Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts
GA 26
21. Gnosis and Anthroposophy
[ 1 ] When the Mystery of Golgotha took place, the ‘Gnosis’ was the mode of thought of those among humanity who were able, already at that time, to understand this event—the most momentous in the earthly evolution of mankind—with an understanding not only of deep feeling but of clear knowledge.
[ 2 ] To comprehend the mood of soul whereby the Gnosis lived in man, we must bear in mind that its age was the age of unfolding of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul. In this same fact we can discover the cause of the disappearance—well-nigh complete—of the Gnosis from human history. [ 3 ] Till we can thus understand it, the disappearance of the Gnosis is, after all, one of the most astonishing occurrences in human evolution.
[ 4 ] The unfolding of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul was preceded by that of the Sentient Soul, and this in turn by that of the Sentient Body. When the facts of the world are perceived through the Sentient Body, the whole of man's knowledge lives in his senses. He perceives the world coloured, resonant, and so forth; but within the colours and sounds, within the states of warmth, he knows the presence of a world of Spiritual Beings. He does not speak of ‘substances,’ of ‘matter’ to which the phenomena of colour, warmth, etc., are supposed to adhere, but of Spiritual Beings who manifest themselves through the perceptions of the senses.
[ 5 ] In this age, there is as yet no special development of an ‘intellect’—there is no intellect in man beside the faculty of sense-perception. Man either gives himself up with his own being to the outer world, in which case the Gods reveal themselves to him through the senses; or else in his soul-life he withdraws from the outer world and is then aware of a dim sense of life within.
[ 6 ] But a far-reaching change takes place with the unfolding of the Sentient Soul. The manifestation of the Divine through the senses grows dim and fades away. In place of it man begins to perceive the mere sense-impressions—colours, states of warmth, etc.—empty, as it were, of the Divine. And within him the Divine now manifests itself in a spiritual form, in pictorial ideas. He now perceives the world from two sides: through sense-impressions from without, and through Spirit impressions of an ideal kind from within.
[ 7 ] Man at this stage must come to perceive the Spirit impressions in as definite a shape and clear a form as he hitherto perceived the divinely permeated sense-impressions. And indeed, while the age of the Sentient Soul holds sway he is still able to do this. For from his inner being the idea pictures rise before him in a fully concrete shape. He is filled from within with a sense-free Spirit-content—itself an image of the contents of the World. The Gods, who hitherto revealed themselves to him in a garment of sense, reveal themselves now in the garment of the Spirit.
[ 8 ] This was the age when the Gnosis really originated and had its life. It was a wonderful and living knowledge, in which man knew that he could share if he unfolded his inner being in purity and thus enabled the Divine content to manifest itself through him. From the fourth to the first millennium before the Mystery of Golgotha, this Gnosis lived in those portions of humanity which were most advanced in knowledge.
[ 9 ] Then begins the age of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul. Of their own accord the World-pictures of the Gods no longer rise out of the inner being of man. Man himself must apply an inner force to draw them forth from his own soul. The outer world with all its sense-impressions becomes a question—a question to which he obtains the answers by kindling the inner force to draw forth the World-pictures of the Gods from within him. But these pictures are pale now, beside their former shape and character.
[ 10 ] Such was the soul-condition of the portion of humanity that evolved so wonderfully in ancient Greece. The Greek felt himself intensely in the outer world of the senses, wherein he also felt the presence of a magic power summoning his own inner force to unfold the World-pictures. In the field of Philosophy, this mood of soul came forth in Platonism.
[ 11 ] But behind all this there stood the world of the Mysteries. In the Mysteries, such Gnosis as still remained from the age of the Sentient Soul was faithfully preserved. Human souls were definitely trained for this task of preservation. In the time when the Intellectual or Mind-Soul arose by way of ordinary evolution, the Sentient Soul was kindled into life by special training. Most especially in the age of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul, behind the ordinary life of culture there was a richly developed life of the Mysteries.
