Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts
GA 26
Understanding of the Spirit; Conscious Experience of Destiny
[ 1 ] This week something will be given in the communications addressed to members in these columns, which may serve to bring us to a further understanding of the weekly ‘Leading Thoughts.’
[ 2 ] The understanding of anthroposophical truth can be furthered if the relation which exists between man and the world is constantly brought before the human soul.
[ 3 ] When man turns his attention to the world into which he is born and out of which he dies, he is surrounded in the first place by the fullness of his sense-impressions. He forms thoughts about these sense-impressions.
[ 4] In bringing the following to his consciousness: ‘I am forming thoughts about what my senses reveal to me as the world,’ he has already come to the point where he can contemplate himself. He can say to himself: In my thoughts ‘I’ live. The world gives me the opportunity of experiencing myself in thoughts. I find myself in my thoughts when I contemplate the world.
[ 5 ] And continuing to reflect in this way, he ceases to be conscious of the world; he becomes conscious of the ‘I’. He ceases to have the world before him; he begins to experience the self.
[ 6 ] If the experience be reversed, and the attention directed to the inner life in which the world is mirrored, then those events emerge into consciousness which belong to our life's destiny, and in which our human self has flowed along from the point of time to which our memory goes back. In following up the events of his destiny, a man experiences his own existence.
[ 7 ] In bringing this to his consciousness: ‘I with my own self have experienced something that destiny brought to me,’ a man has already come to the point where he will contemplate the world. He can say to himself: I was not alone in my fate; the world played a part in my experience. I willed this or that; the world streamed into my will. I find the world in my will when I experience this will in self-contemplation.
[ 8 ] Continuing thus to enter into his own being, man ceases to be conscious of the self, he becomes conscious of the world; he ceases to experience himself, he becomes feelingly aware of the world.
[ 9 ] ‘I send my thoughts out into the World, there I find myself; I sink into myself, there I find the World.’ If a man experiences this strongly enough he is confronted with the great riddles of the World and Man.
[ 10 ] For to have the feeling: I have taken endless pains to understand the world through thinking, and after all there is but myself in this thinking—this gives rise to the first great riddle.
[ 11 ] And to feel that one's own self is formed through destiny, yet to perceive in this process the onward flow of world-happenings—this presents the second riddle.
[ 12 ] In the experience of this problem of Man and the World germinates the frame of mind in which man can so confront Anthroposophy that he receives from it in his inner being an impression which rouses his attention.
[ 13 ] For Anthroposophy asserts that there is a spiritual experience which does not lose the world when thinking. One can also live in thought. Anthroposophy tells of an inward experience in which one does not lose the sense-world when thinking, but gains the Spirit-world. Instead of penetrating into the ego in which the sense-world is felt to disappear, one penetrates into the Spirit-world in which the ego feels established.
[ 14 ] Anthroposophy shows, further, that there is an experience of destiny in which one does not lose the self. In fate, too, one can still feel oneself to be active. Anthroposophy points out, in the impartial, unegoistic observation of human destiny, an experience in which one learns to love the world and not only one's own existence. Instead of staring into the world which carries the ego on the waves of fortune and misfortune, one finds the ego which shapes its own fate voluntarily. Instead of striking against the world on which the ego is dashed to pieces, one penetrates into the self, which feels itself united with the course of events in the world.
[ 15 ] Man's destiny comes to him from the world that is revealed to him by his senses. If then he finds his own activity in the working of his destiny, his real self rises up before him not only out of his inner being but out of the sense-world too.
[ 16 ] If a person is able to feel, however faintly, how the spiritual part of the world appears in the self, and how the self proves to be working in the outer world of sense, he has already learned to understand Anthroposophy correctly.
[ 17 ] For he will then realise that in Anthroposophy it is possible to describe the Spirit-world which the self can comprehend. And this will enable him to understand that in the sense-world the self can also be found—in a different way than by diving within. Anthroposophy finds the self by showing how the sense-world reveals to man not only sense-perceptions but also the after-effects of his life before birth and his former earthly lives.
