(Text Only Version)
Introduction
For 2000 years the individuated human ego has gradually replaced group structures such as the Nation, Church and Family as the governing principle of human behavior. Human beings no longer feel embedded in an overriding social structure and the course of our lives is no longer determined by outside forces. Without society's control, our passions and desires may expand exponentially. Our self permeates the outside world and we see our own reflection in everything. All traces of "otherness" are obliterated. National and racial identities, atavistic and regressive, have become powerless to regulate the individual's needs. Despite the failed attempts of twentieth century fascism and other forms of nationalism to reassert a regressive "shadow" group soul identity, dark forces still hover over the individual waiting to usurp the place of free egohood.
Humans must confront both light and dark forces within themselves, relying on their own individuality while resisting the temptation to give themselves away to whatever brings the greatest psychic comforts.
This movement toward pure egohood has resulted in a modern existential crisis where the dark double or shadow confronts the naked self causing overwhelming pain and terror. Rudolf Steiner maintained that the unfolding of pure egohood was a positive and transforming force for the human being despite the black suicidal power that attempts to usurp the place of the ego. Many artists of the last century were pioneers in ego development and creators of archetypal initiations which led the viewer, reader or listener through psychic death and rebirth.
Sylvia Plath , a modern day Lazarus, single-mindedly devoted herself to an exploration of death and rebirth through pure thinking combined with her finely tuned and ego permeated senses. Her art, guided by her higher self, rediscovered territory explored by initiates of the past. Significantly, she achieved this without the supporting social structure that guided initiates of the past; therefore her work may guide us in our present alienated stage of evolution.
These pages will attempt to uncover some of Plath's insights by juxtaposing her words with the writings and lectures of the Rudolf Steiner who, 100 years ago, publicly commenced to reveal aspects of initiation knowledge to humankind.
The Incarnation of the Ego
Here the ego incarnates, burning and searing its way into human sheaths like the painful cinder in the eye. This birth of ego consciousness recapulates the Fall, but instead of an innocent, unconscious fall, the "I" now witnesses the destruction of Eden. The poet knows that a single day or a single life may recapulate all of evolution and one event may holographically contain many larger scale events within it; therefore, this painful ego birth occurs in the life of the individual and in the evolution of humanity. The red cinder is similar to Joyce's "aginbite of inwit"in Ulysses.
"The Eye Mote" introduces three ideas that Plath often associates with her ego: the word "eye", the color red, and fire. (see the end of Ariel , Burning the Letters, and the red queen bee at the end of Stings)
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The Eye Mote1 Sylvia Plath 1959
Blameless
as daylight I stood looking
Steadily
rooted though they were all flowing
Outlandish
as double-humped camels or unicorns,
Neither
tears nor the easing flush
What
I want back is what I was
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Before our separation from nature, we experience the harmony of pre-ego consciousness. We experience an instinctive, clairvoyant vision that feels the world directly. Pain, pleasure, and sensation come and go, but we don't experience our own relationship to the experience nor our permanent relationship to the world. This unity of consciousness with the world is shattered by-
The splinter is the ego which blinds vision and alters perception. Innocent forms are burned and melted by the Ego's participation. The subject-object dichotonmy arises where the observer begins to participate in the creation of the world's forms and processes. That which permanently relates to ourselves is now experienced in the outer world.
The ego is now the center of our universe. Neither feeling nor sensation can lessen the impact of the incarnating "I". Our dark imperfections and limitation are now mirrored back to us causing fear. We feel that every experience is life or death. All thoughts become anxiety ridden. 7 days - the eon of creation. The ego now "sticks" to all past and future. Our present fleshy incarnation is but an "itch" of the ego. The evolution of the genetic stream and the development of the mind "fixes" our egos in this present unseeing state where we are ignorant of past and future. |
The Origin and the Cosmic Significance of the Ego
The following material is from the lecture The Bhagavad Gita and the Epistles of St. Paul which Rudolf Steiner delivered December of 1912.
The excerpts presented here give the reader a glimpse of both the private and the cosmic significance of the ego as the final revelation of one's own being. Krishna, the image of the Christ-solar logos before the process of inward incarnation, is unendurable in his burning brilliance and may be recovered only when the "sheaths" of our being are stripped off and the atavistic racial blood ties are overthrown.
