Occult Science - An Outline
GA 13
I. The Character of Occult Science
[ 1 ] An ancient term—‘Occult Science’—is applied to the contents of this book. The term is likely to evoke the most contrary feelings among the people of our time. To many it will be downright repugnant, calling forth derision, a supercilious smile, even contempt. A way of thought—they will opine—which thus described itself, must surely rest on idle dreams, and the mere arbitrary play of fancy. Its claim to be a science can only be a blind, behind which is the wish to revive all manner of superstitions, justly eschewed by those who are familiar with the scientific spirit, the quest of genuine knowledge. Others are differently affected. They feel that what is signified by this term will bring them something unattainable in any other way, something to which they are drawn—according to their disposition—by a deep inner longing for knowledge or a refined curiosity of soul. Between these two sharply divergent opinions there are a multitude of intermediate views, implying conditional rejection or acceptance of the diverse things which people think of when they hear the term ‘Occult Science.’
For some people, undeniably, it has a magic ring because it bids fair to satisfy their craving for information, inaccessible by straightforward methods, about something ‘beyond our ken’—something mysterious, nay perhaps vague and confused. Or there are those who do not want to meet the deepest longings of the soul with anything that is capable of being clearly known. In their conviction, beyond what is knowable there must be something more in the world that eludes our knowledge. It is a strange contradiction, which they fail to notice. Precisely where the deepest yearning for knowledge is concerned, they would set aside clear knowledge and want to cherish what is incapable of discovery by natural and sound research. Whoever speaks of ‘Occult Science’ will do well to bear in mind the likelihood of misunderstandings due to the efforts of such champions, who in reality desire, not a true science but the reverse.
[ 2 ] The contents of this book are addressed to readers who will not let their openness of mind be impaired because, for a variety of reasons, a word tends to awaken prejudices. Of knowledge claiming to be ‘occult’ in the sense of secret—accessible only to a few, by special favor or good fortune—there will be no mention here. The reader will do justice to our use of the term ‘Occult Science’ if he considers what Goethe had in mind when he spoke of the ‘manifest secrets’ in the phenomena of Nature. Whatever remains ‘secret,’ that is to say unmanifest in these phenomena when we apprehend them only with the outer senses and with the intellect that is bound to the outer senses, will here be treated as the subject-matter of a supersensible way of knowledge.1Critics of earlier editions of this book have objected that the expression Occult Science is a contradiction in terms, since in the nature of the case a science cannot be kept ‘occult’ or ‘secret.’ (The German for ‘Occult Science’—Geheimwissenschaft—begins with the adjective geheim, the ordinary word for ‘secret.’ The criticism would be just if this were the intention, but it is not so. When we say ‘Natural Science’ we do not mean a science that is ‘natural’ to everyone—as it were, a natural endowment. No more does the author think of Occult Science as a science that is ‘occult’ or ‘secret.’ It is the science of what—to the ordinary methods of cognition—is present but unmanifest in the phenomena of the world. Occult Science is a science concerning the occult—or, to use Goethe's words again, concerning the ‘manifest secret.’ It has no secret to conceal from anyone who is prepared to seek for occult knowledge by the appropriate methods.
Needless to say, for anyone who will admit as science only what is manifest to the senses and to the intellect that serves them, what is here named ‘Occult Science’ can be no science. Such a man, however, if willing to understand his own position, should candidly admit that his categorical rejection of any kind of ‘Occult Science’ springs not from reasoned insight but from an ipse dixit, due to his own individual feeling. To see that it is so, he need only reflect how sciences arise and what is their significance in human life. How a pursuit comes to be a science cannot in the nature of the case be ascertained from the subject-matter to which it is devoted, but only by recognizing the mode of action of the human soul while engaged in scientific endeavor. What is the attitude and activity of the soul in the elaboration of a science?—this is the thing we must observe. If one is used to apply this mode of activity only where sense-data are concerned, one easily slides into the idea that sense-data are the essential factor. One misses the real point, which is that a certain inner attitude of the human soul has been applied to the revelations of the senses. For we can go beyond the self-imposed limitation. Apart from the special case to which it is here applied, we can envisage the character of scientific activity as such. Such is the underlying idea when in this book the knowledge of non-sensible World-contents is spoken of as ‘scientific.’ The human mind here sets to work at these World-contents, as in the other case it does at the World-contents given to Natural Science. Occult Science seeks to free the scientific method and spirit of research, which in its own domain holds fast to the sequence and relationship of sense-perceptible events, from this restricted application, while maintaining the same essential attitude and mode of thought. Thus it would speak of the non-sensible in the same spirit in which Natural Science speaks of the sensible. While Natural Science, in the employment of scientific thought and method of research, stops short within the sense-perceptible, Occult Science would like to regard the work of the human soul on Nature as a form of self-education, and apply the faculties, thus educated in the soul, to the realms of the non-sensible. Such is its method and procedure. It does not speak of sense-phenomena as such, but of the non-sensible World-contents in the same mood as does the natural scientist of those accessible to sense-perception. It preserves the essential bearing which the soul maintains in scientific procedure—i.e. the very element whereby alone our knowledge of Nature becomes a science. Hence it may justly call itself a science.
[ 3 ] Whoever ponders on the significance of Natural Science in human life will find that its significance is by no means exhausted in the acquisition of so much detailed knowledge about Nature. The detailed items of knowledge can, in effect, only lead to an experience of what the human soul is not. The soul is living, not in the finished propositions about Nature, but in the process of scientific knowledge concerning Nature. In working upon Nature, the soul experiences her own conscious life and being, and what is livingly acquired in this activity is something more than so much information about Nature. It is an evolution of the Self that is experienced in building up our scientific knowledge of Nature. It is this gain in self-development which Occult Science seeks to activate in realms that lie beyond mere Nature. Far from misjudging Natural Science, the occultist thus values it even more than does the scientist himself. He knows that he can found no science without the integrity of thought with which Natural Science is imbued. And what is more, he knows that this integrity, once gained by really penetrating into the spirit of natural-scientific thinking, can by the requisite inner strength be maintained for other realms of being.
[ 4 ] One thing, admittedly, can make one hesitate at this point. In contemplating Nature the soul is guided by the object of her study in a far higher degree than in the contemplation of non-sensible World-contents. The purely inner incentive whereby the essence of the scientific way of thought is maintained, must be far stronger in the latter case. Many people—unconsciously—imagine that it can only be maintained by holding to the leading-strings of natural phenomena. Hence they incline to decide ex cathedra that as soon as these leading-strings are left behind, the scientific endeavor of the mind and soul will needs be groping in the dark. Such people have never consciously faced the question: What is the essence of scientific procedure? They usually base their judgment on the inevitable aberrations which occur when scientific thinking has not been adequately strengthened by working at the phenomena of Nature, and the soul nevertheless sets out to contemplate the non-sensible or super-sensible domains of the World. Needless to say, much unscientific talk concerning these World-contents arises in this way. The reason is, however, not that the subject must in the nature of the case be outside the pale of science; it is only that in the given instance there has not been adequate self-discipline through the scientific study of Nature.
[ 5 ] With due regard to what has just been said, those who would speak of Occult Science must indeed have a watchful eye for all the vagaries that arise when the ‘manifest secrets’ of the World are treated in an unscientific spirit. It would however be unfruitful if we were to deal with all these aberrations at the very outset of our exposition. In prejudiced minds, no doubt these aberrations bring discredit on any form of research into Occult Science. Their very existence—and they are only too numerous—is taken to justify the conclusion that the whole effort is fallacious. Yet as a rule the rejection of Occult Science by scientists or scientifically minded critics is only due, in the last resort, to the aforesaid, ex cathedra decision. The reference to aberrations is but a pretext, howsoever unconscious. Lengthy initial argument with such opponents will therefore not be very fruitful. After all, they can observe with perfect justice that on the face of it there is no telling whether in seeing how others are caught up in error we ourselves are standing on the requisite firm ground. Therefore the claimant to Occult Science can do no other than simply bring forward what he has to say. Others alone can judge if he is right—though it must be added, only those others who will refrain from ex cathedra pronouncements and enter with open mind into the tenor of his communications about the ‘manifest secrets’ of the World. It will then be for him to show how what he brings forward is related to the existing achievements of life and knowledge. He must meet possible objections and point out where the external, sense-perceptible realities of life confirm his statements. Nor should he ever speak or write in such terms as to rely on eloquence or on the arts of persuasion rather than on the pure content of his descriptions.
[ 6 ] One often hears it objected that works on Occult Science do not prove what they adduce; they merely make their statements and declare: ‘This is what Occult Science teaches.’ It would be a misunderstanding to think that anything put forward in these pages was intended in this spirit. Our purpose is different; it is to encourage what is developed in the human soul through the knowledge of Nature to go on evolving, as indeed it can do by its own inherent power. We then point out that through this evolution the soul will encounter supersensible realities. The premise is that every reader, able to adopt this course, is bound to meet with these realities. There is however an important difference, the moment we enter the spiritual-scientific realm, as compared with natural-scientific study. In Natural Science the facts lie spread out before us within the sense-perceptible world. The scientist who describes them regards his own activity of mind and soul as something that recedes into the background over against the given sequence and relationship of the pure facts of the sense world. The spiritual scientist, on the other hand, puts the activity of the soul into the foreground and cannot but do so, for the reader will only reach the facts when by appropriate methods he makes this activity of soul his own. In Natural Science, the facts—however little understood—are there for man's perception even without the soul's activity. Not so the facts of Spiritual Science. They only enter the realm of man's perception by dint of the soul's activity. Thus the exponent of Spiritual Science has to presume that the reader is looking for the facts together with him. This will determine the character of his descriptions. He will narrate the discovery of the facts; and yet the style of his narration will be dominated not by any idiosyncrasies of his own but by the purely scientific spirit, trained and developed through Natural Science. Hence he will also be obliged to speak of the means and methods whereby man rises to a contemplation of the non-sensible—that is to say, the super-sensible.
