Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other
spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.
A variety astrological, alchemical and mystical symbols are used, as
many are unavailable they have been replaced by {symbol}.
The anchor of footnote 22 on page 41 was missing. The present location
was chosen by the transcriber.
The contents list shows five chapters, with chapter V being entitled The
Medicine of the Future. In the body chapter IV is followed immediately
by Chapter VI entitled The Physician of the Future. It is assumed that
this is a missprint rather than a missing chapter and has been altered
accordingly.
Italics are represented thus _italic_, and bold thus =bold=.
OCCULT SCIENCE
IN
MEDICINE
BY
FRANZ HARTMANN, M.D.
(_All rights reserved._)
THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY
7, DUKE STREET, ADELPHI, LONDON, W.C.
“THE PATH,” 144, Madison Avenue, New York, U.S.A.
“THE THEOSOPHIST” OFFICE, Adyar, Madras, India.
1893.
DEDICATED
TO EVERY STUDENT OF MEDICINE
“That which is looked upon by one generation as the apex of human
knowledge is often considered an absurdity by the next, and that which
is regarded as a superstition in one century, may form the basis of
science for the following one.” (_Theophrastus Paracelsus._)
PREFACE.
“Nothing designates the character of people so well as that which they
find ridiculous.”—_Goethe._
It is a fact not entirely unknown to those who have studied nature,
that there is a certain law of periodicity, according to which forms
disappear and the truths which they contained reappear again, embodied
in new forms. Seasons go and come, civilizations pass away and grow
again, exhibiting the same characteristics possessed by the former,
sciences are lost and rediscovered, and the science of medicine forms
no exception to this general rule. Many valuable treasures of the past
have been buried in forgetfulness; many ideas that shone like luminous
stars in the sky of ancient medicine have disappeared during the
revolution of thought, and begin to rise again on the mental horizon,
where they are christened with new names and stared at in surprise as
something supposed never to have existed before.
Ages of spirituality have preceded the past age of materiality, and
other eras of higher spiritual thought are certain to follow. During
these preceding ages many eminently valuable truths were known, which
have been lost sight of in modern times, and although the popular
science of the present, which deals with the external appearances of
physical nature, is undoubtedly greater than that of former times, a
study of the ancient books on medicine shows that the sages of former
times knew more of the fundamental laws of nature than what is admitted
to-day.
There is a great science and a little science; one that flies around
the spires of the temple of wisdom, another that penetrates into the
sanctuary; both are right in their places; but the one is superficial
and popular, the other profound and mysterious; the one makes a great
deal of clamour and show, the other is silent and not publicly known.
There are progressive and there are conservative scientists. There are
those whose genius carries them forward and who dare to explore new
realms of knowledge; while the conservative class merely collects
what has been produced by others. An explorer must be a scientist; but
not every scientist is an explorer. The majority of our modern schools
of medicine produce nothing new, but merely deal in goods in whose
production they had no share. They resemble the shop of a huckster who
knows nothing else but the goods which are in his shop. The shelves are
filled with popular theories, fashionable beliefs, patented systems,
and occasionally we find an old article that went out of fashion,
labelled with a new name and advertised as something new, and the
proprietor volubly praises his goods, being as proud of them as if he
had made them himself, while he ignores or denounces everything that
is not to be found in his shop. But the real lover of truth is not
contented to live upon the fruits that have grown in the gardens of
others; he gathers the materials he finds, not merely for the purpose
of enjoying their possession, but for the purpose of using them as
steps to ascend nearer to the fountain of eternal truth.
The present work is an attempt to call the attention of those who
follow the profession of medicine to this higher aspect of science and
to certain forgotten treasures of the past, of which an abundance may
be found in the works of Theophrastus Paracelsus. Many of the ideas
advanced therein, old as they are, will appear new and strange; for
everyone is familiar only with that which is within his own mental
horizon and which he is capable of grasping. The subject treated is so
grand, unlimited and sublime, as to render it impossible in a limited
work of this kind to deal with it in an exhaustive manner; but we hope
that what little has been collected in the following pages will be
sufficient to indicate the way to the acquisition of that higher mystic
science, and to a better understanding of the true constitution of man.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE.
