Hartmann, Franz - Memorable Recollections (Art)
Transcript of Hartmann, Franz - Memorable Recollections (Art)
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Memorable Recollectionsfrom the life of the author of the "Lotusblten."
By Franz Hartmann, M.D.
One morning in the year 1883, Dr. Hartmann dreamt while he rested half-awake and saw aletter, in a handwriting which was unknown to him. Also, unknown foreign postage stamps
were pasted on, not as is commonly done on the addressed side of the letter, but on the
sealed flap side. After breakfast he proceeded to the post office and found in his box theabove actual described letter. It was in the writing of Colonel Olcott, which contained an
invitation to Dr. Hartmann to come to India and take part in the control of the theosophical
movement. A feeling of inner mental conviction, more reliable than all outward motives,said to him that this is the right one and that he can dedicate his future activity towards no
better purpose than this. Therefore, he prepared for his departure and left Georgetown
[Colorado] on September 21, 1883. (1)
"India!O, what magic dwells within this word!India! the country ofwisdom, the land of magic! What was European science other than a childs
game in comparison with the higher knowledge among the best of
Brahmans? Was it not discoursed upon through all the world by Col. Olcott,that at the nose tip of an Indian fakir there sits more true knowledge than in
the heads of all our scholars!? The Theosophical Society did not begin to
awaken until the appearance in India of the glorious Aryavarta, awakening
through the breath of freedom, which travailed across to America! India, theland of the mysteries, the realm of the adepts; what precious mysteries may
be hidden in your womb, which is our determination to bring into clearfocus." (2)
This may have been an approximation of Dr. Hartmanns sensations, as the steamboat
neared the Indian coast. First a faint ill-defined stripe appeared upon the horizon, which
continued to become clearer, then the white houses and palaces of Madras became visible.Yet in a short time the people on the bank could now be clearly seen, men with white robes
and variegated turbans; women with dazzlingly colored cloth dresses, between them half-
naked coolies.
Stop!The machine, which had worked so long day and night, stopped to pant, the shipstood still and the anchor rattled in the depths.
II. INDIA
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Before we continue with our report, it is necessary to mention some specific but general
things concerning the theosophical movement and to mention the "Theosophical Society"in particular.
It is known to every mystic, that ever since primeval times an alliance of philosophers has
existed, i.e. illuminated people, who have attained a higher degree of self-knowledge andare dedicated to the deeper mysteries of nature. Their effort is to help mankind andwherever the opportunity allows, to disseminate light and enlightenment through the world.
Eckartshausen says pretty much the same:
"Few people dedicate themselves to true wisdom; thus there is so much error
in the world; wisdom requires truth, and truth goodness, and this is rareamong scholars. Thus is their pride, thus is their wisdom a folly. Learn,
above all, to know the futility of your self. You gain nothing through the
self. Never be proud of your own knowledge; everything comes from God,(3) which is wisdom itself.
"There were always people who searched for wisdom in the purity of their
heart; but they lived in secret and did good works without ostentation. Many
of them were laughed at while others became the sacrifice of prejudice anderror, but the wisdom always remained wisdom and their followers worked
towards the great plan of divinity into the activity of human welfare. Seas
separate the land which inhabit the Ways of those countries from those ofthe children of error. Their island lies removed from any discovered areas
and will remain undetected until human eyes can endure the light of the
divine sun. Rarely is a mortal granted access to their holy shores. But atcertain time periods their ambassadors become dispatched to the known
continents. Their work is to disseminate light, to look for light, wherever it
may flow out. These emissaries were sent out to disseminate God-wisdom in
calm ways; they are known as the most hidden mysteries of nature; they joinwith men, who are on the path of excellence and truth, informing them of the
hidden sciences and leading them to the light, to tranquillity and to wisdom."
(4)
This partial, allegorically-held description has become clear to us through our ownexperiences, to grasp the fact that the society of the Way or "adepts" is a spiritual
community, to which all people, who have attained a certain degree of self-knowledge,
meet in the spirit, even if they are bodily separated from each other by the oceans. The"island," which is mentioned, is the realm of knowledge, which indeed is surrounded by the
sea of ignorance on which the storms of passion rule and remains undetected and cannot be
found. But this talk is also not entirely based on purely spiritual things; for the adepts, ofwhom the author speaks, are men who live as such on earth and, as it is said, in Tibet and
Egypt near lonely, remote places. There are unfolded "powers" in them which are
"spiritual" or rather "divine," from which modern psychology knows yet nothing, throughwhich they are capable of seeing and working at distances. Since they have accomplished
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the method of self-controlling the power over the elemental-beings, they may effect
magical "wonders" such as, e.g. the so-called "spirit-writings" phenomena andconsummated other things, over which one "wonders" only because one does not
understand them.(6) The method which they use to unite with veracious beings is through
the long-distance effect of thought. Whoever can arise to their sphere can partake of their
influences.
