This is the text of a talk I gave at Emerson College on Easter Sunday, 9th April 2023, as part of the Easter Festival organised by the Anthroposophical Society in Sussex (ASiS).
A little while ago, Eva Davies and I were having a conversation about the role today of a local society like ASiS and asking ourselves, if it’s not too absurd a question, what on earth can a handful of people like us do in the face of the overwhelming onslaught of evil throughout the world?
As there are some of us here who are fairly new to anthroposophy, it should be explained that the founder of anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner, possessed exceptional faculties of clairvoyant consciousness. For him, unlike for most of us, the heavenly world of higher beings was completely open; and he was able to use his faculties to extend scientific research beyond the existing parameters of natural science, so as to investigate the non-physical, spiritual realities of life. Steiner’s viewpoint, which could be described as esoteric or cosmic Christianity, went beyond the teachings of the Catholic and Protestant Churches but was nevertheless fundamentally Christian and he was able through his researches to describe the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ as the central point of human evolution.
Interestingly, Steiner does not make a straight distinction between Good on the one hand and Evil on the other. Instead, he identifies two poles of Evil, which he calls Lucifer and Ahriman. Between these two poles, Christ holds the balance in the middle. Steiner saw Lucifer and Ahriman as not only forces or tendencies which affect humankind and draw us towards evil; but he also saw them as actual beings, who have had or are about to have physical incarnations. Lucifer’s incarnation was in China, in about 2500 BC. The incarnation of Christ was 2000 years ago, as we know. Ahriman’s incarnation is due about now, which is why we’re having such difficult times.
Steiner has told us that the incarnation of Ahriman is due “before even a part of the third of millennium after Christ will have passed” and cannot be averted. It will happen. He has also told us: it can bring good over the long term insofar as we wake up to the spirit through resistance against Ahriman’s materialistic impulses. But if Ahriman is not recognised, his influence will be harmful. Steiner also said at a meeting with young people in Breslau (which was then in Germany and is now Wroclaw in Poland), that Ahriman will do everything in his power to advance the moment of his incarnation as much as he can. Steiner then mentions the year 1998, which for anyone interested in numerology is 666 multiplied by 3. I’m intrigued to note that it was about then, actually in 1999, that Vladimir Putin came to power.
We are undoubtedly living in the precursor years of Ahriman’s incarnation, even if not yet during the actual incarnation. The signs are all around us and like me, you will probably have your own list of Ahrimanic phenomena in our times. There are so many to choose from, ranging from the apparently trivial to the alarmingly serious and it is difficult to keep up with all the negative developments that are happening throughout the world. Thank goodness there are also many positive developments which seem to arise in response to the Ahrimanic symptoms.
For me, Covid has been one of the most significant of the Ahrimanic phenomena. Covid is a viral disease, which means that it is mineral in nature and does not have its own life processes, and therefore needs a host organism so it can reproduce itself. But it also has astonishing intelligence, for example in the resistance it can develop to medicines, or in the way it can mutate, partly in response to vaccinations. But I can’t help asking, where does this astonishing intelligence live? In what being does this intelligence reside?
Second, the Covid pandemic produced fear, much of it stoked by deliberate government policy, as well as anxiety and division between people, even within families. It also led governments to dismantle existing civil liberties with an ease that they had not expected to find in Western democracies. It became impossible to have a fruitful exchange of views between different standpoints and we saw instead heightened emotions, rejection and hatred of other people’s opinions. This process was driven even further by our news outlets and social media, who censored the views of anyone, even distinguished professors of medicine, whose expert opinion did not fit the official line. Some of you may remember what happened to the Great Barrington Declaration, which was rubbished by the WHO. Again, one must ask: whose interests are being served by this fracturing of social cohesion?
And of course, Russia’s illegal and brutal war in Ukraine is another prime symptom of the Ahrimanic assault on humanity. At first, it was almost impossible to believe that such a thing could be happening, that in the 21st century one European nation could invade another to seize its territory and kill and terrorise its people. And yet it has happened and is continuing, with no sign of an end to these horrors. Vladimir Putin has turned Russia into a rogue state, a mafia-led kleptocracy, a pariah among nations and all the more terrible because it possesses over 6000 nuclear weapons. The Russian Army, in directing its assault on the ordinary citizens of Ukraine, has become a byword for corruption and brutality, inhumanity and incompetence. Russia, in the words of one Russian journalist who dares to oppose Putin’s war, will wash in the shame of these actions for decades to come. And now we are beginning to see a growing alliance between Russia and China, two autocracies finding common cause in opposition to the Western democracies and bringing with them the possibility of World War III over Taiwan.
What times we are living through! And of course there are so many other symptoms we could notice, whether it’s artificial intelligence and the gradual merging of humans and machines, about which even Elon Musk has called for a 6-month pause to assess the dangers; climate breakdown; the subversion of truth and morality in the post-Truth society; GMO and gene editing, about which the latest UK Government law, the so-called Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 23rd March. Poor King Charles! I can’t believe he was happy to sign that into law.
Here, I think, it is relevant to quote what Rudolf Steiner had to say in the Karmic Relations lecture given in Dornach on 4th August, 1924:
“For the anthroposophist this proverb must hold good. He must say to himself: ‘Now that I have become an anthroposophist through my karma, the impulses which have been able to draw me to Anthroposophy require me to be attentive and alert.’”
Yes: we must be attentive and alert; and Steiner has also said that: “The important thing is that humanity should not sleep through Ahriman’s appearance.” This brings me back to the question I asked earlier: what should be the role of a local society like ASiS and what can a handful of anthroposophists do in the face of developing evil throughout the world? Eva Davies and I, during the conversation which prompted these thoughts, came to the conclusion that one of the most useful things we can do is really to be attentive and alert to any and every manifestation of Ahrimanic impulses in the world – to really see what is going on and come to a view on where these diverse phenomena are leading us. We won’t be able to change them – but by seeing them for what they are, we remove part of their power over us. But it’s quite astonishing how insidious and subtle these Ahrimanic influences are, and the ability they have to manifest in the most unexpected places; and I’d like to share with you just two, rather startling and shocking examples that I’ve noticed.
And because today is Easter Day, I’ll begin with a threat to Easter from a most unexpected source. Easter is of course a ‘moveable feast’, meaning that it is a festival whose date changes each year. To state it as simply as possible, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring Equinox on 21stMarch. It can be as early as 22nd March, as it was in 1761 and 1818, but will not be again until 2285. It can be as late as 25th April but that hasn’t happened since 1943 and won’t recur until 2038. The commonest date for Easter Sunday is 19th April though the full cycle of Easter dates only repeats after 5,700,000 years.
Now all this is of course very untidy and much annoys bureaucrats, atheists and planners, all of whom would like to have fixed public holiday dates – but such people are wholly ignorant of the fact that on the true Easter Sunday intensified cosmic energies flow into the earth.
To back up that statement, I’m going to refer to some remarkable experiments done by Lili Kolisko (1889 – 1976), who did investigative scientific work into etheric formative forces, following indications given by Rudolf Steiner. She had shown that it was possible to get an image of the life-force of a plant by making a highly potentised solution of the plant essence through very great dilution, and then adding a solution of certain minerals which represent planetary forces – Silver Nitrate, Iron Sulphate or Gold Chloride. A piece of litmus paper is placed upright in a saucer with the solution and the liquid, rising to a certain height, shows the most striking colours and shapes which reveal the invisible etheric forces working in the plant. The technique is known as capillary dynamolysis.
In 1943, by which time Mrs Kolisko was living in the UK and carrying out daily experiments with capillary dynamolysis, Easter fell shortly after the equinox on 28th March. The church authorities in England had ruled that the Easter Full Moon should be considered to be a month later and that the festival should be celebrated on 25th April. The Astronomer Royal, however, disagreed and maintained that the earlier date was correct. Mrs Kolisko set out through her experiments to see which of them was right. Every day she repeated her experiments and a certain pattern showed itself again and again, until on Sunday 28th March a resplendent form of shape and colour appeared, quite different from the others. So the Astronomer Royal was correct and the church authorities got it wrong – on their preferred Sunday of 25th April there was no difference from the pattern of any other day.
A similar strengthening of the etheric forces was revealed on the true Whitsuntide, which is also a moveable feast because it is always on the seventh Sunday after Easter. So to anyone looking at the photos of these experiments, there can be no doubt whatever that a remarkable inpouring of spiritual power takes place on the true Easter Sunday and at Whitsun. It indicates that both Easter and Whitsun are cosmic events. These photos can be seen in a monograph by Lili Kolisko, called Spirit in Matter – just google for it and you will find it.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful for the Ahrimanic forces if they could somehow undermine the cosmic power of Easter Day? Well, they have found a way to do this and I’m sorry to say that it involves the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
In 2016, Archbishop Justin announced how, after more than a thousand years of Easter being a moveable feast, he had hopes of reaching agreement with the other churches to settle upon a fixed date for Easter. He said he would “love” to see Easter become a fixed date by the time he retires.
Mr Welby said that he will consult with other authorities including Pope Francis and the Coptic Pope to negotiate a change to the date. It is very unlikely that any change will be made without the full assent of all those authorities. So with the active help of the Archbishop of Canterbury and possibly the leaders of other churches as well, Easter is likely to become a fixed date in the calendar and thus an event of cosmic significance, which is the occasion for a huge influx of spiritual power that affects all life on Earth, will be diminished to no more than an ordinary day. It would prevent humans from participating in this cosmic event, which as Rudolf Steiner told Ita Wegman offers a moment of revelation in which Christ may be experienced. What a great result for Ahriman, made even more satisfying by the fact that it is the leaders of the Christian churches who will have brought it about!
But even the undermining of Easter as a cosmic event might be considered less important than what Ahriman appears to be working on in connection with reincarnation. Those of you who are sports fans will probably not like what I’m about to say. Just over 100 years ago, Rudolf Steiner warned in a lecture given on 9th July 1918 (GA181) about high initiates in Anglo-American circles (by this he means secret brotherhoods of oppositional powers) who have a programme to undermine gradually the normal process of reincarnation. This is what Steiner had to say:
“They cultivate especially the powers of perception belonging to the body which strengthen the subjection of man to the body, through the incoming of forces not belonging entirely to the body but binding it to the earth. (…) A strong physical sense of relationship between the human body and the earthly elements is to be acquired. This strong feeling of relationship between the creature in the physical body and the earth exists to-day in certain species of apes, which have it as their soul-life. In them it can be studied physiologically and zoologically. What is present there can be gradually formed into a “system of instruction for human beings”; all that has to be done is to develop the coarse side of relationship with nature into a system of bodily education. (In saying this I am neither railing nor criticising; I am merely stating facts.) Thus it will be possible to bring about a sort of practical Darwinism, intensifying the relation of man to what binds him to the earth in a certain sense, to “monkeyfy” him. That is the practical side. It will be pursued through the intensive cultivation — ostensibly instinctive but in fact carefully directed — of sports and such-like things. This fetters the soul, drawing it into a sense of kinship with the earthly, with the earth itself, and so a spiritual ideal such as I have described is set up. By this means the continuing alternation of spiritual life and physical life will be overcome, and by degrees the ideal will be realised of living in future periods of earth-evolution as a kind of “phantom”; of dwelling on earth in this guise.” In other words, a kind of ghost, unable to move on to the heavenly world after death.
Steiner was not an enthusiast for sport and there are many quotations demonstrating this. Here is just one: “The excessive pursuit of sport is Darwinism in practice. Theoretical Darwinism is to assert that man comes from the animals. Sport is practical Darwinism, it proclaims an ethic which leads man back again.” (Study of Man, Lecture 13)
Returning to Steiner’s 1918 lecture (GA181), he went on to say that: “The Anglo-American people (and I think by this phrase he means the secret brotherhoods referred to earlier) strives for this strange ideal: no longer to return into earthly bodies, but to have an ever-increasing influence on the earth through the medium of living souls, whilst they themselves become more and more earthbound as disembodied souls. A very interesting point is that this ideal can be appropriately followed only by the male population, and hence, in spite of all political endeavours, an increasing difference between men and women will arise in Anglo-American civilization. Anglo-American spiritual life will in essence descend to future ages through women; while that which lives in male bodies will strive towards such an ideal as I have described. This will set the pattern of the future Anglo-American race.”
Now because what Steiner has to say here is so startling, let us try to be clear about his meaning. He is saying that the over-emphasis on sports, games, athletics and so on are among the forces of hindrance in modern civilisation. This is because the concentration on physical prowess and skill fetters the soul, in his phrase, drawing it too closely to kinship with the earth, so that after death, instead of making the normal transition to the spiritual world and to eventual reincarnation, the soul stays not just disembodied but also earthbound – it is unable to move on to the heavenly world. And these disembodied souls who remain close to the earth then have the ability to influence living souls on earth with the Ahrimanic illusion that the only reality lies in materialism. That is a truly startling observation, which he followed up by saying that it is male bodies who will be most affected by this and therefore Anglo-American spiritual life will in essence descend to future ages through women. My assumption about this statement is that in Steiner’s day, the audiences at football and other sports were overwhelmingly male; and the women therefore were less likely to succumb to the unseen soul influences present at those events. And perhaps we might also say that the devotion required to be a mother (and protect the next generation) and the channelling of spiritual forces in childbirth predisposes women to a higher attunement to wellbeing and family harmony – hence women have an increased likelihood of possessing loving heart forces naturally resistant to Ahrimanic impulses.
But Steiner was of course speaking over 100 years ago and the situation regarding women and sport has been transformed since then. We now have enthusiasm throughout the world, not just in the Anglo-American countries, for women and girls’ football. The FIFA Women’s World Cup was first held in China in 1991 and 176 national teams now participate internationally. Here in the UK, the England women’s team is praised for being more successful than the men’s team and players have recently been awarded MBEs and OBEs. The sport is poised to grow and grow, with women and girls being encouraged to take part at all levels of the game. Even in the Middle East and North Africa, countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Palestine, Turkey, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Israel have had large-scale competitions and national teams – and since 2020, countries that have traditionally been seen as extreme like Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Mauritania and Sudan have begun to develop women’s football in order to raise their international profiles and to distance themselves from their conservative pasts.
Steiner was warning not of the elimination of the knowledge of reincarnation but the gradual elimination of reincarnation itself. One has to ask: Is the worldwide growth of women’s football just one indication among many that Ahriman is working far more effectively for this end than even Steiner himself had supposed? And what is it that these Ahrimanic beings are seeking to bring about? According to Steiner: “They set themselves the task of keeping man on the Earth by every possible means. You know from the book Occult Science that the Earth will one day pass over into the Jupiter condition. That is what these beings want to prevent. They want to prevent man from developing in a regular way together with the Earth and then passing over into the Jupiter condition in a normal way. They want to preserve the Earth as Earth and mankind for the Earth. Hence these beings work unceasingly and with great intensity to achieve their purpose.” (1922-12-03-GA219)
Now, I am not a fan of sport – I’d much rather read a book or listen to music or do some gardening – so perhaps I can be accused of bias; and when I discussed Steiner’s ideas recently with a well-known anthroposophist and sports fan in this village, he thought what I was saying was nonsense – so I am under no illusion that what I’ve just said will gain any acceptance even in our own circles, let alone in the wider world. But Steiner did not criticise modern sport and athletics because he wasn’t interested in them, but because of the effects he could perceive them having on us. He saw much of sport as being unhelpful in what he considered to be really important, ie that we should realise that we are not just creatures of flesh and blood but that we are actually spiritual beings who are currently having human experiences within our physical bodies. You are of course free to assert that Steiner was wrong about sport and its effects – but then I think you have to explain how and why Steiner was wrong.
