The Cloud upon the Sanctuary

By the Councillor d' Eckartshausen
Translated (with notes) By Madame Isabel De Steiger

Published in six parts in the periodical "The Unknown World", 1895.

Part 1 Letters 1&2

Part 2 Letters 3&4

Part 3 Letters 5&6

 

LETTER I

There is no age more remarkable to the quiet observer than our
own. Everywhere there is a fermentation in the minds of men;
everywhere there is a battle between light and darkness, between
exploded thought and living ideas, between powerless wills and living
active force; in short everywhere is there war between animal man and
growing spiritual man.
It is said that we live in an age of light, but it would be truer
to say that we are living in an age of twilight; here and there a
luminous ray pierces through the mists of darkness, but does not light
to full clearness either our reason or our hearts. Men are not of one
mind, scientists dispute, and where there is discord truth is not yet
apprehended.
The most important objects for humanity are still undetermined. No
one is agreed either on the principle of rationality or on the
principle of morality, or on the cause of the will. This proves that
though we are dwelling in an age of light, we do not well understand
what emanates from our hearts- and what from our heads. Probably we
should have this information much sooner if we did not imagine that we
have the light of knowledge already in our hands, or if we would cast
a look on our weakness, and recognise that we require a more brilliant
illumination. We live in the times of idolatry of the intellect, we
place a common torchlight upon the altar and we loudly proclaim the
aurora, that now daylight is really about to appear, and that the
world is emerging more and more out of obscurity into the full day of
perfection, through the arts, sciences, cultured taste, and even from
a purer understanding of religion.
Poor mankind! To what standpoint have you raised the happiness of
man? Has there ever been an age which has counted so many victims to
humanity as the present? Has there ever been an age in which
immorality and egotism have been greater or more dominant than in this
one? The tree is known by its fruits. Mad men! With your imaginary
natural reason, from whence have you the light by which you are so
willing to enlighten others? Are not all your ideas borrowed from your
senses which do not give you the reality but merely its phenomena? Is
it not true that in time and space all knowledge is but relative? Is
it not true that all which we call reality is but relative, for
absolute truth is not to be found in the phenomenal world. Thus your
natural reason does not possess its true essence, but only the
appearance of truth and light; and the more this appearance increases
and spreads, the more the essence of light inwardly fades, and
the man confuses himself with this appearance and gropes vainly after
the dazzling phantasmal images he conjures.
The philosophy of our age raises the natural intellect into
independent objectivity, and gives it judicial power, she exempts it
from any superior authority, she makes it voluntary, converting it
into divinity by closing all harmony and communication with God; and
this god Reason, which has no other law but its own, is to govern Man
and make him happy! ...
... Darkness able to spread light!
.. Death capable of giving Life!
... The truth leads man to happiness. Can you give it?
That which you call truth is a form of conception empty of real
matter, the knowledge of which is acquired from without and through
the senses, and the understanding co-ordinates them by observed
synthetic relationship into science or opinion.
You abstract from the Scriptures and Tradition their moral,
theoretical and practical truth; but as individuality is the principle
of your intelligence, and as egotism is the incentive to your will,
you do not see, by your light, the moral law which dominates, or you
repel it with your will. It is to this length that the light of
to-day has penetrated. Individuality under the cloak of false
philosophy is a child of corruption.
Who can pretend that the sun is in full zenith if no bright rays
illuminate the earth, and no warmth vitalises vegetation? If wisdom
does not benefit man, if love does not make him happy, but very little
has been done for him on the whole.
Oh! if only natural man, that is, sensuous man, would only learn
to see that the source of his intelligence and the incentive of his
will are only his individuality, he would then seek interiorly for a
higher source, and he would thereby approach that which alone can give
this true element, because it is wisdom in its essential substance.
Jesus Christ is that Wisdom, Truth and Love. He, as Wisdom, is
the Principle of reason, and the Source of the purest intelligence. As
Love, He is the Principle of morality, the true and pure incentive of
the will.
Love and Wisdom beget the spirit of truth, interior light; this
light illuminates us and makes supernatural things objective to us.
It is inconceivable to what depths of error a man falls when he
abandons simple truths of faith by opposing his own opinions.
Our century tries to decide by its (brain) intelligence, wherein
lies the principle or ground of reason and morality, or the ground of
the will; if the scientists were mindful, they would see that these
things are better answered in the heart of the simplest man, than
through their most brilliant casuistry. The practical Christian finds
this incentive to the will, the principle of all morality, really and
objectively in his heart; and this incentive is expressed in the
following formula:- "Love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as
thyself."
The love of God and his neighbour is the motive for the
Christian's will, and the essence of love itself is Jesus Christ in
Us.
It is in this way the principle of reason is wisdom in us; and the
essence of wisdom, wisdom in its substance, is again Jesus Christ, the
light of the world. Thus we find in Him the principle of reason and of
morality.
All that I am now saying is not hyperphysical extravagance; it is
reality, absolute truth, that everyone can prove for himself by
experience, as soon as he receives in himself the principle of all
