Theosophical Correspondence.

Translation from German by Robert Hutwohl^[1]

Question: — What is a “Theosophist”?

          Answer: — “Theosophy” is “the highest wisdom” or knowledge of God; consequently a “Theosophist” is a wise man, a saint, an enlightened person, a person who has himself become divine and has thereby come to the knowledge of God; but in ordinary language the word “Theosophist” is a nickname originally given to the members of the “Theosophical Society” by an ignorant public and which, unfortunately, was readily accepted by many of them, just as many people call themselves “Christians” without actually being “Christians.” Being registered in the membership register of a philosophical society or studying philosophy does not make one a philosopher, and the same applies to Theosophy as to other things. For example, it would not occur to anyone who was a member of a “philharmonic society” to be called a “Philharmonie” for this reason. The “Theosophical Society” is not a society of Theosophists; for there are only a few real theosophists in the world, and he who has attained the highest wisdom needs no society to seek it. The title “Theosophist” is therefore only intended to remind the members of the “Theosophical Society” that they should strive to attain self-knowledge of the truth, but not that anyone should imagine in his vanity that he is a god or god-like.

Note

^[1] Theosophical Correspondence. Theosophist. By Dr. Franz Hartmann [Theosophische Korrespondenz. Theosoph. Von Dr. Franz Hartmann. Theosophischer Wegweiser 8, no, 5 (February 1907), 163] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than minor typos, translation from German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}