The Stages of Higher Knowledge
GA 12
4. Inspiration and Intuition
[ 1 ] Just as imagination may be called a spiritual seeing, so may Inspiration be called a spiritual hearing. Of course, it must be quite clear that by the expression “hearing” is meant a perception still further removed from sensory-hearing in the physical world than “sight” in the imaginative (astral) world is removed from seeing with the physical eyes. It can be said of the imaginative world's light and color phenomena that the radiant surfaces and colours of sensory-objects are as if lifted from these objects and released from them to float free in space. But this gives only an approximate idea, for “space” in the imaginative world is in no way like it is in the physical. Whoever fancies that he has before him imaginative color-pictures when he is seeing freely floating coloured particles in ordinary space dimension is in error.—But the forming of such color representations is, nevertheless, the way to the imaginative life. Whoever tries to put a flower before his mind's eye, and then separates off from his picture everything that does not represent color, so that an image of the coloured surface, separate from the flower, is suspended before his soul, can gradually through such exercises arrive at an Imagination. This picture itself is not yet such Imagination, but is more or less preliminary fantasy suggestion. Imagination, that is, the real astral experience first exists when not only the color is wholly lifted apart from the sense impression, but when also the three-dimensional space has fully lost itself. That this is the case can be confirmed only by a certain feeling. This feeling is described by saying that one no longer feels oneself “outside” but “inside” the color-picture and has the consciousness of partaking of its coming into being. If this feeling is not there, if one remains standing before the thing as before a sense-bound color-picture, then one has to do, not yet with real Imagination, but with something of the fanciful. It should not be said that such fantasy pictures are wholly worthless. They can actually be etheric reflections—like shadows—of real astral facts. As such they have their own value in occult-scientific training. They can form a bridge to true astral (imaginative) experiences.—A certain danger lurks in the observation only if the observer does not fully apply his sound human judgment at this frontier between the sensible and the supersensible. It is not to be expected that an unfailing test can be given whereby at this frontier he can differentiate illusion, hallucination, and the fantastic from reality. Such a general rule would surely be comfortable. But comfort is a word that the occult student should strike from his vocabulary.—It can only be said that he who would acquire clarity of discernment in this sphere must already be intent upon it in the ordinary life of the physical world. Whoever takes no care in ordinary life to think sharply and clearly will fall a victim to all possible illusions on his ascent into higher worlds. It has only to be considered how many snares of everyday life beset sound judgment. How often human beings do not see in an unconfused way what exists, but rather what they crave to see! In how many cases do men believe something, not because they have discerned it, but because it is acceptable to them to believe! Or what errors arise because one does not go to the bottom of a thing, but forms a hasty judgment! All these reasons for deception in ordinary life might be multiplied indefinitely. What tricks are played upon sound judgment by partisan feeling, passion, and so forth. If such errors of judgment in ordinary life are disturbing and often disastrous, they are the greatest conceivable danger to the wholesomeness of the supersensible experience. No general rule can be given to the student for his guidance in the higher worlds, beyond the advice to do everything possible for his healthy power of discernment and for his sound, independent judgment.
[ 2 ] When the observer in the higher worlds once knows what Imagination really is, he soon acquires the conviction that the pictures of the astral world are not merely pictures, but manifestations of spiritual beings. He comes to know that these imaginative pictures have reference to spirit or soul being just as do sensory colours to sensory things or beings. In particular, he will, of course, have yet much to learn. He must learn to discriminate between color formations that are opaque and those that are quite transparent and in their inner nature clear and radiant. In fact, he will perceive formations that seem to be continually producing their color-light anew from within, and that therefore are not only fully illuminated and transparent, but are forever radiating light from within. He will link the opaque formations to lower beings, the clear, luminous ones to intermediate entities; the inwardly radiant ones will be for him manifestations of higher spiritual beings.
[ 3 ] If we would arrive at the truth about the imaginative world, we must not form too narrow a concept of spiritual sight, for in that world there are not mere light and color perceptions, comparable to the sight experiences of the physical world, but also impressions of heat and cold, of taste and smell, and still other experiences of the imaginative “senses” for which the physical world offers no likeness. Impressions of heat and cold are, in the imaginative (astral) world, revelations of will and intention on the part of soul and spirit beings. Whether such a being aims at good or evil comes to light in a definite effect of heat or cold. Astral beings can also be “tasted” or “smelled.”—Only what constitutes in the actual sense the physical element of tone and sound is almost wholly lacking in the real imaginative world. In this connection absolute stillness prevails there. But instead, for the progressing spiritual observer, there is offered something quite different, comparable to tone and sound, to music and speech, in the sense world. This higher element steps in when every tone and sound from the outer physical world is wholly hushed; indeed, when even the faintest inner soul echo from this sphere of the outer world is silenced. Then there occurs for the observer what may be called an understanding of the significance of the imaginative experiences. If we were to compare what is now experienced with something in the physical world we could only come near to explaining the matter by referring to something that does not exist at all in that world. Let it be supposed possible to perceive the thoughts and feelings of a human being without hearing his words with the physical ear; such a perception might be comparable to a direct comprehension of the imaginative element referred to as “hearing” in the spiritual sense. What “speaks” are the color and light impressions. In lightings-up and dimmings-down, in the color metamorphosis of images are revealed harmonies and discords that unveil the feelings, representations, and thought life of soul and spirit beings. Just as tone becomes speech in physical man when thought is imprinted in it, so do harmonies and discords of the spirit world grow into manifestations that are definite thought entities. To this end, darkness must fall upon that world if thought is to be revealed in its immediacy. The experience here is: The bright color-tones—red, yellow, and orange—are seen to fade away, and it is perceived how the higher world darkens through green to blue and violet; at the same time a waxing of inner will energy is experienced. Full freedom with regard to space and time is experienced; there is a feeling of being in motion. Certain linear forms and shapes are experienced. These are not experienced as though seen to be drawn before one in any spatial expanse, but rather as though in continuous movement every single curve, every form, was followed by the ego. In fact, the ego is at once felt as the draughtsman and the drawing material. Every linear direction, every shift in position, is at one and the same time an experience of this ego. The ego stirred to motion is recognised to be bound up with the world's creative forces. The laws of the world are no longer something that the ego perceives outwardly, but a truly miraculous fabric that it is helping to weave.—Occult science designs all kinds of symbolic drawings and pictures. When these really correspond to fact and are not mere invented figures, they are based on the observer's experiences in higher worlds, which are to be viewed as described above.
[ 4 ] So is the world of Inspiration placed within the Imaginative world. When the Imaginations begin to unveil their meanings in “silent speech” to the observer, the world of Inspiration arises within the Imaginative world.