reason and morality- Jesus Christ, being wisdom and love in
essence.
But the eye of the man of sensuous perception only is firmly
closed to the fundamental basis of all that is true and to all that is
transcendental.
The intelligence which many would fain raise to legislative
authority is only that of the senses, whose light differs from that of
transcendental reason, as does the phosphorescent glimmer of decayed
wood from the glories of sunshine.
Absolute truth does not exist for sensuous man; it exists only for
interior and spiritual man who possesses a suitable sensorium; or, to
speak more correctly, who possesses an interior sense to receive the
absolute truth of the transcendental world, a spiritual faculty which
cognises spiritual objects as objectively and naturally as the
exterior senses perceive external phenomena.
This interior faculty of the man spiritual; this sensorium for the
metaphysical world is unfortunately not known to those who cognise
only outside of it- for it is a mystery of the kingdom of God.
The current incredulity towards everything which is not cognised
objectively by our senses is the explanation for the misconception of
truths which are, of all, most important to man.
But how can this be otherwise? In order to see one must have
eyes, to hear, one must have ears. Every apparent object requires its
appropriate senses. So it is that transcendental objects require
their sensorium- and this said sensorium is closed in most men. Hence
men judge the metaphysical world through the intelligence of their
senses, even as the blind imagine colours and the deaf judge tones-
without suitable senses.
There is an objective and substantial ground of reason, an
objective and substantial motive for the will. These two together
form the new principle of life, and morality is there
essentially inherent. This pure substance of reason and will,
re-united in us the divine and the human, is Jesus Christ, the light
of the world, who must enter into direct relationship with us, to be
really recognised.
This real knowledge is actual faith, in which everything takes
place in spirit and in truth.
Thus one ought to have a sensorium fitted for this communication,
an organised spiritual sensorium, a spiritual and interior faculty
able to receive this light; but it is closed to most men by their
senses.
This interior organ is the intuitive sense of the transcendental
world, and until this intuitive sense is effective in us we can have
no certainty of more lofty truths.
This organism is naturally inactive since the Fall, which degraded
man to the world of physical senses alone. The gross matter which
envelops this interior sensorium is a film which veils the internal
eye, and therefore prevents the exterior eye from seeing into
spiritual realms. This same matter muffles our internal hearing, so
that we are deaf to the sounds of the metaphysical world; it so
paralyses our spiritual speech that we can scarcely stammer words of
sacred import, words we fully pronounced once, and by virtue of
which we held authority over the elements and the external world.
The opening of this spiritual sensorium is the mystery of the New
Man- the mystery of Regeneration, and of the vital union between God
and man- it is the noblest object of religion on earth, that religion
whose sublime goal is none other than to unite men with God in Spirit
and in Truth.
We can therefore easily see by this how it is that religion tends
always towards the subjection of the senses. It does so because it
desires to make the spiritual man dominant, in order that the
spiritual or truly rational man may govern the man of sense.
Philosophy feels this truth, only its error consists in not
apprehending the true source of reason, and because she would replace
it by individuality by sensuous reason.
As man has internally a spiritual organ and a sensorium to receive
the true principle of divine wisdom, or a true motive for the will or
divine love, he has also exteriorly a physical and material sensorium
to receive the appearance of light and truth. As external
nature can have no absolute truth, but only phenomenally relative,
therefore, human reason cannot cognise pure truth, it can but
apprehend through the appearance of phenomena, which excites the lust
of the eye, and in this as a source of action consists the corruption
of sensuous man and the degredation of nature.
This exterior sensorium in man is composed of frail matter,
whereas the internal sensorium is organised fundamentally from
incorruptible, transcendental, and metaphysical substance.
The first is the cause of our depravity and our mortality, the
second the cause of our incorruptibility and of our immortality.
In the regions of material and corruptible nature mortality hides
immortality, therefore all our trouble results from corruptible mortal
matter. In order that man should be released from this distress, it
is necessary that the immortal and incorruptible principle, which
dwells within, should expand and absorb the corruptible principle, so
that the envelope of the senses should be opened, and man appear in
his pristine purity.
This natural envelope is a truly corruptible substance found in
our blood, forming the fleshly bonds binding our immortal spirits
under the servitude of the mortal flesh.
This envelope can be rent more or less in every man, and this
places him in greater spiritual liberty, and makes him more cognisant
of the transcendental world.
There are three different degrees in the opening of our spiritual
sensorium.
The first degree reaches to the moral plane only, the
transcendental world energises through us in but by interior action,
called inspiration.
The second and higher degree opens this sensorium to the reception
of the spiritual and the intellectual, and the metaphysical world
works in us by interior illumination.
The third degree, which is the highest and most seldom attained,
opens the whole inner man. It breaks the crust which fills our
spiritual eyes and ears; it reveals the kingdom of spirit, and enables
us to see objectively, metaphysical, and transcendental sights; hence
all visions are explained fundamentally.
Thus we have an internal sense of objectivity as well as
