SHARING THE LIGHT

Two book reviews:

1. Nathaniel Altmann, U.S.A.
2. Peter Urbahn, Australia

REVIEW BY NATHANIEL ALTMANN

Sharing the Light: The Collected Articles of Geoffrey Hodson, compiled by John and Elizabeth Sell; edited by John and Elizabeth Sell and Roselmo Z. Doval Santos. Quezon City, Philippines: Theosophical Publishing House, 2008, 2 volumes, xxxvii + 1889 pages, cloth, $59.00.

Geoffrey Hodson (1886-1983) ranks among the Theosophical Society’s most respected teachers, lecturers and writers. In addition to serving as Director of Studies at the School of the Wisdom at the Theosophical Society headquarters in Adyar, he taught at the Krotona Institute of Theosophy and was a featured speaker at many theosophical conventions around the world. The lecture series Mr. Hodson presented at Krotona in 1972 attracted students from throughout Southern California, and were praised for their clarity, inspiration and common sense approach to human problems.

A highly gifted clairvoyant, Geoffrey Hodson worked with physicians and scientists to investigate the mysteries of the physical world. This research culminated in perhaps his most famous book, The Kingdom of the Gods, a groundbreaking investigation of the angelic kingdom, complete with dazzling color drawings of Mr. Hodson’s clairvoyant observations. A devoted Gnostic and priest in the Liberal Catholic Church, Mr. Hodson was extremely knowledgeable about the Christian faith, and authored numerous books on esoteric Christianity, including his landmark four-volume series The Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible.

In addition to having authored at least forty-six books and thirty-seven booklets, Geoffrey Hodson wrote hundreds of articles, making him the most prolific theosophical writer of the twentieth century. Like his books, which have been praised for their clear and accessible writing style, most of Geoffrey Hodson’s articles were based on original research, and appeared on the pages of theosophical journals in Australia, India, the United States, New Zealand and South Africa between 1927 and the late 1980s.

In keeping with Mr. Hodson’s broad and eclectic range of personal and professional interests, his articles covered a vast array of subjects, ranging from theosophical teachings and their practical application, to poetry, Maori esotericism, mystical Christianity, yoga, reincarnation, war and peace, health and healing, the angelic kingdom, theosophical solutions to world problems, clairvoyant research with physicians and scientists, animal rights and ways to promote and teach Theosophy. A number of articles included personal observations about the Theosophical Society itself and some of its leaders, as well as insights into world figures including J. Krishnamurti, John F. Kennedy and the Dalai Lama.

Aware that most of Geoffrey Hodson’s periodical literature could become lost to both present and future generations of theosophists, John and Elizabeth Sell, two prominent members of the New Zealand section, devoted nearly four years of six-day workweeks tracking down, collecting and editing nearly all of his published articles. Many have never been read by the vast majority of theosophical students. The Theosophical Publishing House in the Philippines published this extraordinary collection in two beautifully bound volumes containing nearly two thousand pages of text and illustrations.

Organizing the collected material was obviously a major challenge for the compilers, who divided more than four hundred individual articles into thirteen sections, including “Spirituality and the Path of Discipleship,” “Theosophical Teachings,” “Clairvoyant Investigations,” “Ceremonial and Symbolism,” “The Keys to Health and Healing,” and “Presenting and Promoting the Wisdom Teachings.” A detailed glossary of terms has been constructed along with a comprehensive index (the index alone totals 40 pages), making what could have been an unwieldy assemblage of highly diverse material easily accessible to readers.

This astounding collection is a veritable banquet of material for both individual and group study. Titles include “10 Ways to Attract the Attention of the Masters,” “Meditation - the Elixir of Life,” “Clairvoyant Diagnosis of Disease,” “Earthquake in California,” “The Practice of World Brotherhood,” “The Monadic Purpose: Finding One’s Life Work,” “Art Modes of the Future,” “Theosophy for the Lawyer,” “Theosophy and the World's Economists,” “Mind Radio - Thought Projection,” “Radiation of Power,” and “Before Himalayan Snows.”

One of my personal favorites was “Impressions of the Giant Sequoias” in which the author describes these magnificent trees through a clairvoyant’s unique perspective. Another was “Our Work,” an article published in Theosophy in Australia, where he discusses the lodge library as a center of occult power, and the special role entrusted to the librarian to help individual readers select the most appropriate reading materials for their spiritual development.

The teachings found in the vast majority of articles are just as applicable today as when they were first written. In “What are we Going to Build?” (published in The American Theosophist towards the end of the Second World War) Mr. Hodson calls upon us to become more aware of our personal responsibilities as students of Theosophy and “builders of the New Age”:

All our daily activities from rising to retiring - all planning, all thought, feeling, speech and action - all these are of profound spiritual importance both to ourselves and to our fellow men. Every human activity, collective and individual, is Divine activity, an expression of Divine life, ruled by Divine Law. This is the great truth which humanity as a whole must one day acknowledge.

