posted June 13, 2005 12:29 PM            

11. Eleventh Week

In this the sun's high hour it rests
With you to understand these words of wisdom:
Surrendered to the beauty of the world,
Be stirred with new-enlivened feeling;
The human I can lose itself
And find itself within the cosmic I.

12. Twelfth Week (St. John's Tide)

The radiant beauty of the world
Compels my inmost soul to free
God-given powers of my nature
That they may soar into the cosmos,
To take wing from myself
And trustingly to seek myself
In cosmic light and cosmic warmth.

-Rudolf Steiner (translated by Ruth and Hans Pusch)

Eleanore: I hope you're doing well and I will give you a call soon. Thanks for understanding the chaotics of my situation.

Thanks for sharing yourS-elf with me, 26. I really do appreciate it, though I may not reply in the manner it deserves. Hopefully I will be able to accomodate quickly in my new place and get internet access, but until then...

posted November 12, 2007 10:50 PM            

I thought I might breathe a little life back into this thread...

:dusts off cobwebs:

posted November 13, 2007 01:46 AM            

Thirty-Second Week

I feel my own force bearing fruit
And gaining strength to give me to the world.
My inmost being I feel charged with power
To turn with clearer insight
Toward the weaving of life's destiny.

-Rudolf Steiner translated by Ruth and Hans Pusch

Having read these poems for several years now, I've noticed that Steiner perceived the Soul to encounter an inner empowerment beginning in the season of autumn and extending through winter.

Consider this poem for the Twenty-Seventh Week:

When to my being's depths I penetrate,
There stirs expectant longing
That self-observing, I may find myself
As gift of summer sun, a seed
That warming lives in autumn mood
As germinating force of soul.

Here, again, there is some wordplay involving frondescent imagery. This poem speaks upon one's potential observation of their own self as a seed in which the weather has become extremely favorable for its successful growth into a plant. This weather is not the environmental weather itself, but the "autumn mood" of which the poem speaks. The poem marks the beginning of autumn and is hardly the ideal period for planting a seed. Rather, Steiner speaks of the seed within the self that has the potential to blossom into a fruit-bearing force in the "autumn mood" that arises from the season. The outer Sun begins to wane as the inner Sun (Soul) begins to wax heavily. This period marks the beginning of the season where people start to feel a warmth in their hearts and desire to share that warmth with others. Holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Channukah, Kwanzaa, and many others take place during this period. Diwali is a Hindu holiday that is held around this time and celebrates the return of Rama and Sita to their kingdom of Ayodhya. Though this festival celebrates a particular event in one of the religion's sacred texts, its significance goes deeper than that and represents the arrival of one's awareness to their own inner light.

Back to the Thirty-Second Poem...

A few weeks later and we can see with respect to the earlier poem that the language here is still in reference to the growing of this seed that seems now to bear some fruit.

quote:

---

I feel my own force, bearing fruit
And gaining strength to give me to the world.

---

These lines in particular speak very loudly to me. It tells me, within its imagery, that the human being can be likened to a force and that it can be understood through the metaphor of a fruit-bearing tree...

I shall expand more on this later...

posted November 13, 2007 03:48 PM            

:breathes (deeply):

Ok...

quote:

---

I feel my own force, bearing fruit
And gaining strength to give me to the world.

---

Yes, I do feel my own force. So how are we to think of this force? According to our given standing points we can only stem forth from where we are. As a force, an energy, a directional possibility, we are principally firmly rooted in the moments we are in and the experiences we have had. As a force, then, we can understand our properties, metaphorically speaking, by thinking of our force/energy/human potential as a plant or tree bearing fruits. What is the purpose of fruit? Nourishment? On many levels this is so. Fruits are also the bearers of the plants/trees seeds, the continuation of their life force and genetic progress on a material level. Much like the children of humanity, fruits often bear the key to the propagation of that specific plant's continued existence as a species on this verdant earth.

So what of this inner "fruit" stemming from our "own force..and gaining strength to give me to the world"? What is it's purpose? According to the poem it has much to do with some sort of inner illumination that allows us to truly understand the functions of our outer world.

quote:

---

To turn with clearer insight
Toward the weaving of life's destiny.

