Part I
Past sacrifices of the Christ being through the co-operation of the Nathan soul and Michael: Rama, Krishna, and Apollo.
Tonight I am going to be very demanding of you, my friends, because I will require you to do something extremely difficult. I am going to require a shift in the way you think. I will require you to look away from everything you have come to know, everything that the external world tells you of the Christ Being. To forget whether you were born in the east or the west, what religion race and colour, philosophy, the culture and the social conditions that Karma has directed should be yours. I will require that you forget all the concepts that you have created for yourselves from external sources. I will require that you then deny all of it, in the same way that the Templars on their entry into the Order were asked to deny all that they had come to know of Christianity and of Christ. For we must learn to think of Christ as a Being that never belonged, nor will ever belong to one group or another, one religion or another, one country or another. We must begin to think of Christ as a being that has descended to us from exalted cosmic regions. A Being that has been seen by all peoples and recognised and worshipped by many names. A Macrocosmic Being who has sacrificed himself for mankind and will continue to do so until the evolution of the world has come to its end.
To begin with we must imagine Christ as a Being endowed with four Macrocosmic members:
1.Macrocosmic Physical body
2.Macrocosmic Etheric body
3.Macrocosmic Astral body
4.and Macrocosmic Ego.
Secondly we must imagine Him descending from higher regions of the spiritual world in four stages over many millennia, seen by humanity in varying degrees of clarity depending on His proximity to the Earth.
In the Indian Epoch He was seen by the Holy Rishis as Vishvakarman who resided in regions beyond mankind's reckoning. In the Persian Epoch He was seen by Zarathustra in the astral aura of the Sun and was called Ormuz or Ahura Mazdao. In Egyptian times He was known as Osiris or Mithras, in Greco Roman times as Apollo, Dionysus, or Jehova until the time He descended to earth into the earthly body of Jesus of Nazareth and became the first God to incarnate into the human element.
From the standpoint of the Cosmos each stage on his descent represented a kind of death – an excarnation. From the standpoint of the earth it represented a birth or incarnation.
It is inevitable that we must ask the question: How does a God incarnate into the body of a human being? The demands of such a sacrifice are almost beyond human comprehension. How does a macrocosmic being whose realm lies beyond the sphere of fixed stars discard aspects of his nature that he has taken aeons to perfect in order to enter into an imperfect microcosmic body? We can only imagine the pain. It would remotely resemble the sacrifice a human being would have to undergo if he were to discard the elements of his Physical, Etheric, Astral and Ego in order to enter into a cell into a proton a neutron, an atom.
Why should a God incarnate into a human body?
The human being had also descended gradually from spiritual worlds. During the first condition of the world which Rudolf Steiner calls Saturn, human beings entered into physical bodies, during Sun evolution into physical bodies endowed with an Etheric body then in the Moon evolution into physical bodies endowed with an Etheric body and an astral body. It was not until the Earth evolution that the Ego descended into the other three members.
What is the Ego? The Ego is a human being's youngest spiritual member. It is what makes each person cognisant, or conscious of his relationship to the surrounding world and therefore it is what awakens in the human being the feeling of individuality and gives him or her the possibility of future freedom.
The Ego descended prematurely and too far into matter and this could have resulted in man straying from the normal, healthy development intended. The Ego was in danger of falling into the terrible Egoism; selfishness of the Physical, Etheric and Astral bodies would have been the result. The great Sun being took it upon himself to avert this by descending to earth, enabling His impulse to penetrate each of man's sheaths as a sacrifice.
Rudolf Steiner tells us that two other beings were involved in these deeds/sacrifices of the Sun Being of Christ. One was the angelic Nathan soul and the other is the Archangel Michael.
The Being of the Nathan Soul.
To enter into the origins of this being we have to return to a time in the development of the Earth when man first became a being endowed with his own individual Ego in Lemurian times. This is the time when, Rudolf Steiner tells us, humanity experienced what the bible calls the 'Fall' when man and woman 'fell' or were expulsed from paradise because they were tempted by Lucifer to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge.
What is really meant by the 'Fall'?
It was in Lemurian times that the Ego began its descent into human beings. The guidance of humanity had been intended the human Ego to revolve around the earth like a satellite. The Ego would look down to the earth and perceive the three members of its being as mere symbols or signs of its existence.
It would produce on earth its own reflection and recognise its individuality through this reflection. It would say to itself to its physical sheaths, 'That is I'. It would act as an organ of perception. Lucifer however tempted humanity into allowing the Ego to descend into the vehicle of the Astral body, wherein resides the twelve senses, and this meant that for the first time human beings entered wholly into matter and began to experience the physical world as both a part of themselves and separate from themselves. Individuality arose in the astral body as an organ of sense and the terrible danger arose that this descent might even reach as far as the Etheric body which would make it impossible for human beings to progress in freedom and therefore reach the level of development that was expected of them. So it was necessary that higher spiritual beings the great Archangelic Bodhisattvas – whom we spoke about in our last lecture - that exist in the great Mother Lodge of humanity - remove, before the actual event of the fall - a part of the more refined aspects of the Etheric body for safekeeping.
What were these more refined aspects?
There are four conditions of Ether:
1.Warmth Ether
2.Light Ether
3.Sound or Chemical Ether
4.Life Ether
Much damage could have been caused had the Luciferic impulse entered the Chemical and Life Ethers prematurely. So it was that the Chemical and Life ethers (The Tree of Life) were taken away from the general evolution of humanity.
What does this mean?
In Adam, a certain portion of the forces of the Etheric body were held back before the fall. This innocent part of Adam its sister soul or twin if you like, that had not taken into itself the experience of an Ego, (for this can only be obtained by incarnating in a human body) had none the less, all the Wisdom that could have been obtained through the previous incarnations of the Earth as old Saturn, old Sun, and old Moon and possessed all the love of which a human soul is capable'.[1] It had an Ego that resembled the Spirit Self – an Ego that resides within the sheaths of a spiritualised Astral body.
The nature of the Nathan Soul was revealed to us for the first time through Rudolf Steiner's scientific research as the living soul who would become the Jesus-child of the line of Nathan in the Luke Gospel. This is what we mean when we speak of the 'Nathan soul'.
As we draw near to the celebration of this mystery, it is also the time of the year that is guarded by Michael whose relationship to the Nathan soul is intimate and on-going and whose help we can call on to understand difficult occult matters with the use of clear logical thinking.
Who is Michael?
Michael is that being that has worked since ancient times in the service of Christ. At the time of the three sacrifices Michael was the highest of all Archangels he was designated the 'Sun Archangel'. He worked before the mystery of Golgotha as a mediator between the Sun Logos of Christ and the moon Logos of Yahveh – the spiritual being of the rank of Spirits of Form - who is described as breathing into man his Ego-principle.
Michael has therefore a two-fold connection to the fall.
1.Michael has been involved in the creation of 'man' as an Ego-bearing being through his task as messenger to the Moon Logos of Yahveh.
