The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Stages of Higher Knowledge

[ 1 ] Up to the encounter with the two "Guardians of the Threshold", the path to higher knowledge has been traced in the book "How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds?". Now the relationship of the soul to the various worlds will be described as it passes through the successive stages of knowledge. This gives what can be called the "epistemology of secret science".

[ 2 ] Before man enters the path of higher knowledge, he knows only the first of four levels of knowledge. It is the one that is proper to him in ordinary life within the sense world. Even in what is initially called "science", we are only dealing with this first level of knowledge. For this science only works out ordinary cognition more finely, makes it more disciplined. It arms the senses with instruments - microscope, telescope, etc. - in order to see more precisely what the unarmed senses do not see. But the level of cognition remains the same whether one sees normal-sized things with the ordinary eye or whether one observes very small objects and processes with a magnifying glass. In the application of thought to things and facts, this science also remains at the same level as in everyday life. One classifies objects, describes and compares them, tries to form a picture of their changes, etc. The most rigorous natural scientist basically does nothing else in this respect than to develop the observation procedure of everyday life in an artistic manner. His knowledge becomes more extensive, more complicated, more logical; but he does not advance to another kind of knowledge.

[ 3 ] In secret science, this first level of knowledge is called the "material way of knowing". Then there are three higher ones. These are followed by others. They will be described here before continuing with the description of the "path of knowledge". If we assume that ordinary and sensory-scientific cognition is the first stage, we must first distinguish between the following four stages:

1. material cognition,
2. imaginative cognition,
3. inspired cognition, which can also be called "volitional" cognition
4. intuitive cognition

[ 4 ] These stages will be discussed below. We must first clarify what we are dealing with in these different types of cognition. - In ordinary sensory cognition four elements come into consideration: 1. the object, which makes an impression on the senses; 2. the image, which man forms of this object; 3. the concept, through which man arrives at a mental grasp of a thing or a process; 4. the "I", which forms image and concept on the basis of the impression of the object. Before a person forms an image - a "concept" - there is an object that causes him to do so. He does not form this object himself, he perceives it. And the image arises on the basis of this object. As long as one looks at an object, one is dealing with it. The moment one steps away from the object, one possesses only the image. You leave the object, the image "sticks" in your memory. But you cannot stop at merely making "images". You have to arrive at "concepts". The distinction between "image" and "concept" is absolutely necessary if you want to be completely clear here. Imagine that you see an object that is circular. Then turn around and keep the image of the circle in mind. You do not yet have the "concept" of the circle. This only arises when you say to yourself: "A circle is a figure in which all points are equidistant from a center point." Only when you have formed a "concept" of something do you have an understanding of it. There are many circles: small, large, red, blue, etc.; but there is only one concept of "circle". - All of this will be discussed in more detail below; for the time being, we will only outline what is necessary to characterize the first four stages of cognition. - The fourth element that comes into consideration in material cognition is the "I". In it, a unity of images and concepts is created. This "I" preserves the images in its memory. If this were not the case, there would be no continuous inner life. The images of things would only remain present as long as these things themselves had an effect on the soul. Inner life, however, depends on perception being strung together with perception. The "I" orients itself in the world "today" because images of the same objects from "yesterday" appear to it when it sees certain objects. Just imagine how impossible the life of the soul would be if we only had an image of an object as long as it was standing in front of us. - The "I" also forms unity in terms of concepts. It combines its concepts and in this way creates an overview, i.e. an understanding of the world. This connection of concepts takes place in "judgment". A being that only had loose concepts would not be able to find its way in the world. All of man's activity is based on his ability to connect concepts, i.e. on his "judgment".

[ 5 ] The "material cognition" is based on the fact that man receives an impression of things and processes in the outside world through his senses. They have the ability to feel or sensitivity. The impression received "from outside" is also called sensation. Therefore, the four elements come into consideration in "material cognition": sensation, image, concept, ego. - At the next higher level of cognition, the impression on the external senses, the "sensation", is no longer present. An external sensory object is no longer present. Thus, of the elements to which man is accustomed from ordinary cognition, only the three remain: image, concept and ego.

