Initiation and Its Results
GA 10
VI. The First Guardian of the Threshold
[ 1 ] Among the important experiences that accompany an ascent into the higher worlds is that of “Meeting with the Guardian of the Threshold.” In reality there is not only one such Guardian, but two; one known as “the Lesser,” the other as “the Greater.” The student meets with the former when, in the manner described in the last chapter, he begins to loosen the connection between the volitions, the thoughts, and the feelings so far as they concern the etheric and astral bodies. The meeting with the Greater Guardian occurs when this loosening of the links further extends to the physical body (that is to say, the brain).
[ 2 ] The Lesser Guardian of the Threshold is an independent being. It did not exist before the individual had arrived at this particular point in his evolution. It is the individual's creation. Only one of its essential functions can be here described,—indeed it were no easy matter to furnish a complete description.
[ 3 ] First of all, let us present in narrative form the meeting of the occult student with the Guardian of the Threshold. Only by means of this meeting does the former become aware of the separation of the threads that connected his thoughts, his volitions, and his feelings.
[ 4 ] A terrible spectral creature, in truth, is this that confronts the student. The latter needs all the presence of mind and all the faith in the security of his way to wisdom which he could acquire during his previous training.
[ 5 ] The Guardian proclaims his significance in something like these words:—“Hitherto, powers which were invisible to you have watched over you. They worked so that in the course of your life your good deeds brought their reward, your evil actions their disastrous results. Through their influence your character formed itself out of your experiences and your thoughts. They were the instruments of your fate. It was they that ordered the measure of joy and pain which was meted out to you in any one of your incarnations, according to your conduct in earlier lives. They ruled you by the all-binding law of Karma. Now they shall free you from a part of their constraint, and a portion of that which they have accomplished for you must you now accomplish for yourself. In the past you have borne many hard blows from Fate. Did you not know wherefore? Each was the effect of a pernicious deed in a life gone by. You found joy and gladness, and you partook of them. They, too, were the fruits of earlier deeds. In your character you have many beautiful qualities, many ugly flaws ; and both of these you have woven for yourself out of your bygone experiences and thoughts. Till now you did not know of this; only the effects were revealed to you. But they, the Karmic Powers, beheld all the deeds of your former lives, all your obscure thoughts and feelings; and thus have they determined what you now are and the manner in which you now live.
[ 6 ] “But the hour has come when all the good and the evil aspects of your bygone lives shall be laid open before you. Till now they were interwoven with your whole being; they were in you, and you could not see them, even as with physical eyes you cannot see your own physical brain. Now, however, they detach themselves from you; they emerge from your personality. They assume an independent form which you can observe, even as you observe the stones and flowers of the external world. And I—I am that very being which has found for itself a body wrought of your noble and your ignoble deeds. My spectral robe is woven according to the entries in your life's ledger. Hitherto you have borne me invisibly within yourself, yet it was well for you that this should be, for the wisdom of the destiny which was hidden even from yourself has therefore worked hitherto toward the extinguishing of the hideous stains that were upon my form. Now that I have emerged, that hidden wisdom also departs from you. It will henceforth trouble itself no more concerning you. It will now leave the work in your hands alone. It is for me to become a complete and splendid being, if I am not, indeed, to fall into decay. If this, the latter, should occur, then should I drag you also down into a dark and ruined world. If you would avoid this, then let your own wisdom become so great that it can take over to itself the task of that other wisdom which was hidden from you, and is now departed. When you have passed my threshold I shall never leave your side for a single moment. From henceforth, when you do or think anything that is evil, you will straightway discern your guilt as a hideous, demoniacal distortion of this that is my form. Only when you have made good all your bygone evil deeds and have so elevated yourself that further evil becomes a thing impossible to you,—only then will my being be transformed into glorious beauty. Then, too, shall I again unite myself with you in one being for the helping of your further activity.
[ 7 ] “My threshold is constructed out of every feeling of fear to which you are still accessible, out of every shrinking from the power which will take over to itself the complete responsibility for all your deeds and thoughts. So long as you have still any fear of that self-government of your fate, all that belongs to this threshold has not yet been built into it; and so long as a single stone is there found missing, you must remain standing as one forbidden entrance, or else must you stumble. Seek not, then, to pass my threshold until you feel yourself liberated from all fear, ready for the highest responsibility.
[ 8 ] “Hitherto I have only emerged from your personality when Death recalled you from an earthly life, but even then my form was veiled from you. Only the powers of destiny who watched over you could behold me, and they were able, in accordance with my appearance, to build in you, during the interval between death and a new birth, all that power and that capacity wherewith in a new terrestrial existence you could labor at the glorifying of my form for the assurance of your progress. It was an account of my imperfection, indeed, that the powers of destiny were driven again and again to lead you back into a new incarnation upon earth. If you died, I was yet there ; and according to me did the Lords of Karma fashion the manner of your re-birth.
“Only when through an endless procession of lives you have brought me to perfection shall you no longer descend among the powers of death, but, having united yourself absolutely with me, you shall pass over with me into immortality.
[ 9 ] “Thus do I stand before you here to-day visible, as I have always stood invisible beside you in the hour of death. When you shall have passed my threshold you will enter those kingdoms which else would have opened to you only at physical death. You will enter them with full knowledge, and henceforth, when you wander outwardly visible upon the earth, you will also move through the kingdom of death, which is the kingdom of eternal life. I am indeed the angel of Death; yet at the same time I am the bringer of an imperishable higher life. Through me you will die while still living in your body, to be reborn into an immortal existence.
[ 10 ] “The kingdom that you now enter will introduce you to beings of a superhuman kind, and in that kingdom happiness will be your lot. But the first acquaintance to be made in that world must be myself, I that am your own creation. Erstwhile I lived upon your life, but now through you I have grown to a separate existence and here stand before you as the visible gauge of your future deeds, perhaps, too, as your constant reproach. You were able to form me, but in so doing you have taken up the duty of transforming me.”
