Sophia Institute online Anthroposophy Studies Program
Untitled (Yellow, Red and Blue) - by Mark Rothko (1953)
Course: Meditation and Initiation / The Sixfold Path as Given in Anthroposophy
A Practical Guide to Meditation
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Recommended ReadingKnowledge of the Higher Worlds by Rudolf Steiner
Theosophy by Rudolf Steiner Occult Science - An Outline by Rudolf Steiner Guidance in Esoteric Training by Rudolf Steiner Enlivening the Chakra of the Heart by Florin Lowndes |
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Introduction
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, placed the following sentence at the beginning of his book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds 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, they usually react in some way to this statement, to this idea.
Some people will deny this idea for themselves and resign themselves to the belief 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 might believe, there is no such world of soul and spirit, but only some forms of 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 Crémieux 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 Crémieux. 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 and 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: yellow, red, 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 some commotion. People sprang to their feet and crowded near the window that looked out onto the Rue Crémieux where just then several police cars with the sound of 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 had been placed 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 one of the first sentences 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 of as being her soul was now being illuminated 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. Years later, having become a Waldorf teacher and a student of Anthroposophy long since, Yvonne remembers this day, her walk down Rue Crémieux and entering the little café, as if it was yesterday. And a print of Rothko's painting adorns one of the walls in her studio ... "
This course focuses on the sixfold path or six exercises presented by Rudolf Steiner in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and in several other publications by Steiner, namely Theosophy, Occult Science and Guidance in Esoteric Training.
Some people will deny this idea for themselves and resign themselves to the belief 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 might believe, there is no such world of soul and spirit, but only some forms of 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 Crémieux 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 Crémieux. 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 and 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: yellow, red, 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 some commotion. People sprang to their feet and crowded near the window that looked out onto the Rue Crémieux where just then several police cars with the sound of 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 had been placed 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 one of the first sentences 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 of as being her soul was now being illuminated 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. Years later, having become a Waldorf teacher and a student of Anthroposophy long since, Yvonne remembers this day, her walk down Rue Crémieux and entering the little café, as if it was yesterday. And a print of Rothko's painting adorns one of the walls in her studio ... "
This course focuses on the sixfold path or six exercises presented by Rudolf Steiner in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and in several other publications by Steiner, namely Theosophy, Occult Science and Guidance in Esoteric Training.
Anthroposophy is a Path
Rudolf Steiner formulated 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.
How can we come closer to the words mentioned, the words that stand so to speak at the beginning or we may say at the entrance to Steiner’s work How to Know Higher Worlds?
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:
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:
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.
Engaging ourselves in this fashion we will be able to make steps in our artistic development, and perhaps in getting closer to experiences that have to do with higher worlds, with initiation.
"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.
How can we come closer to the words mentioned, the words that stand so to speak at the beginning or we may say at the entrance to Steiner’s work How to Know Higher Worlds?
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.
Engaging ourselves in this fashion we will be able to make steps in our artistic development, and perhaps in getting closer to experiences that have to do with higher worlds, with initiation.
The Sixfold Path as Given in Anthroposophy
Rudolf Steiner introduced the Sixfold Path to the general public in 1909 as the Six Protective Exercises in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds. The six exercises and their practice constitute the sixfold path. They include:
In Knowledge of the Higher Worlds Steiner points out that the sixfold path, the six exercises, when practiced, develops one of our chakras, namely the chakra in the heart region, which he calls the twelve-petalled lotus. The heart chakra, “ … when developed, reveals to the clairvoyant a deep understanding of the processes of nature.”
