“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Hm. We’ve sure come a long way toward the opposite pole of that sentiment. A certain meanness, if not malice, is readily observable across the various media we consume and in the areas of our shared presence.
This destructive criticism originates inside of each of us, and no matter how refined or deserved the rebuke may be, what lies behind it is the desire to tear someone or something down. This is a common but dangerous poison causing untold harm to both the giver and the receiver. These cruel observations are never to our credit but diminish us every time we allow ourselves to be amused or caught up in the mudslinging.
This month, Steiner suggests that we take an alternate route – that we actively try to notice the beauty in someone or something. That at the very least we withhold criticism. Think how much better we would feel about ourselves and the world around us. Think how differently we would affect the people around us. Of course, this effect expands out into time and space beyond our current comprehension, and we should consider this in our assessment of its benefits. But even without that cosmic view, we would observe the positive impact we make in real time.
Let’s see what Dr. Steiner has to say:
In the fourth month, as a new exercise, what is sometimes called a ‘positive attitude’ to life should be cultivated. It consists in seeking always for the good, the praiseworthy, the beautiful and the like, in all beings, all experiences, all things… The esoteric pupil must strive to seek for the positive in every phenomenon and in every being. They will soon notice that under the veil of something repugnant there is a hidden beauty, that even under the outer guise of a criminal there is a hidden good, that under the mask of a psychopath, the divine soul is somehow concealed.
In a certain respect this exercise is connected with what is called ‘abstention from criticism’. This is not to be understood in the sense of calling black white and white black. There is, however, a difference between a judgment which, proceeding merely from one’s own personality, is colored with the element of personal sympathy or antipathy, and an attitude which enters lovingly into the alien phenomenon or being, always asking: How has it come to be like this or to act like this? Such an attitude will by its very nature be more set upon helping what is imperfect than upon simply finding fault and criticizing…
A person who consciously turns his mind, for one month, to the positive aspect of all his experiences will gradually notice a feeling creeping into him as if his skin were becoming porous on all sides, and as if his soul were opening wide to all kinds of secret and delicate processes in his environment which hitherto entirely escaped his notice. The important point is to combat a very prevalent lack of attentiveness to these subtle things.
If it has once been noticed that the feeling described expresses itself in the soul as a kind of bliss, endeavors should be made in thought to guide this feeling to the heart and from there to let it stream into the eyes, and thence out into the space in front and around oneself. It will be noticed that an intimate relationship to this surrounding space is thereby acquired. A person grows out of and beyond himself, as it were. He learns to regard a part of his environment as something that belongs to him. A great deal of concentration is necessary for this exercise, and, above all, recognition of the fact that all tumultuous feelings, all passions, all over-exuberant emotions have an absolutely destructive effect upon the mood indicated. The exercises of the first months are repeated, as with the earlier months.
Excerpt from: Guidance in Esoteric Training by Rudolf Steiner.
We are bombarded by the criticisms surrounding us in our daily lives.
Deciding to take up the six basic exercises must be done in freedom; we make the choice. The hard choice. Steiner indicates that this particular exercise, the fourth of six, can be the point where many decide they cannot go forward as their livelihood depends on delivering this type of criticism. Looking on the bright side is not compatible with the work they’ve chosen to do in this lifetime. And that’s ok. The spiritual path is arduous and not everyone is prepared or willing to begin right now. Nevertheless, many of us want to do something to make the world a better place and aren’t sure what we can do, so here it is: the chance to actively work to make the world a better place is totally within our own power as a result of work we are free to choose.
Pretty cool.