The Rudolf Steiner Archive

54. Asceticism and Illness

[ 1 ] Today, it falls to us to discuss the topic of asceticism. This topic is one that is viewed differently from various perspectives. Asceticism is usually regarded as a spiritual movement that, in its very nature, already exhibits a kind of pathology and cannot possibly stem from healthy foundations of existence. Asceticism, however, is an effective means for perfecting life and attaining higher levels of existence. Sometimes asceticism is also viewed as a withdrawal of human faculties that could be put to use in life; thus, moderation and asceticism are regarded as virtually synonymous. The phrase “/p” is particularly apt when applied to asceticism.

Confused by the hatred of the parties,
Their image wavers throughout history.

[ 2 ] Asceticism in ancient Greece was something quite different from what it was in the Middle Ages. That particular nuance of asceticism established by the Middle Ages—and it is indeed that—has its problematic aspects. But the humanities, or theosophy, have every interest in presenting asceticism in its proper light.

[ 3 ] Asceticism, as it was understood in ancient Greece and wherever the word was taken in its general sense, has something to do with the foundations of theosophy. Asceticism is something that can lead to the highest heights of existence, but when taken to extremes, it can turn into idleness or something even worse. “Asceticism” means “to exercise one’s powers” so that one is able to develop and exercise their highest capabilities. “Askesis,” the Greek word, is related to “athlete” and means “to make oneself strong.” Because the word points to this in its original meaning, it relates to the foundation of spiritual research in theosophy. And now let us consider what distinguishes askesis from various other scientific currents.

[ 4 ] The Theosophist has a different concept of knowledge than that held by many others when it comes to understanding the world and what underlies it. The intellect says that one can perceive the external world through the senses; one cannot explore everything beyond that, for it transcends the limits of its knowledge. To speak in this sense is to profess the opposite of what Theosophy is; it says: Reality is unlimited! It could even give humanity a new sense—a physical one—of reality, if necessary. There are no limits to being; being is infinite. Although the human soul is limited to a particular stage of development at any given time, it is up to the individual to expand that soul within themselves.

[ 5 ] Science, on the other hand, says that human beings must not presume to want to transcend the limits of their knowledge. Spiritual science, however, says: Try to expand your spiritual knowledge—your spiritual scientific understanding—as much as possible. The goal is the development of the soul and of human beings’ cognitive abilities. It must be acknowledged that there is something in the soul that lies dormant within it. A person should not say, “This is who I am,” and be content with that, but rather should say, “This is who I am now, and I will attain new forms of existence in order to exercise my powers.” That is asceticism.

[ 6 ] Asceticism is something that enriches the human soul and makes a person stronger, opening up true and new realms of reality to him. Asceticism is usually described in such a way that those who practice it appear gaunt and hollow-eyed, idle, hateful of life, and indignant at all joy and all of life’s demands. But an ascetic, properly understood, is akin to an athlete; true asceticism is the elevation, expansion, and enrichment of the true essence of the human being. Spiritual science, or theosophy, is now making its knowledge and research accessible to a wider circle of people. But you need not think that everyone must therefore also perform the exercises—meditation, concentration, and so on—and that this will result in everyone experiencing the same event as the man born blind who was to undergo surgery: the opening of the eyes. Not everyone needs to do this, and not everyone will experience it; nor can or needs everyone become a researcher in the spiritual world. But the researcher does need clairvoyant consciousness for his work in the spiritual world. To understand the researcher’s messages, none of this is necessary; one need only receive them with an open mind and examine them seriously. Everyone should examine them using their own logic and their sense of truth—which every person carries within themselves as something natural and reliable; this will then teach them to reject what a charlatan says and to agree with what a true spiritual researcher says; it will also teach them to distinguish one from the other.

[ 7 ] It often happens that messages from the spiritual world arouse the interest of listeners, especially those that address the topic of what kinds of exercises and so on are necessary to enter the spiritual world. We shall now begin today with such a description; the extent to which it can be pursued will become clear best through the topic itself.

[ 8 ] That form of asceticism which involves immersing oneself in the spiritual world—and this alone is the concern of spiritual science—seeks to develop in the human being abilities and perceptions that lie dormant in ordinary human life. Realize that from morning until evening, you perceive through stimuli from the outside world; thus, you are conscious of yourself and of what is around you. In the evening, however, a person grows tired; then their soul can no longer perceive, their consciousness falls silent, it ceases. While asleep, a person is in the spiritual world, but they know nothing of it; why? Because people today need those external stimuli to see—stimuli that, as it were, elicit perception. If they could give themselves from within the same impulse that objects provide as external stimulation—that inner impetus—then they would possess a stronger inner force than the one that drives them from the outside to perceive. Then they could also perceive a world toward which they drive themselves from within, whereas now they must perceive through external stimulation.

