The Michael Mystery
GA 26
XXIV. Man in his Macrocosmic Being
[ 1 ] The Cosmos reveals itself to Man in the first instance from two sides—the Earth, and outside the Earth the Universe of Stars.
[ 2 ] To Earth and her forces Man feels himself related. Life teaches him this relationship with great distinctness.
[ 3 ] Not in the same way does he feel himself, in the present age, related to the Star-World about him. This however only lasts so long as he remains unconscious of his ether-body. To lay hold of the ether-body in Imaginations, is to acquire the same feeling of kinship with the starry Universe as one has through the consciousness of the physical body with the Earth.
[ 4 ] The forces which put the ether-body into the world come from the circumference of the Cosmos, just as the forces of the physical body radiate from the central point of the Earth.
[ 5 ] But along with the ether-forces that rain down upon the Earth from the circumference of the Cosmos there come also those cosmic impulses which work in the astral body of Man.
[ 6 ] The ether is like an ocean, on whose waves from all sides out of farthest worlds the astral forces come sailing to the Earth.
[ 7 ] In the present cosmic age however, it is only the mineral and the vegetable kingdoms that can come into direct relation with this astral life streaming in on to the Earth upon the waves of the ether; not the animal kingdom, nor the human kingdom.
[ 8 ] With the animal kingdom, spiritual observation shows that what is at work in the embryo is not the astral life at the present day flowing to the Earth, but that which flowed into it long ago, in the old Moon-Age.
[ 9 ] With the vegetable kingdom, one can see how its manifold, marvelous forms are being shaped by the astral influences, as they separate themselves out of the ether and hover over the plant-world.
[ 10 ] With the animal world, one can see how, from out of the spirit-sphere, astral forces of old times, that were active long ago—during the old Moon-Age of evolution—have been preserved and are now at work. They work as old, preserved forces, which remain at the present day altogether in the spirit-world, and do not come out into the ether-world.
[ 11 ] This form of astral influence is, moreover, transmitted by the present Moon-forces, which have themselves remained over from the previous stage of the Earth.
[ 12 ] We have then, in the animal kingdom, the result of impulses which in the previous evolutionary stage of the Earth manifested themselves externally as elements of Nature, whereas in the present cosmic age they have withdrawn into the spirit-world which flows with active force through the Earth.
[ 13 ] Now it is seen by spiritual observation that for the permeation of the physical and ether-bodies with the astral body in the animal kingdom, the forces that are of importance are solely these astral forces which have been preserved from an earlier time in the present life of Earth; but that, once the animal has his astral body, then the Sun-impulses begin to be active in it. The Sun-forces can give the animal nothing for his astral life; nevertheless, when once this is in the animal, they are required to provide for growth, nutrition, etc.
[ 14 ] With the kingdom of Man it is otherwise. This too receives its astral element in the first place from the old, preserved Moon-forces. But the Sun-forces have in them astral impulses which remain ineffective for the animal kingdom, but which in the human astral continue to act in the same manner as the Moon-forces acted when Man was first permeated with astrality.
[ 15 ] In the astral body of the animal can be seen the Moon-world. In the astral body of the human being can be seen the harmonious accord of the Sun-and Moon-worlds.
[ 16 ] It is this Sun-like power in the human astral body which makes it possible for Man to take up into himself the outward-radiating spiritual force that is in the Earth and use it for the development of his self-consciousness. Whatever is astral, flows from the circumference of the Universe. It acts either as a stream flowing in at the present time, or as one that flowed in in olden times and has been preserved. On the other hand, everything which has to do with giving shape to the I, as bearer of individual self-consciousness, must radiate from a Star-center. The Astral works from the circumference; everything of the I-kind from a central point. The Earth, as a Star, from its center gives the impulse for the human I. Every star from its center radiates forces by which the I of some being or other is shaped.
[ 17 ] This shows the polarity between Star-Center and Cosmic Circumference.