In Guidance in Esoteric Training, a selection of writings by Steiner from the years 1904 - 1914, he gives these exercises a different title: Subsidiary Exercises. Steiner states in Guidance in Esoteric Training that “ … the conditions which must be the basis of any occult development are set forth (here). Let no one imagine that he can make progress by any measures applied to the outer or the inner life unless he fulfills these conditions. All exercises in meditation, concentration, or exercises of other kinds, are valueless, indeed in a certain respect actually harmful, if life is not regulated in accordance with these conditions. No forces can actually be imparted to a human being; all that can be done is to bring to development the forces already within him. They do not develop of their own accord because outer and inner hindrances obstruct them. The outer hindrances are lessened by means of the following rules of life; the inner hindrances by the special instructions concerning meditation, concentration, and the like.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
In Steiner’s book Theosophy published in 1904 Steiner describes the six exercises and states: “What is said here about the path of spiritual knowledge can all too easily, through failure to understand it, tempt us to consider it as a recommendation to cultivate certain moods of soul that would lead us to turn away from the immediate, joyous and strenuously active, experience of life. As against this, it must be emphasized that the particular attitude of the soul that renders it fit to experience directly the reality of the spirit, cannot be extended as a general demand over the entire life. It is possible for the seeker after spiritual existence to bring his soul for the purpose of research into the necessary condition of being withdrawn from the realities of the senses, without that withdrawal estranging him from the world. On the other hand, however, it must be recognized that a knowledge of the spiritual world, not merely a knowledge gained by treading the path, but also a knowledge acquired through grasping the truths of spiritual science with the unprejudiced, healthy human intellect, leads also to a higher moral status in life, to a knowledge of sensory existence that is in accord with the truth, to certainty in life, and to inward health of the soul.” (Chapter 4, Theosophy)
Rudolf Steiner chose a slightly different approach to the subject of the six exercises in his monumental work Occult Science - An Outline, published in 1910. Following an extensive description of meditation, meditation practices and content suitable for meditation, Steiner mentions the six exercises almost as if in passing: “In a proper school of spiritual training certain qualities are set forth that require to be cultivated by one who desires to find the path to the higher worlds. First and foremost, the pupil must have control over his thoughts (in their course and sequence), over his will, and over his feelings. The control has to be acquired by means of exercises, and these are planned with two ends in view. On the one hand, the soul has to become so firm, so secure and balanced that it will retain these qualities when a second self is born. And on the other hand, the pupil has to endow this second self, from the start, with strength and steadfastness.” (Part 2, Chapter 5, Occult Science - An Outline)
A sometimes overlooked but quite essential aspect of the exercises is their threefold nature. This threefold nature applies to two different aspects of the six exercises. The exercises address the soul forces of the human being which are: thinking, willing and feeling.
The six exercises relate to thinking, willing and feeling first and foremost as each of the exercises addresses one of the soul forces or a combination of soul forces.
But there is also a threefold nature to be found in each of the exercises in that each exercise has three distinct successive aspects to it. Firstly thinking, secondly feeling, then willing or movement.
Of course one has to also be aware that it is the nature of any exercise that it involves will power. There isn't really an exercise that happens by itself without the human being exerting will forces. Even sitting still and being at rest requires will forces.
For example if you practice the control of thinking exercise you concern yourself primarily with thinking, but you do move through a sequence of actions or parts of the exercise that are clearly structured in the following manner.
If you engage in the control of thinking exercise you will be asked to complete three parts or aspects in a sequential order. The first part of the exercise involves a focused thinking activity. During the second part you engage in becoming aware of a feeling. Finally in the third part of the exercise you consciously perform a movement, by so to speak moving the feeling from one specific location to another specific location.
- Control of thinking or the cultivation of clear thinking
- Control of willing or actions
- Control of feelings or equanimity
- Positivity or positive attitude
- Open-mindedness or impartiality
- Balance or equilibrium of soul
In Knowledge of the Higher Worlds Steiner points out that the sixfold path, the six exercises, when practiced, develops one of our chakras, namely the chakra in the heart region, which he calls the twelve-petalled lotus. The heart chakra, “ … when developed, reveals to the clairvoyant a deep understanding of the processes of nature.”
In Guidance in Esoteric Training, a selection of writings by Steiner from the years 1904 - 1914, he gives these exercises a different title: Subsidiary Exercises. Steiner states in Guidance in Esoteric Training that “ … the conditions which must be the basis of any occult development are set forth (here). Let no one imagine that he can make progress by any measures applied to the outer or the inner life unless he fulfills these conditions. All exercises in meditation, concentration, or exercises of other kinds, are valueless, indeed in a certain respect actually harmful, if life is not regulated in accordance with these conditions. No forces can actually be imparted to a human being; all that can be done is to bring to development the forces already within him. They do not develop of their own accord because outer and inner hindrances obstruct them. The outer hindrances are lessened by means of the following rules of life; the inner hindrances by the special instructions concerning meditation, concentration, and the like.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
In Steiner’s book Theosophy published in 1904 Steiner describes the six exercises and states: “What is said here about the path of spiritual knowledge can all too easily, through failure to understand it, tempt us to consider it as a recommendation to cultivate certain moods of soul that would lead us to turn away from the immediate, joyous and strenuously active, experience of life. As against this, it must be emphasized that the particular attitude of the soul that renders it fit to experience directly the reality of the spirit, cannot be extended as a general demand over the entire life. It is possible for the seeker after spiritual existence to bring his soul for the purpose of research into the necessary condition of being withdrawn from the realities of the senses, without that withdrawal estranging him from the world. On the other hand, however, it must be recognized that a knowledge of the spiritual world, not merely a knowledge gained by treading the path, but also a knowledge acquired through grasping the truths of spiritual science with the unprejudiced, healthy human intellect, leads also to a higher moral status in life, to a knowledge of sensory existence that is in accord with the truth, to certainty in life, and to inward health of the soul.” (Chapter 4, Theosophy)
Rudolf Steiner chose a slightly different approach to the subject of the six exercises in his monumental work Occult Science - An Outline, published in 1910. Following an extensive description of meditation, meditation practices and content suitable for meditation, Steiner mentions the six exercises almost as if in passing: “In a proper school of spiritual training certain qualities are set forth that require to be cultivated by one who desires to find the path to the higher worlds. First and foremost, the pupil must have control over his thoughts (in their course and sequence), over his will, and over his feelings. The control has to be acquired by means of exercises, and these are planned with two ends in view. On the one hand, the soul has to become so firm, so secure and balanced that it will retain these qualities when a second self is born. And on the other hand, the pupil has to endow this second self, from the start, with strength and steadfastness.” (Part 2, Chapter 5, Occult Science - An Outline)
A sometimes overlooked but quite essential aspect of the exercises is their threefold nature. This threefold nature applies to two different aspects of the six exercises. The exercises address the soul forces of the human being which are: thinking, willing and feeling.
