TH E

G R EA T SEC RET '

M A UR I C E M A ET ER L I N C K

TR AN SL ATE D BY

BERN A R D M IA L L

M ETH UEN a: C O . L TD .

36 ESSEX S TR E ET W . C .

L ON D O N
 C O NT ENT S
I PROLOG U E
II I NDI A
III EGYP T

IV P ER SI A

v
i CH ALD EA 12 1

VI G R EECE BEFORE SOC RA T E S 12 6

VI I T H E G N OSTI cs A N D TH E N EOP LA TON I STS 15 3

V II I T H E CA BALA 15 9

IX T H E AL C H EM I STS 17 9

X T H E M OD ER N O CCU LTI STS 19 2

XI T H E M ETA P SYCH I STS 2 14

XII CON CL U S I ON S 25 5
 T H E G R EA T S EC R ET

CHA PTE R I

P R OL OG UE

0 n ot loo k to find in this v o lume a h i st o r y

o f occultism or a methodical monograph
,

on the s ubject To such a work one would

.

need to devote whole volumes which would of ,

necessity be filled with a grea t measure o f tha t

very rubbish which I W ish above all to spare the
reader I h ave n o other aim than to tell as
.

s i mply as p ossible wha t I have learned in t h e

course o f some years tha t were spent in these

rather dis credite d and unfrequented regions .

I br i ng thence th e impressions of a candid

traveler wh o ha s traversed them rath er as one
seeking to observe th an a s a b eliever These .

p ages contain i f you will a kind of summary a

, , ,

provisi onal stock taking I know nothing that

-
.

may not b e learned by the first comer wh o wi ll

travel the same road I am not an init i ate ;
.

I have sat a t the feet o f n o mysterious and e v an

es cen t masters , com i ng from the ends o f the
3
 Th e t G r ca t S ec r et

e arth o r from anothe r world exp ressly to t e

, ,

veal to me the ultimate v eri ties and to forbid

me to repea t them I h ave ha d no access to
.

those secre t librari es to those hidden s ources

,

o f the supreme wisdom whic h i t seems a re , ,

somewhere to b e found bu t will always be for

u s a s though they were not since those who ,

win through to them are condemned on p ain ,

o f death to an i n v iolable silence Neither

, .

h ave I deciphere d any i ncomprehensi b le books

o f magi c n or found a new key to th e s acred
,

books o f the grea t religions I h ave bu t read .

and stu d ied most of wh at h a s b een written o f

thes e matters and amidst an en ormous mass of
,

documen t s ab su r d p uerile tedious and useless

,
'

, , , ,

I h ave gi v en my a ttention to those works of

outstanding v alu e which a re really a b le to teach
u s s omething that we do not find elsewhere .

In thu s clearing the approaches to an inqu iry

tha t i s only too often encumbered by a we ari
s ome amount o f rubbish I shall perhap s fa cil,

i t a t e the task o f those who may wish and be ,

able to go farther than I h ave traveled

,
.

Thanks to the lab ors o f a sc i ence which i s

comparatively recent and more especially to
, .

th e researches o f the students of Hindu and

Egyptian antiquities i t is very much e asier to
,

day than i t wa s not so long ago to discover th e

4
 P r olo g ue
source to ascend the course and unra v el the
,

underground ne t work of that great mysterious

river which since the b eginning o f history has
been fl owing benea th all the rel i gions all the ,

faiths and a ll the philosophies : in a word b e

, ,

neath all th e visible and every day mani festa - s

ti ons o f human tho u ght : I t i s n o w h ardly to

b e contested that this source is to be found in
ancient Indi a Thence in all probability the
.

sacred tea ching spr ead into Egyp t found its ,

way to ancient Persi a and Chaldea p ermeated ,

the Hebrew race a n d crep t into G reece and the

,

north o f Euro p e finally reaching China and

,

e v en Ameri ca where the Aztec civili z ati on was

,

merely a more or less distorted reproduct i on

o f the Egyptian civiliz ation .

There are thu s three grea t de r i v atives of

primiti v e occultism Arya Hindu or Atlanto
,

Hindu : ( I ) the occultism o f anti quity th at —

i s the Egyp tian Persi an Chaldean and H e
, , , ,

brew occultism and tha t o f the G reek my s t er

i es ; ( 2 ) the H ebrew Christian esoterism o f the
-

E ssenes th e G n ostics the Neoplatonists of

, ,

Al ex andri a and the ca b alists of the m i ddle

,

ages ; and ( 3 ) the modern occultism which is ,

more or l ess p ermeated by the foregoing but ,

which u nder the some what inaccurate label o f

,

occultism denotes more especially in th e lan

, ,

guage o f the theosophists the sp iritualism and ,

meta psychism o f to day -

.
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et

3
As for the s ources o f the pr i mary source it ,

i s almost impossible to rediscover them Here .

W e h ave only the assertions o f the occultist tra

di tion which seem here and there to be con
, , ,

firmed by historical discoveries Thi s tradi .

tion a ttribu tes the vas t reservoi r o f wisdom

th a t somewhere took shap e simultaneously with
th e origin o f man or even i f we are to credit
,

i t be fore his a dvent upon thi s e arth to more

, ,

spiritual entiti es to b eings less entangled in

,

ma tter to psychi c organisms of whom the last

, ,

comers the Atlantides could h ave been but the

, ,

degenera te representatives .

From the historical p oint o f vie w w e h ave

absolutely n o documents wh atever i f we go
back a greater distance than five or six or , ,

p erhap s seven thousand years We cannot tell .

h o w th e religion o f the Hindus and Egyptians

c ame into being When we become aware o f
.

i t we find i t already complete in its broa d out

lines i ts main principles N ot only is i t com
, .

p l et e bu
, t the farther back we go the m ore per
f ect i t i s the more unadulterated th e more
, ,

closely related to the lofties t speculations o f

ou r modern agnosticism I t presupp oses a pre .

v i o us civiliza tion whose duration in vi ew o f

, ,

the slowness of all human evoluti on i t i s quite ,

imp ossible to est i mate The length of this .

6
 P ro l o g u e
per i od might i n all probability b e numb ered by
mill i ons o f years I t i s here tha t the occultist
.

tradition comes to our aid Why should thi s .

trad i tion a pr i ori be despised and rej ected

, , ,

when almost all tha t we kno w o f these primi

tive religi ons i s like wi se founded on oral tradi
ti on—for the wr i tten texts are of much later
dat e —and when moreo v er all that this tradi
'

, , ,

t i on teache s us displays a singul ar agreement

w i th wha t we have learned elsewhere ?
4
At al l e v ents even i f we have need o f occult
,

t r a dition to explain the o r igin o f this wisdom ,

which to us with good reason h as a s avor o f

, ,

the superhuman we can very well dispense w i th

,

i t in all tha t concerns the essenti al nature o f

this same w i sdom I t i s contained in all i ts
.
,

integrity in authenti c texts to which we can

, ,

assign a place in history ; and in this connecti on

the modern theosophists who pro fess to h a v e
,

h ad a t their dispos al certain secret documents ,

a n d to h a v e profi ted by the extraordinary reve

l a t i o n s with which the adep ts or M ah a tmas ,

members o f a mysteri ous brotherh ood are sup ,

posed to h ave favore d them have taught us ,

no thing tha t may not be rea d in the writings

a ccessible to any Orientalist Th e factors
which distinguish the occultists—for example
.

th e theosoph i st s o f Bla v a tski s s ch ool wh i ch ’

‘

7
 Th e G r ea t Sec r et
—
dominates all the rest from the scientifi c In
d i a n i s t s and E g yp tologists are i n nowi se con
n ect ed with th e origin , the plan , and the pur

pose o f the univers e , the destiny of the earth

and o f man the n ature o f divini ty and the
, ,

grea t pro b lems o f ethics ; they are almost e x ,

clus i v ely p roblems touching th e prehistori c

,

ages the n omencl atu re of the emanations o f

,

the unkn owable and the methods o f sub d u

,

ing and u t i l iz ing the u nknown energie s o f n a

ture .

Let u s fi rs t of all consider the po i nts up on

which they are agreed ; which are for that mat ,

ter th e most interesting for all tha t deals with

, ,

the p rehistori c era i s o f n ecessity hypothetical

and the n ames and functions o f the i n t er m e
di ary gods possess only a secondary interest ;
while a s for the utilization of unknown forces ,

this i s rather the concern o f the metapsychical

sciences to which w e shall refer i n a l ater
chapt er .

'

5
Wh a t we re ad in the Veda s s ays Ru ‘
,

dolph Steiner one o f the most scholarly and at

, ,

the same time one o f th e most b a fili n g o f con

,

temp orary occultists ; Wha t we rea d in the

‘
Vedas those archives o f Hindu wisdom gives
,
’
,

us only a faint idea of th e sublime doctrines

of the ancient teachers and even s o these are
,

8
 Pr o l o g u e
not in their or i g i nal form Only the ga z e o f .

the clairvoyant directed upon the mysteries o f

,

the p as t m ay reveal the unuttered wisdom

,
”
which lies hidden behind these writings .

H istorically i t i s highly probable tha t Steiner

is r i ght As a matter of fact as I h ave a l
.
,

ready stated the more a ncient the texts the

, ,

purer th e more awe inspiring a re the doctrines

,
-

which they reveal ; and it i s possible tha t they

themselves are in Steiner s words merely an
,
’
,

en feebled echo o f sublimer doctrines Bu t i f .

we are not gi fted with the vision o f a seer we

must b e content with what we have before our
eyes.

Th e texts wh i ch w e p ossess are the s acred

books Of India wh i ch corrob o rate those o f
,

Egyp t and o f Persia The influence which .

t h ey h ave exerted upon human thought i f not ,

in their present form a t least by means of the ,

oral tradition which they hav e merely placed

on record g o e s back to the b eginnings o f his
,

tory h a s extended itself in all directions a n d

, ,

h as never ceased to make itsel f felt but a s ,

regards th e Western world thei r disco v e ry a n d

metho dical study are comparatively recent .

“
Fi fty years ago wrote M ax M ij ller In 1 8 7 5
, ,

there wa s n ot a schola r I n existence who could

translate a line of the Veda the Zend ‘
,
’ ‘

A v esta or the Buddhist Tripitaka to s ay

,
’ ‘
,
’

nothin g o f other dialects or langu a g es .

9
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
I f the h i sto ri cal data were to a ssume from
the ou tset in the annals o f mankind the s i gn i fi
cance which they were a fterward to acquire ,

the discovery o f thes e sacred books would prob

ably h ave tu rned all Europe upside down ; for
i t was withou t a doub t the most important
, ,

event which ha d occurred since th e a dvent of

Christiani ty Bu t a moral or spiri tual event
.

very r arely propagates itsel f quickly through

the masses It is opp osed by too many forces
.

which would gain by i ts suppression This .

p articular event r emained confined to a small

circle o f scholars and philologists and a ff ected ,

the meta physici an and the mor al philosopher

-

even less th a n might h ave been expected I t is .

still await i ng the hou r of i ts full expans i on .

6
Th e fir s t q u estion to present itsel f i s tha t
of the da te o f these texts I t i s very di th .

cult to answer this quest i on exactly ; for

while i t is comparatively easy to determine the
period when these books wer e written i t i s i m
p ossible to estima te the time during which they
existed only in th e memory o f man Accord .

ing to Max M ii ller there is hardly a S anskrit

manuscrip t in ex i stence th at da tes farther b ack
than 10 0 0 A D and everything seems to show
. .
,

tha t writing was unkn own in India until the

beginn i n g o f the B uddhist era ( the fi fth cen
Io
 Pr o l o g u e
tu r y B C ) tha t i s until the close of the pe ri od
. .

o f the ancient Vedi c litera ture .

“ ”
The Rig Veda which contains 10 2 8 hymns
-
,

of an average length of ten lines or a total o f ,

words was therefore preserved by the

,

effort o f th e memory alone Even to day the .

-

“ ”
B rahmans all know the Rig Veda by heart -
,

as did their ancestors three thousand years ago .

We must a ttribute the sp ontaneous development

“
o f Vedic thought a s w e find it in the Rig ,
”
Veda to a p eriod e arlier than the tenth cen
,

tury B C Three centuri es before the Chris

—
. .

ti an era once more a ccording to M ax M uller

—Sanskrit ha d already ceased to be spoken by
,

the people Thi s is proved by an inscription

.

whose language i s to S anskri t wha t Italian i s

to Latin .

But according to other Orientalists the age

“ ”
o f th e Chandas prob ably goes b ack to a p e
r i o d two or three thousand ye ars b e fore Christ .

This ta kes us back five thousand years : a very

“
modest and prudent claim One thing i s cer .

” “
tain says M a x M uller namely that there i s
, , ,

nothing more ancient nothing more primitive

than the hymns o f the Rig Veda whether in
,
‘
— ,
’
,

Indi a or t h e whole Aryan world B eing

Aryan in lan g uage and thought the Rig—
.

Veda ,
‘ ’

” 1
i s t h e most ancient o f o u r s acred b ooks
'

Since the works of the grea t O rientalist were

d D l p m nt f R li g i n
“
1 M a M fi ll
x O i gi er , r n an ev e o e o e o .

11
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
written other scholars have set b ack the date .

of the e arlies t manuscripts and above all of the

,

e arliest traditions to a remarkable extent ; bu t

,

even so these d ates fall short by a stup endou s

amoun t of the B rahman calculati ons which ,

r efer the origin o f their earliest books to thou

s a nds o f centuri es be fore our e ra I t i s a ctu .

”
ally more than five thousand years s ays ,
“
Swami D a y a n o un d Saraswati since the Vedas ,
‘ ’

”
h ave ceased to b e a subj ect o f investigation ;
and a ccording to the computations o f the Ori
en t a li s t H a lled
“ ”
, the Sh astras in the chronol ,

ogy o f the B rahmans mus t b e no less than s even

,

million years old .

Withou t taking sides in these disputes th e

only point which i t i s imp ortant to establish i s
the fact tha t these b ooks or rather the tradi
,

tions which they h ave recorded and rendered

—
permanent a re evidently anteri or with the
,

p ossible exceptions of E gypt China and

—
, ,

Chaldea to anything known o f human history .

7
Th is litera ture compr i ses in the first pla ce, ,
“ ” “ ”
the four Vedas : the Rig Veda the Sama -
,
” “
Veda the Ya d jo ur Veda and the A t h a r v a
,
-
,

Veda , completed by the commentaries or ,

“
B rahmanas and the philosophical treatises
,
“ ” “ ”
known a s A r a n y a k a s and Upanishads to ,
“ ”
which we mus t add the Shastras o f which ,

12
 Pr o l o g u e
the best known i s the M anava Dh arma -

S hastra
”
,
“
or Laws of M anu — which accord ,

ing to Willi am Jones Ch ezy and Loiseleur , ,

D es lo n g ch a mp s date b ack to the thirteenth cen

tury be fore Christ—and the fi rs t Puranas
,
“ ”
.

“ ”
O f these texts th e Rig Veda i s i n co n t es t -

ably the most ancient The rest are spread .

over a p eri od o f many hundreds perhaps even ,

o f many th ousands o f years ; bu t all excepting

, ,
“ ”
th e l atest Puranas belong to the pre Chris ,
-

ti an era a fact which we must always keep in

,

view ; not because o f any feeling o f h ostility

toward th e grea t religion o f th e West bu t in ,

order to give the latter i ts prop er place in th e

history and evoluti on of human thought .

“ ”
The Rig Veda is still polytheist rather
-

th an p antheist and i t i s only here and there

,

that the p eaks of th e doctrine emerge from i t ,

as for example in the stanzas which we shall

, ,

presently quote Its divinities represent only

.

those a mp li fi ca l physical forces which th e

“ ” “ ”
S ama Veda and ab o v e all the B rahmanas
-
,

Subsequently reduce to metaphysical co n cep

ti ons and to unity
, .

“
Th e S ama Veda asserts the unknowab l e
-

“ ”
and the Ya d jur Veda p antheism As for
- .

“
the A t h a r v a according to s ome the oldest
, ,

and according to others the most recent i t ,

consists above all of ritual .

These ideas were developed by the co mmen

I 3
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
taries o f the Brahmanas which were pro
,

d uced more especi ally between the twel fth and

s eventh centuri es be fore Christ ; bu t they may
probably b e re ferred to traditions o f much
greater antiquity which our modern t h eo s o
,

p h i s t s claim to h ave rediscovered though with ,

out supporting thei r assertions by su ffi cient

proof .

C onsequently when w e speak o f the religion

,

o f Indi a we must consider i t in its entirety from ,

the primitive Vedism by w ay o f Brahmanism

and K rishnaism to B uddhism calling a halt
, , ,

should the student so pre fer some two or three

,

centuries before our Christi an era in order to ,

avoi d all suspicion o f Judo Christi an i n filtr a

-

tion
—
.

All thi s literature to which may be added ,

among many others the semi pro fane texts o f

,
-

th e Ramayan a an d the M a h a b a r a t a in the

“ ” “ ”
,
“ ”
midst o f which blossoms the Bh agavata G i ta -
,
“
or Song o f the Blessed tha t magnifi cen t
—
,

fl ower o f Hindu mysticism is still very imper

f ect ly known and we p ossess o f i t only s o much
,

a s the B rahmans h ave chosen to give us .

This li terature confronts u s with a h ost o f

problems o f extreme complexi ty o f which very ,

few have a s yet been s olved I t m ay be added

.

th at the translation o f the S anskrit texts and ,

especially of the more ancient a re still very ,

unreliable According to R oth the true pio

.
,

14
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
min i mum o f certainty which undoubtedly falls,

far short of reality and leaving behind us a

,

possibly stup endous waste o f nebulous centuries ,

we will re fer only to the three or four thousand

years that s aw the birth and growth o f th e
”
B rahman as ; when w e find th at there existed
a t th at p eriod among the foot hills o f the Him -

a l a y a s a grea t religion pantheist and agnostic

, , ,

which l ater became esoteri c ; and this for the ,

moment i s all tha t concerns u s

,
.

8
And wha t o f Egyp t ? some will say Wh at .

o f h er monuments and her hieroglyphics ? Are

they not much more ancient ? Let u s listen in
this connection to the learned E gyptologist Le
Page Renou f one of the grea t authorities on
1
,

this subj ect H e holds that th e E gyptian mon

.

um en t s and their inscriptions cannot serve a s

a basis for establishing definite dates ; tha t th e

calculati ons based on the heliacal rising o f the
stars are not convincing as in the texts i t i s ,

prob able th a t the transit o f the stars is r eferred

to ra ther than thei r rising He is however .
, ,

convinced tha t a ccording to the mos t modera te

calculations the Egyptian monarchy w as a l
ready i n existence more than two thousand
years be fore the B ook o f Exodus was written .

1 “L t r
ec u th
es O ri g i
on d G r wth
e f R li gi
n an o o e on as

I ll tr t d by t h R l i g i f A i t E gy p t by P L P g
us a e e e on o n c en ,
”
. e a e

R uf
en o .
 Pr o l o g u e
N ow Exodus probably dates from the year 1 3 10

B . and the date o f the G re at Pyramid can

Cw
not b e fixed a t less than 3 0 0 0 or 4 0 0 0 years be
fore ou r era These calculations like those
.
,

which make the Chinese era begin 2 6 9 7 years

before C hris t lea d us back strangely enough
, ,

to the p eriod assigned by the students of Indian

history to the development of the Vedic ideal ;
a development which presupposes a period o f
gestation and formation infinitely more remote .

For th e res t they do not deny that the Egy p

,

tian civiliza tion like the Hindu civilization

, ,

may b e very much more ancient Another .

great Egyp tologist Leona rd Horner b etween

, ,

the years 1 8 5 1 and 1 8 5 4 h a d ninety fi v e sha fts

,
-

sunk in vari ous p arts o f the Nile Valley I t .

is est ablished tha t the Nile increase s the depth

o f its allu v i al bed by five inches in a century
a dep th which owing to compression should b e
less for the lower s trata Human and animal .

fi gures carved in granite mosai cs and vases , , ,

were found a t depths o f seventy fi v e feet o r -

less and fragments o f brick and pottery a t

,

greater depths Thi s takes us b ack s ome

.

or years At a depth o f thirty

.

three feet six inches a tablet was unearthed ,

bearing inscrip ti on s which a simple calculation

shows to have been n early 8 0 0 0 yea rs old .

The theory tha t the excavators may h ave hit ,

by chance upon wells or cisterns must be ab an

,

I 7
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
d o n ed , for the same s tate of a ff a i rs was proved
to exist e v er y where These p roofs i t may b e
.
,

remarked furnish ye t on e more argument in

,

support o f the occultist traditions a s regards the

antiqui t y o f human civili za tion This prodi .

g i o u s antiquity is als o confirmed by the astro

n o mi ca l observations o f the ancients There is .
,

for example a catalogu e o f stars known as the

,

catalogu e o f S urya Si d d h éin t a ; and the di ff er

-

en ces in the p osition of eight o f thes e fixed

stars taken a t random show tha t the Sti r y a

, ,

Siddh anta were ma de more than years

ago .

9
Wa s Egyp t or Indi a the d i rect legatee o f
the legendary wisdom bequeathed by more
ancient peoples and notably by th e prob able
,

Atlantides ? In the present state o f ou r knowl

edge withou t relying upon occultist traditions
, ,

i t is not yet p ossible to reply .

Less than a century ago virtu ally n othing

wa s known o f ancient Egyp t Th e little that
.

w as known wa s based up on hearsay and the

m ore or less fantastic legends collected by later
histori ans and ab ove all on th e divagations o f
,

the philosophers and theurgists o f the Alexan

dri an peri od I t was only in 1 8 20 tha t Jean
.

Fran cois Champollion thanks to the three fold

,

text of th e famou s Rosetta Stone found the ,

18
 P ro l o g u e
key to the mysterious writing tha t covers all the
m onuments all the tombs and almost every o b
, ,

j e c t o f the land o f the Pharaohs But the .

working out o f the discovery wa s a long and

di fl i cult business and i t was almos t forty ye ars
,

later that one o f Ch a m p o lli o n s most illustrious ’

successors de Ron g é w as able to say tha t there

, ,

was no longer any Egy pti an text that cou l d not

be translated Innumerable docum ents were
.

deciphered and a s regards the materi al sense

of most of th e inscriptions an all but absolute
certainty was a ttained .

Nevertheless i t seems more and more prob

able tha t b eneath the literal meaning o f the r e
li g i o us ins crip tions another a n d an impene
t r a b le meaning is concealed This i s the .

hypothesis toward which the most obj ective and

most scientific Egyp tologists h ave inevitably
tended in V ie w o f the antiquity o f many o f
,
“

the words employed although they immediately

,

add tha t i t cannot be definitely confirmed I t .

i s therefore highly prob able that beneath the

o ffi ci al religion taught to th e vulgar there w as ,

another reserved for the priests and the initi ate ,

and here the theory which the scholars are com

ll d to entertain once more confirms the asser
'

p e e

tions o f the occultists and notably those of the

,

N eo p la t o n i s t s o f Alexandri a a s regards the ,

Egypti an mysteri es .

19
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et

However this may be there are te x ts a s to,

whose authentici ty there is not th e slightes t

— “ ”
doubt the B ook o f the Dead the B ooks of “
,
”
Hymns and P t a h h o t ep h s Collection o f ’
,

M oral S entences ”
— the most ancient b ook i n
the world since i t is contemporary with the pyr
—
,

amids and m any more which en a ble u s to ,

form a very exact i de a o f the ( a t first ) lofty

morali ty an d a bove all o f the fundamental
,

theosophy o f Egyp t be fore thi s theosophy was

,

corrupted to s atisfy th e common p eople and

transformed i nt o a monstrous polythe i sm ,

which for th at matter wa s always more a p

, ,

p arent than real .

N o w th e older these texts the mor e closely

does their teaching approximate to the Hind u
tradition Whether they are in fa ct earlier or
.

la ter than th e l atter is a fter all a question o f

secondary importance ; wh a t interests u s more
deeply is the problem o f their common origin ,

a s ole and immemori al origin whose p r o b a b i l

ity increases with every s tep a dventure d into
the p rehistoric ages .

The farther b ack we go the more plainly i s

thi s agreement upon the essenti al p oints r e
vealed For example the ideal which the Egy p
.

tian religion in its beginnings conceived o f

, ,

Go d. We shal l fi nd a little farther on the

20
 P ro l og u e
Hindu o ri ginal or repli ca j ust as we shall h a v e
,

occas i on to comp are the two theogonies the ,

two cosmogonies the two s ystems o f eth i cs

, ,

which are evidently the sour ces of all the theo

gonies all the cosmogonies and all the ethical
, ,

systems o f humanity .

For the Egyptia n wh o h as preser v ed the

faith o f the e arliest days there i s only one sole
”
G od . There i s none other G o d than H e .

“
He i s the sole living B eing in substance and in
'

” “
truth . Thou art alone and millions o f liv
” “
ing beings proce ed from Thee H e hath .

cr eated all things and He alon e is uncreated

, .

“
In all times and places He is the s ole sub ,
” “
stance and i s unapproachable He i s One .
,
” “
the only One He i s yesterday to day and
.
,
-
,
”
to morrow
-
He i s G o d by G o d created
—
.
,

existing o f Himself the two fold B eing se lf

'

begotten th e B egetter o f all s i nce th e b egin

,
”
ning
—
.

“
I t is more than five thou s and years says ,
“
de Roug e since men firs t sang in the v alley o f
,

the Nile the hymn to the unity o f G o d a nd the

immortality o f the soul In this beli e f in
.

the unity o f the Supreme G o d and H i s a t t r i

bute s as Cre ator o f a n d Law giver to Man ,

whom he endo wed with an immortal soul we ,

h ave th e primitive conceptions encrusted like ,

indestructible diamonds in the myth ological

21
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
superfetati ons a ccumulated by the centuries
which h ave p assed over thi s ancient civili
” 1
z a ti on .

I t i s true that we h ave not here in this def ,

inition o f the Dei ty the penetration and sub ,

t let y the metaphysical spaciousness

, the hap ,

p i n e s s o f expression th e verbal m a g n i fi cen ce

—
,

i n a word the genius which we shall find in

, ,

the Hindu definitions The Egyptian temper .

ament i s colder dri er more s ober less grace , , ,

ful more realisti c ; i t h as a more concrete i m

,

a g i n a t i o n which i s not fired by th e inaccessible

, ,

th e infinite a s is the spiri t of the Asiatic

,

p eoples M oreover we must not lose sight

.
,

o f the fa ct tha t we are not yet a cquainted with

th e secre t meaning which may lie hidden b e
neath these definitions Bu t a t all events a s .
,

we understand them the idea expressed is the ,

same denoting a single origin which in con

, ,

formity with esoteric traditi on and p ending

further enlightenment we may call the Atlan ,

tean idea This supposition incidentally is

.
, ,

confirmed by th e famous p assage in Tim aeus ,

a ccording to which as i s sta ted by the Egy p ,

e
.

ti an priest speaking to S olon Egypt twelve ,

thousand ye ars a g o had an Atlantean col ,

ony .

1 De R o n g é,
'

A n n a les d e la P b i lor op / ne Clzr ét i m n e; Vo l

.

XX p ,
.
327 .

22
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
here a t the same time i s yet another con fi rma
ti on o f the fa bulous antiquity of these boo k s
or traditions .

These preliminary observat i ons which would ,

require volumes for thei r exposition a re

—
enough and for the moment i t i s this that
,

—
c oncerns u to prove tha t the teaching which
s

we find in the a fter ages a t the bottom o f all

, ,

the religi ons in the shap e o f mysteries initia

, ,

ti ons and s ecret d o ctrines dates according to

, , ,

the most cau tious calcula tions from thousands ,

o f years ago They will su ffi ce a t all events

.
, ,

to disp el the somewh a t pu erile argument o f

those who maintain tha t i t i s comp aratively
recent and h as been influenced by th e Judo
Christian re v elati ons This a rgument i s no
.

l onger s eriously mainta i ned b u t the r e ar e thos e

,

wh o evade the d i fli culty by s aying : Yes there ,

a re truths in this primitive religion and even ,

texts which can be more or less definitely dated ,

antecedent to Moses and to Christ ; bu t who can

si ft from these the successive interp olations
which h ave trans formed them ?
There a re in Indi a i t appears more than
, ,
“ ”
twelve hundred texts o f the Vedas and more
“ ”
than 3 5 0 o f th e Laws o f M anu to s ay noth ,

ing o f those o f the sacred b ooks which th e

B rahmans have not surrendered to u s ; and i t
cannot b e denied tha t there are obviou s inter
p o l a t i o n s in these te x ts and in the doctrines
24
 Pr o l o g u e
which they contain We mus t never lose sight
.

o f the fact th at the Oriental religion which i s

commonly and most improperly known as Bud
d h i s m falls into three grea t periods which ,

corresp ond p retty closely with the three peri ods

into which Christi anity might b e divided ;
namely Vedism or the primitive religi on which
, , ,

the B rahmans commented up on complicating i t ,

and corrup ting i t to their own a dvantage until ,

i t became the B rahmanism which Siddharth a

G autam a B uddha or Saky amun i revolted
, ,

agai nst and reformed in the fi fth century

B C
. .

The Indianists thanks abov e all to the his

,

t o r i ca l l andmarks a ff orded them by the caste

system and the ch anges o f langu age a n d o f
,

meter ha ve learned to d i st i ngui sh easily enough

,

these three currents in the susp ect texts and ,

beneath the luxuri ance and compli cations o f the

interpolations the broad outlines and essential
truths which a re all tha t matter to u s a re
always v is ibl e .
 CHAPTE R II

I N DI A

ET u s first o f all consider the conception

o f D ei ty which wa s formed by these a n
c es t o r s simultaneously with the E gyptians
, or , ,

a s is much more prob able be fore them Thei r , .

traditi ons m ay lay claim to a t least five or six

thousand years and they themselves received
,

these traditi ons from p eoples who to day h ave -

disappeared their last trace in the memory o f

,

man da ting back a ccording to T i m a u s and the

,
“ ”
Cr i t i a s o f Plato one hundred and twenty
,

centuri es .

I must ap ologi z e to th e reader for th e i n ex

t r i ca ble n omenclature o f Oriental mythology
and the multiplici t y o f th ose anthrop omorphi c
divinities whom the pri ests o f Indi a like those ,

o f Egyp t and o f Persi a and indeed o f all ,

times and countries were c ompelled to create

,

in order to satis fy the demands of popular

idolatry I shall also sp are him the ostenta
.

tion of a facile scholarship lav i sh o f un p r o ,

n o un cea b le names in order a t once to proceed

,

to and consider only the essential conception o f

the First C ause as we find i t in the remotest
,

26
sources which i f not wi thheld from the com
, ,

mon p eople ceased gradually to be under

,

stood by them u ntil i t became the G re at S e

,

cret o f the elect a mong the pri ests and i n i t i

a tes
.

Le t u s a t once gi v e ea r to the Rig Veda -

,

the most authenti c echo of the most i mm em o

ri al tr aditions ; let u s note h o w i t approaches
the formidable problem
“
There wa s neither B eing nor non B eing - .

There was neither atmosphere nor heavens

ab ove the atmosphere Wh at moved and .

whith er ? And in whose care ? Were there

waters and the b ottomless deep ?
,

There was then neither death nor i mm o r

tality The day was not divided from the
.

night Only the One breathed in Himsel f

.
, ,

withou t extraneous breath and ap art from Him ,

there wa s nothing .

“
Then for the fi rst time desire awok e within
Him ; this was the first seed o f the Spirit Th e .

s ages full o f understanding striving within

, ,

their hearts discovered in non B eing the link

,
-

with B eing .

“
Who knoweth and who can tell where crea
ti on was born whence i t came and whether
, ,

the gods were n ot b orn a fterwards ? Who

knoweth whenc e i t h ath come ?
“
Whence thi s creation hath come whether ,

i t b e created or uncreated He whose eye ,

27
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
watches over it from th e highest heaven H e ,
” 1
alone knoweth : and ye t doth He know ?
Is i t p ossible to fi nd in ou r human annals , ,

words more maj estic more full of solemn a n ,

gu ish mo r e august in tone more devout more

, , ,

terrible ? Where could we find at the very

foundation o f li fe a completer and more i r ,

reducible con fession o f ignorance ? Where ,

from the depths o f our agnosticism which ,

thousands o f years have augmented can w e ,

point to a wider horiz on ? At the very outse t

i t surpasses all tha t h as been said and goes fa r ,

ther than we shall ever dare to go lest we fall ,

into desp air for i t does not fea r to ask itself

,

whether th e Supreme B eing knows wha t H e

—
h a s done knows whether He i s or is not the
C reator and questi ons whether H e ha s become
,

consciou s o f Himse l f .

2
“
Now let us hear the S ama Veda confirming -
,

and elucidating this magnificent con fession of

ignorance :
“
I f thou s ayest I h a v e p erfect k nowledge o f
,
‘

the Suprem e B eing thou d ecei v es t thysel f fo r

,
’
,

wh o shall numb er His attributes ? I f tho u

sayest I think I know Him ; I do no t th ink I
,
‘

know Him perfectly nor th a t I do n ot know ,

Him a t all ; but I know Him in p art ; for he wh o

1 “Ri g V d -
X 9 e a , 12 .

28
knows all the mani fes tations o f the gods who
pro ceed from Him kno ws the Supreme B eing ; ’

i f thou s ayest this th ou d ecei v es t thysel f f o r

, ,

no t t o b e w h o lly i g n o r a n t o f H i m i s n o t t o
kn o w H i m .

“
H e on th e contrary who b eli eves that h e
, ,

does not k now Him i s he tha t does know Him ;

,

and he who believes tha t h e knows Him is h e

that does no t know Him Thos e who know .

Him best regard Him as incomp rehensible and

those wh o know n othing a t all o f H i m b e
lieve tha t they know Hi m perfectly .

To thi s fundamental agnostic i sm the Ya d

”
j ur Veda brings i ts absolute panth eism
“
The sage fixes hi s eyes up on this mysterious
B eing in whom the univers e p erpetu ally ex
i s t s f or i t h as n o other foundation
, In Him .

this world i s contained ; it i s from Him tha t

this world has i ssued H e i s entwined and en .

woven in all cre ated things u n der all the v a ,

ri ed forms o f life .

“
Thi s sole B eing to whom n othing can a t
,

ta i n i s swifter than thought ; a n d t h e g o d s

,

t h ems elv es ca n n o t co m
p r eh en d th i s Sup r eme
M o v er wh o has p He is
r ec ed ed t h em a ll .

remote from all things and close a t hand H e .

fills the entire universe y et infinitely surp asses ,

lt .

When man h as learned to behold all crea

tures in this Sup reme Spirit and hi s Supreme ,

29
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
Sp i r i t in all His creatures he can no longe r
,

despise anything wh ats oever .

“
Th os e who re fus e to believe in the i den
tity o f all created things have fallen into a pro
found darkness ; those who b elieve only i n their
individual selves have fallen into a much p ro
founder darkness .

“
He who b elieves in th e eternal identi ty 0 9
crea ted beings wins immortality .

“
All creatures exist in this Supreme Sp i ri t ,

and this Supreme Spirit exists in all creatures .

All creatures appe ar to Him a s they h ave

been from all eternity always resemblin g
,

themselves .

3
Our ancestors did thei r best thoroughly to
examine this tremendous confession of i g n o r
ance to p eople this abysmal void in which man
, ,

could n ot draw breath ; and sought to define

this Supreme B eing whom a traditi on mor e
,
’

prehistori c th an themselves h a d n ot ventured

to conceive N o spectacle could b e more a b
.

s orbing than this struggle o f our forefathers o f

fi v e to ten thousand years ago with the U n
k nowable ; and in order to convey some ide a o f
this struggle I shall borrow their own voices
, ,

reproducing only the almost desp airing terms

by whi ch they expressed themselves i n the most
ancient and authentic o f thei r sacre d b oo k s ,

30
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
element Th e world i s His name His image ;
.
,

but i t is only His former existence which con ,

tains all things in i tself tha t is actu ally exist ,

ent This universe is He ; it comes from Him

.
,

i t returns to Him All th e worlds ar e one.

with Him for they exi s t only by His will ; an

,

everlasting will inborn in all created things

,
.

This will i s revealed in wh at we call the crea

tion preservati on and destruct i on of the uni
, ,

verse ; but there i s n o creation properly s o

called for since all things have from all time
, ,

existed in Him crea tion i s bu t an emanation

,

o f tha t which i s in Hi m This emanati o n .

merely renders visible to our eyes wha t wa s

not visible S imilarly there i s no such thing
.

a s destru cti on this being but an inhalation o f

,

tha t which has been exhaled ; and this inhala

tion in its turn does no more than render i n
, ,

visible tha t which wa s a foretime seen ; for all

things are indestructible being merely the sub ,

stance o f the Supreme B eing wh o Himsel f

ha s neither beginning nor end whether i n sp ace ,

or in time .