There’s no doubt that Ahriman has an easier task than one could wish. He finds it easy to persuade humans to give up their future to him, because Ahriman can work through the seat of our desires – our pride, greed, laziness, lust or wish for power – but Christ can only work through our I or individuality and this means that the struggle is not an equal one. Our individuality has so to develop itself that it can in time learn to recognise and resist the many temptations offered by Lucifer and Ahriman. The two forces work in harmony at the present time, even though they appeal to different instincts in us. The way to deal with these two poles of Evil is to seek the balance in the middle, which is represented by Christ.
And I also have to acknowledge that, although Steiner talks about the “regular” way in which Earth and humanity evolve together and the “normal” way in which the Earth will pass one day into the Jupiter condition, how many of our fellow humans actually believe these things? By the time after many aeons when the Jupiter condition occurs, humans will no longer be in physical bodies. I’m fairly sure that most humans may not like the sound of this and would much prefer to stay with what they know, which is what Ahriman is offering them, ie to keep humankind earthbound and in physical bodies. Better the Devil you know, especially when he offers you such a wide range of sports and entertainments…
And whether you agree with Steiner or not, the real challenge of these times is how to get through them without succumbing to despair. For me, the pain consists of seeing what is happening and realising that the vast majority of our fellow human beings, although they know that we are living in a troubled world, are oblivious to what is really going on. And what I think is really going on, to borrow the title of a book by Bernard Lievegoed, is The Battle for the Soul. According to Lievegoed, because the human spirit is unassailable, the opposing powers therefore direct their efforts against the soul. The human soul is the real battlefield of the war between the powers of good and evil. What the Ahrimanic powers are attempting is to obscure the human soul or even to destroy it, so that the human ‘I’ is unable to gain experience through it.
Ahriman is also working very hard to ensure that we humans are unaware of the second coming of Christ, which according to Rudolf Steiner will not be a physical incarnation this time around. That was done once and for all 2000 years ago and will not be repeated. Steiner says that since about 1933, the Christ has been available to human beings in the etheric field and that more and more of us will be able to have the experience of an encounter with Christ. We know how Ahriman dealt with this threat in 1933, by bringing Hitler to power in Germany, thus creating more assaults on the human soul that diverted us from awareness of what was happening in the etheric realm. By keeping the eyes of most of humanity fixed firmly on the material world, and completely unaware of any other reality, Ahriman has kept knowledge of the second coming from our souls.
In 1916, Rudolf Steiner said that at the beginning of the 21st century, evil will appear in a form which at that time could not be described. His audience in 1916, even though they were enduring the horrors of the First World War, would not have been able to understand or take in a detailed description of the evils which we ourselves are having to live through at this time. As I mentioned during the Michaelmas address last September, the ecological crisis and the multiple other crises confronting humanity are at root just one crisis, that of our human consciousness. The state of the outer world is a direct reflection of the state of the human soul.
But before we sink into despair, let us remind ourselves of the larger context. The Earth is the location for human evolution, even though in our real natures, human beings are not earthly creatures, but are instead of spiritual and cosmic origin. The human body is a sheath, a container for soul and spirit. We had to sink into earth-bound materialism in order to understand what freedom means and to make a positive choice for freedom. But now, during this age of the Consciousness Soul, we are learning that lesson and are awakening in earthly existence to the full power of the ego, the ‘I’, and as a result we are gradually turning once again towards the cosmos.
We are at that stage now, with humankind once again on an upward journey towards our true nature. It is of course that upward trajectory which the Ahrimanic powers are seeking to divert, through various schemes to keep human beings fettered to the Earth and the prevailing materialist consciousness. Here I’d like to quote from a 1929 essay by Ita Wegman called ‘The Mystery of the Earth’, which also brings us back to Easter:
“The purpose of earthly evolution lies in this turning-back of man to the cosmos. Out of his own power the human being could never achieve this. For he could not have brought about a complete reversal in the direction which evolution took. So a cosmic impulse had to be inserted into the course of earthly and human evolution. This happened when a cosmic being, the sublime Sun Being Himself, the Christ, descended to the Earth and through His death on the cross united himself with everything terrestrial, thus transforming the Earth in its innermost essence.”
And this is a quotation from Rudolf Steiner’s Lecture VIII from The Principle of Spiritual Economy:
“… when the Mystery of Golgotha happened, human beings received the ability to muster from within the strength necessary to elevate themselves and lead themselves upward into the spiritual worlds. The Christ descended much deeper than had those previous leaders of the world and of mankind: not only did He bring heavenly forces into the earthly body, but also He spiritualized this earthly body in such a way that it now became possible for human beings to find the way back into the spiritual world with the help of these very forces.” ~Rudolf Steiner GA 109 https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/19090411p02.html
So let us try to remember that we are now on the upward path back to realising our true nature as spiritual beings who are currently having human experiences within physical bodies, despite all that Ahriman can do to deceive us. Let us do our best to be alert and attentive to all the tricks, wiles and illusions being practised on us with the aim of diverting us from our path, because by observing and identifying what is really going on, we are doing as much as we can at this time to ensure that Ahriman fails in his attempts.
It is anthroposophy which can make us aware of these larger truths and provide us with the protection we need to come through this Battle for the Soul with our essential humanity still intact. I’d like to finish this address with a verse from Rudolf Steiner, which is almost like an answer to the question Eva Davies and I had asked ourselves about the role of anthroposophists at this time. It is called ‘To the Berlin Friends’ and he wrote it in November 1923 but every word of it could have been written to describe our situation today.
Mankind is now forgetful
Of the Divine inner realm,
But it is our will to bring it
Into the clear light of consciousness,
And then bear above rubble and ashes
The divine flames in the heart of man.
Lightning-bolts may therefore shatter
Our houses in the world of sense;
We are building houses of the soul
From what is iron-firm.
Light-weaving of knowledge.
And downfall of the outer
Shall become ascent
Of innermost soul-being.
Suffering draws near
From the powers of material force;
Hope rays forth its light,
Even when darkness surrounds us;
And it will one day
Well up in our memory,
When after the darkness
We can again live in the light.
anthropopper 
Powerful and inspiring and challenging. Thank you Jeremy.
There is merit in modesty but your “failures as an anthroposophist
do not seem to prevent you from having and sharing insights that can help to heal the sickness of the world. The world anthroposophical movement is minute in the 8 billion world population. ASIS may be a homeopathic enhancement.
Positivity and optimism can combat despair about evil.
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Hello, I stumbled across your blog and found this essay interesting. I am a student of the Gnostic teachings and I may be assuming something here which I ought not to, but it is my understanding that followers of Anthroposophy are schooled in the ways of the mystery traditions. If this be the case, it should come as no surprise that the Arch Bishop of Canterbury should wish to fix the date of Easter, undermining its cosmic significance at the stroke of a pen. In Gnostic circles, it is widely understood that many high ranking leaders of the church are, sadly, members of the Black Lodge. Even without access to the “inner worlds” it ought to be possible for the spiritually minded to smell the whiff of foul play when leaders of all faiths come out in support of an experimental jab. This alone should alert the senses to the forces we are dealing with.
The danger that exists currently is, even within movements such as Anthroposophy, there are people who, at the very first sign of trouble, disengage themselves from soul and higher intellect, and duly perform elaborate mental gymnastics to justify why they were right to take the jab, if I may use that example. Didn’t Steiner himself warn of vaccines and warn that the greatest evils would masquerade as our greatest benefits? Helena P Blavatsky certainly wrote on the topic of pandemics being Astral in nature (not viruses). The list of reasons to not take the vaccine were numerous and yet people did, even people who ought to have been able to think and act rightly on the subject.
The concern that Easter will be celebrated on the wrong day is of little worry to the spiritually minded, who will intuit the correct date; the real concern is that there are people who are drawn to schools of spiritual understanding and who duly proceed to act from a place of ignorance and fear. Not only that, but then argue that they did the right thing and for noble reasons. Essentially, lying to themselves and others.
Ahriman will be well pleased with his work.
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Thanks for writing here. Steiner did warn voluminously about the Ahrimanic deception. For example, in GA 177, he warned of a time in which vaccines would inoculate the elementary spirits of birth and death, which he called, “ahriman’s messengers”, into the human soul structure. They would be felt in the body as a kind of hindrance in which the previous spontaneity of light speed first feels retarded. We never play again with the same kind of freedom.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA177/English/RSP1993/19171006p01.html
It is all exponential from there. The human machine working labor hours for Ahriman in the monetary system. The very first shot starts the process.
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It has been a while. Thank you Jeremy. Very insightful post.
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Thank you for this excellent article, much appreciated!
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Always nice to hear from you.
You remind me of this poem by Eeva Kilpi.
“Let me know right away
if I’m disturbing you.
he said
as he stepped inside my door,
and i”ll leave the way I came.
Not only do you disturb me,
I answered,
You turn my whole world
upside down.
Welcome.”
Eeva Kilpi (1928- ) Finlanda
Happy Easter, may you live as long as her.
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Thankyou so much.
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Thank you Jeremy for your wonderful insights and positive enthusiasm. Your work is very appreciated and very much needed. l live in north east Poland (a quiet, backwater of Europe in 1999 when I first chose to live here) close to Kaliningrad, Belarus and Ukraine to the south east. The events of the times we are living in, which you so clearly highlight, desperately call out to us for a rebalancing of the scales in our inner selves and I feel Steiner’s work enables this for all of us, whatever level of understanding and development we find ourselves on. I highly recommmend Steiner’s Esoteric lessons (GA 266) for personal daily soul development and out of a sense of duty. His writings are most valuable and so beautifully written. Steiner warns of the soul pains and suffering to come and our need to ‘equip’ ourselves spiritually to help ourselves to be able to help others. “Exoteric science tells us that no force is lost, and the force of pain doesn’t get lost either — it just has an effect in other regions. The pains come back as soul agony. Men will have to go through strong soul pains, and esoterics will then use the spiritual forces that they bring down from the heights to ease these sufferings.” (Esoteric lessons II, Lesson 8 – GA 266) Thank you Jeremy for sharing, I truly welcome your posts, much Love & Light…Judith
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Putin is protecting Russia from the deep state criminal activity that has found a home in the Ukraine; kind of like what it would look like if America took out the drug cartels in Mexico; not really sure what you are talking about….
you lost me bub…
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Putin is the autocratic ruler of Russia for the last 24 years. The dismantling of the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 forms the pretext for all that has come forth since then. Even the U.S.S.R had an electoral process, which could be looked upon as a form of democracy. With Putin, his rogue state of individualized countries, once united, makes him paranoid to the extreme. He even once encouraged the Baltic states to seek independence by joining the EU if they wanted to. So, what happened? Did “Deep State” make him an offer he couldn’t refuse? This reminds one of Stalin in former days, who even purged his own general staff in the lead-up to Operation Barbarossa. FDR made the offer that he couldn’t refuse, ref. Mission to Moscow, Joseph E. Davies, U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union 1936-1938.
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It’s always difficult to argue against someone who condemns the Ukraine war, since of course they’re fundamentally correct about the reprehensible nature of the conflict. But the framing is often questionable – the statement that an invasion of a European country is unthinkable, for example, seems to carry the implication that conflicts in “less-developed” countries, such as Iraq or Syria (to mention only some of the wars instigated by Russia’s enemies in the West) are somehow more thinkable, and possibly even less atrocious for being non-European.
Then of course there’s the assumption that the invasion was totally irrational, which seems to betray an ignorance of the severe, ongoing, and clearly intentional provocations that NATO’s been directing against Russia, by essentially turning Ukraine into a forward base and conducting a civil war against the Russian-speaking east, probably in an attempt to elicit exactly the reaction they eventually got.
I sometimes think anthroposophists could do with reading a lot more Chomsky, or at least other alternative thinkers, since there’s a tendency to buy into the comfortable consensus, something that Steiner never did – someone who titled a lecture series “The Fifth Gospel” can hardly be accused of being conventional. The best contemporary anthroposophical thinker I’ve read is Terry Boardman, who clearly supplements his reading of Steiner with plenty of information from alternative sources on the internet, and therefore is able to support the clear thinking cultivated by anthroposophy, with the kinds of facts and analysis you can only get by conscientiously researching all the available information, before coming to conclusions about complex issues like this war.
One thing everyone can agree on is the need to end the war as quickly as possible – but it’ll be difficult to do if one side is treated solely as an insane aggressor, without acknowledgment of what provoked the conflict. Ukraine should be free – both from compulsion by Russia, as well as manipulation by Western powers that are about as interested in their well-being as they were in any of their many other client states and attack dogs in the ignoble post-war history.
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Well, these are interesting remarks, and I thank you for the courage to care and speak up. Remember please, Chomsky was no anthroposophist, and therefore has nothing of relevance to say, and yet, this war of no account, seemingly dictated by Vladimir Putin, has been condemned no less than two times by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of the Hague, as war crimes against humanity. Yet, it goes on, when the president of Russia needs to be arrested for his crimes. That would be the first solution to this war, which is senseless and needless. It makes me think of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when JFK watched to see who would blink first. We know that the ICC needs to arrest the man behind this conspiracy. Action speaks louder than words. Then, after Putin is duly arrested, we can wait with bated breath to see what happens next. JFK is a model of what happened back then. The problem in 2023 is no guts to act upon a blasphemy in the making. Thanks for the comments, but it makes no difference for the present problem. It is a matter of removing the offending agent from power, and waiting with bated breath to see what comes next; much like the blinking issue from October 1962. Courage stands the test of time.
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I appreciate the reply! I think some of my post might have been needlessly provocative, since I wasn’t really expecting a response from an older blog post, but I appreciate it anyway! I think first, it should definitely be said that the invasion does need to be stopped, not necessarily by any means (since that might include a nuclear exchange), but as soon as possible. The first consideration should obviously be the people of Ukraine, and only the secondary concern should be analyzing how the crime was provoked, or the possible Western contribution. Though I can’t really agree that Chomsky has nothing valuable to say, since he’s not an anthroposophist. For one thing, he’s pretty much on your “side,” in the sense that he unequivocally calls it a war crime, and condemns it strongly. It would be deeply hypocritical if he didn’t, since he’s been the most outspoken critic of similar actions by Western powers. If he seems more “forgiving” of official enemies, his explanation is that we have responsibility for the actions we can directly influence first, like those of our own governments, while condemning the crimes of enemies is often correct, but not something we can directly influence.
I also think it would be a mistake to write non-anthroposophic people like Chomsky off, for one thing because we have to take information from where we can find it, and I’m not certain that anyone short of an actual clairvoyant can make decisions on things like geopolitics, without considering the actual documents that can illuminate the motivations behind the actions. For example, nationalists can simply assume that the American government “intervened” in Vietnam to protect the South Vietnamese, but examining the internal records reveals no concern about freedom, and quite a bit about control. The valuable thing Chomsky does is reveal information that most people aren’t aware of, simply because it’s kept out of public view. Everyone can make their own decisions about what that information means, but short of claiming that anthroposophists are mind readers, I’m not sure how we can make decisions about political issues without having all the relevant information.
Of course the other objection is that Chomsky, being an avowed atheist and materialist, has a fundamentally flawed view of reality. That’s certainly relevant, though I know Steiner himself admired people like Haeckel, so clearly it’s possible to take good from people we fundamentally disagree with. But Chomsky is also a strange case, since he’s a supposed materialist, who also believes in the freedom of the human spirit, who holds that human language is based on innate structures rather than the theories of behaviorism. His politics is based on the idea of innate human dignity and right to control our own lives, which seems hard to justify on the materialist worldview. This probably explains Chomsky’s obvious faults, such as his occasional snappiness and blind spots about issues like Covid. But I wonder if Chomsky might be one of those secret sheep who don’t consciously know the Christ, but who turns out to be much closer to his spirit than many who claim to know him. I certainly think personally that a future politics will have to be one where a truly global perspective is embraced, and the current Western-centric model will have to be thoroughly transformed, and maybe Chomsky can at least be a first step on that road.
