The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The editor of this journal is grateful to the author for providing this material for publication. It will form the introduction to a three-volume edition of Swedenborg's works; and those who profess the mystical-Gnostic worldview can be satisfied with such an undertaking. The undersigned did not want to be narrow-minded and did not want to give the article a place in this magazine because he cannot agree with essential points in the remarks of Mr. Btieger-Wasservogel. One should also hear the voices that contradict the direction of our magazine. But it is probably permissible to point out this contradiction here with a few words. The views expressed in the essay about Swedenborg's visions are quite untenable before a real understanding of Swedenborg. The visions of this man are here reinterpreted in the sense of a rationalistic pantheism, which stirs the spiritual world into an unclear “Allgeist”, that is, into a nebulous thought-mush. But Swedenborg was a personality whose soul was awakened to the so-called “astral” vision; and only those who have an understanding of such worlds can give an accurate judgment about them. To say that Swedenborg conversed with Plato when he compared his thoughts with those of Plato is like the blind man speaking of colors. What is said in the essay about “Theosophy” only shows that the author never knew what 'Theosophy is. Of course, what is said about Swedenborg's complaints about theosophists is “a2v”. But so few know who “write” what Theosophy is and what Theosophists want that, despite our perhaps harsh judgment, nothing bad has been said about the essay, which nevertheless pleases us. We Theosophists want to understand others; and we can wait until they will repay us with like for like. If I had to disown my mathematically sober thinking and my veneration of Spinoza because I am a Theosophist, I would truly no longer be one in an hour. But since I became a Theosophist because I once really learned to think mathematically between lectures on “Integration of linear differential equations,” synthetic geometry, and descriptive geometry, and thus also gained access to spiritual research in the sense of Plato, then nothing will happen to me.

These chapters are from a book written entirely from the inner experiences of a man. This book will be a valuable addition to our Western mystical literature. The selection we were allowed to make here for Lucifer-Gnosis is intended to draw readers' attention to a work that speaks of worlds that cannot be reached through external science, but only through inner experience. And to understand this work, something is needed that does not express itself in the intellect, in the use of reason, but rather it requires a kind of immersion in the sentences that are permeated by the spirit, which is transformed into love for the reception of what is shared. If the reader reads in this way, then he will gratefully seek to live what a introverted, quiet man presents here as the flowering of his soul.

It gives us particular satisfaction to prepare for the subtle spiritual book from which we have quoted and which is to appear shortly.

On an Essay by Dr. R. Salinger, “The Philosopher of Romanticism”

Although the editor must take a completely different view of Schelling's work than the esteemed author of this article, he is nevertheless publishing it on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the philosopher's death. Only a few words will be said about this differing point of view. Schelling is one of the deepest minds of the German people. Everyone can learn an incredible amount from the source of his significance. No later “research” can refute such a thing. That he is “not understood” is something he shares with all minds from his height. But one must learn to understand him. Those who have passed over to the “order of the day” via his world-view have done so the least. The theosophist will have much, very much to learn, especially from the last — posthumous — writings, “Philosophy of Mythology” and “Philosophy of Revelation.” In these, infinitely more real wisdom is to be found than with those who believe themselves to be “beyond” Schelling. Only then will he be understood when one no longer criticizes him, but selflessly delves into him. He is only discredited by his “hatred” of the no less misunderstood philosophical theosophist Hegel. But here too, comprehension is called for, not criticism. It is natural that a journal like Luzifer-Gnosis cannot give one-sidedly that which coincides with the standpoint of the editor. All sides should be heard.

Regarding Dr. O. Kiefers' comments: “Plotinus' Theory of the Soul” and “Plotinus' Idea of the Sage”

It is necessary to add something to the remarks of Dr. O. Kiefers in the two previous numbers of this journal. However, it should be explicitly noted that this is not meant as a criticism of the value of these comments. Anyone who has some knowledge of the nature of our knowledge respects the views of others, even if they have different thoughts to counter them. The following is therefore said with full respect for the esteemed author's views.

It is not possible to address all points. It is said that Eduard von Hartmann once again emphasized: “Consciousness is only a reflex of the unconscious mental activity in us, and a soul activity also takes place when the mirror of consciousness is shattered by physical disturbances! Plotinus' teaching about the soul is in complete contradiction to this. He assumes a complicated doctrine of transmigration similar to that of Plato and the Pythagoreans, and yet, according to his view, all self-consciousness and indeed all individuality of the human soul must naturally extinguish in the realm of the intelligible! In our opinion, such an assertion can only be made if one does not interpret the ideas of consciousness, self-consciousness and individuality in the sense of Plotinus. For Plotinus, as for anyone who has mystical experiences like him, personal human consciousness is indeed a kind of reflection of the true human essence in the earthly-material body. But this form of consciousness should not be confused with self-consciousness and individuality, which coincides with the latter within certain limits. It is precisely the self that is indestructible; and its entry into the earthly body reflects it for itself in the way we know it as personal human consciousness. In a mode of existence other than the earthly, the self will indeed become conscious in a different form; but it is to consider earthly consciousness the only possible form of consciousness when one says that self-consciousness and individuality would have to extinguish with death under the premises of Plotinus. No, they only change their form. After death they will take on the form that corresponds to the existence in which they will then find themselves.

