The Mission of Esoteric Science in Our Time

Here we encounter a trait in our so-called scientifically minded contemporaries that does not come from science or knowledge at all, but from a general feeling, an unspoken instinct of our time. Of course, this instinct only becomes apparent when one examines the events of our time a little as a completely unbiased, calm observer. Try picking up a journal, a newspaper, any popular or even scholarly book that deals with questions such as those I have raised from any perspective. You will find nothing more often than some variation of the phrase that, from a higher intellectual point of view, is a fateful one: We can only know this or that. One cannot pass judgment on this or that. — See for yourself whether, when these things are discussed, this “one” or “we” is not always to be found! It is quite inconspicuous, but born of a deeply ingrained instinct. It is the belief that each individual, through what he can understand, through what he knows, has a certain infallibility for all knowledge, and that each person can say what not only he, but people in general, what “we” can and cannot know. Out of this instinct, our contemporaries cannot bring themselves to believe that there can be any real development in terms of knowledge. And yet, how absurd this view is when considered only in relation to one's own life! Just think about it: when does the point come for the individual when he can decide where the limits of his powers of discernment lie? Can they decide at the age of twenty-five, thirty-six, sixty, or even ten, where the limits of their cognitive abilities lie? Is there not development in every life? Do we not make different assertions in childhood than we do later in life? Can we entertain the idea that we have nothing to learn from anyone in the world, that no one in the world can know more than we do? But it is instinctive in the nature of our contemporaries that everyone determines the limits of their cognitive abilities for themselves. And this instinct gives rise not only to this assertion, but also to numerous works that deal with it in thousands of pages. If you look behind the scenes, they ultimately stem from nothing other than the fact that humans live by this instinct.