Conclusion to Triump of the Immortal Will, + Notes (pt.4 Triumph of the Immortal Will by Mathilde Ludendorff)

Most of Mathilde Ludendorff's writings are in German and are rare,

please help me purchase them and translate them into English.
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I've read much of the concluding chapters of Mathilde Ludendorff's Triumph of the Immotal Will and to be honest, I can't understand it so I can't make any further commentary, though I do know she supports the idea of free will, which I do not support. I do not know how she gets to polytheism or if she really does. This is very deep metaphysical jargon, if you are a Nordic person and can understand this and find comfort in it, I suggest you take this religion if you are in need of one... or if you are trying to use spirituality to unite Nordic people. I will continue to try to find commentaries on her work which are broken down in ways that are easy to understand. If anyone can understand this and knows how to explain it to me you may contact me at Vincent.Bruno.1229@gmail.com.

Natural Death and Reason

The materialistic century persevered in its attitude of in-
difference towards the "Potential-Immortality" characterising
the unicellular beings, but, with an infatuation without its
parallel in history it fixed its attention on to the cognate
immortality of the germ-cells. This verged almost on extasy,
although even more devotion was attached to the decay of the
soma-cells. It was not so much the doctrine of the "Mortality
of the soul", but the subordination of the brain to the perpetual
germ-cells (the bearers of the species) which proved to be such
a source of satisfaction to the materialists. Therefore it is not
amazing to find the sober, matter of fact "Struggler-for-Live"
so self-satisfied, for indeed, when seen in the light of that import-
ance that was attached to the germ-cells, how insignificant was
everything else which once had been valued as "Soul". Even the
"Purpose" of the brain, the bearer of consciousness, was for the
reproduction of the kind, for itself, one day did vanish; all the
marvellous achievements of the brain-cells, those chemical and
physical processes (Kispert's "Enkynemata") merely happened
in order to serve the perpetual species. One step in the process
of development was thought to be particularly salutary; After
the act of reproduction, the body of the higher animals could
still live on for a while. In the case of man, a species of the higher
"Mammalia", this fact grew into great significance: Because of
the better construction of his brain-cells man was capacitated
to undertake highly intellectual work, the "purpose" of which
it was thought was for the sake of facilitating the struggle-for-

life, not only for his own off-spring, but for his species in
general. This mortified the soul completely. What a fall it was
from those giddy heights to which Kant's philosophy had
brought it such a short time ago. Had it not been upheld that,
among all the living beings, man alone was capable of distinguish-
ing his surroundings? That, by virtue of his reason, the cosmos
was created out of the diaos of the world-of-appearances (Er-
scheinungswelt) and was consciously perceived for the first time;
because reason was able to arrange for him the objects of his
senses in order, as man was the conscious state of the visible
world (Erscheinungswelt)? Thus then the soul of man had fallen
from the height of heights; the height of the soul which gave
him the priviledge of holding a completely unique position in
the world. Since the soul's fall man had grown to the small
stature of being something different to the rest of the species in
that he was the last in the line of a 'differentiating' development.
He stood at the top of the Mammalia. The highest standard of
importance to which his transitory soma was capable of was
becoming the bearer of the immortal cells of reproduction.

When a world-view-point (Weltanschauung) such as this one,
is allowed to determine religious thought, it is not startling to
find that epoch lost in an abyss of soberness. The suppressed
soul is capable of rising to a certain 'social' usefulness, but in
every other way it degenerates miserably, although in a differ-
ent manner to what it does when influenced by religions that
are against reason and science. The results of this way in which
the soul is being mortified are: brutality in the general struggle-
for-existence, fraud, sly cunning, greed of money and the crav-
ing to gain advantage of others.

Let us tread different ways to all these on our journey of
observation. We shall be repayed with a wonderful cognisance
(Erkenntnis) concerning natural-death which again will lead us
to a new Godcognisance (Gotterkenntnis) according to which

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we can live our lives in that fullness which past religions sus-
pected to exist although they never could achieve it. By the
means of our Cognisance (Erkenntnis) the soul will be able to
rise again. The heights it can achieve are so exalted, that the
glorious height to which once it was raised through Kant's
philosophy will seem low; verily the august throne for the
human soul when it fulfils itself according to its divine rights.
It was not a mechanically working process of selection, but
a dawning will (as we shall soon be near proving) which deter-
mined the step towards the mortality of the somata (body-cells).
For as soon as we stop to observe the pandorina, we are able to
notice that all its cells still possess the same attributes which
belong to the germ-cells; hence, potential immortality also. Its
near relative, volvox, however, is already condemned to death.
We feel certain that, in comparison, the pandorina-state was
not less favourable than the one where, for the sake of practic-
ability in the struggle-for-life, that grand mysterious change
which has proved so full of tragedy to posterity, was necessary.
On the contrary! As the sixteen cells of the pandorina were still
capable at any time to form daughter-colonies, whereas the
volvox only once in a life time, it is obvious from this fact that
the pandorina was just as productive as its relation, so that it
strains the imagination to look at the matter from the Dar-
winian standpoint, for, if selection really counts, the pandorina
ought to have surplanted the volvox form. Conceptions, formed
in the mere light of the mechanical, fail just as completely to
throw light into the matter here as it does everywhere else in
the history-of-evolution when the fundamental idea is touched
on. (The ascent from the deepest unconsciousness to the highest
consciousness). Here the fact comes to light that only an inner
Will could have liberated that energy which caused the trans-
formations. Matters are similar in the case of the nervesystem.
The nerve-system was the carrier of all those magnificent po-

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tencies which exfoliated later into conscious soul-life. Here also
it is futile to want to explain this in the light of the mere
mechanical, for one reason, and that is that the beginnings to
the realisation of this were of no use at all to the individual in
the struggle-for-existence at that time. But clearly apparent, on
the other hand, is the immortal-will striving in its magnificent
work of development to gain the state of consciousness, not-
withstanding the fact that the single individual itself was com-
pletely unconscious of its presence. On its way to progress, the
immortal-will had to encounter a twofold circumstance of cog-
nate importance. First, there was always the danger of the
moment, and secondly the illustrious aim in view; the conscious
state of life. It seems a wonderful thing for our cognisance that
all the transformations, undertaken for the sake of this great
aim in view, were, in their first beginnings, of so little import-
ance in the struggle-for-life, that we surely can be pardoned
if we claim the conspicuousness of this fact to be especially
intended to facilitate the work of man on his way to truth.
Only from a certain stage onward did these constructions be-
come of any importance in the struggle-for-life and not until
then only could they have received any support from selection,
in the Darwinian sense. We must wait still a little while longer
before the mystery can be unfathomed; why this sublime Will
to consciousness, while remaining absent in the 'germ-cell in
perpetual existence', took sudden possession of the soma-cells
as soon as these had fallen a victim to natural-death.

In opposition to this transformation, the aim of which was
to gain a higher state of consciousness, but whose faint be-
ginnings were practically of little use to the single individual
in which it was striving to manifest itself, there was a whole
range of perfected constructions in the further process of deve-
lopment which to the species in question were certainly of use.
We are thinking here of all those characteristics which seem to

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confirm Darwin's hypothesis, the study and explanation of
which are also mainly due to his earnest study and research
(mimicry). The remarkable thing, however, about the character-
istics which Darwin specialised in is this. When compared to
the most vital constructions their importance seems incidental,
and they have no direct connection at all with the grand evo-
lution aim, which was to achieve an ascent from the darkest
state of unconsciousness to the clearest state of a conscious soul-
life.

Now, if, in our desire to remain just, we do succeed in
imagining a mechanical origin of the above mentioned charac-
teristics, even then, it appears obvious to us, that a Will was
more probable than selection in the creation of the first organs,
although of-coursc selection lent its support later on. Therefore,
in face of these incontestible facts, we cannot avoid this con-
clusion! In the ascent from the unicellular-being up to man
the part which "Selection" played in the transformation-role
was the passive one, while the Immortal-Will (or Self -Preser-
vation- Will) was the active one.

Hence, in the scientific sense, we can say: the reason, why
all the cells struck out on their way to transformation and why
the soma-cells in particular were deprived of the power to repro-
duce, and therefore, as a consequence, their immortality, was
for the sole purpose of being helpful to the a : m of evolution.

How capable did the bereaved soma-cells now prove them-
selves to be in the creation of form! The extraordinary course
which the mortal individual was now called upon to undergo
is even beyond the imagination of the most fantastically-minded.

The more the lower species increased, the greater did the dang-
er to all grow. As a consequence, certain kinds of volvox were
obliged to fasten themselves to fixed places, and by the move-
ment of their tentacles convey the food towards themselves.
There was one very great advantage gained by this. A spot

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could be chosen permanently which was certainly better than
the alternative of wandering about amidst dangers accompanied
by unfavourable conditions in respect to food, light and climate.
Posterity, however, gradually lost the power of ever again being
able to change their places. But their tentacles became the fitter.
In this way the plant, sometimes called the "Fettered Animal",
originated. Much indeed had been gained through the sacrifice
of freedom. Being always in the same spot the dangers en-
countered were likewise always the same. The cells, through con-
tinual differentiation, gained such practice, as to be able in the
end to adapt themselves wonderfully to those conditions in their
environment which were important to their lives. Indeed, as
danger grew less, this adaption grew supreme; so much so, that
by virtue of this fact the construction of plants, conditions of
climate, food, light and water were revealed to researchers as
if they had been written down in a book.

Algae, on the other hand, did not fetter themselves for the
sake of safety. Inspite of all the dangers, they would not forfeit
their freedom, so that they were obliged to pursue another
course of development. The continual change and the manifold
dangers they encountered did not permit of an adaptation which
was to meet a few emergencies only. This imperfection was
aptly made up for in another excellent way. The ever varying
changes which the desire for movement brought with it, gave
rise to the neccessity of a greater cell-change as well as combi-
nation of organs into cell-groups. Yet even this proved insuffic-
ient; for the multicelled being was obliged, above everything
else, to become instantly aware of what it might encounter from
out of its surroundings. Thus, there originated organs of per-
ception and nerve-cells, which gave the animal the ability to
judge from its own impressions and forewith conduct its res-
ponse. Guidance was obtained. Now this line was of such tre-
mendous issue as to completely distinguish animal from plant-

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life within the course of development. In emergency, the self-
preservation- will had demanded from each a different course.
Indeed, animal and plant-life appear to be so different in the
expression of life and its achievement, that it renders it almost
impossible for the secular-world to believe they were once of
cognate origin. Evidently, the absence of any development in
the nerve-system made it possible in the plant-kind to maintain
the original relationship between body and germ-cells, so that
it can be said, the whole life-work of the body-cells were taken
up in serving the germ-cells. What might seem however to be
rather unnatural in this relationship is the tremendous size which
many plants achieve through the mighty increase of their body-
cells (in comparison to which, the germ-cells have no size at all),
and also the long life which they have been priviledged to attain
through the sacrifice of their freedom. (They had prefered to
adapt themselves to certain life-conditions instead of roaming
from place to place.)

The soma-cells of the animals, on the other hand, appear to
free themselves from the sole duty of serving the germ-cells,
especially after the nerve apparatus has developed. They appear
to be leading a life for themselves as well. This is especially
conspicuous in the body-cells of man, who is the highest of all
the living species.

Although the nerve-system, in its first beginnings, was simply
the humble reporter of the perceptions received from the outer
world, it was vouchsafed to become the best weapon of defence
in the struggle-for-life, especially after it had attained the
higher degrees of development. Mimicry, poison gas, claws or
the swift motion given through the power of the muscles was
nothing compared to the nerve apparatus in the matter of
defence. Nevertheless, it was impossible to ban danger alto-
gether, for the development which started in all the different
animals alike was simultaneous. What happened though was;

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the struggle-for-life itself became more and more keen, so that
the self-preservation-will was practically driven to seek new
improvements.

As the development of the primitive-cell in the life of the
individual belonging to the higher species was very gradual,
inner fertilisation became necessary, that means to say, the
young, after being generated in the mother-body, were also
provided with reserve nourishment (reptiles, birds etc.). Among
the still higher organised species, the young are retained in the
mother-body and are not allowed to enter into the hostile world
until they are fully developed. Here, the 'inner fertilisation'
which demands the bodily connection of the parent-animals has
become essential. Long before, it was evident that the higher
species could not multiply to the same extent as the lower
species could, and for this reason it became imperative, should
the species not die out, to set a certain time apart which should
be dedicated to the reproduction of the kind. For this purpose,
contrary to the painless lives of their forefathers, there awak-
ened in the halfconscious creatures, the torture of sexual-desire
which simply drove them to multiply. And although this meant
a mighty step forward in the course of evolution, the unhappy
semiconscious creatures had to pay dearly for the better means
of defence! As danger was often very great when the animals
went in search of food, the self preservation-will had to be
overcome in that life, was jeopardised in order to save life from
famine. Therefore it became imperative that in these semicon-
scious beings, the craving for food should be felt so strongly as to
make them risk their very lives in order to satisfy it. Thus, for
the first time again something was being experienced which
before, in the lower species, had not been felt; the feeling of
hunger. The higher nerve-system lay like a curse on all the
animals who were blessed with its possession, in that, if it caused
craving to be felt, it also caused the pain to be felt which illness

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and the wounds received in battle caused. Yet, the more consc-
ious the soul grew, the greater the comfort grew for all the
suffering. For the first time, animals felt pleasure in the act of
reproduction. Although it might be said that this sudden feeling
of pleasure stands in no right measure to the torments of desire
which previously had been suffered, it still remains the oldest
and most mighty fountain of joy. This reveals to us how full
of pain the lives of the subconscious "higher" animals are.
Seldom do they experience pleasure. Yet there is one great
blessing which lays her kind hand soothingly over their fate:
memory is still blunt. As soon their cravings are satisfied, all
the torments which inaugurated them, sink into oblivion. There-
fore, inspite of all the pain and fighting which go to make up their
poor lives, moments are experienced which are completely free
of any pain or suffering at all. Schopenhauer declares this state
of oblivion to be the only state in which mankind could find
happiness; but that was on account of the bitterness which
sometimes overwhelmed him, and because of his persistence
in denying man's consciously living God. He could not or
would not perceive that the only state which means happiness
to mankind is the state in which he is consciously living God.
Incidently speaking, even the mating-joy raises the animal
above this zero-point.

As the nerve-system proved to be such excellent weapon
of defence in the struggle-for-life, selection, from a certain
stage onwards furthered its development. When it became evid-
ent that it helped greatly the Will which was forming and
shaping creation on its way to consciousness, its development
became simply marvellous. For instance, the sense apparatuses
became very sensitive indeed. (It was their function to report
the happenings from the outer world.) Central organs deve-
loped (spinal-cord and brain, as in the case of the vertibrates)
which were receptive, and which gave the body-cells the com-

187

mand how to respond to the outer world. In the Mammalia they
gained specific importance. Those innate powers which slumber
in all living things began to reveal themselves very distinctly.
To use Schopenhauer's philosophical term, the "Thing Itself"
began to 'objectify* Itself. Here and there manifestations of
the Will could be encountered which were not exactly connected
with the self-preservation instinct. In the lower species the
instinct for food, defence or reproduction only is manifested,
but in the higher species a Will begins to manifest itself already
which decidedly has a permanent sense-of-direction, which in
man we should call 'character features' although of-course here
their origin is always still to be found in the self-preservation-
instinct.

Besides that permanent sense-of-direction, and those conscious
feelings of pain and pleasure which we have already mentioned,
there are still other feelings which already at this stage are
perceptible for their independence of the self-preservation-will
of both the individual and the species. In these feelings the soul
expresses itself, although, of-course not half so clearly and
distinctly as in man, and it requires a long time to observe them
at all. When the higher species of mammalia become domestic-
ated they become very noticeable, I should like to say: awak-
ened. The reason for it is the closer association with the consc-
ious soul of man. A good example of what I am trying to
explain is the dog. How often it will happen that the dog's
feeling of attachment to its master will cause it to overcome
its own indomitable Will-to-life, in order to save its master, a
deed, by the way, which otherwise would only save the life of
its brood. In general, it is the human-being, and not one of its
kind that is capable of inspiring such a keenly awakened feeling
of sympathy within the dog. The attitude of a dog, mourning
at the grave of its dead master, discarding even its food, tells
us with an authority unimpeachable, that there was something

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in the life of that dog which was certainly of more value to it
than its own life was.

Finally that stage arrives when memory awakens. At earlier
stages, already, that faculty existed which could form concept-
ions of the impressions conducted by the sense-apparatuses and
maintain them in the soul. But gradually it grows stronger.
Soon, the way its own actions affected its surroundings remains
in the animal's memory, and its subsequent behaviour is the
manifestation of what we should call the experience-of-life.
Soon the power of understanding awakens. Although quite un-
consciously, it begins to apply the laws of causality. It arranges
its life-experience into time and space, although it is quite
unconscious itself of these facts. Conceptions of what goes on
around it begin to collect in its brain. But they just come up
to suit the animal-brain. This collection is divided into three
groups. All the objects which have proved of use in the life of
the animal belong to the first group. All which has done it harm,
to the second; the third group is composed of the rest, which
is of so little importance to the animal, that it is incapable of
forming any conception of this at all. Thus it can be truly said
of the animal: Nothing exists at all besides the useful or harm-
ful. The third group to the animal is the "to unov" (non-ex-
isting) of the Greeks. Although the sense-organs receive the
impression of them the brain does not think them worth storing
so that, in reality, they are not perceived at all. Why indeed
form conceptions of anything of such petty importance! That
which is merely useful or harmful alone fills the small humble
world in which the animal lives. The useful as well as the harm-
ful are very attentively watched, one might be tempted to say,
studied. Images of them are then imprinted on the memory
which are at once clear and ineffaceable. These images or con-
ceptions are not true to life of-course, neither are they composed
of the characteristics essential which go to make up an object,

189

for they carry the stamp of the mere animal mind. They are
composed solely of those signs which are important to that
animal whose attention they are just attracting. For instance,
the mouse and the dog will both possess ideas of the "cat", but
most probably both the ideas are very different from one
another. Each animal collects its own special kinds of concept-
ions. The lion's collection is different to the mole's, so that, in
truth, each lives in its own world, which is 'quite different* to
the others. In the brain of each different kind of animal there
exists a different image of the world. It is of infinite importance
for us to try and understand this sufficiently, for as soon as
we succeed, we shall also understand that each of our fellowmen
lives in a world of his own making. The conceptions which the
human-being also forms differ both in their nature as well as in
their profundity. A man whose mind sways only to the rhythm of
the struggle- for-life, and who is always bent on making a good
bargain, has little in common with a man who is filled with
a great sense of the Divine. Something else we shall understand
better if we observe the animal-soul closely. We know that
man has sprung originally from the very same stages of deve-
lopment, but some men there are who seem to have remained
just where the animal is. Although in school, already, these had
been given the benefit to learn and form conceptions of the
cultural-life, irrespective of their useful or harmful qualities
in the concern of earning a living, yet still they let these con-
ceptions all go, (sometimes already) while they are still young,
and put in their stead the old way of grouping, characteristic
to the animal. We know these three kinds of groups already.
They are the useful, the harmful and the indifferent. It is
simply amazing how narrow-minded a man can grow. Inspite
of all his good bringing-up, he will shrivel back into the animal
stage, and, more the shame, even beneath this, It is even more
amazing to watch how keen he will grow to know what is of

190

use to him or what of harm and how oblivious and indifferent-
he is to everything else. The very best example for the fall of
man can be found in the Darwinian period. Thanks to the
doctrine which taught that man belonged to the class of animals
that suckle their young, industrious endeavours were made to
justify it. Observe then this. Man, by the virtue of his spiritual
capacities really belongs to a class which is higher than the
animal species. His conception- world, however, has the power
to drag him back again to the animal state of mind, although
unlike the animal, he must retain the power of his memory,
for never again can he forget the past, or be oblivious of the
future. He has descended to become merely a bastard-like being,
which is neither man nor animal, but which is decidedly in-
ferior to the animal. During our discourse the occasion will
be given to us to occupy ourselves very often with such a kind
of human individual, for it is very important in respect to
certain other things to know well what his petty world of
conceptions is like. Therefore let us set to, to observe the
image which the animal-mind forms of the world around it.
When compared to the bounteous soul-life which has been
given to man, the intellectual-life of the mammalias appears
very meagre indeed. Yet, this state of soul-awakening which
has been attained in the animal is indeed sublime, as the be-
ginning was from a state of the deepest unconsciousness. Al-
ready such a change has taken place, as to make it appear as
if a tremendous gulf separated the beings with the awakening-
soul and the others which exist still in the monotonous state of
complete unconsciousness, so much so, as to make it almost be-
lievable that the antagonism could be felt, which exists between
mortality and the serving attitude of the body-cells towards
the eternal germ-cells. However the animal-world is still un-
encumbered. It has no need at all to solve the mystery concern-
ing life, for it knows nothing of a future. Even the most in-

191

telligent of its kind can never know that death awaits it and
is inevitable.

If we start from this last stage of evolution and wander up
the path leading to man's origin the discord is obvious which
the soma-cells caused when they determined, for the sake of
life, to give up their immortality and differentiate instead.
This discord has existed ever since; and as men failed to perceive
the idea of its origin, in that it was a part of evolution itself,
the mystery which hovered around it was never successfully
solved. All the hopes and desires of men in the ponderings of
their philosophies were in vain; all the soft deceptions contained
in the myths and the religious beliefs were of no avail. Now, as
we have already seen, it roots right back into the ages. Long
before animal and plant-life separated to strike out on different
paths the dice had fallen; at that time, when the cells of the
algae once divided into two of a different kind and when later
a daughter colony escaped with the rupture of the parent wall
(death). Therefore, the yearning for immortal-life should not
surprise us, for it is older than the hills. It existed in the breast
of man long before he could even think. The melancholy reali-
sation of death has brooded over his soul since times imme-
morable. We know that the Self -Preservation- Will or the
Immortal-Will is the essence of all life. We also know that it
exists just as well in the body-cells as it does in the germ-cells,
or else these would lack the impetus necessary to serve willingly
in the struggle-for- existence. Therefore we also know all about
the yearning for immortality which is rampant in the soul of
man. But simply because the desire is there, indeed even the
'aprioristical' certainty, this is not sufficient reason for us to
take it for granted that immortal-life exists. In every case, we
are obliged first, for the sake of truth, to allow for the possi-
bility of this. The certainty which men feel that immortal-life
exists is merely a 'memory' (Mneme) of a once experienced

192

immortal-life, a memory which now lies deep down in the
subconsciousness of mankind.

Let us now continue the history of growth. In doing so, let
us not give way to our own petty hopes and desires, or else our
vision will be marred and the truth we shall not perceive. The
animal-mind is so adequate (for-instance in the higher-species)
to cope with the dangers which surrounds the animal, that it is
really a kingly sight to watch the bravery of the animal when
it is in danger. However, two kinds of danger seem beyond its
powers to cope with. Man is the first danger, as he is far superior
in everything, and the second are the powers of nature because
the animal is utterly incapable of comprehending them. If man
should make use of the latter, he can overwhelm the bravest
beasts-of-prey. See how the tiger is cowed when it is encount-
ered with fire. Its expression is full of fear. (Human beings
look the same when they are in a similar situation and are
afraid of the devil). We can understand now why the animals
are apt to be restless and full of fear when a thunderstorm is
threatening.

The powers of nature were the sole enemies which could not
be overcome in the ages before man existed, for the simple
reason that all knowledge about them was lacking; in order to
lead a successful combat against the cosmical powers, the very
first essential is knowledge of the laws-of nature. A little more
is required, however, than the mere unconscious application
of the laws of causality and the arrangement in time and space
as the animal-mind achieves it. A fully conscious application of
these is necessary.

In just the way in which the Self-Preservation-Will sought
consciousness in ascending stage by stage in order to escape
death, the final mighty step in evolution was also made neces-
sary through the fear of death. The animal-mind was found
wanting. The happenings of nature were too great for it. So,

in that terrific time of the first ice-period, when hecatombs of
animals were being sacrificed, the self-preservation-will in one
of the exceptional few of those subconscious ancestors of ours
awakened to the state of consciousness which alone was com-
petent to venture the combat against the cosmic-powers. The
soul had awakened a degree higher; understanding had become
reason. And although the evolving changes might have been little
noticeable at the time, the effects themselves were tremendous.
No other step in the progress of evolution, not even the differ-
entiation of the algae-species was of such infinite importance
as this step was, for it gave man, as a token of it, the bounteous
kingdom of his thoughts. The becoming conscious of the causal-
coherency which linked the visible-world together gave birth
also to the ability which enabled man, not only to perceive the
visible-scene, but also to keep it in his memory, as well as form
conceptions of it. These conceptions stood objectively in di-
stinct relationship to one another. The possibility was hereby
given to form a conception consciously. This, of-course, was
of tremendous importance, especially when the conception of
"Self" could be formed, for then the cognising powers could
strengthen. Soon the feelings of time and space added them-
selves and were applied consciously like the law-of-causality
had been applied. In memory, events accordingly were arranged
in time and space. Past and future became recognised until, at
last, men were capable of creating a cosmos out of the chaos
of their surroundings. Now, the being able to apply consciously
the laws-of-causality was a great prerogative, but with one
stroke it changed the position of man completely. He stood
suddenly opposed to nature. This contract, the intellectual
sciences call the natural and unnatural actions of man. Now
this at first seems absurd as reason, together with all its logical
conclusions, is itself part and parcel of nature. Well and good,
but reason is not infallible. It is somehow, always open to de-

ception; it is always as likely to judge according to false appear-
ances as not. Erroneous assumptions as to the real cause are
frequently made. Thus, men are induced to come to false con-
clusions and false sims in life just as much as they will come
to false conclusions about the laws-of -nature and the meaning
of their own lives. This explains the reason why the innate
spiritual faculties are just as liable to shrivel up as they are to
exfoliate.

Yet, notwithstanding all the damage which man has been made
to suffer through the half -knowledge his reason will sometimes
gain; the benefits he has gained decidedly outweigh all his
sufferings. For instance, look how reason has facilitated the
battle for life. No end of possibilities have been opened to him.
Thanks to his reason man became the master of all the rest of
life. He put everything to his own use, in order that his life
might be maintained. Is this all?

If we take the trend of Darwinian thought to be right this
is all the advantage which man gained over the animal. And a
bitter conclusion we should have to come to as well, which would
be, that the stalwarts of finance, the multimillionairs, who, also
can be the heartless and cunning masters of so many of their
fellowmen, would represent the culmination in that grand ascent
which once happened between the unicellular-being and man.
Fortunately for us all, however, the precious soul- treasures of
by-gone cultures reveal just the opposite. The origin of anything
which is of cultural value will never be found in the struggle-
for-life. Culture has nothing at all in common with strife.
Behold, therefore, how everything which is good in culture
tells a different tale to the materialists. Culture reve'als how
the soul in man awakened when the powers of nature were
threatening to annihilate him and reason was born, which taught
him the life of his own rich soul. Indeed, the final step higher
from mammal to man was more than a mere ascent, for it

'95

taught man to live consciously the Self which was within him,
and enabled him to make the cosmos out of the chaos. Thus a
being had originated which was completely new to whatever
had been, and can resemble therefore the higher species of
animals that suckle their young, only in the form and shape
of the body, and in that the same physiological-laws govern that
body. Just as we might say that volvox, which was the first
mortal many-celled-being resembles still in many ways its one-
celled ancestor. The deeper insight into nature reveals what a
tremendous gulf separates the mammal from man, so that the
arrangement of man among the mammalia as being one and
the same species is certainly a scientific error. By the division
of the species into classes, it should be remembered, in face of
all the physiological likenesses, that a tremendous gulf separates
man from all the other multicellular species; a gulf say, which
is just as sufficient to separate, as the gulf does which divides the
uni-cellular-species from the multicellular species. Now this kind
of arrangement will first bear conviction when our edifice of
thought is being concluded, yet in order to pursue our further
observation with intelligence, we must ask the reader to take
it already as a given fact. We distinguish the classes a little dif-
ferently to the usual scientific habit. They follow thus:

1 Unicell = Protozoan

2 Multicell = Metazoan

3 Man = Hyperzoan.

We know not when or where man was first capacitated to
distinguish his "Self" out of the motley of his surroundings.
Nor when he was aware for the first time that there was a past
and future, so that the force of death was born on him, in that
he saw how plant and animal died, and knew then that death
awaited him also. But one thing we do know, and that is; when
all this was happening, simultaneously there sprang into the
breast of man the longing and hope for Eternity and the pain

196

and tear ot the incomprehensible mixed up with his own tate.
Thus we are justified in saying: in that man succeeded in per-
ceiving the force of death, and that death was in accordance
with nature, the possibility was given to him to become a
hyperzoan.

It comes hard to-day to imagine what the effects were like
which such knowledge must have liberated at that time, because
we were taught in childhood to believe that a conscious life
existed after death, and this at a time when little interest in death
exists a all. Out of the ages, however, in a time when the decept-
ive errors concerning the existence of a heaven were still un-
known, there comes a grand song sounding, which tells of the
overwhelming effects caused by the certainty of death. Patient
stone has preserved the dirge. Among the collection of stone-
tables which once belonged to the Assyrian King Assurbanipal,
there is a cuneiform inscription on one of them. It is the Epos of
Gilgamesh, the man of sorrow and joy. (Translated into German
by George E. Burkhardt, Insel Verlg. Leipzig). First, the life of
the joy-man is described, who was the perfect hero and master
of Uruk, and whose life was filled with heroic deeds which were
inspired by the joyous feelings within his soul. When the death
of his friend Enkidu happened he suddenly changed and became
the man of pain. In his anguish he, "who was like unto a lion",
raised his voice which sounded like the howl of the lioness when
she is struck down with the spear. He tore his hair and strewed
it to the winds; he tore off his garments and put on instead gar-
ments of mourning. Time could neither heal his sorrow nor his
despair. His whole nature was transformed. The unfathomable
mystery of death left him no peace at all. "Shall I also die as
Enkidu has done? My soul is torn with pain, for I have grown
fearful of death. I must hasten over the steppes to the almighty
Utnapischtim, who has found eternal-life. I will raise my head
and voice to Sin the moon, to Nin-Urum who is the Lady of the

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Castle-of-Life, to the most bright one among the gods. I will
pray thus: "Save my life* 1 . There seems nothing more which
can ever entice him to do heroic deeds; he has become instead
"a wanderer of long ways", for in the ineffaceable sorrow of
his soul, the problem of death concerns him alone. On his terr-
ible journeying he repeats the monotone dirge to everyone he
meets. He is not afraid to pass the dark weird chasms which lead
to "Utnapischtim, the far off one". But here, neither, can the
mystery be solved for him. As we reach the last of the twelve
tables we learn that his wish at last has been granted to him.
The father out of the depths has heard his prayer, and has sent
the shadow of Enkidu to him. Hopes fill our breasts that surely
now poor, despairing Gilgamesh will receive words of comfort
and redemption, for Enkidu will surely describe to him, how
through wonderful liberation into the beyond, he has found
eternal life! But nothing of the kind happens. The grand Epos
concludes in a strain of despair at the terrifying fact that death
is ultimate and inexorable. It concludes with the words, "Each
recognised the other, but remained at a distance". They spoke
to each other. Gilgamesh called and the shadow answered in
quivering tones. Gilgamesh began to speak thus:

* Speak, my friend, speak! Tell me about the laws of the earth
you have seen!"

"I cannot, my friend, I cannot. Did I tell you about the law
ot the earth, I saw, you would sink down and weep."

"Then let me sink down and weep all the days of my life!"

"Behold the friend you once touched, the friend who once
gladdened your heart, the worms are eating, as if he were an
old garment. Enkidu, the friend who once touched your hand
has become earth, has turned to dust. To dust he sank, to dust
he has returned."

Enkidu vanished before Gilgamesh could ask any more quest-
ions.

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Gilgamesh returned to Uruk, the town with the high walls.
High rises the temple of the holy Mountain.

Gilgamesh lay himself down to rest. Death befalls him in the
glittering halls of his palace.

Here, in stone, fragments have been preserved which relate
the terribly earnest apprehension of death. And a poet of our
century has been priviledged to reconstruct it perfectly for our
benefit! How insignificant the pitiful lot of the semi-conscious
animals that forget the pain quickly which indeed they have felt,
appears now, when compared with the appalling lot of those
unfortunate human-beings who were fated to be the first to
experience the bitterness of death. Their soul-lives were utterly
incapacitated to find balm for their sorrows, for they possessed
neither the strength to bear the thought of life being fleeting nor
the ability to beautify their lives through the knowledge of
death.

Allowing for the difference between man and the mammal to
be but a gradual one, there could still be nothing more shatter-
ing or crushing than the experience of that moment when the
soma-cells of the multicelled individual (man) recognised for
the first time how ultimately they had been robbed of that
immortality which they so deeply yearned for; that, although
they might escape death here and there, it was certain that
they would age one day, decay and return to dust. To be aware
of all this, and to want still to cling to the inner being or the
Immortal-Will is really in itself an impossibility. That long
and grand evolution-process would undoubtedly have ended
in the self-annihilation of the higher animal, called man, had
the spiritual development of man meant truly nothing more
than a better equipment for the struggle-for-life. As it really
is, however, within the course of the thousand years of the hist-
ory of man, very few in comparison have been able to subdue
their Self-Preservation-Will so far as to seek voluntary death.

199

The soma-cells, embued with the Immortal- Will, are con-
tinually concerned, from the very first moment of their lives, in
the industrious occupation of maintaining the cell-state for the
protection of the germ-cells, to be defrauded of immortality
when their work is done, however. Now, where the animals are
concerned, this thought is reconcilable, in as much as their
nonknowledge permits them to labour under the complacent
belief they are serving in the aim of their own self-preservation.
And if we keep before our eyes the lives spent by the higher
animal-species and dwell for a while on their trivial comforts
and short moments of a painless state or actual joy, we must
confess, that, were these even given knowledge of their own
fate, it would still mean the negation of life, not yet the affirm-
ation. This impossibility, which is also an absurdity, is very
noticeable in the state-builders, such as the ants. For the sake
of protection each of these has given up its individual independ-
ance and joined together in a community, building a state as
it were. The struggle-for-life has been made easier. Yet never-
theless, for them, life means nothing else than one continual
burden, which is without the slightest compensation. A chase
towards death, as it were, waylaid with multitudinous troubles.
Now were these to possess the slightest knowledge of their own
fate, it would mean the sure annihilation of life itself, as there
would be no want to live as a consequence.

Man, however, has remained the affirmer of life he is, inspite
of his knowledge of death. And the basis of this affirmation of
life does not rest on the fact that it is a physiological impossi-
bility for man to overcome his self preservation-will, for volunt-
ary deaths do (although seldom) occur, giving evidence of this.
Thus then, the step from mammal into achieved man must have
brought a benefit with it other than a mere better equipment
for the struggle-for-life, a benefit indeed, in so much, as it served
to counter-balance his transitory lot, or effaced the conflict in

200

his soul completely. There is still another possible alternative.
If there could be found no counter-balance at all nor anything
which was adequate to appease the conflict raging within his
soul, nevertheless there crept within his soul a feeling, very
vague no doubt, which inspite of his knowledge of death and all
the tribulations he seemed bound to suffer, was able to sustain
him. It whispered to him thus: There is something indeed, which
I too am capable of attaining.

But after all is said, does the inevitable fate of death (which
awaits all men) really make the world men live in so diconsolate?
Do not the majority of us face this fact in a blind attitude and
absolutely unenquiringly? When we think of Gilgamesh, who
because he loved his friend so well, was made to stagger before
the stern fact of death, afterwards experiencing neither joy not
peace but dedicated his whole life to the solving of its mystery,
we can hardly span the gulf at all which lies between such
divergent attitudes. Well now, the hero of the legend belongs
to those rare kind of men, who dedicate their thoughts to the
ultimate things of life as soon as they are caught in the webs of
their mysteries. Such deep longings and ponderings are beyond
the spiritual powers of the ordinary indifferent individual. It
seems a tremendous pity that such rare sensitive souls, like
Gilgamesh was made of, could not have been spared, at so
primitive a stage of intelligence, the knowledge that death was
inevitable. It was the consciousness of Self and the conscious
application of that 'aprioristical* feeling of time, space and
causality which awakened in that time of dangerous combat
against the cosmical powers, which led to the sure knowledge
of death. This occured at a very primitive stage when com-
prehension of the laws of the universe was not far above the
level of the higher animal species. But something more was
required as we shall see in the course of the following, to cope
adequately with the conflict between immortality and natural

201

death. This was an exalted state of cultural development, to-
gether with a high degree of world-knowledge which could be
obtained through the powers of reason only. A few suspected
it and sensed it, although these factors were of little aid leading
to clarity, so that thousands of years were doomed to pass and
were wasted in futile attempts to solve this mysterious apparent
absurdity. As a consequence of all these false attempts, appeared
the deviation and return to paths and ways that were only
partially right, and the change from flourish to decline of once
promising cultures. Like the butterfly will burn its wings and
die when it flies into the light, non-cognisant of its harmful
nature, the cultures of by-gone ages also have fallen to ground
with burnt wings, because they flew into the glaring light of
knowledge. If any were saved, it was not due to the correctness
of their flight in the drive for truth, but because of their stolidity
which kept them creeping animal-like upon the ground; to have
the priviledge afterwards, however, of being upheld as the
superior ones in life.

And yet, inspite of all the paths of error and deviation from
truth over which the mind of man wandered in his grave at-
tempts to overcome the conflict between his Will-to-Immortality
and the fact that natural death awaited him, we can easily
perceive how the soul of man from times immemorable seemed
to feel so rightly of its own accord where redemption really
lay although the feeling itself was so faint and feeble. It finds
expression in almost all the myths of the primitive folks, and
more especially in the different kinds of religions professed by
the so-called cultural folks; in a manner so adequate that one
might be tempted to believe the myths alone would have
sufficed to have directed mankind towards the right way to
redemption. But alas! we were obliged to witness how this right
feeling went astray through the very gift of knowledge, or let
us say rather through "false knowledge" (which became ob-

202

tainable through the powers of reason). For, the explanations
and arguments which reason was forever apt to bring forth,
together with its fatal habit of conducting the laws-of-causality,
time and space to realms which lay beyond this form of intellect,
were a grave misapplication, which of a necessity led, not only
the believers but also the very creators of the myths themselves
astray! Thus then, through the destructive work of intellectual-
reasoning, all the beneficial effects which the images of art and
the religions aimed at, became futile. After a period of cultural
flourishment, or flight towards liberation, a race would sink
to earth with burnt wings, at the best to give place to another
which would but repeat the attempt and decline in the same
way.

The critical point for them all arrived at that time, when
reason having reached a state of half-knowledge and refusing
to be fooled and mortified by the mode of thought offered in
the myths, became bold enough to decry altogether the Immor-
tal-Will and the Divine, ridiculing the affirmation of these as
being sheer nonsense! The crisis in the disease of the cultures
was marked through the disdain mankind showed for the wis-
dom of the poets because of the obvious errors (always inter-
woven with the truth), which they perceived. As a consequence
these were totally ignored and the once honoured gods forsaken,
and there being nothing else ready to substitute the old faith,
the emptiness which had been left behind in the soul of man
remained. The 'man of culture' then, at such times, owing to
the silliness of his reason's half-knowledge, was less capable of
coping with the spiritual state in which he found himself to be,
where his Immortal- Will was in constant conflict with natural
death, than ever his predecessors were who still believed in the
myths. In fact he was even more helpless than his very ancient
predecessor, Gilgamesh, who had no myth at all to give him
spiritual strength, but who, inspite of this, instinctively felt

203

that to understand he meaning of death signified the solution of
the soul's mystery.

Before we concern ourselves further with all the erroneous
paths once trodden by those unique human souls whose habit
it became, in their eager search for liberation, to ponder over
the ultimate matters as being the main ones in life, let us stop
for one moment to visualise all the consolations man created
for himself. We must first clearly understand, and our powers
of discrimination will be of help to us in doing so, that the
Immortal-Will, in reality, has nothing to do with the longing
in the soul for happiness, a fact which natural science has par-
ticularly clearly given utterance to, in having termed this the
"self preservation instinct". This aims at living on without any
interuption, or final end. It simply wants to exist, independent
of any accompanying emotions of pleasure or pain. Hence it
happens that the animal is driven to bear unswearingly the
miseries of its joyless life like the man who enjoys the full of
his life. The fact that the Immortal-Will was non-identical with
the will for pleasure or "Happiness" (that is the desire to realise
as often as possible the strongest possible pleasurable sensations)
explains the reason why the average individual could, and still
can find, in happiness, the full compensation for immortality,
and in a mad chase after happiness apparently overcomes the
conflict. Moreover, as the soul of man was endowed, not only
with a higher state of consciousness but also with the gift of
reason, an ability was likewise given him to escape that unfa-
vourable state of mind of the higher mammal-species, which
suffers long periods of pain and enjoys, relatively speaking,
very short spans of pleasurable sensations. It was reason which
aided man in sparing him from suffering periods of alternate
famine and abundance. He divided his quantities of food-stuffs,
so that, actually speaking, the majority have never once ex-
perienced what hunger means. Man was not compelled even

204

to stop at this. It lay in his power to give manifold change to
his food. He did so, considering his own personal taste with
such devotional care as to make food become a veritable fount
of the greatest of all pleasures, meaning happiness its very self.
He felt indeed fully compensated for the transitoriness of his
own life. There is still another sensation of pleasure existing
which has the prerogative of rendering greater recompense.
Before reason awakened it became essential, as we have already
seen, that a certain pleasurable sensation should be accelerated,
in order to find its satisfaction in the function of reproduction,
thus assuring its fulfillment; and as the vertibrates for the better
protection of the coming generation took to the inner fructificat-
ion a bodily-sexual-intercourse became necessary. And although
within the course of evolution, through the gradual association of
the pairing- will and the soul-life, tremendous spiritual benefits
were gained, the majority of mankind are still incapacitated to
emancipate above the dull form akin to the animal when indulg-
ing in sexual-happiness. And yet, this primitive form was in
itself sufficient to mean 'life's happiness*. Contrary to the ani-
mal, man's intellect aided and abetted him in the invention of
all manner of ways and means to repeat at will his sexual
sensations of pleasure. (We shall come back to this later.) Hence,
there is every justification to say that the sensations of sexual-
pleasure signifies the greatest recompense to the majority of
mankind.

These "delights" (beautifying existence) were not the only
results, however, which the ascent from mammal to man be-
queathed to mankind. Man is often tempted to consider aging,
decaying and final death more in the light of a blessing than
otherwise as it puts an end to the many tribulations of man on
earth (spared fortunately to the animal-kingdom). For instance,
the increase in population, effected through man's inventive
powers in gaining means to protect him from danger in emerg-

205

ency, gradually accelerated to over-population making the
struggle-for-existence for the majority almost unbearable. Many
were subjected to others greedy of power and gold, which caused
their lives to become a state of veritable misery. By its very law,
the keen sensitiveness of man's own soul has been also the means
of much of the pain and misery in the world, so that Schiller
was justified when he made the utterance. "Everywhere the
world is perfect, where man with his pain is not." This subject,
incidently, is of such profundity, that it has a right to be treated
very minutely. We can mention here, in short, where the roots
of the evil lie. The greatest fault lies with memory above
everything else, inspite of its apparent harmlessness. Unlike
the animal-memory, by the very virtue of its keenness, it is
incapacitited to forget either any suffering or hate towards an
enemy. The higher animal-species forget as soon as danger has
passed. According to our observation, the average individual,
(as the fruits of his higher consciousness) is able to pile up his
pleasure, considering them to be the sole worthy contents of
his life. Of a necessity must this also bring a second appalling
effect with it. Man is not only capacitated to understand and
keep in his memory his own sufferings. He can extend these to
the pleasures of others. In this way "Envy" arises, poisoning
his surroundings. And verily the life of most people consists
in a continual hoarding up of their own-made miseries, so that
the creed which documents that the earth is 'a vale of tears'
has apparently found its justification at all times. Besides the
consolations of indulging freely in the bodily sensations of
pleasure, a second one appeared in opposition. Natural death
or the certainty of the transitoriness of life became something
worth looking forward to; it was taught in fact to be a consol-
ation and reconciling certainty which gave man the strength
to bear life's tribulations. Not only do all those who are per-
secuted with pain follow this sheer negative form of consolation,

206

but also, (curiously enough) all those others called the "Hedo-
nist", who consider the aim and affirmation of life to be in the
massing up of as much pleasure before old age and illness steps
in to be a hinderance. In the end it can induce man to ignore
his Immortal- Will as being but an idle desire. It can drive
poor weak-willed creatures even to commit suicide.

Such meagre consolation can hardly be considered as a fit
recompense for the Immortal-Will, no matter how apt reason
was to become reconciled to the idea in certain conditions of life.
The feeling of the soul itself, when it awakened that time to
consciousness, was a better consolation. Decrying bravely all
reason's wisdom, it relied solely on the mneme inherited from
the unicell, which told of the surety of immortality. And al-
though the fact of inevitable death could not be contradicted, it
denied that death was death in the real sense of the word. It
proclaimed that only the visible or the outward appearance
died, but not the invisible or soul (the "Thing Itself") which
animated the outward appearance. One curious fact, however,
is, that the myths contained in most of the religions, account
immortality to man alone among all the rest of the visible world,
inspite of the fact that reason had had evidence enough that man
as much as the animals was subject to the laws of death in as
much as all his cells, (like those of the animal) after a process of
gradual burning, which is called decay, become again the simpl-
est of organic matter. This conception could not be shattered.
The invisible, albeit animate in man, contrary to that in the
animal, had part in the beyond! Later on, we shall see how true
that presumptive feeling was which said the animals were un-
redeemable!

And so alarmed, apparently, was the Immortal- Will over the
fact that death was obligatory, that it created for itself (in the
myths) a perpeptual conscious life; an idea to reason quite
appalling. And so it came about that in the myths the actual

207

world was represented as an illusionary world, a vale of tears,
which could prove of great impediment to eternal bliss but which
unfortunately we had to pass through if we wanted to gain our
eternal home. Now, the vigorous will-to-live, deeply mortified
at the fact of death, started to decorate the beyond with every-
thing that seemed worth living for. (How touching for example,
are all those visions of a beyond which the 'primitive peoples'
have imagined for themselves.) As reason compelled both anticip-
ation and myth to build their beyond in the spheres of space,
the Immortal- Will one day, was bound to perceive its heavens
laid in ruins, as a consequence of the progress of intellectual
knowledge. It was, furthermore, forbidden to exist even beyond
the clouds. It was roughly brushed aside after Copernicus had
indicated the spheres where stars in systems circle. And even
still undaunted, the Immortal-Will was able to reconstruct out
of the ruins another mythical heaven. This time it lay even
beyond the universe 'whose unendlessness of space was of no
significance to the soul delivered of its body*.

And once again, as result of our study, reason has shattered
the mythical heaven, this time in its very foundations, for our
reasoning-powers have accomplished facts which are of a deeper
significance than a mere spherical disarrangement of the firma-
ment. The powers of intellect, having been priviledged so far
as to be able to penetrate into the coherency of the evolution
history, have as a consequence, been also able for the very first
time, to point out the fact that the Immortal- Will must essent-
ially be innate in the mortal soma-cells too, for were it not
so, these would hardly have let themselves be called upon to
sacrifice themselves so entirely for the sake of the eternal germ-
cells. On the other hand, there is also sufficient evidence, that
all the different kinds of the soma-cells (or body-cells), including
of -course the brain-cells belonging to the multi-celled individual
(man included) have no part in the immortality of the germ-

208

cells. The history of evolution furnishes ample witness why
and how it happened that a transitory individual, such as man
is, without possessing the characteristic of immortality, could
yet be so sternly conscious of the fact of his own immortality.
It was owing to these facts, that the history of evolution under-
mined most cruelly the foundations upon which the heavens
of the past were built; those foundations which had even defied
reason so long, the argument being: "If a human-being be really
doomed to pass away for ever, how could the strong desire and
certainty of eternity which certainly exists within him be ac-
counted for?"

Now, if truly mneme, or the sub-conscious memory, which
of a necessity, in the progress of evolution permitted the soma-
cells to retain their Immortal-Will, inspite of inevitable death,
was alone responsible for the certainty of immortality here
manifested, then indeed one could be obliged to say that reason
had gained the victory over the myth of immortality. And man
would have nothing left to do than habituate himself to the
fact of inevitable death. As it is, however, in sharp contradiction
to Darwinism, one thing remains certain, and that is; while
guarding ourselves implicitly against the error which reason
makes when it forms actual conceptions of god as being a person
there is every evidence for believing in that invisible, unfathom-
able, nature lying in all things, which of-course can only
be felt or experienced and is generally known by the name
of God, the "Thing Itself", the Divine or Genius etc.; a
belief too which moreover can bear the full light of the history
of evolution without its being shattered to pieces. Here there
can be found no negation of the Divine, on the contrary, it is
verified in such a grand manner as never before. We have already
been priviledged to recognise that all the explanations in the
light of the mere mechanical only which have been put forth
in regard to the history-of -evolution are errors. Instead, abund-

209

ance of evidence is always proving that a will, animated with
a distinct aim in view, at every significant stage in the ascent
of man, enforced form for itself in every living thing, albeit this,
itself was utterly unconscious of the fact. Hence, the history-
of-evolution has benefitted us in a wonderful way, for we are
no more called upon to say, "I believe in God" but "I know
that every animate and inanimate being belonging to the uni-
verse, is the visible appearance of the invisible-Divinity existing
within it, and that this innate godlikeness of the mortal body-
cells enforced its own manifestation in the appearance of the
manifold forms and shapes unique to the different multi-celled
beings, a process, moreover, which signified the wish to ascend
from the deepest kind of unconsciousness to the highest form
of consciousness in man."

Faith in immortality can also deepen into knowledge of
immortality. After the intuition I had experienced of the truth
of the immortality of man, I was easily facilitated to complete
the edifice of my thought, placing facts so neatly together that
it appeared afterwards as if it had fructuated from intellectual
thought and not from an intuitive source. Now, when intuition
rings true, reason subsequently is able to build up the steps which
leads to it. But at a time as this, when reason is so tremendously
overrated, and the soul-awareness (Erleben) of truth not enough
appreciated, it would be a great injustice were the following fact
not stressed, which is, that the powers of reasoning in this case
were very limited, in as much as they were most certainly
capable of indicating rightly the way to the wisdom we expound,
but, on the other hand, absolutely incapable of solving the con-
flicting mystery existing between natural death and reason
itself. First, a time of deep contemplation into the myths of the
different folks, and also a deep contemplation of the soul were
necessary, before light could be thrown into the sequence of
matters. So let us now ponder this time together to make sure

of the fact that a sufficient study of the myths, when unin-
fluenced by Darwinian thought, will lead finally, not to their
rejection, but to a high appreciation of them, albeit their con-
tents be as full of errors as of truths.

Among all the various fantastical religious poems which
belong to the different folks of the earth, there are four different
major kinds of myths which occur over and over again. Of
these, two are concerned with the past and two with the future
fate of the soul.

The myth of the history of creation relates how, through the
will of a higher invisible being, all the manifold creatures seen
on earth originated at a period of the earth's history in quick
succession, and that man, among all the other beings stood in a
special relationship to this invisible being, a being "of the
spirit of Brahman, the most pervaded one". Furthermore, that a
like creation-process never again will occur; the Indian myth
goes even so far as to tell of the affinity and uniformity of all
the visible-scene. The observation which we have made ourselves
of the history of evolution, compells us to confirm the truth
this myth contains, in as much as we strictly avoided viewing
it in the narrov Darwinian outlook, and concerned ourselves
with just the essential part, discarding deliberately all the fan-
tastical images and those contents which were concerned with
a personification of the Divine.

The second myth concerned with the past is the fantastical
description of a "Paradise-Lost". Here the poets sing of a time
when the earth knew of no aging, decaying nor death; a time,
in fact, in which men lived in eternal youth without sufferings
of pain or desire. This the doctrine of evolution confirms to be
true also, for, indeed, there lived in the hearts of the poets a
faint remembrance of the potential immortality of our one-celled
predecessors that felt neither pain nor desire, and knew nothing
of 'age* nor death.

