Cosmology, Religion and Philosophy
GA 25
II. Exercises of Thought, Feeling and Volition
[ 1 ] Philosophy did not arise in the same way in which it is continued in modern times. In these days it is a connection of ideas which are not experienced in one's inner being, in the soul, in such a manner that a man, conscious of self, feels himself in these ideas as in a reality. Therefore we seek after all possible theoretical means to prove that the philosophic content does refer to a reality. But this way leads only to different philosophic systems, and of these one can say they are right to a certain extent; for mostly the grounds on which they are refuted are of as much value as those on which it is sought to prove them.
[ 2 ] Now with Anthroposophy it is a question not of attaining the reality of the philosophic content by theoretic thought, but by the cultivation of a method which on the one hand is similar to that by which in ancient times Philosophy was won, and on the other, is as consciously exact as the mathematical and natural scientific method of more recent times.
[ 3 ] The ancient method was semi-conscious. Compared with the condition of full consciousness of the modern scientific thinker it had something almost dreamy. It existed not in such dreams as concealed indirectly by their very nature their real content, but in waking dreams, which pointed to reality precisely by means of this content. Nor had such a soul-content the abstract character of the modern presentation, but rather that of picture-making.
[ 4 ] Such a soul-content must be regained, but in full consciousness, according to the modern stage of human evolution; exactly in the same sense of consciousness as we find in scientific thought. Anthroposophical research seeks to attain this in a first stage of supersensible knowledge in the condition of ‘imaginative consciousness’. It is reached through a process of meditation in the soul. This leads the entire force of the soul-life to presentations which are easily visualized and held fast in a state of rest. By this means we finally realize, if such a process is constantly repeated over a sufficient period of time, how the soul in its experience becomes free from the body. We see clearly that the thought of ordinary consciousness is a reflection of a spiritual activity which remains unconscious as such, after having become so by the incorporation of the human physical organism in its course.
All ordinary thinking is dependent on the supersensible spiritual activity which is reproduced in the physical organism. But at the same time we are conscious only of what the physical organism allows us to be conscious of. [ 5 ] The spiritual activity can be separated from the physical organism by meditation, and the soul then experiences the supersensible in a super-sensible way; no longer the physical but the etheric organism is the background of the soul's experience. We have a presentation before our soul's consciousness with the character of a picture. [ 6 ] We have before us in this kind of presentation pictures of the powers which, coming from the supersensible are the basis of the organism as its powers of growth, and also as the very powers which function in the regulation of the processes of nourishment. We gain in these pictures a real vision of the life-forces. This is the stage of ‘imaginative cognition’. This is life in the etheric human organism, and with our own etheric organism we live in the etheric Cosmos. There is between the etheric organism and the etheric Cosmos no such sharp distinction relating to subjective and objective as there is in physical thought about the things of the world.
[ 7 ] This ‘imaginative knowledge’ is the means whereby we can recall the very substantial reality of ancient Philosophy, but we can also conceive a new Philosophy, and a real conception of Philosophy can only come into being by means of this imaginative knowledge. And when this Philosophy is once there it can be grasped and understood by the ordinary consciousness; for it speaks out of ‘imaginative’ experience in a form which springs from spiritual (etheric) reality, and whose reality-content can, through the ordinary consciousness, be recalled in experience.
[ 8 ] A higher activity of knowledge which is forthcoming when meditation is extended, is required for Cosmology. Not only is intensive quietness cultivated on a soul-content or subject matter but also a fully conscious stationary condition of the quiet, content-less soul. This is after the meditative soul-content or subject matter has been banished from the consciousness. The stage ‘is reached where the spiritual content of the Cosmos flows into the empty soul—the stage of ‘inspired cognition’. We have in part of us a spiritual Cosmos, just as we have a physical Cosmos before the senses. We succeed in seeing, in the powers of the spiritual Cosmos, what takes place spiritually between man and the Cosmos in the process of breathing. In this and the other rhythmic processes of man we find the physical reproduction of what exists in the spiritual sphere in human astral organization. We attain to the vision of how this astral organism has its place in the spiritual Cosmos outside the life on earth, and how it takes on the cloak of the physical organism through embryonic life and birth, to lay it down again in death. By means of this knowledge we can distinguish between heredity, which is an earthly phenomenon, and that which man brings with him from the spiritual world.
