Basic exercise

[Federica]

Another quite humbling experience I’ve had just this morning upon waking up, is this. I was thinking about the candle flame, which led me to the recent memory of staring at the flames in a big fireplace, intensely burning throughout all the logs. As I was visualizing the memory, the light suddenly became many times brighter, like an incredibly strong revolving sphere of light, becoming brighter and brighter. Confronted with this, all I could do was to be scared and 'look away', interrupting the thought. Yet another demonstration of how much of a complete beginner I still am, lacking even the minimal level of courage to remain there, and how much I need to work and exercise.

Federica,

That's an interesting occurrence and I would say it is a sign of progress. What you describe is a very familiar experience for me as well. I have frequently felt a sort of recoiling away when my concentration deepens to the point where light-phenomena are manifesting intensely within the inner volume, or generally when the thought-concentration takes on a life of its own, as it were. This should be an indication to us that we are actually managing to develop our germinal astral senses. Imagine someone suddenly showed up at your house and transported you to a facility where you were placed into a rocket and launched into the Earth's upper atmosphere without much preparation. It is only natural to lack courage and long for the firm ground of the Earth in such a situation!

With devoted preparation, we will eventually acclimate ourselves to the higher strata of consciousness, although it will continue to be an ongoing work. I have even noticed how, when things seem to be going the most smoothly for my spiritual practice, is exactly when I take it for granted, let the guard down, and slip back into old conditioned habits of the lower nature. We are frequently engaged in various forms of self-sabotage in this manner. Prayer is naturally what I find as the best tool for instilling the spirit of courage to resist the constantly tempting lower nature. For ex. we could inscribe Psalm 23 onto our hearts and have it at the ready.

The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
for the sake of His name.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

In general, in terms of preparation exercises, I doubt that looking at a flame, or thinking of it, can have a calming effect for me. The rare times I felt I needed to calm down, what I found extremely effective is the Klocek-inspired exercise of intently observing a simple object for a few minutes. I was amazed how drastically effective it was, maybe it can work similarly for others too. In this connection, the “Is this I?” exercise sounds ideal for me, even as a 'main exercise' in line with the previously mentioned attempts to ‘delocalize’, or expand, from the physical body, by thinking of it from a supposedly external perspective. I will paste here Cleric’s version, the Will-Feeling-Thinking calibration exercise. I hadn’t paid enough attention to it when it was posted, thanks for the appropriate reminder!

Right, well it's all about experimentation and trial-error in this domain. There are practically infinite ways to approach it so we should find a routine which is suited to our individual needs and circumstances, perhaps throwing in some variation at times along the way if it starts to feel too monotonous. I'm very interested to hear how things progress for you with these exercises, which I am sure that I can learn from as well.

Thanks for the suggestions, Ashvin. I have actually come to much appreciate the moments of prayer, that are probably the only thing I 'naturally' stick to, and do every day. As for the exercises, there are so many... it's necessary to create a reasonable routine, as you say. I haven't been systematic so far, but now I really feel I want, and have to, get organized. The 'problem' for me is that when I sit down with the intention to do a concentration exercise, nothing ever happens. I do the vowel exercise, not every day, but frequently. I feel I get better at it, managing the ‘breath interference’ well, most often it feels fluid, but that's it. (I know expectations are not helpful. This is not the mindset I have, and I quite enjoy the exercise).
Still, the few times something of a different quality has happened, as yesterday with the visualization of light, I was just thinking. Intensely thinking, maybe with eyes closed, but without any 'exercising intention', only lifted by very good will and feelings. But I keep in mind how perseverance and method would count in the long run. Sure, I will tell you what exercises or meditations I incorporate and how it goes!

Unless I'm wrong, a few would probably not be of particular interest to you. For example, a question that I have recently started to explore and want to work on, because it applies to my circumstances, is how to 'descend' into, or become more conscious of, the meaning of 'mechanistic' music, and what learning can be extracted from it. This is simply because I have recently started instructing new workouts, and I don't decide the music. I have to learn them and run them on standardized music that I am pretty sure would rank at the worst possible places in terms of compatibility with the spiritual path And I am listening to a lot of it these days. Anyway, should anything emerge from exercise or meditation in that connection or in any other, I'll let you know.

