I
THE ASTRAL CENTERS
(CHAKRAS)
IT is one of
the essential principles of genuine occultism that he who
devotes himself to a study of it should only do so with a
complete understanding; should neither undertake nor practise
anything of which he does not realize the results. An occult
teacher giving a person either instruction or counsel will
invariably begin with an explanation of those changes in
body, in soul, and in spirit, which will occur to him who
seeks for the higher knowledge.
We shall
consider here some of these effects upon the soul of the
occult student, for only he who is cognisant of what is now
to be said can undertake with a full understanding the
practises which will lead to a knowledge of the superphysical
worlds. Indeed, one may say that it is only such who are
genuine occult students. By true occultism all experimenting
in the dark is very strongly discouraged. He who will not
undergo with open eyes the period of schooling, may become a
medium, but all such efforts cannot bring him to clairvoyance
as it is understood by the occultist.
To those who,
in the right way, have practised the methods (concerning the
acquisition of superphysical knowledge) which were indicated
in my book, entitled
The Way of Initiation,
[ Note 1 ]
certain changes occur in what
is called “the astral body” (the organism of the
soul). This organism is only perceptible to the clairvoyant.
One may compare it to a more or less luminous cloud which is
discerned in the midst of the physical body, and in this
astral body the impulses, desires, passions, and ideas become
visible. Sensual appetites, for example, are manifested as
dark-red outpourings of a particular shape; a pure and noble
thought is expressed in an outpouring of reddish-violet
color; the clear-cut conception of a logical thinker will
appear as a yellow figure with quite sharp outlines; while
the confused thought of a cloudy brain is manifested as a
figure with vague outlines. The thoughts of people with views
that are one-sided and firmly fixed will appear sharp in
their outlines, but immobile; while those of people who
remain accessible to other points of view are seen to be in
motion, with varying outlines.
The further the
student now advances in his psychic development, the more
will his astral body become regularly organized; in the case
of a person whose psychic life is undeveloped, it remains
ill-organized and confused. Yet in such an unorganized astral
body the clairvoyant can perceive a form which stands out
clearly from its environment. It extends from the interior of
the head to the middle of the physical body. It appears as,
in a certain sense, an independent body possessed of special
organs. These organs, which are now to be considered, are
seen to exist in the following parts of the physical body:
the first between the eyes; the second at the larynx; the
third in the region of the heart; the fourth in what is
called the pit of the stomach; while the fifth and sixth are
situated in the abdomen. Such forms are technically known as
“wheels” (chakras) or
“lotus-flowers.” They are so called an account of
their likeness to wheels or flowers, but of course it should
be clearly understood that such an expression is not to be
applied more literally than when one calls the lobes of the
lungs the “wings.” Just as everybody knows that
here one is not really dealing with “wings,” so
must it be remembered that in respect of the
“wheels” one is merely speaking figuratively.
These “lotus-flowers” are at present, in the
undeveloped person, of dark colors and without
movement — inert. In the clairvoyant, however, they are
seen to be in motion and of luminous color. In the medium
something similar happens, albeit in a different way; but
that part of the subject cannot now, be pursued any further.
As soon as the occult student begins his practises, the
lotus-flowers first become lucent; later on they begin to
revolve. It is when this occurs that the faculty of
clairvoyance begins. For these “flowers” are the
sense-organs of the soul, and their revolutions make manifest
the fact that one is able to perceive in the superphysical
world. No one can behold any superphysical thing until he has
in this way developed his astral senses.
The
sense-organ, which is situated in the vicinity of the larynx,
allows one to perceive clairvoyantly the thoughts of another
person, and also brings a deeper insight into the true laws
of natural phenomena. The organ situated near the heart
permits of a clairvoyant knowledge concerning the sentiments
of another person. He who has developed it can also observe
certain of the deeper powers in animals and plants. By means
of the organ that lies in the pit of the stomach one acquires
knowledge of the capacities and talents of a person: by this,
too, one is enabled to see what parts in the household of
nature are played by animals, plants, stones, metals,
atmospheric phenomena, and so on.
