Getting Acquainted With The Secret Doctrine (Study Guide)

By John Algeo.

60 Pages | Study guide, first edition 1981, third edition 2007 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 9780835602099.

This study guide offers an introduction to Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's (1831 - 1891) Secret Doctrine - The Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy (1888) based primarily on the 'Bowen notes', which purportedly record Blavatsky's own advice. The work borrows freely, however, from the Wisdom and practice of many others as well and formulates questions rather than answers.

Students of The Secret Doctrine differ considerably in their attitude toward the book and its study. The attitude adopted here - namely that it is remarkable and indeed a marvellous book, but that it is not free from error or in any sense a 'sacred' text - is not universally held. But John Algeo believes that it is in the Spirit of the Ageless Wisdom and The Secret Doctrine that we should respect each other's views, without necessarily sharing them.

From Chapter 6 - 'How to Study The Secret Doctrine' (p. 21):

" The Bowen notes tell us that 'reading the S.D, page by page as one reads any other book' - for example, a textbook - 'will only end in confusion'. The notes also give suggestions on how to go about studying the work. They advise the student to hold fast to four basic ideas:

1. The fundamental unity of all existence with two aspects: consciousness and substance;

2. The vitality of all matter;

3. The microcosmic correspondence of human nature to the great cosmos because of our oneness with it;

4. The hermetic order of the universe as a Divine Economy, which is simultaneously a hierarchy of power and a network of equality. "