[ 18 ] The description shows at the same time that the animal kingdom lives on to-day as a product of earlier forces, which once had to do with the evolution of the Earth. It exists by drawing on the preserved store of old astral forces and must disappear on the preserved store of old astral forces and must disappear when these are exhausted. In Man, on the contrary, new astral forces come in, that are drawn from the Sun-Power. These make it possible for him to carry on his evolution into the future.
[ 19 ] It is not possible—as all this shows—to understand Man in his own special form of being, unless one recognizes his connection with the whole Star-life as clearly as his connection with the Earth.
[ 20 ] Even what Man receives from the Earth for the development of his Self-consciousness, proceeds from the action of the spirit-world within the earthly sphere. That the Sun-Power can give Man what he needs for his astral life, is the result of influences that were active during the old Sun-Age. It was then that the Earth received the capacity to develop the I-impulses of mankind. It is the spiritual part which the Earth has preserved within her from the old Sun-life, and which is kept from dying out by the sun influences of the present day.
[ 21 ] The Earth herself was once Sun. Then she passed over into a spiritual form. In the present cosmic age, what is ‘Sun’ works from without. This Sun-influence from without is a spring of ever-renewing youth to those spirit-forces from an earlier age which are wearing old. At the same time, as an active force of the Present, this Sun-influence keeps what is of the Past from falling into Lucifer's domain. For whatever continues to work on as an influence from the Past, without being taken up into the forces of the Present, falls a prey to Lucifer.
[ 22 ] Man's feeling of his own intimate connection with the extra-terrestrial Cosmos may be said, in this cosmic age, to be so dulled, that he is not aware of it in his consciousness. It is not only dulled, it is ‘deafened’ by the feeling of his intimate connection with the sphere of Earth. Because Man's consciousness of his individual Self must be learnt in the sphere of Earth, he begins the age of the Spiritual Soul by growing so closely involved with this earthly sphere, that it exerts a much stronger influence over him than is compatible with the course which his soul-life should rightly take. Man is, as it were, deafened, dazed by the impressions of the sense-world. Overpowered by their clamour, he fails to call up the free, active Thinking, that has life in itself.
[ 23 ] The whole time, from the middle of the nineteenth century on, was a period of being dazed and deafened by the loudness of the sense-impressions. It has been the Great Illusion of this period, that in it people took this over-powerful life of the senses to be the right one—a life of sense which was doing its best to blot out all life in the non-earthly, extra-terrestrial Cosmos.
[ 24 ] Into this dazed condition the Ahrimanic powers could come in and work their will. Lucifer was more held in check by the Sun-forces than Ahriman. Ahriman was in a position to arouse—notably amongst the men of science—the dangerous notion that Ideas are only applicable to the impressions of the senses. Accordingly it is just in these circles that Anthroposophy meets with but little understanding. Faced with the results of Spiritual Science, they try to understand them with their ideas. But these ideas cannot comprehend the Spiritual, because their inherent, living knowledge is deafened and over-powered by the ahrimanized science of the senses. And so people take alarm, and think they would be committing themselves to a blind belief in authority if they were to enter seriously upon the results obtained by the spiritual seer.
[ 25 ] Darker and darker grew the extra-terrestrial Cosmos for human consciousness in the second half of the nineteenth century.
[ 26 ] When Man again grows able to realize the life of Ideas within him, even when not supporting himself and them upon the world of Sense, then, to the eyes of the enquirer an answering light will stream again from the Cosmos beyond the realm of Earth. And this is to make acquaintance with Michael and his kingdom.
[ 27 ] When a time comes, when the Festival of Michael in the autumn fall will be kept in truth and inwardness—then, in the feelings of those that keep the festival there will arise with innermost sincerity, as ‘leit-motif,’ this strain and live in men's consciousness: In the fullness of Ideas the soul experiences spirit-light, even when the outward show of the senses linger but as memory in the mind of man.
[ 28 ] When, with some such tone of mind as this, Man can celebrate the Michael Festival, after it he will be able worthily to enter again into the world of the senses. And Ahriman will be unable to harm him.