---

The words elucidate the possibility, despite the often randominity and unpredictability of the forces around and within Us, of truly understanding the seeming complexity of the webs weaved around Us. But, as has often been stated by many other writings and sayings, this illumination can only truly come from the fruit that lies within. Just as the corporeal body needs corporeal fruit to thrive and be nourished, so the Soul and the Spirit must thrive and be nourished. The satisfaction of the material body's hunger does not directly constitute the satisfaction of the Soul and the Spirit's hunger. There is a manner in which eating food helps us, yes, but it is indirect. The fruit for the inner, immaterial Self lies upon the crops that flourish within the microcosmic experience of life. That said, are we tending our inner garden with as much care and importance as we give our need to satiate our body's hunger? That is a good question to ask one's self, honestly and attentively, every minute of every hour of every day.

posted November 18, 2007 04:04 PM            

Before I get into this week's poem, I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving since it falls on this week. I hope everyone gets to spend a wonderful time with the people around them and that they experience the beauty within the fine virtue from which this Holiday extends.

posted November 18, 2007 06:59 PM            

I feel at last the world's reality
Which, lacking the communion of my soul,
Would in itself be frosty, empty life,
And showing itself powerless
To recreate itself in souls,
Would in itself find only death.

quote:

---

Which, lacking the communion of my soul,

---

I find it important that the word "communion" in this line was translated from the German word "Miterleben" which can have three definitions (according to this online dictionary):

• to experience
  
• to live through
  
• to watch
  

Also...

quote:

---

And showing itself powerless
To recreate itself in souls...

---

The word "powerless" was translated from the word "offenbarend". Other than "powerless", this could also mean "to reveal" and "unbosoming". If you're not familiar with "unbosoming" (as I was), here's a definition from dictionary.com:

1. To confide (one's thoughts or feelings).
2. To relieve (oneself) of troublesome thoughts or feelings.

v. intr.
To reveal one's thoughts or feelings.

Also in these lines, the word "recreate" was translated from the words "neuem schaffend" which directly translates to "create anew".

This is important, I feel, because it helps to really "see through" and into the meaning within the words that were chosen by the translator and the poet.

posted November 21, 2007 10:22 PM              

This weeks poem seems to be speaking to me about what it is like to experience or find the Truth within oneself; the importance of practicing stillness of mind - meditation; detaching from or recognizing the unreal for what it is & Knowing the Real.

posted November 22, 2007 06:17 PM            

I've been reading some lectures by Steiner this week on the Fourth Dimension and I've been linking a lot of the thoughts surfacing from those lectures to this poem.
I feel the same themes you've brought up in this poem, T. The importance of the connection between one's inner self and the outer world is pretty loud here.

The poem implies that the connection between the inner self and the outer world is incontrovertible. It's as if without one, there could be no other and vice versa. Interestingly, the lectures on the Fourth Dimension that I've been reading were harping on the same chords.

Firstly, I feel that it is important to remark about the implications of the possibility of a Fourth Dimension. The relevance of dimensional stipulation (and the possibility of the reality of different dimensions) has quite an aggressive impact on modern-day epistemology. In other words, if it could be proved that other dimensions do exist, then what we seem to know about the origins and nature of human knowledge and understanding would incur a great deal of change. Currently, we experience the world and the Universe in what we know as a "third-dimensional" perspective. We call it this conceptually, but the truth is that we have no proof that any other dimensions really exist. We only have intellectual stipulation. That being, the world around us is constantly expressed and perceived by mainstream thought in a method that takes on an "as is" property. There really seems to be nothing more to your ceramic mug than the clay from which it was made. The body is a system of intricate systems that is explained by the functions of each according to its physical properties. We all see things as they are according to our sense perception and what we can surmise from that observation. The problem, as I see it, is that we experience our sense perceptions in a strict "third-dimensional environment of awareness".

posted November 22, 2007 06:18 PM            

quote:

---

What kind of spatial images do one-dimensional beings have? Such beings would be able to perceive only points, and not their own one-dimensionality, because when we attempt to draw something within a line, points are the only option. A two-dimensional being would be able to encounter lines and thus to distinguish one-dimensional beings. A three-dimensional being, such as a cube, would perceive two-dimensional beings. Human beings, however, can perceive three dimensions. If we draw the right conclusions...we must say that a being that perceives three-dimensions must be a fourth-dimensional being.

---

We experience everything in this third-dimensional perspective and our mainstream thought relies on this as an effable reality. If you look around, however, and really SEE everything, then the evidence of other dimensions is actually already there. "The proof of the pudding is the eating."

• Zeroeth dimension (A point)- All things are made of points if we understand the true nature of a point. From the tiniest subatomic point that our instruments can see to the very limits of the expanding Universe and the [?] into which it is expanding, the zeroeth dimension may be breached by contemplation.
  
• First dimension (A line)- This is one of the most important elements involved in visual observation. We make shapes out by the space enclosed by lines, we can ascertain depth, length and width by lines, etc. Consider this:
  

  quote:

  ---

  ...When we walk on the Earth, it appears to be a straight, flat surface, though it is actually round. When we imagine the two halves of the straight line segment extended to infinity, the circle really does coincide with the straight line. Thus a straight line can be interpreted as a circle whose diameter is infinitely large. Now we can imagine that if we move ever farther along the straight line, we will eventually pass through infinity and come back from the other side.