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Rudolf Steiner(1912):
"The methods by which the pupil of the great Krishna may rise by one of these ways to the spiritual heights are then given. First of all, a distinction is made between what men have to do in the ordinary world. It is indeed a grand situation in which the Gita places this before us. Arjuna has to fight against his blood-relations. That is his external destiny, it is his own doing, his Karma, which comprises the deeds which he must first of all accomplish in this particular situation. In these deeds he lives at first as external man; but the great Krishna teaches him that a man only becomes wise, only unites himself with the Divine Eternal if he performs his deeds because they themselves in the external course of nature and of the evolution of humanity prove to be necessary; yet the wise man must release himself from them. He performs the deeds; but in him there is sometiling which at the same time is a looker-on at these deeds, which has no part in them, which says: I do this work, but I might just as well say: I let it happen. One becomes wise by looking on at what one does as though it were being done by another; and by not allowing oneself to be disturbed by the desire which causes the deed or by the sorrow it may produce. .It is all one,. says the great Krishna to his pupil Arjuna, .whether thou art in the ranks of the sons of Pandu, or over there among the sons of Kuru; what ever thou doest, thou must as a wise man make thyself free from Pandu-ism and Kuru-ism. If it does not affect thee whether thou art to act with the Pandus as though one of them, or to act with the Kurus as though thou were thyself a son of Kuru; if thou canst rise above all this and not be affected by thine own deeds, like a flame which burns quietly in a place protected from the wind, undisturbed by anything external: if thy soul, as little disturbed by its own deeds, lives quietly beside them, then does it become wise; then does it free itself from its deeds, and does not inquire what success attends them.. For the result of our deeds only concerns the narrow limitations of our soul; but if we perform them because humanity or the course of the world require them from us, then we perform these deeds regardless as to whether they lead to dreadful or to glorious results for ourselves. "
"This lifting oneself above one's deeds, this standing upright no matter what our hands may carry out, even - speaking of the Gita situation - what our swords may carry out or what we may speak with our mouth; this standing upright of our inner self regardless of all that we speak with our mouth and do with our hands, this it is to which the great Krishna leads his pupil Arjuna. Thus the great Krishna directs his pupil Arjuna to a human ideal, which is so presented that a man says: .I perform my deeds, but it matters not whether they are performed by me or by another - I look on at them: that which happens by my hand or is spoken by my mouth, I can look on at as objectively as though I saw a rock being loosened and rolling down the mountain into the depths. Thus do I stand as regards my deeds; and although I may be in a position to know this or that, to form concepts of the world, I myself am quite distinct from these concepts, and I may say: In me there dwells something which is, it is true, united to me and which perceives, but I look on at what another is perceiving. Thus I myself am liberated from my perceptions. I can become free from my deeds, free from my knowledge and free from my perceptions. A high idea of human wisdom is thus placed before us! And finally, when it rises into the spiritual, whether I encounter demons or holy Spirits, I can look on at them externally. I myself stand there, free from everything that is going on even in the spiritual worlds around me. I look on, and go my own way, and take no part in that in which I take part, because I have become a looker-on. That is the teaching of Krishna."
"Now having heard that the Krishna teaching is based upon the Sankhya philosophy, it will be quite clear to us that it must be so. In many places one can see it shining through the teaching of Krishna; as when the great Krishna says to his pupil: The soul that lives in thee is connected in several different ways; it is connected with the coarse physical body, it is connected with the senses, with Manas, Ahamkara, Budhi; but thou art distinct from them all. If thou regardest all these as external, as sheaths surrounding thee, if thou art conscious that as a soul-being thou art independent of them all, then hast thou understood something of what Krishna wishes to teach thee. If thou art aware that thy connections with the outer world, with the world in general, were given thee through the Gunas, through Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva, then learn that in ordinary life man is connected with wisdom and virtue through Sattva, with the passions and affections, with the thirst for existence through Rajas; and that through Tamas he is connected with idleness, nonchalance and sleepiness. Why does a man in ordinary life feel enthusiasm for wisdom and virtue? Because he is related to the basic nature characterised by Sattva. Why does a man in ordinary life feel joy and longing for the external life, feel pleasure in the external phenomena of life? Because he has a relation to life indicated through Rajas. Why do people go through ordinary life sleepy, lazy and inactive? Why do they feel oppressed by their corporality? Why do they not find it possible continually to rouse themselves and conquer their bodily nature? Because they are connected with the world of external forms which in Sankhya philosophy is expressed through Tamas. But the soul of the wise man must become free from Tamas, must sever its connection with the external world expressed by sleepiness, laziness and inactivity. When these are expunged from the soul, then it is only connected with the external world through Rajas and Sattva. When a man has extinguished his passions and affections and the thirst for existence, retaining the enthusiasm for virtue, compassion and knowledge, his connection with the external world henceforth is what Sankhya philosophy calls Sattva."
"But when a man has also become liberated from that tendency to goodness and knowledge, when, although a kindly and wise man, he is independent of his outward expression even as regards kindness and knowledge; when kindness is a natural duty and wisdom as something poured out over him, then he has also severed his connection with Sattva. When, however, he has thus stripped off the three Gunas, then he has freed himself from all connection with every external form, then he triumphs in his soul and understands something of what the great Krishna wants to make of him.
What, then, does man grasp, when he thus strives to become what the great Krishna holds before him as the ideal-what does he then understand? Does he then more clearly understand the forms of the outer world? No, he had already understood these; but he has raised himself above them. Does he more clearly grasp the relation of the soul to those external forms? No, he had already grasped that, but he has raised himself above it. It is not that which he may meet with in the external world in the multitude of forms, or his connection with these forms, which he now understands when he strips off the three Gunas; for all that belongs to earlier stages. As long as one remains in Tamas, Rajas, or Sattva, one becomes connected with the natural rudiments of existence, adapts oneself to social relationships and to knowledge, and acquires the qualities of kindness and sympathy. But if one has risen above all that, one has stripped off all these connections at the preceding stages. What does one then perceive, what springs up before one's eyes? That which one perceives and which springs up before one is what these are not. What can that be which is distinct from everything one acquires along the path of the Gunas This is none other than what one finally recognise as one's own being, for all else which may belong to the external world has been stripped away at the preceding stages."
