James Morgan Pryse (1859-1942) was a prolific theosophist and author. He describes the true meaning of the famous Delphic axiom, “Man, Known Thyself,” in his highly interesting work, Apocalypse Unsealed: Being an Esoteric Interpretation of Initiation (1910). Pryse argued that the “Book of the Revelation” of Iaonnes (John) is not a book detailing the past, nor the future; but a book designed to dismantle when unveiled, the dogmas of the conventionalists.

The thesis is that the Apocalypse vision of Iaonnes is in fact an allegory of Initiation.

He goes on to then explain various means of acquiring knowledge.

THE DELPHIAN KEY-NOTE OF ESOTERICISM

“The point where the arcane system sharply diverges from all the conventional schools of thought is in the means of acquiring knowledge. To make this clear, Plato’s analysis of the four faculties of the soul, with their four corresponding degrees of knowledge, may be taken, (Rep. vi. 5 1 1.) Tabulated, it is as follows:

THE VISIBLE, SENSUOUS WORLD.

1. perception of images,) opinion, illu-
2. faith, psychic groping) sory knowledge,

THE INTELLIGIBLE, SUPRASENSUOUS WORLD.

3. philosophic reason), wis-
4. direct cognition      ) dom, true knowledge.

The first of these degrees covers the whole field of the inductive physical sciences, which are concerned with investigating the phenomena of external nature; the second degree embraces exoteric religion and all phases of blind belief; and these two degrees, pertaining to the phranic or lower mind, comprise all the knowledge available to those whose consciousness does not transcend the illusions of the material world. The third degree relates to speculative philosophy, which seeks to arrive at first principles by the effort of pure reason; the fourth degree is the direct apprehension of truth by the lucid mind independently of any reasoning process; and these two degrees, pertaining to the noetic or higher mind, represent the field of knowledge open to those whose consciousness rises to the world of spiritual reality. Elsewhere Plato speaks of the mantic state, which he describes as a kind of madness produced “by a divine release from the ordinary ways of men.”

James M. Pryse elaborates, that “the exoteric scientist and religionist rely on the physical senses, the psychic emotions, and the intellectual faculties as these are in the present stage of human evolution. While the scientist somewhat enlarges the scope of the senses by employing the telescope, the microscope, and other mechanical devices, the religionist puts his trust in the mutilated records of suppositional revelations received from the remote past. But the esotericist, refusing to be confined within the narrow limits of the senses and the mental faculties, and recognizing that the gnostic powers of the soul are hopelessly hampered and obscured by its imperfect instrument, the physical body, devotes himself to what may be termed intensive self-evolution¹, the conquest and utilization of all the forces and faculties that lie latent in that fontal essence within himself which is the primary source of all the elements and powers of his being, of all that he is, has been, and will be. By gaining conscious control of the hidden potencies which are the proximate causes of his individual evolution, he seeks to traverse in a comparatively brief period of time the path leading to spiritual illumination and liberation from terrestrial bondage, rushing forward, as it were, toward that goal which the human race as a whole, advancing at an almost imperceptible rate of progress, will reach only after aeons of time. His effort is not so much to know as to become; and herein lies the tremendous import of the Delphic inscription, “Know Thyself,” which is the key-note of esotericism.

For the esotericist understands that true self-knowledge can be attained only through self-development in the highest possible sense of the term, a development which begins with introspection and the awakening of creative and re-generative forces which now slumber in man’s inner protoplasmic nature.” (James Morgan Pryse, Apocalypse Unsealed: Being an Esoteric Interpretation of Initiation, pp. 6-8)

THREE TYPES OF WAYS TO GET KNOWLEDGE

1. [Opinion] the senses, or perception
2. [Science] dialectics, the art of inquiry into the knowledge or the truth of things
3. [Illumination] intuition, and identification of the mind with the object known

James Morgan Pryse shows that real development is in physio-psychological development, and the unfolding of inner senses.

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FOOTNOTES

1. Plato might have referred to the spiritual-intellectual discipline of deliberate training of the soul toward virtue and truth as askēsis (ἄσκησις). It was the core Platonic practice of transforming oneself. The term epistrophē (ἐπιστροφή) meant the “turning around” or “conversion of the soul” that makes self‑evolution possible. Paideia (παιδεία) is a term expressed in Platonic Philosophy to explain that true education is not information but soul‑shaping and the formation of character. Katharsis (κάθαρσις) meant purification or clearing the soul of disorder, vice, and illusion. Anagōgē (ἀναγωγή) meant “leading upward,” or the ascent of the soul toward higher reality. ↩︎