Anthroposophical Guiding Principles
GA 26
14 December 1924
Translated by Steiner Online Library
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 consideration follows.)
Goetheanum, December 6, 1924.
Further guiding principles issued by the Goetheanum Anthroposophical Society (with reference to the preceding second consideration on the hindrances and encouragements 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.