The Foundation Stone Meditation in times of adversity
Among the many exercises Rudolf Steiner gave to people, the Foundation Stone Meditation occupies an eminent position. It can help us to heighten our awareness of the place and responsibility we have within the universe and to prepare for our tasks.
When, in December 1923, the Foundation Stone Meditation first resounded in the Dornach Schreinerei (carpentry workshop), right next to the ruin of the burned-down Goetheanum, Europe had come close to the abyss. Only a few weeks earlier, Adolf Hitler had attempted a first coup; Germany experienced severe inflation in a time of economic, political and social crisis following World War I. Some European countries were already ruled by dictators. Rudolf Steiner spoke of a tremendous destructive potential. It was in that situation that he founded the Anthroposophical Society and the School of Spiritual Science anew and that he developed the Foundation Stone Meditation as a path of inner development.
Calling on the soul forces
The meditation addresses the human form, the “idea of the human being”, the “temple of the human body”, as well as the forces of soul and spirit. Rudolf Steiner once referred to the human being as the “religion of the Gods”; the human form and essence are infinitely precious, having been prepared by heavenly hierarchies through aeons – and as humanity is in danger. We need the “spirit’s upholding power” for self-preservation but also so that the true image of the other can arise in us.
We can let the words of the Foundation Stone Meditation ‘resound’ in our own hearts. They don’t have a magical effect but appeal to, or rather call on, the soul forces to learn to take hold of and become aware of themselves, to “truly” become and grow – including their power of resistance against imminent dangers. This meditation is about rebuilding the image of the human being, with its cosmic dimension; it is, in other words, about our relationship with the hierarchies and the divine trinity.
The “quintessence of Anthroposophy” (Sergei O. Prokofieff) lives in the Foundation Stone Meditation in a concentrated form. As we live with it, we strive for the best forces in us and for the help of higher powers which we urgently need for our own and the earth’s continued existence. As we meditate we turn to the creative hierarchies as servants of the Word of worlds, of Christ, the “Lord over the heavenly powers on earth”; we turn to the powers that uphold and bring order to the world, even in times of great adversity. We turn to the force that “keeps the world together in its essence” (Goethe) – and that can become effective through us as co-responsible and co-creative beings.
From individual to community
The Foundation Stone Meditation shows us the step from ‘I’ to ‘We’, to the community. The “healing powers of spiritual science”, Rudolf Steiner said, speaking about epidemics, relied on “human community”¹ – and the Foundation Stone Meditation is a kind of “mantric foundation” for the Anthroposophical Society and the Dornach School of Spiritual Science and building of the future, as a “healing” site for suffering earthly civilization.² Jörgen Smit said that “Anthroposophy is not only a personal matter […], it is a task of humanity of historical urgency.”³
¹ Rudolf Steiner: The Presence of the Dead on the Spiritual Path, 1990, tr. C. von Arnim, p. 38.
² Peter Selg: The Foundation Stone Meditation and the Destruction of the Twentieth Century, 2012, tr. P. Wehrle.
³ Jörgen Smit: Spiritual Development. Meditation in Daily Life, 1990, tr. D. MacLean