Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts
GA 26
1. At the Dawn of the Michael Age
[ 1 ] Before and until the ninth century after the Mystery of Golgotha, the human being stood in a different relation to his thoughts from that which he has had in later times. He did not have the feeling that he himself brought forth the thoughts that lived in his soul. He regarded them as inspirations from a spiritual world. And when he had thoughts about what he perceived with his senses, even these thoughts were to him revelations of the Divine that spoke to him from the things of the senses.
[ 2 ] Whoever has spiritual vision will understand this experience. For when something that is real in the spiritual sense communicates itself to the soul, one never has the feeling: ‘There is the spiritual perception, and I myself am developing the thought with which to understand it.’ But one sees the thought which the perception contains, and which is given with it, no less objectively than the perception itself.
[ 3 ] (When dates are given in this connection, they are to be taken only as a rough indication of the period; the transition takes place quite gradually.) Speaking, in this sense, we may say that the ninth century saw the lighting-up, in the souls of men, of the individual personal intelligence.
Man began to have the feeling: ‘I myself form my thoughts.’ And this forming of thoughts came to be the thing of first importance in the soul's life, so that man saw in the intellectual experience the very essence and being of his soul. In earlier times men had had an imaginative conception of the soul. To them the essential thing about the soul was not that it formed thoughts, but that it partook of the spiritual content of the Universe. It was the supersensible, spiritual Beings whom they conceived to be thinking, and—extending their influence into the human being—thinking into him as well. That which lives in the human being of the supersensible, spiritual world—this they felt as the soul.
[ 4 ] As soon as we penetrate with higher vision into the spiritual world, we meet with real and concrete spiritual Beings, spiritual Powers. In old teachings the Power from whom the thoughts in things proceed was designated by the name Michael. This name we may still apply, for it is true that human beings, once upon a time, received the thoughts of Michael. Michael held sway over the Cosmic Intelligence. But from the ninth century onwards men no longer felt that Michael was inspiring the thoughts into them. The thoughts had fallen away from his dominion—fallen out of the spiritual world into the individualised souls of men.
[ 5 ] Henceforth it was within mankind that the life of thought was evolved. To begin with, men were uncertain as to what it was they had in their thoughts. This uncertainty found very real expression in the scholastic teachings. The Schoolmen were divided into Nominalists and Realists. The Realists, led by St. Thomas Aquinas and those who stood near to him, still felt the old closeness and kinship between thought and thing. Hence they saw in the thoughts a reality living in the things. They regarded the thoughts of man as reality which flows over from the things into the human soul.
The Nominalists felt very strongly the fact that the soul forms its thoughts. They felt that the thoughts were merely something that existed subjectively in the soul and had nothing to do with the objects. They were of the opinion that thoughts are only names man forms for things. (They did not speak of ‘thoughts’ but of ‘universals,’ but that does not come into consideration for the principle of the theory, as thoughts always contain something universal as compared with the individual objects.)
[ 6 ] We may say that the Realists wished to remain faithful to Michael; even though the thoughts had fallen from his sphere into that of man, they wished, as thinkers, to serve Michael as the Ruler of the intelligence of the Cosmos. The Nominalists deserted Michael, with respect to the unconscious part of their soul. They did not consider Michael as the owner of the thoughts, but man.
[ 7 ] Nominalism spread abroad and increased in influence up to the last third of the nineteenth century. Then at this period those persons who were able to perceive the spiritual events in the Universe felt that Michael had followed the stream of intellectual life. He is seeking a new metamorphosis of his cosmic task. Formerly he allowed the thoughts to stream from the spiritual outer world into the souls of men; since the last third of the nineteenth century he wishes to live in the human souls in which the thoughts are formed. In earlier times the human beings related to Michael saw him develop his activity in the spiritual sphere; they now know that they ought to let Michael dwell in their hearts; they now dedicate to him their spiritual life which is based upon thought; they now, in their free and individual life of thought, allow themselves to be instructed by Michael as to which are the right paths of the soul.
[ 8 ] When those who in their former Earth-life received their thoughts by inspiration, i.e., who were servants of Michael, had returned to earthly life at the close of the nineteenth century, they felt urged towards a voluntary Michael community of this description. They now looked upon the one who had formerly inspired them with thoughts as their guide in forming higher thoughts.
[ 9 ] One who understands how to observe such things knows what a great change took place in the last third of the nineteenth century with respect to the life of human thought. Before that time man could only feel how thoughts formed themselves in his own being; from the time indicated he is able to raise himself above his own being; he can turn his mind to the Spiritual; he there meets Michael, who proves his ancient kinship with everything connected with thought. He liberates thought from the sphere of the head; he clears the way for it to the heart; he enkindles enthusiasm in the feelings, so that the human mind can be filled with devotion for all that can be experienced in the light of thought.
