[Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky][1]
Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl
So much has been written about Helena Petrovna Blavatsky that there is hardly anything new to say about her, and if I have to say anything about my relations with her, I am obliged, for the sake of understanding, to speak primarily of myself and to make a “general confession,” so to speak, and now I have to confess that of all the stupid things I’ve done in my life, none seems so regrettable to me than the fact that during my two-year stay in Adyar and my daily dealings with Blavatsky, I didn’t know and fully appreciate the spirit within her. Like so many other people, it was only later that I realized who and what Blavatsky was inside.
On November 22, 1838, at 3:30 in the afternoon in Donauwörth, I was lucky enough to be born into this earthly world of fools from a “better hereafter.” My father, a busy physician, had little time to concern himself with my affairs, except when, which seldom happened, it was mistakenly found necessary to give me a beating; my mother coddled me and always let me have my way. Under this treatment, it went without saying that I became the “black sheep” in the family and preferred to roam in the woods rather than go to school, because there, I could indulge my mystical daydreams undisturbed and let my imagination run wild. I brought my penchant for the mystical and mysterious into the physical world. The first book I bought was The Fiery Dragon,[2] which contained a lot of necromancy, but I didn’t know what to do with it other than burn it, however, I read Elisabeth Crowe’s Night Side of Nature[3] and Zschokke’s[4] “Transfigurations” with great interest, for the invisible world occupied my curiosity far more than the visible, and these books were about things that no one in the petty town where I grew up seemed to have any inkling of.
Drawn by the mystical magic inherent in the sacraments and observances of the Catholic Church, I became a fervent Catholic and religious enthusiast; Yes, I even had the desire to join a monastery to be a monk and a Capuchin, but I couldn’t find any spirit in the external church. The whole business seemed to me like a craft that the “clerics” practiced to make a living and in the end the whole thing seemed to me a pious fraud, with these people preaching to the gullible listeners about things they themselves knew nothing about.
It was around this time that blind materialism was beginning to become fashionable. I became acquainted with a musician and composer who believed in nothing but what one can touch with ones’ hands, and he initiated me into the great secret of this ignorance, which consists in the assertion that there is nothing higher than dead matter and that with the death of the body everything ends for man. Life, consciousness, intelligence, love, goodness, wisdom were all just the products of a mechanical movement of atoms and other such nonsense.
I can assure you that such an explanation of the riddle of the world went against my grain; but since my musician was older than me, I figured he must know all this better than I did, and therefore left the matter open to be considered. The more I delved into this kind of “philosophy,” the less of a sound basis I found in it, and eventually settled for the view that no one knows anything of the supernatural, and that none can return from beyond the grave; and that indifference to religious things, together with full enjoyment of life, is the highest wisdom.
With this state of mind, I arrived and settled in the United States in 1864 as a ship’s doctor. In New Orleans I became acquainted with a lady who, although not a believer in ghostly apparitions, eventually turned out to be an excellent “medium.” So, for 15 years I have had the opportunity to become acquainted with the most wonderful “spiritual” and occult phenomena, which were sufficiently persuasive to shake my belief that no one can return from beyond the grave. Since these lines are not written for those who do not want to know anything about such things and I have no intention of converting those readers,[5] I will refrain from a more detailed description of my experiences in this regard and will only briefly mention that dealing with so-called “materialized spirits” was an almost daily occupation for me, and that these figures were visible and tangible not only for me but for everyone present. One could converse with them just as well as with ordinary people and that locked doors or walls which [normally] prevented their appearance or disappearance were of no obstacle. Often several came at the same time. There were men and women, white and Indian, tall and short, fat and thin. Appearances of deceased people I know who spoke and acted just as they were used to when they were alive, and who were not lacking in evidence of their identity which seemed impossible to doubt. From time to time, materialized animal figures also became present [to me], and among these especially a tomcat, who was well known to me, who was my housemate a year earlier when he was still walking on earth in his mortal shell, but then fell off the roof of the house during a love affair as a result of a misstep and died. There were also a wide variety of other phenomena, some of which took place in intimate circles of friends, some in the presence of publicly known media. Answers to questions were written on blank paper by invisible hands; I myself, along with the heavy armchair in which I was sitting, was lifted up to the ceiling of the room by invisible forces. Seaweed, dripping from fresh seawater, was brought by unseen beings, though we were in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado[6] and 2,000 English miles from the coast. Likewise exotic plants and flowers became present. Ghosts were not only seen and touched, but also photographed, and we treated them just as we would treat living people. It also happened that the astral bodies of living people, whose physical bodies lay asleep, appeared to us and made reports of ascertainment which later proved to be true. In short, phenomena of the most amazing kind, but nothing new to the experienced spiritualist, took place. I have had the opportunity to study such things for 15 years, and when I mention them it is to show that when I saw similar phenomena in India which H. P. Blavatsky could produce by her will, this was nothing new to me, and that’s why I wasn’t apt to be fooled in Adyar by sleight of hand tricks, if such had been attempted.
The so-called “unmaskings” of spiritistic mediums, about which there is a lot of clamor in the newspapers, are often a questionable matter and for those who know they are usually just an unmasking of the ignorance of the “unmaskers” themselves, which are governed by the law of “repercussion,” whereby damage to the materialized astral body is transmitted to the physical body, and of the nature of what is called ‘matter.’ There, for example, a “materialized spirit” is spattered with ink by a “debunker” and the ink stains are then found on the medium’s clothes. Now the “debunking” is available for everyone except those who know the laws of metaphysics. Such occult phenomena are neither “supernatural” nor do they require deception; their explanation can be found in a deeper insight into the laws of nature, as they are merely parts of a higher natural science of which only those who have experience with them are able to judge properly.
For me these phenomena were of great value because, firstly, they put an end to Professor Haekel’s worldview and proved that there are still many things which certain scholars do not know about. It became clear to me that we are surrounded by a world invisible to our eyes but is as real in its way as the visible world is to us, and that this invisible world is peopled by innumerable beings, some of whom are much lower in evolution than we are, and others of a much higher level. Some of these “ghosts” seemed to have the quality of taking pleasure in making fun of people, lying to them and amusing themselves. Most of these “spirits” did not seem to have much spirit at all, but others gave evidence of high intelligence. Reports of their life in the “afterlife” were varied, and no one could tell if there was any truth to it, but the understanding that such beings were present and making communications to us was sufficient evidence that there was a “afterlife,” and that when man’s physical body has decomposed there may still be something left which bears a great deal of resemblance to the deceased person. But if the fact of persistence after leaving the material body is established, then this also forms a most important scientific basis for the doctrine of immortality in religion, for it is difficult for most to believe in the immortality of the soul, if he does not know that he has a soul and thinks that everything ends with the death of the body. The awakening of the soul’s inner consciousness is the beginning of Theosophy. That is why Theosophy is also the soul of theology, and without it theology is just scholarly arrogance and formulae, theory without experience, superstition and misunderstanding.
I have lived in different states (New York, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and California) during my stay in America and have been associated with all kinds of sects, Christian and Jewish, Catholic and Protestant, Methodist, Lutheran, Mormon, Shakers, “Christian Scientists” and many others. I have also studied their teachings, but I have not found a reasonable scientific basis for true religious knowledge in any church or sect, but mostly only blind delusions of authority, fanaticism, superstition and also a lot of egoism and hypocrisy. There was certainly a lot of church life everywhere, but little of that religion which teaches man what he really is in his innermost being and which connects him with divinity.
