Mysticism at the Dawn of the Modern Age
GA 7
Preface to the 1923 Edition
[ 1 ] In this work more than twenty years ago, I wanted to answer the question, Why do a particular form of mysticism and the beginnings of modern scientific thinking clash in a period from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century.
[ 2 ] I did not wish to write a “history” of the mysticism of this period, but only to answer this question. The publications which have appeared on this subject in the past twenty years do not, in my opinion, furnish any grounds for making any changes in the answer. The work can therefore reappear in the main unchanged.
[ 3 ] The mystics who are dealt with here are the last offshoots of a way of inquiry and thinking which in its details is foreign to present-day consciousness. However, the disposition of soul which lived in this way of inquiry exists in thoughtful natures at the present time. The manner of looking at objects of nature with which, before the period characterized here, this disposition of soul was connected, has almost disappeared. Its place has been taken by present-day natural science.
[ 4 ] The personalities described in this book were not able to transmit the earlier way of inquiry to the future. It no longer corresponds to the cognitive powers which have developed in European man from the thirteenth and fourteenth century onward. What Paracelsus or Jacob Boehme preserve of this way of inquiry appears only as a reminiscence of something past. In essence it is the disposition of soul which remains to thoughtful men. And for it they seek an impulse in the inclinations of the soul itself, while formerly it arose in the soul when the latter observed nature. Many of those who incline toward mysticism today do not want to kindle mystical experiences in connection with what present-day natural science says, but with what the works of the period described here contain. But in this way they become strangers to what most occupies the present.
[ 5 ] It might appear as though the present-day knowledge of nature, seen in its true character, does not indicate a way which could so incline the soul as to find, in mystical contemplation, the light of the spirit. Why do mystically inclined souls find satisfaction in Meister Eckhart, in Jacob Boehme, etc., but not in the book of nature, insofar as, opened by knowledge, it lies before man today?
[ 6 ] It is true that the manner in which this book of nature is discussed today for the most part, cannot lead to a mystical disposition of soul.
[ 7 ] It is the intention of this work to indicate that this manner of discussion does not have to be used. This is attempted by speaking also of those spirits who, out of the disposition of soul of the old mysticism, developed a way of thinking which also can incorporate the newer knowledge into itself. This is the case with Nicolas of Cusa.
[ 8 ] In such personalities it becomes apparent that present-day natural science too is capable of a mystical intensification. For a Nicolas of Cusa would be able to lead his thinking over into this science. In his time one could have discarded the old way of inquiry, retained the mystical disposition, and accepted modern natural science, had it already existed.
[ 9 ] But what the human soul finds compatible with a way of inquiry it must, if it is strong enough, also be able to extract from it.
[ 10 ] I wanted to describe the characteristics of medieval mysticism in order to indicate how, separated from its native soil, the old way of conceiving things, it develops into an independent mysticism, but cannot preserve itself because it now lacks the spiritual impulse which, through its connection with inquiry, it had in earlier times.
[ 11 ] This leads to the thought that those elements of more recent research which lead to mysticism must be sought for. From this inquiry the spiritual impulse which does not stop at the darkly mystical, emotional inner life, but ascends from the mystical starting-point to a knowledge of the spirits, can be regained. Medieval mysticism atrophied because it had lost the substratum of inquiry which directs the faculties of the soul upward to the spirit. This book is intended to provide a stimulus for extracting from more recent inquiry, when properly understood, those forces which are directed toward the spiritual world.
Goetheanum in Dornach bei Basel, Switzerland
Autumn, 1923, Rudolf Steiner
Vorwart zur Neuauflage - 1924
[ 1 ] In dieser Schrift habe ich vor mehr als zwanzig Jahren die Frage beantworten wollen: Warum stoßen eine besondere Form der Mystik und die Anfänge des gegenwärtigen naturwissenschaftlichen Denkens in der Zeit vom dreizehnten bis zum siebzehnten Jahrhundert aufeinander.
