I'm new, for anyone who missed out on my introductory post.

I've got a lot of questions but i save most of them for my reading, and plan on asking only questions I feel need imediate attention here.

The first question that comes to mind is this. Thus far in my study into the nature of theosophy I was lead to believe that the studies and publications of our predecessors were ment to be more like inspiration than doctrine. I get a distinctly different feeling here after having read a few different topics.

Were my initial impressions false??

Jay,

Theosophy definitely contains doctrine, for example, reincarnation and karma. The difference between Theosophy and other philosophies is that you are not required to believe any doctrine, and you can still be a Theosophist. Theosophy asks you to consider some new ideas, and see how well they might fit into your personal belief system. Theosophy never requires you to add anything to your belief system.

You are absolutely correct. Forgive us if we sometimes sound 'preachy' or dogmatic. Some of us are very convinced of our beliefs...

I need to add a few IMHOs to my posts..

Namaste, Jon

The term Theosophy has many meanings, because Theosophy covers many dimensions. There is an aspect of it as a body of teachings. That body of teachings is considered by many Theosophists as a dynamic one, that changes and evolves. Is not a "revelation" given by a higher source. In fact, anybody that limits his "theosophy" to the study of any given teaching is not a theosophist. In the TS (especially in the Adyar TS) you are free to accept or reject part or the whole Theosophical literature provided you accept the First Object of forming a nucleus of Universal Brotherhood with no distinctions.
There are, however, other aspects of Theosophy that are more fundamental, and that probably has to do with the "inspirational aspect" you are asking for.
I wrote an article entitled "What is Theosophy?" where I quote the words of H. P. Blavatsky for the manyfold definition of the term. You can find it on my website http://pasender.tripod.com/
I quote one of the definitions from my article:

Theosophia as a state of consciousness

In her article ‘What is Theosophy?’ HPB attempts an explanation of the term ‘theosophy’, describing who a theosophist is. To that end, she quotes Vaughan’s definition:

"A Theosophist—he says—is one who gives you a theory of God or the works of God, which has not revelation, but an inspiration of his own for its basis."

A theosophist’s knowledge about the Divine does not come from any external source. He does not gather information from books, teachers, etc., but from his own inmost nature. In fact, an essential common feature of every theosophist is his teaching about the possibility for a human being to reach the Divine at the moment of real ecstasy, or what is known as samâdhi in Eastern philosophy. In her article ‘The Beacon of the Unknown’, HPB speaks about this as being a ‘transcendental Theosophy’, which, according to her, ‘is true Theosophy, inner Theosophy, that of the soul’:

"The infinite cannot be known to our reason, which can only distinguish and define; but we can always conceive the abstract idea thereof, thanks to that faculty higher than our reason—intuition, or the spiritual instinct of which I have spoken. The great initiates, who have the rare power of throwing themselves into the state of samâdhi—which can be but imperfectly translated by the word ecstasy, a state in which one ceases to be the conditioned and personal ‘I’, and becomes one with the ALL—are the only ones who can boast of having been in contact with the infinite; but no more than other mortals can they describe that state in words . . . .
These few characteristics of true Theosophy and its practice have been sketched for the small number of our readers who are gifted with the desired intuition."

And HPB herself had access to this kind of Divine Wisdom. Let us see what she wrote about her own source of knowledge:

"Knowledge comes in visions, first in dreams and then in pictures presented to the inner eye during meditation. Thus have I been taught the whole system. . . . Not a word was spoken to me of all this in the ordinary way . . . nothing taught me in writing. And knowledge so obtained is so clear . . . that all other sources of information, all other methods of teaching with which we are familiar dwindle into insignificance in comparison with this."

This kind of knowledge is much deeper than that acquired through books and lectures, because one deals with reality in a more direct way than through ideas—this perception is supra-conceptual. From this point of view, theosophy, essentially, is not a limited body of concepts, but transcends any verbal formulation. It is a state of Divine Wisdom, which is potentially in every human being. A theosophist, in his turn, is one who realizes that state of inner enlightenment, irrespective of his culture, time, or language:

"In this view every great thinker and philosopher, especially every founder of a new religion, school of philosophy, or sect, is necessarily a Theosophist. Hence, Theosophy and Theosophists have existed ever since the first glimmering of nascent thought made man seek instinctively for the means of expressing his own independent opinions."