Spontaneous "clairvoyance" and symbolic transcendence are unreliable, unconvincing and/or impossible for many - so it is in Thinking that we attain contact with the divine and the spiritual

Modern people are no longer (since their young childhoods) able to live spontaneously and naturally (and mostly unconsciously) in the realms of the divine and spiritual - as seems to have been (mostly) the case for our tribal ancestors. 

Neither does the intermediate symbolism and ritual of religion "work" as a pathway to the divine and spiritual in the way it did throughout most of history - the effectiveness of such intermediaries is either much weaker, much less consistent between people, or doesn't work at all. 

Therefore Modern Man has a problem!

I owe to Rudolf Steiner the insight that the proper mode in which "Modern Men" (such as you and me) can and should achieve contact with the divine, and the realms of spirit, is Thinking. 

But most of our thinking, most of the time, is utterly mundane in content and carries no necessary meaning. 

So, it is apparent that only some kinds of thinking can do what is needful - and these I have variously-characterized as Primary Thinking, Heart Thinking and Direct Knowing. (All these are intended to refer to the same phenomenon; variously approached and conceptualized.) 

Experience at trying to become aware of such Thinking (and observing the experiences of others) leads me to infer that this kind of Thinking can only happen when motivations are of the right kind - and that generic or abstract aspirations to be or do "good" do not suffice to produce the right motivations. 

So this kind of Thinking cannot be done by just wanting and trying; our motivations must really-be such as to align in harmony with divine creation. 

And when this happens; then Primary Thinking is what we are doing - if we can but recognize it. 

I also infer that exercises and techniques do not work when it comes to achieving the right motivations to contact the divine and the spiritual realm. 

Steiner himself produces great swathes of tedious and tendentious nonsense when he was wrongly motivated - despite his high mastery of meditational methods; and despite that he was genuinely motivated to "be loving to everyone" and to "help other people" - albeit in a necessarily generic and abstract way. 

Steiner seems to have supposed that his benign feelings towards the Anthroposophical Society; or his desire to help those such as teachers, doctors, agriculturalists who approached him for guidance; would be a sufficient motivation. 

But the results demonstrate that this was in practice insufficient to prevent his outpourings on these (and many, many other) subjects including a lot of memory regurgitation and sheer invention; and failing to rise to the level of reality (or even objective validity).

 

What can be done? 

Lacking a valid blueprint of what it is to Be Good, or even to Want Good - how can we proceed?

As usual, when there is no positive formula; we can only try to avoid that which is negative and preventive; seek and embrace our personal inspiration and aspiration in concrete situations, wherever it may be found; and then recognize and "go with" Primary Thinking when we are aware that it is happening.