Lucifer, Christ, & the Word

We learn how Christ already on the old Moon overcame Lucifer, and in the scene that is given us in the Gospels we have to see, as it were, a recurrence of the fact that Christ attained to victory over Lucifer. On Earth Christ repels Lucifer from the outset.

This is because on the Moon, when He was Himself less highly evolved — for Christ also undergoes evolution — He had repelled, through the uttermost devotion of His Being to Highest Powers, all the attacks of Lucifer which at that time still meant something to Him. Already on old Moon Lucifer approached Christ.

On Earth he was no longer dangerous to Him: on Earth Christ repels Lucifer at once. On the Moon, however, Christ had to exert all the forces at His disposal in order to repel Lucifer. This is then the added experience that comes to us when we cast back the gaze of higher consciousness into the remote time of Moon.

If we go still further and attain to the second consciousness of a higher kind, then as well as learning about facts that have meaning for Earth, such as the history of Buddha, we learn also what has again been described in outline in my Occult Science, we learn of the still earlier incarnation of our Earth, — the Sun. In that far-off time the conditions were quite essentially different, and the difficulty you have in understanding this particular section in Occult Science can itself be an indication of how difficult it was to describe the state of old Sun. I took pains to describe more especially scenes that are less remote from man and can even remind us of the scenery of Nature. One would have found little understanding, in the time when Occult Science was written, for the things of a more moral nature which are experienced in a study of the Sun incarnation.

When we go back to the time of the old Sun, we do not find there any story of the Temptation! We find the Sun still as a planet among the seven planets, we find Venus with Lucifer as her ruler; and these two, the Sun Spirit and the Venus Spirit — in other words, Christ and Lucifer — appear at first sight like brothers. Only by straining to the utmost our powers of perception are we able to remark the difference between them. For the difference between Lucifer and Christ, in the time of old Sun is not apparent to an observation of their external being, it requires a more inward observation and study. It is indeed extraordinarily difficult to find outward means of demonstrating wherein the difference lies. Please, therefore, take what I am now going to say as no more than an attempt to characterize, as well as may be, the difference that clairvoyant consciousness can perceive between Christ and Lucifer in the time of the ancient Sun.

When we direct our gaze now to Christ, now again to Lucifer, a new perception begins to dawn upon us. Lucifer, the ruler of Venus, appears in a form that is extraordinarily full of light, — I mean, of course, spiritual light. We have the feeling that all the glow and brilliance we can ever experience on Earth in looking upon a manifestation of light is weak and dim in comparison with the majesty of Lucifer in the old Sun time. But then we notice, when we begin to perceive his intentions — and we are able to see through these, that Lucifer is a Spirit endowed in his very nature with infinite pride, so great a pride that it can prove a temptation to man. For, as is well-known, there are things which up to a point are not temptations for man but become so when they grow majestic in their proportions, and pride is one of them.

When pride is majestically great it tempts man. Lucifer's proud greatness, Lucifer's pride in his majestic figure of light — these contain a seductive element. “Unmanifest light,” light that does not shine outwardly but has immense, strong power in itself — that Lucifer has in full measure. And how does the Christ figure look beside Lucifer? The Christ figure in the time of old Sun — the Lord and Ruler of the Sun planet — is a picture of utmost devotion, entire devotion to all that is around Him in the world. Whereas Lucifer looks like one who thinks only of himself — we are obliged to clothe it all in human words, notwithstanding the fact that these are quite inadequate — Christ appears as wholly given up, in devotion, to all that is around Him in the great wide world.

The great wide world was not then as it is now. If we were to transport ourselves in these days to the present Sun, then, looking outwards in all directions as from the centre of a circle, we should perceive in the first place the twelve Signs of the Zodiac. These were not then externally visible; but instead, twelve great Forms, twelve Beings were present who let their words ring forth from the depths of the darkness, — outer space being of course not then filled with light. What kind of words were these? They were words — the word “word” is again only a makeshift, to indicate what is here meant — they were words that told of primeval times, of times that even then were in a remote and ancient past. The twelve were twelve World-Initiators.

