Satan is bound at the present time!
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Mon Feb 2, 2004 1:13 pm
Subject: Satan is bound at the present time!
Lazarus-John the Apocalyptist says:
"And I saw an angel come
down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a
great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that
old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand
years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up,
and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no
more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after
that he must be loosed a little season."
- Revelation 20:1-3
And Rudolf Steiner says:
In a certain sense the Beast
has been overcome as far as the outer physical world is concerned.
It has been overcome by the way it is possible to confront materialism
with a spiritual view of the world. In a certain sense Satan
is bound at the present time. But he will become unbound again.
Satan is bound, and those who see what matters in evolution know
that he is bound. For if satan were not bound at present, then
all those things would come about that could mean the full outpouring
of the phials of wrath. If Satan were not bound, there would
be seen in the external world in the most horrible way how this
is connected with the materialistic attitude and way of life
on earth. Profoundest inner cynicism would proclaim materialism
to be the truth, and this would arouse such greedy desire in
the unbound Satan that one would see this materialistic attitude
and way of life and the way ahrimanic powers seize on it, as
the most horrible, the most frightful diseases.
If Satan were not bound, one
would have to speak of materialism not merely as an attitude
and way of life but as being the most evil of diseases. Instead
of this, people make their way in life with the cynicism and
frivolity of materialism, even religious materialism, and nothing
befalls them. That nothing befalls them is due solely to the
fact that Satan is bound while God is still giving human beings
a chance to find their way to the spirit without falling prey
to Satan. If Satan were here now, there would be many a teacher
in one creed or another that had fallen for materialism who would
present a frightful, a terrible sight to humanity. The inner
picture pointing to the possible disease of materialism, the
leprosy of materialism that would be there if Satan were not
bound is indeed a most terrible one.
There is no other context
except that of the Book of Revelation in which someone with spiritual
responsibility towards this knowledge would bring up this picture.
I myself would not use the expression 'the leprosy of materialism'
in any other context except here where I have linked it to the
Book of Revelation. As one finds one's way into the Book of Revelation
one does have these frightful pictures before one's eyes which
do indeed represent a spiritual reality.
- "The Book of Revelation and the Work
of the Priest" (Lecture 10, Dornach
14 Sept 1924, GA 346 )
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/
...................................................................................................................................
From: dottie zold
Date: Mon Feb 2, 2004 8:03 pm
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Satan is bound at the present
time!
Dear Tarjei,
Please excuse my ignorance but could you tell
me who we are referring to when we say Satan? What particular
being are we talking about? Lucifer, Ahriman or another?
Thanks,
Dottie
...................................................................................................................................
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Tue Feb 3, 2004 2:26 am
Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Satan is bound at the present
time!
At 05:03 03.02.2004, Dottie wrote:
Dear Tarjei,
Please excuse my ignorance but could you
tell me who we are referring to when we say Satan? What particular
being are we talking about? Lucifer, Ahriman or another?
Ahriman. In the Apocalypse cycle to the priests,
RS seems to adapt certain expressions to more conventional theology,
or it may be simply that he is sticking more closely to John's
text. But regardless, it struck me that he is using a mode of
expression to describe Satan/Ahriman in this context (about the
comets and planetary orbits and Michael) that is almost identical
to how he described this Being in the April 1922 lecture, "Exoteric
And Esoteric Christianity," where he says:
"Ahriman is a being who
does not belong to our hierarchy. Ahriman comes into the stream
of evolution from another direction. If we tolerate Ahriman in
the evolution of the Earth, if we allow him a share in it, he
brings us death, and with it, the intellect, and we can take
up in the human being death and intellect. Ahriman knows death,
because he is at one with the Earth and has trodden paths which
have brought him into connection with the evolution of the Earth.