Leading Thoughts
[ 29 ] With the beginning of the Age of Consciousness, dullness came over Man's feeling of his connection with the extra-terrestrial Cosmos. On the other hand, his feeling of connection with the Earth, through his life in sense-impressions, grew so strong—more especially with the men of science—as to amount to a dazed and benumbed condition.
[ 30 ] In this condition the working of the Ahrimanic Powers is peculiarly dangerous; for Man lives under the illusion that this overpowering life in sense-impressions is the right thing and a real step forward in evolution.
[ 31 ] Man must find the power to shed light through his world of Ideas and to live in these Ideas as in a world of light, even when unsupported by the clamorous world of the senses. In this living inner realization of the self-dependent—and, in their self-dependence, luminous—world of Ideas, will awake the feeling of Man's connection with the non-earthly, outer Cosmos. A foundation will thus be laid for Festivals of Michael.
Der Mensch in seiner makrokosmischen Wesenheit
(Goetheanum, Januar 1925)
[ 1 ] Der Kosmos offenbart sich dem Menschen zunächst von Seite der Erde und von der Seite des Außerirdischen, der Sternenwelt.
[ 2 ] Mit der Erde und ihren Kräften fühlt sich der Mensch verwandt. Das Leben belehrt ihn über diese Verwandtschaft mit großer Deutlichkeit.
[ 3 ] Nicht so fühlt er sich im gegenwärtigen Zeitalter verwandt mit der Sternenumgebung. Aber dies dauert nur so lange, als er sich seines Ätherleibes nicht bewußt ist. Den Ätherleib in Imaginationen erfassen, heißt ein Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl mit der Sternenwelt so entwickeln, wie man dies durch das Bewußtsein vom physischen Leibe von der Erde hat.
[ 4 ] Die Kräfte, die den Ätherleib in die Welt hineinstellen, kommen aus dem Umkreis der Welt, wie die für den physischen Leib aus dem Mittelpunkt der Erde strahlen.
[ 5 ] Aber mit den Ätherkräften, die aus dem Umkreis des Kosmos auf die Erde einströmen, kommen auch diejenigen Weltimpulse, die im astralischen Leibe des Menschen wirken.
[ 6 ] Der Äther ist wie ein Meer, in dem sich schwimmend aus den allseitigen Weltenfernen die Astralkräfte der Erde nähern. –
[ 7 ] Im gegenwärtigen kosmischen Zeitalter können aber nur das Mineral- und das Pflanzenreich in ein unmittelbares Verhältnis zu dem Astralen kommen, das auf den Wogen des Äthers auf die Erde hereinströmt. Nicht das Tierreich und nicht das Menschenreich.
[ 8 ] Beim Tierreich zeigt das geistige Schauen, wie im Embryonalen nicht das gegenwärtig auf die Er de einströmende Astrale lebt, sondern dasjenige, das noch zur alten Mondenzeit eingeströmt ist.
[ 9 ] Bei dem Pflanzenreich schaut man, wie die mannigfaltigen wunderbaren Formen gebildet werden, indem aus dem Äther das Astrale sich löst und über die Pflanzenwelt hin wirkt.
[ 10 ] Bei der Tierwelt schaut man, wie aus dem Geistigen heraus das vorzeitlich - während der Mondenentwickelung -wirksame Astrale aufbewahrt worden ist und als solches Aufbewahrtes wirkt, das gegenwärtig in der Geistwelt verbleibt und nicht in die Ätherwelt heraustritt.
[ 11 ] Die Wirksamkeit dieses Astralen wird auch durch die Mondenkräfte vermittelt, die ja ebenfalls aus dem vorigen Erdenstadium verblieben sind.
[ 12 ] Man hat also im Tierreich das Ergebnis von Impulsen, die im vorigen Erdenstadium sich äußerlich-naturhaft offenbarten, während sie im gegenwärtigen kosmischen Zeitalter sich in die Geistwelt zurückgezogen haben, die wirksam die Erde durchströmt.
