It is my normal practice to read various “spiritual” teachers/sources,
be they Western, Eastern, Northern, or Southern. I do so to weigh all and
sundry weirdnesses and possible truths that are put forth, being aware to that which may “resonate” with
me in some way, revealing a pattern, a parallel, a correspondence, a connection
with that which I seem to “know” (though I am most often unable to determine
just where it comes from). This resonance
occurs strongly but rarely. With Steiner, I found it to be worth mentioning and
conveying to the common understanding, interest, and pool of awareness.
First, a little about
Steiner: Rudolf Steiner (and his newly created Anthroposophical Society) was
expelled from the Theosophical Society (though the decision was mutual) in
1913; his presentation of “esoteric Christianity” was at odds with the
anti-Christian sentiment and “occult” practices of Theosophy, and, just as
importantly, because he was very critical and unaccepting of the Theosophical
Society’s Order of the Star in the East for its presentment of Krishnamurti
(who ultimately refused the title and position) as “World Avatar.” Steiner
believed that, rather than an individual
World Teacher, the universal “Christ impulse” present within each and every person
(regardless of religion or personal belief) would affect him or her and present
itself consciously or unconsciously in their lives, thus presenting the
possibility of changing human consciousness and thereby the world through a universal,
collective process. Steiner also taught that the Christ, through his
incarnation in human physical form two thousand years ago, had entered into and
permeated the physical world and was present to and within all people as well
as the Earth itself on even the dense, physical level.
In reading Steiner, I
realize that much of what he says pertaining to actual “spiritual experience” (which
is necessary if one is to attain “spiritual understanding”) corresponds closely
with other religious and/or spiritual methods or techniques to “experience
spirituality.” Certain aspects of
Steiner’s writings are clear parallels to other methods, though expressed in
his rather unique, fairly straightforward, and down-to-earth manner along with what
I see as his wonderfully resonant and original metaphor. It is these aspects
that I feel are important enough to share with others.
For those who may be
interested, I will simply note that Jung and Steiner were contemporaries, that
Jung does mention Steiner a few times in his CW and does seem to approve of
Anthroposophy while disapproving of Theosophy, that Steiner makes no mention of
Jung, that they probably were not personally acquainted, that they were similar
in their emphasis of the “unconscious and/or subconscious,” that both expressed
an appreciation of “esoteric/gnostic Christianity,” but that Steiner did not accept
the Jung’s notion of the “collective unconscious,” seeing this principle more
in terms of what he called the “Christ impulse” as universally present within
humanity.
My main source for
this essay is Approaching the Mystery of
Golgotha, a compilation of ten lectures from 1913-14 by Rudolf Steiner,
published by SteinerBooks in 2006. Steiner’s metaphor regarding the proper
perspective on and use of thought is, to my mind, powerful, instructive, and
original. He begins by focusing on “thinking”:
Human
beings are evolving in the world; they crown their evolution by filling the
world with thinking. Thinking completes the world. Human beings recognize their
surroundings through it. (101)
Then he further develops and categorizes this “thinking,” and presents
the metaphor of “thought as seed”:
However,
thinking can achieve two things. It can be developed properly, which
can be compared with the development of the seed to the blossom. But the seed
can also serve for human nutrition, it which case it will be torn out of its
regular, continuing flow. If it stays in its continuous flow, it develops into a new
plant; predictably, life for the future comes from it. It is the same with human
thinking. We can say that through it we make pictures for ourselves of our
surroundings. However, the employment of such knowledge is like using seeds
for nutriment. We drive thinking from its flow. If, however, it remains in its
flow, then we let it live its own seed-life. We let it unfold in meditation and
inspiration and let it develop itself into a new, fertile existence. That is the
right flow of thinking. (101-102)
This is the essence of Steiner’s metaphor. However, it has further
implications and direction:
In the
future, we will recognize that what we have regarded as knowledge of the
world behaves like the grain that does not progress to the new grain, but rather
is driven out to a totally different flow. But the knowledge we learn through
knowledge of the higher worlds is the thinking, that is philosophically comprehended
in freedom and that leads directly into spiritual life through meditation
and concentration. We stand at a point where it will be
recognized that ordinary knowledge is to supersensible
knowledge as a grain used for food is to a grain that progresses to a new
grain. Inner knowledge of thinking is what the future must bring. … And we
will know that living thinking, which transforms itself through meditation and
concentration, leads to spiritual knowledge of human nature and to knowledge
of the spiritual worlds. (102)
Now, Steiner considers what his metaphor of “thought as seed” means and
further explains how it is to be applied in one’s own life and to the current
time, over a hundred years ago:
Today a
person who is regarded as a great philosophical mind basically limits his
wisdom to talking over and over again about the same subject. He says: “Human
beings should not stop with mere external knowledge. They must grasp
the spirit. … They must grasp the spiritual within themselves. It may not be
grasped merely in concepts; it must come alive.” Such people are not saying what
spirit is; they know nothing about it. … [However], when we form thinking out of itself [my emphasis], it does not become
a vague experience of spirit, but becomes
whole in itself. … In other words, if we transform thinking in meditation, our meditative
thought will form itself. And then … our spiritual being will become present.
