The Rudolf Steiner Archive

64. On Clairvoyance

[ 1 ] Every occultist is aware of the great dangers involved in popularizing occult truths and insights in a frivolous manner. On the other hand, however, it should also be borne in mind that Theosophy, among other things, imposes a duty to disseminate and advocate certain occult teachings that derive solely from occult research. When we do this, those who have become acquainted with such teachings feel the need to learn about the methods by which such insights are actually attained. Theosophy speaks of the evolution of humanity and the evolution of the world, of races, cycles, and so on, of planetary systems and other things. Anyone who hears these truths will, even if they believe that these truths make sense to the intellect, eventually feel the need to ask what paths are taken to attain such knowledge.

[ 2 ] In general, it is not easy to speak about this path. Today, however, a few remarks will be made about the nature of what the occultist calls clairvoyance. One must not confuse occultism with theosophy. Theosophy is, in essence, merely the outward expression of the experiences gained in the field of occultism. Occultism is the source of theosophical teachings. Today we shall discuss one aspect of this occultism.

[ 3 ] The experiences that underlie the theosophical teachings are had in states of consciousness that are entirely different from those characteristic of the ordinary person. Two such different states of consciousness are of particular relevance. We shall begin with what the ordinary person experiences. The ordinary person has his everyday, waking consciousness—through which he is able and capable of perceiving the sensory objects around him—in order to learn, through his mind, his reason, in short, through his intellectual faculties, about cause and effect and the other laws of this physical world.

[ 4 ] However, this state of consciousness is not the only state of experience for the average person. Human experience extends far beyond what is accessible to consciousness. The average person has two other states of experience: so-called dream sleep and dreamless deep sleep.

[ 5 ] This second state of consciousness—sleep interspersed with dreams—does not completely plunge a person into the unconscious. A person is able to bring something over into waking consciousness. However, what they bring over into consciousness is not the content of the actual experience they had during dream-filled sleep. The experience is something entirely different from what one becomes aware of afterward. It is, so to speak, merely a bringing over of individual fragments, of fragmentary reflections. What a person experiences in a completely different world during dream-filled—that is, not entirely deep—sleep are coherent, internally ordered facts. And of these facts—which he does indeed experience but of which he is not conscious—he retains some memory. He has transferred them from his sleep consciousness into his waking memory and later recalls what happened “over there.” However, the content is remembered only sparsely and in a distorted form. This content cannot in any way be compared to what is actually experienced “over there.”

[ 6 ] This is a world which, if it could be fully understood, would be filled with realities of the so-called astral world. Just as the physical world is filled with the realities of the sensory world, here one experiences spiritual realities. But over there, we experience feelings, passions, wishes, desires, and instincts as realities. We experience them only as they exist as psychological processes, not as they otherwise are in our personal form, which is shaped by earthly life. It is simply a different world that a person experiences there, and from which they bring only fragments into ordinary waking consciousness. No one should ever characterize the experiences in the so-called astral realm based on what they bring over from the content of their dreams into waking consciousness. This is a world just as rich—indeed, far richer—than the sensory world; in terms of the contrasts it offers, it cannot be compared to what takes place in our sensory world. That which appears good, brightly shining, and radiant—and, on the other hand, the terrible, repulsive, and horrific phenomena that occur—cannot, in terms of its diversity, be compared to what our sensory world offers.

[ 7 ] The third state is dreamless sleep. For most people, very little of what is experienced during dreamless sleep carries over into waking daytime consciousness. What does carry over usually remains unconscious. The experience of dreamless sleep appears in waking “daytime consciousness” not in terms of its causality, but in terms of its effect. What is experienced there are the great laws of reality—the true, and to a certain degree much truer, primordial causes and essences of our world. What takes place in the outer physical forms of existence in the animal and plant kingdoms—the mineral kingdom does not belong here, for nothing about its true nature can be experienced during dreamless sleep—the way in which life takes shape in these kingdoms, how forms develop from one to another, what great laws life actually follows —that which, if we were to penetrate it in its true form, would instantly illuminate in ordinary consciousness many aspects of life that are otherwise enigmatic and obscure—all of this a person experiences without consciously retaining anything in their waking daytime consciousness.

[ 8 ] This is nothing more than a description of the three states, only one of which is a true state of consciousness that we find in humans.

[ 9 ] It goes without saying that none of the experiences gained in this way can form part of occult teaching. Occult experience begins only after a very specific transformation of the state of consciousness has taken place. This transformation will be briefly described below.