211

14+

Then there are two myths which are very deeply concerned
with the future of man and the destiny of his soul. A belief,
peculiar to the Germanic race, and of which strong traces can
be found in the religious conceptions in the ancient Indian
Vedas, is the faith in reincarnation. In the Edda, an echo of it is
still to be found, clothed in language of great poetical beauty!*

Here we are made aquainted with the hero, called Helge, who,
as a single exception, was once given back to life. The song,
however, concludes with the firm belief in the reincarnation
of the ancestors. Helge and Siegrun are born again as Helge
Haddingenheld and Kara. The Vedas cling still even more
lovingly to this myth, and it is varied in every way. These
recount the stories of the soul's reincarnation, how it appears
on earth fettered first in animal nature, and how afterwards,
at every new birth it takes on a more god-like form. The
doctrine of reincarnation is truth likewise, in as much as it is
identical with the "mneme", or true remembrance, which is
revealed in the process of evolution and is the fate which the
soul has actually passed through. This must have been a very
faint remembrance, much fainter than the remembrance, of
the "paradise lost", which is the life once experienced by all
the protozoa, so that the remembering animate-being, although
it is a descendant of discrepant germ-cells has inherited from
the ancestral cells the remembrance of the once universal prime
and immortal ancestor as well. The remembrance characteristic
of the once experienced life of any animal or man may not
simply be attributed to the brain cells and left at that, for the
germ-cells from which the remembering brain-cells descend, are
not the descendents of single individuals only, but of a multi-
tude, which all bear promiscuous heritage. New synthetic hypo-
theses are not essential to support this as being a scientific fact,
as this kind of memory springs likewise into existence in exactly

* Gorsleben Edda P. 41. Publishers Heimkehr Verlag Miinchen-Pasing.

212

the same way as the "mneme" does in the case of the inherited
instinct which belongs to the animals, which everywhere is
accepted by science. (Nest-building instinct of the birds). Since
this means, as regards to the single individual, that the inherited
substance of the germ-cells is of a necessity associated with the
brain-cells, it also means that it is also associated with the soul
of the bird which is nest-building. It was only along these lines
that it was made possible for the capacity of nest-building to
be bequeathed to succeeding generations at that time when it
was being done for the first time by one of its kind. Now, our
own souls are no unpromiscuous descendants of single individ-
uals, and owing to this we are liable at times to have visions
or feel as if we had experienced certain conditions in a former
life already. They are of a mere fleeting and passing kind for
the reason that our own souls have no affinity whatever with
the ancestral-being. Within us we contain, so to speak, innu-
merable bits of memory of the experiences which once belonged
to each one of our ancestors, and which has been transmitted
to us in a promiscuous collection. It was the force of these
facts which made it impossible, at all times, to give up the
belief in one's own immortality and replace it with the belief
in the immortality of the kind. It is a thing impossible to trans-
mit our own personality unadulterated to succeeding generations;
at the very best, only a few characteristics can be transmitted,
but even these are liable to be mixed with other traits which
are wholly alien to our nature. So that, seen from a scientific
view, the belief in the reincarnation cannot find any support
through the fact of the "mneme", nor could it bear so much
conviction as the belief in the other myths did, as for instance
the myth of a lost paradise, or as it is called in the Edda*

*I refer the reader here to my work f entitled^ "Eadi Folk's ^own r Song to
erei
ing
cipatu

* 1 refer the reader nere to my wprx enmiea: cam rom s own oong 10 vjoa
wherein I have attempted to point out in chapter "The Religions Fall from their God-
living Heights" how bad-reasoning and misconceptions has helped to distort this anti-
cipation once described in the myth making antigodlike error out of it.

"Midgard" where the state of immortality was granted to our
ancestors.

The last of the four myths is the best known and is considered
in general as the most significant and is revered accordingly.
This myth is concerned wholly with the immortal state, or
belief in an eternal-life (after death). Now, if nothing else than
the strong feelings of nostalgia and assurance of immortality
were expressed we should have no cause to take increased
thought in this matter, as we have seen that the process of
evolution gave sufficient foundation for them. What made us
stop to ponder more deeply, is the fact we encounter every-
where, and which we have already hinted; the exclusion of the
animals from partaking in a life hereafter, for, according to
our faith in the process of evolution, in which sense the "Mneme"
confirms strongly the uniformity of man and animal-fate, the
reverse could be expected. And further, curious though it sounds,
we encounter the repeated assurance that heaven is not for
every one; that first, a certain spiritual state is essential before
any one can enter heaven. Also that a place in heaven can be
lost forever. This conception has gained such influence over the
divergent religions, that eternal torments for the ones excluded
(in hell) have been added which, of-course, reveals how appall-
ingly the myth itself has been distorted.

The myth of a "Beyond", in which only the few can take
part who, of their own accord, have had the power to gain it,
cannot be traced in its origin to the remembrance, or memory,
which has been inherited from our most ancient forefathers;
for it stands in contradiction to all the facts of the historical
evolution of the past, as demonstrated by natural science, which
is intent on proving the animal-kingdom and man to be one.
Let us assume for the sake of an explanation, that once upon a
time, some, out of the depths of their own inner experience,
composed the myth about the beyond and afterwards succeeding

214

generations were pleased to sing these compositions, especially
as it awakened to life again something which had been the
spiritual experience of their fore-fathers and was now theirs.
Before, it had slumbered within them as an unconscious memory.
May be the poets themselves had been prompted to compose
their mythical poems out of the spirit of remembrance also,
which had been handed down to them out of the times when
man was being born. Or were they composed as the result of an
experience which the poets had consciously lived through?

As the first three myths have given proof that their piths are
in accordance with truth, they have given us reason to give
our full attention, in our following process of thought, to the
myth concerned in the beyond.

C^e f mmottai^iil anti eniujs

Our glance at all the erroneus conceptions man has formed
in his apparently futile attempt to solve the mystery which the
antagonism existing between the Immortal-Will and natural
death presents him has plainly revealed how reason, to a certain
degree, was able to make up to him for his failure. On the one
hand it gave man the capacity not only to gain pleasure through
satisfying his instincts but also to avoid pain; and on the other
hand, as a consequence of all misery caused by the very
sensitiveness of the human-soul to consider death in the reverse
light of a comforter: Death could also become the liberator
out of this vale of tears. Here the cognising powers of reason
come to an end, save perhaps for one possibility more, the
argument of which runs as follows: The inevitability of death
and the Immortal-Will are a twofold fact which cannot be
obliterated. But as the Immortal-Will is a component of the
soul, might it not within the course of history, have undergone
a transformation?

Now, practically speaking, no fresh species have originated
since the birth of man (the further development of man over
the line unicell-man-superman we have already perceived to
be a gross misconception); the history of man has, nevertheless,
given evidence of a keener and mightier development of the
innate powers of the soul, in as much as one generation was able
to bequeath its knowledge and experience to succeeding gener-
ations. In place of the animal-instinct there appeared under-
standing among men. The mind of man became capacitated

216

to transmit the fruits of his logic and experience to posterity
either in the form of words, books and works of art, so that
one generation, so to speak, shouldered the other, giving mani-
festation of a magnificent intellectual development.

This development is indeed different in character from that
which evolved the one-celled being into man, but it was so
beneficial to the soul life of man, that the exalted man-of-
culture grew to have little in common with the industrious
stalwarts in the struggle-for-life. This implies that there is every
reason to believe that the self-preservation-instinct, or in other
words, the Immortal- Will underwent a transformation in exert-
ing its powers of spiritual exfoliation, and that cultural deve-
lopment, as it should be understood in its proper sense, was the
result of this. As has already been said, the whole range of
sexuality within the history of man has been gradually so
interwoven with intellectual values, that this has become spiri-
tualised in a most marvellous manner. This is only one instance
in point among the many. Lippert, in the works we have
already called attention to, has indicated in the most instructive
and minutest manner, how all the religions became very grad-
ually developed into a spiritualised state, not only in the cont-
ually developed into a spiritualised state, not only in the con-
tinuity of their myths but also in details and even use of words.
The downfall of all religions from the height of their God-
Living (Gotterleben) happened when the powers of reason
started trespassing, and the important part was ignored which
the diversity of race always plays. (This I have enunciated
in my book entitled "Each Folk's own Song to God".) Lippert
points out that words which originally gave expression to quite
crude conceptions did not find a higher spiritual significance
until much later. As, for example, the word jholy* which in the
spiritual life (Gotterleben) of to-day means so much, originally,
in the soul-cult meant nothing more or less than something

217

which belonged to the spirit of the dead. As such, no-one dared
to touch the goods, let alone take them away, lest the spirit to
whom they belonged should be angered. It was very gradually
that the word "Holy" gained the meaning for something divine
which one approached with awe and respect. Likewise we are
justified in assuming that not only the possibility, but every
probability exists (history confirms the fact) that the self-
preservation-instinct attained to that more spiritualised state,
when the soul became conscious that it desired more than to
exist perpetually in the world-of-appearances (Welt der Er-
scheinung). Many a historical figure gives witness to this fact.
How many a one, within the course of history, although un-
believing in a life hereafter, has gladly sacrificed his mortal-life
for the sake of his Immortal-Will in order that its spirituali-
sation might be realised. Now, what could have promoted this
change in the self-preservation-will and made the change at all
possible as well?

We have already noted that the most significant and prime
difference which separated the animal at its highest stage from
the lowest stage of man was the ascent from a state of under-
standing to the level of reason; the latter capacitated man to
apply the conceptions he had formed of time, space causality
to his surroundings, thus becoming conscious of his own person
and within fine, live consciously his "Self". Since this means,
also, that he naturally applied the cognition he had gained of
death to his own person, he attained, as an ultimate consequence,
all that knowledge pertaining to death as well. Amazing and
significant at once for the trend of our thought is the following
fact: In the ages, long past, the poets and believers in the myths,
who were limited to a very crude knowledge of nature, while
noting the important traits which distinguished man from the
animal, laid the stress of all their arguments nevertheless on
quite irrelevant matters. Whenever man was concerned with

218

ascribing to himself alone, among all the other living beings,
the immortal soul, it never once struck him as being the issue
from the ascent of understanding to reason. His prerogative
he imagined to come from quite another fount. He experienced
certain longings of his will which, being but faintly traced in
the higher developed animals, were easier overlooked than re-
marked in his observations. Now, these longings must be alive
in the human-soul in order to prove their existence convincingly.
But as in the majority they are more dead than alive, their
manifestation is not much clearer nor more conscious than it
is in the animal-ancestor.

These peculiar will-longings which make men so sure-of-soul
and so soul-proud are so often and so conspicuously in contra-
diction to the wills belonging to his selfpreservation-instinct,
namely, those in connection with the instinct for food and
reproduction, that indeed they prove themselves, when com-
pared to these, to be so utterly indifferent to such wants, as to
seem to have their origin from quite another source. It was
these marvellous wishes or longings of the will which gave
profundity to the soul-cults; which for their part again formed
the origin of all religions.

Man became aware of his own sufferings; saw himself con-
tinually threatened with tribulations; facts which, inspite of
his reason's awakening, he was yet incapable of comprehending,
especially when they were caused through the powers of nature.
He saw too, how death overtook his relatives; how in the dead
body 'life' no longer existed. "The spirits had escaped" he
reasoned and must have taken up their abode in the grave. It
was they, no doubt, who sent all the sufferings to mankind, the
sense of which was so utterly incomprehensible to him; but also
protection against harm the spirits yielded. And as sufferings
and tribulation continued, and death, as being the relentless fate
of everyone, still prevailed, he reasoned further, that the spirits

219

were angry and began to ponder for the reason of their anger.
Soon these thoughts became interwoven with the emotions
caused through the inherited memory of that earlier painless
state of immortality which once prevailed in the unicell. As a
consequence of these ponderings there arose the first beginnings
of the conception of a Paradise Lost. It was believed that sorrow
and death were sent as the punishment for the sins which the
past generations had committed against the spirits. For had it
not always been the fate of man to suffer sorrow and death?
Therefore, in some way, the spirits had to be appeased in order
that sorrow should have an end, and protection and even
escape from death take its place. The means of atonement
became multifarious. Offerings of the best of food were made,
worship was given; in short, all sorts of cult-commandments
arose as a consequence, and it was considered to be the worst of
all wrong-doings, were these commandments ever ignored or
opposed. Hence, the first beginnings of the grave-cult originated.
Now, inspite of the progress which knowledge has made, diverse
races of mankind are still concerned with this religious trend of
thought. Inspite of all the experience handed down from one
generation to another, the faith these profess still persists in
the fear of the spirits. Herein, too, lies the fundamental differ-
ence when compared to other religions which we shall still
describe. To come back to these again: Their thoughts were
continually filled with the fear of the dead and the demons.
Originally they worshipped their gods in dark caves and
attempted to appease them through practising cult-offerings.
Science has termed this kind of cult-behaviour, the ,,Chthonian w
or earth-cult.

Other races, in particular the Nordic race, behaved very
differently. At every step of intellectual-development, there is
little manifestation of their being engrossed with their own
sufferings or of death or with the blows which fate might event-

ually deal them; instead a spirit of reverent awe and astonish-
ment is revealed in which they were always approaching the
holy mystery of life's growth and decay. Their gaze seems to
have been forever fixed on the unendless cosmos. They deemed
the nocturnal firmament to be the revelation of the ancient and
most sacred looks of God. The inviolability and inexorableness
of the cosmic-laws which they had discovered while studying
the firmament had filled them with such confidence in God,
that everything else in their surroundings which revealed to
them the same lawfulness, they deemed likewise to be pervaded
with the divine; namely the seasons of the year, the birth, death,
growth and decay of all living things. Hence, this meant that
they themselves were also subject to the same laws-of-nature,
and this knowledge filled them with joy and thankfulness, in
as much as it assured them that they, too, were cognate with
that same divine power which pervaded all things, making them
uniform with the mighty universe. Therefore, it was only
natural, for them to annex all the events of their lives, such as
birth and death, to the seasons. The student of science calls
this kind of cult, the "Sidereal" or firmament-cult. The consequ-
ence of such study and observation was, that all the folks
akin to these races gradually lost all their fears of the spirits
and death. What an infinite pity it was that this, their God-
Cognisance, (Gotterkenntnis), was doomed in its development
to be cruelly put a stop to. It was suppressed by Christianity.
One thousand years ago, the representatives of the Nordic race
who still aboded in the land of their origin were forced to
accept the Christian religion by means of cruel laws which were
imposed on them. In the case of the folks belonging to the
Nordic race who forsook their native soil, the 'sidereal' cult
suffered a different fate. Those who emigrated to other countries,
such as the Dorians and the lonians in Greece, attempted to bring
the religion of the native inhabitants into harmony with their

own; an absurd and race-killing endeavour. Here they went
practically half way to meet them. They unshelved their own
universe-embracing gods from the firmament and placed them
on the mountain tops of the Olympus, where they were allowed
to retain a few traits only of their former state. (The "Great
Mother" Frigge still kept to her necklace containing the images
of the fixed stars.) Now, as the Dorians and lonians had become
unfaithful to the faith of their fathers, the cave-gods of the
Pelasgi stole out of the darkness of their caves into the dazzling
light of the day, and, creeping up the Olympus, mixed there
freely among the Nordic god figures. Although this mutual
attempt at adaptation might appear at first to be laudible in
that it was born of a spirit of peace and reconciliation it must
nevertheless be strictly condemned, being antagonistic to all
those sacred laws of race, soul and heredity which I have
attempted to explain in the book entitled "The Soul of the
Human-Being" Chapter "Subconsciousness". After having
exchanged the God-life (artgemafie Gotterleben) nature to each,
these folks, so different in everything to each other, mixed up
together their salvation-creeds and race-ideals as well. This did
infinite harm to their soul-lives, in as much as the principles
pertaining to the maintenance of race-purity had been cruelly
trampled under foot. Disintegration and decline were the
inevitable effects. With the Nordic-folks who had been con-
verted to Christianity, disaster likewise appeared.

How and in what measure those two fundamentally different
cult-forms, called the chthonian and the sidereal, were developed
within the course of time through the benefits of experience
which one generation bequeathed to another, can be best ob-
served where a natural development took its own way without
being interfered with through any conversions, as was the case
of the soul-cult of the Chinese. The clearest evidence concerning
the sidereal-cult yield those special Nordic folks who were

spared the violence of a conversion to Christianity, and where
the adaptation to the cult of the native inhabitants took place
at a later period, as it happened to the sidereal cult in the case
of the Indians.

Where all the cults are concerned, a remarkable thing to be
minded is, that only very few, by virtue of their keenly sensitive
natures, really mount the path of development. It is they who
attract the others who are capable of following them. The
majority, however, remain stubbornly where they are, and even
the civilisation of our present day cannot conceal them from
being exposed to this fact! The spiritual-life of the most people
in our day is nothing better than fear of demons and the
anxious fulfilment of cult-commandments; the public ones
belonging to the church and the secret ones to superstition; the
only real sentiment prompting them to their religious-duties
being the aim to shield themselves from sufferings before and
after death or the supposed torments of hell.

Now, what particular wishes might those have been which
were the cause of religious faith becoming cast gradually into
a deeper mould, and the meditations on the inevitability of
death, the cosmic-laws and the significance of man's life to
become fructified? Man was born with a naturally agressive
spirit which, at the dictate of his self-preservation-will he was
bound to exercise on all around him were he to maintain him-
self. Yet at times he was keenly dissatisfied with himself, when,
in the service of selfmaintenance, he adopted cunning and
bravery with the selfsame assertion as the brute did. At a very
early period already, he was fully conscious of this unaccount-
able feeling which was like as if he had gone against some inner
powerful wish. Now, how could this be accounted for? Was
it because this innate wish stood in opposition the the self-
preservation-will? No, it could never have been that for differ-
ent reasons. For-instance, that horrible mal-contentment did

223

not make its appearance every time a struggle-for-existence went
on, or when any particular desires of the body had just been
satisfied. Only on certain occasions did it made itself felt. Some-
times, even, it was obviously delighted, when, in view of the
selfpreservation-will unwise things were done, and bodily
instincts had reason to complain. The most curious thing about
this unknown wish was, that no principles governing it could
be found, for, at times, it even agreed with the instincts of the
body. It was characterised by a special feature which in the
body instinct was lacking. If these were not satisfied, they
generally revenged themselves by giving rise to such a state of
bad humour as to become almost intolerable, but which could be
quickly got rid of as soon as they had been satisfied. How
different it was to the other wish. The disapproval which met
a deed at the time of its happening was but faint when compared
to the strength of the mal-contentment of spirit which it was
able to leave behind it for lengths of time. A deed which had
met with any such disapproval could, somehow, never be oblit-
erated. It remained vivid in the memory, paired with the dis-
pleasure of that inner will-trend. There seemed no escape; in
fact a whole life long it was able to torment the mind. And so,
finally, through the consistency characterising that state of
uneasiness which inevitably made its appearance when that inner
wish had been displeased, sufficient in itself to dampen even
the inclinations of the body-instincts, the potency of this wish
became of such significance in the life of man, as to make him
set the value of all his doings according to its standard. Conse-
quently, man grew into the habit of calling the deed which the
wish approved of 'good* and those which it disapproved of
'bad'. And that unpleasant state of mind which followed like a
voice continually warning him, he called the 'bad conscience*
and the satisfied state of mind which followed after another
kind of action he called the 'good conscience*. Now, as man was

224

incapacitated to explain the reason for this Wish-to-Goodness
which the will within him manifested, and as it so often stood
opposed to his pleasure-enslaved-selfpreservation-instinct, it
goes without saying, that he searched for an explanation of its
origin elsewhere, rather than within himself. As he himself was
under subjection; it must come from somebody apparently
greater than he was; somebody who, of -course, was immutable,
who, unlike his own instincts could never be appeased. And who
else could this great unchangeable one be than the 'spirits', gods
or god. Thus some reasoned, while they credited their gods or
god with the power to influence these wishes which led to spiritu-
al isation of the chthonian-cults. They argued then further; in as
much as the spirits, in being the powers of good and evil, could
cause the joy or sorrow which was apt to befall man from the
outer-world, they likewise could pervade the soul of man and
take possession of it. Hence, the 'bad spirits or devil* as well
as the good had equal power over the soul, and this evil spirits
or the devil, no-doubt, were the cause which drove man to act
contrary to the Wish-to-Goodness within him which was God's
will. The religions computed to the 'devil in man', not alone
all those actions which stood out clearly as being contrary to
the good, but also everything else which was liable to distract
man from dedicating himself to the service of this will. So that,
even the reproduction-instinct, which, alas, led man so very
often astray, and made him 'overhear' the voice of the Wish-
to-Goodness, was considered 'impure'. All this reasoning, in that
it lead to a state of mental confusion and final folk-decline, did
infinite harm.

In effect then, the spirits took up their abode in the soul of
man, striving there, exactly as they were want to do in man's
surroundings, one against the other for supremacy. They fought
indeed for the very soul itself. But for what purpose? Now the
very moment faith addicted itself to this error, the Immortal-

225

Will of the soma-cells, wounded at death's inevitability, became
simultaneously interpenetrated with these facts. It was believed
that the good and evil spirits were capable, not merely of sending
joy, suffering and even death during this life, as it was contained
originally in the soul-cults; their powers were still much greater.
In man's soul they were at warfare for its immortality!

If the old inherited cult of offering sacrifice to the spirits was
the way undertaken in primitive times to appease the spirits
for the trespasses of past generations and to appeal to them for
protection in tribulations, the new way, now, in order to ensure
eternal-life to the soul after death, was the dutious fulfilment
of the demands of conscience. Herein, however, as we shall
soon see, the sublime Wish-to-Goodness was left bereft of its most
unique characteristic. The virtue of this characteristic lies in the
fact that it raises the Wish-to-Goodness above the taint of any
intention or selfinterestedness. Such was the influence which
that unique trend of the soul exercised in the development of
the chthonian cult. Now, how and in what way did it influence
the sidereal cult?

"How like unto the beauty of nature and the exalted grandeur
of the firmament is the longing of my own soul". Thus spoke
the folks practising the sidereal-cults. Their myths about their
gods grew deeper in thought and cognisance. Themselves they
believed were the gods' friends, certain of the fact that the
longing or the sublime wishes of the soul, as we have termed
them, were also divine, at the same time clearly aware of the
fact that the intellect could err, and that these errors, together
with the pleasure-enslavery of the selfpreservation-will, were
something which had to be overcome. And yet the mystery of
death they could not solve, so that it came as a matter of-course,
that they also misinterpreted the real nature of the divine.

The book of knowledge which is concerned with the inner
nature existing in all things (Wesen der Dinge) is forever closed

226

to reason; but as reason is blissfully ignorant of this fact it is
allowed to seduce man from the path of real knowledge. Vision
(Erscheinung) can be marred by the law of reason which is
governed by the laws of causation and intention. Therefore it
comes only natural to reason to assume, that, when a Wish-to-
Goodness is existing in the soul, there must be a corresponding
purpose in it. And if a twofold purpose can be found all the
better! Therefore, it says, that the Wish-to-Goodness innate in
the soul is there to serve the selfpreservation-will and the desire
for happiness; the purpose for doing good, in effect, is, that a
life-immortal can be gained after death. As the fulfilling of the
cult-commandments belong to the rubric of good deeds, in that
they serve in the means of warding off evil and suffering, they
serve a twofold purpose. They assure happiness on earth (fourth
commandment "that thou may liveth long on earth") and
eternal bliss hereafter. The alternative is the consequence of evil
deeds, which is unhappiness and punishment here on earth,
reincarnations or eternal damnation after death. It remains still
to be seen what a mockery it became to the real nature of good-
ness when this vital wish of the Immortal-Will and purpose
became commingled. It was an error which for thousands of
years made the folks almost incapable of developing this won-
derful desire into powerful life. Although they knew this long-
ing for goodness to be akin to the divine they all were subject
to the same error. But our minds are happily unencumbered
with the misconstruction which the workings of man's reasoning
have caused. Therefore we can make emphasis of this: The mark
which distinguishes the longing-for-goodness consists in its being
far above ever stooping to any principles of utility in the
struggle-for-life; itself neither being practical nor impractical.
Further, we see good to lay stress on another fact and that is;
that man has never succeeded, nor will he ever succeed in
'defining* the conception of what is "Good" by means of his

reasoning potencies! All attempts to do so are doomed to fail;
at the best bearing the marks of being but mere 'phrases'. All
which he can do in this respect is this: he can make a summary
of certain deeds which are identical with the Wish-to-Goodness.
Also, he can choose, out of a variety of deeds, the best and the
better ones, although his choice, as is the case also of every other
individual, will remain strictly within the limits of that degree
of relationship in which he stands towards this wish-to-be-good.
For quite a long time it remained the firm belief that, although
the conception of what was 'good' could not be properly defined,
every individual possessed within himself an incorruptible stand-
ard of what was good; namely, man's conscience which pricked
him after a bad action and put him into a state of 'good
conscience' after a good action. But the belief that a man's
conscience, or 'the voice of God' within him as he is wont to call
it, is of so reliable a character, is one of the fallacies among the
many which have done such infinite harm, actually, it has
detained man from ever reaching a state of perfection. Now,
there is nothing in all the visible-world (Welt der Erscheinung)
which can be less relied upon: In men of a highly developed
moral standard, the "Voice of Conscience" can be compared
to a keenly sensitive seismograph which reacts sharply at the
slightest change, whereas in others it can be compared to a
clumsy apparatus which responds faintly at even the greatest
shock. Yet, even such an uniformity is not to be found among
the diverse states of consciences; such a wide difference is there
in the nature of their sensitiveness. For instance, one man's
conscience, when applied to the range of morals in general,
behaves like a clumsy machine which vibrates at nothing, but
when it is applied to a particular standard of morals, let us
say the morals prevailing in society, it becomes suddenly a
tremendously sensitive thing.

Villagers of certain mountain-districts steal anything without

228

suffering the slightest pangs of conscience, but when it comes
to a certain kind of thieving, (the stealing of wood) their
conscience changes suddenly into delicate seismographs. Indeed,
the nature of man's state of conscience differs so widely as to
actually contrast one with another. For instance, in one indi-
vidual a certain action will call forth a state of good conscience,
while the same action in another, a bad one, and so forth.
History gives sufficient proof of the mutability of the human-
conscience. To be convinced of this one has only to bear in mind
the gross contradiction which the moral creeds display among
the diverse races and periods, as well as all the massacres, tor-
tures and burning at the stake which have taken place in the
'name of God'.

Therefore, we are justified in repeating, that it is vain to want
to collect conceptions of what is 'good'. Neither the powers of
reason nor intuition make a man capable of doing so; although
he who is perfect may make the exception. This is a possibility
which is still waiting for us to ponder over.

Now, in view of this, it is of importance to find out, first, if,
in the animal-kingdom also, the Wish-to-Goodness distinguishes
the soul. Apparently it does, although, admittedly, we are
limited to mere outward observation; yet, especially where our
domesticated animals are concerned, we pause to think deeper.
It is interesting to watch a dog, when it comes in contact with
the awakened soul of man. In the process of its bringing-up it
receives punishment for its disobedience. When it has done any-
thing which it was forbidden to do, a cognisance of guilt makes
itself manifest in the expression it wears, similar to a child in
a like situation. We might at first be tempted to imagine that it
was fear which gives vent to such expression in the dog's mien,
as its powers of understanding, in applying, albeit unconsciously,
the laws of causality, no doubt prophesies the consequences. But,
when we then experience, how a good-natured dog can be

229

induced to become obedient, less through punishment and
reward, than through praise, and still the signs of a bad consc-
ience are manifest, even when its disobedience is not punished,
we are obliged to admit that in the dog a wish to be good most
certainly exists; it is identical with the wish of its master. This
behaviour also is similar to the child's. Therefore, there is
justification in assuming that this trend is innate in the dog,
that means to say, innate in the subconscious animal, and, in
the above mentioned case, is awakened to life in having come
in close contact with the already awakened and more conscious
soul of man.

In the lower species already, the first beginnings of a second
still more sublime wish of the Immortal-Will are manifested,
even more distinctly than the Wish-to-Goodness is. In man,
however, it was felt for the first time consciously; this was, when
distinct pleasure was born at the sight of form, colour and
movement, and when sounds, harmonies und rhythms caught
his ear. Man has called this wishful trend of the innate Will
within him, the wish for the beautiful. The powers of his
intellect have attempted vainly to define what it is. Beauty is
circumscribed, diverse expressions are chosen to describe what
it is; harmony, rhythm, the harmony-of-form and-contents and-
melody are often spoken of. Equal to the case of goodness, he is
able to recount innumerable things which mean either beauty or
ugliness to him, but the definitions of the beautiful which he
puts forth in the overestimation of his reasoning-powers are
similar to his definitions of what is good; they are nothing else
than mere phrases. And in our day, the good as well as the
beautiful have sunk so low as to remain but mere talk. In as
much then as all this means that goodness and beauty are only
capable of being inwardly lived (erlebt), it also implies that
each individual lives the keenness of these wishes in a very
divergent manner. In each one of us an inner incorruptible voice

230

decides what is beautiful according to that degree of the divine
wish which each of us has developed in his soul; and if the
kind of beauty before us is satisfying that inner-call, it is
appeased, if not, it is discontented, so that we are justified when
we call it our 'beauty-conscience*.

If, in the performance of religious ceremonies, scope for
expansion has been granted to the Wish-to-Beauty and emphasis
laid on its value, as was the case with the Greeks, it goes without
saying, that beauty's realisation is profounder, and its influence
of a more vital nature, than the case is when a religion is
indifferent or even hostile to beauty, as for instance, Christianity
has proved itself to have been. The beauty-conscience is just as
unreliable as the good and bad conscience is. In the cultivated
it is like the delicate construction of a seismograph, while in the
obtuse it is a very clumsy and heavy thing indeed. Moreover,
it manifests a diversity, not only in its choice of what is beauti-
ful, but in most cases the beauty-conscience of the cultivated
stands in stark oppisition to the beauty-conscience of primitive
natures.

We have noted already how the Wish-to-Beauty, albeit some-
times dormant, exists in every visible-thing (in aller Erschei-
nung). As we dwelt on the Darwinian Evolution Theory, it
will be remembered how easy it was for us to emphasize a fact
constituting our cognisance, which is; the Wish-to-Beauty has
played a tremendous part in the existence of all living things. In
so far as the selfpreservation instinct could make allowance for,
the choice of the form in which everything was able to manifest
itself was left to the Wish-to-Beauty, and in the existence-struggle
beauty sacrificed to the instinct of self-preservation as little of
its display as possible. And when we come to look at the visible-
scene, in comprehension of ist uniformity, we are not amazed
to find all the ugly and clumsy corporeal forms obsolete to-day,
and that the main cause of this was not the helplessness they

manifested in the struggle-for-life. Indeed, beauty's unconscious
zeal for harmony with the surroundings which is so apparent
in every visible-thing (alien Erscheinungen) is of such magnifi-
cence, that animal and plant forms, seen in the landscape, appear
amazingly in tune with one another, and just as we should wish
them to be. But, not only in the unconscious form, visible to
the eye, does beauty care to manifest itself; we can trace in the
animal-kingdom its first beginnings to consciousness. Here we
are reminded of a certain story told by the Italian Beccari in the
book of his travels. This book gained its fame through the
interest of the public which the Darwinian sexual-breeding had
awakened. Among the birds-of-paradise which are distinguished
through the brightness of their feathers (The male-bird has a
brighter colouring than the female has; he can afford it as he
is less important for the maintenance of the kind than the
female is) there is an insignificant black and brown kind of bird
called, the Amblyornis Inornata, the male of which builds a
kind of love-garden (a larger place strewn with sand with which
he is occupied in decorating with bright-hued stones and
coloured-berries.) He does this apparently in the hope of
pleasing the female. But his trouble can only be successful if the
female is able to appreciate the beauty of the little love-garden.
Another thing corroborating this fact is the pleasure, female
birds take in listening at certain times to the calling of the
male. The results of ardent study have left no doubts that the
female, who must be wooed to be gained, grows excited when
the male-bird is calling at breeding-time. Now, that the Wish-
for-Beauty, in its first beginnings, is closely connected with the
instinct for reproduction, these two facts clearly show. Thus
then, by the grace of this instinct, the animal is raised to the
level of a higher being, in that it becomes oblivious of the
struggle-for-life for a while; its sexual-passion of its own accord,
brings joy of the beautiful in its wake.

After this, it will surely not amaze us to learn in viewing
man's development, that the first awakening of a conscious
Wish-for-Beauty (for instance when for the first time joy
awakened at the sounds of music) was connected with minne.
Later, music became attached to the emotions aroused by war,
when the battle-song was born. From these two springs, the
spiritualised*) development of music originated. Now it can be
said that, in primitive times, the conception of beauty consisted
of the impression which the one sex made on the other, in that
it was capacitated to awaken the mating-wilL The variety of
glass- jewellery which the savages like to wear put us strongly
in mind of the little love garden of the colibri, the 'taste* and
effects of both being on the same level, with the exception, that
the little male-bird lays the bright coloured stones at the feet of
the little female, because it is not in his power to decorate her
as the savage man can decorate his wife!

Having once risen above this one time spring, the Wish-to-
Beauty on its way to a spiritualised development releases itself
more and more from every function serving to the maintenance
of life.

What a mighty step forward towards the liberation from the
finite and conditional did that moment signify, when, for the
very first time in the history of man, a certain object caught
the eye of one of those old human ancestors of ours, and joy
flooded his being, albeit his gaze and smile were still of the dull
unconscious kind. A mighty thing, indeed, when it was happen-
ing for the very first time, that a human being became aware of
beauty and was capacitated to fix his attention on an object or
living thing, not because his sexual-instinct was being roused,
nor because it had anything to do with his struggle-for-exist-
ence, but simply because of its beauty. At that event something

* Here I recommend my book entitled "The Recuperation of Minne" which is a
corrected edition of "Erotical Rebirth".

happened to the dull disinterested brute-mind, which hitherto
had been merely capable of perceiving what was of danger to
it, edible things, or things otherwise of use, that awakened a
will, potent enough to concentrate attention. Perchance in that
sublime moment, that ancient ancestor of ours bore that look of
exaltation which we are accustomed to see in the face of a man,
who, having released himself from the petty problems attached
to the struggle-for-life, has given himself up to the fulfilment of
one of these unique wishes. Yet rare and fugitive must such
experiences at that time have been! Life being so full of danger,
there was no time for looking at the beauty of objects which
were useless in the struggle-for-existence! There is something
touching in the barrenness which marks those first beginnings
of soul-life, in as much as all the grand artistic impulses of later
higher cultural-life can be traced in their origin to these tiny
beginnings. Stronger than these emotions of pleasure which the
sight of beauty had caused must those first overwhelming emot-
ions in the soul-life of primitive man have been which drove
him, by means of a sharp stone implement, to make shy attempts
to copy in sand or stone the beauty of the forms before him; to
make, as Schopenhauer has termed it, a visible manifestation of
his soul-life in its wish for the beautiful. Gradually man's soul
became habituated to the trend of such kind of wishes which
finally exercised a refining influence on his struggle-for-existence.
He started to 'beautify' all the implements, used in his daily
toils, in tracing on them all those graceful forms with which he
had become so enraptured. Thus appeared the origin of all our
sublime works of art. But reason, in its calamitous labours, could
not fail to couple the Wish-to-Beauty to the principle-of-utility,
in the same manner as already had been done with the trend-to-
goodness, and it began to argue: As the soul-life of man was
rendered so peculiarly unencumbered with the desires and
struggles-of-existence when his sense of beauty was being satis-

234

fied, the longing for beauty in his soul must surely come from
another and better world where naturally the spirits or demons
abided. Now, all those, belonging to those races whose 'prime
religion* consisted of a fear-pervaded soul-cult, were naturally
overcome again with the fear of demons when confronted with
beauty which in the first instance had been a source of such
untainted joy and had been the means of the first ornaments
originating. Reason began whispering that those primitive works
of art and tracings must serve a certain purpose. It followed that
they were put into the service of the soul-cult. The ornaments
were considered to be charms which were effective in excorcising
the spirits, and soon they were used as charms which dispelled
the fear of demons. The other kind of races, on the other hand,
whose wont it was to encounter death, and the blows of fate
with a greater composure, and in whom the divine called forth
respectful wonder more than fear, interwove beauty more closely
into their religious conceptions, although not in such measure
as they did it with the Wish-to-Goodness. And in as much as
the folks and races differed one from another, the commingle-
ment of beauty with religion was also different both in the
measure and manner it was used, as well as the nature of its
kind; but all the salvation-creeds alike gave in general less signi-
ficance to the Wish-for-Beauty. To the Wish-for-Goodness more
importance was attached. This brought one great advantage
with it which was, that the Wish-to-Beauty escaped a long time
from being ridden by the f anatism of practicability which would
have been to its own confusion and distortion. It was able to
experience a grander exfoliation, as the sublime works-of-art
which were created in the heyday times of Nordic cultures give
witness to. Contrary to the Wish-to-Goodness, it was not
assumed of beauty that it was a means wherewith to gain
immortal life, but it was always bound up, nevertheless, in a
great measure with the sentiments of religious awe and was

indeed the adequate means of rendering an exalted manifestation
of this, so that, whenever man dared at all to represent the
"Divine", "Beauty" became its distinguishing mark. This
accounts for the fact that religious emotions became a mighty
impulse to artistic creation. The Godhead never monopolised
beauty as it did goodness, but it could never be divorced from
this wish, as it was taken to be the sublimation of everything
that was beautiful. In that a communion took place between
the beauty-wish and the sentiments of religious awe, a most
unique transformation came to life which is best described in the
word 'exalted', and which found its sublimest expression in the
Nordic cultures; in the Gothic architecture and Sebastian Bach's
music.

Accordingly, man's reverence for the myth reveals itself in
his expression of beauty. Now let us see how the myth for its
part treated that Wish for Beauty. All the religious conceptions
of the Greeks, as well as the ideas revealed in the Socratic-
Philosophy, give clear evidence of the value which these set on
beauty. It was considered akin to the Wish-to-Goodness, and as
such, one of the commandments which the Godhead had given
to man. Other religions, again, professed the opposite belief. In
the Vedas, the sacred books of the Indians, it can be found that
man is warned against beauty, as being the cause through which
man might succumb to the powers of "Maya" or illusion,
although a strong sense of beauty and love for everything beauti-
ful is revealed in the legends and parables of Jishnu Krischna,
especially in the legend concerned with the birth of the first man
and woman, called "Adima and Heva". These are to be found
again, but alas, stripped of all their beauty, in the Bible which
was the work of Jewish writers who stole the Indian legends
for this purpose.

A great indifference in regard to the Wish-of-Beauty is
noticeable in primitive Christianity and in the Scriptures of the

2)6

Old-Testament, so that development of any kind can hardly be
expected here, and, in effect, religious-architectural and picto-
rial-art which arose in the course of the development in occident-
al-culture is nowhere to be found. The Wish-to-Beauty was
bound to gain some significance in 'occidental* Christianity, and
sometimes it was considered as being a thing of goodness and
sometimes not. For instance, if by any means it awakened minne,
it was called bad, for the rest it bore little or no significance, as
was the case exactly in primitive Christianity. The exception
became the rule however, whereever the yearning of the Nordic
Christians for the God-living native to them manifested itself,
in that a creative evolution of Christianity took place, and works
of art appeared, albeit still in the garb of Christianity which
expressed the Nordic conception of God and beauty ideals' 1 ").
The Wish-to-Beauty was given then full swing, but also merely
because it served in the glorification of the church and was
pleasing to the eyes of God. Thus it came about that the beauty
conscience of man became so peculiarly moulded; for it was
continually swayed by the religious conceptions of the Christ-
ian churches and was pounded as well with their conscience
of good and evil, although alas ! in a totally different sense to
the ancient Greeks. Therefore, we should like to repeat; beauty
was considered evil and disgusting, when it appeared in 'sex',
indifferent and of little significance when manifested in lay
works of art, but received great approval when its function was
to aid in the glorification and transformation of Christianity.
Thus then, as long as the Christian myth could maintain its
inexorableness, beauty could develope. It attained such a height
as to be of a veritable creative potency, in as much as the men-
of-genius among the occidental peoples of culture laboured

* Thus it happened that the "House of God" became so transformed. The Gothic-Dom
(Cathedral) was once again the "Hallowed Grove" of our ancestors, and the Jews of the
Old and New Testament became Nordic figures. (See "The Soul of the Human Being"
chapt. "Subconsciousness".

untiringly in their work of transformation. Christian legends
were turned into things of beauty which, curiously enough, were
so remarkably bare of any traces of beauty in themselves.

It was so it happened, that such an absurd contradiction could
come to life among the Christian peoples of the earth, by which
is meant that the stupendous artistic works, such as music, archi-
tecture and painting were created merely for the benefit of a
religious belief which itself never once dreamed of awakening
or nourishing any inclination for the beautiful in the breasts of
its adherents. Therefore it can hardly be amazing to find grand
music sounding in beautiful cathedrals, while the worshippers
who are accustomed to kneel in prayer in them are remarkably
devoid of a longing for beauty, obviously blind to the very
existence of the works of art around them. The majority are
there merely to offer prayers and sacrifices in the hope of
appeasing the demons, they are so much in fear of. Their over-
laden altars give witness to their stunted beauty conscience!
How unlike this the Greeks were! Art of its own virtue meant
to them the culmination of conscious life which again was the
fulfilment of their desire. Inspite of the limits, already mentioned
which were set to art, the plenitude of creative energy which is
manifested in the art of the Middle-ages gives us an insight into
facts pregnant with significance. When we compare this period
to the 20th century we are shocked at the barrenness of creative
potency which the Darwinian period exhibits, more so, when we
bear in mind that the artist, living in the Darwinian period,
was given the chance of reproducing everything he deemed right,
as well as choosing in its minutest detail any style, without
having to borrow from a preceeding one. After this we are
obliged to conclude that the reign of Darwinism was a mighty
unproductive one. The explanation for it is simple enough. God-
living is essential should artistic work ever fructify into achieved
facts. In this respect even an alien faith can drive the artist, as

238

one might say, to labour of his own accord in a work of trans-
formation, whereas a sober matter-of-fact materialism does such
infinite harm, in that it absolutely sterilises the soul. Now, when
we speak of "God-living" (Gotterleben), we are not thinking of
any dogmatic belief, nor any special religious work among the
works of art influenced by it, neither have we forgotten how
appallingly fettered and distorted Nordic art was during its
plenitude in the middle-ages. Nevertheless, if materialism is
allowed to stifle God-living, the result will be an activity of
mere talents with a paucity of ideas. (Each Folk's own Song
to God.)

As we have already mentioned, everything else which came
in touch with the Wish-to-Beauty remained also (through the
influence which Christian teaching exercised) at a very low
stage of development. This explains why so little beauty has
been realised in the week-a-day-life among the cultural peoples
professing Christianity. One might indeed shudder at the
ugliness, prevailing in our times, after having once had a glance
at the beauty which must have prevailed in the every day life
of our ancestors, who lived in prehistoric times; (to which fact
the treasures hidden in graves, especially those of the bronze-
period, have given ample witness to.)

Besides these two longings of the Immortal-Will which we
have just spoken of, and which we have thought good to call the
Wish-to-Goodness and the Wish-to-Beauty, there exists some-
thing else in the breast of man, which one might think of as
being a special kind of curiosity. It was this curiosity which
drove man on in his search for the connecting-links existing in
the visible scene (Erscheinungswelt) around him, and which,
when observed in its first beginnings, might easily be mistaken
for the instinct of self-preservation; for in the proceedings of
self-preservation, it was often essential to be aware of the causal-
coherency underlying all objects. For instance, how often could

danger be averted through the knowledge, man possessed of the
principles ruling his environment. Have we not already seen
that it was just this which circumstanced the stage of under-
standing to evolve into reason? (S. Above). Surely the endea-
vours were both useful and sensible which were undertaken in
order to discover the laws governing the elements, the life
conditions of the enemy and the laws underruling disease; for
the knowledge which might be gained of these, helped greatlv
to facilitate the struggle-for-existence! And what value did
research-activity gain, when, by its due, the will of the gods
could be defined! It was due to this wish existing in the breast
of man, that, in order to obtain aid in the struggle-for-life, the
stars, the flight of the birds, the voice of the wind were all
interrogated. The more powerful this instinct of curiosity
became developed in the breasts of the rarer and nobler-livers,
and the range of research more extensive as a consequence, and
knowledge accumulated, the more obvious it became that this
curiosity-instinct in man had then little or nothing to do with
the struggle-for-life. Indeed, the greater the bulk of knowledge
grew which man handed down to the next generation as the
treasures of his experience, the easier it appeared for this wish
to divorce itself from matters concerned in the struggle-for-a-
living. And it is curious to note, how man's impulse for know-
ledge has made him irresistibly search the path of truth, heed-
less of the fact that there was no likelihood of his research ever
bringing him a single benefit; on the contrary infinite harm and
even death; a thing which has so often happened during times
of cruel persecution which the Christians raged against the
scientific-researchers. History is witness to the fact that many
a scientist has been capable of sacrificing the strong impulse of
self-preservation to this special wish. In fact, for its sake, they
were all willing to die!

Let us not be startled to find this wish, contrary to the other

240

two, still entirely devoted, in its first beginnings, to the course
of usefulness. Altogether, it is interpenetrated with reason in
a much closer degree than the other wishes are. While the Wish-
to-Goodness is the factor which determines our actions, and the
Wish-to-Beauty the valuing factor in our perceptions, this wish
is the pilot of our thoughts, and, as such, is closely attadied to
reason. The laws of "logic" are the implements by means of
which the Wish-to-Truth achieves its fulfilment; but by no
means does it depend solely on the support of these. On the
contrary, the awareness of its cognising powers are keenest when
they are derived from the inner eye; that spiritual-experience
we call intuition, or the creative vision. It goes without saying,
therefore, that the cognising powers relative to the Wish-for-
Truth will never be able to gain that stage of supreme exfoli-
ation to which they are entitled, until the potencies of reason
are fully developed which implies that keenness of intellect,
clarity of judgement are required, as well as power of intuition.
Should the latter be highly developed, and the powers of
intellect and judgement dull and stunted, the results can be
amazing; for the profundest knowlegde will be found to go
hand-in-hand with the most useless of fallacies! In the study and
research of the laws governing the world of appearances (Welt
der Erscheinung) less harm is done, if the powers of intuition
are less developed, for potential reasoning powers are requisite
in this case. This, by the way, explains why men of logic are
invariably attracted to the study of natural-science, but also for
the danger incurred when insufficient estimation is tolled to the
grains of truth which are born of intuition. For this danger
means nothing less than the being stranded in sheer materialism
(in the sense of natural-science), of-course.

A better possibility is given to define the Wish-to-Truth, than
is given to define beauty or goodness. This is on account of the
close association which the Wish-to-Truth has with reason. When

241

the question is put, "What is truth"? We are justified in saying:
Truth is the identity of conception and reality.

Hence it can be summarised, that the Wish-to-Truth, in order
to satisfy its longing to penetrate into the inner nature which
exists in all things, (Wesen aller Dinge) is the desire to collect
and possess conceptions, as well as form new ones, which are
completely identical with reality. However, this longing for
knowledge which mentality affords is not made content with
the cognisance which concerns the laws of the visible-scene
(natural science) and the inner nature of life (philosophy) only;
it wants more. It is keenly alive to know if the conceptions
which we and others have formed of soul are identical with
reality. It strives, therefore, for knowledge of Self and
'genuineness* as standing in contradiction to hypocrisy and
deception, and above all sincerity towards others in word and
deed. This latter reveals how the divine Wish-to-Truth meets
the Wish-to-Goodness. At a very early period, already, emphasis
was laid on this last mentioned part-effect of the Wish for Truth;
sincerity as being a simple duty which the laws-of-the land
demand. In the daily-struggle-for-life it worked effectively
against cunning and artifice. It is subtle enough to be awakened
very early in the breast of the little child, and, when supported
by moral-instruction, will leave an indefatigable imprint of
what is good and evil on the conscience. Intellectually speaking,
however, there is little scope allowed for truth, as the religions
are averse to scientific facts for the sake of their bigotted dogmas.
For this reason, it finds its culmination in the intellectual
workings of the brain which belong to the very few only. And
these men alone have what can be rightly thought of as a truth-
conscience, in the same sense as there is a beauty-conscience and
good-conscience. Now, for example, when we are taken up
with the study and research of science, or may be, we are
concerned with the examination of our own conscience, or we

242

arc testing the diarakter of our fellowmen, an indubitable
uneasiness will take hold of us as soon as our logical thinking
is induced to be distracted from its own unswerving line, in
that we might have given ourselves up to the desires of affect,
body-instincts, or any other kind of impulses, such as religious
hopes and desires. The sharpest pricks which a highly sensitive
truth-conscience can receive, however, is when it has been
tempted to sacrifice an ingenious cognition to reason, simply
because this believed itself capable of judging in matters belong-
ing to realms, where it had no right to intrude itself. What bliss
the truth-conscience will feel, when, on the other hand, in the
act of thinking, the drive for truth gains the victory over all
profane wishes.

The Christians took on a specially hostile attitude towards
the Wish-to-Truth when manifested in the work of research.
For this reason, we meet so many in whom the Wish for Truth
in this respect is unbelievably stunted. The upholders of the
myths and dogmas thought fit to uphold truth as a virtue only
where general speech and actions come in question. Little interest
was taken in the drive for truth in matters of scientific-research
as long as it did not collide with the myths. Yet the greater the
steps were which reason put forth along the path of knowledge,
and the nearer it came to the knowledge of nature itself, the
more frequent were the collisions against the prevailing dogmas,
and as a consequence, the hostility, hatred and persecution from
Christianity followed. Hence, the wish for knowledge concern-
ing truth was more often and more bitterly combatted in our
epoch of culture, than ever the Wish-for-Beauty was in the most
fanatical times of ascetic ideals! In itself, this fact is comprehen-
sible. Every religious myth, at the time of its origin, corresponded
with the knowledge prevailing at the time. But when the myth
is still upheld in the centuries following as being immutable
religious truth, as it happened in the case of Christianity, the

collision cannot be avoided which inevitably happens when the
knowledge gained in the search for truth has considerably
widened und deepened. The more the human intellect became
enlightened through the knowledge which preceeding generations
bequeathed to it, the greater enemy it became of "Religion", and
indeed the powers of reason have, so far already, sucked away
the vital power of all "Religions". Observe then that the Wish-
to-Truth was treated more strictly than the Wish-to-Beauty. It
was allotted but conditionally to the row of virtues. For
instance, as long as it made no attempts to shatter any dogmas,
all was well. But woe to it, if this did happen. It was then
declared to belong to the 'works of the devil' and suffered the
same fate as the 'beautiful witch': It was burnt alive. Now, if
the distortion of the other two wishes had suffered through the
limitations imposed on them, in that they were made to serve
purposes and conditions alien to their nature, the maltreatment
of the Wish-to-Truth, in comparison, was appalling indeed.
Everywhere it was oppressed by the commandments in practice
which persisted in implicit faith to the dogmatic creeds of
Christianity. And as long as the oppressive exercitation of the
church reigned, in that these dogmatic creeds were compelled
to be accepted as inexorable truth, it is obvious, that the
Immortal- Will in its trend for actual truth could achieve its
clearest state of consciousness in the few men-of-genius only.
On account of its close association with the cognising powers
of reason, the Wish-to-Truth, even in the garb of its faintest
beginnings, was barred being present in the animal-kingdom.
With the Wish-of-Beauty, the matter was different, for the
colibri-bird and so many songsters have given witness to the
fact of its existence in the animal-world, although but faintly
traceable. That will which is ruled by the self-preservation
instinct, whose function it is to distinguish the useful objects
from the harmful ones, may certainly not be mistaken for the

244

Will for Truth. Yet, nevertheless, just as we were bold enough
to state that every living thing is as beautiful to the extent, its
own selfpreservation-will can afford, we can also state, that
every living thing is 'genuine', that is, rings true, as long as the
struggle-for-life permits. The practices of artifice and cunning
are only put to use in cases of strict emergency. Animals, given
to pretence, are the exceptions as well as really ugly animals are.
In the animal-kingdom, as seen from the human point of view,
the brutal and selfish side of life's struggle is tackled with the
slightest pretence of hiding purposes. The sexual-wishes in plant
and animal-world come likewise quite truly. Their expression,
therefore, must be 'genuine'. In short, in all things living there
is manifested, as being a rule, a conformity of motive and
behaviour. Only in times of danger do exceptions happen to
this rule. Hence, after this, we are justified in saying, that in the
unconscious components of the soul of all the living species,
truth's-trend finds its adequate expression in perceptible behav-
iour which is the true reflexion of the will-impulses which was
its cause. And now let uns turn to see how man, in that he was
graced with reason, has painfully deviated from the path of
truthfulness. In him but a fragment of the Wish-to-Truth has
been left; it is found in the labours of his scientific-research.
This was due, mainly, to the peculiar way, man was swayed
under the state of his own confused moral-conceptions together
with his ignorance of the history-of-evolution and the laws
governing the soul-life, all of which, in fine, compelled him to
sheerest absurdities.