The organ
situated at the larynx has sixteen “petals”or
“spokes”; that which is in the region of the
heart has twelve; that which is in the pit of the stomach has
ten. Now certain activities of the soul are connected with
the development of these sense-organs, and he who practises
them in a particular way contributes something to the
development of the astral organs concerned. Eight of the
sixteen petals of the “lotus” have been developed
already during an earlier stage of human evolution, in a
remote past. To this development the human being contributed
nothing. He held them as a gift of Nature, when he was yet in
a dreamy, dull state of consciousness. At that stage of human
evolution they were already active. The manner of their
activity, however, was only compatible with the dull state of
consciousness already mentioned. As consciousness then grew
brighter, the petals became obscure and withdrew their
activity. The other eight can be developed by a person's
conscious practise, and after that the entire lotus becomes
both brilliant and active. The acquisition of certain
capacities depends upon the development of every one of these
petals. Yet, as already shown, one can only consciously
develop eight of them; the other eight reappear
spontaneously.
Their
development is consummated in the following manner. One must
apply oneself with care and attention to certain functions of
the soul which one usually exercises in a careless manner and
without attention. There are eight such functions. The first
depends an the manner in which one receives ideas. People
usually allow themselves to be led in this respect by chance
alone. They hear this and that, they see one thing and
another, upon which they base their ideas. While this is the
case the sixteen petals of the lotus remain quite torpid.
Only when one begins in this matter to take one's education
into one's own hands do they really begin to be effective.
All conceptions must be guarded with this end in view. Every
idea should have some significance. One ought to see in it a
certain message, a fragment of knowledge concerning the
things of the outer world, and one must not be satisfied with
conceptions that have no such significance. One should so
govern one's mental life that it becomes a mirror of the
outer world, and should direct one's energies to the
expulsion of incorrect ideas.
The second of
these functions is concerned, in a similar way, with the
control of the resolutions. One should only make resolutions
after a well-founded, full consideration of even the most
insignificant points. All thoughtless deeds, all meaningless
actions, should be put far away from the soul. For everything
one must have well-considered grounds, and one ought never to
do a thing for which there is no real need.
The third
function relates to speech. The occult student should only
utter what is sensible and purposeful. All talking for the
sake of talking draws him away from his path. He must avoid
the usual method of conversation, in which all manner of
things, unselected and heterogeneous, are spoken of together.
In accomplishing this, however, he must not preclude himself
from intercourse with his fellows. Precisely in such
intercourse ought his conversation to grow in significance.
He answers everybody, but he does so thoughtfully and after
careful consideration of the question. He never speaks
without grounds for what he says. He seeks to use neither too
many nor too few words.
The fourth
function is the regulation of outward action. The student
seeks to direct his actions in such a way that it fits in
with the actions of his fellow-men and with the peculiarities
of his environment. He rejects all actions that are
disturbing to others or that are antagonistic to those which
are customary around him. He tries so to act that his deeds
may combine harmoniously with his environment, with his
position in life, and so forth. Where he is caused to act by
some external suggestion he considers carefully how he can
best respond. Where he is his own master, he considers the
effects of his methods of action with the utmost care.
The fifth
activity here to be noticed lies in the management of the
entire life. The occult student endeavors to live in
conformity with both Nature and Spirit. Never over-hasty, he
is also never idle. Indolence and superfluous activity lie
equally far away from him. He looks upon life as a means for
work and he lives accordingly. He arranges habits, and
fosters health so that a harmonious life is the outcome.
The sixth is
concerned with human endeavor. The student tests his
capacities and his knowledge and conducts himself in the
light of such self-knowledge. He tries to perform nothing
that is beyond his powers; but also to omit nothing for which
they inwardly seem adequate. On the other hand, he sets
before himself aims that coincide with the ideal, with the
high duty of a human being. He does not merely regard himself
half thoughtlessly as a wheel in the vast machinery of
mankind, but endeavors to comprehend its problems, to look
out beyond the trivial and the daily. He thus endeavors to
fulfil his obligations ever better and more perfectly.