  ---

  
  
  Also, any singular, directional force moves along a first-dimensional line. If you are moving towards a specific point, one cannot simultaneously move away from it. There is only one direction that can be executed according to any one perspective.
  
• Second dimension (Surface)- The second dimension is definitely prevalent, even in the third-dimensionality of our consciousness as well. If you think about it, our sense of touch is based on this dimension. When our fingers come into contact with an object, at the smallest level one would see opposing forces (one of the subatomic forces of our skin's particles against the one of the subatomic forces of the object's particles). In actuality, we hardly really "touch" anything. Instead, these forces meet upon a single film, or plane, that flows in the shape of the object being felt. This plane is second-dimensional, at heart.

posted November 22, 2007 07:44 PM            

quote:

---

Although the outer world and our internal sensations are not linked directly by anything perceptible to the senses, they are interrelated and interdependent...In support of their relationship, we also can apply the metaphor of seal and sealing wax. The seal leaves an exact impression, or copy, of itself in the sealing wax even though it does not remain in contact with the wax and there is no transfer of substance between them. The sealing wax retains a faithful impression of the seal. The connection between the outer world and our internal sensations is similar. Only the essential aspect is transmitted. One set of circumstances determines the other, but no [perceptible] transfer of substances occurs.
-Rudolf Steiner

---

This quote speaks on the same theme as the poem. The reality of the world and the reality of our inner interpretation of this world are likened to mirror images. Perhaps this would be clearer with this week's poem's octave:

Twentieth Week

I feel at last my life's reality
Which, severed from the world's existence,
Would in itself obliterate itself,
And building only on its own foundation,
Would in itself bring death upon itself.

posted November 23, 2007 10:01 PM            

And the connection of the world to the soul is that it "recreates" itself, or "creates itself anew" in them. This it does by "unbosoming", or revealing/confiding/relieving the soul's thoughts and feelings. How very curious, isn't it? What exactly does this all mean, sir? (You might be asking this, as I would of myself. lol!)
Well, if we stop thinking of the world as this vast empty space that is separate from our inner being, then we can start to see that the outer world is, itself, a living entity that breathes through the relationship with our very own inner self. Our thoughts and feelings are revealed by the outer world around us. Not just mine, or yours, but ALL of OURS. It's the vast sea of unconsciousness that gathers and gathers until it has limited its capacity and overflows chaotically into the outer world, OR it is stored until the fitting moments where it is gushed out here, lightly sprayed there, a few drops then, and a beautiful flowing stream later. A Chaos within an Order that is always a beautiful flowing stream. I speak again in vague metaphor. Please, forgive my limitations.

The outer world is an awe-inspiring entity that cannot flourish without the connection to the soul entity. Another take on this thought-wave comes from contemplating the question, "What would happen to the outer world, then, if humans were extinct?" IMO, if one takes the relationship this poem refers to (of the soul, or inner self, and the outer world) then this would prove the existence of God. For if there were no human souls with which the outer world could recreate itself and flourish, then clearly there must be a greater sense of "inner self" in the Universe that could keep the outer world in tact if such a condition existed. It is a fact that humans were not always around, no?

Yes, there is a God, indeed. And higher beings that traverse these astonishing worlds of thought and inspiration.

posted November 23, 2007 10:20 PM              

quote:

---

Just see that the world around you breathes through you.

---

posted November 23, 2007 10:35 PM            

i u

posted November 23, 2007 10:48 PM              

------------------
Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.

posted November 29, 2007 12:53 PM            

It's nice to see you drop by again. It's been a while.

He does seem to speak to you sometimes as if he is really there, doesn't he? I feel the same way about this week and for the past few months, actually. These poems have intensified even more so, despite having read them for years now. I think I've underestimated the power of inner reflection.

