CHAPTER III

THE PUPIL AND HIS TEACHER
T T is impossible to make real progress in * the task of penetrating to the higher worlds without going through the stage of Imaginative Knowledge. This by no means implies that in the coimse of occult training a man is compelled to remain for a given time at the imaginative stage as if it were a class at school through which he is bound to pass. This may be neces- sary in certain cases, but not in all. It depends entirely upon the experience the occult student has had before beginning his training. It will be shown in the course of this analysis that the spiritual environment of the pupil is of import-
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ance with regard to this point, and, what is more, that, according to his relation- ship to this spiritual environment, very different methods have been instituted for treading the Path of Knowledge.
An understanding of the following par- ticulars may be of the utmost importance to one who is preparing to enter the Path of occult training. These must not be regarded merely as presenting an inter- esting theory, but as something by which the most varied and practical points of view may be gained by anyone who is sincerely pursuing “the way to the Higher Knowledge.”
Those who are seeking their higher evolution are often heard to say: “I wish to perfect myself spiritually; I wish to develop the ‘ Higher Self ’ within me ; but I have no desire for the manifestations of the astral world.” This is understand-
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able enough when we read the descrip- tions of the astral world in books treating of such things, for apparitions and entities are spoken of in these which bring all sorts of dangers to men. It is often said that under the influence of such beings a man may very easily suffer injury both morally and intellectually. It is brought home to the reader that in these regions the wall dividing the good from the evil path is as a spider’s web in thickness, and that the plunge into immeasurable depths, the fall into utter depravity, lies extremely near. It is impossible simply to contradict these assertions. Yet the standpoint taken in many cases, with regard to the treading of the occult Path, is by no means a right one. The only reasonable point of view is that which enables us to say that no one should be deterred from entering the Path of the Higher Know-
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ledge because of the dangers incidental to it ; but that in every case great care must be taken that these dangers be avoided. It will, of course, in many cases follow that a man who asks advice from an occult teacher in the matter of training will be counselled to postpone the actual training for a while, and first to go through certain experiences of ordinary life, or to learn cer- tain things which are to be learned in the physical world. It will then be the task of the occult teacher to give the seeker the right instructions to enable him to gather suitable experience and learn the necessary things.
In by far the greater number of cases, a student will find that the occult teacher proceeds in this way. And if the student now becomes sufficiently attentive to what befalls him, after he has come into contact with the occult teacher, he will
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make the most varied observations. He will find that henceforth curious things happen to him as if by accident, and that he has opportunities for observing occur- rences which would never have come to him without this link with the occult teacher. If students do not notice this, and become impatient, it is because they have not paid sufficient attention to what has happened to them. It is not to be imagined that the influence of the teacher upon the student will show itself in dis- tinctly visible works of magic. This influence is, on the contrary, a very inti- mate matter; and he who would explore its nature and form without having first reached a certain stage of occult training, is sure to fall into error. The student injures himself in every case in which he becomes impatient because he is placed on probation. His advance will be none
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the less rapid on this account. On the contrary, his progress would be rendered slower if he were to begin too soon the training to which he so impatiently looks forward.
If the student allows the time of pro- bation, or the counsels and hints given to him by the occult teacher, to influence him rightly, he will be actually preparing himself to withstand certain trials and dangers which he will encounter when he approaches the inevitable stage of Imagi- nation. This stage is unavoidable, for this reason : — Every one who seeks com- munication with the higher worlds with- out having passed through it, can only do so unconsciously, and is condemned when he reaches them to grope in the dark. One can acquire some dim sense of these higher worlds without Imagination; one can without it certainly attain to a feeling
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of being united with one’s “God” or “Higher Self”; but one cannot come to a true knowledge in full consciousness and bright translucent clearness. Therefore, all that is said to the effect that the ex- positions regarding the “lower worlds” (the astral and devachanic) are useless, that the one thing needful is that man should “awaken the God within him,” is entirely misleading. Whoever is satisfied with such standpoints should not be inter- fered with in his strivings, and no occult- ist would seek to do this. True Occultism has, however, nothing to do with such strivings ; nor, on the other hand, does it invite anybody directly to become a pupil. But in him who craves the dis- cipline of the occultist, the latter will not only awaken in him a mere dim per- ception of his “divinity,” but will also endeavour to open his spiritual eyes to
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that which is actually existent in the higher worlds.
