False prophet

The term false prophet originates and appears in the Bible in many places, a.o. the Gospels and the Book of Revelation, in context of the challenges Mankind will face in the future.

Christ-Jesus predicted the future appearance of false Christs and false prophets who would perform great signs and miracles and lead many astray.

Rudolf Steiner describes false prophets and messiahs in lectures of early 1910 (see references below) as in context of the announcement of Christ in the etheric in the period of the next 2500 years (that is: upto approx 4400).

Under the strong ahrimanic influences due to the 'spirits of darkness', the contemporary materialistic worldview and dampened consciousness of the masses will be a much more fruitful ground for such false prophets than in the past.

The theme of the false prophet applies specifically to the Ahrimanic challenge in the Current Postatlantean epoch (1917-11-18-GA178), strengthened by the soratic impulse and arising of the asuras or rakshasas (the third type of evil) in this epoch ("the Asuras intervene only now in the fifth epoch" (1906-11-01-GA266)) from the current fifth cultural age onwards ("the Asuras will creep into the consciousness soul in the current age" (1909-03-22-GA107)).

Positioning

1/ That this 'false' prophet fits the bill as accompanying the Ahrimanic second beast is clear from these excerpts when put in context of a general understanding of the nature of Ahrimanic influences, eg

• 1909-03-22-GA107: "in the intellectual soul .. the transformed part of the ether-body .. Ahriman established his footing. From there he lures man to false conceptions and judgments of material things, leads him to error, to sin, to lying .. in every illusion that matter is the sole reality, we must perceive the whispered promptings of Ahriman."
• 1909-07-05-GA112: "the Ahrimanic beings distorted Man's view of the world .. had the Ahrimanic or Satanic beings not intervened .. Man would know and would have known that there is a spiritual part behind every object of sense. And he would see through the surface of the outer sense world to the spiritual world beyond. But Ahriman has clouded his perception with something like a dark veil of smoke, through which Man cannot pierce to the spiritual world. Through Ahriman man is enmeshed in falsehood and entangled in a web of Maya or illusion. "

The false prophet is described as the herald or proclaimer of the [editor/interpretation: second] beast (1924-09-15-GA346).

2/ From these quotes it becomes clear how Ahriman is a 'strategic partner' for Sorat who is most aggressively countering everything that is spiritual.

A first illustration of this alliance is the description of Sorat-possessed people that "will .. not only ridicule spiritual things .. they will fight it in the most terrible way and they will want to thrust it down". (1924-09-12-GA346).

A second illustration to see how both streams are linked, now from 1907-10-21-GA101 in context of black magic:

What then must the black magician say to his pupils? Very simply:

Revere only intellect and science

Man's highest force

Let yourself become strengthened through the false spirit

Only in works of illusion and magic

Aspects

• the influence of the ahrimanic spirits of darkness (pushing the materialistic mineral worldview) are described as "rocking people to sleep so that they do not see the reality" (1917-10-28-GA177). This is describing the world we are living today, more on: Contemporary worldview war
• examples of historical false prophets (1910-02-08-GA116, 1910-03-06-GA118)
  • Shabbathoi Zewi or Zevi (1626-1676)
    • short extract from the wikipedia topic page on Zevi:

      Along with general messianic beliefs, there was another computation, based on a passage in the Zohar .. that Israel would be redeemed by the long-awaited Jewish Messiah in 1648. In 1648, Sabbatai announced to his followers in Smyrna that he was the anticipated messianic redeemer. To prove this, he started to pronounce the Tetragrammaton, an act which Judaism prohibited to all but the High Priest of Israel in the Temple in Jerusalem on Yom Kippur. For scholars acquainted with rabbinical and Kabbalistic literature, this act was therefore highly symbolic. ... Sabbatai became the leader of the community and used his power to crush any opposition. ... His fame began to extend far and wide. Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands were already centres of his messianic movement, and the Jews of Hamburg and Amsterdam learned of the events in Smyrna from trustworthy Christians. Sabbatai's followers soon included many prominent rabbis

Inspirational quotes

1911-03-13-GA124

... they imparted many ideas concerning false Messiahs to Europe up to the time of Schabbathoi Zewi,

and such things will occur again, for human evolution only progresses when strengthened by seeing through such deceptions.