[AshvinP]

Another quite humbling experience I’ve had just this morning upon waking up, is this. I was thinking about the candle flame, which led me to the recent memory of staring at the flames in a big fireplace, intensely burning throughout all the logs. As I was visualizing the memory, the light suddenly became many times brighter, like an incredibly strong revolving sphere of light, becoming brighter and brighter. Confronted with this, all I could do was to be scared and 'look away', interrupting the thought. Yet another demonstration of how much of a complete beginner I still am, lacking even the minimal level of courage to remain there, and how much I need to work and exercise.

Federica,

That's an interesting occurrence and I would say it is a sign of progress. What you describe is a very familiar experience for me as well. I have frequently felt a sort of recoiling away when my concentration deepens to the point where light-phenomena are manifesting intensely within the inner volume, or generally when the thought-concentration takes on a life of its own, as it were. This should be an indication to us that we are actually managing to develop our germinal astral senses. Imagine someone suddenly showed up at your house and transported you to a facility where you were placed into a rocket and launched into the Earth's upper atmosphere without much preparation. It is only natural to lack courage and long for the firm ground of the Earth in such a situation!

With devoted preparation, we will eventually acclimate ourselves to the higher strata of consciousness, although it will continue to be an ongoing work. I have even noticed how, when things seem to be going the most smoothly for my spiritual practice, is exactly when I take it for granted, let the guard down, and slip back into old conditioned habits of the lower nature. We are frequently engaged in various forms of self-sabotage in this manner. Prayer is naturally what I find as the best tool for instilling the spirit of courage to resist the constantly tempting lower nature. For ex. we could inscribe Psalm 23 onto our hearts and have it at the ready.

The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
for the sake of His name.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

In general, in terms of preparation exercises, I doubt that looking at a flame, or thinking of it, can have a calming effect for me. The rare times I felt I needed to calm down, what I found extremely effective is the Klocek-inspired exercise of intently observing a simple object for a few minutes. I was amazed how drastically effective it was, maybe it can work similarly for others too. In this connection, the “Is this I?” exercise sounds ideal for me, even as a 'main exercise' in line with the previously mentioned attempts to ‘delocalize’, or expand, from the physical body, by thinking of it from a supposedly external perspective. I will paste here Cleric’s version, the Will-Feeling-Thinking calibration exercise. I hadn’t paid enough attention to it when it was posted, thanks for the appropriate reminder!

Right, well it's all about experimentation and trial-error in this domain. There are practically infinite ways to approach it so we should find a routine which is suited to our individual needs and circumstances, perhaps throwing in some variation at times along the way if it starts to feel too monotonous. I'm very interested to hear how things progress for you with these exercises, which I am sure that I can learn from as well.

Thanks for the suggestions, Ashvin. I have actually come to much appreciate the moments of prayer, that are probably the only thing I 'naturally' stick to, and do every day. As for the exercises, there are so many... it's necessary to create a reasonable routine, as you say. I haven't been systematic so far, but now I really feel I want, and have to, get organized. The 'problem' for me is that when I sit down with the intention to do a concentration exercise, nothing ever happens. I do the vowel exercise, not every day, but frequently. I feel I get better at it, managing the ‘breath interference’ well, most often it feels fluid, but that's it. (I know expectations are not helpful. This is not the mindset I have, and I quite enjoy the exercise).
Still, the few times something of a different quality has happened, as yesterday with the visualization of light, I was just thinking. Intensely thinking, maybe with eyes closed, but without any 'exercising intention', only lifted by very good will and feelings. But I keep in mind how perseverance and method would count in the long run. Sure, I will tell you what exercises or meditations I incorporate and how it goes!

I would say something is happening, only not when you expect it to. We are conditioned to feel that causes and effects are closely linked within the temporal flow of our normal sensory life, but they are actually quite distributed. What we experience during the course of our normal day can actually be linked to our deeds in a previous incarnation, working in from the supra-sensory planes. What we experience during sleep and modern meditation brings us more into the present forces which are preparing our next incarnation. Our normal consciousness is heavily aliased in that sense. With spiritual practice, this reality becomes more conscious to us. We can start to sense how certain meditative acts are planting seeds which bear fruit later. Perhaps that is what is happening here with the vowel and other intentional exercises, which then bear some fruit when you are intensely thinking of something else. One thing is for sure - the concentration exercises are growing your germinal astral senses, which we all possess. It's like exercising a muscle - the more we use our thinking muscle, the more these inner senses are strengthened until they unfold their petals like a flower.

