bring him, he goes forward erect. In the past he knew not why he worked
and suffered, but now he knows. It is obvious that such meditation is
more likely to lead to the goal, if conducted under the direction of
experienced persons, who know actually how everything may best be done.
We should, therefore, seek the advice and direction of such experienced
guides (they are called Gurus in certain schools of thought). What
would otherwise be mere uncertain groping is transformed by such
direction into work that is sure of its goal. Those who apply to the
teachers having such knowledge and experience will never apply in vain.
They must, however, be quite sure that it is the advice of a friend
they desire, not the domination of a would-be ruler. Those who really
know are always the most modest of men, and nothing is further from
their nature than what is called the passion for power.
Those who, by means of meditation, rise to that which unites man with
spirit, are bringing to life within them the eternal element which is
not limited by birth nor death. Only those who have had no experience
for themselves can doubt the existence of this eternal element. Thus
meditation becomes the way by which man also attains to the recognition
and contemplation of his eternal, indestructible, essential being. And
only through meditation can one attain to such a view of life. Gnosis
and Theosophy tell of the eternal nature of this essential being, and
of its reincarnation. The question is often asked: "Why does a man know
nothing of those experiences which lie beyond the borders of birth and
death?" Not thus should we ask, but rather: "How may we attain to such
knowledge?" The entrance to the Path is opened by right meditation.
This alone can revive the memory of events that lie beyond the borders
of birth and death. Everyone can attain to this knowledge; in each of
us is the faculty of recognizing and contemplating for ourselves the
truths of Mysticism, Theosophy, and Gnosis; but the right means must be
chosen. Only a being with ears and eyes can perceive tones and colors,
nor can the eye perceive without the light by which things are made
visible. Occult science gives the means of developing the spiritual
ears and eyes, and kindling the spiritual light. There are, according
to esoteric teachers, three steps by which the goal may be attained: 1.
_Probation._ This develops the spiritual senses. 2. _Enlightenment._
This kindles the spiritual light. 3. _Initiation._ This establishes
intercourse with the higher spiritual beings.
The following teachings proceed from a secret tradition, but precise
information concerning its nature and its name cannot be given at
present. They refer to the three steps which, in the school of this
tradition, lead to a certain degree of initiation. But here we shall
find only so much of this tradition as may be openly declared. These
teachings are extracted from a much deeper and more secret doctrine. In
the occult schools themselves a definite course of instruction is
followed, and in addition to this there are certain practices which
enable the souls of men to attain a conscious intercourse with the
spiritual world. These practices bear about the same relation to what
will be imparted in the following pages, as the teaching which is given
in a well-disciplined school bears to the instruction that may be
received occasionally during a walk. And yet the ardent and persevering
search for what is here hinted at will lead to the way by which one
obtains access to a genuine occult school. But, of course, an impatient
perusal, devoid of sincerity and perseverance, can lead to nothing at
all. He who believes himself to be ready for more must apply to an
occult teacher. The study of these things can only be successful if the
student will observe what has already been written in previous
chapters.
The stages which the above-mentioned tradition specifies are the
following three:
I. Probation,
II. Enlightenment,
III. Initiation.
It is not altogether necessary that these three stages should be so
taken that one must have quite completed the first before beginning the
second, nor this in its turn before commencing the third. With respect
to certain things one can partake of Enlightenment, and even of
Initiation, while with others one is still in the probationary stage.
Yet it will be necessary to spend a certain time in this stage of
Probation before any Enlightenment at all can commence, and at least to
some degree one must be enlightened before it is possible even to enter
upon the stage of Initiation. In giving an account of them, however, it
is necessary, for the sake of clearness, that the three stages follow,
one after another.
IV
PROBATION
Probation consists of a strict cultivation of the emotional and mental
life. Through this cultivation the "spiritual body" becomes equipped
with new instruments of perception and new organs of activity, just as,
out of indeterminate living matter, the natural forces have fitted the
physical body with the various organs so well known to the physical
senses.
The beginning of this cultivation is made by directing the attention of
the soul to certain events in the world that surrounds us. Such events
are the germinating, expanding, and flourishing of _life_ in its
myriad forms on the one hand, and, on the other, the fading, decaying,
and passing out of life from all things so far as perceptible to the
ordinary senses. Wherever we turn our eyes we can observe these things
happening simultaneously, and everywhere they naturally evoke in men
thoughts and feelings. But under ordinary circumstances a man fails to
grasp the importance of these sensations. He hurries on too quickly
from impression to impression. What is necessary, therefore, is that he
should fix his attention intently and quite consciously upon these
phenomena. Wherever he observes expansion and flourishing of a certain
kind, 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 sensation which heretofore in a similar case
would have merely flitted through his soul, is now so magnified that it
becomes of a powerful and energetic nature. He should at once allow
this thought-form to reverberate throughout his whole being, yet
quietly within himself, and to do so he must become inwardly quite
still. He should draw himself away from the outward world, and follow
only that which his soul tells him.
