For about seven or eight years, Classholders of the School
of Spiritual Science from across Canada, Canada’s General Secretary and members
of the ASC Council have met together for a day each year, usually in Toronto,
with the intention of being mutually supportive in their anthroposophical work.
Usually there are one or two Classholder friends from the US present.
A theme is identified for this meeting, prepared beforehand.
In September 2013 the theme for January 2014 was chosen, introduced by the
following words:
“Dear friends, when we
meet this January, we shall be nine years away from the 100th year
celebration of the Christmas Conference. How can we prepare our souls for this
centenary anniversary? How can we, as the Anthroposophical Society in Canada
Individuals were approached to prepare presentations for the
January 2014 meeting. I was asked if I would present on the Fifth Gospel. I did
this and now offer it in article-form for the newsletter.
The question of preparing our souls for the centenary
celebration of the Christmas Conference in 2023/24 offers a possibility for anthroposophists
to work together as colleagues for the Society and for Earth and human
evolution. Over the next nine years, we can become more and more conscious of the
impulse of the physical Foundation Stone laying in 1913 where Rudolf Steiner first
introduced revelations of the Fifth Gospel, leading to the Christmas Conference
in 1923/24, when he laid the Foundation Stone Meditation in the hearts of all
present. A mutually supportive Will and our consciousness of it can give extra
strength to our individual will.
Using as resource the thirteen lectures given by Rudolf
Steiner in Oslo, Berlin and Cologne between 1 October 1913 and 10 February 1914
(published as a book by RS Press 1995 ‘The Fifth Gospel – from the Akashic
Record’) and a section from ‘The Christmas Foundation: Beginning of a New
Cosmic Age’ by Rudolf Grosse*, and other supporting material, I immersed myself
in the subject. A significant portion of my research and contemplation took
place over the twelve Holy Nights of Christmas 2013/14. The scope of the Fifth
Gospel is huge. Awe developed within me for what Steiner has brought for humanity
in what he called “a kind of Fifth Gospel”, also ‘The Gospel of Knowledge of
the Spirit’ and the ‘anthroposophical Gospel’. I feel great gratitude for
practical guidance which emerges from it. I offer here a glimpse of what is
contained in this ‘Gospel of the Knowledge of the Spirit’.
Steiner stated his intention for bringing his research into
the facts of the Fifth Gospel to the attention of his listeners at the laying
of the physical Foundation Stone for the first Goetheanum in 1913 and in the
subsequent lectures. His words, condensed from the concluding words of the
second lecture given at Cologne
(18 December 1913):
“These facts are
presented as a kind of Fifth Gospel. It has been my intention to help you find
the right feeling and inner attitude to the Mystery of Golgotha
by telling you these stories from the Fifth Gospel…It was absolutely essential
that knowledge of such facts should be brought into Earth evolution at the
present time. These things are communicated from an inner sense of obligation,
so long as human souls are prepared to receive them. It is extremely difficult
to speak of them. Our studies of these facts have gradually shown what must
come alive in our souls so that we may truly have a part in the ongoing evolution of humanity. The meaning and purpose of human evolution on Earth is that human
souls should become more and more conscious of their mission.
