Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts
GA 26
12. Second Study (Continued). Hindrances and Helps to the Michael Forces in the Dawn of the Age of the Spiritual Soul
[ 1 ] Throughout Europe, the incorporation of the Spiritual Soul brought about a disturbance in the experiences of religious faith and ritual. A clear sign of the coming disturbance may be seen about the turn of the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the arising of the ‘Proofs of God’ (especially in the work of Anselm of Canterbury). The existence of God now had to be proved by intellectual reasoning. The desire to do such a thing could only arise when the old way of experiencing ‘God’ with the forces of the inner soul was vanishing. For we never set out to prove by logic what we experience in such a way.
[ 2 ] The old way was to perceive with one's inner soul the Beings or Intelligences, up to the Godhead. The new way, arising at this time, was to evolve intellectual thoughts about the Prime Foundations of the Universe. The former way was supported by the forces of Michael in the spiritual realm of Earth. Behind the thought-forces directed to the things of outer sense, the forces of Michael equipped the soul with faculties to perceive divine Being and Intelligence in the Universe. On the other hand, for the second way to find its fulfilment, the inner union of the soul with the forces of Michael must first be developed and accomplished.
[ 3 ] In the sphere of religious ritual, even the central doctrine of the Holy Communion began to totter. We find this happening in far-spread regions of the religious experience of man, from Wycliffe in England (fifteenth century) to Huss in Bohemia.
In Holy Communion man was able to find his union with the spiritual world which was opened up to him through Christ. For he was able to unite his being with Christ in such a way that the fact of the outer sense-union was at the same time a spiritual fact.
[ 4 ] The consciousness of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul was able to form an idea of this union. For the Mind-Soul still possessed ideas, both of Spirit and of Matter, near to one another—so that it was possible for it to conceive the one (Matter) passing over into the other (Spirit). Ideas of this kind, however, cannot possibly be so intellectualistic as to require at the same time proofs of God's existence. Such ideas must still contain something of the living Imagination which enables man to feel, in Matter, the Spirit that is active in it; and in the Spirit, the striving towards Matter. Ideas of this kind have the cosmic forces of Michael behind them.
[ 5 ] Think only how much was beginning to totter for the human soul at that time: how much of what was connected with the innermost and holiest experience of men! Personalities arose—Huss, Wycliffe and others—in whom the existence of the Spiritual Soul shone out most radiantly. Their inner state of soul was such as to unite them with the Michael forces with an intensity that would not come for others till centuries afterwards. From the voice of Michael in their hearts, they proclaimed the worthiness of the Spiritual Soul to rise to the conception of the deepest religious mysteries. They felt that the Intellectuality which was coming with the Spiritual Soul must be able to include in the realm of its ideas that which had been attainable, in older times, by Imagination.
[ 6 ] On the other hand, the historical and traditional attitude of the human soul to these things had in very wide circles lost all its inner force and strength. What history refers to as the evils and abuses of religious life which were dealt with by the great Councils of Reform in the age when the Spiritual Soul was beginning its activity—all this is connected with the life of those human souls who, not yet feeling the Spiritual Soul within them, were on the other hand no longer able to find in the old Intellectual or Mind-Soul a sufficient source of inner strength or certainty.
[ 7 ] Historical experiences of men, such as were laid bare at the Councils of Constance and Basle, may be said to reveal:—in the spiritual world above the down-pouring of the Intellectuality seeking to find its way to men, and in the earthly realm below, the working of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul, no longer in accordance with the time. The Michael forces are hovering between, looking back to their own past union with the Divine-Spiritual, and down upon the human realm. The human realm likewise enjoyed the same union in the past, but it must now pass into a sphere in which Michael will help it from the Spirit, though he may not unite his own inner being with this realm. Absolutely necessary as it is in cosmic evolution—yet signifying, to begin with, a disturbance in the balance of the Cosmos—this striving of Michael underlies that which mankind had to experience in that age even with respect to the most sacred truths.
