows—and in precise detail—the errors and doctrinal distortions of the Theosophical movement. In particular, one may regard for example the chapter ‘Principles of Theosophical Teaching’. Guénon is a writer that does not ‘put things in a nutshell’, which is a typically modernist trait, aiming to reduce everything to the simplest level possible. Instead, he produces in-depth and detailed explanations, and never claims anything without explaining it. He does not write from personal opinion, as so many do now. He writes from a point of view of traditional knowledge and facts.
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Paulo Ricardo Pimentel
5.0 out of 5 stars Importantíssimo
Reviewed in Brazil on August 15, 2020
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Pode parecer desnecessário e cansativo, mas é importantíssimo que leia-se este livro antes de prosseguir aos estudos mais propriamente metafísicos de Guénon. Edição impecável da Sophia Perennis.
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Justin
5.0 out of 5 stars "Underground" History
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2011
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First of all, please disregard the review by J. Bielawski. In the footnote to which the reviewer refers, Guenon clearly states that Bo Yin Ra is "outside Theosophy in the strict sense of the word." And in any event, one need only make a cursory glance through Bo Yin Ra's works to see that he deserves to be classed in the same vein as properly Theosophic "thinkers," (see, for instance, his book on the Gospel of John where he calls Christ one of the "Masters," and where he tries to argue that the current text of the Gospel is a corruption--in other words, the same nonsense that is spouted by Theosophists).

The present work represents in some sense Guenon taking care of the dirty laundry he acquired from the time he spent in the Parisian occultist milieu in the early 20th century. Some of his critics have never failed to point to this period of Guenon's life to try and discredit his views, some even going so far as to see him as an nothing more than a mere occultist. A judicious reading of his works, however, can only lead to a different conclusion, especially when one considers him in comparison to actual French occultists like Papus or Eliphas Levi. Whatever one thinks of Guenon, he deserves to be taken more seriously than do these latter. Still, Guenon's motives for entering into this bizarre scene are difficult to parse through and there are certain episodes (his involvement with the Gnostic Church or the attempt to constitute a "Renovated Order of the Temple") which are definitely questionable. How seriously did he take these groups at first? Did he plunge into this scene merely to have a better understanding of its inner workings, in order to be able to expose it for the sham that it was? Was he trying to convince himself firsthand the lack of "authentic" initiatic organizations in the West? Or was he trying to attract other serious seekers who were not fully under the sway of Papus' ideas (the French Wikipedia page about Guenon makes clear that he did make contacts important to his intellectual development at this time, particularly Paul Vulliaud [whose work on the Kabbalah he cites frequently] and Matgioi [whose writings on Chinese metaphysics Guenon praised highly])? What is beyond doubt is that Guenon fully and completely repudiates all of these twisted undercurrents in the present work. And his exposé would not be nearly as effective without the extensive firsthand knowledge that he brings to bear in this book. So it is unfair to use these associations to try and cast a shadow on all of Guenon's work, just as unfair as it would be use Evola's appropriation of his ideas for dubious political ends (Fascism, Nazism, etc.) to discredit them as well.

Being a work of a more historical and less of a doctrinal nature than many other of Guenon's works, one might at first be tempted to think that the overall importance of "Theosophy: ..." within Guenon's corpus is negligible or at least secondary. In a certain sense, this is true--the metaphysical principles with which he deals more extensively elsewhere have more intrinsic interest. There is still plenty here for a dedicated reader of Guenon, however. In particular, seeing the errors that he always attempted to refute spelled out in complete detail makes it easier to understand why he emphasizes certain points in his other works to such a great extent. The real reason this work is invaluable, though, is the insight it gives into what Guenon calls the "underground" history of our times. In other works, like "Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times," Guenon can seem almost paranoid when he speaks of the pseudo-initation and the counter-initiation. This work makes his tone in those works, and the personal fear he had of those dubious groups (see Sedgwick's "Against the Modern World"), more understandable. Indeed, the extent of the influence that the false "ideas" of Theosophic origin have had outside the domain of Theosophy proper is remarkable (I'll mention the Theosophic understanding of "karma" as a moralistic concept, which has no doubt become a commonplace in Western popular culture; though Theosophists themselves disagree about it, "reincarnation" is another idea advocated by some of their writings). Guenon here relates Theosophy to the same modern mental tendencies which have manifested themselves in forms that can seem innocuous to, say, the average American (the list is quite long, but includes [William] Jamesian theories of "religious experience," Bergsonian philosophy, Scouting [i.e. the Boy/Girl Scouts], evangelical Protestantism, the YMCA, the [now] common practice of the "moment of silence," Christian Science, vegetariansim/veganism, etc.). Theosophy is also historically important because it is a precursor to contemporary pseudo-religious phenomena like the New Age movement (it was in fact the former Theosophist Alice Bailey who gave the world the notion of the "Age of Aquarius"), the recent craze about Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret," the increasingly widespread use of yoga for "therapeutic" purposes, or the Church of Scientology (for another fascinating historical report about yet another important precursor to these contemporary pseudo-religions, see Guenon's "The Origins of Mormonism" in the book "Miscellanea"). What these last few sentences should hopefully drive home is the fact that anyone seeking to understand the relatively hidden sources of the contemporary Western mindset should absolutely buy this book so that they are not led astray by the endlessly proliferating false teachings that float around everywhere, obscuring the truth. This book (along with "The Spiritist Fallacy") is certainly helpful in exposing much of the false spirituality that is becoming more and more mainstream in our times.
33 people found this helpful
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kanedaitsuki
3.0 out of 5 stars 神智学協会の実証的歴史研究
Reviewed in Japan on December 28, 2009
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　神智学協会は今なお類似のオカルト団体に影響力を保っており、その名が廃れても、同様の擬似宗教は常に存在し、霊的な悪影響をふりまいて止まない。この書は、その神智学協会についての批判的研究である。
　ゲノンには珍しく実証的スタイルで書かれており、神智学関係者自身の数々の著作や記事をふんだんに引用し、彼ら自身にその実態を語らせている。もはや古典と言えるが、擬似宗教についての本格的批判書として、今日でもその価値を失っていない。
　
3 people found this helpful
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Stephen M
5.0 out of 5 stars genius
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2018
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this guy was a genius!
2 people found this helpful
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