Three Powers: Wonder, Compassion, Conscience

The purpose of Earth evolution is that there may be implanted into the evolutionary process as a whole, powers which could otherwise never have come into existence: Wonder, Compassion and Conscience.

What are we to make of the brutishness of our time? Mostly, nothing new is showing up. The stories of cruelty and intolerance are as old as our histories, no matter where we came from or where we are now. Those people who refuse to just let evil run riot and who respond actively without resorting to violence themselves represent the good in humanity. If we wonder what that looks like, the citizens of Minneapolis, Minnesota are showing us every day. Or the Buddhist monks whose Walk for Peace, 2300 miles from Fort Worth, Texas to American University in Washington DC was completed this week. Or the thousands of people all over the world who are actively and peacefully resisting attacks on rights both human and ecological.

The three qualities, Wonder, Compassion or love, and Conscience or moral obligation, are spiritual qualities that can exist only here on earth. They exist because we have a connection to our spiritual home, and the world we understand with reason and intellect alone, the world of our senses, doesn’t always tally with our soul’s experience. Thus, we feel wonder when we witness courage that overrides fear and compliance. We feel compassion for people suffering from injustice, and we may even attempt to feel some compassion for the perpetrators who are at a stage of development that allows them to behave as they do. We feel our conscience nudging us to action to prevent further injustice and guide the offenders to a healthy soul development.

We can come to understand that these three forces actually lift us out of ourselves and open us to each other and the world around us.

Let’s see what Dr. Steiner has to say:

The wonder felt by philosophers is associated with the fact that certain things are not to be comprehended through what presents itself to the eyes of sense… Wonder arises in us when the form in which the things in the material world can be explained only by knowledge we once possessed in a supersensible world prior to our birth. Wonder points to the connection we have with the supersensible world, to something belonging to a sphere we can enter only when we transcend the world in which our physical bodies enclose us. This is one indication of the fact that here, in this physical world, there is a continual urge within us to reach out beyond ourselves…

Those of us who can only remain shut up in ourselves, who are not driven by wonder beyond the field of the “I”, who remain unable to reach beyond ourselves, who see the sun rise and set without a thought and with complete unconcern are uncivilized.

A second power which releases us from the ordinary world, leading us at once away from material perception into supersensible insight, is compassion. When we look at a being only from outside, impressions come from that person to our senses and intellect; with the awakening of compassion, we pass beyond the sphere of these impressions. We share in what is taking place in that person’s innermost nature and, transcending the sphere of our own “I”, we pass over into that person’s world. In other words: we are set free from ourselves; we break through the barriers of ordinary existence in the physical body and reach over into the other being. Here, already, is the supersensible—for neither the operations of the senses nor of the reasoning mind can carry us into the sphere of another’s soul.

If we are incapable of compassion, there is a moral defect, a moral lack in us. If at the moment when we should get free from ourselves and pass over into the other person, feeling not our own pain or joy but the pain or joy of that other—if at that moment our feelings fade and die away, then something is lacking in our moral life.

Conscience is a third power whereby we transcend what we are in the physical body. In ordinary life we will desire this or that; according to our impulses or needs we will pursue what is pleasing and thrust aside what is displeasing to us. But in many such actions we will be our own critic; the voice of our conscience sounds a note of correction. Final satisfaction or dissatisfaction with what we have done also depends upon how the voice of conscience has spoken. This in itself is a proof that “conscience” is a power whereby we are led out beyond the sphere of our impulses, our likes and dislikes.

Wonder and Amazement, Compassion or Fellowship, Conscience [or moral obligation]—these are the three powers by means of which we, even while in the physical body, transcend our own limitations. For through these powers, influences which cannot find entrance into the human soul by way of the intellect and the senses, ray into physical life. If a body of flesh did not separate us from the spiritual world and present the outer world to us as a sense-world, we would be incapable of wonder. Compassion could not unfold if we were not separated from each other. And conscience could not be experienced as a spiritual force sending its voice into our world of natural urges, passions and desires, if the material body did not wish to satisfy them.

