and several scenes, which were quite authentic, reminded me of my days as an exorcists. We thought the movie was amazing!<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"http:\/\/www.cosmiconvergence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Screen-Shot-2016-04-05-at-2.13.32-PM.png\")
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I turned to Robert and said that I had always wanted to help Spielberg do a movie, a great one that really gets to the heart of spiritual matters. I wanted to hang out with Spielberg and Lucas, both known to associate with Waldorf schools, and cross-pollinate archetypal icons for a spiritual future that could educate people through movies. I loved movies and found them to be just as demonic as Steiner said they were, but also a powerful tool of social development through displaying moral archetypes in a captivating way. They are \u201cdreams of the future,\u201d if you will.<\/span><\/p>\nWe had a group of thinkers in our Mayflower community who dreamt such thoughts and put our work into writing, education, music, art, and other cultural seeding. We longed for a platform to reach more people about the amazing powers of transformation available through self-development in many different streams of wisdom. Movies could deliver these messages to the world. \u00a0I longed for the opportunity to unveil previously secret wisdom on the big screen.<\/span><\/p>\nI had often spoke to Robert and other esoteric friends about my dream to link up with Spielberg as I had the opportunity to do with Marcia Lucas before the <\/span>Star Wars<\/span><\/i> treatment became a screenplay. I simply wanted to know how much he knew about Steiner and how much he intended to display in movies. My friends and I discussed <\/span>Poltergeist<\/span><\/i> and found anthroposophical ideas throughout the entire movie and especially clear representations of the electro-magnetic, sub-natural forces that bind human souls to the earth realm through television. The accurate depiction of possession was frightening and realistic. And of course, the special effects and dynamic editing blew us all away. \u00a0Spielberg was going places that were inspired and gifted beyond anything before his time. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI eventually discovered the connection between Spielberg-Kathleen Kennedy-Marcia and George Lucas and their blockbuster movies <\/span>Star Wars<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Poltergeist<\/span><\/i>. I realized that Kathleen had acted as a creative proxy, reaching out to me and my colleagues for the knowledge to incorporate into his fabulous movies, just as Marcia had done with us at the Waldorf Institute. So, in that sense, I felt there was already a connection. I had, indirectly, influenced Spielberg\u2019s and Lucas\u2019 movies by providing the knowledge to Kathleen Kennedy and Marcia Lucas. I am filled with gratitude that these creative people found me in Michigan and gave me the time to share the arcane and occult. <\/span><\/p>\nIndiana Jones <\/span><\/i>also came from this steam, but did not get our full approval. We saw the movies and loved them but found little coherence between the historical Ark of the Covenant and the entertainment version flush with Nazis. They were cheesy, not unlike parts of <\/span>Star Wars<\/span><\/i>. The entertainment value of the blockbuster feature was a new phenomenon of our time. Basically, we were seeing our new cultural heroes and heroines raised up to the silver screen \u2013 like Greek gods raised into the starry sky. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nTime passed. I had left the Institute and occasionally worked with Robert. One Saturday afternoon, I was working in his Mayflower Bookshop. The phone rang. I answered. A female voice on the other ends said, \u201cI understand this is where I can talk to the smartest anthroposophist around?\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIf you knew Robert, you would understand my answer. \u201cThat\u2019s right ma\u2019am,\u201d I said. \u201cYou have a question and we will give, get, or find the answer. And I, have a degree in anthroposophy. I may not be the smartest but I actually have a college degree in these subjects. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWell, I have some questions and need the entire background of the subject to form a picture of it. \u00a0The many stories do not agree. What is the truth of the Holy Grail?\u201d she asked.<\/span><\/p>\nAs a side note, working at the Mayflower Bookshop involved answering the most far-out questions from the most far-out people in the English-speaking world. Robert had amassed the largest collection of rare books concerning every type of spiritual, religious, astrological and historical topic. People traveled from all around the country to buy books at his store and to interact with Robert and his team of talented psychics, astrologers, readers, and the brilliant thinkers who frequented the scene. So, when you answer the phone at the Mayflower, you had better be ready for anything. Being a little bit over-confident didn\u2019t hurt the Mayflower reputation.<\/span><\/p>\nAsking me about the Holy Grail is like asking an old man to talk about his aches and pains. I lit into a litany of descriptions framing the Celtic, Christian, Pagan, mythological and archetypal nature of the grail. Then I described Steiner\u2019s views, both his cosmic and earthly descriptions. She asked me about books containing these ideas. I described for her the contents of each book on the topic one by one. \u00a0I was so proud and egotistic in my youth, so anxious to show my intellectual prowess. \u00a0Soon, a stack of books was mounting. \u00a0Robert came out and asked what was going on. I pointed at the books. He smiled and returned to the front of the store.<\/p>\n
