Notes of an Esoteric Lesson
given by Rudolf Steiner
Hamburg, March 14, 1909
Record A
Every exercise reflects, however small, an image of initiation; and we should put the humble feeling we have toward initiation into every meditation we are given. It is not only important that we do the exercises accurately and regularly, but also very much how we do them. The experiences of meditation can be a hundred, and a hundred different. But everyone must go through certain typical experiences.
Every beginner has to struggle with Ahrimanic beings who penetrate his consciousness during meditation and try to distract him. This is noticeable as a current. To understand this, we must realize the following. Everything that lives independently is surrounded by a skin, including the astral body. This astral body enclosed by a skin has always been designated by a zero. Foreign beings cannot penetrate a being enclosed by a skin. Thus, the human astral body was a zero, a nothing, for other beings. Because the astral body separated itself from all astral matter and surrounded itself with a skin, it became a one, and this is indicated by placing the one before the zero: 10. Added to this are the numbers that indicate the future stages of development on Jupiter and Venus: six and five, thus forming the mystical number 1065 - Dzyan - mentioned in “The Secret Doctrine” by H.P.B. [Helena Petrovna Blavatsky].
During the day, the astral body is worn down by the impressions it receives from outside. This causes cracks in the skin, allowing forces that are necessary for the physical body to flow out. At night, the astral body enters the astral region, and when it returns to the human being in the morning, the person feels strengthened because the astral body has been healed. This is given to us without any effort on our part, without our consciousness, and holy feelings full of humility should fill us when we think about this.
There is a means of preventing the Ahrimanic beings from entering our consciousness, a symbol that must be kept alive within us. This is the staff of Mercury, the shining staff with a black snake and a brightly glowing, glittering snake. The snake is the symbol of the astral body. Every evening, the astral body sheds its skin, casting off its worn-out skin. The black snake is a symbol of this. Overnight, it receives a new, iridescent skin, and this revitalized, beautiful, shining skin of the astral body is symbolized by the shining snake.
This symbol banishes everything that wants to intrude into our consciousness when we let it come alive before us before each meditation: the staff of Mercury, held in the hand of the messenger of the gods, pointing the way. When a person rises higher, when they become clairvoyant, the Ahrimanic beings press themselves upon them in images. They see parasitic animals, rats and mice. Beings with beautiful human faces but crippled feet approach them as temptations. One must not give in to them. Good images are when the meditator sees a sphinx (seraphim) or a cherubim. - Here, too, the Mercury staff should be used to banish the downward-pulling beings.
When the meditator rises higher, he has a feeling of being divided, of dissolving. This feeling is entirely justified. Man is the fragmented Dionysus. But his consciousness must not be lost there. To understand this, let us clarify the following. The Thrones, the high, noble beings, worked on the physical body on Saturn. The physical body does not belong to us; it is an optical illusion. It is formed by streams emanating from the high Thrones. Imagine streams flowing together; where they meet, a whirlpool is created. This is how the physical arises where the streams from the Thrones meet. The physical body is something high and holy, on which the Thrones are still working. The etheric body was formed by the beings of wisdom on the Sun. On the Moon, the beings of movement worked out the astral body. On Earth, the beings of form worked out the I.
So the feeling of melting away is quite justified. One feels returned to the streams that formed us. Here, however, the lower beings try to extinguish the meditator's consciousness, and that must not happen. To prevent this, every time you notice that your consciousness is about to fade, visualize the Rosicrucian cross in front of your soul. It is also very good to immerse yourself in it at the end of each exercise. Before each exercise, visualize the Mercury staff, and after the exercise, the Rosicrucian cross. In the black cross, visualize the lower, animal nature in humans that must be overcome; from which the seven sprouting, budding red roses must blossom. - A beautiful legend tells: When Christ hung on the cross with bleeding wounds, bees came and sucked honey from them as they would from red roses. Through the sacrifice, the blood had changed its chemical composition; it was pure as the juice of red roses.
One step higher is when we find ourselves consciously in the higher spheres. There we do not feel ourselves as “I,” but completely selfless. Then the following temptation arises: the devil shows us the world, which then reveals a certain splendor to the meditator. The devil says: “Behold, there lies the world. It shall be yours if you follow me.” But everything personal must be eradicated here, and at that moment one finds one's ego consciously shining forth. To resist the temptations of the devil, meditate on the Rosicrucian cross.
When we consciously find ourselves again in meditation, we feel the region of peace of mind. But it is not only peace that is in this region; the battle of the gods also rages there, thunder roars, of which our earthly battles are only faint reflections. Peace in battle—just as calm and storms reign in water, which is the same substance. For people today, the following is hardly possible, but if it were possible, it would be an image of what has just been described: standing on a sinking ship with the awareness that in the next few minutes you will die a physical death—and yet, intoxicated by the beauty of the raging nature, you await death in bliss.
Thus, in the region of peace of mind, the meditator rests in blissful peace, aware of the storm and struggle in the same region.
A great obstacle for the meditator is the hatred that tears the astral body apart and has a putrefying effect on the physical body, causing death vibrations in it. Man is just as responsible for unintentional injury as for intentional injury. If hatred is only suppressed, its vibrations are transformed into fear. A person who is afraid can never be a true esotericist, because he still has suppressed hatred within himself. One should try to prevent unintentional hurt from happening again. It is much easier to have good intentions than to act wisely. Love of wisdom must be acquired in order to transform hatred. This love of wisdom flows from the theosophical worldview.
Record B
When the meditator succeeds in penetrating the spirit realm, his astral body expands, he has left his shell, and the person has the feeling that he is divided. He no longer feels like a separate being; he has forgotten his earthly personal name. This is how it should be and is worth achieving, but there is a danger involved. If he then loses consciousness and faints, falls into a trance, he becomes weakened. He is then exposed to mediumistic influences that harm him. If he feels this state approaching, he should imagine the Rosicrucian cross, the rosy cross, before his mind's eye; first imaginatively, later he will see it in reality. This keeps him in waking consciousness.
There is a beautiful legend: When Jesus' side was opened and blood flowed out, bees came and sucked honey from it. From the pure blood of the dead Christ, they were able to suck what they get from chaste flowers, roses.
Finally, Dr. Steiner spoke of peace of mind: Comparable to the smooth surface of the sea, but just as the same water that glistens so calmly and peacefully can be stirred up into high waves and rushing waves, so it is in the spirit world. Terrible battles are fought and won there. Compared to the battles of the gods, all battles here on Earth are child's play, a weak reflection. Is it possible to maintain peace of mind there? It is possible, in a way that is hardly possible here on Earth. But we can illustrate this with a parable. Let us imagine a person on the high seas. Waves tower above him, masts break with a crash, the ship is at the mercy of the waves, physical death is before his eyes. Shipwreck is certain, and the man is so overwhelmed by the grandeur of the forces of nature, by the imposing spectacle, that he forgets himself and his death and goes down with these sublime, reverential feelings. If he can do this, and he will achieve it on the spiritual plane sooner or later, then he has experienced “Die and become!”
Source: The Rudolf Steiner Archive
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