The Rudolf Steiner Archive

How to Gain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds

Conditions

[ 1 ] There are dormant abilities in every human being through which he can acquire knowledge of higher worlds. The mystic, the gnostic, the theosophist always spoke of a soul world and a spirit world, which for them are just as present as the one that can be seen with physical eyes and touched with physical hands. The listener may say to himself at any moment: I can also experience what he is talking about if I develop certain powers in myself that are still dormant in me today. It can only be a question of how to begin to develop such abilities within oneself. Only those who already have such powers within them can give guidance. For as long as there has been a human race, there has always been a training through which those who had higher abilities gave guidance to those who sought such abilities. Such training is called occult training; and the instruction received is called secret scientific or occult instruction. Such a designation naturally arouses misunderstanding. Those who hear it can easily be misled into believing that those who are active in such training want to represent a particularly privileged class of people who arbitrarily withhold their knowledge from their fellow human beings. Indeed, one might even think that perhaps there is nothing significant behind such knowledge at all. For if it were true knowledge - one is tempted to think - there would be no need to make a secret of it: it could be shared publicly and the benefits made available to everyone.

[ 2 ] Those who are initiated into the nature of secret knowledge are not in the least surprised that the uninitiated think so. What the secret of initiation consists of can only be understood by those who have themselves experienced this initiation into the higher mysteries of existence to a certain degree. Now one can ask: how is the uninitiated supposed to gain any human interest at all in the so-called secret knowledge under such circumstances? How and why should he seek something of whose nature he has no idea at all? But even such a question is based on a completely erroneous idea of the nature of secret knowledge. In truth, secret knowledge is no different from all other knowledge and abilities of man. This secret knowledge is not a secret for the average person in any other respect than why writing is a secret for those who have not learned it. And just as anyone can learn to write who chooses the right ways to do so, so anyone can become a secret student, indeed a secret teacher, who seeks the right ways to do so. There is only one respect in which the situation is different from that of external knowledge and ability. Someone may lack the opportunity to acquire the art of writing through poverty, through the cultural conditions into which he was born; there is no obstacle to the attainment of knowledge and skill in the higher worlds for those who earnestly seek them.

[ 3 ] Many believe that one must seek out the masters of higher knowledge here and there in order to gain insights from them. But two things are true. Firstly, those who earnestly seek higher knowledge will spare no effort, no obstacle, to seek out an initiate who can introduce them to the higher mysteries of the world. But on the other hand, everyone can also be sure that initiation will find him under all circumstances if there is a serious and worthy striving for knowledge. For there is a natural law for all initiates which induces them not to withhold from any seeker a knowledge due to him. But there is an equally natural law which says that no one can be given any of the secret knowledge to which he is not called. And an initiate is all the more perfect the more strictly he observes these two laws. The spiritual bond that embraces all initiates is not an external one, but the two laws mentioned form firm clasps by which the components of this bond are held together. You may live in intimate friendship with an initiate: yet you are separated from his being until you yourself have become an initiate. You may enjoy the heart, the love of an initiate in the fullest sense: he will only confide his secret to you when you are ready. You may flatter him, you may torture him: nothing can determine him to reveal anything to you that he knows must not be revealed to you, because at the stage of your development you do not yet know how to give the secret the right reception in your soul.

[ 4 ] The paths that make man ripe to receive a secret are precisely defined. Their direction is marked out in indelible, eternal letters in the spiritual worlds in which the initiates guard the higher secrets. In ancient times, which lie before our "history", the temples of the spirit were also outwardly visible; today, when our life has become so unspiritual, they are not present in the world that is visible to the outer eye. But they are spiritually everywhere; and anyone who seeks can find them.

[ 5 ] Only in his own soul can man find the means to open the mouth of the Initiates. He must develop certain qualities in himself to a certain high degree, then the highest spiritual treasures can be bestowed upon him.

