Spiritual Hygiene

Lete Ahaya

POD (Poem Of the Day)

~The Truth
Of what we call our knowing
Is both light & dark…
Humans are always dying & waking…
The rhythm between, we call life…
Pay attention:
Miracles are about
To happen…

~hag

Here is today’s ‘I Think Speech‘ Podcast an important quote from Rudolf Steiner: ‘Manifestations of Karma’, LECTURE 8

Ablutions: A priest purifies the hands of another one, on an altar. A daily  ritual. Ancient Egyptian tomb. | Antike ägyptische kunst, Ägyptische kunst,  Alte kunst

“…the Egyptian-Chaldean period is repeated in our own…We may go back to the epoch of the Egyptian evolution, and there we find certain ritualistic ordinances and commands which appeared as given by the gods. And this they actually were. These ordinances related to certain ablutions which the Egyptians had to perform. This was a command of the gods, that found expression in a certain cult of cleanliness

We now again, in our own period, encounter hygienic measures such as are given to humanity but in our time, for materialistic reasons. Here we see a repetition of what was lost at a corresponding period in Egypt. The fulfilment of what happened earlier is represented in the general karma in a most remarkable manner. In ancient Egypt the laws of cleanliness were laws of Divine revelation. The Egyptian believed that he was fulfilling his duty to humanity by caring for his particular cleanliness at every opportunity. This preoccupation for cleanliness comes to the fore again today, but under the influence of a mentality which is entirely materialistic. Modern man does not think that he is serving the gods when he is obeying such rules, but that he is serving himself. It is nevertheless a reappearance of what went before.

Dhruvi Acharya

Thus all things are in a certain way cyclically fulfilled. If at a certain period people were not able to conceive certain measures against epidemics, these were times at which men could not do so because, according to the general wise world plan, the epidemics had to take effect in order to give human souls an opportunity of balancing what had been effected through the ahrimanic influence and certain earlier luciferic influences. If other conditions are now being brought about, these too are subject to certain great karmic laws. So we see that these matters cannot be regarded superficially.

How does this agree with our statement that if someone seeks an opportunity of being infected in an epidemic, this is the result of the necessary reaction against an earlier karmic cause. Have we the right now to take hygienic or other measures?

This is a profound question, and we must begin by collecting the necessary material for replying to it. We must understand that where the luciferic and ahrimanic principles are co-operating, whether concurrently or over longer periods, or where they are working against each other, there are manifested certain complications in human life. These complications appear under forms so diverse that we never see two identical cases. If we study human life, however, we shall find our way in the following manner: if in a particular case we try to discover the combined activity of Lucifer and Ahriman, we shall always find a thread by which this connection will become clear. We must discriminate clearly between internal and external man. We must examine the continuity in which karma is accomplished, and we must at the same time understand that we have still the possibility of influencing our inner being by means of certain karmic influences, so that in future a new karmic compensation may be prepared by the inner being.

Dhruvi Acharya

It may well happen that we, following for a time a downward grade, beget evil. We at first descend in order to develop the contrary impetus that will cause us to re-ascend. Let us suppose that a being, by yielding to certain influences, tends towards uncharitableness. This uncharitableness will in a later life appear as karmic result, and will develop inner forces in his organism.

We can then act in two ways — consciously, or else unconsciously. In our epoch we have not progressed so far as to do it consciously. With such a person we can take precautions by which these characteristics in his organism, derived from uncharitableness, will be driven out and we may act in such a way that the effect that is expressed in the external organism as a lack of charity will be counteracted. By these means, however, the soul will not be cleansed of all uncharitableness, but only the external organ of uncharitableness will have been expelled. For if we do nothing further, we shall have accomplished only half of our task, perhaps even nothing at all, or we may even do harm. We may perhaps have helped this person physically, externally, but we shall not have given succour to his soul. Now that the physical expression of uncharitableness has been removed he will not be able to give expression to this uncharitableness, but he will have to retain it within his inner organism until a future incarnation.

Dhruvi Acharya

Let us suppose that a great number of people, because of uncharitableness, had been impelled to absorb certain infectious germs, so that they succumbed to an epidemic. Let us further suppose we were in a position to protect them from this epidemic. We should in such a case preserve the physical body from the effects of uncharitableness, but by doing this we have not removed the inner tendency towards uncharitableness.

Dhruvi Acharya

If we want to bring a true healing, we must also undertake the duty of influencing the soul in such a way as to remove from it the tendency towards a lack of charity, or the disease will go deeper into the soul.