I have searched in vain for this realization for many years. I could not find them in the ecclesiastical customs, nor in the works of modern philosophers. Kant and Schopenhauer left me cold and served as a sleeping pill for me, all philosophical nonsense disgusted me and I still thank God[7] today that he saved me from the know-it-all attitude of philosophical writers and thereby protected me from wrecking my head with wrong philosophical speculations into a twist. I have never bothered with the “categorical imperative,” “affirmation or denial of existence,” and such theories, and an otherworldly god who cannot be known. All were of no interest to me. How things were supposed to have happened at the creation of the world was just as indifferent to me as the stories in the Bible about the family affairs of the ancient patriarchs. I could only have been annoyed at the lack of character of the Lord Abraham, because he drove away Hagar and married old Sarah. Even the fact that Jonah had the misfortune of being swallowed by a shark[8] and that he made a fool of himself in the end with his prophecy that Nineveh would perish could not arouse my sympathy[9]; the only questions that interested me were: “Who am I? — Why am I in this world and what is this world into which I have come?” I well suspected that every human being must find the answer to these questions within himself, but it also required a guide to search for it and this was to be found neither in the philosophical musings, nor in the literal faith of the outward sham religion in which fables and fairy tales are taken at face value.
It was around this time that the journal The Theosophist, published in Adyar, fell into my hands. In it were articles on the doctrine of the sevenfold composition of man, as well as on the doctrine of reincarnation of the human personality, and on karma, or the doctrine of the correspondence of cause and effect. It was then that an epiphany came over me and I realized that I had found the key to what I was looking for. I tried to convince myself of the truth of the “seven principles” teaching. No one needed to prove to me that I had a physical body, that it was a life force for me, I could feel that I had a dream body (astral body), and this became clear to me through the study of my inner life and my dream appearances. I began to look objectively at the region of my inner instincts and passions, as well as at the higher world of thought and the forces at work, and I became aware that my mortal personality was in fact not myself, but only a materialized and transitory phenomenon produced by me, at my core an entirely different being who, in a previous existence, created for himself his present karma, or rather had created the basis for it, himself.
What is more natural than that I should feel the urge to delve even deeper into these sublime mysteries and also to know what the world at large is, and where could I find a better opportunity to do this than in Adyar, at the source, with H. P. Blavatsky herself. There was talk of Adepts, i.e., of people residing in Tibet who are at a stage of evolution much higher than ours; people whose spiritual senses are open and for whose ability to perceive and cognition time and space offer no obstacle, since they move their consciousness at will to a location no matter how far away or also be able to perceive events from the past which took place thousands of years ago. It was said of these Adepts that while the physical body lay asleep, or even while awake, they could separate from it and appear in distant places, forming there another body by the power of their will and mind, and materialize, as is also known to happen at the meetings of the spiritualists, provided that the necessary conditions for such materializations are present. It was said of these Adepts that all mysteries in nature were revealed to them, since their cognitive faculties reached to the outermost limits of our solar system, and the deepest interior of the globe hid nothing from their spiritual sight. These Adepts were called “Mahatmas” (from Maha = great and Atma = soul) because their soul’s growth had progressed to such an extent that they could properly be called “great souls” and Enlightened Ones. These Enlightened Ones were the masters who inspired and taught Blavatsky, and she was their student.
This is not the place to say much about the nature of the masters or enlightenment. Many people and animals live only in the “light of nature,” that is, they know nothing but what they perceive through the sense-impressions which they receive from without; others have as their highest the light of understanding, which, however, does not go beyond what is outside of human comprehension. But above this there is still a higher light, which not everyone knows, the light which illuminates the soul and mind, and which is a revelation of divinity, an outpouring of the Spirit Sun of the universe. Through this light of truth, true vision and knowledge are attained, while without this light, or the intuition deriving from it, all speculation on occult matters is but a groping in the dark. Also, no human being can produce this light himself; it is only attained through the growth of the soul and the ennoblement of the Spirit.
I could not think of greater fortune than to personally meet Blavatsky and through her to come into contact with the Adepts, although I realized that there is no need to go Mahatma-hunting to India, since every human being comes into contact with great Spirits if he can soar up to their sphere; but I thought not only to learn some things in Adyar, but also to make myself useful through active participation in the theosophical movement, because what could be better than to contribute these wonderful teachings of the whole mankind, which are still pointing towards a solution of the riddle of the world is waiting to make known, and to spread the light which everyone desires in their hearts? All sufferings of humanity arise, as Gautama Buddha teaches, from man’s ignorance of his own higher human nature; he doesn’t recognize them because he doesn’t look for them, and he doesn’t look for them because he only dreams of external gods and isn’t sufficiently informed that divinity dwells in himself which can awaken in himself if he has the knowledge to do so under the necessary conditions. Those conditions are purity of soul and unselfish love. If people recognized this and acted accordingly, they would be free and there would be heaven in this world, where egoism and its entourage now rule, and where all outward attempts at reform, because there is a lack of true knowledge of human existence, achieve only a temporary, superficial effect.
In India, under Colonel Olcott, the “Theosophical Society” was formed with its headquarters in Adyar. There was also only one Theosophical Society at that time, which included all theosophical associations in the various countries. Later disputes arose and the society was divided into different camps.
I joined this Society during my stay in Colorado and soon after received a letter from Colonel Olcott inviting me “on behalf of the Master”[10] to come to Adyar to be a collaborator in his work, undertaken for the good and enlightenment of mankind.
Memories of H. P. Blavatsky[11]
The letter which Olcott wrote to me contained the following as an enclosure:[12]
“The intellectual part of mankind now seems to be rapidly dividing into two classes, one of which unknowingly endured long periods of annihilation of personality, viz., prepared for states of unconsciousness by unlearning how to think, and imprisoning their minds in the narrow circles of superstition and bigotry, with the result that the intellectual principle is atrophied and degenerated, while the other class indulge unreservedly in their bestial tendencies and thereby voluntarily surrenders to annihilation, or, if this does not succeed, faces a millennia-long state of deepest humiliation and suffering in future reincarnations. These “intellectual classes” (materialists and sensualists) act upon the ignorant masses, who are attracted to them, follow their example, and thereby become corrupted by those by whom they are meant to be protected and guided. Between the pernicious gross materialism and the equally pernicious religious superstition, the white dove of the spirit of truth cannot easily find a resting place.”
It is time that a higher spiritual knowledge (theosophy) made its entrance. The “Theosophical Society” was chosen as the cornerstone of the future world religion. This requires a greater, wiser and, above all, benevolent rapprochement between the upper and lower classes. The white race must offer a hand to the dark races. Religious disputes will cease when it is recognized that the same truth is contained in all major religious systems. Man’s innate selfishness, which leads him to cruelty, tyranny, and injustice, will be overcome only by a sense of brotherhood. We all need to be liberated from our assumed “self,” that “I” which is a creation of our imagination, and thereby come to the realization of our true transcendental self in divine life.
But if we are to be free from selfishness, we must seek to bring other people to this realization, so that they may see the reality of this higher self, which is the “Christ,” “Buddha,” or “God” of the preachers.[13]
Why has the struggle for existence assumed fatal dimensions almost everywhere? — Because no religious system, with the exception of Buddhism, has clearly demonstrated the relative worthlessness of existence in this earthly world of appearances; while the rest, with their teachings of hell and eternal damnation, have instilled in men the greatest fear of death. Therefore this struggle is strongest in Christian countries, but almost unknown in Buddhist ones. Teach people to see that even the happiest life on earth is a burden and a deception and just a product of our own created karma, and things will get better on earth.
The “Theosophical Society” is not an association to practice witchcraft. May it and its founders perish rather than become nothing better than a school of magic and a hall for the practice of the occult arts! — The Great Spirits (Mahatmas) who after death renounced nirvana, the supreme bliss, did so in order to be reborn on earth for the purpose of helping all mankind. Where is the noble and selfless man who is helping us in this enterprise in India? All our knowledge of the past and future would not suffice to instruct him sufficiently.”
This letter, supposedly inspired by a “Master,” made a tremendous impression on me, the more so as I had reason to believe that a higher influence was actually at play; for in the morning, before I received it, half asleep, I saw a letter with the address written in a handwriting unknown to me, and to my astonishment the stamp (an Indian one) was stuck not on the side of the address but was on the closed side of the envelope. A few hours later I received the letter from Olcott, which corresponded exactly to the one seen in the dream.
