Review of "Cognitive Yoga – How a Book is Born"
(Now available in German here: https://www.ereignisverlag.de/)
In this text we get a view into the spiritual creation behind the spiritual scientific research underlying the contents of a book. The insight provided by Dr. Ben-Aharon shows us something that we generally did not receive from Rudolf Steiner himself – that is, the spiritual experiences that one has personally undergone in order to research and craft an understanding of spiritual laws, processes, and beings. Rudolf Steiner gave us his personal human biography until 1907 and also the results of his spiritual scientific research, but almost never talks directly about his own personal experiences as pertaining only to himself (one of the important exceptions is Steiner’s descriptions of the difficulties in finding effective language to encapsulate the experiences of the senses for his unfinished manuscript, Anthroposophy – A fragment). Ben-Aharon shows us elements of his research method and the organic and moral way in which communications with the spiritual world unfold. These research elements, and the moods and moral insight that lies at their foundation, contribute important new insight into spiritual scientific research (as direct experience rather than speculation or combining quotes as in academic study). Visionary ecstasy as a goal in itself, gossiping about occult powers, symbolic transformations of the physical body, and/or authoritarian commands from spiritual leaders play no part in this story at all. What is more, the psychological dimension with its spectacular, mythological, and heroic elements that have been present in science fiction, religious literature, occult, new age, theosophical, and even some branches of so-called anthroposophical secondary literature is absent from this unique, humble, and straightforward account of how a spiritual riddle and a spiritual baby matures during its seasons of life. Instead, independent, clear-headed, and creative human research is shown to unfold in sober patience, while one is waiting for the freely given, tiny signal from the spiritual world that an opening and conversation is possible. Only then can a legitimate entrance into the essence of the matter be attempted. He describes the spring, summer, fall, and winter aspects of the complete research process:
“The first phase is the youthful part of the spiritual research, motivated by the heart forces, the sense of wonder, devotion and love, that underlie the quest about the human and cosmic riddles of existence...The second phase begins as a phase of intensifying crisis, in which a major problem emerges and ripens, which refuses all efforts of intentional solution for a long time...[the] core is, spiritually speaking, strongly guarded by its own essential spiritual nature…The more I am ready to let go of my personal desire to reach a solution, and the more I give the problem up, the more I begin to feel how a complementary gesture from the spiritual world reveals and offers itself as a gift….It is followed by the third phase...which is more an ‘involutive’ stage of spiritual pregnancy and embryonic soul life, in which the spiritual researcher regains his spiritual activity, but now in the reversed direction from the springtime...the fourth phase is then the actual physical birth, the physical expression, be it through the spoken word, artistic creation, social initiative or as in our case here, in the form of a physically written book.” (pp 10-12)
The foundation of his work is in the new freedom-enhancing experience of meeting and working with the Etheric appearance of the Christ in our times, and how spiritual research naturally unfolds in a living Anthroposophical way through freely growing and expanding the three seeds planted by the Etheric Christ in the body, soul, and spirit of a man. These seeds and this path are also now available to each child, woman, and man who seeks for this path and way. Dr. Ben-Aharon shows us how spiritual research must evolve slowly through the course of the years and decades, and in tune with the rhythmic cosmic activity of Michael and Christ, rather than through the tempo desired by the researcher himself.
In this book he has given us a ‘Christmas tale’ of the culmination of his research and development of Cognitive Yoga, through an important meeting between the soul and spirit and the creative, hindering, ripening, twisting and expanding growth and development of a spiritual riddle, from the inside and outside, as an inspiring demonstration of how the new Michaelic mediation between the Gods and humans can reveal itself in a coherent, balanced, and human way. Ben-Aharon writes:
“...The real spiritual development, problematization, fertilization and conception, pregnancy and birth of a concrete spiritual research work in physical life, is the result of a long and complex creative process. Before a book is written down, a problem of research must mature and open to real spiritual fertilization and pure supersensible growth and transformation in the spiritual world itself. Then it goes through a process that can be compared to conception, pregnancy and birth of a human being in the physical world. While on the one hand, the final written book or work of art is a personal creation, whose coming into being is naturally nourished and shaped by the thoughts, feelings and experiences of our individual human soul, on the other hand, it is also an independent spiritual being that has a life of its own. And this continuous creative interaction and the interrelationship between the human soul and spirit and the spiritual worlds, is the living essence of this whole life cycle of creation and creativity.”(p. 13)
