tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18551433964327831032024-03-19T03:26:26.847-07:00Manichean ChristianityAccording to Rudolf Steiner (Anthroposophy) the prophet Mani began a stream of Christianity which will have great tasks in the future when Good confronts Evil. The elements of this path and how it relates to the Rosicrucian path and the Grail Christianity of Parzifal/Parsifal/Percival will be discussed here. It is also mentioned by Max Heindel of the Rosicrucian Fellowship. The Cathars, Albigenses,Waldenses and Knights Templar were in one way or another a continuation of the stream.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-80074850294558217512021-08-03T18:43:00.005-07:002022-03-01T22:17:29.033-08:00The Peacock <span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">Hi All,<br /> The peacock was once a symbol of Lucifer, but here we find it <br /> is also connected with the Manicheans: <br /> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">http://www.geocities.com/easo4/NAZARANIANDSYRIANCHRISTIANSOFKERALA.htm</a><br /> <br /> "Incidentally it is worth mentioning that St.Thomas in Mylapore is <br /> connected with a peacock and the Bleeding Cross itself shows carved <br /> images of peacock. It was Mani and his disciples who knew the art of <br /> transforming themselves into peacocks and fly in the air. Hence <br /> Subhra-Mani (light- Mani) was always associated with a peacock .It <br /> was Mani's chief disciple Ammon while attempting to fly as a peacock was shot by an arrow by a hunter and he died. He was buried in Mylapore, which in olden times was a trading centre known for export of peacocks and peacock feathers. The Armenian merchants who used to trade with Middle East countries were followers of Mani and had long established trade connections with the Chettys in Tamil kingdoms, like Chola, Chera and Pandy.Their head quarter was Kanchipuram; In the 3rd centuryAD they had established a Church in Mylapore, which was later destroyed due to persecution of Mani followers by Hindu and Muslim Rulers. The Portuguese excavated this area in the 16th century and hit history when they found remnants of an Armenian Church and a cross. They proclaimed them as of St. Thomas origin though the evidences unearthed clearly pointed towards Manachean origin. Even the sacred relics of St. Thomas were not spared from the heresy of Mani, which the Roman Catholics had added to the list of venerated relics."<br /> <br /> The Thomas Christians of India have long been connected with Mani it seems. The peacock here represents the Redeemed Lucifer.</span>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-51458028164050790742020-04-02T17:01:00.001-07:002020-04-03T16:43:17.870-07:00Mani by Paul Scharff<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /><a href="http://www.paulwscharffarchive.com/mani-easter-1989/pdf/"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjnpcldGS63P_DQ5_uvsVmp1XnmQ5LC5ycprvPAq0D_gBUBWjFgSluqMiB6XN974rcuzpYQ0O6-Ssztg0f9HuGwCyfun5Aqni4KbJBmUczfNvKjkYBHxtjzxZCCGLj0uV_th6YaAoYCEl8cJrGuIhqZicnxgYg037zWMsPYNe-2rtA2dWfFxk9XM4JD9rMf=" /> Download as PDF</a><br /><br />To speak about Mani we must assume a breadth of understanding and attention to spiritual life that is not so easy to come by. We have worked for years in order to approach this possibility by first considering the four Gospels and then the initiation of Christian Rosencruetz as well as what Rudolf Steiner has to say about the Gospel of St. Matthew. All this forms the background to approaching Mani.<br /><br /><br />We began our work here at the Fellowship by taking up the St. John Gospel. Paul Allen spent almost an entire winter with the St. John Gospel, reading it first in Greek and then in English. He brought the content from Anthroposophy to bear upon the gospel passages we read. Then we worked through the St. John Gospel another three or four times and the two lecture cycles by Rudolf Steiner concerning this gospel. In our studies we also took up the Apocalypse as we strove toward understanding John the Initiate, whose gospel speaks very much to what we will meet in the future. John was apocalyp- tic. He pointed to the future not only in the Apocalypse but throughout his gospel. He thereby points to our astral body, which directs us to the future. The view of John is to the future. His gospel begins with the Word but leads us to take up the “cry” of the soul in the wilderness. The orientation is to the inwardness-emptiness of the soul, but directs the soul to the future where the loneliness, isolation and emptiness can find resolution. The John Gospel is a good point of departure to take up our study of Mani, the “Son of the Widow” — a soul bereft of inner content; thereby, the son of a widow. The spirit, the husband, the male is absent.<br /><br />The second gospel that we have worked through on numerous occasions is the St. Luke Gospel. Luke, a physician, builds his gospel on the healings while leading us back to God, to Adam Kadmon. The simple being of Jesus, the healing element of this being, is brought before us again and again. We refer here to the element, the beingness, of the Nathan Jesus — the Adam Kadmon impulse —that worked as the healing agent through this Jesus. Going over this gospel again and again, we considered what is healing, the healing agent: the etheric. It is this principle in man that takes us back in the life stream to recollect the Beginning with God. Recollection is the thread, not creativity as with John.<br /><br />The Mark Gospel was written by a jurist. It places man in the world and speaks of him as a worldly being, as a worldly ego being. We have not yet really taken up the Mark Gospel in depth, though we have gone through it once or twice.<br /><br />The Matthew Gospel we took up a little over a year ago at Christmas. We entered deeply into this gospel and the lecture cycle on this gospel by Rudolf Steiner, where we took up the secret and deep mystery of the two Jesus children. In the process, we talked about the being Zarathustra: Zarathustra as a bodhisattva being. We discussed the makeup of the human being and emphasized how this had to be so configured from the time of Abraham, who was initiated by Melchizedek, that man would be able to enact the mathematic or arithmatic process. We pointed how this was placed in the bloodline, the bloodline of six times seven generations. We looked at Abraham and his initiation, which was so crucial to the evolution of the human organism, namely, the brain, whereby the process of arithmatic, with its inwardness, could be cultivated. We went further and spoke of the Adam Kadmon impulse that worked in the Nathan Jesus. This had to be taken up by the Solomon Jesus being, which entered into the Nathan Jesus at his twelfth year and enabled the Solomon being to experience fresh etheric forces — rejuvenated etheric forces — through the activity of the Nathan Jesus-Adam Kadmon being. All this prepared the way for us to consider the ego—the Zarathustra ego, or Solomon Jesus ego. The physical, etheric and astral organizations of the Solomon Jesus were sacrificed to the being of Christ.<br /><br />Our concern for the being of Zarathustra gave rise to a discussion of the bodhisattvas. We considered three major bodhisattvas: the bodhisattva connected with the Gautama Buddha, the bodhisattva of Zarathustra, and the bodhisattva that we know as Scythianos. From history we know that these three were very much opposed by the Church. At times we also hear of these three as one, acting in such a way in order to serve the Christ. There are twelve such beings, bodhisattvas, who bring the impulse of culture to man; bring new impulses. These twelve beings are actually the beings of the Holy Spirit. What they bring permits man to evolve in such a way that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, can become a province of the human soul. The region in which these spiritual beings exist, in reverence to the Christ-Elohim, gives rise to the question of what type of beings they are. Where do they exist? When did they come into being and how do they work? We have pointed to the “world of archetypes” as the lofty etheric-astral world where these beings, archangelic beings, work. We are dealing with beings from a very lofty world, a world in which re-creative impulses exist. The central figure is the being of the Christ. From this domain come impulses for new faculties. We also considered the Maitreya Buddha, or the Buddha to come, who appeared in Yeshu ben Pandera. He lived among the Essenes. It is he who will bring the real knowledge of the Christ in the form of comprehending the Word — the creative process. The bodhisattvas are not creative; they help carry out the creation. Their service is to the Christ — to further evolution and knowledge of the Christ.<br /><br />It was in our discussions of the Matthew Gospel that we turned to the Temple Legend. What we found there we tried to use to understand how the bodhisattvas work to help evolve that which is the core of the human being, the ego. It was at that time that we spoke of a way to view man as he goes through the seven ego experiences, giving rise to the sevenfold ego. We took this from Rudolf Steiner’s indication that there are seven different types of men. The first is Elemental-man, the sec- ond is Kama-man, the third is Pure-man, the fourth is Bodhisattva-man, then Nirmanakaya-man, then Pitris-man, and finally God-man. These types of men — or stages of ego-unfolding in man — give each human being the possibility to unfold his full egoness. For this, the ego has to be able to go back to the beginning of Saturn-Earth evolution and unfold in the previous evolutions as well as in the present Earth evolution. Future evolutions are needed for the fulfillment of the sevenfold ego expressed in the Temple Legend by the seven types of men. The make-up of Elemental-man, Pure-man, Bodhisattva-man, and so forth, we tried to detail in what I have written about in the St. Matthew Gospel. I tried to speak to this during the Holy Nights of 1987-1988.<br /><br />It is in the perspective of the evolving of the human ego that we have tried to see how the bodhisattva beings try to work so that man can fulfill himself. Man has to become God-man, or as we can say, to become the tenth hierarchy. This requires the impulses of the bodhisattvas, of the Christ,for a continuous process of evolution. Those who come as initiates—Mani, Christian Rosencruetz, Rudolf Steiner—have to be able to help us evolve our ego nature within the complexity of the human configuration as a physical, etheric and astral being.<br /><br /><br />In considering the bodhisattvas, we tried to depict the direction, the life and the activity of the Bud- dha as leading toward the domain that is called Nirvana. The Buddha works so that man is guided out of this world and into the spiritual worlds. He is directed into the domain that is called the sphere in which the Nirmanakaya exists. We have already indicated that as Goethe perceived the archetypal plant his being was really working on that level. Rudolf Steiner indicates that his Philosophy of Spiritual Activity leads human beings to this level of existence.<br /><br />In this ascent we leave the human organism and enter into the cosmic spheres where we are able to take with us those faculties that are necessary to perceive on that level. This level of accomplishment has been attained as a bodhisattva becomes a buddha. Such a being no longer incarnates, he becomes a buddha, a Nirmanakaya-man. The Gautama Buddha has done this cleansing of the astral body and creating of a higher life body — a spirit-life or a life-spirit body — a buddhi body. We might see the buddha path as one that leads out into the world, paying credence to the light-working of the knowl- edge process and to Lucifer — leading away from the physical, the earth.<br /><br />If we now turn to Zarathustra, we note that his task was to bring the working of a ripe astral body with an ego impulse into the astral in such a way that the development could be toward the earth. This he had to do, and to bring forth the polarity between the light and working of the darkness by introducing man to the Ahrimanic workings on earth. Zarathustra permitted man to work into the earth sphere where Ahriman works and can be experienced. “By this means Zarathustra could create the counterpole to the working of the light that is inherent in the Buddha impulse.” The Buddha- Nirmanakaya impulse leading to the Luciferic sphere has to be balanced by the impulse that permits man to enter the sphere of Ahriman. In this way man is not drawn solely into the Luciferic light. “Men can turn to the darkness to find a balance with the Luciferic light…. In the light in which light can work with darkness to produce color, there works a balance—a Christ impulse.”<br /><br />The simple categorizing of good and evil between light and darkness is not a proper description of the polarity established here. The impulse of Ahriman was established by Zarathustra to work coun- ter to the tremendous light impulse of Lucifer so that the balance could be found in color, a kind of Christic balance. The aura of the sun — I take this to be the old Christic balance, the pure higher etheric-astral light forms of the sun. The effort to balance the astral light forms in which the Luciferic finds existence was attempted by Zarathustra. He brought a new impulse into civilization in his effort to penetrate the world of Ahriman. He was to bring a balance to the working of Lucifer and to center the activity in the sun. Rudolf Steiner tells us that Zarathustra was not able to accomplish his task because the Christ was in the process of leaving the sun. My understanding is that Zarathustra failed because he was led too strongly into the domain of darkness at the time when the Sun-Leader was leaving.<br /><br />We see Zarathustra going on to enliven that which he was to have given. He continued by incarnating into the Solomon Jesus and then into the Nathan Jesus. This matured the Zarathustra-ego to such an extent that he now can continue on for the future of humankind. However, if we look back to the original Zarathustra initiation, which we find in Persia, then we see that Zarathustra could not complete his task at that time. The incarnation of the Christ was needed. It is the incarnation of the Christ that then brings this sun aura, the warmth-light, to the earth. The Luciferic light remains in its proper place in the sphere of the sun and beyond. In being an aura of the sun that is truly Christic, the light was gradually brought to the earth through the Christ. By preparing a physical body for Christ, Zarathustra prepared the possibility for the Christ to enter into the earth. The Christ had to work through the organism that was sacrificed by Zarathustra. My understanding is that with this, Zarathustra completed his ego development. He thereby developed from being Nirmanakaya-man to becoming Pitris-man, and then evolving to God-man. My understanding is that the role of a Pitrisman is to be able to sacrifice what has been created. That means that Zarathustra helped to create the physical body and then sacrificed it to the incarnating Christ Being. In this way he rose from the stage of a Pitris to the stage of a God-man. He now works as the being known as the Master Jesus, as a God-man, and is essentially incarnated continuously, stepping from one organism into another — bringing human evolution forward. The organism here is not the usual physical-physiological construct: Consider the social organism where two or more are gathered.<br /><br />With this polarity between the original Buddha striving upward and the original Zarathustra striving downward, we can see that each needs a correction. The Christ corrected these polarities. However, man must take up these impulses, and the bodhisattvas must work in conjunction with man. The bodhisattvas are lofty spiritual beings that anticipate the future of man. Man, however, must in turn bring impulses into the spiritual world as well as enter the spiritual world as a spiritual being — at death. Except for the Christ, spiritual beings can not incarnate to correct what human beings have taken up on earth. We must find those beings who incarnate as human beings to take up the bodhisattva impulses. This leads man to initiation experiences. In this regard we can think of Christian Rosencruetz working with the Buddha. Christian Rosencruetz is a human being — one who was initiated — strongly working with Buddha impulses. He then, in turn, could send Buddha to Mars to enact a sacrifice similar to the Christ’s sacrifice on earth. This resulted in the fact that Buddha can now direct from Mars the knowledge that is necessary in order to develop the thought forms that enable us to have the spiritual science of today. In this way, what would have previously only streamed upward to the heights, to Luicifer’s domain, is turned back to the earth. Now Lucifer wisdom, Lucifer gnosis, streams from the Buddha, from Mars, to the earth. Through Rudolf Steiner we can make use of this today for a spiritual science.<br /><br />The correction of the impulse initially brought by Zarathustra was the Christ himself. However, again a spiritual being and a human being have to work to balance the previous tendencies that are now in humankind. A bodhisattva has to come to balance the two tendencies that lead to either Lucifer or Ahriman. Christ came to correct the imbalance of Buddha and Zarathustra.