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being human - spring-summer 2024

Page 46

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Rhythms of Light and the Path of the Calendar of the Soul —A New Approach to the Dimension of Time— by Richard Steel,

at the crossing point from Michaelmas to winter, when we hear that the world would be but empty life if we did not Karl Koenig Institute carry into it the compassion of our souls. Indeed, Without creating itself anew through souls / It could of itself find only The rhythms of the year and of the human soul withdeath. A strong warning – but it is given with a strong posin it are experienced as we journey through the 52 verses sibility that the world can create itself anew through souls! of the Calendar of the Soul. We are thereby connecting What is the path of souls that awaken to this responsibilour own rhythmic system with the breathing process of ity? It is the path of connecting with the forces of creation the year and the being of the Earth. Anthemselves, and of beginning to realize other level is the environmental questions how these creative forces become more we are facing today – a worthy theme for and more the center of our being. And another article. these creative forces are forces of ether, With the Calendar of the Soul, we they are forces of time. begin the journey into the year at Easter, The dimension of time does not exist and are gradually expanding our soul in in the spiritual world – there, everything harmony with the breathing out of the is omnipresent. Does time really exist on Earth’s soul. Yet at Michaelmas, we do Earth? Well certainly if one asks around, not follow the death processes of nature, the one thing no one has is time! Is that but rather, we turn at the halfway point not a central phenomenon of our times? of the year to an inner growth and ripenIt would certainly seem that parallel to ing process; it is equivalent to breathing the growth of materialism, time has bein. And this breathing process becomes come mainly a spatial experience. Time more and more inward as we make our can then almost be seen as synonymous way through the Michaelmas season into with “development.” The more humanwinter. We gradually become the focus in Karl König’s drawing for week 48 of the ity has withdrawn from its natural habiour inner journey, in that we are giving Calendar of the Soul tat on Earth, the more time has become our summer gains to the Earth: a measurable, constant element depicted by outer calAnd, waking, carry sun’s fiery glow endars, clocks and increasingly, by digital abstractions. Into the surge of winter’s flow The washing machine and the automobile, trains and As our awareness grows of how we as human beings airplanes, were thought to be creating so much time for journey through the Calendar of the Soul, we can arrive human beings. Yet time became increasingly scarce until at the experience that it is a very central path of anthrosuddenly, we can overcome time altogether and through posophical practice. It is not one leading us off into spirit the forces of light that have “fallen” – been forced into realms, away from the world of the senses! electricity – we can create a duplicate of the spirit world, Already at the end of Easter time, at Ascension week, where everything is omnipresent. So-called artificial inwe hear the strong warning in verse 7: My self it threatens telligence is merely the perfection of this duplicate, or to flee / Strongly lured by the light of worlds! We are then maybe we can say specter. Social life has become void of asked in verse 9 to lose ourselves in order to find ourselves! time – and this means it becomes devoid of possibilities In this way, we are discovering more and more how, as for development. We no longer write a letter that takes a human beings are involved in self-development, we beweek to arrive, wait while the receiver lives with it or percome responsible for world development. haps consciously sleeps over it and brings an answer into Verse 33 is an extremely strong reminder of this, just 46 • being human


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