Each month one of these world views will be expanded.
 
Dynamism​
This is maybe an especially relevant world view at this moment in time as the whole world seems to be living through a major shift. The field of observation for dynamism is energy, power, vitality, movement. How much thinking happens in the categories of power: electrical-, atomic-, mechanical-, chemical-, magnetic-, sun- and wind-power, gravity; muscle-power, stamina, emotional and mental strength; even in our product packaging we see these words, like energy drink, turbo-, power diet, and much more. Our universe from the depth to the height manifests in some expression of energy. The human being is a ‘bundle of energy’. Plato says: both the idea of Good as well as the idea of Evil are effective, active world powers.

The science of the twelve world views shows us in every aspect that it is imperative to include the principle of balance here. Every world view is part of a whole, while it also has its justified dominance in a unique area of life. Seeing them in relationship with each other, complimenting one-sidedness, shows how the wholeness determines the individual placement in the circle. In the case of dynamism, energy on its own in its natural state is potential, particularly in the human being as the raw untamed power of will, unformed, chaotic, irrational. Dynamism needs Rationalism, its complimenting opposite to be balanced: irrational becomes rational, chaotic becomes ordered, the unformed receives form, etc. The power potential of dynamism can lead into the uncharted depths of our will to harness it, so that it may lift the soul into special heights of self-knowledge, understanding and wisdom. One might say, that in its balanced state, this would be the place where a normal human being begins to birth itself into an initiate.

(This completes the cycle of contemplations. With gratitude towards the many sources found in Rudolf Steiner’s works and other authors, particularly Mario Betti and his work on ‘Twelve Ways to See the World’).

The complete cycle of the Twelve World Views can be downloaded by clicking here.

​Session 1
 
This is not a full summary but rather a focus on the essence of the beginning of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament was written over a period of about a thousand years. It represents a particular story of humanity and of one group of people who carry a thread of human development leading up to a central point in human history. It is not the only story of humanity and most cultures have a story of their development. The Old Testament is the story of the Jewish people who had a particular mission to prepare for the incarnation of the Christ. It, therefore, is for us the story that precedes the Gospel of the New Testament.

The New Testament was written is a relatively short period of time. The books that make up the New Testament were written over a period of 40 to 50 years. The New Testament is also, in a certain sense, the story on one biography and the consequences of that biography. It Is worth remembering that Gospel means Good News and that therefore each book of the New Testament relates to the Good News and can correctly be referred to as Gospel.

The first consideration that arises for anyone who has an understanding of Anthroposophy, is what is the beginning that Genesis refers to? Through Anthroposophy we have come to understand that there were great cycles of time through which we, as human beings, have evolved. The habitation of human beings has likewise evolved. Each of these cycles of time had a beginning and an end. At the end a seed remained of the development that had occurred that could form the beginning of the next cycle of time. There were cycles of time or creative processes even before these, as some of the hierarchies of the spiritual worlds had already reached their full development by the start of the cycles related to our development.

The previous great cycles of time were:

• Old Saturn, which can, in a sense, be summarised as warmth.
• Old Sun, which can, in a sense, be summarised as air.
• Old Moon, which can, in a sense, be summarised as water.

And then:

• Earth. This is the cycle of time we are now experiencing.

​These four cycles of time also leave us with the four elements as understood by the Ancient Greeks: fire, air, water and earth.

Genesis is the beginning of the Earth cycle of time. Therefore it tells the story of a beginning, one of many beginnings.

The author of the book of Genesis is not receiving a dictation from the spiritual worlds, but he was inspired by a true picture for which he must carefully select words that can best inspire us to see this true picture as well. It is not a scientific account of the making of the earth, but it is a true picture that we can come to understand.

So how can one understand the first words of Genesis: Bereshit bara Elohim?

Bereshit can be directly translated as ‘in beginning’ but it also carries the implied meaning that it is in the beginning of something. However, reshit also translates as ‘the first vibration of’ or ‘first tremor of’. This tells us that the process was not yet an act, but rather a conceiving of.

Bara translates as ‘created or creating’ and is in the masculine singular.

Elohim is plural. El is the name of the singular great god of the Canaanite peoples of the Promised Land into which the Israelites were brought by Joshua after Moses’ death. ‘O’ is a sound quality for form, while ‘him’ means strength. The Elohim are ‘form beings of God’ – beings of formative forces out of the strength of God.

Form only comes into being in the Earth cycle of time. This gives us a clear indication of which beginning is referred to.

