My Dream of the Ogre

  

Man as Centaur

  
   
 
Lower Self
The Four Ordeals
Higher Self
 
 
 
Instruction & Learning
 
 
 
 
Control of the Lower Self
 
 
 
Inner Balance

The above infographic was "given" to me as I contemplated the dream before coming fully awake and also its elucidation

The Dream

This dream took place on the morning of 3 December, 2023.

I was a peacekeeper – a police official. I apprehended a large, beastly, ogre of a man who had committed an unspeakable crime. He evaded me for many miles. We wound up in a shopping mall where I was able to finally apprehend him, but he got away from me, wounding me – thereby weakening me – in the process. He ran down the length of the mall, in the direction opposite where my (vehicle?) was that would allow for secure restraint of the beast. I chased after him. Finally, after a great struggle, I knocked him unconscious. He was incredibly large (8-10 ft in height). I had to drag him back to my (vehicle?) before he might awake. I was wounded and lacked strength. I dragged him by the head down the length of the mall toward my (vehicle?). As I went I could not help but drag him through multitudes of people, knocking things – tables, chairs, etc. – over as I went. I called out for help but no one would oblige my pleas. My desperation grew as I went, my fear of the ogre waking increasing along the way. My strength continued to wane. Until finally, "something" woke me – long before reaching my goal.

I awoke to find the fingers on my left hand almost embedded in my left thigh....

After lying semi-awake I pondered the meaning of this dream, which, in retrospect, becomes quite obvious based on my prior knowledge of reality. I share it here in both imagery that came to mind as I pondered, and further explanation garnished from others.

Infographic Notes

  1. ◬ Man as Centaur

    The occult schools that were inaugurated here and there keep such things secret for reasons that will not be explained today. They still keep them secret, although today these things must be brought to the consciousness of mankind. Since the last third of the nineteenth century, means and ways were given whereby that which occult schools have kept back (in an unjustified way, in many cases) becomes obsolete. This is connected with the event that I mentioned to you — the event which took place in the autumn of 1879. Now we can only lift the outer veil of this mystery; but even this outer veil is one of the most important pieces of knowledge concerning man. It is indeed a head that we bear within us as the head of a second man; it is a head, but also a body belongs to this head, and this body is, at first, the body of an animal. Thus we bear within us a second human being. This second human being possesses a properly formed head, but attached to it, the body of an animal — a real centaur. The centaur is a truth, an etheric truth.

    It is important to bear in mind that a relatively great wisdom is active in this being — a wisdom connected with the entire cosmic rhythm. The head belonging to this centaur sees the cosmic rhythm in which it is embedded, also during the existence between death and a new birth. It is the cosmic rhythm that has been shown in a threefold way, also in numbers — the rhythm on which many secrets of the universe are based. This head is much wiser than our physical head. All human beings bear within them another far wiser being — the centaur. But in spite of his wisdom, this centaur is equipped with all the wild instincts of the animals.

    Source: https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA179/English/ANS1934/19171211p01.html

  2. ◬ Lower Self

    In the dream, my lower self is represented by the ogre.

  3. ◬ Higher Self

    In the dream, my higher self is represented by the peacekeeper.

  4. ◬ The Four Ordeals

    Our world is composed of four primary, immutable elements, each with completely different properties. These elements may be combined in various ways, but can not be fundamentally changed. These elements have profound physical, vital, psychological and spiritual significance.

    The four elements compose our physical and energetic bodies. Ancient medicine in the European tradition was based on the four elements, called humors in the human body, and achieving balance of these elements could cure illness.

    The four elements are psychological, each with their own natural affinities, strengths, and blockages; they are what we conquer within ourselves psychologically as we traverse the path of initiation of our Higher Self, so that our internal nature is in balance and harmony.

