This
lecture [1] is entirely made of Q&A. A rough outline of the topics:
- The force of Love
- When the astral body and the
I "perfidiously" leave the etheric and physical bodies of man
- Forgiveness of sins
- The new betrayal of man and the powers of the Eucharist and Pentecost
- Unrequited love
- The mystery of the head, the birth of philosophy and the Michael impulse through the ages
Rome, December 9, 1978
Let’s start with the most realistic question. Anyway, with the word “realistic” one can mean anything.
[Reading a question] “
There are the deranged, and there are the disfigured. Why are we so afraid to come close to them?" Physical and psychic abnormalities are horrifying. The leprous also is horrifying. Still, Saint Francis of Assisi hugged him, he kissed him. And Mother Teresa of Calcutta astounded the master of the Buddhists. The man got the wits scared out of him, when he realized that a human being was able to do something that for centuries none of them had been able to do: to approach a leprous person and hug him, pick him up, and put him in a bed. The master of the Buddhists was certainly a wise man. He reflected for long on that fact. He understood that, in that woman, there was a power they ignored, because they were horrified by the leprous. It’s a justified horror, so is human nature. Nonetheless, there are beings who, beyond the physical appearance, can see the Logos, the Atman, the Christ, however you want to call it. Some can indeed be persuaded that in a criminal, a murderer, a killer there is Christ. They are convinced of that, but in practical terms, they feel horror. Why? Because the thought is correct, but it has not become a force. The thought is correct, but it has not transformed into powerful feeling. It has not become power of will. It is a right thought, it’s the beginning. One begins in this way. But in order for that right thought to match reality and truth, it is necessary that it becomes a force, which is what we attempt to do with concentration. Therefore, we can surely dominate the horror and take care of the person, and this is in itself deserving and great, but it takes much from us, it really requires that we make a huge inner effort. But when it doesn’t cost much effort, when we are finally able to do it with joy, then we have succeeded.
I find this question very interesting, because… let’s imagine a mother who is horrified by the physically deformed, or the deranged, and that she gives birth to a child who is physically deformed. Do you think that that mother is horrified? Surely not! That child will become the most beloved being. And this is the key. She can see something beyond the physical in that being. At some point we will have to have this sort of relationship with all beings. If a mother has a child who becomes leprous, she will hug him, she will try to get the leper onto herself, to take it away from her child. This is the way. The thing is, maternal power comes from an ancestral force, that we have to discover. We also have to be realistic - I started by saying that this topic is realistic. If you observe the life of the bears, for example, the mother bear is capable of such self-sacrifice for the bear cubs that goes beyond the human mother’s. Here we are on the natural plane, but the right principle is there. It’s about recovering this principle in conscious form, and educating it, until we conquer the ability to overcome the horror of a deformed being.
By the way, I am sure that whoever has practiced Spiritual Science, and nonetheless finds himself in a state of repugnance, if he has intensely educated himself to communion with the original forces of the soul, I can guarantee that, after a short hesitation, he will be able to activate those forces, in case he finds himself in an environment where he has to do with the deformed or the deranged. He simply has to overcome a diaphragm that belongs to his nature, which is justified. The tiniest amount of goodwill would make the forces of love irrupt. If one is capable of this force of love, a double amount of force would flow in. These forces are such that they can even have healing power. Now, I have seen a question that could recall this one… we will get back to it.
[Reading] “
What is the force that, in the waking state, traps us into the physical body, and makes us find it again when we wake up?” Who is it who quits the physical body? It’s the
I and the astral body. Our Doctor says: “
They leave maliciously, perfidiously”. This word “perfidiously” has raised difficulties of interpretation. Why? This “perfidiously” that our Doctor says, is the most subtle humor, a marvelous humor that is even a help to understand what it means. Because that desertion is ostensible, and the forces of the
I and the astral forces are not yet there, capable of a true relationship with that physical body. Thus, man inhabits an astral level that has been built for him, has been gifted to him, we can even say, it has been lent to him. The etheric body is completely borrowed, not to speak of the physical. So, there is work ahead, we will have to come back here, for millennia ahead, in order to retrace all that with the forces of thinking. At the moment, thinking sits in the head, but later it will have to do an in-depth work, so that there will be no need to leave the etheric and physical bodies. Now they are temporarily left behind in order to replenish knowledge, because the etheric body and the physical body really need to be left in peace, like a wife who says 'Finally, he’s going out, so I can accomplish something in peace, here at home'. These are really loving wives, but they need him to leave them alone. And he, perfidiously, leaves. Maybe he will go play billiards. Or maybe… well... no, nothing [laughs]. No, I wanted to say that if he goes to a place where he realizes there are no anthroposophists, then he may take a double whisky, that looks like water... but the friend to whom this is addressed is absent today, so when he’s back… anyway, let's go back to the point.
