Famous People and the impact of the Theosophical Society
Inventory of the influence of the Theosophical Society
Katinka Hesselink 2006-2008
This list is a tentative inventory of the impact of the Theosophical Society on the world. It owes a lot to
John Algeo's work. Some things have been included, even though my source for them is merely the theosophical grapevine. These obviously need further study. I have also (not yet) included proper source references. This will hopefully come in time. At the moment the list only includes people from the Theosophical Society Adyar. This is not a policy, but a reflection on my knowledge in this field. If anyone can come up with people from other theosophical organisations that had a significant impact on society, feel free to contact me.
I realize that this is a problematic field of study: what exactly constitutes influence? Still I think it is possible to give some sort of answer to the question of the influence of the Theosophical Society by doing an inventory of prominent cultural innovators who were members of the Theosophical Society. If one can find a significant number, it is plausible that the relatively small organization did have a relatively high influence on East and West. As the list shows it isn't always easy to show how the Theosophical Society or its ideals and teachings made a difference in a certain persons perspective or method. Still, I think it is useful to cultural historians to be aware of memberships of the Theosophical Society. For Theosophical Society-members it may be interesting to know the contributions Theosophical Society-members have made in the world.
Some people who made it on this list were never members of the Theosophical Society, in those cases a note has been added. They are on here because of their spiritual interests, or their contact with theosophists even if they never joined.
WRITERS
Lyman Frank Baum , American author of The Wizard of Oz and other children’s stories (1851 –1919)
Mohini Chatterji , on the Gita, Vivekachudamani, etc. (1858 –1936)
William Butler Yeats , Anglo-Irish poet and playwright (1865 –1939)
George W. Russell (Æ) , Irish poet, painter, and agricultural expert (1867 –1935)
Talbot Mundy (1879 –1940)
Sir Edwin Arnold , British author of The Light of Asia and The Song Celestial
Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), author of the Alice books, Sylvie and Bruno, etc. (1832 –189
Kahlil Gibran (cf. Prophet : the life and times of Kahlil Gibran / Robin Waterfield. (New York : St. Martin's Press, 199
, p. 225.)
Sir Henry Rider Haggard , English novelist, King Solomon’s Mines, She, etc. (1856 –1925)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , English author of Sherlock Holmes stories, Spiritualist (1859 –1930). His theosophical interests are debatable. He looked into theosophy and was in touch with the Blavatsky Association about the Hodgson Report.
Maurice Maeterlinck , Belgian Symbolist poet, playwright, and novelist, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1911 (1862 –1949)
Algernon Blackwood , writer on the supernatural and mystery tales (1869 –1951)
Jack London , American novelist (1876 –1916)
E. M. Forster , English novelist, Passage to India, etc. (1879 –1970)
James Joyce , Irish novelist, Ulysses, Finnegans Wake (1882 –1941)
D. H. Lawrence , English novelist, The Plumed Serpent, etc. “a religious writer who did not so much reject Christianity as try to create a new religious and moral basis for modern life” (1885 –1930)
T. S. Eliot , Anglo-American poet and critic (1888 –1965)
Henry Miller , Bohemian autobiographical novelist (1891 –1980)
John Boyton Priestley , English novelist and playwright, Time and the Conways, I Have Been Here Before, An Inspector Calls (1894 –1984)
Thornton Wilder , American novelist and playwright, The Cabala, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Our Town, The Matchmaker [ > Hello, Dolly!], The Skin of Our Teeth (1897 –1975)
Kurt Vonnegut , Jr., American author of satirical novels of social criticism (b. 1922)
Sir Thomas (Tom) Stoppard , Czech-born playwright of intellectual drama, e.g. Arcadia (1993), which brought together Fermat's Last Theorem, chaos theory, landscape architecture, and Lord Byron; also Indian Ink about Indian independence and Theosophists (b. 1937)
ARCHITECTS
Claude Bragdon , American architect and author (1866 –1946)
Walter Burley Griffin , American architect and city planner, who worked in F. L. Wright’s studio and who designed the plan for the Australian capital, Canberra (1876 –1937)
SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS
Sir William Crookes , theoretical physicist and inventor of the prototype of the TV tube and fluorescent lighting (1832 –1919)
Thomas Edison , American inventor of the electric light, phonograph, etc. (1847 –1931) (cf. The Theosophist, August 1931, p. 657)
Rupert Sheldrake , British biologist and proposer of morphogenetic fields. (b. 1942)
Alfred Russel Wallace , naturalist who developed a theory of natural selection independent of Darwin, excepted higher mental capacities from the theory, a Spiritualist (1823 –1913). His theosophical interests are debatable. “
I have tried several Reincarnation and Theosophical books, but cannot read them or take any interest in them. They are so purely imaginative and do not seem to me rational. Many people are captivated by it. I think most people who like a grand, strange, complex theory of man and nature, given with authority- people who if religious would be Roman Catholics.” quoted from William Brock,
William Crookes (1832–1919) and the Commercialization of Science, 2008 (originally in Marchant’s 1916 biography of Wallace - it comes from an 1897 letter by Wallace).