2.Michael was the guardian of the Cosmic Intelligence, that is, the inspired thoughts that have since fallen away from his control and into the souls of humankind.[2] These thoughts descended to mankind because Michael cast Lucifer from heaven.[3] This had a two-fold effect:
- It preserved the purity of the Nathan soul
- It allowed Luciferic influence to enter into humanity (the fall) in order that it might acquire individual freedom and the power of reason.
Clearly we can see how as the highest Archangel of the Sun and leader of the Archangelic beings that inspired the Bodhisattvas, Michael became the guardian of the Nathan soul that had been preserved and guarded in this sphere, and why he continued to be associated with its heavenly destiny and future tasks.
1st Cosmic Pre-Earthly Sacrifice/Deed – Christ as Redeemer of 12 senses
The first of these deeds occurred in the last third of Lemurian evolution when humankind had assumed an upright position. This upright bearing tore human beings away from the spiritual forces of the earth and made it possible for adversarial powers - powers that worked contrary to man's true path of development - to desire to bring disarray to humanity's twelve sense organs.
We can see how the upright position relates to the sense organs when we consider that the spine is the protector of the nerves that carry impulses to and from the various sense organs. The foundation for these twelve sense organs (Word Sense, Thought Sense, Ego Sense, Touch, Life Sense, Motion Sense, Sense of Balance, Smell, Taste, Seeing, Warmth sense, Hearing) had been established on old Saturn when the foundation for the physical body was established through the twelve cosmic streams proceeding from the twelve-fold circle of the zodiac, but they acquired their full significance when man became an Ego-bearing being and became upright. Now it was possible to harmonise these sense organs with the twelve zodiac streams, and it was this that the adversarial powers desired to prevent. Had this happened these organs would have acquired an independence of their own – a selfishness. They would have become Egoistic because the Ego began to descend down into them and they would have transmitted to the soul only their own sense of pain or bliss if something had not occurred to prevent it. This turning inward, if you like, would have prevented human beings from retaining their uprightness through the chaos that would have ensued. Therefore, by necessity, they would have had to return to the forces of the earth to the Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces coming from below in order to survive.
Christ had to descend from his lofty heights to help mankind overcome this threat. This incurred a sacrifice of his Macrocosmic physical body when he had to pass through the gates of Ram and enter into the sphere of the Zodiacs or the realm of fixed stars (Higher Devachan) so that He could work on the twelve streams that reflect the harmonic interplay of the twelve sense organs (impulses of Will).
Once in the region of the fixed stars the Macrocosmic Christ had to meet the ascended Nathan soul that had reached the highest region of the Sun as a fixed star. The Nathan soul guarded and supported as it was by the Archangel Michael sacrificed its Etheric substance to the Christ the sublime Sun spirit and it became permeated with all twelve zodiacal forces. An Etheric image of the 'Ideal' man then arose in the lower regions of the spiritual world. The super earthly Being of Christ permeated the Nathan soul and brought into harmony the twelve senses and man's upright position. Each organ could now be self-less and say,
'Not I but the Christ in us.'
Cosmic Echo: The Ramayana
Indian Epoch
We see the echo of the image of the Christ permeated Nathan soul in the mysteries where it became reflected in the ancient Vedic epic the Ramayana. It appeared to the Indian soul as a vision received in the Etheric body, and could only be perceived, strictly speaking, as long as the old clairvoyance remained.
Rama was the hero of the Ramayana, the mythological seventh incarnation of Vishnu (Christ) who descends through the gate of Ram for the purpose of delivering mankind from the iniquities caused by Ravana (Lucifer) the ruler of the demons. Ravana was causing much grief in Spiritual worlds because he had been given a boon: he was allowed to protect himself from those beings that he thought could hurt him. He did not protect himself from humans and monkeys, seeing them as harmless. Vishnu (Christ) decided to incarnate as a human to vanquish Ravana.
Earthly Incarnation : Rama
In the Ramayana Rama is the eldest son of king Dasaratha of the Suryavanshi (of the Solar Dynasty) the direct descendants of the Sun. Rama is known as a sat-purusa, the 'ideal man' the 'upright man' in control of his 'senses'[4]. The imagination of Rama closely resembles the image of the Christ permeated Nathan soul – the 'ideal man'. Rama is led to Ravana by Hanuman leader of the monkeys - those who have not completely developed the upright position. Sita, Rama's wife, is the soul-born girl, the child not born from a womb and thus not tainted by original sin - the Nathan Soul. She is sacrificed in the fires of Agni to prove her fidelity to Rama. We see his connection to the Sun sphere in the words of a sage who tells Rama to ; 'Listen carefully to this secret. It is the heart of the sun that will bring you victory and the auspiciousness to destroy Ravana. Worship the sun, O Rama. He alone protects all beings. Pray to him."
You may wonder how such a reflection can occur when we know the Ramayana to be no more than nine thousand years old and Lemurian times to have been much further back in time, before recorded history. At first this may seem a problem however one must take into account what is known even to natural science. When we look up to a night sky today we are seeing the light of a star that existed millions of years ago. It has taken all this time for the light to reach us here on earth. This occurs because as we enter the planetary sphere we become subject to time. Chronos or chronological time does not affect occurrences in the spiritual world beyond the sphere of the planets. In the sphere of fixed stars time is spacial, that is, all things exist at once past, present, and future. This is the sphere in which the first sacrifice took place. It is also a fact that events that have their origin in such lofty spheres require the necessary faculties of understanding and this took thousands and thousands of years to develop. It was then possible for occultists or initiates capable of seeing into the Akasha or the Etheric substance wherein is inscribed all the history of the earth to observe this event in earthly evolution as if it were only occurring at that moment, even though it was only an echo, a reflection of what once had been a reality.
We can imagine then the ancient Indian gazing upwards to the Etheric world where he finds the record of the first sacrifice of Christ inscribed into the Akasha. At the same time we must also imagine a being of human nature - a Bodhisattva - destined to re-enact on earth those events that occurred many thousands of years before in the spiritual world.
In the Old Indian Epoch or first post Atlantean Epoch, humanity experienced another threat to the physical body through plague, disease and war. The human being whom Shure speaks of in his book 'The Great Initiates' the sublime 'Law Maker' whom Zarathustra and the Zend Avesta says that he was the first man to whom God spoke is Rama,the Aryan Scynthian who came from northern Europe to Iran and allied himself with the remnants of the race of Turanians or less advanced human beings (monkeys) in order to capture Lanka or Ceylon from the black magician Ravana.
2nd Second Cosmic Pre – Earthly Sacrifice/Deed – Christ as Redeemer of the Seven Organs
The second great threat to humanity occurred at the beginning of the Atlantean Epoch when Ahriman and Lucifer began their assault on the Etheric forces or the life forces of the seven organs in the human physical body.
This assault would have led to a selfishness of the seven principle organs and therefore illness without resolve. Rudolf Steiner gives us indications[5] that this would have created unbridled desires and the distortion of human language. Language would have expressed only the inner subjective experience of pain or pleasure of the individual organs and would not relate to the outside world. Man would never be able to work creatively through the word.
