REFLECTIONS ABOUT CONSCIOUSNESS

REFLECTIONS ABOUT CONSCIOUSNESS

STEINERS "STATUE" WITH AHRIMAN AND LUCIFER

In everyday use of language in anthroposophical circles, the terms "Ahrimanic" and "Luciferic" are often used with a negative meaning. Something one should stay away from.
This is reminiscent of centuries of warnings from the church to stay on the right path and not be seduced by the devil.

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) himself only gave a brief explanation of his Statue, because it would speak from itself as an art form to people who grew up in the traditions of Christian culture. (Fant, Klingborg and Wilkes, 1969).

It is not difficult to recognize something of the old devils and hell in it and a striding warrior reminds of images of the archangel Michael, slaying the dragon. However, it represents the figure of Christ and does not engage in any fight against evil, in the form of Ahriman and Lucifer. Due to the inner strength of the central figure, these two aspects would disappear and dissolve by themselves.

About consciousness, Steiner says: Ahriman is our day consciousness, in which we find ourselves in external reality and wear out, harden and grow old during our lives. Lucifer is the night consciousness in sleep, in which our life forces restore us and we rejuvenate instead of aging. In this polarity of our consciousness between waking and sleeping, nothing in itself is demonic. And yet here is the seed of events that can be recognized in magnified form on the world stage as an "evil."

Some events highlighted: after the Second World War, humanity was stunned when it became fully clear what had taken place. The churches ran empty, faith in a good God was given up. How could such excesses happen?
After a first world war, there was an exhausted population hearing the promises of a leader about attaining material prosperity, so they supported this second war. There must be a collective support for such leaders to be able to come to power, or perhaps rather a collective deficit?

A spiritual teacher once asked: why did a Hitler come forth in this era and not a Buddha?

Another event recently making headlines: There is also a certain weakness in people seeking substitute spirituality in eastern wisdom, now that the christian church no longer appeals to them. People are aware of the fact that something must be done by themselves and look for leaders. They do immediately rise to fill the void of the christian religion falling away and resemble representatives of the Buddhist tradition. Large groups of people (including celebrities, movie stars, prominent people) were disappointed when it turned out that these leaders were guilty of misconduct towards their students: Decades of sexual abuse and violence turned out to be a fact. Of course accompanied by large flows of money to all kinds of projects. A well-known phenomenon that often takes place in various sects and religions. And again: How is it possible that people can be so brainwashed by ideas or fascinated by false teachers?

Another statement from a teacher: "How is it possible? It IS possible, it has already happened" (and everyone slept, one can silently think).

With the rise of a Hitler and with the wrong spiritual leaders there have of course always been people, who were vigilant enough from the start, recognizing what was being offered, but many were not. It is painfully clear to other Buddhists than to those who fell prey to false teachers, there must be a personality deficit, a weakness one hopes to supplement with the power of the teacher. People need something so much, that their own judgment can be set aside. One's own common sense, a feeling and intuition that something is wrong, is overwhelmed by a longing from within. For one trend and the other one can find many examples on the world stage. One can react in an astonished and bewildered way to recent wars, terrorist hatred and destruction. As well to all kinds of addictions, such as to drugs and medicines. One tendency leads to the world around us through ideas, ideologies. (realm of thinking).The other takes us away from ourselves through an unfulfilled longing of the soul. (realm of feeling)
The answer lies in the central figure, which is strong enough in itself to not let itself be taken away from his own center by these two tendencies. Whoever develops sufficient strength within himself will not be carried away by all kinds of temptations and promises. (realm of will).

The ancient Buddhist teaching about our connection to the six realms of existence is interesting in this regard. The first two realms of existence are hell and the realm of the hungry ghosts. Our connection with these realms is through hate and anger with hell and through insatiable desire (which cannot be detached) with the hungry ghosts. The antidote in ourselves to these so-called "negative emotions" is the conscious development of love toward hatred and generosity toward attachment.
In a milder form it is not only hatred and anger but also aversion, antipathy. And on the other hand desire, attachment, not being able to let go and sympathy. Cultivating the opposite in ourselves is a form of self-observation, self-education, in order to be immediately alert to any movement of the soul that unconsciously takes us away from the center of our self and to set a counter-action in our own emotional world. It seems simple, but this inner vigilance on emotional responses is a path of meditation that ultimately leads to the realization of mastery over consciousness. This also applies to the preparatory exercises of cultivating virtues. Without this activity of inner transformations, no further healthy spiritual development is possible. It is the basis, which is always maintained, because it becomes a second nature and at the same time a way to return to our original nature. The transformation is not brought about by actively fighting something wrong, but by being vigilant, retaining balance, not being dragged along. This creates space in the mind.
In Buddhism there are another four realms of existence and "negative tendencies" within ourselves that can be transformed to cultivate a strong inner core. It is explicitly not about negative or positive in itself.

An old text from the Dzogchen tradition (GalmDo Tshal Ma) puts it as follows:

When hatred is rejected,
no love can be distinguished-
The one nature of the mind does not reject anything.

When ignorance is rejected,
no wisdom can be distinguished-
The one nature of the mind does not reject anything.

When desire is rejected,
no generosity can be distinguished-
The one nature of the mind does not reject anything.

And from Zerbu, Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud:

Spontaneous wisdom is the primordial ground.

The five negative emotions are manifested energy.

Seeing emotions as something wrong is an error.

Leaving emotions in their natural state is the method

To find the non-dualistic state of liberation.

Victory over hope and fear is the result.

(in this text there are five, presumably hatred, attachment, ignorance, jealousy, pride. The gods realm is not in this list, with their sloth and indifference to the suffering of all beings)
This is about being alert to tendencies, without committing to actively transforming one into the other. The balance is guarded by recognizing duality. Cultivate recognition and "leave it" as a consciousness from an inner power of the mind. As Steiner says about the central figure in his sculpture: There is no struggle.

(Both Quotes are taken from Tenzin Wangyal, Wonders of the Natural Mind, 2001)

Many westerners, after almost twenty centuries of christian religion, feel a reluctance to admonish religious warnings about the devil and hell. Neither can they do much with the Buddhist realms of existence (in which one can actually be born in a next incarnation) that seem bizarre to them. The other four realms are in a row: the animal realm with ignorance about the spiritual dimension, the human realm with jealousy, the demigod or asura realm with eternal struggle and strife from pride, the gods realm with indifference to the suffering of other beings. Examples can be recognized for all these realms of existence: Hate can be seen enough in the news, greed and enrichment as well. The level of animals that are no further interested than the fulfillment of the basic needs in life, is in human beings a total disinterest in spirituality. The poison of the human realm: rivalry and not allowing each other success, based on jealousy, can seriously harm human relationships. For the demigods, one encounters the example of the stockbroker on Wall-Street, who has to perform under great pressure to win. One has to keep fighting because the profit is unstable. For the kingdom of the gods one can use the image of the life of beautiful young people on the beaches, who have everything on the material level, carefree enjoying themselves. Only none of these realms of existence offers any lasting gain, everything is temporary and therefore illusory.
Through vigilance one can develop an antidote and thereby release oneself from being dragged into the illusion about reality. For the six realms in a row, the antidotes are: love over against hate; generosity over against greed; wisdom over against stupid ignorance; rejoicing with others, over against jealousy; humility over against pride; compassion over against indifference. The practice is not aiming at maintaining the opposite emotion, but about the inner activity, through the presence of a vigilant mind. Only such achievement leads to emotional stability, to something that is not just a temporary mental state. To at once become aware of what is going on, the image of a crowd is used, in which one immediately recognizes the face of a friend.

This method is the correct one, while visualizing beings from the lower realms of existence, or parts of the self in that emotional realm, is explicitly NOT the right method. By visualizing one comes closer to these images and absorbs them in a stronger way. Visualizing leads to identification, whereby one reinforces something, whilst to the contrary one wants to take a broader vision in consciousness and not engage in a closer connection!

Visualization IS positively used with the aspiration to higher goals in consciousness, such as with the devotional practice of Guru-yoga. The luminous figure is visualized above the head and at the end of this practice the qualities of this visualized figure are taken back into the self. As a result one enters into a closer connection with the illuminated body: the Guru being an image of one's own potential, an inner Guru, projected outward. The name "Hüter der Schwelle" can have a protective connotation, but it also has a restrictive meaning. There is no external figure that determines whether one can pass a threshold, rather an active aspiration to develop higher qualities in the meditating subject. For this purpose visualization is the method par excellence (visualization cleans the mind), supported by mantra recitation (cleans the speech) and posture, movement of the body, breathing in preparation (cleans the physical body).

At the time, when I first visited a teacher this topic was part of a course on preparatory exercises. I looked at the program: it seemed "exotic" to me, because it included the teachings of the six lokas (realms of existence) that could all be transformed into Buddha qualities. I literally thought: "something like that is probably not feasible for Western people", but I am going to see what teacher this is. How a meeting with a spiritually experienced person would go was not clear to me either.

First: The moment I was sitting there, everything became familiar and recognizable in the meditation practice. What people think beforehand, usually is not in line with a living reality that can be immediately experienced.

Second: The exchange with the teacher did not take place in discussion, but in direct experience: the so-called mental transmission. What happened there was already familiar to me from the eurythmy. Namely: you cannot explain everything, but when you can get people to move with minimal instructions, they will discover for themselves how it works, more than you can make them understand in words. The recognition then comes from within, from their own experience. The teacher perceives this and confirms it in his own way.
Another good comparison for this type of teaching is a masterclass in music. The field of activity is that of an art, more than a philosophical debate. Words are at most indications, images, metaphors. The confirmation is what the teacher perceives and lets know that was seen. Sometimes a word, sometimes a look, but often his consciousness works more like a mirror in which one recognizes one's own experience. The emphasis is on self-motivation of the student. Autonomy in working toward one's own understanding. It does have some similarity with the openness of a small child towards the mental content of the parents, who by their presence already transfer a lot, which only happens later on a verbal level in upbringing. And the child is open and eager to learn, absorbs everything and makes it his own.
Steiner also seems to be referring to the direct experience with his sculpture in the Statue: Just move inwardly and you will understand the meaning. To that end, the dramatic, almost exaggerated scene seems to invite the viewer in its dynamics. (The Christian doctrine about the devil might rather scare off nowadays, as many have no good memories from a religious upbringing).

ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW

Unexpectedly, in a different context, I came across a more historical background of Steiners Ahriman and Lucifer, in the book "Gnosis, An Esoteric Tradition of Mystical Visions and Unions" by Dan Merkur, (1993). Seen in that context, these aspects are natural powers of the mind that can help us, certainly not evils. The ascending power of Lucifer is the life force of the etheric body that keeps us upright, the descending movement, plunging into the depths (Lucifer gives himself up), allows us to view our origins in primordial images within ourselves. The enlightenment experience in meditation is not possible without the workings of Lucifer, as the name expresses.
Ahriman's outgoing power to the world makes us move out of our seclusion from the world and recognize our connectedness with it. Meeting "not-I" outside the confinement of personality, being enriched and returning within the limits of "I". In meditation one can catch a glimpse of how the elements constitute our material body. If the dynamics of these forces can be used in meditation and one does not allow oneself to be drawn away subconsciously or half-consciously, this is a positive contribution. An all-encompassing consciousness cannot come about without the workings of Ahriman. The expanding consciousness can experience the relationship between I and all, the returning consciousness reveals the creative power of the elements in our living bodies.
Merkur calls this experience one of "revery", something like dreaming, imagination. One has to start dreaming a bit, to move out of oneself in this way. Lucifer's experience, on the other hand, is "ecstasy" with Merkur, the mind takes no relation to an external world, but is absorbed in itself and becomes visionary.
The latter (Lucifer) Steiner calls the night consciousness, dreaming. This is certainly the case for the inward turned, absorbed state of the mind at night (Lucifer) and the outward orientation during the day (Ahriman). Ahriman Steiner calls experiencing external reality through the nerve-and sensory system.
It depends in which situation one focuses on the world: everyday functioning through senses and thinking, or in meditative practice with space: The relationship between space outside and inside our body, which then requires more imagination and revery. A relationship in which the senses perceive a different world from our normal orientation toward the outer. The same applies to the night consciousness as soon as it is used in meditation, the consciousness is more than dreams, then one enters visionary perception in "ecstasy" or "absorption".

Dan Merkur discusses in the chapter "Theories of Spiritual Alchemy" an anonymous publication by Mary Ann Atwood (1817-1910) under the title: A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery (London, 1850). Fearing too much was revealed of the secret doctrine, the author withdrew the book after six weeks. Almost all books were bought and burned, only a few copies remained. She was the first author to give a spiritual interpretation to alchemy. Atwood had many followers among theosophists. Later, after her death in 1910, a re-edition of her book came in 1918.
The contents of the book concerned the secret allegorical language of both the Eleusinian mysteries and alchemy, dealing with the transmutation of substances. Merkur finds only three personalities who continued Atwood's line of thinking:

First: Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). He dismissed Atwood's book as the usual alchemical language in a sauce of theosophical New Age explanation. (apparently the concept of New Age already existed in Jung's time). With his work, Jung remained closest to alchemy and to the four "initiation stages" from Atwood's book. Originally named in alchemy as Nigredo, the black (death), Albedo, the white (the soul, moon, Luna, feminine principle), Citrinitas, the pure white light becomes gold, Aurum (the spirit, the sun, Sol, male principle). And Rubedo, the ultimate conjunctio of male and female principle, the mind marries matter in an enlightened consciousness as ultimate goal: the so-called philosopher's stone. (How Jung used these stages in his analytic psychotherapy is not further discussed here).

Second: Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942). The author mostly known from his creation and publishing of the Tarot cards. He led a branch of the hermetic "Order of the Golden Dawn" in London and split off to found the "Fellowship of the Rosy Cross" in 1915, based on both mysticism and christian doctrines. Waite worked the four stages into a development in 7 steps ascending to God. (There is no mention of a God in the book by Atwood). Waite wrote the book Azoth among others. (Waite, 1893). Rudolf Steiner will undoubtedly have taken note of all this, as Waite was a well-known Freemason Rosicrucian leader at the same time that Steiner led the Freemasons Lodge in Berlin.

Third: Rudolf Steiner, (1861-1925). Steiner was secretary of the Theosophical Society in Berlin before the First World War and was installed around 1906 as the grand master of the Freemason's Lodge of the "Ordens Tempel des Ostens" O.T.O.). This lodge was a combination by Reuss (1855-1923) of various authentic traditions in Freemasonry. To open a new lodge, a charter is required with the signature of a seated grand master from a tradition elsewhere, who grants permission.
Merkur writes that the Freemasons of Berlin used a mixture of Hindu tantra, Sufism, grail mysticism, and Rosicrucian teachings, which was then an explicitly alchemical tradition.

The background and history of this lodge in Germany is well explained in the contribution of Karl Baier, his chapter 9 "Yoga in Viennese Occultism", in the publication "Yoga in transformation"(Vienna, 2018). The main personalities in the foundation of a German masonic lodge were Carl Kellner (1851-1905), Franz Hartmann (1838-1912) and Theodor Reuss, all theosophists, freemasons and members of various Rosicrucian orders. Kellner held the highest position of leadership, but died in 1905 shortly after the Berlin Lodge was founded in 1902. He fell ill from mercury fumes poisoning, a result of the alchemical work in his laboratory.
Hartmann had previously introduced Steiner to theosophy in Vienna and would have met an initiate in a hidden line, descended from Christian Rosenkreuz. This appears to have been the simple weaver Alois Mailander (1844-1905), to whom the Viennese occultists around Friedrich Eckstein (1861-1939) travelled for instruction in a kind of pilgrimages. Eckstein was an important figure in Viennese occult life, founder of the first theosophical lodge in Austria in 1887, with connections in many circles, including that of the beginning psychoanalysis around Freud. Possibly Mailander was the person designated by Steiner as "M", a secret teacher and reincarnation of Christian Rosenkreuz. Steiner would have been pointed to this teacher, possibly Mailander, through a contact with the herb collector Felix Koguzki, 7 years earlier. (Internet publication by Richard Cloud).

Steiner signed a contract with Reuss, which stipulated that he was allowed to teach the first 3 degrees, a kind of entrance and introduction for the student of Freemasonry. He was given the allowance to write the text himself. Steiner renamed this hermetic doctrine of Memphis and Misraïm into "Mystica Aeterna". The text included the stages of the development of the earth, such as Hyperborea, Lemuria, Atlantis, from theosophy and Blavatsky's ideas. Old testamentary material as a history of humanity on earth, which undoubtedly already existed in the old texts and rites of the lodge's tradition. (Meyer, 2017).

Meetings of an "inner circle", as also existed in the theosophical society, served to transfer and deepen the highest degrees of knowledge and above all to practice. Meditation was the esoteric practice, develloped in Vienna. In particular, a deepening work of the inner circle, consisting of yoga in many forms, from Hatha Yoga, Pranayama to Tantra and Meditation, all levels as were summarized in Raja Yoga. The unique quality however, was the merging with a Christian mystical practice of the Rosicrucian mystic and teacher Alois Mailander, who did not teach the exercises of Jean Baptiste Kerning (pseudonym of J.B.Krebs, 1774-1851) himself, but pointed his students toward this philosophy and practice as a preparation for his teachings and initiations. Mailanders teaching was based on de mysticism of Jacob Boehme and the teachings of Paracelsus. The common ground between Kernings method and Mailanders is the aim of transformation in the physical body as an inner alchemy.

The method of Kerning, opera singer and Freemason with high degree, leader of the lodge in Stuttgart, included an ethereal flowing meditation with the language sounds and the breathing technique in the body (called thinking and feeling). We would now say: concentration and meditation, imagination and inner hearing of the sound, with the mind and breath going to all areas of the body.

Kerning developed his teachings from the Kabbalah, some recognize middle easterm mystical Islam in it. The Rosicrucians also have a common origin in these teachings. Thus, Middle Eastern mysticism is present in Freemasonry, has blended with Christian mysticism and alchemy, lives on in anthroposophy and eurythmy. Rudolf Steiner synthesized theosophy, based on Eastern wisdom, with the teachings passed on to him by Eckstein and possibly Mailander. (Either in person or indirectly by his teacher Eckstein).

The purpose of the Viennese occultists was the embodiment of the living word. (Kolb, 1857) These three body-centered techniques as meditation methods transcended what theosophy taught as the higher development in the soul and mind. The Viennese occultists wanted to realize this in and through the body. Here the old alchemical doctrine of the transmutation of substances comes to mind, not as a chemical transformation of metals alone, but as a metaphor for a purification process in one's own inner being, through the body. Like gold can not be split up in other substances, so the letters of the alphabet are indivisible elements of the living creative process. People practiced yoga for the living ethereal energy flows. Breath and mind, the "Letter practice", movement in the body with inner hearing of the sound, concentration and imagination.
Steiner was in regular contact with Friedrich Eckstein about this practice. It is clear that Eckstein was the teacher (initiator) of Steiner concerning these Kerning techniques and that here one can find the germs of the eurhythmy and speech formation Steiner later developed. Whether Steiner met Mailander in person, or learnt about his method through Eckstein is not entirely verified. The Ideas of Kerning, Mailander and the Viennese occultists, one can certainly retrieve in Steiner's anthroposophy. Jules Sauerwein (1880-1967) came to Vienna in 1904 and met Friedrich Eckstein, of which he also learned the method of meditation. Sauerwein remarks that he had not encountered it in that form within the theosophical society. (Sauerwein, 1932, Internet article by Rolf Leonhard Speckner). Eckstein pointed Sauerwein to Rudolf Steiner, who had "achieved remarkable results with this method." Sauerwein then got to know Steiner in 1906.

Eckstein has strongly warned Steiner off to not externalize the secret meditation methods into a stage performance art of eurythmy, as they belong in a more intimate and closed circle of practitioners. It was considered "Mysteriënverrat", betrayal of the mysteries. The Rosicrucian and Freemason followers of Mailander withdrew from Steiner. Eckstein would have refused ever to be involved in performances, nor to come and watch them, it was so much against his insight of what was right to do.
However Steiner did not feel bound by any promise or oath to keep the secret doctrine in the privacy of a masonic lodge.

Steiner at first planned to write his second Class for this intensive practice with sound meditation: the principle of mantra meditation, leading to Sambhogakaya, the enlightened speech body. The freemasons and alchemists called it the philosopher's stone or the purified resurrection body: The consciousness of a human being clothed in a living ethereal speech body. In the exercises with the language sounds and mantra in the body, one had to meditate and bring this etheric body to life within the physical body. A well-known practice for today's eurythmy. Eurythmy is not just a transformation, it literally has the same exercises of the freemasons, unchanged. An example of this are the body postures and movements of the vocals I, A and O, as represented in the Eurythmy figures. It is amazing to realize everything was already developed in vowels and consonants in conjunction with planets and zodiac, colors and body movements, the hierarchies. Nowadays so familiar to us in anthroposophy, in those times a deepening of Freemason teachings in form of a meditation developed by the opera singer Krebs. The language sounds were formed and inwardly heard, throughout the body in hands, with fingers, in feet. Practice started with the feet moving upward through seven zones of the body. Mailanders followers adapted this and started at the lowest chakra of the spine. The energy became a snake that connected the lower body, heart and head, with the heart as the central organ. We see a lot of these three divisions in sketches by Steiner as a metabolic pole, rhythmic system and nerve sense pole, connected by the lemniscate.

