The Michael Mystery
GA 26
IX. World-Thoughts in Michael, and World-Thoughts in Ahriman
[ 1 ] In contemplating the relation between Michael and Ahriman, one is unavoidably led to the question: what position do these two spiritual powers occupy towards one another in the whole cosmic interrelation, inasmuch as both of them are engaged in the evolution of the intellectual forces?
[ 2 ] Michael exercised the power of the intellect throughout the Cosmos in past times. He did so then as servant of the divine spiritual Powers, to whom he himself, as well as Man, owes his origin. And this original relation to the intellectual force it is his will to maintain. When this intellectual force became detached from the divine spiritual powers, to find its way into the mind of the human being, Michael determined forthwith to place himself in a right position towards mankind, so as to establish in Man his own relation with the intellectual force. He purposed however to do this all, as before, solely in accordance with the designs of the divine spiritual powers, and to continue to act as the servant of these powers, with whom he, like Man, is united from his origin. It is his purpose, therefore, that in future the intellectual stream should flow through the hearts of men, yet still as the same force which it was when first it flowed forth from the divine spiritual powers in the beginning.
[ 3 ] With Ahriman it is very different. This being has long since detached himself from the evolutionary stream to which those divine spiritual powers belong, of whom we are speaking. Already, in a remote past, he had set himself up beside them as an independent cosmic power. And now, at the present time, he stands spatially in the same world to which Man belongs, but enters into no combination of forces with the beings who belong by rights to this world. Only, when the intellectual force becomes detached from the divine spiritual beings and passes over to the world of Man, Ahriman finds such an affinity to this intellectual force, that he is able, through it, to unite himself after his own fashion with mankind. For what Man receives at the present time as a gift from the Cosmos, Ahriman united with himself long ago, in remote ages. Ahriman, were he to succeed in his intentions, would make the intellect that mankind has received similar to his own.
[ 4 ] Now Ahriman acquired possession of the intellectual force at a time when he could not convert it into inward life. It remained in his being as a force that has nothing to do with the heart and soul. A chill and frosty, soulless cosmic impulse is the intellectual power as it streams from Ahriman. And the men who are overtaken by this impulse evolve chains of reasoning in which, in merciless and heartless fashion, the logic seems to speak for itself—in reality it is Ahriman, who is speaking through it—and which show no sign of any real, inward connection of the man's heart and soul with what he is thinking and saying and doing.
[ 5 ] Michael has never appropriated the power of intellect to himself. He administers it as a divine spiritual force, feeling himself in union with the divine spiritual powers. And this intellectual force, when Michael wields it, shows itself to be as well capable of being made an expression of the heart and soul, as of the head and mind. For Michael bears within him all the first forces of the Gods of his origin and men's. And therefore nothing of chill frost nor soullessness is by him conveyed into the reasonings of the intellect; but he upholds these reasonings with heart-felt earnestness and warmth of soul.
[ 6 ] And herein too lies the reason why Michael's face and bearing are grave, as he journeys through the Cosmos. To be thus bound up in the inner life with the Intelligence that is the world's substance, means at the same time fulfilling the condition, that one introduce into this Intelligent substance nothing of arbitrary volition, of subjective aims or desires. Else, logical reasoning becomes the arbitrary choice of a single person—instead of being the expression of the Cosmos. Strictly to keep his own being an expression of world-being—whatever of private self may stir within, to keep it within—this Michael regards as his more especial virtue. His mind is bent upon the great cosmic relations; this speaks in his countenance. His will shall go forth to men as a reflection of that which he discerns in the Cosmos; this speaks in his bearing, his gestures. Michael is in all things grave. For gravity in the face of any being is the reflection of the Cosmos in this being; a smiling countenance is the expression of that which shines forth from the being itself into the world.
[ 7 ] One of the Imaginations of Michael is as follows: He reigns through the course of Time, bearing the light of the Cosmos as living being of his being, fashioning the warmth of the Cosmos as revelation of his own being. He wends as one Being like a World—affirming himself inasmuch only as he affirms the World—as though from all stations of the universe guiding forces to the earth below.
