powerful through imagination. Either of these two is the life of the
other, and if they become one and identical, they constitute a living
spirit to which nothing inferior offers resistance. In the ignorant and
doubtful, in those who do not know their own mind and doubt the result
of success, consequently in the majority of experiments carried on for
the purpose of gratifying a scientific curiosity or for some other
selfish purpose, the will and imagination are not one, but act in two
different directions. If we look with one eye to heaven and with the
other to the earth, or with one to the restoration of the patient’s
health and with the other to the profits knowledge or renown we may
receive from it ourselves, there is no unity of motive or purpose, and
consequently a lack of the principal condition for success. A physician
desirous of employing such means should therefore be of such a nobility
of character as to be above all selfish considerations, and only intent
upon doing his duty according to the commands of divine love.
Only that which comes from the heart goes to the heart; the power that
comes from the brain alone has no magic effects unless it becomes
united with that which comes from the heart. It resembles the cold and
ineffective moonlight, but it becomes a strong power by its union with
the sunshine that radiates from the centre of the heart.
“Thus the imagination becomes a spirit, and its vehicle is the body,
and in this body are generated the seeds which bear good and evil
fruits.” (“De virtute imaginativa,” III.)
IV.—SPIRITUALES.
Up to this class we have had to deal with forces which are, even if
not fully recognized, at least admitted by modern science; but now we
are going to speak of the action of a spiritual power, which, being
in the conscious possession of only a few persons, is almost entirely
unknown. This is the power which the self-conscious spirit exercises
over the unintelligent forces in nature, and which comes under the head
of “Magic,” a term whose meaning is understood only by few.
“Magic”—from _mag_, priest—means the great power of wisdom, an
attribute of the self-conscious spirit, holy or devilish according to
the purpose to which it is applied. It is therefore a power which does
not belong to the terrestrial intellectual man; but to the spiritual
man, and it may even be exercised by the latter without the external
man being aware of the source of this power acting in him. For this
reason we often see that some remedy proves very efficacious in the
hands of one physician and entirely useless in the hands of another
equally learned and intellectual. Paracelsus says:
“Such physicians are called _spirituales_, because they command the
spirits of herbs and roots, and force them to release the sick whom
they have imprisoned. Thus if a judge puts a prisoner in the stocks,
the judge is his physician. Having the keys, he may open the locks
when he chooses. To this class of physicians belonged Hippocrates and
others.” (“Paramir.,” Prolog. III.)
Such an assertion appears to be incredible only as long as nothing is
known about the constitution of matter; but if we call occult science
to our aid and realise that all things in the world constitute certain
states of one universal consciousness, and that the foundation of all
existence is Spirit, it not only becomes comprehensible, but even
self-evident, that the self-conscious spirit of a person can move and
control the products of nature’s imagination according to its own
action in them, and we may truly say that in such cases it is the
spirit of the physician acting by means of the spirit of the remedies
which he employs, and herein is the solution of the secret of the
wonderful cures of leprosy, etc., effected by Theophrastus Paracelsus,
which have been historically proved, but which are unintelligible if
examined from the point of view of material science.
An investigation into this subject would take us within the realm of
white and black magic, witchcraft and sorcery, which have received
attention already on a previous occasion,[52] and whose further
elucidation would be premature and altogether impossible within the
limited space of this work.
V.—FIDELES.
The word “fidelity”—from _fido_, to trust—means faith, confidence,
conviction arising from the perception of truth; knowledge, such as
results from experience, and the class of physicians here referred to,
includes those who, remaining true to their own divine nature, are in
possession of divine powers, such as have been attributed to Christ,
the apostles and saints.
“They restore health by the power of faith; for he who believes in
truth becomes healed by its own power.” (“Paramir.,” I., Prol. 3.)