It is also incorrect to say that the “pure soul” is not affected by what the “lower soul” does. Although the pure soul detaches itself from the lower soul, the former takes with it the experiences it has had with the latter. And these experiences depend on the organs, on the entire nature of this lower soul. Therefore, these experiences are decisive for the further destiny of the “pure soul”. A dualism can only be perceived here if one reads it into it oneself by explaining certain self-made ideas about the nature of the lower and higher soul in Plotinus' thought. Eduard von Hartmann does this too, who only recognizes one, the personal-human form of consciousness, and therefore considers all other mental activity to be unconscious. It is a long way from stating that one regards the 'lower' and 'higher' human soul as the two elements of man, as one is not a dualist by admitting that water is not a monon, but consists of hydrogen and oxygen. Must monism then demand that the unity lie entirely on the surface? Therefore, it is quite understandable that Plotinus demands of the wise man that he work in and with the world. “Consequently,” as Dr. Kiefer says, “Plotinus' thoughts would demand the opposite.” Oh no. The peace and bliss of the wise man lies higher than in external asceticism. He can develop a manifold activity in the world and thereby experience unity with the divine in higher worlds.

It is understandable that the arguments of this essay should give rise to the misgivings of many readers of the journal Luzifer-Gnosis. Indeed, the editor has often heard the opinion expressed that such arguments have no place in this journal. Such views, it has been said, are the product only of a fantasy that is incompatible with the purity of mind necessary for an elevation to spiritual life. I can understand all these opinions very well, and yet it seemed to me not only permissible but even necessary to present the comments of the esteemed author on the writings of Lanz-Liebenfels to the readers. I have not hidden from the author that I will openly express my opinion on the matter after publication. Today it shall be only a short one, because the space does not allow more; but in the next issue, I will deal with those questions from a secret-scientific point of view, to which the essay urges.

It seemed necessary to me to print this because Lanz-Liebenfels' explanations are a prime example of what happens when someone with a materialistic attitude approaches things of this kind. Lanz-Liebenfels is by no means the only one who thinks along such lines; what he says is only a radical example of a direction to which the present attitude tends all too easily. Everywhere one encounters the endeavor to bring human conditions as close as possible to animal instincts. People take pleasure in pushing this animalism into the foreground in all human considerations. Anyone who looks more deeply into these things will easily recognize that in an age in which natural science is as materialistic as it is in the present, there is a danger of going so far down the path that certain facts of human history are seen in a light that stems from a confluence of humanity with animality.

It is not possible to discuss LanzLiebenfels' research here. The only thing that can be done is to characterize it from the point of view of spiritual research. In the essay mentioned above, LanzLiebenfels quite rightly says in the text on which it is based: “The scientific writings of the ancients are written in a secret language and contain absolutely no contradictions or fables.” This is literally true; but for that very reason, in order to judge correctly about these writings, one must possess the key to this secret language. And this key can be attained only through a real knowledge of the secret science. And no one who possesses this key is still able to believe that the ancients really spoke of a physical animal man when they gave certain people animal names. They still had a real insight into the higher bodies of man. The astral body of man was given to them in experience. They knew that the physical body rests in an astral cloud, which is an expression of the drives, instincts, passions, etc. of the human being. And they saw how this mobile astral body is constantly changing, adapting to both a higher and a lower soul life. Just as the human being, the animal also has an astral body. It may be said that the human astral body rises higher in form, color, movement, etc. than the animal astral body, the more man ennobles his instincts and passions. But the less this happens, the more similar the human astral body appears to some animal astral body. The ancients simply based their descriptions and illustrations not on the physical human body, but on the astral body. In certain cases they did not want to depict the physical body at all, but to create a symbol for the astral body. When they spoke of peoples who were completely dominated by lower instincts, they indicated this by giving the people the animal name that corresponded to the nature of their astral body. If they called a person a “long-tailed monkey,” they meant nothing more than that his astral body appeared to them to resemble that of a long-tailed monkey. Thus it could also happen that “sober historical tribute lists” state that a king received “pagutu,” “baziati” and “udumi,” i.e., various types of animal people, from the land of Musri. Why should these not be mentioned alongside elephants, horses, camels, etc., which is declared to be quite impossible on page 559 (of issue 30 of Lucifer-Gnosis)? In terms of their physical body, these people did not resemble animals; such a description was based solely on their astral body.

The messages of the ancients can be understood with this key of esoteric science. Consider, for example, what is said in the essay “The Stages of Higher Knowledge” in this very issue. Those who attain vision of the astral world first see their own drives, desires and passions as an astral dream; and they appear to them like animals or demons that are outside of them. How clearly this makes a passage that Liebenfels, for example, cites from the Talmud: “All animals are good in a dream, except for the monkey and the guenon.” That such is said of these animals in particular is, of course, related to certain views of a certain time. From what has been said, it can be seen what the result is of applying to the physical world what in a description of the ancient world refers to the astral world. Given such a premise, what becomes of the assertion that, for example, a person belonging to a people with already refined instincts has engaged in sexual intercourse with a companion from a still inferior people? From this latter man a physical animal is made. Once this point has been clarified, there is really no need to go into the rest. For all the other grotesque interpretations are based on a similar lack of knowledge of the true key to the old “secret language”.

It will always be dangerous if the descriptions of the higher worlds fall into the hands of people who only want to know the physical world and therefore interpret all spiritual truths in a grossly sensual way. This danger is a reality for the “children of our age”. And the readers of the essay in question, who have become concerned, can still be given quite edifying things to hear and read. For we are still far from having reached the zenith of materialism. As a characteristic example of what this materialism leads to, something like this had to be printed here sometime. What occult science has to say about such things has been said in this journal and will often be said again. No reader of this journal can therefore really be misled by explanations such as those characterized. But anyone who is interested in occult matters should know that the materialistic interpretation of certain facts is relatively harmless when it is based on knowledge of physical science, but that it must become positively outrageous when someone has heard of higher things and enters into the materialistic channel with them.