Anyone who really enters into the descriptions of Occult Science will presently perceive that in the process he acquires ideas and concepts he did not have before. He begins to have quite unexpected thoughts concerning what he formerly imagined to be the essence of a ‘proof.’ In natural-scientific thinking it is different. Here, the activity which is applied to the proof in natural-scientific thinking, already lies inherent in the seeking for the facts. One cannot even find the facts without the path towards them carrying its own inherent proof. Anyone who really goes along this path will in so doing have experienced the proof, and nothing more can be achieved by any added proof from outside. Failure to recognize this essential feature of Occult Science gives rise to numerous misunderstandings.
[ 7 ] All Occult Science must spring from two thoughts—thoughts which can take root in every human being. For the occult scientist in our sense of the word, they express facts which every man can experience if he makes use of the proper means. Admittedly, for many people, even these thoughts will appear as statements highly questionable, or even liable to direct refutation.
[ 8 ] The two thoughts are as follows. First, that there is behind the visible an invisible world, hidden to begin with from the senses and from the kind of thinking that is fettered to the senses. And secondly, that by the due development of forces slumbering within him it is possible for man to penetrate into the hidden world.
[ 9 ] There is no such world, says one. The world man perceives with his senses is the one and only world, and the riddles it presents are soluble within its own domain. However far mankind may be as yet from the ability to answer all the problems, sensory observation and the science founded on it will in due time provide the answers.
[ 10 ] No, says another, it cannot be said that there is no hidden world behind the visible; our human faculties of knowledge, however, cannot reach it. They are beset with insurmountable limitations. Let the longing for religious faith have recourse to such a world; genuine science, based on the ascertainable facts, can have no dealings with it.
[ 11 ] There is still a third party, who deem it presumption for man to want to penetrate with his own active cognition into a region with regard to which he should resign the claim to knowledge and modestly content himself with faith. Those who adhere to this idea feel it wrong for weak humanity to want to press forward into a world which should belong to the religious life alone.
[ 12 ] And then again it is argued that a universally accepted knowledge of the facts of the sense-world is possible; here there is common ground for all men. As to the super-sensible, on the other hand, it can only be a question of the individual's personal opinion; it is fallacious to allege any universally valid certainty upon these matters.
[ 13 ] Others put forward many other viewpoints.
[ 14 ] Yet it is possible to realize quite clearly that the contemplation of the visible world places riddles before man which can never be solved out of the facts of this world alone, even when scientific knowledge has advanced to the very utmost. The visible facts, by their very nature, distinctly indicate a hidden world. The man who does not see this, closes his eyes to the riddles which spring to view on every hand out of the facts of the sense-world. He does not want to see certain facts and problems; therefore he believes that all questions can be answered by the sense-perceptible facts alone. The questions he is willing to admit are indeed answerable by these facts, concerning which he is persuaded that they will all be discovered in course of time. We may concede this without controversy. But how should anyone who asks no further questions, except answers to them? He who aspires to a science of the occult says no more than that for him these further questions are spontaneously there. Why should they not be recognized as a perfectly legitimate expression of the human soul? Science can not be forced into a strait-jacket by forbidding man to put questions freely.
[ 15 ] To those who opine that there are limits to human knowledge which man cannot transcend and which compel him to stop short of an invisible world, the answer is: No doubt, with the mode of knowledge they have in mind, man will never penetrate into an unseen world. If one considers this to be the only mode of knowledge they have in mind, man will never penetrate into an unseen world. If one considers this to be the only mode of knowledge, one cannot but come to the conclusion that the human being is denied access to a higher world—if such a world exists. And yet, supposing it to be possible to evolve another mode of cognition, the latter may after all lead into a supersensible world. If such a mode of knowledge is ruled out, then indeed one arrives at a point of view from which any discussion of a supersensible world must appear meaningless. Yet for an open mind the only possible reason for this opinion is that the one who holds it is unacquainted with the other form of knowledge. No man can judge of a thing which from the very outset he declares to be unknown to him. Unbiased thinking must admit that a man should speak of what he knows, and refrain from making pronouncements on what he does not know. Sound thinking can only admit a man's right to communicate what he has really experienced; no man can claim the right to declare impossible what he does not know or does not want to know. We cannot deny a man's right not to concern himself with the supersensible; but he can never have the right to declare himself competent to judge, not only of what is known or knowable to himself, but of what he alleges to be unknowable to ‘Man’ in general!
[ 16 ] As to those who think it presumption for man to penetrate into the supersensible, the occult scientist will ask them to reflect, what is man can? Is it not then a betrayal of faculties granted to man if he lets them lie waste instead of evolving and making good use of them?
[ 17 ] Lastly, the one who thinks that any views about the supersensible can only be a matter of personal feeling and opinion, denies the common and uniting element in all human beings. It is quite true that each of us can only gain insight into these things through his own efforts, but it is equally true that all those who do, provided they go far enough, reach no divergent views but come to the identical insight. Divergencies exist only so long as men try to approach the highest truths by arbitrary ways, instead of by a pathway that is scientifically sure. Once again it must be unreservedly admitted that he alone who is prepared to enter open-mindedly into the essence of the occult-scientific method will come to recognize its rightness.
[ 18 ] The path to Occult Science can be found in due time by every man who perceives—or even only divines or surmises—in the manifest the presence of a hidden aspect. Aware that his powers of knowledge are capable of evolution, he will begin to feel that the hidden can become manifest to him. Once he is led to it by such experiences of the soul, Occult Science will open out to him the prospect not only of discovering the answer to many questions prompted by his thirst for knowledge, but the further prospect that he himself will be able to outgrow whatever may be hindering or weakening his life. For in a higher sense it does denote enfeeblement of life—even a kind of death to the soul—when a man feels himself compelled to turn away from the supersensible or to deny it. It may even lead him to despair when he loses hope that the hidden will ever be made manifest. This death and this despair—manifold in the forms they can assume—are at the same time inner opponents of man's striving towards Spiritual Science. They make themselves felt when his inner strength begins to wane. If he is then to have any strength for life, it has to be brought to him from outside. He perceives the objects and events which confront his outer senses; he analyses and dissects them with his intellect. They give him joy or pain; they impel him to such actions as lie within his scope. For a while he may go on in this way; sooner or later however, he will inevitably reach a point where he begins to die an inner death. Sooner or later, what the outer world can give him in this way becomes exhausted. This is not mere assertion of any one man's personal experience; it derives from an open-minded contemplation of all human life. It is the hidden world, latent in the depths of things, which preserves us from this exhaustion And when the power of fathoming the depths, so as to draw forth from thence ever new strength for life, is waning in man, the outer aspect too will in the end cease to sustain him.
[ 19 ] Nor does this only concern the individual's personal weal or woe. More than any other thing, the study of true Occult Science gives us the ever-growing certainty that from a higher point of view the weal and woe of the individual is bound up with that of all the world. Here is a path whereby man reaches the insight that he does harm to the whole world and to all other beings if he fails in the right development of own powers. When a man renders his life waste and void by losing his connection with the supersensible, he not only destroys within himself something of which the death may ultimately lead him to despair; by his own weakness he becomes a hindrance to the evolution of the entire world in which he lives.
[ 20 ] Now it is quite possible for man to deceive himself. He can give himself up to the belief that there is no hidden side to things; that that which meets his outer senses and his intellect is all-inclusive. This delusion however is only possible on the surface of consciousness, not in the depths. Our feeling-life, our aspirations and desires, do not partake in the illusory belief. In one way or another they will always crave for the hidden side; when it is taken from them, they drive the human being into doubt and bewilderment, even into despair, as we have seen. A way of knowledge which brings the hidden to revelation is apt to overcome all hopelessness, perplexity and despair—in short, all that weakens human life on Earth and incapacitates it from contributing its service to the cosmic whole.
[ 21 ] One of the fairest fruits of the pursuit of Spiritual Science is that it lends strength and firmness to life, instead of merely satisfying a man's craving for knowledge. Inexhaustible is the fountain head form which it draws, giving man strength for work and confidence in life. No man who has once truly found his way to this source will ever go away unstrengthened, however often he may have recourse to it.
[ 22 ] There are those who will have nothing to do with Spiritual Science because they think there is something unhealthy even in what has just been said. As to the surface, the outward aspect of life, they are not altogether wrong. They do not want any neglect of the ‘realities’ of lie, as they see them. They see it as a weakness when man turns away from these realities and seeks salvation in a hidden world, which for them is equivalent to a world of mere dreams and fancies. If in the quest of Spiritual Science we are not to succumb to morbidity and weakness, we must admit the partial justice of such objectives. They rest on a sound enough judgment, but one which only leads to a half-truth instead of to the whole truth, inasmuch as it stops short at the surface and fails to penetrate into the depths. If the striving for supersensible knowledge were such as to weaken life and turn man away from reality, objections of this kind would assuredly be strong enough to undermine it.
[ 23 ] Here too, however, Occult Science would not be taking the right path by seeking to defend itself, in the everyday sense of the word, as against such opinions. Here too it can only try to express—recognizably to any open mind—its own inherent value, making it felt how it can enhance the strength and energy of life for those who devote themselves to it. For the true quest of Spiritual Science will never make a man a dreamer or an escapist from the world; rather will it fortify him from those deeper founts of lie from which as a being of soul and spirit he himself proceeds.
[ 24 ] There are yet other hindrances to understanding which for some people bar the way to the pursuit of Occult Science. To mention one: it is true in principle that the reader will find in the expositions of Occult Science a description of experiences of soul which, if he follows them, can lead him towards the supersensible realities. In practice, however, this is an ultimate ideal. The reader must first receive as simple communication a wealth of supersensible discoveries which he cannot yet experience for himself. It cannot be done otherwise, and will be so in this book. The author will be describing what he believes himself to know about the being of man, including what man undergoes in birth and death and in the body-free condition in the spiritual world; also about the evolution of the Earth and of mankind. It might then seem as though he were putting forward all these alleged items of knowledge as dogmas, which the reader was being asked to accept on the writer's authority. But it is not so. For in reality, whatever can be known of the supersensible world, lives—as a living content of soul—in the spiritual investigator who expounds it, and as the reader finds his way into this living content it kindles in his soul the impulses leading towards the supersensible realities in question. The way we live in reading the descriptions of Spiritual Science is quite different from what it is when reading communications about sense-perceptible events. We simply read about the latter; but when we read communications of supersensible realities in the right way, we ourselves are entering into a stream of spiritual life and being. In receiving the results of research, we are receiving at the same time our own inner path towards these results. True, to begin with, the reader will often fail to notice that this is so. For he is far too apt to conceive the entry into the spiritual world on the analogy of sensory experience. Therefore what he experiences of this world in reading of it will seem to him like ‘mere thoughts’ and nothing more. Yet in the true receiving of it even in the form of thoughts, man is already within the spiritual world; it only remains for him to become aware that he has been experiencing in all reality what he imagined himself to be receiving as the mere communication of thoughts.