The existence of the adepts has been widely contested, but the author has come, through his
personal experiences, to the entire conviction that such wise people really live on earth
(readied with magical powers), which one calls "Adepts," or "Mahatmas" (great souls) are
also known as the "Illuminated," really live on earth; that some of them live in Tibet, andthat H. P. Blavatsky, just as she always maintained, was their student. In order to be such a
student they did not need her to be a perfect saint or a fully educated Adept. And then there
are all the errors disseminated about her, due in part to a lack of judgment, which lead, inpart, back to her enemies and their envy of her.
Just as water flows everywhere where canals are present so that one may find ones way, sotoo does divine wisdom flow, which is the sum total of the supreme intelligences in the
universe and disseminates light into all hearts where no insurmountable resistance is found.It penetrates into all churches and systems and always brings more enlightenment
everywhere, even though gradually. The spirit of wisdom is therefore not the monopoly and
property of any society, but is the driving force of that movement, which now isdisseminated over the entire earth and throughout all the branches of science and art,
asserting itself within social relationships. One can rightly call this movement
"theosophical," because it is based upon the knowledge of truth. When this knowledge hasnot yet consciously shown itself everywhere, it is only felt like a dark feeling within the
human heart. The "Theosophical Society" however was called into existence by H. P.
Blavatsky in order to be a radiatory force-center of this movement. It should, so was it the
intent of the adepts, exist from noble, good, loving, intelligent and energetic persons, frompeople whose souls are great enough in order to embody in love the whole world where
their spirit illuminates enough in order to be a light unto itself, disseminating the light
received by the sun of wisdom throughout the world. As well, the light of enlightenmentand the warmth of love should emanate from this center and gradually penetrate through all
classes; the strong helping the weaker and the weaker helping those who are still weaker
than he is. And since not every person is capable of receiving the light directly from the sunof wisdom and taking it in to himself (since he would be blinded by its direct light) so too
are the teachers of wisdom the moon, who return back to us the light of the sun in a milder
form to illuminate the darkness of ignorance, passed down to that of the human, whobecomes accustomed to the soothing light and eventually is capable of enduring the light of
the sun himself. So should the sun of wisdom be the central sun at the heaven of the
Theosophical Society, the adepts the moon and each member attain to the self-knowledge
of a star, a light for all.
The purpose of the Society is threefold. Above all it is to be a nucleus of a universal
brotherhood of humanity, irrespective of religious and other disagreements, imbued with
the spirit of tolerance.
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As such, it was put forth as an almost impossible condition. Because most humans have
such little tolerance, their Society can not be imbued with their spirit. Indeed, it is exactlythe diversity of opinions which cause people to mutually tear themselves to pieces. It is
because of this tendency which can not be easily shaken off, that one can be entered on the
list of members of a Theosophical Society. Because of the diversity of opinions no general
agreement can be set up and even when all people were to assume one and the sameopinion, so would such an opinion no longer be a true perception. Such a condition would
be the greatest misfortune for mankind, for with the blind acceptance of truth of an idea
resting on ignorance all ones thoughts and searches would have an end. Only then canequality of view unite all people, if they all concurred toward the same point of view and all
have come to a state of self-knowledge. Such a society would then no longer be only
"theosophical," but a society of real Theosophists.
However if the diversity of knowledge and imagination can not unite the person, the love ofthe True can. The love of the True however is the belief in the supreme ideal, which is not
in the head or in the realm of the imagination, but in the heart. Where the love of the good
in each person recognizes good, which is also still hidden, it is there the person recognizeshis own divine self; there this divine love unites all people in God. Therefore the revival of
divine love in the heart and not empty knowledge, should be the first object of the
Theosophical Society.