The six exercises relate to thinking, willing and feeling first and foremost as each of the exercises addresses one of the soul forces or a combination of soul forces.
- Control of thinking or the cultivation of clear thinking relates to thinking
- Control of willing or actions relates to willing
- Control of feelings or equanimity relates to feeling
- Positivity or positive attitude relates to feeling and willing
- Open-mindedness or impartiality relates to thinking and willing
- Balance or equilibrium of soul relates to thinking, willing and feeling
But there is also a threefold nature to be found in each of the exercises in that each exercise has three distinct successive aspects to it. Firstly thinking, secondly feeling, then willing or movement.
Of course one has to also be aware that it is the nature of any exercise that it involves will power. There isn't really an exercise that happens by itself without the human being exerting will forces. Even sitting still and being at rest requires will forces.
For example if you practice the control of thinking exercise you concern yourself primarily with thinking, but you do move through a sequence of actions or parts of the exercise that are clearly structured in the following manner.
If you engage in the control of thinking exercise you will be asked to complete three parts or aspects in a sequential order. The first part of the exercise involves a focused thinking activity. During the second part you engage in becoming aware of a feeling. Finally in the third part of the exercise you consciously perform a movement, by so to speak moving the feeling from one specific location to another specific location.
Meditation and Initiation/The Sixfold Path/Lesson 2
Tasks and Assignments for Meditation and Initiation/The Sixfold Path/Lesson 2Please study the study material provided (see below) and feel free to use additional resources relating to the subject. Once you feel you are sufficiently acquainted with the subject please complete the following:
1. Give a summary in your own words of the study material for this lesson. 2. Create a drawing, painting, poetry or other artwork that relates to the theme of the following: The sleeping form and the potential for an awakening within the sleeping form as described in the introduction in the section above titled Anthroposophy is a Path. 3. Practice the exercise described in the study material for a minimum of 5 days. Describe in some detail your practice with the meditation exercise including your process and observations, insights, potential difficulties and shortcomings, etc. Structure your descriptions clearly including giving days and time of day of each entry, p.e.: Day 1 / Monday / early afternoon ... Day 2 / Tuesday / early morning ... Day 3 / Wednesday / evening ... Day 4 / Friday / mid-morning ... Day 5 / Sunday / noon ... 4. Reflect on the period of practicing the exercise. What was your experience? What did you learn? What difficulties did you encounter? Submit the completed assignment via the submission form or via email. |
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Study Material for Initiation/The Sixfold Path/Lesson 2
Exercise One / Control of Thinking
It is no coincidence that the thinking exercise has been placed at the beginning of the six exercises. Thinking can be regarded as the most important feature of the human being without diminishing the value of feeling and willing. Picturing the three soul forces of thinking, willing and feeling, we can form a equilateral triangle in our mind or if we wish to, create a drawing and place it before us, with thinking being represented by the top corner, supported on either side by willing and feeling.
The thinking exercise can be called control of thinking or the cultivation of clear thinking. Rudolf Steiner describes this exercise in different ways in the different publications mentioned.
In Guidance in Esoteric Training we find perhaps the most succinct, clear and straightforward description of the exercise. The description also includes clear instructions concerning the feeling and willing aspect of the exercise, where we are asked to become aware of a feeling and to perform a movement activity.
