The Higher Education of the Soul - From “The Way of Initiation” by Dr. Rudolf Steiner (vegetarian), Part 1 of 2

Born in 1861, Dr. Rudolf Steiner was a great Austrian polymath, philosopher and scientist who made influential contributions in the fields of education, science, spirituality and medicine. He is perhaps best known for pioneering the holistic educational methods for the Waldorf schools. His writings cover a wide range of subjects, and he published more than 25 books, including “Mysticism at the Dawn of the Modern Age,” “The Way of Initiation,” and “Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path: The Philosophy of Freedom.” Let us now share with you an extract from the chapter “The Higher Education of the Soul” from his book “The Way of Initiation”, also known as “How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds.”

“One should think: ‘I must certainly do everything possible for the culture of soul and spirit, but I will work tranquilly until, by higher powers, I shall be found worthy of definite illumination.’ When this thought has become so powerful in a man that it is an actual trait in his character, he is treading the right path.”

“Patience has an attractive, while impatience has a repellent, effect on the treasures of the higher knowledge. In the higher regions of being, nothing can be attained by haste and restlessness. Desire and longing for immediate results must be silenced, for these are qualities of the soul before which all higher knowledge recedes.”

“It is absolutely demanded that one should be true to himself in his innermost soul. One must not there be deceived by anything; he must encounter, face to face and with absolute truthfulness, his own faults, failings, and unfitness.”

“For this interior culture it is especially necessary that the desire-life should be carefully educated. One must not become wholly destitute of desire, for if we are to accomplish something it is necessary that we should desire it, and a desire will always be fulfilled if a certain special force is behind it.”

“From one’s anger or vexation arises an adverse condition in the spiritual world, so that those forces which would open the eyes of the soul are turned away.”