THE ESOTERIC SUBSTANCE OF VOLTAIRIAN THOUGHT

By Denise Bonhomme

The focus of this daring study is the striking similarity of views held by Voltaire and by proponents of the Far Eastern Secret Doctrine. The subject is therefore, a comparative survey of widely known Voltairian writings and of the Secret Doctrine outlined by H.P. Blavatsky in the latter part of the XIXth Century.

A major portion of the book is devoted to the trilogy consisting of Zadig, Candide and L'Ingenu, a sequence tracing the tribulations and prospects of Man the Lover of Truth through recorded history. Zadig corresponds to the period of declining Paganism; the era of initial sectarian dismemberment of the ancient universal Wisdom-Religion (also known as Hermetic Philosophy and Secret Doctrine). Candide corresponds to the nadir of our current curve of evolution; a point when mankind is as low as it can get; a time when sectarian division is at its worst and when "the best of possible worlds" can only be a horrible world. L'Ingenu is a prophetic, two-pronged projection into the XIXth Century - the era of UNVEILED TRUTH - and into our own age, a major turning point in human evolution.

The study of the trilogy is supplemented by the esoteric survey of Micromegas, a qualitative report on the limitations of modern knowledge of the Western world. The story is shown to be a spiritual and scientific manifesto proclaiming the omnipresence of "hyperphysical" energies in matter and advocating the use of intuitive faculties which are alone capable of unveiling mysteries of Man, Cosmos... and Great Literature. The story involves space travel in a way that is symbolic... and much more, the cosmic law of analogy ("As above, so below. As in heaven, so on earth") and the innermost structure of planet Earth. The latter feature of Micromegas has a spectacular extension in the Eldorado of Candide.

The trilogy unfolds a vast evolutionary panorama of Time and Space. The Poem on the Disaster of Lisbon contains hints of astounding Voltairian autobiography that did not go unnoticed by such fellow-"smugglers" of the Secret Doctrine as Vigny and Proust.

This book is designed as a manual of esoteric de-coding that will allow sensitive and reasonably learned readers to make discoveries of their own in the literary productions of many great authors. Leads are given where the ONE veiled message is concerned. Rabelais, Shelley, Vigny, Proust, Ibsen and Saint-Exupery are suspected of being only a few cases in point. Added to the "small fund of philosophy" advocated by "Zadig," the Glossary should enable intuitive readers to probe beyond the surface of many famous writings. In the words of Marcel Proust, "the great writers have never done but one work."

Volume One and Volume Two are available from Amazon.com, iUniverse.com, and Barnes and Noble.

For additional information E-Mail  Missouf@degn.org