“Anthroposophy itself must come to resemble an inner festival of the resurrection of the human soul”

 This Work Is

This work is: to let the Michael Power and the Michael Will penetrate the whole of life. The Michael Power and the Michael Will are none other than the Christ Will and the Christ Power, going before in order to implant in the right way into the Earth the Power of the Christ. If this Michael Power is able verily to overcome all that is of the demon and the dragon [and you will know what that is], if you all, who have in this way received in the light Michael Thought, have indeed received it with true and faithful heart and with tender love, and will endeavour to go forward from the Michael mood of this year, until not only is the Michael Thought revealed in your soul, but you are able also to make the Michael Thought live in your deeds in all its strength and all its power — if this is so, then will you be true servants of the Michael Thought, worthy helpers of what has now to enter Earth-evolution through Anthroposophy, and take its place there in the meaning of Michael.

Rudolf Steiner, last address, 28. 9. 1924, GA 238

Anthroposophy Isn't Here, She is Risen!

“Anthroposophy itself must come to resemble an inner festival of the resurrection of the human soul”. (GA 233a, 19.4.1924)

In his address in 20. July 1924, in Arnheim (GA 217a), Rudolf Steiner was speaking from his eternally young life-giving heart, searching for truly young hearts, that can experience what he himself experiences. The eternal truth of these words can be taken into our etheric hearts now, in 2019, as the fiery flame that nourishes our work as a whole:

 "In this sense, the Anthroposophical Movement is pure youth, so why shouldn't young people find their way to it? If the Anthroposophical Movement is honest and young people need honesty, what else do we need? Only courage, real courage! We need the courage to say that the life of the world must be reestablished on totally new foundations. This courage is something we either learn very quickly or not at all. In fact, I have never seen anything, but this inscribed in the subconscious of young adults: The world must be constructed anew from the ground up. What they really want is to reestablish the world on new foundations. The Anthroposophical Movement can become an institute of higher learning where we study courage".

 This courage is the only true expression of the Michaelic force in the present Michaelic age, and nothing but an absolutely enthusiastic courage to actualize this resolution, that “the world must be constructed anew from the ground up”, will suffice in the anthroposophical work in this age. This stream is the reverberating and resounding Michaelic impulse in this present age of Michael, that must begin to be actualized in the 21st century.

Our first major task in this century must be to actualize this resolution, in concrete detail, in our freed etheric hearts, first of all in regard to the dead tree of anthroposophy. We must feel this youthful power of courageous, enthusiastic resolution, in our hearts, in order to say, “Anthroposophy must be reestablished on totally new foundations”. We must be thoroughly penetrated by this powerful courage to decide that what this old being could never become in the first century of the Michaelic age, it must begin to become today and tomorrow. This is the courageous resolution of the youthful impulse of Michael today: We will not seek the corpse of anthroposophy in this empty grave but will experience these fiery words resounding in our hearts, “the one you are seeking isn’t here, He is resurrected! Search the living not among the dead but among the living, go out and find Him in Galilee (the etheric world)”, as the Angels told the shocked disciples confronting Christ’s empty grave on Easter’s Sunday morning. Today this powerful message is resounding as strongly when we look at the empty grave where the corpse of old anthroposophy has been laid hundred years ago. Only when this courage become so fiery and real, active and creative, will the etheric human heart be ready to prepare the ground needed for the second impulse of the Michaelic stream in this age.

This coragous enthusiasm must first of all be applied to the resurrection of the most elementary basics of anthroposophy, both in the study of general anthroposophy and in the practice of the spiritual path, as we strive to do in the school of spiritual science in the last 10 years. If we build on this deep and solid foundation, we may also aspire to resurrect in our etheric hearts the most profound spiritual impulses that Rudolf Steiner gave, up to and including the Christmas Foundation Conference. This fundamental renewal is the only way to bring about the resurrection of anthroposophy and humanity from the present twilight and grave which we entered in the last century. And as I mentioned above, the key to this resurrection is the mystery of the release of the human etheric body from the heart region, that started in 1721 and will be fully accomplished in 2100, if we find the way to connect in a real anthroposophical way with the experience of the etheric Christ in the 20th century and today. In this released etheric heart, filled with Christ’s new life forces, we must plant the resurrected anthroposophy, and this resurrection can only be as real as our own resurrection is, because we are the dead souls that must first awaken.

