LECTURE TWELVE
OCCULT DEVELOPMENT
You will have gathered
from yesterday's study how important it is to develop a feeling
of fellowship, which means overcoming all regard for your own Ego if
you wish to penetrate more deeply into the spiritual life. For example,
anyone who aspires to occult development must among other things get
rid of the following form of egoism. He must not say: “What good
is it for me to hear about occult things from others when I cannot see
them for myself? That implies a lack of trust. He must trust a person
who has reached a certain stage of development. People work together,
and if someone has achieved more than others, he will not have achieved
it for himself alone but for all the others, and they are called upon
to listen to him. By this means his own powers are enhanced, and his
hearers, through the very fact of having first given him their trust,
will gradually become able to gain knowledge for themselves. You should
not want to take a second step before the first.
There are three paths of
occult development: the Eastern, the Christian-Gnostic and the
Christian-Rosicrucian, or simply the Rosicrucian. They are distinguished
above all by the extent to which the pupil surrenders himself to his
teacher. What, then, happens to a man who enters on occult development?
What are the necessary preconditions for it?
Let us first consider
the life of an ordinary man nowadays. From early till late he is occupied
with his work and his daily experiences; he makes use of his intellect
and his outer senses. He lives and works in what we call the waking
state. But that is only one state; between waking and sleeping there
is another. In this state he is aware of pictures, dream pictures, passing
through his soul. These pictures are not directly related to the external
world and ordinary reality. We may call this the dream-state, and it
is interesting to study how it takes its course. Many people suppose
that dreams are nonsense, but this is not so. Even with people today
dreams have a meaning, but not that of experiences in waking life. When
we are awake, our mental pictures always correspond to definite facts
and experiences; in our dreams they do not. For instance, you may dream
that you hear the clatter of horses' hooves, and when you wake
up you realise that you were hearing the ticking of the clock by your
bedside. Dreams are symbolic pictures. You may have a dream which tells
a whole story. A student, for instance, may dream about a duel and all
its preliminary details, from the request for pistols to the report
of the shot which wakes him — and then he realises that he has
knocked down the chair that stood by his bed. Or again, a peasant woman
may dream that she is on her way to church; she enters; she hears the
priest utter lofty sayings, with his arms moving; suddenly his arms
turn into wings and then the priest starts to crow: she wakes up and
hears the cock crowing outside!
You can see from these
examples that in dreams we live in a very different sort of time from
that of our waking consciousness. The actual cause of the dream I have
quoted was the last event in point of time. The reason is that such
a dream flashes through the soul in a moment and has its own inner time.
You must picture it in this way: when you wake up and remember all
the details, you extend this inner time yourself, so that the events
seem to have occurred in that extended period. This will also help you to
get some idea of how time appears in the astral world. A small experience
thus creates a long dramatic course of events. The dream flashes through
the soul in a moment and in a flash arouses a whole series of pictures.
In this way you yourself transpose time into the dream.
Inner conditions may also
be represented symbolically in dream: for instance, you may have a headache
and dream that you are in a cellar with a lot of cobwebs. Or the beating
of your heart or a feeling of being hot may be represented in a dream
by a fiery stove. Some people who possess a particular inner sensitivity
may have a different experience: they may dream, for instance, that
they are in an unhappy situation. Here the dream is prophetic —
a symbol of some latent illness which will come out in a few days'
time. Many people even dream of the remedy for such an illness. In short,
our manner of perception in dreams is quite different from that of ordinary
life.
The third state is that
of dreamless sleep, sleep without consciousness, when nothing comes
before the soul. Now if you begin to be aware of higher worlds as a
result of inner development, the first indication you will notice is
that your dreams become more regular and meaningful. Above all, you
will gain knowledge through your dreams, provided only that you pay
careful attention to them. Later, you may notice that your dreams become
more frequent, until you come to feel that you have been dreaming all
night through. Again, you may notice that your dreams are concerned
with things which do not exist at all in the outside world and which
you cannot possibly experience physically. You will find that in your
dreams you no longer see things which originate in the outer world or
symbolic conditions such as those I described above, but, as I have
just said, you will experience pictures of things which have no existence
in the sense-world, and you will then notice that your dreams are saying
something important. For instance, you may dream that a friend of yours
is in danger from fire and you may see him getting nearer and nearer
to the danger. The next day you may learn that this friend was taken
ill during the night. You did not actually see him falling ill; you
saw a symbolic picture of it. Thus your dreams may be influenced from
higher worlds, so that you experience something which does not exist
in the physical world; that is how impressions from higher worlds pass
over into dreams. This is a very important bridge to higher occult
development.