“The first condition is the cultivation of absolutely clear thinking. For this purpose a man must rid himself of the will-o'-the-wisps of thought, even if only for a very short time during the day - about five minutes (the longer, the better). He must become the ruler in his world of thought. He is not the ruler if external circumstances, occupation, some tradition or other, social relationships, even membership of a particular race, the daily round of life, certain activities and so forth, determine a thought and how he works it out. Therefore during this brief time, acting entirely out of his own free will, he must empty the soul of the ordinary, everyday course of thoughts and by his own initiative place one single thought at the centre of his soul. The thought need not be a particularly striking or interesting one. Indeed it will be all the better for what has to be attained in an occult respect if a thoroughly uninteresting and insignificant thought is chosen. Thinking is then impelled to act out of its own energy - the essential thing here, whereas an interesting thought carries the thinking along with it. It is better if this exercise in thought-control is undertaken with a pin rather than with Napoleon. The pupil says to himself: now I start from this thought, and through my own inner initiative I associate with it everything that is pertinent to it. At the end of the period the thought should be just as colorful and living as it was at the beginning. This exercise is repeated day by day for at least a month; a new thought may be taken every day, or the same thought may be adhered to for several days. At the end of the exercise an endeavor is made to become fully conscious of that inner feeling of firmness and security which will soon be noticed by paying subtler attention to one's own soul; the exercise is then brought to a conclusion by focusing the thinking upon the head and the middle of the spine (brain and spinal cord), as if the feeling of security were being poured into this part of the body.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
The description of the exercise of control of thinking in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds is much shorter and more general, and interestingly seems to address more of an activity that can be practiced at all times rather than only as an exercise that is being performed for instance daily for five minutes.
“ … the student endeavors to regulate his sequence of thought (control of thought) … by inwardly controlling the trains of thought. Thoughts that dart to and fro like will-o'-the-wisps and follow each other in no logical or rational sequence, but merely by pure chance, destroy … (the spiritual sense organ’s) form. The closer thought is made to follow upon thought, and the more strictly everything of illogical nature is avoided, the more suitable will be the form this sense organ develops. If the student hears illogical thoughts he immediately lets the right thoughts pass through his mind. He should not, however, withdraw in a loveless way from what is perhaps an illogical environment in order to further his own development. Neither should he feel himself impelled to correct all the illogical thoughts expressed around him. He should rather silently co-ordinate the thoughts as they pour in upon him, and make them conform to logic and sense, and at the same time endeavor in every case to retain this same method in his own thinking.” (Chapter 6, Knowledge of the Higher World)
The same exercise, the cultivation of clear thinking, and aspects of it, do find a still different outline in Steiner’s Theosophy. Here again the exercise is presented more as an ongoing state of consciousness or conscious thinking, and special significance is placed on mathematics. Indeed the statement is made that ”thought life … must be a copy of mathematical judgments and conclusions.” However at the same time we are reminded that we can also arrive at the required quality of thinking without mathematics.
“The (student) … must make his thinking something that is strictly regulated in itself. His thoughts must by degrees disaccustom themselves entirely from taking the ordinary daily course. They must in their whole sequence take on the inner character of the spiritual world. He must be able constantly to keep watch over himself in this respect and have himself in hand. With him, one thought must not link itself arbitrarily with another, but only in the way that corresponds with the severely exact contents of the thought world. The transition from one idea to another must correspond with the strict laws of thought. The man as thinker must be, as it were, constantly a copy of these thought laws. He must shut out from his train of thought all that does not flow out of these laws. Should a favorite thought present itself to him, he must put it aside if it disturbs the proper sequence. If a personal feeling tries to force upon his thoughts a direction not inherent in them, he must suppress it. Plato required those who wished to attend his school first to go through a course of mathematical training. Mathematics with its strict laws, which do not accommodate themselves to the course of ordinary sensory phenomena, form a good preparation for the seeker of knowledge. If he wishes to make progress in the study of mathematics, he has to renounce all personal, arbitrary choice, all disturbances. The seeker prepares himself for his task by overcoming through his own choice all the arbitrary thinking that naturally rules in him. He learns thereby to follow purely the demands of thought. So, too, he must learn to do this in all thinking intended to serve spiritual knowledge. This thought life must itself be a copy of undisturbed mathematical judgments and conclusions. The seeker must strive wherever he goes and in whatever he does to be able to think after this manner. Then there will flow into him the intrinsic characteristic laws of the spirit world that pass over and through him without a trace as long as his thinking bears its ordinary confused character. Regulated thinking brings him from sure starting points to the most hidden truths. What has been said, however, must not be looked at in a one-sided way. Although mathematics act as a good discipline for the mind, one can arrive at pure healthy, vital thinking without mathematics.” (Chapter 4, The Path of Knowledge, Theosophy)
Finally in Occult Science we find still other aspects relating to the exercise of control of thinking, and also examples that might be suitable for contemplation in this manner, and as an exercise.