[ 11 ] What has been here presented in a narrative form one must not imagine to be merely something allegorical, but realize that it is an experience of the student which is the highest degree actual.1It will be divined from the above that the Guardian of the Threshold there described is an (astral) form, such as is revealed to the awakened higher sight of the occult student, and it is to this superphysical “meeting” that occult science conducts. It is one of the lesser magical performances to make the Guardian of the Threshold visible an the physical plane also. To make this possible it is necessary to produce a cloud of smoke, consisting of fine substances, by means of some frankincense which is composed of a number of ingredients in a particular commixture. The developed power of the magician is then able to mould the smoke into shape and to animate its substance with the still unbalanced Karma of the individual. He who is sufficiently prepared for the higher vision no longer requires this phenomenal sight, while he who sees his still unbalanced Karma, without adequate preparation, as a visible living creature before his eyes, exposes himself to the greatest danger of falling into evil byways. The Guardian of the Threshold has been romantically depicted by Bulwer Lytton in Zanoni. [ 12 ] The Guardian will warn him not to go further if he does not feel in himself the power necessary for the fulfilment of those demands which have been set forth in the preceding speech. Although the form of the Guardian is so frightful, it is yet nothing but the effect of the student's own past lives, his own character, risen out of him into an independent life. This awakening is brought about by the mutual separation of the volitions, the thoughts, and the feelings. It is an experience of the deepest significance when one feels for the first time that one has produced a spiritual being. The next thing to be aimed at is the preparation of the occult student so that he can endure the terrible sight without a vestige of timidity, and at the moment of the meeting really feel his power to be so increased that he can take it upon himself to effect with full realization the glorifying of the Guardian.
[ 13 ] A result of this meeting with the Guardian of the Threshold, if successful, is that the next physical death of the student is an event entirely different from what death was before. He consciously goes through the death whereby he lays aside the physical body, as he lays aside an outworn garment or one that is grown useless an account of a sudden rent. This—his physical death—is now only an important fact, as it were, to those who have lived with him, whose perceptions are still restricted to the world of the senses. For them the occult student “dies,” but for himself nothing of importance in his whole environment is changed. The entire superphysical world into which he steps already stood open to him before death, and it is the same world that after death confronts him.
Now, the Guardian of the Threshold is also connected with other matters. The individual belongs to a family, a nation, a race. His deeds in this world depend upon his relationship to this greater unit. His individual character is likewise connected with it. The conscious deeds of a single person are by no means the sum of all he must reckon with in respect of his family, stock, nation, and race. There is a destiny, as there is a character, pertaining to the family or the race or the nation. For the person who is restricted to his senses these things remain as general ideas, and the materialistic thinker will regard the occult scientist contemptuously when he hears that for the latter the family or national character, the lineal or racial destiny, becomes just as real a being as the personality which is produced by the character and destiny of the individual. The occultist comes to know of higher worlds in which the separated personalities are discerned as members, like the arms, legs, and head of an individual; and in the life of a family, of a nation, or a race, he sees at work not only the separate individuals, but also the very real souls of the family, nation, or race. Indeed, in a certain sense, the separate individuals are only the executive organs of this family or racial spirit. In truth, one can say that the soul of a nation, for example, makes use of an individual belonging to that nation, for the execution of certain deeds. The national soul does not descend to sensible reality. It dwells in higher worlds, and in order to work in the physical world makes use of the physical organs of a particular person. In a higher sense it is as when an architect makes use of a workman for executing the details of a building. Every person gets his work assigned him, in the truest sense of the words, by the soul of the family, the nation, or the race. Now the ordinary person is by no means initiated into the higher scheme of his work. He works unconsciously toward the goal of the nation or race. From the moment when the occult student meets the Guardian of the Threshold, he has not merely to discern his own tasks as a personality, but must also work consciously at those of his nation or his race. Every, extension of his horizon implies an extension of his duties. As a matter of fact, the occult student joins a new Body to those finer vehicles of his soul. He puts on another garment. Hitherto he went through the world with those coverings which clothed his personality. That which he must accomplish for his community, his nation, or his race, is managed by the higher spirits which utilize his personality. A further revelation which is now made to him by the Guardian is that henceforth these spirits will withdraw their hands from him. He must get quite clear of that union. Now, if he did not develop in himself those powers which pertain to the national or racial spirits, he would completely harden himself as a separate creature and would rush upon his own destruction. Doubtless there are many people who would say, “Oh! I have entirely freed myself from all lineal or racial connections; I only want to be man and nothing but man.” To these one must reply, “Who, then, brought you to this freedom? Was it not your family who gave you that position in the world where you now stand? Was it not your ancestry, your nation, your race, that have made you what you are? They have brought you up; and if you are now exalted above all prejudices, if you are one of the light-bringers and benefactors of your Clan, or even of your race, you owe that to their education. Indeed, when you say of yourself that you are nothing as a person, you owe the very fact that you have so become to the spirit of your community.” Only the occult student learns what it means to be cut off entirely from the family, the Clan, or the racial spirit. He alone realizes the insignificance of all such education in respect of the life which now confronts him, for everything that has gathered around him falls utterly away when the threads that bind the will, the thoughts, and the feelings are sundered. He looks back on all the events of his previous education as one must regard a house of which the stones have fallen apart in pieces and which one must therefore build up again in a new form.
