Future of humanity

Focus of this page is on the second half of the Current fifth cultural age and the turning point humanity achieved in the year 2000, so current times and and the next millenium until the year 3000, in other words before the next Sixth cultural age.

Schema FMC00.534 below illustrates why the next 5-600 years are absolutely key, as mentioned explicitly by Rudolf Steiner. It sketches a culmination of the current trends by 2500-2600, followed by the exhalation phase of 1000 years transitioning to the next Sixth cultural age. In the previous cultural age, the 4th century was such a turning point, followed by the 'dark middle ages' until a new start around 1400. These next 5-600 years will have both the remainder of the current Michael age, and the Future Oriphiel age.

The goal of this page is to list various evolutionary trends that are on the various other pages, so as to be able to integrate them and contemplate and discuss them together.

Note: what led to this topic page?

This topic page was developed because of excerpts by Rudolf Steiner in the newest GA volume GA265 published only recently in 2024. Specifically where Steiner himself seemingly was so worried or upset about the future of humanity that he asked his Master what was to become .. and he then conveys the answer of his Master. This answer offers a unique perspective that is nowhere else to be found in the GA or spiritual science as a whole.

Note that Rudolf Steiner only shared such terrible prospects for the future with his closest students in private esoteric lessons, for large and public groups he always gave positive impulses. This publication with commentary on the FMC wiki in January 2025 is probably the first time this info from end 1913 is broadly made public for the English-speaking audience.

Aspects

Key message

The text highlighted in bold provides the essence of what is covered on this page in full based on source materials and contextual links.

• Most probably already in current times, and surely much more in the future, souls incarnated on Earth will not be able to develop by themselves due to the rise of materialism and various other factors. Therefore these souls will be aided through the help of other discarnate souls, during sleep when astral body and I are in the spiritual world. The 'terrain' of operations of spiritual science is not just playing on Earth: the bridge between incarnated and discarnate souls becomes essential.
  • "in relatively short time, much closer than we think, materialism and soul-less-ness will become so great that ... in about one hundred years souls will only be able to remain in the body for a maximum of 30 years before Ahriman and Lucifer take possession of the body. We are then - instead of Lucifer and Ahriman - to animate these bodies from the spiritual world" (1913-05-XX-GA265A)
  • "you are called, when you have passed through the gate of death, to radiate the esoteric knowledge and truths that you have absorbed, to send them down to Earth from the spiritual worlds in order to empower the souls of people who are walking around down here like automatons. Think in humility and responsibility about how karma has led you, that you are called to do this!" (1913-12-08-GA265A)

• This provides a top level overview page concerning the future of humanity, linking to various other topic pages regarding the future, but limited to the current physical Earth stage of evolution and the current Mineral Condition of Life (CoL, or round) and physical Condition of Form (CoF, or globe). Relevant pages about current and future ages and epochs:
  • Current fifth cultural age incl.
    • Contemporary worldview war
    • Mineral plant like spiders#Note 2 - Commentary
    • Future Oriphiel age,
  • followed by Sixth cultural age, Seventh cultural age and Reunion of Moon and finally War of all against all
  • then Sixth epoch, Reunion of Sun, and Seventh epoch
• the millenia as turning points where the (combined) Luciferic (and/or) Ahrimanic impact is at its maximum (1914-03-30-GA265A)

Inspirational quotes

1910-02-27-GA118

from: Moral ideals#1910-02-27-GA118

All this will lead to people knowing which direction they need to go in. Abstract ideals will be replaced by concrete ideals that correspond to progressive development. If this does not succeed, the Earth will sink into materialism and humanity will have to start all over again, either on Earth itself after a great catastrophe or on another planet.

1912-09-04-GA265A p 141

We are in the times of very important struggles and decision-making, and it is by no means certain whether the Earth will remain the workshop of the gods or not.

1913-11-19-GA265A
p 198

The rest of the Earth development belongs to Ahriman. It was left by the Gods to Ahriman, and it is this that will / should hit our souls like a bomb.

longer extract

The rest of the Earth's development, with its machines and the mechanization of life, belongs to Ahriman. The gods have left it to him.

This is what should hit our souls like a bomb.

... human souls, when they have lived in the body for thirty or thirty-three years, will no longer be able to find their way on Earth; they will experience themselves dead and arid in their souls.

Then it will be up to those of us who will have matured and who will then live in the spiritual world between death and a new birth, to warm and sunbathe the souls from there so that they will feel: First I was dead inside myself, but now something is beginning to live in me like an inspiration from higher worlds, something that makes me fully alive and warm again; now spiritual life is beginning to come into me again!

This is what needs to be said as a result of a conversation with the guiding spirit of our development. And if one should ask: How can I know that what has been said here is really the result of such a conversation? - then only the answer can be given: What has been said today must be said, and it will have done its job when it hits your hearts like a bomb.

1913-12-08-GA265A

About the desolation of the world and people ... Eduard von Hartmann's pessimism: blowing up the Earth is the best thing to do.

In a way, his pessimism seems justified in the face of such a bleak future.

In the future, people will be there as if without an I; they will move and do their work like automatons.

Although we feel the deepest sadness about it, we can still be grateful to our karma for what we receive here, because in the future - as if floating above it - we will then be able to give these automaton-like people something to guide them, something like a substitute for the missing I.

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.534: is a schema intended to support study of the fourth and fifth cultural ages and gain insights of the patterns underlying evolutionary development of humanity, see also Schema FMC00.059 on History. This schema has:

• a) a lower section with key dates and phases described in Rudolf Steiner's lectures, and focus on i) the period of the 4th century (see also 325) and the Transition between 4th and 14th century (including aspects such as Central European cultural basin and Migrations but also 869, the Christ Impulse - meeting of two streams, Academy of Gondishapur, and more); and ii) the period 1840 and it's relation to the new start in the age of the consciousness soul (see 1840 and 1879)
• b) an upper section showing the inhale-exhale cycle of cosmic breathing and the two halves of an evolutionary cycle related to this. In this case focus is on a cultural age corresponding to an archai time spirit, whereby certain centuries or periods represent crucial transitions on the timeline of the development of mankind. History and evolution does not progress linearly but with jumps or step changes represented by the spiral symbol. This is linked to the activity of spiritual activities (above) and their emanation that can be observed (below).
  • For example: the year 333 is described (in 1918-10-16-GA182) as the time the intellectual soul was coming to its prime, up to then it was developing on the ascending arc, then began the arc of descent.

Notes

• Discussion Note The two halves of an evolutionary cycle#Note 1 - First and second half of a cultural age provides a narrative to the schema with explanations and relevant lecture excerpts and references, to explain the point the schema conveys, and how it helps to understand the 'jump' in Schema FMC00.535.
• See also related Schema FMC00.052 and Schema FMC00.052A.
• Regarding the pivotal importance of the 4th century for worldview, see also Mystery School tradition#Note 1 - Regarding the timing of the "college for destruction of initiation and spirit" and related Threefold Sun#Note 2 - The Palladium as a symbol of the secret of the sun
• For purposes of personal study, this scaled down image on the site can be saved as high resolution JPG file and printed on A3 format for readability, so one can add personal annotations.

Schema FMC00.052 shows the dephased Christ solar impulse in red (dephased versus the cultural ages and timing of the regular hierarchies, called lunar/stellar astronomy). See Schema FMC00.052A for the original BBD (blackboard drawings). The timebar shows an interesting correlation between these impulses and two key periods for humanity: the first the next future Oriphiel age which will be a hardship test for humanity, and then the period in the next sixth cultural age where we have the Michael age and the impulse of the Maitreya Buddha .. a key period for the cohort of human beings that will provide the foundation for the next great Sixth epoch.

These two key periods are put in perspective to show - in yellow bars - the fact that "the fifth and sixth cultural ages are decisive" (1910-GA013), as "only a third of the population reaches the developmental goal at the end of the fifth epoch" (1904-10-24-GA090A).

To overlay schemas with a similar time-chart layout as below, see also:

• Schema FMC00.013 on Current Postatlantean epoch which uses the same layout
• Schema FMC00.167 on Transition between 4th and 14th century

.

Schema FMC00.534A: adds some quotes to Schema FMC00.534 about the next millennium with the future age of archangel Oriphiel (between approx. 2235 and 2590), and the very dark period that humanity will face in the transition phase before the Sixth cultural age in the period of approx. 3000 to 3500.

