Cosmic & Human Ego

https://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/CosEgo_index.html

The Robe of Glory- The Hymn of the Soul

Christian Waller

THE HYMN

When, a quite little child, I was dwelling
In the House of my Father’s Kingdom,

And in the wealth and the glories
Of my Up-bringers I was delighting,

From the East, our Home, my Parents
Forth-sent me with journey-provision.

Indeed from the wealth of our Treasure,
They bound up for me a load.

Large was it, yet was it so light
That all alone I could bear it.

II

Gold from the Land of Gilan,
Silver from Gazzak the Great,

Chalcedonies of India,
Iris-hued [Opals?] from Kushan.

They girt me with Adamant [also]
That hath power to cut even iron.

My Glorious Robe they took off me
Which in their love they had wrought me,

And my Purple Mantle [also]
Which was woven to match with my stature.

III

And with me They [then] made a compact;
In my heart wrote it, not to forget it:

"If thou goest down into Egypt,
And thence thou bring’st the one Pearl--

"[The Pearl] that lies in the Sea,
Hard by the loud-breathing Serpent,--

"[Then] shalt Thou put on thy Robe
And thy Mantle that goeth upon it,

"And with thy Brother, Our Second,
Shalt thou be Heir in our Kingdom."

IV

I left the East and went down
With two Couriers [with me];

For the way was hard and dangerous,
For I was young to tread it.

I traversed the borders of Maishan,
The mart of the Eastern merchants,

And I reached the Land of Babel,
And entered the walls of Sarbug.

Down further I went into Egypt;
And from me parted my escorts.

V

Straightway I went to the Serpent;
Near to his lodging I settled,

To take away my Pearl
While he should sleep and should slumber.

Lone was I there, yea, all lonely;
To my fellow-lodgers a stranger.

However I saw there a noble,
From out of the Dawn-land my kinsman,

A young man fair and well favoured,
Son of Grandees; he came and he joined me.

VI

I made him my chosen companion,
A comrade, for sharing my wares with.

He warned me against the Egyptians,
’Gainst mixing with the unclean ones.

For I had clothed me as they were,
That they might not guess I had come

From afar to take off the Pearl,
And so rouse the Serpent against me.

VII

But from some occasion or other
They learned I was not of their country.

With their wiles they made my acquaintance;
Yea, they gave me their victuals to eat.

I forgot that I was a King’s son,
And became a slave to their king.

I forgot all concerning the Pearl
For which my Parents had sent me;

And from the weight of their victuals
I sank down into a deep sleep.

VIII

All this that now was befalling,
My Parents perceived and were anxious.

It was then proclaimed in our Kingdom,
That all should speed to our Gate--

Kings and Chieftains of Parthia,
And of the East all the Princes.

And this is the counsel they came to:
I should not be left down in Egypt.

And for me they wrote out a Letter;
And to it each Noble his Name set:

IX

"From Us--King of Kings, thy Father,
And thy Mother, Queen of the Dawn-land,

"And from Our Second, thy Brother--
To thee, Son, down in Egypt, Our Greeting!

"Up an arise from thy sleep,
Give ear to the words of Our Letter!

"Remember that thou art a King’s son;
See whom thou hast served in thy slavedom.

Bethink thyself of the Pearl
For which thou didst journey to Egypt.

X

"Remember thy Glorious Robe,
Thy Splendid Mantle remember,

"To put on and wear as adornment,
When thy Name may be read in the Book of the Heroes,

"And with Our Successor, thy Brother,
Thou mayest be Heir in Our Kingdom."

My Letter was [surely] a Letter
The King had sealed up with His Right Hand,

’Gainst the Children of Babel, the wicked,
The tyrannical Daimons of Sarbãg.

XI

It flew in the form of the Eagle,
Of all the winged tribes the king-bird;

It flew and alighted beside me,
And turned into speech altogether.

At its voice and the sound of its winging,
I waked and arose from my deep sleep.

Unto me I took it and kissed it;
I loosed its seal and I read it.

E’en as it stood in my heart writ,
The words of my Letter were written.

XII

I remembered that I was a King’s son,
And my rank did long for its nature.

