The Sun Archive
A Resource for Spiritual Discovery & Inquiry
Alexander the Great: A Man of Destiny
Any study of Alexander the Great necessarily begins from a perspective aligned with the disposition of the observer and the student. Any traditional historical study of Alexander relies upon manuscripts and oral accounts documented and passed down through ancient historians and seekers. No one knows for sure just how accurate these manuscripts are, and some contradict one another. It is clear that the essential facts and truths, however, are present in these manuscripts. These manuscripts have been edited and passed down from generation to generation and embellishments have inevitably creeped into the past. It is from these source documents - which are limited - that modern historians, archaeologists, and average readers alike are compelled to make observations on the life of this controversial and world-historic leader.
Life experiences and bias shape one's disposition and are inevitably permeated with emotions and feelings that mold an idea, direction, or call to action. These markers in life peremate the soul-life of one and spring from a deeper source within us - whether we are aware of it or not - when a person embarks on a task. These inner aspects come to life through a reader hrough any study of Alexander the Great - both positive and negative. This is because Alexander influenced the lives of millions of people across the world and changed the direction of entire cultures in less than 33 years. He is today properly regarded as the most successful military leader in western history. But this is only part of the story.
Any genuine student - or seeker - of the great riddles of existence looks beyond the threshold and turns to those who have "pierced the veil" and attained a higher degree of spiritual initiation. This task is one of the heart, it is true, but it comes to fruition only through structure, objectivity, and education. It extends far beyond mere intuition, dreams, or flickers of psychic-conscious visions and ideas that typically appear quite randomly in life.
One such individual came forth in the 20th century, in Dr. Rudolf Steiner, who founded the Anthroposophical Society based in Dornach, Switzerland. He was a genuine spiritual initiate who took it upon himself to shed deeper insights into the riddles of existence through thousands of lectures, books, and articles which today are available to the genuine public for free (www.rsarchive.com) given over the course of his lifetime. Through Dr. Steiner, we can today attempt a study of the karmic history and motivations of Alexander the Great (and indeed many other souls) and how it was that such a person came to be at a certain moment in history that has not faded into the past.
Others have attempted spiritual studies of Alexander in the past with the bloom of Theosophy and spiritual seekers in the 20th century who possessed genuine forms of supersensible perception including Edgar Cayce. Seekers who who have spent time in these disciplines have come to Alexander, and those like him, but their conclusions and insights are at best incomplete or inherently flawed. A genuine student of history cannot rely purely on historical documents, insights of modern historians, or perhaps, insights gathered through vague intuitions. These are starting points to be reflected upon, it is true, nor should we ignore them.
However, it is only through someone such as Dr. Rudolf Steiner - and beare of how few there are in the world - that a true view of the life of Alexander and his unique role in western history can be explored; a history that extends beyond the motivations attributed by modern historians and scholars who limit their perspective to the forces of egotism and vanity. A genuine seeker and student of the mysteries necessarily turns to one who can read from the Akashic Records effectively and truthfully having purged their biases and lower aspects through the difficult task of the purification of the soul - which occurs only over the course of many lifetimes - and the evolution of higher forms of consciousness attainable only through spiritual initiation.
The term "Akasha" is the Sanskrit word for "aether", "sky", or "atmosphere." It is the eternal cosmic record of every thought, feeling, deed, and outcome that is written upon the skein of space and time which permeates the world, humanity, and the cosmos (refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashic_records). It is a spiritual "essence" that permeates all living things and is one of the building blocks of the universe. Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891), founder of Theosophy, reintroduced the concept into the west and characterized this energy as "indestructible tablets of the astral light" recording both the past and future of all human thought and action. In recent decades, many near-death experiencers have returned to reveal insights on the "Hall of Records" (a Cayce term) and the experience of viewing their own lives, and the lives of others, in perfect clarity as a kind of living movie that includes feelings, thoughts, and forces that at work in all human events; however large or small.
Thus, a mature individual - typically through deep states of meditation which Dr. Steiner and a lesser extent Edgar Cayce achieved - can read from the eternal records if he or she has learned how to do so. While an average level of perception will always struggle, it is also true that ideas and truths from the "Akasha essence" will emerge in one's consciousness suddenly on the path of life and in response to research. Alternative approaches have produced results in the modern world including hypnosis, clairvoyance, clear dreaming, and even near-death experiences.
These experiences, however, are inevitably incomplete and require deeper reflection and study; a quality that those who have not attained to a deeper supersensible vision of the world, humanity, and the cosmos in a mature way simply do not possess. No other hypothesis or view of karmic histories, when compared to those provided for through Dr. Steiner's works, should be contradictory to the findings of his lectures, articles, and books. This study was inspired by the findings of Dr. Steiner's lectures, and thus he was used as a foundation for this little study on Alexander. In this area of consideration, Dr. Steiner makes it clear that Alexander was driven by a stream of activity connected to the Mysteries and initiation.