The seventh
change in the life of his soul deals with the effort to learn
as much from life as possible. Nothing passes before the
student without giving him occasion to accumulate experience
which is of value to him for life. If he has done anything
wrongly or imperfectly, it offers an opportunity later an to
make it correspondingly either right or perfect. If he sees
others act, he watches them with a similar intent. He tries
to collect from experience a rich treasure, and ever to
consult it attentively; nor, indeed, will he do anything
without having looked back over experiences that can give him
help in his decisions and actions.
Finally, the
eighth is this: the student must from time to time look
inward, sink back into himself, take careful counsel with
himself, build up and test the foundations of his life, run
over his store of knowledge, ponder upon his duties, consider
the contents and aim of life, and so forth. All these matters
have already been mentioned in
The Way of Initiation
(see page 7); here they are merely recapitulated in
connection with the development of the sixteen-petalled
lotus. By means of these exercises it will become ever more
and more perfect, for upon such practices depends the
development of clairvoyance. For instance, the more a person
thinks and utters what harmonizes with the actual occurrences
of the outer world, the more quickly will he develop this
faculty. He who thinks or speaks anything that is untrue
kills something in the bud of the sixteen-petalled lotus.
Truthfulness, Uprightness, and Honesty are in this connection
formative, but Falsehood, Simulation, and Dishonesty are
destructive forces. The student must recognize that not
merely “good intentions” are needed, but also
actual deeds. If I think or say anything which does not
harmonize with the truth, I kill something in my astral
organs, even although I believed myself to speak or think
from intentions ever so good. It is here as with the child
who needs must burn itself if it falls into the fire, even
although this may have occurred from ignorance. The
regulation of the above-mentioned activities of the soul in
the manner described, allows the sixteen-petalled lotus to
ray forth in splendid hues and imparts to it a definite
movement. Yet it must be remarked that the signs of
clairvoyant faculty cannot appear before a certain stage of
this development is reached. So long as it is a trouble to
lead this kind of life the faculty remains unmanifested. So
long as one has to give special thought to the matters
already described, one is yet unripe. Only when one has
carried them so far that one lives quite habitually in the
specified manner can the preliminary traces of clairvoyance
appear. These matters must therefore no longer seem
troublesome, but must become the habitual way of life. There
is no need to watch oneself continually, nor to force oneself
an to such a life. Everything must become habitual. There are
certain instructions by the fulfilment of which the lotus may
be brought to blossom in another way. But such methods are
rejected by true occultism, for they lead to the destruction
of physical health and to the ruin of morality. They are
easier to accomplish than those described, which are
protracted and troublesome, but the latter lead to the true
goal and cannot but strengthen morality. (The student will
notice that the spiritual practises described above
correspond to what is called in Buddhism “the eightfold
path.” Here the connection between that path and the
upbuilding of the astral organs must be explained.)
If to all that
has been said there is added the observance of certain orders
which the student may only receive orally from the teacher,
there results an acceleration in the development of the
sixteen-petalled lotus. But such instructions cannot be given
outside the precincts of an occult school. Yet the regulation
of life in the way described is also useful for those who
will not, or cannot, attach themselves to a school. For the
effect upon the astral body occurs in every case, even if it
be but slowly. To the occult pupil the observance of these
principles is indispensable. If he should try to train
himself in occultism without observing them, he could only
enter the higher world with defective mental eyes; and in
place of knowing the truth he would then be merely subject to
deception and illusion. In a certain direction he might
become clairvoyant; but fundamentally nothing but a blindness
completer than of old would beset him. For hitherto he stood
at least firmly in the midst of the sense-world and had in it
a certain support; but now he sees beyond that world and will
fall into error concerning it before he is able to stand
securely in a higher sphere. As a rule, indeed, he cannot
distinguish error from truth, and he loses all direction in
life. For this very reason is patience in such matters
essential. It must always be remembered that the occult
teacher may not proceed very far with his instructions unless
an earnest desire for a regulated development of the
lotus-flowers is already present. Only mere caricatures of
these flowers could be evolved if they were brought to
blossom before they had acquired, in a steady manner, their
appropriate form. For the special instructions of the teacher
bring about the blossoming of the lotuses, but form is
imparted to them by the manner of life already outlined.