Yet it must not be thought that we can make much progress if we blunt
our senses to the world. For, one must first contemplate these objects
as keenly and precisely as possible, and then give up to the sensations
that result, and the thoughts that arise within the soul. What is most
important is, that one should direct the attention, with perfect inner
balance, upon both of these phenomena. If one obtains the necessary
quiet and surrenders himself to that which arises in the soul, he will,
in due time, experience many wonderful thoughts and feelings, unknown
to him before. Indeed, the more one fixes the attention in such a way,
alternately upon something growing, expanding, and flourishing, and
upon something else that is fading and decaying, the more vivid will
these feelings become. And just as natural forces evolve the physical
eyes and ears of the physical body, out of living matter, so will the
organs of clairvoyance evolve themselves from the spiritual feelings
which are thus evoked. A definite thought-form unites itself with the
germinating and expanding object, and another, equally definite, with
that which is fading and decaying. But this will only take place if the
cultivation of these feelings be striven for in the way described.
It is possible to describe only approximately what these feelings are
like. Indeed, everyone must arrive at his own conception of them as he
passes through these inward experiences. He who has frequently fixes
his attention on the phenomena of germinating, expanding, and
flourishing, will feel something remotely allied to the sensation
caused by witnessing a sunrise; and the phenomena of fading and
decaying will produce in him an experience comparable, in the same way,
to the gradual uprising of the moon on the horizon. Both these feelings
are forces which, when carefully cultivated, with a continually
increasing improvement, will lead to the greatest occult results. To
him who again and again, systematically and with design, surrenders
himself to such feelings, a new world is opened. The "Spiritual" world,
the so-called "Astral plane," begins to dawn upon him. Blooming and
fading are facts which no longer make indefinite impressions on him, as
of old, but instead 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 growing, a decaying tree, evoke in his soul
definite lines. The astral plane slowly broadens out before him. Its
forms are not in any sense arbitrary. For two students who find
themselves at the same stage of development will always see the same
lines and figures under the same conditions. Just as certainly as a
round table will be seen as round by two normal persons, not as round
by the one and square by the other; so, too, before the perception of
two souls a blooming flower will present the same spiritual form. And
just as the shapes of animals and plants are described in ordinary
natural history, so, too, the teacher in an occult school describes and
delineates the spiritual forms of growing and decaying processes after
their nature and species.
If the student has progressed so far that he can see such aspects of
phenomena which are also physically observable with his external eyes,
he will then be not far from the condition which will enable him to
behold things that have no physical existence, and must therefore
remain entirely hidden to those who have undergone no training in an
occult school.
It should be emphasized that the occult explorer ought never to lose
himself in speculation on the meaning of this or that. By such
intellectualizing he only directs himself away from the right road. He
ought to look out on the sense-world freshly, with healthy senses and
quickened observation, and then to give himself up to his own
sensations. He ought not to wish, in a speculative manner, to make out
what this or that means, but rather to allow the things themselves to
inform him.[7]
[7] It should be remarked that artistic perception, when
coupled with a quiet introspective nature, forms the best
foundation for the development of occult faculties. It
pierces through the superficial aspect of things and in so
doing touches their secrets.
A further point of importance is that which is called in occult science
"orientation in the higher worlds." This point is attained when one
realizes with complete consciousness that feelings and thoughts are
veritable realities, just as much as are tables and chairs in the world
of the physical senses. Feelings and thoughts act upon each other in
the astral-world and in the thought (or mental) world, just as objects
of sense act upon each other in the physical world. As long as anyone
is not truly permeated with this realization, he will not believe that
an evil thought projected from his mind may have as devastating an
effect upon other thought forms as that wrought upon physical objects
by a bullet shot at random. Such a one will perhaps never allow himself
to perform a physically visible action which he considers to be wrong,
yet he will not shrink from harboring evil thoughts or feelings, for
these do not appear to him to be dangerous to the rest of the world.
Nevertheless we can advance in occult science only when we guard our
thoughts and feelings in just the same way as a man would guard the
steps he takes in the physical world. If anyone sees a wall before him
he does not attempt to dash right through it, but directs his course
alongside; in other words, he guides himself by the laws of the
physical world.
