Developing Spiritual Organs Through Esoteric Exercises

Record A

We must first clarify what the foundations of esoteric training actually are and what its essence is. The school to which we belong is organized in such a way that there are different circles within it. All those who are new to the school are “seekers.” Those who advance further belong to the “practitioners.” This is followed by the actual “training.” Our school is divided into these three circles. We have all entered the esoteric school in order to develop certain organs within ourselves that will enable us to experience the higher worlds for ourselves. How does one develop organs within oneself? All our organs were created through our earlier activities. Let us illustrate this with an example: There was a time when we all had no eyes. At that time, human beings moved around floating and swimming in a watery primordial sea. In order to orient themselves, they had an organ that today exists only as a rudiment. This is the so-called pineal gland. It is located in the middle of the head [under the skull], slightly turned inward. In some animals, it can be seen when the skull is removed. With this organ, humans in ancient times could perceive whether they were approaching something useful or harmful. Above all, however, it was an organ for perceiving heat or cold. When the sun shone down on the earth in those days, humans could not see it, but the pineal gland drew them to the places in the watery sea where the sun warmed the water. And this warmth gave them a feeling of great bliss. People lingered in such places in the water and came close to the surface so that the sun's rays could reach them. And because the sun's rays fell directly on their bodies, our present eyes were formed. Two things were therefore necessary for eyes to develop: first, the sun had to shine down, and second, people had to swim to the places warmed by the sun and expose themselves to it. If the people of that time had not done this, but had said to themselves, “I only want to develop what is already within me,” they would have been able to develop an ever larger pineal gland, a monstrous organ, but they would never have developed eyes.

We must think of the development of spiritual eyes in exactly the same way. One must not say: The higher ones are already within me, I only have to develop them. Those people could not develop the sun out of themselves, but they could develop the organs to see it. In the same way, we can only develop the organs to see the spiritual sun, the higher worlds, but we cannot develop them out of ourselves. And we can never develop these organs unless, on the one hand, the spiritual sun shines upon us and, on the other hand, we hurry to expose ourselves to it so that it can shine upon us. The places where the spiritual sun shines for us are the esoteric schools, and all those who are drawn to the esoteric schools are touched by its rays if they behave in accordance with the instructions of the school.

Every organ that had a past will also have a future. The pineal gland will also become an important organ again in the future. And those who are in esoteric schools are already working on their training. The exercises we receive not only affect the astral and etheric bodies, but also the pineal gland. And when the effect becomes very profound, it spreads from the pineal gland into the lymphatic vessels and from there into the blood. But it is not only those who are now doing occult exercises who will have a developed pineal gland in the future, but all human beings. And in the people who will make up the evil race, it will be an organ for the worst and most terrible impulses and will be so large that it will make up most of the body. Just as one sees many mosquitoes from a distance as a swarm of mosquitoes, so then, with so many gland-like human bodies wandering around on Earth, one would be able to see the Earth itself as a large gland from outer space. But for those who develop their pineal gland in the right way, it will be a noble and perfect organ.

Now let us take a closer look at the exercises we have been given, bearing in mind that it is these exercises that make our souls receptive to the spiritual rays of the sun.

The six supplementary exercises serve, in a sense, as preparation for the actual occult exercises. If one devotes oneself to them with the right seriousness and zeal, they create the basic constitution of the soul that is necessary to reap the right fruits from the occult exercises.

Thought control: Every day, set aside at least five minutes to think about something as insignificant as possible, something that does not interest you at all, and logically connect everything that can be thought about that object. It is important that it be an insignificant object, because it is precisely the effort one must make to remain focused on it for a long time that awakens the dormant abilities of the soul. After some time, one notices a feeling of stability and security in the soul. However, one should not imagine that this feeling will overwhelm one violently. No, it is a very delicate, subtle feeling that one must listen for. Those who claim that they cannot feel this feeling at all are mostly like those who go out to look for a very small, delicate object among many other objects. They search, but only superficially, and so they cannot find the small object, but overlook it. You have to listen very quietly within yourself, then you will feel this feeling, and it occurs mainly in the front part of the head. Once you have felt it there, pour it into your brain and spinal cord in your mind. Gradually, you will feel rays emanating from the front of your head into your spinal cord.
Initiative to act: To do this, you must choose an action that you think up yourself. For example, if you chose watering a flower as an activity, as suggested in the instructions, you are doing something completely pointless. The action should come from your own initiative, so you must have thought it up yourself. Then, during this exercise, a feeling soon becomes noticeable, such as: “I can achieve something,” “I am more capable than before,” “I feel a urge to be active.” Actually, you feel this in the entire upper part of your body. You then try to let this feeling flow to your heart.
Sublimation of pleasure and pain: For example, crying can transform you. Then it is time to do this exercise. Force yourself with all your might not to cry. The same applies to laughter. When you feel like laughing, try not to laugh, but to remain calm. This does not mean that you should no longer laugh, but you must control yourself and become master of your laughter and tears. Once you have overcome this a few times, you will soon feel a sense of calm and equanimity. Allow this feeling to flow through your entire body, pouring it from your heart first into your arms and hands so that it radiates through your hands into your actions. Then let it flow to your feet and finally to your head. This exercise requires serious self-observation and should be performed for at least a quarter of an hour a day.
Positivity: One should know how to find the grain of good in everything bad, the beauty in everything ugly, and even the spark of divinity in every criminal. Then you get the feeling that you are expanding beyond your skin. It is a similar feeling of becoming greater than yourself, like the etheric body after death. When you feel this, let it radiate from your eyes, ears, and your entire skin, mainly through your eyes.
Impartiality: One should remain flexible, always capable of taking in new things. When someone tells us something we consider unlikely, there must always remain a little corner in our hearts where we say to ourselves: he could be right. This does not mean we should be uncritical; we can always check. We are then overcome by a feeling as if something is flowing into us from outside. We absorb this through our eyes, ears, and the whole of our skin.
Balance: The five previous sensations should now be brought into harmony by paying equal attention to all of them.

These exercises do not necessarily have to be done for a month at a time. It was just necessary to specify a period of time. It is particularly important that the exercises are done in this order. If you do the second exercise before the first, you will not benefit from it at all. The order is crucial. Some people even think that they have to start with the sixth exercise, harmonization. But can something be harmonized if there is nothing there? If you don't want to do the exercises in the right order, they are of no use to you. It's like someone who has to take six steps across a footbridge and wants to take the sixth step first. It's just as nonsensical to want to start with the sixth exercise.

Then most of us were given a morning meditation. This should be done early in the morning at a time that you set for yourself and stick to as strictly as possible. First, you immerse yourself in seven lines. For some of us, they are as follows:

In the pure rays of light
The divinity of the world shines forth!
In pure love for all beings
The divinity of my soul shines forth.
I rest in the divinity of the world.
I will find myself
In the divinity of the world!

During meditation, one should not speculate about these seven lines, but live them completely. One should imagine them in a very vivid way. So:

In the pure rays of light

one feels surrounded by the floods of light that penetrate one from all sides, one sees their brilliance as clearly as one is able to.

The divinity of the world shines forth

One imagines that it is God who is flowing into you in these rays, you try to feel him and take him into yourself.

In pure love for all beings
The divinity of my soul shines forth

Imagine how you let the divine rays that you have absorbed radiate out again for the happiness of all beings.

The final lines are intended to evoke the mental image and feeling of being completely enveloped in the rays of the deity and finding oneself in them. Those who want to visualize this more vividly can imagine a tree that they have grown fond of and to which they like to return.

After these seven lines, we are given a word or a sentence to meditate on. This concentration on a sentence or a word, for example “strength,” is very important. It is a kind of watchword, a power word that is precisely adapted to the state of mind of each individual. This word should be allowed to resound in the soul, much like striking a tuning fork. And just as one listens to the tuning fork as it fades away, so should one allow the word to fade away quietly in one's soul after contemplating it, surrendering to what has been effected in the soul by this word.

Finally, one contemplates one's own divine ideal for five minutes. The nature of the ideal is irrelevant; it is only a matter of creating the right mood in the soul. It does not matter whether one thinks of the Master or of the starry sky. There have been atheists who thought they had no divine ideal at all. But they could be referred to the starry sky, which inspires a feeling of awe and devotion in everyone.

Once you have started these exercises, you should stick with them and not skip them when it doesn't suit you. The astral and etheric bodies soon become accustomed to these exercises, and if they do not receive them, they revolt. An interruption or even a complete cessation is very dangerous under all circumstances.

The evening review is also important. It must be carried out from back to front, as we are to accustom ourselves to the mode of perception of the astral plane. During the review, one must imagine everything as vividly as possible. At first, of course, if you have had eighty significant experiences, you cannot recall all eighty of them vividly. You have to make a wise selection until finally the whole day unfolds before you like a tableau. Again, it is the small, insignificant actions that are much more important, because it is precisely the effort that awakens the powers of the soul.

Record B

What we have to do today is an instruction lesson, namely a discussion of some elementary facts of esotericism.

