With these preliminary remarks heralding a subsequent discussion of a philosophy of life and man according to the teachings of Christ, we shall now return to a more elaborate analysis of Adam’s initiatory experience. From our earlier description of the experience the observant reader might have noticed that the presentation in its usage and verbal expressions lean on the vast modern literature of mindfulness and the ”meditative art of presence” [by the way: So often different from attending to things!]. This is deliberately so and not a coincidence, unconscious influence, identification or evil manipulation. Every description here is very precise in a factual sense, truly referring to an actual development of events. But in order to make our next points clear, this little trick and slight aberration in style was chosen without our further indulgence in the habitual overexcitement and naivism of mainstream New Age spiritual authorship. Of course the above-mentioned experience to a certain degree represents the longed-for and sought-after commodity of the meditation-business with its eager customers sitting in rows, spending money and time in abundance to get the knack of mindful presence and have an opportunity of knowing themselves profoundly. Expansion of consciousness and energy is highly attractive to the average spiritual seeker, who yearns for a kick of experience and contact with unusual reality of almost any kind. Regretfully, Adam was certainly no exception in this regard and he has learnt his lessons dearly. But let us now proceed with the discussion a little further and introduce more material and added reflections in order to clarify the deeper perspectives of this book. Instead of buying the standard postcard picture from New Age happy-land and exalt oneself in the spiritual experience, we shall much prefer the sober mindedness of close investigation with its greater differentiation and complication of understanding. In the author’s humble opinion, the self absorbed, wishful and imagined spiritual search of our time get people totally wrapped up in bits of scrap, turning them into a tailor’s dummy.

You see, some months after the event Adam had a dream. The process of Adam’s dreaming has always been highly instructive, intelligent and true to reality, representing yet another important aspect of I-ness. And this was a very vivid dream, anticipating his next participation in a group of meditation with A, and surely the content of it reflected the previous experience and gave it a whole new momentum, pointing forward to some future drastic events, which we will only hesitantly relate at some later point. In the dream Adam was told and shown an endearing folktale of the lantern. The lantern, floating on a quiet lake, one day unexpectedly gazed its own true nature, whereby it ignited spontaneously and set aflame. Then Adam was present at the meditation-facility of A in close proximity of the lake, and now there was some worry about the inflammation of the lantern near buildings and hence the fire-inspection was advised. All the same A proceeds unconcerned and acts increasingly like a magician. He runs the group-activity like a kind of magic show, constantly inventing new tricks and performances to keep the audience in suspense, improvising an energetic jam-session. Then suddenly A calls out Adam’s name and Adam then steps forward, feeling honoured, but also a bit confused and taken by surprise. “Why so?” he is asked, “since after all he is A’s disciple, and A his teacher, and besides does he not know it – the burning has begun, bringing liberation!” Suddenly there was a vehement outpouring of energy from Adam’s chest. This was no longer a mere dream-experience and Adam was beginning to hyperventilate and the dream got very real to him. The process escalated and then Adam’s hair caught fire. Soon he experienced silent, flickering flames all around his head, but apparently no incineration. Then the fire jumped into the aura and spread everywhere in and out of Adam’s body. In the end his whole being was apparently burning. He was aflame! Once again the sensation of energy was expanded, but this time only more agitated. There was actually no elation, but Adam was told, that this was a process of cleansing and erasing of certain structures from past experiences, including unwarranted transactions with another teacher-figure B. Then Adam woke up – or rather, he got a grip on himself.

No doubt this dream retells and comments on Adam’s earlier experience in the meditation-exercise with A. Like any other dream it corrects the one-sided, unrealistic and unaware understanding of the conscious personality. By no means can you interpret the dream as a total falsification and denouncement of the spiritual reality and essential content of the initial experience. The lantern on the lake is a genuine symbol of the true light of the soul. But this light has been drawn dangerously near to the irresponsible and somewhat manipulative activity of A. Supervising authorities are alarmed and involved. Now it is vital to understand here, that A is a highly respected and beloved teacher with fine values and great personal integrity, showing a lot of empathy in his work. How can he be depicted as a magician? The author can assure the reader, that only a few of A’s hundreds of pupils would ever suspect the slightest mischievous or manipulative tendency behind any of his proceedings. A certainly has a vast and genuine knowledge of the energy-make-up of man and puts forward exercises to balance these structures in order to reach for higher levels of integration and development. Yet apparently in Adam’s dream some instance and level of consciousness characterizes A’s activity as a magic show. That very same faculty reveals Adam, the dreamer and experiencer, as being unprepared and dependant on A, easy to mislead and prey to father-projections, which were all absolutely true at the time.