Definition of the term “disease.” Law and order. Harmony
and discords. Obedience. Man a complex being. Health. 9
I.
THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN.
Miracles in nature. Development. The seven principles
in the constitution of man. The anatomy of the “inner man.”
Medicine and religion. Theophrastus Paracelsus. Mysteries.
Mystic science and false mysticism. The powers of the soul. 13
II.
THE FOUR PILLARS OF MEDICINE.
Requisites for the practice of medicine.—_Philosophy._ Natural
sciences. The phenomenal world. The inner temple. Truth.
The four kingdoms and the four elements.—_Astronomy._ Mind.
States of consciousness. “Stars” and constellations. The
_Tatwas_. Sun and Moon. Thinking and the thinker.—_Alchemy._
What alchemy is. Quacks and pretenders. _The Three Substances._
The creative power. Terrestrial Alchemy. Celestial
Alchemy. The Alchemy of the Astral plane.—_The Virtue of
the Physician._ The true physician. Medical science and
medical wisdom. 25
III.
THE FIVE CAUSES OF DISEASE.
_Salt_, _Sulphur_ and _Mercury_.—The _Ens astrale_. The “ether”.
Invisible influences. Microbes. The astral plane. Mental
diseases.—_Ens veneni._ Poisons and impurities. Disharmonies,
sympathies and antipathies in chemistry. A chemical
romance. Sexual impurity. Promiscuous intercourse.
Nutriment. Correspondencies between spiritual powers and
physical forces.—_Ens naturæ._ The macrocosm and microcosm.
Two beings in one man. Terrestrial and the celestial nature.
Generation and incarnation. Heredity. Relationship between
internal organs.—_Ens spirituale._ Consciousness. Spirit and
soul. The thought-body. Re-incarnation. Will. Imagination.
_Arcana._ Memory. The astral light.—_Ens Dei._ God
_Karma_. Science and art. 50
IV.
THE FIVE CLASSES OF PHYSICIANS.
Five classes.—_Naturales._ Therapeutics. Earth. Water.
Air. Fire. Ether; the one element.—_Specifici._ Empiricism.
The chemistry of life. Principles of light and colour. The
astral man.—_Characterales._ Emotions. Hypnotism. Suggestion.
Spiritual powers.—_Spirituales._ Magic.—_Fideles._ The
power of faith. 74
V.
THE MEDICINE OF THE FUTURE.
Ancient and modern quackery. Science and wisdom.
Spirituality and substantiality. Development. Self-control.
Realism and idealism. The realization of the ideal. The
physician of the future. Self-knowledge. The true life. The
awakening of the soul. Phenomena and noumena. The
higher science. Material and spiritual evolution. Intellectuality
and spirituality. Periodicity. Circular motion and
spiral progress. The self-recognition of truth. 86
INTRODUCTION.
“There are two kinds of knowledge. There is a medical science and
there is a medical wisdom. To the animal man belongs the animal
comprehension; but the understanding of divine mysteries belongs to
the spirit of God in him.” (Theophrastus Paracelsus, “_De Fundamento
Sapientiæ_.”)
A great deal has been written in modern books on pathology about the
difficulty of defining the word “_disease_.” The dictionary calls
it “lack or absence of ease, pain, uneasiness, distress, trial,
trouble,” &c., but against either of these definitions objections may
be raised. James Paget says: “Ease and disease, well and ill, and
all their synonyms are relative terms, of which none can be fixed
unconditionally. If there could be fixed a standard of health, all
deviations from it might be called diseases; but a chief characteristic
of living bodies is not fixity, but variation by self-adjustment to a
wide range of varying circumstances, and among such self-adjustments it
is not practicable to make a line separating those which may reasonably
be called healthy from those which may as reasonably be called disease.”
