Behold Death

Behold the human being of flesh & bone
And there you behold Death,
Yet, Look within the bones
And you will behold the Awakener –

To follow thru with the thoughts developed in yesterday’s’ essay Bildungsroman from Steiner’s ‘Inner Realities of Evolution’  – Death represents & fulfills itself in the 4th element – earth. As we have previously explored, the other elements – warmth, air, water – have their essence in the spiritual world, & are only a mere semblance here on earth – The interesting thing is that in the whole sphere of physical existence – death is the only true reality!

“We have tried to trace the world of Maya back to reality and in doing so we have shown that all Fire is sacrifice, everything of the nature of Air is the generous virtue of giving, and the Fluid element of water – the result of renunciation and resignation. To these three truths we have to-day added the fact that the true nature of the Earth or solid matter is death, the cutting off of any substance from its cosmic purpose. Because this severing has entered, death itself enters the world of Maya or illusion as a reality…” ~Rudolf Steiner Lecture 5

We know that the physical body without the etheric, astral & “I” is separated from its source – The moment something is cut off from what gives it meaning in the spiritual sense – it dies. Crazy to think that the seed of this was 1st sown back on old Saturn with the rejection of the Sacrifice of the Spirits of Will by some of the Cherubim.  And so when we come into the 4th earth embodiment, we understand that Death would not exist if there were no element of earth.  

Because the mineral, plant & animal kingdoms have their spiritual essence in the higher worlds, Only the human being can actually experience death! Not even the gods knew what death was.

But then at the Turning Point of Time when the Being of Love incarnated into a human body for the first & only time, & gave us the ultimate sacrifice thru the deed of Golgotha, we can now receive the gift that gives true meaning to earth existence – the victory of life over death! – A healing redemption to that original sacred wound – reclaiming the corner stone that was rejected – to make the Temple whole once again.

Will we accept this sacrifice, this offering, this vital gift?

Thinking of these connections, I feel that if I don’t make my own selfless sacrifice, live into the virtue of bestowing, & renunciation, I can never fully understand & embody this gift of redemption, this transformation of death into life.

These insights into the inner realities of evolution, as well as all the other insights of Spiritual Science given to us by Steiner, are meant to be chewed on, digested, & transformed thru our doing, to convert our soul forces into new organs of perception.

We are meant to imitate the gods, just as children imitate their parents.  And somehow, especially recently, I find myself feeling called to take this on more & more. My process of initiation no longer feels theoretical. I can say I have tasted sacrifice, & the rejection of sacrifice – & I have chosen to make my own renunciation – letting go of bestowing seems the hardest for me right now; I’m still yearning to share. But mostly I am standing with death – face to face with what is dead in me – my moral failings, my unworthiness, the beasts that I harbor in my soul forces. Yet I have entered the underworld willingly to lay in the tomb in my search for freedom. Yes, friends, it’s true, being excluded from one’s essence & purpose is death. But unless we die we cannot be born again.

To quote Adriana Koulias from her book ‘The Sixth Key’:To know the meaning of life, one has to understand death, and to understand death, one has to know the meaning of evil. You see they are interdependent”

As I stand at this threshold, I am listening to John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said’ Asking myself: Is it possible to repent, to truly forgive, to change my heart & mind, so that I can have my own Damascus experience?

Well, I am willing to die trying, because I know that once I begin to understand Anthroposophia while in the physical body, once I can live as ‘Christ in me’ – that impulse can be worked on further, cultivated in the higher worlds.

And so in this tearing open of the sacred wound, I hope to heal…

~hag

~Rudolf Steiner

 Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day 

Holiday Market at the Rudolf Steiner Branch 
4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago
10 December 2022 – from 11 am – 4 pm

Handcrafted gifts, décor & toys
Featuring Live Music, Puppetry & Candle Dipping!!!

If you would like to be a vendor contact Elizabeth Kelly 
eilisaineariadne@gmail.com

Resurrection of the Temple (The first Goetheanum) by Rita de Cassia Perez, Adriana’s mother

The ‘Envy of the Gods’ – The ‘Envy of Human Beings’

Presented by Adriana Koulias*

A Winter Solstice offering preparing us for the Centennial commemoration of the burning of the first Goetheanum.

