attribute this to a piece of hot iron, but will regard it as the emanation
of some soul-process, which he has hitherto experienced only with his
soul’s inner life. He knows that behind imaginative experiences exist
psycho-spiritual things and processes just as behind physical perceptions
we have physical entities and material facts.
And yet this similarity, apparent between the world of imagination and the
physical world, is modified by one important difference. There is
something present in the physical world which, when met in the imaginative
world, bears quite another appearance. In the former we are aware of a
perpetual ebb and flow, an alternation between birth and death. But in the
imaginative world there appears, in place of this phenomenon, a continual
metamorphosis of the one into the other. In the physical world we see, for
instance, how a plant fades away, but in the imaginative world there
emerges, in proportion as the plant fades, another form, not physically
discernible, into which the withering plant is gradually transformed. When
once the plant has faded away completely, this form will have become fully
developed in its place. Birth and death are conceptions which lose their
value in the imaginative world, making way for a comprehension of the
transmutation of the one into the other.
This being the case, those truths concerning which we have already made
certain communications in an earlier chapter of this book (see Chapter II,
“The Nature of Man”) become accessible to the imaginative perception.
Physical sense-perception is able to perceive only what takes place in the
physical body, processes which are enacted within the “domain of birth and
death.” The other principles of man’s being, namely, the etheric or vital
body, the sentient body, and the ego, are subject to the law of
transmutation, and the perception of them is unlocked by imaginative
cognition. Any one who has advanced this far will observe that that which
lives on under other conditions of being after death, detaches itself from
the physical body.
But development does not come to a standstill within the imaginative
world. Anyone who would like to remain stationary in it, would, it is
true, be able to note the entities in process of transmutation, but he
would be unable to interpret the meaning of these processes of change. He
would not be in a position to find his way about in this newly attained
world. For the imaginative world is a realm of unrest—there is naught in
it but movement and change; nowhere are there stationary points. Such
points of rest are reached only by the person who, having transcended the
stage of imaginative knowledge, has attained to that grade of development
known to occult science as “understanding through inspiration.”
It is not necessary for one seeking knowledge of the supersensible world
to develop his capacities so that the imaginative cognition should have
been acquired in full measure, before moving on to the stage of
“inspiration.” His exercises may, indeed, be so regulated that two
processes may go on simultaneously, one leading to imagination and the
other to inspiration. The student will then in due time enter a higher
world, in which he not only perceives, but where he can also find his way
about, as it were, and which he becomes able to interpret. Progress, as a
rule, consists in the occult student perceiving some apparitions of the
imaginative world and becoming conscious, after a while, that he is
beginning to get his bearings.
Yet the world of inspiration is something quite new compared with the
purely imaginative realm. By means of the latter we learn to know the
transformation of one process into another; while through the former we
come to recognize the inner qualities of ever changing beings. Imagination
shows us the soul-expression of such beings; through inspiration we
penetrate into their spiritual core. Above all, we become aware of a
multiplicity of spiritual beings and of their relation to one another. In
the physical sense-world we have also, of course, to do with a
multiplicity of different beings, yet in the world of inspiration this
multiplicity is of a different character. In that world each being
sustains quite definite relations to all the other beings, not, however,
as in the physical world through outer influence upon them, but through
their essential inner nature.
When we become aware of a being in the world of inspiration, no external
impression made upon another is apparent, such as might be compared with
the influence of one physical being upon another; a relation nevertheless
exists which is purely the result of the inner constitution of the two
beings. This relationship may be compared with that in which the separate
sounds or letters of a word stand to one another in the physical world. If
we take the word “man,” the impression made is due to a consonance of the
letters, m-a-n. There is no impact nor other outer influence passing from
the “m” to the “a,” but both letters sound together within “a whole,”
owing to their very nature. This is why observations made in the world of
inspirations can only be compared to reading and the observer sees the
beings of this world like written characters which he must learn and whose
inner relations must reveal themselves to him like a supersensible
writing. Therefore occult science can call cognition through inspiration,
figuratively, the “reading of the secret script.” How one may read by this
“secret script” and how one can communicate what has thus been read will
now be made clear by reference to previous chapters in this book. Man’s
being was first described as composed of different principles. It was then
further shown how the cosmos in which man is developing, passes through
various conditions; those of Saturn, Sun, Moon, and Earth. The perception
by means of which we are able on the one hand to discern the principles of
the human being, and, on the other, the successive states of the Earth and
its previous transformations, is revealed to the imaginative cognition.
But it is now further necessary that the relations existing between the
Saturn state and man’s physical body; between the Sun state and the
etheric body, etc., be understood. It must be shown that even during the
Saturn state the germ of man’s physical body came into existence, and that
it has then further developed to its present form during the Sun, Moon,
and Earth periods.
It had to be shown for example, what changes took place in the human being
owing to the separation of the sun from the earth, and also that something
similar again took place in connection with the moon. We had, moreover, to
make plain what contributed to the bringing about of such changes in
mankind as those which took place in the Atlantean era, how they were
manifested in the successive Indian, ancient Persian, Egyptian, and other
periods. The description of this sequence of events is not the result of
imaginative perception, but of inspirational cognition derived from the
reading of the secret script. For such reading, the imaginative
perceptions are like letters, or sounds, although such reading is not
alone necessary for interpretations like the above. It would be impossible
to comprehend the whole life-process of man by means of imaginative
cognition alone. One might possibly be in a position to note how, in the
process of dying, the psycho-spiritual principles detach themselves from
what remains in the physical world, but it would be impossible to
understand the connection between what happens to man after death and the
preceding and following stages, were we unable to find our way through the
facts obtained by imaginative cognition. Without inspirational knowledge
the entire imaginative world would remain mere writing, at which we gaze
but which we are unable to read.
As the student proceeds from imagination to inspiration he will soon see
how wrong it would be to neglect this understanding of the facts of the
universe and limit himself only to those facts which, so to speak, touch
his close personal interests. Indeed, those who are not initiated into
these matters may be inclined to say: “The only thing that seems of any
importance to me is that I should ascertain the fate of the human soul
after death. If anyone can give me information upon that subject, it will
suffice; but of what use is it for occult science to present to me such
remote subjects as the Saturn and Sun states, or the separation of the
moon and the sun, etc.?”
Those, however, who have been properly instructed in these things will
recognize that a true understanding of what they desire to learn could not
be obtained without knowledge of these matters, which appear so
unnecessary to them. A delineation of man’s states after death would
remain utterly incomprehensible and valueless to one who is unable to
connect it with ideas derived from those very far-off events. Even the
most elementary observations of a clairvoyant necessitate his acquaintance
with such things.
When, for example, a plant passes from the blossom to a state of fruition,
the clairvoyant observes a change in the astral being, which, while the
plant is in blossom, has covered and surrounded the blossoming plant from
above like a cloud. Had fructification not taken place, this astral being
would have been changed into quite a different form from the one it now
assumes in consequence of this fertilization. Now we understand the entire
process thus clairvoyantly observed, if we have learned to comprehend our
own nature through a knowledge of that great cosmic process, in which the
earth and all its inhabitants were involved at the time of the separation
from the sun. Before fertilization, the plant is in the same condition as
was the whole earth before the sun separated from it. After the
fertilization of the blossom, however, the condition of the plant is that
of the earth after the separation of the Sun had taken place, while the
moon-forces were still active in it.