    In the ancient Mystery schools, adepts were tested through the Four Ordeals, each related to one of the four primary elements. We today are continually subject to these same ordeals as we walk through life. In our time (2023), we have passed through the age of the intellectual soul and have entered into the age of soul consciousness. These trials provide us the means for self-reflection and the tools by which we can learn to improve ourselves, gain better all around health, and grow spiritually as we are meant to in each life we live.

    The symbols used by the alchemists for the elements have a lot to say about their archetypal origins. The symbol for Fire is an upward-pointing triangle, since Fire with its hot and dry qualities is the most volatile element and seeks to ascend. The symbol for Water is a downward-pointing triangle, since Water with its cold and moist qualities seeks to descend or condense. Fire and Water are the two purest elements, and the other two elements of Air and Earth are considered to be more material versions of them. Thus, the symbol for Air is the upward-pointing triangle of Fire with a horizontal line through it. Air is hot and moist and seeks to ascend, but its moist component blocks the full ascent of the Fire principle, as indicated by the horizontal line in the triangle. Thus Air is suspended in time and space, caught between the extremes of the Above and the Below. The symbol for Earth is the downward-pointing triangle of Water with a horizontal line through it. Earth is cold and dry and seeks to descend, but its dry component blocks the full descent of the Water principle, as indicated by the horizontal line in the triangle. Thus Earth is suspended in time and space and is what the alchemists would call the least volatile or most fixed of the elements.

    Air

    Air is clear, it is related with the mind, with idealism, observation and communication. It is oriented toward equality in all types of relationships, and egalitarianism in general.

    In the test of air we lose all that we hold dear, and are tested on our attachments to people, situations, status, even to concepts, ideas and fantasies. The ability to have non-attachment will purify our Air element.

    Earth

    Earth is stable, solid, related with structure and values, both material and otherwise. Earth gives us homes, food, clothing, it provides the basic substance of existence in this world.

    Tests of Earth feel that we are trapped in between two terrible mountains, some difficult decision where there seems no good solution. To find the wisdom in dealing with adversity purifies our element of Earth.

    Water

    Water is cooling, cleansing, healing. Water is responsive to the environment, it humbly goes to the lowest ground and settles into perfect tranquility, it also collects all the debris and garbage and can become stagnant. Water can be a patient trickle of water that eventually carves out a canyon, it can be a powerful glacier, or a life-giving spring or river.

    Tests of water relate to our ability to adapt to situations, to be rich, poor, exalted or humble without preferring to just give up. Being adaptable and able to change with circumstances purifies our element of Water.

    Fire

    Fire is warming, radiating, giving light and heat and also consuming and difficult to control. It is oriented toward leadership because the radiating qualities naturally gather others around it. Fire can flare up, it can burn, it can cleanse and purify and it can destroy.

    A test of fire is always related to anger, lust, ambition, pride. We must maintain serenity and humility to purify our Fire element

  5. ◬ Instruction & Learning: Light on the Path

    Relative to what I share below, Rudolf Steiner had this to say:

    ...

    Such is the intimate path the soul must tread. It must be able to acquire new characteristics, thoughts and inclinations. A person must have the ability to emerge in due time with brand new habits acquired through sheer force of will. A formerly careless person must get accustomed to being neat and exacting and this he must accomplish not through any external pressure but by steadfast resolve of will. It is particularly effective in the case of insignificant characteristics and small matters. The clearer the issues that a person perceives concerning himself, the better his comprehension in the area of truth. If, for example, a person is able to objectively observe a gesture, a facial expression or some other insignificant habit, if he becomes aware of it as if observing another person, and then by sheer will-power puts in the place of the habit or gesture something of his own choosing, incorporating it into himself, such a person is well on the way to comprehending the great law of reincarnation on his own. A chemist can give descriptions of processes taking place in a laboratory. Similarly, a person can establish directions to be tried on himself. Through insignificant alterations the loftiest heights are indeed reached.

