by Texe Marrs
The Oneness of all Religions
In a letter to seekers who request information about the Ananda community, Kriyananda explains the purpose of Ananda. First, he announces that spirituality in its purest form was brought to the world by Krishna and Buddha as well as by Jesus and Moses. In fact, he writes, all world teachers serve the same God. Thus spouting the New Age doctrine of “oneness,” Kriyananda goes on to remark:
There is an urgent need today to demonstrate the essential oneness of all religions. For, clearly, all of them are devoted to principles that are universal. Every one of them has a goal of uplifting human consciousness, and of expanding human sympathies. All of them teach us to love our fellow man, to honor truth, and to be humble. Most (though not all) religions teach that one should love God and obey His commandments... There is widespread unanimity.
At their essence, Ananda teaches, all religions are the same; therefore, the group has decided to immortalize in architecture this universalist teaching. The Golden Lotus Shrine of All Religions, according to Kriyananda, affirms Ananda’s dedication to these universal spiritual values.
How to Realize “Self”
Ananda’s nebulous concept of religious world unity does not in and of itself draw many followers. Therefore, Ananda and its founder Kriyananda also promise the individual manifold rewards if he or she actively participates in Ananda projects. Ananda says that the goal of every human being is “self-realization” and that, through Ananda, individuals can fellowship with others while realizing this self-realization. The term “self-realization,” in the New Age view, means achieving divinity of self. Thus, Ananda promises to teach individuals how to become deities in their own right.
At their facilities in California, Ananda offers a number of programs. One is called Lessons in Yoga: 14 Steps to Higher Awareness. This program is not only offered in residence, but is available through the use of written study guides and tapes designed for home study as well. The individual learns such things as “Yoga and meditation, pathways to god, steps of self-realization, how to control your subconscious mind, how to become a dynamo of energy, how and why to develop your magnetism, what is a guru, esoterica of a spiritual path, and secret teachings of the Bible.” It is apparent that a number of these topics are extremely enticing to individuals who lack self-esteem and spiritual depth and are interested in self-development.
Also at the Ananda facilities, participants can take advantage of “the superconscious attunement ceremony—an evening of heart expanding, chanting, meditation, and healing prayers.” At this ceremony, an Ananda publication points out, the individuals will be served “leisurely, family style, vegetarian dinners.” Like all Hindu retreat centers, Ananda abhors meat.
The spiritual tradition of Ananda comes from the life and teachings of the Hindu guru Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. Its literature claims that miracles seem to happen spontaneously at the Ananda community and that those who practice Raja Yoga, a form of spiritual as well as physical Yoga, will awaken their human consciousness and attune it to the divine.
The Ananda group also operates a press, Crystal Clarity Publishers. Among their books in print is How to Be a Channel, by noted West Coast psychic Barbara Courtney; and The Reappearance of Christ. In the latter book, author Kriyananda says that the central message of Jesus Christ was simply that mankind must love God, the “Divine Essence.” This, he insists, is “what the early Christians practiced and what modern Christians have generally forgotten.”
In summary, Ananda offers us “another Jesus” and “another gospel” (see II Corinthians 11:4 and Galatians 1), derived, in fact, not from the Bible but from the Hindu scriptures (the Bhagavad Gita).
Chapter 6: ANTHROPOSOPHY AND THE WALDORF SCHOOLS (RUDOLF STEINER)
It has been called by its supporters “Christian occultism,” seemingly an oxymoron and a contradiction in terms. Its founder, Rudolf Steiner, called it Anthroposophy and named the group whose membership believes in “Steinerism” the Anthroposophical Society. Rudolf Steiner was the author of over 100 books and lectures. A Western occultist, he studied and borrowed freely from dozens of other occultic systems, especially Theosophy, to create this strange new system which he dubbed Anthroposophy. Therefore, Anthroposophy’s religious system has a little bit of everything in it. This is sort of a smorgasbord of occultism. Indeed, its proponents call it the “rainbow teachings,” symbolizing the multifaceted nature of Anthroposophy.
