Text No. 3
Transcript of audio recording 27.09.2024
Edition of 27.10.2024
The Concept of a Michaelite, Their Way of Thinking and Living.
Seven Steps Leading to the Circle of 48 Michaelites
Of course, to enter the Circle of 48 Michaelites - to do this you must generally be a Michaelite - even before entering the Circle. Being a Michaelite is a capacious concept. And it can be built by focusing. That is, take the most general concept, then narrow it, in order, in the end, to achieve the one that already introduces the Circle of 48. Because, not all Michaelites try, at least, or want to enter the Circle of 48.
So, let's start from the beginning. Michael's basic mood is, of course, Prayer of Devotion. This is what continues from the very beginning of the anthroposophical path, what, in principle, distinguishes a Michaelite, even the one farthest from the Circle of 48, from a non-Michaelite in general.
The non-Michaelite is rooted in his consciousness on external perceptions and the ideas of everyday consciousness that automatically follow from them. Thus, he is entirely rooted in illusion. And if something starts to go wrong with the illusion, then the ground simply disappears from under his feet.
Michaelite is rooted in self-supporting thinking and this is the most important thing - that Michaelite is capable of standing on the substances of thinking, generally understands what it is. For most people, this is just an empty phrase. But the Michaelite understands very well what the substance of thinking is, and can stand on it as firmly as a non-Michaelite stands on the physical ground and on the stream of external perceptions and those ideas that he has on this matter.
There is such a famous Soviet song “Where does the Motherland begin?”... One could also write such a song “Where does a Michaelite begin?” Michaelite begins with the Prayer of Devotion, with the Michaelmas mood. But, in general, this is also not quite the same thing. Even, perhaps, the prayer of devotion comes even earlier. This is generally the very first thing. This is a special inner spirit, even before experiencing the substance of thinking.
It is some kind of an inner feeling of fidelity. Another person doesn’t even really know who Michael is. He hasn’t really mastered the “Philosophy of Freedom” either, but, nevertheless, he is able to experience the Prayer of Devotion, or something that comes very close to it: October mood. For Herbert Witzenmann this is a corresponding meditation, which is entirely rooted in the prayer of devotion. Why October? Because it starts from Michaelmas Day on September 29, which already belongs to October - starting from September 22 according to the cosmic calendar. So, therefore, if we answer very specifically about the path leading to Circle of 48, then it all begins with the October meditation of H.Witzenmann. We can say that this is the very first step.
It is then consolidated into the Prayer of Devotion, which Rudolf Steiner has already given. This mood is already cultivated not only in October, but constantly and every moment. So we can designate the second step.
Then third step: when a person has inner courage, then he has the strength with which he is able to realize the substance of pure thinking and continue to stand on it in life. This is discussed in “How to Achieve...”, as well as in the books that are usually studied after it: “The Path to Self-Knowledge in 8 Meditations” and another book by Rudolf Steiner, “The Threshold of the Spiritual World.” Here, in fact, it is detailed in detail how you need to understand the meaning of self-referential thinking, and what does it mean to stand on it.
This makes it possible to master the “Philosophy of Freedom” as a whole, which can be described as the fourth step. These are all the touches, factors of Michaelite consciousness.
But these, one might say, are all the touches of a beginning consciousness. Next, we go deeper. In fact, if the achievement of the 4 steps becomes deep enough, then we grow into the impulse of the Christmas meeting. Let it be the fifth step.
For any Michaelite, the Christmas meeting is not an empty phrase. He understands well what a fundamentally new impulse entered on Christmas 1923/24. Well, perhaps, this impulse of the Christmas meeting is already the threshold of the First Class of the Michael School.
Sixth step: entry into First Class. Therefore, next come all the requirements that apply to a First Grade student - they apply here. Well, let's say which ones we hear the most: be a meditative person, of course. Next, experience nature as divine and act magically. Of course, these are already the first outlines of the Second and Third Classes, but as an organic future ability, this is laid down in the First Class. Well, also many, many other things that are discussed in the First Class: about responsibility, seriousness, which Michael's School requires.
These are still the common characteristics of all Michaelites, what it means to be a Michaelite.
But this is still before Circle of 48. It is on the threshold. First Class is also a pre-step. Because Circle of 48 starts with the Second Class. Circle of 48 is Second and Third Class. Applying concepts of sacred mathematics, The Circle of 48 Michaelites is a subset of the Michaelite set, which has more general properties. This means that there are those specific properties of the Michaelites that Circle 48 will have, which are acquired in the first six steps.
After this we already enter the Second and Third classes, which can be considered the seventh step, introducing into the Circle of 48.
What do we mean here in the first place? What Rudolf Steiner started with the Christmas Meeting comes into full effect. This full awareness that the external world is Maya, an illusion. Not a theoretical assumption, not an insight in separate glimpses. Because separate glimpses are achieved at early stages; when we can stand on the substance of thought: this is already a clear experience that the external world is an illusion. Already “Philosophy of Freedom”, in fact, takes us beyond this illusion.
But here we reach the state where also in everyday life we do not fall into illusion. Of course, this does not mean that we become detached from the world and inadequate. On the contrary, for a Second Class student the most important requirement is that, although he is completely and fully outside the illusion, his level of adequacy, precisely because of this, due to the fact that he is constantly working with the essential plane, his level of adequacy not only has not decreased, but, on the contrary, is increasing.
