Intuition, thinking and Antroposophy

[Cleric K]

I'll try to give my understanding of cleric's essay CT as they may have more resonance on the forum than steiner's.
Ashvin's answer reminded me of the content of Cleric's essay

Güney - I wanted to share that, thanks to your post and interest in the CT essays, I decided to read them again and understand your questions the best I could, and I really have to thank you for the inspiration, because without it I wouldn’t have realized an inexplicable, but true fact. Indeed, I had completely overlooked TCOTCT 2 and 3. Last year I read the Central Topic, and also the beginning of TCOTCT 1. Then, for some odd reason, I forgot to continue!
So I have discovered the number 2 and 3 only over these last few days… Thank you


Cleric - if you are reading, I have said it before with regards to other essays: it’s amazing how you are able to maintain clarity without compromising on uncoiling any of the distinct threads of your illustration. I really feel that, if one has the intention to understand, it’s impossible to not make any progress with the help of these writings. Thank you! By the way, at the risk of sounding ridiculous, I want to say that I found that which is hidden in TCOTCT 3 if for no other reason, at least as pretext to spark new interest in this series of essays. I invite everyone who is reading here to go back and benefit from this precious resource and the crucial insights hiding in plain sight in this series:


The Central Topic: viewtopic.php?t=687

The Center of the Central Topic Part 1: viewtopic.php?t=723

The Center of the Central Topic Part 2: viewtopic.php?t=726

The Center of the Central Topic Part 3: viewtopic.php?t=730

Thank you Federica!

Here I would like to add a small disclaimer, since the exercises are mentioned. I'm surely in no position to give proper advice on esoteric development. All the exercises that have been shared here should be seen like experiments, illustrations of certain principles. In no way they should be understood as something like "Do this three times a day for three months and so and so will happen." They are intended to stimulate first and foremost our thinking. It's like through these experiments attention is drawn to a certain 'muscle'. The harmonious development of all muscles however is a much greater task which involves also nutrition, sleep and so on. So it is in spiritual development too.



Guney, you say that at this time you feel the need that everything goes through your intellect first. This is actually a good thing in my opinion. This doesn't mean that the intellect will build out of its combinations of thoughts the higher states but only that it gains a good orientation in its environment.

Of course, at some point the intellect probes quite well its immediate environment. With our thinking we're like a small child that visits a family friend's house for the first time and initially everything is interesting. Everything has to be perceived, named, touched, tasted and so on. After some time however, perceptions begin to repeat themselves. The child has seen most of the interesting things that are to be seen. This is actually a very pleasant period not only in the sensory world but in our spiritual development too. It's always interesting to break through a door and find so much new material to be explored. At some point however, the environment gets well probed and this is the critical moment when we have to make up our mind on how to proceed. One variant is to keep cycling through the same old thoughts and perceptions. But we can also understand that it's time to go further and break through new doors.

At this time I believe you shouldn't worry that you feel the need to think intellectually. As long as you explore your (inner and outer) environment in this way, it is all in place. As long as you remember that everything is a stage within a longer journey you should be safe from stagnation. You'll know when it is time for new kinds of effort when you begin to feel that you are treading the same closed loops over and over again.

With the risk to make thing complicated, we have to make a distinction here. If we take the above in a one-sided way it may sound like we have to seek only new sensations, much like in our sense-bound culture people get bored so quickly and want new sensations all the time. This is not what it's meant. There are plenty of concepts and ideas that we need to return to over and over again. The explanation is very simple - such ideas are like gateways. For example let's take Light or Love. If we get the above in the wrong way we may say "Love, Light? Got it! Next please!". But what we grasp at any given time through these words is only the tiniest spark of a whole Universe. That spark is like a pinhole, a gateway towards these worlds. Thus there are concepts which at our level capture only the tiniest tip of the iceberg. It is to these that we have to return over and over again and pray that a tiny bit will be revealed to us. The patterns that lead to stagnation are recognizable since they are not open ended. Such is any attempt to find the perfect metaphysical theory of everything (as an arrangement of abstract thoughts that correspond to reality). This would result in an intellectual closed loop and the gateway will be left out of sight. A whole world is lost to us.

So use your wave of inspiration and use your thinking to probe everything you can. Keep the openness that we're always somewhere along the road and then when you indeed begin to go in loops you'll know that it is time to introduce new methods.

