[Gedankenformen und Metamorphosen der Persönlichkeit]
Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl[1]
“I’ll tell you the humble truth,
When man, the little world of fools,
Ordinarily thinks of itself as a whole.”
(Goethe, “Faust.”)
When Gautama Buddha was once asked how long the life of a personality is, he replied, “Just a moment.” In fact, the human organism is different at every moment. By means of blood circulation, metabolism, respiration and cell formation, its components are subject to constant change; the forms of his consciousness are constantly changing according to the impressions he receives from outside through his sense organs. As his sensations and perceptions change, so does his brain activity; one thought chases the other. His opinions change, and no one is the same person his age as he was when he was a child. Character traits change; only one thing remains unchangeable, namely the individuality, the “I,” and this is something very different from personality and above all conception; for it belongs to the realm of the formless, which the intellect cannot comprehend or comprehend. If a man mistakes his personality for his true “I,” he is mistaken; for this personality is only a temporary appearance, comparable to the image conjured up on a wall by the light concealed in a “magic lantern” and disappearing again when the light is removed. The personality is an embodied (materialized) thought-form brought forth by the magical power of the “Word” (Logos) which is the source of life, light and attraction (love) in all things.
In the Brihadāranyakopanishad [Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad] of the Indians it is written: “The Word was Brahman,” and the Bible teaches: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things are made by the Word, and without that, nothing that is made.” But the Word is the thought of God revealed through the divine will, and if everything is made out of the Word, then our real Ego can be nothing else other than an expressed thought of God and basically God himself.
In our personalities, like all other beings, we are thought forms that the world-spirit, working in nature, has produced.
If we examine ourselves carefully, we find that everything in our body, in our feelings and in our thinking is in constant motion; but behind all this is a form of consciousness in which there is perpetual stillness, untouched by anything that concerns our bodies, moods, desires and passions, or intellectual activity. From the standpoint of this “I” [higher Ego] we can look down on our personality and judge it, respect it or despise it, know whether it knows or not this or that, etc. Without this higher nature there would be no knowledge or mastery of the lower self. The lower self, the personality, dreads death; but the true Self, when it has come to man’s consciousness, gives him the consciousness of his immortality. The real I is in its inmost being the Word and both God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.[2] The personalities are appearances arising from its revelation in nature.
God is the indivisible eternal unity in all. It is not correct to say that he is “the supreme”; for there is no other deity without him, and nothing to compare to him. Even the “gods” or god-like beings are only appearances and nothing without him; for he is all in all; his “is the power, the might, and the glory.” He is the highest wisdom in the wise, eternal life in the immortals, all-encompassing love, etc., and because everything comes from the great unity, everything also belongs to it, and the personality of man has no property at all, but what it possesses, is only on loan to him and will return with everything that composes him to the source from which it came. The matter of which we are formed belongs to the realm of matter, the air we breathe is our property no longer than it is breathed by us; Forces of nature are temporarily personified in us, but they disappear again, we have only borrowed them; even our thoughts are only our own so long as we hold and harbor them; they are like birds of which one does not know where they come from or where they are flying to; we could not perceive, collect, analyze and compose ideas if they did not already exist in the thought sky (astral light). What we call “matter” are vibrations of the world ether (akāśa) that have condensed; but there are innumerable modes of vibration of this ether, and varying degrees of density, and thus thought-forms of various kinds, visible and invisible to our bodily eyes. We ourselves are such thought-images and are composed of thought-images (ideas).
Every number is based on the immutable unit. The whole universe (the macrocosm) represents a sum of numbers or units, all of which have emanated from the great unity, the source of all life. Man, viewed as a microcosm, may represent a unity, a whole, but is only a part of the macrocosm and as such is a small world with many inhabitants, each of whom is a unit within the unit, an individuality or “personality” as it were. Each of the millions of cells and blood corpuscles has its individual existence. Each of its internal and external organs, lungs, liver, heart, eyes, ears, etc., has its own individual existence, organization, properties, activity and purpose, but apart from the life of the whole there is no life of its own. Each of these units is a product of will and imagination; each represents a thought-form in the great world-spirit, each has a consciousness specifically allotted to it, beginning with the mineral whose life is expressed in gravitation, cohesion, chemical affinity and the like, up to that of the highest human intelligence. The consciousness which underlies all things is one, but its manifestations vary according to the nature of the things in which it manifests itself.
