There are such dire and horrific things coming to light in the world at the moment. Many of the things contained in the Epstein files have been known in "conspiracy" circles for a long time. But seeing it out in the wider public like this is both vindicating and terrifying. It's not just hurt people hurting people. It's far beyond that. It's people who actually get pleasure from causing pain which Rudolf Steiner describes as the beginning of black magic. And we can see how all of this is tied into the way the world is run. If we're not careful, these things can completely overwhelm us. It occurs to me that we need an extremely robust spirituality that can hold it's own against scientism (the belief that science has all the answers) and the materialistic world-view (that matter is all there is). But more than that, we need a robust spirituality that can withstand actual evil. This robust spirituality must support individuals to develop a strong moral fibre from within (not from outside rules). But it also needs to be able to meet and satisfy human beings intellectually. The time of the New Age gurus endlessly repeating phrases like "we're all one", "we're all love" and "nothing is real except love" has come to an end. This just doesn't cut it anymore. On one level, we are all one. And yes, we are love. But the individuality matters too. We cannot defeat the evil that is coming to light with platitudes and feel-good songsters singing "imagine all the people" (as much as I love John Lennon). We need a new kind of inner strength, even to just hear about what is happening. Good will win, but it's not a forgone conclusion. It's up to us. Wishing you much strength, courage and love in these times.

“Love is higher than opinion. If people love one another, the most varied opinions can be reconciled — thus one of the most important tasks for humankind today and in the future is that we should learn to live together and understand one another. If this human fellowship is not achieved, all talk of development is empty.” Rudolf Steiner from Steiner’s lecture “At the Gates of Spiritual Science” (Lecture 11, Stuttgart, 1 September 1906) in the Collected Works (GA 95).

Just keeping a step ahead of religion scientists & governments Spiritually boom boom boom

I gave a talk on the Apocalypse of St. John recently (even the word has fearful connotations, doesn't it?!) and I just wanted to share with you a couple of the main points. Firstly, the word "Apocalypse" itself means "revelation", "unfolding" or "unveiling". It doesn't mean "catastrophe" or "end of the world" as some think. So, something is being revealed. Something is unfolding or being unveiled. In this sense, I think we can say that we do live in "apocalyptic times" as it does seem that much is being revealed these days, about the machinations behind the way the world works. It also made me think of how human life itself is an "unveiling". We learn more and more about who we are as we get older. Parts of ourselves are "revealed" by the situations we find ourselves in. Another point was that the book of revelation is not there to scare us, though there are some frightful images therein. So too with the images in Daniel, Ezekial and other prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible. According to Steiner, the purpose of this book of spiritual initiation (written in a strange initiation language, which should not be taken literally or materialistically) is to fire our will to do our best for the "good evolution of humanity". One way to read that is: do everything I can to spiritually grow, spiritually strengthen myself and grow in wisdom and love for my fellow human being and the beings of the earth. Thanks for being a part of this group. Best wishes Mick

I hope you don't mind me speaking personally here for a minute: As I get older, I realise more and more that all the previous identities I built up, are not actually me. I don't feel bad about them. They were necessary. They were all I had. But as time goes on I begin to notice old thought patterns, habits and ways of being falling away. I've always questioned everything, but now I'm not even sure who's doing the questioning. Someone said to me once that we continually build up a paradigm with which to understand the world. Then, step by step, life goes about dismantling this paradigm with it's small or big tragedies, it's disappointments and it's revelations...and we have to build up a whole new paradigm! Even the spiritual paradigms we have need to continually be renewed...otherwise they just become another dogma to cling to. Then there's the fact that as we grow, we find more and more parts of ourselves, that we didn't know existed...even as other parts die away. This can be wonderful and terrifying. But all is growth...and it doesn't seem to end. But maybe we can also find "rest" within this continual growth and movement. This is my big challenge and something I want to solve. This journey the self is not for the faint hearted. But if you're on that path to becoming more and more of who you are (whoever that is), welcome. Warm wishes Mick PS. would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this. Please feel free to comment below and I'll get back to you asap (Art work: Antonín Slavíček - "In the Veltrusy Park", 1901)