I bethought me again of the Pearl,
For which I was sent down to Egypt.

And I began [then] to charm him,
The terrible loud-breathing Serpent.

I lulled him to sleep and to slumber,
Chanting o’er him the Name of my Father,

The Name of our Second, [my Brother],
And [Name] of my Mother, the East-Queen.

XIII

And [thereon] I snatched up the Pearl,
And turned to the House of my Father.

Their filthy and unclean garments
I stripped off and left in their country.

To the way that I came I betook me,
To the Light of our Home, to the Dawn-land.

On the road I found [there] before me,
My Letter that had aroused me--

As with its voice it had roused me,
So now with its light it did lead me--

XIV

On fabric of silk, in letter of red [?],
With shining appearance before me [?],

Encouraging me with its guidance,
With its love it was drawing me onward.

I went forth; through Sarbãg I passed;
I left Babel-land on my left hand;

And I reached unto Maishan the Great,
The meeting-place of the merchants, 

That lieth hard by the Seashore.

XV

My Glorious Robe that I’d stripped off,
And my Mantle with which it was covered,

Down from the Heights of Hyrcania,
Thither my Parents did send me,

By the hands of their Treasure-dispensers
Who trustworthy were with it trusted.

Without my recalling its fashion,--
In the House of my Father my childhood had left it,--

At once, as soon as I saw it,
The Glory looked like my own self.

XVI

I saw it in all of me,
And saw me all in [all of] it,--

That we were twain in distinction,
And yet again one in one likeness.

I saw, too, the Treasurers also,
Who unto me had down-brought it,

Were twain [and yet] of one likeness;
For one Sign of the King was upon them--

Who through them restored me the Glory,
The Pledge of my Kingship [?].

XVII

The Glorious Robe all-bespangled
With sparkling splendour of colours:

With Gold and also with Beryls,
Chalcedonies, iris-hued [Opals?],

With Sards of varying colours.
To match its grandeur [?], moreover, it had been completed:

With adamantine jewels
All of its seams were off-fastened.

[Moreover] the King of Kings’ Image
Was depicted entirely all o’er it;

And as with Sapphires above
Was it wrought in a motley of colour.

XVIII

I saw that moreover all o’er it
The motions of Gnosis abounding;

I saw it further was making
Ready as though for to speak.

I heard the sound of its Music
Which it whispered as it descended [?]:

"Behold him the active in deeds!
For whom I was reared with my Father;

"I too have felt in myself
How that with his works waxed my stature."

XIX

And [now] with its Kingly motions
Was it pouring itself out towards me,

And made haste in the hands of its Givers,
That I might [take and] receive it.

And me, too, my love urged forward
To run for to meet it, to take it.

And I stretched myself forth to receive it;
With its beauty of colour I decked me,

And my Mantle of sparkling colours
I wrapped entirely all o’er me. 

XX

I clothed me therewith, and ascended
To the Gate of Greeting and Homage.

I bowed my head and did homage
To the Glory of Him who had sent it,

Whose commands I [now] had accomplished,
And who had, too, done what He’d promised.

[And there] at the Gate of His House-sons
I mingled myself with His Princes;

For He had received me with gladness,
And I was with Him in His Kingdom;

XXI

To whom the whole of His Servants
With sweet-sounding voices sing praises.

* * * * *

He had promised that with him to the Court
Of the King of Kings I should speed,

And taking with me my Pearl
Should with him be seen by our King.

The Hymn of Judas Thomas the Apostle,
which he spake in prison, is ended.

-Translated by G.R.S. Mead
http://gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/grsm_robeofglory.htm

http://www.gnosis.org/library/hymnpearl.htm

Commmentary by Rafael Vargas From the book Encounter with Samael Gnostic Society Rome, 1999

The Hymn of the Pearl of the Apostle Thomas.When I was a little child living In my fathers palace in his kingdom, Happy in the glories and riches Of my family that nurtured me, My parents gave me supplies And sent me out on a mission From our home in the East.The memories of Innocence in the bosom of our Being are pleasing, but Innocence is not enough. It is necessary to have consciousness of it, and it is the transmigration of the soul through matter which will grant this sorrowful opportunity.