The organic expression of uncharitableness is killed in the external bodily sense for instance by vaccination against smallpox, but the soul continues to be sick. In one period of civilisation, when there prevailed a general tendency to develop a higher degree of egotism, and uncharitableness, an epidemic made its appearance. Such is the fact investigated by Spiritual Science. In anthroposophy it is our bounded duty to give expression to the truth.

Dhruvi Acharya

Now it will be clear why in our time the desire for the protection of vaccination appeared. We also understand why, among the best minds of our time, there also exists a kind of aversion to vaccination. This aversion corresponds to something within, and is the external expression of an inner reality, that seeks to karmicly rid itself of the cause of the disease.

So if on the one hand we destroy the physical expression of a previous fault, we should, on the other hand, undertake the duty of transforming the materialistic character of such a person by means of a corresponding spiritual education. This would constitute the indispensable counterpart without which we are performing only half our task. We are merely accomplishing something to which the person in question will himself have to produce a counterpart in a later incarnation. If we destroy the susceptibility to smallpox, for instance, we are concentrating only on the external side of karmic activity.

Dhruvi Acharya

If on the one side we go in for hygiene, it is necessary that on the other we should feel it our duty to contribute to the person whose organism has been so transformed, something also for the good of his soul. Vaccination will not be harmful if, subsequent to vaccination, the person receives a spiritual education. But if we concentrate upon one side only and lay no emphasis upon the other, we weigh down the balance unevenly. We see how essential it is that we should not undertake one task without the other.

Here we approach an important law of human evolution which acts so that the external and the internal must always be counter-balanced, and that it is not permissible to act with regard to the one only, leaving the other out of consideration. We here get a glimpse of an important relationship, and yet we have not even arrived at the significance of the question: ‘What is the relationship between hygiene and karma?’ As we shall see, the answer to this question will lead us still further into the depths of karma, and we shall further see that there exist karmic relationships between man’s birth and death. In addition, other personalities influence a human life, and man’s free will and karma must be in harmony. ~ Rudolf Steiner, Manifestations of Karma, LECTURE 8

19 January 2022 – “Speaking with the Stars”: Sirius twinkles brightly around 8 pm below Orion in the southeast – below fiery Betelgeuse in Orion’s shoulder. Also after dark, face East and look very high. The bright star there is Capella, the Goat Star. To the right of it, by a couple of finger-widths at arm’s length, is a small, narrow triangle known as “the Kids.”

Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1736 – Birthday of James Watt, Scottish-English chemist & engineer, inventor of the steam engine.

1809 – Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe

1829 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy receives its premiere performance

1853 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.

1883 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey

1938 – Deathday of Rosa Mayreder – an Austrian freethinker, author, painter, musician & feminist -The daughter of a wealthy Viennese innkeeper who was able to work as a painter & writer from her youth. She loved science & turned against the prevailing state of affairs that generally only allowed a higher education to men. She loved  anthropology & physics, but soon came across the special meaning of language . Together with Hugo Wolf, she published the opera “The Corregidor“, she composed the libretto & was one of Wolf’s sponsors.

In 1881 she married her childhood friend, the architect & later rector of the Vienna University of Technology Karl Mayreder . In the women’s movement she worked with activist Marie Lang & Marianne Hainisch in the early 1890s. In 1893 she founded the General Austrian Women’s Association. From 1899 she published together with Marie Lang & Auguste Fickert the magazine “Documents of Women“.

Her books “The Critique of Femininity ” as well as ” Gender and Culture “ & also in conversations that she held in her diaries, she described to the ‘culture-makers’, that it was important  for an equal ratio of the sexes. She gained recognition & approval in literary circles. The opposition was found especially in the field of medicine , which was perceived by her to falsely stress the ‘mental weakness of women’ as a haven of arbitrariness, but also the degradation of women as a sexual object. She turned against the discrimination of their gender & the existing double standards. Her works were widely distributed &translated into English.

Mayreder, who first worked as a painter also founded the “Art School for Women & Girls” in the years before the First World War with Olga Prager & Kurt Federn.

Before & during the war, she was involved with Bertha von Suttner in the peace movement, & in 1919 became the chairman of the “International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom” (IFFF).

Rosa Mayreder met Rudolf Steiner (with whom she entered into a long& extensive correspondence) through women’s rights campaigner Marie Lang. Mayreder wrote many passages in her diaries which describe how enlightening Rudolf Steiner was for her thinking. Steiner spent time with Mayreder & her husband at their villa discussing Goethe & politics over the years & right up until Stiner’s death.