I remind that the advancement to Imaginative cognition feels like a transition of the 'aggregate state' of our consciousness. It can be metaphorically expressed in many ways. Here's one that I've shown before: https://www.shadertoy.com/view/NtVXRt

The transition passes through a point of concentration (which normally should feel in the head and expands from there). In our ordinary state there's the characteristic jerkiness of our inner movements (illustrated in the first part of the animation). This is partly due to the discrete nature of our thinking (verbal, mathematical, etc.) but not only.

In concentration all this jerkiness ceases. This doesn't mean that we enter a state of absolute stillness. In fact, the new state is even more mobile but it's a movement of different order. It is completely normal that we should feel resistance to approach that point of phase transition. Let's also be clear that there's no need that we turn that in our primary goal. Actually most of the important tasks at our present stage are of much more prosaic nature - we have to learn how to move, how to eat, how to speak, how to work, think, feel, love. Our understanding of higher development is our evolutionary compass. The important thing is to have the direction. And we can of course make small experiments all the time. For example, at certain points throughout our day we can stop, take a breath and hold it, then freeze completely from tip to toe, concentrate in the point in the head and feel the periphery of our whole still bodily and soul world, then just hold it for a few seconds. Even though we'll be back to our jerkiness almost immediately, for these few seconds we can glimpse something of the liminal space in which our full body and soul sensations float.

What counts is to have a sense for this portal through which we shall pass when our intellect begins to find itself going through the same patterns. As long as we're still discovering new things and increasing our intuitive orientation in our intellectual probings, I think it is alright. When we begin to find out that we're going in flat loops maybe it is time to go deeper and hold the concentration for a little longer. This will become naturally easier since our intellect is already bored with the same old patterns and will more easily let go for longer periods. Of course, as it should be clear, it's not only about the technique of ceasing the jerkiness. The quality of the liminal space into which we awaken is of primary importance and that means that we have to work also on the warmth of our feelings and the strength of our will.

[Güney27]

,,Truth wherever they leads us to their victory and completion, then we also find the courage and strength to endure that which seems uncomfortable or undesirable when we first encounter it, such as meditative exercises, but can be reborn as Divine peace and enjoyment."

Here you probably mean what cleric mentioned before.
Not that during meditation we sacrifice our intellect through concentration so that our subtle spiritual activity can rise more to the surface of our consciousness.
I could also be wrong, but it reminded me.
In meditation we "kill" a part of our being (our everyday eratic intellectual state of consciousness) in order for our higher aspects to come to life within us. You could say die-and-become.
Quoting Cleric:

Our grunting intellectual being is left meditating, while our subtler spiritual being begins to find its existence. We can indeed feel our physical being and our intellectual self as a kind of environment around us. In certain sense we feel as distinct beings. It's like the intellectual self says "OK, I'll hold perfectly still, so that you can climb on my back and see further." It is actually quite important that we always keep that physical phantom in sight. It must keep its concentration. Then at certain points we can actually perceive how the thinking of this being receives as inspiration certain thinking gestures, which are already at the grunting level. In this act our split-selves unite, the subtler gestures have been translated to the level of our normal cognition. Without this, in our normal state we simply can't remember the experiences in the subtler spectrum. They key however, is that there's this rhythmic process, where we concentrate the intellectual self, make it into a meditating statue in order for our finer cognitive forces to awaken, which are able to behold how our ordinary self continues to concentrate. This is difficult to describe but it's almost like a finer level of intuition awakens which is fully aware and can be subtly active yet without disrupting the concentration of our ordinary physical self. Then this subtler self flows itself into the intellectual and becomes an imaginative gesture. Of course, here I describe this as two independent processes while most of the time it happens as a more or less continuous stream, but the fact remains that our intellectual self must sacrifice itself in concentration (the black cross) in order to give firm support for subtler spiritual activity (which is as if grafted from the higher worlds onto the rootstock of our physical being).
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I think it has become very clear here what the purpose and goal of meditation (thought concentration) is.
If our subtler spiritual being finds itself, as Cleric writes, aren't we still in the same intellectual state of consciousness from which we observe our spiritual side, or are we then perceiving our intellect from a perspective entirely unknown to us?
Somehow we have to perceive this spiritual being.
Especially when we are immersed in concentration, the ray of concentration would not break if we were suddenly unfamiliar
perceive (unconscious) processes?
When I'm meditating and I suddenly hear a loud noise, it breaks my concentration for a moment.



,,Through modern meditation, we are recruited as foot soldiers in this battle. We truly have invisible allies who radiate our consciousness with wise instruction and insight - these are individualities who have already tread much further on the path of initiation and even the Gods themselves. That is what I mean when speaking of the inflow of 'Cosmic impulses' through our inverted spiritual activity. These are what we seek to attune to and attract with our concentrated activity."



