Rudolf Steiner said: “For the true anthroposophical cause, this Christmas conference is either nothing or everything” (GA 240). The same can be said of this book as a representative product of Ben-Aharon’s entire life and work: this book is either nothing or everything!

The text contains five lectures originally delivered by Ben-Aharon at the 2019 annual meeting of the School for Spiritual Science. At its core is a powerful call to awaken! Can we remove our blinders and look at humanity's painful but real spiritual position right now in the 21st century? The new light and the new love are now radiating forth with increasing energy from the etheric Christ event unfolding in the spiritual realms closest to our daily consciousness—but do "anthroposophists" remember, reflect upon, and perceive it?

He writes that without developing this new form of imaginative knowledge, which is cultivated through pure thinking, and without illuminating such free knowledge with the spiritual light of the Second Coming, we are no longer truly connected as faithful disciples with the constant rebirth of the spiritual essence of Anthroposophy.

“Every human soul in our age knows that in order to experience and embody this infinite wisdom, truth, beauty, and love, and to grow with it, each person must recognize their own lower nature, confront it, heal it, and transform it. Yes, certainly, on this one crucial cliff, at the edge of this abyss, we always turn around, and that is why we fall and lose our humanity. … [we are] eternally responsible for all our deeds and misdeeds.” (pp. 258/259)

This new ethereal, Christ-animated, imaginative capacity, coupled with the fundamental self-knowledge required to approach the true spiritual world as demonstrated in Steiner's foundational books, can then be used to penetrate the dark and unconscious elements within each of our souls. Ben-Aharon humbly recounts his own turbulent biography—the possibilities, limitations, and failures he encountered after meeting the ethereal Christ at the age of 21 and during over 40 years of trying to bring His work to Earth. He shows that these painful life lessons, in their archetypal form, can be understood through the Grail mysteries of Amfortas and Parzival.

“My two natures, the higher and the lower, became like opposing mirror images, and I stood in the middle, unable to mediate between them and merge them into a harmonious whole.” (p. 34) He then describes in detail how he was able to spiritually transform and heal these wounds by opening his whole heart and penetrating with feeling to the depths of his being. Like Parzival, he had to recognize precisely how he had hurt his family in a psychological and spiritual way before he could become whole. (p. 44)

He shows that each of us must also walk this path of self-knowledge. Each of us must acknowledge the painful reality that any spiritual endeavor that does not feel the shock of the Second World War and the powers that have distorted the entire earth and the nature of every human being cannot truly take a step forward. Nevertheless, each of us must ignite a spark to join the spiritual flame. Passivity is no longer possible, as Ben-Aharon states in his book. The spiritual event of the 20th century This has shown that the gods will no longer simply give us the answer or the necessary strength. Here he elaborates on the description of the event that took place between the Michaelic souls and the Christ spirit in the spiritual world from 1933 to 1945.

"It is an important part of our work to connect the three events: the twilight of the gods, the twilight of humanity in the 20th century, and its possible resurrection in the 21st century. We ourselves must become the seed of humanity's future resurrection." (p. 67)

To contribute to this resurrection, new karmic plans were developed in the spiritual world during a spiritual consultation from 1945 to 1955. The reincarnation of a small group of Aristotelian souls who remained loyal to Rudolf Steiner was postponed, and instead, a small group of Platonic souls incarnated in the second half of the 20th century. The task was now shifted to a small pioneering group of Platonic souls who were to use their high spiritual abilities to consciously develop a spiritual-scientific path from human consciousness to the new Christ event and Rudolf Steiner's further work in the Michael School. Only then could some of the Aristotelian souls begin to incarnate. Ben-Aharon's work on the Christ event has made this new collaboration between reincarnating Aristotelians and Platonists in the 21st century possible. A community must now create a living etheric heart organ to transmit and expand throughout the Michael Age. The Michaelic spiritual beings are now working more intensively to support such genuine community-building work, such as the new reverse cult developed by Ben-Aharon. These heart-centered practices are already becoming a reality at the Global Event College and the School for Spiritual Science (founded in 2009). In this book, we are given a rare glimpse into the real-time growth of an esoteric Michaelic school. The book is a call to inspired individuals to join this work.

Ben-Aharon also shows with uplifting vitality how the Michael Movement can be revived today through the forces of the new work with the spirit of Widar and the etheric Christ: “We must take up every physical word and every physical deed, printed and remembered physically in Rudolf Steiner’s books and in the physical chronicles that document his creative acts, and carry it into the currently living and active etheric world, where it can be transformed by the real spiritual events of the last century. Then we must allow it to be transformed accordingly, in order to activate its spiritualized etheric essence in our work together here and now in a completely new way” (p. 133). This book is truly an esoteric study, and there are other important revelations and indications that cannot be outlined here.

The afterword describes the world-changing esoteric deeds accomplished by the Christ being from the end of the 19th century through 1933 to 1998, during which time He was not only spiritually crucified or suffocated, but was actually buried and held captive in His tomb by the evil deeds of humanity. Indeed, the angel of Christ was so wounded that it took the second half of the 20th century for Him to be healed on Earth through acts of love by human beings. This intensification and healing of Christ can also lead to the resurrection of humanity and the growth of a new spiritual consciousness, a new community, and a new love in the 21st century. Christ speaks:

"The offering of all my love, my life, and my light constantly flows into your etheric hearts. Actively receive my offer into your entire being, encourage and empower yourselves and your fellow human beings! Unite with my cosmic acts of healing and redemption and join my angelic hosts to build together the new Earth-Humanity Sun!" (p. 392)

Is Ben-Aharon's work truly connected with the ongoing work of Rudolf Steiner and the School of Michael in the spiritual world? Yes! This is indeed the case, based on my own independent spiritual research and humble experiences. The heartbeat of Michael and Christ pulsates through every word of this book, and for me, this book is everything! I believe this book is a true and clear testimony that the Michael Movement has continued to evolve since Rudolf Steiner's death, and that a spiritual-scientific path exists to realize such a new school of love on Earth in the 21st century. I would recommend everyone study this book in preparation for the celebration of the centenary of the Christmas Conference and for many years to come.

Scott Elliot Hicks, author of The Resurrection of Thinking (2018), and Earthly, Transcendental, & Spiritual Logic (2019).