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Module 5: The Unfolding of the Mystery of Golgotha
— Futhering the unity of the Church to which all belong.
In this fifth module of 2019 we begin a two-module discovery of the unfolding Mystery of Golgotha, This Mystery introduces what we can come to understand as the New Mystery following on from the old and semi-old mysteries and the semi-new mysteries. This new path of initiation through the turning point event of time: the resurrection, will be explored through meditative art experiences and reflection. How did the incarnation of Christ change the constitution of the human being and how do we participate in this transformed human experience?
25th - 27th October
25th - 27th October
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Participants in module 5
Review of Year 2 Module 5: Unfolding of the Mystery of Golgotha – Furthering the unity of the church to which all belong
by Elmarie Vuuren
Friday evening’s session was led by Rev. Michaël Merle and started with a closer look at the meaning of the word “resurrection” which means “to rise up again”. This seems to imply that there may have been a “rising up” before? This belongs to a whole span of divine activity and carries a new rising up. So, one would be moving from the old mystery to a new mystery. All the old mysteries were mysteries of creation, whereas the new mystery is about resurrection.
So, what is the meaning of the word “mystery” then? Whilst there are various interpretations of the meaning of the word mystery, and the Oxford dictionary indicates that it means “something difficult to understand and explain”, more relevant to our context is the meaning that “mystery refers to the secret rite of ancient religions to which only initiates are invited to”. Religious belief is based on divine revelation that is beyond human understanding, but simply “known”, for example, as it is used in Christian terms. The mystery of faith is often mentioned in Catholic and other churches. This implies that:
The latter two translations are more accurate than the earlier translation “Christ has died”. So there is a need for an ongoing preparation for the mystery of Golgotha.
That brought the discussion to the meaning of the word “initiate”. This is understood to be a recognition that a human being is crossing a threshold, for example, crossing one reality of existence into another reality of existence. Examples of this might be birth or death, or young boys and girls entering so called “adulthood”. The Sacrament of Confirmation is about a child entering youth. The transition from youth to adulthood comes only later. Initiation also means going from living life a little blindly to a new understanding of knowing and being. An example of this is the 3-day initiation of old called the “temple sleep” where one would lie in a coffin which implies dying to one reality in order to awaken into another. The last person to experience both the old way of initiation as well as the new way was Lazarus – John. Lazarus rose up after a 3-day death-sleep, and then “rises” (but is not resurrected). John on the Island of Patmos comes to believe. The Greek word for apocalypse means “a new revelation”.
Rudolf Steiner spoke of the importance of initiation of the New Mystery which means “learning how to relate to other people”. Michaël went on to describe how as something develops it recapitulates older forms of development. Considering the former cycles of earth development, we know that in the first cycle of development our first sense to develop was warmth. All growth happens in warmth. Thereafter comes the air element, water element and then earth element. As such, the new initiation has developed out of older forms of initiation that involved earth, followed by water, and then air. Since the Mystery of Golgotha, our initiation comes from warmth. When we meet someone we sense their warmth or their coldness. Our initiation now is in our meeting of another person – how much warmth do we offer?
Adam is put to sleep and when he awakens, he is in a new relationship to himself. Something of himself is sacrificed and when he wakes up, he sees Eve. He recognises: flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone – another human being/partner. Though, he needed to be put to sleep first.
Similarly, baptism is a preparation for crucifixion. Christ incarnates into a body that was baptised and prepared for Him. All creation develops and then there is a turning point when decline enters and becomes destruction. No god of creation is only a creator, but by implication leads ultimately to death/destruction/decline.
The New Mystery has changed. It went from creation to resurrection before permeation of Christ into the body of Jesus. This is described in a lecture “The pre-earthly deeds and sacrifices of Christ”. Nothing can develop beyond the current reality unless there is a sacrifice. There is always a level of sacrifice before new growth, even if it is a new way of looking and seeing. In the pre-earthly deeds, the Divine is willing to give up something for something beyond self to be developed – these are the sacrifices of Christ.
The first pre-earthly deed of Christ was an essential deed in which Christ is able to share something of His substance so that it can become available for something new to be, i.e. man walking upright. Speech comes after walking in the child’s development. A child speaks subjectively out of sounds that mean something only to themselves. Objective speaking could only come about because of Christ.
The sacrifices all involved the Christ embodying into the body of an Archangel and thereafter into the body of a human being.
There are three sacrifices that Christ made in order for the human being to have a soul exist in the body. This is also what the death and resurrection of Christ is about. The first sacrifice involves the sense giving up their own holding in order for the senses to be useful to the human being. The second sacrifice involves the vital organs cooperating rather than being in competition in order to serve the human body. The third sacrifice involves the cooperation of the human being’s thinking, feeling and willing as a unity to offer the possibility for the human being to express themselves to another human being.