Schema FMC00.469 symbolically represents the relationship of the Jehovah influence on mankind, and a positioning of this first seeding of the I-consciousness in Man as part of the Development of the I from the Lemurian epoch onwards.

This preceedes the further individuation of the Human 'I' and hence should be looked at together with Schema FMC00.377 or Schema FMC00.377A that show the consecutive preparations including the Three pre-MoG interventions of Christ (Schema FMC00.246), as well as the Krishna impulse, the Wotan Impulse, and the workings of The being of Elijah.

Note: the schema below was made on the basis of an original drawing from someone attending the lecture, and distilled from the three copies available on the original manuscripts and typoscripts from the lecture. Therefore it is different than the illustrations in (copies of the various editions of the) official Rudolf Steiner's Gesamtausgabe (GA).

Schema FMC00.636: shows a synthesis of Rudolf Steiner's comments on the ancient Mysteries and what was called the lesser (outer) and greater (inner) Mysteries in the Mystery School tradition in previous cultural ages. For context, see also Schema FMC00.607 on Spiritual guidance of mankind.

On the right: Initiation changed with the Mystery of Golgotha.

On the left: in current times from the 20th century onwards, the lesser Mysteries have become public with a.o. theosophy and anthroposophy, and the greater Mysteries have evolved to self-initiation in the current age of the consciousness soul (see also Parsifal).

Rudolf Steiner was at core a teacher of the lesser Mysteries, and these teachings are now available worldwide in the public domain many languages for self-study and working in groups. Franz Bardon was at core a teacher of the greater Mysteries, and his three books with the first pivotal self-initiation guide are also available in the public domain.

Note regarding 'at core': this does not mean Steiner did not try to work in the area of the greater mysteries, eg with the book 'How to Know the Higher Worlds' and the initiatives of the 'Esoteric School' and 'First Class'.

In today's society and social life, there is no longer the need for an established school structure, guru or initiator. It is now up to humanity and each soul for themself, based on freedom of conscious choice and actions (Schema FMC00.612), and based on each soul's spiritual maturity.

This Free Man Creator wiki site has as goal to provide information on these two angles to the spiritual world, and provide a useful support tool for earnest seekers worldwide.

Schema FMC00.636A: depicts the so-called 'bridge' shown on Schema FMC00.636 between lesser and greater mysteries of old, today between the spiritual scientific worldview such as anthroposophy and self-initiation. One could say the theme is: why do the majority of people not seem to combine spiritual practice with study.

upper left: the computer generated drawing shows - on the left - a relatively large community or mass of people, imagine souls of the Michaelic stream who adhere to the spiritual worldview. They look to the right, aware that the future and vantage point is the spiritualization of mankind.

The narrow bridge to the right side is to visualize that the next step of self-initiation is an individual path walked alone on a long narrow bridge. In self-initiation one needs to do 'the Work', alone and individually, with character transformation, meditation and concentration etc, a path that takes lifelong commitment and years of daily practice.

other images: to help our imagination and visualize this idea with the metaphor of simple but very long rope bridges, some illustrations of long pedestrian suspension footbridges are added, the longer ones shown here are between 360 and 720 meters.

Note the Schema supports discussions triggered by Schema FMC00.636, on why it appears that left and right on that Schema are separate communities with little cross-over, and why it appears souls have a hard time crossing this bridge in a single incarnation. Crossing may perhaps happen between incarnations, that a soul is ready to pick up and dedicate one's self to self-initiation as a main task in life after having gone through the process between death and a new birth with certain conditions of spiritual maturity fulfilled.

Lecture coverage and references

1904-10-28-GA092

added here for context, from longer extract on Greek mythology#1904-10-28-GA092

... this is the essential principle of the Mysteries, and it is this which makes it necessary to keep them secret, because they reveal not only the great events of the past, but also events to come.

These were not revealed to satisfy curiosity or the undue thirst for knowledge. Those who are initiated into the Mysteries are called upon to take a part in the fashioning of world-history. They have to derive from the Mysteries the forces to enable them to do this. That is the significance of the Mysteries. Hence their betrayal would mean the public announcement by someone of what is to happen in the future Anyone doing this causes utter confusion among his fellow men.

Suppose something important is to happen in five hundred years time. In order for this to come about mankind needs to be prepared.

Individuals receive impulses enabling them to bring mankind to the point at which they will live under other conditions, to the point at which they will become ripe enough to adapt themselves to the transformation and to bear it. The initiates are in a position to endure these conditions and to further them.

Suppose that one were to bring about an event straightway, years before it was due. Then mankind would not be mature enough for it. Every Mystery will one day under quite different conditions become common property, but it must be under other conditions.

Today there are still Mysteries which will not be revealed until the sixth epoch. The next epoch will live in quite other conditions. Universal brotherhood will then be something quite different. Suppose that today someone were to be told a secret that is only suitable for a being with the quality of brotherliness. He would misuse it. There are no absolute Mysteries, there are only things which under certain conditions cannot yet be borne, and men who cannot yet bear them.

[see also: Seven secrets]

That is the essence of the Mystery. It translates itself into the external course of world-history. Those who understand something of this are terribly afraid lest the initiates should in some way, through lack of foresight, betray something too soon. It was always the case that the betrayal of the Mysteries bore the severest penalties. In ancient times the penalty was death.

1913-05-XX-GA265A

Notes by Alice Kinkel (p 176 in DE volume)

with qualifier on these notes as published in the GA : "strictly confidential"

In a very serious speech, Dr. Steiner then said that he had to tell us in the name of the spirit of the age that materialism will become so great in the near future that soul-less-ness, perhaps in a relatively short time, much closer than we think, will become so great that in about one hundred years the souls can remain in the body for a maximum of 30 years and then Ahriman and Lucifer will take possession of the body. We are then - instead of Lucifer and Ahriman - to animate these bodies from the spiritual world.

1913-11-19-GA265A

Notes A (probably by Elisabeth Vreede) (p195-199)

When we are in our sacred space, we have to practise self-reflection. And we have to feel very strongly the karma that has brought us to the gate of this temple.

The human soul moves through the different ages and takes something from each one. From era to era, the life of the soul changes, even if people do not realize it.

If we did not experience our own body, we would not be able to know immediately whether we are walking or standing still; we would have to perceive from the trees or telegraph poles whether we are walking or not. On a train, it can sometimes happen that you really don't know. Today's astronomy is based on this point of view; it must perceive from the changes in position of the stars and so on that the Earth is moving and that the whole solar system is moving. In ancient times it was quite different. In ancient times, for example, people still lived the life of the Earth with their souls; this is how they knew how the Earth moved through space, and if they had recorded it, they would have drawn it like this - which later became the Mercury Rod.

This ability disappeared in later times. It was a liberation of Man from the macrocosm so that he could no longer feel this movement.

It was the good gods who detached Man from the macrocosm because, as a result of the temptation of paradise, Man was connected to the creation of Lucifer and Ahriman. That is why Yahweh said to Lucifer after the Fall: "You wanted to give Man freedom within himself so that he would become like the gods, discerning good from evil, but now he should also become free from my creation so that he will later follow it in freedom and accept it."

As a result, Man has become lonely on Earth in his soul. And when we feel complete in our occult movement and are overcome by a great feeling of loneliness in our meditation, then this is a good sign of progress. Only through this feeling of solitude can the higher worlds reach us.

In the present, Man is so far gone that he no longer has an eye for what is immediately around him.

...

A "cattle culture" [in DE: "rindenkultur"] is developing everywhere, which we must admire greatly, but which we must immediately recognize as such. We have to cultivate the "market culture" alongside the "cattle culture". This external culture is particularly flourishing in America. There, for example, the "scientific operating system" has developed.

This is of the same kind as, for example, "scientific pedagogy", which also originated in America and is known as the "ultimate wisdom" is also starting to spread here. Large numbers of children are being observed to find out how long they can focus their attention and so on; then "fatigue coefficients" are established and the like. The activities of workers were also studied in this way, for example when laying bricks; it was investigated how people could be used in such a way that without having to develop a thought - the stones can be transported up and laid in the fastest possible way.

Man is being turned into a machine. This will get worse and worse in the future.

Everything will be mechanized; there will be no more handwriting, but children will immediately learn to write on typewriters. The mechanization of life will dominate the future.

