Translation from German by Robert Hutwohl

 

I. II. The New Testament^[1]

 [Die Symbole der Bibel. I. II. Das Neue Testament.]

 

“Ἀλλὰ λαλοῦμευ θεουσοφἱαν ἐν μυστηρἰῳ

τὴν αποχρυμμένην, ἥν προχώρισεν ὁ θεὸς

πρὸ τῶν αἰώνον εἰς δοξαν ἡμων.”

I. Korinth. II, 7.

 

I.

 

Someone once asserted that God wrote the Bible and that the devil published it, and if this assertion is understood in the sense in which it was intended, it is probably correct, for truth comes from truth and does much good in the world, but misunderstood truth becomes a lie, which only breeds misery. The Bible is, for those who understand its deeper meaning, a scholarly book in which are laid down the highest truths of the philosophy of religion, which pertain to things spiritual and divine, and not to things visible, external, and material; but those who take the statements contained in it as superficial and literal sense are misled. It was therefore not originally written for the great multitude, but only for those who possessed spiritual knowledge, i.e., (as Sankaracharya [Śaṅkarācārya] says) knew how to distinguish the permanent from the transitory. That is why St. Paul also says (I. Corinth. II., 6-7):

“Of course we recite wisdom for the more mature, but not wisdom of this age and of the great of this world, which become nothing; but we recite God’s mysterious and veiled wisdom (theosophy), which God destined from all eternity for our glory.”

          The Bible is indeed a text-book of occult science, which can therefore only be understood by the occultist. “What no eye has seen, no ear heard, and no mind has conceived, God prepared for those who love him.” The divine mysteries in nature are not manifest to the external senses; they are known only by the Spirit of God in man. Also, the stories of the Bible are for the most part so childish and unbelievable, and often, like other fairy tales, refer to things which experience has shown to be impossible, that it is a wonder that educated people are to be found nowadays who believe, or fancy believing, in the miracles related in the stories. And yet there are thousands who dare not doubt the literal interpretation of such tales and fables. The life of many such people is a struggle between superstition and reason, in which fear often comes to the aid of superstition and suppresses reason. But humanity as a whole has outgrown its infancy and no longer believes the fairy tales which the nurse tells them and the meaning of which even the nurse does not understand. If the wet nurse knew the meaning of these fairy tales and tried to make the children understand them, they would learn to appreciate the fairy tales instead of rejecting them. But as it is, the children of the nurse no longer believe, and so the church lost its power over minds when it lost the key to the sanctuary in which the mysteries of God are hidden. Theosophy offers you this key.

          The books of the Old Testament are of a more scientific nature, and specially calculated for the mind; those of the New Testament address more to the heart. The stories of the Bible cannot be interpreted arbitrarily. They are like paintings. Anyone who knows the object they represent also recognizes the representation; those who do not know it can speculate and are easily misled. Many consider the frame of the picture to be essential; they do not see the picture itself. Also, an incorrect translation of Bible passages is often a cause of error. Then, through a wrong perception, the meaning becomes nonsense, while the correct perception always agrees with reason.

          Let’s take, for example, if the story of creation is at hand, the translation reads: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” Here, the superficial and superficially judging intellect, forgetting God’s omnipresence, imagines God as some otherworldly being in space or above the stars, creating a material earth and a fantastic sky out of something other than God. The matter is more clearly stated in the Hebrew text:

          “Bereshit bara Elohim, ath ascha main onath aoris,” “the head” or wisdom drew (from itself) the active powers, from which the realm of the ideal and finally the embodied material arose. In a very similar way, man draws his thoughts from what is contained in his mind without being conscious of it, and from this forms his objective world of thoughts, the images of which he could embody bodily if he were still in possession of the necessary magical power of will. He, too, creates this world from “nothing”; for something whose existence has not come to his consciousness is nothing to him; but it is not nothing in itself, for it is really there, and through his becoming conscious of it, what lies unconscious in the depths of his mind becomes something for him, a world of thoughts. The non-manifest is non-being, the manifest is being. In the same way man enters into existence anew every time he awakens. Just as man, on awakening, only becomes conscious of the things which exist within himself (unless external sense impressions awaken new sensations and ideas in him), so also, the world spirit creates nothing else at the beginning of each world period other than what is contained in its own being.^[2]

          The origin of the world is explained even more clearly in the Gospel of John (I, 1-5): “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Everything is created by it, and without it nothing that is is created.” But this also means that everything that is was called into existence by the omnipresent God through his will from his own being, similarly, how a man, through his will, bring to his imagination this or that idea contained in his mind. God Himself is the “Word,” the life and essence of all things; his work is an inner one; it takes place by revelation and growth from within, and not by treatment from without, and it takes place everywhere all the time, because the power of God is in all things in nature, and apart from God nothing exists.

          Furthermore, the story of creation says: “The earth was formless and empty, and there was darkness on the deep, and the Spirit of God moved on the waters.” Now if the earth was “formless and empty,” then there can be no more of a formed earth as we know it, but only of the invisible and incorporeal matter (the ether? [Ākāśa]); it was empty, for nothing had yet been formed or put together in it. The “depths” or the “abyss” is infinite space (in man, the mind). But just as the knowing spirit of man is elevated above his emotions, so also is the spirit of God standing essentially higher than the soul of the world. In the Syriac translation it says, “God fertilized the waters,” and similarly man’s spirit is also fertilized by his higher reason and knowledge. Only through the action of reason does something reasonable appear. But as it is on a small scale, so it is on a large scale, and it is therefore understandable that the world cannot be perfect as long as it is not completely permeated by the spirit of knowledge of God (theosophy).

          It is easy to solve the riddles of the Bible if you look inwardly at yourself and study what is happening in the soul of the world by what is happening in your own soul. But whoever judges the processes in the interior of the universe according to what he sees externally, and understands the symbols of the Bible in the external, material sense, understands them wrongly, because the external, sensuous world is the wrong imprint and the deceptive mirror image of the interior.

          Viewed in the right light, the teachings of the Bible agree perfectly with the teachings of science, insofar as the latter rests on truth, only they go far beyond the science of the learned of this world, because human science has not yet risen to the point of view on which it can recognize the workings of the divine spirit in nature, and therefore ascribes everything to the workings of blind natural forces, without recognizing the origin of the laws that govern these forces. Thus, through external observations and comparisons of natural phenomena, science laboriously gains knowledge of the workings of the laws of nature, while the mystic, to whom the law itself is revealed, knows the workings of the divine primal power in all its ramifications through his own observation.

          “And God said: Let there be light! and there was the light.” The Infinite did not create this light outside himself, but contained it within his own being. “In him was life, and life was the light of men.” This light is the light of true knowledge and the immortal life; the external light and vital activity in nature is only a reflection of this divine light. The human mind is darkness. “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness does not contain it. Nevertheless, this light is now striving for revelation in man, as it was many thousands of years ago, and when man achieves victory over material things and thereby the strength to let it become light in his inner being, then what is repeated in his small world happened in the great one, and there will be light in his soul.^[3]

          The great obstacle that prevents the human mind from coming to true knowledge is that it cannot grasp all concepts at once due to its limitations and is therefore forced to make distinctions where there are none. That is why true knowledge of that which is elevated above all human concepts and ideas can only come about where all these concepts and ideas end, and it can therefore only be described in symbols and parables. Éliphas Lévy (Abbé Constant) says: “One spirit fills infinity. It is the Spirit (Breath) of God, which is not limited and divided by nothing, which is all in all and everywhere, which pervades every atom and which nothing can exclude. ‘Created Spirits’ i.e., individualized forms of consciousness, enveloping forms would not be conceivable without them, which allow them their own activity (distinguished from the whole) but at the same time also limit their sphere of activity. These sheaths protect them from their dissolution in infinity (in the all-consciousness). Every being therefore has a form which corresponds to the proportions of the sphere in which it inhabits.”

          Every being is thus essentially spirit and a state of God’s All-Consciousness in nature; each has a soul, i.e., a life moving within definite limits (a sphere of existence), and the corporeal appearance, provided there is such, as but the outward corporeal image of its qualities in the visible world. Thus every solar system, every world, every star, every creature, down to the atom, is an entity unto itself, a soul imbued with the Spirit of God who is the life of all, and so long as it has individuality it is an individual spirit and has an individual consciousness, albeit quite different from our human consciousness and unimaginable to us.

          The Elohim, which arose from the creative will, are regarded as the souls of the worlds and their rulers, who, however, do not rule arbitrarily, but in a way appropriate to their nature, because the laws of nature which govern their organism spring from the essence of each individual. They care as little for the fate of the forms of their worlds as we care for the micro-organisms which inhabit our organism, and are just as little aware of their existence. What does the soul of the world care if an earthquake devours hundreds of thousands of helpless people? The earth spirit knows no mercy and listens to no request. We’re way too small to get his attention. But among themselves these titans fought the struggle for existence; even among them there is love and hatred; “Attraction and repulsion” is what science calls it, as if there could be such forces where there is no consciousness, no sensation. Infinite space is the great metropolis where suns meet and salute each other, traversed by restless souls called “comets” while the planets, bound by the bond of love to their mother, orbit their suns.