The absolutely necessary foundation for the resurrection of all the major anthroposophical impulses, is the resurrection in our hearts of Rudolf Steiner’s own foundational works, The Philosophy of Freedom and studies of Goethe in the 80-90 of the 19th century. This founding impulse of freedom and love was introduced into the anthroposophical work for the first time in 1919 and 1920, when Rudolf Steiner described “the new Yoga will” of Michael. In the 80-90 of last century, this became the foundation of The New Experience of the Supersensible, adapted recently to a wider public in Cognitive Yoga. This impulse of freedom and love, the essential forces flowing through the Philosophy of Freedom, must become in us an eternal fire that constantly enlivens all our work. Into this eternally burning fire of the purest thinking, sense perception and love, the truly free human activity in the age of the consciousness soul age, we take in, assimilate, spiritualize and resurrect, the whole old anthroposophical tree.

In the old being of anthroposophy we must resurrect, first of all, the root and trunk of the original esoteric school impulse, given until 1914, and the forces invested in the building of the first Goetheanum. The esoteric school must be resurrected from the very first elements given in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, supported by the practice of the Philosophy of Freedom. The construction of the first Goetheanum has two different aspects, that must be taken into consideration. First, it is the synthesis of all the artistic anthroposophical impulses, of the plastic and musical arts. This is a vast and diverse filed of resurrection work, that can only be honestly carried out by enlivening the most basic elements and connecting them to the living and creative spirit of anthroposophy in the present. The second aspect of the Goetheanum impulse is found in the way in which the whole community dedicated itself to its physical building, that today must become the spiritual community building. Then we must undertake the same resurrection activity with the three founding acts of Waldorf Education, the Christian Community, and the esoteric youth circle. (the Waldorf impulse was founded in August 21, 1919, the Christian Community in 16. September 1922, and the esoteric youth circle 13. October 1922). These three founding impulses lead directly to the Christmas Foundation Conference. Further, we must resurrect in our hearts the essence of the medical, agricultural and curative educational impulses, that form a certain unity in themselves. In this way we prepare ourselves to resurrect the Christmas Foundation Conference in its centenary 2023-4. This can only be done if we experience- based on the work invested in the resurrection of the whole anthroposophical tree- how Rudolf Steiner brought all his founding acts and impulses into the Christmas Foundation Conference, in a thoroughly transformed and enhanced way, through which also the anthroposophical soceity and esoteric school were founded again on totally new foundations. Everything Rudolf Steiner gave and created during his whole life, starting from the Philosophy of Freedom and Goethe, was burned down and resurrected like the phoenix in the burning of the first Goetheanum, and was streaming in its new and spiritualized form into the Christmas Foundation Conference. When we strive, therefore, to resurrect the Christmas Foundation Conference impulse, and “reestablish on totally new foundations” the anthroposophical community and school of spiritual science, we must first of all resurrect in our hearts and deeds the whole old being of anthroposophy from root to branches, flowers, fruits and seeds. (the new spiritual impulse that will be given to external social life, that a century ago was called “social threefolding”, will only grow out of the resurrection of anthroposophy as a whole in the future).

Now the question must be naturally raised, how is this resurrection process to be carried out? In order to understand this, we must understand that the death of Rudolf Steiner and the destruction of Germany and the anthroposophical society in Dornach in the 30’ and 40’, is comparable- only on a vast universal scale- with the burning down of the first Goetheanum. The physical life of the impulse of future anthroposophy given in the Christmas Foundation Conference was annihilated in these flames of hatred. This impulse, that in itself is the metamorphosed result of the burning of the first Goetheanum, was also burned down, in the devastating apocalyptic fire of the second world war in Germany and Dornach. And it is awaiting its resurrection, that can only take place out of the spiritual worlds, as the spirit of the physically burned down Goetheanum returned from the spiritual worlds, in a wholly spiritualized form, in the Christmas Foundation Conference.

Therefore, the resurrection of anthroposophy cannot mean that we simply take in the old anthroposophy as it was transmitted on the earth in the last century. We must have the courage first of all to study again Rudolf Steiner’s own words and the words of those of his pupils that preserved some of his original life forces. This study, however, must become already, in itself, an activity of resurrection. We must realize that we can only go backward in time to resurrect the old anthroposophical tree to the extent that we can now overcome death and prove this overcoming in the development of new spiritual faculties. If we prove this today, we will be able to overcome the death and evil forces holding sway today in our souls and in the world and use them also to continue to follow Rudolf Steiner through the gate of death into the etheric world from 1925. We must demonstrate these new faculties of resurrection here and now in our thinking, feeling and will forces, showing how we penetrate into the real etheric world, and unite with the real spiritual being of anthroposophy. The spiritual power that flows through anthroposophy is the force of resurrection, because it is begotten out of the Mystery of Golgotha, and if we experience this force as reality, not as mere theoretical knowledge, we will experience that it didn’t die in the physical death of Rudolf Steiner. We will be able to develop a continuation of spiritualized consciousness beyond the forces of death and birth, and show, as I did in my books, Cognitive Yoga and Cognitive Yoga: How a Book is Born, how we penetrate into the etheric world, meet the being of the etheric Christ directly, and receive from Him the forces needed to resurrect anthroposophy on the earth.  