[ 9 ] In this way, through ‘inspired knowledge’, we attain to a Cosmology which can embrace man in respect of his psychic and spiritual existence. Inspired knowledge is cultivated in the astral organism because we experience an existence outside our bodies in the Cosmos of the Spirit. But the same thing happens in the etheric organism; and we can translate this knowledge into human speech in the images which present themselves in this sphere, and we can harmonize it with the content of Philosophy. So we get a Cosmic Philosophy.
[ 10 ] For Religious Cognition a third thing is necessary. We must dive down into those existences which reveal themselves in picture form as the content of ‘inspired knowledge’; and this is attained when we add ‘Soul-exercises of the Will’ to the kind of meditation which we have till now been describing. For instance, we attempt to present to ourselves events which in the physical world have a definite course, but in reverse order, from the end to the beginning. Doing this we separate the soul-life, through a process of will which is not used in ordinary consciousness from the cosmic externals, and let the soul sink into those Beings which manifest themselves by inspiration. We attain true intuition, a union with beings of a spiritual world. These experiences of intuition are reflected in etheric and also in physical man, and produce in this reflection the subject matter of religious consciousness.
[ 11 ] Through this ‘intuitive cognition’ we gain a vision of the true nature of the Ego, which in reality is sunk into the spiritual world. The Ego which we know in ordinary consciousness is only a quite faint reflection of its true proportions. Intuition provides the possibility of feeling the connection of this faint reflection with the divine primal universe, to which in its true shape it belongs. Moreover, we are enabled to see how spiritual man,, the true Ego, has his place in the spiritual world, when he is sunk in sleep. In this condition the physical and etheric organisms require the rhythmic processes for their own regeneration. In a waking condition the Ego lives in this rhythm and in the metabolic processes that are a part of it; in the condition of sleep, the rhythm and the metabolic processes of man have a life of their own as physical and etheric organisms; and the astral organisms and the Ego then take their place in the spirit world. The translation of man into this world by inspired and intuitive knowledge is conscious; he lives in a spiritual Cosmos, just as by his senses he lives in a physical Cosmos. He can speak of the content of the religious consciousness from knowledge, and he can do this because what he experiences in the spiritual sphere is reflected in the physical and etheric man. Moreover, the reflected pictures can be expressed in speech, and in this form have a meaning which throws religious light on the human disposition of ordinary consciousness.
[ 12 ] Thus we reach the heart of Philosophy by imaginative cognition, of Cosmology by inspiration, and of the religious life through intuition. Besides that already described, the following soul-exercise helps towards attaining intuition. One tries so to grasp the life, which otherwise unconsciously unfolds itself from one human age to another, that one consciously contracts habits which one did not have before, or consciously changes such as one had. The greater the effort that such a change necessitates, the better it is for gaining intuitive knowledge; for these changes bring about a loosening of the will-power from the physical and etheric organism. We bind the will to the astral organism and to the true form of the Ego and consciously immerse both of them into the spirit world.
[ 13 ] What we may call ‘abstract thought’ has been perfected only in the modern spiritual development of mankind. In earlier periods of evolution this kind of thought was unknown to man, though it is necessary to the development of human spiritual activity, because it frees the power of thought from the picture-form. We achieve the possibility of thinking through the physical organism, though such thinking is not rooted in a real world; only in an apparent world where the processes of Nature can be copied without man himself contributing anything to these pictures. We attain a copy of Nature, which, qua copy, can be genuine, because the life in the thought-copy is not in itself reality, but only apparent reality. But the moral impulses can also be taken up into this pseudo-thought, so that they exercise no compulsion on man. The moral impulses are themselves real because they come from the spirit world; the manner in which man experiences them in his apparent world enables him to adapt himself in accordance with them, or not. They themselves exercise no compulsion on him either through his body or his soul.
