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Editorial

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the midsummer (northern hemisphere) issue of New View magazine. In the Christian calendar, this time of year is the festival of St. John the Baptist; whatever the season around the world there is a universal gesture towards all people within this festival. If one could think for a moment about some of the events in John’s life: as a man he dwelt for long periods alone in the desert; he wished then to wake people up to the coming of Christ, asking folk to change their ways of living and open their consciousness wide enough to understand what was coming towards them; he was present and bore witness to the union of the Christ with Jesus when Baptising him in the river Jordan. The themes of raising one’s consciousness and bearing witness belong to all of us. The challenge of developing and acting out of one’s conscience can then take place.

These two, conscience and consciousness, are the great twin pillars of initiation at the portal that the whole of humanity passes through – and clearly this is not an easy passage. If you can relate any of this to daily life and events swirling around us, it is probably clear that we are living in an increasingly intensifying time. What is behind this? Rudolf Steiner was clear in himself that as humanity passed into the third millennium we would be beset by great challenges and that these had much to do with a spiritual being known in the time of the Ancient Persian civilisation as the god of darkness, to whom they gave the name Ahriman.

Steiner characterised the aims and effects of this being in human affairs: cold, contracting, full of lies and deceit, fear-inducing, intensifying, prematurely accelerating knowledge before one is truly ready for it, mechanising, ultimately controlling all aspects of human existence. In this age of high camera surveillance, rampant bureaucracy and accelerating technological advances, often devoid of any real responsibility towards a social/ethical, more human, consideration – to mention but a few modern phenomena – do we see a picture emerging? Steiner stated that this being would even descend into a physical incarnation sometime in the early part of the third millennium. But also that this being would hope to go unrecognised. It is with this in mind that the current issue of New View issue attempts to explore some of the background and ‘signatures’ of this being. It is difficult for many people to even consider the notion of spiritual beings; but if we can look clearly enough at the signs around us, the phenomena of events affecting all of us in daily life will reveal pictures to our faculty of imagination (not fantasy) that can connect us to what is at work behind the scenes more surely than any blind belief. Once we can understand things better, we are freer to make informed decisions about what confronts us and needs dealing with.

In The Evil That Would Engender Good, Jeremy Naydler looks at our first stirrings of conscience, and the attempts to mechanise the human being and regard it as merely a machine. What are the consequences for mankind if this view continues? There follows an interview with actor, writer and lecturer Patrick Dixon, who shares his thoughts on the deeper meaning of Ahriman, helping to prepare for a close encounter with him in the not too distant future.

Paul Carline writes about the difficulty of knowing the truth in a world awash with lies in If the Truth be Known. Can we learn to discriminate, find the truth and have the courage to speak it out?

Understanding Our Time – Part II concludes Terry Boardman’s initial examining of esoteric concepts of history which can serve as lenses through which to view our era. This is followed by Thinking the Future, where Terence Davies considers what a modern social structure might look like in the future; will it be shaped out of a moral capacity?

We then take a journey into the natural world with a further article raising awareness of the plight of the bees. In What can we do for the Bees? Matthew Barton looks again at the life and health of bees and the delicate balance of relationships we all share. This is complemented by New View’s first Do It Yourself article where in Sustainable Bee-friendly Beekeeping David Heaf gives instructions on how to make a simple, bee-friendly hive that will also lead to healthier bees, based on the work of a French beekeeper Abbé Emile Warré.

Sibylle Eichstaedt then looks at the power of the word in A Living, Leaping Logos: What does speaking have to do with Health? Are we aware of the power of what issues from our mouths in speech?

More and more people are trying to make sense of their lives and in an interview with Biographic Counsellor Margli Matthews we learn how this relatively new approach is a powerful means to help that understanding.

Then we have a section concerning Steienr/Waldorf education. Anthroposophy Students on the Brink of 2012 by Helen Odette Belsey, a university student studying Waldorf Education, looks at the Mayan prophecy and other issues she and her fellow students find of concern. Nick Vane and Josie Alwyn are Steiner/Waldorf teachers then share their memories of how they met this method of teaching in Experiences of Steiner Waldorf Teachers and The Good Doctor: A True Story.

In this issue for the first time we feature some brief reports from the news agency News Network Anthroposophy compiled by NNA’s Christian von Arnim. Finally, in Meditation and Wi-Fi Experience/Research, Simon Cade Williams shares his personal experience of the interfering effects of Wi-Fi on the human brain and the inner life.

Friendships will also help us through these difficult times; it is what will make a difference for all of us.

All good wishes, wherever you are.

Tom Raines – Editor

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