36. What is the Relationship between Theosophy and the Occult Sciences?

Another question is: “How does Theosophy relate to the so-called secret sciences?”

There have always been secret sciences. They were cultivated in the so-called secret schools. Only those who underwent certain tests could learn something from them. They were always only told as much as corresponded to their intellectual, spiritual and moral abilities. This had to be the case because the higher knowledge, if properly applied, is the key to a power that, in the hands of the unprepared, must lead to abuse. Theosophy has now popularized some of the elementary teachings of esoteric science. The reason for this lies in the present conditions of the times. Humanity, in its more advanced members, has now reached a stage of development of the intellect that, sooner or later, it would have arrived at certain ideas of its own accord that were previously part of esoteric knowledge. However, they would acquire these ideas in a stunted, caricatured and harmful form. Therefore, the occultists have decided to share some of the secret knowledge with the public. This will make it possible to measure the human progress that occurs in the development of civilization with the standard of true wisdom. For example, our knowledge of nature leads to ideas about the reasons for things. But without a deeper knowledge of the occult, these ideas can only become distorted images. Our technology is progressing to stages of development that can only be beneficial to humanity if people's souls are deepened in the sense of theosophical life. As long as the peoples had nothing of modern natural science and modern technology, the form in which the highest teachings were communicated in religious images, in a way that spoke to the pure feelings, was salutary. Today humanity needs the same truths in a rational form. The theosophical world view did not arise from arbitrariness, but from insight into the historical fact mentioned. — Certain parts of the secret knowledge can, however, only be communicated to those who submit to the tests of initiation. And even with the published part, only those who do not limit themselves to an external knowledge, but who really internalize the things, make them the content and the guiding principle of their lives, will know how to make use of it. It is not a matter of intellectually mastering the teachings of Theosophy, but of permeating them with feeling, sensation, indeed with one's whole life. Only through such a penetration can one also experience something of their truth value. Otherwise they remain something that “one can believe and also not believe”. Properly understood, theosophical truths will give man a true basis for life, let him recognize his value, his dignity and essence, give him the highest courage to exist. For they enlighten him about his connection with the world around him; they point him to his highest goals, to his true destiny. And they do this in a way that is in line with the demands of the present, so that he does not need to remain caught in the conflict between faith and knowledge. One can be a modern researcher and a theosophist at the same time. However, one must then also be both in the true sense of the word.