The dangers to which this refers cannot be avoided in this day and age, since certain parts of occult science are now available in print. In an article that will soon appear, entitled “Secret Doctrine and Freemasonry, as well as related directions”, I will point out certain aberrations to which the public nature of our lives must necessarily lead. But the right relationship to these things is gained only through knowledge of them, and by no means through ignorance. That is why the article appears in this journal. I do not wish to discuss today what is said in it about the mysteries of the grotesque, for this will be discussed in the article just mentioned. The reader may also inform himself about two other errors from the explanations that will soon be contained in Lucifer-Gnosis, namely, the incorrect statement that in the course of human embodiments seven male and seven female should alternate. In reality, as a rule (although there are exceptions), a male is always followed by a female and so on. Nor is this true of the much-discussed double sexuality in the present human epoch. For this is nothing more than a regrettable relapse into ancient stages of human development.

A broad picture of contemporary culture “as reflected in ‘Theosophy’ ‘ is presented in Annie Besant's four lectures on the ’four major religions”. The same were held before the twenty-first annual meeting of the “Theosophical Society” at Adyar near Madras. They have now been translated into German by the tireless worker and helper of the theosophical cause in our country, Günther Wagner (published by Altmann in Leipzig).

In the preface, Annie Besant explains the aim she had in mind with these lectures. “The following four lectures do not claim to be more than a popular explanation of the four great belief systems and are not written for an actual study of them.” They were given to an audience that consisted almost entirely of Hindus, with only a few Zoroastrians and Christians among them. “Their purpose is to make it easier for the followers of each of the four religions to recognize the value and beauty of the three other faiths and to explain the common ground they all share.” This must be kept in mind. Had Annie Besant been speaking to an audience composed mostly of Christians, she would certainly have structured the lectures differently. Nevertheless, every member of a European nation who delves into these lectures will find plenty of food for thought and for the heart. And the fact that she approaches her reflections from a point of view that is not immediately his own will only serve to broaden his own horizons. The basic truths of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Christianity are explained. A spirit speaks about these four great religions, which has their truth in clear ideas before the soul and which feels the fire that flows from them in its own heart as its own fire. And this fire also radiates from the lectures, and, through the way of contemplation, leaves calm clarity in the soul of the reader. Annie Besant's relationship to the great religions is beautifully expressed in the end of the preface: “May this little book, which I am now sending out in respect for all religions that purify the life of man, uplift his feelings and comfort him in suffering, may it be a messenger of peace and not a fomenter of strife; for I have endeavored to outline each religion in its best, its purest, its most occult form, and each as if belonging to myself and proclaiming it as my own. To the Theosophist nothing human is alien, and he has only respectful sympathy for every expression of human yearning for God. He tries to understand all, not to convert any; he seeks to share the knowledge that has come to him with others, and hopes thereby to deepen the faith of each by adding understanding to faith and revealing the foundation that is common to all religions."

This sentence could characterize the tenor of every true theosophical lecture and every theosophical book. The theosophist does not create sects; he does not want to force anything alien upon anyone. He knows that the divine original spirit loves and dwells in all its creatures. Therefore, Theosophy does not preach individual dogmas, but becomes a guide to each person's own heart; it helps each person to find within themselves that which is divine. And truly, we need such guidance. For, as right as it is that we have the deepest source of truth in our own hearts, self-knowledge is difficult, and the wrong turns we take in it can be disastrous. We should never be overcome by pride and arrogance, which tell us: you do not need an external guide, you can find everything through yourself. However high a person's level of knowledge, if he searches in the right way, he will always find someone higher still who will open the paths to what he possesses himself but cannot find without help. Those who rely solely on intellectual scholarship will have many objections to this book by Annie Besant. For the author relies not only on such scholarship, but on two other, much more important foundations. One is the ancient records of secret researchers and secret teachers, which are well kept and inaccessible to secular research, and which will remain inaccessible to such research as long as it clings to its materialistic prejudices and to its purely external comparison of religions. There are those among us to whom these documents are accessible. But they have acquired the right to them by purifying their souls from all materialistic prejudices, by devotion to the demands of the spirit. Why access is only granted to such people is explained in the preface to H.P. Blavatsky's “Secret Doctrine” (Volume 1). In addition to this source, Annie Besant relies on the “Akasha Chronicle,” that eternal, living book that can be read by those who are able to leave the physical plane and go to the higher worlds to read the eternal in things.

Thus, in Annie Besant's account, some things must be different from those in the intellectual scholars'. “This world of scholars will, of course, describe the occult view as completely wrong. There is nothing that can be done about this; occultism can wait until it is justified by discoveries, as has already happened with many a much-laughed assertion regarding great antiquity. The earth is a faithful custodian, and when the archaeologist rediscovers the cities buried in her womb, he will find many an unexpected testimony confirming the claimed great age.” (Preface, page vii.)

Those who “have eyes to see” need only observe what religious research, cultural history and natural science are bringing to light today. They will find confirmation everywhere of assertions that occultists have long since made. And the fact that such confirmations are not noticed by so many today is only because they are not trained in spiritual observation. What Annie Besant says about the true nature of Hinduism and Zoroastrianism in their advanced age is particularly important. The wisdom religion of Hinduism takes hold of the heart and mind of the simplest person, and leads the spiritual one up into the highest metaphysical realms. It gives man guidance for his everyday behavior, and leads him up the narrow but exalted paths that lead to participation in the life of the Eternal. It is wisdom that takes hold of the whole person through its fire, and it is religion that leads to wisdom through devotion. “When we examine the religion given to the ancient Indian people, we find that it contains a training for all of human nature at its various stages of development, and that it guides him not only in his spiritual and intellectual life, but in all his relationships with fellow human beings in national and family life.” (Page 4.)

