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THEOSOPHY AND
CHRISTIANITY
THEOSOPHY and
CHRISTIANITY
A signpost for those who desire
information concerning Theosophsf
By
MAX SEILING
}VUh an AJUnoori by
DtC RUDOLF STEIN ER
Tmmlai»d from the Germmt wHh the tmlhor'$ pmnMon
by
"A. R."
u
PUBLISHED BY
RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
MDCCCCXIII
Copyright^ IQIJ*
By Rand, McNally ft Comfant.
THEOSOPHY and CHRISTIANITY
BEFORE I enter upon the relation
between Theosophy and Chris-
tianity I must try to throw some
light upon the essence of that signifi-
cant spiritual movement about which
current ideas are, generally speaking,
confused or mistaken.
That much misused word, Theoso-
phy, as far as I know, occurs for
the first time in the writings of
St. Paul (1 Cor. ii, 7). What the
Apostle understood by the term it is
not easy to say; yet so much is cer-
tain, that what is meant by ''the
hidden wisdom of God" is no wisdom
of this world. He who employs this
term nowadays generally has in mind
the movement set on foot by Madame
Blavatsky and is of the opinion that
it deals with a more or less fantastic
and, specifically, Indian thought and
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
learnings even if he does not speak*
with Chamberlain, of the "pseudo-
Buddhistic sport of the half-educated
idler/' Fortunately I can speak on
Theosophy without being obliged to
touch on the complicated nature and
the storm-tossed life of that strange
and remarkable woman; for in that
case I should have little space to sat-
isfy to any degree the claim of the
reader concerning my important theme.
The knowledge I had gained in
former years concerning Madame Bla-
vatsky and the doctrines advocated
by her had not been conducive to
my drawing any nearer to the Theo-
sophical movement. My attention,
however, became riveted when the
leadership of this movement was
undertaken in Germany by Dr. Ru-
dolph Steiner. It being comparatively
little known how important a factor
of the movement this man is, the
most essential points must first be
given.
6
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
Tliere are two special works which,
next to the public lectures and the
answering of questions afterwards
asked, give brilliant witness to Doctor
Steiner's keenness of mind and his
extraordinary knowledge — Die Philaso-
phie der Freiheit^ and Welt" und Lebensan-
schauungen tm I9ten JahrhunderL* While
in the former book a world-outlook,
modem in the best sense and doing
full justice to individuality, is put
forth with rare profundity, the second
work presents an investigation which
seizes with extraordinary assurance
upon the vital points in the compre-
hensive theme, reaching from Kant
to Haeckel. Without renouncing his
own sharply defined world-outlook,
Steiner has known so well how to
project himself into the thoughts of
others that often one cannot in the
least detect his own antagonistic stand-
point. Above all, he has done as
^ The Fhilosophy of Freedom, Berlin, 1894.
• Views of the World and of Life in the igth Century,
Cronbadi, Berlin.
7
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
much justice to the materialistic creed
as can be demanded of a philoso-
pher standing at a higher point of
observation. An investigator who in
the course of his observations and
examinations does not betray the
slightest sympathy or antipathy, and
who adopts a severely objective stand-
point, appears to be trustworthy in
the highest degree. It should also be
mentioned that through several publi-
cations on Goethe, especially Goethe's
Weltanschauung,^ Steiner has proved
himself one of the best connoisseurs of
our great sage. Engaged for several
years with the Goethian archives, he
also published Goethe's works on Nat-
ural Science in Kurschner's Deutsche
National Literatur and supplied the
weighty prefaces doing justice to that
great genius. It seems to me note-
worthy that Steiner's merits in refer-
ence to his Goethe investigations are
also highly praised by Chamberlain in
^Outlook on the Universe, Weimar, 1897.
8
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
his KanL Whoever wishes to learn
more of Steiner's laborious life is re-
ferred to the preface which the French
mystic and poet» Edouard Schure, has
given in his translation of Steiner's
Das Christentum ah mystische Tatsache.'
When, therefore, a Rudolph Steiner
had begun to promulgate Theosophy,
I felt it my duty to pay closer atten-
tion to it. My desire for knowledge
became all the stronger when I found
that the new apostle had reached
the truths of Theosophy by another
road than that of Madame Blavatsky,
namely, that of Western mysticism.
Faced by the question as to whether
he would join the Theosophical Society
which had originated from the East,
or call into being a new and separate
movement, Steiner decided on the
former. Doubtless this decision sprang
from a truly Theosophical feeling,
which, from the aspect of mediation
' Christianity as a Mystic Fact. Le MysUre ChrS'
tien,^Pans, 1908.
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
and reconciliation » endeavors to em-
phasize not that which separates but
that which unites humanity. And
here certainly there was enough
in common. However, that which
chiefly differentiated the two schools
was not indeed an irreconcilable
antithesis but solely a great lack in
the Oriental wisdom — an ignorance
of the true meaning of Christianity.
Certainly at this juncture there was
nothing to prevent Steiner from
lighting a mighty torch and by its
means setting the Eastern teaching
for the first time in the right light,
because the conception of evolution
most closely bound up with The-
osophy has also to be taken into
consideration by Theosophical Science.
Besides this, there had to be given
to the whole system a more solid
and determinate form; also in rela-
tion to the practical side, the great
difference between East and West
had to be pointed out, so that there
to
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
cannot be the remotest suspicion of a
propagation of Asiaticism. Further*
Steiner avoids as much as possible
the Indian terminology, but cannot
do so altogether because Western
thought is not acquainted with cer-
tain of the ideas and, consequently,
possesses no words for them.
