Nietzsche and Christianity - Metaphysical Idealist Critique

[Simon Adams]

I can get it from my work laptop, but essentially the part on Dante is just one slide with a medieval painting of Dante’s mountain where I set the scene, then the table above but with two extra columns that related each sin and each antidote to their equivalent when working from home. Let me know if you still want it

It’s a regular meeting and I’d run out of any ‘news’ by that stage, and was inspired by this video which goes through each of Dante’s levels one by one...

[AshvinP]

Dante is great. Some good stuff hidden in there. It’s also interesting that he has the lower steps of the inferno (e.g. pride) as the most serious.

Funnily enough I used Dante as a theme at work for a presentation on remote working under covid.

This is part of a table from that...

I don't think that table is accurate. Dante has nine circles of Hell with the 9th being "treachery". But I definitely agree the entire thing is like a visionary virtual tour of 'hidden' esoteric Wisdom.

[Cleric K]

This morning I've had an idea for a visual representation. Not that different from the color discs but can be used to tie together few otherwise disparate topics. It's just a question if I'll be able to put it together with my 'artistic' capabilities

I have faith you will and can't wait to see the result

The morning idea became somewhat of an essay so I've posted it in a new thread.

[Anthony66]

This changes after the Christ event, in which so to speak the seed falls into the ground of the Earth. To be sure very few people at that time realized the actual Cosmic events that were unfolding behind the curtains of Maya. Only the Initiates in certain gnostic schools were aware of these things. These schools continued as a secret stream of esoteric Christianity, which has passed only from mouth to ear, so to speak. Only souls Karmically predisposed for this could find their way into the secrets. What about all the rest of humanity? Was it to become left out of this Mystery? No, and that's why exoteric Christianity took form. For the vast majority of humanity the Christ event simply became a religion - a God to be worshipped. And this was necessary. Yes, it's a compromise, but necessary one - and most importantly - temporary.

Cleric,

I'm re-reading some the the classic conversations with fresh eyes

I've bolded a claim you made back in March. What is your source/evidence here? Is there any literature that has survived? I'm imagining not, given the "secret knowledge" aspect and the destruction of such work by what became the orthodox church.

[Cleric K]

This changes after the Christ event, in which so to speak the seed falls into the ground of the Earth. To be sure very few people at that time realized the actual Cosmic events that were unfolding behind the curtains of Maya. Only the Initiates in certain gnostic schools were aware of these things. These schools continued as a secret stream of esoteric Christianity, which has passed only from mouth to ear, so to speak. Only souls Karmically predisposed for this could find their way into the secrets. What about all the rest of humanity? Was it to become left out of this Mystery? No, and that's why exoteric Christianity took form. For the vast majority of humanity the Christ event simply became a religion - a God to be worshipped. And this was necessary. Yes, it's a compromise, but necessary one - and most importantly - temporary.

Cleric,

I'm re-reading some the the classic conversations with fresh eyes

I've bolded a claim you made back in March. What is your source/evidence here? Is there any literature that has survived? I'm imagining not, given the "secret knowledge" aspect and the destruction of such work by what became the orthodox church.

I can't think of anything specific at this moment but I'm not talking about something unheard of above. It's simply the difference between the esoteric and exoteric streams. It is possible to connect the dots also through historical records but it is not easy. Steiner has spoken in many places about the development of Christianity through the ages. In any case, we shouldn't be deterred by what can or can not be historically proven. It's much rather about the expansion of cognition. If we understand the living dynamics of conscious evolution by finding its confirmation within ourselves, then also the other questions will find their fruitful resolution. On the contrary, even if we have the most comprehensive historical record of all inner and outer aspects of spiritual traditions, as long as we simply try to arrange facts with our intellect, everything will remain dry and abstract.

[AshvinP]

This changes after the Christ event, in which so to speak the seed falls into the ground of the Earth. To be sure very few people at that time realized the actual Cosmic events that were unfolding behind the curtains of Maya. Only the Initiates in certain gnostic schools were aware of these things. These schools continued as a secret stream of esoteric Christianity, which has passed only from mouth to ear, so to speak. Only souls Karmically predisposed for this could find their way into the secrets. What about all the rest of humanity? Was it to become left out of this Mystery? No, and that's why exoteric Christianity took form. For the vast majority of humanity the Christ event simply became a religion - a God to be worshipped. And this was necessary. Yes, it's a compromise, but necessary one - and most importantly - temporary.

Cleric,

I'm re-reading some the the classic conversations with fresh eyes

I've bolded a claim you made back in March. What is your source/evidence here? Is there any literature that has survived? I'm imagining not, given the "secret knowledge" aspect and the destruction of such work by what became the orthodox church.

Man, looking back at my original post and comments, it's hard to imagine it was only 7 or so months ago... I stand by most of the general ideal content I wrote, but it was mostly just blurry concepts back then and my perspective on Nietzsche's thought, although informed by Steiner's book, was still very naive and not clearly adapted to the holistic context of where he fit in the spiritual evolutionary progression.

Thanks for this trip down memory lane!