Anthroposophical Guidelines

The State of the Human Soul before the Michael Age

Today we will add a consideration of the ideas which relate to “At the Dawn of the Michael Age”. The Michael age has arisen in the evolution of humanity after the predominance of intellectual thinking on the one hand and that of human perception directed towards the external sense-world - the physical world - on the other.

Thinking is not essentially a development towards materialism. The world of ideas, which in older times had come to man as inspiration, became the property of the human mind in the period which preceded the Michael age. It no longer receives ideas “from above”, from the spiritual content of the cosmos, but conceives them from man’s own spirituality. For the first time man has become sufficiently mature to contemplate his own spiritual being. Previously he had not penetrated so deeply into his own nature. He saw himself as a drop separated from the spiritual cosmic sea in order to live on earth and eventually to be reunited with that cosmos.

This process of thought formation now constitutes an enhancement of human self-knowledge. Viewed supersensibly it looks like this: The spiritual powers, which we may designate as “Michael”, govern the ideas in the spiritual cosmos. Man experienced these ideas in that his soul participated in the Michael-world. This experiencing has now become his own. A temporary separation from the Michael-world has therewith occurred. Previously by means of inspired thoughts man received at the same time the spiritual cosmic content. When this inspiration ended, he became dependent upon the senses in order to have content for his thoughts. Therefore the content of the spirituality he had obtained had to be suffused with materialism. He fell into the materialistic viewpoint at a time when his own spiritual being advanced to a higher stage than the previous one.

This is easily misunderstood; one can consider only the “fall” into materialism and rue it. But whereas perception during this age had to be limited to the external physical world, within the soul a purified, self-subsisting spirituality developed as experience. In the Michael Age the experience no longer needs to be unconscious, but can become conscious of its nature. This means the entrance into the human soul of the Michael essence. During a certain time man filled his spirit with the material content of nature; he should now fill it again with the cosmic content of his original spirituality.

Thinking lost itself for a while in the materiality of the cosmos; it must find itself again in the cosmic spirit. Warmth - being-filled spirit-reality - can enter into the cold, abstract thought-world. This characterizes the Dawn of the Michael Age.

It was only by separation from the universal thinking essence could consciousness of freedom develop in the depths of the human soul. What came from the heights had to be rediscovered in the depths. Therefore, the development of this consciousness of freedom was originally oriented only to knowledge of external nature. While man was unconsciously learning to mold purity of ideas within his spirit, his senses were directed outward towards the material world, which in no way affected the tender seed germinating in his soul.

But in perceiving the exterior material world, experiencing the spirit and therewith spiritual seeing can be introduced in a new way. What has been learned about nature under the sign of materialism can be spiritually grasped by the inner life of the soul. Michael, who spoke “from above”, can be heard “from within”, where he will now take up residence. Speaking imaginatively this can be expressed thus: the sun-quality, which man for a long time only received from the cosmos, will shine from within the soul. He will learn to speak of an “inner sun”. In life between birth and death he will of course be no less an earth-being; but he will recognize his developing being as guided by the sun. He will feel as truth that an essence shines a light on him from within, but one which is not kindled there. At the Dawn of the Michael Age it may still seem as though all this is far beyond humanity; However, it is near “in the spirit”; it must only be “seen”.

Immeasurably much depends upon this fact: that man’s ideas are not merely “thought”, but are also “seen”.

85. During the present cosmic era, man experiences himself in waking consciousness. This experiencing conceals from him the presence of the third hierarchy within his wakefulness.
86. In dream consciousness, man experiences his own being united with the spiritual essence of the universe in a chaotic way. If Imagination is placed as the other pole to this dream consciousness, man would realize that the second hierarchy is present in his experience.
87. In the consciousness of dreamless sleep man experiences his own being united with the spiritual essence of the universe, but without his conscious knowledge. If Inspiration is placed as the other pole to this consciousness of dreamless sleep, he would realize that the first hierarchy is present in his experience.