57. The English Prime Minister Balfour, Natural Science and Theosophy

It has often been emphasized at this point how present-day science, through its own experiences, is confronted with questions that knock on the door of theosophy and gnosis, and only from these will we be able to find their answers. In this context, there is less and less need to think of the facts through which natural science and occultism seem to come together. For in this area, all sorts of opportunities for prejudice, false conclusions and overestimation of external sensory perceptions (N-rays, organic radiations, etc.) lurk. It is much more important when thinkers who are grounded in natural scientific facts, actually without wanting to, through observation of the in a certain sense normal course of nature, are led to conclusions and deductions which confront the theosophist as ancient knowledge in a new form. Here two sentences are to be put together, the agreement of which speaks clearly enough for everyone who can judge impartially:

H. P. Blavatsky says in The Secret Doctrine (Vol. I, p. 163): “Fohat (that is the fundamental power by which the Universe is constructed) has, as already shown, various meanings. He is called the ‘Builder of Builders’, because the power which he personifies has formed our sevenfold chain. He is one and seven, and on the cosmic plane is behind all such manifestations as light, heat, sound, adhesion, etc., etc., and is the 'spirit' of electricity, which is the life of the universe."

The great thinker who is presently the Prime Minister of England, A. J. Balfour, delivered a speech on August 17, 1904 at the British Association on our “Weltanschauung”. In it, we find the following: “We are on the eve of a most extraordinary revolution. Two hundred years ago, electricity seemed to be nothing more than a scientific toy. And today it is already considered by many to be the essence of things, the sensually perceptible expression of which is matter. Scarcely a century has passed since even the ether was assigned a place in the universe by serious thinkers. And at present, the possibility is already being discussed that it is the very primary substance from which the whole world is composed. The further conclusions that arise from this view of the universe are no less astonishing. For example, mass was previously thought to be a fundamental property of matter that could neither be explained nor needed explaining; that was immutable in nature, experienced neither gain nor loss, no matter what force acted on it; and that was inseparably attached to every, even the smallest, part of matter, regardless of its shape, volume, chemical or physical nature.

But if we accept the new theory, then these doctrines must also be corrected. Not only is mass capable of being explained, but the explanation is readily available. Mass is not a fundamental property of matter. Rather, as already mentioned, it arises from the interactions that exist between the electric monads that make up matter and the ether, in which the former are immersed as if in a bath. It is by no means immutable. On the contrary, if it is moved extremely quickly, it is subject to changes with every change in its speed. – The electrical theory that we have discussed leads us... into a completely new area. .... It dissolves... matter, whether it has a molar or molecular form, into something that is no longer matter at all. The atom is now nothing more than relatively wide space in which tiny monads carry out their orderly cycle; the monads themselves are no longer considered units of substance, but as electrical units, so that this theory not only explains matter, but immediately explains away it.” (Balfour: “Unsere heutige Weltanschauung”, Leipzig, Verlag Johann Ambrosius: Barth. Page ısf. and 27.)

Thus it must be said that the scientific way of thinking, through the compulsion of facts, when philosophically deepened, inevitably leads to the theosophical world view, and thus all the more freely.

The conclusion of Balfour's speech is remarkable: “Our sense organs were not given to us for the purpose of research, and our ability to brood and draw conclusions certainly did not develop from elementary animal instincts so that we might ultimately measure the infinite vault of heaven or dissect the tiny atom. It is probably also due to these circumstances that what mankind knows about its physical environment is not only completely erroneous, but fundamentally false. It may seem strange, but until about five years ago, our species lived and died in a world of appearances. And this delusion, as far as it concerns us here, did not concern distant, metaphysical, abstract or divine things, but referred to what people see and touch, to those “simple facts” between which common sense moves daily, completely sure of itself and smiling self-satisfied. The cause of these phenomena is not entirely clear. Perhaps because an all-too-realistic image of nature would not have helped in the struggle for existence, but rather hindered it; and that lies appeared more useful than truth. But it is also possible that better results cannot be achieved with such an imperfect material as organic tissue is.

If Balfour were a theosophist, he would soon find his way around this point, because in 'theosophy' he would find a more perfect material than 'organic tissue'. This is the source of the yearning and doubt that find such eloquent expression in Balfour's final words: “For there must always remain a riddle that cannot be solved by this endless chain of causes and effects: that is knowledge itself. The science of nature will always have to regard knowledge as the product of non-rational conditions, because ultimately it knows no other. But it must always regard knowledge itself as something endowed with reason, for otherwise all science comes to an end. Apart from the difficulty that arises when we want to wrest truths from experience that contradict our experience, we are thus confronted with the further difficulty of reconciling the murky source of our doctrines with their clear claim to credibility. The more successful we are in presenting their ultimate origin, the more doubt we cast on their validity. The more imposing the edifice of our knowledge, the more difficult it becomes to answer the question as to what the pillars are on which our knowledge is based.

Only questions can natural science ask here. The answers must come from higher fields of knowledge. Not the “organic tissue” that builds the senses and provides the mind with its foundation can give these answers. Something must come into play that works independently of this “organic tissue”. Our articles “How to Know Higher Worlds” point the way in which this must happen. The scientist and the theosophist could already join hands today. They will do so in a short time. In a beautiful way, the proud edifice of natural science will then enter into theosophy. Natural science will recognize itself as elementary theosophy. An alliance will be formed that will benefit the searching and hoping human spirit. In the future, people will increasingly understand what theosophists actually want. They will be recognized as not opposing research but as working in harmony with it. But they will patiently continue their work until the appropriate time has come, for they know that the inquiring human spirit is also subject to its necessary laws and that it will not knock at the door of theosophy until the time is ripe. Their task is to “wait and work”. And they can do it because they know that they are working with and not against the great laws of the cosmic cycle. The core of nature must be found within the human soul; then it will reveal itself in the universe. The great mystic Angelus Silesius says:

“Stop, where are you running? Heaven is within you; If you seek God anywhere else, you miss him forever and ever.»