Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts
GA 26
14. A Christmas Study: The Mystery of the Logos
[ 1 ] Our study of the Michael Mystery was irradiated by thoughts of the Mystery of Golgotha. For, in effect, Michael is the Power who leads man towards the Christ along the true way of man's salvation.
[ 2 ] But the Michael Mission is one of those that are repeated again and again in rhythmical succession in the cosmic evolution of mankind. In its beneficial influence on earthly mankind it was repeated before the Mystery of Golgotha. It was connected in that time with all the active revelations which the Christ-Force—as yet external to the Earth—had to pour down to the Earth for the unfolding of mankind. After the Mystery of Golgotha, the Michael Mission enters the service of what must now be achieved in earthly humanity through Christ Himself. In its repetitions, the Michael Mission now appears in a changed and ever-progressing form. The point is that it appears in repetitions.
[ 3 ] The Mystery of Golgotha, on the other hand, is an all embracing World-event, taking place once only in the whole course of the cosmic evolution of mankind.
[ 4 ] It was only when humanity had reached the unfolding of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul that the ever-continued danger which was there potentially from the beginning—the danger lest humanity's existence should become severed from the existence of the Divine-Spiritual—made itself fully felt.
[ 5 ] And in the same manner in which the soul of man loses the conscious experience in and with the Divine-Spiritual Beings, there emerges around him that which we today call ‘Nature.’ [ 6 ] Man no longer sees the essence and being of Humanity in the Divine-Spiritual Cosmos; he sees the accomplished work of the Divine-Spiritual in this earthly realm. To begin with, however, he sees it not in the abstract form in which it is seen today—not as physically sensible events and entities held together by those abstract ideal contents which we call ‘Natural Laws.’ To begin with, he sees it still as Divine-Spiritual Being—Divine-Spiritual Being surging up and down in all that he perceives around him, in the birth and decay of living animals, in the springing and sprouting of the plant-world, in the activity of water-wells and rivers, in cloud and wind and weather. All these processes of being around him represent to him the gestures, deeds and speech of the Divine Being at the foundation of ‘Nature.’
[ 7 ] Once upon a time, man had seen in the constellations and movements of the stars the deeds and gestures of the Divine Beings of the Cosmos, whose words he was thus able to read in the heavens. In like manner, the ‘facts of Nature’ now became for him an expression of the Goddess of the Earth. For the Divinity at work in Nature was conceived as feminine.
[ 8 ] Far down into the Middle Ages, the relics of this mode of conception were still at work in the souls of men, filling the Intellectual or Mind-Soul with an Imaginative content.
[ 9 ] When men of knowledge wanted to bring the ‘processes of Nature’ to the understanding of their pupils, they spoke of the deeds of the ‘Goddess.’ It was only with the gradual dawn of the Spiritual Soul that this living study of Nature, filled as it was with inner soul, grew unintelligible to mankind.
[ 10 ] The way in which men looked in this direction in the age of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul is reminiscent of the Myth of Persephone and of the mystery that underlies it.
[ 11 ] Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, is compelled by the God of the Underworld to follow him into his kingdom. Eventually it is achieved that she spends one-half of the year only in the Nether world and dwells for the remainder of the year in the Upper world.
[ 12 ] This Myth of Persephone was still a great and wonderful expression of the way in which Man, in an age of immemorial antiquity, had perceived and known the evolutionary process of the Earth in dream-like clairvoyance.
[ 13 ] In primeval times all the world-creative activity had proceeded from the surroundings of the Earth. The Earth itself was only in process of becoming, and moulded its existence in cosmic evolution from out of the activities of the surrounding world. The Divine-Spiritual Beings of the Cosmos were the creators and moulders of the Earth's existence. But when the Earth was far enough advanced to become an independent heavenly body, Divine-Spiritual Being descended from the great Cosmos to the Earth and became the Earth-Divinity. This cosmic fact the dream-like clairvoyance of primeval mankind had seen and known; and of such knowledge the Myth of Persephone remained—but not only this. For indeed, far down even into the Middle Ages, the way in which men sought to know and penetrate into ‘Nature’ was still a relic of the same ancient knowledge. It was not yet as in these later times, when men only see according to their sense-impressions, i.e., according to that which appears on the surface of the Earth. They still saw according to the forces that work upwards to the surface from the depths of the Earth. And these ‘forces of the depths’—the ‘forces of the Nether world’—they saw in mutual interplay with the influences of the stars and elements working from the Earth's environment.
[ 14 ] The plants in their varied forms grow forth, revealing themselves in many-coloured glory. Therein are at work the forces of Sun and Moon and Stars, together with the forces of the Earth's depths. The ground and foundation for this is given in the minerals, whose existence is entirely conditioned by that part of the cosmic Beings which has become earthly. Through those heavenly forces alone, which have become earthly, rock and stone shoot forth out of the Nether world. The animal kingdom, on the other hand, has not assumed the forces of the earthly depths. It comes into being through those world-forces alone which are at work from the surroundings of the Earth. It owes its growth, development and surging life, its powers of nutrition, its possibilities of movement, to the Sun-forces streaming down to the Earth. And under the influence of the Moon-forces streaming down to the Earth it has the power to reproduce itself It appears in manifold forms and species because the starry constellations are working in manifold ways from the Cosmos, shaping and moulding this animal life. The animals are, as it were, only placed down here on Earth from out the Cosmos. It is only with their dim life of consciousness that they partake in the earthly realm; with their origin, development and growth, with all that they are in order to be able to perceive and move about, they are no earthly creatures.
