1039263
doi
10.1093/jaarel/lfs042
oai:zenodo.org:1039263
Taming the Astral Body: The Theosophical Society's Ongoing Problem of Emotion and Control
Crow, J. L.
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives 4.0 International
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/legalcode
In New York City in 1875, a group interested in Spiritualism and occult science founded what would become the Theosophical Society. Primarily the creation of Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the Theosophical Society went through a number of early incarnations. One original version promised to teach occult powers. After Blavatsky found that she could not honor earlier promises to teach occultism, she shifted the focus of the Society to one that promoted Universal Brotherhood instead, highlighting notions of the body and demanding the control of emotion as a means to rebuff demands for training. With this refocusing, Blavatsky reestablished control of the Society and asserted herself as the central channel of esoteric knowledge. Thus, by shifting the focus from the attainment of occult powers to the more ambiguous "spiritual enlightenment," Blavatsky erected an elaborate, centralized system of delayed spiritual gratification, a system contingent upon the individual's adoption of specific morals and values, while simultaneously maintaining control of the human body on all its levels: spiritual, social, physical, mental, and especially emotional.
Zenodo
2012-07-29
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
1039262
1579540195.943772
181810
md5:274b2c24e20ece8342361c29de845324
https://zenodo.org/records/1039263/files/article.pdf
public