“The Christ has come. His impulse has been a real influence. It will become more and more necessary for people to understand the Christ, who entered into the bodies of Jesus of
*
Here is a brief overview of time and space in the life of
Jesus of Nazareth included in the lectures, which I give as backdrop, before bringing
focus to particular aspects:
We are given pictures of Jesus of Nazareth’s life from his
twelfth year when the ‘Zarathustra ego’ has transferred to the soul being of
the Nathan Jesus. He is engaged in his father’s carpentry trade until his
sixteenth or seventeenth year. It is a painful realization for Jesus when he
discovers that it is no longer possible for the Jewish teachers who follow the
ancient tradition of the Old Testament to hear the voice of revelation from the
divine spirit which was accessible to them in the past. From about age sixteen
to twenty-three Jesus travels, gaining knowledge and wisdom through his
meetings with humanity. In his twenty-fourth year he receives the revelation of
the ancient macrocosmic prayer of the Mysteries at a pagan altar. He recognizes
that the pagan religion has fallen into decay. When he returns home he forms a
relationship with members of the Essene community in Nazareth . He recognizes that Lucifer and
Ahriman are forced to flee from the gates of the Essene communities and asks
himself: Where do they go? We see him in his thirtieth year disclosing to his mother
in a significant conversation what lives in his soul as a result of all he has
experienced since his twelfth year. The ‘Zarathustra ego’ departs from him with
the powerful words he speaks to his mother. He is drawn to seek John the
Baptist at the Jordan River . On the way there he
has three significant encounters. At the River Jordan the baptism by John and
the descent of the Holy Spirit occur. The Christ Spirit enters the physical,
etheric and astral sheaths of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus feels drawn into solitude
for a confrontation with Lucifer and Ahriman. He undergoes the three
temptations. Through temptation by Ahriman a way is laid for Jesus’ betrayal by
Judas to his death. At Jesus’ death the Christ Spirit becomes one with the
Earth and its evolution. The Apostles experience an outpouring of
all-prevailing cosmic love at Pentecost which comes from the Christ Spirit. It
is from that point in time that the Christ impulse starts to spread.
*
Steiner gives a helpful description of his method of
research into the scenes and stories he portrays. He brings stages of this
method at some length to the attention of his listeners at the second Cologne lecture in the passages
which follow:
“I would like you to
have some idea of ‘occult research’, as we may call it, which makes it possible
to penetrate to facts like those we considered yesterday. The first thing to be
said is that such research consists in reading the Akashic Record …It has to be
realized that essentially the universe contains nothing but states of
consciousness. I have shown in my book ‘The Threshold of the Spiritual World‘(‘The
Road to Self-Knowledge and the Threshold of the Spiritual World’. GA 16 &
17, London: RS Press 1975) how vision
gradually rises above the level where objects and material processes are seen
all around you…Finally you come to a region where you only find entities in
various states of consciousness…”
He speaks about the significance of the beings of the Third
Hierarchy in our thinking, so we are conscious of it in our search for higher
vision:
“Initially thoughts
exist in our conscious mind, but not only there. Angels also have that
thought…the whole of our thought world is a thought of the Angels …To achieve
higher vision the mode of thinking we use in relation to the physical world and
to existence on Earth will not help us. For higher vision you need not only to
think, but also to be thought, and to know that you are being thought…You must
feel the conscious awareness of the Angels welling and actively
moving within you. This will give you insight into the progressive impulses of
evolution, for instance the truth about the Christ impulse…The Angels are able
to think those impulses; we human beings are able to think and characterize
them if our attitude to our thoughts is one where we give them over to the
Angels, letting them think in us. When this becomes true individual human
experience, you inwardly enter into the thoughts of the general Christ truths,
let us say, or other thoughts concerning the wise guidance of Earth evolution.”
Steiner continues: “Anything
relating to individual periods of Earth evolution is thought by the Archangels.
Your thoughts are taken to a particular period by an Archangel ”.
And with reference to the Spirits of Personality, the Archai: “Anything connected with entering into the
soul of an individual experience can only be investigated when the words: ‘The
soul offers itself to be food to the Archai’ or ‘You are consumed to serve the Archai
as spiritual food’ acquire real meaning to you. …“Human beings are to the
Archai what grains of wheat are to you as human beings. We have to know this
from living experience and not as mere theory, relating to the Archai the way a
grain of wheat would if it were ground to a pulp by our teeth and then passed
through our gullet and stomach in the knowledge: I am human food. So we
must know: I am Archai food, I am digested by the Archai; this is their life,
which I live in them. The analogy is perfectly true, for your soul has to be
ground to a pulp and you must feel this. Higher investigation is not possible
without inner pain and suffering.”
In conclusion he says: “Then
we share in the conscious awareness of the Archai, just as we share in the
conscious awareness of the Archangels, knowing that the Archangels are taking
our souls into a particular age, and we share in the conscious awareness of the
Angels when we know that our thoughts are thought by the Angels.”