<br /><br />Now a bodhisattva is needed. This bodhisattva we already know as Scythianos. He is depicted in the case of Mani as a dying merchant who bequeaths his wife four books. As a merchant, Sythianos is a traveler — one who courses the earth. “Merchant,” as I take it, is a Mystery term for one who encom- passes the earth — the globe. It is also one who deals with the transformed goods of the earth, which gives rise to economics. The process of banking — the holding of valuables for the sake of man belongs to this. The process by which the earth is transformed for men and by which men come into association with one another over the whole earth is a kind of higher form of an earth-globe, a kind of etheric earth process. We can relate this to Scythianos. This, however, should not lead men into the Luciferic heights, nor should it lead them into the Ahrimanic depths. The Scythianos impulse should lead men into the sphere where the [universal] all-human, the purely human, can come about. The association of men over the entire earth creates a kind of etheric earth-sphere. This is necessary for a true brotherhood of humankind to come about.<br /><br />This process of bringing man into that which is human, into that which is totally human, universal, and is brotherly in nature, we can see as a major impulse of Scythianos. This is the impulse that Mani must serve as a human being. He is the “Son of the Widow.” It will be noted that Mani was born in the third century after the Mystery of Golgotha. He then had to work into a kind of etheric earth-sphere that had not been prepared yet. This could only come some centuries later. If we take into consideration Rudolf Steiner’s indications of the Christ first entering the etheric sphere of the earth in 1910, we see that Mani was not yet able to create and work into this sphere. In the third century, Mani was way ahead of his time. Mani was working for and with Scythianos but could not attain the goal of his striving and his initiation at that time. His initiation could not be completed in the third century. Here, I would like to discuss the meaning of being the “Son of the Widow.” Rudolf Steiner spoke to this point in lectures he gave in 1913,“The Mysteries of the East and the Mysteries of Christianity,” where he points out that there have always been four major steps in Mystery initiation. The first is to come to the door of death, the second is to enter the elementary world, the third is to become a sun-hero (to see the sun-at-midnight), and the fourth is to come into relationship with the upper and lower gods. What Rudolf Steiner points out is that the old initiation, as given by Zarathustra, lead the human being to become a sun-hero. This means that the initiate is outside of the physical and etheric bodies. When this occurs the physical and etheric bodies appear as a plant. These two bodies appear as a plant, with the sun shining on the plant (the sun-at-midnight). At the time of Zarathustra, if we take it as 6000 b.c., it was possible to come to the sun-at-midnight, but the leader of the sun — the Christ —was leaving the sun. The Christ was already approaching the earth, and therefore those who came to the sun-at-midnight did not find the spirit they were searching for. They felt as if a lonely soul — as if a widowed woman. They felt alone — forsaken — deserted, (wandering in the desert like John). The possibility of nurturing the ego, of experiencing true ego content — this requires the Christ.<br /><br />However, the Christ had already begun to leave the sphere of the sun. Therefore, Zarathustra, in the initiation given in the Persian times, could not lead souls to fulfillment. Initiated souls came into the condition of “death.” Those who then traversed the elemental world into the sphere of the sun became sun-heros, but they found that they were alone. The leader — the “Ego-of-All-Men” — who could bring forth the ego impulse for re-entering the earth was not present. In the sun-sphere the soul’s experience was as if the mate – the husband – the spirit had died. The soul was barren and found to be widowed. In this regard, Rudolf Steiner says that the same thing will happen today as was the case in ancient times if we merely become a sun-hero. What will happen is that we will then pine away searching for the real meaning of our ego and astral body because the ego and astral cannot find their fulfillment in the sphere of the sun as a sun-hero. This is the reason why we have had the need to search for our own inner being (Who Am I?). This is the basis for speaking of the son of the widow.<br /><br />Let me continue. As single human individuals we each can say “I”. This is true of all humans: All humans can speak and have object-consciousness. All can say “I”. This forms a group that needs a leader who allows the independence of each. This leader is no longer to be found on the sun — but here on earth. Here we must seek the Christ. Further, we must know that on entering into the higher spheres where our real ego content is—in the Akasha, the lofty etheric ego world—the content can be found only through the Christ, who has to be recognized while the soul is still on the earth. Man’s continuity, wholeness, and soul content lie in the Akasha, but this will remain hidden and dark, unrealized, without a relation to the Christ. If Christ is not experienced here on earth, he cannot be recognized there; and our own identity, given by the Akasha, will not be revealed.<br /><br />With this we see the path that Mani had to create He needed to make it possible for us to tread a path on the earth. Something of earthly man needs to be cultivated so that a universal principle can be car- ried by all men and a kind of exchange be created in the universal. We have to be able to come into a common world where there is exchange and brotherliness. Always the association with the true being of one another must be striven for. The individuality who works so that in dying he can enter this common world, or through initiation come into this common world, needs to work selflessly in the world of the merchant — of Scythianos. It is necessary to work as a servant of Scythianos-Mani. Here we can see that as a bodhisattva being Scythianos can pour impulses into humankind. It takes men millennia, acting over many many millennia, to bring these impulses to fruition. The impulse to be brought by Mani is that there is association in the world, common to us all, where we find one another as all-human, as fellow human beings in fellowship. This is the world in which brotherliness has to be cultivated because there is such a being as Mani always standing at the Threshold, helping us to find our way into this world where the element of brotherly exchange can occur. Mani stands as gatekeeper of the spiritual world, where the cultivation of spirit-self is necessary for entry. Here brotherliness in the deepest sense begins.<br /><br />Mani becomes the first individual to cultivate this aspect of the human being. He carries selfless purity in such a way that we can come into an associative process where true brotherliness should unfold. This gives a totally new direction to the working of monies, to economics, to banking, where the whole sense that what flows between men as an invisible quality (following the course of the sun throughout the course of the day) unites men over the entire earth. This is set before men by Mani: this becoming human, this becoming rather a pure whole man, this becoming a good man. This is all necessary for a moral basis for coming into this world and handling materiality in such a way that moral principles hold sway. It is just exactly where we are getting in trouble with our business, banking and economic systems today.<br /><br />If we look at the life of Mani depicted in the play by Albert Steffen, we note that he is crucified. His skin is torn from his body, is stuffed with dry grass and is hung at the gate of Shapur. True to history, the events of being skinned and stuffed with dead substance (or entering the cosmos to find a dead residue of life) appear to me as a fulfillment of the initiation process that leads to soul-widowing — soul death. The true essence of the sun-hero could not be gained. Death was experienced by Mani as a crucifixion event. What had occurred in the initiation events of earlier times became an actual event of life during Mani’s lifetime.<br /><br /><br />This concern with Mani has significance, because such a soul-spirit continues to work. The fact that the past initiation did not work does not indicate that Mani will not work in our time or in the future. I see the impulse of Scythianos-Mani working strongly into the impulse Rudolf Steiner gave to the world in the Threefold Social Order. There freedom, rights, and fraternity, or we can say brotherhood, has to reign. We might say that Rudolf Steiner also tried to introduce the element of brotherhood in the domain of spiritual matters. When Rudolf Steiner brought forth what he had to give in the School for Spiritual Science, he worked for a brotherhood in the spirit as well. There brotherhood should also exist. There Brother Mani works at the threshold of the spiritual world, uniting those striving for initiation in an association of fellowship. This, I would say, is the spiritual impulse that is needed in the Threefold Social Order so that true freedom and individuality finds an associative working in the light and freedom of the spirit. The working outward into the world then also requires the impulse of Mani, the brotherhood impulse introduced into the inner working in the School of Michael.<br /><br /><br />Possible Connections:<br /> <br /><br /><br />Angel Being – <br /><br />Raphael <br /><br />Christ <br /><br />Michael <br /><br /><br />Bodhisattva – <br /><br />Buddha <br /><br /> Zarathustra <br /><br />Scythianos <br /><br /><br />Human – <br /><br />Christian Rosencruetz <br /><br />Rudolf Steiner </span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd44iQIBCjLXZJwNBEPpKUydeIqitJOpQJ5ZYV-hqjmKInLs0WdkuBD2gO564O85B3lsHIidmcYgYxwXVcIuI39Kie3QcyRlFfPWGb0cYlVPFYWAYiEw9Iu2dlYzJGiUZ6MTpN2-gGz0w/s1600/Uigur+princes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1049" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd44iQIBCjLXZJwNBEPpKUydeIqitJOpQJ5ZYV-hqjmKInLs0WdkuBD2gO564O85B3lsHIidmcYgYxwXVcIuI39Kie3QcyRlFfPWGb0cYlVPFYWAYiEw9Iu2dlYzJGiUZ6MTpN2-gGz0w/s400/Uigur+princes.jpg" width="390" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />The Uighurs have been in the news this year. They are now Muslim, but this was forced on them a long time ago.<br /><br />They were once a Manichean people:<br /><br />"In the 8thC it became the state religion of the Uighur Turks whom the Tang government in China relied as their principal mercenaries to fight their frontier wars. Under the patronage of successive Uighur Khaghans, Manichaean monasteries were established in the principal Chinese cities north of the River Yangtze. It was severely persecuted in the 9thC and the religion survived mainly in the region of Turfan, especially around the Uighur capital of Chotcho until the 11thC and in the province of Fujian in South China up to the turn of the 20th C."</span><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-1619150721700684062019-01-30T02:03:00.005-08:002021-08-02T17:57:09.542-07:00Christianity of the Sixth Root Race <div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Pk7g6zJm2sWi3bZXlMKr13qS0nkar_dhDspqPdoTyZXRwjx823aB9hbRbe-mX0kpaKpRqOErh0U5_fVwINqdJsBdV5isdbHOhFj6b0WQhKJ3P4VTgYmnVyJTXNP9qUO_4mVCUaFD9Qs/s900/mani-of-ranian-prophet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="664" height="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Pk7g6zJm2sWi3bZXlMKr13qS0nkar_dhDspqPdoTyZXRwjx823aB9hbRbe-mX0kpaKpRqOErh0U5_fVwINqdJsBdV5isdbHOhFj6b0WQhKJ3P4VTgYmnVyJTXNP9qUO_4mVCUaFD9Qs/w269-h365/mani-of-ranian-prophet.jpg" width="269" /></a></div></span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;">Manes will create an overlapping stream, a stream which goes further than the stream of the Rosicrucians. The stream of Manes goes over to the Sixth Root Race which has been in preparation since the founding of Christianity. Christianity will appear in its perfected form in the Sixth Root Race. </span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><br />Life as such overcomes every Form. It propagates itself through Christianity and lives in all forms and confessions. Whoever seeks the Christian Life will find it. It creates Forms and shatters Forms. But, in addition, a form for the Christian Life of the Sixth Root Race must be prepared. A number of human beings must be formed into an organization, a Form, in which the Christianity of the Sixth Root Race can find its place. This Form, this external Form of Society must spring from a handful of men whom Manes prepares. This is the community that Manes prepares. Therefore the first endeavor of Manicheanism is to shape external life in its pure form. That is why Manicheanism laid such great stress on purity. The Cathari were a sect which appeared like a meteor. They gave themselves this name, Cathari, because Cathari means ‘the Pure Ones.’ They were human beings who had to keep themselves pure in their mode of life and in their moral relationships. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">In Manicheanism, it was less a question of the cultivation of Life but rather of the cultivation of the external Form of Life for the Sixth Root Race. In this Sixth Root Race, Good and Evil will form a far greater contrast than they do today. What will appear in the Fifth Round for the whole of humanity, i.e., that the physiognomy will be a direct expression for that which karma has created in man, so, in the Sixth Root Race, Evil will appear, especially in the Spiritual. There will be men who are mighty in Love and Goodness. But Evil will also be there as a mood and a disposition (Gesinnung) without any covering, within a large number of human beings. They will extol Evil. Some inkling in regard to the Evil in the Sixth Root Race glimmers in many men of genius. (Nietzsche's Blond Beast is a portent of this Evil in the Sixth Root Race.)</span><br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">The task of the Sixth Root Race is to draw Evil again into itself through gentleness (Milde). In those who are the followers of the Sons of the Widow there will live the inviolable principle that Evil must be overcome through gentleness. That is the task of the Manichean spiritual stream. It appears in forms which many can call to mind, and need not be mentioned. It must express itself in the forming of a community which has to spread above all things: Peace, Love, and Non-resistance to Evil. It must create a Form for the Life that is to come later. <br /><br /><br />-<i>Rudolf Steiner,</i> Berlin - November 11, 1904 - S-0948 - GA 93<br /><br /><br />Translation of brief notes made by Fraulein Scholl. Several passages in the German are very obscure.</span> </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-13748235479864772182019-01-15T20:38:00.000-08:002019-04-17T15:08:57.578-07:00Wagner & Buddhism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgc47jf73VYMHu5CwFq10ASMcL9ZVZoOezCWwmYUAfNNJ7fTmFkSKAJ3CITDpR-R-DMmdIPZWVrlNRLiOtiPf7ERe-dIGnFBMvNEYqmCVgI9WE9R2K59wwN7pimCtMEmb84-9C2uxajM/s1600/Percival.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1251" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgc47jf73VYMHu5CwFq10ASMcL9ZVZoOezCWwmYUAfNNJ7fTmFkSKAJ3CITDpR-R-DMmdIPZWVrlNRLiOtiPf7ERe-dIGnFBMvNEYqmCVgI9WE9R2K59wwN7pimCtMEmb84-9C2uxajM/s400/Percival.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is an amalgamation of Buddhism and Christianity in <i>"Parsifal".</i> This, as we know, is also one of the hallmarks of Manichaeism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Richard Wagner was very well read in Buddhism, and incorporated it in his operas:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The name <i>"Tristan"</i> means sorrow and sadness (the world of Samsara). </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is the sadness of separation from God:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"It might also be argued that there are no specifically Buddhist ideas in <i>Tristan.</i>....The subject of his <i>Tristan und Isolde</i> is not salvation but the suffering caused by the desire for extinction.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Whether that deliverance or extinction takes the form of absorption into Brahman or transition into Nirvana is unimportant, in the context of the drama. From a remark that Wagner made to Cosima many years later, that Kundry had undergone Isolde's transfiguration a thousand times, it would appear that he had reached the view that Isolde had not yet escaped from samsara, which in notes in the Brown Book he equated to the realm of day; in contrast, Nirvana was the realm of night. So there is sufficient evidence from which to conclude that, if not during the composition of Tristan und Isolde then at least in reflecting on it later, Wagner thought of Tristan yearning for Nirvana, the realm of night."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-Derrick Everett </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />In the Wagnerian <i>Parsifal,</i> he shoots a swan: </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Off with you, be on your way!</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Take some advice from Gurnemanz:</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In future leave our swans in peace,</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">go seek -- you gander -- for geese!"</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Much later, in Parzival's wanderings, he comes across a goose that has been wounded by King Arthur's falcon. Three drops of blood fall on the snow; the red on white reminds Parzival of his distant wife, Condwiramurs. In contemplation of the blood on the snow, he falls into a trance."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />The three drops of blood on the snow is also scene from the beginning of Snow White. The young Queen pricks her finger while sewing and three drops of blood fall onto the snow. </span><br />