I didn’t mean this to be a defense of Chomsky, especially since he hasn’t even been a particularly vocal critic of American actions in this war. But I would also point out that there isn’t a monolithic view on the anthroposophic side either, since one of the clearest analyses of Western responsibility for the war comes from Terry Boardman, who I’m sure you know. Whether that’s the most important issue right now is certainly a valid question, and I think everyone agrees the war needs to end as soon as possible, then the finger-pointing can take place later. But if it’s assumed the only question is irrational Russian aggression, and NATO actions that clearly were intended to provoke a reaction are left unchecked, the situation would only happen again. I might point out that apparently there was a proposal for peace talks on both sides, but NATO purposely scuppered them, who knows why, but we can make some fair guesses based on the interests of Western powers in retaining global control. You might as well tell Palestinians to continue fighting against the Israeli government no matter the odds, without questioning the Israeli demands or their rationale for attacking in the first place. (Not that those “peace talks”ever got anywhere, and certainly not solely because of the Palestinians.) I guess the final note is that none of us are Ukrainian soldiers, and the only thing we can do is work on the theoretical level, and try to get all the facts straight.
I remember that Chomsky once heard from Vietnamese peace activists that they didn’t need to be cheered on or have their government criticized, they just needed us to petition our own government to do what they could. Short of Nato directly attacking Russia, that means some kind of negotiation, which involves hearing both sides. We certainly got to hear plenty of our own government’s side during the Iraq war (he’s got WMDs), and the answer wasn’t to dismiss anyone who believed our side as “agents of Washington,” but to confront them with contrary facts. If Russia claims the invasion is based on attacks on ethnic Russians, and NATO provocations such as the Maidan coup, then those claims have to be disproven. Of course the war has to stop, but invalidating the Russian rationale seems like it would be an excellent first step, although disproving Western claims about WMDs had little impact on the Iraq war. The advantage is that Russia is certainly a lesser power than the West, and can conceivably be held to actual account for their crimes. Maybe information from “alternative sources” like Chomsky and Boardman can help get all the facts straight before the trial begins.
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The Maidan revolution (November 21 2013-February 22, 2014) gives clear indication that the people of Ukraine wanted to align with the EU, and then the President of Ukraine, having promised his people that this would occur, reneged on the promise, and gave his total support to Putin’s autocracy. That is why the Maidan revolution is known as “The Revolution of Dignity”. This began the clamp-down on Ukraine, the Russo-Ukraine War, and it has everything to do with Putin, and not the involvement of the west, other than the support of NATO, which is completely justified. No one ever talks about PMC Wagner, and you will find that this mercenary group was sent to Ukraine in 2014 in order to bring the criminal element into the country for eight years. Then, on February 24, 2022, Putin felt justified in cancelling all previous treaties, and invaded Ukraine in an all-out attack. If it weren’t for NATO and the EU, where would the people of Ukraine be today?
That is why this blog has taken care to investigate the mind of Vladimir Putin from an anthroposophical standpoint. I doubt that Noam Chomsky, now 94 years old, could offer anything insightful, and you seem to indicate that he never did, and also found the Covid crisis over his head. So, why refer to him just because Steiner acknowledged Haeckel? Chomsky has nothing to offer, and that is why I wrote him off right away, which appears arrogant, but really isn’t. Terry Boardman is someone who has written to this blog back in December 2018, and condones this strange support of Putin’s War, while despising his own country’s involvement. He likely has never “grokked” the real nature of the Gorbachev factor, which pertains to the figure of the so-called ‘false prophet’, which predicts the physical incarnation of Ahriman. Putin has it in spades, but people would like it to be many more years away. I say, why not face it now? It’s not like the Asuras, which is the big threat, is going away any time soon. Remember 9/11 for the pure expression of destructive power coming three years after 1998. Putin’s integer in 1999 is totally symbolic, and also real.
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It’s a difficult situation, that’s for sure. There’s always the tough question when a country that’s facing oppression decides to accept “assistance” from the world leader, and even if it turns out to be a devil’s bargain, they might decide that the inevitable price their benefactor will demand is worth it, to get rid of the immediate threat. There’s no doubt a lot of Ukrainians who want to join the West, even under the subservient conditions they’d most likely be compelled to accept (austerity measures and so on), so it’s a definite rock and hard place situation.
My understanding of the specific political events behind at least the recent conflict is somewhat different, since I’ve seen plenty of evidence of Maidan as a fairly typical “color revolution,” which at least seems to have started as a grassroots protest, but was profoundly manipulated by outside interests, like the Arab Spring, or even the Jan. 6 “uprising” in America. The massacre that led to Yanukovych’s overthrow has been pretty much proven, to my mind, to have been snipers from the opposition forces (more than likely directed by outsiders, again), and I even understand that the treaty Yanukovych rejected, which promised greater integration with the EU and led to the protests, was the kind of neoliberal “devil’s bargain” that Yanis Varoufakis rejected for Greece, and that would have turned Ukraine into the same kind of debt-ridden, servile state that the EU bankers proposed for Greece. Unfortunately I’m sure Putin’s invasion has made any kind of integration into the EU infinitely more attractive to most Ukrainians, at whatever the cost, which is enough to make you wonder if that’s exactly what certain parties wanted from the conflict.
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Since more than twenty years (Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova, Crimea), the Russian president with his crony Petersburg circle has provoked this “conflict”. Putin waged this battle by slowly destroying civil society in Russia. Meanwhile, avoiding a direct conflict with the technologically more advanced NATO-countries, his policy of multipolarity is changing the global order.
Steiner had a sharp eye for the century-long aggressive Russian panslavic imperialism and internal colonialism, which he called Russianism: “For Russianism wants to confine the Slav element within its own framework and use it as its tool. It wants to contain it within the confines of the testament of Peter the Great.” (GA173a/19161210). But Putin’s mirror-like propaganda is powerful.
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Let us also remind ourselves of the whole tenor of this thread. Jeremy said in his essay:
“And of course, Russia’s illegal and brutal war in Ukraine is another prime symptom of the Ahrimanic assault on humanity. At first, it was almost impossible to believe that such a thing could be happening, that in the 21st century one European nation could invade another to seize its territory and kill and terrorise its people. And yet it has happened and is continuing, with no sign of an end to these horrors. Vladimir Putin has turned Russia into a rogue state, a mafia-led kleptocracy, a pariah among nations and all the more terrible because it possesses over 6000 nuclear weapons. The Russian Army, in directing its assault on the ordinary citizens of Ukraine, has become a byword for corruption and brutality, inhumanity and incompetence. Russia, in the words of one Russian journalist who dares to oppose Putin’s war, will wash in the shame of these actions for decades to come. And now we are beginning to see a growing alliance between Russia and China, two autocracies finding common cause in opposition to the Western democracies and bringing with them the possibility of World War III over Taiwan.”
Now, of course, NATO has a hand in all of this orchestrated chaos, and where pure destruction is the aim, and this is because Ahriman’s “daddy” is Asuras, who fell out of evolution way back in the ancient Saturn sphere. He refused to participate in the *human condition*, which has led to the present Archai spirits working in Earth evolution. Thus, Asuras went in another direction. This diagram (previously submitted) indicates where Asuras, and his comrades, Ahriman and Lucifer reside in order to challenge human beings to wake up, be conscious, and most of all, courageous.
Reflected as sub-physical world:
Astral World …………. the province of Lucifer
Lower Devachan ……….. the province of Ahriman
Higher Devachan ………. the province of the Asuras
GA 130/118, 1 October 1911
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On asuric powers: “Despite sanctions to stifle Moscow’s war, Russia continues to import U.S. microchips and other advanced Western technologies for use in its military equipment — often through intermediary countries like China, Turkey and the UAE. Such items are crucial to Russia’s military capabilities. A recent analysis of 58 Russian military equipment found more than a thousand foreign components, primarily Western semiconductors.” (CNBC)
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Hi Ton,
It often comes down to you and I talking to each other, and this is no less the case here. There are a number of books on Putin which do not paint a pretty picture. For example, “The Less You Know, The Better You Sleep”, by David Satter, who was a journalist in Russia for a number of years until being kicked out of the country in 2014 for telling the truth about Putin.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Less_You_Know_The_Better_You_Sleep/1LEODAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
And now we hear of these excuses orchestrated by NATO of the west. Jeremy has recently been called upon to communicate, and this could set a pattern of importance in solving this problem. For my part, Putin needs to be eliminated. JFK was eliminated for far less reasons, and we all know what that brought on. The Vietnam War. We have no standard, or moral compass anymore. Is this a further diminishment of consciousness that Steiner saw working in the lead-up to WW I?
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The murdered Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and Nemtsov were all, like Satter, investigating the 1999 apartment bombings.
I don’t think NATO has anything to do with Putin’s terror motives. That seems to be propaganda, too.
The British-Russian journalist Galeotti on Putin: “Mr Putin is clearly thinking about his historical legacy and how future generations will remember him … But also, on a more pragmatic level, “the most successful police states are the ones in which those who are being controlled don’t realise it, or actually end up backing the regimes exploiting them”. For Russians, he said, there are two Putins – and it’s reflected in the fact his approval ratings tend to be about 80%, while his trust ratings lean closer to 30%. … There’s Putin, the icon of Russia – that becomes a representation … If people are asked if they approve of Putin, it’s whether you approve or not of Russia. There’s also Putin the politician, the human being, and I think that is reflected by the trust rating.”
https://news.sky.com/story/putin-the-man-and-his-motives-what-we-know-about-the-russian-dictator-12936869
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Yes, and for those that think being accused of War Crimes by the Tribunal of the ICC as a meaningless gesture, just remember Slobodan Milosevic, of the Federation of Yugoslavia. He was accused and brought to trial just when Putin was preparing himself for dictatorship, c. 1999-2000. The same rationale was used by Hitler when the Reichstag fire occurred on February 27, 1933, which is Rudolf Steiner’s birthday. It was blamed on the Communists, and Hitler made himself dictator.
Milosevic was held in prison at the Hague while his trial was ongoing, and died in 2006. His offenses have the same earmarks as Vladimir Putin. He was arrested and taken away after his resignation in 2001. That’s why Putin clings to his last measure of security, although he knows he is a marked man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slobodan_Milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87
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Now, here is the real perpetrator of the whole affair with the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. President Clinton and his negligence over the Eastern European genocide of the Bosnian’s and Kosovars over the period of his second term as POTUS, c. 1997-2000. NATO even bombed the China embassy in Yugoslavia as a calculated mistake. So, this has all been taken into consideration when looking at the NATO/American connection. It is Clinton that set the whole pretext for the War on Terror during the 1990’s when he was ignoring the genocide in Eastern Europe. He is known for saying, concerning the Rwanda Massacre of April 1994, “Did that really happen”? Yeah, it did. Clinton greased the skids for GWB, and the official onset of the War on Terror, c. 9/11/2001.
Some anthroposophists have been on to this stuff for years. They even fought the battle when the implosion theory first came forth in 2005. Of course, certain other anthro’s maintained the “official story” belief, but over the years since 2005, the truth is now known. Yet, officially, it is verboten to bring up the real evidence of the decimation of the Twin Towers, And, let’s not forget Building 7. I think the real test was to see how many could be duped. Of course, human nature assures this, and even anthroposophists fall victim today. Go figure.
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Putin had been Secretary of the Security Council and Prime Minister from March 1999 onwards.
“According to British Lieutenant-General Mike Jackson, Russia’s decision on 3 June 1999 to back the West and to urge Milošević to surrender was the single event that had “the greatest significance in ending the war”. The Yugoslav capitulation came the same day.” (wiki)
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This is important. Thanks, because it shows how carefully coordinated it all was. I got so irate with Clinton about it that I even wrote an editorial opinion to the Tacoma News Tribune about his extreme negligence in seeing how all this happened. We simply have to acknowledge, and equate the American influence in every strategic affair working in the world today. Remember, Clinton is known for wondering how the Rwanda massacre occurred in 1994. He was the POTUS who allowed it to take place as one of the factors leading to the War on Terror, c. 2001. As an American I find this all shameful, and that is why I like talking to Europeans. The Beast of the Apocalypse truly does reside here, but it is being opposed all the time with true Christianity, which has extended to Archai Michael.
As such, the physical incarnation of Ahriman has to be seen as pathetic. The Asuras is the one to watch for. He ended WWII with bombs based on nuclear fission and fusion. This proved that the USSR would eventually succumb. Then, Asuras would toy with the Russian Federation, and create more war. Truly pathetic. This is the situation today. Yet, do we lament over Vladimir Putin? How about the false prophet as seen in Mikhail Gorbachev, who destroyed a nation by invitation from America, c. Reagan-Bush, 1985-1991. This is the question. America makes everything happen. It all goes back to the founding of the (so-called) New World, which Francis Bacon envisioned as his “New Atlantis”, which would prove his Novum Organum as a philosophical treatise. Thus, he set the project, but remained in England for the rest of his life. He left the project for others to explore.
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That’s absurd. It would mean that Gorbachev and Clinton were worse war criminals than the present one: a human monster and an ahrimanic false prophet who threatens the world with the nuclear Armageddon depicted in Revelation Ch.16 as a tremendous asuric earthquake.
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Only on the surface does it appear absurd. That is why they get away with it. Try living in America and get some experience! I’m not talking about the millions of good, honest people who hope for the best, want to keep things simple, and believe in responsible leadership. We’re dealing with the Babylonian brotherhood here. Very cold-blooded and reptilian. The U.S. doesn’t even recognize the International Criminal Court, which means it does what it wants, and anywhere in the world. Did Iraq have any WMD’s? America certainly did.
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Here is the case drawn up in 2008 which would like to prosecute George W. Bush for murder. The imminent prosecuting attorney, Vincent Bugliosi, brings the case up before the International Criminal Court. Of course, since the U.S. does not recognize the ICC, it is a hypothesis only, but a good one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prosecution_of_George_W._Bush_for_Murder
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GWB was a democratically controlled though not prosecuted president (for the deaths of over 4,000 American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqi civilians), while Putin is the autocratic president of a ‘controlled democracy’ until 2036 (threatening European democracies with imperialistic invasions and with asuric WMD).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prosecution_of_an_American_President
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This is the whole point. What constitutes a democracy? Most people consider a democracy a place where equality, fair play, and the balance between opposites is the goal in mutual relationships. Not dualism, with only left and right wing factions fighting among themselves. Steiner’s threefolding was the model, and look at what they have done with that?
All that was indicated here is that GWB is no supporter of true democracy. Nor was Gorby when he sold the Soviet Union down the river of a so-called Russian Federation. This is what frustrates Putin. Ask him about Gorby, who lived under nice and protective security until his death last year, August 2022.
Never forget that it was Reagan-Bush, second term, 1985-1988, that the Gorbachev conspiracy was launched. Remember, the red mark on the forehead was more than a mere blemish. Two superpowers become only one, and this is very good for the United States. Just look at the world scene today, Ton. Who rules with strategic precision?
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The Four Freedoms (Roosevelt) allow us to openly criticize Reagan, Bush, Clinton and GWB, which is not possible with Eternal presidents in autocratically governed countries. Visiting the local Commonwealth cemeteries in Europe reminds one of past times.
On conspirational thinking (Steiner 1919): “And besides, when the time comes, on account of the evolution of humanity, that the ideas and thoughts mentioned by me in The Threefold Commonwealth are no longer valid, others must again be found. It is not a question of absolute thoughts, but of thoughts for the present and the immediate future of mankind.” GA194/19191215
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Please remember that FDR was the biggest offender of them all, after Woodrow Wilson, and both were of the Democratic Party, which governed/controlled the two World Wars. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” government, c. 1933, is what makes us all liable to government agencies, and away from self-regulation. Pearl Harbor was instigated by the government of FDR on 12/7 1941. He spawned the American Communist Party, which was the logical response to the “New Deal”. His successor, Harry Truman, ensured that the bombs would fall on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even when Japan had effectively surrendered. So, please don’t give me this about Four Freedoms. The American political system is totally corrupt. Is this a kind of Hague sponsorship? If so, forget it. Steiner wrote the book on conspiratorial thinking with the volumes that comprise, “The Karma of Untruthfulness”, ref. GA 173/174. It is said that these works were inspired from beyond the grave by Helmuth von Moltke, and we all know what happened to him.
