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Hillcrest Congregation KZN |
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List of articles
- November 2020
Staying Connected
by Rev Michaël Merle
An expression that has become common place in our lives in 2020 is: “social distancing”. This very poorly (in fact inaccurately) describes what is intended by health authorities to reduce viral transmission. What we are being asked to do is “physically distance”. As human beings we are social beings, even when physically distant, as is the case for families and friends who find themselves in different cities or countries. We are very used to referring to “social media” (even when we are skeptical of the true nature of that media to provide genuine social contact). For centuries we have sent letters, parcels, notes, telegrams and the like in order to maintain contact and connection. So, in truth, we have become accustomed to keeping contact even when physical distance is a reality. Physical distance is not a hinderance to a sense of belonging to a wider society.
A compilation of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures and writings on the relationship of the living and the dead, reminds us, according to its title, to stay connected: “Staying Connected: How to continue your relationships with those who have died. Selected Talks and Meditations.” This book has accompanied many a group that gathers on a monthly basis to remember those who have died. It is currently accompanying the Johannesburg group of the Community who meet on the last Saturday of each month to remember those who have died and been buried from the church in Randburg. How do we maintain a true contact (establishing a sense of a wider society) when we are physically distant from our loved ones as a consequence of death?
The book reminds us in Chapter Five that as much as we are blessed by remembering the dead, they (those who have died) are blessed by our remembering. They rely on us in their way, as we rely on them in our way. This helps us to live consciously in a wider community of care and connection. Do we feel ourselves connected to those who have died? Do we feel their sheltering power streaming towards us? Do we feel that we are connected to them in our conscious thought, in the act of pure thinking, the act of meditation?
The month of November has traditionally been set aside to remember the dead, starting with the traditional days of All Saints (1 November) and All Souls (2 November). The night before All Saints (All Hallows) is known as all hallows’ eve (Halloween). From the night of the 31st of October our attention turns particularly to that which should be a reality throughout the year: our relationship to those who have died and how to stay connected. The Act of Consecration is the daily/weekly Sacrament that enables us to feel ourselves in this wider community of the living and the dead – this wider society that is not separated by a physical separation. Here we have an opportunity to feel ourselves part of this wider community and think deeply on the reality of our connection. Do our thoughts steam to those across the threshold? Do we see ourselves in our sacramental participation as part of this fuller community of being? The month of November provides us with this particular focus as a last resolution before beginning our liturgical cycle once more with Advent. In this month may we feel ourselves strongly connected and ready to start again the unfolding mystery of the seasons of faith as a community that spans the generations and decades of time.
An expression that has become common place in our lives in 2020 is: “social distancing”. This very poorly (in fact inaccurately) describes what is intended by health authorities to reduce viral transmission. What we are being asked to do is “physically distance”. As human beings we are social beings, even when physically distant, as is the case for families and friends who find themselves in different cities or countries. We are very used to referring to “social media” (even when we are skeptical of the true nature of that media to provide genuine social contact). For centuries we have sent letters, parcels, notes, telegrams and the like in order to maintain contact and connection. So, in truth, we have become accustomed to keeping contact even when physical distance is a reality. Physical distance is not a hinderance to a sense of belonging to a wider society.
A compilation of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures and writings on the relationship of the living and the dead, reminds us, according to its title, to stay connected: “Staying Connected: How to continue your relationships with those who have died. Selected Talks and Meditations.” This book has accompanied many a group that gathers on a monthly basis to remember those who have died. It is currently accompanying the Johannesburg group of the Community who meet on the last Saturday of each month to remember those who have died and been buried from the church in Randburg. How do we maintain a true contact (establishing a sense of a wider society) when we are physically distant from our loved ones as a consequence of death?
The book reminds us in Chapter Five that as much as we are blessed by remembering the dead, they (those who have died) are blessed by our remembering. They rely on us in their way, as we rely on them in our way. This helps us to live consciously in a wider community of care and connection. Do we feel ourselves connected to those who have died? Do we feel their sheltering power streaming towards us? Do we feel that we are connected to them in our conscious thought, in the act of pure thinking, the act of meditation?
The month of November has traditionally been set aside to remember the dead, starting with the traditional days of All Saints (1 November) and All Souls (2 November). The night before All Saints (All Hallows) is known as all hallows’ eve (Halloween). From the night of the 31st of October our attention turns particularly to that which should be a reality throughout the year: our relationship to those who have died and how to stay connected. The Act of Consecration is the daily/weekly Sacrament that enables us to feel ourselves in this wider community of the living and the dead – this wider society that is not separated by a physical separation. Here we have an opportunity to feel ourselves part of this wider community and think deeply on the reality of our connection. Do our thoughts steam to those across the threshold? Do we see ourselves in our sacramental participation as part of this fuller community of being? The month of November provides us with this particular focus as a last resolution before beginning our liturgical cycle once more with Advent. In this month may we feel ourselves strongly connected and ready to start again the unfolding mystery of the seasons of faith as a community that spans the generations and decades of time.
The Michaelmas Conference led by Rev. Michaël Merle on the theme: Explore a New Way of Thinking
report by John-Peter Gernaat
A Change of Heart and Mind, the Birth of a New Way of Thinking – Friday, 9th October
St John the Forerunner – an icon
We celebrate St John’s Day on the day of the birth of John the Baptist. This is unusual. Most saints’ days are celebrated on the day of their birth into heaven. The death of John the Baptist is traditionally celebrated on 29th August in the Eastern churches. There are many different types of icons of John the Baptist. The icon used in the conference programme advertisement clearly depicts John before his death; it does not contain an image of his head on a platter as many icons do – John is still in the process of his mission: the proclamation of an important message. Some icons of John the Baptist show him baptising people in the Jordan – also part of his mission.
The angel wings represent John as the outstanding prophet amongst other things. We know that he is the prophet Elijah returned. He is the last of the Old Testament prophets and first of the New Testament prophets. The text in his hand is clear: “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. He is the ‘angelos’ or messenger; he is also the ‘evangelos’ or the proclaimer of the message. His message is fundamental. In Mark’s Gospel it is the same message as the message of Christ that He used at the beginning of his mission.
If we use the words of the Revised Standard Version (the Revised King James Version) to translate the Greek of the Gospels, this is what we encounter as the message of John:
We may be more familiar with the John Madsen’s English translation (which is a translation of the Emil Bock’s translation from the Greek into German).
The word ‘metanoia’ in Greek is translated into the word ‘repent’ in the King James Version, and John Madsen (after Bock) translates it into ‘change of heart and mind’.
Let’s reflect on these words. Repentance means the act of repenting. This is a sincere regret or remorse reflecting sorrow. Remorse is contrition, contriteness, penitence. Sorrow as a result of pangs or pricklings of conscience. Other words that are also apt are shame, rue, compunction and sorriness.
The Greek word ‘metanoia’ is translated into Latin as ‘resipiscentia’, and this became ‘repent’ in the English translation. The Latin originally meant a ‘return to the correct sound or standpoint’. It also meant ‘reform your thinking’ or ‘recover your senses’ or ‘revive what was lost’.
A common translation of ‘metanoia’ is ‘afterthought’ as in ‘to spare an afterthought’. More correctly ‘metanoia’ means ‘that which comes after’, but it comes after with something. An example is “Metaphysics” which was the book Aristotle wrote after his book called “Physics”, which happened to be about the spiritual essence of things, hence this area of study became known as metaphysics. The origin of the Greek ‘meta’ (Koine Greek) comes from the ‘me-ta’ (Mycenaean Greek) – ‘me’ transformed over time into the English ‘mid’ as in midwife. In English metadata is data about data. So, me-ta implies ‘a change after, as a result of something accompanying it’. Think of metamorphosis: a form after a form because of a change (become aware of what happens after as a result of what was before).
“Noia” in metanoia is related to ‘nous’ which means ‘mind’ or mental effort.
Metanoia therefore is ‘after mental effort do something with it’. Or ‘applying mental effort to get to the bottom of something’. Also ‘thinking with purpose’.
The Greek culture placed a lot of emphasis on the mind. The mind soul reached its full development in the time of the Greek culture. We can understand the message of John the Baptist as “ take the soul faculties of thinking, feeling and will; reflect on these and after you have done so then you shall be ready to recognise the Kingdom of Heaven and be prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven which is close at hand”. It would also be correct to understand John’s message as: “reflect on the way I think that leads to sin; my being, my mindset, my selfish sin. How can these be realigned to mend a relationship to the Kingdom of Heaven?” We can also think of the Latin ‘reflect or review, and change what is not aligned’.
Baptism means to plunge into water and remain submerged to the point of the death’s threshold to provide a new vision.
To be engaged in thinking is to connect something that is out there with what is in me. It is to reconcile two things so that they become one. An example is to think of a tree, which is a percept, but combined with a concept becomes an inner vision.
The New Testament was written after Plato and Aristotle, so we must be aware that intellectual thinking was already the order of the day; ordered, rational thinking – which according to Plato was the mark of being human – intellectual thinking was the basis upon which the New Testament is written. This requires the human to not only have an earthly “I” but be exercising the faculties of such a component of being human.
Both intellectual thinking and pure thinking were available to the human being when John the Baptist lived. Beyond the threshold that John the Baptist calls us to cross is what could be described as “Michaelic thinking”. A step further is the fullness of what we could describe as “Christ thinking”. John introduces us to that process which can lead to Michaelic thinking. The Renaissance re-examined both intellectual thinking and pure thinking and as a result Descartes could pronounce: “I think, therefore I am”. However, once we have crossed the threshold to Michaelic thinking this statement will become: “I am, therefore I think”. It requires that we can recognise that I have and am an “I”.
There needs to be a renewal of our being through the soul faculties of thinking, feeling and willing. As an exercise we ask ourselves: “What questions can I ask to cause this change?” and “Is there some positivity that I can link to?”
The angel wings represent John as the outstanding prophet amongst other things. We know that he is the prophet Elijah returned. He is the last of the Old Testament prophets and first of the New Testament prophets. The text in his hand is clear: “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. He is the ‘angelos’ or messenger; he is also the ‘evangelos’ or the proclaimer of the message. His message is fundamental. In Mark’s Gospel it is the same message as the message of Christ that He used at the beginning of his mission.
If we use the words of the Revised Standard Version (the Revised King James Version) to translate the Greek of the Gospels, this is what we encounter as the message of John:
- Mark 1:4: “Came John baptising in the wilderness and proclaiming (a) baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
- Matthew 3:8: “Produce therefore fruit worthy of repentance.”
- Luke 3:3: “And he went into all the surrounding region of the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
We may be more familiar with the John Madsen’s English translation (which is a translation of the Emil Bock’s translation from the Greek into German).
- Mark 1:4: “John the baptizer was in the desert. He proclaimed baptism, the way of a change of heart and mind, which frees Man from sin.”
- Matthew 3:8: “Now therefore strive after the right fruit of the change of heart and mind.”
- Luke 3:3: “And he wandered through the whole country of the Jordan and called upon men to be baptized to change their hearts and minds and to become free of their sins.”
The word ‘metanoia’ in Greek is translated into the word ‘repent’ in the King James Version, and John Madsen (after Bock) translates it into ‘change of heart and mind’.
Let’s reflect on these words. Repentance means the act of repenting. This is a sincere regret or remorse reflecting sorrow. Remorse is contrition, contriteness, penitence. Sorrow as a result of pangs or pricklings of conscience. Other words that are also apt are shame, rue, compunction and sorriness.
The Greek word ‘metanoia’ is translated into Latin as ‘resipiscentia’, and this became ‘repent’ in the English translation. The Latin originally meant a ‘return to the correct sound or standpoint’. It also meant ‘reform your thinking’ or ‘recover your senses’ or ‘revive what was lost’.
A common translation of ‘metanoia’ is ‘afterthought’ as in ‘to spare an afterthought’. More correctly ‘metanoia’ means ‘that which comes after’, but it comes after with something. An example is “Metaphysics” which was the book Aristotle wrote after his book called “Physics”, which happened to be about the spiritual essence of things, hence this area of study became known as metaphysics. The origin of the Greek ‘meta’ (Koine Greek) comes from the ‘me-ta’ (Mycenaean Greek) – ‘me’ transformed over time into the English ‘mid’ as in midwife. In English metadata is data about data. So, me-ta implies ‘a change after, as a result of something accompanying it’. Think of metamorphosis: a form after a form because of a change (become aware of what happens after as a result of what was before).
“Noia” in metanoia is related to ‘nous’ which means ‘mind’ or mental effort.
Metanoia therefore is ‘after mental effort do something with it’. Or ‘applying mental effort to get to the bottom of something’. Also ‘thinking with purpose’.
The Greek culture placed a lot of emphasis on the mind. The mind soul reached its full development in the time of the Greek culture. We can understand the message of John the Baptist as “ take the soul faculties of thinking, feeling and will; reflect on these and after you have done so then you shall be ready to recognise the Kingdom of Heaven and be prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven which is close at hand”. It would also be correct to understand John’s message as: “reflect on the way I think that leads to sin; my being, my mindset, my selfish sin. How can these be realigned to mend a relationship to the Kingdom of Heaven?” We can also think of the Latin ‘reflect or review, and change what is not aligned’.
Baptism means to plunge into water and remain submerged to the point of the death’s threshold to provide a new vision.
To be engaged in thinking is to connect something that is out there with what is in me. It is to reconcile two things so that they become one. An example is to think of a tree, which is a percept, but combined with a concept becomes an inner vision.
The New Testament was written after Plato and Aristotle, so we must be aware that intellectual thinking was already the order of the day; ordered, rational thinking – which according to Plato was the mark of being human – intellectual thinking was the basis upon which the New Testament is written. This requires the human to not only have an earthly “I” but be exercising the faculties of such a component of being human.
- Intellectual thinking requires an earthly “I”, it requires that the human being is an individual. ‘I access it for myself.’ Each person does this and we realise that we have something in common. This can happen only in a body. This is related to abstract thinking, deductive thinking and natural thinking.
- Pure Thinking – a process which involves pure form, initially devoid of external content and arrived at without an appeal to the senses. A pure thought must harmonise with an experience in real life. We then compare the pure thought with the lived experience. A pure thought requires an etheric “I”, a formative sense.
Both intellectual thinking and pure thinking were available to the human being when John the Baptist lived. Beyond the threshold that John the Baptist calls us to cross is what could be described as “Michaelic thinking”. A step further is the fullness of what we could describe as “Christ thinking”. John introduces us to that process which can lead to Michaelic thinking. The Renaissance re-examined both intellectual thinking and pure thinking and as a result Descartes could pronounce: “I think, therefore I am”. However, once we have crossed the threshold to Michaelic thinking this statement will become: “I am, therefore I think”. It requires that we can recognise that I have and am an “I”.
There needs to be a renewal of our being through the soul faculties of thinking, feeling and willing. As an exercise we ask ourselves: “What questions can I ask to cause this change?” and “Is there some positivity that I can link to?”
Thinking in the Consciousness Soul – Saturday, 10th October
The message that John the Baptist proclaimed is a threshold message. It means more than simply a change of heart and mind. It means a renewal. We can consciously connect to this message. It asks that we renew and reclaim that which makes us human before we can cross the threshold.
The Gospel Reading for the first Sunday of Michaelmas may seem unusual. It is the parable of the King who prepares a feast for the wedding of his son and sends his servants to summon the guests to the feast. The guests do not respond but instead continue their daily business while others kill the servants. The story contains more violence as the king burns down the city. The parable ends with a man being thrown out of the wedding hall bound hand and foot.
How can we recast this parable in terms of thinking?
The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a human being. The renewal that John speaks of is so that the Kingdom can come about in us. We, humans, are the king. We can say: “I am like a king”. We are trying to call forth something in us, but it is not coming. ‘They are not willing to come.’ We must will our thinking. The guests have no will in their thinking regarding the invitation they receive. We can also read a lot into the meal that the king has prepared. Michaël Merle prefers a translation that is ‘the thick and full grain has been offered’. This very quickly allows us to connect the meal to the Eucharist. The invitation is an invitation to us to “come and work with me in my development” but they continue with their daily tasks. The fire that burns down the city is a purifying fire; it turns the city to ash. It purifies the willing. It is a reminder that thinking can become warped and degraded. The king then sends his servants into the roads. His invitation is now expanded to everyone wanting to come to the feast. He calls both the pain-ridden and the upright (Michaël Merle’s preferred translation). The three characteristics of the human being by the age of three are that it can stand upright, it can walk and it can talk. The man who is not dressed in his faculties – who has not developed himself – is speechless, he has nothing to say. The consequence of not thinking is the external dark existence of the “I am”.
