The Threshold of the Spiritual World
GA 17
IX. Concerning the Ego-Feeling and the Human Soul's Capacity for Love; and the Relation of these to the Elemental World
[ 1 ] When the human soul consciously enters the elemental world, it finds itself obliged to change many of the ideas which it acquired in the physical world; but if the soul strengthens its forces to a corresponding degree, it will be quite fit for the change. Only if it shrinks from the effort of this acquiring strength, may it be seized by the feeling of losing, on entering the elemental world, the firm basis on which it must build up its inner life. The ideas which are gained in the physical world only offer an impediment to entering the elemental world as long as we try to keep them in exactly the same form in which we gained them. There is, however, no reason except habit for adhering to them in this way. It is also quite natural that the consciousness, which at first only lives in the physical world, should be accustomed to look upon the form of its ideas which it has shaped there, as the only possible one. And it is even more than natural, it is necessary. The life of the soul would never attain its inner solidarity, its necessary stability, if it did not develop a consciousness in the physical world which in a certain respect lived in fixed ideas, rigorously forced upon it. Through everything which life in the physical world can give the soul, is it able to enter the elemental world in such a way that it does not lose its independence and firmness of nature there. Strengthening and reinforcement of the life of the soul must be gained in order that that independence may not only be present as an unconscious quality of the soul on entering the elemental world, but may also be kept clearly in the consciousness. If the soul is too weak for conscious experience in the elemental world, on entering it the independence vanishes, just as a thought does which is not imprinted with sufficient clearness on the soul to live on as a distinct memory. In this case the soul cannot really enter the supersensible world at all with its consciousness. When it makes the attempt to enter, it is again and again thrown back into the physical world, by the being living within the soul which may be called the guardian of the threshold. And even if the soul has, so to speak, nibbled at the supersensible world, so that on sinking back into the physical world it retains something of the supersensible in its consciousness, such spoil from another sphere often only causes confusion in the life of thought. It is quite impossible to fall into such confusion if the faculty of sound judgment, as it may be acquired in the physical world, be adequately cultivated. By thus reinforcing the faculty of judgment, the soul will develop the right relation to the events and beings of super-sensible worlds. For in order to live consciously in those worlds, an attitude of the soul is necessary which cannot be developed in the physical world with the same intensity with which it appears in supersensible worlds. This is the attitude of surrender to what is being experienced. We must steep ourselves in the experience and identify ourselves with it; and we must be able to do this to such a degree that we see ourselves outside our own being and feel ourselves within some other being. A transformation of our own being into the other with which we are having the experience must take place. If we do not possess this faculty of transformation, we cannot experience anything genuine in supersensible worlds. For there all experience is due to our being able to realise this feeling, “Now I am transformed in a certain definite way; now I am vitally present in a being which through its nature transforms mine in this particular way.” This transformation of self, this conscious projection of oneself into other beings, is life in supersensible worlds. By this process of conscious self-projection into others, we learn to know the beings and events of those worlds. We come to notice that with one being we have a certain degree of affinity; but that, by virtue of our own nature, we are further removed from another. Variations of inner experience come into view, which, especially in the elemental world, we must call sympathies and antipathies. For on encountering a being or event of the elemental world, we feel an experience emerging in the soul which may be denoted sympathy. By this experience we recognise the nature of the elemental being or event. But we must not think that experiences of sympathy and antipathy are only of account in proportion to their intensity or degree. In the physical world it is indeed in a certain sense true that we only speak of a strong or weak sympathy or antipathy as the case may be. In the elemental world, sympathies and antipathies are not only distinguishable by their intensity, but also in the same way as, for instance, colours may be distinguished from each other in the physical world. Just as we have a physical world of many colours, so can we experience an elemental world containing many sympathies or antipathies. It has also to be taken into account that antipathy in the elemental realm does not carry with it the meaning that we inwardly turn away from the thing so described; by antipathetic we simply mean a quality of the elemental being or event which bears a similar relation to the sympathetic quality of another event or being as does blue to red in the physical world.
[ 2 ] We may speak of a “sense” which man is able to awaken for the elemental world in his etheric body. This sense is capable of perceiving sympathies and antipathies in the elemental world just as the eye becomes aware of colours and the ear of sounds in the physical world. And just as there one object is red and another blue, so the beings of the elemental world are such that one radiates a certain kind of sympathy, and another a certain kind of antipathy to our spiritual sight.
[ 3 ] This experience of the elemental world through sympathies and antipathies is again something not confined to the clairvoyantly awakened soul; it is always at hand for every human soul, being part of its nature. But in the ordinary life of the soul the knowledge of this part of human nature is not developed. Man bears within him his etheric body; and through it is connected in manifold ways with beings and events of the elemental world. At one moment of his life he is woven with sympathies and antipathies into the elemental world in one way; at another moment in another way.
