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.
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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?”

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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.
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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.

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.
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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.

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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
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 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.

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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.

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