          Every being, and therefore every planet, has its soul, which permeates the whole body and thereby imparts its qualities to every inhabitant of that body; he also sends his influence to his neighbors. When the spirit of the earth is moved by anger, there are wars on earth; if his soul is shaken, convulsions of the ground appear; if his organism is poisoned by the evil passions of men, then epidemic diseases appear,^[4] which then spread through external circumstances. Each planet represents certain states of mind peculiar to it and communicates these to the siblings in its family. Thus the sun gives us life, and the moon is an exciter of the imagination. The short-sighted do not want to know anything about “unearthly causes”; but is not the sun an unearthly cause of the heat which the earth receives?

          This worldview abducts us from a tangle of mechanical forces operating unconsciously, and leads us into a world full of life, consciousness and intelligence. Through this view we can come to an understanding of certain religious symbols. Suddenly the story of the “patriarchs” takes on a completely different meaning. We see that these are not the family affairs of a long-dead individual whose story we cannot take any real interest in, but rather allegorical representations of world-shaking powers. What can we care if Hagar ran away from her mistress, or that Jacob lied to his father; such things happen daily today, and the capture of Paris in 1871 is certainly of more interest to us than the fall of the walls of Jericho. But when the secret meaning of these tales and fables is understood, we find the deepest religious truths hidden under the guise of narrative, and it is asserted that in the allegories of the books of Moses are contained the main features of the history of evolution. Many of these mysteries are explained in the works of Jakob Böhme, but in much greater detail in H. P. Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine.

          The mere fact that Moses caused God to make day and night, morning and evening, long before he created the firmament and the sun, the moon and the stars, on the fifth day, long after the earth had brought forth grass and seed-bearing plants, should be enough to make thinking people shake their heads and think that there is some mystery behind it.

          Indeed, it took several evolutionary periods (“days and nights”), each of which numbered millions of years, before the earth was prepared to receive a humanoid being. Nature, still immature, produced monsters and deformities unfit for the dwelling place of heavenly man, and it is not to be wondered at that “the Lord repented that he had put man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart.” (Moses VI, 6).

          If one has become accustomed in youth to picture the patriarchs of the Old Testament as Jews dressed in oriental clothes, with hawk noses and goatees, it takes a little courage to see that these patriarchs are really the gods of the ancient Egyptians, and that none of them are an insignificant personality, but a phase of the state of all humanity during a certain period of time whose supposed “years” consist of thousands of our years. Nor can the authority of the Bible be harmed by substituting a true and grand explanation for a false and petty view.

          The Kabala gives us information about the true meaning of the biblical names. Each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet corresponds to a certain number, and the combinations of numbers that indicate the biblical names correspond to the order of the universe. Let’s look at, for example, the word Jehovah. We find in it the numerical proportions 10 x 5 x 6; namely the One, the All, connected with the Zero, the Unsubstantial; the five, the number of man, and the six, the number of the sensual or illusion. Further, Jah (Jod) signifies the male, and Hevah (Eva) the female, and the word Jehovah presents itself to us as the universal man, a conception at any rate more in keeping with the dignity of “Holy Scripture” than under Jehovah represented a “superman” who walked with Adam in paradise and is angry with him. On the other hand, it would be surprising if, in our age towards the Enlightenment, a religious system based on the literal conception of biblical fables could survive for a long time.

          But if the hidden meaning of a fairy tale is not recognized, and the literal interpretation of it contradicts reason and common sense, the superficial judge is only too ready to declare the whole thing nonsense and to pay no further attention to it. He throws the baby out with the bath water, deprives himself of the symbols whose proper study could lead him to the true understanding and thereby insults religion and succumbs to erroneous belief. There are probably few educated people nowadays who take the story of Eve’s seduction by the serpent in paradise and Adam’s bite of the apple, literally. Incidentally, it may be remarked that in countries where there are no apples, the fable exists in a different version, so that, for instance, in Brazil it is a banana which Eve offers to Adam.

          Viewed in its proper light, this tale is an excellent account of a world process both historical and repetitive; for as long as man has not come to true self-knowledge, he will be tempted again and again by the lust for the sensual represented by the symbol of the snake, to bite into the sweet apple of earthly existence, which in the end tastes very bitter. The biblical story leads us before the heavenly (paradise) man, whose essence was ethereal and in whom the male principle, the understanding, and the female, the will (love), existed in one, as undivided. (“Male and female he created them.”) Only when man, and with him the earth, became more and more material, and he could no longer reproduce or procreate from himself, did “Adam’s rib” become woman created, i.e., the two-sexed man became one-sexed: men and women; Thought and will were partly externally separated from each other. But the “tree of knowledge” is the experience of good and evil, and the apples on it are the fruits that it bears. The celestial man, tempted by the desire for self-knowledge, turned his will to material existence and became material himself. He had to descend into the realm of the senses in order to get to know evil, in order to become acquainted with the knowledge of good by overcoming it.

          Material science is limited to the material. She researches the development of the world of forms. With this, however, their activity is limited to only part of the knowledge of the truth; she doesn’t see the main thing, the spirit. Also, their research can only extend over a period of time, which is very small in relation to the great world period. She knows nothing of man before he appeared on earth clothed in gross matter. It traces the development of the material forms, but these are only the visible shells in which the celestial man indwells.

          The Bible says: “And it came to pass that the people of the earth began to multiply and beget daughters. Then the children of God looked after the daughters of men, and [saw] that they were beautiful, and took as wives whom they wished.” (Mos. VI, I.) But this means nothing else other than that after the period of the monsters and monstrosities was over, and the earth brought forth human creatures whose organization was fit to serve as mansions for the heavenly men in whom they incarnated. Thereby the spirit, capable of God-knowledge, was combined with the earth-born intellect (the flesh), and “powerful ones in the world and famous people” were born. “Then the wickedness of men was great on earth, and all thoughts and strivings of their hearts were only ever evil.” Then the evil karma of mankind reached its climax, and the great flood [floods] came, rightly called “deluge,” in which everything “flesh” was wiped out from the earth.

          All this is found in the much older Vedas of the Indians and is described much more clearly, so that the writings of the “pagans,” rather than contradicting the Bible, serve to explain it.

          But it is not our intention here to go into the details of the Secret Doctrine, nor do we intend to explain all the symbols of the Bible, but rather the purpose of these lines is to call the reader’s attention to the secret meaning of these symbols, and encourage him to do his own research. If these symbols were to be explained in detail so that everyone could memorize their meaning, they would lose their value, which consists precisely in the fact that their meaning is hidden and everyone should seek it for themselves; for only that truth which man himself finds, absorbs and by which he is permeated, is his own; but not what he blindly believes to be true, or what is asserted by another.

          It should also be noted that each of the symbols of occult science is capable of at least three interpretations; an external one, which, like everything external, only affects appearances; an internal one, which relates to the inner human being; and a spiritual one, which describes processes in the macrocosm. So e.g., the word Noah in the language of nature “end and beginning,” and the biblical Noah is the symbol of the end of a world and the beginning of a new one, in the mind of man as well as in nature. The “Ark” is the supernatural world in which the ideas of all things are contained and, even if all physical forms have perished, can reincarnate as soon as the necessary conditions are restored. In man, however, the “ark” means his higher nature, which does not perish even if everything that is earthly in him falls to death. The raven he sends forth is the earthly mind, which cannot find any stead in the heavenly; but the dove is the symbol of faith, it returns with the olive branch of peace.^[5]

          But a theoretical knowledge of the meaning of the symbols of the scriptures is of little use unless we apply to ourselves what they teach. Of what use is it to stand admiringly before the altarpiece which depicts Saint George defeating the dragon, or to edify ourselves at the narration in the Bhagavad Gita which describes Arjuna defeating the enemies with the help of Krishna, below whom he recognizes his closest kin and friends, and if we do not then pull ourselves together to defeat the dragon of selfishness within ourselves, and fight our own evil desires and passions and prejudices, which are our dear playmates? Theory is the preparation for knowledge, but only through real willingness does one arrive at becoming. But the beginning of becoming is the deed.

 

II. The New Testament

 

“Then he opened understanding to them, that they might understand the Scriptures.” Luke XXIV, 45.

“Christ in us is the mystery of redemption, the hope of that glory, which we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, to restore every man perfectly to Christ Jesus.” Colossians I, 27.

 

          The reason so few understand the secret meaning of the allegories of the Bible is that those who do not feel in themselves the spirit of true Christianity imagine that the truths described in the Bible apply only to external things and relate to strange persons; while all of this relates to processes that can take place within ourselves, to our own spiritual rebirth, and can only be properly understood by us when this rebirth takes place within ourselves. This is also attested to in many places in the Bible itself. So it says, for example, “The kingdom of God does not appear through objective observation; one can still say: look, it is here! or look! it is there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”^[6] “I live, not I, but Christ lives in me.”^[7] “We who live are constantly subject to death (change) for Jesus’ sake, that the divine life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh,”^[8] etc.

          All this is also confirmed by the Christian mystics and saints. For example Michael Molinos says: “You should know that your soul is the center, dwelling place and kingdom of God.”^[9] G. Scheffler says: “You must not cry out to God, the fountain is within you. If you don’t plug the outlet, it will flow for and for” etc.^[10] The Spirit of God is the divine life in us.^[11] It is, of course, not only within us, but everywhere. But just as we could know nothing of material life if it were not active in us and we were not alive through it, so we can know nothing of divine life with all our brooding and research and theological study if it is not in us itself is revealed and we thereby awaken to divine life.

