Serenity

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Serenity, equanimity, the overcoming of joy and suffering, inner peace, tranquillity or calmness of mind consists in the ability to remain calm and level-headed even in difficult, emotionally stressful situations. However, this in no way means that joy and suffering should be suppressed or even banished into the unconscious. This would only strengthen the desires, emotions and affects that have been repressed into the depths of the soul and would be detrimental to mental health. Rather, it is first and foremost a matter of the I retaining complete control over itself even in the strongest surges of emotions and not being carried away by them, but rather facing them as a sovereign observer at rest in itself. In the next step, one has to willfully ensure that that which deeply moves the soul no longer takes hold of the body shells, i.e. no longer lives itself out in the physical body, in the etheric body and in the unconscious parts of the astral body. The inner, purely spiritual experience is thereby considerably strengthened and becomes more and more conscious. Finally, the I has become strong enough to establish complete peace of mind within, the so-called "stillness of the sea" in the soul. Only then will heaven, i.e. the spiritual world, be reflected undisturbed in the soul. If you practise this ability regularly, you will also develop endurance and tolerance.

Serenity - The Third Subsidiary Exercise

Serenity is the third of the subsidiary exercises which, according to Rudolf Steiner, are indispensable prerequisites for being able to follow a path of spiritual training. It achieves equanimity of feeling and awakens awareness of the astral body.

„In the third month, the training of a certain equanimity in relation to the fluctuations of pleasure and sorrow, joy and pain, and the conscious substitution of an equable mood for the "rejoicing in heaven and saddened to death", should become the focus of life as a new exercise. One should take care that no joy runs away with one, no pain presses one to the ground, no experience drives one to excessive anger or annoyance, no expectation fills one with anxiety or fear, no situation leaves one stunned, etc., etc. Do not fear that such an exercise will make one sober and poor in life; rather, one will soon notice that in place of what occurs through this exercise, more purified qualities of the soul will appear; above all, one will one day be able to feel an inner peace in the body through subtle attention; this one pours into the body, similar to the two cases above, by letting it radiate from the heart to the hands, the feet and finally to the head. In this case, of course, this cannot be done after each individual exercise, since one is not dealing with a single exercise, but with a continuous attention to one's inner soul life. One must call this inner peace before the soul at least once every day and then do the exercise of the outpouring from the heart. With the exercises of the first and second month one behaves as with that of the first month in the second.“ (Lit.:GA 245, p. 15ff)

This exercise is in no way about suppressing or even diminishing emotions. Primarily, it is about deliberately restraining their physical expression, for example through heavy breathing, increased pulse rate, various vocalisations, gestures, facial expressions, body movements, etc., as they occur especially with strong emotions. Blind emotions are thus transformed into very clearly and consciously experienced pure feelings. The purely mental inner experience is not weakened by this, but on the contrary even strengthened.

„With regard to the world of feelings, the soul should achieve a certain composure for the training of the spirit. For this purpose it is necessary that this soul becomes a master over the expression of pleasure and suffering, joy and pain. Many a prejudice can arise against the acquisition of this quality. One might think that one would become dull and apathetic towards one's fellow world if one were not to "rejoice over what is pleasurable and feel pain over what is painful". But this is not the case. A pleasant thing should please the soul, a sad thing should pain it. It should only come to control the expression of joy and pain, of pleasure and displeasure. If one strives for this, one will soon notice that one does not become duller, but on the contrary, more receptive to everything pleasurable and painful in one's surroundings than one was before. However, it requires careful attention to oneself over a longer period of time if one wants to acquire the quality we are talking about here. One must see to it that one can fully experience pleasure and suffering without losing oneself in such a way that one gives an involuntary expression to what one feels. One should not suppress justified pain, but involuntary weeping; not disgust at a bad action, but the blind raging of anger; not paying attention to a danger, but the fruitless "being afraid" and so on. - Only through such practice does the student of the spirit attain to that calmness in his mind which is necessary lest, when he is born and especially when the higher ego is active, the soul should lead a second unhealthy life like a kind of doppelganger beside this higher ego. Precisely with regard to these things one should not indulge in self-deception. It may seem to some that they already have a certain equanimity in ordinary life and that they therefore do not need this exercise. Such a person needs it twice over. For one can be quite serene when confronted with the things of ordinary life; and then, when ascending to a higher world, the lack of equilibrium, which had only been repressed, can assert itself all the more. It must be realised that for the training of the spirit it is not so much a question of what one seems to have before as of practising quite lawfully what one needs. As contradictory as this sentence may seem, it is correct. Even if life has taught you this or that, the qualities that you have taught yourself serve to train your mind. If life has taught you excitement, then you should withdraw your excitement; but if life has taught you equanimity, then you should shake yourself up by self-education so that the expression of the soul corresponds to the impression received. He who can laugh at nothing has no more control over his life than he who, without controlling himself, is continually provoked to laughter.“ (Lit.:GA 13, p. 248ff)

„In the third subsidiary exercise, the balancing of joy and sorrow, we should find our way completely into everything that is happening. Then our etheric body will gradually expand into the expanse of the heavens. We will then no longer feel ourselves inside our body and the whole world around us, but we will feel our body spread out into the whole periphery; we will feel ourselves expanded and poured into the spiritual worlds. One feels, one 'knows' oneself in the spiritual world.“ (Lit.:GA 266c, p. 258)

In Buddhism, equanimity (Sanskrit: उपेक्षा upekkhā) is one of the "Four Immeasurables", along with love (Sanskrit: मैत्री maitri; Pali: metta;), compassion (Sanskrit: करुणा karuna}}) and sympathetic joy (Sanskrit: मुदिता mudita), which form the solid basis for all training of the mind.

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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