In order to emphasise this remark, I may mention that even at the present time, according to the descriptions given in my books Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and An Outline Of Occult Science, it is possible so to raise the faculties of the soul that the spiritual nature of man may be clearly distinguished from the physical, This spiritual part of man is, for the spiritual observer, just as visible as the physical part is for the man who observes with his outer senses; with this difference, however, that our ordinary senses have been and are incorporated into our bodily organism without our co-operation, whereas we must ourselves develop the organs of spiritual sight.

This can be brought about if one unfolds within oneself an earnest life of thought. Such a state of living, of resting in quietude — in thought — must, however, be carried out so as to bring about a methodical education and transformation of the soul. If one can, so to say, experiment for a time with one's own soul, allowing it to rest within an easily grasped thought, at the same time permitting neither any traces of auto-suggestion nor any diminution of consciousness to arise, and if one in this way exercises the soul as one would exercise a muscle, then the soul grows strong. Methodically, one pursues the exercises further and further; the soul grows stronger, grows powerful, and becomes capable of sight.

[Cleric K]

Thanks for the suggestions, Ashvin. I have actually come to much appreciate the moments of prayer, that are probably the only thing I 'naturally' stick to, and do every day. As for the exercises, there are so many... it's necessary to create a reasonable routine, as you say. I haven't been systematic so far, but now I really feel I want, and have to, get organized. The 'problem' for me is that when I sit down with the intention to do a concentration exercise, nothing ever happens. I do the vowel exercise, not every day, but frequently. I feel I get better at it, managing the ‘breath interference’ well, most often it feels fluid, but that's it. (I know expectations are not helpful. This is not the mindset I have, and I quite enjoy the exercise).
Still, the few times something of a different quality has happened, as yesterday with the visualization of light, I was just thinking. Intensely thinking, maybe with eyes closed, but without any 'exercising intention', only lifted by very good will and feelings. But I keep in mind how perseverance and method would count in the long run. Sure, I will tell you what exercises or meditations I incorporate and how it goes!

To me personally, when I integrated prayer in my spiritual work, I witnessed the greatest inner transformation. Prior to that I was heavily into all kinds of spiritual theories of reality and on the other side I practiced Eastern meditation. Needless to say, these two were like two completely orthogonal worlds, just like Eugene sees them now.

Prayer was really the way for the intellect to gain the needed humility and prepare for comprehending itself as a process embedded into higher orders of Intelligent reality.

The moments of prayer present a natural opportunity to transform them into wordless prayer, which is really the essence of all higher cognition. In the end, the major goal of prayer is to seek the musical attunement to the higher orders of Intelligence of which reality is weaved. The first thing would be to really experience the words of the prayer, as we think/say them, with intense feeling and meaning. They are like handles through which we have a grip on our subtle organism and we can gently reorient it.

Think of tuning forks or strings. When they are tuned to the same frequency and we pluck one, the sound waves easily agitate the other because they are in resonant relations. This is a very powerful metaphor for our inner development. The Cosmos is a musical symphony and our being is like a chord embedded within it. Through prayer we become meek, tunable. We realize that our being vibrates in quite rigid patterns the vast majority of which are contracted from the sensory environment. We can't change ourselves if we're stiff. We need to slightly relax, loosen the tension of our strings. Not in order to become like a boneless mollusk but only in order to become more receptive. Then through resonance we allow the Cosmic symphony to attune our local vibrations.

The mood in prayer is like we try to feel the full spectrum of our being, the sensations of our whole body, our feelings, our thoughts. Then we admit that they are not musically attuned to the Cosmos in the best way. In prayer we open our soul, heart, mind, body. As said, we don't let go and become a soft rag but we seek to become receptive, like we need to be receptive when our dancing partner leads. This doesn't mean that the partner will carry our weight. We are still responsible for our movements but we try to perceive the harmonious waves along which we should swim.