It was no mere chance that the
Theosophical movement set in at
about the same time that the scien-
tific conquest of Materialism was more
and more conceded, although simul-
taneously the "Ignorabimus" was
acknowledged and with it the point
to which Natural Science is willing
to go. Upon that which lies beyond
that point — Mysticism — modern Nat-
ural Science does not consider itself
able to venture, because it cannot
conceive any idea of it other than
that of an involved and confused
mentality. But how would it be if
there were even now a Mysticism
which had hands and feet, meaning
11
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
and sense, and were completely inde-
pendent of personalities? This is
what Rudolph Steiner insures to us
now — a man as complete as he
is many-sided — in his intimacy with
scientific methods; only such a per-
sonality dares, in the West, to feel
himself called to such a work, and
he does it in such a manner that
the unprejudiced cannot leave it
unnoticed. The first point in the
Theosophical philosophy of the uni-
verse is less a matter of definite
knowledge than of a particular kind
of investigation, which presents a
pronounced contrast to the usual
scientific methods. Whereas the
latter rest chiefly on the evidence
of the senses, Theosophy has to
do with supersensory experiences. It
asserts that inner organs of percep-
tion — spiritual eyes and ears, as
Goethe calls them — can be developed
in man, with which the soul and
the spirit worlds are as perceptible
12
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
as is the physical world to the exter-
nal senses. Accordingly, the The-
osophist would stand in a similar
relationship to the non-Theosophist
as a person with sight to one born
blind. If the latter can obtain an
idea of the physical world through
the sense of touch alone, then the
one who sees can attain the per-
ception of color and other things
only through light, and through the
seeing of existing conditions. When
Natural Science disputes the pos-
sibility of supersensory sight, it is
as if the blind were to declare to
be mere fallacy that which those
who can see, say about colors. The
actuality of the secret knowledge
affirmed by the Theosophist is also
confirmed by the mystics of all ages,
to whom, if in a wider sense, Goethe,
that idol of humanity, belongs.^
* Goethe's mystic knowledge is particularly notice-
able in Faust f in the "Marchen" {Fairy Tales), and in
the "Geheimnisse" (Secrets). When any one fails to
recognize and tinderstand the mystic in Goethe that is
13
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
The word Theosophy gives rise
to a peculiar misunderstanding in so
far as people are prone to suppose
that behind "Divine wisdom" there
is a pretended knowledge of God.
It is rather a matter of "God-like
wisdom/' that is, a knowledge of
the inner and imperishable man, of
the germ of the Divine Being con-
cealed within him. Theosophy, or,
as Steiner prefers to call it. Spiritual
Science, differentiates itself from ordi-
nary science not through the sub-
ject matter of which it treats but
through the manner of treating it;
consequently Spiritual Science will
never prove spiritual experiences but
only point to them. Moreover, it
has nothing to do with speculation,
but with supersensory fads, which
can as little contradict Natural Sci-
ence as the declaration of the sight-
gifted can contradict what the blind
not his fault, for he is really comprehensible only to
the "initiate," as Goethe himself once explained to
Edkerman in reference to the second part of Faust
14
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
man has decided through his sense
of touch. Contradictions occur only
in connection with speculative, espe-
cially materialistic, explanations of the
facts of Natural Science. But that
explanations of this kind are not to
be taken seriously Goethe affirms
when he says that the scientific
investigator is really only joking and
making fun of us when he explains
a phenomenon."^
When one asks what is the exact
tkilue of Theosophical knowledge, at
first sight it would seem simply pre-
posterous to demand that one should
accept things not within one's own
control, which can be known only
through supersensory experiences, and
which are in the first place possible
to very few people. One can, and
most people will, reject the stand-
point of this mode of investigation,
but its untenableness is by no means
' Conversation of German Emigrants ( Unterhaltungen
deutscher Ausgewanderten) .
13
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
proved by the fact that, especially in
reference to the doctrine of evolution*
one can set absolutely no limitations
to the powers of human knowledge.
There is a remarkable contradiction
when the word "evolution" is always
on our lips and yet we have no real
belief in it; that is, we assume that
it is out of the question to-day for
those who admit the experiences of
the senses and the activity of the
intellect. But he who declares only
that to be true which is perceptible
to the ordinary senses, resembles one
of the lower creatures if it were to
assert the non-existence of colors and
sounds merely because it cannot per-
ceive them. It is evident that only
those can describe what is perceptible
who have the requisite organs. It is
only too easy to account for the great
lack of modesty in the present genera-
tion, as manifested for the most part in
taking its own capacity for knowledge
as the measure of knowledge itself,
16
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
because our whole civilization is too
closely bound up with Natural Science,
which relies only on the evidence of
the senses. It is a result of the sug-
gestion of the masses when a theo-
logian like Adolph Harnack can say
incidentally that every idea of a future
life is cut off and exterminated.
However, Theosophy is far from
underestimating the immense suc-
cesses2pi external civilization; rather,
it shows that development had to take
this course, and gives the reasons why.
It adds, however, that future develop-
ment depends upon the awakening of
slumbering faculties, of which certain
persons are already in possession.
The "unscientific" request to take
the existence of such powers without
proof appears at once in a greatly
extenuated light when one keeps in
mind that scientific results must, for
the most part, be taken on faith and
trust, since only in the rarest cases
is the individual capable of applying
17
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
a critical test; whereas, even though
it be somewhat difficult of attain-
ment, the passibilUy of personally
ratifying supersensory facts is given
to eoery person. Moreover, many of
the accepted scientific results are in
nowise truths firmly established be-
yond the region of doubt. In science
we meet much more, step by step,
with hypothesis, superstition, and
idolatry, apart from the fact that
in general no philosophy of life (the
Theosophical one gained by personal
experience excepted) can be main-
tained without metaphysical elements
or dogmas. Materialism, in partic-
ular, is just as dogmatic as is any
exoteric religion. There is only one
difference, and that is to the dis-
advantage of materialism, in the
contents of the dogma. Theosophy,
moreover, demands no belief in its
doctrines but only belief in the pos-
sibility of arriving, through one's
own experience, at a knowledge of
18
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
these doctrines; it desires to point
out the way to this end and asks
for impartiaUty and good will. Before
one can, oneself, be a seer and a
knower, one must accept the Theo-
sophical doctrine as a working
hypothesis — a thing indispensable
also in scientific methods. This
appears the more admissible since
many facts become clearer through
Theosophical hs^pothesis than through
any other views. Added to this, one
arrives by the avenues of thought
at quite a number of Theosophical
perceptions just because they are
so absolutely rational. In this con-
nection, besides Steiner's PMosophk der
Freiheit^ and Erketwtnbtheorie der Goethe-
8chen IVeltanschauung^ are to be strongly
recommended Dr. C. Unger's excel-
lent handbooks on theories of knowl-
edge.^ It is to be remarked further
' Philosophy of Freedom.
