June 5, 2016

World Environment Day – raising global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect nature & the planet Earth.

1752 – Benjamin Franklin flew a kite for the first time to demonstrate that lightning was a form of electricity

1783 – Montgolfier Brothers 1st flight in a hot air balloon in France

1827 – Athens fell to the Ottomans

1832 – The ‘June Rebellion’ breaks out in Paris in an attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis Philippe

1883 – The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris

1906 – Deathday of Eduard von Hartmann. According to Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual investigation as seen in Karma  Lecture Vol. 1 lec. 9, in an earlier life he was a philosopher & took part in the crusades against the Turks.

1915 – Denmark amends its constitution to allow women’s suffrage

1917 – American men began registering for the World War I draft

1924 – Ernst F. W. Alexanderson transmits the first ‘facsimile’ message across the Atlantic

1933 – President Roosevelt signed the bill that took the U.S. off of the gold standard

1968 – Robert F. Kennedy, is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles

1981 – The first recognized cases of what later became known as AIDS

2012 – The last transit of Venus of the 21st century begins

~   ~   ~

~I carry into the earth

The life of clouds

The breath of my body

A pulse of prose

Gained from pain

The twists of fate given into

With pleasure, An opening to moisture

An opportunity seized & released…

~hag

~   ~   ~

In thinking about: “The Working of the Spirit” by Michael Burton & Marke Levene. Part 11 (program for the Chicago reading)  

The “Trial by Earth”- the penultimate scene of the play, brings us into our own time & beyond. We see the factory has become more subject to mechanical laws. Michael Burton describes it complete with blaring electronic music, a driving beat with harsh sound effects; the workers moving like robots in a stylized way. We see Ahrimanic spirits compelling the moving tableau of automated mass production & the exploitation of the human being on a global scale.

Hilary gives up his managerial power, & Trautman is in charge. Much production is now going overseas, increasing profits, but leaving many workers unemployed. Yet Findig, acting as the new manager, stresses that because of the subsidized profits they can have adult education courses, as well as a school for the children.

Reinecke stresses the uniting of “technical excellence & innovation with craftsmanship of the highest quality ” – The new catch phrase for the company. Yet we see there has been a change in Reinecke “The Fox”, he has been able to merge “the scientific & technological strivings of (the late) Dr. Strader with the artistic & philosophical ideas of (the artist) Johannes & (the thoughts of) Capesius. The company itself is an attempt to fuse these two apparently conflicting streams”.

The goal is greater efficiency, a raised standard of living, with millions of workers freed to spend their free time on more significant pursuits. Hilary warns that nothing good will come unless people change the way they think, waking up from consumerism, & the distracting paralyzing effect that technology can have. We must kindle the deeper forces, to connect to the spiritual beings working in our will.

The answer lives in a new form of education, resting it free from the ‘no child left behind’ model used as a mechanism to keep people in their place. The ideal is for specialization to create inter-dependence, getting the government out of the human rights sector. We need free agreements among representatives of different groups in society to do no harm & to protect the vulnerable.

How can we develop the spirit of cooperation where human ingenuity works in the most productive & creative ways? How can we use technology, not to enslave, but as a way to free humanity to pursue higher knowledge?

Ahriman steps in, specifically aimed at Hilary, but heard by the others, pointing out that he must be considered; actually stating that people need to learn discernment, to be able to think as individuals. He says “I’m normally not one to be so nice to human beings as to give them wise advice that helps them in their opposition to my aims. But you have forced me to reveal these secrets of the spirit. Human beings will evolve through their involvement with this new technology. Their thinking will grow sharp. They will be able to encompass in their thoughts a far, far clearer picture of the world that they inhabit. They will experience a revolution in the way they see the world.” He can’t help revealing that if people such as Hilary, who work to use spiritual science, exercising common sense & good judgment, they can work in human freedom to become great benefactors in the world.

This visitation is followed by an appearance of Benedictus from the spiritual world, telling Maria that Ahriman has spoken true, but that there is more to understand.

More on that tomorrow 

Until soon

Blessings and Peace ~Hazel Archer Ginsberg