16th Lecture on the Apocalypse of John (Documentation)

We continue with the throne in heaven, we ascend to a higher level, we will experience light-filled imaginations on the one hand, but subsequently we will also see some dark sides. A short preface to the descriptions that are coming now: we are coming very strongly to the imaginative level, i.e. all the images that are coming now are imaginations that have been transformed into sensual images. In other words, nothing that is described will happen externally, but they are images that reflect psychological experiences, some of which are very dramatic, and which can of course worry you when you see this perspective of the future. Yes, tasks are coming our way, darkness is coming our way, but we have to overcome it. But this darkness is one that we have to light through out of the power of our I, but that we can also light through. That is the essential thing. These dark things are mainly connected in the future with the Ahrimanic forces, but we have in our I the power to lighten this darkness that is produced by Ahriman, this spiritual darkness, through which this fear, this uneasiness is also produced, through which we can lighten this darkness, yes, ultimately dissolve it. This power is infinitely stronger than what the adversaries can put up against us all together. 

That is the very important message, that since the turn of time we can consciously awaken in our I, really awaken, and slowly learn to really use the power of the I, to handle it, to slowly learn to distinguish it from our ego, which is only the weak mirror image of the I-power, a mirror image, which is distorted by the adversaries, which therefore also sometimes makes difficulties for us on the one hand, sometimes also generates our lusts and other things, but which sometimes lead us astray, these forces look very great and strong, but measured against the power that is at least potentially present in the I, they are zero in comparison. Because in relation to infinity every finite magnitude is zero and the adversaries all have only a finite magnitude. That means they do not have this immeasurable inexhaustible creative power that is within the I. 

You know, in almost every lecture I quote the very central sentence of the Apocalypse, where the Christ just says, "the same authority of the I is given to him that I received from my Father." With "given to him"This means the human being, and really every human being. Within ourselves there is the power to overcome all these obstacles. The darkness is basically there on the one hand to bring us to consciousness and to push us against it, and on the other hand precisely to grant us freedom. That is what the adversaries are there for. I have already described this repeatedly. Actually, it is always the case that in the Bible, in the descriptions already in the Old Testament, but especially in the Apocalypse, you will see again and again, there are very dark, gloomy moods that are described, and then a very bright spiritual picture follows, an ascent to the next level. 

Basically, becoming aware of the shadow or the resistance that one bumps up against, that is the moment when we wake up to something higher, to a higher level. That is, you can't have one without the other. The dark shadow, what we initially perceive as negative, is only the sign that the light is already there. The spiritual light is already there! That is, when we see the shadow, we have the awareness of it, or we may have the awareness that we already have the power within us to overcome this shadow. We always see only the shadows for which the light is already there in truth. In the night I see no shadow. There is no light there. This ahrimanic darkness is a darkness that in truth arises precisely through the casting of the shadow of the spiritual light. We can overcome it. With the Luciferic it is somewhat different, e.g. Lucifer is like a sparkling precious stone, the light passes through it, refracts inside, it shimmers in a hundred thousand colours, but it opposes the light as resistance, even if it only weakly weakens the light and lets it in, it still tries to change the light, it is no longer the original light that shines there in colours, the light that is taken inside, from that we have our ego, if I apply that to man, that is our ego. That is the light that Lucifer has captured and now gives us our own light inside, that is where we feel good, that is our everyday consciousness, that is just how I am, I am the most beautiful, the greatest, the best, whatever, or sometimes one is a little depressed, there is usually something ahrimanic that comes into it. But that's not the real light, that's small change compared to the real ME. 

We buy the consciousness for the real light by the fact that this beautiful gemstone, which shines seductively, is darkened, actually becomes ahrimanised, becomes black, becomes opaque, almost becomes coal, i.e. completely swallows the spiritual light at first, it is gone, it is trapped in there, it is killed at first. Thus our solid matter stands there, thus our solid body stands there, which at first completely obscures the spiritual for us. But it is not gone. Ahriman can never catch all the spiritual light, it continues to radiate uninterruptedly. When we see the dark, it is only the sign that the light is already there. We must learn to understand only one thing, that we are not sitting in the gem inside in truth and certainly not sitting in the darkened coal inside, but where does our I come from? It comes with the light! It is the light! It comes from all around the world, out of the periphery, it is so great. From infinity, if you like. 

This power is finally able to penetrate this darkness of Ahriman, like a focal point that forms, that dissolves all this darkness, transforms all this Ahrimanic power that is in there, ultimately back into pure spiritual light. That is the redemption of Ahriman. Of course, that still takes time. But we are working on it, constantly, right now and very concretely, because this is a process that is happening continuously in us, right down to the material level, even in us ahrimanised matter is continuously being dissolved into spiritual light. And Ahriman makes sure that new matter is immediately caught and the whole thing condenses again, that is already clear. But our spiritual light, which dissolves, is the stronger one. That is to say, it will ultimately overcome all this darkening. It will then illuminate this dark coal from within.

The important thing is to encourage people to read this from the images of the Apocalypse. That is what John actually wants with the Apocalypse. Because it is called the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. In the word Jesus Christ, in the initials J. CH. There is also, as R. Steiner shows, the word I in it. JCH = ICH, if you write the I in Latin. In Latin IESUS is written with I, not with J. Light has to do with lightness. Because Ahriman is not only the lord of darkness, but also the lord of heaviness, that which pulls us down. That is the force that pulls us down into the realm of freedom on the one hand, only if you sink too low, then we are stuck with him, we just have to learn the intermediate state, between the light and the darkness, exactly in the level in between we acquire freedom. Once we have it, we have it under all conditions. Then we no longer need the outside. Then the earth in the form we know today can also perish. And the Apocalypse describes a process that runs in this direction. That is the essence. 

But the important thing is that we have to learn this absolute trust in the spirit. A trust in the spiritual that lies within our I itself. Because all the spiritual help that comes today comes through the I. In the past it was from the spiritual outside world. In the past it was from the spiritual outside world, now the help comes from within. That is the essence. Question from a listener: "From both sides?" Yes, but it is shifting more and more to that from within, and that which leads to the future, that comes from within. Because all spiritual entities up to the highest peak are present in the I, the whole spiritual world is in there. The hierarchies are then not something that stands above or outside of us, but they stand in the I. And each individual I enters into a very individual partnership with the angelic hierarchies up to the Trinity. Creation is completely reversed, in the sense that in the future creation will not come from the top, but from each individual I. The creation of the world will be reversed. All the way into the creation of the world. 

But it is a very long way until we can consciously take this into our own hands. But it is an absolute turning point in the creation process in general and not only in the creation process of the earth's development but also in the stages that preceded the earth's development. We have already spoken of the fact that there have been three planetary embodiments of the earth, and ultimately there will be another three embodiments of the earth after our earth, one only has to be aware that the earth as we know it, with the solar system and everything around it, this earth is only a middle step, out of a much larger process. A process that goes through seven stages. We are standing in the middle right now, it is not by chance that we are standing in the middle, because as R. Steiner explains, when I am driving in the countryside the horizon in front of me is as far away as the horizon behind me, I can see as far as the horizon, but that is just as true for the direction to the back as well. So we are always standing in the middle, seen that way, because that is our observation point. We do not yet see what is behind the horizon. 

