[Theosophie und Theologie]
Translation from the German by Robert Hütwohl[1]
Theosophy is the soul of theology and without it theology is lifeless and spiritless. Theology is called the science of divine things, Theosophy is the possession of these things. Theology is the teaching which is taken from traditions, Theosophy emerges from inner experience. One consists of theories, the other is based on experience. The former can be taught, this is a gift of the Holy Spirit of self-knowledge. Theology is about man’s union with God; Theosophy emerges from this union or rapprochement. The former is the doctrine of light, the latter light and enlightenment itself. Theology is taught in schools; but Theosophy cannot be taught to anyone by any schoolmaster; its master is wisdom itself, and its method of teaching is by its manifestation in the mind of the student. Theology deals with opinions regarding what is regarded as the Word of God and with its interpretations; Theosophy is this word, the expression of the divine thought in the human soul. Theology is the work of man, Theosophy the revelation of the wisdom of man’s higher Self in his personality.
This does not mean that everyone who calls themselves “Theosophists” or claims to be enlightened by the divine spirit is already completely enlightened; for there are probably only a few of them in the world. One should not mix Theosophy with the theosophical doctrines that do not confuse wisdom with the doctrines that come from the writings of the wise. Theosophy, or knowledge of God, proceeds from the distinction between the eternal and the transitory. It is the beginning and end of all spiritual progress and the ultimate goal of human evolution. One who feels the omnipresence of God within himself may justly be called a “Theosophist,” and even the highest Adept can never go higher than the full realization of God, through becoming one with Deity. Anyone who is aware that he lives in God and God in him is the right Theosophist, even if he is called an atheist; for an atheist is generally understood to be a person who has no idea of the deity and therefore does not want to believe in the existence of a god as people imagine him. In this sense, however, we are all “atheists,” because the deity is superior to all human imagination, and the Bible also says: “You shall not make any image (or idea) of God for yourself.
Theosophy is the spirit of true religion, in it there is no diversity of opinions, beliefs and systems. All the religious systems of the world are built on it; they all deal with the letter of the law; Theosophy is knowledge of the Law and the Law. In order to become a prudent and learned theologian and preacher, it is sufficient to possess ordinary intellect, memory, and oratory talent. Then he can repeat everything he has learned in seminary or from my books and express it in his own way; but if he is not a Theosophist in his heart, i.e., if he lacks the spiritual knowledge of the truth which is hidden in the theological writings, his preaching is without spirit and fails to have an effect on those who hear it. Without the spirit of self-knowledge, even the most dexterous rhetorician is but a comedian. That’s why Goethe says in Faust that a comedian can teach a pastor if the pastor is a comedian. Persuasion does not inspire true enthusiasm; Salvation does not lie in the belief in dogmas, but in the knowledge of the spirit. The dead belief in the reliability of authority is not the living belief which the feeling of truth produces. Emerson says: “It is the business of the true preacher to show us that God is, not that he was; that he is speaking, not that he has spoken. Whenever a formulaic man enters the pulpit, the devotee is deceived and disconsolate. We pull back as soon as the prayers begin, which don’t uplift us but knock us down and hurt. One recognizes the true preacher by the fact that he shares his own life with his congregation, his life as it passed through the fire of his thoughts. . . . Woe to the unfortunate man who is called to stand in the pulpit and has no bread of life to give. . . . .” theologians are the heavy crowd; but how few are the true Theosophists among them. “No human being who is not quite thoughtless can enter any of our churches without feeling that all the influence which public worship once had on the souls of men is gone or is waning. He has lost his power over the love of the good and the fear of the wicked. It seems almost a sign of character and true religiosity when a man stays away from ordinary religious gatherings. . . . . And what greater calamity can befall a nation than the loss of faith? Then everything falls apart. Genius leaves the temple to settle in the market, literature becomes frivolous and science cold. Human society lives only for miserable trifles, and when people die, they are not worth mentioning.”
“The letter kills, the spirit gives life.” The letter belongs to the theologian, when he is spiritless; the spirit belongs to the Theosophist. Theosophy is the life of religion, and as the soul is hidden in the body, so is the truth in the hidden from theological articles of faith and religious symbols and fables, which are apt to stimulate men to their own thinking; for only what man finds for himself and absorbs is his own; explanations may satisfy the understanding, but only what he experiences inwardly himself, enters into his being.
For example, if we take the Passion of Jesus as it is presented in the “New Testament,” then for the unthinking believer it means only the narration of an alleged historical event which is said to have taken place in Palestine almost two thousand years ago, and pilgrims still travel there today to behold the promised “\“Holy Land” which is neither promised nor holy, not realizing that the true Holy Land can only be found within oneself, in calmness of heart and selfless love. For the Theosophist, this passion story is a symbolic representation of his own spiritual rebirth. He knows that the conception of the divine spark of Self-knowledge can only take place in a virginally pure soul, and that out of the heavenly part of his own being the “new man” (Christ) is born. As a result of this birth, which is an awakening of higher knowledge, the enlightened man at “twelve years of age” has a better insight into spiritual things than can be obtained through a lifetime of theological study, and is therefore qualified to discern the “wise and to instruct the great of this world” through parables. He lives in the world but is not of the world, for he and the “Father” are essentially One. Outwardly he dwells in the realm of the sense world, the realm of illusion and darkness, which is like a desert full of errors and where selfishness seeks to seduce; but mindful of his higher origin, he overcomes them. He drives the shopkeepers and hagglers, the evil desires and passions, out of the temple within him and triumphantly enters “Jerusalem,” the sanctuary in his heart. He is mocked and ridiculed by the “Pharisees” and book scholars who dwell in the mortal part of his nature; but trusting in the deity within him, he takes up his cross and, through mystical death, overcomes himself and thus also the world.[2]
Such descriptions relate not merely to events which may have once taken place externally, but they also relate to the workings of general laws of nature; just as the description of the growth of a tree applies to all similar trees. Eternal truth is not the monopoly of any age, nation, or society, and it has never been revealed in this world without being ridiculed, ridiculed, persecuted, abused, and crucified. That is why their friends are also persecuted and slandered; for the outer world is a mirror image of the spiritual, and what takes place inwardly on a large scale takes place outwardly in small things.
