(Essay) A Phenomenology of Mechanism: The Esoteric Spaces of Evolution

[AshvinP]

Please excuse a side comment but I get triggered visually by a name -- it is indeed a "glory in French (gloire)" when the rays come flooding in.



PS: Ashvin, your response to Federica and posting of the Coleridge poem overlapped (synchronously?) with the posting of my image. Glory be!

Can the word 'glory' in English refer to this light phenomenon as well? If yes, I didn't know that.
Your picture is stunning, however in French this would not be a 'gloire', which has to come from above, and down.

Marvelous, Federica. You honed in on my multi-directional bias. I don't think the English "glory" is exclusively from above, although it's probably a common usage, such as in "the glory of God." But there's also a general usage such as in something brightly reflecting the light, for example a category of flowers that open at dawn and are called "Morning Glories."

"When out of world-wide spaces
The sun speaks to the human mind,
And gladness from the depths of soul
Becomes, in seeing, one with light,
Then rising from the sheath of self,
Thoughts soar to distances of space
And dimly bind
The human being to the spirit's life."
- Rudolf Steiner

I think we should also note here the clear connection with the Christ being, the Son/Sun of God, who, as we have been discussing, was glorified. I doubt it's a coincidence 'glory' became used in this way in the Western world, through the Judeo-Christian stream. The light phenomena itself is a symbol for the spiritual reality behind it, the reality which lifts us into higher consciousness of the Divine order.

"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light."

[Lou Gold]

Can the word 'glory' in English refer to this light phenomenon as well? If yes, I didn't know that.
Your picture is stunning, however in French this would not be a 'gloire', which has to come from above, and down.

Marvelous, Federica. You honed in on my multi-directional bias. I don't think the English "glory" is exclusively from above, although it's probably a common usage, such as in "the glory of God." But there's also a general usage such as in something brightly reflecting the light, for example a category of flowers that open at dawn and are called "Morning Glories."

"When out of world-wide spaces
The sun speaks to the human mind,
And gladness from the depths of soul
Becomes, in seeing, one with light,
Then rising from the sheath of self,
Thoughts soar to distances of space
And dimly bind
The human being to the spirit's life."
- Rudolf Steiner

I think we should also note here the clear connection with the Christ being, the Son/Sun of God, who, as we have been discussing, was glorified. I doubt it's a coincidence 'glory' became used in this way in the Western world, through the Judeo-Christian stream. The light phenomena itself is a symbol for the spiritual reality behind it, the reality which lifts us into higher consciousness of the Divine order.

"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light."

I like the Steiner poem and I'm on a Judeo-Christian path. My tendency right now is to focus on how the inner radiates outward across all directions as with the Merkaba symbol I use but I'd prefer not to fall into a debate over directionality and language dualism. I've found the notion of liminality, which you've been presenting, is helpful in moving toward a both/and. I agree about the light and know we need the dark to see the stars at night.

[AshvinP]

I like the Steiner poem and I'm on a Judeo-Christian path. My tendency right now is to focus on how the inner radiates outward across all directions as with the Merkaba symbol I use but I'd prefer not to fall into a debate over directionality and language dualism. I've found the notion of liminality, which you've been presenting, is helpful in moving toward a both/and. I agree about the light and know we need the dark to see the stars at night.

Lou,

Here's what I really want to figure out. In every discussion, you seem to be on every path being discussed. It reminds me of Eugene when pushed on what familiarity he had with higher cognition in the Western esoteric sense. His response was something along the lines of, "I have explored every single spiritual path and type of meditation there is", i.e. 'been there, done that'. I know you aren't saying exactly the same thing, but it's a similar strategy, so to speak. You never need to ask questions about or figure out ways of approaching the path if you are already on the path. And if I'm simultaneously on every path there is, or my path has fully integrated what is most important from the other paths, then I don't need to ask or figure out anything. Isn't that convenient?

We say to you, there are very precise, scientific ways in which the inner radiates outwards. We can come to know the how, when, where, what, and why of the directions these inner forces have been radiating, are radiating, and will continue to radiate. It's all too common to hear these days, "all is one, everything is interconnected, the dualities are co-dependent arisings, we need to move in all directions towards both/and". And it's all too easy, if we are thinking clearly, to see why all these generalized blanket approaches are negations of precise scientific reasoning. So, can you really say the spiritual scientific reasoning path is also your focus right now? Because if it's not, that's perfectly fine, but I wish it could be admitted that you are not focused on it and have no interest in focusing on it.

[Lou Gold]

I like the Steiner poem and I'm on a Judeo-Christian path. My tendency right now is to focus on how the inner radiates outward across all directions as with the Merkaba symbol I use but I'd prefer not to fall into a debate over directionality and language dualism. I've found the notion of liminality, which you've been presenting, is helpful in moving toward a both/and. I agree about the light and know we need the dark to see the stars at night.

