The Coronavirus Pandemic II

The Black Lodges and the Soul's Training

Unfortunately, in order to approach this topic, you must first make your way through a theme which is a veritable minefield: One must speak (even if here to the least extent possible) of those circles which are consciously at the service of the impulses of the opposing spiritual powers — the circles which Rudolf Steiner (for instance in GA 178) referred to as the “Lodges of the left hand” or as “Occult Brotherhoods,” which here, in contrast to the “White Lodge” often mentioned by him, will be called “Black Lodges” by me. — Whatever you call them, they exist. Also when today a large part of humanity dismisses this fact as the mother of all conspiracy theories.

But the results of my spiritual research paint a somewhat different picture than is drawn by so many people today, who have no doubts about the existence and deplorable willpower of the Black Lodges and who — also within the anthroposophical movement — are active with publications or other comments or appeals, and shape the opinions of a much larger, less “voluble” circle of people.

One of the most important facts to bear in mind with regard to this subject is that today the tendency towards two different paths of development is already beginning to emerge: one path of development that leads to a higher development of man in the sense of the Logos, and another that leads to a descending development. It is most important to note, however, that these two different paths are not represented by the two major “camps” that are so divided today in dealing with the coronavirus. It is not the case, for example, that those who agree today to comply with certain regulations to contain the pandemic are all walking or will walk the downward path, while those who refuse or reject those regulations are on the steep upward path (and vice-versa). It may be that the first group, which trusts conventional natural science and medicine more than the second, is more likely to adhere to the materialistic view of the world and man and ultimately to be misguided by it in making fundamental decisions. However, one must reject the possibility that the group which is skeptical or critical with regard to the statements and guidelines of scientific research, conventional medicine and to a large extent a “predatory capitalistic” economy, will take the path to the higher development, since such an attitude does not necessarily mean that they are striving for spiritual development or have a spiritual world and human view at all.

If we stand back a little and look at these things objectively, we might be surprised at first to conclude that there are hardly any fewer people in the second group who lean toward materialism than in the first. For enthusiasm for the protection of the earth and humanity should not be limited to producing less garbage, demonstrating for climate neutrality or consuming only organic food.

Materialism within the second group appears ultimately to be only clothed in a different garment than in the first. Not only in the first group do we find many people who are hoping for a “miracle cure” for the prevention or treatment of covid-19. There are also many who belong to the second group who hope for such a miracle cure, except in the first group they hope to receive it from the hands of conventional science, whereas those in the second group rather expect it to come from alternative medicine or medicinal herbs or even from one of the many kinds of “magic” rituals.

(It is not my intention to only describe my personal opinion here. It does seem to me appropriate, however, to ask that what I say not be interpreted as wanting to applaud conventional natural science and at the same time discredit the impulses that are in the alternative movements, including in the anthroposophical one. Nothing is further from my mind. On the contrary. If this book is written for a personal reason, it is perhaps to contribute at least a little to the anthroposophical movement's breaking away from any tendency toward sectarianism, radicalism and irrationality, which it has conspicuously succumbed to in the storms of recent times. Strengthening the anthroposophical impulse today means not only living in accordance with Anthroposophy, but also standing up to the aberrations within the anthroposophical movement, and naming them in order to bid them adieu. A weakening of the anthroposophical impulse means to tolerate irrationality and non-spiritual scientific knowledge, as well as sectarian and extremist tendencies. It is precisely my unconditional devotion to the anthroposophical impulse that prompts me to address what is revealed through super-sensory observation of current conditions to be unfavorable to the anthroposophical impulse. I am not at all interested in the protection and prosperity of the materialistic worldview — about which there are already countless critiques in realization to the coronavirus problem — but to that of the spiritual worldview. Therefore, this essay mainly deals with the challenges to those human beings who see themselves as anthroposophists or want to become anthroposophists, who, therefore, wish to help the spiritual worldview to triumph in the world. For there are also numerous pitfalls and sink-holes on this path! The spiritual worldview can only be successfully disseminated if one tries to avoid these pitfalls and sink-holes as much as possible).

There are, then, in the second group — in which at present large parts of anthroposophical circles are included — definitely many souls who are also moved by materialistic ideas. In fact, we find here an attitude which, compared to the conventional materialistic attitude, has a particularly unpleasant, namely arrogant note. The search for an alternative means of preventing or curing covid-19 is frequently based on an even more smug, even more presumptuous materialism. The demand not only to be provided with a means that relieves one of the necessity of acquiring the means to deal successfully with the virus and its consequences through psychological and spiritual efforts, but also that this remedy be “pure” of all undesirable effects that one expects from a preparation made by the conventional pharmaceutical industry, is the height of materialism and egoism and is equivalent to the attitude of consuming only organic or Demeter products on principle and under all circumstances, while millions of people in the world — far away — are dying of hunger.

