The Theosophical Society is a nonsectarian, undogmatic, worldwide organization devoted to human solidarity, cultural understanding, and self-development. It seeks to bring people together; to reconcile the religions, philosophies, and sciences of both East and West; and to increase awareness of the inner reality inherent in every human being.
Organized in New York City in 1875, the Society's principal founders were Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the first Russian woman to be naturalized as an American citizen, and Henry Steel Olcott, a prominent lawyer and journalist who became the first President of the Society. Madame Blavatsky was a Russian of noble birth, whose mother was a social novelist and whose grandmother was an accomplished amateur scientist. As a young woman, she traveled all over the world in search of wisdom about the nature of life and the reason for human existence. Eventually, Blavatsky brought the spiritual wisdoms of the East and of ancient Western mysteries to the modern West, where they were virtually unknown. Her writings became the first exposition of modern Theosophy.
