From the luminous heights of the Spirit,
May God’s clear light ray forth
Into those human souls
Who are intent on seeking
The grace of the Spirit,
The light of the Spirit,
The life of the Spirit.
May He live
In the hearts
In the inmost souls
Of those of us
Who feel ourselves gathered
together here
In His name.
-Given by Rudolf Steiner to the leader of the Emerson group in London, Mrs Cull, for use by that group
THE three
gifts of St. Paul were: sweet rest, deep and perfect sleep, and death -
as restitution to the diseases which provoked undeniable and unrevokable
corruption to the physical and mentally-empathetic spiritual
constitution.
There are
streams whereupon Man is influenced to counterbalance the trials and
woes encountered. As the 'bad fairy' cursed, an equal dictum surmounted
the action of the evil and delivered Man by such concessions; albeit not
exactly by way of the powers of a 'good fairy' alone, but rather by
many good fairies, good Angels, good Men, and a Good God besides.
There are
discoveries made as to what these equations have been and are, today.
The protectors of these mysteries incorporated, have sought them out and
made them known to themselves, thoroughly exploring for the record and
safekeeping of Man; as one would add to the journal of progress.
As like any
scientific finding, it is not unusual that the names are linked, because
as overshadowing protectorates they have become to be associated with
that stream until such a time, that it itself is no more. For even
should they depart the world and the reaches thereof, their original
etherisation and mingling through investigation, remains.
Important
Law: For every ill wind there brings with it a blessing to follow. This
is how "out of evil cometh good", for it is truly so. The provisions for
such counterbalance were commanded out from necessity. For one may
ponder unto themselves, if there be one gravely evil curse by which no
good may equal and bring up the value of, then it should bring about an
unraveling of else that is good by its very challenge. Still to this day
there becomes a shift and an immediate need for an answer: that the
deck falls and one card goes down, and the next hand played need better
it.
The principle
as tossed around of 'neither nor completely bad' conforms to this. Also
whilst on this point, it is important to add that the viewpoint of the
cynic is dangerous indeed. If we may not qualify an evil perceived but
are intent in thought upon only its upset, then we err on the side of
the very perpetuation thereof. Though this appears a mean criticism, it
is nonetheless true.
Another
interesting insight is this: many who have committed themselves into the
penetrating studies as was first described, have fallen short of the
perfected examination because they themselves have 'come under' the ill
and the evil of the first part of their particular investigation. It is a
dangerous element that they have chosen to make bare and make known. It
is a courageous task which may know no fulfilment if the novice becomes
incapable of following through with the greater induction of Grace. Of
course, eventually he is saved by the very answer so put there, but
whether or not he survives intact to return to the world forged anew, is
another matter. It is no defeat in real terms, only in terms of the
object of striving at that time.
One can begin to see avenues of important instruction already from this lesson: -
- That
'open-thinking' which attempts to reveal deeper implications is
prerequisite to understanding and aligning oneself with the more
advanced souls. Ipso facto: closed-thinking (the one point of view
perspective) may not enable intuitive progress as to the necessary
illumination to follow.
- That all
negative insight requires the accompanying thought and prayer of
gratitude that: evil does pass; it may not remain the same, its sting
and its injure will dissolve in the provision of the accompanying Grace
so bound to it. Which not only shall bring restitution to the assaultee,
but further on, shall redeem that very evil and purify it with a new
objective/relationship to Man.
This is the
one thing that the 'dark path' cannot realize. One could too easily say
that we may dismiss such men who revel in unnatural desires as that they
willingly see only one half of the above truth; and this is open to
question and is philosophical. But from this viewpoint we would suggest
that they are in fact incapable of crossover and much discouraged by the
predator food-chain they perceive to be the world.
Almost as one
evil stacked upon another, and keenly experienced, the men who are
under the spell of great evil have not awakened to the mercy which
verily sustains them. It is therefore, a pitiful inadequacy, and one may
see that with such fellows, charity, good wishes and prayers on their
behalf, are the supplement required, rather than blatant condemnation.