          In considering the symbols of the Bible we are dealing first with the macrocosm, i.e., to do with nature as a whole, secondly with the microcosm, the nature of the individual human being, and thirdly with the external appearance. Each symbol consequently has three different relations, of which the external is the least correct; because “everything that is transitory is only a parable.” When we see a beautiful painting that corresponds to our ideal, we can be extremely indifferent to knowing whether this ideal has already been realized somewhere, or whether it only exists in the soul of the painter. This circumstance does not prevent us from doing so to edify and to wish to see it realized outwardly. It is the same with the descriptions of the Bible. Whether there ever lived a man here or there in whom the spirit of truth was manifested, it is of no use to us to know. The purpose of the description is only to set before us an ideal so that we may learn from it, and if, like a good painting, the description is true, it has served its purpose and there are no “historical” considerations that could only serve to satisfy our curiosity. Knowing if a man named “Jesus of Nazareth” ever lived and was crucified is of historical importance only. We are not redeemed by it. We certainly do not want to claim that a wise and exalted man named Jehoshua did not live and teach in Palestine 1800 years ago and that the narratives of the New Testament are not linked to his personality; but the belief in a tale is not belief in the truth itself, but belief in a tale, and nothing more than an assumed opinion. Indeed, it seems to us a disparagement of this poetic portrayal of the “God’s seer” to think of the deity in humanity as a historical human figure, an earth-walking disabled and suffering man, a kind of easygoing country minister, unctuous itinerant preacher, friendly pastor, religious zealot, medical family friend, miracle doctor, magnetizer, hypnotist, spiritualist, etc., as various writers have done. The Christian allegory refers to something far more sublime; it shows us the incarnation of the sole and indivisible deity in humanity and its manifestation in the individual human being. It gives us a picture of the spiritual evolution in the history of mankind, the descent of the heavenly spirit into the material and its ascent again to the divine, as well as a representation of the processes in the soul life of each individual human being who, in the manner described therein, leads to victory over the impermanent, attained to dominion over the self, and through self-sacrifice to freedom from the personal self to divine existence.

          For example, who would consider the fairy tale of “Sleeping Beauty” to be something other than a parable, especially if he understands the meaning of it, which is self-evident to every sensible person, even without being explained? The fairy tale is not a historical fact, and considered as a tale if it is not true; but nevertheless there is a teaching of a great truth in it. One should not confuse the shape with the essence, the bottle with the wine it contained. A soul is born on earth, “so beautiful that the king could not contain his joy and organized a great feast”; with whom the thirteenth wife (karma) also appeared and prophesied the coming misfortune to the child. In the fifteenth year the prophecy came true. “The princess pricked her finger with a spindle and fell into an enchanted sleep.” The soul stricken with selfishness lost consciousness of her heavenly being, and “this sleep spread throughout the house.” A hedge of thorns grew all around; Errors and passions grew rampant so that one could no longer see the soul. But “after a hundred years the king’s son came,” divine love, and found the soul. Then the princess woke up, and the wedding with Sleeping Beauty was celebrated in all splendor. The soul became a queen of light through its connection with the divine itself.

          The charm and beauty of a fairy tale consists precisely in the fact that it carries the explanation within itself. Fairy tales and pictures are there to stimulate the sense of beauty, goodness and truth; everyone finds just as much in it as he can see in it. If one had to first write in a painting whether it is to represent a portrait or a landscape, then either the picture would be very bad, or the viewer very ignorant. Symbols are there to represent certain truths, which we should learn to recognize in them. Unfortunately, not only has the ability to recognize the meaning of religious symbols been lost through the loss of the sense of true religion, but the ossified orthodox theology clings to the external form and does not want to know anything about the true meaning of it. Then reason must come to the aid of intuition in order to bring the truth to bear.

          If we look at the biblical story, The Birth of Jesus of Nazareth, it presents itself to anyone who is not in the bondage of an orthodox superstition as an allegory in which a great truth lies hidden. What is told also goes against all experience so much that it seems as if this allegory was deliberately discredited to avoid being taken literally.

 

III. The Symbols of the Church. Architecture. The Cross. Mystical Meaning of Colors. The Creed.^[12]

[III. Die Symbole der Kirche. Architektur. Das Kreuz. Mystische Bedeutung der Farben. Das Glaubensbekenntnis.]

 

A virgin named Mary receives the Holy Spirit during her betrothal, and as a result the Redeemer is born. Whether such a supernatural production of man was possible two thousand years ago is at least highly doubtful; but there is no doubt that the same narrative is contained in other religious systems that existed long before the Christian era. It is found in the Buddhist scriptures, for Māyā, the mother of the Buddha, was also conceived as a result of a dream, and the story of Osiris contained in the writings of the ancient Egyptians is similar to that of Jesus of Nazareth. Osiris, the greatest god of Egypt, was the son of heavenly fire and primordial matter. He is described as one of the saviors or liberators of mankind. “He comes as a benefactor, to deliver men from their toils; his efforts to do good are met with evil. He is overpowered, killed and buried. After three days he gets up again and goes to heaven.”

          But all the seeming nonsense makes sense as soon as we grasp the meaning of these allegories, and when once grasped the truth is found to be too grand to be represented other than symbolically; for it is not a question of a scientific description of an event that once occurred somewhere, but of the ever-repeating processes in the life of the whole universe and in ourselves, both externally and internally, in material and in spiritual respects, such as they are indicated in the following, albeit only cursorily for the sake of brevity:

          I. Spiritually, this allegory refers to an episode in the evolution of the world, to that period when the mortal bodies of men became capable to think, and were able to serve the heavenly spirit as a dwelling place and instruments of glorification and redemption to serve the human spirit. Viewed in this way, we see the whole of nature in the image of “Maria” (Māyā or conception). The “nurturer Joseph” represents the great “carpenter” or builder of the universe, i.e., the creative forces (Elohim or Dhyan Chohan); but the “Son of God” is the light of the Logos, the Holy Spirit of knowledge. Without this light, people would have remained beings and shadows without divine life, capable of thinking but incapable of true cognition. That is why the apostle John says: “In him was life, and the (spiritual) life was the light (of the knowledge of God) in men. This light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not contain it.”^[13]

          The “darkness” is the human mind emanating from the mortal parts, whose judgment is based on objective (scientific) observation, deduction and proof, but which without the true light is blind and incapable of enlightenment. True life was the light of men, i.e., the “initiates” of the light; for the people without this light are not referred to as people, but only as “dark shadows.” The true incarnation and the true divine life only occurs when man comes to self-knowledge through the influence of the Holy Spirit.^[14]

“There was a man sent from God, named John, he came to be a witness, that he might bear testimony concerning the light, that all might gain confidence. He himself was not the light; he should only bear witness to the light. The light was the true light that shines on every human being who comes into the world.”\

          The word “John” means the inner, spiritual human being (Buddhi Manas) who is closest to the divine, i.e., that higher part of the mind which is illuminated by the divine light, but not this light, as many believe it produces in itself.^[15] “He (the Logos) was in the world and the world was created by him; yet the world did not recognize him. He came into his own (the mind), but his own did not receive him (unto them). But as many as received him, to them he gave the privilege of becoming children of God; namely, to those who believed in his name (felt the working of the Spirit), who were not born of flowers, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but were born of God.^[16]

          With this it is sufficiently explained that the birth of Christ refers to the awakening of the knowledge of God in the soul of man,^[17] and everyone in whom this spiritual rebirth takes place can say with the apostle: “The Word became flesh (Manas) in us and dwells in us, and we see his appearance, an appearance like that of the only begotten Son of the Father (the Logos), full of grace (knowledge) and truth.” But since there is only one “Son of God” (Ātma-Buddhi Manas), just as there is only one sunlight on our earth, even if this light makes different bodies luminous, there is no entry of God into man without a merging of man into God. This means that self-delusion must disappear so that infinite love and knowledge of God can be revealed in man, and through the power of this knowledge self-delusion disappears. This self-sacrifice is represented by death on the cross. It is the disappearance of the delusion of specialness and the glorification of God in man. That is why the crucified Christ also speaks the words: Eli! Eli Lama Sabathani, that is, “God! My God! How you did glorify me (in you)!”

          If theologians would pay more attention to the meaning of the Hebrew words, many misunderstandings could be avoided. The word “Jesus” means the soul aflame with the fire of divine love^[18] (the “Heart of God” in the universe); “Christ” (the Anointed One), that part of the mind illuminated by the light of knowledge (Ātma-buddhi manas). The conception in the womb of mankind took place when mankind arrived at that stage of evolution where it was ripe to receive the spirit of knowledge, and the resurrection will take place when all men come to the knowledge of the truth, the animal and whose passions have been overcome and have come together as one in the knowledge of God.