However, standing against this divine-realization (Theosophy) there existed the reversedworld-view, which takes the light for the essence and substitutes self-delusion in place of
the exclusive indivisible deity. Thus it now required, above all, to instruct those who
searched after the truth and self-knowledge, so that they could free themselves from theirerrors. Since it would have been better to show an example through the study of the
writings of the Paths, philosophers and initiates of antiquity, above all however, what
would have been better than to give the explanations through those of the "adepts," i.e. by
those humans who had attained to the level of divine self-knowledge? Through them thehidden sense of the allegories and fables as found in the religious books of the people was
revealed through the light of truth. Therefore the study of theology and philosophy was the
second objective of the Theosophical Society. Unfortunately many people forgot andpassed over the first objective. They wanted to satisfy their bare scientific curiosity;
everything possible concerning the origin of the world, to know about the afterlife and so
forth, to enrich their own earthly knowledge, but only a few aspired to that love whichrecognizes God in all nature. Thus, the name "Theosophy" often became merely the
designation for another metaphysical or theological speculation.
In fact no one can become a real Theosophist, if Theosophy, that is, the spiritually-divine
self-knowledge, has not been felt and becomes within him a living power. This divine-realization ascribes to the inner divine person, not however the earth-born earthly humans.
The spiritually divine person must be realized in the consciousness of the individual; then
his knowledge can illuminate the earthly spirit of the person. For this reason, the thirdobject of the Society was the research of occult powers, and the unfoldment of the hidden
nature of the higher soul powers in the consciousness of the person. It should teach every
person to know his own higher nature, which can only be brought about through the
exercise of virtue, justice, truth, goodness, etc.
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But how little does the world and especially the scholars understand these three aims of the
Theosophical Society, despite all that has been said and written about it. Particularly thethird object attracted a certain quantity of fanatics and dreamers who believed that, for that
reason, they could concern themselves to learn sorcery and conjuring, or to attain in an easy
way the possession of occult powers and use them for selfish purposes.
If H. P. Blavatsky had not supported her doctrines through facts, she would have set themin motion only in the realm of theory and no doubt some centuries would have passed
before the world would have considered more closely the important question of a higher
world-view. Now, since she was in possession of mystical powers, she was able to give
frequent tests of this teaching. For her, the souls of many people were read like an openbook; she could give answers as to the contents of sealed letters and she could give the
correct answer to previously asked questions; the astral-world appeared right at home to
her, just like the physical world. She could arbitrarily produce different phenomena similarto the media of the spiritualists without their knowing how it happens, as if they were
produced involuntarily. All these phenomena naturally had the sole purpose of making
people to more attentively study the theosophical doctrines and the higher science, and toexcite in them the ability of self-thought. Even when H. P. Blavatsky, as it was maintained
by her enemies, would have produced such phenomena through sleight of hand, she still
would have fulfilled her aim and cheated no one. They cost nothing. It was the bell ringingwhich proclaimed the existence of the school of wisdom.
But there were always a number of people, especially among the half-learned, who were
only interested in the bell-ringing and did not trouble themselves with the school; they
racked their brains over how well the phenomena would be produced and lost their mindsover it. Because they could not understand the purpose of the process and were not familiar
with it, they confused the end with the means, and thus considered the production of occult
feats as the purpose of the society and the feats themselves as deceit or fraudulence.
It is easy to comprehend, that if an earthworm could think and saw an eagle fly, it wouldhold this for deceit or deception; for since it can not fly, flight is altogether an impossibility
for it. So it is also with everything and everyone, which can never raise themselves above
the level of the seeming, beliefs and imaginings. For it is the inductive conclusion based onfalse requirements the supreme; of the divine powers hidden in the soul they know nothing,
because they do not profess trust.
Still, it was the mysterious which was the great magnet which attracted large numbers
around H. P. Blavatsky. Their mystical nature was roused, but so too were the many so-called dreamers and fanatics. Wherever Colonel Olcott beat his clamorous drum, it was
there one spoke of miracles and the reputation of phenomena attracted many curiosity
seekers who often found something better than the expected marvels.
In India, however, something else contributed to the fast growth of the TheosophicalSociety. There was the subjugation by foreigners for centuries, which splintered a nation by
the prejudice of caste. With the scorns of Europeans whose feet trodded over others, in
cowardly fear they wounded as a tyrant, no doubt knowing the trod upon did not have theforce to help themselves. No doubt it was mostly the Christian missionaries who
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contributed to the corruption of morality; for although many among the Indians had lost the
key to the understanding of their theology, there also had remained among them enough ofthose who still had the requisite knowledge to see that in the allegories taught to them by
the missionaries and their perverted interpretations, it was a caricature of their own [East
Indian] doctrines; so much so that some Brahmans could instruct the Christian missionaries
in their Christian religion, but not conversely. Naturally this could not be so, as to scorn thereligious ignorance of the Europeans and no doubt they guarded themselves well, taking
note to desist from doing so. Thus emerged hypocrisy, cowardice and a cringing of the
stomach. The English were outwardly considered and honored as unapproachable higherbeings and secretly hated as the devil.