Seeking an alternative remedy is justified and necessary! But from a super-sensible standpoint it should only be done once one has prepared oneself spiritually for the actual reason for Covid-19. And this miracle remedy can really not exist previously. For the real cause of Covid-19 is not physical, and not necessarily psychical, but a spiritual problem. Spiritual neglect. This spiritual problem can be solved only by the I, which begins to purify its lower component-members in the course of the aforementioned psychical self-education, which leads to super-sensory knowledge and new abilities. — To work on the soul and spirit should be the motto of “self-betterment”!

If in recent decades we had only done half as much for the soul and spirit as for the body, we would have come a long way and would have been able to avert many things that cannot be easily remedied now. Insight into spiritual individual responsibility for the current dilemma must come first. Afterward in some circumstances one may find a remedy which can offer sustainable effective support. Only then, through self-knowledge, will people's eyes be opened for appropriate remedies. — If man should find a cure before that, he would be escaping the test of knowledge, which alone can initiate a turning point. Therefore, in the final analysis, every so-called “remedy” (as well as vaccinations) would not be a gift of the good divine spirit if this insight had not occurred beforehand, or at least in parallel.

Therefore, a person who belongs to the second group is not necessarily a representative of that path of development which in the future leads upwards, toward the Logos. Critical behavior toward the regulations to fight the pandemic does not necessarily and a priori identify someone as a representative of this upward path, which is a spiritual path oriented toward the acquisition of spiritual consciousness. Conversely, one could very well mistakenly assume that the person who has achieved knowledge of the true nature of the Sars-CoV-2-virus through super-sensory insight and is willing to obey certain regulations — which of course today do not derive from super-sensory but from “sensory” considerations — is a representative of the first group. But unlike a representative of the first group and also unlike a representative of the second, he knows that an encounter with the spirituality of this virus would lead to considerable difficulties in his etheric and astral bodies organism, and he would want to spare not only himself but also the people in his surroundings from this destiny. For this reason, as long as there are no other possibilities resulting from psychical-spiritual progress, he would not shrink from the temporary use of a protective mask, for example. For he would recognize the attack on human freedom as being primarily in a completely different domain.

So the two camps of opinion created by the emergence of the coronavirus are not the two developmental paths meant here. Which of these two paths the individual takes depends solely on whether he seeks the Spirit, the living, creative, consciousness-embodying Holy Spirit in the world and in himself, or not. This is all that matters in the choice of paths.

And here one must clearly see that the path of development that winds upward is still a decidedly narrow one. Man has not yet given it much solid ground. Yes, it seems barely built today, almost about to disappear, because the side which was meant to level and stabilize it, so that it could be recognized and entered by a larger number of souls as the right alternative to the huge road that leads in the opposite direction, lacks the commitment that is urgently needed. And the anthroposophical movement belongs to this side. We must always come back to the same, all-important point, on which not only the future of the coronavirus problem hinges, but which is also crucial with regard to countless other factors, by which the earth and its human inhabitants are already acutely threatened. It is the point which, as the foundation of all other activities, should be at the center of the life of a person who wants to be an anthroposophist: It is the spiritual development, which, if it wants to be attained on a “white” way, is to be had only through the serious implementation of what the soul encounters on the “path of knowledge” as soul exercises.

And it is unfortunately becoming bitterly clear today that a distressingly large portion of the people who count themselves as belonging to the anthroposophical movement obviously do not practice these exercises or do not do so seriously enough. For if they were taken seriously and nurtured everywhere in the anthroposophical movement, one could not get lost in the skirmishes which go on, garnished with all kinds of axioms and facets diametrically opposed to the principles of Christ. We get lost in heated debates, in word-wars about “the truth.” We use quotes by Rudolf Steiner, not only to support our own view, but we are actually stealing by using them as a kind of weapon with which to attack the “enemies” of our own opinion, as well winning over the insecure or undecided with the help of this moral dishonesty.

In all this one does not notice that step by step one is in danger of falling into the trap of those forces which consciously and purposefully serve the circles of the so-called Black Lodges. The anthroposophical spiritual student must not fall into this trap!

It must not be overlooked that the attack on human freedom and the spiritual development of humanity comes from two sides. It is a double attack, namely an attack by the virus itself and also an attack in the field of dealing with the virus. As has been pointed out above, through lack of spiritual cognition the first of these two attacks is barely seen, and it is only because of this that the second field of attack, which is meant to divide humanity, can give battle.

