Verses and Meditations E-Book

Rudolf Steiner

• Herausgeber: Rudolf Steiner Press
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Featuring over 90 of Rudolf Steiner's best-loved verses and meditations, this volume collects a range of material on various themes, such as working with spiritual beings, connecting with loved ones who have passed over, developing selfhood, and celebrating festivals and seasons. Countless people have worked with these meditations over the decades and can testify to their power, as well as the strength and comfort they offer the meditant. Although various translations from the German exist for many of the verses, George and Mary Adams's renderings can truly be said to be 'classic', and are the most widely used within the English-speaking anthroposophical movement that has grown up around Steiner's work. George Adams acted as Rudolf Steiner's personal interpreter when he lectured in Britain, and thus developed an intuitive understanding of Steiner's deepest impulses connected to esoteric work. Those who know these verses will be delighted that they are available again, while those who approach them for the first time will discover a treasure of wisdom as well as abundant tools for personal transformation. This edition also features the original German texts where applicable.

Leseprobe

RUDOLF STEINER (1861-1925) called his spiritual philosophy ‘anthroposophy’, which can be understood as ‘wisdom of the human being’. A highly developed seer, Steiner based his work on direct knowledge and perception of spiritual dimensions. He initiated a modern and universal ‘science of spirit’, accessible to anybody willing to exercise clear and unprejudiced thinking.

From his spiritual investigations, Steiner provided suggestions for the renewal of many activities, including education—both general and special—agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, philosophy, religion and the arts. Today there are literally thousands of schools, clinics, farms and other organizations doing practical work based on his principles. His many published works (writings and lectures) also feature his research into the spiritual nature of the human being, the evolution of the world and humanity, and methods of personal development. Steiner wrote some 30 books and delivered over 6,000 lectures across Europe. In 1924 he founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world.

VERSES AND MEDITATIONS

RUDOLF STEINER

With an Introduction and Notes by George Adams

RUDOLF STEINER PRESS

Translation revised by D.S. Osmond and C. Davy

Rudolf Steiner Press Hillside House, The Square Forest Row, RH18 5ES

www.rudolfsteinerpress.com

Published by Rudolf Steiner Press 2012

First published in English in 1961

The original German verses are drawn from the Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe (or Collected Works) published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach. These authorized translations are published by permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach

Translation © Rudolf Steiner Press 1961

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 85584 360 8

Cover by Andrew Morgan Design

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

VERSES AND MEDITATIONS

PART I

PART II

NOTES AND REFERENCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Many people in our time are looking for a more conscious spiritual pathway—a method of mental and spiritual training which is to open the human mind and soul to the Divine creative Spirit that underlies the Universe in which we live, while at the same time rendering us by self-mastery, by the control of thought and the refinement of our life of feeling, more efficient in our daily tasks, more truly sensitive and helpful in our relations with our fellow-men.

It is well known that in the Orient methods and schools of spiritual training have existed since time immemorial; they are part of the very fabric of Eastern civilizations. Western people, looking for spiritual guidance in this sense, have therefore often naturally turned to Eastern sources. That this is happening today is also characteristic of the tendency of our time towards a greater universality—breaking down barriers between races, continents and cultural traditions, shewing more readiness to learn from one another, overcoming religious bigotry and national self-sufficiency. The tendency is welcome. Yet the traditional Eastern methods, directly transplanted, are not well adapted—either to the outward forms of Western life or to the mind and character of Western man. Moreover, in the West as in the East, though less in evidence, there exists a deeper spiritual stream, a mystical tradition. In the lives of outstanding individuals—founders, for example, of religious and philosophic movements—in the great religious orders and in spiritual fraternities less widely known, the “Path of Knowledge” and the meditative life have been pursued.

