The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Rudolf Steiner often visited Edith Maryon in her sickbed. During these visits, he kept her up to date on the content of his lectures and on events in Dornach. He conveyed to her the contents of the esoteric lessons and informed her about the development of the constitution and the events in the Anthroposophical Society. He also read the daily newspaper to her or commented on articles from the newspaper. It is therefore understandable that political events were also discussed.

The verses and drawings with which Rudolf Steiner helped Edith Maryon to distract her from her pain also bear witness to these visits. Here, too, the close connection to everyday life on the “hill” becomes clear.

On the following pages, a selection of such verses and drawings is shown in a reduced format.

It goes without saying that these verses and drawings were not made with the intention of being published; this should always be borne in mind by the viewer.

In addition to the following verses given for Edith Maryon, Rudolf Steiner also gave her meditations from three esoteric hours: Dornach, May 27, 1923, October 23, 1923 and January 3, 1924. (See GA 265, p. 455 ff.)

In the free human being
The universe is gathered together.
Therefore, grasp it with a free mind.
And you will find the world.
And through you will the spirit of the world.

You want to think “God”:
This is the language of Goethe's soul;
With this intention you plunge
Yourself into contradictions and doubts.
You should think “divinely”;
and “God” works in you.
Thus Goethe sensed as the solution
to the riddle of God
And so, for the solution,
thought must be spiritual science.

E. M. on Nov. 30, 1918
This book's author

I look into the universe that my
senses perceive and that my mind thinks,
which is bound to the brain-nervous system.
What comes from this universe is mine
body. It has its center in my
limb system. Spiritually, there is only the
will. But this will sleeps in me. I must
awaken it.

2.) I imagine that behind the universe there is
another one, which my senses do not perceive and
which my brain-nervous system-bound
mind cannot think. In this universe
I was before I was born (conceived).
In this universe I will be when I
have died. From this universe
come the forces that have built
the heart-lung system in my body.

Spiritually, there is
But this feeling dreams within me.
I must understand what is dreaming in my feeling:

In every thing
In all becoming
Life dreams;
I am in dreams,
Thinking disturbs me.
Dreams live,
Live in me—
In waking dreams, Conscious and clear: I live, Live in me, Life-filled Waking dream world.

The new reality, The dream-awakened one, I grasp With waking judgment. She carries on her waves
The old reality,
Which my eyes showed me,
Which my ears revealed to me,
Which my skin felt.
The old reality
She had her life
Awakened from dreams by you
You new reality.

3.) I think to myself:
both
the reality of the senses
and the
reality awakened by dreams
are in a
third
completely supersensible, exalted, invisible,
inconceivable.
In this universe I am only
asleep.
From this universe come the forces that spiritually build my metabolic man. My intellect lives in it. In the human being there is, outside of the human body, a living spirit; I am in the spirit, but thinking disturbs me, perceiving disturbs me, Feeling disturbs me
Wanting disturbs me
Sleeping I live
Live in me
Spirit World
World Spirit—
So become conscious
From
Spirit World
World Spirit
Spirit-illuminated Consciousness
Conscious spirit-light

The lofty reality
The slumber-waking
Do I grasp
Waking judgment
She bears on her waves
The old reality,
Which my eyes revealed
And the new reality
Which my dreams wove.
O lofty reality
Call my self
To wakefulness
Let it forget
New reality
And old reality.

Salutary is only when
In the mirror of the human soul
The whole community is formed;
And in the community
The power of the individual soul lives.

That is the motto of social ethics.

To put the active spirit
in place of the thought
means in this age
to perceive the fundamental social demand.

For Edith Maryon
on December 26, 1922

When man discovered how the world
Is scattered into atoms without end,
His knowledge combined
With the death of nature;

He must now strive in the spirit
To find what overcomes scattering
And he will direct his knowledge
to the world's evolution.

Rudolf Steiner

Edith Maryon, 9 February 1923:

Human powers are of two kinds.
One stream of power goes inward:
It gives shape and inner rootedness.
Another stream of power goes outward:
It gives wellbeing and brightens the light of life.
Therefore, think of yourself as a light human being
whom the formative forces of the heavy physical body afflict.

Rudolf Steiner

If the gods had
consumed themselves in joy,
how would the world have come into being;
they would have scattered their own being
into the world air:
They became sad about it
And, lamenting, they embraced
Joy is the fire
And from the lament
The blessed Fiat arose
The world-creating word.
Their essence
That shines
When the lament
Melts into ashes.

regarding the fundamentals of esoteric schooling ¹

Dear Mrs. Langen!