My decision to travel to India and devote myself to theosophy was quickly made; but there were external obstacles to its execution. I had a very lucrative medical practice, real estate in Alameda (California), and Albuquerque (New Mexico), mines and homes in Colorado, and besides, I was fascinated by the black eyes of a beautiful Spanish woman. Nevertheless I resolved to abandon everything, never to be seen again, and go to Adyar; because what was the point of all this rubbish if I could find the solution to the world riddle in India. It was not my concern to improve and convert the world; but I wanted above all to get clarity about who I myself basically am, why I exist in the world and what this world of appearances, in which I myself live as an appearance, is? — In my opinion, the whole of “theosophy” consists in the true knowledge of these three things.
It had long since become clear to me that the philosophers, with their conclusions, which they build on things that they think they have found by groping around in the dark, cannot find the solution to the riddle of the world or the answer to the above questions. Everyone has to solve the riddle of the sphinx themselves; no one else can solve it for him, just as no one else can hear and see spiritually for him, or come to self-knowledge for him. But in India I hoped to receive the instructions to come to this self-knowledge; I hoped to come into magnetic contact with the high masters of wisdom and be enlightened by their influence. But apart from the five bodily sense organs, there are other sense organs for perceiving and looking at “spiritual” things, and when these senses are opened in a person, the resulting knowledge is just as comprehensible and exact for him as the external one. I wanted the light of truth to be revealed within myself before I undertook to teach and spread that light to others. I was convinced that more valuable things could be learned in Adyar in one year than in ten years in our universities, where the knowledge of the principles of which man is composed does not yet extend beyond that of his physical organism, so that, as it were, academic science only deals with the coat that a person wears; while a real theosophist knows the whole, real man. Here it may be objected that a science can only be “exact” if a person endowed with reason and five sane senses can examine its teachings. But apart from the five bodily sense organs, there are other sense organs for perceiving and looking at “spiritual” things, and when these senses are opened in a person, the resulting knowledge is just as comprehensible and exact for him as the external one.
Much was written in The Theosophist about miraculous occult phenomena taking place throughout the U.S. by H. P. Blavatsky and magnetic healings through Olcott’s speech. These things did not tempt me; because I had already seen enough of that in America, and I had often brought about healings without any visible means, which astonished no one more than myself; but I wish to know the laws underlying such phenomena, and for this a knowledge of the composition of the great universe, as well as the small world of which man is composed, is necessary. These doctrines of the sevenfold constitution of the macrocosm and microcosm are now well known; but at that time they were something new and seemed to me like a revelation; for in the doctrine of the “seven principles” is contained the key to understanding the deepest mysteries of nature, both of the visible and invisible worlds. For the superficially thinking rabble of the so-called “educated” and certain “scholars” as well as for the unthinking crowd, of course only the “occult phenomena” were of interest. There was debate in the newspapers about whether Blavatsky was a fraud or a “medium,” but what was missing was the heart of the matter: The philosophy she propagated. This struck me as ridiculous as wanting to criticize a book by arguing about the authenticity of the gilding on the cover; but doesn’t even know the content of the book, which is the essence of the matter. I have not discovered any frauds during my two years of dealings with Blavatsky, but I have met many persons amazed by spiritistic or occult phenomena and thereby led to the study of occult philosophy, and I have found none who regretted to have come to light through appearances.
Neither Olcott, nor Blavatsky, nor any other man is Theosophy and no one has it in his custody. A man’s self-knowledge does not depend on the conduct of another, and if an immoral man taught a truth, the truth would remain what it is. On the other hand, it is well known that no great truth has ever been revealed in the world without being slandered, ridiculed, mocked, abused and crucified. There was also much clamor at the time about the so-called “debunking” of mediums among the spiritualists, which only served to draw the world’s attention to such things. In most cases the “unmasking” was due only to the ignorance of the unmaskers as to the laws of nature involved, and finally man can only come to self-knowledge by learning to distinguish truth from error.
Consequently, I was completely unprejudiced in the face of these phenomena, which at the time caused so much excitement and seemed so extremely important to certain scholars, but had nothing to do with Theosophy. Whether “real” or “fake,” they no longer interested me; but I longed to draw from the fountain of wisdom whose guardian Η. P. Blavatsky was and with her help to penetrate deeper into the secrets of nature, which are still hidden from most people today. No sacrifice seemed too dear to me for this and the image of Gautama Buddha hovering in front of my eyes, who also renounced his riches and left his beloved Yasodhara to attain enlightenment and redeem the world. What does this have to do with table turning, ghost knocking and astral shenanigans? But it is the habit of certain learned people to see only the unessential and incidental in all things, and have neither sense nor understanding for the essential. That’s what happened to the maid who was sent to the theater for the first time. When her mistress asked her why she had come home so quickly, she replied that she liked the picture (the curtain) very much; but then they pulled it up and two people came who had quarreled with each other, and that didn’t interest her.
(Resumption follows.)
Blavatsky and the “Masters.”[14]
Before proceeding to our account, it will be useful to consider who are the “Masters,” Adepts and Mahatmas, whose disciple H. P. Blavatsky was, and to strip them of the mystical aura which superstition has woven around them. Many “Theosophists” imagined the “Mahatmas” to be any supernatural beings or disembodied spirits, through whom one could obtain all sorts of favors, who were constantly watching over the behavior of their students, meddling in his private affairs and with whom one was not for a moment sure if they weren’t haunting your room. So, for example, as it was assured to me by Mr. B . . ., a prospective chela, that he should go for a barefoot walk in the grass in the evening, because the Mahatmas will take care that no poisonous snake bites him. It was in vain, that Blavatsky tried to explain that these Mahatmas were only men, though more advanced; the wonder-craving of her admirers was stronger than reason; she found no faith.
The word “Mahatma” (Sanscrit; from Maha [Mahā] = great, and Atma [Ātmā] = spirit) means nothing more and nothing less than a person who possesses a great spirit, or, in other words, is the embodiment of one. Such great spirits or actually “high-born” people include not only all the heroes known in world history who have distinguished themselves through greatness of soul and sacrifice in the service of mankind; but every human being who acts unselfishly and does good without selfish intent is in a sense a great spirit or ‘mahatma.’ Small spirits are those people who are unloving, greedy and domineering, or because of their limited intellectual horizon always only have their own dear “I” and its advantage in mind. Such may be clever physicians, skillful lawyers, eloquent preachers, cunning statesmen, skilled writers, and the like; but intelligence and greatness of soul are not always linked. The greatest villains often have high intelligence. It is not the skill, but the character which matters. A manservant or maid may be spiritually “high and noble born” and consequently a Mahatma, while perhaps some dapper “excellence” has a shriveled heart, thinks meanly, and is the reincarnation of a petty mind.
Noble souls like to dwell in obscurity and do not intrude; but the love that streams out from them is a power whose vibrations permeate the cosmic ether and which can have an effect at great distances, and whoever opens his heart to it will be permeated by this divine (because it works impersonally) love, which is the spiritual light and soul life of mankind. It is this love and sympathy which bound Blavatsky to her masters in Tibet. This light connects every person, wherever he is, with all great spirits, and there is no need to travel to Tibet for this. It floods us all with its glory; but we draw a dark blanket around us through our self-delusion, through which it cannot penetrate and which clouds our spiritual perception. Truth reveals itself to the one who surrenders to it completely; only the thought carried by unselfish love enters through the gate of the temple of wisdom. These thoughts, diffused by Divine Love, affect the whole life of mankind, filling the realm of the ether with good thought-forms; while, on the other hand, feelings of hatred and vindictiveness produce physical epidemics and miasmas, which finally, when favorable material conditions exist, produce plague and other diseases. In the “supernatural” world, too, good fights against evil, and every person who holds onto a good thought contributes to the evolution of mankind, even without knowing it.
