Self-Knowledge and Luciferic Beings in Esoteric Training

GA 266II — 27 October 1911, Berlin

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

Great seriousness should prevail in esoteric life. An esoteric hour should be something sacred, something entrusted to us, and we should never take it for granted. We were probably not all aware of the necessary seriousness when we asked to be admitted to the E.S. circle. Now we must bring this seriousness ever more to the fore in our souls and strive with all our strength for the connection with the spiritual worlds that can become ours through esoteric training, so that we do not fall back into everyday life. All the exercises given to us are to be regarded as coming from the Masters of Wisdom and the harmony of feelings.

In esoteric life, particular attention must be paid to egoism. We often tell ourselves that we are doing something selflessly, or we feel hatred or envy toward someone that we are not yet aware of, and we think that as esotericists we must tell them the truth or not allow them to do this or that. As soon as such feelings arise, we should imagine that we are indulging in gross delusions and that their causes always spring from egoism. Such feelings always manifest themselves with a feeling of warmth that pervades the etheric body—namely, the part of the etheric body that we call the warmth ether—and acts through the blood onto the physical body. We must be clear that such feelings always have a harmful effect on world development. The hierarchies that are appointed to guide karmic relationships then work in such a way that they appoint beings of a Luciferic nature who destroy these effects in us by exerting a harmful influence on the physical body.

With true self-knowledge, when we recognize our own wickedness, a thoroughly cold feeling of ice pervades us, while everything in us that is satisfied in terms of emotions expresses itself, in contrast to self-knowledge, in a feeling of warmth. Samael is the leader of the Luciferic beings who work in this coldness, bringing self-knowledge to human beings. They appear in various forms, mostly human-like, and are perceptible to clairvoyants.

People often possess more dishonesty and dishonor than they themselves realize. Many say, “I really don’t have any dishonesty left in me; I have completely rid myself of it.” But this dishonesty is often so subtle that we are usually not even aware of it. Let us consider the following example. We read in the newspaper about a theosophical lecture in another city and decide to go there. We are quite sure that we are going there for this purpose alone, and it does not occur to us that a dear friend whom we would like to see again lives in this city, or that there is an event we would like to attend. We believe that we are going there only for the lecture, when in fact there are other reasons for the trip. We have [admittedly] been brought up not to tell gross untruths. But [we have not yet overcome] the tendency to want to appear better than we are, or, when we are put to the test and our very existence is at stake, to conceal, cover up, and disguise the truth. All of this has a detrimental effect on world events. The effects of such untruthfulness first affect our astral body, then our etheric body, specifically the part of the etheric body that we call the light ether. They then continue on to the physical body and affect our nervous system. Azazel brings all such insincerity to our consciousness. He and his beings, of whom he is the leader, reveal themselves to clairvoyants in human form, usually as a head with raven wings. While egoism, envy, and hatred cause us to feel disgust and revulsion upon awakening, which can be traced back to the influence of our double, insincerity causes those who are still prone to it to feel a choking, scratching sensation in their throat upon awakening. They feel as if they are being pinched with tongs or tormented by a thousand arms. This is what Azazel does with his hordes. And when we feel his influence in the manner described, it should make us think about how deeply we are still entangled in lies and pretense.

A third thing is indifference and dullness toward the spiritual worlds. Many students listen to an esoteric lecture, but what is given does not resonate with them. They cannot break away from their ordinary daily lives. They cannot rise spiritually or engage in spiritual thoughts. Others are merely curious to learn and experience something of the spiritual worlds and meditate on it without devoting themselves to regular study because it is too inconvenient for them. This has a direct effect on the ego, from there to the astral body, then to the etheric body, specifically to the part we call the chemical ether, and from there to the physical body in all its juices and glands. This is the effectiveness of Azael. In a non-esoteric person, Azael and his hosts always want to promote good effects by acting on him in a way that is not harmful to his health, but rather complementary. In an esoteric person, the effects go deeper, and he is required to be constantly aware of his full responsibility toward himself and the world. - Upon awakening, a dull esoteric will have a feeling of drowning, like a flood—the stronger the feeling, the more he has surrendered himself to everyday sensory life.

The esoteric should always pay attention to himself. It does no harm if he sometimes becomes brooding. Only then will they understand what is suggested to us at the end of every esoteric lesson by the masters of wisdom and harmony of feelings:

The seed of my body lay in the spirit ...
The seed of the spirit lies in my body ...

