Module 1:The Wisdom of God in the being and becoming Human: A consideration of Anthroposophy and Prayer
Theosophy and Petition
The Christian Community Southern Africa Region Africa Seminary held a module over the weekend on the theme of “The Wisdom of God in the being and becoming Human”. This theme considered Anthroposophy and prayer.
The first Module was specific in considering Theosophy and Petition.
Fourteen people gathered from Botswana, Hillcrest in KZN, Morgan Bay in the Eastern Cape, the Free State and Johannesburg. The seminary module was led by Rev, Michaël Merle and Rev. Reingard Knausenberger.
Theosophy comes from the Greek where it can be split into ‘Theo’ meaning God and ‘Sophia’ meaning wisdom. The Divine created out of Its own substance based on Its highest wisdom. The Human Being is said in scripture to have been created in the image of the Divine. Therefore, the study of the human being reveals Divine Wisdom. The understanding of the human being can readily be traced back to the Vedas, the ancient scriptures of Hinduism. As the understanding of the human being develops it traces the development of the human being. Rudolf Steiner in his book “Theosophy” follows the development of the human being and traces the future development that is the clear progression from where our development has led.
This complete view of the human being and the development of the human being reveals to us one aspect of the Wisdom of God.
When we understand the development of the human being, we can more easily understand petition. The word means to claim that which is ours. When one petitions the court, one is asking the court to confirm that your claim is valid. When the court finds in your favour it may also award costs. Similarly, when we petition the Divine we are not asking as children to be given what we cannot provide for ourselves, we are claiming what is ours and we may hope that when we work with what we have claimed as ours that we may receive a little help as grace from the Divine.
A new understanding arises from the seeds planted (seminary derives from the same root as seed) that may grow as each seminarian goes home and works to uncover the depth of meaning from this module.
The first Module was specific in considering Theosophy and Petition.
Fourteen people gathered from Botswana, Hillcrest in KZN, Morgan Bay in the Eastern Cape, the Free State and Johannesburg. The seminary module was led by Rev, Michaël Merle and Rev. Reingard Knausenberger.
Theosophy comes from the Greek where it can be split into ‘Theo’ meaning God and ‘Sophia’ meaning wisdom. The Divine created out of Its own substance based on Its highest wisdom. The Human Being is said in scripture to have been created in the image of the Divine. Therefore, the study of the human being reveals Divine Wisdom. The understanding of the human being can readily be traced back to the Vedas, the ancient scriptures of Hinduism. As the understanding of the human being develops it traces the development of the human being. Rudolf Steiner in his book “Theosophy” follows the development of the human being and traces the future development that is the clear progression from where our development has led.
This complete view of the human being and the development of the human being reveals to us one aspect of the Wisdom of God.
When we understand the development of the human being, we can more easily understand petition. The word means to claim that which is ours. When one petitions the court, one is asking the court to confirm that your claim is valid. When the court finds in your favour it may also award costs. Similarly, when we petition the Divine we are not asking as children to be given what we cannot provide for ourselves, we are claiming what is ours and we may hope that when we work with what we have claimed as ours that we may receive a little help as grace from the Divine.
A new understanding arises from the seeds planted (seminary derives from the same root as seed) that may grow as each seminarian goes home and works to uncover the depth of meaning from this module.
Theosophy and Petition
– a review by Bridgette Siepker
“As human beings we call the highest thing that we can look up to “the Divine” and we must imagine that our highest aim and calling have something to do with this divine element.”
This quote from the introduction to Theosophy set the mood for the introduction to the weekend which Michaël gave on Friday evening. It captures the work of the weekend and it describes what we spent most of our time thinking about - just how closely we really are connected and reflect aspects of the divine.
We were reminded that the word ‘Theosophy’ means ‘Divine Wisdom’ or ‘Wisdom of God'. If we are made in the image of God then we must surely reflect this divine wisdom of God We are therefore an image of this divine wisdom, we are Theosophy ourselves! This was a wonderful thought for many of us to contemplate.
Michaël shared how, through the ages of time, people felt the human being to be made of three different bodies. From the ‘wise ones’ who were the authors of the Vedas to the Ancient Greek philosophers, and St Paul, the human being was said to consist of bodies veiled in sheaths all reflecting aspects of the human being who was and who was still becoming. Physical body, Subtle body, Seed Body spoken about in the Vedas or Soma, Psyche, and Essential Divine explained by the Ancient Greeks or Body, Soul and Spirit to which St Paul refers in his letter to the Thessalonians are ancient ideas that Steiner brought to life for our times in his book Theosophy. We used his seven-fold picture of the human being and sometimes his nine-fold picture and sometimes his four-fold picture, but they were always related to the ancient three-fold pictures.
The evening ended with a Close of Day Service.
Saturday began with the Act of Consecration of Man which was followed by 4 sessions of work throughout the day. In each of the sessions we began using the framework of Steiner’s seven-fold human being. Physical Body, Life Body, Astral Body, ‘I’-Organisation, Spirit Self, Life Spirit and Spirit Human. In order to understand what is meant by these various bodies of the human being Michael presented a complementary seven-fold picture in each session. These complimentary pictures revealed different aspects of each of the bodies and led us into a deeper understanding and appreciation of the pictures that Steiner creates. It was important to begin with a general explanation of each of the seven bodies of the human being. It was wonderful to be shown how, when transformed, each of the lower bodies gives rise to the higher bodies. Astral body gives rise to the Spirt Self, Life Body transformed gives rise to Life Spirit and the Physical Body transformed gives rise eventually to the Spirit Human Being. All of this is made possible by the working of the I-organisation - a gift of the Christ. It permeates each of these bodies and weaves its transformative forces.
Our first session concluded with a picture of the seven metaphysical trees identified by Steiner. Two of these trees we know well: The Tree of Knowledge and the Tree Life. These two trees correspond to the I-organisation in human beings and the Spirt Self respectively. Although no in-depth description of each of the trees was given the simplicity of their names helped inform our understating of each of the bodies of the human being.
The second session of the day began with the revealing of the seven names of Solomon as can be found in the Old Testament in the book of Wisdom. Solomon is a representative of the Human being in all its fullness at that time in history. The names he was called by all mean something and create a picture of the whole human being. It is not surprising to know that each of the seven names corresponds to one of the seven bodies of the human being in Steiner’s picture.
These names and concepts were further explored in a very powerful clay exercise in which the whole group participated.
In our third session we were able, through discussion and careful questioning by Reingard, to reflect on the clay exercise and find connections between the action of the clay work and the different bodies of the human being. During this discussion Michaël also spoke of the seven descriptions of qualities or characteristics of God as can be found in the Book of Revelation. By exploring their original meanings from the Greek, Michael was able to form a phrase of description that further served to illuminate the essence of each of the bodies of the Human being.
In our final session of the day Michaël introduced the idea of Petition. It was explained that to petition is to lay claim to something that belongs to you, to take ownership of what is yours.
In the light of all that we had received during the day in the descriptions and pictures of the Human being in the light of Theosophy and the thought that we are Theosophy, participants were encouraged to create their own petition, claiming and owning what we had discovered belonged to us all along.
It was a very special time when we got to hear each other’s beautiful prayers of petition.
