Faithfulness

Rudolf Steiner urged teachers to take into sleep the meditation of their students’ highest selves

in order to connect with their spiritual companions for guidance. I have practiced this both with

children in my care and with my own children, and it often serves as an antidote to my stress in

difficult times. It is relieving to lay down the intellectual struggle before the “feet” of a higher

being and invite them into partnership with me. And, it’s incredible how effective it is.

There is always work to be done outside of this practice when faced with a real struggle.

Perspective needs to be gained on the root of the issue. Put into the larger perspective of

development, what was perceived as something needing to be fixed, might be given a rightful

place as a difficult but important step for the child. What was originally perceived as a problem

with the child may be revealed to be a problem with my own thoughts, feelings or conduct. Or,

something else may be revealed that has been hiding under the surface.

Either way, this practice helps to build the patience and equanimity necessary to guide us both

through this difficult moment. We all benefit from compassionate support as we struggle with

something. We needn’t someone to fix the problem for us in over-sympathy, nor tell us to “buck

up” and deal with how tough life is. We need someone to stand beside us, beholding our highest

potential.

It strikes me that this mediation for children aligns well with Steiner’s thoughts on faithfulness,

that he intended as a practice between adults.

“Create for yourself a new and strongly courageous view of faithfulness. What is usually

called faithfulness fades away so quickly. Let this be your faithfulness:

In the other person you will experience moments… fleeting moments… in which he will

appear to you as if filled, irradiated with the archetype of his Spirit.

And then there can be… indeed will be… other moments, long periods of time, when

people become dried up and darkened. You, however, have to learn to say to yourself at

such times, ‘The Spirit makes me strong. I remember the archetype. I saw it once. No

deception, no illusion shall rob me of it.’

Always struggle for the image that you saw. This struggle is faithfulness, and in this

struggle one person shall be close to another, as if endowed with the proactive powers

of angels.“

Full of complexity and the thickness of our histories together, our relationships with adults can

be far more challenging, and therefore all the more challenging to hold the highest vision of

each other. And yet, we must if a higher vision of the whole of humanity is to be fulfilled. We

must remember the unique genius that has existed since childhood at the heart of each

individual. It may be covered in layers of doubt, fear, cruelty or hatred and it may be very difficult

to see but we may certainly strive for it.

“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Taking this beloved adult into sleep, one could bring up an image of them in the near present,

unfettered of our emotional ties, and hold that briefly before letting it go. Or if one’s feelings

towards them have been hard for sometime, it could be easier to reach for an image of them as

a child, long before the complications of adult relationships, and then to work towards the free

image of them as an adult.

Along with this nightly practice, we may turn in daily contemplation to some guiding questions.

How do I see this person that I am angry with? How long have I held them in this shadow-filled

image? We might have shared conflict and contention in the past, but is the image I hold a stale

one, and no longer true? What would happen if I put it down and looked at them with new eyes?

Is something I need to reckon with myself? What can I do to forgive transgressions or mend cut

ties?

It takes time and brave digging to answer these questions. We must be courageous in seeking

honesty and accountability, but also gentle with our humanness. As with the children’s

meditation, we can be sure that we are not alone when offering up these images to our higher

beings and find that grace may come a bit more easily. With time and perseverance, we will find

our resentment or bitterness give way to compassion and forgiveness.