It’s the memory. It’s the power of the memory of continuity of the conscious activity that we accomplish in our waking state. The day we discover what memory really is, then we will know that spiritual memory is the key to everything. The memory of the highest thing we have ever conquered will come back. When you do the exercise of concentration, you don’t draw from something you have learned. You draw from a level you have reached. Sometimes it’s difficult to find it again, but you find it, through the power of memory. Not that in that moment you make an effort to recall it, because memory is not repetition of something that already exists. It is re-creation, it is reproduction. Psychology in this area is very much like a child, it understands very little, because these things need to be known by experiment.
In the same way that we have perception of the physical world, and then a representation of it, in the same way we have inner perceptions and images, arising as memory. The more such inner perception is subtle and able to reach a space of purity in the soul, the more we remember intuitive forces, we remember inner duties, we really remember that which helps us improve. Because the weak point is the forgetfulness of the moments when we have made higher decisions. Later, we forget about them, or we remember them, but in an abstract way, while we miss the power that is the power of memory, of true memory. What creates continuity of consciousness? It’s memory, that which we remember. You see, everything is memory, the etheric body
is a body of memory. Let’s make an equivalence: it’s a body woven of time. It is a time-synthesis, not the time that we dilute through sensory vision. It’s the authentic time. Authentic time is the etheric world, the world in which there is everything. We can recall that - even experimental psychology speaks of that - when someone traverses a life danger, when one is really about to die, there is a detachment of the etheric body, that appears before the vision of the
I, so that one overviews the whole life in an instant, as a synthesis in which there’s everything. Those who have such an experience are amazed that, in this instant vision, every detail is there, the entire life is there, and it’s a fabric of memory, a fabric of time. This is the force that we can also call continuity of consciousness. This is what awakens us. It connects the waking experience of the previous day with the new day, through that in-between where a continuum lies that belongs to the etheric body. So he perfidiously leaves, but the etheric body is the one who maintains the memory relationship that serves the
I and the astral, immediately upon their return. In the first place, there are spiritual impressions that arise as dreams, until they later reenter the physical body. This awakening is very interesting, because some beings have to make a huge effort to reawaken properly in the body, while other ones are immediately fully awake. We will come back to this question too.
[Reading] “
After resurrection Jesus told the Apostles: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Those who will have their sins forgiven by you will be forgiven. Those who will have their sins retained by you, will not be forgiven’ John 20, 23. Who has the power of forgiving sins today?” The answer is: the same ones, those who have the Holy Spirit. This is an interesting question that gives us the possibility to clarify one thing. All this does not require publicity. So whoever has this power, it’s not possible to get to know who they are and see them in order to obtain forgiveness. Some people are unhappy unless it is well known that they are the ones who have accomplished a beautiful act, or something extraordinary, or that they have healed. I have heard that, a few days ago, a certain individual has called the family of a sick person, telling them to send him the sick, because he was feeling in possession of a strong healing force. He wanted to take advantage of a moment when he was feeling powerful. There are healers of this kind, but please know that we don't want to criticize anyone here, because in this world, from below zero, to the highest infinity, there is a place for everyone. All the ways are the ways of the Lord. If someone is on that path, it means that he needs exactly that.
