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(Original title: Auferstehung. Richard Hummel Verlag, Leipzig, 1926. Copyright to Chapter Five by B.A. Reichenbach, 1994.)
The curious pleasure of hiding one's identity behind a mask and, suitably disguised, to play all sorts of tricks is given license, as one knows, to spend itself without restraint at a particular season every year. And where this custom is observed with wit and in good taste, one well might find such frantic merriment amusing, even if one lacks all inclination to take an active part in it.
After all, it only is a short time once a year when such frivolity enjoys free rein, and afterwards there still remain sufficient days when life returns again to serious reality.
Only when the impulse to disguise oneself behind some mask takes over in domains of life where it is altogether out of place does it assume more sinister dimensions.
One sphere of life in which the fun of Mardi Gras appears to be in full swing all year round is that of modern occultism. The many earnest seekers notwithstanding who honestly attempt to find in it conclusive answers to the riddles of existence.
One only need examine recent, or the latest, publications in this field--so far as this may still be possible today, considering the flood of wanton products--and one shall witness the most rampant Mardi Gras.
Yet this particular frivolity insists on being taken seriously, and thus becomes a serious danger for many who approach it.
The most outrageous flummery is brazenly promoted as the one true "magic power," in order to attract the credulous, whose numbers never seem to wane, while the actors in this circus don the weirdest costumes and demand that one accept their beads and tinsel as precious gems and gold.
But no matter how transparent or devoid of taste such trumpery might be, each new trick is sure to capture new believers.
Perhaps one still could understand it if only simple minds were seen to follow every jester who will drum his rattle on his bag of tricks, while bragging that in it he holds life's "magical elixir." What defies belief, however, is the fact that all too often even those allow themselves to be entrapped who elsewhere miss no opportunity to boast of their deep-seated skepticism.
Where, one might wonder, is the reverence one owes the wisdom of the greatest minds that ever walked the earth if one can be deluded to believe that some obscure adventurer could suddenly have knowledge of the timeless mysteries to which those greatest sages had devoted all their lives, and which they would reveal to only those who were prepared to comprehend them?
Can anyone in truth believe that real wisdom has become so cheap today that now it must be dumped at bargain prices? As discount stores will mark down surplus merchandise, hoping to attract at least some buyers?
Are there truly minds today who can endure the thought that one can actually attain the soul's awakening and radiant oneness in the light of God by way of "occult exercises" of whatever stripe? And does one think so very little of those exalted beings who had attained that radiant union that one can seriously believe their inmost secrets now have been laid bare, because some impecunious pamphlet writer claims that, being an "initiate," he did obtain precise details about their knowledge under more or less mysterious circumstances?
It almost seems that people somehow bid farewell to every trace of common sense the moment they set foot in the domain of the "occult."
Things are here accepted at face value which one would instantly identify as fake if one did not place undue trust in the bombastic, self-promoting phrases of the merchants who present their baubles as pure gold.
There seem to be no limits to credulity, especially if the "initiate" is able to ward off all questions dealing with his ethical integrity by using lofty words he took from somewhere else.
If, in addition, he is able to create the impression of possessing expert knowledge in the widest range of fields, calculated to persuade the innocent that here is someone speaking to them who has mastered every branch of human science, then such a charlatan can get away with almost anything without the risk of being openly unmasked.
A solid stack of index cards, together with a bookchest of good size and filled with musty tomes with occult lore of old or modern vintage is usually the only source of knowledge such an illusionist commands. And if his followers were privy to these sources, the masquerade would face a sudden end.
There is no need to single out especially amusing jests that flourish in that mummery.
Whoever will observe the carnival with open eyes and is not awed by daring acrobatics shall not be wanting for examples very long. And should he feel inclined to do so, he can even learn to recognize whole categories of frequently recurring masks.
Droll characters, indeed, can one encounter in this carnival parade. And if a person has not lost his sense of humor, his indignation more than once will be relieved by hearty laughter.
Pity, however, and a sense of shame for mankind's sake will overcome the person watching the parade if in the midst of this grotesque frivolity he should encounter one of those who actually believe they are the role they play, because they are no longer conscious of wearing a disguise.
The more one then begins to see through all these gaudy costumes, which some parade with solemn pomp, while others make them glitter by performing dazzling leaps, the less one will desire to mingle with such company.
This field provides the perfect playground for all who were derailed in life; and more than one who now performs his hackneyed part, decked out in farcical magician's hat and gown, only ended up in this parade because he failed in his profession and, facing the collapse of his existence, thought he might find refuge in the sphere of the occult.
For anyone in that position, however, the pressure of necessity permits no moral qualms. And even if at first they may not have in fact believed the pretense which their role demanded, nonetheless, the very nature of their situation gradually compelled them to perfect the talent of giving the impression that they are motivated by profoundest faith. And this impression they indeed create with stunning virtuosity.
But even that is but a typical ingredient of any proper Mardi Gras, in that a mask will evidently only be effective if the person wearing it can skillfully conceal his true identity.
To be sure, one simply might ignore those pranks, but for the fact that earnest seekers after knowledge continue to be led astray by such pretense.
Consequently, there are souls in serious peril. And even if for most of them--who often do not realize, perhaps for years, that they were living in a continuous Mardi Gras--there will be an awakening, a sobering Ash Wednesday, in the end, the bitter knowledge of having wasted precious years of life remains for them a lasting obstacle. Even if they later find the only way that ever can direct them to the goal where their initial longing will truly be fulfilled.
Time and again their conscience then will force them to admit that having been deceived was purely their own fault. For no one can claim innocence who let his judgment be so blinded that he was able to mistake a masquerade for the authentic path to truth.
Whoever in his daily life accepts each claim announced as sterling truth, without first verifying whether it deserves his trust, need not complain if he not only suffers loss, but also must face ridicule.
How much more urgent, then, is not the need for utmost caution before one follows and believes if on such trust depend the very health and life of one's eternal soul in its desire to know light and clarity!
Surely, it does not require exceptional intelligence to grasp the fact that God's eternal Spirit, with which the human spirit is to be united, cannot be tricked or baited by way of "methods" one can learn from sundry merchants of occult hocus-pocus.
But everything such carnival initiates, who tend to be but shabby imitations of blessed Cagliostro, have to boast of to their faithful is nothing more than an attempt to perpetrate such trickery. And, for the most part, by means of physical gymnastics.
It thus is simply the desire to achieve by devious methods what one believes might be too difficult to realize the proper way which never ceases to entrap new victims in the snares of vain impostors.
And then there is the person's craving to experience things miraculous and wondrous strange. But here one seems completely to forget that even the most mystifying incident the mortal organism can perceive becomes entirely irrelevant and worthless the moment when that organism can no longer function.
Whoever will not rid himself of everything concealing him before his consciousness on earth--such as he may abide in God's eternal Spirit, in Being without end--his spirit cannot be united with his Living God.
How, then, could any person hope to realize this union, which is to be for all eternity, if he, instead, bedecks himself with gaudy cloaks and trifles?
Thus he only will awaken forces that shall obstruct his way to God so thoroughly that it becomes for him impassable. For only those whose spirit is united in itself with God are able, by virtue of the Spirit's power, to master the demonic forces which fools arouse and waken from their sleep, assuming that, by using them, they might be raised to knowing timeless wisdom.
Only carefree ignorance may blithely doubt that forces of that kind exist.
But those who view the world with open eyes will all too often come upon clear evidence of their disastrous presence.
Consummate masters in the use of all disguises, it is they who lastly are the unseen puppeteers that pull the strings of all the marionettes that populate the occult Mardi Gras.
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