This began with the discovery of the steam engine, and in the future people will look back on this discovery - or invention - as a victory for Ahriman, just as we look back on the fall of Man as a victory for Lucifer. For when the steam engine was discovered at the end of the eighteenth century, the gods handed over the material development of the Earth to Ahriman.

The rest of the Earth's development, with its machines and the mechanization of life, belongs to Ahriman. The gods have left it to him. This is what should hit our souls like a bomb. [in DE: "Das ist das, was wie eine Bombe in unsere Seelen einschlagen soll"]

Nevertheless, we should not want to take the weight of these things away from the shell that is being pressed down, but we should place the weight of spiritual life on the other shell through our development. The Mystery of Golgotha was precisely that which was the focus of Earthly development, and we have to ensure that the balance is restored.

The terrible consequences of such things as the "scientific operating system" (Taylor system) will soon come to pass.

The result will be that human souls, when they have lived in the body for thirty or thirty-three years, will no longer be able to find their way on Earth; they will experience themselves dead and arid in their souls.

Then it will be up to those of us who will have matured and who will then live in the spiritual world between death and a new birth, to warm and sunbathe the souls from there so that they will feel: First I was dead inside myself, but now something is beginning to live in me like an inspiration from higher worlds, something that makes me fully alive and warm again; now spiritual life is beginning to come into me again!

This is what needs to be said as a result of a conversation with the guiding spirit of our development. And if one should ask: How can I know that what has been said here is really the result of such a conversation? - then only the answer can be given: What has been said today must be said, and it will have done its job when it hits your hearts like a bomb.

Notes B (author unknown) extract

...

Our entire culture would not be possible if Man had not achieved this independence. For Man would also be bound to the great macrocosmic conditions: tiredness in the evening; the farmer's life with nature. Progress must be recognized, for example, the ingenuity used to build a (machine), even if this machine has no good purpose. Machine culture.

The Earth is given over to the rule of Ahriman in order to mechanize it. This is what the archangeloi teach. As a counterbalance, they teach people to develop spirituality, wisdom, virtue and moral strength (wisdom, beauty, strength). From America, the land of cattle culture, now comes a business science. Man becomes a machine (Taylor system).

...

Souls will no longer be able to cope with themselves from their thirtieth year onwards.

Our work and task is to help them. This is the right thing to strive for if we are not striving for ourselves, but for the service of others. These proclamations should hit our souls like bombs.

1913-12-08-GA265A

Notes A (probably by Elisabeth Vreede)

About the desolation of the world and people. Desolation of art, science, industry, commerce and so on. Everything will become old.

In the future, people will be there as if without an I; they will move and do their work like automatons.

Eduard von Hartmann's pessimism: blowing up the Earth is the best thing to do. In a way, his pessimism seems justified in the face of such a bleak future.

Although we feel the deepest sadness about it, we can still be grateful to our karma for what we receive here, because in the future - as if floating above it - we will then be able to give these automaton-like people something to guide them, something like a substitute for the missing I.

So says the Master who was asked about this.

Notes B (by Alice Kinkel) - p 202-205

.

quote A - in DE

Gezeigt hat der Meister der Weisheit, als er angefleht wurde; da Bild der Zukunft der Menschheit: einer schauervolles Bild - Menschen, die da unten herumlaufen wie Automaten, die ihr Ich wie verloren haben, die tief betäubt sind von dieser materialistischen Kultur, die nur Greisenkräfte enthält. Mit ihrem dreissigsten Jahre, wenn ihre Jugendkraäfte verbraucht sind, werden diese Menschen sein wie Automaten.

...

Ein zweites Gesicht hat der Meister gezeigt; das erste: ein trauriges Gesicht, dementsprechend, wie es mit der Menschheit steht; das zweite aber ein heiliges, inneres Ergötzen, da durch den Christus-impuls Frühlingskräfte, sprossende, spriessende, hinausgesendet werden können in die Welt.

quote A - machine translation

The Master of Wisdom showed, when he was implored, a terrible picture of the future of humanity: people walking around down there like automatons, who as if lost their I, who are deeply numbed by this materialistic culture, which contains only forces of old age. By their thirtieth year, when their youthful strength is spent, these people will be like automatons.

...

The Master showed us two images: the first, the above saddening images, corresponding to the state of humanity; but the second, a holy, inner delight, because through the Christ-impulse, springing, sprouting, forces of spring can be sent out into the world.

quote B - longer extract (machine translation)

...

[dying Earth - and the Christ Impulse]

If we look at our Earth, we can see that it is in a state of decay. We know that human life has an ascending part - up to about the age of thirty - and a descending part. It is the same with the Earth. The ascending half is to be reckoned until about the middle of the Atlantean period. From then on would be the time of its dying off, its becoming dry; but through certain interactions this time was delayed until the time of the Mystery of Golgotha; for through the Mystery of Golgotha the new, the rejuvenating youthful forces were again given to the Earth. Science also tells us that the Earth is a dying thing, a decaying thing on which we walk. Physicists are already speaking today of the heat death of our Earth, of dissolution, of decay. (The geology of Eduard Sueß is cited and discussed).

What does occultism, which dissects the Christ impulse, as we do in view of our three altars and our three candlesticks here, have to say about this?

If we go back to the ancient places of mystery and wisdom, to which our union is to be linked, we need not go back far at all, only as far as the teachings of Zarathustra, where the best feelings and sensations were devoted to the worship of fire.

What lives in this fire, in this sacrificial flame?

Anyone who has followed our explanations in our intimate associations in recent times will not be surprised when it is said: Ahriman lives in this fire or has to do with this Fire.

What does the physicist describe when he speaks of the heat death of the Earth or when he describes his other investigations?

He is describing the deeds of Ahriman.

For the Zarathustrian, however, this fire was something else. It was the connection with the good powers that he sought and cultivated in the worship of fire, the powers that save over there, that give the strength for the soul not to be burned.

This Earth will indeed suffer the death of heat and burn up and be destroyed into the universe, but the souls that are connected with the good powers will have the strength to to save from perdition what comes from the rejuvenating impulse of the Mystery of Golgotha and to carry it over into future Earth developments, what will one day shine as Future Future Jupiter's sun over the future Earth.

Everything that comes from ordinary science today is old-fashioned and arid, and it opens up a desolate wasteland to the human heart and soul; for when the physicist draws his conclusions to the end, he arrives at heat death. And what consolation does he then give mankind? Only that it is still quite a long time until then! The prospect is bleak and desolate for the human soul. There is only one way, only one way that leads to new life. The Earth has become old and arid; it is doomed to destruction; it is a corpse that is withering away. But a divine being has descended from divine-spiritual heights - the Christ being - and has brought the impulse of spring, the new life, to the Earth.

Whoever connects with the Christ-Jesus will find the way out of this Earth to new life. Everything must be created anew on this Earth through the Christ being. People will no longer be able to work through the old impulses of wisdom, beauty and virtue or strength; new impulses must come through the Christ. The old impulses will fail. And an architecture will arise that offers only the ridiculous; a painting, a poetry, a medicine will arise that no longer has any real effect. People will indeed rejoice when all kinds of airplanes cross the air, but every such airplane contributes to the death of the Earth.

What are our machines, what is our technology? We use metals for it, which we tear from the Earth and remove from their divine function. Every machine is like a piece of flesh torn from the body of the Earth, every machine contributes to its death.

If a number of souls can be found - and such souls must be found - who want to receive the Christ impulse as it is represented and set forth here as true spirituality or spiritual science: Then that which saves, that which carries the Earth over to Future Future Jupiter, will be able to emanate from these souls. A new science, a new philosophy, a new art, a new painting, a new technique, a new medicine, a new commercial life must come into being. And the Christ will be the great teacher for all branches of human life.

[image of future of Mankind]

When the Master of Wisdom was implored, he showed the picture of the future of mankind: a shuddering picture.

People who walk around down there like automatons, who have lost their I, who are deeply anaesthetized by this materialistic culture that contains only the powers of old age. In their thirties, when their youthful powers are spent, these people will be like automatons.

In the past, Earthly destinies were controlled by divine beings from outside and the inherited divine powers were then there to take humanity further. Now Man himself is to be a co-advisor to the gods (about the fate of the Earth) and radiate powers of his own accord through the Christ impulse.

