Mystery of the Heart
The Gospel of John describes (13:23-25) how - at the Last Supper - the apostle Lazarus-John was lying against Christ-Jesus and raised himself from the bosom to the breast and heart region of Christ Jesus ('one of the disciples rested upon Jesus' bosom').
The Mystery of the Heart is the deep symbolic meaning that lies contained in this line and image, as illustrated by Schema FMC00.099 below.
This topic page explores this from various spiritual scientific perspectives from the source available.
The image of 'raising of the heart' symbolizes the higher etheric forces of the Christ Impulse rising from the Earth spirit and ennobling the human heart (see Schema FMC00.354), and the transformation of the lower principles of Man (symbolized by the lower chakras) towards the higher principles; so it links to the evolution of Man due to the Christ Impulse and Man's transformation and spiritualization.
Aspects
- the heart is Man's physical and spiritual center (1906-09-19-GA091)
- for an introductory overview of the future heart-thinking with the etheric heart, see FMC00.617 (and FMC00.617A) and 1910-03-30-GA119
- in the Current Postatlantean epoch, the slumbering force in Man called the Kundalini fire will gradually develop and greatly influence what lives in the human heart, so that - through this force - in the next Sixth epoch, Man " will no longer make a distinction between his own well-being and the well-being of the whole" (1904-10-28-GA092)
- when Christ lives in Man, the lower soul-forces are raised from the abdominal regions to the heart (1906-12-02-GA097)
- Every initiate experienced this in the Mysteries of the heart. It re-echoed in the words: “My God, my God, how thou hast raised me!”
- special role or mission of John (see Individuality of Christian Rosenkreutz) "to raise the lower forces to the loving heart" (1906-12-02-GA097), see Note 2 in the Discussion area below.
- for other aspects, see also:
- the human heart as the future organ of development
- Kundalini
- link with heart-wrought thinking, see D00.003 - Systemic aspects of the study process#Organic or heart thinking
Inspirational quotes
From the 'Great Hymn to the Sun God Aten', probably around 14th century BC
O sole god, like whom there is no other
Thou didst create the world according to thy desire ..
You are in my heart
John 7:38
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.
1906-12-02-GA097
John's soul-power above all will raise those lower forces to the loving heart. Rivers of spiritual love will flow from it.
and also
.. as surely as this power of egoism is the source of treason, so surely will this lower soul-force be raised to a higher stage. One of the disciples rested upon Jesus' bosom, he rested upon Jesus' heart. This means that all the lower forces, every form of egoism, will be raised to the heart.
Angelus Silesius wrote:
If Christ be born in Bethlehem a thousand times and not in you, you remain in eternal perdition.
meaning that clearly the Mystery of Golgotha is not a historical physical event, or even a cosmic event, but has to be taken very personal and is all about how it will impact every individual human being.
1911-06-GA015 Ch 3
In the future, people's hearts will be filled with a Christ-idea [impulse] whose magnitude will surpass anything humanity has known and understood so far.
Introduction
Physiological understanding
This section offers background to initialize a base understanding. The linked topic pages can be studied together in depth in case one is not familiar. In the heart we see three things coming together - see The heart's two blood circuits:
- a blood circuit with the brain and all sense impressions (and related thinking) that are being absorbed and worked in the human being,
- a blood circuit with the metabolic organs and physical matter (food stuffs) that are converted in the human being,
- and in the middle the breathing system with the lungs that balances both with the famous rhythm between breathing and blood pulse (seeheart rhythm)
.. in a nutshell we see the essence of Man as a threefold human being not just symbolized but operating in the blood (and I-organization) and coming together in the heart .. not surprisingly then also the heart is seen as the center and karma recorder.
In the above one should not forget to see the human being not just as a physical being breathing air through the lungs, but a microcosmos connected and integrally part of the macrocosmos, with also breathing through the skin pores and higher bodily principles (etheric, astral bodies and I organization) and taking in also the higher ethers in the finer breathing process. See Human breath#Illustrations
One cannot understand the mystery of the heart without deep knowledge of Man as a threefold being. Man stands between past and future because the heart connects the two blood circuits of the two extreme pulsating systems, and the middle rhythmic system balances this now into this heart, with two blood circuits and sensory inputs from the nervous system above, and the metabolic process below .. is 'infused' the breathing system .. however this breathing is more than just air. This is explained on the Ganganda Greida topic page.