We can make this personal for each of us if we take up a conscious, awake relationship with Christ, in order for it to make a contribution to our sleep life in the spiritual world. One picks it up consciously (not unconsciously) every day, and so every morning can be likened to a resurrection. We find ourselves every morning in the process of salvation – always in process – that is the Mystery.
This is not the entire report on this module of the Africa Seminary. The remainder will appear here after editing.
Friday evening’s session was led by Rev. Michaël Merle and started with a closer look at the meaning of the word “resurrection” which means “to rise up again”. This seems to imply that there may have been a “rising up” before? This belongs to a whole span of divine activity and carries a new rising up. So, one would be moving from the old mystery to a new mystery. All the old mysteries were mysteries of creation, whereas the new mystery is about resurrection.
So, what is the meaning of the word “mystery” then? Whilst there are various interpretations of the meaning of the word mystery, and the Oxford dictionary indicates that it means “something difficult to understand and explain”, more relevant to our context is the meaning that “mystery refers to the secret rite of ancient religions to which only initiates are invited to”. Religious belief is based on divine revelation that is beyond human understanding, but simply “known”, for example, as it is used in Christian terms. The mystery of faith is often mentioned in Catholic and other churches. This implies that:
- Christ has died
- Christ is risen
- Christ is coming again (in the future continuous sense)
The latter two translations are more accurate than the earlier translation “Christ has died”. So there is a need for an ongoing preparation for the mystery of Golgotha.
That brought the discussion to the meaning of the word “initiate”. This is understood to be a recognition that a human being is crossing a threshold, for example, crossing one reality of existence into another reality of existence. Examples of this might be birth or death, or young boys and girls entering so called “adulthood”. The Sacrament of Confirmation is about a child entering youth. The transition from youth to adulthood comes only later. Initiation also means going from living life a little blindly to a new understanding of knowing and being. An example of this is the 3-day initiation of old called the “temple sleep” where one would lie in a coffin which implies dying to one reality in order to awaken into another. The last person to experience both the old way of initiation as well as the new way was Lazarus – John. Lazarus rose up after a 3-day death-sleep, and then “rises” (but is not resurrected). John on the Island of Patmos comes to believe. The Greek word for apocalypse means “a new revelation”.
Rudolf Steiner spoke of the importance of initiation of the New Mystery which means “learning how to relate to other people”. Michaël went on to describe how as something develops it recapitulates older forms of development. Considering the former cycles of earth development, we know that in the first cycle of development our first sense to develop was warmth. All growth happens in warmth. Thereafter comes the air element, water element and then earth element. As such, the new initiation has developed out of older forms of initiation that involved earth, followed by water, and then air. Since the Mystery of Golgotha, our initiation comes from warmth. When we meet someone we sense their warmth or their coldness. Our initiation now is in our meeting of another person – how much warmth do we offer?
Adam is put to sleep and when he awakens, he is in a new relationship to himself. Something of himself is sacrificed and when he wakes up, he sees Eve. He recognises: flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone – another human being/partner. Though, he needed to be put to sleep first.
Similarly, baptism is a preparation for crucifixion. Christ incarnates into a body that was baptised and prepared for Him. All creation develops and then there is a turning point when decline enters and becomes destruction. No god of creation is only a creator, but by implication leads ultimately to death/destruction/decline.
The New Mystery has changed. It went from creation to resurrection before permeation of Christ into the body of Jesus. This is described in a lecture “The pre-earthly deeds and sacrifices of Christ”. Nothing can develop beyond the current reality unless there is a sacrifice. There is always a level of sacrifice before new growth, even if it is a new way of looking and seeing. In the pre-earthly deeds, the Divine is willing to give up something for something beyond self to be developed – these are the sacrifices of Christ.
The first pre-earthly deed of Christ was an essential deed in which Christ is able to share something of His substance so that it can become available for something new to be, i.e. man walking upright. Speech comes after walking in the child’s development. A child speaks subjectively out of sounds that mean something only to themselves. Objective speaking could only come about because of Christ.
The sacrifices all involved the Christ embodying into the body of an Archangel and thereafter into the body of a human being.
There are three sacrifices that Christ made in order for the human being to have a soul exist in the body. This is also what the death and resurrection of Christ is about. The first sacrifice involves the sense giving up their own holding in order for the senses to be useful to the human being. The second sacrifice involves the vital organs cooperating rather than being in competition in order to serve the human body. The third sacrifice involves the cooperation of the human being’s thinking, feeling and willing as a unity to offer the possibility for the human being to express themselves to another human being.
We can make this personal for each of us if we take up a conscious, awake relationship with Christ, in order for it to make a contribution to our sleep life in the spiritual world. One picks it up consciously (not unconsciously) every day, and so every morning can be likened to a resurrection. We find ourselves every morning in the process of salvation – always in process – that is the Mystery.
This is not the entire report on this module of the Africa Seminary. The remainder will appear here after editing.
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