[ 8 ] And, in contrast, an Imagination of Ahriman: Ahriman, in his course, from time would wring Space. Around him is darkness, into which he projects the rays of his own light. The more he achieves his ends, the keener grows the frost about him. He moves like a world contracted into one single being—his own; affirming himself only by negating the world; he moves, as though he brought with him uncanny forces from the dark caverns of the earth.
[ 9 ] When Man pursues freedom, but with no leaning towards egoism; when freedom is to him pure love for the action he seeks to perform—then it is possible for him to draw near to Michael. If he seeks freedom in order to afford scope for his egoism; if freedom be to him the pride of feeling that in the action he gives expression to himself, then he is in imminent danger of falling into Ahriman's domain.
[ 10 ] The Imaginations above described shine forth from a man's love towards the action he performs; then it is Michael; or else, from self-love of his own person in the performance: then it is Ahriman.
[ 11 ] When Man, as a free being, feels himself near to Michael, then he is on the way to convey the intellectual power into his ‘whole man.’ He thinks, it is true, with his head; but his heart feels the light or dark of the thinking. Will pours Man's inner being forth in light, when Thoughts flow through the Will with force of purpose. Man grows ever more Man, as he grows to be an expression of the World. He finds himself, not be seeking himself, but by uniting himself to the world with Will in Love.
[ 12 ] When Man, in the enjoyment of his freedom, lets himself be seduced by Ahriman, he becomes caught up into the intellectual process as into a spiritual automatism, in which he is a bit of the machinery, no longer himself. All his thinking becomes an affair of the head; and the head severs the thinking from the life of his own individual heart and individual will, and altogether blots out his own individuality. In making himself an expression of his own separate self, the man becomes ever less and less the expression of his innermost, characteristically human, being. In seeking himself, he loses himself. He withdraws from the world from which he withholds his love. Man realizes himself in truth, only when he loves the world.
[ 13 ] From the picture here drawn, it is plain to see how Michael is men's guide to the Christ. With all the gravity of his being, his bearing, his actions, Michael goes through the world in Love. He who follows Michael, cherishes Love in relations with the outer world. And Love must unfold itself first in relations with the outer world—else it turns to Self-Love.
[ 14 ] But if there be this Love, as cherished in the Michael-mind, the ‘Love for Others’ will be reflected back into the personal Self. The Self will then love, without loving itself. And on the paths of such Love as this, Christ is to be found by the soul of Man. [ 15 ] He who follows Michael, cherishes Love in relations with the outer world, and thereby finds that relation to the inner world of his own soul, which brings him together with Christ.
[ 16 ] The age, now beginning to dawn, requires that men's eyes should be turned to a world which lies, as spiritual world, on the very borders of the seemingly physical one, and in which they may find things such as the Michael Being and the Michael Mission, here described. For that world, which Man paints to himself as a picture of the natural world, from the view he has of the seemingly physical one, is not even that world in which he is immediately living, but one that lies as far below the real world of Man, as the Michael-world lies above it. Only Man does not notice that unconsciously, when he sets out to paint his own world, it is really the picture of another which emerges. In the very painting of this picture, he has already begun to eliminate himself, and to fall into spiritual automatism. Man can only save his manhood, when, over against this picture—which he takes for a view of nature, and where he himself is lost—he sets that other one, which shows Michael as he rides on high, Michael leading the way to Christ.
Leading Thoughts
[ 17 ] Anything which is a working force in the world—as, for instance, the World-Thoughts—is not recognized in its true character and meaning for the world, if one looks only at the force per se, which is working. One must go further, and distinguish the Beings from whom the action of the force proceeds; with the World-Thoughts, for instance, whether it is Michael or Ahriman who brings them into the world and maintains them here.
[ 18 ] The same thing which, proceeding from one Being, may work healthfully and re-creatively because of this particular Being's relation to the world, may have a baneful and destructive action, when it proceeds from a different Being. The World-Thoughts carry Man on towards the future when he receives them from Michael. They lead him away from the future of his own welfare when Ahriman can instill them into him.