When the next words of Genesis are also taken into consideration: “the heavens and the earth”; this phrase is a merism (two contrasting parts of a whole that when referred to together, linked by ‘and’, represent the whole) that means the entire cosmos.

The translation that Michaël gives to this first sentence of Genesis is: “In the first tremor of the outer lofty heights of the sky above and the firm inner depths of the earth below the Elohim creatively conceived a formative process”. As Christians, we can go so far as to say that this formative process was to give form to a being in which the Christ could be contained. The Old Testament is the story of how this form becomes possible.

Session 2 

​This is not a summary of the second session. It looks at two segments that have a relation to the report of the first session.

Deuteronomy 6 contains the greatest commandment for the Jewish folk: “Hear of Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one”. The word Adonai is used because the name of God may not be used. The name of God is a four-consonant sound: YHWH. The correct translation of the commandment given in Deuteronomy is: “YHWH is our Elohim and YHWH alone”. We would say: Yahweh is our Elohim and Yahweh alone. Yahweh takes the creative conceptualisation of the Elohim described in Genesis 1 and is the one Elohim who makes the earth as a reality for this cycle of time.

In Genesis 2 we read “The Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep”. When we looked at the root of the Hebrew words this sentence actually reads: “The Elohim turned to face the (moving) air, the raying warmth, the (deep) waters.” In other words, the Elohim turned to the elements that had been a reality in the previous cycles of time and, as the Beings of Form, added the element of form or ‘earth’ to create the earth in this cycle of time.

​This talk was, correctly speaking, about the full cycle of life, from birth on earth to a next birth. Half the talk was dedicated to life in a physical body in the 21st century. A reference for the talk, among many, is a lecture cycle of Rudolf Steiner given in April 1914 called “The Inner Nature of Man: And Our Life Between Death and Rebirth”.

The content of the talk is presented in the following diagram that represents the cycle of life. What appears below the diagram is the content of the talk in paragraph form. However, to fully grasp the presentation it is necessary to refer to the diagram. On the diagram the Midnight Hour of life between death and rebirth is marked at where 12 would appear on a clockface, North on a compass. The Journey of descent through the heavenly spheres to birth goes clockwise from this point, with birth at the point of East on the compass (dawn) and the cycle of life on earth spanning the bottom half of the circle to the point of West (9 on a clockface) where death on earth (and birth into the world of Spirit) is marked.

Download a copy of this image by clicking here.

​The full cycle of life (on earth and in the Spirit) is experienced in the mirror of the life on earth (the bottom half of the sphere above) and the life in the spiritual world (the top half of the sphere above). The sphere presented above is divided by the line of birth and death. The amount of time on earth in the physical body and that in the spiritual world out of the physical body are not equal, yet the diagrammatic representation is of value.

The sphere is divided between ‘Matter’ and ‘Spirit’. This is a merism: an ancient Jewish figure of speech that when two opposite parts are conjoined with an ‘and’ they represent the whole. “Matter and Spirit” represent all of existence for our incarnations in this great Earth Cycle of time.

Matter is linked with ‘Space’ and Spirit is linked with ‘Time’. This may seem odd when there is not the same experience of time in the spiritual world. The experience of Matter is the experience of outer space and inner space – the world out there and the world inside of me. The experience of Spirit is the experience of before incarnating and after incarnating. This experience of before and after holds time as a significant experience in the world of Spirit. Space and Time is also a merism.

​Perception is to interiorise the outer world.
Thinking is our ability to grasp the outer world.

Perception and thinking will not help us prepare for the experience of our life after death.

To experience the soul as independent of the body we do so through feeling and willing.

Feeling is the source of our inner richness. In our feeling we are alone, but we can harmonise our feelings with others.

Willing can occupy common worlds, but we can only do it alone. We can cooperate with others in a task but cannot do the task together.

That is why we can experience the soul as independent of the body through feeling and willing.

We connect with others through thinking.

Rudolf Steiner described the pathways of willing and feeling in his foundation course for Waldorf education.

A Waldorf Education is the experience that can facilitate the building of memory. When we bring together two memories we work on the refined feeling in the in-between. Memory helps us to work at remembering life before birth and connecting to our spiritual origins. Will activities allow us to plant seeds for the future. It is what we do through will that we are able to take with us across the threshold.

Birth on earth can correctly be characterised as ‘Ex Deo Nascimur’ – We are born out of God. The period between birth and the age of 21 is a recapitulation of the opening of the old chakra system. Our new path is a descending path. After the age of 21 it is about drawing the Holy Spirit into our being.

