Meditation

[Federica]

With regards to the connection, or melding, between prayer and meditation, I'd like to quote Martinus' book Meditation.
I think his candid style, down-to-earth and yet pure, can eloquently speak to many in an immediate way. Although I personally have some affinity for elaboration and complexity, I equally appreciate their opposite - simplicity - and I hope some can find practical and spiritual value in these comments, that clearly converge with the ones of other spiritual scientists and masters of modern initiation of our times. In the second of three parts of the book, Martinus makes an impeccable case for the understanding of meditation as prayer, through an encompassing, but very concise, historical overview of the experience of "cosmic glimpses". Among the various historical "instances of cosmic glimpse", a fundamental one is found in Jesus' glimpse of the Father at baptism:

When Jesus was baptised by John in the River Jordan, he experienced a glimpse of God's spirit symbolised by a vision of a shining dove, and at the same time heard a voice saying: "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased". Through this experience, this cosmic glimpse, Jesus experienced God as a father. And this father-son attitude to the Godhead became the foundation for the whole of the life and teaching of Jesus. Without this cosmic glimpse, this father-son attitude to God could hardly have come into existence. Who at the time of Jesus would have dared to call God "father"? The God of the Jews was an avenging and punishing god whom one should actually fear.

Then he continues:

This cosmic ability to experience [glimpses] is the beginning of the future total cosmic consciousness of the perfect human being, which in turn means a consciousness that can be expressed only as the "Holy Spirit". It is this consciousness or spirit with which Christ was filled, and it is the same spirit or state of consciousness that is the goal of all human evolution. It is the attainment of this spirit that removes all the animal tendencies from the consciousness or mentality of the unfinished human being.

Here I find our present-day condition particularly well spelled out, in that we are, as we are today, "unfinished human beings". Later, the Lord's Prayer is reviewed verse by verse, as most perfect meditation-object. For example:

The meditation-object: "Who art in Heaven"
In the next clause, "Who art in Heaven", lies the solution to the enigma that the Godhead is in all things and not in one particular place. Heaven is the same as the universe, which is in itself an infinite space. Meditation on this can show us that the Godhead is not in one particular place but is present everywhere – inside ourselves too. Here our meditation becomes a connection between God's consciousness and our consciousness.

And to conclude:

Through meditation on this entire divine and absolutely unique cosmic prayer-structure, Christ has given mankind a way to the very highest support and assistance in the many troubles of daily life for unfinished human beings. A more perfect meditation-object and a more perfect meditation than on this object does not exist. If one daily meditates and prays in earnest, using this prayer-structure of the Lord's Prayer, one cannot avoid discovering that one begins to live more and more in harmony with the very highest thought-climates. Indeed, one begins not only to overcome difficulties oneself more easily and lightly, but one also begins to give out light to other beings around us – animals and people, plants and minerals. And here, through the meditation-objects of the Lord's Prayer, the human being himself begins to help the Godhead in his transformation of him into "the human being in his image after his likeness", and little by little the beginnings of a transfigured existence appear ahead. In this way, these meditation-objects formed in the structure of the Lord's Prayer will gradually cause meditating terrestrial mankind to shine and sparkle in the last great epoch of its transformation into mankind in God's image after his likeness.

[Federica]

Searching the Steiner archive I have stumbled upon these meditation recommandations for beginners on the esoteric path. I thought they might be of interest for some of us. For example, I definitely struggle with distracting, everyday thoughts. So far, I have considered them in a neutral way, as if they simply manifested a legitimate dimension of being that needs to be temporarily put aside to clear the space for meditation. Now, seeing them as the perceivable result of purposeful activity of dark powers who try to hinder our efforts, is useful to me. It instantly provides more resolve, it strengthens the determination to counteract them.

As soon a pupil begins an occult path powers approach him who try to inhibit his development. When we mediate we should forget ourselves by extinguishing everything that connects us with ordinary life, we should immerse ourselves entirely in the content of the given words so that we don't feel our body or have any ordinary thoughts or daily feelings. The opposing powers try to pull us back into ordinary life and to prevent us from concentrating. As soon as we notice this, as for instance in

In pure rays of light

where we should only think and feel that light is the Gods' clothes, so that we live entirely in this image, we can use the Mercury staff as an effective symbol, and namely a bright, shining yellow staff with first a dark snake and then also a shining white snake wound around it.
Every live thing has a skin as a sign that it's enclosed in the physical world. Etheric and astral bodies also have skins. When a man receives impressions through his senses, the astral body's skin gets cracked and is used up; this becomes manifest as tiredness. This skin is shed and replaced during sleep. We should try to become aware of this process before going to sleep. Think that one is going into spiritual worlds where the astral body is renewed by spiritual beings in the realms of harmonies and sphere tones. We should go to sleep with thankful feelings for these divine beings and powers; here we should feel love for wisdom. Then bad feelings won't be able to influence us.