Only today can I answer your letter. ² However, the answer could only be given orally in full; but I would like to send you a few comments in writing first, so that you can see whether it is currently practical and desirable for you to make the journey to Hannover.

The way in which Theosophy has to be spread in our time only too easily gives rise to misunderstandings about its foundations, for example about occultism and its training. One such misunderstanding, for example, is that Theosophy must urge every person who accepts it in any form to undergo occult training. But that is absolutely not the case. Occult truths can only be discovered by those who have undergone occult training; they can be understood by the most ordinary human intellect. And they can be applied in life on the basis of such an understanding acquired by the ordinary powers of the soul. I myself will never publicly teach anything that, though found by occult means, could not be grasped by the ordinary powers of the soul if one only chose to apply them. Theosophy is necessary for our age; and humanity would have to fall into absolute desolation and universal infertility at the present point in its development if Theosophy did not flow to it as a mighty stream of power. However, it would be a bad thing if every Theosophist also wanted to become an occult disciple. That would be – forgive the trivial comparison – just as if, because all people need clothes, everyone had to become a tailor. All people need Theosophy under certain conditions; esoteric training, few.

On the other hand, however, no one can be denied this training if they are suited to it. For however many may seek it, there will not be too many of them for the time being. So in a sense, nothing stands in the way of anyone's occult training. Since many people today are seeking this training under such circumstances, misunderstandings cannot be avoided even among students. Today everyone thinks that what is good for him must also be good for others. Thus general opinions about the training are formed which are basically as incorrect as possible. The occult teacher is naturally obliged to say that the path taken by a person who is more austere in sexual matters is different from that taken by a person who does not shirk the task of serving humanity in this respect. Whatever the occult teacher says in this direction is soon reinterpreted: asceticism is a condition of occult development. In fact, something quite different is true. Asceticism in the sexual relationship facilitates the occult path, makes it more comfortable in a certain respect. Thus, anyone who, out of pure egoism of knowledge, wants above all to “see” can promise himself that he will soon reach a certain goal through a certain asceticism in this direction. But there can be no obligation to such asceticism, only an entitlement that one must first acquire. It consists solely in the possibility of giving mankind a full substitution if one withdraws from the otherwise existing obligation to give the opportunity to embody souls. So you see that asceticism in this direction must not be a rule, but can only be granted to some occultists under certain conditions.

In any case, if you approach occultism with these prerequisites in mind, you will easily understand that any kind of selfishness, even if it is the most hidden and masked, will not get you far in occult training. Of course, a woman who does not shirk her feminine duties will soon make more progress than one who, regardless of the fate of humanity, strives for “knowledge” in basically selfish renunciation, provided she does the right thing.

This probably answers a large part of the questions in your letter. No one can be distracted from their life's work in occult training if they are not going the wrong way. Of course, you can find many so-called “students” who are unsuitable for useful work. But one forms a false judgment when one compares these “students” with those who, without wanting to know anything about Theosophy, are solving their life's tasks. One should not compare the former with the latter, but ask oneself: How useless would these first be without Theosophy? And regarding the second, the right question would be: How would the content of their work be enhanced if they could incorporate Theosophy, or even schooling, into their lives?

I could not recommend that you “practice” without guidance either. I would not like to persuade anyone to entrust themselves to the “training”. It must be each person's own free decision.

The processes of your inner and outer life push you towards this training. With the help of the training you will certainly be able to solve your life's tasks more easily and more surely. Your husband has a much harder time with Theosophy than you do. Only someone who knows that a scholarly education today piles up almost insurmountable inner obstacles to the theosophical truths can judge that. And on the other hand, perhaps nothing is as suitable for overcoming these obstacles as a practical occupation, as it is currently opening up for your husband.

Your training will only be the right one if it takes nothing away from you and adds a great deal to what you already have: health, the strength to live, the security to work and the inner peace that a person needs not for themselves but for their fellow human beings. No work serves humanity that does not arise from inner peace. Every work that arises from an inwardly unsatisfied soul destroys the healthy development of humanity, wherever it takes place.

If you want to try it, after these remarks, I will offer you every possible support. I will be in Hanover from September 21 in the evening until October 4. If you would like to announce your presence there by card, I will arrange everything for a thorough discussion. Address: Dr. Rudolf Steiner, currently in Hanover, Ferdinandstraße 11 at Fleissner.