There the American Colonel Olcott appeared like a saving angel and preached the doctrine
of equality among all people. In exuberant words he praised the glory of splendid Aryavarta
(old India), which maintained the same superiority over the European civilization and theworthlessness of the European world-view in comparison with the ancient-Indian learning,
indeed he maintained to have been an Indian in his last incarnation. He explained to the
Indians the secret meaning of the Christian symbols and thereby publicly exposed theignorance of the missionaries. He showed that the doctrine of Christ is the same as the
doctrine of Krishna, only changed in its outer form; that the basis of all great religion-
systems is the one and same knowledge of the truth, and that in order to attain to the truereligion, one need only discover the truth in his own religion.
Even after a cold rainy day when the sun suddenly appears before an anthill, everything
becomes alive. If one pushes in with the stick, everything runs through a course of
confusion. The newly opened light roused patriotic feelings in the hearts of the Indian, andsome, who did not understand the equality all people and had fear before the Europeans,
now believed at least just as well as an Englishman, if not much better. Olcott was
considered by many as the savior of India. Many pupils of the European schools had
interpreted that it would no longer be necessary to study European natural science. Theyapplied for favors from the master and expected from them such advice with regard to their
personal affairs. They wanted to save themselves the trouble of having to learn something
or having to work. Instead, they wanted to lead a tranquil life and become a "Yogi" (saint).
Because the Protestant missionaries saw their reputations and incomes threatened by this
excitement, they became angered themselves, and it is conceivable, since they could
accomplish nothing with the weapons of the spirit, that they had to take refuge through the
personal attacks on the character of H. P. Blavatsky.
Thus, this is how the conditions were at the headquarters upon Dr. Hartmanns arrival in
India and we now return to this point in time.
The ship threw out the anchor and soon there appeared on board a deputation of natives,
members of the T.S. [Theosophical Society], to festively receive the newly arrived, and todeliver to him a writing from H. P. Blavatsky, wherein she called to welcome him "to his
home." He then climbed from the very well-built boats (because of the surrounding surf) on
to a carriage which is used in the country. The journey went along the shore; first pastpalatial buildings, then through the narrow streets of the quarters of the natives, then along
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the country road planted with bread trees, groups of houses, coconut palms, Moslem cherry
courts and individually lying graves varied with meadows, ponds and forest. Then it wentover a large bridge across the Adyar River and after a few minutes the carriage pulled in
through the gateway of the wall which enclosed the park, which separated the headquarters
of the Theosophical Society from the entire orb of the outside world.
This headquarters was located in the Adyar district, a suburb of Madras, and belonged to avillage named Urur, which was inhabited by fishermen. The building consisted of a
delightfully convenient bungalow with a portico adorned with columns. At the back of the
house flowed the Adyar River, which flowed a modest distance to the sea. Because of its
proximity to the sea, the ebb and flow of the tide caused it to alternately flux twice a daywith sweet and salty water as a bath, and the spacious park was occupied with mangos,
coconut palms and the larch-surrounding Casuarina trees.
Some, although cautious, remarks which were made to him along the way by theaccompanying Brahmans, appeared to imply that not everything at the headquarters was
just as one would have wished it and that really neither the president, nor H. P. Blavatsky,but a certain Madame C. . . . was the mistress of the house.
She had known H. P. Blavatsky in Egypt and after she had become impoverished there, hadcome with her man to Adyar, where both of them were hospitably taken in by H. P.
Blavatsky. Monsieur C, a Frenchman, whose trade was a carpenter, supervised the servants,
took care of repairs and other things, while his wife not only took her place as a
housekeeper but also as a companion of H. P. Blavatsky and as an adviser to Col. Olcottand chief-overseer over everything else having to do with housekeeping. She understood
fortune-telling and had learned various skills in an Egyptian harem, e.g. learned the
manufacture of magic mirrors and could prophesize well, and had so acquired the favor ofthe president that in his absence no one was allowed to enter his room but her; for, as he
maintained, no one other than herself diffused "a good magnetism."
Dr. Hartmann had come to India with great enthusiasm. His main purpose was H. P.