The Age of Michael has dawned. Hearts are beginning to have thoughts; spiritual fervour is now proceeding, not merely from mystical obscurity, but from souls clarified by thought. To understand this means to receive Michael into the heart. Thoughts which at the present time strive to grasp the Spiritual must originate in hearts which beat for Michael as the fiery Prince of Thought in the Universe.
Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 10 ] 79. Spiritually, we can approach the Third Hierarchy (Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi) by learning to know Thinking, Feeling and Willing, so as to perceive in them the Spiritual that works in the soul. Thinking, to begin with, places not an effective reality, but only pictures into the world. Feeling lives and moves in this realm of pictures; bears witness to the presence of a reality in man, but cannot live it or express it outwardly. Willing unfolds a reality which presupposes the existence of the body but does not consciously assist in its formation. The spiritual reality that lives in our Thinking, to make the body the foundation of this Thinking; the spiritual reality that lives in our Feeling, to make the body share in the experience of a reality; the spiritual reality that lives in our Willing, consciously to assist in fashioning the body—all this is alive in the Third Hierarchy.
[ 11 ] 80. Spiritually, we can approach the Second Hierarchy (Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes) by awakening to see the facts of Nature as the manifestations of spiritual being that indwells them. The Second Hierarchy then has Nature for its dwelling-place, there to work upon the souls.
[ 12 ] 81. Spiritually, we can approach the First Hierarchy (Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones) by awakening to see the facts that confront us in the kingdom of Nature and of Man as the deeds (creations) of spiritual being that is working in them. The First Hierarchy then has the kingdom of Nature and of Man as the outcome of its work, wherein it unfolds its Being.
Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 13 ] 82. Man looks upward to the worlds of stars; what is there presented to his senses is but the outer manifestation of those Spirit-beings—and their deeds—of whom we have spoken as the Beings of the spiritual kingdoms or Hierarchies.
[ 14 ] 83. The Earth is the scene of action of the three Nature kingdoms and of the human kingdom, inasmuch as these make manifest the outward and sensible glory of the activity of spiritual Beings.
[ 15 ] 84. The forces, working from spiritual Beings into the earthly kingdoms of Nature and into the kingdom of Man, are revealed to the human Spirit in the true—that is, the spiritual—knowledge of the starry worlds.
Im Anbruch des Michael-Zeitalters
[ 1 ] Bis zum neunten Jahrhundert nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha stand der Mensch anders zu seinen Gedanken als später. Er hatte nicht die Empfindung, daß er die in seiner Seele lebenden Gedanken selbst hervorbringe. Er betrachtete sie als Eingebungen einer geistigen Welt. Auch wenn er über das Gedanken hatte, was er mit seinen Sinnen wahrnahm, waren ihm die Gedanken Offenbarungen des Göttlichen, das aus den Sinnesdingen zu ihm sprach.
[ 2 ] Wer geistige Schauungen hat, begreift diese Empfindung. Denn, wenn ein geistig Wirkliches sich der Seele mitteilt, so hat man niemals das Gefühl, da ist die geistige Wahrnehmung, und man formt selber den Gedanken, um die Wahrnehmung zu begreifen; sondern man schaut den Gedanken, der in der Wahrnehmung enthalten und mit ihr gegeben ist, so objektiv wie sie selbst.
[ 3 ] Mit dem neunten Jahrhundert - selbstverständlich sind solche Angaben so zu nehmen, daß sie eine mittlere Zeitangabe bilden; der Übergang geschieht ganz allmählich -leuchtete in den Menschenseelen die persönlich-individuelle Intelligenz auf. Der Mensch bekam das Gefühl: ich bilde die Gedanken. Und dieses Bilden der Gedanken wurde das Überragende im Seelenleben, so daß die Denkenden das Wesen der Menschenseele im intelligenten Verhalten sahen. Vorher hatte man von der Seele eine imaginative Vorstellung. Man sah ihr Wesen nicht im Gedankenbilden, sondern in ihrem Teilhaben an dem geistigen Inhalt der Welt. Die übersinnlichen geistigen Wesen dachte man denkend; und sie wirken in den Menschen hinein; sie denken auch in ihn hinein. Was so von der übersinnlichen geistigen Welt im Menschen lebt, das empfand man als Seele.
