The Temple Legend I
GA 93
10 June 1904, Berlin
2. The Contrast between Cain and Abel
I mentioned already 1 At the end of his lecture given on 27th May 1904 with the words: ‘Next time I shall deal with one of the most important legends, which is one you have often heard, but whose inner meaning is so profound that there is hardly anything to match it: the legend of Cain and Abel.’ last time that a great number of occult secrets lie hidden in the story of Cain and Abel. I wish to point out certain things today, but right at the beginning I would stress that the relationship between Cain and Abel—with regard to its deeper aspect, of course—is an allegory for very profound mysteries 2 See in this connection: Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine, Book 2, ‘The Divine Hermaphrodite.’ p.124, but also Rudolf Steiner's later cycle: The Effects of Occult Development Upon the Sheaths of Man, ten lectures given in the Hague, 20th–29th March 1913 (London and New York, 1945). which we will only be able to reveal in part on the basis of the conceptions we hold.
If we take the five books of the Pentateuch, we shall find therein many things which indicate the development of mankind since the Lemurian Epoch. The story of Adam and Eve and their descendants is not simply to be taken literally, in a naive fashion. I would ask you to take into account that in the Pentateuch, in Enoch,3 Apocryphal Book of the Old Testament. in the Psalms and some important chapters in the Gospels, in the Epistle to the Hebrews and some Epistles of Paul and in the Apocalypse, we are dealing wholly with the work of initiates, so that in these writings it behoves us to search for an occult meaning. If the Bible is not just read thoughtlessly—thoughtlessly in a higher sense—many things will become apparent. And I should like to draw your attention to something which may easily be overlooked, but must be taken quite literally if we are to see that nothing is without a meaning in the Bible and that it is quite easy for this meaning to escape us.
Take the first sentence from the fifth chapter of Genesis: 4 This is a free rendering by Rudolf Steiner of the words of the Old Testament. Instead of ‘male and female created he them,’ Rudolf Steiner substituted: ‘male-female created he him,’ with subsequent corrections of ‘them,’ ‘their,’ etc., into ‘him,’ ‘his,’ etc. On later occasions, Rudolf Steiner often stressed the fact that this first creation of man was a male-female creation. Compare also: Egyptian Myths and Mysteries, eighth lecture and Genesis, Secrets of the Bible Story of Creation, eleventh lecture. ‘This is the book of the generations of man. In the days that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male-female created he him; and blessed him, and called his name Adam, in the day when he was created. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:’
One must take the literal rendering. Adam himself was simply called a man. Male-female created he him; not yet sexually defined, asexual. And how was he created? In the likeness of God.
And moreover, in the second sentence, ‘In so and so many years’—that indicates a long span of time—‘Adam begat a son Seth, after his likeness’. In the beginning of the time of Adam we have men in the likeness of God; at the end of Adam's time after the likeness of Adam, after a human likeness. Earlier, man was made in the likeness of God: later, in Adam's likeness.
We thus have, to start with, human beings who are all similar in appearance and all created after the image of God. They were propagated by asexual means. We must be clear about the fact that they all retained the same form which they had at the beginning, so that father looked like son and grandson also looked like son. What first caused mankind to change, to become differentiated? In what way did it change? Through the fact that two were engaged in propagation. The son or daughter looked like the father on the one hand, like the mother on the other.
Now just imagine you have a race of people which were originally similar to God in appearance and they were propagated not by sexual means, but asexually: the descendants are all similar in appearance to their forebears. There is no mixing of the race. The differentiation first came about in the Seth period. But between the times of Adam and Seth something else occurred. Namely, before the transition from Adam to Seth two others were born, who were important representatives: Cain and Abel. They came between and represent a transitional stage. They were not born at a time when propagation had already taken on a strongly marked character of sexuality. We can infer this from the meaning of the names Cain and Abel. Abel is the same as ‘pneuma’ in Greek,5 See in this connection Rudolf Steiner's The Gospel of St. Matthew, lecture 5. which means ‘spirit’, and if we look at that from the point of view of sexuality, it denotes a decidedly female character. Cain, on the other hand, means almost literally ‘the masculine,’ so that in Cain and Abel the masculine and feminine principles confront one another. Not yet on an organic level: they tend to differentiate on a spiritual level.