For this reason, it is greatly beneficial if we don't end our prayers hastily. When in a hurry, by the time we say 'Amen', we're already thinking and doing something else. Instead, we can try to keep silent and live in the afterglow of the prayer for a while. It's like the words have been used as orthopedic braces that helped us give direction of our soul currents but after we say 'Amen' we put the braces aside for a while - that is, we keep silence and try to feel our whole soul aura and the bodily tingling that we have developed through the prayer. Then we simply attune our mind on the holistic meaning of the concrete prayer and spend some time basking in this aura. We can try to gently imagine how the currents of higher Intelligence course through us and how they very slightly attune the vibrations of our cells, the currents of our feelings and thoughts. Or rather, it's not so much that these higher currents pass through us as from some external source but our ordinary consciousness is only modulations and ripples over these currents.

As Ashvin noted, we shouldn't expect something to happen immediately. Think of Sunbathing. You don't stare at your skin and expect it to become darker any moment soon. The effects of the Sun are cumulative. After few session you may notice that you have tanned. So it is with spiritual work, just like the muscle training.

There's inexhaustible richness in this direction but for a start I think it would enough to simply try bask in the afterglow of prayer in silence. It's like we are trying to calmly and quietly feel everything that we have stirred in our soul by means of words, find ourselves stably in the center of it, and just feel how it works on our being, how something much greater than us gently attunes our strings.

[Federica]

Thanks for the suggestions, Ashvin. I have actually come to much appreciate the moments of prayer, that are probably the only thing I 'naturally' stick to, and do every day. As for the exercises, there are so many... it's necessary to create a reasonable routine, as you say. I haven't been systematic so far, but now I really feel I want, and have to, get organized. The 'problem' for me is that when I sit down with the intention to do a concentration exercise, nothing ever happens. I do the vowel exercise, not every day, but frequently. I feel I get better at it, managing the ‘breath interference’ well, most often it feels fluid, but that's it. (I know expectations are not helpful. This is not the mindset I have, and I quite enjoy the exercise).
Still, the few times something of a different quality has happened, as yesterday with the visualization of light, I was just thinking. Intensely thinking, maybe with eyes closed, but without any 'exercising intention', only lifted by very good will and feelings. But I keep in mind how perseverance and method would count in the long run. Sure, I will tell you what exercises or meditations I incorporate and how it goes!

To me personally, when I integrated prayer in my spiritual work, I witnessed the greatest inner transformation. Prior to that I was heavily into all kinds of spiritual theories of reality and on the other side I practiced Eastern meditation. Needless to say, these two were like two completely orthogonal worlds, just like Eugene sees them now.

Prayer was really the way for the intellect to gain the needed humility and prepare for comprehending itself as a process embedded into higher orders of Intelligent reality.

The moments of prayer present a natural opportunity to transform them into wordless prayer, which is really the essence of all higher cognition. In the end, the major goal of prayer is to seek the musical attunement to the higher orders of Intelligence of which reality is weaved. The first thing would be to really experience the words of the prayer, as we think/say them, with intense feeling and meaning. They are like handles through which we have a grip on our subtle organism and we can gently reorient it.

Think of tuning forks or strings. When they are tuned to the same frequency and we pluck one, the sound waves easily agitate the other because they are in resonant relations. This is a very powerful metaphor for our inner development. The Cosmos is a musical symphony and our being is like a chord embedded within it. Through prayer we become meek, tunable. We realize that our being vibrates in quite rigid patterns the vast majority of which are contracted from the sensory environment. We can't change ourselves if we're stiff. We need to slightly relax, loosen the tension of our strings. Not in order to become like a boneless mollusk but only in order to become more receptive. Then through resonance we allow the Cosmic symphony to attune our local vibrations.

The mood in prayer is like we try to feel the full spectrum of our being, the sensations of our whole body, our feelings, our thoughts. Then we admit that they are not musically attuned to the Cosmos in the best way. In prayer we open our soul, heart, mind, body. As said, we don't let go and become a soft rag but we seek to become receptive, like we need to be receptive when our dancing partner leads. This doesn't mean that the partner will carry our weight. We are still responsible for our movements but we try to perceive the harmonious waves along which we should swim.