Those who have thoroughly assimilated the idea to be gained by a
comprehension of this separation of the sun, will now be able to interpret
correctly the significance of the process of plant fertilization, when it
is said that “the plant previous to fructification is in a ‘sun state,’
and afterward in the ‘moon state.’ ” Indeed, it may be said of even the
smallest occurrence in the world that it can be fully understood only when
the reflection of great cosmic events is recognized in it. Otherwise its
inner nature remains just as unintelligible as Raphael’s Sistine Madonna
would be for one who could see only a small blue speck, while the rest of
it remained covered.
Everything that happens to man is a reflection of all those great cosmic
events that have to do with his existence. Those who wish to understand
the observations made by clairvoyant consciousness of the phenomena taking
place between birth and death, and again between death and a new birth,
will be able to do so if they first acquire the faculty of interpreting
imaginative observations by means of conceptions gained by reflecting upon
great cosmic events. These contemplations, indeed, furnish the key to a
comprehension of human life. Therefore the study of Saturn, Sun, and Moon
are, from the standpoint of occult science, at the same time a study of
man.
Through inspiration one arrives at a knowledge of the relationships
between the beings of the higher world, and a further stage of cognition
makes it then possible to recognize the inner essential nature of these
beings themselves. This stage of cognition is known to occult science as
that of intuitive cognition.(32)
Cognition of a sense-being implies standing outside of it, and judging it
according to outer impressions. Intuitive cognition of a spiritual being
implies being at one with it; uniting oneself with the inner nature of
that being. Step by step, the occult student ascends toward such
cognition. Imagination leads him no longer to consider phenomena as the
external qualities of beings, but to recognize them as psycho-spiritual
emanations; inspiration leads him further into the inner nature of these
beings. Here we can again illustrate by means of the foregoing chapters
what is the meaning of intuition. In those earlier chapters it has not
only been stated how the progress of the Saturn, Sun and Moon evolutions
proceeded; but also that beings took part, in widely different ways, in
that progress, and mention was made of the Thrones or Spirits of Will, the
Spirits of Wisdom, the Spirits of Motion, and so on. In connection with
the earth’s development, reference was made to the Luciferian spirits and
spirits of Ahriman. The structure of the world was traced back to those
beings who took part in it. All knowledge pertaining to these beings is
derived from intuitive cognition, which is also necessary, if we wish to
understand man’s life.
That which is released from the human physical body at death passes on
through various states in the future. The more immediate conditions after
death might, to some extent, be described by referring to imaginative
cognition, but that which takes place when man has proceeded farther into
that time lying between death and a new birth would be entirely
incomprehensible to the imagination, did not inspiration come to its aid.
For inspiration alone can disclose what can be revealed about man’s life
after its purification in the “land of spirits.” We come to a point where
inspiration is no longer adequate—where it reaches the limit of its
possibilities. For there is a period in human development, between death
and a new birth, in which the human being is accessible only to intuition.
Yet this part of the human being is _always_ within man, and if we wish to
understand it in its true inner nature we must also seek it, between birth
and death, by means of intuition. Anyone attempting to fathom man by means
of imagination and inspiration alone would miss the very innermost being,
that which continues from incarnation to incarnation. It is therefore by
intuitive cognition alone that adequate research concerning reincarnation
and Karma becomes possible, and all genuine knowledge of these processes
is derived from research undertaken by means of intuition. If a man wishes
to know his own inner self, he can only do so by intuition; by its aid he
becomes aware of what it is that moves onward within him from incarnation
to incarnation; and should it fall to anyone’s lot to know something about
his earlier incarnations, this can only take place through intuitive
cognition.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Cognition through inspiration and intuition is attainable only by means of
psycho-spiritual exercises, and they resemble those meditations practiced
for the attainment of imagination which have already been described.
While, however, in exercises for the development of the imagination, a
connection is set up with impressions belonging to the world of the
physical senses, such connections gradually cease in the case of exercises
for inspiration. In order to understand more clearly what must be done,
let us recall once more the symbol of the “rosy cross.” When we meditate
on this we have before us a picture, of which the component parts have
been taken from the world of the senses: there is the black colour of the
cross, the roses, etc., and yet the combination of those various parts
into the “rosy cross” is not derived from the world of the senses. If the
student now endeavours to banish from his consciousness both the black
cross and the red roses, as pictures of sense-realities, only retaining in
his soul that spiritual activity which has been used in putting these
parts together, he will then have a means for a meditation that will
gradually lead him on to inspiration. He should put the question to
himself somewhat in the following manner: “What have I done inwardly to
construct that symbol from cross and rose? What I did (an act of my own
soul), I will retain within my hold; but the picture itself I will allow
to fade away out of my consciousness. I shall then be able to feel within
me all that my soul did in order to produce the picture, though I no
longer recall the picture itself. I will now live wholly within my own
activity that created the picture. I will not meditate upon a picture, but
upon the powers of my own soul which are capable of creating pictures.”
Such meditations must now be practised with various other symbols. This
leads then to cognition through inspiration. Here is another example, that
of meditating upon the growth and subsequent withering of a plant. Let the
picture of a slowly growing plant arise in the soul, as it sprouts from
the seed, unfolds leaf after leaf, then blossoms and fruits; then again as
it begins to wither on to its complete dissolution. By the help of
meditations on such a symbol as this, the student gradually attains a
feeling concerning growth and decay of which the plant is but a symbol. If
the exercises be persevered in continuously, the image of the
transformation which underlies physical growth and decay can be evolved
from this feeling.
But if one wishes to attain the corresponding stage of inspiration, this
exercise must be practised quite differently. Here one’s own activity of
soul must be called to mind,—that which had obtained the conception of
growth and decay from the image of the plant. The plant must now be
allowed to vanish altogether from the consciousness, and the attention be
concentrated entirely upon the student’s own inner activity. It is only
such exercises as these that help us to rise to inspiration. At first the
occult student will find it difficult to fully grasp how to set about such
an exercise. This is because man is used to permitting his inner life to
be governed by outward impressions, and thus falls immediately into
uncertainty and wavering when now he must unfold in addition a soul life
which has freed itself from all connections with outward impressions.
Here the student must clearly understand that he should only undertake
these exercises if along with them he cultivates everything that may lead
to firmness and stability in his judgment, emotional life, and character;
these precautions are even more necessary than when seeking to acquire the
faculty of imagination. Should he take these precautions, he will be
doubly successful, for, in the first place, he will not risk losing the
balance of his personality through the exercises; and secondly, he will
acquire the capacity of being really able to carry out what is demanded in
these exercises. They will be deemed difficult only as long as one has not
yet attained a particular attitude of soul, and certain feelings and
sentiments. He who patiently and perseveringly cultivates within his soul
such qualities as are favourable to the growth of supersensible cognition,
will not be long in acquiring both the understanding and the faculty for
these practices.
Any one who can acquire the habit of frequently entering into the quiet of
his own soul, and who, instead of brooding over himself, transforms and
orders those experiences he has had in life, will gain much. For he will
perceive that his thoughts and feelings become richer, if through memory
he establishes a relationship between the different experiences of life.
He will become aware that he gains stores of new knowledge not only
through new impressions and new experiences, but also by letting the old
ones be active within him.