Previously, of course, it was quite possible that while a person has not yet become stronger in this, he often falls into illusion; and it is precisely the very acts of failure that make him less adequate than other, very adequate people, so to speak, “standing firmly on their feet.” In other words, he seems less adequate. But a Second Class student is more adequate than the most adequate materialist standing firmly on his feet. Now, thanks to the insight into the essence of things, Michaelite is already systematically mastering the spiritual world - following the Second Class program. For him, this is already becoming the norm of life. He not only does not fall into illusion, but learns to control it from the spiritual world.
Why doesn't he fall into illusion? Because he settled down, not just built himself a hut there, as it is described in “How to Achieve…”. But he has settled down well in the spiritual world and is already firmly standing there, has a point of support there that Archimedes was looking for, albeit inside an illusion. Having such a point of support, Michaelite’s no longer falls into Maya. And already with glimpses of the Third Class, he can act on the physical plane from the spiritual world - with the power of the spiritual world, i.e. by the power of the Higher Hierarchies.
So far we have been developing a vision of how a Michaelite feels when he enters Circle of 48 on his own, as such, in relation to life, to other people and in relation to himself. But it is very important how the Michaelites feel towards each other, precisely in the Circle of 48 Michaelites. Here you need to very clearly understand how important is the sense of brotherhood, which is just hatching, just developing at the previous stages. In the Circle of 48 it should already be very pronounced. There are no longer any relapses of indifference, apathy, which, in general, are normal at previous stages, when a person cannot yet be so awake and very actively take initiative.
In the Circle of 48 the life motto for such a Michaelite is initiative. Initiative is a sacred word, which, not by chance, has the same root as the word Initiation. His initiation or dedication lies in the fact that he does not just know a lot, he does not just see a lot, he sees in depth. But this insight very soon gives birth to impulse to action and especially, to interaction. This is the most important thing. He cannot remain unmoved if he sees that the brother nearby is having some problems. He develops in himself empathy, which is an inherent characteristic of the future Sixth Cultural Epoch, but now it could be present at least within the Michaelite Circle. Let there be no such thing in relation to the outside world yet. Such would still be a too high demand. But among your own people, among the inner Circle, there definitely should be such an absolute empathy. If someone feels bad, then everyone feels it just as acutely. Well, of course, the same goes about the experience of good. This was even laid in the foundations of Circle of 12: in conversations between Rudolf Steiner and the founders of Circle of 12, he spoke with particular warmth of how the experience of shared joy is important. Not only common failures, that goes without saying, but also common joy.
Further, being at home in the spiritual world, the Michaelites, of course, are in constant direct dialogue with Higher powers and, of course, with the Guiding Masters. Although they themselves, of course, are far from being Masters. Of course, there is no question of this, that they are already Masters or are close to them. They are still a long way from being Masters themselves, but at least they can feel their guidance from the spiritual world. This is an essential part of their life.
And finally, the Michaelites are those who, of course, on behalf of the spiritual world, fully accept responsibility for the future of humanity. It goes without saying: who is responsible for the future of humanity? – of course I am, says every Michaelite. Not the world government, not the oligarchs, not the Jesuits and Freemasons, not any powers of this world. Of course, I answer Of course, we are responsible for the future of humanity. This is the deepest experience, as natural as a normal person is responsible for himself. Be responsible for what he is wearing, where he is going now, what he is saying, whether he is crossing the road at a red light or a green light. Is a normal person responsible for this? If he is a normal, sane person, then he is responsible for this. In the same way, with the same power, Michaelite is responsible for the future of humanity. Well, based on this, of course, since he not only, in general, answers abstractly, but also show initiative in relation to this, as already said. In general, his initiatives are aimed precisely at this.
Therefore, the 48 Michaelites have a common project field. All their projects represent a single living social activity organism. On the one hand, projects are imbued with the power of the Higher Hierarchies. On the other hand, everyone knows about everyone’s projects. Of course, everyone leads their own projects, but, nevertheless, everyone knows about everything. That is why we can talk about a common project field. And most importantly, empathy and commonality of actions and thoughts have an effect of potentiation – mutual multiplication of forces. The Michaelites fully implement this formula of sacred mathematics “two to the power of N” 2n. And when their number becomes 48, they reach a strength of 248. This is obviously a power greater than the power of the prince of this world. This is a power that almost 300 trillion (281,474,976,710,656) ordinary people could develop in their coordinated interaction. Well, that is why they are quite concretely and confidently carrying out their task on earth towards the culmination of Anthroposophy. They don’t have that feeling: “we don’t even know how to approach this”; “oh, this is generally an impossible task, we don’t even really know what it is”. Of course, they know what it is and lead to it calmly, just as an ordinary person, leaving home, heads in a direction known to him, for example, to a bus stop not far from home. Of course, he will get there, he knows how to go there. And he will get there, 99.9% sure he will get there. The same thing, the Michaelites move calmly and confidently towards this goal. And, of course, in general regarding God's Highest Goals, which they hold as clearly as the normal everyday goals and objectives in their lives.
Well, in general, as a first approximation, this is the attitude and self-awareness of the 48 Michaelites and the seven steps leading to this Circle.
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