Theosophy and Antroposophy

A última obra de Almada, intitulada Começar, é um testamento espiritual do artista, compendiando todo o seu saber filosófico e sinestético. Poeta, pintor, coreógrafo, ensaísta, Almada converge neste manifesto em pedra os conhecimentos matemáticos e filosóficos procurados ao longo da sua vida. Seguindo as metamorfoses da iconografia da estrela a cinco pontas o leitor pode ler, como numa síntese admirável, a inteira obra do artista poliédrico.

Esta Tesis tiene por objetivo proponer un tipo de abordaje psicológico y socio-político para reconsiderar la formación y formalización de los esquemas de conocimiento y construcción de la subjetividad. Lo que me conduce a esto, es el hecho de intentar asignarle un carácter epistemológico a la afectividad que me posibilite pensar en la conformación de «esquemas afectivos» previos a la estructura piagetiana de los esquemas de acción y de pensamiento (representativos y lógico-operatorios). Reconsideración ésta que me permite replantear la forma, no sólo en la que el sujeto comienza a conocer, sino también, en la que comienza a conocer «lo otro», aquello que lo condiciona en la formalización de sus esquemas y en el producto de los mismos. Por consiguiente, estos esquemas no pueden pensarse por fuera de la matriz social y política que los conforma, y ni tampoco de la matriz singular y situacional donde esos esquemas se desarrollan. De ahí que estarán condicionados por determinados «regímenes afectivos» y sus patrones de afección y vinculación; y por los «ambientes afectivos» y el tipo de afectos que se vivencien y reproduzcan en su espacio interior. Lo que al bebé inicialmente «lo afecte» vendrá dado por una «forma social» del afecto, es decir, por formas afectivas gestadas dentro de una trama social que responden a un deber ser o a una forma de vehiculización de los afectos –cómo dar amor, cómo cuidar-, y por las respuestas afectivas brindadas por los responsables de su cuidado –cómo responden ante un llanto, ante berrinches, o en general, ante el vínculo con el bebé. Ya que «el afecto» que los cuidadores depositen o manifiesten, resultará estar «moldeado» por la forma social afectiva que los educó y los atravesó en un «tiempo-espacio» determinado, y por la forma social afectiva que ellos internalizaron de acuerdo con sus vivencias y condiciones materiales de existencia. Asimismo, esto me conduce a reconsiderar qué es la afectividad en un sentido amplio –¿Es una potencia? ¿Es energía? ¿Es una fuerza? -, y a qué aspectos o instancias involucra y/o envuelve –afectos, sensaciones, emociones, sentimientos, valores. Situación que me impulsó a llevar a cabo un trabajo de reconstrucción exhaustivo e importante, para intentar diferenciar a unos conceptos de otros, dentro del entramado de la «materialidad afectiva», hecho que me permitió, a su vez, analizar el vínculo de la afectividad con el cuerpo y el lógos, y fundamentalmente, con la inteligencia. En consecuencia, esto nos conecta con una de las áreas de vacancia y con la originalidad concreta de esta tesis que procura aportar orden a las discusiones que se han desarrollado en torno del «giro afectivo» ( Alí y Giazú 2013, 2014; Greco y Stenner, 2008; Black-man y Cromby, 2007; Macón 2013) donde aparecen indistinciones y -cuándo no- oposiciones entre las nociones de «afecto» y de «emoción»; y claridad, respecto de los «contínuums» discursivos que se enmarcan sobre la base de lo emocional y/o de lo afectivo. Por otra parte, el objetivo propedéutico de esta tesis consiste en conocer las derivas y la potencia de nuestras fuerzas afectivas y como éstas están vinculadas a nuestra práctica y a nuestras formas de pensamiento, para conocernos mejor y actuar en consecuencia, sobre la base de una ética y una estética –aísthesis- de la existencia basada en la vida plena en comunidad.