In addition to his articles, Sharing the Light includes a number of inspiring invocations that Geoffrey Hodson often used in his personal meditations and healing work. Readers will also delight at rare photographs of Mr. Hodson taken with family, friends and colleagues of the Theosophical Society. Many of these photos have never been published before.

Given the tremendous range of subjects presented in these volumes, many readers will be primarily attracted to specific themes for personal study and reflection. At the same time, much of the material presented in Sharing the Light can be utilized for group study in Lodges and Study Centers.

While not a small investment, Sharing the Light presents a wealth of original, eclectic and valuable teachings that will both challenge and inspire. In addition to becoming a valuable part of every Lodge and Study Center library, it can be a timeless lifetime resource for every serious student of Theosophy.

Nathaniel Altman has been a member of The Theosophical Society in America since 1970. He was a student of Geoffrey Hodson at the Krotona School of Theosophy in 1972.

REVIEW BY PETER URBAHN

Sharing the Light: The Collected Articles of Geoffrey Hodson, compiled by John and Elizabeth Sell, Auckland, NZ; edited by John and Elizabeth Sell and Roselmo Z. Doval Santos, Philippines; Theosophical Publishing House, 2008, 2 volumes xxxvii + 1889 pages, cloth.

Sharing the Light is an inspirational collection of articles and covers an impressive range of topics including:

· Spirituality and the path of discipleship
· Theosophical teachings
· Clairvoyant investigations
· The angelic world
· Presenting and promoting the wisdom teachings
· Explorations of the unseen in other cultures
· World religions, ceremonial and symbolism
· The keys to health and healing
· Unusual experiences
· The theosophical society and some leaders
· The gift of theosophy to youth
· An analysis of world problems with some theosophical solutions

The book is bound with a hard cover and comes with a dust cover. There are over 400 articles, averaging four pages each. Each volume is over 920 pages, and is illustrated with photographs and prints many of which have never been previously published. Most articles have been collated from those published between 1927 and 1985 in Theosophical Society magazines in various countries around the world including New Zealand, Australia, India, South Africa and America.

The articles stand alone as fascinating glimpses of a seer in his travels around the world. Much of the material is unique and often includes original research and presents excellent material for discussion and study classes. In addition to the articles being very interesting many of them have a practical application and can be relevant to everyday living such as suggestions on how to present and promote theosophy to the public, how to develop a greater spiritual awareness within ourselves and how to interpret and understand the great teachings of the world’s religions.

Sharing the Light was written to bring together into one compilation the many fascinating, timeless articles that were published over more than a 50 year period.

Without this work most of the writings would not have been generally available or their existence even been known by today’s members and could have been lost to present and future generations of theosophists. The book was written to continue the sharing of the light of Geoffrey Hodson’s amazing knowledge and experience.

Sharing the Light is primarily addressed to members of the Theosophical Society, however the content will appeal to a much wider audience, including those with an interest in the Ancient Wisdom, occult science, meditation, clairvoyant diagnosis of disease and a study of motherhood, thought projection, vegetarianism in the Bible and ten ways to attract the attention of the Masters.

The writing style makes the articles easy to understand providing the student of theosophy with clear explanations without the use of much technical language. Unfamiliar words and phrases are explained in the extensive glossary in volume 2 and a very detailed index at the back of each volume is invaluable for serious study.

The explanations and descriptions in the articles follow a logical well-reasoned pattern. When descriptions are given of his clairvoyant investigations he expresses his surprise and absolute awe at the phenomenon that are presented, such as when he investigates superphysically the consciousness and force centres of the giant sequoia trees in North America.

Geoffrey Hodson was an internationally known lecturer and writer who devoted his life to spreading the principles and applications of the Ageless Wisdom or Theosophy. He has written more than 60 books on spirituality, extrasensory faculties, the invisible world, theosophy, religion and similar fields, and has been an advocate of world peace, animal welfare, vegetarianism, and various other movements that promote harmony, compassion and understanding. A list of his books and booklets is provided in volume 2.

Born in England in 1886 he joined the TS in his 20s, lived for some time in various centres in Australia and later settled in Auckland, New Zealand, living adjacent to the TSHQ. Here he spent the latter half of his extraordinary life, passing to a higher life in 1983.

He was an inspirational speaker who was invited to speak by the TS in many countries, giving lectures to large live audiences but also to even larger audiences on radio and TV.

He served as Director of Studies of the School of the Wisdom at the world HQ at Adyar, India.

Geoffrey Hodson was a mystic and a highly developed clairvoyant who worked with scientists delving into the mysteries of the physical and superphysical worlds and was involved in research into physics, astronomy, anthropology and the angelic kingdom. He was a healer of the sick.