Blavatsky, whose spirit (her writings) inspired him with so much admiration that he cameto learn directly from her. But also, the headquarters was the center of the world to him; the
"Rome"not of churchianity but of the divine-wisdom, Col. Olcott appeared to him as
the Hierophant, the chelas (a pupil of the Adept) as the apostles, free from all humanpassions, fulfilling all humanity out of divine love, full of high intelligence and radiating
the light of truth; for how could they be otherwise than the disciples of wisdom? The study
of Theosophy was for him a serious, high and holy matter, which had nothing to create withthe frippery of this world. How astonished he was, just as he made entrance in the park, to
see by the entrance on the right and left a large manufactured elephant made from blue
packing paper. The blue elephants should be symbols of power and wisdom, but they were
unfortunately only a caricature. Was this an omen? Dr. Hartmann had hoped to find gods,should he also find here human weaknesses?
Indeed he has also found here many human weaknesses, however we are only concerned in
these papers with memorable memories.
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Concerning his acquaintance with H. P. Blavatsky the author says the following:
"Similar to my arrival in Adyar, I was greeted by H. P. Blavatsky, who from
the first moment I laid eyes on her possessed my fullest sympathy. With thatsympathy I stood on a friendly footing up to the end of her life, even though
we had on chance occasions to anger one another. It is now put before me
the difficult task to make an attempt to give a picture of H. P. Blavatsky; anattempt which has already been made by many, although up until now none
have been successful. She has been indulged like many other mystics; they
have foolishly raised that person (with skin and hair) upwards to heaven;while others have unjustifiably crucified and condemned her; none have
completely understood her and none can fully understand and describe such
person , because there are often contradictory natures in her which are quitedistinctive; namely the wavering spirit of the earth, the always changeable
and mortal personality, and the immortal, individual, illuminated soul.
With an ordinary person one finds as a rule little diversity in his character; he remains
rather constant in his virtues and weaknesses; he follows today perhaps this mood andtomorrow another; however the moods never come out. He always remains small in his
pettiness, even though this shows itself in various forms; he is rarely great. Compared to
this, an Adept, whose personality is always imbued by his higher consciousness, is also
always the same, but on a much higher level. He is, in comparison to the routine person, agod. H. P. Blavatsky was neither a god, nor a commonplace person, for she hovered, so to
say, between heaven and earth. Soon she flew up to the supreme regions and had concourse
with the gods; not in her imagination, but with full consciousness; then she descended toearth and was like a stubborn child with multifarious moods that were difficult to satisfy.
This is different than mediumism. Every occultist knows there are distinct conditions of
consciousness, where each has his own abilities of perception and memories; in each type
of perception there is a completely other person. A drunk remembers what he has doneduring his last intoxication, even though at the interim he knew nothing of it during his
sobriety; a somnambulist communicates with the spiritual world while his body sleeps and
knows nothing from that world upon awakening as to what he saw and heard there. H. P.Blavatsky was neither drunk nor somnambulistic as she could displace her consciousness
on a higher level of existence and when she again descended she was reminded at to what
had happened there.
No doubt there is in every person a double nature, the higher and the personal "I." But inthe commonplace person the higher lies dormant, or the light of the consciousness of the
god-being is only like a twilight in the consciousness of the earthly person. In H. P.
Blavatsky she was awakened to the higher "I" consciousness; she was at the same time bothan inhabitant of the higher world and an inhabitant of the earth. Therefore she has been
understood by no one. She had not only spirit, but there was in her a spiritual individuality,
which is called upasika, (7) tied to a lively and recalcitrant organism furnished with a fieryand difficult to dominate tempered Russian lady by the name of H. P. Blavatsky. Whoever
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wants to know the character of upasika, they must look for the spirit in H. P. Blavatskys
written works. The personality of H. P. Blavatsky was only an instrument of her interior"I"; her personal errors have nothing to do with her work towards the welfare of humanity.
The biographers, who have written books on H. P. Blavatsky, have described only an
illusion; they have never known upasika, but only the house in which it inhabited.
But also the views which are disseminated concerning the personal character of H. P.Blavatsky, rest for the greater part on error; the errors which she did not have were
imputed, and the errors which she did have were exaggerated. She appeared unpredictable;
unpretentious and again demanding, patient and impatient, meek and hot-tempered,
concealed and a tendency to gossip, good-natured and quarrelsome, and so on, dependingon what was correct. Due to her lively imagination she was bent towards exaggerations, she
raising her friends to heaven or at the next moment sending them, because of any
displeasure, to the abyss of hell. But neither the one nor the other was meant to be takenserious. Heavenly quiet ruled in upasika; Blavatsky was like a soap-blister with an always
changing opalescence. The defamations however, which were disseminated over Blavatsky,
come entirely from persons who believe that they are thoroughly made to be the same asthe adepts and could arrive at that state with high honors and wealth, without
comprehending that their own megalomania barred their way. Disappointed, they swept the
fang of defamation against their benefactress. Now upasika and H. P. Blavatsky haveseparated themselves from each other and the latter has no more interest for us. Her works
have given mankind enough food for thought for the next centuries. Upasika however has
not died, but works onward, even though in another way, still to the betterment of mankind.
