Christ Module 19 - experiencing the Christ
The Christ is a high spiritual being and the regent of the evolution of Earth and humanity. But the Christ is also a moral compass for how to stand in life and in the world. How to balance between luciferic and ahrimanic influences. The 'golden rule' of compassion and brotherly love, because buddhi is love (see Schema FMC00.481). When buddhi is developed in Man, all astral desires (kama) are transformed into selflessness, into love.
Hence the experience of the Christ is an attitude of the soul, with which we choose to fill our hearts and minds, and what we radiate out to world and the people around us.
Rudolf Steiner explains the workings of the Christ Impulse in humanity, and individual Man. It is a blossoming of a divine seed in every Man. We are living in a most exciting era, after the end of the dark age (kali yuga, ended in 1900), in the period guided by archangel Michael (from 1879 onwards for some 350 years), and the start of the appearance of Christ in the etheric. The latter means the slow emergence of new faculties of clairvoyance and memory in Man. At the same time we are in the midst of a challenging period of attacks by Ahrimanic and Soratic counterforces.
This module complements the other modules about the Study of spiritual science as a reverse ritual (Module 15), and the experience of the year, and also what is on this site about Initiation. The focus is on the attitude and state of soul, and the actual Christ experiences.
Aspects
Christ Module 19.1 - our state of soul during life
- wonder, compassion and conscience: from the ability to appreciate everyday things of life with awe or wonder, to the love for our fellow men and the golden rule which is the foundation of every religion (see Golden rule and Charter of compassion), see Schema FMC00.371 and lecture reference extracts below.
- the importance of the genuine deep religious feeling towards the world and people is the way to true Christianity, as opposed to intellectualism of science today (1921-09-30-GA343)
- more quotes: Christ Module 19 - experiencing the Christ#State of soul
- the wonder (amazement, awe, reverence, trust, faith), love and conscience (all actions in the world done through impulses of conscience) in all human souls structurally relate to 'something like' an astral body, etheric body and physical body of the Christ Impulse (1912-05-30-GA155 )
Christ Module 19.2 - appearance of Christ in the etheric
- from the 1930 onwards, for a period of 500 years. See Christ in the etheric for an in depth coverage, and table Schema FMC00.081 below.
- the work of the angels in Man's astral body, and what is required for the development of Man: if Man does not pick up the spiritual activity as required by the age and as enabled by the Christ Impulse, then the angels could have to perform this work during sleep when Man is unconscious, but this would have major consequences for humanity at large (see 1918-10-09-GA182 on What takes place as we sleep)
- See also: Christ in the future cultural ages and next epoch
Christ Module 19.3 - workings of Christ impulse in the world
- can one discern a growing moral responsability in the development of initiatives such as Medicins sans frontieres, Amnesty International, Greenpeace and other movements, such as human aid in case of disasters? Just as conscience and empathy arose earlier but have not always been part of the human soul and consciousness.
- see also: Humanity and the Christ Impulse
Other relevant aspects covered in dedicated modules
- see also: Christ Module 12 - the cosmic 'I'#Not I but Christ in me 2
- spiritual science as the way to prepare for a Christ experience, see Christ Module 15 - Study of Spiritual Science and the Mystery of Golgotha
- preparing for experiencing the Christ in the etheric starts with experiencing of the Christ in the course of the year (answer Steiner on question Rittelmeyer- see Christ Module 17 - The experience of the year.
Inspirational quotes
The 'problem statement' is already put clear in 1917-08-14-GA176
Many secrets are connected with an understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha.
People often ask: How can I find a relationship to Christ? Certainly it is a question that is justified.
But anyone with insight will know that it is a question that cannot be answered just like that. Let me make a comparison: we see objects by means of our eyes, but the eyes we do not see. For the eyes to be able to see they must be unable to see themselves. They see mirror images but not themselves. That which does the seeing cannot itself be seen. Since the Mystery of Golgotha man must see the spiritual world through the impulse coming from Christ just as he sees external colors through his eyes. We do not see the eyes through which the colors, etc. are seen, nor do we see the Christ impulse through which we see the spiritual world. This is why the Mystery of Golgotha is veiled in mystery and the history of the event is also veiled. Since the Mystery of Golgotha the historical event associated with it cannot be discovered by historic means. To seek for Christ historically like any other event in history would be like trying to induce the eye to see itself.
Then, from 1917-08-28-GA176
How can one approach the Christ impulse, how does one come near the Being of Christ?
In one form or another this question is asked again and again, and rightly so.
It is essential to realize that seeking Christ is deeply connected with the nature of the human ‘I’ and is therefore something inward and intimate. .. Because of the inner relationship between the Being of Christ and the human ‘I’, the Christ Being has for us the same intimate character as our own ‘I.’