The true character of the experience will be made fully clear to him when he proceeds to carry out in practice what is described in the later portions of this book, namely the ‘path’ leading to supersensible knowledge. It might easily be imagined that the reverse was the right order—the pathway should first be described. But it is not so. One who, without first turning his attention to some of the essential facts of the supersensible world, merely does ‘exercises’ with the idea of gaining entrance there, will find in it a vague and confusing chaos. Man finds his way into the world—to begin with, as it were, naively—by learning to understand its essential features. Then he can gain a clear idea of how—leaving this ‘naïve’ stage behind him—he will himself attain, in full consciousness, to the experiences which have been related to him. Anyone who really enters into Occult Science will become convinced that this and this alone is the reliable way to supersensible knowledge. As to the opinion that information about the supersensible world might influence the reader by way of ‘suggestion’ or mere dogma, he will perceive that this is quite unfounded. The contents of supersensible knowledge are experienced in a form of inner life which excludes anything in the nature of suggestion and leaves no other possibility than to impart the knowledge to one's fellow-man in the same way as any other kind of truth would be imparted, appealing only to his wide-awake and thoughtful judgment. And if, to begin with, the one who hears or reads the description does not notice how he himself is living in the spiritual world, the reason lies not in any passive or thoughtless receiving of the information, but I the delicate and unwonted nature of the experience.
Therefore by studying the communications given in the first part of this book, one is enabled in the first place to share in the knowledge of the supersensible world; thereafter, by the practical application of the procedures indicated in the second part, one can gain independent knowledge in that world.
[ 25 ] A scientific man, entering into the spirit of this book, will find no essential contradiction between his form of science, built as it is upon the facts of the sense-perceptible world, and the way the supersensible world is here investigated. Every scientist makes use of instruments and methods. He prepares his instruments by working upon the things which ‘Nature’ gives him. The supersensible form of knowing also makes use of an instrument, only that here the instrument is Man himself. This instrument too must first be prepared—prepared for the purposes of a higher kind of research. The faculties and forces with which the human instrument has been endowed by ‘Nature’ without man's active cooperation must be transformed into higher ones. Thus can man make of himself the instrument of research—research into the supersensible world.
Charakter der Geheimwissenschaft
[ 1 ] Ein altes Wort: «Geheimwissenschaft» wird für den Inhalt dieses Buches angewendet. Das Wort kann Veranlassung werden, daß sogleich bei den verschiedenen Menschen der Gegenwart die entgegengesetztesten Empfindungen wachgerufen werden. Für viele hat es etwas Abstoßendes; es ruft Spott, mitleidiges Lächeln, vielleicht Verachtung hervor. Sie stellen sich vor, daß eine Vorstellungsart, die sich so bezeichnet, nur auf einer müßigen Träumerei, auf Phantasterei beruhen könne, daß sich hinter solcher «vermeintlichen» Wissenschaft nur der Drang verbergen könne, allerlei Aberglauben zu erneuern, den mit Recht meidet, wer «wahre Wissenschaftlichkeit» und «echtes Erkenntnisstreben» kennengelernt hat. Auf andere wirkt das Wort so, als ob ihnen das damit Gemeinte etwas bringen müsse, was auf keinem anderen Wege zu erlangen ist und zu dem sie, je nach ihrer Veranlagung, tief innerliche Erkenntnissehnsucht oder seelisch verfeinerte Neugierde hinzieht. Zwischen diesen schroff einander gegenüberstehenden Meinungen gibt es alle möglichen Zwischenstufen der bedingten Ablehnung oder Annahme dessen, was sich der eine oder der andere vorstellt, wenn er das Wort «Geheimwissenschaft» vernimmt. — Es ist nicht in Abrede zu stellen, daß für manchen das Wort «Geheimwissenschaft» deshalb einen zauberhaften Klang hat, weil es seine verhängnisvolle Sucht zu befriedigen scheint nach einem auf naturgemäßem Wege nicht zu erlangenden Wissen von einem «Unbekannten», Geheimnisvollen, ja Unklaren. Denn viele Menschen wollen die tiefsten Sehnsuchten ihrer Seele nicht durch das befriedigen, was klar erkannt werden kann. Ihre Überzeugung geht dahin, daß es außer demjenigen, was man in der Welt erkennen könne, noch etwas geben müsse, das sich der Erkenntnis entzieht. Mit einem sonderbaren Widersinn, den sie nicht bemerken, lehnen sie für die tiefsten Erkenntnissehnsuchten alles ab, was «bekannt ist», und wollen dafür nur etwas gelten lassen, wovon man nicht sagen könne, daß es durch naturgemäßes Forschen bekannt werde. Wer von «Geheimwissenschaft» redet, wird gut daran tun, sich vor Augen zu halten, daß ihm Missverständnisse entgegenstehen, die von solchen Verteidigern einer derartigen Wissenschaft verursacht werden; von Verteidigern, die eigentlich nicht ein Wissen, sondern das Gegenteil davon anstreben.
[ 2 ] Diese Ausführungen richten sich an Leser, welche sich ihre Unbefangenheit nicht dadurch nehmen lassen, daß ein Wort durch verschiedene Umstände Vorurteile hervorruft. Von einem Wissen, das in irgendeiner Beziehung als ein «geheimes», nur durch besondere Schicksalsgunst für manchen zugängliches, gelten soll, wird hier nicht die Rede sein. Man wird dem hier gemeinten Wortgebrauche gerecht werden, wenn man an dasjenige denkt, was Goethe im Sinne hat, wenn er von den «offenbaren Geheimnissen» in den Welterscheinungen spricht. Was in diesen Erscheinungen «geheim», unoffenbar bleibt, wenn man sie nur durch die Sinne und den an die Sinne sich bindenden Verstand erfasst, das wird als der Inhalt einer übersinnlichen Erkenntnisart angesehen. 1Es ist vorgekommen, daß man den Ausdruck «Geheimwissenschaft» — wie er von dem Verfasser dieses Buches schon in früheren Auflagen gebraucht worden ist gerade aus dem Grunde abgelehnt hat, weil eine Wissenschaft doch für niemand etwas «Geheimes» sein könne. Man hätte Recht, wenn die Sache so gemeint wäre. Allein das ist nicht der Fall. So wenig Naturwissenschaft eine «natürliche» Wissenschaft in dem Sinne genannt werden kann, daß sie jedem «von Natur eigen» ist, so wenig denkt sich der Verfasser unter «Geheimwissenschaft» eine «geheime» Wissenschaft, sondern eine solche, welche sich auf das in den Welterscheinungen für die gewöhnliche Erkenntnisart Unoffenbare, «Geheime» bezieht, eine Wissenschaft von dem «Geheimen», von dem «offenbaren Geheimnis». Geheimnis aber soll diese Wissenschaft für niemand sein, der ihre Erkenntnisse auf den ihr entsprechenden Wegen sucht. Wer als «Wissenschaft» nur gelten lässt, was durch die Sinne und den ihnen dienenden Verstand offenbar wird, für den kann selbstverständlich das hier als «Geheimwissenschaft» Gemeinte keine Wissenschaft sein. Ein solcher müsste aber, wenn er sich selbst verstehen wollte, zugeben, daß er nicht aus einer begründeten Einsicht heraus, sondern durch einen seinem rein persönlichen Empfinden entstammenden Machtspruch eine «Geheimwissenschaft» ablehnt. Um das einzusehen, hat man nur nötig, Überlegungen darüber anzustellen, wie Wissenschaft entsteht und welche Bedeutung sie im menschlichen Leben hat. Das Entstehen der Wissenschaft dem Wesen nach erkennt man nicht an dem Gegenstande, den die Wissenschaft ergreift. Man erkennt es an der im wissenschaftlichen Streben auftretenden Betätigungsart der menschlichen Seele. Wie sich die Seele verhält, indem sie Wissenschaft sich erarbeitet, darauf hat man zu sehen. Eignet man sich die Gewohnheit an, diese Betätigungsart nur dann ins Werk zu setzen, wenn die Offenbarungen der Sinne in Betracht kommen, dann gerät man leicht auf die Meinung, diese Sinnesoffenbarung sei das Wesentliche. Und man lenkt dann den Blick nicht darauf, daß ein gewisses Verhalten der menschlichen Seele eben nur auf die Sinnesoffenbarung angewendet worden ist. Aber man kann über diese willkürliche Selbstbeschränkung hinauskommen und, abgesehen von dem besonderen Falle der Anwendung, den Charakter der wissenschaftlichen Betätigung ins Auge fassen. Dies liegt zugrunde, wenn hier für die Erkenntnis nichtsinnlicher Weltinhalte als von einer «wissenschaftlichen» gesprochen wird. An diesen Weltinhalten will sich die menschliche Vorstellungsart so betätigen, wie sie sich im andern Falle an den naturwissenschaftlichen Weltinhalten betätigt. Geheimwissenschaft will die naturwissenschaftliche Forschungsart und Forschungsgesinnung, die auf ihrem Gebiete sich an den Zusammenhang und Verlauf der sinnlichen Tatsachen hält, von dieser besonderen Anwendung loslösen, aber sie in ihrer denkerischen und sonstigen Eigenart festhalten. Sie will über Nichtsinnliches in derselben Art sprechen, wie die Naturwissenschaft über Sinnliches spricht. Während die Naturwissenschaft im Sinnlichen mit dieser Forschungsart und Denkweise stehenbleibt, will Geheimwissenschaft die seelische Arbeit an der Natur als eine Art Selbsterziehung der Seele betrachten und das Anerzogene auf das nichtsinnliche Gebiet anwenden. Sie will so verfahren, daß sie zwar nicht über die sinnlichen Erscheinungen als solche spricht, aber über die nichtsinnlichen Weltinhalte so, wie der Naturforscher über die sinnenfälligen. Sie hält von dem naturwissenschaftlichen Verfahren die seelische Verfassung innerhalb dieses Verfahrens fest, also gerade das, durch welches Naturerkenntnis Wissenschaft erst wird. Sie darf sich deshalb als Wissenschaft bezeichnen.
