The History of the Esoteric School 1904–1914, Volume One

GA 264

The “Leadbeater Affair” II

that initiated the separation from the Esoteric School of Theosophy.

To Annie Besant, early July 1906¹

Dear Mrs. Besant.

I have received your messages dated June 9, 1906, from Simla, India, to the Wardens and Sub-Wardens of the E.S. Thank you very much indeed. Please allow me to write the following in response. Since you have granted me complete freedom in conducting E.S. affairs in Germany, I have so far not wished to take up your valuable time with letters; but the present case of Leadbeater is important enough to justify this letter. I would like to point out in advance that I am having my letter translated by Marie von Sivers to make it easier for you to read. This is certainly not a mistake, in my opinion, because this colleague of mine can no longer be misled by what I have to say; and as for the very last things I have to say, I will not say them in full. I think you will read them between the lines.

Now a word in advance. I will speak with complete frankness. And with this in mind, I ask you, dear Mrs. Besant, to include the following.

I was not surprised for a moment by what was said against Mr. Leadbeater. And neither what Messrs. Mead and Keightley were able to tell me in Paris, who were present at the meeting of the Executive Committee, nor the report sent to the General Secretaries from that meeting, were able to change my opinion – ultimately – from what it was before this whole matter became publicly known to a limited extent.

The whole matter presents itself to me in a much deeper light and context. I have to see the bad in the whole thing in the peculiarity of Mr. Leadbeater's occult method. This occult method must necessarily lead in certain cases to such or similar errors as those found in Mr. Leadbeater, because it is no longer applicable to the cycle of humanity to which the Western population belongs. It does not have to be the same errors in every case, but similar ones may arise that are no less serious. For these methods can lead to a sure result only when behind each one who enters the path stands the absolute authority of a guru, such as is quite impossible in the Occident because of the general cultural conditions. In the Occident, a person may be led to the stage of psychic development on which Leadbeater stood only if the part of the guidance that can no longer come from the guru is replaced by a certain degree of mental training. And this training is lacking in Mr. Leadbeater. By this I do not mean a mere intellectual-philosophical training, but the development of that level of consciousness that consists in inner, mental vision. This simply requires the level of brain development that the Westerner must have attained. In Germany, for example, the paths to this training must be taken from the thought mysticism of Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, which cannot be understood at all in view of their truly occult basis.

All this is the case because the thought itself is the same for all plans. Wherever thought is developed, whether on the physical or on a higher plane, it will be a sure guide for everything if it is free from sensuality and grasped in self-knowledge. If it is first developed on the physical plane, according to the Western brain disposition, then it remains the sure guiding thread through all stages of physical and superphysical knowledge. If it is lacking, then the Westerner is rudderless, whether he is moving on the physical or a higher plane. And with the close relationship at the present time between all higher human forces and the forces that belong to a lower level of the sexual sphere, a derailment similar to that of Mr. Leadbeater can occur at any moment. His “case” is not the only one, but something that belongs to the field that is currently being practiced in many occult groups that are more or less heading in the wrong direction. The Masters of the Rosicrucian School have foreseen the peculiarity of the fifth human sub-race and have worked out the “Path” for the Occident, which alone is applicable in the present cycle. As far as it may be brought before the public, this “path” has been communicated by me in the magazine Lucifer-Gnosis.²

It is not necessary to reflect on the individual case of Mr. Leadbeater, but on the dangers of his method. This danger lies in itself; and one should never assume that it cannot lead to such aberrations. What is not right does not begin with the fact that one or another person is led to do the things that have been mentioned here, but already with the way in which one arrives at the results in the sense of this method, as they can be found in Mr. Leadbeater's writings.

If I had stood alone, I would never have recommended Mr. Leadbeater's writings as suitable Theosophical reading. Since I joined the T.S. for deeper reasons, I naturally could not reject the books of a recognized leader.

So that is the merits of the case. But the treatment he has received at the hands of the British Section Committee is, in the occult sense, quite impossible. How can it not be clear that by such a judgment one has done something equivalent to the act of a man sawing off the branch on which he sits?

The difficulty lies in the fact that the exoteric character of T.S. must always collide with the occult point of view when it comes to an emergency arising from the occult worlds. It would have to be ensured under all circumstances that Mr. Leadbeater is not morally condemned in the ordinary sense, that everyone who hears about the matter also learns that this is a case that can only be understood by the occultist, and that Leadbeater has not “morally failed” in the ordinary sense of the word , but that he fell a victim to his method, that what the public morally condemns here is to be judged according to the principle that “where there is strong light, there must also be strong shadow”. Only through such an interpretation can one get over the shock into which, in the other case, society will inevitably fall.

It will not depend on our judgment of Mr. Leadbeater, whom so many now condemn, but solely on our finding the right way to continue our work fruitfully. And that can only consist in recognizing the Rosicrucian path as the right one for European conditions. If we do not do this, cases similar to Leadbeater's will be repeated, and the Society will disintegrate into its atoms. In the present phase of human development, occultism must be taught publicly, of course with all the restrictions that the holy masters impose on us; but in this teaching, too, we must take a truly occult point of view. It would be contrary to the demands of our time if we were to limit ourselves to a mere operation of things that can be controlled by the so-called “common sense”. This word “common sense” played a fateful role at the Paris Congress.

I do not wish to bother you further, dear Mrs. Besant, with specific suggestions regarding what needs to be done in Germany for the good of our great cause, because it is only possible if I have the full freedom I have been granted in this case as well. In Central Europe, the lines of occult activity have been clearly defined since the fourteenth century; and we must follow these directions here. Those in Germany who are still walking in the paths that were taken here before our section was founded have often said to me during my lectures: “Yes, but Leadbeater says otherwise...”. But it was always foreigners who had come to Germany on a visit who said this. I knew that I had to say something different.

In conclusion, I need only say that I am aware of my devotion to the masters in every word of this letter, and therefore I can also know that you, dear Mrs. Besant, will not see my candour in the wrong light.

With all my devotion and affection,

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Rudolf Steiner