It is truly a
divine mystery that overall, Christ Himself is Chief Protector of the
Keys, and by Him, through His Eyes, one may challenge the individual
streams incoming, and under His Governance be saved.
St. Paul,
through Christ, came to the blessed meaning of death, which hitherto was
the scourge and the final defeat. The Devil himself did laugh and
parade when a man caught in sickness of soul, then of mind and finally
in blood, was believed to be overcome hopelessly. But the illness
manifest did not vanquish the soul within. If not surmounted there was
afforded a 'disassociation' out from the combining forces and a man
could, through sleep and eventually death, begin a renewal that was not
hitherto possible.
He could
discard and dismember; and fortune of fortunes, perceive the minor ill
and begin to correct the fault within. Hell itself was transformed, no
longer an eternal sufferance - which prior to Christ there were elements
thereof: because of the connection, the combining, in which a man was
inextricably linked to his faults, his damnation, to his sins and to
that part of Hell he had frequented and connected with.
-B.Hive
Worries put pressure on the physical body. We should do our duty, and also against opposition, but we shouldn't worry too much. It's hard to strike the right balance here between concern and standing above it, but too much worry dries out the brain so that it can't take in new thoughts.
The greatest man of sorrows or soter was Christ, and as it says in (I Peter 5:7) we should cast all our care on him; for he cares for you. That is, we should give all worries past a certain point to Christ so that He can make our physical body healthy and strong, so that our soul is also healthy.
-Rudolf Steiner, from the Contents of Esoteric Classes
Esoteric Lesson: Kassel, 6-27-1909
After
Parzival stood before Titurel and had the experiences of which we
spoke, an intimate and deep feeling of shame arose in him. This feeling
of shame permeated him completely. He had gone through catharsis and had
thought that he was now so good and pure that he could become one of
the followers of the Master of all masters, the Christ. In this feeling
of shame he was reminded of Christ's words: “Why do you call me good? No
one is good but God.” He now knew how very imperfect he was still and
how much he still had to take into his striving for the good, how much
he was still lacking in order to be good.
And a second feeling, a
feeling of fear, overcame him. He thought that he had gotten rid of
that a long time ago. But it was a different kind of fear from the ones
he'd known previously. It was a feeling of his own smallness and
weakness as a man compared with the sublime Godly being when he let a
second word of Christ live in his soul: “Become perfect even as your
Father in Heaven is perfect.”
These two words should live in the soul of
every esoteric.
An esoteric should kindle full devotion for
divine beings in his soul. Thereby the consciousness develops that what
one does isn't so good, but that one should always try to become more
perfect. We should look at what's developing in one's soul. God lives in
developing things. If we get to the point where we're acting in a good
and noble way, then it's God in us who's good. The God who lets us act
in a good and noble way is our archetype itself, that created us. We
must become a complete copy of this archetype.
Be it ever so
hidden, there's a selfish motive in everything we do. We must realize
that we can't be selfless. It's a world karma that lets us act
egoistically. But world karma is God. Everything that God is and does in
the way of good is better than we could do it. An esoteric should tell
himself: Let me do something that I have made it my duty to do, let me
do it as hard as I can and in such a way that I tell myself that the
divine element that's at work in me is doing this and I'm only the
instrument of this godly element — then the Higher Self in its striving
towards perfection is revealed to him.
-Rudolf Steiner, August 30, 1909: From the Contents of Esoteric Classes
Love is higher than opinion. If people love one another, the most varied opinions can be reconciled. Hence it is deeply significant that in Theosophy no religion is attacked and no religion is specially singled out, but all are understood, and so there can be brotherhood because the adherents of the most varied religions understand one another.
This is one of the most important tasks for mankind today and in the future: that men should learn to live together and understand one another. If this human fellowship is not achieved, all talk of occult development is empty.
- Rudolf Steiner
At the Gates of Spiritual Science
Lecture 11, 1st September, 1906 Stuttgart
