Those who have thoroughly a.s.similated the idea to be gained by a comprehension of this separation of the sun, will now be able to interpret correctly the significance of the process of plant fertilization, when it is said that "the plant previous to fructification is in a "sun state,"
and afterward in the "moon state." " Indeed, it may be said of even the smallest occurrence in the world that it can be fully understood only when the reflection of great cosmic events is recognized in it. Otherwise its inner nature remains just as unintelligible as Raphael"s Sistine Madonna would be for one who could see only a small blue speck, while the rest of it remained covered.
Everything that happens to man is a reflection of all those great cosmic events that have to do with his existence. Those who wish to understand the observations made by clairvoyant consciousness of the phenomena taking place between birth and death, and again between death and a new birth, will be able to do so if they first acquire the faculty of interpreting imaginative observations by means of conceptions gained by reflecting upon great cosmic events. These contemplations, indeed, furnish the key to a comprehension of human life. Therefore the study of Saturn, Sun, and Moon are, from the standpoint of occult science, at the same time a study of man.
Through inspiration one arrives at a knowledge of the relationships between the beings of the higher world, and a further stage of cognition makes it then possible to recognize the inner essential nature of these beings themselves. This stage of cognition is known to occult science as that of intuitive cognition.(32)
Cognition of a sense-being implies standing outside of it, and judging it according to outer impressions. Intuitive cognition of a spiritual being implies being at one with it; uniting oneself with the inner nature of that being. Step by step, the occult student ascends toward such cognition. Imagination leads him no longer to consider phenomena as the external qualities of beings, but to recognize them as psycho-spiritual emanations; inspiration leads him further into the inner nature of these beings. Here we can again ill.u.s.trate by means of the foregoing chapters what is the meaning of intuition. In those earlier chapters it has not only been stated how the progress of the Saturn, Sun and Moon evolutions proceeded; but also that beings took part, in widely different ways, in that progress, and mention was made of the Thrones or Spirits of Will, the Spirits of Wisdom, the Spirits of Motion, and so on. In connection with the earth"s development, reference was made to the Luciferian spirits and spirits of Ahriman. The structure of the world was traced back to those beings who took part in it. All knowledge pertaining to these beings is derived from intuitive cognition, which is also necessary, if we wish to understand man"s life.
That which is released from the human physical body at death pa.s.ses on through various states in the future. The more immediate conditions after death might, to some extent, be described by referring to imaginative cognition, but that which takes place when man has proceeded farther into that time lying between death and a new birth would be entirely incomprehensible to the imagination, did not inspiration come to its aid.
For inspiration alone can disclose what can be revealed about man"s life after its purification in the "land of spirits." We come to a point where inspiration is no longer adequate-where it reaches the limit of its possibilities. For there is a period in human development, between death and a new birth, in which the human being is accessible only to intuition.
Yet this part of the human being is _always_ within man, and if we wish to understand it in its true inner nature we must also seek it, between birth and death, by means of intuition. Anyone attempting to fathom man by means of imagination and inspiration alone would miss the very innermost being, that which continues from incarnation to incarnation. It is therefore by intuitive cognition alone that adequate research concerning reincarnation and Karma becomes possible, and all genuine knowledge of these processes is derived from research undertaken by means of intuition. If a man wishes to know his own inner self, he can only do so by intuition; by its aid he becomes aware of what it is that moves onward within him from incarnation to incarnation; and should it fall to anyone"s lot to know something about his earlier incarnations, this can only take place through intuitive cognition.
Cognition through inspiration and intuition is attainable only by means of psycho-spiritual exercises, and they resemble those meditations practiced for the attainment of imagination which have already been described.
While, however, in exercises for the development of the imagination, a connection is set up with impressions belonging to the world of the physical senses, such connections gradually cease in the case of exercises for inspiration. In order to understand more clearly what must be done, let us recall once more the symbol of the "rosy cross." When we meditate on this we have before us a picture, of which the component parts have been taken from the world of the senses: there is the black colour of the cross, the roses, etc., and yet the combination of those various parts into the "rosy cross" is not derived from the world of the senses. If the student now endeavours to banish from his consciousness both the black cross and the red roses, as pictures of sense-realities, only retaining in his soul that spiritual activity which has been used in putting these parts together, he will then have a means for a meditation that will gradually lead him on to inspiration. He should put the question to himself somewhat in the following manner: "What have I done inwardly to construct that symbol from cross and rose? What I did (an act of my own soul), I will retain within my hold; but the picture itself I will allow to fade away out of my consciousness. I shall then be able to feel within me all that my soul did in order to produce the picture, though I no longer recall the picture itself. I will now live wholly within my own activity that created the picture. I will not meditate upon a picture, but upon the powers of my own soul which are capable of creating pictures."