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In the writings of Basil Valentinus the Swan represents the third level of initiation- Raven and Peacock being 1st and 2nd. In this level Inspiration as the Divine Word, the Harmony of the Spheres, sounds forth.<br /><br />"In the third degree he meets death and must sing the Swan's song. He then dies to everything earthly."<br /><br />-Notes from Walter Stein's <i>The Ninth Century.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">From Edwin Arnold's<i> "Light of Asia"-</i><br /><br />It happened one vernal day that a wild swan was shot by an idle courtier as the flock flew near the palace, and the wounded bird fell into the hands of Siddârtha. As he soothed the frightened, fluttering bird with tender touch, and drew the arrow from its side, he pressed the barb into his own wrist to make trial of the pain: -- <br /><br />Then some one came who said, "My Prince hath shot <br />A swan, which fell among the roses here.<br />He bids me pray you send it. Will you send?<br />"Nay," quoth Siddârtha, "if the bird were dead <br />To send it to the slayer might be well,<br />But the swan lives; my cousin hath but killed<br />The god-like speed which throbbed in this white wing."<br /><br />And Devadatta answered, "The wild thing,<br />Living or dead, is his who fetched it down;<br />'Twas no man's in the clouds, but fall'n't is mine,<br />Give me my prize, fair Cousin." Then our Lord<br />Laid the swan's neck beside his own smooth cheek<br />And gravely spake, "Say no! the bird is mine,<br />The first of myriad things which shall be mine<br />By right of mercy and love's lordliness.<br />For now I know, by what within me stirs,<br />That I shall teach compassion unto men<br />And be a speechless world's interpreter,<br />Abating this accursed flood of woe"<br />(end of quote)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />"In Wieland Wagner's interpretation of Parsifal, the spiritual hero progressed from the realm of mother and matter, symbolised by the swan, to the realm of father and spirit, symbolised by the dove. In this interpretation the incident with the swan can be seen as the starting point of Parsifal's journey and the descending dove as the end of that journey. In Wieland's famous Bayreuth production (1951-1973), however, the dove was omitted. Perhaps because this symbol suggests a parallel between Parsifal and Christ, one that Richard Wagner repeatedly denied had been his intention."<br /><br />Kundry is the Kundalini: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then someone chances upon her in a cave, or in dense undergrowth, in a deathlike sleep, lifeless, numb, bloodless, with all limbs rigid.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />-Wagner's Prose Draft of 1865<br /><br />After Parsfal's destiny is played out another union takes place - that of Parsifal with his wife Kondawiramur. They meet where Parsifal once saw three drops of blood in the snow. It was on this spot that he fell into a state of continuing dream while overpowerd by desire for her. Now all this is overcome. His love is now free from egoism. It has become a healing love which, stripped of all egotistic desire, is a free and radiant blessing- like the light of the sun it streams over the world.<br /><br />-T. Ravenscroft <i>The Cup of Destiny</i></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-62073176642346991822018-11-27T21:34:00.001-08:002019-01-13T13:37:40.735-08:00What is Spiritual Manifests itself in the Form of Matter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Manichaeism recognised a reality in which sense and super-sense are blended; for it the words and concepts "matter and "spirit" have as yet no contrasting meaning."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />"In defining it, it must be pointed out that the general outlook of this philosophy is more important than what can be described as its actual content. The first and most remarkable thing about it is that the division of human experience into a spiritual and a material side had no meaning for it. The words or ideas "spirit" and "matter" convey no distinction to it. It sees the spiritual in what appears to the senses as material, and when it speaks of the spiritual it does not rise above that which manifests itself to the senses.<br /><br />"It is true to say of Manichaeism- much more so than the abstract and intellectual world of today can realise- that it actually saw spiritual phenomena, spiritual facts, in the stars and their courses, and that in the mystery of the Sun it saw a spiritual reality manifesting itself to us on earth. It conveys no meaning for Manichaeism to speak of matter and spirit separately, for to the Manichaean what is spiritual manifests itself in the form of matter, and that which appears as material is itself spiritual. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Therefore Manichaeism speaks quite naturally of astronomical things and world-phenomona in the same way that it would speak of moral phenomena or happenings within the evolution of the human race. Thus, the existence side by side of "light" and "darkness" which - imitating something from ancient Persia- it embodies in its philosophy is both a physical and a spiritual fact. In the same way Manichaeism speaks of the Sun in its movements in the heavens as related to the moral realities and impulses in the development of mankind. It sees the relation of this "spiritual physical" Sun to the signs of the Zodiac, as the relation of the Original Being, the source of the world's light, to the twelve Beings through whom He delegates his activities."<br /><br />-The Redemption of Thinking, Rudolf Steiner</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-37213920654053829622018-11-19T11:44:00.001-08:002018-12-10T12:56:55.685-08:00Pure Light <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZdiHH9hLogkaxdv4zudGlYsSZUc0mdTxlk4IrjtQkEzbMDaA4xfqXMRfPfPYG-AchB7CY4IxxMTFwF79SU4gdMqKvLcO54W1lGRhGQ3I5VLdetQF1fXbFYBt7PK5hmlphiXJ1yu-r0Qs/s1600/Light+Bright.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="960" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZdiHH9hLogkaxdv4zudGlYsSZUc0mdTxlk4IrjtQkEzbMDaA4xfqXMRfPfPYG-AchB7CY4IxxMTFwF79SU4gdMqKvLcO54W1lGRhGQ3I5VLdetQF1fXbFYBt7PK5hmlphiXJ1yu-r0Qs/s400/Light+Bright.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Look at the light as it touches unevenly all that it falls upon. See </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">here a shadow, see here a great spark, on the leaves, on the tops of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">that which it fires.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are gradients of light, the way in which the scene is lit, and </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">one may focus best upon the shadows, or upon the most brilliant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Seek, with your eyes, the shiniest, brightest places within the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">scene. Go to them, and ask, what inhabits these brightest places. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">They will shift, but they will be present, wherever kissed by the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">radiance. They are much illumined. Keep looking. See where it is the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">light falls, and know that this makes a difference, not only to your </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">vision, but to those places where it is most intense. It may be in </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">reflection, it may be in direct sunshine, look around to the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">brightest places, keep looking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Oh, Great and Wonderful One, He who brings this Light: the Light, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">not in symbol, but in actuality - where should we be, without this </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">intensity? I am humbled, I am grateful, I rejoice this vision </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">granted. And I know, that help is at hand, wherever Thy Radiance </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">falls. Pure Light. Why do I take thee for granted? Why have I cared </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">not to see you? I look to all else, that by your Power, is made known </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">to me, but not at the actual Light itself. The brightest part of the </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Light."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Look, really look, into the those places lit so brightly: look, at </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">the light itself. By contrast we may experience those places where </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">the light is at its brightest - it is the very contrast that enables </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">us to do so, and it would be hard to imagine a world without </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">contrast, if all images were indeed the same, without the palette of </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">gradient light.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">-B.Hive 🌞</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_PVxL1F1wnmO4WMxoJ6aDLYtdGf-0-JIv_2Vu8T84xk0yUh3SHWjtuD9dLKAMmUM_7El_1tLVPJZPi9oHYybRkxlqkJH-qYeW_GubK0XCAG1nDWZ1_fT57kngfqWK9SOBpuG6DFceYEo/s1600/Light+scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="236" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_PVxL1F1wnmO4WMxoJ6aDLYtdGf-0-JIv_2Vu8T84xk0yUh3SHWjtuD9dLKAMmUM_7El_1tLVPJZPi9oHYybRkxlqkJH-qYeW_GubK0XCAG1nDWZ1_fT57kngfqWK9SOBpuG6DFceYEo/s400/Light+scene.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">In some dim way, to realize the etheric as etheric, then one begins to move forward into a kind of new and more intimate relationship with the world of plants. One begins, for instance, to feel, like a sort of tenderness in one's own heart, the infinite delicacy and tenderness that hovers about the growing point commonest weed. And at the same time or it may well be later - it come about that one will begin to feel a new, and again an intimate, relation with the light itself. One begins to perceive, or rather to feel, that the light itself- this light from the sun that comes to us through the senses - is etheric and that the etheric is a kind of light.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJrNsJzkudMjJfFemuciVUhjmWg_wut8nz6yssyrh761LQCCCpICoZecQvJ7Fer4cR2EapB7kqjHYwFn_3TUlMUT7Su5OXTFAkyaNGrmY-B6QqY1krqLER1fuC5QiJ_WAbj7PoT5C-dc/s1600/Sun+Alchemist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: blue;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJrNsJzkudMjJfFemuciVUhjmWg_wut8nz6yssyrh761LQCCCpICoZecQvJ7Fer4cR2EapB7kqjHYwFn_3TUlMUT7Su5OXTFAkyaNGrmY-B6QqY1krqLER1fuC5QiJ_WAbj7PoT5C-dc/s1600/Sun+Alchemist.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this is a very deeply moving experience. Much deeper than mere observation. It goes to the roots of one's being, like the breath of life itself. One will begin to feel that the light is not only outside in space, but also within oneself. Indeed there are sure to be occasions when, for brief periods, one is aware, not only of seeing or feeling the light, but also of breathing it. Breathing it in and out, but especially in.</span><br style="white-space: pre-wrap;" /><br /><br style="white-space: pre-wrap;" /><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Only a much more intimate kind of breathing so that one will feel –at times that one is in the light, not only as our bodies are in water when they swim, not only as they are in the air we breathe, but rather as we speak, in that significant English idiom, of people being in love. If one had to find a single word in which to sum up the more subjective aspect experience I am speaking of, there is only one word that could be used and that is - joy. The sort of joy that we see made manifest in the sunlight dancing on the water. Deep draughts of pure joy, which obliterate, while they last all anxiety, all sorrow, all considerations of karma, and even all memory of such things. A joy so uplifting and, if I may use the word, so thoroughgoing, that however short a time it lasts, it will leave some enduring effects behind it. It may indeed somewhat affect the whole personality - with reverberations even into the sphere of physical health.</span><br style="white-space: pre-wrap;" /><br style="white-space: pre-wrap;" /><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">-Owen Barfield </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-57131162369408699032016-04-05T15:52:00.003-07:002018-11-27T21:28:49.331-08:00Klingsor's Evil Arts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.monsalvat.no/journet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.monsalvat.no/journet.jpg" height="400" width="250" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Arabian Black Magic was studied by Klingsor:</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"All
this is closely connected with a figure who glimmers across from the
Middle Ages as a legendary being, but is well know to anyone acquainted
with the nature of the Mysteries: a personality who was quite real in
the middle of the Middle Ages, Klingsor, the Duke of Terra de Labur, a
district we have to look for in what is now Southern Calabria.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">From
there were carried out the incursions of the enemy of the Grail,
especially over to Sicily.
Even as today, if we tread Sicilian soil and have occult sight, we are
aware of the Akashic after-effects of the great Empedocles still present
in the atmosphere, so we can still perceive there the evil
after-effects of Klingsor, who allied himself from his Duchy of Terra de
Labur, across the Straits of Messina, with those enemies of the Grail
who occupied the fastness known in occultism and in legend as Calot
bobot."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />-Rudolf Steiner</span></span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.italythisway.com//images/caltabellotta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.italythisway.com//images/caltabellotta.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Calot Bobot"</i> or<i> "Kalot Enbolot"</i> - from <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the </span>Arabic </span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st"><i>Qalat-al-ballut</i> - </span>mean<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s</span> <i>"Castle of the
Oaks".</i> From there, African Mohammedan enemies of the Grail worked. The
symbol of the Grail is the Sun host held by the crescent Moon. The Moon
forces will be redeemed by the Sun. It is opposed by the crescent with
the star (the false Venus?).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So today we have the old
battle of the Sons of the Sun with the Sons of the Moon. Walter Stein
predicted the confrontation between East and West.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Working with the time cycles of Trithemius of Sponheim he saw a replay of the battle of Salamis
of 480 BC, where the Persians were beaten back by the Greeks. He
predicted that two old enemies would have to cooperate if the battle
were to be won.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"In the middle of the
Middle Ages, <i>Calot Bobot</i> in Sicily was the seat of the goddess called
<i>Iblis,</i> the daughter of<i> Eblis; </i>and among all evil unions which have taken
place within the Earth's evolution between beings in whose souls there
were occult forces, the one known to occultists as the worst of all was
between<i> Klingsor</i> and <i>Iblis,</i> the daughter of <i>Eblis. Iblis,</i> by her very
name, is characterized as being related to <i>Eblis,</i> and in Mohammedan
tradition <i>Eblis</i> is the figure we call Lucifer. </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Iblis is a kind of
feminine aspect of Eblis, the Mohammedan Lucifer, and with her the evil
magician Klingsor united his own evil arts, through which in the Middle
Ages he worked against the Grail. These things must needs find
expression in pictures, but in pictures that correspond to realities;
they cannot be expressed in abstract ideas. And the whole of the
hostility to the Grail was enacted in that fastness of Iblis, Calot
bobot whither the remarkable Queen Sibilla had fled with her son William, in 1194, under the rulership of the Emperor Henry V1."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">-Rudolf Steiner</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As
the story goes, Klingsor was found in bed with the king of Sicily's
wife, Iblis. For this indiscretion Klingsor had "yield his manhood to
the king in satisfaction".</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">-Walter Stein <i>The<span style="font-style: italic;"> Ninth Century</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As a result Klingsor was made a "capon" a "castrated cock".<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">May we commit to the higher path, and not the stupidity of Kling<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">sor. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: medium;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Death
dies. Evility does not thrive; it exists, corrupts and then falls to
its own design. Hatreds are self-inflicting. Even the wars in Heaven are
but a thumping and a clanging of but a toy drum and cymbal to the
serene and holy hierarchies.