The characteristics of the remainder of our lives are:

• Benevolence
• Wisdom
• Consciousness

After the age of 21 there are four directions we can follow. The first two are mandatory and the other two are a choice (and we can choose one or both or neither).

1. Memory – our significant memories are formed before the age of 21.
2. Will.
3. We can draw down the Spirit. This is accomplished through ritual.
4. We can lift ourselves up towards the Spirit. This is accomplished through reverse-ritual.

​The drawing down of the Spirit and lifting ourselves to the Spirit can be pictured through the systems that operate in a plant: In the plant there are two types of transport tissue in the vascular system: xylem and phloem. The xylem transports water and minerals from the roots to the stems and leaves. The phloem transports the soluble organic compounds made in the leaves during photosynthesis throughout the plant to the roots (moving sunlight as sugar throughout the plant). Xylem allows an upward flow while phloem allows a downward flow. For the plant to be whole, both these independent systems must function.

The aim of life is to ‘die in Christ’. There is real value in achieving this. It is achieved through a path of human development that is Christian, i.e. that develops benevolence, wisdom and consciousness, whether there is a conscious relationship with the Christ or not.

There is a medieval theology that states, “without the church there is no salvation”. The correct statement is, ‘with salvation there is the church’; where “the church” means belonging to a community that is conscious.

After the age of 21 we experience freedom; because without freedom we cannot develop the qualities of benevolence, wisdom and consciousness.

To ‘die in Christ’ consciously helps after death.

Dante in his Divine Comedy relates how he is lost in a forest where his companion Virgil takes him through Hell and Purgatory. He then leaves Virgil and, accompanied by Beatrix, goes through the seven spheres of the heavens.

After death we ascend through the seven spheres.

The Moon sphere is the sphere of reflection. Here it seems to us that the world and the firmament become concentrated into a single star and from this star radiates a full memory tableau of our earthly life. Within it is contained the fruits of our life. We reflect on the will activities of our conscious thinking. We are confronted by the truth that we may have actively avoided or distorted in our lifetime, and this confrontation feels like torture. We may not work through everything of our past life in the Moon sphere and will most likely leave behind things that we must pick up to work on in a next life. These things that we leave behind call to us when we reach the Midnight Hour. We feel that there is something that is not finished and draws us back towards a new incarnation. This is also a call from the Christ to shoulder our burden.

In the Moon sphere our will, feeling and thinking separate from us and become separate beings. Our task in ascending through the spheres is to hold together the separated beings as one with our being. Through the feeling and the will, we have a connection to our past life. Through our thinking we are able to enter into the thought being of those still on earth.

When we reach the Saturn sphere we gain the full context of the experience of the Moon sphere.

In the Midnight Hour we are ‘revived by the Holy Spirit’.

When we harken to the call from the Moon sphere and begin our descent into life we develop our senses in the Saturn sphere – we develop a new way of seeing.

In the Jupiter sphere we develop our nervous system – a way of connecting.

In the Mars sphere we develop our larynx (and learn what it will mean to speak in our future life). Speech is the new sword (sword of war: Mars the god of war).

The Saturn, Jupiter and Mars spheres are about turning the outside in. In these spheres we rely on Luciferic beings to show us our future morality.

In the Sun sphere we develop our heart and circulation.

In the Mercury sphere we choose the folk into which we will be born.

In the Venus sphere we choose our parents and our family. Our internal organs are formed based on the choice of family.

The, Mercury, Venus and Moon spheres are about turning the inside out and developing relationships. In these spheres we rely on Ahrimanic beings to teach us intelligence.

In the Moon sphere we choose our gender.

If we become enchanted by the Luciferic beings we live our next life in fantasy and illusion. If we become enchanted by the Ahrimanic beings we live our next life in gratification of the material existence. Redeeming the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings is about learning the lessons that we require going into the experience of birth and not following their negative influence in the earthly life. We teach them in turn, by not following them in life. This brings about their redemption.

​Imagine a young boy having a real connection and understanding with lions, who has a dream of being pursued by a lion and just as he is about to be caught, wakes up with back spasm. This dream is repeated time and time again over weeks, months, years, until puberty.

Many years later, this connection reappears for Herbert Brauer, a Nature Photographer, Coach and Mentor, in the Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia's Western Province, not far from Angola, where he met “Lady Liuwa” the Last Lioness, in 2005.