          But what mankind as a whole will probably only achieve after many millions of years is already possible for the individual if he becomes a follower of Christ. This does not mean, however, that he has to imitate the external actions of Jesus of Nazareth as they are described in the New Testament; but that he overcomes the earthly in him through the power of God and through the sacrifice of self-delusion in the power of knowing, love comes to the knowledge of his divine existence. Just as a dweller in the underworld could not gain knowledge of the sun by reading books and descriptions, so no knowledge of Christ can be obtained through all the study of theology. But when the spiritual sun rises within us, then we have recognized the true Son of God, even if without theological instruction. Only then is a person a “Christian” in the true sense of the word, and becoming a true Christian is therefore no easy matter.^[19]

          Deep in the sanctuary of the soul, in quiet Bethlehem,^[20] the spark of divine love slumbers and is born in the pure mind to the light of knowledge. The foster father of the divine child is the mind, which keeps the house in order and denies entry to evil. The cradle stands in the stable surrounded by animal elements, desires and passions; there is obstinacy symbolized as “donkey,” and ignorance symbolized as “ox”; but there is also the mother, the heavenly nature, as the “Virgin Mary,” who protects and nourishes the child. In its infancy, the child’s voice, the voice of silence, is heard only through feeling and conscience; but as early as the twelfth year he appears as a teacher of intuition and, with his wisdom, astonishes the logical arguments and the acuteness of the intellect, which possesses no true knowledge. Through all regions of feeling and thought the Redeemer takes His way, working miracles. Without sinking he wanders on the stormy sea of ​​life and bids the waves calm. By the power of self-control he heals the diseases of the soul and body; he brings the spiritually blind to the knowledge of the truth, makes the spiritually deaf hear again the voice of conscience; yes, he even awakens those who already seemed spiritually dead, to spiritual life. Persecuted and betrayed by theologians and worshipers of external gods, he is brought before the judgment seat of reason; but “Pilate,” since he is not himself the truth, cannot recognize the truth, and asks in vain for proofs, without understanding that there is no better proof of the existence of truth than the revelation of itself. But because Reason without enlightenment does not recognize the truth, man remains chained to this earthly existence, whose symbol is the cross, the vertical bar signifying the descent and ascent of the spirit, the horizontal one the material kingdom. Man must bear his cross (karma) himself; but “Joseph of Arimathea,” i.e., the trust, the hope, helps him in this. But man’s suffering ends only when he has accomplished the great work of sacrificing self-delusion. Then man dies a mystical death, and divine wisdom takes the place of human reason. In this way, God redeems himself from the human beast and thereby also redeems man himself, who is united with him. The death of ignorance is the resurrection of knowledge, just as the disappearance of darkness is the birth of day.

          Many volumes could be filled with explanations of the symbols of the Bible, the more so as each of these symbols, according to the point of view from which it is viewed, admits of three and even seven different explanations, each of which is correct, and there is no need of arbitrary insertion of a meaning not contained in it. But it is not our intention to anticipate the reader’s intuition and spare him the trouble of thinking for himself; rather, the above indications are only intended to indicate that there are many and precious but little-known treasures contained in the teachings of the Bible.

          Just as the awakening of the divine spirit in man is symbolized in the life story of the Nazarene, so is the spectacle which brings before our eyes the great nature outside, a symbol of the birth of the divine Logos, the true Redeemer of mankind, who is born from the eternal virgin, wisdom. Every morning the sun is born anew from the virgin (of the night), which is why the dawn (Aurora, Aditi) is also called the mother of the gods. Each little cycle of day, evening, night and morning is a symbol of life and death and rebirth; the year forms the great cycle.

          The ancient Egyptians celebrated the birth of the son of Isis at the end of winter. Mithras, the Persian sun god, was born on December 25 at midnight in a “cave” (the night). The sign of Virgo is rising in the eastern sky, and the Stable is not far behind as the Sun enters another sign of the Zodiac. During the winter life in nature rests, like a man in his grave; under the snowy shroud, and in streams and rivers motion is frozen; the trees are bare and the cold wind from the north blows across the bare rocks. But soon, by the influence of the sun, the hidden life awakens; what has become frozen dissolves and the earth adorns itself anew with fresh green. So also in the human heart, which is without true knowledge, there is desolation and sadness; but through the awakening of unselfish love, the icy crust that selfishness has drawn around the heart dissolves again. Then the day of knowledge dawns, and at the end in one’s own soul the sun of divine wisdom rises in the heavens within.

          But in fact the approach of the sun to the earth is only apparent, and in reality it is the earth which inclines towards the sun and thereby draws closer to it. In the same way, the sun of wisdom does not approach man, but man approaches it through the obedience to its law.

          The realm of appearances consists only of similes, and if we have the ability to discern the meaning of the symbols, we need not search long for the truth. The sun itself, which we see during the day, is only a symbol of the spiritual sun of the universe, from which all spiritual life flows and returns to it again. The physical sun sends its life currents through the planetary system. It is the heart of our world, from which the cycle of life pulses through the organism of nature for a period of eleven years at a time.^[21] In the same way, all divine life comes from God and returns to God.

          There has been much controversy as to the nature of the “holy trinity,” and yet one need only open one’s eyes to see its symbolism. Infinite space corresponds to the “Father,” he is in all of us and we are all contained in him. We ourselves are “embodied space,” and yet we cannot grasp the essence of space; indeed we could not imagine the extent of space were it not for the help of the sun and its light. The sun corresponds to the “son.” It is not different from space and not removed from space. The Son is one with the Father in essence, but distinct from him in manifestation. Nor would the existence of the sun be of much use to us were it not for the light emanating from it through space, the symbol of the “holy spirit,” by which the world of forms is manifested. Similarly, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, which is the spirit of knowledge, within the soul the divine mysteries are revealed to the enlightened without scientific argument or semblance of reason.

          And as we are all in space and all in God, so are we all in the sun; for the essence of the sun extends just as far as the sphere of its activity, even if the radiating body of the sun appears only as a comparatively small disk. Likewise we are all in the light, in Christ and in the Holy Spirit. Everything is in us, we don’t have to come in first, we just have to recognize it. Whoever recognizes the Son of God within himself is himself the Son of God and has the life of the spirit. That is why the Bible says: “Whoever has the Son of God has life, and whoever does not have him does not have life.”^[22] “I live, not I, but Christ lives in me.”^[23]

          If we take the words of the Bible literally in their outward meaning, nonsense often comes to light; if we comprehend its spiritual meaning, we find in it the most sublime wisdom. Finally, a few examples:

          “Do not fear for your life, what you will eat, or clothing for your body. — Look at the birds in the air! They neither sow nor gather into storehouses, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Look at the lilies in the field. They don’t work, they don’t spin, and yet I tell you: not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.”^[24] — Everyone knows that if you want to feed yourself physically, you have to take care of it, and that you can’t pay a tailor’s bill by blindly trusting God.

          But the teaching relates to the spiritual body and the growth of the soul. With all his hunting and running, man cannot add a yard to his size. The growth of the born-again man is not by the accumulation of knowledge and the accumulation of theories in the store-house of memory, but by the divine nourishment of the soul, which is the inward absorption of the spirit of truth. But the clothing of the soul is its transfiguration.

          “When you pray, go into your closet, close the door, and pray to your father in secret.”^[25] If this were to be observed externally, one could save millions that are spent on church building. But the “closet” here spoken of is the mind, and the gates to be closed are the senses. But the “Hidden Father” is the innermost divine Self who “knows what you need before you ask him.”

          “Do not imagine that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to send peace, but the sword. For I came to separate man from father, daughter from her mother, daughter-in-law from her mother-in-law. His own household will be enemies of man.”^[26] Thus perhaps an Alba, Nero, or Peter Arbuez might speak; but the “sword” spoken of here is the enlightened will; the “house” is the mind, and the “housemates” are the desires, passions and errors that have become “blazing” which are the “relatives” and enemies of the inner man.^[27]

          Prejudice, accepted opinions, and thoughtless belief in authority make man callous and blind, so that he hears with his ears and yet does not understand, and sees with his eyes and yet does not comprehend.^[28] That is why the Bible is a fetish for the devout fanatics; and for the “civilized man” has become an object he does not bother about. But for the discerning, it is a magic mirror in which everyone can see themselves, see past, present and future and learn to draw from the source of wisdom.

 

III. The Symbols of the Church.

 

“Everything ephemeral is just a parable” Goethe.

          The great art of an enlightened person is that he appreciates everything according to its true value and knows how to distinguish the essence from the outer appearance. He does not disregard the symbols and does not overestimate them. He knows that the symbol has no value without knowing the meaning it contains. He is therefore not satisfied with the external form and the symbols, but seeks to penetrate through the letter to the spirit, through the external to the internal.

          All ecclesiastical ceremonies, actions, customs, badges and symbols have an intrinsic occult meaning behind them. They are external images and representations of inner states and processes that prevail or take place or should take place in the human soul. If the state in question does not prevail and if the process which is represented externally does not take place within, then the symbol cannot be of any use either. Whether the ecclesiastical symbols are effective depends not only on them, but above all on whoever looks at them. The benefit of the sacraments depends not so much on the one who administers them as on the one who receives them. Not what we look at from the outside, but what we take in inwardly, can affect us and become a part of our being, and only what is contained in our own being really belongs to us.

          To the ignorant and doubtful, a religious ceremony is but a comedy; but whoever is edified by it is built by it; he who rises from it is raised from it. So, too, the most beautiful music is but musical noise for those who have no sense for it, while for the sensitive it is a language that can express more than words. Nor is it necessary to intellectually grasp the meaning of a symbol in order to partake of the blessings of a symbol, for otherwise only the learned in symbolism could worthily receive a sacrament; but the inner feeling of the truth presented within is completely sufficient. Without this feeling, no intellectual knowledge of the secret is possible, and brooding misleads. That’s why the great mystic Thomas von Kempen says: “Beware of useless and cheeky brooding if you don’t want to sink into the abyss of doubt.”