It is as a spiritual being that man creates civilization of whatsoever kind. No civilization can exist unless founded on the aspiration towards, and on the wisdom that flows out of, the spiritual world. External and materialistic as it may seem to be, this applies also to the scientific civilization of modern Europe and America. The beginnings of Science were part of a deep and many-sided spiritual movement at the time of the Renaissance. The early scientists—those for example who, in London in the 17th century, used to meet at “Gresham College” (forming the nucleus of what was then to become the Royal Society)—thought of themselves as “experimental philosophers”. Among them were men for whom the new method of putting questions to Nature was part of a far wider spiritual quest.

The Science that was then begun has by the 20th century led to a situation in which modern man has need of greater spiritual forces. Having penetrated deeply into Nature, unlocking many of her secrets on the material and sub-material plane, he needs to restore the balance—to take a comparable forward step in his inner life, and to gain access to those hidden aspects of Nature which require more than intellectual faculties for their discernment. This indeed grows more urgently necessary with every technical advance and with every passing year. A wider spiritual range, a deeper poise of the inner life, are needed now than when our outer forms of production—even a hundred years ago, long after the machine age had begun—were at a vastly more primitive level than they are today.

Rudolf Steiner was the teacher of a method of self-education and spiritual awakening in keeping with and, in many ways, a direct outcome of the scientific age— in continuity with the ideals out of which it began its growth four or five hundred years ago. It is a method applicable by men and women fully engaged in all the tasks and avocations of our time. It does not call for any kind of withdrawal from practical life in the modern world; rather the contrary, it helps one enter into it more wholeheartedly, more fully. It contains elements in common with Eastern traditions, but they are transmuted—re-born in a Western setting and in accordance with Western needs. At the same time it is deeply imbued with the esoteric substance of Christianity— Christianity not in any denominational sense but as a living experience in the midst of present-day realities.

The very titles of Rudolf Steiner’s fundamental works bear witness to what has here been said. For example: Mysticism at the Dawn of Modern Time and its relation to the Scientific Outlook, Christianity as Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity, lectures on the Gospel of St. John and on the three Synoptic Gospels, Theosophy: an Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man, An Outline of Occult Science, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment. It is in this latter work above all that he describes the kind of spiritual discipline which a modern man may undertake, leading to the purification and enhancement of his faculties and calling forth the deeper powers of cognition by which he will gain direct insight into the hidden spiritual background of all life.

The opening passages of the book reveal the character and tendency of the path here recommended. It is “the path of veneration, of devotion for truth and knowledge”. The student—or, to use more old-fashioned words, the aspirant, the disciple—needs to develop reverence towards the manifestations of the world in which he finds himself. He is not to suppress his critical faculties, still less his independent judgement, but he must be aware that it is reverence and devotion which will open the eyes of the soul. What you do not revere, what you cannot love and thankfully receive, will not reveal itself to you. The method then set forth contains the following components. It includes at an early stage the thoughtful contemplation of Nature—of the rocks and crystals in the mineral kingdom; the growing and decaying plant, the seed and the future plant that will arise therefrom; the animals with their inner life of craving, suffering and enjoyment; the sounds emitted by animate creatures, such as the cry of the warmblooded animal, and also inanimate sounds such as the ringing of a bell or the booming of the waves on the shore. The word “contemplation” is here used to cover both the thoughtful observation of the thing as it confronts one, and the reflection on what has once been seen or heard, evoked in memory and imagination while the exercise is being done. Sometimes it is the one, sometimes the other. A number of exercises of this kind are carefully described, each in its proper context, and it is characteristic that they occur above all in the opening chapters of the book. It is as though the writer were holding out his hand to the natural and healthy interests of modern man—his interest in the Earth-planet and in the land in which he lives, his love of animals both wild and domesticated, his enjoyment of the trees and flowers, the tilling of his garden. On one occasion, it is said, when a group of young men and women came to Dr. Steiner for conversation and advice (it was the time of the Wandervogel movement in Germany with its romantic idealization of Nature), he said to them among other things: “The way to get really near to Nature is given in the book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment”

