The History of the German Section of the Theosophical Society 1902-1913

GA 250 — 12 September 1904, Berlin

12. Theosophy, Science and Religion. Annie Besant

After an absence of eighteen months, our esteemed Annie Besant returned to Europe in May from the scene of her work in India to spend a few months among us in Europe working to spread the theosophical teachings and theosophical life.

As you all know, we will also have an opportunity to hear Annie Besant here in Berlin in a few days. When Annie Besant comes to Europe, even if it is only for a short time, it is a celebration for the members of the Theosophical Society on our continent and in England. It is a celebration especially for those who, out of full knowledge and insight, appreciate the greatness and significance of this unique personality. There are many people in Europe who are attached to this personality with a love built on knowledge and insight.

In the arena of her activity, where she is mostly active now, Annie Besant is particularly well understood. One understands why Annie Besant is so extraordinarily well understood and loved in India. You understand it when you read the words, which are on the one hand full of deep wisdom and on the other hand full of strength, in the lecture that Annie Besant gave two years ago at the annual meeting of the Theosophical Society in England and which is now also available in print. The lecture that Annie Besant gave at the time on the task of her own, the English people, in India was – if I may use the worn-out word – it was an act. For it was based on what I would call the deepest historical insight into the needs, the true, heartfelt needs of a people.

Annie Besant, if I may say so, spoke to the conscience of her compatriots at the time. And they were words of love - because only words of love can come from true theosophy - but at the same time they were words that sound quite different from what England, what English imperialism, is still doing in India today. They were words that were entirely appropriate for a theosophist.

What Annie Besant called for was nothing less than a modern fulfillment of what Christians call the miracle of Pentecost. You all know that this Pentecost miracle expresses in a powerful symbolism that at that time the apostles, the messengers of Christianity, began to speak in all tongues. They began to speak in all tongues for the reason that this is necessary for someone who wants to bring the message of the divine world order into the world. God speaks to all hearts. But only with one's own tongue can a member of a nation hear the divine word. If you go to a nation and try to interest them in the spirit of divine wisdom or to teach the spirit of human comfort, then you must, above all, be understood by that nation. You must speak in the tongue of that nation. You must take the words, the ideas, the feelings in which you express yourself from this people. The Theosophist sets himself the goal of respecting and appreciating the peculiarities of each people if he wants to contribute to the spread of human and divine wisdom.

And that is what Annie Besant demands of her people with such fervor, one might say, when she says: If you go to this country, then do not be strangers, not rulers, not conquerors, but loving friends who want to learn the language – at least the spiritual language – of the one to whom you want to speak, to whom you want to convey a culture other than your own.

You see, that is the understanding that Annie Besant has been showing the Indian people for years, the active understanding that has led her to work in India for the benefit of the education of this people, for the development of the extraordinarily high spiritual culture to our present day there. Because she knows how to speak to each person in his own tongue, in the sense of the symbolic miracle of Pentecost, and because the Indian people in particular have an understanding of it, Annie Besant is so very much loved there. Those who understand this spirit of genuine theosophical sentiment in the West as well, who do not just know it intellectually, but have grasped it with the depth of their hearts, so that it is the very principle of their lives, are equally devoted to Annie Besant, and for them Annie Besant is currently the soul of the theosophical movement. She is because the spiritual life, which the theosophical movement wants to bring to modern humanity, flows through each of her words, can be felt in each of her words, so that each of her words, although it comes from a complete mastery of all present sciences, at the same time sinks deeply into the hearts of her listeners, can sink deeply into their hearts.

Now, esteemed attendees, Annie Besant may be called the soul of the theosophical movement, and we may greet it with particular satisfaction that this year's season, our work this year, may begin with the work of Annie Besant within our section.

I would like to say that the theme of Annie Besant's lecture in Berlin next Friday is indicative of the whole task of the Theosophical movement and of the importance of the Theosophical Society in our time. The theme is “The New Psychology”, the new doctrine of the soul. We will prepare ourselves for the lecture, which is to be a celebration for us, by realizing what this lecture, in the sense of the Theosophical movement, is actually supposed to convey. Psychology, as you know, is the study of the soul. A “new psychology” is what will be discussed here. The word “new” indicates that we are dealing with a doctrine that was not there before. And if it was not there, then in relation to which doctrine of the soul is the one that Annie Besant is talking about a new doctrine of the soul? That we can speak today of a new doctrine of the soul is something that is connected with the whole task, with the whole meaning of our Theosophical movement. And probably if we could not speak today of a new doctrine of the soul, the Theosophical movement would not have attained any importance, would not have solved its task in such a way, as is already the case today to a high degree.