[ 19 ] by such reflections one is led more and more to get beyond the view of an indefinite spiritual existence, some pantheistic sea of causation at the base of all things, and to pass on to a view more definite and concrete, that rises to conceptions of the distinct spiritual Beings of the Higher Hierarchies. For, in truth, Reality consists everywhere in forms of living Being; whatever in Reality is not living Being, is action that takes place in the relations of Being to Being. And this action can only be understood when one has sight of the Beings who are acting.
Die Weltgedanken im Wirken Michaels und im Wirken Ahrimans
[ 1 ] Der Betrachter des Verhältnisses Michaels zu Ahriman wird wohl zu der Frage gedrängt: wie verhalten sich in dem kosmischen Zusammenhange diese beiden Geistesmächte, insoferne doch beide in der Entfaltung der intellektuellen Kräfte tätig sind?
[ 2 ] Michael entfaltete die Intellektualität durch den Kosmos hindurch in der Vergangenheit. Da tat er dieses als Diener der göttlich-geistigen Mächte, die sowohl ihm selbst wie dem Menschen den Ursprung gegeben haben. Und bei diesem Verhältnis zur Intellektualität will er bleiben. Als diese von den göttlich-geistigen Mächten sich loslöste, um den Weg in das Innere des Menschenwesens zu finden, da beschloß er, fortan sich in rechter Art zur Menschheit zu stellen, um in dieser sein Verhältnis zur Intellektualität zu finden. Aber er wollte all dieses nur im Sinne der göttlich-geistigen Mächte auch weiterhin als deren Diener tun, der Mächte, mit denen er von seinem und der Menschen Ursprünge her verbunden ist. So ist seine Absicht, daß in Zukunft die Intellektualität durch die Herzen der Menschen ströme, aber als dieselbe Kraft, die sie ausströmend aus den göttlich-geistigen Mächten schon im Anfange war.
[ 3 ] Ganz anders steht es bei Ahriman. Dieses Wesen hat sich seit lange aus der Entwickelungsströmung losgelöst, der die gekennzeichneten göttlich-geistigen Mächte angehören. Es hat sich in urferner Vergangenheit als selbständige kosmische Macht neben diese hingestellt. - Nun steht es in der Gegenwart zwar räumlich in der Welt darinnen, der der Mensch angehört, aber es entwickelt mit den rechtmäßig dieser Welt angehörenden Wesen keinen Kräftezusammenhang. Nur da die Intellektualität, von den göttlich-geistigen Wesen losgelöst, an diese Welt herankommt, findet Ahriman sich mit dieser Intellektualität so verwandt, daß er sich auf seine Art durch sie mit der Menschheit verbinden kann. Denn er hat, was der Mensch in der Gegenwart wie eine Gabe aus dem Kosmos erhält, schon in urferner Zeit mit sich vereinigt. Ahriman würde, wenn ihm gelänge, was in seiner Absicht liegt, den der Menschheit gegebenen Intellekt ähnlich seinem eigenen machen. –
[ 4 ] Nun hat Ahriman sich die Intellektualität in einer Zeit angeeignet, als er sie nicht in sich verinnerlichen konnte. Sie blieb eine Kraft in seinem Wesen, die mit Herz und Seele nichts zu tun hat. Als kalt-frostiger, seelenloser kosmischer Impuls strömt von Ahriman die Intellektualität aus. Und die Menschen, die von diesem Impuls ergriffen werden, entwickeln eine Logik, die in erbarmungs- und liebeloser Art für sich selbst zu sprechen scheint - in Wahrheit spricht eben Ahriman in ihr -, bei der sich nichts zeigt, was rechtes, inneres, herzlich-seelisches Verbundensein des Menschen ist mit dem, was er denkt, spricht, tut.-
[ 5 ] Michael hat sich die Intellektualität aber nie angeeignet. Er verwaltet sie als göttlich-geistige Kraft, indem er sich verbunden fühlt mit den göttlich-geistigen Mächten. Dadurch zeigt sich auch, indem er die Intellektualität durchdringt, in dieser die Möglichkeit, ein Ausdruck des Herzens, der Seele ebenso gut zu sein wie ein solcher des Kopfes, des Geistes. Denn Michael trägt in sich alle die Ursprungskräfte seiner Götter und der des Menschen. Dadurch überträgt er auf die Intellektualität nichts Kalt-Frostiges, Seelenloses, sondern er steht bei ihr in warm-inniger, seelenvoller Art.
