An effort was made to present these
lectures in Fair Oaks, CA.,
but difficulty in finding a venue to
rent prevented them from being offered
during the time in which the thought-world offered them.
The work - the preparation in thought,
however, was felt to be worth recording.
announcing: Three Lectures by Joel A. Wendt
Thursday May 25th, Tuesday
May 30th and Sunday June 4th, 2006 (from Ascension to Pentecost)
beginning at 8 p.m. in Philadelphia Hall at Rudolf Steiner College in
Sacramento, California - donations in the range of $5 to $10 for
each lecture are encouraged, but no one need turn away due to financial
need -
The New Mysteries of the Earth
(parts I, II and III)
Thursday May 25th (Ascension): The New Mysteries of the Earth, part I:
Listening to the World Song: perceiving/thinking the Living Deeds of Christ in the World at this time of increasing Social Chaos (an overview of the New Mysteries of the Earth, main themes to include: the processes of pure thinking the social organism (about, with and within); the relationship between chaos in social forms and the appearance of moral grace/freedom; America (both in its centric and its peripheral aspects) as the leading edge of consciousness soul development; the centrality of the biography in earthly meaning; the birth of the culture of media - of the heart of the heart of the social organism at the beginning of the consciousness soul age; the mystery of evil and the double-complex; and, the Artistry of Christ as Lord of Karma in connection with the new Earthly Baptismal Eucharist, inaugurated during the Second Coming, and offered to humanity through Holy Breath (moral grace within) and Fire (the trials of the biography). This lecture, in the mood of the Ascension, means then to unveil how it is that Christ, after leaving the physical world has made His Spiritual Abode the Earth, especially the social-political-historical realm in which human biographies unfold.
Tuesday May 30th: The New Mysteries of the Earth part II:
The Hopi Prophecy of the True White Brother and the Mission of Anthroposophy in America (a specific aspect of the New Mysteries of the Earth, essential to understanding Anthroposophy in America, main themes to include: the present living nature of the Saturn Mysteries in the Americas; the Hopi Nation's memory of Atlantis and of the migrations to the East and the West; their Prophecies of the coming time of world crisis and the return of the True White Brother as author of the Day of Purification; and, the meaning of this enigmatic phrase from the Prophecy: "the Red Symbol will [may?] take command of the Four Forces of Nature for the Benefit of the Sun".)
Sunday June 4th (Pentecost):
The New Mysteries of the Earth part III:
The Anthroposophical Practice
of the New Mysteries and the Future of the Anthroposophical Society and
Movement (confronting
the past in order to meet the present and create the future; main
themes to include: the significance of the Philosophy of Freedom and
the Reverse Cultus in connection with the understanding of conversation
as the core act of the New Mysteries; the meaning of the last one
hundred years of anthroposophical life and what it can teach us about
the present and the future; with some practical examples: Waldorf
Schools, the Charter School movement in America and the social
question; as well as, Anthroposophy and the scientific spirit in
connection with the works of Valentin Tomberg, S.O. Prokofieff and
Irina Gordienko.) This lecture, in the mood of Pentecost, means
to point out how it is that when we practice the New Mysteries in
Anthroposophical circles, we too become disciples of Christ.
some overview and background
follows
The gesture of this series of lectures is to move from
the most universal - involving Christ's efforts as regards the whole of
humanity in earthly social-political existence (part I), then
contracting inwardly to a very specific situation with respect to
America and the Anthroposophical Movement (part II), before then
expanding outwardly once again toward more global developments, this
time concerned with the role Anthroposophy is to play in the future,
with respect to Christ's more whole-earth artistry as regards human
evolution in the present (part III).
This is the reason the first lecture was scheduled for
Ascension, for it concerns the presence of Christ in the
social-political-historical sphere of earth existence - an integration
of heaven and earth. The third lecture was then scheduled
for Pentecost, for in it we take up a consideration of the
activities of human beings in that they experience the kingdom of
heaven within and are thus able to live out of the New Mysteries.
The second lecture, set in between Ascension and Pentecost,
concerns the meeting of two forms of consciousness, one very old and
one very new, out of which the dawning of a new spiritual civilization,
supported by Christ, but inaugurated by human beings, is to be born.
Rudolf Steiner, in his lectures on the Cosmic Year, spoke
of three Old Mysteries: The Mysteries of Light (in the East, and from
the East); The Mysteries of Man (in the Center, but from the South);
and, The Mysteries of the Earth (in the West, but from the North).
Clearly Steiner taught out of New Mysteries of Man, with such
work as: The Study of Man; Man as a Symphony of the Creative Word; his
participation in the initiation of the Rite of Consecration of Man; and
of course, with the Foundation Stone Meditation, which begins: "Soul of
Man!".
The Old Mysteries were Mysteries of descent - the Gods
spoke to man - clairvoyance was a given. The New Mysteries are
Mysteries of ascent - Man speaks to the Gods, but has to develop out of
himself that capacity. Owen Barfield called this ancient way of
clairvoyance: original participation. Then came the onlooker
separation - humanity became free of the Gods. Now comes the New
Mysteries, or final participation, which only occurs to the extent that
we seek it and learn to author those changes of soul that renews our
spiritual connection.