The Zoroastrianism is shown in its most ancient form, the one that the learned world has not yet been able to penetrate because its judgment is clouded by materialistic shadows. Annie Besant shows how, over time, advancing science is forced to admit more and more of what the occultist says. And through these explanations, she opens up the prospect of how Western science will continue to fare in this regard. Through its discoveries, it will gradually approach the teachings presented by occult science. But it is in its nature that it will deny everything that it has not come up with itself until it is forced to accept it. This is how it has happened so far, and this is how it will continue to be. The occultist does his duty, points out the similarities between science and his teachings, and otherwise lets the great law of time prevail, which brings everything that is to be brought and which he serves. The materialistic form that Western research has given to Zoroastrianism can no longer be sustained in the light of the documents that this research itself has brought. Annie Besant also shows this most convincingly.

The lecture on Buddhism should be followed with particular attention. It is shown here how little justification there is for giving this form of religion the character of atheism and for claiming that it denies the continuation of the human soul. Annie Besant explains how these two basic truths are precisely the deepest source from which the Buddha drew. She shows how he gained from them the high moral philosophy to which so many millions of people still profess to be held. She shows that there is no antagonism between ancient Brahmanism and Buddhism. Annie Besant describes in a most moving way the path of knowledge of the Buddha and the way in which he spoke to the people. The image of the great teacher must come alive in the soul of every person who allows himself to be touched by it in this way. “In the lecture on Buddhism, I was particularly concerned with the misconception that the Buddha is alienated from the hearts of his countrymen, and I tried to dispel it with quotations from the traditional scriptures that contain recognized accounts of his own sayings. There is no greater service that can be done for any religion than to attempt a rapprochement of these separate systems of belief that divide the Oriental world in two.” (Preface page 1.)

It is of course difficult to exhaust the theosophical depth of Christianity in a lecture; but for this part of the book there is a nice supplement in Annie Besant's “Esoteric Christianity” (published by Fernau in Leipzig). But even what is said in this lecture can show, for those who understand it correctly, how little foundation there is for the prejudices that teachers of the various Christian denominations have against Theosophy. None of these denominations is opposed by Theosophy. Theosophy seeks to bring to light the deep, occult content of Christianity. It does this by reviving the understanding of the great Christian mystics of all times. No one who finds the right path here can be alienated from the Christian religion. Nothing is taken from anyone that they have. And if the appointed teachers of the Christian denominations would just engage in a real examination, they would soon see that they have the best ally in Theosophy. It is only the false image of Theosophy that is being fought from this side. No one needs to deny his faith to become a 'Theosophist'. Attempts to convert or to make apostates are completely outside the Theosophical tasks. Christian warmth and Christian truth also radiate from this book by Annie Besant. And they radiate not only from the lecture on Christianity, but also from the others.

This warmth and truth are drawn from the high teachings of the first Christian writers. Understanding in the truest sense is sought; and the spiritual eye is fixed solely on the truth. 'Hatred is of the evil one, in whatever religion it may be found. Let each preach his own faith to those who desire to receive it; let each freely express his views of God to all who are willing to listen to him. We reflect back only as small facets of the Eternal, our poor minds are narrow channels through which the life and love of God flow. Let us make our own person a channel, but let us not deny that others can be channels as well as we, and that divine life and divine love flow through them as well as through us. Then peace will come, and there will be no more separation; then unity will come, harmony, which is something different, something higher, than monotony. If his children live in love, then they can hope to experience something of God's love, for, as a Christian teacher truly said: 'He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?' (1 John 4: 20). Thus the lecture on Christianity concludes, and with it the entire book. Annie Besant's presentation of Christianity cannot alienate anyone from this Christianity; but it can lead those who believe that their modern way of thinking and scientific spirit cannot be reconciled with this form of religion back to Christianity. And this has truly happened more often since the theosophical movement began. Through Theosophy one can become a good Christian again. If only this could be understood, and if only the wrong views could disappear, as if it were in the nature of Theosophy to propagate foreign religious systems; for example, to want to spread Buddhism in Europe. The true theosophist knows only too well what he would take away from the European if he wanted to make him a Buddhist. And the goal of Theosophy is not 'taking', but 'giving'. Precisely because Annie Besant's lectures are not intended for Europeans, they will be able to learn a lot from them.

This is the introduction that Edouard Schuré wrote for his book “Les grands initiés”. The book was first published by Perrin in Paris in 1889. It is now in its 7th edition. In France, and also in other European countries, it has given many people an impulse towards a deeper understanding of the secrets of the world and the riddles of life. Both through the art of its presentation and the inspiration from which its content stems, it is one of the most brilliant works in the theosophical-mystical literature of the present day.

This article (“Hermes”, The Mysteries of Egypt) is taken from the work “The Great Initiates” by Edouard Schuré. It should also be noted here that this entire significant work will soon be published in full in German translation by Marie von Sivers, published by M. Altmann in Leipzig. We were allowed to print parts here with the permission of the translator and the publisher.

Translated from English by members of the Theosophical Society. Sueviaverlag. Jugenheim an der Bergstraße.

