Christ Module 12 - the cosmic 'I'

This module studies the nature of what is meant with the fact that Christ developed a 'cosmic I', and how is this notion to be understood.

Christ developed to a macroscopic I or fourth principle between Old Sun and Earth, as a preparation to the great impulse given for the Earth and humanity at the Mystery of Golgotha (MoG)

With the MoG, there was a fructification of the Earth and humanity (illustrated symbolically with a.o. Schema FMC00.190 and Schema FMC00.468), which means each human being contains the divine impuls and cosmic principle, something coined in the phrase “Not I, but Christ in me".

Aspects

• see Q00.010 - IAO and the Human and Cosmic I
• In the Threefold Sun, the third Sun is the Christ principle, the spiritual essence of the cosmos: universal goodness or spiritual love. It is the mediator of the highest spiritual forces, which unites the outer Sun forces with the inner Sun forces since the MoG. It is what human beings can experience within themselves as their higher spiritual Self when they truly comprehend the statement of Paul: "Not I, but Christ in me."

Not I but Christ in me

• regarding "Not I, but Christ in me" (Galatians 2:20), see Schema FMC00.568. The statement has to be understood in the fact that Man leaves behind his/her identity as a separate physical being, and becomes part of a spiritual group soul, connected to the principle of life-spirit, buddhi or Christos in the higher spirit world. This is the divine core in Man, also called the monad. One can say the statement coins the fact that Man sees himself as a spiritual being, as an Individuality part of a divine spiritual unity, and no longer just as a separate incarnated Personality.
  • Rudolf Steiner stresses that the reality of the Christ is in essence that "in his moral and intellectual life Man must learn to say, “Not I, but Christ in me” ... that "it is now Man's task to learn unselfishness in his moral and intellectual life through his understanding of the saying, “Not I, but Christ in me.” (1914-06-01-GA152)

Notes (temporary)

• Effect of fructification (see Schema FMC00.468 and 1910-09-11-GA123), and link to Man's transformation and spiritualization
• During the Earth planetary stage, the Spirits of Form worked on the Earth and humanity and developed the Human 'I' between the Lemurian and current Postatlantean epochs, see Development of the I. See also Schema FMC00.197 and the 'Discussion area' on Man's higher triad

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.568: illustrates the great cosmic principle also described by IAO or the ouroboros (Schema FMC00.328), the principle of 'the highest divinity who wants to know itself' as the ultimate underlying principle of creation, the cosmos, or the cosmic fractal. Or put differently with the concept of Mahat: the whole gives its essence to each of its parts.

Or most succinctly with the words of Christ-Jesus: "I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one" (John 17:23)

At the core and heart is the ultimate property of the highest divinity, acting out of selfless devotion to the world out of love as an act of freedom (1903-11-16-GA090A).

What this means is further covered in spiritual science by the study of evolution, and a pathway of development for spiritual beings reaching I-consciousness and evolving along a ladder of twelve conditions of consciousness, as depicted Schema FMC00.660 and Schema FMC00.329.

The human being becomes richer as he evolves from Old Saturn through Old Sun, Old Moon, Earth and on to Future Jupiter: his inner life becomes filled with the world more and more, and therefore it is richer. Man bears ever more worlds in himself as he works his way through one evolution after another. The “I am alpha and omega” (IAO) describes what Man will be at the end of the Vulcan stage. (1924-09-07-GA346)

Schema FMC00.428A adds the explanation from Rudolf Steiner's narrative in the sources listed, against the background of Schema FMC00.428.

It shows how "the Christ Impulse triggered a reversal of the influences of the two crossing streams", and gave Man independence in love and allowed for a spiritualization of love, as love without true freedom is not love.

Note: all texts originate from the GA244 sources listed, but were aggregated into a single schema explanation.

Schema FMC00.183: illustrates the changes in Human 'I' during the Development of the I towards "not I but the Christ in me" - see also third Sun in Threefold Sun.

On the left: the BlackBoard Drawing (BBD) from the lecture 1922-03-25-GA211 (see Christ Module 6 - Principle in image and story#1922-03-25-GA211) that gives a concise summary of the evolutionary stages of the 'natural' Christ experience in nature (which we find back in the Arthur stream and pagan Christianity) to 'the Christ in me' after the Mystery of Golgotha (MoG) (which we find back in the Parsifal stream: Man needs to look inside of him instead out in nature to find the Christ).

The emptiness mentioned in 1922-03-25-GA211 is also described in 1922-12-24-GA219 (see Mystery School tradition#1922-12-24-GA219). Another perspective on this is given with the loss of logos on Transition between 4th and 14th century, described as a process over two millennia.

On the right: the link with Old and New Mysteries - see Mysteries of the Spirit, the Son and the Father, with an illustration from 1918-12-27-GA187 (see Christ Module 6 - Principle in image and story#1918-12-27-GA187)

Schema FMC00.468: provides the key statement and illustration of the fructification of Man by the Christ Impulse (from 1910-09-11-GA123)

Specifically, how the evolved consciousness soul is the gateway for this spiritual fructification by Man's higher triad (consisting of spirit-self or manas, life-spirit or budhi, and spirit-man or atma) through the Christ Impulse as the budhi life-giving influence driving this: "The Christ impulse is the penetration of budhi" (1906-11-03-GA094) - see also Schema FMC00.481.

And from 1923-05-07-GA224: "The heart of Man as it opens may be symbolized by the flower opening itself to the sun; and what pours down from the sun, giving the flower the fertilizing power it needs .. [the Christ Impulse into one's I and astral body] may be symbolized by the tongues of fire descending upon the heads of the disciples."

See also variant Schema FMC00.468A for a better visual.

Note: In the ancient mysteries the plant was used as a metaphor for the receiving 'cup' of the Holy Grail, see Christ Module 6 - Principle in image and story#Schema FMC00.270 and variants - the plant as metaphor. The 'technicality' of this is illustrated with Schema FMC00.354.

Lecture coverage and references

1906-09-13-GA091

has as title 'The world center, Christ, the 'I'

see an extract quote here: Christ Module 7 - Cosmic dimension#1906-09-13-GA091

.

and a scanned PDF version of this lecture for study here: 1906-09-13-GA091 PDF in German

1908-05-20-GA103

.. you should believe in a spiritual Father-substance in which the I is rooted, and which is more spiritual than the substance which as a group-soul binds the Jewish people together. You should believe in what reposes within me and within every human being, in what is not only one with Abraham, but one with the very divine foundation of the world. Therefore Christ-Jesus, according to the Gospel of St. John, emphasizes the words: “Before Father Abraham was, was the I AM!” My primal I mounts not only to the Father-Principle that reaches back to Abraham, but my I is one with all that pulses through the entire cosmos, and to this my spiritual nature soars aloft. I and the Father are one!

These are important words which one should experience; then will one feel the forward bound made by mankind, a bound which advanced human evolution further in consequence of that impulse given by the advent of the Christ. The Christ was the mighty quickener of the “I AM.”