[ 5 ] Of that world that the spiritual observer penetrates in this way, the physical is a manifestation. Whatever of the physical world is accessible to the senses and the sense bound intellect is only the outer side. To cite a single example, the plant as observed with physical senses and physical intellect is not the whole plant being. Whoever knows only this physical plant resembles a being who might be able to perceive the finger nail of a man, but to whom the perception of man himself would be inaccessible. But the structure and being of the finger nail is understandable only when explained by the whole nature of man. Thus in truth the plant is comprehensible only when one knows what pertains to it as the whole human nature relates to the man's fingernail. But what is related to the plant cannot be found in the physical world. The plant is related to something fundamental that can only be unveiled by Imagination in the astral world, and, further, to something that will be revealed only through Inspiration in the spirit-world.—Thus the plant as a physical organism is the revelation of a being comprehensible by Imagination and Inspiration.
[ 6 ] From the foregoing it is evident how for the observer of higher worlds there opens up a path that has its beginning in the physical world. Namely, he can start from the physical world and from its manifestations rise to the higher being sustaining them. If he starts from the animal kingdom, he can rise by this means into the imaginative world; if he takes his start from the plant world, spirit observation will lead him through Imagination to the world of Inspiration. If this path is taken, within the imaginative and inspiration worlds will soon be found beings and facts not at all revealed in the physical world. It must not, therefore, be believed that in this way acquaintance is made only with those beings of the higher worlds that have physical manifestations. Whoever has once entered the imaginative world comes to know a multitude of beings and occurrences of which the observer of what is merely physical has not the slightest inkling.
[ 7 ] Now, to be sure, there is another way. It does not take its start from the physical world. It makes man directly clairvoyant in the higher regions of existence. For many persons this method might have more power of attraction than the one above indicated. But for our life-conditions only the ascent from the physical world should be chosen. It requires of the observer the self-renunciation that is necessary if he is first of all to examine the physical world around him and accumulate knowledge and, especially, experience. In any case, it is the method best suited to our present-day cultural conditions. The other way presupposes the prior acquisition of soul qualities extremely hard to attain under modern life-conditions. Even though such soul qualities have again and again been stressed with full sharpness and clarity in past writings, still most people have no idea at all, or at most, an inadequate one—of the degree to which these qualities (for example, selflessness and devoted love ) must be acquired for attainment of the higher worlds without starting from the firm ground of the physical. If anyone should be awakened in the higher worlds without having attained the requisite degree of the corresponding soul qualities, the result must be unspeakable misery. Now it must not be believed, however, that the soul qualities characterized above can be dispensed with by one making his start from the physical world and its experiences. To believe this would also be an error of serious consequences. But such a start allows for the gradual acquisition of these qualities in the measure, and above all in the form, possible in our present life conditions.
[ 8 ] Another thing comes into consideration in this regard. If the start is made in the way indicated from the physical world, a living connection is retained with this physical world in spite of the ascent into higher worlds. A full understanding continues for all that happens in it, and the full energy to work in it. Indeed, this understanding and energy increase in a most helpful way just through the knowledge of the higher worlds. In every realm of life, even in what seems most prosaically practical, the knower of the higher worlds will work better and more usefully than the non-knower, provided he has preserved the living connection with the physical world.
[ 9 ] But whoever is awakened in the higher spheres of existence without starting from the physical world is only too readily estranged from life; he becomes a hermit, confronting his contemporaries without understanding or sympathy. Indeed, it even happens that people of incomplete development in this respect—not, of course, those with perfect development—look down with a certain disdain upon the experiences of the physical world and feel themselves superior, and so forth. Instead of their sympathy toward the world being heightened, such people become hardened, self-seeking natures in the spiritual sense. The temptation to all this is truly not slight, and those striving for the ascent into the higher worlds may well pay attention to it.
[ 10 ] From Inspiration the spiritual observer may rise to Intuition. In the manner of expression of occult science this word denotes in many respects the exact opposite of that for which it is often used in ordinary life. In the ordinary sense intuition is spoken of when one has in view a notion dimly felt to be true, which still lacks clear, conceptual definition. A preliminary step toward knowledge, rather than knowledge itself, is seen therein. An idea of this nature may—according to that definition—illuminate a great truth like a flash of lightning, but it can first have value as knowledge when founded on conceptual judgment. Sometimes also intuition designates something “felt” as truth, of which one is fully convinced, but which one will not weigh down with intellectual judgment. People who become acquainted with spiritual-scientific knowledge, often say: That was always clear to me “intuitively.” All this must be put entirely aside if the term Intuition is to be kept in view in its true significance meant here. In this application Intuition is not a mode of cognition which with regard to clarity lags behind intellectual knowledge, but one that far surpasses it.
[ 11 ] In Inspiration the experiences of the higher worlds speak their meaning. The observer lives in the qualities and actions of the beings of these higher worlds. If, as described above, he follows with his ego a lineal direction or the shape of a figure, he knows that he is not within the being itself, but within its qualities and functions. Already in imaginative cognition he has, indeed, experienced the feeling of being not outside, but inside the color-images; but he knows no less clearly that these color-images are not in themselves independent beings, but the qualities of such beings. In Inspiration, he is conscious of his becoming one with the deeds of such beings, with the manifestations of their will; in Intuition, for the first time, he merges his own self into that of self-contained beings. This can happen in the right way only if the emergence takes place, not by the effacement, but by the complete maintenance of his own being. Any “losing of oneself” in another being is bad. Therefore only an ego fortified to a high degree within itself can without damage plunge into another being.—Something has been grasped intuitively only if the feeling has arisen with regard to it that in it there is expressing itself a being of the self-same nature and inner content as one's own ego. Whoever examines a stone with his outer senses and seeks to understand its peculiarities with his intellect and by the usual scientific resources comes to know only the outer aspect of the stone. As spiritual observer he proceeds to imaginative and inspired knowledge. By dwelling within Inspiration he can come to an additional feeling. This may be characterized in the following way by a comparison. Suppose one sees a man on the street. To begin with, he makes a fleeting impression upon the observer. Later one becomes better acquainted with him; then comes the moment when one becomes such a friend that soul opens itself to soul. The experience goes through when the veils of the soul fall thus away and one ego confronts the other, is comparable to that when, to the spiritual observer the stone appears solely as an outer manifestation, and he advances to something related to the stone as the fingernail to the human body, and which lives itself out as an ego like one's own ego.