4
To h a v e e xpl ored thu s pro foundly and com
p r eh en s i v ely since wha
, t our ignorance calls
the beginning the infinite myste ry o f the u n
,

knowable First C ause must ob v i ously p r es up

,

pose a ci vi li z ati on an a ccumulation o f ideas

,

32
 and med i tations an exp eri ence a degree o f
, ,

contemplati on and a perception of the univers e ,

which are well calcula ted to amaze and h u

m i li a t e us
. We are n ow b arely regaining the
heights whence these idea s h ave come down
—
to us ideas in which p antheism and mono
the i sm are con founded forming only a single
,

complex in th e i ncommensurable Unknown .

And who knows whether we could have r eco v

ered them without their aid ? Less than a cen
tury ago we still kne w nothing of these d efi n i
tions in their original maj esty an d luc i di ty ;
bu t they h a d sp read in all directions and w ere ,

fl oating like wreckage on the subterranean

wa ters of all the r eligions and ab ove all on
,

those o f the o ffi ci al religion of Egypt in which ,

the Nu is a s unknowable a s t h e Hindu I t and

~

in which according to the occultist tradition

, ,

the supreme revelation a t the cl ose o f the final

initi ati on c ons i ste d o f thes e ter r ible w ords ,

dropped casually into th e ears o f the a dep t

”
Os i r i s i s a d a r k g o d $ th at is a god who can
,

not b e unders tood wh o will never b e under

,

stood They were found likewise adri ft in

.
, ,

th e B i ble ; or i f not in the Vulga te in which ,

they b ecome unrecognizable at le ast in the v er

,

sions o f th e H eb r a i z er s such a s Fabre d Oli v et

x

,
’
,

who h ave restored its a ctual meaning or b e ,

lieve themselves to ha v e done so Fi t f ully too .

, ,

they s howed beneath the myster i es o f G reece ,

33
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
which were merely a p ale and distorted repro
duction o f the Egypti an mysteries They were .

visible too though nearer the surface beneath

, , ,

the doctrines o f the E ssenes wh o according to , ,

Pliny ha d lived for thou sands o f centuries by

,
“
the shores o f the Dead Sea : P er s eculo r u m e
”
m i lli a ,
which i s obviously exaggerated They .

dri fted through the cab ala the tr a dition o f ,

the ancient Hebrew initiates who cl aimed to ,

h ave preserved the oral law which G o d gave to

M oses on Sinai an d which p assing from mouth ,

to mouth were written down by the learned

,

rabbis o f the middle ages They might b e .

glimpsed b ehind the extraordinary doctrine s

and dreams o f t h e G n o s t i cs the probable heirs
‘

of the undisco v erab l e Essenes ; b eneath the

teachings o f the Ne oplatonists and thos e o f ,

th e e arly Christi ans ; a s in the darkness in which

the unhappy medieval Hermetics lost thei r way ,

amid texts which b ea r the marks o f an ever

increasing mutilati on and corrupti on following ,

gleams o f light that grew more and more per

i lo us and uncerta i n .

5
Here then i s a grea t t ru th ; th e first o f
, ,

all truths the fundamental truth tha t lies a t

, ,

th e root o f things to which we h ave now r e

,

turned ; th e unknowable nature o f the cau seless

cause o f all causes But o f th i s cause or this
.
,

34
 Ind i a

God, we should never h ave known anything had

He remained self absorbed had He never mani
-
,

f es t ed Himself I t was necessary that H e

.

should emerge from His inactivity which for ,

us wa s equivalent to nothingness since the uni ,

verse seems to exist and we ourselves believe ,

tha t we live in Him F reed from the creeper

, .

like entanglements o f the theogoni c and theo

logical theories that quickly invaded i t on every
hand the First C ause or rather the E ternal
—
, ,

C ause for having no beginning i t can b e

—
neither firs t nor s econd ha s ne v er created ,

anything There wa s no creation since all

.
,

ha s existed wi thin this C ause from all eternity

, , ,

in a form invisible to ou r eyes bu t more real ,

th an i t could b e i f they beheld i t s ince our eyes ,

a re s o fashioned a s to behold illusions only .

From the p oint of view o f this illusi on this all , ,

that exists always appears or di sapp ears in a c

,

co r d a n ce with an eternal rhythm beaten out by

the sleeping and waking of th eE ternal Cause .

“ “ ” “
Thus i t i s say the Laws o f M anu
, that by ,

an alternation of awakening and r epose the i m

‘

mutable B eing causes all this a ssemblage o f

creatures mob ile and immobile eternally to r e
, ,
” 1
turn to li fe and to die He exhales himself .
,

or expels his breath and spiri t descends into ,

matter which i s only a V isible form of spiri t ;

,

and throughou t the u n iv ers e i nnumerable

L w f M ; I 57
1 “ s o ann
”
a , .

35
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
worlds are born multiply and evolve He him
, .

sel f inhales indraw i ng his b reath and matter

, ,

enters into spiri t which i s bu t an invisible form

,

o f m atter : and the worlds disappear withou t ,

peri shing to reintegrate the Etern a l C ause and

, ,

emerge once more upon the awakening of B rah

—
ma th a t is thousands o f millions o f years
,

l a ter ; t o enter into Him again when He sleeps

once more a fter thous ands of millions o f years ;
,

and s o i t ha s been and ever shall be through ,

all eternity withou t beginning w i thou t cessa

, ,

tion and wi thou t end

, .

6
Here again we have a tremendous con fessi o n
o f ignorance ; a n d this new con fession the old ,

est o f all however fa r back we go is als o th e

, ,

most pro found th e most complete and the

, ,

most impressive This explanati on o f the i n

.

comprehens i ble un i vers e which explains n oth ,

ing since one cannot expla in the inexplicable i s

, ,

more a ccep tabl e than any other th at we could

o ff er and i s p erhap s the only one that we could
,

a ccep t with ou t stumbling a t every step over

insurmountable obj ections and questions to
which our reason gives no reply .

This second admission we find a t the origin of

the two mother fa iths In Egypt even in the
- .
,

sup erficial and exoteric Egypt which is a ll tha t

we know and withou t taking into account the
,

36
secr et m eaning which prob ably underlies the
hier o glyphs i t assumes a similar form Here
, .
,

too there is no cre ation prop erly s o called bu t

, ,

th e e xternaliz ati on of a latent and everlastin g

spiritual principle All beings and all things .

exist from all eternity in th e Nu and return

“ ”
thi the r after death The Nu is the deep o f .

G enesis a divine s p i r i t h o v er s ab ove it vagu ely

'

, ,

bearing wi th i n i t the total sum of future exist

en ces ; whence its n ame Tum whose meaning is , ,

a t once Nothingness and Totality When Tum .

'

wi shed to create within his h eart all that ex i sts ,

h e ro se up amid wh a t things were present

in th e Nu outside the N u and all li feless
, ,

things : and the sun R a w as and there Wa s

—
, , ,

light Bu t there were not thre e gods the

.

deep the spiri t in the deep and light without

, ,

th e deep Tum exteri orized by virtu e o f his

.
,

creative desire became R a the sun god withou t

,
-
,

cea sing to be Tu rn and wi thou t ceasing to b e Nu .

“
H e s ays o f himself : I am Tum ; I am tha t
which existed alone in th e abyss I am the .

grea t G o d sel f created ; tha t is I am Nu the

,
-
, ,

father o f th e gods ”
H e i s the t otal sum o f
.

t h e lives of all created b eings And to express .

the idea tha t the demiurge has created all

things o f his own essence the famou s Leyden ,
“
p apyrus e xplains : There was no other G o d
before Him nor a ny b eside Him ; when H e
,

decree d His l i keness there wa s no mother f o r ,

37
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
H im , wh o
wa s self named [ in Egyp tian n a ming -

i s equ ivalent to creating $ : n o father for Him

who u ttered this n ame s aying : I t i s I wh o ,
‘

h ave created thee .

’ 1

I n order to create th e Egyptian first t h i n ks ,

and then u t t er s th e world ( Here alr eady i s .

“ ”
th e Word the famou s Logos o f the Alex
,

andri an philosophers which we shall en counter ,

again l ater on ) His supreme intellig ence a s .

sumes th e n ame o f Phtah ; his heart which i s ,

the spiri t tha t moves him i s Horu s and the , ,

Word the instrument o f cre ation i s Thoth

, , .

Thus we h ave Phtah Horus Thoth ; the Creator - -

Spirit Word th e trinity in unity of Tum Sub

-
, .

s equently as in the Vedic Persian and Chal

, , ,

dean religi ons the supreme and unkn owable ,

Deity was gradu ally relegated to oblivion and ,

w e hea r only o f his innumerable emanations ,

whose name s vary from century to century and

occasionally from city to city Thus in the .
,
“ ”
B ook of the D ead Osiris wh o becomes the , ,

best known god o f Egypt states tha t h e 15 Tu rn

-
, .

I n M a z deism or Zoroastrianism which is , ,

merely an adap tati on o f Vedism to the Iranian

temp erament the supreme Deity i s not the o m
,

n i p o t en t Crea tor who could fashion the world

a s h e desired ; he is subj ect to the infl exible laws

o f the unknown First C ause which is p erhap s ,

1
S eeA M r t L M y te Eg y pt i
. o e pp
, I qes s r es en s , . 1 10 ( se .

an d P i rr t Et d
e eEg y pt 1 g i g
,
u es p 44 0 0 u es , . 1 .

38
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
wa s over the face o f the deep ( the un i versal
and contingent power o f being ) and the breath
of th e G o d o f G ods ( an expansive and dilating
force ) moved wi th generative p ower upon the
fa ce o f the wa ters ( universal passivity ) 1

I s i t not interesting to note tha t this literal

translation brings u s very close to Indi a to the ,

i dea o f the unknown origin and closer still to ,

the Hindu cre ation ; the p assing from princi

ple to essence the expansion o f th e B eing o f
,

B eings wh o contains all things a n d o f the e x ,

t er n a li z a t i o n up on his awakening o f the power

, ,

tha t wa s l aten t within him during his sleep ?

Le t u s remember tha t in 1 8 7 5 M a x Muller
“
wrote Fi fty yea rs ago there was not a single
,

scholar wh o could translate a line o f the

‘
Veda . We must there fore believe despite
’
,

the assertion of the grea t Orientalist either ,

th a t Fabre d Oli v et wa s capable o f translating

’

i t or tha t h e ha d divi ned the spiri t of i t in the

,

tradi tions o f the cabala which he could not ,

h ave known save for th e very incomplete and

inaccura te K a bba la D enn d a m o f Ro s en r o th ; or
els e tha t th e Hebrew text i f it really s ays wha t ,

h e makes i t say a s everything seems to prove

, ,

reproduces the Hindu s ources in a singula r

fa shion for hi s transla ti on the fruit o f long
, ,

previ ou s labors appeared in 1 8 1 5 ; that i s ten

, ,

1F b ad O li t L L g
re
’
veL ébm i q u
,
t i t ué ; V l II
a an ue c r es e o .
,

pp . 2 5- 2 7 .

40
or twenty yea r s be fore any one h a d learned to
rea d Sanskri t and the Egyptian hieroglyphs .

7
Is i t possible to day with all tha t we believe
-
,

we know or rather with all that w e h ave a t

,

last realiz ed tha t we do not kno w to give a,

more comp rehensive more profoundly nega

,

tive idea of divinity than tha t conveyed by these

religions a t the beginnings o f the human r ace ,

or one tha t corresp onds more closely with the

va st and hop eless ignorance which will always
characteriz e Our discussi ons as to the First
Cause ? Do we not find ourselves now a t an
enormou s height above the more or less anthro
p mo r p h i c god s tha t followed the suprem e
o

Unkno wable of tha t religi on which was the

mis appreci ated m other o f all the rest ? I s i t
not to her nameless enigma that we are return
ing a t long las t a fter all ou r protracted
,

wanderings ; a fter wasting so much energy and

so many centuri es a fter committing s o many
,

errors s o m a n y crimes in seeking for her

, ,

where she wa s not f a r from the aboriginal

,

summits on which she h as awaited u s for s o

many thousan d s and thousands o f ye ar s ?
8
Bu t thi s admissi on o f ignorance h ad to b e
embellished and p eopled ; the fathomless gulf
4 1
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
h ad to b e filled ; an abstraction which surp assed
the bounds o f understanding with which man ,

kind could n ever be content ha d to be quick ,

ened into life And this all religions endea

.

v o r ed to accomplish beginning with tha t one

,

which fi rs t made th e venture .

Once more I brush aside the brambles o f the

theogonies simple a t their origin bu t s oon i n
,

extricable to follow the broad outlines In

, .

the primitive religi on a s w e h ave already seen , ,

th e unknown C ause at a given moment o f the ,

infinity of time beginning once more wha t it

,

h as done from all eternity awakes divides i t , ,

self b ecomes obj ective i s refl ected in the uni

, ,

v er s a l p a s s i v i ty and b ecomes u ntil its app r oach

, ,

ing slumber our visible universe O f thi s u n

, .

known self existent cause which divides itsel f

-

into two p arts to render visible tha t which was

,

latent in i t ar e b orn B rahma o r N ara the

, ,

father and Nari the univers al moth er o f

, , ,

whom i s b orn in hi s turn Vi r a d j the son the , ,

universe This primitive tri ad assuming a

.
,

more anthrop omorphic form becomes Brahma , ,

the creator Vi shnu the preserver and Shiva

, , , ,

the destroyer and regenerator In Egypt w e .

h ave Nu Tu rn and Ra ; then Phtah Horus

, , , ,

and Thoth ; who then became Osiris I sis and , ,

H oru s .

A fter these first subdivisions of th e unknown

Cause the primeval Pantheons a re filled by t h e
42
 Indi a

serried hosts o f gods wh o are me r ely i ntermit

tent emanations transitory representatives
, ,

ephemeral o ffshoots o f the First C ause ; pers on

i fi ca t i o n s more and more human of its mani
, ,

f es t a t i o n s its purp oses its a ttributes or p owers

, , .

We need not examine these here bu t i t i s i n ,

t er es t i n g to note in p assing the pr ofound

, ,

truths which these immemori al cosmogoni es

and theogonies almost always discover and ,

which are gradually being confirmed by sci

ence Wa s i t for example mere chance that
.
, ,

decreed that the earth should proceed from

chaos take sh ap e and be covered with li fe pre
,

ci s ely in the order which they describe ? Ac

“ ”
cording to the Laws o f Manu the ether en
genders the atmosphere ; the atmos phere trans ,

forming i tself engenders light ; the atmos

,

p h er e and light giving rise

, to heat produce '
,

water ; and w ater i s the mother o f a ll living

“
cr eatures . When this world h ad emerged
from the darkness says the Bh aga v ata P u ,
”
r ana , which according to the Hindus i s con
“ ” “
t emp o r a r y wi t h the
f
Veda the s ubtle ele ,

mentary principle produced the v egetable se ed

which fi rst of all gave li fe to the plants From .

the pl ants li fe p assed into the fantasti c crea

tures which were b orn o f the slime i n the
w a ters ; th en through a seri es o f di ff erent
,
” “
s hapes and animals i t came to man , They .

p a ssed i n succession by w ay o f the p l ants t h e ,

43
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
worms the insects the serpents the tortoises
—
, , , ,

cattle and the wild animals such i s the lowe r

” “
stage s ays M anu again who adds : Creatures
, ,

a cqui red the qu alities o f those th at p receded

them so tha t the farther down i ts p ositi on in

,
” 1
th e series the grea ter its qu alities , .

Have we n ot here th e whole o f D arwin i an

evolution confi rmed by geology and foreseen a t
leas t six thousand years ago ? On the other
h and i s no t this the theory of the A k a h s a
, ,

which we more clumsily call the ether the sol e ,

source o f all substances to which our physical ,

s cien ce i s re turning ? 2
One might give an i n
finite numb er o f these disquieting examples .

Whence did our prehistori c ancestors in thei r ,

supposedly terrible state o f ignorance and ab an

d o n m en t derive those extra ordinary intu i
,

ti ons tha t knowledge and assu rance which we

,

ourselves are s carcely reconquering ? And i f

thei r ideas were correct up on certain p oints
which we are able by chance to veri fy have ,

w e n ot reason to ask oursel v es whether they

1 “ La ws of M a nu ; ”
I 20

r g y —i i bl
.
,
2 It th t t h r
is tr ue t th o i e f E i t i d y t h
a e ec en e r s o ns e n en e
i t t h r pp i g t h t r d i t
mp l e—i p r p g t d i d p d tly t h r g h
ex s en c e o f th e e e , su os n a a an en e v s e
l i ght f , or ex a s o a a e n e en en ou a
s p a ce th t i a b l t v id s anB t p rt f r m t h f t
a so u e o . u a a o e ac

th t th
a th i es e m t i ll t b d bt f l i t h l d b
eo r es s ee s o e ou u ,
s ou e

no e t d th t th i a ti fi th r t w hi h
e s c en m dr c ie e ,
o c o ur o e n sc

en ti t h v b
s s a bl i g d t r rt i
e een o t pr i ly t h H i d
e o es o ,
s no ec s e e n u
Ak h a whi h i
sa , m h m r b tl c sd i mm t r i l b i g
uc o e su e
‘

an a e a , e n
a so rt f p i r i t l l m t d i v i n
o s ua r gy p c u cr ea t ed
e e en or e en e ,
s a e n ,

i mp e i s h b lr a d i nfi ni te
a e, n .

44
may not ha v e seen matters more correctly and
farther ahead than we did in respect of many
other problems a s to which they are e qually
,

definite in their assertions but which have h i t h

erto been beyond our verificati on ? One thing
i s certain tha t to reach the stage a t which they
,

then stood they must have h ad behind them

a treasury of traditions obs ervations and ex
— —
, ,

p er i en c es i n a word of wisdom
, o f which we
find i t di ffi cult to form any conc ep tion ; but in
which while waiting for something b etter w e
, ,

ought to place rather more confidence th an we

h ave done and by which we might well b enefit
, ,

assu aging our fears and learning to understand

and reassure ourselves in resp ect o f our future
beyond t h e tomb and guidin g ou r l i ves .

9
We h ave j ust seen tha t the primiti v e reli
gions a n d th ose which derive the r efrom are in
, ,

agreement as to the eternally unknowab l e na

ture of the First C ause ; and that their explana
tions o f the transiti on from non being to b eing -
,

f rom the p assive to the a ctive and of the gen

,

er a t i v e division which gives rise to the triad ,

are almost i d entical .

Let u s here note th e strange de fect of logi c

which dominates and spreads its shadow over
the whole problem o f religion The mother .

reli g i ons or rather the mothe r r elig i on tells

,
-
,

4s
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
u s th at th e C ause o f C auses i s unknowa b le ;
th at i t is impossi b le to define comprehend or
, ,

imagin e i t ; tha t i t i s I t and n othing more ;

tha t i t i s non existence while i t i s yet p r eé m i
-

n en t ly and essenti ally B eing eternal infinite 0 c

, , ,

cup y i n g all time and space ; indeed i t i s all time

and sp ace h aving neither shap e nor desire nor

,

any p articular a ttribute since i t has all N o w

, .
,

from this unconditioned S omething this a b s o ,

lu te o f the absolute o f which we cannot s ay

—
,

wh a t i t i s and even l es s wh a t i t purposes o f

,

this the very s ource o f the u n d efi n a b le and

, ,

the unknowable religion calls forth emana

,

tions which immediately become gods per ,

f ectly comprehended p er fectly defined a cting

, ,

very definitely in their respective spheres ,

mani festing a person al power and will pro ,

mulg a t i n g l aws and a whole moral code with

which man i s enj oined to comply How .

can entities s o completely comprehended

emerge from an enti ty essentially unknown ?
H o w i f the whole i s unk nowable can a
, ,

p art of thi s whole suddenly become famil

i ar ? In thi s illimitabl e and inconceivable
S omething th e only thing admissible for i t i s
, ,

to thi s tha t science is leading us back where is ,

the point whence th e gods who h ave been i m

posed up on u s emerge ? Wh ere i s the link ?
Where the affi nity ? Where and a t wh at
moment wa s the incomprehensible miracle p er
46
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
-
the most mysterious o f Indi an words wh i ch ,

means that all things even th e univers e and the

,

gods wh o cre ate uphold and rule i t a re but

, , ,

the illusion o f ignorance and tha t the uncreated

,

and the unknowable alone are real ?

Bu t wha t religion could procl aim to its faith
“
ful : We kn o w nothing ; we merely declare
tha t thi s universe exists or a t least appears , ,

to ou r eyes to exist Does i t exist of i tself

.
,

i s i t itself a god or is i t but the e ff ect o f a r e

,

mote caus e ? And b ehind this remote cause

must we not supp ose yet another and remoter
cause and so forth indefinitely to the verge
, ,

o f madness : for i f G o d is who created G o d ? ,

“
Whether He i s caus e or e ffect matters little
enough to our ignorance which in any cas e r e ,

mains irreducible I ts blind spots h ave merely

.

been shi fted Traditions o f great antiquity

.

tell u s tha t He i s ra ther the m ani festati on o f

a C ause even more inconceivable than Him
sel f We a ccep t this traditi on which is per
.
, ,
~

h aps more inexplicable th an the riddle itself

,

a s we p erceive i t b u t which seems to take int o

,

a ccount i ts app arently transitory o r perishable

elements and to replace them by an e ternal
,

foundation immutable and purely spiritual

, .

K nowing absolutely nothing o f this Cause w e

must confine ourselves to noting certain pro
p en s i t i e s,certain states of equilibrium certain ,

laws which seem to be its will O f these for

,
.
,

48
the time being we make gods Bu t these gods
, .

are merely p er s o n i fi ca t i o n s p erhap s a ccurate , ,

perhaps illusory p erhaps erroneous o f what

, ,

we believe ourselves to have observed It is ,

.

possible tha t other more a ccura te obs er v ations

will dethrone them It is p ossible that a day .

will come when we shall perceive that the u n

known C ause i n some respect a little les s u n
,

known h as h ad other intentions than those

,

which we h ave a ttributed to it We shall then .

change the n ames the purposes and the l aws, ,

of our gods But in the meantime those whom

.

we o ff er you are b orn o f observati ons and ex

p er i en ces so wise and s o ancient th at hitherto
”
none have b een able to excel them .

I I

While i t was i mpossible thus to address its

faith ful who would not h ave understood i ts
,

confession it could s a fely reveal th e secret to

,

the l ast initiates who ha d been prep ared by

,

protracted ordeals and whose intelligence wa s

a ttested by a selecti on o f inhuman severity To .

certain o f these then it admitted everything

, , .

“
I t probably t old them : In o ffering mankind
our gods we h ad n o wish to deceive them I f .

we had con fessed to them that G o d is unknown

and incomprehensible ; tha t we cannot say what
H e i s or wha t H e purposes ; tha t He h a s nei
the r shape nor su b stance nor d well i ng pl ace ne i -
,

49
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
ther beginning nor end ; that He i s everywhere
and nowhere ; that H e is nothing b eca u s es He
is everything : they would have concluded tha t
He does not exist a t all tha t neither l aws nor
,

duties h ave any existence and tha t the uni,

vers e i s a vast abys s in which all should make

haste to do a s they pleas e Now even i f we .

know nothing we know that this i s not s o and

cannot b e s o We know in any case that the
.
, ,

C ause of Causes is no t materi al a s men would ,

understand i t for all matter appears to b e p er

,

i s h a ble and p erishable i t cannot b e

, For u s .

this unknown C ause i s a ctu ally our G o d b e ,

caus e our understanding i s cap able of p er cei v

ing i t a s h aving a scop e which is limited only
by our finite imagination We know with a .
,

certainty tha t nothing ha s p ower to shake tha t ,

thi s Caus e or the C ause o f this C ause and s o

, ,

for th indefinitely must exi st although we a re

, ,

aware th a t we can never know it or understand

it Bu t v ery f ew men are capable o f co n v i n c
.

ing themselves o f the existence o f a thing which

they can never h op e to touch feel hea r know , , , ,

or understand This i s why instead o f the

.
,

nothingness which they w ould think that w e

were o ff ering them were we to tell them how
ignorant we a re o f all things we o ff er them a s ,

their guide certain app arent traces o f purpose

which we believe ourselves to h ave detected in
”
the darkness o f time and sp ace .

so
 Th i s confession o f absolute ignorance i n re

spect of the First C ause and the essenti al nature

o f the G o d of G ods will b e found likewise a t
th e root o f the Egyptian religion B u t i t is .

very prob able th at once it wa s lost to sight

for huma nity does not care to linger in hop e
—
.

lessness and ignorance i t would have been

nece ssary to rep ea t i t to the initi ates to state ,

i t definitely to emphasi ze i t and to deduce

,

i t s consequences ; and thus revealed in its en

,

t i r ety i t ma y h ave become the foundation of

,

the secre t doctrine We find in fact that the

.
, ,

makers of the subsequent theogonies were eager

to forget the con fessi on recorded on the fi rst
pages of the sacred b ooks They n o longer
.

took i t into a ccou nt ; they thrus t i t b ack into

the darkness of the beginning t h e night of the
,

incomprehensible N 0 longer wa s it discussed

.
,

for men concer n ed themselves n o w only with

the gods who h a d issued from i t forgetting ,

always to add that having emanated from the

inexpressible unknown they must necessarily ,

essentially a nd by definiti on p a rticip ate in i t s

,

n ature and must b e equally unknown and un

,

knowable I t may there fore b e the case that

.

the secret doctrine reserved to the high priests

l ed them to a more accurate conception of the
primord i al truth .

1
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et

There was in all prob ability no need to add

further explanations to this confession since it
destroys the very grounds of all p ossible ex
planations Wh a t for example could the ini
.
, ,

t i a t es be told on the subj ect o f the first and

most formidable o f all enigmas whic h i s en ,

cou n te r ed immediately following that O f the

—
C ause o f Causes th e origin o f evil ? The ex
o t er i c religions solved the riddle by dividing

and multiplying thei r gods This was a simple

.

and easy procedure There were gods o f light

.

who represented and did good ; and there were

, ,

gods o f darkness who represented and did , ,

evil ; they fought one another in all the worlds ,

and although th e good gods were always the

more p ower ful they were never completely
victorious in this world We shall find the
.

most definite types o f this dualism in the my

“ ”
t h o lo g y o f th e Avesta in which they take
,

th e names o f Ormuz and Ahriman ; but by

other names and in other shapes and i n d efi
, ,

n i t el
y multiplied we sh all find them in all rel i
—
,

gions even in Chri stianity in which Ahriman ,

becomes the prince o f devils .

Bu t wh a t could the initiates h ave been told ?

Th e modern theosophists who pro fess to un
veil a t leas t a p ortion of the secret doctrines ,

by subdividing in a similar fashion the mani

f es t a t i o n s o f the unknown origin do no more ,

than rep roduce in another shap e the too facile

52
explanations o f exoteric religion s o that they ,

rem a in as far removed from the source o f the

enigma a s th e exoteri c doctrine itself ; and in
the whole domain o f occultism we do not find
even a shadow of the beginning of an explana
tion which di ffers otherwise than in i ts terms
from those o f the o ffi ci al religions We do not .

know then wh at was revealed to them ; and i t

, ,

i s likely enough tha t j ust a s in the case of the

,

mysteri ous First C ause they h ad to b e told

,

tha t no one knew anything In all probability .

i t was impossible to tell them anything that

the optimistic philosophies o f to day could not -

tell us ; n amely that evil does not exist of i t

,

self but only from our p oint of view ; that i t is

,

purely relative that moral evil is but a blind

,

ness or a caprice of ou r j udgment while phys ,

ical evil is due to a de fecti v e organiz ation or

an error o f sensibility ; tha t the most terrible
p ain i s only plea sure incorrectly interpreted by
our nerves j ust a s the keenest pleasure is a l
,

ready p ain This may be tru e ; but we

.

wretched human beings a n d above all the ,

lower ani m als whose only li fe i s this one h ave ,

a right to demand a few supplementary expl a

n ations i f a s is only too often the case this
, , ,

li fe is merely a tissu e o f intolerable su ff ering .

The initi ated must have b een given su ch ex

planations They were referred to reincarna
.

tion to theo r ies o f expi a ti on and purification

,
.

53
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
B ut t h es e h i n t s valuable enough i f we adm i t
‘

the hyp othesis of intelligent gods whose i n t en

ti ons a re known are less defensible when we are
,

dealing with an unknowable C au se to which ,

we cannot a ttribute intelligence or will without

deny i ng tha t they are unknown I f the adepts .

were ever given any other explana tion o f a ,

nature to imp os e i tsel f upon them this explana ,

tion should have contained t h e s overeign key

o f the enigma ; i t should h ave revealed all the
mysteries Bu t not even the shadow o f this
.

chimerical key has come down to us .

I 3
Uncertain th ough i ts foundations may be ,

since th ey rest only on the unknowable the fact ,

remains th a t this primitive religion has handed

down to u s an incomp arable body of doctrine
touching the constitution and evolution of the
un iv erse the durati on o f the trans formations
,

o f the stars and the e arth time sp ace and , , ,

eternity th e relati ons b etween matter and

,

mind the invisible forces of nature the prob

, ,

abl e destiny o f m ankind and morality Th e , .

esoterism o f all the religions from tha t o f ,

Egyp t perh aps and in any case from those o f

,

Persi a and Chaldea and the G reek mysteries

, ,

down to the Hermetics o f the middle ages ,

benefi ted by thi s doctrine deriving from i t the

,

most important and most reli a b le elements o f

54
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
the latter i ts responsibilit i es and i ts li fe b e
, ,

yond the tomb .

On the other hand i f these ancient and a u

,

t h en t i c texts having a t last been translated ,

prove tha t nearly all the a ffi rmations o f o c

cultism fr om the doctrinal p oint o f view were
, ,

not purely imaginary bu t were b ased on real

and immemori al traditi ons they p ermi t us like
,

wise to suppose tha t all i ts assertions in other

respects and esp ecially with regard to the
,

u tiliz ation o f certain unknown energies may ,

b e not purely chimerical ; and in this way i t

gains on the one hand wh at i t loses on the other .

In fact while we p ossess the more imp ortant

,

o f the sacred books o f India it i s almos t cer ,

tain tha t there are others with which we are

n ot yet acqu ainted j ust as i t is highly prob able
,

tha t we have still to fathom the hidden mean

ing of many o f the hieroglyphs I t may there .

fore be a fact tha t the occultists became a c

q u a i n t ed with th es e writings or these or al tradi
tions by i n fi lt r a t i o n s s u ch a s those which we
have remarked I t would seem that the tra ces
.

of such i n filt r a t i o n s are p ercep tible in their

bi ology their medicine their chemistry th eir
, , ,

physics their a stronomy and especially in all

, ,

tha t touches on th e existence o f th e more or

less immaterial entities wh o appea r to live
with and around u s In this connection o c
.

cultism st i ll retains an interest and dese r v es an

56
attenti v e and methodical study which might ef
f ect i v ely suppor t and perhaps p articipate in
the investigations which the independent an d
methodical m et a p sy ch i s t s have on their part
underta k en in resp ect o f the s ame subj ect .

I 4
As for the primitive tradition while it has ,

lost the prestige attaching to occultism and ,

while on the other hand its foundations are i n

a dmissible i n tha t i t derives all its precepts and
all its affirmations from a s ource which it ha s
i tself declared to be forever inaccessible i n ,

comprehensible and unknowable i t is none the

, ,

less tru e i f we ignore this defecti v e f o un d a

,

ti on tha t thes e a ffi rmati ons and precepts a re

,

the most unlooked for the loftiest the most

-
, ,

a dmirable and the most plausi b le tha t man

kind h as hitherto known .

Ha v e we the right for example to rej ect a

, ,

priori a s a puerile fancy wholly unsupp orted

, , ,

the conception of the Fall o f Man which we ,

cannot veri fy when close beside i t almost co n

, ,

t emp orary with i t w e find another dis aster

, ,

equally general ; th at o f the world wide pre -

,

historic deluges and cataclysms which the

geologists have actu ally verified ? With wha t
pro found truth may not this legend o f a super
humanity h a pp i er a n d more intelligent than
,
’

ours correspond ? So far we k now nothing o f

,

57
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
i t ; b ut nei ther d i d we kno w wh a t corresponded
with th e tradition o f the grea t catastrophes b e
fore the annals o f these upheavals inscribed in ,

the b owels o f the earth revealed to us what ,

h ad occurred I might mention a large num

.

ber o f tra diti ons o f this sort the intuitions o f ,

genius or immemori al truths to which science i s ,

to day returning o r i s a t least discovering their

-
,

v estiges I h ave alrea dy spoken o f the su c

.

c es s i v e appearance o f the vari ou s forms o f life

p recisely in th e order a ssigned to them by the

paleontologists To these we must add the
.

prep onderant p art played by th e ether tha t ,

cosmi c imponderable fluid the bridge between

, ,

mind and matter the s ource o f all tha t which

,

the p rimitive religion called A ka h s a and which ,

by constant repetiti on b ecomes the Teles ma o f ,

Hermes Trismegistus the living fi re o f Z o ,

roas ter th e generative fi re o f Herodo tus the

, ,

i g n i s s ub t i lli s s i mus o f Hippocrates the astral ,

light of the cab ala the p n eu ma o f G allien the

, ,

quintessence or a zote o f the alchemists the ,

spiri t o f li fe o f St Thoma s Aquinas the sub

.
,

tle matter o f D es cartes the s p i r i tus s u b t i lli s ,

s i ma s of Newton th e 0 d o f Reichenbach and

,
“
C arl d u P r el the infinite ethe r mysteriou s and
, ,

always in movement whence all things come ,

”
and whither all return to wh i ch our scientists , ,

in thei r labora tories are at last obl i g ed to h ave

,

58
re cours e in order to account for a host o f
phenomena which withou t i t would be utterly
inexplicable All tha t our chemists and phys
.

i ci s t s call heat light electricity and magnet

, , ,

ism wa s for our ancestors merely the element

a ry mani festations of a single substance .

Thousand of years ago they recognized the

presence and the all powerful intervention o f -

this ubiquitous agent in all the phenomen a o f

li fe ; j us t a s they described long be fore our ,

astronomers the birth and formation o f the

,

s tars ; j ust a s th e pretended myth of the trans

mutati on o f the metals which they b equeathed ,

to the alchemists o f the middle ages is likewise ,

confirmed by the chemical and thermal ev o lu

tion o f the stars which a s Ch arles Nord
, ,
“
mann r emarks o ff er u s a p er fect example o f
,

this transmutati on since the heavier metals a p

,

pear only a fter the lighter elements and when

”
they h ave cooled su ffi ciently ; and lastly since ,

we mus t draw the line somewhere j ust a s they ,

taught in opp ositio n to th e scientists o f a

,

fairly re cent p eriod tha t the durati on o f the

,

universe th e ages of the earth and th e time

, ,

which will elapse between its birth and its de

struction m ust be increased to milli on s of cen
,

ta ries since a day o f B rahma which corre

, ,

s po n d s with the evoluti on o f ou r world con ,

tains 4 3 2 0 milli ons o f yea rs .

59
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et

15

Ou r forebears had also an unexpected tradi

tion concerning yet another problem more awe ,

inspiring and more essenti al since i t involves ,

the fundamental l aw o f our universe O f thi s .

tradition humani ty will never b e able to verify

more than an infini tesimal porti on They tell .

us that the cosmos the visible mani festation

,

o f the unknown and invisible C ause has never ,

been and will never b e other than an u n i n t er

r up t ed sequence o f exp ansi ons and contractions ,

o f evap ora tions and condensati ons of sleeping ,

and waking of inspirati ons and expirati ons o f

, ,

attractions and repulsions o f evolution and i n ,

voluti on of materializa tion and s p i r i tu a li z a

,
“ ”
ti on o f interi ori zation and exteriorization
,

a s D r Jaworski observes who h as discovered

.
,

an analogous principle in biology .

The unknown C ause awakens and for thou ,

s ands o f milli ons o f years suns and planets r adi

ate energy disp ersing and scattering them
,

selves spreading throughout sp ace ; i t sleeps

,

again and for thousands o f millions of years

,

the same worlds hastening from every poin t o f

,

the horizon a ttracting one another co n cen t r a t

, ,

ing contra cting and s olidi fying until they form

—withou t p erishing for nothing can p erish
, ,

only one sole mass which re tu rns to the invisi

,

ble Cause I t i s precisely in one o f these p er i

.

