Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl [1]
It will be clear to anyone who is accustomed at times to thinking a little more deeply than superficially, that many of the words we commonly use have a much deeper, or, what is the same here, higher, meaning than is usually supposed, and that, if people in general would correctly grasp this higher meaning, they themselves would thereby come to a higher level of development; because it takes something high to grasp what is high, and striving for what is high pulls us up. But we live in an age of superficiality. Thousands of things occupy our attention, so that we don’t have time to look at each one carefully. Craft rises above art, and intuition is swept away by a tidal wave of intellectual brooding. The haste with which we are always looking for something new is the cause of our failure to recognize the treasures we already possess. You take the shell for the core, don’t bother with what isn’t already obvious, and don’t go beyond the mundane.
For example, there are many words in our language whose sense refers to things which are beyond our intellectual comprehension, but which can nevertheless be grasped mentally; for otherwise their existence would be useless and they would have no meaning for us; and many others of whose meaning one has misconceived or misunderstood. imagination because one does not consider its true meaning and does not recognize it. To these belong especially those designations which refer to religious things or to states of mind; their meaning is necessarily “occult” or “hidden,” not because, as some believe, they want to be “hidden,” but because no one can really comprehend a state in which he has never found himself and of which he consequently has no experience. In order to get a correct idea of higher states of the soul, the higher soul life must first have awakened in us, and without the fulfilment of this condition all theoretical speculations about such things lead to nothing but fantasies and absurdities, even if one leads to these If a theory obtained in a way is correct, the possession of a theory is by no means one’s own knowledge; because this only comes from one’s own experience. Theories and opinions are toys for the human intellect; the true spiritual can only be grasped in the spirit of truth.
But we will not understand this either, as long as the spirit of truth has not come into our consciousness.
This spirit is the spirit of self-knowledge and true religion, and without it the meaning of the word “religion” is not properly understood. To understand what religion is, one must have religion oneself, and that consists not in being registered as a member of the Church and following certain outward observances, but in knowing in one’s heart that power which binds man to God and can lead him back to divine existence. True religious knowledge emerges from religious consciousness. Religion in the true sense of the word is “science” in a higher sense, i.e., not a hollow, intellectual understanding of things, but a spiritual knowledge of the heart of things which understanding alone cannot comprehend, which is why the apostle Paul (I. Corinth. II, 7) says: “We do not speak of the wisdom of these world, not even from that of the supreme (scholars) of this world who perish, but from the hidden, occult wisdom of God (theosophy), which none of the supreme of this world has recognized.” True religion (not to be confused with sectarianism) is the basis of all higher development, forming a higher concept of it, it is uplifted by it.
Art is similar to religion. The word “art” comes from “can.” But this is not yet the right artist, who can only imitate nature. True art is not a product of nature; it stems from that from which nature arose, and an “artist” does not know the right art if he is only an imitator and not a creator himself.
The sublime remains eternally hidden or “occult” to the non-sublime. This word is also rarely understood correctly. There are so-called “Occultists,” who think that occult or esoteric science consists in delving into theories of the causes of apparitions, ghost stories, and the like; but the true occult science only begins there, where the higher spiritual knowledge enters, which does not belong to the earthly human mind, or, to speak with the Indians, “Kama-Manas,” but belongs to the divine part, the “angel in man” or “Buddhi-Manas.” Everyday science emerges from external observation and conclusions, the higher occult knowledge from inner awakening and inner enlightenment, which only the one who has received knows.
Our religious, philosophical, even ordinary, literature abounds with expressions relating to things for which we have no concepts, because the human intellect is inherently limited and cannot grasp the unlimited. We can certainly feel infinity and perhaps talk about it eruditely, but not understand it intellectually. There is, e.g., of the absolute, of eternity, God, faith, love, hope, immortality, etc., but who can understand the meaning of these words if he does not feel the things to which they refer? For the mind alone, they are incomprehensible, despite all the theories which are written about them. The “absolute” or “unrelated” is related to nothing and is therefore also nothing in relation to our mind. We can well suspect it, because it underlies our own existence, but knowledge of it only comes about when the consciousness of absolute being awakens in ourselves, which has no relation either to ourselves or to anything outside of us. Such a state is intellectually incomprehensible, however much one can argue about it, and that is why most of our learned treatises on “Nirvana,” “Samādhi” and the like are so perverted that one can only wish, reading them, our Scribes wish to have proper experience for themselves before judging things of which they are absolutely ignorant.