It should be said at the outset that it is not easy to put into words what one can feel about this “true story”. For the events narrated are such that they continually transcend into the deep mysteries of life. These are well known to the occultist; but for the majority of our Western readers, the spiritual faculties that would enable an understanding are still dormant. The beginning touches on a secret. At the beginning of her incarnations, at the stage of savagery, Flita killed her lover. And from the killing she gained the power to become a black magician. This is quite appropriate in the occult sense. There is a mysterious connection between the knowledge that leads to power in the bad sense and the forces that end life. Death is connected with egoism for our human evolution through deep-seated laws. In the course of the story, Flita also appears to us as a black magician within the present cultural level. Her knowledge of hidden things makes her a magician. And the fact that the lower forces, the passions of human nature, still rule in her, causes the corruption in her nature. For all occult knowledge is pushed over to the side of evil by these forces. Knowledge, if it is to unfold, needs life. All knowledge that is not imbued with life is empty, shadowy, ineffective. There are two sources from which man can draw life. One of them flows to him when he stands on the summit, where all lower desires have been cast off. All feelings must have taken on a different form there than they have within the instinctual nature of the lower human being. The other source lies in the life of our fellow creatures, regardless of whether they are already really living around us in the physical world or are only pushing their way into life. No one can understand this book without knowing that knowledge that arises from curiosity or the thrill of power draws its strength from beings that are still unborn and want to be born. Those who can see behind the scenes of physical reality know how many beings have to pay for life because people strive for knowledge that only serves their selfishness. Flita's lover must be killed by an astral being; and the black magician draws power from this killing, like a vampire.

As long as knowledge is not superior to all that is base in humanity, it does not live from truth but from illusion. And illusion needs nourishment. It draws this from life. Flita is brought together with Ivan, the Master. But she is not face to face with the true Master. She could only be so if all the lower passions in her nature were stilled. But there is still something of lower love, however refined, in her inclination towards the Master. So she can only face her own illusion of the Master. Her passion has a corrupting tie to the knowledge that flows to her from the higher regions of nature. And she is literally whipped out of the temple where she seeks initiation. The white figures grew in number until they seemed thousands, and with outstretched hands they drove Flita down the steps — down, down, down, however much she tried to resist. She did more; she struggled, she fought, she screamed aloud; first for justice, then for pity. But there was no yielding, no softening in those superhuman faces. Flita fled at last from the odds and their implacability, and then there was a loud shouting of many voices, and a thousandfold sounded the words, “You love him! Go!”

Everyone who is familiar with the laws of astral vision knows the deep truth of this description. However, only those in the know describe it this way, and are only understood by those in the know. — Flita must see it, how Ivan's knowledge, stripped of selfishness, weaves at the whirring loom of time. Like the threads of a fabric, the Master works selflessly on humanity, infinitely exalted above all individual human beings. The final scene is significant. The magician comes to that loneliness at the edge of an abyss, where nothing of the familiar realities penetrates to the soul of man, where the secret of life and also of death is revealed. And she dies at the threshold. She dies as a black magician dies. The nature of error and evil is clearly depicted at the end of the story; but a veil rises before the truth; and on this veil stands - death. - The story only hints at what lies beyond this death. And it is better left unspoken. For with the realization that living against the great laws of the world means death, the other is far from being attained, how life awakens with the work in the sense of these great laws of our planetary existence.

Those who understand the “Enter” at the end will no longer consider the “true story” to be a novel. Before the “preface” stand the words: “This strange story came from a distant land and was brought in a mysterious way.” These words are significant as a guide for the reader. Readers without occult knowledge should refrain from making any judgments and simply let what emanates from the book take effect on them. It is likely to transform many a secret slumbering in the human heart into a mere hint. And sometimes a mere hint is enough to awaken knowledge. It would be useless to give a summary of the book; nor is there at present any possibility of saying more about the things that lie between the words without touching on something that at present the pen is not allowed to touch.

A report about festivals and celebrations. By the author of “Light on the Path”. Translated from English by members of the Theosophical Society. Authorized translation. Sueviaverlag. Jugenheim an der Bergstraße, 1904.

This is an important booklet for those who want to get to know occult truths in an intimate way. A high wisdom lives in it. However, this wisdom is not expressed. For the booklet cannot be taken as if one could learn something from it as from a writing in our ordinary literature. Those who allow the contents to take effect on them, absorbing them into their thoughts, feelings and will, can allow a unique elixir of life to flow through their soul and thereby rise to an inkling of the great truth that the human spirit lives according to the same laws as the All-Spirit (whereby here, “All-Spirit” is understood only to mean the spirit that rules the heavenly bodies related to our Earth and its evolution). The inner life of this All-Spirit was once as the human spirit is today. And the spirit of man will be in the future what the spirit of the universe is today. In the outer world, however, the deeds of the All-Spirit confront the human spirit. Just as the sun rises and sets, just as it completes its cycle during the year and during the millennia, just as the earth brings its seeds and children to maturity, leads them to death and lets them rise again: all these are the deeds of this All-Spirit. The human being who rises above sensory perception sees the plants ripening, bearing seeds, sinking the seeds into the earth, enduring the sleep of death in the earth and then rising again: and in all this he feels the effects of divine life. And he rises to the realization that this divine life first had to undergo a long apprenticeship until it had matured its spirit to do such deeds. And then it also dawns on man that this apprenticeship of the gods was similar to his own present one. And in the deeds of the gods he then sees the blueprints of his own future. When the snow covers the sleeping life of the earth during the short winter days, when the first sprouts of the trees push towards the re-strengthened sunbeam, then he sees in it the divine masterpieces, and he says to himself: your spirit is of the same kind as the one that can do all this. And you must rise and look up fervently at these masterpieces on the days when they reveal themselves to you. Then these days become festivals for you, and in the course of the year these festivals will join together for you to become an insight into the harmonious work of the gods, from which you have to learn. Christmas, Easter and the other annual festivals thus come to life in his soul. And what the sun brings about in the course of the year will be the hieroglyph for the secret revelation of one's own future.

