The Michael Mystery
GA 26
XXI. Gnosis and Anthroposophy
[ 1 ] At the time when the Mystery of Golgotha was consummated, Gnosis was the form which Thought took amongst that portion of mankind who at the time were able to understand with knowledge and not merely with dim feeling this, the greatest impulse in Man's earthly evolution.
[ 2 ] To understand what was the peculiar disposition of soul in which the Gnosis lived within men, we must keep in sight, that the age of this Gnosis was the age when the Intellectual or Mind-Soul was being developed.
[ 3 ] In this fact we may also find the reason why the Gnosis vanished almost entirely out of human history. That it should thus have vanished, is perhaps—until the cause be understood—one of the most amazing occurrences in the whole progress of mankind.
[ 4 ] The development of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul was preceded by that of the Sentient Soul, and this again by the development of the Sentient Body. So long as the facts of the world are being perceived through the Sentient Body, all Man's knowledge lives in his senses. The world is seen coloured, heard sounding, and so on; but in the colours, in the sounds, in the varying states of warmth, a ‘material’ substance, presenting certain appearances of colour, warmth, and so on, there is no question; men talk of spiritual beings who reveal themselves through what the senses perceive.
[ 5 ] In this age, there is as yet no special exercise of an ‘understanding’ that exists in Man alongside of and distinct from sense-perception. Man either yields himself up with his whole human being to the outer world, and then the Gods reveal themselves to him through his senses. Or else he draws back from the outer world within his own soul-life, and then feels in his inner man a dull, indistinct sense of life.
[ 6 ] A notable change sets in when the Sentient Soul begins to develop. The revelation of the divine world through the senses begins to fade. In its place begins an outward perception of sense-impressions, so to speak god-divested, of colours, states of warmth, and so on. Meanwhile, within, the divine world reveals itself in spiritual form, in picture-ideas of the mind. Man now perceives the world from two aspects—from without through the impressions of sense, and from within through the spiritual impressions of the mind, in the form of Ideas.
[ 7 ] Man must next learn to have as distinct, as clearly formed a perception of these inner spiritual impressions, as he had before of the god-informed impressions of the senses. So long as the reign of the Sentient Soul Age lasts, he can do this; for out of his own inner being the Idea-pictures rise up in full and vivid form. His mind is filled from within by a sense-free spirit-content, which is a copy of the World-content. If formerly the Gods revealed themselves to him robed in sense-vestments, they now reveal themselves in spirit-vestments.
[ 8 ] This was essentially the time when the Gnosis came into being and when it flourished. A wonderful living lore is there, in which Man knows himself a partaker when he unfolds his inner being in purity so that the divine content may be revealed within it.
From the fourth down to the first millennium before the coming of the Mystery of Golgotha, this Gnosis was prevalent throughout the portion of mankind who had advanced farthest in the way of knowledge.
[ 9 ] Then begins the age of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul. Now the World-images of Gods no longer rise up of themselves out of the inner man. Man himself must exert inward power in order to evoke them from his soul. The outer world with its sense impressions becomes a question. Man, when he exerts the inward power and evokes the divine World-images, obtains answers.
[ 10 ] But the images are pale in comparison with their earlier form. It is this phase of the human soul which comes to such marvelous expression in Ancient Greece. The Greek felt himself in the midst of the outer world which strikes the senses; and he felt in the outer world the magic which could arouse his own inner power to the unfolding of World-pictures. On philosophic ground, this phase of the human soul found its development in Platonism.
[ 11] But in the background, behind all this, was the world of the Mysteries. Here was faithfully treasured and preserved all that had come over as Gnosis from the age of the Sentient Soul.
Human souls were trained to be its faithful treasurers. The Intellectual or Mind-Soul developed in the ordinary course of evolution. The Sentient Soul was quickened by special training. And so, behind the ordinary religious and social life of the day, there flourished—more particularly in this age of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul,—a Mystery life of a very richly developed form.