*
Steiner gives us vivid imaginations like the grain of wheat
being ground to a pulp by our teeth to help us penetrate deep truths revealed
in the Fifth Gospel. Here is another: Someone with true, reverent occult
feeling approaches the Mystery of Golgotha like someone walking stealthily
around a building that is all closed up, having only a faint idea of what goes
on inside. There is a window at one point, and through the window it is
possible to witness a small part of what goes on inside. “The Mystery of Golgotha is such
a window on the world of the spirit; this picture can help us to see that this
event was an affair of the Gods. The Gods opened a window in the heavens, and
for a while dealt with their affairs in the sight of human eyes”.
*
At the beginning of this period, at age sixteen or
seventeen, Jesus had already come to realizations that were painful for him. He
learned clairvoyantly that the Bath Kol, an ancient voice of inspiration in
Judaic tradition, was no longer able to connect with the greater source of Jewish
inspiration, Yahweh. This meant that the Jewish sages of Old Testament tradition
could no longer receive through the Bath Kol the revelations of the Divine that
had been possible in the past. Human consciousness had evolved and it was no
longer possible under the circumstances of the time. This knowledge was painful
to Jesus, and saddened him.
Carrying this knowledge in his soul, Jesus travelled widely
inside and outside of Palestine .
There was a widespread cult at that time in the Near East and Southern
Europe , which was predominantly a cult of Mithras. Ancient pagan
rites were practiced with customs and celebrations of Mithraic and Attic cults
mixed in. Jesus came to know people who followed this pagan cult and he attended
services. Through his clairvoyance he could see demonic spirits were attracted by
the rites. Some of the images used were in fact images of evil demonic powers, worshipped
in ignorance. He could see evil powers enter into the faithful. It was a bitter
experience to the young man that the glory of the old pagan rites had fallen
into decay in this way.
In Steiner’s graphic words: “In his twenty-fourth year Jesus of Nazareth
At the pagan altar Jesus of Nazareth fell down as if dead. His
soul was raised to realms of spirit, “as
if to realms of Sun-existence”.
From there it heard the transformed voice of inspiration of the Bath Kol
sounding the words of the all-powerful prayer from ancient sacred teaching,
which had been forgotten. Rudolf Steiner called this the ‘primeval macrocosmic
Prayer’ in his address at the laying of the Foundation Stone for the first
Goetheanum. From the lecture in Cologne 17 December 1913 Steiner says “…Jesus of Nazareth felt the prayer contained, in highly concentrated form, the
secret of human evolution and embodiment in earthly incarnations” and “reveals the laws according to which the
human being incarnated from the macrocosm into a microcosm”. Steiner adds
for himself that since the words of this prayer became known to him, he found
them extraordinarily significant for meditation. In his words: “The power of these words over the soul is
quite extraordinary and you perceive this power all the more the longer you
contemplate them. If you then try to look at them in detail and understand
them, you find that they do indeed hold the secret of man and the destiny of
humanity in a nutshell, and how their reversal gave rise to the microcosmic Our
Father which the Christ gave to his disciples”.
In his twenty-fourth year Jesus returned home to Nazareth . He formed a
relationship to the local community of the Essene Order and was able to
participate in a lively exchange of ideas with members. Through their ‘pure’ way
of living they kept the influence of Lucifer and Ahriman away from their
communities in order to receive the blessings of divine guidance. He learned a
great deal from them of traditional Hebrew secret knowledge. By his
twenty-seventh year Jesus had learned almost everything they had to offer. He
also experienced important clairvoyant impressions relating to his connection
with that community. At home he pondered on the powers he had been given, and on
the significant experiences which had arisen in his soul regarding the Essenes
and how they lived. He met and often talked to John the Baptist here, who was a
lay brother of the Essenes at this time.
