“As the spiritual student climbs the path leading to higher worlds, he becomes aware at a particular point that the cohesion of the powers of his own personality is assuming a different form from that which it possesses in the world of the physical senses. In the latter the ego brings about a uniform cooperation of the powers of the soul—primarily of thought, feeling, and will. These three soul powers are actually, under normal conditions of human life, in perpetual relation to one another. For instance, we see a particular object in the external world, and it is pleasing or displeasing to the soul; that is to say, the perception of the thing will be followed by a sense of either pleasure or displeasure. Possibly we may desire the object, or may have the impulse to alter it in some way or other; that is to say, desire and will associate themselves with perception and feeling. Now this association is due to the fact that the ego coordinates presentment (thinking), feeling, and willing, and in that way introduces order among the forces of the personality. This healthy arrangement would be interrupted should the ego prove itself powerless in this respect. If, for instance, the will went a different way from the feeling or thinking. No person would be in a healthy condition of mind who, while thinking this or that to be right, nevertheless wished to do something that was not right. …

“Now the person progressing toward higher cognition becomes aware that feeling, thinking, and willing do actually assume a certain independence. … For this reason, therefore, a person’s own ego must be strengthened, for it must introduce order among those three powers.” –Rudolf Steiner

Cohesion of the Powers

Mr. Steiner divides the Powers of Personality, as he calls them, into three: thinking, feeling, and will. He says it is normal for these powers to work together, and that is true. It makes sense that in order to have feelings about something, you must first think of it, and in order to do something, you must activate the will based on those thoughts and feelings.

Pleasing or Displeasing

I’m not sure it is true that certain objects are either pleasing or displeasing to the soul. I think it is more the mind that judges things in that way. Yet we know that there are sounds, such as music, and scents such as Frakencense that send high-level vibrations to us and those vibrations help to stimulate and develop the energy centers, which make the sevelopment of the Spirit and Soul possible. So shapes, sounds, and scents affect the Soul mostly in an indirect way.

Ego Coordinates

Steiner says the ego coordinates the powers of thought, feeling, and will so they can function together, and that may well be true. Some modern schools of spiritual development have taken the simplistic approach of claiming that the development of the Soul requires the destruction of the Ego. That is a completely false teaching.

I remember an old episode of the television series “Star Trek” where a technical problem caused Captain Kirk to be split into two. One of him was gentle and loving but incapable of making a decision. The other had Ego and could make decisions, but was afraid of everything. It was only when he was put together again that he could properly function as a Captain. This divided Kirk is described appropriately. Without ego, he couldn’t function.

Strengthen Ego

I don’t think what Mr. Steiner says about the need to strengthen the Ego is always true. While some people, often those who seek spiritual development, have weak egos that do need to be strengthened, some already have egos that are strong enough, or even too strong. The point is, we need the ego to function in the material world, and to develop ourselves in any way. But when we develop our spiritual Self, we need to put our ego under the control of the Soul so it won’t lead us away from the spiritual.

“Bless me, O God, thou the only True God. I thank thee for the preservation of me, and for all other benefits. I now commend myself, both Soul and Body, and all that thou has set me to do in my employment and calling, into thy protection. Be Thou the beginning of my conceptions, my undertakings, and alll my doings. Work Thou so in me that I may begin all things to the glory of Thy Name, and accomplish them in Thy Love for the good and service of my neighbor. Send thy Holy Angels along with me, to turn the temptation of the Devil and corrupt nature away from me. Preserve me from the malice of evil men, make all my enemies reconcilable to me, and bring my mind into Thy vineyard, that I may labor in my office and employment, and behave as Thy obedient servant therein. Bless me and ask that I am to go about and do this day, with the blessing of Thy Love and Mercy continue Thy Grace and Love in Jesus Christ upon me, and give me a mind cheerful to follow Thy leading and execute thine appointment. Let Thy Holy Spirit guide me in my beginning, and in my progress, on to my last day, and be the willing, woking, and accomplishing of all in Me. Amen.” –Jacob Boehme

When We Rise

We can pray to God, formally or informally, at any time, but the most important time to do so is first thing in the morning when we get up so as to set the theme for the entire day. This especially makes sense for us in Cosolargy, as we generally do our solar techniques at dawn. The somewhat lengthy prayer above by Boehme is a formal way to do it, but we don’t have to be so formal or lengthy. Simply saying “God bless me” is often enough, or you can be specific for whatever issues you may be having at the time, so if you are finding yourself getting angry at people, ask God to help you get rid of your anger. If you are having health problems, ask God to help with that. Most important, of course, is to ask God to help you with the process of awakening and developing your spiritual faculties.