In order to harmonise these Etheric forces Christ had to perform another sacrifice. He had to sacrifice his Macrocosmic Etheric body in order to once again descend to that sphere where our organs receive their enlivening from the region where resides the spiritual archetypes for our physical body, from the Sun as it appears as a focus of the Planetary Sphere (lower Devachan) – wherefrom there streams down impulses of feeling.
Once again Christ entered into that being that is protected by the Archangel Michael from pollution by Lucifer or Ahriman, the Nathan soul who once more sacrificed his own Etheric nature to Him. The Nathan Soul was to receive the forces of all seven planets into himself the macrocosmic archetype of man's Etheric body to effect a harmonising influence on the physical organs so that they remained self-less and could say 'not we but the Christ in us.'
These forces are as follows:
Lungs – Mercury
Heart – Sun
Liver – Jupiter
Gall – Mars
Spleen – Saturn
Brain – Moon
Man's Etheric body could now come in contact with the external world without experiencing illness. Paul tells us in his Epistles, 'God has put the body together and has recognised the importance of the unimportant members that there should be no division in the body, but that all the members should work harmoniously together and should care for one another.' Human speech was thus freed from the bondage of the selfish expressions of each individual organ and could express its own inner experiences concerning the world - its inner world - with the help of the word.
Cosmic Echo: The Bhagavad-Gita
Egypto Chaldean Epoch
The Bhagavad-Gita is an extract taken from the Mahabaratta, a long poem that depicts a war between the descendants of the royal brothers of the lines of Kuru and Pandu. Arjuna of the line of Pundavas is trouble-laden because he does not wish to fight against his blood relations. He is instructed by Krishna that he should do his duty. That the Kuravas must be fought and overcome. Rudolf Steiner tells us that this story represents humanity passing through the battle of the soul with the power of Ahriman and Lucifer. The Kuravas are representative of the old clairvoyance dependent on blood ties. The Kuravas worship the feminine deities of the moon religion. The Pundavas are representative of the new clairvoyance.
Earthly Reflection
'The Radiant One' is a reflection of this second sacrifice, which was made possible only through the co-operation of the Nathan Soul and the Archangel Michael. The halo of light in which Christ was enveloped was Krishna; Christ had taken Krishna for His own soul covering.
Krishna states in the Bhagavad-Gita that He has many faces and many names to many peoples, one being Yama or Rama. He is born to a virgin, Devaki - or Nathan soul who liked to sit in the shade of the 'tree of life' a symbol of the Etheric body and was told that she would give birth to the one who would defy death and rejuvenate the blood of all things. As pure as a spotless lamb or Ram.[6]Krishna sings the hymns of thankfulness to the Mahadeva – the divine intelligence – that flowed in those times through Michael - to vibrate the souls of men. He received the staff with the seven nodes or planetary forces. He taught his pupil Arjuna the meaning of self sacrifice and selflessness and explains His manifestation to him thus;[7] “Every time virtue wanes in the world and vice and injustice are victorious, I become visible, and thus I appear from age to age for the salvation of the righteous, the destruction of the wicked and the re-establishment of virtue.'
This manifestation of Christ through the Nathan soul seen as Krishna by humanity occurred at the beginning of the Kali Yuga age or the period of darkness between the third and fourth Post-Atlantean epochs or three thousand years BC at a time when there was a deadening of spiritual revelation. The Indian sages could no longer look to the Akasha in order to see what had previously taken place in the spiritual world from which to draw their teachings. This time, the Being of the Christ permeated Nathan soul needed to enter into a kind of pseudo incarnation in an Etheric body. Mankind could now only observe the Christ Being in the Nathan soul through a kind of reflected incarnation, as Prokofief calls it. For Rudolf Steiner tells us with Krishna 'it is not a question of the external fleshly body, or the more refined elemental body…but the chief thing is that which in Buddhi and Manas (perfected Etheric and Astral) is directly connected with the great universal cosmic substance, with the divine which lives and weaves through the world.' It was necessary that this image of the second sacrifice appear to mankind many thousands of years later in this way in order to avert a reflection of the danger experienced in Atlantean times concerning the Etheric body and the seven vital organs. Now human beings were facing another danger; that they might not be able to acquire a new relationship to blood and would be reliant on the old dying clairvoyance.
In the Bhagavad-Gita [8] Krishna is the teacher of Morality, of overcoming temperament, slavery to impermanence and habit, through the power of an Ego that has taken into itself the Word, the Law, and Devotion. The sages of the mysteries knew that in previous times during the first half of the Atlantean epoch the same being who know was manifesting in a reflected physical body as Krishna had sacrificed himself for mankind. He it was who was a world-historical hero in the physical world, countering the threat that still occurred in the Etheric body that was now concentrated in the blood. It was Krishna who crushed the head of the serpent of the old knowledge and compelled man to re-enter the physical body in which alone the Ego could be won as free and independent Ego now in the blood, whereas formerly all that made man an Ego streamed in from outside. Through a transformed Yoga man could acquire in meditative practice the strength of Ego to say what according to St. Paul, is expressed in the words: “Not I, but Christ in me,” that is, when the Christ-force penetrates the Etheric body human beings develop a new relationship to blood. The old clairvoyance made possible by blood ties had to be done away with. The children of the moon the Kuravas – the old clairvoyance - had to die and make way for the children of the Sun the Pundavas – the new clairvoyance for which a mingling of blood was necessary. But for this to happen humankind had to pass through the battle of the soul with the powers of Ahriman and Lucifer who threatened firstly the Etheric body by way of the organs in the first half of Atlantean times and then the Etheric body by way of the blood in the transition between Egypto-Chaldean times and Greco Roman times.
3rd Cosmic Pre- Earthly Sacrifice/Deed – Christ as Redeemer of Thinking Feeling and Willing
The third threat to mankind and subsequent sacrifice occurred in the last half of the Atlantean epoch. At this time man's astral body was threatened by Lucifer and Ahriman in the three principles of Willing Thinking and Feeling. If Christ had not descended further and sacrificed his own Astral body in order to bring about a harmony between these three soul principles then human beings would have separated into three kinds of animal nature, Thinking would have manifested in an Eagle-like human being, Feeling in a Lion-like human being and Willing in a Bull-like human being. While in an inner sense they would have been dragon-like in their Astral nature.
The principle threat was in the thinking since the Luciferic powers in the feeling and the Ahrimanic powers in the will tried to gain mastery over thought to prevent man from obtaining Ego-consciousness. This would have meant a complete extinguishing of the human Ego. Man would have reverted again to the animal state that he had left long ago when the animal forms were separated off after the moon separated from the earth. Human beings would have been seized by unruly desires and by the activity of the will.
This time the Sun being of Christ had to descend through the gate of Goat to the sphere of the moon or Astral world. There he united with the Nathan soul so that it could become the bearer of the forces of Sun, Moon and Earth which, correspond microcosmically to the forces of thinking feeling and will in the lower regions of the Sun sphere, which extend to the sphere of the Moon or Astral world. It was these strengthened harmonious forces coming from above from the surroundings and from below that the Christ permeated Nathan soul was able to ray down toward mankind to prevent the splintering off of the thinking feeling and will with particular attention to the thinking aspect of the human being, since the moon sphere has a special connection to the brain. Man could now fashion his speech to express the things of the outer world and a higher capacity for 'naming' became possible. Man from this time on is potentially capable of becoming the bearer of the divine Logos or word. What would have become of human beings if this had not taken place?