Kernings tradition was continued by his student Karl Kolb and later the Viennese occultists and Karl Weinfurter. Kolb wrote a book anonymously, about the method; "The Rebirth, the inner true Life", also known as "The Letterbook" (Karl Kolb, 1857). This book was considered "anti-clerical", as the author reproached the church of teaching christian doctrine without furthering the inner life. This inner living religion was to be taught by the letter practice, the alphabet consisting of the living elements that had created the world. Like the metal gold was indivisible chemically, so were the individual letters of the alphabet indivisible elements of creation by God. He pleaded this practice for the inner life should be done by every school child from age seven onward. One hour a day through practice the inner life could be kindled and developed. Only intellectual learning of church doctrine would rather be harmful. How recognizable if one thinks of the later Waldorf Schools, integrating movement and eurythmy into learning, as an important means to not only learn with the intellect, but with the whole body from feet and hands upward.
Eckstein was initiated by a student of Kerning and Rudolf Steiner by Eckstein.

Weinfurter (1867-1942)mainly wrote about mysticism and yoga. His best known work is "Der Brennende Busch. Der entschleierte Weg der Mystik" (Bietigheim, 1930)
Some of Mailanders students, especially Meyrink (1868-1932) who was his initiated successor, left the Kerning method. Meyrink considered it harmful to his health, later on he resorted to Mahayana Buddhism.
It is for a good reason that in the later developed curative eurythmy, it was demanded a doctor must indicate what should be done in the "letter-practice". Furthermore, a series of sound exercises may only be intensively practiced for a limited time (6-7 weeks), after which a period of time not, to rest in order to obtain the correct effect, before having another practice period. What can have a transforming effect on the body can be healing, but it can also harm if one does not do the right thing. This also applies to the means to be used with meditation. How to practice is a matter of "skillful means", only doing what benefits oneself. The art is to be in contact with one's own organization in such a way that one can sense and assess that. This also means sometimes a teacher who is aware of this is a necessary ingredient, just like a doctor for a sick person. In all these forms of meditation and yoga, or curative eurythmy, there is no "if it does not benefit, it does not harm". This can be illustrated with the phenomenon that many trainees in the eurythmy became "sick" sometime in their second year due to a latent weakness in the body, which first required attention. The intensive practice brought this out, the physical problem had to be solved first, before people could continue with the training. Everyone can see that a hitherto minimal shift in the spine, as a result of a childhood accident that has never been disturbing before, can become increasingly annoying when the body is subjected to intensive movement and may require treatment. The same applies to other internal hereditary weaknesses in the functioning of the organs: the eurhythmy and "language sound" practice do indeed work by way of the etheric body into the physical organism. (No "if it doesn't help it won't harm"). The same thing applies to music. Our ears are always open, for beneficial sounds and for harmful ones. An additional meditative approach focused on the body will enhance that effect on our well-being in a positive or negative way.

No tantra as one often meets today was practiced by the Viennese group. This becomes clear in Kellner's way of life, who practiced in his intimate relationship with his wife, but clearly had a more abstinent attitude on the whole. The yogic intention is to perform all actions with the body imbued with a higher purpose for the ultimate embodiment of the divine in man. So that one does not meditate separately and elsewhere has no control over instincts, emotions and bodily functions. Later another element of (sexual)magic may have come into the O.T.O. from Aleister Crowley in the United States. The Viennese group had been highly idealistic and spiritual in their striving. The consequences of practicing yoga and meditation eventually are the siddhis, such as clairvoyance, which one is encouraged not to pay too much attention to. It can become a last possible distraction on the road to liberation. This means all visionary experience is like a primordial way of thinking activity, something to learn from how the mind works. Not to be taken all too real as phenomena. Visions are a transitory reality. The observer who learns is the final goal for transformation, looking inward and not outward to all beautiful visionary "thinking activity" one can project out into the world. This is the last hurdle the yogi can get stuck in.

Steiner had to pay for the transfer of the secret Freemason doctrine and rituals, which he did by obliging all theosophical members to also become members of this lodge. Steiner, like Waite, moved from eastern wisdom-oriented theosophy to Christianity and Rosicrucian teachings (the latter in fact are based on mystical Kabalistic and/or Islamic teachings from the Middle East). This transition was partly influenced by the German members, who saw everything originating from Hindu religion as an earlier and therefore "lower" development of humanity in the context of the then common racial theory of human evolution. Blavatsky wrote about these root races. The ranking of the spiritual development in cultural periods (instead of racial periods) can also be found by Steiner. Today, recourse to ancient wisdom as a source is not seen as going backward toward a lesser stage of human development! The superiority of what came later over what is older, is no longer experienced that way. Rather the other way around, we now have the idea that ancient wisdom is still essential for our spiritually impoverished modern life. The tendency for a newer religion or culture usually is to absorb elements of the older form and then "progress", giving new names to old Gods, declaring the older religion as less pure or degenerate (even demonic!). And then start to persecute and fight over supremacy. Such a negative attitude or superior feelings have very little to do with the original concept of a spiritual evolution of humanity on earth.

In Steiner's view of the alchemical stages of initiation (as described in Atwood's book, one may assume that this work was also known to him), he interestingly does not come to a God, like Waite did, but to a higher form of the self. Herein Steiner remained faithful to the mystical doctrine of alchemical transmutations and brought it into line with a kind of Christianity that did not rely on doctrines of the relationship to an (external) creator deity. In an authentic form he describes the mysticism of the ascending experience and the encounter with a higher being, as a part of the self that is not incarnated, but left behind. Here Steiner agrees with Jung's insight that the alchemical work had the self as its ultimate goal. For Steiner this goal is a Christianized realization of a higher self in the earthly self. The enlightened human being is the ultimate goal, called the Christ-man by Steiner. This idea is remarkable, because the individuality of Christ one can not become, whereas one can become a bodhisattva and eventually finally a Buddha. This is understandable because the individuality is somehow surpassed. Being a Buddha or bodhisattva is more a state of being than an individual human being. It is not easy to imagine Christ as a state of being, unless one adopts the eastern explanation of Christ as a great bodhisattva and gives up the version of the historical individual personality. Probably the idea Steiner was after with the return of Christ in the etheric world, implying the Christ could incarnate in the purified ethereal beings of man, as Lebensgeist or sambhogakaya. This is what Mailander taught and the essence of the "letter-book", illustrating this point with many bible quotes, making it hard to read for modern students, although the line of reasoning is clear: one cannot do anything by study alone, it is essential to practice!

Furthermore, Merkur writes that Steiner followed Schellings romantic tradition of overt discussion of metaphysical subjects, chosen over the practice of the "ecstasies". (translated into modern language: "the experience in meditative absorption"). Certainly that seems to be true: All knowledge of the initiation rituals of the lodge flowed out in his many lectures, where it was told as the fruit of his personal clairvoyant visions. (Steiner, 1913, 2001). One could argue, as the fruit of his own meditative insights (Steiner calls this "Geistesschau" or clairvoyance) worked through in the context of the knowledge that was transferred to him within the tradition of the lodge and which he himself gathered on the basis of theosophical publications concerning eastern systems.

The strange thing is that the practice of initiations and the promotion of experiences in the mind of the students was replaced by the Geistesschau of Steiner himself (the teacher/leader of the lodge). It is unusual for spiritual teachers to speak about their own experiences. The focus is on the student, who must remain in his own process and should not know exactly what the teacher, who is far ahead of him, is capable of. To the contrary those teachers make it appear as if they are very close, so the student feels confident. Recognition comes later when the student comes to the level of visionary experience himself. At that moment recognition of the capacities of the teacher is there and this is traditionally a complicated situation, for which one asks "permission" in one's own mind and, as it were, inwardly apologizes to "rise" to the level of the teacher (humility, no pride), who then naturally gives permission! This is a dialogue in the students mind of course and not a normal conversation. The teacher remains teacher, but the student grows up and becomes more autonomous.
A teaching in which spiritual contents of teacher and student can be exchanged as if it were a thought-content conversation and a shared visionary experience, is the level of mental transmission. In an internet publication by Richard Cloud (2017) it is described that this was the case in the group of Alois Mailander, certainly with his teacher Prestel. (projecting mentally, so that others perceive it as a vision). Much can be said about it, but simply it means there is a great connection with the world, when the boundaries of the ego and personality are transcended. The student can only in a deep devotional attitude towards the teacher and by giving an "offering" of something of the self (called the finest essence of the heart in Buddhism) be blessed by the mind of the master, who then "pours" something back in the student, who has made room in himself by first giving. A logical exchange, because receiving is only possible if one is not too full with one's own mental content.
Receiving by giving is very common at all levels in Asia. The population became very restless when the communists in a South-East Asian country forbade the monks to "beg" with their bowls. The practice of the laity was to give (food) so that the meditators could transform their gift in their bodies to Buddha qualities and in this way the givers also benefited. The new law had to be reversed because society was disrupted too much. Here the physical transformation (from food, matter) to an enlightened body in meditation is sacred.

Most texts from Buddhist wisdom are manuals on how to meditate, how to apply the right view, rather than a philosophical debate. They are also the result of the experiences of a lineage of former masters. Wisdom is never separate from method, the practical application. After his work in Berlin, Steiner at first leaves out this practical side. No emphasis on meditation, but later a practice of the arts and in work areas as applications of Steiners insights. The understanding of his followers could grow with time through the arts and in various fields of work. The way of meditation, as described in "Wie erlangt mann Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten" (Steiner, 1935) was not practiced by everyone.

THE FOUR STAGES BY ATWOOD

Atwoods book describes in allegorical language an initiation ritual in four stages, called the "ecstasies". Starting with the experience of dying, "ecstatic death". (the Nigredo in alchemy).
This is known to the Buddhists: with a strong concentration in meditation, consciousness can suddenly "turn", whereby the trusted external reality is replaced by an internal reality of the mind. For those who are taken unprepared and by surprise, this moment can evoke a strong fear of dying. From being calmly concentrated and in control, one is swept away on impact and initially has no say in the forces and energies working here. It is called "trek chöd", or breaking through the hard body. One cannot stop or go back at that moment.
Buddha himself has warned one can go crazy. He described the experience like this: when one comes on a high and narrow mountain pass, at the moment of passing, two murderers suddenly come from left and right, one cannot get away from the situation anymore.
There are many stories of yogi's who have gone "crazy", who could no longer integrate these kind of experiences into normal functioning in the world.
It doesn't always have to happen with this frightening death experience. Methods have been developed for this, to grow towards it step by step, to make the transition less dramatic. But the moment of change remains, there is no continuüm from the ordinary to the visionary. (it is suddenly there). Which is good, because it must remain possible to distinguish between these modalities. Some familiarity with the phenomena through study can help to recognize the experience and make good use of it. To accomplish the transition from a mind turned toward external reality to an absorption in the inner spiritual reality can be learned. The ultimate goal of meditation practice is to achieve an integration of these two realities. If it runs through each other, without integration and without distinction and understanding, one would be in delusional and psychotic states. Here the image is used of the swan that can separate milk and water.
So far "ecstatic death". In biblical language: "and I became entranced and saw" ...

