Christ Impulse and Esoteric Development: Mantras for Soul Evolution
GA 266III — 4 January 1913, Cologne
Esoteric Lesson
Record A
When people talk about the esoteric conditions in which we live, they often say that our Western orientation has separated itself from the Eastern. But this is very incorrect, especially in the present time. For a long time now, it has no longer been a question of Occidental or Oriental, but of truth or untruth. As long as the differences were still super-sensory questions, one could, if one really wanted to, still say: that is something I cannot judge; one could still speak of two directions. But now the differences have descended to the physical plane; now the matter has nothing more to do with Eastern or Western occultism; now, in order to judge this matter, the world has what it likes: “physical documents” to examine the matter. Anyone can convince themselves through material documents that what Mrs. Besant said in 1909 is in complete contradiction to what she claimed in 1912. But the question is whether the world will even acknowledge what it otherwise swears by. If it comes to the point where a secretary general (the English one) writes that Mrs. Besant must have forgotten the letter of 1909, then things are really bad for humanity. To describe the other current (the esoteric one of Mrs. Besant) as Oriental is to insult true Oriental esotericism and philosophy. At the beginning of the theosophical movement, when there were still genuine oriental impulses in the Theosophical Society, H. P. Blavatsky, for example, still had a correct mental image of what an avatar is. Mrs. Besant never had this, and therefore it is not surprising that she understood nothing about Christ. That direction is only about the enforcement of personal desires and opinions. It would be disastrous for the world if what Leadbeater considers to be the truth were to spread throughout the world.
It often happens that after years of practice, an esotericist feels that he has not made any progress. However, this can only be due to inattention. It can happen that one performs a meditation and tries to let peace enter the soul, but thoughts swarm in from all sides so that nothing supernatural can manifest itself. However, it is a good sign when one feels these thoughts swarming in from all sides, because then one feels them in their reality. This is progress compared to not noticing this fact. Let us now assume that the esotericist begins his usual activities after meditating in this way. Then it may happen that he suddenly feels: you were busy getting dressed, but your thoughts were not there; instead, they were thinking within you. This sensation only gains its full power and meaning when it is transformed into the mantric formula: “It thinks me.” One must not object that it is always said that one should not attach any importance to what goes on unconsciously in human beings, because we are in the process of becoming conscious of what is going on within us, we bring it up into our consciousness and thereby incorporate it into our ego. It thinks me is esoterically the same as what is expressed exoterically in the words: “World thoughts live in your thinking.” An important aid to the occult life is to permeate oneself with this thought in every free moment. However, this thought should always be permeated by a feeling of piety; only then will it have the right effect. And even if the esotericist has not noticed how it thinks into him, it happens nonetheless. For our ego is of the same nature as the world powers that think into human beings, and the content of our meditation is taken from the world thoughts themselves. All the forces and beings that have worked upon us during the Saturn, Sun, and Moon periods are summed up in this: It thinks me.
How we can feel higher hierarchies working upon our ego when we have endeavored in our exercises to achieve spiritual development can be summed up in the feeling: “Something is weaving me,” which in turn corresponds to: “World forces are weaving in your feelings.” World forces are weaving on our higher self, and gratitude toward the spiritual beings is the feeling that should be connected with “Something is weaving me.”
Then the human being can look at himself and see how he stands in karmic relationships to his environment. Only when one regards everything that befalls one as a karmic consequence in a practical and not just theoretical way can one make progress in esoteric life, even if the connections are often very hidden and one must not take things too simply. Penetrating this gives people the necessary humility they need in relation to the other view, which is expressed in the drama “The Trial of the Soul,” that human beings are the result of the interaction of all the gods. Everything in the world strives toward man. This is what is expressed exoterically in the words: “World beings work in your will,” and esoterically in the mantra: “It works on me.” Reverence must overcome those who immerse themselves in these thoughts.
These three thoughts with the corresponding feelings: It thinks me with piety, It weaves me with gratitude, It works on me with reverence, together with what has been said about our Rosicrucian motto, form a powerful aid for our esoteric development. A similar organic connection exists between these formulas and the feelings mentioned, as between the air we breathe and our blood, which is purified by the supply of air.