[ 8 ] We gaze deeply into the characteristic features of that age when we turn our thoughts to Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. (One may read what I have said about him in the book Mysticism at the Dawn of Modern Spiritual Life ...1Mysticism and Modern Thought) His personality is like an outstanding monument of time. He wants the affairs of the world directed by points of view, which—instead of fighting the abuses and evils of the physical world by revolutionary tendencies—meet them with healthy common-sense, seeking to restore to the proper channel those things which have become diverted from it. We recognise this tendency in the influence he brought to bear at the Council of Basle, and generally within his ecclesiastical community.
[ 9 ] Thus Nicholas of Cusa is fully inclined towards the great change in evolution which comes with the unfolding of the Spiritual Soul. On the other hand he brings forth thoughts and ideas which reveal in a most radiant way the working of Michael's forces within them. Into the midst of his age he places the good old ideas which, in the epoch when Michael still ruled the Cosmic Intellectuality, led the human soul to the unfolding of faculties to perceive the Beings and Intelligences in the Cosmos. The ‘Learned Ignorance’ of which he speaks is a perception over and above that which is directed to the outer world of sense—a perception which leads man's thinking beyond the intellectuality of ordinary knowledge into a region where, in ignorance or emptiness of knowledge, the Spiritual is taken hold of by a pure, inner experience of seership.
[ 10 ] Thus Nicholas of Cusa is a personality who, feeling in his own soul-life the disturbance of the cosmic balance by Michael, would like intuitively to contribute as much as possible towards the turning of this disturbance to the welfare of humanity.
[ 11 ] Between the things of the spiritual life that came to light in this way there lived something else which remained hidden. Certain individuals who perceived and understood the position of the Michael-forces in the Universe, wished to prepare the forces of their own souls in such a way that they might consciously enter the spirit-realm bordering upon the earthly sphere—the realm in which Michael makes his efforts on behalf of humanity.
[ 12 ] They sought justification for this spiritual enterprise by conducting themselves outwardly in life, in their calling and in other circumstances, in such a way that their life could not be distinguished from that of other men. By lovingly performing their earthly duties in the ordinary sense they were able to turn their inner manhood freely towards the Spiritual which we have described. What they did in this direction was something between themselves and that with which they united themselves ‘in secret.’ As regards what took place in the physical realm, the world was at first apparently quite unaffected by this spiritual striving. And yet all this was needed in order to bring souls into the necessary union with the Michael-world. It was not a question of ‘Secret Societies’ in any bad sense, nor of anything that tried to hide because it feared the light of day, but rather of persons coming together, and in so doing convincing themselves that each one in their circle possessed the true consciousness of the Michael Mission. Those who thus worked together did not speak of their work before others who through lack of understanding could only have disturbed the aims they had set themselves. These aims consisted primarily in working in spiritual streams which flow, not within earthly life, but in the spirit-world next to it, but which nevertheless cast their impulses into earthly life.
[ 13 ] This gives an indication of the spirit-work of human beings who indeed live in the physical world but co-operate with Beings who belong to the spirit-world—Beings who do not themselves enter the physical world or incarnate in it. We are here speaking of those who, with very little reference to the real facts, are named in the world as the ‘Rosicrucians.’ True Rosicrucianism lies absolutely in the line of activity of the Michael Mission. It helped Michael to prepare on Earth the spirit-work which he wished to prepare for a later age.
[ 14 ] We shall be able to estimate what could be achieved thereby if we consider the following.
[ 15 ] The above-described difficulties, nay, impossibilities, for Michael to work into human souls, are connected with the fact that Michael himself, in his essential being, does not wish to come in contact in any way with the physical present of earthly life. He wishes to remain in the nexus of forces which existed for Spirits of his kind, and for human beings, in the past. Any contact with that with which, in present earthly life, man is obliged to come in contact—this Michael could only consider as a pollution of his being. Now in ordinary human life the spiritual experience of the soul works into the physical earthly life, and conversely the latter reacts upon the former. It is a reaction which expresses itself especially in man's frame of mind and in the direction of his soul towards some earthly thing. An interaction of this kind is as a rule the case—though not invariably—especially in persons engaged in public life. Hence the hindrances to Michael's work in many of the Reformers were very great.