[ 15 ] This mightily conceived idea of the evolution of the Earth lived once upon a time in mankind. The greatness of the conception is scarcely recognisable any longer in the relics of it which came down to the Middle Ages. To attain this knowledge one must go back, with the true vision of the seer, into very ancient times. For even the physical documents that are extant do not reveal what was really present there in the souls of men, save to those who are able to penetrate to it by a spiritual path.
[ 16 ] Now man is not in a position to hold himself so much aloof from the Earth as do the animals. In saying this, we are approaching the Mystery of Humanity as well as the Mystery of the Animal Kingdom. These Mysteries were reflected in the animal cults of the ancient peoples, and above all in that of the Egyptians. They saw the animals as beings who are but guests upon the Earth, and in whom one may perceive the nature and activity of the spiritual world immediately adjoining this earthly realm. And when in pictures they portrayed the human figure in connection with the animal, they were representing to themselves the forms of those elementary, intermediate beings who, though they are indeed in cosmic evolution on the way to humanity, yet purposely refrain from entering the earthly realm, in order not to become human. For there are such elementary, intermediate beings and in picturing them the Egyptians were but reproducing what they saw. Such beings, however, have not the full self-consciousness of man, to attain to which man had to enter this earthly world so completely as to receive something of this earthly nature into his very own.
[ 17 ] Man had to be exposed to the fact that in this earthly world, though the work of the Divine-Spiritual Beings with whom he is connected is indeed present here, yet it is only their accomplished work. And just because only the accomplished work, severed from its Divine origin, is present here, therefore the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings have access to it. Thus it becomes necessary for man to make this realm of the Divine-accomplished work, permeated as it is by Lucifer and Ahriman, the field of action for one part—namely, the earthly part—of his life's development.
[ 18 ] So long as man had not progressed to the unfolding of his Intellectual or Mind-Soul, this was possible, without man's nature becoming permanently severed from its original Divine-Spiritual foundation. But when this point was reached, a corruption took place in man—a corruption of the physical, the etheric and the astral bodies. To an ancient science, this corruption was known as something that was living in man's nature. It was known as a thing that was necessary in order that consciousness might advance to self-consciousness in man. In the stream of knowledge that was cultivated in the centres of learning founded by Alexander the Great, there lived an Aristotelianism which, rightly understood, contained this ‘corruption’ as an essential element in its psychology. It was only in a later time that these ideas were no longer penetrated in their inward essence.
[ 19 ] In the ages before the evolution of his Intellectual or Mind Soul, man was, however, interwoven still with the forces of his Divine-Spiritual origin, so much so that from their cosmic field of action these forces were able to balance and hold in check the Luciferic and Ahrimanic Powers that reach out to man on Earth. And from the human side enough was done by way of co-operation to maintain the balance, in those actions of Ritual and of the Mysteries, wherein the picture was unfolded of the Divine-Spiritual Being diving down into the realm of Lucifer and Ahriman and coming forth again triumphant. Hence in times prior to the Mystery of Golgotha we find in the religious rites of different peoples pictorial representations of that which afterwards, in the Mystery of Golgotha, became reality.
[ 20 ] When the Intellectual or Mind-Soul was unfolded, it was through the reality alone that man could continue to be preserved from being severed from the Divine-Spiritual Beings who belonged to him. The Divine had to enter inwardly as Being, even in the earthly life, into the Organisation of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul which, during earthly existence, has its life from what is earthly. This took place through the Divine-Spiritual Logos, Christ, uniting His cosmic destiny with the Earth for the sake of mankind.
[ 21 ] Persephone came down to the Earth in order to save the plant kingdom from being obliged to form itself from what belongs only to Earth. That is the descent of a Divine Spiritual Being into the Nature of the Earth. Persephone, too, has a kind of ‘resurrection.’ but this takes place annually, in rhythmical succession.
[ 22 ] Over against this event—which is also a cosmic event occurring on the Earth—we have for Humanity the descent of the Logos. Persephone descends to bring Nature into its original direction. In this case there must be rhythm at the foundation; for the events in Nature take place rhythmically. The Logos descends into humanity. This occurs once during human evolution. For the evolution of humanity is but one part in a gigantic cosmic rhythm, in which, before the stage of man's existence, humanity was something altogether different, and in which, after this stage is passed, it will be something altogether different again; whereas the plant life repeats itself as such in shorter rhythms.
[ 23 ] From the age of the Spiritual Soul onwards it is necessary for humanity to see the Mystery of Golgotha in this light. For already in the age of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul there would have been a danger of man being separated, if the Mystery of Golgotha had not taken place. In the age of the Spiritual Soul a complete darkening of the Spirit-world would needs come about for human consciousness, if the Spiritual Soul could not strengthen itself sufficiently to look back in inward vision to its Divine-Spiritual origin. If, however, it is able to do this, it finds the cosmic Logos, as the Being Who can lead it back. It fills itself with the mighty picture which reveals what took place on Golgotha.
[ 24 ] The beginning of this understanding is the loving comprehension of the cosmic Christmas, the cosmic Initiation-Night, the festive remembrance of which is celebrated each year. For the Spiritual Soul, which first receives the element of Intellectuality, is strengthened by allowing true love to enter into this, the coldest element of soul. And the warmth of true love is there in its highest form when it goes out to the Jesus child who appears on Earth during the cosmic Initiation-Night. In this way man has allowed the highest earthly Spirit-fact, which was at the same time a physical event, to work upon his soul; he has entered upon the path by which he receives Christ into himself.