[ 4 ] The soul, however, cannot continuously so live as an etheric being that sympathies and antipathies are always active and clearly expressed within it. Just as waking life alternates with sleep in physical existence, so does a different state contrast with that of experiencing sympathies and antipathies in the elemental world. The soul may withdraw from all sympathies and antipathies and experience itself alone, regarding and feeling merely its own being. Indeed, this feeling may reach such a degree of intensity that we may speak of willing our own being. It is then a question of a condition of the soul's life not easy to describe, because in its pure, original nature it is of such a kind that nothing in the physical world resembles it except the strong, unalloyed ego-feeling or feeling of self in the soul. As far as the elemental world is concerned we may describe this state as one in which the soul feels the impulse to say to itself with regard to the necessary surrender to experiences of sympathy and antipathy: “I will keep entirely to myself and within myself.” And by a species of development of will the soul wrenches itself free from the state of surrender to the elemental experiences of sympathy and antipathy. This life in the self is, as it were, the sleeping state of the elemental world; whereas the surrender to events and beings is the waking state. When the human soul is awake in the elemental world and develops a wish to experience itself only, that is to say, feels the need of elemental sleep, it can obtain this by returning to the waking state of physical life with a fully developed feeling of self. For such experience, saturated with the feeling of self, in the physical world is synonymous with elemental sleep. It consists in the soul's being torn away from elemental experiences. It is literally true that to clairvoyant consciousness the life of the soul in the physical world is a spiritual sleep.
[ 5 ] When awakening to the supersensible world takes place in rightly developed human clairvoyance, the memory of the soul's experiences in the physical world still remains. It must remain, otherwise other beings and events would be present in clairvoyant consciousness, but not the clairvoyant's own being. We should in that case have no knowledge of ourselves; we should not be living in the spirit ourselves; but other beings and events would be living in our soul. Taking this into consideration, it will be clear that rightly developed clairvoyance must lay great stress on the cultivation of a strong ego-feeling. This ego-feeling developed with clairvoyance is by no means something which only enters the soul through clairvoyance; it is merely that we get to know that which always exists in the depths of the soul, but which remains unknown to the soul's ordinary life as it runs its course in the physical world.
[ 6 ] The strong ego-feeling is not there through the etheric body as such, but through the soul which experiences itself in the physical body. If the soul does not bring that feeling with it into the clairvoyant state from its experience in the physical world, it will prove insufficiently equipped for experience in the elemental world.
[ 7 ] On the other hand, it is essential for human consciousness within the physical world that the soul's feeling of self, its experience of the ego, although it must exist, should be modified. By this means it is possible for the soul to undergo within the physical world training for the noblest of moral forces, that of fellow-feeling, or feeling with another. If the strong ego-feeling were to project itself into the soul's conscious experiences within the physical world, moral impulses and ideas could not develop in the right way. They could not bring forth the fruit of love. But the faculty of self-surrender, a natural impulse in the elemental world, is not to be put on a par with what is called love in human experience. Elemental self-surrender means experiencing oneself in another being or event; love is the experiencing another being in one's own soul. In order to develop the latter experience, the feeling of self, or ego-experience, present in the depths of the soul, must have, as it were, a veil drawn over it; and in consequence of the soul's own forces being thus dulled, one is able to feel within oneself the sorrows and joys of the other being: love, which is the source of all genuine morality in human life, springs up. Love is the most important result for man of his experience in the physical world. If we analyse the nature of love or fellow-feeling, we find it is the way in which spiritual reality is expressed in the physical world. It has already been said that it is in the nature of what is supersensible to become transformed into something else. If what is spiritual in man as he lives the physical life becomes so transformed that it dulls the ego-feeling and lives again as love, the spiritual remains true to its own elemental laws. We may say that on becoming clairvoyantly conscious the human soul awakes in the spiritual world; but we must say just as much that in love the spiritual awakens in the physical world. Where love and fellow-feeling are stirring in life, we sense the tragic breath of the spirit, interpenetrating the physical world. [In the preceding sentence, the translation of the German “Zauberhauch” is “tragic breath” ... a better translation might be, “magic touch.”—e.Ed] Hence rightly developed clairvoyance can never weaken sympathy or love. The more completely the soul becomes at home in spiritual worlds, the more it feels lovelessness and lack of fellow-feeling to be a denial of spirit itself.
[ 8 ] The experiences of consciousness which is becoming clairvoyant, manifest special peculiarities with regard to what has just been stated. Whereas the ego-feeling—necessary as it is for experience in supersensible worlds—is easily deadened, and often behaves like a weak, fading thought in the memory, feelings of hatred and lovelessness, and immoral impulses become intense experiences immediately after entering the supersensible world. They appear before the soul like reproaches come to life, and become terribly real pictures. In order not to be tormented by them, clairvoyant consciousness often has recourse to the expedient of looking about for spiritual forces which weaken the impressions of these pictures. But by doing so the soul steeps itself in these forces, which have an injurious effect on the newly-won clairvoyance. They drive it out of the good regions of the spiritual world, and towards the bad ones.