[ 16 ] The Rosicrucians overcame the difficulty in this direction by keeping their external life—which consisted in their earthly duties—quite apart from their work with Michael. When Michael, together with his impulses, came in contact with what a Rosicrucian prepared in his soul for him, he found himself in no way exposed to the danger of meeting what was earthly. For, through the state of soul which he purposely cultivated, anything earthly was kept away from that which united the Rosicrucian with Michael.
[ 17 ] In this way the true Rosicrucian striving formed for Michael the path here on the Earth towards his coming earthly Mission.
Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society (in connection with the above Study of the Hindrances and Helps to the Michael Forces in the Dawn of the Age of the Spiritual Soul)
[ 18 ] 131. In the beginning of the Age of the Spiritual Soul, the Intellectuality now emancipated in man wanted to occupy itself with the truths of religious faith and ritual. The life of the human soul was thereby brought into uncertainty and doubt. Men tried to prove by logic spiritual realities that were formerly a direct experience within the soul. They tried to understand, nay even to determine by logical deduction, the contents of sacred ritual which can only be taken hold of in spiritual Imaginations.
[ 19 ] 132. All this is connected with the fact that while Michael is determined to avoid any kind of contact with the present earthly world, which man must enter; yet at the same time it is still his task to guide in man the cosmic Intellectuality which he administered in ages past. Thus there arises through the Michael-forces a disturbance in the cosmic balance albeit, a disturbance necessary for the further progress of world-evolution.
[ 20 ] 133. Michael's mission was made easier for him by certain personalities—the genuine Rosicrucians—who arranged their outward life on Earth so that it in no way interfered ,with their inner life of soul. They could thus develop forces within them, whereby they worked together in spiritual realms with Michael, without the danger of entangling him in present earthly happenings, which would have been impossible for him.
Fortsetzung der zweiten Betrachtung: Hemmung und Förderung der Michael-Kräfte im aufkommenden Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseele
[ 1 ] Die Einverleibung der Bewußtseinsseele bewirkte durch ganz Europa hindurch auch eine Störung in den religiösen Bekenntnis- wie in den Kulterlebnissen. Man sieht um die Wende des elften und zwölften Jahrhunderts eine deutliche Ankündigung dieser Störung in dem Auftauchen des «Gottesbeweises» (besonders durch Anselm von Canterbury). Die Existenz Gottes sollte durch Verstandesgründe bewiesen werden. Eine solche Sehnsucht konnte nur eintreten, als die alte Art, «Gott» mit den Kräften seiner Seele zu erleben, im Schwinden war. Denn, was man so erlebt, das beweist man nicht logisch.
[ 2 ] Die vorige Art war, die wesenhaften Intelligenzen - bis zur Gottheit hinauf -seelisch wahrzunehmen; die neue Art wurde die, auf intellektuelle Art über die «Urgründe» des Weltalls sich Gedanken auszubilden. Für die erstere Art hatte man in dem an den Erdbereich unmittelbar angrenzenden geistigen Bereich die Kräfte Michaels, welche die Seele hinter den auf das Sinnliche gerichteten Gedankenkräften mit Fähigkeiten ausrüsteten, das wesenhaft Intelligente im Weltall wahrzunehmen; für die zweite Art mußte erst der Zusammenschluß der Seele mit den Michael-Kräften ausgebildet werden.
[ 3 ] Im Kultgebiet kam von Wiclif in England (vierzehntes Jahrhundert) bis zu Hus in Böhmen auf weiten Bereichen menschlichen religiösen Erlebens eine solche Mittelpunktslehre wie die Abendmahlslehre ins Wanken. Im Abendmahl konnte der Mensch seine Verbindung mit der Geistwelt finden, die ihm durch Christus eröffnet war, denn er konnte mit dem Christus in seiner Wesenheit sich so vereinigen, daß die Tatsache der sinnlichen Vereinigung zugleich eine geistige war.
[ 4 ] Vorstellen konnte das Bewußtsein der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele diese Vereinigung. Denn diese Seele hatte sowohl von dem Geiste wie von der Materie noch Ideen, die sich nahe standen, so daß die eine (Materie) in den ändern (Geist) im Übergange gedacht werden konnte. Solche Ideen dürfen aber nicht solch intellektualistische sein, die auch Beweise für das Dasein Gottes verlangen; es müssen solche sein, die noch etwas von der Imagination haben. Dadurch wird in der Materie der in ihr tätige Geist, in dem Geiste das Streben nach der Materie empfunden. Ideen dieser Art haben hinter sich die kosmischen Kräfte Michaels.
