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 8
Tasks and Assignments for Meditation and Initiation/The Sixfold Path/Lesson 8Please 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. Re-write the chapter (Conclusion) in your own words or how you would have written a conclusion and final chapter concerning this course of study. 2. Create a drawing, painting, poetry or other artwork that relates to the theme of meditation. 3. Write a short essay concerning your outlook and plans for the future with meditation and working with the exercises presented in this course. Submit the completed assignment via the submission form or via email. 
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Study Material for Initiation/The Sixfold Path/Lesson 8
Conclusion
The practice of the sixfold path could be a six month project in order to find out how it works, and how much an individual is able to follow such a path, for a period of time. Or the practice of the sixfold path could become a lifelong pursuit for someone who wants to become a serious student of Anthroposophy. Or a student might want to find a middle ground, or perhaps something that is truly individual and of deep meaning to them in particular. They might decide to practice the sixfold path for a period of time, say six months, and then again for six months at a later time in their life, and so on.
Whichever way we ultimately choose in order to work with this path, is up to us and rightly so - a modern path of initiation includes this aspect that it is strongly self-guided, and not so much dependent on the guidance by a spiritual teacher, a guru, as it was and might be still practiced in more traditional spiritual practices.
In any case, individuals who embark on this kind of training and inner practice, will discover that they change over time, or perhaps it is better to say, develop themselves over time.
Steiner points to certain changes and development of the student of Anthroposophy, saying that over time, “ … the very movements and gestures of a person change under the influence of such exercises, and if, one day, he can actually observe that the character of his handwriting has altered, then he may say to himself that he is just about to reach a first rung on the upward path.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
Another aspect that is connected with the practice of the exercises outlined in the sixfold path, is the relationship of these exercises to the spiritual development of the student in regard to his other meditative practice and inner schooling. Steiner explains at some length how this relationship is to be understood: “ … first, the six exercises … paralyze the harmful influence other occult exercises can have, so that only what is beneficial remains. Secondly, these exercises alone ensure that efforts in meditation and concentration will have a positive result.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
And thirdly, as Steiner emphasizes in Occult Science, the development of the student’s soul and character, which is indeed happening via the practice of the sixfold path, will - in addition - lead to the discovery of further and additional exercises, and meditation practices which will emerge, or one could say, will find their way to the student. In this regard Steiner states the following.
“These exercises have been assigned a place in spiritual training, because when thoroughly and effectually carried out they have not only their more immediate result in the cultivation of the desired qualities, but indirectly a great deal more will follow from them that is of no less importance for the pupil on his path to the spiritual worlds. Whoever gives sufficient time and care to their practice will, while he is doing them, come up against many blemishes and shortcomings in his soul, and will moreover find in the exercises themselves the means of strengthening and stabilizing his thought life, as well as his life of feeling and indeed his whole character. He will undoubtedly need many more exercises, adapted to his own individual faculties, to his particular character and temperament. These will emerge when the above have been practiced in all thoroughness. One will indeed discover, as time goes on, that these six exercises give one indirectly more than at first appears to be contained in them. Suppose the pupil is lacking in self-confidence. He will after a time begin to notice that, thanks to the exercises, he is gaining the self-confidence of which he stands in need. And it will be the same with other qualities of soul wherein he may be deficient.” (Chapter 5, Part 2, Concerning Initiation, Occult Science - An Outline)
The path given in Anthroposophy includes this emergence of more exercises and meditation practices that will occur over time. Sometimes such exercises or a specific meditation might be suggested by a friend, found as if by accident when opening a book, or in some other way, for instance as described in the introduction, namely how certain curious circumstances led Yvonne to discover the following statement, and helped her on her path of development.
"There slumber in every human being faculties by means of which he can acquire for himself a knowledge of higher worlds.” (Chapter 1, Conditions, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds)
Whichever way we ultimately choose in order to work with this path, is up to us and rightly so - a modern path of initiation includes this aspect that it is strongly self-guided, and not so much dependent on the guidance by a spiritual teacher, a guru, as it was and might be still practiced in more traditional spiritual practices.
In any case, individuals who embark on this kind of training and inner practice, will discover that they change over time, or perhaps it is better to say, develop themselves over time.
Steiner points to certain changes and development of the student of Anthroposophy, saying that over time, “ … the very movements and gestures of a person change under the influence of such exercises, and if, one day, he can actually observe that the character of his handwriting has altered, then he may say to himself that he is just about to reach a first rung on the upward path.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
Another aspect that is connected with the practice of the exercises outlined in the sixfold path, is the relationship of these exercises to the spiritual development of the student in regard to his other meditative practice and inner schooling. Steiner explains at some length how this relationship is to be understood: “ … first, the six exercises … paralyze the harmful influence other occult exercises can have, so that only what is beneficial remains. Secondly, these exercises alone ensure that efforts in meditation and concentration will have a positive result.” (Part 5, General Demands, Guidance in Esoteric Training)
And thirdly, as Steiner emphasizes in Occult Science, the development of the student’s soul and character, which is indeed happening via the practice of the sixfold path, will - in addition - lead to the discovery of further and additional exercises, and meditation practices which will emerge, or one could say, will find their way to the student. In this regard Steiner states the following.
“These exercises have been assigned a place in spiritual training, because when thoroughly and effectually carried out they have not only their more immediate result in the cultivation of the desired qualities, but indirectly a great deal more will follow from them that is of no less importance for the pupil on his path to the spiritual worlds. Whoever gives sufficient time and care to their practice will, while he is doing them, come up against many blemishes and shortcomings in his soul, and will moreover find in the exercises themselves the means of strengthening and stabilizing his thought life, as well as his life of feeling and indeed his whole character. He will undoubtedly need many more exercises, adapted to his own individual faculties, to his particular character and temperament. These will emerge when the above have been practiced in all thoroughness. One will indeed discover, as time goes on, that these six exercises give one indirectly more than at first appears to be contained in them. Suppose the pupil is lacking in self-confidence. He will after a time begin to notice that, thanks to the exercises, he is gaining the self-confidence of which he stands in need. And it will be the same with other qualities of soul wherein he may be deficient.” (Chapter 5, Part 2, Concerning Initiation, Occult Science - An Outline)
The path given in Anthroposophy includes this emergence of more exercises and meditation practices that will occur over time. Sometimes such exercises or a specific meditation might be suggested by a friend, found as if by accident when opening a book, or in some other way, for instance as described in the introduction, namely how certain curious circumstances led Yvonne to discover the following statement, and helped her on her path of development.
"There slumber in every human being faculties by means of which he can acquire for himself a knowledge of higher worlds.” (Chapter 1, Conditions, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds)