This Classic work is now copyright expired and therefore in the public domain.

An Outline of Occult Science by Rudolf Steiner

V. KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS

page 19 of 38 | page 1 | An Outline of Occult Science - home

It is, however, quite possible that before actual illumination, the student may get repeated "flashes of light" from a higher world. These he should receive gratefully. Even these can make him a witness of the spiritual realms. Yet he must not falter should this never be vouchsafed him during his entire period of preparation, and should its consequent duration seem all too long to him. Indeed, those who yield to impatience "because they can as yet see nothing," have not yet acquired the right attitude toward the higher worlds. Those alone will be in a position to grasp this who can view the exercises they undertake as an object in themselves. For this practice is in truth a working on something psycho-spiritual, namely, on their own astral body; even though they do not "see," they can "feel" that they are working on the psycho-spiritual plane. Only when we have a preconceived idea of what we "wish to see," are we unable to experience this feeling. In that case we may consider as nothing what is, in reality, of immeasurable importance. But one should observe minutely everything which one experiences while practicing,--experiences which are so fundamentally different from those of the sense-world. We shall then become aware that we cannot work upon our astral body as though it were some indifferent substance; but that in it there lives a totally different world of which the life of our senses does not inform us.

Higher entities act upon the astral body in the same way in which the world of the physical senses acts upon the physical body, and we "come upon" that higher life in our own astral body, provided only we do not shut ourselves out from it. If we are perpetually saying: "I am aware of nothing," then it is generally the case that we imagined that these experiences should appear thus and so; and because we do not see what we imagined we should see, we say, "I can see nothing."

However, he who is able to acquire the right attitude of mind with regard to his practice during training, will find more and more that he has something which he loves for its own sake and which, as an immeasurably important vital function, he can no longer do without. He will then know that through these very practices he is standing in the psycho-spiritual world and will await with patience and resignation what may further transpire. This attitude of mind of the student may best be expressed in such words as these: "I _will_ do all the exercises which have been assigned to me; for I know that in the fullness of time as much will come to me as I should receive; I do not ask for it impatiently, but I prepare myself to receive it." On the other hand one should not raise the objection: The occult student, then, is expected perhaps for a long time to feel around in the dark, because he cannot know that he is on the right path with his exercises, before he obtains results. It is not true, however, that he must wait until the results prove to him the correctness of the exercises. If the attitude of the student is right, then the satisfaction which he experiences in the practice of these exercises, in itself carries the conviction that he is doing the right thing, and he does not need to wait for results to prove it. The correct practice of exercises in occult training brings with it a satisfaction that is not merely satisfaction, but conviction--the conviction that I am doing something which shows me that it is leading me forward in the right direction. Every occult student may have this conviction at any moment if he pays careful attention to his experiences. Should he not exercise such attention, he will simply pass by these experiences just as a wayfarer in profound thought does not notice the trees alongside of the road, though he would surely see them if he would but direct his attention to them.