</span></span><br />
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"By their own nature those who offend
Father God by their intent, by their behavior, will be unarmored,
incapacitated and laid victim to the same ranks they themselves have led
through their short-lived victories.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span>
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</span></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Then let them step amongst the slush of
once flesh, and feel the edge of every tendon, every sinew - for each
sightless eye, twisted or dismembered limb, for any premature and
violent end, they too, in trade, shall be thus unendowed. </span></span></div>
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</span></span>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Where now the strength that once was arm?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cannot the finger point, or curl -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Or hold thy heavy crown?"</span><br />
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">-B.Hive, <a href="http://888-esoteric-christianity.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/question-on-pacifism-10th-november-2001.html">Question on Pacifism,</a>10th November 2001 </span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The ancient town of Triokala was destroyed and rebuilt in the Ninth Century by the Arabs under the name of<i> "Kalat al ballut"</i> (stronghold of the oaks).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here in 1091 King Roger (1031-1101) defeated the Arabs, and in memory of the victory he erected a temple to St. George. The Normans built a castle, where in 1302, between Frederick II of Aragon (1272-1337) and Charles of Valois (1270-1325), the Treaty of Caltabellotta was signed after the war of Vespers, and the island was ceded to the Aragonese.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Caltabellotta became a county in the mid-14th century when King Peter of Aragon (1319-1387) granted the title to Raymond Peralta, who became the poweful Earl of Caltabellotta. The county was ruled by the Peralta until the fifteenth century, when it passed for matrimonial law to the family of De Luna.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Spanish rule lasted at <a href="http://www.italythisway.com/places/articles/caltabellotta-history.php">Caltabellotta </a>until the early 18th century; then the town passed to the Bourbons and finally it entered into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy in 1861.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Caltabellotta: it starts with a legend</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">According to legend, when Daedalus, the inventor of the Labyrinth, fled from the anger of King Minos, he took refuge on Sicily with Cocalus, a powerful Sicanian king, where he lived for a while and filled the island with his fame. Here he also built 'Kamikos', a city on a rock that was absolutely impregnable.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Meanwhile, King Minos prepared an invasion, and on landing in the territory of Agrigento he turned against Kamikos, asking Cocalus to deliver Daedalus to him. Using deception, Cocalos invited him to a meeting and received Minos hospitably. While Minos went for a bathe, Cocalus 'detained' him in the hot water, that killed him, and then returned the body to the Cretans, saying that he had fallen into the hot water and died.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Schubring emphasized that the legend disguised the fact that Cocalos and Kamikos were attacked by an army from Crete. Schubring's intuition was confirmed by contemporary studies:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“The mythological basis for the military expedition of Minos, in search of Daedalus, who escaped from the Labyrinth and took refuge at the court of the Sicanian King Cocalus, reveals the historical reality of a possible military confrontation between the ancient military powers for the control of the Mediterranean routes, trades and technologies”.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">According to tradition, Kamikos was perhaps destroyed in the age of Theron, the tyrant of Akragas (540-472 BC), and abandoned by its inhabitants. With the disappearance of Kamicos, "Triokala" made its appearance. The Greeks called the city by a name that identifies its main properties, namely "Triokala" = three good things: water, fruit, and impregnability.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">However it is not a foregone conclusion that Triokala appeared after the disappearance of Kamikos. According to Schubring, Triokala was the fortress of Kamikos, situated on a rocky peak overlooking the town - hence Triokala was the fortress (frourìon) of Kamikos, and the vantage point of the slaves during the first Servile War in Sicily (134-132 BC).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The position of Triokala coincides perfectly with the current town of Caltabellotta.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-69673247598833842962013-02-04T01:09:00.001-08:002018-11-23T16:16:10.590-08:00 Manichean Cross<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-N4_uaRcWD-ySrMtTsg7lCo9kWccaPeeqiYbz-HCgv2g_G0YrwuZksqj0SQN_PGToapHObwWPce5WJtdyA5fSZNWCc7FcYuyNeB3Tf-iNI9wJWXFe-FPNwfPm0FyqSeq5_P9K4uFztc/s400/Mar_sleeva_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-N4_uaRcWD-ySrMtTsg7lCo9kWccaPeeqiYbz-HCgv2g_G0YrwuZksqj0SQN_PGToapHObwWPce5WJtdyA5fSZNWCc7FcYuyNeB3Tf-iNI9wJWXFe-FPNwfPm0FyqSeq5_P9K4uFztc/s400/Mar_sleeva_1.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Could this be the original Manichean Cross?:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span>
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<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Those who advocate using the crucifix in the Syro-Malabar Catholic<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Church instead of the Mar Thoma Cross claim that the Mar Thoma Cross<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>is actually the "Manichean Cross" a symbol of Manicheanism (a<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>heretical early Christian sect that blended Christian and Zoroastrian<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>beliefs and whose founder, Manichee, claimed to be the incarnation of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the Holy Spirit)."</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The cross has a dove above it representing the Holy Spirit. The lotus<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>below is meant to represent the Father. The lotus in the East also<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>represents the flowering of great beauty from the sludge and slime.<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Perhaps here, another symbol of the good overcoming evil<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: large;">and</span> its resul<span style="font-size: large;">ts.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The<a href="http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19970629/18050293.html"> following</a> is about the fuss this cross has caused in the Mar<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Thoma Church:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"The warring factions in the Church could be described as the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>traditionalists and the reformists. The traditionalists maintain that<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the Syro-Malabar Church is a daughter-Church of the Chaldean Church<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>with headquarters in Baghdad. They are for the adoption of the whole<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>East Syrian (Chaldean) liturgy said to be prevalent in the Church in</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Kerala from the fifth century to the 16th century when the Latin<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Church established its sway with the advent of the Portuguese.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"According to the reformists, the traditionalists are for the removal<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>of the crucifix and abolition of prayers like Rosary and Way of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Cross among other things and for the introduction of `Chaldean<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>vestiges' like the Persian Cross, sanctuary veil and `Bema,' (a<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>separate table to be placed in the front or in the middle of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>aisle).</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwMuNLtqQyyBus0kD5MZWPoBF9mj6tj0sfs32VIzvVVZZOhknwoyCsnUZRu_sIazy4Tg5u4sKGAEeBLQFPlHPkJIR7W-Tmi3UJzzyjQx_JinTqPmH3PQGgl9Ia1d9uNiT443WEmgYKg0/s1600/Manichean+Cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1014" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwMuNLtqQyyBus0kD5MZWPoBF9mj6tj0sfs32VIzvVVZZOhknwoyCsnUZRu_sIazy4Tg5u4sKGAEeBLQFPlHPkJIR7W-Tmi3UJzzyjQx_JinTqPmH3PQGgl9Ia1d9uNiT443WEmgYKg0/s320/Manichean+Cross.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">"</span>The crucifix has disappeared from many convents which easily<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>succumbed to the Chaldean propaganda,'' says noted religious scholar<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Prof. Scaria Zacharia. The crucifix, a matter of great religious and<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>emotional attachment is being<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>replaced by what is called the `Mar<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Thoma Cross'. The reformists contend that this cross is the Manichean<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Cross, a symbol of a heretic Church of a non-Catholic origin, which<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>has since become defunct."</span></span></blockquote>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-62056045877009234162013-02-02T15:48:00.001-08:002018-11-21T12:26:04.449-08:00Paraclete & the Redeemed Lucifer <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lucifer and all</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>other adversarial spirits can only live within the Holy Spirit<i>, as all </i>life is</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>encompassed by it.</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">A</span><i><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></i><a href="http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/DeedChrist/19090322p01.html">quote<span style="font-size: large;"> fro<span style="font-size: large;">m Rudolf Steiner:</span></span></a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">That man is capable of this, that he is capable of understanding Christ,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>that Lucifer, resurrected in a new form, can unite with Christ as the good<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Spirit this, as prophecy still, was told by Christ Himself to those around<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Him, when He said: Ye shall be illumined by the new Spirit, by the Holy<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Spirit!</span></span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3X9so1rn5EEgbQoLZwb_X-YQFRIyYboEI6Y5TcIhuN-zIlhNnFrtrFiyiONePqyBRY-Y7ActHA0rPYwO0eXovIyEe3K8qiNXVMAKJUxMJtxuemWR7zSoEiGq7AQ08kMOe6FT0h0z54UM/s1600/Peter+light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3X9so1rn5EEgbQoLZwb_X-YQFRIyYboEI6Y5TcIhuN-zIlhNnFrtrFiyiONePqyBRY-Y7ActHA0rPYwO0eXovIyEe3K8qiNXVMAKJUxMJtxuemWR7zSoEiGq7AQ08kMOe6FT0h0z54UM/s400/Peter+light.jpg" width="311" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This Holy Spirit<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>is none other than the Spirit through whom man<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>can apprehend what Christ has wrought. Christ desired not merely to work,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>but also to be apprehended, to be understood. Therefore the sending of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Spirit by whom men are inspired, the sending of the Holy spirit, is<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>implicit in Christianity.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the spiritual sense, Whitsuntide belongs inseparably to Easter. This<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Holy Spirit<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>is none other than the Lucifer-Spirit, resurrected now in<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>higher, purer glory the Spirit of independent understanding,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>wisdom-inwoven. Christ Himself foretold that this Spirit would come to men<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>after Him, and in the light of this Spirit their labors must proceed. What<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>is it that works onward in the light of this Spirit? The world-stream of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>spiritual science, if rightly conceived! What is this spiritual science? It<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>is the wisdom of the Spirit, the wisdom that lifts into the full light of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>consciousness that in Christianity which would otherwise remain in the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>unconscious. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The torch of the resurrected Lucifer, of the Lucifer now<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>transformed into the good, blazons the way for Christ. Lucifer is the bearer<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>of the Light<span style="font-size: large;">,</span> Christ is the Light! As the word itself denotes, Lucifer is<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the Bearer of the Light. That is what the spiritual scientific movement<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>should be, that is implicit in it. </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Those who know that the progress of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>mankind depends upon living apprehension of the mighty Event of Golgotha are<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>they who as the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings are<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>united in the great Guiding Lodge of mankind. And as once the tongues of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>fire<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>hovered down as a living symbol upon the company of the apostles, so<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>does the Holy Spirit announced by Christ Himself reign as the Light over<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the Lodge of the Twelve. The Thirteenth is the Leader of the Lodge of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Twelve. The Holy Spirit is the mighty Teacher of those we name the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>through them that<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>his voice and his wisdom flow down to mankind in this or that stream upon<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the earth. The treasures of wisdom<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>gathered together by the spiritual<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>scientific movement in order to understand the universe and the Spirits<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>therein, how through the Holy Spirit into the Lodge of the Twelve; and<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>that is what will ultimately lead mankind step by step to free,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>self-conscious understanding of Christ and of the Event of Golgotha. Thus to<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>cultivate<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>spiritual science means to<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>understand that the Spirit has been<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>sent into the world by Christ; the pursuit of spiritual science is implicit<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>in true Christianity. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">W</span>e find in <i>"Parzifal"</i> that his mother, the pregnant Herzeleide, nurses<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>a young dragon in a dream:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">For she did nurse a dragon, that</span></span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">forth from her body sprung,</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And its dragon-life to nourish awhile</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">at her breast it hung,</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then it fled from her sight so swiftly..</span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The ultimate redemption of Evil through Good appears</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">in Mani himself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mani <span data-reactid=".r[42f6v].[1][3][1]{comment10152059072132491_10152068536167491}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[8]">speaking at the age of 24: </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".r[42f6v].[1][3][1]{comment10152059072132491_10152068536167491}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[8]">"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". </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".r[42f6v].[1][3][1]{comment10152059072132491_10152068536167491}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[8]">"I have understood by him
everything. I have seen the totality through him. I have become a single
body with a single spirit." </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[42f6v].[1][3][1]{comment10152059072132491_10152068536167491}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]"><span data-reactid=".r[42f6v].[1][3][1]{comment10152059072132491_10152068536167491}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><br data-reactid=".r[42f6v].[1][3][1]{comment10152059072132491_10152068536167491}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[10]" /><span data-reactid=".r[42f6v].[1][3][1]{comment10152059072132491_10152068536167491}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[14]"> "The divine counterpart will appear and bring help to
every apostle (Keph. 36: 6–9)" and not just one person. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-9329748424833904462013-02-01T01:22:00.000-08:002018-11-18T22:48:02.837-08:00Eightfold Path<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The city of Petalamund (Petal Mount) appears in verses in Eschenbach's<i><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Parsifal.</i> It has sixteen gates and is <span style="font-size: large;">besieged</span> by a black (Blackamoor)<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>army on eight of the gates and a white army on the other eight. Here is a<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>picture of the <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">throat</span> lotus blossom or chakram. Eight of the petals (those </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">bes<span style="font-size: large;">ieg</span>ed</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> by the Moorish army) have been developed through grace, the other</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">eight require working on by the individual.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is a most practical way in the which noble eightfold path has been<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>incorporated into the Christian context.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rudolf Steiner suggested these exercises for students who wished to enhance<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>these qualities:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">F<span style="font-size: large;">or</span> <span style="font-size: large;">the </span>D<span style="font-size: large;">ays</span> <span style="font-size: large;">of the</span> W<span style="font-size: large;">eek</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The pupil must pay careful attention to certain activities in the life of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>soul<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>which in the ordinary way are carried on<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>carelessly and inattentively.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are eight such activities.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is naturally best to undertake only one exercise at a time, throughout a<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>week or a fortnight, for example, then the second, and so on, then<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>beginning over again. Meanwhile it is best for the eighth exercise to be<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>carried out every day. True self-knowledge is then gradually achieved<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>and any progress made is perceived. Then later on - beginning with</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Saturday - one exercise lasting for about five minutes may perhaps be<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>added daily to the eighth so that the relevant exercise will occasionally<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>fall on the same day. Thus:<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Saturday - Thoughts; Sunday - Resolves;<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Monday - Talking; Tuesday - Actions; Wednesday - <span style="font-size: large;">Behavior</span>, and so<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>on.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">SATURDAY</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">To pay attention to one's ideas.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">To think only significant thoughts. To learn little by little to separate in<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>one's thoughts the essential from the nonessential, the eternal from the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>transitory, truth from mere opinion.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In listening to the talk of one's fellow-men, to try and become quite still<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>inwardly, foregoing all assent, and still more all <span style="font-size: large;">unfavorable</span> judgments<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>(criticism, rejection), even in one's thoughts and feelings.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This may be called:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">`RIGHT OPINION'.