Islam Revisited
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Sat Dec 13, 2003 10:53 am
Subject: Islam Revisited
Didn't somebody write a message to this list
about Islam being the rescuer of the Christ Impulse in case Christianity
failed? Or maybe it was something sent to me off-list; I don't
remember and I can't find it.
Nevertheless, I find it necessary to oppose
that notion rather strongly. I'm not talking about individuals
who just happen to be Muslims and their personal karma here.
That's where "The Good Samaritan" comes in: The Good
Muslim. No, I'm talking about Arabism/Mohammedism/Islam being
the very enemy of Christ-Michael.
I'm currently reading the lecture cycle, "The
Book of Revelation and the Work of the Priest" - previously
discussed by rick and myself a month ago:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anthroposophy_tomorrow/message/25
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anthroposophy_tomorrow/message/36
Here is more:
*****************************************
After the conclusion of the
Zachariel age humanity was fundamentally sick in soul. Humanity
was really quite ill, and substances of disease spread from East
to West, terrible substances of disease that endangered Christianity
because they semmed from materialism, for it was materialism
that pushed its way into Christianity. Because the age of Jupiter
wisdom was finished it became possible for materialism to make
itself felt within Christian culture.
Something remarkable that
was present on the earth only as a projection was behind all
this. Behind all these remnants that were like sickness there
was something remarkable in the age that followed that of Zachariel
from the tenth, eleventh century onwards, the age of Raphael,
the physician among the archangels. This was the age in which
healing took place behind the scenes of world history, not visibly
in public but very much within. Much was healed with regard to
rescuing certain morakl qualities that were about to perish.
In opposition to the substances of disease that had been brought
to Europe through Mohemmedanism, something else was called for
that also had to come from the Orient but in another form, something
steeped in the Christian principle. Behind the Crusades - and
in fact in principle this was the cause of the Crusades - one
must look for the will to heal humanity, to cure it of materialism
threatened both by Mohammedanism and by Roman Catholocism. Basically
it was Raphael, the physician among the archangels, who inspired
those who first taught humanity to look to that Orient towards
which the Crusades were directed.
*****************************************
When Arabism broke in upon
humanity it brought with it the immense danger of humanity forgetting
the Mystery of the Sun as the Mystery of Christ.
*****************************************
If we regard Christianity
primarily as an evolution that accords with the Sun Genius, the
Sun Intelligence, then we have to see that which is opposing
this evolution of Christianity as the Sun Demon. The apocalyptist
saw this. He saw what was happening behind the scenes when Christianity
fled eastwards from Rome, and he saw Christianity taking on different
ways of knowing. He saw the mighty counter-principle of Arabism
bursting in on a Christianity that was threatened from two sides
by illusion. And what he saw behind the scenes of external Arab
and Mohammedan deeds made him realize that the Sun Demon was
working there against the Sun Genius, against the Sun Intelligence.
So he had to depict the Sun Demon as working and living counter
to the Christian principle in the human being in such a way that
if a human being succumbed to this Sun Demon he then no longer
wanted to make contact with the divinity of Christ but wanted
instead to remain in the sub-human realm.. If asked, the apocalyptist
would have called the representatives of Arabism in Europe '
human beings who have surrendered to the Sun Demon' in their
soul nature. It was clear to him that from this Arabism everything
arises that brings the human being close to animal nature, first
of all in his views but gradually also in his will impulses.
*****************************************
(from lectures 6 and 7 in the above-mentioned
cycle)
Cheers,
Tarjei
...................................................................................................................................
To: anthroposophy_tomorrow@yahoogroups.com
From: eyecueco
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 04:50:57 -0000
Subject: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Re: Islam Revisited
--- In anthroposophy_tomorrow@yahoogroups.com,
Tarjei Straume wrote:
Didn't somebody write a message to this
list about Islam being the rescuer of the Christ Impulse in case
Christianity failed? Or maybe it was something sent to me off-list;
I don't remember and I can't find it.
No, that was not posted here. This was written
by Fulvio on the Anthroposphy list.
I was absolutely appalled . Don't know where
that came from, he gave no ref., but it sure wasn't Anthroposphy
as I understand it.
Nevertheless, I find it necessary to oppose
that notion rather
strongly.
Ditto.