Lou,

Here's what I really want to figure out. In every discussion, you seem to be on every path being discussed. It reminds me of Eugene when pushed on what familiarity he had with higher cognition in the Western esoteric sense. His response was something along the lines of, "I have explored every single spiritual path and type of meditation there is", i.e. 'been there, done that'. I know you aren't saying exactly the same thing, but it's a similar strategy, so to speak. You never need to ask questions about or figure out ways of approaching the path if you are already on the path. And if I'm simultaneously on every path there is, or my path has fully integrated what is most important from the other paths, then I don't need to ask or figure out anything. Isn't that convenient?

We say to you, there are very precise, scientific ways in which the inner radiates outwards. We can come to know the how, when, where, what, and why of the directions these inner forces have been radiating, are radiating, and will continue to radiate. It's all too common to hear these days, "all is one, everything is interconnected, the dualities are co-dependent arisings, we need to move in all directions towards both/and". And it's all too easy, if we are thinking clearly, to see why all these generalized blanket approaches are negations of precise scientific reasoning. So, can you really say the spiritual scientific reasoning path is also your focus right now? Because if it's not, that's perfectly fine, but I wish it could be admitted that you are not focused on it and have no interest in focusing on it.

Synchronously(?), I received the following Paris Review "Poem of the Day" from a friend...

"Sleepers Wake" by Caroline Knox

Karen made a poem
walking to rehearsal
about children making angels
seeing angels in the chimney flames
Karen is the tall one
with braids down her back
She’s old enough to be
like a lady and have the braids
on her head like a princess

This is the song called Glory in the
Highest, it has to be loud
It’s just about all one note
and we have to hold our mouths right
for this one especially, Glory
I’m sorry for the altos
They have to sing O on A
for bars and bars and bars
Karen is the solo, she is a snob

The breathing
is theatrical as all getout
There are almost no crescendoes
We’re so loud now
we couldn’t make one anyway

Not one of us knows anything about it
but we have to sing in German
and over again in English
translated by Henry S. Drinker:
Wake awake for night is FLAAAAAAAH-
ying. The watchman on the height
is CRAAAAAH-
ying. It’s Cantata 140
Wachet auf by J.S. Bach
with an extended (is it ever extended)
chorale in the middle

Going home in the snow is boring
It’s so dry and dark and cold
I am a fabulous robot
We boot and squeak the snow and belt the others
Karen will tell, she can mind her own beeswax
and just like darkness in summer, spring and fall
Mom and Dad will do their boring joke

SHADRACH MESHACH AND TOBEDWEGO

More seriously, I'm not not saying "been there and done that to all paths" and I'm not jousting with you as was Eugene although I must admit that I appreciated many things from your exchanges, including that such philosophical jousting is well above my paygrade.

In response to your specific question, can you really say the spiritual scientific reasoning path is also your focus right now? I can say that right now I am immersed in a 34-day romaria (spiritual pilgrimage) involving communion with the contemplations of Francis of Assisi who explored both the glories of God and nature and the sacred liminal space bridging both life and death.



These are the foci that have greatest personal salience for me at this time and the process is expanding my aware appreciation of much for which I'm deeply grateful.

[Federica]

I like the Steiner poem and I'm on a Judeo-Christian path. My tendency right now is to focus on how the inner radiates outward across all directions as with the Merkaba symbol I use but I'd prefer not to fall into a debate over directionality and language dualism. I've found the notion of liminality, which you've been presenting, is helpful in moving toward a both/and. I agree about the light and know we need the dark to see the stars at night.

Lou,

Here's what I really want to figure out. In every discussion, you seem to be on every path being discussed. It reminds me of Eugene when pushed on what familiarity he had with higher cognition in the Western esoteric sense. His response was something along the lines of, "I have explored every single spiritual path and type of meditation there is", i.e. 'been there, done that'. I know you aren't saying exactly the same thing, but it's a similar strategy, so to speak. You never need to ask questions about or figure out ways of approaching the path if you are already on the path. And if I'm simultaneously on every path there is, or my path has fully integrated what is most important from the other paths, then I don't need to ask or figure out anything. Isn't that convenient?

We say to you, there are very precise, scientific ways in which the inner radiates outwards. We can come to know the how, when, where, what, and why of the directions these inner forces have been radiating, are radiating, and will continue to radiate. It's all too common to hear these days, "all is one, everything is interconnected, the dualities are co-dependent arisings, we need to move in all directions towards both/and". And it's all too easy, if we are thinking clearly, to see why all these generalized blanket approaches are negations of precise scientific reasoning. So, can you really say the spiritual scientific reasoning path is also your focus right now? Because if it's not, that's perfectly fine, but I wish it could be admitted that you are not focused on it and have no interest in focusing on it.

Synchronously(?), I received the following Paris Review "Poem of the Day" from a friend...

