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from Dr. Rudolf Steiner
The following verses and meditations are from verses collected under the title "Mantric Sayings and Meditations (1903-1925)" delivered by Dr. Rudolf Steiner during his life by way of letters written to individuals, notes from his journals, lectures, and for funeral orations. Some meditations and mantras were written individually as letters to loved ones so that they could carry on their relationships with those who had died. The page numbers and links are provided for reference. https://rudolfsteinerbookstore.com/product/mantric-sayings-cw-268/
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"Christ, the Sun-Love-Word
Lives in the ray of light*
That permeates my eye.*
And may Christ live
In my whole being,
And with my whole being
May I live in Christ." -Rudolf Steiner, P68, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
*Author's Note: I replaced the word "beam" in the original translation with "ray". I also replaced "penetrate" with "permeate". All of Dr. Steiner's works were translated from German as he did not speak English. It is also inevitable that all translators proceed based on their knowledge and experience, but inevitably different translations exist. For example, there are over 900 English translations of the Bible that have been created since 1526.
If I minor updates were made by me in the verses below, they have been notated.
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"Out of the light-filled heights of the spirit
May God's bright light shine
In human souls
Who wish to seek
The grace of the spirit
The power of the spirit
The being of the spirit." -Rudolf Steiner, Mantric Sayings and Meditations, P272
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Imagine face of loved one.
Imagine hands touching.
"Come, soul, to me,
I am waiting.
Come into my thoughts,
They are waiting.
Come into my feelings,
They are waiting.
My I is waiting." -Rudolf Steiner, P207, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
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"May my soul follow you into the spirit realm.
Follow you with the love
It was able to nurture in the earthly realm
When my eye could still see you,
May the heat and the cold be eased for you,
Thus we live united
Not separated by the gates of the spirit." -Rudolf Steiner, P199, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
*Note: Dr. Steiner spoke about how many people who, when we pass through the gate of death, can suffer from "thirst", "heat", and "cold" depending on the nature of our lives and the obstacles we have to overcome during the initial years of transformation. Thus, he spoke of lessening the effects of spiritual "cold" and "heat", which is a soul experience on the astral plane, or spiritual realm, which we can help to bring into balance through love, and mantras and meditations such as these.
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"May my love
Be sacrificially woven
Into all of the protective sheaths
That surround you-
Cooling all warmth,
Warming all coldness-
Life carried by love
Light-gifted, upward!" -Rudolf Steiner, P195, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"To you who reside in the realm of the spirit,
May my love follow you,
May it follow you in your coldness,
May it follow you in your heat,
May it faithfully carry with you
What in your soul is to be carried
I, with you." -Rudolf Steiner, P214, Mantric Sayings and Meditations (language slightly modified by the author).
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"Soul in soul land,
Seek Christ's mercy
That brings you help,
Help from spirit lands
That grants peace even to those spirits
Who would despair
Lacking peace in earthly experience." -Rudolf Steiner, P218, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"To you
In love
On the paths of Christ
Seek my heart
Live
In my thoughts
As I in your soul." -Rudolf Steiner, P207, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"Into the fields of spirit I will send
The faithful love we found on earth
To bind soul with soul
Loving, you should find my thinking
If from the bright lands of spirit seeking
You turn your soul
To behold what you seek in me." -Rudolf Steiner, P201, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"May heart-love reach to soul-love
Love's warmth stream to spirit's light
Thus I draw near to you
Thinking spiritual thoughts with you
Feeling cosmic love in you
Willing in spirit through you
Weaving unity of experience." -Rudolf Steiner, P205, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"May my soul's love stride toward you
May my love's understanding stream toward you.
May they carry you
May they hold you
In the heights of hope,
In the spheres of love." -Rudolf Steiner, P213, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"I was united with you.
Remain united with me.
We will speak together
In the speech of eternal being.
We will be active
There, where deeds produce effects,
We will weave in the spirit,
There, where human thoughts are woven
In the WORD of eternal thoughts." -Rudolf Steiner, P223, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"No barrier can separate
What united in the spirit
Preserves
The light-shining
Love-streaming
Eternal soul-bond.
Thus, I am in your memory
Thus, are you in mine." -Rudolf Steiner, P223, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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Part 1: Mornings:
Imagine the Sun. The sun sounding tones in the heart:
"Christ is with you (or "me")
He fills your heart. (or "my")
Christ is in you (or "me")
He fills your soul. (or "my")
Christ is around you (or "me")
He fills your spirit. (or "my")
Feel him."