He is an initiate, a sage of death, and for this reason he is
the ruler of the intellect. The gods had to reckon with Ahriman
- if I may express it in this way. They had to say: the evolution
cannot proceed without Ahriman. It is only a question of admitting
Ahriman into the evolution. But if Ahriman is admitted and becomes
the lord of death and, consequently, of the intellect too, we
forfeit the Earth, and Ahriman, whose sole interest lies in permeating
the Earth with intellect, will claim the Earth for himself. The
gods faced the great problem of losing to a certain extent their
rule over the Earth in favour of Ahriman. "
- Das Sonnenmysterium von Tod und Auferstehung (Dornach, 2 April,
1922, GA 211)
( Complete lecture: http://www.uncletaz.com/exoeso.html
)
Notice the expression "trodden paths"
alien to the earth. In the previously quoted excerpt from the
apocalypse cycle to the priests two and a half years later, he
says:
"Satan is an exalted
being who, however, treads another path than those that can be
trodden on the earth. The Beast and the False Prophet are powers
who seduce human beings, who have the will to tempt humanity
on to the wrong paths both morally and intellectually. The power,
dear friends, whom we mean when we talk of the fall of Satan,
this power has quite other plans. He not only wants to throw
humanity off course but he also wants to do this to the earth
as a whole. From the point of view of human beings and of the
earth this power is a terrible adversary of God."
- "The Book of Revelation and the Work of the Priest"
(Lecture 11, Dornach,
15 Sept 1924, GA 346 )
You see, I can do that 'textual analysis'
trick too, when it's called for :)
It leaves a few riddles though. If Ahriman
is a Being totally alien to the Earth evolution and to the Progressive
Hierarchies, why is he described as a fallen Archai? My take
on this is that Ahriman/Satan has not fallen from the progressive
hierarchies like Lucifer, but that he has the power, rank, that
is equivalent to that of the Archai. Interestingly, The
Asuras are retarded Beings of the Hierarchy of the Archai and
carry the very name once attributed to this Hierarchy.
Cheers,
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/
...................................................................................................................................
From: Kim Munch Michelsen
Date: Tue Feb 3, 2004 4:21 am
Subject: RE: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Satan is bound at the present
time!
Hi Tarjei,
I think we have a problem with higher and lower beings within
the different kinds of 'evil' hierarchies. Lucifer is defined
as af fallen Archangel from the Sun cycle, a brother to Christ.
But the luciferic beings is fallen Angels from the Moon cycle.
In the same way is ahrimanic beings fallen Angels from the Sun
period.
The alianess is because the ahrimanic forces
is from the Sun cycle, and not the Moon cycle. The ahrimanic
forces work indirecly through the luciferic forces.
From Manifestations of Karma, Lecture 7:
These beings who played the
same part with regard to the Angeloi that to-day the luciferic
beings play with regard to ourselves were the ahrimanic beings
which, during the whole of the Sun evolution, remained behind
as did the luciferic beings during the Moon evolution.
http://www.southerncrossreview.org/26/karma7.htm
Kim
...................................................................................................................................
From: VALENTINA BRUNETTI
Date: Tue Feb 3, 2004 8:09 am
Subject: R: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Satan is bound at the present
time!
Hi all,
excuse me if I jump in but we have discussed
a lot (myself and my Italian anthro-friends) about it, mainly
the "exact position" of the Evil's powers inside the
Hierarchical cosmos.
As usual Steiner never gave a definite and
static insight about it ,and we have the task to throw OUR OWN
light on it.
This light in my own case is feeble but I'll
try the same to give a little contribution
Well in my opinion those beings are, in their
cosmic origin, inside EACH EVERY Hierarchy, from Upwards to Downwards
(From Thrones to Angels, with exclusion of Seraphim and Cherubim
, since we have no notice of some "fall" concerning
those Loftiest Powers.
So we have the picture of a Divine Trinity
(Father, Son, Spirit) Each of Them acting mainly in one of the
Three Hierarchies' Groups ( and here we have the Foundation Stone
Meditation as a main meditative path of cognition ) and a Devil's
Trinity marked by deep diffrences among Absolute Evil (Asuras),
Evil (Ahriman-Satan) and Perverted Light (Lucipher).