[ 13 ] Nun zeigt sich dem geistigen Schauen, daß innerhalb des Tierreiches für die Durchdringung des physischen und des Ätherleibes mit dem Astralleib lediglich die im gegenwärtigen Irdischen aus der Vorzeit bewahrten Astralkräfte bedeutsam sind. Hat aber das Tier einmal seinen Astralleib, dann treten in demselben die Sonnen-Impulse wirksam auf. Die Sonnenkräfte können dem Tiere nichts von Astralischem geben; wohl aber müssen sie, wenn dieses einmal im Tiere ist, für Wachstum, Ernährung und so weiter eintreten.
[ 14 ] Anders ist dies für das Menschenreich. Auch dieses erhält zunächst sein Astrales von den bewahrten Mondenkräften. Aber die Sonnenkräfte enthalten Astralimpulse, die für das Tierreich unwirksam bleiben, die aber im menschlichen Astralen so fortwirken, wie die Mondenkräfte beim ersten Durchdringen des Menschen mit Astralität gewirkt haben.
[ 15 ] Im tierischen Astralleib schaut man die Mondenwelt; im menschlichen den harmonischen Zusammenklang von Sonnen- und Mondenwelt.
[ 16 ] Auf diesem Sonnenhaften im menschlichen Astralleib beruht es, daß der Mensch das im Irdischen ausstrahlende Geistige zur Heranbildung des Selbstbewußtseins aufnehmen kann. Das Astralische strömt aus dem Umkreis des Weltenalls. Es wirkt entweder als solches, das gegenwärtig einströmt, oder als solches, das in der Vorzeit eingeströmt und bewahrt worden ist. — Alles aber, was sich auf Gestaltung des Ich als Träger des Selbstbewußtseins bezieht, muß von einem Sternmittelpunkt ausstrahlen. Das Astralische wirkt aus dem Umkreis, das Ich-mäßige aus einem Mittelpunkt. Die Erde als Stern impulsiert von ihrem Mittelpunkte aus das menschliche Ich. Jeder Stern strahlt von seinem Mittelpunkte aus Kräfte, von denen das Ich irgendeiner Wesenheit gestaltet ist.
[ 17 ] So stellt sich die Polarität von Sternmittelpunkt und kosmischem Umkreis dar.
[ 18 ] Man sieht aus dieser Darstellung zugleich, wie das Tierreich als ein Ergebnis früherer Entwickelungskräfte des Erdenwesens heute noch dasteht, wie es die bewahrten Astralkräfte verbraucht, wie es aber verschwinden muß, wenn diese verbraucht sind. Beim Menschen werden dagegen vom Sonnenhaften aus neue Astralkräfte erworben. Diese machen es ihm möglich, seine Entwickelung in die Zukunft zu tragen.
[ 19 ] Man kann, wie man aus alle dem ersieht, den Menschen in seiner Wesenheit nicht verstehen, wenn man sich seines Zusammenhangs mit dem Sternensein nicht ebenso bewußt wird wie desjenigen mit der Erde.
[ 20 ] Und was der Mensch von der Erde für die Entfaltung seines Selbstbewußtseins empfängt, rührt ja auch von der innerhalb des Irdischen wirksamen Geist-Welt her. — Daß das Sonnenhafte dem Menschen gibt, was er für sein Astralisches braucht, das rührt von den Wirkungen her, die sich während der alten Sonnenzeit abgespielt haben. Da hat die Erde die Fähigkeit empfangen, die Ich-Impulse der Menschheit zu entfalten. Es ist das Geistige aus dieser Zeit, das sich die Erde aus dem Sonnenhaften bewahrt hat, das aber durch die gegenwärtige Sonnenwirkung vor dem Ersterben bewahrt wird.
[ 21 ] Die Erde war einst selbst Sonne. Da hat sie sich vergeistigt. Im gegenwärtigen kosmischen Zeitalter wirkt das Sonnenhafte von außen. Dieses verjüngt fortdauernd das alt werdende, aus der Vorzeit stammende Geistige. Zugleich bewahrt dieses gegenwärtig wirkende Sonnenhafte das Vorzeitliche vor dem Hineinfallen in das Luziferische. Denn was, ohne in die Kräfte der Gegenwart aufgenommen zu werden, fortwirkt, verfällt dem Luziferischen.
