Interlude: "A strange white light"; Rudolph Steiner . . .

One wonders how 'Abdu'l-Bahá observed the Holy Day today and whether He had thoughtful reflections about His father's passing. . . . 


Research is so very multi-faceted and unpredictable. Every day now I am finding/receiving information about aspects of the journey, and I will start going back to ADD to previous posts as I can.  An immense, unending process. . . . 


Duane Troxel sent a link to Baha'i books online: http://arthursbookshelf.com/onlinebooks/online.html


Among the works available is Eliane Lacroix-Hopson's 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York: The City of the Covenant (see resources).  I've added a section from her to my very first post, including this story:  

 "Twenty five years later, a woman who as a child had traveled on the Cedric told a Bahá'í that she had never forgotten her personal encounter with the Master. 'A glance that burned' into her soul and frightened her, lest she had displeased Him, and the kindly smile which released her 'from terror.' She recalled that everyone had remarked about 'His majestic bearing, His kingly walk, and above all the strange white light that followed Him everywhere.'" 

Many, no doubt, saw or experienced this "light" but did not take the next step of recognizing the "station"of the Master or learning more about Baha'u'llah. This continues to be a mystery today, how some circle the "garden" and others penetrate it, and some remain to tend it, as the analogy goes. 

I woke up today thinking of Rudolph Steiner, who "founded a spiritual movement, Anthroposophy, as an esoteric philosophy growing out of European transcendentalism and with links to Theosophy. . . ." The first phase dealt with the synthesis between science and mysticism. In the second phase, "he began working collaboratively in a variety of artistic media, including drama, the movement arts (developing a new artistic form, eurythmy) and architecture, culminating in the building of a cultural center to house all the arts, the Goetheanum. After the First World War, Steiner worked with educators, farmers, doctors, and other professionals to develop Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophical medicine as well as new directions in numerous other practical areas."  (Wikipedia)  FASCINATING! 

After my first pilgrimage, I went to Basel, Switzerland to spend a day with Mark Tobey (then in his 80s and relatively senile--but it was one of the most memorable days of my life).  In the Basel town square the day before I had met a young man from Dornach (where the Goetheanum was located, though it was burned to the ground in 1922 by an arsonist. A second building, which Steiner designed, was completed after his death--the center for the Anthroposophical Society and its School of Spiritual Science).  This young man was a devotee of Goethe and Steiner. After an intense and heady interaction (and a mighty struggle to maintain my chastity), I invited the young man to visit the artist with me. We shared that day, in the home and atelier of Tobey, after being in some sort of raptured spiritual state for some hours. This must have been a bit what it was like for people drawn to others seeking a new truth. 

Rudolph Steiner

Steiner was tuned into the "new age" in an amazing way. "During his thirties, Steiner awakened to an inner recognition of what he termed 'the turning point in time' in human spiritual history. That event was brought about by the incarnation of the Christ. Steiner recognized that the meaning of that turning point in time transcends all differences of religion, race, or nation and has consequences for all of humanity. Rudolf Steiner was also led to recognize the new presence and activity of the Christ. It began in the twentieth century, not in the physical world, but in the etheric realm of the invisible realm of life forces of the Earth and humanity. Steiner wanted to nurture a path of knowledge to meet today's deep and urgent needs. Those ideals, though imperfectly realized, may guide people to find a continuing inspiration in anthroposophy for their lives and work. Rudolf Steiner left us the fruits of careful spiritual observation and perception (or, as he preferred to call it, spiritual research), a vision that is free and thoroughly conscious of the integrity of thinking and understanding inherent in natural science." (http://www.steinerbooks.org/aboutrudolf.html)

He spoke often to groups of Theosophists, and the Waldorf school are still in existence--fruits of his life's work. (My uncle was involved with one in Hawaii.)  

It reminds me of the wholistic vision of Sarah Farmer, whose educational goals included the fusion of the arts with spiritual and practical underpinnings. More to come on her later! 

In any event, one gets an overpowering feeling of excitement about the various directions the "new age" spawned--and at the heart of this is the Master, inspiring, influencing, confirming, resonating. . . .