Theosophy Needs Freedom From Propaganda

 
By Honestly Facing Our Failures, We
Develop a Sense of Self-Responsibility
 
 
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
 

Political ideologies and other systems of “organized opinion” offer us a false feeling that “we know everything” and that we “can explain each and every event”. This would be done simply by placing all facts or situations within our ideological set of references, or simplified view of the world.

In reality, fixed ideology and opinions separate us from facts. They take us away from actual reality. They isolate us from our own intuition, from our natural ability to learn, and from each other.

Instead of trying to spread an ideology - or, worse, trying to impose ideas on others - we should try to learn wisdom through study, dialogue and cooperation.

It is wise to remember that ideologies feed on propaganda and are used to “organize” human minds in herds of believers.

Real theosophy, on the other hand, invites us to seek for truth by our own means and to think by ourselves. Ideological thinking is automatic thinking, and automatic thinking is not thinking at all.

The difference between philosophy and ideology is in the fact that in philosophy you must think with independence and help others think by themselves. An ideology tries to “provide the thinking” for everyone. A true teacher of theosophy will not tell you WHAT to think. He may help you observe the way you think, and help you see how to improve and expand your thinking.

Classical philosophy and theosophy invite us to be thoroughly responsible for our actions, our feelings and our thoughts. 

The process of self-responsibility shows us our mistakes. By honestly facing our failures and defeats, we cease to attribute our limitations to others and to external circumstances. We then start to heal ourselves, improving our lives and learning some real wisdom. 

Instead of fighting others or merely struggling with circumstances, the pilgrim who listens to classical theosophy in his heart chooses to daily build his own character.

He transcends the illusion of self-importance. He observes and educates himself all the time. He constantly practices the exercise of divine presence. He knows that his own spiritual soul is sacred, and that he is continuously side by side with Eternity, whether he remembers it, or not. 

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The article “Theosophy Needs Freedom From Propaganda” is available on the websites of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists since 22 November 2025. An initial version of it is part of the March 2021 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, page 7, which has no indication as to the name of the author. Original title: “Freedom from Propaganda”.

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Read more:

* Freedom From Mind Manipulation.

* The Mahatmas and Christianity.

* Helena Blavatsky’s Self-Criticism.

* Pascal’s Sphere.

* The Center of Pascal’s Sphere.

* The Practice of Divine Presence.

* Some writings of Carlos Cardoso Aveline.

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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these words: “Deserve, then desire”.

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The Aquarian Theosophist, November 2025

 

The November edition of the Aquarian includes a text containing passages from letter XXc in the Mahatma Letters. 

On page one you have the article “How the Prophet Isaiah Sees the Future of Europe and the Americas”, which starts with these words:

“Besides being a great prophet and a sage, Isaiah was also a pioneer of modern waste recycling.”

Page four presents the note “Let Us Beat Swords Into Ploughshares”, about the famous Russian sculpture dedicated to this idea and located in the headquarters of the United Nations in New York.

Page five brings us an Amish prayer for all the nations of the world.

Page six has “The Wind and the Mountain”, by Joana Maria Ferreira de Pinho. Victory is Certain for Those Who Do Not Indulge in Despondency or Euphoria.

Other topics:

* The Fool and the Sage in Daily Life.

* Correct the Wise and He Will Be Grateful, Correct the Fool, And He Will Hate You.

* Helena Blavatsky, Theosophy and Resurrection.

* Today Here Now - a poem by Michael Smith. (In this Sacred and Timeless Moment

I Enter the Gates of Calm Surrender.)

* Two Articles on the Wisdom of the Desert.

* The Theosophy of Sunrise - a Spiritual Lesson from the Sun.

* Thoughts Along the Road - the Idea of Immortality in the Mahatma Letters.

The November edition has 22 pages.

Click Here to Read

“The Aquarian” for November 2025

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The above edition of The Aquarian was published on 07 November 2025. 

The entire collection of the journal is available HERE.

Give your friends a practical tool to better understand themselves, and better understand the world. Invite them to join the study-group E-Theosophy in Google Groups.

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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these words: “Deserve, then desire”.

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From the Essenes to the Desert Fathers

 
The Ancient Science of a Contemplative Life
 
Eugène Veuillot
 

The 1886 edition of the book by Michel-Ange Marin, in the library of the ILT.

Monastic life had its precursors in the old alliance; but it is the new covenant which gave it its perfection. “Already in the Mosaic religion”, says Cantu, relying on Philo, “we had seen pious people who, to devote themselves more exclusively to the contemplative life, abandoned their possessions, their homeland and retired to deserted places.”

