Letters to the Editor
Le� tu cuento, La Pizza Pelirroja, me gust� mucho y se lo voy a leer junto con mis hijos y esposa cuando regresen de Argentina. Est�n visitando a sus abuelos maternos en Tucum�n, que es de donde nacimos nosotros.
Marcelo Delajara
RE: The King of the Elves
Good story! With today's attention to the supernatural, your story is a good fit. Should do well with pre-adolescent boys. Your picture would have been better if it was a picture of an elf in his armor. Again, good story.
Sheila Jacks
An article on an important topic that only begins to explore the dreadful condition of the United States�spiritual, moral, intellectual and physical. I recommend Patrick Smith�s book as a beginning for the dialogue:
http://soul-grammar.blogspot.com/2015/03/book-review.html
Caryl Johnston
RE: Stigmata - the Judith von Halle Phenomenon
Good article on von halle. The best I have seen. Especially the style of reporting on an honest attempt to understand.� Although, the editorializing of Steiner's quotes were bias and I disagreed with each conclusion. I found no quote of Steiner's to support what von Halle "has".� Especially seen the article rightly states that hearings and miracles should follow. I have heard no mention of such things which are -as the article pointed out- the defining evidence of stigmata. I wish I could have been at a meeting like that one. I have much experience as a priest with these matters. I really liked the frank and direct report at the end. Again, I would love to have a conversation about such things. Thanks! Also, addressing the points of extreme contention between Judith and steiner is very helpful. They disagree on so many principle ideas that I do not consider her to be an anthroposophist as much as an author who summarizes another author and then adds their own twist.� It is these "twists" that trip up so many followers of steiner and need conversation to clarify.
Open Letter - or - The Judith von Halle Phenomenon
I disagree with this letter completely. This one sided following of von Halle's is indicative of astral fascination and illogical thinking. Von Halle disagrees with Steiner and therefore is not an anthroposophist nor a follower of Steiner.� That is simply logical. She should call her movement something else. And please consider that Von Halle's works are an attack against Steiner so Dornach's duty is to defend. Judith needs to stop plagiarizing Steiner and make clear that she does not agree with him. Her followers demand that the executive council step down so Judith can carry on the work. Judith's books make it clear that she has no intention of being faithful to Steiner's work.� This is all self-evident. Judith is much like Tomberg, Robert Powell, and many others who think they are beyond Steiner. I have read their works and find no one yet beyond Steiner.� Steiner's spiritual insight is tangible and not just new ideas.
Tyla WellsComments about the stigmata article
My apologies for stating that Anthroposophists have not done justice to the Stigmata phenomena - this is excellent Frank! There is one quote from RS about St. Francis that is not mentioned here which I believe is critical. It is that St. Francis's stigmata was the result of a Seraphim (Spirit of Love) penetrating him down into the physical. This is a critical distinction between many who have the Stigmata as an inner experience and those few that have this penetration down into the physical (Padre Pio/Anne Catherine Emmerich being one of the most significant in my eyes - because Clemens Brentano, the great German Romantic selflessly recorded her experiences of the Life of Christ over years).� Brentano relates that he had to leave for a period of 8 months and during this time no experiences were recorded. When he came back, Anne Catherine Emmerich continued, picking up 8 months after they had left off. He could never reclaim those lost months. She was completely aligned with the Christ rhythms and Hebrew Calendar. Robert Powell wrote an amazing book, the Chronicles of the Living Christ where he shows mathematically the absolute accuracy of ACE's dating of Christ events, even though she had never left her little German village and had no formal education having gone in to a cloister as a young woman. According to Powell, her dates and geographical locations, which contradict general Christian knowledge of today, are 100% accurate and when researched have always been confirmed; for instance she indicated where the House of Mary in Ephesus was and an archaeological dig uncovered it exactly in this space. Also the Union with Christ (Mystical Union) means that the perceptions (or witnessing) as you said, of events from the life of Christ are experienced "in the physical body" - one has full sense experience: taste, smell, touch, etc. Judith von Halle in most Introductions to her books describes the 3 different forms of spiritual cognition/clairvoyance that she has developed as a basis of her research. One is natural clairvoyance that she had since childhood, the other is clairvoyance she has developed through an anthroposophical schooling and third is the 'clairvoyance' she has received through the Stigmata.