We day ended with a Close of Day Service.
We were reminded that the word ‘Theosophy’ means ‘Divine Wisdom’ or ‘Wisdom of God'. If we are made in the image of God then we must surely reflect this divine wisdom of God We are therefore an image of this divine wisdom, we are Theosophy ourselves! This was a wonderful thought for many of us to contemplate.
Michaël shared how, through the ages of time, people felt the human being to be made of three different bodies. From the ‘wise ones’ who were the authors of the Vedas to the Ancient Greek philosophers, and St Paul, the human being was said to consist of bodies veiled in sheaths all reflecting aspects of the human being who was and who was still becoming. Physical body, Subtle body, Seed Body spoken about in the Vedas or Soma, Psyche, and Essential Divine explained by the Ancient Greeks or Body, Soul and Spirit to which St Paul refers in his letter to the Thessalonians are ancient ideas that Steiner brought to life for our times in his book Theosophy. We used his seven-fold picture of the human being and sometimes his nine-fold picture and sometimes his four-fold picture, but they were always related to the ancient three-fold pictures.
The evening ended with a Close of Day Service.
Saturday began with the Act of Consecration of Man which was followed by 4 sessions of work throughout the day. In each of the sessions we began using the framework of Steiner’s seven-fold human being. Physical Body, Life Body, Astral Body, ‘I’-Organisation, Spirit Self, Life Spirit and Spirit Human. In order to understand what is meant by these various bodies of the human being Michael presented a complementary seven-fold picture in each session. These complimentary pictures revealed different aspects of each of the bodies and led us into a deeper understanding and appreciation of the pictures that Steiner creates. It was important to begin with a general explanation of each of the seven bodies of the human being. It was wonderful to be shown how, when transformed, each of the lower bodies gives rise to the higher bodies. Astral body gives rise to the Spirt Self, Life Body transformed gives rise to Life Spirit and the Physical Body transformed gives rise eventually to the Spirit Human Being. All of this is made possible by the working of the I-organisation - a gift of the Christ. It permeates each of these bodies and weaves its transformative forces.
Our first session concluded with a picture of the seven metaphysical trees identified by Steiner. Two of these trees we know well: The Tree of Knowledge and the Tree Life. These two trees correspond to the I-organisation in human beings and the Spirt Self respectively. Although no in-depth description of each of the trees was given the simplicity of their names helped inform our understating of each of the bodies of the human being.
The second session of the day began with the revealing of the seven names of Solomon as can be found in the Old Testament in the book of Wisdom. Solomon is a representative of the Human being in all its fullness at that time in history. The names he was called by all mean something and create a picture of the whole human being. It is not surprising to know that each of the seven names corresponds to one of the seven bodies of the human being in Steiner’s picture.
These names and concepts were further explored in a very powerful clay exercise in which the whole group participated.
In our third session we were able, through discussion and careful questioning by Reingard, to reflect on the clay exercise and find connections between the action of the clay work and the different bodies of the human being. During this discussion Michaël also spoke of the seven descriptions of qualities or characteristics of God as can be found in the Book of Revelation. By exploring their original meanings from the Greek, Michael was able to form a phrase of description that further served to illuminate the essence of each of the bodies of the Human being.
In our final session of the day Michaël introduced the idea of Petition. It was explained that to petition is to lay claim to something that belongs to you, to take ownership of what is yours.
In the light of all that we had received during the day in the descriptions and pictures of the Human being in the light of Theosophy and the thought that we are Theosophy, participants were encouraged to create their own petition, claiming and owning what we had discovered belonged to us all along.
It was a very special time when we got to hear each other’s beautiful prayers of petition.
We day ended with a Close of Day Service.
My Petition - Unfolding Theosophy
I am the Wisdom of God
In all her veils that long to embody “I”.
I hold might in my Physical existence,
Abundance feeds the life within,
Karma that is my treasure
Is transformed on the plate of consecration
By sacrifice freely given
In the hope and faith,
That in the future,
Transformation may lead to peace,
Abundance of grace will be apparent
And I may become Gods consecrated beloved
I am the Wisdom of God
In all her veils that long to embody “I”.
I hold might in my Physical existence,
Abundance feeds the life within,
Karma that is my treasure
Is transformed on the plate of consecration
By sacrifice freely given
In the hope and faith,
That in the future,
Transformation may lead to peace,
Abundance of grace will be apparent
And I may become Gods consecrated beloved
Sunday morning saw the participants gather together for a guided meditation before the Act of Consecration of Man. In a talk by Michaël after the Act of Consecration of Man we were able to further explore the topic of Petition in the light of all that had been discovered the day before. For those who were not able to attend Saturday, the talk on Sunday was also able to be heard and appreciated in its own right.
Some of the points that Michaël brought for consideration that stood out for me include the fact that if we consider ourselves a reflection of the divine wisdom and in fact believe we as human beings are divine wisdom our attitude to prayer could be very different. We might mature in how we reconnect with God each day. We may not necessarily want to ask him for the things we think we need as a child might beg their parents for something they want. Instead, we might pray out of the knowledge of who we really are and who God is in relation to this creation that we call “I”. I may truly learn to petition and to lay claim to what I can do, what I know to be my responsibilities and then to have faith that should I need anything else as I actively go about my daily tasks it will be given to me out of love and grace and I will learn to recognise the daily miracles that happen to me. Instead of asking for so much I might be more mindful of all that I have already and continue to receive. Instead of constantly seeking I may start to recognise what I already have been given. I will realise that when I knock the door is always opened.
Many thanks to Michaël and Reingard for all the thought and care that went into presenting this weekend.
It is also worth mentioning all the delicious food that was served and the wonderful connections that were made between participants. Thank you for these unexpected blessings.
Some of the points that Michaël brought for consideration that stood out for me include the fact that if we consider ourselves a reflection of the divine wisdom and in fact believe we as human beings are divine wisdom our attitude to prayer could be very different. We might mature in how we reconnect with God each day. We may not necessarily want to ask him for the things we think we need as a child might beg their parents for something they want. Instead, we might pray out of the knowledge of who we really are and who God is in relation to this creation that we call “I”. I may truly learn to petition and to lay claim to what I can do, what I know to be my responsibilities and then to have faith that should I need anything else as I actively go about my daily tasks it will be given to me out of love and grace and I will learn to recognise the daily miracles that happen to me. Instead of asking for so much I might be more mindful of all that I have already and continue to receive. Instead of constantly seeking I may start to recognise what I already have been given. I will realise that when I knock the door is always opened.
Many thanks to Michaël and Reingard for all the thought and care that went into presenting this weekend.
It is also worth mentioning all the delicious food that was served and the wonderful connections that were made between participants. Thank you for these unexpected blessings.
Theosophy and Petition
notes and ideas captured by Anne Gillham
Understanding the Human Being allows us to walk the Christ path.
Our different bodies, Physical, Etheric, Astral and I-organization, each have their role in our development. But we must become active in our striving to live in the presence of God and express the divine in us.
The Wisdom comes when we penetrate our inner space with our thinking finger - Trust the processes.