“These solitaries belonged to the Essenes, and in Greek they were called Therapists; they lived mainly around Lake Mœris, in Egypt, in separate dwellings, but not too far from each other so that they could provide mutual help against the brigands. They lived in abstinence, eating nothing until after sundown; and some, only every three or six days. They ate only bread, adding at most aromatic herbs and salt [1]. Their clothing was in line with this austere regime: they prayed morning and evening, and spent the rest of the time reading and meditating on sacred books, searching for allegories, composing hymns and singing them.”[2] They practiced exercises in common and met every seven weeks to eat and pray together. Women were allowed to attend these meetings.

The solitary ascetics of the new covenant, who embraced this state from the beginning, had in view, says Father Marin, to practice the counsels of the Gospel and to execute to the letter these words of Jesus Christ: “Sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven; after that, come follow me.” (Luke 18:22) And these others: “Whoever has left home or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will possess eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29)

NOTES:

[1] We will point out here that the climate of Egypt allowed forms of abstinence which would be impossible in cold countries. (Eugène Veuillot)

[2] César Cantu, Histoire  universelle, t.v, p. 547. (Eugène Veuillot)

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The short text “From the Essenes to the Desert Fathers” is a translation from the Introduction by Eugène Veuillot to the book “Les Vies des Pères des Déserts D’Orient”, by Michel-Ange Marin, Nouvelle Édition, Tome Premier, Louis Vivès Libraire-Éditeur, Paris, 1886, 480 pp. See pages XIII-XIV. A shorter version of the present article is part of the April 2024 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 11-12. Original title: “Before the Desert Fathers, the Monastic Life of the Essenes”. Translation: CCA.

One must remember that the tradition of the Desert Fathers, though valuable, is a limited remnant of previous times during which the Essenes lived a far deeper wisdom. See for instance the article Desert Fathers, the Journey of a Rare Book.

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Read More:

* The Mahatmas and Christianity.

* Helena Blavatsky’s Self-Criticism.

* The Mystery of the Templars.

* A Prayer for Our Planetary Community.

* Meditation on the Awakening of Mankind.

* Desert Fathers, the Journey of a Rare Book.

See the thematic section on Christianity and Esoteric Philosophy.

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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these revealing words: “Deserve, then desire”.

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Desert Fathers, the Journey of a Rare Book

 
The 1866 Volume Had to Make a
Time Travel Before Arriving Home
 
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
 

“Les Vies des Pères des Déserts D’Orient”, Nouvelle Édition, Michel-Ange Marin, Tome Premier,
Louis Vivès Libraire-Éditeur, Paris, 1886, 480 pages: the copy undergoing repairs on March 25, 2024.

With the pages still attached to each other and therefore unopened, an original copy of volume I of “Les Vies des Pères des Déserts d’Orient”, by Michel-Ange Marin, edition 1886, arrived at the library of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists in 2024, showing abrasions and oxidation stains, although it had never been read and its pages were not turned by anyone.

Marin was born in 1697 and lived until 1767. In the 1880s, after more than a century of life, his work was a classic when it got a new, revised edition.

In the first half of 1886, Helena Blavatsky was in Würsburg, Germany, but in July she moved to Ostend, Belgium. In 1887, she settled in London. Thus, when Marin’s book on the Desert Fathers left the press, the volume was surrounded by the magnetic aura and by the dense and subtle atmosphere of Europe, in which Blavatsky lived. It was a long journey through time, until it arrived by express mail, still unread by anyone, at the ILT library.

In 1886 - and until the middle of the 20th century - books were sold with the pages attached to each other, usually in groups of 8. Before reading, the pages had to be manually separated with a knife or spatula. This is how the book about the Desert Fathers arrived at the library of the ILT. Although the volume of Michel-Ange Marin’s work had never been read, it had to face problems through the time journey. The front cover and back cover, as well as the first and last pages, reached the year of 2024 during the process of getting dismantled. However, once the repair glue dried, it became possible to read and to turn its pages as naturally as any other book.

The teachings of the Fathers of the Desert are recognized by both the Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches, and by the Catholic and Protestant worlds alike. They are seen as important by Theosophists.

Jesus himself was a Sage of the Desert, and Helena Blavatsky highlights the fact in “Isis Unveiled, volume II”, pp. 144-145. However, the life of the Desert Fathers was a pale remnant of the pagan esoteric wisdom of previous times, as we can see on pages 108 and 196, among others, of Isis, volume II.  

Pale remnants as they are, the traditional sayings and apophthegms ascribed to the Desert Fathers teach many a valuable lesson to the modern student of theosophy, in his efforts to experience in daily life the wisdom he seeks to understand.

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The article “Desert Fathers, the Journey of a Rare Book” is available on the websites of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists since 30 October 2025. An initial version of it is part of the April 2024 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pages 10-11. Original title: “The Journey of a Rare Book”.  

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Read more:

* The Center of Pascal’s Sphere.

* The Mahatmas and Christianity.

* Helena Blavatsky’s Self-Criticism.

* The Sacred Presence Next to Us.

* The Mystery of the Templars.