We must penetrate ever more deeply and consciously into these connections.

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.426 provides an overview of the three beasts that appears in the Book of Revelation, corresponding to the three faces of Evil.

Lecture coverage and references

Gospels

Matthew 7:15–20

as part of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ-Jesus warns:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

1John 4:1

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Mark 13:5–7, 13:21–23

as part of the discourse given on the Mount of Olives:

And Jesus began to say to them, “Take heed that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, I am he! and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet.

[...]

And then if any one says to you, Look, here is the Christ! or Look, there he is! do not believe it. False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.

But take heed; I have told you all things beforehand

Matthew 24:4–5, 24:11, 24:23–26)

Take heed that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray.

[...]

And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

[...]

Then if any one says to you, Lo, here is the Christ! or There he is!, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Lo, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, Lo, he is in the wilderness, do not go out; if they say, Lo, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it.

Book of Revelation

Rev 16:13

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out ... of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Rev 19:20

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who wrought miracles in his presence, by which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone.

Rev 20:10

And the devil who had deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Rudolf Steiner

Below follow excerpts to gain an understanding of the false prophets and messiahs as a characteristic of the ahrimanic evil.

1909-05-31-GA109

in this lecture is described how in the ancient Persian cultural age, Zarathustra's teachings introduced Ahriman as the dark opponent of the sun god Ahura Mazdao (Christ) .. the term 'teacher of falsehoods' is used as the key characterization

Zarathustra taught his disciples to see Ahura Mazdao in the physical sun and not to be led astray by Ahriman.

Ahriman has lived in the physical world since the last third of the Atlantean epoch and attacks the human soul through sense perception, that is to say from the outside. By contrast, Lucifer attacks the soul from within. Zarathustra had to kindle in the hearts of humans the love for the great Sun Spirit, and he did this in powerful words that cannot be adequately rendered in our modern languages. All the magnificent words that you find in the Vedas and Gathas, no matter how beautiful, are but a feeble superficial expression of the great and lofty words originally uttered by Zarathustra. In our language, they can be approximated by the following:

“I wish to speak, now hearken and listen to me, you from near and from afar, who are filled with longing for these words. I want to speak about that which is the highest truth to me in this world and what was revealed to me by the great and mighty Ahura Mazdao. Hearken and listen to me now and mark my words carefully: No longer shall the teacher of falsehoods, the evil one whose lips bore witness to an evil faith, lead you astray for He — the mighty Ahura Mazdao—has manifested himself! Those who do not want to listen to the words as I say them and to the meaning that I give to them will experience evil things when the course of time reaches its end.”

1910-01-25-GA118

Materialistic thinking will conceive of this event as a descent of Christ in the flesh, as an incarnation in the flesh. A number of persons in their boundless arrogance will turn this to their own advantage and announce themselves to men as the reincarnated Christ.

The near future may therefore bring false Christs, but anthroposophists should be so fully prepared for the spiritual life that they will not confuse the return of Christ in a spiritual body, perceptible only to higher vision, with a return in a physical body of flesh.

This will be one of the most terrible temptations besetting mankind and to lead men past this temptation will be the task of those who learn through spiritual science to rise in the true sense to an understanding of the Spirit, who try not to drag spirit down into matter but to ascend into the spiritual world themselves.

Thus we may speak of the return of Christ and of the fact that we rise to Christ in the spiritual world through acquiring the faculty of etheric vision.

1910-01-27-GA118

..  modern materialism will continue to be so powerful that even such a truth will be interpreted in a materialistic way. This materialistic interpretation will transform itself into reality. This truth will be interpreted as a return of Christ in the flesh.

False Christs, false messiahs, will walk about on the earth in the not too distant future, persons who will claim to be the returning Christ.

..

This will be repeated again and again in the near future; at the same time, it must also be stated repeatedly that the false prophets would be able to prevent the good and the great were they to succeed in spreading the opinion that Christ would appear again in the flesh.

If anthroposophists were to fail to grasp this, it would be possible for them to fall prey to that illusion that would enable false messiahs to arise. These false messiahs will appear; they will count on souls that are so weakened by materialism that they cannot imagine anything but that when Christ appears again, He must necessarily appear in material substance, in the flesh.

