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Introduction to the Spiritual Science Bible Studies Program (2 of 7)

The Bible was written by "initiates," Human Beings who developed higher degrees of consciousness in esoteric schools, the "mystery centers" of the ancient world. We have for the most part, lost the meaning of "initiate", and the "Mystery wisdom" has come down to us in traces only. History tells us of the Mystery centers in Eleusis, or in Samothrace, or of the Mystery center in Ephesus, not far from the island of Patmos, where St. John wrote the Apocalypse, the last book of the Bible. History also tells us of some of the great initiates - Krishna and Buddha in India; Zoroaster in ancient Persia: Hermes and Moses in ancient Egypt. We also learn that the Greeks, Solon, Plato, and Pythagoras, traveled to the Mystery Centers in the East. These initiates were considered the great teachers of their age. Through direct connection with the spiritual world, they were the initiators of civilization.

The early initiates were recognized because Human Beings in ancient times had a kind of dim clairvoyant consciousness which enabled them to experience the spiritual worlds and beings of which the initiates spoke. It is essential to understand that there has been an evolution of human consciousness over the millennia. The Bible has its sources in revelation (from outside) and speaks throughout of intercourse with the spiritual world. It is a document that bequeaths to posterity stories of intimate relationships with the non-material world. The Deity speaks to Human Beings, reveals Himself directly. Angels appear and speak. Prophets speak of the future and of hearing messages from supersensible Beings.

We can see this evolution clearly by comparing Abraham and Moses with King David and his son Solomon. The first two individuals had direct spiritual perception. By the time of King David, this inspiration became erratic. By the reign of Solomon, wisdom became humanized. Only the Prophets were able to maintain spiritual connection and were more and more in opposition to their Kings. As time passed this spiritual revelation became tradition. Now is the age when our authority must come from self-discovery - i.e. the meaning of the world must now be found from within.

Initiate consciousness did not altogether disappear in the 2,500 intervening years. It went "underground" so to speak. It is beginning to emerge today through various cultural movements, most notable for the West, through spiritual science. Spiritual science takes as its starting point deepened spiritual self knowledge. Otherwise known as Anthroposophy, this new science is founded upon Rudolf Steiner's (1861-1925) prophetic intuition of the spiritual world. Steiner encourages us to see ourselves as not divided into two parts, one heavenly and the other earthy. Body and spirit are constantly influencing each other through a third entity, the soul. It is much more helpful to see ourselves as three-fold than two-fold. This view is profoundly and pervasively reflected in the Bible. When you realize that its words of inspiration are always three dimensional, hidden meanings are revealed. Spiritual science shows that the reading of the Bible in its common understanding, as wonderful as that can be, does not reveal its deeper message--one that gives its perplexingly difficult sections and passages deep spiritual meaning as part of a uniform theme consistent from Genesis to Revelation.

Though we may not be initiates ourselves, the concepts of modern, spiritual science enable us to understand the hidden meanings written into the Bible by the initiates of ancient times.