Note: [1]
The grand truth, which so few understand and so few are willing or able to grasp, is that Divine Wisdom does not consist in the acceptance of any opinion or person, but in the understanding of Truth. No one can be “converted” or persuaded into this understanding if it is not already in his heart. It is not sufficient to believe any authority blindly, nor to accept opinions that are based upon circumstantial evidence, external appearance, logical deduction, or reasoning. He alone is a true occultist in whom the truth is a living and conscious power—who does not need to draw inferences, because he sees and knows the truth itself, the truth being the essential part of his own constitution. This is not a theory, but a living power. “Occult instruction” does not consist in eloquent speeches, in effusion, or in the telling of wonderful stories; but in spiritual unfoldment and growth, in the expansion of heart and mind, in the awakening to a higher state of existence, in the realization of the unity of all, and in the practical realization of the ideal of universal brotherhood and harmony.
The truth is always self-evident, and he who has realized it requires no other proof for its existence. Unless we awaken to the consciousness of its presence, all our theories and opinions will constitute no real knowledge of truth. Unless the soul awakens to the realization of its own divine wisdom, all our speculations about the nature of divine mysteries will be as useless as a description of a paradise in the moon.
What must we do to enter into that higher state of consciousness? The answer embraces the sum and substance of all religious and philosophical teaching; it is a science which for its acquisition requires ages of instruction and experience during many incarnations. Nevertheless, the answer may be given in a few words: To enter into a new state of consciousness we must relinquish the old one; to enter into the waking state, we must cease to be asleep. This surely no one can do by his own power, no more than a corpse can cause itself to be alive, or an unconscious body make itself conscious. It can be done only by the power of the Master, the higher Self, which dwells within and beyond the terrestrial self, and whose consciousness and state of existence are of quite a different character from those of the mortal personality which they overshadow. Thus our own God is the Master, and if we cannot enter within the sphere of his consciousness, which is our own higher self-consciousness—if we cannot enter his kingdom of heaven, which is our own highest region of feeling and thought—all our learning and philosophical speculations will be nothing but the threshing of empty straw.
How can we know the Master, and enter into his sphere of consciousness? Surely in no other way than through the door of Love. Love is the power that links together, not only worlds but also the Master and the disciple. If we wish to approach the Master, we must love him unselfishly; in loving him we learn to know him, for divine love is the beginning of divine wisdom. Love attracts; doubt repels. If we love the Master, he will be attracted to us in spite of our personal imperfection; while the most moral, pious, and virtuous man who does not love the Master will not be attracted to him. Not an assumed selfish morality and personal sanctimoniousness, but unselfish Love is the highest law. The love of God, the realization of divine harmony, is the beginning of real knowledge; for, as the disciple advances in love to divine wisdom, he will approach the Master. The Master’s image will become a living reality within the disciple’s soul; the Master’s power and consciousness will become the power and consciousness of the disciple, and the Master become identified with him. In such moments of unification the disciple is the Master himself, and what the disciple does will be done by the Master through him.
What has been said about the instruction received from the Master, the divine higher Self, whose voice not everybody is able to hear, is also true in regard to the instruction that comes from the influence emanating from the great souls of those spiritually illumined and awakened. He who loves such a Master unselfishly becomes ultimately identified with him, partaker of his consciousness, his perceptions, his thoughts, and his knowledge, even if the physical body of the Master is thousands of miles away, and if he has never seen him in his physical form. Nor does the Master select his disciples according to their worldly respectability and erudition ; but only according to their qualifications in unselfish love, which is in itself the indispensable link of harmony that connects the Master with his disciple.
Many claim that they are seeking the Master, while in reality they do not seek him, but only the profits which they expect from him. They never think for a moment of becoming one with him in divine love and self-knowledge; they doubt him, and, keeping their eyes closed to his light, ask for external proof of the existence of that light; they fancy themselves to be all-wise and dispute the teachings of the Master, which do not agree with their own narrow opinions and prejudices. They even ask by what right the Master is entitled to teach, and ask to be shown his certificates for establishing him as an authority in which they may blindly believe. They have no love and no real knowledge; they only wish to be amused and have their “scientific” curiosity gratified; and as divine love is the only key that unlocks the door for the understanding of divine truth, the door of the sanctuary remains forever closed to them. A holy science can never be taught to the unholy, and no one is holy if he is not in possession of that love which is selflessness.
Truth does not rest upon proof; it is self-existent. Its understanding rests upon its recognition, and needs no other support. While the understanding does not depend upon proof, yet the proof is not possible without the true understanding. The true understanding is real knowledge, it is true love itself; because true love enlightened by wisdom is the recognition of the true Self.
Many are chosen, but few are the elect. The elected few are those who have succeeded in overcoming their own prejudices and superstitions and the argumentation of their animal minds by the power of the recognition of truth; those who neither blindly and foolishly accept the truth on the strength of recommendation, nor stupidly reject all that goes beyond the narrow horizon of their understanding. The elect are those who have the true understanding. This can be given by no man, but comes from the spiritual recognition of the divine law, which is divine love. Those who wish to know the Master must love him, not as one might love for material gain, but as one loves his father and mother or the immortal part of himself. To the true disciple the Master is his father and mother, nourishing him with his own spirit, illuminating him with his own light, feeding him with the substance of his own soul, entering into communion with him, communicating to him his own nature and life.
Where there is love, there is trust. He who doubts the Master will be doubted by him; but to him who loves the Master as his own higher Self, and proves his love by his works, the Master will give himself with all his possessions. Therefore it is taught that love is the greatest of all commandments. The apostle Paul says: “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity [divine love], I am nothing.”
This possession of divine love, unification with the Master, is a subject which cannot be proved or disproved by any external evidence; it can be known only to the faithful disciple himself and to him who through the mouth of wisdom speaks: “Arise and embrace me with thy whole being, and I will show thee wonderful things.”
Note
[1] The True Occultist. Franz Hartmann, M.D. The Metaphysical Magazine 2, no. 1 (July 1895), 50-53 [This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos, by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025]