Objectless Thinking and the Two Warmths: Esoteric Meditation Practice

GA 266III — 30 December 1913, Leipzig

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

If the view held by medieval soul investigators, and shared by modern psychologists, were correct, there would be no esotericism.

At that time, the phrase was coined: Everything that goes on in the soul is intentional, that is, all soul processes are based on a specific intention; when I think, my thinking has a specific content, I must think something; when I feel, hope, imagine, want: I must feel, hope, imagine, want “something.” Medieval soul investigators expressed this clearly, much more sharply and clearly than today's psychologists, for our time is a time of vague concepts. If this view held in the Middle Ages were correct, esoteric thinking would not be possible, for the esotericist wants to remove this “something” from his soul, to empty it completely so that divine thinking can then flow into his soul. In a certain sense, this is not brought about by our exercises, because in them we concentrate on certain words, images, etc., which are given to us by the occult teacher. So it is still something — but not something taken from the sensory world. And when our soul has matured through these exercises, it is prepared to receive the divine existence.

What is the purpose of concentrated thinking? To distract us from the material thoughts that surround us and to direct us to rest in a certain thought content. Gradually, we must then arrive at the point in meditation where we refrain from thinking about a particular object, free ourselves completely from it, and develop the powers necessary for thinking.

The medieval soul investigators knew this very well, but they followed a rule that is still followed by many today, indeed, that has become the fundamental principle of all epistemology. They said: It is very difficult to achieve thinking, feeling, and willing without intentions; what is difficult is impossible for human beings. This is how all those ideas about the limitations of the faculty of knowledge came into philosophy.

Of course, it is not easy for the esotericist to remove all thoughts, feelings, and volition from his soul during meditation and develop only the forces themselves. Only through constant, strenuous meditation will he achieve this. Basically, the meditator is in the same situation as a sleeping person, except that he maintains his consciousness.

What happens during sleep? The astral body and the ego leave the body, and the physical and etheric bodies remain in their resting place. As I have often mentioned, this is only true to a certain extent. Just as the sun sets for only part of the globe in order to rise again for the other half, so only one part of the physical body rests. In the other part, the sun of the astral body and the I begin to unfold their activity.

For during sleep, the astral body and the ego are withdrawn from the nervous and blood systems, but they begin to work their forces into the rest of the physical system—the sense organs and glands—during sleep. You can see this by way of comparison. Who has not fallen asleep in a room that was not sufficiently heated and inadequately prepared for sleep, and then had the unpleasant feeling upon waking that their body had cooled down? The reason for this is that during sleep the astral body and the I are not in the body, at least not in the blood and nervous systems. On the other hand, they permeate the glandular and sensory organs even during sleep. Let us think, for example, of a glutton. His glandular organs are naturally differently formed because he has not yet overcome his craving for good food. We must remember that when the organs are left to themselves during meditation, the astral body and the ego leave when they become independent.

It is no different with the sensory organs. It may seem paradoxical that the senses are most alert when a person is asleep. Nevertheless, this is the case. Take the eye, for example. While our eyes are closed at night, the forces of the ego and the astral body work within them. On the other hand, when we are awake during the day, our eyes are actually asleep. If they did not, humans would not be able to use them. It is precisely the case that on the hemisphere of the sensory and glandular system, the sun of the astral body and the ego rises at night. Those who consciously wake up during sleep can experience the light working on the eyes, the building up of the senses, which must cease during the day so that humans can see.

When the lens expands and contracts, such a person can see the image of an angel floating toward them in their field of vision. If they could expand their gaze, they would see, projected out of themselves, an angel fighting a demon. This image arises because during sleep the blood is busy supplying the eye. For gods and archangels have worked on the human eye through generations of gods. When one realizes this, one also senses how unholy it is for modern physiology to probe into what has been created over millions of years by hierarchies of divine beings.