* A Prayer for Our Planetary Community.

See the thematic section on Christianity and Esoteric Philosophy.

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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these revealing words: “Deserve, then desire”.

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Thoughts Along the Road - 90

 
The Inner Celebration: Each
Winter Prepares a Springtime
  
Carlos Cardoso Aveline

* Periods of spiritual obscuration and misguided materialism - such as the one the Western countries have experienced during the first quarter of the 21st century - are part of the long-term evolution of souls and nations.

* Night prepares the day. Conscious suffering constitutes a significant step in the process of healing.

* Whenever materialism and spiritual ignorance dominate the scene, there is anxiety, because the time has come for moral blindness to experience its inner failure and complete inability to guide the human experience.

* When cut off from the life of the spiritual souls, a civilization becomes blind and quickly finds ways to destroy itself. Thus it paves the way for the resumption of spiritual evolution on renewed grounds.

* Throughout history, decades of materialistic domination are necessary preparations for more advanced cycles. These are periods of emptying, of transition. They make it possible to recover in a deeper way the experience of springtime, in the learning of the soul.  

* Thus, the Western civilization loses nothing of great importance during its periods of collective madness, when it forgets the notion of sacredness, obeys to a feeling of disrespect for the past, abandons its own altruistic ideals and expresses a deep contempt for the nations and the wisdom of the East.

* Human history and the history of our planet are cyclic. No beautiful period of sunrise would be possible if there were not a dark and cold period in the hours previous to it. Perhaps the most inspiring point of the cycle is the one in which the first signs of dawn can be dimly perceived by those who have their eyes open, and pay due attention to the eternal renewal of all things.

A Celebration on the Plane of the Soul

* For various reasons, traditional yearly celebrations bring emotional challenges to many people. Old pains from the past may emerge on the table. The absence of loved ones gets painfully unpleasant. Misunderstandings breed impatience.  Subconscious expectations are not confirmed, and disappointments happen.

* The lesson is unavoidable: the substance of parties and celebrations should be more spiritual than physical.

* Whenever a celebration takes place on the plane of the soul, it is outwardly modest; it does not make too much noise, it is not linked to the exercise of gluttony, it does not feed on agitation; it generates peace instead of anxiety.

* The best gifts are good feelings and fraternal thoughts, which flow beyond words and do not need external manifestations.

* In a society largely governed by voracity, not everyone is qualified to look at suffering in a serene and lucid way. But empowering ourselves for this is possible, and the task is not difficult.

* The following prayer might help pilgrims to dismantle the attachment to emotional suffering, whether during periods of yearly celebrations or not.

Finding Bliss in Due Time

* Om.

* I send peace to all souls who have ceased to live on the physical plane and were not reborn yet.

* May each one of them find bliss in due time. I wish them harmony according to their merit, and a lasting contentment in the law of eternal justice.

* The same to all living souls in the different realms of nature.

* I say “thank you” to my ancestors.

* I wish good to those who suffer.

* I have no attachment to pain. May we all accept inner happiness and the narrow path to contentment.  

* I forget any injustice my lower self may have seemed to suffer: I have no interest in illusions.  But I ask forgiveness for the pain I caused to others.   

* In any celebration, I want to wish something for people around the world. I hope everyone has the correct degree of health, discernment, well-being and confidence.

* I wish everyone fulfills his and her duty according to their possibilities. I hope the same will be accomplished by those closest to my own spiritual soul.

* I say “thank you” to the great sages and spiritual teachers of our mankind.

* Om, shanti.

An Imperfect Formula for Learning Better

* The progress of students of theosophy depends on these factors among others, not necessarily in this order:

* Devotion to an ideal;

* A decision to learn about the art of living;

* Self-forgetfulness combined with self-knowledge;

* A rigorous selflessness in self-observation;

* A willingness to cooperate, a basic goodwill to all beings;

* A consistent attempt to improve oneself;

* Persistence in correct action, renunciation of mistakes;

* An inner affinity with victory;

* A long-term view of things, encompassing several incarnations;

* The yoga of duty fulfilled here and now; and

* A daily period of study and silence.

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The article “Thoughts Along the Road - 90” was published on the websites of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists on 27 October 2025.  An initial version of it is part of the January 2023 December 2022 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 11-13.      

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Read more:

* The Battle of Truth.

* A Few Lessons from George Orwell.

* Blavatsky and the Blue Mountains.

* The Mahatmas and Christianity.

* Helena Blavatsky’s Self-Criticism.

* Do Theosophists Fight Demons?

* Other writings of Carlos Cardoso Aveline.

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Print the texts you study from the websites of the Independent Lodge. Reading on paper helps us attain a deeper view of philosophical texts. When studying a printed text, the reader can underline sentences and make handwritten comments in the margins that link the ideas to his personal reality.

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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these words: “Deserve, then desire”.

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