XII. Before the Door of the Spiritual Soul

Such historic currents of inner human life and feeling as come to light in the Councils of Constance and Bâle, may really be said to shew: above, in the spirit-world, the down-pouring of the cosmic Intellectuality, trying to find its way into Man, and below, in the earthly region, an Intellectual of Mind-Soul which is no longer suited to the times. Between the two hover the Michael Forces, looking back to their past union with the divine spirit-world, and looking down upon the world of Man, once united by the same bond, but which now has passed unavoidably into a sphere where Michael must send his aid from the spirit, but with which he himself must enter into no inner union. In this struggle of Michael's— necessary in the cosmic evolution, yet signifying in the first instance a disturbance of the cosmic balance—are to be found the grounds of all that mankind had to go through at this period, even in respect of their most cherished and sacred truths.