He who allows his experiences and his opinions free play, keeping himself
with his sympathies and antipathies, personal interests and feelings
entirely in the background, will prepare an especially fertile soil for
supersensible cognition. He will in very truth be developing what may be
called a rich inner life. But what is of primary importance is the balance
and equilibrium of the qualities of the soul. People are very apt to
become one-sided when indulging in certain activities of the soul. Thus,
when a person has come to know the advantages of contemplation, and of
dwelling upon pictures derived from his own thought-world, he is apt to
develop a tendency to withdraw himself from the impressions of the outer
world. Yet such a step only leads to parching and withering the inner
life; and he will go farthest who manages to retain an unchecked
receptivity for all impressions of the outer world, while possessing the
power to withdraw within his own inner self. It is by no means necessary
to think only of the so-called important events of life: every one, in
every sphere of life, be his four walls ever so humble, will be possessed
of experience enough, provided only his mind is truly receptive.
Experiences need not be sought—they abound on every hand.
Of particular importance is the way in which experience may be utilized by
the human soul. For instance, one may make the discovery that someone whom
he or another greatly reveres, has some quality that must be regarded as a
flaw in his character. An experience of this kind may lead the person to
whom it comes to thoughts which will tend toward one of two different
directions. He may simply feel that he can never again regard the person
in question with the same degree of veneration; or on the other hand, he
may say to himself: “How has it been possible for this revered person to
be burdened with such a failing? How can I present the matter to my mind
so as to see in this failing not merely a fault, but something that is the
outcome of his life, possibly even caused by his noble qualities?” Whoever
can place the question thus before his own mind may, perhaps, arrive at
the conclusion that his veneration for his friend need not suffer the
least diminution, in spite of the failing that has come to light.
Experiences of this nature will, each time they are met with, add
something to our understanding of life. Yet it would certainly be a bad
thing for one to allow himself to be tempted through this generous view of
life, to excuse everything in those whom he happens to like, or to drop
into the habit of ignoring every blamable action, in order thereby to seek
some benefit to his own inner development. Blaming or excusing the
mistakes of others merely as a result of an inner impulse, does not
further our development. This can only happen if our action is governed by
the particular case itself, regardless of what we may thereby gain or
lose. It is absolutely true that we cannot learn by condemning a fault,
but only by understanding it; but, at the same time, if, owing to
understanding it, we exclude all disapproval of it, we likewise would not
progress very far.
Here, again, the important thing is to avoid one-sidedness, either in one
direction or the other, and to establish harmony and balance of all
qualities in the soul; and this is especially to be kept in mind in regard
to one quality which is pre-eminently important to man’s development: the
feeling of devotion. Those who can cultivate this feeling, or on whom
nature herself has bestowed so inestimable a gift, have a good foundation
for the powers of supersensible cognition. Those who in childhood and
youth have been able to look up to certain persons with feelings of
devoted admiration, beholding in them some high ideal, will already
possess in the depths of their souls the soil in which supersensible
cognition may flourish abundantly. And those who, possessed of the maturer
judgment of later life, can direct their gaze upon the starry heavens and
surrender themselves unreservedly to admiration of the revelations of the
Higher Powers, are in a like manner ripening their senses for the
acquisition of knowledge with regard to the supersensible worlds. So is it
also with those who can admire the powers ruling over human life itself.
It is by no means of small importance for a fully matured man to be able
to feel veneration to the highest degree for other people whose worth he
senses or recognizes. For it is only where veneration such as this is
present that a vista of the higher worlds can be revealed. Those who
possess no sense of reverence will never go very far in their attainment
of cognition; for from those who decline to appreciate anything in this
world, the essence of all things will assuredly be withheld.
Nevertheless, any one who permits his feelings of reverence and devotion
to kill his healthy self-consciousness and self-confidence, is guilty of
sinning against the laws of balance and equilibrium. The occult student
must work constantly in order to mature his own nature; then indeed he may
well have confidence in his own personality, and believe that its powers
are increasing more and more. Any one arriving at the right feeling in
this respect will say to himself: “There are within me hidden powers, and
I am able to call them forth from within. If, therefore, I see something
which fills me with reverence because it is above me, I need no longer
merely venerate it, but I may confidently assume that, if I develop all
that is in me, I may raise myself to the level of the object of my
veneration.”
The more capable a man is of fixing his attention upon these events of
life with which he is not directly familiar, the greater will be the
possibility of providing himself with a foundation for development in
higher worlds. The following example will make this evident. Let us assume
that some one is placed in a position in which it rests with him either to
do, or leave undone, a certain thing. His judgment bids him “Do this,”
while at the same time there may be a certain indefinite something in his
feelings which deters him from the deed. It may so happen that the person
in question will pay no heed to this inexplicable something, carrying out
the action in accordance with his judgment. But it may also be that the
person so placed will yield to this inner impulse and not perform the act.
Now, pursuing the matter further, he may find that mischief would have
resulted from his following the dictates of his reason, and that a
blessing awaited him through the omission of the act. An experience of
this nature may lead a man’s thoughts into quite a definite channel, and
then he will put the matter to himself in this way: “There is something
within me that is a surer guide than that measure of judgment of which I
am at present possessed: I must therefore retain an open mind toward this
inner something, to the height of which my own capacity for judgment has
not yet attained.”
The soul derives much benefit when it directs its attention to occurrences
in life such as these, for they demonstrate that man’s healthy
premonitions bear something in them which is of greater moment than he,
with his present degree of judgment, is able to perceive. Attention in
this direction has the effect of enlarging the life of the soul. Yet here
again certain peculiarities may arise which are of themselves dangerous.
One who accustoms himself to a perpetual disregarding of his judgment,
owing to this or that “premonition,” would easily become a shuttle-cock
tossed at the mercy of every kind of undefined impulse; indeed, it is not
a far cry from such habitual indecision to a state of absolute
superstition.
Every superstition is disastrous to the student of occult science. The
possibility of gaining admission, by legitimate means, to the realms of
the spiritual life must depend upon a careful exclusion of all
superstition, phantasy, and dreaming. One who is pleased at having had a
certain experience which cannot be grasped by human reason will not
approach the spiritual world in the right manner. No partiality for the
“inexplicable” will ever make one qualified for discipleship of the
Spirit. Indeed the pupil should utterly discard the notion that a true
mystic is one who is always ready to surmise the presence of what cannot
be explained or explored. The right way is to be prepared to recognize on
all hands hidden forces and hidden beings, yet at the same time to assume
that what is “unexplored” today will be able to be explored when the
requisite ability has been developed.
There is a certain mood of soul which it is important for the pupil to
maintain at every stage of his development. He should not let his urge for
higher knowledge lead him to keep on aiming to get answers to particular
questions. Rather should he continually be asking: How am I to develop the
needed faculties within myself? For when by dint of patient inner work
some faculty develops in him, he will receive the answer to some of his
questions. Genuine pupils of the Spirit will always take pains to
cultivate this attitude of soul. They will thereby be encouraged to work
upon themselves, that they may become ever more and more mature in spirit,
and they will abjure the desire to extort answers to particular questions.
They will _wait_ until such time as the answers come.
Here again, however, there is the possibility of a one-sidedness, which
may prevent the pupil from going forward in the way he should. For at some
moment he may quite rightly feel that _according to the measure of his
powers_ he can answer for himself even questions of the highest order.
Thus at every turn moderation and balance play an essential part in the
life of the soul.
Many more qualities of soul could be cited that may with advantage be
fostered and developed, if the pupil is seriously wanting to work through
a training for Inspiration; and in connection with every one of them we
should find that emphasis is laid on the supreme importance of moderation
and balance. These attributes of soul help the pupil to understand the
exercises that are given for the attainment of Inspiration, and also make
him capable of carrying them out.
