The Path of Initiation & Higher Cognition
The modern path of initiation: Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition, the Guardian of the Threshold, the lotus flowers and the exercises of inner schooling. Part of Thalira's Anthroposophical Glossary of 515 terms, and companion to the in-depth guide Anthroposophy.
Steiner's evening practice of holding the day in the inner eye in reverse order, evening to morning, to strengthen the etheric body and loosen the I from time.
The first of Steiner's Six Subsidiary Exercises: holding directed thought on a single chosen object for five minutes a day.
Steiner's reading of Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path as the eight soul-virtues the modern initiate practises to develop the sixteen-petalled larynx lotus.
The Foundation Stone Meditation is the four-panel mantric meditation Steiner laid down on 25 December 1923 as the inner law of the re-founded Anthroposophical Society.
The three thresholds of supersensible cognition in Steiner's initiatic path: Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition, approached through inner discipline and preparatory exercises.
The being a student meets at the threshold of supersensible perception, formed from their own karmic past.
Imagination is the first stage of supersensible cognition in which the investigator perceives spiritual realities as living pictures rather than sense objects.
Initiation is the disciplined transformation through which the human being develops the supersensible faculties of Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition.
Five minutes a day of withdrawn stillness, where the everyday self becomes a stranger and the higher self listens.
Inspiration is the second stage of supersensible cognition in which the investigator hears the inner word of spiritual beings rather than just their picture-presentations.
Intuition is the third stage of supersensible cognition in which the investigator unites directly with the spiritual being known.
The Lotus Flowers are the supersensible perception organs developed through inner work in Steiner's modern path, distinct from Tantric chakras as energy centres.
Rudolf Steiner's path of inner training for the consciousness-soul age, where pure thinking itself becomes the meditative instrument.
The Six Subsidiary Exercises are Steiner's six-month character-training cycle: thought-control, will-control, equanimity, positivity, open-mindedness, and harmony.
Fritz Graf von Bothmer's Waldorf movement-art: 27 named exercises that orient the pupil to the directions of space as bearers of soul-quality.
The seven seals of Revelation, interpreted as cosmic-evolutionary stages corresponding to Earth's seven planetary periods.