[ 6 ] In a healthy person, ordinary cognition does not form an image or a concept if an external sensory object is not present. The "I" then remains inactive. Anyone who forms images to which sensory objects are supposed to correspond, where in reality there are none, lives in fantasy. - But now the secret disciple acquires the ability to form images even where no sensory objects are present. Another object must then take the place of the "external object". He must be able to have images even if no object touches his senses. Something else must take the place of the "sensation". This is the imagination. With the secret disciple at this stage, images appear exactly as if an object of the senses were to make an impression on him; they are as vivid and true as the sensory images, only they do not come from the "material", but from the "spiritual" and "mental". The senses remain completely inactive. - It is obvious that man must first acquire this ability to have content images without sensory impressions. This is done through meditation, through the exercises described in the book "How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds". Man, who is limited to the world of the senses, lives only in a world of images which have first found their way into him through the senses. The imaginative human being has such a world of images, which receives its influx from a higher world. It requires very careful training to distinguish illusion from reality within this higher world of images. It is only too easy for man to say to himself when such images first appear before his soul: "Oh, they are only imaginations, mere outflows of my imaginative life." This is only too understandable. For man is at first accustomed to call "real" only that which, without his intervention, is given to him by the solid foundation of his sense perception. And he must first find his way into taking things for "real" that are caused from a completely different side. And he cannot be careful enough in this either, if he does not want to become a fantasist. The decision about what is "real" on a higher level and what is only "illusion" can only come from experience. And one must acquire this experience in a quiet, patient inner life. First of all, you have to be prepared for the "illusion" to play nasty tricks on you. Everywhere the possibility lurks that images will emerge which are based only on deceptions of the outer senses, of abnormal life. All such possibilities must first be cleared away. One must first completely block the sources of fantasy, only then can one arrive at the imagination. Once one has reached this point, however, one realizes that the world into which one enters in this way is not only as real as the sensual one, but that it is a much more real.

[ 7 ] At the third stage of cognition, the images also disappear. The human being only has to deal with "concept" and "I". If at the second stage he still has a world of images around him, reminiscent of the moments when the vivid memory conjures up impressions of the outside world before the soul, without having such impressions himself: at the third stage such images are no longer present either. Man lives entirely in a purely spiritual world. Those who are only accustomed to stick to the senses will be tempted to believe that this world is a pale, ghostly one. But it is not that at all. The pictorial world of the second stage also has nothing pale or shadowy about it. Such, however, are the images that remain in the mind when the external things are gone. But the images of the imagination are of a vividness and richness of content with which not only the shadowy memory images of the sense world cannot be compared, but not even the whole colorful, varied sense world itself. This too is but a shadow compared to the realm of the imagination. - And now even the world of the third level of cognition! Nothing in the world of the senses gives any idea of its richness and fullness. What sensation is for the first level, and imagination for the second, is "inspiration" for them. Inspiration gives the impressions, and the "I" forms the concepts. If one wants to compare something sensual with this world, then only the sound world of hearing can be used for such a comparison. However, we are not dealing with sounds as in sensual music, but with a purely "spiritual sound". We begin to "hear" what is going on inside things. The stone, the plant etc. become "spiritual words". The world really begins to express its essence to the soul. It sounds grotesque, but it is literally true: at this level of cognition "one hears spiritually the grass grow". The shape of the crystal is heard as a sound; the opening blossom "speaks" to the human being. The inspired is able to proclaim the inner essence of things; all things are resurrected in a new way before his soul. He speaks a language that comes from another world and yet only makes the everyday world comprehensible.

[ 8 ] On the fourth level of cognition, inspiration finally ceases. Of the elements that one is used to considering from everyday cognition, only the "I" is the one that comes into consideration. The secret disciple realizes that he has ascended to this level by a very specific inner experience. This experience is expressed in the fact that he has the feeling that he no longer stands outside the things and processes which he recognizes, but within them. Images are not the object; they merely express it. Even what inspiration gives is not the object. It only expresses it. But that which now lives in the soul is really the object itself. The I has poured itself out over all beings; it has flowed together with them. The life of the things in the soul is now the intuition. It is to be taken quite literally when one says of intuition: one creeps through it into all things. - In ordinary life, man has only one intuition, that of the "I" itself. For the "I" cannot be perceived in any way from the outside, it can only be experienced within. A simple consideration can make this clear. It is a consideration which, however, is not made by psychologists with the desired acuity. As inconspicuous as it is, however, it is of the most far-reaching significance for those who fully understand it. It is the following: Every thing in the outside world can be called by the same name by all people. The table can be addressed by everyone as "table", the tulip by everyone as "tulip", Mr. Miller by everyone as "Mr. Miller". But there is one word that everyone can only say to themselves. This is the word "I". No one else can say "I" to me, for everyone else I am a "you". Likewise, everyone else is a 'you' to me. Only he himself can say "I" to himself. This stems from the fact that one does not live outside, but within the "I". And so one lives through the intuitive cognition in all things. The perception of one's own "I" is the model for all intuitive cognition. In order to enter into things in this way, however, one must first step out of oneself. One must become "selfless" in order to merge with the "self", the "I", of another being.