[ 12 ] In the Mysteries the World-pictures of the Gods lived also in this way, that they were made the inner content of a cult or ritual. We gaze into the centres of those Mysteries and behold the Universe, portrayed in the most wonderful acts of ritual.
[ 13 ] The human beings who experienced these things were also those who, when the Mystery of Golgotha took place, perceived and penetrated it in its deep, cosmic significance. But this life of the Mysteries was kept entirely apart from the turmoil of the outer world, in order to unfold in purity the world of Spirit-pictures. And it became increasingly difficult for the souls of men to unfold the pictures.
[ 14 ] Then it was that in the highest places of the Mysteries, Spirit-beings descended from the spiritual Cosmos, coming to help the human beings in their intense strivings after knowledge. Thus under the influence of the ‘Gods’ themselves the impulses of the age of the Sentient Soul continued to unfold. There arose a ‘Gnosis of the Mysteries’ of which only the very few had any notion. And that which human beings were able to receive with the Intellectual or Mind-Soul was present alongside of this. It was the exoteric Gnosis whose fragments have come down to posterity.
[ 15 ] In the esoteric Gnosis of the Mysteries, human beings grew less and less able to rise to the unfolding of the Sentient Soul. The esoteric Wisdom passed over more and more into the keeping of the Gods alone. It is a great secret of the historic evolution of humanity, that ‘Divine Mysteries’—for as such we may indeed describe them—were at work in it from the first Christian centuries on into medieval times.
[ 16 ] In these ‘Divine Mysteries,’ Angel-beings preserved in Earth-existence what human beings were no longer able to preserve. Thus did the Gnosis of the Mysteries hold sway, while men were diligently wiping out the exoteric Gnosis.
[ 17 ] The World-picture-content, guarded in the Gnosis of the Mysteries by Spirit-beings in a spiritual way, while its influence was still required in the progress of mankind, could not, however, be preserved for the conscious understanding of man's soul. But its deep feeling-content had to be preserved. For in the right cosmic moment this was to be given to a humanity duly prepared to receive it, so that at a later stage the Spiritual Soul—fired by the inner warmth of it—might newly penetrate into the Spirit-realm. Thus, Spirit beings built the bridge from the old World-content to the new.
[ 18 ] Indications of this secret of human evolution do indeed exist. The sacred jasper cup of the Holy Grail which Christ made use of when He broke the bread and in which Joseph of Arimathea gathered the blood from the wound of Jesus—which contained therefore the secret of Golgotha—was received into safe keeping, according to the legend, by Angels until Titurel should build the Castle of the Grail, when they could allow it to descend upon the human beings who were prepared to receive it.
[ 19 ] Spiritual Beings protected the World-pictures in which the secrets of Golgotha were living. And when the time was come, they let down—not the picture-content, for this was not possible—but the full Feeling-content, into the hearts and minds of men.
[ 20 ] This implanting of the Feeling-content of an ancient knowledge can only serve to kindle, but it can indeed kindle most powerfully the unfolding in our age—out of the Spiritual Soul and in the light of Michael's activity—of a new and full understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha.
[ 21 ] Anthroposophy strives for this new understanding, which—as we may see from the above description—cannot be a renewal of the Gnosis. For the content of the Gnosis was the way of knowledge of the Sentient Soul, while Anthroposophy—in a completely new way—must draw forth a content no less rich from the Spiritual Soul.
January, 1925
Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society (in connection with the above Study on Gnosis and Anthroposophy)
[ 22 ] 159. The Gnosis in its proper form evolved in the age of the Sentient Soul (from the fourth to the first millennium before the Mystery of Golgotha). It was an age when the Divine was made manifest to man as a spiritual content in his inner being; whereas in the preceding age (the age of the Sentient Body) it had revealed itself directly in his sense-impressions of the outer world.
[ 23 ] 160. In the age of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul, man could only experience in paler cast the spiritual content of the Divine. The Gnosis was strictly guarded in hidden Mysteries. And when human beings could no longer preserve it, because they could no longer kindle the Sentient Soul to life, spiritual Beings carried over—not indeed the Knowledge-content—but the Feeling-content of the Gnosis into the Middle Ages. (The Legend of the Holy Grail contains an indication of this fact.) Meanwhile the exoteric Gnosis, which penetrated into the Intellectual or Mind-Soul, was ruthlessly exterminated.
