To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

154 / TO LIGHT A THOUSAND LAMPS
Society was and remains today. Therein she says that the
founders ‘‘had to oppose in the strongest manner possible
anything approaching dogmatic faith and fanaticism —
belief in the infallibility of the Masters, or even in the very
existence of our invisible Teachers, having to be checked
from the first.’’* She and Olcott weren’t told what to do,
but they were distinctly told what not to do; in particular,
they should never permit The Theosophical Society to become
a sect: dogmatic in thought and dogmatic in deed.
The strength of theosophy is that there is no teaching that
anyone has to believe before he can participate actively as a
member or supporter of The Theosophical Society. The
one requirement is that he accept the principle of universal
brotherhood as of great validity and a power in his thinking
and acting. He may remain a Buddhist, a Christian, a
Zoroastrian, an atheist, or whatever: ‘‘The greatest spirit of
free research untrammeled by anyone or anything, had to be
encouraged.’’†
This original program is imbodied in the objectives of
The Theosophical Society which, however worded, remain
in principle as follows: to di¤use among men a knowledge
of the laws inherent in the universe; to promulgate the
knowledge of the essential unity of all that is, and to demonstrate
that this unity is fundamental in nature; to form an
active brotherhood among men; to encourage the study of
ancient and modern religion, science, and philosophy; and,
to investigate the powers innate in man.
*The Original Programme of The Theosophical Society, p. 6; reprint,
H. P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings 7:148.
†Ibid.