The Christians of St. John. The rebirth of the higher Ego in man and in humanity.Cassel, St. John's Day, 1909

LECTURE I

Cassel, St. John's Day, 1909

   Tfrom  :http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA112/English/PLH1933/19090624p01.html

Thanks to Cecilia Staubli,to found and share the lecture.

My Dear Friends, The celebration of a particular festival on the present day of the year was a custom to which a large portion of aspiring humanity adhered, and it is a matter of importance for the friends of the anthroposophical movement assembled with us in this city that the present series of lectures should begin precisely on midsummer or St. John's Day. As long ago as in ancient Persia a festival known as the ‘Baptism of Fire and Water’ was associated with a day which would roughly correspond to a day in June at the present time. In ancient Rome the festival of Vesta fell on a similar day in June, and that again was a festival of ‘Baptism by Fire’. And if we look back upon European civilization before the spread of Christianity, we again find a June festival which coincided with the time of the year when the days begin to shorten and the nights to lengthen — when the sun begins to lose a part of the strength he lavishes upon all growth and increase on earth. To our European ancestors this June festival appeared as a gradual withdrawal and disappearing of the God Baldur — Baldur who, in their minds, was associated with the Sun. In Christian times this same festival gradually became that of St. John, the forerunner of Christ Jesus. Thus it can also be our starting-point for the considerations to which we will devote ourselves during the next few days, bearing upon this most important event in the evolution of humanity — upon the Deed of Christ Jesus. Indeed, the subject of the present course of lectures will be founded upon the whole import of this Deed for the evolution of humanity, and upon its manner of presentation, firstly in the most significant of human documents, in the Gospel according to St. John, then, by comparison, in the other Gospels. The festival of St. John reminds us that the greatest Individuality who participated in the evolution of humanity was preceded by a ‘Forerunner’, and we here touch upon an important point which must precede our further considerations, also as a kind of ‘forerunner’. In the course of the development of humanity there occur, ever and again, events of surpassing importance shedding a stronger light than others. We can observe these essential occurrences in epoch after epoch of history, and ever and again we are told of men who, in a measure, know of them in advance and can foretell their coming. These are no arbitrary events; indeed, whoever has insight into the whole meaning and spirit of human history is aware that such events must come, and knows how he himself must work in preparation for them to take place. During the next few days we shall often have occasion to speak of the Forerunner of Christ. Today we shall consider him from the standpoint that he was one of those who, by virtue of special spiritual gifts, have a deeper insight into things and know that there are super-eminent moments in the evolution of humanity. Hence he was fitted to pave the way for Christ Jesus. But when we look upon Christ Jesus Himself, we clearly realize that the division of chronology into epochs before and after His appearance upon earth is not without good reason. By adhering to this division, humanity to a large extent shows that it is sensible of the incisive significance of the Christ-Mystery. But whatever is real and true must ever and again be proclaimed in new forms and new ways, for the requirements of humanity alter from epoch to epoch. Our time needs, in a sense, a new annunciation of this greatest of events in the history of man, and it is the will of Anthroposophy to be this annunciation. This anthroposophical annunciation is new only in respect of its form; its content, the subject of these lectures, was for centuries taught within our European civilization and spiritual life. The one difference between the former and the present annunciation is that the latter may be addressed to a wider circle. The smaller circles within which this teaching has been heard for centuries recognized the same sign which you here see before you — the Rosy Cross. This may therefore again stand as the symbol of the same annunciation, now that the latter finds its way to a greater public. Let me now figuratively describe the foundations upon which this Rosicrucian annunciation of Christ Jesus rested. The Rosicrucians (not the strange new group being founded in America in California using the same name) are a community which has cultivated, since the fourteenth century, a spiritual, a genuinely spiritual Christianity within the sphere of European spiritual life. Apart from all exterior historical forms, this Rosicrucian Society sought to reveal the deepest truths of Christianity to its followers, whom it also called ‘Christians of St. John’. An understanding of this expression, ‘Christians of St. John’, will enable us, if not to explain with our intellect, at any rate to grasp with our presentiment the whole spirit and tenor of the following lectures. You all know the opening words of the Gospel of St. John: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God. The same was in the beginning with God.’ The Word or Logos was in the beginning with God, and the Light, it is further said, shone in the darkness but the darkness comprehended it not. This Light was in the world and among men, but of those only a small number were capable of comprehending it. Then there appeared the Word made Flesh as a Man — in a Man whose forerunner was the Baptist, John. And now we see how they who had to some extent grasped the significance of this appearance of Christ upon earth are at pains to explain the real nature of Christ. The author of the Gospel of St. John definitely indicates that the deepest Being enfolded in Jesus of Nazareth was naught else than the Being out of which all beings proceeded; that it was the living spirit, the living Word, the Logos Himself. The other Evangelists were also at pains, each in his own way, to describe what actually appeared in Jesus of Nazareth. The author of the Gospel of St. Luke endeavours to show how something quite especial appeared when, through the Baptism of Christ Jesus by John the Baptist, the Spirit united itself with the body of Jesus of Nazareth. The same writer goes on to show how this Jesus of Nazareth is a descendant of a line of ancestors reaching far, far back into the past. We are told that the genealogical tree of Jesus of Nazareth reaches back to David, to Abraham, to Adam, and even to God Himself. We find it clearly indicated that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of Joseph; Joseph was the son of Heli; then: he was the son of David; and further: he was the son of Adam, and Adam was the son of God. That is to say, the writer of St. Luke's Gospel lays special stress on the fact that from Jesus of Nazareth, on whom the Spirit descended at the Baptism of St. John, a direct line of descent can be traced to Him whom he calls the Father of Adam — God. Such things must absolutely be taken literally. In the Gospel of St. Matthew the attempt is made to trace the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth back to Abraham to whom God revealed Himself. Thus, the Individuality who is the bearer of Christ, indeed, the whole advent of Christ, is represented not only as one of the greatest but as the very greatest of phenomena in the evolution of humanity. What is here unmistakably expressed can be put in the following simple words: If Christ Jesus was regarded by those who had an inkling of His greatness as the most momentous figure in the evolution of humanity upon earth, there must be some connection between this same Christ Jesus and the holiest, most essential element in man himself. There must be something within man which is in direct correspondence with the Christ-event. If Christ Jesus, as is stated in the Gospels, really represents the greatest event in the evolution of mankind, must there not be in all things and in each human soul some bond of union with Christ Jesus? Indeed, the most important and essential point, in the eyes of the Christians of St. John and the Rosicrucians, was precisely the fact that in each human soul something exists which directly bears upon and is connected with the events which occurred in Palestine through Christ Jesus. Moreover, if the Christ-event may be called the supreme event for humanity, the element which corresponds to the Christ-event in the human soul must be the supreme feature in man. What can this be? The Rosicrucian answer to this question was that every human soul is open to an experience which is expressed by the word ‘awakening’, or ‘rebirth,’ or ‘initiation’. We shall see what is meant by these words. When we behold, in the world around us, the various things which our eyes perceive and our hands touch, we observe how they arise and decay. We see how the flowers blossom and wither, and how the year's whole vegetation comes to life and dies away, and though there are things in the world such as mountains and rocks, apparently defying the ages, the proverb ‘Constant dropping wears a stone’ points to a premonition in the human soul that the very rocks and mountains, in all their majesty, are subject to the laws of the temporal world. Man knows that whatever is formed from the elements grows and decays; and this applies not only to his bodily form but also to his temporal self. They, however, who know how a spiritual world may be attained, are aware that though a man's eyes, ears, and other senses do not avail for this purpose, he may nevertheless enter the spiritual world by way of awakening, or rebirth, or initiation. And what is reborn? When a man looks within himself, he finally comes to the conclusion that what he finds in his inner self is the being of which he speaks as ‘I’. The ‘I’ is distinguished, by virtue of its very name, from all things of the exterior world. To every exterior thing a name may be applied from outside. We can all call the table ‘table’, and the clock ‘clock’. The word ‘I’, however, can never resound upon our ear if we ourselves are meant, for this word (‘I’) must be uttered in our inner self. To every other being we are ‘thou’. This fact in itself enables man to find the distinction between this Ego-being and all else within and around himself. But to this we must add something which the spiritual investigators of all ages have emphasized ever again from their own experience for the benefit of mankind — namely, that within this ‘I’ another, a higher Ego, is born, as the child is born of the mother. When we consider the human being as he confronts us in life, we see him first as a child, clumsy in respect of his surroundings, and merely beholding things; gradually and by degrees he learns to understand the things; we see how his intelligence awakens, how his will and intellect grow, and how he increases in strength and energy. But there are individuals who advance also in another way; they attain a higher development, beyond the ordinary; they reach the point, so to speak, of finding a second Ego which, looking down upon the first Ego, can say ‘thou’ to it, even as the ordinary Ego says ‘thou’ to the exterior world and to its own body. Thus a distant ideal of the human soul can become actuality for those who, following the instructions of the spiritual investigator, say to themselves: ‘The self of which I have known hitherto partakes of the outer world and passes away with it. But a second self slumbers in me — a self of which men are not aware [but can become aware], though it is equally united with the eternal, as the first self with the transitory and the temporal.’ Upon the consummation of rebirth, the higher Ego can behold a spiritual world even as the lower Ego can perceive the sensible world through the senses. This so-called awakening, rebirth, or initiation is the greatest event the human soul can experience, a view held also by those who called themselves followers of the Rosy Cross. They knew that this birth of the higher self which can look down upon the lower self as a man looks upon the outer world — this event, they knew, must stand in connection with the event of Christ Jesus. That is to say: even as individual man can experience a new birth in the course of his development, a new birth for the whole of humanity took place through Christ Jesus. Man's individual experience of the birth of his higher Ego as an inner, mystic and spiritual event — this was enacted for the whole of humanity as an historical fact in the outer world through Christ Jesus in Palestine. In what light did this event appear, for instance, to the writer of St. Luke's Gospel? He could say to himself: the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth reaches back to Adam and even to God. Humanity once descended from divine spiritual heights to dwell in a physical human body; humanity was born of the spirit; it was with God. Adam was sent down from spiritual heights into matter; in this sense he is the Son of God. Thus there was once a divine spiritual kingdom which densified, as it were, to the transitory earthly kingdom. Adam appeared, the earthly image of the Son of God. From him descended the human race which inhabits a physical body. In Jesus of Nazareth there lived, in a special manner, something over and above what lives in one and every man — something which can be found in its true nature only if we are conscious that the essential part in man has its origin in divine being. In Jesus of Nazareth something is still evident of this divine origin. Hence the writer of St. Luke's Gospel feels impelled to say: Behold Him who was baptized by John. He bears special characteristics of the divine source from which Adam descended. That divine source can be reborn in Him. The divine being which descended into matter and, as divinity, disappeared in the human race, behold, it now reappears. Humanity can be born again, in its inmost divine nature, in Jesus of Nazareth. In short, the writer of St. Luke's Gospel wished to say: When we trace the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth to its origin, we find in him again the divine origin and the attributes of the Son of God, in a renewed form and in greater measure than humanity hitherto existing could show. The writer of St. John's Gospel emphasized still more strongly that there was something divine in man and that this divinity appeared in its supreme form as the Logos Himself. The God who was as though buried in matter is born again in Jesus of Nazareth. That was the meaning of these writers who prefaced their Gospels in the above manner. And they who wished to carry on the wisdom of the Gospels — the Christians of St. John — what did they say? They taught as follows: For every individual man there is a great, a mighty event which may be called the birth of the higher self. As the child is born of the mother, so too the divine Ego is born of the individual human being. Initiation, awakening is possible, and when it is consummated, things that were hitherto of importance are superseded. A comparison will show what then becomes of primary importance. Suppose we have before us a man who has reached his seventieth year — an ‘awakened’ man who has gained his higher Ego, and let us suppose that he experienced the rebirth or awakening of his higher self in his fortieth year. Anyone intending to write his life might say: Here is a man in whom the higher self is born. Five years ago I knew him in such a position, ten years ago in another. If the identity of this man were to be shown with reference to the significance of his birth, the forty years of his physical existence would be traced back and described from the standpoint of spiritual science. In his fortieth year, however, the higher self is born in this man and thenceforward sheds its light over all the circumstances of his life. He is now a new man. What precedes this event is now of less importance to us; we are now chiefly concerned to know how the higher self grows and develops from year to year. When this individual has reached his seventieth year, we should enquire what had been the career of his higher Ego from his fortieth to his seventieth year, and the presence of his true spiritual Ego in his seventieth year would be primarily important for us, if indeed we believed in what was born in his soul at the age of forty. The writers of the Gospels proceeded in this manner; so too the Christians of St. John and followers of the Rosy Cross, when they considered that Being whom we call Christ Jesus. The Evangelists had set themselves the task firstly to show that Christ Jesus issues from the primal spirit of the world, indeed from God Himself. The Divinity hitherto concealed in all mankind becomes pre-eminently manifest in Christ Jesus. This is the same God of whom it is said in St. John that He was there in the beginning. And it was the aim of the Evangelists to show that that God and no other was in Jesus of Nazareth. They, however, whose task it was to carry on the wisdom of all ages, even into our time, were bent upon showing how the higher Ego of mankind, the divine spirit of humanity, born in Jesus of Nazareth through the events in Palestine, has remained one and the same, having been truly preserved by those who rightly understood it. And as in the case described above, of the man whose higher Ego is born in his fortieth year, the Evangelists described the God in man up to and including the events in Palestine. The successors of the Evangelists, however, had to show that the events thus described covered the birth of the higher Ego and that thenceforward we are concerned with the spiritual aspect alone, which now outshines everything else. The Christians of St. John, whose symbol was the Rosy Cross, said: Precisely that which was reborn as the mystery of humanity's higher self, this same has been preserved intact. It was preserved by that exclusive community which took its rise in Rosicrucianism. This continuity is indicated symbolically in the legend of the sacred vessel called the ‘Holy Grail’, from which Christ Jesus ate and drank and in which the blood which flowed from His wounds was gathered by Joseph of Arimathea. This vessel, they say, was brought to Europe by angels. A temple was built for it and the Rosicrucians became the guardians of its content, that is, of that which constituted the very essence of the reborn God. The mystery of the reborn God prevailed among men — the mystery of the Holy Grail. It is presented to us as a new Gospel, and we are told the writer of the Gospel of St. John, whom we venerate, could say in his wisdom: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.’ The same that was in the beginning with God has been born again in Him whom we saw suffer and die upon Golgotha and who is risen again. The continuity of the divine principle through all ages and the resurrection of the same is described by the writer of the Gospel of St. John. But the narrators of such things knew that that which was from the beginning has been preserved unchanged. IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE MYSTERY OF THE HIGHER HUMAN EGO; THE SAME WAS PRESERVED IN THE GRAIL AND REMAINED UNITED THEREWITH. IN THE GRAIL LIVES THE EGO WHICH IS UNITED WITH THE ETERNAL AND THE IMMORTAL, EVEN AS THE LOWER EGO IS UNITED WITH THE TRANSITORY AND THE MORTAL. Whoever knows the mystery of the Holy Grail knows that from the wood of the Cross springs living, budding life, the immortal self symbolized by the roses on the dark wood of the Cross. Thus the mystery of the Rosy Cross may be regarded as a continuation of the Gospel of St. John and, in this respect, we may truly speak the following words: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was no thing made. In Him was the Life and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shone in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Only a few, in whom something lived that was not born of the flesh, comprehended the Light that shone in the Darkness. Then the Light became flesh and dwelt among men in the likeness of Jesus of Nazareth.’ Now we might continue: ‘And in Christ who dwelt in Jesus of Nazareth we see none but the higher, divine self of all mankind, the God who came down to earth in Adam and was born again. This reborn human self was continued as a sacred mystery; it was preserved under the symbol of the Rosy Cross and is annunciated today as the mystery of the Holy Grail and the Rosy Cross.’ The higher Ego which may be born in every human soul points to the rebirth of the divine Ego in the evolution of humanity through the event in Palestine. Even as the higher self is born in every human being, the higher self of the totality of mankind was born in Palestine. The same is preserved and further developed behind the external symbol of the Rosy Cross. But when we consider human evolution, this one great event, the rebirth of the higher ego, does not stand alone; beside it there are a number of lesser events. Before the soul can rise to this all-embracing, all-pervading experience (the birth of the immortal within the mortal self), certain preliminary stages, of comprehensive nature, must be traversed. A man must prepare himself in many and manifold ways. And after this great experience which enables him to say: ‘I now feel something within me, I am aware of something in me that looks down upon my ordinary self, even as my ordinary self looks down upon the objects of sense; I am a second self within the first; I have now risen to the regions in which I am united with divine beings’ — even after this experience there are other different, and still higher stages which must be traversed. Thus we have the birth of the higher self in every individual man, and a similar birth for humanity as a whole — the rebirth of the divine Ego. Then there are preparatory stages and others which succeed this event. From the Christ-event we look back upon the preparatory stages. We behold other great beings and events in human evolution. We see how the Gospel of Christ gradually drew near. As St. Luke said: In the beginning was a God; a spiritual Being in sublime spiritual regions. He descended into the material world and became Man, investing Himself with humanity. Man's divine origin could well be perceived, but God Himself could not be perceived when human evolution was regarded with mere physical eyes. God, so to speak, was behind the earthly, physical world. They alone perceived him who knew where He was and could perceive His kingdoms. Let us go back to the first period of civilization following upon a great disruption — to the primeval Indian civilization. There we find seven great, holy teachers knows as the Holy Rishis. They pointed upwards to a higher Being of whom they said: ‘With all our wisdom we can but dimly sense — we cannot behold this sublime Being.’ The seven Holy Rishis saw far and deep, yet this high Being, whom they called Vishva Karman, was beyond their sphere. This Being did indeed fill the spiritual world, but He was beyond the range of clairvoyant vision at that time. Then came the period of civilization named after its great inaugurator, Zarathustra. To those whom it was his mission to lead, Zarathustra said: ‘When the clairvoyant eye beholds the things of the world, the minerals, plants, the animals and man, it sees manifold spiritual beings behind all things. But the spiritual Being to whom man owes his very existence and who, in time to come, must live in man's innermost self — this Being cannot yet be seen, when the things of the world are beheld, whether with physical or with clairvoyant eyes.’ But when Zarathustra's spiritual gaze was raised toward the Sun, he beheld more than the Sun. As a man's aura can be seen enveloping him, he said, so too, the great Sun-Aura, Ahura Mazdao, can be seen beside the Sun. And the great Sun-Aura it was which produced man in a way to be described later. Man is the image of the Sun-Spirit, Ahura Mazdao, but Ahura Mazdao did not yet dwell upon earth. Then came the time when man, in clairvoyant vision, began to see Ahura Mazdao in his earthly environment. The great moment was at hand when that could be accomplished which was not yet possible in Zarathustra's time. In earthly thunder and lightning Zarathustra's clairvoyant eye did not behold Ahura Mazdao, the great Sun-Spirit, the archetype of humanity; but when he turned to the Sun, there he saw Ahura Mazdao. Moses, Zarathustra's successor, could see, with clairvoyant eye, in the burning bush and in the fire on Mount Sinai, that Spirit who proclaimed Himself as the ‘Ejeh asher ejeh’, ‘I am he that was, and is, and will be,’ Jahve or Jehovah. Since the prehistoric time of Zarathustra and before Moses appeared among men, the Spirit who had hitherto dwelt in the Sun had descended upon earth. His light shone in the burning bush and in the fire on Mount Sinai; He was in the earthly elements. Yet a while — and the Spirit whom the great Rishis divined but could not clairvoyantly behold, the Spirit whom Zarathustra sought in the Sun, who proclaimed himself to Moses in thunder and lightning — the same appeared in human form in Jesus of Nazareth. That was the course of evolution: out of cosmic space He descended, first to the physical elements, then into a human body. The divine Ego from which man issued, and to which the writer of St. Luke's Gospel traces the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth, was born again. Herewith was consummated the sublime event of the rebirth of God in man. From here let us look back upon the preparatory stages which humanity, too, traversed. The former leaders who had shared in the general progress of humanity were also subjected to preliminary stages until one of them had advanced far enough to become the bearer of the Christ. This shows us how the evolution of humanity presents itself when regarded from a spiritual standpoint. The Being revered by the Holy Rishis as Vishva Karman, by Zarathustra as Ahura Mazdao of the Sun, by Moses as ‘Ejeh asher ejeh’ — this Being appeared in one distinct man, Jesus of Nazareth, in limited earthly humanity. But before the point was reached when this sublime Being could dwell in a man such as Jesus of Nazareth, manifold preparations were necessary. To this end Jesus of Nazareth must himself have risen to a high stage of evolution. Not any man could be the bearer of a Being who had descended to earth in the manner described. Now we who have approached spiritual science know the truth of reincarnation. Hence we must say that Jesus of Nazareth (not the Christ) had passed through many incarnations and stood the test of many a trial in earlier times before he could become Jesus of Nazareth. In other words, Jesus of Nazareth had to become a high initiate before he could be the bearer of the Christ. Now when a high initiate is born, how is his birth and life distinguished from the birth and life of an ordinary man? In general it may be assumed that at his birth a man is formed approximately in accordance with the results of his preceding life. With the initiate, however, this is not the case. The initiate could not be a leader of mankind if his inner life no more than conformed with outer circumstances. A man must build up his exterior according to the circumstances of his environment. But when an initiate is born, a great soul, one which has experienced great things in the world in past lives, must enter his body. Hence it is said of all such, that their birth takes place under other than ordinary circumstances. Now we have already touched upon the reason of this difference. It is because an all-embracing Ego, one that has experienced remarkable things, unites itself with the body. The body, however, cannot at first fully contain the spiritual nature which seeks to incarnate in it. Hence, when a high initiate descends into a mortal body, the reincarnating Ego necessarily overshadows the physical form to a greater extent than with an ordinary man. Whereas the physical form of an ordinary human being soon after birth resembles and corresponds to the spiritual form (the human aura), the initiate's aura is radiant. This is the spiritual part, which proclaims that there is more here than meets the eye in the ordinary sense. Indeed it bears witness that, apart from the birth of the child in the physical world, an event has taken place in the spiritual world. That is the meaning of the legends which gather round the birth of all initiates. Not only is a child born, in the physical body, but in spiritual regions something is born which cannot be contained in the body below. But who can recognize this? Only one whose eyes are clairvoyant and open to the spiritual world. Hence it is related that at the birth of the Buddha an initiate recognized that an event more remarkable than the birth of an ordinary child was taking place. In the same way it is related of Jesus of Nazareth that His coming was announced by John the Baptist. The advent and birth of an initiate are known to all possessing insight into the spiritual world, for an event in the spiritual world is here enacted. The same was known to the three Kings from the East who brought offerings at the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, and the same is expressed in the words of the Priest-Initiate in the Temple: ‘Now I will gladly die, for mine eyes have seen Him who is to be the salvation of mankind.’ Thus a sharp distinction is here necessary. We have a high initiate reborn as Jesus of Nazareth and, beyond this birth, something of significance in the spiritual world — something spiritual which will gradually develop the body until it be ripe for the spirit. When this point is reached, the event thus prepared is enacted. The Baptist approaches Jesus of Nazareth and a higher spirit descends upon him and unites with him; Christ enters the body of Jesus of Nazareth. John the Baptist, as the forerunner of Jesus of Nazareth, might well say: ‘I came into the world and prepared the way for a [person] Mightier than I. I have preached before men that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and that men must change their heart. I came among men and declared to them that a new impulse will enter mankind. As in spring the sun mounts higher in the heavens to proclaim the renewal of life, so do I come to proclaim the new life which is the reborn self of humanity.’ When the human principle in Jesus of Nazareth had reached its highest development, and his body had become an expression of the spirit within him, he was ripe to receive the Christ in the Baptism by John. His body had unfolded its full power, as the radiant sun on midsummer or St. John's day. This had been prophesied. The spirit was to be born out of the darkness, as the Sun which increases in power and waxes strong till St. John's day and then begins to wane. It was the Baptist's mission to proclaim this and to tell how the Sun mounts on high with increasing splendour until the moment when he, the Baptist, could say: ‘He who was announced by the prophets of old, the Son of the spiritual realms, born of the spirit, behold, He hath appeared.’ Up to this point John the Baptist was active. But when the days begin to shorten and the darkness again prevails, then, the way having been prepared, the inner spirit-light must shine forth ever more brightly, even as the Christ shines forth in Jesus of Nazareth. Thus did John behold the approach of Jesus of Nazareth, whose development he felt as his own increase, as the increase of the Sun. ‘I must henceforth decrease,’ he said, ‘as the Sun decreases after midsummer day. But He, the spiritual Sun, will increase and his Light will shine forth from out of the darkness.’ Thus did John the Baptist speak of himself and his mission. In this manner was the universal Ego of humanity reborn, and the condition fulfilled for the rebirth of the individual higher self in every human being. We have herewith described the most momentous event in the evolution of individual man: the rebirth of the immortal being which can issue from the ordinary Ego. This is inseparable from the greatest of all events, the Christ-event, to which we shall devote the following lectures.