    Regarding karma, the great law of just compensation, perception and understanding of it can be gained if one lives one's life as if karma was a fact. If a disaster or a sorrow befall you, try keeping in mind the thought that this sorrow or accident has not occurred by some miraculous chance but that there must be a cause, a reason for it. You need not probe for the cause. Only he who clairvoyantly can command a view of karma would be able to actually perceive the cause of a joyful event, a sorrow or some mishap. You do need a mood, a certain feeling to which you can surrender yourself so that you can sense how a given sorrow or joy must have a cause and, in turn, can cause future events. He who permeates himself with this mood and looks at his life and all that happens to him as if karma was a fact, will find that his existence becomes increasingly comprehensible to him. He who suppresses his anger when something annoying happens to him and thinks instead that just as a stone rolls if pushed so the annoying matter must have come about due to some inevitable set of laws of the universe, attains to comprehension of karma. As certain as it is that you will wake up tomorrow morning, provided circumstances and your health remain unchanged, so it is equally certain that you will comprehend the laws of karma if you view life in this manner.

    These are the two prerequisites for a person desirous of spiritual schooling; the aspirant must view life in these ways. He does not, however, have to give himself up to these thought attitudes as if they were the gospel truth. On the contrary, he must leave it open as to whether or not they are really true. He must have neither doubt nor superstition because these two are the worst obstacles. Only a person who views life thus with an open mind is prepared to receive mystical instruction.

    Still a third aspect must be considered. No occult teacher will ever instruct a person who is filled with superstition or common prejudice, or one who is prone to senseless judgment or apt to fall prey to any illusion. The golden rule applying here is that, before even taking the first step in the direction of higher learning, a person must free himself from any flighty thinking or possibility to mistake illusion for reality. Above all an aspirant for spiritual enlightenment must be a person of common sense wire only devotes himself to disciplined thinking and observations. If a person leans toward prejudice and superstition in the world of sense reality, it soon tends to be corrected by sense reality itself. If, however, a person does not think logically but indulges in fantasies, correction is not so simple. It is essential, therefore, that one have one's thought-life completely in hand and be able to exercise strict control over one's thoughts before ever venturing into soul and spirit worlds. One who easily leans to fantasies, superstitions and illusions is unfit to enter into the schooling prerequisite for spiritual teaching. It would be simple to reiterate that one were free of fantasies, illusion and superstition. But it is easy to deceive oneself here. Freedom from fantasies, illusions, prejudices and superstitions is gained by stern self-discipline. Such freedom is not easily attained by anyone. It must be remembered to what extent most people tend to sloppy, careless thinking and are unable to control their thought-life through their own will-power.

    In pondering the demands everyday life makes it becomes clear that it is an impossibility to completely free one's mind from outside impressions. To do so, it becomes necessary, therefore, to set aside a short period of time every day. This short time, which is needed and which must not conflict with one's obligations, is sufficient. Even five minutes or, indeed, even less is enough. For this brief period, a person must be able to tear himself away from all sense impressions, from what flows into him through his eyes, ears and his sense of touch. For this brief duration of time he must become blind and deaf to his outer surroundings. Everything that crowds into us from the outside world unites us with sensuality and the ordinary everyday world. All this must be silenced and total inner calm must take its place. When this inner silence, this shedding of all sense impressions has occurred, all memory of past sense impressions must in addition be extinguished. It suffices to ponder for a moment how completely we are tied up with matters of time and space, with all that is temporal and mortal. Check the thought that passed through your head a moment ago and see if it is not associated with something of a transitory nature. Such thoughts have no value for inner development.