I'm not talking about individuals who just
happen to be Muslims and their personal karma here. That's where
"The Good Samaritan" comes in: The Good Muslim. No,
I'm talking about Arabism/Mohammedism/Islam being the very enemy
of Christ-Michael.
Strongly suggest anyone who gives this idea
of Islam being the rescuer of the Christ Impulse in case Christianity
failed an iota of thought and calls him or herself an Anthroposophist
needs to read CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTIC FACT.
Also, B. A. Rowley's translation of Steiner's
book, THE TENSION BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, with Into by Owen Barfield
might not be a bad idea in order to get a grip on what is currently
going on in the world on a deeper level.
Islam gave the world science, but, it has
nothing to do with the SON. Islam is a recapituation of old moon
forces. It cannot lead to the SON.
What is being missed here is understaning
the termendous importance of the development of the individaul
consciousness. There is absolutely no place in Islam for the
individual to develop independent thinking, no place, no space
up,down, left, right, forward and backward; no room to develop
individual ego and spiritual independence. The person taking
up Islam is confined to the same kind of OT law of the Father
that was appropriate to the time of Moses and earlier in Egypt,
Chaldea.
Even the great wisdom of the jews, the Kaballah,
speak of salvation coming only from the SON!
Paulina
...................................................................................................................................
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Sun Dec 14, 2003 10:52 am
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Re: Islam Revisited
At 05:50 14.12.2003, Paulina wrote:
Islam gave the world science, but, it has
nothing to do with the SON. Islam is a recapituation of old moon
forces. It cannot lead to the SON.
Thank you, Paulina. In lecture 7 in "The
Book of Revelation and the Work of the Priest," RS said:
His [St. John the apocalyptist's]
prophetic glance now fell on those teachings which were coming
into being around the year 666 and which harked back to those
Mysteries that knew nothing of the Son: The Mohammedan teachings.
The Mohammedan teachings do not know the structure of the world
I have just been speaking about, they do not know the two realms,
that of the Father and that of the Spirit; they know only the
Father. They know only the rigid doctrine: There is one God,
Allah, and none beside him; and Mohammed is his Prophet. From
this angle, the teachings of Mohammed are the strongest polarity
to Christianity, for in them is the will to do away with all
freedom for ever, the will to bring about determinism, for nothing
else is possible if you can imagine the world solely in the sense
of the Father God.
This gave the apocalyptist
the feeling: The human being cannot find himself in this; the
human being cannot become filled through and through with Christ;
if he can comprehend only the old doctrine of the Father, the
human being cannot take hold of his own humanness. For such an
inwardly rigid and closed-off view of the world the external
form of the human being becomes an illusion. The human being
only becomes human by taking hold of himself through making Christ
alive within himself; he only becomes human if he is adapted
to the spiritual order in realms of spirit that are entirely
free of nature. He does not become human if he regresses into
a view that reckons solely with the Father God.
It would almost seem like when Muslims behave
"Michaelically," with love and forgiveness and generosity
and tolerance and so on - and there are indeed many very good
Muslims in the world who are truly Michaelic - this is in spite
of, and not because of, their professed religion. It's probably
much more complicated than that, but it's easy to be left with
this impression.
The connection between Islam and Sorat and
666 is a very heavy subject. And to borrow Christine's penchant
for Orwell-inspired paranoia for a moment, let me say that we
should discuss these things while we can, before we are silenced
by law. People are being sued and taken to court for insulting
Islam, also in the West, although nobody is prosecuted for blaspheming
Christianity anymore.
The apocalyptic number 666 has been subject
to so much speculation and superstition that some people refuse
to get into a taxicab or a hotel room with that number, and in
the movie "the Omen," the demon-child was born with
the number tatooed into his forehead. Enough of that.
Rudolf Steiner sees a correspondence between
the number 666 and the course of time, the number of years following
the Mystery of Golgotha. And behind this number stands Sorat,
the Sun Demon, the ultimate opponent of Christ. Every 666 years,
Sorat strikes with a new attack, each more powerful than its
predecessors. So we're looking at the first Sorat-attack in 666
AD, the second in 1332, the third in 1998 and so on.
