עברית This self has become a venue, in and through which the whole universe, spiritual, physical, natural, and historical has agreed to dwell so intimately, revealing to all beings its most profound secrets.
From lecture 3: The Universal Language of Michael and the Being of Rudolf Steiner
Summer 2020 in Temple Lodge
The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity
The History of the Michaelic Movement since the death of Rudolf Steiner.
... And you feel your modern Consciousness Soul jubilating, singing a song of enthusiasm and joy, praying to the good God to give you the gift of longer earthly life to experience more of this wonder, the marvel of becoming itself: a human being that is becoming the universe, a universe that is becoming a human being. An Ego that is universal, the whole universe that has spoken and revealed itself through a human Ego, through an individual human spirit, through a human soul, through a human body...
Now we can approach in the right way, because we have laid some solid foundations for this in our last lectures, some aspects of the mystery of that human being, called Rudolf Steiner in his last incarnation. Let us make clear to ourselves, dear friends, in what time of history Rudolf Steiner was working. He was working in the very moment in which humanity took the most ahrimanic-materialistic turn ever, that began in the middle of the nineteenth century, and became universally accepted and dominated western culture as a whole at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. He was born and he worked at the most intensive culmination of this materialistic wave, since Ahriman took over for himself in the 1840s the cosmic intelligence that belonged in all previous ages to Michael and Sophia. (About the spiritual events of the 1840s, until Michael’s victory over the ahrimanic angels that were cast down to the earth in 1879, see GA 177, 14.10. 1917)
And his mission was, is and will be to teach modern humans how to penetrate into the innermost core of this fallen ahrimanic intelligence, and transform and spiritualize it in this core, to return it as a human deed to where it really belongs, to Michael and the spiritual worlds. This means that all the higher forces of spiritual cognition that he developed through his singular modern initiation, Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition, are experienced in the same clarity as the one we can experience in the most lucid mathematical thinking. And his pupils, who will learn to do it, will become an immanent part of the Michaelic spiritual world, which leads also to the Christ, in the fullest and most lucid supersensible consciousness. Of course, he knew that he had planted seeds for all future times to come, not only for the nearest, but also to the farthest future. This is the nature of his task. The more we not only represent in our heads or merely feel in our emotions his spiritual teachings, but actively begin to learn to think as he was thinking, the more we will actualize in ourselves the same impulse that he serves, and the more we will have the courage and strength to make this impulse real in the world.
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If you study Rudolf Steiner’s life and initiation in this way, weaving more and more the eternal and personal through the concrete details of both, which we cannot do in detail here, you will feel that this individuality has made its Ego into nothing less than a spiritual sun being that receives, assimilates, reflects and radiates the whole cosmic human being, as it lives and weaves in all the worlds. We have before us a human self, call it the real or spiritual Ego, that has achieved this level of initiation in which he embodies and reflects the whole physical and spiritual universe alike, all the hierarchies, the whole evolutionary history of the cosmos and the earth and humanity, down to the last fish in the sea, gnome in the earth, butterflies and bees, ants and spiders, and all other creatures above, below and on the earth. And you will experience through him how the whole universe, the physical, etheric, astral, lower and higher spiritual worlds and the still higher spiritual worlds beyond them, with all their hierarchical beings, the earth, heavens and everything in between, is all coming to the liveliest, most intimate, expression through this self. This self has become a venue, in and through which the whole universe, spiritual, physical, natural, and historical has agreed to dwell so intimately, revealing to all beings its most profound secrets. Before we ask what this means for us humans, let us think for a moment about the fact that through him, the whole infinite divine-spiritual world of the nine hierarchies, placed a mirror before itself, in which all their infinite plurality is reflected, synthesized together, through one human soul. They could actually experience that their beings are able to dwell inside this human soul, to live there together as if it is a holy temple of the gods. Since the creation of the world, when God said, ‘Let us create a human being in our image’, and the Elohim brought together the essences of the being from all the worlds into one sublime synthesis, the gods have worked and sacrificed themselves to accomplish this goal.