Someone might say that
all this was only dreamt — how can any significance be read into
it? But that is a wrong approach. Take the following example: it is
said that Edison once dreamt how to make an electric light bulb; he
remembered the dream and made the light bulb in accordance with it.
Suppose someone had then come along and said: “The lamp is no
good — it was only a dream.” You can see that what matters
is not the mere fact of dreaming but whether the dream has significance
for life. Quite often dreams of this sort go unheeded because we fail
to notice them. That is wrong; it is just these delicate points that
we should attend to; then we shall make progress.
Later comes a stage when
the nature of reality is disclosed to the pupil in dream, and he can
then test the dream by the reality. When he has advanced so far that
he has the whole picture-world present before him in daylight and not
only during sleep, he is then able to analyse with his intellect whether
what he sees is true. This means that it is wrong to use dream-pictures
as a foundation for wisdom; the pupil must wait for them to enter into
his daytime experience. If he exercises conscious control over them,
a stage is soon reached when the pupil not only sees what is physically
present but can truly perceive the astral element in a man, his soul
and his aura. He then learns to understand what the shapes and colours
in the astral body signify — what passions, for example, they
express. So he learns gradually to spell out, as it were, the soul-world.
But he must always realise that everything there is symbolical.
Here it might be objected
that if you see symbols only, some particular event might be symbolised
by all sorts of images, and you could never be sure that a given image
has a consistent meaning. But when you reach a certain stage, one image
always does stand for one thing, just as in the ordinary world one object
is always represented by the same mental concept. For instance, you
will find that a given passion is always represented for everyone by
the same image. The important thing is to learn how to read the images
correctly.
Now you can understand
why the sacred books of all religions tend to speak almost entirely
through symbolic images. Wisdom, for example, may be described as light:
the reason is that to anyone who is occultly developed the wisdom of
man and other beings always appears as astral light. Passions appear
as fire. The ancient religious documents do not tell only of things
on the physical plane, but also of events on higher planes; they owe
their origin to seers and are concerned with higher worlds; hence they
have to speak to us in pictures. Everything narrated from the Akashic
Record has for the same reason been presented in pictures of this kind.
The next condition
experienced by the pupils is called “continuity of
consciousness”. When an ordinary person is completely withdrawn
from the sense-world in sleep, he is unconscious. This is no longer so
with a pupil who has reached the stage just mentioned. By day and by
night, with no interruption, he lives in a state of fully clear
consciousness, even when his physical body is at rest.
After some time the pupil's
entry into a new but quite specific state of consciousness is marked
by the fact that sounds and words are added to the images. The images
speak to him in an intelligible language. They tell him what they are,
without any possibility of deception. These are the sounds and speech
of Devachan, the Music of the Spheres. Everything speaks forth its own
name and its relation to other things. This comes in addition to astral
sight, and it marks the seer's entry into Devachan. Once a man
has reached this Devachanic state, the lotus-flowers, the Chakrams or
wheels begin to revolve at specific places in the astral body, turning
like the hands of a clock from left to right. These are the sense-organs
of the astral body, but their mode of perception is an active one. The
eye, for example, is at rest; it allows the light to enter and only
then perceives it. The lotus-flowers, on the other hand, perceive only
when they are in motion and take hold of an object. The vibrations caused
by the revolving lotus-flowers bring them into contact with the astral
substance, and that is how perception on the astral plane occurs.
What are the forces which
activate the lotus-flowers, and where do they come from? We know that
during sleep the exhausted forces of the physical and etheric bodies
are restored by the astral body; by its inherent regularity it can make
up for irregularities in the physical and etheric bodies. It is these
forces, normally used for overcoming fatigue, which animate the
lotus-flowers. When a man enters on occult development, he is thus really
withdrawing certain forces from his physical and etheric bodies. If these
forces were to be withdrawn permanently from the physical body, the man
would fall ill; he would find himself utterly exhausted. If therefore he
does not want to injure himself, morally as well as physically, he must
find something to replace these forces.