Camille Flammarion , French astronomer (1842 –1925)
Baroness Jane Goodall , scientist working with chimpanzees, Theosophical connection acknowledged in her recent book Reason for Hope (b. 1934)
Psychologists
William James , philosopher and psychologist
Carl Gustav Jung , founder of analytical psychology (1875 –1961). Was not interested in Blavatsky, Leadbeater or Besant, but was in frequent contact with G.R.S. Mead - after the latter had left the T.S. in 1909.
Ian Stevenson , Professor of Psychiatry, University of Virginia and leading investigator of reported cases of reincarnation. Probably influenced by his theosophical upbringing.
Painters and other Artists
Rukmini Devi Arundale: Revitalized Indian arts, especially dance and music. In her case membership of the Theosophical Society meant international contacts which made it possible for her to learn western dance and music, which in turn gave her the training necessary to breath new life into Indian dance. The way she ended up doing what she did is unthinkable without the contacts the Theosophical Society gave her.
Hilma af Klint , abstract painter. (cf for instance The Theosophist July 2006, p. 385-389)
Piet Mondriaan , Dutch painter, leading exponent of “de Stijl” whose “neoplastic” style profoundly influenced modern art, architecture, and graphic design (1872 –1944) Member of the Theosophical Society
Beatrice Wood , artist, ceramicist (1893 –199
Paul Gauguin , French post impressionist, primitivist painter (1848 –1903)
Vassily Kandinsky , Russian founder of nonobjectivist art (1866 –1944) Influenced by theosophy, not a member.
Gutzon Borglum , monumental sculptor of the Mount Rushmore presidential heads and painter of a portrait of Blavatsky 1867 –1941)
Charles Rennie Mackintosh , Scottish art nouveau architect and designer (1868 –1926)
Paul Klee , whimsical Swiss artist of Der Blaue Reiter and the Bauhaus School (1879 –1940)
Nicholas Roerich , Russian mystical artist, friend of Henry Wallace (1874 –1947)
Harris, Lawren , Canadian painter was a member of the Toronto Lodge of the Theosophical Society in Canada. (October 23, 1885 – January 29, 1970)
Musicians
Cyril Scott , composer and author (1879 –1970)
Gustav Mahler , symphonic composer (1860 –1911)
Jean Sibelius , Finnish musical composer inspired by the Kalevala (1865 –1957)
Alexander Nikolaievitch Scriabin , Russian composer, “Theosophical ideas similarly provided the basis of the orchestral Poem of Ecstasy (190
and Prometheus (1911), which called for the projection of colours onto a screen during the performance,” (1872 –1915)
Elvis Presley , American rock and roll musician (1935 –1977)
Ruth Crawford-Seeg - composer
Dane Rudhyar - composer
Alexander Scriabin - composer
Actors
Florence Farr , actress, Golden Dawn, etc. (1860 –1917)
Dana Ivey , Broadway, screen, and TV actress
Shirley MacLaine , American film actress (b. 1934)
Politicians
Annie Besant , president of the Theosophical Society, prominent activist for the independence of India (was already an activist for many causes before she became a member of the Theosophical Society). Popular lecturer on many themes. Her popularity did a lot to enlarge the membership of co-freemasonry (which accepts men and women). Education in India for boys and girls (continuing the work started by H.S. Olcott, first president of the Theosophical Society)
Allan Octavian Hume , British administrator in India, one of the founders of the Indian National Congress (1829 –1912)
Alfred Deakin , framer of the Australian Federation and Prime Minister of Australia, 1903 –4, 1905 –8, 1909 –10 (1856 –1919)
Hernández Martínez , President of El Salvador (1882 –1966)
Henry Wallace , Vice President of the United States (1888 –1965)
Jawaharlal Nehru , first Prime Minister of India, 1947 –64 (1889 –1964) Ferdinand T. Brooks, a young theosophists, tutored Nehru as an adolescent. Nehru acknowledged in his autobiography that “ F.T. Brooks left a deep impress upon me and I feel that I owe a debt to him and to Theosophy. ” (Theosophical History Vol. VII, Issue 3, July 199
George Lansbury , leader of British Labour party, 1931 –5, (1859 –1940)
Mohandas K. Gandhi , Indian patriot, framer of satyagraha (1869 –194
Gandhi certainly knew Annie Besant, had great respect for her, and the version of the Bhagavad Gita that first acquainted him with Indian philosophy was her translation. In his autobiography he describes his early acquaintance in London with Theosophy and the Theosophical Society. The two “brothers” he mentions there are almost certainly the Keightley uncle and nephew, whom others have mistaken for brothers as they were so close in age. His contribution: a reformulation of Hinduism into a passive activism. Contributed significantly to the independence movement in India and
the breakdown of the castesystem.