[ 9 ] Meditation and concentration are the sure means to reach this level, as well as the previous ones. However, they must be practiced in a quiet, patient manner. He who believes that he can ascend to the higher worlds tumultuously, by violent means, is mistaken. And such a belief would be indulged in by those who expect reality to confront them in the higher realms in the same way as in the senses. However vivid and rich the worlds to which one ascends may be, they are fine and subtle, whereas the world of the senses is coarse and crude. The most important thing to learn is to become accustomed to calling something completely different "real" than what we call it in the realm of the senses. And this is not easy. That is why some people who are so keen to follow the secret path are put off from the very first steps. He has expected to encounter things that are like tables and chairs, and he finds "ghosts". But because "ghosts" are not dense like chairs and tables, they appear to him as "imaginations". This is due to nothing other than unfamiliarity. One must first acquire the right feeling for the spiritual world, then one will not only see the spiritual, but also recognize it. And a large part of the secret training relates to this correct recognition and appreciation of the spiritual.

[ 10 ] If we want to gain insight into imaginative cognition, we must first consider the state of sleep. As long as the human being has not attained a higher level of cognition than the material, the soul lives during sleep, but it cannot perceive anything in the world in which it lives asleep. It is in this world like a blind person in the material world. Such a person lives in the world of light and color, but he does not perceive them. - The soul has withdrawn from the outer sense organs, the eye, the ear, the ordinary brain activity, etc., during sleep. It receives no impressions through the senses. What does it do during sleep? It must be realized that the soul is in constant activity during waking. It receives external sensory impressions and processes them: that is its activity. It ceases this activity during sleep. But it is by no means inactive. It works on its own body while it sleeps. This is worn out during the waking day's work. This is expressed in fatigue. And during sleep, the soul occupies itself with its own body in order to make it suitable for further waking daytime work. This shows how essential proper sleep is for the body to thrive. A person who does not sleep properly does not allow his soul to do the necessary work of improvement on his body. - And the consequence of this must be that the body comes down. - The powers by which the soul works on the body during sleep are the same as those by which it is active in the waking state. Only in the latter they are used to receive the impressions of the external senses and to process them.

[ 11 ] When imaginative cognition occurs in the human being, part of the forces applied to the body during sleep must be used in a different way. Through these powers the spiritual sense organs are now formed, which make it possible for the soul not only to live in a higher world, but also to perceive it. Thus the soul works on itself while sleeping, no longer merely on its body. This work is brought about by meditation and concentration as well as by other exercises. It has often been said in these essays on higher knowledge that the specific instructions for such exercises are given only from person to person. No one should undertake these exercises on his own. For only those who have experience in this field can judge what effect must occur in one person or another when he undertakes to withdraw his soul work from the body and apply it in a higher way.

[ 12 ] Meditation, concentration and other exercises cause the soul to withdraw for a while from its connection with the sense organs. It is then absorbed in itself. Its activity is turned inwards. At the beginning of this immersion, its inner activity does not differ significantly from everyday life. She must use the same ideas, feelings and sensations during her inner work as she does in ordinary life. However, the more she becomes accustomed to being "blind and deaf" to her sensual surroundings, the more she lives within herself, the more capable she becomes of inner work. And what it has achieved by immersing itself in the inner world first bears fruit in the state of sleep. When the soul is freed from the body at night, that which has been stimulated by the exercises during the day continues to work in it. Organs are formed in it through which it comes into contact with a higher environment in exactly the same way as before through the external sense organs with the physical environment. The light phenomena of the higher world emerge from the darkness of the nocturnal environment. At first this contact is tender and intimate. And man must expect that for a long time, on waking, the light of day will immediately draw a thick curtain over the experiences of the night. The remembering that one has perceived in the night only occurs very slowly and gradually. For the pupil does not easily learn to pay attention to the delicate formations of his soul, which in the course of his development mingle with the coarse experiences of everyday sensory life. At first such formations appear to him like what are called accidental impressions of the soul. Everything depends on his learning to distinguish what he owes to the ordinary world from what presents itself through his own being as a manifestation of higher worlds. He must acquire this distinction in a quiet, introspective life of the mind. It is necessary that he should first acquire a sense of the value and significance of those intimate soul-formations which interfere with day-life like "chance occurrences" and which are nevertheless memories of nocturnal intercourse in a higher world. As soon as these things are somehow roughly handled and measured with the yardstick of sensory life, they crumble.

