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Rudolf Steiner, Consciousness, and Spiritual Experience

by Michael Szul on

This essay represents a hypothesis, and is a wandering train of thought meant to be investigated through both qualitative and quantitative research. Consider it a starting point. By putting this essay into the aether, I certainly expect significant critiques. In fact, I expect it to come from both directions (and it has, in preliminary reviews of the essay). Materialists will object to the ideas as trying to lend credibility to the spiritual world, while spiritualists will object to the ideas as trying to dismiss the spiritual as a side effect of biological processes. It's meant to do neither. One of the goals is simply to speculate on how the material/spiritual duality can be eliminated. All I ask is that you keep an open mind.

Parts of this essay were presented at the follow psychology conferences:

As a result, this essay has been minimally reformatted and APA citations have been kept in.

People from greatly different backgrounds and from different eras have had similar spiritual experiences, making it possible to hypothesize that many of these experiences are grounded in reality and result from a biochemical process that expands consciousness and perception, allowing the mind to receive data not normally available to it. With this biological basis in mind, a scientific investigation of these spiritual experiences can be undertaken that is influenced by the work of philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who studied the spiritual experiences of ancient peoples.

Steiner was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but his work is largely unknown in the Western world today despite his dynamic philosophical thinking on freedom and his contributions to both theological thought (e.g., spiritual initiation in the Gospel of John) and education (i.e., the Waldorf school system). Steiner was a true polymath who worked on topics as different as Goethe's scientific writings to biodynamic farming to spirituality, and even to beekeeping.

Steiner's ideas on the evolution of consciousness, soul, and spirit bring into light a dilemma facing today's scholars who are attempting to understand the cultural context of ancient peoples. Indeed, Steiner's work on history, consciousness, and spiritual development offers an approach to studying ancient cultures that is very different from that of most contemporary scholars. His discussion of how ancient peoples' conscious minds interpreted what they “saw” contrasts with the contemporary Western methodology of breaking down anthropological and literary findings through the lens of postmodernism. Rather than focusing on the historical and cultural contexts of scientific findings and literary interpretations, Steiner emphasized the need to consider the evolution of consciousness. His work reveals that our biggest problem in understanding ancient cultures and their remaining legacy (e.g., written works) is that we lack an understanding of how the ancient conscious thought-process worked. We lack a true understanding of how ancient peoples really saw and interacted with the world.

According to Steiner, consciousness not only develops from childhood to adulthood, but also from cultural generation to cultural generation, and it is important to understand the state of consciousness of a given culture in order to fully understand the context of its social structure, religion, literature, and thought.

Hermeneutics in Relation to Consciousness

Although Steiner wrote in great detail in his philosophical works about the evolution of the many bodies (e.g., physical body, “astral body” or seat of sentience, “etheric body” or seat of the physical life force), the most concrete example of his ideas at work may be found in his analysis of biblical passages. Therefore, examining some of his writings in this area provides a basis for understanding his overall themes and interpretations.

Steiner wasn't a biblical literalist, but he also wasn't one to label the Bible as a purely metaphorical text. He looked at things differently, with a decidedly Gnostic influence. No stranger to esoteric philosophy, Steiner's complex cosmological worldview envisioned various cultural epochs (i.e., eras in history) that followed evolutionary principles much like the evolution of humanity (McDermott, 2007). In fact, despite his intense interest in mysticism, Steiner was a thorough evolutionist; he believed that humans, animals, plants, and spiritual beings such as angels had evolved in the past and continue to evolve in the present (McDermott, 2009). Steiner believed that the evolution of consciousness over time involved a steady decrease in spiritual thinking by the masses (McDermott, 2009). This included a decrease in what Steiner termed “suprasensory abilities,” such as communing with so-called spiritual beings (McDermott, 2009). As modern thought increasingly relied on empirical thinking in the physical world, humanity became less able to perceive the spiritual and suprasensory (e.g., the gods) as it transitioned to what was believed to be a more rational perspective (McDermott, 2009). To Steiner, this was an evolution of the conscious mind.