    So all thoughts that connect us with finiteness and transitory matters must be silenced. Then, when such silence has been produced in the soul and for awhile all our surroundings, be they of the era, the nation, the race or the century we live in, are subdued and eliminated, the soul will begin to speak of its own accord. This will not happen immediately. First, the soul must be prepared for this point and there are means and directions that will call forth this inner sounding. Man must give himself up to thoughts, concepts and sentiments that originate not in the temporal but in the eternal. Their content must be true not only for today, yesterday, a century or tomorrow but forever. Such thoughts are found in the various religious books of all people. They are found as an example in the Bhagavad Gita, the hymn of human perfection. Too, they are found in the Old and New Testaments, particularly in the Gospel of St. John beginning with the thirteenth chapter. Again, effective thoughts are to be found in the first four sentences of the book, Light on the Path, by Mabel Collins, familiar to members of the Theosophical and Anthroposophical Movements.(see below)

    These four sentences, which are carved into the inner walls of every temple of initiation, are not dependent on time and space. They belong not to one man, one family. They are not part of one generation or one century, but they extend over the whole of evolution. They were true thousands of years ago and will be true thousands of years hence. They awaken the slumbering soul faculties; let them arise out of the inner realm. Certainly this has to be correctly understood. It is not sufficient to assume that one comprehends the meaning of these sentences. One must allow such sentences to quicken and come to life in one's inner self. One must permit the whole significance of such sentences to radiate in one's inner being, must surrender oneself to it completely. One must learn to love such sentences. If a person believes that he comprehends them, then only has the right moment arrived to let the sentences rise resplendent again and again in himself. The intellectual comprehension is not important; the love for such a spiritual truth is. The more the love for such inner truths streams through us, the more the power of inner sight grows in us. Such sentences must not occupy us one or two days, but weeks, months and years until finally such powers of soul awaken in us. Then at last comes a certain definite moment when still another illumination takes place.

    He who proclaims spiritual truths by his own experiences is familiar with this contemplative inner life. The great spiritual truths that he proclaims day by day are part of a vast spiritual world panorama that he can view with the inner power of his soul and spirit. He turns his gaze into soul and spirit realms. He turns his sight away from earth to the solar systems to explore them. This inner power would, however, soon be extinguished if he did not give it new nourishment every new day. This is the secret of the spiritual investigator that the immense panorama of universe and humanity, which he has let pass through his soul hundreds and hundreds of times, must pass through his soul anew every morning. Again, it is not important here that he comprehends it all but that he learns to love it more and more. Thus he performs a divine worship every morning during which he gazes up in reverence to the great Spirits. He has learned to survey the whole panoramic picture in a few minutes. Thankfulness for what it has given his soul permeates him. Without treading this path of reverence one does not arrive at clarity. It is essential that the spiritual investigator's utterances are formed out of this clarity. Only if this has become the case is he truly appointed to speak about the truths of mysticism, the truths of anthroposophy and spiritual science. In this way does the spiritual investigator function and thus must everybody begin, that is, in the simplest, most elementary manner until he comes to comprehension of these teachings.

    Human individuality and that of cosmic beings is profound, unfathomingly profound. One cannot achieve anything in this area save by patience, perseverance and loving devotion toward the cosmic powers. These are forces which, like electricity in the external world, are powerful in the internal world. They are not only moral forces but forces of cognition. When the aspirant for enlightenment has become proficient in allowing such truths to dwell within his being for some time, if he has accepted them in thankfulness toward those who revealed them to him, then he will at last reach a special point, which sooner or later becomes available to everybody who has allowed tranquility and silence to come to fruition in his soul. This is the moment when his soul begins to speak, when his own inner being begins to perceive the great, eternal truths. Then, suddenly the world around him lights up in colors never seen before. Something becomes audible that he had never heard before. The world will radiate in a new light. New sounds and words will become audible. This new light and radiance ray toward him from the soul realm and the new sounds he hears come to him from the spirit realm. It is characteristic of the soul world that one “sees” it. It is equally characteristic of the spirit world that one “hears” it.

    Source: https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA053/English/Singles/19041215p01.html"

    The following is (only) part one of Light on the Path.