"Sleepers Wake" by Caroline Knox

Karen made a poem
walking to rehearsal
about children making angels
seeing angels in the chimney flames
Karen is the tall one
with braids down her back
She’s old enough to be
like a lady and have the braids
on her head like a princess

This is the song called Glory in the
Highest, it has to be loud
It’s just about all one note
and we have to hold our mouths right
for this one especially, Glory
I’m sorry for the altos
They have to sing O on A
for bars and bars and bars
Karen is the solo, she is a snob

The breathing
is theatrical as all getout
There are almost no crescendoes
We’re so loud now
we couldn’t make one anyway

Not one of us knows anything about it
but we have to sing in German
and over again in English
translated by Henry S. Drinker:
Wake awake for night is FLAAAAAAAH-
ying. The watchman on the height
is CRAAAAAH-
ying. It’s Cantata 140
Wachet auf by J.S. Bach
with an extended (is it ever extended)
chorale in the middle

Going home in the snow is boring
It’s so dry and dark and cold
I am a fabulous robot
We boot and squeak the snow and belt the others
Karen will tell, she can mind her own beeswax
and just like darkness in summer, spring and fall
Mom and Dad will do their boring joke

SHADRACH MESHACH AND TOBEDWEGO

More seriously, I'm not not saying "been there and done that to all paths" and I'm not jousting with you as was Eugene although I must admit that I appreciated many things from your exchanges, including that such philosophical jousting is well above my paygrade.

In response to your specific question, can you really say the spiritual scientific reasoning path is also your focus right now? I can say that right now I am immersed in a 34-day romaria (spiritual pilgrimage) involving communion with the contemplations of Francis of Assisi who explored both the glories of God and nature and the sacred liminal space bridging both life and death.



These are the foci that have greatest personal salience for me at this time and the process is expanding my aware appreciation of much for which I'm deeply grateful.

I know the following will come across as arrogant, even disrespectful, coming from a neophyte like I am, in all regards. But, I still want to say it. Lou, your current approach is a fitting example of what I was recently asking Ashvin - why people should not be interested in discovering the deeper lawfulness of the world flow?


Why do you not want to admit the possibility of there being precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards? Because, you would then have to take responsibility for that new life of consciousness as it is, as it would emerge. And you would have to opt out of your cruise package, with activities and events every night. The spiritual marathon with Francis of Assisi’s activities you are immersed in right now would be over. It would be game over and cruise over. No more playing, no more glorious communions, no more salient synchronicities, no more nothing colorful or provocative-evocative to be grateful for. So, you don't want to know. You prefer to playfully imagine and build up the life of consciousness in one way in the morning, and then reshuffle the playing cards and remake it in another shape in the evening, or in 34 days. We don't have to decide right now. Because now, sorry, we are doing Francis of Assisi and it’s being, let me tell you, oh so blissful. That’s all I can say. I really recommend. It's so much more fun this way. And what about the gratitude.


Yeah. That’s what your diversity, the both/end is all about. It’s about the wish to go on playing, on the back of reality, refusing to look at it, let alone deal with it, as an xx-year old kid.

There are few things more disturbing for modern, perpetually adolescent man than taking on the sort of responsibility one must take on with new life. This is what the discovery of our deeper inner lawfulness really entails - the birth into consciousness of an entirely new being who lives within us. This is in the most literal sense. This being has always lived within us, but we have had zero consciousness of its existence. What allows us to remain asleep to this being and therefore avoid responsibility towards it? Precisely the avoidance of the lawfulness which weaves together our inner life. Very few people want to know that their inner experiences belong to the Cosmos and every single desire, feeling, perception, and thought is the lawful effect of moral impulses acting through us and produce a lawful effect of a moral character which remain with our individuality and the entire Cosmic evolution. This knowledge certainly opens up endless unsuspected possibilities for our spiritual evolution, but with those also come immense responsibilities for steering that evolution to the best of our knowledge and ability.

[Lou Gold]

Lou,

Here's what I really want to figure out. In every discussion, you seem to be on every path being discussed. It reminds me of Eugene when pushed on what familiarity he had with higher cognition in the Western esoteric sense. His response was something along the lines of, "I have explored every single spiritual path and type of meditation there is", i.e. 'been there, done that'. I know you aren't saying exactly the same thing, but it's a similar strategy, so to speak. You never need to ask questions about or figure out ways of approaching the path if you are already on the path. And if I'm simultaneously on every path there is, or my path has fully integrated what is most important from the other paths, then I don't need to ask or figure out anything. Isn't that convenient?