[ 9 ] Let us assume that the former were the case—that a person were blind and deaf to external stimuli, yet capable of receiving the impulse for perception from within through invisible senses; in that case, the person would have awakened inner spiritual abilities within themselves. But this can also happen in another way, namely in the sense in which we speak of asceticism in spiritual science. That is to say, through strong inner power, a person commands himself not to see or hear the external world; it recedes for him, not through fatigue, but through his own volition. It is an inner world that then emerges, while the external world recedes.

[ 10 ] Now let us consider what a person must do to achieve this. The preparation for this consists of devoting oneself to certain exercises. True asceticism, in fact, has nothing to do with external means; what takes place is an intimate, albeit vigorous, process involving the innermost of a person’s spiritual powers. The first thing one must acquire is a particularly heightened, intensified power of imagination! This occurs when a person stimulates their inner forces in such a way that they awaken within themselves those powers that previously lay dormant. ...

[ 11 ] (As an example of this, Dr. Steiner cites the dialogue one might imagine between the secret teacher and the mystery student during the student’s instruction in the contemplation of plants and human beings.)

[ 12 ] It's important to remember, however, that this dialogue never actually took place.

[ 13 ] (Description of the dialog.)

[ 14 ] This is meant to tell us: Human beings can go astray, but plants lead a pure, chaste existence. — The chaste red sap of the plant and the passionate red blood of the human being. — We must transform these thoughts into a symbol and try to visualize them as a real ideal for humanity. Through this exercise, human beings will then gradually, through their own free will, reach a stage of development that the plant has already attained today at a lower level. Goethe expresses this in these beautiful words:

But if you don't have that,
this dying and becoming,
you are just a gloomy guest
on this dark earth.

[ 15 ] To understand this transcendence of the self, a person must overcome something within themselves so as not to let it gain dominion over them through self-glorification. To this end, the student was told: Imagine that which must die as a withered piece of wood in the shape of a cross, and that which is to come—when the human being triumphs over what is expressed by his red blood—as a symbol of purified plant sap; picture this as the red rose. Visualize this vividly before your soul; surround the cross-shaped wood with red, living roses, and you will have before you the “Rose Cross.” Feel this entire mighty symbol deeply within your soul; do not merely gaze at it rigidly, but pour into it all those sensations and feelings—pour them all in, just as they fill you with devotion and reverence; so when you compare the entire path of evolution—through plant and human—up to the human ideal, in which the red blood flows once again, pure and purified, chaste as the red plant sap in the leaves of the red rose—feel and behold this symbol so that the Rose Cross becomes for you not merely an idea, a symbol, but a living force. As you contemplate and visualize, let all your feelings come alive within you and let your heart warm in the process; let this symbol live within you!

[ 16 ] This symbol is not an object that can be evoked through external perception or sensory stimulation; it is not something that can be seen in external reality; it is something that cannot evoke an external image within us. Hundreds upon hundreds of such symbols could be cited from spiritual science or theosophy. But it is precisely these symbols—which do not originate in external reality—that strengthen people inwardly and steel their will so that they may perceive a new world around them. Such ascetic practice aims at an inner unfolding of human powers: in the way such ascetic practice is carried out—as we have characterized and demonstrated in the example above—we have shown what true asceticism is and how, through it, a person can become a citizen of the higher worlds. Asceticism is what truly opens up a new, spiritual world to a person and through which much from that world can be communicated to them. First, a person should learn to listen to the messages of the esoteric researcher and not immediately attempt to practice them themselves. It is better if they first try to understand, using their own logic, what the esoteric researcher reports as news from the spiritual world. Thus, what we call asceticism leads us up into the spiritual worlds; and now let us see how humanity can relate to this. To begin with, there will be those who say, “These are fantasists, dreamers”; and they will reject these explanations; but they will not always be wrong; for those who speak this way should tell themselves that one must first examine before rejecting. And we, for our part, must tell ourselves that we must first understand the reason why they reject it, and we must be patient and consider: After all, it is a new world that is being revealed to humanity. Where such things are presented, something flows into us; we are to assimilate new concepts and new ideas, and that is not easy for everyone. For example, someone who initially possesses only a certain set of abilities within his “I” simply cannot take in this new, spiritual reality; for him, absorbing it would be like overeating in a spiritual sense. For such a person, if they reject it, it is nothing other than their “I” demonstrating that it is initially incapable of assimilation. In such people, it is instinct and self-preservation that lead them to reject spiritual science. These truths would wipe out their inner being; this is one extreme in which those poor “I’s” of the present reject the truths of the spiritual researchers.