All the impulses of feeling and will which stir within us when we contemplate the Mystery of Christ are actual means by which we draw near the Christ. It is through feeling- and will-filled contemplation of Christ that we have reason to hope we may find Him.
Historically, the present is a significant moment in time. Few are aware of its full implication ..
On this quote: "Our life of mental images and concepts, our intellectuality, is closely connected with the astral world, our life of feeling with lower spirit world and our life of will with higher spirit world" (1911-11-18-GA130).
.
1912-05-30-GA155
Compassion, sympathy are those virtues that in the future should bring the most beautiful, most wonderful fruits in human relationships, and for those who correctly understand the impulse of Christ, compassion and love, compassion and sympathy, accordingly, arise, for from this impulse feeling is born. ..
Another short quote from 1914-07-16-GA155
When the soul of Man really lives into Christ, feeling that Christ is the living Being who from the death on Golgotha flowed out into the atmosphere of the Earth and can flow into the soul, it feels itself inwardly vivified through the Christ. The soul feels a transition from death into life.
1920-02-06-GA196 is about Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
...one of the most important and significant aphorisms that Christ spoke, which goes something like this:
When two or three people are united in my name, then I stand among them.
In other words, when someone is alone, the Christ is not there. You cannot find the Christ without first feeling a connection to collective humanity. You must seek the Christ on a path that brings you together with all of humankind. In other words, being contented solely with one's own inner experiences leads one away from the Christ-impulse
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.
Illustrations
Schema FMC00.371 shows how our state of soul brings us closer to the Christ Impulse.
Schema FMC00.082 shows (linking into schema FMC00.047), the evolving relationship Man will have (or be able to develop) with the Christ
Schema FMC00.081: gives an overview of some of the expected faculties related to of the Second Coming also called the appearance of 'Christ in the etheric' due to the natural arising of new clairvoyance.
It can be called an 'appearance' of Christ because it is the shining through of the moral dimension; as these things are related: the golden rule is about selfless brotherly love and hence also karma. For this understanding of the Christ as a cosmic principle, see Schema FMC00.481.
As depicted in the blackboard drawing Schema FMC00.054 this clairvoyance will be a mixture of wisdom with moral consciousness (see explanations on Schema FMC00.054A) hence the elements related to karma in the table below.
See also the related Schema FMC00.591B, and Christ Module 19 - experiencing the Christ
Note: table to be expanded with statements from other lectures like 1910-02-08-GA116
Lecture coverage and references
State of soul
See quotes on:
- Notes on the study process#The importance of wonder of .27awe.27
- Virtues#Reverence and devotion, wonder or amazement
and
1909-12-22-GA166
is about reverence and devotion
1911-12-27-GA134
covers The training of thinking to Wonder, Veneration and Harmony with the Universe.
1912-02-03-GA143
is called 'Conscience and Wonder as Indications of Spiritual Vision in the Past and in the Future'
1912-05-30-GA155
short quote
When the Earth will once reach its destination, when people will understand the right moral impulses by which all good is done, then what has been inflicted through the mystery of Golgotha as Christ impulse into the development of mankind like a self will be resolved.
He will then be enveloped
- from an astral body formed by belief, by all acts of wonder and amazement of humans,
- from something that is like an etheric body formed by acts of love,
- from something that around it is like a physical body formed by deeds of conscience.
literal longer quote from online lecture
In the words: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me,” is contained a significant hint for us. What has been done for Christ? The actions performed in accordance with the Christ-impulse under the influence of conscience, under the influence of faith and according to knowledge, are developed out on the earth-life up to the present time, and as, through his actions and his moral attitude a person gives something to his brethren, he gives at the same time to Christ. This should be taken as a precept: All the forces we develop, all acts of faith and trust, all acts performed as the result of wonder, are—because we give it at the same time to the Christ-I—something which closes like a covering round the Christ and may be compared with the astral body of Man.
We form the astral body for the Christ-I-impulse by all the moral activities of wonder, trust, reverence and faith, in short, all that paves the way to super-sensible knowledge. Through all these activities we foster love. This is quite in accordance with the statement we quoted: “What ye have done to one, of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”
We form the etheric body for Christ through our deeds of love, and through our actions in the world which we do through the impulses of conscience we form for the Christ-impulse that which corresponds to the physical body of Man.
When the Earth has one day reached its goal, when Man understands the right moral impulses through which all that is good is done, then shall be present that which came as an 'I into human development through the Mystery of Golgotha as the Christ-impulse
- shall then be enveloped by an astral body which is formed through faith, through all the deeds of wonder and amazement on the part of man.
