Document text
Me wiedge om
The-Higher-
Worlds-And-Its-
Attainment
KNOWLEDGE OF THE
HIGHER WORLDS
AND ITS ATTAINMENT
BY
RUDOLF STEINER
ANTHROPOSOPHIC PRESS, NEW YORK
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1947
Knowledge Of The Higher Worlds And Its Attainment By Rudolf
Steiner.
This web edition created and published by Global Grey 2013.
GLOBAL GREY
NOTHING BUT E-BOOKS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF MAY 1918
PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
I.LHOW IS KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS
ATTAINED?
II. THE STAGES OF INITIATION
IIILSOME PRACTICAL ASPECTS
IV.THE CONDITIONS OF ESOTERIC TRAINING
V.SOME RESULTS OF INITIATION
VI.THE TRANSFORMATION OF DREAM LIFE
VII.THE CONTINUITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
VIII.THE SPLITTING OF THE HUMAN PERSONALITY
DURING SPIRITUAL TRAINING
IX.THE GUARDIAN OF THE THRESHOLD
X.LIFE AND DEATH: THE GREATER GUARDIAN OF THE
THRESHOLD
APPENDIX
ee
PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF MAY 1918
In working over this new edition I found only minor changes in its
substance necessary; but I have added an appendix in which I have
endeavored to explain more clearly the psychological foundations to
which the disclosures contained in the book must be traced if they are
to be accepted without risk of misunderstanding. I believe that the
contents of the appendix will also serve to show many an opponent of
anthroposophical spiritual science that his judgment is based upon a
misconception of the nature of this spiritual science; that he does not
see what it really is.
Rudolph Steiner
PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION
In preparing this new edition of Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its
Attainment I have gone over every detail of the subject as I had
presented it over ten years ago. The urge to make such a review is
natural in the case of disclosures concerning soul experiences and
paths such as are indicated in this book. There can be no portion of
what is imparted which does not remain intimately a part of the one
who communicates it, or which does not contain something that
perpetually works upon his soul. And it is inevitable that this work of
the soul should be joined by an endeavor to enhance the clarity and
lucidity of the presentation as given years before. This engendered
what I have endeavored to accomplish in this new edition. All the
essential elements of the expositions, all the principal points, have
remained as they were; yet important changes have been made. In
many passages I have been able to increase the accuracy of
characterization in detail, and this seemed to me important. If anyone
wishes to apply what is imparted in this book to his own spiritual life,
it is important that he should be able to contemplate the paths in
question by means of a characterization as exact as possible.
Misconceptions can arise in far greater measure in connection with the
description of inner spiritual processes than with that of facts in the
physical world. The mobility of the soul life, the danger of losing sight
of how different it is from all life in the physical world—this and
much else renders such misunderstandings possible. In preparing this
new edition I have directed my attention to finding passages in which
misconceptions might arise, and I have endeavored to forestall them.
At the time I wrote the essays that constitute this book, much had to
be discussed in a different way from today, because at that time I had
to allude in a different manner to the substance of what had been
published since then concerning facts of cognition of the spiritual
worlds. In my Occult Science, in The Spiritual Guidance of Mankind, in A
Road to Self-Knowledge and the Threshold of the Spiritual World, as well
as in other writings, spiritual processes are described whose existence,
to be sure, was already inevitably indicated in this book ten years ago,
but in words differing from those that seem right today. In connection
with a great deal not described in this book I had to explain at that
time that it could be learned by oral communication. Much of what
this referred to has since been published. But these allusions perhaps
did not wholly exclude the possibility of erroneous ideas in the
reader's mind. It might be possible, for instance, to imagine that
something much more vital in the personal relations between the
seeker for spiritual schooling and this or that teacher than is intended.
I trust I have here succeeded, by presenting details in a certain way, in
emphasizing more strongly that for one seeking spiritual schooling in
accord with present spiritual conditions an absolutely direct relation
to the objective spiritual world is of far greater importance than a
relation to the personality of a teacher. The latter will gradually
become merely the helper; he will assume the same position in
spiritual schooling as a teacher occupies, in conformity with modern
views, in any other field of knowledge. I believe I have sufficiently
stressed the fact that the teacher's authority and the pupil's faith in
him should play no greater part in spiritual schooling than in any
other branch of knowledge or life. A great deal depends, its seems to
me, upon an increasingly true estimate of this relation between the
one who carries on spiritual research and those who develop an
interest in the results of his research. Thus I believe I have improved
the book wherever I was in a position, after ten years, to find what
needs improving.
A second part is to be added to this first part, bringing further
explanations of the frame of mind that can lead a man to the
experience of the higher worlds.
The new edition of the book, the printing completed, lay before me
when the great war now being experienced by mankind broke out. I
must write these prefatory remarks while my soul is deeply moved by
the destiny-laden event.
Rudolph Steiner
Berlin, September 7, 1914.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
Herewith appear in book form my expositions originally published as
single essays under the title Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its
Attainment. For the present, this volume offers the first part; one that
is to follow will constitute the continuation. This work on a
development of man that will enable him to grasp the supersensible
worlds cannot be presented to the public in a new form without
certain comments which I shall now make. The communications it
contains concerning the development of the human soul are intended
to fill various needs.
First of all, something is to be offered those people who feel drawn to
the results of spiritual research, and who must raise the question:
“Well, whence do these persons derive their knowledge who claim the
ability to tell us something of the profound riddles of life?”—-Spiritual
science does this. Whoever wishes to observe the facts leading to such
claims must rise to supersensible cognition. He must follow the path I
have endeavored to describe in this book. On the other hand, it would
be an error to imagine these disclosures of spiritual science to be
valueless for one who lacks the inclination or the possibility to pursue
this path himself. In order to establish the facts through research, the
ability to enter the supersensible worlds is indispensable; but once
they have been discovered and communicated, even one who does not
perceive them himself can be adequately convinced of their truth. A
large proportion of them can be tested offhand, simply by applying
ordinary common sense in a genuinely unprejudiced way. Only, one
must not let this open-mindedness become confused by any of the pre-
conceived ideas so common in human life. Someone can easily
believe, for example, that some statement or other contradicts certain
facts established by modern science. In reality, there is no such thing
as a scientific fact that contradicts spiritual science; but there can
easily seem to be contradictions unless scientific conclusions are
consulted abundantly and without prejudice. The student will find
that the more open-mindedly he compares spiritual science with
positive scientific achievements, the more clearly is complete accord
to be seen.
Another category of spiritual-scientific disclosures, it is true, will be
found to elude purely mental judgment more or less; but the right
relation to these also will be achieved without great difficulty by one
who understands that not the mind alone but healthy feeling as well is
qualified to determine what is true. And when this feeling does not
permit itself to be warped by a liking or antipathy for some opinion or
other, but really allows higher knowledge to act without prejudice, a
corresponding sentient judgment results.
And there are many more ways of confirming this knowledge for those
who cannot or do not wish to tread the path into the supersensible
world. Such people can feel very clearly what value this knowledge
has in life, even when it comes to them only through the
communications of those engaged in spiritual research. Not everyone
can immediately achieve spiritual vision; but the discoveries of those
who have it can be health-giving life-nourishment for all. For
everyone can apply them; and whoever does so will soon discover
what life in every branch can be with their aid, and what it lacks
without them. The results of supersensible knowledge, when properly
employed in life, prove to be—not unpractical, but rather, practical in
the highest sense.
One who does not himself intend to follow the path to higher
knowledge, but is interested in the facts it reveals, can ask: How does
the seer arrive at these facts? To such a one this book is intended to
picture the path in such a way that even one not following it can
nevertheless have confidence in the communications of the person
who has done so. Realizing how the spiritual scientist works, he can
approve, and say to himself: The impression made upon me by the
description of this path to higher worlds makes clear why the facts
reported seem reasonable. Thus this book is intended to help those
who want their sense of truth and feeling for truth concerning the
supersensible world strengthened and assured.
No less, however, does it aim to offer aid to those who themselves
seek the way to supersensible knowledge. The truth of what is here set
forth wil best be verified by those who achieve its reality within
themselves. Anyone with this intention will do well to keep reminding
himself that in an exposition on the development of the soul, more is
called for than becoming acquainted with the substance, which is
frequently the aim in other expositions. It is necessary to familiarize
oneself intimately with the presentation. One must postulate the
following: no single matter is to be comprehended only by means of
what is said about the matter itself, but by means of much else that is
disclosed concerning totally different matters. This will develop the
conception that what is vital is to be found not in any single truth but
in the harmony of all truths. This must be seriously considered by
anyone intending to carry out the exercises. An exercise can be rightly
understood and even rightly executed, and yet produce a wrong effect
unless another be added to it—one that will resolve the one-sidedness
of the first into a harmony of the soul. Whoever reads this book in an
intimate way, so that the reading resembles an inner experience, wil
not merely familiarize himself with its content: one passage will evoke
a certain feeling, another passage another feeling; and in that way he
will learn how much importance should be seen in the one or the
other in the development of his soul. He will also find out in what
form he should try this or that exercise, what form best suits his
particular individuality. When one has to do, as is the case here, with
descriptions of processes that are to be experienced, it is necessary to
refer again and again to the content; for it will become manifest that
much can be satisfactorily assimilated only after trial, which in turn
reveals certain finer points that at first are bound to be overlooked.
Even those readers who do not intend to take the way prescribed will
find much in the book that can be of service to the inner life, such as
maxims, suggestions that throw light on various puzzling problems,
and so on.
And those who have had experiences in their lives that serve, to some
extent, as an initiation through life may derive a certain satisfaction
from finding clarified through co-ordination what had haunted them
as separate problems—things they already knew, but perhaps without
having been able to consolidate them in adequate conceptions.
I.LHOW IS KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER
WORLDS ATTAINED?
Conditions
THERE slumber in every human being faculties by means of which he
can acquire for himself a knowledge of higher worlds. Mystics,
Gnostics, Theosophists—all speak of a world of soul and spirit which
for them is just as real as the world we see with our physical eyes and
touch with our physical hands. At every moment the listener may say
to himself: that, of which they speak, I too can learn, if I develop
within myself certain powers which today still slumber within me.
There remains only one question—how to set to work to develop such
faculties. For this purpose, they only can give advice who already
possess such powers. As long as the human race has existed there has
always been a method of training, in the course of which individuals
possessing these higher faculties gave instruction to others who were
in search of them. Such a training is called occult (esoteric) training,
and the instruction received therefrom is called occult (esoteric)
teaching, or spiritual science. This designation naturally awakens
misunderstanding. The one who hears it may very easily be misled
into the belief that this training is the concern of a special, privileged
class, withholding its knowledge arbitrarily from its fellow-creatures.
He may even think that nothing of real importance lies behind such
knowledge, for if it were a true knowledge—he is tempted to think—
there would be no need of making a secret of it; it might be publicly
imparted and its advantages made accessible to all. Those who have
been initiated into the nature of this higher knowledge are not in the
least surprised that the uninitiated should so think, for the secret of
initiation can only be understood by those who have to a certain
degree experienced this initiation into the higher knowledge of
existence. The question may be raised: how, then, under these
circumstances, are the uninitiated to develop any human interest in
this so-called esoteric knowledge? How and why are they to seek for
something of whose nature they can form no idea? Such a question is
based upon an entirely erroneous conception of the real nature of
esoteric knowledge. There is, in truth, no difference between esoteric
knowledge and all the rest of man's knowledge and proficiency. This
esoteric knowledge is no more of a secret for the average human being
than writing is a secret for those who have never learned it. And just
as all can learn to write who choose the correct method, so, too, can
all who seek the right way become esoteric students and even
teachers.
In one respect only do the conditions here differ from those that apply
to external knowledge and proficiency. The possibility of acquiring the
art of writing may be withheld from someone through poverty, or
through the conditions of civilization into which he is born; but for
the attainment of knowledge and proficiency in the higher worlds,
there is no obstacle for those who earnestly seek them.
Many believe that they must seek, at one place or another, the masters
of higher knowledge in order to receive enlightenment. Now in the
first place, whoever strives earnestly after higher knowledge will shun
no exertion and fear no obstacle in his search for an initiate who can
lead him to the higher knowledge of the world. On the other hand,
everyone may be certain that initiation will find him under all
circumstances if he gives proof of an earnest and worthy endeavor to
attain this knowledge. It is a natural law among all initiates to
withhold from no man the knowledge that is due him but there is an
equally natural law which lays down that no word of esoteric
knowledge shall be imparted to anyone not qualified to receive it. And
the more strictly he observes these laws, the more perfect is an
initiate. The bond of union embracing all initiates is spiritual and not
external, but the two laws here mentioned form, as it were, strong
clasps by which the component parts of this bond are held together.
You may live in intimate friendship with an initiate, and yet a gap
severs you from his essential self, so long as you have not become an
initiate yourself. You may enjoy in the fullest sense the heart, the love
of an initiate, yet he will only confide his knowledge to you when you
are ripe for it. You may flatter him; you may torture him; nothing can
induce him to betray anything to you as long as you, at the present
stage of your evolution, are not competent to receive it into your soul
in the right way.
The methods by which a student is prepared for the reception of
higher knowledge are minutely prescribed. The direction he is to take
is traced with unfading, everlasting letters in the worlds of the spirit
where the initiates guard the higher secrets. In ancient times, anterior
to our history, the temples of the spirit were also outwardly visible;
today, because our life has become so unspiritual, they are not to be
found in the world visible to external sight; yet they are present
spiritually everywhere, and all who seek may find them.
Only within his own soul can a man find the means to unseal the lips
of an initiate. He must develop within himself certain faculties to a
definite degree, and then the highest treasures of the spirit can
become his own.
He must begin with a certain fundamental attitude of soul. In spiritual
science this fundamental attitude is called the path of veneration, of
devotion to truth and knowledge. Without this attitude no one can
become a student. The disposition shown in their childhood by
subsequent students of higher knowledge is well known to the
experienced in these matters. There are children who look up with
religious awe to those whom they venerate. For such people they have
a respect which forbids them, even in the deepest recess of their heart,
to harbor any thought of criticism or opposition. Such children grow
up into young men and women who feel happy when they are able to
look up to anything that fills them with veneration. From the ranks of
such children are recruited many students of higher knowledge. Have
you ever paused outside the door of some venerated person, and have
you, on this your first visit, felt a religious awe as you pressed on the
handle to enter the room which for you is a holy place? If so, a feeling
has been manifested within you which may be the germ of your future
adherence to the path of knowledge. It is a blessing for every human
being in process of development to have such feelings upon which to
build. Only it must not be thought that this disposition leads to
submissiveness and slavery. What was once a childlike veneration for
persons becomes, later, a veneration for truth and knowledge.
Experience teaches that they can best hold their heads erect who have
learnt to venerate where veneration is due; and veneration is always
fitting when it flows from the depths of the heart.
If we do not develop within ourselves this deeply rooted feeling that
there is something higher than ourselves, we shal never find the
strength to evolve to something higher. The initiate has only acquired
the strength to lift his head to the heights of knowledge by guiding his
heart to the depths of veneration and devotion. The heights of the
spirit can only be climbed by passing through the portals of humility.
You can only acquire right knowledge when you have learnt to esteem
it. Man has certainly the right to turn his eyes to the light, but he must
first acquire this right. There are laws in the spiritual life, as in the
physical life. Rub a glass rod with an appropriate material and it will
become electric, that is, it will receive the power of attracting small
bodies. This is in keeping with a law of nature. It is known to all who
have learnt a little physics. Similarly, acquaintance with the first
principles of spiritual science shows that every feeling of true devotion
harbored in the soul develops a power which may, sooner or later,
lead further on the path of knowledge.
The student who is gifted with this feeling, or who is fortunate enough
to have had it inculcated in a suitable education, brings a great deal
along with him when, later in life, he seeks admittance to higher
knowledge. Failing such preparation, he will encounter difficulties at
the very first step, unless he undertakes, by rigorous self-education, to
create within himself this inner life of devotion. In our time it is
especially important that ful attention be paid to this point. Our
civilization tends more toward critical judgment and condemnation
than toward devotion and selfless veneration. Our children already
criticize far more than they worship. But every criticism, every
adverse judgment passed, disperses the powers of the soul for the
attainment of higher knowledge in the same measure that all
veneration and reverence develops them. In this we do not wish to say
anything against our civilization. There is no question here of leveling
criticism against it. To this critical faculty, this self-conscious human
judgment, this “test all things and hold fast what is best,” we owe the
greatness of our civilization. Man could never have attained to the
science, the industry, the commerce, the rights relationships of our
time, had he not applied to all things the standard of his critical
judgment. But what we have thereby gained in external culture we
have had to pay for with a corresponding loss of higher knowledge of
spiritual life. It must be emphasized that higher knowledge is not
concerned with the veneration of persons but the veneration of truth
and knowledge.
Now, the one thing that everyone must acknowledge is the difficulty
for those involved in the external civilization of our time to advance
to the knowledge of the higher worlds. They can only do so if they
work energetically at themselves. At a time when the conditions of
material life were simpler, the attainment of spiritual knowledge was
also easier. Objects of veneration and worship stood out in clearer
relief from the ordinary things of the world. In an epoch of criticism
ideals are lowered; other feelings take the place of veneration, respect,
adoration, and wonder. Our own age thrusts these feelings further and
further into the background, so that they can only be conveyed to man
through his every-day life in a very small degree. Whoever seeks
higher knowledge must create it for himself. He must instill it into his
soul. It cannot be done by study; it can only be done through life.
Whoever, therefore, wishes to become a student of higher knowledge
must assiduously cultivate this inner life of devotion. Everywhere in
his environment and his experiences he must seek motives of
admiration and homage. If I meet a man and blame him for his
shortcomings, I rob myself of power to attain higher knowledge; but if
I try to enter lovingly into his merits, I gather such power. The student
must continually be intent upon following this advice. The spiritually
experienced know how much they owe to the circumstance that in
face of all things they ever again turn to the good, and withhold
adverse judgment. But this must not remain an external rule of life;
rather it must take possession of our innermost soul. Man has it in his
power to perfect himself and, in time, completely to transform
himself. But this transformation must take place in his innermost self,
in his thought-life. It is not enough that I show respect only in my
outward bearing; I must have this respect in my thoughts. The student
must begin by absorbing this devotion into this thought-life. He must
be wary of thoughts of disrespect, of adverse criticism, existing in his
consciousness, and he must endeavor straightaway to cultivate
thoughts of devotion.
