How do I achieve a meditative deepening that leads me to my own spiritual source? In the course the focus is on finding the "eye of the hurricane". We learn to center ourselves and to wake up on more subtle, spiritual levels.

     The course consists of practical exercises and subsequent sharing of our experiences. We work from the basis of Anthroposophy given by Rudolf Steiner who wanted to reconcile science, art and religion. Steiner saw meditation as the one activity where the human being is truly free, where he can make himself into a vessel for spiritual perception. The method consists in going through form and content before giving these up, it is quite different from most eastern inspired forms of meditation in this respect. The idea is always to become more awake, more conscious than everyday consciousness. This has been found to be one of the most therapeutic things one can do for oneself. It has ripple effects all the way down into the mundane aspects of life. These become ordered in a new way, obeying more directly the laws of one`s higher self. This is truly empowering and invigorating too.

     We want to make meditation practical and attractive. Our course addresses both beginners without prior knowledge as well as people with experience. The exercises consist of concentration on objects, contemplation of sentences and texts, visual meditations, backward review of the day, perceiving the aura and the chakras. The goal is to facilitate a regular meditative practice and to give an experience of the different approaches to meditation so that everyone can find his or her own entry.


Why courses about anthroposophical meditation?

     In anthroposophical circles one is generally left alone with the question of meditation. Everyone knows how hard it is to do simple exercises over a longer period of time. Even though Rudolf Steiner clearly placed meditation at the center of spiritual development, our inaptitude is often glossed over in this domain. It is one of the least practical and most difficult to grasp aspects of Anthroposophy. To get a grip on it means to build an instrument with which to experience the spiritual world directly and to have your own spiritual experiences. As modest as these might seem in the beginning, these are nevertheless the heart of anthroposophical work. We want meditation to become so attractive that a day without meditation is perceived as a day with a tangible void.

     Meditation is the heart of the anthroposophical path of schooling. The whole of Anthroposophy originates in meditative, spiritual research. In meditation, one can develop the spiritual organs of perception that are necessary to experience spiritual beings. The human sheaths become ennobled and spiritualized through meditative exercises practiced over a long period. This leads to a more harmonious configuration of soul and more equanimity which acts beneficially on the surrounding social community. Without the progressive capacity to perceive angels and demons that work in social communities, we will in the future not be able to form a healthy social life. All of world evolution hinges on human beings being able to realize their cosmic role. In meditation we want to connect to the inner side of the world, we want to mingle with the whole world.

     Many want to meditate but don`t succeed alone. With regard to anthroposphical meditation one finds almost no help, no exchange of experience, no trainings, hardly any courses. Whom can I talk with about how to meditate? What are the prerequisites? Which experiences can I have? What life experience is necessary that I progress in my meditative life? Which fears come up? How can I come to a diversified experience of the different spiritual regions and which trials do I encounter? If everyone just practices alone at home, there is great danger of getting stuck and giving up. On the other hand, exchanging ones experiences, receiving help and motivation, can release new energies and open up paths.


Other aspects of our courses:

Eurythmy
Eurythmy brings us into movement and enhances the meditative work.
 
Connecting with elemental beings in nature
We generally spend the afternoons outside to connect with nature spirits and the etheric world through different methods developed by geomants. Today most people have more abilities than they are aware of.

The Alexander technique
The Alexander technique frees the neck, connects one to the surrounding etheric space and helps sustain a good body posture during meditation. We work on it as a group and Agnes will give those interested one on one sessions.


Rudolf Steiner about meditation:

     Rudolf Steiner`s great deed was to never dismiss thinking but to salvage the real treasure that thinking gives us when we pick up the reins ourselves and are not just "having" thoughts or "being" thought. Steiner`s own words in chapter one of "Knowledge of the Higher Worlds":
     "This tranquil contemplation must become a natural desire of life for the esoteric pupil. He must develop a living feeling for this peaceful activity of thought. He must learn to love what streams to him from spirit. Soon he will stop finding this world of thought as something less real than the everyday things that surround him. He starts treating his thoughts like the things in space. And then the moment nears where he feels that which reveals itself to him in quiet contemplation to be much higher, much more real than the things in space. He learns that life speaks through this world of thought. He recognizes that thoughts are not mere shadows but that hidden beings speak to him through them. Before only his ear received tones. Now it tones through his soul. An inner speech - an inner word - opens up for him. The pupil feels blessed in the highest degree when he first experiences this moment. An inner light is poured over his whole outer world. A second life begins for him. The stream of a godly, a blessed world pours through him. Such life of the soul in thought that ever grows to a life in spiritual being, Gnosis and occult science calls meditation (contemplative thinking). This meditation is the means to supersensible knowledge. Through such meditation a complete transformation happens in the occult pupil. He starts to form new concepts about reality. All things attain for him a new worth."

    "When one begins to meditate, one accomplishes the only really free deed in this human life... we are completely free in this. Meditation is the archetypal free deed."  Rudolf Steiner (GA 214, 20.8.1922)


The course leaders

Agnes Hardorp was born in Germany in 1959 and grew up in the United States. She became acquainted with the work of Rudolf Steiner at age 17. She has been active as a singer, pianist and eurythmist. She has a Masters Degree in History. She was able to deepen her meditative practice at a special spiritual place called "Bonfin" in Southern France, enabling her to do the work she does now.

Thomas Mayer was born in southern Germany in 1965. He is co-founder of "More Democracy", an association to further direct democracy or participatory politics, particularly through the vote of referendum. He has lectured widely on the subject of regional currencies and initiated pilot projects to introduce these. He was also co-director of the "Omnibus", an organisation that involves a bus travelling through Germany to promote the above mentioned goals. He always drew from his meditative life to sustain and direct him in this work. The aim in each case is empowering people, each one of us, to make a difference in the world. He is author of a book about elemental beings.

Contact:
mailto:thomas.mayerno spam@geistesforschung.org

www.anthroposophical-meditation.info

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