So, to retain sins and to liberate from sins. First, this is an act that our Doctor proposes as a personal act, a personal relationship with Christ. Naturally, these are teachings that we discuss somewhat casually, in friendly conversation, nonetheless they hold such a delicate and sacred content that really needs to be internalized with a sense of veneration. As our Doctor says, the relationship with Christ, that each of us can realize, is so profound and intimate that we can ask for forgiveness of our own sins, and we can even have the certainty that it will happen. This is the principle, because a being who is capable of that, begins to become a helper of other people, insofar as he helps others develop the same trust, the same intensity of relationship with Christ. With this, we haven’t answered the question yet, because the question wants to know if there are such beings. Sure there are - again, they are those who have attained the power of the Holy Spirit. But the point is, you won’t find their address in the phone directory. You only encounter these beings if it is written that you will encounter them; in other words, if the goodwill on your side, and recognition on the side of these masters, lead up to such an encounter as a consequence.
There are questions that I keep close, every time, so I can answer them, but I actually never come to them, because there are more urgent ones… Here I am finding an important question: “
Can a lack of trust in Christ be considered a betrayal? Christ who continually sacrifices Himself so that man can manifest true love and true freedom.” We really have to reify this thought. It seems a very mystical thought, but in fact, it is terribly... realistic. Betrayal is the betrayal of Judas, and Spiritual Science has clarified well what that betrayal is. Ahriman was left with a certain power - a power that was necessary up until the events of the Golgotha, so that Judas’ betrayal could take place. Remember Ahriman’s temptation to transform stones into bread. Therein lies a profound mystery, because the fact of a stone transformed into bread is equivalent to the fact that bread comes from heaven, bread comes from the sun. Then it enters the sensory world and bread becomes a means of nourishment. However, it then enters a sphere where Ahriman dominates, because Christ's answer is: “
One does not live only on bread”. Whoever only lives on bread, has already transformed stone into value, that is, money. Stone means mineral. Mineral is metal, and metal is the thirty denarii with which Judas betrayed. When bread enters that sphere - and it’s only applicable to that sphere - whoever only lives on that bread is within the sphere of Ahriman. That’s when betrayal is perpetrated, and Judas was an economist. Think about it, Maître Philippe said that Judas was the most evolved among the disciples. He was the most intellectual, thus the most dialectical, and the one in closest contact with the Ahrimanic reality. He was the treasurer. Facing this Ahrimanic power, Christ, by creating the Eucharist, restored the true value of bread as heavenly nourishment, that contains the power of the sun, recalling His original force. Thus, whoever nourishes himself on that bread does not feed only on bread, but also takes nourishment from Christ. This is the Eucharist. He adds: “
Do this in my memory”. It means, this is a reminder of the whole process, from Saturn, to Sun, to Moon, to Earth, where in the end the grains grow to become bread.
As our friend Leopoldo said, Judas had redeemed that betrayal. Judas has been forgiven. However, the betrayal continues, because man is put in a position where he lives only on bread. In other words, he has organized human society on the sole grounds of economic value, when the highest problems are economic problems, the highest theme is money, value. One comes to a state of constant preoccupation about this money, this bread. Such a process has been set up for all people in the world. The most dramatic power now dominating man is indeed this drama of survival, of obtaining the daily bread. Daily bread means job, money, shelter. With the excuse of saving man from the authoritarian powers - for example from capital, from wage - man is relegated to a state of dependency on the most subtle economic processes, that really equal a betrayal of man. It is a new betrayal that really affects man, an everyday betrayal. You can follow Spiritual Science, but if you are incessantly preoccupied about money, about losing certain physical objects, this influence can really affect the soul in its entirety.
Therefore, the remedy today is the same as in times bygone. To neutralize the power of Judas, the power of the bread that becomes stone, Christ established the Eucharist, and He completed it with the power of Pentecost. The process is the same. Again, we have to rediscover that force in an original power that has come back to the Earth, it has united with the Earth. We have the duty to restore this force in our heart of hearts. The power of Pentecost invested the disciples from without. They had deserved that, because of their long suffering and their loyalty to Christ. Pentecost today peers out again in another form, as an inner process, as the possibility to open up to the principle of Logos, from within our soul. This is the way of the Rosicrucian, the way of the Holy Spirit, the way of Michael. It is the way of true love, thus the way of freedom.