Of course, the “Divine Self” exists in every htunan being, and not in man alone, but in every created thing. In stone, plant, and animal, the “Divine Self” is inherent and active. What is of impor- tance is not so much the general recogni- tion of this fact, but rather the actual entrance into union with the manifesta- tions of this “Divine Self.” Just as a man knows nothing of the physical world so long as he can only repeat again and again: “This world contains the ‘Divine Self’ veiled within it,” — in like manner does he who seeks the “divine kingdoms of spirit” as vague and indefinite gener- alities know nothing of the higher worlds. We should open our eyes and behold the divine manifestation in the things of the physical world, in the stone and in
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the plant, and not indtdge in dreams de- picting everything as mere “phenomena” behind which the real form of God lies concealed. No; God reveals Himself in His creations, and he who would know God must learn to know the true nature of these creations.
Therefore must we also learn actually to behold what exists and happens in the higher worlds, if we would know the “Divine Nature.” The consciousness that the “Divine Man” dwells within us can be at most but a beginning; but this consciousness experienced aright, becomes a spur to the definite ascent into the higher worlds. This can be truly ac- complished only when the necessary spirit- ual senses have been developed. Every other point of view is, merely: “I will remain as I am, and only attain to that which is within the reach of such powers
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as I have developed already.” But the aim of the occultist is to become a differ- ent being in order to behold and expe- rience things of a different nature from those of ordinary life.
And it is precisely for this purpose that the stage of Imaginative Knowledge must be experienced. It has already been said that this “imaginative” stage need not be looked upon as a class at school which one must pass through. What is to be understood is this: — There are, particularly in the present generation, many who have brought over with them such conditions as enable the occult teacher to call forth in them at the same time, or nearly so, imaginative, inspira- tional, and intuitive knowledge. But we are not to understand that in the case of any individual the passage through the imaginative stage may be dispensed with.
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The cause of the dangers inherent in Imaginative Knowledge has already been hinted at in previous chapters. It lies in the fact that on his entrance into super- physical worlds a man, in a certain sense, sees the ground vanish from under his feet. That which gave him security in the physical world has apparently quite disappeared. When we perceive any- thing in the physical world, we ask our- selves: Whence comes this perception? We do this in most cases unconsciously. But we are quite satisfied “uncon- sciously” that the causes of the percep- tion are the objects “outside us, in space.” Colours, sounds, and odours proceed from these objects. We do not see colours floating about in space, or hear sounds, without being able to satisfy ourselves regarding the objects to which these colours pertain as qualities, and from
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which these tones proceed. This con- sciousness, that they are caused by objects and entities, gives to physical perceptions, and thereby to man himself, a sense of security, a sure hold. If one has perceptions without any outward cause, they are considered abnormal and morbid. Such unaccountable percep- tions are called illusions, hallucinations, visions.
Now primarily, from a purely external point of view, the whole imaginative world consists of such hallucinations, vis- ions, and illusions. It has been pointed out how, through occult training, such visions are artificially produced.' By focussing the consciousness on a seed or a dying plant, certain forms are conjured up in the soul, which, to begin with, are nothing but hallucinations. The “flame-
*Sec The Way of Initiation,
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formation” which was spoken of as being produced in the soul through the observation of a plant or other object, and which after a time completely separates itself from the plant, must, from the material standpoint, be regarded as in the nature of hallucination. It is the same in the imaginative world when we enter upon occult training. That which we were accustomed to regard as pro- ceeding from things outside in space, — as clinging to such things as properties, colours, sounds, odours, and so forth, — now floats freely by itself in space. Per- ceptions detach themselves from all exter- nal objects and float or soar apart. And here we know for a certainty that these perceptions have not produced the things which we see before us, but that on the contrary, we “ourselves” have produced them. And so it comes about that one
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seems to have “lost one’s foothold.’’ In ordinary life, in the physical world, we have to be on our guard against those representations which do not proceed from objects, and which are, so to speak, without any foundation. But for the calling forth of Imaginative Knowledge, the important thing at first is to perceive colours, sounds, odours, etc., which, de- tached from everything, float freely in space.