[ 4 ] Sobald man in die geistige Welt mit seiner Anschauung hinaufdringt, kommt man an konkrete geistige Wesensmächte heran. In alten Lehren hat man die Macht, aus der die Gedanken der Dinge erfließen, mit dem Namen Michael bezeichnet. Der Name kann beibehalten werden. Dann kann man sagen: die Menschen empfingen einst von Michael die Gedanken. Michael verwaltete die kosmische Intelligenz. Vom neunten Jahrhundert an verspürten die Menschen nicht mehr, daß ihnen Michael die Gedanken inspiriert. Sie waren seiner Herrschaft entfallen; sie fielen aus der geistigen Welt in die individuellen Menschenseelen.
[ 5 ] Innerhalb der Menschheit wurde nunmehr das Gedankenleben ausgebildet. Man war zunächst unsicher, was man an den Gedanken hatte. Diese Unsicherheit lebte in den scholastischen Lehren. Die Scholastiker zerfielen in Realisten und Nominalisten. Die Realisten - deren Führer Thomas von Aquino und die ihm Nahestehenden waren -fühlten noch die alte Zusammengehörigkeit von Gedanke und Ding. Sie sahen daher in den Gedanken ein Wirkliches, das in den Dingen lebt. Die Gedanken des Menschen sahen sie als etwas an, das als Wirklichkeit aus den Dingen in die Seele hinüberfließt. - Die Nominalisten fühlten stark den Tatbestand, daß die Seele ihre Gedanken bildet. Sie empfanden die Gedanken nur als Subjektives, das in der Seele lebt und das mit den Dingen nichts zu tun hat. Sie meinten: die Gedanken seien nur vom Menschen gebildete Namen für die Dinge. (Man sprach nicht von «Gedanken», sondern von «Universalien»; aber das kommt für das Prinzipielle der Anschauung nicht in Betracht, da Gedanken ja immer etwas Universelles im Verhältnis zu den einzelnen Dingen haben.)
[ 6 ] Man kann sagen: Die Realisten wollten Michael die Treue bewahren; auch da die Gedanken aus seinem Bereich in den der Menschen gefallen waren, wollten sie als Denker dem Michael dienen als dem Fürsten der Intelligenz des Kosmos. - Die Nominalisten vollzogen in ihrem unbewußten Seelenteil den Abfall von Michael. Sie betrachteten nicht Michael, sondern den Menschen als den Eigentümer der Gedanken.
[ 7 ] Der Nominalismus gewann an Verbreitung und Einfluß. Das konnte so fortgehen bis in das letzte Drittel des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. In diesem Zeitalter empfanden diejenigen Menschen, die sich auf die Wahrnehmung der geistigen Geschehnisse innerhalb des Weltalls verstehen, daß Michael dem Strom des intellektuellen Lebens nachgezogen war. Er sucht nach einer neuen Metamorphose seiner kosmischen Aufgabe. Er ließ vorher von der geistigen Außenwelt her die Gedanken in die Seelen der Menschen strömen; vom letzten Drittel des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts an will er in den Menschenseelen leben, in denen die Gedanken gebildet werden. Vorher sahen die Michael verwandten Menschen Michael im Geistbereich seine Tätigkeit entfalten; jetzt erkennen sie, daß sie Michael im Herzen wohnen lassen sollen; jetzt weihen sie ihm ihr gedankengetragenes geistiges Leben; jetzt lassen sie sich im freien, individuellen Gedankenleben von Michael darüber belehren, welches die rechten Wege der Seele sind.
[ 8 ] Menschen, die im vorangehenden Erdenleben in inspiriertem Gedankenwesen gestanden haben, also Michaeldiener waren, fühlten sich, am Ende des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts wieder ins Erdenleben gekommen, zu solcher freiwilligen Michaelgemeinschaft gedrängt. Sie betrachteten ihren alten Gedankeninspirator nunmehr als den Weiser im höheren Gedankenwesen.
[ 9 ] Wer auf solche Dinge zu achten versteht, der konnte wissen, welch ein Umschwung im letzten Drittel des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts sich mit Bezug auf das Gedankenleben der Menschen vollzogen hat. Vorher konnte der Mensch nur fühlen, wie aus seinem Wesen heraus die Gedanken sich formten; von dem angedeuteten Zeitabschnitt an kann er sich über sein Wesen erheben; er kann den Sinn ins Geistige lenken; da tritt ihm Michael entgegen, und der erweist sich als altverwandt mit allem Gedankenweben. Der befreit die Gedanken aus dem Bereich des Kopfes; er macht ihnen den Weg zum Herzen frei; er löst die Begeisterung aus dem Gemüte los, so daß der Mensch in seelischer Hingabe leben kann an alles, was sich im Gedankenlicht erfahren läßt. Das Michaelzeitalter ist angebrochen. Die Herzen beginnen, Gedanken zu haben; die Begeisterung entströmt nicht mehr bloß mystischem Dunkel, sondern gedankengetragener Seelenklarheit. Dies verstehen, heißt, Michael in sein Gemüt aufnehmen. Gedanken, die heute nach dem Erfassen des Geistigen trachten, müssen Herzen entstammen, die für Michael als den feurigen Gedankenfürsten des Weltalls schlagen.