[ 13 ] It is evident from the above that through the work in a higher world the soul must withdraw from the body something of its otherwise caring activity. It leaves the body to itself in a certain respect. It needs a substitute for what it has previously done for it. If it does not receive such a substitute, it is in danger of falling prey to pernicious forces. We must realize that man is constantly exposed to the influences of his environment. He lives only through the effects of this environment. First of all, the realms of visible nature come into consideration within the environment. Man belongs to this visible nature. If he were not surrounded by the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms and those of other human beings, he could not live. Imagine man lifted away from the earth into the universe, he would immediately perish as a physical human being, just as the hand withers when it is separated from the body. As strong would be the illusion of which the human hand would be guilty if it believed that it could live without the body, so strong would be the delusion into which man would fall if he claimed that he could exist as a physical being without the mineral, animal and plant kingdoms and without other human beings. - However, there are three other realms in addition to those mentioned, which usually escape human attention. These are the three elemental kingdoms. They stand in a certain relationship below the mineral kingdom. There are beings that do not reach mineral condensation, but are no less present and have an effect on man. (Compare what is said about these elemental kingdoms in the essays "From the Akashic Chronicle" and the remarks about them in my "Theosophy"). Man is thus exposed to influences from kingdoms of nature, which in a certain sense must be called invisible. When the soul works on the body, an essential part of its activity consists in regulating the influences of the elemental kingdoms in such a way that they are beneficial to man. - The moment the soul withdraws part of its activity from the body, corrupting forces from the elemental kingdoms can take possession of it. This is a danger to higher development. It must therefore be ensured that, as soon as the soul withdraws from the body, it is accessible through itself only to good influences from the elemental world. - If no attention is paid to this, the ordinary human being degenerates in a certain respect physically and also morally, even though he gains access to higher worlds. While the soul lives in higher realms, harmful forces nestle in the dense physical body and in the etheric body. This is the reason why certain bad qualities, which before the higher development were held down by the balancing effect of the soul, can find expression in the absence of caution. People who were previously good, moral natures can, under such circumstances, when they approach higher worlds, bring forth all kinds of low inclinations, increased selfishness, untruthfulness, vindictiveness, anger, etc., etc. - No one should be deterred by this fact from ascending to the higher worlds; but care must be taken to prevent such things from occurring. The lower nature of man must be fortified and made inaccessible to dangerous elementary influences. This happens through the conscious development of certain virtues. These virtues are given in the theosophical manuals dealing with spiritual development. But here we have the reason why care must be taken of them. They are the following.

[ 14 ] First of all, in all things, man must consciously and constantly endeavor to separate the permanent and imperishable from the perishable, and focus his attention on the former. In every thing and being, man can suspect or recognize something that remains when the transient appearance disappears. If I see a plant, I can first look at it as it presents itself to the senses. This is certainly not to be missed. And no one will discover the eternal in things who has not first familiarized himself thoroughly with the transient. Those who are always worried that the "freshness and naturalness of life" will be lost to the person who focuses on the spiritual and imperishable: they do not yet know what this actually means. But when I look at the plant in this way, I can realize that there is a permanent life instinct in it, which will emerge in a new one when the present plant has long since died. Such a way of looking at things must be incorporated into the whole constitution of one's mind. - Then one must set one's heart on what is valuable and worthy and learn to value it more highly than what is temporary and insignificant. In all his feelings and actions he should bear in mind the value that something has in the context of a whole. - Thirdly, one should develop six qualities in oneself: Control of the world of thoughts, control of actions, earnestness, impartiality, trust in the environment and inner balance. Control of the world of thoughts is achieved when one endeavors to counteract the delusion of thoughts and feelings, which always rise and fall in the ordinary person. In everyday life, man is not the leader of his thoughts; he is driven by them. Of course, this cannot be otherwise. For life drives man. And as an agent, he must abandon himself to this driving of life. During ordinary life this cannot be otherwise. But if one wants to ascend to a higher world, one must at least set aside very short times in which one makes oneself master of one's world of thoughts and feelings. One places a thought at the center of one's soul out of complete inner freedom, while otherwise the ideas from outside impose themselves. Then you try to keep away all rising thoughts and feelings and only connect with the first thought that you yourself want it to belong to. Such an exercise has a beneficial effect on the soul and thus also on the body. It brings the latter into such a harmonious condition that it withdraws from harmful influences, even if the soul does not directly affect it. - Control of actions consists in a similar regulation of them through inner freedom. One begins well by setting out to do something regularly which one would not have been able to do in ordinary life. In the latter, man is driven to his actions from without. The smallest act, however, which one undertakes on one's own initiative, has more effect in the direction indicated than anything one is urged to do by external life. - Profitability is keeping away from that mood which can be described as alternating between "rejoicing in heaven and sorrowing to death". Man is driven back and forth between all kinds of moods. Pleasure makes him happy, pain depresses him. This has its justification. But he who seeks the path to higher knowledge must be able to moderate himself in pleasure and also in pain. He must become "productive". He must be able to indulge himself moderately in the pleasurable impressions and also in the painful experiences: he must always walk through both with dignity. Not to be overpowered by anything, not to be upset. This does not justify insensitivity, but makes people a firm center within the waves of life that rise and fall around them. He is always in control.

