Preparation for the Instructions of the Second and Third Main Levels

the visits, they often enliven and animate their mental work.

§. 29.

In this mental adventure, three objects are particularly to be observed:
1, the power of inspiration in and of itself.
2, the quality, and
3, the effect of that which acts upon it.

§. 30.

ad I-mum regarding the first, we would have that the power of inspiration is a free, independent, abstract power in the strictest sense.

ad II-dum regarding the second, the quality of the person upon whom it is to act must be so qualified and prepared that such a passing power easily and without difficulty finds an impression; and this quality is, in a good sense, noble enthusiasm. What we understand by this expression of enthusiasm in a good sense, and not in an abusive sense, you will find clearly explained in the following.

ad III-tium regarding the third, the effect of that [power] in the moment when one enjoys this irradiation—whether one is thinking, writing, or speaking—is an inspiration In the original German, the author distinguishes Begeisterung (enthusiasm/being inspired) from Enthusiasmus (the state of being prepared). In English, both are often synonymous, but here Begeisterung denotes the active state of being inspired..

§. 31.

The strange phenomenon which we perceive here is that even the person to whom this moment of inspiration—spoken or written down—is communicated, if he is only properly prepared, feels the same thing, and it makes the same impression upon him as if he had been directly inspired by this high power.

§. 32.

We must now observe these three concepts, namely that of inspiration, enthusiasm, and being inspired, and know how to distinguish them. Thus, inspiration is the external power and the cause of being inspired. Enthusiasm is the means for the receptivity of this inspiration, and being inspired is the effect of inspiration.

§. 33.

Closer examples and parables, both of the power of inspiration and of that of divination, of which we will speak in the following, can be brought forward enough to make the demonstration more understandable and comprehensible.

§. 34.

Inspiration is to be compared to an electric spark. Enthusiasm, as a positive electric body, to a conductor. The opposite of enthusiasm—stolid, joyous, clever, etc.—to a negative body, or, depending on the nature of the place and circumstances, to a positively isolated body; and being inspired to a battery which is charged by means of the conductor.

§. 35.

We find even closer examples in the practice of the same. When someone reads the writings of the very person whom he considers to be so well-read, or sees them performed in actions, [by the person] whom the power of inspiration dictated to them, he hears, as it were, the movement of this powerful force in its various degrees at a distance, and is stirred more or less, but always vehemently, according to the measure of his own disposition. One understands, therefore, how capable this power is of true emanation.

§. 36.

It is superfluous to cite such writings that are of this kind. All few-thinking minds did not succumb to this exercise, more or less violently and less so in their lives. It remains only to be stated here that this high power acts quickly, like lightning, upon its favorites; that it visits us only occasionally as a completely free and independent being, and lingers longer with one than with another; and finally, that the person whom it happily surprises and touches must follow its rapid flight without splitting hairs, without deceiving himself, without investigating, and without asking.

§. 37.

Everything that we have said so far about the, so to speak, enchanting power of inspiration, the same also holds true for the power of divination, only qualified by even higher and more important properties.

§. 38.

We said in § 25 that inspiration acts upon the mind Geist spirit/intellect and divination upon the soul Seele. Before we go further, therefore, we must indispensably explain the concepts and the associated properties of both the spirit and the soul.