What Now Comes to Spiritually Striving People in the Time of Sleep – Part I

THE WAY OF THE GRAIL – SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS – October 23, 2023

Czech original: Co Nyní Přichází K Duchovně Usilujícím Lidem V Čase Spánku – Část I. · cesta-gralu.cz

Rightly used, the time of nocturnal sleep is in the present age most blessed for the human spirit

It is at the same time also very important, for it is a great opportunity for spiritual progress

The time of nocturnal sleep is a recurring opportunity for the most natural release of the spirit, so that it may openly draw strengthening from the Light

At no other time of the day does this stream to the spirit so directly and so fully as when it is permitted to loosen itself from its connection with the body in the time of sleep and to ascend higher above the gross materiality here

The lack of this streaming during the day is caused by the influence of the excessively used intellect, which acts disturbingly upon the attunement to the higher refreshing currents in Creation

For the right unfolding of all the abilities of the spirit, right sleep is therefore an inseparable part of the earthly life of man here

Without healthy sleep at night, the state of waking during the day cannot afterwards be healthy in its essence either

Of this people today are for the most part not aware at all

Man then lacks the needed inner connection with the spiritual spark in the time of day, if the spirit could not loosen itself from the body and draw in the night the needed refreshment from the Light

In all earlier ages on earth, sleep was perceived by men as a time of equal value for their spiritual inner being in relation to the day-consciousness

Sleep was perceived in earlier times as a possibility of connecting with the spiritual helpers of man and of gaining through them valuable counsel and experience from the higher worlds

In the present time of important changes, and in the coming time of great enlightenment from the Light for the rebirth of mankind, healthy sleep at night is far more valuable and more important still for every man who longs to walk rightly on the path of ascent

It is so because today, during the day, only few succeed in maintaining within themselves the higher connection with the Light, which yet makes it possible to gain help and strengthening for the laying aside of earlier threads of fate

Nocturnal sleep fully utilised by the spirit is in this time on earth an important part of the rediscovery by man of the direction towards a better existence, because the spirit can prepare itself in the subconscious for what will come in the time of day and for the right and pure conduct that will be expected of it

However strange and ungraspable this may perhaps appear to most people today, in the state in which the body rests much good can be accomplished both for the spiritual progress of the individual man and for this whole world

Yes, it is so

Nocturnal sleep affords a time of valuable work and also of refreshment for every human spirit striving towards the Light

And there is more

Healthy deep sleep is here also because in the present unfolding events on earth much important and at the same time wonderful work is made ready for every purely swinging spirit at the time of its release in the night, work which needs to be fulfilled on the part of men for the whole of mankind

Spiritual fulfilment is not limited to the time of day-consciousness alone

It is therefore needful that all who long to help the Light on earth today should become aware of this

Important is precisely also that part in which the human body finds itself in the state of sleep

We may even say that without the fulfilling of this part spiritual ascent can become far harder to accomplish, indeed it may be that the ascent of man is so hindered that he will in the end waver and lose much of the strength needed for his own anchoring in the hours of day-consciousness

Right sleep is therefore for spiritually striving people an exceedingly serious part of their co-operation, so that the Light may come to the earth in this time

There lies concealed therein for the spirit much help and much valuable strengthening, which then reaches over precisely into the day-consciousness, which needs the spirit to be fully awake at this time also

The time of night affords the spirit the strengthening to maintain a lasting swinging in intuitive perception in all the moments of the day

Great changes in spiritual progress forward take place often precisely in the time of earthly sleep at night

Sleep in which the spirit, in its opening to everything higher that is bestowed by the Love of God upon life in Creation, may draw strengthening directly from the Light, which is the foundation of the refreshment leading to that inner joy which can and shall be perceived already in the first moments after awakening

In the time of sleep, precisely in these days, bodily healing may also come from the animistic radiation of the High animistic servant Herfeline, and in a strengthened form such as was not the case before

With the dawning of day the spirit that has worked through the night in a luminous attunement may also bring back with it into the day-consciousness inspirations and many answers to vitally important questions

And above all it is the fullness of peace which may be received in connection with the higher planes of Creation and which is so very important for the passage through the time of day today

The fullness of peace is drawn above all in the loosening of the spirit from the body and in the connection with the harmony of the work of Creation, which prevails in all the planes where the Light abides