[ 14 ] So man strides on; thought which was in ancient times completely bound to the unconsciously imagined, inspired and intuitive knowledge, thought in which the subject matter was laid as open as Imagination and Inspiration and Intuition themselves, becomes abstract thought conducted through the physical organism. In this thought, which has a pseudo-life, because it is spirit substance translated into the physical world, man has the possibility of developing an objective nature-knowledge and his own moral freedom.
More details on this subject you will find in my Philosophy of Spirit Activity, my Knowledge of Higher Worlds and how to attain it, Theosophy, Occult Science, etc. What is necessary in order to return to a Philosophy, a Cosmology and a Religion that embrace all man, is to enter upon the province of an exact clairvoyance in Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition; and this consciously—that is in contradistinction to the old dreamlike clairvoyance. Man attains to his full consciousness in the province of a life of abstract presentations. It remains to him, in the further advance of humanity, to bring this full consciousness of the spiritual world to bear on his daily life.
II. Seelenübungen des Denkens, Fühlens und Wollens
[ 1 ] Philosophie ist nicht in derselben Art entstanden, in der sie in der modernen Zeit weitergeführt wird. In dieser Art ist sie ein Zusammenhang von Ideen, die innerlich, in der Seele, nicht so erlebt werden, daß der seiner selbst bewußte Mensch sich in ihnen als in einer Wirklichkeit fühlte. Daher kommt es, daß man nach allen möglichen theoretischen Mitteln sucht, durch die man beweisen will, wie sich der philosophische Inhalt doch auf eine Wirklichkeit beziehe. In dieser Art aber kommt man nur zu verschiedenen philosophischen Systemen, von denen man sagen kann, daß sie eine gewisse relative Richtigkeit haben; denn es sind, im wesentlichen, die Gründe, mit denen man sie widerlegt, ebensoviel wert wie diejenigen, mit denen man sie beweisen will.
[ 2 ] Es handelt sich bei Anthroposophie darum, daß man nicht mit theoretischem Nachdenken der Wirklichkeit des philosophischen Inhaltes beikommen kann; sondern durch Ausbildung einer Erkenntnismethode, die auf der einen Seite ähnlich ist derjenigen, durch die in alten Zeiten Philosophie gewonnen worden ist, und die auf der andern Seite so vollbewußt exakt ist wie die mathematische und naturwissenschaftliche Methode der neueren Zeit.
[ 3 ] Die alte Methode war eine halb unbewußte. Sie hatte gegenüber dem Bewußtseinszustand, in dem der moderne Mensch ist, wenn er wissenschaftlich denkt, etwas Halbtraumhaftes. Sie lebte nicht in solchen Träumen, die durch sich selbst nicht unmittelbar ihren realen Inhalt verbürgen, sondern in Wachträumen, die eben durch diesen Inhalt auf Wirklichkeit wiesen. Solcher Seeleninhalt hat aber auch nicht den abstrakten Charakter wie derjenige des gegenwärtigen Vorstellens, sondern den der Bildhaftigkeit.
[ 4 ] Solch ein Seeleninhalt muß wieder gewonnen werden; aber, gemäß dem modernen Entwickelungszustande der Menschheit, in voller Bewußtheit; gerade in derselben Bewußtseinsverfassung, wie sie im wissenschaftlichen Denken vorhanden ist. Die anthroposophische Forschung sucht das zu erreichen in einer ersten Stufe des übersinnlichen Erkennens, in dem imaginativen Bewußtseinszustande. Er wird erreicht durch ein meditatives Seelenverfahren. Durch dieses wird die Totalkraft des Seelenlebens auf leicht überschauliche Vorstellungen gelenkt und im Ruhen auf denselben festgehalten. Dadurch wird, wenn ein solches Verfahren durch genügend lange Zeitepochen immer wiederholt wird, zuletzt bemerkt, wie die Seele in ihrem Erleben leibfrei wird. Man erkennt klar, daß alles Denken des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseins Abglanz einer geistigen Tätigkeit ist, die als solche unbewußt bleibt, die aber dadurch bewußt wird, daß sie den menschlichen physischen Organismus in ihren Verlauf einbezieht. Alles gewöhnliche Denken ist ganz abhängig von der im physischen Organismus nachgeahmten übersinnlichen Geistestätigkeit. Dabei wird aber nur bewußt, was der physische Organismus bewußt werden läßt.
[ 5 ] Durch die Meditation kann die geistige Tätigkeit vom physischen Organismus losgerissen werden. Die Seele erlebt dann auf übersinnliche Art das Übersinnliche. Es wird nicht mehr im physischen Organismus seelisch erlebt, sondern im ätherischen Organismus. Man hat ein Vorstellen mit Bildcharakter vor sich.
[ 6 ] Man hat in diesem Vorstellen Bilder der Kräfte vor sich, die aus dem Übersinnlichen heraus dem Organismus als seine Wachstumskräfte, auch als die Kräfte zugrunde liegen, die im Regeln der Ernährungsvorgänge wirksam sind. Man hat es mit einer wirklichen Anschauung der Lebenskräfte zu tun. Es ist dies die Stufe der imaginativen Erkenntnis. Man lebt auf diese Art im ätherischen menschlichen Organismus. Und man lebt mit dem eigenen ätherischen Organismus in dem ätherischen Kosmos. Es ist zwischen dem ätherischen Organismus und dem ätherischen Kosmos keine so scharfe Grenze in bezug auf Subjektives und Objektives wie bei dem physischen Nachdenken über die Dinge der Welt.
[ 7 ] Mit dem Erleben in imaginativer Erkenntnis kann man die alte Philosophie als Wirklichkeitsinhalt nacherleben; man kann aber auch eine neue Philosophie konzipieren. Eine wirkliche Konzeption der Philosophie kann nur durch diese imaginative Erkenntnis zustande kommen. Ist diese Philosophie einmal da, dann kann sie aber von dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein erfaßt und auch verstanden werden. Denn sie spricht aus dem imaginativen Erleben heraus in Formen, die aus der geistigen (ätherischen) Wirklichkeit stammen, und deren Wirklichkeitsgehalt in der Aufnahme durch das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein nacherlebt werden kann.
[ 8 ] Für die Kosmologie bedarf es einer höheren Erkenntnisbetätigung. Diese wird erworben, wenn die Meditation erweitert wird. Man bildet nicht nur das intensive Ruhen auf einem Seeleninhalt aus, sondern auch das vollbewußte Beharren in einem inhaltlosen Seelenruhen, nachdem man einen meditativen Seeleninhalt aus dem Bewußtsein fortgeschafft hat. Man bringt es damit so weit, daß in das inhaltlose Seelenleben der geistige Gehalt des Kosmos einfließt. Man erreicht die Stufe der inspirierten Erkenntnis. Man hat vor sich einen geistigen Kosmos, wie man vor den Sinnen den physischen Kosmos hat. Man gelangt dazu, in den Kräften des geistigen Kosmos dasjenige anzuschauen, was im Atmungsprozesse zwischen dem Menschen und dem Kosmos geistig vorgeht. In den Vorgängen dieses Atmungsprozesses und in den übrigen rhythmischen Prozessen des Menschen findet man das physische Abbild dessen, was im Geistigen existiert an dem astralischen Menschenorganismus. Man kommt zu der Anschauung, wie dieser astralische Organismus außerhalb des Erdenlebens im geistigen Kosmos seinen Bestand hat, und wie er sich durch das Keimesleben und die Geburt in den physischen Organismus einkleidet, um im Tode denselben wieder zu verlassen. Man kann durch diese Erkenntnis die Vererbung, die ein irdischer Vorgang ist, von dem unterscheiden, was sich der Mensch aus der geistigen Welt mitbringt.