          Those who try to spy out the divine secrets to satisfy their curiosity, without any higher perception, following only a scientific urge, are like disgusting worms that are blindly digging in the excrement, seeking the light of the sun and never find it. It would be of no use, then, to embark on an explanation of the symbols of the Church, unless the understanding of their meaning had been so generally lost that it will be useful to get some indications about them, so as not to be repellent to the truth presented in them. For this purpose we choose the Catholic Church, rich in symbols, whose ceremonies are largely derived from Buddhist rituals.

 

Architecture.

 

          It is not known to everyone that the church building itself is a symbolic representation of man searching for the truth. Where conditions permit, location and position are also important. The Bhagavad Gita says: “The yogi should always practice surrender to God-consciousness and be the master of his thoughts without being attached to anything external. He should choose a seat in a clean region, neither too high nor too low. There he shall take the place that is due to him, and set his mind on the Eternal.”^[29] Following this inwardly felt arrangement, the church is also, where it is possible, built on a raised and quiet place and surrounded by a wall. It means the person who wants to soar to the divine. To do this, he must occupy a place in his heart that is elevated above the commonplace and general, but not so high that it can only be reached through infatuation. The wall signifies the magic circle through which he shuts himself off from the sensuous and into which no earthly thought and no base desire should penetrate. The churchyard, which surrounds the church with its tombs, is the symbol of dead passions and buried memories of past sins.

          The interior of the church represents space, i.e., the soul. Darkness reigns at the entrance and in the lower part, twilight reigns in the central nave, the cathedral is illuminated by the light, which signifies wisdom. The cathedral, with its vaulted dome, is only one, since there is only one absolute knowledge of truth. It is round to indicate perfection. On the other hand, at the other opposite end of the church there are usually two pointed towers, which signify the common sense divided by the duality, biased in the contradiction of opinions, which seeks in vain to penetrate the sky with its keenness. The Gothic towers are heavy and solid below, where they are closest to the material realm, soaring upwards and becoming ever lighter, until finally, like all earthly knowledge, they lose themselves in infinite space. There, where all autonomy ends, nothing remains but the cross, the meaning of which we shall return to below.

          Larger churches have two smaller doors to the right and left of the main entrance. These five gates signify the five senses of man, which should be closed during devotion (meditation). In St. Peter’s Church in Rome there is a sixth secret door that is only opened once a year. It signifies the sixth sense, the inner mind’s eye, perception through the power of “intuition” or “clairvoyance.”

          When we enter the church, we find ourselves in semi-darkness, like a man before he has come to knowledge; but the altar on which the sacrifice (of selfhood) is made is surrounded by the light (of wisdom) that comes from above. Only those clothed in “white robes” (the sign of purity), the initiates, can approach the sanctuary. The altar means the heart, and the tabernacle means the inmost part of the soul, where the divine spark is hidden.

 

The Cross.

 

          The symbol of the cross has various meanings, of which we only want to highlight the following:

          It signifies the connection of the spiritual with the material. The horizontal bar represents the realm of matter, or earthly life. The vertical stem signifies the descent, the incarnation of spirit in form, and its ascent to the spiritual. In the latter respect it is also a symbol of the victory of spirit over matter. The human figure nailed to the cross signifies the God-man chained to this earthly existence; but also the personal man who sacrifices himself to divinity. Above the cross are the letters I. N. R. I., whose exoteric meaning is given as “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum.” The esoteric meaning makes more sense: “In Nobis Regnat Iesusus,” “In us the divine light reigns.”

          In another respect the cross signifies the four mystical powers:

 

 

          In the center is stillness, which can only be attained through the victory of faith, the knowledge of the truth. This is the secret sign of the cross, which the true Christian does not wear outwardly on his chest, but inwardly in his heart.

 

Clothing, etc.

 

          The clothes of the clergy are black, a sign of mourning that they live as exiles on earth, since their true home is heaven. The long skirt, which belongs neither to the male nor to the female costume, means that the cleric no longer belongs to this world where gender is a consideration. Intelligence (the male principle) and will (the female principle) are united in the born-again human being. The external sex difference belongs to the animal man. For this reason, the Catholic Church insists on celibacy (from coelum = heaven). Those who have consecrated themselves to the divine and belong to heaven have nothing to do with marriage and the begetting of children. He is above these human weaknesses. The noose which the monks wear about their bodies signifies that they should restrain their lower nature and be bound by their vows; the hood indicates seclusion. The bald head or tonsure is the symbol of susceptibility to the influence of grace, which should not be obstructed.

 

Mystical Meaning of Colors.

 

          The colored window panes are not just for decoration. Depending on its color, light has a special effect on the mind and creates a corresponding mood in people. Blue has a calming effect, red stimulates, yellow strengthens, etc. The reason for this is that each of the seven colors of light corresponds to one of the known seven principles in human beings. These correspondences are given by H. P. Blavatsky as follows.

1. The material life principle.	Prana. [Prāṇa]	0     Orange.
2. The astral body.	Linga. [Liṅga]	x     Violet.
3. The region of desire.	Kāma.	6     Red.
4. The earthly mind.	Kāma Manas.	4     Green.
5. The heavenly soul.	Buddhi Manas.	1     Indigo.
6. The light of knowledge.	Buddhi.	2     Yellow.
7. The spiritual life.	Ātma.	♃    Blue.

 

          Accordingly, the dress of the priest should indicate that principle which particularly characterizes the position he occupies. The white raiment of the Pope is purity, and the gold is wisdom; the red of the cardinals, divine love; the violet of the bishops symbolizes awakened soul life, rebirth, etc. The colors and shapes of the chasubles, banners, etc., as well as the metals of the monstrances, vessels, and candlesticks also have their significance. But where this is not appreciated, everything external is nothing more than an empty appearance.

 

Mystical Meaning of Sounds.

 

          Like every colour, every tone of an octave corresponds to one of the seven principles and awakens corresponding vibrations and feelings in the soul. A deep tone arouses serious feelings, a lighter one joyful, a shrill one unpleasant. The solemn ringing of the big bell, which announces the approach of the festival, has a completely different effect on a person’s mind than the tinkling of the death bell. Each psalmody, each mantra, evokes certain vibrations in the Ākāsha according to the intonation of the chant. The following are the relationships of the tones to the seven principles or “planets.”

 

 

 

         When we enter a cathedral we have a sense of the mysterious, the unearthly and the sublime; the soul seems to sense the mystery hidden behind these symbols. We have also experienced this sense of consecration in Buddhist temples, in Chinese pagodas and in Mohammedan mosques, but never in the square Protestant prayer halls. Even St. Paul’s in London, with its many monuments and statues of statesmen and generals, struck us as more of a museum or waxworks for the preservation of human vanity than a temple for collection, edification, and elevation to God.

          In the Buddhist temples, the statue of Buddha surrounded by light usually rises in the middle under the dome. It is much more than life-size to indicate that the God-man rooted in us, born of the light, the enlightened one (Buddha) far surpasses earthly people in spiritual greatness. Before him flowers and fruits are offered in sacrifice, as symbols of a grateful heart; for it is written in the Bhagavad Gita: “If someone filled with love offers me even a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or even a drop of water, I accept the lover’s offering.”^[30]

          The Catholic “saints” are, for the most part, like the statues of the ancient Greeks and Romans, nothing more and nothing less than symbolic representations of various forces in nature. Like the statue of Jupiter Olympus the omnipotence from which all forces spring, Mars the fiery, driving force in nature, Venus the love that connects all worlds and creatures, Saturn the realm of the material, the sun life in the universe, the Moon the kingdom of imagination, Mercury signifying wisdom etc., so we now see the pagan gods in less imposing forms: For example, Isis, the Egyptian goddess of nature, as a Holy Virgin Mary, the Roman Hercules Fabius under the mask of St. Fabian, Buddha in the robes of St. Josaphat [Kuntsevych], Pluto in the form of St. Peter, Demeter as St. Agathe, Jupiter Pluvius as St. Florian etc., shown and caricatured. The names of the gods of the Indians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, as well as those of the ancient Germans, were symbols of powers, just as chemistry to-day has its symbols to designate oxygen, hydrogen, &c.; clerical ignorance has made people out of them.

          He who recognizes and worships the spirit is the true worshiper, he who only sees and worships form alone is an idolater; he who despises form because he does not recognize the spirit that dwells in it is acting out of ignorance; whoever wants to understand the spirit without form will hardly find it. So also in the church the spirit that rules in it is to be distinguished from the form, and all too often the forms are spiritless and empty. As in man, so in the organism of the church a higher and a lower “self,” god and beast, wisdom and clericalism, live together, and the two must not be confused. They can never be united, just as truth can never be united with lies. They are hostile to each other and fight each other as light fights dark, and yet in a way one supports the other; for the life of the spirit gives the outward life its value and the splendor of its glory, while the spirit derives power, substance, and form from form. Growth comes from the material, light from the spiritual. Clericalism with its clericalism, its lust for power and greed forms the animal soul of the organism of the Church; the knowledge of the truth in her is the holy spirit, which is to the unholy spirit of intolerance as light is to shadow. The material is condensed spirit; spirit is freedom, matter is limitation. The more the mind condenses, the less it is recognized; the more restriction there is, the more freedom is lost. But without knowledge of limitation there would be no knowledge of freedom, without knowledge of shadow, no knowledge of light; without evil no salvation. Thus the “beast” in the church (of which St. John speaks in his Apocalypse) is also a necessary evil, and the church will not be perfect until that beast is overcome and the whole body of the church is permeated and enlightened by the Holy Spirit. As long as God remains locked in the box and clericalism reigns in his stead, God cannot govern the Church, and as long as God cannot govern, clericalism will reign. If it were removed before God reigned, neither God nor clericalism would be there to maintain the form, and with the decay of the form the spirit would vanish.