And the Master of Wisdom has confirmed that you are called, when you have passed through the gate of death, to radiate the esoteric knowledge and truths that you have absorbed, to send them down to Earth from the spiritual worlds in order to empower the souls of people who are walking around down here like automatons.

Think in humility and responsibility about how karma has led you, that you are called to do this!

What does this breathing out of human deeds into the universe mean? The word "God", "ergötzen", has the same root. Central Europe has a word called "ergötzen". God used to approach people by day from outside; "ergotten" was the name given to this, a sacred delight.

The Master has shown a second image.

The first: a sad image, corresponding to the state of humanity.

The second, however, a holy, inner joy, since through the Christ impulse spring forces, sprouting, sprouting, can be sent out into the world.

Many words that have become trivial can become meaningful again through true occultism.

1917-09-30-GA177

placeholder short extract because of the explicit connection with the above 1913-12-GA265A quotes on 'automatons'

long extract on: Christ Module 16 - During sleep#1917-09-30-GA177

For humanity here on Earth, the Christ impulse is the heart of the moral life.

It is therefore most important—I have stressed this before, from other points of view—that human beings encounter the Christ impulse here on the physical plane. We have to look at this from many different points of view. So it seems we can now understand why people who have all kinds of impulses based on wisdom at an instinctive level—for these impulses are given in sleep—and are able to invent tremendously complex machines, playing a role in the advance of science and technology, need not connect this in any way with morality, for morality belongs to a totally different sphere.

People do not like to hear or know such things today. Yet they will have to be known if we are to escape from the chaos that has arisen in the world. And this is a very serious matter. Human evolution will not progress unless these truths become part of our life on Earth.

The gods did not intend human beings to become automatons which they could influence like automatic machines.

They wanted them to be free individuals who realize what will take them forward. It is wrong to ask why the gods do not intervene.

1919-12-14-GA194

When I said day before yesterday that the middle of this century will be an important point of time, the statement was made—as in the example just given—on the basis of observations from which it can be seen how forces from the spiritual world pervade the physical world.

The middle of this century, however, will coincide with that point of time when the atavistic forces still remaining from before the middle of the 15th century will have fallen into the worst decadence; hence humanity must resolve before the middle of this century to turn toward the spiritual.

We still meet many people today who say: “Why does misfortune come? Why do the Gods not help?”

The fact is, we are in the period of humanity's evolution in which the Gods will immediately help if men turn to them, but in which the Gods are compelled by their laws to deal with free men, not with puppets.

1921-05-13-GA204

this lecture is closely related to the contents of this topic page, but is already covered in full on another page, see Mineral plant like spiders#1921-05-13-GA204

1923-04-01-GA223

from: Christ Module 17 - The experience of the year#1923-04-01-GA223

But then, some time after the celebration of these Christmas mysteries, the mystery teachers gathered their students and, as a kind of revelation, they communicated the following to them.

They told them:

Yes, indeed, one can consciously comprehend what takes place within the earth at the winter solstice through initiation. But, especially when spring comes, with the growing plant world, that which comes up from the depths of the Earth and penetrates everything that grows and springs up, also penetrates the human being himself, is what the Ahrimanic powers bring about. In the time when Man still had divine powers, as they were given to him at the beginning of the Earth, then through this original divine heritage, people could withstand the impact of the Ahrimanic powers, which poured over humanity in this way through the winter moon season.

But - so the initiates told their disciples - a time will come over humanity when, so to speak, people will be numbed through the spiritual through what the Earth absorbs in lunar forces at winter time. With the growth and sprouting in spring, it will be like being intoxicated by the spiritual will come over humanity and take away humanity's awareness that there is a spiritual at all.

Discussion

Note 1 - Narrative on the future of humanity in the next 500-600 years

WIP draft outline - under development

Introduction

This will provide a narrative commentary to integrate various evolutionary patterns to be taken together, such as:

• humanity is getting younger, re Humanity is getting younger#Illustrations
• loosening of etheric from physical body, see references on Christ in the etheric
• I-less human beings (second quote on I-less human beings#Inspirational quotes)
• outlook for the future: Mineral plant like spiders .. something that has now become much more clear and concrete in the developments between 1970 and 2020, from personal computer and internet to world wide web with smartphones, social media, and artificial intelligence [1]
• from Contemporary worldview war (the below is just a selection)
  • the increase of ahrimanic materialism for the next five centuries (1917-11-18-GA178)
    • the inevitable rise of the materialistic worldview (see second quote 1917-11-29-GA182 below)
    • and the future rise of epidemics, especially nervous diseases but also suicides (Spectrum of death#1913-11-17-GA266)
  • the rise of the asuric influences of the asuras, that a.o. have an influence in sexual perversions and black magic
  • small 'secret' societies or brotherhoods that drive towards other agendas for the masses (oa 1920-02-21-GA196)
    • anaesthetization or stifling of the consciousness soul (1917-01-15-GA174, 1920-02-08-GA196)
    • western brotherhoods: chaining materialistic souls to use them as an army of discarnate souls (1917-11-18-GA178, 1917-11-25-GA178, described further in 1917-11-29-GA182)
      • the influence of the dead is used as a way to influence earthly matters and build power, without the masses even being conscious of this
      • hence there are strong agendas to push for materialism as very materialistic souls remain 'chained to the earth' and can be used for egoistic purposes
      • the ultimate goal of Western brotherhoods is to put another being in the place of the Christ, and divert from the Christ Impulse
• as well as:
  • the sixteen paths of perdition
  • the Sorat impulse linked to 1998
• conflicts
  • WWIII: Future Oriphiel age#1933-01-15-BD .28Beinsa Douno.29
  • between the West and the East (China), see more links on Nostradamus#2.1 - War between the West and Asia and World catastrophe

.

The contents of 1913-11-19-GA265A and 1913-12-08-GA265A puts this in a specific contextual frame:

• As a pre-read, we propose 1917-11-18-GA178 and 1917-11-29-GA182 on Contemporary worldview war that discussed the rise of ahrimanic materialism for the next five centuries.
• In 2025, one can witness the dramatic 'coup' on humanity that took place the last 25 years (see [1]) and it is clear that the development of artificial intelligence, robotics, media entertainment, etc is increasing at a fierce rate and will have a tremendous further impact in the next decades and century.

• Then, 1913-11-19-GA265A and 1913-12-08-GA265A sketch this picture of a majority of humanity functioning as automatons. One can imagine them guided and entertained by smartphones and implants and artificial intelligence software. Today already this is the case with GPS navigation, social media (facebook, youtube, instagram, tiktok and the like), entertainment (Netflix, Spotify, and the like), games, newsfeeds, etc.
• As a balancing counterimage, the increase of the Christ impulse is sketched, see oa Christ in the etheric.
• Last, a very important clue is given: how can there be hope for souls if they are so absorbed in this materialistic world during the day by age 30 that they seem lost, lost in terms of necessary development of the Human 'I' and their intellectual and consciousness soul in the stages of life between ages 28 - 35 - 42? The answer: the spiritual influx will come through the Influence of deceased souls during sleep. One can imagine a fructification taking place in this way when the astral body and I of the sleeping incarnate souls are out of their body whilst asleep. A fructification that will trigger the inner path and process of self-initiation, that may/will educate about the spiritual as well (imagine dreams, or even lucid dreaming, and Out of Body Experiences (OBE)).

Comments

Various additonal notes (or lateral related thoughts), for further elaboration:

1/ With this, one is reminded of what is represented with Schema FMC00.469 (see above) about the Jehovah impulse (note: Rudolf Steiner highlighed this Schema and stressed it was worthwhile to meditate upon it deeply). In early times (Lemurian epoch), and for long periods of time, the force of love was implanted in humanity, but indirectly during sleep.

The described pattern is now that a similar role will be there for the souls of the Michaelic stream, to work as disincarnate souls onto the souls incarnated into this materialistic world on Earth.

2/ There are related quotes of relevance that describe the work done by disincarnate souls that affect souls before they incarnate, and the Influence of deceased souls affecting spiritual work on Earth, see further on Communicating over spiritual science. Two example quotes are given below:

1921-01-22-GA203

explains that human beings now receive spiritual instructions during death and a new birth, in the process of their descent between the Midnight Hour and incarnation. Man today experiences something akin to the old Mystery instruction, before he descends from the spiritual world into his physical body.