What was the old doctrine of the soul? We shall understand this if we look back half a century in the development of our cultural life. What I am about to say applies not only to Germany, but to all civilized countries. If we look back to the middle of the nineteenth century, we find that peculiar thoughts about the nature of the soul and the nature of the human spirit prevailed at that time. At that time, so-called materialism was at its peak. Those who had the ear of their contemporaries, such as Ludwig Büchner, Vogt, Moleschott and others, spoke for materialism. The words spoken by the natural scientists Vogt in Germany and Clifford in England resounded throughout the world: “Thoughts are secreted by the brain just as bile is produced by the liver.” So that was the time when people wanted nothing to do with a special soul. Those who wanted nothing to do with a special soul were those who placed the physical above the soul, those who wanted nothing to do with it were those who believed at the time that they were at the cutting edge of science. The flowering of science in the modern age had just begun.

If we take a look at the science of more recent times, we have to say that tremendous developments and discoveries were made in the world at that time. The new science of life was invented under the microscope. It was at that time that people first looked through the microscope at the smallest living creatures, the so-called cells. The doctrine of the origin of the earth, which we now call geology, was still very young. The gale-force winds of Darwinism swept through the educated world. Discovery followed discovery, and the discoveries in the scientific field meant that our external life was changing as industry made its great conquests in the field of natural science, of natural forces. Man had completely settled in the physical world. He had celebrated his great triumphs in the physical world. At the same time, this was the epoch in which man – at least the man who had immersed himself in it – became disoriented about the truths of thousands of years, by denying what the fathers and the fathers of our fathers had regarded as the principle of their existence, as the support of their lives.

We may say that not all of the educated, perhaps only a small number of them, had embraced this materialistic worldview. But that is not the point in the development of the human race. What matters is not whether only a few or the masses grasp some new idea, but whether that idea has the potential to be absorbed into the development of culture, whether it is suitable for being absorbed into the hearts of people, into the minds of those who reflect. There have always been only a few in the world who were knowledgeable. Go back to ancient times and you will always see that there were only a few spiritual leaders. And it is true that the spiritual possessions of the spiritual leaders later become the almost universal possessions of a large part of humanity. Go back to the times when Christianity spread, when the gospel that we call Christian first came into the world, and of which we must say that at first only a few people adhered to it. Then more and more people did so, and later there were millions. And if you go back to the time of the dawn of new eras, to the time of humanity's scientific discoveries, and do some research, you will find that only a few people believed in what are now scientific facts that are common knowledge to countless people – our views of the starry sky, for example, the so-called Copernican worldview. Look at how few people confessed to this belief centuries ago. You will see that there were only a few. And then the current flooded into the minds of a large number of people. This is the case with ideas that have the power to fill people's hearts. With them, it does not matter whether they are initially held by a few or a large number. What matters is who they are held by. Whether they are those who are at the summit of the times or not.

If you follow the times and go back to the first decades of Christianity, you will find that a large number of people, namely the best within European culture, who were at the height of their time in terms of spirituality, were seized by the principles of Christianity. And if you go back to the sixteenth century, you will find that a large number of people, inspired by the few, were convinced by the ideas that Copernicus, Galileo, Giordano Bruno and others brought into the world. They are the leaders of humanity, and the question is whether these leaders of humanity will find the ear of their contemporaries. It was an important question in the mid-nineteenth century as to whether the few whose convictions found expression in the words “The brain sweats out thoughts as the liver does bile” would find the ear of their contemporaries. It was, I say, a big question. For those who spoke in this way, we must realize, were not the worst of their age in those days. They were the ones who spoke from erudition, from science. And science itself had taken on a form that was quite capable of instilling such views in the hearts of many. You can imagine what would happen if, instead of the spiritual, the spiritual world view, the purely materialistic doctrine I have mentioned were to become common knowledge among mankind. Anyone who has an inkling of the devastating effects that the materialistic doctrine would have to wreak on humanity, anyone who is able to observe how the destructive, devastating forces of human nature are connected with this world view in particular, also knows that there was a danger within our education, within our development at that time; but they also know that it is people themselves who are leading history.

Our revered first teacher, Mrs. Blavatsky, once said in her “Secret Doctrine” - and it is a profound truth: Certainly, what is necessary happens in the world. And when an age needs a teaching, a wisdom, a truth, then it will come. But people are called upon to receive it. Although the higher forces must flow into human nature, human resistance, the destructive, evil forces of human nature, can delay the inflow of the higher forces for a long time. Man is not a weak-willed tool of the divine world order, but through thought and human feelings, this divine world order speaks. If we realize this, then we must say to ourselves: Much depends on how humanity in the second half of the nineteenth century positions itself in relation to the materialistic world view, and what it will say to those who are at the height of the materialistic world view. It was close – and the one who cannot observe the times cannot imagine how close it was – that the materialistic worldview would have completely found the ear of its contemporaries. In 1875, that stream of spiritual wisdom was sent into the world, that stream of spiritual wisdom that comes from the same beings from whom spiritual wisdom has spread through all times.