          It is therefore not a question of getting rid of evil externally, but of overcoming it through the power that is at work within. The victory of spirit over form arises not from the avoidance of battle, but from the battle itself.

 

The Creed.

 

          The Catholic Creed reads: “I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of Mary the Virgin, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died and buried, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead.

          “I believe in the Holy Spirit, holy catholic church, communion of saints, remission of sins, resurrection of the flesh and life everlasting.”

          To the human mind, which always moves in the realm of probability but cannot grasp absolute truth, everything appears nonsense as long as it does not recognize the meaning; but the heavenly spirit in man knows the meaning and the truth, and the purpose of the creed is to bring the truths contained therein closer to the understanding of earthly man. A creed, in the proper sense of that word, is not a creed of something one professes to know or imagines, but a creed of faith, i.e., the realization of the eternal truth within us, even if it is not intellectually grasped. If the average earthly person only wanted to confess what he actually believes because he feels it, he could at most say: “I believe that beyond what I can perceive with my senses or imagine inwardly, something higher and ideal exists, but I can’t form a concept of it, because it hasn’t yet materialized in me.”

          If all the truths contained in the above creed were to be explained scientifically, several volumes would be required. In it the essence of occult science is laid down. If only he who intellectually understands the hidden meaning of these tenets had the right faith, and if only this faith could save him, no one would have any claim to eternal salvation unless he had studied theology for many years, or even during many reincarnations. But it is less a question of an intellectual understanding of it than of avoiding a wrong external perception. When the mind of man raises itself to the source of truth without brooding and without longing for the gratification of its scientific curiosity, the knowledge of it becomes manifest in itself of itself; but if he is bound by superstition to wrong views, he shuts himself off from the truth. The purpose of theosophical teachings is therefore not to satisfy scientific curiosity, but to remove the error that stands in the way of the self-revelation of truth in man’s heart, of self-knowledge.

          It would be taking us too far to try to explain the individual beliefs, describe the story of creation and examine how the deity becomes the “father,” making himself the “creator” and source of everything; who is the “son” whom we can only know when we ourselves have become “virgins” and have received the Holy Spirit of self-knowledge in our hearts; as Pilate reigns in us, who does not recognize the truth which stands before him, but first wants its existence to be proven, as if the truth needed any other proof than that it is what it is; how the hell of ignorance lives within ourselves until the redeeming power of divine knowledge descends upon us, as “Jesus,” the light within us, then “ascends to heaven,” and is seated at the “right hand” of God, i.e., works as God’s love, but not as his “wrath,” and how through him, i.e., through the knowledge of the truth good is separated from evil. It would also be necessary to explain what is meant by the “holy spirit,” i.e., how the revelation of truth is to be understood; that the inner, hidden church is in reality a spiritual church that encompasses all religious systems, that the “community of saints” is the community of all people who have come together in the knowledge of God, even if they personally are not known to each other; that sins can really be “forsaken” by forsaking them; that the “flesh” which resurrects are the qualities (skandhas of Buddhists) of the mind, which at each reincarnation reassemble to form a new personal appearance, and that “eternal life” does not refer to a never-ending continuance of the “shadow,” but relates to the immortal consciousness in God. All of this is explained in the works of the sages and mystics such as Jakob Böhme and others who have written much that is true about it, but their books are little read because the sense of truth in our slumbers in the present age, when most people are trapped in delirium, and because it is much easier to reject everything, or to believe in fables and fairy tales, than to seek the truth for oneself.

          The mystics are often taken for fanatics and fantasists, but we must distinguish between the mystic and mysticism as well as between religion and clergy. Mysticism, which lacks spiritual vision, is based on superstition and fanaticism, perhaps also the urge for the mysterious; true mysticism, on the other hand, is nothing other than the ability to perceive the truths of faith through the power of the faith awakened in us. From this awareness comes the resulting knowledge. It has nothing to do with suppositions, delusions, opinions and proofs. It is the knowledge of truths that are self-evident when understood. It is one’s own spiritual insight itself, through which all mysteries can be revealed.^[31]

          But let us return to the religious symbols, while vehemently protesting against the opinion that it is permissible to attribute an arbitrary meaning to these symbols. As in a painting it is not a question of imagining that it represents something other than what it is intended to represent, but of recognizing the latter, so no meaning should be attached to religious symbols other than what they actually are to have. The knowledge of the true meaning of a religious symbol is not gained through speculation but through experience. For example, whoever has found the “holy land” within himself will no longer go to Palestine in search of it, and whoever, tempted by the serpent of desire, has grasped the apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, no longer needs any historical proof that the story of Adam and Eve actually took place in paradise.

 

The Triangle.

 

          Next to the cross, the triangle is probably the most important symbol among the symbols of the Christian church. It signifies the trinity in unity, in other words, the unity presented as trinity; the unity of knower, knowing and known; in nature as force, matter and consciousness, in the divine as the trinity of Father, Son and Spirit. In the middle of the triangle there is sometimes an eye, which means all-consciousness, omniscience; the rays emanating from the triangle mean the light of wisdom, and the dove floating in it with the olive branch, peace of heart and divine grace. But knowing this is of little value as long as we do not feel the power of this symbol within ourselves, and that is why Thomas von Kempen also says: “What good is it to you to be taught about the Trinity if you lack humility and therefore displease the Trinity?”

 

The Number Four.

 

          The number four, or the square, is the symbol of truth. That is why there are four evangelists. The quaternary is also represented under the symbol of the cross, which is an inverted square and when folded forms a cube. The cube is the symbol of realization or the substantial, while the circle is the symbol of the infinite, the ideal and the spiritual. The infinite and the absolute cannot be represented by a symbol. It could be described as a circle whose center is everywhere and whose periphery is limitless.

          The Kabbalah teaches more about this; however, it is not our intention to enter its territory now.

 

The Number Seven.

 

          The number seven is often found among the symbols, as the seven angels on the throne of God, the seven candlesticks, the seven trumpets, the seven “spring spirits”; they signify the seven “planets,” etc. They represent the seven principles or stages of consciousness in the universe, and are embodied by the six lights on the altar. That only six are visible means that the seventh light is not revealed, but is hidden in the tabernacle (of the heart).

 

The Number Ten.

 

          The ten signifies man’s union with God—God is the indivisible unity of the All, the essence of all things.

          Man in himself, without God, is zero, nothing. It is only through its connection with unity that zero has a value as ten.

 

The Number Twelve.

 

          Twelve is the number of perfection and the apostles because it contains four, the number of truth, multiplied by three, the number of knowledge.

          Going further into the occult theory of numbers does not belong here.

 

The Sacraments.

 

          The main symbols of the Catholic Church are the sacraments. According to Christian teaching, a sacrament is a visible sign of the action of an invisible power (grace) of inner sanctification. The outward sign, then, has no real value unless inward sanctification takes place, and whether this can take place depends not so much on the giver of the sacrament as on the willingness of the recipient. The invisible force at work here is the divine life of the soul, which no man can create for himself, or acquire through his personal merits arising from the will of his selfhood (the nothingness), but which through the influence of the power of the God-man of the soul is communicated, and which is therefore called the “divine grace,” but is not to be confused with the “favour” of a God distant from man. This grace is not produced by the visible sign, but rather it is a strengthening of faith, by which the inward effect is facilitated. That is why Thomas von Kempen also says: “It is not human merit that a person consecrates and administers the sacrament of Christ. God is the principal author and the unseen agent, who has everything at his command and obeys everything he commands.” These words are true and their meaning is self-evident to anyone who understands them. This understanding, however, is not attained through intellectual brooding, but only through the awakening power of spiritual-divine faith in the heart.

          That the Church distinguishes between the external material (Prāna) and the spiritual-divine life (Jīva) is proved by her distinguishing between the “sacraments of the dead” and the “sacraments of the living.” Through the former divine grace is given, through the latter it is increased. Among the sacraments (not to be confused with mere ceremonies) of the dead are baptism and penance; to those of the living, confirmation, the sacrament of the altar, last rites, ordination and marriage. It is not the ceremony that bestows grace, but the grace bestowed in the sacrament is confirmed by the ceremony.

 

1. Baptism.

 

          Water is the symbol of thought and feeling. He who has never had a sense of the high and noble, never had a thought raised above selfishness, is unbaptized and may be considered spiritually dead. Through internal baptism man receives his name, i.e., his being. True baptism is the awakening of divine life and consciousness in man, and that is why there are few truly baptized in this world.