End of Installment 1
Go to Installment 2
May 7, 2000
Endnotes
(1) Translators note: We begin with a brief paragraph atLotusblten X/62 (Nov. 1897):832. [Return to text.]
(2) Translators note: This paragraph and the subsequent text continues uninterruptedly
beginning atLotusblten X/69 (Dec. 1897): 891, etc. [Return to text.]
(3) Translators note: The reader should be aware of Franz Hartmanns position and viewof the term "God" from the German word "Gott." In the German, Gott has many levels of
meaning for the same word. Hartmanns interpretation was not a belief in an extracosmic or
personal god, but was similar to Jacob Bhmes, described by H. P. Blavatsky as a belief inGod "not as a personal being, but as an eternal unit, the Universal Substance undefined by
any human qualification, the unfathomable; as incomprehensible to human understanding
as the "absolute nothing." The ascription of God as a pronoun has certainly caused
problems through the ages for the anthropomorphic interpreter, especially when it should
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have been implied as universal and eternal divine Law. I have translated the following from
K. O. SchmidtsMysterien der Seele. Dynamische Theosophie von A-Z. Ein Franz
Hartmann-Brevier, pp. 81-82, which is a compilation of Franz Hartmanns definitions and
terms from numerous articles and statements. Hartmann states
"the word God, which analogously means the good, was originally aneuter term. First, after the introduction of Christianity, God wastransformed into the God.
"In the Indian mysticism the original basis of all That or being is denoted as
Parabrahman, as the divine-absolute. First at the beginning of creation
Brahman appears in manifestation as Brahma.
"All religions mean by the word God the same. It is only one God, butthere are multifarious powers. There is only one life, but it reveals itself in
multifarious forms. There is only one light, but it appears in creatures in
various degrees in manifestation. It is only one love, but it works differentlyaccording to the object on which it conforms.
"The pious fanatic considers God as some outsider and inaccessible and as
the object of hope or fear. Such belief is self-illusion. He first comes more
closely to the truth, if we find God personally in us and Him (It) in us. Wehave then overcome the illusion of duality and have come to the unity on
which all mysticism and Theosophy aims as on that alone is the real.
"We honorGodthrough the knowledge of His presence in us, ourlife
through good deeds and ourneighbors thereby, that we see God, the good,in them and beyond. To recognize the essence of God, one must comprehend
the nature of divine love. Love can not be taught, only those who have
practiced it, they know.
"God can, as Master Eckhart (5) says, not be described. All characteristics,
which we ascribe to Him, say nothing of His nature. It is useless to arrive
through scientific research towards God-knowledge. However let us direct
our view towards the truth, that God is omnipresent. That which is difficultthen becomes easy. For if He is omnipresent, He is also in us personally and
we need then only to get to know that in us even in truth, in order to
recognize God. With God-knowledge we attain God-wisdom in the supremesense of the word. God-wisdom or Theosophy means knowledge of God as
the spirit of good and of love."
[Return to text.]
(4) Karl von Eckartshausen. "Aufschlsse ber Magie." [Explanations Concerning Magic.]Mnchen 1790. Bd. II. S. 197 [Munich, 1790. Vol. II, page 197]. Translators note: It
should be noted, a papal bull was issued against Karl von Eckartshausen (1752-1803).
[Return to text.]
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(5) Translators note: Franz Hartmann first wrote about Meister (Master) Eckhart in: "The
Foundation of Christian Mysticism according to Master Eckhart."LuciferXI/66 (Feb.1893). [Return to text.]
(6) It need hardly be mentioned that the acquisition of such occult powers is not the primary
aim of the spiritual rebirth in man; no doubt the man does attain, through this rebirth, to ahigher existence and may in the outcome also possess the property of higher powers.[Return to text.]
(7) Upasika (Tibetan) means a "pupil," a feminine disciple (chela) of the Master.
Translators note: Upasika is the feminine Sanskrit form "upsik," which in general means
a lay devotee, worker or servant of a religious teacher such as the Buddha. [Return to text.]
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