With the spiritual powers that are now accessible to man, that he can now develop, can raise into consciousness, then we overlook three stages backwards and three stages forwards. And when the three stages that we still have before us are completed, then a completely new creation will come into being, in which we, as the great cosmic workmasters, will be substantially involved by carrying out a similar task, only on a higher level, as the seven Elohim did in the creation of the earth, that is, the middle state, those seven Elohim of whom it is said in the Bible that in the beginning the Elohim created the heavens and the earth. This creation will then be like this, it is already interesting that with the Elohim a community forms, which accomplishes the creation of the earth, it is a seven-number, it is not God, as a unity concept, but it is a sevenness. A septuagency through which the Christ power works. In this new creation that is coming, when we have all seven stages behind us, then it will be a whole humanity through which the Christ-power works. Every single individual human being is involved. 

This is a model image that is already announcing itself in the social life of human beings, and it will become increasingly important for the future, especially in the next cultural epoch, the community of Philadelphia, which we have already spoken about, the cultural epoch of brotherhood or commonality. Where it is essentially a question of everything great that is created in the world being created in the future by a community of people, ultimately by the whole community of people. Of course, due to the effect of the adversaries, there will also be problems, there will be a different current, people who tear themselves out of this commonality, who isolate themselves more and more through this, close themselves off more from the spiritual influx, fall prey to the Ahrimanic powers. And there will also be a certain separation of spirits, that will be very clear in the next cultural epoch, it is already announcing itself in truth and it will be particularly drastic in the seventh cultural epoch. That is the moment before we make the ascent to the throne in heaven, which we are dealing with today. 

Once again, the important message is that in the I of the human being there is potentially all the spiritual creative power that is possible, namely an infinite creative power. It can overcome all obstacles. There is no reason to be afraid. Fear is the ahrimanic phenomenon. It always arises where we close ourselves off, where we say: "But my power is too small", that is what Ahriman suggests to us in truth, that is how fear comes, it comes into our thinking. In truth, we are always afraid before the terrible event occurs. We fear it, we see it approaching, when we are in the midst of it we no longer have time for fear, then we are busy coping with it. Fear is what paralyses our strength beforehand. It is actually completely unnecessary, because it doesn't change the situation anyway. We don't prevent anything by it. But what we do is we paralyse our spiritual forces, which are strong enough in every way to cope with it. That doesn't mean it won't be difficult. We have to be aware of these stumbling blocks and use them to wake up and become aware of the spiritual powers we have. We cannot use them because we have not yet become aware of them. They are already there, but they are of no use to us because we know nothing about them.  

We have to work out the consciousness for this on the way, that is reading the great book of life, reading another book, an experiential reading. The Apocalypse in particular, if you read it as an experience, then it helps to bring these forces into consciousness, at first initially, but I really have to get into it. I also have to get involved with the darker sides of the description, which I don't like so much. Really engage with full consciousness. That's not so difficult today. You have to think that when you read the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages, very few people could read it, it was only in Latin, only the monks could read it, otherwise people read it aloud or preached about it, the Apocalypse was not such an everyday book, not even in church, but when you read something from it, it shook people deeply, because they experienced it so strongly from within the Word that they were shaken. That was the important thing. Because it awakened them. Today we have a much harder time. We have the thrillers and everything you see, we are bombarded with these things from the outside, we then say: it's not so terrible anyway, I've already seen everything in the film 10 times. We become numb! That is the great danger. That is typical of the adversaries, that they want to distract us. On the one hand we need to become conscious, on the other hand they do everything to make us unconscious. It is almost paradoxical.

It is good to really internalise these descriptions, which come from imaginations, to build it up inwardly, to put your whole mind into it, to really live through it. Then you wake up to it! Then suddenly, when you have been doing this for a while, you become aware of what new power has awakened in me that was asleep before. That is the meaning of these pictures that are in there, it is not a reading book, it is not a horror vision of the future, but a training book to wake up to what we are capable of in truth. Because the whole spiritual world submits to our will. The whole spiritual world submits to the will of man. When he acts out of freedom. That is the complete turnaround. With the death of Christ on the cross, the path from God's omnipotence to God's impotence was completed. The death of the cross is the supreme sign of God's powerlessness in a certain way. This to the service that the spiritual power of man is becoming greater and greater, you have to bear in mind how the picture turns around, in few religious confessions is this clearly stated, they say quite the opposite, because quite clearly in the Catholic Church doctrine, but elsewhere it is no different, there it is very strongly emphasised, the insurmountable gulf between God and man. And with that, everything that Christianity is about is basically already extinguished. The understanding of everything that Christianity is about has been extinguished. The essential thing in Christianity is that the Christ has given himself into the hands of man. That is the essence. This does not mean the outer history, but it is an image of an inner process. This is what is meant by the incarnation of God, which takes place in each individual human being in truth, and it is connected with the fact that we too always go through our Golgotha in a certain way, although on a smaller scale at first, i.e. we have to carry out this process, to go through death, to go into the underworld, to descend into the realm of death, in order to ultimately lighten it up, to illuminate it. That is the path that is at stake. 

We have the greatest possible help in this, because through our I the power of all hierarchies flows in and puts itself at our service and helps us to fulfil our will. So that it becomes our free act. In every single moment. Until we become world-creators on a grand scale, that is a very long way, that will only be at the end of these seven planetary states. Then something completely new will begin, which we cannot yet overlook at all, because it will be a completely new beginning. It will depend on us, on humanity as a whole. We just have to be careful that the separation of spirits doesn't become so bad that too many people, in the best case no people at all, drop out of this path. But this tension will of course become greater and greater, that people do not want to place themselves on their I, or are seduced by the adversaries, are afraid of placing themselves on their I, are faint-hearted in the sense that they do not have the confidence in their I-power, then fall back into the ego, then the adversaries have it. That is the big problem. 