Our first teacher, Mrs. Blavatsky, was commissioned to make herself the mouthpiece for this spiritual wisdom, and those who listened to the messenger of higher beings, to Mrs. Blavatsky, were the first to vigorously counteract the materialistic flood. But do not think that the stream I spoke of was only active within what we call the Theosophical movement or Theosophical Society. Oh no, in the last third of the nineteenth century a mighty spiritual wave began to sweep over all of civilized humanity. Everywhere, the longing arose to recognize the spirit again. Everywhere, the longing arose to gain clarity in the face of the materialistic shaping of science. Only the standard-bearers, the pioneers of this spiritual direction, wanted to be theosophists. Look at all countries and see how all countries long for a new spiritual life, and how this spiritual life lives as a longing in all souls that often deal with the riddles of human life. This longing lives in people who today can call themselves the best of culture, and more than anything else lives in this urge for a new idealism, for a new spirituality. This spiritual wave has also had an effect in science, and there has been a mighty change in science, especially in recent years. Whoever knows that what is decided by the so-called authorities is only a relatively small wave, but one that spreads in all directions and affects humanity, and who also knows how the materialistic movement was aroused at the time, also knows what significance this new wave will have for humanity. Mankind must surely look up to those who have the opportunity to study science and truth. Where should the ordinary person turn when they ask: What is the smallest living thing? They can only turn to science. What priests were in the broadest sense in the past, men of science have become for modern, cultured humanity. But with the psychology that Vogt expresses with the words “The brain sweats out thoughts like the liver sweats out bile,” science, which is at the cutting edge today, has broken thoroughly.

Those who fifteen years ago proclaimed with certainty materialistic science, who denied any life that extends beyond birth and death, precisely those who, just fifteen years ago, did this but seriously engaged with science, who did not remain with prejudices and opinions, who developed further, it is precisely they who today speak a completely different language.

Those who once said that man descended from the mere animal, that the human soul is nothing more than an expression of the mechanically acting organism, just as the activity of a machine is an expression of the mechanical nature of that machine, those who spoke or speak like that, are no longer considered by the truly insightful to be at the level of science. Those who have developed further have at least come to the one thing, they have come to admitting: With materialistic science, there can be no question of attaining the soul, of knowing about the soul, of real psychology. Take a look around Germany. Natural scientists who have done their studies in the last fifteen years and are beginning to talk about these questions: how cautiously they speak compared to the materialistic certainty that could be heard fifteen years ago. Compare what was said about Darwin in the past with what is being said about him today. There is a tremendous difference. And if you look at books that come from infinite erudition, such as those by [Fresnel] – I could also name some German naturalists in this field – you will see the turnaround that has occurred in scientific thinking. Fifteen years ago, you could still hear the same mechanical science at work in the laboratory and the dissecting room, examining tissues under the microscope, and so on. It cannot provide any insights into the soul. Laplace, who originated the doctrine of the movement of the heavenly bodies, once made a remarkable statement to the great Napoleon. Napoleon said: “I find that in your explanations about the movement of the heavenly bodies, there is no God.” To which Laplace replied: “I don't need this hypothesis!” Just as Laplace, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, believed that he did not need the “God” hypothesis, so science believes that it does not need the soul hypothesis. It says: We have examined and dissected the brain, and we have not found a soul.

Today, only a natural scientist whose insights are outdated would say this. No natural scientist at the cutting edge of his or her field would say this. Today, the natural scientist who is not yet ready to embrace the new paths of a new soul doctrine will at least cautiously say: My science must stop at the problems of the soul, at the riddles of life.

That is what the natural scientists say: it is agnosticism, that is, non-science or non-knowledge. For many, this is a buzzword. The conviction that materialistic science must be modest and must be agnostic with regard to the higher realms of existence is becoming more and more widespread. From this you can see that the psychology of fifty years ago, which is not a psychology at all but a denial of everything spiritual, is on the way to being completely overcome.