Now, let us try to hear a little of what His most intimate initiates said, how they expressed what had been revealed to them. They said: Heretofore, no individual physical human being has ever existed to whom this name of “I AM” could be applied; He was the first to bring to the world the “I AM” in its full significance. Therefore, they named Christ-Jesus the “I AM.” That was the name in which the closest initiates felt themselves united, the name which they understood, the name “I AM.” We must in this way delve deeply into the most significant chapters of the Gospel of St. John. If we take that chapter where we find the words: “I am the Light of the world,” we must interpret them literally, quite literally.

1909-04-18-GA110

quote A (short)

... Because it is not enough for Christ to be present in the human astral body, but Christ, if he is to be truly understood, must be present in the human self. And that, I must choose freely to receive Christ.

This is what it's all about.

But it is because of this human self, when connected to Christ, adopts a reality within itself, a divine power, not merely a doctrine.

Therefore, it can be proven a hundred times that all the teachings of Christianity can already be found here or there; but it does not matter, but that the essential thing in Christianity is the deed, which can only be acquired by a voluntary elevation to the higher worlds.

Therefore, Man receives the power of Christ, that he receives it voluntarily, and no one can receive it who does not receive it voluntarily.

But this has become possible for Man only because Christ became Man on Earth, that he was called to become Man on Earth.

quote B (long)

The ‘I’ expresses itself through the blood. Just as the material substance of blood is the expression of the ‘I’, so the warmth or fire of the blood, which is the remnant of the Old Saturn warmth, is the expression of the I in the elements. This being had to find expression physically in a twofold way; first through warmth or fire. It proclaimed itself to Moses through fire in the burning bush and in the thunder and lightning on Sinai. For it is the same being who later was able to penetrate into the human ‘I’, who spoke to Moses in the burning bush and in the thunder and lightning on Sinai. This being prepared its advent, and appeared in a body in which blood flowed — in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Through this, a Sun-Being entered into an earthly individuality.

Because the human ‘I’ will be filled ever more and more by the force which then entered into it, it will become ever more and more capable of overcoming by its own power the influences which can pull it down. For the being who could penetrate into the I of Man, is of a different nature from those other beings who formerly descended to earth and ensouled physical, etheric and astral bodies.

• Let us take the ancient holy Rishis. In their etheric body there was, as we have seen, the spirit of a high being; they had inherited that etheric body from great Atlantean forefathers in whom that exalted being had lived. It was passed over to them. They could not follow at all with their I and their astral body, the things which their etheric body expressed in the moments of inspiration.
• And so it happened from epoch to epoch. Men were inspired; it was always as if a power was in them, something that took strong possession of them. From what Man was capable of in himself — he was withdrawn, in order to become better. He was inspired by a better being. This was the case with all founders of religions. They were ensouled by a being who was still high above the Fight in Heaven, so that they were not left completely to themselves.

In the Christ there appeared a being of a quite different nature, who did nothing, nothing at all, to force people to come to Him. And this is essential! If you take the whole manner in which Christianity was propagated, you will find a living proof that the Christ during His life did nothing of what was done later for the propagation of Christianity. Look at the founders of religion of the ancient times! They are the great teachers of humanity, they taught from a certain period in our development, and their teaching acted on men in an overwhelming way.

Look at the Christ! Does He, fundamentally speaking, work through His teaching?

The man who thinks that His teaching is the most important part, does not understand the Christ. The Christ did not in the first place act at all through His teaching, but through that which He did. And the greatest deed of the Christ was that which ended with death, was His Death. This is the essential point, that the Christ acted though a deed, and when this deed spread through the world, He was not any more physically present. This is the great difference between the Christ and the other great founders of religions. This difference is not at all understood as yet, but is essential. You can follow all the teachings of Christianity, all that is preached as Christianity, and you can find it all in other religious systems. This cannot be denied. You can say: ‘All the essential part of Christian teaching is included in other teachings.’

But has Christianity been operative in the contents of its teaching? He who at first did what was most essential towards spreading the essence of Christianity, did he rely on its teaching?

Look at the Apostle Paul! Was he transformed from a Saul to a Paul by what is written in the Gospels? He persecuted the followers of Christ Jesus. He persecuted them until He who died on the Cross appeared to him from the clouds, until he, Paul, had his own personal occult experience of the fact that Christ lived. It was the effect of that death, the result of that deed, which gave the impulse to Paul, this was the cause of it all. Other religious systems act through their teachings, and their teachings are the same as in Christianity, but the essential thing in Christianity is not the teaching, but what happened, the deed.

And this deed is such that it does not act upon Man except when man makes up his mind to let it act upon him, that is, when it can be joined to the absolutely free character of his I. For it is not sufficient that the Christ should be present in the Man's astral body, He must be present in his I, if He is to be really understood. And the I must decide in complete freedom, voluntarily, to receive the Christ. This it is with which we are concerned, this is the point. Just because of this, the human I, when it unites with the Christ, receives into itself a reality, a divine force which is not a mere teaching.

Therefore it can be asserted a hundred times that the teachings of Christianity are to be found in other religions, but this is not the question; the fact is that the essential thing in Christianity is the deed which can become one's own possession only through free will, through a voluntary ascent into the higher worlds. Man takes the Christ-force into himself, because he voluntarily receives it, and no one can receive it who does not do so voluntarily. This has only been made possible for man because he has become human upon earth, because he was called to grow into man on earth.

[redemption of luciferic beings through Christ Impulse]

The fallen angels who have spread over the Earth as Lucifer, are in a different position. These ought really to have become men on Old Moon; they have remained behind in their development, hence they can enter the astral body but not the I. They are in a peculiar position, a position which we can only describe graphically, even if it appears somewhat pedantic.

Let us suppose, leaving aside the physical and etheric body, that the astral body of Man during the Lemurian development was represented by the circle A-B-C, and the I was the circle enclosed (a) in that astral body. The I gradually entered the astral body.

What happens now?

During the Lemurian development the Luciferic forces slip on all sides into the Man's astral body and penetrate him with their activities, which find expression in his lower passions. That through which he succumbs to error and evil is rooted in his astral body; the Luciferic spirits have implanted this into him. (If they had not done this he would never have had the possibility of error and evil, he would have been lifted up to the place from whence he receives his I, untouched by all hindering influences.) So it goes on, but the great leaders protect humanity as far as it is necessary so that it should not sink too low.

Now comes the advent of the Christ. Let us take a man who has voluntarily received the Christ. Christianity is only at its beginning. But let us take the ideal; the man's I has voluntarily, with complete free will, allowed the Christ's force to flow into him. When the I has progressed so far that it has filled itself with the Christ, then this Christ force irradiates the astral body also. In that same astral body, into which the Luciferic powers had formerly implanted their deeds, the Christ power is now radiating from within outwards.

What happens in the future?