[ 6 ] Und hierinnen liegt auch der Grund, warum Michael mit ernster Miene und Geste durch den Kosmos wallet. Im Innern so verbunden sein mit dem intelligenten Inhalte, wie Michael es ist, bedeutet zugleich, die Anforderung erfüllen müssen, nichts von subjektiver Willkür, von Wunsch oder Begehren in diesen Inhalt hineinzubringen. Sonst wird ja Logik Willkür eines Wesens statt Ausdruck des Kosmos. Streng sein Wesen als Ausdruck des Weltwesens zu halten; alles, was sich im Innern als Eigenwesen regen will, auch in diesem Innern zu lassen: das betrachtet Michael als seine Tugend. Sein Sinn ist nach den großen Zusammenhängen des Kosmos gerichtet - davon spricht seine Miene; sein Wille, der an den Menschen herantritt, soll widerspiegeln, was er im Kosmos erschaut -, davon spricht seine Haltung, seine Geste. Michael ist in allem ernst, denn Ernst als Offenbarung eines Wesens ist der Spiegel des Kosmos aus diesem Wesen; Lächeln ist der Ausdruck dessen, was, von einem Wesen ausgehend, in die Welt hineinstrahlt.
[ 7 ] Eine der Imaginationen von Michael ist auch diese: Er wallet durch den Zeitenlauf, das Licht aus dem Kosmos wesenhaft als sein Wesen tragend; die Wärme aus dem Kosmos als Offenbarer seines eigenen Wesens gestaltend; er wallet als Wesen n/ie eine Welt, sich selber nur bejahend, indem er die Welt bejaht, wie aus allen Weltenstätten Kräfte zur Erde niederführend.
[ 8 ] Dagegen eine solche von Ahriman: Er möchte in seinem Gange aus der Zeit den Raum erobern, er hat Finsternis um sich, in die er die Strahlen des eignen Lichtes sendet; er hat um so stärkeren Frost um sich, je mehr er von seinen Absichten erreicht; er bewegt sich als Welt, die sich ganz in ein Wesen, das eigene, zusammenzieht, in dem er sich selber nur bejaht durch Verneinung der Welt; er bewegt sich, wie wenn er die unheimlichen Kräfte finsterer Höhlen der Erde mit sich führte.
[ 9 ] Wenn der Mensch die Freiheit sucht, ohne Anwandlung zum Egoismus, wenn ihm Freiheit wird reine Liebe zur auszuführenden Handlung, dann hat er die Möglichkeit, sich Michael zu nahen; wenn er in Freiheit wirken will bei Entfaltung des Egoismus, wenn ihm Freiheit wird das stolze Gefühl, sich selber in der Handlung zu offenbaren, dann steht er vor der Gefahr, in Ahrimans Gebiet zu gelangen.
[ 10 ] Die oben geschilderten Imaginationen leuchten auf aus des Menschen Liebe zur Handlung (Michael) oder seiner Eigenliebe zu sich selbst, indem er handelt (Ahriman).
[ 11 ] Indem sich der Mensch als freies Wesen in Michaels Nähe fühlt, ist er auf dem Wege, die Kraft der Intellektualität in seinen «ganzen Menschen» zu tragen; er denkt zwar mit dem Kopfe, aber das Herz fühlt des Denkens Hell oder Dunkel; der Wille strahlt des Menschen Wesen aus, indem er die Gedanken als Absichten in sich strömen hat. Der Mensch wird immer mehr Mensch, indem er Ausdruck der Welt wird; er findet sich, indem er sich nicht sucht, sondern in Liebe sich wollend der Welt verbindet.