Next our attention is drawn to an earlier episode with A in the very beginning of Adam’s contact with him, namely by the reference in the dream to an outpouring of energy from his chest, which is strikingly out of context with the above-mentioned meditative experience where no such experience took place. But at that particular and previous occasion A actually gave Adam an inoffensive hug and expressed his delight in his being with him, which for the moment produced tender feelings and sorrow in Adam related to past experiences with his own father. This incident certainly attached Adam emotionally to A and according to the hinting dream-commentary here gave Adam a blind faith in him. But the actual accompanying energy-experience of that original hug was experienced by Adam not as an outpouring from the heart, but rather as a pouring in! Why this dissimilarity between event and dream-image? You see, when dreams invert or invent situations, it is always a commentary on some hidden, unconscious structure or transaction. So what reality is suggested here? We will ponder that problem shortly, but anyway the dream acknowledges clearly, that from the onset of the meditative experience there had been an extensive reaction and process at work in Adam’s etheric-astral body [the inflammation], and as fire is an old and valid symbol of purification and transformation, we must assume that this was the intended outcome of it.

Let us jump to assumptions, although such subtle matters are difficult to judge, which is exactly why there are so many charlatans in the business of spirituality and the reason why it is so important to differentiate and reflect experiences in that field. A lifetime of comparing this type of dreaming with actual circumstances has taught the author to place confidence in the dream-text as an authoritative witness. Then we must conclude that somehow there were more vital aspects to the meditative experience than understood by Adam in the beginning. Sure there was a real expansion of the etheric aura and sure it somehow got in touch with the spiritual aura and dimension. The genuine light of his soul was activated, and that alone explains the distinct experience of I-ness, the shift of perspective and attention, the spiritual insight into the meaning of incarnation and the accompanying feeling of awe and wonder. That was all real and true! And it has had consequences for Adam’s life that meant permanent alterations.

But other processes occurred simultaneously, and evidently they produced imbalance and dilemma. As shown from the above analysis of the experience, humans are beings of energy who mostly unaware participate in an extrasensory world consisting of several layers of reality. Through the etheric expansion Adam’s energy-system was opened up to these dimensions and their operative laws. To mention one of them and the first to be encountered, the etheric world in itself constitutes a collective space or a real “other reality”, which penetrates and surrounds the physical world, fusing every living creature together like water in a fish tank. Then how do we interpret the images of the dream in this context? For instance, who or what is the figure of the magician? What aspect of the happening does this character signify? Of course, in traditional dream-analysis this structure is nothing but intra-psychic evidence pointing to Adam’s projections on A from his father-complex in combination with collective archetypes like the wise old man or the trickster. There could be some unconscious ambivalence at play here, splitting the projection in halves, one overly positive, the other overly negative, one loving and revering, the other mistrusting and downgrading. This understanding is not altogether irrelevant, and the dream in its versatility actually functions to balance and correct Adam’s view of A and adjust his psychological attitude of dependency. But again, the dream could have used a lot of different imagery for this purpose. Why choose magic and manipulation? Perhaps this feature designates other repressed personal traits of Adam’s character like credulity, simple mindedness and wishful thinking, and once more we are not in a position to deny such frail tendencies in him. Then, is that it? Or is the dream also a witness of truth with regard to A and his activities? Is there some real element of manipulative intent or trickery lurking in A’s personality or modus operandi? And by the way, what do we make of this? What do we mean when we are saying, that some force of character or action is unwittingly operative?

There is ample reason for not finishing the analysis of the dream in relation to the experience within the parameters of personal psychology and individual character. Whenever there is a real expansion of consciousness into the extrasensory dimensions of energy there is certainly a lot more to the picture. There will be both personal and interpersonal aspects, since there is an opening up of Pandora's private box with processes and interactions occurring in an open, collective and confluent setting. Since the dream uses valid symbols and plays out the energy-process in a manner consistent with the scope of the meditative experience, we have to look for an even deeper understanding. It will be true then, that all the above-mentioned aspects are relevant to a certain degree. There are in fact psychological dynamics and traits of character to be commented on from the dream-perspective pertaining to both Adam and A. Furthermore you could say in regard to Adam’s situation, that the figure of the magician serves as an aspect of a structure called by Rudolf Steiner the “Guardian at the threshold”, which is activated in order to discriminate in the accompanying spiritual, existential, psychological and energetic process and serve as a confrontation with the fundamental shadow-side of the personality whenever you cross the barrier to the other world more permanently. But this is not the most interesting part of it – at least not to the third party.