60
 ods o f contraction or inhalation that we are
living I t i s ruled by tha t vast mysterious law
.
,

o f gravitation o f which no one ea n say whether

,

i t is electricity or magnetism or a spiritu al

force although i t is predominant over all the
—
,

other l aws of nature I f all b odies s o New

—
.

ton tells us h ad from all eternity without b e ,

ginning mutu ally attracted one another in

,

direct p r op ortion to their mass and inversely ,

as the squares o f the i r distances all the sub ,

s tance o f the universe ought by now to form

nothing but an infinite mass unl ess we p r esup ,

pose an absolute and immovable equilibrium

which would amount to eternal immobility In .

t h e p er p etu a l motion of the heavenly b odies ,

in which the displacement of an a tom would

disturb i t it does not seem possible that this
,

equilibrium coul d exist As a matter o f fact

.
,

i t is almost certain th at i t does n o t e x ist and ,

the Apex tha t mysteri ous spot i n the celestial

,

sphere not fa r from Ve g a toward which our

, ,

solar system i s hurling itsel f with all its retinue

o f planets may possibly be a s fa r a s we a re
, ,

concerned i ts p oint o f rupture and one of the

,

first phases o f the grea t co n t r a ct i o n wh i ch a c ,

_
,

cording to th e latest calculations of the a str on

omers will take place in
, ye ars time ’
.

But i f it i s fa ct that this terrible contraction

must almost inevi tably occur the universe will ,

one day b e no more than a monstrous mass of

61
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
matter comp act infinite and probably forever
, , ,

li feless outside which nothing could possibly

,

fi nd place Would this illimitable mass con

.
,

sisting of the total sum o f all cosmi c matter i n ,

cluding the etheri c an d all bu t spiritual flui d

th at fills the fabulous interstellar sp aces occupy ,

the whole o f sp ace finally and e ternally con

,

gealed in death or would i t fl oa t in a voi d more

,

subtle th an th a t o f etheric sp ace and hence ,

forth subj ect to other forces ? I t seems a s

though the fundamental la w o f the universe
must result in a s or t o f annihilation a blind ,

alley an absurdi ty ; while on the other h and if

, ,

we deny this universal attraction or gravitati on ,

we are denying the only phenomenon which we

can esta b lish a s indisputable and all th e ,

he avenly bodies will b e absolutely uncontrolled

by la w .

16

Th e i magination th e intuiti on the observa

, ,

tions or the traditions o f ou r fore fathers

,

p assed this dead point B ehind their mythical

.

or mystical phraseology they pondered the uni

verse regarding i t as an electrical phenomenon
, ,

or r ather a s a vast s ource o f subtle and i nco m

prehensible ener gy ob eying the same l aws a s
,

thos e which control magnetic energy in which ,

all i s a ction and reaction ; in which two a n t a g

o n i s t i c forces are always fa ce to face When .

the p oles o f the magnet are reversed a ttr action

62
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
tive doctr i nes which agree in a most remark
,

able fashion man i s comp osed o f three essen

,

ti al p arts : a p erishable physical b ody ; a spiri

tual principle a shadow o r astral double like
, ,

wise perishable but much more durable than the

,

b ody and an immortal principle which a fter

, ,

more or less protracted developments r eturns ,

to its origin which i s G o d

, .

Now we can prove that in the phenomena o f

hypnotism magnetism mediumship and som
, , ,

n a mb uli sm in all th at concern s certain ex t r a o r

,

d i n a r y faculties o f th e subconsciousness which ,

seem independent o f the physical body and ,

also in certain mani festations from beyond the

grave which to day can hardly be denied our
,
-
,

m et a p h sy ch i ca l sciences are in a sense obl i ged

to admit the existence o f thi s astral double ,

which everywhere extends beyond the physical

ent i ty and is able to leave i t to a ct i n d ep en d ,

ently o f i t and a t a distance and in all proba ,

b i li ty to survive i t which seems once again and

, ,

in an extremely important connection to j us ,

t i f y the almost prehistoric intu i t i ons of our

Hindu and E gyptian ancestors .

18

As I h ave only too often repeated we might ,

multiply such instances ; and when our science

has thus confirmed one o f these intuitions or
trad i tions i t would b e only sensible to regard
64
 su ch as are still awaiting this confirmation with
a little more confidence Th e greater the num
.

ber o f instances in which it h as been proved that

they were not mistaken the greater the chances
,

that they are in the right in resp ect of other

instances which cannot yet be verified Very .

often these latter are the most imp ortant b e ,

ing those which a ff ect u s most directly and

pro foundly We must not a s yet draw too
.

general or too h asty conclusions ; rather let us ,

a s a result o f these first confirmations or b e ,

ginnings o f confirmations accord a provisional

,

and vigilant credi t to the other hypotheses .

When we have finally verifi ed these first i n

stances we shall not b e ou t o f the wood ; but
we shall be a grea t deal nea rer the o p en sky
than we were which is as much as we h ave
,

t h e right to h op e or demand from any

religious
“

or philosophical system or even from any sci

,

ence ; to say nothing o f the fact that th e least

advance here a t th e center o f all things i s
, ,

of incomp arably greater importance than an a d

vance along a diameter or on the circumference ;
since from thi s hub or center spring all the
spokes of that vast wheel o f which scienc e has
b arely examined the outer rim .

I t must be admitted once for all that we can

not understand o r explain anything ; otherwise
we should b e no longer men but gods : or rather
the one G o d Ap art from a few mathemati cal
.

65
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
and material proofs whose essenti al dr i ft we
cannot a fter all p erceive all is hyp othetical
, .

We have nothing bu t hyp otheses on which to

order our lives i f w e cease to count upon cer
,
'

t a i n t i es wh i ch will probably never emerge It .

i s there fore o f grea t imp ortance th at we should

s elect our vital hypotheses carefully accep ting ,

only the noblest the best and the most credi

, ,

ble ; and we shall find th a t these are almost i n

variably the mos t ancient In th e hierarchy o f
.

evolution we shall never k now tha t central or

supre me B eing nor Hi s lates t thought ; but
,

for al l tha t we must do our best to learn a grea t

de al more than w e do k now Th a t we can .

not know everything is no reason for r esigning

ourselves to knowing nothing ; and i f branches
of kn owledge other th an sci ence p roperly o r ,

improperly s o called are able to help u s to

, ,

lead u s farther or more rapidly we shall do ,

well to i nterrogate them or a t least not to ,

rej ect them beforehand withou t du e investi

g a t i
, o n as has hitherto been done only too rea d
ily and only too o ften .

I 9
Among these assertions and these doctr i nes
that cannot be verified we shall consider only
th ose that concern us most intimately and nota ,

bly thos e which touch up on the conduct of our

li ves ; on the sanct i ons the resp onsibilit i es the
, .

66
compensations and the moral philosophy tha t
,

proceed there from ; on the mysteries of death ,

the li fe beyond the tomb and the final destinies ,

of mankind .

Hitherto almost all the doctrines which touch

upon these p oints h ave been for u s Europeans , ,

esoteric hidden away in the scrolls o f the cab ala

,

or the gnosis the persecuted humble and hag

, , ,

gard heirs o f the Hindu Egy ptian Persi an , , ,

a n d Chaldean wisdom But since th e Sanskrit

.

texts h ave been deciphered they are so n o

longer a t least in their essential elements ; for
,

although a s I h ave already s ta ted we are f a r

, ,

from being acquainted with all the sacred books

of India and are perhap s even farther from
,

having grasp ed the se cret meaning o f the hiero

glyphs nevertheless i t is by no means likely that
,

any fresh revelation or complete explanati on

would be of a nature s eriously to unsettle wh at
we already know .

No rule of conduct no moral philosophy ,

could b e deri v ed from the unknowable First

Cause the one unmani fested G o d I t is i n
, .
,

deed impossible t o k now what H e desi r es or

intends since it i s impossible to know Him To
, .

discover a purp o se in the Infin i te i n the uni ,

verse o r in the D ei ty we are compelled to

, ,

cast oursel v es adri ft on the unpro v able and to ,

67
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
cross grea t gul fs o f illogi c o f which we h ave
already spoken evoking from this Cause which
, ,

to mani fes t itself ha s divided i tself one god o r ,

many emanati ons fr om the Unknowable who

, ,

su ddenly b ecome a s famili ar a s though they had

i ssued from the hands o f man I t i s obvious .

that the ethical b asi s resulting from this a r

b i t r a r y procedure will always be p recari ous ,

o ff ering itself merely as a p ostulate which mus t

be a ccepted with closed eyes But it is worthy .

o f n ote th a t following up on thi s preliminary

,

operation o r concurrently with i t i n all th e

, ,

primitive religions we shall find another which

,

i s a s i t were its necessary and in any case its

, , , ,

in v ar i ab le consequence : the volunta ry sacrifice

of one o f these emanati ons of the Unkn owable ,

Who becomes incarnate renouncing His pre ,

r o g a t i v es
, in order to dei fy human i ty b y h u
ma n i zi n g G o d .

E gyp t India Chaldea Chin a M e x ico Peru

—all know the myth o f the child god born o f
, , , , ,

a virgin ; and the first Jesuit missionary to

China discovered th at the miraculou s birth o f
Christ h ad been anticip ated by Fuh Ke who -
,

wa s b orn 3 4 6 8 years before Jesus I t h as .

very truly been said that i f a priest o f ancient

Thebes or Heliopolis were to return to earth
he would recogni z e in Raphael s p ainting o f
,
’

the Virgin and Child the picture o f Horus ,

in th e arms o f I sis The Egypt i an Isis like

.
,

68
o ur own Immaculate Virgin wa s represented ,

standing on a cres cent moon and crowned with

stars D evaki also i s depicted for u s bearing
.

in her arms the divine K rishna w hile Istar , ,

in B abylon holds th e infant Tammu z on h er

,

kn ees The myth o f the I ncarnation which is

.
,

also a sola r myth i s thus repeated from age ,

to age under di fferent names but i t is in Indi a

, , ,

where i t almost certainly originated tha t we ,

find i t in its purest loftiest and most s i gn i , ,

fi ca n t form .

Without lingering o v er the d oubtful i n ca r

n ations o f t h e Hermes the Manus and the 2 0
fl

, ,

roasters which cannot b e historic a lly verifi ed let

, ,

u s consider among th e many incarnations of

,

Vishnu th e second person o f the B r ahman Trin

,

ity only the two most famous : the eighth

, ,

which is tha t o f K rishna and the ninth which is , ,

tha t o f B u ddh a The approx imate date o f the .

“
earlier incarn ation i s given u s by the Bhaga
”
vat G ita g wh i ch give s prominence to the
-
,

wonderful fi gure of Krishn a The C atholi c .

Indi anists fe aring with all their too narrow

,

poin t o f vi ew that the incarn ati on o f K rishn a

,

might endanger th at of C h rist admit th a t the ,

“ ”
Bhagavat G ita was written b efore ou r era
-
,

but maintain th a t i t has since been revised As .

i t i s di ffi cult to prove such re v isions the y add ,

69
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
tha t i f i t i s a ctu ally proved tha t the Bhaga vat
”
G ita and other s a cred b ooks of an equ ally em
b a r r a s s i n g cha racter are re ally anterior to
Christ t h ey are the work o f the devil who
, , ,

foreseeing the incarna tion o f Jesus purposed ,

by these anticip ations to lessen its e ffect How .

ever this may be the purely scientifi c Indian

—
,

i s t s Willi am Jones Colebro oke Thoma s

, ,

Strange Wilson Princeps et a l agree in the

, ,
“

opinion tha t i t dates from a t least twelve or

fourteen centuries b e fore ou r era I t is in .

fact commente d upon and analyzed in the M o

d a na R a tn a P r a d i p a
- -
( a selecti
,
on from the
“
texts o f the most ancient l awmakers ) in Vri ,
“ ” “ ”
h a sp a ti , in P a r a s a r a in Narada and in , ,

a host o f othe r work s o f indispu ta ble a u t h en

t i ci t y
. According to other Orientalists since ,

th e truth must be told the poems upon K rishna ,

“
a re n o older th a n the M ahabhar ata which ,

a fter all takes u s b ack two centuries b efore

Jesu s Christ .

As for the incarn ation o f Si d d a r th a G autama

Buddha or Sakya Muni no doubt is any l onger
,
-
,

possible S akya Muni was a historical person

.
-

n age who live d in the fi fth century be fore

Christ .

All this m oreover is well enough known ; i t

, ,

i s needless to labor the p oint But wha t can .

be th e secret meaning o f a myth so immemori al ,

7o
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
tha t we can e v er kno w G o d mani fests H i m
.

sel f i n na ture but He ha s never spoken to

,

u s s ave by the voice of mankind Do not look .

elsewhere ; do not seek in the inaccessible i n fi n

ity o f sp ace th e G o d whom you a re eager to
find ; it is in you yourself tha t He is hidden
and i t i s in you yourself that you must find
Him He i s there with in you no less than i n
.
, ,

thos e in whom He appears to be incarn ated

in a more da zzling fashion Every man i s .

K rishna every man i s Buddha ; there i s n o

,

di fference between the G o d incarnate in them

and Him who i s incarn ate in you ; bu t they
found Him more e asily than you h ave done .

Imitate them and you will b e the i r peer ; an d

i f you cannot keep up with them you can a t
lea s t g i v e ear to wh a t they tell you for they
~

can bu t tell you wha t the G o d wh o i s within

you would tell you i f you had learned to
,

listen to Him a s they have l i stened .

23

There we h ave the foundati on o f the whole

of the Vedi c religi on and o f all th e esoteric
,

religi ons which have sprung from i t But a t .

its source the truth will hardly b e enwrapped

in symbols or transp arent myths There i s .

nothing secre t abou t i t ; often indeed i t de , ,

cl ares itsel f aloud without reticence and with

,
“
out di sgui se
. When all th e o th er gods are
72
no more than disappearing names s ays M a x ,

M i i ller there are left only the Atman th e

, ,

subj ective self and Brahma the obj ective sel f ;

, ,

and the sup reme knowledge is expressed in

these words : Ta t Twa m H o c tu ; That i s ‘
,
$ ‘

You ; y ou your true sel f that which cannot b e

’
, ,

taken from you when all has disapp eared tha t

seemed for a time to be y o urs When all .

created things v anish like a dream your true

ego belongs to the Eternal Self : the Atman th e ,

personality within you is the true B rahma ,

that Brahma from whom birth and death di

v i d ed you for a moment but who recei v es y o u ,

again into his bosom s o soon a s you return ,

” 1
to him .

“
The Rig Veda or the Veda o f the hymns
‘
-
,
’ ‘ ’
,
” ‘
the true Veda the Veda pa r excellen ce
‘
,
’ ’

continues M ax M i i ller ends in th e Up a n i

“
,
‘

shads or as they were a ft erwards called the

,
’
, ,
‘
Ved a n d a ’
N ow the dominant n ote of the
.

$
Up anishads is K now thyself ; th at is K now
’ ‘ ’
,

the being wh o is the upholder of you r ego ;

learn to find Him and to know H i m in the
E ternal and Su preme B eing the On e Alone , ,
”
who is the upholder o f the whole universe .

“
This religion a t its ultimate height the ,

religion o f the V a n a p r a s th a tha t is of the old , ,

man the man wh o ha s p aid his three deb ts

, ,

whose eyes h a v e beheld the son o f his son ‘ ’

1M axM i i ll Th O i g i n f R li g i n
er ,
“
e r o e o .

73
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
and wh o w i thdraws into the forest becomes ,

purely mental ; and finally self examinati on in -

,

the pro foundest meaning o f the word that is , ,

the recogniti on of th e individual sel f a s one

with the E ternal S el f becomes the onl y o c
,
”
cup a t i o n which i s still permitted to him .

“
Search for the M e hidden in your heart ,
”
s ays the M ahabharata the final echo o f the ,
“
grea t doctrine ; Brahma the True G o d is , ,
”
you yourself . This let me rep ea t i s th e
, ,

foundati on o f Vedic thought and i t i s from ,

thi s thought tha t all the rest p roceeds To .

r eco v er i t we h a v e n o n eed of modern theos

o p h y which h as but confirmed it by less famil

,

i a r texts wh ose authority is less a ssured I t .

wa s never secret bu t by its very magnitude i t

,

escaped the gaz e o f those who could not under

stand i t and little by little a s the gods multi
, ,

plied and stepped down to the level of mankind ,

i t was lost to sight Its very nobility made i t

.

esoteri c In the heroic age o f Vedism when

.
,

almost all men h aving done their duty to thei r

,

p arents and thei r children used to withdraw ,

into the forest there peacefully to wai t for

,

death retiring within themselves and seeking

,

there the hidden god with whom they were

soon to b e con founded i t was the though t o f
,

a whole peopl e Bu t the peoples are not

.

long faith ful to the heights To avoid losing .

all touch w i th th em i t wa s forced to descend ,

74
 I ndi a
to co n ceal i t s features to mingle with th e
,

crowd in a thousand disguises Nevertheless .

we always discover it beneath the increasingly

“
heavy veils with which i t cloaks itself M an .

”
is the key to the universe declared the funda
,

mental axi om o f th e medieval alchemists in a ,

voice s tifl ed beneath the litter o f illegible texts

and undecipherable conjuring b ooks a s Novalis
-
, ,

perhap s with ou t re ali zing th at h e was redis

covering a truth many thousands o f years old ,

indeed almost a s old a s the world once mor e ,

repeated i t i n a form scarcely altered when h e ,

“
taught tha t ou r first duty is the search for
our transcendental ego .

Abandoned in an infini te universe in whic h

we cannot know anything but ourselves i s n Ot ,

this as a matter of fact the only truth tha t ha s

, ,

survived th e only one tha t is not illusory and

, ,

the only one to which we might still hope to r e

turn a fter s o many misadventures so many
, ,

erroneous interp r eta tions i n which we failed to

recogniz e i t ?
24

God, or the Fi rst C ause i s un k nowable ; bu t

,

being everywhere He is necessarily within us

i t i s therefore within ourselves tha t we shall
succeed in discovering wha t i t behooves u s to
k now o f Him These are the two supp orting
.

p i ers of the arch sustaining the primiti v e r e

75
 Th e G r ea t Sec r et
li g i o n and all those religions which spring there
from o r a t l east the a c tual though secret
, , ,

doctrine o f all those religions : tha t is o f all ,

the religions known to us ap art from the fet ,

i s h i s m o f u tterly barb arou s peoples I t found .

these p oints of support in the beginning or ,

r ather i n what we call the beginning whi ch ,

must h ave ha d behind i t a p ast of thousands ,

p erhap s milli ons o f years We have found no

, .

others ; we never shall find others failing an

—
,

impossible revelation imp ossible in fact i f not

—
in principle for nothing tha t i s not human
,

or divinely human can reach us We h ave r e .

tu rned to the p oint whence our fore fathers set

ou t ; and the day on which humani ty discovers
another such p oint will be th e most ex t r a o r
d i n a r y day tha t will h ave shone upon our planet
s ince its birth .

The incarn at i ons o f G o d in primit i ve r e ,

li g i o u s thought a re merely periodical and sp o

,

r adi c extern ali za tions dazzling mani festations

, ,

synthetic and excep tional o f the G o d who i s i n

,

every human b eing This incarnation i s uni

.

versal and latent in each o f u s ; bu t while the

,

incarnation i s regarded as a privilege for th e

man in whom i t occurs it i s considered a sacri
,

fi ce on the p art o f the god Vishn a willingly .

_

s acrifices himself when h e descends to e arth in

th e person o f K ri shna or Buddha Has h e .

likewise sacrifi ced himself by descending to

76
earth in the rest of mankind ? Whence comes
this idea of s acrifice ? It is a mysterious idea ,

dating assuredly from tra diti ons of great a n

t i qu i t y ; in any case i t does not appear to b e
,

purely rational like the two p revi ous co n cep

,

tions Nowher e i s i t explained why i t i s n eces

.

sary that an eman ati on o f G o d should descend

into man who i s already a divine emanation
, .

Here i s a gap which i s n ot bridged by the myth

of the Fall a myth which is likewise un ex
,

plained unless the i dea in qu estion i s b ased

,

merely upon the decla r ation th at every man wh o

surpasses hi s fellows whose sight is keener ,

than thei rs and wh o teaches them what they

cannot yet understand i s necessarily m
,

i sun d er
,

stood p ersecuted a h apless s a cr i fi Ce

, ,
.

25

Thi s idea wh ether i t ca n or cannot b e e x

,

plained i s none the less o f great imp ortance ;

,

for i t seems to h ave steered primitive moral

i ty into one of its princip al highways Indeed .
,

the concepti on o f the unknowable while it set ,

free those courageous thinkers who adventured

up on its naked p eaks was p owerless to a ff ord
,

more than a negative doctrine To b e sure i t .

'

dispersed the little anthrop omorphic and almost

always m a lefi cen t gods bu t i n their place it left ,

only a v ast and silent void On the other hand .

,

p antheism being a s comprehensive a s a g n o st i

,

77
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
ci sm , taught that a s G o d wa s everywhere and
all things were G o d all things ought to b e ,

loved and respected ; bu t i t followed that evil ,

or a t least th a t which man i s forced to call

evil was divine j ust a s goodness is divine
, , ,

s o that i t must b e loved and respected equally

with goodness Th e idea wa s too stark too
.
,

illimitable over arching the two poles o f th e

,
-

universe i n too colossal a fashi on ; man did not

dare to involve himself did not dare to s elect ,

a p athway .

Lastly the s earch for the god hi dden i n each

,

o f us which is one o f the c orollaries o f p anthe

,

ism i f i t be left withou t g uidance could only

, ,

have p erilous consequences There are within .

u s all kinds o f gods ; th at i s all s orts of i n ,

s t i n ct s thoughts or passions which may b e

, , ,

taken for gods Some are good and some evil

.
,

and the evil gods are o ften more numerous ,

and in any case more readily discoverabl e than

the good The true G o d the supremest Dei ty
.
,

and the most immaterial reveals Himsel f only ,

to a few This G o d being thus revealed

.

wh o is a fter all n o more than the best thoughts

—
, ,

o f the best o f u s H e ha d to call upon ,

Himself the a ttention o f other men to make

$

Himself known to them to impose Himself ,

up on them ; and i t i s perhaps for this reason

th at this singula r myth which fundamentally i s ,

p robably n o more than the recognition o f a

78
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
glimpse but which it w ould not have reached
,

until very much l ater a fter m any grie v ous

,

mistakes .

Is i t up on thi s myth o f incarnation tha t the

d ogma ha s gra fted i tself although prop erly
,

sp eaking there are no dogmas in the Oriental

—
religions the dogma o f reincarn ati on in
which are found all the sanctions and all the
rewards o f the p rimitive religion ? Th e es
s en t i a l principle of man the basis o f his ego
, ,

being divine and immortal a fter the d i s a p ,

p e a r a n ce o f the b ody which h as for the time

being divorced i t from i ts spiritual or i gin ,

should logically return to that origin B u t .

,

on the other h and the invisible G o d h aving

,

through the medium o f the gre at incarnations

introduced into morality the concep ti on o f good
and evil i t did no t seem a dmissible that the
,

soul which h ad not listened to its own voice

,

or to tha t o f the divine teachers and which ,

h a d become more or les s s oiled by its earthly

li fe should b e able a t once and without pre
, ,

v i o us purifi cati on , to return to the immaculate

ocean o f the Eternal Spiri t From incarnation
.

to reincarn ation there was only a step which , ,

without doub t was taken all bu t unconsciously ;

,

from reincarn ation to successive reincarn ations

and p u r i fi ca t i o n s the transition was even sim
p l e r ; and from thes e proceeds the whole of
th e Hindu moral philosophy with its K arma , ,

80
which a fter all is only the j udicial reco r d o f
the soul a record which i s always up to date
, ,

becoming worse or better in the course o f i ts

p alingeneses until the attainment o f Nirvana ;
,

which is not a s i t i s too often described an

, ,

annihilation or a dispersal in the bosom o f the

Deity n or ye t on the other hand a reunion
, , ,

with G o d coinciding with the perfecting o f

,

the human sp irit freed of matter an absolute ,

a cquiescence in the law an unalterable tran ,

quillity in the contemplation of that which ex

i s t s a disinterested hop e in that which ought
,

to be and repose in the absolute tha t is in

, , ,

the world of causes in which all the illusi ons

of the senses disappear ; bu t a more mysteriou s
state which i s neither p er fect h appiness nor
ann i hilation but prop erly spe aking and once
, ,

again the Unknowable

, Th at Perfecti on ex
,

”
i s t s a fter death says a tex t co n temp orary with
,

th e Buddha revealing the meaning of Nirvana

—
, ,
“
which h ad then become es o t er i c z That Per
f ect i o n both exists and does not exist a fter
” 1
death that likewise i s not true
, .

As Oldenberg s ays very truly citing this ,

pasage among several others in which the same

“
admissi on i s made : This i s n ot to deny Nir
vana or Perfection or to conclude tha t it does
,

not exist a t all Here the spiri t has reached

.

the brink o f an unfathomable mystery Use .

1 “S n Ni kay a
a y a tt a Vo l. 11, f o l
. n o a nd 1 99

8I
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
l es s to seek to disclose i t I f one were finally .

to renounce a future Eternity one would speak

in another fashion ; i t i s the heart that takes
re fuge behind the veil o f the mystery From .

the mind that hesitates to admi t eternal life

a s conceivable i t s eeks to wrest the hope o f a
” 1
li fe tha t p asses all understanding .

All this amounts to a repetition o f the old

fundamental admissions tha t in respect of es
s en t i a ls we know nothing and can know noth

ing while i t i s als o a fresh proof of the mag

,

n i fi cen t sincerity and the lo fty and s overe i gn

wisdom o f the primitive religi on .

Will all living beings end by a ttain i ng Nir

vana ? Wha t is to h appen in th at case and ,

why i s it since all things exist from all eternity

, ,

that all have not already reached i t ? To thes e

“
questi ons and others o f a like nature the Ve
”
das vouchsa fed only a disdain ful silence ; bu t
s ome o f th e Buddhist texts and among them ,

the following discreetly reply to those who

,

would know too much

“
This the Sublime One ha s not revealed ,

because i t does not minister to s alva ti on b e ,

cause i t i s n o help to the devou t li fe because i t ,

does not conduce to detachment from e arthly

things to th e annihilation o f desire to cessa
, ,

tion to repose to knowledge , to illumination

, , ,

1 Ol d b rg L B d d h ; p
en e , e 85 ou a . 2 .

82
to Nir v ana ; for this reason the Su b lime has
”
re v ealed n othing relating to i t .

27

Wh atever t h e v alue of these hypotheses i t ,

i s indubitable that the moral system which we

find proceeding from thi s boundless a g n o s t i
c i sm and p antheism i s the noblest the purest , ,

the most disinterested the most sensitive the

, ,

most thoroughly investigated th e most fastidi

,

ous the cleare st the completest that we have

, ,

as yet known and doubtless could ever hope to

kno w .

This morality a s well as th e enigma o f i n

,

carnation and sa crifice o f which we have just

been s p eaking and many other p oints which we
,

have only touched upon ought to be subj ected

,

to a special exa mination which does not enter

into our design I t will su ffi ce to recall the
.

fact tha t it is b ased on the principle of succes

sive reincarnati ons a n d o f K arma .

The world properly sp eaking wa s not cre

, ,

ated ; there is n o word in Sanskrit that corre

s p o n d s with the i dea o f creati on just as there
,

i s none that corresp onds with the conception o f

nothingness The universe is a momentary and
.

doubtless illus ory materi aliz ation o f the un

known and spiritu al C ause Divided from the
.

Spirit which is its p roper essence actu al and ,

83
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
eternal matter tends to return to i t through all
,

the phases o f evolution Starting from b e .

neath the mineral stage p assing through plant ,

and animal ending in man and outstripping

, ,

him i t is transformed and spiritualized until

,

i t is su ffi ciently pure to return to its p oint o f

origin This purification o ften demands a long
.

series o f reincarnati ons bu t i t i s p ossible to r e

,

duce their number and even to set a term to ,

them by an intensive spirituali zation heroic

, ,

and absolute which a t death and s ometimes

, ,

even during li fe leads the s oul b ack to the

,

b osom o f B rahma .

This explanati on o f the ine xplicable despite ,

the obj ections which suggest themselves nota ,

bly in resp ect of the origin and necessity o f

matter or of evil which remain obscure i s a s
, , ,

good a s any other and has the a dvantage of ,

being the earliest in date ap art from the fact ,

that it i s the mos t comprehensive embracing ,

all tha t can be imagined setting ou t fro m the ,

grea t spiritu al principle to which in the a h ,

sence of any other o f an accep table nature ,

w e are more and more imperiously comp elled

to return .

In any cas e as it h as proved it has favored

, ,

more than any other th e b irth and development

o f a morality to which man had never attained ,

and which s o fa r h e has never surp assed

, , .

To give a su ffi cient idea o f this morali ty

84
 would require more space than is a t my dis
posal and destroy the s cheme of this inquiry
,
.

The w onder ful thing abou t this morality ,

when we conside r i t near its source where it ,

still retains its purity is tha t i t is wholly i n ,

ternal wholly spiritual I t finds i ts s anctions

, .

and its rewards only in ou r own hearts There .

i s no Judge awaiting the soul on its release

from the body ; n o p aradise and no hell for ,

hell wa s a later development Th e s oul i t .

self th e s oul alone is its Judge its heaven or

, , , ,

i ts hell It encounters nothing no one I t

.
, .

has no need to j udge its elf for it sees i tself as ,

i t is a s its thoughts and a ctions have made it

, ,

a t th e close o f thi s life and o f previou s lives .

I t sees itself in short in i ts entirety in the

, , ,

in fallible mirror w h ich death holds up to i t ,

and realizes th at i t i s i ts own happ iness its ,

own misery H appiness and suff ering are sel f

.

h
.
,

created It i s alo n e in the infinite ; there i s

.
_

no G O d a b ove it to smile upon i t or to fill it

'

with terror ; the G o d whom it has disappointed ,

displeased or satisfi ed is itsel f I ts c o n d emn a

,
.

tion or its absolution depend up on th at which

i t has become I t cannot escap e from itself
.
’

to go elsewhere where it might b e more f o r tu

n ate . It cannot breath e s ave in the atmosphere
whi ch it h a s created for itself ; it is its own a t
m o sp h er e its own world its own environment ;
, ,

and i t must upli ft and puri fy itself in order

85
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
tha t this world and this envi ronment may be
purifi ed and uplifted exp anding with i t and ,

around i t .

“
Th e soul s ays Manu i s its own w i tness ;
, ,

the s oul i s its own refuge ; never despise your

soul the s overeign witness of mankind $
,
“
Th e wicked s ay : No on e sees u s ; but the ‘ ’

gods are w atching th em a s i s the Spiri t en ,

”
throned within them .

“
O man $ when thou s ayest to thysel f : I ‘

am alone with myself there dwells forever ,

’

in thy heart this supreme Spiri t the attentive ,

and silen t observer o f all good and all evil .

Thi s Spiri t enthroned in thy h eart i s a strict

j udge an infl exible avenger ; h e i s Yama the
, ,
”
Tudge o f the Dead .
1

28

B etween birth and death which is bu t a ,

”
new birth the Laws o f Manu distinguish
,

f ive stages : concepti on childhood the n o v i t i , ,

a te ( o r period o f studying the sciences divine ,

and human ) fa therhood and last of all the

, , , ,

stage o f the anchorite prep aring for de ath .

E ach of these p eri ods has its duti es which must ,

b e a ccomplished b efore a man may look for

ward to withdrawal into the forest While .

awaiting this hour desired ab ove all resigna , ,

” “
tion s ays M anu the a ct o f returning good
, ,

1 “
M n ; VIII 84 8 5 9
a u
”
9 , , )
1, 2 ‘

86
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
th e motives of charity and love for one s ’

”
neighbor .

“
One single goo d action s ays M anu ,

further i s worth more th an a thousand good

,

thoughts and those who fulfil thei r obligations

,
”
are superior to those who p erceive them .

“
Let th e s age cons tantly observe the moral
obligations ( Yamas ) more attentively than the
‘

religious dutie s ( N i y a m a s ) for h e wh o neg

lects the moral duties is losing ground e v en i f
”
he observes his religiou s obligations .

29

Th ere are in th e li fe o f man tw o pla i nly

distinguished p eriods : the active or social phase
during which he establishes his family a ssu res ,

th e fate o f his p osterity and tills th e s oil with

,

his o wn hands fulfil ling the humble duti es o f

,

every day li fe toward his relatives and those

-

abou t him For these yet ungodly days abound

.

in the m os t angeli c precepts o f resignat i on o f ,

respect for li fe o f p atience and love

, .

“
Th e ills which we infl ict upon our neigh
“
b or s ays Krishna pursue us a s ou r shadows
, ,

follow our b odies .

Just a s the earth upholds those tha t trample

i t underfoot and rend its bosom with the plow ,

so we should return good for evil .

“
Let all men remember that sel f respect and -

l o v e for one s neighb or stand above al l things

’
.

88
 I nd i a

H e wh o fulfils all his obligations to please

God only and without thinking of future r e
ward is sure o f immortal happiness 1
.

“
I f a pious acti on proceeds from the hop e
o f r eward in this world or the next th a t a c ,

tion i s described a s interested But tha t .

which h as n o other motive than the knowledge

” 1
and lov e o f G o d is said to b e disinterested . .

( Let u s refl ect for a moment upon this s aying ,

many thousands of years old : one of those

sayings which we can repeat to day without -

the ch a nge o f a syllable for here G o d a s , ,

in all the Vedi c li tera ture i s th e b e s t and ,

etern al p art of oursel ves and of the universe ) .

“
Th e man whose religious actions a re all
interested attains th e rank o f the saints and th e
angels [ Devas $ But h e whos e pious actions
.

are all disintereste d divests himsel f forever of

the five elements t o acqui re immortality in the
,
”
G reat Soul .

“
O f all things that puri fy m a n pur i ty i n
the acquisiti on of wealth i s the best He who .

retains his puri ty while b ecoming rich i s truly

pure not he who purifies himself w i th e arth
,
”
and water .

Learned men puri fy themselves by the for

g i v en e s s o f trespasses alms and prayer ,The ,
.

understanding is purified by knowledge .

1 “
Ma n u II , 15 .
zlb d
i q X II , 89 .

89
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
The hand o f a cra ftsman i s always pure
”
while he is working .

“
Although th e conduct o f h er hu sband b e
blameworthy although h e may abandon him ,

self to other loves and may be withou t good

qualities a vi rtuou s woman must always r evere
,
”
him as a god .

“
He who has d efi led the water by some i m
puri t y must live upon alms only for a full
”
month .

“
In o rder not to cau se the death of any
living creature let the S anny asi [ tha t i s the
1
, ,

mendican t a scetic $ by nigh t a s well a s by ,

day even a t the risk o f inj ury wa lk w i th his

, ,
” 2
gaze up on the ground .

“
For h aving on one occasion only and with ,

ou t any ill intenti on cut down trees bearing ,

frui t or b ushes or tree creepers or climbing

, ,
-
,

plants o r crawling plants in flower one must

, ,

repea t a hundred prayers from the Rig ‘

Veda .
’

“
I f a man i dly uproots cult i vated plants or
plants which h ave sprung up spontaneously in
the forest h e must follow a co w for a whole
,
”
day and take n o food bu t milk .

By a con fessi on made in publi c by repent ,

ance by p iety by the recitation of sacred

, ,

prayers a sinner may b e acquitted of his o ff ense

, ,

1 Li t er a ll y ,
“
th e a b a nd o n er .
” —
T AN R S.

2 “ M a nu ; ”
X II , 90 ; V, 10 6. 10 7 .
1 29 . 1 5 4 ; XI . 25 5 ; V I. 6 8
90
a s well as by giving alms when he finds it ,

imp ossible to p erfor m the other penance .

In proportion a s hi s soul regrets a bad a c

tion s o far his body i s relieved of the burden
,

of thi s pervers e a ction ”

.

“
Success in all worldly a ff a i rs depends up on
the laws o f destiny controlled by the action s ,

of mortals in thei r previou s lives and the ,

conduct of the individual ; th e decrees o f destiny

are a mystery ; we mus t a ccordingly have r e
”
course to means which depend upon man .

“
Justice i s the sole friend wh o a ccomp an i es
man a fter death s i nce all a ff ection is subj ect
,
” 1
to the destructi on su ff ered by the body .

“
I f he wh o s trikes you drops the s ta ff which
’
h e ha s u sed pick i t up and return i t to him
,
”
without complaint .

“
You wil l not a b andon an i mals in their old
,

age remembering wha t services they have

,
” 2
rendered you .

“
H e who despises a woman despises his
mother The tears of women d raw d own the
.

fire o f he aven up on those th at make them

”
flo w .

