Lecture XVII

We see the connection between divine love and divine wrath within these three worlds, and this gives rise to the idea, which must be accompanied by inner reverence; What happens when the vials of wrath are poured out? Here divine spiritual beings are stimulated by the misdeeds of weak creatures, and they think of how they can keep world events going and of how they can transform the hindrances into a vehicle for spirit-filled events that are pressing forwards, just as a man can make soul and spiritual progress in his body through the degradative processes that occur in it, so that he doesn't just vegetate. The Apocalyptist imagines all of this in accordance with the paths of initiation. As we saw yesterday and also earlier, the Apocalypse acquaints us with concrete physical things that are happening in the world, and it also makes us familiar with the path of initiation in a marvelous way.