​Imagine being a solitary lioness, the last survivor of your species in the area where all your family and friends were wiped out by poachers and trophy hunters. The park is close to 3 500 square-kilometres. “Liuwa" means "plain" in the local Lozi language, where a couple of film expeditions tracking Lady for several months could rarely find her. She was considered a myth by some who have lived in this park for 1½ years. Herbert arrives with his crew and on the first night at the park he finds her and from then on sporadically shoots footage of her for 5 years in many facets of Lady’s life, during the changing seasons.

This inspirational talk on the Power of Nature to Heal and Transform on Saturday, 21st November 2020 took place at the Collaborative Healing Centre (CHC) founded and run by Leah Holtz. A beautiful setting for a beautiful story. Herbert is now also a collaborator at the Centre, and he took us on a journey with this film “Last Lioness” which was shot between 2005 and 2009. This is an epic journey carving through human intuition, creativity and trust.

Unexpectedly, on a certain occasion when Herbert approaches within 10m with the Land Rover, Lady surprisingly rolled over on her back exposing her belly. This was a sign of her trust, despite the previous experience of poachers killing her pride for muti. Lions are social beings and now Lady turned to humans for companionship and especially to Herbert who filmed her over the years in the varying facets of her life, showing her resilience in the challenges of survival, hunting alone, fending off hyena packs (12-18 at a time), especially intense during the dry months and then easing up with nature’s abundance during the rainy season. The urge to get closer to her new friends and Herbert in particular, became stronger, and Lady kept coming closer, to the extent that she once caused damage to the seat of the crew’s Land Rover.  Eventually it was clear to Herbert that he needed to assert the boundaries. Here and no more. A dramatic, yet presence-filled confrontation between man and animal ensued. Herbert’s intuitive and courageous stand-off proved victorious, as Lady backed off respectfully and peacefully. This was a significant, triumphant point in the destiny of these two beings, lion and man, with liberating consequences for both. The childhood dream finds resolution.

This is a story of how Lady Liuwa turned to particular human beings, trustingly, and how these same people in turn, put their own “life and limb” towards finding her a pride of her own. This has become one of the most moving wildlife stories of all time, showing how trust and collaboration between people like Herbert and Craig Reid, Liuwa Park Manager (African Parks) and the inhabitants of the area worked together to make this goal a reality. Relocating lions is a dangerous and highly risky endeavour. Sedation and transportation pose a significant threat to the lions’ health. This proved fatal in their first attempt to bring a single male lion from nearby Kafue National Park to Liuwa Plain in an 11-hour trip, which sadly ended tragically, as the film shows.

Courageously, the team continued their quest and decided to plan the next relocation during the rainy season, when Liuwa becomes like the Okavango Swamps, more accessible by boat, thus halving the trip duration. This time, the team located two young male brothers without a pride. At the end of the rainy season in May 2009, the two brothers were successfully relocated from Kafue National Park to Liuwa Plain, the Lonely Lioness was no longer alone, and her story continues to outlive her to this day. 

Each month one of these world views will be expanded.
​
Realism

The Gospel of Matthew speaks of becoming like children. When Christ calls a child to him and places him in the circle of his disciples, he then points out a reality worth engaging with literally. “Whoever receives a child in my name receives me.” (Whoever, confident in my being, immerses themselves into the being of such a child will discover me in the child.
Matthew 18: 5

Realism as a world-view is as basic to all world-views as the young child is to the rest of its yet unrealised life. Still like a bud, holding the potential to open up and grow beyond what is at the moment, yet at every stage perfect, complete and authentic with no ‘hidden agenda’ or criticism involved. At the beginning of every human life realism is wrapped in innocence. Though this will change, we still retain this ‘child-sense’ throughout our lives, e.g. in an ability to face challenges with openness freely and directly…realistically. We are not asked to be like children, but rather to bring about new buds to flower in what is with this ‘child-sense’.

What do young children show us? Inquisitiveness, exploration with no prejudice, no pre-conception, no inhibition, exposing all the senses to absorbing untainted pure experience, with no fear and total openness. This is what is needed in order to face life with.tools to immerse oneself wholeheartedly in what is and engage with it.

Realism begins where the human being, in encountering the world, accepts and receives it as it is. Everything is approached with this initial unprejudiced openness, the outer as well as the inner phenomena. This is where all new creation begins. Where matter and spirit meet, revealed as two sides of the same thing. Where we meet the Genius of Realism, our Entelechie (as Aristotle coined it), our eternal Child: a being that carries its goal within itself.

The Sacrament of Confirmation was received on Michaelmas Sunday, 4th October 2020 by:

• Rhyse Kegan Sothern

by John-Peter Gernaat
​
The Gospel reading this morning was from Luke 7: 11-17, the raising of the young man from Nain. This is the archetypal threshold experience.

