עברית The Present and Future Construction of the Michaelic Bridge over the Abyss of the 21st Century
We are the Preparers of the Preparers
The Present and Future Construction of the Michaelic Bridge over the Abyss of the 21st Century
Lecture to the Global School of Spiritual Science
21 October 2023
Yeshayahu Ben-Aharon
I was glad to hear what people said out of the breakout-groups, such heartfelt feeling for the work in which spiritual content is taken so deeply into the heart and hopefully also one day into the will as well, because it should lead from the head to the heart and then to the will, to become active will to carry the impulse to the wide world. But the first step is to lead it from the head to the heart because the greatest obstacle is the head, where it is taken hold of by the Ahrimanic intellect and neve makes it to the heart, not to mention the limbs. I believe that if we continue with our work, in the near future this threefold experience of the whole human soul, will be realized in our work.
We have repeatedly raised during this year, the question: What did actually happen in the Christmas Foundation Conference? We have contemplated this question and riddle, for almost a year, because such profound, epoch-making mystery event must be contemplated for long time. We can approach this mystery if we view it in this context.
Recall how often Rudolf Steiner said, when he spoke about the Mystery of Golgotha. He said that everything Anthroposophy is investigating, teaching and communicating, has one central aim, to begin to throw the light of spiritual knowledge on the Mystery of Golgotha. He described from many points of view what led to the Mystery of Golgotha in the past, what prepared it and made it possible, and how the spiritual impulse flowing from the Mystery of Golgotha influenced the whole evolution of the earth in the last 1900 years, until the beginning of the 20th century, and far into the future, until the end of the evolution of the earth. In ten years, in 2033, it will be exactly 2000 years. He said that more and more, as the age of Michael develops, also anthroposophy will assume new forms and will be able to bring this event into ever greater light. Everything will be illuminated by the light that flows from the Mystery of Golgotha to which, from 1933 on, the light of the second coming will be added.
This is the mission of spiritual science in this Age of Michael: To bring this event into greater comprehension and deeper life, until everything in earth and heaven down to the last insect and atom will be illuminated by the light and vivified by the love of Golgotha. When each insect and atom is Illuminated by this light and enlivened by this love, is not like been illuminated with external light. External light show the things as they are, as a result of their past evolution. The light and love of Christ is transformative; He changes what He illuminates; He works inside each insect and atom, plant, animal, man and star. His light and love is creative life, the highest transformative power in the universe. To be illuminated by the living, love filled light that flows from Golgotha means that you are transformed by this light. When the Sophia becomes the wisdom of Christ, becoming- through Rudolf Steiner- Anthroposophia, it illuminates with it magic light everything it touches. Its light awakens everything and reveals the transformation of the entire earth, all the substances, forces and kingdoms of nature, the elemental beings, humans and hierarchies. The entire earth and cosmos light up through the impulse of Golgotha, as it is revealed in the light of Anthroposophia. This is the main task of modern spiritual science in our age. And then Rudolf Steiner adds, dear friends, that the form of spiritual science that he could communicate at the beginning of last century, is but its rudimentary preparation, the ABC of what this knowledge will become in the future. Just consider this: The immense outpouring of living wisdom and life forces that Rudolf Steiner gave humanity a century ago, is only the first beginning, the ABC of it of what it will become in the future!
Now I ask you to take all the contents of Anthroposophy that you have studied and practice, and add to it everything Rudolf Steiner spoke about and wrote, that you didn’t yet study, and everything he actualized that you have not yet practiced. And consider that all this is only the ABC of what in future Anthroposophy is going to become, and that also all the knowledge communicated about the Mystery of Golgotha and the Christ impulse, like everything else, about all the insects and so forth, is only the ABC of this future spiritual knowledge. I aways experienced this as a remarkable, deeply moving thing. First, because I invested many years in studying this knowledge, and have a certain perspective of what was given. But if Rudolf Steiner would not have said that this is only the ABC, I would certainly believe, that this knowledge, so immensely vast and deep, will suffice for long ages to come. And then he comes and says it’s only the ABC! To this he adds a statement that I often remind us of. In 1908 in Nürnberg in the lecture cycles about the revelation of John, he said: We are only the preparers of the preparers! Spiritual science in our time is but a small flame that one day will become a mighty fire.
