For Michaelmas 2014

Introduction: (An "Old" News Item): Pope Francis consecrates Vatican to St Michael Archangel

 In 2013, Pope Francis, joined by Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the Vatican to the protection of St Michael Archangel and St Joseph.
Following a brief ceremony in the Vatican gardens, the Holy Father addressed those present:
 "Michael struggles to restore divine justice and defends the People of God from his enemies, above all by the enemy par excellence, the devil. And St. Michael wins because in him, there is God who acts. In consecrating Vatican City State to St Michael the Archangel, I ask him to defend us from the evil one and banish him."

 In the light of the above news item can we go on to imagine for a moment the Goetheanum, the world center for anthroposophy, as being consecrated to the Archangel Michael?  Not only to protect it from evil, but as a radiating center from which comes the New Michael message of the Thinking Heart?  Then to this we can add the words given by Rudolf Steiner in the Last Address:

"May (my) words so speak to your soul that you receive the Michael Thought in the sense of what a faithful follower of Michael may feel when, clothed in the light rays of the Sun, Michael appears and points us to that which must now take place.

 For it must even be so that this Michael garment, this garment of Light, shall become the Words of the Worlds, which can transform the Logos of the Worlds into the Logos of Mankind."

Prepared By the Holy Spirit In the Christ’s Love-Presence I cannot be As long as I’m Nature’s creature, I must at first have made myself free  And in that Presence then be a potential co-creator. And for this free meeting Michael alone leads me where With the Spirit most Holy I can for it prepare. 8/30/14 Free and Realized in Heaven and on Earth I purpose myself, as only human beings can, With the goal of becoming free, And I purpose again what must follow that, Which is to realize that freedom of me. For my first purpose I find I must to heaven go, For the second free deeds on Earth I bestow. 9/3/14 The One to Be Found My higher self, the heavenly one,  Has sent me on a great mission To the Earth, where I am there to wake up And become the great Truth of the Earth condition. So to Earth I have come to experience illness and pain And lies and deceit and betrayal, And loss of others I love very much  And experience despair and the great urge for withdrawal, But I’ve stayed for it's here where I can only be Working toward Oneness  with the One who sent me. 8/7/14

When the Thinking Spirit Comes to Self-Knowledge To create an instrument for the Thinking Spirit Saturn and Sun came to be, And for the creation of the Thinking Spirit itself Moon and Earth had to serve quite perfectly.  The Thinker became conscious in the Moon-Garden Fall And self-conscious on Earth when dualism ruled all. And now in the present of this knowledge at the core, The spirit thinker who thinks this knows he’s the one it’s all for. 8/4/14 Nevermore to Die The I opens itself to the spirit, The living spirit that then enters in And this living spirit has the “I” for its sheath Which it then develops most strongly to win Itself as spirit self forming and living as “I,” Immortal, eternal, nevermore to die. 7/29/14 The Great and Glorious Countenance Smile if you will when enthusiastically I describe the great, glorious nature Of Lord Michael, the Freedom Lord, The Bridge-master of our Present's  true Future. For Michael is the one and only Countenance of The Christ, our Source of World-Working Free Love. 7/13/14

Striving Lifewards

Not Who I Am The barrier stood before me A reality surely impassable,  And I myself had to accept That I for it was responsible. Its appearance was of great depth, A multitude like stone, And on every block there was my name, Mine and mine alone. Some blocks were of passion, some of desire, Some of impulse out of control; Rendered visible to me the barrier was My very own state of soul. Beyond it lay my heart’s desire To be both loving and free, And nothing at all stood in my way Except the wall that was me. But hope now suffuses my despair As I strive to do what I can To take down the wall I know is me, But in truth is not who I am. 1/29/04 Some Easter Morn “What have you made of yourself this morn?” “A factory,” says I. “To bring forth goods for all mankind So that we shall not die.” “And what have you made of yourself this morn?” “A library,” says I. “To bring forth knowledge for all mankind So that we shall not die.” “And you, what have you made of yourself this morn?” “A chalice heart,” says I. “To hold the blood of selfless love So that we all may die - And be reborn Some Easter morn.” Fission and Fusion To find yourself in the infinite Fission and fusion must be The poles of everything you do On the road to becoming free. You fission the world then fusion bring By deeds both free and moral; Between these poles you ever strive To win the life immortal. 12/19/03 Forever Their trust grew in Him at the Wedding Feast When wine was drawn from water, But I who never drank there at all, I’ll  trust in Him forever. Then Judas betrayed and Peter denied And Thomas became the Doubter, But I who never knew Him at all,  I’ll believe in Him forever. Saul became Paul when he saw Him And became His glorious follower, But I who never saw Him at all, I’ll follow Him forever. Some say now they’ll trust, believe and follow When again He returns the Savior, But He won’t return, He must be sought And I shall seek Him forever. And when I  find Him then shall I be In freedom with Him Forever. 12/18/04