Perhaps Ahriman's incarnation, which is top
take place during the course of the third millennium, won't come
for half a century, say, immediately prior to Sorat's next big
strike? These cosmic beings cooperate, you know. In that case,
a long sojourn between death and rebirth won't get us off the
hook; on the contrary, it will land us right in the middle of
Sorat's next strike, in 2664! (Hey, rapture, Scotty and Spock
and James and Peter and Jesus beam me outta here!)
Rudolf Steiner knocks me out and blows me
away before he finally wakes me up, and then I have to pinch
my arm.
Back to lecture 7:
Now that the 'I' has been
entering into humanity since the year 333, there is a danger
- so says the apocalyptist - of humanity growing confused about
this 'I' becoming filled with the Son God, with the Christ. After
a period of time that is as long as the period up to then from
the Mystery of Golgotha, something begins to rise up, something
that threatens to keep humanity down at the level of the beast;
666 is the number of the Beast.
The apocalyptist foresaw quite
decidedly what was threatening humanity. Humanity was going to
collapse in two directions into a semblance of Christianity or,
more clearly expressed, it was going to degenerate into a Christianity
shrouded in mist. That which was threatening to flood over it
in this way is indicated in the designation of the year 666,
for the spiritual world the significant year in which what lives
in Arabism, in Mohammedanism, sprang up everywhere. The apocalyptist
names this year 666 as clearly as can be. Those who can read
in an apocalyptic manner understand what I mean. By designating
in his mighty words the number 666 as the number of the Beast
the apocalyptist was foreseeing what would flood into evolution.
Thus, basically, he foresaw
in a revelation everything that then followed. One thing was
the streaming of Arabism towards Europe. Another was the way
Christianity became filled with a doctrine that could only bring
about a failure to understand the human being in his humanness.
This arose because the doctrine of the Father was translated
into materialism, leading to the assumption more recently that
human evolution can only be explained by following the evolution
of a sequence of animals up to the human being.
Darwinism surely was a case
in point: As the number of the Beast, 666, appeared, the human
being could no longer comprehend himself as a human being but
only as some kind of higher animal. Surely we are seeing ahrimanic
forces of opposition to the Son God at work in the way Christianity
has become impregnated with the materialistic form of the Father
doctrine. Are not such things still at work now, in our own time?
If we add 666 years to 666 AD, we arrive in
the year 1332.
From lecture 8:
The apocalyptist sees everything
that works against Christianity in this way - such as Arabism
- as an outflowing of that spirituality which is represented
by Sorat, the Sun Demon.
Dear friends, the number 666
was there in one instance at the time when Arabism was flowing
into Christianity in order to impress the seal of materialism
on to Western culture. But it was there for a second time after
a further 666 years had passed, in 1332, in the fourteenth century.
At that time once again the Beast rose up out of the waves of
world events. To one whose vision is like that of the apocalyptist,
world events appear as continuous waves of timespans measuring
666 years. The Beast rises up to threaten Christianity in its
search for true humanity; beasthood asserts itself against humanhood:
Sorat stirs. In the fourteenth century we see Sorat, the adversary,
rising up once again.
Steiner goes on to describe the mission and
the gruesome destiny of the Knights Templars, who made the endeavor
"to found a sun view of Christianity, a view of Christianity
that looked up again to Christ as a Sun Being, as a cosmic being...."
More from lecture 8:
But in the hearts and souls
of those who could not rest until the Order had been destroyed
in 1312 and until Jacques de Molay had met his death in 1314,
in the hearts of those who were the adversaries of the Christ
who looked to the cosmos, in these hearts Sorat lived again,
not least by making use of the Roman Church's attitude of mind
at that time to bring about the death of the Templars. The appearance
of Sorat was more visible than it had been the previous time,
and the demise of the Templars is shrouded in a stupendous secret.
When you can see into what went on in the souls of the Templars
while they were being tortured you can gain some idea of how
what lived in their visions was instigated by Sorat. As a result
they slandered themselves, providing their enemies with sa cheap
indictment through what they themselves uttered. People were
confronted with the terrible spectacle of seeing individuals
being unable to speak about what they genuinely represented,
while different spirits from among the cohorts of Sorat spoke
through them instead, accusing the Order of the most disgusting
things out of the mouths of its own adherents.
