[1] “_The Way of Initiation_,” or How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher
Worlds,“ by Rudolph Steiner, Ph.D., with a Foreword by Annie Besant,
and some biographical Notes of the author by Edouard Schuré. Second
edition, 237 pages, cloth, crown 8vo, 3/10 post free.
“_Initiation and its Results._” A sequel to “The Way of Initiation.”
Second edition. 3/9 post free. To be obtained from the Theosophical
Publishing Society, 161 New Bond Street, London, W.
[2] This distinction is important, for the ideas of the present time
with regard to this subject are rather inaccurate. The difference
between the vegetable and the creature gifted with the power of
sensation is completely lost sight of, because the essential
characteristic of sensibility is not clearly defined. When a being (or
an object) responds to an exterior impression by showing any effect
whatever, it is inaccurate to conclude that this impression has been
felt. To bear out this conclusion the impression must be experienced
inwardly, that is to say, the outside stimulus must produce a kind
of interior reflection. The great progress of natural science, which
a true Theosophist must sincerely admire, has thrown our abstract
vocabulary into confusion. Some of our biologists are ignorant of the
characteristics of sensibility, and thus accredit it to beings who are
devoid of it. Sensibility such as is comprehended by those biologists,
can, it is true, be attributed to organisms deprived of it. But what is
understood by Theosophy as sensibility is a totally different quality.
[3] A distinction must be made between the conscious inner life of the
astral body and the perception of this life by outward clairvoyant
observation. Here this latter perception by a trained clairvoyant is
intended.
[4] The reader need not object to the technical term “Body of the
ego,” because there is nothing of gross physical matter meant by it,
but occult science being forced to employ the vocabulary of ordinary
language, the words applied to Theosophy ought from the outset to be
taken in a spiritual sense.
[5] The terms “Spirit-Self”, “Life-Spirit” and “Spirit-Man” need not
mystify the reader; they stand for those transmutations of our grosser
bodies which are the results of conscious effort and pure aspirations;
they form, in other words, the Higher Trinity, called in Eastern
terminology: Manas, Buddhi and Atma, respectively. (Trans.)
[6] Were these affirmations to be wrongly interpreted, the objection
might be raised that a child before cutting his second teeth is not
deprived of memory, and that before reaching the age of puberty, he
possesses the inherent faculties of the astral body. It must not be
forgotten that the etheric and astral bodies are in existence from the
moment of physical birth, although surrounded by the protecting shell
described. It is precisely this envelope, protecting the etheric body,
which permits of a remarkably good memory before the cutting of the
second teeth. The existence of physical eyes in the embryonic being,
concealed in the womb of the mother, is analogous. And in the same way
that the physical eyes sheltered from all external influence do not
owe their development to the physical sunlight, so also education from
without should not intervene before the cutting of the second teeth in
the training of the memory. Very much to the contrary, the spontaneous
growth of the memory will be noticeable, provided there is food for it
within reach, and no attempt be made to train it by means of exterior
methods.
This observation applies equally to the qualities belonging to the
astral body before puberty. Provision should be made for their
training, but bearing in mind that this body is still encompassed by a
protecting shell. It is something wholly different to take care of the
germs which are in process of development within the astral body before
puberty and to expose the freed astral body _after_ puberty to what
it can assimilate in the outer world, _without_ the protecting shell.
This distinction is certainly very subtle, but without its careful
consideration the whole significance of education cannot be understood.
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