“Through a deepening of social life, a new understanding of man must be found, and must permeate human development. Instead of having eyes only for the man of the flesh, apprehending him in a naturalistic way, devoid of spirit, we must reach the stage of a spirit-filled social organism, wherein the activity of the gods in other man can be recognized.

         But we shall not attain this unless we do something about it. One thing we can do is to strive to deepen our own life of the soul. There are many paths to that. I will mention one, a meditative path.

         From various points of view, and with various aims, we can cast a backward glance over our own lives. We can ask ourselves: how has this life of mine unfolded since childhood?

         But we can do this also in a special way. Instead of bringing before our gaze what we ourselves enjoyed or experienced, we can turn our attention to the persons who have figured in our lives as parents, brothers and sisters, friends, teachers, and so on, and we can summon before our soul the inner nature of each of these persons in place of our own. After a time, we shall find ourselves reflecting how little we really owe to ourselves, and how much has flowed into us from others.

         … whoever undertakes this again and again… when he meets another man and develops a personal relationship with him, an imagination of the other man’s true being will arise before him.”

• Inner Aspect Of The Social Question, Feb. 4, 1919, Zurich pp. 18-19