[ 6 ] A certain basic mood of the soul must form the beginning. The secret scientist calls this basic mood the path of reverence, of devotion to truth and knowledge. Only those who have this basic mood can become secret disciples. Those who have had experiences in this area know which dispositions are already noticeable in those in childhood who later become secret disciples. There are children who look up to certain people they admire with holy awe. They have a reverence for them that forbids them in the depths of their hearts to allow any thought of criticism or opposition to arise. Such children grow up to be young boys and virgins who feel good when they can look up to something revered. Many secret disciples emerge from the ranks of these human children. If you have ever stood at the door of a revered man and felt a holy shyness on your first visit to press the door handle to enter the room that is a "sanctuary" for you, a feeling has been expressed in you that may be the seed for your later secret discipleship. It is fortunate for every growing human being to carry such feelings within him as a disposition. Just don't think that such dispositions form the seed of submissiveness and slavery. Later, the first childlike reverence for people becomes reverence for truth and knowledge. Experience teaches that those people who have learned to worship where worship is appropriate know best how to carry their heads freely. And it is appropriate wherever it springs from the depths of the heart.

[ 7 ] If we do not develop the profound feeling within us that there is something higher than we are, we will not find within ourselves the strength to evolve upwards to something higher. The initiate has only acquired the power to raise his head to the heights of knowledge by leading his heart into the depths of reverence, of devotion. The heights of the spirit can only be scaled by passing through the gate of humility. You can only attain true knowledge if you have learned to respect this knowledge. Man certainly has the right to turn his eye to the light; but he must acquire this right. There are laws in spiritual life just as there are in material life. Paint a glass rod with a corresponding substance and it becomes electric, that is, it acquires the power to attract small bodies. This corresponds to a law of nature. If you have learned a little physics, you know this. And likewise, if you know the basics of the secret science, you know that every feeling of true devotion developed in the soul develops a force that can sooner or later lead further in knowledge.

[ 8 ] He who has the devotional feelings in his disposition, or who has the good fortune to have them implanted through an appropriate education, brings much with him when he seeks access to higher knowledge in later life. Those who are not prepared in this way will already encounter difficulties on the first stage of the path of knowledge if they do not energetically undertake to create the devotional mood within themselves through self-education. In our time it is particularly important that full attention be paid to this point. Our civilization tends more to criticism, to judging, to condemning and less to devotion, to devoted worship. Our children already criticize much more than they devoutly worship. But every criticism, every judging judgment drives away the soul's powers of higher knowledge just as much as every devotional reverence develops them. This is not to say anything against our civilization. It is not a question here of criticizing our civilization. We owe the greatness of our culture precisely to criticism, to self-confident human judgment, to "test everything and keep what is best". Man would never have attained the science, the industry, the traffic, the legal relations of our time if he had not exercised criticism everywhere, if he had not applied the standard of his judgment everywhere. But what we have gained in external culture as a result, we have had to pay for with a corresponding loss of higher knowledge, of spiritual life. It must be emphasized that higher knowledge is not a matter of worshipping people, but of worshipping truth and knowledge.

[ 9 ] Of course, there is only one thing that everyone must realize: that those who are completely immersed in the externalized civilization of our day find it very difficult to penetrate to the knowledge of the higher worlds. He can only do so if he works energetically on himself. At a time when the conditions of material life were simpler, spiritual advancement was also easier to achieve. That which was worthy of reverence, that which was to be held sacred, stood out more from the rest of the world. In a critical age, the ideals are pulled down. Other feelings take the place of reverence, awe, adoration and admiration. Our age pushes these feelings back more and more, so that they are only supplied to man to a very small degree by everyday life. He who seeks higher knowledge must generate it within himself. He must instill it into his soul himself. This cannot be done through study. It can only be done through life. Whoever wants to become a secret disciple must therefore energetically educate himself to the devotional mood. He must seek out everywhere in his surroundings, in his experiences, that which can compel his admiration and reverence. If I meet a person and reproach his weaknesses, I rob myself of a higher power of knowledge; if I lovingly seek to immerse myself in his merits, I gather such power. The secret disciple must always be careful to follow this instruction. Experienced secret-disciples know what strength they owe to the fact that they always look at the good in all things and withhold judgment. But this must not remain an external rule of life. Rather, it must take possession of the innermost part of our soul. Man has it in his power to perfect himself, to transform himself completely over time. But this transformation must take place in his innermost being, in his thought life. It is not enough that I outwardly show respect for a being in my behavior. I must have this respect in my thoughts. The secret disciple must begin by incorporating devotion into his thought life. He must pay attention to the thoughts of disrespect, of derogatory criticism in his consciousness. And he must seek to cultivate thoughts of devotion within himself.

