11. On the Essence of Christianity

Theosophy now has the task of creating personalities for Christianity who can bear witness from their own experience to what they have seen and experienced. Only those who have experienced Christ within themselves can attain true knowledge. It is not easy for modern Christians to find their way into these new perspectives. They are in the same position as the scholars of the Middle Ages were in relation to world wisdom, where Aristotle was regarded as the only authority. When Galileo came to quite different conclusions about the nature and the activity of the heart and blood circulation through his own observations of life than Aristotle, he shared his discoveries with a friend. He had the matter explained to him, found it plausible, but then he rejected this innovation, saying that it could not be true because Aristotle presents the matter quite differently and that only Aristotle is right. The situation is quite similar with today's literal belief in religion, which is based on one's own direct insight. The truths of religion can be verified by one's own insight, just as today the whole of natural science is based on one's own direct research and not on a literal belief in the written traditions of earlier researchers. Only the facts observed in nature are accepted, and the facts themselves are allowed to speak. What Theosophy teaches about the soul is based on direct knowledge of spiritual processes through one's own contemplation. In this way, Theosophy bears witness to the essence of Christianity. Its purpose is to create such witnesses who can recognize through direct contemplation.