But not only is every visible thing determined by a distance, a unity within unity, but the same is also true of every conception, thought and memory that is preserved in the memory of man or in the memory of the macrocosm, and is the case in the “astral light.” Every idea we have of an object evokes in the “astral” [etheric body or liṅga-śarīra] a form corresponding to it, and the curious thing about it is that this form is not a two-dimensional mirror image, but rather a “double” of its material model. Let’s imagine, for example, if we vividly imagine the form of a cat, we thereby produce in the astral the image of a cat with its complete organism, even if we are not acquainted with its anatomy, and the duration of the existence of such a form and its perfection depends on the intensity of our thoughts and the power of will with which we hold onto and enliven this idea. Knowledge of this law explains many “miracles” of suggestion and black magic. When I think vividly of a person and form an image of him, I create an image of him in my aura, and by holding that image in my memory and identifying with it, it is given life, as it were, by my will and vitality, and if I have the necessary mediumistic organization for it, it can even come out of me, more or less “materialize” and appear visible to me or even to others who are nearby. When it is said of a lover that he bears in his heart the image of his beloved, or of a mystic that he has found the Master, these claims are not to be taken as poetic phrases, but there is a scientific fact behind them; for the ideal of the beloved is realized in the lover, and that of the Master within the believer. Such living ideal creations live on after man has left his mortal body and are his companions in the “beyond,” whether on the astral plane or in the celestial world (Devachan).
A passage from the letter of an adept, which has already often been quoted, gives us the explanation. It says:
“Every thought that has come to maturity combines with influences from a higher world that correspond to its nature to form an individual, independent being of shorter or longer lifespan, depending on the intensity of the will that created it. Thus, during his life, man continually populates the spiritual sphere that surrounds him with his own creations and creates a small world in which to live. The ignorant man creates these inhabitants of his world without being conscious of it; the sage with awareness.”
An old proverb says: “As it is above, so it is below, and every thing on earth has its model in a higher world. Both are connected, so that when the lower stirs, the upper stirs against it.”[3] Without the world of the ideal there would be no material realization of that higher world.
Thus the human being is a microcosm also in a spiritual respect, i.e., an ever-changing world in miniature; a world with many inhabitants, a multitude of personalities in one personality, a sum of units in the unity of the composite whole. Man’s true, spotless, pure “I,” the Deity, has no human, personal qualities; it is in itself neither “good” nor “evil”; it is neither learned nor unlearned; but in the world that man has made for himself there are every possible germ of good as well as evil. A well-known poet and philosopher says of himself that there is no crime that he is unable to commit under certain circumstances. If he did not have the ability to do everything, he would not be a materially perfect human being. All abilities are contained in the human being as he emerges from nature, and as he develops this or that faculty in himself, personalities of the most varied kinds are born in him and grow within him. In this way he can educate himself to be a wise man or a fool, an artist, a scholar, a businessman, a craftsman, etc., and still remain a human being. But if he fully identifies with the being he has created within himself, then he is what he has created, be it a saint or a devil.
Of these “personalities,” now one, now that, comes to the fore, depending on how busy the person is. For example, an actor may, during the game, be fully identified with the role he is playing and feel himself to be “Hamlet” or “Shylock”; but when the game is over, he’s a “different person” again.
Psychometric studies and the experiences of clairvoyants indicate that everything which occurs in the “astral light,” the memory chamber of the world, creates a lasting impression and persists in memory, such as, for example, a clairvoyant can read the past of a person, even that of our planet, in this “book of life.” Everything that a person has experienced is also recorded in a person’s field of memory; even if only a few of these memories come to his consciousness. He can, for example, put his memory back into his youth and live through it again, or the images from his youth appear involuntarily in him and he finds himself in them.
