The Art of Demonstrating

By Heinz Grill

The problem with demonstrating

Demonstrating against political, economic or legislative decisions must inevitably increase at a time when human rights are being curtailed without sufficient rational justification. Many people gather in various rallies and call for the fulfilment, preservation or better said for the salvation and re-establishment of basic law. These efforts by the demonstrators, although praiseworthy, sad as it may sound, must inevitably fail. The cause of this failure can only be explained from a spiritually founded perspective that puts human holistic development in the centre.

The spiritual view

How does the spiritual world experience the polar positions, with persistent and irresolvable discussions, that arise especially with the guidelines of the corona time? In order to clarify this question, one has to study the meaning of the so-called archangel and acquire a feeling of how this heavenly messenger perceives and assesses earthly circumstances. This archangel is, to put it briefly and without explanation, the leader of humanity and of the various eras of humanity. Certainly the archangel cannot be explained in a scientific way and the statements that are made about him from an esoteric point of view can now be believed or denied as a fantasy. However, if observers follow a very logical and detailed view of the circumstances, they can grasp and experience the spiritual authority revealed by the archangel to a relatively high degree. Just as one cannot see the growth of a plant directly, but the results of this growth in the changes in shape and increase in size make this reality accessible, so one can also access this archangel as an existential spiritual dimension to a certain extent relatively logically without spiritual seeing.

While the so-called angel, the angeloi, affects more the personal sphere of human existence, the archangel carries out a higher superordinate task of development and furthers the well-being of an entire nation, group or culture. He is concerned with the eras and their spiritual development.¹⁾Archangels, archangeloi, are referred to as fire spirits in esoteric literature (Sanskrit: aginishvatta). According to Rudolf Steiner, they bring the life of the individual and the life of a greater context of humanity into a harmonious order. They are inspirers of whole peoples, who are guided by them. (Rudolf Steiner CW 110 para 6.)

The feeling of the archangel

What is interesting is the so-called feeling life of a spiritual being like the archangel. Of course it has to be mentioned that a heavenly messenger experiences and feels completely differently to a human creature struggling in earthly existence. A notion about how the archangel feels can, however, be captured and portrayed very sensitively with some essential points. This feeling is roughly comparable to the experience that there can also be a perspective that does not look from below upwards, from the valley to the mountain, but from the mountain down to the valley or coming from a soaring eagle down to the activities of worldly existence. The eyes of this heavenly bearer look, for example, on demonstrations and the media, as if looking down from an aeroplane. They look upon politicians, the police and on the wrestling citizens. This spiritual being is not interested in any form of polarity, argument or demonstration against political restrictions. To the archangel human polar discussions have as little significance as deep-sea diving has to an eagle. To the archangel the world appears strange and vacuous, uninteresting and void, because it wrestles in two-way struggles for a position and for trivial winnings of a point of view. Someone may be justified in public, but this point of view does not exist in the spiritual world with its demands for development. The archangel is interested in the development of a real culture, in a content for the soul, which expresses itself not only for the personal healing of the individual, but also for the good of a whole. Through spiritual wealth, the individual nature of the human being should become the elevation and joy of a whole group, nation or era.

When do demonstrations lead to success?

For an archangel to be interested in a rally, demonstration or a public speech and for it to lead to success it ought not to be directed against something but it ought to speak for a conceivable and meaningful future. Demonstrating as a fundamental human right should not bear the burden of the law and point its finger at the violations that the state is committing with its measures. A great discipline of restraint in the face of the negative, the intolerable and the shortcomings must be shown by the individual demonstrator with iron draconian strength. Their endeavours in words, gestures and declarations should take place in a more ideal and forward-looking direction and this not just theoretically, ideologically, sweepingly or effusively, but with specifically described definitive content. Just as any form of a religious mission can only lead to mediocre experiences, the countermissions of the demonstrators can only succeed in the same way and despite justified arguments cannot have an impact on the state and the authorities. However, if the demonstrators were to waive all of the violations of their rights, and join forces in a constructive vision of the future, in which they work out the ideal of being human and the best possibilities for society, for the awaiting cultural building blocks and true human love in a practical form, the archangel would immediately open his eyes and prick up his ears in curiosity. This heavenly messenger, who expresses and furthers a leadership over humanity, is moved by all practical, spiritual, truthful and polarity-free content, and he takes it up as if with wings that he swings over humanity. He leads people who think spiritual and culturally valuable ideals into a greater span. He is like the eagle that circles sovereign in the breezes and governs the realms of air.

The paths that humans can and should take to develop a practical, spiritual and socially valuable ideal are demanding and require regular study. Peace can be desired, but it becomes a great challenge for those who demonstrate for peace, when they have to draw up the structural elements, forms of behaviour and psychological foundations for a peaceful society. They would certainly not have time for debate and lengthy struggle over the petty fragilities that individuals argue about and resolve. At the same time, however, the individual demonstrator who wants to rise to the art of furthering culture has to grapple adequately with the laws, the conditions and the lies of the time. Just as the eagle observes the worldly goings-on from above and yet remains in the air, so must people work out a precise idea of the dangers and conditions of worldly negativity. They can orient their arguments towards the negative of the world, yet not as the primary focus, but rather can only judge the circumstances of the time with tolerance, from the ideal that they have already thought and lived. A logic lives in the negative, but this only becomes visible when a larger dimension successfully comes to manifestation. Those who develop the art of demonstration are highly challenged to take a great stride across an ocean of contradictions and have to literally step onto a new continent that is not yet marked on the map. The archangel is interested in building a real culture that elevates all souls and epitomises the moods of elegant, soaring flights like that of the eagle. The art of demonstration is the ability to present the best ideals to the public in an understandable, practical, and universally valid way.

Originally posted in German on 9^th July 2020