Only much later, in his last efforts to awaken human hearts to the meaning of the Christmas Foundation Conference, in the karma lectures in 1924, he described the new Michaelic plan, about the possible culmination of Anthroposophy at the end of the 20th century. The little flame of 1908 could have become at the end of the 20th century this mighty flame and the ABC would have expanded to include also DEFG. As we know all too well, this didn’t happen, and the worst turn in human history came about. At the end of the century, evil culminated,, and only thanks to the grace of the new Christ impulse and the new guidance of Michael, could we to gain some inklings of the new anthroposophical knowledge.
Now, about the Christmas foundation conference Rudolf Steiner could naturally communicate very little, because he had to take leave of the earth a short year and a half later. Rudolf Steiner described the many impulses that came out of the Mystery of Golgotha in the human history until the 19th century. He described from many points of view the spiritual streams of esoteric Christianity and its great teachers, and the people inspired by this then through the centuries. But consider that in comparison to this rich knowledge, how much less do we know about the true meaning of the Christmas foundation conference, which was the culmination of Anthroposophy after 21 years, and a potential seed for the beginning of a totally new anthroposophical impulse. Rudolf Steiner was very scarce with superlatives, he was not the kind of sentimental person, he was a scientist, investigating facts and creating new realities in human life. Therefore, when he said, that the Christmas foundation conference is ein Welten zeitenwende anfang he wished to turn our attention to something truly profound. In the lectures included in the book, The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity, I described the meaning of this statement, from various points of view. Now I only wish to remind you of this fact. It can be pointed out that such an expression was used previously only to describe the impact of the Mystery of Golgotha. Of course, many significant events since then have been great turning points in world history, but the Christmas Foundation Conference stands there in all its significance, and we must contemplate also for a long time to begin to understand its true nature.
As we draw near to its centenary of the Christmas Foundation Conference, illuminate and resurrect it with in the light of the twilight and resurrection of humanity and the Spiritual Event of the 20th century, its meaning must be comprehended on three levels. First, what really happened in 1923-4, second, what happened to this impulse after it was rescued from the earth, and taken with Rudolf Steiner to the etheric world, and what was its role in the Spiritual Event of the 20th century, and third, what should it become on earth in 2023-4, after 3x33 years? - Of course, this can only be done by ‘practicing spirit remembrance’ by looking spiritually backward, from the future to the past, in the real stream of supersensible time, bringing the past to the living presence through the practice of ‘spirit awareness’, until it lights up in our ‘spirit seeing’, as we communicated from our various investigations.
Think about what Rudolf Steiner could have said about the Christmas Foundation Conference if it was accepted and Rudolf Steiner could have lived on, as we pointed out, reaching his 72 year of life, creating the anthroposophical bridge to the appearance of the Christ and the Beast in 1933? You know that he said that if the impulse of the Christmas Foundation Conference is not received by the newly founded anthroposophical society it will leave the earth and be relocated to the moon sphere, the etheric world. That is, he had only 9 short months to refer to it, from Michaelmas 1924 until his death at Easter Eve 1925. It remained a mystery because it could not remain on earth and fulfil its true goals, and its further life and development could not develop on earth- but all the more so in the Spiritual Event of the 20th century in the etheric world.
When we investigate in the supersensible backward stream of time, what took place at the Christmas Foundation Conference, we realize to what an extent this is a future impulse, a future potential that been laid as a seed in human evolution, expecting its farther development in the near and far future. But its present actualization and future development depends on, as we know so well, if humans may hear, understand, and actualize it. Therefore, we contemplate the true esoteric meaning of the Christmas Foundation Conference in relation to the Mystery of Golgotha and what the spiritual impulse of this event did in the Spiritual Event of the 20th century, as we are doing it now for some time. As we became more and more acquainted with the two aspects of this event, on earth in 1923-4 and in the etheric world in 1933-1945, we will be also able to grasp what it is doing today and tomorrow in the etheric world.
Now the Christ light that begun to shine at the end of the last century- about which Helmuth von Moltke spoke to his wife through Rudolf Steiner- illuminates the development and activity of the school of Michaelic backwards and forwards, because in the etheric world time forms a unity, in which past, present and future exist side by side. If we use it to look backward, we come first to the Spiritual Event of the 20th century, and from there, back to the earth and experience the esoteric significance of Christmas 1923 from the spiritual side. And then we really ask the question: What did Rudolf Steiner accomplish? What was in reality the Christmas Foundation Conference? One can have many different opinions about it, of course, from different points of view. Let me just say one essential thing about it that I believe is very important, that we should contemplate further together.