Recently, various “inexplicable” phenomena have amazed the scholarly world, since it has been found that there are people in whom two and even more different personalities are revealed. There is, for example, a person who at certain times no longer knows who they are but thinks they have been transported back to their childhood; she speaks and writes as she did as a child, and speaks of her long-dead mother as if she were alive and playing with her. Then she is another person altogether, who knows nothing of the former, does not know her, or if she does, speaks of her with contempt or scoffs at her. Phenomena of this kind have now been discussed in a wide variety of journals, and a wide variety of theories have been put forward about them. Nevertheless, the matter seems most simple when viewed as the thought-forms or false “I’s” which have arisen in man over the years and each of which constitutes a personality in its own right with its own character and memories, but it cannot be overlooked that a weak-willed person can also be possessed by other beings, by thought-forms of the living or even of the dead; for the “personalities” that a man created during his life are like the masks he wore, and they continue to exist after his death. They hang in the cloakroom, so to speak, and someone else takes them out again.
That the thought-images which exist in a man’s memory can, under certain circumstances, be seen objectively, or photographed, is a fairly well-known fact, and our accompanying illustrations are genuine copies of such “ghost-photographs,” which have precedence over many others.[4] However, the fact that “ghosts” can materialize and that thought forms can be photographed is not surprising when one realizes that everything we call “matter” consists essentially of vibrations of a spiritual substance, the invisible ether, which is transmitted through compaction and have become visible. As Shakespeare says, we ourselves are made of the stuff that dreams (thought-forms) are made of, and when we identify with a thought-form, we are that form ourselves and as such can also have an effect at a distance by using our immerse consciousness in it and move it to where thought resides.
“Ghost Photography.”
Direct recording of thought forms generated in the astral light.[5]
“Ghost Photography.”
It appears that certain influences were attracted to the picture hung on the wall, which generated corresponding thought-forms depicted in the photograph.
Man is what he wills and thinks, provided that will and thought are one in him. His consciousness changes according to the state he is in. A drunk does not have the same consciousness as he had when he was sober; a person of tranquility enters another state of consciousness when angry or when some other passion robs him of his sanity. Also, each state of consciousness has its own forms of perception and memory. The world appears different to us according to the mood of mind we are in, and long-forgotten actions reappear in memory when we put ourselves back into the mood in which we performed them. A servant sent with a valuable package got drunk and delivered it to the wrong address. When he sobered up, he couldn’t remember where he had taken it. All inquiries were in vain. Finally the means of getting him drunk again was devised, and in that state he knew where the package was and fetched it back. With every change in the vibrations of the mind, with every change in the type of consciousness, one becomes “a different person.” Such metamorphoses of personality are particularly striking in states of trance, somnambulism, insanity, and possession.
Cases are also known in which a person suddenly lost all memory of his previous life and suddenly became a different personality and lived as such for months until his former consciousness with his memories reappeared in him. From several such reports we mention the following:
“A man named John Clark left his home in a small town in California, a few days before Easter, for Los Angeles. He also remembers arriving there, but does not know what happened afterwards. He awoke one morning under a tree in an Australian forest, and was very surprised to see around him all sorts of plant forms unknown to him. He also noticed that his hands were hard and rough, although he did not recall ever doing any rough handwork. A drover who passed by soon after was amazed when the American asked him the nearest way to Los Angeles and told him the name of the nearest town was Hill End and they were in Australia. The man with no memory then asked the date of the day and was told it was the end of October and the country of New South Wales. The American now made his way to Sydney, several hundred miles away, and is now working there to earn the money to return to California. What he did in the six months from April to October is completely unknown to him. According to later reports, it seems established that from July to the end of October he ran a carpentry business in Hill End under the name of Thomas Brown, that he was well respected and not seen to be abnormal, but that he suddenly disappeared at the end of October.”
