Thinking as a path to Spiritual Knowledge
“In all ancient occult schools, there were three ways to ascend to the highest realms of knowledge. The first was that of the initiate, the second was that of the clairvoyant, and the third was that of the magician. These are three fundamentally different things: initiation, clairvoyance, and magic. Let us first clarify, through a simple comparison, what an initiate is, what a clairvoyant is, and what a magician is. Imagine any region where people are unfamiliar with railroads, steamships, and so on—where people live without railroads and steamships. In such a region, the very fact that railroads and steamships exist is pure occultism. Occult means something like secret, something people know nothing about. Now, if someone from a region where there are no railroads and so on travels to another region where he sees railroads and steamships, and he then returns to his homeland, he tells his people that railroads and steamships exist. He knows this from his own experience, for he has glimpsed a world that is still a mystery to the others.
Anyone who is initiated into the higher worlds through occult training is, in this respect, a clairvoyant. They know from personal experience that spiritual worlds, spiritual beings, and spiritual forces exist. The spiritual worlds have different levels. A person may be a clairvoyant at one level, seeing some phenomena but not others. Now you must recall something that has often been said here: Clairvoyance is necessary for discovering and independently investigating occult truths. But clairvoyance is not necessary for understanding these truths. Ordinary human reason is sufficient for this, provided it is applied correctly and comprehensively enough. Anyone who says that they can only understand what is communicated in occult reports if they were a clairvoyant is simply not using their reason sufficiently. A person cannot discover occult truths with their reason, but they can comprehend them. Everything that is recounted through spiritual research can be understood if one is only willing to think deeply. However, one cannot discover the occult truths without clairvoyance; that requires clairvoyance. Thus, what is proclaimed through Theosophy could also be understood by those who think deeply about it.”
Read more: Rudolf Steiner, Myths and Legends; Occult Signs and Symbols, Lecture 7. White and Black Magic, GA 101, 21 October 1907 afternoon, Berlin