externally. Only the objects and the senses are different. Exteriorly
animal and sensual motives act in us and corruptible sensuous matter
energises. Interiorly it is metaphysical and indivisible substance
which gains admittance within, and the incorruptible and immortal
essence of our Spirit receives its influence. Nevertheless, generally
things pass much in the same way interiorly as they do externally. The
law is everywhere the same. Hence, as the spirit or our internal man
has quite other senses, and quite another objective sight from the
rational man; one need not be surprised that it (the spirit) should
remain an enigma for the scientists of our age, for those who have no
objective sense of the transcendental and spiritual world. Hence they
measure the supernatural by the measurement of the senses. However, we
owe a debt of gratitude towards the philosopher Kant for his view of
the truths we have promulgated.
Kant has shown incontestably that the natural reason can know
absolutely nothing of what is supernatural, and that it can never
understand analytically or synthetically, neither can it prove the
possibility of the reality of Love, Spirit, or of the Deity.
This is a great truth, lofty and beneficial for our epoch, though
it is true that St. Paul has already enunciated it (I Cor., i., 2-24).
But the pagan philosophy of Christian scientists has been able to
overlook it up to Kant. The virtue of this truth is double. First it
puts insurmountable limits to the sentiment, to the fanaticism and to
the extravagance of carnal reason. Then it shows by dazzling contrast
the necessity and divinity of Revelation. It proves that our human
reason, in its state of unfoldment, "has no other" objective
source for the supernatural than revelation, the only source of
instruction in Divine things or of the spiritual world, the soul and
its immortality; hence it follows that without revelation it is
absolutely impossible to suppose or conjecture anything regarding
these matters.
We are, therefore, indebted to Kant for proving philosophically
now-a-days, what long ago was taught in a more advanced and illummated
school, "that without revelation no knowledge of God, neither any
doctrine touching the soul could be at all possible".
It is therefore clear that a universal Revelation must serve as a
fundamental basis to all mundane religion.
Hence, following Kant, it is clear that the transmundane knowledge
is wholly inaccessible to natural reason, and that God inhabits a
world of light, into which no speculation of the unfolded reason can
penetrate. Thus the rational man, or man of human reason, has no
sense of transcendental reality, and therefore it was necessary that
it should be revealed to him, for which faith is required,
because the means are given to him by faith whereby his inner
sensorium unfolds, and through which he can apprehend the reality of
truths otherwise incapable of being understood by the natural man.
It is quite true that with new senses we can acquire sense of
further reality. This reality exists already, but is not known to us,
because we lack the organ by which to cognise it. One must not lay
the fault to the percept, but on the receptive organ.
With, however, the development of the new organ we have a new
perception, a sense of new reality. Without it the spiritual world
cannot exist for us, because the organ rendering it objective to us is
not developed.
With, however, its unfoldment, the curtain is all at once raised,
the impenetrable veil is torn away, the cloud before the Sanctuary
lifts, a new world suddenly exists for us, scales fall from the eyes,
and we are at once transported from the phenomenal world to the
regions of truth.
God alone is substance, absolute truth; He alone is He who
is, and we are what He has made us. For Him, all exists in Unity, for
us, all exists in multiplicity.
A great many men have no more idea of the development of the inner
sensorium than they have of the true and objective life of the spirit,
which they neither perceive nor foresee in any manner. Hence it is
impossible to them to know that one can comprehend the spiritual and
transcendental, and that one can be raised to the supernatural, even
to vision.
The great and true work of building the Temple consists solely in
destroying the miserable Adamic hut and in erecting a divine temple;
this means, in other words, to develop in us the interior sensorium,
or the organ to receive God. After this process, the metaphysical and
incorruptible principle rules over the terrestial, and man begins to
live, not any longer in the principle of self-love, but in the Spirit
and in the Truth, of which he is the Temple.
The moral law then evolves into love for one's neighbour in deed
and in truth, whereas for the natural man it is but a simple attitude
of thought; and the spiritual man, regenerated in spirit, sees all in
its essence, of which the natural man has only the forms void of
thought, mere empty sounds, symbols and letters, which are all dead
images without interior spirit. The lofty aim of religion is the
intimate union of man with God; and this union is possible in this
world; but it only can be by the opening of our inner sensorium, which
enables our hearts to become receptive to God.
Therein are mysteries that our philosophy does not dream of, the
key to which is not to be found in scholastic science.
Meanwhile, a more advanced school has always existed to whom this
deposition of all science has been confided, and this school was the
community illuminated interiorly by the Saviour, the society of the
Elect, which has continued from the first day of creation to the
present time; its members, it is true, are scattered all over the
world, but they have always been united in the spirit and in one
truth; they have had but one intelligence and one source of truth, but
one doctor and one master; but in whom resides substantially the whole
plentitude of God, and who alone initiates them into the high
mysteries of Nature and the Spiritual World.
This community of light has been called from all time the
invisible celestial Church, or the most ancient of all communities, of
which we will speak more fully in our next letter.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