Now let’s tackle the most delicate question: “
Dear Massimo, in one of your books you said" ...in Kamaloka all the books I wrote will chase me!
"you said that unrequited love is not love.” I confirm that. “
I feel deep in my heart that this is true” Oh, that’s good! “
But I would like to ask you, what is the best way to live through a feeling of love when the other person does not reciprocate?”. I could possibly end here and say that all of you have answered, because you all know what this is about. But I don’t want to get away with it in this way. See, I will ask Dante to answer: ‘
Amor ch'a nullo amato amar perdona’ [Love, which does not allow not to love back]. I remember when we were studying these verses… - back then, students were a little calmer, more brotherly with each other, they weren’t on each other’s throats. Right wing and left wing students were brothers. There was the Corda Fratres, a federation of the students, of all students. It was a place where one could have philosophical discussions. Go try similar discussions today… And so I remember there was a discussion on this verse that lasted for months, because the various commentators don’t agree with each other. However, the best ones interpret it as follows: it does not allow not to love back. This love implies that one is loved back, if love really is there. Anyhow, we are not trying to escape the question through Dante.
The truth is that, if one truly loves another person, in an absolute way, one has to love him or her as he or she is, including as non-reciprocating the love. One has to leave the other person free, otherwise we are back to the situation when one states “We have to be tolerant. You have to be tolerant!” which immediately makes the person intolerant. Thus, if a being is truly ensouled by an immense love towards a being who does not respond, who maybe gives you a hail from afar, well, one should exercise oneself in this love, knowing that, by that same love, one should not ask for more than the other person freely gives back. One does not force the other person, otherwise we ruin everything. No forcing is possible. Sure, there could be the forcing of seizing and seducing the person, but that doesn’t solve anything. Men know this very well. They may try to seduce a woman, who in the moment may endure the thing, because it so happens, but she will never forgive you. Although some… some… [laughs]. Anyway, that’s not the way. The person who is in this situation... and here I can speak freely, because the question is not signed… well, I do recognize the writing! [laughs]
A being who has this love must be happy to have it, because this love really sanctifies life. Who cares if the other person does not respond? The interesting thing is that you love the person. In a sense, the wish that the other person loves us back is already a form of egoism. Nothing should be forced, one really needs to remain quiet - not resigned, but … able to accept what is. It’s the happiness of accepting what is. Therefore, do not require anything beyond what the other person can freely give, and don’t use seduction or persuasion, which would ruin what appears to be great love here. To which we can add: if love really attains this impersonality, this power of dedication, it is impossible that the other person does not love back. There can be obstacles and limitations though, because we have to deal with karma. Karma is very important, there are some trajectories that… However, when this dedication is present, we can say that the spirit of man operates in a space where karma is dominated by new forces, the forces of the Archangel of time, so that even the most impossible love realizes itself, if it's lived in the sphere of the Graal. But one has to reach that grade. Then, at that level, there is a change in perspective.
Here we have many more questions… Hopefully those whose questions I have not yet answered will not be waiting for me outside, to hold me accountable. Anyway… many questions, much love! [laughs]
[reading] “
The mystery of the human head in relation to the mystery of Golgotha”. The human head can be said to be the part of our human structure that has traversed all the stages, from Saturn, to solar, to lunar, to earthly stage. The other parts of our body are later additions. The head can be said to be the summary of all stages, while the other stages are represented by other areas of the body, including the peripheral nervous system, and lastly, the limbs. This happened in order to allow a certain human structure to appear on Earth through a series of evolutionary processes. These processes as recorded by Darwin, Haeckel, in terms of phylogenesis, ontogenesis, are absolutely true, but they describe the physical part and ignore the etheric and astral parts, let alone the most powerful part - the
I.