[ 12 ] Here the divine World-images continued to have life, inasmuch as they were made the spiritual content of cult and ritual. Look into the inner side of these Mysteries, and one sees the world pictured in the most wonderful ceremonies and rituals.
[ 13 ] The human beings in whose inner life this had been awakened were those who were able to penetrate the Mystery of Golgotha, at the time when it was consummated, in its profound, cosmic significance. But it was a Mystery-life which kept quite aloof from the external world and its affairs in order to cultivate the Spirit-picture-world in purity. And it became ever harder for men's souls to call forth the pictures.
[ 14 ] Then, in the highest places of the Mysteries, Spirit-beings descended out of the spiritual Cosmos, to aid struggling men in their efforts after knowledge. So the impulses of the Sentient Age were continued and further developed under the influence of the Gods themselves. There arose a Gnosis of the Mysteries, of which none but a very few had even the faintest conception. Alongside this Mystery-Gnosis, was what men could take in with the Intellectual or Mind-Soul. This was the exoteric Gnosis, of which fragments have come down to posterity.
[ 15 ] In the exoteric Gnosis of the Mysteries men became ever more incapable of rising to the development of the Sentient Soul. And so this esoteric wisdom passed over more and more into the care and cultivation of the Gods alone. This is one of the deep secrets in the historic evolution of mankind: ‘Divine Mysteries,’ so to speak, were at work in it from the first centuries of Christianity down into the Middle Ages.
[ 16 ] In these Divine Mysteries, the treasure which men could no longer preserve, was preserved in earthly life by Angelic beings. And so the Gnosis of the Mysteries lived on whilst the exoteric Gnosis was being diligently exterminated.
[ 17 ] The World-Image-content, treasured in a spiritual way by spiritual beings, preserved in the Gnosis of the Mysteries so long as it was needed for the advancement of mankind, could not indeed be made accessible to the conscious understanding of men's souls. But the feeling-content could be preserved, so that at the right cosmic moment, when men were fitly prepared, it might be given to them and bring them the warmth of soul with which the Spiritual Soul might—later on and in a new way—penetrate into the kingdom of the Spirit. Thus Spirit-beings built the bridge between the old World-content and the new.
[ 18 ] There are indications to be found in this mystery of human evolution. The Holy Vessel of the Grail, the Cup of Jasper used by Christ when He broke the Bread, in which Joseph of Arimathea caught the Blood which flowed from the pierced side of Jesus—the Cup, that is, which held the Mystery of Golgotha—was taken, so legend says, into the custody of Angels, until the Castle of the Grail had been built by Titurel, and it could descend upon those human beings who were duly prepared to receive it.
[ 19 ] Spirit-beings treasured the World-Images in which lived the Mystery of Golgotha. And when the time was come they sent down, not indeed the Imaginative content—that was not possible—but the feeling-content into the minds of men.
[ 20 ] It can be but a stimulus, this feeling legacy of an ancient knowledge, implanted in the hearts of men. Yet it is a very powerful stimulus, from which in our age—out of the Spiritual Soul—there may grow up, by the light of Michael's agency, a new and full understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha.
[ 21 ] Anthroposophy is striving after this new understanding. From the description given, it is clear that Anthroposophy cannot be a revival of the Gnosis, for this was the mode of knowledge of the Sentient soul; whereas Anthroposophy has to draw a no less rich content of knowledge out of the Spiritual Soul, and in a totally new way.
Leading Thoughts
[ 22 ] The Gnosis develops in its characteristic form in the age of the Sentient Soul (fourth to first millennium before the incidence of the Mystery of Golgotha.) “The Divine' reveals itself in this age of Man inwardly, as a spiritual content of the mind, whereas in the previous period—the Age of the Sentient Body—it had revealed itself in and with the sense-impressions of the outer world.
[ 23 ] In the Age of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul, ‘the Divine,’ as spiritual content, has faded from the inner life, and can be realized but faintly. The Gnosis is preserved in sternly guarded Mysteries; and when men can preserve it no longer, because they are no longer able to requicken the Sentient soul, Spirit-beings take charge of it and carry over into the Middle Ages, not indeed the knowledge-content but the feeling-content of it. (this is indicated in the legend of the Holy Grail.) Meanwhile the exoteric Gnosis, which found its way into the Intellectual or Mind-Soul, is being forcibly exterminated.
