The Road to Initiation
The article: On My Cosmic Analyses
Chapter 2
The human being of feeling and the human being of intelligence
Feeling and intelligence develop through experiences of feeling and experiences of intelligence respectively. What do we understand by experiences of intelligence and experiences of feeling? By experiences of intelligence we understand all such knowledge that one gains through calculation, reading and teaching. And it is a matter of course that these three factors can give a human being a lot of knowledge; but this knowledge is not, even when it culminates in a title of doctor or professor, absolute or ultimate knowledge of the eternal facts, that is to say, the real basic analyses of the universe, the immortality of the individual, the formation of fate, the mystery of love and of the creative faculty. As regards real knowledge of these things, the being of intelligence is an ignorant and primitive being because the experience of these realities cannot possibly be attained with intelligence or the intellect alone. The experience of these realities vibrates in forms of energy that can be experienced only through sensory perception or feeling and do not thereby become "experiences of intelligence" but "experiences of feeling". But just as "experiences of intelligence", which in this case means "theories", do not mean anything for an individual who does not have the ability to use them or to draw conclusions from them, so too are "experiences of feeling" worthless or meaningless for individuals who likewise lack the intelligence to draw the right conclusions from them. This in turn means that a true "being of feeling" does not arrive at a true analysis of eternal facts either, but differs from the "being of intelligence" in that it occupies itself with these facts, is very "religious", but its knowledge, perception and opinions in the religious realm cannot withstand an absolutely true, logical or intelligent analysis. But since its experiences of feeling thus, on the basis of insufficient intelligence or an insufficient sense of logic, create in its consciousness a perception or idea that is actually illogical, such an individual unknowingly appears as a "fanatic". He refers to his view or religion, which he presumes to be correct and infallible, as the absolutely "only salvation", at the same time as he shows great intolerance towards any other view or analysis that differs from his own. And since his intelligence and his ability to analyse are not developed, his intolerance or indignation towards any alien view will be quite unaffected or unabated, however logical or in harmony with truth or reality this other alien view may be.