Cosmic Reflection: Apollo
Graeco-Roman Epoch
To the Greeks this event again was only apparent many thousands of years after the event. This reflection of Christ at the stage of His third sacrifice was known as Apollo. He represented the triumph of the Sun Spirit over man's passions, for Apollo was the harmoniser of man's thinking, feeling and willing. They knew that the sun spirit had ensouled Itself in an Etheric spirit form and in this way had brought thinking, feeling and willing into order with the lyre that sounded upon it harmoniously the tones of the human soul! The Sun Spirit as the guardian of the wild, stormy passions was the champion of rational, objective thinking that brought order to the other soul components through music!
Even before the Graeco-Latin age, in certain parts of Europe the reflected image of this being arose among a humanity that had not developed intellectual thinking but a sentient soul that was very receptive to what proceeded from the impulses of a special kind of music. This being was seen by those teachers of mankind who developed a musical culture that stimulated the sentient soul, in the same way that thought substance is stimulated by what comes to it through the eyes The sentient soul had the subconscious feeling: “This comes from the same regions as the Light.” From the Astral world, music — the song from the realms of Light! Felt like a rising and shining of a sun. The earthly reflection of the Christ's third sacrifice of Christ.
Instruction was given by those teachers who were receptive to this impulse, not in concepts but through music stimulating forces in the Sentient soul that, raised to consciousness, became what we call today logical thinking.
Music was thus reflected thousands of years later towards earth from this mighty Sun Being who exhorted man to 'Know himself'. The Greeks gathered together all that was remembered of this great Being that still influenced them from the West (as He influenced humanity in a different way from the East as Krishna). This was embodied in their conception of Apollo, who was a Sun God and at the same time the God of music, who put into the human soul the faculty, which appears to day as the power of clear thinking.
The Greek god Apollo is the brother of Artemis and son of Zeus and Leda. He is the god of prophecy, music, and healing. The Delphic oracle was his. His attributes are the sun, light, clarity, and truth. Apollo is born on the floating island of Delos, meaning that he was reflected from the region of the Astral world. He kills the Python of Delphi and takes over that oracle (similarly Krishna crushes the head of the serpent of old knowledge). However now this has a different meaning, it now means that he is vanquisher of unconscious terrors or unclear thinking. He is golden-haired like the sun; he is an archer who shoots arrows of insight that on the one hand causes clear thinking and on the other causes death (deposits of salts in the brain); he is a god of music and the lyre.
Two human beings existed at this time that were able to embody the reflected image of this sacrifice. The first, on an Etheric level was Orpheus, the second, St George was on an Astral level.
Orpheus
Orpheus was the 'son of Apollo', and Rudolf Steiner tells us that this incarnation was a descent of a Bodhisattva to Buddha-hood. We might remember from our last lecture that a bodhisattva is only seen correctly when two aspects are considered, first, as a highly evolved human being who is inspired by a being of the rank of Archangel and secondly as the Archangelic being that resides in the sphere of the Sun or Shamballa. For the highly evolved human being called Orpheus it was a difficult incarnation, for although he completely filled the whole human form or body, a part of him remained behind in the spiritual world, that is, a part of him extended far beyond the physical body. Rudolf Steiner tells us that it was the soul, always depicted as the feminine aspect that could not be retained within him. Such an incarnation was called a “Son of Apollo” and this was the tragedy that was represented in the figures of Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice or his soul dwelt in another world. Orpheus had the power through his music to teach the beings of the nether world from whom he obtained permission to take her back but he was not to look back at her following behind him without losing her. Or losing what he once was.
St George
Another human being who bore the third cosmic sacrifice of Christ and reflected it in his own earthly being was St George who fought the dragon to save the damsel. This imagination directly mirrors the task of Michael who, working through the feminine Nathan soul protected the soul of humanity from splintering into the three soul principles thinking feeling and willing. Rudolf Steiner tells us that all who turn their gaze upon St. George perceive, in reality, the third Christ event.'[9]
It becomes clear to us that in the above three sacrifices of the Christ permeated Nathan soul we have three stages in which the cosmic forces of the Christ Being penetrates humanity's three sheaths: Physical, Etheric, Astral. These occurred as preparatory stages leading up to the incarnation of the Nathan soul in preparation for Christ's fourth sacrifice which is bound up with the healing of the Ego and took place on the earth itself as a direct karmic consequence of the 'fall'. This is really what we celebrate at Christmas time every year, the first physical birth of the Nathan soul.
I leave you with a poem that I say to my little girl every morning,
I look out into the world, wherein there shines the sun
Where glimmer all the stars, where lie the silent stones
The plants that live and grow, the beasts that feel and move
Where man in soul creates, a dwelling for the spirit
I look inward to the soul that lives within my being
The spirit of God is weaving, in sunlight and in soul-life
In heights of soul without, in depths of soul within
The spirit of God to thee, I turn myself in seeking
That strength and grace and skill, for learning and for work
May live and grow in me,
Part II
Christ's incarnation in a physical body of Jesus of Nazareth and future three resurrections through the workings of the Nathan soul, Michael and Vidar.
Last week we discussed how the Sun Being of Christ descended to earth in three stages in order to prevent mankind from falling to deeply into matter.
The First sacrifice rescued humanity's twelve senses in the region of the Zodiac – Sun as a star or Higher Devachan
The second sacrifice rescued the 7 Etheric Organs in the region of the planets – Sun as a planet in lower Devachan
The third sacrifice rescued the Astral body and therefore the human being's Thinking, Feeling and Willing – in the sphere of the moon or Astral world.
We also saw how this was refected down to earth many thousands of years later in the as the great epics and legends of the Ramayana, Bhagavad-Gita, Apollo and the incarnations of the Bodhisattvas Rama, Krishna, Orpheus and St George.
Now we come to the great fourth sacrifice enacted in the earthly sphere to avert a fourth danger – a danger to the human Ego itself.
The Christ Being's Sacrifice and Subsequent Resurrection in the Earthly Sphere - Redemption of the Human Ego
The fourth Sacrifice occurred on the physical plane into the body of the incarnated Nathan soul. This occurred at a time when humanity had reached the lowest ebb of its consciousness of the spiritual world. It was also the highest ebb of its consciousness of the physical world. Before that time men had received their ideas through inspirations from the spiritual world with little effort on their part. There was no intellect. Understanding could only arise when human beings became more and more influenced by the forces of death. In a physical way, we might say that death can enter into man because of the deposit of salts, i.e. solid mineral substances, dead substances, not only in the body, but also in the brain. The brain has the constant tendency to deposit salt and because of this it has a constant tendency toward death. “Intellect renders us cold and dead within. It paralyses us. When our intellect is active, we do not really live.”[10] Because of this inoculation of death that had to enter into humanity with the 'fall' there was the danger that human beings would lose a hold of consciousness. The powers of the cosmos would have made the Ego their plaything as Rudolf Steiner tells us and elemental forces that arise form wind air or water would have overpowered it. This would have led to a derangement of the Ego. The Ego would have become the plaything of elemental beings.
