[Die Symbolik des Altertums und die okkulte Mathematik.]

Translation from the German by Robert Hütwohl

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An attempt at an explanation of the mystical meaning of certain Christian symbols from the standpoint of the Indian Secret Doctrine.

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Occult science differs from everyday petty knowledge especially in that it deals with conscious intelligent forces, while ordinary science knows only mechanical forces. In the former, life itself is the whole and everything else are only manifestations or manifestations of this One Life in the universe; but small and short-sighted science sees nothing but a multiplicity of forms in which being alive is an inexplicable factor. In the same way, in ordinary mathematics, too, one is only a limited number, like the others; in occult mathematics, on the other hand, unity is an inexhaustible source from which everything springs, and through which everything grows and multiplies; Unity is the Creator, Sustainer and Provider of all, Unity is God.

 The Secret Doctrine, the main features of which were presented in the first volume of the “Lotusblüten,” is not a human invention, not a play of the imagination and not mere philosophical speculation; but it sprang from the vision of the Sages many thousands of years ago, who had attained the ability to discern the deeper mysteries of nature with the spiritual eye, just as we are able to see an external object with the physical eye, and not ourselves to put together an idea of ​​it artificially, but to recognize by looking at what it is showing. The results of the considerations of the Theosophists, be they “Christian” or “pagan,” therefore all agree insofar as these Sages reached the same depth of perception and height of understanding, while the results of the investigations by our modern philosophers, where their consideration is only in the individual perception of their own fantasies and ideas obtained through reasoning, are widely divergent, different from one another and often downright opposed to one another. It is therefore not surprising if we find under the Christian symbols the basic features of the same secret science which was already known to the ancient sages of the East, for even among the Christians there were Sages who were capable of a higher spiritual perception, and in fact, true Christianity, which is well to be distinguished from modern churchdom, rests in the knowledge of one’s own divine infinite Self and its Mysteries, which are represented throughout nature by living symbols. However, the correctness of the knowledge gained through direct observation can be demonstrated by means of occult mathematics, just as the effect and size of mechanical forces in a machine can be calculated by means of ordinary mathematics.

 In order to make this clear by an example, let us examine any one of the many Christian symbolic representations which are to be found in Christian churches or buildings, and select a bas-relief for this purpose, which is appropriate as the centerpiece on the ceiling of a room in the k. u.k. Government archive in Salzburg [Salzburg State Archives]. Should any reader discover an error in our calculation, this proves nothing more than that one can make mistakes of this kind of calculation, but not that the occult mathematics itself is wrong.

 The picture, a copy of which is attached, represents the spiritual evolution of the universe as set forth in the Secret Doctrine as communicated to us by H. P. Blavatsky.

 It will be clear to every Christian even from a superficial examination of the image, and without further reference to chapter and verse of this or that “authority,” that it represents the revelation of the Deity in its own light, surrounded by its glory with spiritual intelligences (cherubims, seraphim and angels), who, the more distant they stand from the divine center, the more clothed, i.e. appear materially, while those closest to the deity appear naked, i.e. are unclothed by matter and formless.