It is more than merely a figure of speech to say that after the Guardian of the Threshold has uttered \ his first communications, there rises up from the place where he stands a great whirlwind, which extinguishes all those lights of the spirit which had hitherto illumined the pathway of life. At the same time an utter blackness engulfs the student. It is only broken a little by the rays that stream forth from the Guardian of the Threshold, and out of that darkness resound his last admonitions:—“Step not across my threshold before you are assured that you can illuminate the blackness by yourself : take not a single step forward unless you are certain that you have a sufficiency of oil in your lamp. The lamps of the guides which hitherto you have followed will now, in the future, be absent.” After there words the student has to turn round and direct his gaze back-ward. The Guardian of the Threshold now draws away a veil that before had hidden deep secrets. The lineal, the national, the racial spirits are revealed in their complete reality, and the student now sees clearly how he had been guided so far, but it also dawns upon him that henceforth he will have no such guidance. This is a second warning received at the threshold from its guardian.
[ 14 ] No one can attain to this vision unprepared; but the higher training, which generally makes it possible for a person to press an to the threshold, puts him simultaneously in a position to find at the right moment the necessary power. Indeed, this training is of so harmonious a kind, that the entrance into the new life can be made to lose its exciting and tumultuous character. The experience at the threshold is, for the occult student, attended by a foreshadowing of that bliss which is to form the keynote of his newly awakened life. The sensation of a new freedom will outweigh all other feelings; and together with this sensation the new duties and the new responsibilities will seem as something which must needs be undertaken by a person at a particular stage in his life.
Der Hüter der Schwelle
[ 1 ] Wichtige Erlebnisse beim Erheben in die höheren Welten sind die Begegnungen mit dem «Hüter der Schwelle». Es gibt nicht nur einen, sondern im wesentlichen zwei, einen «kleineren» und einen «größeren» «Hüter der Schwelle». Dem ersteren begegnet der Mensch dann, wenn sich die Verbindungsfäden zwischen Willen, Denken und Fühlen innerhalb der feineren Leiber (des Astral- und Ätherleibes) so zu lösen beginnen, wie das im vorigen Kapitel gekennzeichnet worden ist. Dem «größeren Hüter der Schwelle» tritt der Mensch gegenüber, wenn sich die Auflösung der Verbindungen auch auf die physischen Teile des Leibes (namentlich zunächst das Gehirn) erstreckt.
[ 2 ] Der «kleinere Hüter der Schwelle» ist ein selbständiges Wesen. Dieses ist für den Menschen nicht vorhanden, bevor die entsprechende Entwickelungsstufe von ihm erreicht ist. Nur einige der wesentlichsten Eigentümlichkeiten desselben können hier verzeichnet werden.
[ 3 ] Es soll zunächst versucht werden, in erzählender Form die Begegnung des Geheimschülers mit dem Hüter der Schwelle darzustellen. Erst durch diese Begegnung wird der Schüler gewahr, daß Denken, Fühlen und Wollen bei ihm sich aus ihrer ihnen eingepflanzten Verbindung gelöst haben.
[ 4 ] Ein allerdings schreckliches, gespenstisches Wesen steht vor dem Schüler. Dieser hat alle Geistesgegenwart und alles Vertrauen in die Sicherheit seines Erkenntnisweges notwendig, die er sich während seiner bisherigen Geheimschülerschaft aber hinlänglich aneignen konnte.
[ 5 ] Der «Hüter» gibt seine Bedeutung etwa in folgenden Worten kund: «Über dir walteten bisher Mächte, welche dir unsichtbar waren. Sie bewirkten, daß während deiner bisherigen Lebensläufe jede deiner guten Taten ihren Lohn und jede deiner üblen Handlungen ihre schlimmen Folgen hatten. Durch ihren Einfluß baute sich dein Charakter aus deinen Lebenserfahrungen und aus deinen Gedanken auf. Sie verursachten dein Schicksal. Sie bestimmten das Maß von Lust und Schmerz, das dir in einer deiner Verkörperungen zugemessen war, nach deinem Verhalten in früheren Verkörperungen. Sie herrschten über dir in Form des allumfassenden Karmagesetzes. Diese Mächte werden nun einen Teil ihrer Zügel von dir loslösen. Und etwas von der Arbeit, die sie an dir getan haben, mußt du nun selbst tun. Dich traf bisher mancher schwere Schicksalsschlag. Du wußtest nicht warum? Es war die Folge einer schädlichen Tat in einem deiner vorhergehenden Lebensläufe. Du fandest Glück und Freude und nahmest sie hin. Auch sie waren die Wirkung früherer Taten. Du hast in deinem Charakter manche schöne Seiten, manche häßliche Flecken. Du hast beides selbst verursacht durch vorhergehende Erlebnisse und Gedanken. Du hast bisher die letzteren nicht gekannt; nur die Wirkungen waren dir offenbar. Sie aber, die karmischen Mächte, sahen alle deine vormaligen Lebenstaten, deine verborgensten Gedanken und Gefühle. Und sie haben danach bestimmt, wie du jetzt bist und wie du jetzt lebst.