[ 22 ] Man kann sagen, des Menschen Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl mit dem außerirdischen Kosmos sei in dieser kosmischen Epoche so abgedämpft, daß er es nicht innerhalb seines Bewußtseins bemerkt. Und es ist nicht nur abgedämpft, es wird übertönt von dem Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl
[ 23 ] mit dem Irdischen. Weil der Mensch sein Selbstbewußtsein im Irdischen finden muß, wächst er mit diesem während des Anfangs des Bewußtseinsseelen-Zeitalters so zusammen, daß es viel stärker auf ihn wirkt, als dies mit dem rechten Verlauf seines Seelenlebens vereinbar ist. — Der Mensch ist gewissermaßen von den Eindrücken der Sinnenwelt betäubt. Er kommt innerhalb dieser Betäubung mit dem freien, in sich selbst lebenden Denken nicht auf.
[ 24 ] Die ganze Zeitepoche von der Mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts an war eine solche der Betäubung durch die Sinneseindrücke. Das ist die große Illusion dieser Zeitepoche, daß man in ihr das zu starke Sinnesleben für das rechte genommen hat. Jenes Sinnesleben, das das Leben im außerirdischen Kosmos ganz auszulöschen bestrebt war.
[ 25 ] In diese Betäubung hinein konnten die ahrimanischen Mächte ihr Wesen entfalten. Luzifer war durch das Sonnenhafte mehr zurückgewiesen als Ahriman, der in der Lage war, die gefährliche Empfindung gerade in den wissenschaftlichen Menschen hervorzurufen, daß die Ideen nur auf die Sinnes-Eindrücke anwendbar seien. So kann gerade in diesen Kreisen Anthroposophie wenig Verständnis finden. Man steht den Ergebnissen der Geist-Erkenntnis gegenüber. Man sucht sie mit den Ideen zu verstehen. Doch diese Ideen fassen das Geistige nicht, weil ihr Erleben von der ahrimanisierten Sinnes-Erkenntnis übertäubt ist. Und so kommt man in die Furcht hinein, man verfalle blindem Autoritätsglauben, wenn man sich auf die Ergebnisse des geistig Schauenden einläßt.
[ 26 ] Immer finsterer wurde in der zweiten Hälfte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts für das menschliche Bewußtsein der außerirdische Kosmos.
[ 27] Wenn der Mensch in sich die Ideen zu erleben wieder fähig wird, auch dann, wenn er sich mit ihnen nicht an die Sinneswelt anlehnt, dann wird dem Blick in den außerirdischen Kosmos wieder Helligkeit entgegenströmen. Das aber heißt Michael in seinem Reiche kennenlernen.
[ 28 ] Wenn einmal das Michael-Fest im Herbste wahr und innig sein wird, dann wird in der Empfindung der das Fest begehenden Menschen mit innerster Ehrlichkeit sich das Leitmotiv loslösen und im Bewußtsein leben: Ideen-erfüllt erlebt die Seele Geistes-Licht, wenn der Sinnenschein nur wie Erinnerung in dem Menschen nachklingt.
[ 29 ] Wenn der Mensch solches wird empfinden können, dann wird er nach der Festes-Stimmung auch wieder richtig in die Sinneswelt untertauchen können. Und Ahriman wird ihm nicht schaden können.
Goetheanum, Januar 1925.
Leitsätze Nr. 168 bis 170
(8. März 1925)
(Mit Bezug auf die vorangehende Betrachtung: Der Mensch in seiner makrokosmischen Wesenheit)
[ 30 ] 168. Im Beginne des Bewußtseinszeitalters trat eine Abdämpfung des Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühles des Menschen mit dem außerirdischen Kosmos auf. Im Gegensatz hierzu wurde das Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl mit dem Irdischen im Erleben der Sinneseindrücke gerade bei den wissenschaftlichen Menschen so stark, daß es eine Betäubung darstellt.
[ 31 ] 169. Innerhalb dieser Betäubung wirken die ahrimanischen Mächte besonders gefährlich, weil der Mensch in der Illusion lebt, das zu starke, betäubende Erleben der Sinnes-Eindrücke sei das Rechte und ein wahrer Fortschritt in der Entwickelung.
