109. EL, Helsinki, 4-14-'12
One who begins to
do esoteric exercises shouldn't expect visions to rise before
him right away. It may happen, but it's not the usual or desired
thing. The normal thing is that the esoteric's world of
thoughts and feelings should be harmonized with the spiritual
world; after the esoteric feels in harmony with the spiritual world's
sea he sees luminescent things rising that form themselves into
particular shapes.
But an esoteric
may also experience visions right away. This may be the result of a
previous life when he may have been an esoteric, or he may have been
influenced by a religion's ceremony and cultus. Then his
visions are atavistic and very dangerous, since they appear violently
and overpower the esoteric, because they arose without his
help, as it were. So it's better if they don't appear. Instead the
esoteric should pay attention to the changes that take place in his
soul life. As we mentioned last time, one of these changes is that
the exercises make thoughts so much more powerful and could work on
other people so much more that if they're not quite right and pure
they're taken away from us by the Guardian of the Threshold and we
lose consciousness so that we don't harm others and ourselves with them.
We'll now describe
the effects that the exercises have in a somewhat different way. The
first thing is that thoughts get looser, that is, whereas previously
a particular thought followed a particular percept, and this thought
was followed by other thoughts as if by itself — this no longer
happens. An esoteric doesn't feel we as sure of himself or as certain
of his judgments and thought connections anymore. What made judgments
certain was what comes from education, social conditions and one's
surroundings, that is, from the angels, archangels and spirits of
personality who work in all cultural conditions. A man
gradually becomes separate from them; his guiding angel no longer
gives him thoughts and judgments as directly and as if unconsciously
as before. But if this loosening of thought goes too far in someone,
it could get dangerous for him. And so the Guardian of the Threshold
intervenes and stops things. A way to prevent this is to acquire an
absolute love of truth, so that one doesn't even permit oneself
to think what might not be true.
The second thing
concerns our feelings and will impulses. An esoteric sees that they
change; he sees that he has less control over them than before.
Whereas he may have been more careful before, he now senses that
will impulses react immediately to things that concern him. This
mustn't go too far; otherwise the Guardian of the Threshold will
keep us from getting into the spiritual world for our own sakes.
The third thing is
that the false sentiments that an esoteric can develop can not only
take hold of this soul — they can work into his physical body.
When wrong things continue to work unconsciously at the ground of the
soul they become much more harmful than when they become manifest in a
disease that then cured by physical means. In such a case, the Guardian
of the Threshold lets us get a minor disease that we should look upon
as a warning about what's working our soul. In a well directed
esoteric development this mustn't become a major disease , for
otherwise the esoteric would be attacked too much. In ancient times
when souls were more robust and only people with a lot of inner
strength and courage were accepted as esoteric pupils, these dangers
were greater and often became extreme, that is, the loosening of
thoughts led to insanity, the non-control of feelings and will
impulses led to mad destruction, and the diseases led to death. This
is what's described in the story from the Hebraic mysteries
that was told to every esoteric as a warning. It's about the
four rabbis who tried to get into the Garden of Maturity; the first
one went mad, the second destroyed everything in a frenzy, the third
died, and only the fourth was let through and went into the spiritual
world.
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