[ 6 ] Nun aber sollen dir selbst offenbar werden alle die guten und alle die schlimmen Seiten deiner vergangenen Lebensläufe. Sie waren bis jetzt in deine eigene Wesenheit hineinverwoben, sie waren in dir, und du konntest sie nicht sehen, wie du physisch dein eigenes Gehirn nicht sehen kannst. Jetzt aber lösen sie sich von dir los, sie treten aus deiner Persönlichkeit heraus. Sie nehmen eine selbständige Gestalt an, die du sehen kannst, wie du die Steine und Pflanzen der Außenwelt siehst. Und – ich bin es selbst, die Wesenheit, die sich einen Leib gebildet hat aus deinen edlen und deinen üblen Verrichtungen. Meine gespenstige Gestalt ist aus dem Kontobuche deines eigenen Lebens gewoben. Unsichtbar hast du mich bisher in dir selbst getragen. Aber es war wohltätig für dich, daß es so war. Denn die Weisheit deines dir verborgenen Geschickes hat deshalb auch bisher an der Auslöschung der häßlichen Flecken in meiner Gestalt in dir gearbeitet. Jetzt, da ich aus dir herausgetreten bin, ist auch diese verborgene Weisheit von dir gewichen. Sie wird sich fernerhin nicht mehr um dich kümmern. Sie wird die Arbeit dann nur in deine eigenen Hände legen. Ich muß zu einer in sich vollkommenen, herrlichen Wesenheit werden, wenn ich nicht dem Verderben anheimfallen soll. Und geschähe das letztere, so würde ich auch dich selbst mit mir hinabziehen in eine dunkle, verderbte Welt. – Deine eigene Weisheit muß nun, wenn das letztere verhindert werden soll, so groß sein, daß sie die Aufgabe jener von dir gewichenen verborgenen Weisheit übernehmen kann. – Ich werde, wenn du meine Schwelle überschritten hast, keinen Augenblick mehr als dir sichtbare Gestalt von deiner Seite weichen. Und wenn du fortan Unrichtiges tust oder denkst, so wirst du sogleich deine Schuld als eine häßliche, dämonische Verzerrung an dieser meiner Gestalt wahrnehmen. Erst wenn du all dein vergangenes Unrichtiges gutgemacht und dich so geläutert hast, daß dir weiter Übles ganz unmöglich ist, dann wird sich mein Wesen in leuchtende Schönheit verwandelt haben. Und dann werde ich mich zum Heile deiner ferneren Wirksamkeit wieder mit dir zu einem Wesen vereinigen können.
[ 7 ] Meine Schwelle aber ist gezimmert aus einem jeglichen Furchtgefühl, das noch in dir ist, und aus einer jeglichen Scheu vor der Kraft, die volle Verantwortung für all dein Tun und Denken selbst zu übernehmen. Solange du noch irgendeine Furcht vor der selbsteigenen Lenkung deines Geschickes hast, so lange ist in diese Schwelle nicht alles hineingebaut, was sie erhalten muß. Und solange ihr ein einziger Baustein noch fehlt, so lange müßtest du wie gebannt an dieser Schwelle stehenbleiben oder stolpern. Versuche nicht früher diese Schwelle zu überschreiten, bis du ganz frei von Furcht und bereit zu höchster Verantwortlichkeit dich fühlst.
[ 8 ] Bisher trat ich nur aus deiner eigenen Persönlichkeit heraus, wenn der Tod dich von einem irdischen Lebenslauf abberief. Aber auch da war meine Gestalt dir verschleiert. Nur die Schicksalsmächte, welche über dir walteten, sahen mich und konnten, nach meinem Aussehen, in den Zwischenpausen zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt, dir Kraft und Fähigkeit ausbilden, damit du in einem neuen Erdenleben an der Verschönerung meiner Gestalt zum Heile deines Fortkommens arbeiten konntest. Ich selbst war es auch, dessen Unvollkommenheit die Schicksalsmächte immer wieder dazu zwang, dich in eine neue Verkörperung auf die Erde zurückzuführen. Starbest du, so war ich da; und meinetwegen bestimmten die Lenker des Karma deine Wiedergeburt. Erst wenn du durch immer wieder erneuerte Leben in dieser Art mich unbewußt ganz zur Vollkommenheit umgeschaffen gehabt hättest, wärest du nicht den Todesmächten verfallen, sondern du hättest dich ganz mit mir vereint und wärest in Einheit mit mir in die Unsterblichkeit hinübergegangen.
[ 9 ] So stehe ich heute sichtbar vor dir, wie ich stets unsichtbar neben dir in der Sterbestunde gestanden habe. Wenn du meine Schwelle überschritten haben wirst, so betrittst du die Reiche, die du sonst nach dem physischen Tode betreten hast. Du betrittst sie mit vollem Wissen und wirst fortan, indem du äußerlich sichtbar auf Erden wandelst, zugleich im Reiche des Todes, das ist aber im Reiche des ewigen Lebens, wandeln. Ich bin wirklich auch der Todesengel; aber ich, ich bin zugleich der Bringer eines nie versiegenden höheren Lebens. Beim lebendigen Leibe wirst du durch mich sterben, um die Wiedergeburt zum unzerstörbaren Dasein zu erleben.
[ 10 ] Das Reich, das du nunmehr betrittst, wird dich bekannt machen mit Wesen übersinnlicher Art. Die Seligkeit wird dein Anteil in diesem Reiche sein. Aber die erste Bekanntschaft mit dieser Welt muß ich selbst sein, ich, der ich dein eigenes Geschöpf bin. Früher lebte ich von deinem eigenen Leben; aber jetzt bin ich durch dich zu einem eigenen Dasein erwacht und stehe vor dir als sichtbares Richtmaß deiner künftigen Taten, vielleicht auch als dein immerwährender Vorwurf. Du konntest mich schaffen; aber du hast damit auch zugleich die Pflicht übernommen, mich umzuschaffen.»
[ 11 ] Was hier, in eine Erzählung gekleidet, angedeutet ist, hat man sich nicht etwa als etwas Sinnbildliches vorzustellen, sondern als ein im höchsten Grade wirkliches Erlebnis des Geheimschülers.1Es ist aus obigem klar, daß der geschilderte «Hüter der Schwelle» eine solche (astrale) Gestalt ist, welche dem erwachenden höheren Schauen des Geheimschülers sich offenbart. Und zu dieser übersinnlichen Begegnung führt die Geheimwissenschaft. Es ist eine Verrichtung niederer Magie, den «Hüter der Schwelle» auch sinnlich sichtbar zu machen. Dabei handelte es sich um die Herstellung einer Wolke feinen Stoffes, eines Räucherwerkes, das aus einer Reihe von Stoffen in bestimmter Mischung hergestellt wird. Die entwickelte Kraft des Magiers ist dann imstande, gestaltend auf das Räucherwerk zu wirken und dessen Substanz mit dem noch unausgeglichenen Karma des Menschen zu beleben. — Wer genügend vorbereitet für das höhere Schauen ist, braucht dergleichen sinnliche Anschauung nicht mehr; und wem sein noch unausgeglichenes Karma ohne genügende Vorbereitung als sinnlich lebendiges Wesen vor Augen träte, der liefe Gefahr, in schlimme Abwege zu geraten. Er sollte nicht danach streben. In Bulwers «Zanoni» wird romanhaft eine Darstellung dieses «Hüters der Schwelle» gegeben.