Well, that was Sorat's second attack after
the Golgotha event. European humanity became sick, spiritually
and physically, and plagues, diseases, spiritual confusion, profilation
of black arts, the influence of Arabism/Mohammedanism, the Black
Death - therse things are all connected. The central year of
Sorat's attack was 1332 (666 + 666), and now for the real fire,
the challenge of our own time: 666 + 666 + 666 = 1998, Sorat's
third attack, more powerful than his first two assaults. And
as we follow Rudolf Sfeiner's lecturing at this point, we become
acutely aware of how important it is for us to read the signs
of our own time and understand our own generation. More than
a century has passed since Steiner began his public mission,
and it's 79 years since he held this very last of his lecture
cycle ever. We can no longer cling to the apron strings of Steiner's
utterances, because they are being woven into the fabric of history.
In the following passage from the same lecture,
Steiner mentions the tasks of various generations: His contemporaries
(those he spoke to 79 years ago) and those who would be born
at the end of the century (our children, and to an extent, ourselves).
He is speaking 75 years _before_ Sorat's third strike; we are
reading this 5 years _after_ that strike, right in the middle
of the turmoil in question here:
The number 666 has twice been
fulfilled. And now the time has come in the spiritual world when
Sorat and the other opposing demons are preparing to prevent
the Sun Principle from entering into the earth. Michael, on the
other hand, preparing for his new regency, is fighting with his
hosts for this entry of the Sun Principle. Michael was regent
of the earth before the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, around
the time of Alexander. The other archangels then in turn took
over from him: Oriphiel, Anael, Zachariel, Raphael, Gabriel.
Since the last third of the nineteenth century he has again been
regent of the earth in order to continue working in this way
for Christ, for whom he worked until his previous regency ended,
approximately until the end of Alexander's rule. Michael is on
the earth once again, this time in order to serve here on earth
the preparation for Christ and for the deeper comprehension of
the Christ-Impulse.
.........................................................
Those who were to work towards
a real development of Christianity - souls not at the moment
incarnated on the earth, and also other spiritual beings - were
gathered in great numbers around Michael, from the fourteenth
to the sixteenth century, as though in a great, supersensible
school in which those souls were being prepared who were to appear
on earth at the beginning of the twentieth century during Michael's
regency. When we look at what was being prepared there we find
that it was the anthroposophical world view, which wants to work
for this evolution.
The term "textual analysis" was
just brought up in another thread here, and I must say that I
need some help with Steiner's terminology in this text when he
talks about the hierarchy of the archangels. He is describing
six such archangels as regents, Time Spirits - a role otherwise
attributed to the Archai, who stand öne rank above the Archangels,
whose primary task is to lead nations and ethnic groups and cultures
with their languages and so on. And from what I have understood,
Michael was the Archangel of the Hebrews and the countenance
of Yahve, who was a tribal deity of sorts, and later on he was
promoted so to speak, or evolved, to the rank of Archai, becoming
the Regent of our own epoch in 1879. So why are all those "Archangels"
described as Time Spirits by RS in the cycle at hand? What am
I missing here?
Btw, this demonstrates the utter impossibility
for someone like Peter Staudenmaier to attempt "textual
analysis" of Steiner's works, because to him, it is all
incomprehensible "anthro-babble" and gibberish. For
this reason, he resorts to the preposterous notion that Anthroposophy
did not originate in the Michael School of the spiritual world
in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, but in the ditch of national
socialism and pan-Germanism! Hello?
RS continues:
From what the ancient Mystery
wisdom saw, and through the prophetic sight of future Mystery
wisdom, we gather that human beings who take in what we call
the inner Christianity, the spiritualized Christianity, those
who look to the Genius of the Sun with regard to Christ: these
indivivuals will experience an acceleration of their evolution
and reappear on the earth again at the end of the twentieth century.
Dear friends, everything we are able to do now in our time by
way of taking in the spirituality of these teachings is of great
significance, for we are doing it for the human beings who are
*sub specie aeternitatis,* alive at this time. It is a preparation
for what is to take place at the end of the century, initially
in the form of great, all-embracing, intense deeds of the spirit,
after a great deal will have happened that is inimical to a spiritualization
of modern civilization. The great revolutions that came about
in Europe as a result of the Crusades belonged under the sign
of the second occurrence of the number 666. This fact found its
expression in the demise of the Templars. Sorat continues to
work on and on against the forces coming from the Genius of the
Sun that are battling for a genuine Christianity.