What follows is an experience of oneness with what is outside of our identity. Called "communion with the intellect of nature". (Stage two of the ecstasies). What is in us also appears to exist outside of our physical boundaries. In the original wording of Atwood: "A nature primarily vital, which is also formless, indestructible and immortal, is made manifest and imparted through arcane and blessed visions". (The ethereal level is experienced).
After being outside the limitation of the body, in this allegorical language comes "Flight of the disembodied soul", (Stage 3). The energies of the life force can transport us into space. Consciousness gains wings and no longer finds itself bound to the location of the physical body, but also is present in the space that is not occupied by the physical body. Remarkable in these mental states, is the ability to witness the situation, there is an inner dialogue, there are observations, questions, initiatives and decisions of will, conclusions. One has the position of an explorer in new territory, a student who is presented with a new lesson and is interactively involved in it. At the same time it feels like always known and only now remembered. One stage (of the 4 stages) naturally follows the other.

The "flight of the disembodied soul" taking off with an expansive flight into space, is soon stopped by a vision, the encounter with another appearance, a higher being. In biblical texts one meets God, the highest, in the Buddhist doctrine a higher being resembling a Buddha, an appearance that is higher than ourselves and yet mysteriously belongs to us. It is also experienced in such a way that one is stopped along the lines of "to here and no further" and then is sent back to existence on earth. We meet an appearance outside ourselves that has a connection with ourselves, with our origins, with our future. An original image, an archetype with Jung, a higher form of self with Steiner (to be the highest achievable for humanity in this cycle of existence on earth). "The one who is never born" in Buddhism. One realizes the connectedness in a spiritual exchange whereby one expands upon this phenomenon, knowing "I am that", after which one then turns back to one's own present self and starting point in the physical body, with which the connection was not broken. (With actual death the connection of the life force is broken and one cannot go back, but will descend again in a subsequent incarnation. Therefore this whole event is an "ecstasy", a visionary experience of dying). The returned one, was also called the "twice-born" in these initiation rituals.

Steiner explains the ethereal level, astral level and encounter with a higher ego into stage 3 "flight of the disembodied soul", as an ascending experience through these levels. In the experience itself, subject to the working of the energies and the perception of the images in the forces of the ethereal realm, this is less of a point. The experience is intensive and goes with quite a speed. The mind is working at top-level! With other forms of meditation than this initiation experience, these levels can be experienced more clearly.

Consciousness has made a space journey and descends again, whereby the body, with the gaze from space downward is seen as a shell, within which the energies in the form of the elements reincarnate (this vision is stage 4 in the original work). Eventually the visionary perception fades out and is replaced by the normal sensory orientation to external reality. The body regains its compact material form. Stage four is the most mystical, where again the ether forces connect with the elements in a physical body. "Hylic substance" (matter) is formed during the descent to the earth body. This last vision is represented by the warm red glow in the belly: the red of a sunrise can be seen on images of a meditating Buddha in the Zen schools.
Both the ascending journey to the cosmos, and the ability to go down again, we owe to the energies that "Lucifer" gives us in the ethereal realm. We owe the visions of our origin and future to these dynamic energies of Lucifer.

"Communion with the intellect of nature", with what is in the material world around us, we owe to the forces that Steiner calls the workings of Ahriman. Without this orientation to a world we would remain in a dream state of our inner visionary perception, indeed a beautiful kind of paradise. First we came down in evolution and then we may explore ourselves in a physical reality of this world.
The purpose of these initiation experiences has always been to unite these two worlds. To maintain the awareness of one reality in the other. Such is the work of the initiate, the Nirmanakaya, who lives in the incarnation of the earth body. Steiner calls this the highest attainable goal for humanity on earth, depicted in his Christ figure in the Statue. From the original place that this image was assigned in the old Goetheanum, central as background on the stage, one can gather how Steiner saw this Statue as a statement. The eurythmy would then take place before this.

Merkur examines what these three esoterics have done with the knowledge of Atwood's book and states that everyone has adapted the teaching to their own preferences. Steiner, who was the grand master of the Freemasonry Lodge in Berlin, chose duality. He summarized the development of initiation in the two aspects of Ahriman and Lucifer. In the original doctrine this was Union with the intellect of Nature (Ahriman), also called "Extrovertive Union" and then "Introvertive Union", the descent and perception of oneself in the Sambhogakaya form, (the light-body) in the physical form of the Nirmanakaya. The future man cannot be realized without the powers of Ahriman and Lucifer. Anyone who sees these forces as negative, is neglecting his own potential for development.

SUMMARY

Contemplation on the statue, if one can overcome a negative reaction toward the two devils, what does it bring? On a basic level the teaching of keeping balance in emotions. This is the field of preparatory exercises.
The next step is to learn how to make use of the forces at work in this duality in a positive way, namely for a dynamic meditation about the self and space. The final aim is the realization of the “Christ-man”, the incarnation of the higher self into the earthly part of the self. Indeed in such practice the radiating face of the future man appears as a vision before ones eyes, as if looking into a mirror. These instructions are given by eastern teachers, meticulously clearly described. The knowledge is present in the Freemason tradition, in Buddhism, probably in Sufism, Judaism and more esoteric traditions. A good example is the visionary appearance of angels in Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions. In eastern traditions called Space travelers, dakini rushing in to help the meditator. (like elsewhere neither male nor female beings, yet often depicted as female beings). Rudolf Steiner makes a very interesting new name for this phenomenon in his esoteric Class hour tekst: namely "Willenszauberwesen", magic beings of will. One can see his recognition of the phenomenon as a creative act of of will in the perception, during meditation. Ones own activity creates the visionary appearance. Apart from this he keeps speaking about angels, archangels, the hierarchies as higher beings which sometimes leads to the understanding of them as external realities. The knowledge about these phenomena has been present in this world, passed on secretly from master to student for generations. Finally it was spread under more members and students. It is no single religions property. Any tradition will seek its own explanation, be it for example Buddhist or Christian: on the level of the phenomena they remain the same visionary experiences. The phenomenon is not Christian, rather Christ fits into the line of highly realized human beings from old times on till the present time.

The highest achievable realization is the rainbow body after death. (All elements of the physical body converted into rainbow light, no physical substance remains except empty clothing, hair and nails). The master is sewn into a tent that should only be opened after a week. Occasionally, the students interrupted this dissolution of the physical body into the etheric elements; they wanted to have "something" of the physical body of their master to cremate for a relic. What they found was a shrunken body remaining, the size of a very small child: the process was not yet completed.

Now I am not sure how the exact use of the dynamics of Ahriman and Lucifer in meditation would become clear by just looking at the statue, without having the knowledge of, or experience with the initiation stages. More is needed, like the initiation rituals, a good meditation teacher, not to forget a very motivated student, who has decided to go for it with all energies he can muster, becoming "a stream winner", once on his way the stream will take him further to his goal.
Steiner has opted for conversion of the original doctrine of initiation that could only take place in meditative absorption, into a half-externalization in art one could behold. In addition, Steiner opted for openly discussing all contents of the secret doctrine, more than for the rituals and spiritual transfer to students in a closed circle. Whether he was focused on the pupils' own experience while leading the Berlin lodge is an unanswered question for me, since those who have undergone it will certainly not have mentioned it. This kind of learning takes place between the mind of the teacher and the mind of the student and must remain within it. One can talk about the theory, one is silent about the exact experience. It is presently as if Steiner said: I have seen and report to you, for the time being you people set to work with my indications, until the time comes that you will be able to see with your own eyes. Steiner seems to want to explain it all and fit pieces of esoteric teaching into his pan-sophy to eventually be called anthroposophy, more than teaching a method of meditation instructions. He was above all a philosopher rather than a meditation teacher.

WHAT COULD BE THE REASON OF STEINERS OTHER COURSE?

After his Berlin period, Steiner increasingly turned to the public via the arts. Also due to his many lectures, it became a broad translation into directions for work areas. Only in the last years of his life did he come to write class hours as a teaching material for mantra meditation. This was a translation of the knowledge of esoteric teachings into language, text, explanation in words. The personal spiritual transfer in teaching does not seem to have been his way. It may be that the time for this was lacking in Steiner's life, or that Steiner had a different appreciation of the talents of his students and found a gradual way better, through work with his directions for various professions. Had he changed his course because Germany entered the First World War? Then the analogy with the bewilderment after the Second World War and leaving the church and faith would apply: Because of a war no more esoteric teaching as was usual in the lodge. It can be assumed that a spiritual teacher does not just give up. Was he disappointed in his students? Could this be the reason why this road was closed off and that door to this precursor of anthroposophy remained closed for members and later generations? (no more rituals and initiations, no mention of the freemasons origins). One only hears about leaving the theosophical society, while leaving the position as grand master of the lodge is never mentioned. Away from Berlin because of the war, but why away from a method? One outer reason was the new domicile in Switzerland and the wish to build the Goetheanum. One did not want to raise any suspicion by secret society gatherings. The only answer in Dornach was invariably: "Eastern things are bad for Western people, Steiner said", without explaining how that was meant. Perhaps this statement, if Steiner ever made it, was based on his experience during his time in the lodge? The practice looks like it must have been a combination of many religious and esoteric traditions. Specifically eastern was perhaps the "Hindu tantra" part, as tantra is a broad assembly name of many practices, from yoga, to rituals, to mantra, performing art and more. One could even say alchemy is a practice of tantra. In general one follows a method or ritual to bring about a "weaving together" of body and spirit, the human form and the cosmos. It is a creative acting. To the Viennese occultists with their special form of yoga and language sound meditation for the highest grades and the inner circle, today's eurythmy (and possibly also speech formation) would come very close to their practice. Meaning the actual doing of eurythmy itself. (To perform it on a stage would be another matter, just as watching a performance of eurythmy as a stage art is another variant, as something of the transforming power within the individual will be lost).
Spiritual teaching is the heritage of all of humanity, essentially there is no difference between Eastern and Western people. We are all in the same development here on earth.