[ 18 ] Man can now gaze on the world perceptible to his senses and say: It contains not only colour, sound, warmth; in it are active the experiences passed through by souls before their present earthly life. And he can look into himself and say: I find there not only my ego but, in addition, a spiritual world is revealed.
[ 19 ] In an understanding of this kind, a person who really feels—who is not unmoved by—the great riddles of Man and the World, can meet on a common ground with the Initiate who in accordance with his insight is obliged to speak of the outer world of the senses as manifesting not only sense-perceptions but also the impressions of what human souls have done in their life before birth and in past earthly lives, and who has to say of the world of the inner self that it reveals spiritual events which produce impressions and are as effective as the perceptions of the sense-world.
[ 20 ] The would-be active members should consciously make themselves mediators between what the questioning human soul feels as the problems of Man and the Universe, and what the knowledge of the Initiates has to recount, when it draws forth a past world out of the destiny of human beings, and when by strengthening the soul it opens up the perception of a spiritual world.
[ 21 ] In this way, through the work of the would-be active members, the Anthroposophical Society may become a true preparatory school for the school of Initiates. It was the intention of the Christmas Meeting to indicate this very forcibly; and one who truly understands what that Meeting meant will continue to point this out until sufficient understanding of it can bring the Society fresh tasks and possibilities again.
[ 22] May the Leading Thoughts to be given in this number proceed, therefore, out of this spirit.
Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 23 ] 62. In our sense-perceptions, the world of the senses bears on to the surface only a portion of the being that lies concealed in the depths of its waves beneath. Penetrative spiritual observation reveals within these depths the after-effects of what was done by souls of men in ages long gone by.
[ 24 ] 63. To ordinary self-observation the inner world of man reveals only a portion of that, in the midst of which it stands. Intensified experience in consciousness shows it to be contained within a living spiritual Reality.
[ 25] 64. The destiny of man reveals the workings, not only of an external world, but of the man's own Self.
[ 26 ] 65. The experiences of the human soul reveal not only a Self but a world of the Spirit, which the Self can know by deeper spiritual knowledge as a world united with its own being.
Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 27 ] 66. The Beings of the Third Hierarchy reveal themselves in the life which is unfolded as a spiritual background in human Thinking. In the human activity of thought this life is concealed. If it worked on in its own essence in human thought, man could not attain to Freedom. Where cosmic Thought activity ceases, human Thought-activity begins.
[ 28 ] 67. The Beings of the Second Hierarchy manifest themselves in a world-of-soul beyond humanity—a world of cosmic soul-activities, hidden from human Feeling. This cosmic world-of-soul is ever creative in the background of human Feeling. Out of the being of man it first creates the organism of Feeling; only then can it bring Feeling itself to life therein.
[ 29 ] 68. The Beings of the First Hierarchy manifest themselves in spiritual creation beyond humanity—a cosmic world of spiritual Being which indwells the human Willing. This world of cosmic Spirit experiences itself in creative action when man wills. It first creates the connection of man's being with the Universe beyond humanity; only then does man himself become, through his organism of Will, a freely willing being.
Etwas vom Geist-Verstehen und Schicksals-Erleben
[ 1 ] In die Mitteilungen und Betrachtungen, die an dieser Stelle an die Mitglieder gerichtet werden, soll diesmal einiges einfließen, das geeignet sein kann, den Gedanken über die Leitsätze eine weitere Richtung zu geben.
[ 2 ] Das Verständnis des anthroposophischen Erkennens kann gefördert werden, wenn die menschliche Seele immer wieder auf das Verhältnis von Mensch und Welt hingelenkt wird.
[ 3 ] Richtet der Mensch die Aufmerksamkeit auf die Welt, in die er hineingeboren wird und aus der er herausstirbt, so hat er zunächst die Fülle seiner Sinneseindrücke um sich. Er macht sich Gedanken über diese Sinnes-Eindrücke.
[ 4 ] Indem er dieses sich zum Bewußtsein bringt: «Ich mache mir Gedanken über das, was mir meine Sinne als Welt offenbaren», kann er schon mit der Selbstbetrachtung einsetzen. Er kann sich sagen: in meinen Gedanken lebe «Ich». Die Welt gibt mir Veranlassung, in Gedanken mich zu erleben. Ich finde mich in meinen Gedanken, indem ich die Welt betrachte.
