Esoteric Lesson

GA 266c/1914-04-25/p007 ·1914-04-25 · English LowLow alignmentMost translators re-paragraphed Steiner substantially. The locus identifies the same chapter or section, but paragraph-N to paragraph-N mapping is loose. For exact-quotation precision, compare with the German.
Record: mixed sources. This volume draws on more than one kind of record (transcripts, notes, documents). Check the volume's own front matter before weighing a single passage. Evidence: «Gedächtnisaufzeichnungen von Teilnehmern und Meditationstexte nach Niederschriften Rudolf Steiners» (Participants' records written from memory, and meditation texts from Rudolf Steiner's own manuscripts). Rudolf Steiner Verlag Gesamtverzeichnis 2022, volume subtitle. The translation is the maintainer's, not a published one.

Because during the time when human beings are outside their bodies, there is a longing within them, a strong urge to return to their physical bodies. This urge acts like a darkening against the brightness of the spiritual world, so that human beings perceive nothing of it. The astral forces at work within him are so strong that he would not leave his physical body at all if it were not so tired and worn out by life in the sensory world that it urgently needed the strengthening and refreshment provided by sleep. It is this urge, this longing for his physical body, that prevents man from consciously experiencing the spiritual worlds during sleep. If he were clairvoyant, he would see bright rays emanating from his astral body and ego toward his physical and etheric bodies; these rays express this longing for reunification.

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Cite: GA 266c/1914-04-25/p007 · edition English