In fact, at some point this evolution is subjected to profound and powerful variations, due to the fact that the
I comes forth as a being who wants to inhabit this body in one of its parts, in the head. So it happens that the head, the cerebral organ, is brought to a level of development that allows the
I to integrate the body through its activities, and the first activity is thinking. Therefore we can say that the whole process takes place so long as there is a growth, a positive construction, an edification, that is always ascending - in that, materialist evolution is correct - up to the moment when man achieves a structure in which thinking can finally manifest. When did this happen? The process started in the first pre-Christian centuries and, as you can understand, it was driven forward by the most evolved beings then, that is the Greeks, and the Romans. The phenomenon that really illustrates this stage of humanity is the birth of philosophy. The first beings that finally had the possibility to manifest thinking were the Greeks - the Milesian School, Thales, etcetera, until the Sophists, then later Socrates, Plato, and so on, the process went on.
Then Christ appears, and here we have a decisive turning point in human history. Why? Because thinking finally appears, because the instrument is present. But thinking has the task of destroying this evolved nature. A 'thinking-
I ' polarity comes to oppose everything that until then had manifested as evolutionary force. This is what we need to grasp. Because, if evolution, in material sense, had been allowed to continue, man would have submitted the spiritual forces responsible for his evolution to physical sensualism. Look at the Greeks, they have been on the verge of this sensuality, this materialism. The materialism of the Greeks is formidable and it is powerful, because it is still supported by spiritual forces of the past. Greek sensualism and materialism are tremendous. But at the same time there are the forces of philosophy, and those of art. There is the residual power of heavenly Lucifer, the same powers that also allow for an initial understanding of the Christ-being. So Christ appears. Think about what happened then, up to the Holy Spirit. It’s from that moment that thinking has the power to start destroying nature, in order to reconstruct it.
True thinking is thinking that develops through physical destruction, that opens the way to something that comes from the Spirit. All this is only at its very beginnings today, but the impulse will continue, it will grow more powerful, until man will begin to build his own spiritual body. So, we have to take hold of the work of thinking with the most alive and the most awakened forces of consciousness, because the old nature is immersed in sleep. Think about the mission of Michael. In the Hebraic tradition, Michael is considered the revealer of the night. The hebraic tradition represented the solar civilisation of its time. At that time they really were the chosen people. And all that Michael communicated to the Hebraic tradition happened in dreams, in a sort of immersion in a spiritual vision corresponding with sleep. So, at that time, Michael was the revelator of the night. The Michael who is active today is instead the solar revelator, in plain daylight. While, many centuries ago, Michael needed man to be asleep, the solar Michael of today, who has the task to open the way to Christ in the human heart, needs the waking state. He actually needs more than waking state. He needs a state in relation to which normal waking is a state of sleepiness. You can see that when you do real meditation. Then you find yourselves in a state of great lucidity, from which normal waking appears as a state of sleepiness. One comes back to such a sleepy state, by following everyday life. Nonetheless one realizes, little by little, that this sleepy state is depriving us of spiritual memory.
Here we are, back to the theme of memory. Spiritual memory is an evermore alert waking state, experienced as communion with the forces of Michael, and Michael needs this elevation of the human waking state. He cannot force man, because this is the epoch of freedom. Ahriman and Lucifer work in a way that deceives and seduces man. They need to convince him. The love we have discussed earlier, when one would like to influence the other person so as to be loved back, is in fact Luciferic. But Michael is free. He wants that everything coming from man originates from a free inner act. The highest gift of love is true exactly because there is freedom, there is free will. This is why Michael is the revelator of the highest waking state.
I see that we are coming to the top of the hour. Let’s conclude with this thought: the Holy Spirit we have addressed in the first question, appearing as the light of Pentecost, is the force of our times. Some Rosicrucian occultists have united the name of Michael to the Holy Spirit. In some Rosicrucian and hermetic texts, as those of Raimondo Lullo, Michael is described as the inspirer and the bearer of the Holy Spirit. So we are, as we said, in the times where Judas betrays man. It’s not any longer Judas, but the betrayal is of the type of Judas’, insofar as the economic element is present, to enslave man, to make him overlook the spiritual bread, only to pay attention to physical bread. This situation is overcome through the forces of the Holy Spirit. This is the epoch of John. With this, I am answering another question that has been waiting for a long time: “
What is the meaning of the words that end the Gospel of John?”.
***
[1] Thanks to Piero Cammerinesi for making this recording freely available to the public at
Libero Pensare.
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