Every moment that we set ourselves to discover in our consciousness
whatever there remains in it of adverse, disparaging and critical
judgement of the world and of life; every such moment brings us
nearer to higher knowledge. And we rise rapidly when we fill our
consciousness in such moments with thoughts evoking in us
admiration, respect and veneration for the world and for life. It is well
known to those experienced in these matters that in every such
moment powers are awakened which otherwise remain dormant. In
this way the spiritual eyes of man are opened. He begins to see things
around him which he could not have seen before. He begins to
understand that hitherto he had only seen a part of the world around
him. A human being standing before him now presents a new and
different aspect. Of course, this rule of life alone will not yet enable
him to see, for instance, what is described as the human aura, because
for this still higher training is necessary. But he can rise to this higher
training if he has previously undergone a rigorous training in
devotion. (In the last chapter of his book Theosophy, the author
describes fully the Path of Knowledge; here it is intended to give some
practical details.)
Noiseless and unnoticed by the outer world is the treading of the Path
of Knowledge. No change need be noticed in the student. He performs
his duties as hitherto; he attends to his business as before. The
transformation goes on only in the inner part of the soul hidden from
outward sight. At first his entire inner life is flooded by this basic
feeling of devotion for everything which is truly venerable. His entire
soul-life finds in this fundamental feeling its pivot. Just as the sun's
rays vivify everything living, so does reverence in the student vivify
all feelings of the soul.
It is not easy, at first, to believe that feelings like reverence and
respect have anything to do with cognition. This is due to the fact that
we are inclined to set cognition aside as a faculty by itself—one that
stands in no relation to what otherwise occurs in the soul. In so
thinking we do not bear in mind that it is the soul which exercises the
faculty of cognition; and feelings are for the soul what food is for the
body. If we give the body stones in place of bread, its activity will
cease. It is the same with the soul. Veneration, homage, devotion are
like nutriment making it healthy and strong, especially strong for the
activity of cognition. Disrespect, antipathy, underestimation of what
deserves recognition, all exert a paralyzing and withering effect on
this faculty of cognition. For the spiritually experienced this fact is
visible in the aura. A soul which harbors feelings of reverence and
devotion produces a change in its aura. Certain spiritual colorings, as
they may be called, yellow-red and brown-red in tone, vanish and are
replaced by blue-red tints. Thereby the cognitional faculty is ripened;
it receives intelligence of facts in its environment of which it had
hitherto no idea.
Reverence awakens in the soul a sympathetic power through which
we attract qualities in the beings around us, which would otherwise
remain concealed.
The power obtained through devotion can be rendered still more
effective when the life of feeling is enriched by yet another quality.
This consists in giving oneself up less and less to impressions of the
outer world, and to develop instead a vivid inner life. A person who
darts from one impression of the outer world to another, who
constantly seeks distraction, cannot find the way to higher knowledge.
The student must not blunt himself to the outer world, but while
lending himself to its impressions, he should be directed by his rich
inner life. When passing through a beautiful mountain district, the
traveler with depth of soul and wealth of feeling has different
experiences from one who is poor in feeling. Only what we experience
within ourselves unlocks for us the beauties of the outer world. One
person sails across the ocean, and only a few inward experiences pass
through his soul; another will hear the eternal language of the cosmic
spirit; for him are unveiled the mysterious riddles of existence. We
must learn to remain in touch with our own feelings and ideas if we
wish to develop any intimate relationship with the outer world. The
outer world with all its phenomena is filled with splendor, but we
must have experienced the divine within ourselves before we can hope
to discover it in our environment.
The student is told to set apart moments in his daily life in which to
withdraw into himself, quietly and alone. He is not to occupy himself
at such moments with the affairs of his own ego. This would result in
the contrary of what is intended. He should rather let his experiences
and the messages from the outer world re-echo within his own
completely silent self. At such silent moments every flower, every
animal, every action will unveil to him secrets undreamt of. And thus
he will prepare himself to receive quite new impressions of the outer
world through quite different eyes. The desire to enjoy impression
after impression merely blunts the faculty of cognition; the latter,
however, is nurtured and cultivated if the enjoyment once experienced
is allowed to reveal its message. Thus the student must accustom
himself not merely to let the enjoyment reverberate, as it were, but
rather to renounce any further enjoyment, and work upon the past
experience. The peril here is very great. Instead of working inwardly,
it is very easy to fall into the opposite habit of trying to exploit the
enjoyment. Let no one underestimate the fact that immense sources of
error here confront the student. He must pass through a host of
tempters of his soul. They would all harden his ego and imprison it
within itself. He should rather open it wide to all the world. It is
necessary that he should seek enjoyment, for only through enjoyment
can the outer world reach him.
If he blunts himself to enjoyment he is like a plant which cannot any
longer draw nourishment from its environment. Yet if he stops short at
the enjoyment he shuts himself up within himself. He wil only be
something to himself and nothing to the world. However much he
may live within himself, however intensely he may cultivate his ego—
the world will reject him. To the world he is dead. The student of
higher knowledge considers enjoyment only as a means of ennobling
himself for the world. Enjoyment is to him like a scout informing him
about the world; but once instructed by enjoyment, he passes on to
work. He does not learn in order to accumulate learning as his own
treasure, but in order that he may devote his learning to the service of
the world.
In all spiritual science there is a fundamental principle which cannot
be transgressed without sacrificing success, and it should be impressed
on the student in every form of esoteric training. It runs as follows: All
knowledge pursued merely for the enrichment of personal learning and the
accumulation of personal treasure leads you away from the path; but all
knowledge pursued for growth to ripeness within the process of human
ennoblement and cosmic development brings you a step forward. This law
must be strictly observed, and no student is genuine until he has
adopted it as a guide for his whole life. This truth can be expressed in
the following short sentence: Every idea which does not become your
ideal slays a force in your soul; every idea which becomes your ideal
creates within you life-forces.
Inner Tranquility
At the very beginning of his course, the student is directed to the path
of veneration and the development of the inner life. Spiritual science
now also gives him practical rules by observing which he may tread
that path and develop that inner life. These practical rules have no
arbitrary origin. They rest upon ancient experience and ancient
wisdom, and are given out in the same manner, wheresoever the ways
to higher knowledge are indicated. All true teachers of the spiritual
life are in agreement as to the substance of these rules, even though
they do not always clothe them in the same words. This difference,
which is of a minor character and is more apparent than real, is due to
circumstances which need not be dwelt upon here.
No teacher of the spiritual life wishes to establish a mastery over other
persons by means of such rules. He would not tamper with anyone's
independence. Indeed, none respect and cherish human independence
more than the spiritually experienced. It was stated in the preceding
pages that the bond of union embracing all initiates is spiritual, and
that two laws form, as it were, clasps by which the component parts of
this bond are held together. Whenever the initiate leaves his enclosed
spiritual sphere and steps forth before the world, he must immediately
take a third law into account. It is this: Adapt each one of your
actions, and frame each one of your words in such a way that you
infringe upon no one's free-will.
The recognition that all true teachers of the spiritual life are
permeated through and through with this principle will convince all
who follow the practical rules proffered to them that they need
sacrifice none of their independence.
One of the first of these rules can be expressed somewhat in the
following words of our language: Provide for yourself moments of inner
tranquility, and in these moments learn to distinguish between the essential
and the non-essential. It is said advisedly: “expressed in the words of
our language.” Originally all rules and teachings of spiritual science
were expressed in a symbolical sign-language, some understanding of
which must be acquired before its whole meaning and scope can be
realized. This understanding is dependent on the first steps toward
higher knowledge, and these steps result from the exact observation of
such rules as are here given. For all who earnestly will, the path
stands open to tread.
Simple, in truth, is the above rule concerning moments of inner
tranquility; equally simple is its observation. But it only achieves its
purpose when it is observed in as earnest and strict a manner as it is,
in itself, simple. How this rule is to be observed will, therefore, be
explained without digression.
The student must set aside a small part of his daily life in which to
concern himself with something quite different from the objects of his
daily occupation. The way, also, in which he occupies himself at such
a time must differ entirely from the way in which he performs the rest
of his daily duties. But this does not mean that what he does in the
time thus set apart has no connection with his daily work. On the
contrary, he will soon find that just these secluded moments, when
sought in the right way, give him ful power to perform his daily task.
Nor must it be supposed that the observance of this rule will really
encroach upon the time needed for the performance of his duties.
Should anyone really have no more time at his disposal, five minutes a
day will suffice. It all depends on the manner in which these five
minutes are spent.
During these periods the student should wrest himself entirely free
from his work-a-day life. His thoughts and feelings should take on a
different coloring. His joys and sorrows, his cares, experiences and
actions must pass in review before his soul; and he must adopt such a
position that he may regard all his sundry experiences from a higher
point of view.
We need only bear in mind how, in ordinary life, we regard the
experiences and actions of others quite differently from our own. This
cannot be otherwise, for we are interwoven with our own actions and
experiences, whereas those of others we only contemplate. Our aim in
these moments of seclusion must be so to contemplate and judge our
own actions and experiences as though they applied not to ourselves
but to some other person. Suppose, for example, a heavy misfortune
befalls us. How different would be our attitude toward a similar
misfortune had it befallen our neighbor. This attitude cannot be
blamed as unjustifiable; it is part of human nature, and applies equally
to exceptional circumstances and to the daily affairs of life. The
student must seek the power of confronting himself, at certain times,
as a stranger. He must stand before himself with the inner tranquility
of a judge. When this is attained, our own experiences present
themselves in a new light. As long as we are interwoven with them
and stand, as it were, within them, we cling to the non-essential just
as much as to the essential. If we attain the calm inner survey, the
essential is severed from the non-essential. Sorrow and joy, every
thought, every resolve, appear different when we confront ourselves
in this way. It is as though we had spent the whole day in a place
where we beheld the smallest objects at the same close range as the
largest, and in the evening climbed a neighboring hill and surveyed
the whole scene at a glance. Then the various parts appear related to
each other in different proportions from those they bore when seen
from within. This exercise will not and need not succeed with present
occurrences of destiny, but it should be attempted by the student in
connection with the events of destiny already experienced in the past.
The value of such inner tranquil self-contemplation depends far less
on what is actually contemplated than on our finding within ourselves
the power which such inner tranquility develops.
For every human being bears a higher man within himself besides
what we may call the work-a-day man. This higher man remains
hidden until he is awakened. And each human being can himself alone
awaken this higher being within himself. As long as this higher being
is not awakened, the higher faculties slumbering in every human
being, and leading to supersensible knowledge, will remain concealed.
The student must resolve to persevere in the strict and earnest
observation of the rule here given, so long as he does not feel within
himself the fruits of this inner tranquility. To all who thus persevere
the day will come when spiritual light will envelop them, and a new
world will be revealed to an organ of sight of whose presence within
them they were never aware.
And no change need take place in the outward life of the student in
consequence of this new rule. He performs his duties and, at first, feels
the same joys, sorrows, and experiences as before. In no way can it
estrange him from life; he can rather devote himself the more
thoroughly to this life for the remainder of the day, having gained a
higher life in the moments set apart. Little by little this higher life will
make its influence felt on his ordinary life. The tranquility of the
moments set apart will also affect everyday existence. In his whole
being he will grow calmer; he will attain firm assurance in all his
actions, and cease to be put out of countenance by all manner of
incidents. By thus advancing he will gradually become more and more
his own guide, and allow himself less and less to be led by
circumstances and external influences. He will soon discover how
great a source of strength is available to him in these moments thus
set apart. He will begin no longer to get angry at things which
formerly annoyed him; countless things he formerly feared cease to
alarm him.
He acquires a new outlook on life. Formerly he may have approached
some occupation in a fainthearted way. He would say: “Oh, I lack the
power to do this as well as I could wish.” Now this thought does not
occur to him, but rather a quite different thought. Henceforth he says
to himself: “I will summon all my strength to do my work as well as I
possibly can.” And he suppresses the thought which makes him
fainthearted; for he knows that this very thought might be the cause
of a worse performance on his part, and that in any case it cannot
contribute to the improvement of his work. And thus thought after
thought, each fraught with advantage to his whole life, flows into the
student's outlook. They take the place of those that had a hampering,
weakening effect. He begins to steer his own ship on a secure course
through the waves of life, whereas it was formerly battered to and fro
by these waves.
This calm and serenity react on the whole being. They assist the
growth of the inner man, and, with the inner man, those faculties also
grow which lead to higher knowledge. For it is by his progress in this
direction that the student gradually reaches the point where he
himself determines the manner in which the impressions of the outer
world shall affect him. Thus he may hear a word spoken with the
object of wounding or vexing him. Formerly it would indeed have
wounded or vexed him, but now that he treads the path to higher
knowledge, he is able—before the word has found its way to his inner
self—to take from it the sting which gives it the power to wound or
vex. Take another example. We easily become impatient when we are
kept waiting, but—if we tread the path to higher knowledge—we so
steep ourselves in our moments of calm with the feeling of the
uselessness of impatience that henceforth, on every occasion of
impatience, this feeling is immediately present within us. The
impatience that was about to make itself felt vanishes, and an interval
which would otherwise have been wasted in expressions of impatience
will be filled by useful observations, which can be made while
waiting.
Now, the scope and significance of these facts must be realized. We
must bear in mind that the higher man within us is in constant
development. But only the state of calm and serenity here described
renders an orderly development possible. The waves of outward life
constrain the inner man from all sides if, instead of mastering this
outward life, it masters him. Such a man is like a plant which tries to
expand in a cleft in the rock and is stunted in growth until new space
is given it. No outward forces can supply space to the inner man. It
can only be supplied by the inner calm which man himself gives to his
soul.
Outward circumstances can only alter the course of his outward life;
they can never awaken the inner spiritual man. The student must
himself give birth to a new and higher man within himself.
This higher man now becomes the inner ruler who directs the
circumstances of the outer man with sure guidance. As long as the
outer man has the upper hand and control, this inner man is his slave
and therefore cannot unfold his powers. If it depends on something
other than myself whether I should get angry or not, I am not master
of myself, or, to put it better, I have not yet found the ruler within
myself. I must develop the faculty of letting the impressions of the
outer world approach me only in the way in which I myself
determine; then only do I become in the real sense a student. And only
in as far as the student earnestly seeks this power can he reach the
goal. It is of no importance how far anyone can go in a given time; the
point is that he should earnestly seek. Many have striven for years
without noticing any appreciable progress; but many of those who did
not despair, but remained unshaken, have then quite suddenly
achieved the inner victory.
No doubt a great effort is required in many stations of life to provide
these moments of inner calm; but the greater the effort needed, the
more important is the achievement. In spiritual science everything
depends upon energy, inward truthfulness, and uncompromising
sincerity with which we confront our own selves, with all our deeds
and actions, as a complete stranger.
But only one side of the student's inner activity is characterized by this
birth of his own higher being. Something else is needed in addition.
Even if he confronts himself as a stranger it is only himself that he
contemplates; he looks on those experiences and actions with which
he is connected through his particular station of life. He must now
disengage himself from it and rise beyond to a purely human level,
which no longer has anything to do with his own special situation. He
must pass on to the contemplation of those things which would
concern him as a human being, even if he lived under quite different
circumstances and in quite a different situation. In this way something
begins to live within him which ranges above the purely personal. His
gaze is directed to worlds higher than those with which every-day life
connects him. And thus he begins to feel and realize, as an inner
experience, that he belongs to those higher worlds. These are worlds
concerning which his senses and his daily occupation can tell him
nothing. Thus he now shifts the central point of his being to the inner
part of his nature. He listens to the voices within him which speak to
him in his moments of tranquility; he cultivates an intercourse with
the spiritual world. He is removed from the every-day world. Its noise
is silenced. All around him there is silence. He puts away everything
that reminds him of such impressions from without. Calm inward
contemplation and converse with the purely spiritual world fill his
soul.—Such tranquil contemplation must become a natural necessity
in the life of the student. He is now plunged in a world of thought. He
must develop a living feeling for this silent thought-activity. He must
learn to love what the spirit pours into him. He will soon cease to feel
that this thought-world is less real than the every-day things which
surround him. He begins to deal with his thoughts as with things in
space, and the moment approaches when he begins to feel that which
reveals itself in the silent inward thought-work to be much higher,
much more real, than the things in space. He discovers that something
living expresses itself in this thought-world. He sees that his thoughts
do not merely harbor shadow-pictures, but that through them hidden
beings speak to him. Out of the silence, speech becomes audible to
him.
Formerly sound only reached him through his ear; now it resounds
through his soul. An inner language, an inner word is revealed to him.
This moment, when first experienced, is one of greatest rapture for the
student. An inner light is shed over the whole external world, and a
second life begins for him. Through his being there pours a divine
stream from a world of divine rapture.
This life of the soul in thought, which gradually widens into a life in
spiritual being, is called by Gnosis, and by Spiritual Science,
Meditation (contemplative reflection). This meditation is the means to
supersensible knowledge. But the student in such moments must not
merely indulge in feelings; he must not have indefinite sensations in
his soul. That would only hinder him from reaching true spiritual
knowledge. His thoughts must be clear, sharp and definite, and he will
be helped in this if he does not cling blindly to the thoughts that rise
within him. Rather must he permeate himself with the lofty thoughts
by which men already advanced and possessed of the spirit were
inspired at such moments. He should start with the writings which
themselves had their origin in just such revelation during meditation.
In the mystic, gnostic and spiritual scientific literature of today the
student will find such writings, and in them the material for his
meditation. The seekers of the spirit have themselves set down in such
writings the thoughts of the divine science which the Spirit has
directed his messengers to proclaim to the world.
Through such meditation a complete transformation takes place in the
student. He begins to form quite new conceptions of reality. Al things
acquire a fresh value for him. It cannot be repeated too often that this
transformation does not alienate him from the world. He will in no
way be estranged from his daily tasks and duties, for he comes to
realize that the most insignificant action he has to accomplish, the
most insignificant experience which offers itself to him, stands in
connection with cosmic beings and cosmic events. When once this
connection is revealed to him in his moments of contemplation, he
comes to his daily activities with a new, fuller power. For now he
knows that his labor and his suffering are given and endured for the
sake of a great, spiritual, cosmic whole. Not weariness, but strength to
live springs from meditation.
