Free will in light of the Fall of Man

The story of the Fall of Man from Paradise is relevant to humanity's complicated existence today. Over the course of millions of years of human evolution, from the time of ancient Lemuria, man became independent of the divine spiritual powers that once guided him, symbolized by Lucifer's temptation of Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

See: Fall and redemption - original sin and grace

We see that human consciousness posits a fall of man at the beginning of the historical development of mankind on earth. He would have been incapable of falling into sin if he had remained in his old state, in a state of instinctive guidance by divine spiritual powers. 

...Whereas he would then have remained sinless, incapable of sinning, like a mere creature of nature, he now became capable of sinning through this independence from the divine spiritual powers.  

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

This was a necessary part of the Divine Plan. If we had always remained perfectly wise and moral, we would have never become free. We would always know how to act, and there would never be a deliberation of choice between two options. 

If we did not have this possibility of choosing, we would still be unconscious in Paradise, among "little angels with pink gowns playing lyres, what a boredom!"...Thus, Evil was a necessity!

As Mephistopheles answers to Faust, when asked who he was: "I am a part of that force who always craves for evil but always ends up doing good".  

Building with the atom: the new masonry. The frontier of spiritual knowledge in the modern age. Collected quotes by Steiner.

What is the atom? 

The atom of physics is nothing else but frozen electricity...It stands in the same relationship to electricity as ice does to water out of which it has been frozen. The physical atom is condensed electricity.

The developments in electricity in recent centuries heralds a new era in which human knowledge of the atom will be used for spiritual purposes. 

New electrical theory...is something of enormous importance...[it] hints at the critical turning point in the development of man's thinking...Before the end of the fifth epoch of culture, science will have reached the stage where man will be able to penetrate into the atom itself. 

It is true that only now...human thinking has turned to tracing natural forces as far as the atom, and indeed, he who would understand this precisely must follow the latest phase of the various developments in electricity.  

Thinking...must be carried right into the atom. When man has learned to think right into the mineral atom, when he has an understanding of how to make use of what lives in the atom and place it in the service of the whole. 

Clairvoyance: a vision of our destiny

In continuation of my other posts: Memory and etheric vision and Destiny and the Christ.

In the Daoist parable of the horse, one fortune leads to misfortune which leads to another fortune. Because of life's infinite complexity, we cannot identify the chain of effects that originate from a course of action from rational thought alone. From there, we can begin to understand the nature of etheric vision.  

The butterfly effect. One action can have many unintended consequences

We must have a way of estimating future conditions by a form of thinking that is not sense-bound nor linear. This highly developed form of foresight will be our faculty of etheric vision. Also known as clairvoyance, which stands for "clear vision". 

Etheric vision is distinct from atavistic (old) clairvoyance or mediumship, which does not arise from intellectual or moral development on the part of one's volition. 

Memory and etheric vision

Memory is usually thought of as information stored in the physical brain. Consider this: when we are remembering something, it means that it is not immediately present. The moment has already passed, but it stays with us in our soul. 

The physical senses are not responding to anything in front of it, but subtler senses coming from the etheric body are making us aware of something that has passed. From that aspect, the etheric body acts as a bridge between the physical and non-physical realm, the body and the soul. It is part of what is known as the human aura. 

The Christianity of spiritual science

Notes and minor additions on The Nature of the Virgin Sophia and of the Holy Spirit

At the present time the idea is all too prevalent that everything religious is identical with all that is primitive and simple. People say: We acknowledge that Science possesses many and complicated ideas, but we do not grant the same to Faith and Religion. Faith and Religion—so say many “Christians”—must be simple and naive! They demand this. 

And many rely upon a conception which is little quoted perhaps, but which in the present is haunting the minds of men and which Voltaire, one of the great teachers of materialism, has expressed in the words: “Whoever wishes to be a prophet must find believers, for what he asserts must be believed, and only what is simple, what is always repeated in its simplicity, that alone finds believers.”

The Christ

The Great Cosmic Being, second Person of the Godhead. Descended to earth from the Sun, the sphere of the Elohim. Descended from even greater Cosmic Heights, the central Spiritual Sun and the Sirius Star.