Although it would be a most fascinating and instructive study
to compare the fate which happened to the three wishes of the
divine Will in the different races, religions and developing stages
of a certain cultural-epoch, we must here refrain from doing so
and choose, out of the many, a few details only. Thus then, we
first remind the reader of the fate which the Wish-to-Truth

245

suffered at the hand of Christianity together with the Indian
origin of its contents. Although the Indian-myth, when con-
fronted with the knowledge of nature we are in possession of
to-day, sounds impossible as well as improbable, and the Theo-
sophical attempts, shallow and unnatural, when these made the
legends of Krishna and Buddha look less like those of the Old
Testament; the fact, notwithstanding, cannot be escaped, that
the creeds of Krishna and Buddha are far superior to the
distortion which Jewish plagiarism made out of them. Their
superiority lies in the fact that so much value was set on the
will making for knowledge which all the creeds contained in the
Vedas as well as those belonging to the Indian period of decad-
ence so clearly reveal. Here, a will prevails which ardently
and unswervingly searches for the truth concerning the ultimate
mysteries of life; this also accounts for the traces of the highly
developed philosophical sense which can be found in them. The
ignorance of nature which they exhibit, beseeching almost in its
helplessness, makes merely a contrasting note. And among all
this childlike ignorance of the most elementary laws-of-nature,
and, among all the confusion, caused by the primitive notions
of cause and effect, a remarkably strong will runs rampant in
the one endeavour to grasp the mysteries of life and death. It
seems as if every other interest diminished besides this one. Even
the interest in their own personal fate seemed of no consequence,
compared to the longing, they felt to solve at last that what
they deemed to be the profoundest of all mysteries. There issued
from this that second stately and enthralling characteristic,
cognate to that of our own ancestors which manifested itself in
the being free from the petty habit of bewailing one's fate in
the greed for happiness, a habit, namely, which helps to make
the demeanour of man so undignified when fate confronts him.
The worst what could befall the Indian was not so much the
danger of falling into a state of sin, as falling into the danger

246

of a state of error, that means to say, not so much the failure in
the endeavour for goodness as in the endeavour for truth. And,
while the Christian believer stoops to degrade his Immortal-
Will in associating it with his desire for happiness in the state
of "Eternal Bliss" in a life-hereafter, the ancient Indians (our
kindred ancestors) (Blutsbriider) longed for eternal life merely
for the sake of the solution, they hoped to gain, concerning the
ultimate mysteries of life. But now there had never been any
cause given to the Indians to make them feel hostile towards
the Wish-to-Truth. The visible-world (Ersdieinungswelt) the
Hindu had been taught to despise as being "Maya", illusion, so
that his interest was never sufficiently awake to make any
scientific study of it. He dedicated his thoughts to philosophy
alone. And so it came about that his myth was not doomed to
suffer the harm which the knowledge of truth always brings in
its wake. The Indian-culture was left singularly unacquainted
with the progress of natural-history, so that the interpenetration
of the twofold wishes with the desire for immortality was each
in its way of a very divergent kind.

In the course of time a change came to pass in the fate of
these wishes. Gradually but surely they divorced themselves
from the clumsy principles of self-interest. This could be
expected from the nature of our folk whose fighting-spirit in the
course of freedom and truth no cruelty nor coercion of any
kind could kill. It makes up for much to notice how the asso-
ciation of the Wish-to-Goodness to principles of self-interest
which is everywhere to be found in the "Holy Scriptures" of
the Christians have nevertheless given way to more refined
intentions. It is quite an easy matter to follow the traces of those
attempts which the Christians made to release the Wish-to-
Goodness from principles of self-interest; the 'obligatory*
Immortal-Will was gradually loosened, and finally it was only
associated with the optional wish-to-happiness. Within the

precincts of the church the crude principles of self-interest which
were followed in the works of charity are particularly noticeable
in the prelutherian times. They surpass even the bargains which
Jahweh in the Old-testament was wont to make. For instance,
with a collection of good deeds as his capital a man was not
only capable of delivering himself from a state of sin, but also
of buying "Bliss Eternal" for himself. There was even a chance
still for the dead; if these had missed the chance of making such
bargains while alive, their time of punishment could be short-
ened for them through others buying masses said for the dead.
There was even a 'balance sheet*, and when a surplus of good
works happened, as in the case of the 'saints', this was put to
the credit of debtors. That the principle-of-utility ruled the
Wish-to-Goodness could surely not be more candidly manifested
than it is here. Therefore in nowise could it find echo in the soul
of the German. Accordingly, in the 16th century, it happened
to the great joy of Luther, to discover words in the Bible which
seemed to condemn this barter in good works. He thought them
adequate enough to conceal at least the intention, if not get rid
of it altogether. To be delivered from the oppression of such an
undignified misconstruction worked its wonders on Luther.
"Man shall not be judged according to his works, but according
to his faith*. These were the words Luther had discovered in the
Bible. Paul had taught that eternal bliss could never be gained
through the practice of good works alone, because no matter
how ardent the desire to be good in the breast of man was and
no matter how great his penitence was, his guilt remained still
greater and could never find redemption. Only the grace of
God, and the belief in the redeeming power of the death of
Christ brought salvation. Now, a doctrine which taught that
grace could be obtained through the innocent death of a son of
God was not liable to liberate the trend towards goodness from
the purpose-fraught-thought, much less be adequate enough to

248

be the regulator as the world of conceptions contained in the
German God-Cognisance and its morals would like it; but it
was capacitated to prompt goodness if this virtue kept free of
the spirit of gross bargaining; the spirit so apt to make the virtue
of goodness its own distortion.

The Wish-to-Goodness also became gradually less entangled
with the wish-to-happiness; that happiness which meant the
eternal state of bliss hereafter being the exception. According to
the Old Testament though, there is still another promise of
happiness which can happen to a man before his death; it is
the reward for his being good. In this case, God is supposed to
reward the good deeds with long life and well being. The
persistent contradictions happening, however, eventually caused
the belief in such a crude doctrine of reward as this was to be
shattered, and within the course of centuries it experienced a
gradual refinement. Better men, by the very virtue of their own
sensitive nature live naturally in accordance with the nature
(Wesen) of the divine wishes. They will revolt at the notion of
attaching any intentions to the Wish-to-Goodness. Only a very
spiritualised state of happiness is able to smuggle itself into
their souls. The following words give utterance to it: Do good
to gain inward peace; the state of mind which brings joy and
happiness with it. Do good to others also, that their happiness
be greater; then the joy of your own soul will become greater.
Evil deeds cause discontent and trouble to the soul. Now, this
doctrine was capable of finding its justification in the minds of
good men from a twofold fact; first, the nature of their own
soul-life confirmed it, and secondly the pricks of a bad conscience
were indeed likely to trouble their soul!

No matter what our assumption of the Voice of God* looks
like; be it in a strictly dogmatical sense or pantheistical sense,
one thing is certain: Our own personal experiences give witness
to the fact, that after an evil deed the mind is troubled, and

249

after a good one it is peaceful. Then we 'rest in God', or we
are 'At peace with God', and how could this state of mind, in
comparison to the opposed, not be called happiness? Here is an
interpretation which conceals intention and purpose the most
softly of all. No wonder, that the Christian, in his dogmatical
belief, is not the only one to whom this interpretation appeals
and allows his thoughts to be dominated by it. The majority of
mankind are under its sway. Therefore, it can be expected to
live in the minds of men for a very long time to come yet. What
a comforter it is in misfortune, and how adequate it is to still
the yearning for happiness. "Oh may the evil-doer carry the
victory in the struggle-for-life!" (This is generally the case).
"His happiness can be but apparent, for in reality he must be
suffering torments caused by the state of his bad conscience. My
own peaceful state of mind and inner happiness I would never
be induced to exchange for his apparent good luck!"

How praiseworthy this doctrine seems to appear at first. It
excels everything else in that the wish to be good is but so finely
fraught with intentions and purpose! It is indeed the able com-
forter in the disappointment which overtakes us when we are
obliged to stand aside for the happiness (even in spiritual
matters,) of the man less worthy of it. I suppose it will require
a very long time and much courage before mankind will be able
to confess to the truth. In every case he will have first to stand
his moral conceptions being shaken to their very foundations.
The truth he is obliged to face is this: In the first place it is
contrary to fact, whenever it be assumed, that the morally
unscrupulous, that means to say, all those whom fate favours
with victory in the general struggle-for-life, (because they have
laid no moral restraint on themselves in their selfish chase of
pleasure) are plagued with the qualms of a bad conscience. It
never persecutes them. On the contrary they enjoy to the full
their 'peace of soul', albeit it be not the 'peace of God'; they

250

are either in peace with mammon, the enjoyments of the table,
sexuality, or any other idol which they think good to adore
at the moment. It is a great fallacy (which can strangely confuse
the minds of men) to believe that the "Erinnies" persecute the
murderer, or that every criminal is overcome with shame. This
is not so. As the nature of each conscience differs widely to the
next one, it issues, that certain deeds are capable of torturing
that kind of conscience only, quite irrespective of all the other
kinds, to which they stand in opposition. Hence, a murderer will
feel qualms of conscience only, when the deed he has just
committed stands really in opposition to demands of his own
conscience, or when, through his own initiative or the induce-
ment of another, he changes on the strength of better reflexion
the demands of his conscience after the deed is done. Yet the
fact will always remain that the good man inevitably suffers
greater in this respect than the bad man does. This is owing to
the fact that in the good man the Wish-to-Goodness is in a more
perfect condition, and his conscience-sense highly strung, while
in the bad man the wish-to be good is stunted and his conscience
more so.

As a consequence of this knowledge, we are led naturally to
reflections bearing on education and the influence it exercises.
Let us now give our attention to one among the many facts
which seems to be the most important at the present. The wish-
to-be-good never can stoop to the wants of man's happiness.
Therefore, we may not miss saying here to all those striving for
this wish-fulfilment, (in their endeavours to obtain 'inward
peace* and happiness), that it would be more to the point, if
they kept the state of their consciences in as primitive a state
as possible and not encumber it unnecessarily with the values of
moral standards; for then at least the chance would be ascertain-
ed of their living and experiencing, not only 'inward peace', but
also success in life; moreover, every likelihood also of satisfying

their greed for wealth, ambitious aims; and all the other desires
of this world. If men would but try to cognise the truth of what
we have just been saying, how very near they would be to that
sublime state, (in their wish to be good,) where purpose is not!

Notwithstanding all this it cannot be mistaken that the joy,
which, under circumstances, a group of good actions will afford
tends most certainly to stiffen the emphasis which is apt to be
too readily laid on the belief which makes happiness its highest
object (Eudemonism). The obstinary with which this error has
been kept up will amaze us no more as soon as we bear in mind
how the Christian churches have always preached that the
fulfilment of the Wish-to-Goodness was a surpreme demand of
morality, not forgetting either that philosophy, especially the
system of Schopenhauer, has done this even more emphatically.
In effect, the work of charity which comes from the compassion
for our fellowmen releases such self-satisfaction generally, as to
actually surpass the satisfaction which might be expected at the
experience of our own well-being. This fact serves also as an
apparent confirmation. Yet, there is still another side to the
matter. When a man realises, that his work of charity is of no
avail in eliminating suffering, the strain of his compassionate
mood will make him suffer so much, that satisfaction at doing
good pales beside it. And as this is more often the circumstance
than not, it goes without saying, that the really philanthropic
man will more often experience pain than joy in his work of
charity. Other types of men do not suffer at all at the sight of
their fellow-mens' suffering. These are of the brutally selfish
kind, who are capable of going so far as to bargain with and
even make profit out of the misfortunate state of another.

Although no other doctrine has had such potency to lead
mankind so near the truth as this Krishna creed of the Indians
has done, in that the principles of self-interestedness entwined
with the Wish-to-Goodness were of such a highly spiritualised

kind, we are obliged to reject it because of its fallacy. Had
those sacred duties which are so essential, should family, folk
(Volk) and God in the breast of man be preserved, been made
part of the contents, the Krishna creed (which the Evangelists
made use of later) could have been counted to the sublimest of
all the Indian-legends. The laws governing the preservation of
folk, family and God in the soul of man, I have treated fully in
other books.

Charity is but one of a very small group of attributes effected
by the Wish-to-Goodness. (Later on we shall find the proof for
this.) It developed through the influence of a fourth wish which
awakened to consciousness in the soul of man. It was the spirit
of this fourth wish which aided in the development of the
Wish-to-Goodness. By its virtue man's emotions emancipated
from the mere struggle-for-existence and learned the feelings
of love towards his neighbour.

Like his animal-ancestors, man was compelled, originally, to
depend on himself only in the general-struggle-for-existence. He
was always surrounded by beings which he either hated, or
which, at the best, were indifferent to him. Sexual-intercourse
alone was capable of releasing a will-to-approachment for a few
fleeting moments. Beyond this there was also the attachment of
the mother to her young which was of longer duration, of-course.
By virtue of the greater possibilities of the human-consciousness,
and also on account of the long beseeching helplessness of the
off-spring, this maternal attachment developed into mother-love.
Besides these two, new attachments grew. There sprang up
feelings of friendship and fellowship. They all owed much, in
their development, to the three wishes we have already dealt
with. The greater, however, the wishes of the soul grew in
power, the more did the soul itself have to suffer. It was the
wish to apprehend truth which made man recognise that a

similarity existed between his soul and the soul of his f ellowmen.
The Wish-to-Goodness was the means of facilitating peace after
war was over, and the Wish-to-Beauty found satisfaction in the
peaceful harmony which the intervals during the combat yielded.
It came natural, that, where the two older approachment-wills
were already present (sexenthusiasm and love of the brood) a
man should extend more easily his feelings to others of his kind.
And so it came about, that, when man became domiciled, the
feelings of his attachment stretched out to all those who were
related to him in blood, irrespective of any affinity of a spiritual
kind. In our days, the majority, actually, are not much farther
than this primitive stage. And yet, even in those primitive
times, when, as we have already observed, men were merely
animated with a spirit of interest towards the beings around
him who impressed him with hatred or indifference (expect for
the fleeting moments of sexual-intercourse and ties of rela-
tionship), men-of -genius lived who apprehended that there was
a deeper and more diffusing love which took the whole folk
related in blood into its arms, as well as mankind in general. The
Indians, who were living at the time when the sin committed
against the purity of race was doing its deadly work, began to
preach the redemption doctrines of their Buddha and Krishna.
They suddenly lost sight of the power which the love of family
and folk yields in the maintenance of race and taught instead
that it was a 'virtue* to love all men. The indiscrimination which
mainly features the 'love your neighbour as yourself in Christ-
ianity is even still worse in its effects. We must condemn the
Krishna-creed on account of all the snares concealed in the love
(without choice) for all men which it preaches, and we must set
up new tables in its stead. (The Evangelists copied those legends,
putting Jesus of Nazareth in Krishna's place.) Notwithstanding
the fact, that this doctrine was powerless to hinder the growth
of selfishness, (does not the work of charity assure one against

hell?) it was, on the other hand, capacitated to alleviate much
pain.

We are not amazed to find that man could not imagine this
fourth wish of the will to be other than purpose-fraught. And
so the usual reward after death is promptly forth-coming. But,
as it also is the cause of the tremendous conflict which exists
between the fact of natural death and the wishes of the soul
being felt more intensely, it is also the cause of the greater
increase of the yearning innate in the breast of man for the
eternal bliss which all the myths have promised. For it is exactly
the feeling of love, we nourish for others which makes the
separation caused by death so hard to bear and the fact of
death's inevitability so incomprehensible. How few realise what
death means until the death of any beloved one compells them
to face it as a fact. How they still resemble Gilgamesh, although
unlike him, they are not called upon to wander the long and
rough way to Utnapishtim in order to receive the answer to
their anxious inquiries; for Christianity gives them sweet
comfort; they are told that their beloved dead has only gone
before them to a place where separation will never take place
again. Of-course this serves to tighten the dogmatic ties and
silence the doubts which reason might eventually be putting
forth.

Notwithstanding all the stumbling-blocks which religious-
errors and the habit of attaching purpose to spiritual matters
put in the way of mankind, that sublime wish, innate in the
soul of man, experienced in due course a grand exfoliation. But
an end was put to this, as soon as reason, owing to the progress
made in the knowledge of nature, destroyed the faith in the
myth and instead succumbed to materialism in much the same
way as the "Maya" sense of natural-science. If even religions
were not immune to the fallacy of harnessing the four sublime
wishes of the divine Will to the principle-of-utility, although

they were indeed pervaded with a spirit of belief in the meta-
physical and approached the mysterious, to a certain extent,
in a spirit of humility, what can be expected of the Darwinian
period? Verily, during this period the four wishes were indeed
honoured with the exalted title 'usefulness' in a broader sense
of the word and done in a spirit of greater self-consciousness
and impudence, than ever before. They were confined strictly
to the principles-of -utility in such a monotonous fashion as the
Christians had never been able to do. The only two motives
around which the Darwinian doctrine circles were, first, the
advantage in the struggle-for-life, and secondly, the utility in
the interest of the species 'humanity'. On this mean "Pro-
crustean-bed" the four wishes were stretched out, and although
it was not an easy task, it was done with zeal, until the four
wishes were cut down to shape. Narrow-mindedness was never
slow to nip in the bud the superlative beauty and richness of
spiritual-life (which we have thought good to call God-living)
in order to make it fit to the vision of a narrower horizon!

The task of fitting the Wish-to-Goodness to the Procrustean-
bed was undertaken lightly in that everything which did not
belong exactly to the 'social virtues', known as charity, was
rejected. To this, "Philanthropy" was added after it, also, had
been cut down to conform with the health and interest of the
'perpetual species'.

This, however, did not mean that the august law controlling
race should be minded, on the contrary; to these materialists
the word 'species' meant nothing more than that promiscuous
mass of humankind which they had termed 'humanity' and
which had seemingly nothing in common with that race-purity
under the suzerainity of which all the other animate beings
stood. Thus then, 'philanthropy* and 'charity' meant serving
humanity, or in other words, promiscuous crowds, and curiously
enough the Darwinians proclaimed them to be duties towards

2 5 6

the preservation of the 'kind'. Men were called upon to sacrifice
themselves in the interest of the 'perpetual kind* and as the
'social virtues' found their proper place in this respect, an
adequate explanation for their appearance in human nature was
promptly found. It was said, that, within the process of evo-
lution, these virtues had come mechanically into being through
the laws ruling natural-selection, in about the same way, it was
explained, as the claws in the cat-kind appeared, and therefore,
there could be no more 'wonder' attached to them than there
was to these. What a good explanation this is indeed! Especially
when it is scrutinized more closely, for then we are called upon
to remember all those in whom the Wish-to-Goodness really
exists in its most glowing positive form. We can observe then,
how, in the untiring-struggle-for-life, the good ones often fail
and so have the very least chance of multiplying. And then
there is another thing which evidently is forgotten, and that is,
that the 'social instincts' constitute only a part of the Wish-to-
Goodness and as such are far from exhausting the field of philan-
thropy; that, moreover, the desire, inherent in the breast of man
to love his own kindred folk and race, is the potency in the
prime which upholds the maintenance of the 'species'. And it
might be added, that the unpretentious ness which seems to
characterise the apostles of the above mentioned creed is indeed
itself a cultural marvel which is unprecedented.

The Wish-to-Beauty seems to present more difficulties. It was
not such an easy matter to accomodate it into the Procrustean-
bed of the Darwinians. With all the effects which it manifests
in the works of art, and the emotions which these cause, it is
also put, of-course, into the service of the perpetual-kind, but
its significance is but indirect and therefore subordinate. If a
comparison might be drawn, it is of less importance than the
bee's sting; for instance, although it still possesses sufficient value
as to have been spared being completely eliminated in nature's

process of selection. A factor on which the greatest value is laid
is the appeal which beauty makes to sexuality. According to our
developed sense of beauty, this is its crudest form. But here
emphasis lies in the fact, that sexual-life is the strongest agent
in the perpetuation of the immortal-kind. Therefore, from the
Darwinian standpoint, the Wish-to-Beauty which is not con-
nected with sex is of much less importance, and when manifested
in the music of Beethoven or Bach, can only gain sense at
all, when it affords pleasant intervals of recreation during the
otherwise very tiring struggle-for-existence. Beauty then is
given limited rights, for does not recreation invigorate the
powers of man, so that he is able to serve with renewed strength
the god which he now calls the perpetual race? This indeed
seems another good explanation, although the fact is forgotten,
that in creating and enjoying beauty, mankind can also be
seduced to a state of indigence and incapacity, and be hindered
therefore altogether from being able to partake in the practice
of Social virtue'.

We can hardly expect to find the Darwinian period intending
to give such a clear view of the significance of art like I have
just done. On the contrary, behind the notions of man's ascent
to superman and progress, attempts were made to conceal their
paucity of soul-life, allowing, of-course, for the cultural- values
at any right moment to speak in here and there. Now, these
conceptions were born of a neccessity, as being the indispensible
consequences of the Darwinian world-viewpoint, despite the
fact that its adherents have never had the courage themselves
to confess to it openly in the light just described. The chemist
Oswald perhaps is the exception. He confessed openly and
courageously to the doctrine of mechanical-evolution even to its
bitter ends. In the discourses he held on Sundays for the benefit
of the Monistic congregation, he applied, seemingly in all good
faith, his own doctrine of 'energetics* to the four divine-wishes.

258

This indeed is a striking witness of the historical culture of his
times! Within the course of the Darwinian century these kind
of conclusions became so taken for granted, that involuntary,
without any necessity of their being loudly expressed they were
the determining factors in the valuation of everything. If this
had not been the case how on earth would those artists, (who
were not exactly mentally deranged) in calling themselves,
futurist's, cubists, dadaists and what nots, have taken the impud-
ence to call their work art, if they had not been already tainted
with the spirit of the Darwinian judgement which had already
suffused the world. Consequently, works of art went parallel
with the needs of man contained in a refreshment room adjoin-
ing any factory. In order to fulfil their purposes, these had to
come up or down to the 'taste* of the few or many as the case
might have happened. Did they succeed in doing this, they
were sure of being stamped as works of art. It simply required
anyone or other, albeit he might have had no notions of what
a conscious god-living was like at all, to proclaim that such
rubbish 'appealed' to him, and at once it was stamped with the
hall-mark of 'art*. This meant, in reality, that these 'artistic'
works had been elevated to the important and useful state of
functioning as a welcome refreshment in the midst of the
strenuous struggles of gaining a living!

The easiest to adapt itself to the Procrustean-bed was the
wish for knowledge of truth. Natural-science proved its
importance, and so it was allowed to manifest itself accordingly.
In effect, the researcher-sense had aided not a little in the
struggle-for-life. The Wish-to-Truth was granted acknowledge-
ment because its activity helped to 'save energy' which in the
words of Oswald was also a gain in an 'ethical' sense. Thus then,
it was found fit to serve the new god. Again this also appears
to be a good explanation, but its justification requires one to
forget, that the potentially strongest Wish for Truth is mani-

fested in philosophical-research. Now, philosophy was never
great in alleviating the material burdens imposed on man in his
struggle-for-existence, much less save 'energy*. It was thought
to be a 'pity', that so much time had been lost in the work of
research, when the results were of so little practical use; although
something was found which could still be said in its favour. It
was this: The results of research- work might fructuate in the
future into the achieved facts and so become one day of use
in the general struggle-for-life. Hence, of their own virtue they
were not any worthier of more attention than, let us say, the
colour spots which were the origin of "Mimicry". Has not
Darwin so ably convinced us that the widespread habit of
imitating colour which later took place in the animal-world
originated from these spots through natural selection? This is
what the Wish-to-Truth looks like from the Darwinian point-
of-view. It is more than obvious what little scope was given to
its development, for how often have we been able to observe the
fact, that, during the Darwinian period, the scientific research-
ers seemed blind to the most essential truths come to light
in the study of the evolution-history. They held fast with a sur-
prising tenacity to any absurdity, simply because it helped them
in their denial of God.

Such was the fate then in the 19th and 20th century of those
sublime wishes which once had been called the "Voice of God".
After the experience of Darwinism, one might well say how near
the truth men were, when they used this expression, for, in spite
of all other facts, (for instance, the abuse of the divine wishes,
in that they were strictly kept within the limits of man's own
aprioristicai form of thought which courses through space, time
and causality) men seemed well aware at least, that the wishes
had their origin in a 'beyond', where these forms of thought
were not.

Verily, they are born in a 'beyond' where cause, space, and

260

time are not, for they are exalted far 'beyond* the conditional,
be it in time, space or causality. Cause they know not. The
touchstone of wisdom will remain beyond the reach of man, as
long as he cannot grasp the fact that it is futile to want to
apprehend the divine-wishes innate within him by the means
of his reason's potencies, for they are absolutely beyond his form
of thought. Now, in order to make ourselves intelligible, we
should like to call these four wishes in future, either by the
name of "God", "the Divine Wish", or the "Wish-to-Genius".
We are doing this, in spite of the prevailing fact that the name
of "God" has been so abused in that the religions always talk
of a personal God. We are obliged, therefore, to draw a sharp
line between the achieved fruits of our cognisance, and such
misconceptions of God, in order to keep us clearly apart, as well
as we must keep apart from any of those notions relating to
"Pantheism". The doctrines of Pantheism teach; that God exists
in man in much the same degree but not more than in the rest
of nature. From this fact then it must be concluded that man
can carry no greater responsibility for his actions than to the
extent of the power which has been given to him. What we
declare is this: God exists in all things (in aller Erscheinung),
although the state of God's consciousness in all things varies
greatly. It was due to Schopenhauer when it became general
knowledge, that the Will, known to exist in all the animate
beings, existed also in the inorganic world. Incidently, however,
Schopenhauer did not give the attention which is due to the four
divine-wishes. Contrary to Schopenhauer, we recognise that, in
the existence of just these wishes, the potency lies which enables
man to live his soul-life. In having perceived the following we
have even gone further. One of these four divine-wishes, the
one we have called the Wish-to-Beauty manifested itself visibly,
although still unconsciously, in the "Inorganic" world already,
more distinctly in the living beings of the 'organic' world of

prehuman times, and in a fully conscious state in man, after
reason had awakened. As the elevated position which man takes
among all the rest is due exactly to the consciousness of the
divine wishes, we cannot help saying, that from a philosophical
point of view, those men only can be considered to belong to
the Hyperzoa who, not only live according to the grace of their
reason, but also consciously according to the divine-wishes.
Moreover, all mankind is included in the conception "Hy-
perzoa" in as much as all are attended by the possibility of
the divine-wishes within them awakening to consciousness one
day or other, although it cannot be denied that for the majority
there is little probability of their ever doing so, because they
have been allowed to grow so stunted.

The divine wishes do not suffer themselves to be fettered to
one particular faculty of our consciousness, but instead, they
penetrate the whole soul-life with the rays of their glory. And
yet each wish, at the same time, seems to have chosen a favourite
spot from where it desires to manifest itself; or in other words,
each sublime wish has evidently chosen a special colour where-
with it may be distinguished, and therefore we must take to
different words in order to give expression to these different
colours. Hence, potency is given to our reason through the
Wish-to-Truth, to our actions through the Wish-to-Goodness, to
our perception through the Wish-to-Beauty, and to our feeling
through the Wish-to-Divine-Hate and Love. We shall soon
comprehend, how futile it is to want to form definitions of
these wishes. Rational thinking can work disaster to the appre-
hending soul; Schopenhauer is an adequate example of how
disastrous these consequences can be. Evidently even this super-
lative philosopher could not escape the disease of his day, the
name of which is Rationalism. He became so far infected with
it, as to be able to call those three words, goodness, truth and
beauty the clumsy phrases of superficial philosophers, just

262

because really superficial thinkers had tried so industriously to
give a definition of these wishes, gushing over them in silly talk,
and, also, because freemasonry had monopolised them, in order
to conceal crimes which in these phrases were lauded.

The distinguishing mark which characterises each divine-wish,
as well as the God-life they cause in the soul, is the happy
unconcern exhibited towards time, space and causality. We
assume rightly, therefore, when we declare them to be beyond
the reach of reason's researching. Reason can cope with the
visible-scene (Welt der Erscheinung), but its potencies are inept
to cope with the invisible (Wesen der Erscheinung). Hence, it
comes natural to say, that we are living in realms beyond, when
the divine-wishes come to life, and the soul in all full conscious-
ness is steeped in the experience of them. The expression serves
to distinguish such kind of experiences from others subject to
reason, and which are described generally as belonging to 'here
on earth'. Now we are fully aware of the risks we run in making
use of the same expressions, should my books be ever distributed
among Christian populations. It is common knowledge, that all
the Christians are under the sway of certain conceptions they
have formed of heaven, and which they also call the 'beyond'.
To make ourselves understood properly, we are, unfortunately,
obliged to use the same expressions which are bound up so
closely with the notions of time and space. But we may not pass
on, without emphasizing the fact, that the meaning of words
which stand for the trends of the divine will such as beyond
should in every case be made faultlessly clear in the first place.
We know that God exists in all human kind, although more often
than not men suffer the God in them to lie inert. When it comes
to pass, that in a single individual one of the wishes of the
Divine- Will has been given the priviledge of particular develop-
ment, so as to become an appearance, (in Erscheinung) (as is the
case when a work of art appears), such we shall call "Men of

genius". A man in whom the Wish-to-Goodness has been part-
icularly developed can also be described as a man imbued with
the wish-to-genius, in that he has been able to create a work of
art out of his own soul which is then manifested to others in
his words and actions.

In history, witness is given to the fact, that not infrequently,
it becomes the rule for one of the divine wishes to be specially
developed in the soul of man. The grander then the effect is
(perhaps on account of its rarity) when all the wishes develope
to their superlative height at the same time which makes an
appeal to us to reserve for such individuals only the title of
'Perfection'.

What a sublime appearance in the history of mankind do
perfect men afford, especially when we compare them to other
men of the creative-spirit in whom one wish only has succeeded
in growing to virtue. For-instance, how grieving it is to observe
how degenerate the WIsh-to-Goodness was in so many artists
of the Renaissance-period, and how degenerate the Wish-to-
Beauty which the world-religions reveal.

Because the growth of virtue in one wish only, instead of
all in unison, is so often encountered in the course of our
experiences, it might be conjectured, that all the divine-wishes
existed independently of each other, and moreover that all that
was requisite is the growth of that special wish which a work
of art symbolisies.

In one way this is right; but for the Wish-to-Goodness (which
finds its expression in actions of a divine nature) there must be
reserved a regal place, but not because we are falling into the
same habit, as the religions had, in that all the other wishes
were put under the Wish-to-Goodness. Nor do we think a
moralising tendency in art its proper function. Yet one thing
cannot be denied, and that is, no matter what work of art we
look at, it is certain to reveal the degree of goodness which its

264

master has attained. I should like, in respect to this, to draw
an example from the world of science. Chemistry knows of a
substance which, by its mere presence, causes the decomposition
of other substances, although the substance itself remains un-
changed (Catalysis). In like manner, the Wish-to-Goodness, by
its mere presence, causes the improvement of the other wishes.
The greater the creative-spirit is inflamed by the graceful
presence of the Wish-to-Goodness, the more this grows in virtue
itself. The presence of the achieved work-of-art is the cause of
this. Thus then, the Wish-to-Goodness fructifies the works-of-
art, and these, again, for their part, aid in strengthening and
developing the Wish-to-Goodness in the creator. Afterwards
the finished work-of-art tells of this mutual promotion and
enrichment. To those watchful eyes among the public gazing at
it, it reveals plainly, in what manner and to what degree the
process happened. Once Beethoven defined this. In a convers-
ation with Bettina von Arnim he said: "The moral-sense lies
at the foundation of music just as well at it does in all the other
arts. Every genuine emotion is a moral step forward in the
labours of progress."

The power of developing the divine- Will in its trends to
Goodness, beauty truth and discriminated feelings-of-love-and-
hate is a possibility which is given to each and every one,
provided, of -course, the soul is kept alive. It has certainly not
been the priviledge reserved to the men of perfection or the
men of genius only. In order to succeed in the progress of spiri-
tual-development it is necessary to keep the divine-wishes pure.
The purpose- fraught- thought may not contaminate them; so
that men and women should be recommended to-day to break
away, especially, from the creeds preaching of punishment and
reward. The God within us will begin to exfoliate as soon as we
can say to ourselves honestly; I do good, I search the truth, I
long for beauty, my feelings of love and hate are guided by

choice, but not because I want eternal bliss hereafter, nor earthly
goods, nor even spiritual-happiness and inner-peace, for these
are designs and intentions of a self-seeking character, but simply
because I want to of my own free will which is beyond any
purpose; and therefore noble men will very easily overcome all
these difficulties, save perhaps for the last mentioned one which
is spiritualised 'eudemonism'. Now this might seem absurd at
first! For, are we not accustomed to think that the profundity
of our soul-life (a state which above everything else might be
entitled to be called happiness) arises from the divine qualities
within us? What, for instance, can afford us greater delight
than to look at the work of any great painter or sculptor! All
the pleasures of an every-day-kind dwindle besides these. It
seems so true, for the more a man has been priviledged to
partake of the bliss belonging to the realms beyond, as well as
that he knows also what superficial joys are like, the less will
he be inclined to exchange his estate with the man who has
failed to cultivate the love of genius within himself. Yet, what
a fallacy this is in spite of its apparent truth. For one reason. If
a man has been capable of entering those realms where God
reigns supreme through the victory gained by the divine wishes
within him, he will most assuredly partake of that joy the
profundity of which alone is due to God; but neither will he be
spared the immeasureable pain (so great sometimes as to shatter
his very soul) which is also a part of the life in God. What are
the pains and sorrows of the less nobler man compared to his?
They are indeed dwarflikc. What here is called pain and suffer-
ing appear to him to be mere discomfort or superficial sadness,
and what is called joy mere pleasure when measured to his. In
his aspiring flight to God, man is so often wounded, that pain
becomes inevitable. Suffering frequents his heart more often than
joy does, so that there is no justification whatever in saying
that triumphal God-living brings inevitable happiness. Ample

266

witness can be found for this, when we stop to observe the lives
of men in whom the divine-wishes have fructified into achieved
works of art, and whose behaviour besides, in their endeavours
towards the accomplishment of genius, shows how devoid they
were of any mean or petty purposes of a self-seeking kind. It
can be found then, that the nobler men are not a whit happier
than the less nobler, callously-indifferent men of the world. On
the contrary, when their lives are being described, one thinks
more of martyrdom than anything else. And, although the spirit
of degeneration which characterises all the Christian peoples,
together with the heinous crimes of the "Secret Societies" which
cause a great deal of their misery, the chief cause of all their
suffering is due to their own superiority which, by the very law
of its being, brings pain in its wake like unto no other in its
intensity. In as much as this means, that the more potential the
divine traits in man are, the greater will his capacity be for
sorrow or joy; it also means, the more immune he will grow
to the influence of superfmal joys and sorrows, until in the end,
his soul is liberated from them altogether, in that the signific-
ance, attributed to them, dies away. Buddhism also taught this,
although rather onesidely. Moments can happen wherein the
soul is utterly free form sentiments of either joy or sorrow. But
this freedom does not come of the contempt of joy and sorrow,
as it is taught in Buddhistic circles, for the simple reason, that
joy and sorrow characteristic of God, can never be despised by
men who live according to the divine spirit within them. Neither
are the joys and sorrows which happen in the daily routine to
be despised. They are merely less important in comparison to
those of the spiritual-kind. It is a freedom from that emotional
state, caused by pain and sorrow which, in its kind, is indeed
unique; and although it is impossible to describe a state of the
soul-life in words, because this the soul itself alone can live, I
should nevertheless like to give utterance to possibilities of a

267

twofold kind leading to it. If the endeavours of a man to trans-
form his imperfect nature have not yet fructuated into the
achieved state of perfection which, as a consequence, causes him
to sway alternately from the life 'here* to the life 'beyond', his
first experience in the realms of God will be marked by a strong
emotion of the soul which utterly fails description, except for
the single word "Exstasy". Hysterical conditions of a diseased
mind are often mistaken for this. Now if the state of exaltation
issues from a healthy frame of mind and not from a diseased
one, the cause is either a noble sorrow or joy. These can shatter
the soul to its foundations, and then a man will say, "I was
overcome with a deep emotion". If, on the other hand, the cause
of man's exaltation is neither sorrow nor joy but merely a
gliding of the soul into the life of God, the word 'contemplation*
is used in order to describe this state of mind. Yet it cannot be
described by the means of reason, nor is it comparable to any
other experience which happens in the general course of super-
ficial life. In fine, its peace is not in the least of the kind generally
known. Real art seldom results from the labours undertaken
when the artist is shaken by the state of his emotions. A master-
piece, modelled on lines of perfection, is born of the fruits of
contemplation, or after the shattered emotional state has been
calmed down to succeed in contemplation. It will chance, most
likely, that the conception of a work of art will be born during
the time the soul is shaken with its emotions, but the actual
creation of the work-of-art happens when only the memory of
these are left. Thus, master-pieces appear on the visible scene
(Welt der Erscheinung) which manifest superbly the God-living
of the artist. Either the emotional joyful or sorrowful state of
the soul is revealed, or the state of the soul in emotionless
contemplation. This distinction is seen the clearest in musical
works. Beethoven's works are more of the emotional than the
contemplative kind. The listener, who has gone through kindred

268

states of emotion, will feel the deeper accordingly; Bach's works
reveal peaceful meditation for the most part and therefore can
be better understood from a contemplative point-of-view.

I would be a great mistake to think of the emotional and the
contemplative works as being different to each other in their
value and probably want to arrange them in a scale of order
according to their value. This would mean using measures of
a very unjust and forcible kind. Two paintings can never differ
in their value, simply because the one leads us to the stages of
emotionless contemplation, and the other, through the beauty
of the sadness or joy depicted, to realms of divine vitality.

Observe then, that God-living does not exact the elimination
of sentiment, as it is put forth in the salvation-creed of Buddha,
nor does God-living require sentiment. Therefore, it is evident
that God-living is fully independent of happiness or unhappi-
ness, just as it is not contrary to purpose but fully independent
of it.

All we have just been saying about God-living must be
thought of as the mere hint of something which every attempt
to describe in words, or seize with our reasoning powers will
forever remain futile. God-living belongs to the consciousness
of a higher grade, the nature of which differs very widely from
the lower grades; so much so, that if a man has not yet been
admitted into this state of higher consciousness, it will remain
such a mystery to him as to be quite beyond his imagination.
This situation is similar to the animals in that these are utterly
unaware of the different grades of consciousnes which man is
familiar with in his daily life. This incapacity accounts for the
rampant lack of judgement which such men, above mentioned,
manifest, when face to face with any master-piece of art, how
these possess the power of leading mankind to God. This does
not mean to say, that the art-critics know nothing of the value
of art. They do, of-course, in a certain measure. For, in that a

269

work of art is visible to the eye and therefore arranged in time
and space, reason has been able to collect an abundance of
points-of -support, according to which the value of art can be
duly measured. Yet at some time or other the actual ignorance
of all these critics comes to light. For instance, when they give
praise to the work of an artist and call it a model of perfection,
while to all, who have ears to hear and eyes to see, it manifests
mere talent; because the work is not born of God-living. In spite
of all their theoretical knowlegde, and the competency of the
judgement which issues from their reason, these critics of the
fine-arts will still remain impotent as long as they lack that
inexorable sureness which is the distinguishing mark in the
judgement of men who have experienced for themselves the life
in God. A last but most important lack of sureness will always
be obvious in their criticism, especially when a painting or
sculpture must be judged the first time. Petty imitations are apt
to be praised for their 'originality* or their 'novel' traits, while
better productions which clearly reveal the divine spirit, in
which the artist was living while they were being made, are
rejected, simply because they are thought to be lacking in 'novel'
traits. In short, the ignorance, that the latter have their origin
in a 'beyond* is clearly revealed. It is a curious thing, but this
lack of noble judgement is to be found mostly in the actual
lovers or 'connoisseurs of art*. The last word is indeed well
chosen, for it tells the tale, how men will always strive to seize
God with their reasoning potencies. Apparently, the study, they
have made in the theory of art, has been the cause of their
actual impotency to judge art. A peasant woman might be
deemed a worthier and more reliable judge, when, for a rare
sublime moment, her soul is capable of being lifted away above
the turbulent life of this world into the realms of God which
the noble masterpiece, she is contemplating, reveals to her!
Art can ring true only in the fulfilment of its right function

270

which is in the manifestation of the life, born in the realms
beyond. It is then identical with God. To this fact men must
be fully alive when they take to study the laws of the rhythm,
light, form and sound pertaining to the visible world (Erschei-
nungswelt). Observe now, on the other hand, the sureness and
self-confidence which will inevitably characterise the opinions
of that man, who, in his judgement of art, is vitally conscious
of the divine within himself as well as the divine in the art
before him. Moreover, the stronger the divine features grow
within him, the more capable will this man be of judging, if
the art before him is the work of a man whose soul was dead or
not, as well as he likewise can rightly judge, if the souls of the
critics are dead or not!

But it is not only in art, that it has become the custom for
the least capable ones to express audaciously their opinions. It
is alike everywhere in the fields of God-living. It is always the
man, who does not possess the necessary support of a higher
grade of consciousness, who is actually the one distributing
opinion.

I repeat, that the life in the realms of God is characterised
by its independency of joy and sorrow and its superiority to
intentions of any kind. In fact it is very far above these and
is indeed the life 'sui generis*. Yet time and space can form the
link between the 'here* and 'there*. Has it an connection with
these? We can happily deny this also.

The realms of God are even beyond time and space. Yet
bridges, by means of which man is capable of entering the
spaceless and timesless realms of God, can be constructed. The
works of art which have been created in memory of the life,
spent in God's realms, the fulfilments of the Wish-to-Goodness
and emotions of a divine trend manifest in noble actions, the
unconscious Wish-to-Beauty, made apparent in all things, the
Wish-to-Truth, come to life in scientific nij

we can think of, which lead to the realms where man can live
God's life.

In order to be able to understand better what the timelessness
of the 'beyond' means, let us just think a while how little the
exactitude of time means to a man who happens to go through
'interest', c weariness s , 'pain* or 'joy'! Interest and joy make
months or weeks appear to be mere moments. Weariness and
pain stretch hours to the length of eternity. In such cases, a man
is labouring merely under illusions which govern his feelings
detaching him for a while from time. By no means is he existent
in that state where time is not. In dreams we are even more
deceived about time. (According to experiments, the most
dreams are dreamt in the few seconds before a man awakens.)
There is no stretching or shortening of time, as is the case when
pain or joy are experienced. Yet in dreams we can experience
years of pain and sorrow, lead long conversations, and think
out long problems. This shows plainly what can happen to the
soul when left to its own devices, in that it is without the control
of the potencies of reason. With magical speed it changes its life
from one state to another. Its emancipation from the actuality
of time is amazing. A condition which is utterly unknown in
the wakeful state of every day life. Notwithstanding all this it
is not the timeless state of the beyond. For the simple reason
that in some way or other it is bound up with time in its estim-
ation of 'long' and 'short', in spite of its wilful behaviour and
ill-adjustment to the beat of the time which the earth takes to
turn on its axis.

After this, one might assume, that life in the realms of God
is in a still greater measure under the rule of time, than life
is in the dream-state. Do not the divine emotions of the soul
which awaken at the sight of the beauties of art or nature appear
to be of a duration shorter than the actual time, comparable
to the experience of pleasant sentiments which we are familiar

with in our superficial life? Have we not all of us, at one time
or other, laboured under the illusion that the time spent in
contemplation of a masterpiece of art had passed in the briefness
of a few 'seconds'? Yet, inspite of its apparent plausibility this
assumption is erroneous. Let us think deeper. Now, a melancholy
picture, simply because of its melancholy nature, does not
necessarily make time appear longer, for we are liable to
deception in such cases quite irrespective of the nature of our
sentiments. Observe then, how the wilfulness of the illusion is
again of a unique kind. In reality however, the point is; when
men are in such moods of contemplation, they have managed
generally to have reached the bridges leading to God where they
are then lingering. The participation in the actual life beyond
is not yet theirs. It seems as if many a year must pass before
the divine is sufficiently awakened within the soul of man as
to allow of him to enter into the realms of God-living! It might
then happen, much later in life, that the picture or landscape
which once had enticed our steps to walk along the bridge, where
the fetters of time could not encumber us, rises so vividly before
our sight as to make us succeed this time really in entering the
realms of God in all full consciousness. All this, however, is not
a preliminary essential, for at the very first acquaintance with
God as manifested in art, there is the likelihood of a man being
priviledged to enter God's realms. The majority of mankind,
however, stop at the bridge, which of -course they deem to be
the sublimest of all experiences, and, inspite of their frequency
to the bridges leading to the beyond, they seem to remain for-
ever incapacitated to participate in the God-living awaiting
them. Beethoven was so aware of this fact when he said:
"Therefore many are acquainted with music, yet they still
remain ignorant of what it strives to reveal". Indeed few are
'chosen', but not, as is so widely imagined, through the injustice
of 'an act of grace'. Those have been 'chosen' who themselves

have given scope to those potencies of the soul innate in all men.
Now, should any man be anxious to find out, if he belong to the
'few* or the 'many', he has but to examine closely the nature of
his God-living (Gotterleben). He must be able to discriminate
if his enthusiasm for art or nature have been dictated by a
suggestive power coming from out of his surroundings, or if its
origin is to be found in the potency of its own virtues. Now
if this remains still inconceivable to him, that means to say,
if the enlivenment, which his soul has received when God has
met him in art or nature, has been effected through suggestive
powers coming from those around him, it is certain, that, not-
withstanding all the love he cherishes for art, science, nature and
man, he knows not the life 'beyond'; he has been merely linger-
ing on the bridges for all these, in the inefficient way, he has
embraced them, in fine, are merely the bridges and nothing more.
Moreover, that man, who gets accustomed to frequent the
divine-bridges, without making any attempts to enter the
'realms beyond* then, turning back regularly to the superficial
life familiar to him, will run great risks of enfeebling his chances
of ever attaining a God-living, in that the 'animation* and
'enjoyment', he constantly receives, will make him incapable of
doing so. The rarer ones among men, the chosen 'few', however,
are just as capable by the virtue of their own inner powers, as
they are independent on outer influences, to ascend into the
realms of God. Even were they doomed to be fettered down to
a spot on earth, where no traces of art or culture exist, they
would, nevertheless, remain of their own accord in the paths
of God, although it goes without saying, that there is nothing
which could mean greater bliss to them, than the crossing of
those divine-bridges of beauty (each so different 'individually')
which lead to divine life. By the grace of the selfsame natural
ease they can enter the realms of God as well as leave the bridges
to return. There is no coercive force or laws which compell them;

and this God-living of theirs has nothing in common whatever
with hysterical extasies, methodistic systems and mystical
experiences.

But once they are in God's realms, in conciousness of a higher
grade, they are partaking in the life which is timeless and space-
less. That means to say, they have become utterly oblivious of
time and space which belongs to the realms of intellect only!

While God-living is happening, it matters little if a thousand
years or only a second slips by; the soul is completely indiffer-
ent to the span of time! Owing to this complete releasement,
men-of-genius are so lost after their return 'here'; they are
obliged once again to suit themsleves to reason's form of thought,
in that the present be linked up as a matter of course with the
time before their God-living had happened. This would be
tremendously difficult were clocks not ticking the time and
calendars recording days. Their return within the bounds of
time make them want, subsequently, to annex the notion of
time to the life experienced in God's realms; a thing which had
been impossible while it was happening. However one little
word seems to them to be alone adequate. It is "Eternal".
After their return again 'here', nothing for a while seems more
incomprehensible than that they themselves are still living and
their children also. Accordingly, their leife, arranged in time,
grows more in the nature of a dream; not that they live it less
keener than their fellowmen, who are unaware of an existence
other than the one bound up within the limits of time: It is
merely found wanting in interest and spirit when compared to
the depth and profundity of his God-living. It were futile to
want to elicit more about that timeless existence in God.
Descriptions of every kind will always remain but vain endea-
vours, because our world of thought is completely subject to the
powers of reason.

Hence, this means that all we are capable of saying in our

endeavours to describe that existence of the soul of man which
you know now to be God-living, and which is that state of
consciousness which is on the highest level, is this: It is oblivious
of any sense of time. The influence, it exercises, is of such a kind
as to make us attune our lives to the conviction, that our God-
living alone is reality, and that this reality is clothed in manifold
garments as is presented to us in the visible-world (Welt der
Erscheinung) around us. After our soul has succeeded in asserting
itself so far as to have achieved a certain high degree in the
enfoldment of God-living, it remains in this condition. Then
we are capable of sinking into contemplation; in complete
'oblivion* of the visible- world (Welt der Erscheinung), without
any necessity of diligently pursuing intentions. For this reason
it seems so curious, funny almost, to watch men (Theosophs)
exhaust themselves in their endeavours to attain God-living
through daily 'practice of concentration', while in reality, it
is given to man in such a natural and graceful way and can never
be gained through artificial means!

Once a man has gained entrance into the exalted realms
which are beyond those, where time, space and causality are, he
knows of a certainty, that he has attained the true dwelling-
place of his soul; absent, he always longs to return and is glad
of the bridges, that is, the images of God which others have
created in works of art and wisdom. And when his own spirit
has grown in resembling God efficiently, he begins, earnestly
and intelligently, in loving remembrance of the God-living he
has experienced, to create similar immortal divine images. Yet
the gradual ascent in the Godward direction remains the
sublimest part of all his life. The more often he has succeeded
in crossing over the bridges, the less will the world enthrall him.
In fine, all his thoughts and actions he dedicates solely to God.
Even the sheer superficial wants which remain are given nobility
because of the divine touch which always accompanies them.

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We have said God-living was timeless. Now, does not time-
lessness mean the opposite to timeness? Would it not be more
proper in respect to the deeper sense of the word, to say
"Eternity" instead of "Unendlessness" when we think of that
state which is oblivious of a sense of time? Moreover, is not the
entrance into the realms of timelessness and the conscious
participation of the same a personal kind of life immortal
(Eternity), the participation of which, in the spiritual sense, is
more profound than the unendless existence of the unicell? In
effect, is not this the fulfilment of the unquenchable desire for
immortality which persists in all the soma-cells, inspite of their
doomful decay and death?

When man imagined 'Eternity' to mean 'without an end* his
conception was right, in so far as it embraced the inner nature
(Wesen) of all visible-things (Erscheinung), but when he went
so far as to believe that he himself would participate con-
sciously in eternity, without its ever ending, his conceptions
became stigmatised with error and fallacy; for his conscious
"Self" may enter the "Beyond" only under certain conditions
during his life-time. Never at all, after death! Now, as time has
no significance in the realms beyond, it would matter little how
long his participation in the same would last. What might he
care, if it lasted a billion or even more years. In God-living
there is no sense of time, especially when it is borne in mind
how 'fleeting' the experiences of daily life appear when com-
pared to the soul's experience of God-living which always bears
the mark of 'eternity' and is therefore 'everlasting*.

Thus then, through the process of development, the Immortal-
Will deepens and spiritualises, to realise its fulfilment in the
grown consciousness of the wishes of the Divine- Will. Instead
of the unconscious unendless existence in the timeness of the
unicell, the Immortal- Will is given the conscious endless exist-
ence in the timelessness, called 'eternity 1 !

Such a transformation might appear at first to be impossible.
Observe then, how all life reveals an ardent desire to live for-
ever. Likewise man. All the myths contain a promise to man of
a life everlasting after death which is to be found in a beyond
as the realisation of that wish. It can certainly not be from the
effects of deeper thought, but more from want of thought, that
a wish of such kind should have taken root so long. Men seem
still blind to the fact, how like hell in heaven that kind of
Ahasver fate would be, which, according to his knowledge of
time, he thinks to be unendless.

It is not unendlessness, but a state which is beyond any sense
of time which the awakened soul of man, from its dawn forth,
requires for a conscious participation. Now, should the achieve-
ment of the state beyond time be actually possible before death,
the participation in it would have to satisfy the demands of
the Immortal-Will proper to a conscious soul; also the desire
to participate would be felt, as long, only, as any consciousness
existed. (Therefore during life and not after death.) But is not
this conception identical with the 'kingdom of God on earth'
contained in the myths? That divine kingdom perchance which
we can participate in during our lifetime albeit in a very
imperfect way?