[ 25 ] Nature must be recognised in such a way that in Persephone—or the Being who was still seen in the early Middle Ages when they spoke of ‘Nature’—it reveals the Divine Spiritual, original and eternal Force out of which it originated and continually originates, as the foundation of earthly human existence.
[ 26 ] The world of Man must be so recognised that in Christ it reveals the original and eternal Logos who works for the unfolding of the Spirit-being of man in the sphere of the Divine Spiritual Being bound up with man from the Beginning.
[ 27 ] To turn the human heart in love to these great cosmic facts: this is the true content of the festival of remembrance which approaches man each year when he contemplates the cosmic Initiation-Night of Christmas. If love such as this lives in human hearts, it permeates the cold light-element of the Spiritual Soul with warmth. Were the Spiritual Soul obliged to remain without such permeation, man would never become filled with the Spirit. He would die in the cold of the intellectual consciousness; or he would have to remain in a mental life that did not progress to the unfolding of the conscious Spiritual Soul. He would then come to a stop with the unfolding of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul.
[ 28 ] But in its essential nature the Spiritual Soul is not cold. It seems to be so only at the commencement of its unfolding, because at that stage it can only reveal the light-element in its nature, and not as yet the cosmic warmth in which it has indeed its origin.
[ 29 ] To feel and experience Christmas in this way will enable the soul to realise how the glory of the Divine-Spiritual Beings, whose images are revealed in the Stars, announces itself to man, and how man's liberation takes place, within the precincts of the Earth, from the Powers which wish to alienate him from his origin.
(Christmas, 1924)
Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society (in connection with the foregoing Christmas Study)
[ 30 ] 137. The activity in the evolution of the World and Mankind which comes about through the forces of Michael, repeats itself rhythmically, though in ever-changing and progressing forms, before the Mystery of Golgotha and after.
[ 31 ] 138. The Mystery of Golgotha is the greatest event, occurring once and for all in the evolution of mankind. Here there can be no question of a rhythmic repetition. For while the evolution of mankind also stands within a mighty cosmic rhythm, still it is one—one vast member in a cosmic rhythm. Before it became this One, mankind was something altogether different from mankind; afterwards it will again be altogether different. Thus there are many Michael events in the evolution of mankind, but there is only one event of Golgotha.
[ 32 ] 139. In the quick rhythmic repetition of the seasons of the year, the Divine-Spiritual Being which descended into the depths of Earth to permeate Nature's process with the Spirit, accomplishes this process. It is the ensouling of Nature with the Forces of the Beginning and of Eternity which must remain at work; even as Christ's descent is the ensouling of Mankind with the Logos of the Beginning and of Eternity, whose working for the salvation of mankind shall never cease.
Weihnachtsbetrachtung: Das Logos-Mysterium
[ 1 ] In die Betrachtung des Michael-Mysteriums strahlte die des Mysteriums von Golgatha herein. Das ist durch die Tatsache gegeben, daß Michael die Macht ist, die den Menschen in der ihm heilsamen Art an den Christus herangeleitet.
[ 2 ] Aber die Michael-Mission ist eine solche, die sich im kosmischen Menschheitswerden in rhythmischer Folge wiederholt. Man hatte sie in ihrer wohltätigen Wirkung auf die Erdenmenschheit wiederholt vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Da hing sie zusammen mit alle dem, was die noch außerirdische Christus-Kraft zur Entfaltung der Menschheit für die Erde tätig zu offenbaren hatte. Nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha wird sie dem dienstbar, was durch Christus der Erdenmenschheit geschehen soll. Sie tritt in abgewandelter und fortschreitender Form in ihren Wiederholungen auf, aber eben in Wiederholungen.
[ 3 ] Dem gegenüber ist das Mysterium von Golgatha ein alles übergreifendes kosmisches Ereignis, das nur einmal stattfindet im Laufe der ganzen kosmischen Menschheitsentwickelung.
[ 4 ] Als die Menschheit bis zur Entfaltung der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele vorgeschritten ist, da macht sich die fortwirkende Gefahr der schon urzeitlich veranlagten Herauslösung des Menschheitswesens aus dem Wesen des Göttlich-Geistigen erst voll geltend.
[ 5 ] Und in demselben Maße, in dem die Menschenseele das Mit-Erleben mit den göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten verliert, taucht um sie herum das auf, was man heute «Natur» nennt.
[ 6 ] Der Mensch schaut nicht mehr das Menschenwesenhafte in dem göttlich-geistigen Kosmos; er schaut das Werk des Göttlich-Geistigen im Irdischen. Er schaut es zunächst nicht in der abstrakten Form, in der es heute geschaut wird: sinnlich-physische Wesen und Geschehnisse, die durch diejenigen abstrakten Ideen-Inhalte zusammengehalten werden, die man «Naturgesetze» nennt. Er schaut es als göttlich-geistiges Wesen. Dieses göttlich-geistige Wesen wogt auf und ab in allem, was er als Entstehen und Vergehen der tierischen Lebewesen, im Wachsen und Sprossen der Pflanzenwelt sieht, was er in Quell- und Flußtätigkeit, in Wind- und Wolkenbildung gewahr wird. All diese Wesenhaftigkeiten und Vorgänge um ihn herum sind ihm die Gebärden, die Taten, sind ihm die Sprache des Götterwesens, das der «Natur» zugrunde liegt.