Now I would ask you to hold that fast in your minds. Originally mankind was male-female. Later on it was divided into a male and a female gender. The male, the more material race, was represented in Cain, the female, the more spiritual, in Abel-Seth. A differentiation has occurred. That is symbolised in the words: ‘Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.’ (Genesis 4:2)
‘Ground’ (Boden) has the significance of the ‘physical plane’ in all ancient languages and the three aggregate conditions of the physical plane are: the solid earth, the water and the air. ‘Cain was a tiller of the ground’ in its original sense means: he learnt to live on the physical plane, he became a man on the physical plane. That was the male characteristic. It consisted of being strong and robust in order to cultivate the soil and then retire again from the physical to the higher planes.
‘Abel was a keeper of sheep.’ As a shepherd one accepts life as the Creator has presented it. One does not cultivate the herds, one tends them. Therefore Abel is the representative of the sex which does not reach spirituality through its own individual effort of understanding, but only receives it as a revelation of the Godhead and then merely tends it. The keeper of flocks, the guardian of that which has been placed on the earth, that is Abel. The one who creates things for himself, that is Cain. Cain lays the foundation of zither playing and other arts (Genesis 4:21–22).
Now comes a contrast in their attitude towards the Godhead. Abel receives from the spirit and offers up the best, the highest fruits of the spirit. God regards the offering of Abel with satisfaction—of course, because it is what He Himself has bestowed on the earth. Cain makes a different claim. He turns to God with the products of his own intelligence. That is something quite foreign to the nature of God, because it is something which man has achieved out of his own freedom.
Cain is the type of man who aspires to the arts and sciences. That has nothing to do with the deity to begin with. A profound truth is expressed here. He who has occult experience knows that the arts and sciences, in spite of having made man free, do not lead him to the spirit. Rather are they the things which lead him away from what is truly spiritual. The arts have sprung up from man's inner being, which have their roots in the earthly plane. That has no immediate appeal for the deity. It produces the conflict which arises when the smoke of Abel's offering, the spirit implanted in the earth by God himself, is accepted by the divine worlds, but the smoke from Cain's offering is rejected and remains on the earth. What is independently produced remains on the earth, like the offering of Cain.
That, too, is the same as the contrast between male and female. Female is inspired by what is received directly from God. ‘Pneuma’ is achieved through conception. What Cain has to offer is human work on the physical plane itself. That is the contrast between female and male spirit. Here these two are fundamentally opposed to one another.
Man is not only a physical being but is spiritually both male and female at the same time: he is both the one who receives and allows himself to be inspired and the one who works upon the inspirations and combines them through his intellect. These two functions were now separated—we can regard male and female simply as a symbol from now on—from now on the principle of inspiration was transferred to those who were like Abel, who remained shepherds and priests. It was not transferred to the others. They dedicated themselves to the worldly things of science and the arts and confined themselves purely to earthly activities.
That could not have taken place without a change occurring in the human being. While man was still male-female, it was impossible for him to separate spiritual wisdom and scientific knowledge. Only through a definite separation into the two sexes could man's brain be brought to the pitch where it could function. The brain became male,6 This passage appears to have been imperfectly preserved. One can compare it with passages from lectures 17, 18, 19 and 20, given on 23rd October 1905, and 2nd January 1906, in the present volume. the deeper nature became female. Mankind can only be productive through his physical nature. Through that he produces something—namely, descendants. But a spirit, inasmuch as it is connected with the brain, is male and confined to productivity on the physical plane. Therefore Cain and Abel are the representative types of these two kinds of thinking.
Through this separation, it came about that in the propagation of the human species the offspring ceased to be merely identical copies of their parents and became differentiated. I would ask you to visualise the following. The greater the importance attached to sex, the more the differentiation that resulted. If we were dealing with purely asexual propagation then the new generation would look just like the one that had gone before. A variation would not occur in the sequence of the generations. Variation only comes about when a mixture occurs. And how was this mixture made possible? Through the fact that the masculine element committed itself to the earth. Cain was the one who became a tiller of the soil and transformed it. This outward difference in the generations would not have come about in man if a part of humanity had not descended onto the physical plane. It was no longer as it had been before when propagation had descended on mankind from the higher planes. Something was now introduced into man's make-up because he had extracted something from the physical earth. Now man takes on the likeness of what he has won for himself on the physical plane and he carries it up with him to higher planes. The physical is the mark of Cain. The physical plane and the effect it has on man is the mark set upon Cain.