In an esoteric school, a distinction is made between seekers and practitioners, and likewise a distinction is made between the stages one advances to. All of you, my dear sisters and brothers, are more or less seekers. You want to become practitioners. You must now develop organs for these exercises. How does that happen? What is now activity in human beings will later become an organ. Some of you have already heard what I am about to say, but that does not matter; repeated hearing promotes occult power.

An organ that has atrophied in modern humans is the pineal gland. It used to play a very important role. This pineal gland is embedded just below the skull, slightly inverted; it used to be the organ through which humans could perceive and feel warmth instead of the eyes, which did not yet exist at that time. Through this organ, humans, who at that time were still floating or swimming in the cold ocean, felt attracted to the warmer places within it that were illuminated by the sun. There, humans felt a kind of bliss. If the beings of that time had wanted to do nothing else but develop what lay within them, i.e., the pineal gland, they would have become beings with enormous pineal glands, with a monstrous organ. But they allowed this organ to guide them to the warm places in the universe illuminated by the sun and thus developed their eyes, of which they then had only the germ. For activity later becomes an organ. They felt comfortable in these warm places, but when their eyes saw the sun for the first time, they felt pain. By overcoming this pain, humans gained the ability to see. You must do the same with the exercises given to you, and in this way you will develop the organs that will later lead you up into the higher worlds. You will not find God within yourselves, but you must develop the organs to ascend to Him. Two paths are shown to you:

Through study you will advance;
Through these exercises, if you are not too comfortable to do them with patience and perseverance.

The exercises are divided into morning meditation, evening review, and the preliminary exercises that are given to all of you. The six stages of the preliminary exercises must be done in the given order, because only then will occult power be developed. When you have completed the six months, you start again from the beginning. (As an example, let us say we are walking across a bridge six steps long to reach a destination. We cannot take the sixth step first, but must take the six steps in order, and so it is here. The sixth step harmonizes the five preceding ones; if we wanted to take it first, we would have to ask ourselves: Can something harmonize where there is nothing?)

All abstract thinking has no value whatsoever for occult development; thinking in images is the only thing that has value here.

The six stages of these supplementary exercises are as follows:

The first stage is control of thoughts,

the second stage: initiative in actions,

the third stage: overcoming pleasure and suffering,

the fourth stage is called positivity,

the fifth stage: impartiality,

the sixth stage: harmony of the five stages.

Thought control: Take an insignificant object, as it is the effort that brings out the inner forces that is important, not our interest in the object. Examples include a match, a hairpin, a steel spring, etc. You can ask yourself: How did the object come into being, what is it made of, how is it manufactured, where is it manufactured, what would happen if the object did not exist?

The more effort and self-control you have to exert, the better.

It's the same as when your eyes first developed!

Hold an object you're not interested in for five minutes; you'll be glad when you can let it go.

Initiative of actions: Some of my students did this exercise incorrectly by following the example given, watering flowers, instead of doing something they would not normally do in life, something that comes from their own soul. Everyone must find the relevant initiative action themselves. Its usefulness is irrelevant; it should not be done out of external circumstances or out of the goodness of one's heart, e.g., giving ten pennies to a poor person, nor because it is ethical. It must be done out of one's own initiative and self-conquest; it must be an activity that creates occult organs.
Overcoming pleasure and pain: We must overcome with strong willpower the tendency to be carried away by pleasure or pain. We must become the coachman instead of the horse (Plato). If we feel like crying about something, we should suppress it with all our strength and say to ourselves: “You will not cry now.” — The same applies to laughter. All this is only intended as an exercise for a certain period of life, for a month or so.
Positivity: What is meant by this is expressed in the following legend: Christ Jesus was walking with his disciples when they saw a badly decomposed dog lying by the wayside. The disciples turned away in disgust and said, “Oh, what an ugly animal.” But Jesus Christ stopped and looked lovingly at the corpse and said, “What beautiful teeth this animal has!”

So, to extract and see the beautiful and the true from everything, even from the ugliest, the worst, the criminal, the untruthful, that is positivity. Observing oneself subtly is part of it.

Impartiality: We are impartial when someone tells us that a straight, vertical tower is suddenly leaning at an angle of 45 degrees overnight, and we do not say, “No, I don't believe that, that's impossible.” We must develop the feeling within ourselves that nothing is impossible.
Bring harmony to the five stages: The other five stages are prerequisites for this sixth stage. The order is extremely important. You must not try to take the sixth step before the first five steps. Nothing can be harmonized if there is no harmony! —

While these six exercises are not tied to a specific time of day, but only need to be done daily as described, meditation must always be done at the same time. You begin meditation by focusing on the feeling of calm for about two minutes. Calm is a word that holds great occult power. Gradually, a feeling of calm will become noticeable throughout your entire body.