Annie Besant (1847-1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women’s rights activist, educationist, writer and powerful orator. Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She was also a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit.
In 1890, meeting in Paris Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, she was converted to Theosophy, becoming a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject. When Blavatsky died in 1891, Besant was left as one of the leading figures in Theosophy and in 1893 she represented it at the Chicago World Fair.
The pamphlet Life, Death and Immortality was published by Besant in London in 1886. It is a fundamental text to reflect on the great mysteries of life and death and to try to answer the great questions of spirituality and human existence.
«Of all the questions which, throughout the centuries, have escaped from the lips of man, there is none which has been asked with such persistence, none which has possessed interest more perennial, than “Whence do I come? Whither shall I go?”. Man’s origin, man’s hereafter, have ever been of intensest interest to man».