In order to create a harmony between the Ego and the powers of the cosmos a God had to come to know death[11]. An impulse had to enter into humanity to prevent it from becoming deranged or torn by the elemental forces.
The fourth sacrifice of Christ meant that His impulse could enter directly into man's thinking that is connected with the Ego activity that represents the inner thoughts and ideas about the surrounding world. This permeation of the Christ impulse into human thinking prevented the chaos and confusion that would have led human beings away from their evolutionary path.
Secondly the Christ impulse descended into the human faculty of memory, since this will more and more enable human beings to orient themselves in the stream of cosmic evolution,[12] in the same way that a man orients himself in the world because he knows what is up and what is down. This was necessary because humanity was losing its 'memory' of the spiritual world.
Moreover as humanity was descending further and further into matter, the danger arose that it would not be able to regain a vision of the Spiritual World. Even the most exalted human beings could not prevent the loss of consciousness (spiritual death) after a certain point during initiation or during life between death and rebirth. The fourth sacrifice of Christ opened up the possibility for mankind to progress to ever higher stages of consciousness – to become immortal - that is to remain conscious in higher spiritual spheres; from the sphere of the earth and fishes right up to the sphere of the higher reaches of the sun as a star, Virgo – where occurs the Chymical Wedding or the marriage between man and God.
We can see how this is symbolised by the fact that the birth of Jesus occurs from the Northern standpoint in winter. Steiner tells us “He who observes his inner life of thinking, feeling and willing, and the disorderly way in which these impulses of thought, feeling and will arise, can feel that the changing capriciousness of his thinking, feeling and willing resembles the changes of the weather, which become manifest in the elements of water, fire, air and earth, all active as demoniacal forces.”[13]
How did such an incarnation take place?
Such an incarnation required another sacrifice from the Nathan soul, however this time it had to carry out this task without the help and guidance of the Archangel Michael for there was no other being that belonged to the higher hierarchies apart from Christ that could incarnate directly on earth.
The Christ remained in the Sun sphere contemplating this event and the guidance of the Nathan soul was passed on to the Archangel Gabriel who announced its future birth to the Luke Mary. Michael's contemplation of this great sacrifice resulted in his final relinquishing of the cosmic intelligence to humankind and added a further impetus to the human faculty of individual thinking. The formation of thoughts through the strengthening of the Ego was made possible by Christ's fourth sacrifice and the intelligence with which to realise this was made possible by Michael's sacrifice.
And so it was that the Nathan soul descended into the Jesus child of the Luke gospel and existed in the physical body, connected in a certain way with the Christ who worked on him from without.
The Nathan Jesus
The Jesus of the Luke gospel, in whom existed the Nathan soul incarnated for the first time directly into the physical body, was not possessed of an ordinary Ego, it was what Rudolf Steiner called a provisional Ego an Ego that had not passed through the fall, it was a germ of the Ego, innocent and untouched by human error. It was therefore not an Ego in the sense of what we may think of an Ego and this explains why at a certain time it was necessary that another Ego enter into that body, for it could not continue progressing without it.[14] The Etheric body was that Etheric body that in Lemurian times had been preserved from the fall. We can see this reflected in the Christmas tree being representative of the Tree of knowledge or the tree of Paradise. The Nathan soul had only the earliest beginnings of the sentient soul and so it was necessary that his maternal Astral body be protected and preserved and kept in a child-like state by his mother Mary which had enveloped the child from birth - possessed of child-like youthful forces that would unite with another astral body when the child turned 12 years of age. This was the perfected astral body of the Buddha, his Nirmanakaya[15]. It had been this 'Nirmanakaya that hovering above and around the Luke Jesus announced his birth from the heights as Angelic hosts to the shepherds and it is this body that unites with the maternal astral body of the Nathan Jesus at 12 years of age.
This is the great mystery that explains the rejuvenation of Buddhism in the Luke gospel, the fact that the Buddha at a particular time is able to descend right into the Astral body of the Nathan Jesus. It would lead us too far from our topic to go into more detail suffice to say that the Nathan Jesus child from the priestly Nathanic line of David's task was in preparing the perfected Astral body and Ego for the descent of the Christ being.[16] Rudolf Steiner tells us that another human being was responsible for preparing the Physical and Etheric bodies for the descent of the Christ being. This was the reincarnation of the Jesus depicted in the Mathew gospel. At the age of twelve (puberty occurred two years earlier in those times in Palestine due to climatic reasons) the two beings became one. The Ego of the Mathew Jesus having become perfected via the vehicles of the Physical and Etheric bodies discarded those members at a time when all that could be learned from them had passed, and entered into the sheaths of the Luke Jesus. You will recall this conjugation in the scene where Jesus is at the Temple discussing matters of scripture with the rabbis, even his parents don't recognise him because he is no longer merely the child-like Nathan 'provisional Ego' that is existing in the body of the Luke Jesus but the Ego of Zarathustra of the Solomon line depicted in the Mathew gospel, that has the wisdom of many earthly lives. This unification of Zarathustra's Ego with the Nathanic Jesus infused in his Astral body with the Nirmanakaya of Buddha signifies a union between the two streams in the one human being; the stream of the inner – the Buddha stream, and the stream of the outer - the Zarathustra stream.
Thus we may say that the constitution of the Nathan Jesus was as such;
In the course of the baptism in the Jordan at thirty years of age the Nathan Jesus receives into his Etheric body the Ego of the great Sun Being the Christ. The Ego of Zarathustra, having worked its wisdom into the three sheaths - the Physical, Etheric, and Astral in the Nathan Jesus, in preparation for this descent, now for the second time sacrifices its abode in a physical body, and leaves the body of the Nathan Jesus.
For three subsequent years, the Ego of Christ penetrates the Nathan Jesus, in his three sheaths respectively. This meant that Christ being had to overcome once again the three dangers to humanity that we have spoken about. This is experienced in biblical terms as the three temptations: In the Astral, Etheric and physical bodies.
The Nathanic Jesus had, before his earthly condition been the Christ Bearer or Christoforos and was now the archetype for the rest of humanity when he became the first human being to receive Christ into the substance of his physical body as Christ Receiver - a task that, as Prokofief tells us, humanity is called on to achieve in the future.
This bears a direct relation to the three future supersensible sacrifices and resurrections of Christ which will occur with the co-operation of the Nathan soul, Michael and another exalted being whose participation commenced when the Archangel Michael's ascended to spirit of the times. This being took his place as the Sun Archangel and therefore, heavenly guardian of the Nathan soul. Who is this being?
