“Self-knowledge is the mother of all knowledge” is an old saying. It is at the base of Greek philosophical thought. The Esoteric goes further in stressing the practical application of self-knowledge. The perfectness of humane consciousness is the stage reached through self-knowledge; whereas the stage of union with the divine, the stage of pure (perfect) consciousness (supra-consciousness) is only attained through the application of self-knowledge and the attainment of cosmic knowledge.
Self-knowledge is the duty of man because he is the pivot and the starting point; cosmic knowledge is also essential because man is part of the universe. Yet, cosmic knowledge is only possible through self-knowledge for man himself is the center of all things.
Self-knowledge has always been the dream of philosophers, scientists, great men and the medical body; yet, only those who applied the Esoteric and trod the Path of Consciousness and inner evolution, did in fact attain true and complete self-knowledge.
Self here includes the Soul, that divine spark in man which is either unknown to or ignored by the majority of mankind. It is the real force that moves the human being. It is the real man.

The destiny of man is the conscious return to his Creator. The path of this return was drawn from the beginning of human life on Earth.
To help man on his way back, the laws and rules of this return were inscribed in his subconscious (as the voice of conscience). Some heeded those inner impulses while others turned a deaf ear. The Masters of Knowledge realized that man had lost contact with his subconscious, thus decided to compile all the laws and principles of the return path in special manuscripts and to establish a private institution of learning… to teach, or more accurately, to remind man of the principles of life that govern the return path to his source.
The “Great White Brotherhood” was founded and was the first of its kind on Earth. It “graduated” great teachers and pioneers who went into the world and started other schools under different names and of different levels. Their principles and rules were the same as those of the “Mother Institution”. Their aim was to promote physical and metaphysical knowledge and enlighten the inner self of each aspirant in accordance with individual levels of consciousness.
At first the results were excellent, but with the absence of the founders, those schools and societies started to go off course. With time, the deviation became more serious… and most of the schools ended up as a distorted picture of the original – false and sometimes quite contradictory (like most occult schools of the present). Contact with the “Mother Institution” was consequently severed.
As the consciousness of man sank lower and lower, and as those allegedly connected with the “Great White Brotherhood” became increasingly governed by selfish interests, the Masters decided that it was time to put man back on the correct course.
A plan was designed, its purpose was to bring all the schools, orders and societies of inner knowledge back to the bosom of the “Great White Brotherhood”. It would also make of every aspirant a member of the Brotherhood through the Esoteric Path which was its original method.
It is not that the Esoteric seeks to enter or control these societies, rather to contain them and to reform their course as its ultimate aim is conducting every man to the Truth of Self-Knowledge and self-realization.