The So-Called Dangers of Initiation

That is the peculiar thing about the highest things: if they are to be thoroughly worked on, maturity is required. But because they are easy to adopt as phrases, because many are not in a position to see their depth but remain with the phrase, they can also be used as phrases. Everything that can be disseminated in theosophy can be serious and profound in the highest degree; it can be a force of life. But if it is turned into its opposite, it can be the most barren phrase. That is why we experience so much in this field that phrase after phrase flourishes, and that it is precisely the immature, the most immature, that continues to have an effect. In doing so, those who represent the immature harm themselves even more than they harm the world. The world will in turn reject what comes from this side. If you engage in this direction, you are putting yourself in the way of your further development. You will not make progress. It is precisely the case that those who work outwardly in the field of Spiritual Science are making a sacrifice. It is one thing to guard Spiritual Science like a secret in a virgin soul, and quite another to throw it out into the world. What is said about the treasure hunter applies here: he must be silent. If a word is spoken, the treasure cannot be reached. In the same way, the depths of the higher world can be reached all the better the more one can remain silent. For those who have understood these things, there is no need to speak at all unless they are forced to do so, unless the world demands it of them. No one should speak unsolicited. The demand does not need to come from here or there; it can come from invisible, supernatural powers.