21 December 2022, at 5 pm PT, 6 pm MT, 7 pm CT, 8 pm ET

Here is a link to the World Clock for your time zone

Online & in-person at the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago

Dear Friends – This special presentation is supported by your generous donations. $10-$50 or pay what you will www.rschicago.org/donate (credit card or PayPal)

Please type ‘Adriana’ in the memo for your payment

To register & receive the Zoom code email your receipt of payment to the Cultural Events & Festivals Coordinator Hazel Archer-Ginsberg hag@rschicago.org

For those attending in-person doors open at 5:30 pm for our Potluck meal. Please bring food & drink to share.

 Work on building the First Goetheanum, which was designed and supervised by Rudolf Steiner, began after the laying of the double dodecahedron foundation stone on the 20th of September 1913. Construction proceeded for a decade under enormous difficulties in the political, economic and cultural realms, brought on by the advent of the First World War. After the war when the building was near completion, the First Goetheanum was destroyed by an arsonist on New Year’s Eve 1922/1923.

This NYE 2022-23 will be the 100th anniversary of this event and the world is again facing many difficulties, political, economic and social.  Adriana’s lecture will explore what Rudolf Steiner meant by the ‘Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human beings’ and how a consciousness of this during the coming 12 Holy Nights can provide the necessary strengthening for the coming twelve months.

During this presentation Adriana will speak about the three gifts given by Rudolf Steiner in 1913: The naming of Anthroposophy, The Fifth Gospel, and The Laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum. She will explore with us how we can link our hearts to the old Goetheanum during the coming 12 Holy Nights to prepare ourselves for the coming 12 months in 2023, so we can work towards a Cosmic New Year.

In this way we will celebrate the Jubilee of the Christmas Conference and the resurrection of the living impulse of the First Goetheanum in the most auspicious way.

For Rudolf Steiner tells us: ‘My dear friends, may this link our hearts to the old Goetheanum which we had to consign to the elements. May it link our hearts also to the Spirit, to the Soul of this Goetheanum. With this vow before whatever is best within our being we want to live on not only into the new year. In strength of deed, bearing the spirit, leading the soul we want to live on into the new cosmic year.’ ~Rudolf Steiner, ‘The Envy of the Gods and the Envy of Human Beings.’

Adriana Koulias was born in 1960 in Brazil. Adriana moved to Australia when she was 9 years old where she lives today. She has studied art, operatic singing and nursing.  She has been studying Anthroposophy (awareness of our humanity) as given by Rudolf Steiner for 33 years and has since 2002-3 integrated this knowledge into several novels and a number of books, international lectures and articles online and in magazines.

40 thoughts on “Behold Death

  1. Hi Kyle,

    You wrote this comment, and I came back with a hint of what it could mean.

    https://reverseritual.com/behold-death/#comment-33874

    I responded concerning the Book of the Seven Seals, and how it appeared that no one was worthy to open the book and reveal its contents. John, the transcriber, is distraught that the book might never be opened.

    “I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. 4 Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; 5 and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”

    https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%205&version=NASB1995

    The Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. This designation of “Lion” with a capital ‘L’ is very important because it signifies what the Lion archetype means. The Etheric Body. Just as the Eagle means the Astral Body, the Calf means the Physical Body, and the Man means the Ego. Then, a very remarkable thing occurs. A Lamb appears and is placed in the center of the four heads. Thus, the 2nd Occult Seal picture is now made complete. The Lamb depicts the Lion of the tribe of of Judah, Root of David. Now, the Seals are opened one after the other, and what appears is no less than the response of this pristine Etheric Body to the elements of an Earth evolutionary system that has been changed from its original conception. The Son of Man adds the Seven Spirits of God to the Seven Stars.

    Rudolf Steiner marveled when he read the Message to Sardis. I think he says this in lecture 3 of the Apocalypse of St. John, GA 104. He says that “the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” is like referring to Anthroposphy because this is what we emphasize in our knowledge seeking.

