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. 
   

The Tinder Box- an Esoteric Explanation

Here is the part we should like to talk about:

"Do you see yonder large tree?" said the witch, pointing to a tree that stood close by the wayside. "It is quite hollow. Climb up to the top, and you will find a hole large enough for you to creep through, and thus you will get down into the tree. I will tie a rope round your waist, so that I can pull you up again when you call me."

"But what am I to do down in the tree?" asked the soldier.

"What are you to do?" repeated the witch; "why, fetch money, to be sure! As soon as you get to the bottom, you will find yourself in a wide passage; it is quite light, more than a hundred lamps are burning there. Then you will see three doors; you can open them, the keys are in the locks. On opening the first door you will enter a room. In the middle of it, on the floor, lies a large chest. A dog is seated on it, his eyes are as large as tea-cups; but never you mind, don't trouble yourself about him! I will lend you my blue apron; you must spread it out on the floor, then go briskly up to the dog, seize him, and set him down on it. When that is done, you can open the chest, and take as much money out of it as you please. That chest contains none but copper coins. If you like silver better, you have only to go into the next room; there you will find a dog with eyes as large as mill-wheels. Don't be afraid of him; you have only to set him down on my apron, and then rifle the chest at your leisure. But if you would rather have gold than either silver or copper, that is to be had too, and as much of it as you can carry, if you pass on into the third chamber. The dog that sits on this third money chest has eyes as large as the Round Tower. But don't be alarmed; if you set him down on my apron, he will do you no harm, and you can take as much golden treasure from the chest as you like.

"Not a bad plan that, upon my word!" said the soldier. "But how much of the money am I to give you, old woman?" 

"Not a penny will I have," returned the witch. "The only thing I want you to bring me is an old tinder-box which my grandmother left there by mistake last time she was down in the tree." 

"Well, then, give me the rope and I'll be gone," said the soldier.

"Here it is," said the witch, "and here is my blue apron." 

So the soldier climbed the tree, let himself down through the hole in the trunk, and suddenly found himself in the wide passage, lighted up by many hundred lamps, as the witch had described. 

And so, in the hollow of a deceased tree the soldier ventures down - down into a realm which is lit by many hundreds of lamps. Do you recall in previous lessons how it has been discussed that this journey inward may often be confused with a journey outward into the Cosmos at large? 

The word 'lamps' is actually far more accurate than to say 'stars', because even though one might very much confuse the lamps for stars in a starry space, they are not. This is what one is first met with however, venturing into the realms within. They signify also the starry points of conjuncture within one's own astral body that are 'alight' with activity. 

The witch in this story personifies the corrupted condition which is taking the soldier into these depths he is about to encounter. He is secured to the upper world by a "rope tied to the waist"” - his astral chord intact - and he ventures into the realm of death.

The first dog is sitting, guarding the chest of copper pieces. What may appear contrary to some, is that there is a correspondence between Venus and the etheric world. The goodness in the etheric world is supremely affectionate - the principles of propagation and of life, are verily of Love actively manifesting continually, and the forces which have imbibed it in the past are of this domain.

The second dog is sitting guarding the chest which holds the pieces of silver. This connects us with the Moon and the realm of the astrality - the second sphere encountered on our journey in.

The third dog is sitting guarding the chest with the disks of gold … the metal of the Sun - this denotes the final treasure to be uncovered - hoarded and stored by the dog.

The dog is obedient to the protection of all three realms. He has no will in this matter, and when later placed upon the blue apron of the witch's own egoic willing, he does not resist, but dutifully sits where put, without cunning or reaction or offering a threat to the soldier. 

He is a soldier of Christ that can move about these three chambers without interference or fear. Interestingly the witch herself could not go to these places as she might instruct another.

Of the first realm come to we find a dog whose eyes are smaller than the other two. His appearance by contrast would be gentle. This Venus condition here pertains to the singularity we first spoke of in the soulic consciousness as experienced in the world before the egoic condition predominated.

There is a divine cooperation here, and yet it is also quite an automatic cooperative … and when Paradise overwhelms men to become witless and will-less, it then becomes the realm of Lucifer. You can often find it difficult to find the differences between descriptions of the true paradisiacal state and Lucifer's paradise ad perpetua. However we can remember here that these inner realms now spoken of are the contrary adjuncts to the conditions which preceded them, that live on today in the current etheric and pure astral as it still is. Also, that the ancient Sun still imbibes the old etheric world, as it does the New.

Armies of dark spirits have long campaigned the lower realms of the Earth. Hell was ever depicted traditionally as 'below' the earth and not as part of the Heavens above. 

The second sphere come to, that of the ancient Moon, is of the time in which the senses were awakened and the stars began to resonate in Man. Forces outside of himself entered in, compelling and sometimes dividing forces, sparring tensions, which now may be known as desires, and later to thoughts. The ancient Moon did not reflect back the Sun when it was not-so-old as to be living. For it was, in part, just as our Earth is now - the Sun itself, in the making.

This ancient Sun, the kernel to the Globe, is of the first ego but not of the ego today. It was the feminine ego, a womb of knowing; not adventurous, but receptive - a very different type of "I". Even today the form of the ego is as a containing womb and its action is retentive rather than advancing. 

-B.Hive

on The Tinder Box by Hans Christian Andersen