But in order to become an adept, a “golden heart” is not enough, it also requires a high level of intelligence and the development of certain occult soul powers which are still very little known in Europe and can only be acquired through long experience through many reincarnations. These occult abilities (siddhi’s) are described by the Indian sage Patanjali in his “Yoga Philosophy” [Yoga-sūtras] and include, among other things, clairvoyance and the ability to put one’s soul where one wants. All such faculties and powers are latent in every human being, but are developed in an adept. Even an ordinary person thinks of the place or object he is thinking about; he is there in spirit; but he is not fully aware of it. The Adept can move not only spiritually, but with his whole soul and consequently also with his consciousness and his powers of perception to any place on our planet and even create a visible and tangible appearance of his person there, which has long since been proven by scientific research on the “phantoms of living people,” is established and confirmed. To a lesser degree, such things make themselves felt on a daily basis. A sensitive person can feel it when a distant friend is thinking of him or writing him a letter, and the phenomena of thought transference and telepathy are nowadays only denied by persons quite ignorant of such things. Involuntarily the mind wanders where thought abides and where love or friendship leads it. I could cite many such examples from my own experience, but will only mention the following:
I lived in Italy and had a girlfriend on the Baltic Sea. We used to correspond diligently, but I hadn’t heard from her in months. One evening at eight o’clock I was sitting at my desk, engrossed in my writing, when I suddenly saw this lady friend of mine standing in front of me in a wedding dress. She seemed to want to tell me something, but I couldn’t understand it. The apparition disappeared. A few days later I received a letter in which she informed me that she had met a Mr. N . . . engaged and wished I was there. It turned out that she wasn’t wearing a wedding dress; but that she appeared in one can be explained by the fact that she had the wedding party in mind when she was betrothed.
Such facts also throw light on the often raised question: “Where do spirits get their clothing from?” What man imagines is, so to speak, himself, and what the spirit desires arises from his will.
The following event proves that such appearances are not always disembodied, like a mirror image:
One evening at 10 o’clock I suddenly felt myself in the arms of my distant friend mentioned above, who was clinging to me as if for protection, and I have never felt the touch of a human body more clearly than in this case. I found out later that the lady had been very frightened that same evening at the same time. It seems that she instinctively took refuge in me.[15]
Now, when the soul (ego) of an ordinary person undertakes such migrations without the personality being clearly aware of it, it seems plausible and explicable that a person who has attained spiritual self-awareness can accomplish such displacements with full awareness, and the appearances of Adepts in Blavatsky’s presence are therefore not to be regarded as supernatural miracles.[16]
The life of the soul is different in its way from the life of the body; the outer man usually does not know what the inner one is doing because he does not have complete self-knowledge. Where is our consciousness while we sleep? Eyewitnesses tell of fakirs or yogis who allowed themselves to be buried in the earth, where their bodies remained in an apparently dead state for months without any damage to their health, and one wonders: What was their mind doing while the body was buried. Sven Hedin reports from his “Transhimalaya” about Tibetan lamas who voluntarily let themselves be walled up and spend their whole lives in tight, lightless holes with almost no food, not just months and years, and he expresses his regret for such people who, like he thinks that in this isolation they must go insane. But how do we know that the soul of such an imprisoned yogi does not enjoy the supreme bliss in comparison with which life in the outside world seems but a despicable trifle? The spirit is the light, the body the shadow; what does the light care whether the shadow dwells in a palace or in a dungeon?
Today, every educated, unprejudiced person is convinced that there are phenomena which official science cannot explain and which are therefore “occult” to them. Not only in India but also in Europe “occult” powers are often used in public displays; with much less sleight of hand than obsession with visible beings at play. There are fire eaters, snake charmers, stomach rippers, tongue piercers and mediumistic phenomena of all kinds, the study of which belongs in the realm of metaphysics and cannot be explained by physicists because they know nothing of the supernatural composition of the universe and know neither the astral world nor its inhabitants. With their research into hypnotism, suggestion, telepathy, the exteriorization of feeling, and the like, psychologists have scarcely entered the temple of higher science, and for them quite different mysteries lie in the background. Most of the “magic arts” performed by fakirs happen through the invocation and mediation of their “guardian spirits” or Devas, as well as the spiritistic phenomena which take place in the presence of mediumistic people, have their causes in the influence of astral beings or psychic forces.
But we would be greatly mistaken if we wished to confuse the Adept of whom H. P. Blavatsky was a pupil, with fakirs and spiritualistic mediums, or to imagine that their business was to perform occult feats to amaze the world, or to prove to the scholars that occult powers exist. There is a sufficient field for this in spiritism. When we received letters from the Adepts in Adyar through “occult” means, it was not to prove that such phenomena existed, but to give us information or advice, and if one or the other of the Adepts appeared in his Mayavirupa [māyāvi-rūpa] (mind body) [illusory-body], it was not to satisfy anyone’s miraculous cravings, but to pay us a visit, and consequently there was no need for any scientific investigation. That Col. Olcott nevertheless committed the clumsiness of challenging the SPR in London for such an investigation, and them sending a representative who knew nothing of any of this, resulted in Blavatsky being branded a “swindler” and causing the origin of a great scandal. Col. Olcott has wisely passed over the related events in his “Journals”[17] and we intend to do the same.
The Adepts who are neither magicians nor sorcerers, are people who have gained an extraordinarily deep insight into the laws of nature through their own practice and inner experience. The task they have set out for themselves is to spread light and enlightenment among the people, to put an end to unbelief and scientific as well as religious superstition and delusion, and to turn blind believers from the herd into self-thinking people who can stand on their own two feet. Preferring to work in concealment and in secret, instead of descending into the morally polluted air of our big cities and creating a new form of idolatry by their appearance, they need their disciples who are still alive in the world and who proclaim the teachings of wisdom by word or writing. There are such Adepts not only in the snowy mountains of Tibet but in other lands as well, and their spiritual organization is called the “white lodge,” as opposed to the “black lodge,” of which the “brothers of darkness” operate.
It is clear that everyone who works for the purposes of the White Lodge is a member of it, and it is not to be expected that in order to be a propagator of these high teachings everyone must already have attained the culmination of all human perfection. To become a collaborator in the great work of great spirits it is not absolutely necessary to be a virtuous man or to be free from all human weaknesses; but love and understanding, insight, intuition and self-sacrificing capacity for selfless work are part of it, and also a certain degree of sensitivity or receptivity for spiritual influences, such as H. P. Blavatsky possessed to a high degree. He who only thinks of his own advantages and advances, even if he were a saint, would benefit little from his holiness; because he would remain stuck in his egoism, which closes the door of higher knowledge to him; but those who strive to help others help themselves the most. The more they step out of themselves and leave their self-conceit behind, the more they step into freedom and the light.
Neither was H. P. Blavatsky a fully trained saint, not an Adept, and not free from all human weaknesses; but she was a great spirit, a noble soul, an initiate and disciple of the Adepts, and her sensitive organization enabled her to be a useful tool for the Adepts to spread their teachings.
It is easy to see that the Adepts cannot miraculously eradicate the evils that exist in the world and make paradise out of hell. It is only what mankind achieves for itself out of the power within it, which has lasting value for it. This is the law of indefatigable necessity upon which human evolution is based. All growth is from the inside out; evil cannot be abolished, it must be overcome by one’s own strength; but the teaching shows us the way. The ills from which humanity suffers are for them the stages by which they arrive at the realization of a higher existence; they are caused by not knowing the higher human nature and there is no other remedy than knowing it. “In ourselves is the power of salvation.” Only what man, himself becomes, is in truth his property.
But the spirit of truth is everywhere and the Masters are always ready to help everyone who is accessible to their help. Everything depends on our own ability to receive them. The light is there; but it remains hidden from us as long as we close our eyes. The Spirit of Truth is always around us, but it cannot enter us unless we take it within us. We can only contact the Masters by striving to rise to their sphere; but not by attempting to draw them down to serve our base purposes; for in this way we enshroud ourselves in a darkness in which the powers of darkness live, which deceive us, and into which no spiritual ray of light can penetrate. To participate in the fellowship of Saints and Adepts we must leave the realm of self-conceit and greed and enter the realm of unselfish love where true knowledge resides.
