55. On “The Voice of Silence”

The first sentence of “The Voice of Silence” speaks of the lower soul powers (Iddhi or Siddhis). And it points to the “dangers of these soul powers”. First of all, I would like to point out that the little book, “The Voice of Silence”, is intended to serve as material for meditation. It is written entirely from an occult knowledge. And occult knowledge is living knowledge, i.e., it has an effect as a force on the whole person when he or she penetrates it through meditation. But, as I have already said, it is not a matter of rationally absorbing and dissecting this knowledge, but of completely surrendering to it. Only those who succeed in clearing their field of consciousness for a short time of all impressions of everyday life and in filling themselves completely with the meditation thought for that time will receive the fruit of meditation.

I would now like to point out some of the occult knowledge that underlies the “Voice of Silence”. But I must explicitly state that it is not a matter of speculating such knowledge into the sentences of the “Voice of Silence” in moments of meditation, but of appropriating this knowledge in times that lie outside of meditation. Then the same becomes a component of our soul and it works in us, even if we do not analyze it in detailed thoughts during meditation.

All truly occult sentences are based on the knowledge of world development and are written out of the knowledge that sees man in harmony with the One All-Life, which lives out in ever new forms. But man should recognize himself as one of these forms. He should learn to understand that the developmental processes of a long past have flowed into his being, and that he himself forms the transitional form to higher states.

As man is today, he consists of a series of bodies: the physical, the astral, the lower spiritual body, and the higher spiritual body. And even higher bodies are for the time being only hinted at in him. Man understands himself even less if he knows that the bodies mentioned are not all developed to the same degree. For although, for example, the astral body as such is higher than the physical body, man's present astral body is nevertheless lower than his physical body. One must distinguish between perfection in its kind and perfection in itself. Man's physical body has today reached a certain level of perfection in its kind, and it will be complete when the present so-called [4th] “round” of our earth has come to an end. The astral body, however, still stands today at a lower degree of perfection, and it will only be in the 5th round that it will have progressed as far as the physical body has today in its kind. The higher bodies are even further behind in their development. Therefore, one can say: Man still has a lot of work to do on himself so that his higher bodies are organized and developed to the same extent as his physical body is. Today, man cannot essentially sin as much against his physical organization as he can against his higher bodies. Of course, one can also damage one's physical organization; but damaging the higher bodies means something quite different. For these higher bodies are still in a kind of embryonic state, and by acting on them, we act on predispositions, not on organs that have reached their finished form to a certain extent in the realm of nature. We organize our higher bodies in the same way that we think, feel, sense, and desire. We do this in the same way that natural forces did long ago, when they formed our physical organs, our lungs, heart, eyes, ears, etc., from lower structures. We see ourselves as the continuation of nature on higher planes. That we direct our thoughts, desires, sensations, feelings in such a way that we organize our higher bodies in the way nature has organized our physical body: such instructions as the “Voice of Silence” are for this purpose. And we bring ourselves into the right direction of development when we let such sentences take effect on us in meditation. For these sentences are precisely spiritual natural forces that guide us, and through which we guide ourselves. If we let them guide us, then our higher bodies will organize themselves and we will receive sensory organs for the higher planes. We will see, hear and act on these higher planes, just as we have come to see, hear and act on the physical plane through the natural forces. It is easy to see that there are “dangers” in such a development. The so-called lower soul powers present these dangers if the spiritual power is not directed in the appropriate direction. The Voice of the Soul was written to achieve this direction.