There are 7 esoteric (metaphorical) trees to describe the different human bodies and our future development. The Name Solomon describes what it is to be a human being. What we strive to become
Our different bodies, Physical, Etheric, Astral and I-organization, each have their role in our development. But we must become active in our striving to live in the presence of God and express the divine in us.
The Wisdom comes when we penetrate our inner space with our thinking finger - Trust the processes.
There are 7 esoteric (metaphorical) trees to describe the different human bodies and our future development. The Name Solomon describes what it is to be a human being. What we strive to become
Words (in Greek) from the 7th Chapter of Revelation that describe the inner process – The Aim to develop and transubstantiate
Petition is a claim
We must Lay claim to that which belongs to us. My capacity to be human. The work we have done in the processes above.
Seek to take hold of our goal. To connect with ‘my I’ with God’s grace in me – Not what God can do without my participation
We are an expression of God. All the power of God is in us. We must mobilize this power of God
Then the grace can work in us
Ask: ask questions that grow a living relationship with the Divine within you -And it will be given to you
Seek: to advance on the path of self-development -And you will find
Knock: lay claim to your spiritual path with consistency and reliability – And the door will be open to you
For everyone who truly asks, Receives
Who earnestly seeks, Finds
And who humbly knocks, to them the door opens
Be active in your striving to live in the presence of God. Practice renewal in Petition
My Petition: Unfolding Theosophy
O Glistening wheat
You hold your head up high
Straight and Strong
Bursting with Goodness – You freely give your Golden Gift
Shining
Glorious
Present
Blessings so thoughtful and Sensitive
Apparent for all to see and Know
You Consecrate me
We must Lay claim to that which belongs to us. My capacity to be human. The work we have done in the processes above.
Seek to take hold of our goal. To connect with ‘my I’ with God’s grace in me – Not what God can do without my participation
We are an expression of God. All the power of God is in us. We must mobilize this power of God
Then the grace can work in us
Ask: ask questions that grow a living relationship with the Divine within you -And it will be given to you
Seek: to advance on the path of self-development -And you will find
Knock: lay claim to your spiritual path with consistency and reliability – And the door will be open to you
For everyone who truly asks, Receives
Who earnestly seeks, Finds
And who humbly knocks, to them the door opens
Be active in your striving to live in the presence of God. Practice renewal in Petition
My Petition: Unfolding Theosophy
O Glistening wheat
You hold your head up high
Straight and Strong
Bursting with Goodness – You freely give your Golden Gift
Shining
Glorious
Present
Blessings so thoughtful and Sensitive
Apparent for all to see and Know
You Consecrate me
Theosophy, by Rev. Michaël Merle

Reported by John-Peter Gernaat
This is an overview of what Rudolf Steiner understood by the term “Theosophy” and what we can understand by this term. Rudolf Steiner wrote a book titled “Theosophy”. It is not the aim of the module to cover the entire book. The aim is to form a picture that will enable everyone to begin reading this book and then be able to place the book in context through the process of the weekend.
The word Theosophy is a word in Koine Greek devised from “Theo”, meaning God, and “Sophia” meaning wisdom. Theosophy, therefore, means ‘the wisdom of God’. What does this mean? It has a specific reference: through history groups of Christians have use the word and meant something specific. Rudolf Steiner makes clear in his introduction that: “As human beings we call the highest thing that we can look up to ‘the Divine’ and we must imagine that our highest aim and calling have something to do with this divine element.” Thus, in a spiritual upward gaze we can refer to the highest thing that our gaze encounters as ‘the Divine’. This would be for us the ultimate picture of that which exists out of which everything else comes. It is ‘that which is, out of which everything else is able to be’.
There are other philosophies and other religions that have other names for ‘the Divine’. The intention is to use an expression that is above the divisions of language and religion when referring to “the highest thing we can look up to”. The name of the universal Divine entity in Sanskrit is Brahman. This is the name for the ultimate, Divine, universal principle.
Continuing the quote from Steiner: “… and we must imagine that our highest aim as human beings, and our calling, have something to do with this Divine element.” Thus, what we are aiming to achieve and what we are called to is in some way connected to this Divine entity. We are called to reconnect with Divine, to re-establish a relationship. This is a central component in the word religion – ‘religare’ (Latin meaning to bind together), to reconnect. When we are born onto the earthly world we forget where we have come from. “This may well be why wisdom that which transcends the sense perceptible world reveals to us both our essential nature and our destiny and this is called ‘theosophy’, or Divine wisdom.” Therefore, to understand the essence of being human is to understand theosophy. How can one say that the human being, flawed and incomplete, is the wisdom of God? We can say this because the Book of Genesis reveals to us that we are “made in the image and likeness of God”, therefore the human being is an image of the wisdom of God. Theosophy, therefore, is about the essence of the human being. What is the human being and how is the human being constituted? This is a Divine wisdom made manifest as a living being. It is a being that we refer to as human.
The theme of the seminary modules in 2022 is: “Deepening an understanding of Anthroposophy”. Koine Greek will provide the understanding that this word means: ‘the wisdom of the human being’. The constitution of the human being is not anthroposophy, it is the wisdom of God, theosophy. The way in which we, each, unfold this wisdom of God – the way in which we develop and come to understand who we are; the path of self-development that each person can follow – that is the wisdom of the human being; that is anthroposophy.
In considering the Koine Greek word ‘anthropos’, the word is not just the human being, but it is the countenance of the human being. Countenance is a word with several meanings and all of these meanings apply. The most basic is ‘a face’, meaning that ‘I can face you’, ‘I can see you’ and ‘I can come face to face’; ‘I recognise you because you have a face’. Having a face makes each human being quite distinct, even identical twins. The countenance is not just the face, but also how each person presents themselves. What shines through the face is quite individual. Countenance also means ‘something one can confirm’, ‘something we can allow’: e.g., “He would not countenance any violence.” It means that as human beings who have a countenance, a face through which we can express something of who we are; we also have the capacity to say “yes” and to say “no”, in a conscious way, disconnected from the sympathies and antipathies that reign in our feeling life. We are able to reflect on our choice. ‘Anthropos’ is even more than the countenance of the human being because the suffix ‘an’ suggests that in this word exists a directionality, which is ‘up’ – ‘ana’. Therefore the word ‘anthropos’ means the ‘countenance of the human being that looks up’. As Steiner said: “As human beings we call the highest thing that we can look up to …” This is an inner, soul activity of looking up.
Theosophy, then, is that which constitutes the human being. We can go back to ancient texts and scriptures and find descriptions of the human being. The oldest we can find come to us from the Vedas, written in Sanskrit centuries after then were spoken. They come from a well-preserved oral tradition of the words that were spoken by the Rishis, shared as great wisdom. The Rishis were known as ‘the wise ones’ who understood the full wisdom of creation and the cosmos. They understood, one could say, the wisdom of Brahman, the universal principle of the Divine. The Vedas form the basis for the understanding of the world that is the philosophy of Hinduism. The picture in the Vedas of the human constitution is quite complex. It is very helpful for us today to understand how the human being understood themselves many centuries ago. It allows us to see what concepts have been added to the picture and where it takes up today in our understanding of the constitution of the human being. The ancient Vedic picture describes three bodies:
Thus, the ancients saw the human being as a physical body, a body of life and emotions – everything that is alive in the human being – and a potential for future growth and development. The Vedas were considered to be essential manuals of knowledge when they were written, they were not written as sacred writings. They were a totality of everything the human being needed to know to live life. They gave instruction on what to eat, how to farm, how to maintain health and restore health, how to manage society, how to organise daily life, how to live in a society – they were an encyclopaedic body of knowledge on how to be human and to live as a human being. The Vedas explained how the three bodies interact. They saw the three bodies as existing states.