[ 12 ] That kind of knowledge that leads into the “innermost nature” of beings is first attained for man in Intuition. In the discussion of Inspiration, mention has been made of the transformation the spiritual observer's inner soul constitution must undergo if he wishes to arrive at this mode of cognition. In this connection it has been stated that, for instance, an incorrect conclusion must extend its effects not only to the intellect, but to the sensing nature, that it must cause grief, pain, and the observer must systematically cultivate such inner experience. Of course, as long as this pain springs from the sympathies and antipathies of the ego, and from partisan attitudes, the preparation for Inspiration cannot be considered adequate. Such involvement of the soul is far removed from the inner sympathy that the ego must feel for the pure truth—as truth—if it would arrive at the proclaimed goal. If cannot be too strongly emphasised that all forms of interest that prevail in ordinary life as pleasure and pain in relation to truth and error, must first be silenced, and then a totally different kind of interest, wholly without self-seeking, must enter in if anything is to be done for cognition through Inspiration. This one quality of the inner soul life is, however, but one means of preparation for Inspiration. There is an unlimited number of others that must be added to it, and the more the spiritual observer refines himself with regard to what has already served him for Inspiration, the better equipped he will be to approach Intuition.
Inspiration and Intuition
[ 1 ] Wie man die Imagination ein geistiges Schauen nennen kann, so die Inspiration ein geistiges Hören. Man muß allerdings bei diesem Ausdrucke «Hören» sich darüber klar sein, daß damit ein Wahrnehmen gemeint ist, welches dem sinnlichen Hören in der physischen Welt noch viel ferner steht als das «Schauen» in der imaginativen (astralen) Welt dem Sehen mit den physischen Augen. Von den Licht- und Farbenerscheinungen der letzteren Welt kann man sagen: sie seien so, wie wenn die leuchtenden Oberflächen und die Farben der sinnlichen Gegenstände sich von diesen abhöben und von ihnen losgelöst frei im Räume schwebten. Dies gibt aber doch nur eine annähernde Vorstellung. Denn der Raum der imaginativen Welt ist keineswegs so wie derjenige der physischen. Wer sich also einbildete, daß er imaginative Farbenbilder vor sich habe, wenn er freischwebende Farbenflocken mit gewöhnlicher Raumausdehnung sieht, der ist im Irrtum. Dennoch ist aber die Bildung von solchen Farbenvorstellungen der Weg zum imaginativen Leben. Wer versucht, sich eine Blume vorzustellen, und dann in seiner Vorstellung alles beiseite läßt, was nicht Farbenvorstellung ist, so daß vor seiner Seele ein Bild schwebt wie die von der Blume abgezogene farbige Oberfläche, der kann durch solche Übungen allmählich zu einer Imagination gelangen. Dies Bild selbst ist noch keine solche Imagination, sondern ein mehr oder weniger vorbereitendes Phantasiegemälde. Imagination — das ist wirkliches astrales Erlebnis — wird es erst, wenn nicht nur die Farbe ganz abgehoben ist von dem Sinneseindrucke, sondern wenn auch die drei-dimensionale Raumausdehnung sich völlig verloren hat. Daß dies let2tere der Fall ist, kann nur durch ein gewisses Gefühl wahrgenommen werden. Zu beschreiben ist dieses Gefühl nur dadurch, daß man sagt, man fühlt sich nicht mehr außerhalb, sondern innerhalb des Farbenbildes, und man hat das Bewußtsein, daß man an seiner Entstehung teilnimmt. Wenn dies Gefühl nicht da ist, wenn man sich also der Sache gegenüberstehend glaubt wie einem sinnlichen Farbenbild gegenüber, dann hat man es noch nicht mit einer wirklichen Imagination, sondern mit etwas Phantastischem zu tun. Damit soll jedoch nicht gesagt sein, daß solche Phantasiegemälde ganz wertlos seien. Sie können nämlich ätherische Abbilder — gleichsam Schatten — wirklicher astraler Tatsachen sein. Und als solchen kommt ihnen für die geheimwissenschaftliche Schulung immerhin einiger Wert zu. Sie können eine Brücke bilden zu den wahren astralen (imaginativen) Erlebnissen. — Eine gewisse Gefahr schließt ihre Beobachtung nur in sich, wenn der Beobachter an diesem Grenzgebiet zwischen Sinnlichem und Übersinnlichem seinen gesunden Menschenverstand nicht voll zur Anwendung bringt. Man soll nur nicht erwarten, daß irgend jemandem ein allgemeines Kennzeichen gegeben werden kann, wie er in diesem Grenzgebiete Illusion, Halluzination, Phantastik von Wirklichkeit unterscheiden könne. Bequem wäre ja eine solche allgemeine Regel. Aber Bequemlichkeit ist ein Wort, das der Geheimschülerin seinem Sprachschatze streichen sollte. — Man kann nur sagen, daß derjenige, welcher sich für dieses Gebiet Klarheit der Unterscheidung aneignen will, schon in dem gewöhnlichen Leben der physischen Welt darauf bedacht sein muß. Wer in diesem gewöhnlichen Leben keine Sorgfalt darauf verwendet, scharf und klar zu denken, der wird beim Aufsteigen in höhere Welten allen möglichen Illusionen zum Opfer fallen. Man bedenke nur, wie viele Fallen dieses gewöhnliche Leben dem gesunden Urteile bietet. Wie oft kommt es doch vor, daß die Menschen nicht das ungetrübt sehen, was ist, sondern was sie zu sehen begehren. In wie vielen Fällen glauben die Menschen etwas, nicht weil sie erkannt haben, sondern weil es ihnen angenehm ist, zu glauben. Oder welche Irrtümer ergeben sich, weil man einer Sache nicht auf den Grund geht, sondern sich vorschnell ein Urteil bildet. Alle diese Gründe von Täuschungen im gewöhnlichen Leben könnten durch andere schier ins Unendliche vermehrt werden. Was für Streiche spielen Parteinahme, Leidenschaft usw. usw. einem gesunden Urteile. Wenn derlei Urteilstäuschungen im gewöhnlichen Leben störend und oft verhängnisvoll sind: für die Gesundheit des übersinnlichen Erlebens sind sie die denkbar größte Gefahr. Nicht eine allgemeine Regel kann der Geheimschüler als Leitfaden mit in höhere Welten erhalten, sondern lediglich die Anweisung, für seine gesunde Unterscheidungskraft, für sein freies, unabhängiges Urteil alles Mögliche zu tun.
