Theosophical Correspondence.
Translation from German by Robert Hutwohl[1]
Question: — What is meant by “self-knowledge”?
Answer: — It means that one recognizes a thing for what it is by seeing, feeling and experiencing it oneself, and not just imagining oneself to know it on the basis of someone else’s statement. For example, an Eskimo who has never seen the tropics might be able to form an idea of what a palm forest looks like by reading a description; but anyone who has lived under palm trees himself has his own experience of it.
Furthermore, self-knowledge is understood to be the state in which a person recognizes himself, and this knowledge can be external, internal or spiritual.
- External self-knowledge takes place when one recognizes the structure of one’s own body, the nature of one’s organs and their function, and becomes aware of one’s physical powers.
- Inner self-knowledge arises from the observation and perception of one’s own soul’s activities, one’s own psychic and intellectual powers, the study of one’s own character, one’s own feelings, instincts, passions, desires, thoughts, ideas, etc. We can only attain self-knowledge of our own powers by becoming conscious of them. For example, we can perceive the expression of a passion in other creatures, but we can only know what such a passion is when it awakens in ourselves.
- Spiritual self-knowledge, or in other words “Theosophy.” This consists in the awakening of the higher, spiritual consciousness in a person and in his heart feeling and recognizing that which is immortal in himself and in others. This is the “knowledge of the omnipresence of God in ourselves and in everything,” which can only be attained in any other way than through the “Holy Spirit,” i.e. through the light of truth itself, as it reveals itself within man and man awakens to his true self-awareness. But since most people are still in a dream state, which they believe to be real life, they cannot have any self-knowledge of this higher life; for no man can truly recognize himself as something that he is not in reality. A beggar can imagine himself to be an emperor, but still remains a beggar; a real emperor can truly recognize himself as an emperor, in full feeling and in the exercise of his power.
Through true spiritual self-knowledge man attains knowledge of God, for God is the true and indivisible, sole Self of all things. This is the ultimate goal of all evolution. We are all one with God in our innermost being and do not need to become so; but this is of no use to us as long as we do not become conscious of it or do not feel it. An unconscious God is no better than a dead man. In a normal person, however, the feeling of the eternal dawns, and the stronger this feeling becomes in him, the more he progresses on the path to true self-knowledge, until finally the full consciousness of his higher nature awakens in him. In every normal person there is a spark of the divine spirit; but not in all is the God-man (Christ) formed, and they do not recognize it (see, II Corinth. XIII, 5.).
Note
[1] Theosophical Correspondence. Self-knowledge. By Dr. Franz Hartmann. [Theosophische Korrespondenz. Selbsterkenntnis. Von Dr. Franz Hartmann. Theosophischer Wegweiser 8, no, 6 (March 1907), 190-191] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than minor typos, translation from German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}