As I've mentioned, I'm also reading some lectures of his on the Fourth Dimension and they are really impacting me. I am definitely beginning to understand more of his concepts, especially in regards to the differences between the Astral/Elemental Realm and the World of Intuition. I had an experience at work yesterday that was a bit of an awakening. I read some of the lectures during lunch and started getting a little sleepy (after eating). lol! As I shut my eyes I dozed off for a minute or so. Not too deeply, but enough to dream. Then, out of nowhere, a red stream of light (very comet-like) appeared right in front of my (closed) eyes that I could see with absolute clarity. It was only an instant, but it woke me physically and mentally. I knew what I saw was very real, even though it was not perceived by my co-workers in the room. I am certain that I experienced that because of my intense desire to understand what Steiner meant in his explanation of the astral realm. I was allowed, for just a brief moment, to experience an intense visual perception of an elemental in the astral world.
It's hard to explain how I know this without getting into the details of his lesson, but judging by your (TINK's) posts here I'm assuming that you are a firm student of his work.
For the sake of timeliness, I'll keep this explanation abridged:
These lectures have marked my Mind's eye with an intense, new perception. It particularly started with his clarification of the Zeroeth Dimensional point (how it's forces expand from the source and the forces around it are opposed in direction, from infinity). Understanding third-dimensional objects in this way becomes quite piercing, conceptually, because things aren't defined solely by their surface as they are to the human eye. A cube becomes six directional forces, two from each third-dimensional plane, and they expand from within and contract from infinity. "To enter the astral realm we must eliminate one entire direction of inward and outward streams..." This was the concept I was having trouble with initially. If an entire stream of opposing directions is imaginatively eliminated, then what is left seems second-dimensional, though it still retains a strange third-dimensional quality. !
The vision of the red, comet-like form that I saw could be accurately described using this spatial definition.

I shall write more about how this relates to this week's poem a little later. I've run out of time ATM.

posted December 05, 2007 09:21 AM              

quote:

---

Twentieth Week

I feel at last my life's reality
Which, severed from the world's existence,
Would in itself obliterate itself,
And building only on its own foundation,
Would in itself bring death upon itself.

---

The Serpent eating its own tail.
Interesting. Keep seeing that everwhere it seems.

Does the Serpent really consume (destroy)itself?
Or as a circular formation signifies
infinite rotation,
Divinity in the hurricane Eye
forever remains connected to Source,
unshaken, unbelied by its
movement.
Perhaps the Circle (immersing in realization of loneless)
might be the most progressive movement
for a reTurning/connectiveness.
Our greatest loss becomes our
greatest salvation.

Circles within Circles,
Rings with In an In Finite Tree.

Very nice thread, NosiS.
I enjoy reading,
thank you.

posted December 05, 2007 11:15 PM            

Lialei,

Thank you for your thoughts! I will reply tomorrow after some needed rest.

posted December 06, 2007 06:16 PM            

quote:

---

Does the Serpent really consume (destroy)itself?

---

This question reminds me of Steiner's explanation of a line. Just as the earth is round, it's mass and size is such that we perceive the ground as flat. A line, then, can be likely described as a circle with an infinitely sized radius/diameter. And if you go to the ends of the line, you will find yourself in the beginning.

So does the serpent consume itself?

There are many ways to answer this question with validity. What I find importance in is the way in which one approaches this (and any) question within their own self.

Something noteable within this week's poem is Steiner's reference to the "cosmic self".

quote:

---

To make my self, as humble part,
At home within the cosmic self.

---

We think a lot, don't we? Sometimes, it seems that all we do is think. This can take on great significance if taken in context with the Kybalion quote "The ALL is Mind;the Universe is Mental." I don't mean it in that way, though. We just seem to "think" more as opposed to "know". Actually, I find it quite a challenge to make a list of things that I "know" without resorting to descriptive statements, such as "Water is wet" and "My shoe is untied". Similarly, many of us speak of God and Spirit with such declarations as "We are all God" and "Each of us has a Spirit" and many other variations/versions, but how many of us can truly say that we "know" these things? The truth is that we can (any of us) "know" anything and that it is our "outer actions" of our lives that truly speak of what we know and not our words.

Perhaps this is why a question is presented in this week's poem without a proper answer:

quote:

---

Can I know life's reality
So that it's found again
Within my soul's creative urge?

---

There are many answers to this question as well, all of which could be valid if they are lived. If one believes, or "knows" that life's reality cannot be found, then others will observe this quality within that person's actions. If one does believe, or "know", that life's reality can be found, then others will also see this referenced in that person's actions, their seeking and searching. It has been said, "Seek and you shall find." Similarly, if we are not meek, we shall be blind.

The answer, then, to this poem's proposed question is purposefully given a humbling mood.

quote:

---

I feel that I am granted power
To make my self, as humble part,
At home within the cosmic self.

---

Indeed, it is ultimately our own responsibility to make ourselves comfortable in this world. And to do this, an inevitable step is becoming the puppeteer, and not the puppet, of our domineering mind and senses.

In last week's poem, it was mentioned:

quote:

---

How all that I've preserved of old
Is quickened by new-risen sense of self

---

This is a double-edged sword here, for it speaks of matters of the mind and heart. We must all be very cautious of what we "preserve", or keep, in our thoughts and daily consciousness. For these things will one day be willed by an effulgent force, our own life-soul, and can either aide our search or end it(in which case we'll come to the beginning again...lol ).

Just spilling some thoughts.