Just as a man uses up the skin of his soul body every day and renews it, so a snake also sheds its skin every so often and renews it. That is why looking at a Mercury staff is an effective way to get into spiritual worlds during meditation in such a way that hindering influences are overcome.

Another way is through the idea that we're inside a blue aura, closed off from all bad feelings and thoughts that want to get at us. Only the good powers can gain access to our soul. This can be effectively connected with the following meditation:

May the outer sheath of my aura become denser.
May it surround me with an impermeable skin for all impure, unclean thoughts and feelings.
May it only open to God's wisdom.

A beginner will only feel the presence of dark forces in distracting thoughts, but an advanced pupil see these astral powers as rats, mice and parasitic animals. But no one should be glad to see such animals, otherwise he would fall prey to them. One must strengthen oneself to resist the influences of these dark powers.

(...)

Another typical experience during meditation is that consciousness seems to get weaker or is being dimmed down. This is also the case in a certain respect, but we must try to always keep it awake. The black cross with seven red roses is a way to do this. The rosy cross is the great symbol of Christ Jesus — dying, perishing life that has the power to produce new life. Imagining this symbol always has a strengthening effect on spiritual development; it strengthens our everyday life in all situations.

It's during our occult exercises that the Tempter approaches us most strongly. An advanced pupil sees him just as he's described in the Bible.

Finally a feeling of deepest soul peace arises during meditation — no external feeling of quiet, but a deep inner feeing of peace that can't be disturbed by anything, no matter how much things are raging and roaring around one. Here the Mercury staff helps us to press into spiritual worlds and the rose cross makes us firmer in them. Two things must be completely avoided during occult training. We should never harm anyone through deeds, thoughts or words intentionally or not. Secondly, the feeling of hate must disappear in us, otherwise it reappears as a feeling of fear; for fear is suppressed hate. We must transform the hate into a feeling of love, the love of wisdom.

[AshvinP]

Searching the Steiner archive I have stumbled upon these meditation recommandations for beginners on the esoteric path. I thought they might be of interest for some of us. For example, I definitely struggle with distracting, everyday thoughts. So far, I have considered them in a neutral way, as if they simply manifested a legitimate dimension of being that needs to be temporarily put aside to clear the space for meditation. Now, seeing them as the perceivable result of purposeful activity of dark powers who try to hinder our efforts, is useful to me. It instantly provides more resolve, it strengthens the determination to counteract them.

As soon a pupil begins an occult path powers approach him who try to inhibit his development. When we mediate we should forget ourselves by extinguishing everything that connects us with ordinary life, we should immerse ourselves entirely in the content of the given words so that we don't feel our body or have any ordinary thoughts or daily feelings. The opposing powers try to pull us back into ordinary life and to prevent us from concentrating. As soon as we notice this, as for instance in

In pure rays of light

where we should only think and feel that light is the Gods' clothes, so that we live entirely in this image, we can use the Mercury staff as an effective symbol, and namely a bright, shining yellow staff with first a dark snake and then also a shining white snake wound around it.
Every live thing has a skin as a sign that it's enclosed in the physical world. Etheric and astral bodies also have skins. When a man receives impressions through his senses, the astral body's skin gets cracked and is used up; this becomes manifest as tiredness. This skin is shed and replaced during sleep. We should try to become aware of this process before going to sleep. Think that one is going into spiritual worlds where the astral body is renewed by spiritual beings in the realms of harmonies and sphere tones. We should go to sleep with thankful feelings for these divine beings and powers; here we should feel love for wisdom. Then bad feelings won't be able to influence us.

Just as a man uses up the skin of his soul body every day and renews it, so a snake also sheds its skin every so often and renews it. That is why looking at a Mercury staff is an effective way to get into spiritual worlds during meditation in such a way that hindering influences are overcome.

Another way is through the idea that we're inside a blue aura, closed off from all bad feelings and thoughts that want to get at us. Only the good powers can gain access to our soul. This can be effectively connected with the following meditation:

May the outer sheath of my aura become denser.
May it surround me with an impermeable skin for all impure, unclean thoughts and feelings.
May it only open to God's wisdom.

A beginner will only feel the presence of dark forces in distracting thoughts, but an advanced pupil see these astral powers as rats, mice and parasitic animals. But no one should be glad to see such animals, otherwise he would fall prey to them. One must strengthen oneself to resist the influences of these dark powers.

(...)

Another typical experience during meditation is that consciousness seems to get weaker or is being dimmed down. This is also the case in a certain respect, but we must try to always keep it awake. The black cross with seven red roses is a way to do this. The rosy cross is the great symbol of Christ Jesus — dying, perishing life that has the power to produce new life. Imagining this symbol always has a strengthening effect on spiritual development; it strengthens our everyday life in all situations.

It's during our occult exercises that the Tempter approaches us most strongly. An advanced pupil sees him just as he's described in the Bible.