But this materialistic doctrine of the soul has brought us one thing: for centuries and millennia there was a doctrine of the soul that priests taught and that comforted people when they were dying. At that time, many people were able to doubt this doctrine of the soul and they believed that they had to doubt it in honest conviction because, in their opinion, their research demanded it. Certainly, the eternal truths proclaimed by the religions of all times are unshakable, they stand firm. They have not been shaken, not even by the fact that individual people have lost their way with them. It is no proof that the materialistic doctrine of the soul has spread, that at that time this doctrine of the religions did not have the power to bring about the conviction of its truth. But the spirit had become weak, especially in the inquisitive and striving seekers of truth. And because it had become weak, the spirit, through the floods of new physical truths that had befallen it under the splendor of the new cultural achievements, because it had achieved another, external, physical greatness, therefore it lagged behind in spiritual life, therefore it could not comprehend the truths in the old form. A new form for the teaching of the soul has therefore become necessary. And a completely new method of research has also become necessary. And while the natural scientists I have been talking about have become more modest over the last fifteen years, while they have moved towards non-knowledge, towards agnosticism, others are working on developing a new teaching of the soul.

They are working on it and investigating what does not present itself to external research, what only presents itself to the spiritual and soul view. Thus we see that within the last twenty years a new psychology has flourished, quite independently of all occultist movements. We see that within the circles of scholars, natural scientists, researchers, a new psychology is emerging. And while the Theosophists want to be the pioneers and standard-bearers for a spiritual deepening of humanity, here you see the work beginning from a completely different side. You see how the same results are being sought on a much larger scale, which the Theosophical Society wants to bring to the world. The spiritual forces work uniformly. Do not imagine that it is other forces than the spiritual beings who stand behind the Theosophical movement that are inspiring modern scholars to a new psychology. These beings choose many paths. They choose them unconsciously in human terms in order to advance humanity in the knowledge of the spirit and in the study of the soul. One of the paths that runs parallel to Theosophy is the path that the new psychology is taking. The theosophist already knows where this new psychology will lead in years to come. He knows that it is a tributary that will flow into the great stream of spiritual movement, which is represented by the theosophical teaching and by the theosophical life. In full foresight of what must come, and in order to truly bring humanity to an understanding of what must come, the theosophical movement has been called into the world by beings who transcend far beyond the measure of what the most highly educated person can achieve within our culture. Anyone who does not believe in all modesty that his wisdom is the sum of all wisdoms, that his judgment represents the highest judgment, will soon be able to observe that there are other people besides him who have more wisdom and more judgment, and he will listen to these personalities, will let himself be taught by them. When he gains some insight, he will come to say to himself: I still have the way to go that others have already gone. The more insight a person gains, the more humble he becomes in this regard, the more clearly he realizes how much he still has to learn, and the more likely he is to find those who have something to teach him from their spiritual heights, which he has not yet reached. If someone believes that they cannot learn anything from anyone, it is a sure sign that they have not progressed very far. The more advanced a person is, the more he comes to the certain knowledge that people are at different stages of development, and that there have always been those who have been spiritual guides to humanity and who have progressed further in their development than their fellow brothers, the most advanced brothers. They are the ones who are most difficult to understand, indeed, to be recognized, by their less developed fellow brothers. It was from such highly developed entities, difficult to understand and recognize, that the great spiritual stream emanated in 1875, which, with the help of the Theosophical movement, poured out over humanity, which longed for it.

People often ask why these highly developed entities do not show themselves, why they only make themselves felt to a limited extent. The answer can be found in one of the most profound works produced by the Theosophical movement, in the small booklet, which, however, encompasses a world of wisdom, in “Light on the Path”. What is said there, that the guiding beings, these highly developed individualities that tower far above their fellow human beings, can be there, yes, can be in the midst of a crowd without being recognized, that they can be in St. Petersburg, in Berlin, in London, in Paris, without anyone - except for a very few - knowing about it. This is literally true. There are reasons, certain reasons, why the advanced leader of humanity must

remain hidden. We cannot deal with such reasons today. But it is necessary for the highest teachers to build a kind of wall around themselves, and that only those who are prepared by a suitable way of life should have access to them. Such entities were and are continually the source of the movements we call theosophical. Such entities, in their infinite benevolence, also have great power, and much of what happens in humanity comes from these beings without humanity suspecting it.

When we speak of new currents in spiritual life, of a new psychology, which seems to be apart from the great theosophical stream, it is only seemingly so. The same entities and forces are at work there too, and they speak the language that can be understood in the circles of scholarship, in the circles of scientific research. For the observation of the miracle of Pentecost, of speaking in all tongues, is the principle of the theosophist, that is what completely fulfills him. That is why it speaks to each race, each people and each tribe in its own language. That is why it speaks in the language of the Hindus in India and in other tongues in other places, to the hearts of people who are accustomed to thinking and speaking in scientific terms, these beings are also able to speak to them in their language. And gently and mildly and slowly, Theosophy will also guide science in its paths.

