III. {symbol} _Sol_, “the Sun” (_Prana_). Life on the physical and spiritual

plane (_Jiva_). The centre of the planetary system.[3] It is that which produces the manifestations or activity of life upon every plane of existence. {symbol} _Mars_ (_Kama_). The passional, emotional, animal element in man and in nature; the seat of desire and self-will; that which becomes manifest as greed, envy, anger, lust and selfishness in all its forms; but which is also a source of strength. There are many diseases caused by the excessive or irregular action of powers belonging to this kingdom; when by combining with {symbol} they become of a terrestrial nature. {symbol} _Mercury_ (_Manas_). The Mind; the principle of intelligence manifesting itself as intellectual power in the kingdom of mind; giving in its combination with {symbol} rise to earthly thoughts, but in combination with {symbol} constituting spiritual knowledge. {symbol} _Jupiter_ (_Buddhi_). The principle which manifests itself as spiritual power, be it for good or for evil. Reason, intuition, faith, firmness, recognition of truth. {symbol} _Venus_ (_Atma_). The principle which in its purity manifests itself as universal divine love, it being identical with divine self-knowledge. If united with {symbol} (intelligence) it constitutes wisdom. Acting within the animal plane it produces animal instincts, and upon the physical plane it causes the attractions of opposite polarities, chemical affinities, &c., &c. All this is said merely to indicate the key to this kind of science; for the combinations in which these principles may enter, and the modifications of their manifestations under different conditions are almost innumerable; neither can this spiritual science be taught to a mind (_Manas_) unillumined by the light of the higher understanding (_Buddhi_). The practical study and application of anything requires first of all the possession of the object, and if this is true in regard to physical objects, it is no less true in regard to spiritual principles, whose nature can only be known when their presence is realised within one’s own consciousness. The higher aspects of all of these powers belong to the higher nature of man, and he who desires to know and apply these laws in the practice of medicine, must first of all seek to develop his own higher nature by freeing himself from the elements that govern his lower nature; in other words, he must enter from the animal-human into the human-divine state, to which the true physician belongs. One of such adept-physicians was _Theophrastus Paracelsus_, the great reformer of medicine of the sixteenth century, who is properly regarded as the father of modern medicine, although his successors are still far from realising the truths which he taught, and will, on the whole, perhaps not grow up to an understanding of his doctrines for centuries to come.[4] He was far in advance not only of the science of his days, but also of that of our present days; for although he may have known less than we do in regard to the phenomenal appearances of the manifestations of life on this planet, he knew a great deal more than our modern science in regard to the causes of these manifestations and in regard to the _inner_ nature of things. He was and still is ridiculed and belittled by those who were and are not capable of understanding him; but he proved the truth of his theories by performing cures which even modern medicine with all its new acquisitions cannot perform.[5] He was the first to abolish a system of unmitigated quackery, based upon mere empiricism, the remnants of which exist even to-day. He was hated and persecuted by the quacks and pretenders of those times, who did a lucrative business, thriving upon the ignorance of the public, as some are doing to-day, and the vilifications and calumnies thrown out against him by such still inspire the opinions of many in regard to his person, although we may safely believe that few of his critics have ever read his books and still fewer have understood them. Numerous biographies have been written about him and his personal habits, and it seems that the majority of his critics have been able to comprehend that when he died he left a pair of leather pantaloons to his heirs; but as to his philosophy, this is a _terra incognita_, which surpasses their understanding; neither could such a knowledge of the secret sciences be expected from anybody knowing nothing about the fundamental principles in the constitution of man. Whether Paracelsus obtained his knowledge in the East, as has been claimed, or whether it was revealed to him by his own perception of truth, does not concern us; but there can be no doubt that he knew that sevenfold classification, for we find him speaking of the following seven aspects of man:— 1. _The Corpus_, or the elementary body of man. (_Limbus._) 2. _The Mumia_, or the ethereal body; the vehicle of life. (_Evestrum._) 3. _The Archæus._ The essence of life. _Spiritus Mundi_ in Nature and _Spiritus Vitae_ in man. 4. _The Sidereal body_; made up of the influences of the “stars.” 5. _Adech._ The inner man or the thought-body, made of the flesh of Adam. 6. _Aluech._ The spiritual body, made of the flesh of Christ; also called “the man of the new Olympus.” 