We say to you, there are very precise, scientific ways in which the inner radiates outwards. We can come to know the how, when, where, what, and why of the directions these inner forces have been radiating, are radiating, and will continue to radiate. It's all too common to hear these days, "all is one, everything is interconnected, the dualities are co-dependent arisings, we need to move in all directions towards both/and". And it's all too easy, if we are thinking clearly, to see why all these generalized blanket approaches are negations of precise scientific reasoning. So, can you really say the spiritual scientific reasoning path is also your focus right now? Because if it's not, that's perfectly fine, but I wish it could be admitted that you are not focused on it and have no interest in focusing on it.

Synchronously(?), I received the following Paris Review "Poem of the Day" from a friend...

"Sleepers Wake" by Caroline Knox

Karen made a poem
walking to rehearsal
about children making angels
seeing angels in the chimney flames
Karen is the tall one
with braids down her back
She’s old enough to be
like a lady and have the braids
on her head like a princess

This is the song called Glory in the
Highest, it has to be loud
It’s just about all one note
and we have to hold our mouths right
for this one especially, Glory
I’m sorry for the altos
They have to sing O on A
for bars and bars and bars
Karen is the solo, she is a snob

The breathing
is theatrical as all getout
There are almost no crescendoes
We’re so loud now
we couldn’t make one anyway

Not one of us knows anything about it
but we have to sing in German
and over again in English
translated by Henry S. Drinker:
Wake awake for night is FLAAAAAAAH-
ying. The watchman on the height
is CRAAAAAH-
ying. It’s Cantata 140
Wachet auf by J.S. Bach
with an extended (is it ever extended)
chorale in the middle

Going home in the snow is boring
It’s so dry and dark and cold
I am a fabulous robot
We boot and squeak the snow and belt the others
Karen will tell, she can mind her own beeswax
and just like darkness in summer, spring and fall
Mom and Dad will do their boring joke

SHADRACH MESHACH AND TOBEDWEGO

More seriously, I'm not not saying "been there and done that to all paths" and I'm not jousting with you as was Eugene although I must admit that I appreciated many things from your exchanges, including that such philosophical jousting is well above my paygrade.

In response to your specific question, can you really say the spiritual scientific reasoning path is also your focus right now? I can say that right now I am immersed in a 34-day romaria (spiritual pilgrimage) involving communion with the contemplations of Francis of Assisi who explored both the glories of God and nature and the sacred liminal space bridging both life and death.



These are the foci that have greatest personal salience for me at this time and the process is expanding my aware appreciation of much for which I'm deeply grateful.

I know the following will come across as arrogant, even disrespectful, coming from a neophyte like I am, in all regards. But, I still want to say it. Lou, your current approach is a fitting example of what I was recently asking Ashvin - why people should not be interested in discovering the deeper lawfulness of the world flow?


Why do you not want to admit the possibility of there being precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards? Because, you would then have to take responsibility for that new life of consciousness as it is, as it would emerge. And you would have to opt out of your cruise package, with activities and events every night. The spiritual marathon with Francis of Assisi’s activities you are immersed in right now would be over. It would be game over and cruise over. No more playing, no more glorious communions, no more salient synchronicities, no more nothing colorful or provocative-evocative to be grateful for. So, you don't want to know. You prefer to playfully imagine and build up the life of consciousness in one way in the morning, and then reshuffle the playing cards and remake it in another shape in the evening, or in 34 days. We don't have to decide right now. Because now, sorry, we are doing Francis of Assisi and it’s being, let me tell you, oh so blissful. That’s all I can say. I really recommend. It's so much more fun this way. And what about the gratitude.


Yeah. That’s what your diversity, the both/end is all about. It’s about the wish to go on playing, on the back of reality, refusing to look at it, let alone deal with it, as an xx-year old kid.

There are few things more disturbing for modern, perpetually adolescent man than taking on the sort of responsibility one must take on with new life. This is what the discovery of our deeper inner lawfulness really entails - the birth into consciousness of an entirely new being who lives within us. This is in the most literal sense. This being has always lived within us, but we have had zero consciousness of its existence. What allows us to remain asleep to this being and therefore avoid responsibility towards it? Precisely the avoidance of the lawfulness which weaves together our inner life. Very few people want to know that their inner experiences belong to the Cosmos and every single desire, feeling, perception, and thought is the lawful effect of moral impulses acting through us and produce a lawful effect of a moral character which remain with our individuality and the entire Cosmic evolution. This knowledge certainly opens up endless unsuspected possibilities for our spiritual evolution, but with those also come immense responsibilities for steering that evolution to the best of our knowledge and ability.

Thank you, Federica, for sincerely being at your provocative best.

For the record, I have never denied "the possibility of there being precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards." The fact I see many ways does not negate this. My response to Ashvin was not a denial that Spiritual Science is in my focus (how could it not since I'm in this conversation?). But it's not my priority or emphasis now. I do not know what visions dance in your mind about our Barquinha (Little Boat) communion with Francis of Assisi but they are surely not Disney-like jaunts with cute animals or a blissful joyous adventures on a cruise ship. The spiritual vision is better described as São Francisco das Chagas in Portuguese or Saint Francis of the Wounds (Stigmata) in English. I presented the painting of Caravaggio in order to convey this seriousness. I do agree that this is not some kind of free fall or randomized evolution. It entails a moral responsibility to carry well one's changes into our world.

