עברית World History in the Light of the Apocalypse of the Age of Michael
Nine lectures, 24.12.2023 - 01.01.2024
World History in the Light of the Apocalypse of the Age of Michael
Yeshayahu Ben-Aharon
Nine lectures, 24.12.2023 - 01.01.2024
Lecture 1: First Part
The Knowledge Drama of the Second Coming
December 24th, 2023
Detailed Contents
The creation of the new spiritual faculties, by means of which the modern Christ experience is investigated and actualized, is accomplished through the knowledge drama of the Second Coming; The resurrected Christ, rising from His sacrifice in the Spiritual Event of the 20th century in 1933-1945, offers man the gift of His Ego, symbolized in the two edged sword of his mouth, and the keys of death and evil that He holds in His hand; the knowledge drama of the Second Coming actualizes these three forces, creating the bridge of spiritual memory and continuation of consciousness.
Thank you very much for these very kind words of welcome, and let me also say how grateful and fortunate I feel that we can celebrate the centenary of the Christmas Foundation Conference here in Forum 3, in Stuttgart, where we already had so many opportunities to work since the first time we were here in 1997. When you look at the history of Forum 3, founded by Siegfried and Elke Woitinas, you see how they carried through many years, from the 60’s of last century, some of the original forces that Anthroposophy wanted to bring, especially in regard to the social questions, the Threefolding of society, and the human being. This is why we always felt at home here, thanks to the support of the circle of the co-workers, who always provided us with a warm and welcoming space. And we are especially thankful that you opened Forum for our activity during this very important centenary time.
In our lecture tomorrow we will go back and describe the laying of the foundation stone of the earth, and carry it through some central spiritual stages on the path of the evolution of humanity up to our very time, to the laying of the Foundation Stone of the anthroposophical society through Rudolf Steiner at the Christmas Foundation Conference of 1923-4, and to its renewal in the centenary event this Christmas. But today we shall begin with an introduction, that will briefly explicate some aspects of the praxis, goals, and methods, of our modern spiritual scientific research; the results of which were published in my books and lectures in the last 30 years, since I published, in 1993, my first book, The Spiritual Event of the 20th Century, about the decisive spiritual events, that took place in the etheric in 1933-1945, and have continued ever since. So, in this sense, this first lecture will be introductory, but also the beginning of what will come to full expression in the last lectures.
As we shall see, through all nine lectures, world history, in the past, present and future, can be understood in its true essence only if it is understood in the light of the apocalypse. Only apocalyptic history can bring to the light of spiritual knowledge, the whole evolution of humanity. This was true since the Mystery of Golgotha, and this is the reason why St John wrote his Revelation as his mature Christian testament for the future. Rudolf Steiner spoke about the apocalyptic nature of the present age since 1910, when he began to speak about the coming reappearance of the Christ in 1933 - and shockingly revealed what this means - in his most important testamentary words delivered in September 1924, about which I spoke in The Twilight and Resurrection of Humanity and The Time is at Hand! Rudolf Steiner left the earth, after he had done all he could to prepare humanity for what would start in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. As you know, his aim was to develop anthroposophy in such a way that it would grow uninterruptedly and organically; to bring it to full development by those most decisive moments, beginning in the 30s of last century. This didn’t happen, and humanity and earth were devastated by the apocalyptic eruption of evil in the Ragnarök and Weltenbrand, and the grave of civilization became the global reality in which we live. In the etheric world, the few human souls and spiritual beings that survived the destruction of Asgard and remained loyal to the school of Michael, played a central role in paving the way to Christ’s redeeming deeds, described in my books. But only since the end of last century could humanity connect, for the first time, with this Michael-Christ stream and begin to actualize it on earth.
Dear Friends, this is something that must be taken very seriously by those who live on the earth today, and who wish to contribute creative and uplifting forces to the development of humanity. Because in this Ragnarok of humanity, in this grave of civilization, where do we find the forces of resurrection? All the wisdom of the world, including the anthroposophical wisdom, and three more books besides, only has significance if it leads us to the practical use and actualization of these resurrection forces of humanity and the earth. And the Being of new life and resurrection, the Being who brought this resurrection to the old earth and humanity when the abyss opened and the hell fires of Weltenbrand were blazing forth, who embodies resurrection as His very Being, is the only being on the earth and in the human-related universe who can give us the forces to be His co-workers in the resurrection of humanity and the earth in the 21st century.
In the darkest time of human evolution, when humanity fell the deepest into the new forces of evil, where the name of Christ on earth was totally suppressed and forgotten; where no one on earth even knew who Christ was anymore, and those who spoke His name served His most fierce Doppelgänger and enemy; in this very time, in the etheric world closest to earth, the Christ began the Second Coming and the culmination of the second Mystery of Golgotha, and prepared the resurrection of humanity and earth. In our time, since the end of the 20th century, it is His will, His concentrated intention, and His entire impulse to find souls who will bring about this resurrection of humanity and the earth, and involve in this work, wider and wider circles, so that more and more people will spiritually remember, become aware, and see, His present etheric appearance, words, and deeds, and make them into the very essence of their daily life, so that human society and culture, sunk deep in the grave of civilization, will rise, united with Him, and let the age of Michael begin in his second, middle century, which is the most decisive time, in which the ultimate and final existential decisions concerning human evolution will have been taken, for good or ill.