"In the sense of the foregoing, what is this? It is Krishna himself; for he is himself the expression of what is highest in oneself. This means that when one has worked oneself up to the highest, one is face to face with Krishna, the pupil with his great Teacher, Arjuna with Krishna himself: who lives in all things that exist and who can truly say of himself: .I am not a solitary mountain, if I am among the mountains I am the largest of them all; if I appear upon the earth I am not a single man, but the greatest human manifestation, one that only appears once in a cosmic age as a leader of mankind, and so on; the unity in all forms, that am I, Krishna.. - Thus does the teacher himself appear to his pupil, present in his own Being. At the same time it is made clear in the Bhagavad Gita that this is something great and mighty, the highest to which a man can attain. To appear before Krishna, as did Arjuna, might come about through gradual stages of initiation; it would then take place in the depths of a Yoga schooling; but it may also be represented as flowing forth from the evolution of humanity itself, given to man by an act of grace, as it were, and thus it is represented in the Gita. Arjuna was uplifted suddenly at a bound, as it were, so that bodily he has Krishna before him; and the Gita leads up to a definite. point, the point at which Krishna stood before him. He does not now stand before him as a man of flesh and blood. A man who could be looked upon as other men would represent what is nonessential in Krishna. For that is essential which is in all men; but as the other kingdoms of the world represent, as it were, only scattered humanity, so all that is in the rest of the world is in Krishna. The rest of the world disappears and Krishna is there as ONE. As the macrocosm to the microcosm, as mankind, as a whole, compared to the small everyday man, so is Krishna to the individual man."
"Human power of comprehension is not sufficient to grasp this if the consciousness of it should come to man by an act of grace, for Krishna, if one looks at the essential in him - which is only possible to the highest clairvoyant power - appears quite different from anything man is accustomed to see. As though the vision of man were uplifted above all else to perceive the vision of Krishna in his highest nature, we catch sight of him for one moment in the Gita, as the great Man, compared with whom everything else in the world must appear small; He it is before whom stands Arjuna. Then the power of comprehension forsakes Arjuna. He can only gaze and haltingly express what he beholds. That is to be understood: for by means of the methods he has used until now, he has not learned to look at such as this, or to describe it in words; and the descriptions that Arjuna gives at this moment when he stands before Krishna, must be thought of thus."
"For one of the greatest artistic and philosophical presentations ever given to humanity is the description of how Arjuna, with words which he speaks for the first time, which he is unaccustomed to speak, which he has never spoken before because he has never come within reach of them, expresses in words drawn from the deepest parts of his being what he feels on seeing the great Krishna: .All the Gods do I perceive in Thy, body, O God, so also the multitude of all beings. Brahma the Lord, on His Lotus-seat, all the Rishis and the Heavenly Serpent. With many arms, bodies, mouths and eyes, do I see Thee everywhere, in countless forms, neither end, middle nor beginning do I see in Thee, O Lord of everything! Thou appearest to me in all forms, Thou appearest to me with a diadem, a club, a sword, as a flaming mountain radiating out on all sides, thus do I see Thee. My vision is dazzled, as radiant fire by the brilliance of the sun, and immeasurably great. The Everlasting, the Highest that can be known, the Greatest Good; thus dost Thou appear to me in the wide universe. The Eternal Guardian of the Eternal Right art Thou. Thou standest before my soul as the Eternal Primeval Spirit. Thou showest me no beginning, no middle and no end. Thou art eternally everywhere, infinite in force, infinite in the distances of space. Thine eyes are, as big as the moon, yea, as big as the sun itself, and out of Thy mouth there radiates sacrificial fire. I contemplate Thee in Thy glow and I perceive how Thy glow warms the universe which I can dimly sense between the ground of the earth and the breadth of heaven, all this is filled with Thy power. I am alone there with Thee, and that world in Heaven wherein the three worlds dwell is also within Thee, when Thy wondrous, awful Figure displays Itself to my sight. I see whole multitudes of Gods coming to Thee, singing praises to Thee, and I stand there afraid, with folded hands. All the hosts of seers call Thee blessed, and so do the multitude of saints. They praise Thee in all their hymns of praise. The Adityas, Rudras, Vasus, Sadkyas, Visvas, Aswins, Maruts, Ushmapas, Ghandaxvas, Yakshas, Siddhas, Asuras, and all the Saints praise Thee; they look up to Thee full of wonder: Such a gigantic form with so many mouths, arms, legs, feet; so many bodies, so many jaws filled with teeth; the whole world trembles before Thee and I too tremble. The Heaven-shattering, radiating, many-armed One, with a mouth working as though it were great flaming eyes, thus do I behold Thee. My soul quakes. I cannot find security or rest, O great Krishna, Who to me art Vishnu Himself. I gaze into Thy menacing innermost Being, I behold It like unto fire, I see how It works, how existence works, what is the end of all times. I gaze at Thee so, that I can know nothing of anything whatever. Oh! be Thou merciful unto me, Lord of Gods, Thou House in which worlds do dwell.. He turns towards the sons of the race of Kuru and points to them: .These sons of the Kuru all assembled here together, this multitude of kingly heroes, Bhishma and Drona, together with our own best fighters, they all lie praying before Thee, marvelling at Thy wondrous beauty. I am fain to know Thee, Thou Primal Beginning of existence. I cannot comprehend that which appears to me, which reveals itself to me.. "
