Karma and Reincarnation, Page 16

The problem has been that Christendom has not heretofore understood what the sign "signified." Hence it could only wrestle with it as one of the "miracles," and labor to gather some deeper meaning from it.

What, then, did it signify?

Prior to the point in ancient Lemuria when the Fall described in Gen 3 occurred, human beings dwelled in full communion with the gods, those described in the Bible as the Host. The infection of the astral bodyby Lucifer at that time (prior to the existence of the human being's Ego) precipitated a progressive and evolutionary densification of the "Three Bodies," and with it came a parallel evolutionary loss of the ancient communion, or clairvoyance. What Paul referred to as the "Fading Splendor" (2 Cor 3,13) in regard to Moses was one manifestation of this, the "end of prophecy" another ( Is 29,10 and Mic 3,5-7; see also 5 ABD 489 and Jer 5,13,30-31; 14,14; 23; 29,8-9; Lam 2,9,14; Ezek 13; 22,28; Zeph 3,4). In this ancient period, one's life was not looked upon with such devotion as now for it was known that one's existence neither started at birth nor stopped at death. In short, the importance of each incarnation or life was not sufficiently valued, since one felt that failures in one life could be made up in another. But there is a progressive decline, from life to life, if one fails to use one's "Talents" fully, for circumstances on Earth change from one incarnation to another so that a lost opportunity is the same as a falling behind that compounds over time.

The Christ incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth at precisely the "Right Time," for human beings had descended so far that unless the "Seed" of salvation was then implanted by the Christ Spirit, they would be irretrievably lost.

It was vital that each human being have at least one male and one female incarnation during the time when there was no knowledge of reincarnation in order that the human being could then learn the immense significance of each incarnation. (Typically, as much as a millennium passes between incarnations, so that circumstances on Earth will have changed. Thus, in each 2,160 year Cultural Age [see I-19] there is time for at least one incarnation in each sexual orientation.) Hence, the exoteric teaching of only one life is seen even in the works of Paul (who knew better), as in Heb 9,27, as well as in his many references to the shortness of time.

While humanity at large was losing its clairvoyant knowledge of the spiritual world, precautions were taken by the guiding powers that there would always be on Earth some who knew the truth of these matters. This was the function of the ancient "Mysteries." Contemporaneously with Moses, the instruction was given to the Aaronic priesthood (Lev 10,8-11) as well as to the Nazarites (Num 6,1-4) that they should refrain from touching any alcohol. Alcohol prevents the eternal Ego from having control over the astral body—it causes a loss of spiritual consciousness. According to the late Werner Glas, Rudolf Steiner once said that at a certain level of spiritualdevelopment even a single glass of wine will set one back five years. Wine, even in moderation and without drunkenness, impedes the development of deeper spiritual insight (i.e., of the embryonic pineal and other glandular organs therefor). Such impediment was essential for two millennia even after the saving "Seed" was sown by Christ.

But the Mysteries had become decadent in the centuries leading up to Christ. Humanity was in a state of separation such that it began to feel the approach of "Sheol." Still, with the influence of the former prophets, there arose a stirring of expectation of deliverance. And it was indeed at the "Right Time" that Christ entered the long-prepared special "Three Bodies" of Jesus of Nazareth as the dove at his Baptism. See "Baptism-Dove."

Christ enacted "Once For All" the truths of the ancient Mysteries upon the Earth-stage (see CMF). He made it clear that there were elements of these Mysteries that the human being was not yet able to bear in that Cultural Age (see Jn 16,12, as well as Paul's Heb 9,5b). And because it was so important that all human beings thereafter have the opportunity of incarnating during a time when there was no knowledge of reincarnation, he laid it down as a matter of esoteric teaching that wine should be used in the Christian Mystery of the mass in order that there should be no knowledge among the uninitiated about reincarnation.

We are told at the outset that the wedding at Cana occurred on the "Third Day"—itself a sign of high spiritual meaning. Steiner tells us (GSJ, Lect. 10, p. 162) that the first day was the transition from the third Cultural Era (Chaldo-Egyptian) to the fourth (Greco-Roman); the second day was the transition from the fourth to the fifth (the present Germanic), and the "Third Day" will occur when humanity passes over from the fifth to the sixth (in A.D. 3574; see I-19), the age of Philadelphia (Rev 3,7-13). These are the three days of the human being's initiation. This is what underlies the statement in Jn 2,4, "My hour has not yet come." We are told elsewhere by Steiner, St. John's Gospel, Notes (GSJN) that the "Third Day" also meant "that [Evangelist] John lay three days in the sleep of Initiation, during which time the vision of the Marriage at Cana came to him; and all that follows are events seen by him in astral clairvoyance." He was, of course, speaking of the "Three Day's Journey" of Lazarus/John (Jn 11). In GSJN (p. 7) Steiner says that in the higher meaning, the sisters of Lazarus "are the conditions of consciousness in his soul," Martha being the "soul occupied with earth-life" and Mary "the divine soul." This does not for a minute suggest that they were not also the earthly sisters of Lazarus, but does more completely justify the account that Jesus "loved" them (Jn 11,5) since nowhere else in any of the Gospels is Jesus said to have "loved" any one but Lazarus. (We elsewhere see that this term designates the relationship between teacher and pupil in the ancient Mysteries, and in the parable [Mk 10,21] of the rich "Young Man" [also ruler] it actually refers to Lazarus/ John. See "Peter, James and John.") The nature of scripture is such that these need not exhaust the meaning of "Third Day" as it applies here.