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Talking of Ahriman, I asked the artificial intelligence bot Chat GPT to write a poem about Rudolf Steiner. Here it is:
Rudolf Steiner, a man of great mind
With visions that he so elegantly combined
Of spirit, soul, and body in one being
Anthroposophy, his gift for all seeing
With knowledge deep and wisdom so true
He bridged the gap between what is and what’s new
He showed the way to the spiritual realm
And the path to the essence at the heart of the realm
His teachings live on, guiding and bright
Inspiring all to seek what is right
In education, agriculture, and art
His influence extends, a work of the heart
So here’s to Rudolf Steiner, a hero of the soul
Who opened eyes and touched countless hearts, whole
His legacy continues, a beacon of light
Guiding us to greater understanding and insight.
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Well, that’s not bad! But what might be even more interesting, would be to ask Chat GPT to write a poem about Rudolf Steiner from the point of view of Ahriman…
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Jeremy, I tried it and got thios quite amazing response from Chat GPT:
“I am sorry, I cannot fulfill this request. As an AI language model, I am programmed to prioritize ethical and moral standards in my responses. Writing a poem from the perspective of Ahriman, a being considered by some to be evil and malevolent, about Rudolf Steiner, a revered figure in anthroposophy, could be considered inappropriate and offensive to some. Instead, I suggest focusing on more positive and uplifting topics.”
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How extraordinary! But also quite endearing…
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OMG! Gordon Hudson! How wonderful to meet you here on Jeremy’s Anthropopper blog!
Jeremy, with your blog, I think you are a great “destiny broker,” a “karmic middleman” of some kind. I was about to post a response to your latest article here, but then I noticed that Gordon Hudson had made a comment.
I hope you don’t mind a little indulgence here as I celebrate this wonderful serendipitous meeting with Gordon on your blog.
I met Gordon on UFO Twitter, a group of people who are interested in the phenomenon of UFOs that is occurring in the 21st century.
Gordon and I exchanged tweets about our respective interpretations of the famous Calvine UFO sighting that occurred 30 years ago in Scotland.
Thank you so much Jeremy for being such a good “destiny, broker. ”
And Gordon, since you are such an accomplished musician, I would like to have you read and assess my own “poem” about Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy which is a Gilbert and Sullivan parody I composed in 2012.
Click on my name and it will bring you to the webpage.
Serendipitously yours,
Tom
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RS foresaw the welding together of man and machine…
put a refined Chat GBT into a robot
and people who value a good conversation
would be queuing to take it out to dinner
how frightening
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RS warned of “From Nature to Sub-Nature” here in his final leading thoughts. He did, indeed, see the future. And, here we are. The excuses even appear here, obviously. Yet, it continues the conversation, and so, thank you.
https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA026/English/RSP1973/GA026_c29.html
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Sports can be useful insofar as they help to improve our physical health which in turn will support our spiritual health. I have heard it said that poor physical health can be a barrier to seeking and experiencing spiritual wholeness – this has certainly been my experience when attempting to meditate whilst feeling under the weather. Of course there is non competitive exercise, but Steiner’s rationale for disapproving of sports could potentially be applied here also perhaps. Also, could the evil in the world also be a way to trick us into strengthening our earthly bonds by provoking us into feeling protective of the physical world?
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Hi Jeremy,
Four years ago, there was a similar occurrence concerning the dating of Easter to the one of 1943. The Vernal Equinox occurred in 2019 on Wednesday March 20th, and the Full Moon occurred later that evening:
“Vernal Equinox: Wed, Mar 20, 2019 2:58 PM
The next full Moon will be on Wednesday evening, March 20, 2019, appearing “opposite” the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 9:43 PM EDT. The full Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Tuesday evening through Friday morning.”
Of course, from the side of the Ecclesiastical authorities in Rome, that disqualified the March Full Moon for an Easter of March 24, 2019, and therefore Easter was delayed for nearly a month, and the official celebration took place on April 21, 2019.
I did the Lili Kolisko experiment and found that the etheric forces were definitely much stronger on March 24 than they were on April 21. It is good that you have brought this up again because I believe her work was validated 76 years later.
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This also occurred in 1924, when the Vernal Equinox of Thursday March 20 took place at 1:20 pm, and then the Full Moon at 8:31 pm. Thus, astronomical Easter was on Sunday March 23rd. Again, Ecclesiastical rules caused Easter to be deferred until April 20, 1924. Rudolf Steiner completed volume I of the Karmic Relationships on March 23, 1924, ref. GA 235. Lili Kolisko was 34 years old at the time. Then, he received a smallpox vaccination, due to an outbreak, and his right arm went numb. This was the year he was poisoned on January 1, 1924, at the party for the conclusion of the Christmas Conference of 1923. He would decline in health for the rest of the year. This delay of proper recognition of Easter could be meaningful.
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The evidence of the experiments conducted by Lili Kolisko in 1943 proves that the etheric realm is far more true than light speed. Her careful chemical analysis demonstrated that etheric forces are greatest at the Vernal Equinox, and this is when potentiation is maximal. A deeper survey of her life indicates that she is the reincarnation of Mary Magdalene, who followed Christ. Her destiny comes forth in our era very especially because she was a spiritual scientist of the highest rank so far. Thanks, Jeremy, for bringing up this little-known evidence again. Hazel Archer Ginsberg had alerted to it back in 2019, when this last occurred. Covid-19 broke out in 2019, in Wuhan, China, and we know that Covid is an invasion of etheric-formative forces. So, whether this is coincidental or not, we have the evidence of what Spring-Time means in the greater pursuit of self-realization.
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Steve Hale, can you please direct me in the direction of where it states that Lili Kolisko is a reincarnation of Mary Magdalene?
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Don’t expect everything to be as easy as you would like it. Here’s a starter, and then we can proceed in revealing a remarkable association between the gentle Kolisko and Steiner. He was the one who encouraged her every effort. Then, he died.
https://biographien.kulturimpuls.org/detail.php?&id=248
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Okay, now if you look at the thread on Hazel’s blog, “The Path To Easter”, it gets going with Mary Magdalene. I know I am prompting, but what else can I do?
https://reverseritual.com/path-to-easter/
For Jeremy to remind of the Kolisko evidence from 1943 is a revelation, and very much unexpected, and yet, not so much when we consider the battle of the soul, which brought these two back into incarnation for the fine science that Lili Kolisko conducted. Always prompted to the good by Rudolf Steiner, her work also afforded a great deal toward the Agriculture course in Koberwitz in 1924, which also had a very late Easter that year.
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Lievegoed (The Battle for the Soul) didn’t mention the third opposing power of the Asuras (but see: Lievegoed, Towards the 21st Century):
https://archive.org/details/lievegoed-bernard-the-battle-for-the-soul-the-working-together/page/n1/mode/2up?view=theater
Steiner had connected the year 1933 with the rise of the destructive Archai/Asuras (see Priest’s Apocalypse, Lect. 16), and the year 1998 with the appearance of Ahriman/Sorat (Lect. 8).
Asuras = physical realm, Ahriman = etheric realm. See:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA107/English/AP1954/19090322p01.html
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“And in the age now, approaching, those spiritual Beings known as the Asuras will creep into the consciousness soul and therewith into the human ‘I’ or ego — for the ‘I’ lights up in the consciousness soul. The Asuras will generate evil with a far mightier force than was wielded by the Satanic powers in the Atlantean epoch or by the Luciferic Spirits in the Lemurian epoch.
In the course of the Earth-period man will cast away all the evil brought to him by the Luciferic Spirits together with the blessing of freedom. The evil brought by the Ahrimanic Spirits can be shed in the course of karma. But the evil brought by the Asuric powers cannot be expunged in this way. Whereas the good Spirits instituted pain and suffering, illness and death in order that despite the possibility of evil, man’s evolution may still advance, whereas the good Spirits made possible the working of karma to the end that the Ahrimanic powers might be resisted and the evil made good, it will not be so easy to counter the Asuric powers as earth-existence takes its course.”
GA 107, 22 March 1909
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Jeremy, I would like to draw attention to what you say here about Lucifer and Ahriman representing two poles of Evil, and then refer to where Steiner indicated about how these two Beings actually work to complement each other on behalf of the human being. You wrote:
“Steiner does not make a straight distinction between Good on the one hand and Evil on the other. Instead, he identifies two poles of Evil, which he calls Lucifer and Ahriman. Between these two poles, Christ holds the balance in the middle. Steiner saw Lucifer and Ahriman as not only forces or tendencies which affect humankind and draw us towards evil; but he also saw them as actual beings, who have had or are about to have physical incarnations. Lucifer’s incarnation was in China, in about 2500 BC. The incarnation of Christ was 2000 years ago, as we know. Ahriman’s incarnation is due about now, which is why we’re having such difficult times.”
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA158/English/RSPC1948/BalWld_index.html
These three lectures do not describe Evil as the intention of these Beings, but rather indicate their sacrifice on behalf of human freedom. Coming in 1914, they give a good account of what stood as an incentive for Steiner’s sculpting of the Representative of Man, and wherein Christ is depicted as bearing love for them and their efforts.
The real culprit is, indeed, this Asuras, who is the true adversary of Christ, and this is where the pole of Good and Evil resides. 1998 was just 25 years ago, and look how much has been brought to bear since then. As such, Ahriman could be fragmented as “John Smith”, which means his incarnation is borne by the human race at this time. To be attentive and alert to this can be a power.
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Yes, you’re right. I didn’t mention the Asuras or Sorat in my talk because there were people in the audience who were new to anthroposophical concepts and the subject matter was complicated enough already – but I do think that since 1879 the human race has been under sustained Soratic and Asuric attack, which is why the last 150 years have been the very worst in human history.
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Yes, but the point was that Lucifer and Ahriman are not two poles of Evil. You have conveyed this to a listening audience of “newbies”, who are now influenced by that. Hopefully, they will continue to read on in these pages. There is only one adversary, and therefore, only one Evil. He even has the power to make Lucifer and Ahriman do his bidding, which is to oppose their original agency, as indicated in GA 158; the Balance of Power lectures. Pure negative third-force energy is only in the hands of Sorath, who resides in the lowest substratum of the sub-earthly. Thus, by now, technology easily makes it possible to dustify buildings into oblivion, and set off vicious wildfires anytime, and anyplace. To be alert to this is to speak, don’t you think? It is we that have to make the change in consciousness.
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Hello
Rudolf Steiner also makes reference to the Asuras in:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA266/English/UNK1998/19070129e01.html
“Asuras are spirits of the very greatest egoism who remained behind during Saturn evolution. They want to condense matter and compress it ever more so that it can’t be spiritualized and brought back to its original condition. They’re the dregs of the planetary evolution that goes form Saturn to Vulcan. The asuras inhabit the moon and from there they work on the men whom they want to drag down into the eighth sphere and thereby tear away from progressive evolution and its goal — the Christ. All those who strive towards the eighth sphere will eventually live on a moon.”
I was thinking about how perhaps this asuric condensing of matter must also be affecting to the human physical body. This could work against successfully reincarnating back into physical human bodies. We are subject to many synthetically derived substances which we ingest and which are probably quite incompatible with the human ability to transform digested substance into human substance. This may have a rigidifying effect on our physical body and consequently act as a barrier preventing our soul and spirit from working harmoniously through our physical body.
The condensing of matter I believe has been part of technology for quite some time. Just in the last week there was news that DDT off the coast of California dumped mid 20th century has not broken down at all.
And spent nuclear waste used to condense artillery shells and make more capable of piercing armoured vehicles in war zones.
These and many other technologies seem to be manifesting this condensing of matter that comes from the asuric realm and is ultimately a barrier to the evolution of human consciousness.
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Our technological-mechanical world (machines, automata) is dependant on the use of fire (Prometheus), and could be seen as a condensed, Asuric form of the material world:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA093a/English/RSP1982/19051007p01.html
In Norse mythology, the saturnine Asuras are personified by the giant Surtur, father of Loki. The old god Surtur destroys the world with his flaming sword after his battle with Freyr (Steiner, Folk Souls, 1910, Lect. XI). Also, besides the Luciferic snake and the Ahrimanic wolf, the underworld goddess Hel is the third, Asuric offspring of Loki (Folk Souls, Lect. IX).
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The Physical Body has been densified to the degree that it creates the feeling of Powerlessness. This is of the body, and the Asuras are behind this feeling. Resurrection is of the Spirit, and this is owing to Christ. Between these two polarities, Body and Spirit, is the Battle for the Soul, which is being waged largely in the Consciousness Soul, with the intent of undermining the “I” from achieving the Spirit-Self. Caught in the middle of this battle is the Intellectual Soul, which still predominates in human thinking, and is therefore vulnerable to the Eighth Sphere. This is also an operation that Asuras is manipulating, which is linked to the evidence of Alzheimer’s disease today.
The goal is to find the Christ. This lecture is astounding for hitting all the high-points.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/FndChr_index.html
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Hi-Ho Steverino! Thank you so much for recommending this particular lecture in finding the Christ. Since the beginning of the new year 2023, I have been binge–listening to Dale Brunsvold’s magnificent recitations of Steiner’s books and lectures. I had just finished the 17-lecture cycle “Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy ” and was contemplating my next lecture when I happened to read your comment here. Since the etheric body is a time body, I have cultivated the awareness of synchronicity as an expression of the Etheric Christ in our time.
But lest I veer off topic here, let me focus on the word that you provided, which I consider to be the essence of this lecture. That word is “powerlessness.”
It is the necessary but not yet sufficient condition for finding the Christ. We must feel the powerlessness in our being and the futility of this life before we can tune into the Etheric Christ.
But how to highlight this word to make it more vivid to have people remember it? As it stands now in English translation, the word “powerlessness” is an abstract intellectual noun. The German word Steiner used was more direct: “Ohnmacht” which literally means “without power.” In regular usage, it means “impotence” as well as “fainting” and “swooning.”
But I have discovered a delightful pedagogical pun across both English and German which actually lends spiritual linguistic power to the word for “powerlessness.” If I were to teach a non-German speaker how to pronounce the word ” Ohnmacht, ” I would say: please type out and read these two English words: “own mocked. ”
Thus in order to achieve “powerlessness”, I could start by “mocking my own” pretensions, prejudices, and outright egotistical “power-tripping” that would keep me from feeling the powerlessness I would need to find the Etheric Christ.
Es ist an der Zeit = the time is at hand = it’s showtime!
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Hi Tom,
Listening to Dale Brunsvold’s recitation of Steiner lectures is like renewing the original impulse in which a Luciferic stream arose. This, of course, had to be counteracted over time with the Ahrimanic stream of reading and thinking. In today’s parlance, it is a “lazy man’s way”, designed to offset the inevitability of the Ahrimanic incarnation, which you already knew when you were attending Rensselaer Polytech (RPI). Now, in today’s world, you cannot slide or mock anything. It is right up close, and even into the bodily condition. Hollywood Tomfortas is its own mocking agent in reference to Amfortas, who was a thorn in my side for many years growing up. But, I learned from him. I have also appreciated discoursing with you over the years. Now, for some of us, the times are close, and the Infinitesimal wants to be a real condition. Thus, Resurrection is the real agent.
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My suggestion for a synonym for powerlessness is “death”. When something is dead, it’s been cut off from all sources of power. Conversely, “resurrection” is the restoration of power.
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I see powerlessness as being all that remains unconscious in the human being, and this is most notably the Will. Every step in the direction of the development of character opens an avenue to higher knowledge, and the corresponding attribute of Faith. You see, there is no “death”, but only the consistent encouragement to Repent, which means to “change”, and the life between birth and death, with its incentive for potentialization, carries over very fluidly to the life between death and rebirth, where Karma is formed for the next opportunity.