[ 10 ] Every moment in which one sits down to become aware in one's consciousness of the derogatory, judgmental, critical judgments about the world and life - every such moment brings us closer to higher knowledge. And we rise quickly if in such moments we fill our consciousness only with thoughts that fill us with admiration, respect, reverence for the world and life. Whoever has experience in these things knows that in every such moment powers are awakened in man which otherwise remain dormant. Through this man's spiritual eyes are opened. He begins to see things around him that he could not see before. He begins to realize that he has previously only seen a part of the world around him. The person who confronts him now shows him a completely different form than before. It is true that through this rule of life he will not yet be able to see what is described as the human aura, for example. For this requires even higher training. But he can ascend to this higher training if he has previously undergone an energetic training in devotion. ^{1The "Path of Knowledge" can be found in a clear form in the last section of my "Theosophy - Introduction to the Supersensible Approach to the World and the Destiny of Man". Practical points of view will be given here in detail.}

[ 11 ] The secret disciple enters the "path of knowledge" silently and unnoticed by the outside world. No one needs to notice any change in him. He does his duties as before; he goes about his business as before. The transformation only takes place with the inner side of the soul, which is hidden from the outer eye. At first, the whole emotional life of man is overshadowed by the one basic mood of devotion to all that is truly honorable. In this one basic feeling his whole soul life finds its center. Just as the sun enlivens all living things with its rays, so in the secret disciple devotion enlivens all the feelings of the soul.

[ 12 ] At first it is not easy for people to believe that feelings such as reverence, respect and so on have anything to do with their knowledge. This is due to the fact that we are inclined to regard cognition as a faculty in itself which has no connection with what else is going on in the soul. However, one does not consider that it is the soul that recognizes. And feelings are to the soul what substances are to the body, which make up its food. If you give the body stones instead of bread, its activity dies out. It is similar with the soul. For it, reverence, respect, devotion are nourishing substances that make it healthy, strong; above all, strong for the activity of cognition. Disregard, antipathy, underestimation of what is worthy of recognition cause paralysis and the death of cognitive activity. - For the spiritual researcher this fact is evident in the aura. A soul that acquires worshipful, devotional feelings causes a change in its aura. Certain spiritual colors, which can be described as yellow-red, brown-red, disappear and are replaced by blue-red. This, however, opens up the cognitive faculty; it receives knowledge of facts in its surroundings of which it previously had no idea. Worship awakens a sympathetic force in the soul, and through this we are attracted to the qualities of the beings around us that would otherwise remain hidden.

