Thou, Spirit of Mine Earthly Realm...

By Marc Desaules

Summary of a lecture given to the Swiss Society on 15 February 2025

Translation by Kim Chotzen. English rendering by Christopher Houghton Budd

Thou, spirit of mine earthly realm

Unveil thou the light of thine age

To the Christ-begifted soul

That, striving, it can thee find

In the choir of spheres of peace

Resounding with light and strength

Of the sense of one devout in Christ

Du, meines Erdenraumes Geist, Enthülle deines Alters Licht

Der Christ-begabten Seele,

Dass strebend sie finden kann

Im Chor der Friedenssphären

Dich, tönend von Licht und Macht

Des Christ-ergebenen Menschensinns.

Looking out on the world, we notice how every day our sense of justice is challenged. Things are happening that would have previously been unimaginable. As human beings, as humanity, they touch our very existence, and our sense of dignity. Institutions and countries no longer recognize the order that has long been established among human beings.

Given this state of affairs, what can one still do to reestablish a certain order? A first step is to expand one’s horizons. According to Rudolf Steiner we are not alone in our work in social life. Spiritual beings are active in the spiritual, rights, and economic life: In spiritual life, we meet the domain of the activity of the Angels, in rights life that of the Archangels, and in economic life that of the Archai. In the lecture cycle The Mission of the Folk Souls , GA 121, Steiner shows how these beings accompany us – depending on the situation, leaving us free or imposing themselves on all that we accomplish in social life – revealing the background to today’s global and political events.

It is not easy. For in each human community, it is not only one being that comes to meet us, but at least four: First, the archangel who accompanies us as Folk Spirit in that corner of the world where we live together and who makes himself known through the rules we mutually give ourselves and in our sense of belonging. This being can be considered as the true Spirit of our earthly realm. Then, at his side, there is a Spirit of Language, also an Archangel, who acts from deep within our constitution, all the more powerfully because he twice stayed back.

Third, above him there is a Time Spirit, an Archai who upholds the specific quality of an epoch – this is the Spirit that gives today’s world its cosmopolitan character. Fourthly, at his side, equally an Archai, one must reckon with the Spirit of Thinking who also acts from within our constitution, inside our brains, and does so even more powerfully than the Time Spirit because he, too, once stayed back. Determining the way of thinking that manifests as the materialistic point of view, he permits no freedom of judgment and acts resolutely against the Time Spirit.

This is this spiritual back-story to modern social life. It is how spiritual beings inform human relationships. They can further our striving, leaving us free, but they can equally constrain us within all possible forms of sectarianism and nationalism. To manage this situation, we need to understand their effects.

The problem starts already with the difference between the Spirit of Language and the Folk Spirit, for they are continually linked in a kind of competition with one another. They are both Archangels, but how can one recognize which is the Folk Spirit? In contrast to the people in the neighboring countries, the Swiss, for example, have an advantage. Because of our three main languages, we can distinguish between that which links us via language to France, Germany, or Italy, and that which clearly links us to what it means to be ‘Swiss’. 1 This is not so easy when the same language extends over the whole country, as in the case of our neighbors. This differentiation can be a first step to get a sense for qualities carried by the Folk Spirit. A next step comes in distinguishing between that which corresponds to the Time Spirit and that which belongs to the Spirit of Thinking; that which belongs to the special qualities of our epoch and favors all humanity, and, on the contrary, that which constrains us to think in abstract illusions and materialist constructs, losing thereby our link to reality.

One might add here that this is especially important for North America, where, per Rudolf Steiner, the existence of those who live there is primarily based on the Spirit of Thinking. A possible way out of this supremacy may be to find the specific qualities carried by the different Folk Spirits. 2

If when looking at the real world we risk losing our bearings, we should enlarge our own horizon to such a degree that our own Folk Spirit is included in the picture – something that is valid for all the countries of the world. Because, thanks to his activity that comes from the spheres of peace, he is capable of creating new paths exactly there where we lose our orientation. But for that, he needs our help, the help of every human being.

That we can do this is thanks to the verse enunciated by Rudolf Steiner on 16 August, 1914, in the first days after the outbreak of WWI:

Thou, spirit of mine earthly realm – this is a call to our Archangel, our Folk Spirit.

Unveil thou the light of thine age – show me your true being such that I do not confuse you with a contrary being that acts in social life.

To the Christ-begifted soul – what does this mean? Certainly not something that has to do with external religion. Here it is a question of an attitude that can grow in every human being today: A readiness to assume one’s responsibilities, meaning, to be willing to carry all the consequences of one’s actions. In short, to find a relation with the Resurrection Body of Christ.

That, striving, it can thee find – in willing to accept the full consequences of one’s actions, the Christ-begifted soul is making progress, striving.

In the choir of spheres of peace – where is the Folk Spirit to be found? With all the other Folk Spirits in the spheres of peace, building a choir. Wars are never born of the activities of true Folk Spirits but always from other contrary beings active in social life.

Resounding with light and strength – through serious striving, the soul can find its Folk Spirit, distinguishing him from the other beings. He is there, resonating. But from where?

Of the sense of one devout in Christ – from praise and power that ray out from the sense of awakened human beings. Since the Mystery of Golgotha, the Christ is no longer in the heavens but on earth with human beings. Accordingly, the spirits have become dependent on us to experience the Christ.

If this process – that begins with us – becomes possible, miracles can happen! We can empower our Folk Spirit! He will then find his path in the choir of the spheres of peace, together with the other Folk Spirits – and we will find our orientation anew, as an echo coming from the other side of the threshold.

Truly, this verse appears like a clarion call addressed to the spiritual beings who accompany our life on earth, shared as it is, with all other human souls. By this prayer, every soul is invited to look for and to discern the spiritual beings that accompany one in community on earth. A difficult task, to be sure, but one that is really worth the effort, because in our times who else, other than us, can act in this way and in this domain?

1 Likewise, perhaps, Great Britain, where to be British, despite the common use of English, embraces four distinct language areas: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

2 In the case of the anthroposophical movement, not thinking in terms of a single North America, but of collaboration between Mexico, the US, Canada, and Hawaii.