When the meditator looks at himself from the outside in this way, he may get the feeling of a space filled only with warmth, like a kind of oven. What lives in it is what lives and weaves in the human soul life as its own. We know that there are four types of ether: the ether of warmth, light, chemistry, and life. The warmth, which is not just a movement of molecules, as physicists believe, but the first of the four types of ether, the warmth that humans have as their own warmth, does not originate solely from physical and chemical processes, but – at least in humans, it is different in animals – from the activity of the ego and the astral body. In meditation, it is possible to feel this inherent warmth within and also far outside the body as a sphere of warmth that fills the place where the body is otherwise felt and beyond. We must feel this ether of warmth that surrounds us. This requires a great deal of attention. Of course, if someone approached us and wanted to sting us, we would only notice something if our skin were actually touched. You cannot imagine being stabbed when only the ether surrounding you is hit. Budding esotericists feel nothing of this ether; they feel something completely different: thoughts that rush at them; often long-forgotten images, feelings, and worries invade them. They then come and complain. Then the more experienced esotericist can say: “I congratulate you on your progress in noticing this!”

The words from the Gospel of John are fitting here: “And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it!” For this warmth that is within us is darkness. The light wants to penetrate from outside, but it cannot because there is a struggle going on within the warmth itself, a struggle between two kinds of warmth. It will be difficult for people to understand that there are these two kinds of warmth.

To understand this, one must go to the farmers, to their peasant philosophy, at least as it used to be; for in recent decades, farmers have become increasingly ignorant. But this is only because they have come into more contact with city dwellers. The old farmers were by no means ignorant; they knew a great deal in their peasant philosophy.

An old shepherd once said to me when a thunderstorm was brewing: “There are two types of weather coming together.” Modern physics would speak of positive and negative electricity, but their understanding ends with these abstract concepts. The old shepherd felt, knew from the depths of his soul, that when a thunderstorm is brewing, two forces are fighting each other, that a battle is taking place.

Modern man no longer has this awareness of the two types of warmth; he can more easily imagine that there are two types of light: the inner light, the Luciferic light, and the outer, divine light that he sees coming toward him in meditation. But apart from the human being's own warmth, which is Luciferic, there is also the warmth that can radiate upon him from outside, which he will initially perceive as cold in meditation. It is a good sign to feel oneself being touched by cold in meditation, for warmth is the spiritual world. Surrendering to this cold, we feel our own warmth like a sphere around us and within us. We pass through a fiery furnace in which everything Luciferic in us is burned, and yet this fire of divine wrath—which is actually love—is felt as a coldness breathing upon us. Once we have gained insight into this process, we come to say to ourselves: Thank God that I am being tormented and tortured, that I am experiencing the divine wrath that burns away what should no longer be in me!

Then the warmth comes to us from outside, which is first felt as cold, and this comes with light, which is also from Lucifer, but from the good side of Lucifer. (Light that flows into people gives them knowledge — Lucifer. The source of this light is Jehovah, who lives in the cosmic water of wisdom.) The spirits of the good hierarchies then use Lucifer to shine this light into us. (Lucifer = light—knowledge. Warmth—Christ, love. First we must recognize Christ as the highest, then experience him by allowing him to shine into us as a life of love. It is Christ versus Lucifer.)

In this way, we can attain a soul life that is not intentional, a spiritual world that is not merely a continuation of the physical world, but a completely different world. The Rosicrucian cross can be a symbol of all this for us.

People often say: The Rosicrucian cross remains only a symbol for me! But that is their own fault. The “Secret Science” already indicates the feelings and sensations with which human beings should permeate themselves so that the Rosicrucian symbol becomes not merely a symbol but a living force. We can also transform what has been said today into a feeling: We are born from God [Ex Deo nascimur]. But since Lucifer has mixed himself with creation, the wood of the cross must burn, char, and turn black: In --- morimur. If we have died in this way in Christ, then the world forces, the forces of the seven red heavenly roses, can approach us from outside, from the seven planets, and shine into us as light and warmth.

