SOPHIA INSTITUTE
NAVIGATION
21 June 2008
North Shore, Lake Superior, Minnesota, USA
St. John, Buddha, and the Transformation of Conscience
by Conrad Rehbach
A study of history is one possibility to come closer to an understanding of particular events of the past, of personalities incarnated at a certain period in history, but also to understand one's own and one's contemporaries' soul life. This soul life encompasses the events of the past in their essence, in one person more in another less consciously.
Word of mouth, history told by the parents to their children, by teachers to their students, or by wise men instructing a chosen few - is one way of how the events of the past enter and live on in human souls. Books, and literature are another source, where knowledge of that kind can be found, internalized and carried in one's soul.
The "main events" in history are more or less known to everyone, who has had some basic education of one sort or other: The life of Buddha in the 5th century B.C., the Mystery of Golgatha, the life of the prophet Mohammed in the 6th century A.D., the re-discovery of America by Columbus in the 15th century A.D., the Declaration of Independence in 1776 in America or the French Revolution in 1779 and so on.
But what about the seemingly unimportant events? Who knows what happened in 1772 in Saxony in the heart of Europe? That is the year in which the Romantic poet von Hardenberg, also known as Novalis, was born. Or, take 1749: The British founded Halifax, Nova Scotia. At first glance, such events may seem insignificant. However, depending on the subject or special interest, they may be of utmost importance.
What about the events in History, of which no outer documents are left to us? What, if there do not exist any documents, that could be taken as proofs that the events actually happened? Another question that comes to the critical mind, is this one: How can I know that this or that document is authentic, reports events that actually have happened?
How is it concerning our own lives? What do we remember of our own biography? What are the highlights of our life, the main events? If we examine, what we remember of our past, our own history, we find - of course - many important events, like the last day of high school, the first job, an interesting journey, marriage, birth of children, and so on. We quite often even know the day, month and year, when this or that event happened.
But then there are other events, seemingly less important ones. If we try hard, or by some circumstance, like meeting an old friend again, maybe after ten or twenty years, then certain events might come back to us in our memory, then fade again back into the unconscious regions of our soul.
Do you know, what happened in your life on January 15, 1975, or on another arbitrarily chosen date?
But, even though we are unconscious of many of the details of our biography, they are nevertheless all real, have indeed happened - and are also recorded.
Since the publication of the book "Return from Forever" by George Ritchie several years ago, and a number of other publications about people, or by people, who had near death experiences, the reality of what Rudolf Steiner in "Knowledge of the Higher Worlds" described, as the "memory tableau of one's life", has become more known to people and possibly also more understood.
Rudolf Steiner describes in "Knowledge of the Higher Worlds" and in other books and lectures, this event, somewhat as follows: After death, or in special circumstances, such as "near death" experiences, the human being perceives an image of his past life, in a backward manner, as if in one great memory tableau, all the events of his biography spread out before him.
Rudolf Steiner, in the above mentioned literature, gives us also indications on how to widen our consciousness in such a manner, that we become able to perceive this memory tableau, without undergoing physical death or being subject to outer influences causing a near death experience.
Following the practices and exercises described by Rudolf Steiner, we have a different possibility of researching our own biography, the biography of an individual, but also a similar possibility of research into the history, the biography of mankind in general.
Just as there exists this memory tableau, this record of the events of an individual's life, so also exists a record of the events in the history of man and the cosmos. In the Spiritual Scientific language this record is called the "Akasha Chronicle".
Knowledge of the reality of this Akasha Chronicle has - of course - always been present in the circles of "enlightened" human beings, but especially since the publications of Carl Gustav Jung about the "Common Unconscious" at the beginning of the 20th century, has the idea of the existence of such an universal memory within the depths of the soul of each human being, become more generally accepted among a wider public.
John
Rudolf Steiner wrote books and gave lectures concerning the events in Palestine, concerning the Mystery of Golgatha, giving mankind important insights, facts and thought provoking indications about the outer and inner - the exoteric and esoteric - significance of these events. How did he research these events?
Rudolf Steiner stated himself, that, to begin with, he did not do his research into these all important events with the help of the Bible, the New Testament in particular, or using other sources of literature, but that he researched these events independently from those documents just mentioned. He researched these events in the supersensible realm, in the Akasha Chronicle. Only afterwards did he compare his findings with those documents.
One of the most important personalities in the history of mankind is the being, that is referred to in the New Testament as "John" (John 1.6.). Studying Rudolf Steiner's writings and lectures, one can gain the most profound insights concerning this being of John and his mission, insights that have the power to touch deep truths, that lie as if buried in the unconscious regions of the soul.
In the Gospel of St. John, immediately following the mighty description of the evolution of the cosmos (John 1.1-5.), there is written the following:
"There was a man, send from God, whose name was John." (John 1.6.)
