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Reader and Collector, v. 3, issue 6, January 1946
Page 25
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25. These statements are a merging of several creeds of recent times: Christian Science, Nietzscheism, Shawism, Orientalism, and Theosophy. The unity of science and mysticism as expressed in the numerous societies of occult study, in the organizations which promise health, wealth, and power, or the true knowledge of man to the person who will send for the free booklet, in the noneness-of-substance religions, in the fascistic philosophies of power and will, and in the worlds of the futurians, is an aspect of this same doctrine. So closely do the ideas of these popular philosophies fit those of modern mythological writers that their doctrines can be found in even this fantastic portion of modern mythological fiction. Theosophy appears all through Lovecraft's works, showing this same relationship. In the "Cthulhu Mythos," Laney lists "The Book of Dzyan, whose first six chapters antedate the earth,"6 as one of the references which Lovecraft is supposed to have invented.Even a slight knowledge of Theosophy would have been enough to inform him that The Book of Dyzan is an "invention" of Madam Blavatsky, not of Lovecraft. It is used as the basis of The Secret Doctrine, its phrases being interpreted by Blavatsky to make a "Bible" of Theosophy. Blavatsky claimed to have learned the stanzas of Dyzan while a student of the monks of Tibet, there being no record of its existence outside of Theosophical writings. Although this is an exceptionally obvious point, it is not the only hint overlooked by students of Lovecraft which linked his mythos to the writings of Theosophy. In "The Call of Cthulhu" Lovecraft admits the relationship in the following manner: Theosophists have guessed at the awesome grandeur of the cosmic cycle wherein our world and human race form transient incidents. They have hinted at strange survivals in terms which would freeze the blood if not masked by a bland optimism.7 ___________________ 6. Lovecraft, Beyond the Walls of Sleep, p. 422. 7. The Outsider and Others, p. 255.
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25. These statements are a merging of several creeds of recent times: Christian Science, Nietzscheism, Shawism, Orientalism, and Theosophy. The unity of science and mysticism as expressed in the numerous societies of occult study, in the organizations which promise health, wealth, and power, or the true knowledge of man to the person who will send for the free booklet, in the noneness-of-substance religions, in the fascistic philosophies of power and will, and in the worlds of the futurians, is an aspect of this same doctrine. So closely do the ideas of these popular philosophies fit those of modern mythological writers that their doctrines can be found in even this fantastic portion of modern mythological fiction. Theosophy appears all through Lovecraft's works, showing this same relationship. In the "Cthulhu Mythos," Laney lists "The Book of Dzyan, whose first six chapters antedate the earth,"6 as one of the references which Lovecraft is supposed to have invented.Even a slight knowledge of Theosophy would have been enough to inform him that The Book of Dyzan is an "invention" of Madam Blavatsky, not of Lovecraft. It is used as the basis of The Secret Doctrine, its phrases being interpreted by Blavatsky to make a "Bible" of Theosophy. Blavatsky claimed to have learned the stanzas of Dyzan while a student of the monks of Tibet, there being no record of its existence outside of Theosophical writings. Although this is an exceptionally obvious point, it is not the only hint overlooked by students of Lovecraft which linked his mythos to the writings of Theosophy. In "The Call of Cthulhu" Lovecraft admits the relationship in the following manner: Theosophists have guessed at the awesome grandeur of the cosmic cycle wherein our world and human race form transient incidents. They have hinted at strange survivals in terms which would freeze the blood if not masked by a bland optimism.7 ___________________ 6. Lovecraft, Beyond the Walls of Sleep, p. 422. 7. The Outsider and Others, p. 255.
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