Vidar
When Michael made his ascent to Spirit of the Times or to the sphere of the Archais in 1879 it became impossible for him to continue to guide the Nathan Soul. This is because as an Archai it would only be possible for him to have to do with humanity as a whole. On his ascent, he became the guardian of the modern path of Initiation and is no longer the Countenance of Christ but Christ's representative on the Sun.
We heard last week that the Nathan Soul has from the beginning been more connected with the sphere of Archangels and needed therefore an Archangel to fulfil the mission formerly undertaken by the Archangel Michael. The being that took over this task from Michael was a being of angelic nature that had surpassed other beings of his hierarchy in order to take up the position of Sun Archangel.
But where did this being come from that he could take up such an exalted position?
Spiritual Science tells us that when a Bodhisattva becomes a Buddha he no longer needs to incarnate into a physical body. This means that his personal angel who follows him from incarnation to incarnation is freed to rise up to the rank of an Archangel. The angel that belonged to Buddha had had a very particular relationship to the Sun being of Christ since Hypoborean and Lemurian times. He had taken in the Christ impulse much earlier than other angels and so he was the most able to fulfil his mission of guide to the being who would become the Buddha six centuries before the events of Palestine. In Atlantean times Buddha appeared amongst the Germanic people as Odin who was the human being able to be penetrated into his Etheric and Astral bodies by the archangelic being of Wotan. In other words the human being who would become the Buddha, was incarnated in Atlantean times as Odin who was the vessel for the higher being of Wotan[17] Wotan was that being who having renounced his attainment to the rank of Archai worked amongst human beings as an Archangelic being. His Vessel Odin acquired an initiation into the wisdom, which expresses itself directly in sound. Odin became Lord of the power of speech.[18] What then of the angel that guided and directed as a messenger all that Wotan had to impart to Odin? He was called the silent spirit, inasmuch as he belonged to the hierarchy of angels who do not have access to language and the word. He is the silent son of Wotan, the silent Aesir and was known in Teutonic mythology as Vidar.
On the Gautama Bodhisattva's ascent to Buddha-hood, Vidar his guardian angel was no longer needed and he could have ascended to the rank of Archangel. However if he was to take up the position vacated by Michael as Sun Archangel he would have to wait until the great Sun Archangel had vacated his position and this would not occur until 1879. The being known as Vidar in the Northern Myths chose to sacrifice his ascent to the sphere of Archangels and remain at an angel stage until then. This constituted a great sacrifice, which lasted the entire Greco-Roman epoch, which stands in the sign of Ram and even for a part of the fifth post Atlantean Epoch. It is this angel who appears in the Luke Gospel to the Shepherds and announces the birth of Jesus. He is also the angel who speaks through the being of John the Baptist and through him Buddhism flowers again in his preachings. Repent or the Greek word met anoia, means change your breathing; we can see how this relates to Buddhism and the eastern way. Rudolf Steiner tells us that John the Baptist's preachings by the banks of the Jordan are merely a resurgence in a new way of the sermon of Benares given by Buddha.
The angelic being
known as Vidar also provided help to the
Christ being in the garden of
Because this exalted of all angels renounced any further ascension to the rank of Archangel during the epoch which stood in the sign of Ram that lasted two thousand five hundred years he was able to attain the highest goal at its conclusion. He was able to rise to the rank of Sun Archangel and take the place of the Archangel Michael. Now here in lies a mystery, which has been illuminated for me by the results of spiritual research using the guidelines given by Rudolf Steiner. Upon his ascent he took on a new name. From that time on he would become known as Ra ma El.[19]
Why the name Ramael?
Firstly we have to consider his special relationship to the Christ being in ancient times when this angel observed His descent through the gate of 'Ram' towards the earth. We must consider also his sacrificial deed, which occurred in the epoch designated by the symbol of the Ram. It is also interesting to note that Vidar - spelt Widder - in German means Ram. He becomes Ram-a-el on his ascent to Archangel. Ra – Sun – Ram - lamb – el - shinning one - a three fold God – or 'of the' - Archangelic being.
Ramael/Vidar became from the year 1879 onwards the Archangel who would take up the guardianship of the Nathan Soul through whom Christ would be made manifest to mankind in his future three resurrections. Ramael/Vidar who was once known in northern mythology as Vidar the silent Aesir became the angel to proclaim the coming of Christ, who spoke through John the Baptist, and so has been more and more connected to the word, and to the sound ether in order to take up the task of becoming the bearer of 'voice of Christ' in the same way that Michael was once the 'Countenance of Christ'.
It is interesting to note that this will occur in the 6th epoch when the perihelion of Jupiter or influence coming from the spirits of Wisdom in their planetary aspect will be in Aries or Ram. And we see the connection between John the Baptist once again insofar as this age will stand under the sign of Aquarius or waterman, a sign directly associated with the Baptist.
In the old northern mythologies Vidar kills the Fenris wolf. We must equate this to Michael overcoming the dragon. Rudolf Steiner tells us that the Fenris wolf is the old clairvoyance, which must give way to a new clairvoyance that arises between the consciousness soul and the Spirit Self. This is Ramael/Vidar's task, to be the inspirer of the new clairvoyance. So he has two tasks, like Michael he works in the cosmos and within human beings.
Now that we know concerning the Nathan soul Ram-äel and Mich-äel we must ask the following question: 'How then do the three beings participate in the future three sacrifices and Resurrections of Christ?
The angelic Nathan soul surrounds Christ with an astral or light sheath - he is the outer form of Christ. Christ appears to Paul in Damascus within the radiant light of the Nathan soul. It will be his task to become, therefore the bearer of Christ consciousness, of Christ imagination in the world, which relates well to the fact that he works with light from the Astral sphere of angels.
The Archangel Ramael Macrocosmically fashions the Etheric Image or sound inspirations of the Christ out of life and sound Ethers. He will have the task of becoming the bearer of the inspirations of Christ, which work from the sphere of the Archangels. Also as we have seen he works Microcosmically in battling the old clairvoyance as the champion of the new clairvoyance that will lead to a direct supersensible experience of Christ in the Etheric.
The Time Spirit Michael macrocosmically and microcosmically, that is outwardly in the cosmos and inwardly in man, battles for the purity of the spiritual horizon on which the Christ being will appear. His task is to become Christ's representative on the Sun and bearer of his intuitions his 'Word'.
AgeChrist appearance Spiritual Cognition Cultural age Being
IntellectEthericSee (Light Ether) Fifth ageNathan
Feeling Astral Hear (Sound Ether) Sixth Ramael/Vidar
Morality Devachan Understanding (Life Ether)Seventh Michael
5th Sacrifice – Christ as a Redeemer of Thinking – Christ as Redeemer of thinking - 'not I but the Christ in my Spirit Self'
The fifth Sacrifice of Christ has already occurred in the last century and His resurrection through the co-operation of the Nathan Soul, Ramael/Vidar and Michael will find its culmination in the Jupiter phase of world evolution.