Por este motivo, parto de considerar que la afectividad se encuentra intrínsecamente ligada al conocimiento y en un doble aspecto: subjetivo y psicogenético. Es decir, si bien es innegable que los afectos forman parte de la vida activa del hombre, no resulta tan claro el papel originario que los afectos ocupan en la construcción de esa vida en su dimensión subjetiva, práctica y cognitiva. De ahí que el foco de esta tesis esté puesto en la siguiente premisa: que la afectividad resulta ser una instancia inicial del desarrollo y de la conformación de la subjetividad. Por consiguiente, esto se vincula con otro de los objetivos, con la apuesta en pensar la promoción del desarrollo de la inteligencia y la educación emocional y afectiva a partir de la implementación de un método de trabajo aúlico especial diseñado para tal fin. Ya que la idea es intentar formar a los niños y niñas para que vayan adquiriendo un tipo de conocimiento explícito sobre el lugar que ocupan los afectos y las emociones en su forma y dinámica de vida. Para los romanos, la escolarización primaria era parte del pasado que había que desterrar, pues estaba cargado de errores y deformaciones, por eso, la misión de la psicagogia era enseñarles en su adolescencia y adultez a transformar los hábitos y las actitudes que los alejaban del correcto «cuidado de sí». Pero si la escolarización primaria masiva se ocupara de llevar a cabo una formación afectiva explícita –mediante un tipo de contenido curricular específico-, a futuro no cabría la necesidad de tener que enmendar o psicoanalizar «aspectos del pasado». Se trata entonces de producir otro tipo de encuentro entre la Filosofía, la Psicología, el Psicoanálisis y la Epistemología. Que fruto de la interdisciplina surja otra mirada formativa, otro tipo de subjetividad, bajo la mirada propia que se entreteja desde las Ciencias Sociales. De esto se desprende también, otra de las intenciones de esta tesis: volver a Piaget. No sólo porque la teoría epistemológica piagetiana es la que aún tiene incidencia en la formalización de la currícula escolar, sino también porque a partir de ella aún se estudia la formación, la integración y la dinámica de las estructuras de conocimiento y los mecanismos cognitivos que intervienen en toda secuencia de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Asimismo, la revisitación de la teoría de Piaget sobre la base de este entramado epistemológico y teórico también constituye un aporte significativo, así como también la propuesta en torno de las características de la inteligencia afectiva y el desarrollo de un método de trabajo aúlico integral apuntalado en la singularidad. En efecto, los resultados se encuentran directamente vinculados a la incidencia que esta reconstrucción y propuesta pueda llegar a tener en el terreno de lo público y lo pragmático –en tanto política educativa- y en el terreno de la teoría social y psicológica, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta los avances de un tiempo a esta parte, de proyectos de Ley sobre Educación Emocional que se basan en una postura dual y reduccionista del enfoque emocional, hecho que, justamente, esta Tesis intenta deconstruir y develar.

Ghiaccio e fuoco, repulsione e attrazione lottano eternamente nell'Universo. Questa lotta determina la vita, la morte e la rinascita perpetua del cosmo. Uno scrittore tedesco, Elmar Brugg, ha scritto nel 1952 un'opera in lode di Horbiger, in cui dice: "Nessuna delle dottrine che spiegano l'Universo faceva entrare in gioco il principio di contraddizione, della lotta di due forze contrarie, di cui tuttavia l'anima dell'uomo si alimenta da millenni. Il merito imperituro di Horbiger è di aver risuscitato potentemente la conoscenza intuitiva dei nostri antenati attraverso il conflitto eterno del fuoco e del ghiaccio, cantato dall'Edda. Egli ha esposto questo conflitto agli occhi dei suoi contemporanei. Egli ha dato base scientifica a questa immagine grandiosa del mondo legata al dualismo della materia e della forza, della repulsione che disperde e dell'attrazione che riunisce."

My thesis will attempt a preliminary examination of the factors that were formative in shaping Hilma af Klint’s unique early abstract vision, especially with regard to her unorthodox use of automatic writings, séances, and spirit guides as the initiating processes of her creative production.  My assessment and interpretations are, of necessity, based on a close analysis of a few of her paintings known through reproductions.  Considerations of the familial, spiritual, and scientific aspects of her life have been studied for factors that could have affected her artistic processes.  I have attempted to contextualize her paintings within the spiritual influences of her relationship with Rudolph Steiner and the teachings of Annie Besant and Madame Blavatsky. 

The first chapter contains information on Hilma af Klint’s personal, historical, and academic background in order to establish the most basic influences on her main body of work.  Even though her works at the academy were perfect examples of her beautiful naturalistic style and technical expertise, they will not be discussed in detail and are not included in the paintings used in my analysis.  The second chapter focuses on the occult and religious influences on her methodology and iconography.  Theosophy and Anthroposophy, as well as Hilma’s own occult practices, are complex and difficult to understand, therefore a basic familiarity with each of these areas is important to comprehending the imagery.  The third chapter is an iconographic analysis of three of her paintings.  Her pictures are multifaceted and rife with multiple symbolic meanings that an attempt to interpret even one of her series in its entirety is daunting.  Hilma af Klint’s esoteric abstract works were meticulously organized into series, each image was numbered, and each individual painting was meant to be interpreted along with its series companions.  It is impossible to assign the full meaning of a work outside of that context.  However, due to the sheer quantity in conjunction with the fact that each series rarely has less than ten paintings, it seemed more feasible to select three separate works to examine in detail.  I have chosen an early painting that originated from an automatic De Fem sketch, one from a sub-series of The Paintings for the Temple, and a later “scientifically” based drawing.

