aware of the world by
means of our senses and form our ideas and concepts from these
perceptions. But in the case of cognition through inspiration, this is not
so.

What is thus perceived is instantaneous; there is no thinking after the
perception has taken place. That which in the case of physical
sense-cognition is only afterward gained through the concept, is, in the
case of inspiration, simultaneous with the perception. One would therefore
become merged with the surrounding psycho-spiritual world, and be unable
to differentiate oneself from it had not the fine network above alluded to
been previously formed in the etheric body.

When exercises for intuition are practiced, they not only affect the
etheric body but extend their influence to the supersensible forces of the
physical body. But it must not, of course, be imagined that effects are
brought about in the physical body which are discernible to ordinary
sense-observation, for these effects the clairvoyant alone is able to
judge, and they have nothing to do with external powers of perception.
They come as the result of a ripened consciousness, when this latter is
able to have intuitional experiences, even though it has divested itself
of all previous inner and outer experiences. The experiences of intuition
are, however, subtle, delicate and intimate, in comparison with which the
physical body, at its present stage of development, is coarse. For this
reason, it offers a positive hindrance to the success of any exercises for
attaining intuition. Nevertheless, should these be pursued with energy and
perseverance, and with the requisite inner calm, they will ultimately
overcome those powerful hindrances of the physical body. The occult
student will become aware of this when he notices how, by degrees,
particular actions of his physical body which hitherto had taken place
without his own volition, now come under his control. He will also become
aware that for a brief time he will feel the need, for instance, of so
regulating his breathing (or some similar act) as to bring it into a kind
of harmonious accord with whatever is being enacted within his soul, be it
exercises or other forms of inner concentration.

The ideal development would be that no exercises should be done by means
of the physical body but that everything which has to take place within it
should result only as a consequence of exercises for intuition. As,
however, the physical body offers such pow