Anthroposophy NYC

Holy Nights 2020-2021

Holy Night 7: December 30-31, 2020

“The serpent in the hilt of the sword. Wisdom. Occupy yourselves with elevated lectures. It is the night of the great commandment.

The Mystery of Work: Who rules your soul? Who is the master of our soul? Who is the author of our actions? We are free and we must strengthen the good will in us.”

~ From indications given by Rudolf Steiner to Herbert Hahn

Seventh Contemplation:

“As we become more aware of our three soul forces, our feeling or sentience, our thoughts or intellect, and our will or conscious awareness, we see many repetitive patterns. We realize that we are inclined to have certain feelings, think certain thoughts, and behave in a certain way. Everyone who knows us can tell us about this. Profilers study it and can predict how we respond to particular situations. This is our personality and our character. These personal inclinations have developed lifetime after lifetime. The strength of our character and the disposition of our personality can be directly related to the influence of our I Am in our soul.

[Regarding our most worthwhile activities:] It is our I Am that thinks in our soul, it is our I Am that arouses certain feelings in our soul, and it is our I Am that motivates us to behave in particular ways. If we allow this to happen unconsciously then we are no more than a puppet [of beings and forces outside of us]. We have no freedom and no understanding of the events in our life. What is more, under some circumstances, we can react unfavorably.

Every single thing that happens to us is caused by something we ourselves did in a past life. Now we meet the effect of what we caused. This could appear to be quite destructive; however, it is quite the opposite. Everything we have done was for the express purpose of becoming aware of our I Am. Our path is one of pain and sorrow as played out in the life of Jesus, “the Christed One.” We follow in His footsteps for He is that great I Am who walked this earth in completeness. He shows us the way. It is our choice how we meet the consequences of our own actions; we can suffer in pain or we can experience the joy that comes with being aware that we are fulfilling our purpose.” ~ Herbert Hahn

Christianity as Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity (GA 8) is a series of 12 lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in the fall and winter 1901-1902 in the library of Count and Countess Brockdorff. These lectures were rewritten and issued in a book format in the summer of 1902.

Chapter 8: “The Lazarus Miracle”

Read by Dale Brunsvold (from 1961 edition by Rudolf Steiner Publications, Inc.)

Click here or on the image to listen to the recording.