[ 17 ] Others have a tendency to take in everything that comes their way and can be heard, but they lack the will to penetrate it with understanding; out of convenience, they do not want to make the effort, yet they do have a tendency to take things in—though they lack the will to grasp what they hear with their will. Only then can harmony arise between the listener and what is heard; for understanding arises only through absorption and processing. Thus, one group is organized in such a way that it is incapable of expanding its intellectual capacities; out of a self-preservation instinct, it must reject the truths of theosophy. Others are drawn here by a thirst for sensation, which is even worse; if one merely wants to absorb without understanding, this leads to blind faith in authority. One then hears them say: “He said it, so it must be true!”—But the one of whom this is said would rather be regarded as less of an authority, yet be better understood.

[ 18 ] (Example: What Lessing says about Klopstock).

[ 19 ] The same is true of the occult researcher: he does not wish to be praised at all and would much rather not be revered as a master figure, but rather to be understood and scrutinized! For it is true, as has already been mentioned elsewhere, that if someone seeks to examine matters in a complacent and illogical manner, it then becomes dangerous for the teacher to convey messages from the spiritual world to that person; for such people can no longer distinguish between truth, nonsense, and deception. For the layperson or the student, there is only one way to discover the truth: to examine it using the strictest logic.

[ 20 ] Now, we want to draw the attention of those who simply want to accept everything and who say, “The Master said so,” to the danger involved in believing blindly without examining things; by doing so, one deprives oneself of the power and the educational impact of truth itself. For what truth is to human beings—its immense significance—lies precisely in the fact that it is found within the innermost essence of the human being. I know that 3 × 3 = 9; and even if a million people came and claimed it were 10! This is why truth is that great, that powerful educational tool: the guiding principle for it lies within the human being, in his or her own inner self. Consequently, a person makes something else the guiding principle of their inner being when it is not merely a matter of what stems from external sensory perceptions.

[ 21 ] But whoever always wants to hear only new things deprives himself of that educational tool of truth, whereby truth is that strict means of education. Those who allow themselves to be overfed with truths allow a lack of judgment to take root in their habits; they let others be their judges of truth, and thereby lose their sense of truth, falling into a habitual attachment to falsehood—even coming to love it. True human beings can thus, out of convenience, develop a tendency toward insincerity, deceitfulness, and dishonesty. One must realize that the pursuit of truth is a duty; but this very realization must spur one to examine logically and rationally everything that is taught to them from the spiritual world. In a very positive sense, one can compare what people who are too complacent to examine things do to themselves to drowning. The person in question loses their sense of self; this kind of reception of spiritual truths is like drowning.

[ 22 ] Now let us discuss something else that comes even closer to what we call asceticism or spiritual practice. What does this asceticism entail? We work on ourselves in order to become stronger for the world. Asceticism is the practice of those powers that are not being used at the present moment. Asceticism can thus be compared to a military exercise. There, the powers that are to be applied in a crisis are tested, tried, and tempered. Just as a military exercise relates to war, so does asceticism relate to the application of these powers themselves. Its purpose is to practice these powers for the sake of developing them; and the development of these powers must occur for the sake of their growth, so that they—these powers—are there when needed; therefore, one must cultivate them beforehand. One must practice them before one needs them; otherwise, one will not have them when they are needed. Example: Anyone who trains to sing must first practice a great deal before they can perform and sing. Those who wish to master asceticism must practice and forgo the immediate use of their powers. One must approach true asceticism as something one undertakes solely for the sake of practice.

[ 23 ] This kind of asceticism can be compared to something else as well: to children’s play; they, too, are now exercising their powers on something objective—something that, so to speak, does not yet affect them—but they are doing so in preparation, so that they may possess these powers and be able to unfold them when the seriousness of life comes upon them. To make one’s powers flexible, pliable, and agile—that is the meaning of asceticism in relation to higher worlds and levels of knowledge; to develop these powers into abilities—that is the purpose of true asceticism.

[ 24 ] There is another factor to consider in the development of spiritual abilities. Through certain exercises, through meditation, through visualization and contemplation of the Rose Cross, a person can strengthen their abilities and can also attain certain visionary, clairvoyant abilities; powerful images and the like can be awakened within them, and visionary clairvoyance is achieved. Now, the particular challenge arises that the development of such powers can become dangerous if it is not directed toward something real; this is why study is such a necessary and important part of the student’s task. One should not develop inner abilities without simultaneously devoting oneself to an external, logical, and rational understanding of the knowledge of the higher worlds. When a person becomes clairvoyant, a strong sense of awareness must arise within them at the same time—an awareness toward which the inner ability must be directed. Otherwise, there is danger for the person. If, before entering the spiritual world, a person has not logically acquired knowledge, then they do not know what to do with their inner ability. This filling of the self with clairvoyant abilities then takes the form of illusory images; the process is then like an inner burning. For the awakening of such abilities is linked to the person sensing the transformation of these abilities into passions, instincts, desires, and so on—this is the other danger to which those are exposed who practice asceticism and seek to develop themselves upward into the higher worlds without study.