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The Bagavad Gita CHAPTER XI
Arjuna. This, for my soul's peace, have I heard from Thee, The unfolding of the Mystery Supreme Named Adhyatman; comprehending which, My darkness is dispelled; for now I know . O Lotus-eyed! whence is the birth of men, And whence their death, and what the majesties Of Thine immortal rule. Fain would I see, As thou Thyself declar'st it, Sovereign Lord! The likeness of that glory of Thy Form Wholly revealed. O Thou Divinest One! If this can be, if I may bear the sight, Make Thyself visible, Lord of all prayers! Show me Thy very self, the Eternal God! Krishna. Gaze, then, thou Son of Pritha! I manifest for thee Those hundred thousand thousand shapes that clothe my Mystery: I show thee all my semblances, infinite, rich, divine, My changeful hues, my countless forms. See! in this face of mine, Adityas, Vasus, Rudras, Aswins, and Maruts; see Wonders unnumbered, Indian Prince! revealed to none save thee. Behold! this is the Universe! . Look! what is live and dead I gather all in one . in Me! Gaze, as thy lips have said, On GOD ETERNAL, VERY GOD! See Me! see what thou prayest! Thou canst not! . nor, with human eyes, Arjuna! ever mayest! Therefore I give thee sense divine. Have other eyes, new light! And, look! This is My glory, unveiled to mortal sight! Sanjaya. Then, O King! the God, so saying, Stood, to Pritha's Son displaying All the splendour, wonder, dread Of His vast Almighty-head. Out of countless eyes beholding, Out of countless mouths commanding, Countless mystic forms enfolding In one Form: supremely standing Countless radiant glories wearing, Countless heavenly weapons bearing, Crowned with garlands of star-clusters, Robed in garb of woven lustres, Breathing from His perfect Presence Breaths of every subtle essence Of all heavenly odours; shedding Blinding brilliance; overspreading . Boundless, beautiful . all spaces With His all-regarding faces; So He showed! If there should rise Suddenly within the skies Sunburst of a thousand suns Flooding earth with beams undeemed-of, Then might be that Holy One's Majesty and radiance dreamed of! So did Pandu's Son behold All this universe enfold All its huge diversity Into one vast shape, and be Visible, and viewed, and blended In one Body . subtle, splendid, Nameless . th' All-comprehending God of Gods, the Never-Ending Deity! But, sore amazed, Thrilled, o'erfilled, dazzled, and dazed, Arjuna knelt; and bowed his head, And clasped his palms; and cried, and said: Arjuna. Yea! I have seen! I see! Lord! all is wrapped in Thee! The gods are in Thy glorious frame! the creatures Of earth, and heaven, and hell In Thy Divine form dwell, And in Thy countenance shine all the features Of Brahma, sitting lone Upon His lotus-throne; Of saints and sages, and the serpent races Ananta, Vasuki; Yea! mightiest Lord! I see Thy thousand thousand arms, and breasts, and faces, And eyes, . on every side Perfect, diversified; And nowhere end of Thee, nowhere beginning, Nowhere a centre! Shifts . Wherever soul's gaze lifts . Thy central Self, all-wielding, and all-winning! Infinite King! I see The anadem on Thee, The club, the shell, the discus; see Thee burning In beams insufferable, Lighting earth, heaven, and hell With brilliance blazing, glowing, flashing; turning Darkness to dazzling day, Look I whichever way; Ah, Lord! I worship Thee, the Undivided, The Uttermost of thought, The Treasure-Palace wrought To hold the wealth of the worlds; the Shield provided To shelter Virtue's laws; The Fount whence Life's stream draws All waters of all rivers of all being: The One Unborn, Unending: Unchanging and Unblending! With might and majesty, past thought, past seeing! Silver of moon and gold Of sun are glories rolled From Thy great eyes; Thy visage, beaming tender Throughout the stars and skies, Doth to warm life surprise Thy Universe. The worlds are filled with wonder Of Thy perfections! Space Star-sprinkled, and void place From pole to pole of the Blue, from bound to bound, Hath Thee in every spot, Thee, Thee! . Where Thou art not, O Holy, Marvellous Form! is nowhere found! O Mystic, Awful One! At sight of Thee, made known, The Three Worlds quake; the lower gods draw nigh Thee; They fold their palms, and bow Body, and breast, and brow, And, whispering worship, laud and magnify Thee! Rishis and Siddhas cry .Hail! Highest Majesty!. From sage and singer breaks the hymn of glory In dulcet harmony, Sounding the praise of Thee; While countless companies take up the story, Rudras, who ride the storms, Th' Adityas' shining forms, Vasus and Sadhyas, Viswas, Ushmapas; Maruts, and those great Twins The heavenly, fair, Aswins, Gandharvas, Rakshasas, Siddhas, and