In his thirtieth year Jesus of Nazareth has a significant
conversation with his (step)mother, in which he unburdens his soul to her of
the experiences he has undergone since his twelfth year. He tells her of the three
experiences which gave him knowledge bringing pain and sadness to his soul (first,
of those involved in Judaic tradition no longer being able to access divine
revelation from the Bath Kol; secondly, his experience of the decay of pagan
religion; and thirdly, in connection with his experience of the Essene
community). In words from the Fifth Gospel Jesus describes to
his mother an experience he had at the gate of the Essene community: “’Once I left the Essenes after an
important, personal conversation, and when I reached the main gate I saw
Lucifer and Ahriman running away. Since then, dear mother, I know that the
Essenes protect themselves from them with their life-style and secret doctrine,
and Lucifer and Ahriman have to flee from their gates. But by sending Lucifer
and Ahriman away the Essenes are making them go to other people. They gain
blessedness by saving themselves from Lucifer and Ahriman.’ Having lived among
the Essenes Jesus knew that there was a way of reaching the heights where we
unite with the divine and spiritual, but it could only be done by individuals
and at the cost of others. He knew now that the connection with the world of
the divine and the spirit could not be established in the traditional Hebrew,
the pagan or the Essene way.”
At the end of the long conversation with his mother we see
the great effect of Jesus’ words. She is transformed. The Zarathustra ego
departs from Jesus with the words addressed to his mother, the infinitely open
ego of the Nathan Jesus (without earth-life experience) comes again to his soul
which prepares him for the Baptism. He is drawn to seek John the Baptist at the
Jordan .
On his way there he has three significant encounters. These encounters are
connected to the earlier experiences which filled Jesus’ soul with knowledge
and pain, and in a way respond to them. (For example, to two Essenes he meets
on his way: “Vain is your endeavour, for
your hearts are empty; you have only filled them with the spirit who
deceptively covers pride and arrogance with a cloak of humility”). At the
baptism by John the Christ Spirit descends from the Heavens and enters the
physical, etheric and astral sheaths of Jesus of Nazareth. He is drawn to seek
solitude for a confrontation with Lucifer and Ahriman, knowing them to be the spiritual
entities humanity have to contend with on Earth. The three temptations take
place: one by Lucifer, one by Lucifer and Ahriman combined, and one by Ahriman
alone, this last being the one that the Christ Being is unable to fully
repudiate. From the Gospel “If thou be the Son of God, command that these
stones be made into bread”. Jesus answers “Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God”. Ahriman knows the Christ
Spirit needs Earth experience as a human being to be able to fully respond to the
offered temptation and take away its power. In the words of the Fifth Gospel as
reported by Steiner: “Ahriman’s reply
was: ‘You may be right. But the fact
that you are right and the extent to which you are right cannot prevent my
having a certain hold on you. You only know how the spirit acts that descends
from the heights. You have not yet been in the human world. Down there you find
people who truly need to turn stones into bread. They cannot possibly live by
the spirit alone’. This unresolved aspect leaves a way open for the Lord of
Death, Ahriman, to use his influence for the betrayal of Jesus and thus to his
death on the Cross.
The Fifth Gospel continues: “Ahriman’s question had to remain unanswered so that it would become
the ideal for Christ Jesus to pour himself into Earth evolution and gradually
and slowly influence the whole future evolution of the Earth. This could not
just be done at the level of the soul. The whole of future Earth evolution had
to be filled with the Christ spirit!
Ahriman had the power to impose on the Christ the necessity to truly
connect himself with Earth evolution. He therefore entered into Judas later on,
and in him had the means of truly bringing about the death of Christ. Through
death the Christ essence then entered into the Earth essence. Judas’ deed was
the question put by Ahriman that could not be fully answered. (‘They cannot
live by the spirit alone.’) The luciferic temptation could be overcome
inwardly, in the soul. Every human soul has to do this inwardly. Ahriman’s
nature is such that he will be overcome as human evolution progresses if human
beings let the Christ essence enter into them more and more, identifying
themselves with it”.
*
This leads us to contemplate our relationship to the living
Christ today.
*
- ‘The
Fifth Gospel – from the Akashic Record’. Thirteen lectures by Rudolf
Steiner given in
- Section
from ‘The Christmas Foundation: Beginning of a New Cosmic Age’ by Rudolf
Grosse; section ‘Laying the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum’.
Published in the original German by the
Invitation to readers: Please share your thoughts and
comments. ajudithmarg@ns.sympatico.ca
Judy King April 2014
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