So-called “faith” is in most cases illusive, and consists merely in an
accepted or pretended belief in the correctness of certain opinions or
theories. The true faith of the spiritual man is a living spiritual
and divine power, resulting from the certitude of the spiritual
perception of the eternal law of cause and effect. As we most certainly
are convinced that day follows upon the night, and night after day,
so the Adept-physician, knowing the spiritual, moral and physical
causes of diseases, and appreciating the flow of their evolution and
progress, knows the effects created by such causes, and controls the
means for their cure. No one can destroy effects caused by the law of
divine justice. If he hinders the manifestation of divine law in one
way, it will manifest itself in another way, such is the action of
divine law in nature; but he who lives in the truth and in whom divine
truth becomes manifest, is thereby raised superior to nature, for he
enters into that from which nature took its origin. This uplifting and
all-saving power is the true faith in man which can cure all diseases.
“There is neither good nor bad luck; but every effect is due to a
cause. Each one receives his reward according to the way he walks and
acts. God has made all men out of only one substance, and given to
all the same power to live, and all human beings are therefore equals
in God. The sun and the rain, winter and summer, are the same for
everybody; but not everybody looks at the sun with the same eyes. God
loves all mankind alike; but not all men love God with the same kind
of love. Each of God’s children has the same inheritance; but one
squanders, while another preserves it. That which God has made equal
is rendered unequal by the actions of men. Each man taking his cross
upon himself finds therein his reward. Every misfortune is a fortune,
because divine goodness gives to everyone that which he most needs for
his future development; the suffering begins only when discontent,
the result of the non-recognition of eternal law, steps in. The
greater the obstacle to combat, the greater will be the victory.”
(“Philosophia,” V.)
The art of medicine has not been instituted for the purpose of defying
the laws of God; but for the purpose of aiding in the restoration of
the harmony, whose disturbance caused disease, and this restoration
takes place through obedience to the law. There is no more a
“forgiveness of the sin of disease” than there is a forgiveness of
moral sins. The cure takes place by means of a re-entering into harmony
with the laws of nature, which after all are the laws of God manifested
in the natural realm. Neither is the health restored or sins pardoned
for the purpose that man with lessened fear of punishment may go and
sin again; but after the effects of the discords are overcome, he
obtains again the power to sin, so that he may have a fresh opportunity
for overcoming temptation and thus attain mastery over himself during
his life upon this earth. He who is master over himself is his own law
and not subject to any disharmony, and it is this which Paracelsus
expressed in his favourite motto:
“Non sit alterius qui suus esse potest,”
which may be translated, “He who is master over himself belongs to
nothing else but himself”: for that Self which conquers “self” is God,
the Will of Divine Wisdom, the Lord over All.
VI.
THE MEDICINE OF THE FUTURE.
There is no doubt that the average physician of the present age
occupies on the whole a much higher position than was occupied by the
average physician of the last centuries when the wisdom of the ancients
had become a forgotten truth, and modern science was in its infancy.
Although there were even during the middle ages physicians of deep
insight, and in possession of a profound knowledge of the mysteries of
Nature, such as the modern profession may acquire again by slow growth
within the next centuries, the popular medicine of these times was a
mixture of ignorance and quackery, the remnants of which are still to
be found in our days. Of this class of the physicians of those times
Paracelsus says:—
“There are a great many among them who have no other object but to
satisfy their greed, so that one has to be ashamed to belong to a
profession in which so much swindling takes place. They speculate
on the ignorance of the people, and he who succeeds in amassing the
greatest amount of money by robbing them is looked upon as the leading
physician. Mutual love and charity is entirely out of fashion, and the
practice of medicine is degraded to the standard of a common trade,
in which the only object is to take as much money as one can obtain,
and those who have the gift of the gab, and clamour the loudest,
succeed best in cheating mankind; for as long as the world is filled
with fools, the biggest fool will necessarily be the ruler, if he only
succeeds in making himself conspicuous.” (“Defensio,” V.)
