Letters to the Editor
To my knowledge, there have been less than a handful of stigmatists in the Catholic Church that have been considered to have the wounds of Christ in the physical body. The other stigmatists, including Richard Pollack received the wounds of Christ ‘spiritually’, in other words, they were not visible. Normally the wounds of Christ bleed at the time of the Mystery Golgotha, every Friday at 3pm.
One of the most marked example of a stigmatist was Anne Katherine Emmerich.
Rudolf Steiner spoke about these wounds in St. Francis as the saint having been ‘penetrated by a Seraphim (Spirit of Love) down into his physical body.’ (my approximation of this wording out of memory).
In the case of Theresa Neumann, she was hospitalized for many years and thus she is one of the only stigmatists (perhaps the only one) that was able to be observed scientifically. Both Ita Wegman and Dr. Rudolf Hauschka speak of having visited her (?). (I have placed a mark because I have not studied or thought about this for a long time so I might not be totally accurate in my statements. For instance, Ita Wegman and Rudolf Hauschka both speak of this phenomena but perhaps not both of them visited Therese Neumann.)
It is remarkable to read the introduction to Anne Katherine Emmerich’s Life of Christ. Clemens Brentano, a famous romantic poet at that time who gave up his life and work to be present daily and record the experiences of this remarkable nun. She witnessed daily through the three years of Christ’s life on Earth in sequence and in accordance with the Hebrew calendar, to all of the events described in the Bible - consistent but in much more vivid and expanded detail.
If you want to read more about this, try Robert Powell’s The Chronicle of the Living Christ is a good source.
What Judith von Halle stresses, and which the Church also proclaims, is that the kind of knowledge gained through the stigmata is very different than other ‘clairvoyant knowledge’.
It is exclusively related to the events of the life of Christ.
You are ‘physically present’ at these events - not astrally or etherically. This is why Judith von Halle also makes the distinction of the nature of the knowledge she has gained through the stigmata, her clairvoyant experience prior to anthroposophical inner work and that which she has gained through a combination of clairvoyance and anthroposophically schooled research. She describes this in an introduction to all of her books.
In my view: the 5 wounds of Christ on the hands, feet and forehead represent the beginning of the development of five new human organs of perception. A perception that unfolds when the ‘phantom body’ or Atma (Spirit Man) is developed. These five wounds will be progressively developed in the rest of the course of earth evolution leading the human being to have a chakra system of 12 organs, rather than the 7 presently existing.
(FYI: This is an original idea that I have had. I have not seen it anywhere else.)
I have written this without reviewing, very quickly, because I do not have much time. So please excuse the roughness. I hope it contains some valuable perspectives for you.
Susanne Lien
RE: Tolstoy Holds Lincoln World's Greatest Hero
I never knew Lincoln could be so beloved by those whom he never benefited directly! Just felt he was a great statesman!
Salas
RE:Grandma Butterfly
Frank,
Thank you so much - it is beautiful - at the 1st opportunity, I am going to read it to my grandchildren.
Pamela Shanks
RE: World of Hurt
I thought the story was very life-like and doesn't have all the petty shit that most war stories contain.
John Smith
RE: Death is not proud
Frank,
your style of delivery is such that I hadn't a clue as to your age! I sincerely love what you do and the extremely open way that you have. Believe me, I know a lot of 81 year old's and a LOT of anthroposophists without your flexibility of mind!
I too face death, I have a dramatic terminal disease which seems to be in no particular hurry... :-) so, i don't know - just wanted to wave hello across spacetime and acknowlege that i think you're really cool.
Your admirer,
Tucker Stilley
RE: Esoteric Lessons for the First Class
Hi, Frank Thomas Smith!
As usual, I must first thank you for your fine translations of Steiner’s work. Much appreciated! Many, many thanks, and with my very best wishes to you and yours,
Jennifer C. Yates
Powhatan, Virginia, USA
(Born Cambridge, England)
RE: The Karma of the Malasia Airlines Victims
Dear Frank,
I read the opening sentences of your piece on the Malaysian aircraft with dismay. The first plane 'disappeared' but there is no evidence it crashed. In fact, it was later discovered to have landed in Diego Garcia, having apparently been hijacked by persons or organisations unknown (but not unsuspected).
The second plane was indeed shot down, but not - not even 'probably' - by Ukrainian "separatists" supported by Russia. All the available evidence points to it having been deliberately shot down by a Ukrainian airforce MIG - possibly flown by a Polish pilot - or even by a Polish MIG. There is radar evidence of not one, but two fighter jets having suddenly appeared close to the airliner, and damage to the plane's cockpit unequivocally points to the cockpit (and therefore the pilots) having been targeted by machine gun fire, the calibre of which fits the guns on the type of MIG flown by the Ukrainians and Poles.
There is also photographic evidence that MH17 was not what it seemed i.e. the configuration of the windows does not match the specific plane according to its tail number - but the configuration does match that of the Malaysian plane which was claimed to have gone missing over the Indian Ocean. There was also a report that an identical Boeing 777 (to the one which allegedly crashed) had been seen in a hangar at an Israeli airport.
It's extremely disappointing to find mistakes of this kind in a magazine which purports to offer its readers accurate information about important issues.
Regards, Paul Carline
U.K.
[Editor's note: The opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor are those of the writers and are not necessarily those of the editor. This applies especially to the one by Paul Carline.]
The article about the Malaysian airline was beautifully written and explained.
Maria Lourdes de Vera
Hey dad, I just read your story about the Zodiac. very nice. The goat (Capricorn) reminded me of this song: http://youtu.be/PDhA2Nk-HJQ
Gawain Smith,
Argentina
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