EsotericDevelopment

Selected Lectures and Writings

RUDOLF STEINER

SteinerBooks

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CONTENTS

Introduction by Stephen E. Usher vii

1. Esoteric Development 1Berlin, Dec. 7, 1905

2. The Psychological Basis of Spiritual Science 24Bologna, April 8, 1911

3. Suprasensory Knowledge 50Vienna, September 26, 1923

4. The Attainment of Spiritual Knowledge 72Dornach, September 20, 1922

5. General Requirements for Esoteric Development 91Guidance in Esoteric Training

6. The Great Initiates 101Berlin, March 16, 1905

7. The Rosicrucian Spiritual Path 120Berlin, October 29, 1906

8. Imagination Knowledge and Artistic Imagination 137Berlin, October 21, 1906

9. Three Decisions on the Path of Imagination Knowledge: Loneliness, Fear, and Dread 144Berlin, March 2, 1915

Bibliography 167

Notes on the Text 171

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IntroductionStephen E. Usher

Esoteric Development and Spiritual Research

“Esoteric development,” the theme of this volume, refers tothe systematic development of capacities latent in the humanbeing that, when carried far enough, lead to direct experienceof spiritual reality, experience that is not accessible to the phys-ical senses and the intellect that is bound to them. It followsthat esoteric development leads to experiences beyond thescope of natural science. Esoteric development might be com-pared to embryological development with the difference thatembryological development occurs unconsciously and at thephysical level while esoteric development is guided consciouslyby the individual and occurs, at least in the initial phases, in thesoul. The first selection of this volume is a lecture titled “InnerDevelopment” (December 7, 1905, Berlin), which means thesame thing as “esoteric development.” There it is stated thatinner development “refers to the ascent of the human being tocapacities which must be acquired if he wishes to make super-sensible insights his own.”

The volume consists of two articles and eight lectures byRudolf Steiner, written or delivered between 1905 and 1923.In the sixth selection, “The Great Initiates,” Steiner speaks ofnever setting “limits on our capacity to know, seeing it instead assomething to be both widened and uplifted.” He also observes

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in this lecture of March 16, 1905 (Berlin), that it is the greatestarrogance to regard one’s own capacity for knowledge as if itwere decisive and to declare that it is not possible to transcendit. Steiner was fully aware of the difficulties caused by this arro-gance, because he had developed his own capacities for knowl-edge to a level that towered far above those typical of the mostgifted representatives of his time, and those of his time largelyrefused to recognize what Steiner had to offer.

Steiner was, indeed, a great initiate who had traveled faralong the path of esoteric development and was, consequently,eminently qualified to describe the exercises, disciplines, andpractices that a student of higher knowledge needs for his ownesoteric striving. In “The Great Initiates,” Steiner speaks of“teachers who experienced each school, devoted themselves toevery exercise, and truly contemplated each step and every level.We should entrust ourselves only to such teachers of initiationschools.” The modern aspirant to esoteric development cannotdo better than entrust himself to Rudolf Steiner who throughhis published writings and lectures stands as the greatestteacher of the modern, western path of inner development.

In “The Great Initiates,” Steiner describes the relationbetween a modern esoteric teacher and student by explainingthat nothing of “authority” or “dogmatism” is involved, onlythe giving of counsel and advice. The relation is one based ontrust. (“What is necessary is simply that there be trust betweenpupil and teacher in this sphere.”) In the preface to the 1914edition of How Does One Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds?1

1. The actual English title to this book is: How to Know Higher Worlds or Knowl-edge of Higher Worlds and Its Attainment. Both are incorrect translations of theGerman, Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Weten? The correct translationis as indicated.

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Steiner—contrasting the situation in 1914 to the time of thefirst appearance of the book, 1904–1905—again discussed therelation between the teacher and pupil of esoteric develop-ment:1

At that time I had to explain that a great deal of what wasnot yet described in the book could be learned by oral com-munication. Much of this material has since been published.But allusions to it before publication left the possibility ofmisinterpretation and misunderstanding on the part of thereader. It might be possible, for instance, to imagine some-thing much more vital in the personal relations between theseeker for spiritual schooling and this or that teacher than is

1. It should be noted that only the Western spiritual research is capable of a fruit-ful complimentary interaction with natural science. See Rudolf Steiner, Corre-spondence and Documents, 1901–1925, “Notes by Rudolf Steiner written forEdouard Schuré in Barr, Alsace, September 1907,” particularly part III, pp. 9–19. “It should be understood that the introduction of a correct esotericism in theWest can only be of the Rosicrucian-Christian type, because this latter gave birthto Western life and because by its loss mankind would deny the meaning anddestiny of the Earth. The harmonious relationship between science and religioncan flower only in this esotericism, while every amalgamation of Western knowl-edge and Eastern esotericism can only produce such unproductive mongrels asSinnett’s Esoteric Buddhism.”