A Reflection on the Anthroposophical Path of Schooling by Bruce Kirchoff

Thanks to Cecilia Staubli to found and share ,

http://www.southerncrossreview.org/29/kirchoff.htm

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Dr. Bruce Kirchoff is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA. 

www.uncg.edu/~kirchoff

kirchoff@mebtel.net

      In the first of a number of Leading Thoughts for the Anthroposophical Society Rudolf Steiner defined Anthroposophy as “a path of knowledge to guide the Spiritual in the human being to the Spiritual in the universe.”¹ This is in keeping with the ninth statue of the General Anthroposophical Society, which begins “The purpose of the Anthroposophical Society will be the furtherance of spiritual research; that of the School of Spiritual Science will be this research itself.”² It is clear that Steiner put the path of schooling at the center of the Society.

      Although Steiner most commonly spoke of the connecting human beings to the spiritual worlds, in more colloquial terms we might say that the aim of Anthroposophy is to reunite man with God. The extended act of creation that Steiner describes in Esoteric Science³ and elsewhere has brought us to the point where we are able to take responsibility for our own development in order to continue our ascent. If we are successful, we will bring to the reunification our ability to work and live out of love. We were born out of the spiritual worlds through the creative acts of divine spiritual beings. We came to an awareness of ourselves as human beings through the process of error, and its redemption. We will return to our home in the spirit, and carry with us the fruits of the love that we have brought alive in us in the process of transforming ourselves. This is the grand vision that Steiner sets before us. The tools that will help us in our return to God are called the Anthroposophical Path of Schooling. It is to these tools that I want to direct my attention in this article.