[ 9 ] On the other hand, true love and real kindness of heart are experiences of the soul which strengthen the forces of consciousness in the way necessary for acquiring clairvoyance. When it is said that the soul needs preparation before it is able to have experiences in the supersensible world, it should be added that one of the many means of preparation is the capacity for true love, and the disposition towards genuine human kindness and fellow-feeling.
[ 10 ] An over-developed ego-feeling in the physical world works against morality. An ego-feeling too feebly developed causes the soul, around which the storms of elemental sympathies and antipathies are actually playing, to be lacking in inner firmness and stability. These qualities can only exist when a sufficiently strong ego-feeling is working out of the experiences of the physical world upon the etheric body, which of course remains unknown in ordinary life. But in order to develop a really moral temper of mind it is necessary that the ego-feeling, though it must exist, should be moderated by feelings of good-fellowship, sympathy, and love.
Von dem Ich-Gefühl und von der Liebefähigkeit der menschlichen Seele und deren Verhältnissen zur elemantarischen Welt
[ 1 ] Wenn die Menschenseele bewußt in die elementatische Welt eintritt, so sieht sie sich genötigt, manche Vorstellungen, welche sie innerhalb der Sinneswelt gewonnen hat, zu verändern. Verstärkt die Seele ihre Kräfte entsprechend, so wird sie zu dieser Veränderung auch fähig. Nur wenn sie zurückscheut, diese Verstärkung sich zu erwerben, so kann sie von dem Gefühle befallen werden, beim Eintritte in die elementarische Welt den festen Boden zu verlieren, auf welchem sie ihr inneres Leben aufbauen muß. Die Vorstellungen, welche in der physisch-sinnlichen Welt gewonnen werden, bieten nur so lange ein Hindernis für den Eintritt in die elementarische Welt, als man sie genau so festhalten will, wie man sie in der Sinneswelt gewonnen hat. Es gibt aber keinen anderen Grund für ein solches Festhalten als die Gewöhnung der Seele. Es ist auch ganz naturgemäß, daß sich das Bewußtsein, das zunächst nur mit der Sinneswelt zusammenlebt, gewöhnt die Gestalt seiner Vorstellungen für die einzig mögliche zu halten, welche sich an dieser Sinneswelt herausbildet. Und es ist sogar noch mehr als naturgemäß; es ist notwendig. Das Seelenleben würde niemals zu seiner inneren Geschlossenheit, zu seiner notwendigen Festigkeit kommen, wenn es nicht in der Sinneswelt ein Bewußtsein entwickelte, das in einer gewissen Beziehung in starren, ihm strenge aufgenötigten Vorstellungen lebte. Durch alles, was das Zusammenleben mit der Sinneswelt der Seele geben kann, ist diese dann in der Lage, in die elementarische Welt so einzutreten, daß sie in dieser ihre Selbständigkeit, ihre in sich geschlossene Wesenheit nicht verliert. Die Verstärkung, die Erkraftung des Seelenlebens muß erworben werden, damit diese Selbständigkeit beim Eintritte in die elementarische Welt nicht nur als unbewußte Seeleneigenschaft vorhanden ist, sondern auch im Bewußtsein klar festgehalten werden kann. Ist die Seele zu schwach für das bewußte Erleben der elementarischen Welt, so entschwindet ihr beim Eintritte die Selbständigkeit, wie ein Gedanke entschwindet, der zu schwach der Seele eingeprägt ist, um in deutlicher Erinnerung fortzuleben. In Wahrheit kann dann die Seele überhaupt nicht in die übersinnliche Welt mit ihrem Bewußtsein eintreten. Sie wird von jener Wesenheit, die in ihr lebt, und welche als der «Hüter der Schwelle» bezeichnet werden kann, immer wieder in die Sinneswelt zurückgeworfen, wenn sie den Versuch macht, in die übersinnliche Welt zu kommen. Und hat sie dabei doch an dieser Welt gleichsam genascht, so daß sie nach dem Zurücksinken in die Sinneswelt etwas von der übersinnlichen Welt im Bewußtsein zurückbehält, so wird durch eine solche Beute aus einem anderen Bereich oftmals Verworrenheit des Vorstellungslebens bewirkt. - Es ist ganz unmöglich, in eine solche Verworrenheit zu verfallen, wenn ganz besonders die gesunde Urteilskraft, wie sie in der Sinneswelt erworben werden kann, in entsprechender Art gepflegt wird. - Durch solches Erkraften der