A call for solar builders

This is a book that presents a new and original spiritual research in the sense of an actual spiritual imaginative experience and communication. The book's subtitle announces the subject of the research: The History of the Michael Movement since the death of Rudolf Steiner. This history is not found in the physical, but in the etheric world, and to tell it, Ben-Aharon presents us with significant events and processes of the etheric world and their relationship to the physical. But most importantly, Ben-Aharon presents this history to us as an ongoing process in which all aspects, whether from the past, present, or future, relate to the present and near future. Tasks belonging to Anthroposophy. We all come into the world with a destiny, a task to be fulfilled and embodied, and this book is clearly written for all who feel their destiny is connected to Anthroposophy. What is this task and this goal? Expressed imaginatively, it is this:

The earthly community of Michaelites must build an etheric, earthly-human sun temple on Earth in the first half of the 21st century. It must be consciously built within the etheric heart of the people who together form the etheric heart of the etheric, earthly-human sun.. (p. 301)

This means creating a vibrant community of individuals capable of raising consciousness to the level of the etheric world, and through the diverse ways in which this manifests, forging a rich and powerful communal bridge. Such a bridge will be a shared etheric body, capable of uniting the physical and the etheric, and within which the Michael School can, in the future, incarnate and increasingly realize the higher essence of humanity, becoming an earthly-human sun. From the twilight and catastrophe of the 20th century, humanity would begin a process of resurrection.

Such a community bridge, writes Ben-Aharon, is "the only true task of the school and the humanities movement" today (p. 301). However lofty this goal may seem to some, Ben-Aharon conveys a genuine sense of the urgency and necessity of the educational process today and must begin and intensify every day. Therefore, this book does not offer us any spiritual knowledge that is not immediately and directly connected to concrete mental activity. Every idea and insight serves a purpose, and reading this book means embarking on a process.

Since the founding event of the Christmas Conference Anthroposophists have a task to fulfill, but this task remains untouched; indeed, according to Ben-Aharon, it is not even understood to this day. This may be a harsh judgment for some, but for those who, like me, sense a lack of genuine spiritual life and enthusiasm in existing "anthroposophical" institutions and initiatives, Ben-Aharon's work not only rings true but actually awakens new hope and a renewed faith in the anthroposophical path. I am not a neutral reader of this book, if such a position exists, but I truly believe that Ben-Aharon represents a turning point in anthroposophical life after Rudolf Steiner, and this book provides a comprehensive and inspiring introduction to this ongoing and potentially intensifying resurrection of the spirit of anthroposophy.

The book consists of transcribed and expanded lectures presented at the annual international meeting of the Global School of Humanities held in Sweden in 2019. This school community is formed around the affirmation and creative engagement with the research on the spiritual event of the 20th century, which Ben-Aharon published as early as 1993. The content of the present publication thus naturally arises from the ongoing attempt to further the presented goal and the research on achieve.

The task of creating a Michael community is explained in the book from many perspectives, drawing on a number of central themes in the humanities. These can only be briefly outlined here, of course, but they include, among other things, the Second Coming of Christ as the main spiritual impulse of our time; the "spiritual economy" of forces and bodies in the current development of the Michael movement; the opposing forces and the tasks that lie ahead in order to overcome them; the reversal of love and the future healing of the wound of egoism; Norse-Germanic mythology and how Ragnarök is connected to the corrupted human constitution; spiritual geography and its relationship to the converging forces that form the Michael stream; and the timing of evolution in relation to the anthroposophical tasks on Earth.

As readers of anthroposophy will know, these are all central themes of spiritual science. They are presented here to the extent that they are relevant to the subject of the book and can help us to contextualize and understand the task at hand. Also worth mentioning is Ben-Aharon's investigation of the two main groups that comprise the Michael Stream: the Aristotelian and the Platonic souls. Ben-Aharon writes that after the spiritual event of the 20th century, a spiritual consultation was held in the etheric world, where a new plan was identified for a future—and perhaps imminent—meeting of these groups on Earth. This is contemporary karmic research that speaks to our destiny.

Ben-Aharon published his first books in 1993 and 1994, revealing groundbreaking new spiritual research even then. Twilight of Man It stands in an unbroken line of loyalty and devotion to the event depicted therein, now updated as a more comprehensive and detailed picture of what it means to make the Second Coming of Christ a reality on earth. As part of this picture, we also learn more intimate aspects of this mission and being, and there is a very interesting discussion in this context about the nature of initiation and the differences between an initiate, an ordinary person, and the new, naturally given Christ initiation, which, as some readers will know, was the starting point for Ben-Aharon's own spiritual journey.

The comprehensive picture of the Michael movement in Twilight of Man In my opinion, this is something that cannot be found in any literature since Rudolf Steiner. It not only offers us new spiritual research but also brings to life what it means to engage with anthroposophy from a truly heartfelt understanding, born of anthroposophical insight and spiritual experience. This publication fully demonstrates the potential of the anthroposophical Michael Movement. Reading this book will move you with both the urgency and the possibilities of our time and a profound sense of responsibility.

If I were to summarize what this work is about, it would be a call and an invitation: a call to become sun-builders of the earthly-human sun.

As sun-builders, we must experience ourselves, dear friends, when we come together to build our community, … to do our active work, to create together this solar space and this solar time, this solar life and sunlight.. (pp. 145-147)

Torbjørn Eftestøl (doctoral fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Music and member of the School of Humanities and the Global Event College)