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">SUNDAY</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">To determine on even the most insignificant matter only after fully<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>reasoned deliberation. All unthinking behaviour, all meaningless actions,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>should be kept far away from the soul. One should always have well-<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>weighed reasons for everything. And one should definitely abstain from<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>doing anything for which there is no significant reason.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Once one is convinced of the rightness of a decision, one must hold fast<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>to it, with inner steadfastness.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This may be called:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">`RIGHT JUDGMENT'.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">having been formed independently of sympathies and antipathies.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">MONDAY</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Talking. Only what has sense and meaning should come from the lips of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>one striving for higher development. All talking for the sake of talking -<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>to kill time - is in this sense harmful.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The usual kind of conversation, a disjointed medley of remarks, should<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>be avoided. This does not mean shutting oneself off from intercourse<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>with one's fellows; it is precisely then that talk should gradually be led<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>to<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>significance. One adopts a thoughtful attitude to every speech and answer</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">taking all aspects into account. Never talk without cause - be gladly<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>silent. One tries not to talk too much or too little. First listen quietly;<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>then<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>reflect on what has been said.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This exercise may be called:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">`RIGHT WORD'.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">TUESDAY</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">External actions. These should not be disturbing for our fellow-men.<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Where an occasion calls for action out of one's inner being, deliberate<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>carefully how one can best meet the occasion - for the good of the whole,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the lasting happiness of man, the eternal.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where one does things of one's own accord, out of one's own initiative:<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>consider most thoroughly beforehand the effect of one's actions.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is called:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">`RIGHT DEED'.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">WEDNESDAY</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The ordering of life. To live in accordance with Nature and Spirit. Not to<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>be swamped by the external trivialities of life. To avoid all that brings<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>unrest and haste into life. To hurry over nothing, but also not to be<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>indolent. To look on life as a means for working towards higher<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>development and to behave accordingly.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">One speaks in this connection of</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">`RIGHT STANDPOINT'.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">THURSDAY</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Human <span style="font-size: large;">Endeavor</span>. One should take care to do nothing that lies beyond<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>one's powers - but also to leave nothing undone which lies within them.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">To look beyond the everyday, the momentary, and to set oneself aims and<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>ideals connected with the highest duties of a human being. For instance,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>in the sense of the prescribed exercises, to try to develop oneself so that<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>afterwards one may be able all the more to help and advise one's fellow-<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>men - though perhaps not in the immediate future.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This can be summed up as:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">`TO LET ALL THE FOREGOING EXERCISES BECOME A HABIT'.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">FRIDAY</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The <span style="font-size: large;">endeavor</span> to learn as much as possible from life.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nothing goes by us without giving us a chance to gain experiences that<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>are useful for life. If one has done<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>something wrongly or imperfectly, that<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>becomes a motive for doing it rightly or more perfectly, later on.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">If one sees others doing something, one observes them with the like end<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>in view (yet not coldly or heartlessly). And one does nothing without<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>looking back to past experiences which can be of assistance in one's<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>decisions and achievements.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">One can learn from everyone - even from children if one is attentive.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This exercise is called:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">`RIGHT MEMORY'.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">(Remembering what has been learnt from experiences).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">SUMMARY</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">To turn one's gaze inwards from time to time, even if only for five<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>minutes daily at the same time. In so doing one should sink down into<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>oneself, carefully take counsel with oneself, test and form one's<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>principles of life, run through in thought one's knowledge - or lack of it -<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>weigh up one's duties, think over the contents and true purpose of life,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>feel genuinely pained by one's own errors and imperfections. In a word:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">labor</span> to discover the essential, the enduring, and earnestly aim at goals<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>in accord with it: for instance, virtues to be acquired. (Not to fall into<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>mistake of thinking that one has done something well, but to strive ever<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>further towards the highest standards.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This exercise is called:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">`RIGHT EXAMINATION'.</span></span><br />
<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-84366984035653382102013-01-29T19:50:00.001-08:002014-01-20T15:28:31.865-08:00Royal Will & the Jesuit Way <blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Receive the Godhead right into your willing</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And it comes down from its cosmic throne.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">-Schiller</span></span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Following, are a few interesting passages on the will and its training from Friedrich Rittelmeyer's Meditation. He makes the point that before will must come feeling:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> "To Thee Divine Ground of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>world- I turn my willing! May the power of this willing spring f<span style="font-size: large;">ro</span>m feeling<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>that unites itself with Christ, Who liveth in Thy Life..."</span></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">-Act of Consecration of Man</span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">He continues:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"THE training of the will still languishes for the most part among<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>humanity....</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"And yet the increasing number of cases of sickness of the will- weakness of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>will, want of resolve, feeble vacillation - indicate that something must be<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>done.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"One can work upon the will by asceticism, by breathing exercises, and also<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>by taking certain medicines. These can be a support to the organic<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>foundations of the life of our will. But it is in<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>accordance with the spirit<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>of our time that the will should be built up out of the spiritual centre of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the human being, out of the ego. Only so is it fully healthy and enduringly<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>strong. It is certainly a help towards this if one freely gives up certain<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>enjoyments. One will indeed notice how this<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>concentrates and confirms one's<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>will. But it must be a free renunciation, which has something of royalty in<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>it, which can act at any moment, but will not; out of the nature of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>spirit. Violence and rules from<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>without easily bring about a damming-up of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the will which is not quite healthy and which threatens a<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>relapse.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"It was otherwise in earlier ages when the human ego was still only little<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>developed. Today the only safe renunciation is that which the ego renews<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>at every moment out of its free insight<span style="font-size: large;">.</span> Such a renunciation is enormously<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>refreshing for the life of the will.</span></span></blockquote>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">He compares this with the Jesuit exercises:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"We must also reject such training of the will as is offered us in the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>jesuitical and similar exercises [such <span style="font-size: large;">as those used by the military]</span>.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"It is not denied that they school and<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>strengthen the will in a high degree.<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>They break self-will. But they also break a man's own will. This is quite<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>understandable<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>because of the age in which they arose, and because of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>object they were intended to serve. </span></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"But they have no regard for the growing<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>ego and its individual possibilities and tasks. They have no consideration<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>for the ripening freedom in humanity. They do<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>not see the royalty of a will<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>which works out of an ego. </span></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"So they develop, indeed the power of the will<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>formally to a high degree, but at the price of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>having no free ego there to use this<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>will. They put the man into a uniform.<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>In this uniform he may feel his self to be strong, and believe himself to be<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>something more than he really is. But nothing is more apt to lead humanity<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>away from its goal than a spiritual uniform, at least in our age. </span></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"In the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>exercises of the Jesuits, occult experiences of humanity<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>are at work still<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>with a thousand year-old<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>power, but they work upon an age that<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>requires<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>something different. They maintain the Middle Ages among us , even when<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>through their pact with Modernism they<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>fascinate many people. </span></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Besides much<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>else which might be said about them - e.g., that<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>they proclaim<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>us the earthly king instead of Christ as Lord of the higher ego, that they<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>overwhelm men with a whole system of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>dogma from the past, that they plant<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>much egoism and materialism - this crippling of the free ego, of which alone<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the will may break forth, is decisive for us. </span></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"If today we bring to men new<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>exercises for the will, much greater care must be taken for the individual value of each<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>several ego. Otherwise there arises a<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>powerful aggregate of will which can<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>be guided by some power or other, but not the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>fulness of the Godhead which<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>reveals itself in personalities whose egos are free."</span></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-33933942729116009302013-01-28T13:16:00.000-08:002018-10-23T14:56:47.651-07:00Julian the Apostate <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Edward_Armitage_-_Julian_the_Apostate_presiding_at_a_conference_of_sectarian_-_1875.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Edward_Armitage_-_Julian_the_Apostate_presiding_at_a_conference_of_sectarian_-_1875.jpg" height="256" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julian the Apostate presiding at a conference of sectarians, by Edward Armitage, 1875</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Roman Emperor, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_the_Apostate">Julian the Apostate,</a> had the aim of continuing the pagan mysteries. Dr. Steiner believed that Julian's expedition into<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Persia was to gain entrance into the Persian mysteries and those of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Manichaeism. </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Julian was the one<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>great hope that the ideal of Manichaeism - of marrying the ancient<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>mysteries to Christianity - would be accomplished.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Augustine also failed, but this was his failure to understand the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>doctrines themselves.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"The aim of Manichaeism was the conquest of evil and of matter by<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>thought. Julian was brought face to face with the deeper implications<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>of the problem of evil and the relation of Christ Jesus to this<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>problem...."</span></span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">- Q</span>uote from <i>Building Stones for an Understanding of the Mystery<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>of Golgotha<span style="font-size: large;">,</span> Rudolf Steiner, </i><span style="font-size: large;">l</span>ecture<span style="font-size: large;"> seven.</span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dr. Steiner calls the murder of Julian one of the most significant<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>occurrences in history. </span></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/St._Mercurios_Killing_King_Oleonus_(St._Mercurios_Killing_Emperor_Julian_the_Apostate)_(3309043161).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/St._Mercurios_Killing_King_Oleonus_(St._Mercurios_Killing_Emperor_Julian_the_Apostate)_(3309043161).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Mecurios killing Julian</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Julian's star knowledge did not pass away however. He was</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">reincarnated as the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Tycho made medicines which relied on his star knowledge - these he gave away<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>for free. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We must incorporate the star knowledge into a future Christianity.<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>And this star knowledge will enter right down deep into the physical world -<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>as Tycho did with his remedies.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There were Sibylline prophecies concerning the destiny of Julian:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 363, Julian, on his way to engage Persia, stopped at the ruins of the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Second_Temple" title="Second Temple">Second Temple</a> in Jerusalem. Julian ordered the Temple rebuilt, which would have proven the Sibylline prophecies wrong. Unfortunately for him, the workers had visions of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>leaping flames and left the job.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Herzeleide,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Parsifal's Mother<span style="font-size: large;">,</span> was reckoned by Dr. Steiner to be the reincarnated<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Julian the Apostate<span style="font-size: large;">. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So again we have the connection of the old Mysteries (Julian) melded</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">with Christianity. </span><br />
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</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">He d<span style="font-size: large;">ied</span></span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">of a spear </span>wound that reportedly pierced the lower lobe of his liver, the peritoneum and <span style="font-size: large;">intestines<span style="font-size: large;">. <span style="font-size: large;">The perpetrat<span style="font-size: large;">or was said to be </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">a follower of Constantine.</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This took place a few days after the</span><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Samarra">Battle of Samarra</a> (26th June 363<b>)</b> in which he was wounded. His reported dying words were: <i>"You have won, Galilean".</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More on the <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://russianicons.wordpress.com/tag/st-merkurios/">murder of Julian:</a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“MERKOURIOS,” or as it is commonly written in its Latinized form, Mercurius.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"There is a further inscription on the sword of Merkurios that connects it with the Archangel Michael. We will soon see why.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"This first type of Merkurios, showing him standing clothed as a Roman
warrior, is the type most commonly found. But there is a second type,
found particularly in Coptic Christianity, that shows him mounted on a
horse, somewhat as in icons of George the Dragonslayer. But instead of a
dragon, there is a fatally-wounded man fallen (often with his horse)
under Merkurios, and that man is the Emperor Julian.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now if we stop to do a little historical math, we can see that
Merkurios is said to have died in 250 c.e. The Emperor Julian died in
363 c.e. So we have a gap of 113 years between. Why, then is Merkurios
depicted in icons killing Julian?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"The answer lies in another of those fanciful stories common in the
study of icons. But first let’s look at an example of the rather
