II. Truth Is Truth.[1] Illusions Are Merely Illusions.
TRUTH means Reality, Substantiality, Being, Self-existence. Illusion means unreality, unsubstantiality, non-being, external appearances produced by invisible causes. Truth is, it cannot be made or destroyed, it cannot be an illusion, even if those who cannot see it imagine it to be one; an illusion cannot be a truth, even if it is mistaken for one. Truth is an internal Reality, and, therefore, invisible to the external senses. Form, shape, or appearance, is an external quality which cannot exist without substance, and which is, therefore, an illusion, and unreal, although it may be perceived by the senses.
A form can represent a character, but it cannot create one; a truth cannot manifest itself without some appropriate form. A form which represents the true character of the idea which it is intended to represent, represents a truth; a form which does not truly express the idea which it is intended to express, is not representing the truth.
Substance may be without a definite form, but there can be no form without substance. Even the shape seen in a mirror is something substantial, having for its substance the ether, whose vibrations produce the phenomenon of light and cause the reflection. Even the forms seen in visions and dreams are substantial, having for their substance the mind-matter of which thoughts are composed. Man is a form intended for the manifestation of Divine Wisdom. Even the most beautiful human form is merely an illusion, and if it is without Reason it represents neither Wisdom nor Truth. Only the truth in man is self- existent and real, the body in which it manifests itself is not self-existent and is subject to continual transformation.
Truth being self-existent and eternal, can only be known to itself. That which is not self-existent and not true, cannot be self-conscious of the truth, nor possess any self-knowledge of it. It may see the external representations of the truth in symbols and forms, but not the truth itself. Real Knowledge is obtained only by Self-knowledge and by the Knowledge of Self.
Note.—Truth can be seen in its purity only when it is kept free from false intellectual speculation and argumentation. Reason requires no arguments to see that which has become self-evident to it; but the intellect requires arguments to produce within itself a belief in the existence of that which it is not able to see. Language and letters do not contain the truth; they are merely external symbols and representations. There is no truth to be found in books by those who are not already in possession of truth. The reading of books is useful if it supplies us with useful information; but information is not self-knowledge; it is only useful if it aids us to understand the truth that already exists within ourselves. By the reading of books we may obtain information about the opinion or knowledge of their authors; but even if the author of a book possesses real self-knowledge; that which he can communicate to us will be to us merely a matter of speculation, as long as we do not recognise the identical truth within ourselves. The self-knowledge of another person is not our own, and our self-knowledge is not that of another. This self-evident truth is very little understood, because comparatively few people possess self-knowledge. We sometimes hear persons speak of the “speculations” of the Rosicrucians, and of the “fancies” of Saints; because whatever any real Rosicrucian or Saint may have known by self-knowledge, the information he gives can be nothing more than a speculation and fancy to those who, being neither Adepts nor Saints, are not able to perceive spiritual truths for themselves. External objects can be seen by means of the external senses; intellectual verities can be perceived only by those who are in possession of Intelligence; spiritual realities can be perceived and understood only by the Spirit, having become self-conscious of its own existence in Man.
III. No Effect Is Ever Produced Except By a Cause.
A cause can exist without producing an effect, but no effect can exist without a previous cause adequate to its production. A self-existent cause is not an effect; effects are never self-existent; they are always produced by causes. Nothing can come out of nothing, and where something exists, there must have been something to cause its existence, even if that cause is an internal one, consisting in its own power and ability to exist.
Nothing can come into existence unless the conditions necessary for it are present at the time when it comes into existence. A seed cannot grow unless it has the power to grow, and is surrounded by the conditions necessary for its growth. Ignorance cannot produce knowledge, imperfection cannot create perfection; unconsciousness cannot produce consciousness; the regeneration of man cannot take place without the action of the regenerating spirit. If a superior thing grows out of an inferior one, there must be a superior cause acting within it, even if that cause is invisible and beyond human conception.
A cause must be adequate to produce the effect it produces. A continually occurring effect must have a continually existing cause. Forms die, and new but similar ones continually come into existence. This could not take place if the cause that produces these forms were to die or to cease to exist for a while. The relative manifestations of motion, life, consciousness, love, will, and wisdom, could not take place unless all these powers existed in the Absolute without being manifest.
That which is self-existent has within itself the power to exist. That which is not self-existent depends for its existence on the influence of some external power. Unspiritual man is not self-existent; his body, his emotions, his intellectual activity, are all the effects of cosmic influences and external conditions; only that which is divine in Man is self-existent, and, therefore, immortal. That which is not self-existent in Man can become self-existent in no other way than by assimilating with that which is self-existent and eternal in him.
Note.—The Cause of the Self-existent, Unmeasurable, and Eternal, will for ever be incomprehensible to that which is not in possession of these qualities. By the power of Reason (Intuition, Conscience) we may recognize that this Cause is universal, self-existent, unmeasurable to us, eternal, and the producer of all, and the Intellect by the power of logic confirms these self-evident truths; but the Intellect cannot understand them, because it is itself neither universal, nor self-existent, nor eternal. Conscience does not reside in the brain, it exists in the “heart.” God[ii] is not self-conscious in the human intellect; it can become so only within the divine souL The intellect is merely a secondary production of the light of the Spirit, in the same sense as the light of the Moon is borrowed from the Sun. Those who perceive the presence of the divine power within their own hearts are far nearer to God than the theologian who is well informed about all that men have ever speculated regarding the qualities of God, and who is unconscious of the presence of divine power within himself.
