Throughout the ages people have been fearing the antichrist as much as, and perhaps even more than, they have been loving the Christ. In this contemplation some of the aspects of the aforementioned shall be explored, guided by the ageless wisdom.
In the ageless wisdom notion is made of the existence of so called 'globe rounds'.1 Technically seven planetary globes constitute a planetary chain, as seven of such chains constitute a planetary scheme.2 Such a planetary scheme is the body of manifestation of a planetary logos, very much like a human body is the body of manifestation of a human monad.3 And just like a human monad develops through bodily incarnations, being cycles of manifestation, so a planetary logos develops through his cycles of manifestation. A planetary logos develops through one scheme round, seven chain rounds and forty-nine globe rounds.4 And the earth on which we are living regards the fourth globe of the fourth chain.5
Above mention was made of cycles of manifestation. Such a cycle is twofold and consists of a period of involution and a period of evolution.6 During involution the spirit descends and is trapped into matter and during evolution the spirit escapes from the grasp of that matter by spiritualizing it. So such a cycle of manifestation can be symbolized by a full circle consisting of a descending half and an ascending half.7
Figure 1.
Remarkably the above phases of involution and evolution are reflected in The Old Testament and The New Testament of The Bible. The Old Testament is rather materialistic oriented with its central theme of the 'chosen' people separating themselves from all other peoples while The New Testament is rather spiritually oriented with its central theme of the love that unites all people.8, 9, 10
Exemplary in The Old Testament for the phase of involution from spirit to matter regards the story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were living in ignorant bliss in the Garden of Eden. In the middle of this garden a tree grew that gave fruits which when eaten would bestow the knowledge of good and evil, making the eater equal to God. God had forbidden to eat these fruits, but the serpent lured Eve into eating them, after which Eve also convinced Adam to do the same. This angered God, and Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden to live a painful life outside of this garden.11
In this myth Adam's and Eve's lives in the Garden of Eden symbolize the human spirit of before the commencing of physical incarnation, the cycle of envelopment and development, involution and evolution. The expelling of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden then symbolizes the descent of spirit into matter. And the gaining of the knowledge of good and evil then symbolizes the consciousness that arises when spirit descends into matter.12, 13 When the human spirit commences its incarnation into a human body self-consciousness arises.14 This self-consciousness is in the aforementioned myth symbolized by Adam and Eve becoming conscious of their nakedness.15
Exemplary in The New Testament for the phase of evolution from matter towards spirit regards basically the entire life of Jesus of Nazareth. Man's development runs through a series of demarcation points at which his level of attainment is affirmed. In the ageless wisdom these are called 'initiations'. The first initiation affirms man's control on the physical plane, the second on the astral or emotion plane, the third on the mental plane, the fourth on the buddhic or intuition plane and the fifth on the atmic or will plane.16 And these initiations then are symbolized in the life of Jesus by his birth, baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion and resurrection / ascension.17
Above the phase of human ascension was described as running from the physical plane through the astral or emotion, manasic or thought, buddhic or intuition and atmic or will plane. There is however still one more plane to pass through before the divine plane of absolute spirit is reached, and this regards the monadic plane.18 Thus we get an overview as below.
Figure 2.
In this overview of the seven planes we see that the buddhic or intuition plane holds the middle position between the divine and physical plane, just like consciousness holds a middle position between spirit and matter, and it is therefore that human consciousness is the widest on the buddhic plane: consciousness stretches itself there from evil on the downward arc to good on the upward arc.19
It can be said that on the downward arc consciousness uses hate to move from the unity of spirit to the diversity of matter and on the upward arc love to move from the diversity of matter to the unity of spirit.20 And because we are in current times placed on the upward arc of evolution the diversifying hate is considered as evil and the unifying love as good, even though from the larger perspective, that of the entire cycle, both have their proper place.21, 22
Above it was mentioned that on the buddhic plane man's consciousness is the widest. On the upward arc the buddhic plane is also the plane where the intuition and love are found. In the ageless wisdom this principle is known as 'love-wisdom', but it is also called 'the Christ principle'.23 It is therefore that a being that embodies the principle of love can on his own level be called 'a Christ'. In the Earth hierarchy for instance the being embodying the love principle for the earth is called 'the Christ',24, 25 but there is also an even grander being embodying the love principle for the solar system, and this being is called 'the cosmic Christ'.26 The reason that Jesus of Nazareth is also called 'Jesus Christ' is because during his life he was overshadowed by the Christ of the Earth hierarchy.27
Now the antipole of the Christ principle is of course the antichrist principle, and beings embodying this principle can then be called 'antichrists'. They embody the principle of hate and involution.28 And along this line of thought the antichrist, mentioned in The New Testament,29 may for this earth indeed be equalled to the serpent of the above told myth of The Old Testament. Other names applied in The Bible are 'Satan', 'Lucifer', 'the beast' and 'the devil'.