“
Th e upright
man may fall beneath the blows '

of the wicked a s d o es the sandal tree which

,
-
, ,

when it is felled pe rfumes the ax that l ays i t

,
” 3
low .

1 “
M a nu XI , 1 4 2, 1 44 , 2 27 , 2 29 ; VI I , 20 5 .

2 “
S m Vd a a e a .
”

3 “P r a ”
d a sa .
91
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
To carry th e three s taves o f the ascetic ,

to keep silence to wear the h ai r in a plait

, ,

to shave the head to clothe one s self in gar

,
’

ments o f b ark or skins to s ay prayers and per ,

form ablu ti ons to celebrate the A g n i h o t r a to

, ,

dwell in th e fores t to allow the body to b e

—
,

come emaci ated all this i s useless i f the heart

”
i s n ot pure .

“
He who wh atever p ains he may spend
,

on himself practises tranquillity o f mind who

, ,

i s calm resigned restrained and chaste and

, , , ,

h as ceased to find fault with others tha t man ,

i s truly a B rahman a Sh r a m a n [ an a scetic $

, ,

a Bhikshu [ a mendicant
“
O Bh ar ata o f wh at avail i s the forest to
,

him who has mastered himsel f and o f wha t ,

avail is it to h i m who has not mastered him

sel f ? Wherever there lives a man wh o has
mastered himself there i s the forest there is
, ,
”
the hermi tage .

“
I f the wise man stay a t h ome whatever ,

care h e m ay take o f himself i f all the days of ,

hi s li fe h e is always pure and full o f love h e is ,

”
delivered from all evil .

“
It i s not the hermitage tha t makes the
virtuous man ; virtue comes only with practice .

Therefore le t no man do unto others tha t

”
which would c ause p ain to himself .

“
The world i s sustained by every acti on
whose sole obj ect is sacrifice ; that i s the v o lun ,

92
tary gi ft of sel f I t i s in making this v o lun
.

tary gi ft tha t man should perform the action ,

withou t resp ect o f usage Th e sole obj ect o f .

action should be to serve others He who sees .

inaction i n action and action in inacti on is wise

among men : he i s [a ttuned to the true principles ,

whatever acti on h e may p erform Such a man .

,

who ha s renounced all interest in the result o f '

hi s action a n d is always content depending up

, ,

on n o one although h e may perform actions

, ,

is a s one who does not perform them All .

hi s thoughts stamped with wisdom and all hi s

, ,

actions consisting of s acr i fice are a s though

, ,
” 1
faded into air .

3 0

There taken a t random from an enorm ous

, ,

treasury which i s still p artly unknown are a ,

few words of counsel thousands of years old , ,

which long b e fore the a dvent of Christianity

, ,

guided men o f good will to the border o f the

“
forest Then as M anu says when the head
.
, ,

o f th e family sees his skin grow wrinkled and

his hair turn white when he beh olds the son ,
”
o f his son ; when he has no further obligati ons
to fulfil ; when no one has further need of his
assistance the n whether h e be the r i chest
, ,

merchant of the ci t y or th e p oorest peasant

“

1 “V
a nap a rva ; P ara bl es of
”
Bud d h g o sh a ;
Ca n t i p a r v a ; ”
5951
“
Va n a p a r v a ; “
L a ws of
”
Y a i n a v a lky a ; III
, 65 :
“
Bh a g h a v a t G i t a-
.
”

93
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
o f the village h e may a t last devote himself
,

to things eternal leaving his wi fe his children

, , ,
“
his kins folk his fri ends and taking a gazelle
, , ,
”
skin or a cloak o f b ark m ay wi thdraw into ,

solitude burying himself in the vast tropical

,

forest forgetting his b ody and the vain ideas

,

born of i t and giving ea r to the voice o f the

,

G o d hidden in the depths o f hi s being ; the

“
voice o f the unseen traveler in the words ,
“ ” “
of the B rahman o f the Hundred Pa ths ; the
voice o f him wh o understanding is not under
, ,

stood ; o f the thinker o f whom none thinks ;

o f him wh o knows but i s not known ; o f th e
Atman th e inner guide the imperishable ap art
, , ,

from whom there is only suffering H e may .

medita te on the infinity o f space the infinity ,

“ ”
o f reason an d the non existence of nothing
,
-

may seiz e the moment o f illuminati on which

“
brings with i t the deliverance which n o one
can teach which e ach mus t find for himsel f
, ,
”
which i s ineff able and m ay puri fy his soul,

in order t o sp are i t i f that b e p ossible yet , ,

another return to earth .

“
H aving reached this stage let him not wish ,

for death ; let h im n ot wish for li fe Like a .

h arvester who a t the fall o f night waits

, ,

qui etly for his wages a t h is master s door let ’

,
”
him w ait until the moment has arrived .

“
Let him meditate with the most exclusive ,

application o f the intellect up on the subtle and ,

94
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
is long previou s to Buddhism dating from the ,

origins o f B rahmanism and i s directly related ,

to the Vedas Let u s agree tha t this system

.

o f ethics o f which I have b een unable to

,

give more than the slightest survey while the ,

fi rst ever known to man is als o the lo ftiest ,

which h e h as ever practised It proceeds from .

a principle which we cannot contes t even to day -

,

wi th all tha t we believe ourselves to have

learned ; namely tha t man with all th at sur , ,

rounds him i s bu t a s ort o f emanation an

, ,

ephemeral materi ali z a ti on o f the unknown ,

spiritual cause to which i t must needs return ,

and i t merely deduces with incomparable ,

beauty n obili ty and logic the consequences o f

, , ,

thi s principle Ther e is no extra terrestri al r e

.
-

velation no Sinai no thunder in th e heavens

, , ,

n o god especially sent down upon our planet .

There wa s n o need for him to descend hither ,

for h e w as here already in the hea rts of all ,

men since all men are bu t a p art o f him and

,

cannot b e otherwise Th ey questi on thi s god .

,

wh o see ms to dwell in their hearts their minds ; ,

in a word in tha t immaterial principle which

,

gives li fe to their bodies He does n ot tell

—
.

them i t is tru e o r perhaps h e does tell them

—
, ,

bu t they cannot understand him why for the ,

time b eing h e app ears to h ave divorced them

,

from himself ; and we have here a p ostul ate

the ori g in of evil and th e necessity o f su ff ering
96
 —
as inaccessible a s th e mystery o f the First
Cause : with thi s di fference th a t the mystery of ,

the Firs t C ause wa s inevi table whereas the nec ,

es s i t y o f evil and su ff ering is incomprehensible .

But once the p ostulate i s granted all the rest ,

clears up and un folds i tself like a syllogism .

Matter i s th at which divides u s from G o d ;

the spiri t is tha t which unites u s to Him ; th e
spiri t there fore must pre v ail over matter Bu t .

the spiri t is not merely the understanding ; i t

is als o the h eart ; i t is emotion ; it i s all tha t
i s n o t m ateri al ; so th at in all i ts forms it must
needs puri fy itself reaching forth and upli fting
,

itself to triumph over matter There never

, .

was and never could b e I belie v e a more i m, ,

pressive spiritualization than this nor more

”

logical more unass ailable more realist i c i n the

, , ,

sense tha t it is founded only on realities ; and

never one more divinely human C ertain it .

is that a fter s o many centuries a fter so many ,

acquisitions so many experi ences we find our

,
,
,

selves back a t the sam e p oint Starting like .

,

our predecessors from the unknowable we can

, ,

come to n o other conclusi on and we could not ,

express i t better Nothing could excel the

.

stupendo u s e ff ort o f their speech unless it were ,

a silent resigna tion pre fera b le i n th eo r y but

,
f

in practice leading only to a n inert and de

‘

sp a i r i n g ignorance .
 C HAPTE R I II

E GYP T

E h a v e already considered in speaking ,

o f Nu Tu rn and Phtah th e ide a , , ,

which the E gyptians formed o f the First Cause ,

and o f the creation or r ather the emanation or , ,

mani festation of the universe This idea ,

.

as we know i t a t leas t fro m the translation

, , ,

probably incomplete o f the hieroglyphs , ,

though less striking in form less pro found and ,

less metaphysi cal i s analogou s to that o f the ,

“ ”
Vedas and reveals a common s ource .

Immedi ately following the riddle o f the

Firs t C ause they too inevitably encountered , ,

the ins oluble problem of the origin of evil and ,

although they did not venture to prob e into i t

very deeply they achieved a s olution o f it
,

which th ough p aler and more evasive i s a t

, ,

bottom almost simila r to tha t o f the Hindus .

In the cult o f Osiri s spirit and matter a re known

a s Light and Darkness and Set the antagonist , ,

of Ra the sun god in the myths o f R a Osiris

,
-
, , ,
”
and Horu s i s not a god of evil s ays Le Page
, ,
“
R enou f but represents a physical reality a
, ,
” 1
constant law of nature He is a god a s .

1
Op . Ci t ; p . 1 15 .

98
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
found on nearly all the tombs and s arcophagi ,

are probably still more ancient Th ey are .

,

wi th the cunei form inscriptions the mos t a n ,

ci ent writings of known date p ossessed by man

kind .

The most venera b le o f moral codes th e ,

work o f P h t a h o t ep still imper fectly d eci p h ,

ered contemp orary with th e pyramids i s

, ,

clothed in the authority o f an ancestry i n fi

“
n i t ely more remote Not on e o f the Chr i sti an
.

”
virtues s ays F J Chapas one o f the first of
, . .
,
“
the great E gyptologists h a s b een forgotten ,

in the Egyptian system o f ethics Pity cha r .

,

i ty kindness sel f control in speech and action

, ,
-
,

chastity the protection o f the weak b en ev o

, ,

lence toward the lowly deference toward supe ,

ri ors respect for the prop erty of others even

, ,

to the smallest details all are expressed in ,

”
admirable language .

I ha v e n ot inj ured a child s ays a funeral ,

“
inscrip tion I have not oppressed a widow
, ,

I h ave not ill treated a herdsman During my

-
.

li fetime no one went a begging and when the -

,

years o f famine came I tilled all the soil o f the

province feeding all its inhabitants and I
, ,

s o ordered matters tha t t h e widow was as

” 1
though she had not lost her husb and .

1 I r i p ti
n sc f A m i D km l ; II
on s o en ,
en a er ,
12 1 .

10 0
 Egy p t
’

“
Another inscr i ption commemorates the
father o f the defenseless the s tay o f those who ,

were motherless the terror of the evil doer the ,

-
,

protector of the poor He was the avenger o f .

those who ha d been despoiled by the mighty .

He was the husb and o f the widow and the

” 1 “
refuge o f t h e orphan He w as the pro .

tector o f the humble a fruitful palm f o r the i n ,

d i g en t the nouri shment o f the poor the wealth

, ,

of the feeble ; and his wisdom was a t the service

” 2 “
o f th e ignorant I was the bread of the
.

hungry ; I wa s water to the thirsty ; I was the

cloak of the naked and the refuge o f the dis
tressed Wha t I did for them G o d ha d done
.

” 3
for me say other inscriptions always re
,
‘

turning to t h e same theme of kindness j ustice , ,

“
and charity Although I was great I h ave
.

always behaved a s though I were humble I .

have never b arred the way to on e who w a s

”

worthier than I ; I have al ways repeated wha t

has been told me exactly as i t was spoken I .

h ave never approved tha t which w as b ase and

evil but I h ave taken pleasure in speaking th e
,

truth The sincerity and kindness in the heart

.

of my father and mother were rep aid to them

by my love I wa s the j oy o f my brethren .

and the friend o f my comp anions and I ha v e ,

1 A t ff t bl t L v r ; C
n u -
a e 6 ,
ou e , 2 .

2 B rgmo Hi g ly ph i h
a nn, I h i f t ; P l t VI l i n
er o sc e nsc r en a e , e
8 ; Pl t a es VI I I I X , .

1
Br i t i h M s m ; 58 u s eu 1.

10 1
 .
Th e G r ea t S ec r et

enterta i ned the passing traveler ; my d oors

were open to those who came from abroad and ,

I gave them rest and re freshment What my .

” 1
heart d i ctated to me I did not hesitate to do .

3
In the B ook o f the De ad when a fter the , ,

long and terrible crossing o f the Du at ( which

is not the Egypti an H a des a s s ome have said , ,

bu t a region intermedi ate b etween death and

eternal li fe ) th e soul reached the l and o f
,

M enti which later w as known a s Amenti i t

, ,

found i tself confronted by M a at or M a i t the ,

mos t mysterious o f th e Egypti an divinities .

lM a at may b e symboli zed by a straight line ;

she represents the la w and the tru e or absolute ,

j ustice E ach of the high gods claims to be

.

h er master bu t she hersel f admits no master

, .

By her the gods live she reigns alone upon the

,

e arth i n th e heaven s and the worl d b eyond

,

the tomb ; she i s a t once the mother o f th e god

wh o created her his daughter and the god
, ,

himself B efore Os i ris seated upon the

.
,

throne o f j udgment the hear t o f the dead ,

man symb oli zing hi s moral n a ture is

, ,

placed i n one o f the scales o f the balance ;

i n the other scale i s an image of M a at Forty .

two divinities who represent the for t y two sins

,
-

which they a re appointed to punish are ranked ,

1
D umi ch en , K a l en d er i us ch r i f ten ; X LX I .

10 2
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
dramati c allegory the soul j udges i tself and
,

recogni z es i tself a s worthy to return to its

God .

4
Rudolph Steiner wh o when he does not
—
, ,

lose himself in visions plausible p erhaps but

—
, ,

incap able of v er i fi ca t i o n o f th e prehistori c

ages o f as t r a l negatives and o f life on other
, ,

planets i s a shrewd and accurate thinker h as

, ,

thrown a remarkable light up on the meaning of

this j udgment and of the identific ati on o f the
”
soul wi th G o d . The Osiri s B eing h e s ays , ,
“
i s merely th e most p erfect degree o f the h u
man b eing I t goes withou t saying th at the
.

Osiri s who reigns as a j udge over the external

order o f the univers e i s himself bu t a p er fect
‘

man B etween the human state and th e divine

.

there i s bu t a di fference of degree M an i s i n .

:

p rocess of de v elopment ; a t the end of his

cours e he b ecomes G o d According to this con
.

c ep t i o n G o d is an eternal b ecoming n o t a G o d ,

complete in himself .

“
Such b eing the universal order i t is evident ,

that h e alone may enter into the li fe o f Osiris

wh o ha s already become an Osiri s himsel f b e ,

fore knocking a t the gate o f the eternal temple .

There fore the highes t li fe o f man consists in

trans forming himself into Osiris Man h e .

comes p erfect when he lives as Osiri s when ,

10 4
 Eg y p t

he ma k es the j ourney that Osiris has made .

The myth o f Os iris a cquires thereby a pro

founder meaning The god becomes the pat .

tern for him who seeks to awaken the E ternal

” 1
within himself .

5
This d ei fi ca t i o n this O s i r i fi ca t i o n of the soul
,

o f the upright man ha s al ways astonished the ,

Egyptologists who have not grasped its hid

,

den meaning and have not p ercei v ed tha t th e

soul was re turning to the Vedi c Nirvana of
which i t i s merely the dramati zed r ep r o d uc
“

tion But there are the authenti c texts and

.
,

even from the esoteri c p oint o f view i t is not

possible to attribu te an other meaning to the m .

Th e basi s o f the Egyptian religion b eneath all ,

the paras i t i cal growths of vegetati on that grad

u a lly became so enormous is really the s ame a s ,

that o f the Vedic religion Starting from the .

sa me point o f dep arture in the unknowable i t ,

is th e wor ship of and the sea rch for the god

in man and the return of man to the godhead
—
.

The upright man that is the man who all his ,

li fe has striven to find the E ternal within him

s elf and to give ear to i ts voi ce
,
— when liber ,

ated from hi s body does not merely become ,

Osiri s ; bu t j ust as Osiri s i s other gods s o h e ,

1
R ud l ph St
o ei ne r L e M y s t er e Ch r ét i en
. et les M y s t er es
t qu es
an i , tr .
J . S a u r w ei n ; 17 0 p . .

10 5
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
too b ecomes other gods He speaks as though .

he were R a Tum Set Ch n emu Horus and so , , , , ,

“
forth Neither men nor gods n or the spirits
.
,

o f the dead n or men past present and future

, , , ,

whosoever they m ay b e have any further power ,

” “
to h arm him H e i s He wh o goes forward.

” “
in security Hi s n ame i s He tha t i s un
.

“
known to men His name i s Yesterday that .
‘

sees th e innumerable days p assing in triumph

“
along the ways o f heaven He is the lord .

o f eternity He i s the master of the royal

.

”
crown and each o f his limbs is a god .

6
But wha t happens i f the sentence is not f a v
o r a b le i f th e soul i s n ot considered worthy
,

o f returning to the E ternal o f becoming once ,

more the god tha t i t w a s ? O f this we know

nothing O f all tha t has been said in respect
.

o f punishments expiations and puri fying trans , ,

migrati on nothing i s b ased o n any authentic

,
“ ”
text . We find no trace s ays Le Page Re ,

n ouf , of a conception o f this kind in any of

the E g ypti an texts hitherto discovered The .

transformation s a fter death w e a re expressly ,

in formed depend solely on th e will o f the de

,
” 1
ceased o r o f his genius
, That is to say o f .
,

his soul D oes this not also expressly tell u s

.

1 L P g R n f
e a p it ; p
e 83 e ou , o . c . 1 .

10 6
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
soul wh i ch once more became Osir i s wandered
, ,

wretchedly between the visible and the invisible

worlds—as the discarnate s ouls of our spiritual
is s
t appe ar to do—unless the funeral rites came
to its aid leading i t back to and keeping i t by
,

the body which i t ha d deserted The whole of .

this ri tual sought only to prolong a s fa r as pos

sible the existence of thi s double by supplying ,

i ts needs which resembled those o f its earthly

,

li fe by keeping i t beside its incorruptible

,

mummy and tying i t down to a pleasant

,

h ome .

The l i fe o f this double was beli eved to be

v ery long A tablet in the Louvre tells us for
.
,

example tha t P s a m t i k s on of U t a h o r wh o
, ,
’
,

lived in the time o f the twenty sixth dynasty -

,

was a priest under three s overeigns o f the G rea t

Pyramid who h ad been dead for more than
,

two thousand years .

This ide a of the double as Her b ert Spencer ,

“
rema rk s i s universal , Everywhere we find ex.

p ressed o r implied the b elief tha t every man i s

double and th at when he dies his other sel f
, ,

whether i t remains close a t h and o r goes far

away may return and is cap able o f inj uring
, ,

his enemies or helping his friends .

This Egypti an double i s n o other than the

P er i sp r i t e the astral B ody o f the occultists
, , ,

tha t d i scarn ate entity that subconsc i ous b eing , ,

10 8
 Eg y p t

more or less independent of the body that Un ,

known G uest with whom our modern meta

,

psychists are confronted despite themselves , ,

when they come to record certain hypnotic or

mediumistic mani festations certain phenomen a ,

of telep athy of acti on a t a distance o f mate

, ,

r i a li z a t i o n
, o f posthumous app arition which ,

would otherwise be all but inexplicable Once .

aga i n the anci ent religi ons h ave here forestalled

our science perh aps because they s aw farther
,

into the future and with greater accuracy I .

say perhaps ; for i f the li fe o f th e double the ,

a stral body o f the subconscious entity almost

independent o f the brain can scarcely b e con ,

tested when the living are concerned i t m ay ,

still be disputed in respect of the dead One .

thin g i s certain tha t a numb er of e x tremely

,

perplexing facts are a ccumulating in co n fi r m a

tion o f this existence I t i s only their inter
.

p r e t a t i o n t h a t i
_
s still doubtful Bu t the a n .

cient Egypti an hypothesis i s becoming more

and more p lausible I t re fu ted be forehand
.
,

thousands of years ago the capital obj ecti on s o

,

often made to the spiritualists when we tell ,

them that their disembodied spirits are merely

poor incoherent and bewildered shades a n x
, , ,

ious b efore all else to establish thei r identity

and to cling to thei r former existence ; miserable
phantoms to w h om death has revealed nothing ,

I O$
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
and who h ave n othing to tell u s of their li fe
beyond th e tomb a p ale refl ection o f their pre
,

v i o u s existence I t is a fter all quite easy to

.
, ,

explain why the disembodied spirit knows no

more than i t knew during its earthly li fe The .

Egypti an double o f which i t i s merely the r ep

,

lica was n ot the tru e soul the immortal s oul

, , ,

which i f Amenti s j udgment of it were favor

,
’

able returned to th e god or rather once more

, ,

became divine The sepulchral rites did no t

.

seek to concern themselves wi th this soul ,

whose fa te wa s determined by the s entence o f

M a at : they s ought only to render less precari
ous less pi tiable and less li able to disintegra
, ,

tion the p osthumous li fe o f this belate d ele

ment this sp ecies o f sp iritu al husk this ner
, ,

vous magnetic or fluid ph antom which wa s once

,

a man and was now but a bundle o f tenaci ou s

bu t h omeless memories By surrounding him .

with th e obj ects o f these memories they s ought

to allevi a te the p assage o f th e dead man to
eternal forgetfulness Th e Egy p ti ans had u n.

doubtedly examined more e x actly than we have

don e the evidence for th e existence o f this dou
ble which we are barely beginning to suspect ;
,

for their civiliz ation ( which was the heir for ,

tha t matter o f long li v ed antecedent civili za

,
-

tions ) was fa r more ancient than our own an d ,

more inclined toward the spiri tu al and invisible

sides o f li fe Bu t they prej udged nothing j ust
. ,

1 10
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
—
Bu t they and thi s is the only d i ff erence b e
—
tween them h ave not b een subj ected like ,

the Egyptian double to the magic incantat i on

,

which wrongly or rightly for weal or woe and

, , ,

in violati on of the l aws of n ature b ound the ,

double to its physical remain s and prevented ,

i t from dri fting like fl otsam b etween a materi a l

world in which it could live no longer and a
spiritu al universe wh i ch i t seemed i t wa s for
h i d d en to ente r .

7
Thank s to th i s s oli citude than k s to th i s cult
, ,

this foresight wa s th e double happy ? I dare

,

not a ffi rm a s much There is one terrible text

—
.

the funeral inscripti on of the wi fe o f Pasher

—
e mpath which is the most heart rending cry of -

regret and distress tha t the dead h ave ever a d

dressed to life I t i s tru e tha t this inscripti on
.

i s o f the time of the Ptolemies ; that is o f the ,

l a ter Egy p t corrup ted by G reece two or three ,

centuri es b efore our era I t reveals the deca

.

dence and almost the de ath o f this E g yptian

—
creed ; and what i s more serious and more
—
alarming i n speaking of Amenti i t seems to
confound the destiny o f the double with tha t

o f th e immortal soul Here is this inscrip ti on

.
,

which sh ows u s wha t uncertainty overtakes the

most fi rmly establ i shed and most positive rel i
1 12
 Eg y p t

gions and how when their course i s run they

, , ,

plunge u s once more into the darkness of the

G rea t Secret into the cha os o f the u nknowa b le
,

whence they emerged

“
Oh my brother my husb and do not cease
, , ,

to drink to ea t to emp ty the cup o f j oy to

, , ,

live merrily a s a t a festival $ Le t thy desires

lead thee day by day and may care never enter
, ,

thy heart s o long as thou livest up on the earth .

For Amenti i s the country of lifeless sleep and

of darkness a place o f mourning for those who
,

dwell therein They sleep in their effi g i es ; they

.

no longe r wake to behold their brethren ; they

recogniz e neither their fathers nor thei r moth
ers ; their h earts a r e indi ff erent to their wives
and children O n th e earth all men enj oy the
.

water o f life bu t here thirst encompasses me

, .

There i s wa t er for all who dwell up on the

earth b ut I thirst f o r the water which is close
,

beside m e I know not where I am since I

.

came hither and I implore the running water

, ,

I implore the bree z e upon the river b ank th at ,

i t will assu age the s oreness o f my h eart Fo r .

as for the G o d who is here hi s n ame i s A b so ,

lute D eath He summon s all men and all

.
,

come to h i m trembling with fear With him .

there i s n o respect for men or for gods ; with

h i m the grea t are a s the small One fears to .

pray to him for he does not give ea r None .

come hi th er to invoke him since he s hows no ,

1 13
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
favor to those wh o worship him and p ays no ,
” 1
heed to th e o ff erings la i d be fore him .

An d wh a t o f reincarnat i on ? I t i s generally
b elie v ed tha t Egypt i s p re eminently the l and of
p alingenesi s and metemp sychosis Nothing o f .

the sort : n ot a single E gypti an text alludes to

such matters I t i s tru e tha t on becoming Osi
.

ris the soul h a d the p ower o f a ssuming any

shap e ; bu t this i s not reincarn ati on p roperly s o
called the expi atory and pur i fying reincarn a
,

tion o f the Hindus All tha t we h a v e b een .

able to learn in thi s connection i s b ased princi

p ally o n a p assage o f H erodotus which o h ‘

,
“
s er v es th a t the E gyptians were the first to a f
fi rm tha t the s oul o f man i s immortal C on .

t i n u a lly from one li vi ng creature a b out to die

,

i t p asses into another in th e a ct o f birth and ,

wh en i t h a s traversed th e wh ole t er r es t i a l ,

a qu atic and a ér i a l world i t re turns once more

, ,

to introduce itsel f into a human body Thi s cir .

cula r tour l asts for three thousand years We .

h a v e here a the ory which various G reeks more ,

o r less of ou r peri od h ave approp ri ated to ,

themselves I know their n ames b u t I will not

.
,
” 2
place them on rec ord .

In the s ame wa y all tha t touches on the f a,

1
S h rp
a e, E g y p t i n In scr i p t i o
a ns
”
; 1, P la te 4 .

2 Her o d tu ; II
o s , 12 3 .

1 14
 C HAPTE R IV
PE R S I A

ERSI A will n ot detain us long for i ts relig ,

i on i s undoubtedly a refl ecti on o f Vedism ,

or mor e probably i t reveals a common origin

, , .

Eug én e Bu r n o u f and Sp i eg el h a v e indeed proved

“ ”
tha t certain p arts o f the Avesta are as old a s
“ ”
the Rig Veda -
.

M a zdeism or Zoroastri anism would thus a p

pear to be an adap tation to the I rani an mentality
o f Vedism or o f Aryan traditions ( Atlantean
, ,

the theosophists would say ) even older than

Vedism During the B abylonian captivity i t
.

permeated Ch a ld ei sm and exerted a pro found

influence on the r eligi on o f the Jewish nati on
—
.

We owe to i t among other things as they

,

found thei r way into the Judo Christi an tradi -

—
ti on the concep tion of the immortality of the
,

soul the j udgment of th e s oul the las t j udg

, ,

ment th e resurrecti on o f th e dead purgatory

, , ,

the beli e f in the e ffi cacy o f good works as a

means of salvati on the revocability o f penalties
,

and rewards and all our angelology

, .

Zoroa stri anism sought to s olve more exactly ,

th a n the other religi ons o f antiquity the prob ,

1 16
 P er si a
lem of e vi l by making evil a sep a r ate god per
, ,

p et u a l ly warring against the go o d god Bu t .

this dualism i s m o r e app arent than real Ahura .

M azda o r Ormaz d ( Ormu z ) the absolute ,

and universal B eing the Word the omnip otent , ,

and omniscient Spiri t the Reality p recedes and , ,

dominates Agr a M a i n y us or Ahriman who is

—
-
,

non Reality that i s to say he i s all tha t i s

-
,

bad a n d deceptive being in hi s darkness i g n o r ,

ant o f everything ; seeming a s greatly inferior

to Ormazd a s the devil i s to the G o d of the
Christians ; app earing on th e whole merely a s , ,

a sort of mimic aping divinity clumsily imita , ,

ting its creations but able to produce only ,

vices diseases and a f ew m a lefi cen t creatures

,

who will b e annihilated in the tremendou s v i c

tory of good ; for th e end o f the world in the ,

Zoroastri an system is but the regeneration of ,

creation However we are not told why D r

; ,

mazd the s upreme god is obliged to tolerate

, ,

Ahriman who i t is true does not p ersoni fy es

, , ,

s en t i a l or absolute evil but the evil necessary ,

to good the darkness indisp ensable to the mani

,

f es t a t i o n o f light the reaction which follows ,

action the negati v e pr i nciple or p ole which is

,

opposed to the p ositive in or d er to assure th e ,

li fe and equilibrium of the Universe .

M o r eo v er Or m a z d himsel f i t seems obeys

'

, ,

necessity or a natural law that i s strong er than

,

he ; a b o v e all he obeys Time whose decrees ,

1 17
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
are Destiny for excep ting Time s ays the
, ,
“ ” “
Ul ema all things are created and Time is
, ,

the Cre ator Time in i tself displays neither

.

summi t nor foundations ; i t h as been always

and will alw ays be An intelligent person will
.

not ask Whence comes Time ? nor i f there was

,
” 1
ever a time when this p ower wa s not .

I t would b e interesting to examine this reli

gion from the p o i nt o f view o f its co n t r i bu
tions to Chri sti anity which b orrowed as much ,

from i t a s from B rahmanism and Buddhism ;

perh ap s even more We ought also to co n s i .

der i f only in p assing its ethical system which

, , ,

i s one o f the l oftiest pures t and most n obly , ,

human tha t we know of Bu t this examination .

would e x cee d the sco pe o f our inqui r y We .

owe to ancient Persi a for example the w on , ,

d er f ul conception o f the conscience a sort o f ,

divine p ower existing from all eternity inde

, ,

p endent o f the m ateri al body taking n o p art ,

in th e error s which i t sees committed remain ,

ing pure amid the worst ab errati ons and a c ,

comp anying the s oul o f man a fter his death .

And the soul o f th e upright man when crossing ,

th e bridge Tch i n v a t o r the bridge o f Ret r i bu

,

ti on s ees a dvancing to meet i t a young girl o f

,
”
miraculous beauty Who art thou ? demands
.

“
th e astonished s oul ; thou wh o s eem es t to me
more b eaut i ful and more magnificent than any
D m t t
ar O m d t Ah i m ; p 3
es e er , r az e r an . 20 .

1 18
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
rived his theory of i dea s supposing that
,

everything h a s a double li fe first in thought

,

and secondly in reali ty .

Let me add tha t a phenomenon analogou s to

that which we h ave already found a t w ork in
Indi a i s here s een to repea t i tself : wha t was
publi c and obvi ous i n M az deism gradu ally b e
came secret and wa s reserved solely for thos e
initi ated into wha t the G reeks and the Jews
( especi ally in their cab ala ) h a d borrowed from
it
.

120
 CHAPTE R V
C HA LDE A
—
HALDEA that i s to say B abyloni a and
—
Assyr i a is like Pe r si a th e land of the
, ,
,

M ag i and is commonly regarded a s the classi c

home o f occultism ; but here again a s we saw in ,

the cas e of Egypt the legend is ha r dly i n agree

,

m ent with the historic reality .

It seems a priori tha t Chaldea should p os

sess a p ecul i ar interest for u s ; n ot b ecause i t
i s likely to teach u s anything that we have not
learned from Indi a Egyp t or Persia to which
, , ,

i t was tributary but because i t was prob ably

,

the prin cip al source of the cab ala which was ,

i tself the grea t fountainhead from which the

occultism of the middle ages a s it has come ,

down to us wa s fed
, .

I t was hoped tha t the disco v ery o f the key

—
to the cunei form inscriptions a disco v ery
scarcely more than fi fty years old and the — ,

deciphering of th e inscrip ti ons o f Nineveh and

B abylon would result i n valuable revelations
,

concerning the mysteries of the Chaldean reli

gion But these inscriptions which date from
.
,

2 0 0 0 3 7 0 and in one instance ( p r eser v ed in

, 5 ,

12 1
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
the B ritish Museum ) 4 0 0 0 years before Ch r ist ,

and whose interpreta ti on moreover i s far more

uncertain an d controversi al t h an that o f th e
hieroglyphs or the S anskrit texts have yielded ,

u s only royal b iographies inventories of con ,

quests incantatory formul ae litanies and

, , ,

psalms which served a s models fo r th e Hebrew

p salms From these w e p erceive th a t the
.

b asis o f the very primitive religion of the Su

mirs or Sumeri ans and the A cca d s o r A cca ” ‘ ’

dians wh o p eopled lower Ch aldea be fore the

S em i tic conqu es t wa s on e of magic and sorcery .

Thi s wa s followed by a naturalistic polytheism ,

which the c onqu ering S emites les s civilized ,

than those whom they h ad conquered adopted ,

in p art until ab out two thousand years b e fore

, ,

our era h aving won the upper hand they grad

, ,

u a lly reduced the primitive gods to the rank

o f mer e a ttributes of B a al the supreme divi ,

mity th e sun god

,
-
.

These i nscriptions then h ave taught us noth

—
, ,

ing concerning the secret i f there i s a secret

-
o f the Chaldean religi on and have not con ,

tributed anything o f any value to the in forma

tion already in ou r p ossessi on thanks to cer ,

tain fragments of B erosus wh ose accuracy they ,

h ave more than once enabled us to ver i fy

\ B erosus a s th e reader may remember was a
, ,

Chaldean a s t r o m er a priest o f B elus in B aby

—
,

l on wh o abou t the yea r 2 8 0 B C shortly

,
. .
,

12 2
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
ture when she attemp ted to create p roduced
, ,

a t firs t anomalous monsters unable to repro

duce themselves As for their astrology a c
.
,

cording to Professor S ayce the learned p r o f es ,

s or of Assyri ology a t Oxford it seems to be ,

chiefly based on the axi om p o s t h o c er g o pr o p

,

t er h o c; which i s to s ay that when two events o c

cur in sequence the second i s regarded a s the r e
sult o f the first ; hence the care with which the
a strologers used to observe celesti al pheno
mena in order tha t they might emp i r i cally fore
tell the future .

To sum up we a re v ery imperfectly a c

,

q u a i n t ed with the o ffi cial religi on of Assyri a

and B abylonia whose gods app ea r to b e rather
,

barb ari c Th i s religi on does not become more

.

enlightened or more interesting until a fter th e

conquest o f Cyrus which brought i nto the coun
,

try the Zoroastri an and Hindu doctrines or ,

confi rmed and completed those th a t had i n all ,

probability already found their w ay into the

,

secrecy o f the temples ; for Chaldea ha d a l

ways been the grea t crossroads o n which the
theologies of Indi a E g yp t and Persi a were
, ,

o f necessity wont to meet Thus i t was tha t .

these doctrines found their way into th e B ible

and the cab ala and thence i nto Chr i st i an i ty
, .

But a s far a s th e orig i n o f religion i s con

cerned we must admit tha t th e authentic docu
,

ments recently discovered teach us v irtually

124
 C h a l d ea
nothing and that all tha t has b een said o f the
,
(

esoterism and the mysteries of Chaldea is based

'

merely up on legends or wr i t i ngs that a r e no

t o r i o usly apocryphal.

125
 CHAPTE R VI
G REE C E B E FORE S OC R AT ES

O complete this b ri e f survey o f the primi

—
t iv e religions this inquiry into the ori
f G —
gin s o th e rea t Secret we must not over
l oo k th e pre Socrati c theogony
-
.

B efore the class i c p eri od th e G reek p h i lo s o

p h er s o f whose w orks we p ossess only muti
—
,

l ated fragments Pythagoras Petronius Hip ,

pas a s Xen o p h a n es Anaximander Anaximenes

,
l
, , ,

Heracl i tus Alcm aeon Parmenides o f Elea Leu

, , ,

cippus D emocri tu s Emp edocles Anaxagoras

—
, , , ,

were already in the ridiculous and un co m f o r

table si tu a tion i n which the Hebre w cab alists
and th e occultists o f the middle ages found
themselves abou t fi fteen to twenty centuries
l ater They seem like the latte r to have ha d
.
, ,

a p resentiment o f the existence or th e dim tra ,

diti on o f a religion more ancient and o f a

,

nobler character than their own which ha d r e ,

plied o r h a d endeavored to reply to all th e

, ,

anxious questions a s to divinity the origin and ,

th e purp ose of the world etern al B ecoming ,

and imp assive B eing ; the passage from chaos

to the cosmos ; the emergence from the v as t
12 6
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
h as been sai d th at the G reeks h ad no co n cep
tion o f the d i v i n e Absolute ; and this i s true but ,

o f a l ater p er i od In the beginn i ng the i r con

.

cep t i o n s
, as ye t under the influence o f my s t e
r i o us traditi ons were completely p ermeated by
,

this s ense of the Absolute which had o ften led

,

them by the p aths o f reason alone far higher

, , ,

and perhap s nearer to the truth than their ,

more cap able successors who h ad lost i t .