[ 13 ] What can be achieved through devotion becomes even more effective when another type of feeling is added. It consists in the fact that a person learns to give himself less and less to the impressions of the outside world and instead develops a lively inner life. A person who chases from one impression of the outside world to another, who is always looking for "distraction", will not find the path to the secret science. The student of the secret science should not become dull to the outside world; but his rich inner life should give him the direction in which he devotes himself to its impressions. When an emotional and cozy person walks through a beautiful mountain landscape, he experiences something different than an emotional person. Only what we experience inside gives us the key to the beauty of the outside world. One person travels across the sea and only a few inner experiences pass through his soul; the other feels the eternal language of the world spirit; secret riddles of creation are revealed to him. One must have learned to deal with one's own feelings and ideas if one wants to develop a meaningful relationship with the outside world. The outer world is filled with divine glory in all its manifestations; but one must first have experienced the divine in one's own soul if one wants to find it in one's surroundings. - The secret disciple is instructed to create moments in his life in which he immerses himself in himself in silence and solitude. However, he should not devote himself to the affairs of his own self in such moments. That would have the opposite effect of what is intended. Rather, in such moments, he should let what he has experienced, what the outer world has told him, resonate in silence. Every flower, every animal, every action will reveal unsuspected secrets to him in such quiet moments. And he will be prepared to see new impressions of the outside world with completely different eyes than before. He who only wants to enjoy impression after impression dulls his cognitive faculty. He who, after enjoyment, allows himself to reveal something of the enjoyment, cultivates and educates his cognitive faculty. He must only accustom himself not merely to let the pleasure linger, but, without further pleasure, to process what he has enjoyed through inner activity. The cliff here is a very large one that brings danger. Instead of working within oneself, one can easily fall into the opposite and only want to fully exhaust the pleasure afterwards. It should not be underestimated that incalculable sources of error open up here for the secret disciple. After all, he must pass between a host of seducers of his soul. They all want to harden his "I", to close it up within himself. But he is to open it up to the world. He must seek pleasure; for only through it does the outside world come to him. If he blunts himself against pleasure, he becomes like a plant that can no longer draw nourishment from its surroundings. But if he stops at pleasure, he closes in on himself. He will only mean something for himself and nothing for the world. No matter how much he lives within himself, no matter how much he cultivates his "I": the world excludes him. He is dead to it. The secret disciple regards enjoyment only as a means to ennoble himself for the world. Pleasure is a scout who teaches him about the world; but after being taught by pleasure, he advances to work. He does not learn in order to accumulate what he has learned as his treasures of knowledge, but in order to put what he has learned at the service of the world.

[ 14 ] It is a principle in all secret science that must not be transgressed if any goal is to be achieved. Every secret training must impress it upon the student. It says: Any knowledge which you seek only to enrich your knowledge, only to accumulate treasures within you, leads you astray from your path; but every knowledge which you seek in order to become more mature on the path of human ennoblement and world development, brings you one step forward. This law demands relentless observation. And one is not a secret disciple until one has made this law the guiding principle of one's life. This truth of spiritual training can be summarized in the short sentence: Every idea that does not become an ideal for you kills a force in your soul; but every idea that becomes an ideal creates life forces in you.

Inner peace

[ 15 ] The secret disciple is directed to the path of reverence and to the development of the inner life at the beginning of his career. Spiritual science now also provides practical rules, by observing which the path can be entered and the inner life developed. These practical rules are not arbitrary. They are based on ancient experiences and ancient knowledge. They are given in the same way wherever the paths to higher knowledge are shown. All true teachers of the spiritual life agree on the content of these rules, even if they do not always express them in the same words. The subordinate, actually only apparent difference stems from facts which are not to be discussed here.

[ 16 ] No teacher of spiritual life wants to exercise dominion over other people through such rules. He does not want to interfere with anyone's independence. For there are no better appraisers and guardians of human independence than the secret researchers. It has been said (in the previous chapter) that the bond which embraces all initiates is a spiritual one, and that two natural laws form the brackets which hold the components of this bond together. If the initiate now steps out of his enclosed spiritual realm, before the public: then a third law immediately comes into consideration for him. It is this: Arrange your every deed, your every word in such a way that you do not interfere with anyone's free will.

[ 17 ] He who has seen through the fact that a true teacher of the spiritual life is completely imbued with this attitude can also know that he loses nothing of his independence if he follows the practical rules that are offered to him.

[ 18 ] One of the first of these rules can now be expressed in the following words: "Create for yourself moments of inner peace and in these moments learn to distinguish the essential from the non-essential." - It is said here that this practical rule is "put into words of language". Originally, all rules and teachings of spiritual science are given in a symbolic sign language. And whoever wants to get to know their full meaning and scope must first understand this symbolic language. This understanding depends on the fact that the person concerned has already taken the first steps in the secret science. But he can take these steps through the exact observation of such rules as are given here. Everyone who has a serious will has the path open to them.

[ 19 ] The above rule concerning the moments of inner peace is simple. And following it is also simple. But it only leads to the goal if it is approached as seriously and rigorously as it is simple. - Without further ado, we will therefore explain how to follow this rule.

