[Die Vorausbestimmung des Geschlechts bei der Erzeugung
Vom Standpunkte der occulten Wissenschaft aus betrachtet.]
Translation from the German by Robert Hütwohl[1]
Contemporary stupidity always finds far more admirers than a truth which the masses are not mature enough to understand. The desire to procure male or female offspring at will has brought the most adventurous plans to light, and in every century there have always been proposals aimed at this, which sometimes lack genius, but always focus on the main thing, namely, a lack of knowledge of the laws of nature on which procreation is based.
The fact that certain reproductive organs exist in pairs has led some scholars to believe that one half is intended for the production of males and the other half for the production of females, and mutilations (ovariotomy, etc.) have therefore been subjected to, which, as foreseeable, led to nothing. Others again believed that the key to the discovery of the secret was to be found in the time of conception, in the difference in age of the progenitors, in their strength ratios and the like, and not the least folly of this kind was the idea that the question could be solved by regulating the nutrition can do.
All these suggestions are based not only on a complete ignorance of the laws which determine sex, but on a completely wrong view. It is ignorance if one only considers material circumstances and completely ignores the workings of the spirit, which underlie all outer appearances. But the wrong thing to do is to regard life in its various forms as a product of matter, instead of recognizing all forms as products of life. The determination of the sex is not conditioned by material conditions, but by the qualities of the spirit which creates life and form in matter. The questions towards the solution of which the scholars from the standpoint of materialism rack their heads have long since been solved by occult science, and the circumstances governing the determination of sex are to be found in the works of Theophrastus Paracelsus and described by other mystics. According to these teachings, all creation of form, not only the begetting of children but even the creation of worlds, rests upon the power of will and imagination, or as Paracelsus calls it, the formative power of the imagination, which can work both consciously and unconsciously, and with this all eminent philosophers agree.
However, before we discuss this point any further, it will be good to focus our attention on what actually happens during human procreation. Certainly no new spiritual being is created, but only a human form is created in which an already existing spirit takes up its dwelling. But in order to understand this, knowledge of the doctrine of the “reincarnation” or re-embodiment of the human individuality is necessary, and understanding this again requires knowledge of the mental and spiritual constitution. It would take us too far afield to go into detail about these teachings, and they have also been explained earlier in this monthly journal, so that a brief overview of the processes involved will suffice for our considerations.
If we consider first the dissolution of human nature, its renewal will be all the easier to understand. In our present life, spirit, soul, i.e., the individual ego, mind or character (in which either the masculine or feminine principle may predominate), astral body and physical body are combined into one. At death the physical body falls away. Then the soul is clothed with the astral body (Kāma-rūpa). But this also disappears at the time of the second death, and its elements remain on the astral plane. The soul now enters the suitable world (Devachan) with its thought body (Māyāvi-rūpa) and dwells there until its time there is over and the instinctive desire for a new personal existence then stirs in it again on the way to reincarnation. Thereupon it sinks down to material existence, takes in this way the “clothes” left behind in the astral world, i.e., the talents, inclinations, desires, etc., belonging to its human nature and acquired during the previous life, and incarnates in a body whose conditions of existence correspond according to their karma.
For all this, one who possesses the gift of spiritual vision needs no further proof. But even for those who do not possess this gift, everyday observation offers ample evidence of the truth of this teaching. No one can bring into the world a talent, a vice, etc., unless he already possessed it. Consequently, he must have acquired it beforehand and existed beforehand. There is no lack of examples of so-called child prodigies who brought into the world the most amazing talents, and of others with innate vices developed from an early age. There are born saints in families which are not holy at all, and born criminals and devils in families who are honest and decent. The qualities, tendencies, etc., inherent in the human soul and acquired in a previous life, are called “skandhas” in Buddhist philosophy and “flesh” in the Christian Bible. In reincarnation there is a “reunion of the skandhas,” or in other words, a “resurrection of the flesh.” From all this it is evident that procreation cannot take place at all unless there is a soul aspiring towards reincarnation, and this is one of the causes of infertility, which today’s medical “science” does not know; because even though millions of souls are constantly striving for reincarnation, the law of karma decides here, and there is not always the right soil for every seed.
Furthermore, it is clear that the incarnating soul has a definite male or female character. The fact that there are so many male-females and effeminate males, Uranians and Tribaden [non-penetrative sexual practice], indicates that under normal circumstances she is not able to exert any influence on the sex of the child.
Not the creation of the soul, but the production of the form in which the soul is to incarnate is the concern of the parents, and it is easy to see that if the parents were fully aware of the powers within them and could control and direct them, it would also have to be in their power to produce male or female children at will. But now we have reached a point of view in human evolution where we have little knowledge of the forces within us and little mastery over them, but rather are governed by the forces at work within us. Our will is not free but is guided by our desires, and our ideas or thoughts depend less on our will than on the impressions we receive. But these two forces, will and imagination, are the forces underlying all formation of form and consequently also of procreation and formation of the sex. Will gives substance and thought gives form. But if the will is to have a powerful effect, it must come from the heart and not be a product of the imagination.
This brings us back to the teachings of Theophrastus Paracelsus, which, however, will probably only be fully understood by those who can form a sufficient idea of the power of will and thought, which is still so little known. Actual procreation is a mental process. The physiological part of it only supplies the material for embodiment. When a man is so completely filled with love for a woman that he becomes absorbed in her and wants and thinks of nothing but the female ideal which fulfills him, then it can be foreseen that the result of procreation will be a child of the female sex. On the other hand, when the woman’s love and imagination are stronger, the result is reversed. For this reason, in oriental countries it is always taken into account that a woman gives birth to male children as a proof of her excellent love.
We find a scientific explanation for this in Indian philosophy. According to the explanations of the sage Śankarāchārya, who lived more than 2000 years ago, the substance of the mind (chitta) takes those forms which the imagination creates in it. Thus the image of man created in the mind of the woman wrestles with the image of the woman created in the mind of the man, and all that matters is which of the two images (which Paracelsus calls “seeds”) is the stronger.
However, Paracelsus’s theory is also confirmed by all the facts that have become known so far and has been used in England and America for cattle breeding for many years. It is well known that after great wars in which many men perish, the number of male births increases significantly. It can perhaps be assumed that the law of recarnation plays a part in this, but it is even more probable that the male ideal stands higher than the female due to the generally felt need for male beings. and that this affects procreation in general.
Note
[1] Predetermination of the Sex at Generation. Considered from the point of view of occult science. [Die Vorausbestimmung des Geschlechts bei der Erzeugung Vom Standpunkte der occulten Wissenschaft aus betrachtet. Dr. Franz Hartmann. Theosophischer Wegweiser 3, no. 5 (February 1901), 133-137] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hütwohl, ©2024}