See: Alice Bailey: Esoteric Astrology, the Creative Hierarchies

Referred to as Yahve when He worked from the Lunar sphere in Old Testament times. Known to Zarathustra as Ahura Mazdao. 

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirt

Glamours of the shadow functions: the descent into the Underworld

These are my nighttime musings, to be taken with a grain of salt.

My personal experience and observations coming upon the shadow functions...given one has mastered their 4 main conscious functions, especially the third and fourth, that is their doorway into the subconscious...

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. ― C.G. Jung 

Briefly stated, the shadow functions are not consciously expressed and often the seat of our pain, confusion, and failures in life. I believe everyone in their spiritual journey must confront the shadow, just as the initiates of the ancient Mystery Schools descended into the Underworld. 

Blindfolded in the dark, one has only God to guide him through. But he cannot stay in the Underworld forever, he must come up eventually. Ultimately he stays true to himself (the primary 4 functions.)

Hibernia: the mysterious and forgotten birthplace of Christianity. Understanding the cosmic influence upon earth.

The Cosmic Christ and the etheric plane

In esoteric science, Christ is a cosmic spiritual Being standing above the Hierarchies, who descended from Cosmic Heights to the sphere of the Sun, then united with the earth in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. 

The great and sublime Sun Being descended from cosmic heights, descended to Earth—that is the event that came to pass in the Mystery of Golgotha. And when He had descended from spiritual worlds and passed through death, and His body had been laid in the Earth, then this same Christ—after His death, after His resurrection—had initiate pupils. 

And it is important that many should know today what Christ taught at that time to His initiate pupils; it is important that many should know of this teaching of the risen Christ, in order that they may be able to participate in the forces that are now at work for the further evolution of mankind. 

Some notes on The Mysteries Of Hibernia I

The Irish, or Hibernian Mysteries stand at the starting point of modern spiritual life, though they contain elements from more ancient Mysteries. Extremely powerful forces repel the clairvoyant attempt at accessing these Mysteries in the Akashic Record. The opposition is very intense. 

In preparation for initiation, the pupil was made to experience a feeling of anguish that arose from all kinds of doubts or missteps on the path of attaining knowledge, through the regular power of cognition. The pupil would feel that he was open to deception at multiple points, and would also struggle to express in words the essential nature of the truths he acquired without falling into errors and pitfalls. 

From all this, the pupil was made aware of the difficulties in the process of genuinely attaining knowledge. In a second preparatory stage, the pupil approached a contradiction. That knowledge in the ordinary sense did not really contribute to happiness, yet happiness was essential to the human being. 

Considering the uncertainties of attaining knowledge “how can I know that this is really true?”, after this preparatory stage, the pupil was made ready to discard “knowledge” altogether. Though this defies our sense of what’s normal, the pupil felt he had no other option than this resolution, because of the immense challenges he experienced in attaining knowledge. On the opposite hand, it’s easy to say that one should forgo happiness for knowledge, but that is not a viable approach.

Mystery Knowledge & Mystery Centers GA 232 7. The Mysteries Of Hibernia I

https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA232/English/RSP1972/19231207p01.html

Destiny and the Christ

In the lecture series "The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric", Steiner talks about the importance of recognizing the difference between destiny and mechanical laws. 

He says this is the key to understanding the death and resurrection of Christ— the Mystery of Golgotha —and His role in guiding our lives in the proper direction. Whereas today historians focus on evidence for the physical, external existence of Jesus, this is not necessary to the spiritual tasks confronting humanity. 

There is thus an inner relationship between the Mystery of Golgotha and the necessary ascent of humanity, starting from our time, to spirituality. Truly, from this time on, human beings must rise to a certain spirituality. 

They must grasp in this coming time that the Mystery of Golgotha can be comprehended further only by spiritual activity, that Christianity must have an essentially spiritual continuation, not just an outer continuation through historical traditions or more historical research.

Etheric vision 

The Christ impulse also links us with the dead, who play a strong role in directing our destiny. By focusing on external, mechanical laws only, we lose our ability to perceive the subtle, inner prompting these souls give us. This also relates to the new etheric vision that will arise for humanity in the upcoming age.

In addition to the already evolved self-consciousness, certain clairvoyant faculties will again evolve quite naturally. Human beings will have the strange and remarkable experience of not knowing what is really happening to them! 