Humanity is on its way in its evolution from philosophy to a living spiritual
knowledge. (102)
Steiner goes on further assess the current situation and the ability of
the current “state of the soul” to prepare and progress:
Those
who see this understand their time, but it is not possible to gain a real insight
into these things without developing reverence for the knowledge, which holds
one back with the power of judgment that one has from applying the criterion
universally. One must be willing to prepare oneself ever and again for new
knowledge, for in its present state, the soul is suited only for a tributary of knowledge.
Only when the soul develops to a higher level is it really suited to enter
into the spiritual world. … We will make no progress by acquiring only more and more
concepts for what the spiritual world is. We must acquire them, but we only
start to make real progress when we join with each new thought something that
comes from the deepest foundation of our soul, so that this process of “understanding
more and more” can prove itself before the leading powers of our time.
We can feel them, how they speak in the most intimate foundation of our
soul. … This consciousness should pour itself out over what we are doing as a
true current of the soul. (103)
Steiner further implores that his readers join in his Anthroposophical
Movement as the main force of this new consciousness, however, in my own
estimation, I think that many of us are already upon our own paths and
directions, be they individual or group-oriented, and are already following the
“true current of the soul.”
Again, I am struck by
the simplicity and power of Steiner’s metaphor in which thoughts are as “seeds,”
and if we eat the seeds as our nourishment, which is to say, focus on the
appearance of thoughts in our minds as
“our thoughts” and consciously attempt to thereby control them by leading and
directing them with our conscious direction, we limit the inherent creative
potential of the thought, which does not
then develop and cannot come to fruition. I find a very close correspondence to
Steiner’s “method” in the Buddhist view of thinking as presented in two of its
techniques of meditation, zazen and vipassana. In these techniques or
methods, thoughts, though initially recognized, are not dwelled upon nor “followed”
by the conscious mind; rather, they are simply “let go of.” Through this
practice, one returns to a state of “natural mind,” of “emptiness.” In such a
mind, which is no longer reflective of self, the “I” ceases. If thought no
longer “occupies” our mind, “I” cease to exist. A pertinent exercise: Let go of
all thoughts in your mind, and, keeping that mind, try thinking of yourself or
anything about yourself. Yes, it is a bit of a trick question. Humor is always
a valid ingredient of being.
These are my own vague
words meant to describe a state of being that is more expansive and real than
our “normal” state of mind and perception. I imagine most Buddhists (to say the
least) would find it ridiculously simplistic if not inaccurate). However, I see
a correlation between Steiner’s metaphor and description of the process or
method, and that of Buddhist meditation, in which I have had forty years’ experience.
I never heard any Buddhists present such an explanation for the process and
method of Buddhist meditation in any way similar to as Steiner’s metaphor and
method, but then, Buddhists don’t tend to explain such things, much less in a
logical, “scientific” Western mode. A quite similar technique to Steiner’s is
presented in Theosophy (Alice Bailey), which I also practiced for many years.