[ 9 ] So gelangt man durch die inspirierte Erkenntnis zu einer Kosmologie, die den Menschen in bezug auf sein seelisches und geistiges Dasein umfassen kann. Die inspirierten Erkenntnisse bilden sich im astralischen Organismus aus. Man hat sie, indem man außerhalb seines Körpers ein Dasein erlebt im Kosmos des Geistes. Sie spiegeln sich aber im Äther-Organismus; und in den Bildern, die sich da ergeben, kann man sie in die menschliche Sprache übersetzen und mit dem Inhalte der Philosophie vereinigen. Man erhält dadurch eine kosmische Philosophie.
[ 10 ] Für die religiöse Erkenntnis ist ein Drittes notwendig. Man muß in die Wesenheiten untertauchen, die sich im inspirierten Erkenntnisinhalte bildhaft offenbaren. Man erreicht dieses, wenn man zu der bisher charakterisierten Meditation Seelenübungen des Willens hinzufügt. Man sucht, zum Beispiel, Vorgänge, die in der physischen Welt einen bestimmten Verlauf haben, in umgekehrter Folge, von rückwärts nach vorne vorzustellen. Dadurch reißt man durch einen Willensvorgang, den man im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein nicht anwendet, das Seelenleben los von dem kosmischen Außeninhalte und versenkt die Seele in die Wesenheiten, die sich in der Inspiration offenbaren. Man gelangt zu der wahren Intuition, zu dem Zusammenleben mit Wesen einer geistigen Welt. Diese Erlebnisse werden im ätherischen und auch im physischen Menschen gespiegelt und ergeben in dieser Spiegelung den Inhalt des religiösen Bewußtseins.
[ 11 ] Man gelangt durch diese intuitive Erkenntnis dazu, die wahre Wesenheit des «Ich» zu schauen, die in Wirklichkeit in die Geisteswelt eingesenkt ist. Was im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein von diesem Ich vorhanden ist, das ist nur ein ganz schwacher Abglanz seiner wahren Gestalt. Man erreicht durch Intuition die Möglichkeit, diesen schwachen Abglanz in Vereinigung zu fühlen mit der göttlichen Urwelt, der er durch seine wahre Gestalt angehört. Man ist dadurch auch imstande, zu durch schauen, wie der Geistmensch, das wahre «Ich», in der geistigen Welt seinen Bestand hat, wenn der Mensch in den Schlafzustand versenkt ist. In diesem Zustande brauchen physischer und ätherischer Organismus die rhythmischen Prozesse für sich, zu ihrer Regeneration. In dem Wachzustande lebt in diesem Rhythmus und den in ihn eingegliederten physischen Stoffwechselprozessen das «Ich». Im Schlafzustande sind der Rhythmus des Menschen und die Stoffwechselvorgänge als physischer und ätherischer Organismus in einem Leben für sich; und der astralische Organismus und das «Ich» haben da ihren Bestand in der Geisteswelt. In der inspirierten und intuitiven Erkentnis wird der Mensch bewußt in diese Welt versetzt. Er lebt in einem geistigen Kosmos, wie er durch seine Sinne in einem physischen Kosmos lebt. Er kann erkenntnismäßig von dem Inhalte des religiösen Bewußtseins sprechen. Dieses kann er, weil sich das im Geistigen Erlebte im physischen und ätherischen Menschen spiegelt und die Spiegelbilder in der Sprache ausgedrückt werden können. Sie haben dann in dieser Ausdrucksform einen Inhalt, der dem Menschengemüte des gewöhnlichen Bewußtseins religiös einleuchten kann.