Bu t withou t sp eaking in detail of th ei r grop

ings a fter a ligh t o f which they ha d s ome vagu e
intuition or which wa s buri ed deep in the a n
,

c es t r a l memory o r in myths which were no

longer understood ; withou t speci fying the con

t r i but i o n of e ach o f the G reek philosophers ,

which would involve explanations interesting

enough bu t o f disp rop ortionate length we shall ,

merely note the essential p oints o f agreement

with th e Vedic and Brahman theories .

X en oph anes the fi rs t unlike the p oets a f

, ,

fi rmed the existence o f a s ole immutable and , ,

“ ” “
eternal god . God h e s aid is not b orn for
, , ,

He could not be born s ave o f His like or o f ,

His contrary ; two hyp otheses o f which the fi rst

i s fu tile and the second absurd One cannot
, .

call Him infinite nor yet finite ; for i f infinite

, ,

h aving nei ther middle nor beginning n or end ,

H e would b e n othing a t all ; and i f finite He

12 8
 G r eec e B ef o r e S o c r a tes
would be encomp assed by lim i tati ons and would
cease to b e One For like reasons He is nei .

ther a t r est nor in mo v ement In short one .

,

cannot a ttribute to Hi m any characteristics but

” 1
negati v e ones This is really tantamount to
.

admitting in other words that He is a s un

, ,

knowable as the First C ause o f the Hindus .

This accep tance o f the Unknowable is more

clearly formulated by X enophanes in another
passage
“
N 0 on e understands no one e v er will under
'

stand th e truth concerning the gods and the

'

things which I teach I f any one did happ en to .

come up on the abs olute truth he would never be

aware o f th e encounter Nowhere do we find .

”
anything more than prob ability .

Might we not repe at to day what the -

founder of the Eleati c school a ffi rmed more

than twenty fi v e centuries ago ? Was there
-
,

here a s elsewhere an infiltration o f the primi

, ,

tive tradition ? I t is prob able ; in any case the ,

fi li a t i o n is clearly p roved in other p articulars .

The O r p h i cs whom we find a t the legendary

and prehistoric source of Hellen i c p oetry and
philosophy wer e really a cco r ding to H er o d o ,

tus Egypti ans We h ave s een on the other

?
, ,

hand that the Egyptian religi on and the Vedi c

,

religion h ave probably a common origin and ,

1
A lb ert
Ri va d n , L e P r obleme d a D ee i n i r ; p . 10 2.
2 He o d t u ; II
r o s , 81.

12 9
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
tha t i t is for the moment imp ossible to say
which i s the more ancient N o w the P y th a g o .

reans borrowed from the O r p h i cs the wander

ings o f the soul and the seri es o f p u r i fi ca t i o n s .

O thers h ave taken from them the myth o f

Di onysus with all i ts consequences ; for D i o ny
,

sus the child god slain by the Titans whose

,
-
, ,

heart Athen e saved by hiding i t in a b asket and ,

who wa s brought to li fe again by Jupiter i s ,

Osiris K rishn a Buddha ; h e i s all the divine

, ,

incarnati ons ; h e is the god who descends into

or r ather mani fests himself in man ; h e i s ,

Death temp orary and illusory and reb irth a c

, , ,

tu al and immortal ; he i s the temporary union

with th e divine tha t is bu t the prelude to the
final uni on the endless cycle o f th e eternal
,

B ecoming .

3
Hera clitus who wa s regarded a s the p h i lo s o
,

pher o f the mysteries explains th e n a ture o f ,

“
this cycle On the p eriphery o f the circle
.

” 1 “
the beginning and the end are one Divin .

“
ity i s itsel f s ays Augu ste Di es th e origin
, ,

and the end of the individual li fe Uni ty i s .

divided into plurali ty and plurality i s resolved

into unity bu t unity and plurality are contem
,

p o r a n eo u s and the,
emanation from the
b oso m o f the divine is a ccomp an i ed by an
1 H er a cli t us, 10 2 .

13 0
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
repuls i on hat red ; the force of attraction a f ,

f ect i o n
. These forces exist from all eternity .

“
Th ey were they will be and never to my
, , ,

thinking will unending time contrive to throw

,

them o ff Now plurality resolves by the a id

.
,

of love into unity ; and n o w unity in hatred

, ,

and stri fe divides itself into plurality

, .

Bu t whence comes this du ality in unity ?

Whence arise the opp osing principles of a t t r a c

ti on and repulsion o f h atred and love ? Em
,

p ed o cles and his school do not tell us They .

merely state tha t in divisi on repulsi on or h a , ,

t r ed there is decadence but in attraction in the

, ,

return to unity and love there i s ascent or ,

reascen t ; and thus the Hindus re ferred the idea

o f decadence o r down fall to matter and the ,

idea o f reascensi on and return to divinity to ,

the spirit Th e confession of ignorance is the

.

same and s o i s the means o f eme r ging from

,

hatred and escaping from m atter In th e first .

place there i s purification during li fe a puri ,

“ ”
fi ca t i o n entirely sp iritu al Blessed i s he
.
,
“
says the philosopher A g r i g en t es wh o acq uires ,

a treasury of divine i dea s ; bu t woe to him wh o

ha s but a h a z y concep tion o f the gods .

Here again and above all we have p u r i fi ca

ti on b y successive reincarn ations Empedocles .

goes further than the Vedic religion which con

— —
,

fi rms itsel f a r all events until M anu s time to ’

the reincarnation o f man in man He like the .

,

13 2
 G r eec e B ef o r e S o c r a t es
Pythagoreans accep ts metempsychos i s : that is
, ,

the p assing of the soul into animals and even ,

into plants whereby i t is led by a series o f

,

ascents b ack to the divinity from which i t

,

emerged and into which i t enters and is reab

,

sorbed a s i nto the Hi ndu Nirvana

, .

4
I t is perhaps o f interest in this respect to
note th a t a s in the Vedic and Egypti an doc
, ,

trine there i s n o question of external rewards

,

and punishments I n the pre Socratic metem .

-

psychosis a s i n Hindu reincarnation and before

,

the tribunal of Osiris the soul j udges itsel f and ,

automatically s o to sp eak awards itself the

, ,

happiness or the misery which is its right .

There i s no enraged and venge ful deity no ,

speci al place o f damnati on set aside f o r mis

cr ea n t s or for expiation
, We do not expi ate .

our sins a fter death because there is no death , .

We expi at e them only in ou r lifetime by our ,

lives : or rather there i s n o expiation ; only the

scales fall from ou r eyes The soul is happy .

or unhappy because it does or does n o t feel

that i t is in its prop er place ; bec a use i t can o r
cannot a ttain th e h eight which i t h op ed to con
quer It is aware o f its di v inity only in s o fa r
.

a s it has understood or understands G o d .

Stripped of all tha t wa s m ateri al all that ha d ,

b linded i t it perceives i tself suddenly on the

,

I 33
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
farther shore just as i t was though un
, ,

known to i tself on the hither side O f all its

, .

p ossessions o f i ts h appiness or its fame noth

, ,

ing i s le ft bu t its intellectual and moral a c

q u i s i t i o n
. s For in i tself i t i s nothing more
than the thoughts which have p ossessed it and
th e virtu es which i t ha s practised I t sees i t .

sel f a s i t is and ca tches a glimpse o f what it

, .

might h ave been ; and i f i t i s not satisfied i t

“ ”
tells itself I t mus t all be done over again ;
,

and o f i ts own free will i t returns to life a im ,

ing a t a higher mark and re emerging happier

'

and o f greater s tature .

5
On the whole in the theology and the myth s
,

of the pre Socratic peri od a s in the theologies

-
,

and the myths o f the religions which preceded

them there i s n o hell and n o heaven In the
, .

underground caverns of h ades a s in the mea d ,

ows of the Elysian fields there are only the ,

ph antoms the astral m a n es the E gypti an dou

, ,

bles th e inconsistent relics of our discarnate

,

shades The instruments of their torment or

.

the accesso r i es o f their p ale felicity are but

evi dence o f identity by th e aid o f which like
, ,

the vagu e interlocutors o f ou r spiritualists ,

they seek to make themselves known Here .

,

j ust as in Indi a hell is not a place bu t a state

,

13 4
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
ephemeral perversion i ts light w as ne v er lost
, .

And th a t is why we feel beneath all these ,

myths behind all these doctrines which are

, ,

s ometimes so contradictory the s ame optimism , ,

or a t all events the s ame ignorant confidence ;

for the mos t ancien t secret o f mankind i s really
a blind stup endous confidence in the divinity
,

from which i t emerged withou t ceasing to

form p art o f i t and to which i t will one day r e
turn.

There are st i ll many p oints o f contact which

might well be singled ou t ; for example the ,

atomi c theory which contains some ex t r a o r d i

,

nary instances o f intuition Leucippus and De .

m o cr i t us in p articular taught tha t the gy m

tory movement of th e spheres exi sts from all
eternity and Anaxagoras developed the theory
,

o f elemental vortices which th e science o f our

own days i s rediscovering Bu t wh at we h ave .

j ust recorded will doubtless appe ar su ffi cient .

For the r es t in this philosophy which i s only

, ,

too generally regarded a s a tissu e of absur d ities

and puerile sp eculations w e are dealing with,

mos t o f the great mysteries tha t perplex h u

mani ty On examining it more closely we find
.

in i t s ome o f the most wonderful e ff orts o f h u

man reason which s ecretly sustained by the
, ,

truth contained in certain cloudy myths a p ,

p r o a ch es the probable and the plausible more

closely than most of our modern the or ies .

13 6
 G r eec e B ef o r e S o c r a tes

6
We may supp ose tha t the most imp orta nt
.

p arts o f this theosophy and philosophy namely , ,

those wh i ch tre ated of the Supreme C ause and

the Unknowable were gradually neglected and
,

forgotten by the classic theos ophy and philos

o p h y and became as in Egyp t and India the
“

, , ,

secret o f the hi eroph ants forming together , ,

with more direct oral traditions the f o un d a ,

tions o f the famous G reek mysteries and no ,

tably of the Eleusini an mysteries wh ose v eil ,

ha s never been pierced .

Here again th e last word o f the grea t secret

mu st h ave been the con fession of an invincible
and invi olable ign orance At all events what .
,

eve r negative and unknow able elements may

already have existed in the myths and the philos
o p h y o f which h e was constantly being r e

minded they were enough to destroy for the

, ,

initiate th e gods a dored by th e vulgar while

, ,

a t the same time h e came to understand why

a doctrine so perilous for those who were not
in a position to realiz e its exalted nature ha d
to remain occult There was prob ably no more
.

than this in the supreme revelation b ecause ,

th ere is prob ably n o other secret tha t man

might concei v e or possess ; that there never can
have existed nor ever will exist a formula tha t
, ,

will give us the key of the uni v erse .

I 37
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
B u t ap art from this con fessi on which must ,

h ave seemed overwhelming or o f the nature o f ,

a releas e i n accordance with the quality o f the

,

recipient s m i nd i t i s probable tha t the neo

’
,

phyte was initi ated into an occult science o f a

more p ositive n ature such a s tha t possessed by
,

th e Egyptian and Hindu priests Above all he .

,

must h ave been taught the methods of a ttain

ing to uni on with the divine or to immersion in ,

th e divine by means o f e cstasy or trance I t i s .

p ermissible to supp ose tha t this ecstasy wa s o b

t a i n ed by the a id o f hypnotic methods ; bu t these
methods were those of a hypnotism far more
exp ert and more fully developed than ou r own ,

in which hypnotism properly so called magne ,

t i sm mediumship spiritu alism and all the mys

— —
, , ,

t er i o u s forces O di e and otherwise o f the sub

conscious s elf which were then more fully un
,

d er s t o o d than they are to day were commingled

-
,

and set to work .

The writer whom many p ersons regard a s

—
the greatest theosophist o f ou r day Rudolph
—
S teiner pro fesses a s we shall see later on to
, ,

have rediscovered the means or one o f the ,

means o f producing this ecstasy and o f plac

, ,

ing one s sel f in communicati on with higher

’

spheres o f existence and with G o d ,

.

13 8
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
ways hesita te might h ave been more definite
, ,

more clearly expressed less wrapped in form al

,

i ti es and more compl ete and might h ave pu t

, ,

those wh o received i t on their gu ard against

th e fallacious appearances and the necessary
lies of the offi ci al theogonies and mythologies .

S t i ll , a t a certain level there was n o esoter i c

cosmogony theogony or theology no secret
, , ,

code o f morality In this connection a s we

.
,

h ave j ust s een the primitive religions le ft noth

,

ing unexplored ; n ot s o much a s a s hadowy

corner where the l overs o f mystery the i n v es ,

t i g a t o r s o f the unknown might take re fuge

—
.

Thei r eth i c i s from the fi r s t o r s eems to b e

from th e firs t for we kno w n othing o f the
,

th ousands o f years during which i t was elab o

r ated—the lo fti est and most pe rfect tha t any
man could hope to practi se I t h as p assed .

through every ordeal has attemp ted and ,

climb ed every mounta in in its way Where i t

—
.

h as p assed and i t has p assed everywhere and ,

ab ove a ll ov er the mos t rugged pinnacles

n othing i s left to b e gleaned We a re still .

hundreds o f centuri es b eneath i ts attainments

on th e heights o f a b r eg a t i o n good will pity ,
-
, ,

s elf s a cr i fi ce and absolute self devotion ; and

-
,
-

most o f all in th e s earch for wh a t Novali s

140
 G r eec e B ef o r e S o c r a tes
called our transcendental me —that i s the
divin e and etern al p art o f our being .

As for the sanctions they too went to the ,

extreme the utmost th at the mind can conceive ;

,

for emanating from the Unknowable they

, ,

could not withou t contradicti on attribute to

, ,

this Unknowable any sort o f will wh atever .

They were consequently bound to place within

us the rewards and punishments o f a system of
morali ty which could only have come into b eing
within us Here again there was not the least
.

r oom for any occult doctrine .

There remains t h e riddle o f the ori g in of

evil the a pparen t antagonism o f spiri t and mat
,

ter the necessity o f s acrifice p ain and expia

, , ,
~

tion H ere again under p ain o f contradicti on

.
, ,

the occult traditi on could not b ase anyth ing on

the unknowable I t ha d s i nmly to admit pro .
,

visionally the least materi al explanati on o f the

,

esoteric religions which regard matter and ,

darkness division and sep aration n ot a s evil

, ,

in themselves bu t as transitory states of the

,

one and eternal substa n ce a pha se of the u n ,

ending flux and reflux o f B ecoming from which ,

one should strive to emerge a s quickly a s might

be in order to attain the spiritu al state or
,

phase In thi s connection it had not and o f

.
,

course could not h ave had a more s atisfying

,

doctrine In any case no echo o f such doctrine

.

ha s co me down to u s and it is p rob a b le that i t ,

14 1
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
once more c ontented itsel f with em p hasi z ing
the con fusion of i ts invinci ble ignorance .

9
—
H ere then a re the points and they are the
mos t imp ortant—o n which the es o teric doctrine ,

i f there wa s in the beginning such a doctrine ,

must necessarily b e confounded with the publ i c

teaching of the primitive religions i f considered
fairly near their origin I t i s probable a s I .
,

h ave already s aid tha t this teaching di d not

,

assume a secret character until very much later ,

when the o ffi cial religions were extra ordinarily

complicated and pro foundly corrupted Eso .

t er i s m wa s then bu t a return to the or i ginal

purity j ust a s in G reece th e pre Socratic doc -

—
,

trines which were whatever may have been

—
,

s aid of them obv i ously o f Asi atic origin b e

,

came the teachings o f the mysteri es I t i s .

therefore all bu t certa i n tha t the occultists o f all

times and nations knew a s little o f them as we
do But there are other spheres i n which they
.

seem to have h ad traditi ons which the o ffi ci al

r eligions do not appear to have handed down
to u s and whose secret the successors o f the
,

grea t ad epts of Indi a Egypt Persi a Chaldea, , , ,

and G reece with t h e cabalists the N eo p la t o

, ,

mi sts the G nostics and the Hermetics o f the

, ,

middle ages h ave more or less unsuccess fully

,

sought to rec over .

14 2
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
tha t the meri di an o f the pyrami d—the line run
ing n orth and sou th p assing through i ts apex
i s the ide al meridian ; th at is i t i s tha t which ,

crosses the greates t amount o f land and the

smallest amount o f sea and i f we calculate ex ,

a ct ly the area o f h abitable terri tori es i t will ,

b e found to divide them into two strictly equal

h alves On the other hand i f we multiply the
.
,

height of the pyrami d by one million we obtain ,

the distance from the earth to the s un or ,

kilometers which is within ab ou t , ,

one milli on kilometers the distance which mod ,

ern science ha s finally a dopted a fter long r e ,

s earch and dangerous expedi tions to distant

lands and thanks to the progress o f celestial
,

photography .

The well known a stronomer Clark has calc a

-

lated from recent measur ements the polar r a

, ,

d i u s o f the earth H e m akes i t .

meters Now this i s p recisely the cubit of the

.

pyramid builders o r -
meters multi , ,

plied by ten millions Next on dividing the .

,

side o f the pyrami d by the cubit used in its

constructi on we have th e length of the side
,

real year ; th a t is the time which the sun r e ,

quires to return to the same point in the sky ,

.

Then i f we multiply th e pyramid builders

,
’

inch by one hundred millions we shall obtain ,

the distance which the earth travels I n its orbit

1 P .
5 . ci s eq .

144
 G r eec e B ef o r e S o c r a tes
in one day of twenty four hours the a pp r o x i -
,

mation being closer than our modern measures

— —
the yard or the meter would p ermit o f our
making Lastly the entrance passage of the
.
,
-

pyramid pointed to ward the pole star o f the

peri od ; it mus t therefore have been orientated
wi th reference to the precession o f the equi
noxes according to which phen omenon the
,

celesti al p ole returns coincid i ng with the same

,

stars a fter the lapse of

, years .

We s ee then tha t as Abb é M oreaux tells

, , ,
“
us all these conquests o f m odern science are
,

found in the G r eat Pyramid in the form of

n atural dimensions , measured and always cap a ,

ble of measu r ement n eeding only opportunity,

to shine forth in broad daylight with the met

r i ca l meaning c ontained in them .

I t i s imp oss i ble to attribute these ex t r a o r

d i n a r y data to mere co i nc i dence They prove .

tha t the E g yptian priests in geography mathe , ,

m a t i cs geometry and astronomy possessed

, , ,

knowledge that we are b arely beginning to r e

conquer and ther e is nothing to tell us tha t
,

this e nigma tic pyramid does not contain a host

o f other s ecrets which we have not yet dis
covered But the strangest most disconcert
.
,

ing fact is that none o f the innumerable hiero

glyphs that h ave been deciphere d nothing i n , ,

deed to be found in the whole literature of

,

ancient Egyp t ma k es any allusion to this ex

,

I 4S
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
knowledge I t i s ob v iou s e v en
tr a o r d i n a ry .

tha t the priests s ought to conceal it ; the sacred

or pyramidal cubi t the k ey to all s cientific meas
,

u r em en t s and calculations was not employed ,

in every day use ; and all this miraculous knowl

-

edge coming whence n o one knows was deliber

, ,

a tely and systematically buri ed in a tomb and

prop ounded a s a riddle or a challenge to the
future centur i es D o es not the revelation of
.

such a mystery du e merely to chance permit

, ,

u s to suspect that many other mysteri es o f vari

ous sorts are awaiting the h azard of a similar
revelation in the same pyrami d or in other
,

monuments or in the s acred writings ?

In the meantime i t is a fter all highly prob
, ,

able that the Egypti an p riests taught the M agi

o f Chaldea the secret o f wha t Eli p h a s Levi
”
c alls a transcendental pyrotechnics and tha t ,

both were acqu ainted with electrici ty and had

means o f producing and directing i t a s ye t un
known to u s Pliny in fa ct tells u s th a t
.
, ,

Numa who was initi ated into the mysteries of

,

th e M agi understood th e art o f creating and

,

directing the lightning and tha t h e su ccess

,

fully empl oyed his terrible b attery against a

monster known a s Volta which was d ev a s t a t
,

ing the R oman C ampagna Forestalling the .

inventi on o f the telephone the Egyp ti an priests,

were able we are told to send instantaneous

, ,

messages from temple to temple no matter ,

14 6
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
by trickery and conjuring and which astonish ,

the most skep tical the most suspicious o f tra v

,

l
e er s .

Have they in reserve as they claim yet other , ,

secrets notably thos e that enable them to

,

manipulate certain terrible and irresistible

forces such a s th e intra molecular energy or
,
-
,

th e formidable and inexhaustible forces o f

gravi tation or o f the ether ? Thi s is p ossible
, ,

but less certain I t is rather di ffi cult to under

.

stand why in cases o f u rgency when there

, ,

h as been a qu esti on o f li fe or death they have ,

never resorted to them Indi a like E gyp t .

, ,

Persia and Chaldea h a s s uffered terrible i n

, ,

v a s i o n s which not only threatened her civiliz a

ti on destroyed her wealth burned her sacred

, ,

books and massacred her inhabitants but als o

, ,

a ttacked her gods viol ated her temples and

, ,

exterminated her priests Yet we do not dis .

cover tha t she ever turned a supernatural

weap on against her aggress ors I t may be o b .

j ec t e d th at because o f the enormou s exp anse

of the territories invaded the invasi ons were
never complete ; tha t the las t initiates might
h ave fl ed before them taking re fuge in inac ,

cessible mountains ; moreover th at as their king

dom was not o f this world they did not feel
tha t they h a d the right to employ their super
t er r es t i a l p owers for a fundamental axi om o f
,

the highest knowledge forbids its employment

14 8
 G r eec e B ef o r e S o c r a tes
in pursuit o f materi al profi t ; and thi s too i s
possible I t i s none the less a fact tha t the
.

Bri tish domination o f Tibet and above all ,

the entry into that country o f C olonel Young

husband s expedition struck a v ery palpable
’
,

blow a t the prestige o f their occult knowledge .

Until 19 0 4 in fact the occu l tists had r e

, ,

garded Tibet a s the l ast re fuge o f their sci

ence In Tibet , according to them there were
.
,

vast undergrou nd libraries conta i n i ng i n n umer ,

able books o f which some dated back to the

,

prehistor i c t i mes of the Atla n teans ; and in these

the su preme and immemor i al revelations were
recorded in tongues known only to a few adepts .

I n t h e heart o f her l amaseries swarming with ,

thousands of monks Tibet maintained a college,

of super i or i n i t i ates a t the head of which was

,

the initi ate o f initiates the incarnation o f G o d ,

on earth th e dalai lama

,
-
.

N 0 Europ ean it wa s sa id h ad ever v iolated

, ,

the s acred territory o f Tibet ; which by th e ,

way wa s n ot quite correct for in 1 6 6 1 in

, ,
.
,

17 1 5 ,and in 17 1 9 two or three Jesuits and a

few C apuchins h ad found th eir w ay into the
country In 1 7 60 a Dutch traveler made a
.

stay in Lhasa and in 1 8 13 an Engl i sh man

,
.

Then in 1 8 4 6 the missionaries Huc and G obet

, , ,

disguised a s lamas contrived to slip into the

,

149
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
country Bu t since then despite many perilous
.
,

attempts of which th e latest and best known

,

was th a t o f Sven Hedin n o explorer had suc ,

c eed ed in reaching the holy city One may say .

,

there fore th a t of all the countries in the world

,

Tibet was the most mysterious the most illu ,

sive .

On the announcement o f the s acrilegious ex

p e d i t i o n strange happ enings were anticip ated by
th e world o f occultists I remember the con .

fi d en ce th e serene certainty with which one

,

of the sinceres t and most learned of them told

me e arly in th e year 1 9 0 4 :
, They do not
know wh at they ar e a ttacking They are .

ab out to provoke in this place o f re fuge the

, ,

most terribl e powers It i s virtually certain.

tha t th e l ast o f the trans Himalayan a dep ts -

possess the secret o f the formidable etheric

or sidereal force th e ma s h ma k et of the A t
,
-

l a n t ea n s th e irresistible ur i l of which Bulwer

,
f

Lytton speaks : tha t vibratory force which a c ,

cording to informati on contained in the Astra ‘

Vidya can reduce a hundred thousand men and

,
’

elephants to ashes as e asily a s i t would reduce

a dead ra t to p owde r Extraordinary things .

a re abou t to h appen They will never reach

.

the invi olable P o t a la l

A n d wha t happ ened ? Nothing wh atever ;
at l eas t nothing o f wh at was anticipa ted
,
.

After long diplomatic negoti ations in which ,

15 0
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
villas a barracks with innumerable windows
, ,

and certain American sky scrap ers The dalai

-
.

lama the thirteenth incarn ation o f divinity

, ,

the Buddhis t pope the spiri tu al father o f s i x

,

hundred millions o f souls ha d shame fully taken

,

to fl ight and made good his escap e Th e con .

vents and s anctu aries swarming w i th monks

—there were more than thirty th ous and o f
,

—
them indi ff erent and resigned were explored ;
,

bu t n othing w as found save the relics of the

noblest religion ever known to mankind finally ,

rotting and dwindling into pu erile superstiti ons ,

mechanical pr ayer wheels and the most de

-
,

p l o r a bl e witchcra ft.And thu s collapsed the

final re fuge o f mystery ; thus were surrendered
to the profane the ult i mate secrets of the
ea r th .

15 2
 CHAPTE R VII

THE G N O S TIC S A N D THE N E O P LAT ON I ST S

EA VI N G a side Plato and his school ,

whose theori es a r e s o well known tha t

we need not recall them here we shall now ,

leave the comp aratively limpid waters o f the

primitiv e religi ons to enter the troubled eddie s
which succeed them As the simple and awe
.

inspiri ng concep tions whose very altitude hid

them from v iew were los t to sight those which ,

followed them and were but their shatter ed

,

or distorted refl ections became more turbid and

,

incre ased in number I t will suffi ce to p ass

.

them rapidly in review ; for to j udge by what

we know or rather by wha t we know tha t we
,

cannot kn o w they no longer h ave very much

,

to teach u s and can but fruitlessly confuse and

,

complicate the confession o f the less knowable

and the consequences which proceed therefrom .

B efore the r eading o f the hi eroglyphs the ,

discovery o f the sacred books of Indi a and

.

Persia and the labors of our own scientifi c

,

m et a p sy ch o lo g i s t s the only sources o f occult

,

ism were the cab ala and the writings o f th e

G nostics and Neoplatonists of Alexandria .

15 3
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
I t i s not very easy to loc ate the cab ala
”
chronologically The Se fer Yez i r eh a s we
.
,

know i t wh ich i s a s i t were the entrance to the

,

cab ala seems to have b een wr i tten about 8 2 9

,
“ ”
A D and the Zohar
. .
, which i s the temple
, ,

abou t th e end o f the thirteenth century Bu t .

many o f th e doctrines which i t teaches go back

very much further : namely to the B abyloni an ,

cap tivi ty ; and even to th e bondage o f th e ‘

I sraelite s in Egypt From this point o f view

.
,

then we must place i t be fore th e G nostics and

,

the Neoplatonists ; bu t on th e other h and i t

h as borrowed s o much from the latter and
they have influenced i t s o greatly tha t i t is
almost imp ossible to speak o f it until we have
said s ometh i ng o f those to which i t owes the
best and the wors t o f i ts theor i es .

I t i s tru e tha t these Jewi sh trad i t i ons f o r ,

their p art mingled thei r abundant streams

,

with those o f t h e other O ri ental religi ons

which from the firs t century to the s ixth i n
vaded the G ree k and Roman theos ophy and
philosophy cau sing men to call in question and
,

to examine more closely the b elie fs and theo

ri es by which they had lived There wa s in .

the intellectual world and above all i n Ale x

,

andria wh i ther fl owed all races and all doc

,

trines a strange force o f curi osity restlessnes s

, , ,

15 4
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
our present purp oses it is enough to note tha t
from the p oint o f view o f the idea o f G o d o f ,

th e First C ause of the p re cosmic Spiri t o f the

,
-
,

absolute Reali ty which precede s all b eing

, ,

mani fes t o r co nditioned a s from the point o f ,

V iew o f the origin purp ose and economy o f

, ,

the universe and th e n ature of good and evil ,

i t teaches u s n othing th a t we h ave not found

in previ ou s religions and philosophies The .

mani festations o f the Unknowable th e divi ,

si on of the primordial Uni t y and the descent ,

o f spirit into substance are a ttributed to the

Logos ; they change their n ame without lessen
ing the surrounding darkness In the a ttemp t .

to find an explanation of the insoluble contra

dictions involved by an imp assive god and a
universe in incessant movement a n unknowable ,

god who is finally known in every detail a good ,

god who cre ates desires or p ermits evil men

, , ,

imagined first a threefold hypostasis and

, , ,

then a h ost o f intermedi ate divini ties demi ,

urges or reduplications of G o d eons or divine

, , ,

faculties and a ttributes p ersonified angels and , ,

demons In the backwaters o f these sp eci al

.

i z a t i o n s distincti ons and subdivisions subtle

, , , ,

ingen i ous and inextricable th e simple though

, ,

tremendous confession o f the Unknowable was

soon submerged by such a tide o f words tha t
i t was no l onger visible 1
B e fore long i t wa s
.

1
Th G n ti
e os cst g ht th t t h S p m B i g
au a P f t e u re e e n , or er ec

15 6
 Th e G n o sti c s an d th e N eo p l a to n i sts
completely forgotten was no longer re ferred ,

to ; and the Supreme Unknown engendered s o

many and so famili ar seconda r y d ivinities th at
i t n o longer dared to remind men tha t they
could never know i t O f course the greater .

the numbe r o f phrases and expl anati ons the ,

more completely were the primitive verities on ,

which all wa s founded e ff aced and obscured ; ,

so that a fter men h ad attained or regained , ,

in Philo and above all i n Plotinus the loftiest

, ,

summits of thought they descended on the , ,

one hand to the lucubrations of that Chinese

,
“ ”
pu zz le the famous P i s t i s Sophia attributed
,
-
,

to Valenti n i an and on th e o th ef to the pre

,

tended revelati ons o f I a mbli ch us concerning

—
the Egyptian mysteries revelations which r e
—
vealed nothing wh atever and the whole G n o s
t i c and N eo p l a t o n i c movement ended with the ,

s uccessors o f Valentinian and those who con

t i n u ed the work of Porphyry and Proclus by ,

sinkin g into the most pu erile l ogomachy and

the most vulgar wi tchcra ft .

We need not therefore consider the move , ,

me nt any further : not that t h e stu dy o f this

eff ervescenc e would b e devoid o f interest ; on
the contrary there are few moments o f history
,

Eo n , or, h l d y th Et l
as we s l d b pp r h d
ou sa , e er n a , co u e a oa c e

on ly by mb r f m ti
a nu e I o th r w r d
e ana on s or eo n s . n o e o s,

th w r r g r d d
es e e e t r l B i g wh
e a e t d i t r
as e e na e n s o ac e as n e

m di i
joi n
e

d et g
b t w th P r f t E
a r es

t h o f m
e d
e

t h P
er
een
f t
d m
B w —
or
ki d
T RANS
e

e
d b i ge
e
ec on

er ec
an
o
an n , an
.
, e n

I S7
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
a t which the mind has been forced to encounter
problems o f so novel complex and di ffi cult a
, ,

nature o r a t which i t ha s given p roof o f

,

greater power vitality and enthusiasm Bu t

, , .

wha t I h ave already s ai d o f this period i s

enough for my purpose which i s merely to
,

show that the occultists o f G reece and above , ,

all those o f the middle ages wh o interest us

, ,

more especially because they are closer to us ,

s o that our memory o f them i s more vivid h ave ,

n othing essential to teach u s that we have no t

already learned from India Egyp t and Persi a
, , .

15 8
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
th e fi rst degenerating into imbecile practices
,

o f black magic and sordid witchcra ft in which ,

i t i s impossible to take any interest .

The philosophical cri tical and scientifi c study , ,

o f the ca b ala like tha t o f Vedism o f the hiero

, ,

glyphs o r o f M a z deism is a thing only o f

, ,

yesterday B e fore Fr anck pu b lished his works

.

on the s u bj ect the cabal a was known only by

,

K norr von Ro s en r o t h s volume the K a b ba la

’
,

D en ud a ta published in 1 6 7 7 which in sur

, 1 ,
“ ” “
y eying th e Zoh ar examines only the B ook ,
” “
o f Mysteries and the G rea t Assem b ly tha t
is its obscurest p orti ons neglecting the text
, , ,

and giving only imp erfectly understood extracts

from the commenta tors Franck in his K a b .
,

la P h i l o s o p h i e R eli g i eus e d es H ebr eux,

'

b a la ou

which appeared in 1 8 4 2 , reproduced the com

p l e t e and authenti c texts for the fi rst time ,

translating them and commenting up on them .

J o é l and J elli n ck continued hi s researches dis ,

cu ssed hi s conclusi ons and corrected his mis

takes and the l atest interpreter o f these mys
,

t er i o us books S K a r p p e in his E t ud e s ur l es
, .
,

O r i g i n es et la N a t ur e d a Z o h a r returning to ,

th e proble m already prop ounded a nd going ,

back to the sources o f Jewish mysticism gave ,

u s in 19 0 1 a survey which enables u s to a d

venture without fea r on this p erilous and sus
p ec t soil .

The cabala from the H e b rew ka ba lla h

, ,

160
 Th e C a b a l a

which as al l th e dictionaries will tell you

, ,

signifi es tradition claims to b e a body of o c

,

cult doctrine coinc i dent with or rather com

,

p l em en t a r y to th e teaching o f the B ible or ,

the orthodo x doctrines o f the To r a h that i s ,

to say o f the Pentateuch transmitted o rally

, ,

from th e time o f M oses wh o is supp osed to ,

h ave received them directly from G o d until ,

a perio d which extends from th e ninth to the

thirteenth or fourteenth century o f our era ,

when thes e s ecrets whispered fro m mouth to ,

ear as the initi ates used to s ay were finally set

, ,

down in wri ting I t is i mp ossible to know h ow

.

far this claim is j ustifi ed for beyond the first ,

or second century before Christ the historical

traces which might connect the tradition that we
know with an e arlier traditi on a re absolutely
lacking We must therefore confi ne oursel v es
—
.

to taking t e wo volumes of the cab ala the

h t
“ ” “
Se fe r Yer i z a h and the Z o h a r — as we find ’’
r

th em a n d consider wha t they contained a t the

'

.
,

time when they were written .

“ ”
The Se f er Yer i z a h or B ook o f C rea ,

tion which wa s a t firs t a ttributed childishly

, ,

enough to the Patriarch Abraham and then

, , ,

without certainty to the R abbi Akiba is briefly

, ,

the work o f an unknown author wh o com

piled i t in the eighth or ninth century o f ou r
era .

To gi v e some i de a o f th i s wor k i t will ,

16 1
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
su ffi ce to transcribe a few p aragraphs o f the
fi rs t chap ter :
“
By thirty two voices o f marvelous wisdom
-

Yah Yeh o v a h Zeba oth the living G o d G o d

, , ,

the All Highest abiding forever whose name is

-
, ,

holy ( He i s sublime and holy ) s et forth and ,

created Hi s world in three books ; the B ook

p rop erly s o called the Number and the
, ,

Word .

“
Ten Sephiroth unassisted twenty two ,
-

letters o f which three are fundamental letters ,

seven double letters and twelve simple letters .

“
Ten Sephiroth unassisted con forming with,

the number o f ten fingers fi v e facing fi v e And

,
.

the alliance of the One i s exactly adap ted to

the middle by the circumcision o f the tongu e
and the circumci si on o f the fl esh .

Ten Sephiroth unassisted ten and not nine, ,

ten and n ot eleven Un derstand with wi s

.

dom and meditate with intelligence ; examine

them look into them deeply R efer the
,
.

thing to i ts light and set its author in his

place .

“
Ten Sephiroth unass i sted ; their measure is
the ten withou t end : profundity of beginning
and pr ofundity o f end ; profundity of good
and profundity o f evil ; profundity o f height
and profundi ty of depth ; pro fun d ity of east and
pro fundi ty o f west ; pro fundity o f north and
profundity o f s outh ; one s ole master G o d , ,

162
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
selves in all directions Then inst i l l ing i nto .
,

thes e elements the twenty two letters o f the -

alphabet including the three letters A lef M em

, , ,

and Sch i n ( no longer a s substantial elements ,

b u t a s letters ) and expressing the wh ole variety

,

o f words which result from these letters it ,

” 1
produces the entire multiplicity of th i ngs .