[ 12 ] Indem der Mensch seine Freiheit entfaltend in Ahrimans Verlockungen fällt, wird er in die Intellektualität hineingezogen, wie in einen geistigen Automatismus, in dem er ein Glied ist, nicht mehr er selbst. All sein Denken wird Erlebnis des Kopfes; allein dieser sondert es vom Eigenherzerleben und eignem Willensleben ab und löscht das Eigensein aus. Der Mensch verliert immer mehr von seinem innerlich wesenhaft-menschlichen Ausdruck, indem er Ausdruck seines Eigenseins wird; er verliert sich, indem er sich sucht; er entzieht sich der Welt, der er die Liebe verweigert ; aber der Mensch erlebt sich nur wahrhaft, wenn er die Welt liebt.
[ 13 ] Es ist aus dem Geschilderten wohl anschaulich, wie Michael der Führer zu Christus ist. Michael geht mit allem Ernste seines Wesens, seiner Haltung, seines Handelns in Liebe durch die Welt. Wer sich an ihn hält, der pfleget im Verhältnis zur Außenwelt der Liebe. Und Liebe muß im Verhältnis zur Außenwelt sich zunächst entfalten, sonst wird sie Selbstliebe.
[ 14 ] Ist dann diese Liebe in der Michael-Gesinnung da, dann wird Liebe zum andern auch zurückstrahlen können ins eigene Selbst. Dieses wird lieben können, ohne sich selbst zu lieben. Und auf den Wegen solcher Liebe ist Christus durch die Menschenseele zu finden.
[ 15 ] Wer sich an Michael hält, der pfleget im Verhältnis zur Außenwelt der Liebe, und er findet dadurch das Verhältnis zur Innenwelt seiner Seele, das ihn mit Christus zusammenführt.
[ 16 ] Das Zeitalter, das jetzt im Anbrechen ist, bedarf des Hinblickes der Menschheit auf eine Welt, die unmittelbar als geistige an die physisch empfundene angrenzt und in der solches zu finden ist, wie es hier als Michael-Wesenheit und Michael-Mission geschildert ist. Denn die Welt, die sich der Mensch im Anblicke dieser physischen Welt als die Natur ausmalt, ist auch nicht die, in der er unmittelbar lebt, sondern eine solche, die so weit unter der wahrhaft menschlichen liegt wie die michaelische über dieser. Nur merkt der Mensch nicht, daß unbewußt, indem er sich ein Bild seiner Welt macht, eigentlich das einer ändern entsteht. Er ist, indem er dieses Bild malt, schon dabei, sich auszuschalten und dem geistigen Automatisrnus zu verfallen. Der Mensch kann seine Menschheit nur bewahren, wenn er diesem Bilde, in dem er sich als in dem Bilde der Naturanschauung verliert, das andere gegenüberstellt, in dem Michael waltet, in dem Michael die Wege zum Christus führt.
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden (Mit Bezug auf die vorangehende Darstellung über die Weltgedanken im Wirken Michaels und im Wirken Ahrimans)
[ 17 ] 121. Man hat ein in der Welt Wirkendes, zum Beispiel die Weltgedanken, in seiner Bedeutung für die Welt noch nicht durchschaut, wenn man bei diesem Wirkenden an sich stehen bleibt, sondern man muß erkennend auf die Wesen blicken, von denen das Wirkende ausgeht; zum Beispiel für die Weltgedanken, ob sie von Michael oder Ahriman in und durch die Welt getragen werden.
[ 18 ] 122. Was von dem einen Wesen ausgehend, wegen dessen Verhältnis zur Welt, heilsam und schaffend wirken kann, das kann sich verderblich und zerstörend erweisen, wenn es von einem ändern Wesen ausgeht. Die Weltgedanken tragen den Menschen in die Zukunft, wenn er sie von Michael empfängt; sie führen ihn von der ihm heilsamen Zukunft hinweg, wenn Ahriman sie ihm geben kann.