[ 12 ] So wird durch die imaginative Erkenntnis die Philosophie, durch die Inspiration die Kosmologie, durch die Intuition das religiöse Leben durchschaut. Zur Intuition führt, außer dem schon Charakterisierten, auch zum Beispiel die folgende Seelenübung. Man versucht in das Leben, das sich sonst unbewußt von Lebensalter zu Lebensalter beim Menschen entwickelt, so einzugreifen, daß man bewußt sich Gewohnheiten aneignet, die man vorher nicht gehabt hat, oder solche umwandelt, die man gehabt hat. Je größere Anstrengungen zu einer solchen Umwandlung nötig sind, desto besser ist es für die Herbeiführung einer intuitiven Erkenntnis. Denn diese Verwandlungen bewirken eine Loslösung der Willenskräfte von dem physischen und ätherischen Organismus. Man bindet den Willen an den astralischen Organismus und an die wahre Gestalt des «Ich», und versenkt diese beiden dadurch bewußt in die Geisteswelt.
[ 13 ] In der modernen geistigen Entwickelung der Menschheit hat sich erst das ausgebildet, was man abstraktes Denken nennen kann. Der Mensch früherer Entwickelungsepochen hatte dieses Denken nicht. Es ist aber notwendig zur Entwickelung der menschlichen Freiheit. Denn es löst die Kraft des Denkens von der Bildform los. Man erreicht die Möglichkeit, durch den physischen Organismus zu denken. Ein solches Denken wurzelt aber nicht in einer wirklichen Welt. Es ist nur in einer Scheinwelt enthalten. In dieser Scheinwelt kann man die Naturvorgänge abbilden, ohne daß der Mensch in diese Bilder von sich aus etwas hineinlegt. Man gelangt zu einem Abbilde der Natur, das als Abbild wirklich sein kann, weil das Leben im denkerischen Abbild in sich selbst nicht Wirklichkeit, sondern nur Schein ist. In dieses Scheindenken können aber auch die moralischen Impulse so aufgenommen werden, daß sie auf den Menschen keinen Zwang ausüben. Die moralischen Impulse selbst sind wirklich, weil sie aus der Geisteswelt stammen; die Art, wie sie der Mensch in seiner Scheinwelt erlebt, macht es ihm möglich, sich frei nach ihnen zu bestimmen, oder nicht zu bestimmen. Sie selbst üben weder durch seinen Körper, noch durch seine Seele auf ihn einen Zwang aus.
[ 14 ] So schreitet die Menschheit vorwärts, indem dasjenige Denken, das in alten Zeiten ganz an die unbewußte imaginierte, inspirierte und intuitive Erkenntnis gebunden war und in dem die Gedanken so geoffenbart wurden wie die Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition selbst, zum abstrakten Denken wird, das durch den physischen Organismus ausgeführt wird. In diesem Denken, das ein Scheinleben hat, weil es geistige Substanz ist, in die physische Welt versetzt, erlebt der Mensch die Möglichkeit, eine objektive Naturerkenntnis und seine moralische Freiheit zu entwickeln. (Das Nähere darüber findet man in meiner «Philosophie der Freiheit», in meinen Schriften «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?», «Theosophie», «Geheimwissenschaft» usw.) Aber um wieder zu einer menschumfassenden Philosophie, Kosmologie und Religion zu kommen, ist notwendig, bewußt - also im Gegensatz zu dem alten traumhaften Hellsehen - in das Gebiet eines exakten Hellsehens in Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition einzutreten. Im Gebiete des abstrakten Vorstellungslebens erreicht der Mensch seine Vollbewußtheit. Es obliegt ihm im weiteren Menschheitsfortschritt, die Vollbewußtheit in die Erfahrungen aus der geistigen Welt hineinzutragen. Darin muß der wahre Menschheitsfortschritt in die Zukunft hinein bestehen.
II. exercises of the soul in thinking, feeling and willing
[ 1 ] Philosophy did not originate in the same way in which it is carried on in modern times. In this way it is a connection of ideas which are not experienced inwardly, in the soul, in such a way that the self-conscious man feels himself in them as in a reality. This is why one seeks all kinds of theoretical means to prove how the philosophical content does relate to a reality. In this way, however, one arrives only at various philosophical systems of which one can say that they have a certain relative correctness; for, in essence, the reasons with which one refutes them are worth as much as those with which one wants to prove them.