violent second type:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://russianicons.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/iulmerk.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2385" height="783" src="https://russianicons.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/iulmerk.jpg?w=873&h=1164" width="584" /></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"It depicts Merkurios killing Emperor Julian with a lance. At right
is a bishop, easily identifiable as such by his garments, particularly
the diamond-shaped <em>epigonation</em> worn at his waist. This bishop
is St. Basil “the Great.” According to the tale, Basil heartily
disliked the Emperor Julian and his “pagan” preferences. Basil went to
pray on a mountain with other Christians, and while doing so saw a
vision of Mary calling St. Merkurios to her, and telling him to go and
kill Julian. So Christian tradition accounts for the death of Julian by
saying a mysterious soldier appeared, stabbed Julian with his lance,
then disappeared, and that soldier is supposed to be St. Merkurios, sent
down from Heaven to do the violent deed."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-86184757389987636612013-01-27T15:19:00.001-08:002014-10-22T23:37:41.459-07:00Augustinian Mistake <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://hughosb.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-augustine-botticelli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://hughosb.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/st-augustine-botticelli.jpg" height="320" width="223" /></a>We know that Augustine spent some nine years amongst the Manichean communities. Due to the failing powers of clairvoyance that happened upon humanity at that time, our old friend Augustine was unable to experience the Divine in the Natural world and assumed that the Manicheans were just inclined to worship the material world rather than the Divine as manifested in it. This led to a misunderstanding of Manichean dualism.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rudolf Steiner speaks of this in his lecture<i> The Bridge between the Ideal and the Real:</i></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Augustine passed through the impressions of the most diverse world views.... Above all, he passed through Manicheism and Scepticism. He had taken all those impulses into his soul which one gets if on the one hand one looks at the world and sees everything as ideal, beautiful and good, all that is filled with wisdom- and then, on the other hand, sees all that is evil.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now we know that Manicheism tries to reconcile these two streams in the cosmic order by assuming an eternal polarity, an everlasting dualism, between darkness and light, evil and good; that which is filled with wisdom and that which is filled with evil.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Manicheism comes to terms with this dualism in its own way, only by uniting certain old pre-Christian basic concepts with its acceptance of the polarity of world-phenomena. Above all, it unites certain ideas which can be understood only when one knows that in ancient times the spiritual world was perceived by humanity in atavistic clairvoyance, and perceived in such a way that the content of the visions resembled in appearance the sense perceptions of the physical world. </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now, because Manicheism took into itself such ideas of the physical 'appearance' of the supersensible, it thereby gives many people the impression that it is materializing the spiritual, as though it presented the spiritual in material form. That of course, is a mistake which more recent views of the world have made, a mistake even made by Theosophy [and by modern Spiritualism].</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Augustine actually broke with Manicheism because in the course of his purified life of thought he could no longer bear this apparent materializing of the spirit.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://tosingistopraytwice.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/st-augustine-of-hippo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://tosingistopraytwice.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/st-augustine-of-hippo1.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As Augustine said:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"I fell among men who held that the light which we see with our eyes is to be worshiped as a chief object of reverence. I assented not: yet thought that under this covering they veiled something of great account, which they would afterwards lay open."</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">De Vita Beata. Pref.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]" style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]">Mani taught an essentially monistic system:</span><br data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[1]" /><br data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[2]" /><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[3]">Quote:</span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]" style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[5]">"Manichaeism
is a monistic system. For the Manichee, there is only one universe and
it is man himself who has divided it into two: the perceptual and the
conceptual. And it was within man himself that Mani sought a bridge
between the world of the senses of the body, and the world of the
spirit. </span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]" style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[5]">He found it by integrating the senses of the body with the
senses of the spirit in order to reveal within all terrestrial phenomena
the spiritual reality which fashions and sustains them. In such a
manner, Mani perceived that all human beings were themselves sun
spirits. </span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]" style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[5]">He taught his followers how to be reborn on the spirit and how
to live in accordance with the life of Christ during his three years in a
physical body on earth (that is, from the moment of the baptism in
Jordan to the death on the cross at Golgotha.)"</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3]" style="font-size: large;"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[52t8y].[1][3][1]{comment10151819849771448_10151822128861448}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[7]">-Trevor Ravenscroft</span></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-46020107410225407892013-01-24T22:06:00.001-08:002018-10-20T13:35:00.133-07:00All Earlier Religion was Water<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuGUoka7HexTZ_jqpuOwEoxgZVVWH1njDETj2MeI5-hi9AJO2wW_YgbzyXSsmB4QYjfSLcoLIur-GKDgRijt7134foqCboAKkT3nEkv2CnyopKTOrFJsnQ6zjiglmJx4cogAN9ifLh-jU/s1600/Blue-Water-Wallpapers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuGUoka7HexTZ_jqpuOwEoxgZVVWH1njDETj2MeI5-hi9AJO2wW_YgbzyXSsmB4QYjfSLcoLIur-GKDgRijt7134foqCboAKkT3nEkv2CnyopKTOrFJsnQ6zjiglmJx4cogAN9ifLh-jU/s1600/Blue-Water-Wallpapers.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Friedrich Rittelmeyer in his <i>"Meditation"</i> instructs us in the following:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"When the man of ancient times spoke of water, he did not think only of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>bathing or of sailing in a boat. He felt water to be religious. Water's<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>power of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>purification was to him divine and worthy of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>veneration. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"In baptism<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>still lives a remembrance of how man can dip into a purifying,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>revelation-bringing element. All laws and regulations about washing and<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>purification are connected with this fundamental feeling. Man<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>had above him<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>a higher world which, through the water which it sent down from the heavens,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>received him again and again into its purifying forces. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Instead of bathing,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>ancient man thought of religious<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>purification, instead of sailing, he<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>thought of crossing<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the stream after death or in initiation. The latter, the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>crossing of the stream, was the esoteric of ancient<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>religions, the former,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the purification, its exoteric. And so the old religious feeling lived with<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>water. And when we notice<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: large;">the </span></span>miserable remains of these<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>feelings, th<span style="font-size: large;">at are still </span>alive in men today, when they rejoice in water because of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>bathing and sailing, then we can perceive with our eyes what<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>changes there<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>have been."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"All <span style="font-size: large;">earlier</span> <span style="font-size: large;">religion</span> was <span style="font-size: large;">w</span>ater." </span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">- Rittelmeyer </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">All initiates from the beginning of the Fifth Root-Race had taken over their traditions from the time of the Atlantean Race, when there was as yet no wine. The Indian, Persian and Egyptian initiates had no need of wine. What played a part in the sacred rituals was exclusively water. <br /><br /><a href="http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/FoundEsoter/19051104p01.html">-Rudolf Steiner</a></span></span></blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-3640768026755393852013-01-23T21:43:00.002-08:002017-02-10T17:45:20.804-08:00The Mughtasilah <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Moghtasilah/Mughtasilah (an Arabic name), were a group of Judaising Christians.<span style="font-weight: normal;"></span> Mani's father had taken the boy at the age of four to live among this group. He remained with them until the age of twenty-four.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The mystery <span style="font-size: large;">as to the </span>identity of the Mughtasilah came to an end in 1970 when two German scholars deciphered a tiny Greek codex, the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Manichaicus_Coloniensis"> Codex Mainchaicus Colonienis </a>- the smallest papyrus codex yet discovered, measuring only 3.5 X <span style="font-size: large;">4</span>.5 cm. The codex describes the Mughtalsilah as Judaising Christians who followed Elchasaios. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/NRWakademie/papyrologie/Manikodex/Manikodex_300/M108_109_300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/NRWakademie/papyrologie/Manikodex/Manikodex_300/M108_109_300.jpg" height="260" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Elcesaites, Elkasaites, Elkesaites, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elcesaites">Elchasaites</a>, were vegetarians and the young Mani had to naturally assist in the harvesting of fruit and vegetables. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Mughtasilah practiced a communion of unleavened bread and water and practiced ritual <span style="font-size: large;">ablutions.</span> 'Mughtasilah' means, 'Those Who Wash Themselves'. </span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="addmd">Reference: Samuel N. C. Lieu</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>, </i><i>Manichaeism: In the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China : a Historical Survey<br /><br /></i></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The ritual bathing was not just symbolic or of mundane</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">value. Rudolf Steiner spoke of how when one washes one's hands the astral <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">body</span> is also affected in the cleansing process- particularly if the<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>intention is such.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="59jq9-0-0"><span data-text="true">Rudolf Steiner, <a href="http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA124/English/RSP1985/19110228p02.html">Background to the Gospel of Mark : </a></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="bpos0-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="bpos0-0-0"><span data-text="true">It is also a fact that there are individuals who enjoy washing their hands as often as possible, and others who do not. Understanding of such an apparently trivial fact actually demands very advanced knowledge. To a clairvoyant the hands of a man are remarkably different in a particular respect from all his other bodily members. Luminous projections of the etheric body stream out from the fingers, sometimes glimmering faintly, sometimes flashing far into the surrounding space. The radiations from the fingers vary according to whether the man is happy or troubled and there is also a difference between the back of the hands and the palm. </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="bpos0-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="bpos0-0-0"><span data-text="true">For anyone able to observe clairvoyantly, a hand, with its etheric and astral parts, is a most wonderful structure. But everything in our environment, material though it be, is a revelation, a manifestation, of the spirit. You should think of matter as being related to spirit as ice is to water; matter is formed out of spirit — call it ‘condensed spirit’ if you like. Contact with any material substance means contact with the spirit in that substance. All our contact with anything of a material nature is in fact — to the extent that it is purely material — maya. In reality it is spirit with which we come into contact.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="qm04-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="a9dru-0-0"><span data-text="true">If we observe life with sensitivity, we shall realise that washing the hands — especially if it is done frequently — brings a man into contact with the spirit in the water and has a considerable effect upon his whole disposition. Some individuals have a great fondness for washing their hands; directly the least speck of dirt gets on their hands they must be washed! Such characters either have, or will develop, a very definite relation to their surroundings, a relation not entirely the outcome of material influences. It is as if delicate forces in matter were working upon such individuals when there is this relationship between their hands and the element of water. Even in everyday life you will find that these people have an entirely healthy kind of sensitivity and more delicate powers of observation than others. They are at once aware, for instance, whether someone standing near them has a brutal or a kindly disposition. On the other hand, individuals who do not mind their hands being dirty are actually of a coarser disposition and erect a sort of barrier between themselves and their environment. This is a fact and can actually be observed as being characteristic of certain groups. Travel through certain countries and observe their inhabitants. In regions where people tend to wash the hands more frequently, you will find that relations between friend and friend are very different from what they are in regions where people wash their hands less often and erect a sort of barrier between one another.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="84sjj-0-0"><span data-text="true">These things have the validity of natural law, though the details may be affected by various circumstances. If we throw a stone into the air the line of projection is a parabola; but if the stone is caught by a gust of wind there will no longer be a pure parabola. This shows that all the relevant facts must be known if certain relationships are to be accurately observed. As to the hands, clairvoyant consciousness reveals that they are permeated by soul and spirit — to such an extent, indeed, that a definite relationship of the hands to the water is established. This holds good less in the case of the human face and less still in the case of the other parts of the body. This must not, however, be interpreted as an objection to washing or bathing but rather that we must keep our attention fixed on the relevant circumstances.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-offset-key="gedh-0-0"><span data-text="true">The point here is to show how very differently the soul and spirit are related to and express themselves in the various parts of the body. You are not likely to find that anyone does harm to his astral body by washing his hands too often, but the point must be considered in its widest range. The relationship between hands and water may exercise a healthy influence on the relation between man and his surroundings, that is to say, between his astral body and his environment; and for this reason things will not readily be carried to extremes. But those who think materialistically and allow their thoughts to be attached solely to matter will say that what is good for the hands must be good for the rest of the body. This would show that differences depending on delicate perceptions entirely escape notice; the consequence -- and it is abundantly in evidence — is that for certain purposes the same treatment is applied to the whole of the body. <br /><br />For instance, frequent cold baths and constant cold water frictions are recommended as a particularly effective treatment, even for children. Fortunately, because of obvious effects on the nervous system, doctors have already begun to realise that these treatments have been carried to absurd extremes. What is right for the hands because of their particular relation to the astral body can become an injurious experiment when applied to parts of the body having a different relation to the astral body. Washing the hands may bring about a healthy sensitivity to the environment; but an excessive use of cold baths and the like may cause an unhealthy hypersensitivity which, especially if such treatment is applied in childhood, lasts for the whole of life.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-26946311268107174142013-01-21T03:05:00.002-08:002020-09-27T23:00:55.014-07:00'Milde': Kindness, Gentleness<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xMpADbJQFnc/VzzVk53e8OI/AAAAAAAFp5s/XPdOsnfD39At6_vAtdqIRXtVcaltCt3SgCLcB/s1600/Rembrandt%2BThe%2BReturn%2Bof%2Bthe%2BProdigal%2BSon%252C%2B1668%2B%25286%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xMpADbJQFnc/VzzVk53e8OI/AAAAAAAFp5s/XPdOsnfD39At6_vAtdqIRXtVcaltCt3SgCLcB/s320/Rembrandt%2BThe%2BReturn%2Bof%2Bthe%2BProdigal%2BSon%252C%2B1668%2B%25286%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rembrandt</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Sergei Prokofieff defines the qualities of the Manichaen path:</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">"However, it is possible to prepare oneself for these future tasks of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>'good humanity' already in our time. And the path to this is that of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>tolerance and<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>forgiveness. Especially in the latter, we have real<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>seeds of that process of 'moral breathing' which has been spoken of.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br />
<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">"For in every case where we have been subjected to evil we receive or,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>one could also say, spiritually 'inhale' it into ourselves in such a<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>way that its consequences continue to work within our soul; while in<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>an act of true forgiveness we firstly - through overcoming ourselves -<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>transform these<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>consequences into good and then send this good back<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>into the world, spiritually 'exhaling' it, as it were, in order to<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>give back to the world as much goodness and love as was taken from it<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>as a result of the wrongful action.</span></span><br />
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<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">"In his lecture on 'Manicheism', Rudolf Steiner particularly singles<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>out that soul quality which in the German language is referred to<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>as 'Milde' [kindness, gentleness] as the most effective moral<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>instrument to enable the followers of Manes to wage the battle with<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the evil in earthly evolution. This word is not merely in its meaning<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>but also through its etymological roots related to the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>word 'forgiveness' ('Verzeihen'). Even in ordinary life we quite<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>naturally presuppose that a person to whose character we may apply<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the word 'mild' (gentle) is most likely to have a considerable<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>capacity for forgiveness. (Moreover, gentleness in the truly Manichean sense is by no means a sign of soul weakness but a power<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>of the mightiest kind, fully capable of transforming man's etheric<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>body,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>....)</span></span><br />
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<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">"Etymologically, the German word 'mild' derives from the old High<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>German 'milt', which means 'good', 'gracious', .....<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>brought about by the genius of language itself from 'forgetting' to<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>'goodness' and 'grace'; and it is such a 'bounteous forgetting' which<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>arises in the human soul in the process of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>'forgiveness'<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>('Verzeihen'), a word which derives from 'verzichten', which is in<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>its turn associated with the notion of voluntary renunciation and, in<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>a deeper sense, of voluntary forgetting.</span></span><br />