Record B

Esoteric life should be taken very seriously. All too often, it is curiosity that drives people to esotericism. They want to develop themselves, but they do not want to study what has already been given in esotericism. For example, there is often talk of “conscious falling asleep and waking up.” What happens when we wake up consciously? Then we dive into what we really are, what our karma has made of our various shells. In order to dive in with consciousness, we must continually practice self-knowledge. It is all too easy to deceive oneself about the motives behind one's actions. As soon as one believes, with one's intellect, that one has selfless motives for one's actions, one should be very wary and bear in mind that there is a strong possibility that the opposite is true. One may be filled with envy toward another person, or one may believe that one must take action against another person, and the motives for doing so may lie elsewhere entirely, and in the vast majority of cases, they are quite different from what one suspects.

When a person feels anger or envy, this feeling may give them a certain satisfaction, but in doing so they harm not only themselves but the whole world. Such a feeling immediately exerts an influence on their etheric body, namely on that part which belongs to the heat ether. Even the satisfaction that follows a real – not imagined – selfless act attacks the heat ether of our etheric body, but then has a beneficial effect on the whole world. When a person gives in to anger or selfishness in general, the beings of the higher hierarchies, whose task it is to ensure that nothing wrong enters into development, send certain other beings belonging to the Luciferic hosts into the etheric body in order to destroy the consequences of selfishness. These beings must therefore be constantly active in human evolution in order to counteract the effects that selfishness exerts on the heat ether and from there on the blood in the physical body. Their leader is known by the Kabbalistic name of Samael.

If, as an esotericist, one wants to escape these effects, one should clearly remember how one was once angry with someone, for example, and then one should reject the feeling of warmth that otherwise fills us when our anger is satisfied, and let it pass into a feeling of shivering cold.

Another tendency that clings to human beings is dishonesty. Even if this tendency is kept within limits by education, the fact remains that we have the potential to be untruthful in certain circumstances, even if we do not often tell lies. An untruth immediately affects our astral body and from there the etheric body, namely the light ether, and finally the physical body in the nervous system. These consequences are also destroyed by divine-spiritual beings under the leadership of Azazel. This has such an effect on people—and especially on esotericists—that when they wake up, they have the feeling that a terrible monster is crawling into their throat and trying to strangle them. Not all esotericists need to have this experience, but some must go through it; not all can be spared it.

The outer form of these beings, as seen by clairvoyants, is not particularly important. They can appear in a wide variety of forms, but they have specifically taken on human form, although Samael, for example, is a being that belongs to the salamanders. Azazel, in particular, has well-developed the nobler parts of the human form and has wings instead of arms. For the esotericist, however, it is important to know that he appears as if a being wants to enter his throat and strangle him.

It can also be the case that a person is actually dull to the spiritual worlds. This can even happen to esotericists who want to quickly penetrate the spiritual worlds but do not study what is offered to them intellectually. This also has the effect that the consequences that would arise for the world must be destroyed by spiritual beings who are under the guidance of the higher hierarchies. For example, in Austria, all teachers, old and young, had to be re-examined because of new requirements imposed by the law on obtaining teaching qualifications. An inspector who did not want to make things too difficult for the old teachers decided to examine them only on what was in the books they themselves had been teaching from for years. And lo and behold, it turned out that the vast majority of these teachers themselves did not know what was in the textbooks they used. So dull were they to the spiritual world.

For esotericists who have this tendency, those spirits who are under Azael's leadership are actually a blessing, because Azael does not need to destroy anything in them, but rather he must bring them something. Azael is incredibly busy with his hosts in the world. They act on the chemical ether in the etheric body and thus on the juices in the blood, which are transformed by dullness. In an esoteric, the effect of Azael upon awakening gives a feeling of drowning. One cannot find one's bearings in the physical world and would like nothing better than to fall asleep again immediately.

Luciferic beings are often imagined as exclusively evil, but they also do a lot of good in the world.

Record C

We must take esoteric life seriously. An esoteric hour must be something sacred to us; we must never accept it as something ordinary.

We were probably not all aware of the necessary seriousness when we asked to be admitted to the E.S. circle. Now we want to keep this in mind more and more and strive for connection with the spiritual worlds so that we do not fall back into everyday life.

The exercises we are given should be regarded as coming from the Masters.

The esotericist should pay attention to himself and his feelings, especially to what concerns his self-knowledge. The vast majority, and we probably include ourselves among them, indulge in great delusions about themselves.

1. Particular attention should be paid to egoism. We often tell ourselves that we are doing something selflessly, or we feel hatred and envy toward someone who is not yet conscious of us, and as esotericists we think we must tell them the truth or not allow them to do this or that. As soon as such feelings arise, we should imagine that we are indulging in gross delusions, the cause of which always springs from egoism. Such feelings always have a harmful effect on world evolution. The hierarchies appointed to guide karmic relationships then intervene by appointing (Luciferic) beings who destroy these effects within us and then have a harmful effect on us and indirectly on our physical body. With true self-knowledge, when we recognize our own wickedness, a thoroughly cold feeling of ice pervades us. Everything in us that is satisfied by emotions, etc., expresses itself in contrast to self-knowledge in the feeling of warmth indicated above.