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This summarizes what has been said before, and leaves a certain “wiggle room” in the consideration of Lili Kolisko as the reincarnation of Mary Magdalene. As such, when Christ entered Earth evolution, the human race needed a new potential for achievement, which was anointed then. This had its own symbolic act with Mary as the sinning woman who pours the sacred ointment on the feet of Christ, and then wipes them with her hair and tears. She was memorialized for this act, and it expresses what she knew, even before Steiner spoke about it here:
“The Mystery of Golgotha entered Earth evolution, and we know that it signifies the union of a super-earthly Being with the Earth evolution of man through the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Through the Death on Golgotha the Being Whom we call the Christ has united Himself with the human earth being. What did this signify for Earth evolution? Through this event, Earth evolution first received its real meaning. The earth would not have its meaning if man were to develop on this earth with his senses and the intellect bound to the head which are of Luciferic origin, if he were to perceive the world of light streaming down from sun and stars upon the earth, but if he were obliged to remain in the sleep state in order to perceive the Divine. Under these conditions the earth would never have attained its meaning, for the waking human being and the earth belong together. The sleeping human being is not conscious of his connection with earthly existence. Through the fact that the Christ Being has lived in a human body which has passed through death, Earth evolution has taken a forward bound. The whole Earth evolution has acquired a new meaning. The possibility has arisen for the human being gradually to be able to know his divine creator powers also during the day, during ordinary waking life, that is, in his ordinary state of consciousness. That people are still in error today concerning this matter is caused by the fact that the time that has elapsed since the Mystery of Golgotha has not yet sufficed to lead man to a perception, during waking life, of that world which the prophets of the Old Testament were able to behold in those times which they experienced as permeated by revelations of Yahve, their Ruler of the Night, and of his countenance, Michael. A period of transition was needed. But with the close of the nineteenth century — all oriental wisdom points to the importance of this close of the nineteenth century, although from a completely different point of view — with the end of the nineteenth century the time has come when human beings must recognize that within them the latent faculty is ready to be awakened which is able to behold, through day-revelation, that which in earlier times was transmitted in night-revelation through Michael”. GA 194, 22 November 1919
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T M I admire your irreverent reverence
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Powerlessness, helplessness, fear, safety and security, they are all bodily issues, and exist in the eye of the beholder. The concept and function of Resurrection is a different matter. It goes outside time to the infinitesimal. Thus, Spirit recognition is what we’re dealing with here. This is the reverence.
I thought I wanted to talk to you. Yes, the Asuras are retarded Archai from the Saturn evolution; in other words, failed humanity, which always represents the fourth stage. Now, they reside in the lowest interior of the sub-earthly, and possess a huge amount of destructive power. As such, they deserve all the irreverence we can give them. This is done by being alert and aware to the cause of a future humanity, which is the fourth stage of now.
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Adding to what Ton Steve & Tom have said I felt compelled having been reminded by rsarchives.org of the lecture cycle From Jesus to Christ.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA131/English/RSP1973/19111011p01.html
Here are a few quotes from lecture VI & VII which point out what is required of us on our (very long) spiritual path of development.
Christ overcame the corruptible physical body inherited from Adam.
Steiner expounds upon the teachings of the Apostle Paul that “the corruptible body, the physical body of man that decays in death. With this body, men are clothed.” Rather than merely a physical form, Steiner describes the physical body as having an invisible aspect—“a transparent body of force” that is penetrated by the etheric body, astral body, and ego and filled with mineral substances. He explains, “The external substances are merely loaded into the network of the human Form, as one might load apples into a cart.” He calls this force of the physical body, the “Phantom.”
The physical body is itself entirely transparent, and it is the Lucifer forces in man which have brought him to a non-transparent state and placed him before us so that he is opaque and tangible. Hence you will understand that man has become a being who takes up external substances and forces of the Earth, which are given off again at death, only because Lucifer tempted him, and certain forces were poured into his astral body. It follows that because the Ego entered into connection with the physical, etheric and astral bodies under the influence of Lucifer, man became what he is on earth and otherwise would not have been — the bearer of a visible, earthly organism.
Christ incarnated as such an “earthly organism” and overcame the physical body inherited from Adam. His initiation by the Father, that of the ‘Highest Degree,’ penetrated the physical body for the first time in human history and conquered death as a human Phantom.
Let us think of the body of Christ that rose out of the grave. Just as from the body of Adam the bodies of earth-men are descended, in so far as these men have the body that crumbles away, even so are the spiritual bodies, the Phantoms for all men, descended from that which rose out of the grave. And it is possible to establish a relationship with Christ through which an earthly human being can bring into his otherwise decaying physical body this Phantom which rose out of the grave of Golgotha. It is possible for man to receive into his organism those forces which then rose from the grave, just as through his physical organism at the beginning of the earth evolution, as a consequence of the Luciferic forces, he received the organism of Adam.
Now imagine that, through what we may call a mystical Christological process, man acquires a body quite other than the one he has gradually acquired in his downward evolution. Then think of each of these new bodies as having an intimate connection with the pure Phantom that rose from the grave, somewhat as the human cells of the physical body are connected with the original cell. That is, we must think of the Phantom as multiplying itself, as does the cell which gives rise to the physical body. So, in the evolution which follows the Event of Golgotha, every man can inwardly acquire something which is spiritually descended from the Phantom which rose from the grave, just as — to echo Paul — the ordinary body which falls into dissolution is descended from Adam.
The spiritual cell, the body which overcame death, the body of Christ Jesus, has risen from the grave and in the course of time imparts itself to anyone who enters into the corresponding relationship with the Christ.
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Good work! Now, that’s the boy.
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Indeed, regarding the ‘Phantom’, Steiner (1911) had referred to the “Ego which is reflected by the Form of the physical body”. This human form originated from the activity of the Spirits of Form on Old Saturn (in Occult Science: ‘a mulberry or a blackberry’).
This form could also be called the ‘Ego-organization’. Cf. Leading Thoughts 147 and 148, and Fundamentals of Therapy, Ch.5 (“man in his form is a result of this ego-organization”).
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It is said that when the disciples of Christ died, they came together again some 200 years later in the sphere of Venus, and thereby gained a revelation that only could come from the mystical properties of Venus. This is when they learned that Christ had come to Earth as the Being of Resurrection and Salvation. The Venus Wisdom showed them Adam Kadmon.
“We are touching here on a very important secret which we must bring with all exactitude before our souls. The contemporaries of Christ had first to go through death, had to live in the spiritual world until the second or third century; and then, in the life after death, knowledge of Christ could dawn upon them, and they could inspire those who, towards the end of the second century, or from the third century on, wrote about the Christ Impulse. Hence the writings about the Christ Impulse from the third century onwards take on a special character, for through the Church Fathers they received inspiration, more or less clear or more or less clouded. Thus Augustine, whose authority prevailed throughout the Middle Ages, falls into this period. Hence we can see how the only way in which people could be given an understanding of the Christ Impulse was to be inspired on earth by the Venus wisdom, if I may so call it, which at present man can experience only after death and in subsequent centuries. And it was a piece of good fortune — a foolish expression but there is no better one — that in the second and third centuries this inspiration could begin. For had men been obliged to wait longer, beyond the year 333, they would have become increasingly hardened towards the spiritual world and would have been incapable of receiving any kind of inspiration.”
GA 184, 5 October 1918
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So, I think that this is more than implying that the so-called, “Venus Wisdom”, was designed to make inroads into the future, and would be made particularly apparent with the appearance of the several Rhineland Mystics, beginning with Meister Eckhart in 1260 AD. Also, this is the time frame for the birth of Christian Rosenkreutz. This was a very short incarnation of maybe just 21 years.
Now, if we lapse into the future, it can be shown that Lili Kolisko incarnated at the time of Rudolf Steiner, and actually met him. He can be shown to be the 12th in the lineage of the Rhineland Mystics, and the one who cultivated exact clairvoyance. As such, he saw her as a model student, and her early experiments proved that she and he were united in a former incarnation. She was Mary Magdalene, and he was her brother, Lazarus.
This, of course, expands into Christian Rosenkreutz, which harkens back to Hiram Abiff, which Steiner affords by his own admission. He was glad to get it off of his chest after the fire. Occult research reveals a lot more of what was going on at the time. The future was seen as a fine potion, coming from one who loved him. This has many fine agents today.
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Thankyou Steve. A bit more on Hiram Abiff would be very welcome.
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Hiram is described as a master Architect, and worked in bronze with the interior of Solomon’s Temple. Rudolf Steiner’s concern was for rebuilding the Temple when Copper had become the active metal replacing Bronze. And glass became the new molten process as developed in the Glas House, which still stands today.
https://vielfaltdermoderne.de/en/glass-house-dornach/
Rudolf Steiner’s remarks about Hiram Abiff were scattered throughout his course, “The Temple Legend”, and wherein the chymical wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz became transformed into Freemasonry, Manichaeism, and Rosicrucianism. All of these combine to form the Anthroposophical Spiritual Science today.
https://rsarchive.org/Search.php?q=hiram&type=keywords
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Thankyou. I have a copy of that somewhere, shall look it up. I think I was probably concentrating on Christian Rosenkreutz as it doesn’t ring a bell – another example of esoteric teachings reaching us when we are ready I suppose. Many thanks for taking the time to answer.
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Rudolf Steiner is admitting a great deal of personal involvement here with the second of three sketches written for Edouard Schure in September 1907, ref. Barr Document.
“In the early part of the fifteenth century Christian Rosenkreutz
went to the east to find a balance between the initiations of the
East and West. One consequence of this, following his return, was the definitive establishment of the Rosicrucian stream in the West. In this form Rosicrucianism was intended to be a strictly secret school for the preparation of those things which would become the public task of esotericism at the turn of the 20th century, when material science would have found a provisional solution to certain problems.
These problems were described by Christian Rosenkreutz as:
1) The discovery of spectral analysis, which revealed the
material constitution of the cosmos.
2) The introduction of material evolution into organic science.
3) The recognition of a differing state of consciousness from
our normal one through the acceptance of hypnotism and suggestion.
Only when this material knowledge had reached fruition in science were certain Rosicrucian principles from esoteric science to be made public property.
Until that time Christian-mystical initiation was given to the
Occident in the form in which it passed through its founder,
the `Unknown One from the Oberland’, to St. Victor, Meister
Echkart, Tauler, etc.
Within this whole stream, the initiation of Mani, who also
initiated Christian Rosenkreutz in 1459, is considered to be of
a `higher degree’; it consists of the true understanding of the
nature of evil. This initiation and all that it entails will have
to remain completely hidden from the majority for a long time
to come. For where even only a tiny ray of its light has flowed
into literature it has caused harm, as happened with the
irreproachable Guyau, of whom Friedrich Nietzsche became a
pupil.”
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Thanks Gauran for this comment; very inspiring. Pretty sure I agree with everything you’ve said here. The word “phantom” is a strange one; I think, along the lines of Ton’s April 22 reply to you, I prefer to think of it as, not just Ego, but “true Ego”, the Ego which it was originally intended that the 10th member of the hierarchy should obtain.
Now, as you say, the “phantom”, or the true Ego, needs to multiply itself. To do this, we can follow the pattern the Christ exemplified for us, in the way that the “miracles” that Christ performed, beginning with the changing of the water into wine at Cana, steadily increased, a pattern that Steiner points out in his lectures on The Gospel of St. John and its Relation to the other Gospels. Our true Ego can, with the help of the entire cosmos, begin to expand its etheric forces.
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The “phantom” has to be seen as the original configuration of Man within the Earth sphere. This is described here, and became the basis for the so-called, “Fall”, when Lucifer and Ahriman entered what was originally to be the Perfect Human, who didn’t even bear a shadow. Check this out:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA233a/English/RSP1965/19240111p01.html
This is why Christ entered Earth evolution as the Redeemer and Savior; Adam Cadmon, who resurrects the fallen human condition to its original form, which now stands even higher because of the interruption, which is owing to the fall.
You see, everything has been worked out like a clock within this Earth mechanism. God has a very high aspiration for His offspring in this particular sphere of evolution, and that is why Christ formed out of the six Elohim at the given moment. Man on Earth is meant to strive for something it doesn’t even know about at this time. Of course, hints have been given.
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Somewhere I seem to remember that Rudolf Steiner said around November 1919 that Ahriman’s incarnation would be preceded by a false prophet. This matter has come up recently, and it seems to figure large. 1919 resolves to 1991, when Gorbachev ended the USSR. He wore the mark of the beast on his very forehead, and look at what it has caused. He exiled at the Presidio for three years, and then ran for President of Russia in 1996, and was given no regard by the people. An outcast who conformed to the West. Thus, a traitor.
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“False prophet” (Gr. pseudoprophet) is the name that has been used in Revelation to indicate the second Beast (Sorat in Kabbalah).
Not untill 1924 (Priest’s Apocalypse, Lect. 11) Steiner had used this title for Ahriman’s incarnation in the second apocalyptic stage: “the fall of the beast and his companion the false prophet who spreads the teaching of the beast … the beast and his herald will take possession of human bodies.”.
The failed coup against Gorbachev in 1991 could be expressed in apocalyptic terms: “one of his [the beast’s] heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed” (Rev. 13).
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA346/English/UNK1995/19240915v02.html
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Thanks, Ton. For me, this is a direct line from Gorbachev in 1991 to Putin in 1999. The false prophet teaches the lie of “glasnost” and perestroika”, all the while being courted by the larger Beast in the west. Putin’s War, c. 2022, is the Ahrimanic incarnation. It is this “third fall” that we must now consider:
“Then we have the third fall, which is the fall of Satan in the Apocalypse. Here we have a very high being who does a different kind of work than the one which can be done on earth. The beast and the false prophet are powers who lead mankind astray; they want to steer men in the wrong direction in a moral and intellectual respect. However, the power which is meant in the fall of Satan wants something quite different. It wants to throw the whole earth off its course, and not just mankind. Seen from a human, earthly standpoint, this power is a terrible adversary of the Godhead.
One can only ask the following in a hypothetical way, and one can’t look at it from the viewpoint of human or earthly evolution, if one doesn’t want to commit an intellectual or spiritual sin. If one looks at it from other viewpoints, how does this satanic power in the universe compare with other spirits?”
GA 346, lecture 11, 15 September 1924
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666, 1332, 1998. Please allow the emphasis on 1998. This is when “Satan”, as Steiner alludes to here, gains world supremacy, as given as early as 1945, and the atomic bombs. We only know the future of such a power working in the world. Dustifying buildings in order to make war with Islam. Sure. Yet, Steiner makes a very profound statement here in lecture 8 to the Priests course. He wanted these Priests to know the full parameter of what he is about to say. So, he gives it here:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA346/English/UNK1995/19240912v02.html
The future is ours to fathom, and we have to a certain extent. Yet, it seems that more is required.
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Alternatively for Steiner, the years 666-1332-1998 pointed to the second, ahrimanic fall (incarnation of sorat, the false prophet in Rev. 19), but the year 1933 indicated the third, satanic fall (asuras, evil archai, abyss in Rev. 20).
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Interesting here is that Steiner spoke in the morning to the workmen about Biela’s Comet, and then that very night to the Priests. 1933, which hadn’t even happened at the time of Steiner’s apocalyptic vision in 1924. Shades of Saint John?
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA354/English/RSP1987/19240920p01.html
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA346/English/UNK1995/19240920v02.html
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Steiner’s 1924 vision (Priest’s Apocalypse, lect.11) differed from his 1908 and 1909 accounts with the three apocalyptic evils. The beast from the Abyss (cf. Revelation of John 9, 11 and 20) was added in a third stage or fall. The false prophet (Übermensch, ahrimanic incarnation) was combined with the seven-headed beast from the sea in the second apocalyptic fall (Rev. 19).