Hunt (2007) argued that, in ancient times, people often attributed their thoughts to the gods; they believed that their thoughts were literally placed in their minds by the gods themselves (Hunt, 2007). Hunt's theory, however, is derived from an interpretation of early Greek literature that lacks an understanding of the cultural context or outlook of the minds of the ancient Greeks. Steiner believed that the ancient peoples of the world could look into the spiritual world as easily as a modern-day person looks out a window (McDermott, 2009). In fact, some of the earliest cultures (e.g., the Aboriginal tribes of Australia) viewed the spiritual world as just as real, if not more so, than the physical world and as having the direct ability to shape reality (Kerwin, 2012; Kelen, 2009; McDermott, 2009). According to Steiner, as cultures began to evolve, people began to emphasize the physical world more and gradually lost their suprasensory abilities (McDermott, 2009). Eventually, only a few still had these abilities, such as oracles and shamans. In fact, Steiner argued that such historical and mythological figures such as Homer and Moses literally interacted with the spiritual world because they lived within the consciousness of their times (McDermott, 2009). The state of their conscious minds caused them to perceive outside events differently than most people today would perceive them. Their perceptions and sensations as interpreted by their consciousness made possible a spiritual interactivity. Steiner (1982) mentions that contemporary people who gain suprasensory abilities often speak differently after this occurs; for example, he says that when they speak of Saturn, Saturn speaks through them. This curious concept brings to mind Hunt's (2007) explanation described above about thoughts being attributed to the gods. Steiner, however, would interpret this as something akin to an actual unification between the person with supersensory abilities and the spiritual entity.

In fact, according to Steiner, Moses heard the actual voice of God. Moses lived during a time when humanity was still in a transitional phase, with most people evolving more towards the physical world and losing the suprasensory abilities that had previously been commonplace; however, people still trusted the words of a select few known to possess these abilities. Moses was capable of expressing what he received through suprasensory means in ways that those without his abilities could understand (McDermott, 2009). This does not mean he conveyed a literal interpretation of what he received, but that he shared a formulation on which others could reflect. These events didn't necessarily exist within the visible world, but some humans, such as Moses, were capable of penetrating the spiritual world and translating their experience into physical terms for others.

Steiner's most captivating work on religious texts and theology is his examination of the Gospel of John. John is the most esoteric gospel of the four main texts in the New Testament, and, according to Steiner (1982), its esoteric nature and its enlightened understanding of Christ far surpasses the understanding of most people today. According to Steiner (2009a):

The other evangelists were not as highly illumined [enlightened] as the writer of this Gospel was. The actual sensory world was more available to them, a world in which they saw their master and the Messiah moving about as Jesus of Nazareth. The mysterious spiritual relationships—or at least those of the heights into which the writer of the Gospel of John could see were hidden from them (p. 167).

John's esoteric knowledge of Christ and Christianity allowed his readers to examine deep, subjective truths about the nature of reality and spirituality. Steiner (1982) described a catharsis that illuminated followers of Jesus underwent, such as Jesus' mother Mary. To Steiner (1982), this catharsis cleansed and purified what he called the astral body, allowing for the pure and wise “Virgin Sophia” to manifest (Virgin and Sophia mean pure and wise or wisdom, respectively). In this context, Steiner is acknowledging that “Virgin”—as in the Virgin Mary—was a title used to denote spiritual purity; it was not a literal adjective.

Steiner highlighted an additional misinterpretation (in his view) of the biblical narrative in his explanation of the resurrection of Lazarus as an initiation into the esoteric mysteries of Christ's teachings (McDermott, 2007). Lazarus was “raised from the dead,” but Steiner notes that Jesus did not immediately go to him, instead showing up 4 days after Lazarus's death (McDermott, 2007). These days of “death” represented a simulation of death (or a near-death experience) that served as a catharsis that, as with Jesus' mother Mary, rejuvenated Lazarus spiritually and introduce him to the mysteries (McDermott, 2007).

By the time of Christ, most people had lost their suprasensory abilities and lived only in the visible world (McDermott, 2009). It was through illumination—through the receipt of the Holy Spirit—that human beings began to regain their suprasensory abilities (Steiner, 1982). Lazarus was illumined through his near-death experience. Steiner, in fact, associates Lazarus with John the Evangelist, the namesake of the Gospel (McDermott, 2007).

