Could this be the original Manichean Cross?:
"Those who advocate using the crucifix in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church instead of the Mar Thoma Cross claim that the Mar Thoma Cross is actually the "Manichean Cross" a symbol of Manicheanism (a heretical early Christian sect that blended Christian and Zoroastrian beliefs and whose founder, Manichee, claimed to be the incarnation of the Holy Spirit)."
The cross has a dove above it representing the Holy Spirit. The lotus below is meant to represent the Father. The lotus in the East also represents the flowering of great beauty from the sludge and slime. Perhaps here, another symbol of the good overcoming evil and its results.
The following is about the fuss this cross has caused in the Mar Thoma Church:
"The warring factions in the Church could be described as the traditionalists and the reformists. The traditionalists maintain that the Syro-Malabar Church is a daughter-Church of the Chaldean Church with headquarters in Baghdad. They are for the adoption of the whole East Syrian (Chaldean) liturgy said to be prevalent in the Church in Kerala from the fifth century to the 16th century when the Latin Church established its sway with the advent of the Portuguese.
"According to the reformists, the traditionalists are for the removal of the crucifix and abolition of prayers like Rosary and Way of the Cross among other things and for the introduction of `Chaldean vestiges' like the Persian Cross, sanctuary veil and `Bema,' (a separate table to be placed in the front or in the middle of the aisle).
"The crucifix has disappeared from many convents which easily succumbed to the Chaldean propaganda,'' says noted religious scholar Prof. Scaria Zacharia. The crucifix, a matter of great religious and emotional attachment is being replaced by what is called the `Mar Thoma Cross'. The reformists contend that this cross is the Manichean Cross, a symbol of a heretic Church of a non-Catholic origin, which has since become defunct."
Lucifer and all other adversarial spirits can only live within the Holy Spirit, as all life is encompassed by it.
A quote from Rudolf Steiner:
That man is capable of this, that he is capable of understanding Christ, that Lucifer, resurrected in a new form, can unite with Christ as the good Spirit this, as prophecy still, was told by Christ Himself to those around Him, when He said: Ye shall be illumined by the new Spirit, by the Holy Spirit!
This Holy Spirit is none other than the Spirit through whom man can apprehend what Christ has wrought. Christ desired not merely to work, but also to be apprehended, to be understood. Therefore the sending of the Spirit by whom men are inspired, the sending of the Holy spirit, is implicit in Christianity.
In the spiritual sense, Whitsuntide belongs inseparably to Easter. This Holy Spirit is none other than the Lucifer-Spirit, resurrected now in higher, purer glory the Spirit of independent understanding, wisdom-inwoven. Christ Himself foretold that this Spirit would come to men after Him, and in the light of this Spirit their labors must proceed. What is it that works onward in the light of this Spirit? The world-stream of spiritual science, if rightly conceived! What is this spiritual science? It is the wisdom of the Spirit, the wisdom that lifts into the full light of consciousness that in Christianity which would otherwise remain in the unconscious.
The torch of the resurrected Lucifer, of the Lucifer now transformed into the good, blazons the way for Christ. Lucifer is the bearer of the Light, Christ is the Light! As the word itself denotes, Lucifer is the Bearer of the Light. That is what the spiritual scientific movement should be, that is implicit in it.
Those who know that the progress of mankind depends upon living apprehension of the mighty Event of Golgotha are they who as the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings are united in the great Guiding Lodge of mankind. And as once the tongues of fire hovered down as a living symbol upon the company of the apostles, so does the Holy Spirit announced by Christ Himself reign as the Light over the Lodge of the Twelve. The Thirteenth is the Leader of the Lodge of the Twelve. The Holy Spirit is the mighty Teacher of those we name the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings.
It is through them that his voice and his wisdom flow down to mankind in this or that stream upon the earth. The treasures of wisdom gathered together by the spiritual scientific movement in order to understand the universe and the Spirits therein, how through the Holy Spirit into the Lodge of the Twelve; and that is what will ultimately lead mankind step by step to free, self-conscious understanding of Christ and of the Event of Golgotha. Thus to cultivate spiritual science means to understand that the Spirit has been sent into the world by Christ; the pursuit of spiritual science is implicit in true Christianity.
We find in "Parzifal" that his mother, the pregnant Herzeleide, nurses a young dragon in a dream:
For she did nurse a dragon, that
forth from her body sprung,
And its dragon-life to nourish awhile
at her breast it hung,
Then it fled from her sight so swiftly..
The ultimate redemption of Evil through Good appears in Mani himself.
Mani speaking at the age of 24:
"This is how everything that
has happened and that will happen was unveiled to me by the Paraclete",
Mani says in the Kephalia, mentioning "everything the eye shall see, and
the ear hear, and the thought think".
"I have understood by him
everything. I have seen the totality through him. I have become a single
body with a single spirit."
"The divine counterpart will appear and bring help to
every apostle (Keph. 36: 6–9)" and not just one person.