We can place one more thought before our soul. It is the thought of how people live together through their karma. In pre-Christian times, people who had something to do with each other karmically were brought together by spiritual powers into the same tribe and the same family; through blood relationship, the connection was created so that personal karma could be lived out. In post-Christian times, this changed. The forces that allowed people to work out their karma in such a simple way within blood relationships were gradually exhausted. Instead, a new force had to enter into the development of the earth. We know that Paul speaks of the first Adam, from whom human beings are physically descended, and that Christ is the second Adam, from whom human beings will have to derive their souls in the future, just as they derived their physical bodies from the first Adam. At the time of the mystery of Golgotha, souls were dying out. The Greeks knew this too, and it is tragically expressed in the Book of Job, where Job's wife says to him: “Renounce God and die.” Outside of the immediate connection with God, there was only death for the souls. Paul knew this too, although he could not express it in such words at that time. If the Christ impulse had not come, all souls would have died. The bodies would still have walked around on earth, but the souls would have lived automatically within them, and human beings would have become animals, albeit in human form. Those who have not yet taken up the Christ impulse today are still feeding on the last remnants of the old soul forces. Through the Mystery of Golgotha, the soul life is saved and strengthened by enabling people to find a relationship with Christ. People often ask: How can I come into a relationship with the Christ impulse? Only by accepting what is given to us in order to lead us ever deeper into the knowledge of the Christ impulse. And Christ says: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This means that when two people who have a personal karmic relationship gain a relationship with each other in which Christ can work, then He will balance their personal karma. This requires trust, which raises everything personal to a higher level.
In this way, Christ will increasingly work in our exoteric relationships. And so we illuminate our saying anew:
Ex Deo nascimur
In Christo morimur
Per Spiritum Sanctum reviviscimus.
Record B
Whenever we think that we are not yet seeing the results of our exercises, it is usually because we are not paying enough attention. But it may be that we do not notice immediately after the exercises, but later in the day, that we are doing our usual tasks automatically and that there were brief thoughts that we did not think ourselves. Then thoughts arise within us, and we realize that it is the great world thoughts that are thinking within us, and that our ego must be of the same nature as the world thoughts, because it is seized by them and thinks without any of the usual ego experience being present. We can always feel this as a blessing from the spiritual worlds. It is a blessing that the high world powers think us in this way, and we can feel “It thinks me” and have a strong, heartfelt feeling of piety.
And then we can continue to think how our soul life was gradually woven by the powers that built us up through the Saturn, Sun, and Moon evolutions, and we feel as if this weaving of the world powers is not only in the very interplay of thoughts, but in our entire being; we can feel that this is us, this is what weaves me. They have woven and shaped us through all the worlds, and we then feel great gratitude.
And then we can think a third thought: it affects me. We feel how all the great spirit beings actually work together to bring human beings into being, how this goal of development is the human ideal of the perfect human being, as willed by the gods. And then we think about how what we have made of ourselves up to that point, our own personal karma, is so small and so far removed from this high world ideal of the human being. Then we must feel reverence, deep reverence and devotion toward the high beings in It affects me.
And just as there is an organic connection between the air we breathe and our blood, which is purified by the supply of air, so too must there be an organic connection between the sayings “It thinks me” — “It weaves me” — “It works me” and the corresponding feelings of piety, gratitude, and reverence (devotion).
But what about personal karma? Personal karma must be balanced, otherwise our earthly development cannot achieve its full meaning. In the past, this was balanced differently than it is now. In the past, people who had personal karma together were born into the same race, the same tribe, and so on, and the forces connected with the blood then ensured that the karma was worked out. The forces that were effective from Adam onwards dried up towards the mystery of Golgotha, and after that time karma had to be balanced in a different way. At the beginning of development, everything emanated from one spirit, then differentiation came, and with it personality, personal karma, etc. Now Christ must become our second forefather for the soul life, as Adam was for the flesh and everything related to the blood. If the Christ impulse had not come, the soul life, no longer bound and sustained by the then dying spiritual forces bound to the blood, would have become increasingly impoverished. Humanity would have become more and more animal-like, without an independent inner soul life. The soul life was saved and nourished anew, strengthened and built up through the mystery of Golgotha. Now human beings can find a relationship to Christ. And Christ says: Where two are together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. What does this mean? It means that two people who stand in a certain relationship to each other through their personal karma thereby gain a higher relationship to each other, a relationship in which Christ can work and which is based on the great trust that Christ himself is then the power that will balance the karma. It is not personal karma that works, but the spiritual power of Christ between them, and Christ himself then directs the effects of karma. So that, as far as necessary, karma is balanced. But the guiding power in this is Christ himself, so that the relationship has become such that Christ can work in it: united in his name. In this way, Christ will be able to work more and more in everything that concerns our lives.
Record C
Firstly, we are urged to be cautious in our choice of words, especially when speaking about the Doctor. We should avoid expressions such as “Master” and the like, so as not to arouse the hatred and envy of our opponents; for it is not their attitudes that have changed, but only the methods of combat in the present day. In earlier times, stakes were lit and other means were used to destroy heretics; now other methods are used, such as ridiculing them or making them impossible through suspicion.