This reception of suprasensory abilities and knowledge is emphasized in the event that Steiner called the Mystery of Golgotha (the crucifixion of Christ), in which some of those present were purified and received the Holy Spirit (Steiner, 1982). Steiner (1982) differentiated between Jesus of Nazareth and the Christ and noted that when the body of Jesus of Nazareth died, it was the Christ in him that “resurrected.” This was not a physical resurrection, but instead the return of a spiritual entity to those who could see him. As evidence, Steiner (1982) points to the fact that those disciples who encountered Jesus did not recognize him at first. Why did they not recognize the physical resurrection of somebody with whom they had been traveling for a prolonged period of time? This didn't just happen once, but several times (e.g., Mary Magdalene at Jesus' tomb, the disciples while fishing, the disciples on the road to Emmaus) (Steiner, 1982). Furthermore, Steiner (1982) equates the two spiritual forms seen by Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb (in John 20:11-13) as the astral and ether bodies of Jesus that had separated from his physical body. Steiner (2009a) highlights this train of thought with the statement “Blessed are they who are able to know what they do not see outwardly” (p. 174). Instead of the disciples seeing a physically resurrected Jesus, what they were seeing was a spiritually present Christ in the physical world; they were able to see Christ in this way because of the activation of their suprasensory abilities that they had gained during the Mystery of Golgotha.

It is important to remember that Christianity began as a Jewish mystery cult and that many of the teachings were Gnostic in origin, owing their interpretations to subjective inner-contemplation as well as to the evolution of consciousness and the outlook of the period in which these scriptures were first told or written. Despite Christianity's origin as a mystery cult, many today still address its primary text, the Bible, as if it were meant literally. Steiner's examination of Christian history and theology took as its subject a time and geographic area that was still influenced by Hellenistic thought, and many people were active in mystery cults. Some contemporary Mary Magdalene speculators have hypothesized that she was a priestess in an Isis goddess cult, and the area around where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found was a melting pot of many religious cultures (Fruchtman, 2006; National Geographic, 2006). Despite its iron fist (and maybe in spite of it), the Roman Empire was rife with theological and philosophical thought that had close ties to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians (National Geographic, 2006). In a similar way, many today claim to have a well-rounded understanding of ancient Greece and Egypt (National Geographic, 2006), but much of what little is known about the Egyptian language comes from the Rosetta Stone (and later, from other small fragments), representing a tiny piece of information about Egypt. Even so, current scholarship has to derive its understanding of the mythology, outlook, and context of this ancient civilization from just a small portion of its masterfully written hieroglyphics since the larger realm of society and culture no longer exists.

Steiner's approach is significant because he has demonstrated that humanity can't even properly understand the early stories of Christianity, to which a large portion of the world subscribes today, let alone other ancient cultures and peoples. He argued that this is because modern humans lack the ability to see the world from the perspective of the consciousness of ancient civilizations because they do not have the ability to live within the very different consciousness of that ancient world, with its greater ability to perceive the spiritual world. Furthermore, Steiner reveals a perspective of Christianity that relies less on physical miracles and more on spiritual experience that later readers mistake for physical miracles. This more spiritual account of the miracles of the Gospel of John plays right into the idea of such experiences being the result of altered states of perception and consciousness.

Consciousness and Evolution

As described above, Steiner explored the esoteric meaning behind the Gospel of John and other biblical texts, and his work effectively shed light on textual misinterpretations that arise from a hermeneutic analysis that doesn't take into account the conscious outlook of the people of the era under study. This can directly be tied to consciousness in an evolutionary sense.

One of the newer, more intriguing fields of the mind is evolutionary psychology. This branch of study attempts to explain characteristics of the mind from an evolutionary standpoint, as products of adaptive evolution (Hunt, 2007). Most contemporary psychology takes a modern approach to the mind because researchers are primarily interested in the mental abilities and behavior of humans today (Dunbar, Barrett, & Lycett, 2005). Rarely do psychologists ask questions about the evolutionary past of the mind, and this is what evolutionary psychology attempts to remedy (Dunbar et al., 2005).

Evolutionary psychologists point out patterns of thought and behavior that exist universally in cultures around the world (Hunt, 2007; Dunbar et al., 2005). Although some of their work is controversial because of concerns about the difficulty of testing their theories, evolutionary psychologists have made in-roads in establishing a solid framework for the study of evolutionary changes of the mind.

Consciousness, as well as sensation and perception, can be seen as evolved adaptations, and if this is indeed true, one cannot assume that these adaptations ceased their fine-tuning process the moment the first human being emerged from his or her cave. If evolution is a process, then evolution is something that continues over time, with consciousness and perception being more recent functions included in the evolutionary process than actions like mobility and digestion. It is likely that ancient peoples experienced the world in a different way than people in modern society because they lived in a time of their own consciousness—one that was not yet adapted to the physical world in the same way that humanity is today. This supports Steiner's idea that modern interpretation of ancient texts fails to account for the state of consciousness of the originators of those texts. It also supports Steiner's thoughts on the evolution of consciousness through the alignment of the physical, astral, and etheric bodies. Researchers in other scientific disciplines, such as anthropology and biology, are also finding corroborating evidence.

