The Order of the Consciousness

is reflected inwardly in the individual and outwardly in the organisation’s administration

The whole exoteric system has been developed from a spiritual observation of the structures of the consciousness within the body. The outer work is to a certain extent a direct reflection of an inner understanding of spiritual order and the workings of the consciousness. However, a correct insight into the outer structures and their relationships to each other and amongst one another also provides another basis for directing the soul-life to that which we call God. A systematic division of the specialist areas into individual areas does not lead to hierarchical relationships, nor to a closed commune. It leads rather to a clearly defined competence and to a rational, individual organisation of the areas of work. The tasks, although varied in character and scale, are led by a communal idea. This is to implement and gradually shape deep imaginations and inspirations within the respective specialist area and social position. Hence a transcendent light of the spirit can shine, and moreover with this light, a practical enriching and penetrating of the life-structures can begin. The goal of the whole activity of the work is a synthesis of spirit, consciousness, life and matter.Let us consider first of all in a more technical way the whole organism of the inner body of human beings. The highest limb of the human being is that which is commonly called “I”. However, on more precise consideration this I as the highest limb is not a psychological component or a metaphysical reality. Rather it is a pure manifestation and pure transcendence, which escapes any subtle access or ethical standards. As a transcendent reality, this I is not really rooted in a body, neither in a physical nor a subtle one. Nevertheless it is in its mystery oriented to a body and fills this body with a uniqueness, with a secret of the highest, with that which is spirit, taking individuals beyond the animal kingdom and making them independent citizens with their own responsibility and their own awareness.Furthermore the individual human being is supplied with an independent limb and that is the consciousness, the carrier of knowledge, of awareness, of perceptions and of actions and reactions. This consciousness is, in its basic configuration, already quite different from the transcendent and mysterious I, for it has a flow of movement from inside outwards and from outside inwards. In the consciousness the most varied movements, sequences of events, transformations and learning steps take place. Sometimes the contents of the consciousness change and spread outwards from within, and sometimes, through observations and learning steps, they stream in from outside. The consciousness is the magnificent bearer of learning and teaching.The uniqueness of this consciousness is its integration into the duality, which exists above all in the great world-polarities of joy and sorrow. Whereas the I is still perfectly free, pure and intangible, the consciousness is seized by a kind of stirring, or better, movement which, in the constant play of a growing and becoming, wants to bring it to an infinite expansiveness. The consciousness wants to grow, and develop as broadly as possible. It is therefore also the limb which can take in what in religion is called temptation.The further two limbs seem at first glance to be very concrete, easily understandable and so almost obvious. But they are in their uniqueness far more difficult to experience than the first. These are the so-called life (etheric) body, the sprouting principle of centrifugal energies, and furthermore the physical body with its visible form. Yet these two limbs exist only for the simple reason that the human-being is equipped with an I and a consciousness. It is for this reason that human awareness notices the life circumstances and physical conditions.In spiritual development the attention is directed to the highest limb of being, to the I or to the self, the paratman, as it is called in Sanskrit. But this I is a magnificent and yet always incomprehensible mystery, which can have various holy names and yet evades all possible access. It is truth, love or uniqueness. It is universal and timeless. The attentiveness and the reverential feelings, the appreciative thoughts and praises are directed to this highest existence, which is generally known by the term “God”. If in our discourse we ask who can actually possess this I for themselves, we will clearly receive the answer that the highest mystery is given and it exists in its own grace, free of any access, claim, power-games or possession.Since this eternal uniqueness of the highest self is completely free and will remain free, »Yoga out of the Purity of the Soul« has undertaken the task to revere it in its forms of expression and its manifestations, to serve it and as the highest goal to know it in its meaning. For a certain time, therefore, the discipline of spiritual exercises is focused quite specifically on active study of those texts in which it achieves most clear expression. These are the texts already mentioned, which must all come from the authenticity and originality of the authors, for if they were plagiarised or channelled messages, then the revelation and love of the self would no longer be experienced in them.