Man's transformation and spiritualization
Now contemplate this picture and realize that when the apostle rises from the lap to the bosom, the lap is the lower part of the human being .. reflect back on Lemurian epoch when this was the animal lower part of Man, as we also find it back in the Centaur.
Man's transformation and spiritualization consists of ennobling the lower bodily principles (astral, etheric, and physical body) through the forces of the Human 'I' and specifically the consciousness soul that is fructified by the Christ Impulse. John is the one who symbolizes the human knowledge of spiritual science and initiation (the two are related and the one ultimately has to leads to the other, see ) as it is through initiation
Illustrations
Schema FMC00.099 gives illustrations of the specific scene at the Last Supper where John puts his head to the heart of Christ-Jesus.
Schema FMC00.099A shows a selection of some additional imagery, as a wealth of illustrations exists in old paintings and icons.
Schema FMC00.279 depicts - on the right - the statement from 1906-09-20-GA091 (re extract reference below).
The heart is the center of Man where the twelve zodiacal flows stream in, and they stream out through the head similar as with Earth. On the right, an illustration of the etheric (prana) streams taken from Dr. Stone's polarity theory, and a comparative illustration of Earth's outstreaming on the pole.
Schema FMC00.617: shows the progression of the faculties of the human 'I' along the evolution of Earth and Man's bodily principles and structural make up. The current Postatlantean epoch is characterized by the faculty of thinking as part of contemporary waking consciousness. However this intellectual logic or 'head thinking' with the human brain is slowly evolving, and in the future Man will develop 'heart thinking' that will transform the faculty of memory - see stages of clairvoyance. This essence of 1910-03-30-GA119 is complemented with various quotes from other lectures below.
Schema FMC00.617A: is a simplified reduced version of Schema FMC00.617, positioning the future evolution towards so-called heart-thinking with the future clairvoyant consciousness and transformed faculty of memory, versus the contemporary brain or head-thinking with current waking consciousness.
This schema positioning and lecture is central to and connects to various perspectives covered on multiple topic pages, such as: Christ in the etheric, Past life memories, Stages of clairvoyance, Development of the chakras, and the development of the future faculty of memory, and the Transition between 4th and 14th century, the Sixth epoch, and Future Jupiter.
Lecture coverage and references
Bible - John 7:37:39
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
or again (different translation) 7:38
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water'
1904-10-28-GA092
(SWCC)
At the beginning of the sixth epoch an influence will have developed, not in higher spheres, but in the sphere of the present-day conscious mind; in the fifth epoch this influence is still in its infancy, but it is nevertheless already developing. It is something which emanates from the musical element. For the fifth epoch music will be not merely art, but the means of expression for quite other things than the purely artistic. Here is something that points to the influence of a specific principle on the physical plane.
The most significant impulse by those directly initiated in the fifth epoch will, to begin with, be given solely in the sphere of music. What has to flow in is not astral, but it is something of great significance in the sphere of the mental life of the fifth epoch. It is something that the human intelligence will come to recognise as important, something which has been called the Kundalini fire. It is a force which today still slumbers in man, but which will gradually gain more and more importance. Today it already has a great importance upon what we perceive through the sense of hearing.
During the further development in the sixth cultural age of the fifth epoch the Kundalini fire will acquire great influence on what lives in the human heart. The human heart will really have this fire. At first this seems to be mere symbolism but Man will then really be permeated by a force which will live in his heart, so that during the sixth epoch he will no longer make a distinction between his own well-being and the well-being of the whole. So deeply will man be permeated by the Kundalini fire! He will follow the principle of love as his own innermost nature.
Note: the expression ‘Kundalini fire’ is used by Rudolf Steiner in the first edition of his book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds. In later editions he replaced the term by another term which is translated in the 1937 English edition as “the spiritual perceptive force in the organ of the heart”.
See also the Kundalini topic page, and the Note in the Discussion area: Kundalini#.5B1.5D - Commentary on Schema FMC00.326
1906-02-03-GA097
The purified energy goes up to the heart which will be the organ for bringing things forth in the spirit in future. This can already be seen in the anatomy of the heart. The heart is an involuntary muscle and therefore should have smooth fibres. But it does not; it is striated the way voluntary muscles are. It is thus already pointing to a time when it will be a voluntary muscle.