The exercises for Intuition demand from the pupil that he let disappear
from consciousness not only the pictures to which he gave himself up in
contemplation in order to arrive at Imaginative cognition, but also that
meditating upon his own activity of soul, which he practiced for the
attainment of Inspiration. This means that he is now to have in his soul
literally nothing of what he has experienced hitherto, whether outwardly
or inwardly. If, after discarding all outward and inward experience,
nothing whatever is left in his consciousness _that is to say, if
consciousness simply slips away from him and he sinks into
unconsciousness_ then that will tell him that he is not yet ripe to
undertake the exercises for Intuition and must continue working with those
for Imagination and Inspiration. A time will come however when an effect
will linger in the consciousness which can just as well be made the object
of meditation, as were before those outer and inner impressions. This
something is, however, of a very special nature, and in comparison with
all previous experiences, it is something absolutely new. When it occurs,
we recognize it as something we have never known before. It is a
perception, just as an actual sound is a perception, that strikes upon the
ear; yet it can enter the consciousness only through intuition, just as
the sound can only enter the consciousness by way of the ear. Thus with
intuition, the last remnants of the physical and sentient are stripped
from man’s impressions, while the spiritual world begins to expand before
the understanding in a form that has nothing in common with the
characteristics of the world of the physical senses.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Imaginative cognition is attained by developing the lotus flowers within
the astral body. Through those exercises undertaken for the attainment of
inspiration and intuition, particular movements, formations and currents
which were previously absent, now appear in the human etheric or vital
body. These are the very organs which enable man to “read the secret
script,” and bring that which lies beyond it within his reach. For to the
clairvoyant, the changes which occur in the etheric body of a person
attaining to inspiration and intuition appear in the following manner.
Near the physical heart a new center is forming in the etheric body, which
develops into an etheric organ. From this organ, movements and currents
flow toward different parts of the human body, in the most varied manner.
The most important of these currents approach the lotus flowers, pass
through them and their separate petals, and thence direct their course
outward, pouring themselves into outer space in the form of rays. The more
developed a person is, the greater will be the circumference around him in
which these rays become discernible. This centre near the heart is not,
however, formed at the very beginning, under correct training. It is first
prepared. A temporary center is first formed in the head: this then moves
down to the region of the larynx and is finally transferred into the
region of the heart. Under an irregular course of development it would be
possible for the organ in question to develop near the heart at the
outset. In that case the student, instead of arriving in due course at
adequate, tranquil clairvoyance by regular means, would run the risk of
turning into a visionary and dreamer.
Subsequent development enables the occult student to render these currents
and organized parts of this etheric body independent of his physical body
and to use them independently. The lotus flowers then serve him as
instruments by which to move his etheric body. Yet, before this can take
place, certain currents and radiations must come into action around his
entire etheric body, surrounding this, as it were, with a fine network,
thus encasing it as though it were a separate entity. When this has taken
place, the movements and currents of the etheric body can without
hindrance touch the outer psycho-spiritual world and unite with it so that
outer psycho-spiritual occurrences and inner ones (those within the human
etheric body) blend into one another. When this comes to pass, the moment
has arrived when man can consciously experience the world of inspiration.
This cognition takes place in a manner different from cognition of the
physical sense-world. In this latter, we become aware of the world by
means of our senses and form our ideas and concepts from these
perceptions. But in the case of cognition through inspiration, this is not
so.
What is thus perceived is instantaneous; there is no thinking after the
perception has taken place. That which in the case of physical
sense-cognition is only afterward gained through the concept, is, in the
case of inspiration, simultaneous with the perception. One would therefore
become merged with the surrounding psycho-spiritual world, and be unable
to differentiate oneself from it had not the fine network above alluded to
been previously formed in the etheric body.
When exercises for intuition are practiced, they not only affect the
etheric body but extend their influence to the supersensible forces of the
physical body. But it must not, of course, be imagined that effects are
brought about in the physical body which are discernible to ordinary
sense-observation, for these effects the clairvoyant alone is able to
judge, and they have nothing to do with external powers of perception.
They come as the result of a ripened consciousness, when this latter is
able to have intuitional experiences, even though it has divested itself
of all previous inner and outer experiences. The experiences of intuition
are, however, subtle, delicate and intimate, in comparison with which the
physical body, at its present stage of development, is coarse. For this
reason, it offers a positive hindrance to the success of any exercises for
attaining intuition. Nevertheless, should these be pursued with energy and
perseverance, and with the requisite inner calm, they will ultimately
overcome those powerful hindrances of the physical body. The occult
student will become aware of this when he notices how, by degrees,
particular actions of his physical body which hitherto had taken place
without his own volition, now come under his control. He will also become
aware that for a brief time he will feel the need, for instance, of so
regulating his breathing (or some similar act) as to bring it into a kind
of harmonious accord with whatever is being enacted within his soul, be it
exercises or other forms of inner concentration.
The ideal development would be that no exercises should be done by means
of the physical body but that everything which has to take place within it
should result only as a consequence of exercises for intuition. As,
however, the physical body offers such powerful impediments, the training
may permit of some alleviations. These consist in exercises which affect
the physical body; yet everything in this domain that has not been
directly imparted by the teacher, or those having knowledge and experience
of these things, is fraught with danger. Such exercises, for instance,
include a certain regulated process of breathing to be carried out for a
very short space of time. These regulations of the breathing correspond in
quite a definite way to particular laws of the psycho-spiritual world.
Breathing is a physical process, and when this act is so carried out as to
be the expression of a psycho-spiritual law, physical existence receives
the direct stamp, as it were, of spirituality, and the physical matter is
transformed.
For this reason occult science is able to call the change due to such
direct spiritual influence, a transmutation of the physical body, and this
process represents what is called “working with the philosopher’s stone”
by him who has a knowledge of these matters. He who knows these things,
frees himself indeed from those concepts which have been limited by
superstition, humbug and charlatanry. The significance of the phenomena
does not become less to him who knows, just because, as a spiritual
investigator, all superstition is foreign to him. When he has acquired a
concept of a significant fact, he may be allowed to call it by its
_correct name_ although that name has been fixed upon it as a result of
misunderstanding, error and nonsense.
Every true intuition is in fact a “working with the philosopher’s stone,”
because each genuine intuition calls directly upon those powers which act
from out the supersensible world, into the world of the senses.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
As the occult student climbs the path leading to cognition of the higher
worlds, he becomes aware at a particular point that the cohesion of the
powers of his own personality is assuming a different form from that which
it possesses in the world of the physical senses. In the latter the ego
brings about a uniform co-operation of the powers of the soul—primarily of
thought, feeling and will. These three soul powers are actually, under
normal conditions of human life, in perpetual relation one with another.
For instance, we see a particular object in the external world, and it is
pleasing or is displeasing to the soul; that is to say, the perception of
the thing will be followed by a sense of either pleasure or displeasure.
Possibly we may desire the object, or may have the impulse to alter it in
some way or other; that is to say, desire and will associate themselves
with perception and feeling. Now this association is due to the fact that
the ego co-ordinates presentment (thinking), feeling, and willing, and in
this way introduces order among the forces of the personality. This
healthy arrangement would be interrupted should the ego prove itself
powerless in this respect: if, for instance, the will went a different way
from the feeling or thinking. No man would be in a healthy condition of
mind who, while thinking this or that to be right, nevertheless wished to
do something which he did not consider right.