[ 32 ] 170. Der Mensch muß die Kraft finden, seine Ideenwelt zu durchleuchten und durchleuchtet zu erleben, auch wenn er sich mit ihr nicht an die betäubende Sinneswelt anlehnt. An diesem Erleben der selbständigen, in ihrer Selbständigkeit durchleuchteten Ideenwelt wird das Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl mit dem außerirdischen Kosmos erwachen. Die Grundlage für Michael-Feste wird daraus erstehen.
The human being in his macrocosmic essence
(Goetheanum, January 1925)
[ 1 ] The cosmos reveals itself to man first from the side of the earth and from the side of the extraterrestrial, the starry world.
[ 2 ] Man feels a kinship with the earth and its forces. Life teaches him about this kinship with great clarity.
[ 3 ] Not so does he feel in the present age related to the stellar environment. But this only lasts as long as he is unaware of his etheric body. To grasp the etheric body in imaginations means to develop a sense of belonging to the starry world in the same way as one has through the consciousness of the physical body of the earth.
[ 4 ] The forces that place the etheric body into the world come from the circle of the world, just as those for the physical body radiate from the center of the earth.
[ 5 ] But with the etheric forces that flow into the earth from the circumference of the cosmos also come those world impulses that work in the astral body of the human being.
[ 6 ] The ether is like a sea in which the astral forces approach the earth, floating from the far reaches of the cosmos. -
[ 7 ] In the present cosmic age, however, only the mineral and plant kingdoms can enter into a direct relationship with the astral, which flows in upon the earth on the waves of the ether. Not the animal kingdom and not the human kingdom.
[ 8 ] In the animal kingdom, spiritual vision shows how in the embryonic it is not the astral that is currently flowing into the earth that lives, but that which still flowed in during the old lunar period.
[ 9 ] In the plant kingdom, one can see how the manifold wonderful forms are formed by the astral being released from the ether and working over the plant world.
[ 10 ] In the animal world, one sees how the astral, which was active in the past - during the development of the moon - has been preserved out of the spiritual and acts as such preserved things, which currently remain in the spiritual world and do not emerge into the etheric world.
[ 11 ] The effectiveness of this astral is also mediated by the lunar forces, which have also remained from the previous earth stage.
[ 12 ] The animal kingdom is thus the result of impulses which in the previous earthly stage manifested themselves externally-naturally, whereas in the present cosmic age they have withdrawn into the spirit world, which effectively flows through the earth.
[ 13 ] Now it becomes apparent to spiritual vision that within the animal kingdom only the astral forces preserved in the present earthly world from the past are significant for the interpenetration of the physical and etheric bodies with the astral body. But once the animal has its astral body, then the solar impulses effectively appear in it. The solar forces cannot give the animal anything of an astral nature; however, once this is in the animal, they must be used for growth, nourishment and so on.
[ 14 ] This is different for the human kingdom. This too initially receives its astral from the preserved lunar forces. But the solar forces contain astral impulses which remain ineffective for the animal kingdom, but which continue to work in the human astral in the same way as the lunar forces did when they first penetrated man with astrality.
[ 15 ] In the animal astral body one sees the lunar world; in the human the harmonious consonance of the solar and lunar worlds.
[ 16 ] It is based on this solar nature in the human astral body that man can absorb the spiritual emanating in the earthly world for the development of self-consciousness. The astral emanates from the circumference of the universe. It works either as that which streams in at present, or as that which has streamed in and been preserved in the past. - But everything that relates to the shaping of the ego as the carrier of self-consciousness must radiate from a star center. The astral works from the circumference, the ego-like from a center. The earth as a star impulses the human ego from its center. Every star radiates forces from its center by which the ego of any entity is formed.
[ 17 ] This is how the polarity of the center of the star and the cosmic circumference is represented.
[ 18 ] This illustration also shows how the animal kingdom still exists today as a result of earlier developmental forces of the earthly being, how it uses up the preserved astral forces, but how it must disappear when these are used up. In the human being, on the other hand, new astral forces are acquired from the solar being. These make it possible for him to carry his development into the future.