[ 24 ] Anthroposophy cannot be a revival of the Gnosis; for Gnosis was connected with the development of the Sentient Soul. The work of Anthroposophy is, by the light of Michael's agency, to evolve out of the Spiritual Soul a new form of understanding of Christ, and the World. Gnosis was the old form of knowledge, preserved from earlier times—the one best able, at the time when the Mystery of Golgotha took place, to convey this Mystery to men's understanding.
Gnosis und Anthroposophie
(Goetheanum, Januar 1925)
[ 1 ] Als das Mysterium von Golgatha sich vollzog, war die «Gnosis» die Denkart des Teiles der Menschheit, der zunächst ein erkenntnismäßiges, nicht bloß ein empfindendes Verständnis dem größten Einschlag in die Erdenentwickelung der Menschen entgegenbringen konnte.
[ 2 ] Will man die Seelenverfassung verstehen, in der die Gnosis innerhalb des Menschen lebte, so muß man ins Auge fassen, daß das Zeitalter dieser Gnosis dasjenige der Entfaltung der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele ist.
[ 3 ] In dieser Tatsache kann man auch die Ursache für das fast völlige Verschwinden der Gnosis aus der Menschheitsgeschichte finden. Dieses Verschwinden ist wohl, solange es nicht begriffen ist, eines der erstaunlichsten Vorkommnisse im Werdegang der Menschheit.
[ 4 ] Der Entfaltung der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele ging diejenige der Empfindungsseele und dieser die des Empfindungsleibes voraus. Werden die Tatsachen der Welt durch den Empfindungsleib wahrgenommen, so lebt alle Erkenntnis des Menschen in den Sinnen. Die Welt wird farbig, tönend und so weiter wahrgenommen; aber in den Farben, Tönen, in den Wärmezuständen wird eine Welt von geistigen Wesenheiten gewußt. Von «Stoff», an dem Farben, Wärmezustände und so weiter erscheinen, redet man nicht; man redet von geistigen Wesenheiten, die sich durch das offenbaren, was die Sinne wahrnehmen.
[ 5 ] Eine besondere Entfaltung eines «Verstandes», der neben der Sinneswahrnehmung im Menschen lebte, gibt es in diesem Zeitalter noch nicht. Der Mensch gibt sich entweder mit seinem Wesen an die Außenwelt hin, dann offenbaren sich ihm durch die Sinne die Götter. Oder er zieht sich in seinem Seelenleben von der Außenwelt zurück, dann fühlt er in seinem Innern ein dumpfes Lebensgefühl.
[ 6 ] Ein bedeutsamer Umschwung tritt ein, wenn sich die Empfindungsseele entfaltet. Die Offenbarung des Göttlichen durch die Sinne dämmert ab. An die Stelle tritt das Wahrnehmen der gewissermaßen entgöttlichten Sinneseindrücke, der Farben, Wärmezustände und so weiter. Im Innern offenbart sich das Göttliche in geistiger Form, in Bild-Ideen. Und der Mensch nimmt die Welt von zwei Seiten her wahr: von außen durch die Sinnes-Eindrücke, von innen durch die ideenhaften Geist-Eindrücke.
[ 7 ] Der Mensch muß nun dazu kommen, die Geist-Eindrücke so bestimmt, so gestaltet wahrzunehmen, wie er vorher die durchgöttlichten Sinnes-Eindrücke wahrgenommen hat. — Solange das Zeitalter der Empfindungsseele waltet, kann er das. Denn aus seinem inneren Wesen steigen ihm die Ideenbilder in vollgestalteter Art auf. Er ist von innen erfüllt mit einem sinnlichkeitsfreien Geist-Inhalt, der ein Abbild des Welt-Inhaltes ist. Haben sich ihm früher die Götter im sinnlichen Kleide geoffenbart; sie offenbaren sich ihm jetzt im Geist-Kleide.