But the other side is that those who do not let themselves be dragged down by the adversaries have the opportunity to help others who have become fainthearted. That will be one of the most important tasks of the future. The question: What can we do for each other at all? That will become the central question in the next cultural epoch at the latest. What we do, we do for others. It is precisely through this that we do it most powerfully for ourselves. We orient ourselves to what the others need in terms of help and support. We all need that. Ultimately, when the seven great periods are over and we set out into this new creation, it will be a common act of all humanity. Then one will depend on the other. If one did not join in, the work would be smaller. That is still far away. But we must already take great care to really cultivate spiritual communion with others, completely undisguised from I to I, i.e. from heart to heart, regardless of social standing or anything else, regardless of sympathy and antipathy, I am right and he is wrong. But where one recognises the spiritual impulse that lives in the other, which is welcomed precisely because it is different from mine. When we speak of anthroposophy, it is only real where it becomes real in the individual human being. That is to say, it exists as often as there are anthroposophists, or if I say it more generally, as often as there are really spiritually striving people. There will be so many different systems, because each one must find his own and act out of it. There are those that are closer together, those that are further apart, but to move forward we need all but those that are inspired by adversaries. There are many spiritual endeavours that pretend to be spiritual, but are in fact anti-spiritual, because the adversaries work within. Because they also have their spiritual training. But it looks different. There is the Luciferic and of course also the Ahrimanic. The Ahrimanic spiritual training, for example, is interestingly the one that has the motto that is coming more and more into the world and is really the most fatal perspective: "Goodness is the greatest possible happiness of all people on earth." That would shackle humanity to the outer world, it would mean the death of the soul. It would mean that man would no longer be able to develop spiritually. By this is meant this happiness, that precisely all these black dots, this darkness is not seen, that he passes by, is led past, then he withers spiritually, because he does not become aware of his spiritual light. Then he loses his I very quickly. It looks so great: everybody should be happy. The whole life long. That sounds incredibly seductive. But it is the way to the absolute abyss. It would ultimately wipe out our ME. You have to learn to think differently about many things than you usually do. This does not mean that we have to flagellate ourselves every day, that is just as nonsensical. It's about overcoming the darkness that confronts us. Because it only confronts us because we actually have the spiritual light that makes it visible and can dissolve it. Therefore, at that moment, the task is to do that. It's very simple! The principle is simple.

But now after this bitter pill, we have earned the right to cast an eye to the throne of heaven. This throne of heaven is mentioned several times in the Bible itself, not only in the Apocalypse but already in the Old Testament, there are several passages where this is done, a well-known passage is Isaiah's vision - by the way, also after God cursed the people of Israel because they followed his commandments so little - out of that Isaiah comes into his vision, you can only call it a vision because clairvoyance in past times had a sense-like or dream-like character, i.e. was really experienced directly in sense qualities. The translation happened automatically. But today's spiritual path to an imagination is such that we come directly to the supersensible, i.e. purely soul-spiritual experience, there is nothing sensual left in it. The sensual comes through the impact of the adversary. That is in the old descriptions. In the new path it is inevitably still in the descriptions, because otherwise one cannot talk about it at all. That is the problem. We must nevertheless be aware that there is a difference between the way Isaiah experiences it in the Old Testament and the way John experiences it when he writes the Apocalypse. 

We have to keep translating it into sensual images until we have developed a language for the supersensible. But that is only possible if there are enough people who raise awareness of this supersensory experience, which in truth everyone has. The problem is not to come to a supersensible perception, because we all have it, only we sleep through it. It is like when I look out of the window and it is night, then I only see my reflection when it is dark outside. Then I only see myself, that is the sensual world. I see my sensual imprint, but it is not reality, it is only a reflection. When the spiritual sun rises, that is, when my I rises, shining in from outside, suddenly the world rises before me, in that case the sensual world. But it is the same with the spiritual world. It is only darkened for us. Especially through the Ahrimanic forces. Ahriman is the main darkener. We have to learn to illuminate it with the power of our I, then we can enter into these imaginations in a different way, then they are not visions but imaginations. A vision has a sensual character. That was also the case in clairvoyance in the past. It is not like that in the modern world. We have to be very conscious of this, even when translating it into a sensual image. We have to be very conscious, yes, for a certain cultural context, for certain people I translate it into this image, for others I translate it into another image that is appropriate to their habits. 

Which sensual translations I can use depends very much on the people to whom I am speaking and for whom I am proclaiming it. It is not reality, but it is an external image that can stimulate people to immerse themselves in it, to experience certain mental shocks, and these mental shocks that they experience are actually already the beginning of the perception of the imagination, that is how it is. Because the imagination is a purely spiritual perception, so there is nothing sensual about it. What do I have in the soul? We feel it most clearly in the life of the mind in the centre (Wolfgang puts his hand on the centre of his chest), because the will is actually too unconscious, you don't notice anything, perhaps when it comes up as an emotion, there is such a transition between will and feeling, but when it comes up in the life of feeling, we get an idea of what the soul is. Of course, it is still completely shadowed by the way we experience it in our organism. But if you go into it more finely, you can feel a little bit of what the soul is. 

That is, when I read something like the Apocalypse and read it in such a way that it shakes my soul, that I suffer through it, but also experience the joy when I push through into the light, then these experiences are already the beginning of the actual imagination. And at some point I reach the point where this initially emotional, soulful, psychic experience becomes so strong and rich that it becomes an imagination. The interesting thing is that it then absolutely loses its egoistic character, because in our emotional mood we still have a certain egoistic character, so that I say, I like that, that is pleasant or unpleasant for me, sympathy is still something like "nice" and antipathy something like "I don't like". It doesn't yet have the objective character that it acquires in the real imagination. Sympathy means nothing other than I connect with a spiritual being and antipathy means I detach myself again from a spiritual being. This is done in a highly differentiated way with a large number of spiritual beings. That then emerges. It emerges from this emotional mood, which is therefore distorted by egoism, from which the imagination emerges. When I can then experience this spiritual experience, this very bad, this very bad thing, but now in complete peace, when I can experience the shock, so to speak, without being shocked, feel it nevertheless, but not be depressed about it, not be euphoric about the beautiful side of it either, but simply experience it in its character, then I am inside the imagination. When I have that, when I can move in this panorama of the soul, when I can survey it, then I have it. 

But then I can't talk about it because people wouldn't understand me and because I don't have words for it either. I can experience it, but I cannot pass it on. Then I have to translate it into words that the other person can understand. According to his level of development, according to his cultural environment, that will be the most important thing for the near future in order to communicate spiritual truths at all. They have to be reformulated again and again, newly translated into our language. Out of direct experience. Then I can really reach the people. I have to be very awake to experience the people, to involve them in the imagination, i.e. the people to whom one speaks about the apocalypse are in the midst of it. I cannot read this out to anyone in the abstract. I have to shape it by the way I say it, even if I use the same words that are in there, but I still have to speak them accurately in the mood in which I present it to those who are listening to me. Then I can reach the people. 

There we are completely away from the fact that this could be something like information. Information is something quite external, but it can become that it is a soul exchange, then the words are uninteresting anyway, they are only the tool, the means of transport that we still need today, but neither the one who speaks, nor the one who listens, pays attention in truth to the words, but to the soul that is aroused in him through them and that comes to his consciousness. That is how one must speak about the spiritual today. That one really creates this exchange from the innermost core of one person to the other person. That's where it has to go. This shaking must be there. If it is not there, nothing is there. I can talk about it in a logically ordered, scholarly way and present it in a structured way, point 1, 2, 3, etc., and it has no value if this spiritual experience is not there, which is what it is really about.