- It shall be enveloped by something which is like an etheric body which is formed through deeds of love;
- and by something which envelops it like a physical body, formed through the deeds of conscience.
1924-04-27-GA236
is also about the attitude of wonder in everyday life, towards the things of everyday life, see Virtues#1924-04-27-GA236
General
1907-11-20-GA100
We do not mean to say by the above, that humanity no longer needs the Law, but that which we have described is an ideal, which should be striven for. Gradually men will come to where the harmony of the world will be brought about through their voluntary action, but for this goal to be reached the Power which in the Gospel is called Christ had to step in. In the occult schools it is said of one who, of his own inner power, is able to raise himself into this relationship to all his fellow-men, that “he bears Christ within him.” In order to understand what we are about to say, it will first of all be necessary to recapitulate once more the real constitution of man. Recall to mind the contents of the third lecture with the aid of the following sketch:
1908-05-26-GA103
All this is at present only in germ within the human being, but a time will come when it will live in him in its fulness. And by lifting his gaze to the Christ Personality, to the Christ Impulse, by energizing and strengthening himself through this Christ Impulse, he draws into himself the force that can accomplish this transformation.
1912-05-08-GA143
1/ The forces of external science cannot produce a body for Christ because they are concerned only with things that will have disappeared in the future, that will no longer exist. But there is something that precedes knowledge and is infinitely more valuable for the soul than knowledge itself. It is what the Greek philosophers regarded as the beginning of all philosophy: wonder or astonishment. Once we have the knowledge, the experience which is of value to the soul has really already passed. People in whom the great revelations and truths of the spiritual world can evoke wonder, nourish this feeling of wonder, and in the course of time this creates a force which has a power of attraction for the Christ Impulse, which attracts the Christ Spirit: the Christ Impulse unites with the individual human soul when the soul can feel wonder for the mysteries of the world. Christ draws his astral body in earthly evolution from all those feelings which have lived in single human souls as wonder.
2/ The second quality that must be developed by human souls to attract the Christ Impulse is a power of compassion. Whenever the soul is moved to share in the suffering or joy of others, this is a force which attracts the Christ Impulse; Christ unites Himself with the human soul through compassion and love. Compassion and love are the forces from which Christ forms his etheric body until the end of earthly evolution. With regard to compassion and love one could, to put it crudely, speak of a programme which Spiritual Science must carry out in the future. In this connection, materialism has evolved a pernicious science, such as has never previously existed on Earth.
The very worst offence committed today is to correlate love and sexuality. This is the worst possible expression of materialism, the most devilish symptom of our time. Sexuality and love have nothing whatever to do with each other. Sexuality is something quite different from and has no connection at all with pure, original love. Science has brought things to a shameful point by means of an extensive literature devoted to connecting these two things which are simply not connected.
3/ A third force which flows into the human soul as if from a higher world, to which Man submits, to which he attributes a higher significance than that of his own individual moral instincts, is conscience. With man's conscience Christ is most intimately united. From the impulses which spring from the conscience of individual human souls Christ draws his physical body.
The reality of an utterance in the Bible becomes very clear when we know that the etheric body of Christ is formed from men's feelings of compassion and love:
‘What ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me’
— for to the end of the Earth's evolution Christ forms His etheric body out of men's compassion and love. As He forms His astral body out of wonder and astonishment, His physical body out of conscience, so does He form His etheric body out of men's feelings of compassion and love.
Why do we speak of these things at the present time?
Because one day a great problem will have to be solved for humanity: namely, how to present the figure of Christ in its relation to the various domains of life. This will be possible only if account is taken of many things that spiritual science has to say. When after long contemplation of the Christ-idea as conceived by spiritual science, an attempt is made to present the figure of Christ, the countenance will be found to contain something that can, and indeed will, baffle all the arts. The countenance will give expression to the victory of the forces that are contained only in the face over all other forces in the human form.
When men are able to fashion
- eyes that radiate only compassion,
- a mouth not adapted for eating but only for uttering those words of truth which are the words of conscience,
- when a brow can be shaped whose beauty lies in the moulding of the arch spanning the position of what we call the lotus-flower between the eyes
... when it becomes possible to accomplish all this, it will be understood why the Prophet says: ‘He hath no form nor comeliness.’ (Isaiah, 53, 2.) What is meant is that it is not beauty that counts, but the power that will gain the victory over decay: the figure of Christ in which all is compassion, all love, all devotion to conscience.
see also: Schema FMC00.301C and 1932-10 on Representative of humanity
1914 - Christian Morgenstern
from 'Wir fanden einen Pfad' by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914)
I have seen Man in his deepest form,
I know the world down to its fundamental essence.
