Dear
Friends,
During
the weekend of August 17-18, Bodo von Plato, a member of the Executive
Committee at the Gœtheanum, gave a workshop on meditation in Montreal. The event was attended by close to 80
participants from Quebec and Ontario.
The following reflections come to me as I look back on the
gathering.
Several
years ago, a friend of mine gave me a fragment of a meteorite as a
present. It is something I cherish dearly. Nearly spherical in shape, the rock’s outer
shell is brownish in colour. When it hit
the earth, it split open, thus revealing its inner structure. Inside the stone one can see a star-shaped
crystal formation – a star of a thousand points gleaming with a clear metallic
sheen which recalls its luminous trajectory through the earth’s atmosphere.
At the
end of August nature is already announcing summer’s end; the days become
shorter, yellow-hued flowers become more prevalent, the leaves as well begin to
turn yellow. And as we gaze up into the night sky shooting stars appear. In his Michaelmas imagination of October 15,
1923, Rudolf Steiner describes how meteorites carrying cosmic iron burst into flame
and burn up in the atmosphere. In human blood we find this same process on a
microcosmic scale. With each breath the iron in the blood undergoes
a process of combustion causing the red corpuscles to “light up”. What a majestic image: as we breathe, the iron
contained in our blood lights up like a shooting star!
Cosmic
iron becomes more and more present as autumn approaches, providing an antidote
to the sulphuric ahrimanic forces of summer.
This is a call to the human being to learn to know his essential self as
a being of spirit. Michaelmas is a
festival that honours the true individuality – not the ordinary “I” but the
cosmic, universal “I”.
Spiritualized
Iron
We can
take this image as a subject for meditation, and, especially during the time of
Michaelmas, perhaps actually feel this spiritualized iron guiding us when we take
up a new task with enthusiasm, experiencing it as an act of will carried by a
new impulse. Which brings us to the
subject of meditation. As anthroposophists,
after a certain time spent studying Rudolf Steiner’s works alone or in a group,
we may come to a point where we feel the necessity to begin meditating. Meditation
then becomes a way of bringing us to a higher level of consciousness. There are many books, lectures and
indications that describe meditation exercises and give practical advice on how
to meditate.
During
Rudolf Steiner’s lifetime, his pupils could receive advice and personal
attention directly from him. Today, we
are left to our own devices and have total freedom with respect to the way we choose
to go about this inner work and “build our own hut.” (c.f. Knowledge of Higher Worlds, VI: The
Transformation of Dream Life.) This freedom brings with it a multitude of
questions. Why should I meditate? Which
exercise should I choose? Am I meditating in the right way? Even individuals
with years of experience have questions from time to time. This can induce us
to go back to the source; for example taking up Knowledge of Higher Worlds once again. Or we may choose to share
personal meditative experiences with friends.
The Four
Stages
Bodo
von Plato first called our attention to the importance of inner
preparation. One traditionally speaks of
the four stages of meditation:
- Comprehension (understanding what we are going to do – the content)
- Concentration (how to direct one’s attention)
- Contemplation (I connect myself with the content of my thoughts and my feelings)
- The meditation proper (I unite my being with the previous stages in order to become a whole). (c.f. H. Zimmermann and Robin Schmidt as well as the book by Arthur Zajonc).*
In his
workshop, Bodo had us do exercises aimed at making us aware of how we
experience reverence and gratitude. Referring
to Knowledge of Higher Worlds, Bodo
emphasized the importance of creating the right mood for beginning and ending one’s
meditative activity. We can establish an
adequate mood for the beginning of the meditation by recalling moments when we experienced
a feeling of reverence for a person, a work of art, or an event in our
lives. This attitude of reverence
becomes the key for opening the meditative space by producing a mood of inner
peace.
Gratitude
is a conscious awareness of something we have received, and as such serves as a
closing for the whole process. It is
gratitude towards other beings that allows us to receive the benefits of the act
of meditation.
The Seven
Conditions
In the
second part of his workshop, Bodo recalled the seven conditions for inner work required
to develop a healthy inner life. These
seven conditions can be shown to be related to the seven components which make
up the human being. Rudolf Steiner
describes them in detail in Knowledge of
Higher Worlds under the heading The
Conditions of Esoteric Training. Technically speaking, these are not really
exercises but rather soul qualities: achieving balance in the life of both body
and soul; feeling oneself part of and connected to the entire world; being
aware of the thoughts we have regarding others; recognizing the other’s spirit
essence; practicing perseverance with respect to the decisions one makes; feeling
gratitude for everything that comes one’s way; and finally, working to bring
all of the previous soul qualities together into a coherent whole.
It is
truly a gift to be able to experience a workshop event like this one, because
it gives us the opportunity to take stock of our own inner work. When one undertakes meditative work, the challenges
are many. The first of these is to find
a moment in one’s day when the necessary withdrawal from daily life is possible. The second is to establish a rhythm; rhythm
is the fundamental requirement for all meditative activity. Perseverance is also a challenge, because it
may be a very long time before any results at all can be noticed. Then of course there is the matter of
choosing the content for the meditation. We can decide to concentrate on a work
of art, a geometric figure, or perhaps choose a mantric verse. Rudolf Steiner gave many such verses, some
general in nature, others intended more specifically for those working in
various walks of life.
The
Foundation Stone
It is
my belief that the Foundation Stone Meditation remains the quintessential
meditative verse for members of the Society – even though we may too often tend
to forget this fact. Through this verse we
can form a connection to the impulse of the Christmas Conference and thus to
the very essence of anthroposophy itself.
It also indicates the path leading towards the discovery of our higher
“I”. In several of his works, Sergei
Prokofieff emphasizes the importance of the Christmas Conference and our need
to understand the Foundation Stone verse.
Although this meditation is often recited in part or in its entirety
during members’ meetings, I have frequently asked myself how many people actually
practice this meditation on a regular basis. Perhaps some do so only from time
to time, or practice meditating its seven rhythms as given by Rudolf Steiner in
December of 1923.
This
Stone carries a Michaelic impulse and can provide an inexhaustible source of
insights for inner research. Members who
work with this meditation on a regular basis, inspired by the indications given
during the Christmas Conference, weave an invisible spiritual fabric. Others could certainly join in as well.
The following mantric verse is the one Rudolf Steiner gave with the Imagination for Michaelmas (October 15, 1923). It speaks of how iron in its earthly form must be spiritualized by human beings.
O Man,
Thou mouldest it to thy
service,
Thou revealest it according to
the value of its substance
In many of thy works.
Yet it will only bring thee
healing,
When to thee is revealed
The lofty power of its Spirit.
Michaelmas is the festival of
the spiritual individuality, whose gaze is turned towards the future, above and
beyond all national and geographical boundaries. Each one of us can, in complete freedom, work
towards forging our own “cosmic iron” through free personal initiative. Meditation becomes an essential tool in this
process. When we meditate we do so for
ourselves but also for others.
I wish
you all a wonderful Michaelmas,
Arie
van Ameringen,
General
Secretary
*)
Heinz Zimmermann and Robin Schmidt, Meditation,
2010 (in German, not yet translated)
Arthur
Zajonc, Meditation as Contemplative
Inquiry, 2009
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