Let us examine the quite different aspects of reality which are woven together in the opening experience and in the dream. As mentioned above, the etheric dimension constitutes a separate world in itself and humans partake in this reality by virtue of their own etheric body, which is a part of their complex energy-make-up. Now as mentioned above it is absolutely possible and very likely, that the etheric world in a way has “inhabitants” or houses non-physical beings in its own right. This is a crucial point of understanding. Because for some reason, when an etheric expansion is generated and agitated in certain environments and circumstances leading to an opening up of the aura and the real identity of a person, independent etherically based beings or powers could of their own accord and motivation impose themselves on the process. Perhaps these powers are not even completely invasive or illegitimate in their action, since they could be rooted and seated in the etheric-astral make-up of a person already, only waiting to “jump in” or turn operational. Consequently their activation would always produce personal and interpersonal, collective and alien aspects to be taken into account. If this is the case here, then the dream reflects an overshadowing of A and his function with regard to Adam’s person in that particular merger and opening, actualizing sleeping faculties of manipulative power within one or both of them and perhaps drawing in related forces or entities from the open dimension, which are somehow connected with either of them, with A’s work or his specific procedure, and/or with this type of event, in accordance with the laws of attraction and likeness or a much larger framework of spiritual legality and causality. The activation or invasion was not noticed by Adam in the situation, but afterwards the dream-images show the astral reflection of such an entity in the form of a trickster-magician, since this being had its origin in a higher dimension as explained by Steiner, but is now a “fallen” creature and by humans perceived as evil.

The dream’s allusion to the initial hug with the strangely inverted motif of an outpouring instead of an influx points in the same direction. One has to ask what really took place in this previous, “harmless” situation. What energy went in or out of Adam’s heart? The fact is that a psychological [and perhaps even energy-related] conditioning was established at that very moment, characterized by dependency and a feeling of being nominated and elected, which is also depicted by the dream. Now, could that event have been a first invasive move on the part of some independent entity clearing its way for the later general “attack”, which subsequently provoked the wide-ranging opening of Adam’s aura? Was some etheric-astral power premeditatedly active through this “heart-connection”, aiding in advance its attempt at making some kind of imprint on Adam? The fact is that Adam from that time onwards was a susceptible and trustful participant in the workshops with A. Certainly it was not A’s intention with this hug to launch any invasion from an extrasensory dimension, far from it. Most likely he was motivated by sympathy or intuition, and we are not blaming A or pointing a finger here. Our sole interest is to examine subtle transactions, strategies and events normally taking place in subconscious and subliminal layers. Anyway, people are always protected by the law of attraction, so even if A was aware of this invasive motive and not unwittingly driven by it to act as a kind of instrument or vehicle, Adam too was responsible for his being present in the situation and drawing in such influence due to his own make-up and path in life. Moreover, it is a law of energy that a spiritual opening will always provoke astral motives of a lesser purity, simply because the opening occurs through these layers of the aura before reaching the spiritual aura-structure. When there is light, there will also be shades and shadow. The etheric-astral process taking place in Adam’s energy-system, depicted in the aura’s agitation and inflammation, shows this connection clearly and is consequently and correctly associated with a cleansing, purification and transformation.