There is not an Eastern and a Western esoteric current, but only one true, genuine esotericism and something that only calls itself that and would be an insult to true Eastern occultism. Something that only pursues personal ends must not be given the name “esotericism.” We want to avoid anything personal, and that is why we want to make a strict distinction between suns and what has been emanating from there (from Adyar and from Mrs. Besant) since 1906 and what can now finally come to fruition. We want to make a strict distinction between everything that Mr. Leadbeater wants the world to believe and what is given here in strict truthfulness and with full responsibility. —
Esotericists often complain that they are not making any progress and that when they want to meditate, thoughts come like swarms of bees and distract them. Be glad that the thoughts come like this; they want to show you that they are a power, a power that is stronger than you yourself. For years, someone may diligently and faithfully practice meditation and even achieve peace of mind, but nothing, nothing from the higher worlds wants to pour into this soul. This can only seem to be the case, because attention is needed to notice the subtle progress of the soul, because it concerns a very intimate life of the soul. Then, one day, while going about his daily business, the person concerned notices: you just did that quite mechanically, as if absent-minded, and yet not quite. For in spiritual life, it is not only a matter of maintaining consciousness during the experience, but of being able to remember what has been experienced. Remembering also means bringing something up into consciousness. The meditator now has the feeling that yes, there is something pouring into me that is of the same nature and essence as human thoughts themselves, yes, just like the I itself.
Three important mantras are now given, which are to be used in the following way:
It thinks me, for it is not I who think, but it thinks in me. Exoterically, you expressed these three sentences in “The Examination of the Soul” in the words: “World thoughts live in your thinking, world forces weave in your feeling, world beings work in your will.” Esoterically, this is expressed as: E.D.N. - I.C.M. - P.S.S.R. This “It thinks me” must be permeated by a feeling of piety.
It weaves me expresses what humanity actually is and what one is oneself alongside it; it is intended to stimulate self-knowledge. It is intended to create a feeling of being woven into the whole of life and the weaving of the world, which is expressed in gratitude.
It affects me. The entire cosmos, everything, is to be seen only as the goal of humanity. Reverence, devotion, and dedication should be the feelings it evokes. Humility and modesty must be learned when one sees oneself as one is, in one's imperfection, and what the goal of the gods is for humanity.
E.D.N. - I.C.M. - P.S.S.R., that is the fourth thing you should use, the primordial prayer of humanity. —
These four important sentences, the three mantras and the primordial prayer of humanity, can help us greatly in our esoteric life if we allow these words to rise up in our souls quite often, whether we are walking or standing, on the street or at home. But the soul must keep these words silent within itself if it cannot think of them as sacred, i.e., it must forbid itself to let these sentences rise up within itself if they are not accompanied by the corresponding feeling. The death of souls has changed in the age of the mystery of Golgotha. Just as the body descends from Adam, so the soul descends from Christ.
The substance of souls had gradually become exhausted in the course of time, and without the mystery of Golgotha, a time would have come when only bodies, automatic bodies, would have remained on earth, soulless bodies.
The balance of destiny will be restored in the future in such a way that the words of Christ, “Where two are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” will become true.
Souls die out, but the destiny that humanity has created together, karma, remains. Humanity originated from a kind of group soul, differentiated and individualized itself, and thus the relationships between human beings arose. In the past, karmic balance was achieved by the divine spiritual powers ensuring that two people who had something to balance with each other were reborn into the same tribe. This is no longer the case. Now the words spoken by Christ are becoming true: “Where two are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Christ is the Lord of karma!
All souls originate from Christ, and a time will come when souls will become aware of this and understand that balance among souls can only be achieved through Christ.
Record D
[...] How is an esoteric movement such as ours even possible? In the beginning, there was a soul substance that divided into countless differentiated individual souls; this differentiation gave rise to karma, which consists of spiritual connections between human beings. In the time before the events in Palestine, these karmic connections were lived out in blood relationships and were bound to the blood. But precisely at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, this soul substance gradually dried up, and human beings would have wandered soullessly across the earth at the end of earthly evolution, degenerating into animality in human bodies that would have been caricatures of animal bodies; and the I's (for the I does not die out; karma is bound to it until the end) would have been empty and soulless if the Mystery of Golgotha had not taken place. Christ is the spiritual-soul progenitor of the present human race, as Adam is in relation to the body, and only by filling ourselves with the Christ substance, the Christ impulse, do we escape soullessness, and we do this by taking in the knowledge of the mystery of Golgotha and letting it live in us. The relationships and coexistence of human beings then become increasingly spiritual.