Such meditations must now be practised with various other symbols. This leads then to cognition through inspiration. Here is another example, that of meditating upon the growth and subsequent withering of a plant. Let the picture of a slowly growing plant arise in the soul, as it sprouts from the seed, unfolds leaf after leaf, then blossoms and fruits; then again as it begins to wither on to its complete dissolution. By the help of meditations on such a symbol as this, the student gradually attains a feeling concerning growth and decay of which the plant is but a symbol. If the exercises be persevered in continuously, the image of the transformation which underlies physical growth and decay can be evolved from this feeling.
But if one wishes to attain the corresponding stage of inspiration, this exercise must be practised quite differently. Here one"s own activity of soul must be called to mind,-that which had obtained the conception of growth and decay from the image of the plant. The plant must now be allowed to vanish altogether from the consciousness, and the attention be concentrated entirely upon the student"s own inner activity. It is only such exercises as these that help us to rise to inspiration. At first the occult student will find it difficult to fully grasp how to set about such an exercise. This is because man is used to permitting his inner life to be governed by outward impressions, and thus falls immediately into uncertainty and wavering when now he must unfold in addition a soul life which has freed itself from all connections with outward impressions.
Here the student must clearly understand that he should only undertake these exercises if along with them he cultivates everything that may lead to firmness and stability in his judgment, emotional life, and character; these precautions are even more necessary than when seeking to acquire the faculty of imagination. Should he take these precautions, he will be doubly successful, for, in the first place, he will not risk losing the balance of his personality through the exercises; and secondly, he will acquire the capacity of being really able to carry out what is demanded in these exercises. They will be deemed difficult only as long as one has not yet attained a particular att.i.tude of soul, and certain feelings and sentiments. He who patiently and perseveringly cultivates within his soul such qualities as are favourable to the growth of supersensible cognition, will not be long in acquiring both the understanding and the faculty for these practices.
Any one who can acquire the habit of frequently entering into the quiet of his own soul, and who, instead of brooding over himself, transforms and orders those experiences he has had in life, will gain much. For he will perceive that his thoughts and feelings become richer, if through memory he establishes a relationship between the different experiences of life.
He will become aware that he gains stores of new knowledge not only through new impressions and new experiences, but also by letting the old ones be active within him.
He who allows his experiences and his opinions free play, keeping himself with his sympathies and antipathies, personal interests and feelings entirely in the background, will prepare an especially fertile soil for supersensible cognition. He will in very truth be developing what may be called a rich inner life. But what is of primary importance is the balance and equilibrium of the qualities of the soul. People are very apt to become one-sided when indulging in certain activities of the soul. Thus, when a person has come to know the advantages of contemplation, and of dwelling upon pictures derived from his own thought-world, he is apt to develop a tendency to withdraw himself from the impressions of the outer world. Yet such a step only leads to parching and withering the inner life; and he will go farthest who manages to retain an unchecked receptivity for all impressions of the outer world, while possessing the power to withdraw within his own inner self. It is by no means necessary to think only of the so-called important events of life: every one, in every sphere of life, be his four walls ever so humble, will be possessed of experience enough, provided only his mind is truly receptive.
Experiences need not be sought-they abound on every hand.
Of particular importance is the way in which experience may be utilized by the human soul. For instance, one may make the discovery that someone whom he or another greatly reveres, has some quality that must be regarded as a flaw in his character. An experience of this kind may lead the person to whom it comes to thoughts which will tend toward one of two different directions. He may simply feel that he can never again regard the person in question with the same degree of veneration; or on the other hand, he may say to himself: "How has it been possible for this revered person to be burdened with such a failing? How can I present the matter to my mind so as to see in this failing not merely a fault, but something that is the outcome of his life, possibly even caused by his n.o.ble qualities?" Whoever can place the question thus before his own mind may, perhaps, arrive at the conclusion that his veneration for his friend need not suffer the least diminution, in spite of the failing that has come to light.