Because we have overcome with the help of Christ, and only with his help, all those human qualities which come from Lucifer, we also, as men, gradually release the Luciferic powers; and a time will come, when the Luciferic powers who, during the Old Moon development, had to sink downwards into a certain lower evolution for the sake of human freedom, and who had not themselves the opportunity of experiencing the Christ force upon Earth, these Luciferic powers will experience the Christ force through Man, and through Him they will be released.

Man will save Lucifer, when he takes the Christ force into himself in the necessary way. And because of this, Man will again grow stronger than he otherwise would have been. For imagine: if Man had not received the Luciferic powers, then the Christ force irradiating him, would not have encountered the hindrances of the Luciferic forces, and it would have been impossible for Man to progress so far in wisdom, goodness and in truth as he may do, when he has to overcome these opposing forces.

Thus in Man, we have a member of the hierarchies who, as we see, is very distinct from the other members. We see that Man's position is different from that of the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, the Spirits of Wisdom, of Motion and of Form, and different too from the archai, the archangels and from some of the angels. He can say to himself, looking into the future: ‘I am called on to search in my own inmost depths, for that which gives me the impulse for my actions — I do not receive it from gazing on the Godhead like the Seraphim, but from the innermost depth of my own being.’

The Christ is a God whose action is such that one is not absolutely forced to follow His Impulse, one follows it only when one understands it, and in freedom. He is, therefore, the God who never seeks to hinder the free development of the I in this or that direction. The Christ says in the very highest sense: ‘You will know the Truth and the Truth will make you free.’

1910-09-11-GA123

talks about the fructification of the flower by the Christ Impulse

In the course of his development man evolves the consciousness-soul so that in it the spirit-self may appear.

When he has evolved the consciousness soul, the upper triad (spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man) come to meet him, so that the opening flower of his being can receive into it this upper triad from above. This may be illustrated graphically to resemble the unfolding of a plant.

When a man has made himself receptive by developing his consciousness soul, the higher triad (spirit-self or Manas, life-spirit or Budhi, and spirit-man or Atma) draws near; this may be likened to a spiritual fructification coming towards him from on high.

While with the other principles of his being he grows upwards from below, unfolding the blossom of the ‘Son of Man,’ there must come to meet him from on high, so that he may gain his 'I'-consciousness, that which brings with it spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man.

Who is the representative of the gift which comes down to man from above and is indicative of the nature of humanity in the far future? Who is this? The first gift that comes to man is the ‘spirit-self.’ Of whom is he the representative who receives this gift coming from on high? It is the Son of God, He Who lives, the life-spirit, the Son of the Living God!

So in the scene to which we have just referred Christ Jesus asked the question, ‘What is to come to men through My impulse?’ The answer is, ‘The life-giving Spirit-Principle from on high!’

1912-01-25-GA061

contains the following link to the true I and higher Self (see also Man's higher triad), and these sentences really contain the essence

Until that time, the innermost kernel of being, although indeed present in Man, had not entered directly into human consciousness. This was what actually happened in the event described as the Mystery of Golgotha. Then began the age when men could know: In this I there is revealed, in Man himself, what he possesses in common with the whole Cosmos. ...

.. The quest for the God and the primordial Divine Being, not in the ‘soul-sheaths’ but in the true I — this was what Christianity, the Christ Impulse, brought into human evolution. ...

.. The entrance of divine consciousness that speaks through the I — that is the essence of the Christ Impulse

See also Schema FMC00.197 and the Discussion area on Man's higher triad.

1912-01-09-GA130

is titled 'Cosmic Ego and Human Ego - The Nature of Christ the Resurrected'

the following excerpt describes the nature of Christ as a macroscopic being (SWCC)

.. and now we will .. consider the nature of Christ. The Christ is quite radically different from other beings who share in the Earth evolution. He is a Being of quite another order; He is a Being who remained behind, not only during the Old Moon stage as the Luciferic spirits did, but who, foreseeing the Old Moon evolution, actually remained behind still earlier, namely, during the Old Sun stage; and it was from a certain assured wisdom far above the human that He remained behind during the Old Sun stage.

We cannot regard this Being as microcosmic in the sense which applies to the other beings we have been considering; for we have to regard as microcosmic beings those who were connected with this Earth evolution from its beginning. The Christ was not directly connected with the Earth evolution, but with the Old Sun evolution. He was a macrocosmic Being from the beginning of the Earth evolution on, a Being who was exposed to entirely different conditions of evolution from those of the microcosmic beings. And His evolutionary conditions were of a special sort; they were such that this macrocosmic Christ Being evolved the macrocosmic ego outside earthly conditions. For this Christ evolution it was normal to bring to ego-perfection, outside the earth, an ego of a macrocosmic sort, and then to descend to earth. And so for the evolution of the Christ Being it was normal, when He descended from the macrocosm to our earth, to bring into it the great impulse of the macrocosmic ego, in order that the microcosmic ego, the human ego, might take up this impulse, and be able to go forward in its evolution. It was normal for the Christ to have the macrocosmic ego-impulse — not the microcosmic ego-impulse — just as much evolved as man upon the earth had developed the microcosmic. Thus the Christ Being is a Being Who in a certain sense is like the human being, only that man is microcosmic and has brought his four principles to expression microcosmically, and hence has his ego also microcosmically as earth-ego — but the Christ as Cosmic Ego. His evolution was such that He was great and significant because of the perfect development of this ego, which He brought down to earth. And He had not the fifth macrocosmic principle, and not the sixth, for He will evolve these on Jupiter and on Venus, in order that He may give them to man.

The Christ, then, is a four-membered Being, including His macrocosmic ego, just as man himself is microcosmically a four-membered being. And as man during the earth time has as his mission the development of his ego, in order to be able to receive, so the Christ had to develop His Ego, in order to be able to give. When He descended to earth His whole being was employed in bringing His fourth principle to expression in the most perfect possible form. Now each macrocosmic principle has an inner relationship to the corresponding microcosmic principle; the fourth macrocosmic principle in the Christ corresponds to the fourth microcosmic principle in man, and the fifth in the Christ will correspond to the Spirit-Self in man.

Thus the Christ entered upon His earthly course in that He brought down to man out of the macrocosm what man was to evolve microcosmically — only the Christ brought it as a macrocosmic principle. He entered the earth evolution in such a way that during its course He would not have a fifth, sixth and seventh principle as His personal possession, just as man in his way does not possess them.

The Christ is a Being Who had evolved macrocosmically up to the fourth principle, and the evolution of His fourth principle during the earth course consists in His bestowing upon man everything which will enable him to evolve his ego.

If we take a complete survey, we have at the beginning of Earth evolution three classes of beings:

• human beings who were to bring their fourth principle to full development on earth;
• a class of Luciferic beings who were to evolve their sixth principle;
• and a class of Luciferic beings who were to develop their seventh principle — beings who, because they were ready to develop their sixth and seventh principles, stood higher than man, — in fact, ranged far above man in this respect.

But they also ranged above Christ in this regard; for the Christ was to bring His fourth principle to expression on the earth, in devotion to humanity. It will not be the Christ, let us say, that will quicken man in the future to bring to expression something other than the true ego, the innermost human being — to reach ever higher and higher stages. It will be the Luciferic spirits who will lead man out beyond himself in a certain sense.