Now to the throne of God. The account that then comes from John is not entirely new, but it is recast. Isaiah: "In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and his hem filled the temple." So it's about the Lord. It is the question in the Old Testament: Who is the Lord? To translate it simply as God is wrong! With the Hebrews at that time it always means Yahweh, Yahweh is in truth one of the seven Elohim, one of the seven creator gods who brought forth the earth creation with the help of the Christ. Yahweh-Elohim, that is, one of the seven Elohim, in the Bible in the second chapter it is suddenly no longer called Elohim but Yahweh-Elohim, the transition is made, this Yahweh-Elohim is the spokesperson for these seven Elohim, because it is through him that the Christ speaks most strongly, he is the one who brings the Christ-power most strongly into the community, it is often the case that one person in the community is the spokesperson for all because he can formulate it well or is suitable for it. In this community I am the speaker, but it is only possible because there are listeners. It would not be possible if I spoke into the empty space. That is meaningless. There has to be a concrete awareness for the people who are there. At some point, the whole of humanity will be included.

That is the consciousness that the Christ had when he spoke, when he was in his earthly life. He had a certain consciousness of the whole of humanity, not only of the people who are coming together in Palestine at the moment. But on the soul-spiritual level he has a knowledge or a feeling of every single human being who lives on earth. We are still far away from that. It will be a goal that we come close to it in the next cultural epoch. That doesn't mean having a knowledge of what the other person is thinking at the moment. That is not the point. That is the mirror-image consciousness, that is not interesting. It is about experiencing what is really the soul-spiritual being of the other person. And to include that. And to know that I work for you, and for you, and for you (Wolfgang points with his hand to different places in the room). Because I can complement what you have with mine and vice versa, I also need your impulse. Because without it, the whole work is much smaller. So this togetherness is the important thing. 

Let us go further. There is the throne and on it sits the Lord, the throne of the Lord, Adonai is then often said in the Bible, because they do not pronounce the word Yahweh, it is indeed in the text, but as a Hebrew, as a Jew, at that time and also today, when it says YHWH, then they speak Adonai (Lord). Because YHWH is the unpronounceable name of God. Yes, the name I. It is actually unpronounceable, because no one can say I to another, I can only say it inwardly to myself, if it can really be reality. I have to grasp it from within. I can only grasp it in the other person if I intuitively connect with him, i.e. immerse myself completely in his being with my consciousness. And I am ready to completely let go of mine for this moment. Of course, I then need to come back again. That always happens in the normal social process. We immerse ourselves in the other and forget ourselves for a moment. What we take back from that, when we wake up to ourselves again, through that we recognise a corner of him as he really is. Not only the outer mask, how he pretends or how he appears. Whether he is well-educated, well-groomed, sympathetic or unsympathetic in face, all that is unimportant, it has not the slightest thing to do with individuality. It's about immersing ourselves in what we can't see, can't hear, can't reach, can't taste, but what moves a person deep inside. To immerse ourselves there. There we come to the ineffable name of God. I.e. in every human encounter it plays a role, because on the throne sits the whole creative power, that is the power that is inside our I, in every I. It is also a self-empowerment. So it is also a self-encounter in truth, only seen in the great dimension, which we can awaken one day. Now it is still small. 

This throne in heaven is of course very high up. Above, not seen in the spatial, but in the ladder of spiritual entities, from which, seen from man upwards, via the new angels, choirs thus Archangel, Urengel, then the Elohim or Spirits of Form (Exusiae), then the Spirits of Movement (Dynamis), the Spirits of Wisdom (Kyriotes, Dominions)Here we are already very high up, there is a middle trinity. 

And then the highest group of three with the Thrones, that is another hierarchy of angels, they already have something to do with the throne, they work in everything that is our material world, they are actually, if someone asks me: "What is substance, matter?" Then I say it is the willpower of the Thrones, captured/imprisoned by Ahriman. That's it! Because they allowed themselves to be captured. It is not that Ahriman would have the power to do it if they did not allow it. They let it happen because the kingdom of darkness is supposed to come into being here so that we can have freedom. So that we can walk dutifully on the realm of darkness. That is why they allow themselves to be captured there. The thrones are what capture our whole planetary system. On the one hand the whole material, but their spiritual effectiveness encompasses our whole planetary system, especially as far as Saturn's orbit and in truth beyond, something that still belongs to our solar system, it is an independent entity our solar system, it still reaches beyond Saturn's orbit, In the past, we could not see more with the naked eye, but it is still something that belongs to it in a certain way, but it is justified to say that Saturn's orbit is the end of what directly concerns us, but there is still something that belongs to it nevertheless. The thrones have to do with that. That's how big they are - spiritually speaking. 

Far beyond the thrones then still go the CherubimIt is said that at the gate of paradise there is a cherubim, a cherub who is supposed to prevent humanity from entering there again, at least not before it is ripe again. The cherubim are the zodiacal beings. They have to do with the great cosmic circle, which has to do directly with our earth's development. You have to think, every planetary system, there are certainly many billions of planetary systems out there. Every planetary system has its zodiac, it is not the same as ours. A zodiac that has this planetary system as its centre. That is almost inconceivable to us when we look out at the sky, we only see the stars, most of them have planets, most of them are systems on which spiritual entities evolve, in whatever form, in very few cases it will be that they evolve in physical form, that is a peculiarity that is the case with us. In any case, the cherubim are entities that have to do with our zodiac, other planetary systems have other cherubim that are on the same level, but there is still a certain limitation in there. 

Then there are the very highest ones, which basically encompass the entire cosmos. Who really establish the exchange between all the star systems that exist. Who have a consciousness for the entire cosmos, that is, for all spiritual entities that are present in the cosmos. A Seraphim has the consciousness for all spiritual entities that exist in the cosmos. That is their task. You can't really imagine. But we are connected with all the spiritual entities of the cosmos. They would be spiritually accessible to us if we were awake enough for it. We learn it on a small scale, in the social communities where a few people get together and you try to grasp the essence of the people who are there. Or to grasp a corner of it, that which is at the core. The inner not the outer. That which this person has in him as an actual spiritual driving force, as a spiritual task. To grasp something of that, that's where it begins. Exactly those are around the throne. "Seraphim stood over him, each having six wings, with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, with two they flew, and one cried to the other, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Cebaoth, all the earth is full of his glory,... ". The Lord Cebaot is the Lord of Hosts = that is, one of the many names of the Lord that exist, a very warlike undertone, there it always becomes very violent, that occurs frequently in the Old Testament, there the punishing God is shown again and again, who educates humanity through his punishing, through the shocks that he produces. 