Before us lies the time of
the third number 666: 1998. At the end of this century the time
will come when Sorat will once again rise his head most strongly
out of the waves of evolution to become the adversary of that
appearance of Christ which those who have been prepared for it
will already experience during the first half of the twentieth
century when the Etheric Christ becomes visible. Only two thirds
of the century have still to run before Sorat once again raises
his head most mightily.
During the first 666, dear
friends, Sorat was still hidden away inside the evolutionary
process of events; he was not seen in any external form, for
he lived within the deeds of Arabism, and initiates were able
to see him. When the second 666 years had passed he showed himself
in the thinking and feeling of the tortured Templars. And before
this century is out he will show himself by making his appearance
in many humans as the being by whom they are possessed. Human
beings will appear of whom it will be impossible to believe that
they are real human beings. They will even develop externally
in a peculiar manner, for outwardly they will have intense, strong
dispositions with savage features and furious destructiveness
in their emotions. Their faces will be like faces of beasts.
The Sorat human beings will be recognizable by their external
appearance: in a terrible way they will not only scoff at everything
but also oppose and want to push into the pool of filth anything
that is spiritual.
.........................................................
That is why it is so important
that all who are capable of doing so should strive for spirituality.
What is inimical to spirituality will be there anyway, for it
works not through freedom but under determinism. This determinism
has already decreed that at the end of this century Sorat will
be on the loose again, so that the intention to sweep away anything
spiritual will be deepseated in large numbers of earthly souls,
just as the apocalyptist has foreseen in the beast-like countenance
and the beast-like strength that will underlie the deeds of the
adversary against the spiritual. Even today the rage against
spiritual things is already immense. Yet it is still only in
its very early infancy.
Even the great wisdom of the jews, the
Kaballah, speak of salvation coming only from the SON!
Precisely. And this is why some of the greatest
Christian poets of our time, such as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen,
have Jewish background.
Cheers,
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/
...................................................................................................................................
From: Joel Wendt
Date: Sun Dec 14, 2003 2:40 pm
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Islam Revisited
Dear Tarjei,
I am the one who probably posted somewhere
what you are incorrectly remembering. The post was by Catherine
MacCoun, written originally for the Ark, but which I have permission
from her to share where appropriate. Catherine has done a lot
of research on this, and what she offers should not be taken
lightly. If you wish I can repost it.
For the purpose of context, let me remind
you (and any others that are interested) is that spiritual truths
appear frequently to be paradoxical, because of the complexity
of those truths, and the fact that at any given time how the
truth "appears" depends upon where the "viewer"
was standing at the time they reached their understanding.
Steiner frequently said conflicting a paradoxical
things about the same subject. The what Steiner gave to the Priests
seems to conflict with Catherine's researches of is little moment
if we can see that the truth as many aspects. It is entirely
possible for both to be true simultaneously, because they are
essentially speaking to different questions.
warm regards,
joel
On Sat, 2003-12-13 at 11:53, Tarjei Straume
wrote:
Didn't somebody write a message to this list about Islam being
the rescuer of the Christ Impulse in case Christianity failed?
Or maybe it was something sent to me off-list; I don't remember
and I can't find it.
...................................................................................................................................
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Sun Dec 14, 2003 3:03 pm
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Islam Revisited
At 23:40 14.12.2003, Joel wrote:
Dear Tarjei,
I am the one who probably posted somewhere what you are incorrectly
remembering. The post was by Catherine MacCoun, written originally
for the Ark, but which I have permission from her to share where
appropriate. Catherine has done a lot of research on this, and
what she offers should not be taken lightly. If you wish I can
repost it.
Thank you, Joel. As you probably remember
from the Ark, I am on collision course with Catherine on certain
issues. One of these is Jesuitism. Another is the prerequisite
of moral purity to achieve advanced Christian initiation of dr.
Steiner's caliber, and Steiner's personal ethics. A third issue
is obviously Islam.
Last time around, some of these discussions
became rather heated, and I see no point in arguing against Catherine's
views here, especially without her presence. But I also seem
to recall that you and I disagree about the merits of Scientology,
or the absence of such merits.