We can say: Rudolf Steiner described the creation process of the spiritual foundation stone and connected it to the physical double pentagonal dodecahedral foundation stone that he formed and laid as the foundation of the physical Goetheanum, on September 30, 1913. He uses the same symbolic language also in the formation of the spiritual foundation stone. But beyond those significant images of pentagonal dodecahedron, stand the formation of the threefold cosmic human being, the human microcosm and the macrocosm integrated into one being. Now, I ask you not to take anything of what I say on faith alone, just because I say it, and each one will consider it by herself and come to her independent conclusions. But I would say from my experience of Rudolf Steiner’s life and being that the threefold cosmic human being he formed in the Christmas Foundation Conference was not merely an ideal picture of the human being in general, not an ideal picture that he discovered in the spiritual world and described to us. One can say that this is what he did, that he searched the spiritual world and saw this archetype of humanity inscribed in the Akashic Record, about which he spoke previously, on other occasions, and portrayed it again. But I would offer another explanation, which I already suggested in my lecture, The Being of Rudolf Steiner, in The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity. After surveying the essential elements of his entire life, both earthly and spiritual, I said that Rudolf Steiner actually individualized and actualized this ideal of humanity. Indeed, this archetype of the human cosmic being is written in the stars, and all human souls see it, and work on it, in the life between death and rebirth. This Rudolf Steiner communicated in his lecture cycle in Vienna in 1914, when he pointed out that this archetypal cosmic man, is the object of the religion of the gods. But now he did something else, he didn’t describe what is portrayed in the Akashic Record, he was forming it, actualizing it on earth as a living process! This means that Rudolf Steiner had embodied it, made it human and real, individualized it as a free human being in the age of the Consciousness Soul.
Another objection can be raised, from another point of view. Someone may say that the cosmic human being he portrayed is Christ Jesus, the composed divine-human being, after the baptism in the Jordan. As we know, Rudolf Steiner described this sublime, the most important event in earthly evolution, from so many points of view. He pointed out that, on the one hand, a well prepared human being, called Jesus, representing the ripest flower and fruit of human evolution, received into itself the divine-cosmic Sun being, that we now call the Christ, that Zarathustra called Aura Mazda, the mighty Aura of the Sun. Jesus, the original, purest, Nathanic human being, transformed through the spirit of Zarathustra, became the chalice that received the cosmic Sun being, and the two became one being, the two hearts united, the macrocosmic heartbeat of the Sun being and the microcosmic heartbeat of the human Jesus, harmonized, synched, into one heartbeat.
The most developed human being, received into itself the divine cosmic Sun-being, which we call the Christ and the two became one, the macrocosmic being; the Christ, who came from the sun - his last station was the sun, previously he descended to the sun from the entire cosmos- united with the human being Jesus and transformed the human being Jesus and the two became one in the Mystery of Golgotha. And since then we have this composed divine-human being, human-divine being, Christ-Jesus, Jesus-Christ. And Rudolf Steiner said, this being is the Archetype of the entire evolution of humanity, because all human beings, who will receive the Christ into their spirit, soul and body, will eventually become Jesus-Christ like. In Vulcan all human beings should have become Christ-Jesuses because, developing until then the full connection and integration of the macrocosmic and the microcosmic, the human and the divine forces. Then they would have become wholly spiritualized beings, in body, soul and spirit. This is the meaning of the Mystery of Golgotha. Therefore, one could say- and we have heard such opinions-that in the Christmas Foundation Conference, in the foundation stone meditation, Rudolf Steiner described again this cosmic-human archetype, Christ-Jesus, and called him the Foundation Stone of love.
However, look again at the formation and the laying process of the foundation stone in Christmas 1923. How does it begin? and Rudolf Steiner begins by calling on the human soul. Menschen Seele! The human soulshould practice this and that, the human soul should become this and that, part of this cosmic, hierarchic and divine life, always speaking to the human soul. He is not describing the being of Christ-Jesus, but the awe inspiring threefold, cosmic-human being. What does this mean? Whom does he describe, to whom he speaks? And about whom he speaks? Ask yourself: Is it you? Is it me? Let me take a better look at myself for a moment. Ah, I don’t think it’s me! Though I would like to believe that I am getting a little bit better at the edges in my old age, nevertheless, this threefold cosmic-human being is absolutely not me. I am so far away from attaining this human archetype, as the earth is far from Volcan!. So, Rudolf Steiner didn’t use Dr Ben-Aharon as his example. But maybe someone else among us will get up and proclaim herself as the aforementioned threefold human-cosmic being? I see that nobody gets up, at least for now, and says this is me. Therefore, then the question remains open: whom did he talk about?
