Entering Spiritual Worlds: Knowledge, Experience, and Bliss
GA 266III — 8 February 1913, Berlin
Esoteric Lesson
Record A
The world of knowledge, experience, and bliss
My dear sisters and brothers!
If we observe and do everything that has been given to us in all the lectures, mystery plays, and esoteric lessons up to now, if we truly carry out all of this with complete devotion, then we can already enter very, very far into high spiritual worlds. That is all that humanity needs at present in order to reach very high spiritual worlds. We must live entirely in meditation, concentration, and contemplation; leave everything else outside. Only by strictly adhering to the given instructions can anything be achieved. Meditation time must be regarded as something beautiful and sublime in our esoteric life. When meditating, one should first immerse oneself completely in the content of the exercises. One must therefore empty the soul of all everyday thoughts and feelings and live in the content of the given exercises. And then empty the consciousness completely, even of the meditation material, and then listen, “be awake.” This is very difficult; that is true. Some claim that they then hear their blood pulsing, and that disturbs them. Let them hear their blood pulsing, let them listen to it. Then they will feel life in their blood and nerves and thereby become aware of a part of their inner life.
Exoteric life takes place in the world of cognition; by facing an object and looking at it, forming mental images of it, we recognize it. In the moment of meditation, this changes. Through meditation, we enter another world, where we have our mental images, our thoughts, and our concepts before us.
us, outside ourselves; we know that we are connected to them. But we cannot get rid of them, we run after them. Thoughts rise from the depths of the soul. We see them as if they were being devoured by predators. We connect ourselves completely with the thoughts and so on. This is how we experience here [in meditation], while we perceive in the exoteric world. We are here meditating in the world of experience. We must only be careful not to immediately form mental images of what comes to us in this world. We must simply open ourselves and listen, feel what wants to flow into our soul. This forms the lotus flowers so that they can then come into action.
We go even further into the world of bliss or the world of forms. Only those who have made themselves ready for this world experience it as a world of bliss. For the immature person, it is full of horror and terror and crushes them. For them, love turns into hate, beauty into ugliness. What was previously disgusting to them, they now like, and so on. Everything is perverse. Only those who undergo the training of self-education become truly mature enough to experience this world of forms correctly.
What did the gods do to protect us from experiencing this world of forms before we were mature? They gave us the enjoyment of the joy of creation here in the physical world. What we perceive as beautiful in a work of art, in a Raphael, in a Leonardo, is not what remains, nor is it the work of art itself (depicted or hinted at in the third mystery play with the two pictures by Raphael and Leonardo), but what is eternal is the spiritual, what went on in the artist's soul during the creative process, from which the work of art was created.
What is God in the Maya? What must now be said must sound quite paradoxical. God is not what we experience in spring, in the constructive forces, in the sprouting, budding, in everything beautiful and luminous, but God is truly and effectively present where we see devastating forces of nature; in the autumn storms, in everything that destroys, annihilates, crushes, God is there. It sounds terrible and shocking, but it is so: God is most effective in everything destructive and shattering. We humans are given the enjoyment of physical creation in order to prevent us from entering prematurely into the world of forms and bliss. We are separated from it in our daily waking consciousness as if by a thin sheet of ice. When we are in esoteric training, we should not introduce these esoteric teachings into exoteric life, nor should we try to organize exoteric life according to these teachings. That would lead to contradictions. Our education in exoteric life must be based on exoteric, pedagogical principles. It could be presented as an ideal that esoteric life should be completely separate.
Just as we remain calm in our daily lives toward all events, all thoughts, and so on, without getting excited or upset, we must also maintain serenity, absolute serenity toward the world of [spiritual] experience. We must be able to remain completely serene—in this way toward everything in all worlds. Through proper reflection, empathy, and living into the three mantras: It thinks me—It works me—It weaves me, we achieve this serenity by allowing these three sentences to pass through our soul again and again.
And then we also understand our Rosicrucian motto in the right way:
Ex Deo nascimur
In Christo morimur
Per Spiritum Sanctum reviviscimus.
Record B
Over the years, in our esoteric reflections and indeed in everything that has been communicated externally, everything has been said that is necessary for progressive esoteric development. It depends only on each of us whether we have the necessary patience, attention, and perseverance to reach the goal, which is ascension into the spiritual world.