With firm step the student passes through life. No matter what it may
bring him, he goes forward erect. In the past he knew not why he
labored and suffered, but now he knows. It is obvious that such
meditation leads more surely to the goal if conducted under the
direction of experienced persons who know of themselves how
everything may best be done; and their advice and guidance should be
sought. Truly, no one loses his freedom thereby. What would
otherwise be mere uncertain groping in the dark becomes under this
direction purposeful work. All who apply to those possessing
knowledge and experience in these matters will never apply in vain,
only they must realize that what they seek is the advice of a friend,
not the domination of a would-be ruler. It will always be found that
they who really know are the most modest of men, and that nothing is
further from their nature than what is called the lust for power.
When, by means of meditation, a man rises to union with the spirit, he
brings to life the eternal in him, which is limited by neither birth nor
death. The existence of this eternal being can only be doubted by
those who have not themselves experienced it. Thus meditation is the
way which also leads man to the knowledge, to the contemplation of
his eternal, indestructible, essential being; and it is only through
meditation that man can attain to such knowledge. Gnosis and
Spiritual Science tell of the eternal nature of this being and of its
reincarnation. The question is often asked: Why does a man know
nothing of his experiences beyond the borders of life and death? Not
thus should we ask, but rather: How can we attain such knowledge? In
right meditation the path is opened. This alone can revive the memory
of experiences beyond the border of life and death. Everyone can
attain this knowledge; in each one of us lies the faculty of recognizing
and contemplating for ourselves what genuine Mysticism, Spiritual
Science, Anthroposophy, and Gnosis teach. Only the right means must
be chosen. Only a being with ears and eyes can apprehend sounds and
colors; nor can the eye perceive if the light which makes things visible
is wanting. Spiritual Science gives the means of developing the
spiritual ears and eyes, and of kindling the spiritual light; and this
method of spiritual training: (1) Preparation; this develops the spiritual
senses. (2) Enlightenment; this kindles the spiritual light. (3) Initiation;
this establishes intercourse with the higher spiritual beings.
II. THE STAGES OF INITIATION
THE information given in the following chapters constitutes steps in
an esoteric training, the name and character of which will be
understood by all who apply this information in the right way. It
refers to the three stages through which the training of the spiritual
life leads to a certain degree of initiation. But only so much will here
be explained as can be publicly imparted. These are merely
indications extracted from a still deeper and more intimate doctrine.
In esoteric training itself a quite definite course of instruction is
followed. Certain exercises enable the soul to attain to a conscious
intercourse with the spiritual world. These exercises bear about the
same relation to what will be imparted in the following pages, as the
instruction given in a higher strictly disciplined school bears to the
incidental training. But impatient dabbling, devoid of earnest
perseverance, can lead to nothing at all. The study of Spiritual Science
can only be successful if the student retain what has already been
indicated in the preceding chapter, and on the basis of this proceed
further.
The three stages which the above-mentioned tradition specifies, are as
follows: (1) preparation; (2) enlightenment; (3 ) initiation. It is not
altogether necessary that the first of these three stages should be
completed before the second can be begun, nor that the second, in
turn, be completed before the third be started. In certain respects it is
possible to partake of enlightenment, and even of initiation, and in
other respects still be in the preparatory stage. Yet it will be necessary
to spend a certain time in the stage of preparation before any
enlightenment can begin; and, at least in some respects,
enlightenment must be completed before it is even possible to enter
upon the stage of initiation. But in describing them it is necessary, for
the sake of clarity, that the three stages be made to follow in order.
Preparation
Preparation consists in a strict and definite cultivation of the life of
thought and feeling, through which the psycho-spiritual body becomes
equipped with higher senses and organs of activity in the same way
that natural forces have fitted the physical body with organs built out
of indeterminate living matter.
To begin with, the attention of the soul is directed to certain events in
the world that surrounds us. Such events are, on the one hand, life
that is budding, growing, and flourishing, and on the other hand, all
phenomena connected with fading, decaying, and withering. The
student can observe these events simultaneously, wherever he turns
his eyes and on every occasion they naturally evoke in him feelings
and thoughts; but in ordinary circumstances he does not devote
himself sufficiently to them. He hurries on too quickly from
impression to impression. It is necessary, therefore, that he should fix
his attention intently and consciously upon these phenomena.
Wherever he observes a definite kind of blooming and flourishing, he
must banish everything else from his soul, and entirely surrender
himself, for a short time, to this one impression. He will soon convince
himself that a feeling which heretofore in a similar case, would merely
have flitted through his soul, now swells out and assumes a powerful
and energetic form. He must now allow this feeling to reverberate
quietly within himself while keeping inwardly quite still. He must cut
himself off from the outer world, and simply and solely follow what
his soul tells him of this blossoming and flourishing.
Yet it must not be thought that much progress can be made if the
senses are blunted to the world. First look at the things as keenly and
as intently as you possibly can; then only let the feeling which
expands to life, and the thought which arises in the soul, take
possession of you.
The point is that the attention should be directed with perfect inner
balance upon both phenomena. If the necessary tranquility be attained
and you surrender yourself to the feeling which expands to life in the
soul, then, in due time, the following experience will ensue. Thoughts
and feelings of a new kind and unknown before will be noticed
uprising in the soul. Indeed, the more often the attention be fixed
alternately upon something growing, blossoming and flourishing, and
upon something else that is fading and decaying, the more vivid will
these feelings become. And just as the eyes and ears of the physical
body are built by natural forces out of living matter, so will the organs
of clairvoyance build themselves out of the feelings and thoughts thus
evoked. A quite definite form of feeling is connected with growth and
expansion, and another equally definite with all that is fading and
decaying. But this is only the case if the effort be made to cultivate
these feelings in the way indicated. It is possible to describe
approximately what these feelings are like. A full conception of them
is within the reach of all who undergo these inner experiences.
If the attention be frequently fixed on the phenomena of growing,
blooming and flourishing, a feeling remotely allied to the sensation of
a sunrise will ensue, while the phenomena of fading and decaying will
produce an experience comparable, in the same way, to the slow
rising of the moon on the horizon. Both these feelings are forces
which, when duly cultivated and developed to ever increasing
intensity, lead to the most significant spiritual results. A new world is
opened to the student if he systematically and deliberately surrenders
himself to such feelings. The soul-world, the so-called astral plane,
begins to dawn upon him. Growth and decay are no longer facts
which make indefinite impressions on him as of old, but rather they
form themselves into spiritual lines and figures of which he had
previously suspected nothing. And these lines and figures have, for the
different phenomena, different forms. A blooming flower, an animal in
the process of growth, a tree that is decaying, evoke in his soul
different lines. The soul world (astral plane) broadens out slowly
before him. These lines and figures are in no sense arbitrary. Two
students who have reached the corresponding stage of development
will always see the same lines and figures under the same conditions.
Just as a round table will be seen as round by two normal persons,
and not as round by one and square by the other, so too, at the sight
of a flower, the same spiritual figure is presented to the soul. And just
as the forms of animals and plants are described in ordinary natural
history, so too, the spiritual scientist describes or draws the spiritual
forms of the process of growth and decay, according to species and
kind.
If the student has progressed so far that he can perceive the spiritual
forms of those phenomena which are physically visible to his external
sight, he is then not far from the stage where he wil behold things
which have no physical existence, and which therefore remain entirely
hidden (occult) from those who have not received suitable instruction
and training.
It should be emphasized that the student must never lose himself in
speculations on the meaning of one thing or another. Such
intellectualizing will only draw him away from the right road. He
should look out on the world with keen, healthy senses and quickened
power of observation, and then give himself up to the feeling that
arises within him. He should not try to make out, through intellectual
speculation, the meaning of things, but rather allow the things to
disclose themselves. It should be remarked that artistic feeling, when
coupled with a quiet introspective nature, forms the best preliminary
condition for the development of spiritual faculties. This feeling
pierces through the superficial aspect of things, and in so doing
touches their secrets.
A further point of importance is what spiritual science calls
orientation in the higher worlds. This is attained when the student is
permeated, through and through, with the conscious realization that
feelings and thoughts are just as much veritable realities as are tables
and chairs in the world of the physical senses. In the soul and thought
world, feelings and thoughts react upon each other just as do physical
objects in the physical world. As long as the student is not vividly
permeated with this consciousness, he will not believe that a wrong
thought in his mind may have as devastating an effect upon other
thoughts that spread life in the thought world as the effect wrought by
a bullet fired at random upon the physical objects it hits. He will
perhaps never allow himself to perform a physically visible action
which he considers to be wrong, though he will not shrink from
harboring wrong thoughts and feelings, for these appear harmless to
the rest of the world. There can be no progress, however, on the path
to higher knowledge unless we guard our thoughts and feelings in just
the same way we guard out steps in the physical world. If we see a
wal before us, we do not attempt to dash right through it, but turn
aside. In other words, we guide ourselves by the laws of the physical
world. There are such laws, too, for the soul and thought world, only
they cannot impose themselves on us from without. They must flow
out of the life of the soul itself. This can be attained if we forbid
ourselves to harbor wrong thoughts and feelings. All arbitrary flitting
to and fro in thought, all accidental ebbing and flowing of emotion
must be forbidden in the same way. In so doing we do not become
deficient in feeling. On the contrary, if we regulate our inner life in
this way, we shall soon find ourselves becoming rich in feelings and
creative with genuine imagination. In the place of petty emotionalism
and capricious flights of thought, there appear significant emotions
and thoughts that are fruitful. Feelings and thoughts of this kind lead
the student to orientation in the spiritual world. He gains a right
position in relation to the things of the spiritual world; a distinct and
definite result comes into effect in his favor. Just as he, as a physical
man, finds his way among physical things, so, too, his path now leads
him between growth and decay, which he has already come to know
in the way described above. On the one hand, he follows all processes
of growing and flourishing and, on the other, of withering and
decaying in a way that is necessary for his own and the world's
advancement. The student has also to bestow a further care on the
world of sound.
He must discriminate between sounds that are produced by the so-
called inert (lifeless) bodies, for instance, a bell, or a musical
instrument, or a falling mass, and those which proceed from a living
creature (an animal or a human being.) When a bell is struck, we hear
the sound and connect a pleasant feeling with it; but when we hear
the cry of an animal, we can, besides our own feeling, detect through
it the manifestation of an inward experience of the animal, whether of
pleasure or pain. It is with the latter kind of sound that the student
sets to work. He must concentrate his whole attention on the fact that
the sound tells him of something that lies outside his own soul. He
must immerse himself in this foreign thing. He must closely unite his
own feeling with the pleasure or pain of which the sound tells him. He
must get beyond the point of caring whether, for him, the sound is
pleasant or unpleasant, agreeable or disagreeable, and his soul must
be filled with whatever is occurring in the being from which the sound
proceeds. Through such exercises, if systematically and deliberately
performed, the student will develop within himself the faculty of
intermingling, as it were, with the being from which the sound
proceeds. A person sensitive to music will find it easier than one who
is unmusical to cultivate his inner life in this way; but no one should
suppose that a mere sense for music can take the place of this inner
activity. The student must learn to feel in this way in the face of the
whole of nature. This implants a new faculty in his world of thought
and feeling. Through her resounding tones, the whole of nature begins
to whisper her secrets to the student. What was hitherto merely
incomprehensible noise to his soul becomes by this means a coherent
language of nature. And whereas hitherto he only heard sound from
the so-called inanimate objects, he now is aware of a new language of
the soul. Should he advance further in this inner culture, he will soon
learn that he can hear what hitherto he did not even surmise. He
begins to hear with the soul.
To this, one thing more must be added before the highest point in this
region can be attained. Of very great importance for the development
of the student is the way in which he listens to others when they
speak. He must accustom himself to do this in such a way that, while
listening, his inner self is absolutely silent. If someone expresses an
opinion and another listens, assent or dissent will, generally speaking,
stir in the inner self of the listener. Many people in such cases feel
themselves impelled to an expression of their assent, or more
especially, of their dissent. In the student, all such assent or dissent
must be silenced. It is not imperative that he should suddenly alter his
way of living by trying to attain at all times to this complete inner
silence. He will have to begin by doing so in special cases, deliberately
selected by himself. Then quite slowly and by degrees, this new way
of listening will creep into his habits, as of itself. In spiritual research
this is systematically practiced. The student feels it his duty to listen,
by way of practice, at certain times to the most contradictory views
and, at the same time, bring entirely to silence all assent, and more
especially, all adverse criticism. The point is that in so doing, not only
all purely intellectual judgment be silenced, but also all feelings of
displeasure, denial, or even assent. The student must at all times be
particularly watchful lest such feelings, even when not on the surface,
should still lurk in the innermost recess of the soul. He must listen, for
example, to the statements of people who are, in some respects, far
beneath him, and yet while doing so suppress every feeling of greater
knowledge or superiority. It is useful for everyone to listen in this way
to children, for even the wisest can learn incalculably much from
children. The student can thus train himself to listen to the words of
others quite selflessly, completely shutting down his own person and
his opinions and way of feeling. When he practices listening without
criticism, even when a completely contradictory opinion is advanced,
when the most hopeless mistake is committed before him, he then
learns, little by little, to blend himself with the being of another and
become identified with it. Then he hears through the words into the
soul of the other. Through continued exercise of this kind, sound
becomes the right medium for the perception of soul and spirit. Of
course it implies the very strictest self-discipline, but the latter leads
to a high goal. When these exercises are practiced in connection with
the other already given, dealing with the sounds of nature, the soul
develops a new sense of hearing. She is now able to perceive
manifestations from the spiritual world which do not find their
expression in sounds perceptible to the physical ear. The perception of
the “inner word” awakens. Gradually truths reveal themselves to the
student from the spiritual world. He hears speech uttered to him in a
spiritual way. Only to those who, by selfless listening, train themselves
to be really receptive from within, in stillness, unmoved by personal
opinion or feeling only to such can the higher beings speak of whom
spiritual science tells. As long as one hurls any personal opinion or
feeling against the speaker to whom one must listen, the beings of the
spiritual world remain silent.
All higher truths are attained through such inwardly instilled speech,
and what we hear from the lips of a true spiritual teacher has been
experienced by him in this manner. But this does not mean that it is
unimportant for us to acquaint ourselves with the writings of spiritual
science before we can ourselves hear such inwardly instilled speech.
On the contrary, the reading of such writings and the listening to the
teachings of spiritual science are themselves means of attaining
personal knowledge. Every sentence of spiritual science we hear is of a
nature to direct the mind to the point which must be reached before
the soul can experience real progress. To the practice of all that has
here been indicated must be added the ardent study of what the
spiritual researchers impart to the world. In all esoteric training such
study belongs to the preparatory period, and all other methods will
prove ineffective if due receptivity for the teachings of the spiritual
researcher is lacking. For since these instructions are culled from the
living inner word, from the living inwardly instilled speech, they are
themselves gifted with spiritual life. They are not mere words; they
are living powers. And while you follow the words of one who knows,
while you read a book that springs from real inner experience, powers
are at work in your soul which make you clairvoyant, just as natural
forces have created out of living matter your eyes and your ears.
Enlightenment
Enlightenment proceeds from very simple processes. Here, too, it is a
matter of developing certain feelings and thoughts which slumber in
every human being and must be awakened. It is only when these
simple processes are carried out with unfailing patience, continuously
and conscientiously, that they can lead to the perception of the inner
light-forms. The first step is taken by observing different natural
objects in a particular way; for instance, a transparent and beautifully
formed stone (a crystal), a plant, and an animal. The student should
endeavor, at first, to direct his whole attention to a comparison of the
stone with the animal in the following manner. The thoughts here
mentioned should pass through his soul accompanied by vivid
feelings, and no other thought, no other feeling, must mingle with
them and disturb what should be an intensely attentive observation.
The student says to himself: “The stone has a form; the animal also
has a form. The stone remains motionless in its place. The animal
changes its place. It is instinct (desire) which causes the animal to
change its place. Instincts, too, are served by the form of the animal.
Its organs and limbs are fashioned in accordance with these instincts.
The form of the stone is not fashioned in accordance with desires, but
in accordance with desireless force.” (The fact here mentioned, in its
bearing on the contemplation of crystals, is in many ways distorted by
those who have only heard of it in an outward, exoteric manner, and
in this way such practices as crystal-gazing have their origin Such
manipulations are based on a misunderstanding. They have been
described in many books, but they never form the subject of genuine
esoteric teaching.)
By sinking deeply into such thoughts, and while doing so, observing
the stone and the animal with rapt attention, there arise in the soul
two quite separate kinds of feelings. From the stone there flows into
the soul the one kind of feeling, and from the animal the other kind.
The attempt will probably not succeed at first, but little by little, with
genuine and patient practice, these feelings ensue. Only, this exercise
must be practiced over and over again. At first the feelings are only
present as long as the observation lasts. Later on they continue, and
then they grow to something which remains living in the soul. The
student has then but to reflect, and both feelings will always arise,
even without the contemplation of an external object. Out of these
feelings and the thoughts that are bound up with them, the organs of
clairvoyance are formed. If the plant should then be included in this
observation, it will be noticed that the feeling flowing from it lies
between the feelings derived from the stone and the animal, in both
quality and degree. The organs thus formed are spiritual eyes. The
students gradually learns, by their means, to see something like soul
and spirit colors. The spiritual world with its lines and figures remains
dark as long as he has only attained what has been described as
preparation; through enlightenment this world becomes light. Here it
must also be noted that the words “dark” and “light,” as well as the
other expressions used, only approximately describe what is meant.
This cannot be otherwise if ordinary language is used, for this
language was created to suit physical conditions. Spiritual science
describes that which, for clairvoyant organs, flows from the stone, as
blue, or blue-red; and that which is felt as coming from the animal as
red or red-yellow. In reality, colors of a spiritual kind are seen. The
color proceeding the plant is green which little by little turns into a
light ethereal pink. The plant is actually that product of nature which
in higher worlds resembles, in certain respects, its constitution in the
physical world. The same does not apply to the stone and the animal.
It must now be clearly understood that the above-mentioned colors
only represent the principal shades in the stone, plant and animal
kingdom.
In reality, all possible intermediate shades are present. Every stone,
every plant, every animal has its own particular shade of color. In
addition to these there are also the beings of the higher worlds who
never incarnate physically, but who have their colors, often
wonderful, often horrible. Indeed, the wealth of color in these higher
worlds is immeasurably greater than in the physical world.
Once the faculty of seeing with spiritual eyes has been acquired, one
then encounters sooner or later the beings here mentioned, some of
them higher, some lower than man himself—beings that never enter
physical reality.