This misinterpretation of the prophecy is an evil thing, and it will appear in the form of a dangerous temptation for humanity. It is the task of anthroposophy to protect human beings from this temptation. This cannot be emphasized too strongly for all who have ears to hear.

other translation

It must also be stated repeatedly that the false prophets would be able to prevent the good and the great were they to succeed in spreading the opinion that Christ would appear again in the flesh. If anthroposophists were to fail to grasp this, it would be possible for them to fall prey to that illusion that would enable false messiahs to arise.

These false messiahs will appear; they will count on souls that are so weakened by materialism that they cannot imagine anything but that when Christ appears again, He must necessarily appear in material substance, in the flesh. This misinterpretation of the prophecy is an evil thing, and it will appear in the form of a dangerous temptation for humanity.

It is the task of anthroposophy to protect human beings from this temptation. This cannot be emphasized too strongly for all who have ears to hear. We can see by this, moreover, that anthroposophy has important things to say; we do not merely “pursue” anthroposophy because we are curious to know all kinds of truths but because we know that these truths must be used for the salvation and gradual perfecting of humanity.

1910-02-08-GA116

In bygone centuries it was, comparatively speaking, not harmful for men continually to return to the materialistic conception of the so-called return of Christ. Particularly at the small times of transition, when that which has now reached its climax in a materialistic sense was being prepared for, as,

• for instance, in France in 1137, when a Messiah was expected, and was awaited by many in wide circles. A Messiah did actually appear then, but he led the people astray, because the belief in him had arisen through their materialistic ideas, for it was believed the Messiah would come in the flesh.
• Thirty years before, another Messiah appeared in Spain; there, too, it had been foretold that a Messiah would come in the flesh.
• At about the same time another new Messiah appeared in North Africa; there, too, it had been prophesied that one would come from the East, and appear in the flesh.

Throughout the whole time during which the materialistic mind was being prepared, in that the highest things were being grasped by it, there appeared such prophets whose coming was foretold.

• Such phenomena are well known to those who understand the times, and they continued into the 17th century, when the approaching appearance of a sort of Christ, a Messiah, was proclaimed far and wide. This again found acceptance by the materialistically religious minds of men.
• Based on these prophecies, a false Messiah was thus able to arise in Smyrna, in 1667, bearing the name of Shabbathoi Zewi.
  • He wrote letters and epistles at that time from Smyrna, which, although they contained nothing but false matter, being written in a materialistic sense, shook the world as greatly as had once the Epistles of St. Paul. In the 17th century there went forth from Smyrna the proclamation that in that city there dwelt a Messiah in the flesh! And Shabbathoi Zewi, the ‘just man of God’ was so considered, that it was said the whole world-reckoning would now take on another form. ‘He will pass through the world with his faithful disciples and all must believe in him who are willing to see the truth, who wish to see Christ in the flesh!’
  • It was preached to the people that his birthday must be held as the greatest Festival on Earth! Whole hosts of people undertook pilgrimages there — not only from Asia and Africa, but also from Poland, Russia, Spain, France, and so on; great numbers of persons traveled as pilgrims to Smyrna to see Shabbathoi Zewi, who was supposed to be Christ in the flesh, until the thing grew beyond all limits and he was arrested by order of the Sultan! This, said the people, was but the fulfilment of the prophesy, for it was foretold he would be in prison for nine months! The Sultan could think of no other method than to have him brought forth and stripped, saying: ‘We will see whether thou be a Messiah, a Christ; I shall have thee shot!’ And so it was finally proved that Shabbathoi Zewi was only an ordinary Ba Rabbi after all!

Such impersonations are the result of the materialistic thinking of our times, and there will be more of the kind, for the materialistic mind will make use of men.

What I am now saying will often and often be said during the next few decades: that the capacities of man will develop up to seeing the etheric vision of Christ, in the reality of which they can then believe, just as firmly as did St. Paul himself! This is the immediate future of Man, and this it is for which spiritual science must prepare him. But on account of the materialistic thoughts of men the time will also come when strong temptations will arise; false Messiahs will appear in the flesh.