I know that love, love is its deepest meaning,
and that I am here to love more and more.
I spread my arms wide, like He did,
I want to embrace the whole world, like He does.
original in German:
Ich habe den Menschen gesehn in seiner tiefsten Gestalt,
ich kenne die Welt bis auf den Grundgehalt.
Ich weiß, daß Liebe, Liebe ihr tiefster Sinn,
und daß ich da, um immer mehr zu lieben, bin.
Ich breite die Arme aus, wie Er getan,
ich möchte die ganze Welt, wie Er, umfahn.
1914-06-01-GA152
A renewing of responsibility, a deepening of Man’s moral life, can come only through a training in unselfishness, and under the conditions of the present age only those can go through this school who have won for themselves an understanding of real, all-pervading selflessness.
We can search through the entire evolution of the world without finding a deeper understanding of selflessness than that offered by Christ’s appearance upon Earth. To know Christ is to go through the school of unselfishness. […]
Under the influence of materialism the natural unselfishness of mankind was lost to an extent that will be fully realized only in the distant future.
But by contemplating the Mystery of Golgotha, by permeating our knowledge of it with all our feeling, we may acquire again, with our whole soul-being, an education in selflessness.
We may say that what Christ did for earthly evolution was included in the fundamental impulse of selflessness, and what He may become for the conscious development of the human soul is the school of unselfishness.
1917-08-28-GA176
How can one approach the Christ impulse, how does one come near the Being of Christ?
In one form or another this question is asked again and again, and rightly so.
People feel a need to ask this all-important question which must be approached from many aspects as we have done in our anthroposophical studies. Just as a photograph of a tree taken from one angle does not convey its full shape, so one aspect or indeed several do not exhaust the many-sidedness of a spiritual reality. All we can hope is that we shall come near it by approaching it from as many aspects as possible.
It is essential to realize that seeking Christ is deeply connected with the nature of the human ‘I’ and is therefore something inward and intimate. The special nature of the human ‘I’ comes to expression in the way we use the word ‘I.’ All other words are applicable to other things whereas the word ‘I’ can never refer to anything except to the one who speaks it. Because of the inner relationship between the Being of Christ and the human ‘I’ the Christ Being has for us the same intimate character as our own ‘I.’ All the impulses of feeling and will which stir within us when we contemplate the Mystery of Christ are actual means by which we draw near the Christ. It is through feeling- and will-filled contemplation of Christ that we have reason to hope we may find Him. At present it is of particular importance to pay attention to mankind's historical evolution especially in relation to the Event of Christ. Historically, the present is a significant moment in time. Few are aware of its full implication; it is therefore all the more important to be mindful of man's historical development in relation to every issue of significance.
...
It may be asked why in these circumstances such a great number of people still do not acknowledge the Christ?
All one can say about this is that so many and so far-reaching secrets are connected with this question that at present it is not yet possible to speak about them in a general way. But what I have just described is a fact of human evolution.
...
One comes to realize that one must bring to the Mystery of Golgotha all the depths of one's thoughts and feelings; for example when one attempts to relate the Mystery of Golgotha to the secrets of human death and man's subsequent awakening in the astral body and ‘I.’ It is through thoughts, through contemplation that one draws near to this Mystery. It is of no use to express through empty words a general wish to reach union with Christ; what is needed is a concrete understanding of what the actual appearance of Christ in earth evolution means for one's own life. It is not without meaning that the same time span elapsed between the death and the resurrection of Christ Jesus as the one that elapses between our leaving the physical body and our leaving the ether body in death. There is an intimate bond between Christ's life on earth and the man of today living after the Mystery of Golgotha. It is now possible to say with greatest conviction: Christ came in order that man should not be lost to the earth. Had the Mystery of Golgotha not taken place man's body would have become larva-like, directed from above by his soul. Death would gradually have removed man from the earth altogether. Through the Mystery of Golgotha man's connection with the earth was restored. Through the Mystery of Golgotha the possibility of consciousness arising from death was created.
These things can be understood today, they are revealed to contemplation of the spiritual world; making them our own deepens our inner life. When we are faced with crucial events we are not helped by knowing in a general way that we are connected with something called “the Christ,” whereas our inner life is deepened and strengthened when we know quite concretely that we are intimately connected with that Being who actually experienced earthly life and went through the Mystery of Golgotha. In contemplating these things we feel our innermost being intimately connected with the historical events of Golgotha.
...
