Untitled (Yellow, Red, Blue) by Mark Rothko
Rudolf Steiner placed the following sentence at the beginning of his book "Knowledge of the Higher World and Its Attainment."
"There slumber in every human being faculties by means of which he can acquire for himself a knowledge of higher worlds."
When people read this sentence or a similar statement that speaks about the latent possibility of developing oneself in such a way that we can indeed have experiences of the spiritual world, that we can to a certain degree become initiates ourselves, people react in some way to this statement, to this idea.
Some people will deny this for themselves and resign themselves to the idea that we cannot reach beyond sense perception to worlds they feel are imagined and unreal. They believe that we as humanity have developed from being superstitious and believing in magic and spirit to becoming sense world oriented and scientific, meaning believers in natural science that explores the natural world and states that we cannot explore the world of the soul and spirit with our senses or our thinking that is based on our senses and sense perception. In fact, they believe, there is no such world of soul and spirit, but imagination and perhaps hallucinations.
Other people will read the above mentioned statement by Steiner and it will kindle something in their soul. These people can be called Anthroposophists. For instance, Yvonne who encountered the above mentioned sentence in a café on the Rue Saint-Denis in Paris, France.
It happened one early afternoon in late fall in Paris. Yvonne had walked through a gentle rain storm that afternoon, noticing the change in the color of the foliage of the trees in the park, and had entered a café on the Rue Saint-Denis. Yvonne had felt a certain heaviness of soul and moodiness partly caused by the atmosphere of this fall day with its gloom and foreboding of darker and colder days to come, but her mood lifted upon entering through the door and crossing the threshold into the café partly because of the bright well lit space that she now entered and partly because of the modern art prints that she noticed on the walls of this café. She felt particularly drawn to a work of art known to her from previous visits by the artist Mark Rothko that depicts three bold colors: Red, yellow and blue. After having ordered coffee and having sat by herself at one of the tables in the back of the small café, there was all of a sudden commotion and people sprang to their feet and crowded near the window that looked out onto the Rue Saint-Denis where just then several police cars with their sirens piercing the otherwise quiet afternoon air and flashing blue lights sped by. While others lingered by the window Yvonne had returned to her table when she noticed that at the neighboring table an open book laid on the wooden surface curiously in such manner that the writing faced her instead of the would be reader seated at said table. Inquisitive against her habit Yvonne read the first sentence printed on the page. It contained the following words:
"Il sommeille en tout homme des facultés grâce auxquelles il lui est possible d'acquérir des connaissances sur les mondes supérieurs."
Returning to her cup of coffee and upon pondering these words, Yvonne felt as if a candle had been lit inside her soul and that the cave like space that she now became aware as being her soul was now being illuminated if dimly by the candlelight. Yvonne knew in this instance that she had found something, that she had turned a corner and was now facing a new world, unknown and mysterious, but real. There was no turning back for her. A longing had been awakened and with a new determination previously unknown to her, Yvonne went out into the streets as if a changed person.
Having become a Waldorf teacher and a student of Anthroposophy for many years, Yvonne remembers this day, her walk down Rue Saint-Denis and entering the little café as if it was yesterday. And a print of Rothko's painting adorns her studio.
Rudolf Steiner stated in his publication "Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts" the following words:
"Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge which would guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the cosmos. It manifests as a necessity of the heart and feeling. It must find its justification in being able to satisfy this need. Only those who find in Anthroposophy what they seek in this respect can appreciate it. Therefore only those who feel certain questions about the nature of man and the world as basic necessities of life, like hunger and thirst, can be Anthroposophists."
These guidelines were originally published in the members' supplement of "Das Goetheanum", the Anthroposohical Society's weekly newsletter, Dornach, Switzerland, during the period February 17, 1924 through April 12, 1925.
There are and there will be people who experience this thirst for knowledge beyond the knowledge that we can find in the natural sciences that dominate our thinking and consciousness on the level of humanity in our modern world.
As an exercise we might for some time want to turn to observing the sleeping human being, a child for instance, or a sleeping animal, or perhaps a landscape that appears asleep.
"There slumber in every human being faculties by means of which he can acquire for himself a knowledge of higher worlds."
Our observation should focus on several things: What is the sleeping form? What is the gesture of the sleeping being? What is the mood? Is there movement? We describe this to ourselves and consider it in our mind. We try to become aware of feelings and our inner reaction to the sleeping gesture.
We should concern ourselves in this observation exercise with the question: What is it that now slumbers, that is now asleep? How is it different from the state of being awake?
We could draw or paint the sleeping form perhaps first in a realistic fashion based on our observation, and later more as a gesture, as an expression of the sleeping being.