Urteilsfähigkeit wird das richtige Verhältnis der Seele zu den Vorgängen und Wesenheiten der übersinnlichen Welten entwickelt. Um in diesen Welten bewußt zu leben, ist nämlich ein Trieb der Seele notwendig, welcher in der Sinneswelt nicht in der Stärke zur Entfaltung kommen kann, in welcher er in den übersinnlichen Welten auftritt. Es ist der Trieb der Hingabe an dasjenige, was man erlebt. Man muß in dem Erlebnis untertauchen, man muß eins mit ihm werden können; man muß dies bis zu einem solchen Grade können, daß man sich außerhalb seiner eigenen Wesenheit erschaut und in der anderen Wesenheit drinnen fühlt. Es findet eine Verwandlung der eigenen Wesenheit in die andere statt, mit welcher man das Erlebnis hat. Wenn man diese Verwandlungsfähigkeit nicht hat, so kann man in den übersinnlichen Welten nichts Wahrhaftiges erleben. Denn alles Erleben beruht darauf, daß man sich zum Bewußtsein bringt: jetzt bist du in «dieser bestimmten Art» verwandelt, also bist du lebensvoll mit einem Wesen zusammen, das durch seine Natur die deinige in «dieser» Weise umwandelt. Dieses Sich-Umwandeln, dieses Einfühlen in andere Wesenheiten ist das Leben in den übersinnlichen Welten. Durch dieses Innleben lernt man die Wesenheiten und Vorgänge dieser Welten kennen. Man bemerkt auf diese Art, wie man mit der einen Wesenheit in dieser oder jener Art verwandt ist, wie man einer anderen durch seine eigene Natur ferner steht. Abstufungen von Seelenerlebnissen treten auf, die man - besonders für die elementarische Welt - als Sympathien und Antipathien bezeichnen muß. Man erfühlt sich zum Beispiel durch das Zusammentreffen mit einer Wesenheit oder einem Vorgange der elementarischen Welt so, daß in der Seele ein Erlebnis auftaucht, das man als Sympathie bezeichnen kann. In diesem Sympathie-Erlebnis erkennt man die Natur des elementarischen Wesens oder Vorgangs. Nur soll man sich nicht vorstellen, daß die Erlebnisse der Sympathie und Antipathie bloß in bezug auf ihre Stärke, ihren Grad in Betracht kommen. Bei den Sympathie- und Antipathie-Erlebnissen in der physisch-sinnlichen Welt ist es ja in einem gewissen Sinne so, daß man nur von einer stärkeren oder schwächeren Sympathie beziehungsweise Antipathie spricht. In der elementarischen Welt sind die Sympathien und Antipathien nicht nur durch ihre Stärke zu unterscheiden, sondern so, wie zum Beispiel in der sinnlichen Welt die Farben voneinander zu unterscheiden sind. Wie man eine vielfarbige Sinneswelt hat, so kann man eine vielartig-sympathische oder -antipathische elementarische Welt erleben. Auch dies kommt dabei noch in Betracht, daß «antipathisch» für das Reich des Elementarischen nicht den Beigeschmack hat, daß man sich von ihm innerlich abwendet; man muß da mit antipathisch einfach eine Eigenschaft des elementarischen Wesens oder Vorgangs bezeichnen, die zu einer sympathischen Eigenschaft eines anderen Vorganges oder Wesens sich ähnlich verhält, wie etwa in der Sinneswelt die blaue zu der roten Farbe.
[ 2 ] Man könnte von einem «Sinne» sprechen, den der Mensch für die elementarische Welt in seinem ätherischen Leibe zu erwecken vermag. Dieser Sinn ist fähig, Sympathien und Antipathien in der elementarischen Welt wahrzunehmen, wie in der Sinneswelt das Auge Farben, das Ohr Töne wahrnimmt. Und wie in der Sinneswelt der eine Gegenstand rot, der andere blau ist, so sind die Wesenheiten der elementarischen Welt so, daß die eine diese Art von Sympathie, die andere jene Art von Antipathie in die Geistesschau hereinstrahlt.
[ 3 ] Dieses Erleben der elementarischen Welt durch Sympathien und Antipathien ist wieder nicht etwas, was nur für die übersinnlich erwachte Seele entsteht; es ist für jede Menschenseele immer vorhanden; es gehört zum Wesen der Menschenseele. Für das gewöhnliche Seelenleben ist nur das Wissen von dieser Wesenheit des Menschen nicht ausgebildet. Der Mensch trägt in sich seinen ätherischen Leib; und durch diesen hängt er hundertfaltig mit Wesenheiten und Vorgängen der elementarischen Welt zusammen. In dem einen Augenblick seines Lebens ist er in einer gewissen Art mit Sympathien und Antipathien in die elementarische Welt hineinverwoben; in einem anderen Augenblicke in einer anderen Art.