Now man is fully united with the earth so that there is a contrast between Cain and Abel, a contrast between the Sons of God and the sons of the physical plane, between the Abel-Seth generation who are the Sons of God and the Cain generation, the sons of the physical plane.
You will now understand how it is that the episode of Cain and Abel falls into the period between Adam and Seth. A new principle entered into mankind, the principle of heredity, the original sin consisting of being dissimilar to the generation which had gone before.
But there still remain some Sons of God. Not all of those belonging to the Abel line were eradicated. And now we see what took place when to the question: ‘Where is Abel, thy brother?’ Cain answered: ‘Am I my brother's keeper?’ No man would have said that previously. That can only be said by an understanding which reacts as though acoustically [?] to the spiritual. Now the principle of struggle, of opposition, is added to the principle of love; now egoism is born: “Am I my brother's keeper?”
Those who still remained of the Abel line were Sons of God, they remained akin to the divine. But they now had to guard themselves against entering the earthly sphere. And from this resulted what was to become the principle of asceticism among those who dedicated their lives to the service of God. It became a sin for such a dedicated one to have anything to do with those who had committed themselves to the affairs of earth. It was a sin when ‘The Sons of God7 See note 15 of the previous lecture. saw the daughters of men that they were fair’ and took them wives; they took them wives from the daughters of Cain.
From this union resulted a race of men 8 Genesis 6, 4. ‘There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the Sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown.’ which is hardly even mentioned in the published books of the Old Testament, but is only hinted at; it is a race that is not perceptible to physical eyes. It is called ‘Rakshasas’ in occult language 9 According to H.P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine, there are many explanations for this race of the Rakshasas in Oriental esoteric philosophy. See, for instance: The Secret Doctrine, Book 2, p. 288, where it speaks of ‘Rakshasas’ (giant demons) and Daityas (Titans).
A German translation of C.G. Harrison's The Transcendental Universe, which was among the books in Rudolf Steiner's library, may have been used by him in preparing this lecture. In the fifth lecture of the above it speaks of: ‘These semi-human creatures, the progeny of the fallen angels, are known in the Hindu Scriptures as the “Asuras” and are sometimes called “Rakshasas” or demons.’ This makes it plain that, in lecture 2 held on 10th June 1904, Rudolf Steiner conferred a different meaning on the term ‘Asuras’ to the one he had in mind when he lectured on 23rd May 1904 (lecture 1). and is similar to the ‘Asuras’ of the Indians. It consists of demonic beings who really did exist at one time and who acted seductively upon the human race and caused its downfall. This flirtation of the Sons of God with the daughters of men produced a race which worked particularly seductively upon the Turanians, the members of the fourth sub-race of the Atlanteans, and led to the destruction of humanity. Some things were preserved and carried over into the new world. The Deluge is the flood which destroyed Atlantis. Men who were seduced by the Rakshasas disappeared by degrees.
And now I have to tell you something which will in any case appear extraordinary to you, which is particularly important. It has been an occult mystery for the outside world for many centuries and will seem incredible to most people, but is nevertheless true. I can assure you that every occultist has often convinced himself of its truth through what is called the Akashic Record. But so it is.
These Rakshasas were real beings, they really existed—actively and effectively—as seducers of mankind. They continued to influence human desires until the time when Christ incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth and the Buddhi principle itself became present on the earth in a human body. Now you may believe it or not: this is something of cosmic significance, of significance which reaches beyond the earthly plane. It is not for nothing that the Bible expresses it thus: 10An account of Christ's entry into Hell can be read in the Apocryphal Book of ‘The Acts of Pilate.’ ‘Christ descended into the forecourts of Hell.’ It was not human beings He met there, He was confronted by spiritual beings. The Rakshasa beings were brought thereby into a state of paralysis and lethargy! 11This passage appears in the notes of Marie Steiner von Sivers in the following form: ‘The Rakshasas were brought into a state of paralysis because they were being opposed from two sides: by the old Chela, who was deeply connected with the physical plane and by a purely spiritual being, the Christ. Their power was thus paralysed from two sides. Something cosmic was effected. This tension, this bottled-up energy, had to be prevented from becoming effective energy. That is the Christ principle in action against the Antichrist.’
