Thanks to everyone who joined us today. Here's the replay. Look forward to seeing you tomorrow at 5pm UK time as we look at exercise 2 - Strengthening the will Warm wishes Mick

A little story about Rudolf Steiner from Günther Wachsmuth: When one, as a younger person, approached Rudolf Steiner with the request for advice one often put the request in the form of a question: "Is it right to do this?" Or: "Ought one not to do that?" etc. He very kindly but systematically got us over the habit of such a form of question. I should like to illustrate with respect to smoking. When I became acquainted as a young man with Rudolf Steiner and then frequently accompanied him in person on his trips - as to which experience I shall say more later on - it had become an inevitable habit out of the period of my university sturlies that I liked to smoke and I must confess, smoked a great deal. There were some among the members of the Society who had not yet overcome the habit of "You ought" or "You ought not." And these immediately informed me with lifted finger that smoking in the presence of Dr. Steiner was something unheard of. In the first place, I knew that, although Dr. Steiner no longer smoked, he had smoked at an earlier time and - I may remark aside - still enjoyed, according to the old custom, snuff. In the second place, even if this had not been the case, I felt that it would be inwardly untrue to behave in his presence as if I did not smoke in spite of the fact that I enjoyed doing so. I was also more firmly convinced of his capacity to see into my soul, after many perfectly clear experiences, than many others were who spoke of this but did not take it quite realistically. I continued, therefore, to smoke, knowing that he would know of this habit of mine and take whatever attitude toward it he thought right. As a matter of fact, he was not at all offended by this although I was in his presence daily more than those who had wamed me. When he himself had said nothing about this for a long time, I could not refrain from questioning him directly when we took an automobile trip together from Stuttgart to Basel: "Doctor, should one really smoke or not?" I had forgotten that he never answered questions put in that form, but generally threw light upon them in a picture or an anecdote.

The separation of thinking, feeling and willing and it's redemption “What the individual human being experiences consciously when he strives to attain clairvoyance in the spiritual world, namely, the crossing of the threshold, must be experienced unconsciously by the whole of mankind, during our fifth post-Atlantean epoch” Rudolf Steiner - GA 193 — The Crossing of the Threshold and the Social Organism Lecture given 12th September 1919, in Dornach Switzerland One of the outcomes of this crossing of the threshold of the whole of humanity (or an individual) is the separation of the three soul faculties of thinking, feeling and willing. These three faculties were, in the past, held together not only by higher spiritual beings but by culture itself. The communities families, traditions, and the daily and yearly rhythms within which we lived, kept our soul life safely within certain bounds. We now live in the “wild west” of the soul. Traditions have disappeared, communities and family groups fractured. This is a necessary step in our evolution as the “I” finds it’s tumultuous way into the world. As much as we sometimes yearn for traditions to cling to, they all too easily become dogma and thwart human freedom. With this in mind Steiner’s 6 fundamental exercises (sometimes referred to as subsidiary exercises) are more important than ever. They are essentially a practice of the “I” gaining control or “having a say” over what happens in our soul life. This is vital when it comes to spiritual experiences so that we don’t lose the ground under our feet and become the “play thing” of other spiritual beings. The time of human responsibility has arrived. But it’s becoming increasingly clear in the therapy room, at the bbq, in the class room, the board meeting, the dinner party…and in our own minds (or am I alone here?) and every other social gathering of 2 or more, that this is becoming vital in every day life. The “I” is the one to bring the 3 brothers back together and Steiner’s 6 exercises are beautifully designed to this. This could be explored in a much more esoteric way, looking at all the deeper benefits of these exercises. But for now, I just wanted to focus on the everyday aspects.

Good morning and thank you for letting me join. My motto is: Today is the best day of our lives because it is the one we are living. Have a beautiful Sunday. All the best from Ireland. Bastiaan

Hello, my name is Anthony Nguyen, and thanks for letting me join this anthroposophical community! It's been a few years since I've stepped into what is known as the "threshold" in Anthroposophy, or in Christian terminology "The Dark Night of the Soul”, where the ego personality (thinking, feeling, willing) becomes pulled apart and confronts its lower nature or 'double.' Unfortunately or fortunately, I'm still passing through each of these challenging gates endlessly, with the yearning of the spiritual life, above and below keeping me strong as I experience this 'living nightmare.' I've yet to also attain any dramatic developments either after these few years; only subtle refinements to my thinking, feeling, and willing, and becoming more aware of the archetypal nature of my soul. Though to be fair, I'm still in my early adulthood and only started to mature recently. Anyways, I’m writing this mainly because I’d love to open up a conversation and hear a little about everybody’s experience with the threshold as we become conscious of it throughout our lives. As long as you feel free and comfortable to share a little, since this is a very personal topic in nature. These can be any mundane or mystical experiences, strange physiological or psychological symptoms, or any general observations from stepping consciously into the threshold. From a personal point of view, this is helpful since I feel like I’m literally the only one whose experiencing this weird phenomena, especially since I can hardly find anybody in our modern day (online) who had written/shared their own experiences on the threshold. Oh, the loneliness! From the point of view of others, I feel that this can be also helpful to gather as many insights and perspectives on this challenging topic, so we can build a larger picture of the threshold and how it uniquely plays into our lives. This can be helpful for us modern day initiates-in-training. Again, I understand this topic is a very private and challenging one, so don’t worry about sharing vaguely or broadly.