[ 4 ] Nun kann aber die Seele nicht fortwährend als ätherische Wesenheit so leben, daß in ihr die Sympathien und Antipathien in deutlich ausgesprochener Art wirksam sind. Wie im Sinnessein der Wachzustand mit dem Schlafzustand abwechseln muß, so muß in der elementarischen Welt dem Erleben der Sympathien und Antipathien ein anderer Zustand entgegenstehen. Die Seele kann sich allen Sympathien und Antipathien entziehen und in sich selbst nur sich erleben, nur ihr eigenes Sein beachten, erfühlen. Ja, dieses Erfühlen kann eine solche Stärke erreichen, daß man von einem «Wollen» der eigenen Wesenheit sprechen kann. Es handelt sich da um einen Zustand des Seelenlebens, den man deshalb nicht leicht schildern kann, weil er in seiner reinen, ureigenen Natur von solcher Art ist, daß ihm in der Sinneswelt nichts anderes ähnlich ist als das starke, reine Ich- oder Selbstgefühl der Seele. Für die elementarische Welt kann man den Zustand so schildern, daß man sagt, die Seele fühle gegenüber der notwendigen Hingabe an die Sympathie- und Antipathie-Erlebnisse den Trieb, sich zu sagen: ich will auch ganz nur für mich; nur in mir sein. Und durch eine Art Willensentfaltung entreißt sich die Seele dem Zustande der Hingabe an die elementarischen Sympathie- und Antipathie-Erlebnisse. Für die elementarische Welt ist dieses In-sich-Leben gewissermaßen der Schlafzustand; während die Hingabe an die Vorgänge und Wesenheiten der Wachzustand ist. - Wenn die Menschenseele in der elementarischen Welt wach ist und den Willen zu dem Sich-Erleben entwickelt, also das Bedürfnis nach dem «elementarischen Schlaf» empfindet, so kann ihr dieser werden, indem sie in den Wachzustand des Sinnenerlebens mit vollentwickeltem Selbstgefühl zurücktritt. Denn dieses vom Selbstgefühl durchtränkte Erleben in der Sinneswelt ist eben der elementarische Schlaf. Er besteht in dem Losreißen der Seele von den elementarischen Erlebnissen. Es ist wörtlich richtig, daß für das übersinnliche Bewußtsein das Leben der Seele in der Sinneswelt ein geistiges Schlafen ist.
[ 5 ] Wenn in der richtig entwickelten menschlichen Geistes-Schau das Erwachen in der übersinnlichen Welt eintritt, so bleibt die Erinnerung an die Erlebnisse der Seele in der Sinneswelt vorhanden. Diese Erinnerung muß vorhanden bleiben, sonst wären in dem hellsichtigen Bewußtsein wohl die anderen Wesenheiten und Vorgänge vorhanden, nicht aber die eigene Wesenheit. Man hätte dann kein Wissen von sich; man lebte nicht selbst geistig; es lebten in der Seele die anderen Wesenheiten und Vorgänge. Man wird, dies bedenkend, begreiflich finden, daß die richtig entwickelte Hellsichtigkeit einen großen Wert legen muß auf die Ausbildung des starken «Ich-Gefühls». Man entwickelt in diesem Ich-Gefühl mit der Hellsichtigkeit durchaus nicht etwas, was erst durch die Hellsichtigkeit in die Seele kommt; man lernt eben nur dasjenige erkennen, was in den Seelentiefen immer vorhanden ist, aber für das gewöhnliche, in der Sinneswelt verlaufende Seelenleben unbewußt bleibt.
[ 6 ] Das starke «Ich-Gefühl» ist nicht durch den ätherischen Leib als solchen vorhanden, sondern durch die Seele, welche sich in dem physisch-sinnlichen Leib erlebt. Bringt es die Seele nicht von ihrem Erleben in der Sinneswelt in den hellsichtigen Zustand hinein mit, so wird sich ihr zeigen, daß sie für das Erleben in der elementarischen Welt nicht zureichend gerüstet ist.
