Rising in Consciousness: Insights from Quest Magazine
With Anne Gillis and Stephen Braun
3rd Friday of the month, 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. CT
Join at any time!
Quest magazine, the TS journal, has long probed the relationship between Contemporary Science and Theosophy — quantum mechanics, evolution, the nature of matter, occult chemistry, consciousness research, and more. During this program we will discuss articles from decades of Quest which compare theosophical principles with contemporary scientific paradigms, exploring where they converge and diverge, and what our calling might in this regard as Theosophists.
SEPTEMBER 18 —Science As Ally or Adversary?
Theosophy and Science: Do They Conflict?
Antti Savinainen, Quest 108:1, Winter 2020, pg. 12–16
We start with a key question: many Theosophical teachings are metaphysical and cannot be as-yet scientifically tested, yet Master Koot Hoomi declared that "modern science is our best ally." Savinainen examines where HPB's scientific statements have been vindicated — notably her treatment of wave-particle duality — and where they have not withstood scrutiny, concluding that a deeper principle is shared: both Theosophy and science at their best are committed to following truth wherever it leads. Here we will set a starting point to set a tone of open inquiry.
OCTOBER 16 — Limits of The Materialist Cosmology
Stories Matter, Matter Stories
Christian de Quincey, Quest 90.5, September–October 2002, pg. 177–181
De Quincey argues that the dominant scientific story — in which consciousness "emerged" from insentient matter — leads to a cosmos without intrinsic meaning, value, or purpose, and that we urgently need "a new cosmology story", where mind is not outside matter, but interior to its very being, what Aristotle called entelechy. He asks: Are rocks conscious? Do plants have souls? Where in evolution did consciousness first appear? How can we integrate and unify these concepts?
NOVEMBER 20 — The Mind-Body Problem and The Scientific Divide
The Ethics and Sociology of Fohat
Robert Ellwood, Quest 97:1, Winter 2009, pg. 21-23
Ellwood argues that Fohat is the Theosophical equivalent of prana, chi, or what Star Wars calls the Force — "the creative energy by which the One manifests as the Many" — and that getting Fohat right has direct consequences for ethics, society, and the major moral issues of our time, including the mind-body problem that underlies much of the science-spirit divide. We will discuss how implications of this divide, in terms of how we approach science, offer both opportunity and risk for humanity.
DECEMBER 18 — Technology and Human Evolution
The Next Stages in Human Spiritual Evolution, Part One
Robert Ellwood, Quest 89.2, March-April 20091, pg. 56-61
Ellwood opens by observing that we are entering a seismic historical shift — that changes looming ahead "will profoundly change our political, economic, social, cultural, religious, and spiritual lives," driven by advances in cosmology, physics, computer technology, and biological engineering. He traces this through the Theosophical lens of evolutionary stages, asking what the next stages of human spiritual evolution might look like, empowered through such scientific changes and applications.
JANUARY 15 — Quantum Physics and the Consciousness-First Universe
Quantum Yoga: A View Through the Visionary Window
Amit Goswami, Quest 89.2, March–April 2001, pg. 52–55
Goswami, a quantum physicist and senior scholar at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, argues that within a "science-within-consciousness" framework, the gaps in the fossil record can be understood as "the signature of creative conscious intervention" — and that the cosmological struggles of science and religion "are found to converge" once consciousness is restored as the ground of the universe.
FEBRUARY 19 — Science and the Occult: Newton, Steiner, and the Hidden History
Science and the Occult: Where the Twain Meet
David Grandy, Quest 94.1, January–February 2006, pg. 13–17
Grandy reveals that Newton invested significant energy seeking to produce the Philosopher's Stone — and that this alchemical quest may have fed directly into his theory of gravity. He traces how Steiner similarly sought to "pull back the curtain on materialistic science" to reveal its spiritual context, linking planets and zodiacal constellations to a vast system of evolving consciousness. This article questions the inherent assumption that science and occultism are adversaries — and generates rich consideration about the hidden history of Western thought.
MARCH 19 — Systems Thinking, Ecology, and the New Physics
Patterns of Connection: An Interview with Fritjof Capra
Richard Smoley (interviewer) Quest 110:2, Spring 2022, pg. 14–19
Capra — author of The Tao of Physics — argues that we "make up the boundaries and the objects" of reality while "reality is fluid and always changing," and that the Buddhist tradition's insight into impermanence is the most profound parallel to what modern physics reveals. He assesses whether the paradigm shift from mechanistic to systemic-ecological thinking has happened across medicine, psychology, and economics, based on five decades of synthesis in his work.
APRIL 16 — The Scientist as Spiritual Seeker
Yoga and the Future Science of Consciousness
Ravi Ravindra, Quest 108:1, Winter 2020, pg. 12–16
Ravindra — emeritus professor of physics and comparative religion — poses the central question: "Does the body have consciousness, or does consciousness have the body?" He argues that a genuine science of consciousness requires transformed scientists, because higher consciousness can only be understood by the subtler and higher levels within the knower, as both ancient Indian texts and St. Paul recognized.
MAY 21 —Toward a More Unified Cosmology
A Great Soul: An Interview with Ravi Ravindra
Richard Smoley (interviewer) Quest 106:3, Summer 2018, pg. 26–29
Ravindra — a regular lecturer at Adyar, Olcott, and the Krotona School — reflects on a lifetime of moving between the worlds of physics, yoga, Gurdjieff, Krishnamurti, and the mystical traditions of India and Christianity, articulating his conviction that what is required might start with synthesis, but, in the end, requires a genuine transformation in the relationship of the knower and the known.
Facilitators
Anne Sermons Gillis is a minister, coach, and the author of five books. She has been a student of perennial wisdom since the 1960s. She is the past president of the Houston Lodge and current vice president of the Theosophical Order of Service. She is a national speaker for the TSA.
Stephen Braun is a writer, photographer, and cultural audience development specialist based in New York City. A Life Member of the Theosophical Society, he is on the Board of the New York City Lodge and a member of the Washington, D.C. Lodge. He has a strong curiosity for astrology and astrological archetypes embedded in wisdom traditions
Program Format
This is a live, interactive online program. This program will not be recorded.
Join online via a Zoom link that will be emailed upon your registration. Please download Zoom for free at zoom.us/download and test your connection at zoom.us/test. For further information, check out www.theosophical.org/FAQ or email webinars@theosophical.org.
Barbara Hebert, Ph.D., is a third-generation Theosophist who has been involved in local, regional, and national offices throughout her years of membership, including two terms as the National President of the Theosophical Society in America. She has also had a long career as a mental health practitioner and educator.
Rozi Ulics is the current Vice President of the Theosophical Society in America. She is a past president of the Washington, DC Lodge and served for many years on the boards of directors of the Mid-South Federation and the Theosophical Order of Service (USA). A former civil servant, Rozi currently resides at the Krotona Institute of Theosophy in Ojai, California.
Christopher Howard