Imagination: a first step in the spiritual world
Imagination in Anthroposophy, Yoga Nidra and Jungian psychotherapy.
Translated from Dutch
“Is anthroposophy a gate to the spiritual world, or is it a wall between us and the spiritual world?” asked an anthroposophist, who had been actively working and reading in anthroposophy for at least 40 years. This hesitant, distant attitude to the spiritual world is found in more (but by no means all! ) anthroposophists, and you might wonder whether this is caused by the way in which Rudolf Steiner delivered his message and/or the way in which that message is understood. Rudolf Steiner was a clairvoyant who observed so much in the spiritual world, and communicated so much about it, that he perhaps created a distance from the average person, who is not clairvoyant. In this article I want to show that a free, creative and open way of approaching anthroposophy can lead to accessible experiences in the spiritual world, which are vitalizing and can enthuse to continue walking the path that Steiner describes.
This journey started with my son. He is 20 and very interested in spirituality, for which there is a rich breeding ground these days, from fast food spirituality on Instagram, to yoga, breathwork, ecstatic dance, and of course a book on anthroposophy given by his father. One day he came home with the story that he was going to take a pricey 5-day intensive course in astral travel, and would even learn to guide people on an astral journey. I think I'm quite open to a variety of spiritual endeavors, but in this case I had reached my limit. He was going to take the course, but I had my biggest (unexpressed) doubt whether a 20-year-old could achieve anything in the astral world in 5 days, and certainly not a 'journey' and let alone the possibility of someone else experiencing the journey. That takes a lifetime of study and practice! After the course, my son came home very inspired. The astral journey turned out to be a visualization in which fantasy could transform into meaningful images, and even in contact with beings who spoke from these images. The way my son talked about it and the experiences he had, and especially the enthusiasm it caused him, touched me and I decided to investigate this phenomenon in my own way. At that time I was reading intensively about the spiritual path that Steiner described, and I thought I already saw similarities with what Steiner calls the first step on this path, the development of imaginative consciousness, about which more later. A more obvious connection with my son's course was with Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra is currently offered in many yoga studios and is unique because it is a yoga where you do not move (nidra means sleep, but you are not supposed to fall asleep). The aim is to achieve deep relaxation through various meditation exercises, after which you will be taken on a visual journey by the teacher. By activating the imagination, contact can be made with the subconscious, allowing tensions between the conscious and unconscious to be resolved, leading to a more peaceful inner life. From the book Yoga Nidra (1976) by Swami Satyananda Saraswati;
“In every area of the brain, there are millions and millions of impressions stored in the form of archetypes. These archetypes, in themselves, are the sum total of each and every experience of life, which we call karma. Just as a camera registers whatever has been photographed, in the same manner every experience we undergo, consciously or even unconsciously, is registered by the subconscious mind, and in the course of time it is turned into what we call an archetype. Even as a tree produces seeds every year, and in the course of its life span it will produce millions, in the same way, the human mind produces billions of seeds from its experiences, and these seeds are known as karmas, samskaras or archetypes … When the awareness penetrates into the subconscious realm, it is temporarily detached from the body idea. When this dissociation takes place between mind and body, you have a lot of wonderful experiences. All these experiences, which you have in the different layers of your subconscious and unconscious, are nothing but the manifestation of your karmas either from this life or previous lives. This is how the process of yoga nidra eliminates the whole store of karmas and purifies the deeper levels of the mind. Sometimes experiences of a past life arise directly, but mostly they manifest symbolically. Words and concepts are the language of the conscious ‘intellectual’ mind. The subconscious mind has a language of its own based on symbols, colours and sounds. These are the archetypes which emerge from the psychic realm during yoga nidra. A single image or picture can convey an experience which words cannot adequately express … We do not normally have access to the unconscious mind because our awareness is not tuned to the nature of these symbols or seeds of information. However, by invoking certain images and symbols during deep relaxation, we can bridge the gap of awareness between our waking state and the unconscious. The guided imagery provided by the teacher during yoga nidra provokes a chord of response with other symbols in the mind.”