[ 8 ] Das ist das Zeitalter der eigentlichen Entstehung und des Lebens der Gnosis. Eine wunderbare Erkenntnis lebt, der sich der Mensch teilhaftig weiß, wenn er sein inneres Wesen in Reinheit entfaltet, so daß der göttliche Inhalt durch dasselbe sich offenbaren kann. Vom vierten bis ins erste Jahrtausend vor dem Eintritte des Mysteriums von Golgatha herrscht bei dem in der Erkenntnis vorgeschrittensten Teile der Menschheit diese Gnosis.
[ 9 ] Dann beginnt das Zeitalter der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele. Von selbst steigen jetzt aus dem Innern des Menschenwesens die Welt-Götter-Bilder nicht mehr auf. Der Mensch muß innerlich Kraft anwenden, um sie aus seiner Seele zu holen. Die Außenwelt mit ihren Sinnes-Eindrücken wird zur Frage. Indem der Mensch die innerliche Kraft anwendet, die Welt-Götter-Bilder aus sich zu holen, erhält er Antworten.
[ 10 ] Aber die Bilder sind blaß im Verhältnis zu ihrer früheren Gestalt. Es ist dies die Seelenverfassung der Menschheit, die in Griechenland sich in wunderbarer Art entfaltet hat. Der Grieche fühlte sich in der sinnenfälligen Außenwelt, und er fühlte in dieser die Zaubergewalt, die die innere Kraft zum Entfalten der Weltbilder anregte. Auf philosophischem Felde entfaltete sich diese Seelenverfassung im Platonismus.
[ 11 ] Aber hinter alle dem stand die Mysterien weit. In ihr wurde treu aufbewahrt, was von Gnosis aus dem Zeitalter der Empfindungsseele vorhanden war. Die Seelen wurden für dieses treuliche Aufbewahren geschult. Auf dem Wege der gewöhnlichen Entwickelung erstand die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele. Durch besondere Schulung wurde die Empfindungsseele belebt. So gab es hinter dem gewöhnlichen Kulturleben gerade im Zeitalter der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele ein reich entwickeltes Mysterienwesen.
[ 12 ] In diesem lebten die Welt-Götter-Bilder auch insofern, als sie zum Inhalte eines Kultus gemacht wurden. Man schaut in das Innere dieser Mysterien und erblickt die Welt im Abbilde der wunderbarsten Kultusverrichtungen.
[ 13 ] Die Menschen, die das erlebten, sie waren diejenigen, die auch das Mysterium von Golgatha, als es sich vollzog, in seinem tiefen kosmischen Zusammenhange durchschauten. Aber es war ein Mysterienleben, das sich ganz abseits hielt von dem Weltgetriebe, um in Reinheit die Geist-Bilder-Welt zu entfalten. Und für Menschenseelen wurde diese Entfaltung immer schwieriger.
[ 14 ] Da stiegen in den höchsten Mysterienstätten Geist-Wesen aus dem geistigen Kosmos, die den Anstrengungen der um Erkenntnis ringenden Menschen zu Hilfe kamen. So entfalteten sich die Impulse des Zeitalters der Empfindungsseele unter dem Einfluß der «Götter» selbst weiter. Es entstand eine Mysterien-Gnosis, von der die wenigsten auch nur etwas ahnten. Neben ihr war das vorhanden, was von den Menschen mit der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele aufgenommen werden konnte. Es war die exoterische Gnosis, von der Bruchstücke auf die Nachwelt gekommen sind.
[ 15 ] In der esoterischen Mysteriengnosis wurden die Menschen immer unfähiger, sich zur Entfaltung der Empfindungsseele zu erheben. Es ging diese esoterische Weisheit immer mehr an die bloße Pflege der «Götter» über. Und das ist ein Geheimnis der geschichtlichen Entwickelung der Menschheit, daß in ihr gewissermaßen «göttliche Mysterien» von den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten an bis ins Mittelalter wirkten.
