Breaking the Mirror: Spiritual Development and Inner Transformation

GA 266II — 11 December 1910, Munich

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

In our esoteric lessons, we have often spoken of the path that esotericists had to follow in the ancient mystery schools. At that time, through certain methods, people were, so to speak, turned inside out in their soul and spirit qualities in a relatively short time, because people were much more robust in soul and body than they are now. They had a stronger soul, and since the soul is the architect of the physical body, the body was also stronger. That was in times that our historical research cannot trace back to. Humanity was less complicated and more unified at that time. It sprang from the bosom of the deity, and its task, after gradually losing its ancient clairvoyance, is to rise again to spirituality on its path through matter by taking up the Christ impulse within itself and, thus filled, reuniting with the deity. Due to ever-increasing materialism, people have become weaker and weaker spiritually, emotionally, and physically, and the current more delicate constitutions can no longer be subjected to the trials that were imposed on the disciples in the ancient mysteries. At that time, the primary aim was to eliminate two qualities which the initiate had to recognize as groundless and discard in the shortest possible time: egoism and fear. What egoism really is cannot be judged at all with ordinary concepts from the physical plane.

The initiates were put to sleep, and then their souls were shown in the spiritual worlds what they had achieved in these worlds up to that point. Their egos were then, so to speak, absorbed by the macrocosm, and they realized that they were nothing. Standing before nothingness, as before a dark abyss, naturally aroused feelings of fear, and they had to overcome these. From these trials, they either emerged unfit for outer life, having realized through knowledge the futility of all that is transitory, or they remained strong and resolved to use this incarnation, as far as possible, for further development in order to one day get to know the higher worlds. A modern person should not be treated so harshly. It is already a lot for an ordinary person today to say that the ground beneath their feet is shaking. But their whole striving will always be to remain firm. They do not want to take a leap, but to move forward slowly and steadily. The esotericist, however, must take the leap over the abyss. They must let the ground slip away beneath them. For if he wants to penetrate the spiritual worlds, the concepts he has formed here on the physical plane will be of no help to him whatsoever. He must not take any of them with him. There is only one thing he may retain: his ability to form concepts, his sense of truth, and his logic. The ability to form new concepts and the sense for the new truths he will come to know.

The masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings send us a parable to make this clear to us. It is as if we saw all the objects in our room in a mirror and then went behind the mirror to discover their reality. We would see that there is nothing behind it. This is how it is with our concepts in the higher worlds. When we step behind the mirror, so to speak, we realize that there is nothing behind it. We must allow higher beings to instill in us the concepts of the higher worlds and work on ourselves to form them. But once we have acquired them through serious and honest work, we must step back in front of the mirror, make a bold decision, and shatter it. Then darkness, nothingness, will greet us again. But if we persevere steadfastly, a light will shine out of this darkness and a whole new world will reveal itself to us.

Our esoteric work consists in gradually raising our astral body and etheric body to spiritual heights. However, this leaves a part of the physical body behind, the lower of the two bodies. The ego now plays a peculiar role between these two, so to speak, torn parts. Because we had become so deeply rooted in the material world, it is, so to speak, chained to the lower parts and is their slave. This then gives rise to peculiar phenomena. In our astral body, left to its own devices, which may have had some vices that we were able to easily control when its better part was still connected to it, such characteristics now grow to immeasurable proportions, and the human being then often appears to be a debauched person. If the ego were united with the higher parts, it would control the lower parts and thus all instincts, desires, and passions. Then the higher parts would not be unconscious, as they are when the ego is in the lower parts. Because the higher parts go out, the lower bodies often become weak. The physical body then also tends toward illness. But this is a temporary state. For when the higher parts have drawn sufficient strength from the higher worlds, they will again have a harmonizing and healing effect on the lower parts. When faced with such irregular phenomena in his lower bodies, the esotericist must say to himself: I will remain steadfast; through thick and thin I will follow my path to the spiritual, whatever may come my way. If he establishes a center within himself against his faults, he will also become master of them. Art should be our aid in these struggles. That is why all true art was given to us. Art that does not uplift us must perish, cannot endure, is not true art. When artists have recognized the mission of art, when art is permeated by theosophy, then it will become what it is meant to be.

When the gods created man, they also gave him faults so that he might test his strength. Therefore, we should also be grateful to the gods for our faults, for it is by fighting them that we become strong and free. But we should not love these faults for a moment. We could not thank gods who had created us pure and faultless, for they would have made us weaklings at the same time. And we should say to ourselves: even if the world were full of devils, we are still descended from God: Ex Deo nascimur. If we fight earnestly and strive unceasingly¹ strive for the spiritual worlds, we will feel how the base and flawed in us dies: In Christo morimur. And we will then awaken consciously in the higher worlds: Per Spiritum Sanctum reviviscimus. — There is an exoteric and an esoteric version of this saying. Used esoterically, the mention of the most sacred name, if done unworthily, can trigger earthquakes, storms, and thunderstorms, violent natural events; for our thoughts, even our most hidden ones, have a destructive power in the spiritual worlds when they are wrong. This is what is meant in the Rosicrucian mystery where it says that gods often have to break worlds in order to repair the damage we humans have caused with our thoughts. The esoteric version of the saying is therefore:

Ex Deo nascimur
In - - - morimur
Per Spiritum Sanctum reviviscimus

Record B

Esotericists must acquire completely different concepts. The following is given as an example by the masters for this change in terminology: A mirror that we must break through — this is how we must view our task. Esotericism must tear apart our entire being, and we must take with us our etheric body, astral body, and ego, as well as the extract from the physical body, everything that has been purified. We leave the lower part of our being below in all three bodies, which are now left to themselves. And this separation of the higher from the lower causes, if careful observation is not made in the physical body, illness or weakness, and the body becomes particularly susceptible to seasonal illnesses.

The etheric body loses its memory. In the astral body, the passions intensify. This division of the human being can escalate to debauchery. Clear thoughts and feelings are realities in the spiritual world, and truth is the word: “Spirits must break worlds...” etc.

Consideration of the Rosicrucian maxim exoterically and esoterically.

Egoism in ordinary life is something quite different from egoism in the spiritual world. Physical life is simply not possible without egoism.

The esotericist must acquire serenity and positivity.

Blasphemy is all rebellion against the wisdom of the world, against everything that happens to us. Man should be grateful to the gods for his mistakes, because by overcoming them, a stronger power is developed.