And so, the human being must be incarnated in a physical body in order that he may be able to experience wonder, compassion and conscience. In our time, people concern themselves little with such secrets, although they are profoundly enlightening.

Excerpt from: Earthly and Cosmic Man, Lecture 6: The Mission of the Earth. Wonder, Compassion and Conscience. Rudolf Steiner. May 14, 1912. Berlin (Note: some edits were made by this writer.)

Steiner says elsewhere in this excerpted lecture that “We human beings on Earth, if we are to reach the stature of full and complete personhood, must be able to move out beyond our own earthly life, we must be able to live in another, not only in ourselves.”

Becoming a full human being is a goal towards which each of us must strive. It’s not the fact that we belong to a country, a government, a party, a tribe, or a family that makes us full human beings. Becoming a full human being requires that we think for ourselves and seek out others who are filled with wonder, compassion and conscience like the neighbors in Minneapolis, the Buddhist walkers, the people the world over who are trying to love instead of hate.

We each have a deep responsibility toward the earth and all that lives on it. If we strengthen our powers of wonder, compassion and conscience, we become fit as human beings—we evolve as we are meant to evolve. We owe this to ourselves and the world.

Staying Close After Death

People we know who have “died” are still around us. They didn’t go to a far-away heaven somewhere off in space. They didn’t cease to exist just because they died. In fact, they are busy in their lives between death and rebirth. We’ve already discussed in previous posts the phases people go through once they’ve left their physical bodies at death, so now we can expand our understanding to recognize that once people are on the other side, they have many things that occupy them while going through each phase. One of the things that occupy our loved ones after they die is their desire to have contact with us.

How do we go about deepening our relationship with someone who has died? Love for them will draw us closer, prayers and thoughts will draw us closer, and remembering our moments together will draw us closer as long as we harbor spiritual thoughts at least occasionally. If we are completely mired in the materialistic world, they will not find us. This may seem unnecessarily harsh, yet if we think about it, it makes sense. Once we believe our loved ones still exist after they die, we are acknowledging there is a spiritual world.

Acquiring a deeper more conscious relationship requires efforts the results of which we may not achieve in this lifetime. We should start on the path anyway; we have nothing to lose. Because here’s the thing: the person who died misses us just as we miss them.

Let’s see what Dr. Steiner has to say.

… Here on earth, by means of our souls and bodies, we have the most varied kinds of relationships with the physical world, as well as with the spiritual world that underlies it. Likewise, between death and a new birth we exist in relationship with the facts, happenings, and beings of a supersensory world. Human beings have an occupation or activity in the physical world between birth and death; likewise, they have activities—occupations as it were—between death and a new birth. What we can learn about human life and human activity between death and a new birth will lead humanity more and more toward what we may call the overcoming of “the abyss” that, especially in our materialistic times, separates those who live on earth from those whom we call “the dead.” In this process, communication and a mutual entering-into-relationship will increasingly come to be established between the living and the “dead.”

Naturally, those who die before others with whom they had relationships on earth often gaze back from the spiritual world at those they loved who remain here. This being the case, we may ask whether such souls living between death and a new birth can perceive human beings who live here on earth between birth and death… Seers can often have a kind of heart-wrenching experience with souls who feel fettered when they think of those they left behind. Such souls feel that they cannot get through, cannot look down on those earthly souls.

They are fettered not by their own essential being, but by the other souls left behind…

Investigation into why a soul in the spiritual world cannot perceive souls who remain on earth reveals that, because of the circumstances of our time, those souls who have remained on earth have been unable to take in or allow any thoughts to live in them that might otherwise become visible and perceptible to a soul who has passed through the gate of death.

There is a great difference among souls here on earth, depending on their makeup. Imagine a soul living here in the physical body who, between awaking and going to sleep, is concerned only with thoughts taken from the material world. Such a soul—filled entirely with thoughts, concepts, ideas, and sensations taken solely from the material world—cannot be perceived at all from the world between death and rebirth. No trace of it can be seen. But a soul filled with spiritual ideas such as those provided by spiritual science—a soul glowing and illuminated by spiritual ideas—is perceptible from the other world. Consequently, no matter how good they may be as human beings, the souls left behind who are immersed in materialism are not real to the world beyond and cannot be perceived. This makes a shocking, terrible impression upon the seer.

