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Compassion - The Spirit of Truth

By Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

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What to read in the Secret Doctrine

Continues Captain Bowen:
In addition to how to read the S.D., HP Blavatsky also advised that: 
Reading the S.D. page by page as one reads any other book will only end in confusion. 
The first thing to do, even if it takes years, is to get some grasp of the “Three Fundamental Principles” given in the Proem [Vol. I, pp. 14-20]. 
Follow that up by study of the Recapitulation — the numbered items in the Summing Up to Vol. I [Pt. I, pp. 272-76]. 
Then take the Preliminary Notes [Vol. II, pp. 1-12], and The Conclusion [Vol. II, Pt. I, pp. 437-46].

BP Wadia had not been aware of the “Bowen Notes” when he proposed a similar approach to the study of The Secret Doctrine:
The ordinary student’s mind, as it is constituted today, in the East as in the West, may gain quicker and better comprehension if it is aided in the selection of pages to be read. While the following plan may not suit all, it has been found useful by a fair number during the last twenty-five years and more.
1 Vol. I, pp. 272-73, Item 1 [Source and origin of the Secret Doctrine]. Vol. I, pp. 297-99 [Truth and Occult Sciences]. 
2 Vol. I, pp. 13-18 (The Three Fundamentals). 
3 Vol. I, pp. 269-80 [Summing up the Secret Doctrine]. 
4 Vol. I, pp. xvii-xlvii (Introductory). 
5 Vol. I, pp. 1-24 (Proem). 
6 Vol. II, pp. 1-12 (Preliminary Notes). 
7 Vol. I, pp. 303-25 (Symbolism, etc.).

Implicit in all these recommendations is that students of The Secret Doctrine will be enthused by what they read so far and will resolve to study this awesome book in its entirety.
“The beginning is half of the whole” said Pythagoras.