Did the so-called Sarmoung Brotherhood, from which George Ivanovich Gurdjieff claimed to have learned so much, exist.  What about their monastery he said was somewhere in the “heart of Asia"? It's hard to say because neither is attested outside Gurdjieff.  Still, Gurdjieff does provide in the same book where he speaks of them  (Meetings with Remarkable Men [1963]) other opportunities to test his general veracity on such subjects.  I refer to another secret “brotherhood” with another monastery of which Gurdjieff claims to have had both direct and indirect contact,  namely, the Essenes whose main monastery he claimed was on the shores of the Dead Sea.  Gurdjieff tells how  his old teacher Father Evlissi (or Bogachevsky) was himself an Essene and assistant to the abbot of the main monastery on the Dead Sea.  The only problem is, the Essenes and their monastery ceased to exist in ancient times, rendering almost everything Gurdjieff says about them and Father Evlissi not only fanciful but impossible.

Abstract:
The objective of this study is threefold: (a) to present the life and spiritual science of the Danish author Martinus Thomsen (1890-1981), and (b) to compare his worldview with the worldviews of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), Rudolf Steiner (1861- 1925), and Alice Bailey (1880-1949), as representatives of the most comprehensive Western esoteric philosophies, in the context of Western esoteric traditions in general, (c) in order to see if Martinus’ work is an original contribution to Western esotericism, and, if so, what his main contributions are. This is the first academic study in English that presents Martinus and his work to the scholarly field of Western esotericism and presents the first comparison between these esoteric writers. This study introduces a new analytical instrument, comprising the vertical (hierarchical) and horizontal (developmental) esoteric perspectives, and the esoteric inclusiveness perspective, which are used in the comparative study to structure and analyse content. These three dimensions have scope to cover every content aspect of esoteric philosophies and appears to be a fruitful tool in comparative studies in esotericism. In 1921, Martinus claimed to have gained what he described as cosmic consciousness, which, according to own account, permitted him the ability to apprehend all eternal laws and principles behind the physical world. Based on this consciousness, Martinus dedicated his life from 1921 onwards to presenting his spiritual science in texts, symbols and lectures. Three chapters in this study address the research questions raised in the introduction and the study arrives at the following conclusions: (i) Martinus’ worldview represents an ‘independent invention’. (ii) Martinus claimed, and this study concludes, that he himself was the source of the knowledge of which he wrote, a characteristic he shared with Steiner. This is in contrast to Blavatsky and Bailey’s claims to being a conduit for external sources of knowledge. As his own source, Martinus seems to be a remarkable case in the history of Western esotericism and mysticism since he declares to have been in a state of indissoluble contact with ‘God’s ocean of Divine wisdom’. (iii) On the structural level this study investigates Martinus’ claim that he delivers the logic of eternal wisdom. The empirical finding is that he uses logical reasoning to a far greater degree than Blavatsky, Steiner and Bailey, and, in this respect, represents a clear contribution and even adds to Western esotericism on the structural level. This study thus presents the evidence which permits me to define Martinus’ presentation of his worldview as representing what I term a logically explained ontology, in contrast to the proclaimed ontology expressed in the accounts of Blavatsky, Steiner and Bailey. (iv) Martinus’ most important contribution to Western esotericism, on the content level, is a clear and consistent theory as to how experience occurs, and the way in which it generates both involutional and evolutional processes through the principle of hunger and satiation. Martinus identifies the I (X1) as the focal point of this theory, as the aspect of the living being which experiences; a theory not found in Blavatsky, Steiner or Bailey’s works. The body of memory, the account of ‘pole transformation’, and the microcosmos (understood not as man, but in terms of cells and organs in bodies etc.) as a moral horizon, represent three clear contributions to Western esotericism, in terms of the vertical, horizontal and inclusiveness perspectives. With respect to the totality of these three dimensions, Martinus also clearly contributes in presenting an entire and coherent world picture. The final conclusion is that Martinus’ spiritual science represents, all in all, an original contribution to Western esotericism.