The purpose of this summary is to look at a perspective of Alexander and light of the mysteries as given to humanity by Dr Rudolf Steiner. He approaches Alexander in a number of lectures from different perspectives, all of which are connected somehow to the evolution of an initiation and the mysteries in the ancient world. Within the anthroposophical society, there is much debate and ascension about any study karma relationships at a personal level, which necessarily is flawed based on a lack of any genuine intuition or objective study of the mysteries provided by Dr by the General Public. It is, therefore the purpose of this article through purely Dr. Steiner, and look at the mission of Alexander, who is regarded by historians and the world alike as the greatest military figure has ever lived.
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Incarnated around Alexander were many souls you came into his life. All of him were also connected somehow to Alexander’s mission from a karmic and a carrying and impulse into the world. these forces work with an all individuals in the world, whether they are conscious of them or not Alexander, and those like them are conscious of these forces and burning sense of destiny guides their life purpose. He lived a short life relatively dying at the age of 33 after a campaign into Asia, Macedonia, or conquered all of the known world. This age correlates with a specific moment of initiation when sacrifices are generally made at a higher spiritual level, even though people are not aware of it. Dr. Steiner points facts like these and others out which can’t guide to person to something of the study and light of an initiation of which is inherently flawed which is to say that it is incomplete.
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Nonetheless, I felt compelled to undertake the study as a student of history and Alexander, the great as a personal quest, the try to provide to the public something deeper inside into a man who is not guided truly by egotistical forces, but rather by what Dr Rudolph Steiner refers to him a s “all personality”.
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A serious and considerate Study of someone karmic history, necessarily ends before the modern era. The reason for those is privacy, and the reality that it’s really no one else’s business. We really should worry about our own karmic histories and how they intertwine other people and make that our priority. However, this begins by the study of other peoples histories which we can validate through someone is passed through higher stages, spiritual sensation, and therefore can read from the records with the greatest level of objectivity . That is Dr. Rudolph Steiner .
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therefore, this study will conclude based on what is known, and Dr. Stein works, and what is not speculated or hypothesized by myself personally, as I certainly have my own view of things, this other people do.
(1) Alexander the Great's life and karmic-spiritual mission was a fulfillment and a sacrifice that flowed through a stream of spiritual activity that was seeded in prior lifetimes connected to the mysteries. During those incarnations, he passed through initiations in ancient Greece (Ephesus, for example), Persia, Mesopotamia, and perhaps Egypt and India. During at least one of those experiences, Alexander lived as the legendary priest-king initiate Gilgamesh.
(2) From the moment of birth, Alexander was surrounded, due to karmic relationships, by individuals who had also passed through initiations in the mysteries in prior lifetimes in Greece, Persia, Mesopotamia, Europe, Egypt, and India. These individuals reunited to fulfill a special karmic mission that would never occur again. Many of these individuals had lived lives as military commanders and priest-kings, which was the source of disposition in leadership as well as political and military strategy.
(3) At least one reincarnation study - built entirely upon hypothesis and no genuine investigation into the Akashic Records - speculated that Alexander the Great had continued a series of incarnations as famous martial leaders in history repeatedly. This is not true and is not based on objective spiritual investigation as we find in Dr. Rudolf Steiner's works. As such, I used Dr. Rudolf Steiner's insights on Alexander as the sole basis for observations on Alexander of an esoteric/spiritual origin including any facts regarding his karmic history and spiritual mission.
(3) Training in the mysteries for Alexander, and many of his companions, occurred by way of Aristotle; the founder of Western logic in Greece who brought a new impulse of perception, thinking, and investigation into the Western world. Aristotle initiated Alexander during his teens at Somathrace where he was accompanied by several of his key companions. None, however, were as talented or predisposed as Alexander was in the mysteries thus he stood out amongst all of his peers in almost all ways beyond his aristocratic birth.
Alexander was as much a committed student of the mysteries - perhaps more so than anything else - as he was in politics or his inherited mission to conquer Asia and the Persian empire at the head of the Graeco-Macedonian army. During his lifetime, Alexander claimed that he would dedicate his future lives to the mysteries only, and had no interest in political or military leadership.
(4) Alexander slept with an annotated copy of Homer's works - the Iliad and the Odyssey - given to him by Aristotle under his pillow. The Trojan War was a defining moment in the formation of ancient Greece as she separated from the influences and forces of the East; forces that Alexander had originated from in prior lifetimes as he - and others with whom he was connected through the mysteries - brought a new cultural-spiritual impulse to Asia through his campaigns. The Trojan War was more than just a political battle.