[ 24 ] 161. Anthroposophy cannot be a revival of the Gnosis. For the latter depended on the development of the Sentient Soul; while Anthroposophy must evolve out of the Spiritual Soul, in the light of Michael's activity, a new understanding of Christ and of the World. Gnosis was the way of Knowledge preserved from ancient time—which, at the time when the Mystery of Golgotha took place, was best able to bring home this Mystery to human understanding.
Gnosis und Anthroposophie
(Goetheanum, Januar 1925)
[ 1 ] Als das Mysterium von Golgatha sich vollzog, war die «Gnosis» die Denkart des Teiles der Menschheit, der zunächst ein erkenntnismäßiges, nicht bloß ein empfindendes Verständnis dem größten Einschlag in die Erdenentwickelung der Menschen entgegenbringen konnte.
[ 2 ] Will man die Seelenverfassung verstehen, in der die Gnosis innerhalb des Menschen lebte, so muß man ins Auge fassen, daß das Zeitalter dieser Gnosis dasjenige der Entfaltung der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele ist.
[ 3 ] In dieser Tatsache kann man auch die Ursache für das fast völlige Verschwinden der Gnosis aus der Menschheitsgeschichte finden. Dieses Verschwinden ist wohl, solange es nicht begriffen ist, eines der erstaunlichsten Vorkommnisse im Werdegang der Menschheit.
[ 4 ] Der Entfaltung der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele ging diejenige der Empfindungsseele und dieser die des Empfindungsleibes voraus. Werden die Tatsachen der Welt durch den Empfindungsleib wahrgenommen, so lebt alle Erkenntnis des Menschen in den Sinnen. Die Welt wird farbig, tönend und so weiter wahrgenommen; aber in den Farben, Tönen, in den Wärmezuständen wird eine Welt von geistigen Wesenheiten gewußt. Von «Stoff», an dem Farben, Wärmezustände und so weiter erscheinen, redet man nicht; man redet von geistigen Wesenheiten, die sich durch das offenbaren, was die Sinne wahrnehmen.
[ 5 ] Eine besondere Entfaltung eines «Verstandes», der neben der Sinneswahrnehmung im Menschen lebte, gibt es in diesem Zeitalter noch nicht. Der Mensch gibt sich entweder mit seinem Wesen an die Außenwelt hin, dann offenbaren sich ihm durch die Sinne die Götter. Oder er zieht sich in seinem Seelenleben von der Außenwelt zurück, dann fühlt er in seinem Innern ein dumpfes Lebensgefühl.
[ 6 ] Ein bedeutsamer Umschwung tritt ein, wenn sich die Empfindungsseele entfaltet. Die Offenbarung des Göttlichen durch die Sinne dämmert ab. An die Stelle tritt das Wahrnehmen der gewissermaßen entgöttlichten Sinneseindrücke, der Farben, Wärmezustände und so weiter. Im Innern offenbart sich das Göttliche in geistiger Form, in Bild-Ideen. Und der Mensch nimmt die Welt von zwei Seiten her wahr: von außen durch die Sinnes-Eindrücke, von innen durch die ideenhaften Geist-Eindrücke.
[ 7 ] Der Mensch muß nun dazu kommen, die Geist-Eindrücke so bestimmt, so gestaltet wahrzunehmen, wie er vorher die durchgöttlichten Sinnes-Eindrücke wahrgenommen hat. — Solange das Zeitalter der Empfindungsseele waltet, kann er das. Denn aus seinem inneren Wesen steigen ihm die Ideenbilder in vollgestalteter Art auf. Er ist von innen erfüllt mit einem sinnlichkeitsfreien Geist-Inhalt, der ein Abbild des Welt-Inhaltes ist. Haben sich ihm früher die Götter im sinnlichen Kleide geoffenbart; sie offenbaren sich ihm jetzt im Geist-Kleide.