In our thinking we come to terms with the “I am” in us – this is the fourth stage of thinking that is still in the future.
‘Many are called but few are chosen to become Michaelic human beings.’
The Gospel Reading for the first Sunday of Michaelmas may seem unusual. It is the parable of the King who prepares a feast for the wedding of his son and sends his servants to summon the guests to the feast. The guests do not respond but instead continue their daily business while others kill the servants. The story contains more violence as the king burns down the city. The parable ends with a man being thrown out of the wedding hall bound hand and foot.
How can we recast this parable in terms of thinking?
The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a human being. The renewal that John speaks of is so that the Kingdom can come about in us. We, humans, are the king. We can say: “I am like a king”. We are trying to call forth something in us, but it is not coming. ‘They are not willing to come.’ We must will our thinking. The guests have no will in their thinking regarding the invitation they receive. We can also read a lot into the meal that the king has prepared. Michaël Merle prefers a translation that is ‘the thick and full grain has been offered’. This very quickly allows us to connect the meal to the Eucharist. The invitation is an invitation to us to “come and work with me in my development” but they continue with their daily tasks. The fire that burns down the city is a purifying fire; it turns the city to ash. It purifies the willing. It is a reminder that thinking can become warped and degraded. The king then sends his servants into the roads. His invitation is now expanded to everyone wanting to come to the feast. He calls both the pain-ridden and the upright (Michaël Merle’s preferred translation). The three characteristics of the human being by the age of three are that it can stand upright, it can walk and it can talk. The man who is not dressed in his faculties – who has not developed himself – is speechless, he has nothing to say. The consequence of not thinking is the external dark existence of the “I am”.
In our thinking we come to terms with the “I am” in us – this is the fourth stage of thinking that is still in the future.
‘Many are called but few are chosen to become Michaelic human beings.’
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Mathematics helps us develop pure thinking. Mental pictures cannot form without the etheric “I”.
Consciousness soul thinking is Michaelic thinking. This is spiritual thinking and requires that the “I” is active in the astral body.
We can relate our thinking to the trials described by Rudolf Steiner in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, the trials by fire, water and air.
The first trial allows us to get a truer vision. This is intellectual thinking. ‘How do I manage the daily trials of life?’ This is the trial by fire. Intellectual thinking allows us to act courageously and with conviction.
Pure thinking can be related to the trial by water. Etheric form-forces describe a script of how things are. Pure thinking allows us to develop self-control. ‘I control my thinking.’ Self-moderation – I act moderately and modulate.
The trial by air is a path of aloneness – ‘out of desert emptiness’. We recover our faculties out of desert aloneness. The things to stimulate us are non-existent. Something is revealed and I must grasp it. Revelation – Revealed reality in thinking. This centres on absolute presence of mind. We can rely on nothing – we are thrown back on ourselves. This thinking allows us to act wisely – Cosmic Wisdom. ‘I know this is the wise thing to do, but I cannot rationalise it.’ (This is what is missing for the man without the wedding garment.)
Our teeth help us to speak (they are not very useful for digestion). Our teeth articulate and express. Gnashing of teeth is the inarticulate use of the teeth to speak. Therefore, a gnashing of teeth is a painful expression of undeveloped humanity.
“Michael wishes in future times to take his seat in the hearts, in the souls of earthly human beings, and this is to begin in the present age. It is about a guidance of Christendom into more profound truths, inasmuch as Christ is meant to find more understanding among human beings; to live His way into humanity as a Sun-being through the Sun-spirit – Michael – who has always ruled over the intelligence, and who now can no longer administer it in the cosmos, but in the future wishes to administer it through the hearts of human beings!” (Rudolf Steiner, 21st August 1924)
The new home of the Cosmic Intelligence is the human heart.
We can only get to faith on the basis of reason. The Act of Consecration of Man asks us to engage our thinking in the liturgical experience. When I think, no one can convince me. (When I don’t think anyone can convince me. This is a political problem.)
In conclusion after activities to stimulate thinking in three levels, Michaël Merle read the meditation Steiner gave to the teachers of the first Waldorf school already in September of 1919:
“In shine of sense-world weaving
There lives the spirit’s will,
As wisdom’s light outpouring
And inner power concealing
In the “I” of my own being
There shines the human will,
As thinking’s revelation
By its own power supported.
And my own power,
With light of cosmic wisdom
Mightfully united,
To selfhood shapes me,
I, who turn myself to high divinity
Seeking powers of illumination.
Consciousness soul thinking is Michaelic thinking. This is spiritual thinking and requires that the “I” is active in the astral body.
We can relate our thinking to the trials described by Rudolf Steiner in Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, the trials by fire, water and air.
The first trial allows us to get a truer vision. This is intellectual thinking. ‘How do I manage the daily trials of life?’ This is the trial by fire. Intellectual thinking allows us to act courageously and with conviction.
Pure thinking can be related to the trial by water. Etheric form-forces describe a script of how things are. Pure thinking allows us to develop self-control. ‘I control my thinking.’ Self-moderation – I act moderately and modulate.
The trial by air is a path of aloneness – ‘out of desert emptiness’. We recover our faculties out of desert aloneness. The things to stimulate us are non-existent. Something is revealed and I must grasp it. Revelation – Revealed reality in thinking. This centres on absolute presence of mind. We can rely on nothing – we are thrown back on ourselves. This thinking allows us to act wisely – Cosmic Wisdom. ‘I know this is the wise thing to do, but I cannot rationalise it.’ (This is what is missing for the man without the wedding garment.)
Our teeth help us to speak (they are not very useful for digestion). Our teeth articulate and express. Gnashing of teeth is the inarticulate use of the teeth to speak. Therefore, a gnashing of teeth is a painful expression of undeveloped humanity.
“Michael wishes in future times to take his seat in the hearts, in the souls of earthly human beings, and this is to begin in the present age. It is about a guidance of Christendom into more profound truths, inasmuch as Christ is meant to find more understanding among human beings; to live His way into humanity as a Sun-being through the Sun-spirit – Michael – who has always ruled over the intelligence, and who now can no longer administer it in the cosmos, but in the future wishes to administer it through the hearts of human beings!” (Rudolf Steiner, 21st August 1924)
The new home of the Cosmic Intelligence is the human heart.
We can only get to faith on the basis of reason. The Act of Consecration of Man asks us to engage our thinking in the liturgical experience. When I think, no one can convince me. (When I don’t think anyone can convince me. This is a political problem.)
In conclusion after activities to stimulate thinking in three levels, Michaël Merle read the meditation Steiner gave to the teachers of the first Waldorf school already in September of 1919:
“In shine of sense-world weaving
There lives the spirit’s will,
As wisdom’s light outpouring
And inner power concealing
In the “I” of my own being
There shines the human will,
As thinking’s revelation
By its own power supported.
And my own power,
With light of cosmic wisdom
Mightfully united,
To selfhood shapes me,
I, who turn myself to high divinity
Seeking powers of illumination.
Michael as Leader of Humanity and Time Spirit of Today – Sunday, 11th October
We often omit that the Archangel Michael is also the leader of humanity. He fulfils this role even when is not the Time Spirit. Michael is in charge of the Cosmic Intelligence and he has been able to administer it in the Cosmos until now. But for the future he will be able to administer it only through human hearts.
“Michael wishes in future times to take his seat in the hearts, in the souls of earthly human beings, and this is to begin in the present age. It is about a guidance of Christendom into more profound truths, inasmuch as Christ is meant to find more understanding among human beings; to live His way into humanity as a Sun-being through the Sun-spirit – Michael – who has always ruled over the intelligence, and who now can no longer administer it in the cosmos, but in the future wishes to administer it through the hearts of human beings!” (Rudolf Steiner, 21st August 1924)
“Michael wishes in future times to take his seat in the hearts, in the souls of earthly human beings, and this is to begin in the present age. It is about a guidance of Christendom into more profound truths, inasmuch as Christ is meant to find more understanding among human beings; to live His way into humanity as a Sun-being through the Sun-spirit – Michael – who has always ruled over the intelligence, and who now can no longer administer it in the cosmos, but in the future wishes to administer it through the hearts of human beings!” (Rudolf Steiner, 21st August 1924)
Michaël Merle returned to the painting by Francesco Botticini commonly known as Tobias and the Three Angels. Tobias is on a threshold. It is apt that in this painting he is portrayed as being on the threshold between childhood and youth. He is on the threshold of youth at a soul level. (The book of Tobit is available on our website (Editor)). The Archangel Raphael who accompanies Tobias on his journey introduces himself to Tobit, the father, as Azarias, son of the great Ananias, one of your relatives”. The name Azarias means ‘God helps’. Tobias walks with God’s help. Raphael means ‘God heals’ (it can also mean ‘God has healed’). He later introduced himself as “I am one of the seven Great Spirits who stand before the Throne”.
Botticini decided to add two more archangels in his painting of Tobias’ journey: Michael with the upright sword and Gabriel recognisable by the lily he carries. Gabriel means ‘God is my strength’. The name Michael is a question: ‘Who is like God?’ In the painting Gabriel is barefoot, Raphael is wearing sandals and Michael is shod in red shoes. This in itself represents a progression from childhood to adulthood. The three angels also represent the three soul faculties of Tobias: willing, feeling and thinking.
This same picture (of being accompanied by one’s soul faculties) was put onto the big screen by Hollywood in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” based on the earlier 20th century novel by L. Frank Baum. Dorothy’s dog Toto is significant. In the Book of Tobit the dog that accompanies Tobias does not have a name and is often referred to as ‘Toby dog’ which morphed to Toto in “The Wizard of Oz”. In Zarathustrian tradition the dog is the companion of the dead across the threshold. Dogs sat upright along the bridge that crosses the threshold after death. The dog is therefore also connected with Michael, who leads us across the threshold.
The three companions Dorothy collects along the way are:
The three angels in Botticini’s painting become the soul expressions for Tobias.
Today our thinking must be strongly aligned with our willing. We hear this expressed in the Act of Consecration of Man. We have already developed our feeling. We need to experience the companionship of thinking and willing. The relationship between thinking and willing, between Gabriel and Michael, is the theme of this Michaelmas Conference.
Michael is the Leader of Humanity. He was seen as the leader of the Jewish nation who in their turn led humanity in religious renewal. The early Christians, many of whom were Jews, adopted Michael as the leaders of Christians. Now he is understood as the “Countenance of Christ”. First, he was the countenance of Yahweh as a representative of the Father God. Now as the countenance of Christ he stands as representative of the full Trinity.
Michael is mentioned in the Book of Daniel. In Daniel 10 Michael helps the angel Gabriel defeat the Persians. In Daniel 12 Michael is described as the angel who will span the time of human destiny. He will be there at the end of time. Michael therefore spans the full evolution of humanity.
In Daniel we read of three young men who were the friends of Daniel. They enter the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon. They had Aramaic names and after arriving in Babylon their names are changed to Babylonian names.
The Aramaic names meant:
These three young men are sent into the fiery furnace but they do not burn. When Nebuchadnezzar looks into the furnace there is a fourth person in the furnace, a mighty angel. We may certainly view this angel as Michael who leads the young soul forces of humanity to maturity.
Michael has protected humanity. Now he is also the Time Spirit. Now he is able to exercise the greatest influence on what is developed for the future.
Botticini decided to add two more archangels in his painting of Tobias’ journey: Michael with the upright sword and Gabriel recognisable by the lily he carries. Gabriel means ‘God is my strength’. The name Michael is a question: ‘Who is like God?’ In the painting Gabriel is barefoot, Raphael is wearing sandals and Michael is shod in red shoes. This in itself represents a progression from childhood to adulthood. The three angels also represent the three soul faculties of Tobias: willing, feeling and thinking.
This same picture (of being accompanied by one’s soul faculties) was put onto the big screen by Hollywood in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” based on the earlier 20th century novel by L. Frank Baum. Dorothy’s dog Toto is significant. In the Book of Tobit the dog that accompanies Tobias does not have a name and is often referred to as ‘Toby dog’ which morphed to Toto in “The Wizard of Oz”. In Zarathustrian tradition the dog is the companion of the dead across the threshold. Dogs sat upright along the bridge that crosses the threshold after death. The dog is therefore also connected with Michael, who leads us across the threshold.
The three companions Dorothy collects along the way are:
- The Scarecrow who is looking for a brain because he does not know how to think.
- The Tinman who is looking for a heart because he does not know how to feel.
- The Lion who is looking for courage because he has no will.
The three angels in Botticini’s painting become the soul expressions for Tobias.
- Raphael who feels for the companionship represents Tobias’ feeling.
- Gabriel the thinking.
- Michael the willing.
Today our thinking must be strongly aligned with our willing. We hear this expressed in the Act of Consecration of Man. We have already developed our feeling. We need to experience the companionship of thinking and willing. The relationship between thinking and willing, between Gabriel and Michael, is the theme of this Michaelmas Conference.
Michael is the Leader of Humanity. He was seen as the leader of the Jewish nation who in their turn led humanity in religious renewal. The early Christians, many of whom were Jews, adopted Michael as the leaders of Christians. Now he is understood as the “Countenance of Christ”. First, he was the countenance of Yahweh as a representative of the Father God. Now as the countenance of Christ he stands as representative of the full Trinity.
Michael is mentioned in the Book of Daniel. In Daniel 10 Michael helps the angel Gabriel defeat the Persians. In Daniel 12 Michael is described as the angel who will span the time of human destiny. He will be there at the end of time. Michael therefore spans the full evolution of humanity.
In Daniel we read of three young men who were the friends of Daniel. They enter the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon. They had Aramaic names and after arriving in Babylon their names are changed to Babylonian names.
The Aramaic names meant:
- Hanaiah meant ‘Yah is gracious’ and his name changed to Shadrach. Shadrach originates from “Sudur Acu” which translates as ‘by the command of Acu’. Acu was a moon god in Babylonian culture. Acu is associated with Gabriel, the angel of Monday, the day of the moon.
- Mishael meant ‘who is what El is?’ (El is a Canaanite name for God) and his name becomes Meshach. Meshach signifies ‘who is as Acu is?’ and therefore it is a version of Michael.
- Azariah meant ‘God has helped’ and his name becomes Abendego. Abendego is ‘the servant of Nebo’ or ‘the servant of the gods’. Raphael is ‘God has healed’, a servant of God and as Azarias he is ‘God helps’.
These three young men are sent into the fiery furnace but they do not burn. When Nebuchadnezzar looks into the furnace there is a fourth person in the furnace, a mighty angel. We may certainly view this angel as Michael who leads the young soul forces of humanity to maturity.
Michael has protected humanity. Now he is also the Time Spirit. Now he is able to exercise the greatest influence on what is developed for the future.
This Byzantine icon of Michael represents the future of his mission.
There are three main types of icons of Michael:
The 14th century Byzantian icon housed in the museum of Athens has no dragon or sword present. Michael bears the sceptre representing the upright nature of humanity and an orb made of pure transparent crystal. The orb represents the kingdom and it being transparent crystal means that one can fully see the kingdom, it is an open secret. The sceptre is the rod with which he commands. This makes Michael a king. He is the ruler over the fullness of the kingdom. In Christian times the orb bore a cross to represent that the kingdom is granted to the king by Christ (see the coronation of QEII). On the orb are the symbols
X
Δ
K
The iconographer is not creating a portrait or an image, his task is to open a window for us to look into the spiritual world, or more accurately, a window through which the spiritual world can look on us. “We are held in the sight of Michael”. The block of wood on which the icon is to be painted is prepared very carefully. Then it is covered completely in white. This is the light of God. Thereafter it is completely covered in gold leaf. The paint is painted onto the gold leaf and gold leaf alone remains for the halo. The iconographer would have fasted and prayed before and during the creation of the icon. His tears shed during prayer would have become mixed into the paint that is washed onto the gold leaf.
There are three main types of icons of Michael:
- Michael and the dragon with the sword pointed at the dragon.
- Michael standing on a decomposing body of an old man holding a tiny baby aloft. This represents Michael as standing at the threshold where the body dies and the soul is born into the spirit. An upright sword represents our upright standing. In these icons the body is reclining.
- Michael leading the martyrs.