Obviuosly when Steiner speakiing about Ahriman
talks about "diffreent streams of Eviolution" he's
describing something impossible to detect also for goodwill men
and able to be investigated only by the higher Initiate.
How those Evil's power are able to be transformed
in Evolution's helper by the means of the "alliance"
between Mankind and Michael-Christ: is precisely our task.
Let me remember here the powerful "Imagination"
pictured un J. Ben Aharon 1993's book that, just linked with
the "Foundation Stone" quoted above, tells us the core
of this "story"....
Andrea the Italian
...................................................................................................................................
From: dottie zold
Date: Tue Feb 3, 2004 11:11 am
Subject: Re: Satan is bound at the present time!
Tarjei wrote:
It leaves a few riddles though. If Ahriman
is a Being totally alien to the Earth evolution and to the Progressive
Hierarchies, why is he described as a fallen Archai? My take
on this is that Ahriman/Satan has not fallen from the progressive
hierarchies like Lucifer, but that he has the power, rank, that
is equivalent to that of the Archai. Interestingly, The
Asuras are retarded Beings of the Hierarchy of the Archai and
carry the very name once attributed to this Hierarchy.
Hey Tarjei,
Thanks for the quotes. A few years back I
had a vision of how Ahriman works from the beginning in a sense.
He keeps gaining on the stem of the plant as the Christ is forming
but Lucifer/Michael? comes in from the other side always to overcome
Ahriman: Christ the seed first, Lucifer growing second and then
Ahriman from the left from my view. But Ahriman is overcome each
time. It was what allowes me to say 'we have overcome'.
If it is said that Ahriman is not of the hiearchies
where did Ahriman come from? See, I sense Ahriman as something
outside of humanity and even the cosmos but that does not seem
to be a possibility. I wonder where Ahriman enters and when and
how? At what point does Ahriman enter. I sense Lucifer with us
within this sphere along with the Christ but it seems Ahriman
enters differently. Have you contemplated how and where he enters
and when?
Bottom line is if Ahriman was created as part
of our reality wouldn't that mean it was something within us
and part of what we are to overcome within the realm of all we
need to accomplish for evolutions sake? And the more we fight
it and call it evil the more we do not understand the reality
and how Ahriman must be overcome?
I am thinking of a book I am now reading by
Thomas Merton called The Way of Chuang Tzu. It is an absolutely
fascinating book. While reading I sense the questions Mike asks
within himself and presents us here on list. It seems the more
we fight or deny a thing or even fight it the more it is attached
to us in a way. We must do a think because it is the thing to
do versus making the thing we counter through our actions wrong.
page 23:
"Chuang Tzu believes
that the whole concepts of happiness and unhappiness is ambiguous
from the start, since it is situated in the world of objects.
This is no less true of more refined concepts like virtue, justice,
and so on. In fact, it is especially true of "good and evil,
or "right and wrong. From the moment they are treated as
"objects to be attained", these valuses lead to delusion
and alienation. Therefore Chuang Tzu agrees with the paradox
of Lao Tzu, "When all the world recongized good a good,
it becomes evil because it becomes something that one does not
have and which one must constanly be pursuing until, in effect,
it becomes unattainable."
This writing of Chuang Tzu is a further evolution
of who we are disccuing while looking at the Lucifer of 3000
B.C. It seems it holds no line of good and evil as it would be
looking at something outside of oneself. I find a direct correlation
to the concepts expressed in this book as I do while reading
Dr. STeiner work and participating in the excercizes therein.
If we do these excerzises while doing our everyday life we come
to the very best of what the Lucifer and Anthroposophy streams
has to offer: Freedom with a capitol F.
Suddenly I have to go,
Dottie
...................................................................................................................................
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Wed Feb 25, 2004 8:26 am
Subject: Re: R: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Satan is bound at the
present time!