The irregular
development of a lotus-flower has, for its result, not only
illusion and fantastic conceptions where a certain kind of
clairvoyance has occurred, but also errors and lack of
balance in life itself. Through such development one may well
become timid, envious, conceited, self-willed, stiff-necked,
and so on, while hitherto one may have possessed none of
these characteristics. It has already been said that eight
petals of the lotus were developed long ago, in a very remote
past, and that these in the course of occult education unfold
again of themselves. In the instruction of the student, all
care must now be given to the other eight. By erroneous
teaching the former may easily appear alone, and the latter
remain untended and inert. This would be the case
particularly when too little logical, reasonable thinking is
introduced into the instruction. It is of supreme importance
that the student should be a sensible and clear-thinking
person, and of equal importance that he should practise the
greatest clarity of speech. People who begin to have some
presentiment of superphysical things are apt to become
talkative about such things. In that way they retard their
development. The less one talks about these matters the
better. Only he who has come to a certain stage of clearness
ought to speak of them.
At the
commencement of the instructions occult students are
astonished, as a rule, to find how little curiosity the
teacher exhibits concerning their experiences. It were best
of all for them if they were to remain entirely
uncommunicative about these experiences, and should say
nothing further than how successful or how unsuccessful they
had been in the performance of their exercises or in the
observance of their instructions. The occult teacher has
quite other means of estimating their progress than their own
communications. The eight petals now under consideration
always become a little hardened through such communication
where they ought really to grow soft and supple. An
illustration shall be given to explain this, not taken from
the superphysical world, but, for the sake of clearness, from
ordinary life. Suppose that I hear a piece of news and
thereupon form at once an opinion. In a little while I
receive some further news which does not harmonize with the
previous information. I am constrained thereby to reverse my
original judgment. The result of this is an unfavorable
influence upon my sixteen-petalled lotus. It would have been
quite otherwise if, in the first place, I had suspended my
judgment; if concerning the whole affair I had remained,
inwardly in thought and outwardly in words, entirely silent
until I had acquired quite reliable grounds for the formation
of my judgment. Caution in the formation and the
pronouncement of opinions becomes, by degrees, the special
characteristic of the occult student. Thereby he increases
his sensibility to impressions and experiences, which he
allows to pass over him silently in order to collect the
largest possible number of facts from which to form his
opinions. There exist in the lotus-flower bluish-red and
rose-red shades of color which manifest themselves under the
influence of such circumspection, while in the opposite case
orange and dark red shades would appear.
The
twelve-petalled lotus which lies in the region of the heart
is formed in a similar way. Half its petals, likewise, were
already existent and active in a remote stage of human
evolution. These six petals do not require to be especially
evolved in the occult school: they appear spontaneously and
begin to revolve when we set to work an the other six. In the
cultivation of these, as in the previous ease, one has to
control and direct certain activities of the mind in a
special way.
It must be
clearly understood that the perceptions of each astral or
soul-organ bear a peculiar character. The twelve-petalled
lotus possesses perception of quite a different kind from
that of the sixteen petals. The latter perceives forms. The
thoughts of a person and the laws under which a natural
phenomenon takes place appear to the sixteen-petalled lotus
as forms — not, however, rigid, motionless forms, but
active and filled with life. The clairvoyant, in whom this
sense is well evolved, can discern a form wherewith every
thought, every natural law, finds expression. A thought of
vengeanee, for example, manifests as an arrow-like, pronged
form, while a thought of goodwill frequently takes the shape
of an opening flower. Clear-cut, meaningful thoughts are
formed regularly and symmetrically, while hazy conceptions
take an hazy outlines. By means of the twelve-petalled flower
quite different perceptions are acquired. Approximately one
can indicate the nature of these perceptions by likening them
to the sense of cold and heat. A clairvoyant equipped with
this faculty feels a mental warmth or chilliness raying out
from the forms discerned by means of the sixteen-petalled
flower. If a clairvoyant had evolved the sixteen-petalled
lotus, but not the lotus of twelve petals, he would only
observe a thought of goodwill as the shape already described,
while another in whom both senses were developed would also
discern that outraying of the thought which one can only call
a mental warmth. It may be remarked in passing that in the
occult school one sense is never evolved without the other,
so that what has just been said should only be regarded as
having been stated for the sake of clarity. By the
cultivation of the twelve-petalled lotus the clairvoyant
discovers in himself a deep comprehension of natural
processes. Everything that is growing or evolving rays out
warmth; everything that is decaying, perishing, or in ruins,
will seem cold.