Today it is the case that we have to generate these shocks ourselves, that is our task of destiny, that we generate the shocks ourselves, the shocks about what we have caused in the past in terms of mistakes and destruction in our soul being. Through the adversaries. That is the price we have to pay for having been given freedom. Through this we have come into the clutches of the adversaries. Through this we have made mistakes. Through this we have fallen into error. It is the privilege of man that we can err, because that gives us freedom. We can err at any level, fail at any level. We have to be able to fail in real terms, otherwise we cannot be victorious out of freedom or bring forth what is right. That is the problem. But what is connected with it, that where we have failed, what we have ultimately destroyed in the world and in ourselves, there we must be shaken today by our own strength. More and more, we are coming to the point where we are more and more consciously creating this shaking ourselves, which in ancient times the hosts brought upon us, i.e. as an outwardly perceived spiritual power, today it must in truth come out of our I. 

So we are faced with a strange situation also towards our karma. Because - there is the possibility that we refuse to dissolve our karma, because it will only dissolve if we want it to. The problems and difficulties with the world will come only when we want them to. That is the time we are heading for. If we do not want it, then this shaking will not come, then perhaps what Ahriman wants to give us will come, the greatest possible happiness of the greatest number of people on earth. Then all will be happy, and they will be at the end of their development, no more development, no more I in the end, for when development ceases, the I is gone, the I must go on and on, it is the creative principle of the world, but in an individual way in man. That is to say, if we want that, the happiness of the greatest possible number of human beings on earth, then we are saying that we no longer want to develop, we renounce the I, we renounce freedom, we enjoy the world of the adversaries. How far this will be a pleasure is another question. There is this possibility, it must be considered, to escape karma, but that is the annihilation of our spiritual being. Therefore, in John's description of the throne of God, there will now be no more talk of the Lord Cebaot. Because we have to take on this task ourselves. 

Isaiah also has a throne vision: Ezekiel. With him it is a throne chariot vision, he has a special image of the throne of God, of the entities that are there. That they have something like wheels. The wheels, interestingly enough, are a picture of the thrones. Ophanim Hebrew: wheels. The throne chariot vision is portrayed several times in Ezekiel. Ezekiel 1: "In the 30th year, on the 5th day of the 4th month, when I was among those taken away by the river Kebar".The time of the Babylonian captivity, that is the time of the 6th century B.C., that is the time when Greek philosophy begins to awaken, when Greece begins to flourish, Isaiah is a little earlier in the 8th century B.C., that is the beginning of the Greek-Latin time. That's the beginning of the Greek-Latin period, so the prophets fall at the beginning of that period. But Ezekiel is a little later: "In the 30th year, on the 5th day of the 4th month, when I was among those carried away by the river Kebar, the heavens opened and God showed me visions. On the 5th day of the month, it was the 5th year after King Jehoachin was led away captive, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the son of Busi, the priest in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Kebar. There the hand of the Lord came upon him." The Chaldeans are the New Babylonians. "And I beheld, and, lo, there came a rushing wind from the north, and a mighty cloud, and flaming fire, and brightness was on the left hand about them, and in the midst of the fire it was as flashing copper, and in the midst of it was something like 4 figures, which were to look upon as men, and every one of them had 4 faces and 4 wings,..." So pay attention, now there are 4 wings, in Isaiah there were 6 wings, 6 wings is always a sign for seraphim, the highest hierarchy of angels, with consciousness for all spiritual beings in the cosmos, the cherubim are one level lower, these are the zodiacal beings with 4 wings, in the picture of course, in reality they don't have any wings, but that with the wings is fitting, see Dante, the normal angels and archangels only have 2 wings. ....4 faces and 4 wings, and their legs were straight, and their feet were like the feet of bulls, and shone like smooth flashing copper, and they had human hands under their wings on their 4 sides, the 4 of them had faces and wings, their wings touching one another, and when they walked they did not have to turn around, they always walked in the direction of one of their faces, their faces were in front like a man, on the right side like a lion on all fours and on the left side like a bull on all fours, and behind like an eagle on all fours. And their wings were spread upwards, two wings touching each other, and with 2 wings they covered their bodies, always walking in the direction of one of their faces, whither the spirit drove them, there they went. They did not need to turn around while walking. And in the midst of the figures it looked as if fiery coals were burning, like torches going to and fro between the figures, the fire was shining, and out of the fire came lightning, and the figures ran to and fro, so that it looked like lightning. When I saw the figures, behold, there was a wheel on the earth by each of the four figures by their four faces. The wheels were to be seen like a turquoise, and were all 4 alike, and they were made in such a way that one wheel was in the other, to all 4 sides they could go, they did not need to turn around while walking, and they had rims, and I saw their rims were full of eyes, all around at all 4 wheels. And when the shapes went, the wheels went with them, and when the shapes lifted themselves up from the earth, the wheels lifted themselves up too. Wherever the spirit drove them they went. And the wheels rose up with them, for the spirit of the figures was in the wheels. When they walked, these also walked; when they stood, these also stood; and when they lifted themselves up from the earth, the wheels also lifted themselves up with them, for it was the spirit of the figures in their wheels."  It goes on like this and in Ezekiel 10 there is another description of this experience. In the re-experiencing, in the recalling of the whole. A rich opportunity to study how imagination was experienced in ancient times and how it was described. We will see similar elements in John, but also with slight differences.

The wheels do not appear again in John. In Ezekiel they are an image for the thrones. There is the dynamic aspect in there. What is a good training for the imagination is to study these images of the Old Testament, to build them up in one's imagination inside, certainly as a sensual image. To live inside. So that one is really shaken by it. Until you manage to have only the shock in your experience. To drop the sensual image that one has built up, to live only in this shock inside. In the drama of the scene. It is a highly dramatic depiction inside. Then to experience only the inner drama. The last thing is to face this drama as a calm, level-headed observer. The drama that I have experienced and lived through in my soul before, that has shaken me through and through, to place before me in the inner experience, without a sensual image now. Only to present this drama of the soul as a calm, almost sober observer. But one who is completely awake to this image. But has learned that now my feeling, my emotion must not go along with it, but I look at it. That is the necessary step. 

Also with us. If we really want to get to know something of our soul life, then we must, we should definitely experience mental shocks, that happens again and again in life, although today people have become very dull in relation to their own feelings, especially the centre (chest) is very weak today, because people are in truth afraid of what is inside, but that is precisely where the  The actual potential that is at stake in order to come to the imagination. That means you first have to experience it, suffer through it, rejoice in it in all its shades - and then soberly confront it. Then I slowly get an imagination of my own soul. In some dramatic situation or one remembers an event where something lovingly touched me too. Not only negative shocks, but also the positive shocks I experience when I experience love, when I can give love. I feel love. Love is life force. The etheric body is the love body. Not the astral body, in which the feelings also live. A real life force. When we learn to face the deep world of feelings, including love, in a calm inner level-headed mood, free from a sensual image that I associate with it, then I come into the Imagination inside. It is such imaginations that are behind it. For example, behind this throne imagination.   