[ 16 ] In diesen «göttlichen Mysterien» bewahrten Engelwesen im irdischen Dasein, was Menschen nicht mehr bewahren konnten. So waltete die Mysterien-Gnosis, während man an der Ausrottung der exoterischen Gnosis arbeitete.
[ 17 ] Der Welt-Bild-Inhalt, der in der Mysterien-Gnosis auf geistige Art von geistigen Wesen bewahrt wurde, solange er im Werdegang der Menschheit wirken sollte: er konnte dem bewußten Begreifen der Menschenseele nicht erhalten werden. Aber der Gefühlsgehalt sollte bewahrt werden. Und dieser sollte im rechten kosmischen Augenblicke der dazu vorbereiteten Menschheit gegeben werden, damit unter seiner Seelenwärme die Bewußtseinsseele später auf neue Art in das Geistesreich eindringen könne. Geisteswesen haben so die Brücke gebaut zwischen dem alten Welt-Inhalt und dem neuen.
[ 18 ] In Andeutungen ist dieses Geheimnis der Menschheitsentwickelung vorhanden. Die heilige Jaspisschale des Grales, derer sich Christus bediente, als er das Brot brach, in die Joseph von Arimathia das Blut aus der Jesuswunde aufgefangen hat, die also das Geheimnis von Golgatha barg, wurde — so lautet die Legende — von Engeln in Verwahrung genommen, bis sie sie nach Erbauung der Gralsburg durch Titurel auf die vorbereiteten Menschen niedersenken konnten.
[ 19 ] Geistwesen bargen die Welt-Bilder, in denen die Geheimnisse von Golgatha lebten. Sie senkten, weil das nicht möglich war, nicht den Bild-Inhalt, wohl aber den Gefühlsgehalt in Menschengemüter, als die Zeit dazu gekommen war.
[ 20 ] Nur Anregung, aber eben kräftigste Anregung, kann dieses Einpflanzen des Gefühlsinhaltes alter Erkenntnis sein, daß in unserem Zeitalter sich aus der Bewußtseinsseele im Lichte von Michaels Wirksamkeit ein neues volles Verständnis des Mysteriums von Golgatha entwickele.
[ 21 ] Anthroposophie strebt dieses neue Verständnis an. Aus der gegebenen Schilderung ersieht man, daß sie keine Erneuerung der Gnosis sein kann, die zu ihrem Inhalt die Erkenntnisart der Empfindungsseele hatte, daß sie aber einen ebenso reichen Inhalt aus der Bewußtseinsseele auf völlig neue Art holen muß.
Goetheanum, Januar 1925.
Leitsätze Nr. 159 bis 161
(15. Februar 1925)
(Mit Bezug auf die vorangehende Betrachtung: Gnosis und Anthroposophie)
[ 22 ] 159. Gnosis entfaltet sich in ihrer eigentlichen Gestalt im Zeitalter der Empfindungsseele (viertes bis erstes Jahrtausend vor dem Eintritte des Mysteriums von Golgatha). Das «Göttliche» offenbart sich dem Menschen in diesem Zeitalter im Innern als Geist-Inhalt, wogegen es sich im vorangehenden Zeitalter des Empfindungsleibes an den Sinnes-Eindrücken der Außenwelt geoffenbart hat.
[ 23 ] 160. Im Zeitalter der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele kann der Geist-Inhalt des «Göttlichen» nur in verblaßter Art erlebt werden. Es wird die Gnosis in strengen Mysterien bewahrt, und als Menschen dies nicht mehr können, weil sie die Empfindungsseele zu beleben nicht mehr imstande sind, da wird in das Mittelalter hinüber durch Geistwesen zwar nicht der Erkenntnis-Inhalt, aber der Gefühlsgehalt getragen. (Die Gral-Legende enthält die Andeutung davon.) Daneben wird die exoterische Gnosis, die in die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele eindringt, ausgerottet.
