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colorful, from the arid into the juicy. We follow these metamorphosesof plant growth, their expansions and contractions, closingto complete the ring of growing and becoming, which in turnbecomes a link in the chain of life. But if at the same time we fixour observant gaze on ourselves, we notice that this meditationcan only succeed if we produce a stronger power of will thanwe do in ordinary life. In ordinary life, our will is actually drawnalong by that to which we are accustomed, by outer influencesand coercions. It actually submerges itself in our activity andtherefore eludes our consciousness. When we meditate, however,we must make a free decision to activate our will. And it isthrough this effort that we become conscious of it.But it enters our consciousness in a strange way. Underordinary conditions, it is always directed outward. Now it isdirected inward. A complete reversal of the will occurs. And nowas a consequence, the following experiencecan perhaps make itself delicately felt. Thisreversal of the will, which is directed inwardon the seed or on any other phenomenonor being of the world, is like sending downroots into the essential nature of things.From these roots of will, the trunk of ourown being begins to grow up.We notice, when we continue thisself-observation, that our life of feelingalso undergoes a transformation. We feelourselves wondrously refreshed through livinglike this in the growth of a plant. Greenshoots begin to sprout in us, and perhapseven to blossom, and we notice that, in thissprouting and blossoming, we overcome theconsumer attitude, the consumer mentality.No longer do we consume the seed, as wedo not only by chewing it with our jaws butwhich we also consume by simply acceptingit, or simply accepting any other object ofknowledge in order to nourish our soul-lifewith it. But now within the “greening” in oursoul, in our feeling life, the seed begins tounfold its leaves all over again. It achieves,so to speak, a new dimension to grow in.Not only does our relationship to the worldchange in that we provide the beings thatare part of it with a new opportunity ofgrowth rather than consuming them; no, our relationship to ourselvesalso changes, as I have already touched on, for we beginourselves to spring up and grow out of the elements and the beingsof which the world is composed.But this springing growth is evinced in the sphere of ourfeeling life by still another change of direction. Previously, wereversed the will from a going-outward to a going-inward movement.In ordinary life our feelings are turned inward and aretremendously interested in themselves. In meditation, our lifeof feeling turns outward. We feel ourselves inside the being andbecoming of things, and this allows another delicate experienceto present itself. Attached to the trunk that is growing from theroots of the will, now, suddenly, wings appear, wings of feeling,for in the spiritual sphere roots and hovering do not contradicteach other, just as Pherecydes, the European forebear of us all,We notice, when we continuethis self-observation, that ourlife of feeling also undergoes atransformation. We feel ourselveswondrously refreshed throughliving like this in the growth ofa plant. Green shoots begin tosprout in us, and perhaps even toblossom, and we notice that, inthis sprouting and blossoming, weovercome the consumer attitude,the consumer mentality. ... Notonly does our relationship to theworld change in that we providethe beings that are part of it witha new opportunity of growthrather than consuming them; no,our relationship to ourselves alsochanges...for we begin ourselvesto spring up and grow out ofthe elements and the beings ofwhich the world is composed.imagined the world as a winged oak. This feeling life that is nolonger confined to its own narrow limits and, in its limitation, isestranged from the world, now lives at one with the world andgives us the wings that support us in the world.Thirdly, something changes in the life and events of ourcognitional faculty. The processes that underlie our cognitionallife, our representational faculty, usually elude our observation.Only in exceptional circumstances do they enter into ourconsciousness in a living way. Usually we only have the deadfinal products of these processes of our cognitional life in ourconsciousness. This means that we move in a bloodless worldof shadows. But when, in meditation, we send down the roots ofthe will into things and spread the wings of feeling, we experiencethe law of plant growth, of the formative force that livesboth in us and in things themselves. In this way, our cognitionallife is now two-sided, like a Janus head,its gaze turned both in an inward and anoutward direction. And now on this wingedtrunk with its roots sent down by the will,blossoms begin to appear, the blossomsof cognitional knowledge. The blossom,too, has two aspects toward which it turns.With its perfume, its radiant beauty ofcolor, the blossom turns outward; inwardlyit conceals the seed.If we now ask ourselves: What hasactually taken place, what are the forcesthrough which our own being is conjuredup once more out of the being of thingsas something that takes root and blossomsand has pinions? How does this seedripen in our meditative experience? Thenwe must answer: It ripens, it grows, notthrough the force of nature, but through aforce that lies in our own being. And when,now, to conclude, we inquire as to thenature of this force, we can say: It is a forcethat counteracts the forces of death thatare also at work in our being. These deathforces are just the opposite of the processI have been describing. They lead us awayfrom the world, let us become estrangedfrom the world, constrict our feeling lifewithin the narrow limits of what is subjectiveand egoistic, and finally destroy our physical form. Theseforces, however, that allow us to sprout roots and blossoms andpinions, build up our spiritual form, they widen our feeling lifebeyond its narrow limits out to the periphery, into the encirclinghorizon, and they unite us finally with the being of the world.They are not the forces of death, but Easter forces of resurrection.And it is these forces of resurrection that spread and movethe wings of this blossom- and root-sprouting sapling, in thatwe ourselves allow our own being to spring up and grow out ofthe beings of the world. These forces carry our being throughincarnations and through the progressive development of consciousness.Perhaps this may serve as a stimulus to overcome the attitudeof the consumer in favor of an inner state of productivesoul alertness.18 Evolving News for Members & Friends