[ 12 ] Der Hüter soll ihn warnen, ja nicht weiter zu gehen, wenn er nicht die Kraft in sich fühlt, den Forderungen zu entsprechen, die in der obigen Anrede enthalten sind. So schrecklich die Gestalt dieses Hüters auch ist, sie ist doch nur die Wirkung des eigenen vergangenen Lebens des Schülers, ist nur sein eigener Charakter, zu selbständigem Leben außer ihm erweckt. Und diese Erweckung geschieht durch die Auseinanderlösung von Wille, Denken und Gefühl. – Schon das ist ein Erlebnis von tief bedeutungsvoller Art, daß man zum ersten Male fühlt, man habe einem geistigen Wesen selbst den Ursprung gegeben. – Es muß nun die Vorbereitung des Geheimschülers dahin zielen, daß er ohne eine jegliche Scheu den schrecklichen Anblick aushält und daß er im Augenblicke der Begegnung seine Kraft wirklich so gewachsen fühlt, daß er es auf sich nehmen kann, die Verschönung des «Hüters» mit vollem Wissen auf sich zu laden.
[ 13 ] Eine Folge der glücklich überstandenen Begegnung mit dem «Hüter der Schwelle» ist, daß der nächste physische Tod dann für den Geheimschüler ein ganz anderes Ereignis ist, als vorher die Tode waren. Er erlebt bewußt das Sterben, indem er den physischen Körper ablegt, wie man ein Kleid ablegt, das abgenutzt oder vielleicht auch durch einen plötzlichen Riß unbrauchbar geworden ist. Dieser sein physischer Tod ist dann sozusagen eine erhebliche Tatsache nur für die anderen, welche mit ihm leben und die mit ihren Wahrnehmungen noch ganz auf die Sinnenwelt beschränkt sind. Für sie «stirbt» der Geheimschüler. Für ihn ändert sich nichts von Bedeutung in seiner ganzen Umgebung. Die ganze übersinnliche Welt, in die er eingetreten ist, stand vor dem Tode schon in entsprechender Art vor ihm, und dieselbe Welt wird auch nach dem Tode vor ihm stehen. Nun hängt der «Hüter der Schwelle» aber noch mit anderem zusammen. Der Mensch gehört einer Familie, einem Volke, einer Rasse an; sein Wirken in dieser Welt hängt von seiner Zugehörigkeit zu einer solchen Gesamtheit ab. Auch sein besonderer Charakter steht damit im Zusammenhange. Und das bewußte Wirken der einzelnen Menschen ist keineswegs alles, womit man bei einer Familie, einem Stamme, Volke, einer Rasse zu rechnen hat. Es gibt ein Familien-, Volks- (und so weiter) Schicksal, wie es einen Familien-, Rassen- (und so weiter) Charakter gibt. Für den Menschen, der auf seine Sinne beschränkt ist, bleiben diese Dinge allgemeine Begriffe, und der materialistische Denker in seinem Vorurteil wird verächtlich auf den Geheimwissenschafter herabsehen, wenn er hört, daß für diesen letzteren der Familien- oder der Volkscharakter, das Stammes- oder Rassenschicksal ebenso wirklichen Wesen zukommen, wie der Charakter und das Schicksal des einzelnen Menschen einer wirklichen Persönlichkeit zukommen. Der Geheimwissenschafter lernt eben höhere Welten kennen, von denen die einzelnen Persönlichkeiten ebenso Glieder sind, wie Arme, Beine und Kopf Glieder des Menschen sind. Und in dem Leben einer Familie, eines Volkes, einer Rasse wirken außer den einzelnen Menschen auch die ganz wirklichen Familienseelen, Volksseelen, Rassengeister. Ja, in einem gewissen Sinne sind die einzelnen Menschen nur die ausführenden Organe dieser Familienseelen, Rassengeister und so weiter. In voller Wahrheit kann man davon sprechen, daß sich zum Beispiel eine Volksseele des einzelnen zu ihrem Volke gehörigen Menschen bedient, um gewisse Arbeiten auszuführen. Die Volksseele steigt nicht bis zur sinnlichen Wirklichkeit herab. Sie wandelt in höheren Welten. Und um in der physisch-sinnlichen Welt zu wirken, bedient sie sich der physischen Organe des einzelnen Menschen. Es ist in einem höheren Sinne gerade so, wie wenn sich ein Bautechniker zur Ausführung der Einzelheiten des Baues der Arbeiter bedient. – Jeder Mensch erhält im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes seine Arbeit von der Familien-, Volks- oder Rassenseele zugeteilt. Nun wird der Sinnesmensch jedoch keineswegs in den höheren Plan seiner Arbeit eingeweiht. Er arbeitet unbewußt an den Zielen der Volks-, Rassenseelen und so weiter mit. Von dem Zeitpunkte an, wo der Geheimschüler dem Hüter der Schwelle begegnet, hat er nicht bloß seine eigenen Aufgaben als Persönlichkeit zu kennen, sondern er muß wissentlich mitarbeiten an denen seines Volkes, seiner Rasse. Jede Erweiterung seines Gesichtskreises legt ihm unbedingt auch erweiterte Pflichten auf. Der wirkliche Vorgang dabei ist der, daß der Geheimschüler seinem feineren Seelenkörper einen neuen hinzufügt. Er zieht ein Kleid mehr an. Bisher schritt er durch die Welt mit den Hüllen, welche seine Persönlichkeit einkleiden. Und was er für seine Gemeinsamkeit, für sein Volk, seine Rasse und so weiter