[ 5 ] So fortfahrend im Nachsinnen verliert der Mensch die Welt aus dem Bewußtsein; und das Ich tritt in dieses ein. Er hört auf, die Welt vorzustellen; er fängt an, das Selbst zu erleben.
[ 6 ] Wird umgekehrt die Aufmerksamkeit auf das Innere gerichtet, in dem die Welt sich spiegelt, so tauchen im Bewußtsein die Lebensschicksalsereignisse auf, in denen das menschliche Selbst von dem Zeitpunkte an, bis zu dem man sich zurückerinnert, dahingeflossen ist. Man erlebt das eigene Dasein in der Folge dieser Schicksais-Erlebnisse.
[ 7 ] Indem man sich dieses zum Bewußtsein bringt: «Ich habe mit meinem Selbst ein Schicksal erlebt», kann man mit der Weltbetrachtung einsetzen. Man kann sich sagen: In meinem Schicksal war ich nicht allein; da hat die Welt in mein Erleben eingegriffen. Ich habe dieses oder jenes gewollt; in mein Wollen ist die Welt hereingeflutet. Ich finde die Welt in meinem Wollen, indem ich dieses Wollen selbstbetrachtend erlebe.
[ 8 ] So fortfahrend, sich in das eigene Selbst einlebend, verliert der Mensch das Selbst aus dem Bewußtsein; die Welt tritt in dieses ein. Er hört auf, das Selbst zu erleben; er fängt an, die Welt im Erfühlen gewahr zu werden.
[ 9 ] Ich denke hinaus in die Welt; da finde ich mich; ich versenke mich in mich selbst, da finde ich die Welt. Wenn der Mensch dieses stark genug empfindet, steht er in den Welt- und Menschenrätseln drinnen.
[ 10 ] Denn fühlen: man müht sich im Denken ab, um die Welt zu ergreifen, und man steckt in diesem Denken doch nur selbst darinnen, das gibt das erste Welträtsel auf.
[ 11 ] Vom Schicksal in seinem Selbst sich geformt fühlen und in diesem Formen das Fluten des Weltgeschehens empfinden; das drängt zum zweiten Welträtsel hin.
[ 12 ] In dem Erleben dieses Welt- und Menschenrätsels erkeimt die Seelenverfassung, in der der Mensch der Anthroposophie so begegnen kann, daß er in seinem Innern von ihr einen Eindruck erhält, der seine Aufmerksamkeit erregt.
[ 13 ] Denn Anthroposophie macht nun dieses geltend: Es gibt ein geistiges Erleben, das nicht im Denken die Welt verliert. Man kann auch im Denken noch leben. Sie gibt im Meditieren ein inneres Erleben an, in dem man nicht denkend die Sinneswelt verliert, sondern die Geistwelt gewinnt. Statt in das Ich einzudringen, in dem man die Sinnnen-Welt versinken fühlt, dringt man in die Geist-Welt ein, in der man das Ich erfestigt fühlt.
[ 14 ] Anthroposophie zeigt im weiteren: Es gibt ein Erleben des Schicksals, in dem man nicht das Selbst verliert. Man kann auch im Schicksal noch sich selbst als wirksam erleben. Sie gibt in dem unegoistischen Betrachten des Menschenschicksals ein Erleben an, in dem man nicht nur das eigene Dasein, sondern die Welt lieben lernt. Statt in die Welt hineinzustarren, die in Glück und Unglück das Ich auf ihren Wellen trägt, findet man das Ich, das wollend das eigene Schicksal gestaltet. Statt an die Welt zu stoßen, an der das Ich zerschellt, dringt man in das Selbst ein, das sich mit dem Weltgeschehen verbunden fühlt.
[ 15 ] Das Schicksal des Menschen wird ihm von der Welt bereitet, die ihm seine Sinne offenbaren. Findet er die eigene Wirksamkeit in dem Schicksalswalten, so steigt ihm sein Selbst wesenhaft nicht nur aus dem eigenen Innern, sondern es steigt ihm aus der Sinneswelt auf.