21 thoughts on “Spiritual Hygiene

  1. Hello everyone,
    I am very new to this blog Forum. I am intrigued to know do much more & feel drawn here to learn spiritual science . I am particularly interested in Steiners lectures & anything else being shared pertaining to anger & love . What is the most expedient way to find all these lectures of interest please? The spiritual hygiene theme is also of great interest to me as this has been where my internal guidance has led me over the years by both suffering through many traumas , therefore of necessity to go within first . ” inner first , outer last ” and have been working through many layers to get where I am even today in this moment of Now & so very grateful for having even become to the point of being here Now but still my heart / soul desires to realise so much more as it has been an arduous but also beautiful journey through the dark nights of my soul in this rebirthing & sooooooo much more to learn & integrate . I may not always post here but resonate with what Maverick wrote , to paraphrase , in my own simple way , that many may be reading & assimilating through their own experiences & ways of expression & interactions with what they are learning . Some of us do this through writing , others through art , music, dance , loving connection & service within their respective communities , prayer/ conversation with others & their own understanding of being spiritually conscious beings . I am very new to Steiners teachings & feel i have missed out on something so very special all these years whilst I was struggling to free myself from hell , in a sense ….but here I am , breathing , present , peaceful , and so very grateful that a n even wider space is opening & expanding which allows me to explore something more to add to the tapestry of my Being. 💖

    1. Greetings Marcushla – Thank you for sharing your thoughts & experience. It’s hard to imagine when we are suffering in life that this pain is actually strengthening our soul & Spirit – that this too shall pass – that the wounded can indeed become the healers…But Spiritual Science can help us understand these things from a cosmic & earthly perspective that empowers us to consciously transform & bring wholeness to ourselves & to others. I look forward to further communing with you. For now I leave this here:

      The Mission of Anger: to teach independence and selflessness. Transmuted anger is love in action. Prometheus. Rudolf Steiner, Munich, December 5, 1909:
      http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/Metamorph1/19091205p01.html

    2. Suffering & Sophia, from Rudolf Steiner – In Awakening to Communityhttps://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA257/English/AP1974/19230213p02.html

      But now let us weigh the consequences this implies for anthroposophically oriented persons. We cannot just cut ourselves loose from external life and practice. We have taken flight into the Anthroposophical Society, but life’s outer needs continue on, and we cannot get away from them in a single step or with one stroke. So our soul is caught and divided between our continuing outer life and the ideal life and knowledge that we have embraced in concept as members of the Anthroposophical Society.

      A cleavage of this sort can be a painful and even tragic experience, and it becomes such to a degree determined by the depth or superficiality of the individual. But this very pain, this tragedy, contains the most precious seeds of the new, constructive life that has to be built up in the midst of our decaying culture. For the truth is that everything in life that flowers and bears fruit is an outgrowth of pain and suffering. It is perhaps just those individuals with the deepest sense of the Society’s mission who have to have the most personal experience of pain and suffering as they take on that mission, though it is also true that real human strength can only be developed by rising above suffering and making it a living force, the source of one’s power to overcome.

      The path that leads into the Society consists firstly, then, in changing the direction of one’s will; secondly, in experiencing super-sensible knowledge; lastly, in participating in the destiny of one’s time to a point where it becomes one’s personal destiny. One feels oneself sharing mankind’s evolution in the act of reversing one’s will and experiencing the super-sensible nature of all truth. Sharing the experience of the time’s true significance is what gives us our first real feeling for the fact of our humanness.

      The term “anthroposophy” should really be understood as synonymous with “Sophia,” meaning the content of consciousness, the soul attitude and experience that make us full-fledged human beings. The right interpretation of “anthroposophy” is not “the wisdom of man,” but rather “the consciousness of one’s humanity.” In other words, the reversing of the will, the experiencing of knowledge, and one’s participation in the time’s destiny, should all aim at giving the soul a certain direction of consciousness, a “Sophia.”

      1. Hi Hazel,

        You hit the mark with that split between juggling two realities or existences together. It reminds me of something Steiner had said (I cannot remember the exact lecture, but it is a later one), that many anthroposophists will incarnate with people who are not interested, or perhaps groups that are close to in likeness of anthroposophy. I am paraphrasing… but it struck me as ‘true’ that we chose a life that seems particular difficult. If we all incarnated together, I’m reality, we wouldn’t have the impetus to branch out and share this with others. I did have a Waldorf education until I was 12, but I feel that it was my karma to leave that community and be among other groups of people. So in reality, I have no idea how many people I’ve influenced in the course of the last 25 years or so. Yet, many times it’s a lonely path (and at times sad and painful) because rarely you come across individuals who share the same enthusiasm – except places like here!

