“Occult Powers!” What ominous words! “Do not desire occult powers !” sounds the warning voice, and the timid investigator shrinks back in fear and swears that he will have nothing more to do with Theosophy, lest he might come in contact with the Powers of Darkness. On the other hand we hear of certain mystics who are said to have made tremendous progress in their development. They are said to be able to rise above the plane of Manas and enjoy themselves in the plane of Buddhi. They float about in the plane of Devachan and behold from there the sights of Kama-loka; they are able to read in the Astral Light the events of the history of a long forgotten past, describe accurately events in which they themselves have played a part in their past incarnations and foretell the future: and the “seeker for truth” immediately joins a Society in which such powers may be conferred upon him in some mysterious way, and such tricks be learned, and he withdraws again after having been disappointed.
It is a fact, however, observable everywhere, that we are surrounded on all sides by the most miraculous things, but they excite no surprise, because we are accustomed to see them. The growth of a tree is a wonderful thing, and the power of Life, that causes it, is entirely occult and unknown to science; but nobody wonders about it. In the same way it is with our internal powers, which we use every day without knowing them intellectually, and which are therefore occult. We use them without questioning their nature and use them without boasting about it, we are perhaps not even aware that they are anything extraordinary and not in everybody’s possession. Everyone whose mind is filled with holy aspirations may raise his soul to heaven and even to God, where all thought ceases and the light of divine wisdom shines. Every intuitive student of history unconsciously exercises the powers of retracing his steps in time, and beholding some of the history of the past; many a writer of historical I novels, without being personally aware of it, describes events in: which the personality which he occupied in a previous incarnation has played a part; every intuitive statesman is clairvoyant enough to a certain extent to foresee future events. Without this occult power of intuition man would be only an animal; perhaps learned and able to calculate and compare; but an animal still. All these occult powers are in everybody’s possession, only they are not developed in everybody alike; they cannot be learned as one may learn to perform a sleight-of-hand trick, but they can be developed and everyone has the power to develop them by practice within himself; just as everyone has within himself the power to walk or swim, which will be of no service to him, if he does not exercise it.
All of these powers are hidden, or “occult,” because they belong to the “interior man,” that is to say, to the spiritual individuality of man, hidden behind his mortal personality; because only that which is eternal in man can grasp infinity; only that which is divine in him can penetrate to the godhead; only that which in him is beyond time can search the past and the future; only that in him which has lived before can remember its past incarnations. The low cannot control the high, the lower nature cannot make the higher nature grow; the external man has no power over the internal god and his godlike powers, it can only prevent the action of these powers, but not create them, and the true way to develop them is therefore to let these higher powers become manifest in the personality and to do away with all that prevents their manifestation in us. In this way the personality becomes penetrated by the powers of the inner man and itself partakes of these powers, in proportion as it becomes purified of its lower tendencies and identified with the true Self.
All these powers act from an interior centre towards the periphery; they radiate from the interior outwardly and seek for expression; the personality will only be penetrated by the divine power within, by giving expression to that power and creating its demand. Obedience to its dictates opens the channels through which those powers flow; disobedience obstructs these currents. Thus for instance, a love which never finds its expression in acts, will be like a hidden fire, producing no light and for want of air consuming itself. Love cannot remain isolated, without turning upon itself and becoming self-love and selfishness, which is love perverted. If it is to grow, it must have room for expansion, and freely flow through its channels, which are opened by deeds of kindness and love. It is the nature of love to seek for expression in acts and to communicate itself; only in this way it becomes manifest. It is not a sentimental play of the heart, that affords us amusement; but a power whose exercise requires great will and energy, self-control and self-sacrifice; because real love is a spiritual power which comes from the centre and goes to the centre; it makes no distinction between friends and enemies, it goes to that which is spiritual in every man and above likes and dislikes; it is a holy art, which teaches how to distinguish in everybody between the kernel and the shell and to separate the spirit from the form, the essence from its accidental surroundings, the enduring from the changeable, the immortal from that which passes away. That love is cheap and hypocritical which produces only fine talk and unctuous sermons; while it refuses to act when it can; not in mere words, but in actions does real love become manifest, and this is the reason why this power remains for many forever occult, because their own selfishness prevents its manifestation, and even if they feel its presence in their hearts, they cannot really know it, nor realize it, nor derive any satisfaction from it, if it does not become manifest to them in their acts. But if we exercise it in our acts, first towards those who are nearest to us, afterwards to who are more distant, the sphere of its influence will grow from day to day, until it embraces the whole of humanity, the whole of creation and finally even God in his infinity; while from that infinite love arises divine wisdom and with this the knowledge of all the divine powers of God.
Verily love is an occult power, known only to few and no one need be afraid to attain it. It is the power that conquers the world. Real love is strong enough not to be afraid to encounter hate, knowing that even hate is love in disguise. Hate opposes love for the purpose of proving love’s strength; love stands in opposition to hate for the purpose of giving instruction; everything is an outcome of divine wisdom, everything has its uses if rightly applied; everything can teach a lesson and in doing so it is performing an act of love. A love which cannot exist unless it is returned by its object, is not free and independent, it is the creation of that object and thus an external illusion. Free love is perfect in itself and asks for no favors, it is like a queen, giving away kingdoms and having nothing to desire but that her gifts be accepted. He who loves, lives in the light and is happy; he who hates wanders in darkness and renders himself miserable, and who could have more need of our love and sympathy and help than those who are miserable and unfortunate? “Let my enemy hate me, I shall love him; let him persecute me, I shall bless him; let him ruin me, if he succeeds it was the will of God, the effect of my Karma, which had to be fulfilled, and thus it will be for the best.” This is an occult law, but difficult to carry out.
All divine powers proceed from their divine source and return to it; but they will be of no use to us, if we do not make any use of them. Only that which is taken up by our own natures becomes a part of ourselves. This is accomplished by bringing our nature into harmony with these higher powers; which is like raising lower vibrations to a higher scale, attuning the mind to the harmonics of the universe, letting the consciousness expand beyond the narrow limits drawn by selfish desires. What renders the soul heavy as lead and prevents the spirit from rising is the delusion of self with its companions, mental inertia, self-conceit, indolence, sensuality, pride, self-righteousness, contrariness, whim, hypocrisy, envy, ambition, avarice, calumny, lie, gossip, wrathfulness, melancholy, greed, cruelty, malevolence. The only power which destroys these shadows is the light of love, and if anyone claims to be in possession of great occult powers and at the same time acts contrary to the law of love, we may have a right to suspect that his powers exist more in his imagination than in reality.
Each human being is fundamentally an expression of divine love and ought to serve in his turn as an instrument for its expression. Love is the omnipotent spirit, which makes of us living works of divine art and at the same time artists, capable of reproducing the divine image within ourselves and letting it become manifest to the world. Let not a ray of this divine power be lost, but begin to work and work incessantly; the beginning of all things is action.
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[1] Occult Powers. Franz Hartmann, M.D. The Theosophical Forum 5, no. 11 (March 1900), 213-216. {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos, by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}