On the relation between the Eastern and Western Schools of esoteric develop-ment, see From the History and Contents of the First Section of the Esoteric School1904–1914, pp. 314–315: “Previously the Western School was only an append-age to the Eastern one, was subordinate to it; now, however, both are simplylinked by a bond of brotherhood, each going its separate way, independent ofone another. The Western School is no longer subordinate to the Eastern School,but they are coordinated.... The Christian teaching and the Christian-Rosicru-cian teaching now exist in the West. The former educates through feelings, thelatter though understanding. The dying cultures of the East still need the Easternteachings. The Western teachings are for future cultures.... One of these schoolsis led by Mrs. Besant, the other by Dr. Steiner. But we have to decide which oneto follow.” The text also names the great Eastern Masters who stood behind Mrs.Besant and the great Western Masters who stood behind Rudolf Steiner.

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intended. I trust I have here succeeded, by presenting detailsin a certain way, in emphasizing more strongly that for oneseeking spiritual schooling in accord with present spiritualconditions an absolute direct relation to the objective spiri-tual world is of far greater importance than a relation to thepersonality of a teacher. The latter will gradually becomemerely the helper; he will assume the same position in spiri-tual schooling as a teacher occupies, in conformity withmodern views, in any other field of knowledge. I believe Ihave sufficiently stressed the fact that the teacher’s authorityand the pupil’s faith in him should play no greater part inspiritual schooling than in any other branch of knowledgeor life. A great deal depends, it seems to me, upon anincreasing true estimate of this relation between the onewho carries on spiritual research and those who develop aninterest in the results of his research. [emphasis added]

The last sentence quoted above refers to spiritual research.The idea of spiritual research is one of Steiner’s seminalthoughts. What Steiner indicates with this concept is the possi-bility of a new form of science, a science of the spirit that com-plements the natural science that burst in upon humanevolution around A.D. 1500 with the great discoveries associ-ated with names like Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho Brahe, and soon. Steiner explains and defends this idea and the possibility ofspiritual research in the second selection in this volume, “ThePsychological Basis of Spiritual Science,” the text of a lecturethat he delivered to a congress of philosophers on April 11,1911, in Bologna. There he articulates the view that thehuman being can undergo a systematic development of his fac-ulties of soul and spirit through special exercises and, thereby,new experiences are opened up, experiences that are not acces-

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Introduction � vii

sible to the methods of natural science and are the domain ofspiritual research:

These exercises have an intimate soul character and take aunique form in each person. Once we have begun, theelement of individuality results from the way each soul isused in practicing the exercises. What always follows,however, is a positive awareness of living in a reality that issuprasensory in nature and independent of one’s outerphysical body. For the sake of simplicity, let us refer toone who is looking for these soul experiences as a “spiri-tual researcher” [Geistesforscher]. For a spiritual researcherthere is a definite awareness, in complete presence ofmind, that behind the bodily organization perceptible tothe senses there is a suprasensory organization. There is anawareness that it is possible to experience oneself withinthis suprasensory organization just as normal conscious-ness is aware of itself within the physical body.

Later in this same lecture Steiner describes how spiritualresearch and natural scientific research are really complimen-tary endeavors indicating how they can both explore aspects ofthe same reality:1

One would have to see that the ordinary empirical con-tent of consciousness is related to what is truly experi-enced in the inner life of one’s core being, just as amirrored image is related to the real being of the personviewed in a mirror.

By thinking in this way in relation to the theory of

1. This is GA 25 in the German complete works. It is an essay written at the timeof the so-called French course, Philosophy, Cosmology, Religion in 1922.

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knowledge, conflict could certainly be eliminatedbetween natural science, with its inclination toward mate-rialism, and spiritual research, which presupposes thespiritual....

[It can be seen] in all of what natural science can estab-lish, the idea mentioned (which is fundamental from theperspective of epistemology) sees only those arrangementsthat reflect the true core of the human being. This core ofbeing, however, is not located within the physical organi-zation, but in the transcendental. Spiritual researchshould thus be thought of as a way to gain knowledge ofthe true nature of the phenomenon reflected. Obviously,the basis of all the laws of the physical organism and thoseof the suprasensory would be behind this antithesis, orbeing and mirror.

None of this, however, is any disadvantage to one’spractice of the scientific method from either direction. Bymaintaining this antithesis, the method would, as it were,flow into two currents that mutually illuminate and clar-ify each other. For it must be said that the physical organi-zation is not a mere reflector in an absolute sense,independent of the suprasensory. After all, the reflectormust be seen as the product of the suprasensory beingmirrored by it. (emphasis added)

The two currents are evidently spiritual scientific research andnatural scientific research.

