A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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This turn to <strong>the</strong> “East” as well as <strong>the</strong> ancient past, for <strong>in</strong>spiration, was a centrally<br />
important impulse <strong>of</strong> Theosophy and <strong>the</strong> many religious movements that followed it (J. Gordon<br />
Melton’s Encyclopedia <strong>of</strong> <strong>American</strong> Religions lists no less than 46 organizations emerg<strong>in</strong>g<br />
directly from <strong>the</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>al society). 130<br />
As Edward Said has famously argued, while Orientalism<br />
has consistently consigned <strong>the</strong> Oriental O<strong>the</strong>r to an <strong>in</strong>ferior position, <strong>the</strong>re has also existed an<br />
ongo<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> argument with<strong>in</strong> Orientalism that imag<strong>in</strong>es <strong>the</strong> East as a source <strong>of</strong> regeneration.<br />
Said notes that Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis, for example, urged upon <strong>the</strong>ir countrymen, and<br />
upon Europeans <strong>in</strong> general, a detailed study <strong>of</strong> India because, <strong>the</strong>y said, it was Indian culture and<br />
religion that could defeat <strong>the</strong> materialism and mechanism (and republicanism) <strong>of</strong> Occidental<br />
culture. 131<br />
Theosophy, like Spiritualism, argued <strong>the</strong> compatibility <strong>of</strong> science and spirit. Annie<br />
Besant writes that “Theosophy accepts <strong>the</strong> method <strong>of</strong> Science—observation, experiment,<br />
arrangement <strong>of</strong> ascerta<strong>in</strong>ed facts, <strong>in</strong>duction, hypo<strong>the</strong>sis, deduction, verification, assertion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
discovered truth—but immensely <strong>in</strong>creases its area.” 132 Unlike Spiritualism, Theosophy held<br />
that Western Science <strong>in</strong> and <strong>of</strong> itself was <strong>in</strong>sufficient to <strong>the</strong> task <strong>of</strong> plumb<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> truths <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
metaphysical. “Her [nature] more hidden work<strong>in</strong>gs, those work<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> life without which form<br />
could not be, have received no attention, not be<strong>in</strong>g susceptible <strong>of</strong> physical observation, and this<br />
gap can only be filled by <strong>the</strong> teach<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Ancient Wisdom.” 133 The Ancient wisdom <strong>in</strong><br />
question was to be sought and found <strong>in</strong> Theosophy’s central figure <strong>of</strong> alterity—<strong>the</strong> mahatma or<br />
ascended master.<br />
The figure <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ascended master depends upon two assumptions central to Theosophy<br />
and most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> alternative religious movements that would come to make up <strong>the</strong> “new age.”<br />
130 J. Gordon Melton, The Encyclopedia <strong>of</strong> <strong>American</strong> Religions (Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Co., 1987).<br />
131 Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: V<strong>in</strong>tage, 1977) 115.<br />
132 Annie Besant, Theosophy (New York: Dodge Publish<strong>in</strong>g, 1912) 21.<br />
133 Annie Besant, The Ancient Wisdom (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publish<strong>in</strong>g House, 1977) 201.<br />
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