Interested in such inner work? Enroll in the Sophia Institute online Foundation Studies Courses. More info ...
"There slumber in every human being faculties by means of which he can acquire for himself a knowledge of higher worlds."
When people read this sentence or a similar statement that speaks about the latent possibility of developing oneself in such a way that we can indeed have experiences of the spiritual world, that we can to a certain degree become initiates ourselves, people react in some way to this statement, to this idea.
Some people will deny this for themselves and resign themselves to the idea that we cannot reach beyond sense perception to worlds they feel are imagined and unreal. They believe that we as humanity have developed from being superstitious and believing in magic and spirit to becoming sense world oriented and scientific, meaning believers in natural science that explores the natural world and states that we cannot explore the world of the soul and spirit with our senses or our thinking that is based on our senses and sense perception. In fact, they believe, there is no such world of soul and spirit, but imagination and perhaps hallucinations.
Other people will read the above mentioned statement by Steiner and it will kindle something in their soul. These people can be called Anthroposophists. For instance, Yvonne who encountered the above mentioned sentence in a café on the Rue Saint-Denis in Paris, France.
It happened one early afternoon in late fall in Paris. Yvonne had walked through a gentle rain storm that afternoon, noticing the change in the color of the foliage of the trees in the park, and had entered a café on the Rue Saint-Denis. Yvonne had felt a certain heaviness of soul and moodiness partly caused by the atmosphere of this fall day with its gloom and foreboding of darker and colder days to come, but her mood lifted upon entering through the door and crossing the threshold into the café partly because of the bright well lit space that she now entered and partly because of the modern art prints that she noticed on the walls of this café. She felt particularly drawn to a work of art known to her from previous visits by the artist Mark Rothko that depicts three bold colors: Red, yellow and blue. After having ordered coffee and having sat by herself at one of the tables in the back of the small café, there was all of a sudden commotion and people sprang to their feet and crowded near the window that looked out onto the Rue Saint-Denis where just then several police cars with their sirens piercing the otherwise quiet afternoon air and flashing blue lights sped by. While others lingered by the window Yvonne had returned to her table when she noticed that at the neighboring table an open book laid on the wooden surface curiously in such manner that the writing faced her instead of the would be reader seated at said table. Inquisitive against her habit Yvonne read the first sentence printed on the page. It contained the following words:
"Il sommeille en tout homme des facultés grâce auxquelles il lui est possible d'acquérir des connaissances sur les mondes supérieurs."
Returning to her cup of coffee and upon pondering these words, Yvonne felt as if a candle had been lit inside her soul and that the cave like space that she now became aware as being her soul was now being illuminated if dimly by the candlelight. Yvonne knew in this instance that she had found something, that she had turned a corner and was now facing a new world, unknown and mysterious, but real. There was no turning back for her. A longing had been awakened and with a new determination previously unknown to her, Yvonne went out into the streets as if a changed person.
Having become a Waldorf teacher and a student of Anthroposophy for many years, Yvonne remembers this day, her walk down Rue Saint-Denis and entering the little café as if it was yesterday. And a print of Rothko's painting adorns her studio.
Rudolf Steiner stated in his publication "Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts" the following words:
"Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge which would guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the cosmos. It manifests as a necessity of the heart and feeling. It must find its justification in being able to satisfy this need. Only those who find in Anthroposophy what they seek in this respect can appreciate it. Therefore only those who feel certain questions about the nature of man and the world as basic necessities of life, like hunger and thirst, can be Anthroposophists."
These guidelines were originally published in the members' supplement of "Das Goetheanum", the Anthroposohical Society's weekly newsletter, Dornach, Switzerland, during the period February 17, 1924 through April 12, 1925.
There are and there will be people who experience this thirst for knowledge beyond the knowledge that we can find in the natural sciences that dominate our thinking and consciousness on the level of humanity in our modern world.
As an exercise we might for some time want to turn to observing the sleeping human being, a child for instance, or a sleeping animal, or perhaps a landscape that appears asleep.
"There slumber in every human being faculties by means of which he can acquire for himself a knowledge of higher worlds."
Our observation should focus on several things: What is the sleeping form? What is the gesture of the sleeping being? What is the mood? Is there movement? We describe this to ourselves and consider it in our mind. We try to become aware of feelings and our inner reaction to the sleeping gesture.
We should concern ourselves in this observation exercise with the question: What is it that now slumbers, that is now asleep? How is it different from the state of being awake?
We could draw or paint the sleeping form perhaps first in a realistic fashion based on our observation, and later more as a gesture, as an expression of the sleeping being.
Interested in such inner work? Enroll in the Sophia Institute online Foundation Studies Courses. More info ...
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