For example, in his examination of shamanic practices in the Peruvian Amazon, anthropologist Jeremy Narby (1999) proposed the hypothesis that through shamanic practices such as the ingestion of hallucinogenic substances, shamans were able to access information coded at the molecular level (i.e., “reading” the information in DNA to determine the essence and purpose of plants). Narby speculates that substances such as dimethyltryptamine (DMT) or nicotine attach to receptors in the brain, setting off an electrochemical reaction that leads to DNA being stimulated to the point of gaining an increased capacity to send and receive photons. This produces hallucinations, or visions, via the perception of these light emissions.

Shamans in the Peruvian Andes received visions that guided them to the discovery of botanical truths and medical cures used within their indigenous society (Narby, 1999). One of the Peruvian shamans told Narby (1999) that nature talked in signs, and he emphasized that it was imperative to pay attention to similarities in form. He noted that the spirits of nature communicated through dreams and other mental images (Narby, 1999). The most obvious symbolism Narby experienced was that of the serpent (prominent in many cultures, especially indigenous ones), which he correlated to the coiled “serpent” of DNA (Narby, 1999). This led Narby on an intense investigation into correlational symbolism, especially as it related to biological anatomy and processes, and he found enough citations of biological research to pique his curiosity further. Narby suggests that through altered states of consciousness, shamans are able to perceive subtle communications and transference of information within the biotic web of life at the molecular level (Narby, 1999).

The focus on the psychoactive chemical DMT is important because of its presence throughout the body (Strassman, 2000). In fact, DMT exists throughout much of the animal and plant kingdoms (Strassman, 2000). It shares a close relationship with serotonin, and, interestingly enough, the brain seems much more accepting of DMT than of other chemicals, actively transporting it across the blood-brain barrier (Strassman, 2000). Although the precise mechanism that produces DMT is unknown, many believe that the pineal gland plays an important role in this process (Strassman, 2000). In fact, recent research funded by Strassman's own Cottonwood Research Foundation (2013), which has been accepted for publication, claims to have found DMT-synthesizing enzymes within the pineal gland of rats. It would actually be rather interesting on several levels if this turns out to be true because the pineal gland is often seen as the location of the third eye in spiritual practices. In reptiles, it much more closely resembles a functional eye, given that it is light sensitive (Strassman, 2000).

Despite the brain's acceptance of DMT, the rest of the body does not welcome its presence. Monoamine oxidase (MAO) prevents ingested DMT from becoming active, effectively breaking it down (Strassman, 2000). This is why ayahuasca—the mystical drink of Narby's (1999) Peruvian shamans—is a mixture of two plants: one that contains a high amount of the DMT compound and a second that contains an MAO inhibitor. Strassman (2000) speculated that the pineal gland, in addition to producing DMT, also produces a DMT counteragent, citing research studies that used a pineal extract to suppress psychotic episodes in mentally ill patients. What this means is that DMT within the body is highly regulated, which prevents daily episodes of hallucinogenic experience until external DMT is introduced or something causes the pineal gland to pump out more DMT than the body can regulate. Strassman (2000) indicates that meditation (deep trances that alter brain wave patterns) and even stress could be factors in the regulation of DMT levels. In fact, categorical comparisons might lead one to believe that DMT could be the catalyst of various experiences such as birth, death, near-death, angelic or demonic visitations, and—strange as it might sound— alien abductions (Strassman, 2000). In addition, a variety of environmental variables could cause a large release of DMT that result in a hallucinogenic experience (or spiritual vision). Imagine a stressful moment like the brutal crucifixion of a close friend, teacher, and spiritual figure. The stress induced in witnesses of the Mystery of Golgotha might have been enough to cause a bodily process to go into overdrive and produce an incredible amount of DMT, causing spiritual experiences—the receipt of the Holy Spirit, or illumination.

Narby's examination of the symbolic nature of the information received by shamans in the Peruvean Andes strongly correlates with Steiner's idea of suprasensory perception. In fact, Steiner (2009b) was adamant that perception into the spiritual world with these abilities, although it might yield specific scenes and imagery, was characterized by a symbolism that needed to be interpreted through the power of critical thinking in order to convey correct information and bring about appropriate results.

