There's no question that things should not be framed in an Anthroposophical box and labeled as that for all eternity. That's why it is important to understand the living reality of the spiritual being and Steiner kept stressing on that. To make a comparison, it would be like saying "Pythagoras' mathematical teachings are useful but they are not the only way to do math. It would be very sectarian to take ownership of this domain of cognition and force everyone to call themselves Pythagoreans." And this is true. But we should be very vigilant about the following. We have to be very careful that in our desire to be different and to avoid association with Pythagoras, we may step out of the domain of mathematics altogether. Then we say "See, I'm doing it differently, there's more than one way to do it." Yes but what is it that we're really doing?Stranger wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:26 pm Both aspects should be integrated, understood and absorbed intellectually and intuitively and then practiced, practiced, practiced in this very incarnation. My only reservation here is that I do not agree that the development of high cognition is only possible within the framework of Anthroposophy and only by practicing the exercises prescribed by Steiner, that would be a very sectarian approach. Anthroposophic practice of high cognition development is indeed useful, no question about that, but that does not mean it is the only way to do that.
Today we're especially susceptible to such digressions simply because people don't really even try to understand the essence of higher cognition (which starts with spiritual experience of thinking). Then it turns out that seeking alternative paths to higher cognition is not seeking it at all but instead, seeking some altered state of consciousness, which can be achieved in many ways: hyperventilation, psychoactives, NDEs, mystical meditation and so on.
To give a more explicit example, imagine a person who sees a mathematician writing down mathematical symbols. Then the person decides that there's more than one way to do math and goes on to follow his own inspiration. Then he produces something like:
Prompt: mathematical formula with symbols and numbers made of stone, covered with moss and intertwined with flowers
I think it is strangely appropriate that I used Midjourney to generate the above. This is a perfect example of taking something of the exterior of mathematics and reimagining it in a new way. This however no longer has anything to do with mathematical thinking. It may be art, masonry, gardening but a whole spiritual strata is missing.
This is really at the core of the issue. No one says that we have to follow Steiner's methods to the letter. In fact, ever since I started writing here, I'm almost exclusively sharing metaphors and exercises based on modern concepts, which were not yet around at the time of Steiner. But nevertheless, all of them form a coherent unity, such that if we understand one, we'll understand the other too. Then we understand that just like mathematics, the essential spiritual nature of man is not subject to authorships and patents. Otherwise we would be in the position of a man who knows nothing of anatomy and reads a book by someone called Gray. Then the man says "There's more than one way in which the human body can work so there's no need to engage with this book. Furthermore I don't want to be associated with Gray's sect." And in a way this is true. There could be alternative words for heart, liver and so on. But if just because we want to be original and different we refuse to investigate that book and instead begin to imagine some fantastic organs, then we're no longer dealing with proper anatomy. It's quite the same with higher development. We may not like the words Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition but whether we like it or not, these correspond to quite definite stages of consciousness which are simply intrinsic characteristics of the way our particular reality is structured and functions. It's not a matter of taste, just like it's not a matter of taste that we speak of thinking, feeling and willing, mineral, plant and animal kingdoms and so on.
That's the basic message. We should be careful that in our desire to go along our own way, we're not pushing ourselves into a direction that has nothing to do with reality. Thus even if we're determined to seek higher cognition in our own way, the least we can do is understand in full depth what individualities through the millennia have already discovered and developed. Otherwise we might be simply making beautiful forms of stones and flowers and calling it math without ever taking the trouble to understand what those who indeed do math imply in the word.
It's interesting how some only comment when a new person or two joins and it seems like there is a more of an audience to watch the performance. Then they 'quit' when it's only two or three gathered in the name of the thinking Logos. 