Astrosophie ist ein auf Himmelskörperkonstellationen gerichtetes Reflexionsfeld vorzugsweise von Esoterikern und Okkultisten. In Bezug auf die gewöhnliche traditionelle Astrologie wird der Begriff seit Jahrhunderten in Abgrenzung zu Astronomie und Astrologie benutzt und publiziert und befindet sich bereits 1687 im Titel eines "wichtigen und einflussreichen astrologischen Werkes" als lateinisierte „Astrosophia“, nämlich in der „Universa Astrosophia Naturalis“ von Antonius Franciscus de Bonatti sowie 1737 in der "Astrosophia numerica in qua generaliter tabulae", von Angelo Capello. Der Ursprung des Begriffs Astrosophie geht in die Zeit der Sumerer zurück, hat in verschiedenen Fachdisziplinen Beachtung erfahren und wurde umfangreich publiziert. Veröffentlichungen u.a.: 1/2020 im Meridian Fachmagazin für Astrologie, 1/2020 Tattva Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft, Philosophie und spirituelle Kultur.

A study of the last words of Jesus according to the authors of the gospels of Mark and Matthew -- comparisons of the Greek, Syriac, Aramaic and Hebrew editions of Psalm 21/22, and of the Syriac and Greek editions of the relevant verses ascribed to Mark and Matthew.  With a surprise alternative interpretation proposed by an American, a Russian, a German and a Persian...

This book is a reconstruction the biography and artistic achievements of Margarete and Stanisław Kubicki against a background of Polish artistic output and activity as well as German Avant-garde, especially taking the accomplishments of the artistic couples into consideration. This book includes the analysis of the artistic programmes, iconography, work stylistics and a lot of archival records.

There are several revisions of this book
ILidia Głuchowska, 2007: Avantgarde und Liebe (Avant-Garde and Love). Margarete und Stanislaw Kubicki
1910–1945, Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 2007, 524 pages., ISBN: 9783786125419.

1. Stefan Dyroff, in: Borussia (Cultural Community „Borussia”) 2007/ 41, pp. 267–269.

2. Michał Mencfel, in: Artium Quaestiones 2008/ XIX.

3. Marion Brandt, in: Studia Germanica Gedanensia 2008/16, pp. 280–283.

4.  Hubert van den Berg, in: Centropa. A Journal of Central European Architecture and Related Arts 2008/ 8(2), pp. 297–299.

5. Stefan Dyroff, in: Kunstchronik (Art chronicle/ Central Institute for Art History, Munich), 2008/ 4, pp. 176–178.

6. Camilla Badstübner-Kizik, in: Studia Niemcoznawcze (Studies in Germanic Sciences) 2009/ XL, pp. 459–464.

Did the so-called Sarmoung Brotherhood, from which George Ivanovich Gurdjieff claimed to have learned so much, exist.  What about their monastery he said was somewhere in the “heart of Asia"? It's hard to say because neither is attested outside Gurdjieff.  Still, Gurdjieff does provide in the same book where he speaks of them  (Meetings with Remarkable Men [1963]) other opportunities to test his general veracity on such subjects.  I refer to another secret “brotherhood” with another monastery of which Gurdjieff claims to have had both direct and indirect contact,  namely, the Essenes whose main monastery he claimed was on the shores of the Dead Sea.  Gurdjieff tells how  his old teacher Father Evlissi (or Bogachevsky) was himself an Essene and assistant to the abbot of the main monastery on the Dead Sea.  The only problem is, the Essenes and their monastery ceased to exist in ancient times, rendering almost everything Gurdjieff says about them and Father Evlissi not only fanciful but impossible.

When speaking to her students, on June 20, 1889, H.P. Blavatsky, frustrated, scolded them claiming, " Look here, you Europeans ought never to have been given the seven principles. Well, perhaps in a hundred years you will understand it. It would be a thousand times better to hold to the old methods, those that I have held to in Isis Unveiled, and to speak about triple man: spirit, soul, and matter; then you would not fall into the heresies, in such heresies as you do. "  This terse response was to a series of questions her students asked about the principles that compose the human body. They were confused because the descriptions H.P.B. gave in The Secret Doctrine were far from clear. With the emergence of Theosophy, H.P. Blavatsky inaugurated a new system of occultism which offered descriptions of the subtle bodies that compose the human body. Initially claiming there were three divisions, she later expanded these to seven, ranging from the physical body to the immortal spirit. Yet, these descriptions were constantly changing, having a variety of labels, and arranged up in myriad ways. After her death in 1891, three prominent leaders in the Theosophical movement, Annie Besant, Charles W. Leadbeater, and C. Jinarajadasa took up the challenge of systematizing the representations of the subtle bodies, organizing the terminology, and standardizing the divisions. To do so, they fully embraced the rhetoric and aesthetics of modern science, deploying consistent language and labels, producing numerous graphs, illustrations, charts, and photographs, all in an effort to effectively map the composition of a person, and to have consistent terminology across Theosophical literature. By making a consistent map of the body, and claiming it was occult science, they built a foundation upon which Theosophy could thrive, and it did. During the first three decades of the twentieth century Theosophy grew rapidly worldwide, becoming a movement that counted a membership in the hundreds of thousands.

