Sophia Institute online Waldorf Certificate Program
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Anthroposophy in Everyday Life
Practical Training in Thought
Lesson 1.4.

Study Material for Course 1 Lesson 4

Lecture I of Anthroposophy in Everyday Life. Practical Training in Thought. A lecture by Rudolf Steiner given in Karlsruhe, Germany on January 18, 1909
Please study the following section of the lecture, then turn to the tasks and assignments listed below.

Therefore, the experimenter must have the confidence that such events of which he has as yet no understanding — the weather, for instance — and which in the outer world are connected with one another, will bring about connections within him. This must be done in pictures only while abstaining from thinking. He must say to himself, “I do not yet know what the relation is, but I shall let these things grow within me and if I refrain from speculation they will bring something about in me.” It may be easily believed that if he forms exact inner images of succeeding events and at the same time abstains from all thinking something may take place in the invisible members of his nature.

The vehicle of man's thought life is his astral body. As long as the human being is engaged in speculative thinking, this astral body is the slave of the ego. This conscious activity, however, does not occupy the astral body exclusively because the latter is also related in a certain manner to the whole cosmos.

Now, to the extent we abstain from arbitrary thinking and simply form mental pictures of successive events, to that extent do the inner thoughts of the world act within us and imprint themselves, without our being aware of it, on our astral body. To the extent we insert ourselves into the course of the world through observation of the events in the world and receive these images into our thoughts with the greatest possible clarity, allowing them to work within us, to that extent do those members of our organism that are withdrawn from our consciousness become ever more intelligent. If, in the case of inwardly connected events, we have once acquired the faculty of letting the new picture melt into the preceding one in the same way that the transition occurred in nature, it shall be found after a time that our thinking has gained considerable flexibility.

(Part 4. Practical Training in Thought. A lecture by Rudolf Steiner given in Karlsruhe, Germany on January 18, 1909)

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Course Outline

Course AEL1: Practical Training in Thought
Lesson 1: Introduction. Practical Thinking. Unpractical Thinking.
Lesson 2: Right Attitude and Proper Feeling for Thinking.
Lesson 3: Real Practice of Thought. Practical Exercises in Thinking I.
Lesson 4: Thinking through Observation.
Lesson 5: Practical Exercises in Thinking II.
Lesson 6: Practical Exercises in Thinking III. Example of a Practical Thinker.
Lesson 7: Practical Exercises in Thinking IV. Focused Thinking.
Lesson 8: Practical Exercises in Thinking V. Painting the Mental Picture.
Lesson 9: Practical Exercises in Thinking VI and VII. Arriving at Conclusions.
Lesson 10: Conclusions and Observations. How Thinking Changes.

    Submission Form for online courses AELPTT 1.4.

Tasks and Assignments for Lesson 1.4.

This section further clarifies the first exercise of several exercises presented in this text.

Please consider this section of the text and write down your thoughts and feelings concerning this section including answering the following questions or completing the tasks.

1. Steiner states that the vehicle of our thoughts is the astral body. What do you know about the astral body? Is this a new concept for you?

2. Practice the observation exercise with something other than the weather, for instance your breakfast each morning, or use something else. Form inner pictures of your breakfast (or the chosen event) and compare the pictures in the manner described in the text. Share your thoughts and feelings.

3. List three questions that come up for you in connection to the exercise.