It is also a danger for a person if they acquire a false sense of the idea that the “outer world” is a mere illusory world. This is certainly true in one sense. But man is not called upon to withdraw from this “outer world” and flee to higher worlds. We should gain insight into the higher worlds, but we should be clear about the fact that we should seek the causes for effects in our physical world in these higher worlds. We should always bear in mind that we have to delve into our own spirit. Through such deepening, we learn to understand the spirit that speaks to us through every leaf, through every animal, through every human being. But it would be wrong if we sought the spirit and disregarded its organs, and the organs of the spirit are the phenomena and processes of this world. We are to draw the impulses, the motives for our activity in this world from higher planes; the activity itself must lie between birth and death in this world. We are not to disdain the world, but to love it; but we are not to love it as it appears to the mere physical senses, but we are to learn daily, hourly how it is an expression of the spirit. Everywhere, in the sense of the third sentence of “The Voice of Silence”, one seeks the “Creator” on a higher plane. Certainly, in this way the world of the senses becomes an illusory world. But only to the extent that man usually regards it. For example, we see a criminal. As most people look at such a person, they see only appearance. We get to know the truth about the criminal when we confront him with a gaze that is sharpened by the higher worlds. When we look deeply into the workings of the world, then all our feelings, all our perceptions of the reality around us change. And through such knowledge we become capable for the real world in which we live. We must realize more and more that we are much less called to correct the world than to correct our illusory views of the world. Only then can we intervene in the world in a bettering way, if we have improved ourselves by struggling through from false to true views. That is why it says in “The Voice of Silence”: “Only then, only when the human being no longer perceives the many entities of appearance as such, but directs his gaze to the One True, will the feeling close to the realm of falsehood and open to the realm of truth.”

The “creative spirit” works around us, but the “creative spirit” also works within us. The outer world will always reveal this creative spirit to us if we maintain the “silver thread” that binds us to the creative spirit itself. We should therefore listen to everything that reaches our ears and look at everything that presents itself to our eyes. However, we should never allow ourselves to be directed by external influences, but we should be clear that within us is the interpreter, the conductor, who places everything external in the right light. By tearing the “silver thread” within, we ourselves make the outer world an illusory one, which then deceives us at every turn; by maintaining the inner connection with the source of the spirit, all the light of truth also pours out for us over the outer world.

We must search in our own spirit: then the spirit of the world opens up to us. It is not usually assumed that this is the way to see in higher worlds. Yet it is. —

The “halls” in “The Voice of Silence” are real experiences of self-knowledge in the human being.

It is important that we clearly bring the stages described here to our minds. It is not a matter of grasping intellectually what is meant by these “halls”. We must experience this meaning. Understanding is the least; and this understanding also does not open up higher powers. But even if we believe that we have long since understood, we must live in this sense again and again: that opens up [higher powers]. Experienced occultists know that understanding occult tenets is nothing. That is why every occultist will live and let live again and again what has long been understood. And no true occultist should fail to meditate daily on the most important and simplest truths. This does not give him knowledge in the worldly sense, but it gives him strength and life in the occult sense. Just as you love a child that you see and know every day, so the occultist loves the truths and must be with them and live with them every day. Occult knowledge is therefore different from the external knowledge gained from mere civilization. You have it once, and you are, so to speak, done with the understanding. Not so with occult knowledge. You have it again and again in your living environment, even if you know it, like lovingly embracing a child, even if you have known it for a long time.

The “first hall” makes it clear to us that our usual point of view is that of ignorance. And ignorance must remain our part if we remain with what, so to speak, has fallen to us through nature itself. All external knowledge, too, is only a collection of what ignorance yields. As long as we are not clear about the fact that we can remain in ignorance despite having much knowledge, true wisdom is impossible for us, as is any kind of progress. It is essential that we imbibe this attitude with a sense of being alive, that we are “learners”. With every step we take, life must be a school for us. Then we experience life in the second hall. Our whole relationship to the world changes under the influence of such an attitude. We then have the faith that we can learn from everything that comes our way. We become students of the All-One Life, which continually reveals itself to us. And only then do we learn to love; to love the All. Thus the isolation banished into the narrow self melts away, and we learn not to remain with pain and joy, but to let pain and joy teach us. We come to understand that our own organism is an organ for the whole world. We realize that our real self is not at all identical with this organism; we learn to regard ourselves as a tool through which the world acts on our higher self, and this higher self on the world. But then we will also soon find that this higher self is a member in the spirit-all-organism, entrusted to us as a pledge, so that we can regard ourselves as emissaries of the divine all-will. We feel more and more like missionaries of the great world spirit. And when we feel like this, we sense something of the atmosphere of the “Hall of Learning”. But then we can also ascend to the feeling of what the 3rd hall, that of “Wisdom”, is. We experience the connection with the All-Spirit and become aware that the highest knowledge flows to us from within. We begin to allow ourselves to be carried along by this stream. The gates of inspiration open for us. We will guide ourselves in the true sense, not be guided by the impulses of the outside world. We are reborn in this way. For, as we were previously a child of the world, so now we become a child of the spirit. The spirit within shows us the way. An infinite sense of security and calm comes over us; all success does not decide anything about our actions, but only the view of what is right. And this feeling of inner security opens our eyes to the hall of bliss. And then the seven voices resound. These seven voices, like all occult truths, have a sevenfold interpretation. And more and more we ascend to the highest interpretation, which is actually no longer an interpretation but a spiritual reality. But one must meditate within oneself to open up the following interpretations, then higher interpretations and ultimately realities will reveal themselves.