C.G. Harrison has the following to say on this subject in the aforementioned book: ‘The Asuras are igneous, or dynamic, in their nature, and their power for evil was terrific. It was destroyed for ever by the advent of Jesus Christ, and they are now, as St. Jude puts it, “reserved in everlasting chains until the judgment of the great day.” (St. Jude evidently derived his knowledge of the subject from the “Book of Enoch”.) Stated in scientific terms, they are held in check, unable to move backwards or forwards, between the earth and the Eighth Sphere at the point of latency, where the attraction of both is equal on all planes, until the “great day” or axidal coincidence, when they will be drawn irresistibly into the vortex of the latter. This text in St. Jude has been unfortunately misunderstood, and supposed to apply to Lucifer and the first fall of the angels; hence the Miltonic and medieval myths.’ They were at the same time kept in check so that they became unable to move. They could only be lamed in this manner because they were being opposed from two sides. That would not have been possible if there had not been two natures combined together in Jesus of Nazareth: on the one hand the old Chela nature, deeply connected with the physical plane, which could also work effectively on the physical plane and through its power could hold it in balance: on the other hand there was Christ Himself who was a purely spiritual being. That is the cosmic problem which is fundamental to Christianity. Something occurred at that time in occult spheres; it was the banishment of the enemies of mankind which has its echo in the Saga of the Antichrist, who was put in chains but will make his appearance again, if not opposed once more by the Christian principle in its primal force.
The whole occult striving of the Middle Ages was directed towards nullifying the effect of the Rakshasas. Those whose vision extends to the higher planes have long foreseen that the moment when this could happen might be at the end of the nineteenth century, at the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. Nostradamus,12Actually Michel de Notre Dame (1503–1566). French astronomer and medical doctor. Famous on account of his Prophesies, written in French verse. who worked from a tower which was open to the heavens, who brought succour during the Great Plague, was able to foretell the future. He wrote a number of prophetic verses in which you can read about the war of 1870 and several prophecies about Marie-Antoinette 131755–1793: daughter of the Empress of Austria, Maria Theresa; became Queen of France in 1774 and ended her life on the scaffold, not heeding the warning of the Count of St. Germain. which have already been fulfilled. In these ‘Centuries’ by Nostradamus (Century 10, 75) the following prophecy can be found: At the close of the nineteenth century a Hermes Brother will come from Asia and bring unity to mankind. The Theosophical Society is nothing less than a fulfillment of this prophecy of Nostradamus. The annulment of the Rakshasas and the reestablishment of the primal mysteries is an aim of the Theosophical Society.
You know that Jesus Christ remained on the earth for ten years after His death.14Rudolf Steiner assumed that his audience was familiar with the work of the English theosophist, G.R.S. Mead Pistis Sophia, A Gnostic Gospel, London, 1896, which begins with the words: ‘It came to pass, when Jesus had risen from the dead, that he passed eleven years speaking with his disciples ...’ The Pistis Sophia15The title of a work assumed to be the same as The Apocalypse of Sophia, composed by Velentius, the most learned doctor of the Gnosis who lived for thirty years in Egypt in the latter half of the second century.
The only MS of the Pistis Sophia known to exist is the Askew manuscript, bought by the British Museum from the heirs of Dr. Askew at the end of the eighteenth century. contains the profoundest theosophical teachings, it is much more profound than Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism.16Published in 1883. See also, The Occult Movement in the Nineteenth Century and its Relation to Modern Culture. Jesus incarnated again and again. His task was to renew the mystery wisdom. This is no mere fact of cultural or historical interest, but it is the fact I have described to you, which is well known to all occultists, namely, the struggle against the Rakshasas. You see there is a deep and important occult secret lying hidden therein.