Excerpt from: Occult Research into Life Between Death and a New Birth, Lecture II: The Establishment of Mutual Relations between the Living and the So-called Dead by Rudolf Steiner, Stuttgart February 20, 1913.

Steiner is clear that we ourselves must direct our own efforts to contact those who have died before us; we cannot rely on mediums or seances or drugs like ayahuasca. Our first step is to direct our thoughts to spiritual content at some point every day. Though it is unlikely that we will experience direct, conscious contact early on, we may experience the comfort and good will that arises with our efforts to become closer to those we love who have died. All these efforts are felt by those to whom we direct them.

In the September post we will discuss some of the things it is possible to learn from those who have died and they from us. We will also look at specific practices we can undertake that work to open lines of communication.

Listening

How willing are we to try to understand each other? How willing are we to listen to a person who holds an opinion about God or politics or society that differs from our own? How do we move towards peace and love – the ideals celebrated at Christmastime?

For the past three years, we have discussed our souls and spirits. We see that the smallest aspect of ourselves is our current physical body. We realize that we existed before birth and will continue to exist after death. We know that we accrue and pay off karma in every lifetime. These are basic truths of spiritual science and knowing them helps us practice a love and peace that can hold all of humanity.

If we decide to begin on the path toward initiation knowledge (see April 2020 post: Primary Source) in earnest, we must accept that it will require dedication and will and courage. We will need to clean up our acts. Toward the middle of his book, How to Know Higher Worlds: A Modern Path of Initiation, Rudolf Steiner gives seven requirements for spiritual training. They are sobering, to say the least, requiring an honesty with oneself that initially seems impossible. The seventh one tells us something about loving each other. (If you want to know about all of them, please get the book.)

Let’s see what Dr. Steiner has to say:

… To believe in and love humanity is the basis of all striving for the truth. Our striving must be built upon trust and love for humanity—although it does not begin there. Rather, it must flow out of the soul’s own forces. And this love for humanity must gradually expand into love for all beings, and indeed for all existence…

Simply listening to what others say with reverence and devotion, rather than immediately opposing it with our own opinions, need not lead to our becoming slavishly dependent on them. Those who have achieved something on the path to knowledge know that they owe everything to patient listening and assimilation, not to their own obstinate personal opinions. We must always remember that where we have already formed a conclusion, we cannot learn anything. If we desire only to judge, therefore, we can learn nothing… our willingness to learn should be unconditional. It is far better to withhold our judgment on something we do not understand than to condemn it. We can leave understanding until later.

How to Know Higher Worlds, Chapter 5, by Rudolf Steiner.

Learning to listen requires the trust that we will not lose ourselves in the other’s opinion. We may have observed that this seems particularly difficult with the onslaught of today’s media blitz on every aspect of our lives. But how we listen is a vital key to peace and love. Steiner addressed this in a lecture he gave around the same time he wrote the book quoted above:

It is our duty to enter into what another person says; we need only make it clear to him that we value him at that stage of truth where he now stands. Everyone must learn for himself, and knowing this, we shall become tolerant towards every form of truth. We come to a better understanding of things; we do not battle against people but seek to live with them...

Love is higher than opinion. If people love one another, the most varied opinions can be reconciled. Hence it is deeply significant that in Anthroposophy no religion is attacked, and no religion is specially singled out, but all are understood, and so there can be brotherhood because the adherents of the most varied religions understand one another.

This is one of the most important tasks for mankind today and in the future: that we should learn to live together and understand one another. If this human fellowship is not achieved, all talk of spiritual development is empty.

At the Gates of Spiritual Science, Lecture 11, September 1, 1906, by Rudolf Steiner.

Christmas occurs near the winter solstice, a time celebrated for thousands of years. The return from the shortest day of the year; a return to the light. Let us connect the idea of light with love. Let us see that light is related to knowledge and understanding. Love and understanding will lead us to peace… starting within ourselves.