At Ascension Christ is lifted into the sphere of the clouds and his Coming is in the sphere of the clouds. This sphere of the clouds is a transitory space, clouds exist for a time and then vanish. It is also the atmosphere that allows life to exist on the earth. It is in this life-sphere that the Christ appears – in between the earth and outer space.

It is in the in between that life is given meaning. Goethe described this in the life processes: germinating, unfolding, growing, flowering and concluding. A threshold is a process that leads to a conclusion. We discussed the threshold of the 21st year of life. Most people have a definitive experience between the ages of 20 and 23 that brings about an awareness of themselves. We experience many thresholds in our biography. These are spiritual shifts that we experience in conscious life. It is these shifts that lead to development. These shifts are an experience of a birth or a death.

There is one area of life that does not experience these transitions that lead to death: these are the man-made products of our modern life that have fallen out of the sphere of life and will not decay, e.g. plastics and nuclear waste. They are a burden to our society.

There are also things that occur in our soul life that risk falling out of the sphere of life if we do not resolve them so that they too go through a process of birth and death. Wherever in our lives we leave things unfinished they bind our energy.

Our sacraments all have a beginning, an unfolding and a conclusion, a clear ending. The sacraments are all transitions. The first is the Sacrament of Baptism. Birth is a re-orientation to the earthly world. We need to learn to focus. It requires concentrated energy of the infant in its first year to lift itself out of the force of gravity and find the inner and outer balance and coordination to stand upright. Rudolf Steiner said that it is the Christ’s power that enables the child to rise up and stand. The first memory is the sense of having landed in a constitution that will support the incarnating soul. The parents hold the memory of the child until it has its own first memory when the spark of consciousness arises in the child. In the Gospel reading of today the Lord gives the young man back to his mother. It was a new birth for the young man of which his mother carries the memory. The Sacrament of Baptism calls on spiritual beings before the child’s name is called out to the world. There is a preparation in the spiritual and earthly world to support who this “I am” is to be.

When the child awakens to self-awareness it becomes aware of death. Up to the age of 7 years we have built our body, but then our body becomes a journey towards death. This is unconscious in childhood but becomes a conscious reality in puberty.

The experience of puberty is one of our physical constitution changing without our permission. Neither our awareness nor our experience can grasp the changes. It is really like being three years old again in terms of the development of our constitution. A lot of energy must be invested as we find a place within ourselves where we can stand up. This process begins subtly and then suddenly it is clearly evident. The young person must find their morality. Before, as children, they used the morality they were taught. The young person also learns that they can lie and can hide from themselves. The world places an expectation on the young person to be an adult, but constitutionally the young person is again only three years old as the soul space opens up within them, in the same way as the toddler experienced the physical world opening up for them. The young person experiences heaven and hell opening up in their soul without the tools to deal with the experiences.

It is therefore important that the young teenager experiences many things at this age and is accompanied in these experiences. Learning to deal with a wide variety of experiences becomes a treasure chest and the young person can bring these experiences to cognition as they approach the next threshold at age 21. This is especially important in the experiences that lead to growth: how one deals with the things that do not work (failure). The person then has tools for adult life. When we take the reins of our life in our twenties, we have the experience that we can always rise up again no matter the experience.

The soul power of youth is strong and untamed. The task of the adults accompanying the youth is the ability to bring control to their experiences.

Up until puberty the soul has been engaged in building the body. The body was gifted by the parents and the child transforms this body into its own, based on the blueprint it was gifted. At puberty the soul is freed for the future development of the individual. The soul is linked to the “I” and needs to be anchored – confirmed – into the power of the Christ “I” that is our higher self. We can then experience the freedom to do things that lead us astray and come back again into ourselves. The young person experiences this as rising up and standing for themselves at the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Sacrament of Confirmation confirms the ability to grasp themselves and connect to the deeper self.

In life we experience adversary powers as resistances in life. Human nature is to give in. The spiritual power to help us go through the things that resist us ask to be invited in. Confirmation provides access to these spiritual powers.

The Sacrament of Confirmation is a gift to the young person with the community standing behind this gift. It provides an orientation for the person to anchor themselves to.

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:

• 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.

1. 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.
2. 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?”

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.
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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.’

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,
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To selfhood shapes me,
I, who turn myself to high divinity
Seeking powers of illumination.

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.
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“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 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.
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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:

1. Michael and the dragon with the sword pointed at the dragon.
2. 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.
3. 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.
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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.