Today we behold standing in the directions of these twelve World-Initiators the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, but from them resounds, for the soul that is open to the whole world, the original being of the Unspoken Word of Worlds, that could take form in the twelve Voices. And whilst Lucifer alone — I must now begin to speak more in pictures; human words do not in the least suffice — whilst Lucifer had the impulse to let stream out upon all things the light that was present in him and therewith come to a knowledge of all things, the Christ on the other hand, gave Himself up to the Impression of this Word of the Worlds, received It in its fulness and entirety into Himself, so that this Christ Soul was now the Being that united in Himself all the great Secrets of the World that sounded into Him through the inexpressible Word. Such is the contrast that presents itself, — the Christ Who receives the Word of the Worlds, and the proud Lucifer, the Spirit of Venus, who rejects the Word of the Worlds and wants to found and establish everything with his own light.

All subsequent evolution is a direct outcome of what Lucifer and Christ were at that time. The Christ Being, as we saw, received into Himself the great and all-embracing secrets of the Worlds. The Lucifer Being, having what I can only describe as a “proud figure of Light,” lost thereby his kingdom, lost his Venus kingdom. On other grounds, to enter into which would take us too far afield, the other Spirits of the Planets lost also their kingdoms, or rather changed their natures.

But they need not concern us here. What is important for us here is the contrast between Christ and Lucifer. It came about that Lucifer lost more and more of his rulership; the kingdom of Venus gradually fell away from him. Lucifer with his light became a dethroned ruler, and the planet Venus had thenceforward to do without a proper ruler and was consequently obliged to undergo a backward evolution. The Christ, however, had during the old Sun time received the Word of the Worlds, and this Word of the Worlds has the quality of kindling itself to new light in the soul by which It is received; so that from that time forward the Word of the Worlds became in the Christ Light, and the planet of which the Christ was ruler, the Sun, became the centre of the whole planetary system, the other planets being brought into subjection to It. The same is true also of their spiritual Rulers.

-From the lecture cycle "Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy & Philosophy", Rudolf Steiner 

Euthanasia & Abortion

Men and women are by nature, very loving, caring and reasonable. It appears most often that the sadnesses caused as a result of their actions at times, truly do occur most generally because of them not knowing what they do....

The woman who is to be violated - emptied of the new divinity placed within her - may know intuitively what this could imply, but cannot know the unseen world's compromise or the disappointments that could hale thereafter should she refuse this little germ of humanity. 

Firstly, if she could have two windows of experience to choose from, displaying both consequences and outcome, she would be naturally given to the joy of live birth as a result of it. We can consider for one moment the first window she might explore - and this window of insight would make very visible what is hidden in procedure usually, what is almost unexaminable and unendurable should she know. 

The flesh we inhabit trusts us relentlessly. It makes an effort to respond to our inner drivings, it cooperates as best it can. It can be important to begin to respect this, for many are of the opinion that their bodies are their own to do what they will with regardless. However, the charge, responsibility and use of the body is upon us, but not as an entitlement to misconduct and betrayal of that dear body. Similarly our own hand may be 'our own' but to sever it from the wrist would be, ordinarily, unthinkable. (If the hand had deceased through disease or dire injury and threatened the remaining living body with infection then this would be a different matter of course. This would be parallel to a curette performed after the withdrawal of the life from the fetus in utero.) 

So for our woman with the life within her belly now established, there is a certain unspoken trust between her spiritual self and the body she indwells, that the life will be protected, not disabled. This trust is important indeed. Yes, this also implies that the body (and in this case the now two bodies) have of themselves something of a consciousness which experiences a range of effects upon them as well. So the baby body trusts and relies upon the mature body which in turn relies upon the soul and operating ego of the mother. It relies upon the natural progression of a full term growth, and the motherliness of the woman to be.

The up and coming spiritual entity ensouling the child is reliant also. The supporting crew (angelic guides, further generations in place ... the siblings and future offspring) are expectant and reliant as well. There are many hopes abroad! 

Many times over, an incarnating soul may have difficulties combining with the required parameters of what should be a healthy beginning. It is common indeed for the process to be naturally halted and the fetal tissue shrivel back, and the individual to try again. Such miscarriages can be a terrible upset to the hopeful mother, but are only temporarily difficult for the infant that knows within the wisdom of the deciding.

If we undergo an event which is within our best interests, even though it may be hard, we can be at peace with it. If we suffer a difficulty which goes against our best interests we lose peace in the matter and seek to reconcile the displacement, and in the interim there is a certain soulic pain at the discrepancy. 