    Kyle is on to something very unique and creative in his comment about the meaning of the man with the burnished bronze feet, which was a riddle solved when Hiram went into the underworld and met Tubal-Cain, and then Cain. Indeed, it is the correct ratio of fire and water that is the regenerative factor.

    1. An ancient mystery of the Alchemical Marriage of Fire & Water – The mystic union that begets the ether – which is what Kyle is alluding to…
      The marriage of Eve = The Queen of Sheba – who became Mary the mother of the Matthew Jesus, & Cain / Hiram the Master Builder who became Lazarus John / Christian Rosenkreutz…

      But for me the image of the bronze feet remind me of the lesser King in Goethe’s ‘Green Snake & the Beautiful Lily’

      1. Hi Hazel,

        I do wonder if that was what Kyle was alluding to. Maybe I make things too complicated. Yet, the depiction of the Son of Man seems very clear in a kind of crystalline way. Especially noteworthy is this “double-edged sword coming out of the mouth” of this figure. Jesus is noted as bringing a provisional Ego when he was born for the use of the Christ. Christ used it very well. The gospels are rife with the indications of righteous indignation. And are they not spewed out of the mouth of Christ? It takes an Ego in order to speak so forthrightly, and Jesus was born in order to bring it forth. Also, the Ethers withheld from Adam and Eve, and let’s not forget the karmaless body. Christ needed a pristine set up.

  2. “When Christ calls a man/woman, He bids them come and die.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

    Everything in me tells me that you’re on the right path – following the pattern set out for us in our Elder Brother, Christ Jesus. I’ll always remember Steiner’s words, “Why did the God die?” Very simply, it’s the law of Karma. We were created in God’s image, and we died, which necessitated the death of the One whose image we were made in. Once we get over that, and stop making such a big issue out of death, we can awaken to the glories of living a resurrected life. We can be like Lazarus – get these graveclothes off me, and let me live my new life. The caterpillar probably experiences a similar freedom, and so will you, and everyone who sees with resurrected eyes and hears with resurrected ears.

    1. Hi Maverick Great to hear from you –
      Yes, I am called.
      I die to be reborn. There is much to learn while in the underworld – in that dark womb of annihilation & gestation.

      And when the season of my Resurrection bids me, I will rise like the butterfly or the phoenix.

      1. Yet, Death will be required as long we humans continue to evolve toward the Likeness of the Godhead. If Image was all that God was seeking for Man, then the seven days would have been complete. Likeness appears to be a very complex process which extended the seven days into twelve. The Lord God appears for this; “In the Day that the Lord God made earth and heaven”, Gen. 2:4 .

        26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let him rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created him. Genesis 1

      2. Along with what Steve has said, there’s something to be learned in the 3 days and 3 nights that Jonah spent in the belly of the whale. Jesus used this historical incident when likening how long He’d spend in the belly of the earth. Don’t know if Steiner ever commented on the Jonah story, but the old initiation process was fashioned with it in mind, and was top of mind when Jesus waited to go to Lazarus, as Steve has pointed out.

        We all need a similar experience in the darkness and the slime of whale’s insides, as you’re going through Hazel, so that we’ll truly appreciate our new, resurrected life.

        1. O yes, this going into the underworld, this death experience is an initiation process as old as time – And as new as this moment.
          Of course since the Christ has conquered death, the New Mysteries of Resurrection can only be achieved with conscious free will. And for the human being the dark night of the soul must still be met…

          1. I noticed that we have only 8 hours and maybe 44 minutes of daylight, and some 15 hours and 16 minutes of darkness these days as we still arch our way to the Winter Solstice. I have two children who confess to suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and they are both adults now. My daughter just said today that she thinks its starting. Christ is known for saying that there are only so many hours in the day for the light to be upon us in order to get things done because when it is dark then we tend to stumble. This was the analogy used to encourage going to Bethany in order to raise Lazarus. While the Light is with Us.

              1. I agree with that, too. In the belly of the whale for three days must have looked pretty dark for Jonah. As well, the cave with the stone covering it was the makeshift setting for Lazarus to be raised. But the difference is that Jonah’s experience in the whale was “not unto death”, while Lazarus did, in fact, die. Only Christ could could have done that through the new method.