If this point has been reached, the way to a great deal lies open. But it
is inadvisable to proceed further without paying careful heed to what
is said or otherwise imparted by the spiritual researcher. And for that,
too, which has been described, attention paid to such experienced
guidance is the very best thing. Moreover, if a man has the strength
and the endurance to travel so far that he fulfil s the elementary
conditions of enlightenment, he will assuredly seek and find the right
guidance.
But in any circumstances, one precaution is necessary, failing which it
were better to leave untrodden al steps on the path to higher
knowledge. It is necessary that the student should lose none of his
qualities as a good and noble man, or his receptivity for all physical
reality. Indeed, throughout his training he must continually increase
his moral strength, his inner purity, and his power of observation. To
give an example: during the elementary exercises on enlightenment,
the student must take care always to enlarge his sympathy for the
animal and the human worlds, and his sense for the beauty of nature.
Failing this care, such exercises would continually blunt that feeling
and that sense; the heart would become hardened, and the senses
blunted, and that could only lead to perilous results.
How enlightenment proceeds if the student rises, in the sense of the
foregoing exercises, from the stone, the plant, and the animal, up to
man, and how, after enlightenment, under all circumstances the union
of the soul with the spiritual world is effected, leading to initiation—
with these things the following chapters will deal, in as far as they can
and may do so.
In our time the path to spiritual science is sought by many. It is sought
in many ways, and many dangerous and even despicable practices are
attempted. It is for this reason that they who claim to know something
of the truth in these matters place before others the possibility of
learning something of esoteric training. Only so much is here imparted
as accords with this possibility. It is necessary that something of the
truth should become known, in order to prevent error causing great
harm. No harm can come to anyone following the way here described,
so long as he does not force matters. Only, one thing should be noted:
no student should spend more time and strength upon these exercises
than he can spare with due regard to his station in life and to his
duties; nor should he change anything, for the time being, in the
external conditions of his life through taking this path. Without
patience no genuine results can be attained. After doing an exercise
for a few minutes, the student must be able to stop and continue
quietly his daily work, and no thought of these exercises should
mingle with the day's work. No one is of use as an esoteric student or
will ever attain results of real value who has not learned to wait in the
highest and best sense of the word.
The Control of Thoughts and Feelings
When the student seeks the path leading to higher knowledge in the
way described in the preceding chapter, he should not omit to fortify
himself; throughout his work, with one ever present thought. He must
never cease repeating to himself that he may have made quite
considerable progress after a certain interval of time, though it may
not be apparent to him in the way he perhaps expected; otherwise he
can easily lose heart and abandon all attempts after a short time. The
powers and faculties to be developed are of a most subtle kind, and
differ entirely in their nature from the conceptions previously formed
by the student. He had been accustomed to occupy himself exclusively
with the physical world; the world of spirit and soul had been
concealed from his vision and concepts. It is therefore not surprising if
he does not immediately notice the powers of soul and spirit now
developing in him. In this respect there is a possibility of
discouragement for those setting out on the path to higher knowledge,
if they ignore the experience gathered by responsible investigators.
The teacher is aware of the progress made by his pupil long before the
latter is conscious of it He knows how the delicate spiritual eyes begin
to form themselves long before the pupil is aware of this, and a great
part of what he has to say is couched in such terms as to prevent the
pupil from losing patience and perseverance before he can himself
gain knowledge of his own progress. The teacher, as we know, can
confer upon the pupil no powers which are not already latent within
him, and his sole function is to assist in the awakening of slumbering
faculties. But what he imparts out of his own experience is a pillar of
strength for the one wishing to penetrate through darkness to light.
Many abandon the path to higher knowledge soon after having set
foot upon it, because their progress is not immediately apparent to
them.
And even when the first experiences begin to dawn upon the pupil, he
is apt to regard them as illusions, because he had formed quite
different conceptions of what he was going to experience. He loses
courage, either because he regards these first experiences as being of
no value, or because they appear to him to be so insignificant that he
cannot believe they will lead him to any appreciable results within a
measurable time. Courage and self-confidence are two beacons which
must never be extinguished on the path to higher knowledge. No one
will ever travel far who cannot bring himself to repeat, over and over
again, an exercise which has failed, apparently, for a countless
number of times.
Long before any distinct perception of progress, there rises in the
student, from the hidden depths of the soul, a feeling that he is on the
right path. This feeling should be cherished and fostered, for it can
develop into a trustworthy guide. Above all, it is imperative to
extirpate the idea that any fantastic, mysterious practices are required
for the attainment of higher knowledge. It must be clearly realized
that a start has to be made with the thoughts and feelings with which
we continually live, and that these feelings and thoughts must merely
be given a new direction. Everyone must say to himself: “In my own
world of thought and feeling the deepest mysteries lie hidden, only hitherto
I have been unable to perceive them.” In the end it all resolves itself into
the fact that man ordinarily carries body, soul and spirit about with
him, and yet is conscious in a true sense only of his body, and not of
his soul and spirit. The student becomes conscious of soul and spirit,
just as the ordinary person is conscious of his body. Hence it is highly
important to give the proper direction to thoughts and feelings, for
then only can the perception be developed of all that is invisible in
ordinary life. One of the ways by which this development may be
carried out will now be indicated. Again, like almost everything else
so far explained, it is quite a simple matter. Yet its results are of the
greatest consequence, if the necessary devotion and sympathy be
applied.
Let the student place before himself the small seed of a plant, and
while contemplating this insignificant object, form with intensity the
right kind of thoughts, and through these thoughts develop certain
feelings. In the first place let him clearly grasp what he really sees
with his eyes. Let him describe to himself the shape, color and all
other qualities of the seed. Then let his mind dwell upon the following
train of thought: “Out of the seed, if planted in the soil, a plant of
complex structure will grow.” Let him build up this plant in his
imagination, and reflect as follows: “What I am now picturing to myself
in my imagination will later on be enticed from the seed by the forces of
earth and light. If I had before me an artificial object which imitated the
seed to such a deceptive degree that my eyes could not distinguish it from a
real seed, no forces of earth or light could avail to produce from it a plant.
” If the student thoroughly grasps this thought so that it becomes an
inward experience, he will also be able to form the following thought
and couple it with the right feeling: “All that will ultimately grow out of
the seed is now secretly enfolded within it as the force of the whole plant.
In the artificial imitation of the seed there is no such force present. And yet
both appear alike to my eyes. The real seed, therefore, contains something
invisible which is not present in the imitation. ” It is on this invisible
something that thought and feeling are to be concentrated. (Anyone
objecting that a microscopical examination would reveal the
difference between the real seed and the imitation would only show
that he had failed to grasp the point. The intention is not to
investigate the physical nature of the object, but to use it for the
development of psycho-spiritual forces.) Let the student fully realize
that this invisible something will transmute itself later on into a
visible plant, which he will have before him in its shape and color. Let
him ponder on the thought: “The invisible will become visible. If I could
not think, then that which will only become visible later on could not
already make its presence felt to me.” Particular stress must be laid on
the following point: what the student thinks he must also feel with
intensity. In inner tranquility, the thought mentioned above must
become a conscious inner experience, to the exclusion of all other
thoughts and disturbances. And sufficient time must be taken to allow
the thought and the feeling which is coupled with it to bore
themselves into the soul, as it were. If this be accomplished in the
right way, then after a time—possibly not until after numerous
attempts—an inner force will make itself felt. This force will create
new powers of perception. The grain of seed will appear as if
enveloped in a small luminous cloud. In a sensible-supersensible way,
it will be felt as a kind of flame. The center of this flame evokes the
same feeling that one has when under the impression of the color
lilac, and the edges as when under the impression of a bluish tone.
What was formerly invisible now becomes visible, for it is created by
the power of the thoughts and feelings we have stirred to life within
ourselves. The plant itself will not become visible until later, so that
the physically invisible now reveals itself in a spiritually visible way.
It is not surprising that all this appears to many as illusion. “What is
the use of such visions,” they ask, “and such hallucinations?” And
many will thus fall away and abandon the path. But this is precisely
the important point: not to confuse spiritual reality with imagination
at this difficult stage of human evolution, and furthermore, to have
the courage to press onward and not become timorous and faint-
hearted.
On the other hand, however, the necessity must be emphasized of
maintaining unimpaired and of perpetually cultivating that healthy
sound sense which distinguishes truth from illusion. Fully conscious
self-control must never be lost during all these exercises, and they
must be accompanied by the same sane, sound thinking which is
applied to the details of every-day life. To lapse into reveries would be
fatal. The intellectual clarity, not to say the sobriety of thought, must
never for a moment be dulled. The greatest mistake would be made if
the student's mental balance were disturbed through such exercises, if
he were hampered in judging the matters of his daily life as sanely
and as soundly as before. He should examine himself again and again
to find out if he has remained unaltered in relation to the
circumstances among which he lives, or whether he may perhaps have
become unbalanced. Above all, strict care must be taken not to drift at
random into vague reveries, or to experiment with all kinds of
exercises. The trains of thought here indicated have been tested and
practiced in esoteric training since the earliest times, and only such
are given in these pages. Anyone attempting to use others devised by
himself, or of which he may have heard or read at one place or
another, will inevitably go astray and find himself on the path of
boundless chimera.
As a further exercise to succeed the one just described, the following
may be taken: Let the student place before him a plant which has
attained the stage of full development. Now let him fill his mind with
the thought that the time will come when this plant will wither and
die. “Nothing will be left of what I now see before me. But this plant will
have developed seeds which, in their turn, will develop to new plants.
I again become aware that in what I see, something lies hidden which I
cannot see. I fill my mind entirely with the thought: this plant with its form
and colors, will in time be no more. But the reflection that it produces seeds
teaches me that it will not disappear into nothing. I cannot at present see
with my eyes that which guards it from disappearance, any more than I
previously could discern the plant in the grain of seed. Thus there is
something in the plant which my eyes cannot see. If I let this thought live
within me, and if the corresponding feeling be coupled with it, then, in due
time, there will again develop in my soul a force which will ripen into a
new perception.” Out of the plant there again grows a kind of spiritual
flame-form, which is, of course, correspondingly larger than the one
previously described. The flame can be felt as being greenish-blue in
the center, and yellowish-red at the outer edge.
It must be explicitly emphasized that the colors here described are not
seen as the physical eyes see colors, but that through spiritual
perception the same feeling is experienced as in the case of a physical
color-impression. To apprehend blue spiritually means to have a
sensation similar to the one experienced when the physical eye rests
on the color blue. This fact must be noted by al who intend to rise to
spiritual perception. Otherwise they will expect a mere repetition of
the physical in the spiritual. This could only lead to the bitterest
deception.
Anyone having reached this point of spiritual vision is the richer by a
great deal, for he can perceive things not only in their present state of
being but also in their process of growth and decay. He begins to see
in all things the spirit, of which physical eyes can know nothing. And
therewith he has taken the first step toward the gradual solution,
through personal vision, of the secret of birth and death. For the outer
senses a being comes into existence through birth, and passes away
through death. This, however, is only because these senses cannot
perceive the concealed spirit of the being. For the spirit, birth and
death are merely a transformation, just as the unfolding of the flower
from the bud is a transformation enacted before our physical eyes. But
if we desire to learn this through personal vision we must first awaken
the requisite spiritual sense in the way here indicated.
In order to meet another objection, which may be raised by certain
people who have some psychic experience, let it at once be admitted
that there are shorter and simpler ways, and that there are persons
who have acquired knowledge of the phenomena of birth and death
through personal vision, without first going through all that has here
been described. There are, in fact, people with considerable psychic
gifts who need but a slight impulse in order to find themselves already
developed. But they are the exceptions, and the methods described
above are safer and apply equally to all. It is possible to acquire some
knowledge of chemistry in an exceptional way, but if you wish to
become a chemist you must follow the recognized and reliable course.
An error fraught with serious consequences would ensue if it were
assumed that the desired result could be reached more easily if the
grain of seed or the plant mentioned above were merely imagined,
were merely pictured in the imagination. This might lead to results,
but not so surely as the method here. The vision thus attained would,
in most cases, be a mere fragment of the imagination, the
transformation of which into genuine spiritual vision would still
remain to be accomplished. It is not intended arbitrarily to create
visions, but to allow reality to create them within oneself. The truth
must well up from the depths of our own soul; it must not be conjured
forth by our ordinary ego, but by the beings themselves whose
spiritual truth we are to contemplate.
Once the student has found the beginnings of spiritual vision by
means of such exercises, he may proceed to the contemplation of man
himself. Simple phenomena of human life must first be chosen. But
before making any attempt in this direction it is imperative for the
student to strive for the absolute purity of his moral character. He
must banish all through of ever using knowledge gained in this way
for his own personal benefit. He must be convinced that he would
never, under any circumstances, avail himself in an evil sense of any
power he may gain over his fellow-creatures. For this reason, all who
seek to discover through personal vision the secrets in human nature
must follow the golden rule of true spiritual science. This golden rule
is as follows: For every one step that you take in the pursuit of higher
knowledge, take three steps in the perfection of your own character. If this
rule is observed, such exercise as the following may be attempted:
Recall to mind some person whom you may have observed when he was
filled with desire for some object. Direct your attention to this desire. It is
best to recall to memory that moment when the desire was at its height,
and it was still uncertain whether the object of the desire would be
attained. And now fill your mind with this recollection, and reflect on what
you can thus observe. Maintain the utmost inner tranquility. Make the
greatest possible effort to be blind and deaf to everything that may be going
on around you, and take special heed that through the conception thus
evoked a feeling should awaken in your soul. Allow this feeling to rise in
your soul like a cloud on the cloudless horizon. As a rule, of course, your
reflection wil be interrupted, because the person whom it concerns
was not observed in this particular state of soul for a sufficient length
of time. The attempt will most likely fail hundreds and hundreds of
times. It is just a question of not losing patience. After many attempts
you will succeed in experiencing a feeling In your soul corresponding
to the state of soul of the person observed, and you will begin to
notice that through this feeling a power grows in your soul that leads
to spiritual insight into the state of soul of the other. A picture
experienced as luminous appears in your field of vision. This
spiritually luminous picture is the so-called astral embodiment of the
desire observed in that soul. Again the impression of this picture may
be described as flame-like, yellowish-red in the center, and reddish-
blue or lilac at the edges. Much depends on treating such spiritual
experiences with great delicacy. The best thing is not to speak to
anyone about them except to your teacher, if you have one. Attempted
descriptions of such experiences in inappropriate words usually only
lead to gross self-deception. Ordinary terms are employed which are
not intended for such things, and are therefore too gross and clumsy.
The consequence is that in the attempt to clothe the experience in
words we are misled into blending the actual experience with all kinds
of fantastic delusions. Here again is another important rule for the
student: know how to observe silence concerning your spiritual
experiences. Yes, observe silence even toward yourself. Do not attempt
to clothe in words what you contemplate in the spirit, or to pore over
it with clumsy intellect. Lend yourself freely and without reservation
to these spiritual impressions, and do not disturb them by reflecting
and pondering over them too much. For you must remember that your
reasoning faculties are, to begin with, by no means equal to your new
experience. You have acquired these reasoning faculties in a life
hitherto confined to the physical world of the senses; the faculties you
are not acquiring transcend this world. Do not try, therefore, to apply
to the new and higher perceptions the standard of the old. Only he
who has gained some certainty and steadiness in the observation of
inner experiences can speak about them, and thereby stimulate his
fellow-men.
The exercise just described may be supplemented by the following:
Direct your attention in the same way upon a person to whom the
fulfillment of some wish, the gratification of some desire, has been granted.
If the same rules and precautions be adopted as in the previous
instance, spiritual insight will once more be attained. A spiritual
insight will once more be attained. A spiritual flame-form will be
distinguished, creating an impression of yellow in the center and
green at the edges.
By such observation of his fellow-creatures, the student may easily
lapse into a moral fault. He may become cold-hearted. Every
conceivable effort must be made to prevent this. Such observation
should only be practiced by one who has already risen to the level on
which complete certainty is found that thoughts are real things. He
will then no longer allow himself to think of his fellow-men in a way
that is incompatible with the highest reverence for human dignity and
human liberty. The thought that a human being could be merely an
object of observation must never for a moment be entertained. Self-
education must see to it that this insight into human nature should go
hand in hand with an unlimited respect for the personal privilege of
each individual, and with the recognition of the sacred and inviolable
nature of that which dwells in each human being. A feeling of
reverential awe must fill us, even in our recollections.
For the present, only these two examples can be given to show how
enlightened insight into human nature may be achieved; they will at
least serve to point out the way to be taken. By gaining the inner
tranquility and repose indispensable for such observation, the student
will have undergone a great inner transformation. He will then soon
reach the point where this enrichment of his inner self will lend
confidence and composure to his outward demeanor. And this
transformation of his outward demeanor will again react favorably on
his soul. Thus he will be able to help himself further along the road.
He will find ways and means of penetrating more and more into the
secrets of human nature which are hidden from our external senses,
and he will then also become ripe for a deeper insight into the
mysterious connections between human nature and all else that exists
in the universe. By following this path the student approaches closer
and closer to the moment when he can effectively take the first steps
of initiation. But before these can be taken, one thing more is
necessary, though at first its need will be least of all apparent; later
on, however, the student will be convinced of it.
The would-be initiate must bring with him a certain measure of
courage and fearlessness. He must positively go out of his way to find
opportunities for developing these virtues. His training should provide
for their systematic cultivation. In this respect, life itself is a good
school—possibly the best school. The student must learn to look
danger calmly in the face and try to overcome difficulties
unswervingly. For instance, when in the presence of some peril, he
must swiftly come to the conviction that fear is of no possible use; I
must not feel afraid; I must only think of what is to be done. And he
must improve to the extent of feeling, upon occasions which formerly
inspired him with fear, that to be frightened, to be disheartened, are
things that are out of the question as far as his own inmost self is
concerned. By self-discipline in this direction, quite definite qualities
are develop which are necessary for initiation into the higher
mysteries. Just as man requires nervous force in his physical being in
order to use his physical sense, so also he requires in his soul nature
the force which is only developed in the courageous and the fearless.