Experiences of this nature will, each time they are met with, add something to our understanding of life. Yet it would certainly be a bad thing for one to allow himself to be tempted through this generous view of life, to excuse everything in those whom he happens to like, or to drop into the habit of ignoring every blamable action, in order thereby to seek some benefit to his own inner development. Blaming or excusing the mistakes of others merely as a result of an inner impulse, does not further our development. This can only happen if our action is governed by the particular case itself, regardless of what we may thereby gain or lose. It is absolutely true that we cannot learn by condemning a fault, but only by understanding it; but, at the same time, if, owing to understanding it, we exclude all disapproval of it, we likewise would not progress very far.
Here, again, the important thing is to avoid one-sidedness, either in one direction or the other, and to establish harmony and balance of all qualities in the soul; and this is especially to be kept in mind in regard to one quality which is pre-eminently important to man"s development: the feeling of devotion. Those who can cultivate this feeling, or on whom nature herself has bestowed so inestimable a gift, have a good foundation for the powers of supersensible cognition. Those who in childhood and youth have been able to look up to certain persons with feelings of devoted admiration, beholding in them some high ideal, will already possess in the depths of their souls the soil in which supersensible cognition may flourish abundantly. And those who, possessed of the maturer judgment of later life, can direct their gaze upon the starry heavens and surrender themselves unreservedly to admiration of the revelations of the Higher Powers, are in a like manner ripening their senses for the acquisition of knowledge with regard to the supersensible worlds. So is it also with those who can admire the powers ruling over human life itself.
It is by no means of small importance for a fully matured man to be able to feel veneration to the highest degree for other people whose worth he senses or recognizes. For it is only where veneration such as this is present that a vista of the higher worlds can be revealed. Those who possess no sense of reverence will never go very far in their attainment of cognition; for from those who decline to appreciate anything in this world, the essence of all things will a.s.suredly be withheld.
Nevertheless, any one who permits his feelings of reverence and devotion to kill his healthy self-consciousness and self-confidence, is guilty of sinning against the laws of balance and equilibrium. The occult student must work constantly in order to mature his own nature; then indeed he may well have confidence in his own personality, and believe that its powers are increasing more and more. Any one arriving at the right feeling in this respect will say to himself: "There are within me hidden powers, and I am able to call them forth from within. If, therefore, I see something which fills me with reverence because it is above me, I need no longer merely venerate it, but I may confidently a.s.sume that, if I develop all that is in me, I may raise myself to the level of the object of my veneration."
The more capable a man is of fixing his attention upon these events of life with which he is not directly familiar, the greater will be the possibility of providing himself with a foundation for development in higher worlds. The following example will make this evident. Let us a.s.sume that some one is placed in a position in which it rests with him either to do, or leave undone, a certain thing. His judgment bids him "Do this,"
while at the same time there may be a certain indefinite something in his feelings which deters him from the deed. It may so happen that the person in question will pay no heed to this inexplicable something, carrying out the action in accordance with his judgment. But it may also be that the person so placed will yield to this inner impulse and not perform the act.
Now, pursuing the matter further, he may find that mischief would have resulted from his following the dictates of his reason, and that a blessing awaited him through the omission of the act. An experience of this nature may lead a man"s thoughts into quite a definite channel, and then he will put the matter to himself in this way: "There is something within me that is a surer guide than that measure of judgment of which I am at present possessed: I must therefore retain an open mind toward this inner something, to the height of which my own capacity for judgment has not yet attained."
The soul derives much benefit when it directs its attention to occurrences in life such as these, for they demonstrate that man"s healthy premonitions bear something in them which is of greater moment than he, with his present degree of judgment, is able to perceive. Attention in this direction has the effect of enlarging the life of the soul. Yet here again certain peculiarities may arise which are of themselves dangerous.
One who accustoms himself to a perpetual disregarding of his judgment, owing to this or that "premonition," would easily become a shuttle-c.o.c.k tossed at the mercy of every kind of undefined impulse; indeed, it is not a far cry from such habitual indecision to a state of absolute superst.i.tion.