So concentration of thought is already spiritualization.
Interesting analogy with the battle.
However, this analogy is worrying when you look at how humanity is evolving (transhumanism, materialism, hedonism...).

[AshvinP]

,,Truth wherever they leads us to their victory and completion, then we also find the courage and strength to endure that which seems uncomfortable or undesirable when we first encounter it, such as meditative exercises, but can be reborn as Divine peace and enjoyment."

Here you probably mean what cleric mentioned before.
Not that during meditation we sacrifice our intellect through concentration so that our subtle spiritual activity can rise more to the surface of our consciousness.
I could also be wrong, but it reminded me.
In meditation we "kill" a part of our being (our everyday eratic intellectual state of consciousness) in order for our higher aspects to come to life within us. You could say die-and-become.
Quoting Cleric:

Our grunting intellectual being is left meditating, while our subtler spiritual being begins to find its existence. We can indeed feel our physical being and our intellectual self as a kind of environment around us. In certain sense we feel as distinct beings. It's like the intellectual self says "OK, I'll hold perfectly still, so that you can climb on my back and see further." It is actually quite important that we always keep that physical phantom in sight. It must keep its concentration. Then at certain points we can actually perceive how the thinking of this being receives as inspiration certain thinking gestures, which are already at the grunting level. In this act our split-selves unite, the subtler gestures have been translated to the level of our normal cognition. Without this, in our normal state we simply can't remember the experiences in the subtler spectrum. They key however, is that there's this rhythmic process, where we concentrate the intellectual self, make it into a meditating statue in order for our finer cognitive forces to awaken, which are able to behold how our ordinary self continues to concentrate. This is difficult to describe but it's almost like a finer level of intuition awakens which is fully aware and can be subtly active yet without disrupting the concentration of our ordinary physical self. Then this subtler self flows itself into the intellectual and becomes an imaginative gesture. Of course, here I describe this as two independent processes while most of the time it happens as a more or less continuous stream, but the fact remains that our intellectual self must sacrifice itself in concentration (the black cross) in order to give firm support for subtler spiritual activity (which is as if grafted from the higher worlds onto the rootstock of our physical being).
-------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------


I think it has become very clear here what the purpose and goal of meditation (thought concentration) is.
If our subtler spiritual being finds itself, as Cleric writes, aren't we still in the same intellectual state of consciousness from which we observe our spiritual side, or are we then perceiving our intellect from a perspective entirely unknown to us?
Somehow we have to perceive this spiritual being.
Especially when we are immersed in concentration, the ray of concentration would not break if we were suddenly unfamiliar
perceive (unconscious) processes?
When I'm meditating and I suddenly hear a loud noise, it breaks my concentration for a moment.



,,Through modern meditation, we are recruited as foot soldiers in this battle. We truly have invisible allies who radiate our consciousness with wise instruction and insight - these are individualities who have already tread much further on the path of initiation and even the Gods themselves. That is what I mean when speaking of the inflow of 'Cosmic impulses' through our inverted spiritual activity. These are what we seek to attune to and attract with our concentrated activity."



So concentration of thought is already spiritualization.
Interesting analogy with the battle.
However, this analogy is worrying when you look at how humanity is evolving (transhumanism, materialism, hedonism...).

Guney,

I know this doesn't directly address your question, but I feel it should be emphasized. I think he can speak better to what was meant in that quote. What Cleric mentioned previously is also really important. Especially in light of what unfolded on the other threads with Eugene, it is important to remain connected with our ordinary reasoning through the World Content. On the spiritual path, it seems to be a very slippery slope that we can slide down if we don't use proper training techniques which exercise the whole WFT organism. Even I discounted this aspect in my last post to you. We should always maintain a healthy wonder for the world phenomena around us, including our own soul lives. Not to indulge our senses for pleasure, but with loving interest that the highest potential will arise from all the forms working together in harmony. 

When we start out with diligent meditations, the physical body and the brain-bound intellect can begin to feel like huge weights around our necks, constantly getting in the way of our progress. We can start to rapidly lose interest in the living processes of the world around us, and to feel the most proximate aspects of our spiritual activity are beneath us, too trivial to be bothered with. For ex. what Cleric mentioned - how we eat, speak, walk, sleep, feel. Perhaps we stop cleaning our living areas or washing the dishes because, after all, these are trivial tasks with little spiritual import, right? That is not the case and esoteric science reveals to us why. These most proximate domains of our spiritual activity serve as the meeting place between our Earthly personality and the Divine within us, and harbor the most low hanging fruits for our spiritual growth. Working on them will increase the quality of the liminal space we awaken to, as Cleric put it.