Today, Anthroposophy has deep roots in American and German society, as well as in other countries around the world. There are major branches of Anthroposophy located in Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago, and in most other cities in the U.S.A The society also has over 500 Waldorf Schools, which teach Steiner’s principles and aim as their central goal the development of the spiritual consciousness of young school-age children.
Rudolf Steiner’s Influences and Ideas
Rudolf Steiner himself was born in 1861 in Austria. Holder of a doctorate degree, he was fascinated by the ideas of such mystical thinkers as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German writer who single-mindedly pushed the occultist, pantheist ideas of his day. It was both Goethe’s and Steiner’s assertion that the universe contains and expresses a creative force. This force, which some call “God,” is both positive and negative, dark and light, good and bad; however, though it appears to be a duality, it is in fact a unity. Moreover, the force is in everything and is everything. Steiner eventually concluded that men could become more fully an expression of this creative force by uniting with the spirit world.
In 1902, Rudolf Steiner became a member of Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society. Eventually, he became Secretary of Theosophy for all of Germany. He enthusiastically embraced such Hindu beliefs as reincarnation, the law of karma, and the existence of spirit entities. He also began to claim that Jesus was Lord, but not in the sense that Christians know Jesus; rather, Steiner’s claim is that Jesus is simply the “Lord of Karma,” as well as only one of many “Christ” figures.
In 1913, Steiner’s many interests caused him to decide to form his own group, the Anthroposophical Society, so that his teachings could extend even past those of Theosophy into new, previously uncharted forms of occultism. A decade later, he made Dornach, Switzerland, a town near Basel, his world center and was able to obtain funds for the building of a unique architectural structure which he called the Goetheanum, after his hero, Goethe. Today, the Goetheanum, rebuilt after a fire destroyed the original facility, serves as the world headquarters of Anthroposophy and also houses its School for Spiritual Science.
Evolution and Steiner
Steiner’s central thesis is that both physical and spiritual evolution are a fact. For him, evolution is presided over by certain spiritual beings who mold and form man and guide him as he progresses in consciousness to become superhuman. Steiner’s Anthroposophy is a great promoter of occultic meditation techniques—clearing the mind, visualization, inviting in spirit entities, soul or astral travel, and so forth. Through meditation, Steiner said, man could discover his true origin and destiny and travel the path of knowledge to attain true wisdom of the universe and man’s place in it.
Steiner rejected the biblical account in Genesis of the fall. His own version was that the fall was simply man’s losing his consciousness of the spiritual worlds of which he was once a part. It is the goal of Anthroposophy to bring man to a knowledge of the spiritual world and return him to the state of heavenly bliss he enjoyed before the fall. Naturally, to accomplish this, Steiner taught, man must live through successive lives, finally becoming perfect and fully conscious.
According to Steiner, the earth is also undergoing an ongoing process of evolution and reincarnation development. His teachings on geography and geology are very similar to those of Maria Montessori, the Italian educator whose work is being carried on in thousands of Montessori schools in America today. According to Steiner, the planet has undergone four embodiments—as saturn (warmth), t
he sun (air), the moon (water), and the earth (mineral). The earth is now supposed to be in its fourth reincarnation. Each of these cycles is guarded over by spiritual beings.
Interestingly enough, Steiner’s teaching is that some of these spiritual beings are in conflict with other spiritual beings, and that this is causing a number of problems and complications. It is because of this conflict in the spirit world, he said, that man fell and lost his perfect nature. In effect, Steiner is merely alluding to the reality of demonic beings in rebellion against God, though he vehemently denies the scriptural account of Lucifer’s rebellion and ouster.
The conflict which Steiner referred to is said to be a war between spirits who lived on the sun, whom he called the Sun Beings, and those who lived on the moon, the Moon Beings. Moon Beings are said to be Luciferian spirits who adversely effect man’s behavior whereas the Sun Beings are positive creatures who will eventually triumph over their adversaries and bring man to his destined state of perfection.