Another essential feature is the taking in hand of one’s own daily life, in the development of ethical qualities such as patience, tolerance, thankfulness, positiveness towards others, the “listening” attitude, the overcoming of hidden prejudices, the readiness to learn afresh at every moment. In this respect Rudolf Steiner does not give “counsels of perfection”, but he points out that life is constantly giving us opportunities to develop these qualities and that we can set about it in a quite practical way, sometimes deliberately devoting attention to one thing at a time. He does not so much exhort, but quietly describes the several effects of these qualities in the development of the soul’s organs of cognition; the hindering effect of their opposite. Above all, he is insistent that other exercises on the path to higher knowledge may produce harmful results if this aspect is neglected. He gives it as the golden rule: “For every one step that you take in the pursuit of Higher Knowledge, take three in the development of your character towards the Good.” For example, the thoughtful contemplation of Nature might well be held to include human nature, and so in a sense it does, but here we ourselves are involved in quite another way. We have to perceive, with growing clarity of discernment, the manifestations of mind and soul in our fellow-men, but we can only do so truly and without offence inasmuch as we ourselves are growing in self-knowledge, and above all, inasmuch as we revere and respect the sacredness of individuality in every man.

A further feature of the spiritual path, closely related to the last, is the practice of looking back reflectively on the course of our own life. We should do this at longer intervals, surveying a whole period of our life, passing in review our aims, our failures and achievements, pondering on our resolves for the future. But we are also recommended to do it in a certain way from day to day. In his advice to individuals, Dr. Steiner generally recommended that in the evening, before going to sleep, one should spend five or ten minutes looking back on the events of the day with the calm eye of detachment. The exercise has many aspects. If rightly done it is bound to include thankfulness for the experiences and encounters which the day has brought. In this respect it has something in common with the evening prayer of a truly religious man. One is to do it thoughtfully, realizing one’s mistakes and yet without giving way to remorse. Rather should one try to see oneself just in the same way as one sees the other participants in the events and scenes on which one is looking back. We thus acquire the habit of looking at ourselves with detachment, as from outside, “seeing ourselves as others see us”. Objectivity towards our own failings as towards those of others, trust above all in the clarifying and ultimately strengthening effect of pure and quiet thought, was what Dr. Steiner inculcated. Though not in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, in later writings and lectures and in his advice to individuals he recommended that in this exercise we begin with the evening and go back gradually to the morning. Definite reasons are given for thus “reversing” the flow of time.

A further component, related to this last and yet vividly distinguished from it, is the one with which the present volume is concerned, namely Meditation in the stricter sense. For even if, in the preceding exercise, we look upon our life with detachment and from a higher vantage-point, it is still the circumstances of our own particular life with which we are occupied. The human soul on its spiritual pathway has need of more than this. We need to enter into things of universal significance, things that belong to our ultimate origin and goal. These are the truths that concern us purely and simply as human beings, born of the eternal Spirit that underlies all things that are. They would concern us equally whatever time and clime we belonged to; they relate us therefore to all Mankind, past and present and in the future.

Therefore the path of knowledge and of self-development also includes the regular practice of Meditation proper. In the sacred literature of all ages, says Rudolf Steiner, and in the gnostic, mystical and spiritual-scientific literature of our own time, the aspirant will find suitable contents for meditation, both in the form of words and in the imaginative or symbolic pictures that are given. Evening by evening, before or after the exercise of looking back on the day, five or ten minutes should be devoted to meditation on a chosen verse—or “mantram”, to call it by the Eastern term frequently used by Dr. Steiner in this connection. And in the mornings too, as soon as practicable upon awakening or after getting up, a like period of time should be devoted to a suitably chosen meditation.

In this connection—and of course also in the looking back with detachment on the events of the day—very much depends on the effort of will that is put into it. Almost everyone (at least in the Western world) who has ever tried to meditate, will have discovered that the very resolve to do this—to enter, as the saying goes, “into the silence”—tends to bring stray thoughts crowding into the mind. It requires effort of will to put the stray thoughts aside—to give one’s mind quietly and concentratedly to the chosen subject. It is this “bringing of will into one’s thinking” which in the long run leads to the vitalizing of one’s thoughts, till they no longer bear the “pale cast” they do in ordinary life, but are awakened into living and imaginative perception.