The following will soon enlighten us. The world-point-of-
view (Weltauffassung), morals and the paths which the fruits
of our cognisance lead to differ very widely from those, con-
tained in doctrines teaching of a beyond after death or on earth,
albeit here of an imperfect kind.

Whenever, on our way to knowledge, it was our good fortune
to encouter any sublime truth which, on account of the absence
of general knowledge had been perceived by others of the past
in the light of revelation, we were filled with a sense of deep
satisfaction. This cannot be otherwise, for even without the
help of general knowledge and intuition all men are given the

278

possibility of attaining God-living. Ten years after I had finished
the present work (during its preparation for the new edition)
I came across something written by Schleiermacher who was a
staunch Christian. "To be united to the unendless and thus be
eternal every moment of our lives means being immortal in the
midst of the endness." If anything, this seems a contradiction to
the doctrines he preached, namely he believed in immortal-life
after death. Yet what has just been said fits in capitally with
our cognisance of God.

Faith and cognisance however are two different things.
Because we have succeeded in holding fast all along the line to
truth, belonging to reason, (Evolution History) without having
had to give up a single inch of the ground we gained intuitively,
we have been given the sovereign right to call the attention of
all the faithful to this fact which is, that the myths, they believe
in, must be condemned as errors, inspite of all the right suspic-
ions they contain. And now it will be seen among all who have
gone so far with us which ones have really and rightly under-
stood the truths, revealed in the Evolution-History. Whosoever
has steeped his thoughts in the truth of the irrevocable and
inevitable decay of the body-cells which all the multicellular-
beings possess and faced the hard fact, that the soul participates
in all the daily tribulations which those serving-cells have to
suffer, he will know that: consciousness is lost for ever, when
in death the cell-state returns to inorganic substance or, in other
words, unconscious visibility (Erscheinung). He knows that not
even the monotone life, proper to the unicellular-being, remains.
He knows in fact, that that visible form we call "I" has dis-
appeared forever.

Now, we, for our part, have learned this truth in conscious
endeavour. But it thrusts itself at times even on the mind of the
most pious Christian, who actually believes in a life hereafter.
For instance, how cruelly does the fact of natural-death thrust

itself on him, when he stands at the death-bed of someone he
has loved!

The reality overwhelms him at the open grave! Face to face
with death, the stern reality of truth fills his soul for a while
with doubts in the creed he adheres to. He is almost startled at
his own 'heresy'. After the grave is closed, the words of com-
fort which he whispers to himself or those which the priest is
in the habit of using help him to regain his equilibrium and with
it his faith again in the existence of a heaven and hell. Yet,
notwithstanding this fact, in those moments of doubt, his soul
had been touched with truth's graveness and calm. Thus he
might have queried: How can the personality of the dead man
be preserved, if the smile, essential to it, disappears along with
the dead man's lips! Was not each and every cell necessary to
make just that particular smile appear? The way he walked,
the turn of his head, the sound of his voice, and the expression,
peculiar to his eyes, were habits noting the oneness and unique-
ness of the character native to him. It was the cooperation of all
these single features of his which made up his personality. In
fact he could not be thought of at all without them. Like his
conscious life, they also were caused through the workings of
his body-cells which now for ever have disappeared in death.
They have turned to dust.

In effect, when death is happening, it will come home to the
staunchest believer in heaven, that the myth of immortality, he
puts his faith in, is just as incapable of giving him any assurance
of his personal immortality as the doctrine of Darwin is which
teaches of the immortality of the species as being the promise
of life immortal. Let the Will-to-Truth make us strong in the
bitter times, caused through the loss of any dear friend, and
make us capable to understand, that beyond the grave personal-
life is not!

Yet the selfsame consciousness which has been the means of

280

helping us to seize this grave truth is also the means of saving
us from being separated from the departed! Our "I" is capable
of gliding into a beyond which is not distinguished by a yester-
day, to-day or to-morrow, so that the once-experienced and the
experience of to-day are equal in their vitality. We can live
hours and hours over again in company with the departed friend,
provided his character and actions have left a deep enough
impression on our minds, and also, if the mutual exchange of
the treasures, proper to the beyond, actually took place during
his lifetime. Therefore, there but remains for the one living-
longer, to have power enough to enter the realms beyond in
order to enjoy the company of one who is dead; and verily this
experience is of a profounder nature than any other experience
can yield which is in the way of a remembrance of a mere
superficial kind. Hence, as long as the one, who is remembering,
still lives, no real separation can take place, notwithstanding
the fact, that the consciousness of the departed one is forever
effaced. Yet we are lost completely to the one dead, but of his
loss he has no feeling. This is the kindness and peace which
death means. Moreover, this is also the gist of truth contained
in the otherwise crude, materialistic doctrine which maintains
the direct intercourse with departed 'spirits', generally known
as spiritism. The gist of truth which of-course is absolutely free
of any of the notions which are likely to be of a supertitious
kind, such as, that the spirits are still living and are capable of
reappearing. Once in possession of this truth, we shall no more
be forsaken when face to face with death; it will give us strength
to bear even the most cruel sting. Thus then, in all full con-
sciousness, that the beloved one, we have just lost in death, has
gone forever, we gaze once more at the peacefulness revealed in
his features. This last vision of him, as a remembrance of the
greatest solemnity, will act like a kindly light leading to the
realms beyond, where for the benefit of our consciousness he

281

rises in our own soul again, and we are joined together again as
closely as we were before his death!

Our immortality, as has been said previously already, must
be realised before death takes place. It is the knowing of this
truth which divides us from other men who confess to a belief
in heaven. In everything almost it makes us different to them.
Above all our morals take on a different aspect.

The reason why immortality, the kingdom of life eternal,
can be within the reach of the soul as long only as there is
vitality, is on account of consciousness which is the great
essential to God-living. The individual-being cannot be im-
mortal, for the simple reason, that it depends for its vitality
on body-cells which are mortal. Thus it issues, that the "I"
consciousness cannot be immortal either; it disappears forever
also, when death overtakes the visible form; immortal alone is
the Divine which is innate in all visible things (Erscheinungen),
the internal. Therefore the inner nature of the visible-being,
known as man, is also immortal. But, like all mortal multicelled-
beings, man also returns one day to that visible form which is
unconscious.

That death became known to man was owing to his con-
sciousness. He is given the scope to misapprehend, as well as
fully comprehend what death means. This priviledge, however,
reigns only as long as vitality pulsates through the cell state,
that means to say, only as long as 'personality' exists. For it is
just the wish for a personal immortality which makes itself felt
particularly strong within us! Not that we have lost sight of the
fact, that Godliving leads us away from the fetters of our
personality; indeed, the very fact of this being-lifted-away from
our-own-person, is one of the surest signs of the life which is
beyond. But the way, all this is undertaken, remains the special
priviledge of our own person in that it depends on the emotions
which may or may not accompany it, the way we proceed to

282

throw off the fetters of reason, as well as whidi divine Wish
is allowed to be cultivated the strongest. Therefore, there is
nothing more silly, than when religious communities lay down
fast rules or directions-for-use which should be gone according
to for the purpose of obtaining God-living. The knowledge,
we cherish, that no life exists after death, is more adequate to
compel the soul to spiritual-flight, than belief in a heaven is. It
is pitiful to watch the wearying attempts, made by all those
who go according to 'recipes' in their agitation to flutter towards
the light! How uncommon each person's individual God-living
turns out to be, despite the fact that God-living, by the law of
its being, transcends all the limits of personality, the master-
pieces of art clearly reveal in the personal traits of their extreme
manifoldness. (Masterpieces of art are born of the life beyond.)
These traits of personality reveal themselves so distinctly, that
we are able to tell, for instance, in music, after the first few
bars have been played, who the composer is. And finally, each
single piece makes on each one of us a different impression which
is called forth according to the individual response of our own
nature. Observe then, that after all this, we are fully justified
in saying, that the wish for the special immortality of our
own person is duly gratified in the life of God which you have
often heard us call Godliving (Gotterleben). But alas! As men's
conception of immortality are so often warped with error and
ignorance, immortal-life remains the singular prerogative of
the few only. As a rule, the rest end their lives in the arms
of eternal death, without having once experienced the partici-
pation of immortal-life. A great hindrance to live immortality
is formed, when it is said, that it does not begin until after death;
another hindrance happens, almost graver, when men stunt their
soul-lives.

This comes to pass, when men keep down purposely the wishes
of the divinity within them and instead attach themselves to

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superficial desires. Through this habit, the divine-wishes become
at last so insensible as to become completely incapacitated to
develope a state of consciousness at all. Yet, some there are,
who have never once succeeded in opening the entrance to the
beyond, but who, at best, have managed to cross its bridges.
When death approaches, it might happen then to these that
the Immortal-Will within them will rise up so tremendously
against its final suppression, that its agony gives power to the
soul for its last and only flight into the realms of the beyond.
This is reflected then in the change which takes place. The ugly
distortions of the body, caused by the agonies of death, give
place to a beautiful calm. The eyes take on that peculiar far-off
look when the soul painlessly and quietly glides into the state
where being is not.

Note here, how a participation in life-immortal was gained,
in the end, albeit in the last few hours of life, after which the
Immortal-Will was fulfilled and gave up its struggle. Now, the
mourners, standing at the bedside, read in the dead man's face
the traces of what happened. Death had 'glorified* his features.
A 'holy peace' lay over them. The 'far-off look' lay still in the
eyes. And at the sight of this they become overwhelmed at the
thought, that such features could be capable of such sublime
beauty which during life had been so often distorted. In whisper-
ing tones they remark to each other: "He has gone". "He is
already in realms beyond". The belief, they confess to in a life
beginning after death, is once more strengthened. The last
expression which the rigid hand of death had imprinted on the
features confirms it. "He is already beyond", how right they
are in meaning what they have witnessed. How erroneous the
sense what they mean. Instead of the word 'already', they ought
to have said c at last'. For, during the agonies of death the soul
had been given the power indeed 'for the first and last time' to

284

participate in life eternal which, however, ended at once at the
moment, death arrived.

It is an indisputable fact, that, the nearer death approaches
(in the case of old age and serious illness), the greater the under-
standing becomes for the life beyond. This fact is not difficult
to understand as soon as we look at it in the light of our
cognisance, by which we mean here the fact, that the Immortal-
Will finds its fulfilment before death, and the conscious life,
after death, irrevocably passed forever. When a change like
this takes place in child-hood, it becomes very obvious. Being
still so far from old age and death, however, children as a rule
are not attracted to the life beyond, and the sight of the longing
for it, manifested in their elders, awakens no interest in them
at the time, although the child, itself, lives unconsciously in
direct connection with the divine-trends (S. "The Child's Soul
and its Parents' Office"). But when it happens, that a serious
illness overtakes a child, and death is probable, the Immortal-
Will begins to make itself strongly felt in its anxiety to fulfil
itself precipitating the young soul which is ensnared in the
dangers to its life into the serenity of the beyond. It grows
precociously, surpassing often the wisdom of those still deeply
steeped in superficial interests, who are around it, and, on the
other hand, is often beseechingly helpless to partake in the silly
games of the other children of its own age.

How wisdom-fraught is this transformation; and in knowing
the goal, how sublime does the course of evolution appear to
us! Within the course of thousands and millions of generations,
the Immortal-Will was the impetus which compelled the gradual
ascent to higher stages of consciousness. On the way, the body
cells (somata) were left behind; each in its turn had to pass away,
without the Immortal- Will having once been realised, and
utterly unconscious of its fate; until in man reason was born.
Then the trends of the Divine-Will could develope to a state

285

of ever keener consciousness, until, among men the first was
born who was able to understand why the body-cells were
obliged to be robbed of their immortality, as well as receive the
grace to live a new immortal-life in the realms of God.

As we have previously observed, the ascent to consciousness
in ever higher stages began, when the first multicelled being lost
the 'potential* immortality which, as a unicell, it had once
possessed. The ascent stopped when the highest developed multi-
celled-being had regained this 'potential' immortality in a
spiritualised form. It is clear now, why the scientist is incapable
of finding any proofs to confirm the further ascent of man to
superman. He is but capable of pointing to the fact of the
growth of some of the organs of sense in man and some stunted
'rudimentary organs', inherited from the animal, of which there
are about two hundred. This is now fully explained, however.

Already, in primitive man, the possibility of a spiritual
development lay innate in the potencies of his soul. For the
realisation of the spiritual 'potential' immortality, however, the
enfoldment of the divine-wishes is essential which must be a
free development, unencumbered by reason's form of thought,
and undertaken under the endeavours of man himself! Men of
the past and present, who have succeeded in these endeavours,
are the ones alone entitled to the name of hyperzoan; they alone
are not only death-wise but immune to death's sting.

The Immortal- Will, deprived as it was of fulfilment in the
unconscious mortal body-cells (somata), strove for a state of
consciousness for the sake of its own redemption. Through a
process of evolution, in which it obliged the outward appearance
of the forms of nature to undergo a continual transformation,
its aim fructuated into an achieved fact in the final appearance
of man. We shall never get at the reason for the paradox great
variety of forms, we see manifested in nature, until this fact is
clear. Although it is tempting, we must, nevertheless, refrain

286

from traversing all the new ground again which the potencies
of our intuition laid open to us at the time we were in search of
the truth (which since has become our sole property,) for fear
of being lost now in detail. One fact however we must mention,
as bearing weight which we have already pointed to in an earlier
page; it is, that every man of science is sure that the bequeath-
ment of acquired characteristics is a supposition, which if denied,
would make many a fact, concerning the evolution theory, vain.
Also, every man of science knows perfectly well, that no
practical experiment which has ever been undertaken has yielded
any precise evidence however to this fact. Yet, the fact's,
contained in the cognisance we have collected, are capable of
yielding enlightment to the matter of the bequeathment of
acquired characteristics. The mystery is easily solved, if we
know all about that state of coherency in which nature rests.
The existence of one single impulse was essential which, in a
state of coherency, had the power to change the element of
heredity within the germplasm so as to cause the form which
was necessary for the higher stages of consciousness to differ-
entiate accordingly. This powerful impulse belonged to the
Immortal-Will which acted thus in the life of the many-celled-
being. If changes of another kind had taken place within the
germplasm in the course of the multicellular existence which
had not been to the service and aim of this purpose, the process,
evolving to a state of consciousness, would have been con-
siderably endangered. Therefore it does not in the least surprise
us to learn, that in the kingdom of man, where consciousness has
succeeded in gaining its highest level, a bequeathment of
acquired characteristics takes place no more*). The reason why
it is absent in the animal-kingdom to-day will also become clear
to us, if, with the support of the knowledge we have just

* In my book entitled "Origin and Nature of the Soul" 2nd. part "The Soul of the
Human-Being", I have gone into detail concerning the plasticity of the human germplasin
in regard to the divine-wishes.

received, we give our attention for a while to this remarkable
fact: The ascent making for the stages of higher consciousness
came to a stop in all the animal kingdom without except as
soon as man was born.

The Immortal-Will seemed aided by invisible wings, when
it undertook to carry the world of multicellular-mortal-beings
out of the darkest stage of unconsciousness into the light of
wakefulness. On the way, innumberable beings were doomed
to perish without ever beholding the light from even afar. And
man, to whom alone the priviledge was given, was forward
enough to believe he could 'seize' it with the powers of his
intellect. To this fallacy, cultural-epochs have succumbed time
after time, until at last, reason began to criticise itself and found
out that it also had its limits. And now, after a space of three
hundred thousand years of the history of mankind, we are
capacitated, in a deep spirit of reverence before the incompre-
hensible, to join together the acknowledged laws-of-growth to
what we have learned in the realms of God; and behold, we find
redemption in cognisance! Henceforth, to partake in the life
of God will be our aim; all our actions and thoughts, our feelings
of hate or love, altogether, our whole existence will be complete-
ly changed through the cognisanse, that Godliving is attainable
before death only. For the man, who is redeemed, everything
changes in its value!

After this, it must be an easy matter to understand, that there
will be no 'higher species' to come to succeed to the throne of
man, for the simple reason, that man has already regained
possession of the attribute of 'potential immortality'. What
happened to the impulse to evolution in the animals, after they
had gone such a long way towards the heights of consciousness?
Why can't an amphioxis evolve into a vertibrate to-day like
it once happened? Why can't mammal, or let us say rather an
ape, evolve into a kind of human-species which is given reason?

288

The process of evolution stood still in the animal-kingdom,
as soon as man was born. What has science to say to this curious
fact? Science surmises that in earlier periods the cosmical con-
ditions exercised a greater plastical influence, and owing to this
fact mutations more readily took place, than would be possible
to-day. In other words, the men of science are ignorant still;
but the evil about it is, they don't take any trouble to solve the
mystery. Well then, none should be annoyed, if philosophers
take it upon themselves to solve this mystery, according to the
laws and train-of- thought which belong to their special realms!

The realms of God which are beyond causality, time and
space, and the seizure of reason have been known to man up till
now by such names as "God", * Nature of all things" or the
"Thing-Itself". This was the conception of God in the universe
which men generally accepted. They seldom stepped any further
than this, hardly ever into the high office of representing the
most awakened soul in the universe which was theirs by right.
They shied the responsibility of ever uttering admittance to this
fact. It was left to us to summon the courage to proclaim it, by
the right given us in having united the historical facts of
evolution with the experience, gleaned from the life lived in the
realms of God. By virtue of his reason man became the con-
sciousness of the visible-world (Welt der Erscheinungen) (as Kant
already indicated), and in like manner man can become God's
consciousness, if he is capacitated to live in accordance with the
laws governing the inner nature of all things (Wesen der Erschei-
nung). As the ascending process of evolution ended as soon as
God's consciousness became a possibility in view, this must have
been the final aim of evolution. This aim could be achieved in
that the body-cells were robbed of their right to immortality,
whereby the Immortal- Will was given the impetus which
compelled the evolving ascent in order to regain its immortality.
That man can become the consciousness of God or the 'nature

289

of all things' (das Wesen dcr Erscheinungen) is a matter of truth,
belonging to our cognisance, which separates us from all the
different kinds of Pantheism and Deism. While those doctrines
reject the idea of a personal God, but acknowledge that the
universe is God-pervaded, they fail to perceive the tremendous
responsibility which rests alone with man amidst all else in
the universe. Our philosophy says this means the very kernel
from which all the fruits spring forth. It gives the meaning to
our lives. It benefits our morals with the character of earnestness,
clarity, potency and inexorableness, making the prevailing ideas
within the range of culture turn topsy-turvy. And yet this is
still but the faint suspicion of the real sublime office of man.
The possibility, we know, is given to man to become God's
consciousness. But this is not all. Among all living beings on
earth man is the only one who has this prerogative which
shoulders him with a tremendous responsibility in that his virtue
expects of him to become God's consciousness before he dies.
Of all this we are sure, for we have the confirmation of the
History-of-Evolution itself for the facts.

In the History of Evolution it is clearly revealed, that a
general stop took place in the ascent to consciousness. Also, that
the whole animate world had had its part in the ascent, man
included, which had had its origin in the most primitive of all
the animate beings (Volvox). Now, here is the historical fact
which is the confirmation of an ancient suspicion which existed
in the soul of man, and which philosophy since a very long
time has surmised. It is, that all things in the visible-world
(Welt der Erscheinung) are inwardly closely associated with
one another! This uniformity is obvious in the visible-world
(Welt der Erscheinung). It is an easy matter to compare the out-
ward appearance of one thing to another, but it is impossible
to compare any of these with the "Thing Itself" (Wesen der
Erscheinung). The same applies to the great cell-state-man.

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Among all the cells whidi make up the human being, only a
small group are reserved (the greater brain-cells) to be the
bearers of the faculty of consciousness, and again, among all the
mass of animate beings, men alone, owing to their reason, are
reserved to be the consciousness of the visible-world (Welt der
Erscheinung) and finally among all human kind, only a very
few number of individuals are called upon, through the potency
of their own self-asserted virtue, to be the consciousness of God.

This uniformity or "God-pervadedness", as I should like to
call it here which embraces all the visible-things (Erscheinungen)
of the universe, was the cause of the mutual participation of
the multicellular-beings in the general ascent to consciousness,
as well as the general stop when man was born. Their part in the
ascent meant (from the stage of the volvox onwards) an untir-
ing process of transformation in the outward appearance which
was the manifestation of the special endeavour of each one to
attain to a higher stage of wakefulness. The birth of man
indicated the fact, that that animate being had succeeded to
existence which alone was capable, in that it could become God's
consciousness, of partaking in immortal-life. Thus the growth
of the species was made to come to an end. "Creation" was
finished.

As soon as we have grasped this unity of nature which under-
lies the whole universe, we shall most surely be conscious of
what God is, if we are sure about the fact, that the unity
embraces, too, all living species which might eventually be living
on other planets. We may not allow ourselves to be misled
through the comparison, just mentioned of the cell-state, called
man, for every comparison is imperfect and as such may lead to
errors. All animate nature which might eventually be in exist-
ence on other planets must show the selfsame unity in God
who is beyond space. Therefore it goes without saying, that all
the animate beings, habituating any other planets, were also

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involved in the general stop which took place among the animal-
kingdom as soon as man had appeared; for the aim in view
which had set their development in motion had been achieved;
a being, man, in the universe existed, in which God could live
consciously. Moreover, we can gather from this angle, that there
will be no reason for an evolving process to start again on any
other planets until the end of man has come, which might take
place simultaneously with the end of the world, or before this
event. Also, it is just likely that on some planet or other, in the
time before life was born on our earth, animate beings existed,
possessing the inherent capacity to become God's consciousness,
and not until their end came, could the process of evolution start
again on our earth. The state of divine consciousness, as we
shall get to understand later on, can only be attained by the
human-soul best explained on the assumption that it's nature
is imperfect, but carries within itself the freedom of will to join
God in perception, thought, feeling, and action. The misery
which the state of imperfection brings with it, as well as the
calamities caused by the laws of the elements, steep the life of
the conscious beings so deeply in suffering as to make us
convinced that only one thing is capable of reconciling us to the
fact of God's perfection, and that is, that human races can be
the bearers of God's consciousness (Gottesbewufitsein) on one
planet at the time being.

This means a confession which is of a significance as yet
unheard of, not only for the existence of certain soul-laws in
rule, but also for the laws governing the history and cultural-
life of the different folks of the earth. To all those without any
personal experience of such a general insight, this might appear
at first to be an assumption of a very 'wilful' or 'unimportant'
kind altogether, while, in reality, it is the key opening the gate
to the knowledge revealing the sense of human-life as well as
its history and culture. Indeed hardly any other truth, can be

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more capable of fructifying the moral values, we are about to
set forth, than this ground truth is: The state of God's conscious-
ness is to be found in man alone*). This fact in itself must mean
sublimeness to man, yet it includes something more which is of
greater importance still: As God is the absolute, is perfection,
it issues, that the being, in whom alone God can be manifested
consciously, must be granted, by virtue of this very fact, the
inherent possibility of self-creation to a state of perfection which
happens as the result of the subjection of all our conscious life
and deeds to the divine-wishes. And after the soul has succeeded
in living the absolute, death follows, as it does to all body cells
as a natural course. Death obliviates consciousness, after which
the cells, returned to dust, reveal manifestations of the will,
similar to all "dead* stone, in the form of 'physical and chemical
characters' (substances).

Thus, the guilty feeling which will overcome man before God
is not surprising in front of the fact, that, in becoming God's
consciousness, the responsibility lies solely upon man himself,
and the only chance for its accomplishment is during the time
he lives! Indeed how few are what they are able to be! There is
another superb historical fact which, when seen from this angle,
gains deeply in meaning: When worldly desires and errors keep
man from fulfilling his sacred duty, the divinity in one man has
been known to awaken suddenly, in the stress of danger, to such
a state of clear consciousness, as to be the means of leading
other men back again to a godly life.

Observe then, how our philosophy raises man to unbelievable
heights, in that it gives witness to his being God's consciousness.
In revealing to man the fact that he alone, admist all the rest
of the universe, stands elevated so high, the assurance of obtain-

* To dwell here on the philosophical proof for the statement, that "the single state
where God finds consciousness is within man alone", would lead us too far into phrenolo-
gical details. It has been therefore treated in full as the problem "liberum arbitrium
inditferentiae". (S. "Origin and Nature of the Soul", "The Soul of the Human-
Being", chapter Freedom of the Will.)

ing a state of perfection already in this life was also given to
him, as well as the responsibility of fulfilling his life in this
sacred sense. Especially in times of evil, when men in general
have given up God, to lead an immoral life instead, cognisance
of such a weighty kind means double responsibility to the few,
who have managed to keep their divine-wishes alive within
them!

The ability to cognize exactly how sublime and unique the
nature of the task is which has been allotted to us in the universe,
compells the antidivine to give way to the divinity within us.
Also, the divinity within us will grow strong in the grave know-
ledge, that the realms beyond are obtainable only before death
occurs; never after. In the longing to gain this life beyond, many
things lose the significance they once had. Wonders are worked
within the soul; it awakens to the state of the highest conscious-
ness. Then the time is at hand, when, elevated beyond itself and
the world-of-appearances (Welt der Erscheinungen), it can
partake in the life of God. In this state of the soul it is clearly
revealed to us, that time, space and causality belong to reason's
form of thought which enable us to research the visible-world
(Welt der Erscheinung), but which we have no right to use when
we are concerned with the life of God, for God-living is out of
their reach. Our God-experience tells us how foolish it is to
want an explanation of the internal nature of things (God)
(Wesen der Dinge) through reason's instrument. Man would not
do this, were he less entangled in wordly snares. We have ceased
to put the silly questions about the beginning and end of God;
instead, we have attached our lives to God, thus participating in
the eternal-life; for we know that the visible-world (Welt der
Erscheinungen) only has a beginning and an end, and in respect
to this world only is it right and proper to apply forms of
thought such as space, time and causality. "What is the cause
of God's existence" and such like questions, concerning the

beyond, reveal how ignorant man is in the use of reason's
potencies. He might just as well use a barometer to tell the time,
as put the instrument of reason to such a purpose. It is a futile
endeavour. But all these tantalising mysteries are solved of their
own accord, as soon as we are lifted to that state of conscious-
ness which transcends the mundane planets; namely, when our
consciousness has become God's, or the consciousness of the inner
nature of things (Wesen der Erscheinung). We can put reason
in its proper place then. When we are at the task of researching
the visible-world (Welt der Erscheinung) around us, we use
reason's potencies, like the fine intsrument it is, but when we
want to comprehend the inner nature of things (Wesen der Er-
scheinung), we lay it aside, as being an instrument neither
proper nor useful for such a purpose.

As previously mentioned, in our endeavours to arrive at the
truth we have not relied on the inner voice alone. As far as
reason was capable of supporting us, we have conscientiously
trodden the path of logic and scientific knowledge. Whereever
reason was forbidden, intuition became our guide. Therefore the
results mean something more than a "new faith". Indeed it is
knowledge, it is cognition, which according to its intrinsic
nature, might rightly be called 'wisdom', for it culminates in
God. Now, the real sage does not obtain his wisdom through
blind 'belief, but through the 'insight' which he has been capable
of gaining. He will always opine that words are inadequate to
describe to others how and in what way the goal may be
attained, for the remembrance of his God-Living fills him still
with too much awe and respect. He knows it to be a part of
a man's life which can be lived but never talked about.

Nevertheless, in the summary which now follows, we put
forth this wisdom, as being the confession of our God-Cognition;
it must strictly be refrained from being looked at in the light
of a dogma, for, by the very virtue of its being, our God-

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Cognition is loathe to any kind of dogma. It has come to our
knowledge in the selfsame way, as the laws of nature have been
made known to mankind, through 'insight'.
I. I know, that only the unicelled-beings, like the germ-cell,

have the potency to live without end in the realms of the

visible-world (Welt der Erscheinung). I, myself, must die

like all the other somatical-beings.
II. I know, that when mortality happened to the soma-cells,

in order to assert itself, began a process of transformations

until consciousness was born in man.

III. I know, that, owing to my conscious state, the possibility
is given to me to live God (the Divine, the Genius, the
Beyond) consciously and by this to fulfil my Immortal-Will
as long as I live (after death it is eliminated).

IV. I know, that man, by virtue of his reason, has become the
consciousness of the visible- world (Welt der Erscheinung).
Moreover, a few, by their own free decision become God's
consciousness as long as ever they live. I, too, can gain
perfection through my own free decision and deed of self-
creation.

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<@0D itoittg and tl)c

The struggle-for-life, the vital desires, thirst, hunger, sexual-
ity, together with the misconception and misinterpretation of
God, (caused by reason's half-knowledge mingled with error)
have worked such havoc in the soul of man, as to make the keen
observer lose all hope of perfection ever being achieved on earth.
For alas! The divine potencies in man he sees everywhere
stunted.

Now we might be led to think that the fallacies, caused by
reason's half-knowledge, the evil done through the vital-desires,
greed especially for money, (still unborn in the animal-kingdom)
were the only causes which induced the struggle-for-existence
to feel hostile to God. Deeper thought shows how erroneous this
assumption is, for a yawning gulf must exist between a struggle-
for-existence which is ruled by principles-of-utility and wishes
of a divine kind which are distinguished by exactly the absence
of such like principles. Thus, then, the gulf can appear to be
almost unsurmountable. There is a tragic air about the fact, that
the redemption of the Immortal- Will which finally came to
pass in the awakening of the divine-wishes to consciousness
should have created another gulf, graver than the one already
existing between the Immortal-Will and natural-death. The
significance, it bears, seems all the more obvious, in as much as,
contrary to the adherents of religions which teach of a heaven,
we are fully aware how necessarily important our existence,
that ends with our death, is, in respect to the realisation of our
Immortal-life.

In order to realise properly what this apparently unsur-
mountable gulf means we should, do well to make an observ-
ation of a certain existence first which is totally free from the
direct workings of either God or degeneration. For this purpose,
the life of the higher animals are best to choose, as these are
next to us.

When the young animal leaves the care of its mother to enter
independently into the general struggle-for-life, many things in
its surroundings crowd in upon it. Already it has learned to
know the ones which are its bitter enemies; these fill the young
animal with fear. Others, it has found out, are of no importance
in its life and therefore it takes no notice of them. The rest it
mistrusts, being still unaware of the nature they are made of.
Warding-off danger and the search for food are the two occup-
ations which fill up its life. It is roused out of its mood of
peace through torments of hunger which were sent by the self-
preservation-Will within it. The tortures it generally has to
suffer are so out of proportion to the fleeting moments of
pleasure which it is allowed to enjoy, that it might seem as if
something like a curse hovers over its existence. It is well to
know first that the beast is priviledged to sink into the state
of blessed oblivion, or else the 'patience* with which it suffers
its joyless and burdensome fate might appear to be almost
incredible. It lives merely in the present. The past it cannot
remember consciously, and the future, with its looming pains
and fears, is beyond its power to anticipate. Much peace has
been granted to the beast, which lends to its behaviour a charac-
ter of stateliness, especially when it is compared to the hastiness
and restlessness of man. It will never be induced to struggle
for anything more than for the bare necessities of its existence
and consequently, as soon as these are secured, it sinks back
again into the lethargical state it is accustomed to, where no
emotions of joy or pain can touch it, so that we think of the

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beast then as being in the same condition as human beings are
when these feel 'comfortable*. The very young animal will
manifest more feelings than those of comfort. It shows how
glad it is to be alive when times are peaceful. It is up and doing
things without the necessity to earn its living forcing its actions.
It springs and jumps about in play, 'free from any care*. Just
like the human child, it loves teasing its companions; it is
enjoying life!

There are cases when the adult-animal is also capable of
enjoying life. The domesticated-animals give clear witness to
this fact. The dog, especially in that it has been spared the
struggles for its own existence through the care of its master,
will show signs of undiluted joy. The rest of the animals, how-
ever, which have to fight for themselves, are quickly sobered
and at a very early period lose all desire for play. In old age
the lethargical state, characteristic of the beasts, is uninterrupted,
save for outbreaks of bad temper or the excitement of combat.
This gradual descent from an overflowing joy to sobriety and
from this to morbidity and bad temper are signs well known
to us. It is the scale of emotions generally prevailing as the
ages change, not only in the animal kingdom but among human-
kind too. It strikes all those individuals, who, in having been
too taken up with superficial cares, have remained ignorant of
God's life. This does not imply however that the struggle-for-
existence is alone responsible for the descent of the emotional-
life, for, curiously enough, it is found to exist in individuals
who are not obliged to fight for their own living. In fact, it is
very clearly exhibited in actually lazy people who let others
work for them. Old age is the chief cause of it. In other words
the gradual loss of life's power or 'vitality' of the soma-cells
which have been doomed to age and die. Therefore it comes
natural to all beasts and men, save those men who have cultivated

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God within themselves. The decrease of vitality, in the somatical
sense, is overcome by an increase of the powers of genius.

Thus then, the life of the individual animal passes in alter-
nate change; from states of frequent work and torments to the
rarer times of peace and rest. Yet this is a fate which indeed
can be called a 'happy* one, when compared to the existence of
some other kind of animals which, to avoid danger, have united
together in a kind of state-community, as for instance the ants
dave done. Their lives are utterly bare of any peace or rest at
all, they are like the organs of the multicelled-beings. For
instance, the heart keeps on pumping without the slightest
interruption from the first until the last minute of life. In like
manner animals, such as the ants, start working in service for
the community and then never stop until they die. The greatest
struggle-for-life which might happen to a single animal,
accustomed to danger, is nothing compared to the hardship and
monotony of those animals ruled by a state. In having con-
gregated, they have found better protection. Unity has made
them strong, so much so, that they have become the feared enemy
of animals, they could never risk to encounter alone. But for
the protection which this community affords them they were
obliged to sacrifice the sole delights which could ever be theirs;
peace and independence! If they could but know that inevitable
death one day, of a certainty, will destroy the grand edifice,
they have taken such trouble to build, as well as themselves;
what would happen, we wonder? Would they still continue as
before to labour at such a restless pace? Incredible though it
be; there are numbers of individuals among mankind who live
no worthier than the hasty ants. In fact they persist in this way
of living, although they know quite well about death and what
all their troubles are really worth. Notwithstanding, they have
not the slightest ambition to change their mode of life for the
better. Not even that mode of life attracts them which at least

300

the animal, living singly, enjoys: The existence which falls into
a state of peace as soon as ever the bare necessities for a living
have been acquired!

Although life in the animal-kingdom has not had to suffer
from the effects of degeneration, it is crystal clear that it runs,
nevertheless, in the opposite direction to the divine-wishes ot
God, (for these are spaceless, timeless and without purpose.)
A deep gulf yawns between the nature of the vital-desires and
the divine-wishes of the soul. But might there not be the
possibility of spanning bridges over the deep gulf by means of
feeling which might have a divine nature?

Wherever we look in the emotional-world of the animal we
see hate underlying all the feelings they exhibit towards their
surroundings. On the occasion of a superficial observation this
fact is hidden, because of the incapability of the animal-mind
to remember things. It is not on the level of a man's state of
consciousness. The animal, in being incapable of retaining
experiences in its memory, will express the feeling of hate only,
when it is actually capable of sensing it and that is, practically,
at the time of danger and only while this actually lasts. Hence,
as soon as danger has passed, it falls back again into its habitual
state of indifference. But the voice of the Immortal-Will, within
the animal, continually admonishes it to hate everything, dead
or alive, which threatens its life and never will the Immortal-Will
cease in this demand! This is a fact, the vital importance, of
which every living thing tells us of and which we must indelibly
imprint on our minds, because the nonknowledge of evolution
and its laws has done already such infinite harm to man. It goes
without saying, of-course, that in those men, whose Immortal-
Will sublimated in longing for God-Life, hate shows trans-
formation similar to the spiritualisation of the Immortal-Will.
(We shall come back again to this theme.)

The sadly monotonous state of emotions which the animal

301

exhibits to the world around it is made up of hate and indiffer-
ence. Occasionally, however, this is interrupted by the waves
of sexual-heat which make themselves felt and which induce the
animal to approach, accordingly, the other of its own kind. But
as soon as its sexual-sensation has been gratified, it falls back
again into its old monotony. The sensations, experienced in
connection with its young, are of a deeper and more lasting
kind. The higher the class is to which the animal belongs, the
more helpless it is after birth, the stronger grows the mother-
instinct together with the desire to tender and make sacrifices
for the young. This is the fount of all the deep mother love. But
even this instinct fades away into indifference as soon as the
young have gained the state of independence. Finally, we can
observe how the animals congregate together in herds or flocks,
or live in matrimony, like birds do, thus manifesting an emotion
the kind of which can be described as having 'grown used to
each other' which strongly puts us in mind of the family relat-
ionship of man. In gloomy world of brute emotions, there
is not yet the faintest shimmer of the divinity but it is there,
nevertheless, only slumbering. The behaviour of the higher kind
of animals, when they come in contact with man whose soul
exists in the most awakened state of all, give ample witness to
this fact. Already we have heard of the awakened state of
conscience which the dog will exhibit and also the sentiments of
tender attachment it develops, when longer in the company of
man. Sentiments, which, in respect to strength and permanency,
it is utterly incapable of exhibiting for its own kind. If this
means, that the influence which the mind of man exercises over
the dog and the care he takes for its welfare is the cause of the
divinity awakening which manifests itself then in sentiments
and actions, it also means, that the divinity before that was in
a state of slumber.
Observe then, how this daily intercourse with man has

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produced a creature which is neither man nor animal. Here we
seem to have to do with an 'anachronistical' (if we may so call
it) awakening of the divinity in respect to the sentiments and
actions of the animal towards its master; the one who has proved
to be its friend in the struggle-for-life. And yet, every time
the domesticated animal is obliged to play the part of a struggler-
for-existence which sometimes happens in spite of its priviledged
position; the pitiful alternative between hatred and indifference,
manifest in the state of its emotions, steps again into its rights.
It is interesting to watch the divine glance spring into the eyes
of an animal when it is acting from feelings of attachment,
forgetting sometimes, when it does so, its own instinct of self-
preservation; and then compare the virtuous nature of this
glance to the glance which is habitual in the eyes of all such
men in whom the divinity is dead. In having given themselves
up to the sole endeavours of earning a living, while enlisting as
well in the petty service of mere utility, such individuals have
become animalised in an anachronistical manner.

Already we have been fully satisfied that the divine feature,
called truth, exists everywhere, albeit unconsciously, in the
animal-kingdom. All the animals 'ring true* in that their out-
ward behaviour accords with the motives for the deed. How-
ever, there is a grave fact we may not overlook here and that
is; the higher the animal-mind (understanding) has become
developed, the more easily do those characteristics, called
cunning and slyness, make their appearance in the heat of the
combat which aim at deceiving the enemy as to the motives
which underlies the deed. The evils of cunning and slyness, how-
ever, are redeemed in the animal from the fact that they are
applied only in cases of emergency, i. e. when the life-interests
of the animal are in danger, in the strict sense of the word.
Therefore the animal's habit of cunning and slyness are in no
ways identical with the hypocricy and lies which distort the

303

life of human-kind. Nevertheless it makes us feel grave to think
that the impulse to use trickery in the struggle-for-life was
inherent in the breast of man almost before the divinity in man
began to awaken; it was the characteristic, he was already in
possession of as representing a piece of property which had
been bequeathed to him from the animal-kingdom. Observe
now the make up of the inheritence received from the animal.
Instead of the Wish-to-Goodness and Beauty there is the sole
interest in utility. In place of charity, hatred towards every-
thing which threatens its life, and in place of the Wish-to-Truth
the use of strategem, when danger of death is near.

The majority of mankind indeed live similar lives. Nothing
varies the state of their emotions which change alternately from
hatred to indifference. When they have to work, they are
animated with the thought of the profit it brings, otherwise they
prefer being indolent. Passing sexual-intercourse makes up the
rest. Yet they are without the benefits which the animal enjoys,
in that it is oblivious of the past and suspects nothing of the
future, for the awakening of reason has changed the whole
course of man's life. Reason has built a bridge of errors in order
to span the gulf between natural death and the Immortal- Will.
In similar manner it has tried to span the gulf between the
demands of the struggle-for-life and the divine-wishes existing
in the soul of man, but that bridge likewise was built of errors.
Just as the course of development found its way to spiritu-
alisation, in spite of all the deviations reason seemed obliged to
make, and the yawning gap disappeared, the divinity in man
subjected vital-desires to divine-wishes, so that unity came to
pass.

In very early times, already, men were fully conscious of the
fact that the vital-desires strongly clashed with the divine-ones.
The contrariness and antagonism which had sprung up between
the two began to appear almost insurmountable. To prevent this

304

state continuing men thought out means to overcome the diffi-
culty, but these have proved since to have been of a very
erroneous and uncouth kind. One of these primitive methods
still exists to-day and might be called the worst of its kind.
It is the habit men have of wrapping up the divine-trends into
space, time and purpose. Having thus been stripped of their
divine nature, it was an easy matter to bring about a union. (We
have already treated these attempts and the results which
followed). The second method which cropped up with the same
regularity as the first in all the religious teachings of the past is
just as erroneous, because of the awful ignorance which is
revealed concerning the meaning of life, the law of life, as well
as the true nature of God, although a greater spirit of respect
is manifested towards the divine-wishes. It teaches that, as vital
desires are contrary to God's Will, the only escape from them
is through the practice of asceticism and the denial of the world.
Consequently the monk's cell was resorted to, where, in hours
of prayer, sin could be overcome. Undoubtedly this was a life
which was dedicated to God, but undertaken in such a onesided
way and in utter ignorance of the fact that the vital-desires
are capable of being sublimated and united to the divine-wishes.
While the asceticism of the monk considered sexuality to be
the worst sin against God but surrendered itself willingly to
the temptations which the enjoyment of eating and drinking
offered; another kind of religious-ideal considered fasting to be
higher than chastity in the eyes of God so that in this case the
food taken was not only limited to the smallest quantities but
also to certain particular kinds. It was thought that such rules
would help to lead a man to God: In Theosophical and Antro-
posophical-circles a kind of divine cookery book has made its
appearance according to the recipes of which a state of perfect-
ion can be concocted. The origin of these fallacies are to be
found in the doctrines of Buddha and Krishna which cropped up

305

at the time of the decline of the Indian race. Christianity
adopted very many of those creeds, but the errors, we have just
mentioned, are not preached in the gospels in this way exactly,
although the surrendering of one's possessions is claimed to be
a good way to gain salvation. The Indian exhibits a greater
independence of fate than the Christian does. The Indians
sought to overcome the conflict, existing between existence and
God, in that they strove for an attitude of greater indifference
to fate. Their myth of rebirth aided them in their efforts. It
admonished them to disdain struggling for life also for life's
joys and sorrows should they wish to gain that state of inward
peace essential for the sinking into contemplation which is the
participation in divine life. Notwithstanding the fact, that the
Indians were a folk of deep philosophical-trend, their religion,
like all other religions which teach of a life in another world,
lacked the drive and potency to genuine divine contemplation.
The art of Yoga which they were in the habit of teaching gives
ample witness to this fact. This contains religious-practices
which are supposed to help man to participate in the life of
God, inspite of all the impediments which lie in the way.
According to the truth which has been revealed to us, we know
that the possibility to partake in the life of God is given to us
in this life only. It is the very gravity of this thought which
animates us, and as we know by experience what the real nature
of God is there is something comic about laying down fast rules
wherewith to obtain the life in the beyond, especially when the
rules practised are those of auto-suggestion and the results which
follow mistaken for God-living (Gotterleben). Moreover we are
amazed at the doctrines which laud poverty, chastity and self-
denial, as being the adequate means in overcoming the conflict
which separates the struggle-for-life from God-living.

Verily, God-living (Gotterleben) strikes out on quite a differ-
ent path. In its endeavours to solve the problem it does not

306

allow itself to be roughly dragged into the daily routine nor
does it flee the world. On the contrary, in its own sublime way
it interpenetrates all vital-desires in subjecting them to the
divine-Will.

At the time, when mankind began to live in communities, he
sought for revenge for murder the keener his memory grow.
The impressions, however, which the results of the continual
chain of revenge for homicide left on his brain were so fatal in
the end, as to make him seek new ways to make up for the
taking of life. Goods and chattels were demanded instead of
life. Here for the first time the conception was born that guilt
should be atoned for. Later this idea, in the sacrifices of those
races who distinguished themselves by their fear of demons,
gained in significance. But not only that, goods and chattels
became suddenly of great value, in as much as they could be
exchanged for the very life of a man. As a consequence the
individual life of man also gained in value, in as much as by
such means it could more often be saved than heretofore. As
a result of this reasoning the beginnings of a foundation to
laws-of-the-land were laid (I repeat laws which were born of
reason) and simultaneously, although unintentionally, a bridge
leading to God was built. For through the surrender of goods
and chattels, instead of strife, peace and goodwill appeared on
earth which were the essentialities to progress.

The suffering, memory kept alive which had been caused to
some in the community through the selfishness of others, made
reason think it good to extend the hand of the law over all the
other ranges belonging to the protection of life and good with
the motto on her shield: Do to others as you would be done
by. At the same time, as if to balance this, there existed an
inherent selfpreservation instinct subconscious in the breats of
man (who at that time still lived in the purity of race) which
was identical with the instinct to keep the kind going inherent

307

20*

in the animal. This instinct is clearly manifested when the
animal cares for its young or puts up a tenacious fight for its
own life, or as in the case of the ants and bees (the state-builders)
the intense service each one makes for the good of the whole.
The dire knowledge what foolish behaviour man is capable of,
resulting in such infinite harm to himself, his family and his
folk, in that freedom instead of compulsory force accompanies
his selfpreservation instinct, made the wisest and best think it
proper to lay down fast rules to make up for the absence of
force in this instinct. Though these laws are born of reason and
serve practical purposes, yet the divine in man was now actually
given the first royal chance of exfoliating; in other words, the
conflict, existing between the divine and vital-trend in man, was
overcome for the first time, although unintentionally on the
part of man himself, for he could not have been aware of the
effects which would follow from all this.

Incomparably more essential in bringing about the friendly
relationship between the two worlds (here and beyond) was the
power of the divine, as it grew conscious-in-feeling together
with the support it received from the doctrine of charity which
for its part had been prompted through the natural desire man
felt to help his fellowmen. Such deeds were called the 'social
virtues' and became, eventually, the means of building an expan-
sive bridge connecting the struggle-for-life with God. The fatal
results which issued later to the general detereoration of so
many folks of the earth came about when charity was being
practised without any discrimination and the duties to family
and folk were neglected as a consequence. This evil had its
origin when the Buddha and Krishna creeds of a coming
'redeemer* found acceptance in the Indian folk after it had
become degenerated, and when later the Jewish Apostles added
their creed of hate towards others who did not profess the same
creed; this evil, in that it was a race destroying element, grew

308

even worse. Thus then, the bridge, leading from the struggle-
for-life to the realms of God which had promised such success,
had become now also the means of the folks' destruction. In the
one great virtue, called charity, (humanity) all the other
opportunities which the wish-to-goodness offered were over-
looked, so that it came to pass that genius came but second to
the demands which the practice of this virtue made on him.
More even, as the consequence of this ignorance the divine
wishes got all mixed up with the duties owed to the common-
law (laws of the land). And this error happens to be the worst
which still exists in the morals of today. Yet, despite this grave
error, the bridge, leading from struggle-for-life to God, still
holds, for indeed the common-laws and charity have bestowed
a great blessing on mankind.

Another great aid was the progress in the development of reason
itself. Although reason is capable of erring and in having often
done so caused the struggle-for-life to become so degenerated
and full of unnecessary hardships; through reason, nevertheless,
the struggle for the bare necessities of life, that is, the life we
think of as being contrary to the life led in the light of the
divine-wishes, has been greatly improved. To understand what
this means, we have but to bear in mind the immeasurable
benefits to mankind which the cognising potencies and insight
of man's reason have brought; for instance every time he was
able to perceive the prime-cause amidst the cosmical happen-
ings. By virtue of his reason's potencies man has become the
master of the forces of nature instead of their slave: What once
was of danger man has turned into his service, something
which the animal mind was incapable of doing. Hence, the
struggle-for-existence has been made comparatively easy for a
great number of individuals provided of course, that the
vississitudes of war and catastrophes of nature have been spared
them. From this might be expected, that less stood in the way

309

of the fulfilment of the divine-wishes, than in those far-off
centuries when the forces of nature had not been mastered yet.
But it is not so, for the steady increase of population and the
evil effects which the state of degeneration leaves behind it has
rendered the struggle-for-existence even more difficult than it
ever was, so that it goes almost without saying, that the
marvellous bridge, crossing from here to the beyond, has been
laid almost barren through reason's evil concoctions.

Yet the influence of the trends of God's Will, inherent in the
breast of man, have caused the trend of his animal emotions
and instincts to be so closely interpenetrated with these, that one
might well speak of a 'divine' transformation. They have
formed another bridge, more beneficial and of more importance
which man could use if he desired to enter the realms beyond.

As we have already observed, the fundamental sensation of
all vitality was hatred. It was the sole sentiment which was
capable of arousing the living-being out of its habitual lethargy
and was directed against everything, without exception, which
might threaten in any way its own life. Now, as man, unlike the
animal, cannot forget the past, the feeling of hate, in particular,
has proved to be the worst of all God's enemies. It is apt to
paralyse terribly the feelings of charity; in so many cases it has
suffocated altogether the wish-to-goodness, and it has rather seen
lies than the wish-to-truth triumphant. Alone the wish-to-beauty
it leaves unattacked. For this reason the sense of beauty has had
a better chance to develop in the cultural folks than the other
divine- wishes have. We are not surprised, therefore, that Buddha
and Krishna, in face of this awful danger to God-living, felt
obliged to create those world-religions of humanity which
chiefly contained doctrines preaching the resignation of hate.

In those creeds man was admonished to quench the feeling
of hate within him altogether. He was told that if he practised

310

the virtue of charity, he could even turn his hate into love. What
a fatally absurd idea this was! If a man should ever succeed in
rooting out his sentiments of hate, he would have first to
extirpate his own innate Immortal- Will, for, as we have clearly
perceived hate has its origin in the Immortal-Will of man,
which, by the very law of its being, must flare up into hate in
order to give the signal that life is in danger. Thus then, the
results of the exhortation to resign hatred in reality looked like
this: In many ways it appeared as if hatred had been successfully
overcome, in reality however it still worked disaster in the soul
of man. It is a pity we must refrain here from discussing the
sublime way of redemption, where, under the divine influence,
hate can be successfully transformed so as to be fit even for the
service of God. We should be going too far into the range of
our morals. But one thing we should like to mention here, and
that is, if the sentiments of hate are put under the guidance of
the divine- Will, the deep gap which it usually makes will be
easily bridged over, for harmony instead of discord will reign
with God then.

The vital-instincts, inherited from the animal, work also in
a contrary direction to God. But here also, the divine-wishes
are able to overcome the conflict in their own sublime way, they
can either interpenetrate the vital-wishes or loosen them from
their bondage. Both ways are far superior in its kind to the
petty endeavours springing from the reason which the Indians
and Christians put forth when they preach of the resignation of
the sexual and food-instincts. God demands neither chastity nor
fasting from mankind. On the contrary, potential life in the
individual as well as in the race is holy and significant to God,
for the simple reason that the life in the realms beyond can be
assured to man only as long as he lives. Therefore God respects
all sane vitality in allowing all the conditions essential to it.

And when the vital-instincts threaten to become stumbling-
blocks which hinder man's partaking in the divine-life, it is
again the divine influence which steps in and liberates man from
his vital-instincts altogether. For instance, a creative artist can
go on for days without almost any food when he is particularly
taken up with his artistic production. Being then in the realms
beyond, hunger and thirst are practically not felt. Days and
nights will be passed in utter disregards of the wants of the
body. But as soon as the state of genial production has passed
over, the body demands its rights again. Then the artist, not
like those hypocrites who believe a good appetite to be some-
thing unholy, will satisfy the wants of his body with right good
will. In this way, then, God-living is enabled to escape with
case from the bondage of the strict rythmical beat of the body's
want of food and its satisfaction, when its subjection to these
would mean a hindrance to the realisation of the divine Will,
namely that time a man spends in the life-beyond. A sane person
will always refrain from exaggeration, even in this respect, in
the sure knowlegde that the satisfaction of the natural demands
of the body is essential in order to lead a healthy life, for earthly
existence is the prime essential to the living of the Life-Immortal.
In this endeavour, therefore, the impulse for food should neither
be mortified nor unnecessarily restrained. What really matters is,
that it should get rid of that trait which is so awfully hostile
to God and which makes it so difficult for a man to live his
life in God, in those realms where time is not. We are thinking
of the antigodlike habit man has of strictly timing all his
experiences with the slavelike regularity of the machine! Un-
fortunately man succumbs to this fault only too readily, thus
making it so difficult for himself to bring the daily struggle-for-
existence to harmonise with God. Moreover all the numerous
inventions of his own reason's making appear to fetter rather
than free him from the enslavery which the living of his life

means when he divides it strictly according to time. We shall
treat this again.