[ 16 ] Kann man auch nur leise empfinden, wie im Selbst die Welt als Geistiges erscheint und wie in der Sinneswelt das Selbst sich als wirksam erweist, so ist man schon im sicheren Verstehen der Anthroposophie darinnen.
[ 1 ] Denn man wird dann einen Sinn dafür entwickeln, daß in der Anthroposophie die Geist-Welt beschrieben werden darf, die vom Selbst erfaßt wird. Und dieser Sinn wird auch Verständnis dafür entwickeln, daß in der Sinneswelt das Selbst auch noch anders als durch Versenken in das Innere gefunden werden kann. Anthroposophie findet das Selbst, indem sie zeigt, wie aus der Sinneswelt für den Menschen nicht nur sinnliche Wahrnehmungen sich offenbaren, sondern auch die Nachwirkungen aus seinem vorirdischen Dasein und aus den vorigen Erdenleben.
[ 18 ] Der Mensch kann nun in die Welt der Sinne hinausblicken und sagen: da ist ja nicht nur Farbe, Ton, Wärme; da wirken auch die Erlebnisse der Seelen, die diese Seelen vor ihrem gegenwärtigen Erdendasein durchgemacht haben. Und er kann in sich hineinblicken und sagen: da ist nicht nur mein Ich, da offenbart sich eine geistige Welt.
[ 19 ] In einem solchen Verständnisse kann der von den Welt- und Menschenrätseln berührte Mensch sich mit dem Eingeweihten zusammenfinden, der, nach seinen Einsichten, von der äußeren Sinneswelt so reden muß, als ob aus derselben nicht nur sinnliche Wahrnehmungen sich kundgäben, sondern die Eindrücke von dem, was Menschenseelen im vorirdischen Dasein und in verflossenen Erdenleben gewirkt haben; und der von der inneren Selbst-Welt aussagen muß, daß sie Geistzusammenhänge offenbart, so ein-drucks- und wirkungsvoll, wie die Wahrnehmungen der Sinneswelt sind.
[ 20 ] Bewußt sollten sich die tätig sein wollenden Mitglieder zu Vermittlern dessen machen, was die fragende Menschenseele als Welt- und Menschenrätsel fühlt, mit dem, was die Eingeweihten-Erkenntnis zu sagen hat, wenn sie aus Menschen-Schicksalen eine vergangene Welt heraufholt, und wenn sie aus seelischer Erkraftung die Wahrnehmung einer Geist-Welt erschließt.
[ 21 ] So kann im Arbeiten der tätig sein wollenden Mitglieder die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft zu einer echten Vorschule der Eingeweihten-Schule werden. Auf dieses wollte die Weihnachtstagung kräftig hinweisen; und wer diese Tagung richtig versteht, wird mit diesem Hinweisen fortfahren, bis ein genügendes Verständnis dafür der Gesellschaft wieder neue Aufgaben bringen kann.
[ 22 ] Aus diesen Hinweisen mögen denn die im folgenden zu gebenden «Leitsätze» erfließen.
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden
[ 23 ] 62. Die Sinneswelt trägt in den Sinneswahrnehmungen nur einen Teil des Wesens an die Oberfläche, das sie in ihren Wellentiefen birgt. Bei eindringlicher geistgemäßer Beobachtung zeigt sie, daß in diesen Tiefen die Nachwirkungen dessen sind, was Menschenseelen noch in langvergangenen Zeiten gewirkt haben.
[ 24 ] 63. Die menschliche Innenwelt offenbart dem gewöhnlichen Selbstbetrachten nur einen Teil dessen, in dem sie darinnen steht. Bei erstarktem Erleben zeigt sie, daß sie in einer geistlebendigen Wirklichkeit steht.
[ 25 ] 64. In dem Schicksal des Menschen offenbart sich nicht bloß die Wirksamkeit einer Außenwelt, sondern auch diejenige des eigenen Selbst.