All th i s as we see reveals nothing o f great

, ,

i mp ortance ; and I should not h ave lingered

over these solemn tomfooleries were i t not tha t
“ ”
the S efer Yer i z a h enj oys a r epu tation among
occultists which h ardly s eems d eserved when
one looks into the matter and serves a s a ,
“ ”
p oint o f dep artu r e and a basis for the Zohar ,

which constantly refers to i t .

The occultists have ende avored to gi v e us

“ ”
the keys o f th e Se fer bu t I humbly con fess ,

tha t for m e these keys have op ened nothing .

After all i t is pro b able en ough a s K a r p p e s ays

, , ,

tha t thi s mysterious volume i s merely the work

o f a pedagogu e b ent upon concentra ting in a ,

v ery brief h andbook all the elementary sci ,

en t i fi c knowledge relating to reading and gram

m ar cosmology and physics the division o f

, ,

time and space anatomy and Jewish doctrin e ;

, ,

and that inste ad o f being th e work o f a mys

ti c i t i s rather a s ort o f encycl opedia a mnemo ,

technical enchiridion .

1 8 . K a r p p e, Et ud es s ur l es Or i g i n es et to N a t ur e d a Z o
har; pp 1 5 9 a n d 1 63
. .

1 64
 Th e C a b a l a

Th e “
Zohar —
which means light “
th e ,
“ ”
like the Sefer Yer i z eh is the fruit of pro ,

tracted mystical fermentation which goes b ack

“ ”
to a period when the Talmu d wa s not yet
completed ; th a t is be fore the sixth century ,

o f our era and above all during the period

,

known as G a oni c A ft er a some wha t lengthy .

eclipse this mysticism revived abou t the yea r

,

8 20 A D . and continued to mani fest itself in

.
,

the w ritings o f the great Jewish theologi ans ;

Ibn G a bi r o l Juda h a Levy Abn Ezra and
, ,
-
, ,

principally in those o f M aimonides Then

, .

directly p r ep aring for the cab ala comes the ,

school of Isa a c the Blind which is above a ll

—
,
“
metaphysical an abstraction o f the Neo
pl a ton i c abstracti ons as some one has de ,

scribed i t in which N a ch ma n i d es shone with

,

p articular brilliance ; then the s chool of Elea

z ar of Worms which gave speci al a ttention to,

the mysteries o f letters and numbers ; and the

s ch o o l o f Ab ula fi a which de v oted itsel f to pure
_
,

contemplation .

This brings u s to the Zohar properly so ,

”
called Like the B ible like the Vedas the
.
, ,
“ “
A v es t a h and the E gyptian B ook o f the
”
Dead this is n ot a homogeneous production
,

but the result of a slow process of incubation ,

the wor k o f numb ers of anonymous collabora

16 5
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
tors incoherent disconnected o ften co n t r a d i c
, , ,

tory in which one finds a little of everyth ing

, ,

o f the b es t a s well a s the wors t the loftiest ,

sp eculations b e ing followed by the most child

ish and extravagant irrelevances It is a col .

lecti on a s torehouse or r ather a b a z aar

, , ,

heaped p ell mell with everything tha t could not

-

find place in th e o ffi cial religion a s being to o ,

audacious too exalted too fantastic o r too

, , ,

alien to the Jewish spirit .

I t i s not easy to determine the date o f a

work o f this kind Franck to emphasiz e its
.
,

antiquity refers to i ts Chaldean form But a

, .

great many rabbis o f the middle ages wrote

Chaldean Aramaic I t w as then maintained.

tha t it was the work o f a T a n a i t e Simon ben ,

J o ch a i ( about 1 5 0 A bu t n othing.c o n fi r m
ing his authorship ha s come to light We find .

n o certain trace o f its existence b e fore the end

of the thirteenth century Th e most probable
—
.

the ory and th e learned K a r p p e reached this

conclusion a fter a long and minute d i scussion
—
o f all possible hyp otheses is tha t Moses de
Leon wh o lived a t the b eginning of the four
,

t een t h century most a ssuredly took a p art in

,
“
the compilati on o f the Zohar and i f he was ,
,

not its princip al author gathered into a single ,

whole a numb er o f mystical fragments com

—
,

m en t a r i es on the Scriptures resulting like s o ,

many other works o f Jewish literature from ,

166
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
contradictory descriptions H e i s sep arate .
,

since He i s superi or to all ; and He is not sep

a ra te He has a shape and is shapeless He
.
, .

ha s a shape in s o far a s He establishes the

un i verse and He h as n o shap e in so far as H e
,
” 1
i s n ot contained in i t .

B efore the un folding o f the universe He was

not or was but a questi on m ark in the void
,
- .

S o here we find a t the outse t the con fession of

absolute ignorance invincible irreducible , ,
.

Th e E n s of is bu t an unlimi ted enlargement o f

-

the Unknowable ; the G o d o f th e B ible is a b

s orbed and disappears in a v ast a b stract i on ;
h ence th e n ecessity o f s ecrecy .

Bu t i t was necess ary to make thi s i n co n cei v

—
a b le negati on impenetrable immob i le and , ,

,
—
eternal like th e Supreme C ause of the Indi an
rel i gions emerge from its non existence and -

its immobility and p ass from the infinite to the

fi nite from the invis i ble to th e visible ; and i t
,

i s here tha t the d i fli culti es begin G o d being .

infinite ( th a t i s filling all things how b eside

, , ,

the En sof the Infinit e is there room for the

-
, ,
“ ”
S of the fini te ? The Zoh ar is evidently em
,

b a r r a s s ed and its explanations lead it fa r from

,

the humble and awe inspiring simplicity of -

Hindu theosophy It i s loath to admit its i g n o

.

rance ; it wants to account for everything and , ,

grop i ng i n the Unknowable i t entangles itself ,

Z h ; III
1 “ ”
o ar 88 , 2 -
3 .

168
 Th e C a b a l a

in e xplanations which are o ften i r r econcilable ,

and when the ground falls away beneath its

feet i t h as recours e to allegories and meta
p h o r s to mask
, the impotence o f its conceptions
or to provide an app arent escap e from the
dilemma in which i t ha s placed itself For a .

moment i t asks itself whether it can a dmi t of

creation ex n i h i lo extending to this first act the
,

incomprehensible character o f the divinity ;

then i t seems to think better of i t and rallies
to the doctrine o f emanation which i t finds in ,

Indi a in Zoroas triani sm and in th e N eo pl a t o

, ,

mists . I t modifies their doctrine adap ting i t to ,

the Jew i sh genius and complicates i t to the u t

,
“

most wi thout succeeding i n explaining i t .

This theory o f emanation as expounded in

”
the Zohar i s indeed s trangely obscure un ,

certain and heter oclite lapsing every moment

, ,

into anthropomorphism .

To m ake room for the univers e G o d who , ,

filled space concentr ated Himse l f ; and in the

,

space left free He i rradiated His thought and

e x teri oriz ed a portion o f Him sel f This first .

em a n a t i o n o r irradi ation i s the fi rst Sephira ,

“ ”
th e Crown I t represents the Infinite h a v
.

ing moved one step toward the finite non ,

existence having taken one step toward exist

ence the firs t s ubstance From this first Se
, .

phi r a which i s still almost non existence but a

,
-
,

n o n e x istence more accessible to ou r i n t elli

-

169
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
gence emanate or develop two further Sep h i
,

roth : Wisdom the male principle and I n t elli

, ,

gence the female principle ; th at is on proceed

, ,

ing from the Crown the contraries app ea r the ,

fi rst diff erenti ation o f things From the union .

of Wisdom and Intelligence is born K nowledge ;

we h ave thus the pure Idea Thought ex t er i o ,
«

ri l ed and th e Voice or Speech which connects

,

th e first wi th th e second This fi rst Trinity .

o f Sephiroth i s followed by another : G race or

Splendor Justice or Severi ty and their medi a
, ,

trix B eauty Lastly the Sephiroth mingling

, .
,

in B eauty develop yet further and produce a

, ,

third group : Victory Splendor Foundation ; , ,

and then the Sephira Empire or R oyal t y which ,

brings into existence all th e Sephiroth in the

V i sible univers e .

Th e Sephiroth a s a whole moreover consti , ,

tute the mysteri ous Adam K a d m o n th e primor ,

dial super man o f whom the occultists will

-
,

have much to tell us and who himsel f r ep r e ,

sents the universe .

Thi s explanation o f the inexplicable like all ,

explanations of the s ort really explains noth ,

ing whatever and conceals the i n co m p r eh en s i

,

ble beneath a fl ood o f ingenious metaphors .

Obeying a s p reviou s religions h ad done the

, ,

necessity o f building a bridge between the i n

finite and the finite between the inconceivable ,

and concep tion instead o f contenting itsel f a s

, ,

17 0
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
answered by the theory of the nights and days
of B rahma without beginning or end the c a
, ,

bala does not give a very clear reply B efore .

”
G o d created this world i t s ays H e had , ,

created a gre at many worlds and had caused ,

them to disapp ear until the thought came to

” 1
h im to create this one Wh a t ha s b ecome .

“
o f these vanished worlds ? It i s the privi
” “
lege replies the cab ala of the strength o f
, ,

the Supreme K ing tha t these worlds which ,

could not take sh ap e do not perish ; tha t noth ,

ing p erishes even to the breath o f His mouth ;

,

everything h a s i ts place and its destinati on and ,

G o d knows wh a t H e doe s wi th it Even the .

sp eech o f man and the sound o f h i s voice do

n ot l apse into non existence ; everything has its
-

”
place and i ts dwelling .
2

And wha t o f our world ? Whither is it g o

i ng ? Wh at i s i ts destiny ? The Zohar being
a heteroclite production a very late compila ,

ti on i ts doctrine in thi s respect is much less

,

defini te than th a t of B rahmanism ; but i f de

t a ch ed from the illogical and alien elements
whi ch o ften cross or divert its course i t like ,

wise attains the stage o f pantheism and by way ,

o f pantheism i t a chieves the inevitable opti

mism The Em so f the Infini te is everything ;
.
-
, ,

consequently everything is the En so f To man -

.

Z h
1 “ ”
; III 6 b
o ar , 1- .

; II
2 “ ”
Z h o ar b , I oo - .

17 2
 Th e C a b a l a

i f es t i tself the pure abstraction develops i t

,

self by means of intermediaries and in its good ,

n ess voluntarily degrading itself ends in ,

thought and in matter which is the last deg

, ,

r a d a t i o n o f thought ; and when t h e Me s si ani c

era comes everything will return into its root

” 1
as i t emerged therefrom .

“
M an who in the Zohar i s the center of
,

the world and its microcosm may from the ,

moment of his dea th rej oice in thi s return to

per fection ; and his purified soul will recei v e
“
the kiss of p eace which unites it anew and
” 2
forever to its root its pr i nciple , .

“
And e v il ? Evil in the Zoha r as i n Br a h , , ,

“
manis m i s matter
-
, M an by his victory .
,

over evil triumphs over m atter or rather sub

, ,

ordinates the matter within him to a higher

vocation ; he ennobles matter making i t ascend ,

from the extreme point to which i t was rele

gated to the place o f i ts origin In him who .
,

i s the gre at consciousness matter acquires con ,

s ci o us n es s o f the distance that separates i t

from the Supreme G ood and strives to a p ,

proach the la tter Through man the darkness .

aspires toward the ligh t the multiple toward ,

the single The whole o f n a ture aspires to

.

ward G o d .

“
Through man G o d remakes Himself ha v ,

1 “Z o h r a
”
; III 9 6 , 2 .

2 “Z o h r a
”
; I 68,
-
a.

I 73
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
ing pas s ed through the whole splendid divinity
of living creatures Since man is an expression .

epitomizing all things when he h as o vercome ,

the evi l in himself h e h as overcome the evil

in all things ; h e draws with him a s h e climbs , ,

all th e lower elements and his ascent entails ,

” 1
th e as cent of the whole cosmos .

“
But why was evil necessary ? Why asks ,
“ ” “
the Zoha r i f the soul i s o f heavenly es
,
”
sence does i t descend up on the earth ?
, The
reply to thi s grea t problem which n o religion ,
“
h as given the Zohar in accordance with i ts
, ,

h abi t when emb arra ssed evades by means o f ,

“
an allegory : A king sent his son into the coun
try that he might grow s trong and sound there
and acquire the necessary knowledge A fter .

s ome time h e w as informed tha t hi s son was

n o w grown up ; tha t h e was a strong healthy ,

you th and tha t hi s educati on was completed

, .

He then because h e loved him sent the queen

, ,

herself to fetch him a n d bring him b ack to the

palace In the same way nature bears the
.

K ing o f the un i vers e a son t h e divine Soul and , ,

the K ing sends him into the country that is the , ,

t er r es t i a l universe in order tha t h e may grow ,

” 2
strong and gain in nobili ty and digni ty
,
.

The disciples o f R abbi Simon ben Zemach

Du r an one o f the gre a t scholars of the
,

1
S K a r p p e,
. o p . ci t ;
. p .
47 8 .

2 “
Zo a ”
h r
; I , 24 5 .

174
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
the doctr i ne o f transmigration ; th at is the ,

gradual purifi cation o f the soul by means o f

successive existences ; and it bases this doctrine ,

obvi ously b orr owed from the grea t religions o f

an earlier period on certain p assages o f th e
,

B ible ; among others on Ecclesiastes Chap IV

, , .
,
“
v 2
.
, in which we read : Where fore I praised
the dea d which are already dea d more than the
” “ ”
living which are yet alive Wha t i s meant .
,
“ ” “
a sks th e Zohar by th e dead which are a l
,
”
ready dead ? They a re those who have a l
ready died once b e fore this ; tha t is they were ,

n o longer b ound on their fi rs t pilgrimage

through li fe N ow i t is obvious tha t the doc
.
,

trine o f a puri fying transmigration must nec

es s a r i ly exclude eternal punishment .

5
”
The Zohar , then a s I have already ,

stated i s a vast anonymous compilation which

, ,

under th e pretext o f revealing to the initiate

the secret meaning o f the B ible and espec i ally ,

o f the Penta teuch decks ou t in Jewish cloth i ng

,

the con fessions o f ignorance o f the grea t reli

gions o f an e arlier p eriod lo ading these gar ,

ments with all the new and complicated a dorn

ment s p ro vi ded by the E ssenes the N eo p la t o ,

n i sts ,the G nostics and even the first few cen

,

t ur i es o f Christiani ty Whether i t admits the

.

fact or not i t i s in respect o f the most i m

, ,

17 6
 Th e C a b a l a

p ortant points plainly agnostic a s is Brah

, ,

manism Like B rahmanism i t is also p anthe

.
,
“ ”
i sti c . For the Zohar likewise the creation is
rathe r an emanation ; evil is matter di v ision ,

or multiplicity and good is the return to the

,

sp i ri t and to uni ty Lastly i t admits the trans

.
,

migration o f souls and their purification and ,

therefore K arma as well a s the fi nal a b s o r p

,

tion into the divine ; that is Nirvana ,

.

I t i s interesting to note tha t we have h ere for

—
the first time for other statements h ave not
—
come down to us a n esoteri c doctrine pro
claiming itsel f as such ; and this doctrine h a s
n othing more to teach us than that which we
were taught withou t reticence and without mys
t er y —
,

a t all events a t the outset —b y the prim

, ,

i t i v e religions Like th e la tter with its

.
,

wh olesale admissions and its expedients di ff er ,

ent i n form b u t identical a t heart for passing ,

from non existence to ex i stence from the i n

-
,

finite to the finite fr o m the unknowable to the

,

known i t follows the s ame r a t i o n a lli s t i c tra

,

dition that strives to explain the inexplicable by

plausible hyp otheses and inducti ons to which ,

we might give another shap e and othe r names ,

b u t which taking them on the whole we could

, ,

n ot e v en to day p erceptibly improve

,
-
, At .

most we might b e tempted to renounce all e x

planation whatsoe v er and extend our con
f essi o n of i g norance to incl u d e the sum tota l of
I 77
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
the ori gins the mani festati ons and the pur
, ,

p oses o f li fe Perhaps this would be the wisest

.

cou rse .

I t shows u s that i t i s highly prob able that

no secre t doctrine ever wa s or ever could b e
other than secret ; and that the loftiest revela
tions which we h ave ever been vouchsa fed were
always elicited from man by man himself .

The importance assumed by this secret doc

trine during the mi ddle ages m ay readily b e
imagined K nown only to a few initiates
.
,

wrapped up in incomprehensible formul a and

“ ”
images whispere d from mouth to e ar in th e
,

midst o f terrible dangers i t had a subterra ,

nean rad i ance a sort o f gloomy and irresistible

,

fascinati on I t surveye d the world from a far

.

l ofti er p oint o f vi ew than th at o f the B ible ,

which i t regarded a s a tissu e of allegories b e

hind which wa s hidden a truth known to i t
alone ; i t yi elded to m ankind through the ,

thickets of its fantasti c and p a rasitical vegeta

tion the last echoes o f the noble precepts o f
, ,

human reason at its dawn .

 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
r ecogn iz e one another and to exchange or pub
lish truths which me ant the constant threat o f
the stake bu t which to j udge by the explana
,

tions which have been o ffere d u s do not and ,

could n ot conceal anything tha t does not to

day seem p erfectly admissible and ino ff ensi v e .

Alchemy even which is still the most inter

,

esting dep artment o f medieval occultism i s ,

a fter all no mo r e than a camou fl age a sort o f ,

screen behind which the tru e initi ates used to

,
“
s earch for th e secret o f li fe The great
.

” “
task says Eli p h a s Levi was not properly
, , ,

sp eaking the secret of th e transmutati on of

,

metals which wa s an accessory result bu t the

, ,

uni v ers al arcanum o f li fe th e search for the,

central point o f tr a n f o r ma t i o n where light b e

comes matter and i s condensed into a w orl d
which contains in itsel f the principle of move
ment and o f li fe I t is the fixa tion o f as
.

”
tral light by a s overeign magi c o f the will .

And this leads us to the odi c or odylic phenom

ena o f which we shall spea k in a later chap
ter and puts us on the track o f thi s fixation
, .

Wha t is more in the eyes o f th e b igher ini

, .

t i a t es the s earch for gold wa s only a symbol

, ,

concealing the s earch for the divine and the

divine faculties in man ; and i t was only the i n
f er i o r alchemists wh o took literally the ca b a li s
tic instructions o f their conj uring books wore -
,

themselves ou t in the hope of solving problems ,

180
 T h e A l c h em i st s

an d ruined themselves in order to make ex

p er i m en t s which nevertheless resulted in the
progress of chemistry and in discoveries which
i n some respects tha t science has never yet sur
p assed .

On the other hand p eople are too ready to

,

suppose that the occultism of the middle ages

wa s pre eminently diabolic Th e truth is th at .

the initiates did not and could not believe in

the de v il since they did not accept th e Chris
,

tian revelation a s the church presented i t to

“ ”
them . No demons outside o f humanity w a s ,

one of the fundamental axi oms o f the higher

“
occultism . To attribute wha t we do not u n
” “
d er s t a n d to the devil s aid Van Helmont is
, ,
” “
the result of unlimited idleness One must .

not give the devil th e whole credit protested ,

Paracelsus .

Devils and evil s pir i ts fallen angels or the

,

s ouls o f the damned surrounded by eternal

,

fl ames will b e found crawling only in the dark

,

corners o f black magi c or witchcra ft The .

ph antasmagori a of n octurnal revels h ave too

often concealed from u s the tru e occultism ,

which was ab ove all though surrounded by

, ,

the incessant peril o f death and en compassed

by hostile shadows a ten t ative yet p assiona te
,

search for truth or a t least for a seemin g tr u th

, ,

18 1
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
for there i s n othing else in thi s world ; a truth
wh i ch h ad once shone a s a bea con through t h e
dar kness which w as p ossibly st i ll shining else
,

where bu t which wa s app arently los t s o that

, ,

only i ts preciou s but shap eless relics were t o be

found mingled with the dense dus t o f irritating
,

and dishea rtening falsehoods while the highest ,

talents were wasted in a thankless process o f

si fting and selecti on .

3
To d ismiss the questi on o f infernal spirits
the faith ful none the less believed in the exist
ence and intervention o f other invisible beings .

Th ey were convinced tha t th e world which es

capes our s enses is far more densely peopled
th an tha t which w e p erceive and that we a re ,

liv i ng in th e mids t o f a host o f diaphanous yet

a ttent iv e and acti v e presences which a s a rule ,

a ff ect u s without ou r knowledge bu t which we ,

can i nfluence i n our turn by a special tra ining

o f the will Th ese invisible beings were not
.

inhabitants o f hell since for the initia tes o f

,

the middle ages almost a s certainly a s for the

,

b elievers in the grea t religions in the days when

initi ation w as not yet necessary hel l was not a ,

place o f torture and malediction but a state o f

th e soul a fter death They were e i ther wan
.

dering disemb odied spirits worth very much

, ,

wha t they h ad been w orth during their li fe on

18 2
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
o f the human phantom expected by those pres
ent a t a modern s éance the belie v ers o f the
,

middle ages thought to see the de v il i n person ;

and the devil who haunted their minds app eared
to them as they imagined him .

I s a u tosuggestion responsible for these mam

f es t a t i o n s or collective suggestion or exud a
, ,

ti on or th e transference or crystalli z ation of

,

sp iritualized matter borrowed from the sp ect a /

tors w i th which i s intermingled s ome ex t r a ter

,

r es t r i a l and unknown element ? I f i t i s i mp o s

”

sibl e to di stinguish such an elemen t when we

are dealing with facts which occur b efore our
eyes i t would be all th e more audaciou s to
,

form a decisi on in the case of phenomen a which

occurred s ome hundreds o f ye ars ago and are
known to u s on l y through a more o r less p ar
ti al na rr ative .

4
Lastly alchemy and astrology the t wo r e
, ,

m aining p innacles o f occultism were in the o c , ,

cultism o f the middle ages s econd rate sciences ,

-

which from the point of V iew o f the G reat Se

,

cret do not o ff er any novel element their G reek

, , ,

Hebrew and Arab origin being connected with

,

Egyp t and Chaldea only by means o f a p o cr y

phal and comp aratively recent writings Pierre .

B erthelot in his work on L es Or i g i n es d e I A l

,
’

ch i mi e has given u s a masterly sur v ey o f the

,

1 84
 Th e A l ch em i st s

alchemi s t s sci ence H e has ex hausted the sub

’
.

j e ,c t or a t least the ch emical aspect of it ; but

his work might perhaps b e more co mplete from
the p oint o f V i ew o f h y p er ch emi s t r y or meta
e —
ch mistry o r o f psychochemistry which would ,

seem to be no less imp ortant I t is likewise .

g re atly to b e desired tha t s ome grea t a s t r o n o

mer philosopher should give u s in a work upon
-
,

a strology the p endant o f this admirable v o l

,

ume ; but hitherto the data have been so scanty

that the undertaking would hardly seem to b e
p ossible As much might be done for her metic
.

medicine which for that matter is connecte d

, , ,

with alchemy and astrology .

Bu t it is p o ssible that alchemy and astrology ,

which a fter all are merely transcendental chem

i s t r y and astronomy ( p r o f es s mg to transc end
matter and the stars in order to arri v e a t those
spiritu al and eternal principles which are the
essence o f the one and control the others ) ,

would have no su rp r ises or revelation s in store

for us i f we could go back directly to their
Hindu Egyptian and Ch aldean origins ; which
, ,

has not a s y et been practicable for we h ave ,

nothing to serve a s comp arison but the famous

Leyden Papyrus which is merely the memoran
,

dum book of an E gyptian goldsmith containing

-
,

f o r mulze for making alloys gilding metals dye , ,

ing stu ff s purple and imitating or a dulterating

,

gold and sil v er .

85
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et

5
.

Among the medieval oc cultists almost all ,

o f whom were alchemists we shall con fi ne our ,

selves to recalling the names of R aymond Lully

( thirteenth century ) d o c t o r
, i llu m i n a t us and

author o f th e A r : M a g ma to day almost un ,

-

reada b le ; Nicolas Fla mel ( fi fteenth centu r y ) ,

who a ccording to B erthelot is merely a char

l atan pure and simple ; Reuchlin ; Weigel B oeh ,

me s teacher ; B ernardo o f Treviso ; B asil Val

’

entin whose sp ecial subj ect o f investigation

,

was antimony ; the two Is aacs father and s on ; ,

“
T r i th em i us whom Eli p h a s Levi calls
, the
grea test dogmati c magici an o f the middle
”
ages although his famou s cryptographical
—
,

works h i s P o lyg r a p h i a or hi s S t eg a n o g r a
p h i a — consis t of a r ather puerile playing upon
words and letters ; and his pupil Corneliu s
Agripp a author o f D e O ccult a P h i lo s o p h i a
, ,

who simply recap itula tes the theories o f the

Alexandrian school and in Eli p h a s Levi s ,
’

“
words i s n o more than an audaci ous pro
,

faner fortuna tely extremely sup erficial in hi s

,
”
wr i tings We h ave stil l to m ention G u il
.

laume Postel a sixteenth century occultist who

, ,

wa s acqua i nted with G ree k Hebre w and Ara , ,

bi c w as a grea t traveler and brought b ack to

, ,

Europ e some important Oriental manuscripts ;

amon g others the works of A bo ul Feda the -
,

186
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
i sh tr aditions and the n arratives o f the Tal
”
mud and were followed by the Rosicruci ans
, .

I ought also to single ou t and consider a t

rather grea ter length two fantasti c and en i g
m a t i c a l figures who domin ate an d summariz e
all the occultism o f th e middle ages ; n amely ,

Paracelsus and J acob B oehme Bu t when we

‘
.

c onsider them closely we discover tha t what

ever the i r pretensions they did not deduce
,

from an unknown s ource the revelati ons which

they published and which so perturbed their
contemp oraries .

Philippus A ur eo lus Theophrastus Bo mb a s t es

Von Hohenheim known a s Paracelsus ( an a p
,

proximate translation o f Hohenheim ) was ,

b orn in Switzerland in 14 9 3 and died in Salz

burg i n He b ears the bu rden o f an un
j ust leg en d wh i ch represents him a s a drunkard
, ,

a deb auchee a charl atan and a lunatic H e

, ,
.

certainly h a d many faults and he seems a t

,

times to have been s omewh a t unb alanced ; none

the less he remains one o f the most ex t r a o r d i
n ary p ersons mentioned i n history He was .

a Neoplatonist and consequently was not i gn o

rant o f the Alexandrian writings accessible to
the hermetics o f hi s time ; bu t it is prob abl e tha t
during his travels in Turkey and Egypt he wa s
able to obtain a more direct knowledge o f cer
tain A si atic traditi ons relat i ng to the etheri c
o r astral body upon which h e b ased the whole
18 8
 Th e A l ch em i st s

of his medical theories He taught i n fact in .

, ,

accordance with the ancient Hindu treati ses

which h ave since then been brought to light
by the theosophists th at our maladies are
,

caused not by the physical b ody but by the

etheric or astral body which corresponds pretty
,

closely with what to day is termed the sub -

consci ousness and consequently tha t it was b e

, ,

fore all necessary to act upon thi s subconsci ous

ness Certain i t is that many facts in many cir
.

circums tances tend to confirm this theory and i t ,

may b e tha t the therapeutics of to morrow -

will lead u s in this direction According to .

Paracelsus even plants h ave an etheric b ody

, ,

and medicaments act not in V irtue o f their chem

ical prop erties but in V irtu e o f their astral
,

prop erties ; a n hyp othesis which would seem to

be corr ob orated by the comp aratively recent
“ ”
discovery o f the 0 d which we shall consider
,

in a la ter chap ter .

His conceptions relating to th e existence of a

univers al vital fluid the A k a h s a of the Hindus
, ,

which he called the Alkahest and o f the astral ,

light of the cabalists are als o among those to

,

which our modern ideas o f the preponderant

functions o f the ether are calling our attention .

I t i s obvious on the other hand that he o ften

, ,

exceeds all b ounds a s when h e carri es to alto

,

gether excessive lengths a childi s h sy s t em a t i z a

tion o f purely app arent or verb al concordances ‘

1 89
13
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
between certain portions o f the human b ody
and thos e o f medicin al plants ; while hi s asser
tions on the subj ect o f the Arch ai a sp ecies o f ,

speci al or individual j innee placed in charge o f

th e functi ons o f the vari ous organs and th e ,

fantasti c ch a la t a n r y o f his h omunculus are

equally inde fensible Bu t these errors were
.

i nherent in the science o f his day and are p os

s i b ly n o t much more ridi culous th an ou r own .

When all i s s aid there r emains the memory o f

,

a truly amazing pioneer and a prodigi ou s v i s

i onar y .

As for Ja co b B oehme the famous co bb ler o f

,

G oerlitz his case would be miraculous and a h

,

s o lu t ely inexplicable i f h e had really been the

illitera te that some h ave called him Bu t thi s .

l egend must decidedly b e ab andoned B oehme .

h ad s tudied the G erman theosophi sts n otably ,

Para celsus and was p er fectly famili ar with the

,

Neopl atonists whose doctrines indeed h e t e

, , ,

produced recasting them to s ome extent and

,

wr apping them up i n a more obscu re phrase

olo g y which none the less wa s o ften unexpected
,

and extremely impressive ; and mingling them

wi th the elements o f the cab ala and a certa i n
amount o f mystical mathematics and o f a l
chemy I re fer those who may b e interested
.

in t h is strange and a ssuredly brilliant though

—
v ery unequa l sp i ri t for hi s wor k i s full of n u
I 90
 C HAPTE R X

TH E M O DER N O CC U LTI ST S

EFO RE the di scoveries o f the I ndian i sts

E gyp tologists th e modern occultists
—
, ,

who with the exception o f Swedenborg a

—
,

great isola ted visi on ary may b e counted a s

descending from M artinez P a s qua li s who was ,

b orn in 1 7 15 and died in 1 7 7 9 ha d perforce to ,

study the s ame texts and the s ame trad i ti ons ,

applying themselves according to taste to the

, ,

cab ala or to th e Alexandri an theor i es Pas .

q u a l i s wrote n othing but left b,ehin d him the

legend o f an extraordinary magic i an His dis .

c i p le
, Claude de S aint M artin the Unknown
-
,
”
Philosopher wa s a sort o f intuit i ve t h eo s o
,

p h i s t, who ended by rediscover i ng Jacob

B oehme H is b ooks care fully thought ou t and
.
,

admirably written may still b e re ad with p l ea

,

sure and even with advantage With ou t lin .

gering over the C omte de Saint G ermain wh o -

,

claimed to r etain the memory o f a ll his p r e

v i o us existences C agli ostro the m i ghty illu
, ,

s i o n i s t and formidable charl atan the Marquis ,

d A r g en s Dom P er n et t y d Es p r émén i l La
’ ‘ ’
, , ,

19 2
 Th e M o d er n Occ u lti sts
va ter Ec k a rtshausen Delille de Sal l e the
, , ,

Abb é Terrasson B ergass e Clo o t z Court de

, , ,

G eb eli n or all the mystics who toward the end

,

of the eighteenth century were to b e found in

swarms in a ristocra ti c circles and the masoni c
,

lodges and were members o f the secret socie

,

ties which were prep aring the way for the

French Revolution bu t h ave nothing o f imp or
tanc e to teach us we may p ause for a moment ,

a t the n ame o f Fabre d Oli v et a writer o f the ’

,

fi rs t rank wh o h as given u s a new interpreta

,

tion o f the G enesis o f Moses audaciou s and ,

i mpre ssive B eing n o Hebre w schola r I am

.

not competen t to pronounce up on i ts valu e but ,

the cab ala seems to c onfirm i t ; and i t presents

itsel f surr ounded by an imp os i ng sc i entifi c and
philosophical equipment .

A n d we come to Eli p h a s Levi a n d his

n ow
“
book s with t hei r alarming titles : A Hi s tory
,
” “
o f M agic The K ey to the G rea t Mysteri es
, ,
“
D ogma and Ritu al o f the Higher M agic ,

Th e G rea t Arcanum or Occultism Unveiled , ,

etc the last master o f occultism prop erly s o

.
,

called of th at occultism which immediately pre

,

cede s tha t o f our m et a p sy ch i s t s who h ave def ,

f n i t ely renounced the cab ala G nosticism and , ,

the Alexandrians relying wholly on s ci entifi c

,

experiment .

19 3
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
Eli p h a s Levi whose tru e name wa s A lphonse
,

Loui s Constant was b orn i n 1 8 10 and died in

-
,

1 87 5 . I n a certain sense he ep i tom iz ed the

wh ole o f th e occultism o f the m i ddle ages w i th ,

i ts fumbling progress i ts half truths i ts de f

,
-
,

i n i t ely l i mited k now l edge i ts intu i tions i ts i r , ,

r i t a t i n g obscurities i ts exasperating reticences

, ,

i ts errors and prej udices Writing b efore h e .

had the opportunity or the inclination to p rofi t

by the princip al disco v eries o f the Egyp t o lo
gists and th e Indi anists and th e work o f con
temporary criticism and himsel f devo i d of all
,

critical spiri t he s tudi ed only the medi eval doc

,

u m en t s o f which we h ave spo k en ; and apar t

“ ” “ ”
from th e Sep h er Yer i z a h the Zohar ,

( which for
, tha t ma tter h e knew only from
, the
fantastical fragments in the K a bb a la D ena
“ ”
d a ta ) the Talmud
, and the B ook o f Re v ela
,

t i on h e appli ed himself by prefe r ence to the

,

most undeniably apocryphal o f these docu

ments In addition to those wh i ch I ha v e
.

”
mentioned hi s three bedside b ooks were the
“ ” “
Tr i smegistus and The Tarot
,
.

“ ”
Th e B ook of Enoch a ttributed by legend ,

to the p atri arch Enoch the s on o f Jared and ,

the father o f M ethuselah must actually b e as ,

signed to a date not fa r remo v ed from the b e

ginning o f the Christian era since the l atest ,

e v ent w i th which i ts author was acquainted was

19 4
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
symb ol i sm o f this religion a s Louis M én a r d
,

h a s ob served was already a dead letter to its

,

v ery pr 1ests .

”
As for th e T arot i t is according to the
, ,

occultists the firs t book written by human hand

,

and e arlier than the sacred books o f Indi a ,

whence i t is supposed to h ave made its way into

E gyp t Un fortunately n o trace of it has been
.

disco v ered in the arch ae ology o f these t wo coun

tri es I t i s tru e tha t an I tali an chronicle i n
.

forms us tha t the first card game which wa s ,

“
merely a V ulgari z ed form of the Tarot w as ,

impor ted into Viterb o in 13 7 9 by the S aracens ,

which betrays its Oriental origin A t all .

events in i ts p resent form i t does not go back

,

further th an Jacquemin G r i n g o n n eur an i llum ,

i n a t o r in the reign o f Ch arles VI .

I t i s obvi ou s tha t with such data Eli p h a s

Levi could not h ave any v er y i mp o r t a n t revela
tions to make u s He wa s moreover embar
.

r a ss ed by the ungrate ful and impossible task

which he had set himself in ende avoring to rec

o n ci le occultism with C atholic dogma But .

his scholarship in his own province is remark

able ; and h e often displ ays amazing intuition ,

in which he s eems to h ave come within sight o f

more than one disco v ery claimed by our meta
p sychists n otably in anything relating to me
,

d i um s the odic fluid the mani festati ons o f the

, ,

a stral body etc Further when he deals with

, .
,

19 6
 T h e M o d er n Occu lti st s
a subj ect which i s not purely chimer i cal and
—
is connected with pro found realities morality
—
,

for example or even politic s and when he

,

does not a s s o many occultists do wrap him

, ,

s el f up in wearisome implications which seem

.

a fraid o f saying too much though in reality ,

they betray only the fea r o f h aving nothing

a t all to s ay he sometimes contrives to write
,

admirable passages which a fter the ex a g g er

, ,

ated repute which they used to enj oy do not ,

deserve the unj ust oblivi on to which they are

app arently condemned to day -
.

3
O f th e school o f Eli p h a s Levi and followi ng ,

almost the same track we may reckon two con

,

s i d er a ble writers ; Stanislas de G uaita and Dr .

E ncausse b etter k nown by th e name of P a pus

, .

Theirs i s a r ather sp ecial case Two eminent .

scholars they h ave a pro found kn owledge of

,

cab alistic and G reco Egypti an literature and all

-
,

the Hermetism o f the middle ages They are .

likewise familiar with the works of the Orien

t a li s t s th e Egyp tologists and the theosophists
, ,

and the purely scientifi c i n v es t i g a t 1o n s o f ou r

occultists They know also tha t the texts up on
.

which they rely are a pocryphal and o f the

most doubtful character ; and although they
know this and from time to time proclaim i t
, ,

yet they start from thes e texts a s a basis ; they

I 97
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
hold fast to them ; they confine themsel v es to
them building thei r theori es up on them as
, ,

though they were dealing with authentic and

unassailable documents Thus de G uaita .

builds up the most important p ar t of his work

“ ”
on the Emerald Table an apocryphal work ,

of the ap ocryphal Trisme gistus h aving first de ,

cl a r ed : We shall n ot qu a rrel ove r the a ut h en

t i ci t y authorship or date o f on e o f the most
, ,

authori tative initiatory documents that have

b een handed down to u s from G reco Egypti an -

anti quity .

