Unity Consciousness
In 1913, Rudolf Steiner separated from the Theosophical Society and held the First General Assembly of the Anthroposophical Society. In his autobiography, he recounts how the Theosophical Society showed signs reminiscent of spiritualism and Eastern, Luciferic influences and Steiner warned members that the part of the Society under his direction had nothing to do with such things. The following lesson was given in this context.
"[M]ultiplicity and unity are concepts that only apply to the physical plane and have no meaning for the spiritual world, at most for the elementary world. We used to work with friends who were into philosophy. One day, someone came up to me and said they couldn't work with us anymore because they saw unity as the only truth, and we didn't. And they left us.
Those who worship unity and take these concepts into the spiritual realm fall prey to Lucifer. Those who regard multiplicity as the only truth fall prey to Ahriman. Those who become conscious in the spiritual realm, and this is the main requirement for the advanced esotericist, that during meditation they are consciously outside their body, see themselves first. Their main impression is of themselves, their physical body and its relationship to their physical being. Here in the physical realm, we feel ourselves to be a unity in relation to the environment, which we perceive as multiplicity. We see clouds, mountains, trees—in short, the various kingdoms of nature around us. If we were to believe that the cloud up there is a part of ourselves, just as a finger is a part of ourselves, we would be committing a grave error. In the spiritual realm, we become aware of ourselves as a multiplicity; we see all the forces and beings that act on our physical body in the elemental world as a multiplicity. We see them as a hundred thousand fools, yes, as a legion. But if we were to see these hundred thousand fools only as a multiplicity and not say: All you little fellows there, you are all just me; all of you together in your multiplicity form only me as a unity! — if we did not say this with all our strength and energy and self-reflection, then we would fall prey to Ahriman. And we must not only tell ourselves this theoretically, intellectually, which would not be so difficult after all, but we must truly experience this conviction that multiplicity in the spirit is unity. If we did not do this, if we did not empower our souls to these feelings, but instead saw these hundred thousand fools as hundred thousand fools, then fragments of us would fly away, we would be torn apart into multiplicity. Ahrimanic beings would take pieces from our being and use them to veil themselves and present us with error and lies.
Certain wild tribes, for example, know lions only as multiplicity. They cannot conceive of them as a unity, as a species. One must truly grasp the concepts of unity and multiplicity and leave behind those that are only applicable to the physical plane when crossing the threshold. “The Awakening of the Souls,” 4th picture, Romanus: “But my mind laid aside the temple mood at the gate when it entered life.”
Through meditation, we must strengthen our soul so that when beings in the spiritual world truly approach it, it feels strong enough to immediately recognize whether they are trying to lead it into error. The soul must be able to say: You are the builders of my physical body.
In theosophical literature, one often finds diagrams that are quite useful in themselves; they start from a unity, which then branches out into more and more diversity. Or they start with diversity and work their way up to unity. And even if these representations are perhaps not entirely correct, it does no harm. It does harm, but not so much as long as it remains on the physical plane. But if one wants to cross the threshold with this concept of the diagram, it can become terrible. A scheme can serve as a teaching aid if it serves only as a symbol, if one remains aware that the same thing can be represented in this way or in a hundred other ways; if one is not aware of this, one has fallen prey to Ahriman.
Feelings and emotions naturally play a role in all representations and explanations. One person needs to be told something in a lively manner, another in a completely different way, which may seem antipathetic to the first. That is just the way it is.
But one must never use eloquent means to impose or force a spiritual truth on an esotericist; that would be Lucifer at work. The student must be free in his receptiveness.
So one must clearly distinguish between life on the physical plane and life in the spiritual worlds. One must not take the concepts that are valid here in the physical world with one when crossing the threshold, and likewise when retreating (Romanus in “Seelen Erwachen,” as already mentioned).
The activity of the Ahrimanic and Luciferic beings is necessary for the world order as long as they remain within their proper limits. The esotericist must now strengthen his soul so that he recognizes the encroachments of these beings and protects himself from them. Only when human beings have brought themselves to maintain the balance between Ahriman and Lucifer in physical life, when they know the origin of everything they encounter, only then will they gain self-confidence in the spiritual world."
Read more: Rudolf Steiner, Esoteric Lessons III GA 266, 3 September 1913, Munich.