עברית Those who open their etheric hearts, minds and will, know this truth: abundantly creative, vibrant, healing life is sprouting everywhere, striving to inspire us to change human life on earth from its foundations.
Growing Young in the School of Spiritual Science: Growing Young of the School Through Us
From Lecture 4: The Anthroposophical Movement in the Present
The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity
The History of the Michaelic Movement since the death of Rudolf Steiner
Since the end of the 19th century, what takes place in the physical world is the most exact reversal of the actual spiritual reality of our time. Those who open their etheric hearts, minds and will to experience this fact, know this truth: abundantly creative, vibrant, healing life is sprouting everywhere, striving to inspire us to change human life on earth from its foundations. While the forces of death and fear control and submerge those living in the grave of present civilization, in our etheric hearts and etheric community the youngest seeds of eternal spirit spring are germinating, speaking: "May more and more humans hear it!".
True spiritual life is all about becoming younger no matter if you are physically older or younger, and if you do become younger inwardly, than naturally, truly young souls that happen to be also in young physical bodies, will hear the young resonance and music through your voice and life, resounding through all these old shriveling and wrinkling bodies. And then young souls in all physical ages, can recognize and meet each other as creative, enthusiastic, spiritually passionate young souls. Thus, one generation will begin to speak creatively with the next generation on the same spiritual level, because both generations will be composed of truly young souls—not physically, but spiritually speaking—and they will begin to fulfil the greatest hope of future humanity. This is the great hope of the present Michaelic age and humanity in our time, that can perhaps begin to be realized, in this lifetime or not, it doesn’t matter. Let it be the next one if it must be so; but one day it will certainly be realized. This will be a fulfilment of one of the oldest prophecies of humanity, you can find it also in the Bible, that a time will come in which the best harvest gathered in the spiritual life of the previous generation will pass over, transformed and potentized, to fructify the young forces of the next one, and so on; not only in external life, in natural science and technology, but in the spiritual, moral, cognitive sense, we will begin to realize qualitative, exponential growth curves; in which a positive stream of becoming and development will be created, flowing from one generation to the next and to the third and to the fourth, in an unbroken, positively snowballing, exponentially accelerating way.
This was, as you know, the hope expressed by Rudolf Steiner after the Christmas Foundation Conference, when he said that if this spiritually youngest impulse will be understood and actualized, the Anthroposophical Society will grow younger and younger, as a more creative, open, joyful movement, through the whole twentieth century, and then would reach an intensive culmination and new beginning at the end of the century and the beginning of the twenty-first century. This means, dear friends, that the power of growth that we can experience now in our work, was planted as a seed in the earth as a real option in 1924. It was really there, cosmically and karmically speaking, and all the required arrangements have been made. Rudolf Steiner as a representative of the Michaelic stream on earth, truly envisioned the possibility of an organically growing, younger becoming, developing and maturing anthroposophical movement through the whole century, with a powerful culmination at its end, starting a new impulse for the twenty-first century. Everything was there—only the human hearts destined to hear it, remained closed, and did not want to hear the mighty spiritual voice calling at the end of each part of the Foundation Stone mediation, ‘May human beings hear it!’.
But why cannot we imagine ourselves right now, as if we are standing right there in the Christmas Foundation Conference of 1923-1924, or at Rudolf Steiner’s funeral in April 1925, and say to ourselves: ‘Why, wouldn’t we after all wish to start to do just that right now in 2019? Why not, for a change? The destined human hearts gave a negative answer in 1924. Can we perhaps for a change try to give a positive answer now, almost a whole century later?’ The question is this, simply put: will some souls be found, that in this century will take the step not taken after the Christmas Foundation Conference in 1923-4 and after Rudolf Steiner’s death on 30 March 1925? In 1924-5 all stood still, and no positive progress was made in the physical world in the coming crucial years of the 20s, 30s and 40s of last century, nor later. But cannot we do it right here and now, in this century, in this organic, self-intensifying, and accelerating manner, that Rudolf Steiner hoped for the twentieth century? If we decide to do it now, we can still create this growing, unbroken, self-intensifying stream throughout the first half of the twenty-first century, organically developing and becoming younger and younger, from one decade to the next, from one generation to the next. Our community will become spiritually younger and younger, as a stream, as the real anthroposophical community with the School of Spiritual Science as its living centre. While in each year and decade new souls join it, grow younger in this life-giving stream, drink together from this Michaelic Christ fountain of youth (which is called ‘Vidar’ in its esoteric name as we shall see in the next lecture). The new souls will make in turn the stream younger, and pass it on in a younger, more creative, freer, more loving and living form to the next generation of active and creative young Michaelic fighters. Then the whole stream becomes gradually and organically ever younger; and though external things may snowball in an intensification of evil and through their customary inertia get old and worse with time, which is the way of all unredeemed and unresurrected flesh, and the way all spiritual movements have gone up till now on the earth, we may create for the first time in human evolution the opposite, a positive creative growth upwards.
We haven’t seen this miracle yet in the external spiritual life in human evolution, and the external history of Anthroposophy certainly followed the old inertia as all other spiritual movements and religions before it. But perhaps we are tired of repeating this dead-end endlessly? Perhaps we may finally wish to say, ‘enough is enough’, and take the trouble to start a positive momentum moving upstream, for a change? If we do, we will see the beginning of it in our own work and life already during the first third of this century. A living movement of ordinary mortals, doing esoteric things in an exoteric manner for the first time in human evolution, as is expected from mortals in this age of Michael. Creating a living communal being, composed of strong independent individualities, that is actually developing from one generation to the next and carrying an intensifying spiritual stream from one decade to the next, from one generation to the next, in such a way that one can really experience that it is really growing, metamorphosing—consciously—on the earth. Of course, it’s the highest ideal for all the future in this modern Michaelic movement but remember that this movement alone can and must lead this positive stream for the benefit of humanity as a whole, to pioneer this hopeful future potential.
As I said, one day it will be achieved. I cannot tell you now if it will happen before the middle of this century, I cannot predict this in 2019, but observing the progress of our work say since 2009, in the last ten years, I can see some positive signs in this direction. But if we do not accomplish this now—then we shall try again and again and then yet again, because we can always start afresh and anew in each time. But one day we will have to succeed, so why not start today? As long as we honestly try, seriously try, then this honest trying is already the new, unachieved new step, a true germinating success. To try and predict now exactly to what extent this ideal may be fulfilled, is not fruitful; some of it is also not only in our hands, world karma has its say as well, but what matters most now is to do it here and now and expect the greatest results. If we try this for a long enough time, we can gain the conviction that it is really possible. And this is actually all that we need; we need to experience this positive measure of success, of positive development, healing, transformation and growing human creativity and maturity in and through the being of the youngest spirit of Anthroposophia.
Think about it in also in this way. If we will be allowed to continue to develop what we are doing in recent years, let’s say in the next ten years, and if it is taken together with what was achieved in the last ten years, it will make a time of 20 years of continuous growth, unbroken, positive organic development. This is not an insignificant thing in our time! Until today, real Anthroposophy didn’t have this grace, to grow continuously on the earth for more than 21 years; furthermore, this short time of development was accomplished solely by Rudolf Steiner, not by ordinary humans. If we succeeded in doing it for more than 21 years together, this will already be a world record and a most significant new step in the evolution of humanity. We must feel the greatness of this option and chance, we must be incredible humble, honest and sincere about it, and above all, we must feel how fortunate we may choose to become, if we take this chance and make it real, and then our enthusiasm and will for work and sacrifice will know no limits...