[ 5 ] Man bedenke nur, wieviel in dieser Zeit für die Menschenseele ins Wanken kam! Wieviel von dem, was mit ihrem innersten heiligsten Erleben zusammenhing! Persönlichkeiten, in denen das Wesen der Bewußtseinsseele am hellsten aufstrahlte, die von einer Seelenverfassung waren, die sie mit den Michael-Kräften in einer Stärke verband, die für die ändern erst nach Jahrhunderten kommen sollte, Huß, Wicliff und andere, traten auf. Sie machten aus der Michael-Stimme in ihrem Herzen heraus das Recht der Bewußtseinsseele geltend, sich aufzuschwingen zum Ergreifen der tiefsten religiösen Geheimnisse. Sie fühlten: die Intellektualität, die mit der Bewußtseinsseele heraufzog, muß fähig sein, in den Bereich ihrer Ideen das einzubeziehen, was in alten Zeiten durch Imagination zu erreichen war.
[ 6 ] Demgegenüber stand, daß die alte, geschichtlich überbrachte Stellung der Menschenseele in den weitesten Kreisen alle innere Kraft verloren hatte. Was man in der Geschichte die Übelstände des Bekenntnislebens nennt, womit sich die großen Reformkonzilien in dem Zeitalter der beginnenden Wirksamkeit der Bewußtseinsseele beschäftigten, das hängt alles mit dem Leben derjenigen Menschenseelen zusammen, die in sich die Bewußtseinsseele noch nicht fühlten, aber die in der überkommenen Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele auch nicht mehr etwas haben konnten, das ihnen innere Kraft und Sicherheit gab.
[ 7 ] Man kann wirklich sagen, solche geschichtliche menschliche Erlebnisse, wie sie auf den Konzilien zu Konstanz, zu Basel, zutage traten, zeigen oben in der Geistwelt das Herabströmen der Intellektualität, die zu den Menschen will, und unten den Erdbereich mit der nicht mehr der Zeit entsprechenden Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele. Dazwischen schweben die Michael-Kräfte, zurückblickend auf ihre vergangene Verbindung mit dem Göttlich-Geistigen und hinunterblickend nach dem Menschlichen, das ebenso diese Verbindung hatte, das aber jetzt in eine Sphäre übergehen mußte, in der ihm Michael vom Geiste aus helfen soll, das er aber selbst innerlich nicht mit sich vereinigen soll. In diesem Bestreben Michaels, das in der kosmischen Entwickelung notwendig ist, das aber zunächst doch eine Störung des Gleichgewichts im Kosmos bedeutet, liegt begründet, was die Menschheit in diesem Zeitalter auch in bezug auf die heiligsten Wahrheiten erleben mußte.
[ 8 ] Man schaut tief in das Charakteristische dieser Zeit hinein, wenn man den Kardinal Nicolaus Cusanus ins Auge faßt. (Man lese über ihn in meinem Buche «Die Mystik im Aufgange des neuzeitlichen Geisteslebens».) Seine Persönlichkeit ist wie eine Merksäule der Zeit. Er möchte Ansichten zur allgemeinen Geltung bringen, die die Mißstände der physischen Welt nicht in schwarmgeistigen Tendenzen bekämpfen, sondern durch den gesunden Menschensinn das, was aus dem Geleise gekommen ist, wieder in dieses zurückführen. Man sehe sein Wirken auf dem Basler Konzil und auch sonst innerhalb seiner kirchlichen Gemeinschaft; und man wird dieses bemerken.