All paths are valuable: study and philosophical debate, active dynamic path of experience through the arts and finally meditative absorption practice. Each individual student is gifted differently in their own way and can best benefit from one of these methods. The teacher must in principle meet the entire spectrum, so that he can offer all pupils something that fits best. Once a teacher has decided in which way he wants to teach an individual, that is certain. One can recognize a good teacher by this: there is no single same method for everyone. Steiner has undoubtedly taken an individual approach to people in life. In general, this is the case in art education, although it is becoming less individual there: people must learn the trade. The study group will be the least individually targeted as a learning experience. This entails a risk that people will see the doctrine as absolute and above the person. Philosophy and theory also exist only by the individual, one must also be able to separate from a theory. For instance the theoretical explication of the levels in meditation (as described in stage 3 of the ecstasies) can become a hindrance to the actual experience, whereas they may be helpful afterward. Analogous to dealing with emotion, there is also a dealing with thoughts, by observing them, letting them come into the mind and go again. Everything takes place in the space of the mind. The other end of the learning spectrum is the personal experience from which the student tries to become wise against the background of a teaching. All processes involving decades of processing and working on. Fast results and insights? Yes, sometimes, but then the integration, internalization, transmutation starts, not wanting to come to conclusions too quickly.
With the old initiation stages, a shot is fired at the start as a radical experience, and afterwards a lot of time is needed to grow.
The route through study, applying instructions is also a very long one, before one would come to this kind of meditative experiences (which Steiner called Geistesschau). After all, these experiences are initially at odds with normal consciousness. It can be difficult for an individual to "break" (interrupt) his own normal consciousness so that the other vision can come in. The Zen Buddhists have the method of the unexpected blow with a stick. Other disciplines have different methods to get someone out of their habitual pattern. Teachers with a powerful mind know how to achieve it by focusing their mind on the student, so that they suddenly take their chances.
May everyone embark on the adventurous journey exploring consciousness! In doing so, making full use of everything given as energies in our constitution. Ahriman and Lucifer, as well, although they may not be attractive names.

In other systems the duality is sometimes expressed in a more neutral way: such as "space cycle" and "mind-cycle" in the dzogchen tradition. Teachings grouped in space teachings and mind teachings. The one way and the other lead to results.
"Father-tantra" and "mother-tantra" classifications, where tantra mainly uses ethereal physiology, chakra's and energy pathways and therefore certainly is not exclusively related to the actual union of a man and a woman to produce new life . (An exceptional way of meditation, which most people are not ready for).
The left hand and the right perform rituals and mudra's, like a dance of hands and fingers, in which the feminine and masculine are connected, also called wisdom and method. One cannot do without the other: wisdom cannot arise without the right method, they are inextricably connected. In certain Buddha images, one sometimes sees two plant-like vegetative stems, to the left and right of the image. They seem like an ornament, but are the "stems" (energy pathways) that carry sun and moon at the height of the head, as the ultimate fruit of "transmutation" on the spiritual path. In alchemy this transmutation is described as the union of Luna and Sol, the feminine and masculine principle within us: What radiates out as the sun and is formed within as new life by the forces of growth (under the influence of the Moon) All inspiring images for inner processes, or as Steiner put it poetically:

"Ich fühle wie entzaubert Das Geisteskind im Seelenschoss; Es hat in Herzenshelligkeit Gezeugt das heil'ge Weltenwort ..." part of his weekly verse for Christmas. ( Steiner, 1912).

(In English translation: I feel like disenchanted, The spirit child in the lap of my soul; It is in hearts brightness, conceived by the holy worlds word..)

PHOTOS

I have not been able to determine the copyright for the images. These were copied from the internet and from a photo in my possession. The image of the Holzstatue may have been a photo of Mr. E. Gmelin from Dornach. If someone feels neglected by not being properly mentioned, or if someone knows to whom these photos belong, please report it so that it can still be stated who the photographer or artist was. In case of objection to the use, the images can be removed.

LITERATURE

Anonymous. Die Wiedergeburt, das innere wahrhaftige Leben, Oder wie wird der Mensch seelig? In Uebereinstimmung mit Aussprüchen der heiligen Schrift und den Gesetzen des Denkens beantwortet von einem Freimaurer. Nurnberg, 1857. Nabu Press, 2011.
Open Library. document from 1857 known as "the letterbook" ascribed to Karl Kolb, student of J.B. Kerning.

Fant, A. Klingborg, A. Wilkes, A.J. Die Holzplastik Rudolf Steiners, Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag, Dornach 1969.

Baier, K. Maas, Ph.A., Preisendanz, K (eds). Yoga in Transformation, Wiener Forum für Theologie und Religionswissenschaft Band 16, Viennese University Press, Vienna, 2018. Chapter 9 Karl Baier, Yoga in Viennese occult culture, pg 387.

Meyer, T.H. (ed). The New Cain, the Temple Legend and Moral Impulse for Evolution and its Completion by Steiner, R. with the ritual texts for the first, second and third degrees. Temple Lodge Publishing, Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 2017.

Merkur, D. Gnosis, An Esoteric Tradition or Mystical Visions and Unions, State University or New York Press, Albany. (1993). Chapter 3 Theories of Spiritual Alchemy.

Sauerwein, J. A glimpse of the beyond, uit "Memoiren", Basler Nachrichten, 1932.

Steiner, R. Die Geheimnisse der Schwelle, Eight lectures held at the first performance of the mystery dramas in München in 1913, Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung 147, Dornach, 2015.

Steiner, R. Mysterienstätten des Mittelalters, Rosenkreuzertum und moderner Einweihung, Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach 2001

Steiner, R. Wie erlangt mann Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten,
Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 1935.

Steiner, R. Anthroposophischer Seelenkalender, Rudolf Steiner Verlag Dornach, 1912.

Waite, A.E. Azoth; or, the Star in the East. Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1893.

Wangyal, T. Wonders of the Natural Mind, Snow Lions Publications, Ithaka, New York, 2000.
Translated: Het wonder van onze oorspronkelijke geest, Dzogchen in the Bön tradition of Tibet. Elmar B.V Rijswijk, 2001

Weinfurter, Karl. Der Brennende Busch. Der entschleierte Weg der Mystik. Bietigheim, 1930

REFLECTIONS ABOUT CONSCIOUSNESS

STEINERS "STATUE" WITH AHRIMAN AND LUCIFER

In everyday use of language in anthroposophical circles, the terms "Ahrimanic" and "Luciferic" are often used with a negative meaning. Something one should stay away from.
This is reminiscent of centuries of warnings from the church to stay on the right path and not be seduced by the devil.

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) himself only gave a brief explanation of his Statue, because it would speak from itself as an art form to people who grew up in the traditions of Christian culture. (Fant, Klingborg and Wilkes, 1969).

It is not difficult to recognize something of the old devils and hell in it and a striding warrior reminds of images of the archangel Michael, slaying the dragon. However, it represents the figure of Christ and does not engage in any fight against evil, in the form of Ahriman and Lucifer. Due to the inner strength of the central figure, these two aspects would disappear and dissolve by themselves.

About consciousness, Steiner says: Ahriman is our day consciousness, in which we find ourselves in external reality and wear out, harden and grow old during our lives. Lucifer is the night consciousness in sleep, in which our life forces restore us and we rejuvenate instead of aging. In this polarity of our consciousness between waking and sleeping, nothing in itself is demonic. And yet here is the seed of events that can be recognized in magnified form on the world stage as an "evil."

Some events highlighted: after the Second World War, humanity was stunned when it became fully clear what had taken place. The churches ran empty, faith in a good God was given up. How could such excesses happen?
After a first world war, there was an exhausted population hearing the promises of a leader about attaining material prosperity, so they supported this second war. There must be a collective support for such leaders to be able to come to power, or perhaps rather a collective deficit?

A spiritual teacher once asked: why did a Hitler come forth in this era and not a Buddha?

Another event recently making headlines: There is also a certain weakness in people seeking substitute spirituality in eastern wisdom, now that the christian church no longer appeals to them. People are aware of the fact that something must be done by themselves and look for leaders. They do immediately rise to fill the void of the christian religion falling away and resemble representatives of the Buddhist tradition. Large groups of people (including celebrities, movie stars, prominent people) were disappointed when it turned out that these leaders were guilty of misconduct towards their students: Decades of sexual abuse and violence turned out to be a fact. Of course accompanied by large flows of money to all kinds of projects. A well-known phenomenon that often takes place in various sects and religions. And again: How is it possible that people can be so brainwashed by ideas or fascinated by false teachers?

Another statement from a teacher: "How is it possible? It IS possible, it has already happened" (and everyone slept, one can silently think).

With the rise of a Hitler and with the wrong spiritual leaders there have of course always been people, who were vigilant enough from the start, recognizing what was being offered, but many were not. It is painfully clear to other Buddhists than to those who fell prey to false teachers, there must be a personality deficit, a weakness one hopes to supplement with the power of the teacher. People need something so much, that their own judgment can be set aside. One's own common sense, a feeling and intuition that something is wrong, is overwhelmed by a longing from within. For one trend and the other one can find many examples on the world stage. One can react in an astonished and bewildered way to recent wars, terrorist hatred and destruction. As well to all kinds of addictions, such as to drugs and medicines. One tendency leads to the world around us through ideas, ideologies. (realm of thinking).The other takes us away from ourselves through an unfulfilled longing of the soul. (realm of feeling)
The answer lies in the central figure, which is strong enough in itself to not let itself be taken away from his own center by these two tendencies. Whoever develops sufficient strength within himself will not be carried away by all kinds of temptations and promises. (realm of will).

The ancient Buddhist teaching about our connection to the six realms of existence is interesting in this regard. The first two realms of existence are hell and the realm of the hungry ghosts. Our connection with these realms is through hate and anger with hell and through insatiable desire (which cannot be detached) with the hungry ghosts. The antidote in ourselves to these so-called "negative emotions" is the conscious development of love toward hatred and generosity toward attachment.
In a milder form it is not only hatred and anger but also aversion, antipathy. And on the other hand desire, attachment, not being able to let go and sympathy. Cultivating the opposite in ourselves is a form of self-observation, self-education, in order to be immediately alert to any movement of the soul that unconsciously takes us away from the center of our self and to set a counter-action in our own emotional world. It seems simple, but this inner vigilance on emotional responses is a path of meditation that ultimately leads to the realization of mastery over consciousness. This also applies to the preparatory exercises of cultivating virtues. Without this activity of inner transformations, no further healthy spiritual development is possible. It is the basis, which is always maintained, because it becomes a second nature and at the same time a way to return to our original nature. The transformation is not brought about by actively fighting something wrong, but by being vigilant, retaining balance, not being dragged along. This creates space in the mind.
In Buddhism there are another four realms of existence and "negative tendencies" within ourselves that can be transformed to cultivate a strong inner core. It is explicitly not about negative or positive in itself.

An old text from the Dzogchen tradition (GalmDo Tshal Ma) puts it as follows:

When hatred is rejected,
no love can be distinguished-
The one nature of the mind does not reject anything.