I am afraid that some readers who are interested in "Mysticism,"
or rather are desirous of entering into its study, may be deterred
from doing so by reading these letters of the excellent Mystic,
Eckartshausen. For the reason that his doctrine, Regeneration, has
been so much misunderstood owing to the over-familiarity with the
ordinary signification of that deeply important word, that modern
Religion mostly given us. Nevertheless, no reader can fail to see that
Eckartshausen has a very real and vital reason for all he says.
His language is extraordinarily simple, so much so that many may
consider that he hides deeper matter purposely.
This is not quite the case; in all Catholic and central truth
there are various meanings, not opposing ones, but each
opening, as it were, according to the grade of the student's own
spiritual understanding.
Indeed, it is very frequently urged against mystic and alchemic
writings that they purposely and selfishly veil the truth. No doubt in
many cases it has been purposely done, for very sincerely good reasons
that real enquiry would amply endorse; but it is by no means a true
bill against "Mystic" writings that the language is deliberately
symbolic, allegoric, or in a sort of cipher-code, as it were, in which
one word is mischievously meant for another and so forth. I have
heard all alchemic works described, indeed once thought so myself, as
a farrago of pure bosh. But we know, as most people now-a-days who
pretend to any philosophy at all, that there are other planes of
nature besides the physical, and that mystic and alchemical writings
are not generally dealing with physical or mental matters and
nomenclature. They refer to higher planes of nature- and if a student
is able to enter into higher planes I understand that the terms and
expressions all take simple and rightful place. But all that a
student can do in his first study in these matters is to try and
discern somewhat where the planes change and where the writer means
literally on the higher plane or parabolically on the physical or on
what plane is the literalness? But most alchemic writing is
hyperphysical. Origen says "to the literal minded (or carnal) we
teach the Gospel in the historic or literal way, but to the
proficients, fired with the love of Divine Wisdom, we impart the
Logos." Also we must remember that these writers were Spiritual
giants; men who had gone through the vital process of Regeneration,
and who wrote to others in like condition, not to the carnal minded or
literal man, who have their spiritual "sensorium," as Eckhartshausen
calls it, still sealed.
We are, therefore, grateful when a Spiritual giant like
Eckhartshausen writes as he does in simpler fashion, one more suitable
to the plane of intellectuality on which we usually are. He tells us
literally that man has fallen from his high estate, as we have all
been taught in "common" Christianity, and he proceeds to point out the
Spiritual rationale whereby man may attain his former Greatness. In
doing so, he explains in a most suggestive manner the real value of
the rites and ceremonies of Catholic Christendom, the Church as he
teaches being the outer manifestation of that Inner Society (the
nameless one), that Society of the Elect which has always existed, and
must still exist, for the protection of mankind. If this Sacred
Circle, this Celestial Church, did not subsist, our earthly sinful
Churches could not exist. That they do is a proof of its holy
Guardianship- Eckhartshausen's letters on the subject explanatory of
this position, are most instructive. There are doubtless a few elect
souls who are so richly laden with the ten talents they have earned in
preceding lives, that they can, so to say, take the Kingdom of Heaven
with violence and obtain their Regeneration and Immortality early in
this life, without possibly belonging to any Society, whether Church
organisation or otherwise, but to most people this is impossible; and
we then, as humbler students, do well to lay heed to the great
importance of Christian rites and ceremonies- especially that of the
Sacred Supper. This is, of course, not new teaching to instructed
Catholics, but I would respectfully suggest that Eckhartshausen
does lead the understanding to higher ground and higher
possibilites, as a permitted Initiate, than Church teaching generally
can do, because Catholic Doctrine does not, cannot fully
explain. It is her function only to enunciate ex cathedra as
the legitimately authorised channel of communication; but certain
writers, Initiates and Regenerate men, have special offices, of
instructors and explainers. Therefore those peeple who have not the
gift of Faith to receive enunciated Doctrine, have indeed much to be
thankful for in that there are such writers who are permitted
to explain the reason why of doctrine and dogma. To minds,
then, who are not gifted with Faith, or who have not attained to it,
the writings of the mystics are priceless, as no doubt through them
the student who only commenced the quest through mere but honest
curiosity and desire, if, however, he continue sincere and earnest,
can without doubt rise not only to the region of faith, but in
addition with a clear understanding, and he then is in a still better
condition for further advancement. Mad is that person who with the
grace and gift of Faith to commence with has left his talent
untouched!
"The Cloud upon the Sanctuary" is written in six letters, and they
show the meaning of Revelation, the means whereby man can receive it;
the supreme importance of man's Regeneration and the means whereby he
can attain to it. And I may here say that a Regenerated Man in Mystic
phraseology is equivalent to "Mahatma," or may be more; in modern
theosophic terms, it means a Master, and until man attains to this
rank he is not able to fully recognise the Master, so must
always remain until that time outside the Temple, not yet fit to enter
within the sacred precincts and be hailed as a true Builder by the
Master Builder Himself. Regeneration is moreover the only means by
which he gains freedom from Karma, and is thenceforth freed from the
Circle of Necessity or Re-birth. There is one other matter to note,
both in reading sacred writ and mystic writers, that if we find one
meaning pretty clear throughout we may conclude we have one
key, but that is all, and because we understand this side of the truth
is just the reason that we have not all the truth. If we keep
this well in our minds it will be a useful preventive against
spiritual pride, for it will keep us always respectful to out
brothers' and sisters' versions of the matter. Nevertheless there is
something so real, so solid, so concrete in the presentment of Mystic
Truth that if that foundation be firmly realised it is remarkable how
much more easily the building is raised than we could imagine while
wandering in the phantasmal regions of astral Revelations- that realm
of Chaos out of and from which man has been lifted, by being created
Rational Man, but towards which he too easily returns on a retrograde
course. We must also note that Eckhartshausen lived and wrote at the
period of the French Revolution; at an era very similar to our own in
all but its sad consummation. "Magic" was the fashion, and quite as
much was known then on these matters as is known now. There were
spiritual circles, occult societies, brotherhoods, and a great
searching into the "hidden things of the Spirit."
We have St. Martin's valuable authority at that period for
thinking very highly of Eckhartshausen as a man who worked and thought
centrally, and whose writings commanded his highest respect.

ISABEL DE STEIGER.

Scanned from "The Unknown World", No. 6 - Vol. I, Jan. 15, 1895.

 

LETTER II

It is necessary, my dear brothers in the Lord, to give you a clear
idea of the interior Church; of that illuminated Community of God
which is scattered throughout the world, but which is governed by one
truth and united in one spirit.
This enlightened community has existed since the first day of the
world's creation, and its duration will be to the last day of time.
This community possesses a school, in which all who thirst for
knowledge are instructed by the Spirit of Wisdom itself; and all the
mysteries of God and of nature are preserved in this school for the
children of light.... Perfect knowledge of God, of nature, and of
humanity are the objects of instruction in this school. It is from
her that all truths penetrate into the world, she is the School of the
Prophets, and of all who search for wisdom, and it is in this
community alone that truth and the explanation of all mystery is to be
found. It is the most hidden of communities yet possesses members from
many circles; of such is this school. From all time there has been an
exterior school based on the interior one, of which it is but the
outer expression. From all time, therefore, there has been a hidden
assembly, a society of the Elect, of those who sought for and had
capacity for light, and this interior society was called the interior
Sanctuary or Church. All that the external Church possesses in symbol
ceremony or rite is the letter expressive outwardly of the spirit of
truth residing in the interior Sanctuary.
Hence this Sanctuary composed of scattered members, but tied by
the bonds of perfect unity and love, has been occupied from the
earliest ages in building the grand Temple through the regeneration of
humanity, by which the reign of God will be manifest. This society is
in the communion of those who have most capacity for light,
i.e., the Elect. The Elect are united in truth, and their Chief
is the Light of the World himself, Jesus Christ, the One Anointed in
light, the single mediator for the human race, the Way, the Truth, and
the Life- Primitive light, wisdom, and the only medium by which
man can return to God.
The interior Church was formed immediately after the fall of man,
and received from God at first-hand the revelation of the means by
which fallen humanity could be again raised to its rights and
delivered from its misery. It received the primitive charge of all
revelation and mystery; it received the key of true science, both
divine and natural.
But when men multiplied, the frailty of man and his weakness
necessitated an exterior society which veiled the interior one, and
concealed the spirit and the truth in the letter. Because many people
were not capable of comprehending great interior truth, and the danger
would have been too great in confiding the moist Holy to incapable
people. Therefore, interior truths were wrapped in external and
perceptible ceremonies, so that men, by the perception of the outer,
which is the symbol of the interior, might by degrees be enabled
safely to approach the interior spiritual truths.
But the inner truth bas always been confided to him who in his day
had the most capacity for illumination, and he became the sole
guardian of the original Trust, as High Priest of the Sanctuary.
When it became necessary that interior truths should be enfolded
in exterior ceremony and symbol, on account of the real weakness of
men who were not capable of bearing the Light of Light, then exterior
worship began. It was, however, always the type and symbol of the
interior, that is to say, the symbol of the true homage offered to God
in spirit and in truth.
The difference between spiritual and animal man, and between
rational and sensual man, made the exterior and interior imperative.
Interior truth passed into the external wrapped in symbol and
ceremony, so that sensuous man could observe, and be gradually thereby
led to interior truth. Hence external worship was symbolically typical
of interior truths, and of the true relationship between man and God
before and after the Fall, and of his most perfect reconciliation. All
the symbols of external worship are based upon the three fundamental
relations- the Fall, the Reconciliation, and the Complete Atonement.
The care of the external service was the occupation of priests,
and every father of a family was in the ancient times charged with
this duty. First fruits and the first born among animals were offered
to God, symbolizing that all that preserves and nourishes us comes
from Him; also that animal man must be killed to make room for
rational and spiritual man.
The external worship of God would never have been separated from
interior service but for the weakness of man which tends too easily to
forget the spirit in the letter, but the spirit of God is vigilant to
note in every nation those who are able to receive light, and they are
employed as agents to spread the light according to man's capacity,
and to re-vivify the dead letter.
Through these divine instruments the interior truths of the
Sanctuary were taken into every nation, and modified symbolically
according to their customs, capacity for instruction, climate, and
receptiveness. So that the external types of every religion, worship,
ceremonies and Sacred Books in general have more or less clearly, as
their object of instruction, the interior truths of the Sanctuary, by
which man, but only in the latter days, will be conducted to the
universal knowledge of the one Absolute Truth.
The more the external worship of a people has remained united with
the spirit of esoteric truth, the purer its religion; but the wider
the difference between the symbolic letter and the invisible truth,
the more imperfect has become the religion; even so far among some
nations as to degenerate into polytheism. Then the external form
entirely parted from its inner truth when ceremonial observances
without soul or life remained alone.
When the germs of the most important truths had been carried
everywhere by God's agents, He chose a certain people to raise up a
vital symbol destined by Him to manifest forth the means by which
He intended to govern the human race in its present condition, and by
which it would be raised into complete purification and perfection.
God Himself communicated to this people its exterior religious
legislation, He gave all the symbols and enacted all the ceremonies,
and they contained the impress, as it were, of the great esoteric