[ 2 ] The point of anthroposophy is that one cannot come to grips with the reality of philosophical content by theoretical reflection, but by developing a method of knowledge which on the one hand is similar to that by which philosophy was gained in ancient times, and which on the other hand is as fully consciously exact as the mathematical and scientific method of more recent times.
[ 3 ] The old method was a semi-conscious one. Compared to the state of consciousness that modern man is in when he thinks scientifically, it had something half-dreamlike about it. It did not live in such dreams that did not in themselves directly vouch for their real content, but in waking dreams that pointed to reality precisely through this content. Such soul content, however, does not have the abstract character of the present imagination, but that of imagery.
[ 4 ] Such a soul content must be regained; but, in accordance with the modern state of development of humanity, in full consciousness; precisely in the same state of consciousness as is present in scientific thinking. Anthroposophical research seeks to achieve this in a first stage of supersensible cognition, in the imaginative state of consciousness. It is achieved through a meditative soul process. Through this the total power of the soul's life is directed to easily comprehensible ideas and held in resting on them. In this way, if such a process is repeated again and again over a sufficiently long period of time, it is finally noticed how the soul becomes body-free in its experience. One clearly recognizes that all thinking of the ordinary consciousness is the reflection of a spiritual activity, which as such remains unconscious, but which becomes conscious through the fact that it includes the human physical organism in its course. All ordinary thinking is entirely dependent on the supersensible spiritual activity imitated in the physical organism. However, only that which the physical organism allows to become conscious becomes conscious.
[ 5 ] Through meditation, mental activity can be detached from the physical organism. The soul then experiences the supersensible in a supersensible way. It is no longer experienced psychically in the physical organism, but in the etheric organism. One has an imagination with a pictorial character before them.
[ 6 ] In this imagination one has before oneself images of the forces which from the supersensible underlie the organism as its growth forces, also as the forces which are effective in the rules of the nutritional processes. We are dealing with a real view of the forces of life. This is the stage of imaginative cognition. In this way one lives in the etheric human organism. And one lives with one's own etheric organism in the etheric cosmos. There is no such sharp boundary between the etheric organism and the etheric cosmos in terms of the subjective and the objective as there is in physical thinking about the things of the world.
[ 7 ] With the experience in imaginative cognition, one can relive the old philosophy as reality content; but one can also conceive a new philosophy. A real conception of philosophy can only come about through this imaginative cognition. Once this philosophy is there, it can be grasped and understood by the ordinary consciousness. For it speaks out of the imaginative experience in forms that originate from the spiritual (etheric) reality and whose reality content can be re-experienced in the reception by the ordinary consciousness.
[ 8 ] For cosmology a higher cognitive activity is required. This is acquired when meditation is expanded. One trains not only the intensive resting on a soul content, but also the fully conscious persistence in a contentless soul rest after one has removed a meditative soul content from the consciousness. In this way, the spiritual content of the cosmos flows into the contentless life of the soul. One reaches the stage of inspired cognition. You have a spiritual cosmos before you, just as you have the physical cosmos before your senses. One comes to see in the forces of the spiritual cosmos that which takes place spiritually in the breathing process between man and the cosmos. In the processes of this breathing process and in the other rhythmic processes of the human being one finds the physical image of what exists in the spiritual in the astral human organism. We come to understand how this astral organism exists outside of earthly life in the spiritual cosmos, and how it is clothed in the physical organism through germ life and birth, only to leave it again at death. Through this knowledge, one can distinguish heredity, which is an earthly process, from that which man brings with him from the spiritual world.
[ 9 ] Thus, through inspired knowledge, one arrives at a cosmology that can encompass man in relation to his spiritual and mental existence. Inspired knowledge is formed in the astral organism. One has them by experiencing an existence outside one's body in the cosmos of the spirit. But they are reflected in the etheric organism; and in the images that arise there they can be translated into human language and united with the content of philosophy. The result is a cosmic philosophy.