It will then be proved whether anthroposophists have rightly understood anthroposophy. Those who have not will be so adversely affected by the materialistic mind that they will succumb to the temptation. Although they believe in Christ they will believe in an incarnated Christ. But those who have gained understanding of true spiritual life will realise that the ‘second Coming of Christ’ in our century, that greatest of events, signifies that He comes to Man in the spirit, because mankind in the course of its development will have developed up to the spiritual, will have evolved up towards Christ! Therefore in our century, the Sermon on the Mount undergoes a complete modification. It must be entirely re-modeled, so to speak. Those persons will be God-filled (or blessed) who, through having been beggars for the spirit in their past incarnations, have now advanced so far as to be able to ascend to that part of the kingdom of Heaven where Christ will appear before their spiritual sight!

1910-03-06-GA118

[False Messiahs]

What has been said now will be said again and again in the next decades. There will be human beings who will misunderstand this, however, and they will say, “The Christ is to come again!” Since they will carry into this idea the belief that it is a physical return, they will supply nourishment to all those who will appear as false messiahs. There will be many such persons in the middle of the twentieth century who will use the materialistic beliefs of human beings, who will use the materialistic thinking and feeling of human beings to pass themselves off as the Christ. There have always been false messiahs.

• There was, for instance, the age before the Crusades when a false messiah appeared in the south of France, in whom his followers saw something like a Christ incarnated in a physical body.
• Before that, a false messiah had appeared in Spain and found many followers.
• In North Africa one who presented himself as the Christ created a great sensation.
• In the seventeenth century a man appeared as Christ in Smyrna and gained a huge following. He was called Shabattai Tzevi. People from Poland, Hungary, Austria, Spain, Germany, France — from the whole of Europe and from a large part of Africa and Asia — made pilgrimages to see him.

In the past centuries this was not so terrible, because the demand had not yet been made of humanity to distinguish the true from the false. Only now have we come to the age when it could be disastrous if human beings should fail to pass the spiritual test. Those will pass it who know that human faculties go through a further evolution; that those faculties for seeing Christ in the physical were limited to seeing Him thus only to the time of the founding of Christianity but that humanity would not advance if it did not find the Christ again in our century in a higher form.

Those who strive after spiritual science will have to prove themselves to be the ones who can distinguish the false messiahs from the one Messiah, Who will appear, not in the flesh but as a spiritual being for the newly awakened faculties.

1910-04-18-GA118

Those who understand anthroposophy in the right way will say to these false messiahs of the twentieth century: you have announced the appearance of Christ on the physical plane, but we know that Christ will manifest Himself only in an etheric form. True anthroposophists will await Christ's appearance to the higher senses.

1911-03-13-GA124see full extended quote on Reconquista#1911-03-13-GA124

The various prophets who arose as false Messiahs up to Schabbathoi Zewi were really the outcome of Arabism, and had no knowledge of the Christ-Impulse.

We must understand that

• the neighbouring stream of Arabism had to be made fruitful by quite other elements, not by solving in any way the central mystery of Christ.
• This must also be our attitude towards the stream which approaches us today, as the renewal of an ancient one, bringing us understanding of reincarnation and karma, but being incapable of imparting understanding of the Christ-Impulse. For this would be as absurd as to think the Arabs could impart a right conception of Christ to the people of Europe.

They imparted many ideas concerning false Messiahs to Europe up to the time of Schabbathoi Zewi, and such things will occur again, for human evolution only progresses when strengthened by seeing through such deceptions. We must penetrate ever more deeply and consciously into these connections. Facts will show that the spiritual science founded by European Rosicrucians, with Christ as its central idea, will be established in the souls of men against all opposition and all misleadings.

1917-10-28-GA177

The spirits of darkness find it easiest to achieve their aims if people are asleep to what goes on in the spirit. They can then easily gain power over what that they cannot achieve if people enter consciously into the spiritual impulses that are active in evolution. Much of the mendacity which exists in the world today serves the purpose of rocking people to sleep so that they do not see the reality, are deflected from reality, and the spirits of darkness have it all their own way with the human race. All kinds of things are falsely presented to people to deflect them from truths they could experience if they were awake and, indeed, ought to experience, if human evolution is to proceed in a fruitful way. This is the age when human beings must take affairs into their own hands.