He must remind himself
of the general rule: Rhythm restores power. Here you have an important
occult principle. Most people today lead lives devoid of any regular
rhythm, especially as regards their thoughts and their behaviour. Anyone
who allowed the distractions of the outer world to gain a hold on him
would be unable to avoid the dangers to which his physical body would
be exposed in the course of his occult development by the withdrawal
of these forces of renewal. Hence he has to strive to introduce a rhythmic
element into his life. Of course he cannot arrange his days so that
each day passes exactly like another. But he can at least pursue certain
activities regularly, and indeed anyone who wants to develop on the
occult path will have to do this. Thus he should, for example, do certain
exercises of meditation and concentration at a chosen time every morning.
He can also bring rhythm into his life if in the evening he reviews the
events of the day in reverse order. If he can bring in further
regularities, so much the better: in that way his life will take its
course in harmony with the laws of the world. Everything in the system
of nature is rhythmical — the course of the Sun, the passage of
the seasons, of day and night, and so on. Plants, too, grow rhythmically.
It is true that the higher we go in the kingdoms of nature, the less
rhythm we find, but even in animals a certain rhythm can be observed: for
instance, animals mate at regular times. Only man now leads an
unrhythmical, chaotic life: nature has deserted him.
Man's task, therefore,
is deliberately to infuse some rhythm into this chaotic life, and he
has available certain means through which he can bring this harmony
and rhythm into his physical and etheric bodies. Both these bodies will
then gradually develop such rhythms that they will correct themselves
when the astral body withdraws. If they are forced out of their proper
rhythm during the day, they will of their own accord regain the right
kind of movement when they are at rest.
The means available consist
in the following exercises, which must be practised in addition to
meditation:
I. Thought control.
This means preventing, at least for a short time every day, all sorts
of thoughts from drifting through the mind, and bringing a certain ordered
tranquillity into the course of thinking. You must take a definite idea,
set it in the centre of your thinking, and then logically arrange your
further thoughts in such a way that they are all closely linked with
the original idea. Even if you do this for only a minute, it can be
of great importance for the rhythm of the physical and etheric bodies.
II. Initiative in
action. You must compel yourself to some action, however trivial,
which owes its origin to your own initiative, to some task you have
laid on yourself. Most actions derive not from your own initiative but
from your family circumstances, your education, your calling and so
on. You must therefore give up a little time to performing actions which
derive from yourself alone. They need not be important; quite insignificant
actions fulfil the same purpose.
III. Tranquillity.
Here the pupil learns to regulate his emotions so that he is not at
one moment up in the skies and at the next down in the dumps. Anyone
who refuses to do this for fear of losing his originality in action
or his artistic sensibility can never go through occult development.
Tranquillity means that you are master of yourself in the most intense
pleasure and in the deepest grief. Indeed, we become truly receptive
to the joys and sorrows of the world only when we do not give ourselves
over egotistically to them. The greatest artists owe their greatest
achievements precisely to this tranquillity, because through it they
have opened their eyes to subtle and inwardly significant impressions.
IV. Freedom from
prejudice. This, the fourth characteristic, sees good in everything
and looks for the positive element in all things. Relevant to this is a
Persian legend told of Christ Jesus. One day Christ Jesus saw a dead dog
lying by the wayside; he stopped to look at the animal while those around
him turned away in disgust. Then Jesus said: “What beautiful teeth
the dog has!” In that hideous corpse he saw not what was ugly or evil
but the beauty of the white teeth. If you can acquire this mood, you
will look everywhere for the good and the positive, and you will find
it everywhere. This has a powerful effect on the physical and etheric
bodies.
V. Faith. Next
comes faith, which in its occult sense implies something rather different
from its ordinary meaning. During occult development you must never
allow your judgment of the future to be influenced by the past. Under
certain circumstances you must exclude all that you have experienced
hitherto, so that you can meet every new experience with new faith.
The occultist must do this quite consciously. For instance, if someone
comes up to you and tells you that the church steeple is crooked and
at an angle of 45 degrees, most people would say that is impossible.