[ 20 ] The secret disciple must separate himself for a short time from his daily life in order to occupy himself during this time with something quite different from the objects of his daily occupation. And the nature of his occupation must also be quite different from that with which he fills the rest of the day. But this is not to be understood as if what he accomplishes in this separate time has nothing to do with the content of his daily work. On the contrary: the person who seeks such separate moments in the right way will soon realize that it is only through them that he receives the full strength for his daily task. Nor should it be believed that the observation of this rule can really deprive someone of time from his duties. If someone really does not have more time at his disposal, five minutes each day will suffice. It depends on how these five minutes are applied.

[ 21 ] During this time, a person should completely tear themselves away from their everyday life. His thoughts and emotions should take on a different color than they usually do. He should let his joys, his sufferings, his sorrows, his experiences, his deeds pass before his soul. And he should position himself in such a way that he sees everything that he otherwise experiences from a higher point of view. Just think of how, in ordinary life, you look at something that someone else has experienced or done quite differently from what you have experienced or done yourself. It cannot be any different. For one is interwoven with what one experiences or does oneself; one only observes the experience or deed of another. What you have to strive for in the separated moments is to look at your own experiences and deeds, to judge them as if you had not experienced or done them yourself, but as if someone else had. Imagine for a moment that someone has experienced a severe stroke of fate. How different is his attitude to this than to a completely similar stroke of fate suffered by his fellow human being? No one can consider this to be unjustified. It is part of human nature. And it is similar to such extraordinary cases in the everyday affairs of life. The secret disciple must seek the strength to face himself like a stranger at certain times. He must face himself with the inner calm of the assessor. If you achieve this, your own experiences will show themselves to you in a new light. As long as you are interwoven in them, as long as you stand in them, you are just as connected to the insignificant as you are to the essential. When you come to the inner calm of the overview, the essential separates itself from the non-essential. Sorrow and joy, every thought, every decision appear different when you face yourself in this way. It is as if one has spent the whole day in one place and has seen the smallest as closely as the largest; then in the evening one climbs a neighboring hill and looks over the whole place at once. Then the parts of this place appear in other mutual relations than when one is in it. This will not and need not succeed with presently experienced destinies; with longer past ones it must be striven for by the student of spiritual life. - The value of such inner, calm introspection depends much less on what one sees in the process than on finding within oneself the power that develops such inner calm.

[ 22 ] For every human being carries a higher human being within himself alongside his - let us call him this - everyday human being. This higher person remains hidden until it is awakened. And everyone can only awaken this higher man himself. But as long as this higher man is not awakened, the higher abilities that lie dormant in every human being and lead to supersensible knowledge remain hidden.

[ 23 ] As long as someone does not feel the fruit of inner peace, he must tell himself that he must continue to strictly follow the above-mentioned rule. For anyone who does so, the day will come when there will be spiritual light around him, when a whole new world will open up to an eye that he has not known within himself until then.

[ 24 ] And nothing needs to change in the outer life of the secret disciple because he begins to follow this rule. He goes about his duties as before; he endures the same sufferings and experiences the same joys as before. In no way can he be alienated from "life" as a result. Indeed, he can pursue this "life" all the more fully throughout the rest of the day because he acquires a "higher life" in his separate moments. Little by little this "higher life" will exert its influence on the ordinary one. The tranquillity of the secluded moments will also have an effect on everyday life. The whole man will become calmer, will gain security in his actions, will no longer be upset by all kinds of incidents. Gradually, such a budding secret disciple will become more and more self-directed, so to speak, and less guided by circumstances and external influences. Such a person will soon realize what a source of strength such separate periods of time are for him. He will begin to stop fretting about things that previously annoyed him, and countless things that he previously feared will cease to cause him anxiety. He acquires a whole new outlook on life. Before, he might have been timid about this or that task. He said to himself: Oh, my strength is not enough to do this as I would have liked. Now he no longer has this thought, but rather a completely different one. Now he says to himself: I will gather all my strength to do my job as well as I possibly can. And he suppresses the thought that could make him timid. For he knows that this very timidity could cause him to perform badly, that in any case this timidity can contribute nothing to the improvement of what is incumbent upon him. And so thought after thought enters into the secret disciple's view of life, which are fruitful and beneficial for his life. They take the place of those that were hindering and weakening. He begins to guide his ship of life on a safe, steady course within the waves of life, whereas before it was tossed to and fro by these waves.

