Sergei O. Prokofieff - Russia Between the Past and the Future

Russia Between the Past and the Future Sergei O. Prokofieff. ( This is a condensed version of a lecture given at the Annual General Meeting of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain 1991 )'As you move from West to East in Europe there is a change in the relationship between earth and sky. In Britain the sky appears wide , but not very high -- probably because of the low clouds. It is parallel to the earth and enables us to orientate ourselves in all directions. In Middle Europe the sky appears much higher. In Eastern Europe the sky is not so much wide as very high. Light does not appear to spread from one point but appears to pour in from all directions. In Russia light is not strong, it is not blinding, it is very kind.The Russian word for ' light " is like the Russian word for "world ". There is an expression: " He who was born into the light ", or " He was born into the white light', meaning "He was born into the world '.A Russian conception of darkness: When the Tartar invaders came they were called " darknesses".Light and darkness are seen as two beings: one good and one evil. This reminds us of the second post - Atlantean, the Persian, epoch: the future sixth post - Atlantean epoch will be a reflection of the second.The Russian folk - spirit works through the light. Russians form their connection with their folk- spirit throughout the light reflected by the earth. This will not always be so, for in the sixth post - Atlantean epoch they will be able to connect with the light directly. According to Rudolf Steiner, moisture keeps us in contact with the macrocosm. In Russia's continental, dry air the' moist air ' is particularly treasured; it is this that reflects the light of the cosmos. In Russian mythology there are no individual gods as there are , say, in Norse or Greek mythology. But there are pictures of cosmic spheres. There is the Heavenly Father, the father of light , and the macrocosmic Mother -- out moist Mother Earth , who receives the light, which she then sends into human beings. This reflected light is their son , a third sphere, which is related to Christ in the sphere of the earth. When Russians turn to the spirit they will always look downwards ; this can be seen as an inner gesture of modesty and a protection against Lucifer temptation , to which their deep, rich soul - life makes them prone .Rudolf Steiner spoke of the Russians as " the people of the Christ ". Christ substance is there in their souls and the consciousness of this can be awakened through the light reflected by the earth. In Russian the word for "peasant' and the word for 'Christian ' are almost exactly the same -- the country folk are seen as the real Christians. At the beginning of the 20th century more than 80 per cent of Russians lived in the country -- it was a huge country of peasants. In the middle of European Russia there is a granite plateau , 300m - 400m high and the size of Great Britain. Its acts as a kind of protection against the forces of evil that exist at the center of the earth. ( In North America such forces constantly come to the surface) .North of this plateau the soil is of clay and not particularly fertile. South of it there is the fertile " black earth ".Centuries ago these circumstances led to different social structures. In the north, people had to work together to live. They had wonderful social and democratic structures. Here is an example. In city of Novgorad it was the custom for the citizens to meet in the central square, in front of the Cathedral of St Sophia, in order to discuss questions of the common - life -- harvest, laws, peace, war. Any citizen had the right to ring the great bell Novgorad to call a meeting. There were equal rights for all citizens. Land was held in common. ( The north of Russia used to be called the land of Holy Sophia, Sophia being the mirror reflection the activity of the Father. )In the more fertile south, social arrangements were more egotistic ; there was no need to work together to the same degree , and land could be held individually or in small family units. In the middle , between north and south, the Russian village community arose -- between northern democracy and southern individualism .When the Bolsheviks seized power it was their intention to destroy these communities, and they succeeded in doing so. Millions of peasants were killed or deported to regions where they could not live. Such village communities succeeding in surviving the Tartar invasions are serfdom, but they could not survive the Bolsheviks. This was a terrible tragedy for Russia; it was not possible simply to revive such communities, nor the democracy of the north. The legend of Kitezh " tells of the holy lake of Svetli Yarr, into which the miraculous city of Kitezh had sunk .When the Mongol hordes drew near to the city at the beginning of their period of domination, the Mother of God spread her mantle over the last treasure of Russia spirituality and Kitezh sank into the clear waters of the lake. And the legend says further that on Easter night that city at the bottom of the lake becomes visible to him who draws near to this miracle with a pure heart. On that night the bells of Kitezh ring and proclaim that Christ has risen, and a golden light gleams through the night - black waters. ' That is a picture of the forces which have sunk into the depths of the soul of Russians . The materialism of Marxism was alien to the peasant soul . Bolshevism was a western import into Russia; Bolsheviks were the new "Mongol Hordes ".The "Heavenly Jerusalem " of the Revelation of St.John is a image of the Jupiter stage of the earth. The sixth post - Atlantean epoch will prefigure this stage . Kitezh is a small reflection of the Heavenly Jerusalem.In Britain, where people are in touch with their past, it is difficult to imagine how Russians, after 70 years of Bolshevism, have been cut off from theirs. What possibilities are are there for the Russian soul to find the forces that created it's social forms in the past ? As Rudolf Steiner said in his lectures to Russians in 1912 - 13 , modern spiritual science is the only way. There are many Russians with the Christ - Impulse in their hearts, but there is chaos in their heads.To replace Bolshevism with western materialism would be like giving stones instead of bread. Modern spiritual science would bring about a new connection between the heart and the head, which would show the way to the light reflected from the earth and hence to the Russian folk spirit and to the future. The greatest ideal in Russia is social; there is a longing for brotherhood , ultimately the kind of brotherhood in which nobody is happy when anyone else is unhappy. ( We need to learn to see Christ in every human being ; the suffering of others is then the suffering of Christ Himself) This points to the spirit - self, which it will be the task of the sixth post- Atlantean epoch to develop. In the West, the ideal is freedom : the development of the free individual. This is connected with the development of the consciousness soul of the fifth post - Atlantean era. It can be seen in a city such as London, where there are so many small houses. 'The Englishman's home in his castle " reflects this longing for a free space felt by western individuals which informs western culture .In Russia, however, people want above all to feel closer to one another .Between these two, cultural development in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries prepared the ground for Anthroposophy. This can be seen in the work of Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, Hegel , Schelling and Novalis. From Middle Europe spiritual science has had to go westwards, so that the culture of the free development of the individual can develop into community and brotherhood .Spiritual science also has to go eastwards. Then individual development will not be felt to be destructive of brotherhood . A brotherhood of free individuals could develop in the world. Thus, the West has seen the free development of the individual. Spiritual science has come out of the culture of Middle Europe. In Russia the ideal is brotherhood .In reality, Europe will not be unified by economic or political means , but we can learn to regard it as an organism.We can recognize phenomena that are there .Let us look at the sounds of speech. The sound ah is one of veneration and openness towards the world and the spirit. The word ee is more of an expression of the individuality. Both sounds are inherent in the English "I' .The Russian for "I' is "ya" , a sound that proceeds from individuality to veneration -- the reversal of "I'. Between them is the German "ich' , which points to the central being , the central event of earth evolution. Such phenomena and others enables us to practice self - knowledge as Europeans .Having understood the phenomena of West - Middle - East in the European context we can extend it over the whole world. Then Europe will be able to function as a heart and show humanity the way to the future. The human being, a microcosm , contains the whole world. We have all nationalities within us , although those that are given us are 'bigger' , more obvious to us than those we can develop. The "German ' in an Englishman is small and the Russian even smaller. In a Russian the situation is reversed. Such studies are a foundation for the spiritual Europe of the future."