Inner Rhythm

52 Weeks of Steiner – Week 3

(This is part of a weekly serial started on Michaelmas 2023. To see the other entries, please see the post linked HERE and scroll down to the bottom for individual links)

It is important too that man should not believe he can live without rhythm. Just as his inner life was formed from outside inwards, he must now create rhythm from inside outwards. That is the essential thing. His inner life must become rhythmic. Just as rhythm created the cosmos, man has to permeate himself with a new rhythm if he wants to share in the creating of a new cosmos. It is characteristic of our age that it has lost the old, external rhythm and has not yet attained a new inner one. Man has outgrown nature – if we call the outer expression of spirit nature – but has not yet grown into the spirit.

Rudolf Steiner
The Being of Man and His Future Evolution
GA 107 Lecture 5 , 12 January 1909

One of the phrases that stands out for me in this lecture is that we have lost the old external rhythm and that we have outgrown nature. Humanity has, for millennium more than we haven’t, lived by the rhythms of nature and worshipped deities who were of nature. Their entire belief system centered around the world around them. They lived by the light of the sun and the darkness of night, the rolling seasons around the warmth of fire.

We, as a modern society, are SO far removed from that way of living. Our electric lighting allows us to stay up all night long if we want to all year long, with air conditioning to keep us cool in the summer and central heating to keep us warm in the winter. We have outgrown the natural rhythms that nature provides.

The rhythm of our inner life has changed as well. Many of us suffer from inadequate breathing rhythms, digestive upset, sleep disturbances,

So, now what?

Steiner talks of inner rhythm, of spiritual rhythm as the way to get back in touch with what is needed. This entire lecture is a history of the evolution of man, how we came to be here and the many stages before this existence as we know it. The spiritual beings who don’t need “textbooks” as we do because they are still connected to the wisdom of the cosmos. We need external knowledge because we have become so disconnected with spirit and spiritual wisdom that we must seek knowledge through other means. BUT, Steiner also points out that we are exactly where we are supposed to be. We needed to step away from being unconditionally and unquestioningly connected to nature so that we can continue to evolve. He says:

Man had to get away from the old rhythm; his progress depends on this: When certain prophets go around today preaching ‘Back to Nature’, they want to bring life into reverse instead of helping it forward. All this chatter about returning to nature contains no understanding of real evolution. When a movement today recommends people to eat certain foods only at certain times of the year because nature herself indicates this by making foods grow only at certain times, this is the abstract talk of the amateur. The essential thing about evolution is that man grows more and more independent of outer rhythm. But we must not lose the ground from under our feet. It is not the best thing for man’s progress and salvation to return to the old rhythm and ask himself how he should live in harmony with the four quarters of the moon. “

I find it so interesting that even in 1909 there was a back to nature movement. I mean, it really highlights how slowly we evolve and how relevant 1909 can be in these modern times. It may seem like a long time ago, but in the greater scheme of evolution, it is but a second.

I do think getting back to nature is good for everyone. I don’t see harm in connecting with the fact that we ARE of nature and still have these innate rhythms that, when listened to, can help bring us greater health and happiness. But, it takes more than a reconnection to nature to get to that inner spiritual rhythm Steiner discusses. To stop at nature connection we move us backwards, not forwards. In response to the need to continue evolution and not move backwards, Steiner created many spiritual practices for those who were interested in creating the inner rhythm that will help us progress beyond the rule of nature. These exercises help us to correct our disordered thought to bring clarity and consciousness to our actions. To bring us to an awareness of the powers and guidance that spirit wisdom still provides, and to choose it in freedom and individualized will.

You can find a some of Steiner’s exercises in Practical Training in Thought as well as through compilations of his inner work practices in books like Start Now edited by Christopher Bamford and Guided Self Study edited by Torin Finser.

After reading through this article a few times, and taking stock of my own inner development, I think I am going to revisit The Eightfold Path, which Steiner discusses HERE and in much greater depth in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment. The Eightfold Path consists these daily virtues: right resolve, right thinking, right speech, right action, right living, right striving, right memory, right self-immersion, or meditation. When we commit to practicing these virtues, it brings us to our own consciousness and allows us to be free. Free from habit responses and cluttered thinking and able to make decisions based on consciousness. Consciousness that allows space for guidance from spirit, what ever that means for us individually.

I have in the past spent a few months practicing each daily exercise in order, one per day, but I think this time around I am going to work through each virtue one week at a time. So this week, I’ll practice “right thinking” for the entire week instead of just one day to really get the chance to sink into the consciousness and will needed to fulfill the virtue.

In all of his exercises, it is not perfection that is the goal. It is creating awareness, an awakening to our thought and will processes, that is important. The work is in the striving.

I invite you to join me if you feel a calling to do so! It need not be with the eightfold path, any of his inner work exercises will do. If you do join in, I would love to hear from you! Feel free to send me a message if you’d like to connect.

Until next time,
Marina