[ 7 ] Es ist dem menschlichen Bewußtsein innerhalb der Sinneswelt wesentlich, daß das Selbstgefühl der Seele (ihr Ich-Erleben), trotzdem es vorhanden sein muß, abgedämpft ist. Dadurch hat die Seele die Möglichkeit, innerhalb der Sinneswelt die Schulung für die edelste sittliche Kraft, für das Mitgefühl zu erleben. Ragte das starke Ich-Gefühl in die bewußten Erlebnisse der Seele innerhalb der Sinneswelt hinein, so könnten sich die sittlichen Triebe und Vorstellungen nicht in der richtigen Weise entwickeln. Sie könnten nicht die Frucht der Liebe hervorbringen. Die Hingabe, dieser naturgemäße Trieb der elementarischen Welt, ist nicht dem gleich zu achten, was man im menschlichen Erleben als Liebe bezeichnet. Die elementarische Hingabe beruht auf einem Sich-Erleben in dem anderen Wesen oder Vorgang; die Liebe ist ein Erleben des andern in der eigenen Seele. Um dies Erleben zur Entfaltung zu bringen, muß in der Seele über das in ihren Tiefen vorhandene Selbstgefühl (Ich-Erlebnis) gewissermaßen ein Schleier gezogen sein; und in der Seele, welche in bezug auf ihre eigenen Kräfte abgedämpft ist, ersteht dadurch das In-sich-Fühlen der Leiden und Freuden des anderen Wesens; es erkeimt die Liebe, aus der echte Sittlichkeit im Menschenleben erwächst. Die Liebe ist für den Menschen die bedeutsamste Frucht des Erlebens in der Sinneswelt. Durchdringt man das Wesen der Liebe, des Mitgefühls, so findet man in diesen die Art, wie das Geistige in der Sinneswelt sich in seiner Wahrheit auslebt. Es ist hier gesagt worden, daß es zum Wesen des Übersinnlichen gehört, sich in ein anderes zu verwandeln. Wenn das Geistige im sinnlich-physisch lebenden Menschen sich so verwandelt, daß es das Ich-Gefühl abdämpft und als Liebe auflebt, so bleibt dieses Geistige seinen eigenen elementarischen Gesetzen treu. Man kann sagen, daß mit dem übersinnlichen Bewußtsein die Menschenseele in der geistigen Welt aufwacht; man muß aber ebenso sagen, daß in der Liebe das Geistige innerhalb der Sinneswelt aufwacht. Wo Liebe, wo Mitgefühl sich regen im Leben, vernimmt man den Zauberhauch des die Sinneswelt durchdringenden Geistes. - Deshalb kann niemals die richtig entwickelte Hellsichtigkeit das Mitgefühl, die Liebe abstumpfen. Je richtiger die Seele sich in die geistigen Welten einlebt, desto mehr empfindet sie die Lieblosigkeit, den Mangel an Mitgefühl als eine Verleugnung des Geistes selbst.-
[ 8 ] Die Erfahrungen des schauend werdenden Bewußtseins zeigen in bezug auf das Vorgesagte ganz besondere Eigentümlichkeiten. Während das Ich-Gefühl - das aber für das Erleben in den übersinnlichen Welten notwendig ist - leicht sich abdämpft, oft sich wie ein schwacher, verlöschender Erinnerungsgedanke verhält, werden Gefühle des Hasses, der Lieblosigkeit, werden unsittliche Triebe zu starken Seelenerlebnissen gerade nach dem Eintritte in die übersinnliche Welt; sie stellen sich vor die Seele wie lebendig gewordene Vorwürfe hin, werden gräßlich wirkende Bilder. Um dann von diesen Bildern nicht gequält zu sein, greift das übersinnliche Bewußtsein oft zu dem Auskunftsmittel, sich nach geistigen Kräften umzusehen, welche die Eindrücke dieser Bilder abschwächen. Damit aber durchdringt sich die Seele mit diesen Kräften, welche verderblich wirken auf die erworbene Hellsichtigkeit. Sie treiben diese von den guten Gebieten der geistigen Welt ab und lenken sie zu den schlechten hin.
[ 9 ] Auf der anderen Seite sind die wahrhaftige Liebe, das rechte Wohlwollen der Seele auch solche Seelen-Erlebnisse, welche die Kräfte des Bewußtseins in dem Sinne verstärken, wie es für den Eintritt in die Hellsichtigkeit notwendig ist. Wenn davon gesprochen wird, daß die Seele eine Vorbereitung braucht, bevor sie in der übersinnlichen Welt Erfahrungen machen kann, so darf hinzugefügt werden, daß zu den mannigfaltigen Vorbereitungsmitteln auch die wahre Liebefähigkeit, die Neigung für echtes menschliches Wohlwollen und Mitgefühl gehören.
[ 10 ] Ein übermäßig entwickeltes Ich-Gefühl in der Sinneswelt wirkt der Sittlichkeit entgegen. Ein Ich-Gefühl, welches zu schwach entwickelt ist, bewirkt, daß die Seele, die tatsächlich von den Stürmen der elementarischen Sympathien und Antipathien umkraftet ist, der inneren Sicherheit und Geschlossenheit entbehrt. Diese können nur vorhanden sein, wenn in den ätherischen Leib, der dem gewöhnlichen Leben unbewußt bleibt, ein genügend starkes Ich-Gefühl von dem sinnlich-physischen Erleben aus hineinwirkt. Zur Entwickelung einer echt sittlichen Seelenstimmung ist aber notwendig, daß dieses Ich-Gefühl, obwohl es vorhanden sein muß, doch abgedämpft wird durch die Neigungen zu Mitgefühl und Liebe.