Finally a feeling of deepest soul peace arises during meditation — no external feeling of quiet, but a deep inner feeing of peace that can't be disturbed by anything, no matter how much things are raging and roaring around one. Here the Mercury staff helps us to press into spiritual worlds and the rose cross makes us firmer in them. Two things must be completely avoided during occult training. We should never harm anyone through deeds, thoughts or words intentionally or not. Secondly, the feeling of hate must disappear in us, otherwise it reappears as a feeling of fear; for fear is suppressed hate. We must transform the hate into a feeling of love, the love of wisdom.

Federica,

Thank you for sharing these excerpts. It is very timely for me, because I have been doing the 'in pure rays of light' meditation, and I invariably get distracted on that first verse. It was surprising to me that it kept happening with this particular meditation and not other meditations. What you shared helps put it in more context. I will definitely be invoking the Mercury staff next time!

[Cleric K]

When speaking of difficulties in concentration I would like to share something from my experience.

In general I'm not very good with self-motivation. I'm trying to work on this but at this time I'm still more productive when there's something that pushes me a little. To put it plainly, when I'm on my own, my laziness easily takes over. On the other hand, when I have certain responsibilities, for example for another person, probably because I feel it as a certain duty, my will is more easily activated.

This has interesting consequence in our meditative life too. If we focus only on our personal activity it may happen that we just don't have forceful enough stimulus to exercise strong will. I have found that when we work in a more collective sense, then somehow we may find ourselves to be more focused. For example, if we have sick friend we can do prayerful meditation where we visualize healing light bathing them. As always, the goal here is not to fantasize that we have super healing powers but to work with intensive intents. Even if only one cell of their body is healed because of our sincere efforts, this is a great victory. Thus when we do such activities with the feeling that we're doing something serious and it's not only for us but also others, we may find that we're much more conscientious and able to sacrifice our erratic activity for a few minutes.

I find the following method to be very powerful:

When you pray, unite yourself with the multitude of spirits who
are concentrating at this same moment on the Lord. Imagine this
entire, immense assembly of magnificent beings throughout the
world who are addressing themselves to God, and unite with them.
If you want to make a request, the secret is not to remain
alone, but to join a collectivity. When an individual makes a
request to the government, no one listens, but if the demand
comes from an entire people, it is taken into consideration.
When you join the collectivity of all those in the world who are
praying, yours will no longer be a lone voice in the desert of
life. It will be accompanied by the voices of thousands of
others who are petitioning heaven for more light, more love and
more justice on earth, so that the kingdom of God and his
justice may become a reality. Because of the power of the
collectivity, this prayer is always granted, and you too will be
a beneficiary.

In general, I have found that seeking the presence of beings, even if just as a feeling, always has intensifying effect. Feeling that what we do is not only for our own's sake but is part of a much more encompassing process. If it helps we can feel that our inner world is being watched by many spiritual eyes. Sometimes these things can help us concentrate. It's as if we become more conscientious, more motivated to do our best.

[AshvinP]

I would like to share a brief passage on concentration and meditation here. I think a common trap when we start off on this path is to invest too much meaning in the object or theme of meditation, rather than understanding it merely as a support from which our own soul forces can awaken. It could be seen as a sort of anesthetic for the intellect which is always trying to grasp at discursive meanings and turn our living thought-experience into stone.

CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION do not have intellectual or gnoseological ends, nor purposes that are dialectical in any way. One does not practice concentration and meditation to acquire understandings or to penetrate the meanings of themes. These aims must cease to have any kind of intellectual importance. The intellect must first train itself to discern its own dialectical necessity, so as to be independent of it in desired moments. Therefore, one concentrates so that the theme of the concentration gradually loses its intellectualized meaning — that which constitutes meaning for what is only a limited range of human interests. The notion of insistently returning to the theme of the concentration is for the purpose of saturating intellectualism with the theme. As a consequence, the intellect can then release the theme from its bondage because of intellectualism's disinterest in the theme's egoic or human meaning. The pure theme then becomes an object to the forces of thinking, or to the driving power of thought which, until that moment, was constrained by cerebral mediation. Similarly, it is not the purpose of meditation to interpret particular images or to penetrate to their hidden meanings. Meanings are important to the intellect, and to the ego, but not to inner activity. Inner activity is both the perception of living contents, and an opening to transcendent forces that can give rise to an intellectual elaboration only later, a posteriori. Such elaboration is the domain of intellectualism, which needs reflection, or discursive thought, to know the object in its contingent relationship to the multiplicity. Concentration and meditation are practiced in order to arouse the real life of the soul by means of themes or objects, whose value is only one of mediation. Such themes or objects do not arouse the soul forces. On the contrary, the soul activates itself only insofar as it can reconstruct and enliven themes or objects. They serve as temporary supports for the soul's own ascension.

[Federica]

I have just noticed this collection of 8 meditations by Steiner, meant as an amplification of the book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds. The collection also exists in e-reading format.