              2. From the synopsis to the 10th lecture of The Gospel of Luke:

                One part only of the human being derives from the union of the male and female parental seeds. “There is in each human being something that does not arise from the seed but is a ‘virgin birth’, flowing from another source into the process of germination.” This is connected with faculties that are not inherited but derived from the kingdom of Heaven. Two ways of experiencing the spiritual world in pre-Christian times: through Initiation while out of the body, symbolized by the ‘Sign of Jonah’, and through revelation from above, symbolized by the ‘Sign of Solomon’. The Queen of Sheba: the representative of those possessing the heritage of dim clairvoyance. Through the new element brought by Christ, the spiritual world was eventually to become directly manifest to the Ego, but this could come to pass only gradually.

                https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA114/English/RSP1964/19090926p01.html

                38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

                https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+12&version=NASB1995

              3. Awesome! I love how you are filling out this picture of Jonah & the whale & its symbol of the ancient initiation.

                Interesting that you started the quote with the fact the human life is speaked not only by parental karma, but thru “faculties that are not inherited but derived from the kingdom of Heaven.” I remember reading Steiner’s description where he describes the embryotic process – when the seed & egg meet, & that then a kind of chaos ensues, which is likened to the primordial soup of the butterfly chrysalis, it is then that the cosmic forces enter in.

                And then we have the image of The Solomon Stream, alongside the pre-Christian wisdom consciousness of The Queen of Sheba – all as precursors to the Christ!

              4. I agree Hazel; I’m enjoying how rich this look at death is proving to be. That life that comes out of the “chaos” is very much like what we read in Genesis 1, the first few verses. It also reminds me of what we’re told in the new Testament, that we can plant the seed and water it and nurture and cultivate it, but it’s God who gives the increase. In other words, there’s an element of conception that we can play a part in, but there’s another mysterious part that gives it Life. There’s a saying to the effect of “the process of copulation is for Man’s enjoyment, but conception is of the Divine forces”. Just points out the difference between copulation and conception. Modern science is once again trying to play God with its fertility clinics; whenever they do that, they create more problems in the long run, problems for all of society to deal with. They should leave the conception process in the hands of the Divine where it belongs. We were meant to be dependent on the Divine forces for the gift of Life.

              5. And Spiritual Science also tells us that our larynx will become our organ of reproduction.
                And that in the future birth on earth as we know it will cease

              6. Oh my, such gems you’re revealing here Steve. I know what I’m going to be doing on this Sunday – some lectures to check out. This gives a whole new meaning to the Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon, recorded in the Bible, where she is overwhelmed with the magnificence of Solomon’s kingdom – the uniting of the Queen’s many virtues with this King’s. Reminds me of the two pillars of the temple, Jachim and Boaz, and how they unite in Revelation in support of the “mighty angel” – Steiner has some interesting insights into these two pillars.

                And then these new Testament verses you mention, pointing out that an “evil and adulterous” generation is given a sign, which is a token of mercy in itself. This reminds me of the other insight you pointed out, and which I still need to have a look at, regarding Cain’s mission to an unredeemed, neolithic race, perhaps comparable in Jesus’ mind to the evil and adulterous generation He’s referring to when speaking of this sign of Jonah being given. Thanks for pointing these things out. Cheers.

              7. In Steiner’s Temple Legend series, He speaks about how King Solomon is the reincarnation of Abel,& Hiram the Master Builder of the Temple is the reincarnation of Cain. Here the tables turn & Hiram/Cain is the one murdered because King Solomon is jealous that the Queen of Sheba who came to witness his wisdom falls in love with the master builder Hiram instead – who goes into the center of the earth & meets Tubul Cain his progenitor who gives him the secret keys.

                We have to remember that Cain is begotten thru Eve & an Elohim before the division into the sexes, so the race of Cain is a completely different stream than Abel begotten thru the union of Adam & Eve. The whole story is gripping – it’s part of the Golden Legend where we get the Rose Cross Meditation. I can’t recommend it enough
                https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA093/English/RSP1985/TmpLeg_index.html

              8. Fascinating story for sure – hadn’t heard this part of the story. Another one to look into. Thanks for sharing this Hazel. I’m still working on Steve’s contribution of the 3 lectures relating to the 12 Senses – it’s also helpful and insightful. So much to learn. This Solomon/Hiram twist sounds very interesting though; good novel or movie material, having the Cain – Abel story turned around. Cheers.

