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Editorial

Dear Reader,
A warm welcome to this Michaelmas issue of New View. Here, in the north, leaves are changing colour to autumnal reds, brown and gold, whereas, to the far south, spring beckons and so across the world the seasons change.

This issue of New View has taken up as a theme the inspirer of Michaelmas, the Archangel Michael. To speak of mighty spiritual beings can also raise the question: How does one make a personal relationship to such Beings?
Any personal relationship involves the heart. I may have many thoughts about an encounter with another person, let alone a discarnate spiritual presence, but until something opens in, or touches, my heart it is not personal. This heart quality that occurs when a meeting, an encounter, becomes personal, is also when the activity of thinking finds itself drawn to the heart. Is this in the direction of that which Rudolf Steiner called heart thinking?

He spoke a great deal about the reality and working of the Archangel Michael into the affairs of humanity, often referring to the ‘gaze’ of Michael as he looks to each person to see what our deeds in life may become. But to make this connection one’s own, for it to be experienced as real, personal, is a challenge. It is also a quest, something that can be sought, not only through thinking about it but through living towards it. But you have to want to do this in the first place. So one’s will is involved, that mysterious place where decisions are turned into activity.

This archangel has something of the warrior about it. Not least because of its battle with Satan – a being Steiner referred to as Ahriman. But what is it to be a spiritual warrior? And what is the true meaning of the ‘sword’ that Michael holds? How does one wield it? Here on earth swords cut and slash, but they can also touch the shoulders lightly when knighthood is conferred. We know the sword also as double-edged. ‘Sword’ as metaphor reveals how it can penetrate to the heart of things. It is used to defend and to step into the fray. One could surely contemplate ‘sword’ a long while.

The front cover shows a detail from the 19th century painting by J. M. W. Turner, Angel Standing in the Sun. He never interpreted it, but it was inspired by the scene in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 19: 17-18); the end of days, a time of reckoning. It may be interesting to contemplate how the angel is holding the sword…

We begin our journey though this issue of New View with Harrie Salman writing from The Netherlands with an historical overview, spiritually informed, in The Archangel Michael. Writing from the USA, Charles Duquette offers us Michael and the Mirror of Consciousness: How Michael Guides the Human ‘I’ in the Age of Science.

then introduce three artistic illustrations by David Newbatt that are spread through the magazine to illuminate the theme of Michael’s Sword.

“Before Michael’s Gaze”, written by Michael Brinch from Denmark then completes this opening group of more direct contributions of this Michaelmas Archangel.

In Speech and Drama, Crispian Villeneuve, writing from Ireland, shares an autobiographical account of a young Herbert Witzenmann meeting Rudolf Steiner.

Charles Lawrie, writing from Scotland, then brings insights about Goethe, Schiller, Steiner and others, in Philosophical Anthropology.

Therese Schroeder-Sheker, writing from the USA, offers a meditative article entitled Pearl and Ploughshare: The Charism of Disarmament.

Renatus Derbidge, writing from Scotland, calls upon a Goethean way of seeing with Standing Stones and the Birth of Self.
Also concerning Standing Stones – or rather some lying down ones – David Tasker writes in a Postcard from Aberdeenshire, Scotland a brief introduction to a forthcoming article he is writing on Recumbent Stones.

Wordsmith Shindig Rhymer manages to lay his hands on a pen in order to write Shindig Sorts Out His Stuff.

Our ‘scientist in residence’ Peter Taylor then gives a further update on two controversial subjects in Climate and Nuclear Watch.

From Denmark, Niels Henrik Nielsen explores aspects of the historical relationship between Russia and Ukraine in The Shadows Between East and West.

Following on from Benjamin Cherry’s ‘Postcard from Ukraine’ in the last issue of New View, he now tells us of his recent visit there in Voices From Ukraine.

Terry Boardman brings an historical context, with insights, for the forces working behind the scenes bringing about current world situations in 2025 – Some Historical Context: Michaël and Gabriel.
Matthew Barton looks at the increasingly important issue as to what effect AI might be having on the human being in Will IT Think Us?

Richard House complements this with a consideration of the trustworthiness of AI in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Truth Seekers? The Case of ENOCH.

A sense of the qualities that the Archangel Michael – who Steiner identified as the Zeitgeist, the Spirit of our Time – wishes to encourage in human beings pervades this issue. I hope that the authors’ contributions will bring helpful insights and inspiration for the time ahead.

Also an important and sincere Thank You for any donations already sent to us; please keep us in mind as it is only this support that is keeping us afloat. My heartfelt gratitude to all concerned.

Wishing you the reader well, wherever you are.

Tom Raines – Editor.

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