These meditations are presented by RS as suitable for both beginners and the already acquainted with meditative practice.
What's also interesting is their character of reading meditations, so to say. From the introduction:

The method of representation is arranged in such a way that the reader may grow into what is depicted, so that, in the course of reading, it becomes for him a kind of self-conference. If this soliloquy takes on such a form that thereby hitherto concealed forces, which can be awakened in every soul, reveal themselves, then the reading leads to a real inner work of the soul; and the latter can see itself gradually urged on to that soul-journeying, which truly advances towards the beholding of the spiritual world.

[AshvinP]

I would like to share a very helpful and heartfully expressed meditation exercise that I recently came across in a roundabout way. I was looking at the references in the Steiner-Schrodinger paper discussed on the other thread, and saw one to Arthur Zajonc and his book on "The Entwined History of Light and Mind". After ordering that book, I noticed he also wrote a book on "Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry". It is a book replete with quotes and references to other thinkers - mystics, theologians, scientists, poets, etc. - which is the sort of thing I really appreciate, as it really deepens our confidence in the shared intuitions of spiritual reality that have survived across all times, all cultures, all domains of inquiry, etc. His method is primarily rooted in Steiner and Anthroposophy, although he also draws on Buddhist, Catholic, and other traditions. But he also makes clear that the traditions can only act as helpful symbols/pointers for inner realities that we can each discover in complete freedom, without any compulsion from secular or religious dogmas.

***

In meditation we move through a sequence of practices that starts with simple contemplative engagement and then deepen that engagement to sustained contemplative inquiry, which with grace can lead to contemplative insight or knowing. Although it seeks for objectivity like conventional science, contemplative inquiry differs from science in a very important respect. Where conventional science strives to disengage or distance itself from direct experience for the sake of objectivity, contemplative inquiry does exactly the opposite. It seeks to engage direct experience, to participate more and more fully in the phenomena of consciousness. It achieves “objectivity” in a different manner, namely through self-knowledge and what Goethe in his scientific writings termed a “delicate empiricism.”27

After working hygienically on one's mental distractions and emotional instability, the practitioner turns his or her attention away from the self and toward a set of thoughts and experiences that reaches far beyond one's personal life. The possible forms and contents for meditation at this stage are infinitely varied. Meditations can be word-based, image-based, sense-based, and so on. Each of these has something special to offer us, and each will be described in chapter four. Selecting a single flower from this rich bouquet, we can turn to the great spiritual literature of all times, or to the poets and sages who have given expression to thoughts and experiences that are of universal value. We find in them ample resources for meditation. For instance a passage from the Bible or the Bhagavad Gita, or a line from a poem by Emily Dickinson, can be used as the subject for meditation.

Take as an example the words attributed to Thales and which were said to have been inscribed on the wall of the Temple at Delphi: “Human being, know yourself!” At first this command seems to plunge us back into ourselves, but this need not be the case. We can take up these words in a way that addresses the human condition generally and not us particularly. At the outset of the meditation, we can simply speak the words, repeating them again and again. Then we can move deeper to “live the words,” holding each one at the center of our attention. With each word or phrase there is an associated image or concept. We work our way back and forth repeatedly between word, image, and concept. The words “know” and “yourself,” for example, take on a multilayered, even infinite character. The meditative verse or line is like a star on the horizon, infinitely far away but providing orientation and inspiration.

Because of its richness there are innumerable ways of working with every meditation. For example, first I slowly sound the line several times inwardly, speaking it silently to myself. I give each word my full attention, sensing the meaning of each word. Once I have settled my attention onto these words, “Human being, know yourself!” I then shift the speaking voice so the words are sounded from out of the periphery, as if they were coming out of the wide reaches of space or from the hills and sky and earth. The words are spoken to me; they are a call from the larger landscape surrounding me. The call is specifically to me as a human being. It is a call to self-knowledge. I hear the call, I pause, and I take up the injunction.

I turn first to myself as physical human being. I sense the earthly, substantial aspect of myself: my physical body. I begin with my limbs, my hands and arms, my feet and legs. I may even move them slightly to feel their physical presence more fully. I then attend to my midsection, my chest and back. I feel my breath and the beating of my heart. These too are part of my physical nature. Finally I attend to my head, which rests quietly atop the body; its solid round form harbors the senses, now closed to the world. Limbs, midsection, and head form the physical human being. I picture each and their relation to one another. I know the physical human being. I rest for a time with this image and experience within me.