“The pupil of the spirit must … undertake exercises in thinking in order that his thinking may be able to mark out its own path and goal. Stability, and the capacity to adhere firmly to a once chosen subject, are what the pupil's thinking has to acquire. There is therefore no occasion for … (this exercise) to deal with remote or complicated objects, much rather should (it) … have reference to simple objects that are ready to hand. Whoever succeeds in directing his thought, for at least five minutes daily, and for months on end, to some quite commonplace object — say, for example, a needle or a pencil — and in shutting out during those five minutes all thoughts that have no connection with the object, will have made very good progress in this direction. (A fresh object may be chosen each day, or one may be continued for several days.) Even a person who considers himself a trained intellectual thinker should not be too proud to qualify for spiritual training by an exercise of this simple nature. For when we are riveting our thought for a considerable time upon something that is entirely familiar, we may be quite sure that our thinking is in accord with reality. If we ask ourselves: what is a lead pencil made of? How are the different materials prepared? How are they put together? When were lead pencils invented? And so on, we can be more sure of our thoughts being consistent with reality than if we were to ponder the question of the descent of man — or, let us say, of the meaning of life. Simple exercises in thinking are a far better preparation for forming commensurate conceptions of Saturn, Sun and Moon evolution than are complicated and learned ideas. As to our thinking, what is important … is not the object or event to which it is directed, but that it should be strong and vigorous and to the point. If it has been educated to be so in reference to simple physical realities that lie open to view, it will acquire the tendency to be so even when it finds itself no longer under the control of the physical world and its laws. The pupil will find he gets rid in this way of any tendency he had before to loose and extravagant thinking.” (Chapter 5, Part 2, Concerning Initiation, Occult Science - An Outline)
Practicing the exercise of control of thought might at first seem a simple undertaking, but we might soon find that it does not come all that easy.
Following Steiner’s advice we should schedule five minutes every day for about one month. Each day we take these five minutes and practice the exercise. Some people will prefer to use time in the early morning perhaps with the thought in mind to get the work of doing the exercise done before entering into the daily routine or tasks waiting for us. Others will choose to practice the exercise at different times, maybe in the evening or right after lunch during their coffee break. It is a good idea to settle on a time and then stay with it for about a month.
Once we have settled the question on when to do the thinking exercise, we now have to decide on a subject or item which will be the center of our exercise. We might decide to stay with one subject or item for a whole month or for a week, or we could also decide to select a new subject or item every day.
Having settled these preliminary questions we can now begin with the exercise of control of thinking.
For instance we might use one of the suggestions made by Steiner and focus our thinking for five minutes on day one on a lead pencil.
To begin with we imagine, we create a strong inner picture of a lead pencil. We can use our memory, as we have likely seen one before.
Next we might describe the outer appearance of the pencil to ourself. We consciously form thoughts that have the purpose of describing how the pencil looks, its color, its shape, its constituents or components. The pencil might be gray on the outside, then at the one end, red, and at the other end the wood is exposed and its color is brown, and finally at its tip the lead point is visible, which again is gray but slightly darker than the gray found on the outside of the pencil. The shape of the pencil is one of a long cylinder of approximately eight inches in length, perhaps a quarter of an inch in diameter, and with two different ends. One end is rounded and painted, while the other end, the tip is diminishing in circumference, ending in a tip at which the lead is exposed. Perhaps the pencil is not round but six sided, hexagon shaped. The components of the pencil include wooden material, a leaden slim cylindrical core, and paint that covers much of the outside of the pencil.
While being engaged in this inner dialogue of describing the pencil, of thinking about the pencil, we need to stay cognizant, and indeed vigilant, so not to stray off the direction, and the logic, we have decided upon. Should we indeed experience being side tracked in our thinking, or other thoughts start “pressing in” or are appearing, we gently return to the train of thought we consciously have chosen. This might be an ongoing challenge and might need all of our attention and will power in order to stay focused, namely to be able to control our thinking.
Before moving on to other aspects of the pencil we might want to take a more detailed look at the components that we have identified: The paint, the wood and the lead core.
The paint is likely to be polyurethane which includes a pigment that contributes to giving the finished product its color. The wood used to manufacture pencils is in most cases cedar wood. The wood used to manufacture pencils must be able to withstand repeated sharpening and cut easily without splintering. Hence most pencils are made from cedar (specifically, California cedar). Cedar has a pleasant odor, does not warp or lose its shape, and is readily available. The lead - interestingly - is not lead, but graphite, which most people continue to call lead. Virtually all graphite used today is a manufactured mixture of natural graphite and chemicals.
We could decide to continue to think about the materials used in making a pencil, perhaps take some time to take note that other materials and components could be used, and indeed have been used in order to make a pencil. The wood could be replaced by artificial material for instance plastic, or to be more exact, a synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, PVC, nylon, etc., that can be molded into shape while soft and then set into a rigid or slightly elastic form. The paint could be left out completely, or could be added to the plastic in the form of dye.
Another direction that we might want to take with our thinking about the pencil, is the question of how the pencil is being manufactured, or also how a pencil could be made by hand in a craft workshop setting.
The history of the pencil is a valuable field of exploration, perhaps by going back in time, starting at the present, and making inner observations of how we think the pencil has been developed and changed over time, eventually arriving at perhaps how charcoal was used in cave paintings.
We might also want to devote some time to thinking about the future of the pencil. Interestingly we can observe that in spite of a lot of technological inventions that are being used to write, the pencil seems to survive and we continue to use it, even in the form of a stylus or similar input device when working for instance with a digital device such as a tablet computer.
