The History of the Esoteric School 1904–1914, Volume One

GA 264 — Berlin

To Jan Lagutt in Binningen near Basel

Berlin, January 12, 1906

Dearest Dr. Steiner!

The right way to begin meditation is as follows:

In the morning, when no other impressions have yet passed through the soul – best of all immediately after awakening – one seeks to establish complete calm in the soul. Complete distraction of attention from all external impressions and also from all memory images that relate to everyday life.

From this stilled soul, one then lets the following sentences arise, so that the very core is filled with them (3-5 minutes):

"In the pure rays of light
The divinity of the world shines
In the pure love for all beings
the divinity of my soul
I rest in the divinity of the world
I will find myself
in the divinity of the world.

It is important that these sentences are presented quite literally.

Then follows (through another 3-5 minutes)
in the first month: the first sentence in “Light on the Path”
in the second month: the second sentence in “Light on the Path”
in the second month: the third sentence in “Light on the Path”
in the second month: the fourth sentence in “Light on the Path”

Then (for another 3-5 minutes) devotion to one's divine ideal, followed by an intense sense of the value of the virtue one wants to instill.

In the evening: review of the day's deeds and experiences. Retrospective, from evening to morning. Without regret, merely with the tendency to learn from life. If you fall asleep, it does not matter. It is not a matter of being complete, but of developing the attitude of learning from life.

Only in the morning during meditation must there be complete wakefulness.

With warm greetings

Dr. Rudolf Steiner