Christian initiation

From AnthroWiki
Revision as of 07:47, 27 May 2021 by Odyssee (talk | contribs)

Christian initiation (also called Christian Gnostic initiation) is a path of spiritual training based on the intense emotional reliving of the Passion of Christ, as described in the Gospel of John. In this way, above all the mind soul, i.e. the part of the intellectual or mind soul that is oriented towards a healthy sense of truth, is richly trained. Since this path of training demands a temporary separation from the outer everyday business, it is no longer practicable for many people today due to the demands of our consciousness-soul age. For them, the Rosicrucian path of spiritual training was inaugurated, on which the anthroposophical spiritual training is also oriented.

The Gospel of John as a model of the Christian initiation path

In chapters 1-12, the Gospel of John first describes John's initiation experiences on the astral plane; from the 13th chapter onwards, the experiences of John-Lazarus, who was resurrected after three days, are reported in the devachanic world. The scene of the washing of the feet, which is described right at the beginning of the 13th chapter, at the same time marks the first stage of the Christian initiation path.

„The one who founded Christianity could not be readily recognised if one had only the ordinary mind directed towards the sensual. This included what the Christian mystics often expressed in such grand and beautiful words. Angelus Silesius also meant this when he said:

If Christ be born a thousand times in Bethlehem.
And not in you: you will still remain eternally lost.

There is an inner experience of Christ, there is a possibility of recognising that which confronts us externally in the events that took place in Palestine between the years 1 and 33. The one who came into this world from higher worlds must in turn be understood from a higher world. And the one who describes him most profoundly had to rise to the two higher worlds that are under consideration here, the astral and the devachanic or mental world. This elevation of John, if we may call it that, was the elevation to the two higher worlds. This is what the Gospel of John presents to us in its messages.

The first twelve chapters of the Gospel of John contain John's experiences in the astral world. From the thirteenth chapter onwards they are John's experiences in the devachanic or mental world, so that the one who has written this down says of Christ - the words are to be taken quite comparatively -: Here on this Earth He lived, here He worked out of powers that are divine, out of occult powers. He has healed the sick, He has gone through everything from dying to resurrecting. To comprehend these things with the mere mind is impossible. Here on Earth there is no science, no wisdom by which one can understand what has happened. But there is a possibility of ascending to the higher worlds. There one will find the wisdom through which one can understand the one who has walked here on Earth. So the writer of the Gospel of John rose up into the two higher worlds and was initiated. It was an initiation, and his initiation is described by the writer of the Gospel of John, the initiation into the astral world and the initiation into the devachanic or mental world.“ (Lit.:GA 94, p. 190f)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
Retrieved from "https://en.anthro.wiki/index.php?title=Christian_initiation&oldid=3846"