1906-09-19-GA091
The heart is the center in Man that supplies Man with the life forces, it is an image of the various world streams. and aligns itself with the order of world rhythms.
On the one hand, the processes of intake of food, and breathing in and out, supply Man with the substance and force to make Man an independent being.
On the other hand Man is refined or ennobled through turning the heart impressions to the spirit, and Man gets the desire for more independence.
This way the heart is an organ that enables Man his life of independence, but also the organ that opens the access to a higher life. It is the temple in which to find one's own life, but also the temple Man has to enter to find this higher life of the spirit. It contains the life streams that push people into independence - and suffering; but also these, that give him the striving to the spirit - love.
Just as Earth receives the influx of the Sun through twelve flows or currents in the twelve months of the year as the Sun goes through the twelve signs of the zodiac, this way also the human heart receives twelve currents from the twelve reflections of the zodiac in his organism. The twelve leaves of the twelve petalled lotus flower in the proximity of the human heart are the expression of these twelve cosmic currents. This way similarly the heart is the source that radiates Man's invigorating [belebenden] physical and spiritual currents. Through the influence of the twelve cosmic currents, not only does the Earth develop, but also each Man develops to independence and full maturity.
And just as Earth streams out the forces that it made her own from the north pole, where the largest tension occurs, so also Man radiates his spiritual force from the head, from where it overflows Man towards all sides, what can be observed clairvoyantly as the light glowing aura around Man (which is the expression hereof).
For the Earth the source of this outflowing force lies in its center, for Man it lies in the human heart, his physical and spiritual center.
Note: after the lecture of 1906-09-22-GA091 a question is formulated but no answer is logged. The question formulation also relates to the link between the heart and the twelve zodiac signs and the influence of the seven planets, and the heart as the Sun, with - and this is the remarkable part - four physical chambers and three astral chambers (...). And how the process of inflow and outflow of cosmic streams is similar for the atom, the heart, and the Earth. The previous days Rudolf Steiner had covered the atom (1906-09-20-GA091 and used the Force substance representation language which is used in these lectures also.
1906-12-02-GA097
Human perfection consists in the falling away of the lower soul-forces, so that only the higher forces remain behind; in future, man will no longer have the lower forces; he will, for example, no longer have the forces of procreation. John's soul-power above all will raise those lower forces to the loving heart. It will send out streams of spiritual love. The heart is the most powerful organ, when Christ lives in Man. The lower soul-forces are then raised from the abdominal regions to the heart.
Every initiate experienced this in the Mysteries of the heart. It re-echoed in the words: “My God, my God, how thou hast raised me!”
One of the disciples rested upon Jesus' bosom, he rested upon Jesus' heart. This means that all the lower forces, every form of egoism, will be raised to the heart. At this point Jesus repeated to his Disciples the words: “Eli, Eli, lama sabathani” — “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him!
Afterwards he said: “There is one among you who will betray me.” This is brought about by the power of egoism. But as surely as this power of egoism is the source of treason, so surely will this lower soul-force be raised to a higher stage.
John's very power of soul will have brought it about that those powers are then lifted up into the loving heart. Rivers of spiritual love will flow from it. When the Christ is in us, the heart is the organ which is most powerful in us. The lower power of soul will then have been raised from the lower abdomen to the heart. Every initiate experienced this as the mystery of the heart. It came to expression in the words `my God, my God, how you have raised me up high!
.. theosophy points to the central Being of the entire earthly evolution, to the Christ as the great archetype of the human being. And from all these teachings of theosophy the awareness shall spring forth for Man, “Thus ought you to act.”
The science of the spirit shows us how we can feel ourselves to be a part of the whole life of the Earth. The science of the spirit shows us that Christ is the Spirit of the Earth. Our fingers, our toes, our nose, all our members dream that the heart provides them with blood. They dream that without a central organ they would be nothing, for without a heart they are not possible.
Theosophy shows Man that in the future of earthly evolution it would be folly not to take up the idea of Christ, for what the heart is for the organism Christ is for the body of the Earth. Just as through the heart the blood provides the whole organism with life and strength, so must the Being of Christ have moved through all single souls on earth, and the words of St. Paul must become truth for them: “Not I, but the Christ in me.”
