The Foundation Stone Meditation
GA 260
An Invocation of the Four Times Twelve Human Being
Commentary by Karin Wietrzykowski (2024)
Translated by Ernst Katz (1996)
With the laying of the Foundation Stone in December of 1923, after the destruction of the first Goetheanum, Rudolf Steiner had prepared the ground for the anthroposophical impulse to arise from the ashes of the temple. In the Foundation Stone meditation, Steiner urged his students to practice Spirit-recalling, Spirit-remembering, and Spirit-envisioning to enable the three, tri-fold Hierarchies and Trinity to penetrate their lower four bodies to raise them to their fully developed state. This urgent call to human souls to practice our thinking, feeling and willing to transform our four lower bodies to return them to their original spiritual state. It beckons the higher realms to work within us, with the last step given by the grace of God. It is another example of the four by twelve Human Being that needs to arise.
Read further commentary on the Foundation Stone Meditation, given by Rudolf Steiner at the Christmas Conference meeting of the Anthroposophical Society on January 1, 1924, and his Last Address on September 28, 1924 on the eve of Michaelmas: The Last Address: The Mission of Man, September 28, 2024.| Stanza | Practice | Hierarchy | Transform Lower Bodies |
Redeemed Spiritual Sheeths |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | Spirit-recalling | 1st: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones Spirits of Strength |
Etheric → | Life-Spirit/Buddhi |
| II. | Spirit-meditating | 2nd: Kyriotetes, Dynamis, Exusiai Spirits of Light |
Astral → | Spirit-Self/Manas |
| III. | Spirit-envisioning | 3rd: Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi Spirits of Soul |
Ego/Lower I → | Higher Self/I |
| IV. | Grace | Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit | Physical → | Spirit-Man |
I. Etheric Body → Life-Spirit: 1st Hierarchy
Human soul!
You live in the limbs;
Through the world of space they bear you
Into seas of spirit-being:Practice spirit-recalling
In depths of soul,
Where in the wielding
World-creator-being
Your own “I”
Comes into being
Within the “I of God;”
And you will truly live
In human cosmic being.For there reigns the Father-spirit of the heights
In cosmic depths creating existence
Ye Spirits of Strength,
Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones,
Let from the heights ring forth
What in the depths finds its echo;
This speaks thus:
From the divine mankind takes being.Thus hear it the elementary spirits
In the East, West, North, South:
May human beings hear it!II. Astral Body → Spirit-Self: 2nd Hierarchy
Human soul!
You live in the beat of heart and lungs;
Through the rhythm of time it leads you
Into the feeling of your own soul-being:Practice Spirit-meditating
In equanimity of soul,
Where by the surging
Deeds of world-becoming
Your own “I”
Is united
With the “I of the cosmos”
And you will truly feel
In human weaving of souls.For there reigns the will of Christ all around us
In cosmic rhythms bestowing grace onto souls.
Ye Spirits of Light,
Kyriotetes, Dynamis, Exusiai,
Let from the East be enkindled
What through the West takes on form;
This speaks thus:
In Christ death becomes life.Thus hear it the elementary spirits
in the East, West, North, South:
May human beings hear it!III. Ego/Lower I → Higher I: 3rd Hierarchy
Human soul!
You live in the resting head;
From eternal grounds it discloses
The thoughts of the cosmos to you:Practice Spirit-envisioning
In stillness of thought,
Where by the eternal aims of gods
Light of cosmic being
To your own “I”
Is granted
For your free willing;
And you will truly think
In human spirit grounds.For there reign the cosmic thoughts of the Spirit
In cosmic being light imploring.
Ye Spirits of Soul,
Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi,
Let from the depths be entreated
What in the heights will be answered;
This speaks thus:
In the Spirit’s cosmic thoughts the soul awakens.Thus hear it the elementary spirits
in the East, West, North, South:
May human beings hear it!IV. Physical Body → Spirit-Man: Trinity
At the turning point of time
Came the cosmic spirit light
Into the earthly stream of being.Night darkness
Had reached its power’s end;
Light, bright as day,
Rayed forth in human souls;Light
That gives warmth
To simple hearts of shepherds;Light
That enlightens
The wise heads of kings;Light divine,
Christ-Sun,Give warmth
To our hearts;Enlighten
Our heads,That good may become
What from our hearts
We are founding,
What from our heads
We shall guide
With our purposeful willing.