Susanne Lien
RE: Apologia
Sorry frank but if you are a member of the Class you broke your promise-'a most serious' promise. If you are not - you have done with these precious gifts exactly what Steiner said not to do. So you are no friend of anthroposophy, Steiner, or the many people who were not prepared for these lessons. I imagine you don't understand them or you would have never done such a thing. Poor judgment and immature sensationalism will be your karma no matter what others are doing with them. They won't work without the proper preparation which a public magazine is not.
Tyla Wells
Hello Frank
Thank you so much for writing this and for your translations. I joined the First Class just last year. I live in the UK. I find the translations really helpful as I am quite deaf and very visual and it is wonderful to read and not just hear these words. I appreciate and admire your confidence and forthright justification of the rightness of what you are doing. Well done.
Sheila Lisster
Nicely said, Frank! I whole-heartedly agree!!
James Stewart
The Rudolf Steiner Archive
Dear Frank Thomas Smith
Thank you for Southern Cross Review 99 (and all previous issues). I'm a member of the First Class of the School for Spiritual Science. I suppose I'm a "conventional" member - I like hearing the Lesson read or freely interpreted. I work with the mantras because they are deep deep magic with or without the corresponding Lesson. And I enjoy sharing my experience of this work with others who also love the mantras. I don't own a copy of the Lessons in any language, because I find I enjoy the oral/aural experience, and have no need to delve into the substance of the text - I have more than enough opportunity to do that with Steiner's written works and lectures.
But in the present atmosphere of transparency, openness and non-copyright, I respect anyone's right to access the content of the Class, and to make the Content available to others. So, thank you for it, but your apologia was not needed. It's your choice. You take responsibility for your actions as does anyone transmitting the work of someone else.
As I said I don't normally read the Lessons, even those in SCR. On this occasion, for some reason, I thought I'd have a quick look to see how you do it. This 6th recapitulation Lesson begins with the first Tablet, and I happen to have a yearslong love of those three Tablets which I do have in the original German. So when I read your words:-
"... It's you yourself who,
In feeling space, in experiencing time,
The Word create, feeling foreign ..."
I wanted to offer some comments:-
1. The "Bist du es selbst" is normally rendered as a question.
2. In your interepretation should not "The Word create" be "The Word creates" ?
3. And anyway, another interpretation would be:-
Are you not the one who
Feeling in space
Experiencing in time
Creates the word ?
The explanation being that the "Weltenwort" which calls the human being to self-knowledge is actually our higher self.
Regards,
Paul Breslaw.
Dear Paul,
Thanks for your comments. "Bist du es selbst..." If you have the original German, you will note that there is no question mark after the sentence. One could call this an error, but I don't think so. Rather that the pronoun and verb are in reverse order for rhythm, with the stress on the second syllable - as in the rest of the mantra - and for emphasis on "du". Thus it is the answer to the previous questions posed. �As far as the word order is concerned, yes, it could be either way.
Kind regards,
Frank
RE: An Important Reformation - Nathaniel Hawthorn article
Thank you! Thank you for your sense of� inquiry and open mindedness! I don't feel so alone anymore. My name is Dean Pollard and my struggles, strategies, solutions and stories can be found at www.appliedeurythmy.com. And of course on YouTube. I am a living example of this article, from the most sublime of the idea world to the quality of your floor wax, I have navigated these waters and offer them up for you as a fellow peer to review, and if you are research oriented, to lend me feedback in my current research.
Thanks again
Dp
RE: The Good American Sniper
A Very poignant narrative. Brought tears to my eyes.
Rudy Ravindra
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