The name 'Satan' is directly taken from the Hebrew word 'satan', which refers to an adversary or an opposition.30, 31 And indeed is the antichrist an adversary and an opposition of the Christ. The antichrist is also considered to be the referent when in The Old Testament the morning star is mentioned,32 which name regards 'Lucifer'.33, 34 'The morning star' refers in general however to the planet Venus,35 and according to the ageless wisdom individualisation, meaning the coming to being of self-consciousness,36 took place under the influence of Venus.37 Venus, Lucifer, the serpent, the antichrist, involution, gave humanity self-consciousness, the knowledge of good and evil. Before that man was no more than an animal,38 and this is where the name 'the beast' may refer to. The antichrist is the beast because as a principle it causes spirit to become trapped into material, animal bodies.39 And this antichrist is also known as 'the devil'.40 This name stems from the original Greek 'diabolos' of The New Testament, referring to a slanderer,41, 42 which the antichrist definitely is.
In the ageless wisdom this devilish antichrist is also called "The Dweller on the Threshold", who on an individual scale represents man's personality consisting of his lower faculties of body, emotion and concrete mind.43, 44 And this "Dweller of the Threshold" then is set against the so called "Angel of the Presence", a name referring to the soul or Christ principle.45, 46
The Christ as Jesus Christ is of course famous for his crucifixion, and the cross has become the prime symbol of Christianity as a religion.47 Interestingly there is also a clear phonetic resemblance between the name 'Christ' and the word 'cross'. Etymologically the English word 'cross' is traced back to the Latin 'crux' or 'crucis', which again has similar phonetics as the Latin 'Christus', from which the English 'Christ' was derived.48, 49
Now many times it has already been contemplated that the cross in the circle or periphery splendidly symbolizes consciousness,50 and with consciousness on our upward arc emphasizing the Christ principle often this symbol is taken as representing simply this principle.51 We see such a symbol depicted below.
Figure 3.
As shown earlier in this contemplation consciousness contains however not just the Christ principle but also the antichrist principle. And these two principles can be depicted in two distinct symbols that are however based on the above synthetic symbol. This we see done below. The figure left symbolizes the antichrist principle. We see again a cross in a periphery however the figure finds its emphasis on the material side. Referring back to figure 2 of this contemplation it can be said that the consciousness of the antichrist is focused on the lower planes of existence.
The figure right then symbolizes the proper Christ principle. And with its emphasis on the spiritual side the Christ is focused on the higher planes of existence.52
Figures 4, 5.
Now as indicated above is the symbol of the cross by Christians derived from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And this image of the crucified Christ adorns the Christian churches and homes. Below such an image is drawn.
Figure 6.
Now although on our upward arc the image of the crucified Christ is taken to symbolize only Christ, in the larger picture it contains symbols for both the Christ and the antichrist. For the Christ can be taken off the cross, and when this is done a separate cross and a separate Christ are seen. The bared cross then symbolizes the antichrist, for that cross is the adversary par excellence for the Christ. When the Christ is crucified the cross of the antichrist, being the cross of matter, holds the evolution of Christ towards spirit fixed to it.53 However when the Christ is released from the cross of matter he forms himself a heavenly cross, with his arms raised in blessing.54, 55
Figures 7, 8.
Above several names for the antichrist were given, but he is of course also well known for his designated number, being 666.56 And this number is then contradistincted from the number 777. The number 7 is thereby considered as the number of (human and relative) perfection.57 Everything in nature can according to the ageless wisdom be considered as septenary.58 There are seven planes, seven human principles, seven chakra's, and so on.59 And in The Bible we can read that God blessed the seventh day, the day on which he rested after his creation.60 In this light the number 6 then can be seen as the number of imperfection and of work. The number 7 is that of spirit, of the beginning and the end,61 and the number 6 that of matter, of the cycle through the six sub-spiritual levels from spirit to spirit.62
We see this reflected in the numbers 777 and 666. In the ageless wisdom the number 777 is the symbol of the three phases that man traverses to reach perfection. These phases are symbolized by the numbers 700, 70 and 7.63 The numbers 600, 60 and 6, making together 666, then symbolize the imperfection of these phases and cycle. Basically 666 indicates an orientation on involution into matter and 777 on evolution towards spirit.64
We set out to contemplate (aspects of) the antichrist and the Christ and found that in the larger picture they regard principles, namely those of involution and evolution. But we also found that these principles may be embodied by beings on different levels. On the planetary level of the earth for instance 'the Christ' may refer to the major being wielding love and 'the antichrist' to the major being wielding hate. But this love and this hate are also present on an individual level where the first is represented by our own "Angel of the Presence" and the latter by our own "Dweller on the Threshold".
Symbolically these two energies are depicted with crosses in peripheries, that of the antichrist with its emphasis downwards and that of the Christ with its emphasis upwards. And we also saw how the Christian image of Jesus Christ on the cross symbolizes these two energies.
Numerologically we saw conclusively 666 stand for the imperfected antichrist with his orientation on matter and 777 for the perfected Christ with his orientation on spirit.
So to conclude: The antichrist is the hate principle of involution from the unity of spirit to the diversity of matter, and the Christ the love principle of evolution from the diversity of matter to the unity of spirit. But, and this must not be forgotten, they occur as opposites within one cycle of consciousness. And this is also why in The Bible the antichrist and the Christ can both be identified with the same morning star.65, 66 In the larger sense they are one.
1. Spiritual Will | Atma |
2. Intuition | Buddic, Love-Wisdom, the Christ principle. |
3. Higher or abstract Mind | Higher Manas." |