“
Some p ersist in seeing in i t merely the non
sensical work o f some Alexandri an dre amer ,

while others cla 1m th at i t is an apocryphal pro

du cti on of th e fi fth c entury S ome insist .

that i t i s four thous and years older .

“
Bu t wh a t does that m atte r ? On e thing i s
ce r tain ; tha t this p age sums up the trad i tions o f
”
ancient Egyp t .

I t i s not by any means certain seeing tha t ,

the authentic monuments o f the E gyp t o f the

Phara ohs off er u s absolu tely n othing to con
firm this mysteriou s summary and the writer s ,
’

”
Wh a t does that matter ? i s rather startling ,

referring a s i t does to the text which he ha s

made the keystone o f his doctrine .

P a p us for his p art devotes a whole volume

, ,
”
o f commentary to the Tarot in which he sees ,

1 St a n i s la s d e G ua i t a, L a Cl ef d e la M a g i c N o i r e,
‘
p . 1 19 .

19 8
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
H odgson who was sent ou t to Ind i a in
, 18 84

by the Society fo r Psychical Research especi ally

to conduct an inquiry into her cas e re v e a ls her ,

in a somewh a t unfa v orable light N ev er th e .

less a fter considering the documentary evi

,

dence I must admi t tha t i t i s a fter all quite

,

p ossible th a t the highly respectable Dr H o d g .

s on may himself h ave been the v ictim o f trick

ery more di aboli cal than tha t which he b e
li ev ed himself to h ave unmasked I k now .

tha t extensive plagi arism ha s been i m

p u t e d to M adame B l a v a t z k y and other
theos ophists ; in p art i cular i t is claimed that
“ ”
S inne t s Esoteric Buddhism and The
’

”
S ecret D oct rin e are the work o f one Palma ,

whose manuscrip ts a re supp osed to h ave been

bought by the fo u nders o f the Theosophical
S oci ety tha t they contain unackn owledged p as
,

s ages barely disguised from works wh ich h a d

, ,

appeared twenty ye ars e arlier over the signa

ture o f va r i ou s Europ ean occultists and n ota ,

b ly tha t o f Louis Lucas .

I shall not linger over these questi ons for ,

they seem to me fa r less important th an tha t

o f the secret and prehistori c documents and eso
t er i c commentaries up on which th e whole theo
sophi cal r evela tion is founded Whoever the .

author or authors may be I shall consider thei r ,

“ ” “
w ork a s i t is presented Isis Unveiled
. The ,
”
Secre t D octrine and the rest of M adame Bla
,

zoo
 Th e M o d er n Occu l t i st s
v a t z ky s
’
very numerous works form a s tup en
dou s and ill balanced monument or rather a
-
,
'

s ort o f colossal builder s y a rd into which the’

,

highes t wisdom the wides t and most ex cep

,

t i o n a l scholarship the most dubious odds and

,

ends o f science legend and history the most

, ,

impress i ve and most un founded hyp otheses the ,

most precise and most improbable statements

of fact the most plausible and most chimeri cal
,

ideas , the noblest dreams and the most i n co ,

h erent fancies are poured pell mell by i n ex -

h a us t i ble truck loads-

There i s in this accu
.

m ula t i o n o f materi als a considerable amount of

waste and fantasti c asserti ons which one r e
j e c t s a pri ori ; but i t mu st b e admitted i f we i n ,

tend to be imp a rtial th a t we als o find there

,

speculations which mus t rank with the most

impressive e v er conceived Their b asis is evi .

d en t ly Vedic or rathe r B rahman and V ed a n

,

tic and i s to be found in texts that have noth

,

ing occult abou t them Bu t upon the texts of .

the offi ci al Indianists the Theosophists have

superimp osed others which they claim are ,

purer and much more ancient and which were ,

provided and e x pounded by Hindu adepts the ,

direct inheritors o f the i mmemori al and secret

wisdom I t i s certainly a fact th at their writ
.

ings withou t revealing anythin g new as regards

,

the essential p oints o f th a t great con fessi on o f

ignorance which bounds the hori zon of the
20 1
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
ancient religions none the less prov i de u s with
,

a h ost o f explanati ons commentaries theories, , ,

a n d details which would b e extremely interesting

i f only they h a d b een subj ected before they ,

were o ff ered to u s to a historical and ph i lolog

,

i cal cri t i cism as s trict as tha t to whi ch those

Indi an i s ts wh o do not profess t o b e i n itiates
h ave subj ected thei r documents Un f o r tu .

n a t ely thi s i s n ot the case Let u s take for

.
,
“ ”
example the B oo k o f D zy a n ; that i s the
, ,

m yster i ous s lo ca s or stan z a s which fo rm the

b asis of the whole s ecre t doctr i ne taught b y
M adame B lava tsky I t i s represented a s b e
'

ing an archaic manuscrip t a collection o f spli t ,

p alm leaves rendered by s ome unknown pro

-
, ,

c ess i nvu lnerable to w ate r ai r or fi re and

, , , ,

wr i tten in a los t language in Si nz a r e arlier , ,

than S anskri t and understood only by a f ew

,
”
H indu adep ts and tha t i s all N ot a word .

to tell u s where this manu scrip t comes from ;

h ow i t h a s b een mi racul ously preserved ; wha t
S i n z a r i s ; to which of the hundred langu ages ,

which o f the five or si x hundred Hindu di alects ,

i t is related ; h ow i t i s written ; how i t can s t i ll

b e understood and translated ; wha t i s a p p r o xi
mately the p eri od from which i t dates etc No , .

a ttenti on h a s been p aid to these details I t i s .

always $ 0 O n e must believe a b are statement

. ,

without investigati on Thes e methods are o h

.

V i o us ly deplorable for i f the texts in questi on

,

20 2
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
expected ligh t whos e far spreading rays i llum i -

n ate regions of thought which are rarely f r e

q u en t ed to day-
In any
. cas e the work woul d ,

prove once again i f proo f were needed and

, ,

with unexampled lucidity the common origin ,

o f the concep tions which were formed by the

human ra ce long before history as we know i t
, ,

o f the gre at mysteri es which encomp assed i t .

We also find in i t s ome excellent and compre

h en s i ve tabulations in which occult knowledge
is con fronted by modern s cience and o ften
seems a s we must a dmi t to outstrip or excel
, ,

the l atter M any other things too we find in

.
, ,

i t thrown together a t r andom bu t by no means

, ,

deserving the contemp t with which we have for

s ome time pro fessed to regard them .

However it is not for me to write the his

,

tory o f theosophy or to judge it I have

, .

simply noted i t in passing since i t is the p en ult i,

mate form o f occultism I t will su ffi ce to add .

tha t the de fect s o f its original method h ave

been em phasiz ed and aggravated by Madame
Bla v a t z ky s successors With Mrs Annie Be
’

—
. .

s ant a remarkable woman in other respects

and with Leadbeater everything i s in the air ;
,

they build only in the clouds and their g r a t ui ,

tou s assertions incap able o f proof seem to

, ,

rain down thicker and thicker on every p age .

M oreover they seem to be leading theosophy

,

20 4
 Th e M o d er n O c cu l ti st s
into the p aths alon g which their early converts
hesitate to follow them .

These defects are especi ally aggravated and

revealed in all their ingenuousness by certain
wri ters of th e second ranks less skilful than ,

their masters in concealing them ; for example ,

in th e work o f Scott Elliot the histori an of

-
,
“ ” “ ”
Atlantis and The Lost Lemuri a Scott .

Elliot be gins hi s history of Atlantis in the mo st

rational and scientific manner He refers to .

historical texts which scarcely p ermit u s to

dou b t tha t a va st island one of whose ex t r emi
,

ties l ay not far from the Pillars o f Hercules ,

san k into the ocean and was lost forever carry ,

ing with i t the wonder ful civilizati on of which

i t was the home He corroborates these texts
.

by care fully chosen proofs derived from sub

marine orography geology chorography the
, , ,

p ersiste nce of the S argasso Sea etc Then ,

.

suddenly almost withou t warning re ferrin g to

, ,

occult documents to ch arts drawn on baked

,

clay and m i raculously recovered to revelations ,

o f unknown origin and to astral negatives

,

which h e claims were obtained in despite of

time an d sp ace and discusses a s though they
,

were on the same footing as historical and geo

graphical evidence he describes for u s in all
, ,

p articulars a s though h e were living in thei r

,

midst the cities temples and palaces o f the

, , ,

14 20 5
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
A tlanteans an d th e whole o f their political ,

moral religious and scientifi c civiliz ation i n

, , ,

cluding in his b ook a s eries of detailed maps of

—
fabulous continents Hyp erborean Lemuri an
—
, ,

e tc which dis app eared

. or
or years ago and are here outlined
,

with a s much minuteness and a ssurance a s

though the dra ftsman were de aling with th e
contemp orary geography o f B rittany or Nor
mandy .

Th e h ead o f an independent or dissid ent

branch of theosophy a scholar a philosopher
, , ,

and a most interesting visionary o f whom I

— —
,

h ave already sp oken Rudolph Steiner em ,

~

ploys almost the same methods ; but he does

a t le as t attemp t to explain them and j ustify
them .

Unlike the orthodox theos ophists he i s by ,

n o means content with revealing discussing , ,

and interpreting th e secret and s acred b ooks o f

th e Or iental tradition ; he is able to find in him
sel f all the truths contained in these books .

“ ” “
I t i s in the soul he declares th a t the mean
, ,
”
ing o f the universe i s revealed The s ecret .

o f all things is within us since everything i s

,

within u s and i t i s a s much in us a s i t wa s in

,
“
Chri st .The Logos in unceasing evolution
, ,

in mill i ons o f human personal i ties was diverted ,

206
 Th e G r eat S ecr et
disp ersed through sp ace and time and even ,

wi th th e divinity he must by means o f spiritual

, ,

exercises methodically cultiva te and develop

,

certain organs o f th e a stral body by which w e

see and hear in men and in things entities th a t
, ,

never appea r on the physical plane Th e prin .

ci p l es o f these exercises a t least a s regards

,

thei r spiri tu al portions are evidently borrowed

,

from the immemorial p ractices of the Hindu

“
Yoga and in p articular from the Sutra o f
,

P a t an ja li Thus Steiner tells u s th at the as

.

tral organ which i s supposed to lie in th e neigh

b o r h o o d o f th e l arynx enables u s to see the
th oughts o f other men and to throw a search
ing glance into the tru e laws o f natural pheno
mena Similarly an organ supposed to li e nea r
.

the heart i s s aid to be the instrument whi ch

serves to in form u s o f the mental states o f
others Whosoe v er h as developed this will b e
.

enabled to veri fy the existence o f certain deep

seated energies in plants and animals In the .

s ame w ay the sens e supposed to have its sea t

in the pi t o f the stomach is said to perceive the
faculties and talents of men and also to detect
the p art which animals vegetables stones , , ,

metals and atmospheri c phenomena play in the

,

economy o f nature All this h e explains mi

.

n u t ely a t gre at length with all tha t relates to

,

the development tra ining and organi zation o f

, ,

t h e etheri c b ody and the vision o f the Higher

,

20 8
 Th e M o d er n O cc u l t i st s

Self in a volume entitled Ini ti ation or the

, ,
” 1
K nowledge o f the Higher World .

When we read this dissertati on on the state -

o f trance which is by the way a remarkable

, , ,

work from more than one p oint o f V iew we a re ,

tempted to a sk whether the author has suc

ceed ed in avoiding the danger against which he

warns his disciples : whether h e ha s not found

“
himself in a world created in every detail by
”
his own imagin ation M oreover I do not .
,

kno w whether experiment confirms his asser

tions I t is p ossible to test them His meth
. .

ods are simple en o ugh and unlike those o f , ,

the Yoga p erfec tly inoff ensive But the spiri t

, .

u al tra i ning must take place under the d i r ec

ti on of a mast er wh o is not always easy to find , .

In any case i t is p ermissible to co n ceive o f a

,
“ ”
sort o f secondary state p ossessing a d v a n ,

tages over that o f the hypnotic subj ect or the

somna mbulist or the medium which would b e ,

productive o f visions or i ntui t ions very di ff erent

from those a ff orded us by our senses or ou r
intelli gence in their normal state A s for .

knowing whether these visions or intuitions cor

respond with realities o n another plane or in
other worlds this is a question which can b e
,

dealt with only by those wh o have experienced

them M ost of the grea t mystics h ave had
.

1 R d lph St i n
u o e er , L ’
I n i t i a t i on , T r a n s Jules
. S a uer wei n ;
pp . 188 et s eq .

20 9
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
vi sions or i ntuitions o f this k ind spontaneously
but they do not possess any real interest unless
i t can be proved that they a r e exp erienced by
mystics who are truly and absolutely illiterate .

Such i t i s maintained were Ja cob B oehme the

, , ,

cobbler theosophis t of G oerlitz and Ruys ,

broeck l A d m i r a b le the old Flemish monk who

’
,

lived in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries .

I f their revelations really contain no un co n

scious reminiscences o f wha t they h ave read ,

we find in them s o many analogies with the

teaching which l ater b ecome esoteric o f the
, ,

grea t primitive religions th a t we should be ,

compelled to believe tha t a t the V ery roots

o f humanity or a t its topmost height thi s
, ,

teaching exists identical latent and unchange

, , ,

able corresponding with s ome obj ective and

,

univers al truth We find notably in Ruys

.
, ,
“
b r o eck s
’
Ornamen t o f the Spiritual E s
” “ ”
p o u s a l s ,in his B ook o f the Supreme Truth ,
“
and his B ook o f the K ingdom o f Lovers ,

whole pages which i f we suppress the Christi an

,

phraseology might have been written by an a n

,

ch o r i t e o f the early B rahmanic p eriod or a

N eoplatonis t o f Alexandria On the other .

hand the fundamental idea of B oehme s work

,
’

i s the Neoplatonic conception o f an unconscious

” “
divinity or a divine nothingness which grad
, ,

u a lly becomes consciou s by obj ecti fying itself

and reali z ing i ts laten t V irtualities But .

2 10
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
d i ff ers from the orthodox theosophists except ,

up on one p oin t which may appea r more or less

,

essential ; instea d o f making not Buddha but

—
, ,

Bu ddhas tha t i s a succession of revealers or

—
,

intermediaries the centers o f spiritual ev o lu

tion h e a ttributes the leading p art in this evo
,

lut i o n to Christ synthesizing in Him all the

,

divinity distributed among men thus making ,

Him th e supreme symb ol of humani t y seeking

the G o d Who slumbers in i ts soul This is .

a de fensible opinion i f we regard i t as he a p ,

p ears to do from the allegorical standpoint

, ,

but i t would b e very di ffi cult to maintain it

from the histori cal p oint o f V i ew .

Steiner applied his intuitive methods which ,

amount to a species o f transcendental p sy ch o m

et r y ,to reconstituting the history of Atlantis
and revealing to u s wha t is h appening in the
sun the moo n and the other planets H e de
, , .

scribes the s uccessive transformations o f the

entities which will become men and h e does ,

s o with such a ssurance tha t w e ask ourselves ,

having followed him with interest through pre

li m i n a r i es which denote an extremely well
b alanced logical and comprehensive mind
, , ,

whether he h as suddenly gone mad or i f we are ,

dealing with a h oaxer or with a genuine clair

voyant D oubtfully we remind ourselves tha t
.

the subconsciousness which ha s already sur ,

prised us s o o ften may perhaps h ave in store

,

2 12
 Th e M o d er n Occu l t i st s
for us ye t further surprises which may b e as
fantasti c as those o f the Austri an theosophist ;
and having learned prudence from experience
, ,

we re frain fro m condemning him w i thout a p

pe a l .

When all i s ta k en into account we reali z e

once more a s we lay his works aside what we
, ,

realized a fter reading most o f the other mys

“
tics ; tha t what he calls the grea t drama o f the
knowledge which the ancients u sed to per form
”
a n d to li v e in their temples o f which the li fe
, ,

death and resurrection of Christ a s o f Osiri s

, ,

and K rish na i s only a sym boli c interpretation

, ,

should ra the r be called the grea t drama o f

essential and inv i ncible ignorance .

2 13
 CHA PTE R XI

T H E M ETA P SYC H I STS

E come now to the occultists o f to day -

,

wh o are no longer hierophants adepts , ,

initi ates or seers bu t mere investigators a p

, ,

plying to the study o f abnormal phenomena

th e methods o f exp erimental science Thes e .

phenomen a may b e noted on every hand by

any one who displ ays a li ttle vigilance Are .

they exclusively du e to the unknown p owers

o f the subconsciousness or to invisible en t 1t 1es
,

which are not a re n ot yet o r a re no longer

, ,

human ? Herein resides the grea t interest ,

one might s ay the whole interest o f the prob ,

lem ; bu t th e s olution is still uncertain although ,

the tendency to look for i t in another world

than ours i s becoming more marked ; and the
conversi on to spiritualism of scientists pure and
s imple, such as Si r Oliver Lodge or more ,

recently Pro fessor W J Crawford is not wi h

, . .
,
t

out signifi cance in this respect .

I shall not return in these p ages to the spiri t

messages the phantasms o f the living and the
,

2 14
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
to ev i l from the absolute to th e relative from
, ,

the e ternal to th e ephemeral from the invisible ,

to th e visible from immobili ty to movement

, ,

and from the virtu al to the a ctu al ; and to find

in all these incomp rehensible things a theogony ,

a cosmogony a religion and a morali ty a little

, ,

less hopeless than the obscurity whence man

ha s striven to draw them .

H aving learne d wisdom from innumerable

dis appointments they h av e resigned them
,

selves to a more modes t function In the .

heart of a science wh i ch by the very n ature o f

its investigation has almost inevitably b ecome
m ateri a listic they have p atiently conquered a
,

little i sland on which they give a sylum to phe

n o m en a which the laws or rather the h abits o f
,

matter a s we belie v e ourselves to know them

, ,

are not su fli ci en t to e x plain They have thus .

gradu ally succeeded i f n ot in p roving yet in

, ,

prep aring u s to accep t the proo f tha t there i s ,

in man whom we may regard as a sort o f sum

,

mary of t h e universe a sp iritu al power othe r

,

than tha t which proceeds from his organs o r

hi s ma teri al and consciou s mind ; which does
not entirely dep end o n the existence of his
b ody We mus t admi t tha t the island thus
.

won by ou r occultists who a re now assuming

,

the name o f m et a p s y ch i s t s is a s ye t in co n s i d
,

c rable disorder One sees upon i t all the con

.

2 16
 Th e M et a p sy ch i sts

fusion o f a recent and provisional settlement .

Thither day by day the conquerors h ea r the i r

discoveries great or small unloading them and
, ,

heaping them pell mell up on the beach There

-
.

the doubtful will be found beside the i n d i sp ut

able the excellent by the worthless while th e
, ,

beginning i s con founded with the end I t .

would seem to be time to deduce from this ,

abundance a nd con fusion o f materials a few ,

general l aws which would introduce a little o r

der into their midst ; bu t i t is doubtful whether
thi s could be a ttempted a t the present moment ,

for the i nventory is not yet complete and one ,

feels tha t an unexpected disco v ery may call

th e whol e p osition in qu estion and upset the
most care fully constructed theories .

In the meanwhile one might try to begin at

the beginning Since the phenomena recorded
.

tend to prove tha t the spiritu al p ower which

emanates from man does not entirely d epend
on his brain and h i s bodily life i t would be ,

l ogical to sh ow m the first place tha t thought

, ,

ma y exist withou t a brain and did a s a matter

, ,

o f fact exist before there w a s such an organ

,

a s the brain . I f one could do this then sur ,

v i v a l a fter death and all the phenomena attrib

u t ed to the subconsciousness would become a l

most natural and a t all events far more cap

, ,

able of explanation .

2 17
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et

3
Th e grea t obj ection which the materi alists
have always brough t against the spiritu alists ,

and which they still advance though to day ,

-

with less assu rance than of old may be ,

“
summed up in thes e words : N o thought with
”
ou t a brain The mind o r s oul is a secre
.

ti on o f the cerebra l tissues ; when the brain dies

though t ceases and nothing i s left
, .

To thi s formidable obj ecti on to these state ,

ments app arently irrefutable since our daily

, ,

experi ence o f the dead is continu ally confirming

them the occultists have not hitherto been able
,

to oppose any re ally s eri ous argument .

They were a t bottom fa r more de fenseless

, ,

than they dared to a dmi t But for s ome years .

now the investigations o f ou r m et a p s y ch i s t s ,

from which we h ave not a s yet deduced all the

consequences h ave provided u s i f not with
, ,

unanswerable arguments which i t may b e we ,

shall never find a t least with the r aw material

,

which will enable u s to hold our own against

the materi alists ; no longer ami d the clouds of
religi on or metaphysics but on their own terri
—
,

tory whose sole ruler i s the goddess the

—
,

highly respectable goddess o f the exp er i m en

tal method Thus ab ove the centuri es we
.

once more a ssemble the a ffi rmations and d ecla

ra tions bequeathed to u s by our prehistoric a n
2 18
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
science disregarding the teaching o f the grea t
,

r eligions is i t possible to answer this question ?

,

Our ma teri alists assert tha t li fe is the indis

p ensable conditi on withou t which i t is i mp o s s i
ble for thought to rise and ta k e shap e in the
mind They are right ; bu t wh at in their eyes
.
, ,

i s li fe i f n ot a manifestati on o f m atter which

, ,

already i s n o longer matter as we understand

i t and which we h ave a p erfect right to call
,

spiri t soul or even G o d i f we s o desire ? I f

, , ,

they maintain tha t matter is powerless to pro

duce li fe unless a germ coming from withou t
calls it into existence they ipso facto enter our ,

camp s ince they acknowledge tha t s omething

,

more than matter i s needed to produce li fe .

I f on th e other h and they claim tha t li fe i s

, ,

an emanati on from matter they are con fessing ,

that i t was previously contained in matter and ,

again they find themselves in our r anks For .

the rest they h ave recently been compelled to

—
,

admit see among others the exp eriments o f

, ,

Dr G ustave le B on th a t no such thing exists

. .
-

a s inert ma tter and that a pebble a lump o f

, ,

l ava sterilized by the fi ercest of in fernal fires

, ,

is endowed W 1th an intramolecular activity

which is absolutely fantastic exp ending in its , ,

intern al vortices an energy which w ould be ,

capable of hauling whole r ailway trains round

and round the globe Now wh a t is this a c .

t i v i t y this energy i f not an undeniable form

, ,

2 20
 T h e M et a p sy c h i sts

o f the univers al li fe ? And here again we are ‘

in agreemen t But we are not in agreement

.

when they claim without reason or r ather , ,

against all reason tha t matter existed be fore ,

this energy We may admit tha t i t has existed

.

simultaneously from the b eginning of the

,

world ; bu t mere logic and observation o f the

fa cts compel us to admit tha t when matter sets
i tself in motion when i t proceeds to evolve
, ,

n o t internally a s in a pebble bu t externally

, , ,

a s in a crystal a plant or an animal i t is

, , ,

precisely the energy the motive p ower th at ,

-

was contained in it that has now determined ,

this movement or this development This .

same logi c thi s same observation of the facts

, ,

forces u s y et again to acknowledge th a t when

s

matter i s transformed or organized i t i s not

the matter t h at begins the process bu t the ,

li fe co n t a m ed in i t Now in this case as in .

,

the di spu tes tha t a re settled in the courts o f

l a w i t i s ex tremely im portant to know which
—
,

side began I f i t was matter that began but

.

let us a sk in passing how i t could begin h ow

, , ,

i t could possibly take the initi ative withou t ,

ceasing to b e matter defined by the materi al

i s t s ; tha t is a thing that is in i tself necessarily
—
,

li feless and motionles s but i f a fter all to , ,

admit the imp ossible it was matter tha t b e ,

gan i t i s probable en ough our spiritual p ar t

,

will peri sh or rather will b e extinguished with

,

15 22 1
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
m atter and will revert contained in matter to
, , ,

tha t elemental intramolecular a ctivity which

m arked i ts beginning and will mark i ts end .

I f on the other hand i t was spirit that b e

, ,

gan i t i s n o less p robable that h aving been

, ,

able to trans form and organi z e matter i t i s ,

more power ful th an matter and o f a di fferent ,

nature ; and tha t h aving been able to make us e

o f matter to profi t by i t in the process of evo
—
,

lut i o n improving and upli fting i tself and the

,

evolu tion which upon this earth of ours b egan

, , ,

with minerals and ends in man i s assuredly a

—
‘

spir i tu al e v olution i t is I repea t no less prob

, , ,

abl e that spi ri t h aving shown itself able to

,

m ake use o f m atter and being i ts master will ,

re fuse to allow m atter when i t seems on the ,

p oin t o f disintegration to involve i t in its mate ,

ri al diss olution ; th at spiri t will re fus e to a c

cep t extincti on when ma tter becomes extinct ;
,

n or wi ll i t l aps e into tha t obs cure i n t r a mo lec

ular act iv ity whence i t drew m atter in the b e

g i nning .

In any case the questi on for us has a p ecu

—
,

l ia r interest as to wh ether thought preceded

the brain or whether thought i s possible with
—
,

out a brain thi s questi on i s determine d by

the fa cts B e fore the appearance o f man and
.

the more intell igent o f th e an i mals natu re was ,

2 22
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
mind For my part I see n o obj ection to th i s
.
,

for i t does not in the least mean tha t n a ture

dep ends for her co nceptions on the human
mind She h a d them all long b efore we
.

existed When man invents say the printing

.
, ,

press or the typ ewriter to facilita te the d i ff u

sion of his ide as this does not prove that h e
,

needed either inventi on in order to think .

I t seems indeed tha t n a tu re a t least on our

, , ,

little planet has grown wiser and no longer

,

p ermits the stupendou s blunders of which sh e

used to b e guilty in cre ating thous ands ,

o f anomalou s monsters incap able o f survival .

None the less i t is tru e tha t she di d not await

our a dvent before proceeding to think be fore ,

imagining a fa r greater pro fusi on o f things

than we shall ever imagine We h ave not .

ceased nor shall we s oon ce ase to help ourselves

, ,

with overflowing hands from the stupendou s -

treasury o f intelligence accumulated by h er b e

fore our coming E arnes t K app in his P h i lo s
.
,

o p h i e d e [4 Tech n i qu e h as b rilliantly demon

,

s t r a t ed tha t all our inventions all our machin ,

ery are merely organic proj ections tha t is um

, , ,

consci ou s imitations o f models p rovided by,

na tu re Our pump s are derived from the ani

.

mal heart ; ou r cranks and connecting rods a re -

reproductions o f our j oints and limbs ; ou r cam

era s are an a dapta ti on o f the human eye ; our
telegraphic systems o f our ner v ous system ; in
,

2 24
 Th e M et a p sy c h i sts

the X rays we have tha t organic property of

-

somnambul i sti c clairvoyance which is able to

see through op aqu e substances ; which can read ,

for example the contents o f a letter that has

,

b een sealed and enclosed in a threefold metal

box In wireless telegraphy we are followi ng
.

the hints a ff orded by telep athy that is the di , ,

rect communication o f an idea by means o f

psychi c waves analogou s to the Hertzian
waves ; and in the phenomena of levitation and
the moving of obj ects without contact we h ave
y et
‘

a n o t h er indication which we have not h i t h

erto been able to turn to account It puts u s .

upon the tra ck o f methods which will perhap s

one day enable u s to overcome the terrible
l aws of gravitation which chain u s to the ea rth ,

for i t seems a s though these laws instea d o f ,

being a s was supposed fore v er i n co mp r eh en

, ,

sible and imp enetrable a re princip ally mag ,

net i c ; th at is to s ay tractable and utili z a b le

, .

6
And am speaking here onl y o f th e r e
I
s t r i c t ed world of man Wh at i f we were to
.
-

enumerate all nature s inventions in t h e insect

’

w o rld where s h e seems to have lavished long

, ,

before our arrival on the earth a genius more ,

varied and more abundant th an th at which she

h a s expended upon us ? Ap art from the con
cep t i o n of p olitical and s oc i a l organ iz a tions ,

2 25
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
which some day we may perhaps i m i tate we ,

find in the world of insects mechanical miracles

which are beyond our attainments and secret
forces o f which we h a v e a s yet no concepti on .

Consider th e Languedoci an scorp i on : whence

does she draw th a t mysteri ou s aliment which ,

despite h er incessant activity enables h er to ,

live for nine months without any sort o f nour

i s h men t ? Where again do th e young o f the , ,

Lycos a of the Cloth o spider ob tain their

fo od They too p ossess a similar capacity
, , , .

And by vir tu e o f wha t alchemy does the egg o f

a beetle the M i n o ta uf us ty p h o eus increase i ts
, ,

volume tenfold although nothing can reach i t

,

from th e outside world ? Fabre the grea t ,

entomologist wi thou t a suspici on tha t h e was

,

repeating a fundamental theory o f Para celsus

for science despite i tself draws daily closer
—
, ,
“
to magic h a d a shrewd suspici on that they
,

b orrow p art o f their a cti v ity from the energies

—
encomp assing them hea t electri ci ty light o r , , ,
”
other vari ou s modes o f a single agent which ,

i s precisely the universal or astral agent the ,

cosmi c etheri c or v ital fluid the A k a h s a of

, , ,

the occul tists o r the 0 d o f ou r modern theo

,

ri sts .

7
'

It
may b e said in p assing that m i ndless na
, ,

ture ha s once more plainly shown ou r minds

2 26
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
Return i ng once m ore to the pro bl e m of
thought withou t a brain which i s the k ey ,

ston e o f the wh ole building : let u s suppose tha t

a fter a ca taclysm such a s the earth must as
,

s ur ed ly h ave exp erienced already and such a s ,

may a t any moment be repeated every living ,

brain and even the most elementary the most

, ,

gela tinou s a ttemp t a t a nervous or cerebral

organiz ation from tha t o f the am oeb a to tha t
,

o f man were suddenly destroyed D o you b e

, .

lieve th a t the earth would remain bare unin ,

h abi ted inert and forever lifeless i f the con

, , ,

d i t i o n s o f li fe were once more to become pre

ci s ely wh a t they ha d been be fore the catastro

phe ? Such a supposition is scarcely p er m i s s i

ble On the contrary it is all but certain tha t
.
,

li fe finding itsel f surrounded by the same f a

,

v o r a b le circumstances would b egin all o v er

,

again in almost the s ame fashi on M ind would .

once more gradu ally come into b eing ; ideas

and emotion s would reappear would make ,

themselves new organs thereby giving u s irre

,

f r a g a b le p roof th at th ought was not dead tha t ,

i t cannot die tha t s omewhere i t finds a refuge

,

and continues to exist intangible and imper

,

i s h a ble above the a b s o l 1te destruction o f its

,

instruments or its medi a ; tha t it is in a word , ,

independent o f matter .

2 28
 Th e M et a p sy ch i sts

8 .

L et us now e x amine this preexistence o f the

mind or spirit in ourselves H a d w e already .

a brain when at the moment o f ou r co n cep

,

ti on we were still no more than th e sperm

,

cell w h ich only the microscope r enders visible

to the eyes ? Ye t we were already potenti ally
‘

all that we are to day Not only were we our -

.

selves wi th our character ou r innate idea s ou r

, , ,

V i r tues and V ices and all that our brain which

, ,

a s yet ha d no existence would de v elop a grea t ,

deal later ; already w e held w i thin u s all tha t

ou r a n cest o r s h a d been ; we bore within u s
a ll t h a t t hey h a d v u i r ed during a tal e o f
~

centuri es whose numb er no one k n ows ; their

experience their wisdom their habits their
, , ,

defects and qu alities and the cons equences o f ,

their imp erfections and their merit s ; all thi s

was packed struggling and fructi fying into
, ,

one inv isibl e speck And we likewise bore .

within us ( which seems to b e much more ex

t r a o r d i n a ry alth ough i t i s equally i n d i sput a
,

ble ) the whole o f our descendants ; the whole

unbroken sequence o f our children and o ur chil
dren s children in whom we shall live again
’
,

th rough the in finity o f the ages though already ,

we hold within us all the i r aptitudes all thei r ,

destinies all thei r future When matter a c

,
i
.

c u mu lates s o many things in a scrap o f filament

2 29
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
s o fine tha t i t all bu t escapes the m i c r oscope ,

i s i t n ot subtle to th e p oint of b earing a strange

resem b lance to a sp iri tu al principl e ?
We shall disrega rd for the moment t h e a c
tion o f our descendants upon ourselves our ,

chara cters and our tendenci es ; an in fluence

,

which i s probable enough since they do i n co n

,

t es t a b ly exist within us but which it would

,

take u s too long to investigate : and let u s for

a moment l ay s tress upon the fact t h a t ou r
ances tors who to u s seemed dead are continu
, ,

ing in a v ery re al sense to live on in us I shall .

not l i nger over this p oint since I wish to con

,

sider more re cent arguments I s hall there fore.

content mysel f w i th calling your attenti o n to it ;

for the phenomen a o f heredity are now recog
n i z ed and classifi ed I t i s an indubitable fact
.

tha t each o f u s i s merely a s ort of sum total

o f his fore b ears reproducing more or les s
,

exactly the personality o f one or s everal o f

them who are obviously continuing to think
,

and act in h i m They think with our brains

.
,

you w i ll s ay Th at m ay b e tru e They employ

. .

the organs a t thei r disposal ; but i t is evident

tha t they still exist ; tha t they live and think a l ,

though they have n o brain o f thei r own ; and

this for the moment is all tha t we need estab
lish.

2 30
 T h e G r ea t S ec r et
m i r a blyre futed by Dr Carl d u P r el To say
. .

tha t every inj ury to the b rain a ff ects the mind ,

that all thought ceases when the brain is de

stroyed and tha t th e mind i s consequently a
,

p roduct o f the b rain i s to argu e precisely

, a s
wh o should say tha t any inj ury to a telegraphi c
app aratus garble s th e message ; tha t i f the wire
i s cut the message no longer exists ; therefore
th e app ar atus produ ces the message and no ,

scientis t can possibly imagine tha t there i s an

op erator behind the app aratus .

We shall now consider the statements wh i ch

the scientists have been collecting during the
l as t few years collating over a dividing sp ace
, ,

o f hundreds and thousands o f years the a fli r ,

mati ons o f th e ancient religions and thos e o f

the occultists These throw a new light on the
.

problem They corroborate in short by ex

.
, ,

i m the esoteri c doctrines in resp ect o f

—
p e r e n t ,

the a str al or etheri c body o r the Unknown

G uest i f you prefer i t ;—i n resp ect of i ts ex
,

t r a o r d i n a r y and incomprehensible faculties its ,

probable survival and its i ndep endence of our

,

physical body .

We all knew tha t a very considerable p ortion

of ou r li fe o f ou r personality lay buried in
, ,

the darkness o f the unconsci ous or th e sub

consc i ous In th i s darkness we ho u sed the whole
.

23 2
 T h e M et a p sy ch i sts

o f ou r organ i c life : tha t o f the s tomach the ,

heart th e lungs the kidneys and even the

, , ,

brain ; and there they did their work in an o h ,

s cu r i t y never p ierced by a ray of conscious

nes s s ave by ch anc e ; in illness for example , .

There too we lodged ou r instincts the lowest

, , ,

and the h ighest alike ; wi th all tha t was my s t er i

ous innate and irresistible in our knowledge
, ,

our aspirations ou r tastes ou r capacities ou r

, , ,

temp er amen ts and m any other things which we

,

h ave no ti me to examine .

But for s ome years now the scientifi c investi

g a t i o n o f hypnotism and mediumship ha s enor

m o us ly enlarged and illuminated this ex t r a o r

d i n a r y and magical domain o f the unconsciou s .

We h ave come step b y s tep to establish

, ,

the fact in an obj ecti v e materi al and i n d ub i t a

, ,

ble fashion th a t our little consci ous cerebral

,

li fe is a s nothing compared with the vast ultra

cerebr al and secret li fe which we live s i mult a
n eo u s ly ; f o r this unknown li fe contains the p ast

and the future and e v en in the present can

,

proj ect itself t o enormous distances from our

physical body In p articular we h ave a s cer
.

t a i n ed tha t the restricted unr eliable and un , ,

stable memory which we though t uniqu e i s

duplicated i n the d arkness by another memory
which is unrestricted indefa tigable i n ex h a u s , ,

tible incorrupti b le unshakab le and in fallible

, ,
'

, ,

r ecording somewhere perhaps in the b rain bu t , ,

233
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
i n any cas e not i n the b ra i n as we k now i t and
—
a s i t controls our consciousness for i t seems
to b e indep endent o f the cond i tion o f this
—
brain recording indelibly the most triv i al
,

events th e slightest emoti ons th e most fugi

, ,

tive thoughts o f our l ives Thu s to cite only .