The 14th century Byzantian icon housed in the museum of Athens has no dragon or sword present. Michael bears the sceptre representing the upright nature of humanity and an orb made of pure transparent crystal. The orb represents the kingdom and it being transparent crystal means that one can fully see the kingdom, it is an open secret. The sceptre is the rod with which he commands. This makes Michael a king. He is the ruler over the fullness of the kingdom. In Christian times the orb bore a cross to represent that the kingdom is granted to the king by Christ (see the coronation of QEII). On the orb are the symbols
X
Δ
K
The iconographer is not creating a portrait or an image, his task is to open a window for us to look into the spiritual world, or more accurately, a window through which the spiritual world can look on us. “We are held in the sight of Michael”. The block of wood on which the icon is to be painted is prepared very carefully. Then it is covered completely in white. This is the light of God. Thereafter it is completely covered in gold leaf. The paint is painted onto the gold leaf and gold leaf alone remains for the halo. The iconographer would have fasted and prayed before and during the creation of the icon. His tears shed during prayer would have become mixed into the paint that is washed onto the gold leaf.
Returning to the symbols. X is shorthand for Christ.
Chi Rho is the symbol for Christ that can legitimately be shortened to X. Δ is capital delta and is Greek for righteous (dikarios). K symbolises kristes or judge. Criticise is derived from this.
XΔK means Christ the Righteous Judge. This comes from the Gospel of John: “Judge not appearance but judge correctly”. Michael rules in the judgement of Christ, he does not rule in his own right. The other words on the icon are “The Prince Michael, The Great Commander”. Prince signifies that he is of the Principalities or Archai or Time Spirits. This means: “The Principality that is Michael Who Commands the destiny of Man”. His mission is to implant the Cosmic Intelligence into the hearts of humanity. This is his aim as the Time Spirit in the Christian Age.
This is what it means to live in Michaelic times.
Turning to Ephesians 6 we hear that we are fighting Principalities who are not aligned with Michael. There are of the Archai who believe that humanity is a failed experiment and that it would be better to start afresh creating the 10th Hierarchy of Heaven. Michael is committed to administer the Cosmic Intelligence from the hearts of human beings. We must help him in this time when he is the Time spirit because not all of the Spiritual Worlds are helping him. Our real task is to become a Michaelic being. Michael is the countenance of Christ and we are meant to reflect the creative force of Christ for each other.
Chi Rho is the symbol for Christ that can legitimately be shortened to X. Δ is capital delta and is Greek for righteous (dikarios). K symbolises kristes or judge. Criticise is derived from this.
XΔK means Christ the Righteous Judge. This comes from the Gospel of John: “Judge not appearance but judge correctly”. Michael rules in the judgement of Christ, he does not rule in his own right. The other words on the icon are “The Prince Michael, The Great Commander”. Prince signifies that he is of the Principalities or Archai or Time Spirits. This means: “The Principality that is Michael Who Commands the destiny of Man”. His mission is to implant the Cosmic Intelligence into the hearts of humanity. This is his aim as the Time Spirit in the Christian Age.
This is what it means to live in Michaelic times.
Turning to Ephesians 6 we hear that we are fighting Principalities who are not aligned with Michael. There are of the Archai who believe that humanity is a failed experiment and that it would be better to start afresh creating the 10th Hierarchy of Heaven. Michael is committed to administer the Cosmic Intelligence from the hearts of human beings. We must help him in this time when he is the Time spirit because not all of the Spiritual Worlds are helping him. Our real task is to become a Michaelic being. Michael is the countenance of Christ and we are meant to reflect the creative force of Christ for each other.
Confirmation 2020
l to r: Usiphile Majola, Emily Angelozzi, Cora and Ethan Haycock, Jon-Mark Tatton and Noa Bailey
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The Image and Nature of Michael in our Time
by Rev Michaël Merle
We are living in challenging times. This is made all the clearer to us in 2020 with the many challenges that we are facing on a global scale, not least of which is the world response to Covid-19.
How do we school our thinking so that we can experience being free with Christ, thinking with Christ, in the development of the connection to our true “I”? Our earthly work and activity, bound to our practical thinking and our living concepts, needs to encounter a qualitative revelation that can take us from doing to being. This revelation comes to us in what we may call Michaelic Freedom.
In a world beset by restrictions and distancing, fear and anxiety, isolation and depression, how do we connect again to the new Michaelic revelation? The Epistle at Michaelmas provides us with a new picture of Michael. We have moved from the medieval picture and we are encountering a new aspect of Michael. He functions now as both Time Spirit and leader of humanity. He invites us (beckons us) to follow him as he leads us to the higher divining of the great mystery of the deed of life and death (the mystery of Golgotha). Michael reveals for us a deeper and conscious-filled understanding of the being of Christ in us. All our efforts need to be based on own freedom, and not just in our thinking but also deeply in our feeling and in an initial way even in our willing. Do we feel ourselves free and connected despite the restrictions? Are we able to experience the presence of Christ such that fear and anxiety no longer take hold of us, and we are able to feel ourselves part of the community and uplifted by that connection? This is the spiritual thinking to which Michael invites us.
The Michael path of the new mysteries leads us to Christ in a way that is true for our time. This may be well contemplated in Steiner’s Michael-Imagination (28 September 1924):
We are living in challenging times. This is made all the clearer to us in 2020 with the many challenges that we are facing on a global scale, not least of which is the world response to Covid-19.
How do we school our thinking so that we can experience being free with Christ, thinking with Christ, in the development of the connection to our true “I”? Our earthly work and activity, bound to our practical thinking and our living concepts, needs to encounter a qualitative revelation that can take us from doing to being. This revelation comes to us in what we may call Michaelic Freedom.
In a world beset by restrictions and distancing, fear and anxiety, isolation and depression, how do we connect again to the new Michaelic revelation? The Epistle at Michaelmas provides us with a new picture of Michael. We have moved from the medieval picture and we are encountering a new aspect of Michael. He functions now as both Time Spirit and leader of humanity. He invites us (beckons us) to follow him as he leads us to the higher divining of the great mystery of the deed of life and death (the mystery of Golgotha). Michael reveals for us a deeper and conscious-filled understanding of the being of Christ in us. All our efforts need to be based on own freedom, and not just in our thinking but also deeply in our feeling and in an initial way even in our willing. Do we feel ourselves free and connected despite the restrictions? Are we able to experience the presence of Christ such that fear and anxiety no longer take hold of us, and we are able to feel ourselves part of the community and uplifted by that connection? This is the spiritual thinking to which Michael invites us.
The Michael path of the new mysteries leads us to Christ in a way that is true for our time. This may be well contemplated in Steiner’s Michael-Imagination (28 September 1924):
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Sun-Powers enquickened,
Lightfilled World’s blessing Spirit-Mights; For Michael’s radiant garb You are predestined by thoughts of gods. He, the Christ-Herald directs in you Human-Upholding, holy Will of Worlds; You, shining beings of Ether-Worlds Carry the Christ-Word to humans. So appears the Christ-proclaimer To the waiting, thirsting souls; To them beams your Light-radiant Word In World-Time of Spirit Man. You, pupils of Spirit-cognition Take Michael’s wise beckoning, Take the World-Will’s Love-Word Into the souls’ high goals, effectively. (Translation by Anthony Higgins and Ludmilla King) |
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The Historical Journey from the time of St John to the time of the Archangel Michael: The Development of the Consciousness Soul";
a talk by Rev. Michaël Merle on 20th September 2020. Report-back by John-Peter Gernaat
This journey from St Johnstide to Michaelmas must be seen in the context of the Christian festivals.
The Christian year begins with three festivals that flow directly into one another: Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Their respective durations are the span of the 4 Sundays before the 25th of December, 12 Holy Nights, and the span of the 4 Sundays from the 6th of January. They complete the great birthing and arrival of Jesus and the Christ.
We then have a period to reflect on these events while preparing for the next great festivals that also flow one into another: Passion Tide (a 4 Sunday span), Easter (40 days), Ascension (9 days) and Whitsun (3 days).
By the end of these festivals we have lived through the full chronological path of the Christ’s journey on the earth – we complete the full Gospel story of Christ. From earliest times the important events at the beginning of this cycle were the arrival of the Magi, the baptism in the Jordan and the Wedding at Cana. These were the celebrated events, as they held the mystery of Christ revealed (made manifest) in Jesus of Nazareth.
St John’s Tide coming after Whitsun seems somehow out of chronological sequence, as the birth and work of John the Baptist predates the ministry of Jesus. St John’s Tide is also an unusual festival in that over the centuries the Christian church has usually celebrated the death-day of saints – their entry into the spiritual world – with rare exceptions, like for St John, whose birth day is celebrated.
Between St John’s Tide and Michaelmas is a pause of 10 Sundays (occasionally reduced to 9 when St John’s day falls on a Monday, placing Michaelmas on the last Sunday of this pause period). And between Michaelmas and Advent is another, shorter pause (reflective time).
The festivals of St John’s Tide and Michaelmas represent a much more expansive chronology: a preparing the full way of Christ over the centuries, as a consequence of the Baptism in the Jordan. This chronology represents the time from the Baptism, represented by John the Baptist to the time of Michael as the great Time Spirit guiding humanity at the time of the appearance of the Etheric Christ.
Rudolf Steiner was not the first person to speak of the great Time Spirits. There are seven great Time Spirits from whose circle one of them steps forward to guide the evolution of humanity according to what is needed, every 350 years or so, while the others hold themselves back, so to say. Michael stepped forward as the Time Spirit in 1879, the first time since before the time of the Baptism in the Jordan. When John the Baptist called to humanity to prepare the way, he referred to this entire period of time.
In the period between St John’s Tide and Michaelmas there are 10 fixed Gospel readings. The first 5 Gospel readings take us out of St John’s Tide and next 5 mirror the first 5 as they lead us into Michaelmas.
The 5th Sunday’s Gospel reading (the last echo of the St John’s period so to say) is about the man with impaired vision. He knew what he needed, and when asked by Jesus what he willed Him (Jesus) to do for him (the man), he asks Jesus for his higher sight. Upon receiving his higher sight, he is able to follow the Christ. John the Baptist is closely connected to the higher sight. He speaks words such as “look”, “see” and “behold”. For example: “I saw the Spirit descend upon him …” and “Behold the Lamb of God …” When he speaks these words to his disciples, two of his disciples leave him to follow Jesus until Jesus becomes aware that he is being followed. When Jesus asks these disciples “What are you seeking?”, they reply that they want to know where he lives, where his home – place on earth – is. This is the culmination of the work of John the Baptist.
On the 6th Sunday, the Gospel reading(mirroring the 5th and taking a first step towards Michaelmas, so to say) is about the man who cannot hear well and as a result he cannot speak clearly of what he knows – he cannot hear the spiritual world. The word Jesus speaks: “Ephphata!”, be fully opened, provides the man with a new way of hearing and he is able to proclaim the Word made flesh.
Michael steps forward as the great Time Spirit to care for humanity’s development at the time of the coming of the Etheric Christ. Since John the Baptist, humanity has fully developed the Intellectual Soul and seen the early development of the Consciousness Soul.
We know of the development of three stages of our soul: the Sentient Soul, the Intellectual Soul and the Consciousness Soul. Plato spoke often in recognition of the Intellectual Soul. The Intellectual Soul is also known as the Mind Soul or the Rational Soul. Intellectual is derived from two Latin words that mean: to understand. Hence, the Mind Soul is that development of soul that makes it possible for us to hold an understanding in our thinking, feeling and willing.
The Consciousness Soul began to develop in the early 1400’s and the first evidence of this new development is a paining by Jan van Eyck (although often ascribed to 1433, it was originally begun as a concept earlier and some believe may have been completed by 1422) formerly known as the “Man with a red turban” but later recognised from the artist’s notes as a self-portrait. This is the first self-portrait to have been painted; the first time an artist (or a human being) was fully aware of himself as the worthy subject of a portrait.
Consciousness means aware. The Consciousness Soul refers to an awareness of our higher consciousness. At this stage of the development of the Consciousness Soul we all have the capacity to aware of ourselves in connection to the Spirit. “I can reflect on myself – my own development”.
When we look at the Gospel of Luke which relates the birth of John the Baptist and the Annunciation to Mary, we encounter the Archangel Gabriel who is “sent from God”. Gabriel was not the great Time Spirit of that time but has a particular mission connected to the birth of John and Jesus.
The artist Francesco Botticini painted the healing life journey of Tobias. Tobias goes on a journey to collect a debt that will help his father. His dog journeys with him. In the marketplace – the business of life – he meets a friend who offers to accompany him on the journey. This friend is later revealed to be the Archangel Raphael. On the journey Tobias catches a fish (which he is seen carrying in the painting) that is a source of healing in the story, and he meets and marries his wife, who is a distant relative and through this marriage Tobias finds a connection to who he is. Botticini paints the young Tobias carrying his fish, with his dog, hand in hand with his companion, Archangel Raphael. But he also paints two other companions (who not mentioned in the story at all) who although walking alongside Tobias and Raphael give the appearance of one walking behind and the other leading the way. The companion walking behind is the Archangel Gabriel – who we recognise as connected with the birth of John and Jesus – and the companion leading the way, dressed very differently, in armour and holding a sword pointing upwards, is the Archangel Michael. This painting may be viewed as representing the journey from Gabriel to Michael, from St John’s Tide to Michaelmas. Gabriel represents the family into which we are born, from whom we inherit our traits. Michael goes ahead of us and turns to beacon us to keep on the way. Here is a picture of our journey from birth to a fuller development of Consciousness on the healing path of life on earth.
In the Act of Consecration of Man we can hear what the journey of our life is in the words “create”, “heal”, “ensoul”.
The journey from Gabriel (St John’s Tide) to Michael (Michaelmas) is a journey of coming to know. Anthroposophy is a great help to us but only, truly, when it is no longer a body of knowledge but becomes a way of living. This journey is one of knowing that we are bearers of the Christ. This is a part of the development of the Consciousness Soul, that we know who we are as bearers of the Christ. Our focus on this journey is towards Michael who leads with the upright sword (it is not a fighting sword). Our journey from understanding to knowing ourselves as Christians had changed over the 2000 years since the Baptism in the Jordan.
This journey from St Johnstide to Michaelmas must be seen in the context of the Christian festivals.
The Christian year begins with three festivals that flow directly into one another: Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Their respective durations are the span of the 4 Sundays before the 25th of December, 12 Holy Nights, and the span of the 4 Sundays from the 6th of January. They complete the great birthing and arrival of Jesus and the Christ.
We then have a period to reflect on these events while preparing for the next great festivals that also flow one into another: Passion Tide (a 4 Sunday span), Easter (40 days), Ascension (9 days) and Whitsun (3 days).
By the end of these festivals we have lived through the full chronological path of the Christ’s journey on the earth – we complete the full Gospel story of Christ. From earliest times the important events at the beginning of this cycle were the arrival of the Magi, the baptism in the Jordan and the Wedding at Cana. These were the celebrated events, as they held the mystery of Christ revealed (made manifest) in Jesus of Nazareth.
St John’s Tide coming after Whitsun seems somehow out of chronological sequence, as the birth and work of John the Baptist predates the ministry of Jesus. St John’s Tide is also an unusual festival in that over the centuries the Christian church has usually celebrated the death-day of saints – their entry into the spiritual world – with rare exceptions, like for St John, whose birth day is celebrated.
Between St John’s Tide and Michaelmas is a pause of 10 Sundays (occasionally reduced to 9 when St John’s day falls on a Monday, placing Michaelmas on the last Sunday of this pause period). And between Michaelmas and Advent is another, shorter pause (reflective time).
The festivals of St John’s Tide and Michaelmas represent a much more expansive chronology: a preparing the full way of Christ over the centuries, as a consequence of the Baptism in the Jordan. This chronology represents the time from the Baptism, represented by John the Baptist to the time of Michael as the great Time Spirit guiding humanity at the time of the appearance of the Etheric Christ.
Rudolf Steiner was not the first person to speak of the great Time Spirits. There are seven great Time Spirits from whose circle one of them steps forward to guide the evolution of humanity according to what is needed, every 350 years or so, while the others hold themselves back, so to say. Michael stepped forward as the Time Spirit in 1879, the first time since before the time of the Baptism in the Jordan. When John the Baptist called to humanity to prepare the way, he referred to this entire period of time.
In the period between St John’s Tide and Michaelmas there are 10 fixed Gospel readings. The first 5 Gospel readings take us out of St John’s Tide and next 5 mirror the first 5 as they lead us into Michaelmas.