Give your dear husband my warmest regards and accept warm greetings from

Dr. Rudolf Steiner

• 1. The letter of September 20, 1907 was placed at the beginning because it contains fundamental information about esoteric training. Then, in chronological order, follow the letters that Rudolf Steiner wrote as an esoteric teacher, insofar as they have been preserved and are known. The letters to Mathilde Scholl were provided by the Goetheanum.
  The times given in the letters for the beginning of meditation are related to the phases of the moon. 1
• 2. This letter is not available.

On February 11, 1903, Mathilde Scholl had written to Rudolf Steiner:

...In connection with our conversation, I would now like to ask the following. On plate XXVI of Leadbeater's book [“Man visible & invisible”] is the aura of one of Buddha's disciples, a disciple who has reached the fourth stage on the path, the stage of an arhat. The aura is concentrically arranged, the color sequence from the center:

1) yellow = intelligence
2) pink = love
3) light blue = devotion
4) green = compassion (sympathy)
5) violet = spirituality

all this surrounded by a rainbow-colored or rather mother-of-pearl-colored halo and permeated by living rays of light emanating from the body of the Arhat. - Leadbeater says that the order of the colors can be used to identify the type of Arhat or Master.

To which species or hierarchy could a being belong whose aura, starting from the center, first shows 1) light blue = devotion and then 2) pink = love. The arrangement is also concentric, just like the aura shown - but no colors other than light blue and pink were visible. [In a dream experience.] However, the physical body appeared only in outline and transparent, not three-dimensional, and in it appeared centers (like the swastika or like wheels) that turned in the fastest motion around themselves and emitted light. The face had the features and expression of Master M.

If you can or may tell me who this being is or how I can find an explanation myself, I would be happy.

Should a merger of the E.S. in Germany be possible at a later date, I would be delighted. Some external things are still of help to me. For example, I would love to have proper instructions for my studies. At the beginning, that is, two and a half years ago, the instruction was given as to which verses I should memorize each evening. But since no further instructions were given, I went through the Bhagavad Gita in this way and then the “Voice of Silence,” which I have now reached at the end of the second book. It would be a help for me not to study without guidance and to know, for example, in the morning during meditation that many are focusing their thoughts on the same thing as me – to know that others are studying the same book as me, and many other things.

Rudolf Steiner replied as follows:

Dearest Miss Scholl!

I should have written to you long ago. However, my obligations regarding “Lucifer” ¹ had a somewhat oppressive effect on everything else. Now it will finally come out in a few days; and then I will hopefully also get down to quite regular work. In any case, I will not wait so long to answer in the future as has unfortunately been the case up to now.

First, let me address your main question. The aura you describe is not clear enough for me to be able to say anything substantial about it. You say nothing about rays emanating from the being described. Now, in a more advanced human being, rays are always present in the causal body. These rays are namely the expression of the active forces that the person inflicts on his advancing karma. It seems that what you describe is not a causal body image. However, I do not want to say that we are not dealing with a highly developed being in your case. But then it could only be the projection of the causal body in mental matter. And in this case, I do not understand the swastikas, which again point to an astral element. I therefore request that you write to me with more details about this matter. I would like us to be clear about this.²

It would be quite nice if the newer members of the E.S. in Germany would in some way join together more closely. We need this in Germany in particular. For the E.S. must become the soul of the Theosophical Society. In Germany it must do so even more so because for a long time to come we can only hope for deeper, inner cooperation among individuals, and larger circles will only join externally. But the individuals will form a more loyal, secure and powerful base. And we need that, because we have come so far astray.

In Weimar, everything went quite well. We now also have a lodge there. The lectures were extremely well attended. I would like to come to Cologne for a variety of reasons, to give a lecture there as well. Please, maybe you can prepare the ground there a little. Much, very much depends on us creating new centers. Up to now almost all German Theosophists have sought a connection with the English mother movement that was much too loose. And only from this, in the most intimate connection with it, must we now work. There was too much of a tendency towards dogmatics in Germany, towards the mere intellectual grasp of doctrines, while there is no real understanding of living spirituality. Only when we awaken this latter, when we open our eyes to the fact that for the progress of the theosophical current it is not enough to learn the dogmas (Hartmann), but to belong spiritually to the central individualities from whom wisdom originates and in whom it has its continuous source: - only then can we move forward. We must make it clear, not through words but through imponderables, that it is a matter of the continuous fertilization of the bearers of the T.S. by central individualities. Only those who work esoterically will fully understand all these things; but for that, they must also stand together in a clearly conscious and forceful way, awakening the others.