The use of hallucinogenic substances to gain real-world answers through the spiritual world is not solely the domain of Peruvian shamans. Native American cultures have utilized the peyote plant for their own purposes, while ancient Egyptians are believed to have used the blue lotus flower to explore the spiritual realm. Not all of these substances contain DMT as their active ingredient (although DMT and substances such as LSD, psilocybin, and ibogaine all share the same tryptamine base), but the argument that both psychoactive drug use and stressful experiences can cause the release of DMT seems valid (Strassman, 2000). The general principle of expanding consciousness in order to gain knowledge not available through ordinary perception is common among a number of cultures that use psychoactive substances to expand their understanding. It is clear that these chemical substances affect biological processes to produce a change in consciousness. The significance is that mystics and shamans who use psychoactive substances are bringing back real-world information; they are not just going on strange hallucinatory trips that serve no purpose.

Discussion

Steiner's concept of suprasensory perception among ancient peoples, coupled with the hallucinogenic trips of contemporary shamanic peoples, offers an alternate view of consciousness and perception. These spiritual experiences should not be dismissed as New Age nonsense and/or simply the effects of mind-altering drugs. Steiner referred to his approach as spiritual science, and he most definitely stressed a scientific approach to the spiritual; he firmly believed that science should be embraced and used to prove the spiritual aspects of the world (McDermott, 2009). He never condoned the use of hallucinogenic drugs, yet this philosophical and scientifically minded philosopher of the Western world described a process similar in many ways to that of an indigenous culture that relied on the ingestion of a sacred plant for certain types of perception—a process of accessing the spiritual world and attaining knowledge of it through visions.

There are many tribes—mostly untouched by the modern world—that engage in shamanic practices that look into the spiritual world and come back with results that affect the lives of their communities (Pinchbeck, 2003). These practices by shamans echo earlier times, such as those of Moses or Homer, when a select few people still had access to suprasensory perception. If it is true that DMT is produced or somehow closely related to the pineal gland, than it is possible that the evolution of our modern consciousness, perception, and outlook is a direct result of the biological evolution of the pineal gland and its placement in the brain. Humanity's brain biology might in the past have been more in line with that of current reptiles, making the pineal a more active part of human perception, and if so, such active usage and the production of chemicals in the brain could have given humanity access to currently non-visible realms. This hypothesis is closely related to Steiner's idea that there have been various ages characterized by different and evolving consciousness related to the alignment of the astral and etheric bodies with the physical body.

If indeed this hypothesis is true, then it offers a preliminary step in understanding the differences in consciousness and perception between our modern era and earlier ages, such as the time of Homer. Therefore, it stands to reason that further back—as Steiner hypothesized—there was a generation that communicated with and perceived the spiritual world as easily as people today perceive the physical world. Steiner argues that this ability still lies within us; as noted above, contemporary indigenous peoples are able to utilize “sacred” plants to gain access to such information.

Modern research into DMT has dubbed the substance “the spirit molecule,” and research is slowly starting to unfold the mysteries of biochemical processes in the brain. There isn't much doubt about the hallucinogenic effects of many chemical substances, nor is there much doubt that physiological reactions (e.g., intense stress) can cause the secretion of psychoactive substances within the human body. The only question is whether or not these experiences have meaning. Although many believe that to be a subjective question, the fact that shamans can solve medical problems with information gained while hallucinating, suggest that this is a biological phenomenon overdue for scientific inquiry. If Narby's work is any indication, then it is necessary to revisit ideas about the spiritual world, religion, and hallucinogenic episodes in light of anthropological and biological evidence that hints at a strong connection between the spiritual and physical worlds. What Steiner offers to the current inquiry is an analysis of a historical and mythological pattern of consciousness evolution, as well as a spiritual science, to use his term, that might offer the same outcomes as the practices of indigenous tribes, but without the need for ingesting psychedelic drugs. For example, his analysis of the miracles of the Gospel of John showed how those events were based on spiritual and not physical perception that resulted from initiation (e.g., Lazarus' near death experience) or trauma (i.e., witnessing Jesus' crucifixion).

Science seeks to eliminate dualistic thinking in order to create a unified understanding that lends itself to greater simplicity. It is possible that scientific inquiry into the spiritual—such as through the methodology of Steiner's spiritual science—could eliminate the spiritual/physical dichotomy and produce a greater understanding of what we call spiritual experience and how it relates to the physical world.

Ultimately, future research needs to ask two questions. First, it should be determined whether spiritual experience does have a biological basis. If the answer to this is yes, then the next question should be whether or not spiritual experience only exists within the mind or whether, by expanding consciousness and perception, humanity is experiencing something altogether different, an understanding that is not based in physical reality but is nevertheless true and meaningful.

References

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