The first understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha came about through direct experience. At first people could speak of Christ because some had actually seen Him; later some had known others who had seen Him. There was still an echo of Christ's own words in those spoken by the first apostles. Thus mankind's first experience of Christ was on the physical plane. Through the centuries this knowledge faded and had vanished altogether by the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries. That the present situation should arise was therefore inevitable when there are people who, though they want to be Christians, do not actually seek Christ. We must realize that we live in a time of crisis as far as understanding Christ is concerned.
We can reach understanding appropriate to our age in no other way than through an ever-deeper understanding of spiritual science. Ahrimanic forces battle against this knowledge just because it is so essential in our time. However, this does not prevent those who recognize the task of spiritual science from seeing this task connected with the enormous world-historical events taking place in our time. The solution to today's great problems can only come from real knowledge of the present age. And it is not biased propaganda to say that only through spiritual science can a solution be found.
1920-02-06-GA196
...one of the most important and significant aphorisms that Christ spoke, which goes something like this:
"When two or three people are united in my name, then I stand among them."
In other words, when someone is alone, the Christ is not there. You cannot find the Christ without first feeling a connection to collective humanity. You must seek the Christ on a path that brings you together with all of humankind. In other words, being contented solely with one's own inner experiences leads one away from the Christ-impulse.
1921-09-30-GA343
When you have found the attitude of prayer, you can now go to the other side and find it in the reading of the Gospels as well. The meaning the Gospels have for religious development, we will of course still speak about. In any case, real Christians need to remain within inner childlike feelings today in order to understand the Gospels in a believable way, also without criticism. When as a theologian he applies criticism, he has to, because he comes from the Christian angle, be able to understand the Gospel without criticism. At least he must firstly become strong in his experiences of the Gospels, and then, armed with this strength, he only then applies criticism. That's actually the basic damage in Bible criticism and actually in the Gospel criticism of the 19th Century; people are not initially religiously strengthened before they apply criticism to the Gospels. As a result, they have arrived at a Gospel criticism which is nothing other than done in the modern scientific sense.
Nothing is more clearly felt regarding this modern scientific sense, my dear friends, than the Gospel words of St Matthew 13, for in Matthew 13, I could say, the pivotal point of the whole chapter are words which encloses a mystery, and that perhaps in the entire evolution of Christianity it could never have been felt more deeply by religious people than today, when they come up against the world.
It is in the words: He answered and said: for you it is possible, to understand the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, but for those, whom I've just mentioned, the people around, it is not so.
To this an actually deep puzzle is connected: To him who has it, more will be given ... but he, who does not have it, nothing will be given: what would have been given to him, the little he has, will be taken from him.
These are extraordinarily deep words. Perhaps nowhere else in the evolution of Christianity can these words of giving and taking be so deeply felt — when one can really feel in a religious way towards the world and people — how just today, science has taken over nature and in the widest circles gained ever more authority; accepted to take away everything which could give the possibility of being able to spiritually hear with his ears or see with his eyes. This is not what Man is supposed to do, in the scientific sense. Spirit should be obliterated in the sense of science, in the mood of our modern times. When we speak in the same way as modern theology speaks to people who are raised in scientific terms, we take away that little which they could have in religious feeling. When we counter what is done in the faculty of philosophy with what is done in enlightened theology today, we remove the last bit of what is religious.
This needs to be felt, experienced in deep profundity, because the mood of the time is such has made it necessary for theologians to eradicate the religious. It is very necessary that we listen in a lively way to these words of the Matthew Gospel.
However, this leads us to the next question: How can we discover the truth content, the vital content of the Gospel in the right way?
We must find the correct way so that we can find the truthfulness also in the details of the Gospel and with this truthfulness directly illuminate the content of our lives. You see, in the way I'm saying this, I'm formulating my words in a particular way. I'm thinking of Paul's' words "Not I but Christ in me" and see how it should be spoken now in relation to the understanding of the Gospels, and when the word is within the heart of truth: "Not I, but Christ in me," the Christ said, in order to align the people in the right direction: "I am the way, the truth and the life." — We may express the words of Paul, "Not I but Christ in me," and then we will approach the Gospel in a way which leads to the right way to access the truthfulness and through this find the vital content in the Gospels. We have to climb up to a certain level in order to bring to life Paul's words: "Not I, but Christ in me." We must try to ever and again let it be spoken out, when we want to understand the Gospel. My dear friends, if Christ had spoken in the theologians of the 19th Century, then quite a different theology would have resulted, than it did, because a different Gospel view would have resulted.
1923-05-21-GA226
Thus we comprehend the Christ correctly by grasping, in the right way, this word of the Gospel:
“Whoever utters incessantly the cry: Lord, Lord! or Christ, Christ! should not, therefore, be considered a true Christian.”
