MysTech Newsletter, November 2022

Hilma af Klint, Sjustjärnan, nr 2, grupp V, serie WUS/Sjustjärnan, 1908 Stiftelsen Hilma af Klints Verk. Photo: Albin Dahlström/Moderna Museet

Newsletter on the Mysteries of Technology

Dear Friends,

Since the beginning of this past month, especially during the four-part presentation with Monique Pommier on Divine Technology — The Harmonic Secret of Living Forms (you can still sign up for this HERE), my thoughts have increasingly turned to the idea of the “space between.”

In the book, From Gondishapur to Silicon Valley, Paul Emberson describes the process of the steam engine when running, specifically the action of the piston creating a vacuum, a void of air after the explosion, and indicates that it is within this void that Ahriman incarnates into the physical realm. Paul later goes on to describe this same kind of void within the transistor in the “space between” the movement of power “on” and “off,” a 1 or a 0, where Ahriman again makes his entrance. Many of these transistors make up a logic gate that can process a letter or number, and many billions of these logic gates get us to where we are now in computer technology.

In a certain way, this is very similar to what occurs within our brains, where we can consider the neuron as the logic gate and the synapse as the transistor. A neuron may contain thousands of dendrites, all reaching out toward other neurons, but they never touch.  There is always a gap.  And it is there, in the “space between” — in the synapses — that communication takes place. I am not saying, by making this comparison, that Ahriman is present in this void between our brain cells, but I find it curious.  Are all voids created equal? Are there some “spaces between” over which the forces opposing humanity have little or no control?

Monique Pommier’s first presentation focused on the natural forms created in nature with equal halves and a center, as seen, for example, in the apple, the butterfly, and our face.  And in this center, there is always found life in one form or another.  Her second presentation was on the lemniscate, the vortex, and the taurus, each having two symmetrical halves and a center where the two halves meet. It is here at the meeting point that I wonder if there is a “space between” where something extraordinary happens or can happen; something we’re not quite aware of yet, but if we were, what would that mean for us? Might this “space between” be one of those spaces that the forces working against humanity have little if any, control over?

Considering this, can we think of the heart and mind connected by a lemniscate, a vortex, or even a taurus with the center where the larynx is seated? In the larynx is a “space between” where we can create or destroy in sound, tone, and words. That space, Steiner tells us, will be the place where we will eventually create life itself in the future.

Are these “spaces between” the key to moral technology?

As we move now from the Michaelmas season into the Christmas season, I find myself thinking that November is the time when the dead are the closest to us, when the “space between” is the most transparent. I have no conclusions to offer here but only pieces that I have been carrying for years, hoping now to somehow see how they fit together.  I hope we all will find out soon.

Fall tidings,

Frank Dauenhauer
Managing Director, CFAE
Center for Anthroposophical Endeavors

Anthroposophy

and the

Eighth

Sphere

Andrew Linnell

In his book Occult Science, Rudolf Steiner spoke about seven stages of human evolution. These he called the seven “planetary conditions” where cosmic conditions differed so greatly that each could be considered a cosmic incarnation or a separate solar system. Our current situation consists of a sun with planets orbiting it. Our initial cosmic situation consisted only of varying warmth. Its esoteric name is Saturn. The beings who today are the Archai were upon the human stage of Old Saturn. Likewise, those who are today the Archangels were upon the human stage of the next planetary condition whose name is Sun. The Angels were upon the human stage of Moon. We are now upon the human stage of Earth which has two cosmic periods:  the first, called Mars, was followed by the current period called Mercury. In the future, the successive planetary conditions will be Jupiter, then Venus, and lastly Vulcan. Note that this sequence matches the days of the week: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. In addition to these seven planetary conditions, or spheres, Steiner also spoke about an eighth sphere that has come into being during the Earth planetary period. “If the Eighth Sphere is to be described, it must be described as a realm in which we are living all the time.”[1]

Of those who read about the Eighth Sphere, many will come to associate it with the Catholic concept of Hell.[2] While there are some similarities, we will find significant differences. The danger for Anthroposophists is that they link the Catholic concept of Hell with the concept of the Eighth Sphere and stop their knowledge seeking there. Many a Christian has offered their 10% tithe out of fear of ending up in Hell. Will Anthroposophists do something similar, to avoid a destiny with the Eighth Sphere? We must remember that fear feeds Ahriman. Like everything in the Consciousness Soul Age, a double-edged sword exists here.