[ 19 ] As can be seen from all this, one cannot understand man in his essence if one does not become as conscious of his connection with being stars as one is of his connection with the earth.
[ 20 ] And what man receives from the earth for the unfolding of his self-consciousness also derives from the spirit-world that is effective within the earthly. - The fact that the sun gives the human being what he needs for his astral being stems from the effects that took place during the old solar time. There the earth received the ability to unfold the ego impulses of humanity. It is the spiritual from this time that the earth has preserved from the solar, but which is protected from extinction by the present solar effect.
[ 21 ] The earth itself was once the sun. Then it spiritualized itself. In the present cosmic age, the solar nature works from outside. This continually rejuvenates the ageing spiritual from the past. At the same time, this presently active solar nature protects the prehistoric from falling into the Luciferic. For that which continues to work without being absorbed into the forces of the present falls into the Luciferian.
[ 22 ] It can be said that man's sense of belonging to the extraterrestrial cosmos is so muted in this cosmic epoch that he does not notice it within his consciousness. And it is not only muted, it is drowned out by the feeling of togetherness
[ 23 ] with the earthly. Because man must find his self-consciousness in the earthly, he grows together with it during the beginning of the consciousness soul age in such a way that it has a much stronger effect on him than is compatible with the right course of his soul life. - Man is, as it were, stunned by the impressions of the world of the senses, and within this stupefaction he does not come to terms with the free thinking that lives within himself.
[ 24 ] The whole epoch from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards was one of anaesthesia through sensory impressions. That is the great illusion of this epoch, that in it the sensory life was taken for the right one. That sensory life which endeavored to completely extinguish life in the extraterrestrial cosmos.
[ 25 ] Into this stupor the Ahrimanic powers were able to unfold their nature. Lucifer was more rejected by the solar than Ahriman, who was able to evoke the dangerous feeling in scientific people that ideas are only applicable to sensory impressions. Thus it is precisely in these circles that anthroposophy can find little understanding. One is confronted with the results of spirit-knowledge. One tries to understand them with the ideas. But these ideas do not grasp the spiritual, because their experience is drowned out by ahrimanized sense knowledge. And so one falls into the fear of falling into a blind belief in authority if one accepts the results of the spiritually seeing.
[ 26 ] In the second half of the nineteenth century, the extraterrestrial cosmos became increasingly dark for human consciousness.
[ 27] When man becomes capable of experiencing the ideas within himself again, even if he does not lean on the sensory world with them, then brightness will again flow towards the view into the extraterrestrial cosmos. But that means getting to know Michael in his realm.
[ 28 ] When once the Michael festival in autumn will be true and intimate, then the leitmotif will be released in the feelings of the people celebrating the festival with innermost sincerity and live in consciousness: The soul experiences spirit-light filled with ideas, when the sensual light only echoes like memory in the human being.
[ 29 ] When man will be able to feel this, then he will be able to immerse himself properly in the sensual world again after the festive mood. And Ahriman will not be able to harm him.
Goetheanum, January 1925.
Guiding Principles No. 168 to 170
(March 8, 1925)
(With reference to the preceding consideration: Man in his macrocosmic essence)
[ 30 ] 168 At the beginning of the Age of Consciousness, there was a weakening of man's feeling of togetherness with the extraterrestrial cosmos. In contrast to this, the feeling of belonging to the earthly in the experience of sensory impressions became so strong, especially among scientific people, that it represents a numbing.
[ 31 ] 169 Within this stupefaction, the ahrimanic powers are particularly dangerous because man lives in the illusion that the too strong, stupefying experience of sensory impressions is the right thing and a true progress in development.
[ 32 ] 170 Man must find the strength to illuminate his world of ideas and to experience it illuminated, even if he does not lean on the numbing world of the senses. This experience of the independent world of ideas, illuminated in its independence, will awaken the feeling of togetherness with the extraterrestrial cosmos. The basis for Michaelmas celebrations will arise from this.