By the spiritual power of Intuition (spiritual consciousness) man may perceive beyond the possibility of a doubt, that such a divine or spiritual power exists within himself, and feel that this power is fed and nourished from the invisible beyond, in the same sense as the life of a plant is stimulated into action by the sunshine, which the plant may feel but which it cannot see.
Likewise, the omnipresence of the divine power may be perceived by the interior sense of feeling, but it cannot be intellectually known. Real knowledge in regard to God is attainable only by God, having attained self-knowledge in the spirit of Man.
IV. Man Can Be Conscious Only of That Which Exists In His Consciousness.
Unspiritual man has no absolute knowledge in regard to anything whatsoever. He lives entirely in the realm of inferences and illusions. The Intellect has no actual knowledge, not even in regard to any external and visible thing, for we do not perceive the things themselves by means of our external senses; we only perceive the impressions and mental images which they produce in the sphere of our mind, and we then logically infer that the things we see, feel, hear, etc., exist, because their impressions come to our consciousness.
We cannot be conscious of the existence of any external thing unless its impression comes to our consciousness; we can form no intellectual conception of anything except of that which exists within our own intellect We cannot think a thought which does not enter our mind; we can receive, transform and remodel existing ideas; but nobody can create a new idea by his own power.
No man has the power to create anything out of nothing, nor could he produce in himself the power to think, if that power did not already exist in him. A plant does not create Life, it is the Universal Cause which manifests its presence as “Life” in the organism of a plant or an animal. It is not man who creates Mind, but it is the One that manifests itself as “Mind” by means of the organism of man. Instead of saying: “I think,” it would be more correct to say: “The Unknown is thinking in me.” Instead of saying: “I live,” it would be far more reasonable to say: “That which we call ‘Life’ is active in me.” Instead of saying: “I am conscious,” it would be more correct to say: “The absolute consciousness of the One is manifesting itself as relative consciousness in me.”
Only the spirit is self-existent and real; man’s organism, the physical one as well as that of the soul, is merely an instrument by means of which the Spirit may act upon matter and manifest its various modes of activity in a state of Unconsciousness, Consciousness, or Self-consciousness. Each particle composing the constitution of man is in either one of these three states, and the sum of these various states of consciousness produces in man the illusion of self and what he imagines to be his own individual consciousness. Only that which is divine in man can possess any real self-consciousness; for it alone is self-existent and real.
Note.—A due consideration of the above propositions will furnish us the Way to the understanding of some of the greatest mysteries of nature, such as the division of consciousness, double existence, the states after the death of the body, etc.
Intellectual man in his vanity imagines himself to be something self-existent and real, while an examination of that which he calls his own self would easily discover to him the fact that he is nothing but an ever-changing product of cosmic and preexisting influences and external conditions, and that when these influences cease to act in his form, the illusion of self will necessarily cease to exist.
That which man calls his self-consciousness and of which our modem philosophers imagine that it cannot be divided, is merely the ever-changing product of the sum of the various states of consciousness, manifested in each of his component parts, focussing together into one centre, the seat where the will resides. If the Will becomes divided, two or more such centres of consciousness may be formed; but real spiritual self-consciousness can exist only within the self-existent immortal spirit in man, which in those who live in the illusion of their lower self and more especially in those who are seeking to develop their intellect at the expense of their spirituality, is still in a state of unconsciousness.
They who have attained divine self-knowledge, know that they—their illusive selves—are nothing but an illusion and that they—in their aspect as human beings—can have no real knowledge; but the ignorant and conceited, not knowing that they know nothing, cling to the sphere of their illusive self and remain imbedded in ignorance.
Man imagines to know; but it is only the God in Man who can have any real knowledge, because he alone has the power to be conscious of himself.
If instead of worrying our brains with idle speculations, regarding the Unknown, with philosophical vagaries and inferences drawn from erroneous premises, we would open our hearts to the light of Divine Wisdom and permit the Spirit (The Logos) to “do its thinking” within ourselves, instead of impeding its action by our theories, assumptions and prejudices, we should be on the true road to Theosophy, and we should become able to see and to understand the Truth by its own Light instead of groping for it in the dark. To develop the truth within ourselves by acting according to the dictates of the truth, and to seek for the truth within our own selves, this alone is the practical way.
Franz Hartmann, M.D.
Notes:
[1] Self-Evident Truths and and Logical Deductions. F. Hartmann, M.D. Lucifer 2, no. 8 (April 1888), 92-95. {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos, by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}
[2] {Whenever Dr. Hartmann uses the word “God,” he is always referring to the Divine Essence, the Monad, the Logos, or the Inner Man. Not the theist’ God.—Robert Hutwohl}