The same would hold good if a person desired, not the thing that pleased
him, but that which displeased him. Now the person progressing toward
higher cognition becomes aware that feeling, thinking, and willing do
actually assume a certain independence; that, for example, a particular
thought no longer urges him, as though of itself, to a certain condition
of feeling and willing. The matter resolves itself thus: We may comprehend
something correctly by means of thinking, but in order to arrive at a
feeling or impulse of the will on the subject, we need a further
independent impetus, coming from within ourselves. Thinking, feeling and
willing no longer remain three forces, radiating from the ego as their
common centre, but become, as it were, independent entities, just as
though they were three separate personalities. For this reason, therefore,
a person’s own ego must be strengthened, for not only must it introduce
order among three powers, but the leadership and guidance of three
entities have devolved upon it.
And this is what is known to occult science as the cleavage of the
personality. Here is once more clearly revealed how important it is to add
to the exercises for higher training others for giving fixity and firmness
to the judgment, and to the life of feeling and will. For if certainty and
firmness are not brought into the higher world, it will at once be seen
how weak the ego proves to be, and how it can be no fitting ruler over the
powers of thought, feeling and will. In the presence of this weakness, the
soul would be dragged by three different personalities in as many
directions, and its inner individual separateness would cease. But should
the development of the occult student proceed on the right lines, this
multiplication of himself, so to speak, will prove to be a real step
forward, and he will nevertheless continue, as a new ego, to be the strong
ruler over the independent entities which now make up his soul.
In the subsequent course of development this division or cleavage is
carried further; thought, now functioning independently, arouses the
activities of a fourth distinct psycho-spiritual being; one that may be
described as a direct influx into the individual, of currents which bear a
resemblance to thoughts. The entire world then appears as
thought-structure, confronting man just like the plant and animal worlds
in the realm of the physical senses. In the same manner feeling and will,
which have become independent, stimulate two other powers within the soul
to work in it as separate entities. And yet a seventh power and entity
must be added, which resembles the ego itself. Thus man, on reaching a
particular stage of development, finds himself to be composed of seven
entities, all of which he has to guide and control.
The whole of this experience becomes associated with a further one. Before
entering the supersensible world, thinking, feeling, and willing were
known to man merely as inner soul-experiences. But as soon as he enters
the supersensible world he becomes aware of things which do not express
physical sense realities, but psycho-spiritual realities. Behind the
characteristics of the new world of which he has become aware, he now
perceives spiritual beings. These now present themselves to him as an
external world, just as stones, plants and animals in the physical sense
world, have impressed his senses. Now the occult student is able to
observe an important difference between the spiritual world unfolding
itself before him and the world he has hitherto been accustomed to
recognize by means of his physical senses. A plant of the sense-world
remains what it is, whatever man’s soul may think or feel about it. This
is not the case, however, with the images of the psycho-spiritual world,
for these change according to man’s own thoughts and feelings. Man stamps
upon them an impression which is the result of his own being.
Let us imagine a particular picture presenting itself to man in the
imaginative world. As long as he maintains indifference toward it, it will
continue to show a particular form. As soon, however, as he is moved by
feelings of like or dislike with regard to it, its form will change.
Pictures, therefore, at first present not only something independent and
external to man, but they reflect also what man himself is. These pictures
are permeated through and through with man’s own being. This falls like a
veil over the other beings. In this case man, even if confronted by a real
being, does not see this, but sees what he himself has created. Thus he
may have something true before him, and yet see what is false. Indeed,
this is not only the case in respect to what man has observed concerning
his own being, but everything that is in him impresses itself upon the
spiritual world.
If, for example, a person has secret inclinations, which owing to
education and character are precluded from revealing themselves in life,
those inclinations will, nevertheless, take effect in the psycho-spiritual
world, which is thus colored in a peculiar way, due to that person’s
being, quite irrespective of how much he may or may not know of his own
being. And in order to be able to advance beyond this stage of
development, it becomes necessary that man should learn to distinguish
between himself and the spiritual world around him. It is necessary that
he should learn to eliminate all the effects produced by his own nature
upon the surrounding psycho-spiritual world. This can be done only by
acquiring a knowledge of what we ourselves take with us into this new
world. It is therefore primarily a question of self-knowledge, in order
that we may become able to perceive clearly the surrounding
psycho-spiritual world. It is true that certain facts of human development
entail such self-knowledge as must naturally be acquired when one enters
higher worlds. In the ordinary world of the physical senses man develops
his ego, his self-consciousness, and this ego then acts as a point of
attraction for all that appertains to man. All personal propensities,
sympathies, antipathies, passions, opinions, etc., possessed by a person,
group themselves, as it were, around this ego, and it is this ego likewise
to which human Karma is attached. Were we able to see this ego unveiled,
it would also be possible to see just what blows of fate it must yet
endure in this and future incarnations, as a result of its life in
previous incarnations and the qualities acquired. Encumbered as it is with
all this, the ego must be the first picture that presents itself to the
human soul, when ascending into the psycho-spiritual world. This double of
the human being, in accordance with a law of the spiritual world, is bound
to be his first impression in that world. It is easy to explain this
fundamental law to ourselves, if we consider the following. In the life of
the physical senses man is cognizant of himself only so far as he is
inwardly conscious of himself in his thinking, feeling, and willing. This
cognition is an inner one; it does not present itself to him externally,
as do stones, plants and animals; but even through inner experiences, man
learns to know himself only partially, for he has within him something
that prevents deep self-knowledge, namely, the impulse to immediately
transform this quality, when through self-cognition he is forced to admit
its presence and concerning which he is unwilling to deceive himself.
If he did not yield to this impulse, but simply turned his attention away
from himself—remaining as he is—he would naturally deprive himself of even
the possibility of knowing himself in regard to that particular matter.
Yet should he “explore” himself, facing his characteristics without
self-deception, he would either be able to improve them, or in his present
condition of life he would be unable to do so. In the latter case a
feeling would steal over his soul which we must designate a feeling of
shame. Indeed, this is the way in which man’s sound nature acts; it
experiences through self-knowledge various feelings of shame. Even in
ordinary life this feeling has a certain definite effect. A healthy-minded
person will take care that that which fills him with this feeling does not
express itself outwardly or manifest itself in deeds. Thus the sense of
shame is a force urging man to conceal something within himself, not
allowing it to be outwardly apparent.
If we consider this well, we shall find it possible to understand why
occult science should ascribe more far-reaching effects to another inner
experience of the soul, very closely allied to this feeling of shame.
Occult science finds that within the hidden depths of the soul a kind of
secret feeling of shame exists, of which man in his life of the physical
senses is unaware. Yet this secret feeling acts much in the same way as
the conscious feeling of shame of ordinary life to which we have alluded;
it prevents man’s inmost being from confronting him in a recognizable
image, or double. Were this feeling not present, man would see himself as
he is in very truth; not only would he experience his thoughts, ideas,
feelings and decisions inwardly, but he would perceive these as he now
perceives stones, animals and plants.
This feeling, therefore, is that which veils man from himself, and at the
same time hides from him the entire spiritual world. For owing to this
veiling of man’s inner self, he becomes unable to perceive those things by
means of which he is to develop organs for penetrating into the
psycho-spiritual world; he becomes unable to so transform his own being as
to render it capable of obtaining spiritual organs of perception.