Earthly Standpoint
Human beings were and continue to face a great danger. The danger that through materialism human thinking might sink into darkness because it is diverted to material concepts, hard and abstract. A sclerosis of thinking where no spiritual thoughts could exist. This battle is waged on all fronts by a co-operation of Lucifer, Ahriman and Asuras and resulted in a sacrifice of Christened thinking. Because this sacrifice occurred in the Astral realm we can say that it was primarily connected to Lucifer – a counterfeit of spiritual thoughts was therefore created in the physical world – Electricity - which Rudolf Steiner tells us is nothing less than 'trapped light'.
Cosmic Standpoint.
From a cosmic standpoint Christ once again experienced a sacrifice in the realms closest to the earth in the Astral sphere or the sphere of the angels. Christ is crucified, this time in the Astral world by the materialistic nature of the thoughts and imaginations of those who entered the spiritual world in the life between death and rebirth. This meant an extinction of the consciousness of Christ in the Astral world and in particular caused a loss of consciousness for the Nathan soul in the angelic sphere, which forms the Nathan, soul's fifth sacrifice.
Earthly Resurrection
After a time of metamorphoses the Christ impulse descends into the Astral sheaths of humanity, and the Consciousness of Christ is gradually being resurrected in man's transformed astral sheaths or Spirit Self as the power of Faith, something that will be elaborated further in the Russian epoch, the sixth root race and finally in the Jupiter phase of earthly evolution. By virtue of this, human beings will regain consciousness of the Astral world where Christ will be seen in Etheric garment, and will counteract the effects of Electricity with its polar opposite – illuminated thoughts.
Cosmic Resurrection.
The force of illuminated thoughts are felt by the spiritual hierarchies to be a lighting up of a new spiritual sky and a consciousness of Christ begins to dawn in the sphere of Angels this time through the vehicle of the human thoughts. These thoughts are then gathered by the Nathan soul who weaves a new radiant aura out of light Ether. This is a new garment of Astral light which will surround the Etheric image of Christ in the Astral world. Ramael/Vidar creates the Etheric image from imaginations that arise from such illuminated thoughts – universal thoughts – and in this way humanity is directly working to create the new Macrocosmic Astral body of Christ. At the same time man participates with Michael in battling with Lucifer for the purity of the Astral world and the Astral body of human beings where Christ can be found.
Who can observe such a resurrection?
Rudolf Steiner gives us the basic rudimentary exercises in Knowledge of Higher Worlds and its Attainment' that can enable us to become seers into the Etheric world. But it must be said that such exercises must be carried out along side a strict moral training. These can help us to train our eyes to see the Etheric world that surrounds the seed, the world of plants and animals and is a preparation for seeing the Christ being. With eyes that are trained you can look to the sky, and there you can see His form within the light fashioned out of human spiritual thoughts by the Nathan soul. You can look to a seed or a plant or an animal and there shinning above it or along side it is that very same image that you see when you enter into that quiet space in your meditations. Rudolf Steiner is really literal when he says that the Christ impulse exists in everything in the material world even in a seed. For this we must have Faith since faith united in the astral body with cosmic intelligence is the first moral virtue that human beings must acquire in order to progress towards the next epoch. If we don't acquire this virtue of faith we become consumed by fear. Prokofief tells us in his book 'The Cycle of the Year as a Path to Initiation' that this fear will become the next epidemic – fear of the future. Faith is the only way to counteract fear, care and anxiety that paralyses human beings.
6th Sacrifice in the Sphere of Inspiration -Christ Redeemer of the Heart/Organs – 'not I but the Christ in my Life Spirit'
The next sacrifice and resurrection of the Christ being through the co-operation of the Nathan Soul, Ramael/Vidar and Michael will begin in the sixth epoch, continuing into the sixth root race, finding its culmination in the sixth phase of world evolution Venus.
From an Earthly Standpoint
Mankind will face another danger a spiritual deafness and dumbness will occur making moral speech and the hearing of moral speech impossible. Speech will express only material desires and thoughts. This will have a deadening effect on emotions and will result in a lack of love in its best aspect and a deep hatred amongst human beings in its worst. The degeneration of meaningful speech that expresses spiritual reality will become endangered. This degenerated speech has created a counterfeit of inspired speech – or the Spiritual force of Attraction (love) – Magnetism. Magnetism Rudolf Steiner tells us is trapped or degenerated sound. This is a reflection of the danger in the first half of Atlantean times.
From a Cosmic Standpoint
An extinction of Christ consciousness in the region of lower Devachan in the sphere of the Sun as a Planet will occur as Christ will be crucified by lack of love and compassion, by the hatred inherent in the souls of those who enter the spiritual world after death. This will mean that Ramael/Vidar will sacrifice his inspirations his Christ-hearing and resounding in the sphere of Archangels.
Earthly Resurrection
His impulse will descend into the Etheric sheaths of human beings and be resurrected in the transformed Etheric body or Life Spirit as the power of love. Human consciousness will then awaken not only to the garment of light of Christ through imagination but added to this there will be sound. This will counteract the forces of magnetism with the spiritual force of Attraction or love that exists in complete individual freedom.
Cosmic Resurrection
The substance and form of this universal cosmic love shinning upwards from man towards the spiritual world will be gathered up by Ramael/Vidar as inspirations and sounded through space through the sound Ether by way of the youthful Etheric forces of the Nathan soul. Christ will resound in tones and music, which will express the deepest purest love in lower Devachan where Christ will shine out as the great Sun of Love to bestow life and warmth upon the earth.
The organs of the body especially the heart will be in tune with this resounding. This will be the beginning of true Morality through the elaboration of the Etheric heart. We may also say that at this time, the Bodhisattva Jeshu ben Pandira who will become the Maitreya Buddha and will announce the Christ being to the greater part of humanity will have a special relationship to the archangelic being Ramael/Vidar who as we have seen will be the 'voice' of Christ or to put it more precisely, the guardian of the youthful Etheric forces of Life and Sound which will make it possible for the Christ to be 'heard'.
This sacrifice will have the following effects;
1.There will be a rejuvenation of the Etheric body manifesting outwardly in the organs of the physical body and a further elaboration of the second sacrifice in Atlantean times.
2.Human beings will be able to work creatively with the word and this will transform the Etheric body into the body of Love. Each organ will then be truly an expression of the sacrifice of those beings that made them possible in the Sun period of Earth evolution.
3.Brotherhood will not be dependent on blood ties
4.There will be a spiritual hearing and speaking
5.Man will collaborate with Michael in overcoming Ahriman in Lower Devachan and in the Etheric body of human beings thereby preserving the purity of the spiritual horizon on which Christ will be heard.
6.In this way mankind will contribute to fashioning the substance of the great Macrocosmic Etheric body of Christ.
7th Sacrifice and Resurrection of Christ in the sphere of Intuition–Christ as Redeemer of the Physical Body – 12 senses – 'not I but the Christ in my Spirit Man'
This sacrifice will occur in the seventh cultural epoch and will continue onto the seventh root race culminating in the seventh phase of earthly evolution Vulcan.
From the Earthly Standpoint
The danger this time will come from Asuras who will wish to bind man's Ego to a sclerotic calcified physical body so that he will not be able to remain morally upright but will revert to an animal-like existence. This has already begun and will continue to create a shadow image or counterfeit of a union with God. This is Atomic power (splitting of Atoms), which is merely trapped life or degenerated life. This may contribute to the great catastrophe that will end the earthly phase of world evolution.