The Christ must have flowed into all human hearts. Whoever wanted to say, “One can continue to exist without Christ,” would be as foolish as eyes and ears if they wanted to say that they could continue to exist without the heart. In the case of the single human body the heart must of course be present from the beginning, whereas the heart entered the organism of the Earth only with the Christ. For the following ages, however, this heart's blood of Christ must have entered all human hearts. He who does not unite himself with it in his soul, will wither away. The Earth will not wait with its development; it will come to the point to which it must come. Human beings alone can remain behind, that is, they would balk at receiving Christ in their souls. A number of human beings would stand there in their last incarnation on Earth and not have reached the goal: they have not recognized Christ, have not received Christ-feeling, Christ-knowing into their souls. They are not mature. They do not take their places in the development to higher stages. They separate themselves off.
continued on: Future Jupiter#1911-03-06-GA127
1911-06-GA015 Ch 3
In the future, people's hearts will be filled with a Christ-idea whose magnitude will surpass anything humanity has known and understood so far.
The first impulse that Christ brought and the understanding of him that has lived on until now is even in the best exponents of the Christ-principle only a preparation for a true understanding of Christ. Strangely enough, those who present the Christ-idea in this way in the West will in all probability be accused of not basing themselves on western Christian tradition. After all, this western Christian tradition is utterly inadequate for understanding Christ in the near future.
Western esotericism allows us to see the spiritual guidance of humanity gradually merge with the guidance proceeding from the Christ-impulse. Modern esotericism will gradually flow into people's hearts, and the spiritual guidance of the individual and humanity will more and more be seen consciously in this light.
Let us recall that the Christ-principle first entered human hearts when Christ ministered in Palestine in the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth. In those days, people who had gradually resigned themselves to trusting only in the sensory world could receive the impulse appropriate to their understanding.
translation V2 (less good)
Consequently we may say that in the future there will live in the hearts of men an idea of the Christ incomparable in greatness with anything which humanity has so far recognized.
That which arose as a first impulse through the Christ, and has lived as an idea of Him up to the present time - even in the case of the best representatives of the Christ-principle - is only a preparation for the true understanding of the Christ. It would be strange indeed if, against those who in the West gave expression in such a way as this to the Christ-idea, it were brought as a reproach that they do not stand on the foundation of western Christian tradition. But it is quite possible, for this western tradition does not by any means suffice to help us to comprehend the Christ of the near future.
From the hypothesis of western esotericism we can see the spiritual direction of humanity gradually flowing into what may be in a real, true sense called the guidance which comes from the Christ-impulse. That which is appearing as the new esotericism will flow slowly into the hearts of men, and the spiritual guidance of men and of humanity will ever more and more be consciously seen in such a light.
We realize within ourselves how at first the Christ-principle flowed into the hearts of men because the Christ had gone about Palestine in the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth. Because men by that time were gradually surrendering themselves to reliance on the world of sense, they could receive the impulse which corresponded to their perception.
1919-12-06-GA194
People are not ready to form any idea of their reciprocal relation to the very realm of life wherein the Christ is to be found. The influence of the Christ Impulse is not very noticeable in the concept-forming activity of our heads. As soon, however, as we look down into the unconscious, as soon as we turn our gaze downwards into the sphere of feeling and into the sphere of willing, then we live, first of all, in the sphere of elemental beings; but this sphere is interwoven for us with the Christ Impulse.
By way of our rhythmic system — that is, by way of our feelings — we dive down into the realm with which the Christ has united Himself.
There we come to the place where the Christ is truly to be found, quite objectively, not merely through tradition or through subjective mysticism.
Discussion
Note 1 - The heart as the center
In 1906-09-19-GA091 (see quote above), Rudolf Steiner calls the heart true the center of Man, with the description (there are others too):
the human heart receives twelve currents from the twelve reflections of the zodiac in his organism. The twelve leaves of the twelve petalled lotus flower in the proximity of the human heart are the expression of these twelve cosmic currents. This way similarly the heart is the source that radiates Man's invigorating [belebenden] physical and spiritual currents.
The 'secret', or at least something where very little information is publicly available (please contact us if you would know of additional references), is that in the neigbourhood of the heart is also Man's true center, as explained on Kundalini#Note 1 - Commentary on Schema FMC00.326.
A notebook drawing by Rudolf Steiner shows (see Schema FMC00.326) his annotation 'here lies the source to the kundalini fire' (the term is also used in the early lecture of1904-10-28-GA092, see above).
