At puberty the astral body is first born. With the free outward development which follows, all that which is unfolded by the world of externalised perceptions, by one’s judgment and the unfettered understanding, will first rush inward upon the soul. It has already been mentioned that these faculties of the soul, hitherto uninfluenced from within, ought to be developed by the right management of educational means, just as unconsciously as the eyes and ears evolve themselves in the womb. But with puberty the time has arrived when the person is ready to form his own judgment concerning the things which he has hitherto learned. No greater injury can be inflicted on any one than by too soon awakening within him his own judgment. One should only judge when one has already stored up the necessary qualifications for judging and comparing. If, before this, one creates one’s own independent opinions, then these will have no sure foundations. All one-sidedness in life, all dreary “confessions of faith” which are based upon a few mere scraps of knowledge, and the desire to judge from these human conceptions that have been approved through long ages of time, rest upon just such mistakes in education. Before qualified to think, one must place before oneself, as a warning, what others have thought. There is no sound thinking which has not been preceded by a sound perception of the truth supported by obvious authority. If one wishes to follow out these principles of education, one must not allow people, at too early an age, to fancy themselves able to judge, for in avoiding this, one will leave them the possibility of allowing life to work upon them from every side, and without prejudice. For by one such judgment, which is not founded on the precious basis of spiritual treasures, he who makes it will have placed a stumbling-block in the path of his life. For if one has pronounced a judgment on any subject, one will always be influenced by having done so; one will no longer regard an experience as one might have regarded it, if one had not erected an opinion which is henceforth intertwined with the subject in question. In young people the disposition to learn first and then to judge, should be present. That which the intellect has to say of a certain subject ought only to be said when all the other powers of soul have spoken; before that the intellect ought only to play the part of mediator. It should only serve to lay hold of what is seen and felt, to apprehend it as it there exists, without allowing the unripe judgment to take possession of the matter. Therefore the youth ought to be shielded from all the theories concerning a thing, before the above-mentioned age, and it should be especially emphasized that he should face the experiences of life in order to admit them into his soul. A growing individual can certainly be made acquainted with what people have thought concerning this or that, but one should avoid letting him form opinions which arise from a premature judgment. He should receive opinions with the feelings, without deciding at once for one view or the other, not attaching himself to a party, but thinking, as he listens: “One has said this, and the other that.” Before all things a large measure of tact is necessary in the cultivation of this sense by teachers and guardians, but occult knowledge is exactly calculated to supply such tact.
It has only been possible to develop here a few aspects of education in the light of Occultism, but it has only been intended to give a hint as to what problems of civilisation this philosophy will have to solve. Whether it can do so depends on whether the inclination for such a way of thinking henceforth broadens out in ever widening circles. In order that this may take place, two things are necessary: first, that people should abandon their prejudice against Occultism. He who will truly associate himself with it, will soon see that it is not the fantastical trash which so many today imagine it to be. This is not intended as a reproach to such people, for everything which our time offers as a means of education must, at first, engender the view that occultists are fantastics and dreamers. On the surface any other view is hardly possible, for there appears to be the most complete diversity between what is known as Occult Science or Theosophy, and all that the culture of the present day suggests as the principles for a healthy view of life. Only a deeper consideration reveals to us how entirely in opposition the views of the present must remain without these principles of occult science—how, indeed, they themselves call out these very principles and in the long run cannot remain without them. The second thing that is necessary is connected with the sound development of Theosophy itself. Life will only welcome Theosophy, if in theosophical circles the knowledge is made to permeate everywhere that it is important to make these teachings bear fruit in the widest manner for all conditions of life, and not merely to theorize about them. Otherwise people will continue to look upon Theosophy as a kind of religious sectarianism, only fit for some fanatical enthusiasts. But if it performs positive useful spiritual work, then the theosophical movement cannot, in the long run, be refused an intelligent hearing.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “The Way of Initiation,” or How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds,“ by Rudolph Steiner, Ph.D., with a Foreword by Annie Besant, and some biographical Notes of the author by Edouard Schuré. Second edition, 237 pages, cloth, crown 8vo, 3/10 post free.
“Initiation and its Results.” A sequel to “The Way of Initiation.” Second edition. 3/9 post free. To be obtained from the Theosophical Publishing Society, 161 New Bond Street, London, W.
[2] This distinction is important, for the ideas of the present time with regard to this subject are rather inaccurate. The difference between the vegetable and the creature gifted with the power of sensation is completely lost sight of, because the essential characteristic of sensibility is not clearly defined. When a being (or an object) responds to an exterior impression by showing any effect whatever, it is inaccurate to conclude that this impression has been felt. To bear out this conclusion the impression must be experienced inwardly, that is to say, the outside stimulus must produce a kind of interior reflection. The great progress of natural science, which a true Theosophist must sincerely admire, has thrown our abstract vocabulary into confusion. Some of our biologists are ignorant of the characteristics of sensibility, and thus accredit it to beings who are devoid of it. Sensibility such as is comprehended by those biologists, can, it is true, be attributed to organisms deprived of it. But what is understood by Theosophy as sensibility is a totally different quality.
[3] A distinction must be made between the conscious inner life of the astral body and the perception of this life by outward clairvoyant observation. Here this latter perception by a trained clairvoyant is intended.
[4] The reader need not object to the technical term “Body of the ego,” because there is nothing of gross physical matter meant by it, but occult science being forced to employ the vocabulary of ordinary language, the words applied to Theosophy ought from the outset to be taken in a spiritual sense.
[5] The terms “Spirit-Self”, “Life-Spirit” and “Spirit-Man” need not mystify the reader; they stand for those transmutations of our grosser bodies which are the results of conscious effort and pure aspirations; they form, in other words, the Higher Trinity, called in Eastern terminology: Manas, Buddhi and Atma, respectively. (Trans.)