With Johannes: "After that I could see, behold, an open door in heaven,... "The open door means that I am already climbing up the stairs of the nine hierarchies into the space beyond space and time, where I cannot find a counterpart in the outer world, but in truth enter the spiritual realm in the first place. Dante describes this very beautifully, that in truth the hierarchies, the nine choirs of angels, which are connected step by step with the planetary system, then with the zodiac, and ultimately with the entire cosmos, that in truth this is only a reflection and their actual reality is only beyond space and time, beyond the crystal sky, that is in the picture the outermost boundary, which encompasses everything that still has an external correspondence, and beyond that are in truth all spiritual beings. We too. We are beyond what could be visible in the world outside. Here is actually only the reflection, which is very real. What we experience here in the I-consciousness is initially only a reflection. This arises from the fact that everything that is beyond space and time creates a centre, a focal point in us (Wolfgang points to the centre of his chest), into which it is reflected. Our physical organism is absolutely necessary for this, so that we can experience this reflection. Just like the shiny garden balls in which the whole environment is reflected. Thus we are a point that not only reflects the whole cosmic environment, but even that which is beyond the spatial and temporal. Because that is where our I is at home. Everywhere and nowhere. "All that is perishable is but a likeness."

John is quite aware of all this, it was not so clear in the descriptions in the Old Testament. There is a fine distinction in there. "..., and the first voice, which had reached my ear like the sound of a trumpet, said: Arise, I will show you what is to happen in the future after all that has gone before..." So the gaze goes into the future, to what is still to be created, reality, which is that which creates the future. The past is the dead. "... and already I was lifted up into the spirit realm, behold, a throne stood in heaven, and on the throne sat a figure, the throne end was like a jasper and a carnelian in its brilliance, and round the throne was a rainbow that shone like an emerald. In the circle around the throne were 24 thrones, and on them sat 24 elders in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads, from the crowns lightning flashed, voices sounded, thunder rolled, and 7 flaming torches burned in front of the throne, these are the 7 divine creative spirits, in front of the throne something like a sea of glass, as if it were formed of crystal, in the middle and around the throne, 4 living beings, full of eyes in front and behind, the first living creature resembled a lion, the second a young bull, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle, the 4 living creatures each had 6 wings, all around and also inside they were full of eyes, and without ceasing they called out by day and by night, holy, holy the Lord, the divine ruler of the universe, who was, who is and who is to come." 

A strong image! We have very interesting beings in there, because somehow the level of the cherubim mixes with the level of the seraphim, because in truth these zodiacal beings are actually 12, the 12 signs of the zodiac, they are the ones who order the spatial principle, who order space, they are 12, who also order the spatial in the outer world, which is why man, for example, has 12 sense organs. The twelve also plays a very important role in the construction of the human organism, with everything that can be derived from it, in the 12 there is the 3, there is the 4, from the 3 and 4 the 7 can be derived by addition, we will come to that, because number mysteries play a big role in the Apocalypse, Rhythms are also meant here, the rhythms of seven have something to do with temporal development, so temporal developments are always connected with the number seven, it's not by chance that the week is ordered with 7 days, where each of the 7 days also has a different quality, today you don't feel that so strongly: today Tuesday is Mars day (Mars quality), Friday is Venus day, 3 x 4 (multiplication spatially) and 3 + 4 (addition temporally) comes to these sacred numbers seven and twelve. The number seven is also inside here with the 7 divine creator spirits, these are very high standing entities. What do they do? 

They are related to our spiritual members. In truth, we have 7 members: a) physical, the physical body: as the lowest and first to be created, not only in the earth's development but also in the planetary stages of development that preceded the earth, three stages preceded it, that begins with the physical body of the human being, but in its real form, because behind everything physical is the willpower of the thrones, they are behind the outer matter today, today it is very much, Hans Peter Dürr would say, "the calcified spirit", the spirit calcifies and then it appears as matter, he was a quantum physicist. But the really physical, the power that is inside the physical, that is the willpower of the thrones, that has revealed itself in the first planetary state as warmth. 

That is to say, the first thing that is there of the physical, and also today lies in the core of all the physical, is warmth, heat, energy, physical energy, as we know it today is only a corner of it, we have no idea of what intensity it had on the first planetary embodiment of our earth, what R. Steiner calls the Old Saturn, a world that consisted only of warmth, of nothing else. There the physical body of man was already predisposed, because the thrones, these high spiritual beings, sacrificed their willpower so that creation could come into being at all. So that it can take its beginning. That is the first thing that appears. First from this spiritual warmth, which arises from this willpower, only then does it become physical warmth. This old Saturnian warmth is still inside everywhere, and today we as human beings are ready to get a little bit of it out with nuclear technology, for example,  If we tickle out something of the warmth, matter is dissolved into warmth, mass disappears, that is gone, that comes out, that is the willpower of the thrones. That is to say, a nuclear power station or even an atomic bomb explosion is the release of the willpower of the thrones, which, however, are bound by Ahriman into matter. Because they have also allowed themselves to be bound. 

The thrones have allowed Ahriman to bind them into solid form. They carry the world. They are very important for the throne. That is why they are called thrones. Therefore, the throne of God is also the throne of the world. That is another aspect when I look at it from another side. From another point of view, I can say that the whole cosmos that exists is the throne. The outer throne on which the Godhead rests. But they belong together, they are connected, the throne in heaven, beyond the visible, beyond space and time, and on the other hand the great outer throne in the sense of the whole creation. There are the thrones behind it. 

They already created the physical body as a pure body of warmth on Old Saturn. You can't really imagine that well today, but you can awaken it from an image:  We also have heat in us, blood heat, which is very differentiated, our blood does not have the same temperature everywhere, below 35° it becomes dangerous and above 43° also dangerous, within this range the temperature in the body is very differentiated, sometimes warmer, sometimes colder (in the head area), in the head it cools down, through the fine blood vessels inside, which contribute to the fact that heat is also radiated, therefore in winter the head covering is important, because there heat goes away. Something essential goes away from us. It began on Old Saturn with a differentiated warmth organism, we have to think away what is solid, liquid or airy in us, but only retain the warmth. The physical body on Old Saturn is a differentiated living warmth organism. Today we carry it within us, today it is the place where our I can move in, therefore our I embodies itself most strongly in the warmth, in the warmth of our blood within. But embodying does not mean that it objectifies itself. It means that it works in it. Our I is actually outside, beyond space and time, the focal point into which it works, that is our whole heat system, that is the primary, into which it works. There you see the strong connection between the I and the PHYSICAL in truth,  because warmth is the core of the physical. At the same time, it is where the spiritual I lies within. Warmth is the most wonderful thing in the world, because it leads through the gateway through all worlds, from the physical to the spiritual and back again. The mediators on the path are the thrones. 