Anthroposophy is often reproached for speaking less of the Christ than does external religion. Then I often say to those who blame Anthroposophy: “Is there not an ancient commandment recognized also by Christians, but forgotten in this eternal mentioning of the Christ:
`Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain?’ This is one of the ten Commandments.”
Whoever speaks ceaselessly of the Christ; whoever has the Christ’s name constantly on his lips, sins against the sacredness of his name.
Anthroposophy wants to be Christian in all it does and is. Therefore it cannot be reproached for speaking too little of the Christ. The consciousness that the Christ is living permeates everything brought forth by anthroposophy. And thus it does not want to have Lord, Lord! incessantly on its lips.
The less it speaks of the name “Christ,” the more truly does it desire to be Christian.
1959 - Ehrenfried Pfeiffer
A document by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer called 'Experiencing the christ', published (p 172-178) in the book 'Ehrenfried Pfeiffer: a modern quest for the spirit'). Handwritten notes in German written in 1959 found after his death, with a disclaimer:
To be read at a quiet time: sacred and not profane. Real experiences are dealt with here, nothing invented or imagined.
...
An inner voice commanded me to write this down, after an experience at Easter 1959
short excerpt
The experience of the Christ essence is the center of all world and human events.
Merely listening to the learned description in the churches and religions and praying accordingly leads to nothing, or at best to an intellectual - sentimental - conventional concept.
Can I experience the Christ?
I can, of course, have thoughts about it and even believe that I am closer to the 'experience' when I know everything that Rudolf Steiner taught about the Christ essence, its activity, its cosmic and earthly, human mission.
Though this, then, gives me a widened horizon and more real ideas and concepts and enables me, at least partially, to think Him, fundamentally I still have not experienced Him.
Discussion
Note 1 - On piety
Piety is described as the quality of being religious or reverent, a state of soul with reverence. Pious is devoutly religious. Piety is a virtue which may include religious devotion or spirituality. A common element in most conceptions of piety is a duty of respect. In a religious context, piety may be expressed through pious activities or devotions.
A few movements centered around piety stand out, a.o:
- Devotio Moderna (14th–16th century) – A religious reform movement that emphasized personal devotion, humility, and inner spirituality. It arose in the Netherlands and Germany, with groups like the Brethren of the Common Life promoting education, discipline, and direct engagement with scripture.
- The movement influenced figures like Thomas à Kempis, who wrote The Imitation of Christ (see Meditation texts#Thomas a Kempis: Imitatio Christi)
- Pietism (17th–18th Century) – Pietism was/is a movement within Lutheranism, originating in the 17th century in Germany, that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, emphasizing heartfelt faith
- Quietism (17th Century, ) – A mystical movement that promoted passive contemplation and surrender to God's will. Quietism is a set of contemplative practices that rose in popularity in Europe (Spain, Italy, France) during the 1670-80s, associated with writings of Miguel de Molinos.
- It was condemned as heresy by Pope Innocent XI in the papal bull Coelestis Pastor of 1687.
- This also influenced George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement which shared resemblance with Quietis" thought.
Note 2 - Notes on relationship with 'Christ' today
The below reflects and exchange of DL with RH and AP, with thanks for their inputs; some excerpts and phrasing has been literally included below. The text has not been wordsmithed for optimized flow or readability, but nevertheless already conveys some key thoughts.
And though this note definitely can be further elaborated and refined, it does already add something important that was missing on this topic page (given its title).
Introduction
Especially within anthroposophical circles there is a lot of talking about Christ. Rudolf Steiner touched on the importance of the Christ Impulse and the Mystery of Golgotha in hundreds if not thousands of lectures, so it is quite normal that anybody studying anthroposophical spiritual science takes this key point along.
The talking about Christ is interesting to qualify, as at times it seems quite similar to how humanity has been talking about God in past centuries and millenia. See also higher on this page Christ Module 19 - experiencing the Christ#1923-05-21-GA226.
A term that is so broad that it means many things to many people, and ultimately - as history has shown - humanity stumbles over what becomes a 'humanized' organized (religious) belief system and goes to war for it. See worldview wars and contemporary worldview war, but also physical wars.
Furthermore interestingly also, observers (reporting over longer times from anthroposophical forums) state there is considerable more talking about the opposing counterforces than of the Christ.
Commentary
Problem statement - question to explore
With the intellectualization of anthroposophical spiritual science, the Christ has become an over-used word relative to people's feeling- understanding of those using the word.
Christ has become a concept to read about and study, not to live and practice.
