--| Cycles of Time |--- Evolution is not a progression to ever greater and greater differentiation. but... is first an ascent to a higher point, and after having reached this point is then a descent to more and more simple forms. (Rudolf Steiner, Michael IX) Now, a certain law exists, my dear friends, which states that evolution may be traced backward as well as forward from every point. We may focus our attention on any given point in human historical development and say, here is a point in time, at this moment this or that occured. Then time goes on, and we observe events as they unfold. But the flow of time may also be observed backward. We may go back from 1879 to 1878, 1877, 1860, 1850, and so on. We may then observe how one can follow something backward in the spiritual world. We will see the following. We will see a repetition of what went before in the deeper structure of events as they unfold. Often, if one expresses something great in a simple way, it sounds trivial. Nevertheless, I shall speak simply. If we consider the point in time that is 1879, we can either proceed forward to 1880, or we can go back to 1878. If we proceed forward to 1880, we will notice in the deeper spiritual structure that what occured in 1878 is still in a certain way active in the events of 1880. The event of 1878 still stands as an active force behind the event of 1880. And behind the event of 1881, as an active force, stands the event of 1877. It is as if the line of time reverses itself the farther back we go, so that events belonging to a past time lie behind the events that lie ahead of that time. If we grasp these things, we can understand much. (Steiner, Michael VII, Munich, February 17, 1918) -- SUBMIT AN ARTICLE posted: december 6, 2004 updated: february 10, 2007