For in penetrating to the higher mysteries he wil see things which are
concealed from ordinary humanity by the illusion of the senses. If the
physical senses do not allow us to perceive the higher truth, they are
for this very reason our benefactors. Things are thereby hidden from
us which, if realized without due preparation, would throw us into
unutterable consternation, and the sight of which would be
unendurable. The student must be fit to endure this sight. He loses
certain supports in the outer world which he owes to the very illusion
surrounding him. It is truly and literally as if the attention of someone
were called to a danger which had threatened him for a long time, but
of which he knew nothing. Hitherto he felt no fear, but now that he
knows, he is overcome by fear, though the danger has not been
rendered greater by his knowing it.
The forces at work in the world are both destructive and constructive;
the destiny of manifested beings is birth and death. The seer is to
behold the working of these forces and the march of destiny. The veil
enshrouding the spiritual eyes in ordinary life is to be removed. But
man is interwoven with these forces and with this destiny. His own
nature harbors destructive and constructive forces. His own soul
reveals itself to the seer as undisguised as the other objects. He must
not lose strength in the face of this self-knowledge; but strength will
fail him unless he brings a surplus on which to draw. For this purpose
he must learn to maintain inner calm and steadiness in the face of
difficult circumstances; he must cultivate a strong trust in the
beneficent powers of existence. He must be prepared to find that many
motives which had actuated him hitherto will do so no longer. He will
have to recognize that previously he thought and acted in a certain
way only because he was still in the throes of ignorance. Reasons that
influenced him formerly will now disappear. He often acted out of
vanity; he will now see how utterly futile all vanity is for the seer. He
often acted out of greed; he wil now become aware how destructive
all greed is. He will have to develop quite new motives for his
thoughts and actions, and it is just for this purpose that courage and
fearlessness are required.
It is pre-eminently a question of cultivating this courage and this
fearlessness in the inmost depths of thought-life. The student must
learn never to despair over failure. He must be equal to the thought: I
shall forget that I have failed in this matter, and I shall try once more
as though this had not happened. Thus he will struggle through to the
firm conviction that the fountain-head of strength from which he may
draw is inexhaustible. He struggles ever onward to the spirit which
will uplift him and support him, however weak and impotent his
earthly self may have proved. He must be capable of pressing on to
the future undismayed by any experiences of the past. If the student
has acquired these faculties up to a certain point, he is then ripe to
hear the real names of things, which are the key to higher knowledge.
For initiation consists in this very act of learning to call the things of
the world by those names which they bear in the spirit of their divine
authors. In these, their names, lies the mystery of things. It is for this
reason that the initiates speak a different language from the
uninitiated, for the former know the names by which the beings
themselves are called into existence.
In as far as initiation itself can be discussed, this will be done in the
following chapter.
Initiation
Initiation is the highest stage in an esoteric training concerning which
it is possible to give some indications in a book intended for the
genuine public. Whatever lives beyond forms a subject difficult to
understand, yet the way to it can be found by all who have passed
through preparation, enlightenment, and initiation as far as the lesser
mysteries.
The knowledge and proficiency conferred by initiation cannot be
obtained in any other manner, except in some far distant future, after
many incarnations, by quite different means and in quite a different
form. The initiate of today undergoes experiences which would
otherwise come to him much later, under quite different
circumstances.
The secrets of existence are only accessible to an extent corresponding
to man's own degree of maturity. For this reason alone the path to the
higher stages of knowledge and power is beset with obstacles. A
firearm should not be used until sufficient experience has been gained
to avoid disaster, caused by its use. A person initiated today without
further ado would lack the experience which he will gain during his
future incarnations before he can attain to higher knowledge in the
normal course of his development. At the portal of initiation,
therefore, this experience must be supplied in some other way. Thus
the first instructions given to the candidate for initiation serve as a
substitute for these future experiences. These are the so-called trials,
which he has to undergo, and which constitute a normal course of
inner development resulting from due application to such exercises as
are described in the preceding chapters.
These trials are often discussed in books, but it is only natural that
such discussions should as a rule give quite false impressions of their
nature; for without passing through preparation and enlightenment no
one can know anything of these tests and appropriately describe them.
The would-be initiate must come into contact with certain things and
facts belonging to the higher worlds, but he can only see and hear
them if his feeling is ripe for the perception of the spiritual forms,
colors and tones described in the chapters on Preparation and
Enlightenment.
The first trial consists in obtaining a truer vision than the average man
has of the corporeal attributes of lifeless things, and later of plants,
animals and human beings. This does not mean what at present is
called scientific knowledge, for it is a question not of science but of
vision. As a rule, the would-be initiate proceeds to learn how the
objects of nature and the beings gifted with life manifest themselves to
the spiritual ear and the spiritual eye. In a certain way these things
then lie stripped—naked—before the beholder. The qualities which
can then be seen and heard are hidden from the physical eyes and
ears. For physical perception they are concealed as if by a veil, and
the falling away of this veil for the would-be initiate consists in a
process designated as the process of Purification by Fire. The first trial
is therefore known as the Fire-Trial.
For many people, ordinary life is itself a more or less unconscious
process of initiation through the Fire-Trial. Such people have passed
through a wealth of experience, so that their self-confidence, courage
and fortitude have been greatly strengthened in a normal manner
while learning to bear sorrow, disappointment and failure in their
undertakings with greatness of soul, and especially with equanimity
and unbroken strength. Thus they are often initiates without knowing
it, and it then needs but little to unseal their spiritual hearing and
sight so that they become clairvoyant. For it must be noted that a
genuine fire-trial is not intended to satisfy the curiosity of the
candidate. It is true that he learns many uncommon things of which
others can have no inkling, but this acquisition of knowledge is not
the end, but the means to the end; the end consists in the attainment,
thanks to this knowledge of the higher worlds, of greater and truer
self-confidence, a higher degree of courage, and a magnanimity and
perseverance such as cannot, as a rule, be acquired in the lower world.
The candidate may always turn back after the fire-trial. He will then
resume his life, strengthened in body and soul, and wait for a future
incarnation to continue his initiation. In his present incarnation he
will prove himself a more useful member of society and of humanity
than he was before. In whatever position he may find himself, his
firmness, prudence, resoluteness, and his beneficent influence over his
fel ows will have greatly increased.
But if, after completing the fire-trial, he should wish to continue the
path, a certain writing-system generally adopted in esoteric training
must now be revealed to him. The actual teachings manifest
themselves in this writing, because the hidden (occult) qualities of
things cannot be directly expressed in the words of ordinary writing.
The pupils of the initiates translate the teachings into ordinary
language as best they can. The occult script reveals itself to the soul
when the latter has attained spiritual perception, for it is traced in the
spiritual world and remains there for all time. It cannot be learned as
an artificial writing is learned and read. The candidate grows into
clairvoyant knowledge in an appropriate way, and during this growth
a new strength is developed in his soul, as a new faculty, through
which he feels himself impel ed to decipher the occurrences and the
beings of the spiritual world like the characters of a writing. This
strength, with the experience it brings of the corresponding trial,
might possibly awaken in the soul as though of its own accord, as the
soul continually develops, but it will be found safer to follow the
instructions of those who are spiritually experienced, and who have
some proficiency in deciphering the occult script.
The signs of the occult script are not arbitrarily invented; they
correspond to the forces actively engaged in the world. They teach us
the language of things. It becomes immediately apparent to the
candidate that the signs he is now learning correspond to the forms,
colors, and tones which he learned to perceive during his preparation
and enlightenment. He realizes that all he learned previously was only
like learning to spell, and that he is only now beginning to read in the
higher worlds. All the isolated figures, tones, and colors reveal
themselves to him now in one great connected whole. Now for the
first time he attains complete certainty in observing the higher worlds.
Hitherto he could never know positively whether the things he saw
were rightly seen. A regular understanding, too, is now at last possible
between the candidate and the initiate in the spheres of higher
knowledge. For whatever form the intercourse between an initiate and
another person may take in ordinary life, the higher knowledge in its
immediate form can only be imparted by the initiate in the above-
mentioned sign-language.
Thanks to this language the student also learns certain rules of
conduct and certain duties of which he formerly knew nothing.
Having learned these he is able to perform actions endowed with a
significance and a meaning such as the actions of one not initiated can
never possess. He acts out of the higher worlds. Instructions
concerning such action can only be read and understood in the writing
in question.
Yet it must be emphasized that there are people unconsciously gifted
with the ability and faculty of performing such actions, though they
have never undergone an esoteric training. Such helpers of the world
and of humanity pass through life bestowing blessings and performing
good deeds. For reasons here not to be discussed, gifts have been
bestowed on them which appear supernatural. What distinguishes
them from the candidate for initiation is only that the latter acts
consciously and with full insight into the entire situation. He acquires
by training the gifts bestowed on others by higher powers for the good
of humanity. We can sincerely revere these favored of God; but we
should not for this reason regard the work of esoteric training as
superfluous.
Once the student has learned the sign-language there awaits him yet
another trial, to prove whether he can move with freedom and
assurance in the higher worlds. In ordinary life he is impelled to
action by exterior motives. He works at one occupation or another
because one duty or another is imposed on him by outward
circumstances. It need hardly be mentioned that the student must in
no way neglect any of his duties in ordinary life because he is living
and working in higher worlds. There is no duty in a higher world that
can force a person to neglect any single one of his duties in the
ordinary world. The father will remain just as good a father to his
family, the mother just as good a mother, and neither the official nor
the soldier, nor anyone else will be diverted from his work by
becoming an esoteric student. On the contrary, all the qualities which
make a human being capable and efficient are enhanced in the student
to a degree incomprehensible to the uninitiated. If, in the eyes of the
uninitiated, this does not always appear to be the case, it is simply
because he often lacks the ability to judge the initiate correctly. The
deeds of the latter are not always intelligible to the former. But this
only happens in special cases.
At this stage of initiation there are duties to be performed for which
no outward stimulus is given. The candidate will not be moved to
action by external pressure, but only through adherence to the rules of
conduct revealed to him in the occult script. He must now show in
this second trial that, led by such rules, he can act with the same
firmness and precision with which, for instance, an official performs
the duties that belong to him. For this purpose, and in the course of
his further training, he will find himself faced by a certain definite
task. He must perform some action in consequence of observations
made on the basis of what he has learned during preparation and
enlightenment.
The nature of this action can be understood by means of the occult
script with which he is now familiar. If he recognizes his duty and acts
rightly, his trial has been successful. The success can be recognized in
the alteration produced by his action in the figures, colors, and tones
apprehended by his spiritual eyes and ears. Exact indications are
given, as the training progresses, showing how these figures appear
and are experienced after the action has been performed, and the
candidate must know how to produce this change. This trial is known
as the Water-Trial, because in his activity in these higher worlds the
candidate is deprived of the support derived from outward
circumstances, as a swimmer is without support when swimming in
water that is beyond his depth. This activity must be repeated until
the candidate attains absolute poise and assurance.
The importance of this trial lies again in the acquisition of a quality.
Through his experiences in the higher worlds, the candidate develops
this quality in a short time to such a high degree that he would
otherwise have to go through many incarnations, in the ordinary
course of his development, before he could acquire it to the same
extent. It all centers around the fact that he must be guided only by
the results of his higher perception and reading of the occult script, in
order to produce the changes in question in these higher regions of
existence. Should he, in the course of his activity, introduce any of his
own opinions and desires, or should he diverge for one moment from
the laws which he has recognized to be right, in order to follow his
own willful inclination, then the result produced would differ entirely
from what was intended. He would lose sight of the goal to which his
action tended, and confusion would result. Hence ample opportunity
is given him in the course of this trial to develop self-control. This is
the object in view. Here again, this trial can be more easily passed by
those whose life, before initiation, has led them to acquire self-control.
Anyone having acquired the faculty of following high principles and
ideals, while putting into the background all personal predilection;
anyone capable of always performing his duty, even though
inclinations and sympathies would like to seduce him from this duty—
such a person is unconsciously an initiate in the midst of ordinary life.
He will need but little to succeed in this particular trial. Indeed, a
certain measure of initiation thus unconsciously acquired in life will,
as a rule, be indispensable for success in this second trial. For even as
it is difficult for those who have not learned to spell correctly in their
childhood to make good this deficiency when fully grown up, so too it
is difficult to develop the necessary degree of self-control at the
moment of looking into the higher worlds, if this ability has not been
acquired to a certain degree in ordinary life. The objects of the
physical world do not alter, whatever the nature of our wishes,
desires, and inclinations. In the higher worlds, however, our wishes,
desires, and inclinations are causes that produce effects. If we wish to
produce a particular effect in these worlds, we must strictly follow the
right rules and subdue every arbitrary impulse.
One human quality is of very special importance at this stage of
initiation, namely, an unquestionably sound judgment. Attention should
be paid to the training of this faculty during all the previous stages;
for it now remains to be proved whether the candidate is shaping in a
way that shows him to be fit for the truth path of knowledge. Further
progress is now only possible if he is able to distinguish illusion,
superstition, and everything fantastic, from true reality. This is, at
first, more difficult to accomplish in the higher stages of existence
than in the lower. Every prejudice, every cherished opinion with
regard to the things in question, must vanish; truth alone must guide.
There must be perfect readiness to abandon at once any idea, opinion,
or inclination when logical thought demands it. Certainty in higher
worlds is only likely to be attained when personal opinion is never
considered.
People whose mode of thought tends to fancifulness and superstition
can never make progress on the path to higher knowledge. It is indeed
a precious treasure that the student is to acquire. All doubt regarding
the higher worlds is removed from him. With all their laws they reveal
themselves to his gaze. But he cannot acquire this treasure so long as
he is the prey of fancies and illusions. It would indeed be fatal if his
imagination and his prejudices ran away with his intellect. Dreamers
and fantastical people are as unfit for the path to higher knowledge as
superstitious people. This cannot be over-emphasized. For the most
dangerous enemies on the way to knowledge of the higher worlds lurk
in such fantastical reveries and superstitions. Yet no one need to
believe that the student loses all sense of poetry in life, all power of
enthusiasm because the words: You must be rid of all prejudice, are
written over the portal leading to the second trial of initiation, and
because over the portal at the entrance to the first trial he read:
Without normal common sense all thine efforts are in vain.
If the candidate is in this way sufficiently advanced, a third trial
awaits him. He finds here no definite goal to be reached. All is left in
his own hands. He finds himself in a situation where nothing impels
him to act.
He must find his way all alone and out of himself. Things or people to
stimulate him to action are non-existent. Nothing and nobody can give
him the strength he needs but he himself alone. Failure to find this
inner strength will leave him standing where he was. Few of those,
however, who have successfully passed the previous trials will fail to
find the necessary strength at this point. Either they will have turned
back already or they succeed at this point also. All that the candidate
requires is the ability to come quickly to terms with himself, for he
must here find his higher self in the truest sense of the word. He must
rapidly decide in all things to listen to the inspiration of the spirit.
There is no time for doubt or hesitation. Every moment of hesitation
would prove that he was still unfit. Whatever prevents him from
listening to the voice of the spirit must be courageously overcome. It
is a question of showing presence of mind in this situation, and the
training at this stage is concerned with the perfect development of this
quality. All the accustomed inducements to act or even to think now
cease. In order not to remain inactive he must not lose himself, for
only within himself can he find the one central point of vantage where
he can gain a firm hold. No one on reading this, without further
acquaintance with these matters, should feel an antipathy for this
principle of being thrown back on oneself, for success in this trial
brings with it a moment of supreme happiness.
At this stage, no less than at the others, ordinary life is itself an
esoteric training for many. For anyone having reached the point of
being able, when suddenly confronted with some task or problem in
life, to come to a swift decision without hesitation or delay, for him
life itself has been a training in this sense. Such situations are here
meant in which success is instantly lost if action is not rapid. A person
who is quick to act when a misfortune is imminent, whereas a few
moments of hesitation would have seen the misfortune an
accomplished fact, and who has turned this ability into a permanent
personal quality, has unconsciously acquired the degree of maturity
necessary for the third trial. For at this stage everything centers round
the development of absolute presence of mind. This trial is known as
the Air-Trial, because while undergoing it the candidate can support
himself neither upon the firm basis of external incentive nor upon the
figures, tones, and colors which he has learned at the stages of
preparation and enlightenment, but exclusively upon himself.
Upon successfully passing this trial the student is permitted to enter
the temple of higher wisdom. All that is here said on this subject can
only be the slenderest allusion. The task now to be performed is often
expressed in the statement that the student must take an oath never to
betray anything he has learned. These expressions, however, “oath”
and “betray”, are inappropriate and actually misleading. There is no
question of an oath in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather of an
experience that comes at this stage of development. The candidate
learns how to apply the higher knowledge, how to place it at the
service of humanity. He then begins really and truly to understand the
world. It is not so much a question of withholding the higher truths,
but far more of serving them in the right way and with the necessary
tact. The silence he is to keep refers to something quite different. He
acquires this fine quality with regard to things he had previously
spoken, and especially with regard to the manner in which they were
spoken. He would be a poor initiate who did not place all the higher
knowledge he had acquired at the service of humanity, as well and as
far as this is possible. The only obstacle to giving information in these
matters is the lack of understanding on the part of the recipients. It is
true, of course, that the higher knowledge does not lend itself to
promiscuous talk; but no one having reached the stage of development
described above is actually forbidden to say anything. No other
person, no being exacts an oath from him with this intent. Everything
is left to his own responsibility, and he learns in every situation to
discover within himself what he has to do, and an oath means nothing
more than that he has been found qualified to be entrusted with such
a responsibility.
If the candidate is found fit for the foregoing experiences, he is then
given what is called symbolically the draught of forgetfulness. This
means that he is initiated into the secret knowledge that enables him
to act without being continually disturbed by the lower memory. This
is necessary for the initiate, for he must have full faith in the
immediate present. He must be able to destroy the veil of memory
which envelops man every moment of his life. If we judge something
that happens to us today according to the experience of yesterday, we
are exposed to a multitude of errors. Of course this does not mean that
experience gained in life should be renounced. It should always be
kept in mind as clearly as possible. But the initiate must have the
ability to judge every new experience wholly according to what is
inherent in it, and let it react upon him, unobscured by the past. We
must be prepared at every moment that every object and every being
can bring to us some new revelation. If we judge the new by the
standard of the old we are liable to error. The memory of past
experiences will be of greatest use for the very reason that it enables
us to perceive the new. Had we not gone through a definite experience
we should perhaps be blind to the qualities of the object or being that
comes before us. Thus experience should serve the purpose of
perceiving the new and not of judging it by the standard of the old. In
this respect the initiate acquires certain definite qualities, and thereby
many things are revealed to him which remain concealed from the
uninitiated.