truth of the Sanctuary.
God consecrated this external Church in Abraham, gave commandments
through Moses, and it received its highest perfection in the double
message of Jesus Christ, existing personally in poverty and suffering,
and by the communication of His Spirit in the glory of the
Resurrection.
Now, as God Himself laid the foundation of the external Church,
the whole of the symbols of external worship formed the of science of
the Temple and of the Priests in those days, because the mysteries of
the most sacred truths became external through revelation alone. The
scientific acquaintance of this holy symbolism was the science to unite
fallen man once more with God, hence religion received its name from
being the science of rebinding man with God, to bring man back to his
origin.
One sees plainly by this pure idea of religion in general that
unity in religion is within the inner Sanctuary, and that the
multiplicity of external religions can never alter the true unity
which is at the base of every exterior.
The wisdom of the ancient temple alliance was preserved by priests
and by prophets.
To the priests was confided the external,- the letter of the
symbol, hieroglyphics. The prophets had the charge of the inner truth,
and their occupation was to continually recall the priest to the spirit
in the letter, when inclined to lose it. The science of the priests was
that of the knowledge of exterior symbol.
That of the prophets was experimental possession of the truth of
the symbols. In the interior the spirit lived. There was, therefore,
in the ancient alliance a school of prophets and of priests, the one
occupying itself with the spirit in the emblem, the other with the
emblem itself. The priests had the external possession of the Ark, of
the shewbread, of the candlesticks, of the manna, of Aaron's rod, and
the prophets were in interior possession of the inner spiritual truth
which was represented exteriorly by the symbols just mentioned.
The external Church of the ancient alliance was visible, the
interior Church was always invisible, must be invisible, and yet must
govern all, because force and power are alone confided to her.
When the divine external[1] worship abandoned the interior worship
it fell, and God proved by a remarkable chain of circumstances that
the letter could not exist without the spirit, that it is only there
to lead to the spirit, and it is useless and even rejected by God if
it fails in its object.
As the spirit of nature extends to the most sterile depths to
vivify and preserve and cause growth in everything susceptible to its
influence, likewise the spirit of light spreads itself interiorly
among nations to animate everywhere the dead letter by the living
spirit.
This is why we find a Job among idolators, a Melchizedek among
strange nations, a Joseph with the Egyptian priests, a Moses in the
country of Midian, as living proofs the interior community of those
who are capable of receiving light was united by one spirit and one
truth in all times and in all nations.
To these agents of light from the one inner community was united
the Chief of all agents, Jesus Christ Himself, in the midst of time as
royal priest after the order of Melchizedek.
The divine agents of the ancient alliance hitherto represented
only specialised perfections of God; therefore a powerful movement was
required which should show all at once- all in one. A universal
type appeared, which gave the real touch of perfect unity to the
picture, which opened a fresh door, and destroyed the number of the
slavery of humanity.
The law of love began when the Image emanating from wisdom itself
shewed to man all the greatness of his being, vivified him anew by
every force, assured him of his immortality, and raised his
intellectual status to that of being the true temple for the spirit.
This Chief Agent of all, this Saviour of the World and universal
Regenerator, claimed man's whole attention to the primitive truth,
whereby he can preserve his existence and recover his former dignity.
Through the conditions of His own abasement He laid the base of the
redemption of man, and He promised to accomplish it completely one day
through His Spirit. He shewed also truly in part among His apostles
all that should come to pass in the future to all the Elect.
He linked the chain of the community of light among the Elect, to
whom He sent the spirit of truth, and confided to them the true
primitive instruction in all divine and natural things, as a sign that
He would never forsake His community.
When the letter and symbolic worship of the external Church of the
ancient alliance had been realised by the Incarnation of the Saviour,
and verified in His person, new symbols became requisite for external
use, which shewed us through the letter the future accomplishment of
universal redemption.
The rites and symbols of the external Christian Church were formed
after the pattern of these unchangeable and fundamental truths,
announcing things of a strength and of an importance impossible to
describe, and revealed only to those who knew the innermost Sanctuary.
This Sanctuary remains changeless, though external religion
receives in the course of time and circumstances varied modification,
entailing separation from the interior spirit which can alone preserve
the letter. The profane idea of wishing to "civilise"[2] all that is
Christian, and to Christianise all that is political, changed the
exterior edifice, and covered with the shadow of death all that was
interior light and life. Hence divisions and heresies, and the spirit
of Sophistry ready to expound the letter when it had already lost the
essence of truth.
Current incredulity increased corruption to its utmost point,
attacking the edifice of Christianity in its fundamental parts and the
sacred interior was mingled with the exterior, already enfeebled by
the ignorance of weak man.
Then was born Deism; this brought forth materialism, which looked
on the union of man with superior forces as imaginary; then finally
came forth, partly from the head and partly from the heart, the last
degree of man's degradation- Atheism.
In the midst of all this, truth reposes inviolable in the inner
Sanctuary.
Faithful to the spirit of truth, which promised never to abandon
its community, the members of the interior Church lived in silence,
but in real activity, and united the science of the temple of the
ancient alliance with the spirit of the great saviour of man- the
spirit of the interior alliance, waiting humbly the great moment when
