Jacob Wrestling with the Angel - Marc Chagall, c.1963
by Joop van Dam
The fourth exercise - Positivity
The basic exercises of the initiation school are described by Rudolf Steiner in a specific sequence. Experience tells us that it is fruitful to observe this sequence. The preceding exercises are beneficial for the ones that follow and it becomes apparent that the sequence makes sense.
This can be clearly demonstrated when considering the Persian legend Rudolf Steiner tells us to clarify with the exercise in positivity. On one of their journeys by foot, Christ and his disciples see on the side of the road a dead dog. Christ’s pupils shy away with horror from the cadaver which is in the process of decay. In doing so they respond adequately to the feeling which arises in them (the third exercise). Christ however goes a step further. He does not turn his head away from the dog, but continues observing and perceives the shining white teeth which are not subject to decay.
This exercise illustrates that first the disintegration of the dog’s dead body is experienced. It is because of this that the integrity and purity of the teeth could be seen and appreciated. The fourth exercise builds on the experiences of the third exercise and means a new, next step we can take.
The first activity which unfolds when doing the exercise in positivity is to persist and intensify the observation. You seek to strengthen your interest in the world and make this independent from the primary feelings that arise in you. Very easily, these feelings, particularly when they are negative, will detract us from further observation. You will no longer want to have anything to do with a situation or something which arouses such feelings. The corresponding English expression is ‘Stop the world, I want to get off’. Experience shows this attitude is unfruitful. It calls for initiative to direct your attention to this part of the world to look for something which is positive. There are teachers who are able to find, in a child’s drawing which is a mess, just that tiny little part which is beautiful and has come out well and by which also other parts of the painting are lifted to a higher level. Here is another example; when you look at a notorious troublemaker in a group, you will often discover that this is just the person who contributes most to transforming the group to a community with a collective will.
It is not intended with this exercise that you no longer notice what is negative, but instead that in a situation you experience as being negative you seek to identify the positive element. Walking through a heather field in Drente, you are disturbed by the sound of an overflying jet, but after this you can ‘hear the silence’. This exercise strengthens your capabilities of perception. A new and joyful voyage of discovery commences.
Next to this situational positivity exercise, which is practiced at the moment itself, there is yet another form that is practiced in the long term. In this day and age there are many circumstances and events in the world - and also perhaps in your own life – which cause abhorrence and which you’d rather not face. It often takes much effort before you are able to identify something positive in such a situation to which you can say yes inside yourself. In the Old Testament there is the image of the battle by Jacob with the angel, whereby Jacob says: ‘I won’t let you go before you have blessed me’. This blessing often comes only when in a given situation you have discovered something which inspires you, something that has a positive side to it. Then you can enter the world again with conviction.
But also in more common experiences the positive cannot always be found forthwith. The battle with the angel seldom lasts a short while. Possibly you will find the positive only at the end of the day, when you make it a point to be looking back through the day, once again you encounter the moment which prompted those negative feelings. Often what is upsetting your daily program and which annoyed you at the moment itself, happens to result later on into something new developing. In some situations it can last days and even years before you perceive the positive and experience this as a ‘blessing’. It helps you understand that you must learn to oversee a longer time perspective.
Part of the ‘technique’ of doing the positivity exercise is looking back through the day when you come to the end of it. This is necessary in order to see in the situation which you experienced at the moment itself as being negative, the new, fresh point of view which lets you get on with it. Having found what you did after further reflection often creates a feeling of gratitude. It offers a new value to the past situation and at the same time energy for the future. Experience shows that you will employ this extra activity gradually ever more at the moment itself.
Rudolf Steiner calls the positivity exercise a basic exercise for thinking and feeling together. Feeling, which has gained in equanimity by the third exercise, is now applied to enter the world with a higher level of interest. One could also say: after the negative aspects in the outside world have caused you antipathy, you now endeavor to make a conscious sympathetic move by commencing with high expectations a journey of discovery towards the positive. The moment you have found this, thinking has gained a new vantage point. It is the connection between thinking and feeling which opens a new way of access to the outside world.
By finding such a new entrance, situations which have turned sour can start to flow again and you can move forward. What has been found this way gives a feeling of gratitude. It adds a new value to a past situation and creates energy for the future. The way to the future has thus been made free. A wonderful example of this was demonstrated by Gorbachev, when he was asked during the major mine strike during his presidency how he felt about the action by the miners. His reply was: ‘They are right, considering their circumstances. And I am glad that they are striking. It means that the glasnost is gaining momentum. People become independent.’’ Catastrophic as it was for the economy, Gorbachev had seen the positive side of this action. Thereby an opening was created for a meeting with the strikers and a discussion about the future.
In The Knowledge of Higher Worlds, the fourth basic exercise is described as learning to put up with something, exercising tolerance. The positivity exercise gains thereby a social dimension, because to tolerate comprises an inner bearing. You can endure somebody for all intents and purposes, meaning to accept his negative characteristics, if you have learned of a positive quality in him or her. The essence of the other is not in what he misses, but conversely in just what he ‘has’. Instead of disentangling yourself from a situation because it annoys you, you can try to relate to it. In a relationship conflict for instance you can try to find an area where you can meet each other. In doing so you take the situation as it exists seriously. The reality consists of the others, the circumstances and yourself. The positivity exercise is an inclusive exercise (translated literally). You take the situation which you encounter as a question that you are asked. And by starting to look for an answer, you begin to relate to the situation. You show that you feel responsible.
This exercise has a liberating effect. No longer will you be drawn so easily into a difficult situation because you counter it with a free, inner deed. The extra activity you deploy creates the atmosphere whereby also others can be liberated from their being locked into the situation. Often some humor breaks through. You have found a point of view at another level.