In our meditations we must strive to find this presently active spiritual stream, in the place in which it is flowing today out of the purely spiritual being of anthroposophy. To do this we must become first of all acquainted with this being, which we must search daily in our general anthroposophical study and meditations. We can only find the real spiritual being of anthroposophy, however, if all our anthroposophical study and meditations is connected to its continuation in the etheric world after Rudolf Steiner’s death in 1925. Our quest must bring us to experience consciously what this being of anthroposophy became through the spiritual event of the 20th century, in 1933-1945, that continues to evolve and change since then in ever new transformations. Because in this event the greatest metamorphosis of Anthroposophia occurred, it means that all her “daughters”, the specific, special anthroposophical foundations and impulses, will be transformed and resurrected today only to the extent that they will be connected again to this presently real and living spiritual being.

This is the most important fact that we have to ponder deeply and inscribe most intensively in our freed etheric hearts today: that everything, absolutely everything, that Rudolf Steiner created in his life, is wholly transformed in the course of a century in the spiritual worlds! Nothing, absolutely nothing, remains as it was in 1902, 1910, 1919, 1924 and 1925. This living understanding is an absolute precondition to reorient ourselves to the real work we have to accomplish in our time, and without this fundamental reorientation, anthroposophy will remain in its present physical form.

 Later in this lectue I will offer an example of such a transformation and resurrection- naturally it can only be an indication, pointing to a vast field of future work- in connection with Rudolf Steiner’s youth impulse of 1922-4. Like everything else that he created in those years, it contains the most vital future seeds, but we will be able to bring these seeds to life today, a century later, only if we are able to resurrect and transform their essence through spiritual event of the 20th century. This indication will help us understand- and increasingly also perform- this necessary deed of resurrection and spiritualization of the first tree of anthroposophy, in order to connect our work on the earth with the supersensible work of the true Michaelic stream and school in the etheric world, where its second tree in now fully prepared.

 The Tragedy of the Younger Generation after the Death of Rudolf Steiner

 To prepare our soul to accomplish this resurrection work, we must also take into our hearts the tragic experiences of the young generation of anthroposophists after the death of Rudolf Steiner. This is necessary, because one can, as a matter of fact, find one’s way to the supersensible events after his death, only if one follows first, with the deepest feelings, the destiny of the whole of humanity on the earth in the last century. This tragic destiny of humanity is exemplified in the destiny of the young souls who received from Rudolf Steiner the unique spiritual impulse for the young, because only they could experience in the most radical manner, the overwhelming reversal between what they hoped to achieve through what he gave them, which could have become the future impulse of anthroposophy, and what actually took place after his death.

The courage needed to resurrect the old being of anthroposophy from its foundations is the real essence of the impulse that Rudolf Steiner gave when he founded the general anthroposophical society and school of spiritual science in the Christmas Foundation Conference of 1923-4. When he died shortly after this foundation, he couldn’t continue to guide the young people and support their development and the development of the Christmas Foundation Conference impulse in the decisive 20’ and 30’. When he died, these young people just started to experience, in their efforts to build their community, and in the newly founded general anthroposophical society, the breaking down of all trust, betrayals, hatreds and persecutions. They were left to their own resources, and had to experience how their best hopes, that just begun to be quickened through meeting Rudolf Steiner in 1922-1924, were reversed and destroyed in the abyss of evil in Germany and Dornach. When the two evils, from within and without, came together in 1933-35, when the younger generation was banned from the anthroposophical society in Dornach and Hitler unleashed the world catastrophe of 1933-1945, all the hopes of this younger generation were annihilated in the darkest abyss that ever erupted in human evolution.

But their tragic was not only caused by the horrible physical events in Dornach and Germany. The real tragic was that they couldn’t develop the spiritual faculties necessary to see, beyond the earthly destruction, the spiritual events in the spiritual world. They didn’t have the cognitive forces to perceive the spiritual event behind the apocalypse of the 12 years, which could only be experienced in full consciousness since the 80 and 90 of last century. Only then could the new experience of the etheric Christ become an object of a thorough spiritual scientific research, communicated in 1995 my book, The New Experience of the Supersensible, and the dramatic, world saving events in the etheric world during 1933-45 were described for the first time in my book, The Spiritual Event of the 20th Century.

Taken together, these books describe the individual etheric meeting of humanity with the etheric Christ in our age, and the universal activity of the school of Michael in the etheric world since 1933. Then, from the beginning of the 21st century, it has become gradually possible to use these new forces to resurrect the old, earthly anthroposophy to new life, from the most fundamental basic elements.