The teachings of Anthroposophy are therefore in line with those of the Illuminati in general, as well as the many pagan religions which teach the existence of a sun god, or deity, and his subordinate spiritual beings (which Christians know as demons), sometimes described as Beings of Light, Light Bearers, or Lords of the (Sun) Rays.
Anthroposophy and Christ
Possibly the most dangerous feature of Anthroposophy is its claim that it is the true Christianity and that biblical Christianity is a fake. Some Anthroposophy groups even refer to themselves as Christian occult societies. It has been reported also that one of C.S. Lewis’closest friends, Owen Barfield, a fervent Anthroposophist, has been actively speaking to many Christian groups, causing much confusion. C.S. Lewis himself, though he was at odds with Barfield on a number of issues, contributed in his own way to occultism and Anthroposophy with his promotion of pagan mythologies and magical superbeings and other fantasy creatures in his novels.
Rudolf Steiner claimed that Christ was not a person but could be experienced inwardly in a mystical manner. According to him, Christianity was a form of mysticism, and truth could be found not only in the Bible but also in certain other texts, including the Hindu scriptures known as the Bhagavad Gita. To Anthroposophy the gospels are esoterically understood and are for the initiated only. Meanwhile, Jesus Christ is claimed to be a supreme example of human perfection which men should emulate. However, the unique nature of Christ as God Almighty, as proclaimed in Colossians 2:9, John 1, and in many other places in the Bible, is totally rejected by Anthroposophists.
The Coming of the Sun God and the Two Jesuses
Instead of the second coming of Christ, Anthroposophy teaches the coming of the great sun spirit, also known as the Sun Being or as the Hidden One. This is said to be “Christ” in another form—the Christ Essence, which was previously incarnated as a man in the form of Jesus Christ but will now return in yet another form.
Although the first chapter of the Gospel of John clearly reveals that Jesus Christ came in the flesh as God, Anthroposophy teaches that Jesus was simply an ordinary mortal until the age of 30. It is taught that Jesus received the Christ Essence at his baptism by John the Baptist. Then Anthroposophy’s teachings become even more muddy and murky. According to Steiner’s writings, there are, in fact, really two Jesuses. One was the Jesus of Matthew and Luke, the other a reincarnation of the Persian deity Zoroaster. One of these Jesuses was said to be a human being whose body was prepared by the Spiritual Beings, including none other than the Buddha.
This teaching of the two Jesuses is most complicated. According to Steiner, one Jesus was a highly evolved intellectual person, whereas the other one, the one described in the Bible, was an empty ego which had never been incarnated before as a person. Then, at the age of 12, the two Jesuses were merged as one spirit. Steiner explained that this is why Jesus’parents, Mary and Joseph, were so astonished at the wisdom and maturity their son displayed when he carried on a learned conversation with the scholars in the temple at Jerusalem.
Finally, Anthroposophy’s writings propose that at the age of 30, the Zoroaster “Jesus” departed from Jesus of Nazareth. This occurred at the moment the Christ Essence came and settled within the Jesus of Nazareth. The ultimate weirdity of this teaching is Anthroposophy’s insistence that Jesus never really existed in the flesh but was some sort of “phantom.” This is akin to teachings of the Gnostics. In fact, much of Anthroposophy’s teachings are gnostic in origin.
Anthroposophy also has an occult explanation for the sightings of Jesus after His resurrection. Mary Magdalene, his disciples, and all the others who saw Jesus actually merely saw Him clairvoyantly, with the use of their Third Eye. The claim is that any of us can see Christ today and we can become one with the Christ Essence simply through the practice of meditation. It is by meditation, Anthroposophy teaches, that we empower ourselves and gain entrance into the spiritual world beyond our present material limitations.
The Waldorf Schools
Anthroposophy began its growing system of Waldorf Schools after receiving a huge grant of money from the owner of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, Germany. This same individual was responsible for the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Waldorf education could well be the most visual application of Anthroposophy. Waldorf Schools are becoming increasingly popular in Germany, Holland, and the United States, and they have also been founded in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and in other countries.
