It takes great effort and awareness to develop wisdom that can shed light on enlightenment, and personal development, as it relates to the contemporary affairs of the outer world. Spiritual development is about integrating the inner with the outer and finding wisdom in both. To find wisdom, we seek all the places where life springs forth anew. Living-thinking springs from a heart that has ‘warmed up’ thinking. This higher thinking, referred to by Rudolf Steiner as Moral Imagination, has the power and brilliance to see ‘into’ things, both within the self and in the outer world around us. Burying our head in the sand or withdrawing into our shell doesn’t advance spiritual development; for it is the interaction between the inner (personal) and the outer (other) that quickly develops the soul and spirit.

 

In Buddhism they call the inner path the ‘small boat’ and the integration of the inner and outer path the ‘big boat.’ The small boat (Hinayana) helps the person who cannot control his lower appetites and desires, and it usually requires retreat from the outside world and living in a community of like-minded people who restrict exposure to the temptations of the outer world — where the Seven Deadly Sins run rampant.