This shows itself then above all in the great inner and outer refreshment experienced immediately after awakening

Whoever therefore may experience in the morning, after the ending of the night, an enlivening attunement into the new day as a small rebirth, he may be certain that his spirit was able in the night to loosen itself from the bodily influence of the brain and to ascend into planes where much strengthening for the further path in the time of day could be given to it

All this, and much more besides, is borne within it by the time of sleep rightly utilised in the spirit

Yet of sleep, from the standpoint of its significance as strengthening for the human spirit, people in general know today only very little

It is rather to be said that they know nothing

Although in earlier times a great role was ascribed to sleep, for instance also through the interpretation of dreams, the world of men today does not occupy itself with anything of the kind with the needed seriousness

Thus although it is known even today that in most of the royal courts in the times of the just rulers of antiquity there were enlightened men who watched over the significance of the tranquil sleep of those rulers, because this was held to be an inseparable part of the task of ruling

In the present time people consider themselves elevated above such ungraspable matters

Towards everything wiser there is today immediately at hand criticism and above all mockery, which however testifies to everyone possessing a certain knowledge of the unbelievable superficiality in the thinking of most people

Alas, people today pass over with mockery everything serious and important which could yet bring them great spiritual benefit

They do not realise that behind this attitude stands the intellect, whose chief activity is bound solely to the day-consciousness

In the night the intellect necessarily loses part of its marked influence over the spiritual inner being, because the forebrain needs to rest in the time of sleep

Aware that the night is a time unfavourable to it, the intellect, and with it precisely the forces standing against the Light, has striven for a long time, through its dominance by day, to suppress all knowledge of the great spiritual significance of sleep for man

With its anxious concentration upon the time of waking by day, the intellect, and thereby also the daily thinking of men influenced by it, strives to make untrustworthy all that concerns spiritual experiencing in sleep in the time of night

Plainly stated – the intellect is well aware that it is itself weakened during the time of sleep, and therefore it does everything before sleep so that the spirit may remain bound to this gross material earth in the night also

The intellect works in the time of its waking to draw all attention away from the time of sleep, in which it is precisely subdued in every man

It knows well why it does so, for in the time of sleep the spirit would very quickly gain dominance over it, if the attunement of man directed its pure striving towards the strengthening of the spiritual spark to greater mobility in the time of night

Therefore so much is done on the part of the intellect that people enter the state of sleep agitated and out of tune, for all this brings about a limitation in the possibility of the loosening of the spirit from the earthly body

Literally can people observe how the intellect concentrates into the time of the evening hours all its strength in order to call forth as much agitation as possible in the world of thoughts, so that this thinking may then influence the spirit, which afterwards in a certain inertia experiences the intuitive imprints of the ballast of thoughts, instead of being able, released, to soar simply and freely upwards to the places where refreshment awaits it

This holds the spirit down, bound through the last thought-attunement of the brain before falling asleep

Only with effort does it come to anything more beneficial for it, for through the discord it necessarily remains closely bound to the body through the radiation of the blood

Of all this almost nothing is known among men

That, alas, only proves how very far the world of men today is from real knowledge of everything of a finer kind than their own world formed of the coarsest part of matter

Everything more valuable which was once handed down from generation to generation is today suppressed, and all endeavours are directed towards the trampling down and the loss of what is more valuable still

That is why in recent times there is so great an endeavour that each of the rising generations should consider the wisdom of the forefathers as outworn

That is why today almost nothing is known of many important connections bound up with the spiritual nature of man

People today have no inkling of the serious significance lying in the state of bodily sleep

Therefore they also have no inkling that the attunement in which they go to sleep determines for the spirit the path of freedom, or of imprisonment, in the time when the body and the brain rest and the intellect is in part weakened

People no longer have any inkling of how supremely important it is to maintain within, precisely in the moments before lying down to sleep, a pure and fervent volition towards the Light

But let us only consider how many disturbing thoughts there are around man in that very moment, thoughts leading by their content predominantly only to the material things of every day

Many thoughts appear outwardly as an expression of responsibility and thereby of the worth of a man, when before sleep he ponders feverishly over his obligations and duties of an earthly kind

In reality, however, it is only a skilful game of the intellect, which just before sleep insinuates these thoughts in order to hinder the release of the spirit

Thereby are literally set for the spirit the boundaries within which it will then move in the time of sleep

