The nature and destiny of man in the doctrine of Plotinus and H. P. Blavatsky

The central purpose of this study is to determine and document the common bond of knowledge found in the teachings of Plotinus and H. P. Blavatsky. This will involve exploring analytically the ideas found in both doctrines concerning the nature of man and his destiny, and the relationship which exists between them. Both of these thinkers share the Platonic tradition. The teachings of Plotinus, which developed into Neoplatonism, include influences from Stoicism, Aristotelianism and Neo-Phythagoreanism. Blavatsky shares the fruits of these doctrines through Neoplatonism, as well as an Indian influence. In both systems there is a kinship with the Cabalistic, Gnostic and Hermetic traditions. Plotinus and Blavatsky saw man as the connecting link between two worlds. The principle of mind was established in man so that through free will and right choices, he could be a co-creator with the evolving Plan of the universe to which he is inextricably bound. This partnership is often disrupted because man's choices are anchored in narrow thinking and selfishness. In both traditions the ultimate destroyer of this limited vision is true knowledge and discipline. This knowledge is not the adding on to an already cluttered mind of further facts, beliefs and opinions, but the removal of all that obstructs man's intinsic awareness. Thus the overriding theme is that the source of all man's answers is within, and if the divine spark within man could uninterruptedly manifest itself, we would no longer be men and women, but we should all be gods. They both taught the interrelationship between all life, and particularly emphasized the connecting link between all souls in the higher world. Man deludes himself with the illusion of separate and individual existence on the physical plane. This keeps him ever from the reality of the truth of his identity. (Both urged man to focus his attention on the higher realms where there is oneness, and live the life as there, here on earth.). Blavatsky has rarely been studied in the world of Academe; therefore, this study has demonstrated the intellectual kinship and wisdom which she shares not only with Plotinus, but with others in the intellectual and philosophical domain.