The occultist must always leave a way open to believe. He must go so
far as to have faith in everything that happens in the world; otherwise
he bars the way to new experiences. You must always be open to new
experiences; by this means your physical and etheric bodies will be
brought into a condition which may be compared with the contented mood
of a broody hen.
VI. Inner Balance.
This is a natural outcome of the other five qualities. The pupil must
keep the six qualities in mind, take his life in hand, and be prepared
to progress slowly in the sense of the proverb about drops of water
wearing away a stone.
Now if anyone acquires
higher powers through some artificial means without attending to all
this, he will be in a bad way. In ordinary life today the spiritual
and the physical are intermingled, somewhat like a blue and yellow liquid
in a glass of water. Occult development sets going a process rather
like the work of a chemist who separates the two liquids. Soul and body
are separated in a similar way, and the benefits of the mingling are
lost. An ordinary person, because the soul stays in close relation to
the body, is not subjected to the more grotesque passions. But as a
result of the separation I have been talking about, the physical body,
with all its attributes, may be left to itself, and this can lead to
all manner of excesses. Thus a man who has embarked on occult development,
but has not taken care to cultivate moral qualities, may manifest certain
traits which as an ordinary man he had long ago ceased to exhibit. He may
suddenly become a liar, vengeful, quick to anger; all sorts of
characteristics which had previously been toned down may appear in a
violent form. This may happen even if someone who has neglected moral
development becomes unduly absorbed in the teachings of Theosophy.
We have seen that a man
must first pass through the stage of spiritual sight and only then comes
to the stage of spiritual hearing. While he is still at the first stage
he has of course to learn how the images are related to their objects.
He would find himself plunged into the stormy sea of astral experiences
if he were left to fend for himself. For this reason he needs a guide
who can tell him from the start how these things are related and how
to find his bearings in the astral world. Hence the need to find a Guru
on whom he can strictly rely. In this connection three different ways
of development can be distinguished.
1. The Eastern way,
also called Yoga. Here, an initiated man living on the physical plane
acts as the Guru of another, who entrusts himself to his Guru completely
and in all details. This method will go best if during his occult
development the pupil eliminates his own self entirely and hands it over
to his Guru, who must even advise him on every action he may take. This
absolute surrender of one's own self suits the Indian character; but
there is no place for it in European culture.
2. The Christian way.
Here, in place of individual Gurus, there is one great Guru, Christ
Jesus Himself, for everyone. The feeling of belonging to Christ Jesus,
of being one with Him, can take the place of surrender to an individual
Guru. But the pupil has first to be led to Christ by an earthly Guru,
so that in a certain sense he still depends on a Guru on the physical
plane.
3. The Rosicrucian
way, which leaves the pupil with the greatest possible independence.
The Guru here is not a leader but an adviser; he gives directions for
the necessary inner training. At the same time he takes good care that,
parallel with the occult training, there is a definite development of
thinking, without which no occult training can be carried through. This
is because there is something about thinking which does not apply to
anything else. When we are on the physical plane, we perceive with the
physical senses only what is to be found on that plane. Astral perceptions
are valid for the astral plane; devachanic hearing is valid only in
Devachan. Thus each plane has its own specific form of perception. But
one activity — logical thinking — goes through all worlds.
Logic is the same on all three planes. Thus on the physical plane you
can learn something which is valid also for the higher planes; and this
is the method followed by Rosicrucian training when on the physical
plane it gives primary attention to thinking, and for this purpose uses
the means available on the physical plane. A penetrative thinking can
be cultivated by studying theosophical truths, or by practising mental
exercises. Anyone who wishes further training for the intellect can
study books such as
Truth and Science,
and
The Philosophy of Freedom,
which are written deliberately in such a way that a thinking trained
by them can move with certainty on the highest planes. Even a person
who studies these books and knows nothing of Theosophy might find his
way about in the higher worlds. But, as I have said, the teachings of
Theosophy act in the same way.
Here, then, the Guru is
only the friend and adviser of the pupil, for by training his reason
the pupil will be training the best Guru for himself. But he will of
course still need a Guru to advise him on how to make progress in
freedom.
Among Europeans, the
Christian way is best suited to those whose feelings are most strongly
developed. Those who have more or less broken away from the Church and
rely rather on science, but have been led by science into a doubting
frame of mind, will do best with the Rosicrucian way.
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