When man rises to such intuition, he can gradually recognize how his own spirit once split off from the All-Spirit, to be sunk into the material earth ground, there to learn to accomplish things in the future that are similar to those that are around him today. He will bring the darkness in which he is to his own contemplation, if he looks merely at his own present stage of development; and he will let himself be illuminated by the light that radiates from the deeds of the gods. Thus he grows together with the universe, finally feeling himself to be a part of it, just as a little finger must feel itself to be a part of the organism. And so he will see the Christmas season approaching his soul and know that it means the same thing in the life of this soul as once occurred in the soul of the god when it learned to perform the deed that falls on Christmas in the course of the year. Christmas is then not just an outward sign and symbol for him, but a source of strength that truly plants a seed in his soul for the future. And so it will be for the other festivals of the year.

Because this booklet leads to such feelings, it is a truly occult work. It does not just speak about the festivals in the way that a textbook might speak about magnetism, but it is a guide, like a person who, instead of a textbook, hands us a real magnet that we can then work with ourselves. The students of the initiation have learned to celebrate the seasonal festivals as suggested in this writing. And that is why these festivals themselves have given them such occult insights, just as a magnet attracts iron.

The book describes the process of human development from the moment when a person awakens to the ability to look into the karmic chains of their own soul until the moment when the higher self, the Christ, awakens, which has now transformed a child into a companion of divine beings. For it corresponds to the first moment of Christmas and what precedes it, and to the second, Easter. Those who can witness what is happening in the heavens during this time know the most important occult secrets. And those who awaken the right feelings within themselves at the appropriate times, as prescribed by the Büchelchen, prepare themselves to experience such secrets. If you take this booklet, live by it for a year and a second year and so on, in the sense that the instructions for attaining higher knowledge in the secret schools indicate, you will already perceive astral and mental, and the day will come when you will do so with full consciousness.

The moment is beautifully described when the soul begins to rise inwardly to see the karmic chain, how it becomes lonely, abandoned by what it has hitherto called reality. All the sacred awe of this momentous moment in human life lies in the words (page 1): “The disciple who now enters the hall of learning - a place known to the seers - will find it dark and deserted, with wide-open gates and blown by the wind. There is no peace anywhere, not a single spot of light. The walls are black, and the river, which used to flow freely and unbridled before us, is black and foaming like mad. Truly a scene to make you want to flee, and no disciple will want to challenge it a second time. Only the ignorant go forward and suddenly face it. The more wise know of the desert, remain silent and maintain their confidence despite the nightmare that threatens them; for whether they dwell quietly with their own, whether they are with their dearest friends, the sudden awareness of absolute loneliness will come to rest on their hearts despite everything, even in the midst of their companions, so that it stands still with oppression and agony."

Those who truly want to penetrate the occult world must understand such things vividly, for they describe the moment when man learns to renounce all knowledge that comes only from outside and learns to recognize that higher knowledge can never flow from anywhere other than from within. Then he learns to rise above so-called “objective” proofs and finds the source of truth by sacrificing all illusions. In “solitude” he learns to recognize that no one and nothing but he himself can lay this truth on the altar of sacrifice for humanity and the universe. The gatherers of seemingly “objective proofs” for the mind and also the so-called metapsychics – the latest fashion in French psychology has coined this word to prove to the discerning that it is still very far from understanding occultism – all these close the door to the secrets firmly in front of them, for they demand for their proofs precisely what must be overcome by those who want to penetrate into the higher secrets. Anyone who wants to prove the existence of spirits as one proves the presence of hydrogen does not understand himself; and anyone who seeks something mectapsychic as one seeks the presence of an acid is not on the path to the spirit, regardless of whether he is engaged in scholarly sport with the valuable observations of Richet, or of any spiritualist amateur club.

The encounter with the other initiates and the contemplation of the world from this perspective are described in the little book as downright powerful and true to life: “The disciple has become an individuality and is recognized. The message that proclaims this to him is audible only in his own heart and in the hearts of those who, like him, are able to hear the voice of silence. It does not reach the outer ear. The multitude of unseen souls, who in darkness and half-consciousness cherish the desire to become a part of the divine body of love, appear as a veiled multitude in the mighty process in the drama of the world soul. They are the unfree with undeveloped abilities, who blindly place their trust in a god taught to them and in their personal teachers.

And no less grand and true to life is the description of what the awakening of the higher soul means: “Since the day of birth, after the divine part of man has separated itself from the choirs of angels to consider itself equal to its own ephemeral footprints in the sands of time, that part has remained in darkness; now it is heading towards the recovery of eternal life. So it was at the birth of Buddha and of Christ; and so it is at the birth of the divine in every human being in whom this miracle takes place.” Those who understand this in a living way know occult truths of the highest value. Words of such depth are not often found in entire libraries, not even in so-called theosophical ones.

The translators of the booklet, the same ones who also translated the “Flita” discussed in the previous essay into German, will have done many a great favor if these two books should find an understanding audience. It may also be said that the translations are cast in beautiful German. We will make progress in Germany with the theosophical movement and achieve what we are supposed to achieve if there are several people who combine the attitude and correct understanding of what is important as these translators do.

Four lectures by Annie Besant, delivered at the twentieth anniversary of the Theosophical Society at Adyar near Madras, December 27-30, 1895, authorized translation by Countess H. Scheler, Leipzig, published by Max Altmann, 1905.

It is with great satisfaction that we welcome this translation of these lectures into the German language. In them, Annie Besant described almost ten years ago the steps that the disciple of higher life and knowledge has to take. For all those who have already received the great insights into the path of higher life to strengthen their spirit and mind in Annie Besant's book “In the Atrium”, this writing must also be a welcome gift. She presents these insights in a slightly different way.

Four great pictures pass before the mind's eye of the reader: 1. The first steps, 2. The qualities necessary for discipleship, 3. The life of the disciple, 4. The progress of man in the future.