Wait Quietly
Part 2: Evenings
Imagine the world of the stars against a blue sky.
"My I will be
In spirit-filled space
It will have left
Its physical body
It will weave
In the spirit of God
Filled with Strength" -Rudolf Steiner, P206, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
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"Whatever happens to you
In the course of time and worlds
My loving heart
With all of its forces
Will be with you
Bearing
Helping." -Rudolf Steiner, P206, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"With you
My soul seeks you,
Presciently divining
Is with you,
And lives in your task
With you,
So we are united
Karmically for all time." -Rudolf Steiner, P196, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"You to whom my love is streaming
May your warmth cool you
May your cold warm you
May my love's fidelity
See in the spirit
To your spirit future
Out of my heart forever." -Rudolf Steiner, P196, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"May there be sent to you
My love just as it was
When you were here with me.
May it ease your heat
May it ease your cold
So that you can find your way
From the soul into the spirit realm" -Rudolf Steiner, P197, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
*The "Soul Realm" refers to the initial stage of transition that each soul passes through after death. Dr. Steiner referred to this phase of purification, and transformation, after death as "Kamaloca" while in the Bible it is referred to as "Purgatory". After a soul completes its transformation during that period, which can be a difficult transition, then it moves on to the "Spirit Realm", "Spirit Land", and "Devachan", which in the Bible is referred to as "Heaven". Dr. Steiner observed that, on average, Kamaloca lasts about 1/3 of the number of years that the individual lived on earth.
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"That the eyes of your soul may see
The deeper force in my thoughts
Thus is my will.
May my will meet your will
In the strength of the Father
In the Mercy of the Christ
In the light of the spirit." -Rudolf Steiner, P209, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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"May my love be with you in the spirit realm.
May your soul be found
By my seeking soul.
May your cold be lessened
And your heat be soothed
By my thinking of your being.
May we thus be bound together
I with you
And you with me." -Rudolf Steiner, P215, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
Think of him or her (the focus of your prayer) throughout the given meditation (picturing them as vividly as possible).
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“To YOU
Bearer of the World's Word
May my soul
Be directed
Opening itself to YOUR
Portal of Grace,
To Your
Gate of Love;
Send the Spirit
Who bears
YOUR Word's
Illumination
Your Word's
Warmth of Love
Your Word's
Heart Power
Into my Soul."-Rudolf Steiner, P304, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
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“Into cosmic distances I will carry
My feeling heart, so that it grows warm
In the fire of the holy forces working;
Into cosmic thoughts I will weave
My own thinking, so that it grows clear
In the light of eternal life-becoming;
Into depths of soul I will sink
Devoted contemplation, so that it grows strong
For the true goals of human activity.
In the peace of God I strive thus
Amidst life’s battles and cares
To prepare myself for the higher Self;
Aspiring to work in joy-filled peace,
Sensing cosmic being in my own being,
I seek to fulfill my human duty;
May I live then in anticipation,
Oriented toward my soul’s star
Which gives me my place in spirit realms.” -Rudolf Steiner
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"Peace, lead my seeking soul
In its searching for the good.
Truth, lead my striving soul
In its striving for the light.
God in me, lead myself
In all searching
For light, love, and knowledge." -Rudolf Steiner, Soul Exercises (1904-1924)
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"In feelings of the need for YOUR mercy,
Christ-light of the world, I hope for and await
forces
opening the portals of the soul
For YOUR illumination
I will be still within myself
and thank YOU for YOUR gift
and give it
as YOUR gift to humankind
An instrument of YOUR word
will I be
with my soul's
best powers
true depths
stillest reverences." -Rudolf Steiner, P303, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
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"In the expanses of the universe
The force bestirred itself
That gave my soul existence.
Sensing this I will remember this force
Trustingly I hope for it
May it bring me the light
That always lights my life."-Rudolf Steiner, Soul Exercises (1904-1924)
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"To the bright light of the sun
Streams from the heights
And spirit forces live
In the sunshine’s light
The warmth of the heart
Lives within the human being
And soul forces stream
From the warmth of the heart.*
In the spirit of the sunlight
God’s wisdom presides
In the warm power of the heart
May the soul’s love preside." -Rudolf Steiner, Soul Exercises (1904-1924).
*The translation I used on this verse from "Soul Exercises" uses "warm chamber" which I replaced with "warmth".
