Theosophy and the Arts is a discussion-based class centered on engagement with a selected work of art—such as a film, documentary, or visual piece—prior to class time. Participants are asked to approach the work in advance, attentively and receptively. Our time together is devoted to shared reflection on meaning, symbolism, and expression, and to exploring how Theosophical ideas may deepen, challenge, or illuminate what the art is conveying. The aim is not fixed interpretation, but the cultivation of perception, insight, and thoughtful dialogue.
The following is the full syllabus of this class:
February 5, 2026 — Lincoln (2012)
Lincoln (2012) offers more than a historical portrait; it is a quiet meditation on moral responsibility, sacrifice, and the unseen inner struggles that accompany moments of collective destiny. Through Lincoln’s patient endurance, ethical tension, and faith in humanity’s capacity to rise above self-interest, the film invites reflection on the theosophical themes of duty, karma, and compassionate action in the service of the whole.
March 5, 2026 — The poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley; Promethus Unbound
Prometheus Unbound presents a visionary re-imagining of the Prometheus myth as an inner drama of liberation, in which tyranny is overcome not by force but by endurance, love, and moral transformation. Read through a theosophical lens, the poem becomes an allegory of spiritual awakening—depicting the emancipation of consciousness from ignorance and fear, and the triumph of compassion, wisdom, and self-sacrifice as cosmic principles at work in both the individual and humanity as a whole.
April 2, 2026 — Seabiscuit (2003)
Seabiscuit (2003) tells the story of broken lives—human and animal—drawn together by perseverance, trust, and an unspoken sense of shared purpose. From a theosophical perspective, the film can be read as a quiet parable of karma and redemption, showing how inner transformation, compassion, and right relationship can awaken latent strength and restore harmony amid hardship.
May 7, 2026 — The Writings of George William Russel (AE)
The Writings of George William Russell (Æ) open a window into a poetic and visionary consciousness deeply attuned to the inner life of nature, the soul, and the spiritual destiny of humanity. Russell’s essays and poems articulate a lived mysticism—one in which imagination, intuition, and ethical responsibility become pathways for awakening the deeper unity between the human, the natural, and the divine.
June 4, 2026 — The Visual Arts
July 2, 2026 — Shakespeare, A Mid Summer’s Night Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream invites us into a world where the ordinary and the unseen interweave, and where love, identity, and perception are gently unsettled in ways that lead to renewal. For a theosophically inclined reader, the play is compelling not for any single doctrine it expresses, but for its imaginative openness—its sense that reality is layered, consciousness is fluid, and meaning often emerges through symbol, paradox, and transformation rather than through literal explanation.
August 6, 2026 — The classical music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart moves effortlessly between joy and gravity, simplicity and depth, giving voice to emotional and spiritual states with remarkable transparency. Its appeal lies in the sense of natural harmony it conveys, as though beauty and intelligence are intrinsic to life itself and can be intuitively recognized when expression is clear and balanced.
September 3, 2026 — The Emperor’s Club (2002)
The Emperor’s Club (2002) centers on education not merely as the transmission of knowledge, but as the shaping of character, conscience, and inner ideals over time. The film is compelling in its quiet attention to ethical formation, the long arc of moral cause and effect, and the question of how unseen influences—example, intention, and integrity—work themselves out in individual lives and in society.
October 1, 2026 — The classical music of Johann Sebastian Bach
The music of Johann Sebastian Bach reveals a profound sense of order and inward coherence, where intricate structure serves contemplation rather than display. Listening closely, one is drawn into an experience of discipline, balance, and meaning that suggests an underlying intelligibility to the world, accessible through attention and inner stillness.
November 5, 2026 — The Interpreter (2005)
The Interpreter (2005) unfolds as a reflective political thriller that places language, memory, and moral responsibility at its center rather than spectacle alone. Its deeper interest lies in the way truth is mediated through conscience and experience, and in how the unseen weight of past actions continues to shape present choices within a complex moral landscape.