[ 2 ] Wenn der Beobachter höherer Welten einmal weiß, was wirklich Imagination ist, dann erhält er auch sehr bald die Empfindung, daß die Bilder der astralen Welt nicht bloße Bilder, sondern die Kundgebungen geistiger Wesenheiten sind. Er lernt erkennen, daß er die imaginativen Bilder ebenso auf geistige oder seelische Wesenheiten zu beziehen hat wie die sinnlichen Farben auf sinnliche Dinge oder Wesenheiten. Im einzelnen wird er allerdings da noch viel zu lernen haben. Er wird unterscheiden müssen zwischen Farbengebilden, die wie undurchsichtig sind, und solchen, die ganz durchsichtig und wie in ihrem Innern ganz durchleuchtet sind. Ja, auch solche Gebilde wird er wahrnehmen, die ihr Farbenlicht gleichsam in ihrem Innern immer neu erzeugen, die also nicht nur ganz durchleuchtet und durchsichtig (transparent) sind, sondern die immerfort in sich selbst aufstrahlen. Und er wird die mehr undurchsichtigen Gebilde auf niedrige, die durchleuchteten auf mittlere Wesenheiten beziehen; die in sich aufstrahlenden Bilder werden ihm Kundgebungen höherer geistiger Wesenheiten sein.
[ 3 ] Will man die Wahrheit der imaginativen Welt treffen, so darf man den Begriff des geistigen Schauens nicht zu eng fassen. Denn es finden sich in dieser Welt nicht etwa bloß Licht- und Farbenwahrnehmungen, die sich also den Gesichtserlebnissen der physischen Welt vergleichen lassen, sondern auch Eindrücke von Wärme und Kälte, von Geschmack und Geruch, ja noch andere Erlebnisse der imaginativen «Sinne», für die es etwas Ähnliches in der physischen Welt nicht gibt. Die Eindrücke des Warmen und Kalten sind in der imaginativen (astralen) Welt die Offenbarungen des Willens und der Absichten seelischer und geistiger Wesen. Ob ein solches Wesen etwas Gutes oder Böses bezweckt, das kommt in einer bestimmten Wärme- oder Kältewirkung zum Vorschein. Auch «schmecken» und «riechen» kann man die astralen Wesenheiten. — Nur dasjenige, was in eigentlichem Sinne das Physische des Tones und Schalles ausmacht, fehlt fast ganz in der wirklich imaginativen Welt. In dieser Beziehung herrscht da lautlose Stille. Dafür aber bietet sich etwas ganz anderes dem in der geistigen Beobachtung Fortschreitenden dar, was sich mit dem Tönen und Klingen, mit Musik und Sprache der sinnlichen Welt vergleichen läßt. Und gerade dann tritt dieses Höhere auf, wenn alles Tönen und Klingen der äußeren physischen Welt völlig verstummt, ja wenn auch der geringste innere seelische Nachhall an dieses Gebiet der äußeren Welt zum Schweigen gekommen ist. Dann tritt für den Beobachter das ein, was man ein Verstehen der Bedeutung der imaginativen Erlebnisse nennen kann. Wollte man dasjenige, was hier erfahren wird, mit etwas in der physischen Welt vergleichen, so könnte man nur zur Verdeutlichung etwas heranziehen, was es in dieser Welt gar nicht gibt. Man versuche sich einmal vorzustellen, daß man wahrnehmen könnte die Gedanken und Gefühle eines Menschen, ohne seine Worte mit dem physischen Ohre zu hören, so wäre ein solches Wahrnehmen zu vergleichen mit jenem unmittelbaren Verstehen des Imaginativen, das man als «Hören» in geistigem Sinne bezeichnet. Das «Sprechende» sind die Farben- und Lichteindrücke. In dem Aufglänzen und Verlöschen, in der Farbenwandlung der Bilder offenbaren sich Harmonien und Disharmonien, welche die Gefühle, Vorstellungen und Gedanken seelischer und geistiger Wesenheiten enthüllen. Und wie sich der Ton beim physischen Menschen zum Worte steigert, wenn sich ihm der Gedanke einprägt, so steigern sich die Harmonien und Disharmonien der geistigen Welt zu Offenbarungen, welche wesenhafte Gedanken selbst sind. Dazu muß es allerdings «dunkel werden» in dieser Welt, wenn der Gedanke in seiner Unmittelbarkeit sich offenbaren solL Das hier auftretende Erlebnis stellt sich so dar: Man sieht die hellen Farbentöne, das Rot, Gelb und Orange ersterben und nimmt wahr, wie sich die höhere Welt durch Grün hindurch abdunkelt zum Blauen und Violetten; dabei erlebt man in sich selbst eine Steigerung der inneren Willensenergie. Man erlebt eine völlige Freiheit in bezug auf Ort und Zeit; man fühlt sich in Bewegung. Es sind gewisse Linienformen, Gestalten, die man erlebt. Doch nicht etwa so erlebt man sie, daß man sie vor sich in irgendeinem Räume gezeichnet sähe, sondern so, als ob man in fortwährender Bewegung mit seinem Ich jedem Linienschwung, jeder Gestaltung selbst folgte. Ja, man fühlt das Ich als den Zeichner und zugleich als das Material, mit dem gezeichnet wird. Und jede Linienführung, jede Ortsänderung sind zugleich Erlebnisse dieses Ich. Man lernt erkennen, daß man mit seinem bewegten Ich hineingeflochten ist in die schaffenden Weltenkräfte. Die Weltgesetze sind nun dem Ich nicht mehr etwas äußerlich Wahrgenommenes, sondern ein wirkliches Wundergewebe, an dem man spinnt. — Die Geheimwissenschaft entwirft allerlei sinnbildliche Zeichnungen und Bilder. Wenn diese den Tatsachen wirklich entsprechen und nicht bloße ausgedachte Figuren sind, so liegen ihnen Erlebnisse des Beobachters in höheren Welten zugrunde, die in der oben beschriebenen Art anzusehen sind.
[ 4 ] So stellt sich die inspirierte Welt in die imaginierte hinein. Wenn die Imaginationen beginnen, dem Beobachter in «stummer Sprache» ihre Bedeutungen zu enthüllen, dann geht innerhalb des Imaginativen die Welt der Inspiration auf.