There were other layers also described.
We may, still today, feel that this is a fair description of the human being. We can acknowledge that there is more to us than a physical body. We definitely have an energetic body. Quite a few of our emotions are not conscious. Something seems to stir up in us; it feels a bit like a dream, suddenly one feels happy or suddenly one feels a bit sad without being really conscious as to why these feelings have arisen. There is also a sense that there is more to us, and even that there is more to come in the future, not just in our lifetime; but when we consider the future evolution of the human being and especially the development of human society, the whole human experience is probably going to develop further. We may feel that we have developed this seed body a little beyond what the ancient civilisations experienced, especially the intellectual sheath may have developed, and we may feel that further development lies ahead. We can sense an evolution of the human constitution. This picture remained in various forms for many stages of cultural development.
We are able to traverse time to the ancient Greeks who had an additional picture that speaks to us of different aspects of being human. This is a consideration of the writings of Aristotle, but he was a pupil of Plato who in turn was a student of Socrates. Thus, we can read into Aristotle the input of those who came before. He speaks about the human being in a three-fold way. He uses specific terms for the three-foldness of the human being. This was an idea that we can also read in the New Testament where St Paul uses the same words to describe aspects of the human being.
These words still have expression in the English language.
Paul writing to the Thessalonians wrote: “Take care that no one repays evil with evil, rather always strive to do good to one another both within your own circle and also towards other people. Have joy within yourselves always. Do not neglect your practice of prayer. In all things cultivate the sacramental mood of thanksgiving. Then God’s will shall work in your will through the power of Christ. Let not the flame of the spirit be quenched. Do not let the power of prophecy wither away for lack of care and practice. Test everything. Hold fast to what is good. Keep clear of the evil in whatever form it appears. May God himself, the source of all peace, make holy your whole being. May your complete and undivided being, your spirit, your soul and your body remain pure and clean at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul is clear in placing soma, psyche and pneuma right next to each other: body, soul and spirit. He refers to three distinct aspects of the human being that are unmistakable. “May your complete and undivided being, body, soul and spirit remain pure and clean at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is a very clear picture of the concept of a three-folded human being.
This is theosophy. The human being is body soul and spirit. But the human being is more than just body, soul and spirit. Just as the Vedas opened up the three bodies into sheaths and how they operate. Aristotle relayed what Plato said that the human being has more than one capacity in the soul. This is still studied in philosophy as it forms the basis of Western philosophy.
One capacity of soul we share with animals; they emote and react to their environment – this is the sentient soul level. This was a soul of the senses according to the Greek philosophy.
Human beings have another level of soul that they called mind soul (an intellectual soul, a rational soul). The human being is able to abstractly imagine their environment. This, according to Aristotle, made us human, that ability to rationalise with any human being. We still fall under the misconception today that reason is the highest soul capacity of the human being; that it provides resolution to all differences. However, reason is individual and therefore there is more to be added to this picture.
Rudolf Steiner said that this picture is absolutely true. It is another version of the Vedic picture that is thought through somewhat differently. Steiner said that since the time of Aristotle we have developed a new level of soul that has emerged from the seed form that the Vedas imagined. This is the consciousness soul.
Thus the soul operates on three levels:
Sentient
Rational
Consciousness
Steiner is very specific about when the Consciousness Soul Age started. The Consciousness Soul became evident from the beginning of the 15th century. We have had this capacity of consciousness soul developing for 600 years. This is a relatively short period of time. This is a new picture that Steiner brings.
Steiner also brought a further concept of the human being. It adds to theosophy, the picture of the wisdom of God made manifest in the created image and likeness that is the human being. There is more to come. There are elements that have not yet manifested and are still lying seed-like in the human being, but that will develop. For this Steiner went back to the words of the Vedas. Steiner said there are bodies to come.
We know that the body has a physical component and a living component which prevents it being a corps. We can describe this living component as an energetic, forming force body that Steiner gave the name, the etheric body. This makes our body.
How do we express our soul: our sentient, rational, consciousness nature? We express it because we have the energetic forming force. We express it because we also have a capacity for emotions and expression. It comes through the energy and expresses itself. Steiner called this the astral body. He also described it as a sentient body – a body of sense and expressions. Together with the energetic force body the astral body expresses the soul.
Then we have a part that comes to us from the Divine which Steiner refers to as an ‘I-organisation’. It is an essential self. Steiner used the Latin word ‘Ego’, but this same word was used to mean completely different things by Sigmund Freud. Freud suggests the ego is the part of us which we must suppress while Steiner referred to the Ego as that which makes us human, because it arises from the Divine. It is our ability to say “I” of ourselves.
There is more to come, which is the spirit expressing itself further. Steiner used Sanskrit words:
We are theosophy, but theosophy not yet fully expressed. There is another side of us, our higher self – the higher ‘I’, the Atman – not yet expressed. In the Vedas there are two essential principles: Brahman, the universal principle of the Divine, and Atman, the high self of the human individual. Atman only exists because of Brahman. Atman is possible only because of Brahman. Atman expresses something of Brahman. ‘Man’ in these words is the same word that also provides us with Manas, which is thought, the ability to hold a certain expression, a certain consciousness.
Steiner renamed these:
This is the whole picture of the human being:
This is what the module of the Africa Seminary explored. During the work the participants looked at pictures of a four-fold, seven-fold, nine-fold, a new seven-fold picture of the human being working with the concepts discussed above.
When we return to the Vedic picture we can see that we have:
There is a four-fold picture but expressed at a different time in human history. Then there were further body to come in the seed body. Therefore, we can experience that this is a picture of the human being that humanity has carried for centuries. In other cultures where we can study the traditional concepts and traditional wisdom the same picture becomes present in different forms. The same picture keeps emerging. Rudolf Steiner has developed the picture to show us more clearly where we are going. When we observe the picture of body, soul and spirit we can realise that it is Paul’s picture in the New Testament. Thus, the entire picture can be seem as being part of the picture that Paul presents in the New Testament. The same seven-fold picture emerges through the names used for Solomon in the Old Testament (see the article on Solomon). We discover it also through the description of the human being through qualities that manifest a seven-fold manifestation of quality in the Book of Revelation. They are always a description of the picture of the wisdom of the Divine made manifest in the created human being: theosophy.
This is an overview of what Rudolf Steiner understood by the term “Theosophy” and what we can understand by this term. Rudolf Steiner wrote a book titled “Theosophy”. It is not the aim of the module to cover the entire book. The aim is to form a picture that will enable everyone to begin reading this book and then be able to place the book in context through the process of the weekend.