What kind of self, what initiation of the self can this be, to bring this mystery of in-dwelling about? What kind of a sun-filled, illuminated self is this self, in which the whole universe embodies, reflects and speaks out its innermost self, indeed, multiple, infinitely many selves, down to the smallest wonders and up to the most sublime mysteries? I must not be the only one to feel a breathtaking shudder and wonder, again and again, when I listen to him especially when it comes down to the smallest details! From my earliest age—allow me this proper disclosure—I have been a detail enthusiast; I have absolutely no interest and no patience for general ideas and abstractions. So, when I read his first lecture cycle, I felt that I had found such an infinitely more advanced, yet wholly kindred spirit! Now, just study everything he gave humanity, in such detail about the beings of the higher hierarchies, the most astounding details concerning them! I feel that I am nourished and vitalized only by concrete detail everywhere, in each subject matter, because this is reality, this is real life for me. Therefore, when he describes from the closest experience the intimate details of the life and nature of the Cherubim and Seraphim, I am naturally awestruck. And when he offers the same detailed, intimate description about the spiritual beings we call intestines and livers, hands and feet, gnomes and sylphs, ants, butterflies and bees, down to single atoms, I experience total bliss. Or when I realize again and again, that he has the knowledge of all the sciences and arts and politics of his time at his fingertips. When he speaks about any field of human knowledge, he knows exactly what they have to say in their most current research, not only from the time when he was a student in the Technische Hochschule in Vienna. He is totally informed about the most recent discoveries in all fields of science, also in the unbelievable 24/7 intensity of the last years of his life. In the midst of that most intense time when he was wholly and totally engaged in the threefolding movement and the founding the first Waldorf school, for example, he could give, after he was asked to do it with last minute notice, the first scientific lecture course to the teachers about light and optics. Then he could also include in his presentation an experimental demonstration arranged on the spot, and while apologizing to his listeners that only last night he was asked to give this cycle, he nevertheless demonstrated to what an extent he is informed about the latest theories, experiments and discoveries in physics of recent years, nay, indeed, of the recent months and weeks. (This is the so-called Light Course, GA 230, the first natural scientific course Rudolf Steiner gave to the teachers of the Waldorf school and scientists in Stuttgart, from 23.12 1919 until 3.1.1920, and the subject covered such subjects as light, colour, tone, mass, electricity and magnetism).
Think of this also please, when you contemplate his life and being. Think of this mystery occurring in real space and time at the end of the nineteenth century and in the beginning of last century, every day, hour and minute, as a cosmic-human singular event, actualizing itself where and when he was, as he spoke and accomplished another creative miracle. He brought his self, his Ego, to a stage in which the whole universe spoke through him. As I pointed out above, Prokofieff’s achievement lies in this, that he boldly and consequently applied the knowledge given by spiritual science to the understanding of Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual biography, showing how his development and initiation progressed through each seven-year period. He showed which spiritual being or beings worked through him in each period and age and so on. You get a more concrete picture of this Ego, as it begins to appear before you as the world stage, through which all the leading beings of humanity speak; a being that is increasingly becoming the focal point, where all the rays of all the spiritual beings of the hierarchies work together, as the whole creative symphony of the cosmic Word, to use the title of one of his most sublime lecture cycles. (Man as a Symphony of the Creative Word, November 1923, GA 230).
As Christ is the Word becoming flesh, Rudolf Steiner is the flesh becoming Word, becomiing spirit, as befits the present, second, Michaelic revelation: “The Word becoming flesh is the first Michael revelation; the flesh becoming Spirit is the second Michael revelation”. (GA 194, 22.11. 1919)
Being Christ’s most modern follower, his whole ‘flesh’, that is all aspects of his human being, indeed, also all his bodies, truly became Word, spiritual gesture, creation, humanness in him. You see the whole spiritual world and all the hierarchies working through him in a concrete and detailed way, until it leads you to the crowning event of his initiation in the founding of the new Anthroposophical Society and the Christmas Foundation Conference of 1923-4.