Abortions cause a physical assault against the mother as well as the infant. When a woman is pregnant she is given a very special dispensation from the Heavens. There are qualities of etheric life surrounding and supporting her which are unique to this combining condition; the cosmic vitalities are not only inflowing, but the virtues of the highest grace as well. This even begins with the ejaculation from the male (a blessed act) and goes on in the germination of the pregnancy. The aura of the woman does literally 'glow', as she is given to be kissed by Cupid and infilled with the heavenly forces remarkable to her sacrifice of self for another. 

Ideally the sanctity of motherhood is recognized by those who can and should offer her encouragement and support within the world. Ideally the mother-to-be can surrender her deepest of fears and anxieties and be given the mantle of the Holy Madonna, who teaches not of a primeval femininity, raw but absolute, but rather that female divinity of sacred wombliness - finding that space, making space, giving space: the great embrace!!! 

The highest form of feminine attribute is not in the beauty it represents but in that it gives way to a high and noble beauty. That is what we adore about the beauteous (in the true sense). It is not of themselves, who they are or of their beauty, but what it proffers, what it glimpses at, what it represents, and how it enables us to see it, whilst knowing that it comes from a far higher and greater place. That is where beauty becomes exciting and real. 

Those who would seek to be a goddess would best learn to be the mother, for she is the highest of all the darlings of feminine divinity. This commitment to becoming 'mother' is spiritual firstly and in no ways dependent upon the physical act we are revering. Men also can develop and present their motherliness within the world as it takes hold within their comprehension which furthers and betters and encompasses the world. Men can exhibit this remarkable revealing of beauty so well also, in as many ways as there are - and there are many.

We could talk further about the frightening and horrific occurrences which spiritually exist around the violent interruption to life that abortion is, but suffice here to say, that would that the woman knew what this would incur, she could not consent to the operation involved. The issue here is therefore about 'reasons' which overrule our intuitions and good nature, 'reasons' which are perhaps instilled with fear and dubious implication, 'reasons' which override the simple morality and appear to be more significant than the above concerns. 

It truly becomes a situation whereupon the young mother is at grief with the 'reasons' of her head and the truth borne in the heart. Very few would disagree with this being the case. Quite so for euthanasia also ... that once again there are 'reasons' presented 'rationally' for something the heart discerning could never, ever be a part of. How can this be, and what should prevail? 

The heart qualifies itself with Father God, whilst the head asks Father God to qualify itself. Rationality within the mind is always circumspect of the present. The rationale of the heart refers to unchangeable, unmovable truths which do not know the meaning of compromise. They are what they are, just as the soul's wisdom is what it is. There is no matter of philosophy here - just plain old, matter of fact spirituality! There may be a dialogue of the heart conferring with what we know to be securely right and full of love, but there is no discussion.... and no doubt.

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It is by no means casual or fanciful that the Great Ones have often called upon us to at all times defer to our heart's reasoning as well as the discrimination of an untainted ego. How easily the two can become out of step, and in the stead of being the greatest of working company become injurious to one another with their inverted principles aggravating a much greater reality. 

Collectively, within a society, the margins may be named as well. Similarly the true functions can be ignored or substituted for a fake reasoning or fake compassion (telling you that valium is good for you or that the valium manufacturers really care and are there for you). 

Paradigmical thinking is not only contagious but consequential to more of the same. The only way we may avoid the pitfalls here is to take responsibility individually for our own referrals to our own hearts and morality, and further deciding. This necessarily goes for all matters. So no matter what may be implied or stated here - and bearing in mind this is yet another such statement - it is paramount that each and every one decide and decide all matters of correctness, fairness, compassion and of truth, FOR THEMSELVES. Let no teacher tell you otherwise. 

Moralizing can be insightful, it can be fruitful if it leads to other considerations or doorways back to our hearts or our reasonings, but regardless of everything, absolutely everything, the weighing of these truths needs be accomplished on our own, for our own, to be good and consistent for the world at large. 

All men and women (even the ones who have formerly been waylaid into the deepest of confusions) hold currently the divinatory talents for finding their true heart and mind, would that they would exercise it. Let us ('us' as fellow students here - all of us) bring this message gently, hopefully, stoutly, remonstratbly to our brothers who falter at knowing for themselves with confidence. Even when mistakes are made Christ Himself glories in our trying. This is a great truth. 

When we give ourselves over to less than ourselves, when we live out a pretence or accept complaisantly that which we intuitively know cannot be good and does not measure up to our heart's expectations, when we compromise our minds to dulling them, or compromise our hearts to defeat and disappointment, we are not trying very hard, and by that the Heavens are saddened. 