Asuras, These see Thee, and revere In sudden-stricken fear; Yea! the Worlds, . seeing Thee with form stupendous, With faces manifold, With eyes which all behold, Unnumbered eyes, vast arms, members tremendous, Flanks, lit with sun and star, Feet planted near and far, Tushes of terror, mouths wrathful and tender; . The Three wide Worlds before Thee Adore, as I adore Thee, Quake, as I quake, to witness so much splendour! I mark Thee strike the skies With front, in wondrous wise Huge, rainbow-painted, glittering; and thy mouth Opened, and orbs which see All things, whatever be In all Thy worlds, east, west, and north and south. O Eyes of God! O Head! My strength of soul is fled, Gone is heart's force, rebuked is mind's desire! When I behold Thee so, With awful brows a-glow, With burning glance, and lips lighted by fire Fierce as those flames which shall Consume, at close of all, Earth, Heaven! Ah me! I see no Earth and Heaven! Thee, Lord of Lords! I see, Thee only . only Thee! Now let Thy mercy unto me be given, Thou Refuge of the World! Lo! to the cavern hurled Of Thy wide-opened throat, and lips white-tushed, I see our noblest ones, Great Dhritarashtra's sons, Bhishma, Drona, and Karna, caught and crushed! The Kings and Chiefs drawn in, That gaping gorge within; The best of both these armies torn and riven! Between Thy jaws they lie Mangled full bloodily, Ground into dust and death! Like streams down-driven With helpless haste, which go In headlong furious flow Straight to the gulfing deeps of th' unfilled ocean, So to that flaming cave Those heroes great and brave Pour, in unending streams, with helpless motion! Like moths which in the night Flutter towards a light, Drawn to their fiery doom, flying and dying, So to their death still throng, Blind, dazzled, borne along Ceaselessly, all those multitudes, wild flying! Thou, that hast fashioned men, Devourest them again, One with another, great and small, alike! The creatures whom Thou mak'st, With flaming jaws Thou tak'st, Lapping them up! Lord God! Thy terrors strike From end to end of earth, Filling life full, from birth To death, with deadly, burning, lurid dread! Ah, Vishnu! make me know Why is Thy visage so? Who art Thou, feasting thus upon Thy dead? Who? awful Deity! I bow myself to Thee, Namostu Te, Devavara! Prasid! O Mightiest Lord! rehearse Why hast Thou face so fierce? Whence doth this aspect horrible proceed? Krishna. Thou seest Me as Time who kills, Time who brings all to doom, The Slayer Time, Ancient of Days, come hither to consume; Excepting thee, of all these hosts of hostile chiefs arrayed, There stands not one shall leave alive the battlefield! Dismayed No longer be! Arise! obtain renown! destroy thy foes! Fight for the kingdom waiting thee when thou hast vanquished those. By Me they fall . not thee! the stroke of death is dealt them now, Even as they show thus gallantly; My instrument art thou! Strike, strong-armed Prince, at Drona! at Bhishma strike! deal death On Karna, Jyadratha; stay all their warlike breath! 'Tis I who bid them perish! Thou wilt but slay the slain; Fight! they must fall, and thou must live, victor upon this plain! Sanjaya. Hearing mighty Keshav's word, Tremblingly that helmed Lord Clasped his lifted palms, and . praying Grace of Krishna . stood there, saying, With bowed brow and accents broken, These words, timorously spoken: Arjuna. Worthily, Lord of Might! The whole world hath delight In Thy surpassing power, obeying Thee; The Rakshasas, in dread At sight of Thee, are sped To all four quarters; and the company Of Siddhas sound Thy name. How should they not proclaim Thy Majesties, Divinest, Mightiest? Thou Brahm, than Brahma greater! Thou Infinite Creator! Thou God of gods, Life's Dwelling-place and Rest! Thou, of all souls the Soul! The Comprehending Whole! Of being formed, and formless being the Framer; O Utmost One! O Lord! Older than eld, Who stored The worlds with wealth of life! O Treasure-Claimer, Who wottest all, and art Wisdom Thyself! O Part In all, and All; for all from Thee have risen Numberless now I see The aspects are of Thee! Vayu Thou art, and He who keeps the prison Of Narak, Yama dark; And Agni's shining spark; Varuna's waves are Thy waves. Moon and starlight Are Thine! Prajapati Art Thou, and 'tis to Thee They knelt in worshipping the old world's far light, The first of mortal men. Again, Thou God! again A thousand thousand times be magnified! Honour and worship be . Glory and praise, . to Thee Namo, Namaste, cried on every side; Cried here, above, below, Uttered when Thou dost go, Uttered where Thou dost come! Namo! we call; Namostu! God adored! Namostu! Nameless Lord! Hail to Thee! Praise to Thee! Thou One in all; For Thou art All! Yea, Thou! Ah! if in anger now Thou shouldst remember I did think Thee Friend, Speaking with easy speech, As men use each to each; Did call Thee .Krishna,. .Prince,. nor comprehend Thy hidden majesty, The might, the awe of Thee; Did, in my heedlessness, or in my love, On journey, or in jest, Or when we lay at rest, Sitting at council, straying in the grove, Alone, or in the throng, Do Thee, most Holy! wrong, Be Thy grace granted for that witless sin! For Thou art, now I know, Father of all below, Of all above, of all the worlds within Guru of Gurus; more To reverence and adore Than all which is adorable and high! How, in the wide worlds three Should any equal be? Should any other share Thy Majesty? Therefore, with