[ 10 ] There is a point in ordinary human consciousness that marks a turning point in the development of every person who is even somewhat reflective or perceptive. This is the awakening of self-consciousness. You all know that a child does not initially speak in the first-person singular, but says, “Little Karl wants,” “Little Marie wants.” It is a very specific stage of development in a person’s life at which the possibility arises that they can refer to themselves as “I.” This awakening of self-consciousness differs from all other experiences one can have. It is a deeply intimate experience. Everyone can say “I” to themselves. You can give any other thing a different name. I can only say “I” about myself, and no one can say “I” to another person. Only a human being can refer to themselves by that very specific name—the “I.”

[ 11 ] Self-awareness is something entirely different. The concept of the “I” is unique and cannot be compared to any other. There is now a way to work on the “I” in such a way that—just as in ordinary self-awareness it exists only within itself—it shapes its entire world of thought from the center of the “I,” just as the thought of the “I” usually arises. When a person, through careful and sustained meditation, brings himself to face his entire world of thought—and not merely his own world of thought, but the world of thought in general—in the same way that the ordinary person faces solely the point of the “I,” then he is called an intuitive person. Then the world of thought emerges from the very center of his being. He then produces thoughts in the same sense that he previously produced the thought of the “I.”

[ 12 ] This stage of ego development can be attained. Through proper meditation, in a certain sense, a person can come to relate to their world of thoughts in the same way they previously related only to their ego. Two sentences in Light on the Path have the power, when applied correctly, to bring the “I” to this point of view. These are not merely abstract statements; they are statements drawn from millennia of astral experience. These two sentences, which are an extraordinary educational tool, are as follows:

Before the eye can see, it must wean itself from tears.
Before the ear can hear, its sensitivity must fade.

[ 13 ] There is power and life in these sentences; they only need to be applied in the right way. Once a person has reached this stage, something else inevitably occurs: he is then able to experience in an orderly manner what is otherwise experienced only in dreamless sleep and what otherwise comes through only in fragments. As a result, this world—which unfolds in the astral realm—becomes just as real to them as the sensory world was previously. They then have memories of the realities of the kama world.

[ 14 ] The next higher stage is the one in which a person no longer experiences dream-filled sleep but, through intuition, is able to glimpse into the higher world. This world is full of spiritual clarity; there is no longer any arbitrariness there. Two perceptions are associated with this intuitive state. Once a person has reached this stage of development, they perceive through their own experience the dangerous enemies of human life: the elemental spirits of birth and death, who constantly lurk in the adjoining realms of nature, who are always present, who try to tempt people, and so on. These elemental beings, who enter the astral body and influence its desires, are always present. In ordinary life, they are concealed by the veil of Maya.

[ 15 ] At this stage of development, the human being first becomes aware of these enemies in the adjacent realms of nature. And this is of the utmost importance for development in occultism. In this state, which can be compared to dreamless sleep, the human being perceives—and this is the first experience he has in this state of consciousness—which enemies within him are pulling him down and directing him toward the lower realms. It is good that these forces, which thus operate within human beings, are hidden from the ordinary person. It is good that a veil is spread over them here. For it is not merely speaking about them, but actually coming to know them, that can be endured only by those who have attained a certain level of self-confidence and moral fortitude within themselves. For this reason, no true occultist will provide guidance on how to reach such a level before a person has undergone a decisive training of character in the direction of self-confidence, morality, and presence of mind—so that they do not run the risk of losing themselves, but can keep their powers under control. These three qualities are essential for every occultist.

[ 16 ] What is concealed from everyday consciousness in this way—and confronts the human being at this stage—is called the Guardian of the Threshold. He guards the threshold because he must not allow ordinary people to glimpse what lies beyond it. However, he loses much of his terrifying nature when a person possesses the described character traits or has acquired them to a certain degree. By the end of the Atlantean era, people had ceased to develop these moral forces sufficiently. Consequently, those peculiar circumstances arose that are known from the description of Atlantis.

[ 17 ] As one continues along this path, one must not only be led to experience the world of thoughts as one’s own, but—in order to be properly connected to reality on a higher level—one must also transform the entire world of sensations. Then the ability to perceive things in the higher worlds directly during waking consciousness—for example, the human aura—begins to develop; initially, only at the lower levels. When a person has reached this stage, they have essentially already opened up a source of extraordinarily profound experience for themselves. They then live just as consciously in the spiritual realm as the average person lives within the realm of the senses.

[ 18 ] On the third level, however, he lives in a realm where, for the ordinary person, there is no longer any conscious experience. There, he experiences things just as the ordinary person does in the external sensory world, only on a higher level. He then experiences the laws of the world of causes. There is no longer any difference between the experiences in the so-called unconscious state of sleep and the conscious state of wakefulness. This is the continuity of consciousness, which is attained step by step and very gradually. But relatively soon, the soul’s separation will have progressed to such an extent that it can live not only in thought but also in sensation. Then he can form concepts of what things are really like.