7. _Spiritus._ The universal Spirit. There is hardly a page in the philosophical writings of Paracelsus which does not refer to the twofold nature of man, his terrestrial and celestial aspect, and of the necessity of the development of his higher nature and superior (spiritual) understanding. “Above all, we must pay attention to the fact that there are two kinds of spirit in man. (One originating in nature, the other coming from heaven.) Man ought to be a human being according to the spirit of (divine) life and not according to the (terrestrial) spirit of the _Limbus_. It is a truth that (the heavenly) man is an image of God, having in him a divine spirit (life). In all other respects he is an animal, having as such an animal spirit. These two are opposed to each other, but one of the two is bound to succumb. Man is destined to be a human being and not an animal, and if he is to be a human being, he must live within the spirit of (immortal) life and do away with the animal spirit.” (“Philosophia Occulta,” Lib. I., Prologue.) The mysteries of the inner temple of nature are not accessible to the vulgar and the profane, because every being can realise only that which corresponds to its own nature. To penetrate into the realm of truth a true soul is required; an animal can realise only the animal side of existence. One well known medical authority on a recent occasion said: “Paracelsus, who pronounced the anatomy of the dead body to be useless,[6] and sought for the basis of life (_immortality_) as the highest goal of knowledge, demanded ‘contemplation’ (_spiritual_) before all else, and just as he himself arrived in this way at the metaphysical construction of the _Archaeus_, so he unchained among his followers a wild and absolutely fruitless mysticism.”[7] For this unchaining of mysticism, not Paracelsus is to blame, but the incapacity of his followers, whose animal minds were not capable of becoming illumined by the spirit of truth. Whenever the terrestrial mind seeks to grasp the spirit of wisdom, and being unable to rise to the perception of divine truth to drag it down to its own level, a wild and absolutely fruitless and foolish mysticism will be the result. With the same right we may say that the doctrines of Christ filled the world with superstition, causing the crimes of the crusades, the horrors of the inquisition, and sectarian intolerance. It is not the fault of the truth if it is misunderstood. The vast majority of mankind seek for knowledge for the purpose of deriving from its possession some personal benefit; be it the acquisition of wealth or luxury, the gratification of ambition, the desire to parade before the world as a being in possession of something great, or for the purpose of satisfying a laudable scientific curiosity. But the acquisition of medical wisdom requires a love of the truth, and love means self-sacrifice. The acquisition of wisdom is therefore possible only if the illusive self with all its desires is sacrificed to it. The way to wisdom can be shown; but wisdom can only be taught by wisdom itself; he who loves the realm of illusions cannot see its true light. How many of the would-be followers of Jesus of Nazareth have become Christs, and who can understand the profundity of his thoughts and exercise his divine powers, but he who has become like him? None of the would-be followers of Paracelsus have grown to be like this master, none of the representatives of modern medical science have penetrated deeply into his wisdom. Popular medical science, being based upon the objective observation of phenomena, knows more about the realm of visible nature (Maya) than was known at the time of Paracelsus; but the reason why this popular medical science, in spite of the aids which it received from chemistry and physiology, is still incapable of performing the cures which were performed by Paracelsus, is because its followers only speculate and draw inferences, while they do not cultivate that spiritual power of soul knowledge which is called “interior contemplation,”[8] but which Paracelsus called the _Faith_; a faculty which is at present so entirely unknown that even an explanation of the meaning of this term is exceedingly difficult. It is a power which belongs neither to the physical, nor to the animal, nor to the intellectual nature in man, but to the spiritual man (Atma-Buddhi-Manas); to that higher part of his being, which in the vast majority of mankind, however intellectual they may be, has not yet awakened into life, but is still latent, buried in the tomb of materiality into which the light of divine truth cannot penetrate. “What are ye men in your own powers but nothing? If you wish to obtain strength take it from faith. If you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you will be as strong as the spirits, and although you now appear as men, your faith will make your strength and power equal to the spirits such as were also in Samson. For by means of our faith we become spirits ourselves, and whatever we accomplish that surpasses our (terrestrial) nature is done by the power of faith acting through us as a spirit and transforming us into spirits.” (“De Origin, Morb. Invisib.” Introduction.) Man, even if he obtains occasionally a glimpse of divine truth, is only too prone to forget it again at the next moment, as the action of his terrestrial mind is stronger in him than that of his spirit, and it seems therefore necessary to be reminded over and over again that the faith of which Paracelsus speaks is not the illusory faith of the brain, the product of speculation, but a power belonging to those few living spirits walking within this sleeping world. As physical powers belong to the physical and terrestrial man, so spiritual powers belong to the spiritual man who must be born before he can know and exercise these powers. As yet there appear to be few even among our eminent scientists and successful practitioners who have become regenerated in the spirit of truth and filled with the light of divine wisdom, and if there are any such, we would ask all the students of medicine to follow their example and by learning the great art of self-control to become masters over their own nature and over the nature of others. Humanity is only one, and the realization of this truth will open a new field for the science of medicine in the future. That part of us which lives within the heart of others is our own truest and “most profound Self.”[9] If this self, which lives in the hearts of others, has awakened to its own consciousness, it will realize its own universal existence and its own power to act within those in whom it lives. Thus the physician, having become self-conscious of his own higher nature, will become a saviour for all the rest of mankind, not only in regard to their moral evils, but also in regard to their physical ills; for the spirit and soul and body of man do not live separately; they are one organic whole, as is the body of humanity, even though the personalities constituting that body are separated from each other by the illusion of form. II. THE FOUR PILLARS OF MEDICINE. The pillars upon which the practice of modern medicine rests, are:— 1. _A knowledge of the physical body of man_, the arrangements of its organs (anatomy), their physiological functions (physiology) and the visible changes which take place in them when a disease becomes manifest (pathology). 