You and Ashvin are quite correct in picking up a very strong child energy or vibe from me. That amazing inner child has many times offered the key for me to unlock the doors of perception and move into greater responsibilities. The times I neglected that child in favor of seriousness were disastrous for me, once driving me close to suicide. Holding him close in my awareness is part of my work. I'm not embarrassed that he likes to play and helps me offer a bit of hope and happiness into our terribly troubled world.

However, you have convinced me that plunging more deeply and revealing more in this forum context is not really appropriate for me at this time. I hope you can appreciate that I too have work to do. Being a happy person is not always an easy task.

[AshvinP]

For the record, I have never denied "the possibility of there being precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards." The fact I see many ways does not negate this. My response to Ashvin was not a denial that Spiritual Science is in my focus (how could it not since I'm in this conversation?). But it's not my priority or emphasis now. I do not know what visions dance in your mind about our Barquinha (Little Boat) communion with Francis of Assisi but they are surely not Disney-like jaunts with cute animals or a blissful joyous adventures on a cruise ship. The spiritual vision is better described as São Francisco das Chagas in Portuguese or Saint Francis of the Wounds (Stigmata) in English. I presented the painting of Caravaggio in order to convey this seriousness. I do agree that this is not some kind of free fall or randomized evolution. It entails a moral responsibility to carry well one's changes into our world.

Normally I wouldn't post this, as it will mean very little in the form of isolated abstract concepts without first having a deep foundation in the spiritual evolutionary progression of man, but I am doing it to simply illustrate what is meant by "precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards". Surely most people will read the below and think, 'how could someone possibly know what is being claimed?' When we speak of the inversion horizon and pursuing spiritual science, we are also speaking of coming to a point where the question becomes, 'how could these reasons for St. Francis' life not have a scientific explanation which could be known through spiritual research?' In other words, we will find it ridiculous that people have been going about on Earth writing histories and biographies of St. Francis, thinking there is any value to their 'explanations' for his life in the absence of the spiritual scientific principles which have more recently emerged and which anyone can discover. It is equally ridiculous as it would be for someone to write a history about Earth's geological evolution with only generalized concepts and their sentimental feelings about rocks and such, and no rigorous scientific principles included.

To feel this way at the dedication of a branch of our movement is especially appropriate when, as is the case here, the members were united in wanting to express a heartfelt desire and name this branch after Francis of Assisi, whose life is enveloped by a deep spiritual mystery.

When Christ descended to the earth, He enveloped Himself with the threefold physical, etheric, and astral bodies of Jesus of Nazareth and lived three years in this sheath as Christ, the Sun-Spirit. With the event of the Mystery of Golgotha, Christ descended to the earth; but aside from what is known to all of you, something else special happened by virtue of the fact that Christ indwelled the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, particularly the astral and etheric bodies. After Christ cast off the bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, they were still present as spiritual substance in the spiritual world, but multiplied in a great many copies. They did not perish in the world ether or in the astral world, but continued to live as identical images. Just as the seed of a plant, once buried in the ground, reappears in many copies according to the mystery of number, so the copies of Jesus of Nazareth's etheric and astral bodies were present in the spiritual world. And for what purpose were they present, considering the large framework of spiritual economy? They were there to be preserved and to serve the overall progress of the human race.

One of the first individuals to benefit from the blessed fact of these countless copies of Jesus's etheric body being present in the spiritual world was St. Augustine. When he again descended to earth after an earlier incarnation, not just any etheric body was woven into his own, but rather the copy of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth. Augustine had his own astral body and ego, but his etheric body was interwoven with the image of the etheric body of Jesus. He had to work through the culture of his ego and astral body, but when he had made his way to the etheric body, he realized the great truths that we find in his mystical writings.

Many other human beings from the sixth to the ninth centuries had a copy of the etheric body of Jesus woven into their own etheric bodies. Many of these individuals conceived the Christian images that later were to be glorified in the arts in the form of the Madonna or the Christ on the cross. They were the creators of religious images who experienced in themselves what the people living at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha had experienced.

In the period spanning the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries the time had come when a copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into the astral bodies of certain reincarnated souls. From the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries many human beings, for example Francis of Assisi and Elisabeth of Thüringen, had the imprint of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into them while their own astral bodies — the source of their knowledge — were formed during reincarnation. This enabled these individuals to proclaim the great truths of Christianity in the form of judgments, logical constructs, and scientific wisdom. But, in addition, they were also able to experience the feeling of carrying the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth within themselves.