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"May wisdom shine through me.
May love grow within me,
May strength penetrate me.
That in me may arise
A helper of humankind
A servant of sacred things
Selfless and true." - Rudolf Steiner
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"Great exalted spirit
You who fill the vastness of the worlds
who dip into the soul's foundations
Fill our place of work
Fill our seeking souls
Strengthen our will
Warm our feeling
Purify our thinking
Now and evermore." -Rudolf Steiner, P267, Mantric Sayings and Meditations
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"To you
In love
On the paths of Christ
Seek my heart
Live
In my thoughts
As I in your soul." -Rudolf Steiner, P207, Mantric Sayings and Meditations (for a mother after the death of her small child, June 1921)
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"I see in the pure rays of light
The Godhead of the world;
In love to all beings radiates the divinity of my soul.
I live in the Godhead
And find myself again
In the Godhead of the world." -Rudolf Steiner, Esoteric Classes, Lesson 32 https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA266/English/UNK1999/19110826e01.html
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"Oh, God, Who wills to redeem me,
For Your Love's sake I must follow you.
Show me the way
And I'll tread in Your footsteps,
Because Jesus Christ, You Son,
Patiently leads me on the path of redemption.
Death He has suffered for me,
And the young dawn blossoms for us." -The Bridge Over the River, After Death Communications of a Young Artist Who Died in World War I, P 59. https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-over-River-Communications-Artist/dp/0910142599
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"The roof upon your house
Is blessed.
Roses are growing upward on the walls...
And eyes of longing are gazing
From the windows.
Wait a while!
Open your hearts to the waves
of Divine Grace,
And a light will be enkindled for you
That will never be extinguished
It brightens your works by day,
And your experiences by night.
Thus Divine Light embraces you
And you are resting protected in His lap.
The Lord Blesses you." -The Bridge Over the River, After Death Communications of a Young Artist Who Died in World War I, P 41. https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-over-River-Communications-Artist/dp/0910142599
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"The currents of love are immense
That surge through you, oh man,
Son of God!
Father of light and love,
Ruler of death are You
And tranquility.
Inconceivable is Your might, and
You gave of it to me.
And now I conceive fully your might,
That watches over me.
Now I can endure, even
Through the world should crumble.
Only this thought survives:
I am - You are!" -The Bridge Over the River, After Death Communications of a Young Artist Who Died in World War I, P 25. https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-over-River-Communications-Artist/dp/0910142599
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Morning:
"May my soul bloom
In love for all existence
May my spirit live
In the soul of being
May self rest
In the world's divinity
So will I be."
Evening:
"I will stir myself
To be in the world's divinity
May my self rest within it
May my spirit live
In the soul of being
May my soul bloom
In love for all existence
Wisdom in spirit."
-Rudolf Steiner, “Start Now!: A Book of Soul and Spiritual Exercises : Meditation Instructions, Meditations, Exercises, Verses for Living a Spiritual Year, Prayers for the Dead & Other Practices for Beginning and Experienced Practitioners”, by Christopher Bamford, 2004, p.124, PDF On Google: https://books.google.cg/books?id=q9JDyMnqKwMC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr&source=gbs_vpt_read#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Mabel Collins “Light on the Path"
"In the book Light on the Path, there are four sentences which may be employed in meditation and inner concentration. They are very ancient and have been used for centuries by Initiates. Their meaning is profound and many-sided.
-Before the eyes can see, they must be incapable of tears.
-Before the ear can hear, it must have lost it's sensitiveness.
-Before the voice can speak in the presence of the masters, it must have lost the power to wound.
-Before the soul can stand in the presence of the masters, its feet must be washed in the blood of the heart.
These four sentences have magical power. But we must bring them to life within us, we must love them as a mother loves her child. " -Dr. Rudolf Steiner, An Esoteric Cosmology, Lecture VI, Yoga In East and West II, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA094/English/SGP1978/19060530p01.html
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"I am surrounded by the pure white light of the Christ.
Nothing but good can come to me.
Nothing but good shall go from me.
I give thanks." - The Astara Affirmation
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"...A morning meditation that consists of the following.
One raises one's feeling to the higher self. It's less a matter of telling oneself something theoretically about the higher self, and more of feeling in a very vivid way that one has a higher nature in one. One imagines that the ordinary self surrounds this higher nature like a shell, so that the latter is present in the lower self like its kernel. After developing such a feeling one says the following prayerfully (not aloud, but in thought) to the “higher self”:
More radiant than the sun
Purer than snow
Subtler than the ether
Is the Self
The Spirit of my heart
I am this Self
This Self am I.