[ 10 ] For religious knowledge, a third thing is necessary. One must immerse oneself in the entities that reveal themselves pictorially in the inspired content of knowledge. This is achieved by adding soul exercises of the will to the meditation characterized so far. One seeks, for example, to imagine processes that have a certain course in the physical world in reverse order, from backwards to forwards. In this way, through a process of will that is not used in ordinary consciousness, one tears the soul life away from the cosmic external content and immerses the soul in the entities that reveal themselves in inspiration. One arrives at true intuition, at living together with beings of a spiritual world. These experiences are mirrored in the etheric and also in the physical human being and in this mirroring result in the content of religious consciousness.
[ 11 ] Through this intuitive realization, one comes to see the true essence of the "I", which is in reality immersed in the spiritual world. What is present in ordinary consciousness of this "I" is only a very faint reflection of its true form. Through intuition one attains the possibility of feeling this faint reflection in union with the divine primordial world to which it belongs through its true form. This also enables one to see through how the spirit man, the true "I", exists in the spiritual world when the human being is immersed in a state of sleep. In this state, the physical and etheric organism need the rhythmic processes for their own regeneration. In the waking state, the "I" lives in this rhythm and the physical metabolic processes integrated into it. In the sleeping state, the rhythm of the human being and the metabolic processes as a physical and etheric organism are in a life of their own; and the astral organism and the "I" have their existence in the spiritual world. In inspired and intuitive cognition, the human being is consciously transported into this world. He lives in a spiritual cosmos, just as he lives in a physical cosmos through his senses. He can speak cognitively of the content of religious consciousness. He can do this because what is experienced in the spiritual is reflected in the physical and etheric human being and the mirror images can be expressed in language. They then have a content in this form of expression that can religiously illuminate the human mind of ordinary consciousness.
[ 12 ] Thus, philosophy is seen through imaginative cognition, cosmology through inspiration, and religious life through intuition. In addition to what has already been described, the following exercise of the soul also leads to intuition. One tries to intervene in life, which otherwise develops unconsciously from age to age in man, in such a way that one consciously acquires habits which one has not had before, or transforms those which one has had. The greater the effort required for such a transformation, the better it is for bringing about an intuitive realization. For these transformations bring about a detachment of the will forces from the physical and etheric organism. The will is bound to the astral organism and to the true form of the "I", and these two are thereby consciously immersed in the spiritual world.
[ 13 ] In the modern spiritual development of mankind, that which can be called abstract thinking has first formed. Man in earlier epochs of development did not have this thinking. But it is necessary for the development of human freedom. For it detaches the power of thought from the pictorial form. One achieves the possibility of thinking through the physical organism. Such thinking, however, is not rooted in a real world. It is only contained in an illusory world. In this illusory world, one can image the processes of nature without man putting anything into these images of his own accord. One arrives at an image of nature that can be real as an image, because life in the mental image is not reality in itself, but only appearance. But moral impulses can also be incorporated into this illusory thinking in such a way that they do not exert any compulsion on man. The moral impulses themselves are real because they originate from the spiritual world; the way in which man experiences them in his illusory world makes it possible for him to determine or not to determine himself free according to them. They themselves exert no compulsion on him, neither through his body nor through his soul.
[ 14 ] Thus humanity advances, in that that thinking which in ancient times was entirely bound to the unconscious imagined, inspired and intuitive cognition, and in which thoughts were as revealed as imagination, inspiration and intuition themselves, becomes abstract thinking carried out through the physical organism. In this thinking, which has an illusory life because it is spiritual substance, transferred into the physical world, man experiences the possibility of developing an objective knowledge of nature and his moral freedom. (More details on this can be found in my "Philosophy of Freedom", in my writings "How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds?", "Theosophy", "Secret Science", etc.) But in order to arrive at a philosophy, cosmology and religion that encompasses man again, it is necessary to consciously - that is, in contrast to the old dreamlike clairvoyance - enter the realm of an exact clairvoyance in imagination, inspiration and intuition. In the realm of abstract imagination man reaches his full consciousness. In the further progress of mankind it is incumbent upon him to carry full consciousness into the experiences of the spiritual world. This must be the true progress of mankind into the future.