The second draught presented to the initiate is the draught of
remembrance. Through its agency he acquires the faculty of retaining
the knowledge of the higher truths ever present in his soul. Ordinary
memory would be unequal to this task. We must unite ourselves and
become as one with the higher truths. We must not only know them,
but be able, quite as a matter of course, to manifest and administer
them in living actions, even as we ordinarily eat and drink. They must
become our practice, our habit, our inclination. There must be no
need to keep thinking about them in the ordinary sense; they must
come to living expression through man himself; they must flow
through him as the functions of life through his organism. Thus doth
man ever raise himself, in a spiritual sense, to that same stature to which
nature raised him in a physical sense.
IIILSOME PRACTICAL ASPECTS
THE training of thoughts and feelings, pursued in the way described in
the chapters on Preparation, Enlightenment, and Initiation, introduces
into the soul and spirit the same organic symmetry with which nature
has constructed the physical body. Before this development, soul and
spirit are undifferentiated masses. The clairvoyant perceives them as
interlacing, rotating, cloud-like spirals, dully glimmering in reddish,
reddish-brown, or reddish-yellow tones. After this training they begin
to assume a brilliant yellowish-green, or greenish-blue color, and show
a regular structure. This inner regularity leading to higher knowledge,
is attained when the student introduces into his thoughts and feelings
the same orderly system with which nature has endowed his bodily
organs that enable him to see, hear, digest, breath, speak. Gradually
he learns to breath and see with this soul, to speak and hear with the
spirit.
In the following pages some practical aspects of the higher education
of soul and spirit will be treated in greater detail. They are such that
anyone can put them into practice regardless of other rules, and
thereby be led some distance further into spiritual science.
A particular effort must be made to cultivate the quality of patience.
Every symptom of impatience produces a paralyzing, even a
destructive effect on the higher faculties that slumber in us. We must
not expect an immeasurable view into the higher worlds from one day
to the next, for we should assuredly be disappointed. Contentment
with the smallest fragment attained, repose and tranquility, must more
and more take possession of the soul. It is quite understandable that
the student should await results with impatience; but he will achieve
nothing so long as he fails to master this impatience. Nor is it of any
use to combat this impatience merely in the ordinary sense, for it wil
become only that much stronger. We overlook it in self-deception
while it plants itself all the more firmly in the depths of the soul. It is
only when we ever and again surrender ourselves to a certain definite
thought, making it absolutely our own, that any results can be
attained. This thought is as follows: I must certainly do everything I can
for the training and development of my soul and spirit; but I shall wait
patiently until higher powers shall have found me worthy of definite
enlightenment. If this thought becomes so powerful in the student that
it grows into an actual feature of his character, he is treading the right
path. This feature soon sets its mark on his exterior. The gaze of his
eye becomes steady, the movement of his body becomes sure, his
decisions definite, and all that goes under the name of nervousness
gradually disappears. Rules that appear trifling and insignificant must
be taken into account. For example, supposing someone affronts us.
Before our training we should have directed our resentment against
the offender; a wave of anger would have surged up within us. Ina
similar case, however, the thought is immediately present in the mind
of the student that such an affront makes no difference to his intrinsic
worth. And he does whatever must be done to meet the affront with
calm and composure, and not in a spirit of anger. Of course it is not a
case of simply accepting every affront, but of acting with the same
calm composure when dealing with an affront against our own person
as we would if the affront were directed against another person, in
whose favor we had the right to intervene. It must always be
remembered that this training is not carried out in crude outward
processes, but in subtle, silent alterations in the life of thought and
feeling.
Patience has the effect of attraction, impatience the effect of repulsion
on the treasures of higher knowledge. In the higher regions of
existence nothing can be attained by haste and unrest. Above all
things, desire and craving must be silenced, for these are qualities of
the soul before which all higher knowledge shyly withdraws. However
precious this knowledge is accounted, the student must not crave it if
he wishes to attain it. If he wishes to have it for his own sake, he will
never attain it. This requires him to be honest with himself in his
innermost soul. He must in no case be under any illusion concerning
his own self. With a feeling of inner truth he must look his own faults,
weaknesses, and unfitness full in the face. The moment he tries to
excuse to himself any of his weaknesses, he has placed a stone in his
way on the path which is to lead him upward. Such obstacles can only
be removed by self-enlightenment. There is only one way to get rid of
faults and failings, and that is by a clear recognition of them.
Everything slumbers in the human soul and can be awakened. A
person can even improve his intellect and reason, if he quietly and
calmly makes it clear to himself why he is weak in this respect. Such
self- knowledge is, of course, difficult, for the temptation to self-
deception is immeasurably great. Anyone making a habit of being
truthful with himself opens the portal leading to a deeper insight.
All curiosity must fall away from the student. He must rid himself as
much as possible of the habit of asking questions merely for the sake
of gratifying a selfish thirst for knowledge. He must only ask when
knowledge can serve to perfect his own being in the service of
evolution. Nevertheless, his delight in knowledge and his devotion to
it should in no way be hampered. He should listen devoutly to all that
contributes to such an end, and should seek every opportunity for
such devotional attention.
Special attention must be paid in esoteric training to the education of
the life of desires. This does not mean that we are to become free of
desire, for if we are to attain something we must also desire it, and
desire will always tend to fulfillment if backed by a particular force.
This force is derived from a right knowledge. Do not desire at all until
you know what is right in any one sphere. That is one of the golden rules
for the student. The wise man first ascertains the laws of the world,
and then his desires become powers which realize themselves.
The following example brings this out clearly. There are certainly
many people who would like to learn from their own observation
something about their life before birth. Such a desire is altogether
useless and leads to no result so long as the person in question has not
acquired a knowledge of the laws that govern the nature of the
eternal, a knowledge of these laws in their subtlest and most intimate
character, through the study of spiritual science. But if, having really
acquired this knowledge, he wishes to proceed further, his desire, now
ennobled and purified, will enable him to do so.
It is also no use saying: I particularly wish to examine my previous
life, and shall study only for this purpose. We must rather be capable
of abandoning this desire, of eliminating it altogether, and of
studying, at first, with no such intention. We should cultivate a feeling
of joy and devotion for what we learn, with no thought of the above
end in view.
We should learn to cherish and foster a particular desire in such a way
that it brings with it its own fulfillment.
If we become angered, vexed or annoyed, we erect a wall around
ourselves in the soul-world, and the forces which are to develop the
eyes of the soul cannot approach. For instance, if a person angers me
he sends forth a psychic current into the soul-world. I cannot see this
current as long as I am myself capable of anger. My own anger
conceals it from me. We must not, however, suppose that when we are
free from anger we shall immediately have a psychic (astral) vision.
For this purpose an organ of vision must have been developed in the
soul. The beginnings of such an organ are latent in every human
being, but remain ineffective as long as he is capable of anger. Yet this
organ is not immediately present the moment anger has been
combated to a small extent. We must rather persevere in this
combating of anger and proceed patiently on our way; then some day
we shall find that this eye of the soul has become developed. Of
course, anger is not the only failing to be combated for the attainment
of this end. Many grow impatient or skeptical, because they have for
years combated certain qualities, and yet clairvoyance has not ensued.
In that case they have just trained some qualities and allowed others
to run riot. The gift of clairvoyance only manifests itself when all
those qualities which stunt the growth of the latent faculties are
suppressed. Undoubtedly, the beginnings of such seeing and hearing
may appear at an earlier period, but these are only young and tender
shoots which are subjected to all possible error, and which, if not
carefully tended and guarded, may quickly die.
Other qualities which, like anger and vexation, have to be combated,
are timidity, superstition, prejudice, vanity and ambition, curiosity,
the mania for imparting information, and the making of distinctions in
human beings according to the outward characteristics of rank, sex,
race, and so forth. In our time it is difficult for people to understand
how the combating of such qualities can have anything to do with the
heightening of the faculty of cognition. But every spiritual scientist
knows that much more depends upon such matters than upon the
increase of intelligence and employment of artificial exercises.
Especially can misunderstanding arise if we believe that we must
become foolhardy in order to be fearless; that we must close our eyes
to the differences between people, because we must combat the
prejudices of rank, race, and so forth. Rather is it true that a correct
estimate of all things is to be attained only when we are no longer
entangled in prejudice. Even in the ordinary sense it is true that the
fear of some phenomenon prevents us from estimating it rightly; that
a racial prejudice prevents us from seeing into a man's soul. It is this
ordinary sense that the student must develop in all its delicacy and
subtlety.
Every word spoken without having been thoroughly purged in thought is a
stone thrown in the way of esoteric training. And here something must be
considered which can only be explained by giving an example.
If anything be said to which we must reply, we must be careful to
consider the speaker's opinion, feeling, and even his prejudice, rather
than what we ourselves have to say at the moment on the subject
under discussion. In this example a refined quality of tact is indicated,
to the cultivation of which the student must devote his care. He must
learn to judge what importance it may have for the other person if he
opposes the latter's opinion with his own. This does not mean that he
must withhold his opinion. There can be no question of that. But he
must listen to the speaker as carefully and as attentively as he possibly
can and let his reply derive its form from what he has just heard. In
such cases one particular thought recurs ever and again to the student,
and he is treading the right path if this thought lives with him to the
extent of becoming a trait of his character. This thought is as follows :
The importance lies not in the difference of our opinions but in his
discovering through his own effort what is right if I contribute something
toward it. Thoughts of this and of a similar nature cause the character
and the behavior of the student to be permeated with a quality of
gentleness, which is one of the chief means used in all esoteric
training. Harshness scares away the soul-pictures that should open the
eye of the soul; gentleness clears the obstacles away and unseals the
inner organs.
Along with gentleness, another quality wil presently be developed in
the soul of the student: that of quietly paying attention to all the
subtleties in the soul-life of his environment, while reducing to
absolute silence any activity within his own soul. The soul-life of his
environment will impress itself on him in such a way that his own
soul will grow, and as it grows, become regular in its structure, as a
plant expanding in the sunlight. Gentleness and patient reserve open
the soul to the soul-world and the spirit to the spirit-world. Persevere
in silent inner seclusion; close the senses to all that they brought you
before your training; reduce to absolute immobility all the thoughts
which, according to your previous habits, surged within you; become
quite still and silent within, wait in patience, and then the higher
worlds will begin to fashion and perfect the organs of sights and
hearing in your soul and spirit. Do not expect immediately to see and
hear in the world of soul and spirit, for all that you are doing does but
contribute to the development of your higher senses, and you will
only be able to hear with soul and spirit when you possess these
higher senses. Having persevered for a time in silent inner seclusion,
go about your customary daily affairs, imprinting deeply upon your
mind this thought: “Some day, when I have grown sufficiently, I shall
attain that which I am destined to attain,” and make no attempt to
attract forcefully any of these higher powers to yourself. Every student
receives these instructions at the outset. By observing them he perfects
himself. If he neglects them, all his labor is in vain. But they are only
difficult of achievement for the impatient and the unpersevering. No
other obstacles exist save those which we ourselves place in our own
path, and which can be avoided by all who really will.
This point must be continually emphasized, because many people
form an altogether wrong conception of the difficulties that beset the
path to higher knowledge. It is easier, in a certain sense, to
accomplish the first steps along this path than to get the better of the
commonest every-day difficulties without this training. Apart from
this, only such things are here imparted as are attended by no danger
whatsoever to the health of soul and body. There are other ways
which lead more quickly to the goal, but what is here explained has
nothing to do with them, because they have certain effects which no
experienced spiritual scientist considers desirable. Since fragmentary
information concerning these ways is continually finding its way into
publicity, express warning must be given against entering upon them.
For reasons which only the initiated can understand, these ways can
never be made public in their true form. The fragments appearing
here and there can never lead to profitable results, but may easily
undermine health, happiness, and peace of mind. It would be far
better for people to avoid having anything to do with such things than
to risk entrusting themselves to wholly dark forces, of whose nature
and origin they can know nothing.
Something may here be said concerning the environment in which this
training should be undertaken, for this is not without some
importance. And yet the case differs for almost every person. Anyone
practicing in an environment filled only with self-seeking interests, as
for example, the modern struggle for existence, must be conscious of
the fact that these interests are not without their effect on the
development of his spiritual organs. It is true that the inner laws of
these organs are so powerful that this influence cannot be fatally
injurious. Just as a lily can never grow into a thistle, however
inappropriate its environment, so, too, the eye of the soul can never
grow to anything but its destined shape even though it be subjected to
the self-seeking interests of modern cities. But under all circumstances
it is well if the student seeks, now and again, his environment in the
restful peace, the inner dignity and sweetness of nature. Especially
fortunate is the student who can carry out his esoteric training
surrounded by the green world of plants, or among the sunny hills,
where nature weaves her web of sweet simplicity. This environment
develops the inner organs in a harmony which can never ensue in a
modern city. More favorably situated than the townsman is the person
who, during his childhood at least, had been able to breathe the
fragrance of pines, to gaze on snowy peaks, and observe the silent
activity of woodland creatures and insects. Yet no city-dweller should
fail to give to the organs of his soul and spirit, as they develop, the
nurture that comes from the inspired teachings of spiritual research. If
our eyes cannot follow the woods in their mantel of green every
spring, day by day, we should instead open our soul to the glorious
teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, or of St. John's Gospel, or of St.
Thomas a Kempis, and to the descriptions resulting from spiritual
science.
There are many ways to the summit of insight, but much depends on
the right choice. The spiritually experienced could say much
concerning these paths, much that might seem strange to the
uninitiated. Someone, for instance, might be very far advanced on the
path; he might be standing, so to speak, at the very entrance of sight
and hearing with soul and spirit; he is then fortunate enough to make
a journey over the calm or maybe tempestuous ocean, and a veil falls
away from the eyes of his soul; suddenly he becomes a seer. Another
is also so far advanced that this veil only needs to be loosened; this
occurs through some stroke of destiny. On another this stroke might
well have had the effect of paralyzing his powers and undermining his
energy; for the esoteric student it becomes the occasion of his
enlightenment. A third perseveres patiently for years without any
marked result. Suddenly, while silently seated in his quiet chamber,
spiritual light envelops him; the walls disappear, become transparent
for his soul, and a new world expands before his eyes that have
become seeing, or resounds in his ears that have become spiritually
hearing.
IV.THE CONDITIONS OF ESOTERIC TRAINING
THE conditions attached to esoteric training are not arbitrary. They
are the natural outcome of esoteric knowledge. Just as no one can
become a painter who refuses to handle a paint-brush, so, too, no one
can receive esoteric training who is unwilling to meet the demands
considered necessary by the teacher. In the main, the latter can give
nothing but advice, and everything he says should be accepted in this
sense. He has already passed through the preparatory stages leading to
a knowledge of the higher worlds, and knows from experience what is
necessary. It depends entirely upon the free-will of each individual
human being whether or not he choose to tread the same path. To
insist on being admitted to esoteric training without fulfilling the
conditions would be equivalent to saying: “Teach me how to paint,
but do not ask me to handle a paint-brush.” The teacher can never
offer anything unless the recipient comes forward to meet him of his
own free-will. But it must be emphasized that a general desire for
higher knowledge is not sufficient. This desire will, of course, be felt
by many, but nothing can be achieved by it alone so long as the
special conditions attached to esoteric training are not accepted. This
point should be considered by those who complain that the training is
difficult. Failure or unwillingness to fulfill these strict conditions must
entail the abandonment of esoteric training, for the time being. It is
true, the conditions are strict, yet they are not harsh, since their
fulfillment not only should be, but indeed must be a voluntary action.
If this fact be overlooked, esoteric training can easily appear in the
light of a coercion of the soul or the conscience; for the training is
based on the development of the inner life, and the teacher must
necessarily give advice concerning this inner life. But there is no
question of compulsion when a demand is met out of free choice. To
ask of the teacher: “Give me your higher knowledge, but leave me my
customary emotions, feelings, and thoughts,” would be an impossible
demand. In this case the gratification of curiosity and desire for
knowledge would be the only motive. When pursued in such a spirit,
however, higher knowledge can never be attained.
Let us now consider in turn the conditions imposed on the student. It
should be emphasized that the complete fulfillment of any one of
these conditions is not insisted upon, but only the corresponding
effort. No one can wholly fulfill them, but everyone can start on the
path toward them. It is the effort of will that matters, and the ready
disposition to enter upon this path.
1. The first condition is that the student should pay heed to the
advancement of bodily and spiritual health. Of course, health does not
depend, in the first instance, upon the individual; but the effort to
improve in this respect lies within the scope of all. Sound knowledge
can alone proceed from sound human beings. The unhealthy are not
rejected, but it is demanded of the student that he should have the
will to lead a healthy life. In this respect he must attain the greatest
possible independence. The good counsels of others, freely bestowed
though generally unsought, are as a rule superfluous. Each must
endeavor to take care of himself. From the physical aspect it will be
more a question of warding off harmful influences than of anything
else. In fulfilling our duties we must often do things that are
detrimental to our health. We must decide at the right moment to
place duty higher than the care of our health. But just think how
much can be avoided with a little good will. Duty must in many cases
stand higher than health, often, even, than life itself; but pleasure
must never stand higher, as far as the student is concerned. For him
pleasure can only be a means to health and to life, and in this
connection we must, above all, be honest and truthful with ourselves.
There is no use in leading an ascetic life when the underlying motive
is the same in this case as in other enjoyments. Some may derive
satisfaction from asceticism just as others can from wine-bibbing, but
they must not imagine that this sort of asceticism will assist them in
attaining higher knowledge. Many ascribe to their circumstances
everything which apparently prevents them from making progress.
They say they cannot develop themselves under their conditions of
life. Now, many may find it desirable for other reasons to change their
conditions of life, but no one need do so for the purpose of esoteric
training. For the latter, a person need only do as much as possible,
whatever his position, to further the health of body and soul. Every
kind of work can serve the whole of humanity; and it is a surer sign of
greatness of soul to perceive clearly how necessary for this whole is a
petty, perhaps even an offensive employment than to think: “This
work is not good enough for me; I am destined for something better.”
Of special importance for the student is the striving for complete
health of mind. An unhealthy life of thought and feeling will not fail
to obstruct the path to higher knowledge. Clear, calm thinking, with
stability of feeling and emotion, form here the basis of all work.