There is another feeling of pain and discomfort, from which
a like divine escape is undertaken when it tends to act as an
impediment to man in his participation of God, and that is
the feeling of pain caused from illness. These arc practically
not felt at all, when the patient lives God. In fact, it is amazing
to what extent the insensitiveness to pain will grow, provided
the divinity in a man was been keenly developed. (Of course
it must be clearly understood that by this we do not mean
anything which is connected with the painless zones of hysterical
individuals.) Nor must we think that merely distraction is
required, should this state of utter insensitiveness to pain be
gained. Incidently, Christian-Science has occupied itself with
this problem with the result, that the truth has suffered complete
misinterpretation. This singular behaviour towards pain which
a patient will manifest during illness has led to the belief in the
fallacy, that pain is one of the 'corrective means of the deithy',
sent to man for his salvation. The different conditions of the
patients rest chiefly on the nature of his liberation from pain.
Is it of a divine nature, this will be reflected in the patient's
whole behaviour; while the mind of the one concentrates itself
wholly on the diseased part, the other, it will be observed, will
give hardly the sufficient attention which even the doctor might
think was due to his illness. On the contrary, if the endeavours
to gain a living left him little leisure while he was able to get
about, the sick-room will be dear to him in that the chance is
given him to partake of God in peace. And it is this divine peace
only which is able to obliviate pain. In the keen occupations of
the practicalities of life or in the passion of the chase after
avarice or ambition men will be made to forget their pains too,
but never are these distractions appropriate like the workings
of the divinity are in making men so divinely insensitive to

3*3

pain. But, of course, whereever the intensity of the pain is
greater than the attained state of insensitiveness, these will
prevail, calling man's attention to them imperatively.

Now that we have finished demonstrating the independence
of physical defects which Godliving manifests, ve must turn
to denounce as error the statement that bodilj health and
power are a hindrance to the development of the di/inity innate
in man; this is most certainly not the case. On the contrary,
complete health of, all the soma-cells is of vital importance in
order to achieve that state of keener consciousness which facil-
itates the endeavours of a man to live according to the divine-
wishes of God's Will. If, however, the subjection of the vital-
instincts to the divine-wishes has been neglected and by reason
of this fact have remained still at the animal-stage and as such
are contrary to God, they will be more capable of hindering the
development of the divine- wishes, than the weakened instincts
in the case of the bodily infirmed. As the religious moral-creeds
exercise such an extraordinary influence over the majority of
mankind, few have been really able to subject their bodily-
desires to the Will of God, and as a consequence it has become
almost essential for a man to have weakly developed passions,
should he be able to do justice to the Will of God.

This fact brings us round to face sexuality as being opposed
to God. How can this be put right? During God-Living, the
influence of God is so strong that sexual-passion disappears of
itself, so that its opposing effect is hardly obvious. However,
the best way to overcome the opposition is to associate the
sexual-will to the divine-wishes. The more this takes place, the
greater will it be dependent on the fact in how far the divine-
wishes are satisfied or dissatisfied. When finally sexual-will and
divine-wishes have become inseparable, the conflict between the
two Will have disappeared altogether, if but from the fact that
the desire for any sexual-communion would disappear, as soon

as it threatened to stand in the way towards God, without a
man feeling anything extraordinary about the matter. In effect,
sexual-passion, provided it is held completely under the sway of
its association with the divine, can be raised to that rank which
we shall henceforth call spiritualised minne. Once in this rank,
it becomes the most powerful aid in the fulfilment of the divine-
wishes which before might have slumbered. Then, not only the
experience of joy becomes divine, but the experience of suffering
also.

When we come to demonstrate our morals of minne, we shall
be obliged to concern ourselves, first with the fact, that man
has done very little towards supporting this relationship, in
that he has allowed the errors, caused by his reason's inefficiency
to perceive more than the half of truth to gain the upperhand
and in doing so has widened the gulf, already existing between
divine-wishes and sexuality.

We have already noted that among the divine-wishes, the
Wish-to-Beauty was less exposed to injurious hatred. It might
have had therefore a greater chance to exfoliate, had man, like
the animal, been permitted to live in closer connection with
nature, practising just the vital-demands (like the animal does)
which existence lays on him. As it is, the struggle-for-life has
been made so difficult in the noisy towns through the density
of which the rays of light and air can hardly ever pervade, that
the sense of beauty is under continual insult. Men, famished for
the want of beauty, are doomed to live all their lives in the most
ugly surroundings, making the divinity-in-perception more
opposed than it natural was towards that struggle in the general
chase for the practical. But here again God comes to man's aid!
Just as the influence of the divine was capable of releasing the
ties of time which threatened to make him the slave to his
bodily-instincts, in like manner the divine influence releases him
from the ties of space which bind him to ugliness. Sometimes

this happens through the power of imagination (phantasy) which
God makes use of. It becomes the magic wand which throws
the fairylike veil over the matter-of-fact, every day things,
making them appear to be things of actual beauty. Men, who
are full of God, will grow immune to an sting of ugliness until
at last they become simply oblivious of its existence. It puts
us in mind of the animal way of ignoring the objects around
it which happen to be neither of any use nor any harm to its
person. Therefore we conclude from this observation that men-
of-genius exhibit the same behaviour towards the ugliness which
they cannot escape from as the Greeks exhibited when they
nominated such inevitable ugliness, the 'non-existing' without
however their divine blindness being the cause for them to
neglect the necessary every day duties. In such men, on the other
hand, the divine-wish-to-beauty makes itself strongly felt.
When and whereever anything really beautiful strikes their eye,
their attention is keenly attracted, making them follow attent-
ively the thing of beauty with the same intense feeling as the
animals exhibit when anything useful or hostile makes its
appearance before them. Thus the men-of -genius, living in the
dirty ugliness of big cities, are saved from those moods of
melancholia which would inevitably befall them if their want
of beauty were not in some way or other redeemed.

Thus then, we are justified in summing up as follows. Man's
saviour is his God-living and not his reason, in as much as the
gulf which the awakening of reason created between the
struggle-for-life and the desires of man to live in realms beyond
was made to disappear again through the gradual process of
spiritualisation. The ways, this took, were, as we shall see, very
diverse. In the first place it transformed the inheritance which
the animal bequeathed to us, in that this was made to associate
itself closely to the divine-wishes (sexuality). Secondly any
disturbing feelings, such as hunger, thirst and those aroused at

316

the sight of ugliness, are periodically banned, so that the
participation of man in the life of God can happen undisturbed.
The third way, finally, which the process of spiritualisation
goes, is in the strengthening of the divine-wishes to power. This
way bears the most importance. Mankind might have been
spared much of the suffering which the conflicting desires of this
life and the life beyond still cause even today, had the process
of spiritualisation been allowed to go its own dear way. As
it is, succeeding generations were compelled to accept all the
errors and fruits of degeneration which belonged to their
ancestors, as well as the misconceptions of God which degraded
religions suggested. The process of civilisation (the knowledge
of the laws of nature and technical inventions) might have
become means of making the divine-wishes the superiors in
man's life; whereas the fact is, that the majority have to slave
and are abused for the sake of the enjoyment and lust of the
few (s. Each folk's own song to God).

C^e jworalg of ttje

The great obstacle which has always stood in the way of
moral-development, be it the moral-development of whole races
or the single-individual, is the principle of relativity which
governs the human-conscience; this makes the 'voice of con-
science' unreliable. Notwithstanding this, a development in morals
could have been expected; for in reality, this feature is a great
blessing, as it alone affords man the possibility of becoming
truly good. Now let us see how this can happen. In the first
place it can prevent one becoming good or wanting to be good
in order to save oneself the torments of one's conscience, for
it alone makes the alternative possible which is the deadening
of conscience in order to escape its torments. The disaster, it
has worked, came about because of man's falling to the fallacy
that he could rely on his own conscience, as being the c voice
of God'. The belief in this fallacy was strengthened through
the feeling, called a 'good conscience', which came after a 'good'
action had been done. In this way the erroneous doctrine of the
"Erynnies" originated which belonged to the Greeks. The Eryn-
nies were supposed to be persecuting the evil-doer when his
conscience was tormenting him. Similar doctrines contained in
other religions were those which taught that the feeling of a
'good conscience' was the reward for a 'good deed* and a 'bad
conscience' for an 'evil deed*. Now, not until a man has been
able to fully realise that everyone, even the most immoral, can
be the lucky possessor of a clear conscience if he but take care
to keep his conscience free from the force of the moral-suggest-

318

ions which stand in contradiction to his actions, will he be
capacitated to forsake the wretched moral-creep of the quadr-
uped and erect himself walk upright like the real hyperzoan,
he is destined to be. The first step to spiritual-exfoliation is to
show the deepest mistrust towards one's own conscience, for
the simple reason that it is swayed by the force of reason and
can therefore err.

The most degraded of men might examine the state of their
own conscience and, in the fullness of their self-satisfaction say;
"behold, it is good", if when judging, they have taken their
own warped moral conceptions as the measure. If we could but
find reasonable definitions of absolute validity for each individ-
ual case, it would be a trivial matter to put an end, once and for
all, to all the unreliable judgements which prevail. But as this
is impossible, (as we have already been able to sec) the con-
sequences are, that the most confused conceptions are mixed up
with the word 'good'. History gives abundant examples of this.
The burning of witches at the stake, and the massacre of millions
of heretics and researchers etc. will suffice to show what is here
meant. Hence we repeat again: Not reason, but God only, can
be the redeeming factor here; God-living alone is capacitated to
liberate man from the error which he has been persuaded to
believe when he thinks his conscience is the "Voice of God",
or the "Holy Ghost", and the "Pricks of Conscience" the just
punishment for evil doing, and the trust he puts in its reliability.
God-living only can reveal to us that our conscience is merely
one of the many instruments of our reason, the duty of which
is to inform us whether our actions conflict or agree with the
conception our reason has formed of morals. This will help
to explain why a Chinese can do things with the clearest con-
science which would torment a Christian with the greatest qualms
of conscience. Why we, in the fullness of our God-Cognisance,
are obliged to call certain actions of Christians "Murder" which

they think to be "Pious deeds". But not only according to race
and religion does the voice of conscience show its variety, it
differs also, in that the morals of class, family and individuals
differ.

In order to avoid the unreliable and come instead to the
reality of what is good, deeper insight is requisite. Above all
it is very necessary to know why death is compulsory, what the
meaning of life is, and why immortality takes place before
death, whereby, the preservation of self, family and folk become
duties of a most sacred import, in that they are made subject
to the divine-will, and therefore included in the wish-to-be-
like-God.

According to these truths, each individual of his own accord
will come to weigh his actions. Values will then fructuate, the
nature of which will be more and more identical with God. In
this endeavour we can be supported greatly if we live con-
sciously according to the divine-wishes The more we dedicate
ourselves to the life in God as being the essence of life, the less
we shall allow ourselves to become influenced by the confused
moral standards which call moral actions bad and immoral
actions good. The nearer too shall we be able to approach that
state of perfection from the vantage of which, we can regulate
our lives, with a somnambulic sureness, according to the divine-
wishes and the above mentioned truths. The more we try to
keep the divine-wishes alive in our souls, the easier we shall
be able to discriminate if the moral-conceptions, we have formed
by means of our reason's potencies, are likely to further the
divinity innate in action or not.

To escape from all confusion, it is essential, at first, to be
able to discriminate between morals altogether. There are the
morals of the struggle-for-existence, the morals-of-minne (the
more spiritual ised-love) arid the morals-of-Godliving.

In the field of the latter divine free will reigns supreme.

320

Right up till now, all the moral-doctrines, contained in the
diverse religions, philosophies and natural-sciences, are stigmat-
ised with just this lack of discrimination. One and all reveal
a mere motley of doctrines. There are those serviceable to the
struggle-for-life, sexuality, the life-preservation of self, family
and folk; which are merely duties and therefore belong under
the heading "Common Law" or the "Duties-of-Life" and then
those pertaining to the wishes of the divine-Will, which I have
reserved to be called alone the "Morals-of-Life", Godliving or
morals of life. Finally, there is still to be found a few dogmat-
ical and cult-commandments mixed up with this motley of
creeds. Then again the materialists on the one hand, take only
a small part of the duties pertaining to the common-weal into
consideration, especially where the duties of self-preservation
are concerned, while the philosophers on the other hand take
only a part of the range where the divine-wishes come to light
into sufficient consideration; as for example, Schopenhauer, who
was taken up in particular with the urge which men reveal to
come to the aid of their fellow-men, out of which the virtue of
charity is born. Especially in the misconseption of the morals-
of-life, as well as the duties to the common-weal governing the
life-preservation of self and folk, the "World Religions" did
infinite harm in that they pandered to deterioration of race.
("The Folk-Soul and its Modellers.") The 'conscience' of all
those religious-adherents could not have been led more astray
than it has already happened under the inducement of such a
motley of moral suggestions. The commandments given to Moses
is one of the best examples for the motley of moral command-
ments we have just been treating. Now, since 2,500 years, these
commandments have been the foundation of the Jewish religion,
and since 2,000 years they have played an essential part in the
Christian religion. Even still they are allowed to exercise their
influence over the 'voice of conscience* in our little ones. As I,

myself, have laid down moral-values (as the issue of the truths
I have been able to perceive) and, on accord of the solution
which these have afforded in solving the ultimate mysteries of
life, I am also obliged to take up a criticism of the moral-
demands prevailing to- day.

Note: These commandments, like all the other commandments
of Moses, were written down by Esra in the year fivehundred
A. D. He mostly copied them from the Books-of-the-Law be-
longing to the Persians and Indians. I have given full witness
to this in my other books. (S. book list).

1st Commandment: "I am the Lord thy God which have
brought thee out of the Land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods, before me etc." A
dogmatic instruction of Monotheism, as
well as a nice little reminder of the bene-
fits God once bestowed, fill the contents
of this commandment.

2nd Commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the
Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will
not hold him guiltless that taketh his
name in vain." The contents of this
commandment is morally degraded
through the pursuit of intention which
it reveals and therefore, morally speak-
ing, is of no value. It was once a cult-
commandment originating from the fear
of demons. At the time Esra wrote it
down, the conception prevailed that in
the calling out of its name a demon could
be disposed of.

3rd Commandment: "Remember the Sabboth day, to keep it
holy, 6 days etc." This is a divine- wish

4th Commandment:

5th Commandment:

6th Commandment:

7th Commandment:
8th Commandment:

as it calls men to God, but is spoilt
through the command it gives sound to.
"Honour thy father and thy mother, that
thy days may be long upon the land
which the lord thy god giveth thee",
belong partly to the duties-of-life owed
to the common-weal in its demanding
subjection, and partly to the laws-of-
God, but which is spoilt through the
promise of reward, as this indicates the
pursuit of purpose.

"Thou shalt not kill", is one of the
duties-of-life owed to the common-weal,
but put in a completely immoral way,
as it does not provide for folk-defence
in the event of war nor self-defence in
the case of emergency.
"Thou shalt not commit adultery" is a
divine-wish, although lessened in its va-
lue through the words 'thou shalt' and
also a duty-of-life owed to the common-
weal.

"Thou shalt not steal" is one of the
duties-of-life owed to the common-weal.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbour" could have been
called a divine-wish, had the words
'Thou shalt' and 'thy neighbour* been
left out, for these represent both a com-
mand and a limitation which should not
be, and is therefore a part of the com-
mon-duties (common law), owed to the
common-weal.

3*3

9th Commandment: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's
house etc." is a repetition and extension
of the 7th Commandment, in that it
points to the sin which can be committed
'in thought' also. Thus also it belongs
to the duties owed to the common-weal.

10th Commandment: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's-
wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-
servant, nor anything that is thy neigh-
bours." This is a repetition and extension
of the 6th and 7th commandments, and
therefore belongs also to duty (common-
weal).

Now of all these ten commandments (which in religious in-
struction, by the way millions are made to believe, are the
veritable foundations of morality) two repeat themselves, so
that in reality there are only eight instead of ten. And among
these, only one (keeping the sabboth holy) can be said to be
a pure and disinterested divine-wish, because no purpose is
attached. Three of these commandments are mere claims which
the common law makes on mankind, and as such are self -under-
stood. In fact the penal-law of our state demands their fulfil-
ment. Therefore they have no right at all in religious instruct-
ions. As for the rest; one commandment is a dogmatic claim;
a second, a divine-wish (corrupted, however, through the pro-
mise of the reward it contains) as well as being merely one of
the duties-of-life; a third prohibits the calling up of demons;
and a fourth a divine-wish corrupted through making a com-
mand of it and a duty-to-life (common-weal); "Thou shalt
not commit adultery and thou shalt not covet they neighbour's
wife" sound particularly edifying, when heard from out the
lips of a young child. Altogether the conceptions, contained in
the ten commandments, seem nothing but a mass of confusion

3*4

when seen in the light of our philosopny. Yet historical value
at least could be procured for them, were the children taught
that they were extractions from the laws composed by the
Indian Manu; laws which in themselves were partly of a very
exalted kind and partly very profane. In every case this would
lead to a better understanding of the tremendous insight into
truth which, in the course of the long centuries, man has been
led to gain under the guidance of the divinity within him. But,
unfortunately, our children hear nothing of the like. On the
contrary, instead of hearing that the commandments (as we
have just said) are merely distorted extractions from the law-
book of an Indian, they are told, that the ten commandments
were revealed to Moses by the God of consummate excellence.
Owing to this fact, these commandments become the very cause
of the confusion which often goes on in the child's breast and
which hinders it in developing spiritually. More often than not
it is the very cause why the lowest stage can never be surpassed
a whole life long.

Innumerable examples of the like kind can still be found
which have their cause in the unutterable moral-confusion of
the prevailing creeds. From the same cause the general estimat-
ion of character is also made up of a motley of truth and error.
Just observe for a moment those men who are standing upon
the top-rung of the moral-ladder. They are thought to be men
of 'good' character, or honourable men, not because they have
cultivated the divine-wishes within them, for, on the contrary,
they have stunted them; and not only because they have hon-
estly endeavoured to gain a living for their family, but simply
because they have succeeded in amassing the family-fortune.
Look how they walk through life in the firm belief their
characters and achievements are "Good". Their self-satisfied mien
plainly reveals it. They are believed to be the 'clever, smart,
dutiful family-fathers' and enjoy the admiration of all around

them. Along side of them, on the very same 'high rung* of the
moral-ladder, housewives will be seen standing. Now observe
how little the divine-wishes are alive in them, but how the
more industrious they are in the welfare of their family, yet
not to keep God alive in the members of their family, nor in
the work of gaining the bare necessities of a living for them
(these would be noble purposes), but all what seems to matter
to them and on which their minds are solely bent is the preparing
of the meals to the enjoyment of everyone's palate. On that
peculiar moral-ladder, where the men stand blessed with a 'good
character', others, of-course, are suffered to stand as well, but
lower down, as long as these fulfil the demands which the
struggle-for existence makes on mankind. There God-living
matters little in men's estimation of them here. Moreover, among
the group of 'bad' characters, there can also be found the same
kind of mixed society. Among these 'bad' characters some are
called 'antisocial', because of their disrespect for the ordinary
duties of mankind; there is no distinction drawn between those,
whose convictions are due to genius being very strong within
them, albeit the sense of their direction may not be divine, and
others, who in the greed for money and through the degener-
ation of their instincts, disrespect indeed the sacredness of the
common-law. The most curious of all among the crowd of 'bad*
characters, however, are those individuals whom the super-
ficiality and confusion of the prevailing morals fill with indign-
ation, and in wanting to 'better the world' endeavour to release
mankind from the fetters of the prevailing ideas in that they
themselves strive to give the example of a new standard-of-
morals.

Hence, as all this means that the claims of God and the
claims of gaining-a-living have become so entangled, the only
way to find a solution is to treat each different claim separately.
We must make a clear distinction between the claims God makes

326

on the struggle-for-life and the instincts of man, and God-
living of man Itself. The aim of the latter is the strengthening
of the divine-wishes of the divinity within man's soul. There-
fore we must necessarily classify our code of morals as follows:
Duties-of-life: (The common-laws owed to the common-weal
as being thought of as the unwritten laws-of-the-land), the
morals of the struggle-for-life, the morals-of-minne (the spirit-
ualised love) and the morals-of-life.

It was fatal for the religions not to have suspected the evolut-
ion of man from the animal; not to have known of the spirit-
ual inheritance which the animal had bequeathed to man, for it
bereft them of the most important hypothesis. It was natural
therefore they should remain ignorant of the fact, that the
instinct which forced the animal to preserve its own life and
that of its kind had to be made up for somehow in the human
community; therefore laws to this effect, under strict penalty if
neglected, could be the only recompense for the lack of the sure
instinct which the animal possesses. I call these laws the Duties-
of-life. They are completely different in their nature to those
moral-laws I have called: the Morals-of-life. For the trait of
divine voluntariness distinguishes the latter, that means to say,
neither punishment nor reward has any influence over them;
divine free-will, the aim of which is to bring man's will in unity
with the will of God, is supreme.

These special duties, (among the range of the duties-of-life,)
which answer to the purpose of preserving the life of self, family
and folk as well as preserving the spirit-of-God in the single
individual, we cannot stop to treat here. Space has been given
to them in the second part of my triple-work entitled "Works
and Deed of the Human-Soul". The main points have been
clearly and briefly indicated with the aim in view of being
comprehensible to everyone in a booklet, entitled "Extracts from
the God-Cognisance of my Works".

3*7

However, the point we should like to lay stress on in this
book is, that the morals-of-minne (the sublimated sexual-will)
and the morals of the struggle-for-life should always be sub-
jected to the divine-wishes with the aim in view of giving divine
sense to our lives.

Knowing what the meaning of the life of man is, and what
the animal's struggle-for-life means, it is clear that any errors
arising in this respect will always stand in the way of man's
living the life in God. In our observation of the animal-king-
dom, it has been clearly revealed to us how much easier the
struggle-for-existence, in the way the animal fights it, can har-
monise with the divine-wishes. This is because there is no other
aim than the one to preserve life, so that, except in cases of
emergency when cunning is made necessary, hypocrisy is un-
known. Thus our morals of the struggle-for-life make a peculiar
demand on mankind: Forsake first the path of degeneration
and confusion and return again to the amoral nature which
characterises the animals' struggle-for-existence.

How did the perils of degeneration arise? Like this. Through
the power-of-memory the experience of every and sundry joy
or pain could be held fast in the grasp of conscious remem-
brance, and, through the power-of-reason, experience was gained
respecting the rules governing the cause of happiness. The results
of this were that a novel kind of struggle-for-life arose, which,
although quite unknown among the animals, was possible in the
life of men, notwithstanding the fact, that their intelligence
had little of the nature of the divine. This was characterised
by the struggling endeavours to enjoy as much and as often as
possible. By and by this novel type of combat came up to the
front and takes up the most part of man's life, although
curiously enough, through the development of his reason, the
actual struggle-for-existence had been rendered decidedly easier.
But of this fact men seem completely oblivious. They struggle

on untiringly without once stopping to sink into that stately
attitude of peace which so beautifully distinguishes the animal
when its labours for a living are over for a while. Men drive
on from one state of pleasure to another. Instead of a just
appeasement of hunger, the indulgence in too much and too
good eating has become the ugly habit. Sexual-communion takes
place, not in that holy spirit which strives for the maintance of
the kind, but merely to indulge in the lewdness-of-lust. For such
purposes the possession of riches, of -course, are of great import-
ance, for riches make a man independent of working for his
living as well as give him the facility to prepare and heap up
pleasure for himself. To slave a life long for this aim is
generally 'understood* to be the right thing to do.

In still another respect has reason been able to transform
life. When families gathered together into one folk-body to
be ruled by a 'state', the consequences which arose were obliged
to be different from those which arose in the animal-kingdom,
as men were endowered with reason. Of- course, in the human-
state individuals also work for the common-weal. But as the
possibility always remains for the individual 'servant* in the
state to be full of that novel instinct of man's own invention,
that is, the chase after pleasure and amassing of fortune in order
to escape working for a living, (all of which he can do at the
cost of his fellowmen through the potencies of his reason) the
unjust division of property was obliged to make its appearance
in the human-community. So it came about that while some
could amply satisfy all their desires, others had to work hard
for the bare necessities of life. These abuses can have the support
or the rejection of the state, but never will they be completely
eliminated from human society, until each individual man has
succeeded in changing his mode of spiritual-life, that means to
say, until he stops his chase after mere pleasure, or in better
words until he stops being merely a 'fortune hunter*. Now those

who are acquainted with the laws which render the soul's 'im-
prisonment' which I have taken particular trouble to explain
in the third book entitled "Creation of Self" of my triple work
"Origin and Nature of the Soul", will hardly be inclined to
believe such a change can be brought about in the soul-life of
man. But our God-Cognisance has indeed the power to redeem
man from his pursuit of happiness; its fruitful influence, in
this respect, works more to the improvement of these human
grievances, than any change which the law could bring about.

Now, as it proved impossible in the past to evade the in-
justice of overloading the majority of intellectual and manual-
workers for the benefit of the few, ways and means had to be
thought of in order to give these unfortunate ones a sort of
recompense for the disproportionate remuneration which the
state was rendering them for their services. So, in order to keep
them going cheerfully, mere work was raised to the standard
of virtue in that it was made to believe that work was born of
the Wish-to-Goodness, and as such was an action of a divine
nature. This was a pernicious thing to do and has caused much
confusion in man's moral state as a consequence, as well as it
has helped greatly to stunt the divine wishes within him. It was
thought that as the wish in man to be good is closely connected
with his Immortal-Will, (this we have already clearly perceived
to be true) the possibility was given him to earn immortal-life in
'heaven* through the diligence of his work. Therefore, work
became a duty which in reality was a mixture of moral as well
as immoral achievements, instead of the duty it is which is to aid
in giving a deeper sense to the lives of men, in that it serves
in the maintenance of self, family and folk. This fallacy would
never have gained such a hold on the minds of men, had it not
been for a twofold circumstance which made it appear so essent-
ial and desirable. While.the animal is only allowed a very
short time to remain under its mother's care, to have then to

take up the struggle-for-life itself which means it must search
for food and defend itself in danger; with man the case is differ-
ent. Owing to a much slower process of development, the child,
fortunately, is spared the trouble of gaining a living for many
years to come. Parents take this trouble off the child's shoulders.
This, of-course, is of vital importance in the development of the
divine-wishes in a child, but which also can bring harm. I have
fully treated this subject in "The Child's Soul and its Parents'
Office". It can be the cause of the child taking it for granted
that the endeavours to gain a living should be taken off its
shoulders, as the impression of its childhood can be retained
consciously in its memory. As it is, men in general, are apt to
consider their work, in the endeavours for a living, to be a
great 'achievement'. In this judgement, they are often supported
by the trait of inherent laziness' (indolence) which they have
inherited from the animal-world and which is still greatly in-
dulged in, inspite of man's greed for pleasure, as only danger
and hunger seem capable of overcoming it. Now, to come back
to the young child. As it receives from its surroundings the im-
pression that, in the aim for a pleasurable existence, utility in
the struggle-for-existence is the most important, it is only natural
when it exhibits a habit of indolence at school in subjects which
are not exactly associated with getting-on in the general struggle-
for-existence. Of-course the great mistakes made in the choice
of educational-subjects, and the peculiar manner in the system
of teaching (pedagogic), are also causes for the indolence of
children. (See the above mentioned book, chap. "The Sign to
Knowledge" and "Modellers of Judgement".) Thus then, in
order to inspire diligence, the most potential means are requisite;
the child therefore receives the instruction, both in the form of
poetry and prose, that work has its reward. Both heavenly and
earthly gains are the recompense.

The preaching, that work was a virtue, found substantial

support in the divine-joy-of-creation which is one of God's
wish-fulfilment. Now, through that confused moral-conception
which told that all kind of work was in itself virtue, this joy
was extented to every and sundry achievement, so that every-
thing done was accompanied with a 'good conscience'. Besides
which, the favourable effect which work had on men of a lower
standard (Carlyle) convinced men all the more that work in
itself was a virtue. Undoubtedly it was true, that through work
the dangers could be evaded which sprang from degenerate in-
stincts (due to reason). For instance, the distraction from the
sexual-instincts, and the weariness which overcomes the body
after hard work has been done obviously helps to keep down
the strength of the temptation, in much the same manner as
sport effectively influences the really indolent who absolutely
fight shy of work; so that it goes without saying, men will
always be tempted to believe that every kind of work is the
greatest blessing in the life of mankind; is it not like the 'mag-
ician* who can drive away c evil spirits'? Now, in reality, work
succeeds very little in vanquishing the 'evil spirits'. At the best,
it can only hide them from the world around; the greatest
industry will not prevent them working their evil way in a
man; so that it often occurs that they revenge themselves for
having been hidden so long, when then an unbridled beast of
prey can be born. There are other kinds of 'evil spirits' which
are not connected with sexual-instincts, but which work is still
less capable of keeping down. On the contrary, the doctrine
that all kind of work is a virtue, has been such an incitant, that
infinite harm has been done. For instance, how many industr-
ious persons there are, who, through the good opinion they
have of themselves (good conscience) and the favourable public
opinion which surrounds them, are seduced to give way to the
most obnoxious trends in the passion they show for work!
Notwithstanding the success achieved already in having raised

33*

work to the pedestal of virtue, there was still very much evil
left for the state to rectify. So many sacrifices were being made
daily, for which meagre wages and the protection of the law were
a poor recompense. Innumerable individuals were kept at work
like ants to break down in the end exhausted. Work is a 'virtue'
had its effect only, where the really noble-minded were con-
cerned, in whom the desire to be good (the divine Wish-to-Good-
ness, as we have termed it) was inherently strong. On all the
others in whom this characteristic was absent, its effect was lost.
They were doomed to become inevitable failures. And so it came
to pass that the cunning mind of man invented another moral
'trick* which undoubtedly was also crowned with success; it
caused men to gain amazing achievements. Although more than
anything else it was the cause of man's degeneration! Like into
a witdiVpot human sentiments were thrown. The divine-joy-
of-creation was mixed together with the ancient joy of the
beast when it gains the victory over its enemy. To this, the
poison called 'fame is immortal* was added. The result was
the mixture known as 'the sane ambition* which, curiously
enough, men also ventured to raise to the pedestal of virtue. As
the trend-to-indolence (one of the heirlooms inherited from
the beast) is stronger in man, than the trend to ambition, the
first often kept the latter down in the case of such individuals
for whom, in the first place, it was intended; but as a state
which is made up out of a confusion of moral-laws is very
dependent on the workings of ambition, it was seen to, that
this particular trait should start its development already in
the little child. To this purpose awards and rewards were in-
vented which hardly ever failed in their effects; for by the time
a child had grown up, the divine-wishes had been poisoned
or trampled down by the aims of ambition, as many persons
around us reveal, who are nothing more than unwise schemers.
The worst evil among the many is this one however: When

333

ambition was awakened and kept alive in the young, it was not
only to answer its purpose in respects to achievements which
should make the struggle- for-life a success; it was extended
equally to the achievements which have their origin in God. In
passing, tutors make themselves accomplices of evil-doers when
they neglect to tell their pupils that ambition kills the spirit
of God within us, in killing divine talents which are the be-
ginnings of those divine-potencies of creation in later life.

Now, what do our morals say to all this confusion? When
ambition is mentioned which to God is the deadliest enemy of
all, they say: No moral value can be attached to the joy -of-
creation in, let us say, works-of-art, or in the ordinary achieve-
ments concerned in the struggle-for-life, unless the wishes of
the divine-will are fully considered, that means to say, the joy-
of-creation must be subordinate to the divine-wishes. (We shall
come back to such kind of labour very often in the course of
this book). But this moral-joy will reveal itself to be utterly
independent of the achievements of others. If they surpass it,
it will not be ashamed; if they are surpassed, it will not feel
proud. Neither is it shaken in any way by the 'judgement* which
public opinion falls on it. It is immune both to 'fame' and mis-
understanding. The first does not serve towards its development,
nor can the latter destroy it. But ambition which can be easily
recognised because its behaviour is so different to this is great
immorality, because it distorts and kills genius. If the powers
that be, allow children to be brought up at school to depend
on awards for the joy to achieve or in a spirit-of-desire to 'beat'
the others, instead of cultivating the divine spirit of moral-joy
in achieving, merely because of its own virtue, commit a great
crime against the God in the human souls which have been
entrusted to them. It is true, many persons would rather sun
themselves tranquilly (as the lion does in front of its cave),
than give themselves up to painting, poetry, scientific-research,

334

fighting in a good course, or dangerous sport just for the sake
of fame. But one thing is certain, none of all the folks of the
earth, our own included, will ever be able to recuperate from
the evil effects of degeneration, until these evil spirits men have
called up have been put again into their graves for the dead
things which they are.

Considering the infinite harm which the evil spirit of ambit-
ion does to genius in man, award, in the support of this, for
achievements which belong to the spiritual-world should be em-
phatically discarded, more so, as true genius is above reward.
And now, the holy meaning of human-life and work as a
virtue. What has this truth of our cognition to say in face of
this error? It acknowledges that work can be of a moral, immoral
and amoral kind, that means to say, there is work which is
good, work which is bad, and work which is neither good nor
bad, but which is self-understood, the neglect of which however
would be bad. For example. Work in the natural endeavour
(in the sense the animal does it) to gain a living for oneself,
one's own and one's own folk is the amoral fulfilment of the
duty one owes to on's kind and the preservation instinct of
self and is therefore selfunderstood. Neither "God nor the devir
are touched at the sight of our endeavours in the search for food
to keep ourselves and our children from starving. A state of
indolence which would prevent us from fulfilling this duty
would consequently be immorality. When all the cunning tricks,
which are used to rob the state of its due and which pillage the
working-populace, are once and for all eliminated (these render
life so difficult), and squalid overpopulation is no more, then
sufficient scope will be given to the divine- wishes inspite of
this work which has the nature of being a matter-of-course. In
order to discourage 'laziness* (which is immoral behaviour) the
morals of the struggle-for-life demand from every healthy adult

335

who has the protection of the state to earn his own living and
to look after the welfare of his children who are still under age.
All other kinds of work may be moral or immoral as the case
may be. It bears the moral character when it is completely sub-
jected to the divine-wishes. It bears the character of immorality
when it goes contrary to them. Now, God wills the life of each
individual person, that each may participate in the Immortal-
Life, (exceptions exist which we shall learn about shortly).
Therefore the work, undertaken for a man to be able to live at
all, can never bear the character of immorality, although the
same kind of work is immoral, if it is done in order to gain
superfluity of riches, especially when these are put to no good
purpose either for the one who possesses them or those around
him. All work fraught with the purpose of satisfying a man's
ambition or vanity is likewise an immoral endeavour. Observe
then, that whenever a thing is about to be done, our philosophy
asks first if it is moral or immoral. All labour, of each and every
kind, must be weighed according to the scales of the Divine-
Will and that meaning of human-life which we have grown in
knowledge of. Industriousness in the cause of immoral work is,
of course, always immorality. A man must fully weigh before-
hand and then give his promise to do the work which as a 'duty',
he then takes upon himself. According to these new rules many
would have to climb down lower, who, to-day, stand at the
top of the moral-ladder. But on the other hand, it would bring
mankind benefit, in that all would surely be more careful and
critical about the aims he intends following in life. How many
parents, for example, are there, who strive from morning until
night for the welfare of their children, and because they grudge
themselves every bit of pleasure in this endeavour, they imagine
their behaviour to be so 'good'. They heap up wealth in order
to leave it their children, and in this industrious endeavour they
forget all about God which calls for development in their own

33*

breasts; in fact, in the one endeavour hardly time or power is
left them to be able to support the development of the divine
wishes in their children either. Then, from the example they
give, their children also learn to consider goods to be of the
most vital importance in life and, under the sway of such ideas,
begin to smother the kernel which contains the essence of divine-
life in their souls. Hence, the results of the parents' 'life of
selfsacrifice' is the death of their own soul as well as the death
of the souls of the children committed to their care.

When we stop to think what else men have made a virtue of,
we shall soon see, that, besides having made a virtue of work
which they believed effected the amassing of pleasure if governed
by the principles of 'practicality and utility* (a complete mis-
understanding of causality) they have also made use of the
other two forms of thought, called time and space. Actually,
the rule of order and time have been created into virtues just
like men made a virtue of practical work. In reality, thess:
faculties are of minor importance, as they are as liable to disturb
as well as aid the development of the divine-wishes within man.
Under the impression of such a misconstruction of these facts,
parents are apt to consider the disrespect of the divine will of
less harm than the neglect to divide life into time and space,
despite the fact of the warm intention they have to save the
soul-lives of their children.

The logical division of things in space is called 'order', and
order of every kind is called 'virtue'. It can become the 'blessed
daughter of heaven' as Schiller called it; in reality, however,
it is the 'blessed daughter of reason' and can become neglected
from a twofold unequal cause. The first cause is the indolence
native to man. The animal inevitably sinks into the original
state of tranquillity as soon as the pangs of hunger and the fears
of danger have passed. This feature it has handed down to
mankind. Indolence prevents a person being orderly. The second

337

cause very often arises when men participate much in the life
of God. Their sense of order then lacks its keenness. It is
alarming sometimes to find this 'daughter of reason' absent in
men of genius, for a disorderly habit is often the cause of the
disturbance to their God-living which, as a consequence, they
not infrequently experience. The "God that reigns free in the
Ether" must indeed feel beseechingly helpless towards objects
limited to space! Men who are blessed with a keener sense of
the divine are often quite oblivious to ugliness, a fact which
we have already spoken of. This also can cause them to be
disorderly, for one is obliged to be aware of the disorder, in
order to avoid it. The reason why they are not capable of seeing
it is, because order is generally connected with beauty, and dis-
order, therefore being ugly, is for them the 'nonexistent* gener-
ally: It is not perceived. It is not curious then to find them, in
unexpected moments, intensely busy putting things in order,
for they are the moments when they have come back again to
earth. Their bad sense of order is greatly aggravated, of course,
because their spirit is always beyond the limits of space when
they are participating in the divine life and are at work for it.

In the confusion of men's ideas, little thought has been given
to find out the real cause of a man's disorder. This accounts
for the reason why the sober, matter-of-fact strugglcr-for-a-
living to whom the objects surrounding him are essential parts
of life, shows contempt for the man-of-genius for the same
reason as he despises the indolent. Moreover he lustily supports
that fallacy which is, that 'a man who shows sense of order must
also be a moral man', whereas in reality many lovers of order
are completely soulless and sometimes morally degraded as well.

In contradiction to the doctrine, 'order is virtue* our morals
say:

One must strive for order, as it is related to the divinity

338

in perception which manifests itself in the divine Wish-to-
Beauty. As long as it aids in the fulfilment of this wish it bears
the character of morality. Furthermore it is of advantage to
man in his endeavours to gain the necessities of life which is
important again for his Godliving and is therefore amoral, being
selfunderstood. In such a case, disorder would bear the character
of immorality. Finally, the state of order facilitates God-living,
a fact which will become clear to us as soon as we think of
all the time lost in search of objects which men-of-genius en-
counter through their own disorder. Order gains importance
when it aids and supports Godliving; to neglect it, in such a
case, would be immoral. Moreover it is acting immorally, when,
through disorder, we disturb the necessary struggle-for-a-living
or the Godliving of our fellowmen. Likewise we would act
immorally if, through commanding order, we arc likely to dis-
turb or encumber the Godliving of another. Thus then, in diverse
cases, order can be immoral, but, on the other hand, the state
of order or when it is demanded from another can be moral,
if it is the fulfilment of the Wish-to-Beauty. It is always
immoral, in every case, when it does harm to that in man, what
we have called the life-beyond, the life in God or "Godliving*'.

The division of time, that is, the logic distribution of activity
and repose according to the beat of time, has also been given
its value. Curiously enough, however, a 'virtue* has not been
made of it, like man was bold enough to do with order. What
could be the reason? Is it because the division-of-time was not
so closely related to the Wish-to-Beauty like order was? But
there is no evidence of this connection having been recognised
in the past. Exactly as it was unknown that the moral-state
demands the development of all the divine-wishes and not the
Wish-to-Goodness alone which also means that the Wish-to-
Beauty would not have the moral nature, did it stand in the

339

way of any of the other divine-wishes. Therefore this evid-
ently was not the reason. The division of time cropped up
much later than the division of space. Not until the increase in
population as well as other matters which rendered the struggle-
for-existence so difficult, did time-division gain importance.
Nevertheless the division-of-time has grown to be highly estim-
ated. What does our philosophy say to this?

As the division-of-time is not directly connected with the
divine-wishes, it cannot be classified among the morals like or-
der. In respect, however, to the essential part it plays in the
general struggle-for-life, it becomes a self understood matter and
therefore has the quality of being amoral. Its absence in such a
case, would mean immorality. If time and peace are made wan-
ting for the benefit of Godliving through any neglect of time-
division, this also becomes immoral. Finally it is immoral, if,
through negligence of time-division, the struggle- for-a-living or
the God-living of another is made difficult. Thus then, it is possi-
ble that the neglect of time-divison can become immoral, while
time division itself can never be classified among the morals. It
is amoral always and becomes immoral only when it is a disturb-
ance to Godliving. Now, in such a time as ours, when life is
minutely divided, it is of the greatest importance to understand
the weight of such immorality, how necessary it is to perceive it
brings about the death of God in man; for the growth and life
of God depends on the oblivion of time in order to find entr-
ance into the realms where time is not. The life of God is time-
less and must be so. Therefore it is futile to want to subject it to
the time of the clock. What a blessing it is that men are not able
to calculate how much of the Life-of-God has been destroyed
through the ticking and striking of clocks, or they might be
tempted to forget their usefulness and smash them in their
anger. Happily the God-loving man experiences no difficulties
in entering timelessness. The greater his development is in the

340

progress of his diviner-nature, the easier this becomes, so that,
despite life's necessary division-of-time, his God-living is safe,
provided of course, there are none of those untiring worldly
strugglers near to disturb his peace. For in them he will find no
sympathy at all for the slowness which he exhibits sometimes in
getting on in the world. They call it waste of time. And time is
money they think. I have called them "the Chattering Corpses"
(they really resemble ticking clocks) to distinguish them from the
God-living man, who is animated with the spirit of God. It is
funny to watch these cut up their lives and all the soul-exper-
iences life contains according to the inches of a tape-measure, so
to speak, but shocking when they dare to disturb others in the
participation of the Life-of-God and that with a good con-
science, merely because they think it good when some trivial
thing should be seen to at any a precise moment. There was
once a time, however, when even the chattering corpses were
capable of forgetting the beat of time; that happened in the
dreamland of their childhood. But the struggle of later life sober-
ed them all too soon, and because they have forgotten how to
get rid of the fetters of time, they are anxious of the quick flight
it takes. They are only aware of the fleeting side of its nature
unlike the Godliving man who is so often priviledged to partake
of life eternal. The more the spirit of God exfoliates within him,
the greater the length appears of the years that are passing. To
the chattering-corpses each year seems to pass more quickly, the
farther they leave the life of youth with its affects and dreams
behind them, and the less scope they can give to their own
imagination (Phantasy). An interesting fact which one can note
in all educational institutes, when the aim of which is to mortify
the soul, is, that all the occupations are divided strictly accord-
ing to time. One occupation will be suddenly stopped to start
another. Even prayers start precisely at such and such a minute.
These are the most efficacious means in bringing them towards

their ends. Note, for example, the Jesuit colleges, the aim of
which is to bring up young priests to be "Loyala's Corpses".*)

Notwithstanding all this, men have forever suspected that an
animosity exists between God and the habit which man has
grown into of dividing up time and space. Yet this caused but
another error. That the division-of-time and space was consi-
dered a 'virtue* was indeed a false conception, but another had
to be added which was, that, disorder and carelessness in the
division of time was a sure sign of genius. Many an artist and
researcher, in the plenitude of their divine talents, succumb only
too gladly to this error. They are all too ready to be blind to
the fact how badly they have trained their own will to discipl-
ine, how degenerate they have allowed their instincts to be-
come, and how weak they are in action, and how all this, as a
consequence, makes them unfit for the struggle-for-life. So they
shift the fault to their own genius and squander their time in in-
dolence or in the lust of their passions, instead of living and
working in the development of their genius.

And now we come round to our morals of the struggle-for-
life. These tell us to beware of indiscrimination and not call
every kind of work, diligence, order and punctuality a virtue,
but instead to consider carefully each individual case in the light
of the divine wishes and the meaning of life.

Among all the claims which reason put to the individual, when
men of the same folk clubbed together and respected each other
as a community, one seemed particularly to appeal to them. It
was, 'do to others as you would be done by'. We have already
traced the origin of this. (See above.) Now, in as much as this
law (The duties-of-life) became gradually consolidated, in that
it extended its protection to property and life so that family and
folk-preservation was assured, its dutiful fulfilment, notwith-

4 We refer the reader to the book .The Secret of the Jesuits' Power and its End", dupter .The
Training in the black Kennels".)

34*

standing, did not raise man above the moral zero point, although
the neglect to fulfil this duty which is in the interests of the
common-weal is decidedly immoral. Nevertheless, great import-
ance must be attached to the fulfilment of this duty, in as much
as man's participation in God greatly depends on it, although
the impediments to God-living which the common-law (duty)
eliminates would not exist at all, were man living solitary, in-
stead of in community as he does. What religion has taught up
till now as being transgressions against the duties-of-life, when
looked at from the light of life's meaning, is immorality, and as
such must be rejected, for, from our philosophy's point of view,
the subordination of divine deeds which issue from the divinity
in man to the results which issue from reason may never be;
every demand which the duty to life makes on us, must be close-
ly scrutinized in order to assure ourselves if its fulfilment would
be in harmony with the divine Will, in which case it would be
amoral and in the contrary case, immoral. We have drawn lines
to work on in this respect in the following chapter "Morals of
Life". Here the demands belonging to the duty-to-life have been
made sufficiently clear, so as to be a guide to action in the happen-
ings of any event, yet leaving scope for the individual to think
and judge for himself which is a matter of infinite importance in
the development of Godliving.

Among all the morals of the struggle-for-life which are in
practice to-day, there is only one which has a distinct touch of
the divine. It has already been often mentioned. It is the 'charit-
able deed', born of the feeling of pity, which has its origin in
the one divine emotion, the feeling of love towards one's fel-
lowmen. Yet, when looked at more closely, it will be found, that
there is still much to be rejected as being inadequate to fulfil our
ideal of morality. First of all, there is the indiscriminately direct-
ed love of mankind (humanity) and pity, and then comes the
fact, that the majority of the so-called 'acts of charity* would

343

have to be stripped of their attribute of virtue and left for what
in reality they are, merely actions which in the life of man must
be considered as selfunderstood. Namely the duty-to-life expects
everyone to be ready to do to his fellowman what he himself
would be done by in a similar case so that there would remain
very few, of which it could be said, issued from the wish-to-bc-
good. When we come to treat the morals-of-life, it will be noted
that "Altruism" or the selfsacrifice for others, practised indis-
criminately, is just as immoral as "Egoism", or the indiscrimin-
ate practice of self-interest is. Indeed, our standard-of-morals
expects, even in the practice of charity, a plenitude of inward
depth and profundity to enable man to understand properly
how to measure his actions according to the divine-wishes and
which, by his own free decision, in each and every sundry case
he will continue to do, until in the end, the correctness of his
judgement, as to what is moral and what is not, will have be-
come, a habit which has gained the quality of reflexibility. After
which, in the spirit of sureness he is now possessed of, he will
very likely be tempted to say to others: "Just tell me for whom
you are sacrificing yourself, and I will tell you, who you are."

But as mankind, in general, have grown so callous in their
feelings towards God, it is no wonder we are pleased to find
(amidst the spirit of selfishness which is everywhere rampant)
any traces at all of pity and diarity no matter of what moral
kind they are, although this should not be allowed to drive us
to the abuse of ignoring the dangers, for the sake of this fact
which are hidden in the prevailing moral estimations. When we
think of the towering grace man is capable of, the dwarf surely
can never serve him as a pattern!

Besides the duty-to-life, as well as the divine emotions of
pity etc., there are other conceptions, of a most peculiar kind
which also dominate the struggle-for-existence in the life of man.
These are manifested in the so-called 'morals of society*. These

344

however, are in very light touch with God. Instead of giving
support to the divine-wishes, they often oppose them. These
'morals of society* are governed by the rules of respectability
which sprang, originally, from a twofold noble source entirely
harmonising with God. The one is proud self-command together
with the gentle consideration of others, and the other is the
Wish-to-Beauty. These demand men to practice selfcontrol in
order not to give way to any outbreaks of their instincts or
affectations, as moderation in all things gives equilibrium to a
man's behaviour which is least irritating to those around him.
Through such behaviour, beauty of mien is gained; a fulfilment of
the Wish-to-Beauty. Politeness is demanded when wishes of any
kind are expressed or knowledge of the wishes of another are
desired. Man's dress and the surounding in which he lives must
comform also to the Wish-to-Beauty. Now, all these endeavours
are most certainly important. The mistake is, that the value put
on them is tremendously overrated so that, in the endeavour to
fulfil the demands owed to good-society , the vital ones are forgot-
ten. And yet this selfsame good society is not abashed at immoral-
ity of the most formidable kind. For instance, what a mockery
of the Wish-to-Truth it is, when men become so frivolous as to say,
that nothing really is shocking as long as the outward appear-
ances are kept up. What does it matter whatever happens in the
intimacy of the family-circle, as long as it doesn't leak out to
cause 'scandal'. To be in control of oneself in public is much
more important than the control of ones passions in private! In
private, even blasphemy is tolerated, that means to say, the
participation of the Life-in-God is degraded, in that it becomes
a part which has to be played in the round of social duties, a
'social call* paid on God, so to speak. Moreover, ladies and
gentlemen remain members of the church in all good conscious-
ness and remain so all their lives, confessing to it without a single
blush of shame, although, in reality they are only " Christ ians-

345

in-name" and nothing more, in that the belief they profess to
cherish has lost for them all its powers of Conviction.

Now, observe again for the second time, how the moral prin-
ciples which men have thought good to follow in the benefit of
the general struggle- for-existence have, except for the 'virtues
of society', nothing at all in common with the nature (Wesen)
of the divine. This explains for the gulf which has arisen to se-
parate the works of a divine-nature from the general struggle-
for-existence. The latter became gradually modelled on certain
lines in the existence of the higher developed folks of culture
and at first sight commands respect, although in reality it is
antagonistic to the vital interests of 'culture'. Nevertheless, every-
thing was thrown together and was called 'civilisation', no
matter how erroneous the indication was. "Civilisation" began
with the evolution of reason, when the first implements were
being made to facilitate the struggle-for-life, and the duty-to-
life began to take definite form. Therefore 'civilisation' does not
mean decayed culture (as Spengler has it); civilisation and cul-
ture are two utterly different things and have always been so
right from the beginning of time. For "Culture" indicates, that
God has become visible to the human-eye which is so, when the
labours of artists or researchers or words or emotions manifest
something of the divine-nature. On account of the great develop-
ment which reason has undergone and its consequent arrog-
ance, civilisation oversteps its grounds, threatening, in doing
so, to suppress the fruits of culture which alas! eventually can
lead to its complete elimination.

Contrary to all the other standards of morals which have
played their part in the history of mankind during the past,
ours bring culture and civilisation to agree with each other. The
struggle-for-life is given its proper due, not that it is let to go
its own way, unconcerned of divine-wishes and divine meaning
of man's life, however; on the contrary, everything concerning

34*

the struggle-for-a-living is subjected to the guidance of the di-
vine wishes, thus making it possible for man to act well, that is
to say, in accordance with the divine-wishes. In this redeeming
process however, we fear little would remain of that state which
we are wont to call to-day 'civilisation*.