Figure 1

      There are three aspects to the Anthroposophical Path of Schooling (Figure 1): study, moral growth, and practice (or meditation). Each of these elements plays a vital role in our growth toward God. We cannot dispense with any of them. Study orients us to the geography of the spiritual world. Moral growth directs us toward the Truth.⁴ Practice opens our spiritual eyes and ears. By understanding these elements we can make sense of the many different exercises Steiner gave. Examples of some of these exercises will be given below.

      Each of these three aspects is associated with a soul function (Figure 1). Study is a thinking activity. Moral growth purifies our feelings. Practice engages our will. Viewed in this way, the Anthroposophical Path of Schooling can be seen as a method of using thinking to purify our feelings for the purpose of freeing our will. The separation of thinking, feeling and willing frees these soul functions to be used for spiritual perception.⁵ In the following sections I explore each aspect of the Anthroposophical Path in more detail.

Study

      Study of Steiner’s books and lectures, and study of other religious and spiritual traditions, provides us with the information necessary to find our way in the spiritual worlds. It allows us to recognize the adversarial and divine beings, and to make sense of our experiences. Steiner’s books and lectures provide the clearest descriptions of spiritual perception that I have ever encountered, and thus are among the best subjects for study. However, if we restrict ourselves to these contributions we cut ourselves off from our fellow human beings. Like Steiner, we must read and make connections with the great spiritual literatures of the world.⁶ This enriches our view of the spiritual world, and can also provide assistance when we have difficulty with meditation, or get stuck in our personal growth. Although our goal is to gain knowledge of the spiritual worlds that Steiner saw so clearly and beautifully, we should not become dependent on his insights. If we are to develop our own ability to see the spirit, we must develop the ability to think for ourselves. Even study of contemporary spiritual teachers like Marianne Williamson⁷ and Carolyn Myss⁸ (among others) can help us develop this ability. It is not that these teachers have a better or clearer vision than Steiner. In many cases they do not. However, they do bring different perspectives. Exposure to these perspectives helps us develop a flexibility of thought that will serve us well when we begin to have our own spiritual experiences.

      A concrete example of how the study of other spiritual streams can assist our own development will make this clear. In the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu explains the relationship between the Master and the Tao.

The Master keeps her mind

always at one with the Tao;

that is what gives her radiance.



The Tao is ungraspable.

How can her mind be at one with it?

Because she doesn’t cling to ideas.



The Tao is dark and unfathomable.

How can it be radiant?

Because she lets it.



Since before time and space were,

the Tao is.

It is beyond is and is not.

How do I know this is true?

I look inside myself and see.⁹

      We can use this description as a guide as we establish our own spiritual perceptions. The Master is described as being able to live out of the spirit (Tao) because she does not cling to ideas. This is very like Steiner’s admonition that we should not reflect overly much about the intellectual meaning of our experiences. “Here it must be emphasized that the spiritual researchers should not lose themselves in reflections upon what this or that might mean. Mental activity of this kind will only lead us astray.”¹⁰ The play on the opposites darkness and radiance makes a similar point. Although the Tao is dark, it manifests as radiance because the Master does not interfere with its manifestation. Finally, Lao-tzu directs us to our own experience to find the validity of what he says. He invites us to look inside ourselves and see. All of Steiner’s work is directed to this end.

      Although I have spent the majority of this section in a discussion of the study of other spiritual movements, I do not want to give the impression that I undervalue Steiner’s writings. In my opinion, their study provides the best guide to the spiritual world. Without the grounding provided by these writings our assent would be much more difficult, if not impossible. Although we should study and respect the writings of other traditions, we should not neglect our study of Steiner’s books and lectures. These form the foundation for precise, scientific clairvoyance.

Moral Growth

      Much of the content of How to Know Higher Worlds (henceforward HKHW) is devoted to the description of moral qualities that the student should cultivate.¹¹ In fact, the first exercise that Steiner gives is not a meditation, but the cultivation of a moral quality, reverence. He stresses the importance of this quality again and again in the first pages of HKHW. Of the 25 pages in the first chapter, eight deal explicitly with reverence. If we extend our count to include those pages on which he gives practical rules to help us follow this path, almost the whole of chapter one is devoted to this subject.¹² His first admonition is given in the following words: “We begin with a fundamental mood of soul. Spiritual researchers call this basic attitude the path of reverence, of devotion to truth and knowledge. Only those who have acquired this fundamental mood or attitude can become pupils in an esoteric school.”¹³ Then again on the next page: “Initiates found the strength to lift themselves to the heights of knowledge only because they first guided their hearts into the depths of veneration and devotion. Only a person who has passed through the gate of humility can ascend to the heights of spirit.”¹⁴

      Steiner places a great deal of importance on the path of reverence. In essence, he says that if the student undertakes only one exercise it should be to tread this path, for it will ultimately lead him to knowledge. “Similarly, if one knows the fundamentals of esoteric science, one knows that every feeling oftrue devotion unfolded in the soul produces an inner strength or force that sooner or later leads to knowledge.”¹⁵ He also makes it clear that the cultivation of reverence and, by implication of other moral qualities, is not the same thing as study. “Anyone seeking higher knowledge must create these feelings [reverence, awe, adoration, wonder] inwardly, instilling them in the soul. This cannot be done by studying. It can only be done by living.”¹⁶

      In chapters four and five of HKHW Steiner introduces a number of other qualities that the student is advised to cultivate, for “anyone who follows these additional suggestions will advance quite far in esoteric science.”¹⁷ The qualities discussed in chapter four are patience, inner truthfulness, absence of curiosity-for-curiosity’s sake, education of our desires, letting go of prejudice, tack, gentleness, quietness, and maintaining a healthy environment around oneself. Just reading the list can cause us to wonder about our capacity to live up to Steiner’s expectations, at least until we remember his admonition about gentleness. “Such gentleness is one of the main methods of esoteric schooling. Gentleness removes obstacles, opening our soul and spirit organs.”¹⁸ This includes gentleness with ourselves. Practicing gentleness with ourselves removes the feelings of inadequacy that so easily arise when working with Steiner’s books and lectures.