There are such laws also in the world of thought and feeling, but there
they cannot impose themselves upon us from without. They must flow out
of the life of the soul itself. We arrive at such a condition when we
forbid ourselves, at all times, to foster wrong thoughts or feelings.
All arbitrary goings to-and-fro, all idle fancies, all accidental
ups-and-downs of emotion must be forbidden in the same way. But, in so
doing, let it not be thought that we bring about a deficiency of
emotion. On the contrary, if we regulate our inner life in this manner,
we shall speedily find ourselves rich in feelings and in genuine
creative imagination. In place of a mere chaos of petty feelings and
fantastic trains of thought, there appear significant emotions, and
thoughts that are fruitful, and it is emotions and thoughts of this
kind that lead a man to "orientation in the higher world." He has
entered into the right condition for the things of that world, and they
entail for him definite consequences. Just as a physical man finds his
way between physical things, so, too, his path now leads him straight
between the _growing_ and the _fading_, which he has already come to
know in the way described above. For he follows all processes of
growing and flourishing, (and, on the other hand, of withering and
decaying) that is necessary for his own and the world's prosperity.
The occult student has also to bestow a further care on the world of
_sound_. He must discriminate between the tones which are produced
from the so-called inert (lifeless) bodies (for example, a bell, a
musical instrument, or a falling mass), and those which proceed from a
living creature (an animal or a person). He who hears the striking of a
bell will receive the sound and attach to it a certain sensation, but
he who hears the cry of an animal will, in addition to this sensation,
become aware that the sound reveals also an inward experience of the
animal, either of pain or of pleasure. The student is concerned with
the latter aspect of the sound. He must concentrate his whole attention
upon it, so that the sound reveals to him something that lies outside
of his own soul, and, more than this, must merge himself in this
exterior thing. He must closely connect his own emotion with the
pleasure or pain communicated to him by means of the sound, and must
care nothing whether the sound be pleasant or unpleasant to him,
welcome or not; his soul must be filled with only that which proceeds
from the creature out of whom the sound has come. He who systematically
and deliberately performs such exercises will develop within himself
the faculty of intermingling, as it were, with the creature from which
the sound proceeded. A person sensitive to music will find it easier to
cultivate his spiritual life in this respect than one who is unmusical,
but no one should think that a mere sense of music will take the place
of this culture.
As an occult student, one must learn to contemplate the whole of nature
in this way. By so doing a new faculty is developed in the world of
thought and feeling. Through her manifold sounds the whole of Nature
begins to whisper secrets to the student. What hitherto was merely
incomprehensible noise to his soul will become by this means a coherent
_language of Nature_. And whereas, hitherto, he heard sound only from
the resonance of so-called inanimate objects, he now understands a new
speech of the soul. Should he advance in this culture of the soul, he
will soon learn that he can hear what hitherto he did not even surmise.
He begins to hear with the soul.
One thing more must be added before we can reach the topmost point in
this direction. What is of special importance in the development of the
student is the way in which he hears the speech of other men. He must
accustom himself to do this in such a way that while doing so his inner
self is absolutely still. If someone expresses an opinion and another
hears it, the inner self of the latter will be stirring in general
assent or contradiction. Many people in such a case feel themselves
urged to an expression of their assent, or, more especially, of their
contradiction. All such assent or contradiction must, in the occult
student, be silenced. It is not imperative that he should, therefore,
quite suddenly begin to make his life entirely different, in order that
he may attain to this inward and fundamental calm. He might, therefore,
begin by doing so in special cases, deliberately selected by himself.
Thus quite slowly and by degrees will this new way of listening creep
into his habits, as of itself: In the occult schools these things are
systematically practiced. For the sake of practice the student is
obliged to listen for a certain period to the most contradictory
thoughts, and at the same time to suppress all assent, and more
especially all adverse criticism. The point is that in such a way not
only all intellectual judgment is silenced, but also all sense of
displeasure, denial, or even acceptance. The student must be
particularly watchful that such feelings, even if they are not upon the
surface, do not still remain lurking in the innermost recesses of his
soul. He must listen, for example, to the statements of people who in
some respects are far beneath him, and, while so doing, suppress every
feeling of greater knowledge or of superiority. It is useful for
everyone to listen in this way to children, for even the wisest may
learn very much from children. So does it come about that we hear the
words of others impersonally, completely divested of our own
personality with its opinions and feelings. He who thus makes a
practice of listening uncritically, even when a completely
contradictory opinion is advanced, learns again and again to blend
himself, to become identified, with the being of another. He then
hears, as it were, through the words and into the souls of others.
