12. Second Study (Continued). Hindrances and Helps to the Michael Forces in the Dawn of the Age of the Spiritual Soul

Historical experiences of men, such as were laid bare at the Councils of Constance and Basle, may be said to reveal:—in the spiritual world above the down-pouring of the Intellectuality seeking to find its way to men, and in the earthly realm below, the working of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul, no longer in accordance with the time. The Michael forces are hovering between, looking back to their own past union with the Divine-Spiritual, and down upon the human realm. The human realm likewise enjoyed the same union in the past, but it must now pass into a sphere in which Michael will help it from the Spirit, though he may not unite his own inner being with this realm. Absolutely necessary as it is in cosmic evolution—yet signifying, to begin with, a disturbance in the balance of the Cosmos—this striving of Michael underlies that which mankind had to experience in that age even with respect to the most sacred truths.