    Light on the Path is but a small book even now; but the first form in which we see it is smaller yet. It is a palm-leaf manuscript, old beyond computation; so old that even before the time of Christ men had already forgotten its date and the name of its writer, and regarded its origin as lost in the mists of prehistoric antiquity. It consists of ten leaves, and on each leaf are written three lines only, for in a palm-leaf manuscript the lines run along the page, and not across it as with us. Each line is complete in itself—a short aphorism. In order that these thirty lines may be clearly distinguishable, they are printed in this edition in black type. The language in which these aphorisms are written is an archaic form of Sanskrit.

    These rules are written for all disciples: Attend you to them.

    Before the eyes can see they must be incapable of tears. Before the ear can hear it must have lost its sensitiveness. Before the voice can speak in the presence of the Masters it must have lost the power to wound. Before the soul can stand in the presence of the Masters its feet must be washed in the blood of the heart.

    Part 1

    1. Kill out ambition.

    Ambition is the first curse: the great tempter of the man who is rising above his fellows. It is the simplest form of looking for reward. Men of intelligence and power are led away from their higher possibilities by it continually. Yet it is a necessary teacher. Its results turn to dust and ashes in the mouth; like death and estrangement it shows the man at last that to work for self is to work for disappointment. But though this first rule seems so simple and easy, do not quickly pass it by. For these vices of the ordinary man pass through a subtle transformation and reappear with changed aspect in the heart of the disciple. It is easy to say, I will not be ambitious: it is not so easy to say, when the Master reads my heart he will find it clean utterly. The pure artist who works for the love of his work is sometimes more firmly planted on the right road than the occultist, who fancies he has removed his interest from self, but who has in reality only enlarged the limits of experience and desire, and transferred his interest to the things which concern his larger span of life. The same principle applies to the other two seemingly simple rules. Linger over them and do not let yourself be easily deceived by your own heart. For now, at the threshold, a mistake can be corrected. But carry it on with you and it will grow and come to fruition, or else you must suffer bitterly in its destruction.

    2. Kill out desire of life.

    Respect life, but do not cling to it with the fear of losing it, for it will end. However, desire in life to learn it's lessons - these you carry with you into the next life. Find joy in the living of life, but not in life itself.

    3. Kill out desire of comfort.

    Seek in the heart the source of evil and expunge it. It lives fruitfully in the heart of the devoted disciple as well as in the heart of the man of desire. Only the strong can kill it out. The weak must wait for its growth, its fruition, its death. And it is a plant that lives and increases throughout the ages. It flowers when the man has accumulated unto himself innumerable existences. He who will enter upon the path of power must tear this thing out of his heart. And then the heart will bleed, and the whole life of the man seem to be utterly dissolved. This ordeal must be endured; it may come at the first step of the perilous ladder which leads to the path of life: it may not come until the last. But, O disciple, remember that it has to be endured: and fasten the energies of your soul upon the task. Live neither in the present nor the future, but in the eternal. This giant weed cannot flower there: this blot upon existence is wiped out by the very atmosphere of eternal thought.

    4. Kill out all sense of separateness.

    Do not fancy you can stand aside from the bad man or the foolish man. They are yourself, though in a less degree than your friend or your master. But if you allow the idea of separateness from any evil thing or person to grow up within you, by so doing you create Karma, which will bind you to that thing or person till your soul recognizes that it cannot be isolated. Remember that the sin and shame of the world are your sin and shame; for you are a part of it; your Karma is inextricably interwoven with the great Karma. And before you can attain knowledge you must have passed through all places, foul and clean alike. Therefore, remember that the soiled garment you shrink from touching may have been yours yesterday, may be yours tomorrow. And if you turn with horror from it, when it is flung upon your shoulders, it will cling the more closely to you. The self-righteous man makes for himself a bed of mire. Abstain because it is right to abstain — not that yourself shall be kept clean.

    5. Kill out desire for sensation.

    Learn from sensation and observe it, because only so can you commence the science of self-knowledge, and plant your foot on the first step of the ladder. The senses are simply tools for learning. Use these tools wisely, do not become entrapped by them, for their snare is difficult to free oneself from.