The science of medicine is not to blame for the existence of such
a state of things; but it is one of the attributes of human animal
nature, and we leave it to the intelligent observer to judge whether
this nature has changed a great deal since the time of Paracelsus,
or whether there is still an army of quacks, legalized or illegal,
who have written the motto “_Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur_”
upon their flag. Official science has undoubtedly progressed
during this century, but merely intellectual acquisitions do not
necessarily make a man wiser; the greatest scoundrels have been men
of great intellectuality without spirituality. Wisdom consists in the
self-recognition of truth, and there are many who are “ever learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of truth.”[53]
This spiritual knowledge does not belong to the faculties of men’s
lower intellectual nature, but to his higher nature alone; and it
is therefore of paramount importance that the development of that
higher nature should receive more attention than it is receiving at
present. A mere improvement in morals or ethics is quite insufficient
for that purpose. Morality is the outcome of reasoning; Spirituality
is the superior power due to the manifestation of self-consciousness
on a higher plane of existence, the illumination of the mind and
body of man by the power and light of the spirit filling the soul.
When spirituality becomes substantiality in man, then only will his
knowledge be of a substantial kind.
This spiritual substantiality, or, in other words, the realization of
the highest ideal, is the work of the gradual evolution of mankind;
which, as has been said by the ancient alchemists, “may require for its
accomplishment thousands of ages; but which can also be accomplished
in a moment of time.” It is not a product of man’s labour, but of the
descent of the light of divine truth, the “grace of God” which will
come to everyone whenever he is ready to receive it. It is therefore
not dependent on anyone’s willing or running,[54] but on the action of
the spirit of the true divine Self, which is ever striving to become
manifest in man.
This interior development is not the consequence of the acquisition of
any new theories in regard to the nature of the constitution of man;
but takes place through the overcoming of the lower elements in his
nature, by means of which his higher nature can become manifest. But
in order to induce and enable him to employ his powers intelligently
for the purpose of conquering his lower nature, he should learn to know
theoretically his own constitution and the nature of the higher powers
in him.
These are the elements of that higher science which the physician of
the future will have to learn, first theoretically and afterwards in
their practical application. Without a spiritual recognition of the
fundamental principles of Nature, a seeking from a superficial point of
view for a discovery of the mysteries of being is like an unfruitful
wandering in a fog. It resembles a search from the periphery of a
sphere of unknown extent for a centre whose locality is unknown; while
if we have once a correct conception of the situation of that shining
centre, its light will act as a guiding star in our wanderings through
the fogs which pervade the realm of phenomena.
Science comes from man; wisdom belongs to God. Of sciences there are
many; wisdom is only one. The sciences should be cultivated, but wisdom
not be neglected, for without wisdom no true science can exist.
“Nothing (real) is of ourselves; we do not belong to ourselves, but
we belong to God. Therefore we must try to find in ourselves that
which is of God. It is his and not ours. He has made a body for us,
and given us life and wisdom in addition to it, and from these come
all things. We should learn to know the object of our existence, and
the reason why man has a soul, and what is the will of God that he
should do. A study of (terrestrial) man will never reveal the secret
and object of his existence, and the reason why he is in the world;
but if we once know his creator, we shall also know the qualities of
his child; for he who knows the father knows also the son, because the
son inherits the (nature of) the father. Each man has the same amount
of truth given to him by God; but not everyone recognises that which
he has received. He who sleeps knows nothing; he who lives an idle
life does not know the power which is in him, and wastes his time. Man
is so great and noble that he bears the image of God, and is an heir
to the kingdom of God. God is supreme truth, and the devil is supreme
falsehood. Falsehood cannot know truth. Therefore if man wants to
come into possession of truth, he must know the wisdom which he has
received from God. Cleverness belongs to the animal nature, and in
regard to many scientific acquisitions animals are superior to man;
but the understanding is an awakening which cannot be taught by man.
That which one person learns from another is nothing unless there is
an awakening. A teacher can put no knowledge into his pupil, he can
only aid in the awakening of the knowledge which is already in him.”
(“De Fundamento Sapientiæ,” I.)
Wisdom is the recognition of God. God is the truth, the knowledge of
one’s own true self is divine wisdom. He who knows his true self knows
the divine powers belonging to his God.
