The inner voice

The so-called "inner voice", that which is spiritual in man, unto which he can hearken, is the intuition!

Not for nothing does the proverb say: "The first impression is always correct." Just as deep Truth lies in all these and similar expressions and sayings, so also here. The word "impression" is to be consistently understood as the intuitive sensing. For example, what a person intuitively feels during the first encounter with one who has hitherto been a stranger to him is either some kind of warning to be cautious, to the point of complete repulsion, or something acceptable, to the point of complete congeniality, in many cases also indifference. If now, in the course of discussion and further interaction, this impression is pushed aside or entirely blotted out by the judgment of the intellect, so that the thought arises that the original intuition was wrong, it almost always results that at the close of such an acquaintance the very first intuition was correct. Often this happens to the bitter sorrow of those who, through the intellect, allowed themselves to be misled by the other person's deceptive nature.

The intuition, which is not bound to space and time and which stands in connection with the homogeneous, the Spiritual, Eternal, immediately recognised the true nature within the other person, did not let itself be deceived by the cleverness of the intellect.

Error is totally out of the question with the intuition.

Thus, it often occurs that when human beings are misled, there are two reasons that bring about the errors: Either the intellect or the feeling!

How often one also hears it said: "With this or that matter, I once allowed myself to be led by my feeling, and that was my downfall. One should only take the intellect as a basis!" Such persons have mistaken the feeling for the inner voice. They sing praises of the intellect and do not suspect that just this intellect plays a great role in the feeling.

Therefore be on the alert! Feeling is not intuition! Feeling emerges from the coarse-material body. This body generates instincts which, when steered by the intellect, allow the feeling to arise. The joint work of the feeling and the intellect, however, gives birth to fantasy.

We therefore have on the spiritual side only the intuition*(Lecture Nr.86: Intuition), exalted above space and time. On the earthly side we have in the first instance the coarse-material body bound to space and time. From this body there emerge instincts which, through co-operating with the intellect, culminate in feeling.

Now the intellect, a product of the brain bound to space and time, as the finest and highest of what is material, can again produce fantasy through the collective working with the feeling. Fantasy is therefore the result of the working together of the feeling and the intellect. It is fine-material, but without spiritual power. Therefore fantasy is only able to work retroactively. It is always only able to influence the feeling of its own producer, but can never of itself send out a power-source to others. It therefore works only backwards upon the feeling of the one whose fantasy it is, can only enflame his own enthusiasm, but can never work upon the surroundings. The stamp of the inferior order is therewith clearly recognisable. It is different with the intuition. This bears spiritual power within itself, creative and animating, and thus radiating, it works upon others, carrying them along and convincing them.

We therefore have on the one side, the intuition, on the other side, body-instincts-intellect-feeling-fantasy.

The intuition is Pure-Spiritual, it stands above space and time. The feeling is fine coarse-matter, dependent on the instincts and the intellect, and is therefore on an inferior step.

Although the feeling is of fine coarse-matter, a mixture of it with the spiritual intuition can never ensue, thus there can also be no dimming of the intuition. The intuition will always remain pure and clear, because it is spiritual. It will also always be clearly intuitively felt or "heard" by human beings, if... it really is the intuition that speaks! The majority of mankind, however, have closed themselves off to this intuition by pitching up the feeling like a dense veil, a wall, and then they erroneously hold the feeling to be their inner voice, as a result of which they experience many disappointments and then rely all the more upon the intellect only, not suspecting that they could be deceived precisely through the cooperation of the intellect. Because of this error, they hastily reject everything spiritual, with which their experiences had absolutely nothing to do, and associate themselves still more with only the inferior.

Ever and again, the fundamental evil is, as in many other things, the voluntary subjection of these human beings to the intellect, which is bound to space and time!

The human being who fully subjects himself to his intellect thereby also completely subjects himself also to the limitations of the intellect which, as a product of the coarse-material brain, is firmly bound to space and time. Consequently, the human being then chains himself entirely to the coarse-material only.

All that the human being does he does only of his own accord and free will. Thus he is not perhaps being chained, but he chains himself! He allows himself to be ruled by the intellect (for if he himself did not want it, it could never happen), which also binds him to space and time in accordance with its own nature, does not allow him to recognise and understand any longer that which is spaceless and timeless. Therefore, through the limited perceptive capacity, a veil that is firmly bound to space and time, thus a limitation, is placed over the intuition, which is spaceless and timeless, and either the human being may not at all be able to listen, since his "pure, inner voice" has faded, or he is only still able to "listen" to the feeling closely associated with the intellect in place of the intuition.

It would create a wrong idea to say that the feeling suppresses the pure intuition; for nothing is stronger than the intuition, it is the highest power of the human being, can never be suppressed by anything else, or even only impaired. It is more correct to say: The human being makes himself unable to recognise the intuition.

The failure lies always only with the human being himself, never in the strength or weakness of individual gifts; for just the fundamental gift, the actual power, the strongest of all in the human being, which bears all life in itself and is immortal, is given to all individuals equally! Therefore, no one has any advantage over another. All differences lie only in the application!

This fundamental gift, the immortal spark, can also never be dimmed or sullied. It remains pure even amid the greatest filth. You need only tear the veil that you have imposed upon yourselves through the voluntary limitation of your perceptive capacity. Then, without any transition, it will blaze upwards just as pure and clear as it was in the beginning, will unfold fresh and strong and connect itself with The Light, the Spiritual! Rejoice over this treasure which lies inviolable in you! Regardless of whether you are esteemed by your neighbours or not! Every bit of dirt, which has accumulated around this spark of the spirit like a dam, can be cast off through honest good volition. If you have then done the work and again set free the treasure, you are of just as much worth as all those who never buried it!

But woe unto him who constantly out of love of comfort rigorously closes himself off to willing what is good! In the Hour of Judgment, this treasure will be taken away from him and he will therewith cease to exist.

Therefore, wake up, you who keep yourselves closed, you who have laid upon your intuition the cover of the intellect with the limitation of the perceptive capacity! Take heed and listen to the calls that strike you! Whether it be a massive pain, a strong psychic shock, a great suffering or a lofty, pure joy that is able to break through the dark cover of the inferior feeling, do not allow any such thing to pass by you without any benefit. They are aids that show you the Way! It is better if you do not first wait for them, but set out with the serious volition for all that is good and for spiritual ascent. In this way, the separating layer will again soon be thinner and lighter until it finally disperses and the spark, still always pure and immaculate, bursts forth upwards in a blazing flame. But this first step can and must proceed only from the human being himself, otherwise he cannot be helped.

Therefore you must strictly differentiate between wishing and volition. With the wishing, nothing is ever done, it does not suffice for any advancement. There must be the volition, which also conditions the deed and already bears the deed in itself. With the serious volition, the deed already sets in.

Even if many a person thereby has to go along many by-paths because he had hitherto bound himself only to the intellect, he surely need not shy away from this. He, too, will gain! For him it means to clarify his intellect in order to slowly eliminate and dissolve all hindrances in the individual experiencing of all the by-paths.

Therefore, go forth undismayed. With a serious volition, every path will finally lead to the goal!