Feminists
Clara Codd , A feminist who was imprisoned in England.
Matilda Joslyn Gage , American feminist and coauthor with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony of the History of Woman Suffrage (1815 –1902)
Gloria Steinem , American writer and feminist, editor of Ms., Theosophical influence acknowledged in an interview in Jewish News (b. 1934)
Religious Figures
Paul Brunton, (1898-1981) Author of A Search in Secret India, the book that made Ramana Maharshi well known. (
source) Brunton was a member of the TS only for a short while, but the biography by his son reveals that he shared many of the more obscure ideas from the Secret Doctrine. [More about
Paul Brunton and his books]
Anagarika Dharmapala , a leading figure in the Buddhist revival (1864 –1933)
Venerable Balangoda Ananda Maitreya (August 24, 1896 - July 18, 199
, 'one of the leading figures of contemporary Buddhism, not just in Sri Lanka but throughout the world' (see: Chapter 9 in 'Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka', by Richard Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere).
G.R.S. Mead : introduced Gnosticism to popular knowledge in England and probably the world.
Christmas Humphreys , English introducer of Buddhism to Westerners (1901 –1983).
On Christmas Humphreys work as a judge.
Christmas Humphreys: an article for the Canadian Theosophist.
D.T. Suzuki , Brought Zen-Buddhism to the West. It has recently come to light that not only was his wife a central figure in the (small) theosophical scene in Japan, he himself was a member of the Theosophical Society when he lived in Japan. (Theosophical History Magazine, article by Adele Algeo)
H.S. Olcott , founding president of the Theosophical Society: Education in Sri Lanka and India, Composition of the Buddhist Catechism, Started a newspaper in Sri Lanka for the Sinhalese people. 'Sarasavi Sandaresa' [cf
Buddhist Channel | Buddhism News, Headlines | The Angkor Wat of Malaysia february 17th 2006], Buddhist flag (organization of committee and significant input in the final design)
MISCELLANEOUS
Alonzo Decker (?? –1956), co founder of Black & Decker manufacturing company, joined T.S. in America April 3, 1929, member until his death.
General Abner Doubleday , legendary father of baseball (1819 –1893)
Maria Montessori , educator and founder of Montessori Method, based on a belief in the child’s creative potential, drive to learn, and right to be treated as an individual (1870 –1952)
Groups
These groups started by theosophists or had as their most active members theosophists in their early days.
Co-freemasonry (See Annie Besant)
Amnesty International (source: theosophical grapevine)
Buddhist Society in England (was the Buddhist lodge of the Theosophical Society), was founded by the most famous and influential of Western Buddhists, Christmas Humphreys (see Christmas Humphreys), who was a member of the Theosophical Society early in his life and who wrote appreciatively about H.P. Blavatsky to the end of his life.
Sufi movement started by
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Further reading
- Campbell, Bruce F. ' Ancient Wisdom Revived, A History of the Theosophical Movement ', University of California Press, Berkely, Los Angelos, London, 1980. Though I don't agree with the authors assessment of Blavatsky, this book offers a good insight into the history and sociological development of the Theosophical Movement, as well as the influence of that movement on the world. The concluding chapter on challenges for the Theosophical Movement in the future are astute.
- See also: Famous Theosophists / Notable Members of Theosophical Society
- Links about well known theosophists
Famous people in the Theosophical Society - Theosophical History 
Originally Posted by kebot
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