On the Way to Easter

Your path constantly leads to a fork in the road, though it often goes unnoticed because habit takes over the decision, and your inner autopilot lets you slumber. Rudolf Steiner calls this orientation the “Gate of the Moon.” But what if you were to pause at the crossroads and let Easter awaken, guide, and inspire you to the “Gate of the Sun?” There are three Easter questions that are worth asking yourself at every instance of decision-making.

What would you do from the perspective of Good Friday—from the perspective of the last hour of your life and the vantage point of its finiteness? How would you set foot into the present? How would you direct your steps now, looking back from the end of life’s journey? The light from the end of life gives weight to the things around you, the things of life. The knowledge of mortality is, therefore, the source of the essence of things. It is the certainty of your death that tells you what counts, what has weight.

What would you do from the perspective of Holy Saturday? On Holy Saturday, the soul detaches itself from the body and faces destiny as a counterpart, a tableau. How would you choose your direction now, if you viewed it with this distancing? What would you do if you looked at yourself like a friend might? Holy Saturday bestows Saturnian light when you turn to yourself with a kind gaze and give counsel—when you are a friend to yourself. The fog of prejudice lifts. If Good Friday gives you weight, the earth, then Holy Saturday gives you light.

What would you do from the perspective of Easter Sunday? There, you know about your eternal life; you know about the togetherness of everything and everyone. There, fear of loneliness no longer struggles for recognition and influence. You know that you are connected, and that it is love that sets the course. Rudolf Steiner calls this decision—the decision to live—the “Gate of the Sun.” Easter Sunday gives you life.

Translation Laura Liska

Photo From Shaping Light, Laura Liska, 2025.