Many of the individuals who lived and died in the tragedy of the Trojan War on both sides including kings, soldiers, and commoners were genuine spiritual initiates who played important roles in the evolution of Western culture and spirituality including the soul who later incarnated as Pythagoras who spoke of living through the Trojan War as a Trojan (a fact revealed through clairvoyance as he was a high initiate in the Chaldean and Egyptian mysteries).
In the 20th century, Edgar Cayce (the "Sleeping Prophet"; founder of the Association of Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, Va.) stated that he had lived as a gatekeeper and advisor to King Priam in that lifetime (a fact revealed through his spiritual investigations). Many of those individuals reincarnated around Alexander and Aristotle including some as Alexander's closest bodyguards and advisors. Some of these individuals lived as researchers at the Lyceum in Athens; Aristotle's institute - or college - of open teaching in science, logic, and the mysteries.
(5) Alexander envisioned himself as a new Achilles and celebrated his landings in Asia by triumphantly running around the ruins of Troy in a footrace with his closest companion and confidant; Hephastion. This was not vanity. Alexander pursued the question his entire life as to if he was a "Son of Zeus." This is a term used in by the ancient Greeks that denotes one who has attained his or her spiritual initiation but there was no one available who could answer this question definitively; at least not to Alexander's satisfaction.
This concept is sometimes confused with "immortality" by historians. This term is synonymous with a "Son of Apollo", a "Son of the Sun", and a "Sun of Light." All of these terms refer to someone who has passed through a spiritual initiation (refer to my study on this website "Heracles, Son of the Sun" and the "Oracle of Delphi").
(1) "As the evolution of mankind flows onwards, one of the Archangels becomes Regent and exercises earthly rule for a period of three to three-and-a-half centuries. At the time when Aristotelianism was carried by Alexander the Great to Asia and Africa, at the time when the spread of this culture was pervaded by a cosmopolitan, international spirit, Michael was the Ruling Archangel; the spiritual life was under his dominion." -Rudolf Steiner, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA240/English/APC1953/19240814v02.html
(2) "Through the expeditions of Alexander the Great, a certain rational and healthy form of mysticism had been carried over to Asia, with the result that men who were more adapted for the kind of philosophical thinking thus introduced, regarded the world as pervaded by the Cosmic Intelligence. Over in Asia in those times a man did not say: “I think this or that out for myself, I have my own, personal intelligence”—but he said: “Everything that is thought is thought by Gods, primarily by the supreme Godhead—the Godhead as conceived by Aristotelianism.” -Rudolf Steiner, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA240/English/RSP1975/19240814v01.html
(3) "These secrets of the divine-spiritual world were preserved in the places of the Mysteries. So, for example, many of the ancient, holy secrets which proclaimed the connection of the human soul with the divine-spiritual worlds were preserved in the Mysteries of Diana of Ephesus and in the Ephesian temple. A great deal in these Mysteries was no longer comprehensible in an age when human personality had come into prominence.
And like a token of how little the purely external personality understood what had remained spiritually, there stands the half-mystical figure of Herostratus, who has eyes only for the superficial aspect of personality—Herostratus who flings the burning torch into the temple of Ephesus. This deed is like a token of the clash between the personality and what had survived from ancient spirituality.
And on the very same day when a man, merely in order that his name might go down to posterity, throws the burning brand into the sanctuary of Ephesus, there is born the man who has achieved more than all others for the culture of personality—and on the very soil where the culture of were personality was meant to be overcome. Herostratus flings the burning torch on the day when Alexander the Great is born—the man who is all personality! Alexander the Great stands there as the shadow-image of Gilgamesh. A profound truth lies behind this. In the Greco-Latin epoch, Alexander the Great stands there as the shadow image of Gilgamesh, as a projection of the spiritual on to the physical plane. And Eabani, projected on to the physical plane, is Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander the Great.
Here indeed is a strange circumstance: Alexander and Aristotle standing, like Gilgamesh and Eabani, side by side. And we see how in the first third of the fourth Post-Atlantean epoch there is carried over, as it were, by Alexander the Great but transformed into the laws of the physical plane—that which had been imparted to the Babylonian-Chaldean culture by Gilgamesh.
This comes to wonderful expression in the fact that, as a result of the deeds of Alexander, there was established an the scene of Egypto-Chaldean culture Alexandria itself, the city founded by Alexander in 332 B.C. in order that the great achievements of the Egypto-Babylonian-Chaldean culture-epoch might be brought together in one centre. And gradually all the streams of Post-Atlantean culture that were intended to come together did indeed converge on Alexandria, the city established an the scene of the third culture-epoch but with the character of the fourth." -Rudolf Steiner, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA126/English/RSP1982/19101227p01.html
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