The case of Sergei Prokofieff

This is an extremely interesting book, written by an otherwise unknown member of the Anthroposophical Society, Irina Gordienko (the author is deceased). Anthroposophy is a spiritual path developed by the Austrian occultist Rudolf Steiner about a century ago. Gordienko's book contains an extended criticism of Sergei O Prokofieff (not the Russian composer, but a grandson). This is sensational, since Prokofieff is currently one of the international leaders of the Anthroposophists! Thus, we are dealing with an "intramural" conflict between different Anthroposophical factions. There is a certain irony here, since Prokofieff has promoted himself as an implacable critic of the late Valentin Tomberg, a "heretic" and defector from the Anthroposophical Society who still has admirers within it. Gordienko charges that Prokofieff, too, is a heretic, no better than Tomberg, and stands under the influence of Luciferic forces! (Within Steiner's system, Lucifer is the name given to an evil spirit-being who wants to stop human evolution through phoney spirituality and astral glamour.) Despite occasional sarcasm, Gordienko's aim is a serious one: she really does believe that Prokofieff has deviated on a number of very crucial points from Steiner's original message. Nor is she alone, since the book also contains two articles by one Hellmut Finsterlin, criticizing Prokofieff along similar lines.

Although "Sergei O Prokofieff: Myth and Reality" is relatively easy to read, it might nevertheless be difficult to actually understand, since the author takes us on a roller-coaster ride through the incredibly complex worldview of Anthroposophy (and the even more complex worldview of Prokofieff). However, the main lines of Gordienko's argument are clear. She believes that human evolution is a very slow process. All attempts to force the process are "Luciferic" and will inevitably fail. The task of the "5th post-Atlantic cultural epoch" (i.e. the modern period) is to develop the "Consciousness Soul". Human individuality and the human ego ("the I") should be strengthened, not dispensed with. Science should be promoted, and even materialism plays a partially positive role. The best form of science is "Goetheanism", i.e. Steiner's interpretation of German polymath Goethe's scientific works. Gordienko emphasizes ethical individualism, free will and opposition to all forms of religious and political dogma (she often quotes Steiner's attacks on Communism, implying that Prokofieff has a dogmatic, Soviet-style mentality). Anthroposophy should not become a church or a narrow esoteric sect, but be a broad social-cultural movement. Humans should not sacrifice their egos, but rather develop them. Only Jesus sacrificed his ego, so the Christ (a sun-spirit) could incarnate in him. However, the point of this sacrifice - and of the subsequent "Mystery of Golgotha" - was to strengthen the human ego, not to abolish it or take it over.

These evolutionary strivings are opposed by various demonic forces. As already indicated, Gordienko believes that Prokofieff is under the literal sway of Luciferic beings. Lucifer is an evolutionarily retarded spirit, a kind of cast-away from an earlier eon in Earth evolution. Lucifer hates everything earthly and material, including humanity as presently constituted. He wants to replace humanity with a purely spiritual existence, and therefore attempts to mesmerize humans with promises of spiritual fullfilment outside the physical world. The down-side is that humans must give up their free will, becoming parasitized by Lucifer and his minions. This is an interesting critique of many established religious traditions, which are indeed "anti-physical". Anthroposophy's closest competitors, Theosophy and its derivatives, come to mind as typically "Luciferic" in this sense. (As a side-point, Steiner can't have come up with his system all by himself. Joseph Smith's view of the Devil is strikingly similar to Steiner's view of Lucifer. Yet, the Mormon prophet lived generations before Steiner. Critical scholars hold that Smith was inspired by esoteric sources. Perhaps they were the same ones that Steiner subsequently studied?)

Here follow some examples of Prokofieff's Luciferic thinking, as seen by Gordienko. Prokofieff believes that humans can be collectively possessed by a Group-Soul, and that the Anthroposophical Society was overshadowed by such a soul ("the Being Anthroposophia") at the so-called Christmas Conference in 1923. Prokofieff belittles the ego, constantly calling it "the lower I" in favour of the Spirit-Soul (a kind of higher I). The lower I must be overshadowed by each person's guardian angel, which will act as a kind of higher I for the time being. Prokofieff claims that Rudolf Steiner sacrificed his ego and all his body sheaths (the astral, etheric and physical), so that he was no longer a human individuality, but rather a receptacle through which higher beings spoke, including "The Bodhisattva". By Prokofieff's logic (or so Gordienko believes), Anthroposophy didn't reach its full fruition until the Christmas Conference, thereby rendering null and void Steiner's earlier development of Goetheanism and ethical individualism. Gordienko also accuses the Russian Anthroposophical leader of emulating Nietzsche and his search for the Superman. Apparently, Prokofieff hopes that the Anthroposophical Society will become the seedbed for a new "Michaelic race" (a reference to the archangel Michael). Even Prokofieff's charismatic style of speech is criticized as a Luciferic aberration, mesmerizing the audience with rhetoric rather than teaching genuine esoteric truths.

The main sin of Prokofieff is an attempt to bypass several necessary evolutionary stages. At one point, the author implies that her opponent believes in the possibility of a bodily resurrection here and now! She warns that any attempt to create an imperishable body during our eon will lead the practitioner to become an empty shell. Humans will become "gods" and evolve into "the Spirit-Man" only in a distant future, during the "Vulcan eon". Trying to jump over evolutionary stages is the lie of Lucifer, and will lead the human attempting them to loose his free will and destroy any positive development of the Consciousness Soul. Readers of Prokofieff's "The Case of Valentin Tomberg" will recognize many of these criticisms from that book - Prokofieff's charges against Tomberg are often strikingly similar to Gordienko's case against Prokofieff! There is another projection going on too, with Prokofieff accusing Tomberg of being too young and rash when presenting his new revelations, while Gordienko points out that Prokofieff was even younger (only 26 years old) when he presented *his* stunning new insights into Steiner's message. To an Anthroposophist, this is significant, since people who are too young apparently have an undeveloped astral body, easily taken over by Lucifer during faulty spiritual practice. Where the famous composer's grandson *really* comes from is less clear, except that he began reading esoteric literature at an early age (some of his relatives were Anthroposophists) and has a romantic view of esoteric groups as a kind of modern Grail knights out to save the world...

To sum up, Gordienko fears that Sergei Prokofieff's success within the Anthroposophical movement will transform it from a broad cultural movement with an esoteric core, to a quasi-Theosophical sect, not much different from similar groups littering the spiritual landscape. Of course, one obvious problem with her work is that Gordienko herself is very dogmatic. She believes that all spiritual revelations that contradict Steiner simply must be in error, since Steiner was - surprise - the Master who had earned the right to speak with authority. Thus, her seemingly "liberal" or "individualist" criticism of Prokofieff is ultimately based on absolute faith in the founder of Anthroposophy. Indeed, the author is a kind of traditionalist who dislikes all post-Steinerian innovations. Hence her ire against Prokofieff, who is seen as a dangerous peddler of novelty (compare once again Prokofieff's attacks on the dangerous innovator Tomberg!).

"Sergei O Prokofieff: Myth and Reality" has apparently never been advertised in the German-language Anthroposophical press, and I'm not sure if the Prokofieff faithful have penned a response. However, I strongly suspect that Irina Gordienko's book, brought to us by the mysterious Moskau-Basel-Verlag ("Moscow-Basel Publishers") will become an underground classic, and may already have achieved that status...