        1. And what I try to remember is that the loneliness & pain are actually signs that we are on the right path of initiation, if that is any consolation haha…

    3. Wow, Macushia, I found your comment so very inspiring, along with Hazel’s excellent replies to you. From what I heard in your comments, you have a very promising future with anthroposophy, and whatever fields you end up searching for your truth in. First, has anyone let you know of the excellent resources at rsarchive.org? There are many lectures there that will help you. There’s also rudolfsteinerpress on YouTube if you like to listen to Steiner’s lectures, as I do, when you’re preparing a meal. You probably know of the many resources for physical books you can order, or if you prefer, there’s e-books that you can read on your e-reader. There are also many great study groups where you can learn from others perspectives on the Steiner materials. Just contact any Anthroposophical organization, and they will help you connect with some. Then there’s always excellent webinars on Zoom these days.

      One of the amazing things that anthroposophy will present to you is the presence in the Earth of the etheric Christ. It sounds to me as though Christ has planted a seed in you, and that seed will germinate over time, so that eventually you’ll say, as Steiner did many times, “not I, but Christ in me”. This is one of the truly amazing fruits of the pain and trauma you’ve experienced. If you want to know where the etheric Christ is in our current world circumstances, you will find Him in the basements, and the bomb shelters, and the blown-out buildings in the Ukraine, where people are suffering every day. With what you’ve experienced, you’ll understand better than most that this is where the etheric Christ is in these days of trouble.

      May the Light of the Sun-Christ being bless you in all your endeavors Macushia.

  2. Hi Hazel,

    I remember that lecture on the Mission of Anger. It helps me to know that my anger has not been in vain. The element of anger can be shown to have infused the various Epics as the motivating force. For example, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest, c. 2900 BC, has Gilgamesh losing his initiation from the Hibernian colony he met in the Burgenland, Austria. His angry outburst was the cause, but the Epic was born.

    —–

    Marie Steiner wrote of the tumultuous times of 1922 here in the foreward to the first publication of the CC of 1923. Many assassinations were taking place, and Rudolf Steiner was on the list.

    https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA260/English/AP1990/ChrCnf_foreword.html

  3. I find this reference to vaccines and epidemics really profound in coming from a lecture in 1910 concerning karmic consequences. Steiner is more well known for speaking about inoculations in 1917, especially lecture four of GA 177. Then, in lecture three of GA 185, given in October 1918, some eight years after the lecture from Manifestations of Karma, he speaks directly about the pandemic of 1918. Of course, it was a cosmic and karmic consequence of World War I.

    Today, it is important that when it is said that the present fifth cultural epoch is a recapitulation of the third cultural epoch on a higher level, that we know what this means. It means the evolution of materialism. What formerly were acts of ablution and cleanliness in the 3rd epoch, become matters of sterile hygiene in today’s environment. But, as well, materialism has advanced far beyond the real spiritual limits seen by the Egyptians. Today, a retrograde has occurred in which materialism becomes technology, and drives the spirit into the sub-earthly realms; sub-nature.

    Here is another factor, though. We have reached the point in time in which the fifth cultural epoch now points to the future. Foresight becomes ours when spiritual science is used to see the evolving dilemma of what is no less than the apocalypse described in the Book of Revelation. While Rosa Mayreder could not embrace the spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner, she admired his mind, and their mutual love for freedom. Yet, true freedom involves spiritual science as the means to see the “cards that we have been dealt”. I know this speaks the language of those involved today.

  4. Wonderful excerpt of the Steiner lecture on karma, perfectly timed – the need to treat both the external and the internal. I was just conversing with someone (on Facebook, where I shared your post) about this. I mentioned a Calgary study group happening now (which because of a timing conflict I haven’t been able to join); they’re using the Mees book, “Blessed by Illness”; appears to be a great resource; don’t know when I’ll get time to read it though.

    1. Hi Maverick,

      It is very interesting to hear how much we try to connect with others and still feel so alone. I write and never hear from anybody. So, God says, “send out the welcome mat”, and I do it. Then, He says, ‘you are doing just as you should’. He implies that I should just wait in patience for those like you and Hazel to respond. Well, I do, but I have no contacts on Facebook. Anthropopper yes. I am now in discourse with your buddy up north in Edmonton, Manny Blosser. He is awesome in how he presents himself. I told him so. Yet, in your league, possibly he comes across as a sheriff. Thus, you found the Cayce works. I admit to starting my project way back in 1970, when I found the book, “The Search For Truth”, by Ruth Montgomery. What a name there is in the name ‘ Ruth’. Likely that was the pointer for me, but it had its roots from a long time earlier.

