Translation from German by Robert Hutwohl[1]
The purpose of the Theosophical Society is the search for truth. A master said:[2]
If a person has decided to follow the path to truth, but is dependent on himself and is weak, he can easily fall back into his old mistakes. Therefore, stand together; help one another and support one another in your efforts.
“Be like brothers to one another; one in love, one in holiness, one in your zeal for the truth.
Spread the truth and preach the doctrine in every part of the world, so that in the end every living creature may become citizens of the kingdom of righteousness.”
There is only one single and sole truth and reality. It is not a piecemeal work and not patched together from theories. “It is existence itself and as great as the universe, which is a revelation of truth. Since it is immeasurable, infinite and unlimited, it cannot be grasped and understood by the limited human mind; the personal “self” is much too small to encompass the truth. There is no other means of approaching it than selflessness, giving up the illusion of one’s own “self”. Only the infinite and eternal in man can recognize the infinite in the universe.
The knowledge of infinite truth was called “Theosophy.” The means of attaining selflessness is the practice of divine love.
By “divine love” we mean the boundless, all-encompassing love which extends to all creatures; for a merely partial or limited love would not be perfect and therefore not of divine nature.
Love is the force that connects all beings and holds all worlds together.
The starting point on the path to truth is therefore the inner brotherhood of people through the art of selfless love, a brotherhood which can find its external expression in an external general union.
Where the union is only external and there is no brotherhood within, such an apparent union is only a lie and has no value.
Truth is unity and is not found in discord or through disputes and debates, but only through the love of unity and harmony. Therefore, the first basis of the “Theosophical Society” is not the struggle for the probability of any hypothesis or theory, nor blind faith in the statements of this or that person, but “to form a nucleus of people around whom the generally accepted ideas of universal love of humanity and brotherhood can crystallize and be realized.” A society whose purpose is the knowledge of God must not be based on knowledge, but on love. Members of a society that wants to engage in the investigation of holy things must themselves be holy or strive for holiness; for only the spirit of God in man, not the animal man, grasps the divine nature and fathoms its holy depths.
Such a spiritual brotherhood does not need to have any external organization, and the members do not need to know each other externally; in the community of the wise, all participants are connected by the spirit of knowledge and are all one.
Initiation consists in the acquisition of knowledge, not in the issuing of diplomas.
The basis of the knowledge of truth is selfless love, but love is not yet knowledge itself.
In order to attain the knowledge of truth, the errors that stand in the way of true knowledge must be destroyed.
This happens through teaching.
If men were not blind to the light of truth and deaf to the word of God speaking in the heart of every man, there would be no need for external instruction; wisdom itself is the best teacher.
But since people do not recognize this light and do not hear the voice of truth, they are forced to form opinions about the truth through external observations, comparisons and conclusions.
This only provides reasons for assuming probabilities, but not the truth itself.
All theoretical knowledge concerning what lies beyond the limits of external sense perception is based on this kind of opinion and delusion.
But there is another and better way of attaining the path to the knowledge of truth. This path is the teaching given by those who have attained inner enlightenment and divine self-knowledge. Such people are called Adepts or Mahatmas (great souls). The real founders of the “Theosophical Society”, although unknown to the majority of its members, are certain Adepts in Asia, also called “Asiatic Brothers”. At certain periods of time, when conditions are suitable (at the end of each century), they exercise their influence to help humanity on the path of spiritual progress and to bring it nearer to the realization of its highest ideals.
The external means to achieve this goal in this century is the “Theosophical Society” founded by H. P. Blavatsky.
The “Theosophical Society” therefore differs from all similar religious, philosophical and scientific associations in that it is in contact with spiritually enlightened people who are at a level of spiritual development and unfolding whose height the everyday person cannot even begin to comprehend and whose possibility the merely secular scholar cannot even suspect.
The method by which the Adepts impart instruction consists mainly in transmitting their thoughts to their pupils, communicating their knowledge directly to their minds, speaking their teachings into their hearts.
For this it is necessary above all that the student has a mental organization that enables him to do this. His own knowledge and personal qualities are of little or no importance. The light of self-conceit that arises from great reading is precisely what prevents the reception of the light of wisdom; one’s own megalomania makes man incapable of feeling the greatness of the knowledge of God; clinging to false theories makes it impossible to recognize the truth.
This triad of conceit, megalomania and dogmatism seems to constitute an insurmountable obstacle to the awakening of truth in the souls of men in England.
Will the truth succeed better in Germany in this century?
Note:
[1] Thoughts on Theosophy and the “Theosophical Society”. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Sphinx 20, no. 111 (May 1895), 292-94 [Gedanken über die Theosophie und die “Theosophische Gesellschaft”.] Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025. The original text was set using the German fraktur or blackletter.
[2] Gautama Buddha.