Consider the following. I know it will seem difficult to follow at first, but in general we can remember the principle of liminal spaces and Cleric's illustration of how meaning is cast out into perception. That is how the whole Earthly evolution has progressed so far. 

Man has formed his physical body by putting out from himself the kingdoms of Nature, which then reflected themselves back into him. Through this, the single parts [tissues, organs, systems] came into existence within him. Now he performs actions; through these he again has intercourse with his surroundings. What he now puts out are the effects of his deeds. He projects his actions into the surrounding world and gradually becomes a reflection of these actions. The Ego has been drawn into the human body; man begins to perform actions. These actions are incorporated into the surrounding world and are reflected back. To the same degree in which the Ego begins to establish peace, it also begins to take up the reflected images of its own actions.

Here we have come to a point where we continually create a new kingdom around us — the effects of our own actions. This again builds up something within us. As previously we fashioned the undifferentiated etheric body into separate members, we build into the Ego existence the effects of our actions. We call this the creation of our Karma. Thereby we can give permanence to everything in the Ego. Earlier the astral body had purified itself by casting off everything that was in it. Now man created for himself a new kingdom of deeds, as it were out of nothing, in regard to relationships, a ‘creation out of nothing’. That which previously had no existence, the new relationship, reflects itself in the Ego as something new, something having a pictorial character, and a new inner kernel of being is formed in the Ego, arising out of the reflected image of deeds, the reflection of Karma. As the work of the Ego progresses, the kernel of being becomes more and more enlarged. Let us observe the Ego after a period of time. On the one hand it will have established harmony out of the warring [inner] forces, and on the other hand out of the effects of deeds. Both unite and a unified formation arises.

So by working towards harmonious relationships in our surroundings we are also organizing, harmonizing, and expanding our inner soul-life. We can sense this pretty clearly when we tidy up the room, take out the trash, clean the dishes, tend to the plants/garden, etc. if we are also paying attention inwardly. If we only want to run the intellect over the world and accumulate outer knowledge, we will miss the spiritual phenomena which interpenetrate the physical at all times and the opportunities to optimize our stream of becoming over this lifetime and perhaps the next. And if we only want to escape to the higher worlds and let the Earthly phenomena take care of themselves, then we will end with the same practical result, because our inner soul-life will remain a tangled mess and will not inflow genuine spiritual insights. Instead we can take the Middle Way and work on both with prayerful interest. 

In a sense, our inner life becomes more and more objective to us like we are normally used to only in the outer world, while the outer world becomes more 'subjective' in so far as we discern the threads which have been weaved through it with our own spiritual activity. The inner world does actually become more spatial and the outer world more an image of temporal rhythms. Only if humanity treads this Middle Way carefully can we avoid or mitigate those dangers you mention. Some things have built up too much momentum already to be avoided, but we can at least work towards redeeming their negative consequences with an enthusiastic sense of responsibility towards them. 

[Güney27]

"Thus, by working towards harmonious relationships in our environment, we also organise, harmonize and expand our inner soul life. We can feel this quite clearly when we tidy up the room, take out the garbage, clean the dishes, tend to the plants/garden etc., if we pay attention to it internally as well.”

I can totally agree with you here.
I feel much better about myself when I'm disciplined about my work.
This is an area I need to work on myself.
Thank you for your reminder.
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I would like to draw attention to an experience from today.
Today during my meditation I had an interesting experience.
I did the I think these words meditation.
I was a bit tired but still meditated.
I lay down and for about 2 minutes focused
my mental activity on generating and
transforming my thoughts.
Suddenly I was gone, I fell asleep.
Now, a short time later, I became conscious again
and saw how an image was built up. It was traumatic only that I was conscious.
I saw a samurai in a fighting position in the middle of the mountains.
Then I tried to focus and the image disappeared, everything went black.
I no longer felt my body. From that point on I continued to meditate and it felt different as I tried to produce the thoughts but succeeded.
Then I got scared and immediately opened my eyes because I didn't perceive my body.
I can't explain what it was, nor what the image that I saw meant.
I have the thought that if we can consciously remain while our bodies are asleep, we can have very interesting experiences.
In the state between being awake and sharp, I have often been able to have interesting experiences. Once the image of a person suddenly came into my consciousness, who shortly afterwards called me in an unusual way.
However, it is difficult to get into this state and in my meditation today it was a different feeling.

Kind regards