As one says this to oneself quite exactly no other idea should mix in. One should only feel that one's soul-gaze is directed towards the higher self. One gradually feels a wonderful strengthening going out from the above words. One feels as if one were lifted out of oneself, and eventually as if one had gotten wings. This is the beginning on which one then builds further. This should last 2–3 minutes." -Rudolf Steiner, Esoteric Lessons I, GA 266 Number 1, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA266/English/UNK1998/EsoC01_Arc6912.html
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The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen
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The Lord's Prayer by Rudolf Steiner
Dr. Steiner described the Lord's Prayer as a prayer of profound cosmic and human meaning. He provided this interpretation to at least one colleague during his lifetime.
"Father, you who were, are, and will be in the inmost being of all of us! May your name be glorified in us all and praised.
May your kingdom grow more expansive in our deeds and in the conduct of our lives.
May we enact your will in our lives as you, Father, have enshrined it in our inmost heart and soul.
In overflowing abundance, you give us spiritual nourishment, the bread of life, through all the changing conditions of our lives.
Let our mercy towards others atone for the sins perpetrated upon our being.
You do not allow the tempter to work on us beyond the capacity of our strength - for no temptation can prevail in your being and the tempter is only appearance and delusion from which you will safely deliver us, Father, through the light of your knowledge.
May your power and glory work in us for all the cycles of time."
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"Michael!
Lend me your sword
That I may be armed
To vanquish the dragon in me,
Fill me with your strength
That I may bring into confusion the spirits
Who wish to paralyze me.
Work in me
So that the light irradiates
My I, and that I may be led
To deeds worthy of you.
Michael!" -Rudolf Steiner, Soul Exercises (1904-1924)
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"I want to be strong
I want to be strong in my hands
I want to be strong in my heart
May God help me
That I may become strong
I pray to God
That He may strengthen my hands
I pray to God
That He may strengthen my heart
Then I will be strong." -Rudolf Steiner, Mantras and Meditations, Page 174
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*To be said silently before going to sleep.
"O you powers in the spiritual world
Let me out of the physical body
To be knowing in the world of light
To be in the light
To observe my own body of light
Do not allow the power of the Ahrimanic forces
To have too much power over me
So they do not make it impossible for me
To behold what is taking place in my body of light." -Rudolf Steiner, Soul Exercises (1904-1924)
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"My aura’s outer sheath condenses.
May it surround me with an impenetrable vessel
Against all impure, corrupt thoughts and sensations.
May it open itself only to divine wisdom." -Rudolf Steiner, Soul Exercises (1904-1924)
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"From the fighters' courage,
From the blood of battles,
From the mourners' suffering,
From the people's sacrifice,
There will ripen fruits of Spirit
If with consciousness the soul
Turns her thought to Spirit Realms.
Brave and true I will be.
Each good deed sets me free.
Each kind word makes me strong.
I will fight for the right.
I will conquer the wrong.
I bear within me peace;
Within myself I bear forces to make me strong.
With the warmth of these forces I shall be imbued.
With the power of my will I shall be filled.
And then I shall feel
How peacefulness pours through all my being
As I strengthen myself
To find peace as strength within myself
Through steadfast inner striving." -Rudolf Steiner, Soul Exercises (1904-1924)
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"From ancient, holy sacrificial sites
The healing art once flowed
Into the works of humankind.
Remember your revelation:
Say it at the new healing site.
And if human souls
Carried by the spirit
Hear your call to the Mysteries
They shall work
To bring forth healing
In the weaving of human life.
I will seek the power of spirit-ears
In a loving heart
To hear the call." - Rudolf Steiner, Mantric Sayings Meditations 1903-1925), P 298.
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The 6 Daily Balancing Exercises by Dr. Rudolf Steiner
1. Control of thought aims to gain control over what you think. As thoughts arise and pass, we seek to embrace only valid thoughts that are alive and spiritual. We must seek to dismiss fleeting passing notions and thoughts associated with the outer world.
2. Control of will aims to gain control over one’s actions. This is the de facto result of control over one’s thoughts. Control over one’s thoughts lead to control of feeling and willing.