We find in Rudolf Steiner’s works that the Eighth Sphere serves a necessary role in evolution to free us from being held back by the dead thinking we do today. Our thoughts that are totally connected to physical “reality” are capable of being whisked away by Lucifer or Ahriman into this Eighth Sphere. But, “the Eighth Sphere cannot be anything that belongs to the material world.”[3]

In the course of earthly evolution, all matter will eventually be dissolved, but nothing from our thinking will be lost. In this way, one can see the Eighth Sphere as a blessing – like a cosmic garbage collection service.

So, will there be a time when some people might “fall” into the Eighth Sphere? Is it imminent? Three lectures by Steiner are listed below. From these, it appears that our “shadowy” thoughts are already descending into it. But the fall of humans into it comes at a time in the far future, when ample opportunities for “being saved” have occurred during the 6th and 7th Post-Atlantean Cultural Ages and even during the 6th Great Epoch individuals will be saved from a fate to evolve with the Eighth Sphere. Should Lucifer and Ahriman succeed, they will unceasingly “draw from the Earth’s substances whatever they can snatch, in order to form their Eighth Sphere which then, when it is sufficiently advanced, will be detached from the Earth and go its own way in the Cosmos together with Lucifer and Ahriman.” But Mankind can overcome this. “We ourselves are involved in the battle. Lucifer and Ahriman battle against the Spirits of Form, with the aim of wresting mineral substance from us everywhere. … This alchemy by which [what was] mineral substance is sent over into the Eighth Sphere is taking place all the time behind the scenes of our existence. … a prospect looms as a consequence of this intention of Lucifer and Ahriman that the whole evolution of humanity may be allowed to disappear into the Eighth Sphere, so that our evolution would take a different course. … The Spirits of Form created a counterweight that consists in this:  into the “space”, as it were, of the Eighth Sphere, something was inserted which works against this Eighth Sphere. … We are surrounded everywhere by the Imaginations into which the aim is that mineral materiality shall continually be drawn. There lies the reason for the sacrifice made by Jahve or Jehovah — the precipitation of substance far denser than the other mineralized substance. This was established by Jahve as Moon, as the counteracting agent. … Jahve or Jehovah, then, must be regarded as that Being who even in the physical domain has ensured that not all materiality can be drawn away by Lucifer and Ahriman. And then, at the right time, equal care will be taken by the same Spirit that the Moon shall re-enter the Earth when the Earth is strong enough to receive it, when the danger is averted by the development that has meanwhile taken place.”

Many Anthroposophical writers have associated the Internet with the Eighth Sphere. I think there is much more to it than this. In the Consciousness Soul Age, loneliness is an important experience, i.e., being All One (alone). (In 2018, the UK commenced a new ministerial post, that of Loneliness). We must come to find our “soul within our soul”. It is a path where we must be tempted towards egoism on each side of the path. One can see the worldwide web, Facebook, chatrooms, and social media all as a means for us struggling humans in the consciousness soul age to be within our loneliness and yet still find our cosmic buddies wherever they may be upon the world. Spatial dimensions are being overcome. Even time dimensions are being ‘blurred’. In the 1890s, people met face-to-face but did they truly meet? Right up to the start of the internet, our relationships were drifting towards ego-satisfying acquaintances. Michael “ruined” our easy relationships based on race, ethnicity, nationality, and gender. He is forcing us into cosmopolitanism. He also intends for us to develop cosmic thinking to add to our current thinking that is bound by materialism to “the rock” as Prometheus was. 

Change is tough. When humans during Lemuria had to enter a physical body, they found it far too painful. They ran away to other planets where they could remain a spiritual being among the spiritual beings of their adopted planet. During Atlantean times, procreation evolved from asexual (or bisexual) to sexual. Offspring no longer looked and acted just like the single parent. The bloodstream began to change. And on top of this, the atmosphere dramatically changed. It was once heavy, a mix of water and air – so heavy that humans built “ships” that sailed through it using seed-power. But again, everything we humans then knew changed. The air separated causing the water to fall and flood the earth. Pain, death, suffering resulted. The Gods did this to us for our benefit. They also gave us Karma as a blessing, out of their love for us.