[ 24 ] 161. Die Anthroposophie kann nicht eine Erneuerung der Gnosis sein, denn diese hing an der Entfaltung der Empfindungsseele. Anthroposophie muß im Lichte der Michael-Tätigkeit aus der Bewußtseinsseele heraus ein Welt- und Christus-Verständnis auf neue Art entwickeln. Die Gnosis war die aus alter Zeit bewahrte Erkenntnisart, die das Mysterium von Golgatha bei seinem Eintritte am besten zum Menschenverständnisse bringen konnte.
Gnosis and Anthroposophy
(Goetheanum, January 1925)
[ 1 ] When the Mystery of Golgotha took place, "gnosis" was the way of thinking of that part of humanity which could initially bring an epistemological, not merely a sentient understanding to the greatest impact on the earthly development of mankind.
[ 2 ] If one wishes to understand the state of soul in which gnosis lived within man, one must bear in mind that the age of this gnosis is that of the unfolding of the intellectual or emotional soul.
[ 3 ] In this fact one can also find the cause for the almost complete disappearance of gnosis from human history. This disappearance is probably, as long as it is not understood, one of the most astonishing occurrences in the history of mankind.
[ 4 ] The development of the intellectual or emotional soul was preceded by that of the sentient soul and the sentient body. If the facts of the world are perceived through the sensory body, then all human knowledge lives in the senses. The world is perceived in color, sound and so on; but in the colors, sounds, in the states of warmth, a world of spiritual entities is known. One does not speak of "matter" in which colors, states of warmth and so on appear; one speaks of spiritual entities that reveal themselves through what the senses perceive.
[ 5 ] A special development of a "mind" that lives in man alongside sensory perception does not yet exist in this age. Man either surrenders his being to the outside world, in which case the gods reveal themselves to him through the senses. Or he withdraws from the outside world in his soul life, in which case he feels a dull sense of life within himself.
[ 6 ] A significant change occurs when the sentient soul unfolds. The revelation of the divine through the senses fades away. It is replaced by the perception of sensory impressions, colors, states of warmth and so on, which are to a certain extent de-divinized. Within, the divine reveals itself in spiritual form, in image-ideas. And man perceives the world from two sides: from the outside through the sensory impressions, from the inside through the imaginative spiritual impressions.
[ 7 ] Man must now come to perceive the spirit-impressions in such a determined, such a formed way as he has previously perceived the divinized sense-impressions. - As long as the age of the sentient soul prevails, he can do this. For the images of ideas arise from his inner being in a fully formed way. He is filled from within with a spirit-content free from sensuality, which is an image of the world-content. If the gods used to reveal themselves to him in a sensual garment, they now reveal themselves to him in a spiritual garment.
[ 8 ] This is the age of the actual emergence and life of gnosis. A wonderful knowledge lives, which man knows himself to be part of when he unfolds his inner being in purity, so that the divine content can reveal itself through it. From the fourth to the first millennium before the occurrence of the Mystery of Golgotha, this gnosis prevailed among the most advanced part of humanity.
[ 9 ] Then begins the age of the intellectual or emotional soul. The images of the world-gods no longer arise of their own accord from within the human being. Man must use inner strength to draw them out of his soul. The outer world with its sensory impressions becomes a question. By applying the inner power to extract the images of the world gods from himself, man receives answers.
[ 10 ] But the images are pale in relation to their former form. This is the state of mind of mankind, which unfolded in a wonderful way in Greece. The Greek felt himself in the sensual outer world, and he felt in it the magical power that stimulated the inner force to unfold the images of the world. In the philosophical field, this state of mind unfolded in Platonism.
[ 11 ] But behind all this stood the Mysteries. In it was faithfully preserved what was present of Gnosis from the age of the sentient soul. The souls were trained for this faithful preservation. In the course of ordinary development the intellectual or emotional soul arose. The sentient soul was enlivened through special training. Thus, behind the ordinary cultural life, there was a richly developed mystery being precisely in the age of the intellectual or emotional soul.
[ 12 ] The images of the world-gods also lived in this in so far as they were made the content of a cult. One looks into the interior of these mysteries and sees the world in the image of the most wonderful cultic practices.