the Lord will call them, and will assemble his community in order to
give every dead letter external force and life.
This interior community of light is the reunion of all those
capable of receiving light as Elect, and it is known as the
Communion of Saints. The primitive receptacle for all strength
and truth, confided to it from all time- it alone, says St. Paul, is
in the possession of the science of the Saints.
By it the agents of God were formed in every age, passing from the
interior to the exterior, and communicating spirit and life to the
dead letter as already said.
This illuminated community has been through time the true school
of God's spirit, and considered as school, it has its Chair, its
Doctor, it possesses a rule for students, it has forms and objects for
study, and, in short, a method by which they study.
It has, also, its degrees for successive development. to higher
altitudes.
The first and lowest degree consists in the moral good, by which
the single will, subordinated to God, is led to God by the pure motive
of willing with and to Jesus Christ, which it does through faith. The
means by which the spirit of this school acts are called inspirations.
The second degree consists in the rational intellectuality, by
which the understanding of the man of virtue, who is united to God, is
crowned with wisdom and the light of know-ledge, and the means which
the spirit uses to produce this is called interior illumination.
The third and highest degree is the entire opening of our inner
sensorium, by which the inner man perceives objectively and really,
metaphysical verities. This is the highest degree when faith passes
into open vision, and the means the spirit uses for this are real
visions.
These are the three degrees of the school for true interior
wisdom- that of the illuminated Society. The same spirit which ripens
men for this community also distributes its degrees by the co-action
of the ripened subject.
This school of wisdom has been forever most secretly hidden from
the world, because it is invisible and submissive solely to divine
government.
It has never been exposed to the accidents of time and to the
weakness of man. Because only the most capable were chosen for it,
and the spirits who selected made no error.
Through this school were developed the germs of all the sublime
sciences, which were first received by external schools, then clothed
in other forms, and hence degenerating.
This society of sages communicated, according to time and
circumstances, unto the exterior societies their symbolic hieroglyphs,
in order to attract man to the great truths of their interior.
But all exterior societies subsist through this interior one
giving them its spirit. As soon as external societies wish to be
independent of the interior one, and to transform a temple of wisdom
into a political edifice, the interior society retires and leaves only
the letter without the spirit. It is thus that secret external
societies of wisdom were nothing but hieroglyphic screens, the truth
remaining inviolable in the sanctuary so that she might never be
profaned.
In this interior society man finds wisdom and with her-
All- not the wisdom of this world which is but scientific
knowledge, which revolves round the outside but never touches the
centre (in which is contained all strength), but true wisdom and men
obeying her.
All disputes, all controversies, all the things belonging to the
false cares of this world, fruitless discussions, useless germs of
opinions which spread the seeds of disunion, all error, schisms, and
systems are banished. Neither calumny nor scandal are known. Every
man is honoured. Satire, that spirit which loves to make its neighbour
smart, is unknown. Love alone reigns.
Want and feebleness are protected, and rejoicings are made at the
elevation and greatness which man acquires.
We must not, however, imagine this society resembles any secret
society, meeting at certain times, choosing its leaders and members,
united by special objects. All societies, be what they may, can but
come after this interior illuminated circle. This society knows none
of the formalities which belong to the outer rings, the work of man. In
this kingdom of power all outward forms cease.
God himself is the Power always present. The best man of his
times, the chief himself, does not always know all the members, but
the moment when it is the Will of God that he should accomplish any
object, He finds them in the world with certainty to work for that
purpose.
This community has no outside barriers. He who may be chosen by
God is as the first, he presents himself among the others without
presumption, and he is received by the others without jealousy.
If it be necessary that real members should meet together, they
find and recognise each other with perfect certainty.
No disguise can be used, neither hypocrisy nor dissimulation could
hide the characteristic qualities of this society, they are too
genuine. All illusion is gone, and things appear in their true form.
No one member can choose another, unanimous choice is required.
All men are called, the called may be chosen, if they become ripe for
entrance.
Any one can look for the entrance, and any man who is within can
teach another to seek for it; but only he who is fit can arrive
inside.
Unprepared men occasion disorder in a community, and disorder is
not compatible with the Sanctuary. This thrusts out all who are not
homogeneous.
Worldly intelligence seeks this Sanctuary in vain, fruitless also
will be the efforts of malice to penetrate these great mysteries; all
is undecipherable to him who is not ripe, he can see nothing, read
nothing in the interior.
He who is ripe is joined to the chain, perhaps often where he
thought least likely, and at a point of which he knew nothing himself.
Seeking to become ripe, should be effort of him who sees wisdom.
But there are methods by which ripeness is attained, for in this
holy communion is the primitive storehouse of the most ancient and
original science of the human race, with the primitive mysteries also
of all science. It is the unique and really illuminated community
which is absolutely in possession of the key to all mystery, which
knows the centre and source of all nature and creation. It is a
society which unites superior strength to its own, and counts its
members from more than one world. It is the society whose members form
a theocratic republic, which one day will be the Regent Mother of the
whole World.[3]