Next I turn to the inner life of thoughts, feelings, and intentions. I notice how my will is carried out mysteriously. My intentions to think or to act culminate, via ways that are unknown to me, in a coordinated flow of movement. I live in that activity, which I can direct. It is part of my nature. In addition I have a rich life of feelings. Feelings of sympathy or antipathy, of exhaustion or alertness, of excitement or remorse are present within me. I sense their importance for me, how much of my life is determined by them or reflected in them. Normally I am only partially conscious of their significance and only partly control them. Their domain is partly veiled yet open to my interest and responsive to my activity. No less than my physical body, these feelings constitute a part of my nature. Finally I turn to my thinking. My life of thought is at once my life and a participant in something that transcends me. I can communicate with others, share thoughts with them. This points to something universal in thinking: like all others, I participate in a universal stream of thinking activity. I know, through experiencing it inwardly, that thinking is a part of my nature.

All three—thinking, feeling, and willing—interweave to form a single self. I have intended every thought within my meditation (unless I have become distracted), and I feel the ebb and flow of feelings associated with each thought. Actions may well ensue from these. The three form a natural unity. They are like the limbs, the midsection, and the head: separable in thought but entwined in reality. All three are needed. All three are me. I quietly live into the three and the one.

Finally, I shift my attention away from the body and even away from my thoughts, feelings, and intentions. I attend instead to a presence or activity that animates but transcends all of these. It lights up in thinking but is not the thought content I experience. This third aspect of myself is the most elusive and invisible, and yet I sense it is the essential and universal aspect that is both truly me and not me alone. I only sense it in reflection. It might be considered my Self, but in a way that is not gendered or aged or possessed of any particular characteristics. Without it I would be body and mind, physical matter, feelings, thoughts, and habitual intentions, but my originality and genius would be missing. In the language of Thoreau's morning reflections, I would forever be condemned to sleep, because this agency alone has the possibility to waken me to a poetic and divine life. In turning my attention towards this silent self, I sense the intimations of a Self that is no-self. I recognize it also as a part of me, or perhaps I am a part of it.

I then hold together all three aspects—body, soul, and spirit—in the space of my meditation. All of them are me; each is real and present. I feel their presence, their reality, separately and together. I sustain this feeling for as long as I can, and then with clear intention, I empty my consciousness of these images and ideas. I empty myself completely, but I hold my attention open and live silently in the meditative space thus prepared. I have shaped the emptiness with my activity. Now that the space of my meditation is empty of my content, of my thoughts and feelings, I can sustain an open attention without expectation and without grasping. Not attempting to see or hear, I nonetheless may sense or experience something echoing back into that space, presencing itself for a shorter or longer time, changing and then disappearing. Waiting, not grasping, one is grateful.

In the words of the Tao Te Ching,28

"Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?
The Master doesn't seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting she is present, and can welcome all things."

I have learned to welcome all things. A deep peacefulness settles into the body and mind. I rest within that peace in gratitude. Sensing that the meditation is complete, I turn back.

In meditation we move between focused and open attention. We give our full attention to the individual words of our chosen text, and to their associated images and meanings. Then we move to their relationship to each other so that a living organism of thought is experienced. We allow this experience to intensify by holding the complex of meanings inwardly before us. We may need to re-sound the words, to elaborate the images, to reconstruct the meanings, and to feel again their interrelationships in order to hold on to and intensify the experience. After a period of vivid concentration on the content of meditation, the content is released. That which was held is gone. Our attention opens. We are entirely present. An interior psychic space has been intently prepared, and we remain in that space. We wait, not expecting, not hoping, but present to welcome whatever may or may not arise within the infinite stillness. If a shy, dawning experience emerges into the space we have prepared, then we gratefully and gently greet it: not grasping, not seeking.

I view this as a kind of “breathing” of attention. First we are intently focused on an object of contemplation, but then the object is released and our open, non-focal awareness is sustained. We are breathing not air but the inner light of the mind—what I call cognitive breathing. In it we live in a slow tempo, alternating between focused attention and openness. As we breathe the light of attention, we sense a shift in our state of consciousness during the meditation. Feelings of expansion and union, vitality and movement may follow. Such feelings may become especially apparent during the phase of open attention.
...
The journey home is as important as the journey out. Having lived our way out through the words, “Human being, know yourself,” we can sound them once again inwardly as we return. When we first heard these four words their fullness was not yet apparent, but now that we have meditated them a depth or aura of meaning pervades them. On the return journey we hear the words differently; they carry within them layers of experience and images. We seek to integrate that richness of experience into our lives as we journey home.

We have been born to a life of service and tasks. These are important. Meditation is no escape. It is only a preparation for life. We come back to ourselves deepened, more awake, and reaffirmed by our contact with the infinite, with the mysteries of our own nature, with the divine. If our meditation has been successful, we may even be reluctant to return home. Such reluctance, however, is not in keeping with the moral foundations of love and selflessness we laid at the outset. The fruits of the meditative life are not for us to hoard but to share. Contemplation is properly undertaken as a selfless act of service, and so the return home is the true goal. If we have lived rightly into the sacred space of meditation then we will be more fit, more insightful, more loving in life.