[ 13 ] The people who experienced this were those who also saw through the mystery of Golgotha in its deep cosmic context when it took place. But it was a mystery life that kept itself completely apart from the world's activity in order to unfold the spirit-image world in purity. And this unfolding became increasingly difficult for human souls.
[ 14 ] Then, in the highest mystery places, spirit beings rose from the spiritual cosmos, who came to the aid of the efforts of humans struggling for knowledge. Thus the impulses of the age of the sentient soul continued to unfold under the influence of the "gods" themselves. A mystery gnosis arose, of which very few even suspected anything. Alongside it there was that which could be received by man with the soul of understanding or the soul of the mind. It was the exoteric gnosis, fragments of which have come down to posterity.
[ 15 ] In the esoteric gnosis of the mysteries, people became increasingly incapable of raising themselves to the unfolding of the sentient soul. This esoteric wisdom became more and more the mere cultivation of the "gods". And this is a secret of the historical development of mankind, that "divine mysteries" were at work in it to a certain extent from the first Christian centuries right up to the Middle Ages.
[ 16 ] In these "divine mysteries", angelic beings preserved in earthly existence what humans could no longer preserve. This is how the Mystery Gnosis prevailed while exoteric Gnosis was being eradicated.
[ 17 ] The world-image-content, which was preserved in a spiritual way by spiritual beings in the Mystery Gnosis, as long as it was to work in the development of mankind: it could not be preserved for the conscious comprehension of the human soul. But the emotional content was to be preserved. And this was to be given at the right cosmic moment to humanity prepared for it, so that under its warmth of soul the soul of consciousness could later penetrate the spiritual realm in a new way. Spirit beings have thus built the bridge between the old world content and the new.
[ 18 ] There are hints of this secret of human development. The sacred jasper bowl of the Grail, which Christ used when he broke the bread, into which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood from Jesus' wound, and which therefore contained the secret of Golgotha, was - so the legend goes - taken into safekeeping by angels until they could lower it onto the prepared people after Titurel had built the Grail Castle.
[ 19 ] Spiritual beings held the world images in which the secrets of Golgotha lived. Because this was not possible, they did not lower the content of the image, but they did lower the emotional content into human minds when the time came.
[ 20 ] This implanting of the emotional content of ancient knowledge can only be a stimulus, but the most powerful stimulus, so that in our age a new, full understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha can develop from the soul of consciousness in the light of Michael's activity.
[ 21 ] Anthroposophy strives for this new understanding. From the description given, it can be seen that it cannot be a renewal of Gnosis, which had as its content the cognitive nature of the sentient soul, but that it must draw an equally rich content from the consciousness soul in a completely new way.
Goetheanum, January 1925.
Guiding Principles No. 159 to 161
(February 15, 1925)
(With reference to the previous consideration: Gnosis and Anthroposophy)
[ 22 ] 159 Gnosis unfolds in its actual form in the age of the sentient soul (fourth to first millennium before the occurrence of the Mystery of Golgotha). In this age, the "divine" reveals itself to man inwardly as spirit-content, whereas in the preceding age of the sentient body it revealed itself in the sensory impressions of the outside world.
[ 23 ] 160. In the age of the intellectual or emotional soul, the spirit-content of the "divine" can only be experienced in a faded way. Gnosis is preserved in strict mysteries, and when people can no longer do this because they are no longer able to enliven the emotional soul, the content of knowledge is not carried over into the Middle Ages by spiritual beings, but the emotional content is. (The Grail legend contains a hint of this.) In addition, exoteric gnosis, which penetrates the intellectual or emotional soul, is eradicated.
[ 24 ] 161 Anthroposophy cannot be a renewal of Gnosis, for the latter depended on the unfolding of the sentient soul. Anthroposophy must develop a new understanding of the world and Christ out of the consciousness soul in the light of Michael's activity. Gnosis was the form of knowledge preserved from ancient times that was best able to bring the Mystery of Golgotha to human understanding when it occurred.