zu tun hatte, dafür sorgten die höheren Geister, die sich seiner Persönlichkeit bedienten. – Eine weitere Enthüllung, die ihm nun der «Hüter der Schwelle» macht, ist die, daß fernerhin diese Geister ihre Hand von ihm abziehen werden. Er muß aus der Gemeinsamkeit ganz heraustreten. Und er würde sich als Einzelner vollständig in sich verhärten, er würde dem Verderben entgegengehen, wenn er nun nicht selbst sich die Kräfte erwürbe, welche den Volks- und Rassengeistem eigen sind. – Zwar werden viele Menschen sagen: «Oh, ich habe mich ganz frei gemacht von allen Stammes- und Rassenzusammenhängen; ich will nur "Mensch" und "nichts als Mensch" sein.» Ihnen muß man aber sagen: Wer hat dich zu dieser Freiheit gebracht? Hat dich nicht deine Familie so hineingestellt in die Welt, wie du jetzt darinnen stehst? Hat dich nicht dein Stamm, dein Volk, deine Rasse zu dem gemacht, was du bist? Sie haben dich erzogen; und wenn du über alle Vorurteile erhaben, einer der Lichtbringer und Wohltäter deines Stammes oder selbst deiner Rasse bist, du verdankst das ihrer Erziehung. Ja, auch wenn du von dir sagst, du seiest «nichts als Mensch»: selbst daß du so geworden bist, verdankst du den Geistern deiner Gemeinschaften. – Erst der Geheimschüler lernt erkennen, was es heißt, ganz verlassen sein von Volks-, Stammes-, Rassengeistern. Erst er erfährt an sich selbst die Bedeutungslosigkeit aller solcher Erziehung für das Leben, das ihm nun bevorsteht. Denn alles, was an ihm herangezogen ist, löst sich v6llständig auf durch das Zerreißen der Fäden zwischen Wille, Denken und Gefühl. Er blickt auf die Ergebnisse aller bisherigen Erziehung zurück, wie man auf ein Haus blicken müßte, das in seinen einzelnen Ziegelsteinen auseinanderbröckelt und das man nun in neuer Form wieder aufbauen muß. Es ist wieder mehr als ein bloßes Sinnbild, wenn man sagt: Nachdem der «Hüter der Schwelle» über seine ersten Forderungen sich ausgesprochen hat, dann erhebt sich von dem Orte aus, an dem er steht, ein Wirbelwind, der all die geistigen Leuchten zum Verlöschen bringt, die bisher den Lebensweg erhellt haben. Und eine völlige Finsternis breitet sich vor dem Geheimschüler aus. Sie wird nur unterbrochen von dem Schein, den der «Hüter der Schwelle» selbst ausstrahlt. Und aus der Dunkelheit heraus ertönen seine weiteren Ermahnungen: «Überschreite meine Schwelle nicht, bevor du dir klar bist, daß du die Finsternis vor dir selbst durchleuchten wirst; tue auch nicht einen einzigen Schritt vorwärts, wenn es dir nicht zur Gewißheit geworden ist, daß du Brennstoff genug in deiner eigenen Lampe hast. Die Lampen von Führern, welche du bisher hattest, werden dir in der Zukunft fehlen.» Nach diesen Worten hat der Schüler sich umzuwenden und den Blick nach hinten zu wenden. Der «Hüter der ~chwelle» zieht nunmehr einen Vorhang hinweg, der bisher tiefe Lebensgeheimnisse verhüllt hat. Die Stammes-, Volks- und Rassengeister werden in ihrer vollen Wirksamkeit offenbar; und der Schüler sieht ebenso genau, wie er bisher geführt worden ist, als ihm anderseits klar wird, daß er nunmehr diese Führerschaft nicht mehr haben wird. Dies ist eine zweite Warnung, welche der Mensch an der Schwelle durch ihren Hüter erlebt.
[ 14 ] Unvorbereitet könnte den hier angedeuteten Anblick allerdings niemand ertragen; aber die höhere Schulung, welche dem Menschen überhaupt möglich macht, bis zur Schwelle vorzudringen, setzt ihn zugleich in die Lage, im entsprechenden Augenblicke die notwendige Kraft zu finden. Ja, diese Schulung kann eine so harmonische sein, daß dem Eintritt in das neue Leben jeder erregende oder tumultuarische Charakter genommen wird. Dann wird für den Geheimschüler das Erlebnis an der Schwelle von einem Vorgefühl jener Seligkeit begleitet sein, welche den Grundton seines neu erwachten Lebens bilden wird. Die Empfindung der neuen Freiheit wird alle anderen Gefühle überwiegen; und mit dieser Empfindung werden ihm die neuen Pflichten und die neue Verantwortung wie etwas erscheinen, das der Mensch auf einer Stufe des Lebens übernehmen muß.
The Guardian of the Threshold
[ 1 ] Important experiences when ascending to the higher worlds are the encounters with the "Guardian of the Threshold". There is not just one, but essentially two, a "lesser" and a "greater" "Guardian of the Threshold". A person encounters the former when the connecting threads between will, thinking and feeling within the finer bodies (the astral and etheric bodies) begin to loosen, as described in the previous chapter. The human being comes face to face with the "greater guardian of the threshold" when the dissolution of the connections also extends to the physical parts of the body (namely first of all the brain).