The Waldorf system of education attempts to keep children away from the disrupting influences of modern society and particularly what Anthroposophy feels are unspiritual influences. (For example, relationships with those who believe in fundamentalist Christianity). One of the subjects taught in the Waldorf Schools is Steiner’s eurythmy, his spiritual dance. Eurythmy is based on the Hindu concept that both God and man are involved in a form of cosmic dance and that energy is ever in motion. It is thus seen as necessary to teach children the inner dynamics of music and language so that, through motion and with the music of the spheres (spiritual music, or sound), the child’s path to spiritual consciousness can be shaped and hastened.
In eurythmic dancing, children and adults use sweeping and stately movements of the arms. The trunk sways in a gradual motion; the field is ascetic. Grown women who practice this dance do so with their dresses on, which hides the shape of their bodies; their hair is typically parted in the middle and is often gathered in a bun at the back.
Most Anthroposophists have at one time or another taken up eurythmy. There has even been a rock music group called the Eurythmics, the leader of which was reputed to be a witch.
Children in the Waldorf system are taught a special form of Steiner speech therapy. Painting and colors are also quite important and the use of the rainbow as a symbol is greatly encouraged. You may occasionally see on automobiles some of the bumper stickers promoting and advertising Waldorf Schools which almost universally include some representation of the rainbow.
In the early years, such Steiner doctrinal staples as reincarnation and karma are not emphasized by the Waldorf Schools so as not to scare off parents uncertain about the value of New Age concepts. Instead, great care is taken to convince parents that the teaching methods of the Waldorf Schools are imaginative and promote creativity in children. In later years principles such as karma and reincarnation are taught in a mild form. However, in some schools there might well be blunt instruction in these topics.
The curriculum in most Waldorf Schools does emphasize the importance of such topics as the Norse myths; the ancient pagan gods; the history of India, Babylon, Sumeria, Persia, and Egypt; and harmony and music in ancient Greece. There is also an emphasis on nature as well as on fairy tales, fables, and legends. The Old Testament is even taught, the children often being led to believe that the sagas and stories of the Old Testament are basically yet more examples of fairy tales, nature stories, fables, and legends.
Steiner’s Serpent
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nthroposophy has a number of symbols in addition to the rainbow. One is the serpent. The teaching is that the Goetheanum serpent is one that has its tail within its mouth, being formed as a circle. This is said to be an indication of the individual being part of the macrocosmic spirit, the all.
Another popular symbol among some is the dome. Anthroposophy’s Goetheanum headquarters is shaped in the form of a dome. The dome has its origins as an occult symbol in the worship of the ancient goddess, a concept which Steiner no doubt found appealing. Steiner was an accomplished theosophist and occultist. Then he became a teacher of Rosicrucianism. Thus, he undoubtedly knew that the dome represented the breast of the goddess, that it is a sign of fertility. He knew, too, that in occultism the dome symbolizes the man who has achieved perfection and has become both masculine and feminine, integrating the two poles, though the feminine strain reigns dominant.
The Church of Anthroposophy
Though most members of Anthroposophy meet in individual study groups, conducted in one of many centers, or at the major center in Dornach, Switzerland, there is also a formal religion which is called the Christian Community. According to Geoffry Ahern, who conducted an insightful study of Anthroposophy and subsequently authored the book Sun at Midnight, there may be as many as 350 priests in the Christian Community of Anthroposophy. West Germany has most, but there are also Anthroposophical priests in the United States, Great Britain, and Holland.
These priests teach their followers of the transforming power of love, which they characterize as the “Christ Impulse.” The church has extensive rituals of an esoteric nature. The priests’chasubles have figures of eight to represent the infinity (to occultists, the figure eight symbolizes the eternal victory of their master, Lucifer). The colors of the priests’garments relate to Steiner’s spiritual science and especially to his revelations about the human aura. There are a number of sacraments in the church including baptism, confirmation, marriage, counseling, anointing, and ordination. These sacraments were given to Steiner by his spirit guides.
