Re–membering at the Threshold
of the New Year and the New Human
Last night, New Year’s Eve, I was in bed by 10 PM, and before I drifted off to sleep, I thought of a young man – Damon Guarente – who was in position as a member of the event crew managing the Times Square Ball Drop. I had met Damon just two weeks ago at Harvard Divinity School’s Rudolf Steiner 100 Years conference, when he had approached me after my talk on Rudolf Steiner as Bodhisattva. Rather than – as had a number of attendees during the Q&A and later in hallway conversations, object that Moses had reincarnated as Goethe (a longstanding, unfounded karmic speculation among many anthroposophists), or, defiantly, incredulously: “And what in the world makes you think that Rudolf Steiner was a Bodhisattva!?” – Damon asked how he might become a more faithful and informed student of anthroposophy.
After only a few minutes of conversation, I felt that I was learning more from Damon about the answer to this question than I could ever provide him. Damon told me of his burning impulse to help young people – starting with the youth in his own hometown of Bayonne, New Jersey – discover and practice permaculture, and how he had founded his own nonprofit organization to effect this impulse. Then he asked another question: did I think it meant anything that he was born on the day of Rudolf Steiner’s death, March 30th? As I told him about David Tresemer’s Star Wisdom and Rudolf Steiner’s marvelous exploration of Star Brothers and Sisters, he jotted it down in his notebook.
Damon had come to Cambridge completely on his own. He knew not a single soul at the conference, so I jumped at the chance to introduce him to as many people as I could who might further inspire and assist him. This is the most meaningful purpose such a gathering can serve. Thank you Dan McKanan, Henry Holland, and Aaron French for making it possible for me to meet Damon Guarente!
Scholars are analytical creatures more than synthetic ones, and their main stock in trade is to find errors in the statements of their colleagues, in service of advancing their own hobby horse. Though thoroughly scholarly, the Div School convocation saw synthesis and support triumph effortlessly over self–absorbed analysis. Still, one is duty–bound to correct errors when one becomes aware of them – especially if it is in the realm of karma and reincarnation, and the inviolable sanctity of the individual Ego.
So, dear friends, I am immensely grateful to reader, educator, and Tarot–scholar Tracy Saucier for bringing it to my attention that the PDF of The Path Remembered I sent out with yesterday’s post contained a number of errors! Having inadvertently uploaded an unfinished draft, today – New Year’s Day, in the spirit of “turning over a new leaf” – I offer this version below, expanded to include a commentary on the Bodhisattva–themed Minor Trumps.
Also, since I have twice now referred to my Div School talk, I have also uploaded below both the talk and the documentary “chapbook” which contains the seed of the exploration about another Bodhisattva – Valentin Tomberg, the Taurus Bodhisattva – that I make in The Path Remembered. All of this initiative to properly and “democratically” turn our attention to these Great Teachers of Humanity rests upon the research of Dr. Robert Powell, whose Friday reflections upon their inspiring karmic biographies can be found at the Sophia School of Movement website
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Fort! How wonderful to hear your voice. Jim and I think and speak of you so often! All good wishes to you for the coming year, and here is hoping that we can sit and speak together, face-to-face once again!
What a stellar presentation you gave to the Harvard Divinity School! Congratulations, Kevin! This is a masterfully creative way of sharing the incarnations of the Teacher of Wisdom!