If these studies are completed according to the instructions, following the right principles of discernment, then the basic configuration of the soul develops. This expands the consciousness and increases the strength of the soul-forces, which are namely the thinking, the feeling and the will. On this path seekers get to know quite new dimensions of experience with clear thought-content, which enrich their world of perception and which comes to them like new nourishment for life and their life-forces. This revival of the life-sheaths is quite particularly experienced if a personal respect or reverence accompanies the studies, and the steps are taken with care and attentiveness. But since the mysterious, hidden life of the will also experiences an extraordinary strengthening, the ability develops for a more objective observation and contemplation. Seekers direct their attention to a quite different thought-world, which is not yet existent in them in this form and logic. They cannot therefore simply take it up, consume it or connect with it blindly, but must first of all familiarise themselves with it, like a strange mystery and then learn to comprehend it in its original, hidden sense. This training of the thought, the perception and the will leads to a silent strengthening of the I, in its transcendent reality. But this strength of the I does not make individuals seem insistent or perhaps dogmatic, rather it gives them the ability for further, objective considerations with regard to their own lives as well as the lives of others. This ability for more objective observation leads to an actual freedom and a feeling of being able to let be. But alongside many different aspects of freedom it also gives a healing clarity, for the seeker sees conditions such as illness, misfortune and death no longer as threatening and absolute, but as relative. Yet the growth of the I is a very silent development, which arises almost invisibly with these stages of learning.This development of the limbs of being can be clarified with the following schematic representation:

The breadth and uniqueness lead, through steps of active awareness, to the detailed shaping of the life-forces, and there develops, as a result of this penetration, a natural harmony, health and beauty in the body. What is particular to this development is that individuals receive a stream out of the creative world of the thoughts and so their whole body-organisation, which is formed in a physical and etheric (life) way, becomes ordered in accordance with the principles of beauty and health. New life-forces are born and bring health to the previous existence.When this development is carried over to a teaching institution, then this is illustrated through a very great breadth and organisation in the people who work in it. It is equipped similarly with an orderly structure, which allows invisible desire-beings and personal claims of individualities barely even to emerge. Schematically it looks like this:

Life is thoroughly organised through the work with the consciousness in quite practical steps, and this can take effect right into the physical body, with an aesthetic enrichment of life’s whole manifestation. Yet the requirement is that the esoteric plane of the spiritual source is not a limb, to which students or appointed teachers could lay emotional or intellectual claim in order to fulfil their needs. For this reason the upper dividing line arises. The lower dividing line arises furthermore because the physical body as well as the life-forces must be left free of all techniques, influences, manipulation and stimulation. The work always takes place on the plane of the consciousness which, in clearly developed thoughts and well-considered perceptions, forms a relationship to that above and below. Therefore in the Yoga it is not stimulation of the organs and energies that is the primary intention with the physical exercises, and in the meditation we do not live our way into a silent stillness. The life-forces and the physical body with its genetic make-up are just accepted as they are./br>As an additional example, a small comparison may show how, as a rule with the different mystical paths of immersion, these concrete planes of relationship become more and more difficult. In a mystical meditation-practice as a rule the consciousness is brought to a silence, or it is coupled with a specific esoteric or spiritual content with which it strives for a feeling of oneness. But this feeling of oneness is usually aimed for at much too early a stage, so that it all too easily comes to a temporary extinction of the quite concrete awareness of one’s identity and of one’s place in the world. The successful feeling is a kind of living one’s way into another reality, with which the whole feeling of identity merges, and an illusory mood, usually perceived nonetheless as pleasant in itself, occurs. But this living one’s way beyond proceeds at the expense of the growing alertness and understanding of the consciousness, as well as of the ability to pass over in perfect presence of mind to the esoteric or other reality. With these processes, the life processes are raised out of the body and mixed with other energies, which still have a character that is difficult to identify. Schematically the process looks like this:

When life is raised out of the physical body, at first very ecstatic feelings usually arise, which nevertheless point to an initial weakening and lead to numerous complications. The technical term for this is “the false separation of the ether”. If this kind of spiritual practice prevails, there are usually quick experiences of success among the students, yet at the same time a strange veiling of the consciousness arises, resulting in a generally ungrounded atmosphere that is neither here nor there. The participants in a course feel their quick success and identify with the ether broken off from the body. This, however, either removes the soul too far from the earth, or integrates the soul-forces in their existing state in a dulled way. The transcendence of the I is confused with an astral feeling. Within an organisation and institution the game of identification with the so-called “truth” cannot then be stopped, and on attending meetings we then meet nothing but “mystics”, “enlightened” or “initiated ones”. Through this brief description it must become clear that these manifestations give out something very strange, both outwardly and inwardly, for the empathetic and aesthetically perceptive individual.The training projects are therefore established from the start on an exoteric basis. »Yoga out of the Purity of the Soul« strives both for a right integration of the soul in the innermost body, as well as for the right social and educational ordering in the outer structure of the teaching organisation.

To print open the booklet in PDF format.

(A PDF is a format which can contain so-called “active” content, as a result some browsers give a warning before opening. This PDF contains pure text for the purposes of layout, and does not carry out any activity on your computer.)