              9. This lecture you’ve pointed out, Steve, is a real treasure, a wonderful example of Steiner’s contribution to our spiritual development. As I read, I was amazed with how many tangents — different sides to the story — he brings out. There must have been at least a dozen different subjects he touched on; which has me wondering — he said there are 12 perspectives on every subject. I wonder if anyone has done a study of his lectures to see if he always presents 12 perspectives of his topic?

                In his discussion of Initiation, I found myself identifying with the Queen of Sheba, who famously said “The half had not been told me of his wisdom and his glory”, referring to Solomon. I identify when I think of my self being ushered into the Presence of Christ Jesus — I had a dim vision of glory, but as Paul said “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Certainly Steiner has helped me to understand those glories in a lofty, “Aristotelian” way, along with Cayce, whose help has been more of a down-to-earth, “Platonian” manner of presentation.

                Steiner brings out some interesting insights into the Transfiguration in this lecture. I was left wondering who the three that accompanied Jesus represent? Theirs was a privileged education that carried with it a great responsibility, I’m sure. They would eventually share with the other 9 disciples what they had seen, when the time was right.

                All in all, this lecture leaves me wishing to go deeper into the Gospel accounts, with a new perspective on the words Jesus spoke and the works that were the practical side of the education His disciples received.

              10. The Transfiguration like the Assumption of Mary & the Ascension of Christ 40 days after the Resurrection all point us to the revelation of the etheric world – an opening preparing the way for our perception into this realm

              11. I knew the man who wrote this book: Cain, the Neolithic Link in 1983.

                https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36698901-cain-the-neolithic-link

                He theorizes that Cain was cast out to the so-called ‘Land of Nod’ where he met prehistoric humanoids who had incarnated far sooner than they should have, and thus bore imperfect animal characteristics and a disorganized system of sense perception. Cain, having been made as the perfected Archetype bearing the organised 12 sense system, was tasked to bring these people progressively forward to the point where they could be reabsorbed into the Adamic stream of generations. Thus, the Cain stream is a lineage of names very similar to their counterparts described in chapter 5, when Seth replaces the fallen Abel. Lamech, who had Tubal-Cain to end the Cain lineage, would go on to be the father of Noah within the descendants of Adam and Eve:

                28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. 29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.” 30 Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters. 31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.

                32 Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

                https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+5&version=NASB1995

              12. The way you describe these humanoids, they sound very much like the beings who remained behind on the Earth when it separated from the Moon. I’ve read so many varied lectures recently that I can’t recall the name or number of this; I just remember Steiner saying that we need to remember that there are two types of archangels — those who advanced and went with the Moon, and those who chose to retard their development, and remained with the Earth. My memory might have this wrong; wish I could recall where I read this. I see one reference on the archive to GA 159 about retarded archangels, but I don’t think that was it; it may have been a series on the Folk Souls though.

              13. “Yay, I’ll stick with Anthroposophy & the Golden Legend”.

                Who said anything against that? Where does the divergence occur? Since this book from 1983 was written, scholarly research has progressively focused its attention on Cain’s influence for the Bronze Age, and here is one of its contributions:

                https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/cain-abel-reflects-bronze-age-rivalry

                I am not a revisionist. The facts of evidence are being shown. It could be resistance from the home front where anthroposophy is tended by the fire that objects. Yet, Steiner encouraged that we overcome our limitations of knowledge, and even scholarly research is proving it.

