Theosophy and the Theosophical Society

The Theosophical Society was founded in 1875 at a time when the West was just becoming seriously aware of the existence of religions and people elsewhere. Intelligent people could no longer classify Islam as devilish for instance, or Hinduism as barbaric. But what then? The serious study of religion was started at universities - the first professor of comparative religion got his post in 1875.

The Secret Doctrine, by H.P. BLavatsky

I started reading theosophy at age 19 and went on to reading the cream of the theosophical cream soon: There was a Secret Doctrine studygroup in Amsterdam and I went regularly. The book itself is difficult - not many people can read it without some sort of guidance. One of the advantage of having a group to study with is that you get their intuitions on what the book means - as well as their knowledge about the many subjects Blavatsky covers.

Anyhow: what an inspiration that book was.

Many people read it by just opening it somewhere and reading what it says. That's a great way to do it, because the book isn't organized very well anyhow. Just the same it contains many vistas of inspiration and wisdom.