Jerusalem

This profound reflection, subtitled 'the role of the Hebrew people in the spiritual biography of humanity', builds on the work of Rudolf Steiner and consists of six lectures. The title of the first one encapsulates the main theme of the book - evolution of human consciousness and the stages of individuation in the history of the Hebrew people. Central to this is the initiation of Moses and the revelation of God as Eheje Asher Eheje - I shall become what I shall become, or I AM that I AM. This indicates the evolutionary path of humanity from image to likeness of God: 'the individuation and indwelling of the being of the divine Supreme Self… This being must be individualised by each person who wishes to fulfil his destiny during the entire evolution of the Earth, from Genesis to Heavenly Jerusalem' (p. 215). This is cosmic consciousness, Self-realisation, divine initiation and rebirth, the joining of heaven and earth, above and below - as in the Star of David.

The author locates this process within the Western spiritual tradition, beginning with Egypt and tracing creative evolution through the initiations of Isaac, Moses and King David, whose archetypal role is embodied in his ultimately redemptive lineage and whose Psalms explore the heights and depths of his soul as he passes through four stages of initiation. An important point for our time is the necessity of the advent of scientific materialism as a stage in the evolution of consciousness, as argued by Steiner and Barfield. The mediaeval intellect worked through faith, having largely relinquished direct spiritual vision, except in the mystical tradition. The role of secularism, atheism and materialism is to achieve self-consciousness and independent existence, separating ourselves from animism. The choice now is between deepening this materialism 'until humanity's nature is completely lost in matter' or to develop 'new fully individualised forces of spiritual cognition, consciousness and awareness, which link humanity anew, but now in a fully conscious way, with the spiritual worlds from which it had separated itself' - a conscious ascent towards spirit, rather than a further descent into matter (p. 70). This also involves freeing ourselves from the ecclesiastical distinction between orthodoxy and heresy, which has migrated from the church into science with similar destructive effects resulting from intolerance and dogmatism. The author notes that, historically, people were persecuted because they represented the principle of creative evolution in terms of knowledge and freedom. This has to be our direction of travel for our mutual social and moral development.