The next step towards Imaginative Knowledge is to find a new cause for such wandering conceptions. And this must be done in that other world which is about to be revealed. New objects and beings appropriate these representations. In the physical world, for instance, the colour “blue” clings to the cornflower, and similarly in the imaginative world it must cleave to something real. It rushes forth,
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as it were, towards some being, and where- as it floated unattached at first, it now becomes the expression of that being. Something speaks through it to the obser- ver, which he can only perceive in the imaginative world. And so these free floating pictures gather round a definite centre, and we know that beings are speaking to us through them. And, as in the physical world we find corporeal things and beings to which colours, sounds, odours, etc., are attached, or from which they are derived, we now discover spiritual beings who express themselves through those colours, tones, etc. These “spiritual beings” are, in fact, always present; they hover round us continually. But they cannot reveal themselves to us if we do not give them an opportunity to do so. And we can only give them this opportxmity by evok-
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ing within ourselves the capacity to call up colours, sounds, etc., in our soul, even when no physical object gives rise to them.
Entirely different from the objects and entities of the physical world are the “spiritual facts and beings.” It is not easy to find in ordinary speech an expres- sion which even remotely describes this difference. Perhaps we may best ap- proach it by saying that in the imagina- tive world everything speaks to man as if it were directly intelligent; while in the physical world intelHgence can only reveal itself indirectly through corpo- reality. It is just this that gives mobility and freedom to the imaginative world: The intermediary member, viz., the out- ward object, is absent, and the spiritual is able to live immediately in the free- flowing colours, sounds, and so on.
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Now one of the dangers that threatens man in this world lies in the fact that he perceives these manifestations of “spirit- ual beings,” but not the beings them- selves. This at least is the case so long as he remains in the imaginative world only and does not ascend to a higher one. It is Inspiration and Intuition which lead him by degrees to the beings themselves. If, however, the occult teacher should awaken these prematurely, without hav- ing thoroughly acquainted the pupil with the realm of imagination, the higher world would have for him only a shadowy and phantasmal existence. The whole glorious fullness of the pictures in which it must reveal itself when he really enters it, would be lost. In this lies the reason why the occult student needs a “Guide,” or “Guru,” as this guide is' called in Occult Science.
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For the pupil, the imaginative world is at first only a world of pictures, of which, to a great extent, he does not know the meaning. But the “Guru” knows to what things and beings these pictures are related in the higher world. If the pupil has confidence in him he will know that connecting links, which for the present he cannot discern, will reveal themselves to him later. In the physical world, the objects in space were themselves his guides. He was in a position to prove the accuracy of his ideas. The corporeal reality is the “rock” upon which all hallucinations and illusions must be shat- tered. This rock disappears, as soon as we enter the imaginative world. Therefore the “Guru” must himself become its substitute. The Teacher must realise for his pupil the actuality of the new world. From this we may estimate how
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great must be the pupil’s confidence in the Guru in any occult training worthy of the name. As soon as he can no longer believe in the Guru, it is as though in the physical world he were suddenly deprived of everything on which he had built his faith in the reality of his perceptions.
Apart from this, there is yet another difficulty which may confuse the pupil, if he seeks to enter the imaginative world without the guidance of a Teacher. For the occult student has, first and foremost, to learn to know himself as distinct from all other spiritual beings. In physical life a man has feelings, desires, longings, passions, ideas, etc., of his own. These are, indeed, all caused by the things and beings of the outer world, but the man knows quite definitely that they make up his inner world, and he recognises them as something happening within his
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soul, distinct from the objects of the world outside.
But as soon as the imaginative sense is awakened, this facility of distinction com- pletely ceases. His own feelings, ideas, passions, etc., literally step outside him, and take on form, sound, and colour. His attitude with regard to them is now the same as it is with reference to absolutely strange objects and beings in the physical world. And it is easy to understand how complete the confusion may be when we remember what has been said on this point in a previous chapter, the whole of which was occupied in describing how the imaginative world presents itself to the observer. For there everything ap- pears reversed as in a mirror. That which goes forth from the man himself appears as if it were approaching him from without. A wish which he fosters
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changes into a form, into that of some fantastic-looking animal, for instance, or perhaps into the appearance of a human entity. This seems to assail him, to make an attack on him, or to cause him to do one thing or another. So it may come about that the man appears to himself as if surrounded by a wholly fantastic, often charming and seductive, but also often horrible, world of fluttering forms.
