But if someone is able to turn around . . . he will see God and himself and the All . . . ; when he has nowhere to set himself and limit himself and determine how far he himself goes, he will stop marking himself off from all being. —Plotinus Many people may be able to relate to the notion of a “conversion” or a “turning” at some point in their lives. While not everyone has a “Damascus experience,” like Saint Paul, and finds himself cast off of his horse and drawn up to “the third heaven,”
When I read your essays about turning of the soul (I enjoy all of them!), I often think about Lot’s wife turning and looking “back” at the city of Sodom and consequently, turning into a pillar of salt – the soul becoming petrified in time and space, unable to move forward (this goes for science as well). It is interesting to note that we can either turn our soul towards situations which hold within them a death force, or alternatively, turn ourselves towards opportunities that hold within them the force of life. Whatever way the soul chooses, there seems to be a trial by fire, in which the soul can choose to wait and experience itself to die to live again in the flames, or the soul cannot endure this experience so it turns back towards that which holds a death force. Of course, so many opportunities are given to us humans in so many different ways to choose true daylight- but you're right in asking, "How should a grasp of the mysterious channels of grace in our lives affect the way we live them?"
There is a parallel here with Orpheus, who went into the underworld to rescue his beloved Eurydice. He looked back, and was lost. When Lot's wife looked back she was turned into a pillar of salt. When Jesus was 24 years old, he experienced the Bath Kol on the altar of the pagan Mithras mystery, and wondered why he had even been born. You see, when all is lost to the past, one must hold out for the future. One must wait patiently and expectantly for the next transformative moment. What is that? The Holy Lance; the Magic Wand; the Flux of Heraclitus that carves out the discrete entities of the formerly total Gestalt experience of the first three years of life. It is said that the Sun of our Sun is Alpha Centauri.
I know that Orpheus is a state of being that exists before we pass over to the Sunlight. It is experienced as a kind, 'netherworld', or "between world's condition". Fortunately, by experiencing the Bath Kol first, we are compelled to "turn" in the new direction being implied here. Thus, no chance for returning to the old, which is past and lost. To experience the state of Orpheus demands hope and faith in the new beginning which the Bath Kol conveyed to Jesus, even as he did not understand it until later. Jesus of Nazareth heard the words:
"fire:Sun::Sun::the Idea of the Good" this made me glimpse how Steiner's suggestion of Christ as the "spirit of the Sun" might fit. Alan Chadwick would say that the Sun has its own Sun, and there is even the Sun's Sun's Sun.
Yes, I think that fits very neatly. I'm not sure if there is a perfect word; I have also toyed with using the Greek peripeteia, which Aristotle describes as a turning into the opposite of what came before. The Greek word for Mary's turn is strapheisa. Of course, metanoia. often translated as "repent," also belongs in this discussion.
When I read your essays about turning of the soul (I enjoy all of them!), I often think about Lot’s wife turning and looking “back” at the city of Sodom and consequently, turning into a pillar of salt – the soul becoming petrified in time and space, unable to move forward (this goes for science as well). It is interesting to note that we can either turn our soul towards situations which hold within them a death force, or alternatively, turn ourselves towards opportunities that hold within them the force of life. Whatever way the soul chooses, there seems to be a trial by fire, in which the soul can choose to wait and experience itself to die to live again in the flames, or the soul cannot endure this experience so it turns back towards that which holds a death force. Of course, so many opportunities are given to us humans in so many different ways to choose true daylight- but you're right in asking, "How should a grasp of the mysterious channels of grace in our lives affect the way we live them?"
There is a parallel here with Orpheus, who went into the underworld to rescue his beloved Eurydice. He looked back, and was lost. When Lot's wife looked back she was turned into a pillar of salt. When Jesus was 24 years old, he experienced the Bath Kol on the altar of the pagan Mithras mystery, and wondered why he had even been born. You see, when all is lost to the past, one must hold out for the future. One must wait patiently and expectantly for the next transformative moment. What is that? The Holy Lance; the Magic Wand; the Flux of Heraclitus that carves out the discrete entities of the formerly total Gestalt experience of the first three years of life. It is said that the Sun of our Sun is Alpha Centauri.
You add a beautiful dimension of richness and understanding here, Steve. Thank you
I know that Orpheus is a state of being that exists before we pass over to the Sunlight. It is experienced as a kind, 'netherworld', or "between world's condition". Fortunately, by experiencing the Bath Kol first, we are compelled to "turn" in the new direction being implied here. Thus, no chance for returning to the old, which is past and lost. To experience the state of Orpheus demands hope and faith in the new beginning which the Bath Kol conveyed to Jesus, even as he did not understand it until later. Jesus of Nazareth heard the words:
AUM, Amen!
Es walten die Übel,
Zeugen sich lösender Ichheit,
Von andern erschuldete Selbstheitschuld,
Erlebet im täglichen Brote,
In dem nicht waltet der Himmel Wille,
Da der Mensch sich schied von Eurem Reich
Und vergass Euren Namen,
Ihr Vater in den Himmeln.
AUM, Amen!
The Evils hold sway,
Witness of Egoity becoming free,
Selfhood-Guilt through others incurred,
Experienced in the Daily Bread,
Wherein the Will of the Heavens does not rule,
In that Man severed himself from Your Kingdom,
And forgot Your Names,
Ye Fathers in the Heavens.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA148/English/RSPC1950/19131005p02.html
Christ would come to transform these verses into words of faith, love, and hope for the future. The Lord's Prayer.
"fire:Sun::Sun::the Idea of the Good" this made me glimpse how Steiner's suggestion of Christ as the "spirit of the Sun" might fit. Alan Chadwick would say that the Sun has its own Sun, and there is even the Sun's Sun's Sun.
Are you by any means speaking of the German word ‘Umstülpung‘?
Yes, I think that fits very neatly. I'm not sure if there is a perfect word; I have also toyed with using the Greek peripeteia, which Aristotle describes as a turning into the opposite of what came before. The Greek word for Mary's turn is strapheisa. Of course, metanoia. often translated as "repent," also belongs in this discussion.