From a Cosmic Standpoint
This will mean an extinction of Christ consciousness in the sphere of Higher Devachan due to a lack of conscious morality or conscience in those who enter the spiritual world in the time between death and rebirth and will result in a loss of the intuition of Christ by His representative on the Sun Michael.
Earthly Resurrection
The Christ impulse will descend into humanity's hardest sheath, right down to his bony system and will enter into Spirit Man or the transformed physical body as the power of Hope or conscience. This will mean an awakening of human consciousness in Higher Devachan or the sphere of the Sun as a Star – or sphere of Intuition. An emergence of conscience with respect to Karma will arise. And the force of free union with God will be the counter measure against Atomic (splitting of life) power. Christ will then become the Lord of Karma. He will bring Karma into balance.
Cosmic Resurrection
Michael will observe the word or knowledge of Christ as it is reflected back to him through human beings as a redeemed cosmic intelligence or intuitions in the sphere of Higher Devachan.
Here too man will contribute to the fashioning of the substance of Christ's great macrocosmic physical body. The physical body will become the body of Hope. Then through a true conscience will a human being be able to perform a great sacrifice for another whom he has hurt or slighted or even for those who have no Karmic connection at all, by giving over the physical body that he has fashioned for himself. Zarathustra himself was a great Archetype of this when he sacrificed his physical body twice, once when he left the body of the Mathew Jesus and secondly when he left the body of the Nathan Jesus. Man will work consciously with Karma through the power of conscience and this will give man hope that all things will find their balance.
Christ will then not only shine forth and resonate in sound but the word will be added to that sound. He will live in the power of the word in the transformed physical body, which was first elaborated during Saturn existence. The power of the Word will resound in pure resurrection forces, a reflection on a higher plane of the redemption of the human being's upright position in Lemurian times. Christ will win back for mankind the entire Zodiac from whence once came the impulses for the building up of his 12 sense organs. In this it will be Michael who will come into his own through his support of Christ in the realm of Karma, for Michael will work down into the physical body and become a race creating force a formative power even as far as racial features that bring together all those who wish to bring about an ordering of their Karma.
Human beings themselves will work alongside Michael in the battle against Asuras in the Physical body of human beings and in Higher Devachan to preserve the purity of the spiritual horizon wherein the Ego of Christ – the Word can be contemplated.
§ The Nathan soul comes to the forefront in the 5th epoch as the bearer of 'Christ Consciousness' or the image of Christ in the Astral plane
§ Ramael/Vidar in the 6th epoch comes to the fore as the bearer of the 'Voice' or inspirational – Astral - cognition of Christ in lower Devachan
§ Michael in the 7th epoch comes to the fore as the bearer of the 'Word' or redeemed cosmic intelligence of the Ego of Christ in higher Devachan
In conclusion we can say that when mankind purifies his microcosmic Physical, Etheric and Astral sheaths into Manas /Spirit Self, his Etheric sheaths into Buddhi/ Life Spirit, and his Physical Sheaths into Atma/ Spirit Man he is at the same time building the macrocosmic Astral, Etheric and Physical sheaths into which the macro-cosmic Ego of Christ as the higher Ego of mankind can enter, whose physical body is fashioned from the deeds of conscience and hope which arises from Cosmic or Universal Intelligence, whose Etheric body is fashioned from the substance of Cosmic or Universal Love and whose Astral body is formed from Faith that arises out of Cosmic or Universal Thoughts. [20]
We see this
mirrored in the Foundation Stone Meditation:
Entered the stream of Earthly Being
Darkness of Night
Had held its sway;
Day Radiant Light
Poured in the souls of men;
Light that gives Warmth
To simple Shepherd's Hearts
Light that enlightens
The wise Heads of Kings
O Light Divine,
O Sun of Christ!
Warm Thou our Hearts
Enlighten Thou
Our Heads,
That good may become
What from our Hearts we would found
And from our Heads direct
With single purpose.[21]
Christ's resurrection occurs firstly in the Astral world, then in the lower Devachan and then lastly in higher Devachan. In order to accomplish this task humanity must sacrifice the separateness of its I, to unite with the I of Christ – 'not I but the Christ in me'. Rudolf Steiner tells us that the human being in earthly evolution today can become conscious of his true humanity only when the soul feels inwardly united with the essence and substantiality of Christ. This was only made possible for us because the Macrocosmic Sun Being chose to unite Himself with the earth in a gradual descent incurring three sacrifices on His way to the Earth, made possible by the co-operation of the Nathan Soul, and the Archangel Michael. These sacrifices were reflected then many millennia later to the seers in myth and legend and in those human beings who mirrored those deeds leading to the ultimate sacrifice in the physical body in the sheaths of the union of two human beings the Nathan Jesus and the Mathew Jesus. This inward unity of Christ began when Christ descended into the various sheaths of humanity and the conscious awareness of this is now dawning in human beings and they are called upon to ascend to higher spiritual heights of consciousness with the help of Christ who, in each sheath helps human beings to elaborate their Astral body into Spirit Self, their Etheric body into Life Spirit, and their physical body into Spirit Man.
As humanity elaborates these three higher sheaths, it also elaborates the sheaths into which the Christ Ego can exist on Earth. Then the goal of the Earth evolution will have reached its zenith, when the Earth, like man, will be a fully developed being, a fitting vehicle for the Christ Ego. It will be a new Sun. Man weaves the new sheaths in which Christ can exist from out of his own being, when he becomes conscious of the descent of the Christ Impulse into his own sheaths. Now the words of the mystic Angelus Silesius become understandable.
"Were Christ born a thousand times in Bethlehem and not in thee, thou art lost eternally."
The time, at which this understanding becomes accessible to the greater part of humanity on earth, is the time of the cosmic Holy Night whose approach we await. With the help of the Nathan soul, the Archangel Michael and Ramael/Vidar/Vidar we can commemorate with understanding the birth of the archetype of all humanity - the Christ receiver – the Nathan Jesus. And what streams into us at this time is the promise that is given to mankind by the words of Christ, which shine out and resounds and becomes known by human beings;
'And lo I am with you always to the end of the earthly
age.' Mathew 28:20
Suggested Reading:
The Four Sacrifices of Christ, Rudolf Steiner
Pre Earthly Deeds of Christ, Rudolf Steiner
The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation,Sergei O. Prokofieff
The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric Rudolf Steiner
The Mission of the Folk Souls Rudolf Steiner
The Mission of The Earth, Wonder, Compassion and Conscience, The Christ Impulse Rudolf Steiner
Foundations of Esotericism Rudolf Steiner
The Gospel of Mathew Rudolf Steiner
The Gospel of Luke Rudolf Steiner
The spiritual nature of Maya. Krishna — the Light-Halo of Christ. The Risen One. Rudolf Steiner
The Bhagavad-Gita
The Ramayana
Newborn Might and Strength Everlasting[1] Rudolf Steiner