body bent And reverent intent, I praise, and serve, and seek Thee, asking grace. As father to a son, As friend to friend, as one Who loveth to his lover, turn Thy face In gentleness on me! Good is it I did see This unknown marvel of Thy Form! But fear Mingles with joy! Retake, Dear Lord! for pity's sake Thine earthly shape, which earthly eyes may bear! Be merciful, and show The visage that I know; Let me regard Thee, as of yore, arrayed With disc and forehead-gem, With mace and anadem, Thou that sustainest all things! Undismayed Let me once more behold The form I loved of old, Thou of the thousand arms and countless eyes! This frightened heart is fain To see restored again My Charioteer, in Krishna's kind disguise. Krishna. Yea! thou hast seen, Arjuna! because I loved thee well, The secret countenance of Me, revealed by mystic spell, Shining, and wonderful, and vast, majestic, manifold, Which none save thou in all the years had favour to behold; For not by Vedas cometh this, nor sacrifice, nor alms, Nor works well-done, nor penance long, nor prayers, nor chaunted psalms, That mortal eyes should bear to view the Immortal Soul unclad, Prince of the Kurus! This was kept for thee alone! Be glad! Let no more trouble shake thy heart, because thine eyes have seen My terror with My glory. As I before have been So will I be again for thee; with lightened heart behold! Once more I am thy Krishna, the form thou knew'st of old! Sanjaya. These words to Arjuna spake Vasudev, and straight did take Back again the semblance dear Of the well-loved charioteer; Peace and joy it did restore When the Prince beheld once more Mighty BRAHMA's form and face Clothed in Krishna's gentle grace. Arjuna. Now that I see come back, Janardana! This friendly human frame, my mind can think Calm thoughts once more; my heart beats still again! Krishna. Yea! it was wonderful and terrible To view me as thou didst, dear Prince! The gods Dread and desire continually to view! Yet not by Vedas, nor from sacrifice, Nor penance, nor gift-giving, nor with prayer Shall any so behold, as thou hast seen! Only by fullest service, perfect faith, And uttermost surrender am I known And seen, and entered into, Indian Prince! Who doeth all for Me; who findeth Me In all; adoreth always; loveth all Which I have made, and Me, for Love's sole end That man, Arjuna! unto Me doth wend.
HERE ENDETH CHAPTER XI. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, Steiner continues: "Thus speaks Arjuna, when he is alone with Him Who is his own being, when this Being appears objectively to him. We are here confronted with a great cosmic mystery, mysterious not on account of its theoretical contents, but on account of the overpowering sensations which it should call up within us if we are able to grasp it aright. Mysterious it is, so mysterious that it must speak in a different way to every human perception from how anything in the world ever spoke before. When Krishna Himself caused to sound into the ears of Arjuna that which He then spoke, it sounded thus: .I am Time, which destroys all worlds. I have appeared to carry men away, and even if thou shalt bring death to them in battle, yet all these warriors standing there in line would die even without thee. Rise up, therefore, fearlessly. Thou shalt acquire fame and conquer the foe, Exult over the coming victory and mastery. Thou wilt not have killed them when they fall dead in the battle; by Me they are all killed already, before thou canst bring death to them. Thou art only the instrument, thou fightest only with the hand The Dronas, the Jayadanas, the Bhishmas, the Karnas, and the other warrior heroes whom I have killed, who are already dead - now kill thou them, that my actions may appear externally when they fall dead in Maya; those whom I have already killed, kill thou them. That which I have done will appear to have been done by thee. Tremble not! Thou art not able to do anything which I have not done already. Fight! Those whom I have already killed will fall by thy sword.. " "We know that all there given in the way of instruction to the sons of Pandu by Krishna to Arjuna, is related as though told by the charioteer to Dritarashtra. The poet does not directly relate: .Thus spake Krishna to Arjuna .; the poet tells us that Sandshaya, the charioteer of Dritarashtra, relates it to his blind hero, the king of the Kurus. After Sandshaya related all this he then spoke further: .And when Arjuna had received these words from Krishna, reverently with folded hands, tremblingly, stammering with fear and bowing deeply, he answered Krishna: .With right doth the world rejoice in Thy glory, and is filled with reverence before Thee. The Rajas. (these are spirits) .flee in all directions, furious. The holy Hosts all bow down before Thee. Wherefore should they not bow down before the First Creator, Who is even greater than Brahma? " "Truly we are confronting a great cosmic mystery; for what says Arjuna when he sees his own self before him in bodily form? He addresses this own Being of his as though it appeared to him higher than Brahma Himself. We are face to face with a mystery. For when a man thus addresses his own being, such words must be so understood that none of the feelings, none of the perceptions, none of the ideas, none of the thoughts used in ordinary life must be brought to bear upon the comprehension. Nothing could bring a man into greater danger than to bring