If we entered through the portal of humility, then we exit through the portal of gratitude. There are an infinite number of ways to say thank you. So too are there countless ways to close a meditation session. In the Buddhist tradition one seals the meditation by dedicating its fruits to benefit all sentient beings that they may be free from suffering. In other traditions one closes with a prayer of gratitude, such as Psalm 131:30

"Lord, my mind is not noisy with desires,
and my heart has satisfied its longing.
I do not care about religion
or anything that is not you.
I have soothed and quieted my soul,
like a child at its mother's breast.
My soul is as peaceful as a child
sleeping in its mother's arms."

Zajonc, Arthur. Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love (pp. 36-37). SteinerBooks. Kindle Edition.

[Cleric K]

I would like to share a very helpful and heartfully expressed meditation exercise that I recently came across in a roundabout way. I was looking at the references in the Steiner-Schrodinger paper discussed on the other thread, and saw one to Arthur Zajonc and his book on "The Entwined History of Light and Mind". After ordering that book, I noticed he also wrote a book on "Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry". It is a book replete with quotes and references to other thinkers - mystics, theologians, scientists, poets, etc. - which is the sort of thing I really appreciate, as it really deepens our confidence in the shared intuitions of spiritual reality that have survived across all times, all cultures, all domains of inquiry, etc. His method is primarily rooted in Steiner and Anthroposophy, although he also draws on Buddhist, Catholic, and other traditions. But he also makes clear that the traditions can only act as helpful symbols/pointers for inner realities that we can each discover in complete freedom, without any compulsion from secular or religious dogmas.

Thanks, Ashvin, this is a very nice walkthrough. Starting from the bodily and moving towards the spiritual is really a great way to erect the depth axis.

I would like to add something. This is in no way a criticism to the author. After all, this is just a tiny excerpt, so we can’t make conclusions about his methods. It’s only in the face of the small excerpt that I think something can be added.

This is of course only based on my personal experience and I share it as such. I’m not sure if it has some more general value.

In meditation we move between focused and open attention. We give our full attention to the individual words of our chosen text, and to their associated images and meanings. Then we move to their relationship to each other so that a living organism of thought is experienced. We allow this experience to intensify by holding the complex of meanings inwardly before us. We may need to re-sound the words, to elaborate the images, to reconstruct the meanings, and to feel again their interrelationships in order to hold on to and intensify the experience. After a period of vivid concentration on the content of meditation, the content is released. That which was held is gone. Our attention opens. We are entirely present. An interior psychic space has been intently prepared, and we remain in that space.

I believe this part could be misleading if read with a certain bias. I’m not saying that the author introduces the bias but only that it is possible to be seen in a biased way. I’m talking about the transition between focused and open attention. This is actually a great way to convey the experience. Yet, influenced by Eastern conceptions, one may imagine that we should completely dissolve in a state where there’s no longer any sense of focus but only ‘experiencing’ as Eugene could say.

In my experience, and I have mentioned this before, the transition to open attention passes as if through the focus of concentration. Then the focus indeed opens, yet the concentrated state remains as a kind of center of the higher experience.

Another way to describe this could be by saying that the intellectual self, once it settles in its concentric relation to the periphery, becomes a kind of pedestal, the rootstock over which the higher being grows. Another metaphor is the growth of a snowflake. We know that snowflakes form when water vapor begins to crystalize around a speck of dust or a grain of pollen.



In this metaphor, our concentrated intellectual self serves as the condensation nucleus around which the spiritual world takes shape. This doesn’t mean, of course, that the spiritual world is experienced as rigid crystals. It is only to remind us that true growth into the spiritual should feel as an integrating constellation around the kernel of our incarnate experience. The latter forms the center of the higher mandala so to speak. Without this there will always be a disconnect between the intellect and the higher experiences. The intellect would only be able to interpret the memories of the experiences.

This is a rich topic because it is also an important experience after death, where the moment of death (and that moment could be what it is only when considered as the culmination, the fruit of the Earthly life) becomes for us precisely this nucleus, the anchor point for our whole sojourn in the spiritual worlds. The spheres integrate around that nucleus according to its qualities (karma) and ultimately the resulting constellation becomes the seed from which the new Earthly life grows (remember the conformal-cyclic model). Here’s something from Steiner:

Here, on earth, death has a terrifying aspect only because we look upon it as a kind of dissolution, as an end. But when we look back upon the moment of death from the other side, from the spiritual side, then death continually appears to us as a victory of the spirit, as the Spirit that is extricating itself from the physical. It then appears as the greatest, most beautiful and significant event. Moreover, this experience kindles that which constitutes our ego-consciousness after death. Throughout the time between death and a new birth we have an ego-consciousness that not only resembles but far exceeds that which we have here during our physical life. We would not have this ego-consciousness if we could not look back incessantly, if we would not always see — but from the other side, from the spiritual side — that moment in which our spiritual part extricated itself from the physical. We know that we are an ego only because we know that we have died, that our spiritual has freed itself from our physical part. When we cannot contemplate the moment of death, beyond the portal of death, then our ego-consciousness after death is in the same case as our physical ego-consciousness here upon the earth when we are asleep. Just as we know nothing of our physical ego-consciousness when we are asleep, so we know nothing concerning ourselves after death if we do not constantly have before us the moment of death. It stands before us as one of the most beautiful and loftiest moments.