It is striking that this Indian master uses terminology that partly comes from Jung (the unconscious, the archetypes). That led me to Jung, and it turns out that in addition to dream analysis, Jung also had his patients make contact with the unconscious during consciousness through 'active imagination' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_imagination). Active imagination is a meditation technique in which the contents of one's unconscious mind are translated into images, stories, or personified as imagined entities. It can serve as a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious. Active imagination is still being practiced by psychologists who follow the Jungian tradition. In Amsterdam there is a psychologist, Jan Taal, who offers training for this in his 'School for Imagination' (https://www.imaginatie.nl/ ). He writes (in The Three Stages of Imagination) 'Imagination begins with the discovery that inner images have a great impact. It is mainly our unconscious self-images and the image we have of the world that constantly influence our feelings and behavior. Seeing what is going on inside you is often a great discovery and often also confrontational. It is the first step in the process with imagination. At first the images are perceived as scenes in a theater and one can leave it at that, wrote Carl Jung. But if the observer understands that his own drama is being played out on this inner stage, he cannot remain unmoved. He begins to realize that his unconscious speaks to him and that the images have a meaningful relationship with his conscious life situation. By truly encountering and coming into contact with our images, we get to know aspects of our nature that we would otherwise never allow into our consciousness.' According to Jan Taal, 'Imagination is probably the oldest diagnostic and curative tool. It forms the basis for the healing rituals that have been performed since time immemorial. Shamans from nature religions already took their tribe members on an inner journey through visualizations for healing (J Achterberg (1985), Imagery in healing: shamanism and modern medicine). Imagination is an ancient meditation and therapeutic technique that is still actively used today, including in yoga schools and psychology practices. What is the current status of imagination within anthroposophy, and how does it relate to these other techniques that bear almost the same name?
Imagination within anthroposophy
How you get to know the concept of imagination within anthroposophy depends very much on which book you look at. In Steiner's most famous book on the spiritual path, How to know higher worlds (GA10), exercises that can be seen as imagination are sometimes mentioned, but they are not referred to as such. Imagination is explained most explicitly in the book The stages of higher consciousness (GA12, originally intended as a sequel to the aforementioned book).
“The “material mode” of cognition rests upon the fact that man receives through his senses an impression of things and representations of the outer world. He has the power of sensing, or sensibility. The impression received from “outside” is also called sensation. Therefore in “material cognition” four elements have to be considered: Sensation, image, concept, ego.—At the next higher stage imaginative knowledge, the impression made upon the outer senses, the “sensation,” falls away. There is no longer any outer sensory object. Of the elements to which man is accustomed in ordinary knowledge there remains only the three: Image, concept and ego.”
Here a difference can become clear with other traditions where imagination plays a role, where thinking must mainly remain in the background. It is striking that in the next step of consciousness, inspiration, the image disappears, and only the concept remains. According to the quote above, the goal during imagination is not only to conjure up the image, but the concept may also be present. Although during the exercise an image combined with a focus on a thought/concept around that image is used, the first spiritual experiences come in images. In 'The stages of higher consciousness' the properties of imagination are further elaborated:
“Anyone having perceptions without outward causes is spoken of as abnormal and morbid. Such causeless perceptions are called illusions, hallucinations, visions. Now first of all, viewed entirely outwardly, the whole imaginative world consists of such hallucinations, visions, and illusions…Perceptions break loose from all outer things and swim free in space, or fly around in it. Yet it is known with strict accuracy that the things before us have not brought forth these perceptions, but rather that they are self-induced by the human being. So it is that one thinks one has “lost the ground under one's feet.” In ordinary life in the physical world those inner picturings that do not proceed from things must be guarded against and are without ground or foundation. But to call forth imaginative knowledge, the prime essential is to have colours, sounds, odours, etc., fully torn loose from all things, “floating free in space.”
This shows that it is initially 'hallucinations, visions and illusions' that we generate during imaginative consciousness. I wouldn't know how to make the first step on a spiritual path more accessible! In the book Occult Science (GA13) it becomes clear that imagination is mainly intended to make perception less dependent on the physical senses, and that it is not about the specific content of the images, but about the ability to perceive these images:
“The content of the visualizations that fill imaginative experience is of no importance, but of utmost importance is the soul faculty which is developed through this experience... The symbols that are constructed in the above described manner do, by their very nature, not yet relate to anything real in the spiritual world. They serve the purpose of detaching the human soul from sense-perception and from the brain instrument to which the intellect is bound at the outset.”
Moreover, it is pointed out that what is observed primarily belongs to the person himself, and not to the spiritual world outside the person:
“It belongs to the essence of spiritual training that the soul, through the practice of self-education, is at this point of its development fully conscious of the fact that at first it perceives itself in the world of pictures—imaginations—which appear as a result of the exercises described. Although these pictures appear as living in a new world, the soul must recognize that they are, at the outset, nothing but the reflection of its own being, strengthened through the exercises, and it must not only recognize this with proper discretion, but it must also have developed such a power of will that it can extinguish, can eliminate these pictures from consciousness at any time.”
