 |
| Arild Rosenkrantz |
WHEN one considers that the infant spirit of Man was in fact nourished by the one Mother, that the elements combined, unfolded one by one and were given up, given over to every man. . . When one considers further, that the mainstay, the universal harvest gathered is complete and holds provision for every need for supplement. . . When it is known by a man that he is so unique, but bears the form of all men; whilst also a heritage born from a longing of Father God Himself. . . When the soul may gaze inward and strike the balance between humility that dissolves self and the divinity that expands self….
In participation of Holy Communion he shall reaffirm his being in relation to fellow fellow, and Father. We may seek to draw into ourselves something of the 'first milk' as was reminiscent of our early beginnings. Deeply recessed pockets of memory, still within the cloak of actual encumbrance, are assigned to those essential times. It is natural for the babe to suckle and even more natural that he should expect fulfillment. The child holds no doubt and cannot entertain the possibility of there being no warm and vital milk. Just so, we inherently call within our being, reliving our first cries and our first attendances in spirit.
Communion as offered and shared, is a dynamic process of returning men and women to the spiritual experience (real experience) of true fulfillment. This is a necessary remedy to such conflict as endured in worldly exchange. There is an order resumed by the active participation of such men as do come together and share of the one bread and the one draught.
Invoking memories may be a powerful occurrence, particularly when the memory strikes back to an essential consciousness and is revealed within the ethers. If I call forth a sequence of primordial memories, then I am actually effecting changes (albeit invisible) to the surrounding environment. Certain rituals are as a dance, insofar as there are definite participants with exact roles that are known and carried forth; and it is gestured by these men who work the ritual (step one, step two, and so forth) and concurrently draw memories collectively, of which depend on the nature of the ritual concerned. It is the deliberation on behalf of the men which color the subsequent experiences and associated apparitions called forth. A repeated action is evocative.
The 'Body and Blood of Christ' deepens the course of such primordial reminiscences, for here we have a consciousness which strives to make a connection with the very impression - memory impression - which of itself is a living reality of our Lord, and the action of His Quickening into our physical realm: His Permeation, His Substance, and His Being in ours. We are inviting this reality with a determined exactness. There is no mistake, there is a marriage there.
When men break bread together - or for that matter, any other consumable - they are actively participating in a celebration of fellowship. It is enjoyable, and the experience is interpreted by the soul as pleasurable reality; one which will be recalled with best resonance. It is wonderful when soup kitchens for the needy entertain a great group of men who may sit together, for the nourishment of soul to an otherwise dejected individual. The food is important of itself, but the activity is paramount to his overall wellbeing. It therefore would not be as nearly sufficient to offer up vouchers or cheques to such men.
However, having commented thus, one can add also that there are powerful keys to every substance and every action, from which the spiritual investigator shall e'er be surprised about. Wherever there is deep meaning to be found, one may be sure that there is yet deeper meaning still unknown. Furthermore, as regards ritual and communion, there is a dynamic, reactive relationship between actual substance used and imbued; whilst also, the men who on that day have come together. Therefore one is not as with another, necessarily.
"I give this memory to you to call forth. I do this by the reality of which I am about to perform, to lay down to remain. You may come to know of My Being here with you in this very world, by calling forth that first time of which I did enter deep into the world, to be with you."
Not all gods would tend to us, not all gods could tend to us. What good if we are as 'out of reach' and vice versa? All good plans see fulfillment.
Generally speaking, the dejected man or he who is at 'loose ends' in the world, will benefit greatly in a way which hitherto could not be provided. On a deeper level, all men can come to, return to, the understanding of that Love which verily supports and sustains them totally. And if it is to be Holy Communion, they shall invite Christ to do that which He promised to do, in the reality of His Being.
The relationship between salt and the fluidic disposition is a fascinating one. For it is that the fluids are drawn unto salt and the salt does love them, completely. The salt is the intermediary between the fluidic natures and the mineral natures. It is because of the nature of salt that the two may not only cooperate, but be attached and interspersed into one another.
ReplyDeleteThis is why there becomes often, the practice of a little salt being added to the holy waters of Communion. Firstly, there is the water received as dignified by the action of the ceremony's invocations alone; then secondly, the water is received with a little salt having been added to it by the celebrant and by this the action within the man is transformed physically.
Of course the salts within the man do meet with the water ordinarily also. However the blending of the two in this deliberate way, impacts quite dramatically and the potency received is doublefold.
-B. Hive
Salt must be added for the reason that salt especially makes otherwise indigestible things, digestible.
ReplyDeleteMan instinctively puts salt into his soup, because salt has the property of spreading rapidly through the body, and makes food digestible. -Rudolf Steiner
Man is thus directly united with the spiritual world by means of the physically perceptible words and actions of the cultus. Rightly presented, its words and actions bring to our experience on the physical plane a world that corresponds to the pre-earthly one from which we human beings have descended. In just the same sense in which forty- or fifty-year-olds who have met again feel themselves transported back into the world they shared in childhood does a person who joins others at the celebration of a genuine cultus feel himself transported back into a world he shared with them before they descended to the earth. He is not aware of this; it remains a subconscious experience, but it penetrates his feeling life all the more deeply for that very reason. The cultus is designed with this intent. It is designed with a view to giving man a real experience of something that is a memory, an image of his pre-earthly life, of his existence before he descended to the earth. The members of congregations based on a cultus feel especially keenly what, for purposes of illustration, I have just described as taking place when a group comes together in later life and exchanges memories of childhood: They feel transported into a world where they lived together in the super-sensible. This accounts for the binding ties created by a cultus-based community, and it has always been the reason why it did so. Where it is a matter of a religious life that does not have an atomizing effect because of its stress on preaching but instead emphasizes the cultus, the cultus will lead to the forming of a true community or congregation. No religious life can be maintained without the community building element. Thus a community based in this sense on common memories of the super-sensible is a community of sacraments as well.
ReplyDelete-Rudolf Steiner