[ 19 ] 123. Durch solche Betrachtungen wird man immer mehr dazu gebracht, die Anschauung von einer unbestimmten Geistigkeit, die pantheistisch auf dem Grunde der Dinge walten soll, zu überwinden; und man wird zu einer bestimmten, konkreten geführt, die von den geistigen Wesen der höheren Hierarchien sich Vorstellungen machen kann. Denn die Wirklichkeit besteht ja überall im Wesenhaften; und was in ihr nicht Wesenhaftes ist, das ist die Tätigkeit, die sich im Verhältnisse von Wesen zu Wesen abspielt. Es kann nur begriffen werden, wenn man den Blick auf die tätigen Wesen werfen kann.
The world thoughts in the work of Michael and the work of Ahriman
[ 1 ] The observer of Michael's relationship to Ahriman is probably forced to ask the question: how do these two spiritual powers behave in the cosmic context, insofar as both are active in the unfolding of intellectual powers?
[ 2 ] Michael unfolded intellectuality through the cosmos in the past. He did this as a servant of the divine-spiritual powers that gave both himself and man their origin. And he wants to remain in this relationship to intellectuality. When this detached itself from the divine-spiritual powers in order to find its way into the inner being of man, he decided to place himself from then on in the right way towards humanity in order to find his relationship to intellectuality in it. But he wanted to continue to do all this only in the sense of the divine-spiritual powers as their servant, the powers with which he is connected from his and mankind's origins. Thus his intention is that in the future intellectuality should flow through the hearts of men, but as the same power that it was in the beginning, emanating from the divine-spiritual powers.
[ 3 ] The situation is quite different with Ahriman. This being has long since detached itself from the current of development to which the designated divine-spiritual powers belong. In the distant past it placed itself alongside them as an independent cosmic power. - Now, in the present, it stands spatially within the world to which man belongs, but it develops no connection of forces with the beings that rightfully belong to this world. Only since intellectuality, detached from the divine-spiritual beings, approaches this world, does Ahriman find himself so related to this intellectuality that he can connect himself in his own way with humanity through it. For he has already united with himself in ancient times what man receives in the present like a gift from the cosmos. Ahriman would, if he succeeded in what he intended, make the intellect given to mankind similar to his own. -
[ 4 ] Now Ahriman appropriated intellectuality at a time when he could not internalize it within himself. It remained a force in his being that had nothing to do with heart and soul. Intellectuality emanates from Ahriman as a cold-frosty, soulless cosmic impulse. And people who are seized by this impulse develop a logic that seems to speak for itself in a pitiless and loveless way - in truth, it is Ahriman who speaks in it - in which nothing is revealed that is the true, inner, heartfelt-soul connection of man with what he thinks, speaks and does.
[ 5 ] Michael, however, never appropriated intellectuality. He administers it as a divine-spiritual power by feeling connected to the divine-spiritual powers. In this way, by penetrating intellectuality, he also reveals the possibility of being an expression of the heart, of the soul, just as well as of the head, of the spirit. For Michael carries within him all the original powers of his gods and those of man. As a result, he does not transfer anything cold and frosty or soulless to intellectuality, but stands with it in a warm, soulful way.
[ 6 ] And this is also the reason why Michael wanders through the cosmos with a serious expression and gesture. To be inwardly so connected with the intelligent content, as Michael is, means at the same time having to fulfill the requirement of bringing nothing of subjective arbitrariness, wish or desire into this content. Otherwise logic becomes the arbitrariness of a being instead of an expression of the cosmos. To hold his being strictly as an expression of the world being; to leave everything that wants to stir within as a being of its own also within this being: Michael regards this as his virtue. His mind is directed towards the great connections of the cosmos - his expression speaks of this; his will, which approaches man, should reflect what he sees in the cosmos - his attitude, his gesture speaks of this. Michael is serious in everything, because seriousness as the revelation of a being is the mirror of the cosmos from this being; a smile is the expression of what radiates from a being into the world.
[ 7 ] One of the imaginations of Michael is also this: He walks through time, carrying the light from the cosmos essentially as his being; shaping the warmth from the cosmos as a revelator of his own being; he walks as being n/no world, affirming himself only by affirming the world, as bringing down forces to earth from all places of the world.