What is needed above all is unending patience and perseverance—the kind of perseverance which, having once recognized that the thing is good, will not be discouraged by repeated failures. The good will of the meditator—his faithfulness to himself, and therewith to the spiritual world, in holding to his resolve—comes to expression not only in the effort he puts into it every time he enters into meditation, but in the perseverance through the days and years, undaunted by many seeming failures. The failure in any case is generally not as great as it seems to oneself. The real progress one is making is delicate and subtle and often finds expression in quite other ways before one is aware of it directly. But without faithful perseverance nothing can be achieved.

For this reason, too, it is recommended that one goes on for a long time—for weeks or months or even years— from day to day with a once chosen morning and evening meditation (these will generally be distinct, though related); it is less good to be constantly changing. It is the beginner, rather than the one more advanced along the meditative path, who imagines that he needs frequent change.

In choosing a subject for regular meditation the great majority will feel the need of some help and guidance, and in this connection first and foremost the present volume is being published. For it contains, among other things, meditative verses given from time to time by Rudolf Steiner, either to individuals from whom these treasures have been bequeathed—most of them have long since passed away—or to one or other circle of his pupils. The book includes a wide selection to meet a diversity of individual needs. Once again, for those who are practising meditation the importance is emphasized of making a definite choice and abiding by it.

Before we go on to describe what the book contains, we should however mention one further aspect—also a very essential component—of the spiritual path as taught by Rudolf Steiner. It is the study of Spiritual Science, contained as this now is in a great variety of books—those above all by this great teacher himself. Needless to say, “study” will also take the form of joining in study-circles with others, hearing lectures and so on, but one’s own quiet reading is not unimportant.

Spiritual Science, Gnosis, Theosophia, Anthroposophia—whatever name we may call it by—is the imparting of those great truths concerning the Divine origin of all things, the spiritual structure of the Universe in which we live, the evolution and future destiny above all of Man himself, which are perceived and experienced when the higher faculties of the soul have been developed. The seed of these faculties is there in all human souls. But there have lived, in every age, individuals in whom these faculties were already developed in a far higher degree than in the rest of mankind. Among these have been the founders of the great religions; the informers and instructors of the great impulses of civilization, such as the almost legendary figures of Zarathustra, Hermes and Orpheus in olden time; the authors or inspirers of the sacred writings of mankind. Among them, too, have been the Masters and Initiates, whose true character and presence among the masses of mankind are often veiled from outer sight, also the great Mystics and spiritual Philosophers, and such as are called Saints by the Western, Elders or Startzy by the Eastern Church, Mahatmas in the oriental tradition. In many languages, in forms of expression pictorial or half-symbolical, in ritual and sacred drama, the great truths of the Spiritual World have been and are still being bequeathed to mankind, according to the needs of different epochs and populations. What we are calling “Spiritual Science” is at least one of the forms in which the spiritual truths are seeking to find expression in the language of our own time and in the mental climate of Western culture.

Now it might easily be thought: If the faculty to perceive these things is latent in us and we are rightly encouraged to develop it, let us by all means do so, and await what we shall see when our own powers of spiritual perception have been awakened. Why should we study spiritual teachings, the discovery of which is beyond our present scope? But the thing works rather the other way. The contemplation of the wisdom-contents which we shall perceive ever more directly with the development of our spiritual powers, is among the living forces tending to their development. The wonder and reverence that are evoked in the study of these sublime truths, the effort of clear thought that is needed, the detachment from the inevitable trivialities of outer life, the experiences one undergoes when the coherence of the Divine plan dawns upon one, and one is able to recognize in its light so many items in the life around one, transfiguring the latter, imbuing it with light and inner meaning—all this is nourishment to the soul. Above all, when combined with regular meditative practice, it quickens the unfolding of the human spirit. Study, said Rudolf Steiner on one occasion, prepares the fertile ground in which the living seed of meditation is planted.

