Das Licht der Würde und die Begegnung

Where and how does genuine encounter take place? In this wonderful essay, Johannes Greiner shows why it is essential today for two "I"s to meet "unveiled"—free from masks and preconceived roles, vulnerable, honest, open, and person-to-person - no matter where: Then something begins to light up between them and around them—the sanctuary of a better world.

Day after day, I experience wonderful things. I do not live with the mindset that the state of the world is a catastrophe and that everything is going from bad to worse. Perhaps I am naive, or perhaps I am not looking closely enough, but I truly have the impression that I am witnessing a sunrise, not a sunset.

One area where I see this new light emerging is in the realm of human encounter. I observe that something is increasingly able to take place—something that can evolve into a new connection with the Divine: when two or more people meet, something akin to a protected space can arise between them—as if a temple or cathedral suddenly surrounded them, forming an inner sanctum where whatever resonates worthily from one person to the other is upheld and safeguarded.

I imagine there are beings—we might call them angelic beings—who await these moments. When two people seek to meet in such a way that they attune themselves together to something healing—something that can lead toward the light—these beings quickly draw near and form a protective aura of light around those striving individuals. In the past, I knew this sensation only from falling in love; indeed, people have likely experienced this in romantic relationships for centuries. Yet today, such a suddenly perceptible angelic presence can manifest during a spontaneous conversation on a commuter train.

A World Bathed in Gold
The moment this space arises between people—which happens most easily between two individuals, though it is somewhat more challenging in a group—one can sense the presence of a different, better world. During such an encounter, the world seems bathed in gold. At times, I also feel that factors like electrosmog and LED lighting—which I often perceive as destructive to people’s capacity for deep insight and their ability to think (1)—no longer matter. Harmful influences cannot touch us; a different, better reality is present. I have the impression that these possibilities—of bringing a higher world into everyday life through a profound encounter—are increasing. There appear to be beings who are incredibly helpful the moment people wish to meet in a spirit of dignity, and who assist in protecting the social space that forms—indeed, in hallowing it in a deeper sense.

“A suddenly perceptible presence of angels can occur today during a spontaneous conversation on a commuter train.”
In this context, we might recall Rudolf Steiner’s words from his famous lecture *What Does the Angel Do in Our Astral Body?*: “All free religiosity that will develop within humanity in the future will be based on the recognition—in immediate, practical life, and not merely in theory—of the image of the Divine within every human being. Then […] the encounter between any two people will, from the very outset, be a religious act, a sacrament; and no one will need a specific church—with its external institutions on the physical plane—to sustain their religious life. If it truly understands itself, the church can have only one intention: to render itself unnecessary on the physical plane by allowing all of life to become an expression of the supersensible.” (2)

One could also put it this way: within the world we inhabit, there exists a second, better world—yet one cannot easily enter it alone, except perhaps during moments of profound meditation or through powerful experiences of art or nature. The simplest gateway to entry is the encounter. An encounter sought in the spirit of awareness regarding one’s own dignity and the dignity (3) of the other seems to me the gateway to the spiritual world that is easiest to open today.

Being Worthy
In various stories, the inscription at the entrance to sacred halls reads: "Only the worthy may enter." This needs to be understood correctly. "Being worthy" does not mean being a well-behaved student, having done one’s homework, and so on. As I understand it, the spiritual world does not look for such things. This is beautifully illustrated by the parable of the Prodigal Son in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Up there, they are interested in what we bring with us. What were we able to permeate with consciousness and love? They care about how much we have loved, how much we have transformed within ourselves. This "being worthy" does not imply perfection. It means seeking dignity. And one often seeks that dignity most intensely after doing something truly foolish—when one feels utterly wretched; that is often when the search for dignity is strongest, and perhaps when one is best able to pass through the gate.

I have the following image regarding dignity: Let us imagine that every human being walks through the world with a light in their hand. The question of dignity is: What can I do without my little candle going out? When does it shine more brightly, and when more faintly? How does it flicker during this action or that one? Where can I find the place to relight it?

It is about discovering moments of understanding and continuing to practice them, rather than simply preserving something. It may even be necessary to lose the light so that it can be found again with greater awareness. Imagine all of humanity this way. Every single person walks through life carrying a light. Many do not realize they have a light and think they are merely dark. They do all sorts of terrible things. You have to tell them: "I see a light in you! Pay attention to it!" Then, perhaps, they will wake up and behave differently.

Thus, "being worthy" is not about already possessing that quality, but about seeking it. If we view it this way, we can say: These spaces—I would call them "social temple spaces"—open up through human encounter, and one may enter them when dignity is being sought. That is to say, when I strive for the higher, the healing, and the illuminating element within myself, within the other, and together with the other. No ID card, membership, or donation is of use here; everything depends on one’s inner attitude.

The Magical Power of Listening
I have the impression that much of what burdens people in terms of their destiny can be healed when it is truly seen. I believe that the therapeutic effect of looking at something—rather than ignoring it—grows stronger year by year. The mere fact that someone listens to what lies close to my heart allows that concern—like a seed in fertile soil—to put forth its first green shoots and find a protective covering. The magical power of listening with heartfelt empathy is becoming increasingly significant and helpful. (4)

A further step in listening can be the act of bearing witness. When we give voice to the dignity and intrinsic value we perceive in another person, we strengthen the healing forces that can make themselves felt during an encounter.

The fact that an awakening regarding the issue of bullying is taking place in many quarters is, for me, also part of this topic. The persistence of injustice and indignity in human interactions stands out starkly as a shadow precisely because a brighter light is also possible.

Many children possess an innate sense of whether they are being taken seriously and viewed with dignity. When they are disappointed in this regard, their most precious inner self may withdraw. It is often the most sensitive among them who, having suffered such disappointment, can go on to inflict the deepest social wounds on those around them.