Nothing should be further removed from the student than an
inclination toward a fantastical, excitable life, toward nervousness,
exaggeration, and fanaticism. He should acquire a healthy outlook on
all circumstances of life; he should meet the demands of lie with
steady assurance, quietly letting all things make their impression on
him and reveal their message. He should be at pains to do justice to
life on every occasion. All one-sided and extravagant tendencies in his
sentiments and criticisms should be avoided. Failing this, he would
find his way merely into worlds of his own imagination, instead of
higher worlds; in place of truth, his own pet opinions would assert
themselves. It is better for the student to be matter-of-fact, than
excitable and fantastic.
2. The second condition is that the student should feel himself coordinated
as a link in the whole of life. Much is included in the fulfillment of this
condition, but each can only fulfill it in his own manner. If lama
teacher, and my pupil does not fulfill my expectations, I must not
divert my resentment against him but against myself. I must feel
myself as one with my pupil, to the extent of asking myself: “Is my
pupil's deficiency not the result of my own action?”
Instead of directing my feelings against him I shall rather reflect on
my own attitude, so that the pupil may in the future be better able to
satisfy my demands. Proceeding from such an attitude, a change will
come over the student's whole way of thinking. This holds good in all
things, great or small. Such an attitude of mind, for instance, alters the
way I regard a criminal. I suspend my judgment and say to myself: “I
am, like him, only a human being. Through favorable circumstances I
received an education which perhaps alone saved me from a similar
fate.” I may then also come to the conclusion that this human brother
of mine would have become a different man had my teachers taken
the same pains with him they took with me. I shall reflect on the fact
that something was given to me which was withheld from him, that I
enjoy my fortune precisely because it was denied him. And then I shall
naturally come to think of myself as a link in the whole of humanity
and a sharer in the responsibility for everything that occurs. This does
not imply that such a thought should be immediately translated into
external acts of agitation. It should be cherished in stillness within the
soul. Then quite gradually it will set its mark on the outward
demeanor of the student. In such matters each can only begin by
reforming himself. It is of no avail, in the sense of the foregoing
thoughts, to make general demands on the whole of humanity. It is
easy to decide what men ought to be; but the student works in the
depths, not on the surface. If would therefore be quite wrong to relate
the demand here indicated with an external, least of all political,
demands; with such matters this training can have nothing to do.
Political agitators know, as a rule, what to demand of other people;
but they say little of demands on themselves.
3. This brings us to the third condition. The student must work his way
upward to the realization that his thoughts and feelings are as important
for the world as his actions. It must be realized that it is equally injurious
to hate a fellow-being as to strike him. The realization will then follow
that by perfecting ourselves we accomplish something not only for
ourselves, but for the whole world. The world derives equal benefit
from our untainted feelings and thoughts as from our good demeanor,
and as long as we cannot believe in this cosmic importance of our
inner life, we are unfit for the path that is here described. We are only
filled with the right faith in the significance of our inner self, of our
soul, when we work at it s though it were at least as real as all
external things. We must admit that our every feeling produces an
effect, just as does every action of our hand.
4. These words already express the fourth condition: to acquire the
conviction that the real being of man does not lie in his exterior but in his
interior. Anyone regarding himself as a product of the outer world, as a
result of the physical world, cannot succeed in this esoteric training,
for the feeling that we are beings of soul and spirit forms its very
basis. The acquisition of this feeling renders the student fit to
distinguish between inner duty and outward success. He learns that
the one cannot be directly measured by the other. He must find the
proper mean between what is indicated by external conditions and
what he recognizes as the right conduct for himself. He should not
force upon his environment anything for which it can have no
understanding, but also he must be quite free from the desire to do
only what can be appreciated by those around him. The voice of his
own soul struggling honestly toward knowledge must bring him the
one and only recognition of the truths for which he stands. But he
must learn as much as he possibly can from his environment so as to
discover what those around him need, and what is good for them. In
this way he will develop within himself what is known in spiritual
science as the “spiritual balance.” An open heart for the needs of the
outer world lies on one of the scales, and inner fortitude and
unfaltering endurance on the other.
5. This brings us to the fifth condition: steadfastness in carrying out a
resolution. Nothing should induce the student to deviate from a
resolution he may have taken, save only the perception that he was in
error. Every resolution is a force, and if this force does not produce an
immediate effect at the point to which it was applied, it works
nevertheless on in its own way. Success is only decisive when an
action arises from desire. But all actions arising from desire are
worthless in relation to the higher worlds. There, love for an action is
alone the decisive factor. In this love, every impulse that impels the
student to action should fulfill itself. Undismayed by failure, he will
never grow weary of endeavoring repeatedly to translate some
resolution into action. And in this way he reaches the stage of not
waiting to see the outward effect of his actions, but of contenting
himself with performing them. He will learn to sacrifice his actions,
even his whole being, to the world, however the world may receive
his sacrifice. Readiness for a sacrifice, for an offering such as this,
must be shown by all who would pursue the path of esoteric training.
6. A sixth condition is the development of a feeling of thankfulness for
everything with which man is favored. We must realize that our
existence is a gift from the entire universe. How much is needed to
enable each one of us to receive and maintain his existence! How
much to we not owe to nature and to our fellow human beings!
Thoughts such as these must come naturally to all who seek esoteric
training, for if the latter do not feel inclined to entertain them, they
will be incapable of developing within themselves that all-embracing
love which is necessary for the attainment of higher knowledge.
Nothing can reveal itself to us which we do not love. And every
revelation must fill us with thankfulness, for we ourselves are the
richer for it.
7. All these conditions must be united in a seventh: to regard life
unceasingly in the manner demanded by these conditions. The student
thus makes it possible to give his life the stamp of uniformity. All his
modes of expression will, in this way, be brought into harmony, and
no longer contradict each other. And thus he will prepare himself for
the inner tranquillity he must attain during the preliminary steps of
his training.
Anyone sincerely showing the good will to fulfill these conditions may
decide to seek esoteric training. He will then be ready to follow the
advice given above. Much of his advice may appear to be merely on
the surface, and many will perhaps say that they did not expect the
training to proceed in such strict forms. But everything interior must
manifest itself in an exterior way, and just as a picture is not evident
when it exists only in the mind of the painter, so, too, there can be no
esoteric training without outward expression. Disregard for strict
forms is only shown by those who do not know that the exterior is the
avenue of expression for the interior. No doubt it is the spirit that
really matters, and not the form; but just as form without spirit is null
and void, so also would spirit remain inactive if it did not create for
itself a form.
The above conditions are calculated to render the student strong
enough to fulfill the further demands made on him during this
training. If he fail in these conditions he will hesitate before each new
demand, and without them he will lack that faith in man which he
must possess. For all striving for truth must be founded on faith in and
true love for man. But though this is the foundation it is not the
source of all striving for truth, for such striving can only flow from the
soul's own fountain-head of strength. And the love of man must
gradually widen to a love for all living creatures, yes, for all existence.
Through failure to fulfill the condition here given, the student wil lack
the perfect love for everything that fashions and creates, and the
inclination to refrain from all destruction as such. He must so train
himself that not only in his actions but also in his words, feelings, and
thoughts he will never destroy anything for the sake of destruction.
His joy must be in growth and life, and he must only lend his hand to
destruction, when he is also able, through and by means of
destruction, to promote new life. This does not mean that the student
must simply look on while evil runs riot, but rather that he must seek
even in evil that side through which he may transform it into good.
He will then see more and more clearly that evil and imperfection
may best be combated by the creation of the good and the perfect. The
student knows that out of nothing, nothing can be created, but also
that the imperfect can be transformed into the perfect. Anyone
developing within himself the disposition to create, will soon find
himself capable of facing evil in the right way.
It must be clearly realized that the purpose of this training is to build
and not to destroy. The student should therefore bring with him the
good will for sincere and devoted work, and not the intention to
criticize and destroy. He should be capable of devotion, for he must
learn what he does not yet know; he should look reverently on that
which discloses itself. Work and devotion, these are the fundamental
qualities which must be demanded of the student. Some come to
realize that they are making no progress, though in their own opinion
they are untiringly active. The reason is that they have not grasped
the meaning of work and devotion in the right way. Work done for the
sake of success will be the least successful, and learning pursued
without devotion will be the least conducive to progress. Only the
love of work, and not of success, leads to progress. And if in learning
the student seeks straight thinking and sound judgment, he need not
stunt his devotion by doubts and suspicions.
We are not reduced to service subjection in listening to some
information with quiet devotion and because we do not at once
oppose it with our own opinion. Anyone having advanced some way
in the attainment of higher knowledge knows that he owes everything
to quiet attention and active reflection, and not to willful personal
judgment. We should always bear in mind that we do not need to
learn what we are already able to judge. Therefore if our sole
intention is to judge, we can learn nothing more. Esoteric training,
however, center in learning; we must have absolutely the good will to
be learners. If we cannot understand something, it is far better not to
judge than to judge adversely. We can wait until later for a true
understanding. The higher we climb the ladder of knowledge, the
more do we require the faculty of listening with quiet devotion. All
perception of truth, all life and activity in the world of the spirit,
become subtle and delicate in comparison with the processes of the
ordinary intellect and of life in the physical world. The more the
sphere of our activity widens out before us, the more delicate are the
processes in which we are engaged. It is for this reason that men
arrive at such different opinions and points of view regarding the
higher regions. But there is one and only one opinion regarding higher
truths and this one opinion is within reach of all who, through work
and devotion, have so risen that they can really behold truth and
contemplate it. Opinions differing from the one true opinion can only
be arrived at when people, insufficiently prepared, judge in
accordance with their pet theories, their habitual ways of thought, and
so forth. Just as there is only one correct opinion concerning a
mathematical problem, so also is this true with regard to the higher
worlds. But before such an opinion can be reached, due preparation
must first be undergone. If this were only considered, the conditions
attached to esoteric training would be surprising to none. It is indeed
true that truth and the higher life abide in every soul, and that each
can and must find them for himself But they lie deeply buried, and
can only be brought up from their deep shafts after all obstacles have
been cleared away. Only the experienced can advise how this may be
done. Such advice is found in spiritual science. No truth is forced on
anyone; no dogma is proclaimed; a way only is pointed out. It is true
that everyone could find this way unaided, but only perhaps after
many incarnations. By esoteric training this way is shortened. We thus
reach more quickly a point from which we can cooperate in those
worlds where the salvation and evolution of man are furthered by
spiritual work.
This brings to an end the indications to be given in connection with
the attainment of knowledge of higher worlds. In the following
chapter, and in further connection with the above, it will be shown
how this development affects the higher elements of the human
organism (the soul-organism or astral body, and the spirit or thought-
body.) In this way the indications here given will be placed in a new
light, and it will be possible to penetrate them in a deeper sense.
V.SOME RESULTS OF INITIATION
ONE of the fundamental principles of true spiritual science is that the
one who devotes himself to its study should do so with full
consciousness; he should attempt nothing and practice nothing
without knowledge of the effect produced. A teacher of spiritual
science who gives advice or instruction will, at the same time, always
explain to those striving for higher knowledge the effects produced on
body, soul and spirit, if his advice and instructions be followed.
Some effects produced upon the soul of the student will here be
indicated. For only those who know such things as they are here
communicated can undertake in full consciousness the exercises that
lead to knowledge of the higher worlds. Without the latter no genuine
esoteric training is possible, for it must be understood that all groping
in the dark is discouraged, and that failure to pursue this training with
open eyes may lead to mediumship, but not to exact clairvoyance in
the sense of spiritual science.
The exercises described in the preceding chapters, if practiced in the
right way, involve certain changes in the organism of the soul (astral
body). The latter is only perceptible to the clairvoyant, and may be
compared to a cloud, psycho-spiritually luminous to a certain degree,
in the center of which the physical body is discernible. (A description
will be found in the author's book, Theosophy.) In this astral body
desires, lusts, passions, and ideas become visible in a spiritual way.
Sensual appetites, for instance, create the impression of a dark red
radiance with a definite shape; a pure and noble thought finds its
expression in a reddish-violet radiance; the clear-cut concept of the
logical thinker is experienced as a yellowish figure with sharply
defined outline; the confused thought of the muddled head appears as
a figure with vague outline. The thoughts of a person with one-sided,
queer views appear sharply outlined but immobile, while the thoughts
of people accessible to the points of view of others are seen to have
mobile, changeable outlines. (In all these and the following
descriptions it must be noted that by seeing a color, spiritual seeing is
meant. When the clairvoyant speaks of “seeing red,” he means: “I have
an experience, in a psycho-spiritual way, which is equivalent to the
physical experience when an impression of red is received.” This mode
of expression is here used because it is perfectly natural to the
clairvoyant. If this point is over-looked, a mere color-vision may easily
be mistaken for a genuine clairvoyant experience.) The further the
student advances in his inner development, the more regular will be
the differentiation within his astral body. The latter is confused and
undifferentiated in the case of a person of undeveloped inner life; yet
the clairvoyant can perceive even the unorganized astral body as a
figure standing out distinctly from its environment. It extends from
the center of the head to the middle of the physical body, and appears
like an independent body possessing certain organs. The organs now
to be considered are perceptible to the clairvoyant near the following
parts of the physical body: the first between the eyes; the second near
the larynx; the third in the region of the heart; the fourth in the so-
called pit of the stomach; the fifth and sixth are situated in the
abdomen. These organs are technically known as wheels, chakrams, or
lotus flowers. They are so called on account of their likeness to wheels
or flowers, but of course it should be clearly understood that such an
expression is not to be applied more literally than is the term “wings”
when referring to the two halves of the lungs.
Just as there is no question of wings in the case of the lungs, so, too,
in the case of the lotus flowers the expression must be taken
figuratively.
In undeveloped persons these lotus flowers are dark in color,
motionless and inert. In the clairvoyant, however, they are luminous,
mobile, and of variegated color. Something of this kind applies to the
medium, though in a different way; this question, however, need not
be pursued here any further.
Now, when the student begins his exercises, the lotus flowers become
more luminous; later on they begin to revolve. When this occurs,
clairvoyance begins. For these flowers are the sense-organs of the soul,
and their revolutions express the fact that the clairvoyant perceives
supersensibly. What was said previously concerning spiritual seeing
applies equally to these revolutions and even to the lotus flowers
themselves. No one can perceive the supersensible until he has
developed his astral senses in this way. Thanks to the spiritual organ
situated in the vicinity of the larynx, it becomes possible to survey
clairvoyantly the thoughts and mentality of other beings, and to
obtain a deeper insight into the true laws of natural phenomena. The
organ situated near the heart permits of clairvoyant knowledge of the
sentiments and disposition of other souls. When developed, this organ
also makes it possible to observe certain deeper forces in animals and
plants. By means of the organ in the so-called pit of the stomach,
knowledge is acquired of the talents and capacities of souls; by its
means, too, the part played by animals, plants, stones, metals,
atmospheric phenomena and so on in the household of nature
becomes apparent.
The organ in the vicinity of the larynx has sixteen petals or spokes; the
one in the region of the heart twelve, and the one in the pit of the
stomach ten.
Now certain activities of the soul are connected with the development
of these organs, and anyone devoting himself to them in a certain
definite way contributes something to the development of the
corresponding organs. In the sixteen-petalled lotus, eight of its sixteen
petals were developed in the remote past during an earlier stage of
human evolution. Man himself contributed nothing to this
development; he received them as a gift from nature, at a time when
his consciousness was in a dull, dreamy condition. At that stage of
human evolution they were in active use, but the manner of their
activity was only compatible with that dull state of consciousness. As
consciousness became clearer and brighter, the petals became
obscured and ceased their activity. Man himself can now develop the
remaining eight petals by means of conscious exercises, and thereby
the whole lotus flower becomes luminous and mobile. The acquisition
of certain faculties depends on the development of each one of the
sixteen petals. Yet, as already shown, only eight can be consciously
developed; the remainder then appear of their own accord.
The development proceeds in the following manner. The student must
first apply himself with care and attention to certain functions of the
soul hitherto exercised by him in a careless and inattentive manner.
There are eight such functions. The first is the way in which ideas and
conceptions are acquired. In this respect people usually allow
themselves to be led by chance alone. They see or hear one thing or
another and form their ideas accordingly. As long as this is the case
the sixteen petals of the lotus flower remain ineffective. It is only
when the student begins to take his self-education in hand, in this
respect, that the petals become effective. His ideas and conceptions
must be guarded; each single idea should acquire significance fore
him; he should see it in a definite message instructing him concerning
the things of the outer world, and he should derive no satisfaction
from ideas devoid of such significance. He must govern his mental life
so that it becomes a true mirror of the outer world, and direct his
effort to the exclusion of incorrect ideas from his soul.
The second of these functions is concerned with the control of resolutions.
The student must not resolve upon even the most trifling act without
well-founded and thorough consideration. Thoughtless and
meaningless actions should be foreign to his nature. He should have
well-considered grounds for everything he does, and abstain from
everything to which no significant motive urges him.
The third function concerns speech. The student should utter no word
that is devoid of sense and meaning; all talking for the sake of talking
draws him away from his path. He must avoid the usual kind of
conversation, with its promiscuous discussion of indiscriminately
varied topics. This does not imply his preclusion from intercourse with
his fellows. It is precisely in such intercourse that his conversation
should develop to significance. He is ready to converse with everyone,
but he does so thoughtfully and with thorough deliberation. He never
speaks without grounds for what he says. He seeks to use neither too
many nor too few words.
The fourth is the regulation of outward action. The student tries to adjust
his actions in such a way that they harmonize with the actions of his
fel ow-men and with the events in his environment. He refrains from
actions which are disturbing to others and in conflict with his
surroundings. He seeks to adjust his actions so that they combine
harmoniously with his surroundings and with his position in life.
When an external motive causes him to act he considers how he can
best respond. When the impulse proceeds from himself he weighs with
minute care the effects of his activity.
The fifth function includes the management of the whole of life. The
student endeavors to live in conformity with both nature and spirit.
Never overhasty, he is also never indolent. Excessive activity and
laziness are equally alien to him. He looks upon life as a means for
work and disposes it accordingly. He regulates his habits and the care
of his health in such a way that a harmonious whole is the outcome.
The sixth is concerned with human endeavor. The student tests his
capacities and proficiency, and conducts himself in the light of such
self- knowledge. He attempts nothing beyond his powers, yet seems to
omit nothing within their scope. On the other hand, he sets himself
aims that have to do with the ideals and the great duties of a human
being. He does not mechanically regard himself as a wheel in the vast
machinery of mankind but seeks to comprehend the tasks of his life,
and to look out beyond the limit of the daily and trivial. He endeavors
to fulfill his obligations ever better and more perfectly.