They will begin to receive premonitions that will become reality, and they will be able to foresee events that will actually take place...Things will come to a point at which many people who have such experiences will ask themselves, “Am I really mad?"

The Holy Grail illustration by Arthur Rackham, 1917

The myth of discovery of the Americas in the 15th century, an esoteric look.

Why did most transatlantic voyages from Europe take place from the 15th century onwards? From an esoteric perspective, nothing in history develops randomly or due to external reasons only. 

There is a constant evolutionary current that brings about changes in history, and there is always a knowing presence on earth, human or otherwise, that acts as a guiding force behind complex chains of events, causes and effects woven across space and time.

Notes on these lectures:

https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA350/English/SOL2024/19230625p02.html

https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA192/English/SOL2024/19190720p01.html

https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/ReapChrist/19171118p01.html

A hidden hand

According to Steiner, there were hidden groups guiding the development of Christianity in Europe, who were well aware of the existence of the Americas before Columbus' voyages, for example, the Norse settlement in the 10th century. 

Leif Eriksson and crew reach Baffin Island

These groups intentionally suppressed ocean journeys across the Atlantic before the 15th century, as an effort to close off Europe from influences that could come from the Americas. These influences were of a spiritual nature. Steiner mentions specifically the authority in Rome and Initiates from Ireland who were involved. 

One of the truths with which you are most likely familiar is that what is learned in schools as history is many times a “fable convenue” [an agreed upon lie.] That America was discovered for the first time in 1492 is such a convenient fable. It was only rediscovered. 

It was merely that for a period the connections were cleverly concealed, as had to occur. It is again important, however, to know what the situation was, to know the true history. True history is that Europe was fenced in for a time and was carefully protected against certain influences that were not to come to Europe.

The Sun of God (Part 2)

This is a continuation of Part 1, my notes on "The Threefold Sun and the Risen Christ" 

Here I present more details of the ancient world, especially in Greece and Egypt during the rise of Rome, before the widespread adoption of Christianity.

The Roman influence

In the centuries before and after Christianity c. 338 BC - 117 AD, the Romans were steadily expanding their territory beyond the Italian peninsula, to Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. 

The Roman Empire in 117 AD

Their unique political structure and powerful military helped them achieve their conquests with amazing efficiency. Rome's rise to prominence marked a time of transition between the ancient world and Middle Ages.

Roman Senate

"Cicero Denounces Catiline" — Cesare Maccari

"The Death of Paulus Aemilius at the Battle of Cannae" — John Trumbull

The Roman Republic battles Carthage in the Second Punic War (218 - 201 BC)

The Romans readily took aspects from the different cultures belonging to peoples coming under their rule, and adapted them to their society. As a result, their society was a cultural melting pot. 

They particularly admired the Greeks for their philosophy and art, and cultural exchange between Rome and Greece was a defining quality of this time period, known as Classical antiquity. 

The Sun of God (Part 1)

In this series of posts, we will explore esoteric concepts that show the connection between ancient myths, Christianity, and our life today. History is not just something abstract, it is a never-ending story of cycles of change in the world, and lives within us. My notes are taken from this lecture by Rudolf Steiner - "The Threefold Sun and the Risen Christ" with some additions and pictures I feel will help give more context.

With this post, but also the blog in general, my hope is to be as accessible as possible to those interested in the subject. I am by no means an expert or even an academic! Just a student of life whose search, with all its ups and downs, led them to these teachings. 

Part 2 here

The divinity of the Sun throughout the ages

According to the Esoteric Tradition, our current human civilization is divided into 7 cultural Ages. Humanity goes back even further to the time before the Great Flood, known as Atlantis. There are many flood myths recorded in different religions and cultures that point to a universal awareness of this event. 

Lord Matsya warns King Manu of a great flood

"The Wrath of the Seas" — Ivan Aivazovsky (1886)

We are in the 5th cultural Age, the Age of Pisces (1413 - 3573 AD), characterized by the dominance of Western European culture and science. In this lecture, Steiner begins at the 2nd cultural Age, called the Ancient Persian, with most significant human developments happening within the Iranian plateau.

Cultural epochs