This is the perspective for the future. The theosophist knows that what is to be will be. He knows that even though we have to speak of it today as a very young plant, he knows that this new teaching of the soul will grow into a mighty light in a short time, that it will radiate and fill people with a completely new consciousness of the times.

This new psychology has been established by the scholars and will continue to be developed by the scholars. But if we want to learn about its significance and its mission in the future, then we must hear about this new psychology from the theosophists, and our dear and esteemed Annie Besant will speak about the significance and essence of this new psychology in Berlin on Friday. You see how a single act of a theosophist is connected with the whole task of theosophy, and how in turn the whole task of theosophy is connected with the task of our time. We do not believe that the theosophical movement is called upon to explore the souls of people for new truths, as is happening in the field of new psychology, nor do we believe that these truths can be found in ancient wisdom. We are clear about one thing: wherever new life is sprouting in the present, wherever something new is emerging, it needs to be imbued with a spiritual breath, to be directly revitalized with new spiritual life. And this spiritual life, this breath, which should blow through the souls and hearts of our present-day humanity, this direct life in the face of the new truths, is what the theosophical movement wants to bring.

You will hear about the new truths in a new form from all lecterns and from all sides in the future. The theosophical movement wants to give the deepest life, which must permeate it, the soul itself of this new spiritual life. And he who is imbued with this life, who is imbued with this attitude, wants that all our new souls striving for truth be inspired, that what we explore from a warm heart penetrates into hearts, so that it gives us strength to live and comfort for our gaze into the farthest future for that which would have to remain a dead letter, dead science, if it remained merely scientific, the one who wants to bring it to life, he is a theosophist. For those who hear the inner voice speaking in quiet moments, for such men and women, the Theosophical Society is only the outer instrument. It does not depend on whether something is more or less good or bad in the Theosophical Society. It is built on human weakness and with human judgment, like all human institutions. The greatest masters themselves, who have brought us the theosophical wisdom, who speak to those who imbue the theosophical movement with life, cannot deal with external social foundations. They leave that to those who carry out their orders, who place themselves in their service as their messengers. It is not the external framework that matters. But we want to preserve it precisely because we do not overestimate it and because we need it, and because we would be disturbed and prevented from working if we did not have this external framework as an all-encompassing one that covers Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Australia. We want to draw attention to the fact that it is not this framework, but the spirit that humanity needs, and that through the theosophical movement flows to those who want it.

Thus, a society in which Theosophists are gathered is something different from a society in which others are gathered in the present time, something essentially different. Everyone seeks out societies, geographical, anthropological, philological, philosophical, and so on. They find that all cultural products must spread through society. But one thing is different in the theosophical movement. Where theosophists are united, they do not all want to be united by common truths, not all by common convictions, by dogmas, they want to be united in that which cannot be grasped by the mind, not by the intellect, but by the heart, the heart that comprehends and is filled with wisdom, which is at the same time the heart that loves. The theosophists want to be filled with a common spiritual life. When they are united, this common spiritual life should flood their souls. And wherever there is a theosophical lodge, wherever more or less theosophical personalities of the present have united, they want to form a center where they gather these powers of soul and spirit, this power from which this spiritual life then radiates in all directions. Every meeting and every branch should be such a center, and something invisible should radiate out from it. What matters in these gatherings is not what this or that person says, whether he is more or less learned, not whether he is this or that, but whether those who are gathered are filled with this true spiritual life that radiates from their center, so that the humanity of the present can grasp it more and more. What matters is not what I say here, not my words, but each and every one of us who is gathered here. What passes through all our souls at the moment we have gathered here is what matters. It is only by chance that one person speaks and only by chance that one person puts into words what needs to be said. What one person says is no more important than what is going on in the souls of the others, in the eyes of those who lead the theosophical movement. What is important is the spiritual life, which should flourish in all souls at this moment and radiate out to the rest of the world, to the present-day human civilization. That is the true teaching of our society. That is what is embodied in our Annie Besant, and that is why we can call her the soul of the Theosophical Society. That is why she embodies the task of the Theosophical Society before the others. That is why what she does is specifically Theosophical work. And if today we have tried to immerse ourselves for an hour in the spirit of the Theosophical Movement and in the task of the Theosophical Society, if we have tried to understand what will be embodied for all of us in the near future, as if alive, next Friday and Sunday, then this task of ours should stand before our soul, shining before us as the best Theosophical light in the present. Hopefully we will get beyond the preparations to what it has to say to us about important questions of the present in the theosophical movement.