The closer we get to know this earthly-human Sun-Being, the nearer we share His company and guidance, words, and deeds, the more we are filled with unshakeable hope, faith, and love, in connection with humanity and the future of the earth. One can really say that in the presence of this Being - provided we open our minds, hearts, and will to His appearance, words, and deeds - there is no place for despair, for negative thoughts and feelings about the fate of humanity. There is absolutely no space for anything that we think may lead humanity to places from which it cannot recover. Everything He demonstrates in His appearance, words and deeds- through every gesture and deed- has this aim: to teach humans the spiritual science, art, craft, and ritual of resurrection, and to crown it all: how to form the living social space of resurrection. This is the reason why I have dedicated my work, over the last 30 years - when I say it, I understand how old I am now! – and always placed this Being and event in the centre of all anthroposophical research, creative work and social life, making community building the centre of all esoteric and exoteric life. Because I realized that this is the only source of new life forces and creative, actual, building of the new humanity and earth. I am very glad to say today, dear friends, that after some years, which were not that easy, especially towards the end of last century, when one was very much alone on earth, I have good news to share. It was hard to find even a few souls, who would want to open their hearts to the new spiritual stream of Michael that leads to the etheric Christ. Now the good news is that in recent years this has begun to change, slowly, but steadily, and one feels a growing openness to this new knowledge, and to the human and social practice it entails.
I have called the spiritual scientific process of developing the supersensible faculties required to accomplish this research, ‘the knowledge drama of the Second Coming’. The concept of knowledge drama was coined by Rudolf Steiner, to distinguish it from ‘the grammar of knowledge’, the ordinary intellectual acquisition of knowledge in the physical world. Otherwise, anthroposophy is merely content of belief or a traditionally transmitted ‘body of knowledge’, which in reality is a formally fixed body of conceptual dogmas. The only way you can do spiritual science, and create anthroposophy, is if you approach her with your whole being and not with your head alone, because your whole soul is transformed in this work, and you feel, in a way that increases over the years, that this knowledge dramatic process is nourished by the new appearance of the Christ. And one can perceive how the Christ fertilizes the old form of anthroposophy, given in books and cultural traditions, and invigorates your soul to bring it to resurrection. In this way, we can develop the cognitive forces to research and investigate the different aspects of the modern Christ experience, and find there the centre, in the Second Coming, the culmination of the second Mystery of Golgotha, the new impulse of Michael, and the mysterious birth and development of ‘the human being Anthroposophia’, that I described in The Three Meetings. Thus one also finds the source of the resurrection of knowledge, culture, social life, and the resurrection of the earth itself. I would like therefore, in order to make the representation of the knowledge drama of the Second Coming more concrete and pictorial, to turn to a few verses that describe the first vision of the apocalypse, given to the first initiated person who experienced the fullness of the risen Christ and wrote the book of Revelation out of this experience with the risen Christ. It was the beloved disciple John, initiated by Jesus Christ, who wrote Revelation and the Gospel of John, both of which constitute the deepest initiatory essence of esoteric Christianity. And I would like to look at only one aspect now, because it was important for the development of the knowledge drama of the Second Coming.
From the first chapter of Revelation, where he describes the Christ, let us take the 16th verse :
Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was as if the Sun shining in its strength.
In this experience one could feel that through the double-edged sword of the mouth, the forces of the Ego are working, because when this force is given to man, it allows him to choose which way he would like to follow in the evolution of freedom, based on self-consciousness. This started at the beginning of the 5th post Atlantean cultural epoch and the development of the consciousness soul in the 15th century, and will continue, in the next 3000 years, until the middle of the 6th post Atlantean epoch. In this time, each self-conscious I is called to make the most fundamental karmic decision on earth, how to actualize his and her Ego development, to place it in the service of ‘not I but Christ in me’ or in the service of radical egoism. But you must be totally free to make this decision, and the Christ is the spirit of freedom and love. This is the meaning of the doubly sharpened edge of the sword of truthful free choice. This means, that the gift of His Ego to man, is a totally free gift, and can therefore only be accepted or rejected in full freedom. If you decide to take the path that Christ recommends, His indwelling I in your I and soul will also shine like a Sun, as He does, and will find a way to fulfill the good goals of the evolution of the earth. But if you choose to take the other path, your countenance and deeds will be darker than the Sun. In the knowledge-dramatic process of spiritual science, the work with this double-edged sword of the I, the Ego, the gift of the Christ to humanity, became the foundation of the modern knowledge process, beginning in the free spiritual activity of the I in physical world, schooled in The Philosophy of Freedom, and could build the true spiritual I and self if it takes in and individualizes the gift of Christ’s Ego. With this true I one could develop the cognitive spiritual forces to research the etheric appearance, words, and deeds of the etheric Christ. So one can say that in this Imagination we have a most exact portrayal of the gift of the Ego of Christ to each person, His powerful Ego force, by means of which we can work with the forces of the Christ, individualize them to make them our own, and create the knowledge drama of the Second Coming with their help, knowing that it is not I but the Christ who works, weaves, speaks and acts through us.
After this, in verse 18, the Christ showed John how His death and resurrection became part of His eternal Being:
I am the living one, I was dead, and now behold I am alive for ever and ever. I have the keys of death and evil.