When ignorance is rejected,
no wisdom can be distinguished-
The one nature of the mind does not reject anything.

When desire is rejected,
no generosity can be distinguished-
The one nature of the mind does not reject anything.

And from Zerbu, Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud:

Spontaneous wisdom is the primordial ground.

The five negative emotions are manifested energy.

Seeing emotions as something wrong is an error.

Leaving emotions in their natural state is the method

To find the non-dualistic state of liberation.

Victory over hope and fear is the result.

(in this text there are five, presumably hatred, attachment, ignorance, jealousy, pride. The gods realm is not in this list, with their sloth and indifference to the suffering of all beings)
This is about being alert to tendencies, without committing to actively transforming one into the other. The balance is guarded by recognizing duality. Cultivate recognition and "leave it" as a consciousness from an inner power of the mind. As Steiner says about the central figure in his sculpture: There is no struggle.

(Both Quotes are taken from Tenzin Wangyal, Wonders of the Natural Mind, 2001)

Many westerners, after almost twenty centuries of christian religion, feel a reluctance to admonish religious warnings about the devil and hell. Neither can they do much with the Buddhist realms of existence (in which one can actually be born in a next incarnation) that seem bizarre to them. The other four realms are in a row: the animal realm with ignorance about the spiritual dimension, the human realm with jealousy, the demigod or asura realm with eternal struggle and strife from pride, the gods realm with indifference to the suffering of other beings. Examples can be recognized for all these realms of existence: Hate can be seen enough in the news, greed and enrichment as well. The level of animals that are no further interested than the fulfillment of the basic needs in life, is in human beings a total disinterest in spirituality. The poison of the human realm: rivalry and not allowing each other success, based on jealousy, can seriously harm human relationships. For the demigods, one encounters the example of the stockbroker on Wall-Street, who has to perform under great pressure to win. One has to keep fighting because the profit is unstable. For the kingdom of the gods one can use the image of the life of beautiful young people on the beaches, who have everything on the material level, carefree enjoying themselves. Only none of these realms of existence offers any lasting gain, everything is temporary and therefore illusory.
Through vigilance one can develop an antidote and thereby release oneself from being dragged into the illusion about reality. For the six realms in a row, the antidotes are: love over against hate; generosity over against greed; wisdom over against stupid ignorance; rejoicing with others, over against jealousy; humility over against pride; compassion over against indifference. The practice is not aiming at maintaining the opposite emotion, but about the inner activity, through the presence of a vigilant mind. Only such achievement leads to emotional stability, to something that is not just a temporary mental state. To at once become aware of what is going on, the image of a crowd is used, in which one immediately recognizes the face of a friend.

This method is the correct one, while visualizing beings from the lower realms of existence, or parts of the self in that emotional realm, is explicitly NOT the right method. By visualizing one comes closer to these images and absorbs them in a stronger way. Visualizing leads to identification, whereby one reinforces something, whilst to the contrary one wants to take a broader vision in consciousness and not engage in a closer connection!

Visualization IS positively used with the aspiration to higher goals in consciousness, such as with the devotional practice of Guru-yoga. The luminous figure is visualized above the head and at the end of this practice the qualities of this visualized figure are taken back into the self. As a result one enters into a closer connection with the illuminated body: the Guru being an image of one's own potential, an inner Guru, projected outward. The name "Hüter der Schwelle" can have a protective connotation, but it also has a restrictive meaning. There is no external figure that determines whether one can pass a threshold, rather an active aspiration to develop higher qualities in the meditating subject. For this purpose visualization is the method par excellence (visualization cleans the mind), supported by mantra recitation (cleans the speech) and posture, movement of the body, breathing in preparation (cleans the physical body).

At the time,when I first visited a teacher this topic was part of a course on preparatory exercises. I looked at the program: it seemed "exotic" to me, because it included the teachings of the six lokas (realms of existence) that could all be transformed into Buddha qualities. I literally thought: "something like that is probably not feasible for Western people", but I am going to see what teacher this is. How a meeting with a spiritually experienced person would go was not clear to me either.

First: The moment I was sitting there, everything became familiar and recognizable in the meditation practice. What people think beforehand, usually is not in line with a living reality that can be immediately experienced.

Second: The exchange with the teacher did not take place in discussion, but in direct experience: the so-called mental transmission. What happened there was already familiar to me from the eurythmy. Namely: you cannot explain everything, but when you can get people to move with minimal instructions, they will discover for themselves how it works, more than you can make them understand in words. The recognition then comes from within, from their own experience. The teacher perceives this and confirms it in his own way.
Another good comparison for this type of teaching is a masterclass in music. The field of activity is that of an art, more than a philosophical debate. Words are at most indications, images, metaphors. The confirmation is what the teacher perceives and lets know that was seen. Sometimes a word, sometimes a look, but often his consciousness works more like a mirror in which one recognizes one's own experience. The emphasis is on self-motivation of the student. Autonomy in working toward one's own understanding. It does have some similarity with the openness of a small child towards the mental content of the parents, who by their presence already transfer a lot, which only happens later on a verbal level in upbringing. And the child is open and eager to learn, absorbs everything and makes it his own.
Steiner also seems to be referring to the direct experience with his sculpture in the Statue: Just move inwardly and you will understand the meaning. To that end, the dramatic, almost exaggerated scene seems to invite the viewer in its dynamics. (The Christian doctrine about the devil might rather scare off nowadays, as many have no good memories from a religious upbringing).

ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW

Unexpectedly, in a different context, I came across a more historical background of Steiners Ahriman and Lucifer, in the book "Gnosis, An Esoteric Tradition of Mystical Visions and Unions" by Dan Merkur, (1993). Seen in that context, these aspects are natural powers of the mind that can help us, certainly not evils. The ascending power of Lucifer is the life force of the etheric body that keeps us upright, the descending movement, plunging into the depths (Lucifer gives himself up), allows us to view our origins in primordial images within ourselves. The enlightenment experience in meditation is not possible without the workings of Lucifer, as the name expresses.
Ahriman's outgoing power to the world makes us move out of our seclusion from the world and recognize our connectedness with it. Meeting "not-I" outside the confinement of personality, being enriched and returning within the limits of "I". In meditation one can catch a glimpse of how the elements constitute our material body. If the dynamics of these forces can be used in meditation and one does not allow oneself to be drawn away subconsciously or half-consciously, this is a positive contribution. An all-encompassing consciousness cannot come about without the workings of Ahriman. The expanding consciousness can experience the relationship between I and all, the returning consciousness reveals the creative power of the elements in our living bodies.
Merkur calls this experience one of "revery", something like dreaming, imagination. One has to start dreaming a bit, to move out of oneself in this way. Lucifer's experience, on the other hand, is "ecstasy" with Merkur, the mind takes no relation to an external world, but is absorbed in itself and becomes visionary.
The latter (Lucifer) Steiner calls the night consciousness, dreaming. This is certainly the case for the inward turned, absorbed state of the mind at night (Lucifer) and the outward orientation during the day (Ahriman). Ahriman Steiner calls experiencing external reality through the nerve-and sensory system.
It depends in which situation one focuses on the world: everyday functioning through senses and thinking, or in meditative practice with space: The relationship between space outside and inside our body, which then requires more imagination and revery. A relationship in which the senses perceive a different world from our normal orientation toward the outer. The same applies to the night consciousness as soon as it is used in meditation, the consciousness is more than dreams, then one enters visionary perception in "ecstasy" or "absorption".

Dan Merkur discusses in the chapter "Theories of Spiritual Alchemy" an anonymous publication by Mary Ann Atwood (1817-1910) under the title: A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery (London, 1850). Fearing too much was revealed of the secret doctrine, the author withdrew the book after six weeks. Almost all books were bought and burned, only a few copies remained. She was the first author to give a spiritual interpretation to alchemy. Atwood had many followers among theosophists. Later, after her death in 1910, a re-edition of her book came in 1918.
The contents of the book concerned the secret allegorical language of both the Eleusinian mysteries and alchemy, dealing with the transmutation of substances. Merkur finds only three personalities who continued Atwood's line of thinking:

First: Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). He dismissed Atwood's book as the usual alchemical language in a sauce of theosophical New Age explanation. (apparently the concept of New Age already existed in Jung's time). With his work, Jung remained closest to alchemy and to the four "initiation stages" from Atwood's book. Originally named in alchemy as Nigredo, the black (death), Albedo, the white (the soul, moon, Luna, feminine principle), Citrinitas, the pure white light becomes gold, Aurum (the spirit, the sun, Sol, male principle). And Rubedo, the ultimate conjunctio of male and female principle, the mind marries matter in an enlightened consciousness as ultimate goal: the so-called philosopher's stone. (How Jung used these stages in his analytic psychotherapy is not further discussed here).

Second: Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942). The author mostly known from his creation and publishing of the Tarot cards. He led a branch of the hermetic "Order of the Golden Dawn" in London and split off to found the "Fellowship of the Rosy Cross" in 1915, based on both mysticism and christian doctrines. Waite worked the four stages into a development in 7 steps ascending to God. (There is no mention of a God in the book by Atwood). Waite wrote the book Azoth among others. (Waite, 1893). Rudolf Steiner will undoubtedly have taken note of all this, as Waite was a well-known Freemason Rosicrucian leader at the same time that Steiner led the Freemasons Lodge in Berlin.

Third: Rudolf Steiner, (1861-1925). Steiner was secretary of the Theosophical Society in Berlin before the First World War and was installed around 1906 as the grand master of the Freemason's Lodge of the "Ordens Tempel des Ostens". (O.T.O.) This lodge was a combination by Reuss (1855-1923) of various authentic traditions in Freemasonry. To open a new lodge, a charter is required with the signature of a seated grand master from a tradition elsewhere, who grants permission.
Merkur writes that the Freemasons of Berlin used a mixture of Hindu tantra, Sufism, grail mysticism, and Rosicrucian teachings, which was then an explicitly alchemical tradition.

Meetings of an "inner circle", as also existed in the theosophical society, served to transfer and deepen the highest degrees of knowledge and above all to practice. Meditation was the esoteric practice, developed in Vienna. In particular, a deepening work of the inner circle, consisting of yoga in many forms, from Hatha Yoga, Pranayama to Tantra and Meditation, all levels as were summarized in Raja Yoga. The unique quality however, was the merging with a Christian mystical practice of the Rosicrucian mystic and teacher Alois Mailander, who did not teach the exercises of Jean Baptiste Kerning (pseudonym van J.B.Krebs, 1774-1851) himself, but pointed his students toward this philosophy and practice as a preparation for his teachings and initiations. Mailanders teaching was based on de mysticism of Jacob Boehme en de teachings of Paracelsus. The common ground between Kernings method and Mailanders is the aim of transformation in the physical body as an inner alchemy.