For this reason, it is greatly beneficial if we don't end our prayers hastily. When in a hurry, by the time we say 'Amen', we're already thinking and doing something else. Instead, we can try to keep silent and live in the afterglow of the prayer for a while. It's like the words have been used as orthopedic braces that helped us give direction of our soul currents but after we say 'Amen' we put the braces aside for a while - that is, we keep silence and try to feel our whole soul aura and the bodily tingling that we have developed through the prayer. Then we simply attune our mind on the holistic meaning of the concrete prayer and spend some time basking in this aura. We can try to gently imagine how the currents of higher Intelligence course through us and how they very slightly attune the vibrations of our cells, the currents of our feelings and thoughts. Or rather, it's not so much that these higher currents pass through us as from some external source but our ordinary consciousness is only modulations and ripples over these currents.

As Ashvin noted, we shouldn't expect something to happen immediately. Think of Sunbathing. You don't stare at your skin and expect it to become darker any moment soon. The effects of the Sun are cumulative. After few session you may notice that you have tanned. So it is with spiritual work, just like the muscle training.

There's inexhaustible richness in this direction but for a start I think it would enough to simply try bask in the afterglow of prayer in silence. It's like we are trying to calmly and quietly feel everything that we have stirred in our soul by means of words, find ourselves stably in the center of it, and just feel how it works on our being, how something much greater than us gently attunes our strings.

Much appreciated ideas, Cleric, thank you!
I actually never say or think "Amen" as a conclusion of a prayer. It probably occurs naturally to someone who's used to Catholic rituals. It has never occurred to me, and maybe it's a helpful thing in order to avoid that hard stop to the prayer mood you warn about. In that sense, this little word feels very detrimental to me, like the spoken equivalent of firmly seizing the prongs of a tuning fork with one hand, while it's vibrating, putting an abrupt end to the resonance. So I have been lucky I haven't systematically ended my prayers on a harsh note. Anyhow, from now on I will put more intention in the afterglow, looking for that unison, or harmonized resonance.

Interestingly, speaking of tuning forks, one has been displayed to me this month (as far as I remember, it had never happened before) and a couple of days later I noticed another one in a different place! More generally it's been my impression since a while that there is a sort of pool of ideas, images, and words, flowing in and around this forum, from which some small elements regularly emerge above the surface of expressed language, here and there, in everyone's posts. Somewhat as pictured by the logo we see at the upper left corner of this page

[Cleric K]

Much appreciated ideas, Cleric, thank you!
I actually never say or think "Amen" as a conclusion of a prayer. It probably occurs naturally to someone who's used to Catholic rituals. It has never occurred to me, and maybe it's a helpful thing in order to avoid that hard stop to the prayer mood you warn about. In that sense, this little word feels very detrimental to me, like the spoken equivalent of firmly seizing the prongs of a tuning fork with one hand, while it's vibrating, putting an abrupt end to the resonance. So I have been lucky I haven't systematically ended my prayers on a harsh note. Anyhow, from now on I will put more intention in the afterglow, looking for that unison, or harmonized resonance.

Yeah. I had certain reservations in the past. But that was simply reflecting my general antipathy towards religions as a whole.

In the above case I used Amen only as a placeholder. Of course, it's not necessary that prayers should end in this way. But it is nevertheless a powerful word that can be used as a kind of seal, 'Amen, So be it!' There are many ancient Hebrew words that are structured in special ways. Many of them can be used as kind of linguistic formulas that concentrate archetypal currents.

Another example is יְהוָה יִרְאֶה‎ (Jehovah-jireh) from Genesis 22:14, commonly translated as "The Lord Will Provide". These words can too be used as a kind of general attunement and trust in the holistic flow of higher Intelligence. It's interesting to note how Cameron has borrowed this for Avatar and turned it into "Eywa will provide."

[Federica]

This is not exactly about exercises, but I was wondering whether anyone has thoughts about the most appropriate way to consider images that one becomes aware of in a state of consciousness that is not really sleeping, but not fully awake either?

One could see a gradient in terms of level of conscious steering of thinking activity:
1. fully willed exercises, like concentration, meditation, imagining various geometries and transforming them, etc.
2. controlled, disciplined reflections that may include thinking of texts, writing, and other activities requiring clear intention
3. more casual and uncontrolled, standard "thinking mix"
4. thinking activity that occurs in a state that between waking and sleeping
5. dreaming

Would you consider number 4 and 5 more or less the same and so not of primary importance from the perspective of the development of thinking activity?