Record B

If the view of medieval psychologists, which is also that of most psychologists today, were correct, then esotericism would not be possible. Medieval soul researchers expressed this sharply and clearly, much more sharply and clearly than today's researchers, for our time is one of vague concepts. They said: The entire soul life of man is intentional. By this they meant that it must always have content. One cannot merely “just” think, but must think “something.” Thus, one cannot merely feel, want, hope, expect, or imagine without focusing on a specific content. In esotericism, however, it must be exactly the opposite. All our exercises are aimed at teaching us to think without thinking anything, and so on. What we practice is therefore not the essential thing, but only preparation for what we are to attain through it: thinking without an object, objectless thinking.

What is the purpose of concentrated thinking? The purpose is to lead us away from the external, material thoughts that swirl around us and to direct our thinking toward a specific thought. Gradually, we should then come to disregard even the object on which we concentrate in meditation, to free ourselves completely from it and to develop only the forces themselves that are necessary for thinking.

Medieval soul researchers knew this very well, but they applied a rule that is still used by the vast majority of people today, and which has even become a fundamental principle of all epistemology. They said that thinking, feeling, and so on without intentions is very difficult, and what is very difficult is impossible for human beings. This later gave rise to all the ideas about the limitations of our cognitive abilities and so on.

For the esotericist, however, it should be possible to develop a completely different thought life than the ordinary one. Through meditation, the meditator should enter the same state as a sleeping person, but still have consciousness. Let us start with concrete examples.

If a person has slept in a room that is not properly heated and wakes up feeling cold, it is more difficult for them to warm up than when they are going about their usual activities during the day. Why is this? It is said that during sleep, the physical body and the etheric body remain in the place of rest, while the astral body and the ego leave. This is approximately correct, just as it is correct to say, for example, that the sun disappears from the earth at night. This is true for one half of the earth, but not for the other. Thus, during sleep, the astral body and the ego are withdrawn from the blood and nervous systems, but they permeate the sensory and glandular systems all the more. It may seem strange to us that the sense organs are most “awake” when a person is asleep. Nevertheless, this is the case. When we are awake during the day, our eyes and so on are asleep; if they were not, we would not be able to see at all. So for the half of the earth where the sense organs and the glandular system are located, the sun of the astral body and the I-consciousness rises at night.

If one succeeds in waking up consciously during sleep, one can experience the light that is active in the eyes, the building up of the sense organs, which must cease during the day so that human beings can “see.” One then experiences this in imaginative images. One may perhaps have in one's field of vision the image of an angel—projected from within oneself—floating toward one. If you could expand your gaze even further, you would see an archangel fighting a demon. This would be the image of the blood supplying the eyes, causing the lens of the eye to shrink and expand. This is expressed in the first image described above.

The ordinary person might come and say: So what I perceive is only something I create out of myself. But the esotericist will speak differently. He will know that the face, seeing, would not be possible if the archangels were not constantly fighting and defeating the darkness, and that this is what is expressed in the image. The archangels have worked on the eye for generations of gods. When one realizes this, one senses how unholy it is for the modern physiologist to insert his probe into an organ that has been built up over millions of years by hierarchies of divine-spiritual beings.

When the meditator looks at himself from outside in this way, he can get a feeling of a space filled only with warmth, like a kind of oven. What lives in it is that which weaves and lives in the human soul life as its own nature. This warmth – which is not just a movement, as physics believes, but the first of the four types of ether – which humans have as their own warmth, does not originate solely from physical and chemical processes – at least not in humans, it is different in animals – but stems from the fact that an ego and an astral body live within humans. In meditation, it is now possible to feel our own warmth within and even outside the body like a sphere of warmth that fills the space where the body is otherwise felt and even extends beyond it.

It is not easy to feel this; it requires a great deal of attention. Beginning esotericists will initially notice something quite different from this sphere of warmth, namely the thoughts rushing toward them, sometimes long-forgotten thoughts, worries, feelings, etc. To this, the more experienced esotericist can only say: I congratulate you, O human being, on your progress in noticing this now! The words of the Gospel of John apply here: “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.” For this warmth that is within us is darkness. The light wants to penetrate from outside, but it cannot because a battle is taking place within the warmth itself, a battle between two kinds of warmth.

