DISCOURSES Volume II - Avatar Meher Baba Trust

102 DISCOURSESthese societies trying to pursue occult knowledge in an organisedand co-operative form. The Masters have also deemed it desirableat times to reveal to the generality of mankind some theoreticalknowledge about certain important features of the occult worldsuch as immortality and reincarnation, the existence of differentbodies and planes and the laws concerning evolution and theoperation of Karma. Such knowledge gives the right sort ofbackground for spiritual aspiration and effort, and brings theperspective of the average man as near to the truth as is possibleunder the circumstances. With the exception of such generalknowledge about fundamentals, however, the Masters haveconsistently preferred to attach minimum importance to the spreadof detailed knowledge about occult realities, and have evenscrupulously withheld information concerning those points likelyto have vital bearing upon occultism as an art.In occultism, more than in any other science, there is asharp and significant division between those who know and thosewho do not know. In other sciences, to a certain extent indirectThose who know andthose who do notknowknowledge can take the place of directknowledge. In occultism, indirectknowledge can in no way approximatedirect knowledge in import andsignificance. Therefore, though occultism is an important science,the spread of purely theoretical information about occult realitiescan have little importance. For those who have no first-handexperience of occult realities, purely theoretical acquaintance withsome occult facts can have no special value. These occult realitiesare bound to remain for them more or less in the same category asdescriptions of unseen lands or works of imagination.Occultism as a science may be said to be more or less on