In his autobiography, the famous esoteric writer Franz
Hartmann reported the following:
« After having been 14 months at the headquarters of the Theosophical Society
in Adyar, India, and having returned to Europe, my intention was to return to
America, because I had become tired of “esotericism,” which, owing to the
position which I occupied in the Theosophical Society, consisted in defeating
the attacks of its enemies, disputing with missionaries and quarrelling with
psychic researchers.
I longed for
peace, for the solitude of the prairies of Texas, where one feels so strongly
the presence of the Infinite, and for the sublimity of the peaks of the Rocky
Mountains, that seem to lift us above the worthless things of this life and to
bring us nearer to Heaven.
I was almost
ready to leave, when, owing to a concatenation of circumstances, too long to
briefly explain, I made the acquaintance of an occultist who was the leader of
a small body of real Rosicrucians.
When he
first entered my room I at once recognized his face as one which I had seen in
a vision on the night of January 1, 1884, while lying half awake on my couch at
Adyar.
It seemed to
me at that time that a large serpent, the symbol of wisdom, was coiled up at
the side of my bed, with its head erect, looking sternly at me. And that head
was the head of the man I met, and I knew that a ray of wisdom would come to me
by his aid.
I remained
at Kempten, and he introduced me to his friends. I attended their meetings,
became one of his disciples and followed his instructions for many years.
These people
did not call themselves “Rosicrucians,” but they were nevertheless such in
fact.
They were
not learned people, but for the greater part weavers in a factory, where they
had to work from early till late at a very poor salary. The two leaders were not even able to read or
to write, and nevertheless they seemed to know the very mysteries contained in
the books of the mystics and in the writings of H. P. Blavatsky.
They knew
these things, not from hearsay but by interior revelation, and their teaching
did not consist in giving information of what other people had taught or even
of what they had experienced themselves, but in showing the wav to the direct
perception of truth and preparing oneself to receive this revelation within.
They rarely
answered questions to satisfy curiosity; but they asked questions on which one
had to meditate and find the answer oneself, and the guidance took place not so
much by any external means or verbal advice, as by symbolic visions seen during
dreams or in a state of meditation, or even by signs and letters appearing
visibly upon the skin, for the state of the soul expresses itself in forms and
images, and if we learn to read these pictures correctly we may know the state
of our interior condition and act so as to improve it accordingly, just as a
gardener, who, by watching his plants, knows what he ought to cultivate and
what cut away.
Thus a
higher and more interior state of consciousness began gradually to dawn within
my mind like the dawn that appears on the sky before the rising of the sun,
revealing the beauties of a higher state of existence.
I found that
it is far more important to find the real Master and Guide within one’s own
soul than to seek to gratify one’s curiosity to know all about the Masters in
Tibet, and that it is far more valuable to help to create a heaven within one's
own mind than to be informed of what is said to have taken place at the time
when our world was created or how the old Lemurians and Atlanteans lived,
however interesting and amusing and even instructive such information may be.
These
“Rosicrucians” did not seek for notoriety, nor did they wish to catch members;
they wished to remain unknown and avoided publicity.
I remained
in contact with their leader until he died, and many of the truths contained in
the numerous books which I have written were made clear to me by his guidance.
To give a
detailed account of the teachings thus received would require not only a long
article but a whole book, and the mystic language in which many of these
communications were given would be like some of the writings of Jacob Boehme,
Jane Leade and others incomprehensible for many readers; because such teachings
deal with internal verities and not with outward facts known to every one, and
unless one has experienced the beauties of the higher and interior life they
are beyond the grasp of the mortal mind.
We all live
a dream life, and we cannot know the reality unless we awaken to a
consciousness of its existence in us. To
bring these higher truths nearer to the understanding of the human mind is the
object which I had in view in writing my books. »
(This
text was published in the Occult Review,
January 1908, pp. 30-32)
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