The development
of this sense may be accelerated in the following manner. The
first requirement is that the student should apply himself to
the regulation of his thoughts. Just as the sixteen-petalled
lotus achieves its evolution by means of earnest and
significant thinking, so is the twelve-petalled flower
cultivated by means of an inward control over the currents of
thought. Errant thoughts which follow each other in no
logical or reasonable sequence, but merely by pure chance,
destroy the form of the lotus in question. The more one
thought follows another, the more all disconnected thought is
thrown aside, the more does this astral organ assume its
appropriate form. If the student hears illogical thought
expressed, he should silently set it straight within his own
mind. He ought not, for the purpose of perfecting his own
development, to withdraw himself uncharitably from what is
perhaps an illogical mental environment. Neither should he
allow himself to feel impelled to correct the illogical
thinking around him. Rather should he quietly, in his own
inner self, constrain this whirlpool of thoughts to a logical
and reasonable course. And above all things ought he to
strive after this regulation in the region of his own
thoughts.
A second
requirement is that he should control his actions in a
similar way. All instability or disharmony of action produces
a withering effect upon the lotus-flower which is here in
consideration. If the student has done anything he should
manage the succeeding act so that it forms a logical sequence
to the first, for he who acts differently from day to day
will never evolve this faculty or sense.
The third
requirement is the cultivation of perseverance. The occult
student never allows himself to be drawn by this or that
influence aside from his goal so long as he continues to
believe that it is the right one. Obstacles are for him like
challenges to overcome them and never afford reasons for
loitering an the way.
The fourth
requirement is tolerance as regards all persons and
circumstances. The student should seek to avoid all
superfluous criticism of imperfections and vices, and should
rather endeavor to comprehend everything that comes under his
notice. Even as the sun does not refuse its light to the evil
and the vicious, so he, too, should not refuse them an
intelligent sympathy. If the student meets with some trouble,
he should not waste his forte in criticism, but bow to
necessity and seek how he may try to transmute the misfortune
into good. He does not look at another's opinions from his
own standpoint alone, but seeks to put himself into his
companion's position.
The fifth
requirement is impartiality in one's relation to the affairs
of life. In this connection we speak of “trust”
and “faith.” The occult student goes out to every
person and every creature with this faith, and through it he
acts. He never says to himself, when anything is told to him,
“I do not believe that, since it is opposed to my
present opinions.” Far rather is he ready at any moment
to test and rearrange his opinions and ideas. He always
remains impressionable to everything that confronts him.
Likewise does he trust in the efficiency of what he
undertakes. Timidity and skepticism are banished from his
being. If he has any purpose in view, he has also faith in
its power. A hundred failures cannot rob him of this
confidence. It is indeed that “faith which can move
mountains.”
The sixth
requirement is the cultivation of a certain equanimity. The
student strives to temper his moods, whether they come laden
with sorrow or with joy. He must avoid the extremes of rising
up to the sky in rapture or sinking down to the earth in
despair, but should constantly control his mind and keep it
evenly balanced. Sorrow and peril, joy and prosperity alike
find him ready armed.
The reader of
theosophical literature will find the qualities here
described, under the name of the “six attributes”
which must be striven after by him who would attain to
initiation. Here their connection with the astral sense,
which is called the twelve-petalled lotus, is to be
explained. The teacher can impart specific instructions which
cause the lotus to blossom; but here, as before, the
development of its symmetrical form depends upon the
attributes already mentioned. He who gives little or no heed
to that development will only form this organ into a
caricature of its proper shape. It is possible to cultivate a
certain clairvoyance of this nature by directing these
attributes to their evil side instead of to the good. A
person may be intolerant, faint-hearted, and contentious
toward his environment; may, for instance, perceive the
sentiments of other people and either run away from them or
hate them. This can be so accentuated that on account of the
mental coldness which rays out to him from opinions which are
contrary to his own, he cannot bear to listen to them, or
else behaves in an objectionable manner.