          Baptism is the initiation into immortal existence, spiritual rebirth. The born again knows a threefold baptism; baptism by the “water” (mind), baptism by the “blood” or divine life (love), and baptism by “fire” or spirit (knowledge). This subject belongs to the higher mysteries.

 

2. Confirmation.

 

Confirmation signifies a growth in the power of faith and an awakening in the knowledge of God through the influence of the Spirit of truth.

 

3. The Sacrament of the Altar.

 

          The ceremony that takes place here signifies self-sacrifice, the entering of God into man, through which man merges into God and becomes one with the divine being. Every thing grows by the nourishment it receives and absorbs. This is not only the case with the body, but also with the mind and soul. Because man absorbs the divine being in his soul and sacrifices his “ego” to the divine, the divine can become manifest in him and become his own being.

 

III. End

[Die Symbole der Bibel. Schluss.]

 

Note: ^[32]

The Bhagavad Gita says: “Brahma himself is the sacrifice; he is the fire and the food of the fire, and he sacrifices himself. Whoever thinks of Brahma during his sacrifice enters into him.”^[33]

          The sacrifice of the Mass is thus the symbol of union with God, whereby in fact nothing essential is united, but only the unity of God is represented and recognized for man. By sacrificing his ego to divinity, man sacrifices nothing but a delusion, self-delusion, which in itself has no essence, to the knowledge of reality. The bread is the symbol of the divine nourishment of the soul, and since God is the essence of all things and everything else is only appearance, the essence of God is contained in the bread as in all other things. The wine is the symbol of the power of love and wisdom, which pours out of the divine being.

          “Give nourishment to the Divine and be nourished by it. If in this way the one nourishes the other, you will attain the highest good.”^[34] But how could this divine, the “Body of Christ,” be symbolized better than by the host, whose round form represents perfection and whose whiteness represents the purity of perfection, and which, considered as something corporeal, actually includes everything that nourishes the body. The water is the symbol of thought; the thought penetrated by the fire of divine love is symbolized by the wine. When the thought, purified from all base things, unites with divine love, the “marriage” still takes place in the promised land, whereby by God’s power this “water” in “wine” is transformed. But where the spirit is lacking, the ceremony is useless; for then there is an appearance of an external action, but no inner sacrifice and no nourishment of the soul takes place.

          Also, it is actually true that “whoever unworthily receives the body (essence) of the Lord, and receives his blood (his power) unworthily, eats and drinks judgment for himself”; for whoever awakens divine powers within himself and uses them for personal purposes makes the divine subservient to the animal, the sacred to the “devil of the self” and falls prey to “black magic,” the end of which is annihilation.

 

4. Atonement.

 

          Repentance is purification, stripping away of selfishness with all the sins and errors arising from it, which still hinder the awakening of the knowledge of God. The Bhagavad Gita says: “Worship of the gods and sages, cleanliness, righteousness, chastity, gentleness, these are called bodily penance. — Non-irritating words, kindness, kindness and silent prayer is called repentance of speech. — Cheerfulness of mind, equanimity, taciturnity, self-control, and purity of will is called spiritual repentance.”^[35] A penance that is only imaginary is only a penance for appearances; the repentance actually exercised is true. It consists in examining one’s own self in the power of faith which lives within us (which has nothing to do with what we believe or think). Paul says: “Examine yourselves. Haven’t you noticed in yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless you are unfit.”^[36]

          The right indulgence consists in man’s forsaking his sins and errors by the power of his higher knowledge, and this, no one else can do for him. Forgiveness consists in his “forgiving” or “giving away” his sins, and he gives them away by separating himself from his sinful self and uniting himself with his divine nature, which does not sin. Confession is the outward symbol of self-enquiry; the priest is the symbol of the higher “I,” the “Master,” who imparts instruction and wise teachings to the personal human. In fact, the “minister” should also be a real sage and spiritual leader.^[37]

 

5. The Last Rites.

 

          The rites are the symbol of calm and peace. As the turbulent waves of the sea are calmed by the pouring of oil, so should the action of divine grace, with the aid of external action, calm the mind of the dying. The state in which man’s mind finds himself when he takes leave of life is of the greatest importance for the inner rest of the soul and for the inner development of man. Every being finally enters its origin from which it came, i.e., it reconnects with that being which corresponds to its own being: the dark with the dark, the fire with the fire, the light with the light. The material (tamas) goes to inanimate matter, the animal (rajas) to the animal, the true (sattva) to truth.^[38] “Whoever departs from the world and only thinks of me alone, enters me when he has left his body.”^[39] But one must already have God in one’s heart in order to be able to think of him properly at the hour of death.

          When the soul separates from the body, the “last judgment” takes place, i.e., the whole past life with all its details passes before the mind’s eye like a panorama.^[40] How then can man be filled with the consciousness of good if no good thought has come to his consciousness during his life? In this sacrament, man finally renounces all evil desires and actions and surrenders himself to God. This ceremony is therefore also very useful for strengthening faith. However, the enlightened one does not need external action; but there are many who throw away a treasure, not because they are superior to it, but because they do not appreciate its value. “The doubter of the truth perishes.”

 

6. The Ordination to the Priesthood.

 

          It is the symbol of the inner initiation, i.e., of sanctification and enlightenment, and is of real value only when this inward consecration, which is not the work of man, takes place. If there is no sanctifying power in the soul of the recipient, then the empty ceremony is nothing but deceit or fraud. The real priest is called to his high office by the power of the Holy Spirit, the knowledge of God. He should be a real theosophist inwardly, and not just a studied theologian. The people who were not called by God, who were only made into “priests” by the church on the outside, are the “false prophets” and mock clerics, the false shepherds, who do not go through the door into the sheepfold, but climbed through the back window.^[41]

          All spiritual recognition, action and becoming comes from the divine power of faith. This faith has nothing to do with what I believe, believe, think and imagine, but it is an inner power that no one can understand who does not have and feel it in himself. It is therefore hidden or “occult” to all who do not possess it. Knowledge springs from this power, and from this comes action. The essence of man is formed from doing, and from this his essence the nature of his actions emerges again. Therefore, the priest ordained by God is the one who has the true power of faith and spiritual nature. The outward consecration is only the confirmation that he has the inward consecration. Where this is not present, the ceremony can no more produce a true priest than the award of a diploma can make a man a doctor, if he is not already a doctor by nature. Everyone should therefore strive to first become inwardly what he wants to represent outwardly, for without the essence everything is only dissimulation and comedy. “It is not the habit or the shaved head that makes the priest, but the heart. The life of a true religious must be adorned with all virtues, so that he may be inwardly as he appears to men on the outside.”^[42]

 

7. Marriage.

 

          Marriage is the symbol of union. In the esoteric sense, it means the union of spirit with substance (soul). The mind without a body cannot reveal itself; it is like a breath without form, “one does not know where it comes from, nor where it is going.” Only through the connection with the soul does it receive form. From this union the spiritual individuality is born. The spirit (consciousness, intelligence) is the male principle, the generating element in nature, the substance (will, love) is the female principle, the giving birth. From the union arises the form. In the same way, deed is born from the union of thought and will, and the “son,” wisdom, is born from the union of intelligence and love. Without the will to act or love, all thinking and knowing is just an empty dream. Without intelligence or thought, love is blind and does not bring about anything perfect. But where intelligence and love are in harmony with each other and complement each other, there, God (good) bestows His blessing for their union. The church can put its seal on it; but real marriages are not made by external ceremonies, but are made in heaven.

          In this earthly world of appearances, man and woman are the symbols of this union. Not that man possesses all understanding and woman only love; but it is natural that in man the intellectual, calculating activity of the spirit, in woman, the feelings of the soul, love, are predominant, whereby they complement each other. The outside is only a symbol of the inside. The ability, by external sexual union, to produce human organisms capable of serving as fit vessels for the “re-embodiment” of heavenly man is the last remnant of the creative powers which man possessed when he was still a heavenly being on a higher level of existence, before willing and thinking (Eve and Adam) separated in him and as a result division and disharmony arose in his being. Procreation is therefore, at bottom, a sacred act, even if the physiological process involved is of an animal nature. The union of the sexes, even now, on solemn occasions, forms the culmination of religious ceremonies in certain sects. The spirit in which any work is done is the life of the work and confers its consecration, and it is fitting, therefore, that the Church, as the symbol of sanctity, should bless marriage, as a solemn religious act granted.

 

8. The “Cult of Mary.”

 

          By the “cult of Mary” we mean nothing other than cultivating the purity of the soul; for “Mary” (Māyā) means the celestial nature of man (as opposed to his animal nature). This higher region of his soul is the eternal pure virgin who is inspired by the Holy Spirit, i.e., by the Spirit of self-knowledge, and gives birth to the “Son,” self-knowledge. She is the symbol of the wisdom revealed in the heart of man and its realization, and as such is depicted surrounded by stars (divine thoughts), standing on the moon and with the serpent under her feet. This means that through wisdom, purity and virtue the doubts and misconceptions created by the moonlight of the erring earthly mind can be overcome and the serpent of desire can be controlled.

 

Closing remarks.