The last part of this sentence, the name "John", in the original old Greek language of the Gospel of St. John, would sound to our ears like: "EH - OH - Annes", a sequence of sounds that is still present for this name in some languages, for example in the Italian "Giovanni", the German "Johannes", and to a lesser degree in the French "Jean" or the English "John". In these three sounds, the "EH, OH, AH" one is able to detect three gestures, gestures which can be expressed in Eurythmy, the art of visible movement. The "EH" is represented by the upright human being, one arm pointing heavenwards, the other arm pointing earthwards; the gesture is one of "admonition". The "OH" is found in the round form, embracing as it were one's own soul with one's arms; the gesture is one of "inwardness". The "AH" finally can be seen as an opening of oneself to the heavenly revelation, both arms pointing to heaven, forming a V-shaped vessel; the gesture is one of "vision".
How did this being John come into the world? What were the circumstances? As with any being, that incarnates into earth existence, it can be very revealing to examine the year he or she was born, putting the birth of a particular being into a certain context.
The Gospel of St. Luke describes many of the circumstances surrounding the birth of John. It tells us how a messenger of God, an angel, appeared to the priest Zechariah, telling him, that his "wife Elizabeth will bear .. a son, and (he) .. shall call his name John." (Luke 1.13.) The angel also foretells in mysterious words the task of this being John: "... (He) will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many sons of Israel to the Lord their God, ... and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and make ready for the Lord a people prepared." (Luke 1.15-17.)
The birth of John takes place at the height of Summer on June 24th. His birth is framed as it were by the births of the two Jesus children at the beginning and the end of the same year. On January 6th, the birth of the Jesus child and the visitation of the "three wise men from the East", described in the Gospel of St. Matthew, takes place in Bethlehem in Judea (Matthew II.). Almost twelve months later the birth of the Jesus child on December 24th and the heavenly revelation to the shepherds, as described in the second chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, happen.
Two events that take place during this same year of the birth of John, involve the appearance of the Nirmanakaya or spiritual body of the Gautama Buddha in the etheric-astral realm. These appearances are referred to in the descriptions of the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1.39-56.) and the revelation to the shepherds (Luke 11.8-15.).
According to Steiner, the Gospel of St. Luke contains Buddhism in a new form. It expresses the religion of compassion and love, brought by the Buddha, in a new way, comprehensible to the simplest souls. The connection of the Buddha to John, and his influence on Christianity can be seen throughout the life of John, and especially so at important moments and turning points during the existence of John. The presence of the Buddha is a mysterious feature permeating especially the Gospel of St. Luke.
View of the Fraueninsel from Weingarten, Chiemsee Region, Germany
Rudolf Steiner describes how John grew up in close association to the Essenes community and to the young man Jesus of Nazareth; both having considerable influence on John.
John eventually steps forward and into the plain sight for his contemporaries, when he begins his activity of preaching and baptizing at the river Jordan.
John's sermon at the river Jordan shows how the teachings of Buddha now come forward in a new form. As Buddha proclaimed certain truths and admonitions in his famous sermon at Benares some five hundred years before, so now John speaks in similar fashion. What Buddha expressed in the words, "do not think, because you are a Brahman, you are able to advance ...", John clothes into the language of his time, saying: "Do not think, because you are children of Abraham ..." Buddha gave the teaching of compassion and love, John the parable of the man who has two coats, and ought to share. And just as the monks came to Buddha with the question, "What shall we do?", so now the tax collectors and soldiers come to John, posing the same question.
Before John eventually baptizes Jesus, he brings about change in many people, whom he encounters as his followers, preparing them for their roles as disciples of Christ. By means of the baptism as practiced by John, the near death experience, with the appearance of the memory tableau, as described above, is brought about via the submerging of the person in question in the river Jordan. Into this experience of the past, John spoke his mighty admonition: "Change your ways!"
This period is followed by the time John spent in prison until his beheading. John's role and example changes from that of the "voice of one calling in the wilderness", the voice of admonition, to a more inward voice, a voice that is more likely heard in the stillness and solitude of a prison cell, or in the depths of soul, when outer noises have been silenced.
One of the souls that listens to John in this new way, is the one who has made him a prisoner, Herod. However, there is also herod's wife Herodias, who waits for the moment, when she can use an opportunity to silence this uncomfortable voice, that speaks to her soul also. And this opportunity comes, when Herod gives Herodias his word to fulfill her wish: John is beheaded, the disturbing voice is silenced. John's head is carried through the hall on a platter, his disciples bury his body.
John's spirit, however, appears again in the "rich young man", in Lazarus, continuing the task of this personality. It is he, Lazarus, who undergoes the first initiation in public, performed by Christ Jesus. What hitherto had only been possible in the secrecy of the inner sanctuary of the temple, is done openly, in plain view of the people.
John, then becomes the one disciple, who closest to Christ Jesus at the Last Supper, is able to sustain consciousness through the events of the Passion week. He is there in full consciousness at the world moment, the "turning point of time", on mount Golgatha. He is the one to behold the Risen Christ on Easter Sunday.