The first of these images describes the transformation that must take place in the way of thinking and feeling of anyone who wants to enter the path of discipleship. The purpose of this transformation is to shape man's thinking and acting in such a way that henceforth his life no longer has the mere goal of self-gratification, but that it integrates itself into the great goal that the divine world plan pursues, and in which the individual becomes a co-worker. Man rises to the point of not just understanding it, but feeling and experiencing that everything he does has not just a temporal, transitory, but an eternal, imperishable meaning. Right at the beginning of the first lecture, Annie Besant points out how she wants to lead the gaze away from the everyday life in which every person is involved in one way or another, and towards this great goal. “I would like to show you how a person who is surrounded by family and social obligations, by the manifold demands of worldly life, can nevertheless prepare for union and take the first steps on the path that leads to the 'One'. I will try to show you the stages of this path so that you can see the goal to be achieved and the path to be taken. I begin with the life that pretty much every person leads and start from the point of view that most of you are probably standing at now. I would like to show you the path that probably starts from family life, from life in the community and the state, but which ends in that which is exalted above all thinking and ultimately guides the wanderer home, to that which is eternally his."

The lectures are significantly introduced with these words. For it must be emphasized that there can be no kind of life or occupation from which man cannot enter the path of discipleship. He does not become a life-hostile hermit, not a life-weary dreamer, when he enters the path in the true sense of the word. And many of us walk this path without the uninitiated being able to notice anything in our outward conduct that distinguishes us from our fellow human beings. The question is often asked whether this or that position in life, this or that occupation, is compatible with a higher life. The answer to this must be given again and again: the indications of the esoteric sciences first point the way to entering and walking the path. How each individual must then arrange himself in order to achieve what is necessary for him, that each one will certainly find out for himself in the course of his development. Should it be necessary for him to enter into a situation in life that is different from his previous one, he will be led to the means and ways to do so quite naturally in the course of his path.

Annie Besant also speaks about this in vivid terms. “The limits of each person's duty are set by the particular circumstances of his birth, which, under the good law of karmic guidance, give each person his sphere of activity and the right soil in which he can learn. Therefore, it is said that each person should do his own duty, his own dharma. It is better to do one's own dharma, even imperfectly, than to try to fulfill the higher dharma of another.” Karma and Dharma are two concepts that complement and determine each other. A person's karma determines their fate according to what they have done in their previous lives. However, Dharma is the law by which they should continue to live in the future, according to the qualities and abilities they have acquired in the past. And each person's dharma is determined by their karma. They will get the furthest, they will achieve the best for themselves if they stay within the limits of their abilities and the duties imposed on them by their circumstances. It is not right to cling to tasks that seem particularly appealing and worthwhile without considering these circumstances. These may be tasks that only someone with a completely different karma can solve. Annie Besant therefore continues after saying the above sentence: “That into which you are born is what you need, is the right means of education for you. Do your own duty without regard to the consequences, then you will learn the task of life and begin to walk the path of yoga.”

When taking the first steps on the path of discipleship, one must always bear in mind the great power of certain thoughts and feelings in and of themselves. Thoughts that are directed towards the genuine fulfillment of one's duty, that are directed towards man's eternal destiny, towards the divine plan of the world, contain within themselves the power to uplift and transform man. Just as one gives a plant water so that it may grow, so one should give the soul thoughts of eternity: and it will grow. Just as you cannot make a plant grow by grabbing it at the top and tugging, so you cannot make the soul grow by any earthly means. You must rather, with patience and perseverance, fill it with thoughts of eternity, and growth will surely come. Nothing that is a great ideal, a divine truth, passes through the soul, remains unused by it.

Annie Besant beautifully describes how the inner life of the soul becomes independent of the outer professional and worldly life, and yet how the two are in harmony and compatible: “They are human beings, living in the world and bound by worldly ties, human beings who lead a social and political life. But in the depths of your hearts you long for true yoga, for knowledge that is lasting and does not belong only to this fleeting life. In the heart of every one of you, if you get to the bottom of it, you will find the longing to know more, the desire to live more nobly than you do now. Outwardly, it may appear that you love the things of the world, and with your lower nature you do. But in the heart of every true Hindu who is not completely apostate and denies his religion and homeland, there is still an inner longing for something more than the things of the earth, still a faint desire, even if only a remnant of past traditions, that India would be nobler than it is today and its people more worthy of their past."

The last sentence also points to something that must not remain unspoken here when discussing this book. Annie Besant's lectures are addressed to the Indian people. They indicate the path of discipleship for this people. Now, although truth is a unifier, and the highest summit of knowledge and life is also a unifier for all times and all peoples, one must not believe that the path of discipleship in form can be exactly the same for the man of present-day Europe as for the Indian. The essence remains the same; the forms change in this area as well. Therefore, it is only natural that in the articles of this journal “How to Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds” is said differently in some places than it is given in Annie Besant's lectures for the Indian people. The path described in this journal is the one that has been developed in the secret schools of Europe since the fourteenth century as the right one, adapted to the life in the West and to the stage of development of the European human being. And the European can only be successful if he walks this path as outlined by his own secret teachers. He cannot copy the path of the Indians. For the Indians are the descendants of a very different tribe from the European people. Their physical and psychological peculiarity is different. In the world, everything is in development. And the Secret Schooling must also follow this path of development. Only a travesty of a disciple could exist if a European soul wanted to follow the same yogic paths that the Indian people once followed under the guidance of the holy Rishis. But the latter must again betrain its own ways if it wants to make progress. The aim of the Theosophical World Movement is precisely that every nation, every part of humanity, should seek the truth in its own ways. We would be very poor Theosophists if we wanted to graft the Indian teachings onto the very differently constituted European humanity without further ado. This must not be done with regard to the outer teachings, nor with regard to the secret training for discipleship.