The New is Forever The Babe was a seed near perfection Of the world that had grown old, And it itself could but repeat The story already told. And as that seed developed Into leaf then glorious flower, Came the season for new seeds  To form with grown-old power. But into its blossom’s calyx Was born from the heavens above The seed of the old world’s fulfillment: The seed of Endless Love. And when into Earth it entered, We received of its Love and Light And the “Freedom in Love” new story We were all empowered to write. 12/28/04 Opaqueness Rightly Valued Imagine I had no perception Of the world of sense at all; Imagine that world in which I had Not yet experienced the Fall. And in that world, please imagine, I was rich as rich could be Participating all creation - But not self-consciously. And cared for was I  by divinities, In a state of splendor and grace, Enraptured in flowing relations - But with no inner reference place. And above that realm of relating Beings Was the great Archetype of me,  But I could not reflect Him at all, In my state of pure transparency. And so opaqueness was needed That Him I might know within, And for that mysteriously I had to submit To the deed of Original Sin. And that’s how I’ve come to know Him, But as shadow of his nature divine, And the reality of his true Being In transparency I’m striving to find. 12/30/04  For Light Prepared The task I freely gave myself Was to find the inner sun, But experience told me that it directly Could not be gazed upon. But help there was that I’d prepared For when I began my search I peered through my mental images: Sun glasses darkened by earth, Which later I didn’t need at all For then I had come to be At one with the sun and was shining into The darkness that helped me be free. 10/6/05 Purpose (Ephesans:3-11) God’s Purpose was in the Creation, Which I once thought made me unfree, But now it is as St. Paul has said: I am the Purpose of me. 12/14/05

Coming to the Other in Different Ways

And Consecrated, Too! If you were the left hand And I were the right,  I’d yearn for a master Who prayed every night. 12/23/06 Much in Little Christ created the Jesus Project, Then into Jesus He came And empowered him with His very own Being And gave him also His Name. “Follow me,” He then said, “To where I’m going. (Demonstrating ‘how’ for all to see). "That’s  if you will, of course,” He went on, “And want to come home to Trinity.”  2/1/07 On Awakening A man passed by a lovely rose And was scratched by it quite badly, And as the blood flowed forth from him He uttered words most angrily. The rose awoke from its sun-devotion, Its state of dreaming bliss, And said to herself, how could I so lovely Be responsible for anything such as this? (Waking to one’s nature can sometimes bring pain, But often it’s the only way self-knowledge to gain.) 9/27/07 Question and Answer “What is greater Than Love?” He asked. “He who loves,”  I replied and passed Into the realm Of the Moral Sun, Where Lover and Love Are always One. 12/5/07 Freedom To Love the Other Without the Other I couldn’t be Self-conscious of The I of me. My challenge now Is to endeavor To be I-conscious Without the Other. Unless achieved Dependency On the Other Keeps me unfree. Only in sleep And in Death is it gone, But with it then goes My I-consciousness won. I love this Other That’s awakened me, But that love can’t be perfect Until I’ve made myself free. 1/4/11 Bittersweet Life was bitter most every day Since from the Garden I was sent away. But He brought sweetness  To the marrow of me  Saying, "I shall forever abide in thee.”

Shamed into Fulfilment While I was selfing and being selfed Just the other day, Into my self, so very capacious, The natural world came to say That it was really dissatisfied And loudly it complained, And demanded to know when I would begin  That for which I had been ordained. There was much shame in this for me To be so by it chastised, And the Cosmic Intelligence - that now is mine - I immediately exercised. So now we’re becoming quite happy together As fulfilled am I while evolving world nature. 12/7/06   Seriousness I won’t be too serious about the Passing Show, Its appearance, its substance, its form, Its endless parading for my pleasure and pain And its state of being endlessly reborn; I’ll keep my seriousness for drawing out God Who’s spellbound in the parading I see, And serious too about drawing out His Son In the Passing Show of me. (This seriousness is, I think you will find, The true essential of a “Michael mind.” 4/10/07 In Purity Circling He was an old ocean steamship Covered with salt, smoke and grime, But filled with rich cargo and heading home After voyaging a very long  time. She was heading for the open sea  And her voyage had just begun. No cargo had she, but so graceful was she As she sailed to the rising sun. They met quite far from the harbor And each admired the other, And the innocent one and the experienced one Touched and then circled together. He  told her of all his adventures Which on land and sea he’d found And the love in the telling and listening In a timelessness both of them bound. But the old one woke first from that dreaming Time’s tide told him he must go, And as she still dreamed, full steam ahead He signalled his engines below. And as he broke free, he many tears shed  But no more than the one left behind, But that pure loving circling planted a seed For themselves and all of mankind. 5/19/07 To Gain Allegiance of His Power Before the Dragon All bowed are we Because of spirit lethargy. Unlethargized We would see The Dragon before us  On bended knee. The choice is ours, whether bowed we remain Or receive Dragon allegiance when True Self we attain. 12/11/09