Warmth: finding the core

Attitude

In the anthroposophical approach to phenomenology, each of the four elements corresponds to a mode of observation, and warmth is the last of them. Warmth pervades a person, or it can arise spontaneously when someone becomes enthusiastic about something. The approach uses these two features, pervasiveness and impulse creation, in making observations:

• pervasiveness, by identifying with the object (a physical object or a situation), penetrating into it and at the same time allowing the object to enter the mental image;
• impulse creation, by perceiving how the object has affected the soul of the observer and how it has induced them to act.

The observational attitude corresponding to the warmth element is based on the characteristics or gesture of an object. The observer searches inwardly to find its core and the impression it has made.

A comparison with a plant may clarify this idea. A fully grown plant with roots, leaves and flowers is something tangible. It does not have to be imagined, as it is there in front of the observer. But after the plant has died and left only its seeds behind, it can only be imagined. The plant is present in the seed as a potential. It is as yet unclear exactly how it will turn out: tall or short, stout or paltry. The seed contains the plant as a whole range of potential appearances, while in an actual plant one of these has manifested itself. In terms of observation, warmth as a mode of observation corresponds to the seed. In this view it allows the core, the essence or the impulse to be discovered, in which all manifestations of the object are potentially present.

In the method, all observations are allowed to enter the mental image: the concrete observations, the movements, the dynamic experience and the characteristics. They are then made to disappear again, and the observer waits to see whether an image of the core or essence develops. This is an image of the impression left by the encounter with the object. Such an image is usually a symbolic image, accompanied by an expression (its significance to the observer) or a certain mood. The symbolic image, with its expression, mood and orientation (the direction in which it seems to develop), is said to contain all potential manifestations.

Since this observation of the symbolic image and its expression is personal, doubts about its accuracy are natural. The approach tests it by comparing images within a group. Different people often come up with very different images for the same object, while these images express the same idea. Where this is not the case, it often turns out that there were hidden differences in the questions asked or in the perspectives from which the object was observed.

Going from earth, via water and air, to warmth implies a movement from the exterior of an object to the inner self of the observer. The observation develops from a concrete observation, through movement, dynamic experience and gesture or characteristics, to a symbolic image. This is a movement from exterior to interior and from a concrete manifestation to a symbolic image. It is a process of densification, of searching for the layer hidden behind the previous observations, and it comes ever closer to the core.

According to the approach, this also makes the observation more objective. When different people make earth-type observations, they all observe on the basis of their own questions and concepts. Their observations are personal and therefore subjective, even though the concepts used may be objective. When a symbolic image is observed, the observation is held to be objective, even though the concepts used are personal and subjective.

When a farm or a landscape is observed, the intentions of the people who work there can also be looked for, that is, the impulses of the people who created it. This is not done by asking them (as they would only say what they wanted to do), but by deriving the intentions from what they actually did. Intentions reveal themselves in actions and can thus be observed. The aim is to discover the underlying intentions by studying the actions.

Meditative attitude

In this tradition the warmth element corresponds to a meditative attitude, and the approach describes the following steps.

• Meditation requires becoming calm and shutting out the environment, the surrounding noises and one's own spinning thoughts. The practitioner sits on a chair with the feet on the ground, upright yet relaxed, breathing quietly until calm. Meanwhile attention is paid to the noises around, which are gradually shut out by no longer taking notice of them; the tradition suggests greeting them ('Hello, noise'). Thoughts are silenced in a similar way, by letting them give way to something else, or by assigning them a place or a later time. The practitioner then imagines being connected with the earth through the tailbone and with the sky through the crown of the head.
• Next the practitioner imagines being inside a dome of light, bright white on the inside and sealed off on the outside by a bluish violet light. Seated calmly inside the dome, the practitioner calls up mental pictures, images and perceptions of the object, which appear as images: earth-type, water-type and air-type observations in sequence, for about 10 to 15 minutes. Once the images are complete, they are erased. Aids for images that refuse to go include imagining a match that burns them or an eraser.
• With the mind empty, the practitioner waits to see whether a symbolic image arises, without explicitly wanting it: wanting and not wanting at the same time, with patience and trust. Wanting it too strongly is said to block its appearance. The image that arises is often symbolic and imaginary, and often a well-known, common image derived from fairy tales, the Bible and similar sources.
• The image that arises is regarded as an impression that the object has evoked, an imprint of the encounter with the core, the essence of the object. Not only its content matters, but also the intention, mood and orientation it offers. The image expresses something, and this is the impulse contained in it. Practitioners record all of this quickly in notes or drawings, because the precise expression is easily lost. The image can also be asked questions, and attention can be paid to where it touches the practitioner and which movements it induces, in the body but also in thoughts, feelings or desires.
• All of these steps can be done in one session, but the observational images can also be built up in the evening, with the arising image awaited on waking the next morning.
• Looked at again afterwards, the object may appear completely different: often brighter and more vivid, with new aspects.
• The approach names several ways in which the exercise can go wrong. It may prove impossible to shut out the environment and one's own thoughts. Concentrating on the object may fail as thoughts stray; the first of Steiner's basic exercises (control of thought) is recommended within the tradition for this. The observational images may refuse to be erased or keep coming back. Finally, no symbolic image may appear at all, for instance because it is wanted too strongly. According to the tradition all of these problems are overcome only by regular practice.

Examples

Dog and cat. The image that arises for a dog is a circle, while that for a cat is a dot. The circle suits a dog because it is oriented to its environment and open. The dot suits a cat because this animal tends to lie beside the stove, at the centre of the room. These features are also found in posture and bodily traits: cats have more rounded shapes and dogs more elongated, radial shapes. The two animals are compared in detail on the page on dog and cat.

Rye, wheat and spelt. A number of people studied the developmental processes in three types of cereal. This led to the following images:

Although these images are very different, they share a common quality. Compared with wheat and spelt, rye is associated with an active world, surrounded by blue. Wheat is associated with a completed development, which has reached its end and is no longer very active. The images associated with spelt have to do with youth and a development from the inside. (De Vries, 1985)

An ash. Two people taking part in an exercise about an ash in a windbreak each saw an image while meditating. When they saw the tree again afterwards, both had the same reaction: the tree seemed more vital and brighter than before, and they noticed a branch they had missed. None of the other participants showed this reaction. The next step in the method, the ethers, is described on the page on the four ethers.