* Cognition Theory of the Goethian Universal Phi-
losophy,
» Phil. Theos. Publish. Co., Berlin, W. Motzstr. 17.
19
«..;
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
that the assertions of Theosophy can
in many cases be tested and have, m
part, already been ratified by science.
The most remarkable corroboration of
this fact is that Doctor Ardlt writes,
in the magazine Kosmos (1905), in a
manner which coincides noticeably
with Theosophical statements concern-
ing the portion of the earth, called
Atlantis, buried under the Atlantic.
Lastly, we must remember that
beside the faculties of conscious clair-
voyance there are those which can
never be understood by the sense
perceptions and intellectual faculties,
especially the powers of vision and
creation possessed by great artists,
as also the subconscious looking into
futurity and space by the somnam-
bulist. (Goethe so often gives his
opinion to the effect that the creation
of the artist is due to a kind of mad-
ness, that with his declarations on
the subject I was able to fill several
pages of my protest — Goethe and
20
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
Matertalbm ^ ) Somnambulistic clair*
voyance has been so frequently and
soundly proved, that skepticism on
such a point amounts to nothing less
than ignorance. Enough! One has
every reason for once to put aside
one's own convictions, notwithstand-
ing their impregnability, and at least
to listen to what is imparted by the
mouth of Theosophy. If one could
only rid oneself of prejudice, one
would soon find that Theosophy is
very clear and illuminating; this,
and not simplicity, is the criterion of
Truth.
We will now briefly discuss the
most necessary fundamental principles of
Theosophy, as expressed by Rudolph
Steiner.' First of all, we must refer
to the expression resounding from the
' C. Mutse, Leipzig.
' In Theosophy (Keean Paul and Trench, London),
Initiation and Its Results, Atlantis and LemuHa, and
An Outline of Occult Science (translation of the latter
will shortly appear), as well as other works. For
information, apply to Mr. Max Gysi, "Appledore,"
Park Drive, Hampstead, London, N. W.
21
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
wisdom of Goethe: "Alles Vergang-
liche ist nur ein Gleichnis (Everything
transitory is but a simile)." Behind
the perishable physical world stands
an imperishable and spiritual, of which
the former is merely a revelation, a
kind of reflected image, and, as such,
only a portion; that is, the spiritual
world is richer than the physical,
and cannot therefore find its full
expression through the latter. If the
spiritual world is thoroughly con-
ceivable (if not for the materialist)
it is for the occult investigator even
a matter of experience. Where the
scientific teacher, employing merely
his ordinary senses, can observe only
effects, it is possible for the other
to rise above the sensory facts to
exact causes, and, for example, to
perceive that the electric phenomena
in the sky are caused by certain
beings who have their existence in
a higher world. So also, a whole
hierarchy of spiritual beings took
22
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
part in the formation of the world.
The Monist need not let himself be
disturbed by the dreadful thought
of a chance Dualism, because the
terrestrial world can be understood
as the temporary consolidation of a
spiritual world. As a Theosophist
one's mental horizon is so immensely
widened that one does not trouble
oneself any more about such opposites
as Monism and Dualism. The world
is not so simple that one can de-
scribe its existence with such catch-
words as these. Thus it happens
that the present mode of gaining
knowledge, founded on the so-called
objective consciousness, has only a
relative value in that it merely
touches on one phase in the devel-
opment of human knowledge. One
cannot speak of such a thing as
limited absolute wisdom. It is only
asserted that the occult teacher, in
virtue of his supersensory experiences
(to which his intercourse with higher
23
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
spiritual beings also belongs)^ can
attain to far more widely reaching
perceptions than the ordinary person.
It is to be remembered in passing
that when the initiate has attained
a certain degree of development, the
world reveals itself to him in tones.
It would seem as if Goethe also
had known of this "music of the
spheres/* for he begins the prologue
in Heaven with the words, "As of
yore the sun resounds''; and again,
in the beginning of the second part
of Faust, he says:
"With tones that sound for spirit hearing
The new-bom day is now appearing."
One cannot speak here of any hallu-
cination of poetic fancy, nor indeed
of a phrase, because, as he him-
self has so often attested, Goethe's
thoughts and poems are quite ob-
jective. G>ncerning the existence of
the resonant world it may be further
' These are the " unknown higher beings " for whom
Goethe calls forth veneration in his poem, Das Gouliche
(The Dwine).
24
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
explained how Schopenhauer, and
with him Richard Wagner with his
intuitive genius, could go so far as
to assign to music a special place in
the kingdom of art because it directly
expresses the very inner being of the
world.
A second fundamental doctrine is
what may be called, in the most
comprehensive sense of the word, the
admitted evolution of the earth and
of its inhabitants. What people so
generally understand by evolution is,
according to the Theosophical stand-
point, concerned with only one part
of the universal process, and one which
is restricted to the world of the
senses. Taken quite externally, there
exists in reference to this part a cer-
tain resemblance between the material-
istic perception and the Theosophical
presentations; inwardly, according to
the true sense, there is a world of
difference between them. In refer-
ence, for instance, to the much vexed
25
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
question of the origin of man, the
occult teacher assures us that man is
not a highly developed ape but that
the latter is rather a shriveled-up,
deteriorated relative of man. This
doctrine is undoubtedly more rational
than the other, according to which a
lower is said to have developed to a
higher and that, moreover, under the
influence of factors, such as natural
selection and the struggle for exist-
ence, which have come to be consid-
ered by thoughtful investigators as
quite insufficient and even as nulli-
ties. Furthermore, the Theosophist
can supply an absolutely definite and
elevated purpose for the development
of our solar system, whereas the
solvers of the riddle of the universe,
among whom was Nietzsche with
his "endless return," maintain the
purposeless repetition of the univer-
sal processes, or express themselves
negatively. The immediate purpose
of human evolution is the perfect
26
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
production, in the distant future, of
a new spiritual hierarchy, the most
distinctive characteristic of which will
be full moral freedom. If, on the
other hand, we are told of primor-
dial times quite unattainable for the
natural scientist, there arises the
legitimate question as to how those
far-off times can be attainable for the
clairvoyant vision. The answer given
is that the history of the earth's
development is, as it were, engraved
in the spiritual world in a way that
can be deciphered. It is certainly
possible to put questions which even
Theosophy is not able to answer satis-
factorily. The fault however lies less
in Theosophy than in the inadmis-
sible way of formulating questions
conditioned by our present stage of
evolution.