The 5th Sunday’s Gospel reading (the last echo of the St John’s period so to say) is about the man with impaired vision. He knew what he needed, and when asked by Jesus what he willed Him (Jesus) to do for him (the man), he asks Jesus for his higher sight. Upon receiving his higher sight, he is able to follow the Christ. John the Baptist is closely connected to the higher sight. He speaks words such as “look”, “see” and “behold”. For example: “I saw the Spirit descend upon him …” and “Behold the Lamb of God …” When he speaks these words to his disciples, two of his disciples leave him to follow Jesus until Jesus becomes aware that he is being followed. When Jesus asks these disciples “What are you seeking?”, they reply that they want to know where he lives, where his home – place on earth – is. This is the culmination of the work of John the Baptist.
On the 6th Sunday, the Gospel reading(mirroring the 5th and taking a first step towards Michaelmas, so to say) is about the man who cannot hear well and as a result he cannot speak clearly of what he knows – he cannot hear the spiritual world. The word Jesus speaks: “Ephphata!”, be fully opened, provides the man with a new way of hearing and he is able to proclaim the Word made flesh.
Michael steps forward as the great Time Spirit to care for humanity’s development at the time of the coming of the Etheric Christ. Since John the Baptist, humanity has fully developed the Intellectual Soul and seen the early development of the Consciousness Soul.
We know of the development of three stages of our soul: the Sentient Soul, the Intellectual Soul and the Consciousness Soul. Plato spoke often in recognition of the Intellectual Soul. The Intellectual Soul is also known as the Mind Soul or the Rational Soul. Intellectual is derived from two Latin words that mean: to understand. Hence, the Mind Soul is that development of soul that makes it possible for us to hold an understanding in our thinking, feeling and willing.
The Consciousness Soul began to develop in the early 1400’s and the first evidence of this new development is a paining by Jan van Eyck (although often ascribed to 1433, it was originally begun as a concept earlier and some believe may have been completed by 1422) formerly known as the “Man with a red turban” but later recognised from the artist’s notes as a self-portrait. This is the first self-portrait to have been painted; the first time an artist (or a human being) was fully aware of himself as the worthy subject of a portrait.
Consciousness means aware. The Consciousness Soul refers to an awareness of our higher consciousness. At this stage of the development of the Consciousness Soul we all have the capacity to aware of ourselves in connection to the Spirit. “I can reflect on myself – my own development”.
When we look at the Gospel of Luke which relates the birth of John the Baptist and the Annunciation to Mary, we encounter the Archangel Gabriel who is “sent from God”. Gabriel was not the great Time Spirit of that time but has a particular mission connected to the birth of John and Jesus.
The artist Francesco Botticini painted the healing life journey of Tobias. Tobias goes on a journey to collect a debt that will help his father. His dog journeys with him. In the marketplace – the business of life – he meets a friend who offers to accompany him on the journey. This friend is later revealed to be the Archangel Raphael. On the journey Tobias catches a fish (which he is seen carrying in the painting) that is a source of healing in the story, and he meets and marries his wife, who is a distant relative and through this marriage Tobias finds a connection to who he is. Botticini paints the young Tobias carrying his fish, with his dog, hand in hand with his companion, Archangel Raphael. But he also paints two other companions (who not mentioned in the story at all) who although walking alongside Tobias and Raphael give the appearance of one walking behind and the other leading the way. The companion walking behind is the Archangel Gabriel – who we recognise as connected with the birth of John and Jesus – and the companion leading the way, dressed very differently, in armour and holding a sword pointing upwards, is the Archangel Michael. This painting may be viewed as representing the journey from Gabriel to Michael, from St John’s Tide to Michaelmas. Gabriel represents the family into which we are born, from whom we inherit our traits. Michael goes ahead of us and turns to beacon us to keep on the way. Here is a picture of our journey from birth to a fuller development of Consciousness on the healing path of life on earth.
In the Act of Consecration of Man we can hear what the journey of our life is in the words “create”, “heal”, “ensoul”.
The journey from Gabriel (St John’s Tide) to Michael (Michaelmas) is a journey of coming to know. Anthroposophy is a great help to us but only, truly, when it is no longer a body of knowledge but becomes a way of living. This journey is one of knowing that we are bearers of the Christ. This is a part of the development of the Consciousness Soul, that we know who we are as bearers of the Christ. Our focus on this journey is towards Michael who leads with the upright sword (it is not a fighting sword). Our journey from understanding to knowing ourselves as Christians had changed over the 2000 years since the Baptism in the Jordan.
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Thoughts for May
What do we know about the month of May, at this early stage? (Just 5 things amongst many. You may add to the list for yourselves)
What opportunities or possibilities for development present themselves? (Just 5 things amongst many. You may add to the list for yourselves)
The newsletter side of this will be somewhat smaller than last month while the programme is reduced to the assigned Gospel pericopes for each Sunday of May.
May carries three festival times: Easter, Ascension and on the last day of the month Whit Sunday and the beginning of our shortest festival season, the three days of Whitsun.
- We are moving from Stage 5 lockdown to Stage 4 lockdown
- Church services (except for funerals with limited mourners) are not allowed
- Our contact with others not in the lockdown with us at home will remain mostly the same as in Stage 5, although for some, like teachers, a shift will be experienced. (but at hand of strict social distancing guidelines).
- Many who are managing their own small or medium sized businesses are facing very difficult decisions as the time of their business closure is extended with no clarity as to exactly when operations could resume.
- A general concern for the financial, social and emotional well-being of others and ourselves grows by the day.
What opportunities or possibilities for development present themselves? (Just 5 things amongst many. You may add to the list for yourselves)
- More time is afforded us to find the inner space and reflect on our priorities and the essentials of our lives.
- The earth is at rest and the carbon footprint remains low.
- We have no traffic congestion to contend with.
- Many who would otherwise be peripheral to the life and activity of the Community can be drawn into our common sense of sharing and being, accompanied as it is by the regular contemplations.
- We are faced with the question of illness, disease and death in the light of Easter: resurrection, new life and rebirth.
The newsletter side of this will be somewhat smaller than last month while the programme is reduced to the assigned Gospel pericopes for each Sunday of May.
May carries three festival times: Easter, Ascension and on the last day of the month Whit Sunday and the beginning of our shortest festival season, the three days of Whitsun.
The Africa Seminary Zoom sessions of 1 and 2 May 2020
It was not possible to meet for the scheduled Module over the weekend of 1 – 3 May in Johannesburg. So, two separate sessions (both the same in content and process) were proposed to participants who have been attending the modules since the middle of last year. Twelve people met with Reingard and Michaël on Zoom on Friday, 1 May from 16h45 to 19h30, and nine people met with the two priests on Saturday, 2 May from 8h45 to 11h30.
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The following structure and approach drew the participants into a rich and rewarding experience:
Opening Round: What is one thing you have started or done differently in recent times, that you intend to take with you in the future because of how it has made a difference to your life? (up to 1 minute each) Second Round: What is a question that the advent of Covid-19 and its implications has raised for you, the living into of which is providing you with growth and maybe some insight? (This was about sharing the question only, not the answer to it) (up to 1 minute each) Third Round: What have you been aware of or have been developing a new understanding of as a result of the impact of lockdown? What have you been noticing? (up to 1 minute each) |
Thinking Pairs in Breakout Rooms – Topic: Lord’s Prayer first sentence
24 minutes was spent in Thinking Pairs.
Notes for Thinking Pairs:
Generative Attention is a function of a promise: I will not interrupt you, nor will l want to interrupt you, because I am deeply interested in how far you can go in your own thinking for yourself. I promise to manage my “inner response stream” so that I can give my full attention to your thinking, so that you have the conditions you need to explore your own fully independent thinking.
Both settle down into knowing that where the thinker will go in their thinking in the next 10 minutes is being generated by the quality of their attention for each other. They will get the Thinker started with the question:
What would you like to think about from the first sentence of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father in the Heavens”,
and what are your thoughts?
If the thinker comes to a pause, that requires another question to ignite further thinking they will indicate this to their Thinking Partner who will ask:
What more do you think, or feel, or want to say?
This question can serve the Thinker to continue to explore their own fully independent thinking as many times as the Thinker requires it for the duration of the 10 minutes.
When both people have had their turn for some time to think, both people will take up to a minute each, but not more, to appreciate a quality (not of the content) that they have experienced and appreciated in the person they have been working with.
Then back in the main Zoom meeting:
24 minutes was spent in Thinking Pairs.
Notes for Thinking Pairs:
Generative Attention is a function of a promise: I will not interrupt you, nor will l want to interrupt you, because I am deeply interested in how far you can go in your own thinking for yourself. I promise to manage my “inner response stream” so that I can give my full attention to your thinking, so that you have the conditions you need to explore your own fully independent thinking.
Both settle down into knowing that where the thinker will go in their thinking in the next 10 minutes is being generated by the quality of their attention for each other. They will get the Thinker started with the question:
What would you like to think about from the first sentence of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father in the Heavens”,
and what are your thoughts?
If the thinker comes to a pause, that requires another question to ignite further thinking they will indicate this to their Thinking Partner who will ask:
What more do you think, or feel, or want to say?
This question can serve the Thinker to continue to explore their own fully independent thinking as many times as the Thinker requires it for the duration of the 10 minutes.
When both people have had their turn for some time to think, both people will take up to a minute each, but not more, to appreciate a quality (not of the content) that they have experienced and appreciated in the person they have been working with.
Then back in the main Zoom meeting:
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Fourth Round: What would you like to share with us from your experience of having had that time to think? (1 minute each)
Closing Round: What is one thing that you have valued in your experience of being on the call, and what is one quality you would like to appreciate in the person who is clock/anti-clockwise to you at the table? |
We really wanted the sessions to be a time of sharing, support and inspiration; an opportunity for boosting the spiritual immunity of the participants.
The Revelation of the Father in the Son
A perspective from the Baptism and the Transfiguration
by Rev Michaël Merle
(This talk, given in Johannesburg on 8 March 2020, is presented from notes taken by John-Peter Gernaat)
This talk speaks to one of the cornerstones of Christianity: that of the Oneness revealed in the Trinity – that the Creator is a Father and has a Son.
It is of note that when we turn to the Gospels the Son is spoken of before there is mention of the Father. Mark is the oldest Gospel (and some consider that he and the other synoptic Gospel writers may have used a single older source). Mark’s Gospel begins with the Baptism. This provides clear insight into the importance this event held for early Christians. The Baptism marked the beginning of the Christian story. [It is important to note that the eucharistic meal, which is the evolution of the Passover meal with the Mystery of Resurrection, forms the heart of Christianity.] It was important that the event of the Baptism was witnessed. It was John the Baptist who perceived the opening of the heavens and the Spirit descending like a dove. He heard the words: “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am revealed”. The Son is spoken of before we hear any reference to the Father.
The Act of Consecration of Man, other than the blessing, begins by speaking of the Divine in terms that do not specifically imply a Father - Son relationship: “Divine Ground of the world…”; “to you, O Ground of the World…”. There is no splitting of the Trinity, rather speaking to the oneness of the Godhead only.
Later we hear: “O Father God…”
It is only the New Testament that provides insight into the Trinity and we arrive at the heart of the Trinity in the Baptism event. The synoptic Gospels describe the Baptism while John’s Gospel does not, it describes the consequences of the Baptism. The synoptic Gospels all use the same word and one of the synoptic Gospels uses the same word when describing the Transfiguration. This word is Eu-do-keo (transliterally). In describing the Transfiguration Luke uses the words eklegomai. Jon Madsen, in his translation of Emil Bock’s translation, renders this word as ‘Chosen One’. Both these words are an expression of the same reality.
Eklegomai literally means “in whom I conclude out of myself” where the words ‘out of’ are key. Alternatively: “out of myself this is what I have concluded”. This tells us that the Son is not chosen from among the Father’s creation or creatures, but out of himself. The Christ principle comes out of the Father.
The word Eu-do-keo is often simplified to “in whom I am revealed”. Within this word is the word for ‘well’ (as in ‘fare thee well’) or ‘wellness’ which also carries the intention to experience these richly or fully. One alternative rendition which could assist our deeper understanding would be “in the full or rich wellness of the Father the Son is revealed”. But there is also the intention in the word that this has to do with our thinking ability to discern. Therefore, this word also has the intention to say: “in whom my discernment will prosper” or “in whom my personal judgement will fare well”.
From all of this we know that at the heart there is a relation of Father to Son.
Humanity had the privilege of getting to know the Son, and through His words and actions the Divine is revealed. We can come to know the Father more fully than we could before Christ was incarnated.
In the relationship of the Father to the Son the Spirit comes into being. The Spirit exists between the Father and Son. (Reingard often says that in the spiritual world 1 +1 = 3; a third principle always come into existence in the relationship between two spiritual beings.) Through coming to understand the Son, we can come to more fully understand the Father and only then can we come to understand or experience the Spirit. In the Gospel of John we can learn more about the relationship of the Son to the Father in all that is said at the Last Supper. It adds to the understanding we can arrive at through the Old Testament.
To repeat the relationship: “in whom I am fully expressed”, “in whom I am well revealed”, “in whom my discernment will prosper”.
The epistle that is read in the Act of Consecration of Man during Trinity also aids our understanding of the fullness of God.
The Creed of The Christian Community also guides us to an understanding of the Trinity.
The first statement is not necessarily Christian, it describes only the Father as an almighty Divine Being. However, the description of this Being as being spiritual physical is a very new idea. That He is the ground of existence is common to all religions. That He goes before his creatures like a Father is a potent image of how a father leads a child before the child follows its own path through life. It is a different image to the way a mother leads. The image is therefore not intended to give a gender to the Father but rather to describe the relationship of the Father to his created creatures. We follow the Father to become whom we are intended to be.
The second statement describes the Son as being “born in eternity” to this Divine Being – the Father. A picture is given in Kabbalistic teaching of God withdrawing into Himself in order that creation could come into being. In the act of creating the Son principle comes into cognition.
We know that we are made in the image of the Divine. We also know that we are in process. It therefore is clear that the Divine is also in process. Also, we understand relationships because the Divine is in relationship.
In the Creed the first seven statements are from the past. Statement eight begins: “Since that time…”. There is a change in direction to the present and the future. Since the Resurrection, the Son fulfils the work of the Father. The Son is fully revealing the Father, where fully also means richly fulfilled.
In the Transfiguration we come to a new understanding of the Godhead and that we can have a relationship to the Father. “Christ comes out of me and in the Son I am fully understood / revealed / discerned.” “I am Father. I have created and this brought Son into Being and between us is a relationship which can be experienced as Spirit.”
In Greek the word Doxa is used to capture the essence of a Hebrew concept of the ‘fulness of revelation’ that is translated as ‘glory’. This is the heart of the statement we hear in the Act of Consecration: “what You have received from the Father and made whole through the Spirit in all cycles of time”. This speaks to a relationship and to the understanding that since the Resurrection the Son reveals the fullness of the Father.
The way of grasping the concept of Father is through a relationship to the Son and then we can understand the Spirit. Then we find ourselves in the relationship between Father and Son.
(This talk, given in Johannesburg on 8 March 2020, is presented from notes taken by John-Peter Gernaat)
This talk speaks to one of the cornerstones of Christianity: that of the Oneness revealed in the Trinity – that the Creator is a Father and has a Son.
It is of note that when we turn to the Gospels the Son is spoken of before there is mention of the Father. Mark is the oldest Gospel (and some consider that he and the other synoptic Gospel writers may have used a single older source). Mark’s Gospel begins with the Baptism. This provides clear insight into the importance this event held for early Christians. The Baptism marked the beginning of the Christian story. [It is important to note that the eucharistic meal, which is the evolution of the Passover meal with the Mystery of Resurrection, forms the heart of Christianity.] It was important that the event of the Baptism was witnessed. It was John the Baptist who perceived the opening of the heavens and the Spirit descending like a dove. He heard the words: “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am revealed”. The Son is spoken of before we hear any reference to the Father.
The Act of Consecration of Man, other than the blessing, begins by speaking of the Divine in terms that do not specifically imply a Father - Son relationship: “Divine Ground of the world…”; “to you, O Ground of the World…”. There is no splitting of the Trinity, rather speaking to the oneness of the Godhead only.
Later we hear: “O Father God…”
It is only the New Testament that provides insight into the Trinity and we arrive at the heart of the Trinity in the Baptism event. The synoptic Gospels describe the Baptism while John’s Gospel does not, it describes the consequences of the Baptism. The synoptic Gospels all use the same word and one of the synoptic Gospels uses the same word when describing the Transfiguration. This word is Eu-do-keo (transliterally). In describing the Transfiguration Luke uses the words eklegomai. Jon Madsen, in his translation of Emil Bock’s translation, renders this word as ‘Chosen One’. Both these words are an expression of the same reality.