Your eyes will be opened if you allow yourselves to experience vicariously all the humility, the devotion, and the Christian love that was part of Francis of Assisi. You will then know how to look at him as a person prone to make mistakes — because he possessed his own ego — and as a great individual because he carried a copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth within his own astral body. All the humble feelings, the profound mysticism, and the spiritual soul life of Francis of Assisi become comprehensible if we know this one secret of his life.

[Federica]

Thank you, Federica, for sincerely being at your provocative best.

For the record, I have never denied "the possibility of there being precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards." The fact I see many ways does not negate this. My response to Ashvin was not a denial that Spiritual Science is in my focus (how could it not since I'm in this conversation?). But it's not my priority or emphasis now. I do not know what visions dance in your mind about our Barquinha (Little Boat) communion with Francis of Assisi but they are surely not Disney-like jaunts with cute animals or a blissful joyous adventures on a cruise ship. The spiritual vision is better described as São Francisco das Chagas in Portuguese or Saint Francis of the Wounds (Stigmata) in English. I presented the painting of Caravaggio in order to convey this seriousness. I do agree that this is not some kind of free fall or randomized evolution. It entails a moral responsibility to carry well one's changes into our world.

You and Ashvin are quite correct in picking up a very strong child energy or vibe from me. That amazing inner child has many times offered the key for me to unlock the doors of perception and move into greater responsibilities. The times I neglected that child in favor of seriousness were disastrous for me, once driving me close to suicide. Holding him close in my awareness is part of my work. I'm not embarrassed that he likes to play and helps me offer a bit of hope and happiness into our terribly troubled world.

However, you have convinced me that plunging more deeply and revealing more in this forum context is not really appropriate for me at this time. I hope you can appreciate that I too have work to do. Being a happy person is not always an easy task.

Lou,

I cannot see far enough to understand the reasons why you are inhabited by such a tenacious, obstinate, intolerant (yes, the adjective you reject the most is the most fitting here) clinging to the both/and multidirectionality of paths. Because of this inability of mine, I am afraid this is not going to be of as much help to you, as I am sure a wiser, more skillful reply could be. I regret that. I am still writing, driven by the intention and hope that something, maybe even not fully intentionally on my part, a speck of this, a word, can resonate on your side in some useful way. As I have seen, this is possible for you in principle. So I hope this can somehow encourage you not to stack yet another evocative-provocative card on top of your bonanza of approaches, but to an aware flash, a wide glance at the bonanza itself, at the loot itself. Lou, please take a step back and look at the loot you have amassed. As you do that, don’t allow your attention to get lost in the enchanting details of each item the loot consists of. That’s why a step back is necessary, to loosen the sharp focus on the beauty of the stunning gems and the call of the radiant jewels. It is possible to look at the loot itself, and to refrain from engaging in the mental images of the wealth of serious contents the loot consists of. It’s not a contemplation. A contemplation would inevitably drag you and lock you inside the contents, in pictures. It is the idea of loot/treasure that I am submitting to your attention. Can you please consider it? Do you find anything sensitive there?


Your current clinging to the bonanza of paths is intolerant, because what makes you interested in each path is first and foremost its ability to conveniently fit into your game of cards. Only secondarily, only as an element within your scheme, are you interested in the essence of each path. As an eight of diamonds acquires a specific significance in a given card game, which is determined by the game and not by the card itself, in the exact same way you are not as much interested in the significance of each path in themselves as you are in the significance of your game, of having a game, having a wealth of gems that you can watch over, and keep in constant sight. The loot requires a bonanza of gems/cards, and forces its rule on each of them, even to the point of overriding, or at least minimizing, perhaps trivializing, their original meaning.


The only sense in which you are possibly not denying “the possibility of there being precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards”, is precisely this sense I have just described. You are indeed not eliminating the intuitive thinking path from your horizon the way many members of this forum do. Why would you, when it can be made into a new card to stock your game/treasure? So you highjack it into your game. Once you have acquired the card, the most of the work is done, you don’t have to really dive into its meaning and you can call the whole acquisition process inclusive, or both/and. And you can finish off your labor with a soft, unifying coat of gratitude. In any other substantial sense, of course you are negating spiritual science. If you were admitting, in any positive sense, the possibility of there being a reality of ideas that can be known and that we are a part of, you would want to explore it, and know it! But you don’t want to know. Not as much as you want to ‘inclusively accumulate’ one more card to your existing treasure. The visual aspects of this process are paramount to you. That’s why I am challenging you to not contemplate anything, but to go to the idea behind the pictures, instead.


