Translation from the German by Robert Hütwohl[1]

The Light of Absolute Truth, entering the soul by the power of intuition, belongs to a higher and immortal existence, not to what is mortal in man. The reflection of that heavenly light is called “mind.” He endows man with the ability to think, from which his science emerges. Just as everything which comes into man’s possession can be used by him for good or evil, so his mind can lead him to the path of perfection or lower him below the level of the beast. As long as we keep firmly in mind the divine light, wisdom, that light will become our guide and lift us up out of the darkness of ignorance. It is the source of all absolute knowledge, from which all relative knowledge springs forth. But when we alienate ourselves from this source of all good, and use our minds without that higher guidance, our minds are blinded by self-conceit, a will-o’-the-wisp which lures us into the swamps of delusion and kindles the fires of passion to hellish flames.

        The root cause of all personal knowledge is curiosity. Without the desire to “know,” one would make no attempts to observe and think. If the mythical Eve had not been curious to taste the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the first man would never have left his paradisiacal state and would never have climbed the ladder of individual development.—From curiosity springs the desire for its gratification. This is also quite natural, and because their motive is noble and spiritual, the source of their endeavors will be to penetrate the mysteries of nature and explore the wonders of the universe. A proper adherence to scientific knowledge cannot but be edifying; it fills the soul with aspiration and awe of that divine power which called the universe into objective existence.

        But when the spiritual view of nature is forgotten and only “matter” enthroned is to be worshiped as the sublime being, when the divine law of wisdom is disregarded, and blind applause is acknowledged as the ruler, then the devil of self-conceit and the greed for knowledge seeks satisfaction at all costs. Out of this condition arises that class of people who want to be investigators of truth, who have fallen away from God and imagine themselves to be gods, who have lost all sense of spirituality, holiness and sublimity, all religious feeling and are no longer able to discover something spiritual and sacred in nature and his fellow creatures. Their greed for the satisfaction of their scientific curiosity and their personal ambition leads them to desecration of nature and thus also to their own degradation and humiliation.

        Even in physical disciplines, science would make far greater progress if people were to come to recognize the spiritual aspects of all natural forces, and to understand that behind every mechanical force there is an intelligence from which physical force springs. But when we come across beings in whom sentience and self-conscious life are embodied, this ignorance is the cause of endless suffering. Hence the greatest degradation of science is to be found among certain anatomists, physiologists, biologists, and all those who deal with the phenomena of life, and have lost all sense of the sacredness of them. The medical student gives his whole attention exclusively to the physical body and its functions, and ignorant of the fact that this body is but a vehicle (carrier) of the spirit, the dwelling place of the soul, and the temple of the inner, divine man, so he becomes accustomed to dealing with it without any respect or deference, and loses all modesty and shame.

        Having been taught that there is no soul, once he has become accustomed to examining such a “dead person” in his dissection room, he treats the human body in which the vital functions have died out in the most brutal manner, which is in no way different from criminal desecration of corpses, he soon finds pleasure in treating living beings in a similar way. Thus from the development of nature to the pleasure of vivisection is but one step, and only another from the vivisection of animals to the vivisection of human beings; for once the inclination to cruelty is awakened, and the sense of pity and clemency lost, nothing but fear of the law of the land can prevent a person so degraded from committing a crime for the gratification of his desires for knowledge and fame.

        There is no crime, however horrendous, for which some apology cannot be found, and so it is that the abomination of animal vivisection, notwithstanding its apparent futility, is not only condoned but publicly supported under the pretense that something might be discovered which would contribute to the physical well-being of mankind. Any attempt would be in vain to convince those who know nothing of the sanctity of life that even if the claims of the vivisector were true, man has no right to sacrifice the higher principles of life to the lower principles of matter.

        The vivisection of human beings is not yet openly permitted by law, but is beginning to be practiced widely. Residents of poorhouses and hospitals, orphans and prisoners are subjected to “scientific experiments” by having syphilitic and cancer drugs injected into their bodies and subjected to various torments and deaths just for the gratification of scientific curiosity. A doctor of medicine, whose naivety we admire, openly confesses in one of the medical journals that in his hospital children of poor people are used for such experiments “because calves are too expensive.”

        From vivisection to the mania of tormenting and killing for pleasure, the results are again just one step. Perhaps “Jack the Ripper” was just an outgrowth of scientific curiosity, and Giles de Rey, Marshal of France, who over the course of a few years had tortured to death in the most horrific ways several hundred women and children, was no different to begin with than as a “scientist” who wanted to acquire forbidden knowledge at all costs. These are the natural consequences of the thirst for knowledge, which transcends the limits which a true religion draws us, and there is no other way of preventing them than that science be illuminated by the light of religious knowledge and recognize that higher aspect of man which the theosophical teachings show us.

Notes:

[1] Abysses and False Paths of Science [Abgründe und Irrwege der Wissenschaft. Dr. med. Franz Hartmann. Theosophischer Wegweiser 3, no. 10 (July 1901)]. 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.