In the well-known story by [Robert Louis] Stevenson, “Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde” describes a blatant case of apparent personality dichotomy. One of these two persons is a kind, honest and universally respected person; the other a malicious villain. Little by little, the villain’s personality takes over and Dr. Jekyl becomes a victim of Mr. Hyde, who he created.
In the medical journal “Lancet,” published in London, there is described the case of a girl of twelve who was the playground of at least ten entirely different personalities. In each of these states, she appeared as an entirely different being. Such things are quite well known. Cases of personality metamorphosis and possession are very common in séances. Rarer are cases where two people exchange their personalities; but there are also such listed.
Man’s microcosm has many inhabitants who are the representatives of his thoughts and feelings. Every passion restrained strengthens such a being; for every power grows by the resistance it encounters. In the older accounts of the Temptation of St. Anthony we always find him surrounded by a multitude of objectively emerged thought-forms, half-human, half-animal figures.
Even during disease states, these forms often appear objectively. Dr. A. W. . . writes:
“When I was prone to pneumonia, for several days it seemed to me as if at least half a dozen people were lying in bed with me, and I found the matter all the more disagreeable as each of them seemed to sympathize with my pain. I cannot content myself with the popular explanation that these figures were phantoms created by the fever. A fever can destroy something, but create nothing. The fever brought them out; but where did they come from? To a certain extent they are products of thinking, qualities that emanate from the patient and form objective phenomena. They are, as it were, personified parts of himself and each intimately related to the other.”
Every thought that a man thinks has an individual existence and its essence corresponds to that of its creator; each part bears the mark of the organism from which it springs. When we vividly recall an event from the past, the picture of the event comes before our eyes in all its details, and we see ourselves in the role we played in it. Such dream images can also become sufficiently condensed to be perceived by other people in the dream or even in the waking state. This will also be the explanation of some haunted and ghost stories; especially those involving a crime or act which has left an unusually strong emotional impression. Let’s take, for example, suppose the deceased, a criminal, is still bound to the earth as a “spirit.” The memory of his deed emerges in his soul; his thought is directed to the scene of the crime. In this way he creates a thought image in the same place, which under certain circumstances can become visible, and to the extent that he identifies with this thought image, this appearance is himself. As a rule, such phenomena are capable of no other thought than that which created them. You have only one thought and mind for nothing else. If their wish is fulfilled, they disappear; for with the fulfillment of the wish, the cause of its existence is at an end. As an example of this kind, let us take the legend of the appearance of the “white lady” in the royal palace in Berlin. The narration is as follows:
“A long time ago, a young, widowed countess lived at Orlamünde Castle with two little boys, whose guardian was the young burgrave [governor or hereditary ruler] Friedrich von Hohenzollern. He sometimes came to see his wards, and the Countess’ love turned to him. He too fell in love with her and would gladly have taken her as his wife; but knowing that his parents were against this union, he kept silent and wanted to wait until they changed their minds.
“Then one day the Countess heard from a monk, who was her confessor, that the young Count had said that the Countess Orlamünde was the most beautiful flower in German meadows; but until four eyes were closed he could not braid them into his crown. By that he meant his parents; but the Countess applied this speech to her two children. Then Satan entered her heart so that she secretly strangled them. But she wept for them publicly and buried them with pomp.
“In the meantime, the matter had become known and was brought before a secret court, which cut a splinter out of the Orlamünde castle gate while it was still night and ostracized the countess. Count Friedrich, however, was the juryman of the court and was entrusted with the execution of the sentence, which called for death. He alone among the judges might guess the cause of the crime and should now sacrifice the one who had loved him more than her own children. But he was a man and a dutiful judge. The Countess fell from his hand. As a restless shadow, she now roams the homes of those who come from the beloved killer, heralding ominous circumstances.”