If man aims however to form these organs of perception through correct
training, that which he himself really is appears before him as the first
impression. He perceives his double. This self-recognition is inseparable
from perception of the rest of the psycho-spiritual world. In the everyday
life of the physical world the feeling of shame here described acts in
such a manner as to be perpetually closing the door which leads into the
psycho-spiritual world. If man would take but a single step in order to
penetrate into that world, this instantly appearing but unconscious
feeling of shame, conceals that portion of the psycho-spiritual world
which would reveal itself. The exercises here described do, however,
unlock this world: and it so happens that the above-mentioned hidden
feeling acts as a great benefactor to man, for all that we may have
gained, apart from occult training, in the matter of judgment, feeling and
character, is insufficient to support us when confronted by our own being
in its true form; its apparition would rob us of all feeling of selfhood,
self-reliance and self-consciousness. And that this may not happen,
provision must be made for cultivating sound judgment, good feeling and
character, along with the exercises given for the attainment of higher
knowledge.
A correct method of tuition teaches the student as much of occult science
as will, in combination with the many means provided for self-knowledge
and self-observation, enable him to meet his double with assured strength.
It will then appear to the student that he sees, in another form, a
picture of the imaginative world with which he has already become
acquainted in the physical world. Anyone who has first learned in the
physical world, by means of his understanding, to apprehend rightly the
law of Karma, is not likely to be greatly frightened when he sees his fate
traced upon the image of his double. Anyone who, by means of his own
powers of judgment, has made himself acquainted with the evolution of the
universe, and the development of the human race, and who is aware that at
a particular epoch of this development the powers of Lucifer penetrated
into the human soul, will have little difficulty in enduring the sight of
the image of his own individuality when he knows that it includes those
Luciferian powers and all their accumulated effects.
This will suffice to show how necessary it is that no one should demand
admission into the spiritual world before having learned to understand
certain truths concerning it; learning them by means of his own judgment,
as developed in this world of the physical senses. All that has been said
in this book previous to the chapter concerning “Perception of the higher
worlds,” should have been assimilated by the student in the course of his
regular development, by means of his ordinary judgment, before he has any
desire to seek entrance himself into the supersensible worlds.
Where the training has been such as to pay little heed to firmness and
surety of judgment, and to the life of feeling and character, it may
happen that the student will approach the higher world before being
possessed of the necessary inner capacities. The meeting with his double
would in this case overwhelm him. But what might also happen is that the
person introduced into the supersensible world then would be totally
unable to recognize this world in its true form, for it would be
impossible for him to differentiate between what he sees in the things,
and what they really are. For this distinction becomes possible only when
a person himself has beheld the image of his own being and becomes able to
separate from his surroundings everything which proceeds from his inner
being.
In respect to life in the world of physical sense, man’s double becomes at
once visible through the already mentioned feeling of shame when man nears
the psycho-spiritual world, and in so doing, it also conceals the whole of
that world. The double stands before the entrance as a “guardian,” denying
admission to all who are as yet unfit, and it is therefore designated in
occult science as the “guardian of the threshold of the psycho-spiritual
world.” However, we may call it the “lesser guardian,” for there is
another, of whom we shall speak later.
And besides this meeting with his double on entering the supersensible
world as here described, man encounters the Guardian of the Threshold when
he passes the portals of physical death, and it gradually reveals itself
during that psycho-spiritual development which takes place between death
and a new birth. However, the encounter can in no wise crush us, for we
then know of other worlds of which we are ignorant during the life between
birth and death. A person entering the psycho-spiritual world without
having encountered the Guardian of the Threshold would be liable to fall a
prey to one delusion after another. For he would never be able to
distinguish between that which he himself brings into that world and what
really belongs to it. But correct training should lead the student into
the domain of truth, not of error, and with such training the meeting
must, at one time or another, inevitably take place, for it is the one
indispensable precaution against the possibilities of deception and
phantasm in the observation of supersensible worlds. It is one of the most
indispensable precautions to be taken by every occult student, to work
carefully upon himself in order not to become a visionary, subject to
every possible deception and self-deception, suggestion and
auto-suggestion. Wherever correct occult training is followed, the causes
of such deceptions are destroyed at their source. It would of course be
impossible to speak here exhaustively of the many details to be included
in such precautions, and we can only indicate in general the underlying
principles. The illusions to be taken into account arise from two sources.
In part they proceed from the fact that our own soul-being colors reality.
In the ordinary life of the physical sense-world, the danger arising from
this source of deception is comparatively small, because here the outer
world always obtrudes itself upon the observer in its own sharp outline,
no matter how much the observer is inclined to color it according to his
wishes and interests. As soon, however, as we enter the imaginative world,
the images are changed by such wishes and interests, and we then have
actually before us that which we ourselves have formed or, at any rate,
helped to form. Now, since through this meeting with the Guardian of the
Threshold the occult student becomes aware of everything within him, of
that which he can take with him into the psycho-spiritual world, this
source of delusion is removed, and the preparation which the occult
student undergoes prior to his entering that world is in itself calculated
to accustom him to exclude himself—even in matters appertaining to the
physical world—when making his observations, thus allowing things and
occurrences to speak for themselves. Any one who has sufficiently
practiced these preparatory exercises may await this meeting with the
Guardian of the Threshold in all tranquillity; by this meeting he will be
definitely tested whether he is now really capable of putting aside his
own being even when confronting the psycho-spiritual world.
In addition to this there is another source of delusion. This becomes
apparent when we place the wrong interpretation upon an impression we
receive. We may illustrate it by means of a very simple example taken from
the world of the physical senses. It is the delusion we may encounter when
sitting in a railway carriage; we _think_ the trees are moving in the
reverse direction to the train, whereas in fact we ourselves are moving
with the train. Although there are many cases in which such illusions
occurring in the physical world are more difficult to correct than the
simple one we have mentioned, yet it is easy to see that, even within that
world, means may be found for getting rid of those delusions if a person
of sound judgment brings everything to bear upon the matter which may help
to clear it up.
But as soon as we penetrate into the psycho-spiritual world such
elucidations become less easy. In the world of sense, facts are not
altered by human delusions about them; it is therefore possible to correct
a delusion by unprejudiced observation of facts. But in the supersensible
world this is not immediately possible. If we desire to study a
supersensible occurrence and approach it with the wrong judgment, we then
carry that wrong judgment over into the thing itself, and it becomes so
interwoven with the thing, that the two cannot be easily distinguished.
The error then is not in the person and the correct fact external to him,
but the error will have become a component part of the external fact. It
cannot therefore be cleared up simply by unprejudiced observation of the
fact. This is enough to indicate an extremely fertile source of illusion
and deception for one who would venture to approach the supersensible
world without adequate preparation.
As the occult student has now acquired the faculty to exclude those
illusions originating from the coloring of the supersensible
world-phenomena with his own being, so must he now acquire the faculty of
making ineffective the second source of illusions mentioned above.
Only after the meeting with his double, can he eliminate what comes from
himself and thus he will be able to remove the second source of delusion
when he has acquired the faculty for judging by the very nature of a fact
seen in the supersensible world, whether it is a reality or an illusion.
Now if the illusions were of precisely the same appearance as the
realities, differentiation would be impossible. But this is not the case.
Illusions of the supersensible world have in themselves qualities which
distinguish them definitely from the realities, and the important thing is
for the occult student to know by what qualities he may be able to
recognize those realities.