In summary, my impression is that the imagination that Steiner had in mind is a sense-free inner experience of images, which can be evoked by an image, the focus on the image and thoughts about the image. The images may at first resemble fantasies and memories, which can then give rise to the appearance of images that do not come from the sensory world. These can be colors, lines and figures that may seem chaotic at first. At a further stage, these separate images can also integrate and represent spiritual beings, or elements of one's own soul. It is not entirely clear to me whether the content of these images are also important, or whether the goal is merely to break away from sensory experience and whether they only serve as a necessary initial phase of further spiritual perception. In some examples, Steiner calls the content of the images, which are only a mirror of one's own soul, not important, and only serve the purpose of becoming aware of the possibility of thinking without senses, and thus of the sense-free part of the I. In other examples, Steiner says that the images can also be external spiritual beings, and therefore spiritual experiences, although this is difficult to distinguish from internal images that arise from one's own soul. An interesting difference can be noted here with Jungian psychotherapy, which takes the images very seriously and even takes them as a starting point for development (also in healthy people, for self-knowledge that is necessary to walk the spiritual path). If human psychology is not healthy enough, these images, which actually expose one's own soul, can be enough to struggle with for a lifetime. This reminds me of a Buddhist teacher who said that a good and sometimes indispensable preparation for meditation is psychotherapy. When people with an unhealthy psyche start meditating, they mainly encounter themselves during meditation, and psychological problems may be better solved with psychotherapy than with meditation. In this sense you could see the step of imagination as a preparation that shows whether the inner self is ready to move on. If too many unsettling images arise that are too disruptive, it is probably worthwhile to first understand the origins of these images, and thus perhaps make the soul healthy and strong enough to continue on the spiritual path.
The book Yoga Nidra also makes it clear that the spontaneous 'distracting' images that arise are not the goal:
“As the mind becomes withdrawn and one-pointed, consciousness is maintained by focusing on a series of symbols or images. Each symbol has a definite form, which may be a figure such as Christ, Buddha or your guru. Or it may take the form of a lotus, golden egg, chakra symbol, geometric form, mandala, yantra, colour, or even a sound. Initially, when one attempts to visualize the symbol, many distracting images may arise. They may have disturbing forms such as demons, dragons, ghosts or serpents; or they may appear as beautiful gardens, serene lakes, or visions of holy men and gods. These are symbols from the unconscious, the samskaras or impressions that comprise the ego. They can express painful memories, frustrated needs, unfulfilled desires, inhibitions, fears, complexes and neuroses. These deep-rooted samskaras condition our thoughts and experience, and compel us to act in certain ways. They are often the root cause of tension, mental disturbances and disease. The process of visualization in yoga nidra enables us to purge these samskaras from the mind, thus purifying the layers of our consciousness, which is necessary before real progress in yoga is possible.”
In some places Steiner makes it clear that imagination can lead to consciousness of the etheric world (Evolution of Consciousness, GA227). This is consistent with other descriptions of images that during imagination are at first etheric in nature, and only in the next step (towards inspiration) can integrate and form beings with which we can communicate, where the astral plane is entered. In the last step, intuition, identification with these beings can even take place in the spiritual plane where the I is located - the I is also the only intuition we always have.
My own experiences
My first experience with imagination during meditation, and possibly with the etheric world, was the following. A few months ago I participated in a guided Anthroposophical group meditation. We were told to visualize a triangle and then make the upright sides longer and longer. What was striking was the difficulty I had in imagining the triangle in straight lines. The lines were lively, not straight and moving, and especially the environment in which the triangle was located was like a wild colorful chaotic flowing living mass, without a center but totally connected. This is an example of how focusing on one image can spontaneously evoke other images. These images were very reminiscent of the etheric world, at least how I imagine it. This fairly simple exercise, which starts with the representation of an object or symbol, has subsequently made me look more often into this world, which I was later able to associate with a source of creativity, images evoked by hallucinogens, but also those of madness that a schizophrenic friend once tried to explain. It was fascinating to see how the fantasy world, which quickly arises when you close your eyes and allow and conjure up the images and appreciate these images, quickly leads to meaningful images, but is also an enormous source of creativity and vitality. It felt like a forgotten part of my inner self, usually dismissed as a nonsensical by-product. It seems as if this imaginary world has become extremely impoverished, especially in our time. We have given the task of imagination to the screens around us. And we especially value sensory, tangible observations because we have no idea what value there is in the images that live in our inner being, and how to deal with them. Moreover, many Eastern meditation techniques view these spontaneous images as by-products that can be ignored or merely observed, just like the sensory experiences during meditation. The focus is on maintaining awareness, the content is less important. During the study of anthroposophy, reading books mainly encourages us to think. This thinking, in the case of abstract ideas, can quickly become sense-free. This already seems to be a step towards 'inspiration', where the image also disappears and only the concepts remain. However, in this way the imagination step is quickly skipped and it is interesting to investigate what effect this has on the next steps of inspiration and intuition. As a thinker, I can say that my abstract thinking is quite developed, but the imagination is very neglected.
