September 26, 2020

Dear Members & Friends,

We would probably all love an old-fashioned face-to-face gathering in a couple of weeks. In the recent being human Dennis Dietzel wrote about what we’re missing when only two of our senses are meeting another person, and those two very imperfectly.

But this is what we can do these days, and luckily for our annual fall conference and members meeting (AGM), the organizing team led by Laura Scappaticci and Tess Parker know how to bring out the best of virtual meetings. The Sacred Gateway online conference from last April was a warm, inspiring event because, along with great preparation, everyone intended that. Since we humans are a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds, we may be able to overcome other kinds of distance!

“Healing the Social Life, Preparing the Future”

 The keynote conversations this year include: “Awakening to the Other in Our Work” with Thea Maria Carlson ; “Toward the Future: The Schooling Path of a ‘Culture of Selflessness’ In Our Time,” with Peter Selg  (who this year became one of the three leaders of the General Anthroposophical Section at the Goetheanum); and “Three Paths to Community: Preparing the Future,” with Harrie Salman.  Full details and registration are here.

AAC and APO

The new Applied Anthroposophy Course is off to a great start, filled to capacity. And “Walk a Mile in my shoes,” last weekend’s Walkathon for Anthroposophical Prison Outreach, has raised more than $22,000 so far, despite the pandemic challenge. Donations are still welcome and you can see and  support any of the 41 walkers or bikers after the fact.

ESSENTIAL ANTHROPOSOPHY

Rudolf Steiner gave two thoughts as an expression of the spring and fall festival points, the Easter and Michaelmas points. In spring is the first, that “he (the cosmic I AM) has been laid in the grave and is risen,” and coming from this thought, for the late September season, “(the human being) is risen and can confidently be laid in the grave.”

It is our human choice to rise, given strength by the deed of the being called the Christ—entering into the deathly physical condition of this world. That strength will enable us to remain spiritual beings as we incarnate again, for in one sense to incarnate is to be laid into the grave.

To look at the spiritual aspect of any question brings us to the currently uncomfortable place of recognizing beings whose consciousness does not require a physical body. It is uncomfortable because we have now had centuries of immersion in the culture of modern science which turned away from the spiritual in order to master the physical. 

The benefits of this science have been profound. We have pulled ourselves free from the dominance of nature. We feel ourselves to be strongly individual. We have developed a strength of observation and a clarity of thinking, felt to be personal but detached, objective. To turn back now to the era before this science and bring into our consciousness the beings of cosmic creation—may be very difficult. 

If we follow the trajectory of human evolution, which is an evolution of consciousness above the plant-animal evolution modern science recognizes, it can be easier to step into questions of higher consciousness. Edgar Rice Burroughs tried to suggest a previous stage in his famous character who says “Me Tarzan.” This is a sensitive being who reacts with the grace of instinct; thoughts come to it, but it does not think for itself. 

Reasoning emerges as we feel possessions: my place, my home, my family, parents, children, spouse. We don't just accept our place, we feel our relationships. And out of that comes a personal I AM: I am somebody, I think for myself, and finally I act for myself... 

So what about the beings we have called angels? They certainly have our higher powers, but they are able to act out of a sustained devotion to us. They have an ego, no doubt, but it is not the center of their concerns. They are awake on another level. Their scope of action is beyond ours.

If humans are like actors in a play, we become totally absorbed in the play and cannot detach enough to consider our own being: to realize that we are actors. The angel provides that detachment for us, until we can think about “my I” and the role we are playing. 

What angels do for us individually, archangels do for us as groups. Language is a great uniter, and archangels are said to be creative on that level. The more diverse and complex the group, the more powerful a consciousness must be manifest by the archangel who is spiritual leader for that group. 

And Steiner relates how seven highly developed archangels take turns moving up to inspire all of humanity for several centuries at a time. In this role they are the “Zeitgeist” or spirit of the times. They are working at the higher level of beings named in Greek Archons or Archai, who work where the whole course of humanity's development unfolds... 

Micha-el is a Hebrew name meaning "who is like god?" An archangel who is currently the spirit of the times, he is the inspirer of Steiner’s research and of anthroposophy. We are now entering his season, Michaelmas.

The late September photos, wild turkeys and further above, mushrooms, are from southeast Massachusetts.

Thank you for reading, for being part of this community, and for all you do in the world!

John Beck
Editor, being human
editor@anthroposophy.org
Anthroposophical Society in America