-B. Hive 

The Criterion for Perfect Man

Who ever said that 'balance' is a desired prerequisite for perfect Man? Need a man be perfect in every attribute so given to qualify in his development? We do not believe this to be so. The criterion for perfect Man is just like it is with perfect baby: it is love alone. 

Secondly, a man may improve his technique, he may build upon that which he has already known and then inquire further; however this will always mark gradient improvement and not become as a new acquisition to him.

The ability to think appears to be a great distinction concerning the differences between modern men and primitive men. Worldly thinking (which is splendid coincidentally) develops quite readily where language and bodily circumstance permit. If a soul incarnates within a particular town into a body quite suited, then participating with thinking can be picked up most easily. Equally, should a soul incarnate into a body which has not the capabilities there (etherically also), or has grown up with wolves for example’s sake, then he shall have no difficulty in not thinking; being quite content with the sensual world and all of its impressions physically and soulfully.

J.Augustus Knapp

We may be mistaken about a man and his overall development if we are to judge him purely by his fluency with thinking. To degrees he is quite affected by social circumstance and responsiveness of intellect also - interacting upon exposure. So it is very true that the forming of certain concepts and our prowess with managing our thoughts is acquired for the most part from the other thinkers around us to whom we exercise our reasoning with. Once again this is no true indication of a man and his overall and ongoing development.

Furthermore, very intelligent men may expire much of their thinking with narcotics and the like - bringing a soul-death to those forces which would otherwise bring in a divine connection between thought and its reality. Here we find that even brilliant men can cease their radiance with their minds becoming as tarnished as silver once true. 

Yet it is by way of our thinking that we can enjoy our relationship present and future, with knowledge and its wisdoms. Our thinking services our egos in a way that only it can do. It is not confined to this World, it is not to be found in a brain, even though a defective brain will inhibit the capabilities whilst the soul is conscious and attached to that body. 

Our thinking in the spiritual realms comes from our observational skills here. It is also adherent to the thinking which goes on without us. This is an interesting point because in Heaven there is thinking that one may 'overhear' and consider well, becoming so absorbed as it were, that often individuals believe it to be that of their own.

In other words, good thinking is shared. Sequential thinking, logical and progressive thinking goes on into the expanses. It may not be current either. It may have been 'thought' a very long time ago, but still heard. Out there in the waters of space there are many, many, many stanzas of pure thinking, riding backwards and forwards with the tides.

To learn to observe effectively within this world we must hold a loving interest and be non-critical of its being. Criticism features certain particulars, cites them and concentrates upon that very picked out particular. Observation at its best is something which can take on the whole landscape even with its indefinable lines and hues and blendings, for which our lenses are both focused yet relaxed, but not narrowed. 

Worldly thinking is narrow, yes, but within the spiritual worlds the thinking there is anything but narrow. It is precise, it can be pure, but it always leads on to wider vistas - something a critical eye does not.

So our question to follow on from here is, to what purpose is thinking within this world if impartial observation is indeed what leads to our thinking within the spiritual worlds? Our thinking, when it is coincidental to actuality reaffirms our egos in a binding way which incorporates the consideration. The thinking we experience in Heaven will come and go - the waves do wash over us, and though beauteous in the moment it requires great adept adroitness to contain much of their meaning. 

So our definitive thinking in analysis, with observation pure and observation in contrast (with criticism), in debate and with aspiration, this definitive thinking brings properties into our egos and begins to form our future destinies.

To say that a man should be compassionate about himself is correct. As issued above, it is the love that is paramount to all else; and it is with a love of self we may alleviate the criticisms that spike and spur and worsen the weaknesses. They do this because criticism intensifies that which it is highlighting - by bringing attention to something, it becomes outstandingly more apparent. When this is to do with a fault within ourselves or a judgment upon another we are causing grave insult because it will only promote the problem concerned. This is so. 

The only remedy for this is remedy itself, issued at the same time. In other words, if we make a differentiation into the negative with something (anything) we are obliged to counter it with a thoughtful protest and healing of an answer; remembering also that when we cause harm to something (which, as explained, criticism does when applied alone to faults and flaws) then we are implicated also in further experience until set aright.