The New Mysteries of Light are supported by paths of
enlightenment; the New Mysteries of Man are supported by paths of
initiation; and the New Mysteries of the Earth are supported by paths
of character development. Enlightenment is the raising of the
human toward the divine, typified by the Buddha. Initiation is
the bringing down of the divine wisdom via human agency into the Earth,
typified by the stream going from Zarathustra, via Christian
Rosencreutz to Rudolf Steiner. Character development involves the
integration, on the earth, of our moral character as a member of three
communities: the community of Nature, the community of other human
beings in our various social arrangements, and the community we have
with the world of the invisibles - the dead and other purely
spiritual beings, which integrated membership is typified by such as
Emerson.
What Steiner called Anthroposophy is meant to honor all
the Old Mysteries, but at the same time to found the New Mysteries on a
capacity in the human being that never before existed - that is pure
thinking. This impulse (the seeking to develop in individuals the
capacity for pure thinking) has spread out, Eastward and Westward.
As the New Mysteries unfold then, they will develop somewhat
differentiated characteristics in accord with that part of the
whole world in which they take root
All three New Mysteries have their place in the evolution
of the human being, and while appearing separate, are in fact, like the
three systems of the human body (nerve-sense, rhythmic and
metabolic-limb), both independent and interwoven simultaneously.
The soul itself displays threefold characteristics over the whole
world, which led Steiner to speak at various times about the great
division of the world into a threefoldness of East, Center and West,
and this from many perspectives. For example, there are the three
occultisms: eugenic, hygienic and mechanistic. Or, the three Old
Mysteries mentioned above: the Mystery of the Light (the East), the
Mysteries of Man (the Center) and the Mysteries of the Earth (the
West). Then there is the impulse or capacity to altruism
(the East), freedom (the Center) and cosmogony (the West).
This should lead us to recognizing that in America we have to develop aspects of the soul not found in the Center or the East, but which are unique to the American Experience. In support of this requirement, the above three lectures are offered as a gateway through which one can begin (or continue and deepen) such a journey.
The content of these lectures has been carefully
developed out of over 33 years of introspective life, eventually
integrated with Steiner's epistemological works, via an encounter that
began over 25 years ago. This led to an effort to investigate the
social, via the practice of Goetheanism, rooted in the organic thinking
taught in Steiner's A Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's World
Conception, and subsequently infused with the
moral (spiritual) thinking taught in Steiner's The Philosophy of Freedom. Out of this many years of activity was born a
science of the social-political life of humanity, that is: a Science of the Meaning of
Earth Existence.
Clearly Rudolf Steiner had much to say on these various
matters. Even so, he spoke mostly out of the New Mysteries of
Man, as was his task. With the New Mysteries of the Earth, we add
a second perspective out of which we will meet in a new way, much that
we have already seen from this previous direction. The point is
not any contradiction with Steiner, but rather simply to be true to the
American Soul - to offer what it sees from its so earthly - so
necessarily interwoven with materialism, so much in the Belly of the
Beast - point of view.
Already, the Anthroposophical Movement has and is being
touched by personalities more from the East than from the Center:
Tomberg, S. O. Prokofieff and now Gordienko - those who offer their
sense of the cosmic view of matters Anthroposophical, via soul forces
struggling to become capable (in the future) of bearing the spirit
self. This almost too cosmic view must be met by a balancing
gesture from the West- one fully grounded on the earth, and rooted in
the consciousness soul (the soul development belonging very much to the
present, and more instinctively present in the lands of English
speakers than anywhere else).
The Center must be preserved from the one-sidednesses of
either the East or the West, while not diminishing in any way what
lives in either the East or the West. The three must learn to
stand on their own and work together.
Many are the confusions facing the world in the coming times, and also facing the Anthroposophical Movement. To help us work with these confusions, the New Mysteries of the Earth have a great deal to offer.
* * *
Joel A. Wendt is 65, and retired. He is the father of five children - ages: 43, 39, 35, 23 and 18 (from two marriages), and has degrees in pre-seminary (a B.A. from the University of Denver) and law (a J.D. from the University of Montana). His last job was to work three years in a semi-industrial factory, doing repetitive movements while servicing various machines. Before that he spent ten years (most of the 90's) working as an orderly, in a for-profit psychiatric facility, on the graveyard shift.
As an avocation, he is a writer and thinker, who has created three websites and a blog
Shapes in the Fire: http://ipwebdev.com/hermit/
some thoughts on the nature of public service: http://ipwebdev.com/campaign
Celebration and Theater: a People's Art of Statecraft: http://ipwebdev.com/celebration
Hermit's Weblog: everything your mother never told you about how the world actually works: http://ipwebdev.com/hermit/blog/
His business card reads: social philosopher ... and
occasional fool. As a preview of coming
attractions, look for in the near future, on or around July 4th, a two
to three hour seminar-conversation: Grieving for America. (this also was not
able to be put forward at this time)
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