On the ego-feeling and the capacity for love of the human soul and its relationship to the elemental world
[ 1 ] When the human soul consciously enters the elemental world, it finds itself compelled to change some of the ideas it has acquired within the sensory world. If the soul strengthens its powers accordingly, it also becomes capable of this change. Only if it shies away from acquiring this reinforcement can it be afflicted by the feeling that on entering the elementary world it will lose the firm ground on which it must build its inner life. The ideas which are acquired in the physical-sensory world are only an obstacle to entering the elementary world as long as one wants to hold on to them exactly as one has acquired them in the sensory world. But there is no other reason for such clinging than the habituation of the soul. It is also quite natural that the consciousness, which at first only lives together with the sense world, gets used to taking the form of its ideas as the only possible one, which is formed in this sense world. And it is even more than natural; it is necessary. The life of the soul would never attain its inner unity, its necessary firmness, if it did not develop a consciousness in the sense world that lived in a certain respect in rigid ideas strictly imposed upon it. Through everything that living together with the sense world can give the soul, it is then in a position to enter the elementary world in such a way that it does not lose its independence, its self-contained being in it. The strengthening, the empowerment of the soul's life must be acquired so that this independence is not only present as an unconscious soul characteristic when entering the elementary world, but can also be clearly retained in consciousness. If the soul is too weak for the conscious experience of the elementary world, its independence disappears on entering it, just as a thought disappears which is too weakly impressed on the soul to live on in clear memory. In truth, the soul cannot then enter the supersensible world with its consciousness at all. It is always thrown back into the sensory world by the entity that lives within it, which can be described as the 'guardian of the threshold', when it attempts to enter the supersensible world. And if it has, as it were, nibbled at this world, so that after sinking back into the sensory world it retains something of the supersensible world in consciousness, such a prey from another realm often causes confusion in the life of imagination. - It is quite impossible to fall into such confusion if the healthy power of judgment, as it can be acquired in the sense world, is cultivated in an appropriate way. - Through such strengthening of the faculty of judgment, the correct relationship of the soul to the processes and entities of the supersensible worlds is developed. In order to live consciously in these worlds, an instinct of the soul is necessary which cannot develop in the sensory world to the same extent as it does in the supersensible worlds. It is the instinct of devotion to that which one experiences. One must immerse oneself in the experience, one must be able to become one with it; one must be able to do this to such a degree that one sees oneself outside one's own entity and feels oneself inside the other entity. There is a transformation of one's own entity into the other with which one has the experience. If one does not have this ability to transform, then one cannot experience anything truthful in the supersensible worlds. For all experience is based on the awareness that you are now transformed in "this particular way", that is, you are living together with a being whose nature transforms yours in "this" way. This self-transformation, this empathy with other beings is life in the supersensible worlds. Through this inner life you get to know the beings and processes of these worlds. In this way one realizes how one is related to one entity in this or that way, how one is distant from another through one's own nature. Gradations of soul experiences occur which - especially for the elementary world - must be described as sympathies and antipathies. For example, through the encounter with an entity or a process of the elemental world, one feels in such a way that an experience arises in the soul which can be described as sympathy. In this sympathetic experience one recognizes the nature of the elementary being or process. But one should not imagine that the experiences of sympathy and antipathy are only considered in relation to their strength, their degree. In the case of the experiences of sympathy and antipathy in the physical-sensory world, it is in a certain sense the case that one speaks only of a stronger or weaker sympathy or antipathy. In the elementary world the sympathies and antipathies are not only to be distinguished by their strength, but in the same way as, for example, the colors in the sensory world are to be distinguished from one another. Just as one has a multi-colored sensory world, one can experience a multi-colored sympathetic or antipathetic elemental world. This also comes into consideration, that "antipathic" for the realm of the elementary does not have the connotation that one inwardly turns away from it; one must simply designate by antipathic a property of the elementary being or process that relates to a sympathetic property of another process or being in a similar way, such as the blue to the red color in the sensory world.
[ 2 ] We could speak of a "sense" that man is able to awaken for the elemental world in his etheric body. This sense is capable of perceiving sympathies and antipathies in the elemental world, just as the eye perceives colors and the ear perceives sounds in the sensory world. And just as in the sensory world one object is red, the other blue, so the entities of the elemental world are such that one radiates this kind of sympathy, the other that kind of antipathy into the spiritual vision.
[ 3 ] This experience of the elemental world through sympathies and antipathies is again not something that arises only for the supersensibly awakened soul; it is always present for every human soul; it belongs to the essence of the human soul. For the ordinary life of the soul only the knowledge of this essence of man is not developed. Man carries within him his etheric body; and through this he is connected in a hundred ways with entities and processes of the elementary world. At one moment of his life he is interwoven in a certain way with sympathies and antipathies into the elemental world; at another moment in a different way.
