Overcoming Physical Obstacles in Esoteric Meditation Practice

GA 266III — 11 October 1913, Bergen

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

It is always necessary to give a new description of what should happen during meditation and how one should behave.

When you sit down to meditate, you should make sure that the room is neither too warm nor too cold, so that you feel as few physical obstacles as possible. The first thing that will occur is a kind of inner restlessness, as if something were stinging and crawling in our blood, so that we feel distracted; yes, it can even become a rushing of the blood. Those who have not experienced this may think that they are better at meditating. But this is not the case, because everyone must experience this tingling in the blood to a greater or lesser extent, and it is proof that you are on the right path, because it brings something to our consciousness that we tend to overlook in everyday life. The stinging and tingling of the blood makes us aware of the egoism with which we are still afflicted and which prevents us from entering the spiritual world. At first, this will prevent us from acquiring the necessary calm, but if we continue meditating vigorously, we will reach a point where this tingling, while still present, will no longer disturb us.

A second obstacle that arises during meditation is a kind of shortness of breath. While you previously felt your breath flowing regularly, there comes a moment when you feel as if your breath is catching, as if you have a thickening or tightness in your throat that takes your breath away. This is also something that everyone who tries to meditate will probably experience, and it is meant to point us to a lack of truthfulness, to the deceitfulness that still resides within us.

A third thing is that during meditation you may suddenly feel very weak and break out in a sweat. This is the obstacle that the physical body places in the way of the etheric body, so that the etheric body cannot expand as it should during meditation. This occurs especially in people who want to develop esoterically and who eat too much. And when the etheric body does manage to detach itself from the physical body, it is confronted with a kind of dense wall that the person cannot see through, and further attempts to see spiritual light or spiritual beings are fruitless.

A fourth thing that can happen is that one feels very pleasant and light, as if in a kind of dream state. When this happens, it is to point out to us that we lack the inclination to relate socially to people and that we are more inclined to lead a dream life on the physical plane.

As a remedy for egoism—which can be so strong that it causes great anxiety—it is recommended to read and let the Lord's Prayer, the Sermon on the Mount, or the beginning of the Gospel of John sink into our consciousness. This will give us temporary peace. What has been given in recent days as the “Fifth Gospel” is also suitable for preventing a further increase in egoism.

The more seriously we develop as esotericists, the more we should cultivate a devotion within ourselves, a devotion that should be directed from our soul toward higher beings, for example, the angels. They need our esoteric striving and the study of theosophy as nourishment for themselves. And to the extent that theosophy penetrates into us and we make it a part of our own being, to that extent can the archangels use it for the further development of the individual peoples and thus for their own development.

Record B

What does the soul do when it meditates? It becomes completely one with the content of the meditation. Obstacles that arise in the process are the thoughts and worries of life that the soul cannot banish. Then the following also occurs:

1. A tingling, pricking, or rushing sensation in the blood during meditation. This indicates the egoism we have within us, and we should examine ourselves to see where the impulses of egoism lie within us. Anyone who would say, “I am glad that I do not experience any stinging, tingling, or roaring during meditation,” has probably never meditated deeply.

2. The occurrence of a choking sensation in the throat during meditation; this is our untruthfulness, this choking angel. The breath is felt, causing a feeling of constriction.

3. During meditation, we experience outside our body a form of our physical body woven from dreams, from dream material. This is what absorbs what then becomes the physical body, what is not buried with us, the phantom.

When both the blood and the breath have been overcome and meditation is continued, it can happen that the etheric body wants to escape during meditation and, because of the impure forces within us, is squeezed out under heavy perspiration. And then one sees the physical body as a form woven from fine matter.