This being cannot be Christ-Jesus because he addressed the human soul, and its development, portraying how encompasses, in body, soul and spirit, the threefold cosmic-human being. He does describe the realized Archetype of humanity, the goal of the religion of gods, Anthropos, but as if it is living here and now, on earth. He speaks about the human being becoming cosmic, first spiritualizing the three bodily systems, soul and spirit forces, in connection with the cosmos, and then embodying the three Hierarchies and the divine Trinity, in body, soul and spirit. Who can this be?
Please take what I am going to say about this mystery as another working hypothesis and regulative idea, as we do with all anthroposophical communications. We study them carefully, over long periods of time, until our sense of truth connect one truth with other truths, and the connection begins to make, gradually, some holistic sense. Rudolf Steiner implored us, never to take his word on blind faith, never to follow his words as external authority. So don’t take it just because I say it, check and investigate it yourself. I believe we can assume, reasonably assume, that this threefold cosmic-human being, that he described during the formation and laying of the foundation stone of love, is the being that he created himself, in himself, as himself.
Of course, all the great teachers and masters of humanity have done this previously, but in other ways, and in different states of consciousness. We spoke about the initiations of Zarathustra-Jesus, Lazarus-John and Christian Rosencreuz. Their initiations took place in former ages, based on the available forces of the Sentient-and Mind souls. Rudolf Steiner’s initiation is wholly an expression of the age of the Consciousness Soul. He is the most modern of all modern people that ever lived in the the age of the Consciousness Soul, the age of freedom, and love that springs forth from freedom. He is the first born free human who could have accomplished it. So we might bring up the hypothesis, the idea, that what he described was not an observation of what he discovered in the akashic records, or somewhere else in history, that someone else accomplished before. He didn’t just observed and described it, no, he actually described what he did in his entire life, in his entire initiation. And now he demonstrated it in the public event of Christmas 1923, as an ‘open secret’, visible to all, if only human would have opened their hearts to receive it! Menschen möegnen es hören!- with this beseeching gesture, he ended the formation of the stone, calling on mortals to respond. He multiplied and disseminated this holistic, human-cosmic seed of the newborn Anthroposophy, that he conceived and gave birth to, and made it available to all human beings as a human-cosmic seed for their future development. This is the true esoteric meaning of the Christmas Foundation Conference, this we must contemplate wit holy awe and enthusiasm.
Rudolf Steiner describes the result of his own initiation and this became the highest point of his initiation, and this seed of love he wished that humans would take- alas!- into their love filled hearts and form the community of brotherhood and sisterhood!- and their answer was- and still is: we will rather intensify the war of all against all and fondly tear each other to pieces! He did this to ground a human community, human society, becoming its leader as well as one member among the mortal members, and as you know, he took on himself all the unwillingness of his co-workers to create this community of love, and had to carry the backlash of all their unresolved karmic conflicts, that fell on him, in the last day of the conference, January 1st, 1924, as Marie Steiner wrote 20 years later, in 1944, ‘as a deadly struck of a sword’, the sum total of the failures of the members of the new founded anthroposophical society.
As he later told them, in becoming a leader and member of a human society, he freely decided to break the sacred time-honored spiritual laws and turn then on their heads. Fully becoming human, fully becoming cosmic-human being and part of a physical human society, a member of society of ordinary mortals, this immense sacrifice, as we know, was rejected wholesale by his comrades, because human hearts remained close- then and today- but his deed was nevertheless accomplished!
We spoke about this human failure, to which we all feel responsible today, dear friends, concerning which Mari Steiner said, ‘For we cannot but admit: We were called, but we were not chosen. We were incapable of responding to the call, as further developments showed’. And if you carefully read the relevant parts of The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity, you will see that this tragedy extended over the whole 20th century. I have remarked there, in an end note, that also most of those lazy, spoiled Platonic souls, that didn’t incarnate at the end of the 19th century because they waited for a more spiritual time, and participated in the formation and laying of the foundation stone at Christmas 1923 from the etheric world, have repeated the same fiasco, when some of them incarnated at the end of the 20th century. Naturally, after the terrible twilight of humanity in the 20th century, everything was downsized, the culmination did not happen, and the Aristotelian souls (with the exception of a smallest group), didn’t reincarnate, and also only few souls from the Platonic stream incarnated. And then most of them repeated the same Aristotelian blunder, closing their hearts to the presently active forces of Michael!
