EL, Stuttgart, 1-20-'07
In a retrospect let's place ourselves into what was experienced in
such a way that we rightly feel the difference between the soul
experience and the real experience in the outer world. The relation
between the memory of a landscape and the direct perception of the
same with open eyes is the same relation as between memory and
retrospect.
Memory gradually disappears in an initiate and is replaced by direct
perception of what one wants to remember. One must place a picture of
the day's experiences before one, quite exactly and clearly of all
details, blouse, face, etc., and so look at the happenings in a
picture, how people spoke, what was done, etc. It's very important to
recall the little experiences that didn't interest one so much, that
are hard for one to remember, because this generates inner forces.
Imaginative force is created via the ability to imagine pictures. The
clarity of the pictures is the important thing and not the
completeness of the experiences. No muscle must be tensed in all of
this work. Just as light first created the outer eyes, and the body
was stimulated from outside to form other organs, so the astral body's
organs are formed through the imagining of pictures.
In the subsidiary exercises we must begin with thinking, and persist
until the proper feeling sets in; we must then pour this into our body
and do this exercise for a month or more before passing on to the
second one, etc. The pouring in gives the astral body consistency, a
firm shape, backbone. The more uninteresting the object the better it
is for the exercise, for then it's hard to stay focused on it for five
minutes. The second is initiative in actions. It must be an action
that one must force oneself to do. Thirdly the overcoming of pleasure
and displeasure, that is, one should feel joy or sorrow but not let
oneself by controlled by them. Fourthly, look for positivity in
everything. Fifthly, open-mindedness with regard to all experiences.
Sixthly, repeat all five exercises rhythmically. Do each of the
subsidiary exercises until one can pour the feeling arising from it
into the body and experience it. Only then go on to the next month.
The meditation that was given to you as your first morning work was
intended to be an awakener of forces.
A lily is the visible expression of a word that was once spoken by the
creator. Much depends on which words and vowels one speaks, which
thoughts and feelings one sends out, because they will become visible
during the Jupiter Venus, etc., earth conditions. The mineral, plant
and animal kingdoms here on earth are likewise the expression of what
Moon dwellers once said and thought. That's why mantras and the words
of meditations have the letter sequence and the word sounds that they
do, because they only have their effect in that particular sequence.
What we do and create will be visible on Jupiter, for instance Koeln
Cathedral will be visible as a larger formation, Raphael's paintings
will surround Jupiter like clouds or a mirage. Our music will resound
as music of the spheres over there on Jupiter.
In our exercises we must think that the Gods have something like this
in mind for us; that's the purpose of the exercises, and the formula
“In the spirit lay the germ of my body ...” explains
this to us. The old adepts expressed this briefly in the sacred word
AUM. A is the past that sounds loud and clear. U
is a dull vowel and represents the present. It has something of the
clarity of the past and of the freedom of action of the present in it.
M is the indefiniteness of the future, to which every vowel or
this or that action can still add something. A correct retrospect
awakens a great force in the soul, that a man needs once he can ascend
to the astral plane. Thought control is supposed to lead to mastery of
thoughts. Initiative in actions is supposed to give rise to an urge
for activity and work that that one hadn't felt otherwise. Meditation
should be the first work of the day in the morning.
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