With this we have discussed the first of the 7 creative spirits that form the physical body of the human being. You have to think about these 7 creative spirits, the thrones will play a very important role in the physical body, no question, but that would still be saying too little,  because the physical body then changes from one planetary state to the next, the air is added, the liquid is added, and here on earth finally the solid, at least in the bone system, and so on. So the physical also changes. There are certainly other entities at work in the physical body. Nevertheless, one can speak of 7 great creative spirits, which consist of a whole host of different spiritual entities working together to bring forth a common work, namely the physical body of the human being. In the spiritual realm, the spiritual entities are not next to each other but within each other, or with each other. One can say: higher spiritual entities consist of spiritual entities subordinate to them by combining them into a higher unity. Especially in this system of angelic hierarchies, it is always the case that the superior entities have their members, as we have them as physical, etheric,...etc., so with them it is spiritual entities of which they consist. High spiritual entities even. In the physical body, as we have it in the development of the earth, as the Elohim have created it, the Elohim play a great role in the physical body. They are also involved in this one creative spirit that is responsible for the physical body. There are great hierarchical groups inside, which are members of this great creative spirit. You don't have to remember all this now, it's complicated, just take it as a picture, it will come again and again. But we have to go into it because we have to get used to it if we want to understand how things are in the spiritual realm. It is scurrying in the spiritual world. Spiritual entities are made up of spiritual entities, it changes again and they belong to different spiritual entities, one and the same Elohim are part of these different creative spirits, everything is in constant motion, like in a room with a hundred other people, a babble of voices, that's how it goes in the spiritual, but we wouldn't hear these voices on the outside, we would hear them within ourselves. Nevertheless, we must always distinguish ourselves from all the whispering that is around us, within us. We whisper along with it. It is not easy to find one's way in the spiritual realm.

 b) Etheric bodyLife forces, love body. Very important for the social life of human beings, everywhere we are together, if it is really a community, it is an etheric community, a community of life. Something is at work in the community that is the common life, from which they can all draw, from which they make something common higher. It will be very important to develop this more and more in the future. This common etheric sphere in social life first of all. Each one can do things separately in his own life, but there is a common thing in which a common spiritual life is active. Higher spiritual entities can live in it. We thereby open up the possibility for spiritual entities to work in it. From this come the inspirations that we can then lift into our I-consciousness, from which we can act spiritually. Out of freedom. They support us. They make their powers available. Only - we have to do it. They do not tell us how to do it. They give us the forces, give us suggestions, perhaps by drawing our attention to certain things in the spiritual world. But together we must form a dwelling place for this spiritual being. That is always more when it comes through a community of people than when it comes through a single person. 

Take R. Steiner: all the wisdom he brought in is also connected with all the people he was with, whom he met in life, whom he included in his work. I can't do that simply by sitting in a small room and isolating myself, because nothing would come in. If I say I am the great initiate and only devote myself to spiritual inspirations coming in, the rest of humanity doesn't interest me, I withdraw to the end of the world. And I don't want to know anything about the other people. Then nothing will come in! I can withdraw into solitude, but then I have to be spiritually all the more connected with the people outside. That is the important thing, that the I, precisely the more individual it becomes, the more power it can unfold through this, the more it thereby needs the spiritual connection with the others. It does not have to meet them externally. But the spiritual bond must be there. In the sense that I really feel connected to them in my life. To be open to what is coming. People with whom one fulfils a spiritual task together. If we want to develop, we can only do so by seeking connection with others. This can only be done together. Nevertheless, it is precisely then that each individual contributes the most to the impulse. 

This means that R. Steiner could not have given anything if he had stood alone in the world and had not had the connection with people. No one, no great initiate, if he lives in isolation, could bring in anything if he is not spiritually connected with a larger circle of people. In the greatest sense, as it was with Christ, who is connected with the whole of humanity, who preceded us there, that during his life on earth he connected himself with the whole of humanity at the moment of the death on the cross in truth, there comes this great connection really with all human beings. We are only in a small circle, which must grow, if we want to advance our development, we must be so far that in the next cultural epoch, the epoch of brotherhood, we come to the point where every single human being connects with the whole of humanity. That is the ideal. 

Then a lot of spiritual power comes in, which we can put into action out of freedom. Otherwise not. Comment from a listener: "Be open and ask for it". Yes, to be open and to accept the other person, i.e. to take their suggestions, but to know exactly that I cannot take them on one-to-one, but must transform them within myself. No one can take on the task of another one-to-one. Everyone has to do it differently, according to their individuality. That is, what I receive from others, I have to transform in myself, which also includes that the other person allows it, and is not angry when I start to change it. Therefore, mission is completely wrong: to say you have to do it exactly as I tell you, that is the great wisdom, I have found it. You have to follow the rules, otherwise you're doing it wrong. 

Then the effect is over, I have killed the impulse. Instead, I have to make it available and hope that the other person will make something of his or her own out of it. Even if I don't recognise it at all, it doesn't matter. Of course, he can make mistakes, he can not grasp the impulse correctly, he can make mistakes, then it is perhaps damaged in the meantime. But that doesn't matter. The important thing is that he works with it himself. A further development. Everyone has to find his own development. His own development is his contribution. If I take up an impulse from the work of R. Steiner or from the Apocalypse of John, which are unbelievably rich in impulses that are there in truth, we only have to first understand what the impulse is concretely for me, because the Apocalypse speaks differently to everyone and everyone will read something different in it if they read it correctly. Read out what is between the lines. What is printed, what can be said with words, that is only the frame of the picture. That which concerns us personally, that is between the lines. We will only find it if we act out of the I. We have to paint the picture ourselves. We have to paint the picture ourselves, then it is our contribution to the whole, another paints another picture, then together it is the great history of the development of humanity. All together form the higher whole. Therefore, I cannot tell you what the apocalypse is or can be for you. Only everyone can find that for themselves. 

Love is giving and taking life force. I am immediately unloving if I am not willing to accept what the other person gives. That is the great learning process, especially for us anthroposophists. Anthroposophy means human encounter and how that takes place, when a fruitful impulse comes out of it, because there is an exchange, and one can give something to the other - only then does it live. Everything else is an aid, a framework, including the work of R. Steiner. The theory is only the frame to which we have to paint the picture, it is an aid, but we have to paint it ourselves. Become active. We have to paint each imagination ourselves and yet it is not only our subjective doing, but it expresses an aspect in the objective world and at the same time it is an effective force. On the one hand, it represents something that exists, but it also creates something completely new at the same time. All paradoxes. Which you can't express in words, which you can only express in contradictions, but then I'm exactly in the field of tension: Is it like that? No, it's not like that! Is it like that? No, it's not like that either! Is it both at the same time? No, not either! Is it neither one nor the other? No, not either! One's hair stands on end. They may fall out. But then I get on the track. With all the drama I experience, with normal thinking, I can't get to grips with it. I fail! The experience of failure is also important. It's where I finally get rid of the brain-bound mind. During the activity, when I go into the imagination, I have to get rid of it for once. Then I enter the world where there are logical contradictions, things don't add up at the back and front, and yet it still fits. That's the only way it works! 