[Positioning the cosmic fourth principle vs the higher principles]

Anyone who looks at the matter superficially can say: “Of course then the Christ stands lower than, for example, the Luciferic spirits.” ... because the Christ came to earth with something which is fully related to man's fourth principle. For that reason He is not at all fitted to lead man above himself, but only more deeply into his own soul being; He is fitted to lead the individual soul-being of man more and more to itself. The Luciferic beings have evolved the fourth, fifth and sixth principles, and hence in a certain way stand higher than the Christ. Practically, that will work out in the future so that through the admission of the Christ principle into human nature, this human nature will become more and more deepened, will take up more and more light and love into its own being; so that the human being will have to feel Light and Love as belonging to his very self.

The immeasurable deepening of the human soul — that will be the gift of the Christ Impulse, which will work on and on forever. And when the Christ shall come, as that coming has been represented in many lectures, then He will work only upon the deepening of human souls. The other spirits who have higher principles than the Christ, though only microcosmic principles, will in a certain sense lead man out beyond himself. The Christ will deepen the inner life of man, but also make him humble; the Luciferic spirits will lead man out beyond himself, and make him wise, clever, talented, but also in a certain sense haughty; will teach him that he might become something superhuman even during the Earth evolution. Everything, therefore, which in the future shall lead man to rise above himself, as it were, which will make him proud of his own human nature even here upon earth — that will be a Luciferic impulse; but what makes a man more deeply sincere, what brings his inner life to such depths as can come only through the complete development of the fourth principle — that comes from the Christ.

People who look at the matter superficially will say that Christ really stands lower than the Luciferic beings, for He has developed only the fourth principle, and the others, higher principles. Only the difference is that these other beings bring the higher principles as something parasitic, grafted upon human nature; but the Christ brings the fourth principle in such a way that it penetrates human nature, takes root within it, and fills it with power. As the fleshly body of Jesus of Nazareth was once permeated and empowered by the fourth macrocosmic principle, so will the bodies of those who take the Christ into themselves be permeated by the fourth macrocosmic principle. Just as the fourth macrocosmic principle is the gift of Christ, so will the sixth and the seventh principles be the gifts of the Luciferic spirits. So that in the future — and such time is now being prepared for — we may experience that people lacking in understanding will say: If we examine the Gospels, or otherwise allow to work upon us what Christ gave to humanity, we see that in regard to His teaching He does not at all rank as high as perhaps do other spiritual beings who are connected with humanity ... They are higher than man in a certain way. They cannot penetrate the entire man, but they take root in his intellect, they make him a genius! And one who observes only outwardly says that these beings stand higher than the Christ ... And the time will come when the most powerful, the most significant of these Luciferic spirits, who will wish to lead the people out beyond themselves, so to speak, will be extolled, and looked upon as a great human leader; and it will be said that what the Christ was able to furnish was really only a bridge. Now already there are people who say: What do the teachings of the Gospels amount to! We have outgrown them. — As has been said, men will point to a lofty, versatile spirit, a spirit of genius, who will take possession of a human fleshly nature, which he will permeate with his genius. It will be said that he surpasses even the Christ! For the Christ was one who gave opportunity to develop the fourth principle; but this one gives opportunity during the Earth evolution to attain to the seventh principle.

Thus will the Christ Spirit and the spirit of this being face one another — the Christ Spirit, from whom humanity may hope to receive the mighty macrocosmic impulse of its fourth principle, and the Luciferic Spirit, who will wish in a certain way to lead humanity beyond this.

If people would agree that we must acquire from the Luciferic spirits only that to which we can look up in the same way that we look down to our lower nature ... then they would be doing right. But if people should come to say: You see the Christ gives only the fourth principle, while these spirits give the sixth and seventh ... people who think thus concerning Christ will worship and extol ... the Antichrist.

Thus will the position of the Antichrist towards the Christ make itself felt in the future. And with the outer intellect, with the outer wisdom, one will not be able to challenge such things; for it will be possible to produce much which from the point of view of the intellect and talent will be more clever in the Antichrist than that which will more and more flow into the soul from the Christ, as the highest human principle. Because Christ brings to man the fourth macrocosmic principle — since it is macrocosmic, it is infinitely more important than all microcosmic principles; it is stronger than they, even though it is related to the human ego, stronger than all others which can be gained during Earth evolution — still, because it is only the fourth principle, it will be thought of as lower than the fifth, sixth and seventh, which come from the Luciferic spirits; and especially lower than that which comes from Antichrist.

1922-NB212-GA046

(p. 911), this notebook entry, concise as ever, is published as 'About the I in the cosmic world order'

It concludes with:

The I is totally withdrawn from the earthly, as it is fully part of and included within the spiritual world order:

• I <- archangel <- SoF <- Cherubim
• astral body <- angelic (primordial forces) <- SoM <- Seraphim Thrones

freely translated

So [editor: working of H3 in waking consciousness, and maintenance of the lower bodies during sleep by H2]

• In waking an archangelic being appears as I, and an angelic being as astral body.
• In sleeping a SoM as etheric body, and a SoW as physical body.

About the relationships [editor: with H1]

• in waking: Seraphim Thrones
• in sleeping: Cherubim

The archangel strives to fashion the I, so it inserts the moral impulses into the bodily structures. The I itself stands on the stage of Old Saturn:

• awake it is moved to be on the Old Sun stage,
• asleep to the Future Venus stage

The astral body stands on the Old Sun stage, and

• awake it is moved to the Old Moon stage
• asleep to the Future Jupiter stage

The physical body is on the Earth stage, but it is so that the growing Moon [hafte] and the killing Sun[hafte] strive for a balance: Moon in the lower Man, Sun in the higher Man.

Karma or fate arises through the insertion of moral judgements into waking lower Man .. and that goes in the next earthly life into 'Walking' [editor: forces are meant]

The spiritualization in general goes into the Speaking, that depends whether Man finds himself into the spiritual worlds asleep [or not]. Speaking works in the second period of life.

Moral world order: H3

Cosmic-moral world order: H2

Human Cosmic world order: H1

Not I but Christ in me

note: Rudolf Steiner covers this statement so many times, that the below is just a limited sample of some lectures

Paul - Galatians 2:20

the “Not I, but Christ in me” quote

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

background: Galatians refers to the letter written by the apostle Paul to the early Christian churches in the Roman province of Galatia, located in modern-day Turkey. Sources state that in this area there was a mix of cultures, with a large ethnic group of Celtic people who settled in central Asia Minor and were Hellenized and assimilated into Roman society, a mix that included pagan background believers and a significant Jewish population. Paul visited these places during his missionary journeys.

1911-03-07-GA124

When we consider that in the future course of human evolution St. Paul's saying, ‘Not I, but Christ in me’, will become more and more true, that only an I which receives into itself the Christ Impulse can work fruitfully, we are justified in regarding the passage as particularly relevant to the present time.