-B.Hive 

Christ & the Dead Dog

Jesus encounters a dead dog, about which three men make cruel remarks. But Jesus, disregarding faults and finding virtue, tells them that pearls are not as white as the dog's teeth. 

The moral: 
do not seek the faults of others and your own merit, but turn your eyes to yourself.

The flaming halo denotes Christ as a prophet and saint.

The Makhzan al-asrār (Treasury of Secrets) is the first (ca. 1175) of five long narrative poems making up Niẓāmī's Khamsa (Quintet). Through example, its twenty discourses deal with religious and ethical topics.

Niẓāmī Ganjavī 

(ca. 1141–1209) Cisa (Jesus) and the Dead Dog

Khamsa (Quintet), in Persian, probably Shiraz
Between 1488 and 1490
115 x 98 mm

Michael's Mission in the Cosmic Age of Human Freedom

When one inwardly pursues the course of spiritual life down to Michael's workings at the present day, it becomes possible to obtain a light from Spiritual Science upon Freedom in its cosmic character.

This does not apply to my ‘Philosophy of Freedom,’ which is something that proceeds from the purely human powers of cognition themselves, if once they can enter upon the field of the spirit. To arrive at the knowledge there arrived at, requires, so far, no intercourse with beings of other worlds. But the ‘Philosophy of Freedom’ makes — one may say — a good preparation for that other knowledge about freedom which may afterwards be learnt in spiritual intercourse with Michael. And this is as follows.

If freedom is really to have life in human actions, that which is performed in freedom's light must be in no way dependent upon the human physical and etheric organization. A ‘free’ performance can proceed from the I alone, and the astral body must also be able to vibrate along with the free action of the I, so as to transmit it to the physical and ether-bodies. This however is only one side of the matter. The other side is the one that becomes clear in connection with Michael's mission. Namely, whatever a man realizes in freedom in his inward life, must again have no sort of action upon his etheric nor physical body. Were it to do so, the man would inevitably be brought completely out of line with all that he has come to be during the different stages of his evolution under the influence of divine-spiritual Being and divine-spiritual Revelation.

What Man brings to realization in his inward life from all that is the wrought work only of divine spirit round about him, must exert no influence of any but his spiritual part — his I. The only thing that may influence his physical and etheric organism, is what comes through the evolutionary stream, not in his surroundings, but in his own being itself, as the continuation of what had its first beginnings in the being and revelation of divine spirit. But this element in the human being must on no account become involved in its workings with what lives in the element of freedom.

What alone makes this possible, is that Michael carries over from a very remote past in evolution, something which gives Man a link with that divine-spiritual reality which no longer intervenes, in the present day, in the physical and etheric structures. So that by this means, there grows up in the Michael Mission the basis for an intercourse between Man and the spiritual world, which does not interfere in the workings of Nature.

It is elevating to watch how, through Michael, Man's being becomes lifted ever higher into the spiritual sphere; whilst what is going on below, unconscious and subconscious, beneath the sphere of freedom, becomes ever more deeply wedded to the world of matter.

Man will find his relation to world-being growing ever more incomprehensible as time goes on, unless he will consent to recognize his relation, not merely with natural beings and natural processes, but also with things of another kind, such as the Michael Mission. One's relations to the natural world are something that one learns to know as viewed from outside. Relations with the spiritual world proceed from something like an inner conversation with a reality of being, to which one has opened access by one's readiness to view the world in a spiritual aspect.

For Man, therefore, to carry the impulses of freedom into actual life, he must be in a position to hold aloof from his own being certain affectations of nature that act upon his being from out of the Cosmos, and to keep them from affecting it. This ‘holding aloof’ goes on then in the subconscious, whilst in the consciousness those other forces are at work, which represent the life of the I in freedom.

For the man's inward perception, there is this consciousness of creative freedom. For the spiritual beings connected with Man from other world-spheres it is different. The being from the hierarchy of the Angeloi, whose work it is to conduct the man's identity from one earth-life to another, becomes at once visibly aware that man is repelling cosmic forces which are seeking to continue his development — forces which are seeking to give the necessary physical support to his I-system, as they did previous to the age of Michael.

Michael, as a being from the hierarchy of the Archangeloi, receives his impressions by aid of the beings from the Angeloi-Hierarchy. He devotes himself to the task of conveying to Man from the spiritual part of the Cosmos, in the manner described, forces which can replace the suppressed forces of his natural existence.

