The Way of Initiation; or, How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher WorldsSteiner, Rudolf
Religion
The Way of Initiation; or, How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
Steiner, Rudolf
Theosophy
If he be now sufficiently advanced, a third trial awaits the candidate.
No aim, no boundary lines, are here set for him. All is left entirely
in his own hands. He finds himself in a condition where nothing
external impels or induces him to act. He must find the way of his own
accord and from within himself. Conditions or people who might have
stimulated him to action are no longer there. Nothing and nobody but he
himself alone can give the strength which he now needs. If he should
not find this strength within he will very soon be standing where he
was before; but it should be stated that very few of those who have
endured the previous trials will fail at this point in finding the
necessary strength. If they have come so far they will endure at this
point also. The only thing necessary is the ability to make a
resolution quickly. For here, in the truest meaning of the phrase, one
must find oneself. In all matters one must instantly resolve to hear
the suggestions, the inspirations of the spirit. One has no time for
doubt or delay. Every moment of hesitation would add to the proof that
one was not yet ready. All that hinders one from hearing the voice of
the spirit must be boldly conquered. It is entirely a matter of proving
one's presence of mind, and it is this attribute to which attention
must be paid during all the foregoing stages of development. All
temptations to act, or even to think, which hitherto assailed a man,
must here cease; but in order that he may not slip into inaction, he
must not lose his hold upon himself. For only in himself can he find
that one sure centre-point on which he can depend. No one should feel
an antipathy to this principle of self-rejection. For him who has
endured the trials already described, it indicates the most perfect
felicity.
In this, as in the other stages before mentioned, every day life itself
can, for many people, be an occult school. Those who have reached the
point of being able to act without delay or personal consideration and
can make prompt resolutions when suddenly confronted with some task or
problem demanding immediate action, have, indeed, undergone their
occult schooling in daily life. The situation which one wishes to
suggest is one in which a successful action is impossible unless the
person concerned grasps the whole matter and acts at once. He is quick
to act when misfortune is in sight, while a moment's hesitation might
lead to a catastrophe; and he who possesses the qualities which can be
developed into a permanent attribute of such a kind, has already
evolved, unknown to himself, the degree of ripeness necessary for the
third trial. For, as already remarked, at this stage all depends upon
the development of presence of mind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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