LukeJTM wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 11:52 am
Hi everyone, is anyone able to give suggestions or advice with regards to this section from Steiner's "Knowledge of Higher Worlds" titled Control of Thoughts and Feelings? Here is the relevant passage below. If you don't want to read all of it, just skip to the part I have highlighted in bold because that is what I am addressing.
Once the student has found the beginnings of spiritual vision by means of such exercises, he may proceed to the contemplation of man himself. Simple phenomena of human life must first be chosen. But before making any attempt in this direction it is imperative for the student to strive for the absolute purity of his moral character. He must banish all through of ever using knowledge gained in this way for his own personal benefit. He must be convinced that he would never, under any circumstances, avail himself in an evil sense of any power he may gain over his fellow-creatures. For this reason, all who seek to discover through personal vision the secrets in human nature must follow the golden rule of true spiritual science. This golden rule is as follows: For every one step that you take in the pursuit of higher knowledge, take three steps in the perfection of your own character. If this rule is observed, such exercise as the following may be attempted:
Recall to mind some person whom you may have observed when he was filled with desire for some object. Direct your attention to this desire. It is best to recall to memory that moment when the desire was at its height, and it was still uncertain whether the object of the desire would be attained. And now fill your mind with this recollection, and reflect on what you can thus observe. Maintain the utmost inner tranquility. Make the greatest possible effort to be blind and deaf to everything that may be going on around you, and take special heed that through the conception thus evoked a feeling should awaken in your soul. Allow this feeling to rise in your soul like a cloud on the cloudless horizon. As a rule, of course, your reflection will be interrupted, because the person whom it concerns was not observed in this particular state of soul for a sufficient length of time. The attempt will most likely fail hundreds and hundreds of times. It is just a question of not losing patience. After many attempts you will succeed in experiencing a feeling In your soul corresponding to the state of soul of the person observed, and you will begin to notice that through this feeling a power grows in your soul that leads to spiritual insight into the state of soul of the other. A picture experienced as luminous appears in your field of vision. This spiritually luminous picture is the so-called astral embodiment of the desire observed in that soul. Again the impression of this picture may be described as flame-like, yellowish-red in the center, and reddish-blue or lilac at the edges. Much depends on treating such spiritual experiences with great delicacy. The best thing is not to speak to anyone about them except to your teacher, if you have one. Attempted descriptions of such experiences in inappropriate words usually only lead to gross self-deception. Ordinary terms are employed which are not intended for such things, and are therefore too gross and clumsy. The consequence is that in the attempt to clothe the experience in words we are misled into blending the actual experience with all kinds of fantastic delusions. Here again is another important rule for the student: know how to observe silence concerning your spiritual experiences. Yes, observe silence even toward yourself. Do not attempt to clothe in words what you contemplate in the spirit, or to pore over it with clumsy intellect. Lend yourself freely and without reservation to these spiritual impressions, and do not disturb them by reflecting and pondering over them too much. For you must remember that your reasoning faculties are, to begin with, by no means equal to your new experience. You have acquired these reasoning faculties in a life hitherto confined to the physical world of the senses; the faculties you are now acquiring transcend this world. Do not try, therefore, to apply to the new and higher perceptions the standard of the old. Only he who has gained some certainty and steadiness in the observation of inner experiences can speak about them, and thereby stimulate his fellow-men.
The exercise just described may be supplemented by the following: Direct your attention in the same way upon a person to whom the fulfillment of some wish, the gratification of some desire, has been granted. If the same rules and precautions be adopted as in the previous instance, spiritual insight will once more be attained. A spiritual insight will once more be attained. A spiritual flame-form will be distinguished, creating an impression of yellow in the center and green at the edges.
By such observation of his fellow-creatures, the student may easily lapse into a moral fault. He may become cold-hearted. Every conceivable effort must be made to prevent this. Such observation should only be practiced by one who has already risen to the level on which complete certainty is found that thoughts are real things. He will then no longer allow himself to think of his fellow-men in a way that is incompatible with the highest reverence for human dignity and human liberty. The thought that a human being could be merely an object of observation must never for a moment be entertained. Self-education must see to it that this insight into human nature should go hand in hand with an unlimited respect for the personal privilege of each individual, and with the recognition of the sacred and inviolable nature of that which dwells in each human being. A feeling of reverential awe must fill us, even in our recollections.
What are some steps I can take to develop or deepen feelings of respect and reverence, as Steiner is describing? Presumably it would be helpful to have those feelings whilst doing the seed/plant exercise he described earlier in the same chapter?
And I know at the start of the book he kept emphasising that it is important to develop respect or reverence for the higher knowledge and beings (I think gratitude is another important feeling as well), which for sure is important.
I suppose it would help to make sure I develop those feelings towards my own inner self first? Like how I've noticed when I develop compassion towards my self for a fault or a personal issue, the compassion flows easily towards my fellow-man who have the same issue in themselves. So that same 'law' I'm sure would apply for the respect and reverence.
I am trying my best to keep working on my personal process (self-development) because I feel that is very important for connecting consciously with Spirit. Plus, Steiner was stressing that over and over, so that is another reason I am taking it seriously.
If anyone has advice or suggestions for this please let me know.
Hi Luke,
Take the following as simply the impressions of another one on the path of spiritual development. By the way, when I was reading How to Know the Higher Worlds, I jotted down a sort of colorful
summary, for orientation among the many steps and exercises. You are currently at the orange steps.
When you get there, I especially recomment you have a look at the summary of the last part of the book, that I left out from my summary and Cleric covered,
here.
I agree with you that gratitude is a fundamental feeling to cultivate, it's part of the 'pre-requisites' mentioned by Steiner at the beginning of the book. In my experience, gratitude is the natural foundation of every moment of introspection/meditation, and to some extent an ever-present background of conscious experience in general. I work at making this ever-present feeling of gratitude more solidly present in every moment of the day. I am also reminded of a quote I recently read from Meister Eckhart: "If the only prayer you ever say is ‘Thank You’, that is enough". I thought I read that in a post by Ashvin, but I'm not finding it here.
For my part (but I hope others will comment on this point too) I am hesitant about the idea of developing feelings of reverence for human dignity starting from compassion for one's own faults, then extending that compassion to others who suffer from similar faults or situations. Because the perception of oneself is a particularly critical aspect that needs to change quite radically through development, I doubt it can be the primary source to tap into for developing that sense of integrity and respect. I would say it's more through the gratitude for the access to development that is continually made possible for us
despite our faults that one can make contact with that heart-understanding. Then it can be deepened by actually taking the responsibility-opportunity to make something out of this chance, actively and continuously, getting one's head out of a day-by-day experience of life, that mainy "goes with the flow". It's like a door is continually kept open for us, and we can deepen our heart-understanding by recognizing the incredible chance, as consciously and constantly as possible, and then by actually stepping across that passage. So I would say, in my experience, that feeling of reverence and respect comes as a consequence, or reverberation, of the humble attempts of progression along the path, rather than through self-compassion, or through a direct attempt to sharpen that particular feeling.