This is not to say that it would be useless for Europeans to get to know what is appropriate for India. The stage at which the European stands is precisely the one that makes it necessary for him to get to know everything intellectually. In order to progress, the mind must compare and measure its own against that which is further away. It must listen to what is said to fellow human beings in the Far East for their own good. Therefore, not because the same could be done in Europe, one has to greet such books as the present one with satisfaction. But it is also necessary to know that in Europe, those who have knowledge and are searching for secrets have been trying for centuries to show the right path to today's discipleship to those who can and, above all, want to listen to them. The signs of the times clearly indicate that in Europe, too, the number of those who “yearn in their hearts for true yoga” will grow ever greater. For what Annie Besant so aptly expresses towards the end of the first lecture also applies to the peoples of Europe: “There is no great nation without great individuals, no mighty people if the individuals are low, poor and selfish in their lives.”

The second lecture presents the laws of “mastering thought,” meditation and character development, which the disciple on the path must observe. Annie Besant gives us a glimpse of the rules that have been followed and tested by the disciples of the path for thousands of years. We may often shrink back from the demands that are made and say, “Yes, who can fulfill all that!” But such shrinking back is by no means justified. It is based on the fact that the things in question are taken much too superficially than they want to be taken. The higher world cannot be conquered in tumult or in storm, but in patience and perseverance. Many will find, for example, that there are so many rules and that the time needed to carry them all out is almost immeasurable. The only thing to say is: start at one end and you will soon find that the matter has many other difficulties, but almost none of those that you first imagined. You will gradually acquire practice in the correct use of the instructions, you will gradually become aware of the correct meaning of this or that message, and then come to a completely different judgment than you had before. In this regard, there is a very important passage in these lectures by Annie Besant (page 100): 'The question has often been raised as to how many lives pass between the first step and the final liberation, the attainment of Jivanmukti. I recall that Swami T. Subba Row, when he discussed with some friends the commonly held idea that seven lives must pass at this level of discipleship, made the perfect and true and meaningful remark: 'It could be seven lives or seventy, seven days or seven hours', meaning that the life of the soul is not measured in terms of earthly time. What matters is its energy, its strength, its will to achieve the goal. “A person can waste his time or use it to his advantage; that alone will determine the progress he makes.”

Time and again, we can refer to a saying of Goethe's when talking about the path of discipleship: “Although it is easy, the easy is difficult.” The only obstacles that arise are those that man himself puts in his way. In most cases these obstacles arise from his prejudices, or from the fact that he is not really serious about such things as, for example, controlling his thoughts or meditating. People simply do not believe that controlling one's thoughts and meditating, practised quietly in the innermost part of the soul, can be so successful in leading to the spiritual world. One expects this success from much more “tangible”, much more tumultuous things. Or one demands that the objects and beings of the higher worlds have the usual forms of the sense world and considers the forms in which they really appear to be little more than a nothing or an illusion. But one first learns through the “attributes necessary for discipleship” what the higher worlds actually look like. One must first mature, to see something quite differently, and this quite differently, than one is accustomed to from the sensual everyday life.

The third picture, “The Life of the Disciple”, opens up a wide perspective. Here the path of trial and the four initiations are described. It shows how man is led up through the stage in which he frees himself from the way of looking at things to which he has hitherto paid homage, and in which he completely casts off the fetters of doubt, superstition and narrow personality consciousness. Then the second step is indicated, on which the inner light, Kundalini, begins to shine, illuminating the things of the higher world as the spiritual sun does the objects and beings of the sensual world. The third step follows, on which the “true self” awakens, the self-awareness that embraces the world, making it possible to receive the keys to true knowledge. And finally, the dawn of the Arhat rises before the thought.

The last picture shows the “progress of man in the future”. All higher development of the individual is only a hastening on the path that all humanity must later traverse, albeit under the conditions of the earthly future, which will be quite different from those of the present. But only in this way can all humanity hasten towards this future, that individuals go the way ahead, rise out of themselves, so that, as teachers and guides, the others follow them. Instead of a brief description of the significant last chapter, which has real practical significance for every true thinker, only a few things will be emphasized here at the end of this discussion. For example, it is said about the human future: “In the whole sphere of knowledge, methods will change. The doctor will no longer have to draw conclusions about an illness from external symptoms, but will see the cause of it and be able to make a diagnosis based on that... Until now, the impermeability of the physical body has prevented the doctor from looking inside, but now he is already using the clairvoyant, whose vision penetrates the physical matter, who sees the disease and can recognize exactly what is wrong with any organ of the body... Imagine the boost that would be given to the whole of medical science if doctors were clairvoyant, and if what only a few people possess now became widespread, so that doctors could make their diagnoses with certainty and follow the effect of each remedy with the certainty that comes from seeing...

"The same applies to chemistry. How much more could the chemist achieve than is currently possible if his eyes were open and able to follow the various processes that occur when his substances combine, if he could see the effects of his compositions instead of having to guess at them and wait for the results of his experiments before he can be certain of the outcome. How many accidents could be avoided and to what extent could this knowledge accelerate the progress of science?"

“It is no different in the study of the mind. You will immediately see what this means for humanity, merely from the point of view of this lower world, when people can communicate with each other through thoughts, instead of having to use cumbersome mechanisms such as writing or printing, when a thought can travel from brain to brain and communicate without the complicated processes we use today.”

Thus Annie Besant's lectures end with a powerful outlook on the future of humanity.

The Germans, who have an understanding of these things, will have to be grateful to Countess H. Scheler for the translation.