Why is this concept so important in TPOF?
In this state the observed and the observer become one. In this state subject and
object are transcended and experienced in a living way. However, this is a
perspective that must be fought for, just like a person desiring to have a panoramic
or bird’s eye view must climb to the top of a mountain to gain this new, yet
fully justified, relationship between the self and the world, the inner and the
outer.
In natural science we study the forces that break down nature, they are the forces of entropy,
ie. that measurable physical property of disorder, randomness or uncertainty.
Yet we are also surrounded by living beings in which an opposite force lives. These
living beings create order and whilst living transcend the destructive physical
forces. They negate the universal laws of entropy for their allotted time, but
as soon as these life forces leave then the formerly living object submits to
the laws of disintegration. An oak for example manifests its order in the structure
of its leaves, bark, acorns, crown and root system. Each and every plant is
proof that life is something beyond the mere natural scientific laws.
In the exceptional state we are capable of directly experiencing an essential part of
our being that transcends itself. Initially this exceptional state is
experienced as something foreign to everyday life. It can be reasoned that thinking about thinking leads us away from life, distancing us from what is real. At a superficial level this argument is a valid description of the problematic relationship the exceptional state can appear to have with leading our lives. Some minds will judge it to be navel gazing with all the associated negative connotation. However, a more careful reading of the statement opens up at least 2 interesting
questions.
- Might something also be gained from leading us away from life?
- There is an assumption that thinking about thinking distances us from the real, but what is meant by the word real and how does it relate to thinking.
As can be intuited from these questions there is also a perspective which, far from
distancing us from life, can enrich life in a way that re-evaluates and redefines
the limits of reality in an expansive direction. This is so as all that was previously
held to be real is still real, yet in a context where it is not the only real.
It is a normal reaction to be somewhat cautious or even afraid of thinking about thinking. As already indicated arid thoughts hardly seem like an area where I might find a life enhancing transcendent state. This fear or trepidation can come from 2 general directions and one of them will be more dominant in each and every one of us.
- People who have a rich inner life of feeling and or strong inclinations to act will often experience thinking as a weak barren soul faculty and feel a natural aversion to deepening this in the hope of finding something that transcends their current way of living. Let’s call these people Lovers of Lucy
- People who have a strong desire for knowledge and understanding will often abhor the lack of certainty that accompanies leaving the world of the senses that has been enriched through a better understanding of it. They will feel as if the certainty and sense of order and control on which they based their lives is too valuable to warrant leaving it. Let’s call these people Adorers of Harry.
However, there are some people who “Halfway along the journey to life’s end find
themselves astray in a dark wood.”(Canto 1 1-2) At the beginning of the divine
comedy Dante similarly feels the understandable dread of Lovers of Lucy and Adorers of Harry yet also the allure of something light filled, inspiring and fear
squelching. He then encounters the leopard, angry lion and she-wolf, which he
recognizes “Just so inside my mind, which was still fleeing” (Canto 1, 25) as aspects of himself, of his inner life, which will try to devour him before a path out of the dark forest can be found.
But when I came beneath a steep hillside –
Which rose at the far end of that long valley
That struck my stricken heart with so much dread –
I lifted up my eyes, and saw the height
Covered already in that planet’s rays
Which always guides all men and guides them right.
And then the fear I felt was somewhat less
(Canto 1, 13-18)
Then suddenly, as I went slipping down,
Someone appeared before my very eyes,
Seemingly through long silence hoarse and wan.
When I caught sight of him in that wide
waste, “Take pity on me,” I shouted out to him,
“Whatever you are, a real man or a ghost!
(Canto 1, 61-66)
Are you a real man or a ghost? These 2 terms viewed from a “common sense” perspective are
mutually exclusive. However, they don’t need to be so because as above the tricky
word here is the word real . How do we define what is real and not real?