1917-11-18-GA178

Indeed, the aim of those brotherhoods I have spoken of, who wish to confine human souls in the material realm, is that the Christ should pass by unobserved in the twentieth century; that His coming as an etheric individuality should not be noticed by men. And this endeavour takes shape under the influence of a quite definite idea and a quite definite purpose. These brotherhoods want to take over the Christ's sphere of influence, which should spread out more and more widely during the twentieth century, for another being (of whom we will later speak more precisely). There are Western brotherhoods who want to dispute the impulse of the Christ and to set in His place another individuality who has never appeared in the flesh — an etheric individuality, but a strongly Ahrimanic one.

All these methods I have told you about, this working with the dead and so on, have finally one single purpose — to lead people away from the Christ who has passed through the Mystery of Golgotha, and to assign to another being dominion over the earth.

This is a very real battle, not an affair of abstract concepts; a real battle which is concerned with setting another being in place of the Christ-Being for the rest of the fifth post-Atlantean cultural age, for the sixth and for the seventh.

[editor note: the original transcript was checked, the sixth and seventh here clearly do not refer to epochs, the sentence reads as an extension of the fifth age with the sixth and sevent]

One of the tasks of healthy, honest spiritual development will be to destroy and make away with such endeavours, which are anti-Christian in the highest degree. For this other being, whom these brotherhoods want to set up as a ruler, will be called “Christ” by them; yes, they will really call him “Christ!” And it will be essential for people to learn to distinguish between the true Christ, who will not this time appear in the flesh, and this other being who is marked off by the fact that he has never been embodied on the earth. It is this etheric being whom these brotherhoods want to set in the place of Christ, so that the Christ may pass by unobserved.

Here is one side of the battle, which is concerned with falsifying the appearance of Christ during the twentieth century. Anyone who looks only at the surface of life, and pays heed to all the external discussions about Christ and the Jesus-question, and so on, knows nothing of the deeper facts. All these discussions serve only to hide the real issues and to lead people away from them. When the theologians discuss “Christ” in this way, a spiritual influence from somewhere is always at work, and these learned men are in fact furthering aims and purposes quite different from those they are aware of.

This is the danger of the idea of the unconscious: it leads to unclear thinking about all such connections. While the evil brotherhoods pursue their aims very consciously, these aims never enter the consciousness of the people who engage in all sorts of superficial discussions. We lose the truth of these things by talking of the “unconscious,” for this so-called unconscious is merely beyond the threshold of ordinary consciousness, and is the very sphere in which someone who knows about these things can manipulate them. Here we have one side of the situation: a number of brotherhoods actually do wish to substitute for the working of Christ the working of another being and are ready to use any means to bring this about.

Discussion

Note 1 - About certain gurus and spiritual teachers (and their moral ethical development)

Introduction

This note is about the apparent paradox of mystics, gurus, spiritual teachers who, on the one side are capable of disseminating great wisdom and perform ex­traordinary healings, but on the other hand at the same time are seriously flawed in their daily conduct.

Some are not only strangely gifted but highly promiscuous, while often weak in body and integrity. Some are so charismatic that they can convince people of their pure motives in an absolute way.

Given their knowledge about esoteric matters, they probably know the con­sequences of their actions, but their enchantment with their own ego apparently stronger than the knowledge of karmic consequences as a result of their actions.

In short:

• investigate the life of the teacher, his/her actions, statements, etc and not just the writings or official teachings. Selflessness, compassion, love are key characteristics of true enlightened teachers.
• other personalities may also produce valuable wisdom, teachings, exercises, practices and/or have advanced capabilities. In general, just use the wisdom contained and leave the rest (like all the personal teacher-related aspects). Re the Christofides quote below.

Case examples

These are just a few example illustrations of so-called spiritual teachers with dubious moral and ethical life; the list is certainly non-exhaustive.

• Aleister Crowley (1875–1947): self-proclaimed magician and founder of Thelema, Crowley was charismatic and knowledgeable about esoteric traditions. However, he was also a flawed figure, infamous for his excessive drug use, sexual libertinism, and manipulative behavior.
• Gurdjieff (1866–1949): mystic and spiritual teacher who founded the Fourth Way, blending Eastern and Western esoteric traditions. Known for his deep insights into human psychology and consciousness, but also for his authoritarian teaching style and indulgent lifestyle, which included drinking and manipulating followers.
• Muktananda (1908-1982): guru but with numerous allegations by former devotees that Muktananda had molested under-age girls and engaged in sexual interactions with young devotees. Though "Muktananda stressed the value of celibacy for making progress on the spiritual path, he almost certainly violated his own rules." as he "engaged in actions that were not ethical, legal or liberatory with many disciples." He also cultivated a cult following, eg from the book published by the SYDA foundation: "There is no deity superior to the Guru, no gain better than the Guru's grace, no japa more re­warding than the remembrance of the Guru, no state higher than meditation on the Guru—therefore become a true child of the Guru."

