THE MICHAEL PATH TO THE CHRIST
(Extract) Stuttgart, December 25, 1919.
. . . I HAVE frequently spoken to you here of that important
event which came to pass in the last third of the nineteenth century, the event
through which a special relationship was established between the Archangelic
Power, that Being whom we call the Archangel Michael, and the destiny of
mankind.
I have reminded you that since November, 1879, Michael is to
be the Regent, as it were, for all those who seek to bring to humanity the
right forces necessary to their healthy progress.
My dear friends, in our day we know that when such a matter
is indicated, the indication refers to two different things :—first, to the
objective fact, and second, to the way this objective fact is connected with
what men are willing to receive into their consciousness, into their will. The
objective fact is simply this, that in November; 1879, beyond the sphere of the
sense, world, in the supersensible world, that event took place which may be
described as follows:—Michael has gained for himself the power—when men come to
meet him with all the living content of their souls—so to permeate them with
his power, that they are able to transform their old materialistic intellectual
power—which by that time had become strong in humanity—into spiritual
intellectual power, into spiritual power of understanding. That is the
objective fact; it has taken place. We may say concerning it that since
November, 1879, Michael has entered into another relationship with man than
that in which he formerly stood. But it is required of men that they shall
become the servants of Michael.
What I mean by this will become quite clear to you through
the following explanation.
You are aware that before the Mystery of Golgotha was
accomplished upon earth, the Jews of the Old Testament looked up to their
Jahve, or Jehovah. Those who, among the Jewish priests, looked up in full
consciousness to Jahve, were well aware that they could not reach him directly
with human perception. The very name, Jahve, was held to be unutterable, and if
it had to be uttered, a sign only was made, a sign which resembles certain
combinations of signs which we attempt in the art of Eurhythmy. The Jewish
priesthood, however, was well aware that men could approach Jahve through
Michael. They called Michael the countenance of Jahve. Just as we learn to know
a man when we look into his face, just as we draw conclusions about the
gentleness of his soul from the gentleness of his countenance, and about his
character from the way he looks at us, so the priesthood of the Old Testament,
through the atavistic clairvoyance which flowed into their souls in dreams,
desired to gain from the countenance of Jahve, from Michael, a knowledge of
Jahve, whom it was not yet possible for mankind to reach.
The position of this priesthood towards Michael and Jahve
was the right one. Their position towards Michael was right because they knew
that if a man of that time turned to Michael, he could find through Michael the
Jahve-power, which it was proper for the humanity of that time to seek.
Other Soul-Regents of humanity have appeared since then in
the place of Michael; but since November, 1879, Michael is present again and
can become active in the soul-life of those who seek the paths to him. These
paths to-day are the paths of spiritual scientific knowledge. We may speak of
"the paths of Michael, " just as well as of the "paths of spiritual
scientific knowledge."
But just at the time when Michael entered in this way into
relationship with the souls of men, in order again to become their inspirer for
three centuries, at this very time the demonic opposing force, having
previously prepared itself, set up the very strongest opposition to him, so
that a cry went through the world during our so-called war-years, in reality
years of terror, a cry which has become the great world-misunderstanding which
now fills the hearts and souls of men.
Let us consider what would have become of the Jewish people
of the Old Testament, if instead of approaching Jahve through Michael they had
sought to approach him directly. They would have become an intolerant people, a
national self-seeking people concerned with the aggrandizement of their own
nation, a nation thinking only of itself. For Jahve is the God who is connected
with all natural things, and in the external historical development of mankind,
he manifests his Being through the connection of generations, as it expresses
itself in the essential qualities of the people. It was only because the
ancient Jewish people desired at that time to approach Jahve through Michael,
that they saved themselves from becoming nationally so egoistic that Christ
Jesus would not have been able to come forth from among them. Because they had
permeated themselves with the Michael power, as this power was in their time,
the Jewish people were not so strongly impregnated with forces given over to
national egoism, as would have been the case had they turned directly to Jahve
or Jehovah.
To-day Michael is again the Regent of the World, but it is
in a new way that mankind must become related to him. For now Michael is not
the countenance of Jahve, but the countenance of Christ Jesus. To-day we must
approach the Christ-impulse through Michael. In many respects humanity has not
yet struggled through to this. Humanity has retained atavistically the old
qualities of perception by which Michael could be approached when he was still
the intermediary to Jahve; and so to-day humanity has a false relationship to
Michael. This false relationship to Michael is apparent in a very
characteristic phenomenon.
During the years of the war we heard continually the
universal lie: “Freedom for individual nations, even for the smallest nations.”
This is essentially a false idea, because today, in the Michael period, the
all-important matter is not groups of men, but human individuals, separate men.
The lie is nothing else than the endeavor to permeate each individual nation not
with the new force of Michael, but with the force of the old, the pre-Christian
time, with the force of the Old Testament. However paradoxical it may sound,
there is a tendency among so-called civilized nations at the present day to
transform what was justifiable among the Jewish people of the Old Testament,
into something Luciferic, and to make of this the most powerful impulse in
every nation.
People wish to-day to build up the republics of France, of
America, etc., upon methods of thought suited to Old Testament times. They
strive to follow Michael as it was right to follow him before the Mystery of
Golgotha, when men found through him Jahve, a national God. To-day it is Christ
Jesus whom we must strive to find through Michael, Christ Jesus the divine
leader of the whole human race. This means that we must seek for feelings and
ideas which have nothing to do with human distinctions of any kind on the
Earth. Such feelings and ideas cannot be found on the surface. They must be
sought where the spirit and soul-part of man pulsate--that is, along the path
of Spiritual Science. The matter lies thus; that we must resolve to seek the
real Christ upon the path of Spiritual Science:—that is, upon the Michael-path.
Only through this striving after spiritual truth is the real Christ to be
sought and found; otherwise it would he better to extinguish the lights of
Christmas, to destroy all Christmas trees, and to acknowledge at least with
truth, that we want nothing that will recall what Christ Jesus has brought into
human evolution. . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments moderated. Please keep language appropriate to the content.