Not a single word of these esoteric reflections is meaningless, and everyone can derive from them what is necessary for their spiritual development. Everyone can find something personal in them, something special for themselves, because they actually contain something very personal for each individual. By allowing these suggestions to continue to work in our souls, and in connection with everything that is given in the cycles and lectures, they can bring us to the highest spiritual growth that is possible for us in this incarnation.
What we need in particular for our esoteric development is patience; patience to empty our souls completely again and again so that we can catch the more intense experiences that take place in the depths of our souls. If we pay enough attention, we will notice how our soul life gradually changes. We will notice, for example, that we no longer think simply in concepts, but that we actually become what we think. In place of “knowing” comes “experiencing.”
We will then also feel, when we want to experience our thoughts in complete silence within ourselves, that it is as if there are beings who, like predators, want to rob us of our thoughts, to devour them. At first, when we become completely still in our meditation, we often feel nothing but the rushing of our blood, the effects of the blood and the nervous system, the flow of a fine fluid around the nerves. This is also correct. Through the flow of blood, we then enter the realm of experience, where we truly live our experience. However, it may also be that we find such thoughts, which we experience and which become completely our own, not after meditation, but sometimes quite unexpectedly at other moments. Such experiences are of much greater significance than simply seeing visions, since the latter will come of their own accord later on.
But we are to ascend to an even higher world, the real spiritual world. Our ordinary, intellectual understanding of the world actually casts a veil over everything that lies behind it. And this is a blessing for human beings, because one must be fully prepared to come into contact with the deeper world without this having false consequences for ordinary life. If one is not sufficiently prepared, it can happen that everything one feels and is as an ordinary human being is transformed into its exact opposite. For example, if we love someone very much in ordinary life, it can happen—but only if our training has not been right—that we begin to hate that person after we ascend into the spiritual world. Or our courage can turn into fear, or what was once pleasant to us can now be extremely unpleasant.
To understand this, we must develop an awareness that in ordinary life, for our own good, the enjoyment we derive from things veils the deeper forces. The way in which the works of Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci are depicted in the third scene of the Mystery Drama “The Guardian of the Threshold” is very telling. For there is something eternal in works of art, not in the work itself, but in the creative forces that have worked in the soul of the artist. Everything that appears as beauty on earth is transitory, and when we enjoy this beauty, the enjoyment becomes a veil for the eternal.
Where can we find the eternally active forces, where can we find God most in the physical world? Is it where we see blossoming, sprouting, coming to the surface? No, we see God most where we see form being destroyed, where outer beauty disappears. In sprouting and budding lies the end of God's ways. God is most effective for our physical world where we see destruction and death. This seems to be a strong paradox when we think of divine love; and it is given here as a first statement that can come from the lips, as a subject for meditation from which the greatest conclusions can be drawn, conclusions that even now cannot be spoken. Only this one hint is allowed to be heard.
A person who has not attained complete serenity in the face of all experiences in the physical world cannot maintain himself in the spiritual world and, in his everyday life, experiences the transformation of love into hatred, of courage into fear, and so on. Those who have made the decision for themselves: now I want to make strong progress in my occult striving, should always be very careful not to change in relation to their ordinary daily life. They should remain as they have become through their disposition and karma. As far as possible, the outer life should remain the same, and if changes must occur, they should not be caused by esoteric experiences, but by exoteric circumstances. For example, if someone notices in their exoteric life that they are unloving, they should remedy this deficiency through efforts in their exoteric life, but should not expect anything from their esoteric life in this regard.
If we are always calm and repeatedly immerse ourselves in the given mantras: It thinks me — It weaves me — It works me, then we will also bring with us the right forces to maintain ourselves in the midst of the powerful forces of the spiritual world.