The destiny lived through by Christ Jesus during the events in Palestine will be lived through by the whole of mankind in the course of the ages. In the immediate future it will be more and more noticeable that wherever Christ is proclaimed with inner understanding, intense antipathy will be displayed by those who instinctively avoid spiritual science. It will not be difficult in the future to see how a prototypal event in Christ's life described in St. Mark's Gospel is coming to expression. Men's attitude to daily life, or the way in which art develops, and more particularly what is so widely accepted as science, will make it clear that what was said of Christ will be said of those who proclaim the spirit in the truly Christian sense: There are many among them who seem to be beside themselves.

Again and again we must repeat that as time goes on the most important facts of the spiritual life as presented by spiritual science will be regarded as fantastic nonsense by the greater part of humanity. And from the Gospel of St. Mark we should draw the strength we need to stand firm in face of opposition to the truths that will be unveiled in the domain of the spirit.

[editor: see commentary on the last two statements of Sermon on the Mount, talking about persecution]

...

This is more or less how we must understand the above passage in the Gospel of St. Mark. We must realise that according to this Gospel the Christ Impulse means that we are to receive the Christ into the ‘I’, thus fulfilling the words of St. Paul, ‘Not I, but Christ in me’—not an abstract Christ but the Christ who sent the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who works as inspiration in the human soul as described today, following the rhythms of an inner calendar.

In pre-Christian times these truths were accessible only to those who were initiated in the Mysteries and had remained for three and a half days in a deathlike condition, after having undergone the tragic sufferings which man must experience on the physical plane if he is finally to attain the heights of spiritual life. Such individuals learnt that the ‘earthly man’ must be discarded and slain, that a higher man must rise from within. This was the experience of ‘dying and becoming’. What could formerly be experienced only in the Mysteries became historical fact through the Mystery of Golgotha, as I have shown in Christianity as Mystical Fact.

Henceforward it was possible for all men who felt themselves united with the Mystery of Golgotha to become disciples of this great wisdom. Contemplation of what took place on Golgotha could now lead to an experience that could hitherto have been undergone only in the Mysteries. An understanding of the Christ Impulse is consequently the most important thing which a man can acquire for his earthly being, for the power which, since the coming of the Christ Impulse, must waken in the human ‘I’.

In this present age we can be inspired in a special way by the Gospels. The Gospel of St. Matthew was a particularly valuable source of inspiration for the epoch in which the Christ Event actually occurred. For our own time the same can be said of the Gospel of St. Mark. We know that this is the age of the development of the consciousness which detaches itself, isolates itself, from its environment.

We know too that in our age primary attention should not be paid to racial descent but rather to the living impulse expressed in the words of St. Paul: Not I, but Christ in me.

1914-06-01-GA152

in context of the Three pre-MoG interventions of Christ

In our connection with the outer world we should be continuously exposed to severe illnesses and we could not be at all healthy but for this second Christ event. We see in perspective for the future that the human being will acquire, when he is able to imbue himself with a true understanding of the spiritual world, a feeling of gratitude toward the spiritual beings upon whom humanity depends.

He will say in true piety, “I realize that I am able to exist as a physical man with unselfish organs because not I alone have developed myself in the world, but Christ in me, Who has so conditioned my organs that I can be a man!”

Thus we come to learn so to regard all that makes us human, fundamentally and in the most comprehensive sense, that we say, “Not I, but Christ in me.”

In His three preparatory steps, taken before the actual Mystery of Golgotha, Christ provided for the complete evolution of humanity.

...

Yes, the science of the spirit will impress upon us ever more deeply that this human I, through the fourth Christ event, the Mystery of Golgotha, can come to true unselfishness.

The senses have said, “Not I, but Christ in us.”

The vital organs have said, “Not I, but Christ in us.”

In his moral and intellectual life Man must learn to say, “Not I, but Christ in me.”

Every step into the spiritual world shows us this.

...

In the early days, when we were working at spiritual science in Germany, an acquaintance came to us who accepted with enthusiasm what we were able to give at that time. She accepted what it was possible to give out concerning human evolution, cosmic mysteries, reincarnation and karma, not only with devotion and enthusiasm but added to them a wonderful aesthetic sense. Every experience with this person, whether of teaching or conversation, was steeped in beauty. We were few at that time. We had no need to crowd ourselves into such a room as this, and what we now say to a large audience was then discussed by three people—two others and myself. One of these, the person mentioned above, left us upon the physical plane in 1904, and entered the spiritual world. Such people go through a development after death. When we produced Schuré's reconstruction of the Mystery of Eleusis at our Congress in 1907, no spiritual influence was perceptible. In 1909 it began, and has come more and more frequently since then. I have accurate knowledge that it was the individuality of our friend whom, objectively and because of her originality, we all loved. Removed to the spiritual world, she acted as a guardian angel to all that we accomplished in the combining of the aesthetic and esoteric elements in our Mysteries. We felt well protected, and looked gratefully upward, realizing that what penetrated us and flowed over into our earthly activities was an expression of the watchfulness of a spiritual personality.

But then when it came to conversation with this personality—one may call it conversation since there was a certain reciprocal action—she asserted that she found the way to us easier the more we were permeated with the thought of Christ in the evolution of the earth. If I were to put into earthly words what she reiterated, I should say, expressing symbolically, of course, what is quite different in the spiritual world, “I find the way to you so easily because you are finding evermore the way to make spiritual science into an expression of the living Word of Christ.”

The Christ impulse will become for us the living bridge between earthly life and life in superphysical worlds. From the spiritual world Christ three times conditioned for the human being the spiritual constitution that he needed in order to live rightly. Christ intervened three times, making the human sense, life and psychic organs unselfish. It is now Man's task to learn unselfishness in his moral and intellectual life through his understanding of the saying, “Not I, but Christ in me.”

1914-07-14-GA155

That is what Christ brings about when He permeates the fruits of our knowledge. He does not take away all that these fruits of knowledge represent for an individual, for the Christ died for all souls.

When we rise up to that knowledge which must be possessed by all true Earth-men—”Not I, but Christ in me”—when we realize the Christ within us in all that we know, and when we attribute to Christ the forces which we ourselves employ, then all we take into our being works not for ourselves alone, but for the whole of humanity. It becomes fruitful for the whole of humanity.

Look at the souls of men all over the Earth. Christ died for them all, and that which you receive in his name you receive for your own perfecting, but also as a most precious possession that is effective for all mankind.

[see also Moral ideals]

And now let us return to our introductory words this evening. It was said that when, after death, we look back upon our life-tableau, on all that we have lived through, it appears to us as though our ideals might have something strange about them.

We feel in regard to our ideals that they really do not bear us forward to the common life of men, that they have no inherent guarantee of reality in the general life of men; they carry us away from it. Lucifer has a powerful influence over our ideals because they flow in such beauty out of the human soul, but only out of the human soul. They are not rooted in external reality. That is why Lucifer has such power, and it is really the magnetic impulse of Lucifer which we experience in our ideals after death. Lucifer approaches us, and the ideals we have are specially valuable to him, because by the indirect path of these ideals he can draw us to himself.