For the full quote, see: Planets hosting beings at various stages of evolution#1921-01-22-GA203

1915-06-15-GA159

from: Communicating over spiritual science#1915-06-15-GA159

Within the womb, as it were, of the ancient Indian epoch, that of ancient Persia was prepared; within the ancient Persian culture, that of the Egypto-Chaldean epoch was prepared, and so on. Our fifth post-Atlantean age must prepare the coming sixth cultural age.

...

We may picture to ourselves that by uniting in brotherliness in working groups, something hovers invisibly over our work, something that is like the child of the forces of the spirit self - the spirit self that is nurtured by the beings of the higher hierarchies in order that it may stream down into our souls when they are again on Earth in the sixth cultural age.

...

But we must look still more deeply into the course of human evolution if we are fully to understand the real tasks of our associations and groups.

• In the first Postatlantean cultural age, too, in communities that in those days were connected with the mysteries, men cultivated what subsequently prevailed in the second epoch. In the associations peculiar to the first, the ancient Indian epoch, men were concerned with the cultivation of the astral body, which was to be the specific outer task of the second epoch.
• It would lead much too far today to describe what, in contrast to the external culture of the time, was developed in these associations peculiar to ancient India in order to prepare for the second, ancient Persian epoch. But this may be said that when those men of the ancient Indian age came together in order to prepare what was necessary for the second age, they felt: We have not yet attained, nor have we in us, what we shall have when our souls are incarnated in the next age. It still hovers above us. It was in truth so. In the first cultural age, what was to descend from the heavens to the earth in the second age still hovered over the souls of men. The work achieved on Earth by men in intimate assemblies connected with the mysteries was of such a nature that forces flowed upwards to the spirits of the higher hierarchies, enabling them to nourish and cultivate what was to stream down into the souls of men as substance and content of the astral body in the second ancient Persian age. The forces that descended at a later stage of maturity into the souls incarnated in the bodies of ancient Persian civilizations were like little children in the first cultural age. Forces streaming upwards from the work of men below in preparation for the next age were received and nurtured by the spiritual world above. So it must be in every cultural age.

.

3/ Then connecting to all the above, the following cryptic but important quote from

1924-08-08-GA237, see Q00.006 - spiritual events at various points in life#1924-08-08-GA237

This shall now rest in your souls. Those who out of these great decisions feel in themselves the impulse to come to the anthroposophical life today, will be called again at the end of the 20th century, when at the culminating point the greatest possible expansion of the anthroposophical movement will be attained. But it will only happen if these things can really live in us, — if there can live in us the perception of what penetrates cosmically, spiritually, into the earthly physical domain. It will only be so if there penetrates even into the earthly Intelligence, into the perceptions of men, the knowledge of the significance of Michael. This impulse must be the very soul of our anthroposophical striving. The soul itself must have the will to stand fully in the midst of the anthroposophical movement. Thus we shall find it possible, my dear friends, for a certain time to come, to carry in our souls thoughts of a great and far-reaching nature. But we shall not only preserve them, we shall make them living in our souls. And through these thoughts our souls will grow and develop anthroposophically, so that the soul will become what it was intended to become through its own unconscious impulse to come to anthroposophy. I say again: So that the soul may be taken hold of by the mission of anthroposophy. I have spoken these earnest words to you in this last hour, so that you may let them work in you quietly and in silence for a time: that the soul shall really be taken hold of by the mission of anthroposophy.

This may happen through a sequence of events in life, that 'wake' someone up. Special states of consciousness, changes in sleep and special dreams (dream education), being guided to as if by invisible influences and coincidences, etc.

Note 2 - Commentary on 1913-11-19-GA265A and 1913-12-08-GA265A

quote A - machine translation

The Master of Wisdom showed, when he was implored, a terrible picture of the future of humanity: people walking around down there like automatons, who as if lost their I, who are deeply numbed by this materialistic culture, which contains only forces of old age. By their thirtieth year, when their youthful strength is spent, these people will be like automatons.

...

The Master showed us two images: the first, the above saddening image, corresponding to the state of humanity; but the second, a holy, inner delight, because through the Christ-impulse, springing, sprouting, forces of spring can be sent out into the world.

Commentary on this lecture and the extract and quotes above; by Robert H. (2025) - machine translation, shortened/edited

• The sentence was kept in the passive voice ... "was implored" .... probably because Steiner wanted to take an absolutely back seat in the person, in all modesty.
• who did he ask? .. "the Master of Wisdom" .. "the guiding spirit of our development" .. "the spirit of the age"
• the word "anflehen" is really strong .. it is imploring, begging (like one begs for one's life, or in private relationships one begs the other not to leave you. To implore means, to beg someone earnestly or desperately. Rudolf Steiner did not say: "I wanted to know, so I asked"; he did not say "I asked for an answer" ('bitten' in DE). He used the word we can best translate as 'implore'. What does this express? First of all, it shows a difference in dignity, level and rank between the one who beseeches and the one who is implored. Only the one implored can give the answer, grant the mercy, and do the favor. So this question was not about something that Rudolf Steiner could have found himself, although he often emphasized that he only said and wrote what he had personally researched. Here it is about a question of humanity (and thus also about himself).
• The Master has “shown” it says, later it says: The Master has shown a second image. First there is talk of a picture, then of a image; so it is an imagination.
• As far as I know, Steiner only made these disturbing statements a few times in 1913 in the FM .. he addresses the members as those that must be there for the salvation of humanity on behalf of the masters.  He was never able to say this again later. Why? ...

and

The expression “to hit like a bomb” or “to have hit like a bomb” means that everything old has been destroyed, that a totally new situation has arisen, that nothing is the same anymore.

Such a transformation should take place in the soul; we are now required to take a completely different approach.

In the FM, the step should be taken from the transformation of the soul, from the purification of the soul, to becoming active for humanity. Transformation of the etheric body into buddhi, i.e. working on oneself now becomes at the same time working for humanity. Buddhi = love substance.

This is a step further than peace in one's soul life; this peace must merge with or progress to a service for humanity. To make this “leap”, we must be shaken, a bomb must hit our soul. If the prospect of an almost complete ossification of humanity in a kind of Ahrimanic torpor/lethargy, if this prospect does not does not shake us deeply, we will not be able to be rightly called soul people, people with a purified soul. Rudolf Steiner understood these things very well and led his students further step by step.

A bomb 'should' (should - not will) hit, that is, we should be so open, so transformable, that it could hit like a bomb. This bomb should not be defused by intellectual considerations or by an emotional reaction.

Note 3 - Segmentation

Introduction

This note brings together a number of perspectives on the topic of the segmentation of humanity. This relates to the concept of what is called 'spiritual maturity'. In any population there is not homogeneity but differentiation, for a myriad of reasons related to the choices and evolutionary pathway taken by different entities in the population.

There are many images one can use to contemplate this:

• parable of the sower, or agriculture or life in nature .. not all seeds carry fruit
  • see oa Rudolf Steiner's lectures Meaning of life#1912-05-23-GA155 and 1912-05-24-GA155, Sixteen paths of perdition#Bible Gospels - The Parable of the Sower (and more on that topic page).
• distillation column, the process of evolution is like a lab experiment with a certain evolutionary goal, to extract a sample with certain characteristics, and side products and waste alongside
  

Aspects (taken from other topic pages)

• from Sixth cultural age
  • by the end of the sixth cultural age people will be organized in moral castes. With the next cultural age, all love between blood relations will vanish. (1906-04-29-GA097 Q&A, see First ancient Indian cultural age#1906-03-14-GA097)
  • as the physical body was solidified since the Atlantean epoch, the etheric body will be strengthened in the sixth and seventh cultural ages of the current Postatlantean epoch and "have a great influence through its inflexibility on the physical body, making the physical body its faithfull likeness" and representing its moral qualities. In the sixth age, also the external appearance of the surroundings will change manifold, as certain animal forms (that have taken on the most rigid forms) will become extinct. Vegetarianism will become standard. (1915-11-07-GA254 tbc)

• from Unification
  • Schema FMC00.594
  • with explanation/narrative Unification#Individuation and differentiation

Illustrations

• Matthew 25
  • ten virgins, or five foolish virgins: Schema FMC00.567
  • sheeps and goats - see finality Last Judgment Schema FMC00.539
  • reference list parables in the new testament: Schema FMC00.504
• bifurcation of humanity (upward and downward) Schema FMC00.591 and Schema FMC00.583
• pie chart image of humanity (see also more on Sixteen paths of perdition)
  • Schema FMC00.422A and Schema FMC00.422
  • development funnel Schema FMC00.562
• segmentation as key for different cohorts in context Spiritual guidance of mankind
  • Schema FMC00.607

Reference extracts

Gospel of Matthew - Ch. 25

combines two parables or images, that of the ten virgins (or five wise and five foolish virgins), the three servants and talents .. and these parables that are then used to make clear - with third image of sheeps and goats - that a segmentation of humanity is taking place, that will result in a separation or bifurcation in two evolutionary pathways

[the ten virgins]

25 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

[servants and talents]

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the Earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the Earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

• Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
• Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

1911-02-11-GA127

In ancient, pre-Christian times, the possibility of working upon the physical body was given to men naturally; in the future, this possibility will be given to them only if they themselves do something towards it.