[ 4 ] Now, however, the soul cannot live continuously as an ethereal entity in such a way that the sympathies and antipathies are active in it in a clearly expressed way. Just as in the senses the waking state must alternate with the sleeping state, so in the elemental world the experience of sympathies and antipathies must be opposed by another state. The soul can withdraw from all sympathies and antipathies and only experience itself, only observe and feel its own being. Indeed, this feeling can reach such a strength that one can speak of a "wanting" of one's own being. This is a state of the soul's life that is not easy to describe, because its pure, intrinsic nature is such that nothing else in the sense world is similar to it than the soul's strong, pure sense of self. For the elementary world, the state can be described by saying that the soul, in contrast to the necessary devotion to the experiences of sympathy and antipathy, feels the urge to say to itself: I also want to be only for myself, only in myself. And through a kind of unfolding of the will the soul snatches itself from the state of devotion to the elementary experiences of sympathy and antipathy. For the elemental world, this life within oneself is, so to speak, the state of sleep; while devotion to the processes and entities is the waking state. - When the human soul is awake in the elementary world and develops the will to experience itself, i.e. feels the need for "elementary sleep", it can achieve this by returning to the waking state of sense experience with a fully developed sense of self. For this experience in the sensory world, saturated with a sense of self, is precisely elementary sleep. It consists in the tearing away of the soul from the elementary experiences. It is literally true that for the supersensible consciousness the life of the soul in the sensory world is a spiritual sleep.
[ 5 ] When the awakening in the supersensible world occurs in the correctly developed human spiritual vision, the memory of the soul's experiences in the sensory world remains present. This memory must remain present, otherwise the other entities and processes would be present in the clairvoyant consciousness, but not one's own entity. One would then have no knowledge of oneself; one would not live spiritually oneself; the other entities and processes would live in the soul. Considering this, one will understand that properly developed clairvoyance must attach great importance to the development of a strong sense of self. In this sense of self, clairvoyance does not develop something that only enters the soul through clairvoyance; one only learns to recognize that which is always present in the depths of the soul, but which remains unconscious to the ordinary life of the soul in the sensory world.
[ 6 ] The strong "I-feeling" is not present through the etheric body as such, but through the soul, which experiences itself in the physical-sensual body. If the soul does not bring it from its experience in the sensory world into the clairvoyant state, it will show that it is not sufficiently equipped for the experience in the elementary world.
[ 7 ] It is essential to human consciousness within the sense world that the soul's sense of self (its ego-experience), although it must be present, is muted. This enables the soul to experience the training for the noblest moral power, for compassion, within the sensory world. If the strong sense of self were to interfere with the soul's conscious experiences within the sense world, the moral instincts and ideas could not develop in the right way. They could not bring forth the fruit of love. Devotion, this natural instinct of the elemental world, is not to be regarded in the same way as what is called love in human experience. Elementary devotion is based on an experience of self in the other being or process; love is an experience of the other in one's own soul. In order to bring this experience to fruition, a veil must be drawn in the soul over the sense of self (ego-experience) present in its depths; and in the soul, which is dampened in relation to its own powers, the inner feeling of the sufferings and joys of the other being arises as a result; love germinates, from which genuine morality arises in human life. Love is the most significant fruit of experience in the sensory world for human beings. If we penetrate the nature of love and compassion, we find in them the way in which the spiritual in the sense world lives out its truth. It has been said here that it is part of the nature of the supersensible to transform itself into something else. When the spiritual in the sensual-physical living human being transforms itself in such a way that it dampens the ego-feeling and comes to life as love, then this spiritual remains true to its own elementary laws. One can say that with the supersensible consciousness the human soul awakens in the spiritual world; but one must also say that in love the spiritual awakens within the sense world. Where love, where compassion stir in life, one hears the magic breath of the spirit permeating the sense world. - Therefore, properly developed clairvoyance can never blunt compassion and love. The more correctly the soul immerses itself in the spiritual worlds, the more it perceives the lack of love, the lack of compassion as a denial of the spirit itself.
[ 8 ] The experiences of the consciousness that becomes seeing show very special peculiarities in relation to the above. While the ego-feeling - which is, however, necessary for the experience in the supersensible worlds - is easily dampened, often behaving like a weak, extinguishing thought of memory, feelings of hatred, of unkindness, immoral impulses become strong experiences of the soul just after entering the supersensible world; they present themselves before the soul like reproaches that have come to life, become ghastly images. In order not to be tormented by these images, the supersensible consciousness often resorts to the expedient of looking around for spiritual forces which weaken the impressions of these images. In this way, however, the soul becomes imbued with these forces, which have a pernicious effect on the clairvoyance acquired. They drive it away from the good areas of the spiritual world and direct it towards the bad ones.
[ 9 ] On the other hand, the true love, the right benevolence of the soul are also such soul experiences which strengthen the powers of consciousness in the sense necessary for the entry into clairvoyance. When it is said that the soul needs preparation before it can have experiences in the supersensible world, it may be added that the manifold means of preparation also include the true ability to love, the inclination for genuine human benevolence and compassion.
[ 10 ] An excessively developed sense of self in the sensory world works against morality. An ego-feeling that is too weakly developed causes the soul, which is actually buffeted by the storms of elementary sympathies and antipathies, to lack inner security and unity. These can only exist if the etheric body, which remains unconscious to ordinary life, is affected by a sufficiently strong sense of self from the sensory-physical experience. For the development of a genuinely moral mood of soul, however, it is necessary that this ego-feeling, although it must be present, is attenuated by the inclinations to compassion and love.