"The fact that we were able to speak about these Michael secrets and convey them in this way is based on the development of this community. The leading beings of the Michael School are only interested in actions that build community, not in words and concepts, books and knowledge, even if these anthroposophical concepts and books are ever so clever!" (p. 119)

This is a truly scholarly book in the humanities.

Based on the author's extrasensory research, new insights into the spiritual development of humanity and the movement associated with the angelic being Michael since Rudolf Steiner's death are presented. As the title aptly describes, it deals with the downfall of humanity in the 20th century and its possible resurrection in the 21st century. The author already addressed this topic in his first book. The spiritual event of the 20th century – an imagination: The occult significance of the twelve years from 1933-1945 The project presented in 1995 (Verlag am Goetheanum 1997) is now continued. The text is based on five lectures given by the author in February 2019 to the members of the Global School of Humanities were held.

Following the narrative mainstream rather than the individual chapters, the main message is essentially as follows: People didn't hear it. – the opportunity created by Rudolf Steiner's founding of the General Anthroposophical Society in 1923/24 to form a community that truly lives the spiritual in the earthly realm was not seized.

The consequence is: Instead of the conscious perception of the Christ-being in one's own heart, which would have been possible since 1933, the unprepared encounter with the first apocalyptic beast occurs in the catastrophe of 1933–45 – followed by the unchallenged rule of the second beast in the global twilight of humanity in the course of the 20th century.

Meanwhile, the essence of Rudolf Steiner and the few souls who remained faithful to him continue to live and work in the supersensible realm. In response to the great question facing humanity in the years 1933–45, they themselves make a sacrifice by connecting with this question, thereby paving the way for the renewed sacrifice of Christ, from which a resurrection of humanity in the 21st century can emerge.

In a transcendent gathering of Michael with the souls faithful to him, members of the Aristotelian and Platonic streams within the Michaelic Movement reach a new agreement. If the few Platonists who incarnate in the second half of the 20th century achieve the spiritualization of Anthroposophy and the fully conscious perception of the Christ event by the end of the century, then some of the Aristotelians will also incarnate in order to work together in the first half of the 21st century. (From the author's book published in 1995) The New Experience of the Supersensible: The Anthroposophical Drama of Epistemology of the Second Coming (Verlag am Goetheanum 1997) describes the realization of this task. And at the beginning of the 21st century, as the second part of the task, the new community of people who meet each other with open hearts, work together on the spiritualization of thought, feeling, and will, and thereby rejuvenate themselves, is to be founded. This will be done with the Global School of Humanities currently being attempted.

Thus, at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century—to a much lesser extent than Steiner had envisioned—the possibility arises of earthly cooperation among some of the Michael disciples who remained loyal and represent the hitherto separate anthroposophical currents. Their task is to build a community in which the goals of the guiding spirit of our time, Michael, are realized and the resurrected Christ can be consciously beheld. The world-time turning point missed in 1924—the shift from humanity's previous development into the earthly-material realm back into the spiritual—but now fully conscious and in freedom—can therefore be attempted again in this century.

IfThe "if" is also an essential part of what is being communicated, because it depends on people alive today, their goodwill, and above all, their courage. Can they, as earthly beings, overcome their fears and ambitions and remain true to their prenatal decision and impulse that leads them to this movement?

But for this endeavor, special spiritual forces are also available: The angelic being known in Norse mythology as Vidar provides the spiritual form, the etheric body, in which Christ can be seen and which was and is individualized by Rudolf Steiner and incorporated into his own immortal life body. These spiritual substances were, as in Michaelic Yoga (Cognitive Yoga. Making Yourself a New Etheric Body and Individuality, Temple Lodge Publishing 2016; the German edition is in preparation) described, further individualized and thereby a ›blueprint‹ for the creation of the spiritual communal body of the School of Spiritual Science – a communal body through which embodied human beings can have communion with the spiritual beings of the Michaelic community and with Christ.

The first lecture is noteworthy, in which the author presents his own spiritual biography and thereby provides insight into his lifelong cognitive-moral path of knowledge.

An entire lecture is dedicated to the essence of Rudolf Steiner, which Ben Aharon portrays with heart-rending, devoted depth. He writes:

»The ideal of the free, individualized spirit, which would follow the gods out of free love for humanity, this ideal of the gods has been embodied for the first time on Earth and has become a free, modern human being among us.« (p. 204)

The audience at these lectures has been studying the background of the topics presented for years. But it's not a book for insiders. [Regarding the newly founded...] School of Humanities, which is what this is about, the author writes:

"This school will only become what it was meant to be, namely the pioneer and experimental guide of human evolution, if it becomes the place where the complete cycle of the metamorphosis of love is experienced, tested, researched and developed as the most practicable communal spiritual art, craft and ritual." (p. 153)

What is communicated here is of the utmost importance for every single person, for humanity, and for its development in our time. Therefore, it also challenges us to accept or reject it. And what is communicated can only be recognized as reality by simultaneously becoming an impulse of will: to actively engage with the movement described – a Michaelic book, then.

Johannes Lauterbach, Dipl.Ing. (Architecture), Tübingen, works as an education officer and organizational consultant in the One World Movement. He is a member of the Global Event College and the Global School of Humanities.