[ 26 ] 65. In den menschlichen Seelen-Erlebnissen offenbart sich nicht bloß ein Selbst, sondern auch eine Geistwelt, die das Selbst in geistmäßiger Erkenntnis mit der eigenen Wesenheit verbunden wissen kann.
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden
[ 27 ] 66. Die Wesenheiten der dritten Hierarchie offenbaren sich in dem Leben, das im menschlichen Denken als Geist-Hintergrund zur Entfaltung gelangt. Dieses Leben verbirgt sich in der menschlichen Denktätigkeit. Wirkten sie in dieser als Eigensein fort, so könnte der Mensch nicht zur Freiheit gelangen. Wo kosmische Denktätigkeit aufhört, beginnt menschliche Denktätigkeit.
[ 28 ] 67. Die Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie offenbaren sich in einem außermenschlichen Seelischen, das dem menschlichen Fühlen als kosmisch-seelisches Geschehen verborgen ist. Dieses Kosmisch-Seelische schafft im Hintergrunde des menschlichen Fühlens. Es gestaltet das Menschlich-Wesenhafte zum Gefühls-Organismus, bevor in diesem selbst das Fühlen leben kann.
[ 29] 68. Die Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie offenbaren sich in einem außermenschlichen Geistschaffen, das dem menschlichen Wollen als kosmisch-geistige Wesenswelt innewohnt. Dieses Kosmisch-Geistige erlebt sich selbst schaffend, indem der Mensch will. Es gestaltet den Zusammenhang des Menschlich-Wesenhaften mit der außermenschlichen Welt, bevor der Mensch durch seinen Willens-Organismus zum frei wollenden Wesen wird.
Something about understanding the spirit and experiencing destiny
[ 1 ] This time, the messages and reflections addressed to the members at this point should include some things that may be suitable to give further direction to the thoughts on the guiding principles.
[ 2 ] The understanding of anthroposophical cognition can be promoted if the human soul is repeatedly directed towards the relationship between man and the world.
[ 3 ] When a person focuses his attention on the world into which he is born and from which he dies, he is first surrounded by the fullness of his sensory impressions. He thinks about these sensory impressions.
[ 4 ] By making himself aware of this: "I am thinking about what my senses reveal to me as the world", he can already begin to contemplate himself. He can say to himself: "I" live in my thoughts. The world gives me the opportunity to experience me in my thoughts. I find myself in my thoughts by looking at the world.
[ 5 ] So continuing in contemplation, man loses the world from his consciousness; and the ego enters into it. He ceases to imagine the world; he begins to experience the self.
[ 6 ] On the contrary, if attention is directed to the inner self, in which the world is reflected, the events of life's destiny emerge in consciousness, in which the human self has flowed from the point in time up to which one remembers back. One experiences one's own existence in the sequence of these fateful experiences.
[ 7 ] By realizing this: "I have experienced a destiny with my self", one can begin to look at the world. You can say to yourself: I was not alone in my fate; the world intervened in my experience. I have wanted this or that; the world has flooded into my will. I find the world in my volition by experiencing this volition in a self-observing way.
[ 8 ] Continuing in this way, living into his own self, man loses the self from his consciousness; the world enters into it. He ceases to experience the self; he begins to become aware of the world by feeling it.
[ 9 ] I think out into the world; there I find myself; I immerse myself in myself; there I find the world. When man feels this strongly enough, he finds himself in the mysteries of the world and of man.
[ 10 ] For to feel: one labors in thinking in order to grasp the world, and yet in this thinking one is only in it oneself, which gives up the first riddle of the world.
[ 11 ] Feeling shaped by fate in one's self and feeling the flood of world events in this shaping; this pushes towards the second world riddle.
[ 12 ] In the experience of this world and human enigma, the state of soul germinates in which man can encounter anthroposophy in such a way that he receives an impression of it within himself that attracts his attention.
[ 13 ] For anthroposophy now asserts this: There is a spiritual experience that does not lose the world in thinking. One can still live in thinking. In meditation it indicates an inner experience in which one does not lose the sensory world through thinking, but gains the spiritual world. Instead of penetrating the ego, in which one feels the sense world sinking, one penetrates the spirit world, in which one feels the ego solidified.
