Guardian of The Threshold - According To Anthroposophy

According To Anthroposophy

The main theosophical teachings about the dweller of the threshold remain valid also for anthroposophical scholars. In addition to them Rudolf Steiner speaks about this spectral image called the "Guardian of the Threshold" in An Outline of Occult Science. According to Steiner's teachings this image will present itself as soon as the student of the spirit ascends upon the path into the higher worlds of knowledge. At a certain stage of the evolution the soul forces, of thinking, feeling, and willing will dissociate themselves and bring to the student a new inner way of perceiving that will bring to the encounter of the first Guardian of the Threshold. This Doppelgänger is like a "guardian" that stands before the supersensible world, in order to deny entrance to those who are not truly capable of entering. He may therefore be called the "guardian of the threshold that lies before the world of soul and spirit.". Moreover, according to Rudolf Steiner's teachings, this "guardian of the threshold" may also be encountered when men pass through physical death, and between death and a new birth. Rudolf Steiner also identified two different "Guardian of the Threshold", one being the lesser, while the other one is called the greater:

The student meets the lesser Guardian when the threads connecting willing, feeling, and thinking within the finer astral and etheric bodies begin to loosen, in the way described in the foregoing chapter. The greater Guardian is encountered when this sundering of the connections extends to the physical parts of the body, that is, at first to the brain. The lesser Guardian is a sovereign being. He does not come into existence, as far as the student is concerned, until the latter has reached the requisite stage of development. Only some of his most important characteristics can here be indicated. Rudolf Steiner,Knowledge of the Higher Worlds: How Is It Achieved?, Steiner Press

The Lesser Guardian instructs the student that she will not pass until she is able to transform the visage of the guardian - as an image of our own earned or inherited venality - into a more comely form by redeeming or forgiving our uglier qualities. The Greater Guardian informs the student that she will not pass him until his own visage - as an image of the greater potential of the student - is incorporated into her own being. These guardians are almost always initially frightening or disturbing, but they serve to protect the student from realities for which she is not morally prepared.