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.

There is an expression in the third paragraph which is puzzling. The
literal translation would of course be "many worlds," (plusieurs
mondes). The same word is also used in the last paragraph, "it counts
its members from more than one world." I confess I am at a loss to
give the real meaning. Merely translating it, society, circle, set of
people, would at once give it a sense of limitation; "from all
kindreds and peoples" would seem the best way to convey the idea of an
eclectic but universal choice. I can't think it conveys the meaning
that another planet or world would imply.
There is a paragraph in Carpenter's work "From Adams Peak to
Elephanta," which I must here mention; he says a propos of the
rites and ceremonies of a Hindu Temple; "the theory is that all the
ceremonies have inner and mystic meanings- which meanings in due time
are declared to those who are fit- and that thus the temple,
institutions, and ceremonies constitute a great ladder by which men
can rise at last to those inner truths which lie beyond all formulas
and are contained in no creed."
This is exactly the argument of Eckartshausen, with the exception
of the last phrase, as, au contraire, he would say that creeds are
quite different to formulas- creeds being synthetic enunciation of
verities, so shorn of all but the absolutely necessary words that no
one but masters of theology can at all correctly enlarge them.
However, the interesting part is the similar view of the importance of
the outer ceremony on the part of the Hindu priests. It would be
insulting the understandings of my readers if I were to point out the
obvious fact that though Eckartshausen speaks so constantly of the
Church rites and ceremonies he is not alluding to any special church.
In the next letter, which is an extremely interesting one, the word
Temple is substituted for Eglise. A Church properly speaking means a
body of worshippers. A Temple means a building containing a shrine.
This distinction is of importance. In France the R.C. Community call
the Protestant places of worship Temples, which according to their
views they cannot be, as they would not consider that the Protestants
have the Sacred Vessels or offices, or anything really pertaining to a
shrine.
Nevertheless, it is also clear that Eckartshausen speaks with so
much respect of rites and ceremonies, symbols and hieroglyphics, which
he may take otherwise than necessarily Egyptian, of course, that one
feels that he must have thought with more respect of those Churches
that have kept a larger amount of rite and ceremony than those
who deliberately docked them. These latter emulated too soon the
exalted condition of being "beyond formulas," and so fell below it,
the tendency of mankind in a natural condition being towards outer
manifestation. This, of course, is but a preliminary stage, but a long
way ahead of the condition of not feeling any desire for such
manifestation.
In speaking of the "Elect" we cannot be sufficiently careful not
to fall into any error of thought on this matter by being influenced
by any dregs of Calvinistic limitation. We cannot exalt our ideas on
of the subject high enough, for in fact we do not know anything at all
about who and what are the Elect. Our mystic is
certainly not writing on ordinary lines, neither to ordinary people.
One may be inclined then to say, "Oh, then it does not concern us,"
but it does, for we never know when we may turn from the ordinary into
the extra-ordinary. All we have to do is- our best. We certainly shal1
be in the right if we exalt all theology especially as conveyed
through mystic writers (who seem to have the power of exalting the
gold into still purer sublimation, only it is only in appearance) as
high as our imagination will go. The possibility of reaching
this region will always be open to us, if we do not fall into the
snare of imagining that we can easily experimentally arrive at this
altitude. All the letters of Eckartshausen point to a region of
thought and action quite beyond recognised theology. We therefore
infer that he and other mystics give us some of the information known
to the inner Sanctuary, and not taught generally in the outer circles,
that is, in the Churches of Christendom. We must certainly read the
words "Christian Mysteries" between the lines. If we said they mean
the Sacraments, especially of the Holy Supper, we should limit these
mysteries to those that are acknowledged as such and given generally
to Christian Europe. We must all of us see an advanced grade beyond
the one which we many of us can achieve, a grade of high initiation
which will open these mysteries to us, an attitude of thought which at
least must command our respect, and which certainly if faithfully
maintained would in itself do much to advance us. The fear of
God is the beginning of Wisdom. Wisdom, as Eckartshausen points out,
being something truly comprehensive.

ISABEL DE STEIGER.

[1] I Can't but think here that the words interior and exterior are
transposed in translating from the original German to the French from
which I translate it, but I put it as I find in the text of the very
valuable edition to which I have access.- I. de S.

[2] Civiliser in French, coming also from "civilis," does not mean
literally civilise, but it is difficult to find an English equivalent
expressive of reducing things to civil or ordinary practice.- I. de S.

[3] Capitals are rarely employed. I always quote them, but
occasionally use them in other places when the sense requires them, so
as not to confuse the cases and genders, for instance, esprit
evidently requires to be written occasionally Spirit, not spirit.

Scanned from "The Unknown World", Vol. II - No. I, Feb. 15, 1895.

 

Part 1 Letters 1&2

Part 2 Letters 3&4

Part 3 Letters 5&6