The word Theosophy is a word in Koine Greek devised from “Theo”, meaning God, and “Sophia” meaning wisdom. Theosophy, therefore, means ‘the wisdom of God’. What does this mean? It has a specific reference: through history groups of Christians have use the word and meant something specific. Rudolf Steiner makes clear in his introduction that: “As human beings we call the highest thing that we can look up to ‘the Divine’ and we must imagine that our highest aim and calling have something to do with this divine element.” Thus, in a spiritual upward gaze we can refer to the highest thing that our gaze encounters as ‘the Divine’. This would be for us the ultimate picture of that which exists out of which everything else comes. It is ‘that which is, out of which everything else is able to be’.
There are other philosophies and other religions that have other names for ‘the Divine’. The intention is to use an expression that is above the divisions of language and religion when referring to “the highest thing we can look up to”. The name of the universal Divine entity in Sanskrit is Brahman. This is the name for the ultimate, Divine, universal principle.
Continuing the quote from Steiner: “… and we must imagine that our highest aim as human beings, and our calling, have something to do with this Divine element.” Thus, what we are aiming to achieve and what we are called to is in some way connected to this Divine entity. We are called to reconnect with Divine, to re-establish a relationship. This is a central component in the word religion – ‘religare’ (Latin meaning to bind together), to reconnect. When we are born onto the earthly world we forget where we have come from. “This may well be why wisdom that which transcends the sense perceptible world reveals to us both our essential nature and our destiny and this is called ‘theosophy’, or Divine wisdom.” Therefore, to understand the essence of being human is to understand theosophy. How can one say that the human being, flawed and incomplete, is the wisdom of God? We can say this because the Book of Genesis reveals to us that we are “made in the image and likeness of God”, therefore the human being is an image of the wisdom of God. Theosophy, therefore, is about the essence of the human being. What is the human being and how is the human being constituted? This is a Divine wisdom made manifest as a living being. It is a being that we refer to as human.
The theme of the seminary modules in 2022 is: “Deepening an understanding of Anthroposophy”. Koine Greek will provide the understanding that this word means: ‘the wisdom of the human being’. The constitution of the human being is not anthroposophy, it is the wisdom of God, theosophy. The way in which we, each, unfold this wisdom of God – the way in which we develop and come to understand who we are; the path of self-development that each person can follow – that is the wisdom of the human being; that is anthroposophy.
In considering the Koine Greek word ‘anthropos’, the word is not just the human being, but it is the countenance of the human being. Countenance is a word with several meanings and all of these meanings apply. The most basic is ‘a face’, meaning that ‘I can face you’, ‘I can see you’ and ‘I can come face to face’; ‘I recognise you because you have a face’. Having a face makes each human being quite distinct, even identical twins. The countenance is not just the face, but also how each person presents themselves. What shines through the face is quite individual. Countenance also means ‘something one can confirm’, ‘something we can allow’: e.g., “He would not countenance any violence.” It means that as human beings who have a countenance, a face through which we can express something of who we are; we also have the capacity to say “yes” and to say “no”, in a conscious way, disconnected from the sympathies and antipathies that reign in our feeling life. We are able to reflect on our choice. ‘Anthropos’ is even more than the countenance of the human being because the suffix ‘an’ suggests that in this word exists a directionality, which is ‘up’ – ‘ana’. Therefore the word ‘anthropos’ means the ‘countenance of the human being that looks up’. As Steiner said: “As human beings we call the highest thing that we can look up to …” This is an inner, soul activity of looking up.
Theosophy, then, is that which constitutes the human being. We can go back to ancient texts and scriptures and find descriptions of the human being. The oldest we can find come to us from the Vedas, written in Sanskrit centuries after then were spoken. They come from a well-preserved oral tradition of the words that were spoken by the Rishis, shared as great wisdom. The Rishis were known as ‘the wise ones’ who understood the full wisdom of creation and the cosmos. They understood, one could say, the wisdom of Brahman, the universal principle of the Divine. The Vedas form the basis for the understanding of the world that is the philosophy of Hinduism. The picture in the Vedas of the human constitution is quite complex. It is very helpful for us today to understand how the human being understood themselves many centuries ago. It allows us to see what concepts have been added to the picture and where it takes up today in our understanding of the constitution of the human being. The ancient Vedic picture describes three bodies:
- The Gross Body – it is in fact the physical body with mass and physical dimensions. It is present until death and even at death we can still determine its dimensions. However, without life this Gross Body breaks down. We can speak of it separately from the energy that keeps the Gross Body alive.
- The Subtle Body – it cannot be seen. It is the energetic body – a body of energy.
- The Seed Body – this was a sense that the ancients had that they were not complete. They carried within them the seed for the future development of the human being. It was the future unfolding.
Thus, the ancients saw the human being as a physical body, a body of life and emotions – everything that is alive in the human being – and a potential for future growth and development. The Vedas were considered to be essential manuals of knowledge when they were written, they were not written as sacred writings. They were a totality of everything the human being needed to know to live life. They gave instruction on what to eat, how to farm, how to maintain health and restore health, how to manage society, how to organise daily life, how to live in a society – they were an encyclopaedic body of knowledge on how to be human and to live as a human being. The Vedas explained how the three bodies interact. They saw the three bodies as existing states.
- The physical body was described as being in a state of wakefulness.
- The subtle body was described as being in a dream state.
- The seed body was described as being in a state of sleep.
There were other layers also described.
- The physical body had only one layer of activity:
- a food sheath
- The subtle body had three sheathes:
- The vital sheath – energy
- A mind sheath – that contains all the emotions that we express. It was not seen as the rational thinking mind. It was the emotive body and therefore closer to what we call the heart.
- Intellectual sheath – the capacity to think. It recognised that thinking was a different element to feeling.
- The seed body had only one sheath:
- The bliss sheath – it protected the seed and would bring future happiness.
We may, still today, feel that this is a fair description of the human being. We can acknowledge that there is more to us than a physical body. We definitely have an energetic body. Quite a few of our emotions are not conscious. Something seems to stir up in us; it feels a bit like a dream, suddenly one feels happy or suddenly one feels a bit sad without being really conscious as to why these feelings have arisen. There is also a sense that there is more to us, and even that there is more to come in the future, not just in our lifetime; but when we consider the future evolution of the human being and especially the development of human society, the whole human experience is probably going to develop further. We may feel that we have developed this seed body a little beyond what the ancient civilisations experienced, especially the intellectual sheath may have developed, and we may feel that further development lies ahead. We can sense an evolution of the human constitution. This picture remained in various forms for many stages of cultural development.
We are able to traverse time to the ancient Greeks who had an additional picture that speaks to us of different aspects of being human. This is a consideration of the writings of Aristotle, but he was a pupil of Plato who in turn was a student of Socrates. Thus, we can read into Aristotle the input of those who came before. He speaks about the human being in a three-fold way. He uses specific terms for the three-foldness of the human being. This was an idea that we can also read in the New Testament where St Paul uses the same words to describe aspects of the human being.
These words still have expression in the English language.
- Soma – in biology we speak of somatic cells – those cells that belong to the body. Soma means body. The description is a physical body.
- Psyche – which we may translate as soul. This expressed the energetic and emotive part of the human being.
- Pneuma – which can be translated as breath. It can also be translated as spirit. It was a Divine aspect of the human being that has an interplay with the soul and the body but is in itself separate.
