The gates of knowledge Author:Rudolf Steiner Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE PUPIL AND HIS TEACHER W is impossible to make real progress in the task of penetrating to the higher worlds without going through the stage... more » of Imaginative Knowledge. This by no means implies that in the course of occult training a man is compelled to remain for a given time at the imaginative stage as if it were a class at school through which he is bound to pass. This maybe necessary in certain cases, but not in all. It depends entirely upon the experience the occult student has had before beginning his training. It will be shown in the course of this analysis that the spiritual environment of the pupil is of importance with regard to this point, and, what is more, that, according to his relationship to this spiritual environment, very different methods have been instituted for treading the Path of Knowledge. An understanding of the following particulars may be of the utmost importance to one who is preparing to enter the Path of occult training. These must not be regarded merely as presenting an interesting theory, but as something by which the most varied and practical points of view may be gained by anyone who is sincerely pursuing "the way to the Higher Knowledge." Those who are seeking their higher evolution are often heard to say: "I wish to perfect myself spiritually; I wish to develop the 'Higher Self' within me; but I have no desire for the manifestations of the astral world." This is understandable enough when we read the descriptions of the astral world in books treating of such things, for apparitions and entities are spoken of in these which bring all sorts of dangers to men. It is often said that under the influence of such beings a man may very easily suffer injury both morally and intellectually. It is brought home to the reader that in...« less