It will be difficult for people today to understand that there can be two different kinds of warmth. To understand this, one must go to the farmers who still have a farmer's philosophy—at least as it used to be. For in recent decades, farmers have become increasingly ignorant, but this is only because they have come into increasing contact with city dwellers. The farmers of the past were not stupid, and they had a “farmer's philosophy.” An old shepherd once said, when a thunderstorm was brewing: “There are actually two types of weather moving toward each other.” Today's natural scientists would talk about positive and negative electricity and have a lot to say, but that's only because their understanding ends as soon as they utter the word ‘electricity’. The old shepherd felt that when a thunderstorm was brewing, there were two forces fighting each other, that a battle was taking place. Modern man no longer has this awareness of the two kinds of warmth.

It is easier to imagine that there could be two kinds of light: the inner light that comes from Lucifer, and the outer light that one sees coming toward oneself in meditation. But apart from the human being's own warmth, which is Luciferic, there is also a warmth that can radiate to him from outside, but which he initially perceives as cold in meditation. This is actually a good sign; to feel, in meditation, the breath of coldness radiating from the spiritual worlds. Surrendering ourselves to this coldness, we feel our own warmth like a sphere within us and around us. We pass as if through a fiery furnace in which everything Luciferic in us is burned, and which is nevertheless felt as coldness. Then the person comes to say: Thank God that I am being tormented, that I am being found ripe to experience the divine wrath that burns away from me what should not be in me. Then the warmth from outside draws into us—which was first felt as coldness—and this comes together with light, which is also from Lucifer, but comes from the good side of Lucifer. The spirits of the good hierarchies use Lucifer to shine the light into us.

In this way, we can attain a soul life that is not intentional, a spiritual world that is not merely a continuation of the physical world, but is a completely different world.

The Rosicrucian cross can become a symbol for all of this. Students often say: The Rosicrucian cross remains only a symbol for me. The answer must be: That is your own fault! The “Secret Science” already describes the feelings with which one must permeate oneself so that the Rosicrucian cross does not remain merely a symbol.

We can transform what has been said today into a feeling: We are born from God [Ex Deo nascimur] — but since Lucifer has mixed himself with creation, the wood of the cross must burn, char, and turn black: In Christo morimur. If we have died in Christ in this way, then the seven world forces, the forces of the seven red roses, can enter us from outside and shine into us as light and warmth: Per Spiritum Sanctum reviviscimus.

Record C

A medieval conception of the soul held that all thinking, feeling, and willing were intentional and had content. If that were true, there could be no esotericism, for the goal of esotericism is precisely to detach the soul life from the content that originates in the physical world. If we meditate really well, all content must disappear from our soul life; only then will we be ready to feel something flowing into us from the other side, from the spiritual world. We can illustrate this with an example.

When we sleep, we actually do something similar to proper meditation, namely we withdraw our ego and astral body from the physical body. As a result, if we do not make sure that the room is well heated, we may feel cold when we wake up, because our ego and astral body are not working as usual in our blood and nervous systems to warm us up. When we sleep, they do not withdraw completely, but continue to work in the sense organs and the glandular system. They work much more on the powers of the eyes and other sense organs than during the day when we use our eyes, and above all they work in the glandular system. Because more work is done in the glands and sense organs, the first visions often reveal themselves physically: angels defeating a devil, forces working in the eye.