This highjacking modus you have also applied at the simple level of this conversation. You have hijacked my words into the provocative-evocative inspiration material that I explicitly told you they were not. You have done this both conceptually and even physically, when you have started bold-quoting the whole post content. Something similar happened a few weeks ago on the side of the whirlpool thread. There again, you have not been interested in understanding the meaning I was intending to put in the words, as much as you have been in how you could use that output and make it into a triggering addition to your game. You are interested in isolating outputs, and accruing them, adding them to the loot!
By keeping yourself busy with this outspoken opening to all serious paths, you are in fact precluding for yourself the possibility to deeply connect with any of them. You remain at the brink of their symbolic, visual beauty. You look at your eight of diamonds and are pleased with how well it harmonizes within the game. Because you feel compelled, for some reason I ignore, to keep a worried eye on the game, on the loot, you can’t possibly look at cards for what they really are. You want to be inclusive, you want to offer a bit of hope and happiness to yourself and to the world, still you keep yourself separated from the full engagement that would facilitate that. For that to happen, you have to relinquish the hold on the treasured loot. Please, consider this idea, and find the true obstacle - which I don't know what it is - that is preventing you from committing to your one path.

[Lou Gold]

Lou,

I cannot see far enough to understand the reasons why you are inhabited by such a tenacious, obstinate, intolerant (yes, the adjective you reject the most is the most fitting here) clinging to the both/and multidirectionality of paths. Because of this inability of mine, I am afraid this is not going to be of as much help to you, as I am sure a wiser, more skillful reply could be. I regret that. I am still writing, driven by the intention and hope that something, maybe even not fully intentionally on my part, a speck of this, a word, can resonate on your side in some useful way. As I have seen, this is possible for you in principle. So I hope this can somehow encourage you not to stack yet another evocative-provocative card on top of your bonanza of approaches, but to an aware flash, a wide glance at the bonanza itself, at the loot itself. Lou, please take a step back and look at the loot you have amassed. As you do that, don’t allow your attention to get lost in the enchanting details of each item the loot consists of. That’s why a step back is necessary, to loosen the sharp focus on the beauty of the stunning gems and the call of the radiant jewels. It is possible to look at the loot itself, and to refrain from engaging in the mental images of the wealth of serious contents the loot consists of. It’s not a contemplation. A contemplation would inevitably drag you and lock you inside the contents, in pictures. It is the idea of loot/treasure that I am submitting to your attention. Can you please consider it? Do you find anything sensitive there?


Your current clinging to the bonanza of paths is intolerant, because what makes you interested in each path is first and foremost its ability to conveniently fit into your game of cards. Only secondarily, only as an element within your scheme, are you interested in the essence of each path. As an eight of diamonds acquires a specific significance in a given card game, which is determined by the game and not by the card itself, in the exact same way you are not as much interested in the significance of each path in themselves as you are in the significance of your game, of having a game, having a wealth of gems that you can watch over, and keep in constant sight. The loot requires a bonanza of gems/cards, and forces its rule on each of them, even to the point of overriding, or at least minimizing, perhaps trivializing, their original meaning.


The only sense in which you are possibly not denying “the possibility of there being precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards”, is precisely this sense I have just described. You are indeed not eliminating the intuitive thinking path from your horizon the way many members of this forum do. Why would you, when it can be made into a new card to stock your game/treasure? So you highjack it into your game. Once you have acquired the card, the most of the work is done, you don’t have to really dive into its meaning and you can call the whole acquisition process inclusive, or both/and. And you can finish off your labor with a soft, unifying coat of gratitude. In any other substantial sense, of course you are negating spiritual science. If you were admitting, in any positive sense, the possibility of there being a reality of ideas that can be known and that we are a part of, you would want to explore it, and know it! But you don’t want to know. Not as much as you want to ‘inclusively accumulate’ one more card to your existing treasure. The visual aspects of this process are paramount to you. That’s why I am challenging you to not contemplate anything, but to go to the idea behind the pictures, instead.


This highjacking modus you have also applied at the simple level of this conversation. You have hijacked my words into the provocative-evocative inspiration material that I explicitly told you they were not. You have done this both conceptually and even physically, when you have started bold-quoting the whole post content. Something similar happened a few weeks ago on the side of the whirlpool thread. There again, you have not been interested in understanding the meaning I was intending to put in the words, as much as you have been in how you could use that output and make it into a triggering addition to your game. You are interested in isolating outputs, and accruing them, adding them to the loot!
By keeping yourself busy with this outspoken opening to all serious paths, you are in fact precluding for yourself the possibility to deeply connect with any of them. You remain at the brink of their symbolic, visual beauty. You look at your eight of diamonds and are pleased with how well it harmonizes within the game. Because you feel compelled, for some reason I ignore, to keep a worried eye on the game, on the loot, you can’t possibly look at cards for what they really are. You want to be inclusive, you want to offer a bit of hope and happiness to yourself and to the world, still you keep yourself separated from the full engagement that would facilitate that. For that to happen, you have to relinquish the hold on the treasured loot. Please, consider this idea, and find the true obstacle - which I don't know what it is - that is preventing you from committing to your one path.