[ 9 ] Ist der Cusaner damit dem Umschwung der Entwickelung mit der Entfaltung der Bewußtseinsseele voll zugeneigt, so sieht man ihn andrerseits Anschauungen offenbaren, die Michaels Kräfte in leuchtender Art an sich zeigen. Er stellt in seine Zeit die guten alten Ideen hinein, die den Menschenseelensinn zur Entfaltung von Fähigkeiten für das Wahrnehmen der wesenhaften Intelligenzen im Kosmos führten, als Michael noch die Welt-Intellektualität verwaltete. Die «gelehrte Unwissenheit», von der er spricht, ist ein über dem auf die Sinneswelt gerichteten Wahrnehmen gelegenes Begreifen, das das Denken über die Intellektualität - das gewöhnliche Wissen - hinaus in eine Region führt, wo — im Unwissen - dafür aber im erlebenden Schauen das Geistige erfaßt wird.
[ 10 ] So ist der Cusaner diejenige Persönlichkeit, die in dem eigenen Seelenleben die Störung des kosmischen Gleichgewichtes durch Michael empfindend intuitiv möglichst viel dazu beitragen möchte, daß diese Störung zum Heile der Menschheit hin orientiert werde.
[ 11 ] Zwischen dem, was auf diese Art geistig zutage trat, lebte im Verborgenen ein anderes. Einzelne Persönlichkeiten, die Sinn und Verständnis für die Stellung der Michael-Kräfte im Weltenall hatten, wollten die Kräfte ihrer Seele so zubereiten, daß sie den bewußten Zugang zu dem an den Erdbereich angrenzenden Geistbereich fanden, in dem Michael seine Anstrengungen für die Menschheit macht.
[ 12 ] Sie suchten sich die Berechtigung zu diesem geistigen Unterfangen dadurch zu erwerben, daß sie äußerlich im Leben beruflich und auch sonst sich so verhielten, daß ihr Dasein von dem anderer Menschen nicht zu unterscheiden war. Dadurch, daß sie so gegen das Irdische im ganz gewöhnlichen Sinne ihre Pflichten in Liebe vollführten, konnten sie das Innere ihres Menschentums frei dem gekennzeichneten Geistigen zuwenden. Was sie nach dieser Richtung taten, war ihre und derjenigen Sache, mit denen sie sich «im Geheimen» verbanden. Die Welt wurde mit Bezug auf das, was im Physischen geschah, zunächst scheinbar gar nicht von diesem Geiststreben berührt. Doch war dies alles notwendig, um die Seelen in die nötige Verbindung mit der Michael-Welt zu bringen. Es handelte sich nicht um «Geheimgesellschaften» in irgendeinem schlimmen Sinne, nicht um irgend etwas, das das Verborgene aufsucht, weil es das Licht des Tages scheut. Es handelte sich vielmehr um das Zusammenfinden von Menschen, die in diesem Zusammenfinden sich überzeugen, daß, wer zu ihnen gehört, ein rechtes Bewußtsein der Michael-Mission hat. Die so Zusammenarbeitenden sprechen dann nicht von ihrer Arbeit vor denen, die durch Verständnislosigkeit nur ihre Aufgaben stören könnten. Diese Aufgaben lagen ja zunächst in dem Wirken in Geistesströmungen, die nicht innerhalb des irdischen Lebens verlaufen, sondern in der angrenzenden Geist-Welt, die aber in das irdische Leben ihre Impulse hineinwerfen.
[ 13 ] Es ist damit auf die Geist-Arbeit von Menschen verwiesen, die innerhalb der physischen Welt stehen; aber die mit Wesen der Geist-Welt zusammenwirken; mit Wesen, die selbst nicht die physische Welt betreten, sich nicht in derselben verkörpern. Was - recht wenig tatsachengemäß - als die «Rosenkreutzer» vor der Welt genannt wird, darauf ist hier verwiesen. Das wahre Rosenkreutzertum liegt durchaus in der Linie der Wirksamkeit der Michael-Mission. Es half Michael auf der Erde vorzubereiten, was er als seine Geistarbeit für ein späteres Zeitalter vorbereiten wollte.
[ 14 ] Was damit geschehen konnte, wird man ermessen, wenn man den Sinn auf das Folgende lenkt.