              14. I like the Temple Legend lectures very much. Nowhere else did Rudolf Steiner combine insights on Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, and Manichaeism at the same time, as he does here. These lectures are filled with hints and clues to great riddles of importance to esotericists, such as this one, which speaks to the future:

                “The Molten Sea is what is created when the appropriate amounts of water and molten metal are cast. The three apprentices do it wrongly, and the casting is destroyed, but when the mysteries of fire are revealed to Hiram by Tubal-Cain, he is thereby enabled to unite water and fire in the proper way. This brings the Molten Sea into being. This is what the secret of the Rosicrucians is. It is brought about when the water of calm wisdom is united with the fire of the astral world, with the fire of passion and desire. A union must be brought about which is ‘of bronze’, that is to say, is lasting and durable. It must endure into the next epoch, when the secret of the sacred Golden Triangle is added to it; the secret of Atma, Buddhi and Manas. This Triangle, with all which it entails, will form the content of the renewed Christianity of the sixth cultural epoch. That is being prepared by the Rosicrucians and then what is symbolised by the Molten Sea will be united with a knowledge of reincarnation and karma. That is the new occult teaching which will be united again with Christianity. The higher self of man, composed of Atma, Buddhi and Manas, will become an open secret when the man of the sixth epoch has become ripe enough to receive it. Christian Rosenkreutz will then no longer be required to give warning, but everything which signified strife on the outer plane will be resolved in peace through the Molten Sea and the sacred Golden Triangle”.

              15. Perfect Quote, Thanks Steve – So much to work with here.
                I go back again & again to these lectures – It feels like it speaks directly to my current destiny

              16. All of this would be personified in the perfected, spiritualized Son of Man that John saw in Revelation 1, the Elder Brother and High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, and the future version of ourselves. Feet like bronze, aura of gold about the chest area, eyes like fire and head and hair as white as wool, perfect white Light-radiating being. That is what the Temple of Solomon would be pointing to as well. A lot of trouble and many problems encountered to get to that stage, though.

              17. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA101/English/AP1972/images/Seal_01.webp

                “The first seal presents a person clad in white, his feet of molten metal, and a fiery sword projecting from the mouth. His right hand is surrounded by the signs of our planets — Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus. Those familiar with the Apocalypse of St. John will remember that there is to be found in it a description that closely corresponds to this picture, for St. John was an initiate. It can be said that this seal represents the idea of total humanity. This will be understood when we recall some ideas already known to the older members here. When we go back in human evolution, we come to a time when men were at an imperfect stage. Thus, for example, they did not have heads like the ones you carry on your shoulders today. It would sound grotesque, indeed, were you to hear a description of the men of that time. Only gradually was the head developed, and it will continue developing. Men also have organs today that have come to the end of their development and in the future they will no longer form part of the human body. There are others that will transform themselves. An example is the larynx, which, to be sure, has a great future connection with the heart. At present the larynx is at the beginning of its development, but in times to come it will be transformed into a spiritualized organ of reproduction. You will get an idea of this mystery if you make clear to yourselves just what it is that a man achieves with his larynx today”.

                https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA101/English/AP1972/19070916p01.html

              18. Steve, I’ve been wondering about this meaning of ‘molten feet’. This is an occult seal, picture, after all. Steiner had a way of conveying meanings using appropriate illustrations, but being that they come from a supersensible source, we can gather that he is not actually referring to actual ‘molten feet’ – which is in this case.

                Here are my thoughts, I’d like to know what you think.

                By the term ‘molten’, we are essentially speaking of liquefied heat. In a physical way, molten feet makes no sense – even breathing actual fire, too. But what did occur to me, what Steiner may be referring to, is the physiological quality of ‘etherization’ of the individual human being. Do you see where I’m going with this, and see this connection with etherization of the blood, regeneration, etc? So it is as if – I am gathering – as though one ‘walks with molten feet’ on a ‘molten sea’. For one, an individual would actually move around in the world differently then they do now. And this is the same as ‘breathing fire’, for our voice has a different quality than before. It conveys undiminished spirit.

                I have the feeling that many people have had the sensation, whether we knew what it was or not, that had walked in a way where they felt lightfooted, and it was as though their spirit carried them- not the body (perhaps explained by what one feels when they are in a ‘flow’, or walking meditation, for example). This seems to be linked to the etherization process somehow.

                ——-

                And Noah was five hundred some years old? Surely he did not eat processed food!