[ 5 ] Von derjenigen Welt, in welche der geistige Beobachter auf diese Art eindringt, ist die physische eine Offenbarung. Was von dieser physischen Welt den Sinnen und dem auf sie beschränkten Verstand zugänglich ist, das ist nur die Außenseite. Um nur ein Beispiel anzuführen: die Pflanze, wie sie mit den physischen Sinnen und dem physischen Verstände beobachtet wird, ist nicht das vollständige Pflanzenwesen. Wer nur diese physische Pflanze kennt, der hat etwas Ähnliches vorliegen, wie ein Wesen haben würde, das den Fingernagel eines Menschen wahrnehmen könnte, dem aber die Wahrnehmung des Menschen selbst unzugänglich wäre. Bau und Wesenheit des Fingernagels können aber nur verstanden werden, wenn man sie aus der ganzen menschlichen Wesenheit erklärt. So ist in Wahrheit die Pflanze nur verständlich, wenn man das kennt, was zu ihr gehört wie die ganze menschliche Wesenheit zum Fingernagel des Menschen. Dieses zur Pflanze Gehörige kann man aber nicht in der physischen Welt finden. Der Pflanze liegt zunächst etwas zugrunde, was sich nur durch die Imagination in der astralen Welt enthüllt, und ferner etwas, was nur durch die Inspiration in der geistigen Welt offenbar wird. — So ist also die Pflanze als physisches Wesen die Offenbarung einer Wesenheit, die durch Imagination und Inspiration zu begreifen ist.
[ 6 ] Es eröffnet sich für den Beobachter der höheren Welten, wie aus Vorstehendem ersichtlich ist, ein Weg, der in der physischen Welt beginnt. Er kann nämlich zunächst von dieser physischen Welt ausgehen und von deren Offenbarungen aufsteigen zu den ihnen zugrunde liegenden höheren Wesenheiten. Wenn er vom Tierreiche ausgeht, so kann er aufsteigen zur imaginativen Welt; wenn er von der Pflanzenwelt seinen Ausgang nimmt, so führt ihn die geistige Beobachtung durch die Imagination zur Welt der Inspiration. Wenn man diesen Weg geht, dann findet man nämlich bald innerhalb der imaginativen und Inspirationswelt auch Wesenheiten und Tatsachen, welche sich gar nicht in der physischen Welt offenbaren. Man darf also nicht glauben, daß man auf diese Art nur diejenigen Wesenheiten der höheren Welten kennenlernt, welche ihre Offenbarungen in der physischen Welt haben. Wer einmal die imaginative Welt betreten hat, der lernt eine Fülle von Wesen und Ereignissen kennen, von denen sich der bloße physische Beobachter nichts träumen läßt.
[ 7 ] Es gibt nun allerdings auch einen andern Weg. Einen solchen, der nicht von der physischen Welt seinen Ausgang nimmt. Der den Menschen unmittelbar hellsichtig macht in den höheren Gebieten des Daseins. Für viele Menschen möchte dieser Weg mehr Anziehungskraft haben als der vorhin angedeutete. Doch sollte für unsere Lebensverhältnisse nur der Aufstieg aus der physischen Welt gewählt werden. Er legt dem Beobachter die Entsagung auf, welche nötig ist, wenn er sich zunächst in der physischen Welt umschauen und da einige Erkenntnisse und namentlich Erfahrungen sammeln soll. Doch ist er auf alle Fälle für unsere Kulturverhältnisse der Gegenwart der angemessene. Der andere setzt die vorhergängige Aneignung von Seeleneigenschaften voraus, welche innerhalb der gegenwärtigen Lebensverhältnisse äußerst schwer zu erreichen sind. Wenn auch in einschlägigen Schriften mit aller Schärfe und Deutlichkeit solche Seeleneigenschaften immer wieder und wieder betont werden: von dem Grade, in dem man sich dergleichen (z.B. Selbstlosigkeit, hingebungsvolle Liebe usw.) aneignen muß, wenn man zur Erreichung der höheren Welten nicht von dem festen Boden der physischen ausgehen wollte, machen sich doch die meisten Menschen gar keine auch nur einigermaßen hinreichende Vorstellung. Und wenn dann jemand in den höheren Welten erweckt wird ohne den erforderlichen Grad der entsprechenden Seeleneigenschaften, so müßte unsägliches Elend die Folge sein. Nun darf man nicht etwa glauben, daß man beim Ausgehen von der physischen Welt und ihren Erfahrungen der gekennzeichneten Seeleneigenschaften entraten könnte. Solches zu glauben, wäre auch ein folgenschwerer Irrtum. Aber solcher Ausgang gestattet, daß man sich diese Seeleneigenschaften in dem Maße und vor allem in der Form aneigne, in denen es in unseren gegenwärtigen Lebensverhältnissen möglich ist.
[ 8 ] Und noch etwas kommt dabei in Betracht. Geht man in der angedeuteten Art von der physischen Welt aus, so bleibt man auch trotz seines Aufsteigens in die höheren Welten in einem lebendigen Zusammenhange mit dieser physischen Welt. Man wahrt sich das volle Verständnis für alles, was in ihr vorgeht, und die volle Tatkraft, in ihr zu wirken. Ja, dieses Verständnis und diese Tatkraft wachsen in der förderlichsten Art gerade durch die Erkenntnis der höheren Welten. In jedem Gebiete des Lebens, und wenn es auch noch so prosaisch-praktisch erscheint, wird der Kenner der höheren Welten förderlicher, besser wirken als der Nichtkenner, wenn sich der erstere nur den lebensvollen Zusammenhang mit der physischen Welt bewahrt hat.
[ 9 ] Wer aber, ohne von der physischen Welt auszugehen, in den höheren Gebieten des Daseins erweckt wird, der wird allerdings nur zu leicht dem Leben entfremdet; er wird zum Einsiedler, der seiner Mitwelt ohne Verständnis und Anteil gegenübersteht. Ja, es tritt bei unvollständig in dieser Art Ausgebildeten — allerdings nicht bei vollkommen Entwickelten — sogar oft ein, daß sie mit einer gewissen Geringschätzung auf die Erlebnisse der physischen Welt herabsehen, daß sie sich zu vornehm für diese fühlen usw. Statt daß sich ihr Anteil an der Welt erhöhte, werden solche in sich verhärtete, im geistigen Sinne selbstsüchtige Naturen. Die Verführung zu alledem ist nämlich wahrlich nicht gering. Und diejenigen, welche den Aufstieg in die höheren Welten erstreben, sollten wohl gerade darauf achten.
[ 10 ] Von der Inspiration kann der geistige Beobachter zur Intuition aufsteigen. In der Ausdrucksart der Geheimwissenschaft bedeutet dieses Wort in vieler Beziehung das genaue Gegenteil von dem, wofür man es im gewöhnlichen Leben oft anwendet. In letzterem spricht man von Intuition, wenn man einen dunkel als wahr gefühlten Einfall im Auge hat, dem an sich die klare, begriffliche Feststellung noch fehlt. Man sieht darinnen mehr eine Vorstufe der Erkenntnis denn eine solche selbst. Solch ein entsprechender «Einfall» mag — nach dieser Begriffsbestimmung — eine große Wahrheit wie in einem Blitzlicht erleuchten; als Erkenntnis kann er erst gelten, wenn er durch begriffliche Urteile begründet wird. Bisweilen bezeichnet man auch als Intuition etwas, was man als Wahrheit «fühlt», wovon man ganz überzeugt ist, was man aber durch Verstandesurteile nicht belasten will. Menschen, an welche die geheimwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse herankommen, sagen gar oft: Das war mir «intuitiv» schon immer klar. Von all dem muß ganz abgesehen werden, wenn man den Ausdruck «Intuition» in seiner hier gemeinten wahren Bedeutung ins Auge fassen will. Intuition ist, in dieser Anwendung, nicht eine Erkenntnis, die an Klarheit hinter der Verstandeserkenntnis zurückbleibt, sondern welche diese weit überragt.