[ 25 ] And such calm and security also have an effect on the whole human being. The inner person grows as a result. And with him grow those inner abilities that lead to higher knowledge. For through the progress he makes in this direction, the secret disciple gradually reaches the point where he himself determines how the impressions of the outside world may affect him. For example, he hears a word by which another person wants to hurt or annoy him. Before his secret discipleship, he would also have been hurt or annoyed. Now that he has entered the path of secret discipleship, he is able to take away the hurtful or angry sting of the word before it has found its way to his inner self. Or another example. A person easily becomes impatient when he has to wait. He enters the path of the secret disciple. In his moments of calm, he imbues himself so much with the feeling of the futility of much impatience that from then on, whenever he experiences impatience, he immediately has this feeling present. The impatience that was about to set in disappears, and a time that would otherwise have been lost under the ideas of impatience is perhaps filled by a useful observation that can be made while waiting.

[ 26 ] Now you only have to realize the implications of all this. Consider that the "higher man" in man is in constant development. But only the peace and security described above enables him to develop according to the law. The waves of outer life squeeze the inner man from all sides if man does not dominate this life, but is dominated by it. Such a person is like a plant that is supposed to develop in a crevice. It withers away until space is created for it. No external forces can create space for the inner man. Only the inner peace that he creates for his soul can do this. External circumstances can only change his external life situation; they can never awaken the "spiritual man" within him. - The secret disciple must give birth to a new, higher man within himself.

[ 27 ] This "higher man" then becomes the "inner ruler" who guides the relations of the outer man with a sure hand. As long as the outer man has the upper hand and leadership, this "inner" man is his slave and therefore cannot develop his powers. If it depends on something other than me whether I get angry or not, then I am not master of myself, or even better: I have not yet found the "ruler within me". I must develop within myself the ability to allow the impressions of the outside world to reach me only in a way determined by myself; only then can I become a secret disciple. And only insofar as the secret disciple seriously seeks this power can he reach his goal. It does not matter how far one gets in a certain time; but only that he earnestly seeks. There have been many who have striven for years without noticing any noticeable progress; many of those who have not despaired, but remained steadfast, have suddenly achieved "inner victory".

[ 28 ] It certainly takes a great deal of strength to create moments of inner peace in some situations in life. But the greater the necessary strength, the more significant is what is achieved. With regard to secret discipleship, everything depends on being able to face oneself energetically, with inner truth and unreserved sincerity, with all one's actions and deeds, as a complete stranger.

[ 29 ] But only one side of the inner activity of the secret disciple is characterized by this birth of the own higher man. There must also be something else. For even if man faces himself as a stranger, he still only looks at himself; he looks at those experiences and actions with which he has grown together through his particular situation in life. He must rise above this. He must rise to a pure humanity that no longer has anything to do with his particular situation. He must move on to a contemplation of those things that concerned him as a human being, even if he lived under completely different circumstances, in a completely different situation. This awakens something in him that goes beyond the personal. It directs his gaze to higher worlds than those with which everyday life brings him together. And with this, man begins to feel, to experience that he belongs to such higher worlds. These are worlds about which his senses, his everyday occupation, can tell him nothing. Only then does he transfer the center of his being into his inner being. He listens to the voices within him that speak to him in moments of tranquillity; he maintains inner contact with the spiritual world. He is removed from everyday life. The noise of everyday life has fallen silent for him. It has become quiet around him. He rejects everything that reminds him of such impressions from outside. The quiet contemplation within, the dialog with the purely spiritual world fills his whole soul. - Such quiet contemplation must become a natural need of life for the secret disciple. At first he is completely immersed in a world of thought. He must develop a living feeling for this quiet activity of thought. He must learn to love what the spirit flows towards him. Soon he will also cease to perceive this world of thoughts as something that is more unreal than the things of everyday life that surround him. He begins to deal with his thoughts as with the things in the room. And then the moment also approaches for him when he begins to feel that which reveals itself to him in the silence of inner thought-work as much higher, more real than the things in space. He experiences that life expresses itself in this world of thought. He realizes that thoughts are not mere shadow images, but that hidden entities speak to him through them. It begins to speak to him out of the silence. Before, it only sounded to him through his ear; now it sounds through his soul. An inner language - an inner word - has opened up to him. The secret disciple feels blessed to the highest degree when he experiences this moment for the first time. An inner light pours over his entire outer world. A second life begins for him. The stream of a divine, a God-blessed world pours through him.

