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Comment by dr_dshiv | Hacker News Reader

Theosophy is awesome. Blavatsky was a genius. Neither were spotless. Both had concerted campaigns to defame them. Keep in mind what life would be like for a genius female philosopher in 1870. Blavatsky had a HUGE influence on India. She was surprisingly rational, particularly for trying to rationally take on mysticism. Someone needed to do it.

Many people get scared off but it is worth reading some original work. https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/isis/iu-hp.htm

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"Not spotless" is another way of saying that her writings were rife with anti-semitism and anti-indigenous sentiments that pretty much everyone today should find reprehensible. The fact that these sentiments are fundamentally baked into her cosmology via her root races ideology blights her efforts with regard to mysticism.

I'll go farther and say that I think celebrating her without detailed qualification and acknowledgement of these issues (saying she's "not spotless"/"wasn't perfect", etc. obviously doesn't count), along with wantonly dismissing people who take issue with this content, is both extremely irresponsible and extremely unkind, not to mention deeply immature.

She was an awesome lady. She was antiracist. She made concrete and lasting contributions to the Indian independence movement. For this, she was deliberately framed for fraud by the British government.

Obviously, her case requires respect and nuance. She is one of history’s few successful female philosophers. She had lots of enemies then and now. Dig up what you can and we can talk about it. But don’t think it is “mature” and “responsible” to try to cancel her and her ideas, 150 years later.

I suppose the only encounter I've had with theosophy is through Rudolf Steiner[1][2], whom I find infinitely intriguing - you might enjoy the Rudolf Steiner Press Audio[3] if you like Blavatsky.

> Blavatsky had a HUGE influence on India

It seems to me that the only real thinking that has ever occurred happened around 8th century BCE in India[4]; we fool ourselves in the West thinking we are anywhere close to it.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner_and_the_Theosop...

3a. Rudolf Steiner Press Audio on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTuPXQlrmPfDB7YLJWywnAg/vid...

3b. One of my favorite episodes on the Rudolf Steiner Press Audio recordings is on the German theologian, Meister Eckhart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ZJ-AaClyo

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_philosophers

As long as you ignore the antisemitism…

Accusing someone of antisemitism is pretty bad, so I’d really appreciate sources or quotes. As far as I understand, she wasn’t a fan of the literal interpretation of the Bible, but she loved the esoteric Jewish Kabbalah.

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