A whole another field of inquiry is that of the application of the pencil, the question of what it is used for. This exploration could also be done similarly to the previous aspect in that we might want to look at the question from a historical perspective, going back in time, exploring the present time, and the future.
Interestingly we will likely discover that our thinking seems to expand quite naturally. We might arrive at a “dead end”, thinking that there is nothing to add to our explorations and observations in a certain direction, only to find that there is another layer or direction of inquiry.
Once the allowed time has elapsed, for instance after five minutes of practicing this control of thinking, we move on to the second part of the exercise. We could use our inner feeling for time to decide on the moment that we want to continue with the second part of the exercise, or simply check a timepiece.
We now make “an endeavor … to become fully conscious of that inner feeling of firmness and security which will soon be noticed by paying subtler attention to one's own soul”. (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
We should take a few moments to become aware of this feeling, and let it so to speak hover in our soul. This feeling is similar to the feeling of awe that we might experience or remember having experienced when watching something beautiful in nature, for instance a mighty waterfall, or a sunset at the ocean shore.
The third and final part of the exercise is then the following: we focus “ … the thinking upon the head and the middle of the spine (brain and spinal cord), as if the feeling of security were being poured into this part of the body.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
This pouring should be a conscious act, an inner movement, where we actually move the feeling from one location, the middle of the brain, down the spinal cord, to a location in our back, about one third down the spinal cord, in between the shoulder blades.
Having completed the three aspects of the exercise of control of thinking, we let go of the exercise until the next day. On the next day we attempt to do the complete exercise again, perhaps at the same time of day, perhaps we will choose a different time. As mentioned earlier we might want to continue with the same subject, the pencil, when we resume the exercise the next day or decide on a different subject. We should continue with the exercise on a daily basis for about a month, at which time a new exercise becomes the main focus of our attention. However we should continue with the exercise of the control of thinking even though it is not anymore our main focus.
The thinking exercise can be called control of thinking or the cultivation of clear thinking. Rudolf Steiner describes this exercise in different ways in the different publications mentioned.
In Guidance in Esoteric Training we find perhaps the most succinct, clear and straightforward description of the exercise. The description also includes clear instructions concerning the feeling and willing aspect of the exercise, where we are asked to become aware of a feeling and to perform a movement activity.
“The first condition is the cultivation of absolutely clear thinking. For this purpose a man must rid himself of the will-o'-the-wisps of thought, even if only for a very short time during the day - about five minutes (the longer, the better). He must become the ruler in his world of thought. He is not the ruler if external circumstances, occupation, some tradition or other, social relationships, even membership of a particular race, the daily round of life, certain activities and so forth, determine a thought and how he works it out. Therefore during this brief time, acting entirely out of his own free will, he must empty the soul of the ordinary, everyday course of thoughts and by his own initiative place one single thought at the centre of his soul. The thought need not be a particularly striking or interesting one. Indeed it will be all the better for what has to be attained in an occult respect if a thoroughly uninteresting and insignificant thought is chosen. Thinking is then impelled to act out of its own energy - the essential thing here, whereas an interesting thought carries the thinking along with it. It is better if this exercise in thought-control is undertaken with a pin rather than with Napoleon. The pupil says to himself: now I start from this thought, and through my own inner initiative I associate with it everything that is pertinent to it. At the end of the period the thought should be just as colorful and living as it was at the beginning. This exercise is repeated day by day for at least a month; a new thought may be taken every day, or the same thought may be adhered to for several days. At the end of the exercise an endeavor is made to become fully conscious of that inner feeling of firmness and security which will soon be noticed by paying subtler attention to one's own soul; the exercise is then brought to a conclusion by focusing the thinking upon the head and the middle of the spine (brain and spinal cord), as if the feeling of security were being poured into this part of the body.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
The description of the exercise of control of thinking in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds is much shorter and more general, and interestingly seems to address more of an activity that can be practiced at all times rather than only as an exercise that is being performed for instance daily for five minutes.
“ … the student endeavors to regulate his sequence of thought (control of thought) … by inwardly controlling the trains of thought. Thoughts that dart to and fro like will-o'-the-wisps and follow each other in no logical or rational sequence, but merely by pure chance, destroy … (the spiritual sense organ’s) form. The closer thought is made to follow upon thought, and the more strictly everything of illogical nature is avoided, the more suitable will be the form this sense organ develops. If the student hears illogical thoughts he immediately lets the right thoughts pass through his mind. He should not, however, withdraw in a loveless way from what is perhaps an illogical environment in order to further his own development. Neither should he feel himself impelled to correct all the illogical thoughts expressed around him. He should rather silently co-ordinate the thoughts as they pour in upon him, and make them conform to logic and sense, and at the same time endeavor in every case to retain this same method in his own thinking.” (Chapter 6, Knowledge of the Higher World)
The same exercise, the cultivation of clear thinking, and aspects of it, do find a still different outline in Steiner’s Theosophy. Here again the exercise is presented more as an ongoing state of consciousness or conscious thinking, and special significance is placed on mathematics. Indeed the statement is made that ”thought life … must be a copy of mathematical judgments and conclusions.” However at the same time we are reminded that we can also arrive at the required quality of thinking without mathematics.