This can only be done with thinking. We are still dancing around the concept of
the exceptional state here, but this is a useful process in creating clarity. If
we investigate further the “common sense” reasoning concerning the differences
between the real man and the ghost we realize that “real” means something that
can be seen by the common sense of sight. However, real does not need to be limited
to this feeble notion of reality. After all we would not deny gravity because we
cannot see it, nor for that matter radio waves, ultraviolet or infrared light. Again
normal reasoning would concur that whilst we cannot see these, we can infer
their existence because of their effects.
Now let us investigate this train of thought. Real things can be seen by the common sense
of sight. Somethings are real that cannot be seen, but we know they are real
because they cause something to happen that can be seen with the common sense
of sight. I.e. these real things are invisible to sight and indirectly perceptible
through their effects. Let’s stick with the electromagnetic spectrum for this example.
When we view the world without this concept, given to us in thinking, we become
incapable of explaining what the common sense of sight reveals to us (light,
the enabler of sight, itself is also a spectrum of frequencies that belong to
the entire electromagnetic spectrum). Another way of describing this would be
to say that an invisible concept given to us in the capacity to think is being
used to describe something else invisible yet that invisible something can be considered
real because it produces a visible effect. Following this line of reason if an
invisible ghost has the effect of assuaging and removing “the pain…so terrible…. the terror coming from her sight, the loss of all hope”(Canto 1, 52-54) then why should this be
considered any less real. I am labouring this point, because anybody who considers
thinking to not be real can only do so by being completely asleep to forces in
the inner life, be they Lovers of Lucy or Adorers of Harry.
To defeat the she-wolf, the evildoer whose avid appetite is never slaked Virgil tells
Dante that:
This hound will not be fed with land or pelf,
But rather feed on wisdom, love, and valour.
He will originate in folds of felt.
(Canto 1, 103-105)
Wisdom imbued thinking, love imbued feeling and a valient willing can deliver him from the
dark forest. With the exceptional state the focus is initially on the thinking
aspect of this trinity, though as will be seen the life of feeling and will are
essential components of this path.
If we are to make thinking the object of our thinking then this cannot be done without
the active participation of the will and memory. Already here we stumble upon
facts that are deeply inconvenient for lazy people. There is nothing in outer
life that compels me to remember for example the train of thoughts that passed
through my consciousness whilst for example eating breakfast. However, it is
exactly this type of exercise that we need to perform if we are to get to know
this activity that is with us in every waking moment. Again we are presented
with a paradox here, because we are being encouraged to remember something that
is of no consequence for the rest of the world and also exert our will to do
something that seems in no way to contribute to the outer life. This all seems so
unreasonable, yet the promise of the exceptional state is that it will slowly lead
us to an experience of the inner life that is beyond the possible experiences
of the Lucys and Harrys of this world.
We need to start asking ourselves the question: What is it that is thinking in me? And then seek to experience this being and how it reveals it essential nature. Here we use
the scientific method of observing phenomena to build an increased awareness
and understanding of this being.
If we practice prayer, meditation, contemplation or concentration then we have to use
our will to hold a chosen thought, prayer or image. Also here we have a direct
experience of how something beyond me lives in me. Despite the efforts of our
will another kind of thinking seems to insert itself as a foreigner into our mental
exercises, distracting us from the chosen mental content. Through practice and
application we gradually become better at sticking with the chosen content,
though even this can fluctuate greater depending on what has happened during
the rest of the day, especially if it engaged the feeling life. This process is
similar to applying thinking to an everyday situation and allowing the
essential nature of thinking to illuminate it, improve understanding whilst not
being distracted by other thoughts presenting themselves to my consciousness in
what could be described as a weird type of attention competition. However, the exceptional
state refers specifically to submitting the process of thinking itself to the
activity of thinking to illuminate it and reveal aspects of its nature. As this
process matures we begin to sense the invisible rays of a light filled being. In
the exceptional state we can come to know the essential part of our being that
transcends itself and that is not subject to the entropy that ensues at the
time of death The spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner offers us the being of
Anthroposophia and a vision of the Etheric Christ in the astral worlds as
further stages along this path of development towards rediscovering the
universal I, the Logos in everyday experience.
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