[ 7 ] Wie dereinst in den Sternenstellungen und Sternenbewegungen die Taten, Gebärden der Weltengötterwesen von dem Menschen geschaut wurden, wie ihre Worte darinnen gelesen wurden, so wurden nunmehr die «Naturtatsachen» der Ausdruck für die Erdgöttin. Denn das in der Natur wirksame Göttliche wurde weiblich vorgestellt.
[ 8 ] Reste dieser Vorstellungsart als imaginative Erfüllung der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele waren noch bis weit herein ins Mittelalter in den Menschenseelen tätig.
[ 9 ] Die Erkennenden sprachen von den Taten der «Göttin», wenn sie das «Naturgeschehen» zum Begreifen bringen wollten. Erst mit dem allmählichen Heraufkommen der Bewußtseinsseele ist diese lebendige, innerlich beseelte Naturbetrachtung für die Menschheit unverständlich geworden.
[ 10 ] Und die Art, wie im Zeitalter der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele nach dieser Richtung hin geschaut wurde, erinnert an den Persephone-Mythos mit dem ihm zugrunde liegenden Mysterium.
[ 11 ] Die Tochter der Demeter, Persephone, wird von dem Gotte der Unterwelt gezwungen, ihm in sein Reich zu folgen. Es kommt das schließlich in der Form zustande, daß sie nur die Hälfte des Jahres in der Unterwelt zubringt, die andere auf der Oberwelt verweilt.
[ 12 ] Gewaltig groß drückt dieser Mythos noch aus, wie man einst in urferner Vergangenheit in traumhaftem Hellsehen all das Werden des Irdischen erkennend durchschaut hat.
[ 13 ] Alles Weltenwirken ging in Urzeiten von der Erden-Umgebung aus. Die Erde war selber erst im Entstehen. Sie bildete ihr Wesen in der kosmischen Entwickelung aus dem Wirken ihrer Umgebung heraus. Die göttlich-geistigen Wesen des Kosmos waren die an ihrem Wesen Schaffenden. - Als sie weit genug war, ein selbständiger Weltkörper zu werden, da stieg Göttlich-Geistiges aus dem allgemeinen Kosmos auf sie hernieder und wurde Erdengottheit. Diese kosmische Tatsache hat das traumhafte Hellsehen alter Menschheit erkennend durchschaut; von dieser Erkenntnis ist der Persephone-Mythos geblieben; aber es ist auch geblieben, wie man bis tief ins Mittelalter hinein die «Natur» erkennend zu durchdringen suchte. Denn man schaute da noch nicht wie später nach den Sinnes-Eindrücken, das heißt nach dem, was an der Oberfläche des Irdischen erscheint, sondern nach den Kräften, die aus den Tiefen der Erde zur Oberfläche herauf wirken. — Und diese «Tiefenkräfte», die «Kräfte der Unterwelt», schaute man in Wechselwirkung mit den Sternen- und Elementen-Wirkungen der Erden-Umgebung.
[ 14 ] Da wachsen die Pflanzen in ihren mannigfaltigen Formen, da offenbaren sie sich in ihrer bunten Farben-Erscheinung. Darinnen wirken die Sonnen-, Monden- und Sternenkräfte mit den Kräften der Erdentiefe zusammen. Die Grundlage gaben dafür ab die Mineralien, die schon ganz durch das ihr Wesen haben, was von Weltenwesen irdisch geworden ist. Das Gestein sprießt durch die irdisch gewordenen Himmelskräfte allein aus der «Unterwelt» herauf. Die Tierwelt hat die Kräfte der «Erdentiefe» nicht angenommen. Sie entsteht allein durch die aus der Erden-Umgebung wirksamen Weltenkräfte. Sie verdankt ihr Werden, Wachsen, Sprießen, ihre Ernährungsfähigkeit, ihre Bewegungsmöglichkeiten den auf die Erde einströmenden Sonnenkräften. Sie kann sich fortpflanzen unter dem Einfluß der auf die Erde einströmenden Mondenkräfte. Sie erscheint in vielen Formen und Arten, weil aus dem Weltall herein die Sternenstellungen in der mannigfaltigsten Art gestaltend auf das Tierleben wirken. Aber die Tiere sind vom Weltall auf die Erde nur hereingestellt. Sie nehmen nur mit ihrem dumpfen Bewußtseinsleben an dem Irdischen teil; mit ihrer Entstehung, ihrem Wachsen, mit allem, was sie sind, damit sie wahrnehmen und sich bewegen können, sind sie keine Erdenwesen.
[ 15 ] Diese großangelegte Idee von dem Werden der Erde lebte dereinst in der Menschheit. Was davon in das Mittelalter hereinragt, läßt nur in geringem Maße dieses Großangelegte noch erkennen. Man muß, um zu dieser Erkenntnis zu gelangen, mit dem Blick der schauenden Erkenntnis in sehr alte Zeiten zurückgehen. Denn auch aus den vorhandenen physischen Dokumenten ist nur für den zu ersehen, was in den Seelen der Menschen vorhanden war, der dies auf geistgemäße Art durchschauen kann.