Federica,

For the record, I have only one path. I am a follower of Jesus Christ and the Queen of the Forest. One of the many blessings I receive is an increased appreciation of many ways other than my own one way. Why you see this as a clinging to multiple paths and directions rather than an expansion of appreciation is beyond me. I must leave it to you to figure out.

[Lou Gold]

For the record, I have never denied "the possibility of there being precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards." The fact I see many ways does not negate this. My response to Ashvin was not a denial that Spiritual Science is in my focus (how could it not since I'm in this conversation?). But it's not my priority or emphasis now. I do not know what visions dance in your mind about our Barquinha (Little Boat) communion with Francis of Assisi but they are surely not Disney-like jaunts with cute animals or a blissful joyous adventures on a cruise ship. The spiritual vision is better described as São Francisco das Chagas in Portuguese or Saint Francis of the Wounds (Stigmata) in English. I presented the painting of Caravaggio in order to convey this seriousness. I do agree that this is not some kind of free fall or randomized evolution. It entails a moral responsibility to carry well one's changes into our world.

Normally I wouldn't post this, as it will mean very little in the form of isolated abstract concepts without first having a deep foundation in the spiritual evolutionary progression of man, but I am doing it to simply illustrate what is meant by "precise and lawful ways in which the inner radiates outwards". Surely most people will read the below and think, 'how could someone possibly know what is being claimed?' When we speak of the inversion horizon and pursuing spiritual science, we are also speaking of coming to a point where the question becomes, 'how could these reasons for St. Francis' life not have a scientific explanation which could be known through spiritual research?' In other words, we will find it ridiculous that people have been going about on Earth writing histories and biographies of St. Francis, thinking there is any value to their 'explanations' for his life in the absence of the spiritual scientific principles which have more recently emerged and which anyone can discover. It is equally ridiculous as it would be for someone to write a history about Earth's geological evolution with only generalized concepts and their sentimental feelings about rocks and such, and no rigorous scientific principles included.

To feel this way at the dedication of a branch of our movement is especially appropriate when, as is the case here, the members were united in wanting to express a heartfelt desire and name this branch after Francis of Assisi, whose life is enveloped by a deep spiritual mystery.

When Christ descended to the earth, He enveloped Himself with the threefold physical, etheric, and astral bodies of Jesus of Nazareth and lived three years in this sheath as Christ, the Sun-Spirit. With the event of the Mystery of Golgotha, Christ descended to the earth; but aside from what is known to all of you, something else special happened by virtue of the fact that Christ indwelled the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, particularly the astral and etheric bodies. After Christ cast off the bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, they were still present as spiritual substance in the spiritual world, but multiplied in a great many copies. They did not perish in the world ether or in the astral world, but continued to live as identical images. Just as the seed of a plant, once buried in the ground, reappears in many copies according to the mystery of number, so the copies of Jesus of Nazareth's etheric and astral bodies were present in the spiritual world. And for what purpose were they present, considering the large framework of spiritual economy? They were there to be preserved and to serve the overall progress of the human race.

One of the first individuals to benefit from the blessed fact of these countless copies of Jesus's etheric body being present in the spiritual world was St. Augustine. When he again descended to earth after an earlier incarnation, not just any etheric body was woven into his own, but rather the copy of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth. Augustine had his own astral body and ego, but his etheric body was interwoven with the image of the etheric body of Jesus. He had to work through the culture of his ego and astral body, but when he had made his way to the etheric body, he realized the great truths that we find in his mystical writings.

Many other human beings from the sixth to the ninth centuries had a copy of the etheric body of Jesus woven into their own etheric bodies. Many of these individuals conceived the Christian images that later were to be glorified in the arts in the form of the Madonna or the Christ on the cross. They were the creators of religious images who experienced in themselves what the people living at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha had experienced.

In the period spanning the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries the time had come when a copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into the astral bodies of certain reincarnated souls. From the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries many human beings, for example Francis of Assisi and Elisabeth of Thüringen, had the imprint of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into them while their own astral bodies — the source of their knowledge — were formed during reincarnation. This enabled these individuals to proclaim the great truths of Christianity in the form of judgments, logical constructs, and scientific wisdom. But, in addition, they were also able to experience the feeling of carrying the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth within themselves.

Your eyes will be opened if you allow yourselves to experience vicariously all the humility, the devotion, and the Christian love that was part of Francis of Assisi. You will then know how to look at him as a person prone to make mistakes — because he possessed his own ego — and as a great individual because he carried a copy of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth within his own astral body. All the humble feelings, the profound mysticism, and the spiritual soul life of Francis of Assisi become comprehensible if we know this one secret of his life.

Thanks Ashvin,

I can not affirm or reject the overall model but I do resonate with what he says about saints like Francis. As I mentioned above, now is not a good time for me to enter into a deeper discussion but I do want to register my thanks for the Steiner quote.