Here - Anthroposophical Society in America

Letters continued from p.5someone who has “grown up”(I’m currently 33) watching andparticipating fully in the birthof the internet (I had an emailaddress years before the worldwide web existed), I am disheartenedwhen anthroposophists shyaway from what I consider to bean important task: the appropriateusage of these new kinds oftechnology.By appropriate, I mean utilizingthe technology as a means offurthering a progressive humandevelopment. Of course whatconstitutes “progressive” or “development”can be hotly debated,but for me this involves notjust empowering people throughproviding access to informationof an esoteric nature thatthey might not otherwise have,but in providing the context forthe shared creation of meaningin ways that are dynamicallycapable of leading towards realtransformation.The ahrimanic nature of theinternet lies primarily in theway that supports the decontextualizationof meaning-makingfrom the soul lives of its humanparticipants. It allows us toabstract too easily, to decontextualizeparts of ourselves inways that challenge a healthydevelopment. But at the sametime the internet is the potentialcarrier of both luciferic impulses(getting willfully lost in onlineenvironments, expressions ofrage, rampant self-satisfactionseeking opportunities, etc.) andChrist impulses as well.As always, the Christ-like impulsesare a bit more subtle,a little less oriented towards appearingwith a particular veneer,but no less powerful for all that. Iam speaking of how the internetis used to help bring groups ofSign UpforE-NewsSign up for Anthroposophy inAmerica E-News on our websitehome page: anthroposophy.org.people together in ways that fostersboth community and action,and which promote love andchange. This occurs not merelythrough sharing information,but in the literal creation of anin-between space which can befilled with the soul-activity andspirit-light of individual wills.This, I think, is what it looks liketo “redeem” the internet. It happenswhen people are given toolsto become active participants inthe dynamic creation of meaningthat fosters transformation andlove.The challenge, as with thebringing into one’s heart of anyChrist impulse, is that it occursnot by default, and not by control,but through a conscious surrenderingof one’s will to a higherwill, which is experienced bothas a suffering and a redemption.Ahriman, I imagine, would like isto use the internet to manipulateand control so that we forget themuch greater power availablethrough this kind of conscioussuffering, while Lucifer would behappy if we continued to use theinternet to satisfy our desiresand create infinite personalitiesfor ourselves.The alchemists understoodthat nothing could go untransformedif the magnum opus isto be achieved. Their saying “Asabove, so below; as below, soabove” was not an academic oneabout correlation; it meant thatin order to reach the highestpotential available to us, we hadto transform our lowest aspects.This applied too to the outerworld: nothing could ultimatelygo unredeemed, and if we everdecide to “write off” some aspectof reality as beyond hope,beyond action, and beyondtransformation, then the forcesof darkness will claim a victory.We must work together tobuild the world we wish to livein. It is a horrible mistake to tryand divorce technology from morality,and to claim that “it’s all inhow it is used.” Some technologiesare more evil than others,but the internet is not an atomicbomb. The development of theinternet, although beginning as aEurythmymusic and Word in movementFour-Year,Full-Time TrainingBegins September 2010Classes andWorkshops AvailableVisit our websitefor more informationor upcoming events.Rudolf SteinerCollege9200 Fair Oaks BoulevardFair Oaks, California916-961-8727 ext. 0www.steinercollege.edudefense-oriented technology (notincidentally as a technology tohelp counter the potential effectsof nuclear weapons), almost immediatelywas taken up and usedfor other means; primarily education.There are countless waysin which both the developmentand usage of the internet fostershealthy development of humanbeings–in ways not completelywithout strings, of course, butalso not in ways that make itsusage “unredeemable.”What we cannot do is letthe regressive impulses havetheir way with the internet andco-opt the minds and souls ofhuman beings for their own useswithout a Michaelic challenge,a challenge for the creation ofspirit-based groups of individuals(which are different than just“groups”), a challenge to permeatethe spiritual spaces of theinternet with transformed will,with conscious sacrifice, withlove of transformation and atransformation of love.Seth MillerPosted at http://www.spiritalchemy.com/blog/726/response-to-can-digital-mediabe-redeemedon December 31, 2009.Seth has taught physics and othersubjects in Waldorf schools acrossthe West, and is currently gettinga PhD in Transformative Studiesfrom the California Institute of IntegralStudies in San Francisco.Percy MacKayeMy congratulations to youand anyone else responsible forthe transformation of News forMembers into a very readableand wonderfully professionallookingjournal. I was particularlyinterested in the summerfallarticle “Columbia Rising! &the Spirit of St. Louis” becauseas a young man I worked for acouple of years as secretaryto Percy MacKaye and oftenlistened to him reminisce abouthis work, including The Masqueof St. Louis. The article did notmention Percy’s connection withanthroposophy, which wouldseem relevant, but perhapsauthors Margaret Runyon andDennis Dietzel did not know ofit. I believe Percy first becameacquainted with Rudolf Steiner’s6 Evolving News for Members & Friends