To this occult science answers that _such a standard of health exists
for us as soon as we recognise the unity and supremacy of the law; that
the results of obedience to the law are harmony and health, and the
results of disobedience are called discords or disease_.
Shakespeare says:—
“The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre
Observe degree, priority and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office, and custom, in all line of order.”
—(_Troilus and Cressida_, i. 3.)
If we regard the order, which “is Heaven’s first law,” as the creation
of the self-adjustment of accidentally arising circumstances, leaving
out of consideration the fundamental Unity of the All and its one
purpose, we would then probably find various laws of order in the
universe, being essentially different from each other; and it would be
difficult to know which of these laws it would be best to follow; but
if we recognise in the order that rules all things a manifestation of
one eternal law of order and harmony, the function of Supreme Wisdom
acting in nature but not being the product of nature, it will remain
for us only to know that supreme Law and obey it. The universe is only
one, and is ruled by only one source of all laws; but there are many
unities within the constitution of this great Unity; they constitute
as many selves within Self, whose separate interests are not identical
with that of the whole, and therefore the order obeyed by these
temporary selves is not the same as that of the eternal whole. Thus the
battle for existence, far from being the cause of the order observable
in the world, is in fact the cause of the disorder existing therein.
If man, like his divine prototype, were a perfect unity, a
manifestation of will and thought identified and one, there would be
only one law to obey: the law of his divine nature; he would be forever
in harmony with himself; there would be no disharmonious elements
in his nature, seeking to create an order of their own, and thereby
causing discords and disease; but man is a compound being, there are
many elements in his nature, each representing to a certain extent an
independent form of will, and the more one of these modifications of
will succeeds in departing from the order that constitutes the whole,
and to enact, be it intelligently or instinctively, a will of its own,
the greater will be the disharmony which it causes within the whole
organism and the greater will be the disease.[1] “A house divided
against itself will fall.” _Disease is the disharmony which follows
the disobedience to the law; the restoration consists in restoring the
harmony by a return to obedience to the law of order which governs the
whole._
The key to the cure of diseases is therefore in the understanding of
the fundamental law which governs the nature of man, and for this
purpose it is necessary that a rational system of medicine should know
the constitution of man; not only that of his physical body, which is
merely the lower part of the house wherein he dwells; but the whole
physical, astral and mental constitution of that being called “Man,”
which is still the greatest mystery to science, and of which little
more than the anatomy, the physiological functions and the chemical
composition of the material organs and substances composing his
corporeal form is either known to or taught by our modern academies.
Great progress has been made by modern science in investigating all
the minor details of the shell which man occupies during his life upon
this planet; but as regards the inhabitant of that house, the inner
man, who is neither wholly material nor wholly spiritual, the ancient
sages knew more about his true nature than is ever dreamed of in our
medical schools, and it will be undoubtedly worth while to examine
their views. Moreover, if the outward body of man is, as they teach,
only the outward expression of the qualities and functions of a more
interior and invisible human organism; then it appears that many bodily
diseases, such as are not caused by direct physical injuries, are the
results of disorders existing within that inner organism, and as every
true physician should seek to know the causes of diseases, and not
merely destroy their external effects, such a knowledge of the “causal
body” of man, whose visible image is his “phenomenal form,” may open a
new field for pathology and therapeutics, from which a rich harvest may
be gathered for the benefit of mankind.
I.
THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN.
From times immemorial the sages have taught that we shall never know
immortal truth, if we do not discover it within our own selves.