But despite his extraordinary talents he was a very humble person who hardly ever spoke about himself or his abilities. Since his death in 1983 three books have been published that are based on his research and writings and it has become apparent that much of his published work, right from his earliest books, is based on his own first hand experiences and knowledge.

As a gnostic and as a priest in the Liberal Catholic Church he was extremely knowledgeable about the mysteries of the Christian faith, and his articles often refer to passages in the Bible to illustrate a point. He also makes reference to other religious doctrines such as the Bhagavad Gita, Kabbalism, Buddhism and Hinduism.

Geoffrey Hodson was a member of the Order of International Co-Freemasonry and an outstanding teacher of the Ancient Wisdom. His contribution to Theosophy and the Theosophical Society is immense and this book of his writings gives a small but significant part of it.

Service to humanity was the motivating incentive in all of Geoffrey Hodson’s activities and achievements.

I last met Geoffrey Hodson and his wife Sandra in 1981 when he was visiting my parents at their home. Over a period of 20 years I was fortunate to hear many of his lectures and talk to him. I am deeply grateful for having met him, always with great respect and awe for this distinguished, wise and gentle man.

With over 400 stand-alone short articles covering a wide range of topics there is a great deal of excellent material that is suitable for group discussion, debate, study classes or individual study. Suggested topics for discussion are given in an appendix in volume 2.

In the article ‘The attainment of spiritual awareness’ Geoffrey Hodson stresses the urgent need for the continually deepening realisation of unity for the whole of mankind. Selflessness in motive and deed and regular meditation or contemplation of the Divine is essential. Gradually a deepening knowledge and realisation that the one-ness of things is the natural state of affairs may be attained. One must therefore acquire that knack of active, perceptive mental stillness, if only that the personal nature and consciousness may participate more and more fully in the wondrous life of the normally hidden Inner Life.

A subject of clairvoyant investigations was the growth and development of a human embryo. This was observed from four months up to the hour before birth, when the birth was seen to take place with the assistance of the World Mother. At least three members of the angelic hierarchy were seen to be present from the time of conception. Their function is to supervise the construction of the various bodies from mental, astral, etheric and physical. At the formation of the first cell a distinct vibration that could be heard clairvoyantly was audible. The multiple effects produced by this sound in the growth of the new body are described.

In presenting and promoting the Wisdom Teachings Geoffrey Hodson states that Adepts visit our world as revealers of the Secret Wisdom. Their mission is carried out in the field of human consciousness to awaken and stimulate mental development, to set us thinking.

He gives us his views as to what should be taught through the Theosophical Society and how to popularise a knowledge of theosophy, and how individual members can introduce the public to theosophy.

One of the early articles, published in 1938, gives an account of The Manor, Sydney, where Geoffrey Hodson lived for a time. The Manor is a centre of the spiritual life, an ashrama, that is associated with the Theosophical Society and consists of a large establishment with live-in facilities.

In the same year he published a poem – Blue Gums, an evocative and beautiful observation of Nature’s goddess.

The article entitled ‘A Theosophy for Youth Campaign’ gives guidance for lodges and groups to foster and cater for young people who are interested in exploring theosophy.

Every Theosophical lodge and branch would greatly benefit by having copies of Sharing the Light available for its members.

Sharing the Light has been compiled by John and Elizabeth Sell, both dedicated members of the Auckland Lodge for 50 years who knew Geoffrey Hodson personally. From the Introduction - ‘It has been a rare privilege and an honour for us to put together this collection of some of the writings of Mr Geoffrey Hodson, who was an outstanding spiritual teacher of the 20th Century. We knew him as a kind friend, an inspiring speaker with a matchless style and as a teacher of the highest distinction.’

One of the many occult investigations carried out by Geoffrey Hodson was with samples of pre-historic ape-man in South Africa while under the guidance of Professor J T Robinson D.SC. of the Transvaal Museum. Here is his testimony as to the accuracy of Geoffrey Hodson’s observations. ‘I was able to work very closely with Geoffrey Hodson for some months during the late fifties testing his clairvoyant powers on pieces of fossils of early man about two million years of age. He never misidentified a specimen or gave conflicting statements about a specimen that had been presented more than once. As far as I could determine his information was always accurate and he gave me a strong impression of complete reliability’

It has been said that Theosophists are people who are forever searching for truth and enlightenment and not quite finding it. A study of the varied and exciting subjects within his more than 60 books, and the articles contained in Sharing the Light, will provide much of the truth and knowledge that we are all earnestly seeking.

Finally from Sharing the Light comes this inspiration -

‘Live that all who see your life may aspire to emulate your living.
Serve that those who see your service in their turn may serve.
Be strong that all who see your strength may change defeat to victory’.

Peter Urbahn is a member of the Sunshine Coast Lodge, Queensland,
Theosophical Society in Australia