      Chapter five continues the theme of moral development by giving a number of “requirements or conditions for entering into esoteric training.”¹⁹ These are “conditions” not “practical advice” because without an effort to fulfill these requirements we cannot attain the goal we seek - entry onto the path that leads to a reunification with God. The conditions are demanding, but Steiner makes it clear that what is required of us is our striving to fulfill these goals, not our perfection. “No one can fulfill these conditions completely, but everyone can set out on the path to their fulfillment. It is our attitude and our will to begin that are important.”²⁰ Like treading the path of reverence, these conditions cannot be met by study. They must be practiced as part of life. To do this, we must overcome our inner reluctance to undertake these tasks. This need to master ourselves makes the practice of the conditions a part of moral growth. Steiner makes this clear when, after reciting the conditions he says “And this will prepare us for the calm, inner peace we must develop during the first steps in esoteric training.”²¹ The attainment of inner peace is the attainment of a moral perfection.

      Chapter five contains seven conditions. First, we are asked to work to improve our mental, spiritual and physical heath. Second, to feel ourselves part of the whole of life. That is, to take responsibility for our own actions and to change ourselves based on this feeling of responsibility. Third, we must convince ourselves that thoughts and feelings are as real, and as important for the world as are actions. Fourth, we must become convinced that our true nature does not lie in the physical world, but within us. The fifth requirement is that we are steadfast in following through on a resolution once we have made it. Developing a feeling of gratitude for all that we receive is the sixth requirement. Finally, we are asked to bring all of these conditions harmoniously together, and to regard our life in the manner that these conditions demand.

      It should be clear from all that has been said that a purification of our feeling life is a central part of the Anthroposophical Path of Schooling. If there is any doubt of this, Steiner himself makes this clear at the beginning of chapter four of HKHW. “Educating our feelings, thoughts, and moods in the ways indicated in the sections on preparation, illumination, and initiation, fashions an organization in our soul and spirit similar to the one produced by nature in the physical body.”²² Here, in addition to feelings and moods he mentions the education of thinking. In studying the results of spiritual science we use thinking to educate ourselves about the nature of the spiritual world. When we undertake an education of our thinking we do not gain new knowledge, but learn to regulate the flow of our thoughts. This is one form of meditation, the topic to which I now turn.

Meditation

      Steiner gave so many different types of meditation that it initially appears that they have no unifying theme. However, closer study reveals that they all involve some type of consciously willed activity that is used to transform thinking, feeling or both. In some cases (eurthmy training, for instance) the transformation effects not just the soul, but the etheric body as well. In cases like these the word meditation is stretched so far beyond its conventional meaning that it becomes almost inapplicable. It is for this reason that I used the word “practice” when I first introduced this subject. By practice I mean a willed activity that is used to transform thinking, feeling and perhaps other aspects of our being. If we restrict ourselves to the most common types of exercises that Steiner gives, for instance in HKHW, Verses and Meditations,²³ and Esoteric Science,³ the term meditation can be used to good effect. I will restrict my usage in this way for the remainder of this section.

      Let us begin with one of the simplest types of meditation, concentration on an image or memory-picture.²⁴ In its most rudimentary form, this type of meditation consists of holding a mental image in one’s consciousness for as long as possible. If this image is of a sense perceptible object, it is possible to place that object before one and repeatedly compare one’s mental image with the object, striving to bring the two into accord. This is part of what Goethe calls Exact Sensorial Imagination. To complete the exercise it is necessary to wean ourselves from dependence on the physical object. There are at least two ways to do this.

      First, there is Goethe’s method of Exact Sensorial Imagination. He begins with the leaves of a plant that shows a strong transition in form from the lowest to the uppermost leaves. The forms of these leaves are then imaged in the manner described above. After this he imaginatively creates leaf forms that are intermediate between those that he has seen on the plant. These leaf forms do not exist in nature so the images of them cannot be checked against sense experience. If done conscientiously, this method allows one to form images that have the same lawful necessity as the sense perceptible leaves.

Figure 2

      The second method of weaning ourselves from dependence on sense perceptions is best explained through a geometrical puzzle.²⁵ Begin by imaging a cube standing on one of its eight corners. Now imagine that this corner rests on a movable, transparent plane (Figure 2). Since this plane is geometrical not material it can move upwards through the cube creating a plane figure on its surface. Initially this figure will be a point - the point on which the cube rests. As the plane moves upwards it will produce several different figures on its surface, before ending in a point at the top of the cube. The solution to the puzzle is the list of the figures that are formed as the plane passes through the cube. I will not give the answer to this puzzle as this would defeat the purpose of the exercise. This puzzle is a type of image meditation. Completing it strengthens our ability to form precise mental images. If you can form the image of the cube and plane with precision, you will know when you have the correct answer.

      This same type of meditation can be extended to other geometric forms. For instance, one can create mental images of all of the Platonic solids (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosohedron), and to work with them with a great deal of precision. Of course this takes strenuous inner work, but that is the point. The reason for undertaking these types of meditations is to strengthen one’s ability to visualize to the point where it is possible to form images that have the same lawfulness as do sense perceptions. Once we have developed this ability, it becomes easier to look away from our physical sense perceptions into a non-physical world. In effect, we learn to ignore the sense perceptible world and look into one with purely spiritual content. InEsoteric Science Steiner describes the process of eradicating one type of perception so that higher forms of knowledge can emerge.²⁶ In working with images we strengthen our ability to do this.

      A second type of meditation involves and integrates all three soul functions: thinking, feeling and willing. This second type is the most detailed of all anthroposophical meditations, and is also the most characteristic. These meditations combine all three aspects of the Anthroposophical Path of Schooling. They involve the building up a thought picture (an element of study), the cultivation of ennobled feelings (moral growth), and holding a symbolic image in our consciousness (meditation). The most typical example of these meditations is the Rose Cross Meditation from Esoteric Science.²⁷

      These meditations begin by building up a thought-picture of the content. Steiner emphasizes the importance of accompanying this part of the meditation with lively feelings. The meditation should include, not intellectual thoughts, but lively feeling-filled thinking. When this first portion of the meditation is complete, the thoughts and feelings that were used to set the stage are extinguished from our consciousness and replaced with a symbolic picture that symbolizes the content. This symbolic picture is held in consciousness for as long as possible, with a kind of after-image of the feelings we had during the first stage. Here is what Steiner has to say about this stage: “During meditation, however, we should not summon up all of these preparatory thoughts but should only allow the image to linger vividly before us in the spirit while permitting the feeling we had as a result of these preparatory thoughts to resonate. In this way, the symbol becomes a token of this experience of feeling, and its effectiveness is due to the fact that the soul dwells on this experience.”²⁸

      A third form of meditation consists of a text or verse that is either repeated or heard inwardly by the meditant. The verses of Verses and Meditations²⁰, the Foundation Stone²⁹ , and the mantras of the Esoteric Lessons of the First Class³⁰ all have this nature. One of the simplest meditations of this type is the phrase “The Christ is seeing us.”³¹

      In a small pamphlet on meditation Dr. Ernst Katz points out the four-part structure of meditations.³² Though this structure is applicable to all meditation, I mention it here because I find it particularly useful when considering verse meditations. At the beginning of the meditation the meditant builds up a certain content that is then held quietly before his or her soul. In the meditations like that on the Rose Cross, this step corresponds to building up the thoughts and feelings described above. In the short verse meditation on Christ, this stage corresponds to inwardly hearing the phrase echoing from all of humanity. The second stage consists of erasing the content that has just been built up, and maintaining a quiet yet alert state. In the Rose Cross meditation this stage corresponds to holding the image of the Rose Cross before us. In a verse meditation, it consists of allowing our inner hearing to fade and be replaced by the quiet space to which the verse has directed us. This quiet space is non-verbal. During the third phase something new enters out of the silence. This is the spiritual fruit of the meditation. This new element may not be present every time we mediate, but it will be present sooner or later. The last phase draws the meditation to a close with a feeling of gratitude. This feeling should be cultivated whether the meditant feels that the meditation has been successful or not.