[ 2 ] The "lesser guardian of the threshold" is an independent being. It does not exist for humans until they have reached the appropriate stage of development. Only some of its most essential characteristics can be listed here.
[ 3 ] An attempt will first be made to describe in narrative form the encounter of the secret disciple with the Guardian of the Threshold. It is only through this encounter that the disciple becomes aware that his thinking, feeling and willing have broken free from their implanted connection.
[ 4 ] A horrible, ghostly being stands before the pupil. He needs all presence of mind and all confidence in the certainty of his path of knowledge, which he has been able to acquire sufficiently during his previous secret discipleship.
[ 5 ] The "Guardian" makes his meaning known in the following words: "Powers that were invisible to you have ruled over you until now. They caused every good deed of yours to have its reward and every evil deed of yours to have its bad consequences. Through their influence your character was built up from your life experiences and your thoughts. They caused your destiny. They determined the amount of pleasure and pain that was allotted to you in one of your embodiments according to your behavior in previous embodiments. They ruled over you in the form of the all-encompassing law of karma. These powers will now release some of their reins from you. And some of the work they have done on you, you must now do yourself. You have suffered many a heavy blow so far. You didn't know why? It was the result of a harmful deed in one of your previous lives. You found happiness and joy and accepted them. They too were the effect of earlier deeds. You have some beautiful aspects in your character, some ugly spots. You have caused both yourself through previous experiences and thoughts. Until now you have not known the latter; only the effects were apparent to you. But they, the karmic powers, saw all your previous life deeds, your most hidden thoughts and feelings. And they determined how you are now and how you live now.
[ 6 ] But now all the good and all the bad aspects of your past lives shall be revealed to you. Until now, they were interwoven into your own being, they were in you, and you could not see them, just as you cannot physically see your own brain. Now, however, they detach themselves from you, they emerge from your personality. They take on an independent form that you can see, just as you see the stones and plants of the outside world. And - it is I myself, the entity that has formed a body from your noble and your evil activities. My ghostly form is woven from the account book of your own life. You have carried me invisibly within yourself until now. But it was good for you that it was so. For the wisdom of your hidden destiny has therefore also worked to erase the ugly stains in my form within you. Now that I have stepped out of you, this hidden wisdom has also departed from you. It will no longer concern itself with you. It will only put the work into your own hands. I must become a perfect, glorious being in myself if I am not to fall prey to destruction. And if the latter were to happen, I would also drag you down with me into a dark, corrupt world. - Your own wisdom must now be so great, if the latter is to be prevented, that it can take over the task of that hidden wisdom which has departed from you. - When you have crossed my threshold, I will not leave your side for a moment as a visible figure. And if from now on you do or think wrong things, you will immediately perceive your guilt as an ugly, demonic distortion of this figure of mine. Only when you have made amends for all your past wrongdoing and have purified yourself so that further evil is quite impossible for you will my nature have transformed itself into radiant beauty. And then I will be able to reunite with you as one being for the benefit of your distant effectiveness.
[ 7 ] But my threshold is made of any feeling of fear that is still in you and of any fear of the power to take full responsibility for all your actions and thoughts yourself. As long as you still have any fear of directing your own destiny, this threshold will not have everything built into it that it needs. And as long as it still lacks a single building block, you will have to remain spellbound or stumble at this threshold. Do not attempt to cross this threshold until you feel completely free of fear and ready for the highest responsibility.
[ 8 ] Until now, I only stepped out of your own personality when death called you away from an earthly life. But even then, my form was veiled from you. Only the powers of destiny, which ruled over you, saw me and could, according to my appearance, in the intervals between death and a new birth, train you in strength and ability so that you could work on the beautification of my form in a new earthly life for the benefit of your progress. It was also I myself whose imperfection repeatedly forced the forces of fate to return you to earth in a new embodiment. If you died, I was there; and because of me, the rulers of karma determined your rebirth. Only when you had unconsciously completely transformed me to perfection through repeatedly renewed lives in this way would you not have fallen prey to the powers of death, but would you have united with me completely and passed into immortality in unity with me.
[ 9 ] So today I stand visibly before you, as I have always stood invisibly beside you in the hour of death. When you have crossed my threshold, you will enter the realms that you have otherwise entered after physical death. You will enter them with full knowledge and from now on, by walking outwardly visible on earth, you will also walk in the realm of death, but that is the realm of eternal life. I am really also the angel of death; but I, I am at the same time the bringer of a never-ending higher life. In the living body you will die through me in order to experience the rebirth to indestructible existence.
[ 10 ] The realm you are about to enter will introduce you to beings of a supernatural nature. Bliss will be your share in this realm. But the first acquaintance with this world must be myself, I who am your own creature. Formerly I lived from your own life; but now I have awakened through you to an existence of my own and stand before you as a visible measure of your future deeds, perhaps also as your everlasting reproach. You were able to create me, but you also took on the duty of remaking me."
[ 11 ] What is hinted at here in a narrative is not to be imagined as something symbolic, but as a highly real experience of the secret disciple. 1It is clear from the above that the described "Guardian of the Threshold" is such an (astral) figure, which reveals itself to the awakening higher vision of the secret disciple. And the secret science leads to this supersensible encounter. It is an act of lower magic to make the "Guardian of the Threshold" visible to the senses. This involves the production of a cloud of fine material, an incense made from a series of substances in a specific mixture. The developed power of the magician is then able to have a formative effect on the incense and enliven its substance with the person's as yet unbalanced karma. - He who is sufficiently prepared for the higher vision no longer needs such sensual contemplation; and he who would see his still unbalanced karma as a sensually living being without sufficient preparation would run the risk of going astray. He should not strive for this. In Bulwer's "Zanoni", a novelistic depiction of this "Guardian of the Threshold" is given.