We continued to talk and talk and stack up books on the Holy Grail. I was amazed to see just how many titles the Mayflower carried on the different versions of the grail. After two boxes of books, we ended the conversation and I charged her for the books. I was shocked. Her credit card was in the name of Kathleen Kennedy. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cTHE Kathleen Kennedy, who works for Steven Spielberg?\u201d I said. <\/span><\/p>\n\u201cYes,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\nAt that point, I almost passed out. The clouds of years cleared before my wisdom eye and I realized this was the same Kathleen that I had spoken with years before. In fact, I had given her the very phone number of the Mayflower Bookshop phone that I now answered. The circuitous nature of destiny was dizzying to my mind. <\/span><\/p>\nI was dazed as I reviewed the ideas I had shared with her at that time and the two movies Spielberg had produced since then. \u00a0Now, she was asking about the Holy Grail. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSo, I had to ask: \u201cAre these books getting to Spielberg to help develop new ideas?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\u201cYes, I am his assistant and I gather research for all of us to look at to stimulate ideas,\u201d she said frankly.<\/span><\/p>\nThis was actually too much for my little mind to comprehend. \u00a0I had been sending books to the think tank of all movie think tanks and \u201cadding my two cents.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThese books will be looked at by a collective of people percolating ideas for movies,\u201d she said. \u201cBut honestly, we don\u2019t have the time to read them all so we need you to point us in the direction of a simple version that is loaded with symbols, archetypes and plots that resemble the true path,\u201d she added. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI was so glad the conversation ended shortly after she said that. I boxed up the books and hoped this would appease Robert for staying on the phone for so long. <\/span>We had been a part of the greatest movie think tank that has shaped humanity\u2019s collective consciousness! <\/span><\/i>I was numb at the thought of what I had unknowingly done. The very thing I wished to do, but thought I was too insignificant to do, had already happened (<\/span>Star Wars<\/span><\/i>) and was happening again. In some small way, I made a free offering of the heart that was taken up and developed into lasting modern icons. I was overwhelmed by what it must be like to be Spielberg or Lucas or Kathleen, knowing that they are shaping history and the perceptions that build human development directly into the subconscious realms of human aspiration and dreams. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBinding up the boxes and labeling them, I could hardly describe to Robert what had just happened. \u00a0He was shocked and pleased. I asked a colleague to take over at the front desk and asked Robert to join me in his office. I told him what had just happened in detail and the revelation that this happened once before years ago. He was amazed, but not dazzled. Robert was already a famous personality himself, because of his high-profile astrological clients around the world who claimed he was one of the best. It took a lot to impress him. He was skeptical about ever meeting Spielberg or Lucas and that Kathleen Kennedy might do little with these books. He thought they would end up the same as the ones sent from the Waldorf bookstore \u2013 barely influencing the plot line. In the gravity of his experience, he was right. <\/span><\/p>\nThe next time Kathleen called the Mayflower, I talked with her deeply about the Holy Grail and about the underground \u201ccaves\u201d in South America and the end of the story I called \u201cSun Seed.\u201d Kathleen seemed to be an honest and very practical student on the path. I held back nothing from her many penetrating questions. I answered the best I could and stacked up the books again and mailed them.<\/p>\n
This went on a number of times over a period of about a year. Same routine, same lack of finding exactly what the think tank wanted. They wanted something short, easily understood by young and old, slow and wise. This proved to be a huge problem for me because the essence of the Holy Grail cannot be crammed into one short story. We needed to frame the cultural references and limit the topic. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAfter some time, the conversation went beyond buying books and I had to take the calls as a \u201creading,\u201d which I was used to doing. We racked up many hours talking about these subjects deeply. \u00a0I was happy because I was being paid by the hour. Kathleen was happy to pay and ask questions \u2013 I was happy to answer, be paid and try to help in some small way. Still, I couldn\u2019t quite get it right. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nKathleen decided to come to the store and meet us and have a face-to-face conversation about the Holy Grail. I looked forward to this meeting and hoped that the personal touch might bring forth the essence of what the think tank wanted to display in the movie. The opportunity was so grand, if I could just get the plot into a simple archetypal form.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"http:\/\/www.cosmiconvergence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Screen-Shot-2016-04-05-at-2.13.50-PM.png\")
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We were honored the day Kathleen came to the Mayflower. We talked throughout the day and she spent time looking through the amazing collection of rare books. She could now see why we had so much to offer in terms of books. At the end of the day, I could still see that look of dissatisfaction and incompletion on her face. I felt like a failure. We got up and went to the door. After hugging her good-bye, it suddenly hit me. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWait a minute. I get it,\u201d I said. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI suddenly had a clear picture in my mind. It was very simple and would incorporate many of the themes \u2013 but not a true and literal stream of the grail. It would be fictional, yet retain elements of truth that point in the right direction.<\/span><\/p>\nKathleen came back, sat down and took out her notebook. I explained the elements that must be in the story and synthesized all of the stories into one. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHere is the vision I shared with her: <\/span><\/p>\nThere needs to be three knights who go to Jerusalem to find the grail. They are tasked with bringing it to the West and guarding it until the time comes for a \u201cchosen one\u201d to cross the bridge of death between the physical and spiritual, and reach the holy shrine of the grail carved in solid stone. Hide the grail in plain sight, so only the \u201cpure of heart\u201d knows which of the many grails is the one and only grail, the cup that Christ used at the Last Supper. \u00a0This cup is humble and anyone who drinks from it lives forever. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe three knights drink from the cup to live and protect the grail. Two knights fall in battle defending the grail while one knight retreats to the grail cave to watch over it. Only the pure of heart can make it over the \u201cbridge of sighs\u201d that takes the life of all who try to cross without the proper moral development. They must know the question that frees the knight and then \u201cknights\u201d a new keeper of the grail. <\/span><\/p>\nThe moral question is, \u201cWill the pure of heart give up their life for another?\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThis pursuit enables the seeker to cross the bridge, but then they must defeat the protector or assume his duties after the proper grail is discerned through purity. Once the grail leaves the purified realm of the grail cave, it heals the earth by falling into the deepest part, which brings restorative forces to Mother Nature.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe Holy Grail is, thus, a living imagination of the etheric realm. \u00a0The drama centers around efforts to defend Her just as others try to defile Her. \u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis little story then became the simple plot of the movie <\/span>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade<\/span><\/i>, mixing crusaders with grail knights, adventurous archeologists, CIA, Nazi and Nubean Temples. \u00a0Wow, don\u2019t blink or the spiritual plot of the movie may whiz right by you. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAfter the movie came out, I truly had to ask myself, \u201cWas that what I was hoping for?\u201d I didn\u2019t think so. The impact of the Holy Grail was incidental, marginalized just as the Ark of the Covenant was perceived as a weapon in the first Indiana Jones movie, or as a golden skull inside a secret cave, or crystal skulls in South American cave, or Shiva stones that assume the characteristics of the Stones of Atlantis. It is somewhat disappointing that the spiritual references were lost in the action-packed dynamics of adventure and mystery, but at least they were included.<\/p>\n
Our response to seeing spiritual ideas trivialized was rather critical. The real mystery and power of the grail did not come through the plot of the movie. The reverent moment in the grail cave was beautiful and did stay true to the dynamics of a knight on the path of the Holy Grail. But all too soon, Indiana Jones crossed back over the bridge to save his father and ultimately see the Holy Grail fall into the bowels of the earth. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI was very happy about this particular point. I had focused on it as a critical element of truth that places the Holy Grail, as a physical object, deep within the earth. The true Holy Grail is not physical and shouldn\u2019t be an object that Nazis can find and utilize for evil, just like the Ark, or Shiva stones, or golden or crystal skulls. Spirit is displayed in the architecture, art, and relics of ancient cultures that held \u201cobjects\u201d as sacred, filled with spirit. We should not over-materialize these spiritual forces by worship of objects that represent them. In that way, the ending of the movie was great. Indiana saves his dad and the Holy Grail is committed to the heart of the earth. That part of the story was grand because it conveyed part of the true nature of the etheric Holy Grail which is still active today.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter she had visited us that day in the bookstore, I only talked with Kathleen a few more times. We filled in some of the details of the short \u201cfairy tale\u201d version of the Holy Grail, as I came to call it. I also shared with her the \u201ctruth\u201d about the caves in South America that Blavatsky said were lined with gold and home to the masters. This was in the form of a long story called \u201cSun Seed,\u201d about a seeker who finds his way to these caves and what he encounters there, as well as its relationship to sunspots and the shifting of the poles. Twelve masters must meet in the cave to create a new Ark that will keep the earth from great physical upheavals. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nYears after <\/span>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade<\/span><\/i>, the <\/span>Crystal Skull<\/span><\/i> came out and I was sad to see that the story had devolved into using an alien craft, not a spiritual edifice, and that the last missing skull was necessary to activate the process instead of the last master who had to find his way to the Sun Ark. Again, rocks take the place of consciousness. Instead of bringing forth spiritual beings, they bring forth aliens. This was sadly disappointing and a far cry from the intention of the story as it was imagined. Only the outer husk of the story was used, then placed in the middle of muddle and action-packed suspense. In the noise, the spiritual message got lost. <\/span><\/p>\nNowadays, it is our good fortune that so many amazing spiritual concepts have reached the movies. \u00a0It is obvious there are now plenty of people like me who want to see truth beautifully displayed through sweeping stories that connect the viewer with their humanity and enrich their place in the process of the whole.<\/p>\n
I love a movie with a great story that keeps building capacities by reflecting upon the archetypes displayed. I hope that the never-ending stories and fairy tales that inspire us keep offering these soul archetypes to humanity. They will help all of us as spiritual beings move through catharsis to the other side of suffering, to cross the bridge of sighs, where ultimately we will find wisdom at the end of the trail.<\/p>\n
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