Sexual procreation will have ended 2160 years before the return of the moon. This return brings back to the earth hardened matter that Yahweh has preserved from being swept into the Eighth Sphere. The moon’s return will be sometime near the year 8000. During this last Post-Atlantean Cultural Age (PACA), we will need the help of the fallen spirits of darkness to help us maintain a physical presence upon the earth so that we can finish working on our karma. In the 6th PACA, our lowest member will be our etheric body. We will have become immature angels by then. To get there, we still have a long way to go before the year 6000 AD when birthing ends. Our change will be tough but it must happen.

Are we alone? No! Just as many spiritual beings guided our descent, many are now arriving to help us with our ascent. Steiner gave these beings a name: Vulcan beings (and more). These were beings who went with the Elohim to form the sun and to evolve further there. As the sun evolved, the higher beings had to “evict” beings lower than them when the conditions evolved to where it became inappropriate for these “lesser” beings. These beings then formed Venus and Mercury while some, the Vulcans, were “homeless” regarding a physical planet. They have existed just outside of the Moon sphere. Their story is told in the Greek myth of Hephaestus. They have been trying to work with us, to become involved in earthly evolution, in part for their own sake, for their evolution. They need us, but we are “rude” to them, we ignore them.  We can approach such things as the coming presence of Vulcans, whom Steiner called “super-men”, with Imagination.  Could it be that artists, who are often more adept at using their Imagination than the rest of us, have already perceived their presence?  If so, perhaps the result may be seen in some of our modern Super Heroes, including Spock, who was named by the authors of Star Trek, a Vulcan!

References:

[1] The Occult Movement in the Nineteenth Century, lecture 5, 18Oct1915, GA 254

[2] “Beside these there is an Eighth Sphere to which everything goes that cannot make any connection with this continuous evolution. This already forms itself as predisposition in the devachanic state. When a human being uses the life on earth only to amass what is of service to himself alone, only to experience an intensification of his own egotistical self, this leads in Devachan into the condition of Avitchi. A person who cannot escape from his own separateness goes into Avitchi. All these Avitchi men will eventually become inhabitants of the Eighth Sphere. The other human beings will be inhabitants of the continuing chain of evolution. It is from this concept that religions have formulated the doctrine of hell.” – Foundations of Esotericism, lecture 14, 9Oct1905, GA 93a

[3] The Occult Movement in the Nineteenth Century, lecture 5, 18Oct1915, GA 254

Andrew Linnell is a veteran of the computer industry.  He is a co-founder of MysTech that is devoted to the interpenetration of the moral and the mechanical. He served for a decade as president of the Boston branch of the Anthroposophical Society and is a long-time member of the School for Spiritual Science and the Natural Science section.

“It was once natural for a soul to have a living relationship with the dead; likewise, it is now possible for a soul to reestablish this communication and relationship by acquiring thoughts and ideas about the spiritual world.  And it will be one of the practical tasks of Anthroposophical living to ensure that such a bridge is built between the living and the dead.”  – Rudolf Steiner, October 10, 1913

Events

MysTech Webinar Series 2022-23

Each month MysTech will be offering a free (donations accepted) webinar for you on important issues of our times.

A recording of past webinars can be found here: https://mystech.org/events where you first register.  A link will then be sent to you via email to complete your registration.  This is done to provide time for consciousness in the process, gratitude to all the human and elemental beings involved in bringing the content to participants, and to encourage the donations needed to sustain this effort.

