Anthroposophical Guidelines

Spiritual Realms and Human Self-knowledge

The Guidelines which have been sent from the Goetheanum to the members of the Anthroposophical Society during the past weeks link the psychic gaze to the beings of the spiritual realms, to which man is related above just as much as he is to the natural realms below.

True self-knowledge can be the guide to these spiritual realms. And when such self-knowledge is striven for in the right way, one will find understanding for what anthroposophy imparts as knowledge derived from insight into the life of the spiritual world. One must only practice self-knowledge in the right way, and not by merely concentrating on the “inner self”.

By means of such real self-knowledge, at first one encounters what is alive in remembrance. In thought-pictures he recalls to consciousness the shadows of what he directly experienced in the past. Upon seeing a shadow, one is directed by an inner urge of thinking to the object which cast the shadow. Whoever has a remembrance of something cannot arrive so directly in his mind at the experience which persists in the remembrance. But if he really reflects on his own being, he will have to say: “It is himself, in his soul, who created the experience which cast its shadow and made him what he is.” The remembrance-shadows arise in consciousness, and they are illuminated in the soul. Dead shadows live in remembrance; living Being resides in the soul in which remembrance continues to act.

One must only be clear about the relationship of remembrance to true soul-life; and in this striving for clarity in self-knowledge one will feel that he is on the path to the spiritual world. Through remembrance one is looking at the spiritual aspect of his own soul. For normal consciousness this visualization does not truly grasp the object. One looks at something, but does not encounter reality.

By means of imaginative cognition, anthroposophy points to this reality. It guides us from shadow to illumination. It does this when speaking of man’s etheric body. It shows how the physical body acts in the thought-shadow-images; but how the etheric body lives in illumination. With his physical body man is in the sense-world, with his etheric body he is in the etheric world. He has an environment in the physical world; he also has one in the etheric world. Anthroposophy refers to this environment as the first hidden world in which man finds himself. It is the realm of the third hierarchy.

We approach language in the same way we approached remembrance. It arises from within man, as does remembrance. Through it man connects to a being as he does in respect to his own experiences in remembrance. A shadow nature is also present in words. It is stronger than the shadow nature of remembrance. When a person casts the shadow from his experiences in remembrance, his hidden self in active in the whole process. He is present as illumination casts the shadow.

There is also a shadow-casting in language. Words are shadows. What illumines here? Something stronger illumines, for words are stronger shadows than remembrances. What remembrances can create in the human self during the course of an earth life cannot create words. He must learn them in relationship with others. A deeper being in him than the one casting remembrance shadows must participate. Here anthroposophy speaks from inspired cognition of the astral body, as it does of the etheric body in respect to remembrance. The astral body is thus added to the physical and etheric bodies as the human being’s third component.

This third member also has a cosmic environment. It is that of the second hierarchy. A shadow-image of this second hierarchy is given in human speech. Man lives with his astral body within the realm of this hierarchy.

We can go further. In speaking man participates with part of his being; he puts his inner self in motion. What surrounds his inner self remains in repose in speech itself. The motion involved in speaking wrests itself from the human being in repose. But the whole man goes into motion when he activates his limbs. In this movement he is no less expressive than in remembrance and speech. Remembrance expresses experiences; the essence of speech is that it expresses something. Thus man in movement with his whole being expresses a “something”.

Anthroposophy describes what is thus expressed as an additional component of the human being. Through intuitive cognition it speaks of the “true self” or the “I”. It also finds its cosmic environment: that of the first hierarchy.

By moving toward his remembrance-thoughts, man is met by a primary super-sensible component, his own etheric being. By grasping himself as a speaker, his astral being comes to meet him. This is no longer grasped only by what acts inwardly, like remembrance. Inspiration sees it as that which, in speaking, forms a physical act that originates in the spirit. Speech is a physical process. Fundamentally it is a function from the realm of the second hierarchy.

In the whole man in motion a more intensive physical action is present than in speaking. It is not “something” which is formed; it is the whole person. Here the first hierarchy is active in the formation of the active physical human being.

In this way true self-knowledge can be practiced. One does not grasp his own self alone in this way however. Gradually he grasps his component members: the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, the self. And in grasping these elements, he gradually approaches the higher worlds in which his being unfolds - just as the three kingdoms of nature: the animal, the vegetable, the mineral belong as three spiritual realms to the cosmos as a whole.

The third hierarchy manifests itself as pure spirit-soul. It acts in what man experiences psychically, that is, in his soul. Processes could take place neither in the etheric nor in the astral regions if only this hierarchy was active. Only the spiritual-psychic would exist.

69. The third hierarchy manifests itself as pure spirit-soul. It acts in what man experiences psychically, that is, in his soul. Processes could take place neither in the etheric nor in the astral regions if only this hierarchy was active. Only the spiritual-psychic would exist.
70. The second hierarchy manifests itself as the spiritual-psychic which acts in the etheric. Everything etheric is a manifestation of the second hierarchy. It manifests itself only indirectly in the physical however. Its strength extends only to etheric processes. Only the psychic and the etheric would exist if the third and second hierarchies alone were active.
71. The first hierarchy, the strongest, manifests itself as spiritually active in the physical. It transforms the physical world into Cosmos. The third and the second hierarchies serve as helpers.
72. As soon as one approaches the higher components of the human being: the etheric and astral bodies and the I-organization, he feels impelled to seek the relation of man to the beings of the spiritual realms. Only the physical-body organization can be illumined by the three physical kingdoms of nature.
73. Cosmic intelligence is integrated in the human being in the etheric body. In order for this to happen, the activity of cosmic beings is required who, cooperating, shape the etheric body, just as the physical forces shape the physical.
74. The spiritual world impresses moral impulses in the human being. Their effectiveness depends upon the activity of beings who not only think the spiritual, but can also essentially shape it.
75. In the I-organization, man experiences himself in the physical body as spirit. In order for this to happen, the activity of beings is necessary who themselves live in the physical world as spiritual beings.