[AshvinP]

This is not exactly about exercises, but I was wondering whether anyone has thoughts about the most appropriate way to consider images that one becomes aware of in a state of consciousness that is not really sleeping, but not fully awake either?

One could see a gradient in terms of level of conscious steering of thinking activity:
1. fully willed exercises, like concentration, meditation, imagining various geometries and transforming them, etc.
2. controlled, disciplined reflections that may include thinking of texts, writing, and other activities requiring clear intention
3. more casual and uncontrolled, standard "thinking mix"
4. thinking activity that occurs in a state that between waking and sleeping
5. dreaming

Would you consider number 4 and 5 more or less the same and so not of primary importance from the perspective of the development of thinking activity?

Federica,

I'm certainly not the best resource on this topic and it would be better to also consult Steiner's lectures and/or Cleric.

But briefly, I would say it very much depends on the level of esoteric development. If one is on a path of spiritual training and experiences images in any of those categories, they could definitely be of significance. For ex., one could have sleeping experiences in the higher worlds presented as images in the process of waking up, before the sensory system has taken hold of the ego-astral consciousness. The significance is not so much in the isolated experience/meaning of the images, but in the fact that they are being brought more into the sphere of waking consciousness, which means the palette of our thinking-gestures has expanded and can resonate with more Cosmic-level experiences embedded in the etheric body. Although the meaning of the images can also be contemplated and perhaps they will find their proper context later through meditation. Of course this is no cause for pride, but rather for humility and gratitude, as we have been visited by an act of grace of the Divine wise guidance to help orient our esoteric journey.

If we are simply experiencing dream imagery as we normally do, then likely this is only of significance for our personal soul-life, i.e. the various anxieties, concerns, fears, etc. which we are entangled with throughout the day. Although perhaps the dream imagery will begin to take on more of an archetypal character through spiritual training. These things can be paid attention to and perhaps recorded in a dream diary for later review. As always, prayer is the best tool to attune our consciousness to the Cosmic rhythms when going to sleep and waking up.

[Federica]

This is not exactly about exercises, but I was wondering whether anyone has thoughts about the most appropriate way to consider images that one becomes aware of in a state of consciousness that is not really sleeping, but not fully awake either?

One could see a gradient in terms of level of conscious steering of thinking activity:
1. fully willed exercises, like concentration, meditation, imagining various geometries and transforming them, etc.
2. controlled, disciplined reflections that may include thinking of texts, writing, and other activities requiring clear intention
3. more casual and uncontrolled, standard "thinking mix"
4. thinking activity that occurs in a state that between waking and sleeping
5. dreaming

Would you consider number 4 and 5 more or less the same and so not of primary importance from the perspective of the development of thinking activity?

Federica,

I'm certainly not the best resource on this topic and it would be better to also consult Steiner's lectures and/or Cleric.

But briefly, I would say it very much depends on the level of esoteric development. If one is on a path of spiritual training and experiences images in any of those categories, they could definitely be of significance. For ex., one could have sleeping experiences in the higher worlds presented as images in the process of waking up, before the sensory system has taken hold of the ego-astral consciousness. The significance is not so much in the isolated experience/meaning of the images, but in the fact that they are being brought more into the sphere of waking consciousness, which means the palette of our thinking-gestures has expanded and can resonate with more Cosmic-level experiences embedded in the etheric body. Although the meaning of the images can also be contemplated and perhaps they will find their proper context later through meditation. Of course this is no cause for pride, but rather for humility and gratitude, as we have been visited by an act of grace of the Divine wise guidance to help orient our esoteric journey.

If we are simply experiencing dream imagery as we normally do, then likely this is only of significance for our personal soul-life, i.e. the various anxieties, concerns, fears, etc. which we are entangled with throughout the day. Although perhaps the dream imagery will begin to take on more of an archetypal character through spiritual training. These things can be paid attention to and perhaps recorded in a dream diary for later review. As always, prayer is the best tool to attune our consciousness to the Cosmic rhythms when going to sleep and waking up.

Yes, I've consulted a few Steiner lectures, I'll naturally continue browsing the archive, which is so useful in general also. And I continue spiritual attunement through prayer. Thank you so much for the advice, Ashvin, it is much appreciated.