      Some helpful indications on meditation are found in Steiner’s answer to a question from a doctor at the end of a lecture to young doctors.³³ I reproduce the question and the most relevant portion of the answer because the text is not readily available in English. I am indebted to Dr. Katz for the translation.³⁴

Question: What must I do out of my ego when I meditate?

Steiner: Meditation consists of the following: as a modern person you feel regarding every sentence that you must understand it. That is a definite activity of the ego in the present incarnation. Everything you do is a definite activity of the ego. The intellect is in the present incarnation, and everything else is covered over by the ego, it works at most in a dreamlike way and is unconscious. In contrast to this, to meditate means to exclude this intellectual striving and to take the content of the meditation to begin with as it is given, I would say purely according to the wording. If you approach the content of your meditation intellectually, you set your ego in motion before you absorb the content of the meditation, for you think about the content of the meditation, and so you have it outside of yourself. But if you simply let the content of the meditation be present in your consciousness as it is given, not at all thinking about it, but let it be present in your consciousness, then there works within you, not your ego of the present incarnation but the ego of the past incarnation. You keep the intellect still, you immerse yourself simply into the content of words which you hear inwardly, not outwardly. You hear it as content of words, into this you immerse yourself, and as you immerse yourself into this, there works in the content of the meditation your inner human being which is not the one of the present incarnation. In this way the content of the meditation does not become something you should understand intellectually, but rather something that works in you as a reality, and works in you in such a real way that eventually you become aware: ‘now I have experienced something which formerly I could not experience.’

      In this quotation Steiner suggests that placing emphasis on the intellectual understanding of the verse is unhelpful. However, he does not say that any understanding of the verse is misplaced. To meditate the verse “The Christ is seeing us” we must know something of the being of Christ. Without this, the sentence would be meaningless. However, to spend our time speculating on the precise way in which he sees us would not be meditation.³⁵

Conclusion

      The three aspects of Anthroposophical Schooling that I have spoken of in this article can be found as parts of all true spiritual schooling. For instance, in the first meeting with a Tibetan Lama the student is directed to study the great works of Buddhism, to lead an upright life, and to meditate. The arrangement of our path into these three branches does not make us unique. In fact, on the first page of HKHW Steiner indicates that “a form of schooling has always existed in which persons possessing higher faculties guide those who see to develop these faculties for themselves.”³⁶ Thus, we should expect to find similarities with other methods of training.

      Although I have outlined three basic types of meditation, I want to acknowledge that the variation within each of these types is so great that another person might easily find more than three types of meditation in Anthroposophy. Although I would classify the sound meditations³⁷ in HKHW with the text meditations described above, and would classify viewing the day in reverse with image meditations,³⁸ other equally valid opinions are possible. I am not searching for the correct taxonomy of meditations. I only hope to bring a greater understanding to the Anthroposophical Path of Schooling by showing that there is regularity among the meditations that Steiner gave.

      In closing I would like to say a word about Steiner’s attitude toward speaking of spiritual perceptions. I have found that this is the most missunderstood aspect of the Anthroposophical Path of Schooling. This is striking because Steiner is absolutely clear in what he says. The topic is dealt with in three contiguous paragraphs in chapter two of HKHW. Here are the relevant portions of the middle paragraph. This is the paragraph that is most often cited when referring to Steiner’s opinion on this topic.

Here, then is another important rule for the student of occult knowledge: ‘Know how to be silent about your spiritual perceptions. Yes, even silent about them with yourself. Do not try to clothe in words what you see in the spirit, nor try to understand it with your ordinary, unskilled reason. Give yourself fully to your spiritual perception, and do not disturb it too much with pondering. Remember, your thinking is not yet on the level of your spiritual vision.’³⁹

      This statement is clear, but it is not complete. What remains to be clarified is the context in which he makes these comments. In this section of chapter two Steiner is speaking of the beginning stages of spiritual perception. In the paragraph preceding the quote he says, “It is best, to begin with, not to talk about them, except perhaps with our teacher if we have one (emphasis added).”⁴⁰ He makes this point again in the following, one-sentence long paragraph: “Once we can observe our inner experiences steadily, then we can speak about them and thereby inspire our fellow human beings to activity.”⁴¹ These two qualifications make it clear that the admonition to remain silent applies to the beginning stages of spiritual perception, when these perceptions cannot be observed “steadily.” Once the student has perceptions that are steady and reliable, they may be spoken of without danger. I hope that this will occur more frequently in the future.

---

Endnotes:

¹ Steiner, R. 1924/1973. Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts. Rudolf Steiner Press, London.

² Steiner, R. 1924/1963. The Life, Nature and Cultivation of Anthroposophy. Rudolf Steiner Press, London. p. 6. (Also available athttp://www.anthroposophy.org/Gov/GAS_stats.php)

³ Steiner, R. 1910/1997. An Outline of Esoteric Science. Anthroposophic Press, Hudon, NY.

⁴ This is explained in relationship to the elemental kingdoms in Steiner, R. 1905-1908/1967. The Stages of Higher Knowledge. Anthroposophic Press, New York. pp. 14-19.

⁵ Steiner, R. 1909/1994. How to Know Higher Worlds. Anthroposophic Press, Hudson, NY. Chapter 9

⁶ Referring to the need to nourish our developing organs of soul and spirit through exposure to nature, Steiner remarks “If we cannot see the forests turning green day by day each spring, we should at least nourish our heats with the lofty teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the Gospel of St. John, and Thomas B Kempis, and with the findings of spiritual science.” HKHW, p. 93

⁷ Williamson, M. 1992. A Return to Love. Harper Collins, New York.

⁸ Myss, C. 1996. Anatomy of the Spirit. Harmony Books, New York.

⁹ Lao-tzu. ca. 500 B.C.E./1988. Tao Te Ching. Harper Collins. New York. [translated by Stephen Mitchell] Aphorism 21

¹⁰ HKHW, p. 42

¹¹ HKHW, see esp. Chapters 1, 4, 5.

