As Above, So Below, Page Three

Prov 27,19: As in water face answers to face, so the mind of man reflects the man.

Ex 31,1-5: ¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri . . . ³ and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, ⁴ to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, ⁵ in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every craft."¹²

Job 8,8-10: ⁸ For inquire, I pray you, of bygone ages . . . ⁹ for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow. ¹⁰ Will they not teach you, and tell you, and utter words out of their understanding?

Hos 14,7a: They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow.

We cannot begin to exhaust the proof of this maxim "As Above, So Below" in this essay. All that follows in this volume tends to corroborate it. However, the reader should note in particular the discussion of "fractals" in the Creation essay as well as in "Fire" below. In the latter, we explore Plato's "fairest mean," the geometrical progression, particularly the "fairest" one of all, which the Greeks called phi.¹³ Plato speaks of this mean in connection with the very process of creation itself. We have seen in "The Four Elements," fire, air, water and earth, their progenitive, etheric counterparts, and we shall see in the essays that follow how each element relates to the one adjoining it in the creative process. We then begin to see that all phenomena our senses observe descend into materiality from the etheric border of the spiritual world in accordance with this mean. As we shall later see, Steiner shows us that each state tends to "give a picture of" its neighboring state and then in turn to be itself reflected by its neighbor on the other side. When we see this, Hermes' ancient words, "That which is above is like to that which is below, and that which is below is like to that which is above," can hardly fail to impress themselves upon us anew.

This maxim so pervades anthroposophical insight that we must banish any thought of capturing all Steiner said about it. In his most thorough work about the creative process, An Outline of Esoteric Science (OES), he said that the whole of anthroposophy (spiritual or esoteric science) must spring from the following two thoughts (Chap. 1, p. 19):

. . . that behind the visible world there is an invisible one, a world that is temporarily concealed, at least as far as our senses and sense-bound thinking are concerned [and] second . . . that by developing human capacities that lie dormant in us, it is possible to enter this hidden world.

So we must content ourselves with only a few illustrations.

In Chapter 3 of the same work (OES), Steiner speaks of the progressive phenomena of human feeling, thought and wisdom, and shows how these relate to successive phases in the spirit world. In their most important aspects, they represent the culmination of a fivefold sequence of experiences: First a departure from what had previously been one's base or "home," so to speak (leaving home is a prevalent theme in both the Old and New Testaments). Then a feeling of being in a new experience, as though adrift on the waters. Next some sort of trouble arises, a "storm or tempest." For better or worse it is resolved so that one has clarity of mind (thought). Finally, from the entire experience one sees the light (wisdom). These are the first five stages in the spirit world. One should study them in I-33. Not only do these comport with life's experience, but they are the sequence of biblical revelation. The pattern is first to leave shore (land, or home), launched upon water, whereupon a storm arises that is finally resolved (warmth or thought) and leads to a new and lasting experience (wisdom or light). In reality it is the entire picture of the Bible, the Prodigal Son's journey. The elements are all there even though water itself is not part of that story; the son leaves home and is adrift. Numerous Bible stories portray the entire scenario. Most notable, perhaps, are the book of Jonah (Jon), Christ's stilling of the winds and waves (Mt 8,23-27; Mk 4,36-41; Lk 8,22-25), and Paul's final journey (Acts 27-28).¹⁴

The point of this is that what is experienced on Earth is but a shadow or reflection of what the soul experiences between lives in the spirit world. It is the essential pattern of all life, and one can even see it in the normal pattern of a given human life from beginning to end.

The term shadow appears frequently and with significant meaning in esoteric writings, including the Bible. We find it in no less than three of Paul's writings cited above (Heb 8,5; 10,1 and Col 2,17) as well as those of Job (Job 8,9) and Hosea (Hos 14,7). One can also gain significant insight from its usage in others.¹⁵

One of Plato's most widely known passages is his cave parable (Republic, Book VII). Human beings are pictured as prisoners chained in an underground cave with a fire above and behind them. All they can see are the shadows of one another on the opposite wall of the cave. The account is a magnificent allegorical portrayal of the human soul incarcerated in its bodies. In his best selling book Shadows of the Mind (SHAD), the scientifically minded Penrose, after recognizing phi (in the so-called Fibonacci series) in the human brain, concludes with the refreshing hint that we must return to the realities of Platonic insight.

Similarly, in his Theosophy (THSY), p. 123,¹⁶ Steiner says, "Thought as it appears in human beings is only a shadowy image or phantom of its real being. A thought appearing by means of a human brain corresponds to a being in the country of spirit beings as a shadow on the wall corresponds to the actual object casting the shadow." He says the same thing in An Outline of Esoteric Science, p. 93.¹⁷ Other Steiner usages of shadow include (by no means exhaustively) Man and the World of Stars (MWS), p. 51, and Theosophy of the Rosicrucian (TR), p. 45. In the latter, he says:

When the faculties of the seer develop, he often makes a striking discovery. When he stands in the sunlight, his body holds up the light and casts a shadow; very often he will discover the spirit for the first time when he looks into this shadow. The body holds up the light but not the spirit; and in the shadow that is cast by the body the spirit can be discovered. That is why more primitive peoples who have always possessed some measure of clairvoyance, have also called the soul, the "shadow." (Emphasis mine)

Examples of such "primitive peoples" are the Native Americans whose myths are typified by those of the Oglala Sioux in the western Dakotas. They speak often in similar terms of the shadow. See, for instance, Lakota Myth (LAKM), p. 210, which speaks of Skan, the fourth of the "superior Gods," who bears a remarkable resemblance to the Elohim, especially Yahweh-Eloha (I-16). It says there, "The shadow of each thing shall be its spirit and shall be with it always."

Let us see how this insight can clarify a certain passage of scripture (2 K 20,1-11; see also Is 38) that has remained obscure to theologians to this day. In addition to "shadow," one should be aware of two other terms, "third day" and "figs." Briefly speaking, "third day" means the time when something spiritually important will happen (see the discussion of Jn 2,1 in The Burning Bush, p. 140). "Figs" often refers to initiation into the ancient mysteries. We often read the phrase "under the tree." For now, the reader can best think of it in connection with Christ's cursing of the fig tree (Mt 21,18-22; Mk 11,12-14,20-24). Without understanding what was meant, this story has also been a puzzle to theologians until this very day. What is meant by it is that Christ was bringing in a new method of initiation. The old method of the "Three Days' Journey" (see The Burning Bush) was passing away, never again to produce fruit (Jn 1,45-51 and Lk 13,6-9). The story of Buddha gaining enlightenment "under the bodhi tree" is illustrative of this point in the Bible. When one reaches the level of spiritual insight represented by having attained enlightenment "under the tree," one can go back in his or her "house" (soul) and see the karma there from prior incarnations. For instance, the "illness" in one's life normally stems from this.

The passage from Second Kings reads (RSV; emphasis mine):

¹ In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover.'" ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, ³ "Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ "Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the prince of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. ⁶ And I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake." ⁷ And Isaiah said, "Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover."

⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?" ⁹ And Isaiah said, "This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?" ¹⁰ And Hezekiah answered, "It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps; rather let the shadow go back ten steps." ¹¹ And Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord; and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which the sun had declined on the dial of Ahaz.