There is another reason why the study of Spiritual Science is important. All human evolution is involved— in the 20th century there is surely little need to insist on this—in the vast tragedy which is described in the religions as the Fall of Man. That the spiritual world, his true origin and home, is not generally perceptible to man in his present state, that between the material surface of things and the true reality there is a Threshold impassable to begin with and not lightly to be passed under any circumstances, this too has its inner reason. The Threshold is sternly guarded; it is indeed close to the gateway of death itself; hence, as expressed in many ceremonies and forms of ritual, ultimate Initiation always involves a coming face-to-face with death. And there is not only death itself; there are the powers of hindrance and confusion—what manifests itself in our human world as downright evil—which every human being has to meet and meet again on many levels, before he can finally receive, to use the figurative language of the Apocalypse, the crown of victory that is reserved for “him that overcometh”. Precisely therefore in resolving to walk along the Path of Knowledge, to take responsibility for our life and live it henceforth out of a deeper spiritual initiative, we also challenge the great conflicts that are latent in our own as in all human life. Our hidden faults will tend to come to the surface. We shall have to face dark moments. Now a knowledge already gained by quiet open-minded study of the great facts of human evolution helps to sustain the individual when these moments come. He has the proper context in which to place his own particular trials; he will not so easily despair of himself, realizing as he will that he too is sharing in the common lot of mankind and playing his part, even through tragedy and failing, so long as his eyes are set upon the goal which is the goal of all mankind together. Here Spiritual Science sheds its light on the great Christian concepts of the redemption, the “forgiveness”, the mutual bearing of burdens, the ultimate oneness of mankind.

There is, moreover, a certain danger when paths of spiritual or mental self-development are pursued, as they sometimes are, without reference to the more cosmic background that tells of mankind’s evolution as a whole. The development of memory, of powers of mental concentration and the like can also lead to a narrowing, a pin-pointing of one’s life and aims towards relative and temporary ends, a mere enhancement of the quest of power, if not for oneself alone, for the sectional group to which one may belong. If, on the other hand, the path is pursued in the light of a universal Science, the soul will grow not only in strength but in true gentleness, imbued increasingly with a Wisdom which in its very nature is unselfish and therefore fruitful, quickening the life that is around one, recognizing and therefore serving the all-human ends even amid each limited and special task.

* * *

The present volume contains a selection of verses, proverbs and meditative sayings given by Rudolf Steiner during the long period of his work as spiritual teacher. Save in the sense that every expression of a deeper truth can be experienced in a meditative way, not all of them are Meditations in the proper sense. For we have also included dedications, written perhaps in a book given to a friend, or in a guest-book, and verses written for special occasions. Then there are poems and epigrammatic sayings into which Dr. Steiner cast the truths that came to him from time to time, to the elaboration of which several lectures were sometimes devoted. Indeed the lectures themselves are often material for meditation; of some of them this is true in a very special sense. We may mention for example the pictures of the creative deeds of the Hierarchies in the lecture-course The Inner Realities of Evolution, or the description of the ancient Mysteries collected in the volume Mystery Centres. Some of the verses here included were actually given at the conclusion of a lecture, summing up its contents. Most of these have been published; others are available in the anthroposophical libraries in different countries. The student is strongly recommended to make use of these indications. Within the scope of this volume, only the necessary references have been given, save in a few instances where a historical or explanatory note was felt to be needed. (See the “Notes and References” at the end.)

It will be evident which of the following verses are most suitable to be chosen for regular morning and evening meditation. It will be seen that some were actually given for this purpose; through the kind help of friends, we have been able to include them. It is thus hoped that the volume will help answer a need that is often felt by those who read Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and wish to put into practice what is there suggested. Other collections of meditative sayings and advice by Dr. Steiner are in existence; we have referred to these in the Bibliography.

The present volume is divided into two parts. Verses suitable for meditation will be found in both; indeed, some of the deepest and most esoteric sayings are in Part I. Here too the verses are included which relate to the Festivals of the year and to the rhythms of summer and winter. Meditations specifically given by Rudolf Steiner to individual pupils for morning and evening use will be found in Part II, which also contains verses for the remembrance of the dead, and others given to meet special exigencies.