347

of jminne

These morals have a peculiar history of their own which
again bears witness to the fact, that, during the intermediate
stages in the life of mankind, (between the state of absolute
ignorance and pure cognition) man was doomed to stray from
the path of truth and become the prey of error, a danger which
in the earlier stages had not befallen him. In the far back ages
when men were given to soul-cult (chthonian cult), it was gene-
ral knowledge already, that sexuality exercised a tremendous
influence on the soul of the human-individual, so much so, that
the act of sexual-communion became a cult-commandment which
at certain times had to be practiced at the grave and later in the
temples. It was also considered a 'satanic' power of tremendous
potency; for human beings, at that time, were fearful of demons.
Was it not obvious that the demons could 'rob man of his soul*
during sexual-communion? Therefore, in order to ward off this
danger, tedious cult-commandments and long ceremonies were
willingly gone through.

Finally, the fact spoken of last, experience confirmed. Seldom
could the soul interpenetrate sexuality so as to become of the
kind we Germans have called "Minne"*, the sublimated sexual-
will, so that it came only natural that this assumption should
predominate and found its expression in the "Ascetic-Ideal"

* The Goddes Mmne stood for the soul-pervaded-sexuality and was the ideal female figure among
our ancestors. In making use again of the word minne, which was generally known in the middle ages
nd indicated the gallantry of the knights. (They were m the service of minne) we must call the readers
attention to the fact, that the kind of sexual emotion for which we have chosen the word minne has
nothing at all in common with the amorous adoration of the knights of the middle ages. This was
generally mere sentimentality of a very unwholesome character, and was indeed a vain effort to make
up for the suppression and contempt which women were doomed to suffer.

348

which cropped up during the period of the decline of the Indian-
race and persisted to exist thousands of years later in Christian-
ity. The ascetic-ideal proclaimed that it was a virtue to obstain
altogether from sexual-will and was a sin to give way to any
indulgence in the same. But, as the fact could not be ignored
that sexual-communion was the essential factor in the mainten-
ance of the kind and the blessing of children to parents so necess-
ary for the extension of religious communities, the ascetic-
ideal found its complement in another moral-ideal of a second-
class kind; the ideal marriage, the virtue of which was the pro-
duction of many children. (Paul of the bible says: Marriage is
good, but not to marry is better.) The blessing which the priest
bestows, in the belief the blessing protects the soul from harm,
is identical with the old faith in the magic of the demons. The
only means adequate to ban the 'demon magic', it appeared, was
to raise marriage to a sacrament. So the wedding takes place in
church and the blessing of the priest is 'more powerful than all
the magic of satan'!

The knowledge which mankind gained through the progress
of natural-science (Darwinism) distracted man for a time from
his ponderings on religious subjects. The ascetic-ideal was over-
thrown, but in its place, a very peculiar kind of creed appeared.
It was this. Sexual-communion had neither the character of
morality nor immorality but was amoral (that is neither of the
character of the one nor the other) in as much as it did no harm
in the health of either parties which, incidently, is but the most
primitive demand which the common-law exacts. One thing,
however, was supposed to be capable of elevating the amoral
character of sexual-life to morality, and that was, when the
duty towards the perpetual kind had been fulfilled. It is not
amazing to find materialists understanding by this a kind of race-
breeding like animal-breeding was undertaken. The consequen-
ces of this idea became very fatal when Nietzsche gave it sup-

349

port. Nietzsche believed the child to be of more value than the
parents from whom it originated. Accordingly, by virtue of the
offspring alone, could sexual-communion be called a deed, bear-
ing a moral character. Even to-day countless individuals give
their support to this idea as it fits in so well with their own pur-
poses. By their behaviour they confess to it. Now, this sexual-
creed is remarkable for its own peculiarity and we are justified
in putting utterance to it as follows: "The circumstance, that I
have had a child or wanted a child, has raised my act of sexual-
connection to a moral deed, notwithstanding the fact that there
are no more offspring forthcoming."

Observe here, that instead of the priest's blessing with holy
water, the self-preservation-will grants mankind a ticket, valid
for all times, to enable him to partake in sexual-communion, as
a token of its appreciation of his having helped in furthering
the preservation of the kind!

On the basis of a conception such as this one is, no develop-
ment in the respect to the moral standard-of-minne (the higher,
the sublime kind of sexual-will) can be looked forward to;
neither will the sense of that duty be cultivated which is necess-
ary for the propagation of family and folk, namely the keeping
of the senses pure. Not until that state of disintegration be rec-
tified which has befallen the sacred laws of race-purity and
blood-consciousness can we expect any revival to enthusiasm,
and that sense of responsibility which is essential for the parent-
office. Should this once be attained, however, the proof will be
given how superfluous, nay, even pernicious it is to decry, in
itself, the chastity of the sexual-will and the sacredness of the
act of conception, in order to prevent degeneration through
overindulgence of the sexual passions. The reason, why all the
race-pure-folks of the earth (especially the Nordic-race) during
the prechristian era could be maintained throughout long ages,
was because they upheld the wisdom of their forefathers which

350

was to practice self-command in order to keep their manners and
morals pure and chaste for the sake of self, family and folk-pre-
servation. So, before we lay down moral lines on which to work
on, we must first get rid of all the religious errors belonging to
alien creeds and try and give the answer to one vital question.
What is there to prove that the act-of-reproduction makes the
satisfaction of the sexual-will a duty which comes under the
duties-to-life (common law), or what is there to prove that the
realisation of minne, irrespective of the act of reproduction, has
a moral or immoral value or that it is indifferent to any moral
value and only through the act of reproduction gains ethical
value at all? If the latter supposition were right, no moral rules
for sexuality would be required at all, as the duty pertaining
to the struggle-for-life already demands that the health of the
other party be protected. Also the sustenance of the kind can be
considered as one of the duties towards life, and as such must
be counted to the morals of the struggle-for-existence. Also that
the act of reproduction, by the very law of its being, is a duty
to life, in much the same order as the search for the food of the
family is and can likewise be gathered to the morals of the
struggle-for-life. Indeed the fulfilment of all these duties should
be a selfunderstood matter. In the same way as the animal cares
for the brood, man must be made responsible for the life and
health of his children with the aim in view of sustaining family
and folk, in order that the race, these belong to, be maintained.
But if disease of a pernicious kind has been inherited, then of-
course the childless state is the only right path to choose. Yet, is
there not something else still of even vital importance?

It remains a tenacious fact, that no sexual-connection can
take place, be its experience ever so fleeting or merely corporal,
without leaving its impression on the soul of the individual who
partook in the experience. It will either cause the soul to grow
in grandeur or decline, and herein lies the proof of our statement

351

which we here repeat; every sexual-connection possesses ethical
significance, quite irrespective of the duty-of -reproduction.

As the believers as well as the deniers of God were not always
capable of keeping their sexual-life in harmony with the moral
feelings of a profounder kind, they were prone to deny that
sexual-connection could exercise any great influence on the soul
of the human-being, be it of a fleeting, lasting, 'primitive* or
spiritualised kind. The reason for this rash conclusion came of
a manifold cause. The communities of race-conscious-men had
been scattered; the office of begetting offspring had been robbed
of its sacred character, race mixture * had been tolerated, the in-
fluence of prevailing creeds had robbed men's minds of the fact,
that, in themselves, the human instincts are pure, and finally the
degeneration of the life-instincts had set in, and quick sexual-
connections of the most superficial and unworthy character had
taken the upperhand in the general life of mankind. In reality,
the actual influence which minne exercises over the divinity-in-
deed is just as great and permanent as it is on the divinity in the
other wishes of the soul. We like much more to be reminded of
the awakening and vitalising influence which divine-minne exer-
cises on these, than be confronted with the degeneration which
issues from unworthy sexual-connection. It is almost amazing
to watch, how in the enthusiasm of their minne, the spirit of the
divinity will awaken in man's perception (the Wish to Beauty),
sometimes so strongly, as to become a potency which is creative
in the realms of art. How often have minne-experiences been
the making of a great poet or composer! It is a wonderful thing
to watch how the slumbering divinity attempts to manifest itself
in the animal-kingdom also, at the time when sex is appealed
to. I remind the reader here of the bright coloured wedding-dress
of the fishes which makes its appearance, although the fishes

* According to the Christian religion, a 'pure marriage' means when both parties belong to the
same Jewish confession, a 'mixed marriage on the other hand means when either party belongs to a
different Jewish confession irrespective of the fact that both parties might belong to the same race or not.

35*

themselves are quite incapable of perceiving the beauty, much
less admire it. Also those little birds which adorn their nests
with bright coloured stones, and others, that are songsters. How
sweetly do these sing at the time of mating! In this case, it
matters little if the behaviour of the animals is done uncon-
sciously, while man behaves consciously. The fact remains that
the slumbering divinity attempts to manifest itself at mating-
time, in the animal world as in the world of man equally, in the
garb-of-beauty. The selfsame thing happens to the divinity-in-
deed. Minne has its foundation in mutual estimation of moral
qualities.

Not infrequently, the moral-questions which concern minne
particularly are of the same nature as those are concerning the
soul-life, so that many of the moral principles ruling minne
which we have heard or read about are merely a part proper to
the moral principles of life. Generally, these handle the problems
which arise in the relation between two adults, or an adult and
the child entrusted to its care. Now in most cases the child, just
mentioned, is a man's own, and the adult either a husband or
wife with whom one lives. Therefore it is incorrect to choose
for the regulation of these questions the title "Morals of Minne ".
We are careful not to fall into the same mistake; therefore we
think good to choose the heading "Morals of Minne * for the
express purpose of solving the problems which are liable to
crop up between the demands which the divimty-in-deed makes
regarding the 'whether' which is concerned with matters of
sexual-connection. Thus then, the answer to this question will
be sought; must the communion of minne be avoided or given up
altogether, when it proves to be of an immoral character? In our
search of this solution, we must be careful not to get the question
concerning the begetting of offspring and the care for them
mixed up with this question as has generally been the case up
till now. An immoral married-life can never be made moral

353

'because it happened, and ts kept up for the sake of the children*.
What a tremendous lot of cowardice for the sake of public-
opinion, sexual serfdom, indolence to face of the tribulations
of earning a living, paucity of soul, and degradation of character
are hidden behind the motto 'for the sake of the children'! As
it is very natural to want to look after the spiritual and bodily
weal of the children there are certain exceptional cases when the
parents can live together under the same roof, provided the
situation agrees with the divine wishes. If the character of the
husband and wife are both unimpeachable, and no ugly quarrel-
some scenes liable to disturb the family peace, there is no reason
why their married-life should not take on a new form of friend-
ship which must do without any sexual-communion. It is not
probable at all that the children should ever get to know of the
change.

Yet sexual-communion which is an immoral act for the certain
reasons which make it so can never become 'moral* just because
the parents are living so 'close to one another' on 'account of
the children'.

Now, if, in the course of our examination, we put aside every-
thing which does not precisely belong to the morals of minne,
the work we have to do next will be partly of a 'negative'
character, before we can arrive at a point where the 'positive'
foundation of a sexual-law can be laid. The unwholesome and
unnatural habits which prevail today, together with the ignor-
ance and misconceptions which prevail concerning the funda-
mental laws-of -sexuality, require above all the respect which is
due to the laws of nature revealed in the history of evolution.
I have treated this subject very fully in other works.* In the
following it will be merely touched. Men must be warned not
to trust their instincts, for, unlike the instincts of the animal,

* "The Recuperation of Minne" which ii the improved edition of the "Rebirth of
Erotic".

354

theirs are not immune to evil influence. Man's instincts drive
in the trend of piling up pleasure, which reason so erroneously
upholds to be the essence of life. Only one way is open to man
should he want to rectify the fallacies born of unreason, and
that .is, with the aid of reason's potencies in the labours of
scientific-research, to find out the fundamental-laws of sexuality
according to which he should try to adapt himself.

After all the truths we have already been able to glean so
clearly from the study of the hi story-of -evolution, it is not sur-
prising that it is able to reval a complete and satisfactory plan
of the construction of sexual-community.** How clearly has
the similarity been made obvious which exists between the uni-
celled being and man; between the first and last in the rank of
animate being! Potential-immortality is the mark which dis-
tinguishes both from all the other intermediary beings. The chosen
few actually partake in the Life-Immortal. But the chance is
given to all to gain this priviledge. While the uni-celled being
brings this to pass in that it persists in living perpetually in a
corporal state, man is able to realise life-immortal in the spiritual-
form, in that he can partake of the unendlessness in endless
time. It will seem natural, after this, that the unicell should
exhibit a Will-to-approach others of its kind (let us call this,
the approachment-Will) in some different way or other in a
pure corporal form, a habit which none of the others in all the
long chain of development exhibit; finally this habit appears
again in man, the highest of all the species, in a spiritual-form,
as the approachment-Will of his soul manifested in the conscious
emotional life of the soul.

The approadiment-Will of the unicell appears like a peculiar
contrast amidst the excitement of the continual struggles between
life and death. The nature of this desire is not at all monotone.
Sometimes whole groups at a time, or only two unicellular

** "The Recuperation of Minne".

355

beings, will lie on the top of each other and, thus united, spend
a certain time together without however exchanging their cell-
kernels. The potency which enables the unicells to be attracted
to each other and remain in each others company for a while has
been called by the scientist "Cytotropism". There is another
way which has been called "Conjugation". This is when two
individuals of the same kind come in contact with each other
and partially fuse and during the period undergo a complicated
series of nuclear change. The heredity-substance has been ex-
changed. After this process is over, they leave each other and
live alone again. According to the accounts of the scientists
who are still making examinations of this process the exchange
of the chromatin, or heredity-substance in the process of 'con-
jugation* causes the rejuvenation of the unicellular individual.
The third way is the permanent union of two individuals, the
body and germ-cells of which fuse closely together, and a new
individual appears. This is called 'copulation' which means the
permanent fusion. But these are the exceptions; in general the
unicellular-being perpetuates its kind trough division. The habit
of permanent fusion, however, has been maintained in the multi-
cellular kingdom. The other two ways, the cell-attraction and
the exchange of the heredity-substance, are not taken on again
until man appears, when, besides the usual way which the re-
production of the kind is carried on in the manner of his animal-
ancestors, different kinds of spirititual forms of attraction appear
which, in their nature, are very like the three corporal forms
manifested in the life of the unicellular-being.

The cell-attraction; the life in each other's company mani-
fested by unicellular-beings and which is known as "Cyto-
tropism" are the very first bodily signs of the feelings of friend-
ship and love which we are aquainted with in the human-life,
but which can not yet deserve to be called minne. The exchange
of the heredity-substance, or, as the scientists call it, 'conjugat-

35*

ion' is the action of two unicellular-individuals which periodic-
ally unite closely in order to exchange the essential parts of
the nucleus, to seperate again rejuvenated. This is the first visible
sign which the body gives of that kind of human sexual-will
which is distinguished for its spiritualised feature; we have called
this spiritualised sexual-will minne. In this case, the spiritualising
element (its origin we traced back to the 'conjugation' of the
unicell) is strong enough to induce men and women to seek
each other's company, not merely for the purpose of the bodily-
union, but more for the sake of the exchange of that spiritual-
good which mutually attracts them. Generally, this kind of
friendship is on and off and is not that state of minne in its
sublimest form, although it is the most spiritualised form of
which the state of polygamy is capable. Finally, there is still
the union which is constant. Its faint beginnings are to be found
in the mutual attraction of two unicelled individuals which
create a new individual through the permanent fusion of germ
and body cells. This act is the symbolical realisation of that
rare jewel in the crown of sexual-connection which, by the
virtue of the spiritual good exchanged, melts the lives of two
human-beings into the mould of a spiritual unity. This is the
culmination of the wedded state, (spiritualised monogamy.) Sel-
dom do human-beings accomplish this perfect state which, in
its own faint way, the unicell could accomplish for itself. The
mere bodily-union proper to the mammals, unadorned with any
spiritual beauty, is the best they arrive at in the drive of the
sexual -instincts both have in common, and which has been
handed down to them, intact, from their animal-ancestors. When
"Copulation" and "Conjugation" come to pass in their spiritual-
ised-form in men, they are found to be independent of any
desire for offspring, a characteristic which proves its likeness to
the unicell. As the unicellular-beings perpetuate the species
through division and subdivision, and it is obvious that the

357

attraction they show for one another is a will which manifests
itself of its own accord, that means to say, quite irrespective
of any instinct to multiply. Now, as this feature is of such anc-
ient origin, it becomes clear, how necessarily fatal the consequ-
ences were, both in the past and present, because Christianity
did not regard the will for offspring as a sacred desire that
might be added to the raptures of minne, but attached an unholy
character to sexual-community altogether which could only be
tolerated when it lead to the begetting of offspring.

Let us forsake the unicellular-kingdom and go ahead in the
history of evolution in order to meet our multicelled-animal-
ancestors. These make us aquainted with the fundamental laws
of sexuality which we must gravely try to understand as being
the fundamental difference of the sexes. Once upon a time, our
ancestors were fishes which were similar to the boney fishes. Now
these multiplied by means of exterior fertilisation, that means
to say the female laid its ova in a favourable spot and then
the male passed over and fertilised them. In those days the
fundamental law of sexuality was created which to their own
downfall men have forgotten how to respect. It is this. The
discharge of the female germ-cell, as it is accompanied with
the change of the reproductive organs which is an important
factor in sexual-relationship, should be the determining factor
in the sexual-rythm. The fact, that the male-sex has neglected
to keep to this law, explains the reason of nature retaliating
in the bitter way she has done. It is the fault of the male if
so few women are priviledged to enjoy the pleasure of these
ultimate-emotions (called orgasm) which issue from sexual-
connection.

Let us now take a step higher to those ancestors of ours,
where the act of germ-fertilisation, on account of the higher
construction of the bodily organs, had to take place within
the body of the female, necessitating as a consequence, also,

358

the bodily union of the parents. The laws governing this stage
of sexuality are important to know. (Generally, mankind suffer
because they are misunderstood.) By means of the organs-of-
sense, the sexual-emotions of the male are accelerated. In the
case of man, the highest species of all, the eye takes in the sight
of the other sex. The sexual-emotions of the female-sex, on the
other hand, are caused to accelerate (the degree being gradual)
through the wooing of the male which is the most successful at
the time when the germ-cells are maturing. Here a fundamental-
law is represented, under which man, as well as the subconscious
beast, is swayed, although, through the faculty of his reason
to grasp but half which makes it therefore so liable to err, man
has completely lost sight of the importance of keeping to this
law. Now, as the female appears more often on the sight than
the male can woo, it happens, as a consequence, that the nature
of the sexual-emotions of the male makes him depend more
on the female than the female depends on the man. Thus, it
came natural, that the male-sex should have been animated
with a strong desire to suppress the female the more the indulg-
ence in the lust of passion became the aim of man's life, and
the less self-mastery was practised as being a virtue of the race
these kind of men belonged to: That means to say, the less
any real masters were wanted (self-mastered). As man was no
longer a member belonging to the subconscious community of
quadrupeds but had grown out of this stage into the stage where
he was a conscious being with an upright walk and the use of his
two hands, it became an easy matter for a man with the de-
generative characteristics, we have just spoken of, to hold in
suppression another living-being belonging to his own kind. As
the suppression of woman went hand-in-hand with the peculiar
nature of the male-sexuality, the upright gait of the human-
species and the power of the arms, as well as the mastery which
the lust-enslaved-selfpreservation-will had gained over human

359

nature, it followed, as a consequence, that the natural laws part-
aining to sex were turned tospsy turvy; so that the wooing of
woman as being the rule which should govern the sexual-life
was left out of consideration completely. No wonder that the
rule which appeared instead was the absence in woman of that
ultimate sense of pleasure which issues from sexual-connection
(called orgasm) and the quick dispassion of the man as a conse-
quence, who, moreover, in the adjustment which nature strives
at in respect to her laws, strays away to other women, in the
hope of recapturing the passion which the difficulties standing
in his way might heighten. In the vague want to adjust this
malconditions of things, it became the custom to concede to
women an apparently dominating position in society. The
Minne-service of the knights of the middle-ages was another
such vain attempt to balance the unnatural sexual relations which
prevailed. How different it was in those days before race-mix-
ture had taken place, before the soul, through the work of
alien creeds, had been uprooted out of the soil of its own race.
In the Nordic -race, especially, it was the custom to bring up
both sexes in the practice of self-command. History proves to
us how chaste their lives were (s. Tacitus). Chastity and the
sense of purity placed woman in a dignified and independent
position which was the guarantee for happy wedlock in the
fulfilment of the natural laws of sexuality.

Besides these two, most essential, albeit generally ignored
features of sexuality, the history of evolution reveals us more.
It is this. Through the inner fertilisation the sexual-pleasure
of woman has been jeopardized because the function of mother-
hood requires the channels through which the ripened fruit is
discharged to be as insensitive as possible, while the act of
begetting requires the contrary. The history of evolution has
badly remedied the conflicting character of this dual-function;
and, in misunderstanding the fundamental-laws which exist here,

360

men have done infinite harm in this direction, so that it has come
to pass, that very few women indeed enjoy the plenitude of
full development, and, despite frequent connection, never, or
very seldom, experience the pleasure which should issue by
virtue of sexual-connection. Now, this fact has worked real
disaster among men and women in that the spiritual-equilibrium
of woman has been disturbed as well as the joy of motherhood
and the enthusiam of minne detrimentally effected. This is dis-
aster to the husband as well and aggravates all the corruption
practised by man in his instinct for passion, especially all that
corruption which came in the wake of those errors known as
'ascetism* and 'the sinfulness of the senses.'

If we trace the development of sexuality within the history
of man, we shall notice what a great change it has undergone.
Originally, it was linked only to the bodily organs of sense,
but later it became closely, very closely linked, indeed, to the
functions of the soul. In the place of "Sexuality" there appeared
the minne-enthusiasm which gradually came to depend more on
the values which the soul possessed than on anything else. If,
in primitive times, the mere appearance of the male was not
sufficient to awaken the sexual-emotions of the female, how
much less important, in this respect, is the outward appearance
of the male to her now. She lays more value on character, de-
velopment of the intellect and heart as these greatly attribute
to the beauty and quality of his wooing. Woman was accustom-
ed to do this since time immemorial. It seems here as if the
Mother hood- Will, innate in the female, speaks in the choice of
a father for her children; but spiritual values will also play a
large part in the sex-appeal to men, although in its degree race
is a determining factor, but never quite to that extent as its
happens in woman. However, from this stage of spiritual isation
onward, we are justified in calling sexuality "Minne", as being
something different to mere bodily sexuality, and as having

361

nothing in common with the feeling of 'humanity* which of-
course is not moved by any instincts of sexuality.

Observe then, how, hand in hand with the spiritualisation
of sexuality towards minne, attraction (in the animal, still im-
personal and fleeting), begins gradually to attach itself to some
other person of the opposite sex, until at last the minne-Will
is fixed firmly on one single-individual. Then the approachment-
Will (the cytotropism of the unicell) and the exchange-of-spirit-
ual-good (the 'conjugation* of the unicell) make their appear-
ance. There comes the sublimest form of sexuality which alone
deserves the title of minne. The more the divinity in a man
awakens to life, and the more conscious he becomes of the
significance of his own life, the more capable he will grow to
realise that sublime state, the union of two in wedlock, which,
in its prime phase, was the 'copulation* (permanent fusion) of
the unicell. In our days, we do not often encounter the constant
union of two in wedlock, although so many strive to obtain
this state of perfection. The state which we have compared to
the conjugation of the unicell is more frequent. It is on a level
which is between the original kind of sexuality and the highest
of its kind (the perfect union). We mean the unity of two on
a more spiritual basis which is not however of a constant nature.
Finally, as we have already mentioned, the greater majority
still remain at that stage of unspiritualised bodily-union which
is similar to the action of those unconscious animal-species which
are related to man the most; we mean such individuals who are
wont to carry on sexual-connection of short duration, merely
for the sake of gratifying their passions without the slightest
regard to the spiritual or personal value of the other party.
Yet alas! these three different forms of sexual-life which have
their parallel in the animal-kingdom have been almost elimin-
ated in the present times through matters of an abnormal kind.
First, there is the ill developed female-sexuality, and secondly

362

the abnormal male-sexuality which means disease, although it
is considered to be the normal-state of male-sexuality. How
can we explain for this?

Of all living beings, man is the only one priviledged to grasp
consciously the cause which links circumstances together in the
outward-world and to remember things he has once experienced.
Through this he was exposed to a danger which has since over-
whelmed him and which the animal was spared experiencing.
The memory of the once experienced pleasure and the know-
ledge it imparted of the laws governing the animation of the
mating-will, awakened within him an impulse to repeat it again
purposely. Alcohol and drugs were the main seducers in this
pernicious habit. Besides the damage which was caused to the
health of the drinkers and their offspring, there was added the
evil which issued from perverse practices of the mating-will.
Now, as the poison of alcohol minimizes just as much as it
excites the potency of sexual-emotion, everyone, given to poison
of this kind, inevitably forsakes the path leading to a healthy
sexual-life, of which equilibrium, exactly speaking, is the dis-
tinguishing mark. Unfortunately, the majority of men have fallen
a prey to this perversity which has worked disaster to the natural
state of their physique. It is a disease which has become rampant.
I have given it, in order to be intelligible, the name "chronic-
Sexual-Excitement ". Womens' lamentable behaviour is mostly
the cause of it. In ignorance, probably, of the evil they are
causing, they make use of all the inventions of civilisation which
answer to the purposes of their vanity. Thus, they constantly
make abuse of the quick tendency to be sexually-animated at
any sight of the feminine form which is proper to the
masculine-nature; the evil results, as a consequence, are a con-
stant state of unnatural excitement on the behalf of men. This
works such disaster, chiefly because it robs men of the benefit
which peaceful intervals bring ("I stumbled from the one to

3*3

the other; from the craving for lust to its satisfaction; and
amidst enjoyment, I am craving still"). It makes men quite
incapable of minne as this requires a sense of profundity and
spiritualisation. On the contrary, it generally causes nervous
break down and premature old age. The very law of its being
signifies tragedy. The more it has, the more it wants, for after
the depression which inevitably follows comes the craving for
fresh stimulants, just as it happens in cases of chronic-poisoning
through habitual morphium. The hardened state which evil
habit inevitably causes requires continually stronger stimulants
and is the rule which characterizes diseased sexuality, but which
is never to be found in sound sexuality, in the spiritualised as
well as the unspiritualised, in the fleeting as well as the lasting
kind. Among the Christian nations men have become so terribly
infected, that the life in towns and cities has adapted itself
merely to the demands of those who are 'chronically overstrung*.
Fashion is always ready to adapt itself to any craze which is
diverting and stimulating. Women are quick to make use of
fashion for their base purposes, for what can better be expected
of her who has been degraded to an occupation in family and
folk as would become the immature-individual only. Laws, as we
know already, arising from the confused state of moral-con-
ceptions and creeds of racemixture have led to this apalling
state of things. To the craze for change and stimulants can be
added still the many skilful inventions made for the purpose
of effectively arousing the mating-will (sexual-eruption), a circ-
umstance, it can always be noticed, which happens when ascetism
is put up as an ideal. "Prostitution" remains still to be mentioned
(sexual-connection on sale). This is frequently allowed to erect
its premises under the paternal protection of the law itself; an
actual brooding of 'overstrung sexuality* takes place there. But
it does not stop there for, seemingly, men of all professions
are liable to this infection. There is the stateman, himself more

3*4

or less tained with the disease, proclaiming prostitution to be
a necessity. Then there is the doctor, similarly tained, saying
science justified its presence, while the artist, and this is the
most disastrous case of all, abuses his very genius, in making it
serve this base law; his artistic productions he dooms to be mere
stimulants of the lowest order. And yet, what other response
could be expected after the teaching of the sinfulness of the
senses had been allowed to work its disaster so long? Hence
comes the mud of literature belonging to the so-called 'cultural
folks' which is such a cause of danger to the healthy souls as well
as the radically diseased. Moreover, that the diseased critic, as
well as the public he is able to influence with his opinion, should
applaud the degenerate Vorks of an* goes, of-course, without
saying. To make bad worse, there comes Psychology (soul-science)
which is also contaminated with the disease. (Chronical sexual
excitement.) For instance the 'psycho-analysis' of Prof. Freud
abounds with errors. Very few of his conceptions in respect to
the laws ruling the soul are correct. I have attempted to point
this out clearly in the book I have written entitled "Origin and
Nature of the Soul" second part, "The Soul of the Human-
Being".*

Besides nervous exhaustion, a disease we have just before
mentioned, the state of chronical-sexual-excitement also leads to
a perverse inclination of the mating-will, for among the majority
which it has befallen, few are born with it. Moreover, a truth
of great importance comes to light when we make the sorry
study of each single sick case. As soon as we are able to disting-
uish the symptoms which make for disease and then compare a

* Freud makes no distinction between the workings of a soul in a healthy state and
the bilious workings of a soul in a chronic state of overstrung sexual-excitement. Here
it is made to believe that the crude, shallow sexual-folly proper to the soul mechanism
of a person chronically overstrung form the base of all soul-life; that the origin of all
dreams, irrespective of their quality, can be traced back to this. In fact, these 'psycholo-
gists' are not loathe to explain ID this ugly light the reason for those works of art even
which are born of minne or of the Life-o7-God; now the latter are far from all sexuality
at all, having their origin in realms beyond time and space.

diseased state of soul to a healthy one, we shall perceive clearly
that a fundamental law governs both. In fact all mankind is
subject to this fundamental law. We explain as follows; The
nature which characterises the first experience becomes the rule
which guides all later ones. Now, this fact gives us hope as well
as fear. For in as much as a first experience of a low nature will
throw its dark shadow over all the later life, a ray of light can
also be thrown which redeems everything, if the first experience
contains any spiritual value at all.

The history of this disease yields still another valuable truth.
The sufferers of this disease reveal the significance of the calam-
itous attempt which has been made to save men from the bodily
desires overpowering them and which is generally known as
the ideal of asceticism. This ideal had its origin in the teachings
of Jisdmu Krishna and Buddha who lived at the time of the
decay of the Indian-race. It spread much later to other countries.
Asceticism teaches that sexual-connection of every kind is im-
purity and sin, the act of reproduction alone redeeming sexual-
union from the stain of 'sin'. Now, as the emotions, as we have
seen which accompany the first experience, are liable to become
the rule in all later experience, it issues, that the adherents to
the ascetic ideal will naturally be persecuted with a 'bad con-
science* whatever the nature of their first experience be. Thus,
when later, marriage allows sexual-union, as being the case when
no sin would be attached, or their own spiritual development
has grown to such an extent as to allow of a spiritualised higher
kind of sexual will (minne) which might happen to come their
way, in both cases they would be incapable of the essential spirit
which must animate these. For them, a conception of what is
pure and sacred can never go hand in hand with sexual-pleasure.
Thus then, it must be said; the ascetic ideal, which the 'redee-
mers', called Krischna and Buddha, created for the purpose of
redeeming mankind has become instead, the cause of that sorry

366

rule which the majority of men are subject to, namely, that only
in the swampy places of sexual sordidness (which are so far
apart from pure and chast minne as the swamps, where the frogs
dwell, are from the mountain tops) are they capable of exper-
iencing sexual-pleasure to the full.

We have made an observation of the history-of-evolution up
to the period when man made his appearance on the scene, the
history of man himself, and the laws ruling diseased sexuality;
and in doing so have gathered a clear idea of what healthy
minne is, as well as an exact idea of the confusion which the
prevailing 'morals' are weltering in. Well and good. Now let us
turn to man himself and watch the process of development which
love makes within the life of the single individual. It will com-
plete the picture revealing the great differences existing between
the sexes.

As the fate of family and folk depends mainly on healthy
motherhood, nature sees to it that motherhood is duly protected.
This is done in the way the development of love is allowed to
proceed within the life of the woman. But as nature does not
work exclusively for this purpose, it can be seen, that, while in
woman a masculine kind of development can take place, in man
also a feminine kind of development can occur. Now, as the
25th year is the lowest age limit for healthy motherhood, while
the period of egg-ripening starts ten years earlier, nature strives
to prevent a premature motherhood through this. For quite a
long period, girls are made to feel the approachment-will in its
spiritual form only which is accompanied with an ardent desire
for tenderness. In Germany this is generally known as "Schwar-
merei". Not until much later, and then only in a gradual degree,
does the potency awaken in woman which allows of her to enjoy
sexual rapture; provided, of -course (which is not often the case,
nowadays) that the respect to the laws pertaining to sexuality
have not been ignored. In keeping true, until minne awakens,

3*7

to this path proper to her, woman is kept safe from the evil of
premature motherhood, and the folly of shallow love affairs,
the best of which is but a mere satisfaction of the bodily desires.
Thus it is she who is chosen to redeem man from falling a prey
to the degradation and deterioration which is the state prevailing
among the so called 'cultural folks' of today. The abstinence to
indulge in sexuality which the female-sex generally manifest
until after it is twenty is such a natural matter that nature seems
to expect it. Moreover, it is the one redeeming point when a
'dual* state of sexual morals prevail. For the other part of her
life, however, the unawakened woman, naturally, is subjected
to laws which are different to those, ruling the life of the woman
whose sexual-life has been fully developed. Finally, the attract-
ive woman, whose favour is frequently courted by men, is more
liable to succumb to the danger of temptation, inspite of the
sincere desire which pervades her soul to achieve, in the state of
matrimony, its highest form of spiritualisation, than the un-
attractive woman, or the one who makes less appeal to men.

Contrary to woman, the male potency to experience sexual-
pleasure is awakened very early. It is there before any enthusiam
of a spiritualised kind (Schwarmerei) has made its appearance;
generally before any interest for the other sex is felt at all. This
causes the male-sex, in general, to be exposed to a danger of a
twofold kind. The first is the indulgence in low sexual connect-
ion at an early age. As his first experiences generally are likely
to take place in the degrading precincts of the chronic sufferers
of overstrung sexuality, it becomes the rule of his life. In this
way many men, who in other things have a keen sense of the
divine, grow shallow in their sense of sexuality, becoming
almost incapable of experiencing the happiness which can be
found in a more spiritualised union. Men with exceptionally
strong characters are capable of freeing themselves one day, no
doubt, although some of the slime will always remain attached

368

to them. At sometime or other, the expression in their faces will
betray those places they were wont to linger in, in the days of
their youth, or a habit will crop up again to spoil the hallowed
spirit which animates the experience of grand minne; those,
however, who have weak characters, go completely to ruin in
low company, for they lose all their strength of will and what
is worse any longing for better company, without however
finding satisfaction in the life they have grown in the habit of
leading. But the chattering-corpses, as we have called those
human-individuals who have managed to kill every bit of the
divinity that might have been within them, simply wallow in
the filthy morasses of sexuality.

The second danger which is ready to threaten boys is this. The
premature development of the potency which permits of sexual
pleasure drives the boy to seek a companion. Now, those of his
own age in the other sex, on account of their later sexual awak-
ening, are not yet fitted to fulfil the demands of the situation,
nor is the boy's mating-will directed yet in that direction. There-
fore he seeks to enjoy his first experience in the company of his
friend. In this indulgence, he has given way for the first time
to a "Homosexual" inclination which is liable to grow into a
lifelong lamentable habit. As in such companionship persons can
also be joined together in the affinity of spirit and soul, it
happens, that because of the inferiority of the spirit which ani-
mates other couples of their own age, who stoop to exchange
love for coin in this 'cultural age* of ours, (prostitution) these
ones, also gone astray, alight on the fallacious idea, that the
unnature characterising their erotical-life must be the reason
for the greater spiritual value which it contains. Therefore, some
will stick to this kind of puerile sexual-will all their lives. They
live then in the firm belief that the 'man and male* and 'woman
and female* is the highest kind of minne which is capable of

3*9

bearing fruit of a good kind. Their praise only causes other
immature human-individuals to be contaminated also of-course.

Observe then, how we come to the shattering conclusion, that
in the majority of cases, both sexes, albeit in a different way,
have been defrauded of a healthy sexual development. This
matter has been extensively treated in the book entitled "The
Recuperation of Minne".

In order to complete the picture I have already drawn of the
misery generally prevailing, I have but to mention still the
appalling sexual-diseases which unfortunately so few escape.
I should also like to remind the reader, that among the so-called
"cultural folks", the mating-will does not fall much short of
being a great economic source of income. Namely, sexual-con-
nection can be bought for so much at a time. In fact polygamic
"prostitution" enjoys the protection of the law. Then again,
men and women allow themselves to be bought, in a life-long
union for the sake of a fortune or any other goods. In calling it
'marriage' the law honours it with the same rights as it does the
marriage of permanent minne. (The permanent fusion of two
souls into one.) Hence, it can be assumed, that those purchasable
men and women, as well as those in connection with them, are
ignorant of the fearful immorality of their undertakings. There
can be no other worthier explanation. In any case their moral
shame makes them conceal the bargain. They pretend they are
marrying each other for minne. But not one among those mono-
gamic prostitutes are aware of the fact, how far below the beasts
they have sunk in stooping to such actions.

Verily, what unnature and nonsense this is which has usurped
the place of the gradually growing spiritualised minne, and all
because reason will perceive but the half only of the truth which
of-course turns it into error! How different it is when the four
divine- wishes are given their rights! Namely, these are the
illuminating factors in the workings of consciousness. They

grant conscious God-living to man. They reveal life's true signi-
ficance. The more frequently men partake in the life of God,
the greater richness and meaning will be given to their own
lives. Also, the graver, yet withal jubilant, will their song and
poem resound in the praise of minne, as being the glorification
of their mating-will. Men, alive to God, have always sung
hymns in praise of the divine power of minne. It was heard
above all the confusion which prevailed. Nothing seemed able
to prevent it, not even the teaching of the ascetic-ideal of the
Indian redeemers, nor the suppression of woman. And now, our
philosophy is able to confirm the truth of it.

Notwithstanding this, however, and because of all the dege-
nerate trends prevailing now in human nature, we must put a
demand similar to one contained in our morals of the struggle-
for-life, although it must be mortifying for the 'cultural folks*
of our time to have to accept it. It is this: In order to regain
the respect which is due to the fundamental laws of sexuality,
it is necessary to return to the level of the mammal-stage. The
issue will be the relief from evil conditions such as; purchasable
sexuality, in marriage or otherwise; the chronic disease of sexual
excitement; woman will again be installed into her right to enjoy
sexual-pleasure (called orgasm). With the riddance of these
evils, however, it will mean, morally, the arrival of man to the
mere point where the animal-kingdom stands, the moral zero-
point. Burdened with the aforesaid evils he stands below the
moral zero-point. But with the achievement of the moral-zero-
point, it also means, that mankind will be given a greater chance
of experiencing the true happiness which alone minne (the name
we have given to the spiritualised sexual will) can bring. Now,
before we go on to explain why and to what degree the creation
of happiness has to do with our sexual morals, we must point
out that the moral-zero-point belongs to the demands which
reason made on behalf of the common-law (the unwritten law)

and which signifies in the struggle-for-life the first beginnings
to any morality at all. Observe then, that the sexual-life of
every human -being should be guided by this principle; do to
others as you would be done by. Also, the life and health of the
children may not be endangered through any fault of the par-
ents; this is an duty which the common-law expects of every
one. The neglect of this duty, in as much as it does harm to the
offspring and therefore folk as a whole, is crime. The fulfilment
of this duty (care of offspring for the weal of the folk-body)
merely raises mankind to the level of the animal-kingdom; no
higher. Therefore, all those who neglect to take the responsibil-
ity of this duty upon themselves, as well as the ministers of
state who lazily tolerate such evil conditions, sink much lower
than where the animal stands.

Let us consider for a while before we continue our ascent,
how sexuality is imbued with the power (especially the spiritua-
lised higher form) to link the actions of one person to the act-
ions of another. Nothing else has the power like sexuality has of
putting the happiness of one man into the hands of another, be
it the happiness which lasts a day or a whole lifetime, or the
very fate of the soul itself. The deeper, the more tender, the
more exclusive minne is, the deeper man's soul can be wounded,
the unhappier his life long he can become, and the greater the
loss he will suffer to his own soul. This part (the role of the
Godhead) which everyone plays in the imagination of the one
who is engaged in minne, by virtue of the power which is exer-
cised over him, plays no part however in our philosophy, for
happiness is not the sense of life. We simply ask if the spiritual
influence in itself which is caused by the sexual union is relevant
or irrelevant in respect to our morals?

Morals mean nothing more or less, than the application of
the divine-will (which is noticeable through being anfraught
with any purpose) to each single decision of the human-will.

37*

May or ought they allow themselves to be influenced by the
consideration of one's own happiness or the happiness of others?
Well now, our morals are free from any aims of happiness
whatever (Eudamonism). We know well, already, that the
exfoliation of the divinity, innate in man, does not signify
happiness only, but signifies the deepening of the sense for hap-
piness as well as unhappines equally, as long as the experience is
spiritual of course. Is it otherwise (unspiritual)) the sense of
happiness or unhappiness has equally vanished. Thus we may
never stand in contradiction to the Will-of-God, merely for the
sake of our own happiness. The adage, what just does not kill
me makes me strong, is very true indeed. Where minne is con-
cerned, misfortune is just as capable of developing the divine
side of man's nature, as fortune is. But it can also be a deadly
weapon; like the adage says, it can 'kill'. In the time of youth,
when the mating-will is strongly developed, and the divine-
will weak, success or the hope of success in matters of love will
often be the reason of keeping a man alive. How often have
passionate natures been saved from committing suicide through
the postponement or breaking-off of an engagement until a
more favourable time when the divine-side of a man's nature
has more chance of superceeding his mating-will. Observe then,
how the divine wishes, out of consideration for exceptional
circumstances, resign in favour of life for the sake of a may-be
future realisation of the life-beyond. From the sexual-moral-
standpoint it is indifferent which side benefits. Such kind of
behaviour is certainly moral; but such cases are the exception
and hardly come in question where the parties are made up of
persons of a mature and sensible character. For, if an adult is
capable of giving way to suicide for the sake of minne-happi-
ness, it would be futile to expect of him to ever develope a right
sense of what is moral. As the absence of this (the moral-sense)
would make him wholly unfit to partake in God's-Life, it is a

373

matter of complete indifference from the moral point of view
at what time such a life ends, as it is merely the appearance of
life. What does it matter, if the soul is dead, when the body
returns to dust as well. Yet in every case, it is not good for a
person, in whom the divinity is well awake, to stay in the com-
pany of a person whose soul is dead, just for the sake of keeping
this corpse among the living, for he would run the risk himself
of suffering the loss of his own soul.

While that danger, merely impending to life, brings both
parties into an equal position when considered from the moral
point of view the responsibility for the happiness of the other,
however, is more closely connected with the divine-wishes than
the responsibility for one's own happiness is. The latter, called
'egoism* in the proper sense of the word, means aid in the serv-
ice of self; in general it is not this; but love of self which is of
a degenerate kind, because it goes contrary to every law holy
to the duties-to-life (common law). The self-preservation-will
in the breast of man, since it has become joyenslaved, directs
all the actions of man towards enjoyment, as being the only
thing which signifies at all in the human-life. Therefore any
inclination to help another he will quickly nip in the bud. In
this case Self -aid has gone bad. It has turned into 'selfishness*.
Selfishness is a sin of disobedience against the duty-to-life
(common-law). We have inherited the trait of egoism from our
animal-ancestors, and when it grows spiritualised, that means
to say, when it is guided by the divine-wishes, it raises us to a
high moral standard. We shall come back to this in our morals-
of-life. The compassion for others in misfortune, and the joy
at another's good fortune are the daughters of the divinity which
manifests itself in feeling (love for mankind, or humanity).
These give birth to the will for selfsacrifice, known as 'altruism*.
It gives the urge to do 'acts of charity*. Thus 'altruism 1 in its
spiritualised form, that is, when it is guided by the divine-

374

wishes, is able to fulfil two divine-wishes simultaneously. This
will explain why all those who live gladly for the happiness of
others have greater chances of developing the divine side of
their nature than those others who see merely to the welfare of
their own souls. Notwithstanding, the gladness in making others
happy should not lead a man to act indiscriminately, for kind-
ness is not the only attribute required to be worthy to live God's
life. Not once, for instance, may the desire to sacrifice oneself
for the benefit of others, lead one astray from the interests of
self when these are of a divine nature which can be recognised
by the bend taken in the direction of God and the urge to per-
fection. Compassion, the priceless gift of human-sympathy which
finds its expression in innumerable acts of kindness and help-
fulness, can also degenerate in character. It will do this, if it is
allowed to grow rampant, when it becomes actual disobedience
to the laws ruling the common-weal. This will happen the more
readily when it is supposed to be a moral ideal, as it is contained
in the Buddha and Krischna-creeds which were later taken over
by the Christians. It is fatal to ask "Can there be a greater
happiness than that of sacrificing one's self for others"? It points
to mere "Eudamonism" and is of a certitude immorality. For
instance, it is a crime committed to the God within us, if, in
preferring to remain in lower moral surroundings just for the
sake of the frivolous happiness of another who feels comfortable
in sticking there, we neglect its care.

Now, our sexual-morals clearly and inexorably keep the
laws of nature holy like we have become acquainted with them
in our study of the History-of-Evolution and the experience
we have gained of the diseases prevailing. They also keep holy
the claims which preservation makes on family, folk and race
in order to preserve God-living in succeeding generations. They
are fully aware, in fine, of the potent part minne plays in the
fate of the human-soul, in that it is the determining factor in the

375

Godliving of the lovers. Hence, this means that the sacred
meaning which human life bears should be the guiding star in
fortunes' tribulations as well as in the decision of a union of two
in love. Therefore the cognition of the holy meaning which the
life of each of us bears, admonishes thus: Mutual minne of a
grand kind is required to form the prime and inviolable basis
for the state-of-marriage. Minne may be the only motive for
the closer union of the sexes, should the pleasures of sexual-will
retain the purity of their character. Our ancestors who lived
during the prechristian era lived according to this insight (wis-
dom). And others, also akin to us, who emigrated to India,
clothed the same morals in the poetic language of the legend
called "Adima and Heva", that beautiful legend of minne which
is found again in the "Old Testament", there so miserably
stripped of its intrinsic beauty. Nevertheless, according to our
philosophy, profound and sacred minne does not alone suffice
for the fulfilment of life in its proper meaning. The influence
which each soul exercises on the soul of the other in the commun-
ion of minne plays such a striking part, that every choice of a
partner should be avoided which is made in the superficial hu-
mour of the moment or from the mere urge for the happiness
which mating yields; for this is immorality. Therefore let us
accept the admonishment which our cognition gives us. It is this:
Before we yield to that communion which we know will take
such possession of our soul, let us hesitate a moment to examine
gravely if the nature of our will and the nature of the will which
is longing for us really deserves being called deep chaste minne.
Then we must examine the nature of the soul of the one we so
dearly are longing for and see if it proves true to our divine
wishes. Can and does the union then take place, remember to be
the guardian, not alone of your own happiness, but, indeed, also
the guardian of the happiness of your companion. Then, always
conscious of this sacred function which we must fulfill, we are

376

free nevertheless to step everywhere else within the bounds
leading to life's sacred goal. Should it happen, inspite of every-
thing, that this should fall into the danger of not being achieved
(the meaning of life) and the union therefore be dissolved, do
your duty without a murmur of regret for the happiness you
might be losing. Yet, postpone this duty, should there be any
fear of suicide or hope of reunion on a divine basis.

Moreover, we are aware from the knowledge we have gained
of the laws-of-sexuality, that each single individual, through
the trend of his behaviour in youth, holds the fate of his soul
in his own hands, (s. above.) As an unworthy union can cause
the meaning of life to suffer distortion, it issues that precise
moral claims exist to counteract this. (s. The Recuperation of
minne.) As every youthful experience of sexual-pleasure is not
without its pernicious potency which a later experience, no
matter how divine its nature may be, is made to feel, it stands
to reason, that a state of abstinence, and not the indulgence in
base sexual-lust, should be the rule for youth. It goes without
saying, that adults, in whom the divine side of human nature
might have had the opportunity of developing, must always
abstain from entering into base connections, as this is immoral.
In fact there exists but one choice only; either a worthy moral
bond or total abstinence from sexual-life altogether. Observe
now this: our morals make the following claims. In place of the
antigodlike asceticism on the one hand, and the sexual-life which
is immoral because of its promiscuity on the other, we place the
bond which is abstinence which is in full accordance with the
sacred meaning of life. This sort of abstinence in certain cases
is decidedly the only alternative to immorality. We stress this
fact in spite of the responsibility which the insight into the
laws of sexuality has placed on our shoulders, for the duty which
these laws make claim to may never be a sufficient excuse for
the neglecting of the God within us. The spirit of abstinence,

377

which prevents us from entering into a sexual bond because of
the fears we have, that it might rob us of the chance of ever
obtaining lofty minne or developing the divine side of our
nature, is akin to the spirit which makes it a duty to break the
ties of a union, when we find out we have been deceived in our
companion's character, as the keeping up of such a bond would
only mean calamity to the God-potency within us. Of-course,
the higher in kind the morals are, the easier are they subjected
to abuse. This is because each individual case must be weighed
with divine weights, so that base motives are likely to be con-
cealed behind moral claims for the sake of self deception. Thus
it can be observed, that persons of a polygamic disposition or
even those chronically disposed to sexual 'overexcitement' will
gladly deceive the world and themselves as to the flippant
change of their sexual-will, when they conceal their behaviour
with a moral cloak in saying 'the union disgusted me* or 'my
better self was depraved'. Now the sublime superiority to every
thing else which the nature of our cognisance reveals is founded
on this fact: Everyone, who has been priviledged to grasp its
full meaning, will be imbued with the longing to partake of that
eternal state, in the sure knowledge, that if he be incapacitated
to attain this aim before death overcomes him, eternal-life will
be lost to him forever. Likewise he is aware what folly it would
be to cause more difficulties in this respect through the fault
of his own hypocrisy. Therefore, if we are earnest in our endea-
vours to live according to the truths which our cognisance points
to, we must put ourselves under the obligation to strengthen our
Will-to-Truth, in hating deception of every kind. Before under-
taking any grave steps at all, we must stop first to practice
examination-of-self . If we decide truly in favour of God only,
and all the ties broken which held us to another person, and the
state of abstinence is undertaken of our own free will, then the
outward appearance will inevitably coincide with the inner.

Yet it would be folly to want moral principles of the kind just
mentioned planted in the degenerate soil where the 'cultured
customs' of our times are growing. The men and women who
adhere to the truths of our philosophy do not marry irrespons-
ibly. They strictly avoid race-mixture, for they know this is
the very spring from whence all misunderstanding and quarrel-
someness arises. Such questions like these, "was it from a dispos-
ition to quarrelsomeness, or through any fault of my own
character, or obstinacy in forgiving any one which was the
true reason for my decision to part from anyone", are the same
questions which are properly asked in the relations of one person
to another of a nonsexual nature. But these are moral-trends of
the thoughts belonging to another field. They have nothing to
do actually with the morals-of-minne.

Notwithstanding all this, the matter has another aspect where
the bond of minne is concerned in that there is every justificat-
ion in saying; greater chances exist for the transformation and
development of the character than exists in unions of any other
kind. Now, here we are touching exactly the point where the
great moral value lies, for the mating-will works like magic in
bringing forth the divine side of a person's nature. But also
and this is the other side it is capable of causing utter deprav-
ity and death of the soul of both ones living continually in
sexual-attachment, when the spirit which animates the union is
of a baser kind. The appalling distortions of human kind which
come to sight after long years of base married life, find there
parallel nowhere else. The contaminating atmosphere of a base
friend, mother, sister, brother or superior are nothing in com-
parison! The characters which Strindberg has described are not
half so horrible as they are in real life. Indeed, when one comes
to think of it, it is appalling to watch how sexual-attachment
causes so many to sink down to a state of base littleness, who
once promised to be men and women fit for higher things. Our

379

picture is complete. Opposite the perfect God stand the dwarfs
and libertines of humanity, between, are all the others, although
not one but has been changed in some way through the "Divine"
or "Devilish" power of the sexual-will. Thus then, according
to this pattern before us, we are able to build up our moral-
principles which, with the wishes of the Will-of-God as the
governing factors, should be the guide when men and women
decide to indulge or obstain from the bond of minne.