Record C
What we need most of all for our esoteric development is patience. Patience to empty our souls again and again so that we can catch the finer experiences that reveal themselves. If we are only attentive, we will notice how our soul life changes. We will notice, for example, that we no longer think in terms of concepts as usual, but that we actually become what we think. Instead of “recognizing,” we “experience.” When we want to experience our thoughts in complete silence within ourselves, we will notice that beings, as if they were predators, want to snatch our thoughts away and devour them. At first, when we become completely still after our meditation, we often notice nothing but the sound of our blood, the processes in our blood and nervous system, the flow of fine fluids around our nerves. But that is good. Through the flow of blood, we then enter the realm of experience, where we truly live our experiences. It may also be that we find such thoughts, which we experience and which become completely our own, not after meditation, but at other moments – often quite unexpectedly. This experience is of much greater significance than the clear seeing of visions, which happens anyway. But we must enter an even higher world, the real spiritual world. Our ordinary intellectual concepts of the world actually cast a veil over what lies behind it. And that is a blessing, because one must be very well prepared to come into contact with the deeper world without this having adverse consequences for ordinary life. For if one is not well prepared, it can happen that everything we feel and are as human beings is transformed into its exact opposite. For example, if we love someone very much, it can happen (but only if the training is not right) that after our ascent into the spiritual world we actually hate that person, and our courage can turn into fear. We can develop a preference for something that we otherwise found repulsive. To understand this, we must realize that in ordinary life, for our own good, our enjoyment of things veils the deeper forces. The way in which Raphael's and da Vinci's works are presented in “The Guardian of the Threshold” is very meaningful, because even in works of art, the eternal does not lie in the work itself, but in the creative forces that worked in the artist's soul. Everything that appears as beauty on earth is transitory. And as we enjoy beauty, enjoyment veils the eternal from us.
Where are the eternal spiritual forces most evident in our physical world? Where we see something blossoming, sprouting, coming to the surface—or where we see form being destroyed, where outer beauty disappears? In the latter, the spirit is at work, and in our physical world, the spirit works in that which destroys and annihilates.
That is why someone who enters the spiritual world in the wrong way cannot hold their ground, and this can result in them beginning to hate what they once loved, becoming fearful where they were once courageous, etc. That is why it is so necessary to achieve complete serenity when entering the spiritual worlds, and someone who has made the decision, for example: “Now I want to make strong progress in my occult endeavors,” must always take the greatest care not to change anything in their habitual life in terms of their love, courage, inclinations, etc. As far as possible, the outer appearance must remain the same, and if changes must occur, they should not be caused by the esoteric life, but by exoteric circumstances. If we always remain calm and immerse ourselves, for example, in the given manners of “It thinks me — It weaves me — It works me,” we will also bring the right strength to preserve ourselves in the mighty forces of the spiritual world.
Not a word of these esoteric hours is without meaning. And everyone can receive from them what is necessary for spiritual development. Everyone can feel something personal in them, because there is something personal in them for everyone. Allowing these inspirations to continue to work in our souls, in connection with everything that is also given in the cycles, can bring us to the highest spiritual growth that is possible in this incarnation through which we are now passing.
Record D
In the esoteric lessons and in the cycles, sufficient material for meditation is given that has the power to lead the meditator into the spiritual world; he only has to understand how to transform knowledge into experience. After letting go of the meditation material, some people feel the surging of the blood, the weaving of the nerves. The esotericist must cross this stream in order to enter the world of effects. We walk in the Maya on a thin sheet of ice, beneath which is the surging spiritual reality. If a person now crosses this stream through serenity, he enters the second world, where he experiences his thoughts. He sees them as if from outside. They pull away, and it seems to him as if they are being torn back and forth, devoured by predators. From here, with further practice, the person reaches the third world. For those who enter it immature, without sufficient preparation, without having practiced serenity, it has a confusing and destructive effect. For those who have trained themselves in patience through proper schooling, it can have a blissful effect. The immature experience a transformation of their feelings there. It may be that someone has already developed a great love for another person in their outer life; there, this love is transformed into hatred, and where they loved, they must now hate. Thus joy can turn into disgust, etc. A protection in life is enjoyment (?).
When we consider the constructive and destructive forces in the world, we see more of the divine at work in the destructive forces. They constantly shatter the Maya so that human beings can learn to see through it. The paintings of Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci are external Maya in relation to the soul experiences of these artists, which have eternal value.
As esotericists, we must not feel impatience, but must practice serenity. After meditation, we must devote ourselves to serenity for a while. This forms the lotus flowers and strengthens them.
The ideal would be for the esotericist to leave his outer life unchanged, and for forces to come to him from his esoteric life that spiritualize his everyday duties. Even changes in this outer life should only be taken from it.