[ 3 ] Wer über die Bedeutung der Naturwissenschaft im menschlichen Leben Überlegungen anstellt, der wird finden, daß diese Bedeutung nicht erschöpft sein kann mit der Aneignung von Naturerkenntnissen. Denn diese Erkenntnisse können nie und nimmer zu etwas anderem führen als zu einem Erleben desjenigen, was die Menschenseele selbst nicht ist. Nicht in dem lebt das Seelische, was der Mensch an der Natur erkennt, sondern in dem Vorgang des Erkennens. In ihrer Betätigung an der Natur erlebt sich die Seele. Was sie in dieser Betätigung lebensvoll sich erarbeitet, das ist noch etwas anderes als das Wissen über die Natur selbst. Das ist an der Naturerkenntnis erfahrene Selbstentwicklung. Den Gewinn dieser Selbstentwicklung will die Geheimwissenschaft bestätigen auf Gebieten, die über die bloße Natur hinausliegen. Der Geheimwissenschafter will den Wert der Naturwissenschaft nicht verkennen, sondern ihn noch besser anerkennen als der Naturwissenschafter selbst. Er weiß daß er ohne die Strenge der Vorstellungsart, die in der Naturwissenschaft waltet, keine Wissenschaft begründen kann. Er weiß aber auch, daß, wenn diese Strenge durch ein echtes Eindringen in den Geist des naturwissenschaftlichen Denkens erworben ist, sie festgehalten werden kann durch die Kraft der Seele für andere Gebiete.
[ 4 ] Etwas, was bedenklich machen kann, tritt dabei allerdings auf. In der Betrachtung der Natur wird die Seele durch den betrachteten Gegenstand in einem viel stärkeren Maße geleitet als in derjenigen nichtsinnlicher Weltinhalte. In dieser muss sie in einem höheren Maße aus rein inneren Impulsen heraus die Fähigkeit haben, das Wesen der wissenschaftlichen Vorstellungsart festzuhalten. Weil sehr viele Menschen unbewusst — glauben, daß nur an dem Leitfaden der Naturerscheinungen dieses Wesen festgehalten werden kann, sind sie geneigt, durch einen Machtspruch sich dahin zu entscheiden; sobald dieser Leitfaden verlassen wird, tappt die Seele mit ihrem wissenschaftlichen Verfahren im Leeren. Solche Menschen haben sich die Eigenart dieses Verfahrens nicht zum Bewusstsein gebracht; sie bilden sich ihr Urteil zumeist aus den Verirrungen, die entstehen müssen, wenn die wissenschaftliche Gesinnung an den Naturerscheinungen nicht gefestigt genug ist und trotzdem die Seele sich an die Betrachtung des nichtsinnlichen Weltgebietes begeben will. Da entsteht selbstverständlich viel unwissenschaftliches Reden über nichtsinnliche Weltinhalte. Aber nicht deswegen, weil solches Reden seinem Wesen nach nicht wissenschaftlich sein kann, sondern weil es, im besonderen Falle, an der wissenschaftlichen Selbsterziehung durch die Naturbeobachtung hat fehlen lassen.
[ 5 ] Wer von Geheimwissenschaft reden will, muss allerdings mit Rücksicht auf das eben Gesagte einen wachsamen Sinn haben für alles Irrlichtelierende, das entsteht, wenn über die offenbaren Geheimnisse der Welt etwas ausgemacht wird ohne wissenschaftliche Gesinnung. Dennoch führte es zu etwas Ersprießlichem nicht, wenn hier, gleich im Anfange geheimwissenschaftlicher Ausführungen, über alle möglichen Verirrungen gesprochen würde, die in der Seele vorurteilsvoller Personen jedes Forschen in dieser Richtung in Missachtung bringen, weil solche Personen aus dem Vorhandensein wahrlich recht zahlreicher Verirrungen auf das Unberechtigte des ganzen Strebens schließen. Da aber zumeist bei Wissenschaftern oder wissenschaftlich gesinnten Beurteilern die Ablehnung der Geheimwissenschaft doch nur auf dem oben gekennzeichneten Machtspruch beruht und die Berufung auf die Verirrungen nur — oft unbewusster — Vorwand ist, so wird eine Auseinandersetzung mit solchen Gegnern zunächst wenig fruchtbar sein. Nichts hindert sie ja, den gewiss durchaus berechtigten Einwand zu machen, daß von vornherein durch nichts festgestellt werden kann, ob denn bei demjenigen, der andere in Verirrung befangen glaubt, der oben gekennzeichnete feste Grund wirklich vorhanden ist. Daher kann der nach einer Geheimwissenschaft Strebende nur einfach vorführen, was er glaubt sagen zu dürfen. Das Urteil über seine Berechtigung können nur andere, aber auch nur solche Personen sich bilden, welche unter Vermeidung aller Machtsprüche sich einzulassen vermögen auf die Art seiner Mitteilungen über die offenbaren Geheimnisse des Weltgeschehens. Obliegen wird ihm allerdings, zu zeigen, wie sich das von ihm Vorgebrachte zu anderen Errungenschaften des Wissens und des Lebens verhält, welche Gegnerschaften möglich sind und inwieferne die unmittelbare äußere sinnenfällige Lebenswirklichkeit Bestätigungen bringt für seine Beobachtungen. Aber er sollte niemals darnach streben, seine Darstellung so zu halten, daß diese statt durch ihren Inhalt durch seine Überredungskunst wirke.
[ 6 ] Man kann gegenüber geheimwissenschaftlichen Ausführungen oftmals den Einwand hören: diese beweisen nicht, was sie vorbringen; sie stellen nur das eine oder das andere hin und sagen: die Geheimwissenschaft stelle dieses fest. Die folgenden Ausführungen verkennt man, wenn man glaubt, irgend etwas in ihnen sei in diesem Sinne vorgebracht. Was hier angestrebt wird, ist, das in der Seele am Naturwissen Entfaltete sich so weiter entwickeln zu lassen, wie es sich seiner eigenen Wesenheit nach entwickeln kann, und dann darauf aufmerksam zu machen, daß bei solcher Entwicklung die Seele auf übersinnliche Tatsachen stößt. Es wird dabei vorausgesetzt, daß jeder Leser, der auf das Ausgeführte einzugehen vermag, ganz notwendig auf diese Tatsachen stößt. Ein Unterschied gegenüber der rein naturwissenschaftlichen Betrachtung liegt allerdings in dem Augenblicke vor, in dem man das geisteswissenschaftliche Gebiet betritt. In der Naturwissenschaft liegen die Tatsachen im Felde der Sinneswelt vor; der wissenschaftliche Darsteller betrachtet die Seelenbetätigung als etwas, das gegenüber dem Zusammenhang und Verlauf der Sinnes-Tatsachen zurücktritt. Der geisteswissenschaftliche Darsteller muss diese Seelenbetätigung in den Vordergrund stellen; denn der Leser gelangt nur zu den Tatsachen, wenn er diese Seelenbetätigung in rechtmäßiger Weise zu seiner eigenen macht. Diese Tatsachen sind nicht wie in der Naturwissenschaft — allerdings unbegriffen — auch ohne die Seelenbetätigung vor der menschlichen Wahrnehmung; sie treten vielmehr in diese nur durch die Seelenbetätigung. Der geisteswissenschaftliche Darsteller setzt also voraus, daß der Leser mit ihm gemeinsam die Tatsachen sucht. Seine Darstellung wird in der Art gehalten sein, daß er von dem Auffinden dieser Tatsachen erzählt und daß in der Art, wie er erzählt, nicht persönliche Willkür, sondern der an der Naturwissenschaft heranerzogene wissenschaftliche Sinn herrscht. Er wird daher auch genötigt sein, von den Mitteln zu sprechen, durch die man zu einer Betrachtung des Nichtsinnlichen — des Übersinnlichen — gelangt. — Wer sich in eine geheimwissenschaftliche Darstellung einlässt, der wird bald einsehen, daß durch sie Vorstellungen und Ideen erworben werden, die man vorher nicht gehabt hat. So kommt man zu neuen Gedanken auch über das, was man vorher über das Wesen des «Beweisens» gemeint hat. Man lernt erkennen, daß für die naturwissenschaftliche Darstellung das «Beweisen» etwas ist, was an diese gewissermaßen von außen herangebracht wird. Im geisteswissenschaftlichen Denken liegt aber die Betätigung, welche die Seele beim naturwissenschaftlichen Denken auf den Beweis wendet, schon in dem Suchen nach den Tatsachen. Man kann diese nicht finden, wenn nicht der Weg zu ihnen schon ein beweisender ist. Wer diesen Weg wirklich durchschreitet, hat auch schon das Beweisende erlebt; es kann nichts durch einen von außen hinzugefügten Beweis geleistet werden. daß man dieses im Charakter der Geheimwissenschaft verkennt, ruft viele Missverständnisse hervor.
[ 7 ] Alle Geheimwissenschaft muss aus zwei Gedanken hervorkeimen, die in jedem Menschen Wurzel fassen können. Für den Geheimwissenschafter, wie er hier gemeint ist, drücken diese beiden Gedanken Tatsachen aus, die man erleben kann, wenn man sich der rechten Mittel dazu bedient. Für viele Menschen bedeuten schon diese Gedanken höchst anfechtbare Behauptungen, über die sich viel streiten lässt, wenn nicht gar etwas, dessen Unmöglichkeit man «beweisen» kann.
[ 8 ] Diese beiden Gedanken sind, daß es hinter der sichtbaren Welt eine unsichtbare, eine zunächst für die Sinne und das an diese Sinne gefesselte Denken verborgene Welt gibt, und daß es dem Menschen durch Entwicklung von Fähigkeiten, die in ihm schlummern, möglich ist, in diese verborgene Welt einzudringen.
