Transforming Vices Through Inner Peace and Imagination

GA 266I — 11 November 1908, Berlin

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

As esotericists, we must learn to view everything exoteric as objectively as possible. When we encounter people who display characteristics we dislike, we must never condemn them, but rather strive to understand them correctly. Ambition and vanity are qualities that an esotericist fights within themselves, but without them, many things that people achieve in the world would not exist. They are part of the world plan; they have value and worthlessness. That is why we should not judge people who have such qualities. Ambition and vanity are noticeable in the astral body like thorns, like sharp influxes from the outside to the inside, which penetrate deeply, then go outwards and lose themselves there.

The esotericist can use these pricks to reject such thoughts; he can use them as a protective device against thoughts of ambition and vanity. However, if he succumbs to them, these pricks penetrate much deeper than in the exoteric person, who always has them. When faced with temptations of this kind, one must immediately direct one's thoughts to great, beautiful, and sublime things that have been achieved by outstanding geniuses of humanity.

Envy attacks the etheric body and can even inhibit blood circulation. Something arises in the astral body like a fog that prevents one from seeing people, things, and circumstances clearly. The moment a feeling of envy arises, the esotericist should think of venerable beings, sublime works of art, all manifestations of beauty.

For both characteristics, one should also allow schematic mental images to take effect, such as those we gain in our theosophical work. Mental images of the seven basic parts of the human being or of the Earth's evolutionary processes. The above vices impair the human being's power of truthful imagination. This antidote strengthens and orders it, and the astral body becomes healthy and harmonious again.

This astral body of the human being is called zero in occultism, i.e., the skin of this astral body. Its content is nothing for the spiritual world; we have to transform this nothing into something.

Influences on the astral body also occur during anger, rage, and especially sudden anger. This manifests as lumpy hardenings with fine roots in the astral body. The surging of blood and the swelling of the veins are protective mechanisms to dissolve these.

Curiosity causes wrinkles to form in the astral body, which make it sleepy and resistant. This sluggishness can continue into the physical realm. Talkativeness causes tension and pressure in the astral body.

The means of countering these phenomena and gradually overcoming them is to acquire inner peace. One must learn to shut oneself off completely from the outside world for periods of time. If the student finds this difficult, he should stand in front of the caduceus. Gradually, one will become insensitive to the restlessness that the big city brings with it. It would be of no use to eliminate the external noise from the world, because the pernicious internal effects would remain. Through inner peace, one will gradually come to keep the noise completely at bay.

People may worry to a certain extent, but beyond that, the physical brain begins to wither and decay. Worrying thoughts dig furrows into the brain, causing such thoughts to be repeated over and over again. In this way, the physical body becomes an obstacle to human progress. The facial features reflect these furrows. There is a certain astral substance in which worries live, and there are highly developed individualities that take on this substance of worry from humanity. These are the Soter. The greatest Soter, the greatest man of worry, was Christ.

Record B

Approach theosophy with seriousness and dignity; view everything exoteric as objectively as possible. For example, when we see a person who is ambitious and vain, we should not condemn them, but say to ourselves: Ambition and vanity are qualities that an esotericist fights within themselves, but without them, many things that exist in today's world would not be there; they are included in the world plan; therefore, we should not judge such people.

Ambition and vanity are noticeable in the astral body like thorns (pointed influxes from outside to inside) that penetrate deeply and lose themselves to the outside; at the same time, however, there is also a protective mechanism to repel them. The person who is no longer subject to these qualities can use the forces that constitute the protective mechanisms in a different way. But if such thoughts of ambition and vanity come over the esotericist, these pricks penetrate much deeper. The same is true of envy, which causes a fog in the astral body and attacks the etheric body to the point of inhibiting blood circulation.

How can one counteract thoughts of ambition and vanity on the one hand and envy on the other? In the first case, whenever these thoughts of ambition and vanity come over me, I should direct my thoughts to the great and beautiful; that will help me to overcome them.

In the second case, when feelings of envy overcome me, I should allow truly good works of art to have an effect on me, everything that is a revelation of beauty.

Additions by another hand:

Envy is combated by reverence for higher beings or uplifting works of art. Ambition and vanity are combated by mental images of a schematic nature – such as the elements of the human being or the stages of cosmogony. The imagination is weakened by vices and strengthened, ordered and harmonized by their antidotes. Vices are combated by frequently practiced, arbitrarily created calm in the soul life.