 

          The indications given above are by no means intended to fully explain the religious symbols, but are only to be taken as hints to aid one’s intuition and to heighten the reader’s religious feeling. The so-called “enlightened” and “free thinkers” want nothing to do with religious symbols, and because they have no idea of their meaning, they despise them. The superstitious cling to these symbols, but only see the external signs and do not recognize the spirit. The reasonable man, however, neither despises the form nor is he blinded by it, but seeks to recognize the spirit that created the forms, its essence is represented in the forms and designs them.

          The effect of a symbol depends on the knowledge of the spirit contained in it. A Hottentot sees nothing on a map but the paper and the colors; but to an educated person it can serve as a useful guide. If the Indian worships a cow because she is a cow, he is doing it out of ignorance; but considering her as a symbol of the source of all good in the world, in this symbol he does not worship the cow, but the source of good. When the Parsee looks to the sun in his devotion, he does not worship the earthly sun, but fixes his mind to the sun of divine wisdom, of which the visible sun is but a symbol. Thus the symbols do not serve as an end, but as a means to an end, through them to gain knowledge, through the outside to the inside, through the sign to power. They are only superfluous when you no longer need them.

          The whole visible universe is a sum of outward appearances or symbols in which the inner forces and beings are symbolized in visible forms through the magical magic of the creative power. We cannot see the truth itself on the outside. For this it presents itself to us in visible images, and it is up to us to recognize the truth in it. When the sage says that all of appearances is a deception (illusion, conception, māyā), it does not mean that God created the world to deceive us, but we deceive ourselves when we use appearances for something other than to take them for appearances which in themselves, without knowledge of the truth presented in them, are insubstantial; just like a picture without meaning, which represents nothing, is not a picture but only a tangle of colours. To recognize God in the universe means to recognize reality in the universe in all its manifestations and symbols. But in order to arrive at this knowledge man must learn to distinguish his own true nature from the symbol which he represents; for only what is true in man can recognize truth in other forms, and only when the consciousness of God has awakened in man does God recognize himself in him in all things.

          Nor do the symbols of the Church deceive us, unless we deceive ourselves by them, believing them to be something other than what they really are. If a Sicilian bandit thinks that by buying an indulgence he can procure the remission of sin in advance of a murder he intends to commit, it is his own ignorance and misuse of the symbol that makes him cheating. When a man asks an external God whom he does not know to grant a selfish request, he deceives himself, for he is offering a sacrifice not to God but to his own self, and higher than God is the gratification of his desires.

          But not only the laity, but also the clergy themselves, insofar as they are no longer servants of God but only servants of the Church, having largely lost the key to understanding their symbols. The outer form has often taken the place of the inner spiritual church, and since the rock of the church is truth, we also see how the church loses inner power with the loss of truth, and their symbols are regarded by many people as dead forms and empty ceremonies, often only heeded because of fashion. Against this ever more spreading unbelief, which is much deplored by the clergy, there is no other remedy than pointing to the truth hidden behind the symbols and their knowledge. When the world will see that it is not a question of believing in the probability of narratives and merely clinging to external forms, but of believing in the truth itself which is hidden behind the symbols, then the true, spiritual church gains power again, even if superstition and pious fanaticism perishes. But once the feeling for what is true, good and beautiful has awakened among the people, justice will also be revealed again among the people.

 

Notes

^[1] The Symbols of the Bible [Die Symbole der Bibel. I. II. Das Neue Testament. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Lotusblüten 11, no. 68 (May 1898), 321-350] {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} This article was previously translated: The Symbols of the Bible. Dr. Franz Hartmann. (Translated from the German by Myron H. Phelps) The Ideal Review, The Metaphysical Magazine 11, no. 3 (March 1900), 161-171] My translation is new, based on the Lotusblüten 11, no. 68 (May 1898) German printing, since there were errors in the Phelps 1900 translation.

^[2] “At the beginning of each period of creation, the entire manifested universe proceeds out of the unmanifest, and disappears into him who is called the unmanifest at nightfall.” Bhagavad Gita VIII, 18.

^[3] “He is the light in all things that have light and is above all darkness. He is the knower, the knower, and the object of true knowledge that dwells in the hearts of all.” Bhagavad Gita XIII, 17.

^[4] {R.H.—This was, for the most part true at the time when Dr. Hartmann wrote this but now, as I write this in the year 2022, scientists have created epidemics by the use of gene splicing or editing technologies which have introduced new havocs around the world. Scientists have no shame in playing with the human chromosome which is what a materialist intends to do. Ethics does not exist with them.}

^[5] See Jakob Boehme, “Mysterium magnum” chap. 32.

^[6] Luke XVII, 21.

^[7] Galatians II, 20.

^[8] 2 Corinthians IV, 11.

^[9] “Der geistige Führer.” [“The Spiritual Guide.”]

^[10] Angelos Silesius, “Der cherubinische Wandersmann.” [“The cherubic wanderer.”]

^[11] I. John, verse 20.

^[12] Die Symbole der Bibel. III. Die Symbole der Kirche. Architektur. Das Kreuz. Mystische Bedeutung der Farben. Das Glaubensbekenntnis. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Lotusblüten 11, no. 69 (June 1898), 401-446. {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} Translated into English—The Symbols of the Bible. III. The Church. Dr. Franz Hartmann. (Translated from the German by Myron H. Phelps) The Ideal Review, The Metaphysical Magazine 12, no. 2 (May 1900), 96-106. My translation is new, based on the Lotusblüten 11, no. 68 (May 1898) German printing, since there were errors in the Phelps 1900 translation

^[13] John I, verse 4 and following.

^[14] That is why the “scribes” (scholars of letters) and “Pharisees” (unenlightened doctors of theology), insofar as they do not have this light, are only shadows, from which perhaps people can become, but not yet, enlightened ones.

^[15] Failure to understand this Scripture is an inexhaustible source of spiritual pride, for many who are even a little enlightened fancy that the light that dawns upon them is their own. True humility is recognizing the futility of self-delusion and the greatness of God in man.

^[16] John I, 10–13.

^[17] {R.H.—This would indicate the Light of the Father, the Monad, or Spirit or Higher Self, entering the reincarnating Soul or Ego or solar Angel or Higher Ego. In H. P. Blavatsky’s Theosophical Glossary, the difference between the Higher Ego and the Higher Self is indicated: What is the difference between the Higher Ego and the Higher Self? Answer.—The Higher Self is Atma, the One Universal Self. The Higher Ego is Higher Manas, the reincarnating Ego. [pp. 154, 155, 156, Second Revised American Edition]}

^[18] „Lotusblüthen“ Vol. IX, page 234 “Ein Blick in die Kabala.” [“A look into Kabbalah.”]

^[19] Essentially, a “Christian,” i.e., an “anointed one,” a “Buddhist,” i.e., an “enlightened one,” a “Lama,” i.e., a “Glorified One,” and a “Brahmine,” a “Good One,” one and the same.

^[20] In the material.

^[21] The time of the increased return of sunspots corresponds to the “systole,” that of the decrease to the “diastole” of the great heart.

^[22] I. John. Verse 12.

^[23] Galatians II, 20.

^[24] Matthew VI, 26–29.

^[25] Matthew. VI, 5–8.

^[26] Matthew X, 34–37.

^[27] Compare Bhagavad Gita I.

^[28] Matthew XIII, 14.

^[29] Chapter VI, verses 10–12.

^[30] Chapter IX, verse 26.

^[31] It is still the custom in India for the Brahmins to make calendars. But while the ancient Brahmins were yogis, and through their own spiritual perception recognized the constellations and movements of the celestial bodies, and thereby proved that they were real Brahmins, i.e., being god-wise, modern “Brahmins,” like mere mortals, must resort to astronomical calculations, having lost spiritual perception through the all-pervading light of faith.

^[32] {The Symbols of the Bible. III. End. [Die Symbole der Bibel. Schluss. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Lotusblüten 12, no. 70 (July 1898), 502-517] 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} Translated into English— The Symbols of the Bible. IV. Symbols. Dr. Franz Hartmann. (Translated from the German by Myron H. Phelps) The Ideal Review, The Metaphysical Magazine 12, no. 3 (June 1900), 170-180. My translation is new, based on the Lotusblüten 12, no. 70 (July 1898) German printing, since there were errors in the Phelps 1900 translation.

^[33] Bhagavad Gita IV, 24.

^[34] Bhagavad Gita III, 11.

^[35] Chap. XVII, 14–16.

^[36] 2. Corinthians. XIII, 5.

^[37] {R.H.—In this day and age of Kali-yuga, the age of darkness, finding a true Priest who understands and administers the esoteric rites is quite rare, as corruption in many forms is everywhere. Correspondingly, the royalty lines have been broken and free from the spirit of the law as can be seen everywhere, kings and queens act with impunity because they consider themselves above the Rule of Law. This fact is also rampant in the U.S. Congress and Presidency and the Legislature. As Dr. Hartmann says further on in this article: “The real priest is called to his high office by the power of the Holy Spirit, the knowledge of God. He should be a real theosophist inwardly, and not just a studied theologian. . . . The people who were not called by God, who were only made into “priests” by the church on the outside, are the “false prophets” and mock clerics, the false shepherds, who do not go through the door into the sheepfold, but climbed through the back window.”}

^[38] Bhagavad Gita XIV, 151.

^[39] Ibid. VIII, 5.

^[40] Some people who have been close to drowning can tell about it.

^[41] John X, 1.

^[42] Thomas von Kempis, “Imitation of Christ” I, 19, l.