From their treasure house they made up a cargo for me it was big though but light enough so I could carry it myself. It held gold from the highest houses and silver of Gazzak the Great and rubies of India and opals from the land of Kushan. In order to create spiritual gold and silver it is necessary to have a small quantity of gold and silver. The same with Rubies (Ruby: from the Latin "rubeus," red, defined in European and Indigenous cultures as the "sun stone;" a symbol of force, interior fire, love or passion). These precious stones of vibrant red colour represent very well the potential spirit; also the agates, which are a wide variety of quartz, considered protector stones and bringers of fortune, where the spirit is enclosed in its beautiful and different forms.

---

And they girded me with adamant that can crush iron. The diamond, the precious gem par excellence, indomitable and hard, with which the Philosophical Stone will be created later, the Resurrected Christ of the Great Work. The name of the diamond derives from the Greek "adamas," invincible. This precious stone is associated with the image of Venus, which is why it's said that it liberates from demonic influences, becoming a symbol of force, valour and invulnerability.

They took off my bright robe of glory, which they had made for me out of love, and took away my purple toga, which was woven to fit my stature.It has already been said, we must acquire Innocence through Gnosis, which is the doctrine of the "Salvator Salvandus", or he who saves himself through knowledge of the Being, because self-knowledge of Oneself is extra and superhuman. It is a superconscious knowledge that depends on the Being, that has nothing to do with the human.

They made a covenant with me And wrote it in my heart so I would not forget: "When you go down into Egypt and bring back the one pearl that lies in the middle of the sea and is guarded by the snorting serpent, you will again put on your robe of glory and your toga over it, and with your brother, our next in rank, you will be heir in our kingdom."Egypt is our Philosophic Land, in whose interior stretches a river, also internal, which we must learn to navigate. This secret Nile in each of us is the dorsal spine with its lower, middle, and upper Egypt, and in its spermatic waters dwells the serpent-dragon, who foaming with desires conceals from us the One Pearl, the conscious Soul. The next in rank to our interior father is the second logos, the Intimate Christ.

I left the east and traveled down To Egypt with my two royal guides, Since the way was dangerous and harsh And I was very young to walk alone.The east is the electronic or solar world, the dwelling of the spirits. Descending from the solar east, the One becomes Two and continues to multiply, as it descends from dimension to dimension. Then the last and first Mystery, the Father, becomes the twenty-fourth Mystery which are the parts of the Being, so that later a lost Soul or primogenial Essence can travel the dangerous path of mechanical laws.

I crossed the borders of Maishan, The gathering place of merchants of the east, Came into the land of the Babylonians, And entered the walls of Sarbug.Merchants from whichever place are always merchants, but what is important is that they represent the interior of our temple: "the merchants of the east," who trade in energetic solar values, deposited in our organic machine, so necessary for self-realization.

The land of Babylon, that of the Babylonians, which if at one time was one of the most glorious for Chaldean wisdom, would later see the birth of the "confusion of tongues," since man, separating from his Being, wanted to conquer the exterior without his help, and so gave way to the confusion of the mind, in which we still continue. Babylon, land of the savage demons of Sarbug or of the "pluralized I".

When I went down into Egypt My companions left me.Companions which are Two initially, Twenty-four parts of the Being later, and as much as Forty-nine fires of the Being, which synthesize into Twelve Parts, if we abide by esoteric Christianity, but which without self-realization will then be in contradiction with each other, until their integration may become possible.

I went straight to the serpent And settled close by him in an inn, Waiting for him to sleep So I could take my pearl from him.The serpent or the dragon is the cosmic fire which in a spiral and particular manner underlies all organic and inorganic life. Fire that palpitates in the nucleus of each atom and each sun, and which in us is associated intimately with sexual potency, mental energy and the innermost fires of the tranquil heart. But plunging down by cause of desire, it is the fire, which hypnotizes the consciousness; however, when ascending, it is the fire that awakens and illuminates it.