The city of Petalamund (Petal Mount) appears in verses in Eschenbach's Parsifal. It has sixteen gates and is besieged by a black (Blackamoor) army on eight of the gates and a white army on the other eight. Here is a picture of the throat lotus blossom or chakram. Eight of the petals (those besieged by the Moorish army) have been developed through grace, the other eight require working on by the individual.
This is a most practical way in the which noble eightfold path has been incorporated into the Christian context.
Rudolf Steiner suggested these exercises for students who wished to enhance these qualities:
For the Days of the Week
The pupil must pay careful attention to certain activities in the life of soul which in the ordinary way are carried on carelessly and inattentively.
There are eight such activities.
It is naturally best to undertake only one exercise at a time, throughout a week or a fortnight, for example, then the second, and so on, then beginning over again. Meanwhile it is best for the eighth exercise to be carried out every day. True self-knowledge is then gradually achieved and any progress made is perceived. Then later on - beginning with
Saturday - one exercise lasting for about five minutes may perhaps be added daily to the eighth so that the relevant exercise will occasionally fall on the same day. Thus: Saturday - Thoughts; Sunday - Resolves; Monday - Talking; Tuesday - Actions; Wednesday - Behavior, and so on.
SATURDAY
To pay attention to one's ideas.
To think only significant thoughts. To learn little by little to separate in one's thoughts the essential from the nonessential, the eternal from the transitory, truth from mere opinion.
In listening to the talk of one's fellow-men, to try and become quite still inwardly, foregoing all assent, and still more all unfavorable judgments (criticism, rejection), even in one's thoughts and feelings.
This may be called:
`RIGHT OPINION'.
SUNDAY
To determine on even the most insignificant matter only after fully reasoned deliberation. All unthinking behaviour, all meaningless actions, should be kept far away from the soul. One should always have well- weighed reasons for everything. And one should definitely abstain from doing anything for which there is no significant reason.
Once one is convinced of the rightness of a decision, one must hold fast to it, with inner steadfastness.
This may be called:
`RIGHT JUDGMENT'.
having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.
MONDAY
Talking. Only what has sense and meaning should come from the lips of one striving for higher development. All talking for the sake of talking - to kill time - is in this sense harmful.
The usual kind of conversation, a disjointed medley of remarks, should be avoided. This does not mean shutting oneself off from intercourse with one's fellows; it is precisely then that talk should gradually be led to significance. One adopts a thoughtful attitude to every speech and answer
taking all aspects into account. Never talk without cause - be gladly silent. One tries not to talk too much or too little. First listen quietly; then reflect on what has been said.
This exercise may be called:
`RIGHT WORD'.
TUESDAY
External actions. These should not be disturbing for our fellow-men. Where an occasion calls for action out of one's inner being, deliberate carefully how one can best meet the occasion - for the good of the whole, the lasting happiness of man, the eternal.
Where one does things of one's own accord, out of one's own initiative: consider most thoroughly beforehand the effect of one's actions.
This is called:
`RIGHT DEED'.
WEDNESDAY
The ordering of life. To live in accordance with Nature and Spirit. Not to be swamped by the external trivialities of life. To avoid all that brings unrest and haste into life. To hurry over nothing, but also not to be indolent. To look on life as a means for working towards higher development and to behave accordingly.
One speaks in this connection of
`RIGHT STANDPOINT'.
THURSDAY
Human Endeavor. One should take care to do nothing that lies beyond one's powers - but also to leave nothing undone which lies within them.
To look beyond the everyday, the momentary, and to set oneself aims and ideals connected with the highest duties of a human being. For instance, in the sense of the prescribed exercises, to try to develop oneself so that afterwards one may be able all the more to help and advise one's fellow- men - though perhaps not in the immediate future.
This can be summed up as:
`TO LET ALL THE FOREGOING EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT'.
FRIDAY
The endeavor to learn as much as possible from life.
Nothing goes by us without giving us a chance to gain experiences that are useful for life. If one has done something wrongly or imperfectly, that becomes a motive for doing it rightly or more perfectly, later on.
If one sees others doing something, one observes them with the like end in view (yet not coldly or heartlessly). And one does nothing without looking back to past experiences which can be of assistance in one's decisions and achievements.
One can learn from everyone - even from children if one is attentive.
This exercise is called:
`RIGHT MEMORY'.
(Remembering what has been learnt from experiences).
SUMMARY
To turn one's gaze inwards from time to time, even if only for five minutes daily at the same time. In so doing one should sink down into oneself, carefully take counsel with oneself, test and form one's principles of life, run through in thought one's knowledge - or lack of it - weigh up one's duties, think over the contents and true purpose of life, feel genuinely pained by one's own errors and imperfections. In a word:
labor to discover the essential, the enduring, and earnestly aim at goals in accord with it: for instance, virtues to be acquired. (Not to fall into the mistake of thinking that one has done something well, but to strive ever further towards the highest standards.)
This exercise is called:
`RIGHT EXAMINATION'.