[ 25 ] These are the two perilous paths—first, drowning, losing one’s sense of self; second, burning—to which those are exposed who do not practice the ascent into the spiritual world correctly in every respect and do not strictly follow the instructions. It is wrong to attempt to pave the way to the spiritual world through external measures.

[ 26 ] Some might say, “Yes, meditation and all that stuff—that’s terrible; I won’t do it.” But “not eating meat, not drinking wine”—that’s something I could dare to do. But doing that isn’t so easy, nor is it so simple, nor is it guaranteed to succeed. For only those who have already prepared their soul through spiritual work are permitted to use these external measures and aids as a means of easing the path. One must realize this: they are merely a means of easing the path, never anything else. Our body, in fact, acts as a hindrance to our soul, and there are many things a person could do if they did not have this cumbersome body. Through these external measures and aids, a person can make this body more compliant; they can prepare it to be a better servant to the soul. A meatless diet makes the body more compliant in this regard and also more capable.

[ 27 ] In our age of true health fanaticism, when sunbathing and all sorts of other natural remedies are in vogue, it happens that precisely those who are passionate about sunbathing—when they have to spend even a quarter of an hour in the blazing sun—sigh and groan: “Oh, it’s unbearable!”—But those who practice true asceticism can also walk vigorously in the sun from time to time, for it teaches people to endure life. Preparing oneself, making oneself capable of life—that is what true asceticism consists of!

[ 28 ] Nothing can be achieved through external means alone; they only weaken the body—that is, if one relies exclusively on external means and does not regard them as supplementary—because the body must be in harmony with the soul. If the soul is lazy, so is the body. Otherwise, the disharmony is too great. Anyone who uses and seeks to use only external means to penetrate the spiritual world is preparing his body for a soul that he should first create. The soul must develop in parallel with the body.

[ 29 ] Here, in our discussion, we have reached the very boundary where asceticism can become intertwined with the pathological aspects of the soul and the body. One must take care of both the body and the soul when beginning to practice, because higher faculties of perception are developed, which then become realities within our soul; and every reality affects both body and soul. What can be achieved through true asceticism is a reality. A robust person must have a strong connection to the physical world; for there is a certain connection between the external world and the human being. — Example: What Fichte says about ideals—namely, that those who possess them know very well that they are not immediately applicable in the world, yet they are nonetheless their driving force.

[ 30 ] A person who is at peace with themselves is also healthy when there is harmony between them, their inner self, and the outer world. Based on this feeling, many people reject what they are not attuned to—for example, theosophy. When a person takes in something for which they are not attuned and fails to process it, disharmony arises; this then affects the physical body, and what was previously described as deceitfulness and so on—as the drowning of the soul—is what ultimately causes the body to become ill. We must bear in mind that messages from the outer world do not affect us so strongly as to cause such disharmony—including physical disharmony—in the body; but messages from the spiritual world are realities, and therefore they affect the physical body as well; for everything physical is, after all, merely an expression of the spiritual. This means that through the incorrect reception and application of spiritual truths, we make ourselves physically ill from the spiritual realm.

[ 31 ] This is even worse when the soul is endowed with clairvoyant abilities without logical study; then the person burns inwardly, and this is transmitted all the more as a consuming fire to the outer physical body, causing the body to become diseased. A person must therefore strive to maintain balance between soul and body and their inner forces. The study and attainment of inner abilities must go hand in hand. If this is not the case, the result is a soul that burns within and a sickly exterior. With proper ascetic practice, the organism becomes supple and flexible; but if a person strays in one direction or another, then through asceticism—misunderstood or misapplied—they will fall into and succumb to mental and physical illness. This is the great responsibility borne by those who convey messages from spiritual science. And the leaders of the movement must always be acutely aware of the existence of this responsibility in the most serious sense. The admission of every student therefore requires the utmost caution and care. But this responsibility must not deter anyone who is called to show the way or give counsel, nor must it deter anyone from coming forward. For Heraclitus’s saying applies to every soul—and with it, let me conclude:

You cannot fathom the soul's boundaries,
even if you were to wander through every street and square.