In the lecture “Suprasensory Knowledge,” delivered on Sep-tember 26, 1923, in Vienna (third selection), Steiner describeshow the scientific method, established by natural science isrelated to spiritual scientific research. The spiritual researcheruses a scientific method to develop his own faculties to the

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point where he can make specific observations in the spiritualworld. It is the process of esoteric development, in other words,that is pursued scientifically. Once the higher faculties are suffi-ciently developed certain spiritual phenomena can be observedand as the development continues further phenomena comeinto view:

A natural scientist applies this precision to external exper-imentation and observation, hoping to see things juxta-posed so that they reveal their secrets with exactness in theprocess of quantification. Spiritual scientists, of whom Iam speaking, apply this precision to the development oftheir own soul forces. To use an expression of Goethe,their inner discovery, through which the spirit world andhuman immortality step before one’s soul, is made in aprecise way. With every step of a spiritual scientist towardrevealing the spiritual world to the eyes of the soul, onefeels obligated to perceive conscientiously, just as a mathe-matician must at every step. And just as mathematiciansmust see clearly into everything they write down, spiritualscientists likewise look with absolute precision at every-thing they uncover through powers of cognition. Theyunderstand that they have developed the soul’s eye fromthe soul itself, using the same inner laws that nature usesto form physical eyes from bodily substance. They knowthey can speak of spirit worlds with the same authorityone uses when speaking of the sensory world seen withphysical eyes. In this sense, the spiritual research we arediscussing satisfies the requirements of the magnificentachievements of natural science—which spiritual sciencein no way opposes, but seeks to supplement.

From this last passage one can see that Steiner is speaking

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about an exacting scientific method of esoteric development.This method leads to accurate spiritual scientific observationsof spiritual phenomena. It is worth underscoring that this sci-entific exactness is essential, for what the student is actuallydoing is bringing his own higher being to birth and endowingit with organs of supersensible perception. Lack of precise workcan lead to an unhealthy entry into the spiritual world andinaccurate observations. As Steiner explained in “Three Deci-sions on the Path of Imagination Knowledge: Loneliness, Fear,and Dread” (lecture of March 2, 1915 in Berlin and last selec-tion in this volume): The question most people ask “is notwhether they enter the spirit world in the correct way, butwhether they enter it at all.” The scientific method of esotericdevelopment described by Rudolf Steiner insures proper entryinto the spiritual world.

It also should be grasped that Steiner viewed the emergenceof a real science of the spirit based on spiritual research asessential to the future evolution of humanity. Indeed, it isstated in the third statute of the Anthroposophical Society,founded by Rudolf Steiner and his associates in 1923 at theChristmas Conference in Dornach, Switzerland:

These results [of spiritual research] are in their own way asexact as the results of genuine natural science. When theformer attain general recognition in the same way as thelatter, they will bring about comparable progress in allspheres of life, not only in the spiritual but also in the prac-tical realm.

Rudolf Steiner’s Primary Works on Esoteric Development

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The material in this volume supplements and augmentsother works of Steiner on the theme of esoteric developmentand spiritual research. His fundamental and basic work on thetheme is How Does One Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds?Other important written works about the path of inner devel-opment are as follows:

TheosophyAn Outline of Esoteric ScienceThe Stages of Higher KnowledgeA Way of Self Knowledge On the Life of the SoulPhilosophy, Cosmology, & Religion1

Further works on the theme by Rudolf Steiner include:

Guidance in Esoteric TrainingFrom the History and Contents of the First Section of the

Esoteric School, 1904–1914

Also of great importance are Steiner’s four “Mystery” dramas,four plays that depict the lives of a group of individuals who areactively engaged in esoteric development. The dramas, pub-lished under the title Four Mystery Dramas, present, if you will,case histories of esoteric development. These make clear thediverse and often complex byways that an individual’s develop-ment can take and therefore the plays provide an importantcomplement to the more textbook perfect case of esotericdevelopment described in Steiner’s books and lectures on eso-

1. It is this writer’s understanding that what is not revealed in these publishedworks of Rudolf Steiner about esoteric development will be revealed to the pupilby a teacher or initiate, either living or disincarnate, when one has mastered whathas been published.