Nothing seems more natural than that those ignorant of occult training
should say: “How, then, is it at all possible to guard against delusions,
since their sources are so numerous?” And further: “Can an occult student
ever be safe from the possibility that all his so-called higher
experiences may not turn out to be based on mere deception and
self-deception (suggestion and auto-suggestion)?” Any one advancing these
objections ignores the fact that all true occult training proceeds in such
a manner as to remove those sources of delusion. In the first place, the
occult student during his preparation, will have become possessed of
enough knowledge about all that which may lead to delusion and
self-delusion, that he will be in a position to protect himself against
them. He has, in this respect, an opportunity, like that of no other human
being, to render himself sober and capable of sound judgment for the
journey of life. Everything he learns teaches him not to rely upon vague
presentiments and premonitions. Training makes him as cautious as
possible, and, in addition to this, all true training leads in the first
place to concepts of the great cosmic events, to matters, therefore, which
necessitate the exertion of the judgment, a process by which this faculty
is at the same time rendered keener and more refined. But those who
decline to occupy themselves with these remote subjects, and prefer
keeping the revelations nearer at hand, might miss the strengthening of
that sound power of judgment which gives certainty in distinguishing
between illusion and reality. Yet even this is not the most important
thing, but the exercises themselves, carried out through a systematic
course of occult training. These must be so arranged that the
consciousness of the student is enabled during meditation to scan minutely
all that passes within his soul. In order to bring about imagination, the
first thing to be done is to form a symbol. In this there are still
elements taken from external observation; it is not only man who
participates in their content, he himself does not produce them. Therefore
he may deceive himself concerning them and assign their origin to wrong
sources. But when the occult student proceeds to the exercises for
inspiration, he drops this content from his consciousness and immerses
himself only in the soul-activity which formed the symbol. Even here error
is still possible: education and study etc., have induced a particular
kind of soul-activity in man. He is unable to know everything about the
origin of this activity. Now, however, the occult student removes this,
his own soul-activity, from his consciousness; if then something remains,
nothing adheres to it that cannot easily be reviewed; nothing can intrude
itself in respect to its entire content that cannot easily be judged.
In his intuition, therefore, the occult student possesses something which
shows him the pure, clear reality of the psycho-spiritual world. And if he
applies this recognized test to all that meets his observation in the
realm of psycho-spiritual realities, he will be well able to distinguish
appearance from reality. He may also feel sure that the application of
this law provides just as effectually against delusions in the spiritual
world as does the knowledge in the physical world that an _imaginary_
piece of red-hot iron cannot burn him.
It is obvious that this test applies only to our own experiences in the
supersensible world, and not to communications made to us which we have to
apprehend by means of our physical understanding and our healthy sense of
truth. The occult student should exert himself to draw a distinct line of
demarcation between the knowledge he acquires by the one means, and by the
other. He should be ready on one the hand to accept communications made to
him regarding the higher worlds, and should seek to understand them by
using his powers of judgment. When, however, he is confronted by an
“experience,” which he may so name because it is due to personal
observation, he will first carefully test the same to ascertain whether it
possesses exactly those characteristics which he has learned to recognize
by means of infallible intuition.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
The meeting with the Guardian of the Threshold being over, the occult
student will have to face other new experiences, and the first thing that
he will become aware of is the inner connection which exists between this
Guardian of the Threshold and that soul-power we have already
characterized, when describing the cleavage of personality, as being the
seventh power to resolve itself into an independent entity. This seventh
entity is, indeed, in certain respects no other than the double, or
Guardian of the Threshold itself, and it lays a particular task upon the
student. Namely, that which he is in his lower self and which now appears
to him in the image, he must guide and lead by means of the new-born
higher self. This will result in a sort of battle with this double, which
will continually strive for the upper hand. Now to establish the right
relationship to it, to allow it to do nothing except what takes place
under the influence of the new-born ego, this is what strengthens and
fortifies man’s forces.
This matter of self-cognition is, in certain respects, different in the
higher worlds from what it is in the physical sense-world. For whereas in
the latter, self-cognition is only an inner experience, the newly born
self immediately presents itself as an outward psycho-spiritual
apparition. We see our new-born self before us like another being, yet we
cannot perceive it in its entirety, for, whatever the stage to which we
may have climbed on our journey to the supersensible worlds, there will
always be still higher stages which will enable us to perceive more and
more of our “higher self.” It can therefore only partially reveal itself
to the student at any particular stage. Having once caught a glimpse of
this higher self, man feels a tremendous temptation to look upon it in the
same manner in which he is accustomed to regard the things of the physical
sense-world. And yet this temptation is salutary; it is indeed necessary,
if man’s development is to proceed in the right manner. The student must
here note what it is that appears as his double, as the Guardian of the
Threshold, and place it by the side of the higher self, in order that he
may rightly observe the disparity between what he is and what he is to
become. But while thus engaged in observation he will find that the
Guardian of the Threshold will assume quite a different aspect, for it
will now reveal itself as a picture of all the _obstacles_ which oppose
the development of the higher ego, and he then becomes aware of what a
load he drags about with him in his ordinary ego. And should the student’s
preparation not have rendered him strong enough to be able to say: “I will
not remain at this point, but will persistently work my way upward toward
the higher ego,” he will grow weak and will shrink back dismayed before
the labor that lies before him. He has plunged into the psycho-spiritual
world, but gives up working his way farther, and becomes a captive to that
image which, as Guardian of the Threshold, now confronts the soul. And the
remarkable thing here is that the person so situated will have no feeling
of being a captive. He will, on the contrary, think he is going through
quite a different experience, for the image called forth by the Guardian
of the Threshold may be such as to awaken in the soul of the observer the
impression that in the pictures which appear at this stage of development
he has before him the whole universe in its entirety—the impression of
having attained to the summit of all knowledge, and of there being,
therefore, nothing left to strive after. Therefore, instead of feeling
himself a captive, the student would believe himself rich beyond all
measure, and in possession of all the secrets of the universe. Nor need
this experience fill one with surprise, though it be the reverse of the
facts, for we must remember that by the time these experiences are felt,
we are already standing within the psycho-spiritual world, and that the
special peculiarity of this world is that it reverses events—a fact which
has already been alluded to in our consideration of life after death.
The image seen by the occult student at this stage of development shows
him a different aspect from that in which the Guardian of the Threshold
first revealed itself. In the double first mentioned, were to be seen all
those qualities which, as the result of the influence of Lucifer, are
possessed by man’s ordinary ego. But in the course of human development,
another power has, in consequence of Lucifer’s influence, also been drawn
into the human soul; this is known as the force of Ahriman. It is this
force that, during his physical existence, prevents man from becoming
aware of those psycho-spiritual beings which lie behind the surface of the
external world. All that man’s soul has become under the influence of this
force, may be discerned in the image revealing itself during the
experience just described. Those who have been sufficiently prepared for
this experience will, when thus confronted, be able to assign to it its
true meaning, and then another form will soon become visible—one we may
describe as the “greater Guardian of the Threshold.” This one will tell
the student not to rest content with the stage to which he has attained,
but to work on energetically. It will call forth in him the consciousness
that the world he has conquered will only become a truth, and not an
illusion, if the work thus begun be continued in a corresponding manner.