Yes, this field (dealing with the virus), is meant to divide humanity! It is the plan of the counter-spiritual powers and the circles that serve them! But the field “dealing with the virus” isn't divided into a good and a bad camp. Instead, this field is divided into two camps, both infiltrated by evil intentions, although in different ways. They oppose each other in group-soul manner, instead of opposing the actual aggressors who continue to act undisturbed — which Rudolf Steiner called, “the enemies of knowledge of the present” (GA 270, Dornach, pg. 33). These present-day enemies of knowledge are: fear (of what speaks through the reality of the Father-divinity in the world — the world as it has become), hate (of what has come to humanity through the Son of God) and doubt (of the Holy Spirit, through whom thinking can raise itself to super-sensible insight).

Only if man does not concentrate energetically and conscientiously enough on self-education of the soul and is distracted from the actual task of contemporary humanity — knowledge of the Son of God's gift and its importance for the further development of humanity — will these enemies of knowledge be allowed to instill their poison in humanity's development.

Then, on the one hand, people will not realize that the attempt to counteract the virus through ever more drastic and at some point permanent intrusion in certain democratically certified so-called fundamental rights, is under the influence of a force that wants to lead humanity into a state of immaturity. And then a different group of people will not realize that opposition to this force in a purely external domain can never be successful, because this force is a spiritual force and it achieves its goals precisely by preventing people from developing and using their spiritual potential, by keeping them from serving the good and being fully occupied in the external battlefields. — That it is this power which brings this about must be immediately obvious to every anthroposophical student of the spirit, for on these battlefields — whether on the streets or in one's own family circle — there prevail whipped-up waves of emotion, ranging from rapturous hysteria to contempt for one's fellow human beings.

There is no doubt that the I achieves control of soul-life by means of exercises such as control of thoughts and actions, forbearance and tolerance and impartiality and trust, or the soul's equilibrium.

Where have they gone — the anthroposophical spiritual student's ideals, inflamed by the Christ-spirit?

Of course! One must actively work on earthly conditions! And each individual can only do this to the best of their knowledge and conscience. I am certainly not saying here that one should not be engaged in the various areas where poverty rules! It should be pointed out, however, that even with all the activities in the sensory areas concerning the coronavirus problem, you should be aware that the encounter with the Soratic impulse, which acts via the virus itself as well as via its social consequences, cannot be prevented or overcome by external activities — whether it be by circulars, lectures, protest marches or political or social activities. The only way is by descent into the depths (and abysses) of one's own soul, by the courageous confrontation with oneself, by reflection on the actual primal ground of the human being which lies like a seed waiting to be allowed to germinate; reflection on the spirit through which the potential of the human being can be “unbound” — the only really effective means to cope with the spiritual measures of the counter-spirit. It is a means which every person can acquire and use! One is active in the external field in a wholesome way when this activity is characterized by respect for the other person, love, compassion, selflessness, conscience. You don't have to be an initiate to use these means when you are active in the everyday life of the senses, and you don't have to be an initiate to recognize that wherever these moral means are not used or are lacking, the activity cannot be in the sense of the good-divine spirit, but rather in the sense of the spirits opposing Him. The way we deal with our opinion proves — no matter what that opinion may be — whether we are really students on the path of exercising the soul, whether or not we are following the Christ-principles that are being embedded in us by these soul-exercises. What the so-called Black Lodges achieve, they do so through spiritual work, through immoral spirituality. They know very well that the spirit is stronger than the soul and the physical organization and all outer activity. That is why they try in different ways to confuse us, and to dissuade us from our spiritual development, depending on our attitude (whether we are easily inspired by the materialistic worldview or whether we turn to the living Spirit and stand up for humanity's higher development of consciousness). The work of the so-called Black Lodges is beyond question. But today there is a danger of them preying on both opposite areas, not only in the obvious area of the materialistic worldview and natural science, but also at the edge of the area, which is, so to speak, opposite to the former. Souls are tilting away today on both sides of the bridge that leads to soul-balance and the composure of knowledge. As mentioned in the preface, an extensive writing of mine will be published in the foreseeable future about the aims and many intermediate aims of the so-called Black Lodges, about what is being prepared in the background by the Black Lodges concerning the effects of the counter-spiritual powers, and in a framework which I believe gives me the possibility to be able to take responsibility before the reader as well as before the spiritual world to some extent, for approaching and deepening this delicate subject. However, I do not consider this book to be a suitable framework for dealing with this topic exhaustively or in detail.