Every superst.i.tion is disastrous to the student of occult science. The possibility of gaining admission, by legitimate means, to the realms of the spiritual life must depend upon a careful exclusion of all superst.i.tion, phantasy, and dreaming. One who is pleased at having had a certain experience which cannot be grasped by human reason will not approach the spiritual world in the right manner. No partiality for the "inexplicable" will ever make one qualified for discipleship of the Spirit. Indeed the pupil should utterly discard the notion that a true mystic is one who is always ready to surmise the presence of what cannot be explained or explored. The right way is to be prepared to recognize on all hands hidden forces and hidden beings, yet at the same time to a.s.sume that what is "unexplored" today will be able to be explored when the requisite ability has been developed.
There is a certain mood of soul which it is important for the pupil to maintain at every stage of his development. He should not let his urge for higher knowledge lead him to keep on aiming to get answers to particular questions. Rather should he continually be asking: How am I to develop the needed faculties within myself? For when by dint of patient inner work some faculty develops in him, he will receive the answer to some of his questions. Genuine pupils of the Spirit will always take pains to cultivate this att.i.tude of soul. They will thereby be encouraged to work upon themselves, that they may become ever more and more mature in spirit, and they will abjure the desire to extort answers to particular questions.
They will _wait_ until such time as the answers come.
Here again, however, there is the possibility of a one-sidedness, which may prevent the pupil from going forward in the way he should. For at some moment he may quite rightly feel that _according to the measure of his powers_ he can answer for himself even questions of the highest order.
Thus at every turn moderation and balance play an essential part in the life of the soul.
Many more qualities of soul could be cited that may with advantage be fostered and developed, if the pupil is seriously wanting to work through a training for Inspiration; and in connection with every one of them we should find that emphasis is laid on the supreme importance of moderation and balance. These attributes of soul help the pupil to understand the exercises that are given for the attainment of Inspiration, and also make him capable of carrying them out.
The exercises for Intuition demand from the pupil that he let disappear from consciousness not only the pictures to which he gave himself up in contemplation in order to arrive at Imaginative cognition, but also that meditating upon his own activity of soul, which he practiced for the attainment of Inspiration. This means that he is now to have in his soul literally nothing of what he has experienced hitherto, whether outwardly or inwardly. If, after discarding all outward and inward experience, nothing whatever is left in his consciousness _that is to say, if consciousness simply slips away from him and he sinks into unconsciousness_ then that will tell him that he is not yet ripe to undertake the exercises for Intuition and must continue working with those for Imagination and Inspiration. A time will come however when an effect will linger in the consciousness which can just as well be made the object of meditation, as were before those outer and inner impressions. This something is, however, of a very special nature, and in comparison with all previous experiences, it is something absolutely new. When it occurs, we recognize it as something we have never known before. It is a perception, just as an actual sound is a perception, that strikes upon the ear; yet it can enter the consciousness only through intuition, just as the sound can only enter the consciousness by way of the ear. Thus with intuition, the last remnants of the physical and sentient are stripped from man"s impressions, while the spiritual world begins to expand before the understanding in a form that has nothing in common with the characteristics of the world of the physical senses.
Imaginative cognition is attained by developing the lotus flowers within the astral body. Through those exercises undertaken for the attainment of inspiration and intuition, particular movements, formations and currents which were previously absent, now appear in the human etheric or vital body. These are the very organs which enable man to "read the secret script," and bring that which lies beyond it within his reach. For to the clairvoyant, the changes which occur in the etheric body of a person attaining to inspiration and intuition appear in the following manner.
Near the physical heart a new center is forming in the etheric body, which develops into an etheric organ. From this organ, movements and currents flow toward different parts of the human body, in the most varied manner.
The most important of these currents approach the lotus flowers, pa.s.s through them and their separate petals, and thence direct their course outward, pouring themselves into outer s.p.a.ce in the form of rays. The more developed a person is, the greater will be the circ.u.mference around him in which these rays become discernible. This centre near the heart is not, however, formed at the very beginning, under correct training. It is first prepared. A temporary center is first formed in the head: this then moves down to the region of the larynx and is finally transferred into the region of the heart. Under an irregular course of development it would be possible for the organ in question to develop near the heart at the outset. In that case the student, instead of arriving in due course at adequate, tranquil clairvoyance by regular means, would run the risk of turning into a visionary and dreamer.