Paul writing to the Thessalonians wrote: “Take care that no one repays evil with evil, rather always strive to do good to one another both within your own circle and also towards other people. Have joy within yourselves always. Do not neglect your practice of prayer. In all things cultivate the sacramental mood of thanksgiving. Then God’s will shall work in your will through the power of Christ. Let not the flame of the spirit be quenched. Do not let the power of prophecy wither away for lack of care and practice. Test everything. Hold fast to what is good. Keep clear of the evil in whatever form it appears. May God himself, the source of all peace, make holy your whole being. May your complete and undivided being, your spirit, your soul and your body remain pure and clean at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul is clear in placing soma, psyche and pneuma right next to each other: body, soul and spirit. He refers to three distinct aspects of the human being that are unmistakable. “May your complete and undivided being, body, soul and spirit remain pure and clean at the coming in the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is a very clear picture of the concept of a three-folded human being.
This is theosophy. The human being is body soul and spirit. But the human being is more than just body, soul and spirit. Just as the Vedas opened up the three bodies into sheaths and how they operate. Aristotle relayed what Plato said that the human being has more than one capacity in the soul. This is still studied in philosophy as it forms the basis of Western philosophy.
One capacity of soul we share with animals; they emote and react to their environment – this is the sentient soul level. This was a soul of the senses according to the Greek philosophy.
Human beings have another level of soul that they called mind soul (an intellectual soul, a rational soul). The human being is able to abstractly imagine their environment. This, according to Aristotle, made us human, that ability to rationalise with any human being. We still fall under the misconception today that reason is the highest soul capacity of the human being; that it provides resolution to all differences. However, reason is individual and therefore there is more to be added to this picture.
Rudolf Steiner said that this picture is absolutely true. It is another version of the Vedic picture that is thought through somewhat differently. Steiner said that since the time of Aristotle we have developed a new level of soul that has emerged from the seed form that the Vedas imagined. This is the consciousness soul.
Thus the soul operates on three levels:
Sentient
Rational
Consciousness
Steiner is very specific about when the Consciousness Soul Age started. The Consciousness Soul became evident from the beginning of the 15th century. We have had this capacity of consciousness soul developing for 600 years. This is a relatively short period of time. This is a new picture that Steiner brings.
Steiner also brought a further concept of the human being. It adds to theosophy, the picture of the wisdom of God made manifest in the created image and likeness that is the human being. There is more to come. There are elements that have not yet manifested and are still lying seed-like in the human being, but that will develop. For this Steiner went back to the words of the Vedas. Steiner said there are bodies to come.
We know that the body has a physical component and a living component which prevents it being a corps. We can describe this living component as an energetic, forming force body that Steiner gave the name, the etheric body. This makes our body.
How do we express our soul: our sentient, rational, consciousness nature? We express it because we have the energetic forming force. We express it because we also have a capacity for emotions and expression. It comes through the energy and expresses itself. Steiner called this the astral body. He also described it as a sentient body – a body of sense and expressions. Together with the energetic force body the astral body expresses the soul.
Then we have a part that comes to us from the Divine which Steiner refers to as an ‘I-organisation’. It is an essential self. Steiner used the Latin word ‘Ego’, but this same word was used to mean completely different things by Sigmund Freud. Freud suggests the ego is the part of us which we must suppress while Steiner referred to the Ego as that which makes us human, because it arises from the Divine. It is our ability to say “I” of ourselves.
There is more to come, which is the spirit expressing itself further. Steiner used Sanskrit words:
- Manas – meaning thought, a capacity to have thought.
- Buddhi – means a discernment to hold a certain consciousness.
- Atman – means higher self.
We are theosophy, but theosophy not yet fully expressed. There is another side of us, our higher self – the higher ‘I’, the Atman – not yet expressed. In the Vedas there are two essential principles: Brahman, the universal principle of the Divine, and Atman, the high self of the human individual. Atman only exists because of Brahman. Atman is possible only because of Brahman. Atman expresses something of Brahman. ‘Man’ in these words is the same word that also provides us with Manas, which is thought, the ability to hold a certain expression, a certain consciousness.
Steiner renamed these:
- Manas – the Spirit Self of the human being that we have not yet realised.
- Buddhi – Life Spirit.
- Atman – Spirit Human Being – the ultimate aim when our higher self can live in the constitution that manifests itself on earth.
This is the whole picture of the human being:
- Physical
- Etheric
- Astral
- Ego
- Spirit Self
- Life Spirit
- Spirit Human Being
This is what the module of the Africa Seminary explored. During the work the participants looked at pictures of a four-fold, seven-fold, nine-fold, a new seven-fold picture of the human being working with the concepts discussed above.
When we return to the Vedic picture we can see that we have:
- A physical body,
- A vital sheath
- An emotive expressive body
- When we combine the intellectual sheath with what was developing in the seed body we have the ‘I’.
There is a four-fold picture but expressed at a different time in human history. Then there were further body to come in the seed body. Therefore, we can experience that this is a picture of the human being that humanity has carried for centuries. In other cultures where we can study the traditional concepts and traditional wisdom the same picture becomes present in different forms. The same picture keeps emerging. Rudolf Steiner has developed the picture to show us more clearly where we are going. When we observe the picture of body, soul and spirit we can realise that it is Paul’s picture in the New Testament. Thus, the entire picture can be seem as being part of the picture that Paul presents in the New Testament. The same seven-fold picture emerges through the names used for Solomon in the Old Testament (see the article on Solomon). We discover it also through the description of the human being through qualities that manifest a seven-fold manifestation of quality in the Book of Revelation. They are always a description of the picture of the wisdom of the Divine made manifest in the created human being: theosophy.
Petition, by Rev. Michaël Merle
Report by John-Peter Gernaat
This talk, and therefore the report, presume a knowledge of Theosophy. The report on Theosophy, which formed the first talk of this module of the Africa Seminary may be read at this link.
Theosophy, the Wisdom of God, has long excited people’s imagination, well before the coming of Christ. When Hebrew rabbis composed the Talmud, which is an accompaniment to the Torah, they philosophised on the Wisdom of God, that all of creation must have been brought about out of the Wisdom of God: “In His wisdom, God creates…”
We have referred to Theosophy as the human being, because what we can behold in the human being is the Wisdom of God as a result of having been created in the image and likeness of God. The Human being reflects the wisdom of God. Rudolf Steiner then goes on to explain that the path that the human being treads is not the wisdom of God, but rather the wisdom of the human being or Anthroposophy. This path is graced by Christ, it is the Christ-path, it is the path of connecting to the Christ Being, and not the Christ Being at the end of the path but the Christ Being in us on the path, meeting the fullness of the Christ Being as a goal.
Understanding what it is to be human will help us understand what petition is all about. It is a human being that is petitioning. If we understand our constitution, we can understand how we pray. Sometimes we continue to pray as if we have not yet grown up. This happens.