In reality these are nothing but his own thoughts, wishes, and passions, changed into pictiores which he sees. It would be a great mistake to suppose that it is easy to distinguish these pictures of the transformed self from the true spiritual world. At first it is absolutely impossible for the pupil to make this dis- tinction. For the picture which speaks to the man may be exactly the same, whether it springs from some spiritual
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being or from something within his own soul. And if a man hurries his develop- ment unduly at this point, there is a danger that he may never rightly learn to separate the two. It is imperative in this matter that he should exercise the greatest care.
The confusion is rendered still greater by the fact that the wishes and desires of his own soul clothe themselves in images conveying an absolutely contrary character to that which they really bear. Let us suppose, for instance, that Vanity comes before us as a picture in this man- ner: it may appear perhaps as a lovely figure, promising the most wonderful things if we execute its behests. The suggestions it makes appear to promise something altogether good and desirable ; if we follow them it will bring about our ruin, moral or otherwise. Conversely,
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a good quality of the soul can veil itself in unprepossessing garb. Only to him who truly knows is it possible to distin- guish the one from the other. Only a personality who cannot be made to falter in pursuit of a right aim is secure against the seductive power of his own soul- images.
Having regard to all this, it will readily be seen how necessary is the guidance of a Teacher who, with unerring judgment, draws his pupil’s attention both to the illusions and realities in this region. But we need not suppose that the Giuni must always stand, as it were, behind the pupil. The immediate presence of the Teacher is not the most important matter for the occult student. Of course there are moments when such “being together in space” is desirable, and even when it is absolutely necessary. But on the other
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hand, the occult Teacher finds means of remaining in touch with the pupil even when separated by distance. And besides, it must be observed that much
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of what passes between Teacher and pupil when they meet may be effectual often for months and probably for years after- wards. One thing there is, however, which will break this necessary link between Teacher and pupil without fail. This happens when the latter loses confidence in his Teacher. And it is especially un- fortunate if this bond of confidence is broken before the pupil has learned to distinguish between the delusive reflec- tions of his own soul and true reality.
It may here, perhaps, be said: “Yes, but if a tie is formed with the Guru in this way, the occult student loses all freedom and independence. He gives himself, so to speak, entirely into the hands of the
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Guru.” This, however, is not the case. There is certainly a difference among the various methods of occult training in respect of this dependence on the Guru. The dependence may be greater or less. It is relatively greatest in the methods fol- lowed by Oriental occultists, and taught by them even to-day as their own. This dependence is proportionately less in the so-called Christian Initiation; and, in reality, it is completely in abeyance on that Path of Knowledge which has been known since the fourteenth century as the Rosicrucian School of Occultism. In this the Guru can by no means be abolished, — that is impossible ; but the entire depend- ence on him ceases. How this is prac- ticable will be shown in the following chapters. Therein we shall explain pre- cisely how these three “Paths of Know- ledge” differ, — ^the Oriental, the Christian,
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and the Rosicrucian. In this last there is nothing which could interfere in any way with a modern man’s sense of freedom. It will also be seen how it may happen that one person or another as an occvilt student, even to-day in modem Evux)pe, may follow, not the Rosicrucian, but the Oriental Path, or the early Christian; though, for the present time, the Rosi- crucian is the most natural. And this way, as will presently be seen, is by no means non-Christian. A man may follow this Path without endangering his Christ- ianity; and he, too, may follow it who believes himself to have adopted that theory of the world which is identified with modem science.
One other point, perhaps, needs to be cleared up. We may feel tempted to ask whether the occult student might not be spared the experience of the delusive
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reflections of his own soul. But if this happened he would never attain to the independent discernment so desirable for him. For by no other means can the peculiar nature of the imaginative world be so well realised as by the observation of one’s own soul. At first a man knows the inner life of his soul only from one side, — that he begins by being within it. And this is just what the pupil has to learn, not only to look at things from out- side, but to observe them as if he himself were within all of them. Now, if his own thought-world comes upon him as some- thing strange, he learns to know a new aspect of that of which formerly he knew but one side. He must, in a certain sense, himself serve as the first example of this mode of Knowledge.
Here in the physical world he is accus- tomed to something quite different. Here
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he looks upon all things from without; himself alone he knows only from within. So long as he remains in the physical world he can never see below the surface of things; and he can never get outside himself, — “slip out of his skin,” as it were — ^in order to observe himself from with- out. And this is literally incumbent upon him before all else in occult training; by the help of this he learns to look beneath the surface of external facts and beings.