[ 15 ] Die Schwierigkeiten, ja Unmöglichkeiten Michaels, in Menschenseelen hineinzuwirken, die charakterisiert worden sind, hängen damit zusammen, daß er selbst mit seinem Wesen in keinerlei Berührung mit der physischen Gegenwart des Erdenlebens kommen will. Er will in den Kräftezusammenhängen verbleiben, die für Geister seiner Art und für Menschen in der Vergangenheit bestanden haben. Jede Berührung mit dem, womit als im gegenwärtigen physischen Erdenleben der Mensch in Berührung kommen muß, könnte Michael nur als eine Verunreinigung seiner Wesenheit betrachten. Nun wirkt ja im gewöhnlichen Menschenleben das geistige Erleben der Seele in das physische Erdenleben herein und umgekehrt, dieses wirkt auf jenes zurück. Ein Zurückwirken, das sich namentlich in der Stimmung des Menschen und in der Orientierung auf irgend etwas Irdisches hin zum Ausdruck bringt. Ein derartiges Ineinanderwirken ist in der Regel - nicht immer - insbesondere bei den Persönlichkeiten der Fall, die in der Öffentlichkeit stehen. Daher waren die Hemmungen für Michaels Wirken bei manchen Reformatoren wirklich sehr groß.
[ 16 ] Das Schwierige von dieser Seite bezwangen die Rosenkreutzer dadurch, daß sie ihr äußeres Leben im Sinne der Erdenpflichten ganz abseits hielten von ihrem Arbeiten mit Michael. Wenn dieser mit seinen Impulsen auf das aufstieß, was ein Rosenkreutzer in seiner Seele für ihn zubereitete, so fand er sich in keiner Weise der Gefahr ausgesetzt, auf Irdisches aufzutreffen. Denn dies ward ja eben von dem, was den Rosenkreutzer mit Michael verband, durch die besonders hergestellte Seelenverfassung ferngehalten.
[ 17 ] Dadurch bildete für Michael das echte Rosenkreutzerwollen den auf der Erde befindlichen Weg zu seiner kommenden Erden-Mission.
(Die dritte Betrachtung folgt.)
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden (Mit Bezug auf das Vorangehende der zweiten Betrachtung über Hemmungen und Förderungen der Michael-Kräfte im aufkommenden Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseele)
[ 18 ] 131. Im beginnenden Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseele will sich die im Menschen emanzipierte Intellektualität mit den Bekenntnis- und Kultuswahrheiten beschäftigen. Das menschliche Seelenleben muß dadurch ein Schwanken erleben. Man will Wesenhaftes, das vorher seelisch erlebt worden ist, logisch beweisen. Man will Kultusinhalte, die in Imaginationen ergriffen werden müssen, mit der logischen Schlußfolgerung ergreifen; ja sie nach dieser gestalten.
[ 19 ] 132. Das alles ist damit zusammenhängend, daß Michael unter allen Umständen jede Berührung mit der gegenwärtigen Erdenwelt, die der Mensch betreten muß, vermeiden will, daß er aber dennoch die kosmische Intellektualität, die er in der Vergangenheit verwaltet hat, weiter im Menschen geleiten soll. Dadurch entsteht durch die Michael-Kräfte eine dem Fortgang der Welt-Entwickelung notwendige Störung des kosmischen Gleichgewichtes.
[ 20 ] 133. Erleichtert wird Michael dadurch seine Mission, daß gewisse Persönlichkeiten - die echten Rosenkreutzer - ihr äußeres Erdenleben so einrichten, daß es mit gar nichts in ihr inneres Seelenleben hineinwirkt. Sie können dadurch in ihrem Innern Kräfte ausbilden, durch die sie im Geistigen mit Michael zusammenwirken, ohne daß dieser in die Gefahr kommt, in das gegenwärtige Erdengeschehen verstrickt zu werden, was ihm unmöglich wäre.
Continuation of the second observation: Inhibition and promotion of the Michael forces in the emerging age of the consciousness soul
[ 1 ] The incorporation of the consciousness soul also caused a disturbance in religious confession and cult experiences throughout Europe. Around the turn of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, one sees a clear announcement of this disturbance in the emergence of the "proof of God" (especially by Anselm of Canterbury). The existence of God was to be proven by reason. Such a longing could only arise when the old way of experiencing "God" with the powers of one's soul was on the wane. For what one experiences in this way cannot be proven logically.