feelings such as he may otherwise have in life to bear upon these words of Arjuna. If he were to bring any such feelings of everyday life to bear upon what he thus expresses, if this were not something quite unique, if he did not realise this as the greatest cosmic mystery, then would lunacy and madness be small things compared to the illness into which he would fall through bringing ordinary feelings to bear upon Krishna, that is to say, upon his own higher being. .Thou Lord of Gods, Thou art without end, Thou art the Everlasting, Thou art the Highest, Thou art both Existence and Non-existence, Thou art the greatest of the Gods, Thou art the oldest of the Gods, Thou art the greatest treasure of the whole universe, Thou art He Who knowest and Thou art the Highest Consciousness. Thou embracest the universe, within Thee are all the forms which can possibly exist, Thou art the Wind, Thou art the Fire, Thou art Death, Thou art the eternally moving Cosmic Sea, Thou art the Moon, Thou art the highest of the Gods, the Name Itself, Thou art the Ancestor of the highest of the Gods. Worship must be Thine, a thousand, thousand times over, and ever more than all this worship is due to Thee. Worship must come to Thee from all Thy sides, Thou art everything that a man can ever become. Thou art full of strength as the totality of all strength alone can be, Thou perfectest all things and Thou art at the same time Thyself everything. When I am impatient, and taking Thee to be my friend, I call Thee Krishna: call Thee Yiva, Friend; ignorant of Thy wonderful greatness, unthinking and confiding I so call Thee, and if in my weakness I do not reverence Thee aright, if I do not rightly reverence Thee in Thy wanderings or in Thy stillness, in the highest Divine or in everyday life, whether Thou art alone or united with other Beings, if in all this I do not reverence Thee aright, then do I implore pardon of Thy Immeasurableness. Thou Father of the world, Thou Who movest the world in which Thou movest, Thou Who art more than all the other teachers, to Whom none resembles, Who art above all, to Whom nothing in the three worlds can be compared; prostrating myself before Thee I seek Thy mercy, Thou Lord, Who revealest Thyself in all worlds. In Thee I gaze at That which never has been seen, I tremble before Thee in reverence. Show Thyself to me as Thou art, O God! Be merciful, Thou Lord of Gods, Thou Primal Source of all worlds!. " "Truly we are confronted with a mystery when human being speaks thus to human being. And Krishna again speaks to his pupil: .I have revealed Myself to thee in mercy, My highest Being stands before thee, through My almighty power and as though by enchantment it is before thee, illuminating, immeasurable, without beginning. As thou now beholdest Me no other man has ever beheld Me. As thou beholdest Me now, through the forces which by my grace have been given to thee, have I never been revealed, even through what is written in the Vedas, thus have I never been reached by means of the sacrifices. No libation to the Gods, no study, no ceremonial whatsoever has ever attained unto Me, no terrible expiation can lead to beholding Me in My form as I now am, as thou now beholdest Me in human form, thou great hero. But fear must not come to thee, or confusion at the sight of My dreadful form. Free from fear, full of high thoughts thou shalt again behold Me, even as I am now known unto thee, in My present shape.. Then Sandshaya further relates to the blind Dritarashtra: When Krishna had thus spoken to Arjuna, the Immeasurable One - without beginning and without end, sublime beyond all strength - vanished, and Krishna showed Himself again in his human form as though he wished by his friendly form to reassure him who had been so terrified. And Arjuna said: .Now I see Thee once more before me in Thy human shape, now knowledge and consciousness return to me and I am again myself, such as I was.. And Krishna spoke: .The shape which was so difficult for thee to behold, in which thou hast just seen Me, that is the form for the sight of which even Gods have endlessly longed. The Vedas do not indicate My shape, it will neither be attained by 'repentance, nor by charity, neither by sacrifice, nor by any ritual whatsoever. By none of these can I be seen in the form in which thou hast just seen Me. Only one who knows how to go along the way in freedom, free from all the Vedas, free from all repentances, free from all charities and sacrifices, free from all ceremonials, keeping his eyes reverently fixed upon Me alone, only such an one can perceive Me in such a shape, he alone can recognise Me thus, and can also become entirely one with Me. Whosoever behaveth thus, as I put it into his mind to behave, whosoever loveth and honoureth Me, whosoever doth not care for the world and to whom all beings are worthy of love, he comes to Me, O thou, My son of the race of Pandu." "We are confronted with a cosmic mystery of which the Gita tells us that it was given to mankind at a most significant cosmic hour, that significant cosmic hour when the old clairvoyance which is connected with the blood, ceases: and human souls must seek new paths to the everlasting, to the intransitory. Thus this mystery is brought to our notice so that we may at the same time realise by means of its presentation all that can become dangerous to man when he is able to see his own being brought to birth out of himself. If we