(Resumption follows.)
(Resumption.)[18]
I came to Adyar on December 4, 1883, and was received in the most gracious manner by H. P. Blavatsky. I found her sitting in an easy chair in front of her writing desk, busy writing, and the first impression I got of her was that I saw before me a sympathetic, cultured, undemanding lady, who had something extraordinary about her. As for her appearance, she was not “slim as a fir tree,” nor was she such a shapeless hulking mass of flesh as she was described by certain people who probably never saw her; she looked neither like a priestess of Isis proclaiming the Delphic oracle, nor like a prophetess or sorcerer; she had a witty look and was simply dressed. There was nothing at all fanciful, solemn, or conventional about her; on the other hand, her sense of humor soon made itself felt, as did the quick wit with which she answered my questions, always hitting the nail on the head. Also, on my first visit I was able to convince myself that she possessed occult abilities, for she answered some of my unspoken thoughts just as if I had uttered them orally.
What she says about her relationships with the masters is this: “I am neither crazy nor insane. All I can say is that someone inspires me; yes even more, this “someone” goes into me. It is not I who speak or write; there is something else in me, my higher, luminous self, that thinks in me and makes me write. I can’t explain this any further. All I know is that as I got older I became a repository for someone else’s knowledge. An invisible being comes and envelops me in a fragrant cloud, pushes me aside, and then I am no longer “I,” Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, but someone else. This other is strong and powerful; he was born in quite another region of this world, and when he takes possession of me it seems to me as if I myself were dozing or in a state of stupor. I am then no longer in my body at all, but only near it and connected to it by a magnetic thread of life. Incidentally, I am often fully conscious when I do this; I know what my body, or rather its owner, is saying or doing; I understand everything and remember it so well that I can repeat it or write it down. Then, on such occasions, I see wonder and fear on the faces of those present, and I am interested to see how Master, with a kind of compassion, looks at these people through my eyes and teaches them through my mouth; but not by my mind, but by his, which surrounds my brain like a cloud.”
It is clear that such inward revelations have nothing in common with the mediumistic communications of the spiritualists, nor with the imaginative visions of ecstatic mystics; and Blavatsky’s astonishment at the sudden opening of the door of knowledge within her is evident from the following letter she wrote to her aunt, Madame Fadeef, in 1775 [1885]:
“Tell me, my dear, are you interested in psychological mysteries? — Here is one that is likely to amaze the scholars: There are some extraordinarily great scholars in our society, such as Professor Alexander Wilder, one of the first archaeologists and orientalists in the United States, and all these people come to me for instruction and claim that I understand all kinds of languages and sciences of the East better than they do. Tell me how it is that I, who at forty knew so terribly little, suddenly became a marvel of learning in the eyes of truly learned people? Imagine that I, who never studied anything in my life, and received only a very superficial schooling, never had the slightest conception of physics, chemistry, zoology or anything of the sort, am now able to write scientific treatises on which amaze the scholars. This is a secret to myself. It’s no joke; I am completely serious; I’m actually scared because I don’t know how this is all happening. I find errors in the writings of the greatest scholars, such as Tyndall, Herbert Spencer, Huxley, and others, and when an archaeologist comes to me it is certain that on leaving he will say that I have made clear to him the meaning of various monuments and to him many things that he would not have dreamed of. Every day from morning to night I have a lot of people around me, professors, doctors and theologians. There are e.g., two learned rabbis and Talmudists who have memorized the Kabala and the Codex Nazarenus. I quoted them entire passages from the ancient Hebrew and proved that Onkelos is an authority in the Babylonian school. When I tell people that I’ve never been to Mongolia, that I don’t understand Sanskrit or Hebrew, or any of the old European languages, they laugh at me. They say, “How come you can describe everything so accurately if you’ve never been there?” They think I have some mysterious reason for secrecy, and I am embarrassed to say I have no knowledge of languages, since if I speak in various Indian dialects to a scholar who has been in India for twenty years, anyone can listen.”
Around this time, Blavatsky had an inward experience which made her realize the difference between her higher self and her lower self. She writes:
“In our society everyone should be vegetarian. It is well known what an evil influence the emanations of blood and alcohol have on the spiritual part of human nature, fanning the animal passions to a raging fire. So I recently decided to fast more than usual. I ate nothing but salad, abstained from smoking for nine days, and slept on the floor. Then the following happened: I suddenly saw before me one of the most hideous events of my life; I felt that I was outside my body and looked at it with disgust as it walked and talked and was puffed up with sin and vanity. Pooh! How I hated myself then! Lying on the hard floor again the next night, I was so tired that I fell asleep at once, and found myself surrounded by an impenetrable darkness. Then a star appeared high above me and fell down on me. Then the star became a hand. I was eager to know whose hand it was that touched my forehead. My whole being was concentrated in a prayer, in an impulse of will to know to whom this luminous hand belonged; and I experienced it; because I stood above it myself. This, my second, shining I spoke to myself:
“Look at me!” My body looked up at him, and I realized that this alter ego of mine was half charcoal black, the other half whitish gray; but the head was entirely white, shiny and luminous. And again I spoke to my body myself: “When you become as light as this part of your head, you will be able to see what the cleansed see who have washed themselves clean. Clean yourself up!”
It is well known that Blavatsky was an excellent “medium” in her youth; but when enlightenment came upon her, the lower elementals lost the power to influence her; on the other hand, she came into contact with people who had the power to work on a higher level in their astral bodies. So one day she was cured in an occult way by an invisible helper from a rheumatic disease, which the doctors had declared incurable. She writes about it:
“He completely restored me. When he came I felt like double. Several times a day I feel that there is someone else in my body who is quite separable from me. I never lose consciousness of my own personality; but I feel, as it were, as if I am silent and the other who dwells in me speaks with my tongue. I know e.g. that I have never been to the places which my other “me” describes to me, but this other, second me, does not lie when it speaks of places and things I do not know; for “he” actually has seen them and knows them well, I resign myself to my fate, be it as it may; what else could I do? It would be downright ridiculous to deny the knowledge that my #2 self possesses, thereby leading those around me to believe that out of modesty I didn’t want to enlighten them. At night, when I’m alone in bed, my No. 2’s whole life flashes before my eyes and I don’t see myself at all, but rather another person, different from me in race and feelings. But what’s the use of talking about it? I try to surrender and forget my situation. This is not mediumship and certainly not impure power; but something higher that leads us to the better. A devil wouldn’t do that, and my old spitting spirits don’t dare touch me anymore. If I just step into a room where a spiritualistic session is being held, all kinds of spiritualistic phenomena, especially the materializations, immediately cease; but manifestations of another higher kind are arising, and more and more often under the direction of “me #2.”
How Blavatsky was suddenly and unexpectedly healed from a serious illness through occult influences, I was a witness to that myself. It was March 1885 when she lay in bed with a fatal kidney disease. Mrs. Cooper Oakley and I took turns watching over her day and night. The doctors of Madras finally held a consultation, and declared that she could not live twenty-four hours, and as Blavatsky wished to have her body cremated, Mr. Cooper Oakley drove to Madras that evening to obtain the necessary permit. But the next morning Blavatsky was well and soon after went to Naples with me.
She justified this wonderful creation by saying that the Master appeared to her during the night and gave her the choice of leaving her body forever or of keeping it longer in order to complete her work, the “Secret Doctrine.” She would then have chosen the latter.
The opposite took place during her illness in London in May 1891. The doctor had visited her in the morning and explained that she was now out of all danger. An hour later she was dead; which of course, like their fabrication in Adyar, was an embarrassment to “medical science.”