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<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">"On the other hand, the word 'Milde' is related to that virtue which<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Parsifal had to develop on the path towards his Initiation. Wolfram<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>von Eschenbach uses the word 'saelde' to refer to it, a word which is<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>related to the Gothic 'selei', meaning 'goodness, gentleness', and<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>also to the Anglo-Saxon 'swelig'-'fortunate', 'good', 'blessed'<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>('highly <span style="font-size: large;">favored</span>',<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>'blissfully happy').</span></span><br />
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<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">"Developing within oneself 'saelde' means, therefore, creating the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>conditions in one's soul which can enable the cosmic Spirit to descend<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>into our ego as the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Spirit-Self, that is, that Spirit with whom Christ<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>prophetically endows His Apostles when He sends them out into the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>world to forgive men in His name and remit their sins. Rudolf Steiner<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>defines the word 'saelde' in the same sense as the 'life. . which<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>pours forth spiritual knowledge over the consciousness soul' and<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>through which alone .... human soul-development [can] make a really<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>fruitful transition from the fifth epoch to the sixth.'</span></span></blockquote>
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<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">"Thus in the words 'Milde' and 'saelde' in their relationship to the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>principle of forgiveness we may discern the direction of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>development which will in future lead to the founding of the true<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Manichean Mysteries amongst mankind."</span></span></blockquote>
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<i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">-The Occult Significance of Forgiveness</span></span></i><br />
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<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Therefore</span> gentleness/kindness, chara<span style="font-size: large;">cterizes<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span>the Manichean approach.</span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-54250374047347731782013-01-16T00:01:00.002-08:002018-09-19T13:35:07.934-07:00Sons of the Widow<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_oZD_TqxF0NfHMgWl0pw9tQV43NFYdvBaPOkpWNzor4yleMKg8GDj1c12H6aBPwTG_pMCwvFcnXNykbXIBiUiprdxFmrNG_6Ofa18qNAfXwrY7MqA0BfY1fh9Hm9fgOUe69KYsT5QO4/s1600/Isis+Horus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1003" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_oZD_TqxF0NfHMgWl0pw9tQV43NFYdvBaPOkpWNzor4yleMKg8GDj1c12H6aBPwTG_pMCwvFcnXNykbXIBiUiprdxFmrNG_6Ofa18qNAfXwrY7MqA0BfY1fh9Hm9fgOUe69KYsT5QO4/s640/Isis+Horus.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isis suckling Horus</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The above term has been applied to the Manicheans - what does<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>it mean? Dr. Steiner indicated that the Young Man of Nain was a previous<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>incarnation of Mani. That boy was the son of a widow. Hiram Abiff was also<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the son of a widow, so you also have the designation used by Masons. The phrase was on the lips of Mormon founder Joseph Smith<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>before he died. <span style="font-size: large;">"</span>O Lord my God, O Lord my God, O Lord my God, is there no help<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>for the widow's son?<span style="font-size: large;">"</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Earlier on in Egyptian times, Horus was the archetypal "Son of the Widow".</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Edward Smith gives Rudolf Steiner's explanation here:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bibleandanthroposophy.com/Smith/main/burning_bush/chapters/Widow%27%20%20s%20Son/widowsson1.htm">Quoted f<span style="font-size: large;">ro</span>m the above</a>:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Osiris and Isis, those are the two forces present in the soul: the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>instructor, representing the divine which flows directly into man, Osiris,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>he that is the father; the soul itself, Isis, the one who conceives,<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>receives the divine, the spiritual into itself, she is the mother. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">During<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>the <span style="font-size: large;">F</span>ifth Root Race [the present<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>post-Atlantean] the father<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>withdraws. The soul is widowed. Humanity is thrown back onto itself. It must<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>find the light of truth within its own soul in order to act as its own<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>guide. Everything of a soul nature has always been expressed in terms of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>feminine.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Therefore the feminine element<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>which exists only in a germinal<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>state today, and will later be fully developed<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>this self-directing feminine<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>principle which is no longer confronted by the divine fructifier, is called<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>by Mani the "Widow". And therefore he calls himself <i>Son of the Widow. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">end </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">of quote</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-51212903054667156612013-01-14T23:18:00.002-08:002018-09-18T22:51:47.023-07:00Augustine the Manichean<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of those who struggled out of the character of that period toward an<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>understanding of Christianity is to be seen in Augustine. In this Augustine<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>we see a spirit who could no longer understand the ancient form of the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>conception of nature. You know that Augustine is said to have been a<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Manichean. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Augustine narrates this himself. But all that lies back of these<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>things can no longer be rightly seen through by means of external thinking.</span></span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://allart.biz/up/photos/album/M_N/Martini%20Simon/simone_martini_10_triptych_of_the_blessed_st_augustine_novellus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://allart.biz/up/photos/album/M_N/Martini%20Simon/simone_martini_10_triptych_of_the_blessed_st_augustine_novellus.jpg" height="320" width="261" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What Augustine called Manicheanism, what is called at present the teaching</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">of Mani, is only the degenerate outcome of an ancient teaching which</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">conceived the Spirit only as creative and knew no difference between matter</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">and spirit. No spirit was existent that did not create and what it created</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">was seen by the human being as matter. Just as little conception did these</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">ancient times have of mere matter; on the contrary, spirit existed in</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">everything.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This was<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>something that Augustine could not understand. What<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Gnosis understood, and what was no longer<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>understood later; what our own<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>period does not at all understand, - this is true: no matter exists of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>itself; this was known by the Manicheans and they beheld the descent of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Christ in the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>light of this view.<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Augustine could no longer make anything<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>out of this; the time had passed, the possibility of making<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>anything out of<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>it, because the documents had been<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>destroyed and the ancient clairvoyance<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>had been blotted out.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thus Augustine, after long intense superhuman struggle arrived at the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>decision that he could not of himself attain to truth, but must adjust<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>himself to what the Catholic Church prescribed as truth: to submit himself<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>to the authority of the Catholic<span style="font-size: large;"> C</span>hurch. And this mood - consider it at<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>first as a mood - remained, contained alive especially for the reason that<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>thinking became ever more abstract. In reality it was only slowly and<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>gradually that thinking was disabled.</span></span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-Rudolf Steiner, <i>The Need for Understanding the Christ</i></span></blockquote>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-49985610998323560802013-01-14T22:42:00.003-08:002013-12-10T02:20:22.221-08:00Ectabana<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mani was a "native of Ectabana"<span style="font-size: large;">. </span>In central Iran, the modern name for the town is Hamadan- 400 km south west<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>of Tehran. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The tomb of the great Iranian scientist/philosopher, Avicenna, is<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>in Hamadan. He was a vizier there - though much later than Mani (11C). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>whole city was tribute to astrological knowledge - what a fitting place for<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Cubricus/Mani to be. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Astrological c</span>olors and jewels<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">featured</span> in the pal<span style="font-size: large;">ace<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">- </span>the walls were </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">colored after the planets.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Herodotus writes:
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Deioces bade them build for him a palace worthy of the royal
dignity and strengthen him with a guard of spearmen. And the Medes
did so: for they built him a large and strong palace in that part of the
land which he told them [...].</span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> He built large and strong walls, those which
are now called Ecbatana, standing in circles one within the other. And
this wall is so contrived that one circle is higher than the next by the
height of the battlements alone. And to some extent, I suppose, the nature
of the ground, seeing that it is on a hill, assists towards this end; but
much more was it produced by art, since the circles are in all seven in
number. And within the last circle are the r<span style="font-size: large;">o</span>yal palace and the treasure-houses.
</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The circuit of the outer wall is very nearly the same with that of Athens. On this wall the<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>battlements are white, of the next black, of the third scarlet, of the fourth blue, the fifth<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>orange; all these colors with paint. The last two have their battlements coated respectively with silver and gold. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">These walls then Deioces built for himself and
round his own palace, and the people he commanded to dwell round about
the wall.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">[Herodotus, <i>Histories</i>, 1.98-99]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.truthnet.org/Daniel/Introduction/Assyrian_Empire.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://www.truthnet.org/Daniel/Introduction/Assyrian_Empire.gif" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ectabana is also mentioned in the B<span style="font-size: large;">ible<span style="font-size: large;">-</span> Ezra<span style="font-size: large;">.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://bible.cc/ezra/6-1.htm" target="_top"><b></b></a></span>Then King Darius issued a decree, and search was made in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. <span class="reftext"></span>In
Ecbatana in the fortress, which is in the province of Media, a scroll
was found and there was written in it as follows: “Memorandum— <span class="reftext"></span>“In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘<i>Concerning</i>
the house of God at Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where
sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained,
its height being 60 cubits and its width 60 cubits; <span class="reftext"></span>with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. </span></span></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. <span class="reftext"></span>‘Also
let the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which
Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon,
be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and
you shall put <i>them</i> in the house of God.’ </span></span></blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-76692748616607358532013-01-14T14:04:00.000-08:002013-01-28T12:37:06.525-08:00Descent of Mani's Mother <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Through his mother Mani was related to the Parthian royal family, the Arsacids, who were a dynasty of Parthian kings who ruled Iran between 247 B.C.- 224 A.D.. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The boy was born in the village of Mardinu</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;"></span>in Babylonia </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>near <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucia-Ctesiphon" title="Seleucia-Ctesiphon">Seleucia-Ctesiphon</a>, according to other accounts in the town <i>Abrumya</i><span><span style="font-size: large;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The name of Mani's mother is variously given as: Mes, Utâ chîm, Marmarjam, and Krossa/Karossa. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 224 AD. Ardashir established the Sassanid Empire, which ruled Iran and much of the Near East until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century AD, although the Arsacid dynasty lived on through the Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia.</span></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-47011784187671691402011-12-18T15:22:00.000-08:002015-07-26T16:23:04.818-07:00The Divine Elements & Augustine<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Manicheans perceived the wonders of nature, the sea, the sky and the fire, as though they were Divine. They saw God working in, manifest, in nature. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://orthodoxchurchfathers.com/fathers/npnf104/npnf1043.htm">"Water </a>[that is, water apart from the deleterious elements that have become blended with it] was regarded by Mani as one of the divine elements. The ablutions in running water mentioned above in connection with the prayers may have sustained some relation to baptism, but can hardly be ascribed to Christian influence.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> It is certain that Mani's father was connected with a baptizing party, viz., the Mugtasilah. According to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Nadim#Fihrist">Fihrist</a> Mani was the author of an Epistle on Baptism."<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0pt none; clear: none; color: inherit; cursor: auto; display: inline; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: medium none; padding: 0pt; position: relative; text-decoration: inherit; text-indent: 0pt; text-transform: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: inherit; word-spacing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0pt none; clear: none; color: inherit; cursor: auto; display: inline; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: medium none; padding: 0pt; position: relative; text-decoration: inherit; text-indent: 0pt; text-transform: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: inherit; word-spacing: inherit;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0pt none; clear: none; color: inherit; cursor: auto; display: inline; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: medium none; padding: 0pt; position: relative; text-decoration: inherit; text-indent: 0pt; text-transform: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: inherit; word-spacing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0pt none; clear: none; color: inherit; cursor: auto; display: inline; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: medium none; padding: 0pt; position: relative; text-decoration: inherit; text-indent: 0pt; text-transform: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: inherit; word-spacing: inherit;">- Albert H. Newman</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is a painting in the National Gallery in London, which I would say (on the theme of the Divine Elements), is quite Manichean in character: </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The painting is by Garofalo (about 1476-1559).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"A picture frequently seen and known as the Vision of Saint Augustine illustrates the legend that, as the saint walked on the seashore, he saw a child who, having dug a hole in the sand, was filling it with water. When the saint asked the child what he did, the child replied that he intended to pour all the water of the sea into this hole.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"When the saint assured him that such a task could never be finished, the child replied, "It is no more impossible to do this than for thee to comprehend and explain the mystery on which thou art meditating!""</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Catherine of Alexandria sits behind Augustine with her eyes closed. Perhaps she has learnt the lesson, as she was said to have been learned in the sciences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the distance a priest (or a deacon), said to represent St. Stephen, stands holding a tray on which appears to be sea shells.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Augustine, who has had his head stuck in some books, has a look of disdain on his face as he looks around at the child Jesus. The painting does not appear to be sympathetic to Augustine at all. Jesus points out at the light-filled landscape, in which we could say divinity is living.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Augustine had a Christian mother and a pagan father. I don't think he saw Mani as non-Christian. The Manicheans were very helpful to him in the nine years he followed their system. He certainly appreciated their philosophy of freedom!</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-12414021555439250422011-12-09T16:18:00.000-08:002016-04-09T12:38:20.539-07:00Christian Occultism vs Jesuitism<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Lecture of 5th October 1911, published in <a href="http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19111005p01.html">From Jesus to Christ</a>- Rudolf Steiner</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If, however, the significance of the Christ for the world was to be His bringing to all men something common to all of them, then not only this individual working of the Son had to proceed from the Christ, but the element of Spirit, which can encompass something that belongs to all men, had to be renewed by Him. This is indicated by the statement that after the Christ had worked upon the Logos-nature of man, He sent forth the Spirit in the form of the renewed or `Holy Spirit'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thus was created that element common to all men which is characterised when we are told that the disciples, after they had received the Spirit, began to speak in the most diverse tongues. Here we are shown how the common element resides in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And something else is indicated: how different is this outpouring of the Spirit from the simple imparting of the power of the Son, for in the Acts of the Apostles we are told that certain persons to whom the apostles came had already received the Jesus-baptism, and yet they had now to receive for the first time the Spirit, symbolically indicated by the laying on of hands. In the characterisation of the Christ Event we are made very precisely aware of the difference between the working we have to designate as the Christ-working, which acts upon the subconscious impulses of the soul and so must have a personal, inward character, and the Spirit-element, which represents something common to all mankind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is this Spirit-element that those who have named themselves 'Rosicrucians' have sought to preserve most carefully, as far as human weakness permits. The Rosicrucians have always wished to adhere strictly to the rule that even in the highest regions of Initiation nothing must be worked upon except the Spirit-element which, as common between man and man, is available in the evolution of humanity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Initiation of the Rosicrucians was an Initiation of the Spirit. It was never an Initiation of the Will, for the Will of man was to be respected as a sanctuary in the innermost part of the soul. Hence the individual was led to those Initiations which were to take him beyond the stage of Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition, but always so that he could recognise within himself the response which the development of the Spirit-element was to call forth. No influence was to be exerted on the Will.