The reason I mention this is that I see strong
elements of an authoritarian character in Islam, Scientology,
and Jesuitism that are inimical to, and incompatible with, the
following statement from the PoF:
The moral laws which the metaphysician
who works by mere inference must regard as issuing from a higher
power, are, for the adherent of monism, thoughts of men; for
him the moral world order is neither the imprint of a purely
mechanical natural order, nor that of an extra-human world order,
but through and through the free creation of men. It is not the
will of some being outside him in the world that man has to carry
out, but his own; he puts into effect his own resolves and intentions,
not those of another being. Monism does not see, behind man's
actions, the purposes of a supreme directorate, foreign to him
and determining him according to its will, but rather sees that
men, in so far as they realize their intuitive ideas, pursue
only their own human ends. Moreover, each individual pursues
his own particular ends. For the world of ideas comes to expression,
not in a community of men, but only in human individuals. What
appears as the common goal of a whole group of people is only
the result of the separate acts of will of its individual members,
and in fact, usually of a few outstanding ones who, as their
authorities, are followed by the others. Each one of us has it
in him to be a free spirit, just as every rose bud has in it
a rose.
(Die Philosophie der Freiheit 1894, GA #4:
kap. 10: Freiheitsphilosophie und Monismus.)
Cheers,
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/
...................................................................................................................................
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Sun Dec 14, 2003 3:09 pm
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Islam Revisited
I quoted RS from PoF chapter 5:
Each one of us has it in
him to be a free spirit, just as every rose bud has in it a rose.
That's one sentence that for some reason or
other never looks right however well it's translated, so the
German original must be appended:
Jeder von uns ist berufen
zum freien Geiste, wie jeder Rosenkeim berufen ist, Rose zu werden.
Tarjei
...................................................................................................................................
From: dottie zold
Date: Mon Dec 15, 2003 11:22 am
Subject: Re: Islam Revisited
Hi Joel,
I am wondering if you might send it to me
offline if it is not going to be shared on this list.
I am also wondering if it's possible to post
the article without arguing against who wrote it, and this way
we can still discuss the finer points of what Catherine has to
share regarding her own studies on the middle eastern peoples
without making it about her.
I recall her very wonderful way of expressing
this peoples love for God although I do not recall this particular
post you are refering to. Her remarks reminded me of the Muslim
people I am in relationship with and how beautifully they express
their love for God and others.
Sincerely,
Dottie
Joel wrote:
the Ark, but which I have permission from her to share where
appropriate. Catherine has done a lot of research on this, and
what she offers should not be taken lightly. If you wish I can
repost it.
...................................................................................................................................
From: Joel Wendt
Date: Tue Dec 16, 2003 7:28 am
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Islam Revisited
Dear Tarjei,
I find my own thinking parallel with Catherine's,
in the need to make a distinction between the ideological aspects
of a Religion, and its practice by ordinary people.
Steiner, in regards to both Jesuitism and
Islam seems to be discussing the ideological and dogmatic structures
of the Religion, but not the practice by individual human beings.
It is also possible to look at the situation of Catholicism,
and fundamentalist Protestantism, and find their ideologies unsatisfactory
when compared to the "purity" of anthroposophy and
PoF.
But this is certainly not the question that
I am asking. My question is what is working from the inside out,
and from the human upward, in the social life where these religions
are present, and within which people are involved. With this
question in mind it is clear that many Christians ignore the
trash in the Bible (such as several parts of Leviticus), and
the many Muslims also ignore the trash in the Koran. They do
this because their human heart and conscience is a more true
source (especially in the Age of the Consciousness Soul) of their
real spiritual/social impulses, than the ideological religious
strictures in which they were raised.
It is also clear to social observation, that
it is the radical elements of Religions that seek to dominate
and convert, while it is the moderate elements (the Meek, in
the Beatitudes) that work silently, and who are to "inherit
the Earth".
The radical elements are especially drawn
out at this time*, because they look backward to an imagined
more pure religious past (an illusion prompted by the Double).
The fundamentalist impulse fears the future, and fears the loss
of power they have enjoyed, so as a result clings ever more strongly
to the reigns of religious power. This is true everywhere, not
just in Islam. The same struggle goes on in Dornach, between
those lost in the illusion of Third Epoch social hierarchical
order, and those living in the reality of the Fifth Epoch new
social order, being born from the bottom up.
warm regards,
joel
*time - Western Civilization is dying, along
with many other older social forms all over the world. This social
chaos then leads to fear within those who have been on top, or
believe they should be, so that they oppose all the changes.