But for this reason a difference will become more and more perceptible in humanity of the future between

• those who oppose spiritual teaching and knowledge and
• those who approach this knowledge eagerly and willingly, as if by instinct.

We know that the latter are still only a tiny handful today but in the future this distinction will inevitably come about between

• people who out of hatred and aversion oppose spiritual knowledge with increasing hostility, and
• those who impelled to begin with by a certain instinct, willingly ally themselves with spiritual Movements.

.

Those human beings who oppose spiritual knowledge will show this more and more distinctly in their very countenances; they will show that they have no power over their behaviour, over their physical nature, that their physical nature is in every respect stronger than themselves.

In those who approach the spiritual teachings willingly, it will be apparent that they have the strength and the power to overcome the opposition presented by their physical nature.

Note 4 - Concise summary regarding future of humanity

Introduction

When looking at the speed of change and the trends in the world around us ... one may rightfully ask the question: "What could be the path through all these evils, the way between Scylla and Charybdis?".

This note summarizes a few elements, from materials on this site.

Two elements

1. Importance of future influence from discarnate on incarnate human beings

In the last GA volume published by the GA2025 initiative, there were (confidential) notes from an esoteric lesson regarding the future of humanity; Steiner asked his master about this because there hardly seems any hope ...

See extract below (from 1913-11-19-GA265A, 1913-12-08-GA265A combined):

" ... when the Master of Wisdom was implored, he showed the picture of the future of mankind: a shuddering picture. People who walk around down there like automatons, who have lost their I, who are deeply anaesthetized by this materialistic culture ... In their thirties, when their youthful powers are spent, these people will be like automatons.

[there will be] ... desolation of the world and people ... desolation of art, science, industry, commerce ... In the future, people will be there as if without an I; they will move and do their work like automatons.

[see also Mineral plant like spiders#1921-05-13-GA204]

human souls, when they have lived in the body for thirty ... will experience themselves dead and arid in their souls

Man is being turned into a machine. This will get worse and worse in the future. The rest of the Earth's development, with its machines and the mechanization of life, belongs to Ahriman. The gods have left it to him. This is what should hit our souls like a bomb.

Eduard von Hartmann's pessimism: blowing up the Earth is the best thing to do. In a way, his pessimism seems justified in the face of such a bleak future.

Although we feel the deepest sadness about it, we can still be grateful to our karma for what we receive here, because in the future - as if floating above it - we will then be able to give these automaton-like people something to guide them, something like a substitute for the missing I.

Think in humility and responsibility about how karma has led you, that you are called to do this! you are called, when you have passed through the gate of death, to radiate the esoteric knowledge and truths that you have absorbed, to send them down to Earth from the spiritual worlds in order to empower the souls of people who are walking around down here like automatons.

... it will be up to those of us who will have matured and who will then live in the spiritual world between death and a new birth, to warm and sunbathe the souls from there so that they will feel: First I was dead inside myself, but now something is beginning to live in me like an inspiration from higher worlds, something that makes me fully alive and warm again; now spiritual life is beginning to come into me again!

So says the Master who was asked about this. ... What has been said today must be said, and will have done its job when it hits your hearts like a bomb. "

2. Infusion of impulse of the future

A second aspect is happening 'under our noses' .. the creation of a hybrids segment of the human population through advanced beings joining Earth development; for a start see Schema FMC00.650:

Advanced spiritual beings joining Earth development since last century#Schema FMC00.650 and variants

Note 5 - On the 'bridge' of Schema FMC00.636

Introduction

This note provides a commentary building on the text to Schema FMC00.636, and elaborates on the variant Schema FMC00.636A that homes in on ‘the bridge’ from left to right.

With this is meant, as a kind of 'problem statement', the observed situation that

• in the spiritual scientific community (anthroposophical and broader), many people appear to remain stuck or enclosed (some allmost seem imprisoned in an invisible web of thinking about a wealth of complex concepts)
• people do not seem to move from left to right, to pick up self-initiation as a logical consequence of the study of spiritual science, at least not within the single incarnation that can be observed
• as a result, the two remain separate communities. For example in practice, one could say that Steiner and Bardon communities are separate with hardly any cross-over or common interest.

.

What this Schema FMC00.636Aaims to represent:

• On the left, the large group of human beings represent the the lesser mysteries, the large community of the modern spiritual worldview. Those who see there is another side that we need to get there, that we are in front of an abyss (here representing the crash course of materialism and all the challenges it will bring for humanity). Those who would want to get there to the other side, another future. Note that with this mass not the whole of humanity is meant, only a segment, but still a very large group.
• the right side represents the future path of spirit-self and life-spirit (manas and buddhi), the developmental goals for humanity for the future sixth cultural age to/and sixth epoch ... the spiritualization of (part of) mankind) ... and christ as second adam group soul of humanity ... in so far this is connected to or translated into the down-to-earth concrete question of 'what to do' now? ... for each of us, looking ahead from where we are now
• then the bridge ... the intended drawing was for the bridge to go from wide of the left (many people may try) to very narrow and long for the longest part where only one person at a time can go. This is because ‘to change the world, change yourself’ (Lao Tzu) .. that long path is self-initiation, and the great work is completely individual. Man is on its own, it’s not a mass movement, but soul by soul, to spirit, one by one, based on what each has inside.

How about the future? (premise)

By means of introduction, two references below are presented as a basis to start from, both good summary views by advanced students of anthroposophy, considerations in view of the future.

The first one is very extensive and does not have to be read in full, it can be read as high level outline or skimmed, as it is meant as an illustration and this note does not go into the contents.

The second one is more succint.

View from reader A

by UMinventor, copied here from discussion Topic: Technology and Anthroposophy (reduced)

1.       Mythological View of Technology

2.      Mythological happenings today

• We are chained to the lifeless. It will take strength and inner work to break these chains.
• AI uses only the lifeless. Data is Lifeless.
• ...

• Technology will be raised to Olympus – some call this an etheric technology.

3.       Technology and the Philosophy of Freedom

• We are stuck in dead thinking. We had to go “there” to develop Freedom.
• We need to be prodded to develop living thinking.
• The amount of data we each generate from living in modern times is so enormous that we need AI to manage it all ...
• AI is a double-edged sword. While it can free us to develop living thinking, it can also severely weaken our thinking skills.
• Getting over our love of a life of ease is critical at this point. Does our free time become TV-time? Do we do more meditation? Do we explore counterbalances?

4.       Spiritual Assistance

• To balance the migration of the spirits of darkness from heaven to our ‘heads’ the Vulcan beings have come to help us prepare for our future. Their own evolution depends on their successful guidance for us. But we do not speak the same ‘language’. Thus, to get across to us, they are forced to cause upheaval after upheaval.
• Christ is with us like a brother, but he will not be invoked; he will not interfere with our Freedom. Likewise for Michael.

5.      The Incarnation of Ahriman

• For our evolutionary journey to be complete, we must successfully face the incarnation of Ahriman.
• Through humanity and the Mystery upon Golgotha, Lucifer will be redeemed.
• Ahriman too must be redeemed. But he has no heart, no “gemut”.
• ...
• Thus, we must go into Ahriman’s sphere – not only for his future redemption but also for certain ‘gifts’ we must wrest from Ahriman for the further course of evolution.