[ 9 ] Solch eine verborgene Welt gibt es nicht, sagt der eine. Die Welt, welche der Mensch durch seine Sinne wahrnimmt, sei die einzige. Man könne ihre Rätsel aus ihr selbst lösen. Wenn auch der Mensch gegenwärtig noch weit davon entfernt sei, alle Fragen des Daseins beantworten zu können, es werde schon die Zeit kommen, wo die Sinneserfahrung und die auf sie gestützte Wissenschaft die Antworten werden geben können.
[ 10 ] Man könne nicht behaupten, daß es nicht eine verborgene Welt hinter der sichtbaren gebe, sagen andere; aber die menschlichen Erkenntniskräfte können nicht in diese Welt eindringen. Sie haben Grenzen, die sie nicht überschreiten können. Mag das Bedürfnis des «Glaubens» zu einer solchen Welt seine Zuflucht nehmen: eine wahre Wissenschaft, die sich auf gesicherte Tatsachen stützt, könne sich mit einer solchen Welt nicht beschäftigen.
[ 11 ] Eine dritte Partei ist die, welche es für eine Art Vermessenheit ansieht, wenn der Mensch durch seine Erkenntnisarbeit in ein Gebiet eindringen will, in bezug auf welches man auf «Wissen» verzichten und sich mit dem «Glauben» bescheiden soll. Wie ein Unrecht empfinden es die Bekenner dieser Meinung, wenn der schwache Mensch vordringen will in eine Welt, die einzig dem religiösen Leben angehören könne.
[ 12 ] Auch das wird vorgebracht, daß allen Menschen eine gemeinsame Erkenntnis der Tatsachen der Sinneswelt möglich sei, daß aber in bezug auf die übersinnlichen Dinge einzig die persönliche Meinung des einzelnen in Frage kommen könne und daß von einer allgemein geltenden Gewissheit in diesen Dingen nicht gesprochen werden sollte.
[ 13 ] Andere behaupten vieles andere.
[ 14 ] Man kann sich klar darüber werden, daß die Betrachtung der sichtbaren Welt dem Menschen Rätsel vorlegt, die niemals aus den Tatsachen dieser Welt selbst gelöst werden können. Sie werden auch dann auf diese Art nicht gelöst werden, wenn die Wissenschaft dieser Tatsachen so weit wie nur irgend möglich fortgeschritten sein wird. Denn die sichtbaren Tatsachen weisen deutlich durch ihre eigene innere Wesenheit auf eine verborgene Welt hin. Wer solches nicht einsieht, der verschließt sich den Rätseln, die überall deutlich aus den Tatsachen der Sinneswelt hervorspringen. Er will gewisse Fragen und Rätsel gar nicht sehen; deshalb glaubt er, daß alle Fragen durch die sinnenfälligen Tatsachen beantwortet werden können. Diejenigen Fragen, welche er stellen will, sind wirklich auch alle durch die Tatsachen zu beantworten, von denen er sich verspricht, daß man sie im Laufe der Zukunft entdecken werde. Das kann man ohne weiteres zugeben. Aber warum sollte der auch auf Antworten in gewissen Dingen warten, der gar keine Fragen stellt? Wer nach Geheimwissenschaft strebt, sagt nichts anderes, als daß für ihn solche Fragen selbstverständlich seien und daß man sie als einen vollberechtigten Ausdruck der menschlichen Seele anerkennen müsse. Die Wissenschaft kann doch nicht dadurch in Grenzen eingezwängt werden, daß man dem Menschen das unbefangene Fragen verbietet.
[ 15 ] Zu der Meinung, der Mensch habe Grenzen seiner Erkenntnis, die er nicht überschreiten könne und die ihn zwingen, vor einer unsichtbaren Welt haltzumachen, muss doch gesagt werden: es kann gar kein Zweifel obwalten, daß man durch diejenige Erkenntnisart, welche da gemeint ist, nicht in eine unsichtbare Welt eindringen könne. Wer diese Erkenntnisart für die einzig mögliche hält, der kann gar nicht zu einer andern Ansicht als zu der kommen, daß es dem Menschen versagt sei, in eine etwa vorhandene höhere Welt einzudringen. Aber man kann doch auch das Folgende sagen: wenn es möglich ist, eine andere Erkenntnisart zu entwickeln, so kann doch diese in die übersinnliche Welt führen. Hält man eine solche Erkenntnisart für unmöglich, dann kommt man zu einem Gesichtspunkte, von dem aus gesehen alles Reden über eine übersinnliche Welt als der reine Unsinn erscheint. Gegenüber einem unbefangenen Urteil kann es aber für eine solche Meinung keinen andern Grund geben als den, daß dem Bekenner derselben jene andere Erkenntnisart unbekannt ist. Wie kann man aber über dasjenige überhaupt urteilen, von dem man behauptet, daß man es nicht kenne? Unbefangenes Denken muss sich zu dem Satze bekennen, daß man nur von demjenigen spreche, was man kennt, und daß man über dasjenige nichts feststelle, was man nicht kennt. Solches Denken kann nur von dem Rechte sprechen, daß jemand eine Sache mitteile, die er erfahren hat, nicht aber von einem Rechte, daß jemand für unmöglich erkläre, was er nicht weiß oder nicht wissen will. Man kann niemand das Recht bestreiten, sich um das Übersinnliche nicht zu kümmern; aber niemals kann sich ein echter Grund dafür ergeben, daß jemand nicht nur für das sich maßgebend erklärte, was er wissen kann, sondern auch für alles das, was «ein Mensch» nicht wissen kann.
[ 16 ] Denen gegenüber, welche es als Vermessenheit erklären, in das übersinnliche Gebiet einzudringen, muss eine geheimwissenschaftliche Betrachtung zu bedenken geben, daß man dies könne und daß es eine Versündigung sei gegen die dem Menschen gegebenen Fähigkeiten, wenn er sie veröden lässt, statt sie zu entwickeln und sich ihrer zu bedienen.
[ 17 ] Wer aber glaubt, die Ansichten über die übersinnliche Welt müssen ganz dem persönlichen Meinen und Empfinden angehören, der verleugnet das Gemeinsame in allen menschlichen Wesen. Es ist gewiss richtig, daß die Einsicht in diese Dinge ein jeder durch sich selbst finden müsse, es ist auch eine Tatsache, daß alle diejenigen Menschen, welche nur weit genug gehen, über diese Dinge nicht zu verschiedenen, sondern zu der gleichen Einsicht kommen. Die Verschiedenheit ist nur solange vorhanden, als sich die Menschen nicht auf einem wissenschaftlich gesicherten Wege, sondern auf dem der persönlichen Willkür den höchsten Wahrheiten nähern wollen. Das allerdings muss ohne weiteres wieder zugestanden werden, daß nur derjenige die Richtigkeit des geheimwissenschaftlichen Weges anerkennen könne, der sich in dessen Eigenart einleben will.
[ 18 ] Den Weg zur Geheimwissenschaft kann jeder Mensch in dem für ihn geeigneten Zeitpunkte finden, der das Vorhandensein eines Verborgenen aus dem Offenbaren heraus erkennt oder auch nur vermutet oder ahnt, und welcher aus dem Bewusstsein heraus, daß die Erkenntniskräfte entwicklungsfähig seien, zu dem Gefühl getrieben wird, daß das Verborgene sich ihm enthüllen könne. Einem Menschen, der durch diese Seelenerlebnisse zur Geheimwissenschaft geführt wird, dem eröffnet sich durch diese nicht nur die Aussicht, daß er für gewisse Fragen seines Erkenntnisdranges die Antwort finden werde, sondern auch noch die ganz andere, daß er zum Überwinder alles dessen wird, was das Leben hemmt und schwach macht. Und es bedeutet in einem gewissen höheren Sinne eine Schwächung des Lebens, ja einen seelischen Tod, wenn der Mensch sich gezwungen sieht, sich von dem Übersinnlichen abzuwenden oder es zu leugnen. Ja, es führt unter gewissen Voraussetzungen zur Verzweiflung, wenn ein Mensch die Hoffnung verliert, daß ihm das Verborgene offenbar werde. Dieser Tod und diese Verzweiflung in ihren mannigfaltigen Formen sind zugleich innere, seelische Gegner geheimwissenschaftlicher Bestrebung. Sie treten ein, wenn des Menschen innere Kraft dahinschwindet. Dann muss ihm alle Kraft des Lebens von außen zugeführt werden, wenn überhaupt eine solche in seinen Besitz kommen soll. Er nimmt dann die Dinge, die Wesenheiten und Vorgänge wahr, welche an seine Sinne herantreten; er zergliedert diese mit seinem Verstande. Sie bereiten ihm Freude und Schmerz; sie treiben ihn zu den Handlungen, deren er fähig ist. Er mag es eine Weile so weiter treiben: er muss aber doch einmal an einen Punkt gelangen, an dem er innerlich abstirbt. Denn was so aus der Welt für den Menschen herausgezogen werden kann, erschöpft sich. Dies ist nicht eine Behauptung, welche aus der persönlichen Erfahrung eines einzelnen stammt, sondern etwas, was sich aus einer unbefangenen Betrachtung alles Menschenlebens ergibt. Was vor dieser Erschöpfung bewahrt, ist das Verborgene, das in der Tiefe der Dinge ruht. Erstirbt in dem Menschen die Kraft, in diese Tiefen hinunterzusteigen, um immer neue Lebenskraft heraufzuholen, so erweist sich zuletzt auch das Äußere der Dinge nicht mehr lebenfördernd.
[ 19 ] Die Sache verhält sich keineswegs so, daß sie nur den einzelnen Menschen, nur dessen persönliches Wohl und Wehe anginge. Gerade durch wahre geheimwissenschaftliche Betrachtungen wird es dem Menschen zur Gewissheit, daß von einem höheren Gesichtspunkte aus das Wohl und Wehe des einzelnen innig zusammenhängt mit dem Heile oder Unheile der ganzen Welt. Es gibt da einen Weg, auf dem der Mensch zu der Einsicht gelangt, daß er der ganzen Welt und allen Wesen in ihr einen Schaden zufügt, wenn er seine Kräfte nicht in der rechten Art zur Entfaltung bringt. Verödet der Mensch sein Leben dadurch, daß er den Zusammenhang mit dem Übersinnlichen verliert, so zerstört er nicht nur in seinem Innern etwas, dessen Absterben ihn zur Verzweiflung zuletzt führen kann, sondern er bildet durch seine Schwäche ein Hemmnis für die Entwicklung der ganzen Welt, in der er lebt.