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We must not mistake this attitude for one of indifference towards the Will. The point is that by excluding all direct working upon the Will, the purest spiritual influence was imparted indirectly through the Spirit. When we come to an understanding with another man with regard to entering on the path of knowledge of the Spirit, light and warmth are radiated from the spiritual path, and they then enkindle the Will, but always by the indirect path through the Spirit - never otherwise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In Rosicrucianism, therefore, we can observe in the highest sense that impulse of Christianity which finds twofold expression: on the one hand in the Son-element, in the Christ-working which goes down deeply into the subconscious; on the other, in the Spirit-working which embraces all that falls within the horizon of our consciousness. We must indeed bear the Christ in our Will; but the way in which men should come to an understanding with each other in life concerning the Christ can be found only in the Rosicrucian sense- through a conscious soul-life which penetrates ever more deeply into the occult.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In reaction against many other spiritual streams in Europe, the opposite way was taken by those who are usually called Jesuits. The radical, fundamental difference between what we justifiably call the Christian way of the Spirit and the Jesuit way of the Spirit, which gives a one-sided exaggeration to the Jesus-Principle, is that the intention of the Jesuit way is to work directly, at all times, upon the Will. The difference is clearly shown in the method by which the pupil of Jesuitism is educated. Jesuitism is not to be taken lightly, or merely exoterically, but also esoterically, for it is rooted in esotericism. It is not, however, rooted in the spiritual life that is poured out through the symbol of Pentecost, but it seeks to root itself directly in the Jesus-element of the Son, which means in the Will; and thereby it exaggerates the Jesus-element of the Will.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This will be seen when we now enquire into the esoteric part of Jesuitism, its various spiritual exercises. How were these exercises arranged? The essential point is that every single pupil of Jesuitism goes through exercises which lead into the occult life, but into the Will, and within the field of occultism they hold the Will in severe discipline; they `break it in', one might say. And the significant fact is that this discipline of the Will does not arise merely from the surface of life, but from something deeper, because the pupil has been led into the occult, in the way just indicated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If now, leaving aside the exercises of prayer preparatory to all Jesuit exercises, we consider these occult exercises, at least in their chief points, we find that the pupil has first to call up a vivid Imagination of Christ Jesus as the King of the Worlds- mark this carefully: an Imagination.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And no one would be received into the degrees of Jesuitism who had not gone through such exercises, and had not experienced in his soul the transformation which such psychic exercises mean for the whole man. But this Imaginative presentation of Christ Jesus as King of the Worlds has to be preceded by something else. The pupil has to call up for himself, in absolute solitude and seclusion, a picture of man as he was created in the world, and how by falling into sin he incurred the possibility of most terrible punishments. And it is strictly prescribed how one must picture such a man; how if he were left to himself he would incur the utmost of torturing penalties. The rules are extraordinarily severe. With all other concepts or ideas excluded, this picture must live uninterruptedly within the soul of the future Jesuit, the picture of the God-forsaken man, the man exposed to the most fearful punishments, together with the feeling: `That am I, since I have come into the world and have forsaken God, and have exposed myself to the possibility of the most fearful punishments.' This must call forth the fear of being forsaken by God, and detestation of man as he is according to his own nature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then, in a further Imagination, over against the picture of the outcast, God-forsaken man, must be set the picture of the God full of pity who then became Christ, and through His acts on earth atones for what man has brought about by forsaking the divine path. In contrast to the Imagination of the God-forsaken man, there must arise that of the all merciful, loving Being, Christ Jesus, to whom alone it is due that man is not exposed to all possible punishments working upon his soul. And, just as vividly as a feeling of contempt for the forsaking of the divine path had first to become fixed in the soul of the Jesuit pupil, so must a feeling of humility and contrition now take hold of him in the presence of Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When these two feelings have been called forth in the pupil, then for several weeks he has to practise severe exercises, picturing to himself in Imagination all details of the life of Jesus from his birth to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. And all that can arise in the soul emerges when the pupil lives in rigorous seclusion and, except for necessary meals, lets nothing else work upon his soul than the pictures which the Gospels give of the compassionate life of Jesus. But these pictures do not merely appear before him in thoughts and ideas; they must work upon his soul in vivid, living Imaginations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Only someone who really knows how the human soul is transformed through Imaginations which work with full living power-only he knows that under such conditions the soul is in fact completely changed. Such Imaginations, because they are concentrated in the most intense, onesided way, first on sinful man, secondly on the compassionate God, and then only on the pictures from the New Testament, evoke precisely, through the law of polarity, a strengthened Will. These pictures produce their effect directly, at first hand, for any reflection upon them must be dutifully excluded. It is solely a matter of holding before one's mind these Imaginations, as they have just been described.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What then follows is this. In the further exercises Christ Jesus- and now we may no longer say Christ but exclusively Jesus- is represented as the universal King of the Worlds, and thereby the Jesus element is exaggerated. Because Christ had to be incarnated in a human body, the purely spiritual took part in the physical world; but over against this participation stand the monumental and most significant words: `My kingdom is not of this world.' </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We can exaggerate the Jesus element by making Jesus into a king of this world, by making Him that which He would have become if He had not resisted the tempter who wished to give Him `all the kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof'. Then Jesus of Nazareth would have been a king who, unlike other kings who possess only a portion of the earth, would have had the whole earth under his sway. If we think of this king portrayed in this guise, his kingly power so increased that the whole earth is his domain, then we should have the very picture that followed the other exercises through which the personal will of each Jesuit pupil had been sufficiently strengthened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To prepare for this picture of `King Jesus', this Ruler over all the kingdoms of the earth, the pupil had to form an Imagination of Babylon and the plain around Babylon as a living picture, and, enthroned over Babylon, Lucifer with his banner. This picture had to be visualised with great exactitude, for it is a powerful Imagination: King Lucifer, with his banner and his hosts of Luciferic angels, seated amidst fire and dense smoke, as he sends out his angels to conquer the kingdoms of the earth. And the whole danger that issues from the `banner of Lucifer' must first of all be imagined by itself, without casting a glance upon Christ Jesus. The soul must be entirely engrossed in the Imagination of the danger which issues from the banner of Lucifer. The soul must learn to feel that the greatest danger to the world's existence that could be conjured forth would be a victory for the banner of Lucifer. And when this picture has had its effect, the other Imagination, `The banner of Jesus', must take its place. The pupil must now visualise Jerusalem and the plain around Jerusalem; King Jesus with His hosts, how He sends out His hosts, how He conquers and drives off the hosts of Lucifer and makes Himself King of the whole earth-the victory of the banner of Jesus over the banner of Lucifer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These are the strength-giving Imaginations for the Will which are brought before the soul of the Jesuit pupil. This is what completely changes his Will; makes him such that in his Will, because it is trained occultly, he turns away from everything else and surrenders absolutely to the idea: `King Jesus must become the Ruler upon earth, and we who belong to His army have to employ every means to make Him Ruler of the earth. To this we pledge ourselves, we who belong to His host assembled on the plain of Jerusalem, against the host of Lucifer assembled on the plain of Babylon. And the greatest disgrace for a soldier of King Jesus is to forsake His banner.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These ideas, gathered up into a single resolution of the Will, can certainly give the Will immense strength. But we must ask: what is it in the soul-life that has been directly attacked? The element that ought to be regarded as intrinsically holy, the element that ought not to be touched- the Will-element. In so far as this Jesuit training lays hold of the Will-element, while the Jesus-idea seizes the Will-element completely, in so far is the concept of the dominion of Jesus exaggerated in the most dangerous way-dangerous because through it the Will becomes so strong that it can work directly upon the Will of another. For where the Will becomes so strong through Imaginations, which means by occult methods, it acquires the capacity for working directly upon the Will of another, and hence also along all the other occult paths to which such a Will can have recourse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thus we see how in recent centuries we encounter these two movements, among many others: one has exaggerated the Jesus-element and sees in `King Jesus' the sole ideal of Christianity, while the other looks solely at the Christ element and carefully sets aside anything that could go beyond it. This second outlook has been much calumniated because it maintains that Christ has sent the Spirit, so that, indirectly through the Spirit, Christ can enter into the hearts and minds of men. In the development of civilisation during the last few centuries there is hardly a greater contrast than that between Jesuitism and Rosicrucianism, for Jesuitism contains nothing of what Rosicrucianism regards as the highest ideal concerning human worth and human dignity, while Rosicrucianism has always sought to guard itself from any influence which could in the remotest sense be called jesuitical.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In this lecture I wished to show how even so lofty an element as the Jesus-principle can be exaggerated and then becomes dangerous, and how necessary it is to sink oneself into the depths of the Christ-Being if we wish to understand how the strength of Christianity must reside in esteeming, to the very highest degree, human dignity and human worth, and in strictly refraining from groping our clumsy way into man's inmost sanctuary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rosicrucianism, even more than Christian mysticism, is attacked by the Jesuit element, because the Jesuits feel that true Christianity is being sought elsewhere than in the setting which offers merely `King Jesus' in the leading role. But the Imaginations here indicated, together with the prescribed exercises, have made the Will so strong that even protests</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">brought against it in the name of the Spirit can be defeated.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-17216015688257866722011-12-07T16:53:00.000-08:002018-07-25T23:35:05.949-07:00Jesuitism & Manicheism<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Any organization with a philosophy of "the end justifies the means" is a worry. In occult terms the beginning makes for the end. Any problems have to traced back to the beginnings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA185/English/RSP1976/19181102p01.html">The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius explained by Rudolf Steiner</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ignatius used as his inspiration <i>The Imitation of Christ </i>and Voraigne's <i>The </i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Golden Legend</i>- two fine books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the above lecture Steiner discusses the issue of Christ as a </span><span style="font-size: large;">Generalissimo, </span><span style="font-size: large;">a Commander Christ. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Jesuitism wishes to transform the Christ impulse into a purely temporal sovereignty, to found a terrestrial state which is at the same time a Jesuit state, and which is governed in accordance with the principles of those who have volunteered to become soldiers of the generalissimo Christ." </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You'll note Dr. Steiner doesn't wish to name the spirit which inspired Ignatius of Loyola in this lecture. The Jesuit stream begins with Augustine - the famous opponent of the Manicheans and an incarnation of Judas Iscariot (RS).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The materialization of the spiritual begins with Judas. The spirit of the Material Age was incarnated in Judas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Judas was the first to be influenced by money (the culture of the material). Through His Death, Christ became the Redeemer of the Material Age. The whole Material Age was incarnated in Judas. The Material Age has cast a gloom over the spiritual, it has dimmed and darkened it."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">- Rudolf Steiner, <i>Foundations of Esotericism,</i> Lecture 8</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Jesuits learned through their exercises, how to attain tremendous powers of will.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> The Manichean path is more a withdrawal of the will, a renunciation,</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> (forgiveness, gentleness, tolerance etc.), and Will enkindled indirectly through the path of the Spirit.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> -Rudolf Steiner</span>, <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lecture of 5th October 1911, published in <i>From Jesus to Christ</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/Dates/19060526p01.html">THE MISSION OF MANICHEISM</a></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855143396432783103.post-62833275356498005832011-12-06T13:31:00.000-08:002016-04-04T05:17:00.170-07:00Mani's Message<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dragon Chasing Pearl- Manichean Emblem</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here is part of Mani's message as given by Trevor Ravenscroft:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Evil has not existed as evil from the beginning but only in its elements. For what is good and right is different for different times.Thus what at first belonged to the good because it belonged to the time, later worked injuriously. Taken merely in its elements then, evil is of the same origin as good, and it too therefore is without end. But as evil it does end. Yet it determines its own end, being placed in a position to do so by the sacrificial act of the good which freely mingles with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> In order that good shall be able to redeem evil, it develops so far while separated from it, so that it then has the power through partly uniting with the evil to place it in the position of becoming good out of free will, stimulated by the radiant light of the good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now because evil has five members while the good has seven, the good only remains by itself alone at the beginning and the end. But in the middle period of its evolution it dips down into the five and redeems the harmony of the twelvefoldness. [Here reference is made to the seven light constellations above the ecliptic and the five below it on the Sun's course through the procession of the equinox.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Therefore the Godhead, King of the Paradise of Light, adopts five members. His five members are gentleness, knowledge, understanding, silence and penetration. His five other members are concerned with the heart: love, faith, fidelity, bravery and wisdom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As the further development of the world brought about the severance of the world of light, that is, the severance of the heights from the dark flood of the depths, Satan was not himself without beginning but was nevertheless without beginning in his parts and elements; thus it was these parts which came together out of the elements and formed themselves into Satan. His head was that of a lion, his trunk was that of a dragon, his wings like that of a great bird, his tail was that of a water animal. [Here again reference is made to the fixed stars, in this instance to the reflection of the four quarters of the Zodiac.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As this being had formed itself out of the darkness, it was called the dragon, the old serpent. Then he began to destroy, to swallow to injure other beings, stalking hither and thither to right and to left and penetrating down below into the depths where he continued to bring injury and destruction to all who sought to overpower him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thereafter he departed upwards into the heights and catching sight of the radiance of the light felt a repugnance for it. When he further saw that this radiance was only strengthened by coming into contact with its opposite, he was alarmed crumpled up altogether limb by limb and withdrew into fundamental matter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But now once again he manifested himself and darted once more the heights. And now also the light earth observed the activity of Satan and his intention to attack and destroy. And as the earth observed this, behold! the world of insight, the world of knowledge, the world of silence, then the world of understanding, and the world of gentleness observed it. Thereupon the King of the Paradise of Light himself observed it and considered by what means Satan might be met. His own hosts were in all truth powerful enough, but in the realm of light there was only good. Thereafter he with his righteous with his twelve worlds, his five elements, created a race final race of men. This race he sent below that it might mix itself with the darkness. And it was this race which was to fight the dragon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then primeval man armed himself with the five spirit spheres, five gods, with the fluttering breath, with the wind, with the light, with the water and the fire. The first thing with which he clothed himself was the breath. Over the fluttering breath he wrapped the mantle of light that undulated downwards, over the light he drew the veil of the welling water and protected himself with the blowing wind. Finally he took the fire as a shield, and lance in hand hastened to descend from Paradise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then the dragon supported himself on his five spiritual spheres - on the smoke, the flame, the darkness, the scorching wind and suffocating fumes. He armed himself with them, took them for shield and went forth against primeval man. They fought long the dragon finally won the victory over man, devoured some his light and enveloped him with his spirit spheres and elements.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then arose the storm, the whirling dance of death, and hell consumed itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thus arose the human race. Humanity, however, recognized the friend of light, the King of the Paradise of Light. And this radiance filled him with delight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The light of man that the dragon had swallowed caused it to feel pleasure in light. May the light be enkindled by light! - rejoiced humanity, and the abyss rose ever higher and higher, radiating, sparkling, shining and emitting light like a sun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thus were the substances redeemed, uplifted, illuminated and warmed, so that gentleness proved stronger than hatred. In man, gentleness redeemed the dragon from hell.<br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">-from <i>The Cup of Destiny:</i> Trevor Ravenscroft (the original source being Walter Stein's <i>The Ninth Century,</i> pages 81 and 82) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"This is a free rendering of what Kessler describes in his book about Mani,<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span class="fn"><span dir="ltr">Mani</span></span>: <span class="subtitle"><span dir="ltr">Forschungen über die manichäische Religion</span>, </span></i><span class="subtitle">Konrad Kessler, Volume 1, p.306. Berlin 1889, together with indications Rudolf Steiner has made on this subject."</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">- Note 7, Chapter 4, <i>The Ninth Century.</i></span></span> <br />
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