[Federica]

As it often happens, the exchanges have prompted me to look into the Steiner archive. This time I was searching for the invisible forces working behind the physical world and I've come to a series of lectures given in Helsinki in 1912, when Steiner described a sort of concentration exercise that is new to me, where concentration is not anchored to a symbolic thought-picture, but to a sense perception of the natural world:

First of all, looking away from the earth, if we direct our gaze into the ranges of cosmic space, we are met by the blue sky. Suppose we do this on a day in which no cloud, not even the faintest silver-white cloudlet breaks the azure space of heaven. We look upwards into this blue heaven spread out above us — whether we recognize it in the physical sense as something real or not, does not signify; the point is the impression that this wide stretch of the blue heavens makes upon us. Suppose that we can yield ourselves up to this blue of the sky, and that we do this with intensity and for a long, long time; that we can so do it that we forget all else that we know in life and all that is around us in life. Suppose that we are able for one moment to forget all the external impressions, all our memories, all the cares and troubles of life, and can yield ourselves completely to the single impression of the blue heavens. What I am now saying to you, can be experienced by every human soul if only it will fulfil these necessary conditions; what I am telling you can be a common human experience. Suppose a human soul gazes in this way at nothing but the blue of the sky. A certain moment then comes, a moment in which the blue sky ceases to be blue — in which we no longer see anything which can in human language be called blue. If at that moment when the blue to us ceases to be blue, we turn our attention to our own soul, we shall notice quite a special mood in it. The blue disappears, and as it were, an infinity arises before us, and in this infinity a quite definite mood in our soul; a quite definite feeling, a quite definite perception pours itself into the emptiness which arises where the blue had been before.

After suggesting similar exercises of contemplating the white of snow, and the green of blossoming vegetation, he continues:

In like manner we might let the most varied sense perceptions work upon us; we could in this way let all that we perceive in nature through our senses disappear, as it were, so that this sense-veil is removed; then moral perceptions of sympathy and antipathy would arise everywhere. If we accustom ourselves in this way to eliminate all that we see with our eyes, or hear with our ears, or that our hands grasp, or that our understanding (which is connected with the brain) comprehends — if we eliminate all that, and accustom ourselves, nevertheless, to stand before the world, then there works within us something deeper than the power of vision of our eyes, or the power of hearing with our ears, or the intellectual power of our brain-thinking; we then confront a deeper being of the external world. Then the immensity of Infinity so works upon us that we become imbued with a religious mood. Then does the green mantle of plants so work upon us that we feel and perceive in our inner being something spiritually bursting forth into bloom. Then does the white robe of snow so work upon us that by it we gain an understanding of what matter, of what substance is in the world; we grasp the world through something deeper within us than we had hitherto brought into play. And therefore in this way we come into touch with something deeper in the world itself. Then, as it were, the external veil of nature is drawn aside, and we enter a world which lies behind this external veil.

Maybe something to experiment with, now that spring has come (to the northern hemisphere) and it's easier to go outdoors or even simply observe nature. Where I live, snow is falling under the sun today, which I'm taking as a graceful invitation to do just that

[Federica]

As I am continuing reading Steiner's Helsinki lecture series mentioned just above, I am encountering something of relevance to the other thread.

It's related to Steiner's understanding of Oneness after death that Cleric has quoted and explained on the other thread, and how the experience of unity versus multiplicity - maintaning consciousness of Self against dilution in oneness - also awaits the one on the path of living thinking during incarnated life on Earth, and what caveats are associated with that particular stage of spiritual development.


In this second lecture in the series, Steiner is speaking of the spiritual nature of the Earth and the various Earthly bodies active underneath the veil of perception, and accessible to the student of living thinking. Similarly to the human four bodies - physical, life, soul, and Higher Self - The Earth also has, beyond its physical appearance, a life body, a soul body, and an Earthly Spirit, each executing on hierarchically connected intents.
It is explained how the families of "nature-spirits" operating within the Earth's life body bring forth the various phases of plant life; how the "Spirits of the Rotation of Time" constituting the Earth's soul body coordinate the work of the life body beings within the rhythms of daily, seasonal, and other time-related cycles across the Earth's various regions; and finally how the Spirit of the Earth is responsible for the Earth rotation on its axis, and cosmic relation to the other heavenly bodies.