Eklegomai literally means “in whom I conclude out of myself” where the words ‘out of’ are key. Alternatively: “out of myself this is what I have concluded”. This tells us that the Son is not chosen from among the Father’s creation or creatures, but out of himself. The Christ principle comes out of the Father.
The word Eu-do-keo is often simplified to “in whom I am revealed”. Within this word is the word for ‘well’ (as in ‘fare thee well’) or ‘wellness’ which also carries the intention to experience these richly or fully. One alternative rendition which could assist our deeper understanding would be “in the full or rich wellness of the Father the Son is revealed”. But there is also the intention in the word that this has to do with our thinking ability to discern. Therefore, this word also has the intention to say: “in whom my discernment will prosper” or “in whom my personal judgement will fare well”.
From all of this we know that at the heart there is a relation of Father to Son.
Humanity had the privilege of getting to know the Son, and through His words and actions the Divine is revealed. We can come to know the Father more fully than we could before Christ was incarnated.
In the relationship of the Father to the Son the Spirit comes into being. The Spirit exists between the Father and Son. (Reingard often says that in the spiritual world 1 +1 = 3; a third principle always come into existence in the relationship between two spiritual beings.) Through coming to understand the Son, we can come to more fully understand the Father and only then can we come to understand or experience the Spirit. In the Gospel of John we can learn more about the relationship of the Son to the Father in all that is said at the Last Supper. It adds to the understanding we can arrive at through the Old Testament.
To repeat the relationship: “in whom I am fully expressed”, “in whom I am well revealed”, “in whom my discernment will prosper”.
The epistle that is read in the Act of Consecration of Man during Trinity also aids our understanding of the fullness of God.
The Creed of The Christian Community also guides us to an understanding of the Trinity.
The first statement is not necessarily Christian, it describes only the Father as an almighty Divine Being. However, the description of this Being as being spiritual physical is a very new idea. That He is the ground of existence is common to all religions. That He goes before his creatures like a Father is a potent image of how a father leads a child before the child follows its own path through life. It is a different image to the way a mother leads. The image is therefore not intended to give a gender to the Father but rather to describe the relationship of the Father to his created creatures. We follow the Father to become whom we are intended to be.
The second statement describes the Son as being “born in eternity” to this Divine Being – the Father. A picture is given in Kabbalistic teaching of God withdrawing into Himself in order that creation could come into being. In the act of creating the Son principle comes into cognition.
We know that we are made in the image of the Divine. We also know that we are in process. It therefore is clear that the Divine is also in process. Also, we understand relationships because the Divine is in relationship.
In the Creed the first seven statements are from the past. Statement eight begins: “Since that time…”. There is a change in direction to the present and the future. Since the Resurrection, the Son fulfils the work of the Father. The Son is fully revealing the Father, where fully also means richly fulfilled.
In the Transfiguration we come to a new understanding of the Godhead and that we can have a relationship to the Father. “Christ comes out of me and in the Son I am fully understood / revealed / discerned.” “I am Father. I have created and this brought Son into Being and between us is a relationship which can be experienced as Spirit.”
In Greek the word Doxa is used to capture the essence of a Hebrew concept of the ‘fulness of revelation’ that is translated as ‘glory’. This is the heart of the statement we hear in the Act of Consecration: “what You have received from the Father and made whole through the Spirit in all cycles of time”. This speaks to a relationship and to the understanding that since the Resurrection the Son reveals the fullness of the Father.
The way of grasping the concept of Father is through a relationship to the Son and then we can understand the Spirit. Then we find ourselves in the relationship between Father and Son.
PERCEPTION, PERSPECTIVE and REALITY
Questions to consider in a time of fake news
by Rev Michaël Merle
A common expression in life today is that perception is reality. Of course, for the person who has perceived things in a particular way, and feels convinced of their perception, the matter is as they see it, and does form their reality. But, is this reality in an objective way? Can we even speak of an objective reality, a truth that stands no matter how it is perceived?
It may be helpful to consider perspective as opposed to perception. A perception can mean the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses, and also means the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted. It is the combination of the two meanings that leads us to say that a person’s perception becomes their reality. What then is perspective? Perspective (not in the sense of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface) means holding a particular attitude towards something, or a way of regarding something, a point of view. This takes into account that this point of view is one of many, and although it may be considered advantageous, is not exclusive to other points of view of the same thing. The perspective may highlight a certain feature or provide a clearer view of a certain aspect. What is essential is that a perspective is not a perception. The former sees what is as it is (even if from one viewpoint), while the latter interprets something in a way that may be false, misguided or simply wrong. In a world in which fake news has become an everyday term, and we seem beset by opposing views that are in conflict, we could do well to wonder at what is perception (and how true it is) and how we might develop perspective on the reality of things.
When the Creed of The Christian Community was composed, it took a very particular perspective on the spiritual realities of which it spoke. No longer was this a set of statements of faith – subject to belief, and therefore to perception, but rather it was written as statements of fact (reality) which can be grasped from one’s current perspective, and grow for one as the perspective changes while remaining an objective reality.
What is our current perspective of the spiritual world and of our reality here on earth? How might we develop the art of perspective and learn to let go of our perceptions?
It may be helpful to consider perspective as opposed to perception. A perception can mean the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses, and also means the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted. It is the combination of the two meanings that leads us to say that a person’s perception becomes their reality. What then is perspective? Perspective (not in the sense of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface) means holding a particular attitude towards something, or a way of regarding something, a point of view. This takes into account that this point of view is one of many, and although it may be considered advantageous, is not exclusive to other points of view of the same thing. The perspective may highlight a certain feature or provide a clearer view of a certain aspect. What is essential is that a perspective is not a perception. The former sees what is as it is (even if from one viewpoint), while the latter interprets something in a way that may be false, misguided or simply wrong. In a world in which fake news has become an everyday term, and we seem beset by opposing views that are in conflict, we could do well to wonder at what is perception (and how true it is) and how we might develop perspective on the reality of things.
When the Creed of The Christian Community was composed, it took a very particular perspective on the spiritual realities of which it spoke. No longer was this a set of statements of faith – subject to belief, and therefore to perception, but rather it was written as statements of fact (reality) which can be grasped from one’s current perspective, and grow for one as the perspective changes while remaining an objective reality.
What is our current perspective of the spiritual world and of our reality here on earth? How might we develop the art of perspective and learn to let go of our perceptions?
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird.
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C S Lewis
The Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday, 5th May
The Sacrament of Confirmation was received on Sunday, 5th May by:
Amy Howard
Anna Siepker
Emma Celine
Amy Howard
Anna Siepker
Emma Celine
Left to right: Lenker, Rev. Reingard Knausenberger, Amy Howard, Anna Siepker, Emma Celine and Rev. Michaël Merle
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April 2019 Articles
by Rev. Michaël Merle
The first weekend of April is Africa Seminary Module 2, to be held, as usual, in Johannesburg. This module is the second-part of a two-part modular exploration of the Infancy Narratives in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. The first part was held in conjunction with a presentation on the Isenheim Altar of Matthais Grunewald, given by Michael Schubert, a retired Waldorf teacher, whose personal study and research into this extraordinary religious artwork of the 16th century has made him a true expert. He has written a thoroughly researched and finely detailed book on the Isenheim Altar, and this has been translated into English and published through the efforts and support of David Wertheim-Aymes.
The first weekend of April is Africa Seminary Module 2, to be held, as usual, in Johannesburg. This module is the second-part of a two-part modular exploration of the Infancy Narratives in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. The first part was held in conjunction with a presentation on the Isenheim Altar of Matthais Grunewald, given by Michael Schubert, a retired Waldorf teacher, whose personal study and research into this extraordinary religious artwork of the 16th century has made him a true expert. He has written a thoroughly researched and finely detailed book on the Isenheim Altar, and this has been translated into English and published through the efforts and support of David Wertheim-Aymes.
by Rev. Michaël Merle
We keep Joan Wijnberg in our good thoughts and prayers along with all of David Wijnberg’s family. Our thoughts for David and his journey are of significance to him and to our community. David’s funeral was held in our chapel on 20th February, and his Memorial Act of Consecration of Man was held on Saturday, 23rd February.
We keep Joan Wijnberg in our good thoughts and prayers along with all of David Wijnberg’s family. Our thoughts for David and his journey are of significance to him and to our community. David’s funeral was held in our chapel on 20th February, and his Memorial Act of Consecration of Man was held on Saturday, 23rd February.
December 2018 Articles |
by Rev. Michaël Merle
The word Advent comes from two Latin words, ad (to) and venire (come), and provides us with a word that, in general use, means arrival (usually of a notable person or thing, such as in the statement, ‘The advent of television’).
Advent has been the beginning of the Christian Church year for centuries, and marks the arrival of Christmas and Epiphany. In this sense, it is the preparatory season for the celebration of birth (natalia or natal from the Latin natalis) at Christmas, and the season of manifestation (of great revelation, from the Greek epiphanien: reveal). It is, as you no doubt realise, more than an historical commemorative festival; it is more than a festival of gestation for a birth that took place more than 2000 years ago. It is a contemporary festival in that it is a time to prepare anew for the Christ to come into our hearts and minds as we begin again the cycle of the year.
The great event of Christ’s coming to earth is at the Baptism in the Jordan. It was this event that was first celebrated at Epiphany (the revelation of God, the manifestation of Christ on earth). Two other events in the Gospels became associated with this epiphany at the Baptism in the Jordan: one preceding the Baptism by some twenty-eight years or so, and the other occurring just over forty days after the Baptism. Epiphany became associated with the visit of the Magi (recorded in Matthew’s gospel account) and the Wedding Feast at Cana (recorded in John’s gospel account). To these two has also been added The Finding in the Temple (recorded in Luke’s gospel account). These last three named moments of manifestation are all presented in the Gospel readings for Epiphany, which in our renewed calendar of the year is now a four-week season (like Advent).
This Advent heralds new experiences and opportunities for our small, but slowly growing, community in KZN. Our flat is refurbished, and we shall welcome Pia Benn and her family into it in December. We hope that they shall be very happy on our premises. During the Twelve Days of Christmas (Twelve Holy Nights) we shall be exploring the Twelve Precious Stones of the New Jerusalem. We have heard of these in our Revelation gospel readings in the last four weeks of the year. They herald a view on the spiritual virtues which can arise from the exercise of twelve soul processes. Please do look carefully for the times of our coming together in the Holy Nights to explore in more depth and detail of what this heavenly constellation can inform us.
With warmest Christmas blessings and wishes for a peaceful and spiritually prosperous New Year
The word Advent comes from two Latin words, ad (to) and venire (come), and provides us with a word that, in general use, means arrival (usually of a notable person or thing, such as in the statement, ‘The advent of television’).
Advent has been the beginning of the Christian Church year for centuries, and marks the arrival of Christmas and Epiphany. In this sense, it is the preparatory season for the celebration of birth (natalia or natal from the Latin natalis) at Christmas, and the season of manifestation (of great revelation, from the Greek epiphanien: reveal). It is, as you no doubt realise, more than an historical commemorative festival; it is more than a festival of gestation for a birth that took place more than 2000 years ago. It is a contemporary festival in that it is a time to prepare anew for the Christ to come into our hearts and minds as we begin again the cycle of the year.
The great event of Christ’s coming to earth is at the Baptism in the Jordan. It was this event that was first celebrated at Epiphany (the revelation of God, the manifestation of Christ on earth). Two other events in the Gospels became associated with this epiphany at the Baptism in the Jordan: one preceding the Baptism by some twenty-eight years or so, and the other occurring just over forty days after the Baptism. Epiphany became associated with the visit of the Magi (recorded in Matthew’s gospel account) and the Wedding Feast at Cana (recorded in John’s gospel account). To these two has also been added The Finding in the Temple (recorded in Luke’s gospel account). These last three named moments of manifestation are all presented in the Gospel readings for Epiphany, which in our renewed calendar of the year is now a four-week season (like Advent).
This Advent heralds new experiences and opportunities for our small, but slowly growing, community in KZN. Our flat is refurbished, and we shall welcome Pia Benn and her family into it in December. We hope that they shall be very happy on our premises. During the Twelve Days of Christmas (Twelve Holy Nights) we shall be exploring the Twelve Precious Stones of the New Jerusalem. We have heard of these in our Revelation gospel readings in the last four weeks of the year. They herald a view on the spiritual virtues which can arise from the exercise of twelve soul processes. Please do look carefully for the times of our coming together in the Holy Nights to explore in more depth and detail of what this heavenly constellation can inform us.
With warmest Christmas blessings and wishes for a peaceful and spiritually prosperous New Year
by Rev. Michaël Merle
With puberty, the soul arrives completely on the earth. Outwardly, this shows, for example, in the many bodily changes that can be seen in the arrival of adolescence, from the deepening of a boy’s voice to the widening of a girl’s hips. Inwardly one can experience that responsibility for one’s own destiny begins, for the tasks that one will encounter in life. The soul, which was fully open in the child, now begins to become independent and to set boundaries toward the outside.
In all cultures, there was a religious activity, an ‘initiation’ for a step from child to adult. This always meant adding something spiritual to the natural process of self-definition. In order that this process not lead to isolation, a ‘confirmation’, a strengthening needs to be added. Now with our far more refined understanding of human development, the confirmation required is one from childhood to youth – a proper respect for the important years of adolescence.
What does such an activity look like in Christianity, and in particular in the Christian Community?
Baptism as a Precursor to Confirmation
The soul of the small child does not yet have its own ‘inner space’. The child becomes restless when those around him become restless; it can become quiet when the others come to inner tranquility. The child’s moods are strongly dependent upon the environment. Even its spiritual forces work strongly out of the surroundings.
In the Baptism, the first religious act, the connection with Christ does not yet happen inwardly, as it does through the Communion service; but rather the child is touched outwardly with consecrated substances. Through this, the child becomes disposed to a connection with Christ on earth.
In early Christianity, adult baptism was common. There, the baptism ‘from outside’ (immersion) and the baptism ‘from inside’, the first communion service, belonged together.
For the child, this second step comes with puberty, when an inner soul space has developed, in which this inner connection can take place.
Community and Independence of Soul
The setting of boundaries between the soul and the environment comes to a radical high point with puberty. Signs appear on the door – do not enter! Personal questions are gruffly rejected, or answered with an impenetrable silence.
A fragile inner soul space is being formed that is no longer open, as it is with a newborn.
The initiation rituals of the old religions had the intention of breaking open this insularity, and thus to integrate the child in the community of adults. This happened partly through the experience of strong bodily pain and nearness to death. Through this, the initiated youth achieved certain spiritual capacities. In his soul, however, he became first and foremost a member of his tribe. There was no longer any loneliness, but also no true independence of soul.
In Christianity, there is also a supplement to youthful self-definition; there is also an initiation: the Confirmation. However, here the purpose is not to dissolve the uniqueness of the individual for the sake of the group; here a very different path is offered: the inner soul space is strengthened.
Enriching Inner Space Without Injuring It
Every human being has her own name, with which she can differentiate herself from others. Our true name, however, is so personal that only we ourselves can say it. This name is: I.
I, however, is also the name with which Christ describes Himself in John’s gospel. When He says, ‘I am the Bread of Life’, ‘I am the Good Shepherd’, or when in answer to the question of who He is, His simple answer is ‘I am’. In the original Greek text, the ‘I’ is strongly emphasized. His spiritual name is, like ours, ‘I’. That which is on the one hand our most personal is at the same time that which connects us with all human beings, and also with Christ, who Himself became a human being. In the Confirmation, this connection is consciously strengthened. Christ approaches the inner soul space of the youth in a way that leaves it free. He does not overlay His own uniqueness, but rather makes the soul so strong in itself that it does not become one-sidedly egotistical, but rather becomes capable of being in community.
This does not happen only symbolically. Through the communion service of bread and wine, His connection with the human being reaches all the way into the body.
The Meal of Bread and Wine – Connecting One’s Own Destiny with Christ
In the Confirmation, which is integrated into the Act of Consecration of Man, wine (unfermented grape juice in The Christian Community) and bread are transformed. Christ changes them into His blood and His body. How can this be understood?