“God is Wisdom. He is not a sage or an artist, he is for himself
(absolute), but all wisdom and art is born from him; if we know God,
we also know his wisdom and art. In God all is one and no pieces. He
is the unity, the one in everything. A science dealing only with a
piece of the whole, and losing sight of the whole to which it belongs,
is abortive and not in possession of truth. He who sees in God nothing
but truth and justness sees rightly. All wisdom belongs to God; that
which is not of God is a bastard. Therefore the kingdoms of this world
fall to pieces, scientific systems change, man-made laws perish, but
the recognition of eternal truth is eternal. He who is not a bastard
of wisdom, but a true son of the father, is in possession of wisdom.
This wisdom is that we live in regard to each other as the angels
live, and if we live like the angels they will become our own self, so
that nothing divides us from them but the physical form, and as all
wisdom and art is with the angels, so it will be with us. The angels
are the powers through which the will of God is executed. If the will
of God is executed through us, we shall be his angels ourselves. The
will of God cannot be performed through us unless we are ourselves
after the will of God. A fool or a dunce or a greedy person is not
after the will of God; how could that will be executed through him? It
is of little use to believe that Solomon was wise, if we are not wise
ourselves. We are not born for the purpose of living in ignorance, but
that we should be like the father, and that the father may recognise
himself in the son. We are to be lords over nature, and not nature be
lord over us. This is spoken of the angelic man (_Buddhi_) in whom
we shall live and through whom we shall see that all our doing and
leaving undone, all our wisdom and art is of God.” (“De Fundamento
Sapientiæ,” II.)
All this, however, will be incomprehensible and be condemned as
nonsense by what Paracelsus justly calls the “scientific fool,”
because the wisdom of which he speaks is not the intellect of the
terrestrial, but the understanding of the celestial mind. It is that
rare power of spiritual self-knowledge which cannot be taught in words,
but which is the result of an interior unfolding of the faculties of
the soul. The true physician is not made by schools of learning; he
becomes one through the light of divine wisdom itself.
“Man has two understandings; the angelic and the animal power of
reason. Angelic understanding is eternal; it is of God and remains
in God. The animal intellect also originates from God and within
ourselves; but it is not eternal; for the animal body dies and its
reason dies with it. No animal faculty remains after death; but death
is only a dying of that which is animal and not of that which is
eternal.” (“De Fundamento Sapientiæ,” II.)
The term “wisdom” comes from _vid_, to see, and _dôm_, a judgment;
it therefore refers to that which is seen and understood, but not to
opinions or theories derived from inference, or based on the assertion
of others. It is not the product of observation and speculation, memory
or calculation, but is the result of interior growth, and all growth
comes from nourishment. As the intellect is enlarged by intellectual
acquirements, so divine wisdom in man grows by absorbing the nutriment
which it receives from the light of Divine Wisdom.
“Everything is of the nature of that from which it is born. The
animal in man is nourished by animal food, the angel in him by the
food of the angels. The animal spirit belongs to the animal mind,
and in the animal mind of man are contained all the potentialities
which are separately possessed by the different classes of animals.
You may develop in a man the character of a dog, a monkey, a snake,
or of any other animal; for man in his animal nature is nothing more
than an animal and the animals are his teachers and surpass him in
many ways; the birds in singing, the fish in swimming, etc. He who
knows many animal arts is for all that not more than an animal or a
menagerie of different animals; his virtues, no less than his vices,
belong to his animal nature. Whether he possesses the fidelity of a
dog, the matrimonial affection of a dove, the mildness of a sheep, the
cleverness of a fox, the skill of a beaver, the brutality of an ox,
the voracity of a bear, the greed of a wolf, etc., all this belongs
to his animal nature; but there is a higher nature of an angelic
character in him, such as the animals do not possess, and this angelic
being requires that nutriment which comes from above and corresponds
to its nature. From the hidden animal spirit in nature grows the
animal intellect; from the mysterious action of the angelic spirit
grows the super-terrestrial man; for man has a father who is eternal
and for him he shall live. This father has placed him in an animal
body, not that he should only dwell and remain therein, but that he
should by living in it overcome it.” (“De Fundam. Sap.,” III.)