    6. Kill out the hunger for growth.

    Grow as the flower grows, unconsciously, but eagerly anxious to open its soul to the air. So must you press forward to open your soul to the eternal. But it must be the eternal that draws forth your strength and beauty, not desire of growth. For in the one case you develop in the luxuriance of purity, in the other you harden by the forcible passion for personal stature.

    7. Desire only that which is within you.

    For within you is the light of the world — the only light that can be shed upon the Path. If you are unable to perceive it within you, it is useless to look for it elsewhere.

    8. Desire only that which is beyond you.

    It is beyond you, because when you reach it you have lost your (lower) self. It is beyond the you that you think you are, for you - the "I" that is you - is not your body nor even your thoughts, for they are of the world, the "I" that is the real you is Spiritual, not of this world.

    9. Desire only that which is unattainable.

    It is unattainable, because it forever recedes. You will enter the Light, but you will never touch the flame. Let the warmth of the Flame fulfill your desire.

    10. Desire power ardently.

    That power which the disciple shall covet is that which shall make him appear as nothing in the eyes of men. It is the power no man can take from you.

    11. Desire peace fervently.

    The peace you shall desire is that sacred peace which nothing can disturb, and in which the soul grows as does the holy flower upon the still lagoons. This is the peace which surpasses understanding.

    12. Desire possessions above all.

    But those possessions must belong to the pure soul only, and be possessed therefore by all pure souls equally, and thus be the especial property of the Whole only when united. Hunger for such possessions as can be held by the pure soul, that you may accumulate wealth for that united Spirit of life which is your only true Self.

    13. Seek out the way.

    Seek it not by any one road. To each temperament there is one road which seems the most desirable. But the way is not found by devotion alone, by religious contemplation alone, by ardent progress, by self-sacrificing labor, by studious observation of life. None alone can take the disciple more than one step onwards. All steps are necessary to make up the ladder. The vices of man become steps in the ladder, one by one, as they are surmounted. The virtues of man are steps indeed, necessary—not by any means to be dispensed with. Yet, though they create a fair atmosphere and a happy future, they are useless if they stand alone. The whole nature of man must be used wisely by the one who desires to enter the way. Each man is to himself absolutely the way, the truth, and the life. But he is only so when he grasps his whole individuality firmly, and by the force of his awakened spiritual will, recognizes this individuality as not himself, but that thing which he has with pain created for his own use and by means of which he purposes, as his growth slowly develops his intelligence, to reach to the life beyond individuality. When he knows that for this his wonderful complex separated life exists, then, indeed, and then only, he is upon the way.

    14. Seek the way by retreating within.

    Seek it by plunging into the mysterious and glorious depths of your own inmost being.

    15. Seek the way by advancing boldly without.

    Seek it by testing all experience, by utilizing the senses in order to understand the growth and meaning of individuality, and the beauty and obscurity of those other divine fragments which are struggling side by side with you, and form the race to which you belong. Seek it by study of the laws of being, the laws of Nature, the laws of the supernatural, and seek it by making the profound obeisant bow of the soul to the dim star that burns within. Steadily, as you watch and worship, its light will grow stronger. Then you may know you have found the beginning of the way. And when you have found the end its light will suddenly become the infinite light.

    These written above are the first of the rules which are written on the walls of the Hall of Learning. Those that ask shall have. Those that desire to read shall read. Those who desire to learn shall learn.

    Peace be with you.

  6. ◬ Control of the Lower Self

    We gain control of the lower self through study, not to and end of simply acquiring knowledge that leads to superficial belief, but acquiring spiritual knowledge that we apply through force of will to our lives. The road is long, but both the need and the benefit are great.

  7. ◬ Inner Balance

    Finding balance in each of these challenges (the Four Ordeals) produces within the individual what was often called the Quintessence. This is not a fifth element, but rather the essence of a new creation, the Higher Spiritual Self realized in the physical world, on the physical plane.

Download PDF