Those, however, who have gone through incorrect occult training and would
approach this meeting unprepared, would then experience something in their
souls when they come to the “greater Guardian of the Threshold,” which can
only be described as a “feeling of inexpressible fright”, of “boundless
fear.”
Just as the meeting with the “lesser Guardian” gives the occult student
the opportunity of judging whether or not he is proof against delusions
such as might arise through interweaving his own personality with the
supersensible world, so too must he be able to prove from the experiences
which finally lead to the “greater Guardian,” whether he is able to
withstand those illusions which are to be traced to the second source
mentioned farther back in this chapter. Should he be proof against the
powerful illusion by which the world of images to which he has attained,
is falsely displayed to him as a rich possession, when actually he is only
a captive, then he is guarded also against the danger of mistaking
appearance for reality during the further course of his development.
To a certain degree the Guardian of the Threshold will assume a different
form in the case of each individual. The meeting with him corresponds
exactly to the way in which the personal element in supersensible
observations is overcome, and therefore the possibility exists of entering
a realm of experience which is free from any tinge of personality and is
open to every human being.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
When the occult student has passed through the above experiences, he will
be capable of distinguishing in the psycho-spiritual world between what he
himself is and what is outside of him, and he will then recognize why an
understanding of the cosmic occurrences narrated in this book, is
necessary to man’s understanding of humanity itself and its life process.
In fact, we can understand the physical body only when we recognize the
manner in which it has been built up through the developments undergone in
the Saturn, Sun, Moon, and Earth periods, and we understand the etheric
body when we follow its evolution through the Sun, Moon, and Earth stages
of evolution. We further comprehend what is bound up with our
earth-development at present, if we can grasp how all things proceed by
the process of gradual evolution. Occult training places us in a position
to recognize the connection between everything that is within man and the
corresponding facts and beings existing in the world external to him. For
it is a fact that each principle of man stands in some connection with the
rest of the world. The outlines of these subjects could only be briefly
sketched in this book. It must however be borne in mind that the physical
body had, at the time of the Saturn development, for instance, no more
than its rudimentary beginnings. Its organs—such as the heart, lungs, and
brain—developed later during the Sun, Moon, and Earth periods, for which
reason heart, lungs and brain are related to the evolutionary process of
Sun, Moon and Earth.
It is the same with the members of the etheric body, the sentient body,
and the sentient soul. Man is the outcome of the entire world surrounding
him, and every part of his constitution corresponds to some event, to some
being in the external world. At a certain stage of his development the
occult student comes to a realization of this relation of his own being to
the great cosmos, and this stage of development may in the occult sense be
termed a becoming aware of the relationship of the little world, the
microcosm—that is, man himself—to the great world, the macrocosm. And when
the occult student has struggled through to such cognition, he may then go
through a new experience; he begins to feel himself united, as it were,
with the entire cosmic structure, although he remains fully conscious of
his own independence. This sensation is a merging into the whole world, a
becoming “at one” with it, yet _without_ losing one’s own individual
identity. Occult science describes this stage as the “becoming one with
the macrocosm.” It is important that this union should not be imagined as
one in which separate consciousness ceases and in which the human being
flowers forth into the universe, for such a thought would only be the
expression of an opinion resulting from untutored reasoning.
Following this stage of development something takes place that in occult
science is described as “beatitude.” It is neither possible nor necessary
that this stage be more closely described, for no human words have the
power to picture this experience and it may rightly be said that any
conception of this state could be acquired only by means of such
thought-power as would no longer be dependent upon the instrument of the
human brain. The separate stages of higher knowledge, according to the
methods of initiation that have been here described, may be enumerated as
follows:
1. The study of occult science, in the course of which we first of all
make use of the reasoning powers we have acquired in the world of the
physical senses.
2. Attainment of imaginative cognition.
3. Reading the secret script (which corresponds to inspiration).
4. Working with the philosopher’s stone (corresponding to intuition).
5. Cognition of the relationship between the microcosm and the macrocosm.
6. Being one with the macrocosm.
7. Beatitude.
These stages however need not necessarily be thought of as following one
another consecutively, for in the course of training, the occult student,
according to his individuality, may have attained a preceding stage only
to a certain degree when he has already begun to practice exercises,
corresponding to the next higher stage. For instance, it may be that when
he has gained only a few reliable imaginative pictures, he will already be
doing exercises which lead him on to draw inspiration, intuition, or
cognition of the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm into the
sphere of his own experiences.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
When the occult student has experienced intuition he comes to know not
only the forms of the psycho-spiritual world, not only can he recognize
their inter-relationship through the “secret script,” but he attains a
cognition of these beings themselves through whose co-operation the world,
to which he belongs, comes into being. Thus he learns to know himself in
the true form which he possesses as a spiritual being in the
psycho-spiritual world. He has struggled through to the higher ego, and
has learned how he must continue the work in order that he may master his
double, the Guardian of the Threshold. But he has also met the “greater
guardian of the Threshold” who stands before him perpetually urging him to
further labors. It is this greater Guardian of the Threshold who now
becomes the ideal he must strive to resemble, and when the student has
acquired this feeling he will have risen to that important stage of
development in which he will be in a position to recognize who it is that
is really standing before him as that “greater Guardian.” For henceforth,
in the student’s consciousness, the Guardian is gradually transformed into
the figure of the Christ, whose Being and intervention in the evolution of
the earth have been dealt with in a foregoing chapter.
Thus the student, through his intuition, will have become initiated into
that sublime Mystery which is linked with the name of Christ. The Christ
reveals himself to him as the “Great Ideal of humanity on earth.”
When in this manner through intuition, the Christ has been recognized in
the spiritual world, then we can also understand those events that took
place historically upon earth during the fourth post-Atlantean period (the
Greco-Roman time), and how at that time the great Sun-Spirit, the
Christ-Being, intervened in the world’s development, and how He still
continues to guide its evolution. These are matters the student will then
know by personal experience. Therefore it is through intuition that the
meaning and significance of the earth’s evolution are disclosed to the
occult student.
The path leading to cognition of the supersensible worlds as above
indicated, is one which all men may travel, whatever their position under
the present conditions of life may be. And in speaking of such a path it
must be borne in mind that, while the goal of cognition and truth is the
same at all times of the earth’s development, yet the starting-point for
man has varied considerably at different periods. For instance, the man of
the present day who wishes to find his way into supersensible worlds,
cannot start from the same point as the Egyptian candidate for initiation
of old. This is why it is impossible for modern humanity to apply, without
modification, the exercises given to the candidate for initiation in
ancient Egypt. For since those times men’s souls have passed through
different incarnations, and this passing onward from incarnation to
incarnation is not without significance and importance. The capacities and
qualities of souls change from one incarnation to another. Those who have
studied human history only superficially can note that since the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries all life conditions have changed and that
opinions, feelings and even human capabilities have become different from
what they were before that time. The path here described for the
acquirement of higher knowledge is one which is suitable for souls
incarnating in the immediate present. It fixes the starting-point of
spiritual development just where the man of the present day stands, in
whatever conditions of life he may be placed.
From epoch to epoch, progressive evolution leads humanity, in respect to
the path of higher cognition, to ever changing modes, just as outer life
likewise changes its form. For at all times it is necessary that perfect
harmony should reign between external life and initiation. It will be
pointed out in the next chapter of this book what changes initiation,
which in the ancient mysteries lead into the higher worlds, must undergo,
in order to become modern “initiation” for the attainment of supersensible
cognition in its present form.