The true germinal being of man,
once slumbering in the bosom of the
Deity, needed for its perfect develop-
ment (possible only through earthly
27
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
experiences) oft-r^ieated incamaUms
as a new personality. In noting the
difference which Tlieosophy makes
between individuality and personality
one may say that individuality needs
for its development change of per-
sonality, that is to say, individuality
needs reincarnation just as that which
constitutes the then earthly person
requires metabolism. If we ask how
it is that one cannot remember one's
former earth-lives, then comes the
answer that the remembrance will
present itself at a sufficiently advanced
development of the individuality —
of the consciousness of the ego. In
man as he is to-day the ego is still
too little differentiated, because the
consciousness of the group-soul is still
too dominant. Individual exceptions
there have been already, and are
also at the present time. I name only
Pythagoras, Goethe, and Novalis.
Pythagoras is said to have recalled
several of his earth-lives, Goethe said
28
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
that he Uved under the Emperor
Adrian » and Novalis gives us clearly
to understand that he remembered
having been contemporary with Christ.
The doctrine of reincarnation, solving
as it does so many riddles, and of
which the great skeptic Hume says
that it is the only idea of immortality
to which philosophy can listen, besides
being met with in Theosophy is found
not only in Buddhism but is hinted
at in the Bible and, moreover, in
the old Germanic religion, among the
Kabalists, Neoplatonists, Gnostics,
Manichaeans, and Druids; and among
the most varied thinkers — Plato,
Seneca, Origen, Giordano Bruno,
Voltaire, Lessing, Lichtenberg, Goethe,
Schiller, Jean Paul, Riickert, Novalis,
2^hokke, Schopenhauer, Richard
Wagner, Hebbel, Max Miiller, Hellen-
bach, Hiibbe-Schleider, Mickiewicz,
and Strindberg. Indeed, a few mod-
ern savants own to the doctrine of
reincarnation; thus for example, the
29
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
professors of philosophy, Jul. Baumann
and H. Spitta, as well as the physicist
Lxxige/
Hand in hand with human develop-
ment and the reincarnation necessary
thereto goes the law of spiritual caus-
ality and of compensating justice,
known under the name of Karma —
the power which shapes our destiny,
by virtue of which each one is his own
evolutionary product. All blows of
fate with which we meet — in so far
as they are not quite experiences —
we have ourselves caused in this or
in an earlier life, and all our actions
condition our future destiny, which
is of course bound up with the Karma
of the nation to which we belong, as
also with the Karma of the whole
human race. It is through Karma
(which consequently is no "Fatum")
and repeated incarnations that the
* Examples can be found in Deinhard's Das Mys-
terium des Menschertt Berlin, 19 lo, and in my
brochure, Die Kardinalfrage der Menschhett^ Leipzig,
1906.
30
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
explanation can be given as to why
the good man suffers while the bad
man can be happy. The right insight
into the Karmic law reconciles us so
completely with fate that we can be
thankful for misfortune in so far as
we are, through affliction, definitely
freed from the guilt incurred. We
must, moreover, keep especially in
sight the other side of Karma, the
possibility of assuring to ourselves,
through the right directing of this
life, a profitable course for the one to
come. *
All sorts of objections, chiefly the
result of shortsightedness, may be
made against Karma and other The**
osophical doctrines — all of which
* According to Guido v. List, the Sanscrit word
Karma is derived from the old northern "Garman,"
or "Germen," which is employed in the same way.
In the writings of this highly esteemed investigator
of Aryanism, in Die Religion der Ario-Germanen (A.
Burdeke, Leipzig), examples are also forthcoming for
the fact that reincarnation, Garman, and other Theo-
sophical basic doctrines belong to the most important
dogmas of the old Germanic religion. Consequently,
it is very probable that the Germans, because they
felt themselves as "Powers of Destiny," have taken
their name from "Germen."
31
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
are» however, anticipated. I must
limit myself to dealing with that
objection which is connected with
one of the most important of philo-
sophical problems. It is said that
Karma is not reconcilable with free-
dom of action. The true insight into
this connection will be gained only
when one is quite clear on the ques-
tion of free will. That appears by
no means an easy matter, for the
greatest thinkers contradict them-
selves on that point. It seems to me
that Steiner has in his Philosophic der
FreiheH^ met this difficult problem
with a satisfactory solution. One can-
not ask whether man is free or not.
Much rather, he is on the road to
freedom, and is at present partly
free, partly bound; he is free in
proportion as he has won for himself
knowledge of the laws of his actions.
Now in what concerns Karma and
freedom it is not fate that acts, but
^ Philosophy of Freedom.
32
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
rather that man — in so far as he
is free — sets in motion the neces-
sary laws of fate. That reincarnation
and Karma are in themselves neces*
sary conceptions even from the stand-
point of Natural Science, Steiner has
shown in his brochure. Reincarnation
and Karma.
Mention must be made of that
particular basic principle which relates
to the component parts of the human
being. The four parts, interwoven
with one another, of which it
treats, first of all are the physical
body (the only one known to the
natural scientist), then the ether or
life-body, the astral body, and the
ego. The ether-body has nothing
to do with the hypothetical ether
of physics, but is rather a force-
ccmformation almost congruent with
the physical body, which latter it
has built up and permeated, and
which it holds together. That some-
thing as life-force must exist has of
33
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
late been conceded by many scien-
tists. One can, by simple reflection,
convince oneself of the existence of
the ether-body. The physical body
consists merely of materials which
exist also in the mineral kingdom.
Yet these materials cannot display
their indwelling powers as in the low-
est kingdom of Nature; that is first
possible to them in a dead body.
Consequently, there must be some-
thing in a living p>erson which works
against these powers and prevents the
decay of the physical body. Now this
"something" is the so-called ether-
body, which can, however, be observed
also by the occultist. The case is
quite similar with the astral body and
the ego; they too can be mentally
comprehended and clairvoyantly seen.
The astral, or sentient, body has an
oval form extending beyond the other
two bodies and is the bearer of pleas-
ure and pain, desires and passions.'
* As to its essential being, it consists of moving
color-pictures.