Reading Mark chapter 12 where a scribe comes to Jesus. To be a scribe was an important task. They were the record-keepers who wrote down the discussions of the Pharisees and Sadducees. We would not have scripture if the scribes had not inscribed it. Only human beings can write. Animals can communicate, but only humans write. In order to write the human being must create a symbology that has meaning to everyone. As human beings we write ourselves into the world and others can read who we are through all that we do and are in the world. This scribe was someone with capacity and knowledge, seeking more knowledge. He had observed how well Jesus had answered the questions of the crowd. He therefore felt that Jesus could confirm for him what lived in his heart. He asks: “Which is the most important of all the commandments?” This was a question that would have been a topic of regular discussion by those for whom he scribed. Jesus replied out of scripture: “Hear Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord (the Shema for the Hebrews).” This has the effect that everyone will listen. They did what Steiner describes: they lifted their gaze to the Divine. They were being human. He says: “You will love the Lord your God” and then he describes how one should love the Lord their God: “with your whole being.” He describes the human being to the point to which they human being has reached in their development: “with all your heart (the very essence of who one is – we make the heart our central point when we say to the one we love: “I love you with all my heart”. ‘Heart’ is therefore the centrality of the person. Thus we love the Lord our God with a sense of oneself – that self which has incarnated into the earthly body. Therefore the “I” of oneself, the earthly “I”.) and with all your soul (There is a difference between heart and soul. Heart represents the spirit while soul is another quality. It is how the spirit can find expression in the world and how the world can impress itself upon that spirit.) and with all the power of your life (With the life forces, often described as the Etheric Formative Forces of Life.) and you shall love the Lord your God with your strength of might (with the physical body).” It is a description of a four-fold human being: heart, soul, power of life, and strength of might. This description resonates with us.
This gives us a new way of understanding prayer. We often think that prayer means asking for the things that we desire or that we perceive we may need. We did that as a child: we expressed our needs to our parents in the expectation that they would respond and give us that which we needed or wanted. Sometimes a parent would say no and not accede to the wish or demand. When we work only with the physical body and the power of our formative life force we rely on the parent being able to accede to our needs. But when we have developed the capacity to work with our full humanity we no longer need to ask, but we do, as adults, need to lay claim to that which belongs to us. When we are adults our parents will acknowledge our claim and may even gift more in addition through their love for us. We can take hold of our selves as adults. We no have to ask the Divine as if we are still children. Petition is not asking. Petition means to lay claim, to actively seek out something that belongs to one. (We go to court and make a petition, asking the court to confirm that something belongs to us. We are not asking anything of the court other than to confirm ownership. The court may offer grace in the form of compensatory damages if one had been deprived of something that was one’s own, thereby offering us more than we come to petition for, but this was not part of our petition originally.)
Because we have a human constitution as an adult that has an essential “I”-being our prayer, our petition is different to asking the Divine. When we pray we address the Divine and express what we are able to manage ourselves and that we will give to this with our devoted energy. We may then trust that we might be met with grace permitting us to do more that we could do alone, because of this grace. We might address the sorrow and heaviness of our heart, but in the understanding that we are bearing our burden and working with it. We do not turn to the Divine wishing the Divine to wave a wand that will alleviate our burden. We ask the Divine to see us and recognise what it is that we are doing and how we are doing it. We lay claim to that which we can do and recognise that which we cannot do, and we wait in our doing for the Divine to meet us and bring us that which we need. We do not ask for that which we need because the Divine knows better than we do what, in the circumstances of our life and our developmental unfolding, we need.
If we keep asking the Divine as if He could provide it magically then we are still a child in our relationship with the Divine. But if we lay claim to what we can do while holding in faith that element which lies beyond what we can do, then we are opening up ourselves to a real relationship with the Divine. This does not mean that miracles do not happen, but rather that we recognise when they do occur, because we realise that it is more than we could have managed ourselves on that day. Our true, final intention of petition is every day to speak to God in the relationship that we can, one of reliance, one of faith, one of assurance, but, very importantly, one of human activity and the engagement of our will.
We have a beautiful description of the letter of Paul to the Ephesians 3: 14-21:
So now I bow my knees before the Father in whom all beings in the heavens and on the earth have their birthplace and their home. May HE grant you, out of the wealth of HIS light-glory, that the higher power may take hold of you which through HIS Spirit brings to birth the Inner Human Being in you. This happens when the Christ dwells in your hearts through your faith, and when you are firmly rooted and grounded in love. Then you will also have the power, together with all who have a share in the salvation, to grasp what the secret is of length and of breadth, of height and of depth; you will comprehend the love of Christ which is greater than all comprehension, and you will be filled with all the fullness of the highest God.
To HIM who can fulfil beyond all measure what we ask for or what we simply carry in our minds, in that HE lets higher forces become active in us: to HIM belongs all the glory of revelation which enlightens the community through Christ Jesus in all generations and in the ages of time to come. Amen.
(This is an extract form the Jon Madsen rendition which is a translation by Emil Bock.)
God fulfils in us more than anything we could ask for or imagine.
There is going to be a higher power at work in us when we are active. This higher power will not spring into action until we get ourselves going. When we cooperate with this higher power, more will happen than we could ever have even asked for or imagined. Something extraordinary happens that is not because of ourselves, but it would not have taken place without us. We must be present. The higher power in us is the “I”-organisation, the Christ-in-us. We hear it eight times in the Act of Consecration of Man: “Christ in you.” Christ is in us. We walk the path because Christ is in us. Christ is not accompanying us. Christ makes it possible that we can do ever more than we could have ever asked for or imagined. That is what it is to be a petitioning human being: I lay claim to my capacity to be human and I know that that is made possible, graced, and expanded by Christ-in-me. This changes the way that we pray and the way in which we see that our prayers are answered.
In the seasonal Gospel Reading the theme was: “ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you”. We should stop focussing on the ‘ask’, seek’ ‘and ‘knock’ and rather turn our attention to ‘you will receive’, ‘you will find’, and ‘it will be opened’, start working with a that as a reality, because it is real.
If we keep knocking and don’t notice that the door has been opened, we remain outside knocking. If we keep asking and do not recognise that we are receiving, we keep asking like a child. If we keep seeking and don’t realise we have it already, we never stop journeying without ever enjoying the fruits of the journey.
When we understand how we are constituted as a human being, how we are theosophy, it may change the way in which we petition. It does not mean that we don’t pray for others, but the only thing we can pray for is that they will come into the realisation that they need to come to and that they will find the grace in their lives that God will afford. There is no more we can ask for. Think of the Trinity epistle: “Our substance is his substance”. We are made of the very substance of God. It is the only thing that God can give us, the essence of His substance. With that we can experience more than we could ever do or imagine.
This talk, and therefore the report, presume a knowledge of Theosophy. The report on Theosophy, which formed the first talk of this module of the Africa Seminary may be read at this link.
Theosophy, the Wisdom of God, has long excited people’s imagination, well before the coming of Christ. When Hebrew rabbis composed the Talmud, which is an accompaniment to the Torah, they philosophised on the Wisdom of God, that all of creation must have been brought about out of the Wisdom of God: “In His wisdom, God creates…”
We have referred to Theosophy as the human being, because what we can behold in the human being is the Wisdom of God as a result of having been created in the image and likeness of God. The Human being reflects the wisdom of God. Rudolf Steiner then goes on to explain that the path that the human being treads is not the wisdom of God, but rather the wisdom of the human being or Anthroposophy. This path is graced by Christ, it is the Christ-path, it is the path of connecting to the Christ Being, and not the Christ Being at the end of the path but the Christ Being in us on the path, meeting the fullness of the Christ Being as a goal.