[ 14 ] Anthroposophy shows further: There is an experience of destiny in which one does not lose the self. One can still experience oneself as effective even in destiny. In the non-egoistic view of human destiny, it indicates an experience in which one learns to love not only one's own existence, but also the world. Instead of staring into the world, which carries the ego on its waves in happiness and unhappiness, one finds the ego that willingly shapes one's own destiny. Instead of bumping into the world, which shatters the ego, one penetrates into the self, which feels connected to world events.
[ 15 ] Man's destiny is prepared for him by the world that his senses reveal to him. If he finds his own efficacy in the forces of destiny, his self rises to him not only from his own inner being, but also from the world of the senses.
[ 16 ] If one can even faintly sense how the world appears as spiritual in the self and how the self proves to be effective in the sense world, then one is already in a secure understanding of anthroposophy.
[ 17 ] For one will then develop a sense for the fact that in anthroposophy the spirit world may be described, which is grasped by the self. And this sense will also develop an understanding that in the sense world the self can also be found in other ways than by immersing oneself within. Anthroposophy finds the self by showing how not only sensory perceptions reveal themselves to man from the world of the senses, but also the after-effects from his pre-earthly existence and from previous earthly lives.
[ 18 ] Man can now look out into the world of the senses and say: there is not only color, sound, warmth; there are also the experiences of the souls that these souls have gone through before their present earthly existence. And he can look into himself and say: there is not only my ego, there is a spiritual world revealing itself.
[ 19 ] In such an understanding, the person touched by the mysteries of the world and of man can find himself together with the initiate who, according to his insights, must speak of the outer sense world as if not only sensual perceptions were manifesting from it, but the impressions of what human souls have worked in the pre-earthly existence and in past earthly lives; and who must say of the inner self-world that it reveals spiritual connections as impressive and effective as the perceptions of the sensory world are.
[ 20 ] The members who want to be active should consciously make themselves mediators of what the questioning human soul feels as a world and human riddle, with what the initiate's knowledge has to say when it brings up a past world from human destinies, and when it opens up the perception of a spirit world from spiritual empowerment.
[ 21 ] In this way, the Anthroposophical Society can become a genuine preliminary school of the School of Initiates in the work of the members who wish to be active. This is what the Christmas Conference wanted to strongly point out; and whoever understands this conference correctly will continue to point this out until a sufficient understanding of it can again bring new tasks to the Society.
[ 22 ] The "guiding principles" to be given in the following may then flow from these indications.
Further guiding principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 23 ] 62 The sense world brings to the surface in the sense perceptions only a part of the being that it holds in its wave depths. With penetrating spiritual observation it shows that in these depths are the after-effects of what human souls have worked in times long past.
[ 24 ] 63 The human inner world reveals to ordinary self-observation only a part of that in which it stands within. When experienced more fully, it shows that it is part of a spiritual reality.
[ 25 ] 64. In man's fate, not only the effectiveness of an external world is revealed, but also that of his own self.
[ 26 ] 65. In the human soul experiences, not only a self is revealed, but also a spirit world, which the self can know to be connected with its own essence in spiritual cognition.
Further guiding principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 27 ] 66 The Beings of the Third Hierarchy reveal themselves in the life that unfolds in human thinking as a spiritual background. This life is concealed in human thinking activity. If they continued to work in this as a being of their own, man could not attain freedom. Where cosmic thinking activity ends, human thinking activity begins.
[ 28 ] 67 The entities of the second hierarchy reveal themselves in an extra-human soul that is hidden from human feeling as a cosmic-soul event. This cosmic-soul creates in the background of human feeling. It shapes the human being into a feeling organism before feeling itself can live in it.
[ 29 ] 68 The entities of the first hierarchy reveal themselves in an extra-human spiritual creation that is inherent in the human will as a cosmic-spiritual world of beings. This cosmic-spiritual being experiences itself as creative in that man wills. It shapes the connection between the human essential and the extra-human world before man becomes a freely willing being through his will-organism.