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden
[ 10 ] 79. An die dritte Hierarchie (Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi) kann man geistig herantreten, wenn man Denken, Fühlen und Wollen so kennen lernt, daß man in ihnen das in der Seele wirkende Geistige gewahr wird. Das Denken stellt zunächst nur Bilder, nicht ein Wirkliches in die Welt. Das Fühlen webt in diesem Bildhaften; es spricht für ein Wirkliches im Menschen, kann es aber nicht ausleben. Das Wollen entfaltet eine Wirklichkeit, die den Leib voraussetzt, aber an seiner Gestaltung nicht bewußt mitwirkt. Das Wesenhafte, das im Denken lebt, um den Leib zur Grundlage dieses Denkens zu machen, das Wesenhafte, das im Fühlen lebt, um den Leib zum Mit-Erleber einer Wirklichkeit zu machen, das Wesenhafte, das im Wollen lebt, um an seiner Gestaltung bewußt mitzuwirken, ist in der dritten Hierarchie lebendig.
[ 11 ] 80. An die zweite Hierarchie (Exusiai, Dynameis, Kyriotetes) kann man geistig herantreten, wenn man die Naturtatsachen als Erscheinungen eines in ihnen lebenden Geistigen erschaut. Die zweite Hierarchie hat dann die Natur zu ihrem Aufenthalt, um in ihr an den Seelen zu wirken.
[ 12 ] 81. An die erste Hierarchie (Seraphim, Cherubim, Throne) kann man geistig herantreten, wenn man die im Natur- und Menschenreich vorhandenen Tatsachen als die Taten (Schöpfungen) eines in ihnen wirkenden Geistigen erschaut. Die erste Hierarchie hat dann das Natur- und Menschenreich zu ihrer Wirkung, in der sie sich entfaltet.
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden
[ 13 ] 82. Der Mensch blickt zu den Sternenwelten auf; was sich da den Sinnen darbietet, sind nur die äußeren Offenbarungen derjenigen Geistwesenheiten und ihrer Taten, von denen in den vorigen Betrachtungen als den Wesen der geistigen Reiche (Hierarchien) gesprochen worden ist.
[ 14 ] 83. Die Erde ist der Schauplatz der drei Naturreiche und des Menschenreiches, insofern diese den äußeren Sinnenschein von der Tätigkeit geistiger Wesenheiten offenbaren.
[ 15 ] 84. Die Kräfte, welche in die irdischen Naturreiche und in das Menschenreich von Seiten geistiger Wesen hineinwirken, enthüllen sich dem Menschengeiste durch die wahre, die geistgemäße Erkenntnis der Gestirnwelten.
At the dawn of the Michael age
[ 1 ] Until the ninth century after the Mystery of Golgotha, man had a different attitude to his thoughts than he did later. He did not have the feeling that he himself produced the thoughts living in his soul. He regarded them as inspirations from a spiritual world. Even if he had thoughts about what he perceived with his senses, the thoughts were revelations of the divine that spoke to him from the sensory things.
[ 2 ] Whoever has spiritual perceptions understands this sensation. For when a spiritually real thing communicates itself to the soul, one never has the feeling that the spiritual perception is there, and one forms the thought oneself in order to comprehend the perception; but one looks at the thought contained in the perception and given with it, as objectively as it is itself.
[ 3 ] By the ninth century - of course, such data should be taken to represent an average time; the transition is very gradual - personal-individual intelligence began to emerge in human souls. Man got the feeling: I form the thoughts. And this forming of the thoughts became the outstanding thing in the life of the soul, so that the thinkers saw the essence of the human soul in intelligent behavior. Previously, people had an imaginative conception of the soul. Its essence was not seen in the forming of thoughts, but in its participation in the spiritual content of the world. The supersensible spiritual beings were thought of as thinking; and they work into man; they also think into him. What thus lives in man from the supersensible spiritual world was perceived as a soul.
[ 4 ] As soon as one penetrates into the spiritual world with one's view, one comes into contact with concrete spiritual powers. In ancient teachings, the power from which the thoughts of things flow was called Michael. The name can be retained. Then you can say: people once received thoughts from Michael. Michael administered the cosmic intelligence. From the ninth century onwards, people no longer felt that Michael inspired their thoughts. They had fallen from his dominion; they fell from the spiritual world into the individual human souls.