[ 20 ] Nun kann sich der Mensch täuschen. Er kann sich dem Glauben hingeben, daß es ein Verborgenes nicht gäbe, daß in demjenigen, was an seine Sinne und an seinen Verstand herantritt, schon alles enthalten sei, was überhaupt vorhanden sein kann. Aber diese Täuschung ist nur für die Oberfläche des Bewusstseins möglich, nicht für dessen Tiefe. Das Gefühl und der Wunsch fügen sich diesem täuschenden Glauben nicht. Sie werden immer wieder in irgendeiner Art nach einem Verborgenen verlangen. Und wenn ihnen dieses entzogen ist, drängen sie den Menschen in Zweifel, in Lebensunsicherheit, ja eben in die Verzweiflung hinein. Ein Erkennen, welches das Verborgene offenbar macht, ist geeignet, alle Hoffnungslosigkeit, alle Lebensunsicherheit, alle Verzweiflung, kurz alles dasjenige zu überwinden, was das Leben schwächt und es unfähig zu dem ihm notwendigen Dienste im Weltganzen macht.
[ 21 ] Das ist die schöne Frucht geisteswissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse, daß sie dem Leben Stärke und Festigkeit und nicht allein der Wissbegierde Befriedigung geben. Der Quell, aus dem solche Erkenntnisse Kraft zur Arbeit, Zuversicht für das Leben schöpfen, ist ein unversieglicher. Keiner, der einmal an diesen Quell wahrhaft herangekommen ist, wird bei wiederholter Zuflucht, die er zu demselben nimmt, ungestärkt hinweggehen.
[ 22 ] Es gibt Menschen, die aus dem Grunde von solchen Erkenntnissen nichts wissen wollen, weil sie in dem eben Gesagten schon etwas Ungesundes sehen. Für die Oberfläche und das Äußere des Lebens haben solche Menschen durchaus recht. Sie wollen das nicht verkümmert wissen, was das Leben in der sogenannten Wirklichkeit darbietet. Sie sehen eine Schwäche darin, wenn sich der Mensch von der Wirklichkeit abwendet und sein Heil in einer verborgenen Welt sucht, die für sie ja einer phantastischen, erträumten gleichkommt. Will man bei solchem geisteswissenschaftlichen Suchen nicht in krankhafte Träumerei und Schwäche verfallen, so muss man das teilweise Berechtigte solcher Einwände anerkennen. Denn sie beruhen auf einem gesunden Urteile, welches nur dadurch nicht zu einer ganzen, sondern zu einer halben Wahrheit führt, daß es nicht in die Tiefen der Dinge dringt, sondern an deren Oberfläche stehenbleibt. — Wäre ein übersinnliches Erkenntnisstreben dazu angetan, das Leben zu schwächen und den Menschen zur Abkehr zu bringen von der wahren Wirklichkeit, dann wären sicher solche Einwände stark genug, dieser Geistesrichtung den Boden unter den Füßen wegzuziehen.
[ 23 ] Aber auch diesen Meinungen gegenüber würden geheimwissenschaftliche Bestrebungen nicht den rechten Weg gehen, wenn sie sich im gewöhnlichen Sinne des Wortes «verteidigen» wollten. Auch da können sie nur durch ihren für jeden Unbefangenen erkennbaren Wert sprechen, wenn sie fühlbar machen, wie sie Lebenskraft und Lebensstärke dem erhöhen, der sich im rechten Sinne in sie einlebt. Diese Bestrebungen können nicht zum weltfremden Menschen, nicht zum Träumer machen; sie erkraften den Menschen aus denjenigen Lebensquellen, aus denen er, seinem geistig-seelischen Teil nach, stammt.
[ 24 ] Andere Hindernisse des Verständnisses noch legen sich manchem Menschen in den Weg, wenn er an geheimwissenschaftliche Bestrebungen herantritt. Es ist nämlich grundsätzlich zwar richtig, daß der Leser in der geheimwissenschaftlichen Darstellung eine Schilderung findet von Seelenerlebnissen, durch deren Verfolgung er sich zu den übersinnlichen Weltinhalten hinbewegen kann. Allein in der Praxis muss sich dieses doch als eine Art Ideal ausleben. Der Leser muss zunächst eine größere Summe von übersinnlichen Erfahrungen, die er noch nicht selbst erlebt, mitteilungsgemäß aufnehmen. Das kann nicht anders sein und wird auch mit diesem Buche so sein. Es wird geschildert werden, was der Verfasser zu wissen vermeint über das Wesen des Menschen, über dessen Verhalten in Geburt und Tod und im leibfreien Zustande in der geistigen Welt; es wird ferner dargestellt werden die Entwicklung der Erde und der Mensch- heit. So könnte es scheinen, als ob doch die Voraussetzung gemacht würde, daß eine Anzahl vermeintlicher Erkenntnisse wie Dogmen vorgetragen würden, für die Glauben auf Autorität hin verlangt würde. Es ist dies aber doch nicht der Fall. Was nämlich von übersinnlichen Weltinhalten gewusst werden kann, das lebt in dem Darsteller als lebendiger Seeleninhalt; und lebt man sich in diesen Seeleninhalt ein, so entzündet dieses Einleben in der eigenen Seele die Impulse, welche nach den entsprechenden übersinnlichen Tatsachen hinführen. Man lebt im Lesen von geisteswissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen auf andere Art, als in demjenigen der Mitteilungen sinnenfälliger Tatsachen. Liest man Mitteilungen aus der sinnenfälligen Welt, so liest man eben über sie. Liest man aber Mitteilungen über übersinnliche Tatsachen im rechten Sinne, so lebt man sich ein in den Strom geistigen Daseins. Im Aufnehmen der Ergebnisse nimmt man zugleich den eigenen Innenweg dazu auf. Es ist richtig, daß dies hier Gemeinte von dem Leser zunächst oft gar nicht bemerkt wird. Man stellt sich den Eintritt in die geistige Welt viel zu ähnlich einem sinnenfälligen Erlebnis vor, und so findet man, daß, was man beim Lesen von dieser Welt erlebt, viel zu gedankenmäßig ist. Aber in dem wahren gedankenmäßigen Aufnehmen steht man in dieser Welt schon drinnen und hat sich nur noch klar darüber zu werden, daß man schon unvermerkt erlebt hat, was man vermeinte, bloß als Gedankenmitteilung erhalten zu haben. — Man wird über die echte Natur dieses Erlebten dann volle Klarheit erhalten, wenn man praktisch durchführt, was im zweiten (letzten) Teile dieses Buches als «Weg» zu den übersinnlichen Erkenntnissen geschildert wird. Man könnte leicht glauben, das Umgekehrte sei richtig: dieser Weg müsse zuerst geschildert werden. Das ist aber nicht der Fall. Wer, ohne auf bestimmte Tatsachen der übersinnlichen Welt den Seelenblick zu richten, nur «Übungen» macht, um in die übersinnliche Welt einzutreten, für den bleibt diese Weit ein unbestimmtes, sich verwirrendes Chaos. Man lernt sich einleben in diese Welt gewissermaßen naiv, indem man sich über bestimmte Tatsachen derselben unterrichtet, und dann gibt man sich Rechenschaft, wie man — die Naivität verlassend — vollbewusst selbst zu den Erlebnissen gelangt, von denen man Mitteilung erlangt hat. Man wird sich, wenn man in geheimwissenschaftliche Darstellungen eindringt, überzeugen, daß ein sicherer Weg zu übersinnlicher Erkenntnis doch nur dieser sein kann. Man wird auch erkennen, daß alle Meinung, es könnten die übersinnlichen Erkenntnisse zuerst als Dogmen gewissermaßen durch suggestive Macht wirken, unbegründet ist. Denn der Inhalt dieser Erkenntnisse wird in einem solchen Seelenleben erworben, das ihm jede bloß suggestive Gewalt benimmt und ihm nur die Möglichkeit gibt, auf demselben Wege zum andern zu sprechen, auf dem alle Wahrheiten zu ihm sprechen, die sich an sein besonnenes Urteil richten. daß der andere zunächst nicht bemerkt, wie er in der geistigen Welt lebt, dazu liegt nicht der Grund in einem unbesonnenen suggestiven Aufnehmen, sondern in der Feinheit und dem Ungewohnten des im Lesen Erlebten. — So wird man durch das erste Aufnehmen der Mitteilungen, wie sie im ersten Teile dieses Buches gegeben sind, zunächst Mit-Erkenner der übersinnlichen Welt; durch die praktische Ausführung der im zweiten Teile angegebenen Seelenverrichtungen wird man selbständiger Erkenner in dieser Welt.
[ 25 ] Dem Geiste und dem wahren Sinne nach wird auch kein echter Wissenschafter einen Widerspruch finden können zwischen seiner auf den Tatsachen der Sinnenwelt erbauten Wissenschaft und der Art, wie die übersinnliche Welt erforscht wird. Jener Wissenschafter bedient sich gewisser Werkzeuge und Methoden. Die Werkzeuge stellt er sich durch Verarbeitung dessen her, was ihm die «Natur» gibt. Die übersinnliche Erkenntnisart bedient sich auch eines Werkzeugs. Nur ist dieses Werkzeug der Mensch selbst. Und auch dieses Werkzeug muss für die höhere Forschung erst zugerichtet werden. Es müssen in ihm die zunächst ohne des Menschen Zutun ihm von der «Natur» gegebenen Fähigkeiten und Kräfte in höhere umgewandelt werden. Dadurch kann sich der Mensch selbst zum Instrument machen für die Erforschung der übersinnlichen Welt.