Preservation of Me

When Boeme asks God for “the preservation of me,” he isn’t asking God to keep him as he is, for that would be pointless. He is asking God to keep him alive, not to prevent him from changing and growing.

I commend Myself

This is an important part of Boehm’s prayer. We should all commend ourselves to God. If we want God to help us, we must make it clear to ourselves that we are on His team, part of His Army of Light, and not just random people asking for God’s help while doing nothing to earn it or deserve it.

The Beginning of All My Doings

Whether part of a morning prayer, or something ongoing throughout the day, we do need to do all things in God’s name, and as God would have us do. Some Christians today are fond of saying “What would Jesus Do?” but what they often mean by that is what would my preacher do since they listen to the preacher rather than the teachings of Jesus. While we may not always know for sure, we should think about whether or not God would want us to do the things we do. We all have to make a living in this world, and that often means taking a job we don’t want and doing work we don’t want to do, but we should still try our best to do as God wants us to do.

Bring My Mind Into Your Vineyard

I think this is a fairly obvious allegory. Boehm is telling us to ask God to bring our minds into Heaven, although it isn’t actually the mind that can get a glimpse of Heaven, but the Spirit. The idea is to help to get some of that Divine Knowledge to trickle down into the physical mind as seems to happen in some cases of Near Death Experiences (NDE). This is so we can better be Guided by the Holy Spirit as Boehm says, and so that we have a greater desire to reach Heaven—the real Heaven, not the fantasized versions coming from human minds.

 “In Egypt, during the three days of darkness, the son saw not his father, nor brother, brother, nor true friend his friend, because the darkness hid them. So when Adam transgressed and fell from his former glory, and came under the power of the spirit of the world, and the veil of darkness fell upon his soul, from his time until the last Adam, they saw not the true Father in Heaven, or the good, kind Mother, the grace of the Spirit, or the sweet and desiring Brother, the Lord, or the friends and kindred, the holy Angels. And it was not only the last Adam, but even to this day, those upon whom the Sun of Righteousness has not risen, and in whom the eyes of the Soul have not been opened and enlightened by the true Light, are still under the same darkness of sin, wrought upon by the same influence of pleasures, subject to the same punishment, not yet having eyes to behold the Father.

“This is a thing which everyone ought to know, that there are eyes deeper within man than these [physical] eyes, and a hearing deeper than this hearing. As the [physical] eyes behold and recognize the face of a friend, so the [spiritual] eyes of the worthy and faithful Soul, being spiritually enlightened with the Light of God, behold and recognize the true friend.” –St. Macarius the Egyptian

Three Days of Darkness

This is a reference to one of the plagues brought upon Egypt in the time of Moses. Here is what is said about it in the Book of Exodus in the Bible:

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.’  So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days.”

But the darkness over man didn’t end when that plague ended. While we are able to physically see now, the vast majority of us remain spiritually blind and deaf.

Spirit of the World

St. Macarius says that when Adam transgressed, he came under the power of the Spirit of the World, and that is true. The Spirit of the World is the one the Gnostics call the Demiurge, the false God that created the realm of matter. When Adam and Eve ate from the “Tree of Knowledge.” which was not a literal tree but the light of the physical sun, they fell into the realm of matter and came under the control of the lord of matter, the Demiurge. When that happened, they no longer “saw” God in heaven, whom Macarius here refers to as the three persons, Father, Mother, and Holy Spirit, as well as losing their connection with Christ and the Angels. In other words, they lost contact with Heaven.

Sun of Righteousness

St. Macarius then says that humans remain in darkness because the Sun of Righteousness has not risen. That was true when he wrote it, but is no longer true. The Sun of Righteousness, which is the Spiritual Sun with the Presence of God within it, does now shine upon us. But it doesn’t immediately appear at full strength. The power of the Sun of Righteousness reaches all, but only a few are able to absorb that Light and have a true awakening of Spirit because of it. The solar techniques practiced in Cosolargy help us absorb even more Light from that Sun.

Deeper Eyes and Ears

We do have deeper senses than the physical ones, which are capable of getting more than a vague notion of things spiritual. We must awaken and develop those spiritual senses to truly know the spiritual realm and to gradually expand our consciousness until it rises to the highest level of Consciousness and becomes one with the All, one with God. That we do by following the teachings of Cosolargy.