Subsequent development enables the occult student to render these currents and organized parts of this etheric body independent of his physical body and to use them independently. The lotus flowers then serve him as instruments by which to move his etheric body. Yet, before this can take place, certain currents and radiations must come into action around his entire etheric body, surrounding this, as it were, with a fine network, thus encasing it as though it were a separate ent.i.ty. When this has taken place, the movements and currents of the etheric body can without hindrance touch the outer psycho-spiritual world and unite with it so that outer psycho-spiritual occurrences and inner ones (those within the human etheric body) blend into one another. When this comes to pa.s.s, the moment has arrived when man can consciously experience the world of inspiration.
This cognition takes place in a manner different from cognition of the physical sense-world. In this latter, we become aware of the world by means of our senses and form our ideas and concepts from these perceptions. But in the case of cognition through inspiration, this is not so.
What is thus perceived is instantaneous; there is no thinking after the perception has taken place. That which in the case of physical sense-cognition is only afterward gained through the concept, is, in the case of inspiration, simultaneous with the perception. One would therefore become merged with the surrounding psycho-spiritual world, and be unable to differentiate oneself from it had not the fine network above alluded to been previously formed in the etheric body.
When exercises for intuition are practiced, they not only affect the etheric body but extend their influence to the supersensible forces of the physical body. But it must not, of course, be imagined that effects are brought about in the physical body which are discernible to ordinary sense-observation, for these effects the clairvoyant alone is able to judge, and they have nothing to do with external powers of perception.
They come as the result of a ripened consciousness, when this latter is able to have intuitional experiences, even though it has divested itself of all previous inner and outer experiences. The experiences of intuition are, however, subtle, delicate and intimate, in comparison with which the physical body, at its present stage of development, is coa.r.s.e. For this reason, it offers a positive hindrance to the success of any exercises for attaining intuition. Nevertheless, should these be pursued with energy and perseverance, and with the requisite inner calm, they will ultimately overcome those powerful hindrances of the physical body. The occult student will become aware of this when he notices how, by degrees, particular actions of his physical body which hitherto had taken place without his own volition, now come under his control. He will also become aware that for a brief time he will feel the need, for instance, of so regulating his breathing (or some similar act) as to bring it into a kind of harmonious accord with whatever is being enacted within his soul, be it exercises or other forms of inner concentration.
The ideal development would be that no exercises should be done by means of the physical body but that everything which has to take place within it should result only as a consequence of exercises for intuition. As, however, the physical body offers such powerful impediments, the training may permit of some alleviations. These consist in exercises which affect the physical body; yet everything in this domain that has not been directly imparted by the teacher, or those having knowledge and experience of these things, is fraught with danger. Such exercises, for instance, include a certain regulated process of breathing to be carried out for a very short s.p.a.ce of time. These regulations of the breathing correspond in quite a definite way to particular laws of the psycho-spiritual world.
Breathing is a physical process, and when this act is so carried out as to be the expression of a psycho-spiritual law, physical existence receives the direct stamp, as it were, of spirituality, and the physical matter is transformed.
For this reason occult science is able to call the change due to such direct spiritual influence, a trans.m.u.tation of the physical body, and this process represents what is called "working with the philosopher"s stone"
by him who has a knowledge of these matters. He who knows these things, frees himself indeed from those concepts which have been limited by superst.i.tion, humbug and charlatanry. The significance of the phenomena does not become less to him who knows, just because, as a spiritual investigator, all superst.i.tion is foreign to him. When he has acquired a concept of a significant fact, he may be allowed to call it by its _correct name_ although that name has been fixed upon it as a result of misunderstanding, error and nonsense.
Every true intuition is in fact a "working with the philosopher"s stone,"
because each genuine intuition calls directly upon those powers which act from out the supersensible world, into the world of the senses.
As the occult student climbs the path leading to cognition of the higher worlds, he becomes aware at a particular point that the cohesion of the powers of his own personality is a.s.suming a different form from that which it possesses in the world of the physical senses. In the latter the ego brings about a uniform co-operation of the powers of the soul-primarily of thought, feeling and will. These three soul powers are actually, under normal conditions of human life, in perpetual relation one with another.
