The So-Called Dangers of Initiation

So one can say: Because our time is so unsuitable for thinking correctly about maturity and immaturity, something like theosophy is formed. It can be the highest; but in its inversion it is a caricature and a danger. That is not its fault. Little by little, it will replace the grotesquely false judgment with the correct judgment regarding maturity and immaturity. No one should be surprised that this is so. If they are surprised, then they should also be surprised that where there is great, strong light, there are also strong black shadows. Where there is less strong light, there are only slight shadows. Theosophy may cast black shadows; this is only proof that it is meant to be a strong light. Wherever people talk about the so-called dangers, it must be clear that there is a protective wall against the great danger simply because no real teacher in this field will expose people to this serious, great danger, and that everything that looks like a danger does not come from theosophy and secret science, but from what opposes them. If you know this, you will be calm, even if seemingly bad and terrible effects occur. These too can come. You can experience that people who are far removed from theosophy are reasonably decent people. When they come to theosophy, they become vain, ambitious, arrogant. Why? For a very simple reason. As long as a person stands out only slightly from what their environment judges, they cannot be particularly good, but also not particularly evil. But when they come to the original, the possibility of being good increases; but on the other hand, the possibility of being evil also strikes.