[ 8 ] In contrast, such a one from Ahriman: He wants to conquer space in his gait out of time, he has darkness around him into which he sends the rays of his own light; he has all the stronger frost around him the more he achieves of his intentions; it moves as a world that is completely drawn together into one being, its own, in which it affirms itself only by negating the world; it moves as if it carried the uncanny forces of the dark caves of the earth with it.
[ 9 ] When man seeks freedom without any inclination towards egoism, when freedom becomes pure love for the action to be performed, then he has the possibility of approaching Michael; if he wants to work in freedom with the development of egoism, if freedom becomes the proud feeling to reveal himself in the action, then he faces the danger of entering Ahriman's territory.
[ 10 ] The imaginations described above light up out of man's love for action (Michael) or his self-love for himself by acting (Ahriman).
[ 11 ] Inasmuch as man feels himself to be a free being in Michael's proximity, he is on the way to carrying the power of intellectuality into his "whole man"; he thinks with his head, but the heart feels the light or darkness of thought; the will radiates the essence of man by having thoughts flowing within him as intentions. Man becomes more and more human by becoming an expression of the world; he finds himself by not seeking, but by willingly connecting himself to the world in love.
[ 12 ] When man, unfolding his freedom, falls into Ahriman's allurements, he is drawn into intellectuality, as into a spiritual automatism in which he is a member, no longer himself. All his thinking becomes an experience of the head; only the head separates it from his own heart life and his own will life and extinguishes his own being. Man loses more and more of his inner essential human expression by becoming an expression of his own being; he loses himself by seeking himself; he withdraws from the world, which he refuses to love; but man only truly experiences himself when he loves the world.
[ 13 ] It is clear from what has been described how Michael is the guide to Christ. Michael goes through the world with all the seriousness of his nature, his attitude and his actions in love. Whoever adheres to him cultivates love in relation to the outside world, and love must first unfold in relation to the outside world, otherwise it becomes self-love.
[ 14 ] If this love is then present in the Michael attitude, then love for the other will also be able to radiate back into one's own self. It will be able to love without loving itself. And on the paths of such love, Christ can be found through the human soul.
[ 15 ] Whoever adheres to Michael cultivates a relationship with the outer world of love, and thereby finds the relationship with the inner world of his soul, which brings him together with Christ.
[ 16 ] The age that is now dawning requires mankind to look to a world that is directly adjacent to the physically perceived as spiritual and in which such is to be found as is described here as the Michael entity and Michael's mission. For the world which man imagines as nature in the sight of this physical world is also not the one in which he lives directly, but one which lies as far below the truly human as the Michaelic above it. Only man does not realize that unconsciously, by making an image of his world, he actually creates that of a change. By painting this picture, he is already in the process of switching himself off and falling into spiritual automatism. Man can only preserve his humanity if he juxtaposes this image, in which he loses himself as in the image of the view of nature, with the other, in which Michael reigns, in which Michael leads the way to Christ.
Further guiding principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society (with reference to the previous presentation on the world thoughts in the work of Michael and the work of Ahriman)
[ 17 ] 121 One has not yet seen through something that is active in the world, for example, the world thoughts, in its significance for the world, if one stops at this active thing in itself, but one must look recognizably at the beings from which the active thing emanates; for example, for the world thoughts, whether they are carried into and through the world by Michael or Ahriman.
[ 18 ] 122 What can have a salutary and creative effect starting from one being, because of its relationship to the world, can prove to be pernicious and destructive if it starts from a different being. The thoughts of the world carry man into the future if he receives them from Michael; they lead him away from the future that is salutary for him if Ahriman can give them to him.
[ 19 ] 123 Through such contemplations one is led more and more to overcome the view of an indeterminate spirituality, which is supposed to reign pantheistically at the bottom of things; and one is led to a definite, concrete one, which can form ideas of the spiritual beings of the higher hierarchies. For reality consists everywhere in essence; and what is not essence in it is the activity that takes place in the relationship of being to being. It can only be understood if one can cast one's gaze on the active beings.