Experience has long ago corroborated this theory, for in spite of all
progress in scientific researches concerning the nature of Man, and
which were carried on by means of researches in the external kingdom
of nature, the real constitution of Man and that which constitutes
his essential being has not yet been discovered. We know that from
the ovum the fœtus, from the fœtus the child, from the child the body
of man becomes developed; we know the order in which these processes
take place; but we seem to know nothing about the powers that produce
them. Such an alchemical trick of nature as to make a man grow out
of a cell in which no man is contained would seem absurd, incredible
and miraculous, and would be believed by nobody, if it were not a
well-known fact, and being of daily occurrence it has ceased to appear
surprising, so that it appears now strange if anyone wonders how such a
thing is possible.
_Horne_ says: “By a silent, unseen, mysterious process, the fairest
flower of the garden springs from a small insignificant seed.” A
similar mysterious process takes place in the evolution of the human
body. All these processes are evidently the effects of the action of a
cause adequate to produce them; to deny this would be identical with
affirming the self-evident absurdity, that something could grow out of
nothing, and the law of logic furthermore makes it clear that although
a physical cause can produce a physical effect, a living body can
only be produced by a living power, an intellectual organism by an
intelligent being. Whether or not the animal body of man has evoluted
from the lower animal kingdom, or whether certain animals are the
products of a perversion and degradation of the nature of man, does not
concern us at present. What we know is, that no life and intelligence
can become manifest in a form unless these powers are contained
therein, and we also know that life cannot be created by death nor can
intelligence be created by that which has no intelligence.
But if popular science confessedly knows nothing about the origin of
the manifestation of life, nothing about what is vaguely termed “soul,”
nothing about the nature and origin of the mind (whose functions
are required for the purpose of enabling the brain to investigate
such things) nothing about the spirit and nothing about the higher
constitution of man, whose external expression and symbol is his
physical body; it will not be inappropriate to apply to other sources
for information and hear what the ancient sages taught concerning the
principles that go to make up the constitution of man. _The first
requisite of a rational and perfect system of a medicine is a thorough
knowledge of the whole constitution of man; of the whole, and not
merely of a part of his nature._
The ancient Indian sages compared man to a lotus flower, whose home is
the water (the world), whose roots draw their nutriment from the earth
(material nature), while it raises its head to the light (the spiritual
kingdom), from which it receives the power to unfold the powers latent
in its constitution.
A great deal has already been said in Theosophical literature about the
sevenfold constitution of man: but for the sake of completeness we will
delineate it again.
1. _Rupa._ The physical body, the vehicle of all the other “principles”
during life.
2. _Prana._ Life or vital principle.
3. _Linga Sharira._ The astral body. The ethereal image or counterpart
of the physical body, the “phantom body.”
4. _Kama rupa._ The animal soul. The seat of animal desires and
passions. In this principle is centred the life of the animal and
mortal man.
5. _Manas._ Mind. Intelligence. The connecting link between the mortal
and immortal man.
6. _Buddhi._ The spiritual soul. The vehicle of pure universal spirit.
7. _Atma._ Spirit. The radiation of the Absolute. (For further
explanation see: H. P. Blavatsky, “Key to Theosophy.”)
_Goethe_ says: “A word comes in very conveniently when a conception
is absent.” In our material age the very meaning of terms signifying
spiritual powers and conditions has become lost and perverted; “God”
is supposed to mean an unnatural supernatural being outside of Nature;
“Faith” has become credulity and belief in the opinions of others;
“Hope” has become personal greed; “Love” is supposed to be selfish
desire, etc., etc. It is therefore not surprising if the above terms
are incomprehensible to many or misinterpreted by them, for they all
represent certain states of consciousness, and no one can know a state
of consciousness which he has never experienced. Therein is contained
the mystery.
The philosophers of the middle ages symbolised these seven principles
by the signs of seven “planets” from which seven cosmic bodies visible
in the sky received their names; and if this is understood, it will at
once become clear that those who deny the sevenfold division of the
planets, only expose their own ignorance and misconceptions. No one can
really criticise that which he does not understand; but self-conceit
imagines itself to be superior to everything, and thinks itself wiser
than all the sages; forgetting that Shakespeare says: “_The fool thinks
he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool._” (_As You
Like It_, V., i.)
