rt in the
life of the soul.

Many more qualities of soul could be cited that may with advantage be
fostered and developed, if the pupil is seriously wanting to work through
a training for Inspiration; and in connection with every one of them we
should find that emphasis is laid on the supreme importance of moderation
and balance. These attributes of soul help the pupil to understand the
exercises that are given for the attainment of Inspiration, and also make
him capable of carrying them out.

The exercises for Intuition demand from the pupil that he let disappear
from consciousness not only the pictures to which he gave himself up in
contemplation in order to arrive at Imaginative cognition, but also that
meditating upon his own activity of soul, which he practiced for the
attainment of Inspiration. This means that he is now to have in his soul
literally nothing of what he has experienced hitherto, whether outwardly
or inwardly. If, after discarding all outward and inward experience,
nothing whatever is left in his consciousness _that is to say, if
consciousness simply slips away from him and he sinks into
unconsciousness_ then that will tell him that he is not yet ripe to
undertake the exercises for Intuition and must continue working with those
for Imagination and Inspiration. A time will come however when an effect
will linger in the consciousness which can just as well be made the object
of meditation, as were before those outer and inner impressions. This
something is, however, of a very special nature, and in comparison with
all previous experiences, it is something absolutely new. When it occurs,
we recognize it as something we have never known before. It is a
perception, just as an actual sound is a perception, that strikes upon the
ear; yet it can enter the consciousness only through intuition, just as
the sound can only enter the consciousness by way of the ear. Thus with
intuition, the last remnants of the physical and sentient are stripped
from man's impressions, while the spiritual world begins to expand before
the understanding in a form that has nothing in common with the
characteristics of the world of the physical senses.

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Imaginative cognition is attained by developing the lotus flowers within
the astral body. Through those exercises undertaken for the attainment of
inspiration and intuition, particular movements, formations and currents
whi