3. The exercise of balanced feeling. This aims to be aware of your feelings, to weaken strong feelings and strengthen weak ones and to balance them. No highs or lows.
4. Seek to find the positive in all things regardless of our ugly or negative something or someone appears. In this exercise thinking and feeling are combined.
5. Open-mindedness aims to be always open to new experiences. In this exercise feeling and willing are combined.
6. Inner harmony: the sixth, in which the previous exercises need to be practiced in order to create harmony between thinking, feeling and willing.
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The Eightfold Path of Buddha & The 8 Beatitudes of Christ
According to Buddha and Anthroposophy, or initiation wisdom, each person is born into the world with certain habits carried forward from prior lifetimes; in the East, this "imprint" is referred to as "Samskara". It consists of lower biases and dispositions that we carry with us that inevitably results in perspectives and dispositions that can lead to misperception and illusion; a subjective falsehood based on what we inherently perceive, feel, and think about the world and people. A person must purge there inherent biases, or weaknesses, before one can reach a truly objective perception of things.
Self purification is the path to reach a higher level of development.
To transform one's self, and achieve a transformation from our lower influences, Buddha revealed the Eightfold Path as a means of attainment. When combined with initiation wisdom - through the Christ - using these mantras and practices can aide one through healthy living, thinking, and feeling leading one to balance and constructive change...
"All the great Founders of religions have been possessed of clairvoyant sight. They are the spiritual Guides of mankind, and their precepts are precepts of the moral life based on astral and spiritual truths. This explains the similarities in all the religions. There is a certain similarity, for instance, between the Eight-fold Path of the Buddha and the Eight Beatitudes of Christ. The same underlying truth is that whenever man develops one of the virtues, he unfolds a new faculty of perception. Why are eight stages mentioned? Because the seer knows that the faculties which may be transmuted into organs of perception are eight in number." Rudolf Steiner, GA 94 , An Esoteric Cosmology, Lecture X: The Astral World – Paris, 6th June 1906
The Eightfold Path Consists of:
"He (Buddha) described the path as follows.—
1. Man attains this kind of knowledge about the world when he acquires a right view of things, a view that has nothing to do with sympathy or antipathy or preference of any sort. He must strive as best he can to acquire the right view of each thing, purely according to what presents itself to him outwardly. That is the first principle: the right view of things.
2, Secondly, man must become independent of what has remained from earlier incarnations; he must also endeavour to judge in accordance with his right view of a thing and not be swayed by any other influences. Thus right judgment is the second principle.
3. The third is that he must strive to give true expression to what he desires to communicate to the world, having first acquired the right view and right judgment of it; not only his words but every manifestation of his being must express his own right view—that and that alone. This is right speech.
4. The fourth principle is that man must strive to act, not according to his sympathies and antipathies, not according to the dark forces of Samskara within him, but in such a way that he lets his right view, right judgment and right speech become deed. This is right action.
5. The fifth principle, enabling a man to liberate himself from what is within him, is that he should acquire the right vocation and station in the world. We may best understand what Buddha meant by this, if we remember how many people are dissatisfied with the tasks devolving upon them, believing that some other position would be more advantageous. But a man should be able to derive from the situation into which he is born or into which fate has placed him, the best that is possible, i.e. to \acquire the right ‘occupation’ or ‘vocation’. Whoever finds no satisfaction in the situation in which he is placed, will not be able to derive from it the power to unfold right activity in the world. This is what Buddha called right vocation.
6. The sixth principle is that a man should make increasing efforts to ensure that what he acquires through right views, right judgment and so forth, shall become habit in him. He is born into the world with certain habits. A child gives evidence of this or that inclination or habit. But man's endeavours should be directed, not towards retaining the habits, proceeding from Samskara but towards acquiring those that gradually become his own as the result of right views, right judgment, right speech, and so on. These are the right habits.
7. The seventh principle is that a man should bring order into his life through not invariably forgetting yesterday when he has to act to-day. He would never accomplish anything if he had to learn his skills anew each time. He must strive to develop recollectedness, mindfulness, regarding everything in his life. He must always turn to account what he has already learnt, he must link the present with the past.
8. Thus along the Eightfold Path man must acquire right mindfulness in the sense of Buddha's teaching. The eighth quality is acquired when, without partiality for one view or another and without being influenced by any element remaining in him from former incarnations, he surrenders himself with pure devotion to the things of the world, immerses himself in them and lets them alone speak to him. This is right contemplation.