It was deeply satisfying for me to be able to spend a few hours with you in Düsseldorf. It is the kind of satisfaction we feel when we see others on the road where the mile markers always point forward. For the Theosophist, there is only one gate through which one should pass only once, and which one should not enter a second time, to go back.

In Germany, we have only four or five very secure personalities. And that is why we have to work intensively. If we do that, we will find the ways and means to move forward. If we do not find these ways and means in Germany, then we would be neglecting something now that cannot be remedied so quickly.

My next exoteric task is to spread the teaching as much as I can. I hope, my dearest and most esteemed Miss Scholl, that you are settling in well in Cologne and are able to work there for our cause and to your satisfaction. How are the people in your care?

Hoping to hear from you soon, I remain sincerely yours

Rudolf Steiner

• 1. The journal founded and edited by R. Steiner. See GA 34.
• 2. In response, Mathilde Scholl wrote the following on May 7, 1903: “...Thank you very much for answering my question. The vision I described to you did indeed radiate light, and this light seemed to bubble up from the swastikas located on the head and upper body. In fact, only the head and upper body were visible, and only in outline. The being did not appear corporeal, but seemed to be only a luminous apparition. But the impression was so strong that I believed in the dream that I threw myself at the feet of this being and lost consciousness. Upon awakening, everything was vividly before my eyes and I felt the inner emotion for a long time afterwards. At first I did not look for an explanation at all. It was only through Leadbeater's book that I understood how it is possible to see such an arrangement of colors. But I would like to know who this being was, because even if it seemed to have the features of Master M., it may just as well have been based on my individual mood as on reality.” [The answer to this question is not known.]

Günther Wagner had written to Rudolf Steiner on 14 November 1903:

Dear Doctor,

I am sending you the manuscript of Leadbeater's article “Our Behavior Towards Children” by the same mail, which you asked for when I was in Berlin, to print it in “Lucifer”. ¹

It was a great pleasure to meet you at the annual conference, and I hope that we will continue to work together and support each other for many years to come.

I would be grateful if you could give me some specific information: the hint about a mystery that every race has to solve was completely new to me; I did not find anything about it in “Secret Doctrine”. Would you be able to tell me the four mysteries that the first four races (apparently) solved? I would also like to read H. P. B.'s suggestion about this, perhaps you could give me the exact place.²

In the meantime, yours sincerely,

Günther Wagner

Rudolf Steiner replied as follows:

Strictly confidential!

Dear Mr. Wagner!

Page 73 of the (German edition) “Secret Doctrine” reads with reference to verse I, 6 (Dzyan): “Of the seven truths or revelations, only four are given to us, since we are still in the fourth round.” When you were in Berlin, I suggested, in the sense of a certain occult tradition, that the fourth of the seven truths mentioned above goes back to seven esoteric root truths, and that of these seven partial truths (the fourth regarded as a whole) one is delivered to each race as a rule. The fifth will become quite evident when the fifth race has reached its goal of development. Now I would like to answer your question as best I can. At present, the situation is such that the first four partial truths form meditation sentences for the aspirants of the mysteries and that nothing more can be given than these (symbolic) meditation sentences. From them, then, many higher things emerge occultly for the meditator. I therefore set out the four meditation sentences here – translated into German from the symbolic sign language:

I. Sense according to: how the point becomes a sphere and yet remains itself. Have you grasped how the infinite sphere is only a point after all, then come again, for then the infinite will seem finite to you.

II. Sense: how the seed becomes an ear of corn, and then come again, for then you will have grasped how the living lives in number.

III. Sense: how light longs for darkness, heat for cold, how the male longs for the female, then come again, for then you will have grasped what face the great dragon at the threshold will show you.

IV. Sense according to: how to enjoy hospitality in a strange house, then come again, for then you have grasped what is in store for him who sees the sun at midnight.

Now, if the meditation was fruitful, the fifth secret arises from the four. For the time being, let me just say that Theosophy - the partial theosophy that lies, for example, in the “Secret Doctrine” and its esotericism - is a sum of partial truths of the fifth. You will find a hint as to how to go beyond this in the letter from Master K.H. [Kuthumi], quoted by Sinnett, which begins with the following words: “I have every word to read...” In the first (German) edition of Occult World, it can be found on pages 126 and 127.¹

I can only assure you that almost the entire fifth secret is hidden in an occult way in the sentence by K.H. (page 127), “When science has learned how impressions of leaves originally come about on stones...”.