Since I was alone I was a stranger to others in the inn, Yet I saw one of my own people there, A nobleman from the east, Young, handsome, loveable, A son of kings-an anointed one, And he came and was close to me. And I made him my confidante With whom I shared my mission.It is difficult but not impossible, to find "free men," masters of the white brotherhood, self realized beings, who are forever guides of humanity, whose mission it is to keep alive the flame of the tradition and revelation.

I warned him against the Egyptians And of contact with the unclean ones. Then I put on a robe like theirs, Lest they suspect me as an outsider Who had come to steal the pearl, Lest they arouse the serpent against me.These "unclean Egyptians" are the men who are slaves of themselves; the "free men: offer us the doctrine, the word of salvation, but it is not enough to hear the word, it must be made flesh and blood.

Somehow they learned I was not Their countryman, dealt with me cunningly, And gave me their food to eat.In truth, the mind is always the principal cause of the fall, in generation and degeneration, and for this reason the "I," separativity, will always resurrect. Meanwhile, the Being never eats "garbage," never drinks anything "unclean" for its nature.

The mind however, as mercury is voluble and unknown to itself, it is restless and therefore unstable, and like a mirror reflects the surroundings in itself and to itself. For this reason it begins to forget the Being, thus losing its participation with the unity, which is the food that does not contaminate.

So what ensues from the mind is its mechanical capacity to react in imitation, duplication, separation, division, justification, condemnation, etc., which is the nature of the "I" it will therefore result in being vain, envious, jealous, prideful, curious etc.

But every cloud has a silver lining; it is this falsehood in which the mind is apt to deviate continuously which gives birth to the possibility of the consciousness to be able to confront the mind with its own contradictions, to know it, to comprehend it, and to eliminate from the mind that which is false, and to apprehend what of ultimate truth truly remains; although this model is not the general rule in everyone.

I fell into a deep sleep. I forgot that I was a son of kings And served their king. I forgot the pearl For which my parents had sent me. Through the heaviness of their food I fell into a deep sleep.Once the "I" is resuscitated, its separativity hypnotizes the consciousness. Much time will have to pass before the battle of interrelation; confrontation, comprehension and elimination of the subjective can commence.

When all these things happened My parents knew and grieved for me. I was proclaimed in our kingdom That all should come to our gate. And the kings and princes of Parthia And all the nobles of the east Wove a plan on my behalf So I would not be left in Egypt.Fortunately, fallen bodhisattvas sooner or later rise from the mud of the earth, and this would surely be the concrete case of the apostle Thomas, who by decree of his Being, that is the Donum Dei or "Gift of God," the grace or gnosis which makes possible the comprehension and realization of the Great Work, was called to become part of a very important mission...

And they wrote me a letter And every noble singed it with his name: "From your father, the king of kings, And your mother, the mistress of the east, And from your brother, our next in rank, And to you, our son in Egypt, peace!The hour had arrived in which he should awaken in order to be a vehicle of his Being.

Awake and rise from your sleep And hear the words of our letter! Remember that you are a son of kings And see the slavery of your life. Remember the pearl For which you were sent into Egypt!Only continuous messages from the Being will be able to help multiply the great longings of the lost soul; no one would survive in the path without them.

Remember your robe of glory And your splendid mantle, which you may wear When your names is called in the book of life, When it is read in the book of heroes, When you and your brother inherit our kingdom."For each dimension exists a vehicle, an existential body, the only method of penetrating the diverse dimensions of nature and of the cosmos, but only the vestment that our celestial Father bestows from on high will permit us to participate in the unity of free life in his movement.

And serving as messenger, The letter was a letter sealed by the king With his right hand Against the evil children of Babylon And the savage demons of the Sarbug labyrinth.A message of compassion from the Father is the absolute guarantee of triumph of the Great Work. The father always seals his works by tracing the divine ray of the Rune Sig, which corresponds with the last letter at the end of some alphabets.

It rose up in the form of an eagle, The king of all winged fowl; It flew and alighted beside me And became speech.The bird is, and always will be, among many other attributes, the Holy Spirit, the great healer, the giver of illumination.