The fourth exercise - Positivity
The basic exercises of the initiation school are described by Rudolf Steiner in a specific sequence. Experience tells us that it is fruitful to observe this sequence. The preceding exercises are beneficial for the ones that follow and it becomes apparent that the sequence makes sense.
This can be clearly demonstrated when considering the Persian legend Rudolf Steiner tells us to clarify with the exercise in positivity. On one of their journeys by foot, Christ and his disciples see on the side of the road a dead dog. Christ’s pupils shy away with horror from the cadaver which is in the process of decay. In doing so they respond adequately to the feeling which arises in them (the third exercise). Christ however goes a step further. He does not turn his head away from the dog, but continues observing and perceives the shining white teeth which are not subject to decay.
This exercise illustrates that first the disintegration of the dog’s dead body is experienced. It is because of this that the integrity and purity of the teeth could be seen and appreciated. The fourth exercise builds on the experiences of the third exercise and means a new, next step we can take.
The first activity which unfolds when doing the exercise in positivity is to persist and intensify the observation. You seek to strengthen your interest in the world and make this independent from the primary feelings that arise in you. Very easily, these feelings, particularly when they are negative, will detract us from further observation. You will no longer want to have anything to do with a situation or something which arouses such feelings. The corresponding English expression is ‘Stop the world, I want to get off’. Experience shows this attitude is unfruitful. It calls for initiative to direct your attention to this part of the world to look for something which is positive. There are teachers who are able to find, in a child’s drawing which is a mess, just that tiny little part which is beautiful and has come out well and by which also other parts of the painting are lifted to a higher level. Here is another example; when you look at a notorious troublemaker in a group, you will often discover that this is just the person who contributes most to transforming the group to a community with a collective will.
It is not intended with this exercise that you no longer notice what is negative, but instead that in a situation you experience as being negative you seek to identify the positive element. Walking through a heather field in Drente, you are disturbed by the sound of an overflying jet, but after this you can ‘hear the silence’. This exercise strengthens your capabilities of perception. A new and joyful voyage of discovery commences.
Next to this situational positivity exercise, which is practiced at the moment itself, there is yet another form that is practiced in the long term. In this day and age there are many circumstances and events in the world - and also perhaps in your own life – which cause abhorrence and which you’d rather not face. It often takes much effort before you are able to identify something positive in such a situation to which you can say yes inside yourself. In the Old Testament there is the image of the battle by Jacob with the angel, whereby Jacob says: ‘I won’t let you go before you have blessed me’. This blessing often comes only when in a given situation you have discovered something which inspires you, something that has a positive side to it. Then you can enter the world again with conviction.
But also in more common experiences the positive cannot always be found forthwith. The battle with the angel seldom lasts a short while. Possibly you will find the positive only at the end of the day, when you make it a point to be looking back through the day, once again you encounter the moment which prompted those negative feelings. Often what is upsetting your daily program and which annoyed you at the moment itself, happens to result later on into something new developing. In some situations it can last days and even years before you perceive the positive and experience this as a ‘blessing’. It helps you understand that you must learn to oversee a longer time perspective.
Part of the ‘technique’ of doing the positivity exercise is looking back through the day when you come to the end of it. This is necessary in order to see in the situation which you experienced at the moment itself as being negative, the new, fresh point of view which lets you get on with it. Having found what you did after further reflection often creates a feeling of gratitude. It offers a new value to the past situation and at the same time energy for the future. Experience shows that you will employ this extra activity gradually ever more at the moment itself.
Rudolf Steiner calls the positivity exercise a basic exercise for thinking and feeling together. Feeling, which has gained in equanimity by the third exercise, is now applied to enter the world with a higher level of interest. One could also say: after the negative aspects in the outside world have caused you antipathy, you now endeavor to make a conscious sympathetic move by commencing with high expectations a journey of discovery towards the positive. The moment you have found this, thinking has gained a new vantage point. It is the connection between thinking and feeling which opens a new way of access to the outside world.
By finding such a new entrance, situations which have turned sour can start to flow again and you can move forward. What has been found this way gives a feeling of gratitude. It adds a new value to a past situation and creates energy for the future. The way to the future has thus been made free. A wonderful example of this was demonstrated by Gorbachev, when he was asked during the major mine strike during his presidency how he felt about the action by the miners. His reply was: ‘They are right, considering their circumstances. And I am glad that they are striking. It means that the glasnost is gaining momentum. People become independent.’’ Catastrophic as it was for the economy, Gorbachev had seen the positive side of this action. Thereby an opening was created for a meeting with the strikers and a discussion about the future.
In The Knowledge of Higher Worlds, the fourth basic exercise is described as learning to put up with something, exercising tolerance. The positivity exercise gains thereby a social dimension, because to tolerate comprises an inner bearing. You can endure somebody for all intents and purposes, meaning to accept his negative characteristics, if you have learned of a positive quality in him or her. The essence of the other is not in what he misses, but conversely in just what he ‘has’. Instead of disentangling yourself from a situation because it annoys you, you can try to relate to it. In a relationship conflict for instance you can try to find an area where you can meet each other. In doing so you take the situation as it exists seriously. The reality consists of the others, the circumstances and yourself. The positivity exercise is an inclusive exercise (translated literally). You take the situation which you encounter as a question that you are asked. And by starting to look for an answer, you begin to relate to the situation. You show that you feel responsible.
This exercise has a liberating effect. No longer will you be drawn so easily into a difficult situation because you counter it with a free, inner deed. The extra activity you deploy creates the atmosphere whereby also others can be liberated from their being locked into the situation. Often some humor breaks through. You have found a point of view at another level.