Meanwhile, my son had started guiding people on visual journeys almost immediately after the course. His participants were always enthusiastic and great stories came his way. Due to my interest in this area, I asked him to guide me in a visualization. I was lying on the floor in the living room and he was sitting next to me. He started with the assignment 'imagine the most beautiful place on earth'. These were the golden fall leaves of the aspen tree in front of my house. As I looked around from those leaves I saw the trunk of the tree growing larger, splitting open and forming a hole in the earth. I looked from above at the black hole that looked mysterious and dark. I entered the hole and saw a lot of darkness, and there was a smell of earth and moss. After a while in which only few images came to mind, my son said 'imagine you are sitting on a bench. Invite everyone and anyone who wants to sit next to you.' After a while I saw a little spiral of light swirling around, and suddenly there was a three-headed snake right next to my head, with its mouth open. The snake wasn't scary, but before I knew it I had my entire arm stuck in one of the mouths. The snake stopped moving. My son said 'ask the snake what he has to tell you'. The snake's mouth opened and I entered the mouth. From then on the images came quickly and effortlessly. It started with a lot of light, as if the light had been turned on or the sun was shining in. I floated in a sphere, up out of the hole through the tree trunk, and above the earth. My body expanded, the sphere disappeared, and my arms and legs formed a horizontal cross above the earth. The cross became so large that it spanned the earth. The earth disappeared and my body felt different, as if the earth had been absorbed into it. It felt powerful, independent, grand, but slow and wooden. All kinds of tensions were also released in my physical body, which was lying in the living room. The ends of my imagined body felt supple, and eventually golden leaves grew. It ended with a strong existential feeling of loneliness, an emotion I gratefully took with me when we stopped.
This journey was, in addition to the beauty of the story, also meaningful in its general and more personal symbolism. Together with the experiences I had during the imagination exercises that Steiner gave, this was a surprising development that Steiner actually described as I experienced it. The reason I didn't start it sooner (I've been reading Steiner for 30 years)? It has helped to study imagination from multiple traditions. And to let go of all expectations about the first steps in the spiritual world. They would rather be ‘thinking seriously, reading difficult books, doing tough meditation exercises, moral catharsis and meeting the right teacher’, and not 'close your eyes and use your imagination'.
I don't want to make any claims about the 'realness' of my imaginations or the steps I have taken. These types of experiences cannot be measured and therefore tested for authenticity. According to Steiner, these types of experiences can only be validated by their effect in practice, in the physical world. In line with Goethe's statement 'Only if it is fruitful is it true'. For me these experiences are now fruitful and the future will show what other fruits will arise. I also think we can learn from the new generation in terms of openness about these kinds of experiences and their normality. And in the case of imaginations, it is initially not a problem if there are fantasies that have no meaning. It is a shame if we read Steiner's books for years without being able to take a single step because we have no idea where to start and perhaps not to dare experience what is available. Maybe we're not afraid of what we can't do, but what we can do. I am also aware of the benefits and presence of 'high-threshold experiences', and am also convinced that real progress can only be achieved with complete dedication and commitment. I do think that the balance between finding and searching is important. We nourish and vitalize ourselves by finding, and uplift ourselves by seeking. Both are indispensable. I am also aware that there are also differences between Steiner's Imagination, Yoga Nidra, Jungian Active Imagination, and the School of Imagination. But these comparisons, differences and similarities actually make the profile of these traditions clearer. And as Steiner says, let us especially use our thinking to find unity (The science of knowing, GA02):
“Our thinking has a twofold task: firstly, to create concepts with sharply delineated contours; secondly, to bring together the individual concepts thus created into a unified whole. In the first case we are dealing with the activity that makes distinctions; in the second, with the activity that joins. These two spiritual tendencies by no means enjoy the same cultivation in the sciences. The keen intellect that enters into the smallest details in making its distinctions is given to a significantly larger number of people than the uniting power of thinking that penetrates into the depths of beings.”
Lovely post, and thanks for sharing. This addresses many of the same things- and even highlights some of the same quotes- that I found interesting!
I too wonder about the differentiation between internal imaginative experiences and the Imaginative Cognition Steiner refers to. Without pulling out the exact quote, in several places Steiner says “it’s the difference between imagining putting one’s hand on a hot surface, and actually burning one’s hand on a hot surface.”
And of course the challenge is determining what is generally objective, and what is simply a reflection of the internal soul state! The quote from Goethe is very apt. Thanks for sharing.