The Quest for Knowledge...

In 'The Life, Nature, and Cultivation of Anthroposophy' GA 260a.

Chapter VI. The Quest for Knowledge and the Will for Self-Discipline Steiner suggests:

"...These matters indicate most pointedly how the more vital quest of knowledge in the

Anthroposophical Society must be accompanied by unceasing endeavour to

ennoble and purify the life of feeling. An intensified search for knowledge deepens

the life of the soul and reaches down into those regions where pride, conceit, lack of sympathy with others, and many qualities besides, are lurking. A lesser quest of knowledge enters these regions only to a slight extent and leaves them slumbering in the deep places of the soul. But a life in knowledge that is keen and vital stirs them from their slumbers; habits which kept them under lose their power to do so. A spiritual ideal may well awaken qualities of soul which would have remained unmanifest without it. The Anthroposophical Society should be there to counteract, by cultivating nobility and purity of feeling, the dangers that are lurking in these quarters. There are indeed, in human nature, instincts which instill the fear of knowledge into man, for the very reason that these connections are felt to exist."

...There is a lot to unpack in the above quote.

The "fear of knowledge", self knowledge, where "human nature, instincts which instill fear..." "lurk".

This highlights the risks, and the courage needed on the path of spiritual develoment.

By naming "pride, conceit, lack of sympathy" and alluding to "others, and many qualities besides", it is no surprise that we Anthroposophists struggle to embody the wisdom that Steiner indicated.

These 'vices' have been conscious experiences since an early Christian monk, Evagrius Ponticus (345–399 AD) listed eight evil thoughts (Greek: logismoi). Later, Pope Gregory 1st refined these into the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath and Sloth.

I ask myself, are these qualities 'Human'? Their presence in the human psyche reflect the 'temptations' that being Human offers.

In these early days of my awakening, the best I can do to describe these experiences from the perspective of 'conscience'. Something from the future that flows into the present when facing these 'beings'.

What is the world 'I' am trying to create?

Steiner talked around this subject many times, in the 'statutes', the six subsiduary exercises, the work of the angels in Man's astral body... 'Brotherhood' ( lt is odd that the english term is not more universally human)

... anyway, even Steiner found it difficult to support early Anthroposophical adherants to find effective ways to transform the (so called) adverserial forces that, even today, continue to infiltrate even our best intentions.

... here is where I need to mention the 'Consciousness soul' experience and the transformation required to 'look within' and observe these beings and understand their role in human life.

In the last chapter of the lecture cycle "The Effects of Esoteric Development' (CW145), Steiner speaks of 'imaginative soul' as the first development of the consciousness soul toward 'spirit self'.

There may be different ways to understand what Steiner describes but when I turn my attention from my understanding of outer perceptions to 'inner' perceptions of my physical body it requires something that lifts me out of what (I think) is happpening around me in my daily life. A friend of mine describes it as 'pressing a pause button'... stopping the flow of thoughts... and reflecting on my current 'inner experience'.

I think Goethian conversation touches on this.

While I may not always be the 'master' of this process, it is a 'beginning' and demonstrates to me that this 'self knowledge' is one key to the 'higher worlds'. When these 'imaginations' become tools for understanding and managing the beings that are (naturally) active in my soul, I become more able to manifest the fair, free and peaceful world I choose to live in.

Peace to you