Character of the secret science
[ 1 ] An old word: "secret science" is used for the contents of this book. The word can immediately evoke the most opposite feelings in different people of the present day. For many it has something repulsive about it; it evokes ridicule, pitying smiles, perhaps contempt. They imagine that a way of thinking that calls itself such can only be based on idle dreaming, on fantasy, that such "supposed" science can only conceal the urge to renew all kinds of superstition, which is rightly avoided by those who have come to know "true science" and "genuine striving for knowledge". For others, the word has the effect that what it means must bring them something that cannot be achieved in any other way and to which, depending on their disposition, they are drawn by a deep inner longing for knowledge or a refined curiosity of the soul. Between these sharply opposing opinions there are all possible intermediate stages of conditional rejection or acceptance of what one or the other imagines when he hears the word "secret science". - It cannot be denied that for some people the word "secret science" has a magical ring to it because it seems to satisfy their fatal addiction to a knowledge of the "unknown", the mysterious, even the unclear, which cannot be attained by natural means. For many people do not want to satisfy the deepest longings of their souls through that which can be clearly recognized. Their conviction is that there must be something beyond what can be recognized in the world that eludes cognition. With a strange absurdity, which they do not realize, they reject everything that is "known" for the deepest longings for knowledge, and only want to accept something that cannot be said to be known through natural investigation. Those who speak of "secret science" would do well to bear in mind that they are confronted with misunderstandings caused by such defenders of this kind of science; by defenders who do not actually strive for knowledge, but the opposite of it.
[ 2 ] These remarks are addressed to readers who do not allow their impartiality to be taken away by the fact that a word evokes prejudices due to various circumstances. There will be no mention here of knowledge that is in any way to be regarded as "secret", accessible to some only through the special favor of fate. One will do justice to the use of the word meant here if one thinks of what Goethe has in mind when he speaks of the "revealed secrets" in the phenomena of the world. What remains "secret", unrevealed, in these phenomena when they are grasped only through the senses and the intellect, which is bound to the senses, is regarded as the content of a supersensible kind of knowledge. 1It has happened that the expression "secret science" - as it has already been used by the author of this book in earlier editions - has been rejected for the very reason that a science cannot be something "secret" for anyone. One would be right if the matter were meant that way. But that is not the case. As little as natural science can be called a "natural" science in the sense that it is "inherent by nature" to everyone, so little does the author think of "secret science" as a "secret" science, but rather one that refers to that which is "secret" in world phenomena that is unrevealed to the ordinary way of knowing, a science of the "secret", of the "revealed secret". But this science should not be a secret for anyone who seeks its knowledge in the ways that correspond to it. Anyone who only accepts as "science" what is revealed through the senses and the intellect that serves them can of course not consider what is meant here as "secret science" to be science. But if such a person wanted to understand himself, he would have to admit that he is not rejecting a "secret science" on the basis of a well-founded insight, but on the basis of a power play stemming from his purely personal feelings. To understand this, it is only necessary to consider how science arises and what significance it has in human life. The emergence of science in essence cannot be recognized by the object that science takes up. It can be recognized by the mode of activity of the human soul that occurs in scientific endeavour. How the soul behaves in acquiring science is to be seen. If one acquires the habit of putting this mode of activity into action only when the revelations of the senses come into consideration, then one easily falls into the opinion that this revelation of the senses is the essential thing. And then one does not draw attention to the fact that a certain behavior of the human soul has only been applied to the revelation of the senses. But one can go beyond this arbitrary self-restriction and, apart from the particular case of application, consider the character of scientific activity. This is the basis for speaking here of the knowledge of non-sensible world contents as "scientific". The human mode of imagination wants to work on these world contents in the same way as it works on the scientific world contents in the other case. Secret science aims to detach the scientific mode of research and research attitude, which in its field adheres to the connection and course of sensory facts, from this particular application, but to retain it in its intellectual and other characteristics. It wants to speak about the non-sensible in the same way that natural science speaks about the sensible. While natural science remains in the sensuous with this way of research and thinking, secret science wants to regard the soul's work on nature as a kind of self-education of the soul and apply what it has learned to the non-sensuous realm. It wants to proceed in such a way that it does not speak about sensory phenomena as such, but about the non-sensory contents of the world in the same way as the natural scientist speaks about the sensory ones. It records the mental state of the scientific process within this process, i.e. precisely that through which knowledge of nature first becomes science. It can therefore call itself science.
[ 3 ] Whoever reflects on the significance of natural science in human life will find that this significance cannot be exhausted with the acquisition of knowledge of nature. For these insights can never, ever lead to anything other than an experience of that which the human soul itself is not. The soul does not live in what man recognizes in nature, but in the process of recognition. The soul experiences itself in its activity in nature. What it develops in this activity living is something else than the knowledge of nature itself. It is self-development experienced in the knowledge of nature. The secret science wants to confirm the gain of this self-development in areas that lie beyond mere nature. The secret scientist does not want to misjudge the value of natural science, but to recognize it even better than the natural scientist himself. He knows that he cannot justify science without the rigor of the mode of conception that prevails in natural science. But he also knows that if this rigor is acquired through a genuine penetration into the spirit of scientific thinking, it can be retained by the power of the soul for other areas.
[ 4 ] There is, however, something that can give cause for concern. In the contemplation of nature, the soul is guided by the object under consideration to a much greater extent than in the contemplation of non-sensory world contents. In the latter, it must have the ability to hold on to the essence of the scientific mode of perception to a greater degree out of purely inner impulses. Because very many people unconsciously - believe that this essence can only be held on to by the guiding principle of natural phenomena, they are inclined to decide in favor of it by a power move; as soon as this guiding principle is abandoned, the soul gropes in the void with its scientific procedure. Such people have not made themselves aware of the peculiar nature of this procedure; they usually form their judgment from the aberrations that must arise when the scientific attitude towards natural phenomena is not sufficiently firm and the soul nevertheless wants to set about contemplating the non-sensible world realm. Naturally, much unscientific talk about non-sensible world contents arises. But not because such talk cannot be scientific in nature, but because, in this particular case, it has lacked scientific self-education through the observation of nature.
[ 5 ] Whoever wants to speak of secret science must, however, with regard to what has just been said, have a watchful sense for everything that is misleading that arises when something is made out about the revealed secrets of the world without a scientific attitude. Nevertheless, it would not lead to anything worthwhile if, right at the beginning of secret-scientific explanations, we were to talk about all possible aberrations which, in the souls of prejudiced persons, bring any research in this direction into disregard, because such persons conclude from the existence of truly quite numerous aberrations that the whole endeavor is unjustified. However, since the rejection of secret science by scientists or scientifically-minded judges is usually only based on the above-mentioned power play and the reference to the aberrations is only an - often unconscious - pretext, an argument with such opponents will initially be of little use. After all, nothing prevents them from making the certainly quite justified objection that nothing can determine from the outset whether the solid ground described above is really present in those who believe others to be caught up in error. Therefore, the person striving for a secret science can only simply demonstrate what he believes he is allowed to say. The judgment about his justification can only be formed by others, but also only by those persons who, avoiding all pretensions of power, are able to engage with the nature of his communications about the revealed secrets of world events. It will, however, be incumbent upon him to show how what he has presented relates to other achievements of knowledge and life, what oppositions are possible and to what extent the immediate external sensory reality of life provides confirmation for his observations. But he should never strive to keep his presentation in such a way that it works through his art of persuasion rather than through its content.
[ 6 ] One can often hear the objection to secret scientific explanations: they do not prove what they put forward; they only state one thing or another and say: secret science establishes this. The following explanations are misunderstood if one believes that anything in them is put forward in this sense. What is aimed at here is to allow that which is unfolded in the soul in natural knowledge to develop further in such a way as it can develop according to its own nature, and then to draw attention to the fact that in such development the soul encounters supersensible facts. It is assumed that every reader who is able to respond to what has been said will necessarily come across these facts. There is, however, a difference to the purely scientific view at the moment when one enters the field of spiritual science. In natural science, the facts are present in the field of the sense world; the scientific observer regards the activity of the soul as something that takes a back seat to the connection and course of the sense facts. The spiritual-scientific presenter must place this activity of the soul in the foreground; for the reader only arrives at the facts if he makes this activity of the soul his own in a legitimate way. These facts are not, as in natural science - albeit not understood - also without the soul activity before human perception; rather, they enter into it only through the soul activity. The spiritual-scientific expositor thus presupposes that the reader seeks the facts together with him. His presentation will be such that he tells of the discovery of these facts and that in the way he tells them, not personal arbitrariness, but the scientific sense trained in natural science prevails. He will therefore also be compelled to speak of the means by which one arrives at a contemplation of the non-sensible - the supersensible. - Whoever becomes involved in a secret-scientific presentation will soon realize that through it one acquires conceptions and ideas that one has not had before. In this way one also comes to new thoughts about what one previously thought about the nature of "proof". One learns to recognize that "proof" is something that is, so to speak, brought to the natural sciences from the outside. In spiritual-scientific thinking, however, the activity which the soul turns to proof in scientific thinking already lies in the search for the facts. These cannot be found if the path to them is not already a proving one. Whoever really follows this path has already experienced the end of proof; nothing can be achieved by a proof added from outside. the fact that this is misunderstood in the character of secret science causes many misunderstandings.
[ 7 ] All secret science must sprout from two thoughts that can take root in every human being. For the secret scientist, as he is meant here, these two thoughts express facts that can be experienced if the right means are used. For many people, these thoughts alone represent highly contestable assertions that are much debatable, if not something whose impossibility can be "proven".
[ 8 ] These two thoughts are that behind the visible world there is an invisible world, a world initially hidden to the senses and to thinking bound to these senses, and that it is possible for man to penetrate this hidden world by developing abilities that lie dormant within him.
[ 9 ] Such a hidden world does not exist, says one. The world that man perceives through his senses is the only one. Its riddles can be solved from within it. Even if man is still a long way from being able to answer all the questions of existence, the time will come when sensory experience and the science based on it will be able to provide the answers.
[ 10 ] Others say that one cannot claim that there is not a hidden world behind the visible one; but the human powers of cognition cannot penetrate this world. They have limits that they cannot transcend. The need of "faith" may take refuge in such a world: a true science, based on established facts, cannot deal with such a world.
[ 11 ] A third party is that which regards it as a kind of presumption if man, through his work of knowledge, wants to penetrate into an area in relation to which one should renounce "knowledge" and be content with "faith". The proponents of this opinion consider it an injustice if the weak human being wants to penetrate into a world that can only belong to religious life.