¹² “Spiritual science then provides practical rules which, when observed, help us to follow this path and develop an inner life.” HKHW, p. 25.

¹³ HKHW, p. 16

¹⁴ HKHW, p. 17

¹⁵ HKHW, p. 18

¹⁶ HKHW, p. 19

¹⁷ HKHW, p. 84

¹⁸ HKHW, p. 90

¹⁹ HKHW, p. 94

²⁰ HKHW, pp. 96-97

²¹ HKHW, p. 103

²² HKHW, p. 83

²³ Steiner, R. 1961. Verses and Meditations. Rudolf Steiner Press, London.

²⁴ Steiner briefly describes these types of exercises in Esoteric Science, pp. 290-291. They are similar to the first meditation given to a student of Dzogchen, the visualization of a white Tibetan letter A. See Reynolds, J. M. 1996. Commentary on ‘The Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King.’ InThe Golden Letters. Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, NY. p. 76

²⁵ I am indebted to Detlef Hardorp for challenging me with this puzzle many years ago.

²⁶ Esoteric Science, p. 301

²⁷ Esoteric Science, pp. 291-294. Other examples of this type of meditation are given in chapter 2 of HKHW. Especially noteworthy are the meditations on the seed (p. 56-57) and plant (pp. 59-60).

²⁸ Esoteric Science, p. 294

²⁹ The Life, Nature and Cultivation of Anthroposophy. pp. 8-10

³⁰ Steiner, R. 1924/1994. Esoteric Lessons of the First Class of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum. Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain, London. Vols. I-III.

³¹ “Der Chistus sieht uns.” Verses and Meditations, p. 223

³² Katz, E. 1993. Meditation according to Rudolf Steiner. Rudolf Steiner Institute of the Great Lakes Area, Ann Arbor. p. 29

³³ Steiner, R. 1924/1994. Course for Young Doctors: Meditative Contemplations and Instructions for Deepening the Art of Healing. Lectures for Physicians and Medical Students. Mercury Press, Spring Valley, NY.

³⁴ The original text, its translation and a discussion of it are available in Katz, E. 1993. Meditation according to Rudolf Steiner. Rudolf Steiner Institute of the Great Lakes Area, Ann Arbor.

³⁵ See also ibid, pp. 21-23.

³⁶ HKHW, p. 13

³⁷ HKHW, pp. 44-45

³⁸ Esoteric Science, pp. 318-319

³⁹ HKHW, p. 63

⁴⁰ HKHW, p. 63

MEDITATIONS - LA BRANCH - ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

Thanks to Cecilia Staubli to share what she found at:http://www.anthroposophyla.org/meditations.html

MEDITATIONS

Anthroposophy, to have existence in our time, must use the means which the civilization of today provides. In books and lectures, it must find its way to men. But in its nature, it is not on the library shelf. It must be born anew in the human heart whenever a human being turns to the written book to learn of it.  Unless the author looked into the hearts of his fellow-men while he wrote, to discover what he must say to them. A man can only do this if he is touched by the living Spirit as he writes. Then he will confide to the perfectly written word something that the soul of the reader, who is seeking for the Spirit, can feel like a resurrection of the Spirit from the word. Books that can come to live in the human being as he reads - these alone may be called anthroposophical.

Virtues of the Month

January: Courage becomes the power to redeem.
Opposite: Timidity, Anxiety

February: Discretion becomes meditative strength
Opposite: Comment, Criticism

March: Magnanimity becomes love.
Opposite: Pettiness, Narrowness

April: Devotion becomes the force of sacrifice.
Opposite: No concern, spring fever.

May: Inner balance becomes progress.
Opposite: Externals take over, too busy.

June: Perseverance becomes faithfulness.
Opposite: Loss of grip, giving up.

July: Selflessness leads to catharsis.
Opposite: Self-Absorption, Willfulness

August: Compassion leads to freedom.
Opposite: Heartlessness, Insensitivity

September: Courtesy becomes tactfulness of heart.
Opposite: Inconsiderateness, Insensitivity

October: Contentment becomes equanimity.
Opposite: Complaint, Dissatisfaction

November: Patience becomes insight.
Opposite: Hurry, Loss of temper

December: Control of speech becomes feeling for truth.
Opposite: Talkativeness, Gossip

Six Basic Exercises

Rudolf Steiner gave six exercises that are fundamental to his meditative work. We invite you to join us in practicing them.

No. 1 - The Control of Thought

The first exercise has to do with the control of thinking. It is designed to keep our minds from wandering, to focus them, to strengthen our meditative work. There are several versions of this exercise. Here is one version:

Select a simple object - a pin, a button, a pencil. Try to think about it exclusively for five minutes. You may think about the way the object is manufactured, how it is used, what its history is. Try to be logical and realistic in your thinking. This exercise is best if practiced faithfully every day. You may use the same object every day or a new object each day, as you choose.

No. 2 - The Control of Will

Choose a simple action to perform each day at a time you select. It should be something you do not ordinarily do; it can even be a little odd. Then do it a duty to perform this action at that time each day. Rudolf Steiner gives the example of watering a flower each day at a certain time. As you progress, additional tasks can be added at other times.

This exercise is as hard as it is simple and takes a very strong intention to complete. To start you might think of it as you think of a dentist's appointment - you do not want to be late. It can be helpful to mark your success or failure on the calendar each day. If you completely forget at the time, but remember later, do it then and try to do better the next day.

No. 3 - Equanimity

The third exercise is the development of balance between joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, the heights of pleasure and the depths of despair. Strive for a balanced mood. An attempt should be made not to become immoderately angry or annoyed, not to become anxious or fearful, not to become disconcerted, nor to be overcome by joy or sorrow. Rather should your natural feelings be permitted to be quietly felt. Try to maintain your composure. This leads to an inner tranquillity and purer feelings of the soul.

No. 4

This exercise is the development of a positive attitude to life. Attempt to seek for the good, praiseworthy, and beautiful in all beings, all experiences and all things. Soon you will begin to notice the hidden good and beautiful that lies concealed in all things. This is connected with learning not to criticize everything. You can ask how something came to be or to act the way it is. One way to overcome the tendency to criticize is to learn to 'characterize' instead.

No. 5

For this exercise, make the effort to confront every new experience with complete open-mindedness. The habit of saying, "I never heard that" or "I never saw that before" should be overcome. The possibility of something entirely new coming into the world must be left open, even if it contradicts all your previous knowledge and experience.

No. 6

If you have been trying the previous exercises of thinking, will, equilibrium, positivity and tolerance, you are now ready to try them together two or three at a time, in varying combinations until they become natural and harmonious.

For more information see Guidance in Esoteric Training, by Rudolf Steiner.