That is a high demand! Therefore, it is almost impossible to give such lectures as we are doing here or such descriptions as they are in the Apocalypse a strictly scientific orderly form. One can only present a scheme. And look at it from different sides. That's the way it is with all spiritual writings. That's why scientists don't like it so much. We have to become familiar with this way of looking at things if we want to get into the imagination. And not to lose ourselves in the process. On the contrary, it is a chance to find yourself. We no longer have a crutch to lean on. The frame is there, but within the frame we have to move freely. There is nothing there yet! And I am supposed to bring the reality out of it. The reality that is real. No fantasy. I have to bring about reality so that it appears. Bring it about in an individual way, only through this is it there at all. Because reality is always the result of an individual spiritual act. Be it by human beings or higher spiritual beings. They are deeds that have to be set, only through this do they exist. That is, if I want to find something in the spiritual, I have to create it in a certain way. The process of perceiving it is a participation in the whole. If we take the image of a dead stone, it is not possible in the spiritual. If I want to look at something spiritual, I have to be spiritually active in order to look at it, thus I change it, because I come into a social communication with the spiritual being. The moment I connect with the spiritual it is how I communicate with it, with another spiritual being it expresses itself differently. It has something to do with my impulse. And the other person changes me, he works on me, that is working together. I don't emerge from any of these encounters as the same person I was before. That is not possible with the I anyway, because it is the phoenix that rises from the ashes and renews itself again and again. In this becoming new again and again, we include everything that is there in encounters with other spiritual beings. In this way, we are also the special individuality that we are, because we include this. A human being in the cosmos alone could not become an individual. He is an individual in that he is in constant exchange with other individuals and develops his specialness precisely through this. Who receives impulses, who gives impulses. We have to think dynamically about history. And have enough strength to always know who I am. That is why self-knowledge is so difficult. I am in a constant process of change. I have to get involved with the others if I want to connect spiritually, but I must not become the other in the long run. If I dive into it intuitively it is for a moment, but when I come back I have to become myself again, but I am still transformed. Transformed in such a way that I have come closer to my own individuality at the same time. I have also come closer to him. It is difficult.

The throne makes enormous demands on us. We have only come to two of the 7 Creator Spirits. The next is the c) Astral bodySoul body, we have it, otherwise we would not be conscious beings. So consciousness. Whereas the astral is the semi-conscious, the subconscious, which comes out that way. But it is not as dormant as a plant, for example, pure life force is quite dormant. d) I: The centre, the impulse for us to have the I, came from the Elohim sacrificing their I, the Elohim, the creator gods of earth evolution, as described in Genesis, who sacrificed their I at the end of the 6th day, after the work of creation was done,  sacrificed their I. That which is comparable to an I. That is, they then have something higher, which can also be called I, I has different levels, in the highest sense the I-power is that which is the highest creative source of all. But it also has a lower level of appearance at first, this spark that is there, they sacrifice it. It cannot give us this huge creative power that the Elohim already have, but it is the spark that ignites in us this own. That is there at the end of the 6-day work. The potential for us to really grasp it is after the Fall, when we enter the earth, in the first earthly incarnation. Then we begin to work with the spark ourselves. In the legend of Prometheus, who fetches fire from heaven and brings it to earth, then he says: "Here I sit forming men in my image, a generation like unto me, ...to enjoy... and not to regard thine".as it says in the beautiful poem by Goethe: Prometheus. There he rages against Zeus. And says, you're just jealous that I'm sitting down here doing my own thing. And now going into freedom. That is the I, and in this I lies the power to create oneself: "Here I sit shaping people in my image." This addresses every human being, every human being is this Prometheus and creates himself. That's where it starts. This makes us free spiritual beings. 

There will be a great course online by Jaques Hillemar from the Netherlands on the philosophy of freedom. The first thing he says in the introduction: "What is it about? It's about human freedom. About freedom of will. What does it mean to be a free spiritual being? To create oneself!" That is the theme of the philosophy of freedom. That is what it is about. You are nothing if you do not create yourself. It is only by creating yourself that counts. Everything you have absorbed is certainly important as a crutch and as a tool, but it is all nothing. What we are as spiritual beings, we are through ourselves. But then it goes further! Not only do we create ourselves in our I, but we begin to re-create ourselves, we begin to transform our being, to transform the astral body into the astral body. e) Spirit Self: i.e. we gradually acquire the power to create astral things individually out of nothing. We begin by transforming our astral body, changing something in it, changing it substantially, not eliminating what we don't need, but transforming it anew. To let something that is useless disappear into nothingness and to create something new out of it. That is where we start, and at the end, when the development is finished at some point, we will have reached the point where we can create the whole astral body out of nothing. Then we have spirit self, which is the transformed astral body. The newly created astral body. 

We can do the same with the etheric body, transforming the love body into the f) Spirit of lifeThen we can generate life force out of nothing. Only then are we really capable of love on a grand scale. If we can do that out of nothing. During our earth evolution we will not yet be able to do this in essential parts. Perhaps the first beginnings. Here the Christ precedes us, to hand over this power to us at some point, when we are so far along that we can take it. It is not that the Christ is holding it back, we are simply too clumsy to take it. To take it in such a way that we can make it our own. Then it becomes the spirit of life. 

The last thing is that we also transform and completely spiritualise the physical body into the g) Spiritual man, so that we can also create a physical body out of nothing, whereby we certainly do not have to think that physical means material at the same time, in the way we know it today. That is the condition that is there through the adversaries, through the ahrimanic forces. The really physical is supersensible. It only happened through the Fall that it is sensually visible, it helps us to freedom insofar as the sensual obscures the spiritual for us, and we need that, we must be free for once to always only hear the voice that speaks from above, but we must close the lid for once. That is the key of David, which unlocks the gate to the spiritual world, but also closes it. We need that for our freedom, that we can close the door, I first have to digest what I have received from the spiritual world. Before I have digested it, the next flood cannot come in. So we have to know what we can digest spiritually. Individually. It's no use if I stuff myself with spiritual wisdom, read one book after another, let it flow in, but can't digest anything. Often it is a single sentence or a small image that I have to digest for a lifetime that I really make it my own. And that's all that counts. Knowing something about what I can tell cleverly doesn't help me at all. What helps is what I have made my own, in other words: what has become life in me, what has become reality in me, what has become effective in me. That is what counts. Especially in anthroposophy. I can know the whole of Steiner's complete edition by heart, plus the Bible by heart - and I have nothing spiritually. If that's all it is. I must have acquired it in an individual way. I have to draw something new from it in an individual way. Again, something that is between the lines. The frame remains, but it's about what's in between. The transformed physical body is the spiritual man. These are the 7 limbs of being that are connected with the 7 creative spirits. 1) Physique, 2) Etheric body (life body, life forces), 3 Astral body (soul body), 4) I (centre), then the transformation of the astral body to the 5) Spirit SelfWe are already working on this ourselves today, we are in the process of transforming the etheric body into the etheric body. 6) Spirit of life, transformation of the physical body into the 7) Intellectual. Then we have gone through the development over the whole seven planetary states of life, then we are ready to take on a task similar to that which the Elohim had at the creation of the earth.