Let’s look at the word “space.” We live in space and move in it. Everyone believes in the existence of space and yet no one can form a concept of its nature. We can conceive of space neither as finite nor as limitless, and while we may say that it is infinite, we cannot conceive of its infinity. The mind comprehends only the formed and limited; the soul alone can sense the formless and infinite.
Most people think of “eternity” as a time which has no end. In fact, eternity has nothing to do with time, but is, as it were, the point of rest and support from which movement springs. The intellect cannot comprehend it, but the heart thinks differently. F. Rückert says: “What thinks eternal in me must be eternal.”
We must find the eternal within ourselves to experience what eternity is.
It is similar with the word “immortality.” All the so-called proofs which are adduced as to the immortality of the human soul can at most show the possibility or probability that there is a continuation of existence after the death of the body. The only true proof is that of the one who has come to the consciousness of immortal existence within himself. But this is not the concern of our mortal personality, but of the immortal man in us. The Bible says correctly: “There is no one immortal but God.”
Countless books have been written in relation to “God,” and yet no one has intellectually grasped the meaning of the word; for a God that man could comprehend would be less than man and not God. Nothing less than God Himself can know God. In order to come to its realization we must transcend our assumed individuality; but then our own ability to understand ends with this.
It is said that knowledge of God is attained not through scientific research but through “faith,” and there is scarcely a word that is so widely misunderstood and misconstrued. True faith is not, as so many think, the intellectual acceptance of any doctrine or opinion, but, as St. Paul teaches (I Corinth, II, 5), “a power of God” which no man can make for himself and only known to those who own it.
It is similar with “hope” by which the egoist imagines the certain expectation of some event which will benefit him; but the enlightened one finds a completely different meaning in this word. For him, hope has nothing to do with selfishness. When the star of hope rises within him, the fulfillment of his desires is already within him, and he is not thinking of himself.
But the meaning of the word “self” is probably only a incompletely clear; for this requires that self-knowledge which is identical with the knowledge of God. Indeed, the ability to discern between our true, enduring Self and our transient, assumed self is the first condition to knowing the truth and the key to all mysteries in the universe. One true Self is a “child of God,” the other a play of nature. One is the opposite of the other, and what is said about the former is wrong about the latter. Thus religious teachings can simultaneously contain the supreme wisdom and the supreme lie, beneficial or pernicious as applied to the true or false self. In the whirlpool of life, in the whirl of passions, we stand under the dominion of assumed selfhood; in moments of stillness and exaltation we recognize our own worthlessness in the light of the higher, true Self. When we are able to stand outside of ourselves, to see the worthlessness of our ever-changing desires, prejudices, passions, and everything which pertains to egoism, then we partially realize this difference. It may be that in such moments, through this atmosphere of self-conceit that surrounds us like a fog, we recognize a being who is pure and passionless, who measures everything with the standard of justice, who does not care about our fantasies and ideas, likes and dislikes, who does not seek the truth by means of logic, but rather sees it directly, and indeed a truth of which we can form no conception, a Being who no longer cherishes doubt and whose celestial clarity of ours untainted by impurity, a divine Being distinct from our earthly personality. We look up to him in awe, we approach him by the power of the spirit of love and finally discover in him our sole, true and divine Self.
Another word which has a deeply religious meaning is the word “man”; but who can fully comprehend this mystery but one who has reached the goal of all evolution and has become a real man in the true sense of the term? Millions of human beings live and die without having come to a consciousness of the nobility and dignity of the true human being, or a realization of his nature.
Volumes could be written about the word “spirit,” which has been misused so often; closer examination would make it clear that certain things called “ghosts” have no spirit at all. Intellectual activity and spirit are constantly confused, but the true spirit is recognized by few. If the world understood the true meaning of this word, heaven would arise on earth, but our earthlings will not understand it until they have become spiritual themselves. Spirit is consciousness. A thing which is unconscious cannot conceive of the state of consciousness. The true meaning of the word spirit will only be recognizable to us when we ourselves have achieved true self-awareness.
Nothing proves that we planet-dwellers live a dream life like the fact that we can only dreamily recognize the things we speak of, and only half understand the meaning of the words we use. We all often speak much wiser than we know. It seems that our ancestors, among whom our language arose, were more deeply privy than we are to the mysteries of life. They knew the things they were talking about and knew how to give them the right names. We have the names, but not the right term. The cause of this is that we lack sensation; for how could one “grasp” something which one cannot even feel?