[ 11 ] In der Inspiration sprechen die Erlebnisse der höheren Welten ihre Bedeutung aus. Der Beobachter lebt in den Eigenschaften und Taten der Wesen dieser höheren Welten. Wenn er, wie oben charakterisiert worden ist, mit seinem Ich einer Linienführung oder einer Gestaltform folgt, so weiß er doch, daß er nicht innerhalb des Wesens selbst ist, sondern innerhalb dessen Eigenschaften und Verrichtungen. Schon in der imaginativen Erkenntnis erlebt er es ja, daß er sich z.B. nicht außerhalb, sondern innerhalb der Farbenbilder fühlt; aber er weiß auch ebenso genau, daß diese Farbenbilder nicht in sich selbständige Wesen, sondern Eigenschaften solcher Wesen sind. In der Inspiration wird er sich bewußt, daß er eins wird mit den Taten solcher Wesen, mit den Offenbarungen ihres Willens; erst in der Intuition verschmilzt er mit Wesen, die in sich geschlossen sind, selbst. Im richtigen Sinne kann das nur geschehen, wenn diese Verschmelzung nicht unter Auslöschung, sondern unter völliger Aufrechterhaltung seiner eigenen Wesenheit der Fall ist. Alles «Sich-Verlieren» an ein fremdes Wesen ist vom Übel. Daher kann nur ein Ich, das in sich bis zu einem hohen Grade gefestigt ist, in ein anderes Wesen ohne Schaden untertauchen. — Man hat erst dann etwas intuitiv erfaßt, wenn man diesem «Etwas» gegenüber zu der Empfindung gekommen ist: es äußert sich in ihm ein Wesen, das von derselben Art und inneren Geschlossenheit wie das eigene Ich ist. Wer einen Stein mit den Sinnen betrachtet und ihn nach seinen Eigenheiten mit dem Verstände — und den gewöhnlichen wissenschaftlichen Hilfsmitteln — zu begreifen sucht, der lernt nur die Außenseite des Steines kennen. Als geistiger Beobachter schreitet er zu der imaginativen und inspirierten Erkenntnis vor. Lebt er innerhalb der letzteren, so kann er zu einer weiteren Empfindung kommen. Diese Empfindung möchte man durch einen Vergleich in der folgenden Art charakterisieren. Man stelle sich vor, man sehe einen Menschen auf der Straße. Er macht zunächst auf den Beobachter einen flüchtigen Eindruck. Später lernt man ihn näher kennen; und es kommt der Augenblick, in dem man mit ihm so befreundet wird, daß sich Seele der Seele aufschließt. Mit dem Erlebnis, das man durchmacht, wenn so die Hüllen der Seelen fallen und Ich dem Ich gegenübersteht, ist dasjenige zu vergleichen, wenn dem geistigen Beobachter der Stein nur wie eine äußere Offenbarung erscheint und er vorschreitet zu etwas, zu dem der Stein gehört, wie der Fingernagel zum menschlichen Leibe gehört, und das sich auslebt als ein «Ich», wie das eigene Ich eines ist.
[ 12 ] Erst in der Intuition ist diejenige Erkenntnisart durch den Menschen erreicht, die ihn ins «Innere» der Wesen führt. Bei Besprechung der Inspiration ist einiges angegeben worden über die Umwandlung, welche die innere Seelenverfassung des geistigen Beobachters erfahren muß, wenn er zu dieser Erkenntnisform gelangen will. Es ist da gesagt worden, daß z.B. ein unrichtiges Urteil nicht bloß zum Verstände sprechen darf, sondern zu der Empfindung, daß es Leid, Schmerz bereiten muß. Und der Beobachter muß solches inneres Erleben systematisch ausbilden. Solange allerdings dieser Schmerz entspringt aus den Sympathien und Antipathien des Ich, aus dessen Parteinahme, so lange kann nicht von einer dadurch zu erlangenden Vorbereitung für die Inspiration gesprochen werden. Solches Berührtwerden des Gemütes ist noch weit, sehr weit von dem inneren Anteil entfernt, den das Ich an der bloßen Wahrheit — als Wahrheitnehmen muß, wenn es die genannten Ziele erreichen will. Es kann gar nicht scharf genug betont werden, daß eigentlich alle Formen des Interesses, die sich im gewöhnlichen Leben als Lust und Leid gegenüber von Wahrheit und Irrtum ausleben, erst schweigen müssen und dann eine ganz andere Interessenart, die ohne alle Selbstsucht ist, eintreten muß, wenn etwas für die Erkenntnis durch Inspiration geschehen soll. Diese eine Eigenschaft des inneren Seelenlebens ist aber eben nur eines unter den Mitteln zur Vorbereitung für die Inspiration. Es gibt eine unbegrenzte Anzahl anderer, die hinzukommen müssen zu der einen. Und je weiter sich der geistige Beobachter in bezug auf das verfeinert, was ihm schon für die Inspiration gedient hat, desto mehr vermag er sich der Intuition zu nähern. Von der gesetzmäßigen Anweisung, welche die Geheimwissenschaft für die Intuition gibt, wird in weiteren Aufsätzen noch die Rede sein.