Then what are we saying here? We are suggesting that the figure of the magician in the dream is showing the unbalance and manipulative dispositions of Adam’s personality, of A’s personality, of the group-setting and the people involved, of the techniques used, of the overall activity and trends of culture and tradition associated with these and so forth. And besides, we are hinting at the possibility that the whole thing is partly caused by some autonomous beings or powers dwelling in the other reality of the etheric world, who get stirred up and very exited whenever there are waking visitors to their kingdom. In their strange view there is always a chance of contracting a binding relationship and cooperation in a situation like this, because whenever a conscious opening is established from this world to the other worlds, there is also a channel and some means for a more direct interaction and influence. You see, one open channel can canalize the necessary techniques and energy for the opening of a new channel, and simultaneously it can influence a lot of people’s motives and actions. All over the world seeking individuals tend to think that this structure is the very essence of spiritual development – that is: One person opening up to the other worlds and turning into an operational channel for them, channelling information, exercises etcetera, while everybody in his or her following are hoping to be the next chosen channel. But as we will try to explain throughout this book, in reality this idea is often a mockery of true spirituality! It is in most cases old and magical religion connecting collective consciousness and groups of people up with the lesser gods and dangerous demons of the lower astral world. Adam’s dream in its own funny way is commenting on this, because the “fire-inspection” is called in when the self-ignited lantern is drawing dangerously near to A in our world. Other beings and structures apparently exist that are protecting light and supervising fire. They are anxious about the risk of inflation, identification and demonization. So there is a real spiritual dilemma involved here, because we should not forget either that the positive description of the opening experience is still nothing but true and valuable! It is not compromised by these other dubious aspects illustrated in the dream, since every aspect is real and necessary in itself and contained within a synchronized, experiential totality, leaving man a free will to choose between good and evil.

The dangerous undercurrent of the experience was not detected in the situation by A, who commented on it and actually thought Adam was “in a very nice development”. His power of clairvoyance did not discover any malevolent factor involved. As we mentioned before nor did Adam, but in retrospect you could observe the subtle influence of a very moderate and ethically restricted power-syndrome in Adam’s life, popping up in many disguises as for example the above-mentioned assertiveness. Subsequently Adam changed profession and slowly gained momentum in his new line of work with clients. He did not follow in the footsteps of A, neither did he use any of his techniques, but he had increased powers of attraction and quite effective techniques of intervention which sort of lent themselves to him in any situation. Adam had the best of motives and you cannot say that he misused his faculties, but there were other signs of warning showing some level of imbalance in his personality and in the composition of his energy-system. But again, who of us can truly say that we are perfectly balanced? As for A himself, he was later arrested in his work by heart-attacks and a growing fatigue. One cannot help thinking that somehow the “fire-department” subsequently intervened here on the request of supervising authorities, since there was a real danger that his fine heart was deceived to do what neither he nor it wished or longed for.

If there is some truth in the previous analysis based on Adam’s experience, then the final conclusion boils down to an undoubtedly strange, but general idea: Certain meditative procedures, “spiritual” activities and patterns of behaviour are in reality directed and utilized by autonomous powers in the extrasensory dimension through human agents and supported by some general structures in the human make-up – all pertaining to the dimension of evil! In the specific case discussed here, there was a clash between true light and identity and deceptive illusion. Unnoticed by Adam in the situation, but showed to him in his dream, there was an imprint on his mind and make-up from a trickster-power “outside” of him in the etheric-astral dimension, activated on account of the agitation of similar levels of energy in the group-session by the use of specific techniques. As previously discussed this event can be interpreted in many ways and they do not necessarily exclude each other. In any case there was a real level of delusion and a heteronomous influence at work, which must be confronted or it will take control of the process and move a person’s life in the direction of misuse of collective power. The activation of the trickster-power is never random, even if it is uninvited and unintended! Of course there is a slight possibility that the setting and the techniques was only instrumental and objective in their disclosure of Adam’s own individual predisposition and not in any way co-productive with regard to the deception, but then it is very hard to account for the symbolism of his dream, showing the illusive activity on the figure of A. On the other hand we can hardly imagine A with a conscious, manipulative intent, since he is a sincere and kind-hearted person, and therefore it will not suffice to seek the explanation for this structure solely on a personal or even an individual level in either of them. As we shall explain later, adding to the complexity, this kind of entity was already in contact with Adam’s energy-system on different levels prior to the experience and the actual connection of the whole context is in fact, that there was a continuous interaction going on with this strange reality in different settings, which all reflected and progressed it separately. Unfortunately real reality is never simple and clear-cut.

Consequently we are left with a more complex picture and causation, advancing the above hypothesis on outside, non-physical agents covering a whole field of reality, which perhaps seems somewhat far-fetched at this stage of argument, but will be substantiated further in the book, when we are going to discuss the magic traditions. We might even suspect a sequence of events following a master plan of manipulation with an unknown purpose and unintelligible proceedings combining both personal and collective levels simultaneously. Since A perceived the techniques, he used, intuitively and worked progressively, he might in the first place have been inspired by these engineering entities belonging to a common reality and this particular field of activity. Only then can we explain the peculiar structural and sequential context of the dream.