In this text describing the Nativity tale of the spirit of a book, Ben-Aharon shows how very precise methods of intentional and creative development, intensified through minor and major crises and failures, are following by courageous, calm, and creative resignation, while waiting for the true fate of the spiritual being of the book to be born in the soul and brought down into earthly words, in a cooperative and conscious development of the spirit’s own terms and essence. In particular, he describes how the difficult problem of consciously ‘inhaling’ the perceptions of color, smell, sound, and all of the senses into the body during the research and development of the new Michaelic or Cognitive Yoga, continuously unfolded, but was also blocked and hindered through the years, and how, during the Holy Christmas Nights of 2012, the spiritual world finally opened a doorway to the solution of the problem, and he could pass through the lower gateways to ignite the spiritualization of the body. He discusses how one may prepare oneself for the door to the Spirit to be opened, in other words, how one can prepare for the demanding transitional zone of the threshold, where balance, self-consciousness, and moral forces are required in a very high degree. A person must create a fully alert soul vigil in order to wait for the spiritual sign coming from the other side, telling one that the moment of crossing the threshold or unveiling the solution to a problem in its spiritual essence is at hand. Ben-Aharon writes:
“This specific state of wakeful awareness and vigil demands that in such moments my feelings of devotion would sustain an inner, wakeful listening, without any specific expectation or desire. I know also that if I can listen deeply enough and sustain the listening uninterruptedly for long enough, soon I will hear the welcoming word or tone, and when I follow its footsteps, I will be able to cross over safely and peacefully, and experience the lucid awakening of supersensible cognition, in tranquility and soul balance and harmony. Then I may safely be summoned to the other side.” (p. 37)
The intimate experiences that Ben-Aharon went through in the spiritual world during this Christmas Event are outlined in the text, when he crossed over to learn the first steps of how to contribute in a human way to the creation of a ‘spiritual mountain,’ while in the presence of his main spiritual teacher and their co-workers. Because Ben-Aharon had worked so carefully with his teacher’s works on the earth, he could now hear the spiritual essence of his voice in the spiritual world, ringing out with world-wide love, inspiration, and an infinite creative force. But for all of that, it was all the more gentle, human, and uplifting for the spiritual student. Through his, Ben-Aharon could understand the universal meaning of the work of Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy and the Foundation Stone and their spiritually creative sources and potentials, as new seeds for the future human being, and the relation of these elements to the Heavenly Star of New Jerusalem. In a sense, this spiritual experience conceived a spiritual child inside Ben-Aharon. He then describes the process of being ‘pregnant’ with the being of the book (Cognitive or Michaelic Yoga). He writes:
“...my mothering soul womb is a ‘shared womb’ because the developing spiritual research project is just as much outside my soul, in the external spiritual world, as it is within it...I am aware that this developing being is living, moving and kicking, both in my inner life as well as in the spiritual world, where it is carried and protected by a community of creative beings...The two processes, in my own soul and in the spiritual world, are mutually interactive and supportive. For example, it is apparent that each one of them considers the research project to be his and her own baby as well, and, what is more, they all experience themselves together, as a community, to be the mothering and fathering guardians and benefactors of its earthly becoming.” (p 56)
He describes how one can nurture the growing baby of the book by creatively returning to the spiritual source of all life, in the spiritual individualized gift of Christ’s I AM, that now lives in the Earth with us and as a future seed in each human being. After nurturing the child through meditations and co-work with his spiritual community, Ben-Aharon begins to feel the condensation of the spiritual forces into the body itself, and follows the persistent urge or ‘birth pangs’ to start to write down sketches and outlines in physical words. He relates that one cannot remember an Imaginative experience in the ordinary sense, but that conscious spiritual scientific research must continuously return back to the source in fresh ways, and along with the community working from the side of the spiritual world. These continuing experiences from the spiritual Event must be therefore consciously despiritualized, condensed, and carefully oriented into ordinary consciousness, words, and ideas. Finally, as the book is actually born into words and paper, the content of Cognitive or Michaelic Yoga unveils its complete being and meaning as follows:
“This breathing rhythm between the physical and spiritual worlds, the mutual fertilization and cooperative conception of the research, become, in its totality, an expression of the Michael impulse in the present age of Michael. This impulse must find a way to transform the spiritual human being in its entirety, penetrating also into the physical body itself. When one works in the above described way, seeking Michael’s help in overcoming the lower bodily threshold, one may find the strongest support; one knows that the way to the Christ, both in its etheric revelation and in the depth of the human bodies, can be trodden, through truly active spiritual scientific work.” (p. 68)
I find this book to be a real gem, and a most worthy addition to Anthroposophical, spiritual-scientific literature. Its fabric is alive and healthy. It is of the highest caliber, and offers keys and hints that are not found in other of Dr. Ben-Aharon’s books. This newly born book continues to help me myself as I engage in my own spiritual scientific research in a wide range of fields. The book is truly inspiring, because it shows us that Rudolf Steiner’s impulse continues to live on, growing directly out of him, but also connecting to his loyal, loving, and courageous students, and that each person can craft her own free research process to consciously enter the spiritual world, little by little – on and on into the future of this new Age of Christ’s light, love, and life.
Scott Elliot Hicks, author of The Resurrection of Thinking and Earthly, Transcendental, & Spiritual Logic.
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