"Blavatsky and The Secret Doctrine" by Max Heindel was something of a disappointment.
I expected this little book to be a critical analysis (or ditto appraisal) of Blavatsky's magnum opus from the "Rosicrucian" perspective developed by Heindel after his meeting with Rudolf Steiner. (Heindel's system is similar to Steiner's Anthroposophy on a number of points, suggesting a direct influence.)
Instead, the booklet contains a speech on "The Secret Doctrine" given by Heindel when he was still a Theosophist (of the Adyar branch) . It's essentially a brief overview of the work, emphasizing Blavatsky's view of God as an impersonal principle, the need for the monads to pass through eons of evolution, and the peculiar speculations about Atlantis and other vanished continents. Heindel, who was based in the United States, also mentions that the next "root-race" will arise in North America...
The speech was originally published in 1933, perhaps by Manly P Hall, who wrote the preface. Hall was apparently a student of Heindel's "Rosicrucian" system before he formed his own group. No date for the speech is given, but judging by other information in the booklet, perhaps it was given in Los Angeles in 1905.
My copy was published by Murine Press in 2008. Somebody named Andras Nagy has contributed an afterword.
Not the most interesting piece around, but it's still intriguing that Max Heindel managed to summarize Blavatsky in a short lecture!
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