In this practice, one focuses upon a “seed thought” (repeatedly for a period of
time like a week or month) by “raising awareness up” to the fifth chakra (or energy center in the body,
according to the Hindu yogic system), holding it there, then raising it up to
the seventh before “letting go” of it so that it “ascends” (which reminds me of
the “cloud of unknowing” practices of Meister Eckhart and other Christian
mystics). Then, after a few minutes have passed, one then allows the “seed
thought” to “descend” back into the fecund and receptive mind (fifth chakra)
once again, where “divine knowledge” is then disseminated into one’s
consciousness, where it is “digested,” and then shared with others in a more
“edible” and palpable form.
Steiner’s
metaphor and description also somewhat correspondent with The Little Rule of Saint Romuald (www.contemplation.com), a Christian
contemplative method, as introduced more than a thousand years ago and
practiced in Camaldolese Benedictine monasteries today. Monks are instructed to:
Sit in
your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch
your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. … Realize above all that
you are in God’s presence,
and stand there with the attitude of one who stands
before the emperor. Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the
grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what his
mother brings him.
This practice takes place within the context of the Psalms and in
dedication to Christ, which, in my view,
thereby separates it more from Steiner’s or the Buddhist approach.
In addition to the comparison between Steiner’s method and those of
Buddhism and contemplative Christianity, there is a notion presented by Steiner
in the same aforementioned text that is reflected in Native American beliefs as
well as in some Asian religions (which I will not specifically speak of due to
ignorance). Steiner view is that since Christ incarnated in a human body on
Earth, after his death the “Christ energy,” or, more specifically, the “Christ
impulse” entered into and suffused or enlivened the physical realm of the Earth
itself, in addition to existing in other more sublime dimensions. (This is
similar to the Theosophist view [Alice Bailey] of divine life occurring within
the atoms that compose the material world and universe, including, of course,
our own bodies.) Thus, the earthly world is permeated and suffused with divine
energy, specifically Christ energy. Steiner (and some Theosophists) see this as
the direct result of Christ’s incarnation into the physical body, and
universally, the physical level of the world.
Christianity makes
reference to this perspective in its teaching of an ultimate life after death
on Earth in physical bodies, however, it seems confused in its mixing of the
spiritual with the material. Native
American “religion” specifically venerates the ancestors, i.e., those who have
died and whose spirits have passed back into the Earth, the Mother. I know the
medicine man of the Esselen People, Little Bear, a physically big man who,
among other things, leads ceremonial sweat lodges. When I teased him years ago about
losing some weight so that he wouldn’t have a heart attack in the intense heat
of the sweat lodge, he matter-of-factly informed me that “seven grandfathers”
lived in his body, that they were “always hungry” and that he had to feed them.
He was quite serious. Whether this was his own choice, the price of ancestral
wisdom, or both, I did not ask him. The point is that this “spiritual energy”
present within the physical world is visceral in the living experience of some
people.
I present this compilation of information in an attempt to coalesce
seemingly different or perhaps even oppositional
religious and spiritual perspectives and understandings regarding such notions
as “spiritual experience” and “spiritual world.” This essay may possess some
kind of relevant truth; that I do not know. I am only presenting possible
correspondences for the sakes of new or greater understanding. For me it is a
story that wants to be told. I am not compelled by a need to “prove” or
otherwise demonstrate validity. What I can honestly say comes closest to this: That
Which dwells within these earthly bodies of ours may present us, if we are able
and willing to listen and to hear, with stories that want to be told, and, if
we are able to comprehend our place and role in the matter, we convey these
stories as best we can in the hope that they might, in turn, be listened to and
heard for the edification and fulfillment of all of us. Children of Mythos, we
are each the primary character of the story of our own lives, contained within
the Book of All Life. It may not matter a bit but we believe it does. We hope
it does. Those with the least faith must demonstrate the most, and thus heed
the call to tell those stories wanting to be told.
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