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teric development. While the Mystery Dramas present case histories and the

works listed above present the general path of esoteric develop-ment Steiner also gave advice regarding the esoteric develop-ment of people engaged in the various professions. In the cyclecalled Course for Young Doctors, Steiner gave specific adviceregarding the esoteric development of medical doctors. In Cur-ative Education Steiner makes suggestions regarding the eso-teric path for those working with people with special needs.The volume The Boundaries of Natural Science speaks of a pathspecialized to natural scientists. The School for Spiritual Sci-ence that Steiner inaugurated at the same time that he re-founded the Anthroposophical Society—the Christmas Foun-dation meeting of 1923—was formed with sections for differ-ent areas of scientific and artistic inquiry. It was evidentlySteiner’s intention to create specialized paths of esoteric devel-opment for each of these professions to be taught in the respec-tive sections. The idea was to tailor the path for the specificspiritual research requirements of the different professions.These specialized indications should be viewed as a comple-ment to the more general material.

Generally speaking, thoughts on esoteric development arescattered throughout Steiner’s complete works comprising over360 volumes.

The content of this volume together with the material men-tioned above constitutes a comprehensive look at esotericdevelopment. It reveals both what the individual wishing sucha development must undertake to bring it about and what hewill experience along the way. This material is also valuable tothe student of spiritual science not interested in undertaking apath of inner development. It answers the question of how

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spiritual scientific knowledge is discovered. In “The Rosicrucian Spiritual Path” (Oct. 20, 1906, sev-

enth selection) Steiner explains that if this trust is lost, “theessential bond would be torn apart, and the forces at playbetween teacher and student would cease to be effective.” Twoobservations are in order regarding this statement. First, thereader may see a contradiction between this reference to an“essential bond” and “forces at play” between them, on the onehand, and Steiner’s statement from the 1914 preface to HowDoes One Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds? (quoted next inthis introduction) on the other. In the preface, Steiner states:

It might be possible, for instance, to imagine somethingmuch more vital in the personal relations between theseeker for spiritual schooling and this or that teacher thanis intended.

The point is that one could take a “special bond” or “forceswhich play between them” as being exactly the “somethingmore vital” that Steiner says does not exist. This writer’s under-standing of the distinction is that the bond in the more ancientmethods of spiritual schooling were “more vital,” inasmuch as akind of direct working on the student’s subtle bodies was car-ried out by the teacher. Such a relation would be totally inap-propriate today, at least in the West, as it would beincompatible with freedom. The modern teacher works in afashion similar to that of a teacher of mathematics. There some-thing remarkable does occur as explained by Rudolf Steiner inthe appendix to the 1918 edition of his Philosophy of SpiritualActivity. Speaking of what happens when we encounter anotherhuman being who is expressing his thoughts, Steiner states thesense perception we have of this other (e.g. a teacher of mathe-

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matics),

Through the thinking with which I confront the other per-son, the percept of him becomes, as it were, transparent tothe mind. I am bound to admit that when I grasp the per-cept with my thinking, it is not at all the same thing asappeared to the outer senses. In what is a direct appearanceto the senses, something else is indirectly revealed. Themere sense appearance extinguishes itself at the same timeas it confronts me. But what it reveals through this extin-guishing compels me as a thinking being to extinguish myown thinking as long as I am under its influence, and toput its thinking in the place of mine. I then grasp its think-ing in my thinking as an experience like my own. I havereally perceived another person’s thinking. The immediatepercept, extinguishing itself as sense appearance, is graspedby my thinking, and this is a process lying wholly withinmy consciousness and consisting in this, that the other per-son’s thinking takes the place of mine. Through the self-extinction of the sense appearance, the separation betweenthe two spheres of consciousness is actually overcome.

When the other person is a trusted spiritual teacher, thepupil experiences the teacher’s thoughts as his own, thus receiv-ing his council and advice. With more or, perhaps better said,different effort a student can gain this advice and counsel fromthe published works of Rudolf Steiner.

The second point is that the phrase “torn apart” quoted atthe beginning of this note was mistranslated as “ruptured” inthe first edition of this book. Another translation erroroccurred in the first edition of the fifth selection, “GeneralRequirements for Esoteric Development.” In this selection the“six exercises” are described in a unique way, inasmuch as the

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description of each exercise ends with instructions on how todirect certain currents in the body. The translation error con-cerns the description of the second of the six exercises. The lateGisele O’Neil pointed out to me that the German originalphrase, “dass man es von Kopfe bis über das Herz herabströmenlasse,” is correctly translated “that one let it stream from thehead down and around the heart.” The first edition incorrectlytranslates this “letting it stream down from the head to a pointjust above the heart.” This is obviously an important distinc-tion for anyone attempting to practice the exercise. The sameerror occurs in the book, Guidance in Esoteric Training, whichalso presents a translation of this text. These comments are notintended as criticism of the translators who have generally donegood work, but rather to inform readers of these two problems.

INTRODUCTION COPYRIGHT ©2003 BY STEPHEN E. USHER & STEINERBOOKS

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