In Steiner's view of the alchemical stages of initiation (as described in Atwood's book, one may assume that this work was also known to him), he interestingly does not come to a God, like Waite did, but to a higher form of the self. Herein Steiner remained faithful to the mystical doctrine of alchemical transmutations and brought it into line with a kind of Christianity that did not rely on doctrines of the relationship to an (external) creator deity. In an authentic form he describes the mysticism of the ascending experience and the encounter with a higher being, as a part of the self that is not incarnated, but left behind. Here Steiner agrees with Jung's insight that the alchemical work had the self as its ultimate goal. For Steiner this goal is a Christianized realization of a higher self in the earthly self. The enlightened human being is the ultimate goal, called the Christ-man by Steiner. This idea is remarkable, because the individuality of Christ one can not become, whereas one can become a bodhisattva and eventually finally a Buddha. This is understandable because the individuality is somehow surpassed. Being a Buddha or bodhisattva is more a state of being than an individual human being. It is not easy to imagine Christ as a state of being, unless one adopts the eastern explanation of Christ as a great bodhisattva and gives up the version of the historical individual personality. Probably the idea Steiner was after with the return of Christ in the etheric world, implying the Christ could incarnate in the purified ethereal beings of man, as Lebensgeist or sambhogakaya. This is what Mailander taught and the essence of the "letter-book", illustrating this point with many bible quotes, making it hard to read for modern students, although the line of reasoning is clear: one cannot do anything by study alone, it is essential to practice!

Furthermore, Merkur writes that Steiner followed Schellings romantic tradition of overt discussion of metaphysical subjects, chosen over the practice of the "ecstasies". (translated into modern language: "the experience in meditative absorption"). Certainly that seems to be true: All knowledge of the initiation rituals of the lodge flowed out in his many lectures, where it was told as the fruit of his personal clairvoyant visions. (Steiner, 1913, 2001). One could argue, as the fruit of his own meditative insights (Steiner calls this "Geistesschau" or clairvoyance) worked through in the context of the knowledge that was transferred to him within the tradition of the lodge and which he himself gathered on the basis of theosophical publications concerning eastern systems.

The strange thing is that the practice of initiations and the promotion of experiences in the mind of the students was replaced by the Geistesschau of Steiner himself (the teacher/leader of the lodge). It is unusual for spiritual teachers to speak about their own experiences. The focus is on the student, who must remain in his own process and should not know exactly what the teacher, who is far ahead of him, is capable of. To the contrary those teachers make it appear as if they are very close, so the student feels confident. Recognition comes later when the student comes to the level of visionary experience himself. At that moment recognition of the capacities of the teacher is there and this is traditionally a complicated situation, for which one asks "permission" in one's own mind and, as it were, inwardly apologizes to "rise" to the level of the teacher (humility, no pride), who then naturally gives permission! This is a dialogue in the students mind of course and not a normal conversation. The teacher remains teacher, but the student grows up and becomes more autonomous.
A teaching in which spiritual contents of teacher and student can be exchanged as if it were a thought-content conversation and a shared visionary experience, is the level of mental transmission. In an internet publication by Richard Cloud (2017) it is described that this was the case in the group of Alois Mailander, certainly with his teacher Prestel. (projecting mentally, so that others perceive it as a vision). Much can be said about it, but simply it means there is a great connection with the world, when the boundaries of the ego and personality are transcended. The student can only in a deeply devotional attitude towards the teacher and by giving an "offering" of something of the self (called the finest essence of the heart in Buddhism) be blessed by the mind of the master, who then "pours" something back in the student, who has made room in himself by first giving. A logical exchange, because receiving is only possible if one is not too full with one's own mental content.
Receiving by giving is very common at all levels in Asia. The population became very restless when the communists in a South-East Asian country forbade the monks to "beg" with their bowls. The practice of the laity was to give (food) so that the meditators could transform their gift in their bodies to Buddha qualities and in this way the givers also benefited. The new law had to be reversed because society was disrupted too much. Here the physical transformation (from food, matter) to an enlightened body in meditation is sacred.

Most texts from Buddhist wisdom are manuals on how to meditate, how to apply the right view, rather than a philosophical debate. They are also the result of the experiences of a lineage of former masters. Wisdom is never separate from method, the practical application. After his work in Berlin, Steiner at first leaves out this practical side. No emphasis on meditation, but later a practice of the arts and in work areas as applications of Steiners insights. The understanding of his followers could grow with time through the arts and in various fields of work. The way of meditation, as described in "Wie erlangt mann Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten" (Steiner, 1935) was not practiced by everyone.

THE FOUR STAGES BY ATWOOD

Atwoods book describes in allegorical language an initiation ritual in four stages, called the "ecstasies". Starting with the experience of dying, "ecstatic death". (the Nigredo in alchemy).
This is known to the Buddhists: with a strong concentration in meditation, consciousness can suddenly "turn", whereby the trusted external reality is replaced by an internal reality of the mind. For those who are taken unprepared and by surprise, this moment can evoke a strong fear of dying. From being calmly concentrated and in control, one is swept away on impact and initially has no say in the forces and energies working here. It is called "trek chöd", or breaking through the hard body. One cannot stop or go back at that moment.
Buddha himself has warned one can go crazy. He described the experience like this: when one comes on a high and narrow mountain pass, at the moment of passing, two murderers suddenly come from left and right, one cannot get away from the situation anymore.
There are many stories of yogi's who have gone "crazy", who could no longer integrate these kind of experiences into normal functioning in the world.
It doesn't always have to happen with a death experience. Methods have been developed for this, to grow towards it step by step, to make the transition less dramatic. But the moment of change remains, there is no continuüm from the ordinary to the visionary. (it is suddenly there). Which is good, because it must remain possible to distinguish between these modalities. Some familiarity with the phenomena through study can help to recognize the experience and make good use of it. To accomplish the transition from a mind turned toward external reality to an absorption in the inner spiritual reality can be learned. The ultimate goal of meditation practice is to achieve an integration of these two realities. If it runs through each other, without integration and without distinction and understanding, one would be in delusional and psychotic states. Here the image is used of the swan that can separate milk and water.
So far "ecstatic death". In biblical language: "and I became entranced and saw" ...

What follows is an experience of oneness with what is outside of our identity. Called "communion with the intellect of nature". (Stage two of the ecstasies). What is in us also appears to exist outside of our physical boundaries. In the original wording of Atwood: "A nature primarily vital which is also formless, indestructible and immortal is made manifest and imparted through arcane and blessed visions". (The ethereal level is experienced).
After being outside the limitation of the body, in this allegorical language comes "Flight of the disembodied soul", (Stage 3). The energies of the life force can transport us into space. Consciousness gains wings and no longer finds itself bound to the location of the physical body, but also is present in the space that is not occupied by the physical body. Remarkable in these mental states, is the ability to witness the situation, there is an inner dialogue, there are observations, questions, initiatives and decisions of will, conclusions. One has the position of an explorer in new territory, a student who is presented with a new lesson and is interactively involved in it. At the same time it feels like always known and only now remembered. One stage (of the 4 stages) naturally follows the other.

The "flight of the disembodied soul" taking off with an expansive flight into space, is soon stopped by a vision, the encounter with another appearance, a higher being. In biblical texts one meets God, the highest, in the Buddhist doctrine a higher being resembling a Buddha, an appearance that is higher than ourselves and yet mysteriously belongs to us. It is also experienced in such a way that one is stopped along the lines of "to here and no further" and then is sent back to existence on earth. We meet an appearance outside of ourselves that has a connection with ourselves, with our origins, with our future. An original image, an archetype with Jung, a higher form of self with Steiner (to be the highest achievable for humanity in this cycle of existence on earth). "The one who is never born" in Buddhism. One realizes the connectedness in a spiritual exchange whereby one expands upon this phenomenon, knowing "I am that", after which one then turns back to one's own present self and starting point in the physical body, with which the connection was not broken. (With actual death the connection of the life force is broken and one cannot go back, but will descend again in a subsequent incarnation. Therefore this whole event is an "ecstasy", a visionary experience of dying). The returned one, was also called the "twice-born" in these initiation rituals.

Steiner explains the ethereal level, astral level and encounter with a higher ego in stage 3 "flight of the disembodied soul", as an ascending experience through these levels. In the experience itself, subject to the working of the energies and the perception of the images in the forces of the ethereal realm, this is less of a point. The experience is intensive and goes with great speed. The mind is working at top-level! With other forms of meditation than this initiation experience, these levels can be experienced more clearly.

Consciousness has made a space journey and descends again, whereby the body, with the gaze from space downward is seen as a shell, within which the energies in the form of the elements reincarnate (this vision is stage 4 in the original work). Eventually the visionary perception fades out and is replaced by the normal sensory orientation to external reality. The body regains its compact material form. Stage four is the most mystical, where again the ether forces connect with the elements in a physical body. "Hylic substance" (matter) is formed during the descent to the earth body. This last vision is represented by the warm red glow in the belly: the red of a sunrise can be seen on images of a meditating Buddha in the Zen schools.
Both the ascending journey to the cosmos, and the ability to go down again, we owe to the energies that "Lucifer" gives us in the ethereal realm. We owe the visions of our origin and future to these dynamic energies of Lucifer.

"Communion with the intellect of nature", with what is in the material world around us, we owe to the forces that Steiner calls the workings of Ahriman. Without this orientation to a world we would remain in a dream state of our inner visionary perception, indeed a beautiful kind of paradise. First we came down in evolution and then we may explore ourselves in a physical reality of this world.
The purpose of these initiation experiences has always been to unite these two worlds. To maintain the awareness of one reality in the other. Such is the work of the initiate, the Nirmanakaya, who lives in the incarnation of the earth body. Steiner calls this the highest attainable goal for humanity on earth, depicted in his Christ figure in the Statue. From the original place that this image was assigned in the old Goetheanum, central as background on the stage, one can gather how Steiner saw this Statue as a statement. The eurythmy would then take place before this.

Merkur examines what these three esoterics have done with the knowledge of Atwood's book and states that everyone has adapted the teaching to their own preferences. Steiner, who was the grand master of the Freemasonry Lodge in Berlin, chose duality. He summarized the development of initiation in the two aspects of Ahriman and Lucifer. In the original doctrine this was Union with the intellect of Nature (Ahriman), also called "Extrovertive Union" and then "Introvertive Union", the descent and perception of oneself in the Sambhogakaya form, (the light-body) in the physical form of the Nirmanakaya. The future man cannot be realized without the powers of Ahriman and Lucifer. Anyone who sees these forces as negative, is neglecting his own potential for development.