The seventh deals with the effort to learn as much from life as possible.
Nothing passes before the student without giving him occasion to
accumulate experience which is of value to him for life. If he has
performed anything wrongly or imperfectly, he lets this be an
incentive for meeting the same contingency later on rightly and
perfectly. When others act he observes them with the same end in
view. He tries to gather a rich store of experience, ever returning to it
for counsel; nor indeed will he ever do anything without looking back
on experiences from which he can derive help in his decisions and
affairs.
Finally, the eighth is as follows: The student must, from time to time,
glance introspectively into himself, sink back into himself, take counsel with
himself, form and test the fundamental principles of his life, run over in his
thoughts the sum total of his knowledge, weigh his duties, and reflect upon
the content and aim of life. Al these things have been mentioned in the
preceding chapters; here they are merely recapitulated in connection
with the development of the sixteen-petalled lotus. By means of these
exercises the latter will become ever more and more perfect, for it is
upon such exercises that the development of clairvoyance depends.
The better the student's thoughts and speech harmonize with the
processes in the outer world, the more quickly will he develop this
faculty. Whoever thinks and speaks what is contrary to truth destroys
something in the germ of his sixteen-petalled lotus. Truthfulness,
uprightness, and honesty are in this connection creative forces, while
mendacity, deceitfulness, and dishonesty are destructive forces. The
student must realize, however, that actual deeds are needed, and not
merely good intentions. If I think or say anything that does not
conform with reality, I kill something in my spiritual organs, even
though I believe my intentions to be ever so good. It is here as with
the child which needs must burn itself when it touches fire, even
though it did so out of ignorance. The regulation of the above
activities of the soul in the manner described causes the sixteen-
petalled lotus to shine in glorious hues, and imparts to it a definite
movement. Yet it must be noted that the faculty of clairvoyance
cannot make its appearance before a definite degree of development
of the soul has been reached. It cannot appear as long as it is irksome
for the student to regulate his life in this manner. He is still unfit as
long as the activities described above are a matter of special pre-
occupation for him The first traces of clairvoyance only appear when
he has reached the point of being able to live in the specified way, as
a person habitually lives. These things must then no longer be
laborious, but must have become a matter of course. There must be no
need for him to be continually watching himself and urging himself on
to live in this way. It must all have become a matter of habit.
Now this lotus flower may be made to develop in another way by
following certain other instructions. But all such methods are rejected
by true spiritual science, for they lead to the destruction of physical
health and to moral ruin. They are easier to follow than those here
described. The latter, though protracted and difficult, lead to the true
goal and cannot but strengthen morally.
The distorted development of a lotus flower results not only in
illusions and fantastic conceptions, should a certain degree of
clairvoyance be acquired, but also in errors and instability in ordinary
life. Such a development may be the cause of timidity, envy, vanity,
haughtiness, willfulness and so on in a person who hitherto was free
from these defects. It has already been explained that eight of the
sixteen petals of this lotus flower were developed in a remote past,
and that these will re-appear of themselves in the course of esoteric
development. All the effort and attention of the student must be
devoted to the remaining eight. Faulty training may easily result in
the re-appearance of the earlier petals alone, while the new petals
remain stunted. This will ensue especially if too little logical, rational
thinking is employed in the training. It is of supreme importance that
the student should be a rational and clear-thinking person, and of
further importance that he should practice the greatest clarity of
speech.
People who begin to have some presentiment of supersensible things
are apt to wax talkative on this subject, thereby retarding their normal
development. The less one talks about these matters the better. Only
someone who has achieved a certain degree of clarity should speak
about them. At the beginning of their instruction, students are as a
rule astonishes at the teacher's lack of curiosity concerning their own
experiences. It would be much better for them to remain entirely
silent on this subject, and to content themselves with mentioning only
whether they have been successful or unsuccessful in performing the
exercises and observing the instructions given them. For the teacher
has quite other means of estimating their progress than the students'
own statements. The eight petals now under consideration always
become a little hardened through such statements, whereas they
should be kept soft and supple. The fol owing example taken, for the
sake of clarity, not from the supersensible world but from ordinary
life, will illustrate this point. Suppose I hear a piece of news and
thereupon immediately form an opinion. Shortly afterwards I receive
some further news which does not tally with the previous information.
I am thereby obliged to reverse my previous judgment. The result is
an unfavorable influence upon my sixteen-petalled lotus. Quite the
contrary would have been the case had I, in the first place, suspended
judgment, and remained silent both inwardly in thought and
outwardly in word concerning the whole affair, until I had acquired
reliable grounds for forming my judgment. Caution in the formation
and pronouncement of judgments becomes, by degrees, the special
characteristic of the student. On the other hand his receptivity for
impressions and experiences increases; he lets them pass over him
silently, so as to collect and have the largest possible number of facts
at his disposal when the time comes to form his opinions. Bluish-red
and reddish-pink shades color the lotus flower as the result of such
circumspection, whereas in the opposite case dark red and orange
shades appear. (Students will recognize in the conditions attached to
the development of the sixteen-petalled lotus the instructions given by
the Buddha to his disciples for the Path. Yet there is no question here
of teaching Buddhism, but of describing conditions governing
development which are the natural outcome of spiritual science. The
fact that these conditions correspond with certain teachings of the
Buddha is no reason for not finding them true in themselves.) The
twelve-petalled lotus situated in the region of the heart is developed in
a similar way. Half its petals, too, were already existent and in active
use in a remote stage of human evolution. Hence these six petals need
not now be especially developed in esoteric training; they appear of
themselves and begin to revolve when the student sets to work on the
other six. Here again he learns to promote this development by
consciously controlling and directing certain inner activities in a
special way.
It must be clearly understood that the perceptions of each single organ
of soul or spirit bear a different character. The twelve and sixteen-
petalled lotus flowers transmit quite different perceptions. The latter
perceives forms. The thoughts and mentality of other beings and
the laws governing natural phenomena become manifest, through the
sixteen-petalled lotus, as figures, not rigid motionless figures but
mobile forms filled with life. The clairvoyant in whom this sense is
developed can describe, for every mode of thought and for every law
of nature, a form which expresses them. A revengeful thought, for
example, assumes an arrow-like, pronged form, while a kindly thought
is often formed like an opening flower, and so on. Clear-cut,
significant thoughts are regular and symmetrical in form, while
confused thoughts have wavy outlines. Quite different perceptions are
received through the twelve-petalled lotus. These perceptions may, in
a sense, be likened to warmth and cold, as applied to the soul. A
clairvoyant equipped with this faculty feels this warmth and cold
streaming out from the forms discerned by the sixteen-petalled lotus.
Had he developed the sixteen and not the twelve-petalled lotus he
would only perceive, in the kindly thought, for instance, the figure
described above, while a clairvoyant in whom both senses were
developed would also notice what can only be described as soul-
warmth, flowing from the thought. It would be noted in passing that
esoteric training never develops one organ without the other, so that
the above-mentioned example may be regarded as a hypothetical case
in behalf of clarity. The twelve-petal ed lotus, when developed, reveals
to the clairvoyant a deep understanding of the processes of nature.
Rays of soul-warmth issue from every manifestation of growth and
development, while everything in the process of decay, destruction,
ruin, gives an impression of cold.
The development of this sense may be furthered in the fol owing
manner. To begin with, the student endeavors to regulate his sequence of
thought (control of thought). Just as the sixteen-petalled lotus is
developed by cultivating thoughts that conform with truth and are
significant, so, too, the twelve-petalled lotus is developed by inwardly
controlling the trains of thought. Thoughts that dart to and fro like
will-o’-the-wisps and follow each other in no logical or rational
sequence, but merely by pure chance, destroy its form. The closer
thought is made to follow upon thought, and the more strictly
everything of illogical nature is avoided, the more suitable will be the
form this sense organ develops. If the student hears illogical thoughts
he immediately lets the right thoughts pass through his mind. He
should not, however, withdraw in a loveless way from what is perhaps
an illogical environment in order to further his own development.
Neither should he feel himself impelled to correct all the illogical
thoughts expressed around him. He should rather silently co-ordinate
the thoughts as they pour in upon him, and make them conform to
logic and sense, and at the same time endeavor in every case to retain
this same method in his own thinking.
An equal consistency in his actions forms the second requirement (control
of actions). All inconstancy, all disharmony of action, is baneful for the
lotus here in question. When the student performs some action he
must see to it that his succeeding action follows in logical sequence,
for if he acts from day to day with variable intent he will never
develop the faculty here considered.
The third requirement is the cultivation of endurance (perseverance). The
student is impervious to all influences which would divert him from
the goal he has set himself, as long as he can regard it as the right
goal. For him, obstacles contain a challenge that impels him to
surmount them, but never a reason for giving up.
The fourth requirement is forbearance (tolerance) toward persons,
creatures, and also circumstances. The student suppresses all
superfluous criticism of everything that is imperfect, evil and bad, and
seeks rather to understand everything that comes under his notice.
Even as the sun does not withdraw its light from the bad and the evil,
so he, too, does not refuse them an intelligent sympathy. Should some
trouble befall him he does not proceed to condemn and criticize, but
accepts the inevitable, and endeavors to the best of his ability to give
the matter a turn for the best. He does not consider the opinions of
others merely from his own standpoint, but seeks to put himself into
the other's position.
The fifth requirement is impartiality toward everything that life brings.
In this connection we speak of faith and trust. The student meets every
human being and every creature with this trust, and lets it inspire his
every action. Upon hearing some information, he never says to
himself: “I don't believe it; it contradicts my present opinions.” He is
far rather ready to test and rectify his views and opinions. He ever
remains receptive for everything that confronts him, and he trusts in
the efficacy of his undertakings. Timidity and skepticism are banished
from his being. He harbors a faith in the power of his intentions. A
hundred failures cannot rob him of this faith. This is the “faith which
can move mountains. ”
The sixth requirement is the cultivation of a certain inner balance
(equanimity). The student endeavors to retain his composure in the
face of joy and sorrow, and eradicates the tendency to fluctuate
between the seventh heaven of joy and the depths of despair.
Misfortune and danger, fortune and advancement alike find him ready
armed.
The reader will recognize in the qualities here described the six
attributes which the candidate for initiation strives to acquire. The
intention has been to show their connection with the spiritual organ
known as the twelve-petalled lotus flower. As before, special
instructions can be given to bring this lotus flower to fruition, but here
again the perfect symmetry of its form depends on the development of
the qualities mentioned, the neglect of which results in this organ
being formed into a caricature of its proper shape. In this case, should
a certain clairvoyance be attained, the qualities in question may take
an evil instead of a good direction. A person may become intolerant,
timid, or contentious toward his environment; may, for instance,
acquire some feeling for the sentiments of others, and for this reason
shun them or hate them. This may even reach the point where, by
reason of the inner coldness that overwhelms him when he hears
repugnant opinions, he is unable to listen, or he may behave in an
objectionable manner.
The development of this organ may be accelerated if, in addition to all
that has been stated, certain other injunctions are observed which can
only be imparted to the student by word of mouth. Yet the
instructions given above do actually lead to genuine esoteric training,
and more-over, the regulation of life in the way described can be
advantageous to all who cannot or will not undergo esoteric training.
For it does not fail to produce an effect upon the organism of the soul,
even though slowly. As regards the esoteric student, the observance of
these principles is indispensable. Should he attempt esoteric training
without conforming to them, this could only result in his entering the
higher worlds with inadequate organs, and instead of perceiving the
truth he would be subject to deceptions and illusions. He would attain
a certain clairvoyance, but for the most part, be the victim of greater
blindness than before. Formerly he at least stood firmly within the
physical world; now he looks beyond this physical world and grows
confused about it before acquiring a firm footing in a higher world.
All power of distinguishing truth from error would then perhaps fail
him, and he would entirely lose his way in life. It is just for this reason
that patience is so necessary in these matters. It must ever be borne in
mind that the instructions given in esoteric training may go no further
than is compatible with the willing readiness shown to develop the
lotus flowers to their regular shape. Should these flowers be brought
to fruition before they have quietly attained their correct form, mere
caricatures would be the result. Their maturity can be brought about
by the special instructions given in esoteric training, but their form is
dependent on the method of life described above.
An inner training of a particularly intimate character is necessary for
the development of the ten-petalled lotus flower, for it is now a
question of learning consciously to control and dominate the sense-
impressions themselves. This is of particular importance in the initial
stages of clairvoyance, for it is only by this means that a source of
countless illusions and fancies is avoided. People as a rule do not
realize by what factors their sudden ideas and memories are
dominated, and how they are produced. Consider the following case.
Someone is traveling by railway; his mind is busy with one thought;
suddenly is thought diverges; he recollects an experience that befell
him years ago and interweaves it with his present thought. He did not
notice that in looking through the window he had caught sight of a
person who resembled another intimately connected with the
recollected experience. He remains conscious, not of what he saw, but
of the effect it produced, and thus believes that it all came to him of
its own accords. How much in life occurs in such a way! How great is
the part played in our life by things we hear and learn, without our
consciously realizing the connection! Someone, for instance, cannot
bear a certain color, but does not realize that this is due to the fact
that the schoolmaster who used to worry him many years ago wore a
coat of that color. Innumerable illusions are based upon such
associations.
Many things leave their mark upon the soul while remaining outside
the pale of consciousness. The following may occur. Someone reads in
the paper about the death of a well-known person, and forthwith
claims to have had a presentiment of it yesterday, although he had
neither heard nor seen anything that might have given rise to such a
thought. And indeed it is quite true that the thought occurred to him
yesterday, as though of its own accord, that this particular person
would die; only one thing escaped his attention: two or three hours
before this thought occurred to him yesterday, he went to visit an
acquaintance; a newspaper lay on the table; he did not actually read
it, but his eyes unconsciously fell on the announcement of the
dangerous illness of the person in question. He remained unconscious
of the impression he had received, and yet this impression resulted in
his presentiment.
Reflection upon these matters will show how great is the source of
illusion and fantasy contained in such associations. It is just this
source which must be dammed up by all who seek to develop their
ten-petalled lotus flower. Deeply hidden characteristics in other souls
can be perceived by this organ, but their truth depends on the
attainment of immunity from the above-mentioned illusions. For this
purpose it is necessary that the student should control and dominate
everything that seeks to influence him from outside. He should reach
the point of really receiving no impressions beyond those he wishes to
receive.
This can only be achieved by the development of a powerful inner life;
by an effort of the will he only allows such things to impress him to
which his attention is directed, and he actually evades all impressions
to which he does not voluntarily respond. If he sees something it is
because he wills to see it, and if he does not voluntarily take notice of
something it is actually non-existent for him. The greater the energy
and inner activity devoted to this work, the more extensively will this
faculty be attained. The student must avoid all vacuous gazing and
mechanical listening. For him only those things exist to which he
turns his eye or his ear. He must practice the power of hearing
nothing, even in the greatest disturbance, if he does not will to hear;
and he must make his eyes unimpressionable to things of which he
does not particularly take notice. He must be shielded as by an inner
armor against all unconscious impressions. In this connection the
student must devote special care to his thought-life. He singles out a
particular thought and endeavors to link with it only such other
thoughts as he can himself consciously and voluntarily produce. He
rejects all casual ideas and does not connect this thought with another
until he has investigated the origin of the latter. He goes still further.
If, for instance, he feels a particular antipathy for something, he will
combat it and endeavor to establish a conscious relation between
himself and the thing in question. In this way the unconscious
elements that intrude into his soul will become fewer and fewer. Only
by such severe self-discipline can the ten-petalled lotus flower attain
its proper form.
The student's inner life must become a life of attention, and he must
learn really to hold at a distance everything to which he should not or
does not wish to direct his attention.
If this strict self-discipline be accompanied by meditation as
prescribed in esoteric training, the lotus flower in the region of the pit
of the stomach comes to maturity in the right way, and light and color
of a spiritual kind are now added to the form and warmth perceptible
to the organs described above. The talents and faculties of other
beings are thereby revealed, also the forces and the hidden attributes
of nature. The colored aura of living creatures then becomes visible;
all that is around us manifests its spiritual attributes. It must be
understood that the very greatest care is necessary at this stage of
development, for the play of unconscious memories is here
exceedingly active. If this were not the case, many people would
possess this inner sense, for it comes almost immediately into evidence
when the impressions delivered by the outer senses are held so
completely under control that they become dependent on nothing save
attention or inattention. This inner sense remains ineffective as long as
the powerful outer sense smother and benumb it.
Still greater difficulty attends the development of the six-petalled lotus
flower situated in the center of the body, for it can only be achieved
as the result of complete mastery and control of the whole personality
through consciousness of self, so that body, soul and spirit form one
harmonious whole. The functions of the body, the inclinations and
passions of the soul, the thoughts and ideas of the spirit must be tuned
to perfect unison. The body must be so ennobled and purified that its
organs incite to nothing that is not in the service of soul and spirit.
The soul must not be impelled through the body to lusts and passions
which are antagonistic to pure and noble thought. Yet the spirit must
not stand like a slave-driver over the soul, dominating it with laws
and commandments; the soul must rather learn to obey these laws and
duties out of its own free inclination. The student must not feel duty
to be an oppressive power to which he unwillingly submits, but rather
something which he performs out of love. His task is to develop a free
soul that maintains equilibrium between body and spirit, and he must
perfect himself in this way to the extent of being free to abandon
himself to the functions of the senses, for these should be so purified
that they lose the power to drag him down to their level. He must no
longer require to curb his passions, in as much as they of their own
accord follow the good. So long as self-chastisement is necessary, no
one can pass a certain stage of esoteric development; for a virtue
practiced under constraint if futile. If there is any lust remaining, it
interferes with esoteric development, however great the effort made
not to humor it. Nor does it matter whether this desire proceeds from
the soul or the body. For example, if a certain stimulant be avoided
for the purpose of self-purification, this deprivation will only
prove helpful if the body suffers no harm from it. Should the contrary
to be the case, this proves that the body craves the stimulant, and that
abstinence from it is of no value. In this case it may actually be a
question of renouncing the ideal to be attained, until more favorable
physical conditions, perhaps in another life, shall be forthcoming. A
wise renunciation may be a far greater achievement than the struggle
for something which, under given conditions, remains unattainable.
Indeed, a renunciation of this kind contributes more toward
development than the opposite course.
The six-petalled lo
…[truncated]