As we progress in esotericism, we can feel the aura of warmth around us, which our ego and astral body draw from the heat ether surrounding us. We do not usually feel this because thoughts, memories, worries, etc. arise that want to disturb us in our meditation; but when we overcome them, we feel the aura of our warmth around us. We can then deeply feel the truth of the words: “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.” For what we radiate from ourselves is darkness that prevents the divine light from shining on us. This is our Luciferic soul life, which emanates outward as darkness (heat) and thereby prevents the divine-Luciferic (wisdom) light from shining upon us from the spiritual worlds (Spirit of Truth — Holy Spirit) (peasant philosophy of two thunderstorms colliding). But something similar happens with warmth. The warmth we radiate is also met by warmth from God, warmth from the spiritual world, but we feel this in reverse, namely as a cold breath. We do not find it pleasant to feel surrounded by divine warmth, which we perceive as cold, but this is precisely the spiritual process of burning. We must pass through the fiery furnace of our own Luciferic soul life, which we project out of ourselves; and then we feel ourselves surrounded by divine warmth, which is like cold, so that the process of burning is like a process of freezing. In this way, all our darkness and egoistic warmth must be burned away before the divine light can shine upon us. We can think of the Rosicrucian cross, the charred wood, the body, and then of the pure roses of light, the divine forces shining anew within us. Then we will become deeply aware of the mystery of Golgotha and how our passions must burn so that we can catch the pure light of the spiritual world. E.D.N - I.C.M - P.S.S.R.

Concentration on a formula or imaginative image Meditation - peace of mind. E[...]* one of the divine, whether in cosmic thoughts or in images or inspiration and intuition.

Record D

If one were to believe medieval teachings, one would have to assume that an esoteric life is not possible at all. At that time, people were followers of what can be called “intentional” thinking, feeling, and willing. One must think “something,” feel something, want something. However, the esotericist should free himself from this “something.”

In peace and serenity, the soul forces must be drawn together in meditation. The beginning esotericist almost always complains: This and that is not working for me. Images, mental images, and so on arise that I cannot resist; they cloud my meditation. The experienced esotericist should reply: “I congratulate you, you have taken the first step!” In the heat ether, we do not need to feel limited by our skin, but rather transcending it, just as esotericists learn to feel far greater than the limitations of their skin. People feel full of inner warmth, like an oven. Now the unpurified feelings, desires, and so on pour into this substance and cloud the meditation by darkening the light that wants to enter (light ether). Meditate: The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness does not receive it.

“Approximately” speaking, during sleep the astral body and the ego are outside the physical and etheric bodies. But this does not correspond entirely to reality. It is just as inaccurate as saying, “The sun is setting,” and so on. Yes, for one side of the earth it is indeed setting, but for the other side it is rising at the same time. The same is true of the

Illegible, possibly “flowing in” or “flowing in.” Astral body and the ego, with their powers. During sleep, the senses and glandular system are actually awake because they are being worked on. During waking consciousness, for example, the eye is not awake at all; otherwise it could not perceive things in space, it could not see. Only at night does the spiritual part of the eye wake up. This is why we are subject to many illusions. Take, for example, the good case: someone sees an angel defeating a devil. The pupil contracts and dilates, but the image does not remain inside; instead, it is projected outward. The archangels have worked on this eye for millions of years.

We should now consciously imitate the state of sleep in meditation.

There are four etheric substances that we must distinguish: heat ether, light ether, chemical ether [or] sound ether [and life ether]. We are initially embedded in the heat ether. The feeling of coldness, of not being able to warm ourselves up, which we so often notice when waking up in a room that is not warm enough, also occurs during meditation. There is an effect on the warming forces, the nervous system, the sensory and glandular systems. The glandular system is particularly affected. This is why meditation often brings to the surface things that are hidden within us. An example of this is gluttony, secret desires in the glandular system that then manifest themselves as images and visions of all kinds.

There is a means to progress further: immersion in the mental image of the Rosicrucians. Our desires and passions must be burned in the melting furnace—the ether of warmth—of overcoming. But since in the spiritual realm all concepts must be transformed, reversed, one must say: they freeze, they freeze to death. No esotericist finds it pleasant at first to be surrounded by the cold region. Since the parts that make up the Rosicrucian cross are taken from the physical world, we say: burn. Hence the black charred wooden cross. The shining roses bloom from the spiritual world. The threefold human being offers his thinking, feeling, and willing as a sacrifice.

In the light ether, Lucifer. When he works from the inside out, he becomes an evil force. But when he works from the outside in, he is a good force, because the good gods then make use of him.

Ex Deo – we were subject to Luciferian influences.