[ 16 ] Nun ist der Mensch nicht in der Lage, sich der Erde so ferne zu halten wie die Tierheit. Indem man dieses ausspricht, tritt man an das Mysterium der Menschheit ebenso wie an das der Tierheit heran. Diese Mysterien spiegeln sich in dem Tierkult der alten Völker, vor allem der Ägypter. In den Tieren sah man Wesen, die Gäste der Erde sind, an denen man Wesen und Wirksamkeit der geistigen Welt, die an die irdische angrenzt, schauen kann. Und in der Verbindung der Menschengestalt mit der tierischen, die man in Bildern darstellte, vergegenwärtigte man sich die Gestalten derjenigen elementarischen Zwischenwesen, die wohl im Weltenwerden auf dem Wege zur Menschheit sind, aber in das Irdische nicht eintreten, um nicht Menschen zu werden. Solche elementarische Zwischenwesen sind vorhanden. Die Ägypter gaben nur ihr Schauen wieder, indem sie sie abbildeten. Aber solche Wesen haben nicht das volle Selbstbewußtsein des Menschen. Um das zu erlangen, mußte der Mensch die irdische Welt in solch vollständiger Art betreten, daß er vom Erdenwesen in sein Wesen etwas aufnahm.
[ 17 ] Er mußte dem ausgesetzt werden, daß in dieser irdischen Welt das Werk der ihm verbundenen göttlich-geistigen Wesen vorliegt, aber eben nur deren Werk. Und weil nur das vom Ursprunge losgelöste Werk vorliegt, so haben in dieses Zutritt die luziferischen und ahrimanischen Wesenheiten. Es ergibt sich damit für den Menschen die Notwendigkeit, das von Luzifer und Ahriman durchsetzte Werk zum Orte eines Teiles seiner Lebensgestaltung - der irdischen - zu machen.
[ 18 ] Es ist dies so lange ohne die bleibende Loslösung des Menschlichen von seinem ursprünglichen Göttlich-Geistigen möglich, als der Mensch noch nicht zur Entfaltung seiner Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele fortgeschritten ist. Da findet im Menschen eine Korrumpierung seines physischen, seines ätherischen und astralischen Leibes statt. Eine ältere Wissenschaft kennt diese Korrumpierung als etwas, das in der Menschen Wesenheit lebt. Man weiß, daß sie notwendig ist, damit das Bewußtsein zum Selbstbewußtsein im Menschen vorrücken könne. In der Erkenntnispflege, die an den Stätten stattgefunden hat, die von Alexander dem Großen der Wissenschaft gegeben worden sind, lebte ein Aristotelismus, der, richtig verstanden, diese Korrumpierung als ein maßgebendes Element seiner Seelenwissenschaft in sich trägt. Solche Ideen wurden nur später in ihrer inneren Wesenheit nicht mehr durchdrungen.
[ 19 ] In den Zeiten vor der Entwickelung der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele war der Mensch dennoch mit den Kräften seines göttlich-geistigen Ursprunges so verwoben, daß diese Kräfte von ihrem kosmischen Orte aus die auf Erden an ihn herandringenden luziferischen und ahrimanischen Mächte im Gleichgewichte halten konnten. Da war von menschlicher Seite aus Genüge geschehen zur Mitwirkung an diesem Gleichgewichte, wenn in Kult- und Mysterienhandlung das Bild des in Luzifers und Ahrimans Reich untertauchenden und wieder siegreich hervorgehenden göttlich-geistigen Wesens entfaltet wurde. Man sieht daher in den Zeiten, die dem Mysterium von Golgatha vorangingen, in den Völkerkulten bildhafte Darstellungen dessen, was dann im Mysterium von Golgatha eine Wirklichkeit wurde.
[ 20 ] Als die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele entfaltet war, konnte die Menschenwesenheit nur durch die Wirklichkeit vor der Loslösung von ihren göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten bewahrt bleiben. Es mußte in die während des irdischen Daseins vom Irdischen lebende Organisation der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele auch im Irdischen innerlich das Göttliche als Wesenheit eintreten. Das geschah dadurch, daß der göttlich-geistige Logos, Christus, für die Menschheit sein kosmisches Schicksal mit der Erde verband.
[ 21 ] Persephone ist in das Irdische untergetaucht, um die Pflanzenwelt davon zu befreien, bloß vom Irdischen sich bilden zu müssen. Das ist der Niederstieg eines göttlichgeistigen Wesens in die Natur der Erde. Auch Persephone hat ja eine Art «Auferstehung», aber jährlich in rhythmischer Folge.
[ 22 ] Diesem Ereignis, das als kosmisches auf Erden geschieht, steht gegenüber der Niederstieg des Logos für die Menschheit. Persephone steigt nieder, um die Natur in ihre ursprüngliche Orientierung zu bringen. Da muß Rhythmus zugrunde liegen; denn das Geschehen der Natur erfolgt im Rhythmus. Der Logos steigt nieder in die Menschheit. Es geschieht das einmal während der Entwickelung der Menschheit. Denn diese Entwickelung ist nur ein Glied in einem gigantischen Weltenrhythmus, in dem die Menschheit vor ihrem Mensch-Sein etwas ganz anderes als Menschheit war und nach demselben etwas ganz anderes sein wird, während ja das Pflanzenleben in kurzen Rhythmen als solches sich wiederholt.
[ 23 ] Das Mysterium von Golgatha in diesem Lichte zu sehen, das hat die Menschheit vom Bewußtseinszeitalter an nötig. Denn es wäre schon im Zeitalter der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele die Loslösung des Menschen als Gefahr vorhanden gewesen, wenn nicht das Mysterium von Golgatha erfolgt wäre. Im Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseele müßte eine völlige Verdunkelung der Geisteswelt für den Menschen in seinem Bewußtsein eintreten, wenn nicht die Bewußtseinsseele sich so weit erkraften könnte, daß sie zu ihrem göttlich-geistigen Ursprung in Einsicht zurückblickte. Kann sie das aber, so findet sie den Weltenlogos als die Wesenheit, die sie zurückführen kann. Sie durchdringt sich mit dem gewaltigen Bilde, das offenbart, was auf Golgatha geschehen ist.