34
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
(What in other quarters has been
referred to as the astral body, by
Du Prel and his school, is in most cases
the Theosophical ether-body.) Fin-
ally, the ego is the bearer of the self-
consciousness of the higher powers of
the soul.
This fourfold division now proves
to be an extraordinarily fruitful prin-
ciple. It leads us first of all to a
determinate and striking differentia-
tion of the four kingdoms of Nature.
Granted that man consists of the
above-named four parts, then the
animal has three (physical, ether,
and astral body), the plants two
(physical and ether-body), and the
minerals only a physical body. Thus
we have something in common and
something differentiative, which is
incomparably more illuminating than
when, in all four kingdoms, only a
single principle (will or substance)
is recognized. Further, the Theosoph-
ical comprehension of the human
35
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
being leads to the solution of the
problems of sleep and death, — problems
quite unsolvable for the natural sci-
entist. In deep, dreamless sleep
the ego and the astral body have
separated from the physical and
ether-body, so that the person, until
reawakening, leads what may be called
a mere plant existence; but in death
the ether and the astral body grad-
ually dissolve, while the ego works
out in the spiritual world the experi-
ences gained in life, and by means
of them prepares new conditions for
the next earth-Ufe. So death becomes
a steppingstone to life. Again, dreams
occur when, during sleep, the separa-
tion between the astral and ether
bodies is not complete. Furthermore,
the four temperaments can easily be
explained by the fourfold division
of man.
In the case of the melancholic per-
son the physical body predominates;
in the phlegmatic, the ether-body
36
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
(in 8o fax as it exerts a favorable
influence over the physiological func-
tions); in the sanguine person, it is
the sentient body, and in the choleric
person, the ego. Lastly, the analysis
of the human being is of great serv-
ice in the solution of the question of
heredity. It is very evident that they
are but half truths when a natural
scientist (like the anatomist Rawitz)
asserts that only physical qucJities
can be inherited, or when Schopen-
hauer maintains the transmission of
all human qualities, or when Du Prel
says that mental and moral similar-
ities between children and those of
their respective parents are to be
traced solely to selective affinity.
In contrast with this, Theosophy
shows that the physical body, the
ether-body, and the astral body
constitute, in certain respects, one
whole, and that consequently one part
of the mental qualities is implanted
by heredity, whereas the spirit (the
37
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
ego) is quite independent of physical
hereditary laws. Only thus the dif-
ference — frequently great — between
brothers and sisters, and even twins,
may be explained.
Three further members of the
human entity will reach their develop-
ment only in the course of ages, and
this will take place through the work
of the ego on the three lower members.
From another point of view, Theoso-
phy says also that man consists of
three parts: body, soul, and spirit.
This threefold division is conditioned
through the existence of the three
worlds to which man belongs equally:
the physical world which is the only
one accessible to the ordinary senses,
then the mental and the spiritual,
which are both of a supersensory
nature. The transient body and the
eternal spirit are temporarily, dur-
ing the period of earthly existences,
joined together by the soul — the seat
of the human will.
36
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
After this long but indispensable
preface, with which, however, even
the Theosophical ABC could not
in any way be exhausted, I come to
the connection between Occult Science
and Christianity. Madame Blavat"
sky's sympathy for Buddhism is to
be accounted for by the unfavor-
able impressions which she in her
youth had received from Christianity,
iby her long sojourn in India, and
for the most part by the unjust
attitude of the Christian churches to-
ward Indian wisdom. A more correct
position toward Christianity, the real
reason of which Madame Blavatsky
could not, for special reasons, recog-
nize, app>ears however in A. Besant's
Esoteric Christianify and in G. R. S.
Mead's Fragments of a Forgotten Faith,
both of which have in view the
Christ of the Gnostics. But, according
to the occult science promulgated by
Steiner, the appearance of Christ is incom-
parably the most significant event of the
39
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
whole eoolulhm of earth and of man.
Concerning the great mystery here in
question — to-day but partially dis-
closed and comprehensible — only
general references can be made in
public. It must be emphasized be-
forehand that the Theosophical per-
ceptions in this case also are founded
only on supersensory observations, on
the reading in ''spiritual records," and
therefore not on historical documents.
The Biblical accounts are not taken
as the starting point, but are certainly
verified to the fullest extent. This
fact is, in our time of destructive
Biblical criticism, of most exceptional
importance, even though the value
of the Theosophical testimony, in
spite of its indisputability, will at
the present time be acknowledged by
only a few.
To the question, "Who was Jesus
of Nazareth?" — a question so often
and so variously answered — the reply
is given that He was a high Initiate
40
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
who had to prepare Himself before-
hand for an extraordinary mission, so
to purify and to refine his physical
frame that in the thirtieth year of
His life He could receive, through
the baptism of St. John, the Divine
Being of Christ — a Being far exalted
above a Buddha and other leaders
of humanity. On this point the doc*
trine already put forward by the
Gnostics is thus confirmed.
It is not the code of ethics already
given elsewhere which is characterized
as the essential part of Christianity,
but rather the fact that Christ has lived
in a human body and has poured out
His Blood. ^ In order to understand
the mighty impulse which was thereby
given to human evolution we must
direct our glance backward. The hier-
archy already mentioned, to which
mankind is to ripen, willing good of
their own full free will, forms a col-
lection of beings endowed with a
' Wagner's ideas about the Redeemer agree won-
derfully well with this view of Christ and His mission.
41
THEOSOPHY and CHRISTIANITY
fully conscious ego who in a remote
past were bom out of the Godhead.
For the development of complete
independence these spiritual beings
had to descend into matter, while
on the other hand, for the gaining
of freedom, ev// (in the form of
appetites and passions) has to be
incorporated in human evolution.
Without the choice between good and
evil, moral freedom could not be
conceivable. But the result of the
descent into matter was that the
connection with the spiritual world
became more and more lost, and evil
ever increasingly powerful, so that
mankind would in due course have
been suffocated in matter and egoism
if the downward movement had not
received again an upward direction
through Christ. In a word, through
Christ has been made possible the fu-
ture re-ascent into the spiritual world, but
a re-ascent associated with a complete
consciousness of the ego! This is the
42
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
most momentous though by no means
the only consequence of the appear-
ing of Christ upon earth. To him
who is incHned to wonder that the
effects of so great an event have not
long ago been apparent, the thought
must be o£Fered that the evolution of
man proceeds very slowly, and that,
in spite of the gloomy appearance of
our present stage of evolution, it is
not possible to imagine where we
should have been if Christ had not
come.