[ 5 ] The thought life was now formed within humanity. At first, people were unsure of what they thought. This uncertainty lived on in the scholastic teachings. The scholastics were divided into realists and nominalists. The realists - whose leaders were Thomas Aquinas and those close to him - still felt the old connection between thought and thing. They therefore saw in thought a real thing that lives in things. They saw human thoughts as something that flows from things into the soul as reality. - The nominalists strongly felt that the soul forms its thoughts. They perceived thoughts only as something subjective that lives in the soul and has nothing to do with things. They thought that thoughts were only names formed by man for things. (They did not speak of "thoughts", but of "universals"; but this does not apply to the principle of perception, since thoughts always have something universal in relation to the individual things.
[ 6 ] We can say: The realists wanted to remain faithful to Michael; even since thoughts had fallen from his realm into that of humans, as thinkers they wanted to serve Michael as the prince of the intelligence of the cosmos. - In the unconscious part of their souls, the Nominalists fell away from Michael. They did not regard Michael, but man as the owner of thoughts.
[ 7 ] Nominalism became more widespread and influential. This continued until the last third of the nineteenth century. In this age, those people who understand the perception of spiritual events within the universe felt that Michael had followed the stream of intellectual life. He was searching for a new metamorphosis of his cosmic task. He had previously allowed thoughts to flow from the spiritual outer world into the souls of men; from the last third of the nineteenth century he wants to live in the human souls in which the thoughts are formed. Before, people related to Michael saw Michael unfold his activity in the spirit realm; now they recognize that they should let Michael dwell in their hearts; now they consecrate their thought-born spiritual life to him; now they let Michael teach them in the free, individual thought life which are the right ways of the soul.
[ 8 ] People who had been in inspired thought life in the previous earth life, i.e. were Michael servants, felt themselves urged to such a voluntary Michael community when they returned to earth life at the end of the nineteenth century. They now regarded their old thought inspirer as the sage in the higher thought being.
[ 9 ] Those who know how to pay attention to such things could know what a turnaround took place in the last third of the nineteenth century with regard to people's thought life. Before, man could only feel how thoughts were formed out of his being; from the time period indicated, he can rise above his being; he can direct the mind into the spiritual; there Michael confronts him, and he proves to be an ancient relative of all thought weaving. He frees the thoughts from the realm of the head; he clears the way for them to the heart; he releases the enthusiasm from the mind so that man can live in spiritual devotion to everything that can be experienced in the light of thought. The Michael age has dawned. Hearts begin to have thoughts; enthusiasm no longer flows from mere mystical darkness, but from thought-born clarity of soul. To understand this means to take Michael into one's mind. Thoughts that strive to grasp the spiritual today must come from hearts that beat for Michael as the fiery prince of thought in the universe.
Further guiding principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 10 ] 79 The third Hierarchy (Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi) can be approached spiritually when one learns to know thinking, feeling and willing in such a way that one becomes aware of the spiritual working in the soul. Thinking initially only presents images, not a real thing in the world. Feeling weaves in this imagery; it speaks for something real in man, but cannot live it out. The will unfolds a reality that presupposes the body but does not consciously participate in its formation. The beingness that lives in thinking in order to make the body the basis of this thinking, the beingness that lives in feeling in order to make the body a co-experiencer of a reality, the beingness that lives in willing in order to consciously participate in its shaping, is alive in the third hierarchy.
[ 11 ] 80. One can approach the second hierarchy (Exusiai, Dynameis, Kyriotetes) spiritually if one sees the facts of nature as phenomena of a spiritual being living in them. The second hierarchy then has nature as its abode in order to work in it on the souls.
[ 12 ] 81 The first Hierarchy (seraphim, cherubim, thrones) can be approached spiritually if the facts existing in the natural and human kingdoms are seen as the deeds (creations) of a spiritual being working in them. The first hierarchy then has the natural and human kingdoms as its effect, in which it unfolds.
Further guiding principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 13 ] 82. Man looks up to the starry worlds; what presents itself to the senses there are only the outer revelations of those spirit beings and their deeds of which we have spoken in the previous considerations as the beings of the spiritual kingdoms (Hierarchies).
[ 14 ] 83. The earth is the scene of the three kingdoms of nature and the kingdom of man, in so far as these reveal the outer semblance of the activity of spiritual beings.
[ 15 ] 84. The forces that work into the earthly kingdoms of nature and into the human kingdom from the side of spiritual beings reveal themselves to the human spirit through the true, spirit-appropriate knowledge of the celestial worlds.