Regarding her interaction with her Master, Blavatsky writes the following:
“I see this Indian every day, just as I can see any other living person, only he seems more ethereal and transparent to me. At first I didn’t want to say anything about these apparitions and thought they could be hallucinations; but now they have also become visible to other people. The Indian appears and gives us advice as to what we should do and write. He evidently knows everything that is going on here, even the thoughts of other people, and he expresses his knowledge through me. Sometimes it seems to overshadow my whole being, like some kind of fleeting essence permeates all my pores and dissolves within me. Then we’re both able to talk to other people and I start to understand and remember science and languages and everything he teaches me, even though he’s no longer with me.”
Regarding the possibility of possession of a human organism by a superior being, H. P. Blavatsky writes:
“Let us suppose that a man’s soul, his real living soul, is something distinct from, and not glued to, his physical organism, and that this soul (the astral body) differs from the physical double only in that it is more or less overshadowed by the immortal spirit and can move freely and independently. In the uninitiated, profane, the soul comes into action while the body is asleep; with an initiate or Adept it comes into action when he so chooses. When you understand this, many things will become clear to you. Such things were known from the earliest times. St. Paul, who among all the apostles was the only adept initiated into the Greek mysteries, speaks of this dichotomy when he relates how he was transferred to the third heaven “whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows.” — Rhode also speaks in reference to St. Peter: “It is not Peter, but his angel”; i.e., his double or the soul. And in Acts, Chapter VIII, verse 39, it is said that when the Spirit of God picked up Philip and carried him away, it was Philip’s soul and not his physical body. These things were known to the ancient philosophers, Apuleius, Plutarch, Iamblichus, and others, but they were not allowed to speak openly about them, as these were mysteries of initiation. What happens in the spiritist mediums without their realizing it when they are possessed by outside influences, the Adepts can do of their own free will.
“As for Sahib (the Master), I have known him for a very long time. Twenty-five years ago he came to London with the Prince of Nepal, and three years ago he sent me a letter through an Indian. In this letter he reminded me of various things which were then prophesied of him. Often I see the Master and often I talk to him without seeing him. How is it that he hears me from everywhere and that I hear his voice over mountains and seas twenty times a day? I don’t know; but it is so. I cannot state with certainty whether he himself, or only his strength, his influence, seizes me. Only through him am I strong, without him I am nothing.”
It is known that when the body is asleep the spirit of man withdraws into itself and the astral body emerges from the physical body but remains connected to it by a magnetic bond which enables it to return. If this bond were broken, the body would be dead.
In ordinary people this emergence of the astral body takes place unconsciously, in exceptional cases the personality is conscious of it and can wander off into the distance in its astral body.
When Blavatsky learned to move freely in her astral body, she wrote to her aunt about these attempts and offered to appear to her in Tbilisi. She replied that such a vision might frighten her, and Blavatsky wrote to this;[:]
“What is there to be afraid of? — Haven’t you ever heard of dream images or doubles? — I, that is, my body, will sleep peacefully in my bed; and it would be all the same if he awaited my return in the waking state; he would then be like a harmless idiot. And this is not surprising. The light of God would then be absent from him; it would fly to you, and then it would fly back and light up the temple of God again; provided that the bond which binds mind and body would not be broken. If you made a foolish yell, the bond might break and then it would be the end of me. I would die in a bang.”
The most furious opponents of Blavatsky were people who intended to become her students, believing that they would be taught the magical arts and made Adepts by her. Then, when they found their selfish expectations disappointed, they turned against Blavatsky and tried in every way to damage their reputation. So, for example, a certain Colville in California took the trouble to track down all sorts of passages in various books in order to accuse her of plagiarism; but Blavatsky had but a very small number of books, and even these were not necessary; for if a quotation from any book, however rare, was required, it was shown to her in the astral light by her Master. It is only correct that her frequently muddled manuscripts for “Isis Unveiled” were revised, put in order and made printable by Professor Alexander Wilder in New York. How she received the material for this work goes from the following addressed letter to her niece:
‘Yes, Vera! Believe me or not, something wonderful is happening inside me. You cannot imagine what a magical world of images and visions I live in. I write “Isis,” or more correctly, I copy and draw what “they” show me. In fact, it often seems to me that the ancient goddess is personally guiding me through all the lands and past centuries that I have to describe. I follow with open eyes and seem to really and actually see and hear everything which is going on around me, and at the same time I see and hear what I am writing. I hardly dare to breathe and dare not make the slightest movement lest it break the spell. Century after century, one image after the other, slowly passes before me like a magical panorama; I grasp it all and know that there can be no error as to dates and times. Races and nations, countries and cities long gone into the night of prehistoric past, appear and disappear, and others come, and then the successive periods of time are told to me. The events of modern times follow the dim antiquity; the old myths are explained to me and the peoples who existed at that time and the events which took place and everything that happened and was of interest are described to me; every page of this multicolored book of life is imprinted on my brain with photographic accuracy. — Surely it is not me who brings about this, but my ego, the highest principle in me, and this also happens with the help of my guru, who is at my side in everything. If I ever forget something, I only have to turn to him in my thoughts and what I have forgotten reappears before my eyes. They are often long tables of numbers or compilations of events. The Adepts remember everything. If they weren’t there, where should I get my knowledge from?”
(Resumption follows.)
(Resumption.)[19]
Since Blavatsky’s philosophy was based on a higher point of view than that of modern spiritualism, many spiritualists took offense at her warning to them against dealing with the inhabitants of the astral world, and even claimed that dealing with the souls of dead human beings is only possible if they [the deceased] are still bound to the earth by their passions; but that the purer spirits, removed from the earth sphere and inhabiting the higher regions, no longer concern themselves with the worldly affairs of their bereaved on the earth plane and do not concern themselves with turning tables and the like. In this regard she wrote the following from America:
“The more I look into this cradle and hothouse of spiritism and mediumship, the more I realize just how dangerous these things are for humanity. The poets speak of a tenuous partition between the two worlds; but there is no partition at all. Blind people have imagined such obstacles because the gross organs of hearing, sight and touch do not allow most to perceive the diversity of existence. Also, Mother Nature has done very well in endowing us with such gross senses; for otherwise it would be impossible to create a human individuality and personality, since the deceased would constantly mingle with the living, and the living would assimilate with the deceased.”
“In the end, this wouldn’t be so bad if we only heard of “spirits” which were similar to us, that is, surrounded by the semi-spiritual remains of people who have died without realizing the great necessity of departing. Then maybe we could resign ourselves to the inevitable. We cannot, however, prevent ourselves from identifying ourselves physically and completely unconsciously with the dead; we absorb the atoms of what lived before us; with every breath we inhale them, and we exhale that which nourishes the formless creatures, the elementals, which hover in the air awaiting transformation into living beings. This is not only a physical process, but also a moral one. We assimilate those who have gone before us; we gradually absorb their brain molecules and exchange the mental aura of thoughts, desires and tendencies with them. This exchange is common to the whole human race and to everything which lives. It is a natural process, an effect of the law of harmony in nature. . . He [sic] explains the physical and also the moral similarities.”
“But there is another law which manifests itself periodically and sporadically. This can be called the law of artificial and forced assimilation. During such epidemics the realm of the deceased invades the world of the living, although fortunately these kinds of spawn are bound by the bonds of their former environments and therefore, when invoked by mediums, cannot break through the confines within which they live and worked. . . . And the wider the gate is opened for them and the more the necromantic epidemic spreads, the more the mediums and spiritualists work in unison to spread the magnetic fluid, the more power and vitality this deceptive magic acquires.”