It is not our intention at this point to discuss the question of whether such phenomena exist or whether such tales are only old wives’ tales. For those who are acquainted with the relevant laws of nature, this question will answer itself, and the unbeliever may think what he likes about it. The first explanation is that the passionate love of the countess for the knight gave rise to a thought form which now watches over the well-being of her lover’s descendants as an independent being and tries to warn them of imminent disaster. Every good thought, animated by our will to help, that we send to a man comes to him as a beneficent angel; every hateful thought approaches him as a malicious devil, and upon this rests healing at a distance, as well as some abominations of “black magic.” Every thought has its special character and its corresponding form. When I think of a distant person, that thought is a part of me that belongs to me and is inseparable from me, like a ray of light that emanates from a flame but is not the flame. Such a thought is an image of the one who sends it and can be perceived as an apparition by the one who receives it. But the phenomenon is not the sender himself, just as little as a ray of sunshine, which reflects the image of the sun in the pond, is the sun itself.
But what is the use of all such investigations, narrations of spooky tales, etc.? Its purpose is to help us to discern the true from the false, the realm of ever-changing appearances from the enduring true nature of things, and thus pave the way to the knowledge of our true immortal self, which is the supreme purpose of human existence existence on earth is. Such investigations serve to lead us to see that the little world of which our personality is composed is peopled by innumerable little imaginary “blazes,” and that it is of the utmost importance for every human being to be aware of this multitude of self-created and transitory peculiarities and to strive to find his true self, the master of his microcosm, the redeemer within himself. But this can only happen if man awakens to his true self-awareness; for a man without this self-confidence, no matter how pious or erudite he may be, is nothing more than a passing dream image in the great universe, which the Indian calls “Māyā,” an apparition in the flight of apparitions.
“Everything that is ephemeral is just a parable”; Personalities are only symbols of the Eternal. But the one thing that is eternal and immortal and the essence of everything is divinity. It is also the supreme consciousness in man, and in coming into this state we attain the true knowledge of our supreme existence in it, as well as the knowledge of God; for the revelation of God is highest in us, and consequently true self-knowledge and the knowledge of God one and the same thing.
Notes
[1] Thought-forms and the Metamorphosis of the Personality. [Gedankenformen und Metamorphosen der Persönlichkeit. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Neue Lotusblüten 1, no. 5-6 (May-June 1908), 173-197] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}
[2] “The meaning, the spirit, the word, the teachings frank and free, if you can grasp that God is triune.” (Angelus Silesius.)
[3] {R.H.—This is from a yet to be found original Hermetic text, the Smaragdine Tablet, Tabula Smaragdina. The text’s earliest appearance was in the late 8th or early 9th century in some Arabic texts. It is considered the basis for the practice of Alchemy, both materialistic and spiritual, however it is the basis for the idea that the human is a reflection of the divine and thus has a spiritual basis, for it succinctly teaches: “as above, so below,” i.e., the microcosm is a reflection of the macrocosm. The full text, itself, is highly occult.}
[4] See pictures. — Every photographer knows how to make imitations. {R.H.—The two photos appearing on these pages which Dr. Hartmann is referring to, are high resolution half-tone scans which I made. The photos are found in Neue Lotusblüten volume I on the pages between 148–150.}
[5] [R.H.—It is the overlapping and transparency which would make it difficult if not impossible to make such a photo such as this. Multiple exposures using a large formate camera are required. Also, to make such an assembly such as this, each image would have to be isolated from its background. I don’t think it could be done back then. Today, as I write this, it can be done using any number of computer applications, one of which is Adobe Photoshop, using multiple layers, like Barack Obama’s fake birth certificate, which was made with about 12 layers from different sources. When you make a certificate such as this, the creator has to collapse all the layers, which the creator failed to do! The creator was a “he.” This, I know for sure because I secured a copy from the White House web site and saw the individual layers. But it would still take some time to assemble together. No small feat. My impression is that these two photos are genuine. Also, see my article: “The Cottingley Glen Fairies, Fairies and Their Sun-Bath. Comments by Robert Hutwohl”]