By Elizabeth W. Preston

109 Pages | First published in 1947, second and revised edition 1968, Second reprint 2007 | Softcover | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN 8170591562

In a first attempt to read The Secret Doctrine (1888), many students lose their way in the richness and exuberance of its ideas. It is like a wood, where the trees are so dense, varied and beautiful that it is difficult to find or follow any special path. For this reason – wishing to follow one path – that of science, and to find out exactly what The Secret Doctrine does say on certain scientific subjects, I have extracted such portions as as appear to have a direct scientific value and interest. These extracts are strictly in the order, in which they appear in the Original.

Writers, such as Mrs. Besant, Mrs. Ransom and Mr. E.L. Gardner have contributed studies in and expansions of certain portions of the teachings. The author’s has been a simplification rather than a commentary or elaboration. She tries to indicate very briefly what appears to her to be the main content of each section, comparing the statements with modern scientific thought and terminology.

From the Introduction:

” The ‘Secret Doctrine’ was first published in 1888. Its purpose, as given by Madame Blavatsky, is:

1. To show that Nature is not a fortuitous concurrence of atoms.
2. To assign to man his rightful place in the scheme of the universe.
3. To rescue from degradation the archaic truths, which are at the basis of all religion.
4. To uncover, to some extent, the fundamental unity from which they all spring.
5. To show that the occult side of Nature has never been approached by the science of modern civilization.

The teachings of The Secret Doctrine are based on an ancient book called the ‘Book of Dzyan’. In prehistoric times, about 80.000 – 20.000 BC, a civilization existed in Central Asia in the districts now known as the plateau of Tibet and the valley of the Tarim. The ‘Book of Dzyan’, which was originally written in a language called Senzar, is part of a larger work which was dictated by Divine Beings to the Initiates in the early days of this civilization. Some of the manuscripts were said to be in the keeping of the Teshu Lama, at Shigatse. Madama Blavatsky stated that centuries would pass before much more of ‘The Secret Doctrine’ is given out, but in the twentieth century another disciple may be sent to give proof of the existence of the Secret Science . . . “

By E.W. Preston.

167 Pages | Softcover | Published in 1962, first reprint 1990 | Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar | ISBN: 8170591376.

This companion Volume to The Earth And Its Cycles deals with history in the Light of Theosophy and is based on lectures delivered at the School of the Wisdom, Adyar, Madras. The general principles of evolutionary psychology were first expounded by Professor J.E. Marcault in The Evolution Of Man and were illustrated from the history of science in Studies In Evolutionary Psychology by E.W. Preston. and C.G. Trew. Both these books are now out of print. The present writer, convinced of the validity of these principles has, with permission, selected and expanded the material so that the theory may again be available to students.

1.  PART I – Introduces the concept of life as an expanding spiral in Nature and man.
2.  PART II – Deals with modern races and their psychology.
3.  PART III – Is an attempt to see the working-out of these ideas in the present and future.

From Chapter IX – ‘The Fifth Root Race, Aryan or Indo-European’ (p. 70):

” The races of men are not end-on, but overlap in time as do the members of a family. Each has it own cycle and reaches the various levels of consciousness successively. Each is influenced by the other and, in the later stages, tends toward similarity of level. Before the Fifth Race was founded the Fourth Race had spread throughout the world and the majority of peoples of the world today are its descendants. […] In The Secret Doctrine Madame Blavatsky discusses this subject of the overlapping of the races. She points out that there is ‘an enormous overlapping of one Race over the Race that succeeds it, though in characters and external type the elder loses its characteristics, and assumes the new features of the younger Race’. Further, she adds that ‘even now (1888) the new Race and races are preparing to be formed’, and that it is in America that the transformation will take place, and has already silently commenced. The Americans of the United States have already become a nation apart. They are, in short, the germs of the sixth sub-race, and in some few hundred years more, will become the pioneers of that race, which must succeed to the present European or fifth sub-race. After this, in about 25.000 years, they will launch into preparations for the seventh sub-race. “

260 pages | Paperback | Quest Books, 1996

Explore the Wisdom of the Ages

This abridgement presents the central insights of the original text in accessible form, simplified by the selection of those pasages that are most interesting and relevant for the contemporary reader.

The creation of the universe and the nature of humanity as taught by the Ancient Wisdom. An abridgement of the original 1500 page work, The Secret Doctrine.