6.       The Role Counterbalances and Developing Consciousness of the Etheric

• We must build a sphere where Ahriman has no access. This come about because the Christ is now united with the Earth and those souls who can truly say “no longer I but Christ in me” create in the etheric this sphere that reflects back for all the radiating light from the Christ.
• Counterbalances allow us to stand upright in the modern world. These develop our Consciousness Soul to become conscious of our own etheric body.
• When we practice the arts, we are “tapping into” the etheric. Eurythmy is one of the practices for developing an awareness of the etheric.

7.      Ascension, the Second Fall, and the 6th Epoch

• Beginning about 4500 (4900?) the Maitreya Buddha will open the doors for human ascension which means we will be able to consciously go through death, leave our physical body behind
• One portion of humanity will ascend. Those who do will do so to help those left behind. They will work out of the Brotherhood this 6th Cultural Age fosters.
• Those who initially ascend will be the forerunners for the Sixth Epoch when we will no longer incarnate but we will be present in the etheric.
• Christ’s words “follow me” mean that we follow him into the etheric leaving the physical behind.
• Another portion of humanity will ascend during the 6th Cultural Age (5733-7893)
• A third portion of humanity will feel compelled to remain with the physical. They will go the path of evolution with Ahriman and the Ahrimanic doubles.
• This path will be with the Eighth Sphere. In this context, the Eighth Sphere can be seen as God’s mercy to provide such a path to Jupiter. Its path will not be with the rest of humanity in the 6th or 7th Epochs. From indications (but not provable), it appears that Mani will voluntarily go with this group to lead the overcoming of this evil via meekness and agape love.

8.       Technology as Necessary for Evolution of both Us and Our Ahrimanic Double

• The peak of physical earthly evolution was during the middle of the Atlantean Epoch
• The peak of physical human evolution was during the Greek Cultural Age when the etheric body had fully entered into the physical. Now individual intelligence could spread. Now the steps to freedom could be walked. Into this environment, Christ incarnated.
• Human physical bodies are in decline. As they decline and wither, the temptation to intervene will grow. We will continue with pacemakers, hearing aids, artificial knees and hips, prosthetics, and much more. The physical body will become heavily mechanized by the end of the 6th Cultural Age. “The merger of Man and Machine will be an ongoing issue for the rest of earthly evolution.”
• Sexual procreation ends by 5700. Then what? We will be required to work with the fallen spirits of darkness to create something to take the place of sexual procreation. Such bodies will evolve throughout the 7th Post-Atlantean Cultural Age.
  • Our soul will hover above such bodies
  • Such bodies will experience neither birth nor death
  • Such bodies will lead to extreme egoism and the War of All Against All
• The 7th PACA will be the Golden Age of Transhumanism.
  • Highly mechanized physical bodies will be the delight of our ahrimanic doubles
  • It prepares us for the War of All Against All. Its conditions dire enough to prod those remaining to seek ascension.

• As the Moon approaches, its hardening forces will become stronger on earth
  • It was withdrawn during Lemuria and must, physically, be reunited
  • Something (asteroid?) will alter its orbit around the year 5733 so that it gradually becomes closer and closer to the earth over 2160 years.

9.       On AI, Robotics & “Ahrimanic Incarnation”

• It is valid within Steiner’s framework to see AI and robotics as deepening incursion of Ahrimanic spiritual forces—but this makes spiritual vigilance imperative, not optional.
• Appropriate use becomes possible—but only when anchored in spiritual-strengthening, moral clarity, and continuous self-reflection.

10.  On “Etheric” or “Moral” Technology

• Rudolf Steiner never used the term “moral technology” but he certainly did talk about both plenty.
• Steiner talked about the use of vibrations emanating from one person to a future machine that would respond to those vibrations and do a task. This is very much like asking a question to your smartphone and getting a reply. Your voice is “translated” into vibrations. Can such a machine be able to distinguish the user’s morality and thereby know when to respond and when not to?  MysTech, when funded to do R&D, plans to research this.
• Etheric technology could mean that in some way life forces (etheric forces) are used to run physical machines. It could also mean that in the not-so-distant future, once ascension has begun for example, that life in the etheric will call for etheric machines that would be entirely within the etheric. I lean toward the latter.
• When ascension is ready to begin, by then there will be sufficient understanding of the etheric to begin such research. Steiner also indicated that such research must wait until Threefolding exists (somewhere) in the world.

11.  Conclusion

• I agree with “Anthroposophists should engage with technology—as long as they:
  • Are clairvoyantly conscious of its spiritual entanglements”
• But I am very uncomfortable with such use being limited to only those who:
  • “Undertake inner training (meditation, moral development, artistic cultivation);
  • Use technology for spiritually aligned purposes—healing, art, community-building, environmental regeneration.”
• Anyone can take up the use of Technology if they also practice counterbalances!
  • We cannot become Essenes, Ascetics, nor Luddites.
  • Anthroposophy must be a modern society. When asked about the stage lighting for the First Goetheanum, Steiner said we will use electric lighting (not gas lighting) because we are to be a modern society.
  • The most important of the counterbalances is “the Christ in me”. With Christ as one’s companion, one can go into Ahriman’s sphere and wrest from him what will be needed for further evolution.
  • We must rise up into super-nature in balance with our sliding down into sub-nature. Technology provides the slide. All of us can (and will) easily slide down into Ahriman’s realm. What will save us is not avoiding this slide but take up the Consciousness Soul work and EXPAND our consciousness from Sub-Nature to Super-Nature.
  • We will be the Tenth Hierarchy. During Jupiter, we will need to incarnate into the bodies of those on the human stage of Jupiter as angels have, during Earth, incarnated as humans to guide us.
    • Who are those who will be human on Jupiter? Steiner tells us that they too are here NOW in our consciousness. They come from below and, as such, have an Ahrimanic disposition to existence. It is not fully clear who they are, but it is implied that they are our ahrimanic doubles. We will need to incarnate into their bodily form to guide.
    • What kind of bodies will the Jupiter humans have? Look at the sequence so far: warmth, gaseous, liquid, solid. What’s next with which to build a body as the vehicle for life on Jupiter?
    • Eventually, there will be seven elements and seven ethers.

And now to address these questions:

1.      How should anthroposophists use technology as a tool for **their own spiritual development**?

• Community building.
• Study groups
• Social groups
• Research of “the past”
• RS Archive, Free Man Creator, Anthrowiki, etc.
• Broadening your understanding of Anthroposophy
• Building colleagues
• Reviewing each other’s works

2.      How should anthroposophists use technology as a tool for the **continued development of spiritual science**?

• Use Tech for the dissemination of spiritual science
• Personal development should be free of technology
• See and experience one’s “slide” into sub-nature to know how far to rise up

3.      How should anthroposophists use technology for the **dissemination of spiritual science**?

• To help others who are beginners or are seekers
• Collaborations that help all involved
• Eventually, after ascension has begun, we will find that we can do everything that Zoom can do through our etheric connections. (Sub-nature) Technology will fall away then. Perhaps, we will then be using an etheric technology.

View from reader B

['burning platform']

• The clock is ticking:
  • “Humanity is getting younger”
  • Women will become infertile within the 6th PACA (4000-5000 AD)
  • The moon will reunite in the 7th age (8000 AD)
  • War of All Against All

[opportunities]

• Help from the spiritual worlds is being offered, but humanity must ascend to receive it.
  • Vulcan beings are the forerunners of the moon unification.
  • Their message is spiritual science, particularly applied in the social realm. (The development of Philadelphia)
• How do we work with our Vulcan helpers?
  • True spiritual knowledge is essential.
  • The work of Rudolph Steiner, anthroposophy, is the earthy seed of true spiritual knowledge given directly from the spiritual world.

[challenges]

• Death Forces as Technology
  • Humanity must master technology in order to have physical bodies within the 7th age.
  • We must develop Moral Technology
• Adversarial forces seek to prevent humanity from attaining true spiritual knowledge
  • Ahrimanic Impulse
  • The battlefield will be increasingly technological.

[solution path - to be elaborated]

• How do we counter adversarial forces?
  • Christ Impulse

.

Commentary

Observation

First, an 'observation', as a means to go from the above 'premise' to the 'induction step' in the reasoning logic. One may use the word 'opinion' or 'assessment' instead of 'observation'.

So without in any way intending to critique, and with the greatest respect, the following observation about this situation (exemplified by the illustrations below of the two reader views).