[ 24 ] Und der Beginn dieses Verständnisses ist die liebevolle Erfassung der Welten-Weihe-Nacht, an die jedes Jahr festlich erinnert wird. Denn die Erkraftung der Bewußtseinsseele geschieht ja dadurch, daß sie, die zunächst die Intellektualität aufnimmt, in dieses kälteste Seelen-Element die warme Liebe einziehen läßt. Jene warme Liebe, die am erhabensten strömt, wenn sie dem Jesus-Kinde gilt, das in der Welten-Weihe-Nacht auf Erden erscheint. Damit hat der Mensch die höchste irdische Geistes-Tatsache, die zugleich eine physische war, auf seine Seele wirken lassen; er hat sich auf den Weg begeben, den Christus in sich aufzunehmen.
[ 25 ] Die Natur muß so erkannt werden, daß sie in Persephone oder dem Wesen, auf das man noch im frühen Mittelalter geschaut hat, wenn man von «Natur» gesprochen hat, die göttlich-geistige Ursprungs- und ewige Kraft offenbart, aus der sie entstanden ist und fortdauernd entsteht als die Grundlage des irdischen Menschendaseins.
[ 26 ] Die Menschenwelt muß so erkannt werden, daß sie in Christus den Ursprungs- und ewigen Logos offenbart, der im Bereich der mit dem Menschen ursprünglich verbundenen göttlich-geistigen Wesenheit zur Entfaltung der Geist-Wesenheit des Menschen wirkt.
[ 27 ] In Liebe das Menschenherz zu diesen großen kosmischen Zusammenhängen zu lenken, das ist der rechte Inhalt jener Festes-Erinnerung, die im Hinblicken auf die Welten-Weihe-Nacht jedes Jahr an den Menschen herantritt. Lebt solche Liebe im Menschenherzen, dann durchfeuert sie das kalte Licht-Element der Bewußtseinsseele. Müßte diese ohne diese Durchfeuerung verbleiben: der Mensch käme nie zu ihrer Durchgeistigung. Er erstürbe in der Kälte des intellektuellen Bewußtseins, oder er müßte in einem Geistesleben verbleiben, das nicht zur Entfaltung der Bewußtseinsseele fortschreitet. Er würde dann in der Entfaltung der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele stehen bleiben.
[ 28 ] Aber ihrem Wesen nach ist die Bewußtseinsseele nicht kalt. Sie scheint es nur im Anfange ihrer Entfaltung, weil sie da erst das Lichtvolle ihres Inhaltes offenbaren kann, noch nicht die Weltenwärme, aus der sie ja doch stammt.
[ 29 ] Weihnachten in dieser Art empfinden und erleben, kann in der Seele gegenwärtig machen: wie die Glorie der in Sternenweiten ihre Abbilder offenbarenden göttlich-geistigen Wesen sich vor dem Menschen verkündiget und wie die Befreiung des Menschen innerhalb der Erdenstätte von den Mächten geschieht, die ihn von seinem Ursprünge entfernen wollen.
Goetheanum, zu Weihnacht 1924.
(28. Dezember 1924)
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden (Mit Bezug auf die vorangehende Weihnachtsbetrachtung)
[ 30 ] 137. Die Tätigkeit in der Welt- und Menschheits-Entwickelung, die durch die Michael-Kräfte zustande kommt, wiederholt sich rhythmisch, wenn auch in abgeänderter und fortschreitender Form vor und nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha.
[ 31 ] 138. Das Mysterium von Golgatha ist das einmalige größte Ereignis innerhalb der Menschheits-Entwickelung. Da kann nicht von einer rhythmischen Wiederholung die Rede sein. Denn wenn auch diese Menschheits-Entwickelung in einem gewaltigen Weltenrhythmus drinnensteht, so ist sie doch eben das weitausgedehnte eine Glied in diesem Rhythmus. Bevor sie dieses eine Glied wurde, war die Menschheit etwas wesentlich anderes als Menschheit; nachher wird sie wieder etwas anderes sein. Es finden also während der Menschheitsentwickelung viele Michael-Ereignisse, aber nur ein Ereignis von Golgatha statt.
[ 32 ] 139. In der schnellen rhythmischen Wiederholung eines Jahrlaufes vollzieht das göttlich-geistige Wesen, das zur Durchgeistigung des Naturgeschehens in die Erdentiefen niedergestiegen ist, dieses Geschehen. Es stellt die Durchseelung der Natur mit den Ursprungs- und ewigen Kräften dar, die wirksam bleiben müssen, wie der herabgestiegene Christus die Durchseelung der Menschheit mit dem Ursprungs- und ewigen Logos darstellt, der zum Heile der Menschheit mit seiner Wirksamkeit niemals aufhören soll.
Christmas contemplation: The Logos Mystery
[ 1 ] Into the contemplation of the mystery of Michael shone that of the mystery of Golgotha. This is given by the fact that Michael is the power that leads man to Christ in a way that is beneficial to him.
[ 2 ] But the Michael mission is one that is repeated in rhythmic succession in the cosmic development of mankind. It was repeated in its beneficial effect on earthly humanity before the Mystery of Golgotha. There it was connected with all that the still extraterrestrial Christ-power had to actively reveal for the unfolding of humanity on earth. After the Mystery of Golgotha it becomes serviceable for what is to happen to earthly humanity through Christ. It appears in a modified and progressive form in its repetitions, but precisely in repetitions.