[ 2 ] Ich wollte nicht eine «Geschichte» der Mystik dieser Zeit schreiben, sondern nur diese Frage beantworten. Etwas an dieser Beantwortung zu ändern, geben die Veröffentlichungen, die seit zwanzig Jahren über den Gegenstand erfolgt sind, nach meiner Meinung, keine Veranlassung. Die Schrift kann daher im wesentlichen unverändert wieder erscheinen.
[ 3 ] Die Mystiker, von denen hier gesprochen wird, sind letzte Ausläufer einer Forschungs- und Denkungsart, die in ihren Einzelheiten dem gegenwärtigen Bewußtsein fremd gegenübersteht. Nur die Seelenstimmung, die in dieser Forschungsart gelebt hat, ist in innigen Naturen der Gegenwart vorhanden. Die Art, die Dinge der Natur anzusehen, mit der vor dem hier gekennzeichneten Zeitalter diese Seelenstimmung verbunden war, ist nahezu verschwunden. Die gegenwärtige Naturforschung ist an ihre Stelle getreten.
[ 4 ] Die Reihe der Persönlichkeiten, die hier charakterisiert werden, vermochten nicht die einstmalige Forschungsart in die Zukunft hinüber zu tragen. Sie entspricht nicht mehr den Erkenntniskräften, die sich vom dreizehnten und vierzehnten Jahrhundert an in der europäischen Menschheit entwickeln. Nur wie Reminiszenzen an Vergangenes sieht sich an, was Paracelsus oder Jacob Böhme noch von dieser Forschungsart bewahren. Im wesentlichen bleibt den sinnenden Menschen die Seelenstimmung. Und für diese suchen sie einen Impuls in den Neigungen der Seele selbst, während sie ehedem in der Seele aufleuchtete, wenn diese die Natur beobachtete. Mancher, der heute zur Mystik neigt, wird die mystischen Erlebnisse nicht in Anlehnung an das entzünden wollen, was die gegenwärtige Naturforschung sagt, sondern an das, was die Schriften der hier geschilderten Zeit enthalten. Dadurch aber wird er ein Fremdling gegenüber dem, was die Gegenwart am meisten beschäftigt.
[ 5 ] Es könnte nun scheinen, als ob die gegenwärtige Naturerkenntnis, in ihrer Wahrheit gesehen, keinen Weg anzeigte, der so die Seele stimmen könnte, daß sie in mystischem Schauen das Licht des Geistes findet. Warum finden mystisch gestimmte Seelen zwar Befriedigung bei dem Meister Eckhart, bei Jacob Böhme usw.; nicht aber in dem Buche der Natur, soweit dieses heute durch die Erkenntnis aufgeschlagen vor dem Menschen liegt?
[ 6 ] Die Gestalt, in der über dieses Buch heute zumeist gesprochen wird, kann allerdings nicht in die mystische Seelenstimmung führen.
[ 7 ] Daß aber so nicht gesprochen werden muß, darauf will diese Schrift hinweisen. Es wird dies dadurch versucht, daß auch von solchen Geistern gesprochen wird, die aus der Seelenstimmung der alten Mystik ein Denken entwickeln, das auch die neueren Erkenntnisse in sich aufnehmen kann. Das ist bei Nikolaus von Kues der Fall.
[ 8 ] An solchen Persönlichkeiten zeigt sich, daß auch die gegenwärtige Naturforschung einer mystischen Vertiefung fähig ist. Denn ein Nikolaus von Kues könnte sein Denken in diese Forschung hinüberführen. Man hätte zu seiner Zeit die alte Forschungsart ablegen, die mystische Stimmung bewahren, und die moderne Naturforschung annehmen können, wenn sie schon dagewesen wäre.
[ 9 ] Was aber die Menschenseele mit einer Forschungsart verträglich findet, das muß sie auch aus ihr gewinnen können, wenn sie stark genug dazu ist.
[ 10 ] Ich habe die Wesensart der mittelalterlichen Mystik darstellen wollen, um darauf hinzuweisen, wie sie sich losgelöst von ihrem Mutterboden, der alten Vorstellungsart, als selbständige Mystik ausbildet, sich aber nicht erhalten kann, weil ihr die seelische Impulsivität nunmehr fehlt, die sie in alten Zeiten durch die Forschung gehabt hat.
