Eclectic: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Eclectic
Eclectic (from Greek eklektikos selective, picking out)
Applied to systems of philosophy or religion which cull the best from a variety of systems, with the view of thus arriving at essentials.
It was applied to the School of Ammonius Saccas and other Alexandrian philosophers, implying that they picked out what was best in all faiths in order to make a new system, doing so because they knew that all the major systems of human religion and philosophy fundamentally derive from a common wisdom-religion of remote antiquity, and therefore that each such system contains at least some elements of truth.
Hence they were teaching the wisdom-religion through synthesizing, and by illustrating it from various faiths. The word is also applied to other matters, e.g. schools of painting.
Eclectic (from Greek eklektikos selective, picking out)
Applied to systems of philosophy or religion which cull the best from a variety of systems, with the view of thus arriving at essentials.
It was applied to the School of Ammonius Saccas and other Alexandrian philosophers, implying that they picked out what was best in all faiths in order to make a new system, doing so because they knew that all the major systems of human religion and philosophy fundamentally derive from a common wisdom-religion of remote antiquity, and therefore that each such system contains at least some elements of truth.
Hence they were teaching the wisdom-religion through synthesizing, and by illustrating it from various faiths. The word is also applied to other matters, e.g. schools of painting.