[ 12 ] It is also argued that a common knowledge of the facts of the sensory world is possible for all men, but that with regard to supersensible things only the personal opinion of the individual can come into question and that one should not speak of a generally valid certainty in these things.
[ 13 ] Others claim many other things.
[ 14 ] One can realize that the contemplation of the visible world presents man with riddles which can never be solved from the facts of this world itself. They will not be solved in this way even when the science of these facts has progressed as far as possible. For the visible facts clearly point to a hidden world through their own inner nature. He who does not realize this closes his mind to the mysteries that clearly emerge everywhere from the facts of the sensory world. He does not want to see certain questions and riddles at all; therefore he believes that all questions can be answered by the sensory facts. Those questions which he wants to ask are really all to be answered by the facts which he hopes will be discovered in the future. That can be admitted without further ado. But why should he wait for answers to certain things who asks no questions at all? Those who strive for secret science say nothing other than that such questions are natural to them and that they must be recognized as a fully justified expression of the human soul. Science cannot be confined within limits by forbidding people to ask unbiased questions.
[ 15 ] In response to the opinion that man has limits to his knowledge which he cannot transcend and which force him to stop before an invisible world, it must be said that there can be no doubt at all that one cannot penetrate an invisible world through the kind of knowledge meant there. Whoever considers this mode of cognition to be the only possible one cannot arrive at any other view than that man is denied the possibility of penetrating into any higher world that may exist. But one can also say the following: if it is possible to develop another kind of knowledge, then this can lead into the supersensible world. If one considers such a way of knowing to be impossible, then one arrives at a point of view from which all talk about a supersensible world appears as pure nonsense. In the face of an unbiased judgment, however, there can be no other reason for such an opinion than that the confessor of it is unaware of this other form of knowledge. But how can one judge that of which one claims not to know? Unbiased thinking must confess to the proposition that one speaks only of that which one knows, and that one states nothing about that which one does not know. Such thinking can only speak of the right that someone communicates a thing that he has experienced, but not of a right that someone declares impossible what he does not know or does not want to know. No one can deny the right not to care about the supernatural; but there can never be a real reason for someone to declare himself authoritative not only for what he can know, but also for everything that "a man" cannot know.
[ 16 ] To those who declare it presumptuous to penetrate into the supersensible realm, a secret-scientific view must consider that one can do so and that it is a sin against the abilities given to man if he allows them to become desolate instead of developing them and making use of them.
[ 17 ] But he who believes that views about the supersensible world must belong entirely to personal opinion and feeling denies what is common to all human beings. It is certainly true that everyone must find insight into these things for themselves; it is also a fact that all those people who go far enough do not come to different but to the same insight about these things. The difference only exists as long as people do not want to approach the highest truths on a scientifically proven path, but on that of personal arbitrariness. However, it must be readily conceded again that only those who want to become familiar with the peculiarities of the secret scientific path can recognize its correctness.
[ 18 ] Any person can find the path to secret science at the appropriate time who recognizes or even only suspects or suspects the existence of something hidden from what is revealed, and who is driven by the awareness that the powers of knowledge are capable of development to the feeling that the hidden could reveal itself to him. To a man who is led to the secret science by these experiences of the soul, not only the prospect opens up that he will find the answer to certain questions of his thirst for knowledge, but also the quite different one that he will become the conqueror of everything that hinders and weakens life. And in a certain higher sense it means a weakening of life, indeed a death of the soul, if man sees himself forced to turn away from the supersensible or to deny it. Indeed, under certain conditions it leads to despair when a person loses hope that the hidden will be revealed to him. This death and this despair in their manifold forms are at the same time inner, spiritual opponents of secret scientific endeavor. They occur when man's inner strength fades away. Then all the power of life must be supplied to him from outside, if such power is to come into his possession at all. He then perceives the things, the entities and processes that approach his senses; he dissects them with his intellect. They give him pleasure and pain; they drive him to the actions of which he is capable. He may go on like this for a while, but he must reach a point where he dies inwardly. For whatever can be extracted from the world for man in this way is exhausted. This is not an assertion that comes from the personal experience of an individual, but something that arises from an impartial observation of all human life. What saves us from this exhaustion is what is hidden in the depths of things. If a person's power to descend into these depths in order to constantly draw up new life force dies, then ultimately even the outside of things will no longer be conducive to life.
[ 19 ] The matter is by no means such that it concerns only the individual, only his personal weal and woe. It is precisely through true secret-scientific contemplation that it becomes certain to man that from a higher point of view the weal and woe of the individual is intimately connected with the weal or woe of the whole world. There is a way in which man comes to the realization that he causes harm to the whole world and all beings in it if he does not develop his powers in the right way. If man desolates his life by losing his connection with the supersensible, he not only destroys something within himself, the withering away of which can ultimately lead him to despair, but through his weakness he forms an obstacle to the development of the whole world in which he lives.
[ 20 ] Now man can deceive himself. He can give himself over to the belief that there is no such thing as the hidden, that everything that can possibly exist is already contained in that which approaches his senses and his intellect. But this illusion is only possible for the surface of consciousness, not for its depth. Feeling and desire do not submit to this deceptive belief. They will always long for something hidden in some way. And if this is withdrawn from them, they push people into doubt, into uncertainty about life, even into despair. A recognition that reveals what is hidden is capable of overcoming all hopelessness, all uncertainty in life, all despair, in short everything that weakens life and makes it incapable of the service it needs in the world as a whole.
[ 21 ] This is the beautiful fruit of spiritual scientific knowledge, that it gives strength and stability to life and not only satisfaction to the thirst for knowledge. The source from which such knowledge draws strength for work and confidence for life is inexhaustible. No one who has once truly approached this source will go away unstrengthened by repeated recourse to it.
[ 22 ] There are people who do not want to know about such insights for the reason that they already see something unhealthy in what has just been said. For the surface and the exterior of life, such people are quite right. They do not want what life offers in so-called reality to be stunted. They see a weakness in people turning away from reality and seeking their salvation in a hidden world, which for them is like a fantastic, dreamed-up world. If one does not want to fall into morbid reverie and weakness in such a spiritual-scientific search, then one must recognize the partial justification of such objections. For they are based on a sound judgment, which only leads to a half-truth rather than a whole truth because it does not penetrate into the depths of things, but remains on their surface. - If a supersensible striving for knowledge were to weaken life and cause people to turn away from true reality, then such objections would surely be strong enough to pull the rug out from under this school of thought.
[ 23 ] But even in the face of these opinions, secret scientific endeavors would not go the right way if they wanted to "defend" themselves in the usual sense of the word. Here, too, they can only speak through their value, which is recognizable to every unbiased person, if they make it tangible how they increase the vitality and strength of life for those who live into them in the right sense. These aspirations cannot turn a person into an unworldly person or a dreamer; they empower the person from those sources of life from which he, according to his spiritual and mental part, originates.
[ 24 ] Other obstacles to understanding still lie in the way of many a man when he approaches secret scientific endeavors. It is indeed true in principle that the reader finds in the secret scientific presentation a description of soul experiences, through the pursuit of which he can move towards the supersensible contents of the world. In practice, however, this must be realized as a kind of ideal. The reader must first of all absorb a larger sum of supersensible experiences, which he has not yet experienced himself. This cannot be otherwise and will also be the case with this book. It will describe what the author thinks he knows about the nature of man, about his behavior in birth and death and in the bodiless state in the spiritual world; it will also describe the development of the earth and of humanity. Thus it might seem as if the assumption were being made that a number of supposed insights would be presented like dogmas, for which belief on authority would be demanded. But this is not the case. For what can be known of the supersensible contents of the world lives in the performer as living soul-content; and if one lives into this soul-content, then this living-in kindles the impulses in one's own soul which lead to the corresponding supersensible facts. One lives in a different way when reading spiritual-scientific knowledge than when reading communications of sensory facts. If one reads communications from the sensory world, one reads about them. If, however, one reads messages about supersensible facts in the right sense, one becomes part of the stream of spiritual existence. In taking in the results, one simultaneously takes up one's own inner path. It is true that what is meant here is often not even noticed by the reader at first. One imagines the entry into the spiritual world to be far too similar to a sensory experience, and so one finds that what one experiences when reading about this world is far too thought-like. But in the true mental perception one is already in this world and only has to realize that one has already experienced without noticing what one thought to have received merely as a thought communication. - One will then receive full clarity about the real nature of this experience when one practically carries out what is described in the second (last) part of this book as the "path" to supersensible knowledge. One could easily believe that the reverse is true: this path must be described first. But this is not the case. Anyone who, without directing the soul's gaze to certain facts of the supersensible world, only does "exercises" in order to enter the supersensible world, for him this world remains an indefinite, confusing chaos. One learns to live in this world naively, so to speak, by informing oneself of certain facts about it, and then one gives oneself an account of how - leaving naivety behind - one arrives fully consciously at the experiences of which one has been informed. If one penetrates into secret scientific representations, one will convince oneself that this is the only sure way to supersensible knowledge. One will also realize that all opinions that supersensible knowledge could first act as dogmas, so to speak, through suggestive power, are unfounded. For the content of these insights is acquired in such a soul-life which deprives it of all merely suggestive power and only gives it the possibility of speaking to the other in the same way in which all truths speak to it which are addressed to its prudent judgment. That the other does not at first notice how he lives in the spiritual world is not due to an imprudent suggestive reception, but to the subtlety and the unfamiliarity of what is experienced in reading. - Thus, by first absorbing the messages given in the first part of this book, one first becomes a co-recognizer of the supersensible world; through the practical execution of the soul's actions given in the second part, one becomes an independent recognizer in this world.
[ 25 ] According to the spirit and the true sense, no true scientist will be able to find a contradiction between his science, which is built on the facts of the sensory world, and the way in which the supersensible world is investigated. The scientist uses certain tools and methods. He produces the tools by processing what "nature" gives him. The supersensible way of knowing also makes use of a tool. But this tool is the human being himself. And this tool, too, must first be prepared for higher research. The abilities and powers initially given to him by "nature" without human intervention must be transformed into higher ones. In this way, man can make himself an instrument for the exploration of the supersensible world.