Rudolf Steiner, who draws attention with his multi-faceted works, is known for his important works in the fields of medicine, education, art and agriculture, as well as esotericism and occultism in particular. In this article, it is explicated to the intellectual infrastructure, the effect of the anthroposophy founded by Steiner and deals with the Spiritual Science, which Steiner created in a unique way. Rudolf Steiner has established an eclectic system by dissolving different schools such as Goethe's doctrine of nature, Rosicrucianism, Kabbalah, Hinduism, Gnostic and Mystic Christianity in his system. The universality is dominant in Steiner's work. His inclusive ideas for all humanity suffered the reaction of the Nazis in his time. Steiner drew attention to the potential of discovering the senses of people by making a distinction between the sensory and the sensual world. The drive and power of discovering the spiritual world in humans has a significant share in his work. Steiner, who says he has seen and experienced the supernatural world personally, is intended to have more knowledge of other people about the supernatural world. The literature review was chosen as a method. Information gathered from different sources may provide a better understanding of Steiner's work.

Karolina M. Hess, Between Spiritualism, Theosophy and Christianity: Chosen Aspects of Esoteric Environments in Cieszyn Silesia in the First Half of the 20th Century [w:] Mystic and Esoteric Movements in Theory and Practice. Mystic and Esoteric Aspects of Contemporary Religions, S. Pakhomov (red.), Ekaterinburg 2016, s. 62–71. ISBN 5-7525-1269-9.
Whole volume: https://aiem-asem.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Сборник-АИЭМ-7_конф_Ек-бург_13_07_16.pdf

This paper is part of the volume "Luigi Pericle. Beyond the Visible", promoted by Archivio Luigi Pericle (Ascona, Switzerland) curated by Chiara Gatti, in collaboration with Luca Bochicchio, Marco Pasi and Michele Tavola. The book celebrates Luigi Pericle, painter, thinker, writer, scholar of theosophy and esoteric doctrines. It reveals his extraordinary history, made of profound explorations and outstanding encounters. From the acclaimed collector Peter G. Staechelin
to Sir Herbert Read, trustee of the Tate Gallery; from museologist Hans Hess, curator of the York Art Gallery, to famous German artist and filmmaker Hans Richter. They were all attracted by his charisma, his multifaceted personality, his ‘clairvoyant’ art. With Luigi Pericle, the history of Art Informel in the years following World War II opens up unexpectedly to philosophy, alternative spirituality, the mysteries of the cosmos against the background of the space age.

Данас, у контексту савремене архитектонске егзистенције, постоји осећај запостављености почетних истина архитектуре. Није јасно шта је почетак архитектуре, односно њена онтолошка дефиниција; или, проблемски прецизније, онтолошко-гносеолошко-аксиолошко-методолошка дефиниција; терминолошки скраћеније – парадигма архитектуре. Главна информација за којом се треба трагати јесте унутар централног проблема гносеологије и гласи – шта је то raison d'être архитектуре? У философској теорији је познато да се наведени проблеми своде на питање човека. С тога, треба јасно реконстатовати да управо човек јесте главни субјекат и raison d'être архитектуре. Но, проблем човека, данас, је запостављен; с тога, главно архитектонско, али и питање овога рада, мора бити – шта је то raison d'être човека? Избором модела човека настаје исти такав модел друштва и последично архитектуре. Сходно општим гносеолошким изворима, човек се може посматрати кроз моделе богоцентричности (човек као богочовек) и човекоцентричности (човек као човекобог). Холистички модел богочовека, или шире, теантрополошке парадигме, представља једно од посебних виђења које, потенцијално, може бити пренето у корпус архитектуре, и тиме реуспоставити њено холистичко значење.