The theosophical teachings are not only those handed down by the Sages who have come to true Self-knowledge; but they are taught by wisdom itself inwardly to every man who is receptive to its revelation, and therefore need no further proof. The truth is always Self-evident; the truth needs no support; it rests on itself, and whoever can grasp it owns it. Children are taught by tales, fables, and allegories designed to awaken in them a sense of what is true, good, and beautiful, and which only a fool would believe to be literally true. The child devoutly reads the fairy tale of the enchanted princess who was drugged by an old witch and finally awakened by the king’s son and led to the altar. The wise man says the whole story is a lie and that you shouldn’t put such stuff in the hands of children; but the intelligent person knows that the “princess” means the soul, the “witch” means sensuality, and the “king’s son” means the greatness of knowledge. We are all still in the deep sleep of ignorance of the light of truth and await the king’s son who will wake us up. But this science is of little use. We only understand the deep meaning of the fairy tale when the king’s son reveals his glory in us.
And as with children’s fairy tales, so it is with the stories of the Bible. Nowadays no one believes that Jonas lived in the belly of a fish for three days and the explanation of the meaning of this fable can at most satisfy scientific curiosity. But we will find it ourselves when we reach the light of knowledge from the belly of the “fish” or “dragon.” Each of us is an “Abraham” or “Brahmin” who must part with his animal nature and send his concubine (Hagar) into the desert if he is to wed the ancient wisdom (Rebecca). Each of us has a son, which is our self-generated will, and we must offer up this “son” to God if our will is to become one with the divine. The God of vengeance is within ourselves; he is that Karma which we create daily and hourly. The enemies that threaten us are within ourselves and the battles between the “Israelites” or “sons of God” and the demons of darkness are still taking place in the hearts of men today. For thousands of years scholars have racked their brains to find convincing proof of the existence of God and have not found it, but those who are aware of the presence of God within themselves need no other proof. The mole in the earth may ponder whether there can be a light; but the eagle that spreads its wings in the sunshine has the light.
Long enough has the world been in its infancy, led by certain “authorities” by the leash, but now the spirit of freedom of thought is stirring, and theosophical teachings are breaking ground for it. These teachings are not meant to be accepted blindly; they are meant to be guides for us on the path to Self-knowledge. They have the quality which any earnest seeker, once he has reached the necessary level of evolution from the snares of error and superstition, can convince himself of their truth by examining his own inner life. Nobody wants to deprive little children or the lame of the crutches they need; but he who clings to other people’s opinions cannot think for himself without remaining a herd man and a plaything of foreign schools of thought; because human development into an individual personality only begins with the ability to think for oneself.
Man is a small world and in him all the principles which exist in the big world are present and await their development. By observing external natural phenomena and events, he can learn to judge himself; through the investigation of his inner life, the processes in the soul of the world become clear to him. He himself is the creator of his little world; he is what his thinking and willing has made him; one and the same law rules in him and in the big world. He himself is an invisible spirit, for which a visible body serves as a dwelling place and as a means of expressing his thoughts outwardly, and likewise all of nature with all its manifestations is the expression of ideas, which have their existence in the soul of the world. Forms perish, but the spirit that creates them is immortal, as is the soul of the one who has come to spiritual knowledge.
All divine forces are contained in our physical organism; but we have not yet learned to use them, and even the greatest scholars have no idea of their existence. They are known to “occult science” which emerges from inner experience.
“Occult Science,” which should not be confused with Theosophy, though Theosophy, or knowledge of the unity of God-Spirit in nature, is its basis, differs from “Anthroposophy,” or human intellectual activity and common knowledge, in that, that it is not piecemeal, but captures the whole as a unit. One can be a good physician without knowing law, or a mathematician without studying mineralogy; but in occult science the knowledge of one object of study involves that of the other. The doctrine of reincarnation only becomes clear through knowledge of the doctrine of karma, and this becomes comprehensible through the doctrine of reincarnation, while both require knowledge of the principles from which man and the universe arose. Nor are there different opinions in the knowledge of the truth. The knowledge of one may be higher in degree than that of the other, but it is but one; a great light illuminates a large room, a small one a small one, but the light is the same in both.
What hinders this enlightenment are the prejudices, errors, superstitions, and selfish desires attached to the lower human nature; but Theosophy redeems us from this imagined “self,” and while a spiritless theology seeks to draw heaven down to earth to spy out its mysteries, Theosophy carries the liberated spirit to the stars, “even up to the throne of God.”
Notes
[1] Theosophy and Theology [Theosophie und Theologie. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Neue Lotusblüten 5, no. 1-2 (January-February 1912), 4-16] {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}
[2] See, F. Hartmann: “Jehoshua,” The Prophet of Nazareth.