Yes Christ is a spiritual being (but so is everything so to speak), but it is less searched for in our inner soul life, less seen as a higher cosmic principle that we ‘get to’ automatically as part of initiation. Maybe that's also the issue with the counterforces: is it possible that - because they are clearly named - they are felt as enemies to look for (in the world) that to need to be addressed, rather than looking for them in ourselves?
And on the other extreme, some people have developed to initiates and adepts by practice in life, without bothering about the concepts and the intellectual or scholarly side of things: they have realized the spiritual principle of the life-spirit, buddhi, Christos .. in practice, in themselves.
One might argue that this ‘problem’ (it's not funny, but one could speak of 'christinitis' with anthro folks) is only an imagination, but if not, what is the solution?
Considerations
Study
To study Christ or everything that pertains to the Christ's Impulse is of course not a bad thing at all, on the contrary, and it represents a long path. Hence to a certain extent it is justified that Christ is used as a technical term as part of study, given the complexity of the knowledge framework and the multitude of aspects and perspectives from which it is covered by Rudolf Steiner.
But it is indeed so that there is dominantly intellectual 'understanding' and (most of all) lots of speaking about Christ that leads to deceptive conclusions and long statements that may sound good as forms, but are empty of content. The negative result is that this generates empty thought forms that have nothing to do with the essence of the Christ. It sounds, feels 'empty'. This is always the case when what one learns or studies is not practiced and lived in true life experience.
On the other hand, as the goal is not to form judgment here, one might say it is the striving that matters foremost, everyone who sincerely strives and earnestly puts efforts to understand and apply the spiritual science and the word of Christ deserves respect, even though what he or she may say could be too intellectual ... or even wrong, as any student in the learning phase is entitled to errors.
Experience
The most "truthful speech" about Christ is to live his legacy: there is not so much a need to speak about Christ, but more follow his example and live it daily in our relationships with other human beings.
As Ehrenfried Pfeiffer wrote (see above)
I can have thoughts about it and even believe that I am closer to the 'experience' when I know everything that Rudolf Steiner taught about the Christ essence, its activity, its cosmic and earthly, human mission. Though this gives me a widened horizon and more real ideas and concepts and enables me, at least partially, to think Him, fundamentally I still have not experienced Him.
Hence also study and intellectual considerations are completely different from a true encounter with Christ, or feeling Christ's presence. Nevertheless, in the latter case, there are certainly also many Luciferic illusions.
So one might say there is a wide range of relationships with Christ: either Christ is infinitely far away, unreachable in a direct sense, or he is regarded as a personal guide with whom one interacts as with a neighbor.
Each person can contemplate the question: where exactly do I stand in this spectrum, and in a conversation with a person.
As a way to ask myself: what his or her relationship or connection to Christ is like, i.e., very abstract, Luciferic, or 'true/real' (and what that means).
When using the polarities described by Rudolf Steiner, one might suggest:
- ahrimanic polarity: Christ is abstract, an empty husk word ... a concept, theoretical. As a spiritual being, all over the place in Steiner's lectures as 'the solution' or 'the right path' .. it has something quite dogmatic in that sense.
- luciferic polarity: anything that inflates the I ... pride, including pride in one's own modesty, then the illusions about Christ, like I can feel him without further ado. Maybe the mystical inner version
- note, however, that Steiner spoke of how in the Middle Ages it was impossible to distinguish Christ from Lucifer; Lucifer was congruent with Christ. That is why it was and still is difficult to say whether mystics actually mean Christ or Lucifer in an almost identical form or power. In both cases, people will speak of light, love, etc.
- centered: the true Christ as living in our heart and driving our deeds towards others: living the golden rule, feeling and living compassion, elemental balance in one's soul, selflessness and giving, and all implications for brotherli-hood .. as what connects us all as people (at a higher spiritual soul level)
Ultimately this is not about judging, or trying to recognize or categorize based solely on words
The best indicator ultimately is to look at the ‘fruits’, at people's actual lives and, above all, at how they behave towards other people.
"By their fruits you shall know them" (Matthew 7:16-20; see Sermon on the Mount)
And making that more concrete:
"what Christ did for earthly evolution [is a] fundamental impulse of selflessness ... a renewing of responsibility [and] deepening of Man’s moral life, can come only through a training in unselfishness: to know Christ is to go through the school of unselfishness" (1914-06-01-GA152)
Language - speech
How does one speak of Christ?
Does the true connection with what is meant not automatically induce veneration and awe, something holy perhaps (see also Schema FMC00.371) .. to be contrasted with the more cheap dry concept of the word without that profound understanding of what it means, as the divine principle of selfless love and the moral laws of life? Might it be that this is why overly babbling can perhaps at times evoke some sensations of feeling repulsed by ignorance, the opposite of resonance?