Inspiration and intuition
[ 1 ] As the imagination can be called a spiritual seeing, so inspiration a spiritual hearing. However, one must be clear about this expression "hearing" that it refers to a perception that is much closer to sensual hearing in the physical world than "seeing" in the imaginative (astral) world is to seeing with the physical eyes. One can say of the light and color phenomena of the latter world that they are as if the luminous surfaces and colors of sensory objects were detached from them and floating freely in space. However, this only gives an approximate idea. For the space of the imaginative world is not at all like that of the physical world. Whoever therefore imagines that he has imaginative color images before him when he sees free-floating flakes of color with ordinary spatial expansion is mistaken. Nevertheless, the formation of such color images is the way to imaginative life. Whoever tries to imagine a flower and then leaves aside in his imagination everything that is not a conception of color, so that an image floats before his soul like the colored surface drawn from the flower, can through such exercises gradually arrive at an imagination. This picture itself is not yet such an imagination, but a more or less preparatory fantasy painting. Imagination - that is real astral experience - only becomes so when not only the color is completely detached from the sensory impression, but also when the three-dimensional expansion of space is completely lost. The fact that this is the case can only be perceived through a certain feeling. This feeling can only be described by saying that one no longer feels outside, but within the color picture, and one has the consciousness that one participates in its creation. If this feeling is not there, if one believes oneself to be facing the object as one would a sensual color image, then one is not yet dealing with a real imagination, but with something fantastic. However, this is not to say that such fantasy paintings are completely worthless. They can be etheric images - shadows, as it were - of real astral facts. And as such they are of some value for secret scientific training. They can form a bridge to the true astral (imaginative) experiences. - There is only a certain danger in their observation if the observer does not make full use of his common sense in this border area between the sensual and the supersensible. One should not expect that anyone can be given a general sign of how to distinguish illusion, hallucination, fantasy from reality in this border area. Convenient would be such a general rule. But convenience is a word that the secret student should delete from his vocabulary. - One can only say that he who wishes to acquire clarity of discrimination in this field must already be concerned about it in the ordinary life of the physical world. He who in this ordinary life does not take care to think sharply and clearly will fall prey to all kinds of illusions when he ascends to higher worlds. Just think how many traps this ordinary life offers to sound judgment. How often does it happen that people do not see what is unclouded, but what they desire to see. In how many cases do men believe something, not because they have recognized it, but because it is pleasant for them to believe. Or what errors arise because people do not get to the bottom of a matter but form a hasty judgment. All these causes of deception in ordinary life could be multiplied by others almost ad infinitum. What tricks partisanship, passion, etc., etc., play on sound judgment. If such deceptions of judgment are disturbing and often fatal in ordinary life, they are the greatest conceivable danger to the health of psychic experience. The secret disciple cannot receive a general rule as a guide to higher worlds, but only the instruction to do everything possible for his healthy power of discernment, for his free, independent judgment.
[ 2 ] Once the observer of higher worlds knows what imagination really is, he very soon gets the feeling that the images of the astral world are not mere images, but the manifestations of spiritual entities. He learns to recognize that he must relate the imaginative images to spiritual or soul entities just as he relates the sensual colors to sensual things or entities. In detail, however, he will still have much to learn. He will have to distinguish between color formations that are as if opaque and those that are completely transparent and completely illuminated from within. Indeed, he will also perceive such formations that constantly generate their color light anew within themselves, as it were, that are not only completely illuminated and transparent, but that are constantly radiating within themselves. And he will relate the more opaque formations to lower, the translucent ones to middle entities; the images radiating within themselves will be manifestations of higher spiritual entities.
[ 3 ] If one wishes to grasp the truth of the imaginative world, one must not define the concept of spiritual vision too narrowly. For in this world there are not only perceptions of light and color, which can be compared to the visual experiences of the physical world, but also impressions of warmth and cold, of taste and smell, indeed other experiences of the imaginative "senses" for which there is nothing similar in the physical world. The impressions of warmth and cold in the imaginative (astral) world are the revelations of the will and intentions of soul and spiritual beings. Whether such a being intends something good or evil is revealed in a certain warm or cold effect. You can also "taste" and "smell" the astral beings. - Only that which in the real sense constitutes the physical of sound and noise is almost completely absent in the truly imaginative world. In this respect, there is soundless silence. Instead, however, something quite different presents itself to those who progress in spiritual observation, which can be compared with the tones and sounds, with the music and language of the sensual world. And it is precisely when all the sounds and tones of the outer physical world are completely silenced, indeed when even the slightest inner spiritual reverberation in this area of the outer world has been silenced, that this higher thing appears. Then the observer experiences what can be called an understanding of the meaning of the imaginative experiences. If one wanted to compare what is experienced here with something in the physical world, one could only use something for clarification that does not exist in this world at all. Just try to imagine that one could perceive the thoughts and feelings of a person without hearing his words with the physical ear, such a perception would be comparable to that direct understanding of the imaginative, which is called "hearing" in a spiritual sense. What "speaks" are the impressions of color and light. Harmonies and disharmonies reveal themselves in the shining and fading, in the color changes of the images, which reveal the feelings, ideas and thoughts of soul and spiritual beings. And just as the sound in the physical human being increases to words when the thought impresses itself upon him, so the harmonies and disharmonies of the spiritual world increase to revelations which are essential thoughts themselves. For this, however, it must "become dark" in this world if the thought is to reveal itself in its immediacyL The experience occurring here presents itself in this way: One sees the bright color tones, the red, yellow and orange die away and perceives how the higher world darkens through green to blue and violet; at the same time one experiences in oneself an increase of the inner energy of will. One experiences a complete freedom in relation to time and place; one feels oneself in motion. You experience certain linear forms, shapes. But you do not experience them in such a way that you see them drawn before you in some space, but as if you were following every line, every shape yourself in continuous movement with your ego. Indeed, one feels the ego as the draughtsman and at the same time as the material with which the drawing is made. And every line, every change of place are at the same time experiences of this ego. One learns to recognize that one's moving ego is interwoven into the creative forces of the world. The laws of the world are now no longer something externally perceived by the ego, but a real web of wonders on which one weaves. - Secret science creates all kinds of symbolic drawings and images. If these really correspond to the facts and are not merely imaginary figures, then they are based on the observer's experiences in higher worlds, which are to be viewed in the manner described above.
[ 4 ] This is how the inspired world places itself in the imagined world. When the imaginations begin to reveal their meanings to the observer in "silent language", then the world of inspiration opens up within the imaginative.
[ 5 ] Of that world into which the spiritual observer penetrates in this way, the physical is a revelation. What is accessible to the senses and the mind, which is limited to them, is only the outside of this physical world. To cite just one example: the plant as it is observed with the physical senses and the physical mind is not the complete plant being. Whoever only knows this physical plant has something similar to what a being would have that could perceive the fingernail of a human being, but to which the perception of the human being itself would be inaccessible. However, the structure and nature of the fingernail can only be understood if they are explained in terms of the entire human being. In truth, the plant can only be understood if we know what belongs to it, just as the entire human being belongs to the human fingernail. However, what belongs to the plant cannot be found in the physical world. First of all, the plant is based on something that only reveals itself through imagination in the astral world, and furthermore something that only becomes apparent through inspiration in the spiritual world. - Thus, the plant as a physical being is the revelation of an entity that can be comprehended through imagination and inspiration.