It is to be further stated that
Christ, from being a cosmic God,
has become a mystic Divinity who
can become lioing in every man when
the latter has become ripe for it.
Such a one can then i^nrnp what, up
to that time, he had to believe: the
victory of the spiritual life over
death. Let us not say that, conse-
quently, a salvation has come to the
people of to-day which was denied
to the pre-Christian humanity, for
43
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
post-Christian human beings are none
other than those who were already
then incarnated.
With the explanation of the Event
of Palestine, the severity of the stem
law of Karma — a law difficult to rec-
oncile with the exoteric idea of mercy
— is appreciably mitigated. As a
person's fate may take a favorable
turn if another is allowed to give
him kindly help, so Christ helped
the whole of humanity.
A word more on the subject of
the Gospels. The Christian records
must not be looked upon as ordinary
documents, but as mystic writings
obtained from the Traditions of the
Mysteries. From this point of view
all those defects disappear which we
can rightly bring against the Gospels,
if we take our position on the
standpoint of materialistic historical
investigation — that is to say, on what
is based merely on the experiences of
the senses; the faulty concordance,
44
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
the incompleteness and imperfection
of the accounts, as also the contested
dates of their appearance, play no
part at all. For the faulty con-
cordance is quite simply explained
by the fact that the authors have
drawn the accounts from various mys-
tery-traditions. The Evangelists did
not wish to give any ordinary biog-
raphy of Jesus of Nazareth, but a
description of what, in the mystery-
traditions of the time, had long been
represented as a typical life of the
Son of God. In this light, the St.
John's Gospel which, to the .rationalis-
tic mind, appears the least intelli-
gible, is seen to be the deepest and
most important document of man-
kind. Further details can be found
in R. Steiner's Das Christentum ah
M^tische Tatsache,^ in which is shown
the path to the new way along which
"The Light of the World" must be
proclaimed, if He is not to fade away
i ChristianUy as a Mystical Factf M. Altmann,
Leipzig.
45
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
absolutely from humanity of to-day.
Tlieosophy also enlightens us con-
cerning a fallacy lightly put forth by
the superficial in the present-day con-
troversy as to the existence of the
historical Jesus Christ. Whereas the
careers of a Gilgamesch (the Babylo-
nian God-man ^)» Moses, Buddha,
Jesus, Paul, and others present cer-
tain resemblances, it is thought that
they may be gathered from variations
of sagas and that a former existence
may be denied to all these personali-
ties. On the other hand, according
to Theosophy these similarities are
conditioned by the fact that the lives
of personalities who have to fulfill
a high mission must run a certain
course.
As will already have been seen,
Theosophy implies no new religion;
it desires rather to explain those of
the present in reference to their origin,
meaning, and differences. Whereas
1 Superman.
46
ThEOSOPHY and CHRISTIANITY
Science, in a thoroughly inadequate
way, represents the points common to
the various reUgions as a product of
popular fancy stimulated by natural
phenomena, Theosophy traces these
common points back to a secret doc-
trine existent from earliest times,
which the people were taught by
the initiates and highly developed
adepts, that is, by the founders of
religions. Whereas leaders of mankind
had to suit their teaching to the pe-
culiarities and the various stages of
development of the individual nations,
on the other hand the considerable
differences of religions become forth-
with comprehensible. The whole of
the new teaching is especially con-
ciliatory, in that it shows how the
spiritual currents introduced through
the various religions have met to-
gether in Christianity, so that it alone
is called to be the religion common
to mankind. The powerful pictures
which are unrolled over this Appearing
47
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
— an Appealing grounded on a plan
of evolution as deep as it is full of
wisdom — provide us also with the
answer to the difficult question why
Christ hid to appear from arrwng the Jews.
As to the reasons for this fact»
only one can be expressed here, that
the Jews kept most tenaciously to the
love founded on blood relationship,
and that consequently He, who not
only inculcated (like Buddha) the
spiritual, pure love of humanity, but
had presented the living embodimerd of
it, could present among that people
the sharpest contrast. The higher
value of this new love was expressed
in the apparently hard words, ''Whoso
leaveth not father and mother, brother
and sister, wife and child, cannot be
My disciple."
Theosophy supplies also the ex-
planation with reference both to the
system of philosophy and, in gen-
eral, to all the phenomena of exist-
ence. Based upon an unrestricted
48
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
tolerance, it is a central world-outlook
given from a higher watch tower —
primeval wisdom — through which one
learns to grasp the whole of life
with its contrasts, and which pro-
vides an answer to all the agitating
questions of the day. It certainly
shows most objective wisdom when
it is proved that world-outlooks,
which contradict each other, do not
necessarily exclude one another, inas-
much as the contradictions are brought
about by varying stages of knowledge.
For the deep knowledge which
Theosophy offers demands of its
followers, concurrent with a logical
comprehension, highly ethical views.
Just as it is possible that an insight
into the law of Karma may spur a man
on to the best guidance of his life,
so should knowledge in general lead
solely to the perfecting of man and
to his higher evolution. It is very
significant when it is said that a
single act of true love for humanity
49
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
is worth more than all the treasures
of knowledge, if the latter are gained
only through curiosity and remain
unfruitful. Theosophy as a doctrine
is merely a beginning; it must perme-
ate the whole of life and enter into
the most trivial matters. Conse-^
quently, one cannot speak of any
such thing as hostility to life, of which
it has been slanderously accused, and
this latter much the less, owing toi
two special reasons which must not
be left unmentioned: first, the high
estimation of art (inasmuch as it, being:
a medium between the earthly andl
spiritual worlds, is exceedingly con-
ducive to evolution), and second, the
surmounting of pessimism as far as
possible. If one sees an evil one's
powers must be exerted to find the
good to which the former often event-
ually leads. Briefly, one must work
along the positive side, seek out and
hold fast to the good as much as pos-
sible, for only thus can the world be
50
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
helped. Of course, if the Theoaophist
does not agree to all the proposals
made by ''practical" world-reformers,
that is due to his more comprehensive
points of view. Mrs. Besant stood
for years in the social movement and
gave a bright example of heroic self-
sacrifice, but eventually she saw that
all work is in vain unless the spiritual
forces, to which Theosophy supplies
the key, are set in motion.