[ 3 ] In contrast, the Mystery of Golgotha is an all-encompassing cosmic event that takes place only once in the course of the entire cosmic development of humanity.
[ 4 ] When humanity has progressed to the unfolding of the intellectual or emotional soul, the continuing danger of the already primeval detachment of the human being from the essence of the divine-spiritual only becomes fully apparent.
[ 5 ] And to the same extent that the human soul loses the co-experience with the divine-spiritual entities, that which today is called "nature" emerges around it.
[ 6 ] Man no longer sees the human entity in the divine-spiritual cosmos; he sees the work of the divine-spiritual in the earthly. At first he does not see it in the abstract form in which it is seen today: sensual-physical beings and events that are held together by those abstract idea-contents that are called "laws of nature". He sees it as a divine-spiritual being. This divine-spiritual being surges up and down in everything he sees in the emergence and decay of animal life, in the growth and sprouting of the plant world, in the activity of springs and rivers, in the formation of wind and clouds. All these beings and processes around him are for him the gestures, the actions, are for him the language of the divine being that underlies "nature".
[ 7 ] As once the deeds and gestures of the world gods were seen by man in the positions and movements of the stars, as their words were read therein, so now the "facts of nature" became the expression for the earth goddess. For the divine active in nature was presented as female.
[ 8 ] Remnants of this type of conception as an imaginative fulfillment of the intellectual or emotional soul were still active in human souls well into the Middle Ages.
[ 9 ] The cognizers spoke of the deeds of the "goddess" when they wanted to understand "natural events". It was only with the gradual emergence of the conscious soul that this living, inwardly animated contemplation of nature became incomprehensible to mankind.
[ 10 ] And the way in which people looked in this direction in the age of the intellectual or emotional soul is reminiscent of the Persephone myth with its underlying mystery.
[ 11 ] The daughter of Demeter, Persephone, is forced by the god of the underworld to follow him into his realm. This finally comes about in such a way that she only spends half the year in the underworld and the other half in the upper world.
[ 12 ] This myth is a powerful expression of how, in the distant past, dreamlike clairvoyance once saw through all the becoming of earthly things.
[ 13 ] In primeval times, all worldly activity emanated from the earthly environment. The earth itself was only just coming into being. It formed its being in the cosmic development out of the work of its environment. The divine-spiritual beings of the cosmos were the creators of its being. - When it was far enough along to become an independent world body, divine-spiritual beings descended upon it from the general cosmos and became earth deities. This cosmic fact was recognized by the dreamlike clairvoyance of ancient mankind; the Persephone myth has remained of this knowledge; but it has also remained how people sought to penetrate "nature" with knowledge until deep into the Middle Ages. For people did not yet look at sensory impressions, i.e. what appears on the surface of the earthly, as they did later, but at the forces that work their way up to the surface from the depths of the earth. - And these "deep forces", the "forces of the underworld", were seen to interact with the star and elemental effects of the earth's environment.
[ 14 ] There the plants grow in their manifold forms, there they reveal themselves in their colorful appearance. In them, the forces of the sun, moon and stars interact with the forces of the earth's depths. The basis for this is provided by the minerals, which already have their essence entirely through that which has become earthly from world beings. The rock sprouts up from the "underworld" solely through the heavenly forces that have become earthly. The animal world has not taken on the forces of the "depths of the earth". It arises solely through the world forces that are effective from the earth environment. It owes its becoming, growth, sprouting, its ability to nourish itself, its possibilities of movement to the solar forces flowing onto the earth. It can reproduce under the influence of the lunar forces flowing onto the earth. It appears in many forms and species, because from the universe the positions of the stars have a formative effect on animal life in the most varied ways. But the animals are only brought to earth from the universe. They only participate in the earthly with their dull life of consciousness; with their development, their growth, with everything that they are, so that they can perceive and move, they are not earthly beings.
[ 15 ] This large-scale idea of the becoming of the earth once lived in humanity. What remains of it in the Middle Ages can only be recognized to a limited extent. In order to arrive at this realization, one must go back to very ancient times with the gaze of observing knowledge. For even from the existing physical documents it is only possible to see what was present in the souls of men for those who can see through this in a spiritual way.
[ 16 ] Now man is not able to keep as far away from the earth as the animal kingdom. By expressing this, one approaches the mystery of humanity as well as that of animality. These mysteries are reflected in the animal cult of the ancient peoples, especially the Egyptians. Animals were seen as beings who were guests of the earth, in whom the nature and effectiveness of the spiritual world, which borders on the earthly world, could be seen. And in the connection of the human form with the animal form, which was depicted in pictures, one visualized the forms of those elementary intermediate beings who are certainly on the way to becoming human in the world, but who do not enter the earthly world in order not to become human. Such elementary intermediate beings exist. The Egyptians only reproduced their vision by depicting them. But such beings do not have the full self-consciousness of human beings. In order to attain this, man had to enter the earthly world in such a complete way that he absorbed something of the earthly being into his being.
[ 17 ] He had to be exposed to the fact that in this earthly world the work of the divine-spiritual beings connected to him is present, but only their work. And because only the work detached from the origin is present, the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings have access to it. This makes it necessary for man to make the work interspersed with Lucifer and Ahriman the place of a part of his life - the earthly one.