[ 8 ] Das ist das Zeitalter der eigentlichen Entstehung und des Lebens der Gnosis. Eine wunderbare Erkenntnis lebt, der sich der Mensch teilhaftig weiß, wenn er sein inneres Wesen in Reinheit entfaltet, so daß der göttliche Inhalt durch dasselbe sich offenbaren kann. Vom vierten bis ins erste Jahrtausend vor dem Eintritte des Mysteriums von Golgatha herrscht bei dem in der Erkenntnis vorgeschrittensten Teile der Menschheit diese Gnosis.
[ 9 ] Dann beginnt das Zeitalter der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele. Von selbst steigen jetzt aus dem Innern des Menschenwesens die Welt-Götter-Bilder nicht mehr auf. Der Mensch muß innerlich Kraft anwenden, um sie aus seiner Seele zu holen. Die Außenwelt mit ihren Sinnes-Eindrücken wird zur Frage. Indem der Mensch die innerliche Kraft anwendet, die Welt-Götter-Bilder aus sich zu holen, erhält er Antworten.
[ 10 ] Aber die Bilder sind blaß im Verhältnis zu ihrer früheren Gestalt. Es ist dies die Seelenverfassung der Menschheit, die in Griechenland sich in wunderbarer Art entfaltet hat. Der Grieche fühlte sich in der sinnenfälligen Außenwelt, und er fühlte in dieser die Zaubergewalt, die die innere Kraft zum Entfalten der Weltbilder anregte. Auf philosophischem Felde entfaltete sich diese Seelenverfassung im Platonismus.
[ 11 ] Aber hinter alle dem stand die Mysterien weit. In ihr wurde treu aufbewahrt, was von Gnosis aus dem Zeitalter der Empfindungsseele vorhanden war. Die Seelen wurden für dieses treuliche Aufbewahren geschult. Auf dem Wege der gewöhnlichen Entwickelung erstand die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele. Durch besondere Schulung wurde die Empfindungsseele belebt. So gab es hinter dem gewöhnlichen Kulturleben gerade im Zeitalter der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele ein reich entwickeltes Mysterienwesen.
[ 12 ] In diesem lebten die Welt-Götter-Bilder auch insofern, als sie zum Inhalte eines Kultus gemacht wurden. Man schaut in das Innere dieser Mysterien und erblickt die Welt im Abbilde der wunderbarsten Kultusverrichtungen.
[ 13 ] Die Menschen, die das erlebten, sie waren diejenigen, die auch das Mysterium von Golgatha, als es sich vollzog, in seinem tiefen kosmischen Zusammenhange durchschauten. Aber es war ein Mysterienleben, das sich ganz abseits hielt von dem Weltgetriebe, um in Reinheit die Geist-Bilder-Welt zu entfalten. Und für Menschenseelen wurde diese Entfaltung immer schwieriger.
[ 14 ] Da stiegen in den höchsten Mysterienstätten Geist-Wesen aus dem geistigen Kosmos, die den Anstrengungen der um Erkenntnis ringenden Menschen zu Hilfe kamen. So entfalteten sich die Impulse des Zeitalters der Empfindungsseele unter dem Einfluß der «Götter» selbst weiter. Es entstand eine Mysterien-Gnosis, von der die wenigsten auch nur etwas ahnten. Neben ihr war das vorhanden, was von den Menschen mit der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele aufgenommen werden konnte. Es war die exoterische Gnosis, von der Bruchstücke auf die Nachwelt gekommen sind.
[ 15 ] In der esoterischen Mysteriengnosis wurden die Menschen immer unfähiger, sich zur Entfaltung der Empfindungsseele zu erheben. Es ging diese esoterische Weisheit immer mehr an die bloße Pflege der «Götter» über. Und das ist ein Geheimnis der geschichtlichen Entwickelung der Menschheit, daß in ihr gewissermaßen «göttliche Mysterien» von den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten an bis ins Mittelalter wirkten.