And, by the way, one other fact.
Many opposers of Theosophy (mostly
non-informed) imagine they can decry
it by mentioning it in the same
breath with spiritualism. Certainly
Theosophy does prove this, in com-
mon with theoretical spiritualism, that
it holds the manifestations of the
departed as possible, even as signifi-
cant, if they appear spontaneously. On
the other hand, it stands absolutely
aloof from the practice of intercourse
with spirits (which has been so much
opposed, and to a certain extent
51
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
rightly) because it has nothing what-
soever to do with bringing down the
supersensory within easy reach of the
external senses, but rather with devel-
oping in man those inner qualities,
through which it is possible for him
to raise himself into spiritual worlds.
Moreover, it holds experimental spirit-
ualism as harmful for those in the
Beyond, as well as for the medium
and the credulous people taking part
in seances. Consequently, the bitter-
est opponents of Theosophy are to be
found among the spiritualists.
When its true nature is once recog-
nized, Theosophy will find its most
fruitful field in Germany, because the
national soul of the people directly
yearns for it; the old Germanic reli-
gion even had the double doctrine
of Reincarnation and Karma as an
essential element. Also very many
flowers of German mental culture,
as expressed particularly by Goethe,
Novalis, Schelling, and in no small
52
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
degree by the works of Richard Wag-
ner* have sprung from a thoroughly
Theosophic mode of thought, even
though our poets and thinkers were
not always aware of the fact.*
If Goethe is right in saying that
"only the fruitful is true/' then the
crown belongs to Theosophy. No
propaganda for Theosophy must be
made through the foregoing, for it is
by no means a matter of gaining as
many adherents as possible, if they
are not yet ripe for this outlook on
the world. Rather, enlightenment
and, on the other hand, directions,
should be given to such as desire
something deeper and more stable
than what exoteric religions, philo*
sophical systems, and the results of
scientific investigation can supply.
^ The connections between R. Wagner and Theoso-
phy I have discussed in my book, R, Wagner as Artist
and Man, as Thinker and Epoch Maker, Xenier-Verlag»
Leipzig, soon to be issued in the English.
53
AFTERWORD
BY
RUDOLF STEINER
THE way in which the author of
this treatise speaks in confirma-
tion of my own attempts, both in
the domain of the Theosophical
philosophy of the universe and in
my other scientific works, makes it
difficult for me to clothe in suitable
words my acquiescence with what
he has said. And it is just because
these declarations lay me under the
obligation of saying something in
conclusion that I find myself conse-
quently in a rather difficult position.
The assurance that I do not wish to
regard opposite views with less under-
standing than those which, like Max
Seiling's, concur in so high a degree
with my own, will not be received
54
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
without some objection. At the same
time it is this which suggests to me
to say something in an "Afterword."
I should like to add something to the
sentence on page 31 of this treatise,
where it is said that objections against
Theosophy, that are always made
again and again, "are anticipated" by
the latter itself. It is of course
extremely simple and easy to "refute"
Theosophy. Let us take the opinion
about Reincarnation and Karma.
Those who profess this opinion speak
of an individual human essential-
nucleus. This persists as supersensory
essence when, with the advent of
death, there falls away from it the
physical body, which served it between
birth and death as an instrument in
the physical world. After an epoch of
purely spiritual existence this nucleus
rejoins itself to a physical organism in
order to be born anew for a physi-
cal life. On the building up of this
physical organization we must not
55
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
now think that only those forces are
engaged which call a human being into
existence as one of his own kind,
but, joined to these forces, are those
which in a preceding life had become
appropriated by the human essential-
nucleus.
Now many a disciple of Theoso*
phy, in order to strengthen the idea
of reincarnation, will point out how
the children of one and the same
family are individually quite different
from one another. He will say that
these individual differences cannot
be brought about merely through
heredity, for the children all have
the same ancestry. The individual
must consequently arise from the entry
of different individual essential-nuclei
into similar hereditary conditions.
However, the thought easily obtrudes
itself which contradicts such an ex-
planation of the given facts. The
child carries within it peculiarities
which, first of all, are inherited from
56
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
father and mother. What is handed
down from father and mother pro-
duces a result in the child. And in
proportion as one or the other element
predominates, in proportion as it
works thus or thus on the other, so
is it possible for the natural tendencies
of each child of the same parents to
be quite different individually. Again,
one can add to this: the difference be-
tween human characters depends upon
the connections in the chemical struc-
ture of the germ. And how should
these not be different for different
children born from the same parents in
different periods of life? The differ-
ence itself in the case of twins proves
nothing if we keep in mind that, in
spite of their simultaneous develop-
ment, the conditions of development
prior to birth cannot possibly be ex-
actly the same. Whoever sees in the
psychic-spiritual peculiarities and in
the character of a person the re-
sult of variously gradated hereditary
57
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
conditions, and thinks thereby to
stand on the firm ground of Natural
Science, will consider the objections
merely hinted at here — and which
could be increased at will — as quite
cogent.
A more weighty objection is ap-
parently brought forward by those
disciples of Theosophy who appeal
to such facts of human life as, for
instance, the feeling of individual re-
sponsibility and of conscience. They
will say if man feels himself respon-
sible he cannot attribute this feeling
to a faculty which organizes him
externally, but only to his individual
essential-nucleus, which came into
existence through birth. For how can
a person hold himself responsible for
something, the cause of which he has
not in himself produced? Yet all that
can be brought forward in this con-
nection provides no basis at all for
the idea of reincarnation.