Through continual exercise of this kind only, sound becomes the right
medium for the revelation of the spirit and the soul. Of course, it
implies the strictest self-discipline, but it leads to a high goal.
When these practices are undertaken in connection with those that deal
with the sounds of Nature, the soul develops a new sense of hearing. It
is enabled to receive demonstrations from the spiritual world which do
not find their expression in outward sounds apprehensible by the
physical ear. The perception of the "inner word" awakens. Gradually
truths from the spiritual world reveal themselves to the student, and
he hears them expressed in a spiritual way.[8]
[8] Only to him, who listens disinterestedly, comes the
ability to perceive really from within, silently, and without
emotion arising from personal opinion or personal taste,--to
such only can the Great Souls, who are known in Occultism as
the Masters speak. As long as our opinions and feelings are
in a state of vehement opposition to the communications from
the Masters, They remain silent.
All high truths are attained through such "inner encouragement," and
what we hear from the lips of a genuine occult teacher has been
experienced in this manner. In so saying it must not be supposed that
it is useless to acquaint oneself with the writings on occult science,
before one can actually gain this inner encouragement. On the contrary,
the reading of such writings, and the listening to eminent teachers of
occult lore, are themselves the means of attaining a personal
knowledge. Every sentence of the esoteric wisdom which one hears is
adapted to direct the senses to that point which must be attained
before the soul can experience a real advance. To the practice of all
that has been indicated, must be added an ardent study of what the
occult teacher gives out to the world. In all occult schools such a
study belongs to the probationary period, and he who would employ other
methods will attain no goal if he omits the instructions of the occult
teacher, for inasmuch as these instructions proceed from an actual
"inner word," an actual "encouragement," they possess in themselves a
spiritual vitality. They are not mere words; they are living powers;
and while you follow the words of an occultist, while you read a book
which comes from a genuine 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 ears.
V
ENLIGHTENMENT.
Enlightenment is the result of very simple processes. Here, too, it is
a matter of developing certain feelings and thoughts which are dormant
within all men, but must be awakened. Only he who carries out these
simple processes with complete patience, continuously and strenuously,
can be led by them to the reception of inner illumination. The primary
step is taken by observing in a particular way different natural
objects--a transparent stone of beautiful form (a crystal), a plant,
and an animal. One should endeavor at first to direct one's whole
attention to a comparison of the stone with the animal, as follows: The
thoughts which, accompanied by strong emotions, are thus induced, must
pass through the soul, and no other emotions or thoughts must be mixed
with them, or disturb the intense contemplation. One then says to
oneself: "The stone has a form and the animal also has a form. The
stone remains motionless in its place, but the animal is able to move
about. It is impulse (desire) which causes the animal to change its
place, and it is these impulses to which the form of the animal is of
use. Its organs and instruments are the expression of these impulses.
The form of the stone, on the contrary, is fashioned, not in accordance
with impulses, but in accordance with an impulseless force."[9]
[9] 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 practises as crystal-gazing have their
origin. Misrepresentations of such a kind are the outcome of
misunderstanding. They have been described in many books, but
they never form the subject of genuine (esoteric) teaching.
If one sinks deeply into such thoughts, and while so doing observes the
stone and the animal with fixed attention, then there arise in the soul
two separate kinds of emotion. From the stone into the soul there
streams one kind of emotion, and from the animal, another. Probably in
the beginning the experiment will not succeed, but little by little,
with genuine and patient practice, these emotions become manifest.
Again and again one should practice. At first the emotions last only as
long as the contemplation. Later on, they work afterwards, and then
they grow to something which remains alive in the soul. One then needs
only to reflect, and both emotions invariably arise, apart from all
contemplation of an external object.
Out of these emotions, and the thoughts which are bound up with them,
clairvoyant organs are formed. Should the plant be added to the
contemplation, one will notice that the feeling outflowing from it,
both in its quality and in its degree, lies between that which emanates
from the stone and that from the animal. The organs which are so formed
are spiritual eyes. We learn by degrees and through their means to see
both astral and mental colors. As long as one has attained only the
condition described as Probation, the spiritual world with its lines
and figures remains dark, but through Enlightenment it will become
clear. It must be noted here that the words "dark" and "light," as well
as the other common expressions, only approximately describe what is
really meant; for language as usually understood is constructed to suit
physical conditions alone.