TEACHINGS

The Theosophical Society is composed of students belonging to any religion in the world or to none, who are united by their approval of the Society’s Objects by their wish to remove religious antagonisms and to draw together men of goodwill, whatsoever their religious opinions, and by their desire to study religious truths and to share the results of their studies with others. Their bond of union is not the profession of a common belief but a common search and aspiration for Truth. They hold that Truth should be sought by study, by reflection, by purity of life, by devotion to high ideals, and they regard Truth as a prize to be striven for not as a dogma to be imposed by authority. They consider that belief should be the result of individual study or intuition and not its antecedent and should rest on knowledge not on assertion. They extend tolerance to all, even to the intolerant, not as a privilege they bestow but as a duty they perform, and they seek to remove ignorance not punish it. They see every religion as an expression of the Divine Wisdom and prefer its study to its condemnations and its practice to proselytism. Peace is their watchword as Truth is their aim.

Members of the Theosophical Society study these truths and theosophists endeavour to live them. Everyone willing to study to be intolerant, to aim high, and to work perseveringly is welcomed as a member and it rests with the member to become a true Theosophist.