Then someone said: It is not arbitrarily said that Christ is the judge of sinners and righteous ones.
Again: "By their fruits you shall know them". Fruits refers to the deeds, and the will as servant of conscious thoughts and feelings once a certain level of spiritual maturity has been reached.
Our deeds are the language, that speaks of the kind of choices one makes, what kind of inner being one has and if the morality is on a high or on a very low level.
The Christ Impulse designates the differences, it points to the future and new karma created through free will. The present belongs to the human being and his free choice.
Conclusion
The above reflects the exchange between three people. A fourth voice can be added with a quote by Rudolf Steiner on exactly this theme, see Christ Module 12 - the cosmic 'I'#1914-07-15-GA155.
Please do read the full quote there ... the below is just a very short condensed extract as a teaser to show the link with points raised above.
[cosmic Christ principle <-> greater earnestness, more conscientious, inner responsibility]
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.
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 ...
... 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.
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.
... 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.”
Now the above concludes: If Christ is about living and how we relate to other human beings and not about talking about Christ all the time, then how to home in on that?
For this, two pointers for further exploration. The two are linked, and are intended to help better feel the meaning of the consciousness soul, and how it relates to moral ideals and moral imagination or intuition. By contemplating these one may get closer to imagining what the Christ Impulse is all about and how it works in the human soul.
Finally, to conclude more succintly, here coined in one sentence:
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you." (Matthew 6:33)
which means that living the golden rule and following the example set by Christ-Jesus, should be the highest priority in one's life, not just one of many priorities. An invitation or 'good advice' for reorienting life away from excessive worry about worldly concerns toward spiritual growth. Not to be forgotten, or to be taken into account in all we do, and the act of balancing our life's choices.
Notes
- It might be argued that the teachings of Beinsa Douno are much closer to speaking of brotherly love and Christ, so one can relate to it. Speaking in simple stories and parables, like Christ-Jesus, the essence of brotherhood is the core of his teachings. Note: Christ spoke both to the crowds (with parables and fairy-tales) and directly to this apostles and disciples. This could be related to kings and shepherds (see also text to Schema FMC00.609). Beinsa Douno used the language of the parables. Steiner spoke more 'technically', intellectually of higher wisdom .. a knowledge-based path preparing leading souls of humanity. Both ways are like two hands or two legs of one person. Beinsa Douno's legacy is preparing the whole humanity for the future, the appearance of true brotherhood and the fulfillment of the Earth's evolution by cultivating love as main principle and fruit of this very evolution.
- Daskalos puts Christ-Jesus and esoteric christianity as central to his teachings, he does not want to be 'spiritual scientific'. Throughout Daskalos' work and teachings, one can truly feel the devotion of someone who is close to the Apostle John (Yohannan, the Individuality of Christian Rosenkreutz) and someone who was there in person close to Christ-Jesus when he walked the Earth.
- note: Daskalos stated he was incarnated as Jason, aged 17 at the time of the MoG, part of the Essene school since age 10, and part of the group of children that apostle John brought to Christ-Jesus; had an encounter with Christ-Jesus carrying the cross on the way to Golgotha
- Interestingly, in the 'technical' self-initiation teachings by Franz Bardon, Christ-Jesus' words and teachings are embedded, but 'the Christ' is not appearing in the whole. That is because the focus is on the inner person working inside-out by practice and experience, not to be hampered by thought forms or beliefs. The IIH system allows openly for any concept-form of divinity in the mind of the individual, because self-initiation should be universal for any human being part of any culture and religion. To get a feel, this work starts in Step 1 and 2 with character transformation and elemental balance work as key to moral progress - short image on Initiation exercises#An image. And at the end, Step 10 is about creating a 'personal god' as a pathway to astral communion and ultimately the 'God experience' of 'unity'. Please read more about this on: Franz Bardon and initiation#Note 3 - On Steiner and Bardon
Related pages
- Christ Module 12 - the cosmic 'I'#Not I but Christ in me 2
- Christ - study modules 15 to 21
- Christ in the future cultural ages and next epoch
- Current Postatlantean epoch in the context of the Christ Impulse
- Yuga ages
- Reverse ritual
References and further reading
- Leo Tolstoj: 'The Kingdom of God Is Within You' (1893)
Various unqualified
- Mara Friederich, Georg Goelzer: 'Falter und Blüte Christuswort und Christerkenntnis' (1994)
- Peter Selg: Seeing Christ in sickness and healing (Anthroposophical medicine as a medicine founded in Christianity) (2001 in DE, 2005 in EN)
- Wolfgang Garvelmann: 'Sie sehen Christus – Erlebnisberichte von der Passion und der Auferstehung Christi' (2008)