https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/MomDea_index.html

So that’s the little note I wanted to add and I repeat that it comes only from my limited experience. For me the focused and open attention states do not follow each other as mutually exclusive states but the focused state of the intellectual self becomes the kernel around which the higher experiences can integrate and that’s what makes it possible for them to precipitate in concepts. In the higher experience it does feel as if we delaminate from our intellectual shell. It is as if from our new state we can think in a nonverbal way “I can feel my intellectual self continuing to focus intensely. In this way he provides the support, the pedestal on which my higher being can find its self-consciousness.”

[AshvinP]

I believe this part could be misleading if read with a certain bias. I’m not saying that the author introduces the bias but only that it is possible to be seen in a biased way. I’m talking about the transition between focused and open attention. This is actually a great way to convey the experience. Yet, influenced by Eastern conceptions, one may imagine that we should completely dissolve in a state where there’s no longer any sense of focus but only ‘experiencing’ as Eugene could say.

In my experience, and I have mentioned this before, the transition to open attention passes as if through the focus of concentration. Then the focus indeed opens, yet the concentrated state remains as a kind of center of the higher experience.

Thanks for this note and clarification, Cleric. Indeed your 'limited experience' aligns well with my conceptual understanding of how modern meditation proceeds. We do not 'dissolve' our concentration into some pure awareness or experiencing, but metamorphose it into a content-less state. It is not a relinquishing of inner effort, but an amplication of effort to extinguish the content that was previously built up.

I am not sure to what extent Zajonc addresses this aspect, since I haven't made it much further than Chapter 1. There is a simple leminscate diagram that I didn't include, but will share here.





I have been thinking about the difference between outer activity and inner activity. When we reflect on the former, we can probably trace most of it back to completely automatic impulses, born of natural drives and cultural conventions. Most of it amounts to a blind following of natural and cultural authorities, where we allow the latter to spark our movements and set them off in one horizontal direction or another. Inner activity, on the other hand, requires us to resist those automatic impulses, to remain quite still physically and intellectually, while bringing something new, fresh, original, intentional, and creative to our cognitive life. It is quite orthogonal to everything we have grown accustomed to in normal life and requires great strength of will. If our meditation is ever marked by inner passivity, just flowing along with whatever moves us, we can be sure that it is breaking the all-important link between the intellect and our higher self.

[Cleric K]

I believe the Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition stages (as defined by Rudolf Steiner) is describing that process. If I understand so far, the Imagination stage is where one can start seeing spiritual imagery (which might be symbolic images for example?), or maybe seeing the forms that underlie the physical objects (i.e. the etheric world). The Inspiration and Intuition, I think, is where one can start seeing much subtler worlds than the etheric, and can also perceive higher beings and communicate with them directly or consciously, and experience their perspective as your own. Could you maybe comment on how accurate this short summary is, and help me correct errors or misunderstandings?

Luke, I would like to attempt to give a picture of the stages of consciousness, using the pond image given in Zajonc's meditation that Ashin quoted here. I’m not sure if Zajonc has the stages of consciousness in mind in that meditation but I surely find the image suitable. In that sense, please don’t try to map directly what I say to what Zajonc describes.

Preconditions – soul space – the pond

The first step would be to understand what the pond symbolizes. It is really the space of our inner experience. There’s no need to fantasize this space in some way. What we need is to simply feel the actual contents of our soul space, our perceptions, thought images, feelings and so on. This space is really the only space we ever know. Even when we imagine large things, like a planet or the whole Cosmos, it is still based on the sense of space we’re familiar with through our bodily sensations. In a certain sense, we can only know a large space when we imagine our imaginary hands spreading out so far that we can encompass it. In other words, all space that we know is inner space. This inner space and all its contents can be symbolized with the pond (and of course we shouldn't try to imagine that this inner space is somehow placed within the 'real' outer physical space).

Ordinary consciousness – lost in the patterns of the pond

At the first stage, this pond is criss-crossed with sensations in the most complicated ways. These patterns form our familiar bodily sensations. Normally our thinking is so sucked into these sensations that we feel that we live in their movements, our whole soul life is subordinate to their unfoldments. This is what we call the world of Maya.

Here we should make an important distinction. Maya doesn’t mean that the World is simply a thin dream image before our soul’s gaze, which has no substantiality. The World is real. It’s just that our familiar sensory experience of it is a secondary pattern. By secondary I mean something analogous to the way how the pixels of a screen are primary while the image is a new level of interpretation.