Steiner then describes how spiritual training grants the practitioner the ability to lift, one after the other, the veils concealing the direct experience of these nested layers of Earthly spiritual activity, from the Earthly life body operating behind the sense appearance of plants, to the Spirits of the Rotation of Time, to the Spirit of the Earth itself. With regard to lifting the veil of the Earth's soul body (Spirits of the Rotation of Time) which is done by plunging with one's own soul body into the Earth's, it is said:

We have already said that our astral body is plunged into the region of the Spirits of the Rotation of Time; that it is immersed in the surging sea, as it were, of these spirits; but as regards the normal consciousness, our ego is still more asleep than the astral body. A man who is developing occultly and progressing esoterically becomes aware of this, because in the spiritual world into which he plunges and which consists of the Spirits of the Rotation of Time, he first learns to penetrate into the perceptions of the astral body. In a certain respect this perception is really a dangerous reef in esoteric development, forthe astral body of man is, in itself, unity; but everything in the realm of the Spirits of the Rotation of Time is, fundamentally, multiplicity, plurality. And since, in the way described, man is united with and immersed in this plurality, if he is still asleep in his ego and awake in his astral body, he feels as if he were dismembered in the world of the Spirits of the Rotation of Time. That must be avoided in a properly ordered esoteric development. Hence those who are able to give instruction for such development, see that the necessary precautions are taken that the man should not if possible allow his ego to sleep when his astral body is already awake, for he would then lose inner cohesion and would, like Dionysos, be split up into the whole astral world of the earth, consisting of the Spirits of the Rotation of Time. In a regular esoteric development precautions are taken that this should not occur. These consist in care being taken that the student, who through meditation, concentration, or other esoteric exercises is to be stimulated to clairvoyance, should retain two things in the whole sphere of clairvoyant, occult observation. In every esoteric development it is specially important that everything should be so adjusted that two things that man has in ordinary life should not be lost — which he might however very easily lose in esoteric development if not rightly guided. If rightly guided he will not lose them.
First, he should not lose the recollection of any of the events of his present incarnation, as ordinarily retained in his memory. The connection with memory must not be destroyed. This connection with memory means very much more in the sphere of occultism than it does in the sphere of ordinary life. In ordinary life we only understand by memory, the power of looking back and not losing consciousness of the important events of one's life. In occultism a right memory means that a man only values with his perceptions and feelings what he has already accomplished in the past, so that he applies no other value to himself or to his deeds than the past deeds themselves entitle. Let us understand this quite correctly, for this is extremely important. If a man in the course of his occult development were suddenly driven to say to himself “I am the reincarnation of this or the other spirit,” — without there being any justification for it through any action of his — then his memory in an occult sense would be interrupted. An important principle in occult development is that of attributing no other merit to oneself, than what comes from one's actions in the physical world in the present incarnation. That is extremely important. Any other merit must only come on the basis of a higher development, which can only be attained if one first of all stands firmly on the ground that one esteems oneself for nothing but what one has accomplished in this incarnation. This is quite natural if we look at the matter objectively; for what we have accomplished in the present incarnation is also the result of earlier incarnations; it is that which Karma has, so far, made out of us. What Karma is still making of us we must first bring about; we must not add that to our value. ...

The second thing which we as men of the present day must not lose is the degree of conscience we possess in the external world. Here again is something which it is extremely important to observe. You must have often experienced that someone you know has gone through an occult development, and if it is not guided and conducted in the right way, you find that, in relation to conscience, your friend takes things much more lightly than he did before his occult training. His education, his social connection guided him before, so that he did this thing or that, or dared not do it. After beginning an occult development, many people begin to tell lies who never did so before, and as regards questions of conscience, they take things more lightly. We ought not to lose an iota of the conscience we possess. As regards memory, we must only value ourselves according to what we have already become; not according to any reliance on the future, or on what we are still going to do. As regards conscience, we must retain the same degree as we acquired in the ordinary physical world. If we retain these two elements in our consciousness: a healthy memory which does not deceive us into believing ourselves to be other than our actions prove us to be, and a conscience which does not allow us morally to take things more lightly than before, — indeed if possible we should take them more seriously — if we retain these two qualities, our ego will never be asleep when our astral body is awake.