              19. Hi Maverick,

                The Transfiguration experience is important because it became imperative after Peter’s confession of Christ as the “Son of the Living God” that Christ needed to begin to instruct His disciples in the matter of reincarnation. So, as indicated in all three synoptic gospels, Christ takes His inner three up onto the mountain for a first experience of this. These are Peter, James, and John. Then, as the Christ is emblazoned in the glare of a kind of white light, two other figures appear and surround Him. These are Moses and Elijah. Peter feels the need to build three tabernacles in honor of this experience. Then, it all disappears and only Jesus stands again before them. Now, in coming down from the mountain, questions are asked by the disciples in the very first display of dialectics. They even answer their own questions, which is one of the characteristics of dialectics. Thus, they come to adduce that Elijah had returned as John the Baptist. As for the presentation that had Peter wanting to build three tabernacles, it can be indicated that Moses represents the Past, Christ represents the Present, and Elijah represents the Future.

                Yes, this lecture has one dealing with many issues at the same time. That is why Steiner’s brand of esotericism is so unpopular. He makes you stretch yourself. But you get to experience it in the soul.

              20. These humanoids, or early neolithic species that anthropology finds evidence of are, indeed, the ones who could not resist incarnating after the separation of the Moon in the last third of the Lemurian epoch. Thus, with the separation of the Moon, these took the first opportunity to incarnate in bodies that were still within the animal framework. Only later did those Human Spirits, who had withdrawn to the other planets after the withdrawal of the Sun, begin to return after this separation of the Moon. The one designated as the Adam Soul was the very last to do so. He was born in a fully human incarnation for the first time as Jesus of Nazareth through the Nathan line of the House of David.

              21. Hi Kyle,

                Yes, this Son of Man first occult seal picture warrants further explanation for sure. If we look at the text from Revelation, does it give us any further clue?

                “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

                12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

                17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19 Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches”.

                Thus, John experiences first off who is the true writer of the book that he is to transcribe. Who is it? Who is the one deemed worthy to open the book with the seven seals? John was in a state of despair when it appeared that no one was worthy to open the book. Then, a strong angel spoke up.

  3. “But then at the Turning Point of Time when the Being of Love incarnated into a human body for the first & only time, & gave us the ultimate sacrifice thru the deed of Golgotha, we can now receive the gift that gives true meaning to earth existence – the victory of life over death! – A healing redemption to that original sacred wound – reclaiming the corner stone that was rejected – to make the Temple whole once again.”

    This makes one think of when Christ received the call from Mary and Martha that their brother, Lazarus, was sick. He asks: “How long has he been in the tomb”? They say: “two days”. So, He waits two more days. You see, if He had gone to to raise Lazarus after just two days, then Lazarus would have been raised from his “sickness not unto death”, or in other words, ‘the temple sleep’. He would have been revived as a living expression of the old form of initiation wherein the neophyte is placed in a state of reduced activity in order for the etheric body to be withdrawn for 3 and a half days. Yet, Christ waits two more days in order for Lazarus to die. This is the key to why Christ waits another two days. He waits in order for Lazarus to die. Thus, the death and resurrection of Lazarus paves the way for the Mystery of Golgotha, wherein Christ also experiences Death as the first and only god to do so. Lazarus is resurrected from the dead as the forerunner through death just as John the Baptist was the forerunner in life.

    Thus, in Earth evolution, Death must be experienced in order to achieve eternal Life. This is the Pearl of Great Price. We love earth existence, and death becomes our own sacrifice. Overcoming fear is the goal. Spiritual Science is the Art of Recognition.