Looking Forward - Upcoming Webinars

October 26

Robert Filocco – Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at 2pm EST
Register to watch the Recording Here:
The Spiritual Meaning of the UFO Phenomenon

November 4

Monique Pommier – Friday, December 2, 2022 at 7:30pm EST
Part 4 of 4 presentations on Divine Technology: How this primal phenomenon deploys itself into the multiplicity of physical forms: the cosmological chord of 1 3 7 12
Register for the recordings and for the last instalment of the series HERE

November 25

Theodor Hundhammer interviews Andrew Linnell – Friday, November 25, 2022 at 1pm EST
Register here to be a part of the presentation:
The Future of Mankind – Technology and Eurythmy

December 11

Mary Stewart Adams – Sunday, December 11, 2022 @ 8pm EST
This Christmas will be the 100-year anniversary of when Rudolf Steiner’s gave Marie Steiner the verse The Stars Spoke Once to Man on Christmas Day 1922. 
Mary will lead us through an imagination on how this verse can be experienced as a precedent for the Foundation Stone Meditation that was first spoken by Rudolf Steiner one year later, on Christmas Day 1923. As spiritual scientists and researchers of the mysteries, we will look as well into the star picture that appears overhead each year at this time, how it is uniquely activated through planetary rhythms, and how this can deepen our inner knowing and sense of speaking with the stars.

January 20, 2023

Cynthia Hoven & Andrew Linnell – Friday thru Sunday, January 20-22, 2023, Spring Valley, NY.
Join eurythmist Cynthia Hoven along with Andrew Linnell for a three day conference The Inner Battle for the Etheric Realm.
limited to 40 people. Registration details can be found HERE.

Artist Circle

Virtues of the Month

Mary Stewart Adams 

In considering the striving toward virtue on behalf of the other, this statement from Rudolf Steiner speaks volumes:

“Our value for the world must be seen to lie wholly in acts of love, not in what is done for the sake of self-perfecting.  Let us be under no illusion about this.”

In one of my many artistic collaborations with Patricia DeLisa, we have created this beautifully-packaged set of 12 Virtue cards, based on Rudolf Steiner’s aligning the virtues to the signs of the zodiac, and to what they become through human striving. Each card includes the Virtue for the month, rendered according to what can arise in another when I practice virtue in myself. Text appears against a backdrop of watercolor aligned to the corresponding zodiacal sign, together with the constellation of stars.

Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian and the host of the weekly public radio podcast The Storyteller’s Night Sky.  In 2011 she established one of the world’s first International Dark Sky Parks, and in 2021 published the book The Star Tales of Mother Goose.  Mary serves on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America and is a board member of the Great Lakes Branch of the Anthroposophical Society. General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America and is a board member of the Great Lakes Branch.

MysTech Study Courses

Consider Joining A Course Group This Winter

MysTech intends to cultivate the ground both in the human soul and in industry whereby a healthy Man-Machine relationship can be realized. Toward that Anthroposophical goal, MysTech intends to establish a research and development center. In support of our research goal, MysTech offers educational programs such as these study courses as well as periodic webinars, an annual conference, and other events. All seeking spiritual science with such a goal are welcome.

Each study course intends to build a supportive environment for the study of key lectures given by Rudolf Steiner regarding the future interaction of mankind with machines. There is also a guidebook that one can use to follow along with during the course. The guidebooks are available through the Rudolf Steiner Bookstore here: Study Course Guidebooks.

The study group that deals with the Eighth Sphere is Session 8 in the Third Course.
The following lectures by Rudolf Steiner are good references to access to learn more about the Eighth Sphere:

Broaden your circle – meet people in different places and time zones.
Sign up for Winter 2021/22 Study Group Course at: https://mystech.org/study-courses

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  1. Brilliant question on what ‘space between’ might be difficult for Ahriman to enter. I was also struck intuitively by Paul’s notes about this empty space, but did not come ’round to your specific question. I find even the question itself satisfying to ponder. Thanks for this.

    A first response which came to mind: The act of giving a gift, out of a truly free and loving intention, creates a ‘space between’ the giver and receiver. ‘Gift’ is a wide category. ‘Self sacrifice’ might be included. The receiver of a gift, or of someone’s blessing or decision or act of grace or forgiveness, isn’t bound to any action. The receiver is free to have whatever impression or response they please. But there is a space there. There is some sort of pregnant, charged potential there. It can be used, reciprocated, wasted or ignored, but I think this is all up to the receiver, and my intuition tells me that this potent, powerfully charged ‘space-between’ is somehow inaccessible to Ahriman.