[ 18 ] This is possible without the permanent detachment of the human from his original divine-spiritual, as long as man has not yet progressed to the unfolding of his intellectual or emotional soul. This is when the human being corrupts his physical, etheric and astral body. An older science recognizes this corruption as something that lives in the human being. It is known to be necessary in order that consciousness may advance to self-consciousness in man. In the cultivation of knowledge that took place in the places given to science by Alexander the Great, there lived an Aristotelianism which, correctly understood, carries this corruption within itself as a decisive element of its science of the soul. Such ideas were only later no longer penetrated in their inner essence.
[ 19 ] In the times before the development of the intellectual or emotional soul, man was nevertheless so interwoven with the forces of his divine-spiritual origin that these forces were able to keep the Luciferic and Ahrimanic powers approaching him on earth in equilibrium from their cosmic place. From the human point of view, enough had been done to contribute to this equilibrium when the image of the divine-spiritual being immersed in Lucifer's and Ahriman's realm and emerging victorious again was unfolded in cult and mystery acts. Therefore, in the times that preceded the Mystery of Golgotha, one sees in the cults of the nations pictorial representations of what then became a reality in the Mystery of Golgotha.
[ 20 ] When the intellectual or emotional soul was unfolded, the human being could only be preserved from detachment from its divine-spiritual entities through reality. The divine as an entity had to enter into the organization of the intellectual or emotional soul, which lived during the earthly existence from the earthly, also in the earthly. This happened through the divine-spiritual Logos, Christ, connecting his cosmic destiny with the earth for mankind.
[ 21 ] Persephone submerged into the earthly in order to free the plant world from having to form itself merely from the earthly. This is the descent of a divine-spiritual being into the nature of the earth. Persephone also has a kind of "resurrection", but annually in rhythmic succession.
[ 22 ] This event, which occurs on earth as a cosmic event, is contrasted with the descent of the Logos for humanity. Persephone descends in order to bring nature back to its original orientation. There must be an underlying rhythm, for the events of nature take place in rhythm. The Logos descends into humanity. This happens once during the development of humanity. For this development is only a link in a gigantic world rhythm in which humanity was something quite different from humanity before its human existence and will be something quite different after it, while plant life repeats itself in short rhythms as such.
[ 23 ] To see the Mystery of Golgotha in this light is what humanity has needed from the age of consciousness onwards. For the detachment of man would already have been a danger in the age of the intellectual or emotional soul if the Mystery of Golgotha had not taken place. In the age of the consciousness soul a complete darkening of the spiritual world would have to occur for man in his consciousness if the consciousness soul could not strengthen itself to such an extent that it looked back to its divine-spiritual origin in insight. But if it can do so, it finds the World Logos as the entity that can lead it back. It penetrates itself with the mighty image that reveals what happened on Golgotha.
[ 24 ] And the beginning of this understanding is the loving apprehension of the World Consecration Night, which is festively commemorated every year. For the empowerment of the consciousness soul happens through the fact that it, which initially absorbs intellectuality, allows warm love to enter this coldest soul element. That warm love which flows most sublimely when it is directed towards the child Jesus who appears on earth on the night of the consecration of the world. Thus man has allowed the highest earthly spiritual fact, which was at the same time a physical one, to affect his soul; he has set out on the path to receive the Christ within himself.
[ 25 ] Nature must be recognized in such a way that it reveals in Persephone, or the being that was still looked upon in the early Middle Ages when one spoke of "nature", the divine-spiritual original and eternal power from which it arose and continues to arise as the basis of earthly human existence.
[ 26 ] The human world must be recognized in such a way that it reveals in Christ the original and eternal Logos, which works in the realm of the divine-spiritual entity originally connected with man for the unfolding of the spiritual entity of man.
[ 27 ] To direct the human heart in love to these great cosmic connections is the right content of that festive remembrance which approaches man every year in view of the Night of the Consecration of the World. If such love lives in the human heart, then it fires through the cold light element of the consciousness soul. If it had to remain without this firing, man would never reach spiritualization. He would die in the coldness of intellectual consciousness, or he would have to remain in a spiritual life that does not progress towards the unfolding of the consciousness soul. He would then remain in the unfolding of the intellectual or emotional soul.
[ 28 ] But by its nature the consciousness soul is not cold. It seems so only in the beginning of its unfolding, because only then can it reveal the light of its content, not yet the warmth of the world from which it originates.
[ 29 ] Feeling and experiencing Christmas in this way can make present in the soul: how the glory of the divine-spiritual beings revealing their images in starry expanses proclaims itself before man and how the liberation of man within the earthly place happens from the powers that want to remove him from his origins.
Goetheanum, at Christmas 1924.
(December 28, 1924)
Further guiding principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society (with reference to the preceding Christmas reflection)
[ 30 ] 137. The activity in the development of the world and humanity, which comes about through the Michael forces, repeats rhythmically, albeit in a modified and progressive form before and after the Mystery of Golgotha.
[ 31 ] 138 The Mystery of Golgotha is the unique greatest event within the development of mankind. There can be no question of a rhythmic repetition. For even if this development of humanity is part of a tremendous world rhythm, it is nevertheless the most extended one link in this rhythm. Before it became this one link, humanity was something essentially other than humanity; afterwards it will be something else again. So there are many Michael events during the development of mankind, but only one event of Golgotha.
[ 32 ] 139 In the rapid rhythmic repetition of the course of a year, the divine-spiritual being, which has descended into the depths of the earth for the spiritualization of nature, carries out this event. It represents the ensoulment of nature with the original and eternal forces, which must remain effective, just as the descended Christ represents the ensoulment of humanity with the original and eternal Logos, which should never cease its effectiveness for the salvation of humanity.