Others

• Rasputin (1869–1916): Russian mystic and advisor to the Romanovs allegedly had healing abilities and a strong hypnotic presence. However, he was also notorious for his extreme promiscuity, indulgence in alcohol, and erratic behavior, leading many to see him as both a saint and a fraud.
• P. D. Ouspensky (1878–1947): brilliant Russian philosopher and student of Gurdjieff, helped popularize the Fourth Way teachings. However, he became disillusioned with his own work later in life and was known for his rigid, dogmatic thinking, often struggling with alcohol dependence.
• Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854–1918): key figure in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a brilliant ritualist but with a grandiose sense of self-importance. His obsession with power led to the Golden Dawn’s fragmentation.

.

see also: Colin Wilson: ''The Occult: A History' (1971)

Reference extracts

Kikis L. Christofides

taken from Kyriacos C. Markides' fourth book 'Riding with the Lion' (1995), Ch. 7-8

This is what we have been try­ing to convey to people all along. Wisdom, knowledge, and enlight­enment do not necessarily presuppose the highest spiritual state of awareness. This is what people refuse to understand.

These people are most dan­gerous, because they convince their followers that their wisdom and their demonstrated psychic abilities are the product of their spiritual purity, that they have somehow attained God realization.

They know that they will suffer eventually, that they will pay as a result of their actions. Yet they do it because their awareness is stranded inside the cocoon of their enchantment. The magnetism of this enchantment is a greater force  in them than their awareness which vibrates at low spiritual levels.

Again, wisdom does not necessarily mean purity. Such persons can express knowledge and wisdom because they have developed their noetical body. They may express this kind of knowledge without themselves being well-integrated, balanced personalities.

You see, wisdom and knowledge are inside us, inside every human being, inside our subconscious, inside every particle of our material and nonmaterial existence. Consequently it is possible through various means, technical means or whatever, to coordinate ourselves with that part of our subconscious and succeed in opening the floodgates of that wisdom. And wisdom could come forward independently of our psychonoetical development. These methods have been known to human beings through the centuries and they have been passed on from one generation to the next. For this reason we will see throughout history unbalanced personalities expressing great esoteric knowledge and wisdom and exemplifying extraordinary psychic gifts.

...

What is happening, is that many of these people, through various methods, began working on the psycho-noetic centers, what we call sacred discs and the Hindus call chakras. But instead of working on those centers that lead to the upliftment of their awareness and spirituality they stimulated centers of power.

Example .. The other day I received a phone call from a woman who got into trouble because she started certain exercises on the kundalini center, the one at the base of the spine. Now, that was very dan­gerous. The kundalini, or what we call the sacred serpent or sacred fire, will be awakened only naturally with the spiritual growth of the individual. The energy that will be unleashed will then move upward as it should and energize the higher chakras. When that begins to take place the present personality becomes spiritually purified.

But if you awaken this sacred fire prematurely through technical methods, then you may end up an unbalanced personality who cannot master the energy that has been liberated. This is what apparently happened to this woman. The present personality is taken over by unmanageable sexual urges.

It is possible, that either in the present or previous incarnations these individuals have focused on these centers and instead of the energy moving upward, as it should under normal conditions, it moved downward toward the lower centers of the gen­itals and the anus with the disastrous results that we know. You see, with proper spiritual practice, where the focus is the upliftment of awareness, that is the upliftment of the way one thinks and feels, the kundalini energy gradually unfolds and moves upward. As it does so it energizes and purifies the higher chakras, it purifies the present personality. This is the baptism of fire that we have been talking about. It is what John the Baptist meant when he said, 'I baptize you in water but He who comes after me will baptize you in fire.' It is what the Apostles underwent during Pentecost.

