Meditation, Inner Obstacles, and Spiritual Development

GA 266I — 7 January 1909, Munich

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

It is essential that we always bear in mind that during an esoteric hour, things are communicated to us directly from a supersensible world, and that the person speaking to us must regard themselves as an instrument used by the masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings. Those who listen to the messages in this spirit will receive them in the right sense.

During these sessions, we usually talk about two things: either we delve deeper into the way we should do our meditations, or we discuss the attitudes we should develop and cultivate within ourselves, in our daily lives, toward our fellow human beings—attitudes that are absolutely necessary if we are to become true esotericists. We should also approach our meditation with certain attitudes, and that is what we want to talk about today.

Every meditation has been handed down through thousands of years by the great initiates; it is the path to the supersensible worlds. Each one gives us, even if only in a faint reflection, a picture of initiation. It is a picture of what we are to become, even if, as I said, only in a faint reflection.

In order for meditation to work properly in and on us, we should imagine the meditation material as vividly as possible in a mental image that we create ourselves. For example, if we receive the meditation:

In the pure rays of light
the divinity of the world shines forth

We should imagine shining rays of light or a large luminous moon. We should try to strip away everything that binds us to the sensory world in these moments, surrender ourselves as much as possible to these images, and try to live in them. We should try to penetrate completely into the meaning of the subject matter.

Meditation should be the most important, most sacred activity of the day. If we immerse ourselves as deeply as we can in these images let them live within us, then—depending on how intense and serious we are and depending on how our karma guides us, some sooner, others perhaps only after years—we will experience a moment during meditation when we realize that these images, these mental images, are realities, that they are a world in which we suddenly find ourselves, not as outside spectators, but in the midst of these things. We still live in the outer world, but in a completely different way than before, because the world that has opened up to us is completely different. We are, so to speak, on the other side of things.

Now there are two things to consider, which we will discuss now. One concerns those who have not yet progressed to the stage of seeing, the other those who have reached the state of imagination. The former, as you have all experienced, are literally assailed by thoughts concerning their daily life, the external world, and their surroundings at the moment they begin their meditation. All noises are perceived as more disturbing, all images and thoughts that do not belong here become more intrusive. Fighting against this would be useless, because there are powers behind these thoughts. It would be like a person in the middle of a swarm of bees trying to defend himself by striking out: the bees would attack him with double force.

We now have an occult means of combating these unwanted thoughts, of silencing them, and this means is the same both for what we have just discussed and for the disturbances suffered by those who have already attained clairvoyance. Imagine as clearly as possible the staff of Mercury: a shining rod around which a black snake is coiled, and then imagine a bright one coiling towards the other. The black snake symbolizes the material thoughts that disturb us: the lower self; the bright snake symbolizes the divine thoughts, the higher self. And when we place this symbol before our soul in all its meaning, with the bright snake coiling against the black snake, all disturbances will disappear and we can immerse ourselves in our meditation.

Those who have attained clairvoyance are disturbed in their visions by the same forces that unleash everyday thoughts in others, in that they see all kinds of passions, desires, and so on, which are lived out in the astral realm, in the form of wild, often very ugly, sometimes seductively beautiful animals. Here, too, the mental image of the staff of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, is the only remedy.

If we now devote ourselves completely to our meditation material, we will experience, depending on our karma, some of us sooner, some later, a certain feeling. We will have the sensation as if our ego were lost, as if we were splintering, torn apart inwardly. This feeling must be, and is quite correct to a certain degree. We humans perceive ourselves as a unity in our enclosed physical body. But we must remember that we are something very complicated and complex, that the spirit world, to which we largely belong, is by no means simple. On Saturn, the Thrones worked on our physical body; on the Sun, the spirits of wisdom worked on our etheric body from another side; on the Moon, the spirits of movement worked on our astral body from yet another side; and in a certain way, the spirits of form worked on our ego on Earth. On the Sun and Moon, all kinds of high spiritual beings worked on our physical body. Some built our larynx, for example, others our heart or liver; the reproductive organs were created by different beings than the digestive organs, and so on.

Now, at a certain stage, the meditator gets the feeling that he is being divided up among all these powers, that he is being surrendered to them, that he is losing himself to them. Those who have not yet attained clairvoyance will then have a feeling of nothingness, as if meditation were bearing no fruit at all. This feeling is very depressing, but it does not yet pose any great danger, either to the meditator or to meditation itself. In this state, the person who sees will hear a voice, the voice of a figure whom he will soon see, and this voice will whisper to him that the world he sees is nothing, only the creation of his own illusion. This is the temptation that approaches him from the side that wants to hold man back with all its might in the sensory world, in matter, that does not want to let him ascend into the spiritual worlds. And this temptation is a great danger. Here again, we are given an occult remedy. At the end of each meditation, let us imagine the Rosicrucian cross. The Rosy Cross is the symbol of the mystery of Golgotha. The cross, the sign of death, from which roses sprout as a sign of life with the blood that flowed from the five wounds. If we bring this symbol in all its meaning before our soul, we will have an invincible weapon against the power that leads us into temptation. And why? Because through his death, at the moment when his blood flowed, Christ united himself with the astral body of the earth and brought it new life and light. He dwells in this astral body as the astral light that shines in the darkness. We see this astral light when we have attained the ability to see. The Rosicrucian cross is therefore the symbol of the light that conquers the powers of darkness.

We see physical objects with our physical eyes because they are dark and therefore reflect sunlight from outside. But when we attain clairvoyance through meditation, the dark veil that covers objects becomes thinner and thinner. We will see the astral light shining within them, the light in the darkness, and they will reveal their inner nature to us. We will recognize the forces at work in everything and live with them. Let us imagine, for example, a red crystal cube, as nature often produces. We will not only see this cube from the outside, but we will also feel within it the forces that build it up, that spread the red light through another, opposite light across its surface. “Danger lies ahead when we see a red cube; when the astral light wants to open up to us, green appears. When red turns to green 2???” Someone who wanted to penetrate the interior of this crystal by smashing it would only create a lot of individual externalities. One can only penetrate the interior by looking into the astral light. In order to be able to endure this incoming astral light, in the [pre-Christian] initiation, the initiates had to undergo a kind of death sleep, which took place during the three days they lay “in the grave.” One who had to undergo this preparation after the events at Golgotha was Paul, who lay in a stupor for three days after seeing the astral light.

When done correctly, our meditation should leave us with spiritual strength. But do not fear that this has not happened if you do not feel this strength. We often have no feeling for it, but every meditation exerts its power sooner or later, and after years we often reap fruits we did not expect. Those who are patient, content with little, so to speak, and do not demand growth with greed and impatience, will always receive spiritual strengthening.

Record B

In accordance with Record B, which otherwise corresponds to Record A, the six subsidiary exercises were then discussed and concluded with the following passage:

The student can do these exercises whenever he has time.

He must also ensure that his physical body does not interfere with his meditation. For beginners, it is not necessary to be completely vegetarian. Anything that is still good for the body can be eaten. Anything that tends to become dense and move toward the center of the earth should not be eaten, but only that which does not hinder the body's spiritualization. Great inner tact is also the best guide here. One must be careful to always find the right amount of nutrients in one's diet. Anything that remains as residue or sediment should be avoided. Anything that grows inside the earth should be left out. Meat is best avoided, but anything that is milk or comes from milk can be eaten.

Legumes contaminate dreams.

In all of this, the right attitude in which everything is done is of primary importance.

Our efforts are aimed at absorbing an occult current that strives for harmony.