[ 30 ] Such a life of the soul in thought, which expands more and more into a life in spiritual essence, is called meditation (contemplative reflection) by gnosis, the spiritual science. This meditation is the means to supersensible knowledge. - But the secret disciple should not indulge in feelings in such moments. He should not have vague feelings in his soul. This would only prevent him from attaining true spiritual knowledge. His thoughts should be clear, sharp and definite. He will find a guide to this if he does not blindly follow the thoughts that come to him. Rather, he should penetrate himself with the lofty thoughts which advanced men, already grasped by the spirit, have thought in such moments. He should take as his starting point the writings which themselves have sprung from such revelation in meditation. In the mystical, in the Gnostic, in the spiritual-scientific literature of today the secret disciple finds such writings. There he finds the material for his meditation. The spirit seekers themselves have laid down the thoughts of divine science in such writings; the spirit has had them proclaimed to the world through its messengers.

[ 31 ] Through such meditation a complete transformation takes place with the secret disciple. He begins to form completely new ideas about reality. All things take on a different value for him. It must be said again and again: the secret disciple does not become unworldly through such a transformation. He is in no way alienated from his everyday duties. For he learns to realize that the slightest action he has to perform, the slightest experience that presents itself to him, is connected with the great world entities and world events. Once this connection becomes clear to him through his contemplative moments, then he enters into his daily sphere of activity with new and fuller strength. For now he knows that what he works, what he suffers, he works and suffers for the sake of a great, spiritual world context. Power to live, not laxity, flows from meditation.

[ 32 ] The secret disciple goes through life with a sure step. Whatever it may bring him, it makes him walk upright. Before, he did not know why he was working, why he was suffering: now he knows. It can be seen that such meditation activity leads better to the goal if it is done under the guidance of experienced people. People who know for themselves how best to do everything. You should therefore follow the advice and instructions of such people. You really don't lose your freedom as a result. What can otherwise only be uncertain groping becomes unerring work through such guidance. Those who look to those who have knowledge and experience in this direction will never knock in vain. He should only be aware that he is seeking nothing but the advice of a friend, not the superiority of one who wants to rule. One will always find that those who really know are the most humble of men, and that nothing is further from their minds than what men call the lust for power.

[ 33 ] He who rises through meditation to that which connects man with the spirit begins to enliven that which is eternal in him, that which is not limited by birth and death. Only those who have not experienced the eternal themselves can doubt it. Meditation is therefore the path that leads people to knowledge, to the realization of their eternal, indestructible essence. And only through meditation can man come to such an insight. Gnosis and spiritual science speak of the eternity of this core of being, of its re-embodiment. It is often asked why man knows nothing of his experiences that lie beyond birth and death. But this should not be the question. Rather, how does one attain such knowledge? The path opens up in the right meditation. It revives the memory of experiences that lie beyond birth and death. Everyone can acquire this knowledge; everyone has the ability to recognize for himself, to see for himself what true mysticism, spiritual science, anthroposophy and gnosis teach. He only has to choose the right means. Only a being that has ears and eyes can perceive sounds and colors. And even the eye cannot perceive anything if the light that makes things visible is missing. In the secret science the means are given to develop the spiritual ears and eyes and to ignite the spiritual light. The means of spiritual training can be described as three stages: 1 Preparation. It develops the spiritual senses. 2. Enlightenment. It ignites the spiritual light. 3. The initiation. It opens communication with the Higher Beings of the spirit.