Introduction to the Basics of Theosophy

GA 111 — 9 March 1908, Nijmegen

XXIII. Grade of Higher Knowledge (Steps to Higher Knowledge)

Dr. Steiner distinguishes three degrees or levels of higher knowledge that the ordinary person can attain through a certain kind of development: firstly, imaginative knowledge; secondly, inspirative knowledge; and thirdly, intuitive knowledge.

We attain imaginative knowledge when we see the things around us in symbols. The human race of the Lemurian period was familiar with this state of consciousness, albeit in an imperfect way. They did not perceive things as we do now, but saw floating images of certain colors and shapes in space, which appeared to them as either pleasant or unpleasant. Gradually, our normal day-consciousness developed from this Lemurian consciousness, and only remnants of the former remained. (Compare our dream state, in which an event in the material realm, for example a chair falling over, is symbolized by one or other complicated drama.) Through what is called the esoteric life, one can regain higher knowledge in a more perfect way. The conditions for this cannot be discussed in this lecture; the speaker only noted that a great deal of patience and renunciation of all lower human inclinations is absolutely necessary, and that it is not without danger to enter the higher worlds consciously, in accordance with higher degrees of knowledge, without an authorized teacher.

If you now fulfill the conditions, after some time you will see light images when you concentrate your attention on one or the other material object, which together form the so-called imaginative (astral) image that belongs to that object. Thus, when observing a plant from which new life blossoms, one will notice violet images that gradually change to a light red; when the plant dies, on the other hand, orange images appear, which after some time become brownish and dirty in color. Besides these astral images, one will also get to know beings that are unknown in the material realm, including the group souls of animals, which present themselves in the astral world as independent beings with whom one can make contact. As the impressions of the material world fade away, the new world of light, color and sound opens up for the person, but not before he has gone through a period of complete silence and without any light.

As one progresses in one's inner development, one experiences at a certain stage that one no longer perceives only imaginative images, but at the same time begins to grasp them. At this stage, so-called inspirative knowledge begins, and one becomes aware in the lower Devachan world. One gets to know one's fellow creatures through a certain sound: the “music of the spheres” is revealed to man, as are the group souls of plants, which in this world are certain beings and, so to speak, parts of the great spiritual being, the planetary soul, of which the earth is the material body. The material earth shows itself in the lower world of Devachan as a transparent crystal.

The third degree of higher knowledge, intuitive knowledge, comes to a person when, after long practice, they have developed the ability to live in all things themselves. Then one can empathize with plant and mineral souls and, for example, share the pleasant feeling of these souls when the flower is picked, the grain is mowed or the stone is pounded into gravel. Then one shares the life of all fellow creatures, and true compassion is developed. And one sees that of all forms in the nature kingdoms, beings are the ensouling life.