Now, if what we said about Rudolf Steiner’s deed is true, it is profoundly significant because the human being that he describes, the threefold human-cosmic being, represents indeed the fullest future development of the entire human being in body, soul and spirit, including the Spirit Self, Life Spirit and Spirit Man, because only through these spiritual members you can connect as he did to the three hierarchies and to the divine trinity. If this is true, dear friends, you will have to assume that Rudolf Steiner actually accomplished, as a free human being, a deed that nobody did before him. He founded on earth for the first time the 10th hierarchy, the human hierarchy, whose mission is to contribute to the cosmic development the forces of freedom and love. He fully individualized the archetype of Jesus-Christ. He took the human-cosmic deed of Jesus, that became the bearer of the Christ, becoming the vessel of the cosmic Sun being, recreating, as totally free man, the Jesus-Christ archetype, the human-cosmic composition and transformation, and actualized- as a free human being- Anthropos, Anthropos-Sophia- the completion of the whole human being from ancient Saturn until Vulcan; he individualized it as a free person of the age of Consciousness-Soul, embodying throughout his entire life the philosophy, science, art and social life of freedom and love, placing before us the fullness of the human being, human-cosmic, cosmic-human, being, as it will be complete in new Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan, when we all humans that have taken the Christ into themselves, will attain the true goal of the evolution of the earth. Describing this human-cosmic being, that he created and embodied himself, he said:
He will grasp this threefoldness and he will recognize himself as an individually free human being within the reigning work of the gods in the cosmos, as a cosmic human being, an individual human being within the cosmic human being, working for the future of the universe as an individual human being within the cosmic human being.
Now, this I call a infinitely positive, infinitely uplifting, creative future perspective, don’t you agree? Someone may retort, ok, I heard so much about the Christmas Foundation Fonference, I did the foundation stone meditation for 30 years, now enough is enough, I know it by mind and heart, I understand it, I got it, let’s move on! This will show that he misses the whole ‘Situation und Geschehen’ of this sacred event. Tell him that he will only get the first part of it at the end of the evolution of the earth, the second only in Jupiter, and the third part in Venus, and only on Vulcan he will truly become this holistic human-cosmic being. In Vulcan, he will become a spiritual being of the range of Archai, and then he would have also spiritualized his physical body into Spirit Man. Tell his all this, and he will immediately see, how future orientated, Rudolf Steiner deed in the Christmas Foundation Conference was and is. Only on Vulkan will we have actualized fully what Rudolf Steiner actualized in Christmas 1923.
This means that Rudolf Steiner stands before us now as such a great teacher of humanity that already in the present age fulfills the highest goal of the entire evolution of the earth. And he told us about his elder brothers, his teachers that went before him, the great teachers of humanity, the masters of wisdom and the harmony of feelings, that represent future stages and ages of evolution of humanity. They live in the future, that exists today in the higher spiritual worlds, they come down to the present earthly time and space from the future, to help us get there. All the teachers do that, the past and future Bodhisattvas and Buddhas did and continue to do it, Zarathustra-Jesus and Christian Rosencreuz did it, Mani-Percival is doing it, Moses-Goethe and Elijah-John the Baptist-Novalis are doing it, they all do it, so also did Rudolf Steiner, their youngest brother. He comes from the far future, he comes from highest spiritual archetypes of Vulcan via Venus and Jupiter to the present earth, to teach us, wretched and weak, stubborn, obstinate mortals, the most elementary steps.
So, we can take this impulse with the greatest gratitude and wonder and feeling of immense holy enthusiasm and joy, and say to ourselves: Oh my god, our school member who spoke previously was totally right, we have a future, we can all as free human beings following the Doctor of philosophy who wrote the Philosophy of freedom, can actually follow this path and become more and more like him, as he became more and more like Jesus-Christ. Through his living example and life among us now and in all coming times, we can in all future ages become ourselves like Jesus-Christ, in smallest steps to begin with, humbly, enthusiastically, if we begin now and tomorrow and some of us would also perhaps continue even after tomorrow.