      Cheers,

      Steve

      1. These are lonely times for everyone, so I’m glad we have this forum where we can discuss spiritual matters. It’s challenging to listen to the news – I suppose it’s always been challenging, but in a different way today, with the same corporations owning most of the media outlets. And when we do see real people, depending on where you live, it’s not the same with a mask covering most of the face.

        It’s driving us to do more inner searching, and it’s probably shocking what some are discovering as they venture inward. For example, people who like to control their personal matters are being forced to accept that they can’t control everything. You mention being patient – this is a virtue we’re being given an opportunity to learn; we either learn to use it, or circumstances get the best of us. Keep working on that patience; I always enjoy your participation here, even if I’m often silent. The Spirit doesn’t always move me to respond to all that I read – it did today though. Cheers Steve.

        1. Well I am very glad when we can acquaint on these matters, Maverick. You know some of the terrain. Hazel has now some 1025 subscribers who could blow the lid off of this whole affair. Is silence really as golden as that?

          My patience is also an impatience, as you can see. The beat goes on.

          Regards, Steve

            1. Of course, that is true. What comes to me involves friction in the quaint system which Steiner never wanted to have. Yet, somehow, he got it! He actually wanted much more. Today’s climate is where we are experiencing what it means to realize a kind of power of the machine. This is what we must fight against. To Become requires consciousness. This is why we eternalise the possibility that it could happen if we want it. 1025 members and only six say something. Hazel, you might want to do a quality check. After all, it is 2022.

              1. Let me help – I think I’m hearing Steve’s cryptic message. Friction gives off sparks, but the end result is warmth. It’s the old Biblical proverb, “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” (27:17) A few sparks of incompatible material may be flung off, but there is a warmth and sharpness created in the countenance of those who are compatible, the material that remains.

                Steve is looking for and encouraging more discussion among the many who read your blog – he thinks it’ll lead to a higher consciousness for all of us if we more actively participate. Our computer technology provides an environment where people can silently participate, and raise their own consciousness, without sharing their thoughts, thoughts which can raise the consciousness of the whole group.

                Part of me agrees with Steve – it’s always helpful to hear the perspectives of others, especially when their intent is to be helpful and upbuilding. Another part of me greatly admires those who, while not feeling able to express their thoughts on the written page, contribute to the upbuilding of the group simply through their faithful presence of mind. In the universal consciousness, these people contribute whenever they have helpful thoughts; just as do those who have passed to another plane – those the Bible calls the “cloud of witnesses”.

            2. My meaning did come across as cryptic, but Maverick saves the day again. He does summarize the situation very well in terms of what the various personality types are drawn to when an engagement such as this is invested with the workings of spiritual science. Some listen and appreciate in silence; some lose interest soon and forget to even read; some have never engaged in dialectics in order to even form a question. Thus, for me, to inform is of the highest importance, and hoping that it could be a useful pointer to further the conversations in support of the 10:10 objective. I am glad to see that we are doing it right here on the pages of this daily blog, which is a remarkable achievement in itself. I believe that everyone has something to contribute based on the personality that stamps who we are. Steiner’s lectures, “Human and Cosmic Thought”, come to mind as descriptive of the complexities involving world outlooks as they pertain to the various planetary moods. Thus, encouragement is seen every day in this domain, and the new year is showing some important signs for the centennial of 1922. This is when Steiner went back to England for the first time in nearly nine years. Certain antagonistic elements in his own culture felt that he was aligning with the west, which meant the Allied forces who had punished Germany. This did not go over well, as seen with the reaction in Munich in May 1922. Steiner had to leave his beloved Munich forever, and most of Germany, as well.

              1. Yes, I have been looking at Steiner’s lectures from 1922 & the one you mention is a particular fav. as it has the indications for eclipses…

              2. I saw this today & thought of us Brother Steve:
                For the spiritual scientist, anger is also the harbinger of something quite different. Life shows us that a person who is unable to flare up with anger at injustice or folly will never develop true kindness and love. Equally, a person who educates himself through noble anger will have a heart abounding in love, and through love he will do good. Love and kindness are the obverse of noble anger. Anger that is overcome and purified will be transformed into the love that is its counterpart. A loving hand is seldom one that has never been clenched in response to injustice or folly. Anger and love are complementary.

                Transmuted anger is love in action. That is what we learn from reality. Anger in moderation has the mission of leading human beings to love; we can call it the teacher of love.

                ~Rudolf Steiner – GA 58 – Metamorphoses of the Soul Paths of Experience Vol. 1 – Lecture 2: The Mission of Anger – Munich, 5th December 1909

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