These beings, whose leader is called Samael with his great hosts, reveal themselves to the clairvoyant in various forms, mostly human-like; they are almost always (and frequently for clairvoyants) perceptible.

Upon awakening, a feeling of disgust and revulsion is felt, which is always attributable to egoism. In the case of untruthfulness, those who are prone to it will feel a gagging, scratching sensation in their throat, as if they were being tormented by a thousand arms. Anyone who observes themselves will then realize how deeply they are still entangled in lies and pretense.

1. Untruthfulness:

We have been brought up through our education, etc., not to tell gross untruths; but the tendency to appear better than we are, or, on strict self-examination, when our neck is on the line, to conceal or disguise the truth instead of confessing it, has a damaging effect on everything that happens in the world. Such untruths affect our astral body, then our etheric body, specifically the part we call the light ether, and then our physical body in our nervous system.

The beings led by Azazel reveal themselves to clairvoyants as human-like, usually as heads with raven wings, etc.

1. The third is indifference and dullness toward the spiritual worlds. Many of us esotericists listen to an esoteric lecture, but what is given does not resonate with us; we cannot rise spiritually in our ordinary daily lives and engage in spiritual thoughts. Others are merely curious to see and experience something of the spiritual worlds and meditate on it without devoting themselves to regular study because it is too inconvenient for them. In the esotericist, this affects the ego, then the astral body, then the etheric body, specifically the part we call the chemical ether, and from there the physical body in all its juices and glands. In a non-esoteric person, Azazel and his hosts only want to promote good effects, since they do not harm health but have a complementary effect on him. The esotericist is required to be constantly aware of his full responsibility towards himself and the world.

Upon awakening, a dull esoteric will have a feeling of drowning (deluge), the stronger the more he surrenders himself to everyday sensory life.

The esotericist should constantly pay attention to himself; it does no harm if he sometimes becomes brooding; only in this way will he understand what is suggested to us at the end of each esoteric lesson by the Master of Wisdom.

The seed of my body lay in the spirit ...

Record D

We cannot take the esoteric life seriously enough. Exercises are given to help us progress, but the enemies that oppose this are our old habits: the satisfaction of selfish desires is detrimental to the entire development of humanity, while the satisfaction of selfless deeds is beneficial. Likewise, all emotions, passions, and then also the tendency toward insincerity, toward lying, mental dullness—all of these have a harmful, inhibiting effect on development. The satisfaction of egoism, emotions, and passions are located directly in the etheric body, in the warmth ether, and from there they affect the blood, warming it. Only self-loathing can have a cooling effect on true self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is always a struggle.

In order to eliminate these damages, good spiritual powers have sent out hosts to destroy these effects under Samael (belongs to the fire salamanders; but appears to clairvoyants in human form with wings instead of arms). The habits of insincerity are rooted in the light ether, also part of the etheric body, and affect the nervous system via the astral body. Azazel is set against these effects, and we must fight him if we wake up feeling strangled, as if we had to swallow a horrible animal; This is a sure sign that one has a tendency to lie. The third enemy is spiritual dullness, a lack of interest in spiritual facts; this is located in the chemical ether and acts from the ego through the astral body into the fluids. Azazel is there to eliminate these destructive effects. The feeling of drowning and of not being able to find one's bearings upon waking is caused by the presence of this spiritual dullness. The esotericist must fight against these three forces. The worst thing for the esotericist is self-satisfaction, for then there is no progress on the esoteric path.

Record E

We have already seen how the esotericist must, through right meditation and concentration, consciously develop himself through the world of illusion to spiritual reality, and that he is assisted on this path by those beings who are permitted by the wise powers as Luciferic hosts, so that he may pass the tests and reach his goal. From this point of view, therefore, these are good Luciferic beings, whose leader is Samael. But there are still more such beings, and we must first consider Azazel and his host. Human beings usually possess more insincerity and untruthfulness than they themselves realize, and I now see many who say: I really have no more untruthfulness in me, I have cast it off! But this untruthfulness is so subtle that we are usually not even aware of it, because we very often attribute completely false motives to our actions, while in reality we are following completely different motives. Azazel brings all this insincerity to our consciousness with his hosts, and when we feel as if we are being pinched with tongs, tormented by a thousand arms, we should think about how deeply we are still entangled in untruthfulness and lies.

A third being who approaches the esotericist is Azael. He, too, can cause an oppressive feeling, a choking, scratching sensation in the throat. And again, we should make ourselves clear what bad qualities we still have to get rid of, such as all dull indifference to world events; for the esotericist should not feel indifference toward world events. Most people are so indifferent because they are so entangled in egoism that they are completely indifferent to everything going on around them. This is also the source of the dullness of the masses toward spiritual beings.