The Goal of Life

The Goal of Life is a book by Hiram E. Butler, first published in 1908. It presents Butler’s sweeping, mystical account of human spiritual evolution, blending a form of mystical Christianity with esoteric ideas drawn from the late-nineteenth-century occult and New Thought milieus. The text outlines stages of inner development and a teleology in which humanity gradually refines consciousness toward a transcendent ideal.

Butler frames these ideas through his own symbolic system, often appealing to spiritual authority rather than modern scientific proof. Written by a figure best known within fringe occult circles, the book is best read as a product of its era: part devotional speculation, part metaphysical system-building. Readers interested in the history of American esotericism, New Thought, or turn-of-the-century occult movements will find it particularly valuable as a window into attempts to reconcile spiritual revelation with ideas of progressive human perfectibility.