Sleep, however, is not merely a state in which the body and the brain rest in order to gather new strength for the coming day, but it is precisely that valuable time which can and also shall be wholly and diligently utilised by the spirit of man for the gaining of new knowledge about God and His work of Creation, and thereby this time can also become a blessed gift of ascent

In the time of sleep there can then take place happenings very valuable for the spirit

Let it however be said beforehand that there is spoken here of happenings and experiences of the spirit which are of a very fine, materially imperceptible kind, and which are conditioned by healthy and deep sleep

It is therefore evident that sleep preceded by disturbing influences is condemned in advance to the impossibility of fulfilling the valuable moments mentioned above

And to the disturbing influences belong many things to which people today ascribe no great significance

Here belongs excessive agitation through outward thought-influences while watching films, and excited or too intellectual conversations with other people before sleep

Also the choice of food, or even the frequent drinking of great quantities of alcohol, smoking, and much else besides which brings excessive agitation into the picture of the blood

And there is much more still which influences sleep, and thereby the possibilities of spiritual progress

For instance also the outward light which comes into the room where a man sleeps

Every light other than the shining of the stars and the radiance of the moon is disturbing for the time of sleep, just as are outward noise and all the sounds which bring man back into the higher wakefulness of the day-consciousness

Thus throughout, everything which brings a disturbing effect into the attunement of man appears then necessarily as a hindrance to the needed release of the spirit for the blessed time of sleep

Only rarely does the spirit then succeed in freeing and opening itself even under outwardly less favourable conditions

And even though this now and then succeeds, the spirit cannot free itself entirely from the influence of the radiation of the brain, and thereby much of its experiencing is for it more earthbound and brings confusion into the dreams as well

Therefore so beneficial is every time of night in which the spirit can quite naturally loosen itself from the resting body and brain

The spirit thus released can then be called upwards into the heights, where it fully experiences its participation in the happenings unfolding in still more comprehensive connections, which is always very refreshing for the spirit, and above all beneficial for it, for therein it can ripen thus, although the body sleeps

The spirit is not bound in its ripening to the body in the way that people think, that only in the waking state does the opportunity for progress present itself to their spirit

Anything so narrow has never held good for the spiritual state of man

It may be said that even though the spirit is incarnated on earth, more than half of its progress and ripening takes place in the time of sleep

That is not in the least exaggerated

That the intellectual knowledge of most people today knows nothing of it plays no part therein, for spiritual happenings unfold entirely independently of the brain itself

That the spirit of man was permitted in the time of night to work joyfully upon its ascent, and at the same time perhaps thereby to help also in the happenings bringing enlightenment to this earth, shows itself precisely in that state of inner happiness and in the inflow of refreshing power which man may perceive on awakening after such a night

All this, of course, holds good, as has already been said, when the conditions of healthy natural sleep are observed

Although each of us has in this his quite personal conditions, we may generally regard the present approach to the time of sleep among most people as very distorted, indeed as going altogether against the ordering which was given to man as a valuable division of the day

Not to observe it in this matter also is literally to walk against the ordination of the Will of God, for it is precisely the Will of God which exhorts the human spirit on earth to a healthy approach to life, which then leads man to the Light

To the path leading towards the Light there belongs thus inseparably also healthy sleep, rightly experienced by the spiritual inner being

Thus in this matter also man is to fit himself into accord with the Harmony which is to be maintained therein, if he wishes to attain the state in which he submits himself to the order prevailing within the Laws of Creation, that is, in which he swings in unison with the aforesaid Will of God

In the responsible approach to sleep it holds generally that there are in this no exceptions which could be applied by people over a long time without their bringing upon themselves in the end harm to the body, but above all to the spirit

From this, however, the world today is very far removed, and this above all through everything that men connect with the evening time of waking, that is, with the time which is to count as the preparation for sleep

Oh, if only people knew how they thereby rob themselves of many valuable spiritual happenings, when they seek to spend the time of night awake in the belief that only the consciously waking state of the intellect is the sole way in which the spirit can work for the Light

As in everything in nature, so in this too a valuable balance is to be maintained

Let us look upon the world of the animals, which keep to this rhythm, provided of course that they are not disturbed for some reason by man or by sickness

If everything is ordered naturally for the animal, it quite simply receives sleep as a need for the refreshment which may also flow to that which is animistically soul-like, in the state of the release of the animistic spark