2. _A certain amount of acquaintance with physical science_, chemistry, botany, mineralogy, etc., in fact with all that embodies a knowledge of the outward relations which the things in this phenomenal world bear to each other and to the body of man, (therapeutics). 3. A certain amount of acquaintance with _the views and opinions of modern accepted medical authorities_, however erroneous they may be. 4. A certain amount of _judgment and aptitude_ to put the acquired theories into practice. All this is very well as far as it goes; but it may be seen at once that all the knowledge required of a modern practitioner refers only to the external plane of existence; the animal body of man and its physical surroundings. As to a science of “psychology,” to call that which goes by that name as such at present, is a misnomer; for there can be no science of the soul as long as the existence of a soul (_pysche_) is not recognized.[10] The invisible, spiritual or causal body within the nature of man is entirely ignored by science, and even if any modern physician personally believes in a soul, he will almost without exception consider this subject as belonging exclusively to the Church, and as something with which science has nothing to do. Nevertheless, if the term “religion” means the knowledge of the relation which the outward terrestrial man bears to the creative power in him, his own inner Self, which is the seat of not only his spiritual but also the indirect source of his physical life; it would seem that a knowledge of that religion which teaches the nature of this true inner and immortal being, and also the links which connect that higher nature with the physical form, would be an indispensable and most important part of a true science and system of medicine based upon the recognition of truth; and although theory precedes practice, this knowledge should not be merely of that theoretical kind which is only imaginary and not real, and which in persons who are attempting to grasp things which they are not able to realise produces a wild and absolutely fruitless mysticism; but it should be of that kind which through experience constitutes self-knowledge, and which is possible only through the realization of the possession of the ideals one wishes to know. According to Theophrastus Paracelsus the following are the four pillars of medicine:— I.—PHILOSOPHIA. The term “Philosophy” comes from _phileo_, to love, and _sophia_, wisdom, and its true meaning is the love of wisdom and the knowledge resulting therefrom; for love itself is knowledge; it is the recognition of self in another form; the love of wisdom is the recognition by wisdom in man of the same principle of wisdom that is manifested in Nature, and from this recognition springs the realisation of the knowledge of truth. True philosophy is therefore not that thing which at present goes by that name, which consists in wild speculations about the mysteries of Nature for the purpose of gratifying scientific curiosity; a system in which there is a great deal of self-love but very little love of the truth, and whose followers, by means of logic and argument, inferences, theories, postulates, hypotheses, inductions and deductions seek, so to say, to break through the back windows in the temple of truth, or to peep through the keyhole for the purpose of seeing the goddess unveiled. This speculative philosophy does not constitute real knowledge. It constitutes that artificial building of philosophy and so-called science, founded upon arguments and opinions, which change their aspect in every century, and of which Paracelsus said that “the things which are looked upon by one generation as the apex of human knowledge are found to be an absurdity by the next, and that which is regarded as a superstition in one century forms the basis of science of the following one.” All information gained by means whose basis is not a love of truth does not constitute immortal knowledge or true theosophy; but serves only for temporal purposes and as ornaments for egotism, springing as it does from the love of the illusion of self and having illusions for its object. The whole of nature is a manifestation of truth; but it requires the eye of wisdom to see the truth and not merely its delusive appearance. The philosophy of which Paracelsus speaks consists in the power of recognizing the truth in all things independent of any books or authorities, all of which can only serve to show us the way to avoid errors and how to remove the obstacles in our path; but which cannot make us realise that which we do not realise in ourselves. He who is not labouring under a load of misconceptions and erroneous teachings, requires no other book than the book of nature to teach him the truth. There are few who can read the book of nature in the light of nature; because having had their minds filled with perverted images and false views, they have themselves become unnatural, and the light of nature cannot penetrate into their souls; living in the false light of the moonshine of speculation and sophistry, they have lost their receptivity for the light of the truth. Such philosophers live in illusions and dreams but do not know that which is real: “There is upon this earth nothing more noble and more capable of giving perfect happiness than a true knowledge of nature and its foundation. Such a knowledge produces a valuable physician, but it should be a part of his constitution and not an artificial fabric attached to him like a coat; he must himself be born out of the fountain of that philosophy which cannot be acquired by artificial means.” (See: “De Generatione hominum,” I. Preface.) A knowledge based upon the opinion or experience of