...

It is inconceivable, that a person who pre­sumably has reached high levels of spirituality is at the mercy of his or her instinctual urges. These people, who preach that they have gone beyond their lower urges and yet express themselves inappro­priately in this manner, are to me most problematic, to say the least.

Nevertheless .. people like that may express great wisdom and perform miraculous healings ... These are abilities that one can develop through technical means, as we said. But we must keep in mind that these abilities and wisdom are independent of how these people will actually behave within time and space. And let me tell you, the road for such so-called masters is much longer than that of ordinary peo­ple who live in ignorance. They themselves have made it longer.

Also .. such individuals can have wisdom and knowl­edge of reality, but only up to a certain point. You can't ascend to the highest realms under such conditions. But knowledge of rel­ative realities can be attained by anyone regardless of spiritual de­velopment since it is possible for one to coordinate himself or herself with the subconscious mind through various technical meth­ods. And these methods, as we said, have been known to people through the centuries and have been used by mystics of low aware­ness or psychonoetic development.

Question: Can person under the guidance of a flawed guru make spiritual progress .. or: how far can a person grow under the guidance or misguidance of a master who does not himself or herself live the Truth.. "Is it possible that such flawed masters may have at the same time benefited humanity by bringing forward this knowledge

The knowledge itself is blessed from high up. It is the knowledge that is part of each one of us, and is Divine in its origin. It is God's knowledge.

One need to separate message from messenger .. There is no problem when people who are exposed to this knowledge are not subjected to the guru's exploitation. Knowl­edge in itself is useful and as long as you get only the knowledge, then you will be benefited. Why not?

The problems come when the offering of that knowledge to you by the master or guru has as its price your entanglement in his or her deeper, pathological motives. This is true in any field of knowledge, whether it is science, theater, music, or spiritual wisdom. We must overcome our uncritical enchantment with gurus and masters and see them as ordinary human beings like ourselves. Stay away from anyone who goes around claiming to be a master and expecting to be adored like a god. A great scientist or a great artist that has made a major contri­bution in his or her field may not necessarily be the kind of a person with whom you would want to get entangled on a personal level.

All masters will be credited on the basis of their level of awareness - that is, the level of their psychonoetic de­velopment and the degree to which they can live up to the greatness of the wisdom, not the fact that they channeled the wisdom itself.

Question: How can you judge the personality of authors by just reading what they wrote? How can you know the motives behind what they put down on paper? On the basis of books or what mystics have left behind on paper about their thoughts and their experiences you can never know with certainty the quality of their character? So one cannot know the quality of people in their everyday life that one reads and admires?

Right. Strictly speaking and as a matter of principle, no, you cannot.

You shall know them, neither by what they say nor by what they do.

What matters and what you should do is to absorb the wisdom that they left behind. This is what I have been saying all these years.

The only way to understand such a person is to enter within the context of his or her motives. You will get a better understand­ing of their motives and character when among other things you observe their overall behavior within society. See how that individ­ual reacts when provoked. Then you may get a better picture of that individual's character. For example, when a master at one moment is like a river of great knowledge and wisdom and the next moment begins to use foul language against people, gets agitated and upset toward those that don't pander to his or her narcissism, a disciple should be extremely cautious.

Otherwise you can easily be fooled, because gurus who are capable of such feats are also great actors that can deceive not only the gullible but also those who have ex­perience with these matters.

But you cannot be a purified individual and be unbalanced in your expression at the same time, by definition.

Compassion should be the guiding prin­ciple for all human beings, including flawed masters.

However we also have a responsibility to protect the innocent from being abused by such persons.

[Regarding wisdom teachings]The wisdom of God is not the property of this or that group or organization. This Teaching springs from the universal subconscious. It is the outpouring of wisdom, which everyone has access to. It is not owned by anybody in particular. It is neither the mo­nopoly nor the property of any guru, or any mystical group.

However it is always filtered through cultures, religions, civilizations, and therefore always colored and distorted, and the more we clear up this filter of our awareness the more we will be able to apprehend this relative wisdom.

Related pages

• Book of Revelation
• D00.004 - Book of Revelation
• Ahrimanic beings and their influences
• Evil

References and further reading

• wikipedia on false prophet
• more links, ao link A, link B