The case of the Mars Buddha

"The Case of Valentin Tomberg" is an absurd book. The author, Sergei O. Prokofieff (a grandson of the famous composer), is a leading member of the Anthroposophical Society, a small religious group founded by Rudolf Steiner about a century ago. The book is an attack on Valentin Tomberg, another leading Anthroposophist who eventually converted to the Catholic Church and created a syncretistic blend of Catholicism and Hermetism. In the opinion of Prokofieff, this is strictly verboten. He therefore sets out to warn all Anthroposophists of this dangerous heretic!

To give you the flavour of this book, here are some quotes:

>>>>Moreover, Tomberg asserts that the future Maitreya Buddha will work in the sense of Ignatius of Loyola. (...) In contrast, Rudolf Steiner speaks about the future Maitreya Buddha in quite a different sense on many occasions. He points out how his mission is connected with the fundamental task of esoteric Christianity and its leader Christian Rosencreutz. His spiritual research showed that "the current of the Maitreya Buddha works together with the Western current that links up with Christian Rosencreutz". For in order to establish an occult foundation for the future union of spirituality and the intellect, Christian Rosencreutz sent his "most intimate pupil and friend" Gautama Buddha to Mars. This took place as early as 1604 at a secret council of the true Rosicrucians with the aim of preventing humanity from splitting up into two races comprising pure intellectuals and purely spiritual human beings.>>>

He sent the Buddha...where?

Prokofieff further claims that Tomberg, naturally enough, must have been duped by the Devil himself. Apparently, the Devil (or some Anthroposophical equivalent) appeared to poor Tomberg in the shape of...Rudolf Steiner.

The evil one has many tricks up his sleeve, it seems.