You might ask: Why is that said in allegorical form and not stated openly? I must here remind you that the great teachers of humanity such as Moses, the Indian Rishis, Hermes, Christ, the first Christian teachers, all adhered to reincarnation. And this allegorical way of communicating wisdom had a good reason. When, for instance, the Druid Priest spoke of ‘Nifelheim’ or ‘Ymir the Giant’ 17Refer to notes for lecture 3 given on 30th September 1904, (included in this volume) and also the first and thirty-first lectures in Foundations of Esotericism, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982. and so on, that was, of course, no mere piece of poetic folk lore. Rather, it was because he knew that what he was then conveying to his pupil in the form of a fairy story would, when that spirit reincarnated, have prepared it to understand the truth in a more complete form. It is not faith, but knowledge, which inspired these fairy stories, that is, the experience of reincarnation. Even the denial of the reality of reincarnation—from the third century A.D. onwards—was made on the premises of reincarnation, because it was the intention to involve 18See twenty-third lecture in Foundations of Esotericism, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1982. so that practically all his spiritual life was taken up into incarnation. For that reason Christianity had no knowledge of reincarnation for 1,500 years. If we were to deny man a knowledge of reincarnation any longer we would be denying him this knowledge for a second time. That, however, would be a great sin, a sin against mankind. But to deny him this knowledge on the first occasion was necessary, for the value of the single life between birth and death had to be acknowledged.
2. Der Gegensatz Von Kain Und Abel
Schon das letzte Mal habe ich darauf hingedeutet, daß sich in der Geschichte von Kain und Abel eine ganze Summe von okkulten Geheimnissen verbirgt. Auf einiges möchte ich heute hinweisen, aber gleich von vornherein betonen, daß das Verhältnis von Kain und Abel - allerdings in seiner Tiefe erfaßt - eine Allegorie für außerordentlich tiefe Geheimnisse ist, und wir nur imstande sein werden, aus den Voraussetzungen, die wir haben, einiges zu erkennen.
Wenn wir die fünf Bücher Moses verfolgen, so werden wir darin so manches finden, das geradezu hinweist auf die Entwickelung der Menschheit seit der lemurischen Zeit. Die Erzählung zum Beispiel von Adam und Eva und ihren Nachkommen ist nicht etwa einfach und naiv hinzunehmen. Ich bitte dabei zu berücksichtigen, daß wir es namentlich in den fünf Büchern Moses, im Enoch, in den Psalmen und einigen anderen wichtigen Kapiteln des Evangeliums, in dem Hebräerbriefe, in einigen Paulusbriefen und in der Apokalypse, durchaus mit Schriften von Eingeweihten zu tun haben, so daß wir in diesen Schriften einen okkulten Kern zu suchen haben. In den okkulten Schulen wurde überall über diesen Kern gesprochen. Wer nicht gedankenlos - im höheren Sinn gedankenlos — die Bibel liest, dem wird manches auffallen. Und ich möchte Sie auf etwas aufmerksam machen, was sehr leicht übersehen werden kann, aber einfach wörtlich gelesen werden muß, um zu sehen, daß hier nichts umsonst steht, und daß leicht in der Bibel über etwas hinweggelesen werden kann.
Nehmen Sie den ersten Satz im fünften Kapitel des ersten Buch Moses: «Dies ist das Buch von des Menschen Geschlecht. Da Gott den Menschen schuf, machte er ihn in Ähnlichkeit Gottes: Männlichweiblich schuf er sie, segnete sie und nannte ihren Namen «Mensch», in diesen Tagen, da er sie geschaffen hatte. Als Adam hundertdreißig Jahre gelebt hatte, zeugte er in seiner Ähnlichkeit, nach seinem Ebenbilde und nannte die Frucht auf den Namen ‹Seth›.»
Man muß wörtlich lesen. Adam selbst wird genannt ein Mensch schlechthin. Männlich-weiblich schuf Gott sie; noch nicht geschlechtlich, ungeschlechtlich. Und wie schuf er sie? In Gottes Ähnlichkeit.
Und außerdem im zweiten Satz: «Nach so und so viel Jahren» -es sind da lange Zeiträume vorzustellen - «zeugte Adam einen Sohn, Seth, nach seinem Ebenbild.» Im Anfang der adamitischen Zeit haben wir den Menschen nach Gottes Ebenbild, am Ende der adamitischen Zeit nach Adams Ebenbild, nach menschlichem Ebenbild. Früher war der Mensch dem Ebenbilde Gottes gemäß geschaffen. Später war er Adams Ebenbild.
