Heart thinking

Heart thinking is an ability that people in earlier times possessed in an unconscious way. "Seeing with the heart" was connected with a certain sense of truth that could not yet be grasped in clear, conscious contours, but nevertheless allowed certain insights into the higher, spiritual worlds. Even Aristotle still regarded the heart as the central organ of thought. But at the same time, with his logic, he laid the secure foundation for intellectual thinking, which is no longer centred in the heart but in the head. This kind of thinking has its flowering in our intellect today, which, however, can at first only grasp sensual facts and their logical order, and this with full, awake I-consciousness. In the future, a new kind of heart-thinking will develop, which is compatible with the fully awake I-consciousness, and thus allows insight into purely spiritual connections in a completely conscious and level-headed way. It will differ essentially from our present mind in that it is not a discursive, deductive thinking, but overlooks the truth with a glance.

The new thinking of the heart, which is not based on the physical heart, but on the etheric heart, which in the meantime has been largely detached from it, does not unfold in a chain of logically joined concepts, but in inwardly experienced mental images, in imaginations sounded through by inspirations, which reveal the spiritual connections at a stroke. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul speaks of the "enlightened eyes of the heart" (Eph 1:18). The prerequisite for this is a corresponding cultivation of the heart (German: Herzensbildung). In terms of civilisation, it ideally expresses itself in a culture of the heart (German: Herzenskultur).

„It is certainly valuable if a person also has a heart and not merely thoughts. But the most valuable thing is when thoughts have a heart. This, however, we have completely lost.“ (Lit.:GA 217, p. 21)

The full development of heart thinking requires the regular training and activation of the heart chakra, the 12-petalled lotus flower, which is active as a soul organ in the immediate vicinity of the heart. It is the main sense of intuition through which, among other things, retrospection into previous incarnations is possible. The heart chakra is trained and activated above all through the six subsidiary exercises given by Rudolf Steiner - which are by no means subsidiary, but essential for every modern spiritual training and must always accompany the meditative main exercises.

The hearts begin to have thoughts

The Archangel Michael is closely related to the development of thought. He is the administrator of cosmic intelligence. His essential task is to make this cosmic intelligence accessible to man in the form of thought. In the last Michael Age before the turn of time, which lasted from about the 6th century BC to 200 BC, he initiated the transition from mythology to philosophy. He thus established intellectual thinking, head thinking, which at the same time created the basis for man's I-consciousness. But a Luciferic element lives in it - the Luciferic dragon that Michael cast down to earth into the heads of men.

„The spiritual power which, after the evolution of mankind had passed through the evolution of Saturn, the Sun and the Moon and the evolution of the Earth had begun, organised the Luciferic being into the main human formation, is the power of Michael. "And he cast down his opposing spirits to the earth", that is to say: Through this casting down of the Luciferic spirits opposing Michael, man was first imbued with his reason, with that which springs from the human head.

Thus it is Michael who has sent his opponents to man, so that man, by receiving this opposing, this Luciferic element, has first received his reason.“ (Lit.:GA 194, p. 40f)

Through intellectual thinking we confront the world, we separate ourselves from it, and thereby strengthen our self-consciousness, which, however, is initially directed entirely towards the ego. Heart-thinking, on the other hand, connects us intimately with the law of the world, in which our true self also lives.

Literature

• Johannes Hartlapp, Stafan Höschele (Hrsg.): Geschichte – Gesellschaft – Gerechtigkeit. Festschrift für Baldur Pfeiffer. Verlag Frank & Timme 2007, ISBN 978-3865961495
• Rudolf Steiner: Die Philosophie der Freiheit, GA 4 (1995), ISBN 3-7274-0040-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.