While Blavatsky was viewed by spiritualists as an enemy of spiritualism, materialists and clerics accused her of being a spiritualist. The fact is that she has never denied the possibility of interaction with the shadows of deceased people, but has maintained that communication with heavenly spirits can only be purely spiritual, and that the spiritualistic manifestations, as they usually occur in séances, are mostly from non-human beings, but in the best case from spirits who still reside in the aura of the earth and are bound to it by their inclinations. These include in particular those who commit suicide and people who have died a violent death prematurely, who take their passions with them into the “beyond” and inhabit the deeper regions of the astral world (kama loca) [kāma loka] closest to the earth. When purified, they ascend higher to those regions which are free from the attraction from the earthly. Then it’s over with their messages.[20]
But with the phenomena which occur during spiritistic sessions, deceased people are often not involved at all; rather, these things are often due to the influence of other beings of various kinds, often using the mindless larvae of deceased people. H. P. Blavatsky writes about this:
“It is easy to see that these earthly remnants, which are irresistibly drawn to earth, cannot follow the soul and spirit (of the departed), the highest principles of man. I have often seen in disgust and horror such a revived shadow detach itself from the medium’s interior, separated from his astral body and now appeared in the mask of a deceased acquaintance of anyone present, then he became delighted at such a reunion, and the people opened their hearts and arms to these larvae, sincerely believing they saw in them beloved fathers or brothers who had risen to eternal life and were now coming to celebrate a reunion. O, that these believers could see the truth! If, as I saw it, only they saw a hideous, misshapen monster seize someone from among those present. It envelops him in a black cloud and slowly disappears inside him, as if it were being drawn into his body through every pore.”
Such mediumship is nothing but obsession, and of the beings who possess the unfortunate mediums on such occasions Blavatsky gave little edifying descriptions. For example, she told, e.g., of an executioner in Paris who was clairvoyant, and when he beheaded a delinquent he saw numerous human larvae, including his own relatives, pounce on the corpse and greedily suck up the emanations of the spilled blood, thereby proffering from vitality. The sight of these vampyres finally became so unbearable that he had to resign his office. One can perhaps get an idea of the hideousness of such desire-forms (Kama rupa’s) [kāma rūpas] and ghosts, which in spiritualistic séances pretend to be “dear ones who have gone before” and “heavenly spirits,” if one has the opportunity to observe how clairvoyant animals, horses, dogs, cats, etc., are horrified at the sight of such figures which gather at slaughterhouses, brothels, places where a murder has taken place, etc.; yea even in haunted houses, when shut up and unable to escape, die of terror; as many such cases are also described in spiritualist literature.[21]
That H. P. Blavatsky was no ordinary “medium” or blind tool of “spirits” but possessed an extraordinary intelligence is evident not only from her letters and works, but also from the fact that wherever she appeared she was very quick to become the rallying point of outstanding people. This included not only the “high and higher lords” who pursued the spiritistic mediums and soothsayers, who wanted to see miracles and hear prophecies, but she was often visited by scholars, theologians, cabalists, brahmin and professors who took advice and instruction from her. Cardinal McClotsey sent his secretary, a Jesuit, to her, with the apparent intention of inducing her to dedicate her talents to the service of the Catholic Church; the Freemasons in England sent her a Diploma by which she was installed to the 33° and highest degree of High Degree Masonry. Marks of honor were bestowed on her from all sides; but such things made no deep impression upon her; though these may have flattered her personal vanity, yet she regarded them as child’s play, and has laughed inwardly at them like one who is exalted above all worldly things, knowing their relative worthlessness.
It would be a great mistake if we wanted to present Blavatsky, as some of her admirers do, as a saint, prophetess or priestess of Isis surrounded by a halo of rays; like everyone else, she had her double nature. When she was enthusiastic, the highest intelligence spoke out of her; on other occasions she often appeared as a moody, quarrelsome old woman. Such dual natures are evident in all outstanding geniuses, and they are not to be blamed. Many a man is no less great and respected as a statesman or poet because he had human faults as a man. A genius is not judged by his human weaknesses or physical flaws, but by his works and his intelligence. Göthe [or, Goethe] speaks from his own experience when he lets his “Faust” say:
“Two souls dwell, alas! in my chest;
One wants to separate from the other;
One holds in rough lust for love
To face the world with clinging organs;
The other violently rises from the dust
To the realms of high ancestors.”
A poet I do not know, described the dual nature of every human being with particular clarity:
“There are two natures in every human being.
One is a child of daylight,
It shows traces of the sun everywhere,
There is nothing dark and veils nothing.
You may see through them to the core,
You perceive nothing strange, perceive no enigma;
There is insight, clarity and trust,
It is crystal clear, simple, clear as day.
“The other has emerged as if from the night,
You don’t know them and nobody measures them;
In her trial and understanding are put to shame,
She is a strange guest in her own house.
Intangible she throws into the realities
Your flickering and mad play of shadows,
Like dreams gliding through the bright day
Tangles the threads and hexes the target.”
It would be a great mistake to think that if a man is “clairvoyant” or a “medium,” he must therefore be a saint or a spiritually evolved being. There are people who cannot be denied to have excellent astral perception faculties, and yet they have very unpleasant qualities, being tactless and boorish in their behavior, sensual and passionate. Astral vision does not only belong to the lower nature of man, but there are many animals which surpass man with it. The higher nature certainly sends its light into the lower, but there the truth is often mixed up with the products of the fantasies of the same.
Everyone, even the best human being, has a double nature, or rather a “soul,” one pole of which gravitates towards the divine and the other towards the earthly. In Blavatsky this double nature was particularly pronounced, so that it seemed as if in her lived two distinct personalities; nay, more, it was as if not two but several different beings took possession of her from time to time; but without losing consciousness as with Madame Blavatsky, but is certainly the case with ordinary “mediums.” This also emerges apparent from a letter addressed to her relatives, from which we can extract the following sentences:
“I really don’t know what to think! What am I to these people? Why is C . . . so devoted and willing to sacrifice life for me? What does all this mean? What do these people see in me? All I know is that I have called into being a power unknown to me, which binds the determinations of other people to my determination. I also see to my great satisfaction that many of those who are devoted to me look to me as their Savior. Some of them were heartless egoists, unbelieving materialists, careless bon vivants,[22] and many of them have become serious people who work tirelessly and sacrifice everything, social position, time and money, for the great work and think only of one thing, their spiritual development and intellectual enlightenment. They have become victims of their self-sacrifice, so to speak, live for the benefit of others and find their salvation and their light in me.
“And what am I? — I am what I always was. . . a blind tool in the hands of Him whom I call my Master. For me, as for everyone else, the origin of the Theosophical Society at my instigation, its daily and hourly growth, its indestructibility despite the attacks from its enemies, is an unsolved riddle. All I know is that it will have a world-wide impact of the utmost importance. It will be one of the great world events. This movement has a moral and psychic force which, like a tidal wave, will submerge, wash away and suffocate all that the lesser waves of human thought which have been left on the shore, all the strange precipitates, tatters and rags of systems and philosophies. I am the blind moving force; but a great power stands with this movement.”
So here we are, with Blavatsky herself, before a psychological puzzle about which psychologists have written many books without having found its solution. The inquisitive researcher bears: “What is the great power which moved Blavatsky; who was it who inspired and instructed her, so that she, who was not a scholar, could write the great work of the “Secret Doctrine” and spread a new worldview which, because it is rational, found acceptance in all parts of the world and caused a revolution in the thought of mankind? — Who was it which enabled Blavatsky to answer the most difficult questions in the field of religion and science, and moreover to bring about at will “occult phenomena” of whose “authenticity” there is no doubt?
Blavatsky has always protested vigorously at being thought of as a spiritualist medium, although she admitted to having been one in earlier years. On the other hand, she claimed to be in contact with the Adept and student of a Master in Tibet, of whom she always spoke with the greatest reverence and almost adored Him. On the other hand, some of her biographers believe that there are no Adepts in Tibet and that their belief in this Master can be explained by a psychic duplication of their nature.
This explanation would also be plausible enough if it were not blocked by the saddening fact that, apart from Blavatsky and even after her death, other people came into contact with these Masters and not only saw them “astrally” and spoke to them, but had gotten to know them personally in their physical bodies. It goes without saying that such things cannot be proved, and we are at liberty to regard as liars all those who reveal their personal experiences. But that won’t get us any closer to the truth.
