Note[1]
His figure was youthful and strong, his face expressed knowledge and happiness, his eyes seemed to penetrate into the innermost depths of my soul. I had suffered all day from a severe neuralgic pain in my face, he touched the place with his. finger and the pain was gone, and did not return either the next day or afterwards. I expressed my surprise to see him so much changed from what he appeared in his physical body, and he said: “The form which you see now represents my inner self; that which you saw yesterday and which you will see tomorrow, is only an illusion. Material forms grow old in corruption; the spirit grows old m wisdom.” Of the conversation that followed I will give the salient points as far as I can remember them. They treat of great mysteries, but there is no necessity to keep them secret, because only those who are wise will understand them. The sceptic who possesses not the inner light that shines into the heart, will not recognize the truths which they contain.
What is God?—“God is the purest light, life and consciousness, radiating from itself; the cause of all power, sending continually its own active forces into its own productions and raising them into higher states of existence, and thus forming a living chain, in which everything is strength, life and power.
How can we know God?—“By becoming the recipients of his wisdom.”
How can we accomplish this?—“We can accomplish nothing, because we have no powers of our own; but God may accomplish it through our instrumentality, if we become free of our own will and of the bonds of self and are prepared to obey and to fulfil the will of God.”
Where can we find God?—“In the centre of our own heart.”
Then God is not everywhere?—“God is everywhere present, but he is not everywhere equally manifest. A superior power requires a superior form for its manifestation.”
What is the origin of God?—“The first cause of all causes can have no other cause but itself, it is self-existent, eternal and not limited by relative time and space.”
Why is God represented as a trinity in all religious systems?— “Because a circle or sphere cannot exist without a centre, a radius and a periphery, but the centre may, be incomprehensible, the radius infinite and the periphery without any conceivable limits.”
What is the origin of evil?—“The origin of good is beyond our conception of time; the origin of evil is within time. The potency of evil existed from eternity, but evil itself was caused by a deviation from good. Evil is therefore not a cause but only an effect.”
Which is the true religion?—“The one which supplies the knowledge of self.”
Can man obtain self-knowledge by intellectual labour alone?— “The brain is in the cupola of the temple, but the seat of life is in the inner sanctuary in the heart. Man thinks through the brain and feels through the heart. The one is the necessary complement of the other.”
What is the object of man’s life?—To free himself of everything that does not essentially belong to his being, so that his soul may be filled with the light of wisdom that comes from God.”
What is the final object of man’s existence?—“The attainment of the highest possible happiness by the attainment of the highest Good.”
How can the highest Good be attained?—“By the attraction of love for the good.”
How can we obtain a love for the good?—“By a knowledge of evil, which will cause us to flee from evil and to seek refuge in good. If the soul is penetrated by a love for the good, the inner senses of man will be opened and he will know the truth.”
What do you mean by “inner senses”? “I mean a spiritual power of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting; a power of direct perception of which the vulgar have no conception and the learned do not even know the existence, unless they can experience it through the purity of their own hearts. Such a perception is not ordinary clairvoyance, which is a faculty that may lead into error as much as physical sight, but it is a recognition of the truth through becoming one with the truth.”
Is it possible that by this spiritual perception a man may obtain knowledge of exterior things, such as cannot be found in the ordinary way?—“Certainly. He who assimilates his soul with the harmony of the universe, will see everything in the universe as if it were existing in himself.”
Why do our modern scientists not possess this power?—“Because they cling to illusions, they mistake effects for causes, creation for the creative power, the external appearance for the internal truth. The fundaments of modern science rest upon a superstitious belief that things are actually what they appear to be. Science deals with, opinions, wisdom is the knowledge of the truth. Science is attained through the senses and from the exterior; wisdom is attained in the interior and comes from God.”
Do you mean to say that the truth is too high for the scientists?—“No; the truth is not too high for the scientists, but the scientists are usually too high for the truth. The truth is too simple for those who love that which is complicated. They love to revel in systems that are the creations of their own phantasy, and they desire nothing but that which can be fitted into their systems.”
Who are the true Adepts?—“Those who have no other desire but to love the divinity in humanity and who possess the true knowledge of all.
Who are the false Adepts?—“Those who attempt to mystify the people, who denounce the religious sentiment of man, boast of their own knowledge, quarrel about opinions and are opposed to marriage. The true adept knows that he has no life, no strength and power of his own, but that it is the power of God in himself that accomplishes everything through him. The false adept seeks for the source of power in his own self; he seeks the cause of phenomena, in places where such causes do not exist; he is like a man who examines a lamp-post to find out how the gas is prepared. The true adept knows the real and attributes little importance to the phenomenal. He does not quarrel about opinions nor fight for the truth, but he knows and teaches the truth; he recognizes the sacredness of the marriage tie, and knows the divine power that is generated by true union of the souls of man and woman; he does not boast of his attainments nor pretend to be in the possession of secrets which are not accessible to others, but he is opposed to darkness, frank, open and willing to assist all who desire, to come out of the shadow into the light.”
Hartmann, M. D.
Note:
[1] An Interview With a German. F. Hartmann, M.D. The Theosophist 7, no. 80 (May 1886), 534-536. {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than minor typos, by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}