The mental
culture which is important for the development of the
ten-petalled lotus is of a peculiarly delicate kind, for here
it is a question of learning to dominate, in a particular
manner, the very sense-impressions themselves. It is of
especial importance to the clairvoyant at the outset, for
only by this faculty can he avoid a source of countless
illusions and mental mirages. Usually, a person is not at all
clear as to what things have dominion over his memories and
fancies. Let us take the following case. Someone travels on
the railway, and busies himself with a thought. Suddenly his
thoughts take quite another direction. He then recollects an
experience which he had some years ago, and interweaves it
with his immediate thought. But he did not notice that his
eyes have been turned toward the window, and were caught by
the glance of a person who bears a likeness to someone else
who was intimately concerned with the recollected experience.
He remains unconscious of what he has seen and is only
conscious of the results, and he therefore believes that the
whole affair arose spontaneously. How much in life occurs in
such a way! We play over things in our lives which we have
read or experienced without bringing the connection into our
consciousness. Some one, for instance, cannot bear a
particular color, but he does not realize that this is due to
the fact that the schoolteacher of whom he was afraid, many
years ago, used to wear a coat of that color. Innumerable
illusions are based upon such associations. Many things
penetrate to the soul without becoming embodied in the
consciousness. The following case is a possible example. Some
one reads in the paper about the death of a well-known
person, and straightway is convinced that yesterday he had a
presentiment about it, although he neither saw nor heard of
anything that could have given rise to such a thought. It is
quite true, the thought that this particular person would
die, emerged yesterday “by itself,” only he has
failed to notice one thing. Two or three hours before this
thought occurred to him yesterday he went to visit an
acquaintance. A newspaper lay on the table, but he did not
read it. Yet unconsciously his eyes fell upon an account of
the dangerous illness in which the person concerned was
lying. He was not conscious of the impression, but the
effects of it were, in reality, the whole substance of the
“presentiment.”
If one reflects
upon such matters, one can measure how deep a source of
illusion and fantasy they supply. It is this that he who
desires to foster the ten-petalled lotus must dam up, for by
means of the latter one can perceive characteristics deeply
embedded in human and other beings. But the truth can only be
extracted from these perceptions if one has entirely freed
oneself from the delusions here described. For this purpose
it is necessary that one should become master of that which
is carried in to one from the external world. One must extend
this mastery so far that veritably one does not receive those
influences which one does not desire to receive, and this can
only be achieved gradually by living a very powerful inward
life. This must be so thoroughly done that one only allows
those things to impress one on which one voluntarily directs
the attention, and that one really prevents those impressions
which might otherwise be unconsciously registered. What is
seen must be voluntarily seen, and that to which no attention
is given must actually no longer exist for oneself. The more
vitally and energetically the soul does its inward work, the
more will it acquire this power. The occult student must
avoid all vague wanderings of sight or hearing. For him only
those things to which he turns his eye or his ear must exist.
He must practise the power of hearing nothing even in the
loudest disturbance when he wishes to hear nothing: he must
render his eyes unimpressionable to things which he does not
especially desire to notice. He must be shielded as by a
mental armor from all unconscious impressions. But in the
region of his thoughts particularly must he apply himself in
this respect. He puts a thought before him and only seeks to
think such thoughts as, in full consciousness and freedom, he
can relate to it. Fancy he rejects. If he finds himself
anxious to connect one thought with another, he feels round
carefully to discover how this latter thought occurred to
him. He goes yet further. If, for instance, he has a
particular antipathy for anything, he will wrestle with it
and endeavor to find out some conscious connection between
the antipathy and its object. In this way the unconscious
elements in his soul become ever fewer and fewer. Only by
such severe self-searching can the ten-petalled lotus attain
the form which it ought to possess. The mental life of the
occult student must be an attentive life, and he must know
how to ignore completely everything which he does not wish,
or ought not, to observe.