But when we permeate with Christ all that we attain spiritually, when we feel the Christ in us, knowing that what we receive is also received by the Christ in us—”Not I, but Christ in me”—then, when we pass through the gate of death we do not look back upon our ideals although they tended to alienate us from the world. Our ideals have been committed to Christ, and we know that it is Christ who makes our ideals his own concern. He takes our ideals upon himself.

And the individual can say: “Not I alone can take my ideals upon myself so that they are seeds for humanity on Earth as surely as the plant-seeds of the present summer are seeds for the earthly plant-robe of the summer to come, but the Christ in me can do this; the Christ in me permeates my ideals with the reality of substance.”

And of those ideals we can say: “Yes, as men we give expression to ideals on Earth, but in us lives the Christ and he takes them upon himself.” These ideals are true seeds of future reality. Christ-enfilled idealism is permeated with the seed of reality, and he who truly understands Christ looks upon ideals in this way. He says: “Ideals have not yet in themselves that guarantee of their own reality, their own actuality, which inheres in the plant-seeds for the coming year; but when our ideals are committed to the Christ within us, they are real seeds.” Whoever has a true Christ-consciousness and makes his life-substance St. Paul's words “Not I, but Christ in me—He is the bearer of my ideals”, he has this realization. He says: “There are the ripe, germinating seeds, there are the streams and seas, the hills and valleys—but close by is the world of idealism; this world of idealism is taken over by Christ, and then it is like the seeds of the future world in the world of the present, for the Christ bears our ideals on into the future world as the God of Nature bears the plant-seeds of this year on into the coming year.”

This gives reality to idealism; it removes from the soul those bitter, gloomy doubts which can arise from the feeling: What becomes of the world of ideals that are inwardly bound up with external reality and with all that I most value? He who takes the Christ Impulse into himself perceives that everything which ripens in the human soul as idealism, as wisdom-treasure, is permeated, saturated through and through with reality. And I have brought the two examples before you in order to show you, out of the occult world, how different is the working of that which is entrusted, Christ-enfilled, to the soul, from that which is entrusted to it only as wisdom which is not Christ-enfilled. What the soul has permeated with Christ in this Earth-life flows down to us quite differently from that which is not Christ-enfilled.

A terrible impression is received when with clairvoyant consciousness one looks out into the spiritual world and sees souls, in whom full Christ-consciousness has not arisen during their last incarnation, fighting for their ideals—fighting for what is dearest to them, because in their ideals Lucifer has power over them, which enables him to separate them from the fruits, the real fruits, which the whole world ought to enjoy.

Quite different is the aspect of those who have allowed their soul-wealth, their wisdom-wealth, to become Christ-enfilled. These souls work down into our bodies in this life; they kindle warmth and vitality in our souls. Permeation with the Christ Impulse can be felt as most precious inner soul-warmth, as comfort in the most difficult circumstances, as support in the worst abysses of life. And why? Because he who is truly permeated with the Christ Impulse finds that in whatever conquests his soul achieves, however imperfect they may appear in earthly life, there lies this Christ impulse as the assurance and guarantee of fulfillment for them. That is why Christ is such a consolation in the doubts of life, such a support for the soul. How much for the souls on Earth remains unfulfilled in life! How much seems to them precious, although in relation to the outer physical world they cannot but regard it as resembling vain hopes of spring. But anything we honestly feel in our soul, anything we can unite with our soul as a valued possession—all this we can commit to Christ; and whatever may be its prospects of realization, when we have committed it to Christ He bears it forth upon His wings into reality. It is not always necessary to have knowledge of this, but the soul that feels the Christ within it, as the body feels its life-giving blood, feels the warmth, the promise of realization in this Christ Impulse in respect of all that cannot be realized in the external world, although the soul, with perfect justification, longs for it to be realized.

The fact that clairvoyant consciousness sees these things when it surveys souls after death is a proof of how justifiable is the feeling of the human soul when in all that a man does, in all that he thinks, he feels himself Christ-enfilled, takes the Christ into his soul as comfort, as support, saying in Earth-life: “Not I, but Christ in me!” For a man may indeed say that in this Earth-life! Recall a passage at the beginning of my book, Theosophy, which is meant to indicate one of these points where, at a certain stage of the spiritual life, there is a realization of what fills the soul in this earthly life. In a certain place in this book I have drawn attention to the fact that Tat twam asi (“Thou art that”) upon which the Eastern sages meditate, comes before man as a reality at that moment when the transition from the so-called soul-world into the spiritual world takes place. Look up the passage in question.

But something else can become a reality, in a way that is of immense human significance in relation to St. Paul's words, “Not I, but Christ in me”, which the Christ-enfilled soul may say in this life.

If a Man knows how to experience as inner truth this “Not I, but Christ in me”, it comes to powerful fulfillment after death. For what we receive through the words “Not I, but Christ in me” becomes our endowment, our inner nature between death and a new birth, to such an extent that we may impart it as fruit to the whole of humanity. What we so take that we receive it under the aspect of “Not I”, Christ makes into a common possession for all humanity. What I receive under the aspect of “Not I”, of this I may dare, after death, to say and feel, “Not for me alone, but for all my human brethren!” And then only may I say the words: “Yes, I have loved Him above all, even above myself,” and therefore I have hearkened to the command, “Love thy God above all.” “Not I, but Christ in me.”

And I have fulfilled that other commandment, “Love thy neighbor as thyself”, for whatever I have attained for myself will become through the fact that Christ carries it into reality, the common property of all mankind.

We must allow such things as these to work upon us, and then we experience what Christ has to signify in the human soul—how Christ can be the bearer and supporter, the comforter and illuminator of the soul of man. And so we gradually come to enter through our feelings into that which may be called the relation of Christ to the human soul.

1914-07-15-GA155

[Christ as the lord of karma]

Now let us think of all that it signifies when the human soul is able to say to itself: “Yes, I have done this or that in the world. It does not impair my evolution, for I do not remain as imperfect as I was when I committed the deed; I am permitted to overcome that imperfection in the further course of my karma by making compensation for the deed. But I cannot undo it for the Earth-evolution.”

Man would have to bear unspeakable suffering if a being had not united himself with the Earth, a being who undoes for the Earth that which we cannot change. This being is the Christ. He takes away from us, not subjective karma, but the objective spiritual effects of the acts, the guilt. That is what we must follow up in our hearts, and then for the first time we shall understand that Christ is in truth that Being who is bound up with the whole of Earth-humanity. For the Earth is there for the sake of mankind, and so Christ is connected also with the whole Earth. It is a weakness of Man, as a consequence of the Luciferic temptation, that although he is indeed able to redeem himself subjectively through karma, he cannot redeem the Earth at the same time. That is accomplished by the cosmic being, the Christ.