But why should we care about the Adepts and Masters in Tibet? What do we care what source Blavatsky drew her wisdom from? One must judge the writings of an author not by their origin but by their content. No one has ever asked where a Goethe or Shakespeare got their inspiration from. If Blavatsky mentioned the names of her teachers at all, it was because she did not want to presume to pass off her philosophy as her own invention, and the Adepts were certainly not interested in parading before the world as miracle workers and sorcerers, or to create a new idolatry and be worshiped. The mere news that such enlightened people existed made a multitude of wonder-addicted “theosophists” hysterical, and quite a few made the attempt to travel to Tibet with bag and baggage in order to become Adepts and learn occult tricks without considering that above all one must be a harmoniously attuned natural person and go through the school of life, before one can become a “superman” and take up residence in the realm of the gods.
Theosophy, or the spiritual knowledge of the presence of God, is for everyone. It is a matter of heart knowledge and religious faith, which is not to be confused with the uncomprehending acceptance of ecclesiastical dogmas. “Occult” science, on the other hand, is not intended for the crowd, which is immature, unprepared and still deeply stuck in egoism and sensuality, in which each one only seeks his own personal advantage. The kingdom of God opens up to us only where all personal greed has been overcome. “Only those who are pure in heart, that is, free from all selfishness, will see God,” teaches the Bible and the sage Sankaracharya [Śaṅkarācārya] says in his Tattwa Bodha that in order to come to the true knowledge of God one must be above all personal desires and “expect no favors for one’s self, either in this world or in heaven.” The pure cannot unite with the impure, and in the minds of the egoists, their so-called “spiritual science” leads through profanation to “Jesuitism” and to black magic. This is why Blavatsky wrote to her students: “You have no right to throw the mysteries of occult science at the ignorant crowd; for not knowing their laws would only sink them deeper into superstition.”
Like many of the other prophecies made by Blavatsky, this one has been fulfilled.
The physical world receives its light and warmth from the visible sun of our planetary system; the soul of man gets its light and warmth from the invisible sun of the universe, of God. The spiritual light is wisdom, the spiritual warmth is love. From these the spiritual life is born. Without light and heat there is no bodily life; without wisdom and love no soul life; a life without this is spiritual death.
Notes:
[1] {This document comprises a five-part series: Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky [Memories of H. P. Blavatsky] (Vom Verfasser der “Lotusblüten.”) Franz Hartmann. Neue Lotusblüten 4, no, 9-10 (September-October 1911), 303-318; Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky [Memories of H. P. Blavatsky] (Vom Verfasser der “Lotusblüten.”) Franz Hartmann. Neue Lotusblüten 4, no. 11-12 (November-December 1911), 358-367; Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky [Memories of H. P. Blavatsky] (Vom Verfasser der “Lotusblüten.”) Franz Hartmann. Neue Lotusblüten 5, no. 1-2 (January-February 1912), 33-46; Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky [Memories of H. P. Blavatsky] (Vom Verfasser der “Lotusblüten.”) Franz Hartmann. Neue Lotusblüten 5, no. 3-4 (March-April 1912), 91-106; Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky [Memories of H. P. Blavatsky] (Vom Verfasser der “Lotusblüten.”) Franz Hartmann. Neue Lotusblüten 5, no. 5-6 (May-June 1912), 153-168. This article was reformatted from the original, but with the German content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German into English by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}
[2] {By E. Nesbit. Published in The Strand Magazine, The Seven Dragons, Vol. 17, 1899.}
[3] {R.H.—Catherine Crowe. Night Side of Nature or Ghosts and Ghost Seers. London: 1853, 1866, 1868.}
[4] {R.H.—Heinrich Zschokke ?}
[5] {R.H.—See in greater detail, my completed translations of the 4 part series: “Aus meinem Leben.” Franz Hartmann, M.D.; and Dr. Hartmann’s 19-part series, autobiography: “Memorable Recollections from the life of the author of the ‘Lotusblüten.’” Denkwürdige Erinnerungen aus dem Leben des Verfassers der “Lotusblüten.”}
[6] {R.H.—Most of Dr. Hartmann’s experiments and observations took place in his small house in Georgetown, Colorado. This house is still standing, based on Dick Slusser and my visit.}
[7] {R.H.—Hartmann did not believe in the personal theistic God of the Christians, Islamists and Jews. But here, it sounds like he does. He can only mean one thing: his Higher Self. However, his view, if you read his writings throughout, is talking about the Higher Self and the Monad. See: “Some Theosophical Ideas Concerning God, Religion and Ethics.” Geoffrey Hodson. The Theosophist 76 (October 1954), 13-17. Throughout this article, Hartmann either applied “God” to the Higher Self, the Monad or to the On Life. The discerning reader can distinguish the difference but it never applies to the theistic God of the non-discerning Theists, who use anthropomorphic language to set their God from all the rest. Unfortunately, over time, Hindus took on the same meaning as the Christians and left behind the idea of Parabrahman, wherein the Theosophists came during Blavatsky’s day, to save them from the pernicious theistic Christian influence.}
[8] {R.H.—From the Hebrew: dag gadol, which means “big fish.”}
[9] {R.H.—Nevertheless, Dr. Hartmann has given out esoteric explanations for what appear at the surface, superficial and foolish ideas in the Bible.
[10] {R.H.—In a letter to Dr. Hartmann, dated December 25, 1883, Master M. says it was He who suggested to Col. Olcott that he should write to Dr. Hartmann, inviting him to Adyar.}
[11] {Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky [Memories of H. P. Blavatsky] (Vom Verfasser der “Lotusblüten.”) Franz Hartmann. Neue Lotusblüten 4, no. 11-12 (November-December 1911), 358-367.
[12] {R.H.—Because the original of the letter is not available, I have translated from the German the best that I can. The original letter probably would have been written in English since Olcott did not know German and Dr. Hartmann knew English quite well, having lived in Georgetown, Colorado from early 1879 until December 8, 1883 when he boarded a steamer for Japan, eventually to India. But he learned English for several years while living in New Orleans and other places in the U.S.}
[13] {R.H.—The ideas in some of these paragraphs appear to reflect some content of the Maha Chohan Letter, but it is hard to tell because there is incomplete open and closed sets of double quotes.}
[14] {Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky [Memories of H. P. Blavatsky] (Vom Verfasser der “Lotusblüten.”) Franz Hartmann. Neue Lotusblüten 5, no. 1-2 (January-February 1912), 33-46.}
[15] Compare, Zentralblatt für Okkultismus. July 1911. {Zentralblatt für Okkultismus 5, no. 1 (July 1911).}
[16] In my “Denkwürdigen Erinnerungen,” Part I, various cases from my experience of the long-distance effect of thought are mentioned. Even material bodily transfers are possible. (See [my] “Neue Lotosblüten” Vol. II (1910), p. 75.
[17] {R.H.—H. S. Olcott, Old Diary Leaves. The True Story of the Theosophical Society. Vol. 1-6.}
[18] {Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky [Memories of H. P. Blavatsky] (Vom Verfasser der “Lotusblüten.”) Franz Hartmann. Neue Lotusblüten 5, no. 3-4 (March-April 1912), 91-106.}
[19] {Erinnerungen an H. P. Blavatsky [Memories of H. P. Blavatsky] (Vom Verfasser der “Lotusblüten.”) Franz Hartmann. Neue Lotusblüten 5, no. 5-6 (May-June 1912), 153-168}
[20] This view is consistent with my long experience. For a long time I had friendly communication with the “ghost” of a deceased young lady who had killed herself by poison. One day she surprised me by telling me that she was about to ascend to a higher sphere and that her connection with the earth was over. In fact, from then on all her visits and communications ceased. — “Denkwürdige Erinnerungen” = “Memorable Recollections.” P. 26.
[21] See Lytton Bulwer, “The Haunted House.” {R.H.—Correctly: “The Haunted and the Haunters, or, The House and the Brain” by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, first published in Blackwell’s Magazine in August 1859.}
[22] [R.H.—French = good living]