The summaries present like an 'executive summary' view of what's to come for humanity, as a basis for an educated discussion of what to do, in view of all this. It takes the key elements from the extensive teachings by Rudolf Steiner, projections for a future that encompassed the whole of humanity on Earth for many millenia into the future.

Now this for me completely misses the key, which is the individual aspect, of what the future of sixth cultural age and sixth epoch are all about. One can summarize conceptual ideas about the whole of humanity, and technology, but there is an invisible blind angle to this (see Johari window - the not know or not seen).

That is the following. The projections are for the whole of humanity, and this can be considered 'necessity', it will happen. Now a typical first reaction of the well-meaning righteous soul is to revolt against the bad, which we call call 'fight the dark'.

interludium - an expression

There is an expression in the Dutch language “Vechten tegen de bierkaai” or literally: “Fighting against the beer quay", meaning: To fight a battle you cannot win; to resist an overwhelming or entrenched force. In old Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the Bierkaai was a quay where barrels of beer were unloaded. The dockworkers there were famously strong and tough. So, if you picked a fight “against the Bierkaai,” you were certain to lose — they’d flatten you.

Hence the expression means “to fight a losing battle,” often with a sense of futility or stubborn resistance against a powerful system.

English idiomatic equivalents, each with a different nuance, include:

• “Fighting a losing battle” ... resisting something that’s too powerful or inevitable
• “Tilting at windmills” (from Don Quixote) ... fighting imaginary enemies or unrealistic problems — delusional idealism
• “Beating your head against a brick wall” ... making fruitless efforts with no hope of success
• “trying to fight City Hall” ... taking on an entrenched system or authority

The key point

Is a matter of depth of insight and spiritual maturity, to see the crucial difference between 'fighting the dark' and 'working for the light'. The fight 'necessity' is burning your flame of energy in a battle one cannot win. Wisdom consists in focusing on working for the light, that is, focusing on the future of what is to come, for those that are part of this future, not battling the established forces of the dominant majority.

Underlying this is the principle explained on Overlapping evolutionary periods. The immediate consequence is covered on Spiritual minority in a materialistic world.

It is worthwhile to study this deeper, and this site uses the image of the normal gaussian distribution curve used in statistics to describe attributes or properties or a large population. Specifically see:

• Schema FMC00.562 on Sixteen paths of perdition
• Schema FMC00.422 and Schema FMC00.422A on Contemporary worldview war#Illustrations
• Spiritual guidance of mankind#Segmentation, and a.o. the law for evolution and development of mankind: development is only possible through differentiation and organizing accordingly: certain groups of people must be separated in order that a particular quality of human nature can be developed

.

Impact: bringing it all home

Taking a step back, this invites the reader to leave behind considerations and worries about the future of mankind (Covey's circle of concern) and focus on your individual life (circle of control), but now not just this incarnation and Personality, but as an eternal spirit and Individuality.

As an Individuality, you are contributing to the future of humanity (see seeds for future worlds). This should not put to the side and the far future too easily, hence once more

"The beings of the third hierarchy make history, and Man participates in this work by having his consciousness as a incarnated personality, his consciousness as a human being, as a historical being on Earth... The external historical life recorded in popular history, which is essentially a fable convenu, is only a reflection of the inner historical life that is created in his development by the beings of the third hierarchy." (1918-09-08-GA184)

You are part of the Impulses from waves of reincarnating souls.

And thus (taken from Initiation#Inspirational quotes)

"If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation." ( Lao Tzu)

and

"the science of initiation is the only possibility for the further progress of humanity .. there is no sense in talking about the continued progress of human evolution through purely natural means. Evolution can take a step forward only when humanity is fructified by initiation science" (1920-01-17-GA196)

Think about it this way: the developmental targets for humanity are to develop spirit-self (by working one's astral body, refining through moral progress) and from there life-spirit (transformation of the etheric body, of the deeper engrained elements of habit and character). Now initiation is nothing else but a fast-track of what humanity has to go through naturally. However it is focused on the essential targets, using the consciousness soul, freedom of choice, and strength of will, to work that by one's self.

This should make it plain that the bridge from left to right is a journey one has to go alone. And at one point the conditions have to be met to 'jump in the pool' instead of circling around it. The reservoir or conscious will-power has to be filled with insights, love, life force .. to act as the fuel and give traction to the process of self-initiation.

Now consider the future once again, but from this the perspective of your spirit Individuality:

• the sixth cultural age ... say the year 5000 is about 3000 years from now ... incarnating 600 years apart would mean 5 incarnations 'left' for making the key switch and doing the Work ... Incarnating per 300 years ... 10 incarnations
• then to end of the sixth epoch ... supposed we have like 5 cultural ages and 2 incarnations per age left, that 10 ... or even double, that's 20

.

Where this point is leading is a focus on the individual trajectory one takes in life, moving across the bridge and picking up self-initiation as good as poorly as one can, and irrespective of how you are doing by any self-imposed expectations or intellectual considerations.

How to use all that one knows and has learned, as a source of energy or fire for one's Self ... to take the living of the golden rule, brotherhood, selflessness, moral character transformation much more in earnest.

As Rudolf Steiner (and others) have stated: self-initiation is the key for the future of humanity, and .. the self-initiation manual was given also in the 20th century with IIH with original intended title or 'The gate to true initiation' and original title in German 'The way to true adepthood'.

so ... the book is there, and it works, so just do it ...

Not so simple

One might say: the book is there, and it works, so just do it ... but it's not that simple of course ... for all those on the left of the Schema FMC00.636A.

To appreciate this, see:

• the text commentary with Schema FMC00.609 and its link to Mystery School tradition#segmentation in four groups
• Schema FMC00.478 and context covered on topic page The Michaelic stream

.

The above means that the direct path of IIH is not yet readily easily accessible for anyone, to realize and implement this requires a certain karma and spiritual maturity, and the community or souls with a certain spiritual maturity is a complex mix or soup of very many ingredients.

writing of first draft until here, to be continued

... to be continued.

... less focus on thinking and thought forms about the future, but feeling in the now about each soul that confronts us, each interaction, choice

...

Note, the above has not covered the third of Covey's three circles, the 'circle of influence'.

What to do?

1917-01-15-GA173C

It is easy to ask the question: What can I myself do in these painful times?

The first thing one can do is to endeavour to understand things, to really see through things. This brings up thoughts which are real forces and these will have an effect.

What about the question: Have the good forces no power against the evil forces we see all around us?

To answer this we have to remember how difficult human freedom makes it for the spiritual world to assert itself amid the surging waves of materialistic life. This is what it is all about. Is it to be made so very easy for human beings to enter fully into the life of the spirit?

Future ages will look back to today and say: How careless these people were with regard to adopting the life of spirit! The spiritual world is sending it down to us, but human beings resist it with all their might. Apart from all the sadness and suffering holding sway at present, the very fact that all this does hold sway is in itself a destiny signifying a trial. Above all it should be accepted and recognized as a trial. Later it will become apparent to what extent it is necessary for those who—so it is said—are guilty, to suffer together with those who are blameless. For after all, during the course of karma all these things are balanced out.

You cannot say: Are not the good spirits going to intervene? They do intervene to the extent that we open ourselves to them, if we have the courage to do so. But first of all we must be serious about understanding things; we must be deeply serious about trying to understand.

As a contribution to this understanding it is necessary that a number of people muster the strength to oppose the surging waves of materialism with their deepest personal being.

helicopter view

Doom and gloom ... trouble and strife ... suffering and misery

• fierce trials will come ... wars, earthquakes and other natural disasters, famine, ..
• big picture convergence point: the crash course has been set until end of epoch - this is necessity
• however counterbalance also: the even bigger curve is Schema FMC00.591
• descent of new spirits joining
• trends or tendencies
  • AI, transhumanism, .. and all ... accept it .. accept there may be a field with hundreds or thousands of false prophets
  • on the other hand also believe in the spiritual influx rising, see schema consciousness soul, the curve
• current and next cultural ages are key ... but for whom??
• three views: (c) the whole of humanity, (b) he pie chart, then (a) yourself; and instead c->b->a ... we should function as a -> b (-> c)

Related pages

• Future Oriphiel age
• Sixth cultural age
• Contemporary worldview war
• Spiritual minority in a materialistic world
• Mineral plant like spiders
• Influence of deceased souls