If one understands it as only an outwardly material event, it becomes macabre; if it is experienced as purely symbolic, it becomes totally subjective and therefore meaningless. Yet out of one’s own human experience, one can understand: my own body is my body just because I am living in it, deeply enmeshed in it, existentially connected to it. As soon as I die, and leave this body, it ceases to be my body. Christ connects Himself so deeply and existentially with bread and wine that He can say, ‘This is my body and my blood’.
The children, who are now becoming youths, connect themselves with this substance. The personality, which lives its own destiny, connects to the Being who carries and accompanies the destiny of humanity. Christ becomes an inner grounding. He does not determine or control the soul, but rather strengthens it for its own goals. He leaves the soul free later to orient itself, even in a different religion. The connection with Christ always means inner strength and complete inner freedom.
The Beginning of One’s Own Biography and a New Relationship to Dying
Until puberty, the child has not fully arrived on earth and into his body. Therefore, it has a completely different relationship to dying. For the child, death means simply returning to one’s spiritual home. Insofar as the child has not been talked into something else, death is no threat, but rather a transition back, a return.
With puberty and the arrival on earth, this relationship to death changes. Responsibility for one’s own destiny begins, and consequently it is now the body that becomes the home for the soul. Dying is no longer simply a transition, but rather it becomes a path, a passageway. The Confirmation hints at this: Christ is spoken of as a biographical companion in joys and sorrows, but also as a helper in the moment of death. This change appears in picture form when the priest changes vestments at the altar, and the black cassock, the innermost vestment, becomes visible for a moment.
Confirmation Instruction and the Sunday Service for the Children
The Confirmation, as a ritual event toward which the children move at age fourteen, would be excessively demanding without practice preparation. A part of this preparation for Confirmation can be achieved through lessons in which the children are not merely given knowledge, but are also inwardly tuned toward the event. Even the best lesson can never replace religious activity, praying together before the altar.
In the Sunday Service for the Children, the children receive the best preparation for Confirmation. They receive an obvious, unselfconscious relationship to stillness, to a ritual, and to an encounter with the priest at the altar.
With puberty, the soul arrives completely on the earth. Outwardly, this shows, for example, in the many bodily changes that can be seen in the arrival of adolescence, from the deepening of a boy’s voice to the widening of a girl’s hips. Inwardly one can experience that responsibility for one’s own destiny begins, for the tasks that one will encounter in life. The soul, which was fully open in the child, now begins to become independent and to set boundaries toward the outside.
In all cultures, there was a religious activity, an ‘initiation’ for a step from child to adult. This always meant adding something spiritual to the natural process of self-definition. In order that this process not lead to isolation, a ‘confirmation’, a strengthening needs to be added. Now with our far more refined understanding of human development, the confirmation required is one from childhood to youth – a proper respect for the important years of adolescence.
What does such an activity look like in Christianity, and in particular in the Christian Community?
Baptism as a Precursor to Confirmation
The soul of the small child does not yet have its own ‘inner space’. The child becomes restless when those around him become restless; it can become quiet when the others come to inner tranquility. The child’s moods are strongly dependent upon the environment. Even its spiritual forces work strongly out of the surroundings.
In the Baptism, the first religious act, the connection with Christ does not yet happen inwardly, as it does through the Communion service; but rather the child is touched outwardly with consecrated substances. Through this, the child becomes disposed to a connection with Christ on earth.
In early Christianity, adult baptism was common. There, the baptism ‘from outside’ (immersion) and the baptism ‘from inside’, the first communion service, belonged together.
For the child, this second step comes with puberty, when an inner soul space has developed, in which this inner connection can take place.
Community and Independence of Soul
The setting of boundaries between the soul and the environment comes to a radical high point with puberty. Signs appear on the door – do not enter! Personal questions are gruffly rejected, or answered with an impenetrable silence.
A fragile inner soul space is being formed that is no longer open, as it is with a newborn.
The initiation rituals of the old religions had the intention of breaking open this insularity, and thus to integrate the child in the community of adults. This happened partly through the experience of strong bodily pain and nearness to death. Through this, the initiated youth achieved certain spiritual capacities. In his soul, however, he became first and foremost a member of his tribe. There was no longer any loneliness, but also no true independence of soul.
In Christianity, there is also a supplement to youthful self-definition; there is also an initiation: the Confirmation. However, here the purpose is not to dissolve the uniqueness of the individual for the sake of the group; here a very different path is offered: the inner soul space is strengthened.
Enriching Inner Space Without Injuring It
Every human being has her own name, with which she can differentiate herself from others. Our true name, however, is so personal that only we ourselves can say it. This name is: I.
I, however, is also the name with which Christ describes Himself in John’s gospel. When He says, ‘I am the Bread of Life’, ‘I am the Good Shepherd’, or when in answer to the question of who He is, His simple answer is ‘I am’. In the original Greek text, the ‘I’ is strongly emphasized. His spiritual name is, like ours, ‘I’. That which is on the one hand our most personal is at the same time that which connects us with all human beings, and also with Christ, who Himself became a human being. In the Confirmation, this connection is consciously strengthened. Christ approaches the inner soul space of the youth in a way that leaves it free. He does not overlay His own uniqueness, but rather makes the soul so strong in itself that it does not become one-sidedly egotistical, but rather becomes capable of being in community.
This does not happen only symbolically. Through the communion service of bread and wine, His connection with the human being reaches all the way into the body.
The Meal of Bread and Wine – Connecting One’s Own Destiny with Christ
In the Confirmation, which is integrated into the Act of Consecration of Man, wine (unfermented grape juice in The Christian Community) and bread are transformed. Christ changes them into His blood and His body. How can this be understood?
If one understands it as only an outwardly material event, it becomes macabre; if it is experienced as purely symbolic, it becomes totally subjective and therefore meaningless. Yet out of one’s own human experience, one can understand: my own body is my body just because I am living in it, deeply enmeshed in it, existentially connected to it. As soon as I die, and leave this body, it ceases to be my body. Christ connects Himself so deeply and existentially with bread and wine that He can say, ‘This is my body and my blood’.
The children, who are now becoming youths, connect themselves with this substance. The personality, which lives its own destiny, connects to the Being who carries and accompanies the destiny of humanity. Christ becomes an inner grounding. He does not determine or control the soul, but rather strengthens it for its own goals. He leaves the soul free later to orient itself, even in a different religion. The connection with Christ always means inner strength and complete inner freedom.
The Beginning of One’s Own Biography and a New Relationship to Dying
Until puberty, the child has not fully arrived on earth and into his body. Therefore, it has a completely different relationship to dying. For the child, death means simply returning to one’s spiritual home. Insofar as the child has not been talked into something else, death is no threat, but rather a transition back, a return.
With puberty and the arrival on earth, this relationship to death changes. Responsibility for one’s own destiny begins, and consequently it is now the body that becomes the home for the soul. Dying is no longer simply a transition, but rather it becomes a path, a passageway. The Confirmation hints at this: Christ is spoken of as a biographical companion in joys and sorrows, but also as a helper in the moment of death. This change appears in picture form when the priest changes vestments at the altar, and the black cassock, the innermost vestment, becomes visible for a moment.
Confirmation Instruction and the Sunday Service for the Children
The Confirmation, as a ritual event toward which the children move at age fourteen, would be excessively demanding without practice preparation. A part of this preparation for Confirmation can be achieved through lessons in which the children are not merely given knowledge, but are also inwardly tuned toward the event. Even the best lesson can never replace religious activity, praying together before the altar.
In the Sunday Service for the Children, the children receive the best preparation for Confirmation. They receive an obvious, unselfconscious relationship to stillness, to a ritual, and to an encounter with the priest at the altar.
October 2018 Articles
by Rev. Michaël Merle
Here we are in the Michaelmas Season (through most of October) and then through a short and intense period of Trinity time (Trinity IV, so to speak) with powerful readings from the Revelation to John over four Sundays, before we begin our liturgical year anew with the First Sunday of Advent in December.
October will prove a month of alterations and renovations to our flat (the residence attached to the church), and we hope that by November we can rent out the space. These alterations continue along the plans that were set in 2016 and begun in early 2017 with our Chapel refurbishment. The church gains a library/meeting room and this converts the flat into a two-bedroomed dwelling (both bedrooms en suite) with lounge, dining space and kitchen. It seems appropriate to be building and working in the busy and focused time of Michaelmas. Our thanks go to the Regional Council who have supported this work by facilitating a second loan. There has been much goodwill and heart-felt enthusiasm from the council for this project. We are also very grateful to Claude Schneider who is project managing the building works on our behalf.
Here we are in the Michaelmas Season (through most of October) and then through a short and intense period of Trinity time (Trinity IV, so to speak) with powerful readings from the Revelation to John over four Sundays, before we begin our liturgical year anew with the First Sunday of Advent in December.
October will prove a month of alterations and renovations to our flat (the residence attached to the church), and we hope that by November we can rent out the space. These alterations continue along the plans that were set in 2016 and begun in early 2017 with our Chapel refurbishment. The church gains a library/meeting room and this converts the flat into a two-bedroomed dwelling (both bedrooms en suite) with lounge, dining space and kitchen. It seems appropriate to be building and working in the busy and focused time of Michaelmas. Our thanks go to the Regional Council who have supported this work by facilitating a second loan. There has been much goodwill and heart-felt enthusiasm from the council for this project. We are also very grateful to Claude Schneider who is project managing the building works on our behalf.
August 2018 Articles
Flowforms in the garden of the church in Johannesburg
by Rev. Michaël Merle
The time of St John has passed, and we move into a ten-week period between the end of St John’s Tide and Michaelmas. There is still a strong connection that St John’s Tide has with our region – the current crisis in water management in the Cape provinces, the dry desert of Namibia, and the wet eastern parts of South Africa: Water!
With the lighting of great bonfires in Waldorf Schools at St John’s it is often fire that is most strongly associated with John the Baptist, yet water was the great medium he used in baptising. A deeper appreciation for water may prove informative and inspiring. Water powers our minds and bodies more elementally than any other substance. Without water, there would be nothing. Nothing flowing through the intricate network of veins and arteries on the Earth’s body, lubricating its soils, shaping its cavities, and depressions and fuelling its inner store of fertility. Without water there would be nothing to quench thirst, nothing to bathe in, nothing to wash away impurities. No green shoots, no animal or insect life, no fish, no fowl, no milk, no blood, no growing embryo.
There is something about water, of course, that defies categorisation. It is present in everything. In all stages of the plant for example: root, leaf, flower and fruit. It flows through everything that has life, it is truly the bearer of life. Yet, it also evades our grasp as quickly as we try, both physically and metaphorically, to catch and contain it. It erases as much as it creates and is in constant flux and change.
Water itself, in its intrinsic nature, has no smell, taste or colour. It is given these only by the substances it dissolves in its continuous journey, its percolations and permeations, its evaporations and condensations. It is transparent and selfless, assuming the imprint of what it passes through, absorbing and releasing substances but never binding or owning them. Through this journey, water also remembers the substances it has encountered. As Howard Dobson remarked over a decade ago in an article on Water Flowforms: “One compelling enigma of the natural world is the amazing ability of water to store memory. It cannot be fully explained scientifically, and yet this quality manifests itself in very practical ways. With homeopathic preparations, for example, extracts from plants, with known medical qualities, can be diluted repeatedly in water. While this not only seems to enhance the effectiveness of the extract, it reaches a point where practically nothing of the original extract substance remains in the water, and yet the effectiveness continues. It is as if the qualities of the substance originally diluted in the water have been ‘memorised’ within the matrix of the water itself. And the ‘potency’ may remain in the water for an indefinite period.”
Theodor Schwenk’s studies on water reveal that water drops made different drop pictures depending on the quality of the water. Fresh spring water produces images like flower petals, lesser-quality water produces pictures that look like flower stamens, while waste water gives rise to concentric circles in no “living” pattern.
In the article on flowforms, Howard Dobson describes how often “farmer have observed the lack of ‘vitality’ in irrigation water taken shortly after its passage through hydro-electric turbines. Water appears very fluid and structureless, but it is evident here that a natural structural quality needs to be present in water before it can administer vitality and nourishment to growing plants. Hydro-electric turbines effectively chop up any water structure, thus rendering it fragmented, and we could say confused.”
Water enables all things to reveal their innate character. From a saturated solution, for instance, salts emerge as crystalline formations. So water becomes the symbol of the soul quality that brings out the very best in others. This is the art of listening so completely that others are able to reveal their true nature. In this way, if we are like water, we are able to absorb but not own, reflect but not distort. It is that quality that truly sustains us on a spiritual level, just as water sustains all physical life.
The water researcher John Wilks provided some remarkable insights into the movement of water in the early 1970’s. His research and insights seem to have been largely ignored but they have produced the “path-curved surfaces” now referred to as flowforms. Wilks observes that in living things water expresses a rhythmic movement flow outside in the world. This formed the foundations of the flowform designs. Water has a laminar flow pattern – a pulse if you like. When channelled, water tends to swing and on a large scale, when not inhibited by too steep a gradient, a river naturally meanders. For the past half century research has continued to perfect flowforms which both scientifically and aesthetically maximise the life-enhancing qualities of water.
In discovering the natural potential of water, may we also discover our natural ability to symbolically be water to each other.
The time of St John has passed, and we move into a ten-week period between the end of St John’s Tide and Michaelmas. There is still a strong connection that St John’s Tide has with our region – the current crisis in water management in the Cape provinces, the dry desert of Namibia, and the wet eastern parts of South Africa: Water!
With the lighting of great bonfires in Waldorf Schools at St John’s it is often fire that is most strongly associated with John the Baptist, yet water was the great medium he used in baptising. A deeper appreciation for water may prove informative and inspiring. Water powers our minds and bodies more elementally than any other substance. Without water, there would be nothing. Nothing flowing through the intricate network of veins and arteries on the Earth’s body, lubricating its soils, shaping its cavities, and depressions and fuelling its inner store of fertility. Without water there would be nothing to quench thirst, nothing to bathe in, nothing to wash away impurities. No green shoots, no animal or insect life, no fish, no fowl, no milk, no blood, no growing embryo.
There is something about water, of course, that defies categorisation. It is present in everything. In all stages of the plant for example: root, leaf, flower and fruit. It flows through everything that has life, it is truly the bearer of life. Yet, it also evades our grasp as quickly as we try, both physically and metaphorically, to catch and contain it. It erases as much as it creates and is in constant flux and change.
Water itself, in its intrinsic nature, has no smell, taste or colour. It is given these only by the substances it dissolves in its continuous journey, its percolations and permeations, its evaporations and condensations. It is transparent and selfless, assuming the imprint of what it passes through, absorbing and releasing substances but never binding or owning them. Through this journey, water also remembers the substances it has encountered. As Howard Dobson remarked over a decade ago in an article on Water Flowforms: “One compelling enigma of the natural world is the amazing ability of water to store memory. It cannot be fully explained scientifically, and yet this quality manifests itself in very practical ways. With homeopathic preparations, for example, extracts from plants, with known medical qualities, can be diluted repeatedly in water. While this not only seems to enhance the effectiveness of the extract, it reaches a point where practically nothing of the original extract substance remains in the water, and yet the effectiveness continues. It is as if the qualities of the substance originally diluted in the water have been ‘memorised’ within the matrix of the water itself. And the ‘potency’ may remain in the water for an indefinite period.”
Theodor Schwenk’s studies on water reveal that water drops made different drop pictures depending on the quality of the water. Fresh spring water produces images like flower petals, lesser-quality water produces pictures that look like flower stamens, while waste water gives rise to concentric circles in no “living” pattern.
In the article on flowforms, Howard Dobson describes how often “farmer have observed the lack of ‘vitality’ in irrigation water taken shortly after its passage through hydro-electric turbines. Water appears very fluid and structureless, but it is evident here that a natural structural quality needs to be present in water before it can administer vitality and nourishment to growing plants. Hydro-electric turbines effectively chop up any water structure, thus rendering it fragmented, and we could say confused.”
Water enables all things to reveal their innate character. From a saturated solution, for instance, salts emerge as crystalline formations. So water becomes the symbol of the soul quality that brings out the very best in others. This is the art of listening so completely that others are able to reveal their true nature. In this way, if we are like water, we are able to absorb but not own, reflect but not distort. It is that quality that truly sustains us on a spiritual level, just as water sustains all physical life.
