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The guardian of the threshold is a technical esoteric term and is related to the spiritual development of the individual and of humanity as a whole. The guardian of the threshold guards the threshold to the spiritual world.

Human development can be progressive, oriented towards spiritual values or ideals, or it can be regressive, directed by desires, passions and dependencies. Human beings repeatedly find themselves caught between these two forces. As long as they do not recognise and overcome the latter, they follow their lower self and cannot cross the boundary into the spiritual world. They must develop insight and discernment in order to cross the boundary.

The guardian of the threshold, a rather little-known concept, also encompasses events that every human being is familiar with in one form or another, whether it be overcoming the fear of taking the next step when climbing a difficult section of a mountain, or being confronted with something inevitable due to an external event such as a separation, a conflict, an illness or a death.

Many such threshold experiences are also conveyed in sacred writings, legends and myths. 

== Meaning and concept ==
In various spiritual movements such as [[A:Theosophy|Theosophy]], the [[A:Rosicrucians|Rosicrucians]], [[W:Archeosophy|Archeosophy]], [[A:Anthroposophy|Anthroposophy]], but also in the [[A:Bhagavad Gita|Bhagavad Gita]], it is assumed that there is not just one life, but that humans go through several lives or incarnations. The Guardian of the Threshold is therefore associated with the concept of karma (Sanskrit कर्म, [[W:IAST|IAST]] ''karma'', English "action, activity, work"). Karma, in the sense of a universal law, encompasses the good and bad deeds and thoughts of a past life, which are stored in the human being and initially determine their life to a certain extent.

The Guardian of the Threshold is unredeemed karma. The realisation that humans must come to is that they themselves are the cause of their own destiny. On the one hand, the Guardian of the Threshold is a ghostly, terrifying, but also wise figure. On the other hand, he protects humans from gaining insight into the higher worlds prematurely and unprepared, as this can lead to their downfall.

== The threshold as a symbol ==
In sacred buildings such as churches, a threshold or door symbolically and architecturally separates the profane or everyday space from the sacred or transcendent sacred space. By crossing the threshold, people are supposed to visualise the transition into a sacred world.

== Culture and Art ==

=== The Novel Zanoni ===
The term "guardian of the threshold" also became known through the novel ''[[Wen:Zanoni|Zanoni]]'' by [[W:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton|Edward Bulwer-Lytton]] (1803–1873), which is mentioned in theosophy and anthroposophy:

"Know, at least, that all of us – the highest and the wisest – who have, in sober truth, passed beyond the threshold, have had, as our first fearful task, to master and subdue its grisly and appalling guardian."

In ''Zanoni'', the guardian appears as a sensually/physically visible figure. According to [[Rudolf Steiner]], the guardian of the threshold can be made visible through low magic using incense. He points out the danger of going astray if one encounters one's unredeemed karma in this form without sufficient preparation:

"However, if we have sufficiently prepared ourselves for higher perception, we no longer need such sense-perceptible props. On the other hand, if we confront our unredeemed karma without adequate preparation, we risk going badly astray."

=== The Mystery Play "The Guardian of the Threshold" ===
Rudolf Steiner's four [[A:Rudolf Steiner's Mystery Dramas|mystery dramas]] artistically explore the spiritual development of individual human beings. Various effects of fate are explicitly linked to past lives and the concepts of karma and reincarnation.

The Guardian of the Threshold, who is associated with the idea of karma, is portrayed in the third mystery drama of the same name. This mystery drama is entitled ''The Guardian of the Threshold''.

The Guardian speaks in the 7th scene:

<poem style="margin-left:31px"> 

Thou must first part with many of those powers Which thou hast won when in thine earthly frame. Out of them all thou canst alone retain That which by efforts, pure and spiritual, Thou didst achieve, and which thou hast kept pure.

<poem style="margin-left:31px">

„Du mußt dich trennen erst von vielen Kräften,

Die du im Erdenleibe dir erworben.

Behalten kannst du doch von ihnen nur,

Was sich in geistig reinem Streben dir

Erschlossen und auch rein verblieben ist.“

These statements make it clear that insights into the spiritual worlds depend on overcoming impure forces.


It [Remark:The threshold] demands the utmost all of the forces of thinking, feeling and willing, and therefore, for the coming year, a daily, persevering and indispensable effort for truth, differentiation and goal realisation is required. A day without this effort throws the human being back into isolation and lack of relationship.

== Forward-looking hypothesis ==
In summary, it can be said that a person who trains themselves spiritually will encounter the little guardian of the threshold at a precisely calculated moment of wisdom. Crossing the threshold and gaining insight into the world of the soul are associated with the high demand of taking full responsibility for one's own actions and thoughts and completely transforming the karmic figure with discipline and perseverance/endurance. The little guardian of the threshold represents the karma that must be overcome, while the great guardian of the threshold, as a figure of light, points more to the future and represents the divine-spiritual aspect of the human being as a potential to be developed.

From a spiritual point of view, the whole of humanity today stands at the threshold between the earthly and the spiritual world. In order to overcome this and gain orientation, an exact distinction must be developed between between that which is transient and insignificant on one hand and that which is of higher value with a lasting character on the other hand.