Understanding what it is to be human will help us understand what petition is all about. It is a human being that is petitioning. If we understand our constitution, we can understand how we pray. Sometimes we continue to pray as if we have not yet grown up. This happens.
Reading Mark chapter 12 where a scribe comes to Jesus. To be a scribe was an important task. They were the record-keepers who wrote down the discussions of the Pharisees and Sadducees. We would not have scripture if the scribes had not inscribed it. Only human beings can write. Animals can communicate, but only humans write. In order to write the human being must create a symbology that has meaning to everyone. As human beings we write ourselves into the world and others can read who we are through all that we do and are in the world. This scribe was someone with capacity and knowledge, seeking more knowledge. He had observed how well Jesus had answered the questions of the crowd. He therefore felt that Jesus could confirm for him what lived in his heart. He asks: “Which is the most important of all the commandments?” This was a question that would have been a topic of regular discussion by those for whom he scribed. Jesus replied out of scripture: “Hear Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord (the Shema for the Hebrews).” This has the effect that everyone will listen. They did what Steiner describes: they lifted their gaze to the Divine. They were being human. He says: “You will love the Lord your God” and then he describes how one should love the Lord their God: “with your whole being.” He describes the human being to the point to which they human being has reached in their development: “with all your heart (the very essence of who one is – we make the heart our central point when we say to the one we love: “I love you with all my heart”. ‘Heart’ is therefore the centrality of the person. Thus we love the Lord our God with a sense of oneself – that self which has incarnated into the earthly body. Therefore the “I” of oneself, the earthly “I”.) and with all your soul (There is a difference between heart and soul. Heart represents the spirit while soul is another quality. It is how the spirit can find expression in the world and how the world can impress itself upon that spirit.) and with all the power of your life (With the life forces, often described as the Etheric Formative Forces of Life.) and you shall love the Lord your God with your strength of might (with the physical body).” It is a description of a four-fold human being: heart, soul, power of life, and strength of might. This description resonates with us.
This gives us a new way of understanding prayer. We often think that prayer means asking for the things that we desire or that we perceive we may need. We did that as a child: we expressed our needs to our parents in the expectation that they would respond and give us that which we needed or wanted. Sometimes a parent would say no and not accede to the wish or demand. When we work only with the physical body and the power of our formative life force we rely on the parent being able to accede to our needs. But when we have developed the capacity to work with our full humanity we no longer need to ask, but we do, as adults, need to lay claim to that which belongs to us. When we are adults our parents will acknowledge our claim and may even gift more in addition through their love for us. We can take hold of our selves as adults. We no have to ask the Divine as if we are still children. Petition is not asking. Petition means to lay claim, to actively seek out something that belongs to one. (We go to court and make a petition, asking the court to confirm that something belongs to us. We are not asking anything of the court other than to confirm ownership. The court may offer grace in the form of compensatory damages if one had been deprived of something that was one’s own, thereby offering us more than we come to petition for, but this was not part of our petition originally.)
Because we have a human constitution as an adult that has an essential “I”-being our prayer, our petition is different to asking the Divine. When we pray we address the Divine and express what we are able to manage ourselves and that we will give to this with our devoted energy. We may then trust that we might be met with grace permitting us to do more that we could do alone, because of this grace. We might address the sorrow and heaviness of our heart, but in the understanding that we are bearing our burden and working with it. We do not turn to the Divine wishing the Divine to wave a wand that will alleviate our burden. We ask the Divine to see us and recognise what it is that we are doing and how we are doing it. We lay claim to that which we can do and recognise that which we cannot do, and we wait in our doing for the Divine to meet us and bring us that which we need. We do not ask for that which we need because the Divine knows better than we do what, in the circumstances of our life and our developmental unfolding, we need.
If we keep asking the Divine as if He could provide it magically then we are still a child in our relationship with the Divine. But if we lay claim to what we can do while holding in faith that element which lies beyond what we can do, then we are opening up ourselves to a real relationship with the Divine. This does not mean that miracles do not happen, but rather that we recognise when they do occur, because we realise that it is more than we could have managed ourselves on that day. Our true, final intention of petition is every day to speak to God in the relationship that we can, one of reliance, one of faith, one of assurance, but, very importantly, one of human activity and the engagement of our will.
We have a beautiful description of the letter of Paul to the Ephesians 3: 14-21:
So now I bow my knees before the Father in whom all beings in the heavens and on the earth have their birthplace and their home. May HE grant you, out of the wealth of HIS light-glory, that the higher power may take hold of you which through HIS Spirit brings to birth the Inner Human Being in you. This happens when the Christ dwells in your hearts through your faith, and when you are firmly rooted and grounded in love. Then you will also have the power, together with all who have a share in the salvation, to grasp what the secret is of length and of breadth, of height and of depth; you will comprehend the love of Christ which is greater than all comprehension, and you will be filled with all the fullness of the highest God.
To HIM who can fulfil beyond all measure what we ask for or what we simply carry in our minds, in that HE lets higher forces become active in us: to HIM belongs all the glory of revelation which enlightens the community through Christ Jesus in all generations and in the ages of time to come. Amen.
(This is an extract form the Jon Madsen rendition which is a translation by Emil Bock.)
God fulfils in us more than anything we could ask for or imagine.
There is going to be a higher power at work in us when we are active. This higher power will not spring into action until we get ourselves going. When we cooperate with this higher power, more will happen than we could ever have even asked for or imagined. Something extraordinary happens that is not because of ourselves, but it would not have taken place without us. We must be present. The higher power in us is the “I”-organisation, the Christ-in-us. We hear it eight times in the Act of Consecration of Man: “Christ in you.” Christ is in us. We walk the path because Christ is in us. Christ is not accompanying us. Christ makes it possible that we can do ever more than we could have ever asked for or imagined. That is what it is to be a petitioning human being: I lay claim to my capacity to be human and I know that that is made possible, graced, and expanded by Christ-in-me. This changes the way that we pray and the way in which we see that our prayers are answered.
In the seasonal Gospel Reading the theme was: “ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you”. We should stop focussing on the ‘ask’, seek’ ‘and ‘knock’ and rather turn our attention to ‘you will receive’, ‘you will find’, and ‘it will be opened’, start working with a that as a reality, because it is real.
If we keep knocking and don’t notice that the door has been opened, we remain outside knocking. If we keep asking and do not recognise that we are receiving, we keep asking like a child. If we keep seeking and don’t realise we have it already, we never stop journeying without ever enjoying the fruits of the journey.
When we understand how we are constituted as a human being, how we are theosophy, it may change the way in which we petition. It does not mean that we don’t pray for others, but the only thing we can pray for is that they will come into the realisation that they need to come to and that they will find the grace in their lives that God will afford. There is no more we can ask for. Think of the Trinity epistle: “Our substance is his substance”. We are made of the very substance of God. It is the only thing that God can give us, the essence of His substance. With that we can experience more than we could ever do or imagine.
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