[ 2 ] The previous way was to perceive the essential intelligences - all the way up to the Godhead - psychically; the new way was to form intellectual thoughts about the "primal causes" of the universe. For the first kind, the powers of Michael, which equipped the soul behind the powers of thought directed towards the sensual with the ability to perceive the essentially intelligent in the universe, were to be found in the spiritual realm immediately adjacent to the earth realm; for the second kind, the union of the soul with the powers of Michael had to be developed first.
[ 3 ] In the cult area, from Wiclif in England (fourteenth century) to Hus in Bohemia, such a central doctrine as the doctrine of the Lord's Supper began to falter in wide areas of human religious experience. In the Lord's Supper, man could find his connection with the spiritual world, which was opened to him through Christ, because he could unite with Christ in his essence in such a way that the fact of sensual union was at the same time a spiritual one.
[ 4 ] The consciousness of the intellectual or emotional soul was able to imagine this union. For this soul still had ideas of both spirit and matter that were close to each other, so that the one (matter) could be thought to be in transition into the other (spirit). Such ideas, however, must not be intellectualistic ones that also demand proof of God's existence; they must be ones that still have something of the imagination. Thus the spirit active in matter is perceived in matter, and the striving for matter is perceived in the spirit. Ideas of this kind have behind them the cosmic powers of Michael.
[ 5 ] Just think how much was shaken for the human soul during this time! How much of what was connected with their innermost, most sacred experience! Personalities in whom the essence of the consciousness soul shone most brightly, who were of a soul constitution that connected them with the Michael forces in a strength that would only come after centuries for the changes, Huß, Wicliff and others, appeared. From the Michael voice in their hearts they asserted the right of the soul of consciousness to soar up to grasp the deepest religious mysteries. They felt: the intellectuality that arose with the consciousness soul must be able to include in the realm of its ideas what in ancient times could be achieved through imagination.
[ 6 ] On the other hand, the old, historically transmitted position of the human soul had lost all inner strength in the widest circles. What in history is called the ills of the confessional life, which the great reform councils dealt with in the age of the incipient effectiveness of the consciousness soul, is all connected with the life of those human souls who did not yet feel the consciousness soul within themselves, but who could no longer have anything in the traditional intellectual or emotional soul that gave them inner strength and security.
[ 7 ] It can truly be said that such historical human experiences, as they came to light at the Councils of Constance and Basel, show above in the spirit world the downward flow of intellectuality that wants to reach people, and below the earth realm with the intellectual or emotional soul that no longer corresponds to the times. In between hover the Michael-forces, looking back to their past connection with the divine-spiritual and looking down to the human, which also had this connection, but which now had to pass over into a sphere in which Michael is to help it from the spirit, but which he himself is not to unite inwardly with himself. In this endeavor of Michael, which is necessary in the cosmic development, but which initially means a disturbance of the balance in the cosmos, lies the reason for what mankind had to experience in this age, also with regard to the most sacred truths.
[ 8 ] One looks deeply into the characteristics of this time when one considers Cardinal Nicolaus Cusanus. (You can read about him in my book "Die Mystik im Aufgange des neuzeitlichen Geisteslebens"). His personality is like a pillar of the times. He would like to bring views to general acceptance which do not fight the abuses of the physical world in swarm-spiritual tendencies, but which, through the healthy sense of man, lead back into it that which has gone off the rails. Look at his work at the Council of Basel and elsewhere within his ecclesial community; and you will notice this.
[ 9 ] If the Cusan is thus fully inclined towards the turnaround of development with the unfolding of the soul of consciousness, then on the other hand one sees him revealing views that show Michael's powers in a luminous way. He places in his time the good old ideas which led the human soul-sense to the unfolding of abilities for the perception of the essential intelligences in the cosmos, when Michael still administered the world-intellectuality. The "learned ignorance" of which he speaks is a comprehension that lies above perception directed towards the sensory world, which leads thinking beyond intellectuality - ordinary knowledge - into a region where - in ignorance - but in experiential seeing, the spiritual is grasped.
[ 10 ] So the Cusan is the personality who, intuitively sensing the disturbance of the cosmic balance by Michael in his own soul life, wishes to contribute as much as possible to orienting this disturbance towards the salvation of humanity.