SUMMARY

Contemplation of the statue, if one can overcome a negative reaction toward the two devils, what does it bring? On a basic level the teaching of keeping balance in emotions. This is the field of preparatory exercises.
The next step is to learn how to make use of the forces in this duality in a positive way, namely for a dynamic meditation about the self and space. The final aim being the realization of the Christ-man, the incarnation of the higher self into the earthly part of the self. Indeed in such practice the radiating face of the future man appears as a vision before ones eyes, as if looking into a mirror. These instructions are given by eastern teachers, meticulously clearly described. The knowledge is present in the Freemason tradition, in Buddhism, probably in Sufism, Judaism and more esoteric traditions. A good example is the visionary appearance of angels in Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions. In eastern traditions called Space travelers, dakini rushing in to help the meditator. (like elsewhere neither male nor female beings, yet often depicted as female beings). Rudolf Steiner makes a very interesting new name for this phenomenon in his esoteric Class hour tekst: namely "Willenszauberwesen", magic beings of will. One can see his recognition of the phenomenon as a creative act of of will in the perception during meditation. Ones own activity creates the visionary appearance. Apart from this he keeps speaking about angels, archangels, the hierarchies as higher beings which sometimes leads to the understanding of them as external realities. The knowledge about these phenomena has been present in this world, passed on secretly from master to student for generations. Finally it was spread under more members and students. It is no single religions property. Any tradition will seek its own explanation, be it for example Buddhist or Christian: on the level of the phenomena remain the same visionary experiences. The phenomenon is not Christian, rather Christ fits into the line of highly realized human beings from old times on till the present time.

The highest achievable realization is that of the rainbow body after death. (All elements of the physical body converted into rainbow light, no physical substance remains except empty clothing, hair and nails). The master is sewn into a tent that should only be opened after a week. Occasionally, the students interrupted this dissolution of the physical body into the etheric elements; they wanted to have "something" of the physical body of their master to cremate for a relic. What they found was a shrunken body remaining, the size of a very small child: the process was not yet completed.

Now I am not sure how the exact use of the dynamics of Ahriman and Lucifer in meditation would become clear by just looking at the statue, without having the knowledge of, or experience with the initiation stages. More is needed, like the initiation rituals, a good meditation teacher, not to forget a very motivated student, who has decided to go for it with all energies he can muster, becoming "a stream winner", once on his way the stream will take him further to his goal.
Steiner has opted for conversion of the original doctrine of initiation that could only take place in meditative absorption, into a half-externalization in art one could behold. In addition, Steiner opted for openly discussing all contents of the secret doctrine, more than for the rituals and spiritual transfer to students in a closed circle. Whether he was focused on the pupils' own experience while leading the Berlin lodge is an unanswered question for me, since those who have undergone it will certainly not have mentioned it. This kind of learning takes place between the mind of the teacher and the mind of the student and must remain within it. One can talk about the theory, one is silent about the exact experience. It is presently as if Steiner said: I have seen and report to you, for the time being you people set to work with my indications, until the time comes that you will be able to see with your own eyes. Steiner seems to want to explain it all and fit pieces of esoteric teaching into his pan-sophie to eventually be called anthroposophy, more than teaching a method of meditation instructions. He was above all a philosopher rather than a meditation teacher.

The initiation experiences (ecstasies) are the basic pattern on which all formal meditation exercises are developed: one follows a natural possibility of the mind to acquire knowledge in images and experiences about our situation in the world. It is called developing wisdom in eastern traditions, more than knowledge in our western scientific sense. For this route there are the user manuals" which provide the method. There are no "result books" that tell how people and the world work together. One has to work on this oneself by following the method. The analogy with exact science, in addition to that of an art, is also appropriate. One follows the steps of a mathematical operation and then comes to the solution of the question or the sum. The works are written down to instruct people on how to approach it. It is not possible to immediately take over the transmutation in the mind of the teacher or initiate. Method is offered and depending on the application one can participate in the achievements of the mind of a spiritually experienced person, but only after one has become spiritually active oneself. The admission ticket remains "to do it" oneself. (called "to perform" in the teaching. Is the student able to execute the indications in his own mind?). The conceptual understanding is a closure of the openness to be able to experience and get involved in a process. After the experience it is important not to stop this inner processing in a conceptual understanding, but to allow it to work itself out, often over many years. In this way, "transmuting" in the mind, wisdom is slowly formed as a fruit. (The so called hermetically closed vessel in alchemy, nothing must go out, nothing from the outside come in, maturation entirely inside). One can sense that the bringing out of these experiences into external reality is a risk to weaken the precious energy of these inner images. They should not be turned into "external reality". No description, no images, just trusting the inner power of transformation is the advice. This is the core of Jungs transforming the Self, the essence of the commandment to not make an outer image of the God in the old testament: Do not externalize the inner living image, do not speak of it, or write it down (is also bringing it out). No "as if outside spiritual world" talk. Meditation teachers immediately come down fiercely on any tendency of a student to go the wrong way in their understanding, it is the most precious opportunity that may get lost if misinterpreted!

WHAT COULD BE THE REASON OF STEINERS OTHER COURSE?

After his Berlin period, Steiner increasingly turned to the public via the arts. Also due to his many lectures, it became a broad translation into directions for work areas. Only in the last years of his life did he come to write class hours as a teaching material for mantra meditation. This was a translation of the knowledge of esoteric teachings into language, text, explanation in words. The personal spiritual transfer in teaching does not seem to have been his way. It may be that the time for this was lacking in Steiner's life, or that Steiner had a different appreciation of the talents of his students and found a gradual way better, through work with his directions for various professions. Had he changed his course because Germany entered the First World War? Then the analogy with the bewilderment after the Second World War and leaving the church and faith would apply: Because of a war no more esoteric teaching as was usual in the lodge. It can be assumed that a spiritual teacher does not just give up. Was he disappointed in his students? Could this be the reason why this road was closed off and that door to this precursor of anthroposophy remained closed for members and later generations? (no more rituals and initiations, no mention of the freemasons origins). One only hears about leaving the theosophical society, while leaving the position as grand master of the lodge is never mentioned. Away from Berlin because of the war, but why away from a method? One outer reason was the new domicile in Switzerland and the wish to build the Goetheanum. One did not want to raise any suspicion by secret society gatherings. The only answer in Dornach was invariably: "Eastern things are bad for Western people, Steiner said", without explaining how that was meant. Perhaps this statement, if Steiner ever made it, was based on his experience during his time in the lodge? The practice looks like it must have been a combination of many religious and esoteric traditions. Specifically eastern was perhaps the "Hindu tantra" part, as tantra is a broad assembly name of many practices, from yoga, to rituals, to mantra, performing art and more. One could even say alchemy is a practice of tantra. In general one follows a method or ritual to bring about a "weaving together" of body and spirit, the human form and the cosmos. It is a creative acting. To the Viennese occultists with their special form of yoga and language sound meditation for the highest grades and the inner circle, today's eurythmy (and possibly also speech formation) would come very close to their practice. Meaning the actual doing of eurythmy itself. (To perform it on a stage would be another matter, just as watching a performance of eurythmie as a stage art is another variant, as something of the transforming power within the individual will be lost).
Spiritual teaching is the heritage of all of humanity, essentially there is no difference between Eastern and Western people. We are all in the same development here on earth.

All paths are valuable: study and philosophical debate, active dynamic path of experience through the arts and finally meditative absorption practice. Each individual student is gifted differently in their own way and can best benefit from one of these methods. The teacher must in principle meet the entire spectrum, so that he can offer all pupils something that fits best. Once a teacher has decided in which way he wants to teach an individual, that is certain. One can recognize a good teacher by this: there is no single same method for everyone. Steiner has undoubtedly taken an individual approach to people in life. In general, this is the case in art education, although it is becoming less individual there: people must learn the trade. The study group will be the least individually targeted as a learning experience. This entails a risk that people will see the doctrine as absolute and above the person. Philosophy and theory also exist only by the individual, one must also be able to separate from a theory. For instance the theoretical explication of the levels in meditation (as described in stage 3 of the ecstasies) can become a hindrance to the actual experience, whereas they may be helpful afterward. Analogous to dealing with emotion, there is also a dealing with thoughts, by observing them, letting them come into the mind and go again. Everything takes place in the space of the mind. The other end of the learning spectrum is the personal experience from which the student tries to become wise against the background of a teaching. All processes involving decades of processing and working on. Fast results and insights? Yes, sometimes, but then the integration, internalization, transmutation starts, not wanting to come to conclusions too quickly.
With the old initiation stages, a shot is fired at the start as a radical experience, and afterwards a lot of time is needed to grow.
The route through study, applying instructions is also a very long one, before one would come to this kind of meditative experiences (which Steiner called Geistesschau). After all, these experiences are initially at odds with normal consciousness. It can be difficult for an individual to "break" (interrupt) his own normal consciousness so that the other vision can come in. The Zen Buddhists have the method of the unexpected blow with a stick. Other disciplines have different methods to get someone out of their habitual pattern. Teachers with a powerful mind know how to achieve it by focusing their mind on the student, so that they suddenly take their chances.
May everyone embark on the adventurous journey exploring consciousness! In doing so, making full use of everything given as energies in our constitution. Ahriman and Lucifer, as well, although they may not be attractive names.

In other systems the duality is sometimes expressed in a more neutral way: such as "space cycle" and "mind-cycle" in the dzogchen tradition. Teachings grouped in space teachings and mind teachings. The one way and the other lead to results.
"Father-tantra" and "mother-tantra" classifications, where tantra mainly uses ethereal physiology, chakra's and energy pathways and therefore certainly is not exclusively related to the actual union of a man and a woman to produce new life . (An exceptional way of meditation, which most people are not ready for).
The left hand and the right perform rituals and mudra's, like a dance of hands and fingers, in which the feminine and masculine are connected, also called wisdom and method. One cannot do without the other: wisdom cannot arise without the right method, they are inextricably connected. In certain Buddha images, one sometimes sees two plant-like vegetative stems, to the left and right of the image. They seem like an ornament, but are the "stems" (energy pathways) that carry sun and moon at the height of the head, as the ultimate fruit of "transmutation" on the spiritual path. In alchemy this transmutation is described as the union of Luna and Sol, the feminine and masculine principle within us: What radiates out as the sun and is formed within as new life by the forces of growth (under the influence of the Moon) All inspiring images for inner processes, or as Steiner put it poetically:

"Ich fühle wie entzaubert Das Geisteskind im Seelenschoss; Es hat in Herzenshelligkeit Gezeugt das heil'ge Weltenwort ..." part of his weekly verse for Christmas. ( Steiner, 1912).

(In English translation: I feel like disenchanted, The spirit child in the lap of my soul; It is in hearts brightness, conceived by the holy worlds word..)

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