First, the first (symbolic-allegorical) interpretation.

1.) Feeling alive and immersing oneself in this living feeling, one must always renew the feeling that the world, as one initially sees it, is an outer work, an illusory world. One must immerse oneself in the living belief that this world will reveal the truth to us more and more as we immerse ourselves in ourselves. It cannot be easy for us to completely imbue ourselves with such a mood. For we must not forget that this world is ours after all, that we are indeed called to love this world. If it were very easy for us to say goodbye to the way we live in the world, then this farewell would not be a sacrifice. Then we would seek a new way of life only as we rush from distraction to distraction in ordinary life. Therefore, the voice that speaks to us in this moment of farewell must be the sweet song of the nightingale; there must be a real farewell to the illusory feelings of life. If we can often imbue ourselves with such a mood for a few moments, then we ascend the ladder of mystical perfection.

And we can discern the second voice in the things of this world. For as long as we live in illusory feelings, the world sounds disharmonious to us. We judge and criticize because we perceive the discords on the surface of things. But when we dampen our perception of the discords, we dampen judgment and criticism; and we immerse ourselves in the harmony at the basis of things. We learn to understand evil ourselves. We learn to recognize that evil is a force that asserts itself in the wrong place. If it were in the right place, it would be good. And so, at the bottom of things, what previously appeared to be discord is transformed into harmony. Not judging, not criticizing, but hearing and understanding makes the second sound resonate out of the silence. Every occultist knows that it has helped him infinitely to understand and seek everywhere, to understand uncritically, compassionately; and then the silver cymbal resounded to him, which is only drowned out by what an external hearing perceives from the surface of things.

“Listen within,” the occultist urges us. If you compare one thing with another, you may well find one thing perfect and the other imperfect. But it is not such a comparison that will tell you what is in the thing, but the third sound that is hidden in every thing like the sound in the sea shell. You will not understand the ugliness in nature, the wrong in life, the corruption in man by comparing one with the other, but by listening to the hidden inner self of each thing and being. Go into the silence, where nothing intrudes on you that prompts you to compare, and be spiritually alone with each being, then the “silence” reveals to you the muffled sound in each thing and being.

And after such an exercise, seriousness and dignity pervade our entire being. We learn to understand the world in its seriousness and dignity. Something must stir in us that allows us to feel fully serious about all things. This is the moment when it is revealed to us how everything is an expression of the most dignified whole. We get used to looking up from the smallest to the infinite, because even when we are confronted with the smallest thing, we are not left with the thought that it is an expression of the language of the universe, which speaks to us with the calmest dignity. This feeling, vividly grasped in our meditation, gives the fourth tone.

But then, when we have prepared ourselves, the spirit beings in the world begin to resound for us; then it sounds like the trumpet call, for we will no longer hear the secret of a single thing, but the sound of the universe itself. If we let the spirit of the world speak to us, it will resound to us from all things; but no longer as the individual sound of these things, but as the harmony of the universe. This is the fifth sound.

And this sound can intensify. It penetrates from being to being for us. It reveals to us the secrets of the world. Once we have grasped that everything is the manifestation of the One Spirit, we can surrender ourselves completely to this manifestation. We then see the world as a spiritual sound, permeating everything and finding an echo everywhere. This is the sixth voice.

We should bring ourselves to experience the ideas thus suggested in a spiritual, meditative way. We should be still within, very still, and vividly recall the images with which the tones are characterized in the “St. d. St.”, so that we listen imaginatively to them with the spiritual ear. And in doing so, we should fill ourselves with thoughts such as those given here for the exegesis of the tones. Not speculatively, but in a living feeling. Then we meditate correctly and fruitfully.

And finally, we let all the revelations of the six tones resound together in one. For we should not remain in one relationship to the world, but be all-embracing. And whoever has already heard the sixth voice must return to the first, to the second, etc. Only when we love the individual as well as the harmony in the whole do we approach perfection.

(continued next time). —