[ 16 ] In diesen «göttlichen Mysterien» bewahrten Engelwesen im irdischen Dasein, was Menschen nicht mehr bewahren konnten. So waltete die Mysterien-Gnosis, während man an der Ausrottung der exoterischen Gnosis arbeitete.
[ 17 ] Der Welt-Bild-Inhalt, der in der Mysterien-Gnosis auf geistige Art von geistigen Wesen bewahrt wurde, solange er im Werdegang der Menschheit wirken sollte: er konnte dem bewußten Begreifen der Menschenseele nicht erhalten werden. Aber der Gefühlsgehalt sollte bewahrt werden. Und dieser sollte im rechten kosmischen Augenblicke der dazu vorbereiteten Menschheit gegeben werden, damit unter seiner Seelenwärme die Bewußtseinsseele später auf neue Art in das Geistesreich eindringen könne. Geisteswesen haben so die Brücke gebaut zwischen dem alten Welt-Inhalt und dem neuen.
[ 18 ] In Andeutungen ist dieses Geheimnis der Menschheitsentwickelung vorhanden. Die heilige Jaspisschale des Grales, derer sich Christus bediente, als er das Brot brach, in die Joseph von Arimathia das Blut aus der Jesuswunde aufgefangen hat, die also das Geheimnis von Golgatha barg, wurde — so lautet die Legende — von Engeln in Verwahrung genommen, bis sie sie nach Erbauung der Gralsburg durch Titurel auf die vorbereiteten Menschen niedersenken konnten.
[ 19 ] Geistwesen bargen die Welt-Bilder, in denen die Geheimnisse von Golgatha lebten. Sie senkten, weil das nicht möglich war, nicht den Bild-Inhalt, wohl aber den Gefühlsgehalt in Menschengemüter, als die Zeit dazu gekommen war.
[ 20 ] Nur Anregung, aber eben kräftigste Anregung, kann dieses Einpflanzen des Gefühlsinhaltes alter Erkenntnis sein, daß in unserem Zeitalter sich aus der Bewußtseinsseele im Lichte von Michaels Wirksamkeit ein neues volles Verständnis des Mysteriums von Golgatha entwickele.
[ 21 ] Anthroposophie strebt dieses neue Verständnis an. Aus der gegebenen Schilderung ersieht man, daß sie keine Erneuerung der Gnosis sein kann, die zu ihrem Inhalt die Erkenntnisart der Empfindungsseele hatte, daß sie aber einen ebenso reichen Inhalt aus der Bewußtseinsseele auf völlig neue Art holen muß.
Goetheanum, Januar 1925.
Leitsätze Nr. 159 bis 161
(15. Februar 1925)
(Mit Bezug auf die vorangehende Betrachtung: Gnosis und Anthroposophie)
[ 22 ] 159. Gnosis entfaltet sich in ihrer eigentlichen Gestalt im Zeitalter der Empfindungsseele (viertes bis erstes Jahrtausend vor dem Eintritte des Mysteriums von Golgatha). Das «Göttliche» offenbart sich dem Menschen in diesem Zeitalter im Innern als Geist-Inhalt, wogegen es sich im vorangehenden Zeitalter des Empfindungsleibes an den Sinnes-Eindrücken der Außenwelt geoffenbart hat.
[ 23 ] 160. Im Zeitalter der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele kann der Geist-Inhalt des «Göttlichen» nur in verblaßter Art erlebt werden. Es wird die Gnosis in strengen Mysterien bewahrt, und als Menschen dies nicht mehr können, weil sie die Empfindungsseele zu beleben nicht mehr imstande sind, da wird in das Mittelalter hinüber durch Geistwesen zwar nicht der Erkenntnis-Inhalt, aber der Gefühlsgehalt getragen. (Die Gral-Legende enthält die Andeutung davon.) Daneben wird die exoterische Gnosis, die in die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele eindringt, ausgerottet.