The ancients based their science of medicine upon the recognition of
a universal, eternal, self-existent, self-conscious cause, the source
of universal life, where popular modern medicine recognises only
the outcome of a blind force. The secret medicine of the ancients
was therefore a religious[2] science, while modern popular medicine
recognises no religious element and therefore no real truth. To
separate science from religious truth is to put it upon an irrational
basis; for “religion” means the relation which man bears to his divine
origin. To leave out of sight the source from which he originated is
to ignore his true nature and to relegate medicine to the realm of
the lowest plane of his existence; namely, that of his most gross and
material form. This is exactly the position which modern medicine
occupies at present, and there is nothing that can elevate it higher
than a recognition of the higher nature in man, and a re-discovery of
divine truth. Such a higher knowledge was formerly considered necessary
for the purpose of constituting a real physician, and for this reason
the practice of medicine was in the hands of those who were born
physicians, sages and saints by the power of the true grace of God,
while among popular practitioners there are, now as then, many dunces
and rascals, having neither spirituality nor morality; for what the
modern physician of the materialistic school requires for his success
is a certain amount of memorizing of the contents of his books, so as
to enable him to pass his examination, and a talent to profit by the
credulity of the people.
When the ancients spoke of “seven planets,” they referred to seven
spiritual but nevertheless substantial states, of which popular
science knows nothing but their external manifestation in the realm
of phenomena. It has truly been said that no one ever saw even the
_earth_; that which we see is merely a manifestation or appearance
of a spiritual principle called “earth” {symbol} The real essence of
“matter” is beyond the conception of the terrestrial mind.
Seen from this point of view, the “seven planets” in the constitution
of man as well as in the constitution of nature as a whole, represent
the following elements, powers, essences, or forms of existence:—
I. {symbol} _Saturn_ (_Prakriti_). Matter; the substance and material element
in all things in all the three kingdoms of nature (the physical, astral
and spiritual plane). It is invisible and known only by means of its
manifestation. It is that which gives fixity and solidity, it is
substantiality itself.
II. {symbol} _Luna_, “the Moon” (_Linga_). The “ethereal or astral” body
of man; the kingdom of dreams, fancies, illusions, in which exists
only the reflection of the true life and light of the sun; it also
represents intellectual speculation without wisdom (recognition of
truth), and the forms belonging to that kingdom are as changeable as
are the opinions of men.
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.”
II. ASTRONOMIA.
“Astronomy” means the knowledge of the stars, and to the conception
of the modern mind it is the science of “celestial bodies,” such as
are seen at night on the sky; but to the ancient philosophers all
visible things were the symbols and representations of invisible
powers, thoughts and ideas, and the expression “Astronomy,” as used by
Paracelsus, is, therefore, something quite different from the science
of the star-gazers, and refers to the various states of the mind
existing in the macrocosm of nature as well as in the microcosm of man.
“The very word “celestial” or “heavenly,” refers to something superior
to our grossly material nature, and an idea of what are the “stars”
with which ancient astronomy and astrology deal, may be formed by
studying the signification of the planets referred to in the previous
chapter on the Constitution of Man.
The Astronomy of Paracelsus, therefore, does not deal with corporeal,
material, visible, cosmic bodies; but with _virtutes_ (virtues) or
powers and _semina_ (germs), or essences, all of which are spiritual
and substantial; because a power without substance is inconceivable;
“power and substance,” “matter and force” being convertible terms,
states of one unity, divided only in our conception of the modes of
its manifestation. A “star”, in fact, means a _state_, and a “fixed
star” a fixed state of a power in nature; or as it is called in
Sanscrit, a _Tattwa_, which means a state of _That_ or Being, and as
all Being is a manifestation of Life or Consciousness, the “stars” are
certain states of that universal Life or All-consciousness, in other
words, states of the _Mind_.