The water researcher John Wilks provided some remarkable insights into the movement of water in the early 1970’s. His research and insights seem to have been largely ignored but they have produced the “path-curved surfaces” now referred to as flowforms. Wilks observes that in living things water expresses a rhythmic movement flow outside in the world. This formed the foundations of the flowform designs. Water has a laminar flow pattern – a pulse if you like. When channelled, water tends to swing and on a large scale, when not inhibited by too steep a gradient, a river naturally meanders. For the past half century research has continued to perfect flowforms which both scientifically and aesthetically maximise the life-enhancing qualities of water.
In discovering the natural potential of water, may we also discover our natural ability to symbolically be water to each other.
Church garden on St John’s Day
Dear Friends,
It is two months after our departure and I thought I’d send a few lines to let you know how we’re getting on. Judy, Johnathan and I had a few weeks with Judy’s mum in Sussex to catch our breath and get a taste of life in England before moving to our new country.
My induction into the Edinburgh congregation on St John’s Day was a fine event. The Lenker, Tom Ravetz, was present and conducted a counter-ceremony to Reingard’s releasing of me from your community. He elaborated on what the Sending is and spoke of the priest’s work in relation to Whitsun, as well as to the sending out into life of the congregation after every Act of Consecration of Man. I celebrated and, I must say, experienced a strong and substance-filled aura around the altar that reminded me of my first ever celebrating in Stuttgart in 1995. It was a special confirmation of the rightness of this move for me. Music, Scottish poetry and speeches were followed by a (rare) bring-and-share lunch in the warm, sunny church garden.
There are so many blessings to count! The large, lush garden – part wild and colourful, part cultivated – the nearby canal for walks, warm, welcoming people and a fascinating city with its rich history to explore. I have bought a bicycle and enjoy speeding around with the thousands of other riders in this cycle-friendly cathedral town. We have a fine home in the basement of the church and part-time caring support for Judy. Many challenges face us, but we are well-placed to meet them.
It is two months after our departure and I thought I’d send a few lines to let you know how we’re getting on. Judy, Johnathan and I had a few weeks with Judy’s mum in Sussex to catch our breath and get a taste of life in England before moving to our new country.
My induction into the Edinburgh congregation on St John’s Day was a fine event. The Lenker, Tom Ravetz, was present and conducted a counter-ceremony to Reingard’s releasing of me from your community. He elaborated on what the Sending is and spoke of the priest’s work in relation to Whitsun, as well as to the sending out into life of the congregation after every Act of Consecration of Man. I celebrated and, I must say, experienced a strong and substance-filled aura around the altar that reminded me of my first ever celebrating in Stuttgart in 1995. It was a special confirmation of the rightness of this move for me. Music, Scottish poetry and speeches were followed by a (rare) bring-and-share lunch in the warm, sunny church garden.
There are so many blessings to count! The large, lush garden – part wild and colourful, part cultivated – the nearby canal for walks, warm, welcoming people and a fascinating city with its rich history to explore. I have bought a bicycle and enjoy speeding around with the thousands of other riders in this cycle-friendly cathedral town. We have a fine home in the basement of the church and part-time caring support for Judy. Many challenges face us, but we are well-placed to meet them.
Johnathan is getting to know the countries: a road trip with me to Scotland and now some weeks in Northern Ireland before he starts as volunteer trainee at a small Camphill community in south-east England have introduced him to his new land of residence. He is managing well, so far, and certainly enjoyed watching World Cup football in an Irish pub!
My thoughts are often with you and our life in Alverstone. I wonder who will live in the flat, what events you are enjoying with your new priest and how the property generally is faring. I hope the new altar will soon be installed: please send a photo! Our 10 years in KZN were formative and taught me much. Our family will always have a warm memory of being there. Let us remain united in spirit, especially when we gather around the altar.
Warm greetings
Peter
My thoughts are often with you and our life in Alverstone. I wonder who will live in the flat, what events you are enjoying with your new priest and how the property generally is faring. I hope the new altar will soon be installed: please send a photo! Our 10 years in KZN were formative and taught me much. Our family will always have a warm memory of being there. Let us remain united in spirit, especially when we gather around the altar.
Warm greetings
Peter
June 2018 Articles
John the Baptist from Chartres Cathedral
by Rev. Michaël Merle
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature God has made. He said to the woman …” (Genesis Chapter 3)
So begins one of the best-known stories in the world. By what happened the human race is affected in its very depth, not one of us is not concerned in it. The writer of Genesis only gives it six verses, under two hundred words.
The tempter is represented in the form of a serpent. Serpents did figure in many early myths, legends and religions. Babylon’s god, Ea, was often pictures with a serpent’s head. Egypt’s Atum (in one story) was to become a serpent at the end when all else had gone out of existence.
In Canaan, a serpent was the symbol of the healing god; his healing implement was a rod with a serpent turned round it. In early myths and religious legends serpents did not act as tempters, but as defenders of things or places which were especially sacred or gave power beyond the human measure. The temptation of Eve in the Genesis story was to seek satisfaction in an experience outside of her essential self, to taste the fruit that would take her out of her inner experience and one that would disturb human relationships from then onwards. With this story the serpent tempts Eve to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In this way humanity grabs the power of discernment prematurely. The proper evolution of humanity is disturbed.
All these images of serpents seem to aptly apply to the apparently harsh words of John the Baptist (‘Brood of Vipers’) addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to where he baptized people. John’s message: “Change your ways, the Kingdom of heaven is near”, heralded a new and unusually powerful symbol: the Lamb. In St John’s Gospel we read, “John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. I came baptising to prepare for him’.”
In pointing to Christ as the Lamb of God, John was identifying the self-offering and sacrificial nature of Christ’s essential self. The gift of Christ to us is for us also to be like the lamb – able to give of ourselves and oppose the self-centeredness of the serpent. This Christian quality of empathy and concern for others is the practical demonstration of love.
As part of lectures Steiner gave in November 1909 which were collected into a small booklet –Deeper Secrets of Human History in the Light of the Gospel of St Matthew, he explains how before the baptisms of John in the River Jordan the formation of the etheric body of human beings looked serpent-like. This could be correlated to the image of the rising kundalini in the practice of yoga: two intertwining ‘serpents’ of rising energy. In John’s Baptism of Jesus the etheric body could now be seen by initiates under the image of the Lamb. This formation of the etheric body as the Lamb could not arise out of man’s old serpent-like etheric body. It was to be the gift of Christ made manifest in Jesus.
The fundamental feature of the etheric world is the inter-relationship of all its parts, and the capacity of the soul to experience itself in other souls and to receive them into its own experience. This is the etheric expression of man’s true nature. In the physical world, it is realised in sacrifice and self-offering of which the Lamb is the symbol.
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature God has made. He said to the woman …” (Genesis Chapter 3)
So begins one of the best-known stories in the world. By what happened the human race is affected in its very depth, not one of us is not concerned in it. The writer of Genesis only gives it six verses, under two hundred words.
The tempter is represented in the form of a serpent. Serpents did figure in many early myths, legends and religions. Babylon’s god, Ea, was often pictures with a serpent’s head. Egypt’s Atum (in one story) was to become a serpent at the end when all else had gone out of existence.
In Canaan, a serpent was the symbol of the healing god; his healing implement was a rod with a serpent turned round it. In early myths and religious legends serpents did not act as tempters, but as defenders of things or places which were especially sacred or gave power beyond the human measure. The temptation of Eve in the Genesis story was to seek satisfaction in an experience outside of her essential self, to taste the fruit that would take her out of her inner experience and one that would disturb human relationships from then onwards. With this story the serpent tempts Eve to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In this way humanity grabs the power of discernment prematurely. The proper evolution of humanity is disturbed.
All these images of serpents seem to aptly apply to the apparently harsh words of John the Baptist (‘Brood of Vipers’) addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to where he baptized people. John’s message: “Change your ways, the Kingdom of heaven is near”, heralded a new and unusually powerful symbol: the Lamb. In St John’s Gospel we read, “John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. I came baptising to prepare for him’.”
In pointing to Christ as the Lamb of God, John was identifying the self-offering and sacrificial nature of Christ’s essential self. The gift of Christ to us is for us also to be like the lamb – able to give of ourselves and oppose the self-centeredness of the serpent. This Christian quality of empathy and concern for others is the practical demonstration of love.
As part of lectures Steiner gave in November 1909 which were collected into a small booklet –Deeper Secrets of Human History in the Light of the Gospel of St Matthew, he explains how before the baptisms of John in the River Jordan the formation of the etheric body of human beings looked serpent-like. This could be correlated to the image of the rising kundalini in the practice of yoga: two intertwining ‘serpents’ of rising energy. In John’s Baptism of Jesus the etheric body could now be seen by initiates under the image of the Lamb. This formation of the etheric body as the Lamb could not arise out of man’s old serpent-like etheric body. It was to be the gift of Christ made manifest in Jesus.
The fundamental feature of the etheric world is the inter-relationship of all its parts, and the capacity of the soul to experience itself in other souls and to receive them into its own experience. This is the etheric expression of man’s true nature. In the physical world, it is realised in sacrifice and self-offering of which the Lamb is the symbol.
A good number gathered after the service on Sunday 20 May to hear about and to contribute to some immediate plans leading forward.
Michael was presented with a gift of the book ‘The Isenheim Altarpiece’ in appreciation of his sending to our community, and we received his gift to us of a beautiful amethyst crystal, which we have on display now in the community room.
He explained new changes planned for the chapel, such as a properly designed altar which is currently being made by Ken Lehman, as well as the new backdrop cloth which will be hung when we receive the altar. The altar pictures will also be reframed in keeping with other Christian Community chapels around the world.
It will be necessary to do some maintenance work on the flat, our new name for the Holman family’s home, before we can let that space out. It is our intention to fit a dry wall in the passage, dividing the two sections, and including the third bedroom on the church side which can be used as a library and space for the children on Sundays. That would leave a two-bedroom flat, both en suite, with a lounge, kitchen and entrance foyer for a tenant or tenants. The income received from this would contribute greatly towards our running costs, particularly maintenance.
On the matter of finances, Michael explained that as he has been sent to two communities, the Johannesburg community have agreed to pay him a modest stipend, and he proposes that we will pay for his airfares back and forth and to synods. Our monthly costs have gone down in some areas with the departure of Peter, but other costs will be incurred. There will be an amount to pay Sharon as church secretary, and we will also need to improve the security of the property; we will need, too, to become more conscientious regarding the maintenance of the building and garden.
Michael will be available for planned sacraments such as Baptisms and Weddings and for appointments during the week when he is not scheduled to be at The Roseway Waldorf School, and the Community Gatherings will continue on the Sundays that he is out of town. He also wishes to suggest to the next confirmation class that they learn the server’s duties immediately upon confirmation, thereby increasing our base of servers.
Fiona offered to take the Music portfolio, and looks forward to developing group singing among the community. She also volunteered to restring the lyre.
Sincere appreciation is extended to all as we go towards a promising future.
Michael was presented with a gift of the book ‘The Isenheim Altarpiece’ in appreciation of his sending to our community, and we received his gift to us of a beautiful amethyst crystal, which we have on display now in the community room.
He explained new changes planned for the chapel, such as a properly designed altar which is currently being made by Ken Lehman, as well as the new backdrop cloth which will be hung when we receive the altar. The altar pictures will also be reframed in keeping with other Christian Community chapels around the world.
It will be necessary to do some maintenance work on the flat, our new name for the Holman family’s home, before we can let that space out. It is our intention to fit a dry wall in the passage, dividing the two sections, and including the third bedroom on the church side which can be used as a library and space for the children on Sundays. That would leave a two-bedroom flat, both en suite, with a lounge, kitchen and entrance foyer for a tenant or tenants. The income received from this would contribute greatly towards our running costs, particularly maintenance.
On the matter of finances, Michael explained that as he has been sent to two communities, the Johannesburg community have agreed to pay him a modest stipend, and he proposes that we will pay for his airfares back and forth and to synods. Our monthly costs have gone down in some areas with the departure of Peter, but other costs will be incurred. There will be an amount to pay Sharon as church secretary, and we will also need to improve the security of the property; we will need, too, to become more conscientious regarding the maintenance of the building and garden.
Michael will be available for planned sacraments such as Baptisms and Weddings and for appointments during the week when he is not scheduled to be at The Roseway Waldorf School, and the Community Gatherings will continue on the Sundays that he is out of town. He also wishes to suggest to the next confirmation class that they learn the server’s duties immediately upon confirmation, thereby increasing our base of servers.
Fiona offered to take the Music portfolio, and looks forward to developing group singing among the community. She also volunteered to restring the lyre.
Sincere appreciation is extended to all as we go towards a promising future.
May 2018 Articles
Rev. Peter Holman in the garden of the church shortly before leaving to take up his new Sending.
by Rev. Peter Holman
There is a beautiful image of the difference between the butterfly and the petal, or blossom. The butterfly is a blossom released by the cosmos; the blossom is a butterfly held by the earth. The butterfly, fluttering in airy, sunlit realms, may wonder why the blossoms do not join her in her joyful dance. Rooted in the earth, the flowers know no other existence.
The Christ, in leaving the cosmic realms of the sun, gave up much of His power and infinitely expanded light-being, and entered into earthly incarnation. His was a long journey from ages past. At the Baptism He took on flesh; He entered an earthly body. The Gospels tell us that He repeatedly “set His face towards Jerusalem”, towards the event of the Deed of Golgotha.
And with the Transfiguration Christ again committed to His purpose of entering into full earthly incarnation. Three of the disciples witnessed His sun-like countenance and cosmic being. In Raphael`s well-known painting, with its blue and white, light-filled upper part and the dark earth-valley of human suffering below, there is a real point of decision. The skill of the painter depicts a moment when it is open as to whether the hovering Christ is ascending from the earth or descending onto it. It is a Buddha moment. The Christ could have said He had achieved enlightenment; there was no necessity or compulsion for Him to dwell further on the earth. But at this decisive moment He re-committed to full earthly incarnation. And in doing so, He was looking beyond Easter to the time of Ascension, when He would “transfigure earthly being with heavenly being”.
This time of Ascension is twofold: it was the culmination two millennia ago of Christ`s process of connecting deeply with the earth: His deed 40 days after Easter was to forever root the centre of His working in the earth, while at the same time expanding once again in the fullness of His being into the wide, sunlit realms of the cosmos. And, secondly, each year at Asceniontide we look to the sphere of His immanence, His presence-with-us, the sphere of Revelation, of His revealing Himself ever more to us from where He now dwells. He is, and we are, spiritual beings who are rooted in the earth for our working. It is our place to “be, grow and become”.
If we consider again the Transfiguration on the mountain, we see how Christ performs the truly Christian gesture of embracing the suffering and pain of the earth, of setting His face to transform it, out of freedom and in love. He touched His disciples to awaken them, and together they descended to the plane of earth, the place of turmoil and darkness. He brought healing and balance to what was being pulled apart.
We have all stepped into incarnation on this earth. It requires courage, especially nowadays. Rudolf Steiner spoke of how the existence of butterflies on earth can inspire courage in human souls as they journey down. It requires something quite extraordinary to step from cosmic widths and heights into being rooted on earth.
We often face challenging thresholds and dark abysses, pain and great need. Often the way through is to recognise that when we leave something behind, sacrifice it, give it up, as Christ did, we have new possibilities to step into a new place, to go though transformation to new wholeness.
We can do this through the power and with the help of the Christ in us: the One who carries us up to places of inspiration, spiritual enlightenment and nourishment, who touches us to bring consciousness and who walks with us down into the valley of suffering in this world to bring about healing through courage and love. This is possible because Christ “dwells with us, in that He dwells with” the Father. He holds us in this grace-filled balance of being rooted in the earth, and yet living in, and nourished by, the sunlit realms of cosmic weaving. (Matthew 17)
There is a beautiful image of the difference between the butterfly and the petal, or blossom. The butterfly is a blossom released by the cosmos; the blossom is a butterfly held by the earth. The butterfly, fluttering in airy, sunlit realms, may wonder why the blossoms do not join her in her joyful dance. Rooted in the earth, the flowers know no other existence.
The Christ, in leaving the cosmic realms of the sun, gave up much of His power and infinitely expanded light-being, and entered into earthly incarnation. His was a long journey from ages past. At the Baptism He took on flesh; He entered an earthly body. The Gospels tell us that He repeatedly “set His face towards Jerusalem”, towards the event of the Deed of Golgotha.