“The (student) … must make his thinking something that is strictly regulated in itself. His thoughts must by degrees disaccustom themselves entirely from taking the ordinary daily course. They must in their whole sequence take on the inner character of the spiritual world. He must be able constantly to keep watch over himself in this respect and have himself in hand. With him, one thought must not link itself arbitrarily with another, but only in the way that corresponds with the severely exact contents of the thought world. The transition from one idea to another must correspond with the strict laws of thought. The man as thinker must be, as it were, constantly a copy of these thought laws. He must shut out from his train of thought all that does not flow out of these laws. Should a favorite thought present itself to him, he must put it aside if it disturbs the proper sequence. If a personal feeling tries to force upon his thoughts a direction not inherent in them, he must suppress it. Plato required those who wished to attend his school first to go through a course of mathematical training. Mathematics with its strict laws, which do not accommodate themselves to the course of ordinary sensory phenomena, form a good preparation for the seeker of knowledge. If he wishes to make progress in the study of mathematics, he has to renounce all personal, arbitrary choice, all disturbances. The seeker prepares himself for his task by overcoming through his own choice all the arbitrary thinking that naturally rules in him. He learns thereby to follow purely the demands of thought. So, too, he must learn to do this in all thinking intended to serve spiritual knowledge. This thought life must itself be a copy of undisturbed mathematical judgments and conclusions. The seeker must strive wherever he goes and in whatever he does to be able to think after this manner. Then there will flow into him the intrinsic characteristic laws of the spirit world that pass over and through him without a trace as long as his thinking bears its ordinary confused character. Regulated thinking brings him from sure starting points to the most hidden truths. What has been said, however, must not be looked at in a one-sided way. Although mathematics act as a good discipline for the mind, one can arrive at pure healthy, vital thinking without mathematics.” (Chapter 4, The Path of Knowledge, Theosophy)
Finally in Occult Science we find still other aspects relating to the exercise of control of thinking, and also examples that might be suitable for contemplation in this manner, and as an exercise.
“The pupil of the spirit must … undertake exercises in thinking in order that his thinking may be able to mark out its own path and goal. Stability, and the capacity to adhere firmly to a once chosen subject, are what the pupil's thinking has to acquire. There is therefore no occasion for … (this exercise) to deal with remote or complicated objects, much rather should (it) … have reference to simple objects that are ready to hand. Whoever succeeds in directing his thought, for at least five minutes daily, and for months on end, to some quite commonplace object — say, for example, a needle or a pencil — and in shutting out during those five minutes all thoughts that have no connection with the object, will have made very good progress in this direction. (A fresh object may be chosen each day, or one may be continued for several days.) Even a person who considers himself a trained intellectual thinker should not be too proud to qualify for spiritual training by an exercise of this simple nature. For when we are riveting our thought for a considerable time upon something that is entirely familiar, we may be quite sure that our thinking is in accord with reality. If we ask ourselves: what is a lead pencil made of? How are the different materials prepared? How are they put together? When were lead pencils invented? And so on, we can be more sure of our thoughts being consistent with reality than if we were to ponder the question of the descent of man — or, let us say, of the meaning of life. Simple exercises in thinking are a far better preparation for forming commensurate conceptions of Saturn, Sun and Moon evolution than are complicated and learned ideas. As to our thinking, what is important … is not the object or event to which it is directed, but that it should be strong and vigorous and to the point. If it has been educated to be so in reference to simple physical realities that lie open to view, it will acquire the tendency to be so even when it finds itself no longer under the control of the physical world and its laws. The pupil will find he gets rid in this way of any tendency he had before to loose and extravagant thinking.” (Chapter 5, Part 2, Concerning Initiation, Occult Science - An Outline)
Practicing the exercise of control of thought might at first seem a simple undertaking, but we might soon find that it does not come all that easy.
Following Steiner’s advice we should schedule five minutes every day for about one month. Each day we take these five minutes and practice the exercise. Some people will prefer to use time in the early morning perhaps with the thought in mind to get the work of doing the exercise done before entering into the daily routine or tasks waiting for us. Others will choose to practice the exercise at different times, maybe in the evening or right after lunch during their coffee break. It is a good idea to settle on a time and then stay with it for about a month.
Once we have settled the question on when to do the thinking exercise, we now have to decide on a subject or item which will be the center of our exercise. We might decide to stay with one subject or item for a whole month or for a week, or we could also decide to select a new subject or item every day.
Having settled these preliminary questions we can now begin with the exercise of control of thinking.
For instance we might use one of the suggestions made by Steiner and focus our thinking for five minutes on day one on a lead pencil.