If such
introspection is followed by a meditation, which is
prescribed by the instructions of the teacher, the
lotus-flower in the region of the pit of the stomach blossoms
in the correct way, and that which had appeared (to the
astral senses already described) as form and heat acquires
also the characteristics of light and color. Through this are
revealed, for instance, the talents and capacities of people,
the powers and the hidden attributes of Nature. The colored
aura of the living creature then becomes visible; all that is
around us then manifests its spiritual attributes. It will be
obvious that the very greatest care is necessary in the
development of this province, for the play of unconscious
memories is here exceedingly active. If this were not the
case, many people would possess the sense now under
consideration, for it appears almost immediately if a person
has really got the impressions of his senses so completely
under his power that they depend an nothing but his attention
or inattention. Only so long as the dominion of the senses
holds the soul in subjection and dullness, does it remain
inactive.
Of greater
difficulty than the development of this lotus is that of the
six-petalled flower which is situated in the center of the
body. For to cultivate this it is necessary to strive after a
complete mastery of the whole personality by means of
self-consciousness, so that body, soul, and spirit make but
one harmony. The functions of the body, the inclinations and
passions of the soul, the thoughts and ideas of the spirit
must be brought into complete union with each other. The body
must be so refined and purified that its organs assimilate
nothing which may not be of service to the soul and spirit.
The soul must assimilate nothing through the body, whether of
passion or desire, which is antagonistic to pure and noble
thoughts. The spirit must not dominate the soul with laws and
obligations like a slave-owner, but rather must the soul
learn to follow by inclination and free choice these laws and
duties. The duties of an occult student must not rule him as
by a power to which he unwillingly submits, but rather as by
something which he fulfils because he likes it. He must
evolve a free soul which has attained an equilibrium between
sense and spirit. He must carry this so far that he can
abandon himself to the sense because it has been so ennobled
that it has lost the power to drag him down. He must no
longer require to curb his passions, inasmuch as they follow
the good by themselves. As long as a person has to chastise
himself he cannot arrive at a certain stage of occult
education, for a virtue to which one has to constrain oneself
is then valueless. As long as one retains a desire, even
although one struggles not to comply therewith, it upsets
one's development, nor does it matter whether this appetite
be of the soul or of the body. For example, if some one
avoids a particular stimulant for the purpose of purifying
himself by refining his pleasures, it can only benefit him if
his body suffers nothing by this deprivation. If this be not
the case it is an indication that the body requires the
stimulant, and the renunciation is then worthless. In this
case it may even be true that the person in question must
first of all forego the desirable goal and wait until
favorable conditions — perhaps only in another
life — shall surround him. A tempered renunciation is,
under certain circumstances, a much greater acquisition than
the struggle for something which in given conditions remains
unattainable. Indeed, such a tempered renunciation
contributes more than such struggle to one's development.
He who has
evolved the six-petalled lotus can communicate with beings
who are native to the higher worlds, though even then only if
their presence is manifested in the astral or soul-world. In
an occult school, however, no instructions concerning the
development of this lotus-flower would be imparted before the
student had trodden far enough an the upward path to permit
of his spirit mounting into a yet higher world. The formation
of these lotus-flowers must always be accompanied by entrance
into this really spiritual sphere. Otherwise the student
would fall into error and uncertainty. He would undoubtedly
be able to see, but he would remain incapable of estimating
rightly the phenomena there seen. Now there already exists in
him who has learned to evolve the six-petalled lotus, a
security from error and giddiness, for no one who has
acquired complete equilibrium of sense (or body) , passion
(or soul), and thought (or spirit) will be easily led into
mistakes. Nothing is more essential than this security when,
by the development of the six-petalled lotus, beings
possessed of life and independence, and belonging to a world
so completely hidden from his physical senses, are revealed
before the spirit of the student. In order to ensure the
necessary safety in this world, it is not enough to have
cultivated the lotus-flowers, since he must have yet higher
organs at his disposal.
Notes:
1.
The Way of Initiation,
or
How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds.
By Rudolf Steiner, Ph.D. With a foreword by Annie Besant, and
some Biographical Notes of the Author by Edouard Schuré.
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