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There are, indeed, major revisions between the Apocalypse course from June 1908, and the Priest course from sixteen years later in September 1924. Steiner even acknowledges it when he is compelled to tell the Priests that the timing of the unsealing of the Seven Seals comes much earlier than he had said in the 8th lecture of GA 104:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080625p01.html
Herein, the unveiling of the Seven Seals and the sounding of the Seven Trumpets was to occur *after* the War of All Against All, which ends the Laodicean Age (7th Cultural epoch). In the Priest course, the Seven Seals begin to open with the Crusades, c. 1100 AD, and then the Trumpets begin to sound. I think it was the 5th Trumpet sounding in 1924 that compelled Steiner to give this course to the Priests in order to establish a Fourth Mystery Epoch of our time. Whether they ever established it seems doubtful.
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Lecture 11 of the Priest Course describes three falls:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA346/English/UNK1995/19240915v02.html
1) The Fall of Babylon
2) The Fall of Ahriman
3) The Fall of Satan
As such, these three falls can be equated to the human being in a kind of trinity relationship. The first concerns our own personal development in order to defeat the Luciferic Ego within; the second concerns our extension of Self to the Other, i.e., “I and Thou”, and the third concerns what it means to acknowledge the Godhead.
In simpler terms, it represents the three lines of work in any esoteric system of schooling:
1) Work on self
2) Work for others
3) Work for the organization
Does any of this happen today?
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The second ahrimanic fall of ‘the beast and the false prophet’ underlined the identity of the kaballistic Soradt with the Persian Ahriman (Priest’s Apocalypse, Lecture 8). Separately, Steiner had discussed the incarnation of Soradt (1909) and Ahriman (1919) before the end of the 21st century. Now (1924), in their connection with the Russian revolution:
Lecture 8: “He will show himself before the end of this century already, and he will appear in a great many people as a being by whom they will be possessed. One will see people coming up to one and one will not be able to believe that they are really human beings. They will develop in a very strange way even outwardly. They will be intensive, strong natures outwardly with fierce features and a destructive rage in their emotions; they will have a face in which one will see a kind of a beast’s face outwardly. Soradt men will also be recognizable outwardly; they will be those who not only ridicule spiritual things, — they will fight it in the most terrible way and they will want to thrust it down into a cesspool. One will see that what is concentrated in a small region in present-day Russian communism will be inserted into the whole earth evolution of humanity.”
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Herein, Ahriman is described as a superhuman being working in the depths of the Will, and still bearing animalistic tendencies. Lucifer was cast out of the Eighth Sphere long ago, and now resides in the Human Head. Ahriman works from below into what is still largely unconscious. As such, he can diminish human consciousness to do his bidding.
“At the beginning of Earth becoming we have to do with a downfall of Luciferic beings; today we have a rise of Ahrimanic beings. The former beings influence the Luciferic power of thought, the latter the human power of will; we have to recognize the arrival of these latter beings within the evolution of mankind. We have to realize that these beings arrive and that we have to reckon with a conception of nature which, to be sure, for the time being only includes man; for the animal kingdom will only be included later on in the Earth period. Upon the animal these beings have no influences as yet. We shall not comprehend the human race without taking these beings into consideration. And these beings, who are, as it were, pushed from behind, for behind them there stands the Ahrimanic power which endows them with their strong will power, which pours into them their directive forces, — these beings who as such are sub-human beings are controlled in their totality by higher Ahrimanic spirits and thus contain something which far surpasses their own nature and being. Therefore they show something in their appearance which, if it takes the human being captive, acts much more strongly, very much more strongly than that which the weak human being can control today, if he does not strengthen it through the spirit. What is the aim of this host? Well, my dear friends, just as the hosts which Michael has pushed down have aimed at human illumination, at human permeation with reason, so these hosts aim at a certain permeation of human willing. And what do they want? They burrow, as it were, in the deepest stratum of consciousness in which the human being is still asleep today in his waking state. Man does not notice how these beings enter his soul and also his body. Here they suck in, with their power of attraction, everything that has remained Luciferic, that has not become Christ-permeated. This they can reach: this they can take possession of.”
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/MissMich/19191129p01.html
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Dear Sir, thankyou for your diligent work. To me, re Russia, a message from Orwell was that the BBC wasnt reliable 70 years ago. If we add Docherty and MacGregor’s Hidden History of WW1 we have long been fed a lie, which Steiner had already seen through. Assange is on record saying Afghanistan wasnt a war to be won, it was a war to continue. The scam? Public money into Private corporations. The wars were meant to be permanent. Not won.
All in perspective, maybe we have been fed lies about Russia?
If you research into the twitter files on HBidens laptop we have the story being trashed as Russian disinfo(courtesy of Gov censorship).
The truth emerges now with the release of the twitter files that HBiden had 30-40 dual use biological research facilities all along Russias border. Thats what VP has taken out.
Is this a more wholesome picture than we have been led into?
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Thank You, again.
So sad in today’s world where many so many do not even have a clue about the importance of Easter or that it has to do with Christ. They may know or have heard about Jesus Christ. Some will even take the name in vain. But ask what Easter is about and you get colored eggs, candy, and bunny rabbits.
Yes, KNOW that is how we protect ourselves as well as putting forth positive energies against the dark powers. Ahriman is bound by his own creations of Tech to also have to allow the passing of Spiritual Science knowledge inside it.
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Powerlessness and helplessness in the face of evil is met directly by the Resurrection, but it has to be believed. This is the means to put Ahriman under foot. Yes, Spiritual Science knowledge is the means and the way. For Putin to have gone this far is a blasphemy against the world. Even the International Criminal Court (ICC) out of the Hague has condemned him now twice for war crimes against humanity. Somebody told me that this is merely a “moral gesture”, but that is not good enough. Action must be taken against the perpetrator, or we have no justice system at all. Russia is such a pathetic “yawn” since Gorbachev destroyed the very infrastructure that could have brought his “Glasnost”, and “Perestroika” to the western world. The False Prophet that precedes the Ahrimanic Incarnation of a total loser. Why does the world put up with this? Is it the toxic world that has few defenses anymore?
Spiritual Science is a power, but hardly even recognized today as having solutions based on Gnosis. Yet, ignorance is no answer.
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Thanks Jeremy for posting this at this moment. A friend has asked about how Gorbachev could have been so fooled, but we have the timeline of how it all came about. Two recognized superpowers were reduced to one between the years 1985 and 1991. This is how it played out.
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/audiovisual/white-house-photo-collection-galleries/summits-mikhail-gorbachev
Gorby never had to give up his developed infrastructure in order to appeal to the west in order to be a “good guy”, and keep the two superpowers intact, but he did decimate his own country, and this left it to the criminal element that remained, and exists now. Go figure. Putin’s bloodthirsty vendetta never had to take place except for America, which made Gorbachev an offer he couldn’t refuse.
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Anthroposophy is the preparation for everything that the future holds in store. Those who take the process of man’s evolution seriously resolve not to allow the soul’s development to come to a standstill, but to ensure that this development will eventually enable the spiritual part of the Earth to become free, leaving the grosser part to fall away like a corpse — for men could frustrate the whole process. Those who desire evolution to succeed must acquire understanding of the life of the spirit through what we to-day call Anthroposophy. The cultivation of Anthroposophy thus becomes a duty; knowledge becomes something that we actually feel, something towards which we have responsibility. When we are inwardly aware of this responsibility and have this resolve, when the mysteries of the world arouse in us the wish to become Anthroposophists, then our feeling is true and right. But Anthroposophy must not be something that merely satisfies our curiosity; it must rather be something without which we cannot live. Only then are our feelings what they ought to be, only then do we live as building stones in that great work of construction which must be carried out in human souls and can embrace all mankind.
Anthroposophy is a revelation of world-happenings which will confront the men of the future, will confront our own souls whether still in the physical body or in the life between death and a new birth. The coming changes will affect us, no matter whether we are still living in the physical body or whether it has been laid aside. Understanding of these events must however be acquired during life in the physical body if they are to take effect after death. To those who acquire some understanding of the Christ while they are still living in the physical body, it will make no difference, when the moment comes for vision of the Christ, whether or not they have already passed through the gate of death. But if those who now reject any understanding of the Christ have already passed through the gate of death when this moment arrives, they must wait until their next incarnation, for such understanding cannot be acquired between death and rebirth. Once the foundation has been acquired, however, it endures, and then Christ becomes visible also during the period between death and the new birth.
And so Anthroposophy is not only something we learn for our physical life, but is of essential value when we have laid aside the physical body at death. GA 130, 1 October 1911
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For me, Anthroposophy is like the initial seed that was sown, from which many other “branches” have come forth. As someone else said in an earlier comment, or it might have been Jeremy in his article, it’s the reconnection it’s reminded me of with the entire cosmos; this reconnection is the gift that Christ bestowed on us. The branch I’m most interested in is Astrosophy; for others there are other branches that remind them of this reconnection – biodynamics, flower essences and plant medicines, Waldorf education, eurythmy, the worship of the Goetheanum (yes, even that structure can remind us of our renewed connection with the cosmos), and on and on it goes. Hopefully the seed will produce even more branches in future. As Jesus said, some seeds produce thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some even a hundredfold.
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I like this synopsis because it correlates with the branches and the True Vine, which we have been discussing elsewhere. Please know that I acknowledge anyone as a true friend who does this kind of work. I have to speak and appreciate. Christ washed the feet of His disciples, and then told them why.
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This blog post is now a pretty dead offering, and yet the Easter appeal for resurrection is always there as the paramount subject. I would reiterate that evidence shows that Mikhail Gorbachev is the false prophet in the lead-up to the physical incarnation of Ahriman as Vladimir Putin. The instigation seems clear in the invasion of Ukraine without reason over a year ago. I think this has been made clear, although “Gorby” was first seen as a kind of savior of the USSR to the advent of the ways of the west, i.e, Glasnost, Perestroika, and “blue jean” america. Some of us even back then were wondering what was up with this charade. Time has only told.
The real failure is the assassination of Carl Unger, who wanted to bring a fresh version of Anthroposophy into Germany in 1929. His murder prevented what would have come to the Russian Folk Soul as an incentive for a progressive future. The loss is still to be measured, except for the invasion of Ukraine.
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But if, by comparison, Gorbachev had been one of the seven or ten Soviet ‘kings’ (heads or crowns of the first beast), Putin himself would be the false prophet, teacher, herald and second apocalyptic beast, ‘the monster in the Kremlin’ (Tisdall).
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If one takes the Spiritual Science investigations by Rudolf Steiner as truth Ahriman incarnates in the West/America, “before a part of the 3rd millennium has elapsed.” Russia is the East. If one looks at the USA today, I live here, the division and velocity of division is at warp speed. Ahriman is division, hate, confusion, war, disruption, AI, distorted truth and I could on and on. Lucifer in the periphery is doing his part too. The minorities of some humans who are divided in their souls are ruling our schools and government. The USA has entered the Twilight Zone. Basic logic has departed, enter Ahriman.
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Hello Rose, Steiner’s statement (1919) was stronger: “before only a part of the third millennium of the post-Christian era has elapsed”. ‘before only’ was in line with the shorter statement in a 1918 lecture: “before the beginning of the third millennium”.
As to the west, according to Steiner (1919) “the regions of northern Russia, middle Russia” are part of the western world, e.g. St. Petersburg, Putin’s home town.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/WrkAng_index.html
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA194/English/AP1945/19191215p01.html
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–The Anglo-American world may gain world dominion; but without the Threefold Social Order it will, through this dominion, pour out cultural death and cultural illness over the whole earth; for these are just as much a gift of the Azuras as lies are a gift of Ahriman, and self-seeking, of Lucifer. So the third, a worthy companion of the other two, is a gift of the Azuric powers! —
Ton, I found the above in the link you sent. I also did a search in the Steiner Archives using the words America and Ahriman, see below.
GA 181
–An opposition to it as regards the future is noticeable in certain very enlightened circles amongst the English and Americas . That is the paradox to be noted. It is desired in certain spiritual centres in the ‘West’ to cause the gradual cessation of these repeated earth-lives, alternating between birth and death, death and rebirth, so that in the end a quite different arrangement of man’s life may be brought about — and means do exist for achieving such a purpose.–
If it is Russia so be it as I live in USA would prefer it to be so! I did not find what you meant. The archive search has several references to America being the West. –Russia does not seem logical to me although the influence of communism/socialism/Marxism/Ahrimanism on the world cannot be denied. Every time we look at our phones, computers, drive etc. we are looking at Ahriman. This Being is everywhere and we should look at all possibilities in all nations in all that happens in the political, social, medical world. Knowing is all we have to combat the inevitable.
As for the timing I did not go to my book for the exact. I still am not convinced elapsed means the 1st part or last part of the millennium. But I stay aware!
Thank you for the link! 🙂
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On the Mysteries of the North (“the festivals of those people from whom have come the customs and habits of England and America … the regions of northern Russia, middle Russia, Sweden, Norway, or into those regions which until a short time ago were parts of Germany, or to France, at least northern France, and to what is now Great Britain”) also:
“Here, in the North things rose out of Economics, out of the life of Industry. The origin has, of course, vanished from ordinary modern life. We notice it at most in ancient customs which still survive here and there; such customs as are described in accounts of ancient Nordic civilization, of which the English civilization is a branch, e.g., processions through the villages at a certain season of the year, with the bull, which has to fertilize the herd of cows, crowned with wreaths. That is to say, from below upwards there arose a longing after the Spiritual life.”
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA195/English/RSPC1938/19191221p01.html
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This diagram describes a very strange concatenation that has occurred over time. Lucifer has replaced Christ in the middle, Ahriman becomes the expression of the Spiritual Life on the one side, and Azuras expresses the Economic Life on the other side. So, where does Russia fit in here?
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Here is a brief answer for now. Russia has a future destiny that is upcoming. Adversarial forces want to prevent its taking place. It concerns the presentiment of the Spirit Self in the Sixth Cultural epoch. Steiner is diagramming it here for a reason. The Russian Folk Soul has always been characterized as a young folk soul with a future destiny which is of the spirit-nature. These adversarial forces want to beat the Russian Folk Soul into submission in order that the 6th Cultural epoch fails to deliver what is meant for the Time of Christ. Read more here about it:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/PreSix_index.html
The current dilemma in Ukraine is the latest representation of this attempt to break the spirit of the Russian Folk Soul. There is a reason that we characterize Mikhail Gorbachev as a traitor and false prophet. Ukraine also had one in 2014, and caused the Revolution of Dignity in opposition to a president who actually supported Putin all the way. He now lives in exile in Russia, having been convicted of treason in Ukraine, which carries a 13 year prison sentence. It starts when he is captured, or turns himself in, which is doubtful.
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On the connection of ‘the West’ and the Mysteries of the North (GA 195): “Of these three streams the one most characteristic in expression is that which came from the North to the West. In the West everything is overpowered by the Economic-industrial life.”
Before, Steiner (1907 and 1909) had referred to the northern mysteries in ‘Russia’ or ‘Northern Russia’:
“The Drotten mysteries, which were in Russia and Scandinavia, the Druidic mysteries in Germany all derived from an initiate with the name Sig, who was the founder of the northern mysteries.”
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/ReadApoc/19070501p01.html
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This doesn’t bring us any closer to the situation today, which is one of inflicting another blow to the Russian people, who still feel in their heart and soul the future destiny for the good of humanity. Steiner gave two private lectures to the Russian anthroposophists in 1912 and 1913, when he gave courses in Helsinki, Finland, ref. GA 136 & 146. In the latter course, which was given in the year that Woodrow Wilson became the American president, Steiner warned the Russians that an impending conflict between two superpowers was in the offing, and that by 1950, it would reach a kind of crescendo, with forceful interactions of voice and peril, and then in the 1980’s would be quelled. America would gain the victory, but also become “a house of cards”, which clearly demonstrates its present moral decline. Would anyone disagree with this assessment, coming from as early as 1913?