When you contemplate this mystery over many years in your innermost meditations, you would certainly say to yourself, ‘we have found a path’, to use Christian Morgenstern’s loving words, ‘a truly modern spiritual path’. (Christian Morgenstern, Wir Fanden einen Pfad, Zbinden Verlag, 1973, dedicated to Rudolf Steiner).
And you feel your modern Consciousness Soul jubilating, singing a song of enthusiasm and joy, which is not something you can experience if you simply practice the often so unfortunately sad, grey and conventional anthroposophical life; you can follow it only if you do it yourself, individualize it, practice it in your daily life and work, ever again, praying to the good God to give you the gift of longer earthly life to experience more of this wonder, the marvel of becoming itself: a human being that is becoming the universe, a universe that is becoming a human being. An Ego that is universal, the whole universe that has spoken and revealed itself through a human Ego, through an individual human spirit, through a human soul, through a human body. This is the most human cosmic-human being, the firstborn of our modern humanity. You stand before this mystery with ever growing and deepening awe, devotion, love, joy and hope, for all humans, humanity and the earth. And this being can then become a gentle companion on your path, not ‘teaching’ in any common sense, yet ‘standing by’ your feebly mortal knowledge struggles, hinting, correcting, balancing, your human, all-too-human, shortcomings, encouraging your growing ability to actualize your own truly free self. And the more you become your true self, the more you will feel that you have just started today to begin to unveil one small corner of the mystery of his infinite being...
Now he is standing right there in spirit before us as a full embodiment of the free human being of the future. All the true Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, Avatars and teachers of humanity are embodiments of the Christ, in various and complementary ways. Rudolf Steiner is the first totally free embodiment of the Self of the Christ, a wholly new and unique individualization of the Christ-filled self. Christ is the universal ’I AM’, the Higher Self of humanity. The spiritual individuality that incarnated as Rudolf Steiner in his previous earthly life, has embodied, through his modern initiation, the individualized essence of this Christ Ego. In this sense, he is the firstborn among all future humanity. He is the first one of all the disciples and all the pupils of the Christ, who, in this age, in the age of full freedom, made his own self the most exact copy of the self of the Christ. This new human-Christ self exists now in the spiritual world. This self is a reality in the spiritual world. If we become pupils of this self in the spiritual worlds today, we can be illuminated by its light, life and love. The way to this being can only be found if we follow in his footsteps in the most loyal and humble, devoted and truthful manner. Then we can choose to join his school; we would then be following his eternally living Ur-example, archetype of the Christ-filled modern human self. This self will become for us like self-multiplying seed, out of which many selves will hopefully sprout and grow more and more, as Christ’s resurrection body is the Ur-cell, that seeks human souls in which it can be multiplied, according to the laws of spiritual economy. Also, Christ’s resurrection bodies, soul and spirit members are the eternally preserved and multiplying spiritual cells, to be sown in the future in people who have prepared themselves to receive them through Anthroposophy. The same laws of spiritual economy apply to all the copies of the spiritualized and eternally preserved bodies of the greatest teachers of humanity, and as we shall see below, also of Rudolf Steiner. (See in GA 109/10, The Principle of Spiritual Economy, about the laws of spiritual economy, that allow preserved multiplied copies of the spiritualized bodies of the teachers of humanity, to be disseminated among their pupils).
Therefore, when we honestly and loyally devote ourselves to the individualization of Anthroposophy, we actually begin to prepare our souls to receive also the seed of the first archetypal human self, initiated in the twentieth century.
This archetypal modern self will be multiplied and disseminated among the truly free and resurrected future followers of true spiritual science. This eternal self, the firstborn modern spiritual-human self, is the first seed and cell out of which we all will grow, forming ourselves more and more according to this sun-like archetype. For his truly seeing pupils in the present and future, his sun-like being, the full embodiment of the Christ self in the age of the freedom and love, will illuminate the path in all eternity...
From lecture 3: The Universal Language of Michael and the Being of Rudolf Steiner
Forthcoming Summer 2020 in Temple Lodge
The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity
The History of the Michaelic Movement since the death of Rudolf Steiner.