[ 24 ] 161. Die Anthroposophie kann nicht eine Erneuerung der Gnosis sein, denn diese hing an der Entfaltung der Empfindungsseele. Anthroposophie muß im Lichte der Michael-Tätigkeit aus der Bewußtseinsseele heraus ein Welt- und Christus-Verständnis auf neue Art entwickeln. Die Gnosis war die aus alter Zeit bewahrte Erkenntnisart, die das Mysterium von Golgatha bei seinem Eintritte am besten zum Menschenverständnisse bringen konnte.
Gnosis and Anthroposophy
(Goetheanum, January 1925)
[ 1 ] When the Mystery of Golgotha took place, "gnosis" was the way of thinking of that part of humanity which could initially bring an epistemological, not merely a sentient understanding to the greatest impact on the earthly development of mankind.
[ 2 ] If one wishes to understand the state of soul in which gnosis lived within man, one must bear in mind that the age of this gnosis is that of the unfolding of the intellectual or emotional soul.
[ 3 ] In this fact one can also find the cause for the almost complete disappearance of gnosis from human history. This disappearance is probably, as long as it is not understood, one of the most astonishing occurrences in the history of mankind.
[ 4 ] The development of the intellectual or emotional soul was preceded by that of the sentient soul and the sentient body. If the facts of the world are perceived through the sensory body, then all human knowledge lives in the senses. The world is perceived in color, sound and so on; but in the colors, sounds, in the states of warmth, a world of spiritual entities is known. One does not speak of "matter" in which colors, states of warmth and so on appear; one speaks of spiritual entities that reveal themselves through what the senses perceive.
[ 5 ] A special development of a "mind" that lives in man alongside sensory perception does not yet exist in this age. Man either surrenders his being to the outside world, in which case the gods reveal themselves to him through the senses. Or he withdraws from the outside world in his soul life, in which case he feels a dull sense of life within himself.
[ 6 ] A significant change occurs when the sentient soul unfolds. The revelation of the divine through the senses fades away. It is replaced by the perception of sensory impressions, colors, states of warmth and so on, which are to a certain extent de-divinized. Within, the divine reveals itself in spiritual form, in image-ideas. And man perceives the world from two sides: from the outside through the sensory impressions, from the inside through the imaginative spiritual impressions.
[ 7 ] Man must now come to perceive the spirit-impressions in such a determined, such a formed way as he has previously perceived the divinized sense-impressions. - As long as the age of the sentient soul prevails, he can do this. For the images of ideas arise from his inner being in a fully formed way. He is filled from within with a spirit-content free from sensuality, which is an image of the world-content. If the gods used to reveal themselves to him in a sensual garment, they now reveal themselves to him in a spiritual garment.
[ 8 ] This is the age of the actual emergence and life of gnosis. A wonderful knowledge lives, which man knows himself to be part of when he unfolds his inner being in purity, so that the divine content can reveal itself through it. From the fourth to the first millennium before the occurrence of the Mystery of Golgotha, this gnosis prevailed among the most advanced part of humanity.
[ 9 ] Then begins the age of the intellectual or emotional soul. The images of the world-gods no longer arise of their own accord from within the human being. Man must use inner strength to draw them out of his soul. The outer world with its sensory impressions becomes a question. By applying the inner power to extract the images of the world gods from himself, man receives answers.
[ 10 ] But the images are pale in relation to their former form. This is the state of mind of mankind, which unfolded in a wonderful way in Greece. The Greek felt himself in the sensual outer world, and he felt in it the magical power that stimulated the inner force to unfold the images of the world. In the philosophical field, this state of mind unfolded in Platonism.
[ 11 ] But behind all this stood the Mysteries. In it was faithfully preserved what was present of Gnosis from the age of the sentient soul. The souls were trained for this faithful preservation. In the course of ordinary development the intellectual or emotional soul arose. The sentient soul was enlivened through special training. Thus, behind the ordinary cultural life, there was a richly developed mystery being precisely in the age of the intellectual or emotional soul.
[ 12 ] The images of the world-gods also lived in this in so far as they were made the content of a cult. One looks into the interior of these mysteries and sees the world in the image of the most wonderful cultic practices.