In the early years of the present century, when working still within the framework of the Theosophical Society, Rudolf Steiner gave instruction “for those more advanced in anthroposophical spiritual knowledge” in an esoteric school, the circumstances of which are described in his Autobiography (The Course of my Life, Chapter XXXII). Some of the meditations and instructions given in this school were printed after his death for members of the Anthroposophical Society. In Part II we have also been able to include a few of these.

Concerning the form of the meditations, and of meditation generally, the following should also be said. (It will be found in fuller detail in some of the works here cited.) The content of a meditation is generally given in a form of words. This, if communicated directly from the spiritual world, has a “mantric” character. There is virtue in the very sound—the rhythm of the lines, the vowels and alliterations, the repetitions. In meditation we live in the actual sound of the words, not only in their meaning. Meditation is not an intellectual reflection; we may reflect at other times on the meaning of a chosen saying. During the actual minutes of meditation we live in it in a far more quiet and receptive way.

The verses given by Rudolf Steiner—the great majority at least—were in his own tongue. In translating them it is not easy to preserve the original beauty of the form, let alone the mantric character. (More will be said concerning this at the end of the Introduction.) Side by side with the translation, the original is also given. Experience has shown that very many people, even those who would not attempt to learn German for external use, acquire a sufficient knowledge of it to understand it spiritually and use it in meditation. For many people, therefore, the translation will be a bridge, leading in course of time to the direct use of the original.

That a language other than one’s own can play an essential part in the inner life, has been a feature in the spiritual history of mankind throughout the ages. One thinks for instance of the part played in Christendom by Hebrew, Greek and Latin, or in the Eastern civilizations by Sanskrit. Where spiritual life prevails, man gains the power to transcend the nemesis of Babel; he enters the realm of the Logos, the Word that was in the Beginning, in which the differences are almost magically overcome. Rudolf Steiner himself also gave mantric words or sayings occasionally in Latin, Greek or Hebrew, and more especially in Sanskrit.

So much for the actual words of the meditation. But the meditative life can also be a dwelling in mental pictures; indeed at a certain stage it must be so. Vivid imaginative pictures should be formed. What is here said applies not only to meditation as such; along the spiritual pathway we overcome the abstract and pictureless word-mindedness which is so prevalent in our time; we become more aware of the imaginative origin and value of the words we use.

Sometimes the meditation itself is a picture rather than a form of words. A classic example, showing how the picture is led up to in a sincere and independent-minded way, taking our start from the experiences of human life, is the Rose-Cross meditation as explained by Dr. Steiner in An Outline of Occult Science, Chapter V (pages 285-290 or 202-205 in the current English editions). In other instances, while imparting the words of the meditation, he would explain the picture which should be formed during or even before the inner speaking of the words. For example, with the morning meditation “Ever-radiant forms of Light” he gave the following instruction: ‘Try to imagine the content of these lines as vividly and pictorially as you can. At the first two lines you think of an ocean of light, with spiritual forms moving in the light—formed out of the light itself. With the third, fourth and fifth lines you imagine how, on awakening, the human soul emerges from this sea of light. And at the last two lines you picture to yourself how at the moment of awakening the soul is entering again into the garments or vehicles of outer bodily existence.’

Other examples of picture-meditation will be found in the “seven Seals”, published with Rudolf Steiner’s explanation in the collection: Occult Seals and Columns (cf. Note 4, and the verses JACHIN AND BOAZ). The lecture-courses mentioned earlier abound with imaginative pictures intended for meditation. Also in many of the lectures in which the verses in the present volume were imparted, the appropriate pictures will be found. (This applies, for example, to the sayings “Angels, Archangels and Archai”.)

In some of the meditations, the words are to be meditated not as if speaking them to oneself but rather hearkening—hearing them sound out of the midst of the cosmic picture or the spiritual scene that has been imagined.