  4. From Geographic Medicine, lecture 1, 15 November 1917, GA 178.

    “The spiritual scientist must make death his actual starting point, death, the cessation, actually the opposite of birth. How death and all that is related to it encroaches upon life in the widest sense is the basic question. Death terminates what is perceptible to the senses; death dissolves what is becoming, what is developing before the senses. By the way that death encroaches on life, it can be conceived of as having no part in what is working and flourishing here in the sense world, springing forth and producing life. This is what yields the opinion that nothing can be known about what is concealed by death, as it were, cloaked by death. (Within certain limits this opinion is perfectly comprehensible, though totally unjustifiable.) And it is actually from this corner of human feeling that the objections rear up their heads, objections that obviously can be brought up against things that are the results of a science still in its youth today. For spiritual science is young, and for precisely these reasons just referred to, the spiritual scientist is in quite a different position from that of the natural scientist, even when speaking about things in the sphere of his own research. The spiritual scientist cannot proceed in exactly the same way as the natural scientist, who poses some fact and then proves it on grounds by which everyone is convinced: that it can be seen. The spiritual scientist, however, speaks about what cannot be perceived by the senses. Hence, in speaking about the results of his research, he is always obliged to indicate how such results can be reached.”

    1. “Death terminates what is perceptible to the senses; death dissolves what is becoming, what is developing before the senses. ” from the Geographic Medicine excerpt.

      We’ve begun a study of the Twelve Senses, and it’s been my understanding that after transitioning into the other realm, these senses are turned inside out, so that the seven senses that were formerly outwardly directed become inwardly focused, and the five that were formerly inwardly perceived (life, movement, balance, touch and smell) become outwardly focused. (See Steiner’s diagram in GA 199, Lecture 3, Spiritual Science as a Foundation for Social Forms, Aug. 8, 1920, Dornach). I’d be interested in understanding how these two thoughts harmonize, this thought from Geographic Medicine and the one he gave in Dornach.

      In Geographic Medicine, he seems to say that the physical, material life we experienced on Earth is “dissolved”; but we know that life on Earth goes on once our personality dies. So is he saying that for our individual consciousness, the three-dimensional existence we experienced on Earth is dissolved?

      1. I found three lectures which speak of the 12 senses, and the first two have diagrams that depict the arrangement. My understanding is that the distribution involves four outer senses: Ego, Thought, Word, Hearing; four inner/outer senses: Warmth (feeling), Sight, Taste, Smell; and four inner senses: Balance, Movement, Life, Touch.

        https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA170/English/RSP1990/19160812p01.html

        https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA170/English/RSP1990/images/19160812p010.png

        https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA199/English/AP1986/19200808p01.html

        https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA199/English/AP1986/images/199-05.gif

        https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA206/English/APC1958/19210722p01.html

        Death would dissolve any need to continue to perceive with the senses in a three-dimensional framework because the senses are functional only in relation to an outer-external world of appearances as anchor points. That is why they are placed on the periphery of the physical body. What does take place when we die is that our organic structure, i.e, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, stomach, pancreas, larynx, are turned inside out and become our personal universe in the life between death and rebirth. In the middle of this array is our own Sun.

        1. Hi Maverick,

          Rudolf Steiner’s study of the Twelve Senses began here in this course, which covered three years. As such, in October 1909, he began to elucidate these twelve senses as the core of his anthroposophical indications:

          https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA115/English/AP1971/19091023p01.html

          Behind the discourse of these first four lectures from October 1909, and wherein the harmoniously organized system of the 12 senses is described for the first time, is also to be found something else. It is the fact that the twelve senses are based on the first pre-earthly deed of Christ. I don’t know if your instructors know this but it can be shown that the twelve senses are the outcome of what is contained in the fourth chapter of Genesis, which concerns Cain and Abel. This is where the first pre-earthly deed of Christ took place. Cain, after slaying his brother Abel, is sent to a place where a kind of prehistoric race of humanoids lived; a kind of neolithic link. Therein, he is tasked (having been made with the help of the Lord) to begin the process of redeeming this race in order to make it compatible with the Adamic stream first described in chapter five.

          https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+4&version=NASB1995

          1. Sounds very interesting Steve. I’ll check this lecture series out. Haven’t heard before of Cain’s mission of redemption; a different twist on the Cain and Abel story. Thanks for this reference material. Cheers.

            1. This lecture encapsulates the Pre-Earthly Deeds of Christ:

              https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/PreEar_index.html

              Thus, three deeds. The first took place in the late stage of the Lemurian epoch, which is when the story of Cain and Abel is given; the second deed occurred in the Atlantean epoch, before the Flood; and the third deed occurred in the Post-Atlantean era. It is possible to find these in the Old Testament.

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