There are many possible ways of
38
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
explaining the feeling of responsi-
bility and of conscience, even if we
see no more in human beings than
the result of natural tendencies in-
herited from the forefathers and
that which has been appropriated in
the course of physical development
through the single individual, or
through humanity as a whole. Among
the many possible explanations, only
one shall here be quoted. Let us
suppose that the development of the
human soul is simply at a more
perfected stage than that of the
animal; that his moral sense, for
example, is only an enhancement of
that which one finds as a moral
impulse in the animal world. Then
this higher stage can produce this
effect, that human society shall
demand from the single individual
certain things. If he fail to fulfill
these, then he puts himself in op-
position to the external world. It
must be demanded of him that he
59
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
take as a starting point for his
thoughts, feelings, and actions that
which brings him into harmony with
the life of his environment. Through
the experiencing of such a demand the
need must then develop of making
himself only a starting point for
actions of a certain nature. Out
of such thoughts we have then the
origin of the feeUng of responsibility,
of conscience, of the feeling for
perfection. Indeed, very ingenious
attempts have been made to explain
by such methods the facts of the soul-
life here quoted.^
How convincing also must it appear
when it is shown that with the de-
ficiency of certain parts of the brain
the corresponding manifestations of
the soul are also absent. Indeed,
in this connection the most varied
refutations are brought forward by
thinkers who do not acknowledge
'Among many, mention may be made of the
interesting book of Paul R6e, Die Entstehung des
Gewissens (Origin of Conscience),
60
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
Theosophy. Still these do not seem
by any means calculated to convince.
We can see» for example, that when
the strings of a piano are gradually
cut through by a pianist, then he
can bring out no more tones. But
that does not mean to say that
with the cessation of tone the pianist
also vanishes. So also it is impos^
sible for a human spiritual-psychic
nucleus to manifest itself if the instru-
ments — the portions of the brain —
are destroyed. But the impossibility
of self-revelation is no criterion that
the spiritual-psychic nucleus has
disappeared. Expressed thus, there
is nothing convincing about this
idea. For the pianist can still per-
ceive how his instrument is spoiled;
he is not demolished with it. It is
just this last, however, which cannot
be transferred to the psychic-spiritual
nucleus. It seems quite impossible
that any one who professes not to be
able to grant it from his own stand-
61
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
point should prove the independence
of the spiritual-psychic nucleus of man
through such comparisons as these.
The idea just quoted, which has been
brought forward numberless times,
cannot convince any adversary of the
independence of the human soul in-
dividuality. Such ideas will always
have an explanatory value for those
who acknowledge the supersensory
from deeper reasons; they have no
convincing value for those who do
not acknowledge it. This holds good
for all arguments already brought
forward here for the supersensory in
man. One can quote them in con-
nection with the authoritative state-
ments on behalf of the supersensory;
but one will "prove" through them
nothing.
The adversaries of Theosophy have
a much easier task in reference to
what is stated about the development
of the higher faculties of perception
for the supersensory. It seems as
62
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
natural as possible to point out in
this connection that he who has
visions and hallucinations holds these
as not less real than does the person
who observes the facts of the super-
sensory world as real, on the ground
of his so-called methodically trained
perceptive powers.
It can also be asserted that even
if one explains, on the ground of such
powers, this or that statement in the
region of fact, that does not prove
anything at all, for such an explana-
tion could also be an imaginary one.
We have indeed examples of how
much of what for a certain period of
time could be explained only through
supersensory powers found its ex-
planation later through conditions
observable by the senses. These are,
to be sure, only suggestions, but it
is easy to be seen how, through their
adequate development on the very
simplest lines, the assertions of the
Theosophist can be gainsaid.
63
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
It can be said that there is nothing
in Theosophy in the basis of which
one could not, in the way indicated,
quite easily "pick holes'' as being
unproved statements, fancy, and so
on. Consequently, with everything
that is adduced through adherents
of Theosophy there is not much to
be done by the current methods of
proof. It was, therefore, a right idea
of Max Seiling to tune his statements
to quite another key. One can under-
stand what is meant only if one is
willing to adopt this key. The author
of this publication lets it everywhere
be evident that it is not a question
of a person's attitude toward this or
that Theosophical statement, but of
the apprehending of that basis of this
philosophy of the universe which, in
reference to its power of conviction
points beyond the limits within which
ordinary proof lies.
I have myself found it necessary to
lay the foundation of this universal
64
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
philosophy in a purely scientific man-
ner, and then, through an adequate
building up of Theosophy, to show
the single truths, in so far as they
result from the foregoing premises.
So, for example, I cannot assume
the fact, in regard to my brochure,
Reincarnation and Karma, that any
one else presenting what I have said
in another connection will come
to the same result as I. In that
work I show how the present lines
of thought in Natural Science must
lead, in their logical sequence, to
the idea of Reincarnation and
Karma. Now as soon as one does
not follow in this sequence, and does
not see that the point lies in the
entire ''how'' of the presentation,
one misses the meaning of this small
work. In the domain for the basis
of the cognition-theory of the Theo-
sophical philosophy of the universe
Doctor Unger has worked still further;
it can be seen through his statements
65
THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY
also how fruitless must be every
attempt that aims at putting forward
a method of proof for Theosophy,
or directing one against it, of which
the adherent of Theosophy can for
a single moment doubt that it will
be as strong when used against him
by way of refutation as for him when
employed as proof. In the near
future I shall give further expres-
sion to what has been here intimated;
here I wished only to add a few words
to the statements of Max Seiling,
because the whole tone of his work
seemed to me to lay the necessity
upon me.^
' No fact, for example, observed according to Nat-
ural Science, contradicts Theosophy. Yet one can
employ countless things wherewith to "refute" Theos-
ophy. The above cited will not appear, for the close
observer, as contradicting the fact tnat the statements
of Tlieosophy are in themselves logically capable of
demonstration. Logical proofs are somewhat different,
in the sense of the cognition-theory, from the "proof"
here indicated.
¥>
THEOSOPHY
RUDOLF STEINER
An introduction to the supersensible
knowledge of the world and the des-
tination of man.
"This science presupposes an entirely
new inner sense organ or instrument,
by means of which there is revealed a
new world which does not exist for the
ordinary man. " Joharm Fichte.
This notable addition to the theosophical lit-
erature of to-day now appears for the first time
in English, though it already has to its credit
three editions in German, and translations into
Russian, Swedish, Dutch, Czechish, and Italian,
with a French translation in progress. Dr.
Steiner's books are the first theosophical works
that foreign readers have shown a decided
inclination to read in their own language.
Cloth. l2mo. $L00 net.
RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO NEW YORK
/
3 bios osH aaa T^i,
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