Dear friends, I thought to share a consideration of this picture of what I am calling ‘Initiation thru the other.’
Willem Zeylmans van Emmichoven speaks of this in his work ‘The Foundation Stone: Philosophers Stone to the Stone of Love.’
To start, I feel it is important to consider that Rudolf Steiner consciously brought down the being Anthroposophia, starting around 1913. I imagine it had its genesis with the meeting of his soul mate Ita Wegman; so really the stage was set 10 years earlier when they first met in that lifetime. If we consider that they met in 1902, just as he was beginning to be able to speak to the Mysteries, we can see a 3 x 7 year period of Anthroposophia in their midst.
An understanding of the ancient tradition connected to ‘The Sophia’ is that the soul mate mediates the ‘substance’, the dew, of understanding that is needed for a turning point to take place. We see this with Abraham; with Moses, & in later traditions with Novalis & Sophia among others.
Willem Zeylmans van Emmichoven speaks of Rudolf Steiner as having ‘brought down’ the Foundation Stone that would be implanted into the hearts of the members in this way: “It has already been mentioned that the Foundation Stone was guided down from spiritual heights by Rudolf Steiner, and received into the souls of all those present…” To begin to understand the qualities of this 3×7 year transformation from the Philosophers Stone, to a Stone of Love, we have to look at the laying of this Foundation Stone in September of 1913: ““The Stone of our soul has been laid into the earth; may it be a token of striving for knowledge, for love, for strong action, a symbol of humankind…This symbol of the human soul shall become a token of the human soul. With the first strokes made upon this our True Building I consecrate you to be a token of the human soul…The Stone has now been transformed from symbol to token. And now let us entrust it to the kingdom of the condensed elements, the earth, into which our soul was lowered so that it might develop through human evolution that which was to be its earth mission. The Stone is no longer a token; it is sheathed when we entrust it to the earth. Thrice the human soul rises up to the three secrets of existence: First they are symbols; then they are tokens when the soul reads the eternal world word; but the profoundest depths of the world secrets are vividly bound to the soul when this soul is able to create its own sheath out of the kingdom of the hierarchies. So be sheathed!” ~Rudolf Steiner, as part of the ceremony.
Something magical happens for the Earth itself; which also corresponds to what we find 21 years later in 1923, when instead of ‘in the earth’ we find this Stone, this new stone, this Stone of Love, now being implanted as an Imagination into the hearts of the members.
In order for us to receive this Stone of Love, in our time now, we can prepare ourselves over the course of the Holy Nights, just as the original Christmas conference was a preparation, so that our hearts can work in ‘harmonious collaboration’, & that our ‘goodwill’ can be ‘imbued with love’ – This is the ‘substance’ – the soil of what must become in future times individually & collectively – ‘The New Earth’. What takes place at the Christmas Conference is a laying into the ‘Heart’ of humanity the ‘Word’ -The truth of the future, which must become, now – 1st in our hearts.
The suffering of the burning of the beloved Goetheanum was the prerequisite brought to us in order to awaken to the next level. This suffering, prepared us for the new Imagination. Rudolf Steiner was then able to find fertile ground for the New Mysteries within us.
I also hold the imagination that thru the great tragedy of the fire, Steiner was deeply united with the being of Anthroposophia – reminiscent of Lazarus-John ‘taking the mother into himself’. This was also a sacrifice for us, towards a preparation of our own ability to meet the Christ in the etheric world – a true turning inside out.
From 1913 to 1923 we find a real coming to know this Being as an Image of the human soul forces. And it was because of this intimate ongoing working/creating relationship with this Being that Steiner could penetrate so deeply into the 3-fold system of the human soul – connecting it to the resurrection of our own soul forces which must occur in order for us to give birth to the “I”.
This experience also allowed the good doctor to take up work with the ‘young doctors’ – the medical community in a new way. Empowering those who had the good will, courage & devotion to what was laboring to take place; a healing modality that serves not only the physical life, but has the ability to penetrate into the spiritual worlds, to become a healing co-worker with the hierarchal beings & The Christ.
Over 800 students came together. A powerful inner call brought them to Dornach at that time of unrest. It was that ‘substance’ developed thru the pondering in their heart, this awakening in their heart, which became the rich soil for this new initiative to be planted.
During the Christmas Foundation Meeting Steiner emphasized the ongoing karmic relationships that were in the room, so as to encourage these friends to realize that a new day must come forth where we find our common humanity & commitment to Michael, & his mission on behalf of Christ & humankind.
This Imagination of our collective karma, our duty & responsibility to each other, & to the future of human evolution, can’t be birthed in the proper manner without the ‘substance of love’ which is often born forth from what looks like suffering.
This ‘suffering’ is really our soul asking to be met consciously in the 3-fold body where thinking, feeling, & willing is transformed, so that the “I” can truly alight, unfold, & meet its rightful ongoing destiny, in equanimity.
Looking at what was needed then, as now: harmonious collaboration, good will, love toward the other…we can invite the Being Anthroposophia into our midst, & ask ‘How can I be, so that I may serve?’
Rudolf Steiner shares that Anthroposophia ‘knocks on the portal of our hearts, saying ‘Let me in, I am you, I am your true nature’. How can we understand this practically, to achieve Initiation in today’s time?
What is required of us, & what it has to do with the other, is the basic bottom line of this journey to Initiation: selflessness, surrender, consciousness, & a willingness to listen – to hear what is, & what is not working, cultivating an ability to see how we are in every situation we meet. ‘One step forward in spirit development, three steps forward in moral understanding.’
The Foundation Stone Meditation is a working to assist us on this initiatory path.
Zeylmans tells us: “That Foundation Stone which receives from the Universal and Human Love, its substance, from the Universal and human Imagination, its living picture quality and form, and from the Universal and Human Thoughts, radiating Light. And then at all times – if we are mindful of this present moment, the light of it will ray into our hearts, spurring on our action, kindling our thinking, our feeling, our willing.”
A conscious ‘waking in the heart of the other’ helps us untie karmic knots, AND it’s also the perquisite for our ability to develop relationships with the Spiritual beings who welcome us into their realms, to become conscious co-workers on behalf of Earth evolution.
Zeylmans asks us to consider what it must be like, what must come about, if we are to transmute the hexagram into a pentagram. Ultimately what he is speaking of is the marriage of Wisdom to Love, the conscious birth of the “I” thru love & light. And this has to do specifically with the transformation of the heart forces as they relate to how we are with the other, especially in the most difficult relationships & circumstances. (This is where the 6 Basic Exercises help)
No matter how righteous I think I am, a higher way is being asked for against all odds. And what I am also realizing is that this higher way, these gifts of excruciating moments, must also be transformed so that the suffering is not suffering for sufferings sake! The soul must gain something, & recognize that the suffering is actually a gift, that I am called to return with love.
Entering into the spiritual worlds requires a turning inside out, a reversal, which is the part of the mystery of converting the Philosophers Stone into the Stone of Love; & the key to ‘Initiation thru the other’ which is what is being called for now.
Dear friends, let us find each other in the light of these thoughts.
~hag