[ 13 ] The people who experienced this were those who also saw through the mystery of Golgotha in its deep cosmic context when it took place. But it was a mystery life that kept itself completely apart from the world's activity in order to unfold the spirit-image world in purity. And this unfolding became increasingly difficult for human souls.
[ 14 ] Then, in the highest mystery places, spirit beings rose from the spiritual cosmos, who came to the aid of the efforts of humans struggling for knowledge. Thus the impulses of the age of the sentient soul continued to unfold under the influence of the "gods" themselves. A mystery gnosis arose, of which very few even suspected anything. Alongside it there was that which could be received by man with the soul of understanding or the soul of the mind. It was the exoteric gnosis, fragments of which have come down to posterity.
[ 15 ] In the esoteric gnosis of the mysteries, people became increasingly incapable of raising themselves to the unfolding of the sentient soul. This esoteric wisdom became more and more the mere cultivation of the "gods". And this is a secret of the historical development of mankind, that "divine mysteries" were at work in it to a certain extent from the first Christian centuries right up to the Middle Ages.
[ 16 ] In these "divine mysteries", angelic beings preserved in earthly existence what humans could no longer preserve. This is how the Mystery Gnosis prevailed while exoteric Gnosis was being eradicated.
[ 17 ] The world-image-content, which was preserved in a spiritual way by spiritual beings in the Mystery Gnosis, as long as it was to work in the development of mankind: it could not be preserved for the conscious comprehension of the human soul. But the emotional content was to be preserved. And this was to be given at the right cosmic moment to humanity prepared for it, so that under its warmth of soul the soul of consciousness could later penetrate the spiritual realm in a new way. Spirit beings have thus built the bridge between the old world content and the new.
[ 18 ] There are hints of this secret of human development. The sacred jasper bowl of the Grail, which Christ used when he broke the bread, into which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood from Jesus' wound, and which therefore contained the secret of Golgotha, was - so the legend goes - taken into safekeeping by angels until they could lower it onto the prepared people after Titurel had built the Grail Castle.
[ 19 ] Spiritual beings held the world images in which the secrets of Golgotha lived. Because this was not possible, they did not lower the content of the image, but they did lower the emotional content into human minds when the time came.
[ 20 ] This implanting of the emotional content of ancient knowledge can only be a stimulus, but the most powerful stimulus, so that in our age a new, full understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha can develop from the soul of consciousness in the light of Michael's activity.
[ 21 ] Anthroposophy strives for this new understanding. From the description given, it can be seen that it cannot be a renewal of Gnosis, which had as its content the cognitive nature of the sentient soul, but that it must draw an equally rich content from the consciousness soul in a completely new way.
Goetheanum, January 1925.
Guiding Principles No. 159 to 161
(February 15, 1925)
(With reference to the previous consideration: Gnosis and Anthroposophy)
[ 22 ] 159 Gnosis unfolds in its actual form in the age of the sentient soul (fourth to first millennium before the occurrence of the Mystery of Golgotha). In this age, the "divine" reveals itself to man inwardly as spirit-content, whereas in the preceding age of the sentient body it revealed itself in the sensory impressions of the outside world.
[ 23 ] 160. In the age of the intellectual or emotional soul, the spirit-content of the "divine" can only be experienced in a faded way. Gnosis is preserved in strict mysteries, and when people can no longer do this because they are no longer able to enliven the emotional soul, the content of knowledge is not carried over into the Middle Ages by spiritual beings, but the emotional content is. (The Grail legend contains a hint of this.) In addition, exoteric gnosis, which penetrates the intellectual or emotional soul, is eradicated.
[ 24 ] 161 Anthroposophy cannot be a renewal of Gnosis, for the latter depended on the unfolding of the sentient soul. Anthroposophy must develop a new understanding of the world and Christ out of the consciousness soul in the light of Michael's activity. Gnosis was the form of knowledge preserved from ancient times that was best able to bring the Mystery of Golgotha to human understanding when it occurred.