And now we understand why many anthroposophists cannot realize that Christianity is in full accord with the idea of karma. They are people who bring into anthroposophy the most intense egoism, a super-egoism; certainly they do not put it into words, but still they really think and feel: “If I can only redeem myself through my karma, what does the world matter to me? Let it do what it will!” These anthroposophists are quite satisfied if they can speak of karmic adjustment. But there is a great deal more to be done. Man would be a purely Luciferic being if he were to think only of himself.

Man is a member of the whole world, and he must think about it in the sense that he can indeed be egotistically redeemed through his karma, but is not able to redeem the whole Earth-existence. Here the Christ enters. At the moment when we decide not to think only of our I, we must think about something other than our I. Of what must we think? Of the “Christ in me”, as Paul says; then indeed we are united with Him in the whole Earth-existence. We do not then think of our self-redemption, but we say: “Not I and my own redemption—not I, but the Christ in me and the redemption of the Earth.”

Many believe they may call themselves true Christians, and yet they speak of others—anthroposophical Christians, for instance—as heretics. There is very little true Christian feeling here.

The question may perhaps be permitted: “Is it really Christian to think that I may do whatever I like and that Christ came into the world in order to take it all away from me and to forgive my sins, so that I need have nothing more to do with my Karma, with my sins?”

I think there is another word more applicable to such a way of thinking than the word “Christian”; perhaps the word “convenient” would be better. “Convenient” it would certainly be if a Man had only to repent, and then all the sins he had committed in the world were obliterated from the whole of his later karma. The sin is not blotted out from karma; but it can be blotted out from the Earth-evolution, and this it is that Man cannot do because of the human weakness that results from the Luciferic temptation. Christ accomplishes this.

With the remission of sins we are saved from the pain of having added an objective debt to the Earth-evolution for all eternity.

[cosmic Christ principle <-> greater earnestness, more conscientious, inner responsibility]

Only, of course, we must have a serious interest in this. When we have this true understanding of Christ, a greater earnestness will manifest itself in many other ways as well. Many elements will fall away from those conceptions of Christ which may well seem full of triviality and cynicism to the man whose soul has absorbed the Christ-conception in all seriousness. For all that has been said today, and it can be proved point by point from the most significant passages of the New Testament, tells us that everything Christ is for us derives from the fact that he is not a being like other men, but a being who, from above—that is, from out of the cosmos—entered into Earth-evolution at the baptism by John in Jordan. Everything speaks for the cosmic nature of Christ. And he who deeply grasps Christ's attitude towards sin and debt may speak thus: “Because Man in the course of the Earth's existence could not blot out his guilt for the whole Earth, a cosmic being had to descend in order that the Earth's debt might be discharged.”

True Christianity must regard Christ as a cosmic being. It cannot do otherwise. Then, however, our soul will be deeply permeated by what is meant in the words, “Not I, but Christ in me.” For then from this knowledge there radiates into our soul something that I can express only in these words: “When I am able to say, ‘Not I, but Christ in me’, in that moment I acknowledge that I shall be raised from the Earth-sphere, that in me there lives something that has significance to the Cosmos, and that I am counted worthy, as man, to bear a super-earthly element in my soul, just as I bear within me a super-earthly being in all that has entered into me from Old Saturn, Old Sun and Old Moon stages of evolutions.”

The consciousness of being permeated with Christ will become of immense importance. And with St. Paul's saying, “Not I, but Christ in me”, a Man will connect the feeling that his inner responsibility to Christ must be taken in deep, deep earnestness.

[babbling]

Anthroposophy will bring into the Christ-consciousness this feeling of responsibility in such a way that we shall not presume on every occasion to say: “I thought so, and because I thought so, I had a right to say it.” Our materialistic age is carrying this further and further. “I was convinced of this, and therefore I had a right to say it.”

But is it not a profanation of the Christ in us, a fresh crucifixion of the Christ in us, that at any moment when we believe something or other, we cry it out to the world, or send it out into the world in writing, without having investigated it?

When the full significance of Christ comes home to mankind, the individual will feel that he must be more and more conscientious, must prove himself worthy of Christ, this cosmic principle, within him.

['living' the principle]

It may be readily believed that those who do not want to receive Christ as a cosmic principle, but are ready at every opportunity to repent an offence, will first tell all kinds of lies about their fellow men and will then want to wipe out the lies. Anyone who wishes to give worthy proof of the Christ in his soul will first ask himself whether he ought to say a certain thing, even though he may for the moment be convinced of it.

Many things will be changed when a true conception of Christ comes into the world.

All those countless people today who write, or disfigure paper with printer's ink, because they briskly write down things of which they have no knowledge, will come to realize that by so doing they are putting the Christ in the human soul to shame. And then the excuse will cease: “Well, I thought it was so, I said it in good faith.”

Christ wants more than “good faith”; Christ would fain lead men to the truth. He himself has said, “The truth will make you free.”

But where has Christ ever said that it is possible for anyone who is thinking in his sense to shout out or put forth in writing something or other of which he really knows nothing? Much indeed will be changed! A great deal of modern writing will be ruled out when people proceed from the principle of proving themselves worthy of the saying: “Not I, but Christ in me.”

The cancer of our decadent civilization will be rooted out when silence falls on those voices which, without real conviction, cry everything out into the world, or cover paper with printer's ink irresponsibly, without being first convinced that they are speaking the truth.

The “Christian conscience”, as we may call it in a certain sense, will arise in increasing measure as human souls become more and more conscious of the presence of Christ, and the saying of Paul becomes true: “Not I, but Christ in me!”

More and more will souls be imbued with the consciousness that a Man ought not to say merely what he “thinks”, but must prove the objective truth of what he says.

Christ will be for the soul a teacher of truth, a teacher of the highest sense of responsibility. In these ways He will permeate souls when they come to experience the whole import of the saying: “Not I, but Christ in me.”

Discussion

Note 1 - Quote 1912-01-25-GA061

We can imagine the 'hollow spaces' (see above schema FMC00.128 right) that are now filled with the radiance of buddhi and the chemical and life ethers. Consider the following two schemas:

• Schema FMC00.046 on Development of the I for the work of the Spirits of Form (SoF)
• Schema FMC00.164 on Man's higher triad for the divine core of the human I - the life spirit and spirit self components that originate in the budhi and nirvana planes.

.. and consider the three phrases again, stating the essence what actually happened in the Mystery of Golgotha.

.. until that time, the innermost kernel of being (although present in man), had not entered directly into human consciousness.

.. Christ Impulse brought into human evolution the quest for the God and primordial Divine Being, not in the ‘soul-sheaths’ but in the true I

.. the entrance of Divine consciousness that speaks through the I

This leads into thinking that the work of the SoF did not suffice, that this was a penetration of the sheaths with some form of consciousness, but the connection with Man's higher triad and true divine I was not made.