For the USSR to dismantle its own power structure in order to appeal to the west seems an abomination of the highest order. Yet, it happened, and this is why the false prophet has been seen in Gorbachev. Steiner only clarifies it in lecture 11 of GA 346. Ahriman can only be the result of such a ruinous occurrence. A Russian federation of individual states is abhorrent to Putin.
Ukraine is the pawn in the equation of western power, now having seen the overthrow of the Soviet Union. Putin unwittingly becomes the agent of Ahriman in saving his last vestige of Russian integrity by waging an all out war in Ukraine. Indeed, the West instigated it from back in 1991, and that proves that behind Ahriman is Sorath, which has a firm place in America for many years, even going back to the founding of the New World. James I was deeply influenced by Francis Bacon, who saw his idea of the “New Atlantis” as being realized there, which would serve to confirm his book, Novum Organum. Thus, Sorath makes the crossing of the Atlantic ocean in order to be the adversarial force working from the west back to the east these days. 1998 was just seven years from 1991, when the Soviet Union fell, and Gorbachev defected to the west in order to sponsor his Gorbachev Foundation – USA. He lived under high security at the Presidio, which is near San Francisco. By 1996, when he ran for President of Russia, he had been universally declared by the Russian people as a traitor. Well, why not?
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The democratic reform of Gorbachev included Glasnost, Perestroika and Uskorenie. These ideals seem to have more in common with the Russian Folk Soul than Putin’s obsessive lies and destructive imperialism. Unwittingly, Steve? The ahrimanic Sorat in lecture 8 of GA 346 has nothing to do with the asuric Satan in lecture 11 and 18.
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The democratic reforms of Gorbachev never had to involve dismantling his own country’s unified infrastructure, having been developed over many years in the creation of the Soviet Union. By doing so, and then defecting to the west in 1991, Gorbachev laid the groundwork for the present situation. A Russian Federation of Independent States is owing to Gorbachev’s single-handed overthrow of his own country at the behest of the western powers seen in the Reagan-Bush second term, 1985-1988. Then, George Bush stole the Presidential election of 1988 from Michael Dukakis. His single term as POTUS, from 1989-1992, not only saw the overthrow of the Soviet Union, but also the first Iraq War in 1991.
Putin, indeed, makes the case for the Ahrimanic incarnation today, but he had the false prophet, seen as Gorbachev, behind him in his formation. The West, on the other hand, is where Sorath resides, and this is the supreme Beast that makes these kinds of arrangements, and then puts them into effect. 9/11 was just three years after 1998, and we know about the trichotomy of 666 – 1332- 1998. It is all planned out, in cold blood. Living here in the west gives the best perspective because it is lived everyday in the flesh. Anthroposophy only enhances the realization. Then, it gets written about in the attempt to remain sane. Sanity for truth.
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According to Steiner’s Priest Apocalyps, Sorat is not the ‘supreme Beast’, but he is the ahrimanic false prophet from Revelation. The Azuras are the third force, who attaque the economic life of the earth as a whole.
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Okay, we can quibble about this as the facts play out. Suffice to say that just as Christ is the sixfold Elohim of the Sun, Sorat/Surat is a sixfold Azuras of the deepest layer of the sub-earthly, which is the domain of pure destructive power; negative, third force energy.
Reflected as sub-physical world:
Astral World the province of Lucifer
Lower Devachan the province of Ahriman
Higher Devachan the province of the Asuras
Etherization of the Blood, 1 October 1911
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Where did Steiner state that Sorat is an Asuric power? Not in this 1911 lecture, nor in 1919 or 1924.
Contrary to that, in his final lectures in September 1924 he did imply Sorat, the Second Beast and false Prophet in Revelation, to be an Ahrimanic power of a lesser degree than the Asuras, the Saturn spirits in Steiner’s cosmology.
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“The path is being prepared for the entry of demons who are the followers of the great Soradt demon. For instance, one only has to speak to intelligent people who know, something about the starting point of the world war. No one will object if one says that almost all of the 40 or so people who were responsible for the outbreak of this world war had a dulled consciousness at the moment when it broke out. However, this is always a portal for Ahrimanic, demonic powers to enter. One of the greatest of these is Soradt. These are the attempts from Soradt’s side to at least temporarily penetrate human consciousnesses and to wreak havoc and confusion. What is striven for by the Soradtic spirits who are pressing into the soul of humanity is not the world war, but what followed it; this is terrible and will become ever more terrible, for instance, look at the present condition of Russia.
[…..]
However here present-day human beings, including people who are active as priests, must look at the rise of Michael in the seventies of the last century, at the appearance of Christ in the first half of the 20th century and at the threatening rise of Soradt and the Soradtians at the end of the 20th century. Let us arrange our lives in accordance with these three mysteries of our time, the Michael mystery, the Christ mystery and the Soradt mystery as understanding human beings who know how to interpret the signs of our time, and we will be able to work in the right way in the field into which karma has led us, as for instance, the priest in his priestly field. ”
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA346/English/UNK1995/19240912v02.html
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That is a Steiner quote on Sorat from lecture 8. The difference of Sorat with the Asuric, Satanic powers is indicated in lecture 11:
“The beast and the false prophet [the Ahrimanic Sorat] are powers who lead mankind astray; they want to steer men in the wrong direction in a moral and intellectual respect. However, the power which is meant in the fall of Satan [Asuras] wants something quite different. It wants to throw the whole earth off its course, and not just mankind. Seen from a human, earthly standpoint, this power is a terrible adversary of the [Father] Godhead. Etc.”
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The diagram depicting the Asuras as the lowest of the sub-earthly, and possessing pure destructive force and power, is explained here as bearing upon the Consciousness Soul as the further evolution of the Physical Body.
1 The Asuras are retarded Beings of the Hierarchy of the Archai (Spirits of Personality). They are Beings who instead of furthering man’s progress to independence, lure him into gross egoism. In the negative sense they now bear the name originally pertaining to the entire Hierarchy.
“In the age now, approaching, those spiritual Beings known as the Asuras (1) will creep into the consciousness soul and therewith into the human ‘I’ or ego — for the ‘I’ lights up in the consciousness soul. The Asuras will generate evil with a far mightier force than was wielded by the Satanic powers in the Atlantean epoch or by the Luciferic Spirits in the Lemurian epoch.
In the course of the Earth-period man will cast away all the evil brought to him by the Luciferic Spirits together with the blessing of freedom. The evil brought by the Ahrimanic Spirits can be shed in the course of karma. But the evil brought by the Asuric powers cannot be expunged in this way. Whereas the good Spirits instituted pain and suffering, illness and death in order that despite the possibility of evil, man’s evolution may still advance, whereas the good Spirits made possible the working of karma to the end that the Ahrimanic powers might be resisted and the evil made good, it will not be so easy to counter the Asuric powers as earth-existence takes its course. For these Asuric Spirits will prompt what has been seized hold of by them, namely the very core of man’s being, the consciousness soul together with the ‘I’, to unite with earthly materiality. Fragment after fragment will be torn out of the ‘I’, and in the same measure in which the Asuric Spirits establish themselves in the consciousness soul, man must leave parts of his existence behind on the earth. What thus becomes the prey of the Asuric powers will be irretrievably lost. Not that the whole man need become their victim — but parts of his spirit will be torn away by the Asuric powers. These Asuric powers are heralded to-day by the prevailing tendency to live wholly in the material world and to be oblivious of the realty of spiritual beings and spiritual worlds. True, the Asuric powers corrupt man to-day in a way that is more theoretical than actual. To-day they deceive him by various means into thinking that his ‘I’ is a product of the physical world only; they hue him to a kind of theoretic materialism. But as time goes on — and the premonitory signs of this are the dissolute, sensuous passions that are becoming increasingly prevalent on earth — they will blind man’s vision of the spiritual Beings and spiritual Powers. Man will know nothing nor desire to know anything of a spiritual world. More and more he will not only teach that the highest moral ideals of humanity are merely sublimations of animal impulses, that human thinking is but a transformation of a faculty also possessed by the animals, that man is akin to the animal in respect of his form and moreover in his whole being descends from the animal — but he will take this view in all earnestness and order his life in accordance with it.
Man does not as yet entirely base his life on the principle that his true being descends from the animal. But this view of existence will inevitably arise, with the result that men will also live like animals, will sink into animal impulses, animal passions. And in many things that need not be further characterized here, many things that in the great cities come to expression in orgies of dissolute sensuality, we can already perceive the lurid, hellish glare of the Spirits we call the Asuras.”
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA107/English/AP1954/19090322p01.html
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Indeed, in this quote from GA 107 the ‘Satanic powers’ are called ahrimanic. In contrast in GA 346 lecture 11, the ‘Satanic powers’ were described as Archai, i.e. implicitly as Asuric powers: “a far mightier force” than the Ahrimanic: “It wants to throw the whole earth off its course, and not just mankind.”
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The ‘Satanic Powers’ described as Archai in lecture 11 are those spirits that rebelled against the human condition on Ancient Saturn, and thus have taken a different route in Earth evolution as the Asuras. It is the same for Ahriman and Lucifer, who refused achieving the human condition on Ancient Sun, and Ancient Moon, and thus have remained backward for their respective roles in Earth evolution. It is the Asuras, who fell out in the Saturn evolution, who now dwell in the lowest region of the sub-earthly as the propagators of Evil, and have both a Sun-Demon aspect, and a Father-Demon aspect, that must be recognized and defeated.
Steiner did not describe this separation and refinement in GA 104, from 1908, but 16 years later, in GA 346, he had to revise much by saying that it was all occurring much earlier than he had previously indicated. For example, the Sun-Demon and Father-Demon powers of the Asuras are matters of proven science in the atomic physics that produced the nuclear bombs of WWII, and high-energy particle physics has harnessed Higgs boson, or the so-called “God Particle”, whose destructive potential is massive, and has been demonstrated here in the early 21st century.
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Revelations draws attention to the forming of the New Jerusalem. This is no less than the recognition of the three falls, and what humanity must do in order to win out for the success of Earth evolution. I posited a brief sketch here of what is entailed when the Fall of Babylon becomes the first and fundamental prerequisite to the whole scheme:
The Fall of Babylon is an allegory for all the work that must be done in order to overcome the present condition of the Astral Body, which has descended into corruption, which is no less than the “Babylon condition”. This is the beginning, and leads to the other two Falls, by extension. The human element is the only one that can overcome, and see these three falls occur to the end. Then, the New Jerusalem will be complete, and lead on.
We seem to be at the critical juncture with the present Russia War against itself. To have hired a professional group of mercenaries to officiate this war, i.e, the Wagner group, is bringing this confrontation to a head, as we speak.
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Rather, Ahriman/Sorat has a Sun-Demon aspect and the Asuras/Satan have a Father-Demon aspect (Priest’s Apocalypse).
In Revelation 19 and 20 this is a Beast/False Prophet aspect (or second Fall) vs. a chained Dragon aspect (or third Fall).
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Lecture 11 of the Priest Course describes three falls:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA346/English/UNK1995/19240915v02.html
1) The Fall of Babylon
2) The Fall of Ahriman
3) The Fall of Satan
As such, these three falls can be equated to the human being in a kind of trinity relationship. The first concerns our own personal development in order to defeat the Luciferic Ego within; the second concerns our extension of Self to the Other, i.e., “I and Thou”, and the third concerns what it means to acknowledge the Godhead.
In simpler terms, it represents the three lines of work in any esoteric system of schooling:
1) Work on self
2) Work for others
3) Work for the overall enterprise
This is demonstrated most notably in the fifth, sixth, and seventh occult seal pictures, and wherein the three falls are depicted in their supersensible parameters:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA101/English/AP1972/images/Seal_05.webp
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA101/English/AP1972/images/Seal_06.webp
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA101/English/AP1972/images/Seal_07.webp
Each picture represents an encouragement for individual human effort in order to achieve what the picture conveys. The Apocalypse of John is a book of initiation.
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So, Sorat, the two-horned beast and false prophet, is part of the second, ahrimanic stage
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Okay, but it is the power of Michael working in human souls that chains the Dragon in the present epoch. Thus, we have an evolution from when Paul first said, “Not I, but Christ in me.” Galatians 2:20. Today, it is possible to say with full conviction, “Not I, but Christ and Michael in me”. And this realization makes all the difference. It requires Spiritual Science as the cultural imperative.
The Asuras, which is a sixfold Being, just as Christ is a sixfold Being, seeks to undermine the Physical Body in a way that will fragment the Ego, which is a possession given by Christ. This is the present dilemma. We must act with the courage of Michael in drawing the sword of meteoric iron in the quest of truth and knowledge. Then, the Ahrimanic incarnation will be released in order to be redeemed, just as the Luciferic incarnation is well on its way to redemption.
Evil would seek to govern from the lowest realm, and this is why the Good must be fought for by those imbued with the Michael Imagination as depicted in the 6th Occult Seal Picture. It is preceded by a 5th picture, and succeeded by a Seventh. This is the resolution that is occurring right now in the early stage of the 21st century of the Third Millennium. At present, it appears that we are losing the battle, but the war is ours to win with the Christ-Michael connection having been yoked for quite some time.
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So, in Steiner’s view (1924), Michael “thinks that this power who belongs to the Archai is higher than he is. Except that Michael holds views which are in line with earth evolution.” Lecture 11
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Yes, Michael wants to remain the still, small Voice of Conscience residing in the human soul. He is for human freedom all the way, which involves both success and failure. This is why He remains within the parameters of Earth evolution. If He were to directly intervene, then human freedom would be sacrificed. The Asuras refused the human stage of evolution on ancient Saturn, and put themselves on a different course, which is the one we see today, and must resist and overcome. There is no alternative to physical destruction but to defeat it through the awakened Will, which at present is the least conscious member of the human being. Thus, the work is cut out for this kind of development.
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From Hans-Werner Schroeder 1979
Newsletter, Anthroposophical Society in America
Incarnation of Ahriman and the Asuras
from lecture The Deed of Christ and the Opposing Powers
March 22 1909
Perhaps it is appropriate here to insert a remark
as to method: Quotations such as the one above really
should never be repeated without reference to the
overall condition. We find that Rudolf Steiner always
placed descriptions of humanity’s future and the activity of evil connected with it into a most positive overall
context. Without this positive total view, such excerpts
take on a one-sided nuance that they should not have,
all seriousness and urgency notwithstanding. We
should mention that in the lecture from which the
above excerpt was taken, Rudolf Steiner makes completely positive remarks in conclusion. I would
therefore like to quote the end of the lecture:
So we see how Powers work together in the world,
how everything that appears to oppose the progress of mankind subsequently turns out to be a
blessing…. F or everything in the great world
Plan is good and the evil endures only for a season.
Therefore he alone believes in the eternity of the
evil who confounds the temporal with the eternal;
he who does not rise from the temporal to the eternal can never understand the evil.
Know Thyself, Christ in Me and Know the Powers so they do not come upon us unawares.
Hugs to everyone and do not despair.
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Christ and Michael in Me 🙂
Steiner always explained with the intention of giving hope, and the path to overcome. Our evolution is difficult, and Evil must be overcome by the Good. This is because True Human Evolution requires the fourfoldness of: Physical Body, Etheric Body, Astral Body, and Ego. This has only occurred on Earth as the Fourth Sphere. And, to further compound the matter, we must repeatedly reincarnate in order to achieve the goals of this human evolution. As such, Ancient Saturn, Sun, and Moon, where a “human stage”occurred, and brought forth the present Third Hierarchy of: Archai, Archangels, Angels, indicates our forerunners through this human stage.
