Dear Friends,
Rudolf Steiner characterizes summer as the time when the soul of the earth strives towards the stars- as opposed to the winter when the earth soul withdraws into its depth. The human being follows this movement as well with his/her soul-spiritual activity. In the summer we “look to the outside” to nature, to the stars, we seek guidance from “above”. Who helps us to receive the impulses from the stars and their spiritual beings?
In a surprising result of his spiritual research, Rudolf Steiner finds that we are mediated the spiritual impulses connected with the Stars through the etheric bodies of those who have crossed the threshold ahead of us, the dead. The etheric bodies in general are filled with starry impulses. In the case of most human beings who have gone across the threshold, their etheric bodies are dissolved relatively quickly after death, however, in the case of those who have led a particularly spiritual life and particularly in those who have died young, the etheric body is preserved for a very long time and helps the evolution of mankind. (Lecture, May 18, 1915 )
A primary example is the being of John the Baptist who through many incarnations, has not only, out of his destiny, died at a very young age but selflessly devoted himself to the help of humanity. His powerful etheric body still helps today.
Concerning ourselves at this time of the year both with the individuality of St. John and the world of the stars would enable ourselves strongly to reconnect with the spiritual world and better understand our duties in our earthly incarnation.
(Incidentally, this is The ideal time to do Eurythmy and express the spiritual impulses of the stars in our etheric body all the way through the physical movements themselves. For a special treat see the Eurythmy movement for the St. John verse in the Calendar of the Soul on our website.)
Furthermore, we know from Rudolf Steiner that after his death John the Baptist was the direct inspiration of the twelve apostles and became in more than one aspect their Group Soul. Following this archetypal gesture he has become one of the main impulse givers towards group work, towards community life.
It is no wonder then that Rudolf Steiner talks so fervently about the John the Baptist in the very last lecture that he gave on September 28, 1924.
In a world that is going into a direction where people are increasingly separating from one another, in a world where debates are alarmingly often centered on characteristics of personality rather than objective issues, in a time when more than in many past decades young people are dying the world over due to violence, in a time when even countries are splitting apart from larger communities (see the British vote of yesterday, the results tragically being announced precisely at St. John’s) our striving to build communities must accompany any individual goals.
At this St. John’s time we are thankful to our “Kolisko” community – and all it represents.
In the words of a meditation of Rudolf Steiner’s:
“May common feelings warm us to Human Deeds.”