The Essence of Christianity

GA 68a — 23 April 1906, Munich

19. Internal Development

In the second lecture, the speaker dealt, as already noted, with the topic of “inner development”. According to the theosophical view, in order to attain knowledge of the higher divine self, it is necessary for a person to first learn to regard all things as an expression of the eternal primal being living in them, and to affirm the good in everything, unbiassed by preconceived judgments, and to strive for the good as an ideal. In order to find the spiritual, eternal in one's own being, the striving person must therefore practice the necessary isolation to achieve stillness and silence of soul, the lonely life in one's own soul, without the outside world, instead of losing and dispersing oneself in the outside world. Furthermore, one must practice acting on one's own initiative instead of always being driven from the outside, in one's own thinking while controlling the thoughts that impose themselves and are suggested by the outside world, in composure, indifference to joy and sorrow, pleasure and displeasure, in the courage to be independent, in the courage to relying strictly on oneself, leaning on nothing, alone in life, then in the concentration of thought (meditation) by abstracting from sensory impressions, for which, as is well known, the regulation of breathing is also considered beneficial in the practice of yoga in India. In this way, mystics gradually seek to create the freedom of mental calm, the “calm of the soul”, which should lead the soul completely into itself, allowing a new inner world to arise in freedom of thought.