380

jworaljs of ILife

When I undertook the task of revising this book ten years
after its first appearance, it was not with the intention of
effacing the line, by means of which the development of my
philosophy could be traced. I never had the intention of adding
to this, my first philosophical work, the fruits of a deeper and
more prolific insight which I gained later. (These fructified into
achieved facts in my work, entitled "History of Creation.") In
the accomplishing of this work I was granted an insight into
the workings of the soul-laws and their connection to one an-
other, as well as "Selfcreation" and "Soultransformation" which
it is possible for man to attain during his lifetime. What I did
in the way of revision was, however, to lay more stress on the
importance of keeping the laws controlling race more holy as
well as to point out the harmful effects which the creeds of
equality bring about, for it was obvious all this trampled on
the inexorability of the soul-laws. I had nothing to change, as
nothing at all turned out to be error; on the contrary, all my
later works sprang into being from out of the cognition laid
down in "The Triumph of the Immortal- Will". Therefore this*
chapter "Morals of Life" is in the main in the original, although
the inner sight 1 gained into man's soul, and its laws and the
growth of the universe, has contributed not a little to its pro-
fundity. Oh! May all those, who have understood me up till
now, follow still in my footsteps, in order to experience the
truth of my convictions for themselves. They will soon then
be convinced of the importance of noble self-esteem and other

things. But to do this, it is essential to make an observation of
the growth-of-life on its way to the creation of man, not
from a personal point of view, nor from the outward appear-
ance of things (Erscheinung), like we have done in this book,
but from the standpoint taken from the soul which exists in all
things (Wesen der Dinge), as it has been done in the "History
of Creation". Until this is undertaken men will remain ignorant
of that sublimeness which the human-soul is capable of.

During the period of Darwinism, God and men became
estranged. The majority of mankind (not the superficial ones
either) cannot perceive any right reason for separating the
morals-of-life from the morals-of-the-struggle-for-life. They
believe this to be a superfluous thing to do, for they say; life is
one continual struggle. In fact the untiring strugglers founded
the saying "No life without struggle" and infected even the man
of a more worthier soul with the spirit which this breathed forth.
Accordingly, where no struggle is, there must be death! Is not
the process which all matter undergoes, be it of a chemical, phys-
ical or physiological kind, the manifestation of a struggle of
conflicting powers? Does this not also mean continual combat
with the 'evil powers' in our own breasts (to use Christian words)
which ends with the final victory of the good or bad? Is not
human-life a manifestation of a continual struggle between the
noble and the ignoble? Is not public opinion animated with the
spirit to aid the good to victory through the might of mentality?
Here, it is obvious, that only one side of life is being examined,
either from a logical or illogical point of view. The inner and most
essential part is forgotten. We have something else to say to
this. But, no doubt, a sage of the prehistoric times would under-
stand it better than the Christian or Darwinist of our times.
It is this:

Combat itself is not progress. The divine-wishes and the
divine Will of God awakens to power where combat is not. Let

382

us but remember how many human-lives have passed away in
a futile combat against 'the evil spirits' within their own breast,
without once having had the chance of reaching the state of
perfection. How many there are fighting daily in public for the
welfare of mankind, and yet, everywhere evil reigns still; un-
daunted people reply: Failure in this respect may not discourage
us. The reason is because we are so few. We must win over more
to fight with us. But they never stop to consider if the 'evil',
they are striving to put down, is being searched for in the right
place, or if the way, they are fighting, be the right one, making
bad worse in doing so. To this our philosophy replies: Combat
is powerless to awaken life. And to the warriors it turns to say:
Go, forsake the public place of battle. Let only the few remain,
in whom God is strong enough for there to be able to teach the
truth. And you others return to help when you have grown in
the spirit of God strong enough to do so, that means to say,
when you are able to live yourselves according to the divine-
wishes of God's Will, and not merely for the struggle-for-life
alone. Your combat for the good will then consist of revealing
to the world those deadly enemies which work in secret. To
the mind of the confused you will reveal the true meaning of
life, freeing them from all the fallacies which serve to enslave
them. But 'the evil spirits within the breast of man' will be
something you will leave unuttered, for you know, from your
own experience, that redemption came to you from your very
soul itself. Very few will become real helpers. In kindness,
however, the few will show man how 'evil' the nature of their
wishes are. Never will they use persuasion, on the contrary,
they will point out the reason, why mens' lives are bad and
explain them the power which belongs to their own free will,
in asking them, if they want to remain in such an evil state or
not. And because the helpers themselves are animated with the
spirit of God, their words will have power to awaken in others

the desire for perfection. Soon it will be revealed to them, that
perfection can never be attained through 'fighting* down the
superficial-desires, but rather in listening to the voice of God
within them. Gradually the craving for baser things will give
way. They will hardly notice its progress, until one day all
baseness has been overcome altogether, for each time they have
been capable of acting truly noble the God within them has been
strengthened.

In the process to perfection no 'spiritual weapons* are neces-
sary at all.

'Spiritual weapons' are in their proper place in the wordly-
field of combat, for desires and aims of the struggle-for-life or
to fight human-enemies, whose purpose in life it is to kill the
divine spirit in man.

Indeed, it is a mighty and extensive field where it is proper
to use 'spiritual weapons' to fight with, for, there is not one
single part of the struggle-for-life where it is incorrect to say:
"I must refrain from looking at it from the moral point of
view." Now, it is a wonderful thing to notice, how, in this
matter, the two sexes differ from one another. Although in the
realms-beyond, sex plays no part at all, as it belongs decidedly
to the world-of-appearances (Welt der Erscheinung) the female-
sex, nevertheless, distinguishes itself, through the preference it
has for quiet activity, as opposed to combat. In other words,
woman strives to beautify life in illuminating it with the light
which is of God. (s. "The Cultural Achievement of Woman'*).
Therefore the harmonious state of life which saves mankind
from destruction can be expected to come from woman alone.
Here we touch the blessing of genius itself; the divine can per-
vade all struggle-for-life, but the latter can never enter with its
desires and combats into the realms which are beyond itself.

God-living of the soul is beyond all strife. Not until we are
able to grasp this truth and all what it means, shall we be able

384

to detect properly when the rights of the struggle-for-life make
infringements on the rights of God-living. To avoid this error
ourselves, in the task of working out our special morals, we have
divided the divine claims in order to treat them separately. On
the one hand there are the claims on our God-living, and the
claims on the struggle-for-life and minne on the other hand.
Our morals claim due respect and subjection to God in all. Our
morals of life demand the potential development of our genius,
the goal of which is perfection.

This aim is superior to any thoughts fraught with purpose
even to those connected with our Immortal- Will, for this can
be redeemed through the grace of one single experience of the
life of God, if it but happen in the hour of death. Perfection is
happiness neither, for it can contain pain as well as happiness,
and the individual, craving for happiness alone, will never look
upon perfection as the aim of his life. It is not the manifestation
of an admonitor, demander, forcer, but is the aim of the will of
the few. And this is the fact which is so shattering, for we know
from the truth our cognition has yielded, that the possibility is
given to us all to gain the state of perfection, in that we alone,
among all the rest of life, have the grace of becoming God's-
consciousness. Put this possibility (selfachieved perfection) at
the base of all the ideas or language contained in the morals of
life; of a certainty the demands, you find, will accord with
reality.

Now if we recourse to a separate study of the morals-of-life,
it is not out of consideration for the original conflicting nature
of Godliving in being opposed to the struggle-for-life, but be-
cause we are conscious of the fact, that, if all struggle-for-life
stands under the control of the morals of Godliving, a state of
harmony between the struggle-for-existence and life itself will
be created. The spirit of animosity which animates Godliving
when it comes in contact with existence will be dissipated

385

through their influence. No more will the profane be disdained,
no will its laws be rudely trampled on, as we see the religions
doing, and as the morals -of -minne so clearly have shown us. The
Buddhistical disdain for superficial joys and sorrows are absent
in our morals. On the contrary, they know that every experience,
be it joy or sorrow, can animate the human-being with the spirit
of God, besides which, they teach us wise discrimination, so that
we are saved the humiliation of giving ourselves up to every
kind of joy and sorrow which fate might happen to throw in
our way.

For the same reason our morals-of-life admonish us to refrain
from awakening any artificial emotions in the soul of the young
child. Children should be left in peace to develope very gradually
into a state of Godliving. Who can tell, if not the once heartily
enjoyed delicacy in childhood was not the means of enabling
a genial enjoyment of later years? To the spiritual development
of genial forces it does harm to 'spring two or more steps' at a
time, as Nietzsche has it. Therefore, the tutors' task is not an
easy one. Children are still very uninterested in God or the
questions concerning the ultimate things pertaining to the mean-
ing of life. Thus then, in such matters, he must adapt himself to
the particular stage of interest which the child has arrived at.
Infinite harm is caused which can never again be put right, if
the degree of spiritualisation is overestimated. In this way it
only breeds mock piety which brings sure death to the life of
the soul. In this way innumerable individuals can be robbed for
ever of the capacity of living God. How often, for instance, does
it happen that countless adults find themselves incapable of God-
living through the fault of their having been made to rattle
down prayers during their childhood!*

Just as much as our morals-of-life have nor the intention of

* We refer the reader to the book "Works and Deed of the Human-Soul", 1. part,
"The Child's Soul and its Parents' Office".

3 86

forcing men to leave superficial joy or sorrow for the life beyond
at a time when these may hardly be fit to arrive at the bridges
do they neither turn their back on useful work. Through
subjection of the morals-of-existence the opposition is easily
overcome. As we have seen already, discrimination must be
always practised. What is found to be essential for the susten-
ance of existence is also found worthy. This is a novel truth
which animates us with an eager spirit to leap to the new day
in order to gain a living. It makes men-of-genius work for their
livelihood without the feeling of a 'bad conscience' tormenting
them. Knowing what the true meaning of human-life is, as well
as that one day our personality of a surety will end, we are made
fit to do the work which is necessary for our livelihood, as we
shall be safe from endeavours of a trivial kind. All those, in
whom the divine potency is great enough to be able to manifest
itself visibly in immortal works of art and science, are not guilty,
when they accept the sacrifice of others who want to spare them
the trouble of earning a living. This is far from being immoral;
on the contrary, our morals expect it. As it is done for the sake
of genius, the one, who sacrifices himself in this circumstance,
acts morally. What is more, the spirit of God will increase
within him. Yet, these differ (in that the nature of their self-
sacrifice is different) to all those thoughtless individuals, who,
in working from morning until night industriously, according to
the pattern of the Christian ideal, without self-esteem and dis-
crimination, often help the most worthless of creatures or things.
If we should scrutinise them more closely, it would become
quickly obvious, how, in the end, their industrious labours are
undertaken for the sake of ridding themselves of the vacancy
which fills their souls. We must strictly refrain from dedicating
ourselves to work of all kinds, especially when, according to
the truths we now know to be, it bears the characteristic of im-
morality, much less undertake to do it in the light of a 'duty*.

387

The selfsame Will-to-truth which induces us to keep faithful
to any given promise would also be the cause of a moral conflict
to arise in our spirit which would lead to equally fatal conse-
quences. Therefore, as in all the other cases, let us here also con-
sider first before we act in order to convince ourselves, if the
promise we are about to give has the full consent of the divine-
wishes. Not until this is the case, should we think it our 'duty*
to undertake any single piece of work or take on an office of
any kind.

In the chapter dedicated to the "Morals of the Struggle-for-
Life" we have already mentioned, that, according to our cognis-
ance, the sustenance of life is not the prime duty in the life of
man, notwithstanding the fact that it is indeed a sacred and
important duty. It becomes a sacred and important duty in as
much only as it is completely under the guidance of the divine-
wishes. For this reason, voluntary death even can become a
moral-action in special circumstances. The Immortal-Will,
innate in the unicelled-being, strives for unendlcss existence in
the world of appearances. (Welt der Erscheinung.) The aim of
our Immortal- Will is different in that it allows the selfpreser-
vation instinct to work its way at will, but only so long as no
harm is being done to the God within us. It is prepared even to
give up preservation-of-self in time, and therefore the conscious
life in timelessness, if this be for the good of any divine-wish,
or if living on meant the loss of the fulfilment of any divine-
wish. Thus the man- of-genius will prefer death to the surrender
of his doctrines which he knows to be true. All death for the
sake of an idea which has been suffered within the course of
time is a divine accomplishment in the light of our point of
view, provided it was not suffered in the hope of a "heavenly-
reward* or 'immortal-fame*. Cases can exist, therefore, when
selfdestruction is the only alternative to choose, should the
moral-self be saved. Thanks to the truth we have gained, we

388

are well aware of the tremendous sacrifice this means. Now, if
a man believe that there is a conscious-life after death, he ought,
as a logical consequence, walk light-heartedly unto death, for
in doing so, he is able to put an end to this 'imperfect* fleeting
life and enter earlier than he would otherwise do into the realms
of 'eternal bliss*. And on the other hand, if a man do not believe
in a life hereafter and is living his life similar to the animals,
merely for the material world, he will, under certain circum-
stances, also commit suicide, in order to put an end to the troubles
and tribulations earlier than these naturally would have ended.
In fact, he may take courage for the last step, in telling himself
of the escape he is about to make from the miseries of old age,
and may be able to end his animal-existence, he calls life, with
even a joke on his lips. Finally there is the other kind of man,
who knows, as we do, that immortal-life can be partaken-in
before death only. Perchance, such a man will also sacrifice his
chance of immortal-life for the sake of God. If he do so in this
spirit only, his action indeed is a divine one. How great must
the dominion of his Godliving over his soul have been to enable
him to bear and to overcome the pains of his loss. Everyone,
imbued with the spirit of the truth which our philosophy has
revealed, will be incapacitated to make such a mighty sacrifice
other than for the purpose of saving the God within him from
shrivelling. Never would any superficial aims of his own, his
family or folk be strong enough to persuade him to do so; the
exception would be, when life was in danger. Self-destruction
cannot be committed by one who knows the meaning of life and
death, except for the sake of God. When the truth of this has
come home, there is hope that a gradual disarmament will be
undertaken in the proper light of discrimination. If war be still
inevitable in the future, then only folk-wars will have the right
to be fought out. Up till now the folks of the earth were ignorant
of the fact, that they were driven to war and revolution for

389

other purposes than for the self-preservation of their race. For
the first time in history, however, the eyes of men have been
opened. They can perceive now, if they will, those secret world-
powers, that are the unscrupulous instigators of war. These men
are greedy for power and, to attain their unscrupulous ends,
make atrocious abuse of the unsuspecting folks of the earth. The
more the principles of our cognisance will be allowed to govern
the lives of men, the sooner it will be seen, that wars, caused for
any other purpose, save for the life of a folk and the freedom
of its mentality, must be strictly condemned for that which
they are, murder and outrage. When we are called upon to
judge any case of voluntary-death (suicide) we must make use
of our discriminating potencies, like we have done in all our
other moral estimations up till now. The act of self-destruction
has a dual character. It can be a virtue as well as a crime. It is
so: In the estimation of all mens' actions our morals conduct us
to God's scales to have them weighed in the balance of the di-
vine-wishes, so that indeed only the 'peerless* actions, in the deep-
est sense of the word, are found worthy of the moral-self. The
necessity of this continual examination, however, makes the
potency-to-perfection grow within us. The state of our con-
science grows gradually more and more refined through this
unremitting practice. Then, almost reflexively, our judgement
will be made up quickly and reliably, until at last we are cap-
able of striding along the narrow path in harmony with all the
divine-wishes, balancing ourselves with the surety which is
comparable to a somnambulist only.

390

The morals-of-lifc give the instructions to all those will-
decisions of ours which aid in the development of the divine
trends or wishes, as we have called them, of the Will of God.
Perfection is their lofty aim. Perfection can be gained, when men
make it their habit to participate in the life-bcyond. Thus each
of the four divine-wishes ought to be treated separately in con-
nection with the morals-of-life. As divine-deed is included always
when morals are spoken of, it is not exactly essential to treat
this subject separately, for morals mean, that in all our will-
decisions, the Wish-to-goodness has been applied. Yet it should
not been left unsaid in which way we can develope this inborn
wish to so high a degree as to make all other wishes, not of the
divine-kind, pale beside it.

At the start of our spiritual-ascent the divinity within us is
naturally very weak still. At this period, consequently, medit-
ation and self-examination is a necessity .The nearer one approach-
es the state of perfection, the less self-examination is needed.
In its stead the life in union with God has taken place. We have
called this achieved divine state of the soul, God-living. In
connection with this fact the explanation can be found for the
reason why so many human-individuals could not find the right
way to the moral development of self, although they were able
to break away from the Christian church through the strength
of their own convictions. When they broke away from the
church, they evidently were standing at that moral state still,
when daily self-examination is an absolute necessity. The great

391

importance of meditation is seen from the results attained from
religious prayers, when these ask merely for the grace of God
and are unmingled with any longing for happiness, albeit more
often than not even these are not completely free from selfish
intentions. There are prayers begging God or the saints to turn
away tribulation or give reward and happiness etc. There is
little good in anxiously begging for help or ignobly begging for
grace or begging to be distinguished from others in acquiring
happiness. There is no place for these in the realms beyond, for
Godliving is never fraught-with-purpose. The one, who makes
it a habit of doing this, will never make any progress at all. In
fact he can keep on praying like this, day by day, year
by year, it will all be to no avail. Death will put an end one day
to all his immoral mutter ings; that is all.

Already we have given utterance to the significance of the
Wish-to-Goodness in an artist, on account of the fructifying and
vivifying influence which it exercises over all the other wishes.
But this applies to all of us not only the artists, of course. The
Wish-to-Goodness has a particularly superior place, for in as
much as the development of any of the other wishes suffices for
a man to enjoy immortal : life, a potentially strong Wish-to-
Goodness in the first place is essential if a man ever wants to
attain perfection. Unfortunarely, in the past, these facts were
only partly recognised and accordingly valued. Men lacked the
greater view which is required to scan the extensive realms be-
longing to the Wish-to-Goodness.

We have been given the opportunity at different times to
notice what confusion arises when restrictions of any kind are
laid upon the Wish-to-Goodness. In so many cases it was limited
to the duties demanded by the common-law, and chanty which
is known generally as the "Social Virtues''! Granted that 'thy
kingdom come' and 'suffer not the loss of thy soul' is also the
pith of most of the religious doctrines prevailing today; the

39*

advice which is given to mankind to get there, however, is full
of error. Moreover, few are the claims which, when seen in the
light of our philosophy, can expect our approval. This is because
the are so full of confusion where the Wish-to-Goodness as
well as charity are concerned. What a difference it would make
if the other three divine wishes were put under the dominion of
the Wish-to-Goodness. Let us turn now to these other three
wishes for guidance to see how profoundly their influence
effects our actions.

393

We spoke just now of the necessity of self-examination,
especially at the time when man is starting his process to per-
fection. Selfexamination is most essential, should we desire to
be strengthened in our Wish-to-Truth. Unfortunately, the major-
ity of mankind have become incapacitated to undergo self-
examination of a genuine kind. This is on account of so much
that is blameworthy in the bringing-up of children. (We refer
the reader to the book which has already been often mentioned
in this respect.) The usual habit of attaching reward and punish-
ment to moral-behaviour, as well as to the behaviour which is
governed by the duty attached to life makes the divinity shrivel
up within the human-child. If early youth succeeds in escaping
punishment through telling lies, the adult, as a matter of -course,
will intentionally deceive himself in order to keep up his self-
esteem. Any stray reason will do in the attempt, subsequently,
to justify anything in his conduct which he might have doubts
about. By all means he will try to prove his own innocence,
thereby supporting the soul-laws governing self-deception which
by itself is sufficient to make self-knowledge a difficult matter.
Our attention has been given to this in the books entitled "The
Soul of the Human Being" and "Creation of Self.

Thus then, self-creation for the purpose of obtaining the
state of perfection is made almost impossible, although in such
cases there is hope that men can come to reason, whereas, in the
case when a person is always ready to proclaim himself guilty
even in the most trivial excusable things, there is not a vestige

394

of hope left. These are blissfully ignorant of the crime they are
committing against their own soul and are irrevocably lost
because neither they themselves nor anybody else around them
have the faintest idea what hypocrites in reality they are.

It will be found, that just in those men in whom the spirit of
God is not exactly dead, men who are not likely to care for low
company, this way of injuring God (the opposite kind of hypo-
crisy) comes easily into being. It happens like this. When these
love strongly, let us say, their parents, children, husband or wife,
they will easily be induced to pretend that the fault is theirs
only. They cannot bear to find fault with anybody they love.
Therefore, in minimising the faults of others, they succumb to
the crime of magnifying their own. But in this way they suc-
ceed in preserving their 'ideal'. It is nevertheless deception of a
likewise immoral kind which one day revenges itself bitterly.
Their exaggeration and self-deception will always be an impe-
diment to their own inner-development, and the development in
the "Self-Knowledge" of those they love. Generally, the latter
are of the sort, who easily incline to throw the fault on others
instead of on themselves because of the weakness of the divine-
spirit within them. And because the other gives way to their
weakness just for love of them, the blindness to their own
shortcomings get the upperhand, so that they remain, morally
speaking, where they are through the very fault of the one who
really loves them.

Hence, we must strongly recommend the practice of self-
examination in order to strengthen the Wish-to-Truth within
us, if only to put down the cunning we have inherited from our
animal-ancestors which induces us to practice self deception. It
was a bad thing for the Wish-to-Truth that all the religious
commandments were directed against the animal-kind of decept-
ion only. (Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neigh-
bour.) Thus attention was drawn only to a small part of the

395

workings of the Wish-to-Truth, and later, bad was made worse
in this respect when religious authority suppressed the work-of-
researdi when this happened to go against the doctrines of the
church. The result was the elimination of genius (God)-in-
thought which would have been complete, had it not been saved
by the indestructability native to race-inheritance. When the
greed for money and pleasure became the habitual feature
of the general struggle-for-life, the inherited trait of animal-
cunning became appallingly aggravated in human-nature. It
grew to be no more the deceit of the animalkind which was to
be applied in emergency only; it became perversity which per-
vaded all mens' actions. Without the least blush of shame men
use means to deceive their fellowmen just as if they had taken the
figures of the Old Testament to be their models. It is easy
enough to deceive others without 'the necessity of bearing any
false witness against ones' neighbours. Thus the conduct of
the Christian has become very similar to the manner in which
the Jews behave: The Jews consider it to be a virtue to deceive
others who are not of the Jewish race. Just observe how the
habit of lying has become rampant in the daily life of mankind.
In politics and commerce, in fact, truth is considered to be
'madness* and deception 'cleverness*. The conclusion is, that if
such a state of immorality is allowed to prevail, it stands to
reason, that the most unscrupulous Her is the one who gets on in
life, be it the single individual or a folk-body. What is required
to get on, is, according to the prevailing state of affairs, the
development of reason. The 'reasonable' man is the successful
one, for he has learnt the art of falsehood best and knows how
to deceive his fellowmen to his own advantage. Now, this was
just the right soil in which to grow the Darwinian theory (the
struggle-for-life). All the world applauds such brave 'fighters'
and cannot do otherwise, as all dream for themselves the same
good fortune and are readily prepared to stoop to the same

396

means of gaining it. If they never succeed as others have done,
it is merely the lack of logical consequence or strong will or
highly developed powers of reason. When they lie or strive to
deceive they are more stupid than the others; so they are not
successful; that is all.

Now, the side which is the saddest of all this is, that even
the morally better individuals tolerate this kind of thing. Not
that they put down the Wish-to-Truth altogether, but they put
limits to it. For instance, in 'affairs of the heart' in 'pure human
matters' they certainly are genuine; they ring true. But when it
conies to matters involved in the struggle-for-life, for instance,
in politics and economy they say to themselves c in this wicked
world, truth would be very misplaced' or 'in Rome one must do
as Rome does' or else folk and family will go to ruin*. If the
good men in this case would tell the truth and nothing but the
truth, the good ones would be more suppressed than they are
already. More suppressed than they are already? Now, would
they?

This is hardly possible. For who are the exclusive masters in
the world today? Only those in whom hypocrisy, tyranny and
powers of logical reasoning are combined. Should a man give
way to the Wish-to-Truth, he would not succeed inspite of his
powers of pure reasoning and his potential will to dominate
(tyranny). No matter how great that capacity in a man is which
makes him successful in 'adapting' himself to the present state
of life, if any of the four divine-wishes (goodness, beauty, truth
and wise discrimination in the emotions of love and hate) have
power over his soul he is certainly doomed to fail. But what
does he loose when he prefers to behave like this? Here we are
confronted with the inviolable in the field of morals which will
suffer no 'halfs' and no 'adaptions'. The slightest adaption to

* In politics deliberate methods of deception are used. This science is called "Tactics".
Nevertheless the politicians not only consider themselves honourable men, but they are
considered so by everybody else.

397

the cunning struggler which is not of the unintentional but the
well considered kind, the 'compromise' which cannot be so
easily 'done without in this imperfect world of ours* will be the
means of hindering a man on his way to perfection. It can never
be said of him who acts (if but occasionally) against any of the
divine-wishes, that this man 'stands upright*. On the contrary
he has suffered himself to be terribly bent down within the
course of his lifetime. May he rid himself altogether of the desire
to climb to the heights of perfection, for in this manner, he will
never achieve them. Gods with bent backs, there are not.

But would it not mean the ruin of an individual and a folk
also, if one should want to ring true among a world full of lies?
Even should this actually be the case, it would not change the
mind of any one who confesses to the discrimination demanded
from our moral-of-lif e. We have already experienced many cases
in which the man-of-genius has willingly committed self-destruct-
ion, preferring the death of the body to the death of his soul.
Thus then, a folkbody or any of its members (suppose God is
still alive within them) would choose death instead of maintain-
ing life on a foundation of lies. Fortunately the real case is not
so bad as all this. If a folk -body as well as its individual member
is capable of looking at life in the light of the life-beyond, and
is content with the honest necessities of life and nothing beyond
in this respect, there is no danger of destruction either to the
folk-body or the individual-man. But both must be aware of
elements hostile to the divine-wishes. In truth, whoever limits
his worldly-wants to the material necessities of life and for the
rest lives for God alone, will learn gradually, to his own sur-
prise, that deception can be climated even in the bitterest struggle-
for-life, especially as it is quite in accord with our morals-of-lifc
to keep a watchful eye on others, so as not to be caught by their
hypocrisy or lies. The inexorable service in the course of truth
makes the eye remarkably keen in detecting hypocrisy, cunning

398

and make-believe in others. How quick we are to recognise the
diattering-corpse by the very look of his flickering eyes! How
quickly we can detect falsehood, no matter where it is we en-
counter it! Thus then, we are not obliged to fall a prey to the false
play of any others. Vigilence, silence, prudence, life-experience,
foresight and wisdom are virtues which willingly join in with
the divine-Will-to-Truth. Verily we are not left unarmed in the
battle-of-life. Ours is the victory over hypocrisy and sly attacks.
Let us ascend, therefore, to the heights of perfection. Something
else yet which is good to know. It is marvellous to think how
a man who is given to the truth and nothing but the truth is
capable of teaching another to throw off his bad habits. Through
his good example he is the only one who is capable of doing so.
In fact, he would not have this power were he in any way a
'relativist', that means to say, if he gave way to any 'comprom-
ise* in the realms of divine-thought. From this it is now easy
to see why the lovers of truth are few in number. Hardly any
man is free from stooping to make compromises. The rest are
downright liars.

But is not a lie, morally speaking, justified when spoken for
the sake of another divine-wish? Can we uphold the lie told in
emergency? Are there not cases in which it would be a cruel
thing to tell the truth; when we must lie for the sake of pity?
For instance, when we refrain from telling a sick patient the
truth about his illness and even those about him, in order not
to darken their lives with the thought of inevitable death, is this
not praise- worthy? Truth, no doubt, can be cruel and brutal;
but generally it becomes so through the inadequate way the
truth is broken to anyone. Either we tell matters which the
other one need not know, and which we were not asked to tell,
and the silence of which would have meant no deception on our
part, or we not only neglect to tell the truth properly, but fail
also to imbue the others with the strength to bear it. This

399

happens because most people lack the proper sense of charity or
Cognisance-of-God. (Gotterkenntnis). It must also be rememb-
ered that come-down Christian folks who are used to telling
lies in all emergencies will neither fight shy of putting unworthy
questions*. Our Germanic ancestors knew well what was meant
by such questions. In the Edda, Brunhild says to Gudrun: "The
question is unworthy of you." A folk brought up to tell the
truth will know very well when a question injures the moral-
sense. These are the questions of an insinuating kind which
induce people to make false statements. Truthful persons always
respect the silence of others when this is not soft concealment of
facts but the distinguishing characteristic of the chaste, reserved
kinds of natures. Yet life of such a lofty nature can hardly be
expected to find approval among the 'cultural folks' of the
present day. All are such busybodies; always chattering and
asking silly questions in their industrious way and always telling
lies to get out of any emergency. To come back to our other case.
If we keep the patient and those around him in the dark as to
the real state of his illness for the sake of pity, we are committ-
ing, in doing so, an act against morality of a twofold kind. How
many cases have proved to us already that the knowledge of
death approaching has been the very means of expanding the
divine-wishes in the patient, thus giving him the chance of his
last flight into the realms beyond. Inspite of all their erring, even
superficial men, when stricken with a mortal disease, have exper-
ienced, in the face of death, the redemption of their Immortal-
Will and sometimes gained the state of perfection in the quick
progress they made in creating their moral-self. Had vain hopes
of recovery been nurtured in the breasts of these kind of men,
little hope would have existed that the God in them would ever
have awakened at all. As to the other kind, no difficulties present
themselves when the time comes to tell them of their approaching

Englishmen are still wont to say: "Don't ask questions".
400

death, for these have already grown in the spirit of God before
their illness, and being familiar with it, await it calmly. And
finally, all those, who partake in the knowledge of the truths we
have gained, would resent, as being an insult, any protection
given through the telling of a lie, for, having already attuned
their lives to the rythm of God's sublime truths, they have no
craving for a 'happiness' 'before or after death' which is able to
be given through lies only.

Now, in this world of lies, better-men, guided by the moral
feeling of charity, have brought about a division of untruthful-
ness into two different classes. To the one class belongs the
contemptible lie. It is accounted to be 'immoral' because it is
prompted by selfishness, for it is told either to harm another or
in the hope of profit for oneself. The 'moral' lie is the opposite
kind. It is told for the good of another and sometimes harms
oneself. It is the lie of selfsacrifice (altruism). Our morals-of-
life reject altogether the doctrine which teaches that egoism is
always immoral and altruism is always moral, for this is a
foolish misconception of what is moral-in-emotions. Instead,
our morals advise the application of wise-discrimination where
the feeling of sympathy for our fellowmen is concerned. Besides
which, it is impossible for divine-feeling to be realised at the
cost of divine-thought, for our morals have taught us that
all the divine-wishes have equal rights. One may never be
put down for the sake of another. It is only natural of-course
that we all should hate the selfish lie which, by the way, insults
two divine-wishes at once. It hinders the development of the
moral-self more than the lie does which is born of the spirit of
'altruism'. Now, if a man would dedicate his attention to all
the four wishes equally, there would be no trouble here at all.
A good man would never accept the grace of a benefactor were
it supported by a lie. The only kind of deception existing which
is not immoral but amoral is the animal-kind of cunning. As long

401

as mankind is struggling like animals, threatened with danger
of death, cunning is in its right place, for it helps man and
animal to escape danger. In fact it is a moral demand in such
cases, in that opportunity must be given for the realisation of
Immortal-Life. Cunning, used as the weapon of defence to
escape death from the murderer's hand, (the animal-cunning)
is in all such cases amoral, that means morally neutral, for the
reason, that it is applied in order to save life, but not the life of-
course which is at the cost of the moral-self. (The morals-of-life
prefer self-destruction to the destruction of the moral-self.) The
murderer, on the other hand, who denies his deed in order to
save his life acts just as immorally as Galilei did when he denied
his own truths to save his life. Other cases in which cunning
might appear justified, albeit there is no actual danger to life
threatening, never can be amoral (morally-neutral). For instance,
there are artists who believe they serve their genius when they
resort to deception. They try to improve the standard of their
living in order to get 'known* and make a 'career' so as to gain
more 'time* for their art. In doing so, they merely reveal their
nonknowledge of the true nature of real genius which may never
be tied to time, but is dependent on just how fully and richly the
participation in the life of God is. The apparently more favour-
able circumstances in which an artist might be placed through
resorting to pretence would merely help to close the well from
which the genial spirit springs, so essential to his art. The mor-
ally-upright, on the other hand, those who keep to the path of
truth inspite of all want and suffering will earn their living in
honest work just in order to keep the spirit of their art chaste.
Despite want and bodily weakness the spirit of genius within
them keeps alive, for the Wish-to-Goodness here is the greatest
benefactor.

Truthfulness is only a part of the Wish-to-Truth. Now the
genius-of-research is not given to everybody, especially in the

402

search for truth by means of logical thinking. The importance of
this, however, should not find appreciation from the researchers
alone. The vision of all men should be opened to the knowledge
which the researchers of science have gained in order that all
may be given the opportunity of gaining truth and wisdom. A
pity, that the desire for philosophical-knowledge is so small. The
majority, therefore, hardly step over the threshold to con-
sciousness. Theirs are the powers to sense merely what is useful
or harmful, similar to the animals, everything else is of little
consequence to them which again can be compared to the 'not
existent* of the Greeks. The pondering on the ultimate things
of life which easily result in doubts they even dare to call 'sin'.
Moreover the knowledge, gained about the laws governing the
visible-world (Welt der Ersdieinung), thanks to the potency of
human intellect, seem more harmful than useful to them. It goes
without saying, that, not until the dogmatic belief for some had
lost its power, could the labours in the endeavour for truth bear
any fruit. Yet the more the dogmatic-belief removed itself from
the real facts, the quicker it seemed that men were obliged to
fall to that new error; the denial of the soul. But also intensive
study started. Men were anxious to find out the truth concern-
ing the laws which govern the universe. Natural-science which
the power of the church had suppressed at the penalty of death
blossomed, inspite of all the Goddeniers of the "Darwinian
Period". A sublime proof indeed for the divine-Wish-to-Truth.
Grand achievements were made in the study of the visible-world
(Welt der Ersdieinung). But they remained the property of the
realms of reason only. These freethinkers seemed struck with
a peculiar kind of soul-blindness. All sense of divine-perception
seemed absolutely wanting in them, and strange to say, the
crudest errors were accepted if they helped them in their denial
of God. Now this peculiar feature which characterised the period
when science was about to 'flourish* confirms clearly the fact we

403

here put forth. For a potential development in the realms-of-
thought divine intuition is almost essential. Hence, Darwinian-
science was potential enough to throw light into the darkness
which enveloped the visible-world (Welt der Erscheinung), but
failed completely when it touched on matters belonging to the
invisible world (Wesen der Erscheinung). Did not the researchers
deny the existence of the soul? Therefore, it was not to be
expected, that their "Philosophical world-viewpoints" (Weltan-
schauung) and 'moral creeds' should be of the loftier or moral-
kind. Actually they serve to confirm this our cognisance: The
world-beyond, which is God, can penetrate the material-world,
but the material- world is not capacitated to penetrate into the
world-beyond. Any attempts to do so would mean an abuse of
its powers.

The scientific truth-researchers remind us that the purpose
of divine-thought has not only the one aim in view; the applying
of itself to all our actions (the state of truthfulness). It has also
another aim which is to perceive truth by the virtue of its own
divine faculty. It is essential that this faculty be of the divine
kind (genius) should it be worthy of leading to cognisance. The
manifestation of divine-thought is to be found in the works of
art and science. Yet few men possess this trait-of-genius, al-
though to each and all the possibility is given to attend to what
the scientific-researchers reveal. This is a duty, for the attention,
they give, awakens the divine part of their own mentality and
guides them to bridges leading to the beyond which genius has
already erected, thus enabling them, through the knowledge of
truth, to partake also in the life-beyond.

The full development of all the four divine-wishes is the goal
which our morals-of-life strive for. In this endeavour the most
important leader is science; for science is capacitated to come
into the closest touch with the nature in all things (Wesen der
Dinge) which the material world, of its own power, has not the

404

power to do. Therefore, in a similar way to the works-of-art,
science can be divided into three different classes. The first class
is concerned with the visible-world (Welt der Erscheinung) only
together with the laws which govern it. Natural-science belongs
therefore to this class. Here, the invisible-world, the nature,
innate in all things (Wesen der Erscheinung) which is God throws
its light upon the material world which is the visible form of
this inner nature. Its concern is the material-world (Welt der
Erscheinung) only. To the second class all those works belong
which divine-thought has created when it made the study of
the laws governing the visible-world (Welt der Erscheinung), its
object as well as the use of intuition, thus partly protruding
already, or should do so, into the realms-beyond which is the
inner nature of all things; God (Wesen der Erscheinungen). They
are generally known as 'psychology'; soul-science and "Ped-
agogy" (the science of teaching). Now, the reason why so many
fail here their calling is because they imagine they can cope
with their duties by means of their reasoning powers only,
whereas in most cases the soul-experience should be called upon
and be ready to hand, should the reasoning powers bear their
fruit. Nothing has been able to lead "Pedagogy" more astray
from its right path, than when it was allowed to realise its
calling in reason's attempts to grasp the being 'child 1 by means
of its visible-form (Erscheinung) only. It is obvious that these
sciences have a greater right than natural-science has to lead
human-kind into the realms-beyond. By the very nature of its
endeavours, natural-science is only too apt to forget, or even
deny altogether, that there is in every visible-thing (Erscheinung)
an inner-nature (Wesen der Erscheinung). Would it but unite
its powers to the science which belongs to the third class, man's
powers of perception would be able to scale sublime heights.
The potential bridge which leads to the entrance of the world
beyond would be erected, and through knowledge, 'cognisance-

405

redemption* would be ours. The science which belongs to the
third class is "Philosophy"; divine-thought in the pursuit of the
divine. The realms of its endeavours are, or at least should be,
in the beyond, for it is concerned exclusively with the inner-
being (Wesen der Erscheinung). Among the three classes it
predominates, picking and choosing from these the facts which
may be useful to it, in its divine-endeavour to perceive the
divine. Thus, how ridiculously futile it must be to dedicate one-
self to this science if one has never experienced for oneself what
the life, which is beyond, is like, for the step to the bridges is
not sufficient. Yet innumerable men do so in the belief they are
called, because, through the potency of their reasoning-powers,
the capacity has been given to them to grasp the logical trend
of thought which creative philosophy yields or because of the
critical eye they may possess which enables them to perceive
the reason for the gaps and contradictions existing in the works
of others; in fine, because of the great capacity they possess in
showing off in a gleaming play of logic. To them philosophy
is like playing a difficult 'esoterical* game of chess which only
the eminently intelligent ones can play. In reality their lifework,
to use a Christian expression, is the e sin against the holy ghost*
for it is apt to distract better men from the right path, men who
otherwise might well have disentangled themselves from super-
ficial ties. Now, as almost all philosophical-men are of this
kind, it goes without saying, that the better-men in search of
truth stumble on their works first. No wonder then, that they
soon put them aside in disgust and give up their honest attempts to
understand philosophy altogether, for the mere display of hand-
ling difficult conceptions and the grovelling in one's own sophistry
which is exhibited in the work of a man whose soul is dead, serves
more to dampen the fervent interest in the mind of the more
worthier man than anything else. Moreover, it must still be said
of these apparent-philosophers, that in their judgement of the

406

older philosophical works, they are fully incapable of discerning
if the work is the fruit of genius or of a man whose soul is dead.
They are too ignorant to be able to judge this. The philoso-
phical-works which come from the hand of a man in whom the
divine spirit is dead will reveal the logical chain as being the
only contents, while the man of true genius, in whom the spirit
of God is still alive, will reveal the logical proofs to be the
good scaffolding put up for the student of his works to climb
in order for him to approach more easily the magnificent edifice
erected by the seer's inncrsight and live through the selfsame
experience. But as the scaffolding does not lean on to any point
but stands upright in the air, he must fly to the beyond himself,
that means, his own experience will always be of the absolutely
individual kind and is the most important event altogether, in
the participation of the philosophical work; the logical-ladders
merely facilitate the philosopher's theory. Thus then, the philo-
sophical work of a man of true genius does not by any means
lead everyone who peruses it to the knowledge of truth, on the
contrary, this, each and all must gain for themselves. Now,
those philosophers, who in reality are merely ones in appear-
ance, are perfectly oblivious of this fact. After having ascended
up and down the ladders, put up for their benefit, they believe
themselves in possession of the whole philosophy and have the
impertinence sometimes to think they have the right to decry
forever a creative work of genius, just because their shrewd
eyes found a defect or two in the ladders they were given the
priviledge to make use of. Thus it happens, that men continue
to teach barren subjects together with the philosophy belonging
to the man of genius. However, the melancholy of all this is
redeemed in the certain knowledge that the student, who must
work his own way through the medley of philosophical works,
will soon come to find out where the man-of-genius is, that is if
his own soul is not dead. As philosophy comes of the divine

407

Will-to-Truth, the philosopher who is deaf to the calling of
God will inevitably give himself away at every turn. And one
such turn is sufficient to mark him as being dead of soul. There-
fore, let us not disturb the dead; there is no use in rustling the
dry decayed leaves of any of his books.

Now these are grievous conditions of no trivial kind; and we
owe it to the morals-of-life that they should be remedied. All
the dead must be removed from the temple of philosophy to
save the ardent newcomer from falling into the hands of the
God-deniers!

408

fbitte*f> exception*

Our morals of life desire the full development of the four
wishes of the divine will equally. They bear the divine message
that the Wish-to-Beauty is just as important as the Wish-to-
Truth and the love of our fellowmen is. What a tremendous
change this idea should cause in the life of a folk that has
laboured more than a thousand years under the impression that
the Wish-to-Beauty bore little or no significance simply because
its religion did not esteem beauty at its right value. Observe
how little sensitive to beauty he also was who founded this
alien religion. How positively hostile, save when it was to the
glory of the faith, its priests were. And what a state of ugliness
it was in which the people passed their daily-lives, although
the great urge for beauty which in reality was theirs, found
its outlet in the creation of art for the glorification of the alien
faith. As the ancestral art of the prechristian era had been
destroyed, except for what had been hidden in the grave, the
eye of the artist turned wistfully to the Grecian art which was
the manifestation of beauty itself. The Greeks were the very
first to perceive that beauty was interwoven with goodness,
living their lives accordingly. How shameful, in comparison, is
the dull undeveloped beauty-conscience of the so-called "Cult-
ural Folks" of our day. How few are aware that the beauty-
conscience is just as important as the good-conscience is, and
that it is their duty to make their daily lives as beautiful as it
lies in their power to do so. The admiration of the works of
an is not sufficient to satisfy the demands which the Wish-to-

409

Beauty expects to be fulfilled. It is almost incomprehensible
that the human-kingdom should be so devoid of beauty, while
in the animal-kingdom and the 'inorganic' world so much bount-
eous beauty prevails. We shall understand the reason for it
well and good if we but bear the bigotry of the Christians in
mind. The Immortal-Will was considered to be connected with
ugliness. The beauty of the human-body was the devil calling,
bringing up visions of hell. Beautiful mothers were burnt at
the stake because they were thought to be 'witches'.

As the Wish-to-Truth finds its expression in every true word,
thought or deed, the Wish-to-Beauty, likewise, finds its express-
ion. It can do so in our own appearance and in the appearance
of the things we use around us. But in its pursuit, we must be
directed by our own sense of what is beautiful and not what
others think beautiful. This will depend of -course on the degree
our beauty-sense has been allowed to develope. This applies
to all with the exception of the actual artists and scientific
researchers. Namely these, the creative artists are generally, in
this respect, incapable of realising at all the Wish-to-Beauty.
An artist is capable of pointing out the beauty in the harmony
of certain tints, while his own dress will reveal a clashing of
the most awful colours. He will be sensitive to the beauty in
the inner decoration of a house, while in his own home the
most ugly things are tolerated. This arises from the priviledge
which God accords his chosen ones, in order to spare their sens-
itive nature being too hardly wounded in their hard driven
daily life. Their eyes are made so as to see but beauty only; to
ugly objects around them they are blindfolded. Now this should
mean a matter of grave concern to all the others to whom it
is given to see. They must make up for what the artist fails to
see in striving for the realisation of the Wish-to-Beauty innate
within them with double fervour, and in the best way they
can. May the man-of-genius also keep our morals before his

410

eyes, in respect to this particular duty towards God. The divine
spirit within him wants to develope in order to achieve perfect-
ion. Therefore we ask him not to forget to persevere in little
things, thus showing his gratitude for the richness of the beauty-
wish which has been given to him. He will then be spared the
mortification of being set up as an example in order to justify
the similar untidy habits of the cheaper sort of human-beings.

However, the divine-wish coming in the garb of beauty will
not be satisfied with the beauty of a person's outward appear-
ance or the beauty of his environment alone. More is required.
We are expected to put under beauty's guidance all the express-
ions of our soul, all our movements, speech and the expression
of all our emotions. This is called self-control which leads us
along the path of moderation. Here again it is clearly revealed
how beauty and goodness are closely associated to one another.
On the achievement of this aim, our ancient forebears of pre-
christian time laid great value. Among the ideal figures of their
sagas which was deemed most worthy of imitation was the
Goddess "Mass" (measure) because she lived her life in Vise
moderation'. Moderation in all things is closely linked up with
the sacred meaning of life. How much human misery would be
spared if men would but cultivate their sense-of-beauty. Sense
of moderation would repress many an outburst of rage and
passion. In some such circumstances as these it might appear as
if the Wish-to-Truth should dominate the Wish-to-Beauty in
the open confession to all the emotions raging within the
breast, but nevertheless equal consideration must be given to
the Wish-to-Beauty, as the strength of both wishes should be
equally developed and held in the balance.

Influenced by Christian thought, the majority came to neglect
the element of beauty in their outward appearance and the look
of their surroundings. Only the morals of 'society' deemed beauty
a worthy asset which fact, as being cultivated by the upper class,

411

made the mentally primitive begin to suspect beauty to be bad.
But as 'society' was stimulated with the vain spirit to look and
dress beautifully merely to impress others of their own class,
it happens generally that the urge to look and dress beautifully
does not come from the divine Wish-to-Beauty, but merely to
be in the 'fashion*. Moreover, as men and women of 'society*
were not ashamed of stooping to the immoral behaviour of putt-
ing the emphasis on the mere outward appearance which was
thought necessary to be kept up at any price, better men grew
disgusted, especially as it was so obvious that artificial manners
were more acceptable than true morals, sham feelings more wel-
come than expression of the true ones. A great confusion of
ideas has arisen as a consequence of all this. For instance, the
endeavours of anyone to make the very best of their appearance
is likely to be called 'vanity* or 'superficiality'. Bad taste in dress
and the careless indifference of outward appearances, the sign
of a 'spiritualised', pious, or grave state of mind. Graceful
behaviour and a desire to be moderate in all things is very
likely to be called 'affectation' or pretence, while pointed bad
manners, undisciplined rough behaviour, is often considered the
sign of an unbribable character.

Thus, when the 'morals of society' are looked at properly,
it will be noted, that the artificial garb in which beauty trends
its way through society-life is but the revenge of nature making
itself manifest; for the instinct to surround ones daily life with
beauty, as our ancient Aryan forebears were wont to do, had
been cruelly suppressed. An example, pair to this, can be found
in the folk-costumes which were worn in the middle-ages. The
craving for beauty found its vent in the beauty of the bright
colours which tried to redeem the ugliness and unhealthiness of
men and women being muffled up in such clothes.

But the Wish-to-Beauty will not suffer itself to be restricted
to work in the outward appearance and in the emotions of the

soul life alone. It requires a still greater scope for its endeavours.
Its aim is, through the divine assertion of the soul itself, to make
a veritable work of art out of the inner life of human-kind.
It aims at bringing about peaceful co-operation of all the divine
wishes within the soul. At the command of beauty they join
together or separate, rise and sink in divine or superficial joy
and sorrow which they bear. And the sublime height of per-
fection which the divine Wish-to-Beauty hereby can attain,
together with the height of perfection which the Wish-to-Good-
ness can achieve, constitutes the richness of the inner-life of man
which is incapable of being imparted to anyone else, although
its existence is revealed strongly to others in the quality of a
man's actions. It is of the selfsame beauty which appeals to us
in all the grand masterpieces of art, as being the manifestation
of the spiritual beauty which has been attained through the
steady exfoliation of the painting and architecture; genius-in-
deed. Little is to be noticed of divine features in the art of the
present day. The music of the 20th century is characterised by
a discordant clashing of sound, colour and form. They are the
manifestations of a hasty, nervous, unsettled state of mind which
is vexed with the rise and fall of instincts, feelings and sensat-
ions, all hostile with one another. If not this, then it is cold
reasoning-work which is revealed. The works of pure genius
are the rare exceptions. What is it that make them all so hollow?
It is because of the evident impotency of the artists to render
any experience of the life beyond.

Above all, their works lack the triumph of beauty. In trans-
forming the alien religion to their liking, the artists of the
middle-ages were still capable of sensing God, and accordingly
their works could manifest Godliving which is the mark distin-
guishing genius.

In dwelling on the art of the present day, we come from the
capacity of art creation to the enjoyment of art. Now, for the

413

man, who knows that the possibility is given to him to become
God's consciousness as well as that the Wish-to-Beauty, like the
other divine-wishes, is the manifestation of his soul, he will
also know, that the conscious perception, the 'enjoyment* of
beauty is 'divine service' in the deepest sense of the word. The
perceiving of beauty in nature is like attending 'divine wor-
ship', albeit here beauty has been unconsciously created; how
much more adequate is the term 'divine service' when used to
describe the state of contemplation of the conscious Godliving
which is manifested in works-of-art. The masterpieces of beauty,
similar to the creations born of divine-thought, namely scientific
work, can also be arranged into three classes according to the
quality of their nature. The beyond can and does penetrate this
visible world (Welt der Erscheinung). Thus, a certain kind of art
will arise which represents the unspiritualised struggle-for-
existence with all those kind of desires and instincts belonging
to it. For instance all the dancemusic and love-songs which tell
of sexual-life or the struggle-for-existence belong to this kind.
Not being animated with any spirit of a divine-nature, this
kind of art cannot be considered in the light of a 'divine service',
nor do they form themselves into those bridges which lead to
the beyond for man's benefit. Yet a mark how often the street
song itself is superior to the experience it is telling of: Just stop
a minute to observe the singer. Look at the expression of his
face, listen to his voice when he tries to bring about the full
effect of the song! In every case, there is a spirit of something
higher which is trying to raise the experience above the atmo-
sphere of its baseness.

The works-of-art which belong to the second class serve as
capital bridges for the worldly youth, as something of the spirit
of God is always revealed in them. Their contents are generally
concerned with sublimated sexuality or "Minne", as we have
termed it, with all its joys, pains and struggles. Sympathy is

414

held in praise; that divine feeling which draws men to each
other, how it loses and wins in the conflicting battles against
'unfaithfulness' and hate. That here also the work of art itself
is of a greater quality than the actual experience lies in the fact
that the divine-wish, in its garb of beauty, labours with the
selfsame intensity in all the happenings and emotions which are
being described, as it would do in the soul of a man when this
is endeavouring to mould and shape itself into a work of genius.
If this mark of distinction is missing in the artists achievements,
there will arise, instead of art, something which likens to a
photographic reproduction, but which now-a-days is often
believed to be art. When an artist attempts to make an exhibit-
ion of any experience which he himself has never been able to
feel, there will but arise, in the result, a mere bungling thing
which leaves no impression on the mind at all. The musical
works of Richard Wagner are examples of masterpieces belong-
ing to this second class, albeit, for all who have experienced
for themselves the life beyond, his Parcifal, although it should
be classed to masterpieces belonging to the third class, reveals
the fact that in Parcifal, Wagner had got lost in experiences
strange to him.

The works of art which belong to the third class are the
highest of all. They are the precincts sacred to the few only.
The men-of-genius who create them must be capable of living
their lives in all full consciousness according to the rules of a
clear God-Cognisance. The form, colour, rythm and sound
which manifest this Godliving are the sole links which connect
it to this world at all. It is the divine art which is concerned
with the divine alone. With the visible-world (Welt der Erschei-
nung) and its experiences it has nothing to do at all. It stands
on the same level as Philosophy which might be called the holy
of holies among the sciences. It reveals exclusively either religious-
emotions or contemplation; Bach's music is a good example of

415

this level. Pictures which represent this high level of art are
often seen hanging among the pictures belonging to the other
two classes which prove how little the art-connoiseurs possess
of the divine nature of art. It is much the same in concerts. The
'program' begins with pieces belonging to the highest class and
then follow pieces belonging to the other classes; very often
altogether light music; which is indeed asking a lot from the
audience. The inevitable e sin against the holy ghost* artists will
commit, just as philosophers are capable of doing, who are
soulless. Works of art make their appearance without a trace
of the divine in them. Now, in art, reason's potencies do not
play such a part as they do in scientific-matters. This accounts
for the fact that temple-sacriledge does not so often happen
in art as it does in science, although it frequently happens among
the lovers of art.