[ 19 ] “Light on the Path” provides the correct guidance for reaching this level. It requires patience, perseverance, and steadfastness of an extraordinary degree. The key to achieving this lies in the powers hidden in the next two sentences:

Before the masters can speak, the voice must unlearn through wounding.
Before the soul can stand before them, the blood of its heart must wet its feet.

[ 20 ] They contain the forces that lead people to direct experience and direct sensation.

[ 21 ] Anyone who has reached this stage and is thus able to say “I” to their world of sensations is now capable of consciously experiencing all the truths pertaining to Devachan. At this level of consciousness, the teachings of Devachan can be consciously experienced as a real reality.

[ 22 ] One might think that when a person reaches this stage of development, he becomes a dreamer, losing his usual sobriety and sound judgment. On the contrary, at this stage, any possibility of succumbing to superstition or dogma ceases. Even doubt and skepticism vanish from the soul when a person reaches the point of grasping this stage of development. There is now a state analogous to dream-filled sleep and another analogous to deep sleep. When a person has advanced far enough to perceive Devachan, there are still other states into which he can consciously enter. These are states in which he can experience something much higher. These states consist of the following.

[ 23 ] Through personal observation, one learns to recognize how the various forms of the universe transform into one another and undergo metamorphosis. One becomes aware of how a thought-form is formed from mental substance, then envelops itself in astral substance and exerts a plastic influence over astral matter. But one also learns how beings from higher planes—from the mental plane through the astral plane down to the physical world—descend. The entire range of transformations of form possible in the universe lies before the eyes of the initiate. He can answer, for example, what forms a plant has undergone in earlier, long-past epochs. The various forms of transformation that belong to our planetary system are revealed at this stage of knowledge. In esotericism, this is called the conscious experience of the evolution of forms.

[ 24 ] The state, which is analogous to dreamless deep sleep, reveals how life—the essence itself—pours into the various forms. In this specific case, the difference lies in the fact that during the second state, the various forms are perceived in colors that are entirely different from those in the third stage. When a thought-form is perceived, it may, for example, appear in bright yellow colors. There are thought-forms that are perceived in this way. There are also thought-images that have a specific spiritual form. In the third stage, that life-ether flows into these thought-forms, which may, for example, have the beautiful, bright color of a peach blossom. You can then not only see rigid or highly mobile forms that transform into one another, but also perceive how these forms are animated from their very center.

[ 25 ] The result is that one can immerse oneself in the various etheric forms of consciousness, so that one can not only recognize the laws of Devachanic life, but also the transformations that our Earth—only our Earth, as we have not yet gone further—has undergone during the period of the so-called rounds of development. One passes through several planets or globes, including Arupa planets and Rupa planets and the like. These transformations can be experienced in this state of consciousness. And then the various cycles themselves can be experienced and understood.

[ 26 ] Through appropriate exercises, a person can thus learn to understand part of the teaching that the Theosophical Movement has brought into the world. The path beyond this point cannot be described at this time. Beyond that point begins that state of consciousness which consists in rendering oneself impervious to the possibility of external sensation. And with that begins the true life of the adept. Only from the adept’s experiences can one gain that which transcends the aforementioned boundary.

[ 27 ] The purpose of what has been presented here is to point out the methods that lead to the knowledge contained in theosophical textbooks.

[ 28 ] After all, the transmission and reception of theosophy are based in part on trust. This must still be the case today. But it is reasonable to expect explanations as to the origin of this knowledge, which we in the West now have the opportunity to access once again. In this regard, the leading spiritual individuals—the Masters—have the opportunity to provide not only the teachings but also the esoteric perspectives which, when used correctly, can foster development in an appropriate spiritual direction.

[ 29 ] In addition to H.P. Blavatsky’s seminal work, The Secret Doctrine, the book Light on the Path has also been inspired; it truly is a light on the path that humanity is to follow from now on into the future. Only when this path is taken—or at least understood—will it be possible to know how this knowledge and this will, which are to lead us to our goal, can be attained and how they must be attained in the future. For now, the path may indeed be passable only for a few. We shall not dwell on that further. But we can be clear on this: that human experience in which the glow of the senses ceases and a higher experience begins cannot be attained except through a specific development of spiritual life.

[ 30 ] It is precisely through this spiritual development—which should be brought to life through teaching and the Word within the Theosophical Movement—that the great goal of evolution can be attained more intensely than by any other means. This goal is expressed in that profound insight, that great esoteric truth, which is easy to say but difficult to understand, and which belongs to the most ancient wisdom of humanity:

Life dwells in all beings; it is one, yet also many—like the moon, which is reflected in many images in the water.