[ 11 ] Between what emerged spiritually in this way, another lived in secret. Individual personalities who had a sense and understanding of the position of the Michael forces in the universe wanted to prepare the forces of their soul in such a way that they found conscious access to the spiritual realm adjacent to the earth realm, in which Michael makes his efforts for humanity.
[ 12 ] They sought to acquire the authorization for this spiritual undertaking by behaving outwardly in life, professionally and otherwise, in such a way that their existence was indistinguishable from that of other people. By thus carrying out their duties in love towards the earthly in the quite ordinary sense, they were able to freely turn the interior of their humanity towards the marked spiritual. What they did in this direction was their own business and that of those with whom they united "in secret". With regard to what happened in the physical, the world was at first apparently not touched by this spiritual striving. But all this was necessary in order to bring the souls into the necessary connection with the Michael world. It was not a matter of "secret societies" in any bad sense, not something that seeks out the hidden because it shies away from the light of day. Rather, it was a matter of people coming together who, in this coming together, convince themselves that whoever belongs to them has a true awareness of Michael's mission. Those who work together in this way do not speak of their work in front of those who could only disturb their tasks through lack of understanding. These tasks initially lay in the work in spiritual currents that do not run within earthly life, but in the neighboring spirit world, which, however, throw their impulses into earthly life.
[ 13 ] This refers to the spirit work of people who stand within the physical world; but who work together with beings of the spirit world; with beings who themselves do not enter the physical world, do not embody themselves in it. What is called - rather untruthfully - the "Rosicrucians" before the world is referred to here. True Rosicrucianism is very much in line with the effectiveness of Michael's mission. It helped Michael to prepare on earth what he wanted to prepare as his spiritual work for a later age.
[ 14 ] What could happen with it will be appreciated if one directs the mind to the following.
[ 15 ] The difficulties, even impossibilities, of Michael to work into human souls, which have been characterized, are connected with the fact that he himself does not want to come into any contact with the physical presence of earthly life with his being. He wants to remain in the contexts of forces that have existed for spirits of his kind and for human beings in the past. Any contact with what man must come into contact with in his present physical life on earth could only be regarded by Michael as a defilement of his being. Now in ordinary human life the spiritual experience of the soul works into the physical life on earth and vice versa, the latter works back on the former. This retroactive effect is expressed particularly in the mood of the human being and in his orientation towards something earthly. This kind of interaction is usually - but not always - the case, especially with personalities who are in the public eye. This is why some reformers were very inhibited by Michael's work.
[ 16 ] The Rosicrucians overcame the difficulties from this side by keeping their outer life in the sense of earthly duties completely apart from their work with Michael. When he encountered with his impulses what a Rosicrucian was preparing for him in his soul, he found himself in no way exposed to the danger of encountering earthly things. For this was kept away from that which connected the Rosicrucian with Michael by the specially created state of soul.
[ 17 ] Thus, for Michael the genuine will of the Rosicrucian formed the path on earth to his coming earth mission.
(The third observation follows.)
Further Guiding Principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society (With reference to the foregoing of the second meditation on inhibitions and stimulations of the Michael forces in the emerging age of the consciousness soul)
[ 18 ] 131 In the dawning age of the consciousness soul, the intellectuality emancipated in man wants to occupy itself with the truths of confession and cult. The life of the human soul must experience a wavering as a result. One wants to prove logically what has previously been experienced in the soul. One wants to grasp cult contents, which must be grasped in imagination, with the logical conclusion; indeed, to shape them according to this conclusion.
[ 19 ] 132 This is all connected with the fact that Michael wants to avoid under all circumstances any contact with the present earth-world, which man must enter, but that he should nevertheless continue to guide the cosmic intellectuality, which he has administered in the past, in man. In this way, a disturbance of the cosmic equilibrium necessary for the progress of the world's development arises through the Michael forces.
[ 20 ] 133 Michael's mission is facilitated by the fact that certain personalities - the true Rosicrucians - arrange their outer life on earth in such a way that it has no effect at all on their inner soul life. In this way they can develop powers within themselves through which they can work together with Michael in the spiritual realm without the latter running the risk of becoming entangled in present earthly events, which would be impossible for him.