Our morals of life aim putting an end to such blasphemy,
for this it is, when soulless men believe themselves called upon
to grasp art with the powers of their reason, and what is more
teach others such fallacy in doing so, causing infinite harm to
our folk, as the exfoliation of the divinity in the garb of beauty
is badly impeded. If these would but keep quiet, but they won't.
Possessed of a certain knowledge concerning the laws of art,
they are impertinent enough to approach any and every work
of art, not in that spirit of awe which is due to the artist alone,
in order to find out the experience he is trying to impart, but
merely to criticise if the space and the reflection of light and
shadow have been properly divided, cutting it into pieces as
it were for themselves and others, leaving hardly a rag behind
which is worth anything in the way of art. As these knowers-
of-art evidently will keep on in this way till the end of their
days, it is our duty to appeal to the younger generation. Our
morals will point out to them the intentions of art, and what
we ourselves desire of art. We shall refrain in the first place

416

from wanting young people to appreciate already high artistic
work. One thing, however, we shall point out to them, and that
is, not to listen to what others believe to be good art, but to
have confidence in their own feelings as to what is beautiful or
not. If they honestly believe a thing to be beautiful, there is
no good in contradicting them, even if the thing is actually ugly
with no pretence at art at all. At least in this way we can keep
youth honest in its opinion, which is the main thing. The very
best way in which to cultivate the Wish-to-Beauty in a youth
is to show sympathy for his tastes and allow him to please
himself in this respect in his own dear way. This will keep his
interest in art awake and in time his taste will improve of its
own accord. Preaching reason would do infinite harm and must
therefore be strictly avoided. In this way the young will be
given the chance to grow up to be men who have that sense,
which our morals call 'aesthetic'. That is, men who would always
like to see beauty realised everywhere, who would be induced
to sacrifice beauty for utility's sake only in the case of a great
emergency. In fact men who are in perfect harmony with nature,
pervaded with the selfsame spirit of beauty as all else is in the
universe, but priviledged before all else in that they can live
consciously fulfilling this divine-wish. After which that man
will be born who, gradually, gains through his own experience
that higher developed taste for what is beautiful, and what is not,
without first having to reason it out or listen to the judgement
of another. It will he that divine good he has achieved of his
own accord and will bear therefore the distinguishing mark of
peerlessness.*

In bringing up youth to cultivate its own sense of beauty, we are
saving them from becoming men of 'unaesthetic' tastes, men who
are against refinement. According to our morals the men of bad-

* This fact will help to explain why the Greeks found no use for 'art-history' or
'art-critic', aud yet possessed such a great sense of beauty which was given to all alike.

4*7

taste (undeveloped Wish-to-Beauty) are all those who prefer
utility to beauty, even when the element of utility serves to no
purpose; all those who try to grasp beauty with their reason,
and finally all those who have no sure, true judgement of their
own, but repeat parrot-like what any professor, critic or the
'masses' of the public say.

The man of our new morals, the 'aesthetic man', that is, the
man pervaded with the divine spirit of beauty, is alone capable
and no other of developing his inner-nature (Seele). One day he
will certainly be able to cross the bridges as well as enter the
realms beyond and live the life in God (God-living) through the
good influence of art, while the best, others will achieve, is the
life at the gates outside the beyond; the sensing of the deep emo-
tions which art gives them to experience, (s. above) We know
already how dangerous to the life of the soul it is when men
make it their habit to frequent the bridges leading to the beyond,
returning to the usual routine of daily-life without making
attempts to succeed in entering the beyond. This habit will gain
such power over them that one day the chance will be lost for-
ever of entering the realms of God by means of that bridge which
they have made it their habit to stop at. Being alive to this fact,
our morals of life must call this immoral because of the danger
it-means to our Godliving. In order to prevent such evil spread-
ing our morals appeal again especially to the young. As God-
living (the soul-life in the realms of God) can happen without
the stimulating help from anything outside, in fact, the divine
in man developes more steadily if the soul has virtue enough to
undertake the flight into the beyond without outward help, the
answer to the following question is of matter. "Can the stimul-
ating influence of art do harm to the independence of the soul
in its flight into the realms of God?" The only sure answer is
this: It weakens the strength of a man if he visits the bridges,
built by others, too frequently, for there is the danger of being

418

overwhelmed which would impede his own progress. Principles
underlie this fact. The greater the creative power is, the richer
his inner life is, the less he must give himself up to enjoy the
creations of others, but the more he must strive to create his
own, especially in his most fruitful years. He is none the poorer
for this. On the contrary. The joy of creation is sufficient to
make up for anything he might miss in joy which others could
afford him. Has such an one made it a habit in immature years
to frequent the bridges, he has run a twofold risk. The first is
the danger of letting his own potencialities get stunted, in that
he grows indolent in the endeavour to develope them; the second
is the very likely matter of his attempting to build bridges of his
own long before his potencies are sufficiently developed. As this
is more often the case than not, the claims of our morals-of-life
go in the opposite direction to the aims of the systems of educat-
ion which prevail. For instance, we must be very careful with
the intelligent child that gives promise of developing genius. For
the sake of the life of its future creations we must refrain from
making it acquainted too early with the great masters either of
the past or present. Not that we should forbid the child anything
in this respect, for then it would be tempted to satisfy its long-
ing in secret; we should try, instead, to distract its attention in
giving it plenty of opportunity to play with other children. If,
on the other hand, a child is little or not gifted at all, we do well
in conducting it very often to the bridges in order to awaken
its sense of art. Thus then, thanks to our cognisance, in time we
shall see less of those stupidly ignorant parents who think it
their duty to overwhelm their talented child with the treasures
of art and erudition, and delight in hearing its precocious critic-
ism, quite oblivious of the appalling fact, that, in acting so, they
are stunting the child's own creative potencies in putting a strain
on them at such an early time. It must be remembered that the
spiritual-experience of the child, with rare exceptions (highly

419

gifted children), cannot be compared to the Godliving of the
adult. The child is incapable of partaking in the Godliving of
another. Its spiritual-experience is born in the realms of imagin-
ation and is merely fantasy. (We refer the reader to "The Child's
Soul and its Parents' Office".) Therefore a wise tutor will take
pains to find out the right methods of stimulating the child's
imagination. The one degree might stifle it while the other will
develop it. But in all cases he will studiously refrain from in-
itiating the child into the realms of Godliving by means of art,
.science or 'religious instructions'. Such endeavours would only
be futile, as the child is absolutely incapacitated to partake in
the life of God.

420

If already the Wish-to-Truth and the Wish-to-Beauty are
obviously interwoven with the Wish-to-Goodness, the Wish-to-
Goodness itself is closely interwoven with the divine feeling of
sympathy which exists for our fellowmen. In fact it is the deter-
mining factor in all our actions. The Indian Krischna, overcome
at the sight of all the sufferings of mankind which had been
caused by the feelings of hate, spite, indifference and continual
strife, invented an alluring albeit fallacious creed in order to put
an end to all this unnecessary suffering. He taught men to desire
'peace on earth'. He told them to give up hating altogether and
love all men without using discrimination and forgive all with-
out using discrimination. Krischna's creeds are fallacies of a
folk-destroying character.

The ignorance of the his tory-of -growth which prevailed at
that time was the cause of the error and confusion which Jischnu
Krischna's message contains. No doubt he believed the demons
which were supposed to be in our own breatsts caused the hatred
to be in the world and fancied the only way to overcome the
evil was to love one's neighbour as oneself and with God's aid
then it would one day be eliminated altogether. He even believed
it to be truth, when he taught 'love thy enemies'. Now, these
doctrines only aided in the destruction of man and his race. Of
man's-soul because he tried to pretend something which he could
never accomplish, and all because men had laboured under a
misconception of the intrinsic nature of hatred. When a man
believes life to be a passing journey with eternal-life after death

as its destination and the reincarnations as so many changes
only, it is but natural, he should be easily called upon to resign
the feeling of hatred towards those who want his life, for these
in reality are helping him to gain eternal-bliss before he would
otherwise have done so. For this reason alone he ought to love
the man who murders him. But in reality it is not so, thanks to
the God in man that protects him from succumbing to this fall-
acy. (In the unconscious part of the soul slumbers the truth con-
cerning reality.) But in order to do justice to Krischna's com-
mandments (which the Jews, later, put into the mouth of Jesus
of Nazareth) men tried to 'love' every-body, although these
were not actually their enemies who 'wanted their lives' in the
sense of Krischna's commandment. In spite of this, all the appall-
ing characteristics born of the feeling of hate were still rampant
in the soul of man. His reasoning powers were the cause of this.
The animal is devoid of them as reason's awakening was given
to mankind as his priviledge alone. We have learnt to under-
stand the hate which is proper to the animal. The anger which the
Self preservation- Will feels when it is being threatened Jn any
way is natural. It is innate in all living things. Therefore it is
an impossibility to eliminate hate as long as the Selfpreservation
and Immortal-Will exist. In fact, in the human-kingdom which
is made up of conscious beings, who therefore are given the
capacity to care deliberately for the preservation of their kind,
hate should be consciously used as one of the controlling factors
in the preservation of the race. (If race-mixture has not yet
taken place this instinct comes quite natural.) Thus then, each
individual should hate its enemy. Mankind above all because it
is a will which he is capable of spiritualising.

But does not hatred clash with the divine-feeling of sympathy
which men should possess for their fellowmen? Will it not be
an impediment and therefore hinder men in their desire to love
their fellowmen? Should it not, therefore, be completely elimin-

422

ated in order that the feeling of love towards others should be
allowed to thrive? Already previously (s. above) we have been
able to point out how the divine-wishes can succeed in overcom-
ing the conflict which exists between the struggle-for-life and the
life which is beyond this, in that a union of the two lives (strugg-
le-for-life and Godliving) was brought about. Now, should not
genius be capable of bringing about the same thing here? As hate
is inseparably paired to the Sclfpreservation-Will, and the self-
preservation-Will is inseparably paired to all that possesses life,
it is futile to want to eliminate this vital power. Therefore, the
only way to bring about a state of harmony is to refine the
selfprcservation instinct, and create a divine potency out of the
hate which is of the animal-kind.

Let us ask first, who is our enemy really? According to the
truth of life's meaning, as seen in the light of our cognisance,
everything which dares to harm our Godliving is our enemy. The
animal-like hate must rise within us of-coursc, when the life of
our family or folk is in danger, but must subside, even in such
an emergency, if the divine-wishes should have to be sacrificed
for the sake of living on. (s. above.) In all who are alive to the
sacredness of life's meaning the power to hate will grow mighty
when they see any danger threatening the God-living of their
own soul, or of their own folk or, for that matter, the God-
living of the folk-soul of all others. But that kind of hate which
all men can experience through having been given the powers
of reasoning must be strictly repressed because it can cause such
evil to the soul. Life is given to this kind of hate when men
consider that the meaning of life lies in the endeavours to heap
up as much pleasure as possible and avoid everything which
causes pain. Thus, the hate connected with the Selfpreservation-
Will will undergo a process of transformation in those human
individuals who have gained a divine sense of direction in the
pursuit of their hate.This transformation is of ten very gradual like

4*3

the process to the state of perfection is. These two, in fact, go hand
in hand. A man will then become aware how his failings and
errors become less frequent within the course of time, although
the change for the better which has taken place within his soul
is not of such a radical kind as to be apparent to either himself
or others arround him. But when the day arrives on which he has
ultimately succeeded in directing his hate into new channels; in
the course of what is divine alone, he will experience a renewal
of his inner-self. This will cause the trend of his whole life to
change, especially in his behaviour towards his fellow-men. For
the first time he knows what it is to be released from all those
appalling fetters, unknown to the animal, which men have
called the 'powers of evil*. Of a certitude he will never again
fall into the temptation of 'his every thought and wish being of
evil*. The actual state of perfection he has not yet gained; but
he is on the way to it.

But what are 'those devilish powers' which, in having directed
his feelings of hate anew, he so amply succeeded in overcoming
after others had failed so completely, namely the adherents to
the Krischna creed? As soon as a man understands the origin of
the rise and fall of these 'satanic' powers they will have lost
their power over him forever.

Let us recall again to mind the animal's forgetf ulness of joyful
as well as of painful experiences. It is owing to this capacity
that the sight of the enemy arouses hate in the animal, but which
immediately is forgotten as soon as the enemy is out of sight,
and will be rearoused as soon as the enemy is again in sight. How
different it is with the human-being. Once torments of any kind
are experienced they will impress themselves so deeply on his
mind as to keep the anger of the Selfpreservation-Will keenly
alive. Moreover, as his awakened reason is able to find out the
secret of amassing joyous experiences, it discloses the secret
of it to the Selfpreservation-Will. Now all his actions are

424

guided in the pursuit of 'happiness* as reason and hate have
joined hands together. All his thoughts are turned in the one
direction, which is, how he best can protect his state of happiness
from being harmed, but also how he best can harm the happy
state of others. In this way those appalling 'characteristics' are
born in the breast of man which I have called the offspring of
hate and reason; these cause the life of most people to become
a hell on earth, and the earth itself a 'vale of tears'. In the spirit
of quarrelsomeness, revenge and spitefulness, a veritable 'devil's
brood' has come to life. The most candid confession to these sins
which cultural history reveals is found in the veneration of the
Catholics for "St. Disturber of the peace" in Luxemburg. Count-
less staunch Christians make regular pilgrimages to this Saint.
They can be seen in progression carrying blessed-candles with
the purpose of dedicating them to "St. Disturber of the Peace".
Afterwards hundreds of pins are stuck into the candle wax, in
the hope, that, when the candle has burnt a pm down and it lies
at the feet of the saint, he, the 'kind' one, will make the enemy
suffer the cruelest pains. How many bad people have wishes and
do actions worthy of such a saint although the holy candles are
missing which they ought to be carrying in their hands.

And yet there would still be room left for a 'paradise on earth 1
in spite of the sinister children of reason and hate, for there are
many still who are peace-loving as long as their own peace is
not disturbed. Unfortunately these are not the only children of
this awful wedlock which made its first appearance in the human-
kingdom, and so it happens, that, compared with the hell on
earth which these cause, the other were a paradise, for the
'devil's brood' which we are now about to speak of poisons the
life of the most peace-loving of all.

The longing to heap up enjoyments, that is, happiness which
each man fosters is of a certitude very different. There is the
spiritualised kind of "Eudamonism" as well as the cruder type

with stages, almost unimaginable, running between; all kinds of
which are praised as constituting the good of life. But in one
respect all men are alike in their chase for happiness, (most
human-beings are of this type). One and all must be prepared
that that dragon-brood; envy, greed and malice will make their
souls nitty as soon as hate and reason have been allowed to
marry there. Now these characteristics are worse than those we
first mentioned, for they will even cause a man to persecute
another who has never done him any evil at all. All those whom
they believe to be 'happy* are their sure victims. The most
beautiful places on earth can become like a murderer's cave, in
which the human soul will suffocate on account of the pest these
cause. And yet how indifferent the prevailing morals-creeds are
to these evils of the soul. Up till now all the creeds, preaching,
in relation to these, of eternal bliss or eternal damnation, have
proved of little good; moreover they are also fallacies. All men
have failed therein, except those perhaps who resigned happ-
iness altogether. No wonder that the latter was considered the
only way to salvation, so that 'ascetism* and 'the resignation of
the world' and disdain of 'worldly joys' and sorrows found its
way into the life of human-kind.

Now, how good it must be to hear that this brood is neither
unconquerable nor is it the power of 'satan'. It is innate in all
mankind and comes to life when reason awakens. But, as the
divine wishes in man take longer to develope, man remains the
victim of his passions, for redemption can come to him through
cognisance alone. Man's hate becomes transfigured as soon as
the Godliving within him has grown strong enough to enable him
to give up the idea that happiness constitutes life, and instead
of this endeavours to become God's consciousness, in that he
succeeds in living Godlike, which means that he is capacitated
to partake in the life-beyond which is that state of perfection
he is striving for. As soon as he succeeds in this his hate, now,

426

will be roused to strike anything which comes in the way of his
Godliving, or the existence and godliving of his kindred folk.
Nothing else will be found worthy of his hatred. Thus he will
perceive in that brood of hell, conceived by hate and reason, the
greatest enemies to his immortality. And there is nothing in all
the world or for that matter in his own soul, which is strong
enough to rouse the divine hate of his Immortal-Will so much
as this brood of hell can do. Already the Indian 'religion of love*
recognised this fact, but as it was believed their origin and power
came from a devil whose aim it was to lead man to eternal dam-
nation, every attempt made to overcome them remained futile.
Now, be it known, that in reason they have their origin, and
that knowledge of their birth and growth robs them of their
appalling power. The hate which comes of the spirit of God
suffers them not. It overcomes them without any resort to
combat even.

Observe then that the man who pursues in this hate all the
sinister brood in his own soul has by no means resigned hatred
as the Indians Krischna and Buddha recommended, on the con-
trary he must hate everything existing either in his own soul or
about him which goes in any way against the divine trends of the
Divine Will, and the worse the enemy of God is, the greater will
his hatred grow. Therefore, he will exhibit little patience with
those superficial good-hearted sort, who say 'live and let live*
because they are too weak to put up any fight against their own
passions. He will leave them to themselves as long as their
example does no harm to others, but he will hate intensely all
those others, who, with the weapons of their reasoning potencies
tear to pieces the works of art born of the Godlife of others, for
he knows how this kind of criticism and mockery keeps others
away from partaking in the life of God. He will hate, also, all
those restless soulless workers in the course-of -utility who make
the life of so many a burden through the inconsiderate way they

4*7

have of calling the attention of others to their own narrow every-
day-life and so distract these from their Godliving. He will hate
all those in whom the children of hate and reason are still alive. He
will hate the liars and hypocrites, especially those who dare to
lie in matters of a spiritual kind. He will hate all those who
make abuse of the faith of others; those who pretend to be
genuine in order to steal the love of others for the purpose of
gaining power over them. He will hate all, who, in neglecting
to cultivate the Wish-to-Goodness within them, have spoilt their
own souls and work through the poison they gave to their genius.
In fine, he will hate all those who fit their art to the best way
of getting a living, instead of preferring famine to such contam-
ination from the principles of utility, for this is like committing
treason.

It is surely obvious, now, that those human-beings in whom
the divine-wishes are potent, in whom therefore the Wish-to-
Love all men is extraordinarily keen, are just those who are
doomed to hate the most. We can well imagine how such tender-
hearted individuals, so warm in their feelings for others, will
suffer in having to hate so much, so that verily a 'martyrdom*
is made out of their lives, a fact, which also proves the best how
little our God-Cognisance satisfies the desires for happiness.
Now let us hope that many will take advantage of this truth,
and thanks to the benefit it gives them, turn over a new leaf. In
weeding out of their souls those children born of hate and reason
and placing the divine wishes to grow in their stead, there is
every hope that the better men, we have spoken of, will be able
to realise the love they cherish for mankind without having to
deliberately act immorally.

Now, it would be absolutely futile to want to judge the
feelings of hate which a man who is alive to God cherishes, if we
ourselves have not succeeded in getting farther than the natural
feelings governed by the innate laws of consciousness, that

428

means to say the general feelings which arise from the pairing of
hate with reason. We should only arrive at a completely wrong
estimation of his soul. The potential feeling of divine hate is free
from anything like the spirit of quarrelsomeness, revenge, malice,
envy, jealousy or greed. A man who hates in the divine way
only is imbued with the greatest desire to see the divine spirit
awaken and grow in those whom he must hate. He is prepared
to change his hate into love at any moment when he can be
convinced that the individual he was obliged to hate is rising
to a higher standard-of-morals. In fact he is always ready to
help him do so. One thing only he will never be induced to do,
and that is, live together with anyone who causes him to neglect
the cultivation of his Godliving, for all such who are ignorant
of what this is are only too apt to keep us back in our spiritual
progress, in that they disturb our peace of mind at any moment
they please, if they intend to or not. Among this kind and sort,
the worst are those who are very lively and communicative, for
their poison is the deadliest to another's Godliving. Peace, ver-
ily, means life to the man who has trained himself in the spirit
of God; disturbance of his peaceful state the loss of immortality!
For this reason, the man who has learned to change his emotions
of hate into the kind which are divine must take great care in
his desire to help others to become good not to go so far as to
make his actions immoral. As divine-hate merely wants to devel-
ope the Godliving in the other without resorting to combative
means, the duty to forgive and forget which the Indians Krischna
and Buddha put forth as commandments become invalid. If
another will spoil our lives and we are tempted to do wrong in
return, there is no good in forgetting like the animal does when
it is over. On the contrary each word and deed which has made
us suffer should be so imprinted on our souls as to be a warning
to ourselves and the others. The less we are capable of forgetting,
the more hope there is that it will be for the very last time we

429

or our companion will succumb to the temptation of doing evil
Yet for those others, who still cherish within their breasts the
brood born of hate and reason, the only way to overcome the
temptation of revenging themselves is to try and forget.

The divine hater of-course possesses a divine sense of discrim-
ination as well with regards to those he loves. Long ago he gave
up sympathising with all men indiscriminately as it was first
taught by Krischna thousands of years ago and later by other
religious doctrines. His feelings of sympathy are not like the
'sun which shines over just and unjust alike*. He is even called
upon to refrain from loving his 'nearest relations' if these are
likely to become the grave diggers to his Godliving, for this
would certainly be immoral, and if for this reason he is capable
of refraining from loving his next of kin, how much more easier
must it be to refrain from giving way to an indiscriminate 'love
of all men' which tramples on the claims of family and folkdom.
He must be expected first to examine the character of his fellow-
men before his decision falls in love or hate towards them. The
familiar tone may come sounding only when the affinity is of a
divine nature which is knitting kith and kin together.

The love we feel for another depends solely on the progress
which the divine-spirit in the one we want to love has made in
its development. Now see how this moral fact must inevitably
put an end to the error of equality of man. Men are not all equal,
neither is it truth that all have 'human weaknesses', nor are all
men 'sinners*. These are easy going doctrines indeed, and for
that very reason they have worked such disaster in the human-
soul. The spiritual indolence they cause hinder a man on his way
to perfection, for he is made too lazy to undertake the pains of
giving divine shape to his soul. Now just let us see how totally
different men are to one another; in fact the difference manifested
among the humankind is more obvious than among any other
living kind. For instance there are the mere strugglers-for-life.

430

These have lost all the genuiness and simplicity which disting-
uishes the soul of the animal, although they have diligently kept
alive the 'dragonbrood' in their souls. They are even far below
all the unconscious and subconscious animate beings. They have
gained simply nothing, but have lost tremendously. Then there
is the divine kind of human-being. It is he who has gained the
state of perfection; he, who as long as he breathes, lives in union
with God; he, in fine, who is God's consciousness. So now,
indeed, I am entitled to believe that a tremendous gulf separates
these two, for the one is 'high* and the other is 'low 1 , and in
between there exists ever so many different kinds and sorts, not
one resembling the other in inner value. Nothing is capable of
equalising mankind, not even family features nor the features,
native to the race. At first sight the difference is not so obvious
of -course. All men, it is true, have their 'human weakness* until
they have become perfect, but there is a great difference between
the nature of the 'weakness* of the one who is 'high* and the one
who is 'low*. Human weakness, seen in the latter, means that
the soul has gone out of its original shape and has grown crippled
and distorted, while the 'weakness' of the 'high' can be likened
to the minor disproportions which happen to appear, sometimes,
in a superb image-of-God. As long as we keep blind to the
difference existing among human individuals our vision will be
marred. It will make us incapable of judging what is sublime
or not.

The equality of mankind is a realisation which broods melan-
choly over mankind, for it makes men unfit to see what is great
in the human-individual of their own time. It makes this phrase
always ring in their ears: "We are all human with human weak-
ness", so they simply overlook what is great. Not until the man-
of-genius is dead, is he valued for that what his own virtue has
made of him.

The doctrine-of-equality makes it for the silly majority almost

43 1

impossible to suspect mankind to be good at all, as men natur-
ally judge everybody else according to themselves. Their own
failures and the many disappointments they have been made to
experience, have caused them to loose all their faith in mankind.
Consequently they read into the soullife of their neighbour the
same as they themselves experience. If they experience very little
of what is divine, they think it pretence if they see it manifested
in any one else, as they themselves are ready to pretend anything
if it brings them benefit, swayed back and forward as they are
in the disorder of their own conflicting instincts. They are ready
to judge the behaviour of others in the light of their own petty
motives and cling to these, their own opinions, even when an-
other tries to persuade them that noble motives underlie other
mens' behaviour. In no wise does this fact make them feel mel-
ancholy at all. On the contrary, it makes them smile knowingly
and they say: "He has got his human weakness as all the rest of
us have." In regard to human-behaviour, the flabbiness of Crist-
ian tolerance has caused men to loose their good sense of what
is rightly human. They have forgotten all about that high funct-
ion which must be graced with dignity and worth, should the
animate-being known as the human-being have its virtue at all.
Instead, 'human* has grown to mean something most awfully
imperfect. For this reason the great among the living are apt to
be overlooked. Only the great who have passed away have
value. Here we are coming to the clearest proof of the evil effects
which the doctrine of equality has caused. Listen! The sublime
truth which our philosophy reveals is superfluous; there is no
place for it in the breasts of men today for these would only
call it 'pride' to want to soar to those heights which man is
capable of by virtue of his own rights and power. Yet worthy
of being called man is the sublimest man alone. This we are
rightly justified in saying because we know that man alone is
able to become God's consciousness. Thus then, contrary to aJl

43*

others, we expect human perfection; this is the aim which is
gained when a man practices self-creation.

Our morals are not content with just knowing that there is a
tremendous difference existing among men. They demand men
to adjust themselves accordingly. Now, as the sympathy we
show for our fellowmen should be the result of wise discrimin-
ation, in that we have allowed our feelings to be guided by no
other wishes than the divine alone, it goes without saying, that
we must first make a grave and truthful examination of the one
we want to love! But not only this. Our morals expect us to take
the same consideration of the God within ourselves as of the
God within others. Therefore it is a sacred duty to examine one-
self conscientiously in which case love-of-self can be just as much
a duty as self-hate is, when self-knowledge reveals the mortal
enemy to God to be in oneself. Observe well, how our morals of
life condemn indiscriminate love-of-self (egoism) just as much
as they condemn indiscriminate self- sacrifice (altruism). The
love we are compelled to feel for the Godliving in our own souls
makes it just as often necessary for us to act selfishly (egoism)
that is, put our own wishes first, as the God we love in others
makes it essential for us to consider the wishes of others instead
of our own (altruism). Selfishness (egoism) which stands in con-
tradiction to the divine wishes, in that the divine wishes of an-
other are put back for the sake of self-interest, is just as immoral
as self-sacrifice is (altruism) when it suffers the God within one's
own breast to be neglected for the sake of the undivine wishes
of another. This truth really is another proof of how essential
it is, in justice to the morals-of-life, to weigh all our actions in
the scales of the divine-wishes. As rules of any kind here are
useless, each and everyone must attain the gift of weighing his
own actions properly according to the scales of the divine-
wishes. His perseverence will be rewarded; for according to his
djutif ul weighing, the genius will strengthen within him, until at

433

last it will be so strong as to enable him to act Godlike always.
Now, when the feelings of charity are kept within their right
bounds by the divine-wishes, they naturally accord with the
feelings of sympathy. Each time help is given to another, two
wishes at the same time find their realisation, the Wish-to-Do
and the-Wish-to-Feel. For this reason, charity, when divinely
directed, helps to develope the soul more than divinely directed
self-consideration and self-help.

Now, just see how all these truths overthrow the Christian
ideals of charity. The name of virtue may never grace an indis-
criminate 'devotion to the welfare of others'! Our moral tells
us that everybody must work for his own living. The infirmed
and sick only may be a burden to the state. The malconditions
in the government of a land account for the existence of so
many 'charitable institutions'. In this respect, 'charity' conceals
a multitude of sins. In reality "Charity" mortifies the receiver
and therefore brutalises the soul of the 'benefactor'. There is
only one kind of charity which is not capable of this, and that
is, when a man awakens the divine-wishes slumbering in the soul
of another, thus liberating the spirit of God which exists within
that-one. As self-knowledge is a prime essential to self-welfare
and self-help should these be of the divine character, as well as
it is likewise essential in the case of charity, we are compelled
to overthrow the Christian ideal of humility also, for this is not
always virtue. The Christian ideal recommends mankind to be
humble before God. As man still remains a 'sinner' inspite of all
his endeavours to be righteous, it is but natural that humility
should come to be considered a virtue! If a man is but capacit-
ated to become evil through the virtue of his own strength but
requires the grace of God if he wants to be good, it can be
expected that he cannot stand upright before his God but must
throw himself down on his face instead. We, who have been
given the priviledge to perceive the possibilities innate in man,

434

will have nothing to do with humility or pride, but instead we
are taken up with the grave concern of self-examination in order
to judge rightly and truly the moral level we are standing on.
Should anyone of us have actually gained the state of perfection,
then, verily, this will not be considered as something extraord-
inary. On the contrary, this man will perceive this truth in such
a natural manner as if he were saying; "The sun is shining".

Humility and pride we reject. In their place we put self-
knowledge which can be gained through strict, persistent self-
examination. Perfection is our pattern. That "Self" innate in all-
things is perfection. It manifests itself in the different stages of
moral perfection (made visible to us) in our fellowmen. As this
intrinsic divine-essence frees men from the evil fetters, such as,
greed of riches, fame, vanity etc., we need not fear that a truly
good man, who has been capacitated to scale the heights-of -per-
fection through the power which the knowledge of the truth has
given him, will fall ever again a prey to such undivine features
as to make him become identical with those whom the silly
crowd will celebrate as 'the men-of-genius', but who are indeed
very far from perfection.

The sympathy we feel for our fellowmen in unison with the
wish we feel for beauty demands us to cultirate the divine will
to peace, to reconciliation. The fallacies which cropped up at the
period of the decline of the Indian-race (the resignation of hate,
indiscriminate love of one's enemy, indiscriminate forgiveness)
have amply proved their incapacity to redeem the God-in-
man from the fetters of existence and the children of hate and
reason, so that true peace could never be realised. It would
therefore appear natural that the experience men made of all
the failures in their endeavour to realise peace would but confirm
that indignity namely, that man was powerless to avert 'sin*.
In the persistent combat, raging between 'good and evil', did not
evil always succeed? This again gave rise to the doctrine which

43J

was the main cause of mankind's imperfection. It was the doc-
trine which taught of the grace of God, who was ever ready to
forgive. If already the Indian morals were saturated with a
promiscuity of unnature, immorality and matters selfunderstood,
which hampered, rather than helped mankind to perfection, how
much more harm did that doctrine to which taught that the
grace of God brought redemption, for this tempted the very
Immortal -Will itself. This doctrine has such a weakening effect
on humanity, that, verily, all but the few who are egregiously
strong, must succumb. What is our message to humanity? It is a
glad one, albeit it lays a grave responsibility on the shoulders
of mankind himself. It tells of the redeeming potency of the
Immortal-Will innate in man himself which enables him through
his own free will and strength to live eternity and perfection
before his death under the condition that he takes upon himself
the full responsibility for all his actions. At the right time, it was
before we found redemption in intuition, reason cognised the
fact that neither thought, word, nor deed could ever be effaced
through repentence, forgiveness, or forgetfulness; a truth, with-
out which perfection through personal power would never be
able to fructuate into an achieved fact. For, thanks to 'psycho-
logical' research we were led to perceive the grave fact that noth-
ing which, in a spirit of forgiveness we can forget, is really
effaced from our soul, for it actually lives still in the subcon-
sciousness of our nature and uses its influence over the soul.

This fact puts an end to that doctrine which teaches that it is
a 'virtue to forget and forgive', at least all those must reject it
who want to cultivate the God in themselves and in others. It
shows us plainly the grave inexorability and irrevocableness
which distinguishes all the actions of mankind and fills us at the
same time with awe at that potential power of the human-will
which leads to words and actions. Now, the respect which is due
to the soul of others will save us from giving way to word or

436

deed in a spirit of excitement as these should have their measures
taken according to the trends of the Divine Will; for we know
that word and deed can cause wounds which, inspite of the best
we can do to 'forget', will never heal, and which therefore might
be the cause of the divine spirit in the other going to destruction.
But also the knowledge of this truth protects us in a peculiar way
from being harmed through the evil words or deeds of another.
Let us not 'forget* what our emotions have experienced; let us
neither allow them to sink into our subconsciousness. Instead, let
our own injustice as well as the injustice of others burn in our con-
sciousness in order to be the protecting shield to save us from
wounding others as well as from being wounded ourselves. Let us
disdain to 'forgive and forget* because of the immorality this en-
tails, in that it induces us to repeat our evil. Provided we are free
from the offspring of hate and reason our nonforgetfulness will
not lead us into the temptation to quarrel and revenge ourselves
as might be expected, instead it will lead us to make sure if thr
injustice of the other as well as our own be true, in the same
way as the remembrance of our own evil deeds will be an aid
to us in growing better. So now see how the spirit of grave
responsibility does not even desire to forget, but carries the
burden of what has happened, in the sure knowledge that noth-
ing until death is effaceable. It desires to remember in order to
make the memory of injustice done, the means of helping others
as well as oneself to do better in the future. Compared to this,
how contemptible the impotency of others appear to be who,
any day can forgive and forget alternately and do evil seventy
times seven; dire changes indeed which keep them all their lives
from ever rising above the moral standard of the morasses.

Salvation will never be theirs. Therefore every Sunday sees
them in church until their hair is growing grey. Each time they
come to confess (just as they did in their youth) that they have
committed 'over and over again the same sin against the com-

437

mandments of God 1 . How the very stones of the altar can put
them to shame! Fancy having to confess to the same humility
and weakness which they have fallen to for years and years!
Why can they not stride up proudly to the altar and confess
thus: "My will grew stronger so that my transgressions against
thy commandments have grown less frequent. I intend to continue
on my way to progress so that one day I hope to stand before
thy altar and be able to say that I have attained the height of
perfection in that it has become a thing impossible for me to
transgress thy commandments. 19

The myth which confessed to the fact that the offspring of
hate and reason were not to be eliminated from the soul of man
took its refuge in oblivion as a consequence. For a time injustice
could be forgotten which was the only possible thing to do, were
reconciliation and peace to reign among men. Now, our cog-
nisance was capacitated to give us the power to free ourselves
from the yoke of that dragon -brood; our souls will not suffer
themselves to be kept down in the morasses through the folly
of such errors. They desire the state of "Perfection". They ask
not for grace but will a true and righteous judgement, in order
to be able to ascend to the heights by the virtue of their own
powers.

If others would unite with them in the self-same ideal, in that
these also have dedicated themselves to the divine-wishes and so
have become rid of the dragon-brood, the usual discord would
disappear of itself and there would be no cause for 'forgiveness*.
Strife, unkind words and deeds, like mankind is generally
acquainted with, would have no right in their midst. That which
is the wish of God would reign; supreme-peace. The sublimest
state of all.

Yet for the realisation of this, one thing is requisite. We must
keep away from all those individuals who still keep the children
of hate and reason alive or partly alive in their breasts. Also the

438

other kind, who, from sheer ignorance or misunderstanding,
continually drag us away from the realms-beyond to tease us
with petty things. For, all the benefit we should gain from their
company would be to be completely misunderstood, as they
inevitably would read into all our actions the selfsame distort-
ions proper to their own soul. Moreover, they would ever be
ready to make us feel their own moral preponderance in their
preparedness to forgive and indiscriminately love which they
tenaciously consider to be a 'virtue', (as this makes life much
easier for them), It would be futile to think any good would
come of living together. We should never succeed in leading them
our way to perfection. But they would succed over and over
again to disturb our peace of mind, our Godliving, the labours
we love, in fact everything which means life and beauty to us.
And all this they would succeed in doing with the best conscience
in all the world. The only time to come in contact with them
rightly is when the ordinary necessary things of every day life
have to be settled or when there is a chance of our being able to
awaken in them a spirit to fulfil the divine-wishes. For the rest,
verily, we are not their 'equals'; we are absolutely incapable of
helping them until the singular life we lead makes them under-
stand how unequal we are to each other. It would be idle to
want to live together with them, without the risk of acting
immorally ourselves, until they have actually pulled themselves
together so far as to be capable of living God.

Thus we can see how our morals-of-life point to new ways in
order that divine-feeling may be realised. We are given new
morals for hating and loving. They tell us:

All your emotions, both of love and hate must be guided by
the divine-wishes, be they directed towards others or yourself.

To be capable of hating and loving in this divine way, it is
essential first to know who you are yourself and who others are;

439

above all you must be fully aware on which level, leading to-
wards perfection, you are standing.

This kind of hate and this kind of love strictly forbid a man
to incline indiscriminately either to selfsacrifice or selfishness.

Potency and profound sense is given to this kind of love and
hate directed to the redemption of Godlife whereevcr this is
lying in fetters.

Let all your actions he directed by the deep responsibility
which the knowledge of irrevocableness yields. So, you will
never forget that evil which has been done to you or which you
have done to others. Refrain from living closely with the
unredeemed, for if you do, you run the risks of having your
own Godliving spoilt.

The living of your life according to such rules will make you
capable of becoming a pioneer to others who desire to become
perfect.

The morals-of-life born of our cognisance concerning the
sacred office of mankind, will lead mankind to the sublime
heights without strife of any kind being necessary: To those
heights where the rare ones of all times took up their abode;
albeit these scarcely suspected their own divine superiority. The
clearly-conscious perception of the high office which has fallen
to mankind will tend to change the life of man so tremendously
within the course of future generations that the results will make
it appear as if for the first time on earth God's consciousness had
come to light: the 'kingdom of a thousand years' (fantastically
described in the myth) which kingdom men always were anti-
cipating and which was supposed to be the higher form of exist-
ence. But it will not begin until all men have grasped that life
has a deep meaning. Not that all men in the future will be per-
fect. For this will never be. That tremendous gulf which has
always existed will still exist forever. There will always be men

440

who have lost what animal and plant-life have retained; that
something which imparts to anything its characteristic of Inno-
cence', but who will neither have succeeded in gaining what the
animal lacks, because through their own neglect of what is divine
within them, they are incapacitated to partake in the life of
God. But that potent revolutionary power which alone belongs
to the rarer ones among men will at last be set 'free' to command
the way to the ones who are backwards, provided these at last
have recognised the fact that life bears a meaning of a very
exalted kind as well as that they possess the potency within them
to gain perfection.

Albeit the fact that the rarer kind among men were capable
at all times of living God, there is something tremendous never-
theless about redemption in cognisance.

When it comes to pass that the thruth comes home to a man,
in that he is given to perceive the fact that he only can live
consciously the divine-wishes, when a man can say to himself:
"Among all the living creatures of the earth, the priviledge to
become the consciousness of the Godhead has been given to me
alone"; when it comes to pass, in fine, that a human being has
succeeded in fulfilling the divine meaning of life; then a tremble
passes through the immeasurable cosmos, through God's visible-
form.

When it comes to pass that a mortal human-being, in being
the only one who can be capable of guilt, nevertheless succeeds
in resolutely striding the path of salvation, and illuminates, in
passing, the way for others of his own day or those who come
after him with the divine light of his works, words or actions;
when, in fine, he has succeeded in becoming perfect like all the
unconscious beings of the universe are; when, finally, he has
succeeded to harmonise permanently with the Divine; then he
lives God consciously until death, but not unmerited grace was
given to him by a personal god, it was his own free Will and

441

Deed. Each and every time this happens on earth, the reason for
the evolution and existence of all the dumb planets which since
unthinkable times have gone circling round and round and which
will do so still for unthinkable times yet to come, and the reason
for the evolution and existence of the immeasurable cosmos
itself has attained its fulfilment*

44*

INDEX I

nglftt) anli German

Appearance, Erscheinung.
Appearance of things, Erscheinung.
Beyond, Bereich der Genialitat.
The common-law, das Sittengesetz.
Divinity in perception, Genialitat
der Wahrnehmung.

The Divine, das Gottliche.

The divine trends, die gottlichen
Wiinsche.

The divine wishes, die gottlichen
Wiinsche.

The divine nature, das gottliche

Wesen.

The duties of life, das Sittengesetz.
Experience, erleben, erfahren.

Finite and conditional, zweckbe-
herrschte Endlichkeit.

God, Gott, Genialitat.
God-cognisance, Gotterkenntnis.
God-cognition, Gotterkenntnis.
God's consciousness, Bewufttsein

Gottes.

God-life, Gotterleben.
God-living, Gotterleben.

God's realms beyond, Bereich der
Genialitat, jenseits.

God-sentiency, Gotterleben.

The inner nature which exists in
all things, das Wesen der Dinge,
Gott.

The inner nature of life, das Wesen
des Lebens, Gott.

The intrinsic nature, das Wesen,
Gott.

In all things, in aller Erscheinung.
Invisible, unsiditbar.

Invisible, philos, das Wesen der
Erscheinung, Gott.

The laws of the land, das Sitten-
gesetz.

The life in God, das Erleben des
Gottlichen.

To live his soul-life, das Gottliche
zu erleben.

Living-things, Lebewesen.

Man of perfection, Genie.

Man of genius, der geniale Mensch.

Manifested itself visibly, in Er-
scheinung getreten.

Moral creeds, Morallehre.

The nature, philos., das Wesen,
naturw. die Natur.

The nature of all things, das We-
sen der Erscheinung, Gott.

The nature of the divine, das We-
sen des Gottlichen.

The nature of the divine wishes
(divine trends), das Wesen der
gottlichen Wiinsche, Gott.

Self-interestedness, Zweckverwe-

The soul-life, Seelenleben, er-
leben.

The Thing-Itsclf, das Ding an
sich, Gott.

443

The realms

beyond, Bereich der

The realms Genialitat,

where God reigns. Gottes oder

The realms des Gottlichcn

of God,

Visible, sichtbar.

Visibility, philos., die Erscheinung.

Visible-being, das Lebewesen.

die Erschei-
nung, die Er-
scheinungs-
welt, die Welt
der Ersdiei-
nung.

Visible-mani-
festation,
Visible-thing,
Visible-scene,
Visible world,

The visible-Life, das Sein in der

Ersdicinung.
The visible form, die sichtbare

Gestalt.
The world of appearances, die

Welt der Erscheinung.
The world-view point, the point

of view, Weltanschauung.
The Will-to-approach,
The approachment-Will, der An-

naherungswille.

INDEX II

Absolute, uncontrolled, uncondit-
ional, perfect.

Accidental^ happening unexpect-
edly.

Aesthetic, pertaining to the per-
ception of the beautiful.

Affect, exciting.

Altruism, self-sacrifice for the good
of others.

Amoeba, a microscopic mass of
protoplasm.

Amoral, morally neutral.

Amphioxus, the lancelet, a little
fish.

Amphimixis, the sexual fusion of
certain animalcules, during
which act the germ-elements
belonging to both are exchanged.

Anachronistical, errors in chrono-
logy, by which events are mis-
placed.

Inorganic, without organs.

Anthroposophy, a religious com-
munity founded by Steiner,
made up of warmed-up Indian
religious creeds.

Aprioristic, not acquired but born
intellectual good or intellectual
faculty.

Ascetism, mortification of the
body.

Architect, one that contrives or
builds up.

Astronomer, one versed in the
science of the heavenly bodies.

Bacteria, Fungi, unicellular-being,
composed of the cellkernel only,
no cell-body.

Biogeny, The history of vitality.
Billion, a million of millions.

Bronze-age, the period between
the stone and iron ages about
1200400 B.C.

Cabala, Jewish tradition; secret
doctrines consisting in the mean-
ing attached to mystical letters
and numbers.

Celibacy, the unmarried state of
the Roman-Catholic priests.

Chaos, an unorganised, confused
mass.

Chemistry, that science which
treats of elementary substances,
the modes and processes by
which they are combined or se-
parated, and the laws by which
they act or are influenced.

Chlorophyll, the green colouring
matter of plants.

Chronic, Continuing for a long
time.

Chtonian, The underground or
cave worship of the deities.

445

civilisation, the struggle-for-life
and the life customs which has
been transformed through the
truths gained by reason, such
as, through inventions, the
mastery over the powers of
nature.

Confession, variety of Jewish re-
ligious communities.

Conjugation, the fusion of higher,
unicellular individuals for repro-
duction; for this purpose they
remain united for a while. Re-
juvenation is probably the rea-
son for it.

Contenmplation, sinking into the
life of God.

Copernican, pertaining to Coper-
nicus, or to the solar-system
bearing his name.

Copulation, the permanent coupl-
ing of two unicells.

Cosmic, pertaining to the universe.

Cosmos, the system of law and
order in the universe.

Cubistic, a certain art-tendency
which falsifies all forms into
the geometrical figures, sacred
to Jewish superstition especially
the cube.

Cult, religious uses.

Dadaism, perverse art, comparable
to the child's stammer, political-
ly patronized with the intention
of destroying good art.

Danai-gifl, a gift of ill.
Deism, a belief, contrary to pan-
theism, that God is apart and

different to nature, although
contrary to Theism, not person-
ified nor continually connected
with the world.

Demon, a spirit holding a middle
place between men and the gods;
a thought born of superstition.

Dogma, an arbitrary article of
faith.

Ectoplasm, exterior protoplasm of
a cell. Plasma is the interior
body-substance which does not
belong to the kernel.

Egoism, the excessive love of self.
Extasy, excessive joy.
Erinnys, Goddesses of revenge.

Esoteric, inner, secret, private,
designed for, and understood
by, the initiated alone.

Ethic, being in accord with the
Wish-to-Goodness.

Eudemonism, teachings which make
happiness its highest object.

Evolution, development or grad-
ual exfoliation.

Facet-eye, facita little face, a sur-
face cut with several angles.

Facultative, optional.

Fanaticism, to confess to opinions
or views with passionate enthu-
siasm.

Futurists, adherents to a perverse
way of painting which they
call art.

Germinal-selection, selection which
takes place in the germ-cells.

446

Gnome, an imaginary being, sup-
posed to inhabit the inner parts
of the earth.

Hedonist, one that advocates hed-
onism, the doctrine that pleas-
ure is the highest good.

Homo-sexual, perverse direction
of the sexual-will, one and the
same sex.

Hypnosis, deep, heavy sleep, com-
pelled sleep.

Instinct, unconsciously released
urge dictating a chain of, or
single actions.

(Single actions thus caused are
also called reflection.) The self-
preservation of all the subcon-
scious species is assured through
instinct urging the actions neces-
sary for this purpose.

Intuition, the inner knowledge,
gained by the 'self without the
process of reasoning or infer-
ence.

Irreligious, contempt of the divine.
Literature, written intellectual
works.

Logical, according to the rules of
logic.

Logic, the science of pure thought,
or of the laws according to
which the process of pure think-
ing should be conducted.

Mammon, devotion to wealth.

Materialistic, a way of thinking
which acknowledges no spiritual
values, but merely exterior
values.

Material, consisting of matter,
therefore perceptible, capable of
being grasped.

Maja, illusion; in the Vedanta-
system appearances of the vis-
ible scene deceive the senses,
while reality is only the one,
true and divine, and that is
Brahma.

Mechanical, of itself, machine-like,
acting without thought or de-
sign.

Mechanism, machinery, mechanical
action.

mechanical-philosophy, a purely
physical explanation of the uni-
verse, that there is nothing else
but mass and motion in the
world.

metaphysis, the science of mind as
opposed to matter.

mimicry, imitation, Darwin prov-
ed animals to imitate the colour
and form of their surroundings
for the sake of their own pro-
tection; for instance, many kinds
of caterpillars look like the twig
of a tree.

mneme, memory. Semon describes
mneme as follows: This is the
name given to all the changes
caused by the irritation of me-
mory, assorciation heredity etc.
which all organisms manifest.

monogamy, living in pairs.

monotheism, the doctrine or belief
that there is but one God and
this God is personified.

447

morals, the application of the
Wish-to-Goodness to each indi-
vidual action; the understanding
that all actions should be guid-
ed by the WIsh-to-Goodness.

moralise, preaching morals.

morphia, a vegetable alkaloid ex-
tracted from opium. Poison caus-
ing deep sleep.

myth, a poetical religious construct-
ion of the universe which does
not oblige itself to truth, (real-
ity).

mutation, change which suddenly
takes place in the characteristics
of any species which heredity
cannot account for.

negation, denial.

norm, a rule of authoritative stan-
dard.

objectify, object; anything pre-
sented to the senses or the mind.
The philosopher Schopenhauer
used the word to describe the
manifestation or appearance of
the Will.

object-glass, a lens in a telescope
or microscope which receives the
rays of light from the body
under examination and concen-
trates them into a focus directly
under the eye-glass of the in-
strument.

occultism, superstition; secret-pow-
ers concealed under a scientific
cloak; belief in the direct inter-
course with spirits, spiritualism
made to appear as if it were a
science.

Olympus, the seat of the gods.
(Greek.)

organ, cell-groups which are mu-
tually capable of a special funct-
ion in the general service to
the multicellular-being, as for
instance lungs, heart, kidneys
etc.

organism, a many-celled living in-
dividual.

pedagogy, science of teaching.

pantheism, a religious system which
denies the existence of a person-
al God and recognises God
only as identical with nature. It
differs from our cognisance in so
far as we recognise the universe
to be the manifestation or ap-
pearance of God. At the same
time we fully recognise the mean-
ing of human-life which lays
a great responsibility on man's
shoulders: this is his self -creat-
ion, in order to become God's
consciousness. Accordingly high
moral claims exist for man to
fulfil.

passive, suffering, receiving im-
pressions, submissive.

pathos, passion full of the divine
Will, used when describing trag-
ic recitation, the aim of which
is to manifest such kind of di-
vine passion.

peer, one of the same rank.
peerless, having no equal.

perpetttttm mobile, a continually

moving machine.
personification, embodiment.

philology , the study of the format-
ion and growth of language.

philosophy, (Greek, philos lov-
ing and sophia wisdom, the
science concerned in cognising
the ,,Self" that exists in all
appearances.

apparent philosophers, pretenders
to philosophy.

physics, the science which treats
of matter and energy and their
relationship.

rationalist, one that makes reason
the test of truth and does not
recognise that reason has its
limits.

reaction, counter-tendency, the
response to an impression.

real, perceptible.

realistic, acknowledgment of the
perceptible only.

reflexive, a response to impressions
which is not accompanied with
consciousness, (s. instinct.)

relative, having relation, not self-
existing, not absolute.

relativist, one that advocates the
doctrine of relativity.

relativity, conditional, the Jew
Einstein attempts to prove that
time and space are conditional
(not absolute) that the change
does not lie merely within the
powers of perception, but is
real according to the degree of
motion.

Renaissance, new birth. The reviv-
al of art in the middle ages

caused by the return to the
Greek ideal of beauty.

rhythm, a dividing of time into
short portions by a regular suc-
cession of motions sounds etc.

rudimentary, imperfectly develop-
ed, first form or shape usually
imperfect or experimental. Ru-
dimentary organs of the human
species are, for instance, the
appendix.

sacrament, any solemn or religi-
ous rite which is supposed to be
the outward or visible sign of
an inward and spiritual grace.

seismograph, seisometer, an instru-
ment for measuring the time of
occurence, duration, direction
and intensity of earth-quakes,
earth-tremors, etc.

secondary, succeeding next in or-
der to the first.

sidereal, relating to the stars.
somatic, relating to the body.

spiritualism, superstitious belief in
the spirits, still existing, of any-
one dead. Also the belief in the
communication of intelligence
from the world of spirits through
a person of special susceptibility
called a medium.

suggestion, prompting either will,
thought, feelings, emotions and
perception through another,
without resorting to hypnotism.

Theosophy, a Christian religious
community which teaches only
that part of the bible which
contains the Krishna creed. On

449

this creed the Evangelists and
apostles founded the teachings
of Jesus.

transcendental, pertaining to the
nature of appearances.

Vedas, the ancient sacred literature
of the Hindus.

Volvox, a genus of globular micro-
scopic plants; the first multi-
cells.

Yoga, a branch of the Hindu-philo-
sophy demanding meditations

which later degenerated into ru-
les for the calling forth of an
artificial God-living.

Zoology, the natural history of
animals.

Zytotropism, cell-attraction, a pow-
er occasionally manifested in
the unicellular-beings which
causes them to lie for a while
on top of each other, without,
contrary to Amphimixis and
Conjugation, exchanging or mix-
ing their heredity-substance.

of jttathitor Huben&orff

Triumph des Unsterblidikeitwillens
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Conclusion to Triump of the Immortal Will, + Notes (pt.4 Triumph of the Immortal Will by Mathilde Ludendorff)

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