The Rudolf Steiner Archive

21. The Path of Inner Training and the Dangers of Occultism

[ 1 ] Between the ages of 14–15 and 21–22, it is, as it were, the most spiritual, innermost forces that are at work within the young person. These active forces withdraw inward and lie dormant. Those that are active during this latter period—which shape the power of judgment—can be drawn forth and then give rise to the imaginative stage. These imaginative images can express spiritual realities—just as thoughts and concepts can represent the spiritual. However, we must engage in much more active thinking to reach this stage.

[ 2 ] “Wisdom lives in the light”—imagine the sun as well, etc. What matters is not the content of such visualizations, but [rather] that we live within these images with all our strength and with our full consciousness. Such exercises are suitable for awakening the forces that are active in human beings between the ages of 14 and 21.

[ 3 ] Next, we must draw out from the human being those forces that have been at work within the person from ages 6 and 7 through ages 14 and 15—known as the forces of inspiration. They are connected with growth, the respiratory system, and the blood during the period from ages 7 to 14, just as the imaginative powers are connected with the nervous system.

[ 4 ] If one can now let go of the image “Wisdom Lives in the Light” and simply devote oneself to the activity one was engaged in while devoted to that image—simply setting the image in motion without bringing it into one’s consciousness … [gap] before the activity in itself … [gap], then one frees oneself from oneself. We know that the content of the image stems from something entirely different than just oneself, from one’s imagination; rather, it originates from the spiritual world. One discovers an entirely different world that was unknown because those forces had been dormant until then.

[ 5 ] The most difficult forces to awaken are those that work within a person from birth through the change of teeth. These are the forces that give us our form. Once awakened, these forces develop our powers of intuition, enabling us to open ourselves to the spiritual world. Patience and perseverance are among the practices necessary for this awakening.

[ 6 ] Now that one has lived for a while in one’s inner activity, one should let go of this activity as well, but without falling into slumber, which can happen very easily. Then one is devoted to the spiritual world, just as one is devoted to the outer physical world in waking consciousness.

[ 7 ] That is how it is in the West. In the East, people still knew that these special forces are connected to the breath. Breathing exercises were performed to awaken the forces that organize the respiratory system. They act like an inner music, a harmonizing influence. The human being immersed in the breathing process reveals the entire world to us. This practice of forming an image, then letting the image go, leads to a profound examination of the breath. One arrives at the music of the spheres. – Apollo’s lyre. – The harmony of the universe plays upon the strings of the soul. Consciously standing within the universe, we then perceive what is happening in the universe.

25,920 breaths in a day
25,920 days – 70 years – the human lifespan
In 25,920 years, the Sun completes one cycle through the zodiac.

[ 8 ] Ordinary consciousness must always be present during spiritual experiences. If it is shut off, higher consciousness immediately takes over; since our physical organism is not adapted to this, it becomes ill. – Mediumship in ordinary telepathy and so on. – When we shut down our everyday consciousness, all kinds of spiritual forces immediately enter the physical body. Quite profound spiritual truths can be experienced in this state. The brain is less active when everyday consciousness is suspended. In a medium, brain activity recedes significantly, but respiratory and nervous activity are more strained and become more agitated. The mind is empty, and as a result, spiritual forces take control of the medium’s hand for writing, the larynx for speaking, and so on. Very interesting and sensational things can be revealed in this way. But this is not our task; rather, we have social responsibilities, and among them is this: to educate human beings as such ever further and to ever higher levels.

[ 9 ] The inner drama of a dream is what matters most, not the images themselves. The same applies to research into mediumship.

[ 10 ] People’s sense of truth becomes distorted when one interprets such mediumistic phenomena. The medium develops a nature driven by desire; he or she becomes, so to speak, undisciplined in life and no longer restrains his or her impulses.

[ 11 ] Telepathy: Overdeveloped head; fidgety; neurasthenic.