Now we can juxtapose this with the quote by Shelly Trimmer on the Kundalini page:
There is a chakra that exists between the third chakra and fourth chakras, between Mars and Venus. That chakra is the one which could be called the "all of you." For instance, Christ had twelve disciples, and he himself was the thirteenth one. ... That point is where your self-conscious awareness resides, and it's the sum total of you ..
To connect the above with the process of enlightenment, see the links provided under Man's transformation and spiritualization#Note 3 - The process of enlightenment.
Evolution and impact of the Christ Impulse
1904-10-28-GA092 describes a slow but crucial increase over long periods of time, caused by the Christ Impulse.
Refer here to the quote Etherization of blood#1911-10-01-GA130 and Schema FMC00.354 on the same page. The Christ Impulse is a cosmic influence that works slowly, over millenia. On other pages on this site this is described, and also how the appearance of (and attention given to) conscience, empathy, emotional intelligence are relatively recent developments that are related to this in the last two to three millenia.
At certain points though any such slow influence is to reach certain nodal points in time where they affect a critical balance. In this case this influence is timed to the next sixth cultural age, where it really starts .. but it only comes to full blossoming in the next Sixth epoch.
This is an important topic that can be approached from a myriad of different angles, see The great journey of humanity which bundles a selection of Schemas from the site regarding the evolution of humanity and the Christ Impulse. It zooms into the phase of the four epochs between the third and sixth epoch on Earth, and the crucial period of the next 3000 years which is pivotal in the transition of humanity between the current fifth and sixth epochs.
About 'raising of the heart'
The raising of the heart is a symbolic way to describe the spiritual maturity.
From the topic page Kundalini:
According to Blavatsky (see below), kundalini corresponds to budhi, and the awakening of kundalini is the result of the activation of buddhi which takes place in the heart. This awakening of spiritual consciousness in the heart leads to the opening of the third eye.
Also see: Mary#Pistis Sophia for the quote in Pistis Sophia where Jesus tells Mary Magdalene
"Mary, thou blessed one, whom I will perfect in all mysteries of those of the height, discourse in openness, thou, whose heart is raised to the kingdom of heaven more than all thy brethren" and "Well done, Mary. You are more blessed than all women on Earth, because you will be the fullness of fullness and the completion of completion.
Note 2 - On the role of John
Regarding 1906-12-02-GA097, note the special role of John in this context, see also:
Positioning John
The lecture goes on to talk about the Baptism and John standing at the Cross at Golgotha, that Christ-Jesus transferred his wisdom to John:
Quote:
The text should thus be read to say:
By the cross stood Sophia, the mother of Jesus. He spoke to this mother, saying: "Woman, this is your son."
He had himself transferred the Sophia who had been in him to John.
He made him the son of Sophia, saying: 'This is your mother.'
From now on you must acknowledge divine wisdom to be your mother and dedicate yourself solely to her.
What John has written was this divine wisdom, Sophia, embodied in the gospel of John itself.
He received the knowledge from Jesus himself, and was authorized by the Christ to transfer the wisdom to the Earth.
Consider:
- (a) the paintings with not two but three babies (see Schema FMC00.098 on The two Jesus children) and ..
- (b) the story in the Bible whereby Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, and the recognition of two souls in womb both mothers (ps Mary remains with Elizabeth until the birth of John).
Then also ..
- (c) the fact that in Christian Rosenkreutz was incarnated the individuality of Lazarus-John, being the writer of the John Gospel, that this individuality incarnates every century, and brings souls to this knowledge (see also Mystery of John)
.
The excerpt taken from see Christ Module 5 - Initiation and spiritualization#1906-12-02-GA097
John's soul-power above all will raise those lower forces to the loving heart
or
John's very power of soul will have brought it about that those powers are then lifted up into the loving heart. Rivers of spiritual love will flow from it
This connects to:
Furthermore, this may well point to what is written under purification of the blood on the page Mystery of the Blood, where Wagner is quoted saying it is the will (lower forces) that are purified by knowledge, which is the wisdom that John brings. See also: Christ Module 13 – Teachings through the ages
Related pages
On the Heart:
On the blood:
Background and how it all comes together:
References and further reading
- see the References section on the topic page: The Human Heart
