Advent 2018 Week 4

The fourth week of Advent can be dedicated to the fourth human element, the I AM. When feeling, thinking, and will start to purify, the I AM begins to enter into the soul. We see this process in the gestation of Jesus in the body of his mother Mary. Mary, our soul, purifies herself and is able to carry the infant Jesus, our I AM.

At the core of this lies our moral development. In these final few days of Advent we can consider what morality really is. Essentially morality arises when happiness is not acquired at the expense of others.

In his book “The Heavenly Sophia and the being Anthroposophia” Sergei Prokofieff describes morality in this way. “Morality is pure/sense-free will. It is derived from a true self-knowledge and knowledge of the world to create something which did not exist in the world before. The root of morality is love.”

Karl Konig in his book “Becoming Aware of the Logos” agrees and spoke of it in this way: “Morality is originary – the love for what does not yet exist, that it may become!”

Morality, therefore, is about being creative. It is about seeing what is needed and acting in a way that will make it happen. It is about being the change we want to see in the world. We do this by awakening our soul and using it with awareness.

Rudolf Steiner explained what happens if we do not do this. “But to benumb the soul is the most detrimental thing of all in our present period of human evolution. For when the soul is benumbed the I AM is suppressed, the I AM is made dim, and then those other Powers who ought not to be working in the soul creep in.” Rudolf Steiner “The Relation of Man to the Hierarchies”

Morality is in early stages of development and therefore requires some effort to understand. The vulnerability we experience at Christmas can help us to understand a little bit more about the true nature of morality so that we can express it more often in our lives during the year ahead.

“A man who tries to perform many good deeds, will, as a result of the feelings evoked, have a decided talent in the next life for good deeds; he will also possess a thoroughly developed conscience and will be a person of high moral principles.” Rudolf Steiner “Theosophy of the Rosicrucian” Lecture 6