another is merely a belief, but does not constitute real knowledge. Books and lectures may serve to give us advice, but they cannot endow us with the power of knowing the truth; they may serve us as useful guides, but a belief in the statements of others should not be mistaken for self-knowledge, such as arises only from the self-recognition of truth, and which by means of a love of the truth ought to be cultivated above all else. To this realm of Philosophy belong all the natural sciences referring to external phenomena, in the knowledge of which a great deal of progress seems to have been made since the time of Paracelsus. To this phenomenal science belongs the anatomy, physiology, the chemistry of the physical body and all that concerns the interrelations of the phenomena existing in the grand phantasmagoria of living and corporeal images called the sensual world. But behind this sensual world there is a more interior super-sensual world, ignored by popular science, of which the former is the external expression; the processes taking place in this interior light of nature, mirror themselves in the light of the external world, and those souls whose inner perceptions have become developed in consequence of an awakening of the “inner man,” do not require the observation of external phenomena for the purpose of drawing inferences in regard to their internal causes, because they know the interior causes and processes and also the external appearances which they will produce. Thus there is an external and an internal medical science, a science concerning the astral and a science concerning the physical body of man. The former occupies itself with the patient, the latter, so to say, with the clothes which he wears. To render this still more plain, let us illustrate it by an example. Let us imagine a magic lantern capable of projecting living and corporeal images upon a living screen. External science occupies itself only with these images, the relations which they bear to each other and the changes taking place between them; but it knows nothing about the slides in the lantern upon which are the types of these visible images, and it entirely ignores the light which causes their projection upon that screen; but he who sees the slides with its pictures and knows the source of the light which produces these shadow pictures does not need to study the shadows for the purposes of drawing inferences and speculating in regard to their causes. Thus there is a superficial science which is at present the object of pride of the world, and a secret science of which next to nothing is publicly known, but which is known to the wise and revealed by one’s own perception of truth.[11] Truths must be perceived before they can be intellectually grasped, and therefore this greater and higher science cannot be learned in books, nor be taught in lectures at college, it is the result of a development of man’s higher perception, belonging to his higher nature, and characterises the born physician. Without this superior faculty, known in its initial stage as the power of “intuition,” a medical practitioner can find occupation only in the outer yard of the temple, picking up useful grains among the rubbish; but he cannot enter the temple in which nature herself teaches her divine mysteries. The minute details of this rubbish have been studied by modern popular science, whose attention has been so much absorbed thereby that the temple of truth itself has been forgotten and the nature of Life has become a mystery to those who only study its external manifestations. It will hardly be necessary to say that the above is not intended to discourage the study of phenomena; for those who have not the power of reaching higher will gain nothing by remaining ignorant of external appearances; but it is intended to show that a science referring merely to the phenomena of terrestrial life and ultimate results is not the summit of all possible knowledge; for beyond the realm of visible phenomena there is a far more extensive realm open to all who are capable of entering: the realm of truth, of which only the inverted images are seen in the kingdom of external phenomena. The natural science of the ancient mystics, owing to their deeper penetration into the so-called supersensual realm, was not limited to the world which we see with our bodily eyes; for they recognised four worlds or planes of existence within each other, each of them having its own forms of life and inhabitants, namely:— (_a._) _The physical visible world_, being only the reflection of the three higher ones. (_b._) _The astral world_, or the psychic realm. (_c._) _The world of mind_, or the spiritual realm. (_d._) _The divine state_, the kingdom of God, or the celestial world. As we perceive the existence of a mineral, vegetable and animal kingdom upon the sensual plane,[12] so they, by the faculty of the developed inner sight perceived and described within this world four kingdoms, or four spiritual, and to us invisible, states of existence, which in their outward manifestation are called: _Earth_, _Water_, _Fire_, _Air_. “We will show you that we are not the only intelligent beings possessing the world, but that our possessions extend over only one-fourth of it. Not that this world were three times greater than we know it to be; but there are in it still three-fourth parts which we do not occupy, and their inhabitants are not inferior to us in intelligence; the only thing of which we may be proud, is that Christ (the light of divine wisdom) has taken his habitation in us and clothed himself in our form, as he might have chosen another nation (another class of Elementals) for that purpose.” (_Paracelsus_, “Of the generation of conscious beings in the universal mind,” I. Preface) All this, however, does not strictly belong to the present purpose of this work, and is merely mentioned so as to make room for the conception that nature is far greater than the limits assigned to it by material science, and that, as a certain philosopher said: “that which is known is only like a grain of sand on the shore of the ocean of the unknown.”