Dear mortal, uninitiated, friends, I believe that if you have truly taken this mightly sacred event into your living immortal etheric heads, hearts and limbs, not merely into your mortally dead heads, hearts and limbs, you can never again become permanently sad and depressed, and lose your hope, in your life! Now that we have demonstrated Rudolf Steiner’s living initiatory Spiritual Situation and Event among us, his actual living presence, graceful guidance, empowering and nourishing love and inspiration weaving and pulsating among us, do we still want to stand up and say: I lost all hope for humanity and earth, I am irrevocably sad and irredeemably depressed, lost all creative interest and joy in life and in the mysteries of existence. The more you individualize his living presence, the more such self-centered egotism will become wholly impossible, because if you increasingly individualize Rudolf Steiner’s individuation of the Christ, you will certainly be saying: Not our mortal self, naturally, can aspire to do these great things, but the immortal I of Christ, working through Rudolf Steiner’s eternally living presence, can do wondrous things- and if you believe in Christ’s last words in the last supper, then you will also begin to do greater things!
This perspective should fill our heart with immense sense of gratitude and holy enthusiasm, to continue our work in the first half of this century on earth, and continue it after death, so that we can do it from the other side with much more intensive forces. And also, if we accomplish this now on earth, after death we will be able to decide to come back to the earth ASAP., Let us decide now, with deepest humility and fiery enthusiasm, that after our next death, we will strive to come back to the earth as soon as possible! Then we will be able to say to our higher self, when we go through the portal of death: Here we are! let’s do this purification processes as fast as possible and do the spiritual world, Devachan, in the most condensed form possible for mortals in this special age of Michael. We must feel, wouldn’t we, that it is unacceptable luxury, to remain for so many long centuries in the spiritual worlds, in such critical historical times. We can fast-forward accomplish at least some Kamaloka and Devachan business here on the earth!
And indeed, these are not mere wishes and aspirations: provided that on earth we did prove our objective loyalty and usefulness, judged by Michael, not by us, if in the present incarnation we actualize Michael’s true work, then we are taken by him into the exceptional stream of his Michaelic karmic arrangements, that allow also today, in the 21st century, the second, middle, all decisive century of his present age, that a smallest remaining band of his truly loyal comrades will have a shortest life between death and rebirth, to come back ASAP to continue what they did on earth before. If we are among this smallest bank of souls that remained true and loyal to Michael in the twilight of humanity of the 20th century and in the present apocalypse of the age of Michael, our heartfelt request will surely be granted.
Let us therefore do as much of the Kamaloka purification on the earth and reincarnate again fast, because we want to do our part in the evolution of humanity on the earth in this difficult and crucial time of decision. The sacred will for action, the will to do deeds of redemption, of healing on the earth which are so much required, is absolutely crucial in the 21st century, the second century of Michael, which must not be missed as his first century.
Dear friends, let us end our talk with repeating our mantra: We are but the preparers of the preparers of this future second mighty Michael-Christ impulse and revelation. It strives to come a second time to earth, naturally, in a totally new form than was possible at the beginning of the 20th century. I told you, on several occasions, that it is ready to incarnate today, if some human hearts would finally open and make it possible. If you could perceive even a smallest glimpse of it in the etheric world as it exists right now, you will be totally amazed, how huge, beautiful, immense, sublime, is the new Michaelic plan, waiting that some stubborn and obstinate mortals would finally open their hearts and overcome their staunch egoism, to which they hold with all their forces, and let it finally descent to earth. It is ready in the spiritual world. And when it will finally descend to earth, the first revelation of Michael at the beginning of last century will look like a childhood-stage in comparison to what is coming, because what is ready to come is the greatest revelation of the Age of Michael and the Christ impulse in this age; it will be realized on earth- provided humans will allow it to happen- in greatness and splendor that nobody has seen before.
This is our humble preparatory task in the first half of this century: to prepare the soil of our etheric hearts, that we can offer them to the preparers of this impulse that join us in the future; to receive now this seed, and cultivate it, and pass it on to the next generation of true preparers. They will cultivate it further and spiritualize it to such an extent, that the required forces of human love, brotherhood and harmonious collaboration will become a natural habit among the true pupils of Michael. The School of True Love, described in The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity, will then have become reality. Then the bridge will be complete, and the new Michaelic impulse will be able to use it, cross it downwards, and incarnate on earth.
Our task now on earth, and in the coming decades, until the middle of the century, must therefore be to make sure that this bridge will have the deepest and strongest foundations, that it will be able to carry the bridge that must be constructed over all the present and coming abysses of the 21st century. We must make sure, that this will not be missed again by humanity in this crucial time of Michael. Then, indeed- but only then, we will be able to say:
The proper soil into which we must lower the Foundation Stone of today, the proper soil consists of our hearts in their harmonious collaboration, in their good, love-filled desire to bear together the will of Anthroposophy through the world.