[Verwandlungen. Fortschritt und Rückschritt.]
Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl[1]
So long as man exists as an individual, he is subject to constant change; death in each of its spheres of existence, in the physical world, on the astral plane and in heaven, is only a shedding of that which, after the transformation has been completed, is discarded and left behind as further unusable. All great thinkers have recognized this. Eyewitnesses tell us that Goethe’s last words were not the famous words: “Light, more light!” He may have spoken these, but his last words were: “Now the transformation of transformations begins.”
Spirit is constantly seeking to manifest itself in matter, and matter is striving to receive and absorb. The quality of what the material form receives and absorbs depends upon its progress or regression during its development. The soul is the substantial means by which the spirit can penetrate and communicate with matter. The piercing can be pure or impure, elevating or degrading. There is thus a progressive and a retrogressive change or transformation, and man’s task is to strive to assimilate that which promotes his progress and to avoid anything that amounts to regression or degradation.
That which degrades man and makes him more and more condensed, limited and “material” is the delusion of individuality, egoism with its attendant greed, lust for power, etc. The more man overcomes this delusion and recognizes himself as a whole, the more he steps into freedom. Years ago, a Master of Wisdom wrote the following apt words to the author, these lines:
“One of the first signs of progress and self-control is when a man proves by his deeds that he can be kind, loving, forgiving, and accommodating to his companions, even if they are of the most varied characters and temperaments. One of the strongest signs of regression is when he expects others to share his inclinations and act like him.”
The greatest freedom enthusiasts are often the greatest tyrants; their idea is that everyone must do what they think is right, and their opinions change according to their whims. Recklessness towards others is not a sign of progress. Disregarding conventional rules is not evidence of superiority over them, but testifies to narrow-mindedness and megalomania. A theosophical ruffian is just as unthinkable as a holy devil. If you enjoy criticizing others, you show that you don’t understand them. The wise man recognizes his own in the mistakes of others and seeks to improve them above all in himself.
The progressive transformation consists in the absorption of noble, pure and sublime thoughts and feelings, whereby the lower vibrations of the thought-body are transmuted to higher ones and it becomes transfigured and enlightened. Base feelings and thoughts, especially those of a sexual and passionate nature, have the opposite effect. Through them the heart is hardened, the soul darkened, and the unfolding of the powers of the spirit made impossible.
Every thought is a magnet that attracts influences that are like it. Good thoughts attract good, impure thoughts to impure influences, and each thought animated by the will develops into an independent being of shorter or longer lifespan according to the intensity of the power which it receives from its Creator. These beings are the creatures that can inhabit our spiritual realm and create a heaven or hell out of it for us, and they are at the same time a part of our own selves.
The eternal, true Self, the God within us, remains the same forever and does not change, but this is of no use to us until we recognize it and, by its power, dominate the inhabitants of our kingdom instead of identifying with them and serving them.
The transformations consist in the fact that the human being himself becomes that being with which he identifies himself through his willing and thinking. Whoever loves virtue and justice and expresses them through his actions, his soul will itself be a luminous being, a godlike representative of these qualities. The incarnated man, on the other hand, becomes an animal himself, and even if the density and resistance of the material body prevents him from passing over into animal form, his astral body nevertheless takes on corresponding forms after death, which is why also the inhabitants of hell, who were formerly men, appearing in forms that are half animal, half human.
Thus, a man’s transformation is in his own hands; it can be progressive or retrograde, leading up or down. The transformation he now undertakes determines the state of his next reincarnation. It is said that a being which has evolved into human form will no longer reincarnate as an animal; but the humanity of a human being consists in the consciousness of his human dignity.
Anyone who has completely lost this is no longer human, and there is no reason why the animal elements of which he is composed should not reveal themselves again in animal forms after his death.
But as the Bhagavad Gītā teaches us, whoever unites with the Divine during his lifetime and absorbs it, becomes his very essence as divine, and thereby escapes the ever-turning wheel of life and death; he needs no more changes; for the law of karma does not concern the eternal, but only its revelations in the multiplicity of appearances; the eternal is itself the law.
Note
[1] Transformations. Progress and Regression. [Verwandlungen. Fortschritt und Rückschritt. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Theosophischer Wegweiser 6, no. 3 (December 1903), 101-104] {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}