And with the Transfiguration Christ again committed to His purpose of entering into full earthly incarnation. Three of the disciples witnessed His sun-like countenance and cosmic being. In Raphael`s well-known painting, with its blue and white, light-filled upper part and the dark earth-valley of human suffering below, there is a real point of decision. The skill of the painter depicts a moment when it is open as to whether the hovering Christ is ascending from the earth or descending onto it. It is a Buddha moment. The Christ could have said He had achieved enlightenment; there was no necessity or compulsion for Him to dwell further on the earth. But at this decisive moment He re-committed to full earthly incarnation. And in doing so, He was looking beyond Easter to the time of Ascension, when He would “transfigure earthly being with heavenly being”.
This time of Ascension is twofold: it was the culmination two millennia ago of Christ`s process of connecting deeply with the earth: His deed 40 days after Easter was to forever root the centre of His working in the earth, while at the same time expanding once again in the fullness of His being into the wide, sunlit realms of the cosmos. And, secondly, each year at Asceniontide we look to the sphere of His immanence, His presence-with-us, the sphere of Revelation, of His revealing Himself ever more to us from where He now dwells. He is, and we are, spiritual beings who are rooted in the earth for our working. It is our place to “be, grow and become”.
If we consider again the Transfiguration on the mountain, we see how Christ performs the truly Christian gesture of embracing the suffering and pain of the earth, of setting His face to transform it, out of freedom and in love. He touched His disciples to awaken them, and together they descended to the plane of earth, the place of turmoil and darkness. He brought healing and balance to what was being pulled apart.
We have all stepped into incarnation on this earth. It requires courage, especially nowadays. Rudolf Steiner spoke of how the existence of butterflies on earth can inspire courage in human souls as they journey down. It requires something quite extraordinary to step from cosmic widths and heights into being rooted on earth.
We often face challenging thresholds and dark abysses, pain and great need. Often the way through is to recognise that when we leave something behind, sacrifice it, give it up, as Christ did, we have new possibilities to step into a new place, to go though transformation to new wholeness.
We can do this through the power and with the help of the Christ in us: the One who carries us up to places of inspiration, spiritual enlightenment and nourishment, who touches us to bring consciousness and who walks with us down into the valley of suffering in this world to bring about healing through courage and love. This is possible because Christ “dwells with us, in that He dwells with” the Father. He holds us in this grace-filled balance of being rooted in the earth, and yet living in, and nourished by, the sunlit realms of cosmic weaving. (Matthew 17)
by Rev. Peter Holman
My family and I were feted on Sunday 22 April! For once I had no idea what to expect, so I just did what I was told to do after the Act of Consecration of Man had finished. That was basically to sit in the front row of chairs that had been placed to face the piano, along with Judy, Mark, Johnathan, Matthew and his girlfriend, Gabi .
It truly was a farewell fit for a king! A number of community members spoke, all saying very kind things about me and what has taken place in this decade, and giving due mention to Judy and the children and how they had been such a big part of the last 10 years. In particular Judy`s piano playing was lauded and one of the pupils who had been in the class Judy led from class 3 to 7 paid tribute to her teaching. Indeed a number of youngsters were there that morning, all of them whom I had confirmed, and several primary school children.
I had neither the words nor the opportunity (as Judy was agitating for cake and tea as the speeches drew to a close!) to respond to all that had been said. It was maybe just as well, as I was close to tears at moments and deeply moved and grateful for the whole of the farewell session. It is not just that kind words were spoken, and that things were said that are sometimes reserved for the eulogy at a person`s funeral (!), but it was the heart-warming realisation that all the ups and downs of the past 10 years had somehow been worth it. More than worth it. Together we have built and achieved much and the whole congregation has moved forward in wonderful ways. I have had a role in all that, and, yes, I have usually given of my best, but others have played their roles in very big ways as well. This community is now well ready to enter a new phase, where individuals will be stepping up and taking more ownership. Indeed everyone has a role to play. I could have done more to allocate more people a task, for that leads to empowerment and ownership. Of course individuals have come forward to take tasks on. This will need to happen more at the Community Forum on Whit Sunday. It can lead to a stronger community, as Michaël will not be resident as I was and he will not be here every day or every Sunday. It doesn`t mean less will happen. But in other ways, more and new things can happen. I urge and encourage you all to support Michaël as he serves, guides and inspires the KZN congregation.
I am certainly grateful for the years here and all that I was part of. I have grown, as we perhaps all have. I shall never forget the connections here, nor cease to be grateful that my children could live here for important years of their childhood. Many in the congregation have taken a loving interest in my family, and that means more to me than words can say. The friendships as well as working relationships I have established here are precious, and to have been your priest for these years has been an honour!
We shall remain united in one way or another. Farewell is never Goodbye forever!
My family and I were feted on Sunday 22 April! For once I had no idea what to expect, so I just did what I was told to do after the Act of Consecration of Man had finished. That was basically to sit in the front row of chairs that had been placed to face the piano, along with Judy, Mark, Johnathan, Matthew and his girlfriend, Gabi .
It truly was a farewell fit for a king! A number of community members spoke, all saying very kind things about me and what has taken place in this decade, and giving due mention to Judy and the children and how they had been such a big part of the last 10 years. In particular Judy`s piano playing was lauded and one of the pupils who had been in the class Judy led from class 3 to 7 paid tribute to her teaching. Indeed a number of youngsters were there that morning, all of them whom I had confirmed, and several primary school children.
I had neither the words nor the opportunity (as Judy was agitating for cake and tea as the speeches drew to a close!) to respond to all that had been said. It was maybe just as well, as I was close to tears at moments and deeply moved and grateful for the whole of the farewell session. It is not just that kind words were spoken, and that things were said that are sometimes reserved for the eulogy at a person`s funeral (!), but it was the heart-warming realisation that all the ups and downs of the past 10 years had somehow been worth it. More than worth it. Together we have built and achieved much and the whole congregation has moved forward in wonderful ways. I have had a role in all that, and, yes, I have usually given of my best, but others have played their roles in very big ways as well. This community is now well ready to enter a new phase, where individuals will be stepping up and taking more ownership. Indeed everyone has a role to play. I could have done more to allocate more people a task, for that leads to empowerment and ownership. Of course individuals have come forward to take tasks on. This will need to happen more at the Community Forum on Whit Sunday. It can lead to a stronger community, as Michaël will not be resident as I was and he will not be here every day or every Sunday. It doesn`t mean less will happen. But in other ways, more and new things can happen. I urge and encourage you all to support Michaël as he serves, guides and inspires the KZN congregation.
I am certainly grateful for the years here and all that I was part of. I have grown, as we perhaps all have. I shall never forget the connections here, nor cease to be grateful that my children could live here for important years of their childhood. Many in the congregation have taken a loving interest in my family, and that means more to me than words can say. The friendships as well as working relationships I have established here are precious, and to have been your priest for these years has been an honour!
We shall remain united in one way or another. Farewell is never Goodbye forever!
by Rev. Michaël Merle
The Great Novena refers to the nine days between Ascension Thursday and Whit-Sunday (Pentecost). What great and wonderous fulfilment and culmination took place in this contemplative time between Ascension and Whitsun? How are these two great festivals joined in the Great Mystery of Easter?
The deep significance of the Ascension is that in the spiritual vision of the disciples who see the Christ rising heavenwards, the essence of the experience is, in fact, that Christ remains in union with the earth. Thus the Christ impulse holds man securely on the earth. "In this picture of the Ascension, something more is manifest to the disciples.… Through the Mystery of Golgotha Christ brought to pass within earth-evolution a cosmic event. Christ came down from the heights of spirit, linked Himself with humanity in the man Jesus of Nazareth, fulfilled the Mystery of Golgotha, united His evolution with that of the earth. It was a cosmic Deed accomplished for the whole of humanity." [Rudolf Steiner, 7th May 1923]
In the vision of the disciples, with their inner eye of soul that sees the resurrected Christ ascend into the heavenly sphere, the true depth of this event was understood by the soul-spirit of the disciples. The Ascension is a uniting of Christ with the earth experience so that the physical-etheric nature of man could continue its development. Our place as man is not just in the heavenly spheres, but also, and very importantly, here on the earth.
After the spiritual vision of the Ascension, the disciples withdraw in deep contemplation. "For in their awakened souls is the knowledge that through the Mystery of Golgotha complete provision was made for the physical-etheric nature of mankind as a whole. But what happens, they wonder, to the being of spirit-and-soul? Whence does man acquire the power to receive the Christ Impulse into his nature of spirit-and-soul, into his ego and astral body? The answer is found in the Whitsun festival. Through the Mystery of Golgotha the Christ Impulse has taken effect on the earth as a reality which is within the comprehension of spiritual cognition alone. No materialistic knowledge, no materialistic science can understand the Mystery of Golgotha. Hence the soul must acquire the power of spiritual cognition, of spiritual perception, of spiritual feeling, in order to be able to understand how, on Golgotha, the Christ Impulse was united with the impulses of the earth.
Christ Jesus fulfilled His Deed on Golgotha to the end that this union might take effect, fulfilled it in such a way that ten days after the event of the Ascension He sent man the possibility of imbuing also his inner nature of spirit-and-soul, his ego and astral body, with the Christ Impulse. The permeation of the human spirit-and-soul with the power to understand the Mystery of Golgotha is the sending of the Holy Spirit. This is the picture of the Whitsun festival, the festival of Pentecost. Christ fulfilled His Deed for all mankind. But to each human individual, in order that he may be able to understand this Deed, Christ sent the Spirit, in order that the individual being of spirit-and-soul may have access to the effects of the Deed that was accomplished for all men in common. Through the Spirit man must learn to experience the Christ Mystery inwardly, in spirit and in soul.
Thus these two pictures stand side by side in the history of the evolution of humanity. That of the Ascension tells us: The Deed on Golgotha was fulfilled for the physical body and the etheric body in the universal human sense. That of Whitsun tells us: The single human being must make this Deed bear fruit in himself by receiving the Holy Spirit. Thereby the Christ Impulse becomes individual in each human being.
And now something else can be added to the picture of the Ascension. Spiritual visions such as came to the disciples on the day of the Ascension always have a bearing upon what man actually experiences in one or another state of consciousness. After death, as you know, the etheric body leaves the human being. He lays aside the physical body at death, retains the etheric body for a few days, and then the etheric body dissolves…. Since the Mystery of Golgotha, man beholds, together with this departing etheric body, the Christ Who has rescued it for earthly existence through the ages of time to come. So that, since the Mystery of Golgotha there stands before the soul of every human being who passes through death the Ascension picture which the disciples were able to behold that day in a particular condition of their soul-life.
But for one who makes the Whitsun Mystery, too, part of his being, who allows the Holy Spirit to draw near to him – for such a one this picture after death becomes the source of the greatest consolation he can possibly experience: for now he beholds the Mystery of Golgotha in all its truth and reality….
The Mystery of Golgotha was fulfilled for mankind as a whole, in respect of the physical body and etheric body only. The sending of the Holy Spirit, the Whitsun mystery, signifies that the soul and spirit of man can partake of the fruits of the Deed on Golgotha only if he finds wings to bear him to actual understanding of the essence and meaning of that Deed.
But because this essence and meaning can be fully grasped by spiritual knowledge alone, not by material knowledge, it follows that the truth of the Whitsun festival can be grasped only when men realise that the sending of the Holy Spirit is the challenge to humanity more and more to achieve Spirit-knowledge, through which alone the Mystery of Golgotha can be understood.
That it must be understood – this is the challenge of the Whitsun Mystery. That it came to pass for all mankind – this is the revelation given in the Ascension." [Rudolf Steiner, 7th May 1923]
The Great Novena refers to the nine days between Ascension Thursday and Whit-Sunday (Pentecost). What great and wonderous fulfilment and culmination took place in this contemplative time between Ascension and Whitsun? How are these two great festivals joined in the Great Mystery of Easter?
The deep significance of the Ascension is that in the spiritual vision of the disciples who see the Christ rising heavenwards, the essence of the experience is, in fact, that Christ remains in union with the earth. Thus the Christ impulse holds man securely on the earth. "In this picture of the Ascension, something more is manifest to the disciples.… Through the Mystery of Golgotha Christ brought to pass within earth-evolution a cosmic event. Christ came down from the heights of spirit, linked Himself with humanity in the man Jesus of Nazareth, fulfilled the Mystery of Golgotha, united His evolution with that of the earth. It was a cosmic Deed accomplished for the whole of humanity." [Rudolf Steiner, 7th May 1923]
In the vision of the disciples, with their inner eye of soul that sees the resurrected Christ ascend into the heavenly sphere, the true depth of this event was understood by the soul-spirit of the disciples. The Ascension is a uniting of Christ with the earth experience so that the physical-etheric nature of man could continue its development. Our place as man is not just in the heavenly spheres, but also, and very importantly, here on the earth.
After the spiritual vision of the Ascension, the disciples withdraw in deep contemplation. "For in their awakened souls is the knowledge that through the Mystery of Golgotha complete provision was made for the physical-etheric nature of mankind as a whole. But what happens, they wonder, to the being of spirit-and-soul? Whence does man acquire the power to receive the Christ Impulse into his nature of spirit-and-soul, into his ego and astral body? The answer is found in the Whitsun festival. Through the Mystery of Golgotha the Christ Impulse has taken effect on the earth as a reality which is within the comprehension of spiritual cognition alone. No materialistic knowledge, no materialistic science can understand the Mystery of Golgotha. Hence the soul must acquire the power of spiritual cognition, of spiritual perception, of spiritual feeling, in order to be able to understand how, on Golgotha, the Christ Impulse was united with the impulses of the earth.
Christ Jesus fulfilled His Deed on Golgotha to the end that this union might take effect, fulfilled it in such a way that ten days after the event of the Ascension He sent man the possibility of imbuing also his inner nature of spirit-and-soul, his ego and astral body, with the Christ Impulse. The permeation of the human spirit-and-soul with the power to understand the Mystery of Golgotha is the sending of the Holy Spirit. This is the picture of the Whitsun festival, the festival of Pentecost. Christ fulfilled His Deed for all mankind. But to each human individual, in order that he may be able to understand this Deed, Christ sent the Spirit, in order that the individual being of spirit-and-soul may have access to the effects of the Deed that was accomplished for all men in common. Through the Spirit man must learn to experience the Christ Mystery inwardly, in spirit and in soul.
Thus these two pictures stand side by side in the history of the evolution of humanity. That of the Ascension tells us: The Deed on Golgotha was fulfilled for the physical body and the etheric body in the universal human sense. That of Whitsun tells us: The single human being must make this Deed bear fruit in himself by receiving the Holy Spirit. Thereby the Christ Impulse becomes individual in each human being.
And now something else can be added to the picture of the Ascension. Spiritual visions such as came to the disciples on the day of the Ascension always have a bearing upon what man actually experiences in one or another state of consciousness. After death, as you know, the etheric body leaves the human being. He lays aside the physical body at death, retains the etheric body for a few days, and then the etheric body dissolves…. Since the Mystery of Golgotha, man beholds, together with this departing etheric body, the Christ Who has rescued it for earthly existence through the ages of time to come. So that, since the Mystery of Golgotha there stands before the soul of every human being who passes through death the Ascension picture which the disciples were able to behold that day in a particular condition of their soul-life.
But for one who makes the Whitsun Mystery, too, part of his being, who allows the Holy Spirit to draw near to him – for such a one this picture after death becomes the source of the greatest consolation he can possibly experience: for now he beholds the Mystery of Golgotha in all its truth and reality….
The Mystery of Golgotha was fulfilled for mankind as a whole, in respect of the physical body and etheric body only. The sending of the Holy Spirit, the Whitsun mystery, signifies that the soul and spirit of man can partake of the fruits of the Deed on Golgotha only if he finds wings to bear him to actual understanding of the essence and meaning of that Deed.
But because this essence and meaning can be fully grasped by spiritual knowledge alone, not by material knowledge, it follows that the truth of the Whitsun festival can be grasped only when men realise that the sending of the Holy Spirit is the challenge to humanity more and more to achieve Spirit-knowledge, through which alone the Mystery of Golgotha can be understood.
That it must be understood – this is the challenge of the Whitsun Mystery. That it came to pass for all mankind – this is the revelation given in the Ascension." [Rudolf Steiner, 7th May 1923]
From lt to rt: Rev. Peter Holman, Olivia (Lilli) Christensen, Gary Dunsdon and Rev. Reingard Knausenberger (Lenker)
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The confirmands Olivia (Lilli) Christensen and Gary Dunsdon
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The confirmands from lt to rt are James Siepker, Daniel Hale, Emily Howard, Leah Schroeder and Cameron Macfarlane with Rev. Reingard Knausenberger (Lenker) and Rev. Peter Holman behind
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