grasp this deepest of human and cosmic mysteries - which tells of our own being through true self knowledge - then we have before us the greatest cosmic mystery in the world. But we may only put it before us if we are able to reverence it in all humility. No powers of comprehension will suffice, none will enable us to approach this cosmic mystery; for that the correct sentiment is necessary. No one should approach the cosmic mystery that speaks from out the Gita who cannot approach it reverentially. Only when we can feel thus about it do we completely grasp it. How, starting from this point of view one is able in the Gita to look at a certain stage of human evolution, and how, just by means of what is shown to us in the Gita, light can also be thrown upon what we meet with in a different way in the Epistles of St. Paul - that it is which, is to occupy us in the course of these lectures. " -Rudolf Steiner,excerpts from The Bhagavad Gita and the Epistles of St. Paul
One scarf will catch and anchor in the wheel." ....................................................................... "....Does
not my heat astound you. And my light. I
think I am going up, Am
a pure acetylene By
kisses, by cherubim, Not
him, nor him
Plath had the visionary ability to separate herself from the layers of her being and to look upon these layers as something emanating and unraveling from her essential self. She used images of swirling smoke and peeling garments to describe her "loosening"--a dissolving process in which her ego separated first from her physical body and then from the motions of her life processes. After her physical matter and life processes were laid aside, she unraveled herself from sensory information, her body of sensations. As her sense impressions flowed from her, she uncovered bodies of emotion and her powerful body of intellect. These swirling layers would slowly waft away and uncover bodies of higher thought that exceeded pure rationality and contained the power of unmaterialized archetypal thought substance. In Ariel , the dissolving process culminates in her ego freeing itself and merging with the spiritual Sun:
"...............Something else Hauls me through air---- Thighs, hair; Flakes from my heels. White Godiva, I unpeel---- Dead hands, dead stringencies. And now I Foam to wheat, a glitter of seas. The child's cry Melts in the wall. And I Am the arrow, The dew that flies, Suicidal, at one with the drive Into the red Eye, the cauldron of morning."3
The equivalent sounds of "I" and "eye" merge her egohood with the physical and spiritual Sun in what mystics refer to as the "sound ether" which is the vibrational basis for all form. After the "Stasis in darkness" beginning, Ariel becomes pure motion. The horseback ride, like boat and train rides in other poems, not only explores her ego's journey through incarnation, but refers to the subtle equivalence of the ego with motion. She "foams" to wheat, merges with glittering water, "flies" like suicidal dew becoming "one" with the "drive" to solar union. Her ego doesn't merge with a collection of "things", but with the creative forces and motions that unite all things. The things are the nouns, the "dead stringencies". Her unraveling demands a language of verbs. What we call nouns are nodal points formed by denser conglomerations of interweaving verb powers.
Getting There: Ariel's Dark Counterpart "Getting There" tells of an unraveling that is a spiritual prerequisite to the Ariel stage. Here the ego's motion in life and in body is a dark, Germanic mechanical monster, an Ahrimanic double, comprised of the terrible wheels that catch Isadora's scarf and deprive the blood of the life enriching oxygen:
"The
gigantic gorilla interior
Her fear of Absence challenges her growth towards freedom. At this stage, the "Daddy" doppelganger is beginning to be torn away, probably because of her marital difficulties. What once threaded and weaved through her entire being can now be slowly ripped out because of her husband's enstrangement. Marital infidelities have begun the process of shedding the coat of the dark interior double.
"........It
is a trainstop, the nurses
The polar opposite of Ariel's arrow! In Ariel the ego merged with the solar bound gesture of the arrow, here it is caught up in the inexorable slowness of a double ridden body and can only stand back and witness the failed motions of generations of egos through time immemorial. Blood, instead of being the vehicle for the movement towards the Christ Sun, drips and mixes into the Earth mud of racial atavism.
"There
is mud on my feet,
Compare these blood images to similar images in Cut . Her blood bears the heavy weight of racial memory from which she can rise through Christ like agony. After unspeakable horror, the black train of terror becomes a nuturing cradle and the pure unadorned ego may be born into the next stage:
"The
carriages rock, they are cradles.
Step
up to you from the black car of Lethe,
Lethe cannot permanently wash away this horror, but the Poet achieves the breathing room of the wide open Ariel spaces and prepares for the next stage in the next cycle of time.
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1Plath, Sylvia. The Collected Poems. Edited by Ted Hughs. Harper Perennial Edition.1992. Page 109
2Plath, Sylvia. The Collected Poems. Edited by Ted Hughs. Harper Perennial Edition.1992. Page 231
3Ibid. Page239.
4Ibid. Page247
5Ibid. Page247