[ 11 ] Das führt zu dem Gedanken, daß die zur Mystik führenden Elemente der neueren Forschung gesucht werden müssen. Aus dieser kann dann die seelische Impulsivität wieder gewonnen werden, die nicht bei dem dunklen mystischen, gefühlsverwandten Innenleben stehen bleibt, sondern von dem mystischen Ausgangspunkte aus zur Geisterkenntnis aufsteigt. Die mittelalterliche Mystik verkümmerte, weil sie den Untergrund der Forschung verloren hatte, der den Seelenkräften hinauf die Richtung zum Geiste gibt. Anregen will dies Büchlein dazu, die nach der geistigen Welt richtunggebenden Kräfte aus der rechtverstandenen neueren Forschung zu gewinnen.
Goetheanum in Dornach bei Basel
Herbst 1923 Rudolf Steiner
Ahead of the new edition - 1924
[ 1 ] In this paper, more than twenty years ago, I wanted to answer the question: Why do a particular form of mysticism and the beginnings of contemporary scientific thought collide in the period from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century.
[ 2 ] I did not want to write a "history" of mysticism in this period, but only to answer this question. In my opinion, the publications that have appeared on the subject over the last twenty years give no reason to change this answer. The paper can therefore reappear essentially unchanged.
[ 3 ] The mystics spoken of here are the last offshoots of a way of research and thinking that in its details is alien to contemporary consciousness. Only the mood of soul that lived in this way of research is present in the intimate natures of the present. The way of looking at the things of nature, with which this mood of soul was connected before the age characterized here, has almost disappeared. The present-day study of nature has taken its place.
[ 4 ] The series of personalities characterized here were not able to carry the former type of research into the future. It no longer corresponds to the forces of knowledge that developed in European humanity from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries onwards. What Paracelsus or Jacob Böhme still retain of this way of research only looks like reminiscences of the past. Essentially, what remains for contemplative people is the mood of the soul. And for this they seek an impulse in the inclinations of the soul itself, whereas in the past it shone forth in the soul when it observed nature. Some people who are inclined to mysticism today will not want to kindle mystical experiences on the basis of what contemporary natural science says, but on the basis of what the writings of the time described here contain. This, however, makes him a stranger to what the present is most concerned with.
[ 5 ] It might now seem as if the present knowledge of nature, seen in its truth, did not indicate a path that could so tune the soul that it finds the light of the spirit in mystical vision. Why do mystically attuned souls find satisfaction in Meister Eckhart, Jacob Böhme, etc., but not in the book of nature, insofar as it lies open before man today through knowledge?
[ 6 ] The form in which this book is mostly spoken of today, however, cannot lead into the mystical mood of the soul.
[ 7 ] However, this book does not have to be spoken of in this way. It attempts to do so by also speaking of those spirits who develop a way of thinking from the mood of the old mysticism that can also absorb the newer insights. This is the case with Nicholas of Cusa.
[ 8 ] These personalities show that contemporary natural science is also capable of a mystical deepening. For a Nicholas of Cusa could transfer his thinking into this research. In his time, the old way of research could have been discarded, the mystical atmosphere preserved, and modern natural science adopted, if it had already existed.
[ 9 ] But what the human soul finds compatible with a way of research, it must also be able to gain from it, if it is strong enough to do so.
[ 10 ] I wanted to describe the nature of medieval mysticism in order to point out how it develops as an independent mysticism detached from its mother ground, the old mode of imagination, but cannot sustain itself because it now lacks the spiritual impulsiveness that it had in ancient times through research.
[ 11 ] This leads to the idea that the elements leading to mysticism must be sought in more recent research. From this, the soul's impulsiveness can then be regained, which does not stop at the dark mystical, emotional inner life, but rises from the mystical starting point to knowledge of the spirit. Medieval mysticism withered away because it had lost the ground of research that gives the soul forces the direction up to the spirit. The aim of this booklet is to encourage us to gain the forces that give direction to the spiritual world from more recent, correctly understood research.
Goetheanum in Dornach near Basel
Fall 1923 Rudolf Steiner