When the inner mood of silence and reverence has been reached through the meditation—when, as it were, the meditation culminates—it should deliberately be ended in complete silence: no longer thinking the words or imagining the meditative picture but with the mind awake and poised, dwelling only in the inner mood and feeling which has been evoked. Often when Dr. Steiner gave to an individual pupil a morning and evening meditation in his own handwriting, it concluded with the instruction “Ruhe bei leerem Bewusstsein”’, meaning a short period of active rest and inner silence with consciousness awake, yet emptied of all content. When this arose out of the content of the meditation, Dr. Steiner often indicated the mood of the concluding silence with such words as “Christ in me”, and he would specifically say: These words are put down, not to be meditated as such, but as expressing the inner feeling that will fill the concluding silence if the meditation has been rightly done.

Finally, it is important that the time devoted to meditation should be brought to an end deliberately. The meditative life is an expansion of the soul; it leads, indeed, quite literally to an expansion of what is called the “etheric body”. The serene feeling which it can lead to is an expression of this. The expansion is good; but at the end we ourselves must come in again, gathering our forces for the return to the tasks of earthly life; we should never end a meditation accidentally or “at a loose end”. To take a trivial but very real example: If the telephone bell should ring while we are meditating and we are obliged to answer, we should—if only for an instant—concentrate in silence, saying to ourselves with inner reverence for its content: “The meditation is ended now”, and then go and do what we have to do. The traditional “Amen, so be it” of Christian prayer, or the concluding words spoken by the priest in the ritual of the Christian Community as he leaves the altar, have something of this quality. The same thing is expressed by Rudolf Steiner in one of his Mystery Plays, at the conclusion of an instruction for meditation—an instruction of which the words are themselves a meditation:

Yet tarry not in Worlds afar

In dreamy play of thought.

Begin in the vast reaches of the Spirit,

And end in thine own Being’s depths.

There wilt thou find

Eternal aims of Gods,

Knowing thyself in thee.

Once more it should be emphasized that fuller explanations of the meditative path and of the whole way of knowledge will be found in Rudolf Steiner’s books, notably those given in the Bibliography.

This book also contains a number of verses and meditations for special occasions. Given to meet an individual need, or the circumstances of the time, these are obviously of universal value. Among them are the meditative prayers for use during illness; also the verses given at the time of the War (1914-18); and above all, the meditations recommended for sending one’s thoughts towards the dead. Notably during the War, when so many people were being separated by violent and sudden death from those near and dear to them, Dr. Steiner indicated how the connection with souls who have gone on into the spiritual world can be cultivated —for their sakes as well as for the sake of mankind on Earth. How the remembrance of the dead in this realistic sense will become part of spiritual culture ever more and more, was shown by Dr. Steiner in many different connections. Here again we have indicated in the Bibliography lectures and writings in which the use of such meditations for the dead, and other cognate matters, are explained in detail.

* * *

Concerning the Translations

The translations in this volume, save in the few instances here mentioned, are by George and Mary Adams. The verses given at Easter 1924 (EASTER) were translated by Mrs. E. Bowen-Wedgwood; the Christmas Poem “Behold the Sun at the Midnight Hour” by Frances Melland; and the verse for the opening of Group Meetings (“From the luminous heights of the spirit”) and also the verses “Spirits ever watchful” by Mrs. E. R. Cull. “Grace before Meals” is by an unknown translator.

Many of the verses and meditative sayings have been published in different translations in the Lectures, Mystery Plays or other works where they occur.

Translation obviously cannot be literal. We have some knowledge of Rudolf Steiner’s occasional comments and advice on this matter. He looked for an adequate rendering—in the genius of the other language—of the idea or picture or line of thought, taken as a whole. Often he would point out that the obvious dictionary translation of a word can in a deeper sense be quite untrue; the examples he gave show how far afield he himself felt it right to go. In the translations here given, we have not attempted a word-for-word correspondence, but have tried to be true to the spirit and integral effect of the original.