From here, connect this with the three previous planetary stages, and how:

• on Old Saturn - in the seventh ... the Thrones weave a predisposition for the spirit Man principle, even if Man cannot use it in his state of dull consciousness
• on Old Sun - in the sixth course .. the Cherubim put to germinal predisposition the substance for the Life Spirit principle, and Man takes over from the angels to work it - hardly progressing because his state of dull consciousness
• on Old Moon - in the fifth course .. the Seraphim peremeate the Spirit Self principle, Man can be engaged in the dullness of his consciousness. In the sixth and seventh courses this combined with the Life Spirit and Spirit Man principles that had evolved from the two previous planetary stages where a 'first and second pass' was laid .. resulting in the monad or higher triad

This shows that an ever-higher spiritual hierarchy is needed for the lower principle. In the next fourth planetary stage Earth, this higher triad now has to connect and integrate with the I substance woven by the sacrifice and work of the Spirits of Form. The latter is what Schema FMC00.046 depicts. It is human consciousness of the lower bodily principles. However, it is not yet the connection with the higher principles of Man's higher triad.

And, on the side, these developments (by the SoF) take place on Earth where the higher chemical and life ethers have left, where only the warmth and light ethers are within reach.

In the view sketched above, the 'moment supreme' (as is said in french) of the fructification of Mankind is when the connection is made of this higher triad with the developed human I.

Note: compare and contemplate also with Schema FMC00.185 on Earth's seven epochs. This sketches already the manas link in the Lemurian intervention of the Spirits of Form - referring to the sentient soul (see Schema FMC00.046)

Note 2 - Humanity and the Cosmic I

Draft notes outline for developing this module

Introduction

This module should focus on what it means to have CoC=4 or the so-called 'human' stage of self-consciousness, see Twelve Conditions of Consciousness.

This is an immensely important topic and most ambitious, but a most difficult one, requiring advanced anthroposophical insight, so it will be challenging to bring and convey this, balancing flow (horizontal storyline, breadth) and depth.

In this topic, the question about the 'I'-principle of consciousness is taken fully 'bull by the horn', it will connect all that is on the topic pages Human I, Development of the I, Second Adam and Unification .. all the way to the essential principle of The three Logoi, Mahat, and hopefully also the Logoic principle.

In essence, it aims to tell the story of how the cosmic principle of the three logoi works in the development of humanity on earth, and thàt will or ought to give its place in creation and the evolution of the cosmos as a whole. Because from there, this 'unit' finds its place in the Cosmic fractal and IAO and the things elaborated and depicted on this site with Twelve conditions of consciousness and Schema FMC00.77A, in short it ought to dawn on and bring home Schema FMC00.329 by 'feeling' the nature of the blue circle. So what it means for Man to go through the 'human stage' of Conditions of Consciousness level four (CoC=4).

This then covers the same scope as what Maximilian Rebholz intended with his essay 'Durchgang'- see Schema FMC00.563

Quick train of thoughts, the story goes like this:

1 - Lemurian epoch, the 'hollow I'

1905-10-28-GA093A

Formative forces#1905-10-28-GA093A

We will now consider our present I. There are within it a multitude of mental images and concepts. When we observe the civilised world today we say: It is out of the I that the civilised world has arisen. All this was once within a human head; it was contained within the I. From out of all this it was put together. All the things constructed by human skill have been born out of the I.

In the middle of the Lemurian Age the I was still empty; Man could as yet do nothing. Only gradually did he learn in the most primitive way to know the world from outside. His I was at that time like a hollow soap-bubble. When he saw a stone, it was reflected into him; perhaps he saw a sharp edge on it and with it he began to chip other stones. In this way he started to work formatively on the mineral world. What was in his surroundings reflected itself more and more into what was at first his empty I.

At the end of the physical Globe everything will be present as reflected image in our I. When at last we have all this within us we will form it from within outwards. This will be the “plastic” condition on the next Globe. The master-builder of Cologne cathedral gathered his impressions into his I. This content of his I will be vivified by Buddhi and later, on the Fifth Globe he will give all this form. On the Sixth Globe all this will be present as thought and on the Seventh Globe everything will be drawn together into the atom. In the next Round man will create the new plant kingdom out of the Ego.

In the middle of the Lemurian Age the I was like a hole bored into matter. All our I were at that time such holes in matter which since then we have filled up.

[see left on Schema FMC00.443]

2 - Introducing the concept of subject-object (Kegan)

The 'subject' is the human being and becomes the human 'I' that takes into consciousness as 'object' everything around it in the world.

Enlivened images#Aspects

see also Robert Kegan's developmental theory: in cognitive development distinguishes:

• subject: the things we are, or we are embedded in; we can't see or reflect on them because they define our current way of knowing. We are these things.
• object: the things we can step back from, reflect on, analyze, and make decisions about. We have these things. We can take these into consciousness.
• growth in Kegan’s model is all about making subject into object. The more things we can reflect on (instead of being unconsciously driven by), the more complex and adaptive our thinking becomes.

3 - Mahat and the snake

• Remark how the above, which we know from human experience, is the same principle is also appearing in Mahat, re Schema FMC00.568 .. this is the macro-cosmic level (the logos)
• juxtapose this in parallel with the snake symbol explanation with Schema FMC00.290 .. this is indeed the micro-cosmic level (Man - the human being)

4 - what does humanity do on Earth with CoC-4

mineral physical matter is 'used' by the I-consciousness to be taken up as object into subject .. at the end of the physical CoF, then this process of self-consciousness (as per 1925-GA026 - LT011) .. has 'used' the environment to grow, and take more object into subject.

This can be linked to the process of Mahat, see Schema FMC00.568. It is the consciousness itself that grows in step changes (see Twelve Conditions of Consciousness) through Three dimensions of evolution .. and is in this process "vivified by budhi".

The physical Earth is just a medium for the consciousness to grow .. and similarly in other Conditions of Life and Form

5 - where does the Christ come in - part A

well the Christ is the budhi impulse on Earth that gives the spiritual life forces that we can understand with ...

for more on this "vivified by budhi", also see Schema FMC00.077A which includes the 'state-transition process at budhi plane level' captured with Schema FMC00.186 and variants on Christ Module 7 - Cosmic dimension.

This is the most difficult area to explain.

Note: somewhere also Schema FMC00.400 should be linked in

6 - where does the Christ come in - part B

where does the Christ take it? well .. it is the second adam, the convergence point, sum of all these evolved human I's, it is the collector of it all, the future group soul in the transfer to Future Jupiter

See:

• Transition between Earth and Future Jupiter
• Second Adam

These two pages should be studied in full.

Then they connect to Part A. It is clear that the pralaya between Earth and Future Jupiter will go through what is described in Module 7 and 1904-11-09-GA089 and 1904-11-10-GA089 .. these two lectures really contain the key.

Related pages

• Man's transformation and spiritualization
• Threefold Sun
• Christ - study modules 8 to 14
• Christ and the Mystery of Golgotha
• IAO

References and further reading

• Hans Büchenbacher: Der Christus-impuls und das Ich (1935)
• Iwer Thor Lorenzen: 'The 'I'-Principle in Man, Earth and Cosmos' (translated by the FMC initiative)