This he accomplishes by bringing all he does into most perfect unison with the Mystery of Golgotha.

The workings of the Christ in earthly evolution contain the forces which Man needs when he works in freedom, in order to make good the suppressed impulses of Nature. Only, Man must then actually bring his soul into that inner intercourse of life with the Christ, already spoken of in these descriptions of the Michael Mission.

Man is conscious of being in the midst of a reality, when he stands in the face of the physical Sun, and it gives him warmth and light.

Even so he must live before the face of the Spiritual Sun, the Christ, who has united His life with the life of Earth; and from this Spiritual Sun he must receive, alive within his soul, what in the spiritual world corresponds to warmth and light.

He will feel himself filled through and through with ‘spiritual warmth,’ when he realizes the life of the ‘Christ within him.’ And feeling how this warmth flows through him, he will say: This warmth dissolves my human being from bonds with the Cosmos which must not hold it. The divine-spiritual Being of yore led me to regions where it needs must leave me, in order that I might achieve my freedom. But in these regions it has given to me the Christ, that from His forces I may receive as a free man, what the divine-spiritual Being of yore once gave to me by way of Nature — which, in those days, was also the way of the Spirit. To the divine source whence I came, this warmth leads me back once more.

And as this feeling rises in him, Man's sense of his life in and with the Christ will become one in inner soul-warmth with his sense of real, true manhood. ‘Christ gives me my human being,’ — this will be a dominant feeling, breathing, pulsing through all the soul. And if this feeling be once there, there will come too that other feeling, where Man feels himself by Christ lifted up above the life of earth, and feels himself one with the stars that environ the earth and with all that may be read in this starry environment of the spiritual and divine.

So too will it be with the spiritual light. Man can have the full feeling of himself in his own being as a man, when he wakens to the consciousness of himself as a man, when he wakens to the consciousness of himself as a free individual. Nevertheless this is accompanied with a certain darkness. The Divine and spiritual of ancient days no longer shines. In the light which Christ brings to the I of Man, the ancient, primal light is there once more. In such a life in community with Christ, the thought may arise, shedding bliss and brightness like the sun through the whole soul: The divine light of old is there, in all its pristine glory; it shines, though not with the light of Nature. And Man unites himself in the present with the spiritual cosmic Light-Powers of the past, that shone in the times before he was a free individual. In this light he can find the paths which will lead him aright as human being, if he understandingly unites himself in soul with the Michael Mission.

In the spirit's warmth Man will feel the impulse that can carry him on in such a way into his cosmic future, that he can there remain true to the gifts given him by the divine spirit-beings at his origin — notwithstanding that he has since developed in their worlds to a free individuality. And in the spirit's light he will find the power which will lead him, with open eyes and ever higher and broader consciousness, to that world where he shall find himself again as free Man in the company of the Gods of his first origin.

To want to remain in the first, original state of existence — to want to keep the original naïve simplicity of divine goodness, of the time when the gods ruled in Man, and to shrink from making use of his freedom, — this leads Man in the present-day world, where everything is disposed for the evolution of his freedom, only in the end leads to Lucifer, whose aim it is to see the present world repudiated.

To give himself over to the present state of existence; to admit through all the worlds nothing save the rule of that natural law, accessible to the present-day intellect, to which goodness is a neutral matter; to want to enjoy the use of freedom in the intellect alone; this, in the present-day world — where, while freedom reigns in the upper regions, evolution must be carried further in the deeper regions of the soul — only leads Man in the end to Ahriman, whose aim it is to see the present world transformed entirely into a Cosmos of Intellectual Being.

In regions such as this, where Man is able to feel that when he turns his eyes upon the outer world they fall spiritually upon Michael, and when he turns them to the inner world of the soul they fall spiritually upon Christ, here he will gather such security of soul and spirit, as shall enable him to travel along that cosmic road, on which without the loss of his first origin he shall find the true and right consummation of his future.

Leading Thoughts

A free action can only be one in which no process of Nature, in or outside of Man, plays a part.

The polaric counter-proposition in this: In all free action of human individuality, a process of Nature in man is suppressed, which in an unfree action would be there and would give the man's being the formation cosmically predestined for it.

This formation of his being, which a man fails to receive by the natural road if in his life and being he follows the course of cosmic evolution through its present and future stages, comes to him by a spiritual road through the union with Michael, whereby he also finds the way to Christ. 

-Rudolf Steiner

3.