[ 6 ] As can be seen from the above, a path opens up for the observer of the higher worlds that begins in the physical world. He can first start from this physical world and ascend from its revelations to the higher beings on which they are based. If he starts from the animal kingdom, he can ascend to the imaginative world; if he starts from the plant world, spiritual observation leads him through the imagination to the world of inspiration. If you follow this path, you will soon find entities and facts within the imaginative and inspirational world which do not manifest themselves in the physical world. One must therefore not believe that in this way one only gets to know those beings of the higher worlds which have their revelations in the physical world. Once you have entered the imaginative world, you get to know a wealth of beings and events of which the mere physical observer would never dream.
[ 7 ] There is, however, another way. One that does not originate in the physical world. One that makes people directly clairvoyant in the higher realms of existence. For many people, this path would have more attraction than the one indicated above. But for our living conditions only the ascent from the physical world should be chosen. It imposes on the observer the renunciation that is necessary if he is to first look around in the physical world and gather some knowledge and, in particular, experience. But it is definitely the appropriate one for our present cultural conditions. The other presupposes the prior acquisition of soul qualities, which are extremely difficult to achieve within the present living conditions. Even if such soul qualities are emphasized again and again in the relevant writings with all sharpness and clarity, most people do not even have a reasonably adequate idea of the degree to which such qualities (e.g. selflessness, devoted love, etc.) must be acquired if one does not want to start from the solid ground of the physical world in order to reach the higher worlds. And if someone is then awakened in the higher worlds without the necessary degree of the corresponding soul qualities, unspeakable misery would have to be the result. Now one must not believe that by leaving the physical world and its experiences one could dispense with the marked soul qualities. To believe such a thing would also be a grave error. But such an exit allows one to acquire these soul qualities to the extent and above all in the form in which it is possible in our present living conditions.
[ 8 ] And there is something else to consider. If one proceeds from the physical world in the manner indicated, one remains in a living connection with this physical world despite one's ascent into the higher worlds. One retains a full understanding of everything that takes place in it and the full energy to work in it. Indeed, this understanding and this energy grow in the most beneficial way precisely through the knowledge of the higher worlds. In every area of life, no matter how prosaic and practical it may appear, the connoisseur of the higher worlds will work more beneficially, better than the non-connoisseur, if the former has only retained the vital connection with the physical world.
[ 9 ] However, he who is awakened in the higher realms of existence without starting from the physical world is all too easily alienated from life; he becomes a recluse who faces his fellow world without understanding and participation. Indeed, it often happens with those who are incompletely formed in this way - though not with those who are completely developed - that they look down on the experiences of the physical world with a certain contempt, that they feel themselves too distinguished for it, etc. Instead of increasing their share in the world, they become hardened, selfish natures in the spiritual sense. The temptation to all this is truly not small. And those who strive to ascend to the higher worlds should pay particular attention to this.
[ 10 ] From inspiration, the spiritual observer can ascend to intuition. In the expression of secret science, this word means in many respects the exact opposite of what it is often used for in ordinary life. In the latter, one speaks of intuition when one has in mind an idea that is darkly felt to be true, but which in itself still lacks clear, conceptual realization. This is seen more as a preliminary stage of knowledge than as knowledge itself. Such a corresponding "intuition" may - according to this definition - illuminate a great truth as if in a flash of lightning; it can only be considered knowledge when it is substantiated by conceptual judgments. Sometimes intuition is also used to describe something that one "feels" as truth, of which one is completely convinced, but which one does not want to burden with intellectual judgments. People who are approached by secret scientific knowledge often say: I have always "intuitively" known this. All of this must be disregarded if we want to understand the term "intuition" in its true meaning. Intuition, in this application, is not an insight that lags behind rational cognition in terms of clarity, but one that far surpasses it.
[ 11 ] In inspiration, the experiences of the higher worlds express their meaning. The observer lives in the qualities and deeds of the beings of these higher worlds. If, as has been characterized above, he follows a line or a form with his ego, he nevertheless knows that he is not within the being itself, but within its qualities and actions. Already in imaginative cognition he experiences, for example, that he does not feel himself outside, but within the color images; but he also knows just as well that these color images are not independent beings in themselves, but properties of such beings. In inspiration he realizes that he becomes one with the acts of such beings, with the revelations of their will; only in intuition does he himself merge with beings that are self-contained. This can only happen in the right sense if this merging is not the case with annihilation, but with complete preservation of his own being. All "losing oneself" to a foreign being is evil. Therefore, only an ego that is highly consolidated within itself can immerse itself in another being without harm. - One has only grasped something intuitively when one has come to the feeling towards this "something": a being expresses itself in it that is of the same kind and inner unity as one's own ego. Whoever looks at a stone with the senses and tries to understand it according to its peculiarities with the intellect - and the usual scientific aids - only gets to know the outside of the stone. As a spiritual observer, he progresses to imaginative and inspired knowledge. If he lives within the latter, he can arrive at a further perception. This sensation can be characterized by a comparison of the following kind. Imagine seeing a person on the street. At first he makes a fleeting impression on the observer. Later you get to know him better, and the moment comes when you become so friendly with him that soul opens up to soul. The experience that one undergoes when the shells of the souls fall away and ego confronts ego is comparable to that when the stone appears to the spiritual observer only as an external revelation and he progresses to something to which the stone belongs, as the fingernail belongs to the human body, and which lives itself out as an "ego", as one's own ego is.
[ 12 ] It is only in intuition that man achieves the kind of knowledge that leads him into the "interior" of beings. In the discussion of inspiration, some information has been given about the transformation which the inner state of the soul of the spiritual observer must undergo if he wants to attain this form of knowledge. It has been said there that, for example, an incorrect judgment must not merely speak to the intellect, but to the feeling that it must cause suffering, pain. And the observer must systematically develop such an inner experience. As long, however, as this pain arises from the sympathies and antipathies of the ego, from its partisanship, we cannot speak of a preparation for inspiration that can be attained through it. Such a touching of the mind is still far, very far removed from the inner share that the ego must take in the mere truth - as truth - if it wants to achieve the goals mentioned. It cannot be emphasized strongly enough that all forms of interest, which in ordinary life express themselves as pleasure and suffering in relation to truth and error, must first be silent and then a completely different kind of interest, which is without all selfishness, must enter if something is to happen for knowledge through inspiration. But this one quality of the inner life of the soul is only one of the means of preparation for inspiration. There are an unlimited number of others which must be added to the one. And the more the spiritual observer refines himself in relation to that which has already served him for inspiration, the more he is able to approach intuition. The lawful instruction which the secret science gives for intuition will be discussed in further essays.