Imagination – consciousness of the pond

With all this in mind it should be easy to understand the first of the higher forms of consciousness – Imaginative. While in our ordinary consciousness we live entirely in the patterns in soul space and their secondary interpretation, when through concentration we manage to extricate our spiritual activity from the suction of the patterns, the pond metaphor becomes a reality. Now we really feel our inner space as an infinite pond, filled with the most complicated phenomena, patterns, ripples, waves. We understand directly how so far we have been mesmerized by the patterns. Of course, when speaking of patterns and ripples this shouldn’t be taken in the mechanical sense. These movements are not something that we simply see but something that our whole soul state metamorphoses through. It’s like the difference between only seeing a gymnastic exercise and actually performing.

This is the first important distinction. We see into soul space not simply by having an additional layer of visual sensations but by moving together with the driving forces behind phenomena. If it is only the former, the experience would never lead us to any certainty. It could be just a sensory hallucination. But when our thinking activity is liberated from the slots of the brain and begins to flow in novel ways, this can never be doubted – simply because it cannot be imagined through our old thinking patterns. We can be mistaken when we try to understand these movements and their relations but not about the fact that our spirit has lifted itself from the physical slots and wills its transformation in soul space.

This leads us also to another distinction. When we flow together with the transformations in soul space it becomes clear that they result from spiritual activity similar to our own. Just like our ordinary thinking activity stirs sounds, words, images in soul space, so on a greater scale our soul space is part of the World soul space and the most varied activities stir its forms. At this stage we understand very little of the nature of the various Intelligences, the spiritual beings who will the activities but it is clear that the contents of the soul space are impressions of their deeds. What we experience in soul space as contents and movements is not the beings themselves but only their effects, just like we don’t see our ego as a finished perception in front of us but we perceive its effects, for example, as the sound perception of our thinking voice.

Inspiration – resonating with the intents of the beings

While in Imagination we’re lifted from suction of the pond patterns and begin to cognize the impressions of the activities of the Cosmic Intelligences (symbolized by the stars, mountains, etc. reflected in the pond) we still don’t have particularly clear idea of what and why they act in such ways. This is what we approach in Inspirative consciousness. Probably the best analogy for this is reading or the difference between hearing sounds and understanding them as words.

Of course, these are only sensory analogies. To understand this, in our ordinary cognition we have first to make very clear the distinction between the perceptual element of thoughts (for example the sounds of our thinking voice) and the inner activity that we perform in order to impress these sounds. In other places we have called these ‘thinking gestures’. Just like we can distinguish between the perceptions of our hand and the willing efforts to move it, so we should try to do the same for our thinking. This is of course much more challenging because we need special effort to observe our thinking process. In any case, it can be said that in the Imaginative state we live not only in the thinking gestures that we consider our own but we allow our thinking gestures to move together with the gestures in the environment. These of course, just like our ordinary thoughts, have their perceptual counterpart – encompassing images, weaved of color, sound and so on. Yet, these perceptual elements are not the essential thing. It is only because our transformed thinking gestures merge with those which fill the whole of Cosmic soul space, that we understand the perceptual counterpart as images of higher order reality.

So in this analogy, our liberated thinking gestures correspond to the sound. We understand that soul space is real, that it is animated by the thinking gestures of the most varied Intelligences, yet besides the most immediate effects, we don’t intuit any deeper intents. For example, in Imagination we can unite with the thinking gestures that work in our blood flow. This is not the same as simply having a bodily sensation of blood moving, in the sense that we can feel warm water sipping down our throat when drinking it but instead we find that there’s something akin to will impulses that live in the rhythms of our circulation. In Imagination we can find these blood forces as facts of experience but only in Inspiration we can understand their wider significance, how through them the whole evolutionary journey of man is intended.

Intuition – resonating with the perspectives of the beings

Finally, in Intuition the intents that we come to know in Inspiration are experienced in an even deeper way, in the context of the individual beings.

Probably it would be easier with another analogy. Let’s suppose we see a man walking. On the lowest level we see transformations of patterns of perceptions. We can study them as a scientist would. We can analyze them, quantify them and even discover some mathematical ‘laws of nature’ that seem to match what we see. At the second stage we recognize that this walking man is perceived as such only because certain will impulses work in him. Note that the only reason we can understand this is because we know from our own experience what it is to will the movements of our feet. Similarly, to know the deeds of the Cosmos in soul space, our thinking-will must be able to transform into the corresponding forms. At the third stage we can understand something of the intents of the movement. For example, we may find out that the person is going to see a friend. Now we have not only the will but also the idea that guides it through time. Finally, the fourth stage would be analogous to understanding the individual perspective of the person. In the previous stage we understand his movement according to our perspective. We understand what it means to us. But now we understand what it means to the I-experience of the person, how that movement fits in the unique story of his life.

In a similar way. Intuitive cognition leads to concentric experiences of the spiritual beings. We now grasp something of the transformations of soul space in the context of evolution of these perspectives.