|
|
|
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
|
|
An Outline of Occult Science
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
|
|
An Outline of Occult Science
COGNITION OF THE HIGHER WORLDS. INITIATION.
After the student of the spiritual has encountered the guardian
of the threshold, further experiences await him as he ascends
into supersensible worlds. First he will notice that an inner
relationship exists between this guardian of the threshold
and the soul-power that, in the above description, has resulted as the
seventh, and has shaped itself into an independent principle. Indeed,
this seventh principle is in a certain regard nothing else but the
Doppelganger, the guardian of the threshold himself, and
this principle sets the student of the spiritual a special task. He
has to direct and lead with his newborn self what he is in his
ordinary self and which appears to him in an image. A sort of battle
against the Doppelganger will result. The latter will constantly
strive for supremacy. To establish the right relationship to this
Doppelganger and not permit him to do anything that is not under the
influence of the newborn ego strengthens and fortifies man's
powers. In the higher world, self-knowledge is different, in a certain
respect, from self-knowledge in the physical-sensory world. Whereas in
the physical-sensory world self-knowledge appears only as an inner
experience, the newborn self presents itself at once as an outer soul
phenomenon. Man beholds his newborn self as another being standing
before him, but he cannot perceive it completely. For whatever stage
he may have reached upon the way into the supersensible worlds, there
are always still higher stages. At these stages he will perceive ever
more and more of his higher self. This higher
self can thus only partially reveal itself to the student of the
spiritual at any of these stages. The temptation is extremely great
which overtakes the human being when he first becomes aware of some
aspect of his higher self, to observe this higher
self, so to speak, from the standpoint he has gained in the
physical-sensory world. This temptation is even good and it must
appear, if development is to proceed in the right way. We must observe
what appears in the Doppelganger, the guardian of the
threshold, and place it before the higher self in
order to note the contrast between what we are and what we are to
become. Through this observation the guardian of the
threshold begins to take on quite a different form. He presents
himself as an image of all the hindrances that the development of the
higher self must encounter. The student will perceive what a load he
must drag in the form of his ordinary self, and if he is not strong
enough through his preparations to say, I will not remain
stationary here, but unceasingly strive to reach my higher self,
he will slacken his efforts and shrink back before what is in store
for him. He has plunged into the world of soul and spirit, but now
gives up his efforts. He becomes a prisoner of the form that, through
the guardian of the threshold, now stands before the soul.
What is important here is the fact that in this experience he does not
have the feeling of being a prisoner. On the contrary, he believes he
experiences something quite different. The form that the
guardian of the threshold calls forth can be of such a
nature that it causes the impression in the soul of the observer of
having before him, in the pictures that appear at this evolutionary
stage, the entire compass of all imaginable worlds, of having attained
the pinnacle of knowledge, with no need of striving further. Instead
of feeling to be a prisoner he may feel himself as the immeasurably
rich possessor of all the world mysteries. The fact that one can have
such an experience that depicts the very opposite of the actual facts
will, however, not astonish a person who keeps in mind the fact that,
when he experiences this, he stands already in the world of soul and
spirit and that it is a peculiarity of this world that events may
present themselves in reverse order. This fact was pointed out earlier
in this book when life after death was discussed.
The figure that one perceives at this stage of development shows the
student of the spiritual something in addition to what appeared to him
in the first instance as the guardian of the threshold. In
this Doppelganger all the peculiarities were perceived that the
ordinary self of man has in consequence of the influence of the forces
of Lucifer. Now, however, in the course of human evolution another
power has entered the human soul through the influence of Lucifer.
This is the power that was designated in an earlier section of this
book as the power of Ahriman. It is the power that prevents the human
being during physical sense-existence from perceiving the soul-spirit
beings of the outer world lying behind the veil of the sensory. The
form the human soul has assumed under the influence of this power is
shown in a picture by the shape that emerges in the experience
described. The person who is adequately prepared for this experience
will be able to interpret it correctly; very soon thereafter another
form will appear that we may call the greater guardian of the
threshold in contrast to the already described lesser
guardian. This greater guardian tells the student of the
spiritual that he must not remain stationary at this stage but must
energetically work on. He calls forth in the observer the
consciousness that the world that is conquered becomes truth, and is
not transformed into illusion, only if the work is continued in an
adequate manner. If, because of incorrect spiritual training, a person
were to enter upon this experience unprepared, then, in the encounter
with the greater guardian of the threshold, something
would pour into his soul that only can be compared to the
feeling of immeasurable horror, of boundless
fear.
Just as the student of the spiritual in his encounter with the
lesser guardian of the threshold is afforded the
possibility of testing whether or not he is protected against
delusions arising from the intermingling of his own being with the
supersensible world, so can he also test himself by the experiences
that finally lead to the greater guardian of the threshold
whether he is capable of mastering the delusions described above as
coming from the second source. If he is able to withstand the gigantic
illusion that has been conjured up before him that the picture world
he has gained is a rich possession, while in reality he is only a
prisoner if he is able to resist this delusion, he is then, during the
progressing course of his development, guarded from mistaking illusion
for reality.
The guardian of the threshold will assume, to a certain
degree, an individual shape for each human being. The encounter with
him corresponds indeed to the experience by which the personal
character of the supersensible observations is overcome and through
which the possibility is given of entering a region of experience that
is free from personal coloring and applies to every human being.
Last Modified: 07-Oct-2024
|
The Rudolf Steiner e.Lib is maintained by:
The e.Librarian:
elibrarian@elib.com
|
|
|
|
|