How the Guidelines are to be used:

The Guidelines issued from the Goetheanum are meant to motivate the members who wish to be active to give the content of anthroposophical activity an integrative form. They will find that by considering these guidelines every week, they provide guidance for deepening their understanding of the material already given in the lecture cycles, and enable them to present them at branch meetings in a more orderly fashion.

It would certainly be preferable if every week the lectures given in Dornach could be immediately communicated to all the branches. But one can imagine the complicated technical arrangements necessary to do this. The Executive Board is doing everything possible in this direction. But we must take the available possibilities into account. The intentions presented at the Christmas Conference will be realized. But we need time.

Presently the branches which have members who visit the Goetheanum and hear the lectures and can communicate their content to the branches have an advantage. And the branches should realize that sending those members to the Goetheanum is beneficial. But one should not undervalue the work which has already been accomplished in the Anthroposophical Society and which is available in the printed courses and lectures. Whoever examines these lecture cycles and remembers what content is in one or the other according to the titles, and then goes to the Guidelines, will find that what is contained in the various lecture cycles is elaborated further in the Guidelines. By reading them together, the viewpoints which are separated in the individual cycles can be illustrated and explained with the support of the Guidelines.

It is wasteful if we leave the printed cycles unused and are only interested in “the newest” from the Goetheanum. It is also easy to understand that the ability to print the cycles will gradually end if they are not used extensively.

Another point comes into question here. In the dissemination of anthroposophical content, conscientiousness and a sense of responsibility are of prime importance. One must transmit what is said about the spiritual world in images of spiritual facts and beings in a way which does not give rise to misunderstandings. If someone hears a lecture at the Goetheanum, he receives a direct impression of it. When he then imparts it to others this impression lingers, and he is able to formulate the things so that they are correctly understood. If a second or even a third person becomes the intermediary however, the probability increases that inaccuracies creep in. This should be kept in mind.

And a third viewpoint is the most important. It is not a question of anthroposophical content being merely listened to or read, but that it be assimilated by the living soul. What is essential lies in the continuous thinking about and feeling what has been has been received. This is meant to be stimulated by the Guidelines in respect to the already available printed lecture cycles. If this viewpoint is disregarded, it will become ever more difficult for the Being of anthroposophy to be revealed through the Anthroposophical Society.

One says with apparent justification: “What good is it to me to hear so much about spiritual worlds if I can’t see into those worlds myself?” This does not take into consideration the fact that the ability to see is furthered when anthroposophical content is treated as indicated here. The lectures at the Goetheanum are given in such a way that their content can livingly and freely be retained in the listeners’ hearts. It is no dead material for the mere passing on of information. It is of a substance which by various viewpoints stimulates the ability to see into spiritual worlds. One should not believe: I listen to the lectures; I acquire knowledge of the spiritual world through meditation. One will never really progress in that way. Both must work together into the soul. And continuous thinking and feeling anthroposophical content is also practice for the soul. One lives seeing into the spiritual world if one proceeds with this content in the way indicated here.

In the Anthroposophical Society it is not sufficiently understood that anthroposophy is not some bleak theory, but is meant to be true life. True life, that is its essence; and when it is made into a bleak theory it is often not a better theory than others, but a worse one. But it is transformed into a theory when it is made into one, when it is killed. It is not sufficiently understood that anthroposophy is not merely a different worldview than others, but that it must also be assimilated differently. One recognizes and experiences its essence by this different way of assimilating it.

The Goetheanum should be recognized as the necessary center of anthroposophical activity; but one must not forget that in the branches the anthroposophical material which has been elaborated here should also be utilized. What has been elaborated at the Goetheanum can be acquired gradually by the whole Anthroposophical Society in a completely vital sense, if as many branch members as possible come to the Goetheanum and participate in its living activity. It must all, however, be done introspectively; merely “communicating” the contents every week is not acceptable. The Executive Committee at the Goetheanum will need time and understanding from the members. Then we will be able to carry out the intentions of the Christmas Conference.

76. If one wishes to evoke a mental image of the first hierarchy (Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones), one must try to form images in which the spiritual (only supersensibly visible) is actively manifested in the form in which they appear in the sense-world. The spiritual as sense-perceptible imagery must be the content of our thoughts about the first hierarchy.
77. If one wishes to evoke a mental image of the second hierarchy (Kyriotetes, Dynameis, Exusiai), one must try to form images in which the spiritual is manifested not in sense-perceptible forms, but in a purely spiritual way. The spiritual in non-sense perceptible, purely spiritual imagery must be the content of thoughts about the second hierarchy.
78. If one wishes to evoke a mental image of the third hierarchy (Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi), one must try to form images in which the spiritual is manifested neither in sense-perceptible forms nor in a purely spiritual way, but rather as thinking, feeling and willing act in the human soul. The spiritual as psychic [soul] imagery must be the content of thoughts about a third hierarchy.