At its voice and the sound of its rustling I awoke and rose from my sleep. I took it, kissed it, broke its seal, and read. And the words written on my heart Were in the letter for me to read. I remembered that I was the son of kings And my free soul longed for its own kind. I remembered the pear For which I was sent down into Egypt, And I began to enchant The terrible and snorting serpent.There exists no manner of enchanting the serpent of our cosmic fire other than changing its magnetic polarity, in the mind with self-observation, in the heart with superior emotions, and in the sex with alchemical transmutation.

I charmed him into sleep By calling the name of my father over him And of my mother, the queen of the east. I seized the pearl And turned to carry it to my father. Those filthy and impure garments I stripped off, leaving them in the fields, And went straight on my way Into the light of our homeland in the east.On my way the letter that awakened me Was lying like a woman on the road. And as she had awakened me with her voice So she guided me with her light As if she were an oracle. She was written on Chinese silk And shone before me in her own form. Her voice soothed my fear And its love urged me on. I hurried past the labyrinth walls of Sarbug And Babylon on the left And came to Maishan, the haven of merchants, Perched over the coast of the sea. My robe of glory that I had taken off And the toga over it were sent by my parents From the heights of Hyrcania. They were in the hands of treasures To whom they were committed Because of their faith, And I had forgotten the robe?s splendor, For as a child I had left it In my father?s house. As I gazed on it, suddenly the garment Like a mirror reflected me, And I saw myself apart As two entities in one form.The treasures are the administrators of destiny, the lords of the Great Law. And when we neither owe the Law nor the law owes us, then, all the truth of the Being is revealed and is objectively reflected in the translucence of a mind, heart, and sexuality purified by the light of the truth.

The treasures had brought me one robe, Yet in two halves I saw one shape With one kingly seal. They gave me wealth, And the bright embroidered robe Was colored with gold and beryls, With rubies and opals, And sardonyxes of many colors Were fasted to it in its high home. All its seams were fastened With stones of adamant,As we already said at the beginning, the beryls, agates, diamonds, sapphires, etc., as well as the rest of the precious stones represent virtues conquered by the soul, with which the Divine Mother makes the vestments of the soul. However, it is not too much to repeat what specialists say about Beryls: it was already known in antiquity that these crystals detoxified and fortified vision, for which reason they came to be used for the production of lenses. Of the Sardonyz it is said that it was the symbol of abundance, virtue, courage and eloquence. Of the Sapphire, whose name comes from the Sanskrit "sani," Saturn, is considered in European and Indian cultures, as the stone of Saturn, in so much as it represented the heavens, angels, magic, trust and friendship.

And the image of the king of kings Was embroidered on it As it rippled with sapphires Of many colors. I saw it quiver all over, Moving with gnosis, in a pulsing knowledge, And as it prepared to speak It moved toward me, Murmuring the sound of its songs. It descended and said, "I am the one who acted for him. For him I was brought up in my Father?s house. I saw myself growing in stature In harmony with his labors."With regal movements The robe was spreading toward me, Urging me to take it,Certainly, the vestment of the soul consists of the consciousness of nature and of the cosmos, which now is offered to the triumphant soul.

And love urged me to receive it, And I stretched forth and received it And put on the beauty of its hues. I cast my toga of brilliant colors All around me. Therein I clothed myself and ascended To the gate of salutation and adoration. I bowed my head and adored The Majesty of my Father, who sent it to me. I had fulfilled his commands And he fulfilled what he had promised. At the gate of his princes I mingled with his nobles. He was happy through me and received me, And I was with him in his kingdom, And his slaves praised him resoundingly. He promised me that I would journey soon With him to the gate of the King of Kings, And with my gifts and my pearl I would appear with him before our king.End of the Hymn that the apostle Judas Thomas sang in Prison.

The Kernel of the Heart

There used to be a story of a crypt which did conceal the seed of an ancient tree. The deceased had been sealed in a leaden case, the seed still contained in his hardened fist. The tree, of which it was but a germ, was to be of great worth as a preventative and as a remedy to many ills: afflictions that caused death and grief to old and young.

It is a rather long tale, but the upshot of it was, that eventually the seed was prised from the corpse and put to the rich soil with vast and hopeful expectation. However it did fail to take. There was no bonded union and the seed remained intact, refusing to sprout.