The animal mind, filled with self-conceit and pride in its evanescent
possessions, is entirely incapable of conceiving the nature of the
angelic mind, or of forming an idea of the extent of its powers;
neither can it grasp the true meaning of a language that deals with
the things that belong to that higher nature and believes it to be but
delusions and dreams.
“The vanity of the learned does not come from heaven, but they learn
it from each other and upon this basis they build their church.” (“De
Fund. Sap.” Fragm.)
“Faith without works is dead,” and as we are speaking of spiritual
things, the “work” which the true faith requires is of a spiritual
character, meaning spiritual action, growth and development. A faith
without substantiality is merely a dream; a science without true
knowledge is an illusion; a merely sentimental desire without any
active exercise for the attainment of truth is useless. A person living
in such dreams and fancies about ideals which he never attempts to
realise, dreams only of treasures which he does not possess. He is like
a person wasting his life in studying the map of a country in which
he might travel, but never making a start. A merely ideal religion,
which is never realized and does not substantially nourish the soul,
is only imaginary and serves but to amuse; a science which is not
practically employed remains an unfruitful theory, serving at best for
the gratification of animal curiosity.
The work which _Faith_ requires is a continual _Self-Sacrifice_, which
means a continual striving to overcome the animal and selfish nature,
and this victory of the high over the low is not accomplished by that
which is low, but can only take place through the power of divine
_Love_, which means the recognition of the higher nature in man and its
practical application in daily life. This is the kind of love of which
the great mystic of the 17th century, John Scheffler, speaks when he
says:
“Faith without love aye makes the greatest roar and din,
The cask sounds loudest when there is nought within.”
Without this practical application all virtues are only dreams and
cannot grow into substantial powers, nor be employed as such.
Shakespeare says:
“It is a good divine that follows his own instructions.”—“Merchant of
Venice.”
but such characters are at the present time very rare, for the world
now lives only in dreams. “There are “divines” knowing nothing of
any divinity; medical practitioners knowing nothing about medicine;
“anthropologists” knowing nothing about the nature of man; lawyers
knowing nothing of justice; “humanitarians” beggaring their employees;
“christians” to whom Christ is unknown. In every sphere of life the
external is mistaken for the internal, the illusion for the reality,
while the reality remains unrealized and therefore unknown.
A superficial science can concern itself only with superficial causes
and effects, however deeply it may enter into the details of such
superficialities. The mysterious powers in nature, the intelligent
forces in man, are at present almost entirely unknown, and _there is no
other way of penetrating into the deeper secrets of nature except by
the development of the higher nature of man_.
In ancient times the physician was considered sacred and belonged to
the priesthood, not to a priesthood appointed only by man, but to
a strong and real priesthood anointed by God. The physician of the
future will be again a king and a priest; for only he who is not merely
nominally but truly divine can be in possession of divine powers. In
him the triangular pyramid consisting of science, religion and art
will culminate in one point, called Self-knowledge or Divine Wisdom,
where man himself becomes identified with that superior light and
intelligence—his true self—of whose ray his personality is a vehicle,
image and symbol.
There is a long and weary road to be travelled yet before mankind will
arrive at this summit of perfection, and the goal is so far away that
only few are able to see it, while to many it will be an apparently
unrealisable ideal, and, like a mountain peak lost in the clouds,
inconceivable; but the ideal exists and the clouds that hinder us
from seeing it are our own errors and misconceptions; it remains with
ourselves to clear them away.
We ourselves, by the power of so much of the perception of truth as we
have already received and which has become our own, have it within our
reach to overcome the darkness and open our minds to the influence of
the light. But the light itself we cannot create or manufacture; it is
not the product of our calculations, influences and theories. The truth
is self-existent, eternal; it may be perceived, but it cannot be made.