Incidentally, it can be deeply hurtful to one’s sense of dignity to see a parent prioritize a device—such as a smartphone—over direct contact with their own child. In recent years, the shift from direct human interaction to contact mediated by machines has spread like an epidemic, and in this sense, entire generations have suffered an injury to their human dignity. The illusion that one can find the other person within a device is one of the shadows—or rather, one of the great distractions—that causes us to not be awate of what is truly important today. The shift in how we encounter one another—and the heightened readiness of spiritual beings to protect and foster encounters grounded in dignity, while gifting human beings an experience of a better future world—seems to me linked to what Rudolf Steiner termed the working of Christ in the etheric realm, a phenomenon he predicted would begin in the 1930s. Since then, many people have borne witness to this new working of Christ within the etheric sphere. (5)

Our Future
As a realm of the living and of life forces, the etheric world does not belong to the individual; it is the realm of the "in between", of temporal processes, of coming into being and passing away. We experience the etheric world primarily in the space between us. No one can hold a monopoly on the etheric realm. At the etheric level, everyone touches everyone else, and everyone is interconnected.

In this world of the "in-between"—that etheric realm which opens up through social contact—I sense the presence of Christ, the great Sun Being who, according to Rudolf Steiner, has lived with the Earth for two thousand years. (6) With my inner eye, I see Him building a future world. Within this seemingly cold world—permeated by machines and shaken by catastrophes—the future already lives as a golden secret. We can enter this other, better world—a world that prepares the way for the future—through human encounter. One can, so to speak, already catch a whiff of the air of what will one day be the "Heavenly Jerusalem" (as it is called in the Apocalypse) or the "Jupiter stage" (described in Rudolf Steiner’s *An Outline of Esoteric Science*, GA 13).

We, too, help build this world when we diligently use these gateways and dwell within that other realm. The future does not simply arrive suddenly at some point; rather, it is already contained within the present moment. A different world is already present within the "now." "There is another world. But it is inside this one," (7) says Paul Éluard. The building blocks for the future world are already being gathered, shaped, and arranged.

There is much that is terrible in today’s world. Yet this golden, etheric inner world exists as well. Our future lies within it. Contributing to its further development seems to me the most valuable task one can undertake today.

The future lies in the hands of humanity. Its most important co-bearer is the Sun Spirit. He unites all that is valuable and worthwhile and carries it into the future.

(1) For more on these experiences, see my book *In Ahrimans Welt – Leben mit Maschinen und Medien* [In Ahriman’s World: Living with Machines and Media], Hamburg 2018.
(2) Rudolf Steiner, *Der Tod als Lebenswandlung* [Death as a Transformation of Life], GA 182, Dornach 1996, pp. 145f.
(3) I am not certain whether "dignity" (*Würde*) is truly the best word for what is meant here. Yet I cannot think of anything better. I share the meaning Johanna von Keyserlingk attaches to "piety" (*Frömmigkeit*)—see *Erlöste Elemente* [Redeemed Elements], Stuttgart 1991, pp. 81f.—but the word has acquired a different connotation today, which is why I find "dignity" more apt. "Veneration" or "devotion" would also be fitting, provided one strips away any sense of gushing sentimentality or self-negation. An attitude of veneration—coupled with a humble awareness of one’s own divinity and the divinity of the other—comes close to my understanding of "dignity." When I attempt to experience this, I feel "pious" in a pure sense.
(4) I have written about the significance of being seen and heard—in education and in life—in, among other works: *Jugend am Abgrund – Sexualität im Internet* [Youth on the Brink: Sexuality on the Internet], in Andreas Neider (ed.), *Liebe und Sexualität* [Love and Sexuality], Stuttgart 2014; *Wandlungen – Betrachtungen zu Bildern von Daniel Boillat* [Transformations: Reflections on Images by Daniel Boillat], Steinbergkirche-Neukirchen 2017; and *Mensch, ich glaube an dich! Terrorismus – ein Erziehungsproblem?* [Human Being, I Believe in You! Terrorism—An Educational Problem?], Hamburg 2017. and in *The Spirituality of Youth and Its Shadow* (Hamburg, 2017).
(5) Rudolf Steiner discusses the working of Christ in the etheric world in, among other works, *The Event of the Appearance of Christ in the Etheric World* (GA 118) and *The Christ Impulse and the Development of Ego-Consciousness* (GA 116). Also recommended are *Arrival and Return of Christ* (Dornach, 2001) by Anton Kimpfler, as well as the anthology he edited, *The Time of the Second Coming—Encountering Christ* (Kiel, 1988). The collected testimonies regarding this event found in the anthology *They Experienced Christ* (Basel, 1979)—translated from the Swedish original containing reports from a study by Gunnar Hillerdal and Berndt Gustafsson of the Stockholm Institute for the Sociology of Religion—are deeply moving.
(6) "We know that the moment Christ’s blood dripped onto the earth at Golgotha, a new solar globe was born within the interior of the earth," Rudolf Steiner said to Johanna von Keyserlingk; see Adalbert von Keyserlingk (ed.), *Koberwitz 1924—The Birth of a New Agriculture* (Stuttgart, 1985), p. 75. On the subject of Christ as a Sun Spirit who united with the Earth as a new body two thousand years ago, see the twelfth lecture in Rudolf Steiner, *The Gospel of St. Matthew* (GA 123), and the thirteenth lecture in Rudolf Steiner, *The Gospel of St. John in Relation to the Other Three Gospels* (GA 112).
(7) Dalai Lama, *The Dalai Lama’s New Appeal to the World* (Salzburg/Munich, 2018), p. 78.