But the changes cannot be stopped, and the opposition only heightens,
among those whose will is opposed, the drive for change.
...................................................................................................................................
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Fri Dec 26, 2003 5:22 pm
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Islam Revisited
Happy holidays, Joel.
You wrote:
I find my own thinking parallel with Catherine's,
in the need to make a distinction between the ideological aspects
of a Religion, and its practice by ordinary people.
Divisions among anthroposophists, just like
among other people, on the issue of Islam, are quite apparent.
I just had an email exchange with Peter Normann Waage about this
topic. He writes me a lot of stuff about it and expresses his
personal opinion, that a great meeting between Islam and the
West allegedly taking place at the end of the 20th century according
to RS, between Platonists and Aristotelians. He says the Muslims
today are the Platonists and the Western secular culture Aristotelian.
My response is that the end-of-20th-century train is gone; we're
well into the 21st century, and Islam is exploding all over the
globe. Peter says terrorist explosions started long ago, and
I agree, because a century ago, Steiner's anarchist friend Ben
Tucker approved of the use of dynamite once in a while to tell
the politicians where to go when other means of persuasions fell
on deaf ears.
So the bottom line here (me speaking) is that
it's not only a question of explosions, but their purpose as
well. Anarchist explosions are intended to liberate, and Muslim
explosions are intended to frighten people into slavery and obedience.
Islam means surrender, i.e. slavery and obedience to a metaphysical
dictator. So my aversion to Islam, Jesuitism, and Scientology
is primarily based upon the unforgettable words uttered by Patrick
Henry, March 23, 1775:
Is life so dear, or peace
so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take;
but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Or as Theokles/Phosphoros says to Lucifer
in Schure's play:
Rather a hundred thousand
deaths and everlasting pain than forego a single fragment of
my liberty!
Don't get me wrong; I don't believe in anarchist
dynamite. Paulina and I seem to agree upon a hard line with regard
to Islam, but we seem to disagree about how to respond to the
challenge. War on the physical plane is out of synch with the
Michaelic impulse that bears a direct link to the Sermon on the
Mount in the Matthew Gospel - an impulse that has been pursued
by Tolstoi, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Nelson
Mandela and others like them. There is no room for bombs, automatic
rifles, electric chairs, lethal injections, firing squads, SWAT
teams, interrogations, torture, etc. in this Michael-stream.
Other, non-violent means of resistance must be mustered - even
against suicidal terrorists.
Steiner, in regards to both Jesuitism and
Islam seems to be discussing the ideological and dogmatic structures
of the Religion, but not the practice by individual human beings.
Steiner does justice to the individual when
he describes individual historical characters and their biographies
and so on, but he does tend to stereotype huge groups sometimes.
To a certain extent, this may be unavoidable to gain a certain
clarity of sorts, but nothing said by Steiner seems to have been
intended in a one-sided way. Of course there are many ways to
see and interpret and understand Islam, but I have chosen to
stress Steiner's warnings about Islam and Sorat and 1998 for
reasons I believe I have made clear.
It is also possible to look at the situation
of Catholicism, and fundamentalist Protestantism, and find their
ideologies unsatisfactory when compared to the "purity"
of anthroposophy and PoF.
Oh, so absolutely. And in the cycle of 18
lectures we've been talking about, "The Book of Revelation
and the work of the Priest," Steiner also talks about how
the Roman Catholic Church has been a vehicle for Sorat the Sun-Demon,
in addition to Islam, or Mohammedanism as he calls it. Curiously,
Peter Normann Waage says "mohammedanism" is a derogatory
word these days that's offensive to Muslims.. That's news to
me. Has anybody else heard that too?
But this is certainly not the question
that I am asking. My question is what is working from the inside
out, and from the human upward, in the social life where these
religions are present, and within which people are involved.
With this question in mind it is clear that many Christians ignore
the trash in the Bible (such as several parts of Leviticus),
and the many Muslims also ignore the trash in the Koran.
I'm glad you mention "trash," because
according to the PLANS cult, anthroposophists believe in trash.
That's why the so-called "critics" repeat the same
trash over and over again in order to proclaim to the world what
we believe.
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/
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