Editor’s note: The email was sent as part of the promotion for Soul Course Series Four: Soul Initiation

Dear friends of Soil, Soul and Spirit,

Thank you for your replies to this series on Goethe, phenomenology, and the etheric. I’m so pleased at the interest.

As I alluded to in my last email, it’s time to turn this way of seeing back on ourselves and peer at our own soul activity. While Goethe refined this way of seeing into nature, Rudolf Steiner used this capacity to peer into the world of soul and spirit, formulating Anthroposophy from his observations.

Anthroposophy (anthropos meaning “human” and sophia meaning “wisdom) is the human path of knowledge and research leading to an understanding of the world of spirit, the source of archetypes, and ultimately the nature of reality. The work involves clearing your soul of its patterns, to see into the spirit without bias or inflation.

Dennis has described the soul as the interface between the physical world and the world of spirit. When we are young, the forces of heredity and the forces of spirit guide our way through life, but as we accumulate experiences, our body and soul take on unique characteristics resulting from our perception of those experiences. Those characteristics form the structures in our soul that determine how we respond to similar experiences in the future, for better or for worse.

These patterns of behavior can be difficult to see, because they are how we are. Without examining the patterns, we often repeatedly encounter the same difficulties in our lives and struggle to understand why. Perhaps it’s in the realm of intimate relationships, where you are always the one left behind. Or maybe it’s in professional settings, where your bosses never seem to see your desire for advancement. These patterns point to a soul condition that needs to be identified and worked with to break free of its grip.

This Goethean way of seeing into nature can be used to identify these patterns and help you grow. Dennis has been doing this soul work with his students ever since he changed his course from Goethean Studies to Consciousness Studies and I would like to share some of those practices and lessons with you today.

First, you can use the skills developed with etheric vision to learn to see into the secret script of life, and identify the symbols the world is showing you to help heal your soul. I have prepared an audio lecture from 2014, Reading the Secret Script of Life, which provides exercises and context for doing this.

Second, is through our Soul Course, in which Dennis is teaching us to identify and heal these soul patterns using stories. As your journey along the path of soul healing, there are points where you become aware of particular challenges standing in the way of your progress: owning your shortcomings, learning to give away your gifts, and accepting the truth of your eventual death. These particular challenges will be addressed in this last series. You can register now at: https://soilsoulandspirit.com/lecture/soul-course-series-four/

In growth,
Ben Klocek