Steiner Studies. International Journal for Critical Steiner Research
The concept of an adversarial ‘guardian’ can be found in various areas of culture, ranging from myths and religions to works of literature and deep psychology. Often this adversary is deeply connected to a protagonist. The adversary challenges, tests, or even helps the main character. With his idea of the ‘guardian of the threshold’, Rudolf Steiner presents a unique approach to this archetype. This article sets out to give an overview of all of Steiner’s statements about the ‘guardian’. Tensions within the ‘guardian’ concept are identified and discussed. For example, there is tension between statements claiming that the ‘guardian’ is inside or part of the human being and statements claiming that the ‘guardian’ is independent of the human being. A novel interpretative perspective is suggested, namely that humanity itself may be understood in a certain way as a ‘guardian’ of the spiritual world. Overall, this article attempts to systematize the fundamentals of Steiner’s ‘guardian’ concept and hence lays a ground for more in-depth studies. One such study will be provided in a follow-up to this article.
There are different approaches one can take in relation to the concept of the ‘guardian of the threshold’ in Rudolf Steiner’s work. One may view this concept from a comparative perspective, investigating similarities to other figures, such as the devil in Christianity and Mara in Buddhism.1 Such a comparative perspective may result in the ‘reciprocal illumination’ of terms from different traditions.2 One may also view the ‘guardian’ concept in relation to certain experiences one can have during meditation. Recent studies indicate that experiences involving the ‘guardian’ during meditation indeed take place and may be common.3 For example, around 25 % of regular meditators have had very unpleasant experiences while meditating.4 For Steiner, the encounter with the ‘guardian of the threshold’ is a key experience for meditators, an experience where they must face the hidden, difficult aspects of themselves. Steiner’s idea of the ‘guardian’ may contribute to this kind of research in that it exemplifies how challenging experiences may be viewed in relation to narrative structures focusing on personal growth. One may also view Steiner’s notion of the ‘guardian’ in a psychological perspective, investigating the connection between nightmare experiences and sleep paralysis.5 That such a connection may exist can be inferred from commonalties between nightmare and sleep paralysis experiences (such as the experience of an ‘evil presence’), or it can be made based on some statements by Steiner.6 In any case, such a perspective may be taken as the starting point for a ‘building block’ approach to spiritual experience,7 which investigates how certain perhaps physiologically or otherwise conditioned phenomena give rise to interpreting the experience of an ‘evil presence’ positively, namely as encounter with a spiritual entity.8