Hundreds of examples of half-understood words could be given. If we take, e.g., the word “existence.” then there already lies an explanation of the enigma of the world and the key to a whole system of philosophy. “Existence” indicates an “outsideness,” an existence different from absolute being. Through the act of “creation,” things “came into being,” that is, they stepped out of the source of their existence, out of their non-manifested state, and began to exist. Before that, as ideas, they were generally world spirits, then they were brought from this being into “existence.” The word “Create” also has a completely different meaning than is usually thought of, and is not a creation from nothing. Just as one draws water from a well and thoughts from the depths of the or “unconscious,” so too in the creation of a universe the material (albeit invisible and in the spirit) must be present before it can be drawn and come to light. How many use such a word, and how few have discovered its true meaning!
The word “discover” also means something more than “finding out.” “Discovery” is like removing the blanket of ignorance that clouds our minds and veils a truth. A discovery is an “unveiling,” a “revelation.” No one can actually “reveal” a truth to another; all he can do is pull the cover off, and then the truth will reveal itself.
It is similar with the word “decide.” Many cannot make up their minds simply because they do not understand the meaning of this word. “Resolve” is an “unlocking,” whereby the curtain is torn as it were and a new ray of light gains access to the soul. Anyone who has succeeded in making a real decision will generally not find it difficult to carry it out, but a mere “project” or “undertaking” is by no means a decision, although it is often taken for that.
The word “distraction” has a deep but little-recognized metaphysical meaning. Anyone who does not live in concentration, but leads an external, sensuous life, worshiping passions, fantasies, and desires, actually scatters in space those forces which should serve to build up individuality and strengthen character. Persistent distraction leads to “rotting.” A well-known metaphysician says the following about it: “The astral body within us must grow as a different thing from the physical body, with which it is connected cell by cell. This happens only slowly. Annoyance, anger or any other passion breaks the illiterate strength, and the “double” sinks back into its old bonds. The inner vision may have already started to develop, then jealousy, envy, anger come and cover it with a veil. The astral body may have already begun to consolidate, but old sensual habits are reappearing, drawing out the substance it has accumulated. A person who squanders his strength in this way is actually “in rags” in the end.”
Let’s look at the word “imagination.” It is usually confused with fantasy and reverie. In reality it is the power to form images from the substance of our mind through will and thought, to form them into our spiritual sphere, and if we were in full possession of this power we could even by one act, the forms thus formed of the will, and make them externally visible. Today, however, this magical art is hardly in the possession of a few yogis and fakirs of the East; for our thoughts have become vain and shadowy and have little substance. A spirit-infused thought is a living entity. We no longer know what “imagination” is; for our thoughts are powerless and our imagination — one might say “imaginary.”
A similar thing could be said of “will,” which nowadays is commonly confused with “wish,” “desire,” “intention” and the like. True, free, spiritual will can create worlds, but our will is so weak and bound by selfishness that we cannot, by it, control even ourselves, much less anything outside of us. Our will is not free because our knowledge is not perfect. We think we rule and yet we are only ruled by the feelings and ideas which arise in us and influence us.
Our “knowledge” is no better, and that is why the meaning of the word “self-knowledge” is only understood by a few. Self-knowledge is a power which few in our present state of humiliation know. One thinks one has knowledge of a thing when one knows what another has said or written about it. But real knowledge is not in theories or opinions but in Self-knowledge, and no one can have self-knowledge of anything that is not a part of his Selfhood. True Self-knowledge is the result of the union of the knower with the known through the power of knowing. It is therefore not that intellectual knowing which comes from external observation and inference, but the result of the identification of subject and object, which can only be done mentally. True self-knowledge is therefore that which springs from our higher spiritual Self-consciousness. It is the knowledge of reality, before whose light all illusions disappear like shadows in the light of the sun.
These investigations could be “extended” indefinitely; but what has been said suffices to indicate the deeper meaning of words which are often used and not always correctly understood.
Notes:
[1] About the Occult Meaning of Common Words. [Über die occulte Bedeutung allgemein gebräuchlicher Worte. Dr. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Theosophischer Wegweiser 3, no. 8 (May 1901), 223-228] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hütwohl, ©2025}