,

one example from among a thousand a se r ,

vant wh o wa s a b solutely illiterate wa s a b le i n ,

the hypnoti c s tate to repea t w i thout a mis

,

take whole p ages o f S anskri t having s ome ,

years e arlier heard her fi rs t employer who was ,

“
an Orientalist r ead i ng passages from th e Ve
,
”
da s.

I t h a s th u s b een p r o v ed tha t eve r y chapter

o f every one of the thousands o f books that
we h ave read remains i ndelibly photographed
on the tablets o f ou r memory and may a t a ,

gi v en moment reapp ear before our eyes with

,

out the loss of a p eriod o r a comma Thu s .

again C olonel de Rochas in his experiments on ,

the retrogression o f the m emory and the p er

s o n a li t y made hi s subj ects go b ack over the
,

whole course o f the i r lives down to their very ,

early childhood whose least details were r e

,

suscitated with a n e x traordinary di st i nctness

and perspecti v e ; deta i ls whi ch when they were ,

verified were a ckn owledged to b e absolutely

,

correct H e did e v en better than this : he suc

.

ceed ed in arousing the memory o f their pre

vio n s li v e s Bu t here v erification being more

.
,

2 34
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
cences or the other which represents the
, ,

wh ole m a n with no solu ti on o f continuity ;

,

which h as not let slip a single action or spec

ta cle or sensation o f ou r li fetime and retains , ,

living wi th in i t the self o f all those who have

,

d ied be fore us ? While there is reason to fear

tha t the firs t memory tha t o f which our brain
,

makes us e i s imp aired or e x tingu ished a t th e

,

moment o f death j ust as i t i s imp aire d o r di

,

minished by the least ill h ealth during li fe i s i t

-
,

n o t on the other h and more prob able that the

, ,

other more cap acious memory which no shock , ,

n o s ickn ess can confuse will resist the terrifi c

,

shock o f death ; and i s there not a very good

ch ance tha t we sh all find i t i ntact beyond the
grave ?
I f thi s i s not so why this s tupendous work
,

o f registration this incredible a ccumulation o f

—
,

unused photographs for in ordinary life w e

never even wipe the dust from them when —
the few landmarks o f our cerebral memory are
enough to maintain the essenti al outlines o f our
identity ? I t is admitted tha t na tu re has made
nothing u seless ; we must there fore s uppose
tha t these pictu res will b e o f use later on that ,

elsewhere they will b e necessary ; and where

can this elsewhere be save in another li fe ?
,

The inevitable obj ecti on will b e made tha t

i t i s the brain alone which registers the images
and phrases o f this memory j ust a s i t registers
,

236
 Th e M et a p sy c h i sts

the images and phrases of the other memory ,

and th at when the brain is dead etc There , .

may be some force in this obj ection ; bu t would

i t not be more th an a li ttle strange were the
brain unaided to per form with a care which ,

would completely absorb i t all these opera ,

ti ons whi ch do not concern i t which it d i s r e

, ,

gards a moment later and o f which it does ,

not seem to have any clea r conception ? In any

ca se this i s not t h e brain as we commonly un
d er s t a n d i t and here already we ha v e a v ery
,

imp ortant admissi on .

Bu t this hidden memory this cryptomnesi a , ,

as the s peci alists h ave called it i s only one of ,

the aspects o f cr yp t o p sy ch i cs or the hidden p sy

e

ch o l o gy o f th e unconscious I have no time to

.

r eca p i t ul a t e h er e all that the scholar , the s ci en

t i s t the artist and the mathematician owe to

, ,

the collab orati on of the subconscious We .

have a ll profited more or less by this mysteri ous .

collaborati on .

This subconscious self this un famili ar p er,

s o n a li t y
, which I h ave elsewhere called the
Unknown G uest which lives and acts on i ts
,

own initiative ap art from the consci ous li f e

,

of the b r ain represents not only our entire

,

p ast li fe which its memory crystalli z es a s p art

,

of an integral whole ; i t also h as a presenti

16 23 7
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
ment o f ou r future which i t o ften discerns
,

and reveals ; for truth ful predictions on the

“ ”
p art o f certain specially endowed sensitives
or s omnambulisti c subj ects in resp ect of per ,

sonal details a re s o plenti ful th at it i s h ardly

,

p ossible any longer to deny the existence o f this

propheti c faculty In time a ccordingly the sub
.

consci ous self enorm ously overfl ows our small

consci ous ego which dwells on ,th e n arrow
,

table land o f the present ; in sp ace likewise i t

-

overfl ows i t i n a n o less astonishing degree .

Crossing th e oce ans and the mountains co y ,

ering hundreds o f miles in a second i t warns ,

us o f th e death or the mis fortune which h as

befallen or i s threatening a friend or rela
tive a t the oth er s ide o f the world .

As to this point there i s n o longer the slight

,

est doub t ; and owing to the verification o f

,

th ousands o f such instances we n eed n o longer ,

make the reserv a ti ons which h ave j ust b een

m ade i n resp ect o f p redictions o f the future .

Th i s unk nown and prob ably coloss al guest

though we need not measure him to day having
—
-
,

only to ver i fy his existence i s for the rest , ,

much less a new p ersonali ty than a p ersonality

which has been forgotten since the recru (

d escen ce o f our p ositi v e s ciences Our v ari ous .

religions know more o f i t than we do ; and i t

m atters little whether they call i t s oul spiri t , ,

e th e ri c b ody astral b ody o r d ivi n e sp ar k ; for

, ,

238
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
ti on or to a fluid o f unknown natu r e e x amina
, ,

tion h aving as yet been confined to recording

the i r ama z ing results M atters were in this
.

“
p osition and the disputes between the s ugg es
,
” “ ”
t i o n i s t s and the mesmerists were threatening
to b ecome permanent when ab ou t fi fty years
— ,

—
ago to b e exact in 1 8 8 6 and 1 8 6 7 a n Aus
,

tri an s cientist B aron von R eichenbach pub

, ,
“
li s h ed his fi rs t pap ers on odic emanations .

D r Ka rl v on P r el a G erman scienti st com

.
, ,

p le t e d Reichenbach s wor k’
and b eing gi fted
, ,

with a scientifi c mind of the firs t order and ,

i ntuiti v e p owers which o ften amounted to gen

ius h e was a b le to deduce all i ts c onsequences
,
.

Thes e two writers h ave not yet h a d full j us

tice done to them and their works h ave not yet
,

obtained the reputation which th ey deserve .

We need not be surprised by this ; for the pro

gress o f o ffi ci al science the only s cience tha t
,

permeates the publi c is always a much m ore

,

leisurely a ff ai r than tha t o f i ndependent science .

I t wa s more than a century before Volta s elec ’

t r i ci ty b ecame ou r modern electrici ty and the

ruler of the industri al world More than a .

century to o ha d p assed since th e exper i ments

, ,

o f M esmer b efore hypnotism wa s finally a c

knowledged by the medical a cademies i n v es ,

t i g a t ed a t the universiti es and classed as a,

branch o f therap eutics I t may be a s long b e

.

fore Re i chen b ach s exp eriments impro v ed by

’
,

2 40
 T h e M et a p sy c h i sts

von P r el and completed by De R ochas b eg i n ,

to bear fruit In the meantime their investi

.

g a t i o n s throw an abundant light on a whole se

ries o f obscure and con fused phenomena whose
obj e c tive existence they h ave been the fi rs t to
prove while indicating their source
, .

R ei chenb ach really redisco v ered the un iv er

sal vital fluid which is none other than the
,

A k a h s a o f the prehistoric religions the T elesm a ,

o f Hermes the living fi re o f Zoroaster the

, ,

generative fire o f Heracli tu s th e astral light ,

o f the cab ala the Alkahest o f Paracelsus the

, ,

vital spiri t of the occultist s and the v 1t a l force ,

“ ”
o f St Th omas He called i t o d from a
. .
,
“
Sa nk ri t word whos e meaning i s that wh i ch
”
p enet r a tes everywher e and he s aw in i t quite ,

correctly the extreme limit of our analysis of

man the point where the l i ne o f demarcation
,

between soul and body disappears so tha t it ,

s eems tha t the sec r et quintessence o f man must

“
be odic ”
.

I cannot o f course describe in these p age s

, ,

the innumerable experiments o f Reichenbach ,

v o n P r el and de Rochas I t is enough to s ay

’

, .

tha t in principle the 0 d is the magnetic or vital

fluid which a t every moment of ou r existence
emanates from every p ar t o f our being in unin
t er r up t ed v ibrations In the normal state these
.

emanations or effluvi a whose e x istence was sus ,

p e c t e d ,thanks to the phenomena of hypnot i sm ,

24 1
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
are a b solutely unknown to u s and i n vi si b le .

“
Reichenb ach was the firs t to discover th at sen
s i t i v es
”
— tha t i s to say subj ects in a state o f
—
hypnos i s could see these effluvi a quite dis
,

t i n ctly in the dar k ness A s the result o f a very .

grea t number o f exp er i ments from which every ,

p ossi b ility o f consci o u s or unconsci ous sug ges

t i on wa s care fully eliminated h e w as able to ,

p rove tha t th e strength and volume o f these

emanati ons varied in accordance with the emo
ti ons th e sta te of mind or the health of those
, ,

who produced them ; tha t those proceeding from

the right si de o f the b ody are always bluish in
color while those from th e left side are o f
,

a reddish yello w H e also sta tes th at similar .

emanations procee d not only from human b e

ings animals and plants bu t even from miner
, , ,

als He su cceeded in photographing the o d

.

emanating from rock crystal ; the 0 d given o ff

by human be i ngs ; the 0 d resulting from chemi
cal operations ; the o d from amorphou s lumps
o f metal and tha t produced by n oise or fric
,

tion ; i n a word he proved that magnetism or

—
, ,

o d exists throughout n ature

, a doctrine which

h a s always been taught by the occu ltists of

all countries and all ages 1
.

1 S m o t p ri m t by M W J K i l
e r ec en ex e d ri b d
en s r. . . n er , es c e
hi b k H m A tm ph r g iv p i ti v p r f
“ ”
in s Th
oo , e u an os e e, e os e oo

o f th i t
e f th
ex s enc e m ti o th ffl v i t h i
ese e ana o n s, . es e e u a, s

h m u an r “
t l
au a , t f
”
or i mi l r
a r w hi h
ea s o a s a au a c co n

s ti t t u es a tr tr l t h r i d bl I t i
ue a s a or e gh t l
e k c ou e
. s en o u o oo

a t th bj t t h ug h
e su ec n f md f
ro y fl t gl
a s cr ee or e o a v er a a ss

2 42
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et

ject s without contact , levitation and s o forth ,

mani festations wh i ch to day are s o far estab -

li sh ed and verified tha t there i s no need to r e

p ea t thei r occurrence I t i s therefore an es
.

t a b l i s h ed fa ct that this fluid whi ch is able to set

,

in motion a pendulum in a glass vase h er m et i

cally s ealed wi th the blow pipe j ust as it is -
,

capable o f li fting a table weighing more than

two hundred p ounds p ossesses a p ower which
,

a t times i s enormous and i s independent of our

muscles This power may be a ttributed to our
.

nerves ou r minds or wh a t not but is n o less

, , ,

pla inly and purely spiritual in its nature .

M oreover i t is almost certain although the ,

experimental proo fs are in this cas e less com

p l et e and more di ffi cult on account
, o f the scar
ci ty o f subj ects tha t it i s th e s ame odic or odylic
,

force tha t intervenes in the phenomena o f ma

t er i a li z a t i o n ; notably in thos e produced by the
celebrated Eusapi a Paladino and b y M adame
B i sson which latter are far more conclusive and
,

far more stri ctly controlled by the medium I t .

prob ably draws either from the mediu m or

,

from the sp ecta tor the plasti c substance with

,

whose help i t fashions and organizes the t a n

g i b le b odies which a re called into existence and
disappear in the course o f these mani festations ,

thereby giving u s a very curi ous glimpse of the

manner in which thought spiri t or the creative , ,

flu id a cts upon matter concentrating and shap

,

2 44
 Th e M et a p sy ch i sts

ing i t and how i t sets about the b usiness o f

,
‘

creating our own bodies .

I S
It h a s further been experimentally demon
s t r a t ed th at this odic o r odyli c fluid may b e con

v ey ed from place to pla ce Any materi al o b

ject may b e filled with it The obj ect magne .

t i z ed into which th e hypnotist ha s poured some

,

p orion of h is vital energy all p ossibility o f ,

suggestion b eing set aside will always retain ,

the s ame influence over the sensitive or medium ;

tha t is the influence desired by the hypnotist
, .

I t will make the medium l augh or weep shiver ,

or perspire dance or slumber according to the

, ,

purpose of the hypnotist when he emitted the

vital fluid Moreov er th e flui d appears to be i n
.
,

destructible A marble pestle magnetized and

.
,

placed successi v ely in hydrochlori c nitri c and , ,

su lphuric acids and subj ected to the corrosive

action o f ammonia loses nothing o f its p ower
,
.

An iron b ar hea ted to a white heat resin melted ,

and solidifi ed in a di ff erent sh ap e water that ,

h as been boiled pa per burne d and reduced to

—
,

a shes all re t a i n thei r power Further to

, .

prove tha t the detection of this force is not

—
dep endent on human impressions i t has been
shown th at water which has b een magnetized
and then boiled causes the needle of a rheostat
— a n instrument for measuring electri c c u r
24s
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
—
rents to devi ate through an angle o f twenty
degrees j us t a s i t did before i t was b oiled I t
, .

would b e interesting to kno w whether this V ital

force thus imprisoned in a materi al obj ect can
, ,

survive the hypnotist I do not k no w whether

.
‘

any exp eriments h ave been made in respect o f

thi s detail In any case i t h as been observed
.
,

tha t more than six months a fter they were

charged with 0 d t h e most miscellaneous sub
—
,

stances iron tin, resin w a x sulphur and

, , , ,

marble retaine d their magnetic p owers intact .

16

Not only does the odic fluid thu s trans ferred

contain and reprodu ce the will of the hypnotist ;
i t also contains and represents p art o f the p er
s o n a li t y of the hypnotic subj ect and in p a r t i cu

l ar his sensitiveness to impressions Colonel de .

Rochas has conducted in connection with this,

“
phen omenon which h e c alls the ex t er n a li z a
,
”
tion o f sensibility a h ost of exp eriments b e
, ,

wildering yet unassailable and conclusive which ,

l ead us straight b ack to the magical practices of

the wi zards o f antiqui ty and th e sorcerers of
the middle ages which shows u s once more tha t
,

the most fantastic belie fs o r superstitions pro ,

v i d ed they are su ffi ciently general almos t ,

always contain a hidden or forgotten truth .

I need not re fer the reader o f these p ages

to exp eriments wh i dh are familiar to all those
246
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
devoted themselves to the investigation o f
strictly authenticated cases o f survival ; and in ,

p articular th e 5 0 0 to 6 0 0 appariti ons o f the

,

dead v erifi ed b y the Society for Psychical Re

search I t must b e admitted tha t these app ari
.

tions which are prob ably odi c mani festations

,

from b eyond the grave seem fa r more credible

,

when we are acqu ainted with certain properties

o f the mysterio u s flui d which we have been
consider i ng .

I 7
S i nce th e death o f the leaders o f the od i c
—
schoo l Reichenbach v o n P r el and de R ochas
— , ,

th e investigation of the magneti c or odi c

,

flui d has b een s omewha t neglected ; mistakenly ,

to our thinking for i t was by no means exhaust

,

i v e ; b u t there are fashions in metapsychics a s

i n e v erything else Th e Society for Psychical
.

Research in p arti cu l a r during the last f ew

, ,

years h as devoted itsel f almost exclusively to

,
“ ”
the problem s o f cross correspondences ; and
while i ts inquiry h a s not yi elded absolutely unas
sailable results i t does a t leas t p ermit u s to b e
,

li eve more and more s eriously in the presence

all about u s o f sp iritual entities invisible and ,

intelligent ; disembodi ed or other spirits wh o

—
,

amuse themselves the word is employed a d

v i s ed ly— b y pro v ing to us tha t they make noth
ing o f sp ace o r time and a re pursuing s ome
purpose which we cannot a s yet u nders tand I .

2 48
 Th e M et a p sy c h i sts

know of course tha t we can strictly speak i ng

, , , ,

attribute thes e unexpected communications to

the unkn own faculties of the subconsciousness ;
b u t this hypothesis becomes daily more precari
ous and i t may be tha t the time i s not far
,

distant when we shall be finally compelled to a d

mit the existence of these disembodied entities ,
“ ” “ ”
doubles wandering spirits
, elementals , ,

D zy a n Ch o a n s-
devas cosmic spirits which
, , ,

the occultists o f old never doub ted .

In this connecti on to s ay nothing for the pre ,

s ent o f Si r Oliver Lodge s R a y m o n d or of the ’

,

highly interesting spiritualistic experiments o f

P E Co r n i lli er or o f a h ost of other exp er i
. .
,

ments the consideration o f which w ould take us

t oo f a r a fi eld the recent researches o f D r
'

.
,

W Crawford which have made a sensation in

.
,

the world o f metapsychics h ave a ff orded a ,

remarkable confirmati on o f the theory o f the

“ ”
invisibles I t is tru e however as we shall
.
, ,

s ee that this confirmation proceeds less from

,

the facts themselves than from the interpreta

ti 0n which ha s been placed upon them .

18

W J C r awford a doctor of s c i ence and a

. .
,

pro fesso r i n B elfa st University has of l ate n u ,

d er t a k en a series of experiments in conne ct i on

“ ”
with t elek i n esi a or movements without co n ,

tact ; exp eriments which were cond u cted with a

2 49
 T h e G r ea t S ecr et
degre e o f scientific precision tha t who l ly e x
cluded any idea o f fraud and which absolutely ,

confirm thos e which Crookes the I n s ti tu t P sy ,

c h o lo g i que and O ch o r o v i cz carried ou t with

,

Home Eusapi a Paladino and M ademoiselle

, ,

To m s cyk as mediums .

The subj ect o f these e x p er i ments was that

most peculia r phenomenon which i s a sort o f
physic al externaliz ati on ; o f the duplication ,

amorphous a t first and a fterward more or less

,

plasti c o f the medium From the medium s

, .
’

body proceeds an i n d efi n a b le substance which ,

i s s ometimes V isible a s in the case o f Eva, ,

M adame B isson s medium and s ometimes i n

’
,

visible a s i n the case o f Crawford s medium

,
’
,

but which even though invisible may b e

, ,

touched and me asured and b eh a v es a s though ,

i t p ossessed an obj ective reality .

Thi s substance m oist cold a n d sometimes

, , ,
”
viscous which is known a s ectopl asm can
,

b e weighed and its weight exactly corresponds

,

wi th the weight lost by the medium ; and i t

m ay attain a s much a s 5 0 p er cent o f the .

medium s normal weight

’
.

In these experiments this invisible substance

behave s a s though i t emerged from the me
d i um s body i n the form o f a more or less rigid
’

stem which li fts a table placed at a certain

,

distance from the chair in which th e medium is

seated I f the table i s too heavy to b e lifted
.

2 50
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
I t may o f course be maintained that these i n
visible collaborators emanate from the sub co n
s ci o u s n es s of the medium or o f other persons

present s o th a t the problem is still unsolved

, .

Bu t a con v iction which a sci entist who was to ,

begin with a s skeptical as Dr Craw ford was

, .
,

gradually and by the very force o f things led

, ,

to accep t deserves to be seri ously considered

, .

In any cas e hi s exp eriments like those in con ,

n ect i o n with th e odic fluid prove once more ,

tha t our being is far more immaterial more ,

psychic more mysteri ous more powerful and

, , ,

a ssuredly more enduring than we believe it to

be ; and th i s was taught u s by the primitive r e
l i g i o n s a s it i s taught by the occultists who
,

have b een inspired thereby .

I 9
While we do not lose sight o f the other
—
spiritu alistic mani fes tations th e p osthumous
app ariti ons the phenomen a o f psychometry
,

and materi ali z a tion the pro v isi on o f the f u

,

ture the mystery of speaking animals the mir

, ,

acles o f Lourdes and other places o f pilgrim

age which we menti on here only to show tha t
—
,

we h ave no t o v erlooked them here as com , ,

p ared wi th the prodigious and arrogant a ffi r m a

ti ons o f the p ast are the h alf certainties the
,
-
,

petty details slowly reconquered by the occult

i s t s of to day At fi rst sight this i s little
-
.

25 2
 Th e M et a p sy c h i sts

enough and even i f the grea t central problem

,

o f our metapsychics the problem of survival

, ,

were a t length solved this lon g and e agerly

,

anticipa ted solution would not take u s very far ;

assuredly not nearly s o far a s the priests of In
di a and E gyp t went But modes t though they
.

m ay be the discoveries o f our occu ltists h ave

,

a t least the a dvantage of being founded upon

facts which we can veri fy and should therefore
,

be o f far greater valu e to u s than the more i m

pressive hypotheses which h ave hitherto evaded
V erification .

Now i t is quite p ossible that to penetrat e

any further into the regions which they are ex
p l o r i
, n g the experimental methods which are
the sa fest in other sciences may prove i n su ffi
cient Other elements must be considered
.

than those which science i s accustomed to en

counter Forces may perhaps b e i n questi on
.

of a more sp iritu al n ature than those of ou r

intellect and in order to grasp and control them
,

i t may firs t be ne cessary t o apply ourse l ves to

our own spiritualiz ation It is an advantage
.

to p o s sess per fectly organiz ed laboratori es bu t

,

th e true l ab oratory whence the ultimate dis

co v er i es will proceed is probably within us .

This the priests and M agi o f the great reli

gions seem to have understood better than we ,

25 3
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
for when they purp osed to enter the ultra
spiri tu al domains of n ature they underwent a
protracted p rep aration They felt tha t i t wa s
.

not enough th at they should be learned but ,

th at they must be fore all become s aints They

.

b egan by th e training o f their will by the s acri

,

fi ce o f their whole being by dying to all desire

, .

They enfolded thei r intellectu al energies in a

moral force which led them far mor e directly
to the plane on which the strange phenomena
which they were investigating h a d their b eing .

I t is prob able enough tha t there are i n the i n

vi s ible or the infinite things tha t the under
, ,

standing cannot grasp o u which it h as n o h old

, ,

b u t to which another faculty can attain ; and

this faculty i s p erhaps wh at is known a s the
s oul or tha t higher subconsciousness which the
,

ancient religions h a d learned to cultivate by

spiritu al exercises and above all by a renunc i a
,

tion and a spiritu al concentration o f which we

h ave forgotten th e rules an d even th e idea .

25 4
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
th e G o d of G ods would no longer be the G o d of
G ods and could no t understand Himsel f unless
, ,

He were all things His i nfinity inevitably gives

.

ri se to p anth eism ; for i f the First Caus e is

everything everything p arta k es in the First
,

C aus e and i t i s not p ossible to imagine any

,

thing that can se t b ounds to i t and is not the

Cause itself or p art of the Cause or does not
, ,

proceed from the C ause From this p anthe .

i sm p r oceeds i n its turn the b elief i n immortal

i t y and the ultimate optimism for the C ause , ,

being infinite in sp ace and time nothing tha t is ,

of i t or in i t can b e destroyed withou t destroy

ing a p art o f the C ause itself ; which i s i mp o s
s ible since i t would still b e the nothingness that
,

sought to circumscribe i t j u st a s nothing could

,

b e eternally unhappy withou t condemning p art

of itsel f to eternal unhappiness .

Absolute agnosticism with its consequences

,

the infinity o f the divine p antheism univers al

immortality a nd ultimate optimism here i s
,
— , ,

the p oint o f dep arture o f the great primitive

teachers pure intellects and implacable logi
, ,

c i a n s such as were the myster i ou s Atlanteans

, ,

i f we may b elieve the traditions o f the occult

i s t s ; and would not the very same point o f de
parture impos e i tself to day u pon those wh o -

sh ould s eek to found a new religion which

would not be repugnant to the ever increasing -

e xact i ons o f human reas on ?

256
 C o n cl u si o n s

But i f all i s G o d and necessarily immortal i t ,

i s n one the less certain tha t men and things

and worlds disappear From this moment we
.

bid good by to the logical consequences o f the

-

great confession of ignorance to enter the laby

r i n t h of theories which are no longer u n a s s a i l

able and which for that matter are not at

, , ,

the outset pu t be f o re us as re v elati ons but a s

mer e metaphysical hyp otheses as sp eculations ,

of great antiquity b orn o f the n ecessity o f rec

,

o n ci li n g the facts with the to o abstract and

too rigid deductions o f human reason .

As a matter o f fact according to these h y

,

p o t h es es man, the world and th e universe do

not p erish ; they disappear and reapp ear alter
n a t ely throughou t eternity in virtue of M aya
, ,

the ill usion o f ignorance When they no lon

ger exis t fo r u s or for any one they still exis t,

virtu ally where n o one sees th em ; and those

,

who have ceased to see them do not cease to

exist a s though they s aw them Similarly .
,

when G o d sets bounds to Himself in order to ,

mani fest Himsel f and to become conscious of

a p ortion o f Himsel f He does not cease to be
,

infinite and unknowable to Himself He .

seems f o r a moment to place Himself a t th e

p oint of V iew or within the comprehension o f
those whom He h as quickened in Hi s bosom .

25 7
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
This las t hypothesis must in the beginning
h ave been as i t is a t present and always will
,

b e a mere m akeshi ft ; bu t there was a time

,

when i t b ecame a sort o f dogma which eagerly ,

welcomed by the imaginati on soon completely ,

repla ced the grea t primitive negati on From .

tha t momen t desp airing o f knowing th e un

,

knowable man duplicated and subdivided and

,

multiplied i t relegating the inconceivable First

,

C ause to th e inaccessible Infinite and hence ,

forth concerned himsel f only with those sec

o n d a r y causes by which i t mani fests itself and

a cts .

He does n ot as k himself or rather he does ,

not dare to ask how the First C ause being

, ,

essenti ally unknowable its mani festati ons could

,

b e considered a s known although i t h ad not

,

ceased to b e unkn owable ; and we enter the

vast v i cious circle in which m ankind must t e
s ign itsel f to live under p enal ty of condemning

i tsel f to an eternal negation an e tern al immo ,

b i li ty and ignorance and silence .

Unable to know G o d in Himsel f man con ,

tents himself with s eeking and questioning Him

in His cre atures and above all in mankind
,
.

He thought to find Him there a nd the reli ,

gions were b orn with thei r gods thei r cults

, , ,

their sacrifi ces their beliefs thei r moralities

, , ,

thei r hells and heavens Th e relati onship

which b i nds them all to the unkn own C aus e i s
25 8
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
he had found the purp ose o f the unknowable
, ,

and th e key o f all morality without however , ,

v enturing to ask himself why this rupture of

unity and this degradati on o f the spiri t h ad
b een n ecessary ; as though we h ad supposed
tha t the First C ause wh ich might h ave kept
,

all things in the state of uni ty in i ts undivided , ,

immobile and supremely blessed b osom ha d

, ,

been condemned by a superi or and irresistible

,
“

l a w to mo v ement and e ternal recommence

,

men t .

Th ese ideas too purely metaphysica l to

,

n ourish a religion were s oon in India itself

,

co v ered by a prodigious vegetation o f myths ,

and gradually became the secret of the B rah

mans wh o cultivated them developed them
, , ,

gave them p ro fundi ty and complicated them , ,

to the verge of insanity Thence they spre ad .

over the face o f the e arth or returned to the ,

place whence they h ad set forth ; for while i t

i s p ermissible to attempt the chronological
localiz a tion o f a central source it i s i m p o s ,

sible for u s to determine where they rose to

the surface in th e ages be fore the dawn o f
history unless we re fe r to the theosophical
,

legends o f the Seven R aces wh i ch we might ,

p erhaps a ccept i f we were supplied with do cu

ments less open to criticism than those which
ha v e hitherto been o ff ered to us .

2 60
 C o n c l u si o n s

4
At all events i t is easy enough to follow the
,

progress of these idea s through the world

known to history ; whether they went hand in
hand or one following another through India
, , ,

Egyp t and Persia ; or found thei r way into

,

Ch aldea and pre Socra ti c G reece by means o f-

myths or contacts or migrations unknown to u s ;

or esp eci ally in the case o f Hellas through
, ,

the Orphic p oems collected during the Ale x ,

andrian period bu t dating from legendary ,

ages and containing lines which as Emile

, ,

Bu r n o u f observes i n h is Sci en ce d es R eli g i o n s ,

are translated word for word from the Ve d ic

hymns 1
.

As a result of the Egyp ti an b ondage the ,

B abyloni an cap tivity and the conquest o f ,

Cyrus they reached the B ible changing their

, ,

shape to harmoniz e with the Jewish m o n o th e

ism ; bu t in s ec r et they were preserved almost ,

u n d efi led by oral transmission in the cab ala

, , ,

i n which the En So f as we have see n i s the -

, ,

exa ct rep roduction o f the Hindu Unknowable ,

and leads to an almos t simila r agnosticism ,

pantheism optimism and ethic, , .

These ideas stifled beneath the B ible in the

,

Jewish world and in the G reco Roman world

,
-

1 Emi le Bur n ouf , L a S ci en ce d es Reli g i on s ; p . 10 5 .

26 1
 Th e G r ea t S ec r et
beneath the weight o f the o fli ci a l religions and
philosophies survived among the secret sects
, ,

and n otably among the Essenes and als o i n ,

the mysteri es ; reappearing in the light of day

ab ou t the beginning o f the Christi an era in ,

the G nosti c and N eoplatonic schools o f phil

osophy and l a ter on in the cab ala when they
, ,

were finally pu t into writing ; whence they

p assed more or less distorted into the occult
, ,

i sm o f the middle ages o f which they consti ,

tute the sole foundation .

l
s
:

We see accordingly th a t occultism or

, , ,

r ather the secret doctrine vari able in its forms , ,

o ften extremely obscu re above all during th e ,

middle ages bu t almost everywhere identical

,

a s to i ts basis was always a protest o f the

,

human reason faith ful to i ts prehistoric tra

,

d i t i o n s against the arbitrary assertions and

,

pretended revelations o f the public and o fli ci a l

religions To their b aseless dogmas their
.
,

anthropomorphical mani festations of the di

v ine illogical pe t t y and una cceptable they
, , , ,

opp ose d the confession o f an abs olute and

invincible ignorance o f all essential p oints .

Fr om this con fession which a t firs t sight s eems

,

to destroy everything but which leads almost , ,

o f necessi ty to a spiri tualistic conception o f

,

the uni v erse ; it wa s able to deri v e a meta

2 62
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
wh i ch were sometimes terri fying beneath ,

formidable reticence s and silences : an un mi t i

gated negation a stupendous vo i d a hopeless
, ,

ign orance ? Yes i t i s only this : and i t i s a s

,

well that i t is nothing else ; for a G o d and a

univers e small enough for the l i ttle brain o f
man to circu mnavigate them to understand ,

thei r nature and their economy to discover ,

their origin the i r aims and thei r limits would

, ,

b e s o piti ful and s o restri cted that no one would

resign himsel f to remain eternally as their
pris oner Humanity h as n eed o f the infinite
.
,

with i ts corollary o f invincible ignorance i f i t ,

i s not to feel i tsel f the dup e or victim of an

un forgivable exp eriment or a blunder i mp o s
sible o f evasion There w as n o ne ed to call
.

i t into existence b u t since i t h a s been raised

,

out o f nothingness i t must needs enj oy the

b oundlessness o f spa ce an d time of which it
h as b een vouchsa fed th e conception I t has .

the right to p articip a te in all tha t has given i t

li fe b efore i t can forgive it for bringing i t
,

into th e w orld And i t is not able thus to

.

p articip ate s ave on the conditi on th at i t can

not understand i t Every certa inty a t all .
—
e v ents until ou r minds a re libera ted from the
—
,

chains tha t fetter them would become an

enclosing wall on which all desire to live would
b e sh attered Let us there for e rej oice tha t
.

we know of n o further certainties beyond an

2 64
 C o n c l u si o n s
ignorance a s infinite a s the wo rld or the God
Who is its subj ect .

7
A fter s o many e ff orts so many exp er i ments
, ,

we find ourselves precisely at the point from

which our great teachers set out They b e .

q u e a t h ed to u s a wisdom which we are hardly

beginning to clear of the rubbish that the cen
t ur es have le ft upon it ; and beneath this rub
i

bish we find intact the proudest confession o f

ignorance that man h a s ever ventured to pro
n ounce To a lover o f illusi on this means but
.

little ; to a lover o f truth it is much indeed .

We know a t last that there h a s never been

any ultra human revel ation any direct and
-
,

i rre cu sable message from divinity, no ine ffable

s ecr et ; a n d tha t all man believes himsel f to
'

k now of G o d of His origin and His end s he

,
‘

ha s drawn from hi s own po wers o f reason .

B efore we ha d interroga ted our prehist o ric

ancesto r s we more th an suspected that all re v
elations 1n the sense o f the word understood
,

by the relig ious w er e and will always b e i m

,

p ossible ; for we cann ot reveal to any one more

than he is cap able of unde r standing and G o d ,

alone can un derstand G o d But i t was easy to

.

imagine that h a ving s o to spea k b een w i t

, ,

nesses o f t h e birth o f the world they ou ght to ,

kn o w more o f i t than we do since the y we r e ,

2 65
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
still ne a r er to G o d But they were not neare r
.

to G o d ; they were simply nearer to the human

reason which h a d not as yet been obscured by
i
,

t h e i n v en t i o n s o f thousands o f years They .

are content with giving us the only landmarks

whi ch this re ason h as b een able to discove r in
the unknowable : p antheism spiritualism i m , ,
~

mortality and final op timism ; co n fi d i n g the rest

,

to the hypothese s o f their successors and ,

w i sely leaving unanswered a s we should l eave

,

them to day all thos e insoluble problems which

,

th e succeeding religi ons blindly a ttack ed o ften ,

in an ingeni ous manner whic h was none the

less always arb i trary and sometim es child i sh .

8
N eed we again recap i tulate these problems ?
—th e p assage from the v i rtual t o the a ctual ;
fro m being to becoming ; from n on existence -

to existen ce ; and the descent of the spiri t into

—
m atter tha t i s the origin o f evil and the
,

a scent from m atter to spiri t ; the necessity o f

emerging from a sta te o f etern al bliss to r e ,

turn thither a fter purifi cation and ordeals

wh os e indispensable nature is beyond our com
prehension ; eternal recommencements to reach ,

a goal which h as always fl ed us s ince i t has ,

never been a ttained although in the past men

,

h ad a s much leisure to a ttain i t a s they will

ev er h a v e i n the fu tu re .

266
 Th e G r ea t S ecr et
and to search only for wh at i s there : tha t i s ,

the certainty tha t all things are G o d that all ,

things exist in Him and should end in happi

ness and tha t the only divinity which we can
,

h op e to understand is to be found in the depths

o f ou r own souls The G rea t Secret has no t
.

changed i ts aspect ; i t remains where and wha t

i t was for our f o rebears At the very begin .

ning they m anaged to derive from the unknow

able the purest morality which we h ave known ,

and since we now fi n d ou rselves a t the s ame

p oint o f the unknowable i t would be danger ,

ous not to s ay impossible to deduce other

, ,

lessons there from And thes e doctrines o f

.
,

which the n obler p ortions h ave remained the

same and which di ff er only in their b aser char
,

a ct er i s t i cs in all the religions whose various

,

dogma s are a t b ottom only mythological trans

l a t i o n s or interpretati ons of these too abstract
truths would h a v e made man something tha t
,

a s yet he i s not ha d he bu t h ad the courage

,

to follow them D o not let u s forget them

.
:

this is the l ast and the best counsel of the

mysti cal testament whose p ages we h a v e j ust
b een turning over .

r d t r
P i n te i n Grea t Br i ta i n by Bu le 81 Tann er Frame and London
. .
 14 D A Y USE
RET URN TO D E K F O M S R W HI CH Bo nn o wm)

l O A N DEPT
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.

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RE EW A LS O N Y L TEL N O 6 4 2-3 4 05
. .

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o n t h e a t e t o w h i ch r en ew e d.

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en ew e b oo k s a r e su b ject t o i m me i a t e r eca ll .