As the seasons turned over, they did pluck it back out from the ground and replant it in firmer, then looser soil; with water and then without, and so forth; but still the seed remained seed.

Disgusted and with disappointment, it was eventually surmised that there was no value to be had, and that either by corruption or inadequacy this marvel of a tree was not to be brought forth into the world.

And so it became a worthless curiosity which was commissioned to sit upon a plaque within a glass cabinet, along with several hundred other oddities for public display. There became the standard one line joke - "A dead man's remedy that will not subscribe to life!" And it was soon forgotten.

However, as with most famed articles, there was a presence of truth about this tiny seed, which had been invested with much conjecture. For all around the country there became a new variety of tree sprung up, and each and every one of them were ethereally bound to this precious seed. In point of fact, the owner from whose hand it was taken, knew of its remarkable link to life at a distance - dependent on it - and for reasons of security, planned to conceal it with his burial after long provision for care during his life.

However, the trees for which this seed was the parent, did go unnoticed by those who sought their properties, and flourished neglected. Came maturation, pods popped and birds pried, plucked and pecked the precious seed-peas. The birds as a result of this, became so overfull with life that the motion of the wings sweeping across the breast would enliven the currents around them.

You see, there may be mighty activity coming into and through the smallest of beings. These birds fed from the revivifying tree, and in turn gave out all that was not required, for them to be. Their tiny presence would alight at a distance a man, or to a child who was dejected or ailing miserably; and then in a passion of sympathetic understanding their need would be answered by the movement and presence of this empowered friend, for they knew also of the related properties and their purpose of prescription.

This is the nature of Love. It finds its way through mediums that will have it, go to it and give it. The men would not have profited similarly by scalding the leaves or boiling a brew, this was not the case, for the special nature of this tree was in relationships as ethereally supported from one to another, and by such we are suckled and sustained.

The tree would not be owned selectively to this or that community privy to its properties. And the men could not determine which foliage and what bough bore the effervescent vitalities, as the birds did see it a’ blazing, as if on fire.

Now the seed that was in the hand is one and the same which is kernel to the heart. All effort made manifest in the world, Love's efforts, are linked to that kernel. The offspring is always for the greater world and for so many who are as strangers to us, and yet dependent on our safekeeping of love's seed and our tenuous relationships without. Personal maturation does come after death, by which we truly come to eternal life.

The greatest affliction is a loveless life (and in life after death also) - the remedy being the giving freely, cultivating loving itself.

-B.Hive

God & the Religious Life

Spiritual Science endeavours to penetrate behind the mysteries of the spiritual conditions in the world. Religions are facts in the historical life of humanity. Spiritual Science can of course go so far as to consider the spiritual phenomena which have appeared as religions in the course of the world's evolution. But Spiritual Science can never desire to create a religion, any more than natural science surrenders itself to the illusion of being able to create something in nature. 

Hence the most various religious confessions will be able to live together in the profoundest peace, and in complete harmony within the circle of the view of the world taken by Spiritual Science, and will be able to strive together after knowledge of the spiritual — so to strive that the religious convictions of the individual will not thereby be in any way injured. Neither need intensity in the exercise of a religious belief be in any way lessened by what is found in Spiritual Science. Rather must it be said that natural science, as it has appeared in modern times, has very often led people away from a religious conception of life, from the exercise of true, inner religion. It is an experience which we have in Spiritual Science that people who have been alienated from all religious life by the half-truths of natural science can be brought back again to that life through Spiritual Science. 

No one need be in any way estranged from his religious life through Spiritual Science. For this reason it cannot be said that Spiritual Science, as such, is a religious belief. It desires neither to create a religious belief, nor to change a man in any way with regard to the religious belief which he holds. 

Nevertheless it seems as though people were talking about the religion of the Anthroposophists! In reality such a thing cannot be said, for all religious beliefs are represented within the Anthroposophical Society; and no one is prevented by it from practically exercising his religious belief in the fullest, most comprehensive and most intense way. It is only that Spiritual Science desires to include the whole world in its survey; it desires to survey historical life, together with the highest spirituality which has entered historical life. That for this reason it also takes a survey of religions is absolutely no contradiction of what I have just said. And thus it comes to pass that the view of the world taken by Spiritual Science must in a certain respect deepen a man, even with regard to the objects of religious life.

