Christianity as Mystical Fact, and the Mysteries of AntiquitySteiner, Rudolf
Religion
Christianity as Mystical Fact, and the Mysteries of Antiquity
Steiner, Rudolf
Anthroposophy; Christianity and other religions; Mysteries, Religious; Mysticism
Odysseus is seeking his own deeper consciousness, the divine powers of
the soul. He wishes to be united with them. Before the Mystic can find
them, he must overcome everything which sues for the favour of that
consciousness. The band of suitors spring from the world of lower
reality, from perishable nature. The logic directed against them is a
spinning which is always undone again after it has been spun. Wisdom
(the goddess Athene) is the sure guide to the deepest powers of the
soul. It changes man into a beggar, _i.e._, it divests him of
everything of a transitory nature.
* * * * *
The Eleusinian festivals, which were celebrated in Greece in honour of
Demeter and Dionysos, were steeped in the wisdom of the Mysteries. A
sacred road led from Athens to Eleusis. It was bordered with
mysterious signs, intended to bring the soul into an exalted mood. In
Eleusis were mysterious temples, served by families of priests. The
dignity and the wisdom which was bound up with it were inherited in
these families from generation to generation. (Instructive information
about the organisation of these sanctuaries will be found in Karl
Boetticher's _Ergaenzungen zu den letzten Untersuchungen auf der
Akropolis in Athen_, Philologus, Supplement, vol. iii, part 3.) The
wisdom, which qualified for the priesthood, was the wisdom of the
Greek Mysteries. The festivals, which were celebrated twice a year,
represented the great world-drama of the destiny of the divine in the
world, and of that of the human soul. The lesser Mysteries took place
in February, the greater in September. Initiations were connected with
the festivals. The symbolical presentation of the cosmic and human
drama formed the final act of the initiations of the Mystics, which
took place here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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