This is the Eightfold Path, of which Buddha said to his disciples that if followed it would gradually lead to the extinction of the thirst for existence with its attendant suffering, and impart to the soul something that brings liberation from elements enslaving it from past lives." -Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of Luke, Lecture 3, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA114/English/RSP1964/19090917p01.html *The numbering above is mine.
"All the great Founders of religions have been possessed of clairvoyant sight. They are the spiritual Guides of mankind, and their precepts are precepts of the moral life based on astral and spiritual truths. This explains the similarities in all the religions. There is a certain similarity, for instance, between the Eight-fold Path of the Buddha and the Eight Beatitudes of Christ. The same underlying truth is that whenever man develops one of the virtues, he unfolds a new faculty of perception. Why are eight stages mentioned? Because the seer knows that the faculties which may be transmuted into organs of perception are eight in number.
The astral organs of perception are called in occultism, the ‘lotus-flowers’ (sacred wheels, chakra). The lotus-flower with sixteen petals lies in the region of the larynx. In very ancient times this lotus-flower turned from right to left — that is to say in the opposite direction to the hands of a clock. In the man of today, this lotus-flower has ceased to turn. In the clairvoyant seer it begins to move in the opposite direction — from left to right. In earlier times, eight of the sixteen petals were visible, the others undeveloped. In future ages they will all be visible, for the first eight are the result of the action of unconscious initiation, the other eight of the conscious initiation attained by dint of personal effort. The eight new petals correspond to the Beatitudes of Christ." - Rudolf Steiner, An Esoteric Cosmology, Lecture X, The Astral World, Part II, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA094/English/SGP1978/19060606p01.html
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The 8 Beatitudes of Christ
From The Gospel of Matthew 5:3-10.
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
3. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
4. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
5. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
6. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
8. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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The Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love,
For it is in giving that one receives,
It is in self-forgetting that one finds,
It is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
It is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.
The tale of St. Francis and the Wolf
This account can be found in a 14th-century collection of stories about Francis and his companions called The Little Flowers of Saint Francis. Selected Reference: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit-blog/st-francis-and-the-taming-of-the-wolf
In this well-known legend, St. Francis, who was a genuine spiritual initiate, visited the Italian town of Gubbio where a fierce wolf had been terrorizing the village and even killing some of the people including children.
During his visit to Gubbio, Francis goes out to meet the wolf. According to the story, when the wolf sees St. Francis, he charges saint with his mouth open ready to attack. St. Francis immediately makes the sign of the Cross over him and says, “Come here, Brother Wolf. I command you on behalf of Christ that you do no harm to me or to anyone.” As soon as St Francis did this, notes The Little Flowers, “the fearsome wolf closed his mouth and stopped running; and once the command was given, it came meekly as a lamb, and threw itself at the feet of St. Francis.”
Then St. Francis scolds Brother Wolf for destroying and killing the creatures of God. “The whole town is complaining about you,” Francis tells the wolf gently. “But I want to make peace between you and the people. And so I promise that I will have food given to you regularly, Brother Wolf, by the people of this town so that you will no longer suffer hunger. And I want you, Brother Wolf, to promise that you will never harm any human person or animal.” The wolf showed agreement by simply bowing his head.
And so Francis asks the people of the town if they will promise to provide food for wolf regularly. They all say they will. Finally, St. Francis asks the wolf to give a guarantee in front of all of the people that he will no longer inflict harm upon the people of Gubbio or its animals.
“Then the wolf, lifting his right paw, placed it in the hand of St. Francis. Because of this action…there was such rejoicing and wonder among all the people…that they all began to cry to heaven, praising and blessing God who sent Francis to them who, through his merits, had freed them from the jaws of the cruel beast.”
“Afterwards that same wolf lived in Gubbio for two years, and he tamely entered the houses, going from door to door, without doing any harm to anyone and without any being done to him; and he was kindly fed by the people…. Finally after two years Brother Wolf died of old age, at which the citizens grieved very much.”
Legend has it that after the wolf died, it was interred with St. Francis and lies next to him in his grave...
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Note on St. Francis
Dr. Rudolf Steiner confirmed that the life of St. Francis as retold in religious history - although many regard it as myth in modern times - coincides with historical fact. Refer to the following lecture for more information on the life and deeds of St. Francis of Assisi: Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophical Ethics, GA 155, Lecture I, Norrköping, May 28, 1912
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA155/English/APC1928/19120528p02.html