John is not only destined to leave behind for humanity the Gospel of St. John, this most spiritual document full of mysterious depths and quality of thought, that no other document known to man has equaled, he also is let on to a long life, that eventually leads him to the island Patros in the Aegaen Sea, where he is able to receive the prophetic vision written down in the Book of Revelation.
We might be able to imagine John on this sun illumined island surrounded by the friendly waters of the Greek world, receiving from heavenly sources these mighty, breathtaking, apocalyptic imaginations, that are described in the Book of Revelation. The future destiny of mankind is portrayed in a unique fashion by the one, who has been prepared and has prepared himself and other men to be able to receive and eventually also understand this vision of the future.
Conscience
Who does not know this elementary impulse, living in the human soul as an inner voice, as the voice of conscience? However, this voice of conscience also has a biography and a development. In the past, the conscience revealed itself to man in a different way, than as we know it today; and in the future - according to Rudolf Steiner - conscience will again take on a new and different form.
In the Greek tragedy "Orest", we find conscience portrayed in different ways by different authors. Around 500 B.C., when Aeschylos told the tragedy, Orest, after having killed his mother, is haunted by beings called the Erynyes (or Furies as the Romans called them), beings that constantly assault and pain Orest, coming at him from the outside, leaving him no rest, until he finally has amended or "paid" for the evil deed, he perpetrated. Euripedes, however, when writing the same story only a few decades later, does not describe any more the Erynyes, the Furies, but describes a inner voice of conscience, that now appears in Orest's soul, quite similar to the voice of conscience, that we know of today.
Rudolf Steiner points to this event of the transformation of the conscience during this time, when the poets Aeschylos and Euripedes lived. To begin with, conscience is a force, that lives outside of the human soul, as it were like an admonition that speaks to, and challenges the human being. Then, over time, conscience disappears in this form, but reappears anew in the sanctuary of the human soul, as the voice of conscience, that we know today.
In trying to become conscious of the experience of conscience today, we might detect something of the following. In a certain way, we all take part in a soul drama, involving three main characters and a host of other, minor players, depending on our particular soul configuration. The three protagonists, however, could be named John, the voice of conscience, Herod, and Herodias. Whenever a situation arises, that prompts John to speak in our soul, the two others react, and the result, or the ensuing action is very much determined by which of the two has his way. Herod, though by no means a guiltless creature, wants to listen to this voice of conscience and heed its advice, Herodias, on the contrary, wants to silence the voice, do away with this painful disturbance, this uncomfortable force, that lives in the soul. If we really pay attention to our soul life, we can become aware of this drama. We can develop an inwardness, that is neither passive, nor pro-active in a way, that keeps us from experiencing necessary steps in coming closer to an understanding of ourselves and of the being of John.
The new and different form, that conscience will take on in the future is described by Rudolf Steiner in several of his lectures. The Russian authors Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, have in some of their works pointed in an artistic expression to that new conscience, describing situations, where human beings encounter images of the karmic consequences of their deeds.
Rudolf Steiner tells us that, from the 20th century onwards - which is actually the time we already live in - the experience of conscience will take on a new form: A human being will commit a deed, say he will harm another human being through this or that action. Then, as a result of this action, he will experience, something of a dream image arising before him. This image will tell him of the karmic consequences, that his deed has caused.
Thus a new form of conscience will become more and more a reality for mankind in the future. This new conscience will again live outside the realm of the human soul, but in contrast to the conscience of the past will have less the character of an admonition, like the furies, but more that of a prophesy, of a prophetic vision.
The mysteries surrounding the being of John, the connection and influence of the being of the Buddha, the transformation of conscience, are - in my mind - an important subject for study, and experience in life, perhaps enabling us to understand the psyche more intimately, and possibly also gaining insights for a more spiritual psychology.
Written by Conrad Rehbach
Literature:
Rudolf Steiner: "The Fifth Gospel"
Rudolf Steiner: "The Gospel of St. Luke" Rudolf Steiner: "The Gospel of St. John"
Rudolf Steiner: "The Gospel of St. John and Its Relation to the Other Gospels"
Rudolf Steiner: "The Gospel of St. Mark"
Rudolf Steiner: "The Gospel of St. Matthew" Rudolf Steiner: "The Apocalypse of St. John" Rudolf Steiner: "From Jesus to Christ"
Rudolf Steiner: "Deeper Secrets in Human History" Rudolf Steiner: "The Christ Impulse"
Rudolf Steiner: "Das esoterische Christentum and die geistige Führung der Menschheit"
Rudolf Steiner: "Occult Science"
Rudolf Steiner: "Knowledge of the Higher Worlds" Emil Bock: "The Three Years"
Sergei O. Prokofieff: "The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation"
Karl Koenig: "Man as a Social Being"
Bear Tooth Mountain, Western Montana, USA