For instance, we see a particular object in the external world, and it is pleasing or is displeasing to the soul; that is to say, the perception of the thing will be followed by a sense of either pleasure or displeasure.
Possibly we may desire the object, or may have the impulse to alter it in some way or other; that is to say, desire and will a.s.sociate themselves with perception and feeling. Now this a.s.sociation is due to the fact that the ego co-ordinates presentment (thinking), feeling, and willing, and in this way introduces order among the forces of the personality. This healthy arrangement would be interrupted should the ego prove itself powerless in this respect: if, for instance, the will went a different way from the feeling or thinking. No man would be in a healthy condition of mind who, while thinking this or that to be right, nevertheless wished to do something which he did not consider right.
The same would hold good if a person desired, not the thing that pleased him, but that which displeased him. Now the person progressing toward higher cognition becomes aware that feeling, thinking, and willing do actually a.s.sume a certain independence; that, for example, a particular thought no longer urges him, as though of itself, to a certain condition of feeling and willing. The matter resolves itself thus: We may comprehend something correctly by means of thinking, but in order to arrive at a feeling or impulse of the will on the subject, we need a further independent impetus, coming from within ourselves. Thinking, feeling and willing no longer remain three forces, radiating from the ego as their common centre, but become, as it were, independent ent.i.ties, just as though they were three separate personalities. For this reason, therefore, a person"s own ego must be strengthened, for not only must it introduce order among three powers, but the leadership and guidance of three ent.i.ties have devolved upon it.
And this is what is known to occult science as the cleavage of the personality. Here is once more clearly revealed how important it is to add to the exercises for higher training others for giving fixity and firmness to the judgment, and to the life of feeling and will. For if certainty and firmness are not brought into the higher world, it will at once be seen how weak the ego proves to be, and how it can be no fitting ruler over the powers of thought, feeling and will. In the presence of this weakness, the soul would be dragged by three different personalities in as many directions, and its inner individual separateness would cease. But should the development of the occult student proceed on the right lines, this multiplication of himself, so to speak, will prove to be a real step forward, and he will nevertheless continue, as a new ego, to be the strong ruler over the independent ent.i.ties which now make up his soul.
In the subsequent course of development this division or cleavage is carried further; thought, now functioning independently, arouses the activities of a fourth distinct psycho-spiritual being; one that may be described as a direct influx into the individual, of currents which bear a resemblance to thoughts. The entire world then appears as thought-structure, confronting man just like the plant and animal worlds in the realm of the physical senses. In the same manner feeling and will, which have become independent, stimulate two other powers within the soul to work in it as separate ent.i.ties. And yet a seventh power and ent.i.ty must be added, which resembles the ego itself. Thus man, on reaching a particular stage of development, finds himself to be composed of seven ent.i.ties, all of which he has to guide and control.
The whole of this experience becomes a.s.sociated with a further one. Before entering the supersensible world, thinking, feeling, and willing were known to man merely as inner soul-experiences. But as soon as he enters the supersensible world he becomes aware of things which do not express physical sense realities, but psycho-spiritual realities. Behind the characteristics of the new world of which he has become aware, he now perceives spiritual beings. These now present themselves to him as an external world, just as stones, plants and animals in the physical sense world, have impressed his senses. Now the occult student is able to observe an important difference between the spiritual world unfolding itself before him and the world he has. .h.i.therto been accustomed to recognize by means of his physical senses. A plant of the sense-world remains what it is, whatever man"s soul may think or feel about it. This is not the case, however, with the images of the psycho-spiritual world, for these change according to man"s own thoughts and feelings. Man stamps upon them an impression which is the result of his own being.
Let us imagine a particular picture presenting itself to man in the imaginative world. As long as he maintains indifference toward it, it will continue to show a particular form. As soon, however, as he is moved by feelings of like or dislike with regard to it, its form will change.
Pictures, therefore, at first present not only something independent and external to man, but they reflect also what man himself is. These pictures are permeated through and through with man"s own being. This falls like a veil over the other beings. In this case man, even if confronted by a real being, does not see this, but sees what he himself has created. Thus he may have something true before him, and yet see what is false. Indeed, this is not only the case in respect to what man has observed concerning his own being, but everything that is in him impresses itself upon the spiritual world.