But when, for instance, it happens that Spiritual Science is accused of not speaking of a personal God, when it is said that I prefer to speak of the Divinity, not of God, when it is asserted that what is called “the divine” in Spiritual Science is of a similar nature to that which is so designated in the pantheism of the Monists or Naturalists, this is all the opposite of the truth. Through the very circumstance that in Spiritual Science we are led to real spiritual beings, and to the real being that man is after death, just because we are led to concrete, real spiritual beings, we arrive at being able completely to understand how unreasonable it is to become a pantheist, how repugnant to commonsense to deny personality in God. One arrives, on the contrary, at seeing that one may speak not only of the personality, but even of a super-personality of God. The most thorough refutation of pantheism may be found through Spiritual Science.

Can it be a subject of reproach that the spiritual investigator only speaks with deep reverence when, out of the feelings which his knowledge arouses in him, he points the way with awe to the divine? How often it is said in the circle of our friends, “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” And one who wishes to comprehend God with one idea, does not know that all possible ideas cannot comprehend God, because all ideas are in God. But the recognition of God as a being who has personality in a much higher sense even than man, in a sense which even through Spiritual Science cannot be fully perceived, becomes quite, I would say, natural to people, specially through Anthroposophy. Religious conceptions are not made misty, in the pantheistic sense, through Spiritual Science, but, in accordance with their nature, become deepened. If we say that God is revealed in our own hearts and souls, this is surely the conviction of many religious people; and it is again and again said in Spiritual Science that there can be no question in this of wishing to deify man.

I have often used the simile that a drop taken out of the sea is water — do I therefore say that the drop is the sea? If I say that something divine speaks in the individual human soul, a drop out of the ocean of the infinite divine, do I therefore say anything which deifies the individual human soul? Do I say anything which unites nature with in a pantheistic way? Far from it. And finally, if from certain deeply-seated feelings which are aroused by Spiritual Science itself, the name “GOD” is, in reverential awe, not named but paraphrased, should this be a subject of blame from the religious point of view? I ask, is not one of the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain?” May not Spiritual Science stimulate to a faithful fulfilment of this command, if the name of God is not perpetually on the lips of its followers?

-Rudolf Steiner, Mission of Spiritual Science & of Its Building at Dornach, Switzerland



" Through an immoral conception of life we deprive ourselves of forces of attraction in the Mercury sphere. Through an irreligious disposition of soul we deprive ourselves of forces of attraction in the Venus sphere. We cannot draw from this sphere the forces we need; which means that in the next incarnation we shall have an astral body that in a certain respect is imperfect." 

-Rudolf Steiner, GA 140

Elisabeth Wang

Finding Strength 'Within'

Although it is common for people to talk of finding strength 'within' in Western culture today, previously in centuries before, people would look 'outward' to find the strength required for certain things.

For example: courage is an accessible virtue, however excessive nervous energy can thwart the courage you might otherwise experience. If we invoke the consoling powers from without to bear down upon the excess energy and curtail their disruption, we are then free to experience the courage that comes most naturally to us.

Asking the powers without can be a way to define the powers within. Ancient cultures looked to the vapors, to the smoke and fire, to the elements of nature and supernature, to 'normalize' the great powers within.

Our being, our own nature within, holds the same essence, power and velocity of the purest and fiercest forces universally known. There are not many different lesser varieties, but rather each bearing that of the same - same forces also that drive the world as well.

-B.Hive  

Courage must be developed. I have told you that courage is all around us. Air is an illusion; it is courage that is everywhere around us. If we are really to live in the world in which we breathe, we need courage. If we are timid or cowardly, if we do not live together with the world but exclude ourselves from it, we breathe only in semblance. What is above all things for medicine is courage, the courage to heal. It is indeed so: if you confront an illness with the courage to heal, this is the right orientation which in ninety percent of cases leads you right. These moral qualities are most intimately connected with the process of healing.

-- Rudolf Steiner, Course for Young Doctors, LECTURE VII, Dornach, January 8, 1924