At 17:09 03.02.2004, Andrea wrote:
Well in my opinion those beings are, in
their cosmic origin, inside EACH EVERY Hierarchy, from Upwards
to Downwards (From Thrones to Angels, with exclusion of Seraphim
and Cherubim , since we have no notice of some "fall"
concerning those Loftiest Powers.
The highest hierarchies involved in the Fall
appears to be the Mights, the Spirits of Motion. Check this out:
http://www.uncletaz.com/origfreed.html
" In the time between
the Jupiter and the Mars development - if I dare express myself
in trivial words - a number of Beings from the sphere of the
Mights or Spirits of Motion were detached; they were placed in
such a manner within the course of evolution that, instead of
helping it onwards, they had to put hindrance in its way. Thus
the deeds of - if I may coin the word - "adversely commanded"
Mights were thrown athwart the course of evolution. For the ruling
world-powers of the Hierarchies said to themselves: "Never
could that arise which has to arise if the way were always smooth.
Greater things must take place." "
- "The Spiritual Hierarcies", Dusseldorf, Lecture 10,
April 18, 1909.
Of course new questions arise whenever we
read something as astounding as this. Where did those ruling
world-powers get this idea from - that they would command the
Mights to rebel in order to create freedom and independence?
Did this idea just evolve in them?
Incidentally, I would really like to get this
entire series out, because the beginning of Lecture 1 is Steiner
just the way I like him best:
"This course of lecture
will take us into the high spiritual regions - we shall be led
from the earth, where we live, not only into the wide physical
spaces of our universe, but also be uplifted to those spiritual
worlds, from which this whole physical universe has derived its
origin."
Cheers,
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/
...................................................................................................................................
From: VALENTINA BRUNETTI
Date: Wed Feb 25, 2004 9:59 am
Subject: R: R: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Satan is bound at the
present time!
Dear Tarjei.
unfortunately I have at hand no written ref.
about my own statement. It has his source is some oral communication
given in Rome, during 1970s, by an Italian Spiritual Teacher.
(At last we can ourselves imagine that in
our evolution there is a Good Trinity (Father, Son. Spirit) and
a "Evil" Trinity (666, Ahriman, Lucifer) but they cannot
be at all at the same level ! While God is absolute Good there
cannot exist something like "absolute Evil"!!)
What else? We are here at the core of the
deepest mysteries of Evolution......
Andrea
...................................................................................................................................
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Wed Feb 25, 2004 10:02 am
Subject: Re: R: R: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] Satan is bound at
the present time!
At 18:59 25.02.2004, Andrea wrote:
Dear Tarjei.
unfortunately I have at hand no written
ref. about my own statement. It has his source is some oral communication
given in Rome, during 1970s, by an Italian Spiritual Teacher.
(At last we can ourselves imagine that
in our evolution there is a Good Trinity (Father, Son. Spirit)
and a "Evil" Trinity (666, Ahriman, Lucifer) but they
cannot be at all at the same level ! While God is absolute Good
there cannot exist something like "absolute Evil"!!)
What else? We are here at the core of the
deepest mysteries of Evolution......
The way I understand it, and what I actually
believe, is that evil is something primarily created by human
beings. We ourselves are responsible for evil. Fallen Spirits
are in themselve not evil although they are selfish in the sense
that they want to manipulate evolution to fit their own plans.
When human beings succumb to the deceptions of such Fallen Spirits,
evil is often the result, and the Fallen Spirits do nothing to
prevent this side-effect so to speak as long as it serves their
own ends. But they are not evil in themselves; that is a very
difficult thing to say about higher cosmic beings, gods.
I'm not so sure about Sorat the Sun-Demon
however; RS says that this power is capable of leading people
into unspeakable, unimaginable evil in the future. That is a
deeper study that I have not yet quite grasped. But Lucifer is
redeemable; Ahriman is an alien who has given us the cold intellect
without which we would not be able to think the way we do. But
I also recall RS saying on several occasions that it is not accurate
to say that Ahriman, or Satan, is evil in the human sense of
the word. Evil is a human experience.
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/
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