[ 15 ] A particularly important quality is the "sense of affirmation". It can be developed by those who focus their attention on the good, beautiful and useful characteristics in all things and not primarily on the reprehensible, ugly and contradictory. There is a beautiful legend of Christ in Persian poetry that illustrates what is meant by this quality: "A dead dog lies by a road. Christ is among those who pass by. Everyone else turns away from the ugly sight of the animal; only Christ speaks admiringly of the animal's beautiful teeth. This is how one can feel about things; in everything, even the most adverse, there may be something worth recognizing for those who search earnestly. And what is fruitful about things is not what they lack, but what they have. - It is also important to develop the quality of "impartiality". After all, every person has had their own experiences and formed a certain set of opinions which then become their guiding principles in life. As natural as it is on the one hand to be guided by one's experiences, it is just as important for those who want to undergo a spiritual development towards higher knowledge that they always keep their eyes open for everything new and still unknown to them that comes their way. He will be as careful as possible with the judgment: "that is impossible", "that cannot be". Whatever his opinion may tell him after his previous experiences, he is ready at any moment to be led to a different opinion by something new that comes his way. All self-love of opinion must disappear. - When the five qualities mentioned so far have been acquired by the soul, then a sixth one arises of its own accord: inner balance, the harmony of spiritual forces. Man must find something within himself like a spiritual center of gravity that gives him stability and security against everything that pulls him here or there in life. It is not necessary to avoid living with everything, to let everything affect you. The right thing is not to flee from the tossing and turning facts of life, but on the contrary: to fully surrender to life and despite the secure, firm preservation of inner balance and harmony.

[ 16 ] Finally, the "will to freedom" comes into consideration for the seeker. Someone has it who finds the support and foundation for everything he accomplishes in himself. It is so difficult to attain because a tactful balance is necessary between opening the mind to all that is great and good and at the same time rejecting any kind of compulsion. It is so easy to say that external influence and freedom are incompatible. But the fact that they are compatible in the soul is precisely what matters. If someone tells me something and I accept it under the compulsion of his authority: then I am unfree. But I am no less unfree if I close myself off from the good that I can receive in this way. For then the worse that I have exerts a compulsion on me in my own soul. And with freedom it is not only important that I am not under the compulsion of an external authority, but above all that I am not under the compulsion of my own prejudices, opinions, feelings and emotions. What is right is not blind submission to what is received, but to allow oneself to be inspired by it, to receive it without bias in order to "freely" acknowledge it. A foreign authority should have no other effect than that one says to oneself: I make myself free precisely by following its good, i.e. by making it mine. And an authority based on secret science does not want to work in any other way than this. It gives what it has to give, not in order to gain power over the recipient itself, but solely so that the recipient becomes richer and freer through the gift.

[ 17 ] The significance of these qualities has already been pointed out earlier in the discussion of the "lotus flowers". There it was shown what relationship they have to the development of the twelve-petaled lotus flower in the heart region and the currents of the etheric body that connect to it. From what has now been said it is evident that they have essentially the task of making dispensable to the seeker's physical body those forces which otherwise benefit it during the state of sleep and which must be withdrawn from it because of the training. Under such influences, imaginative cognition develops.