What also occurred in these earlier embodiments leading to the present Earth evolution, is that Spiritual Beings rebelled at each stage and refused to undergo the human stage. Thus, they come forth as backward beings in order to challenge Earth evolution in its quest for complete freedom and independence of the human being. These are the Asuras, Ahriman, and Lucifer, whose task is actually to make us free as individual Human Beings who will guide the future Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan.
This has been the message in these comments to this long thread. Thank you.
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It is always possible to continue on for another day. I know that I have not written to you with a kind of personal reference, Rose, but it is there, nonetheless. I have been reading Steiner’s lecture on the School of Selflessness, and it gives many hopes for what it takes today in order to make a new world. Maybe we could start a new thread, with Jeremy’s permission, or even talk between ourselves. It is all the same with the requisite care and effort. Here is the lecture I am reading, which also has a book devoted to it by Peter Selg, no less.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/ForSac_index.html
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There is a post on the School of Unselfishness here: https://anthropopper.com/2016/06/02/the-school-of-unselfishness/
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I remember it now, and it reminds of the tumultuous time of the referendum vote, and the hapless dilemma of the two weak candidates of America’s two-party system of politics, which assures that nothing will ever change until true threefolding emerges across the board. In seven years time, nothing has changed in order to make for a better world of conscientious humanity. We should not give up, though, and, rather, produce plans for a world renewed based on anthroposophical principles. This prospectus was garnered in relation to this very essay, and the school of selflessness can only be the effective guide.
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For me, it seems divine coincidence that you, Steve, mentioned this “school”, and the lecture it was mentioned in, and now Jeremy has added to the thought. The beings of the spiritual world are waiting and watching to see what we’ll do with this; the being of Christ has made his four sacrifices, and now it’s our turn to advance through the steps in the ladder of Love, and to become the “mystical Lamb”, following his example. Just as with Christ, this is a long process, involving sacrifices made in the spiritual world (for which we on Earth have no record, nor are most humans aware of, only the clairvoyants are aware of them). I know I wasn’t aware there had been three previous sacrifices until you brought my attention to this lecture. There’s so much going on in the spiritual world that most of us aren’t aware of, just like with Light, how we only see 1% of the spectrum of Light.
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And He said to Nathanael, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” John 1:51
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Steve I will read this lecture. I personally persevere to work and struggle on selflessness every day. My circumstance now is a fire trial where dealing with the negativity of 3 people is a challenge for me to be selfless. To work at keeping negative thoughts about them away. 14 years so far. Here on my island I struggle and pray to keep a door open to and for the Spirit in my small world. If Jeremy permits, I will participate in discussion even with my meager knowledge yet great love for AnthropoSophia.
As of late I find inspiration in reading for the 2nd time The Christmas Foundation: Beginning of a New Cosmic Age by
Rudolf Grosse
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Rose Croix is my on line name in some places.
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Of course I am with you in any discussions you might want to have. AnthropoSophia is a large and viable concern these days as a Living Presence who walks among those who know, and still have faith. Not I, but Christ and Michael in me.
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Maybe we could have this conversation. I once sent the book by Rudolf Grosse to a friend.
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A very good discussion and Jeremy has probably brought this up before. Another anthroposophist I follow brought up the Grosse name so I looked for his book. Although I have been reading since the 1970’s I had yet to read about the Christmas Conference and now understand the very real spiritual necessity of the Turning Point of Time and what must, I say must be heeded and nurtured by all of those who deem themselves Anthroposophist. To those reading here if you have not read this book please do so or perhaps re read it. Rudolf Grosse writes facts and without ego and it is a pleasure to read.
A poem in Steiners notebook November 1924. He writes about the occult influences that could destroy him physically.
“In the night there shines the sorcery that makes a mockery of life; the divinely-willed eternal might of destiny’s sublime weaving is pierced by the opposition forces. So torturing the soul there now expands what kindles devilish calamity and slithers serpentwise towards me.”
This also attacks the Anthroposophical Movement and is seen in the Waldorf Schools as they begin the separate themselves from Steiner by removing his picture and in some places replacing it with Buddha’s.
Oh Man Know Thyself
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Rudolf Grosse wrote a sequel to The Christmas Foundation: Beginning of a New Cosmic Age. It is entitled:
The Living Being Anthroposophia : a Search for the Archetypal Powers who Guide Mankind. It is out of print, and so I will call the Rudolf Steiner Library tomorrow in order to borrow it.
The greater identification and affiliation with this Being is most important. She works invisibly and apparently, at the same time in order to keep the Anthro Ship afloat. Otherwise, we would have been sunk long ago. The year 1900 was the beginning of a new cosmic age, but the middle fifty years of the 20th century (1925-1975), saw suppression within the movement, and this is why Rudolf Grosse wrote a book designed for renewal in 1975.
In 2023, it seems important to assess again this New Cosmic Age. Do we still have it, and are we with it?
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The Living Being of Anthroposophia is the one who inspired Jean Gebser in the mid 1940’s to write his magnum opus, The Ever-Present Origin. Gebser has a small audience today, and maybe they listen better. At this point, I would hope that Jeremy could write another essay if he cares to. It is always a pleasure for me. The future destiny of the world began in 1900 with the beginning of a new cosmic age, and expressed with the work of Rudolf Steiner over the next 25 years.
Now, we are 23 years into a new millennium and nobody hardly speaks anymore. This isn’t what I anticipated. It is timely and disturbing to think that Easter 2023 cannot find its own moral compass within the shambles of a world that continues to fail to understand anthroposophical concepts. I feel that I could reach some of these Gebser advocates if I had the means.
Life is a challenge, nonetheless, and this blog has been a mainstay. I tend to go to what used to work, but failure has crept into this conversation, and I never said it.
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Since the book is not available, I will re-read Isis Mary Sophia. I did a search in the Steiner Archives and found very little as of this time on Anthroposophia. Here is one from GA 258
Irrespective of the fact that individual anthroposophists exist, a feeling should have developed, and must develop, among them that Anthroposophia exists as a separate being, who moves about among us, as it were, towards whom we carry a responsibility in every moment of our lives. Anthroposophia is actually an invisible person who walks among visible people and towards whom we must show the greatest responsibility for as long as we are a small group. Anthroposophia is someone who must be understood as an invisible person, as someone with a real existence, who should be consulted in the individual actions of our lives. Thus, if connections form between people — friendships, cliques and so on — at a time when the group of anthroposophists is still small, it is all the more necessary to consult and to be able to justify all one’s actions before this invisible person.
But as long as it remains the property of a small group of people, it is necessary for every action to follow from consultation with the person Anthroposophia. That Anthroposophia should be seen as a living being is an essential condition of its existence. It will only be allowed to die when its group of supporters has expanded immeasurably. What we require, then, is a deeply serious commitment to the invisible person I have just spoken about.
Vast! So vast is the spirit.
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The risen Christ revealed to us, through his revelation to John (in chapters 2 and 3), that “the One like the Son of Man” whom John had seen earlier in his meditation is inside us, walking in the midst of what he could only symbolize as “churches”. These beings aren’t merely beings external to us; rather, the Christ is “born” in us when the Light energy of the Father descends through our upper chakras (as per Steiner), and fuses with the Light energy of the Mother rising from our lower chakras (as per Cayce and the Eastern meditations), to meet in our heart chakra where the Christ is “born”. This is really what the New Testament is referring to when it speaks of being “born again”; after this “birth” takes place, we’re possessed with what Steiner and Cayce called the Christ Consciousness, or what Paul called “the mind of Christ”. This Son of Man is able to travel through our chakras – what Revelation 2:1 calls walking “in the midst of the seven golden lampstands”. Our problem is that we’ve never had a good interpretation of this amazing Revelation given to John, at least not until the one given to Edgar Cayce in the late 1930’s. It’s always been there since the Revelation was written, but we didn’t have “eyes to see, or ears to hear”. The knowledge that these beings aren’t just external to us, but are actual Light beings that are able to move through our chakras, and communicate to us via what John could only term “angels/messengers”, makes all the difference in our relationships with them. Of course, science has given us new terminology for much of this, and we no longer need to think of them in the terms John thought in – “churches”, “angels”, etc. Now we speak in terms of “glands” and “cells” and “energy”.
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Steiner gave a pretty good interpretation of the Apocalypse in GA 104 in June 1908, and then sixteen years later with the Priest course in September 1924. Herein, with the latter course, he makes substantial revisions to the former, in terms of timing of the opening of the seals and the sounding of the trumpets. To the Priests, he wanted to advocate a kind of “fourth mystery epoch of our time”, and wherein we all find our biography within the schema of the Letters, Seals, Trumpets, and Vials of Wrath.
As you can see, this very blog essay and its comments, has the Book of Revelation very much in mind as an active dynamic that could reveal much about what Anthroposophy’s position in the world still attempts to fulfill. For example, the opening of the sixth seal shows conversion of 144,000 of the 12 Tribes of Israel, and even world population has grown to 8 billion in anticipation. What could it mean? Well, for one thing, it points to the 6th Cultural Epoch, which is called, “The Time of Christ”. What does Time really mean for Christ? He met the Hours when he lived on Earth, but what does Time really mean in the Mind of Christ? Aquarius would be a substantial advancement of the present Piscean Age, and Anthroposophy exists to accelerate everything. We shouldn’t lose it as the cultural imperative that it is meant to be.
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Steiner has a very good interpretation of the Revelation, and I’ve enjoyed it greatly. As I’m sure you know though, his head is often in the stars, thus some of his teaching is more suited to life in the cosmos, rather than on Earth. Cayce’s, on the other hand, is very down to Earth. For Cayce, the Revelation is all about what’s going on in our bodies and minds; has nothing to do with cosmic ages and battles. It all happens within ourselves. So, for example, the opening of the seals is about gaining access to our subconscious memories, memories of past incarnations that normally would be inaccessible to the ordinary person. However, for those meditators like John who are willing to go through the open door into “heaven”, the Lamb shows us how these memories become accessible. That enables us to spiritualize the cells of our body. A very different scenario from Steiner’s interpretation.
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Maverick that is well written and interesting. I do not understand Revelations in the same way. Read the Revelations lectures given to the priest which I personally thought enlightening. I have wondered about Casey and how he might be a ‘real’ prophet. The jury is still out on some of his readings for me. Read Casey a little back in the 1970’s before I began Anthroposophy.
As I understand it the churches are the ancient mystery centers as are the candlesticks. Page 56 of The Book Of Revelation and the Work of the Priest. Perhaps the Akasha 360 degree view brings to mind different words for those who can look and their descriptions vary widely? Our words are feeble when it comes to describing the spirit.
We are light beings yearning to go back home. sigh….. We have quite a ways to go and the way is a struggle and very hard. With Christ on the Crown of our heart we can persevere.
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For sure, Steiner and Cayce had different perspectives on the Revelation. You’re correct in saying though that the Revelation was given to help all of us make our way back home, to the “Father’s house” from where we originated. I know Steve is going to give me the gears for saying Steiner had his head in the stars, but when it comes to Revelation, it’s the truth. Steiner speaks of cosmic ages and spiritual battles; Cayce speaks of karmic memories, the cells of our bodies, and the endocrine glands as the spiritual centers. Quite different indeed. If you ever get the chance to view the out-of-print book by J. Everett Irion, called Interpreting the Revelation with Edgar Cayce, I highly recommend it. There’s a group of us who’ve been studying it for a couple of years now – we’re almost halfway through! It’s the best all-around study of Cayce’s interpretation. A more accessible book explaining it, complete with the original readings from which his interpretation is drawn, is available on Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0876040032/neardeathexpe-20
There’s lots of other books, but they’re not as well done. Here’s a PDF, but it’s not a secure site, that gives the basics: http://www.heartnsoul.com/revelation_explained.htm
However you approach it, there’s no doubt that the Revelation was given to us by the risen Christ to be THE book to grasp when it comes to understanding yourself, especially if you’re a meditator like John was. In deep meditation, and going through the Revelation, you’re guaranteed to become spiritualized, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, that is.
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I know that Edgar Cayce saw the more microcosmic aspect working in Revelations, and thanks for the references, which I admit that I have never studied. Indeed, Rudolf Steiner was in the more macrocosmic dimension, with “the stars”, and caused him to see the further developments of the Earth evolution relative to John’s discourse. Yet, and I feel that this is important. Christ Himself foretold the temple destruction, and the portent of the future to His disciples, and this was long before the Revelation to John. You can find it in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 19. You see, Christ wanted to prepare them in every way for their future, which was given in the Last Supper, and then the four chapters of the Gospel of Christ to His Disciples, ref. John, chapters 14-17.
So, for Steiner to yield to the more macrocosmic dimension in his discourses about Revelations seems right because he claimed to be so close to the Mystery of Golgotha. Cayce, on the other hand, saw the unraveling of the knots of the seven seals, and this is very interesting from a more conscious standpoint.
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For example, the opening of the fifth seal seems to clearly indicate that something has occurred in the Fifth Cultural epoch relative to a spiritual experience toward Salvation:
9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. Revelation 6.
Could this be due to the experience of the Etheric Christ, which the fifth letter to the Church of Sardis foretells is to take place? Some of us can attest to the Etheric Christ experience in this very life, and why Revelations resonates very strongly with its opening of the fifth and the sixth seals.
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GA 258 is where Steiner first concretely identified the Being Anthroposophia as a Living Person Who Walks Among Us. He first met her when he was a little boy in the Pottschach railway station, c. 1869, and she walked in with a vaguely familiar face and came to him and pleaded, “please help me now and later”. Then, she disappeared into the stove. This begins the Being of Anthroposophy. She was the reincarnated Dante, and Steiner’s Aunt, being the middle sister of his mother.
She is the one that has taken the helm since his death, and truly works in mysterious ways, as with Jean Gebser, who entered Switzerland in August 1939. Ita Wegman was in Ascona at the time, and she was a veritable instrument of the Being Anthroposphia. They could have even met before she died in 1943. Steiner saw this coming, and why he referred increasingly to Brunetto Latini since 1915. Jean Gebser, born in 1905, is the reincarnation of Brunetto Latini, who was the mentor and guardian of Dante.
Spiritual Science is still a vast cultural project, and needs all its incentives. Gebser died 50 years ago, and proclaiming the advent of the Aperspectival Age. Yet, I continue to wonder about the anthro’s today, like us, Rose. We have to be more than two! You know what is said about, “whenever two or more are gathered in His Name”.
Most kind regards. I don’t think we have ever talked before, but I have always loved your comments.
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And I return kind regards. I am alone in spiritual science at this time of my life. So having the net to hear, read and comment with other like-minded people is enriching. Also one can get a idea of how Anthroposophy is hanging on. Which does not seem to be very well in some places. The schools for instance and I just read, can’t recall where now, sad, where this particular person mentions if he brings Steiner up to his Bio Dynamic friends they shut him down.
Did a quick wikipedia search on Gebser. Quite intellectual and I would need to read his sentences over and over. Aristotelian as well perhaps? I am more Platonian. The need to write and speak from different angles as to reach many is needed. The group I was with in Nashville had several psychologist and psychiatrist
they were the intellectuals always deciphering what seemed simple to me. I hope one person is enough for Sophia to use her wisdom on! And yes where two or more are gathered even on the net. Funny how Ahriman is required to let us speak of truths on his devices…… I hope in a way that it also helps the elementals trapped in the computer.
Going to bring up a book I decided not to finish. At first it seemed ok. Author, Ben-Aharon Yeshayahu, The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity. My personal decision was the amount of ego involved in his writing and the mention over and over again about his other books. Like I say personal.
I hope we are wearing Jeremy out!
In the future………..
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You’re not wearing me out at all, Rose! In fact, in a few days’ time I’m going to be posting something new… Best wishes, Jeremy
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No, I’m the one wearing Jeremy out, I suspect. I look forward to the new offering. Jean Gebser is someone I highlighted for a reason. We can all look ahead, but it takes interaction.
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No, you’re not wearing me out – thank you for your participation!
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Looking forward to your new post. I printed off the Easter talk for my files!
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