To begin with we imagine, we create a strong inner picture of a lead pencil. We can use our memory, as we have likely seen one before.
Next we might describe the outer appearance of the pencil to ourself. We consciously form thoughts that have the purpose of describing how the pencil looks, its color, its shape, its constituents or components. The pencil might be gray on the outside, then at the one end, red, and at the other end the wood is exposed and its color is brown, and finally at its tip the lead point is visible, which again is gray but slightly darker than the gray found on the outside of the pencil. The shape of the pencil is one of a long cylinder of approximately eight inches in length, perhaps a quarter of an inch in diameter, and with two different ends. One end is rounded and painted, while the other end, the tip is diminishing in circumference, ending in a tip at which the lead is exposed. Perhaps the pencil is not round but six sided, hexagon shaped. The components of the pencil include wooden material, a leaden slim cylindrical core, and paint that covers much of the outside of the pencil.
While being engaged in this inner dialogue of describing the pencil, of thinking about the pencil, we need to stay cognizant, and indeed vigilant, so not to stray off the direction, and the logic, we have decided upon. Should we indeed experience being side tracked in our thinking, or other thoughts start “pressing in” or are appearing, we gently return to the train of thought we consciously have chosen. This might be an ongoing challenge and might need all of our attention and will power in order to stay focused, namely to be able to control our thinking.
Before moving on to other aspects of the pencil we might want to take a more detailed look at the components that we have identified: The paint, the wood and the lead core.
The paint is likely to be polyurethane which includes a pigment that contributes to giving the finished product its color. The wood used to manufacture pencils is in most cases cedar wood. The wood used to manufacture pencils must be able to withstand repeated sharpening and cut easily without splintering. Hence most pencils are made from cedar (specifically, California cedar). Cedar has a pleasant odor, does not warp or lose its shape, and is readily available. The lead - interestingly - is not lead, but graphite, which most people continue to call lead. Virtually all graphite used today is a manufactured mixture of natural graphite and chemicals.
We could decide to continue to think about the materials used in making a pencil, perhaps take some time to take note that other materials and components could be used, and indeed have been used in order to make a pencil. The wood could be replaced by artificial material for instance plastic, or to be more exact, a synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, PVC, nylon, etc., that can be molded into shape while soft and then set into a rigid or slightly elastic form. The paint could be left out completely, or could be added to the plastic in the form of dye.
Another direction that we might want to take with our thinking about the pencil, is the question of how the pencil is being manufactured, or also how a pencil could be made by hand in a craft workshop setting.
The history of the pencil is a valuable field of exploration, perhaps by going back in time, starting at the present, and making inner observations of how we think the pencil has been developed and changed over time, eventually arriving at perhaps how charcoal was used in cave paintings.
We might also want to devote some time to thinking about the future of the pencil. Interestingly we can observe that in spite of a lot of technological inventions that are being used to write, the pencil seems to survive and we continue to use it, even in the form of a stylus or similar input device when working for instance with a digital device such as a tablet computer.
A whole another field of inquiry is that of the application of the pencil, the question of what it is used for. This exploration could also be done similarly to the previous aspect in that we might want to look at the question from a historical perspective, going back in time, exploring the present time, and the future.
Interestingly we will likely discover that our thinking seems to expand quite naturally. We might arrive at a “dead end”, thinking that there is nothing to add to our explorations and observations in a certain direction, only to find that there is another layer or direction of inquiry.
Once the allowed time has elapsed, for instance after five minutes of practicing this control of thinking, we move on to the second part of the exercise. We could use our inner feeling for time to decide on the moment that we want to continue with the second part of the exercise, or simply check a timepiece.
We now make “an endeavor … to become fully conscious of that inner feeling of firmness and security which will soon be noticed by paying subtler attention to one's own soul”. (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
We should take a few moments to become aware of this feeling, and let it so to speak hover in our soul. This feeling is similar to the feeling of awe that we might experience or remember having experienced when watching something beautiful in nature, for instance a mighty waterfall, or a sunset at the ocean shore.
The third and final part of the exercise is then the following: we focus “ … the thinking upon the head and the middle of the spine (brain and spinal cord), as if the feeling of security were being poured into this part of the body.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
This pouring should be a conscious act, an inner movement, where we actually move the feeling from one location, the middle of the brain, down the spinal cord, to a location in our back, about one third down the spinal cord, in between the shoulder blades.
Having completed the three aspects of the exercise of control of thinking, we let go of the exercise until the next day. On the next day we attempt to do the complete exercise again, perhaps at the same time of day, perhaps we will choose a different time. As mentioned earlier we might want to continue with the same subject, the pencil, when we resume the exercise the next day or decide on a different subject. We should continue with the exercise on a daily basis for about a month, at which time a new exercise becomes the main focus of our attention. However we should continue with the exercise of the control of thinking even though it is not anymore our main focus.