AshvinP wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 11:52 am PS - I don't agree with your characterization of scripture, and I think the writings of the New Testament are especially clear on how it is humanity's ongoing task to bring the created world of appearances to its completion.
Romans 8 wrote:For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of [f]corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
To elaborate a bit here, it is true we shouldn't look for our fulfillment and liberation in the WC (or whatever we want to call it). Instead we are looking to fulfill and liberate the WC. This is precisely the path of developing 'sense-free' thinking, as Steiner refers to it. With the aid of our higher thinking, we can resonate with the supra-sensory impulses which should be brought back into the creation so as to bring it to more and more completion, giving birth to a new creation. Again, this isn't something discontinuous with what we are generally doing, unconsciously or semi-consciously, with our normal thinking in the spheres of culture - religion, philosophy, science, art. Who can deny that this cultural thinking has vastly structured the WC around us for many centuries now and made possible everything that we do intellectually on a daily basis? It's only that we need to become more self-conscious of this activity, which is what we often refer to as the 'Christ impulse'. When one resonates with the more holistic thinking perspective, he will find this impulse towards self-consciousness beautifully embedded everywhere in scripture.