Animals in this direction, as in much else, fulfil the conditions given by the Will of God for the conditions of this gross material earthly world and for the life unfolding here, as instructions quite simply accepted, which, when rightly observed, lead only to strengthening and benefit

In the same way people also have their task, which is bound up with their connecting to the spiritual currents, and this takes place precisely in strengthened measure in the time of nocturnal sleep

With the animals their connection with the animistic currents takes place with lightning speed within minutes, or rather it is a matter of seconds before the soul of the animal separates from the body

Just as quickly does the animal soul return into full consciousness, if this is needed for some reason of wakefulness

With men it could be similar, but on account of the intellect, bound up with the overgrown forebrain, man has for a long time needed to pass through several stages of sleep before the gradual release of the spiritual inner being comes about

Only in the case of great bodily tiredness brought about by healthy movement during the day does it go markedly more quickly

Then it is also said in popular speech that the person fell asleep „like a log“

It is called perhaps a little differently in every nation, yet in reality it means that this release of the spiritual substance from the earthly body, which in man came about with heightened speed, is known under some kind of naming in the folk wisdom of the whole world

Folk wisdom then captures in apt words the healthy happening therein contained for man

If a certain depth of sleep is reached, which is usually bound up also with a certain lowering of the temperature of the body, then in a healthy man there comes about the loosening of the threads binding the spiritual substance to the earthly body, and the inner spiritual part can then in its independent alertness move away from the resting body

There arises then the possibility of the ascent of the spiritual part higher into planes in which someone already waits who is a guide to this part, or who is perhaps a messenger from the heights, or who at other times is a teacher for the imparting of new knowledge about the work of Creation

However many meanings such a naturally healthy release of the inner spiritual part, which is in its foundation of purer origin, may have, it is always a beneficial happening, proportionate to the possibility of openness to the inflow of luminous strengthening

Many people thus draw for themselves in the time of the earthly sleep of the body a blessing of which in their conscious daytime they have not the slightest inkling

Only here and there something faintly flashes up as an echo during the day, as though something remarkable were recalled which man has already experienced

People call these remarkable moments, which remind them that they have already once experienced something which is then in some form recalled during the day

As a rule, however, it is only the echo of what was shown to them or what they were permitted to experience beforehand, at the time when the body and the brain rested in the time of night

There is much still which people will only gradually come to know, as great discoveries, although it is all only part of the gracious happenings which have been here from the very beginning so that the human spirit might fully use every single moment of its existence

The spirit does not need to rest in the way that the gross material body and the brain need it

That gives it the possibility of continual progress forward, provided however that the spirit is living and alert within itself

A sleeping spirit, or one whose flame of the spark is lukewarm, is not capable of anything of the kind, because such strength as a rule does not suffice for the loosening from the sleeping body and for the rising upwards to the luminous planes

Therefore also many people experience nothing uplifting and strengthening in the night, although they could quite certainly experience it

They could experience almost every night much that is beautiful and strengthening precisely for their time of day

The state of their bondage they determine for themselves through their wrong attunement to all manner of side-issues before sleep

The present time could help them very much, for the inflow of the Light from the heights literally offers to every man the granting of refreshment

It has, however, a condition, which lies in the inner longing of man for the Light

Without this longing no inner connection comes about which would otherwise at once work with a wonderfully strengthening effect

Many important things come to people today precisely in the time of sleep

Much wise knowledge is given to them, which equips them for the right walking through the time of day-consciousness

Many people also bear within themselves the experience that in sleep a certain spiritual intimation about some matter was granted to them even before the actual happenings then took place in the time of day

It is a sign that in the finer happenings around the earth momentous events are taking place, which are called forth by the nearness of the Ray of Parzival

Let no one therefore any longer let the blessed time of sleep pass by unused by his spirit

Truly everyone should occupy himself with this in all seriousness, for therein lies much needed refreshment for man in these days

The need of sufficient healthy sleep in the time of night is a part of spiritual progress

No work done in the wakefulness of the brain can replace this part of the activity of the spirit

The spirit needs to be borne higher in order to draw all that is prepared for it and which in the waking day-consciousness cannot come to it, for the activity of the brain hinders it therein

Therefore it is so very needful to learn at last to sleep healthily and to the full in the time of night

It is all supremely important in the coming time of great enlightenment