That is all I can say for the time being about your questions. More perhaps in response to further questions.

The four sentences above are what are called living sentences, i.e. they germinate during meditation and sprouts of knowledge grow out of them.

With happy Christmas greetings in faithful union,

Rudolf Steiner

Berlin W, Motzstrasse 17

• 1. Published in No. 7 of December 1903 of the journal “Lucifer”, founded and edited by Rudolf Steiner. Journal for the Life of the Soul and Intellectual Culture - Theosophy.
• 2. The question refers to statements made by Rudolf Steiner at the first general assembly of the German Section in Berlin on October 18, 1903, which Günther Wagner attended. See page 255f. in the appendix to “The Masters of Wisdom and the Harmony of Feelings” (section “Rudolf Steiner's Work and the Fifth of the Seven Great Mysteries of Life”).
• 1. The wording from Occult World by A.P. Sinnett reads: Naturally I wanted to know more about this; was it a process by which thoughts could be expressed more quickly than by the ones we know? And with regard to letters received, were they read by the occult recipient in the usual way, or did he understand the content without this?
  K.H.'s answer was: I have to read every word you write, otherwise I would make a real mess of it. And whether it happens with my physical or my spiritual eye, it takes the same amount of time. The same can be said of my answers; whether I dictate or precipitate them or write them myself, the difference in the time saved is very small. I first have to think them over, then carefully photograph each word, each sentence, in my brain before it can be repeated by precipitation. Just as in photography, the fixing of images on chemically prepared plates, requires a prior arrangement within the focus of the object to be represented – otherwise, as can often be seen in bad photographs, the legs of the seated person are out of proportion to the head, etc. — so too must we first organize our sentences, and imprint on our mind every letter that is to appear on the paper before it can be read. That is all I am allowed to tell you for now. When science has learned more about the secret of lithophyl (or lithobiblion), and how the impressions of leaves originally come about on stones, then it will be possible for me to make the process clearer to you. Above all, you must know and remember one thing: that we only follow nature and copy it exactly in its works.
  Regarding these so-called precipitated master letters, see the editor's preliminary remarks on the separation from the Esoteric School of Theosophy on page 263f. 1

Berlin, December 28, 1903

Dearest Madam!

I trust you have continued the exercises in the manner you began. I would now ask you to proceed in January in exactly the same way as I described in my last letter.¹ I would only ask you to replace the sentence I gave at the time with the following:

Every being you give your love to opens up its nature to you; for unkindness is a veil that covers the things of the world. As much as you radiate love, so much knowledge flows to you.

I would like to add a few words to help us understand this meditation sentence. It is absolutely true that we receive as much knowledge from the world as we ourselves radiate love. However, we must not believe that we are immediately aware of all knowledge in every phase of life. Much is unconscious in us at first. And that is why I ask you to continue the meditation steadfastly. Only by doing this, and by realizing that every day we dedicate to it is not lost, will we make progress. Every day stores knowledge in us; and the day will surely come when it will appear to us in full consciousness. The sentences we meditate on are not intellectual constructs that we are merely supposed to grasp. I can only say again and again: these are living sentences, and we are meant to live with them as we do with children. We know children very well, of course, and yet we deal with them anew every day. So it should be with our meditation sentences.

So everything else in your meditation remains the same in January as it was; only the sentence from December is replaced by the one given above. I ask you, dearest gracious lady, always to continue everything as it was given, until I write to you again. You can be sure that you will receive the appropriate letter from time to time. If it happens a few days after the expected time, it will not hurt.

It was very nice that I also saw you for the last time in Cologne. I would have liked to have visited you again then - but time was so pressing. Lohf has now opened up the prospect that at least 6 people will be found in Düsseldorf with whom he can reconstruct the branch. That would be highly desirable. I know, dear lady, that you are doing all you can. I also know how difficult everything is. But our combined efforts must succeed, as the Theosophical movement demands of those who recognize its importance. No one can then evade this movement once they have recognized its significance.

I hope to see you again very soon.

Sincerely,

Dr. Rudolf Steiner
Berlin W, Motzstrasse 17

• 1. This letter is not available.