[ 12 ] The guardian is to warn him not to go any further if he does not feel the strength within himself to meet the demands contained in the above salutation. As terrible as the figure of this guardian is, it is only the effect of the disciple's own past life, it is only his own character, awakened to independent life apart from him. And this awakening happens through the separation of will, thought and feeling. - This alone is an experience of a deeply meaningful kind, that one feels for the first time that one has given origin to a spiritual being oneself. - The preparation of the secret disciple must now aim at enduring the terrible sight without any shyness and that at the moment of the encounter he really feels his strength to have grown so much that he can take upon himself the beautification of the "guardian" with full knowledge.
[ 13 ] One consequence of the happily survived encounter with the "Keeper of the Threshold" is that the next physical death is then a completely different event for the secret disciple than the deaths were before. He consciously experiences dying by taking off the physical body, just as one takes off a dress that has worn out or perhaps become unusable due to a sudden tear. This physical death of his is then, so to speak, a significant fact only for the others who live with him and whose perceptions are still entirely limited to the world of the senses. For them, the secret disciple "dies". For him, nothing of significance changes in his entire environment. The whole supersensible world into which he has entered already stood before him in a corresponding way before death, and the same world will also stand before him after death. But the "guardian of the threshold" is also connected with other things. Man belongs to a family, a people, a race; his activity in this world depends on his belonging to such an entity. His particular character is also related to this. And the conscious activity of individual human beings is by no means all that one has to reckon with in a family, tribe, people or race. There is a family, tribe (and so on) destiny, just as there is a family, race (and so on) character. For man, who is limited to his senses, these things remain general concepts, and the materialistic thinker in his prejudice will look down contemptuously on the secret scientist when he hears that for the latter the family or folk character, the tribal or racial destiny belong to real beings just as the character and destiny of the individual human being belong to a real personality. The secret scientist gets to know higher worlds, of which the individual personalities are members just as arms, legs and head are members of the human being. And in the life of a family, a people, a race, the very real family souls, people souls, race spirits also work alongside the individual human beings. Yes, in a certain sense the individual human beings are only the executive organs of these family souls, race spirits and so on. In full truth one can speak of the fact that, for example, a people's soul makes use of the individual human being belonging to its people in order to carry out certain work. The folk-soul does not descend to sensual reality. It walks in higher worlds. And in order to work in the physical-sensual world, it makes use of the physical organs of the individual human being. In a higher sense, it is just as if a construction technician makes use of the workers to carry out the details of the construction. - In the truest sense of the word, every human being receives his work from the family, national or racial soul. However, the sensual man is by no means initiated into the higher plan of his work. He works unconsciously on the aims of the national, racial souls and so on. From the moment the secret disciple meets the Guardian of the Threshold, he has not only to know his own tasks as a personality, but he must knowingly cooperate in those of his people, his race. Every extension of his sphere of vision necessarily imposes on him extended duties. The real process here is that the secret disciple adds a new soul-body to his finer one. He puts on one more garment. Hitherto he has walked through the world with the shells which clothe his personality. And what he had to do for his commonality, for his people, his race and so on, was taken care of by the higher spirits who made use of his personality. - A further revelation which the "Guardian of the Threshold" now makes to him is that these spirits will continue to withdraw their hand from him. He must step out of the community completely. And as an individual he would become completely hardened within himself, he would be heading for destruction if he did not now acquire for himself the powers that are inherent in the spirits of the people and the race. - It is true that many people will say: "Oh, I have freed myself completely from all tribal and racial connections; I only want to be "human" and "nothing but human"." But you have to say to them: Who brought you to this freedom? Did not your family place you in the world as you now stand in it? Did not your tribe, your people, your race make you what you are? They have brought you up; and if you are above all prejudices, one of the bringers of light and benefactors of your tribe or even of your race, you owe it to your upbringing. Yes, even if you say of yourself that you are "nothing but human": even that you have become so, you owe it to the spirits of your communities. - Only the secret disciple learns to recognize what it means to be completely abandoned by folk, tribal and racial spirits. Only he experiences in himself the insignificance of all such education for the life that now lies ahead of him. For everything that has been nurtured in him dissolves completely through the breaking of the threads between will, thought and feeling. He looks back on the results of all previous education as one would have to look at a house whose individual bricks are crumbling apart and which must now be rebuilt in a new form. It is again more than a mere allegory when one says: After the "Guardian of the Threshold" has spoken out about his first demands, a whirlwind rises from the place where he stands, extinguishing all the spiritual lights that have so far illuminated the path of life. And a complete darkness spreads before the secret disciple. It is only interrupted by the light emitted by the "Guardian of the Threshold" himself. And out of the darkness come his further admonitions: "Do not cross my threshold until you realize that you will shine through the darkness before you; do not take a single step forward until you are certain that you have enough fuel in your own lamp. The lamps of guides which you have had hitherto will be lacking in the future." After these words, the disciple has to turn around and look backwards. The "Guardian of the Threshold" now pulls away a curtain that has hitherto concealed deep secrets of life. The tribal, folk and racial spirits are revealed in their full effectiveness; and the disciple sees just as clearly how he has been led so far as he realizes, on the other hand, that he will no longer have this leadership. This is a second warning which man experiences at the threshold through his guardian.
[ 14 ] Unprepared, however, no one could endure the sight indicated here; but the higher training which makes it possible for man to penetrate to the threshold at all, puts him at the same time in a position to find the necessary strength at the appropriate moment. Indeed, this training can be so harmonious that the entrance into the new life is deprived of any exciting or tumultuous character. Then for the secret disciple the experience on the threshold will be accompanied by an anticipation of that bliss which will form the keynote of his newly awakened life. The sensation of new freedom will outweigh all other feelings; and with this sensation the new duties and new responsibilities will appear to him as something which man must assume at some stage of life.