Again we want to suggest that the initial situation with the hug was in reality a preliminary outpouring and exsuction of Adam’s own spiritual power of I-ness and personal integrity combined with a “replacement” or activation of a latent invasive force, rendering him more open, dependent and uncritical. It functioned as a sort of bonding and preconditioning till later when the pattern reproduced itself conversely in the energy-charging of his etheric body prior to the experience and the subsequent expansion of the etheric body to the rim of the spiritual aura. The expansion was almost covering this structure up and might have resulted in the astral experience of some initiatory illusion with a seductive feeling tone of intimacy, but then the swop-mechanism had the opposite effect of establishing an awakening and a direct contact with the basis of I-ness, which temporarily secured the spiritual process. No doubt though, the conjuring entities know how to respond deftly and forthwith to desire, craving and egoism, which are present ad libitum in the context of “spiritual striving”. It is a cocktail as potent as driving and alcohol and even more so, since it is a misunderstood form of spirituality offering the conceited seeker a fancy identity.

The process had now started, and the unnoticed spirit-influence made its entry in Adam’s real life, where the dilemma or clash between false and true values and actions was made more acute than ever before. This produced change and cleansing in him, but there was also a very serious risk that the matrix imposed on his thinking and behaviour could have established itself as a fake identity, since the beings of this level have effective powers and strong motives they can offer the all too willing and self-deceived idolater. Needless to say, the intruding evil will and motive in advance has a strong foothold in an individual’s psychological complex-structures and in the flaws of character, mentality and ethics as demonstrated above. In the particular case with Adam dependency, inferiority and personal insecurity played a heavy role, and one can only advice the reader never to place himself or anyone else in the position of God. But the province of personal imperfection and evil is heavily expanded if and when an opening takes place and the greater demons arrive at the scene or are aroused there. If there be no real light, or if the light is being overshadowed, the false light of astral illusion readily takes over, whenever pseudo-spiritual experience occurs in the wake of over-excitement and exaltation, driven by instinctive reactions and ego-motives.

Let us finally hint at the continuation of this theme by relating just two more pieces of dream-text provided by Adam, who is a diligent dreamer. The first is an image of A collecting an expensive model train made by wood with hand-made cars, coupling them together in trains and playing all day long with his toy. If this is a realistic comment on his work with groups of people and their etheric structures [wooden cars], then he is obviously not in control of himself. There is also another vivid dream, in which Adam is walking in the outer rim of an amusement park where people have put up stalls as part of some charity work. Here he meets a photographer, who persuades him to have his portrait made. When the portrait is taken, it is developed on a fixed background. In Adam’s case the background is depicting the planetary-system and the firmament. The background is very much alive and real and the developing technique highly refined. The first picture of Adam is somewhat accurate but not satisfactory, and the next try is even worse. It becomes apparent that the photographer is not able to produce Adam’s portrait. Consequently Adam is not willing to pay him any money. Then the photographer gets rather angry with Adam and runs off to fetch someone to enforce his will upon him. An aggressive man arrives promptly at the scene and stands behind the photographer. A confrontation ensues. End of dream. Again we see a clear reference to play and show and the contrast of illusion and reality. We have the recurrent symbol of a rim on a circle corresponding with the partial expansion of the etheric in Adam’s opening experience. Within this limited sphere there is only deception at work. The astral background of the picture points to the level of the soul transcending the level of illusion, but no real identity is produced or established, because it is fixed beforehand by technique and not a living reality. It is in fact a worthless effort designed only to enchant and capture the naive seeker and rob him of his energy and money. Any real opportunity of attaining a picture of the soul goes through involvement with life and quality and is impossible to buy from anybody else on the fair! If you then deny the trickster-photographer his expected repay and throw him out of business, he calls for help and summons his fellow tradesmen! One dismissed demon hurries to fetch a whole party. The sad thing is though, that many people in the funny enterprise of personal development both have idealistic and altruistic motives and good, but blind faith!

With these descriptions and discussions of the initial opening, the scene is now set for a thorough and unusual analysis of the cause and powers of evil together with aspects of their cultural dynamics in our time – as promised in the preface by the present author. Different threads of questioning and reasoning have been laid out, ideas and concepts of reality have been introduced, and we shall proceed by supporting and substantiating the advanced hypothesis with evidence and additional theory and finally conclude the whole argument with a concrete metaphysical demonstration, before Adam Michaelis can rest his case with God.