Wir haben also im Anfange Menschen, die alle untereinander gleich sind, und alle sind sie nach dem Ebenbilde der Gottheit geschaffen. Sie pflanzten sich auf ungeschlechtlichem Wege fort. Wir müssen uns klar sein darüber, daß sie alle noch immer dieselbe Form haben, wie sie sie vom Ursprung her haben, so daß der Sohn dem Vater und der Enkel wieder dem Sohn ähnlich sehen. Was erst macht es, daß die Menschen sich ändern, sich differenzieren? Wodurch werden sie verschieden? Dadurch, daß an der Fortpflanzung zwei beteiligt sind. Der Sohn oder die Tochter, sie sehen auf der einen Seite dem Vater, auf der anderen Seite der Mutter ähnlich.
Denken Sie sich nun, Sie hätten eine ursprüngliche götterähnliche Rasse, und die pflanzte sich fort nicht dadurch, daß sie geschlechtlich, sondern ungeschlechtlich war: Der Nachkomme sieht immer der vorhergehenden Generation ähnlich. Es tritt keine Vermischung ein. Die Verschiedenheit trat erst auf, als die Seth-Zeit kam. Zwischen die Zeit von Adam und Seth aber fällt etwas anderes. Nämlich bevor der Übergang stattfindet von Adam zu Seth, werden zwei geboren, die wiederum wichtige Repräsentanten sind: Kain und Abel. Die stehen dazwischen, sind Übergangsprodukte. Sie sind noch nicht in der Zeit geboren, wo ausgesprochen der Charakter der geschlechtlichen Fortpflanzung vorhanden war. Das können wir entnehmen aus dem, was «Abel» und «Kain» heißt. «Abel» heißt auf Griechisch «Pneuma» und auf Deutsch «Geist», und wenn wir die sexuelle Bedeutung nehmen, so hat das einen entschieden weiblichen Charakter. «Kain» dagegen heißt fast wörtlich «das Männliche», so daß in Kain und Abel einander gegenüberstehen das Männliche und das Weibliche. Noch nicht im rein Organischen: auf einer höheren, geistigen Stufe neigen sie zur Differenzierung.
Nun bitte ich Sie, das genau festzuhalten. Ursprünglich war die Menschheit männlich-weiblich. Später wurde sie geschieden in das männliche und das weibliche Geschlecht. Das Männliche, Materielle haben wir in Kain, das Weibliche, Geistige in Abel-Seth. Die Differenzierung hat stattgefunden. Das ist symbolisiert in den Worten: Kain war ein Bebauer des Bodens und Abel war ein Hirte (1. Moses 4,2).
«Boden» heißt in den urältesten Sprachen so viel wie physischer Plan, und die drei Aggregatzustände des physischen Planes sind: die feste Erde, das Wasser und die Luft. «Kain wurde ein Ackerbauer», heißt in seiner urältesten Bedeutung: er lernte leben auf dem physischen Plan, er wurde Mensch auf dem physischen Plane. Das war der Charakter des Männlichen. Er bestand darin, daß er stark und kräftig war, um die Scholle des physischen Planes zu bearbeiten, und dann zurückzukehren von dem physischen zu den höheren Planen.
«Abel war ein Hirte.» Als Hirte nimmt man das Leben, wie es einem der Schöpfer darbietet. Man arbeitet die Herden nicht aus, sondern hütet sie bloß. Dadurch ist er der Repräsentant jenes Geschlechtes, das den Geist nicht durch den selbständig arbeitenden Verstand erlangt, sondern den Geist als Offenbarung von der Gottheit selber empfängt, ihn bloß hütet. Der Hüter der Herde, der Hüter dessen, was auf die Erde verpflanzt wird, das ist Abel. Derjenige, der selber etwas erarbeitet, das ist Kain. Kain legt die Grundlagen für das Zitherspiel und sonstige Künste (1. Moses 4,21,22).
Nun kommt der Gegensatz, wie sie sich zur Gottheit verhalten. Abel empfängt das Geistige und bringt als Opfer das Beste, die höchste Frucht des Geistes dar. Gott wendet selbstverständlich — weil es ja das ist, was er selbst auf die Erde gepflanzt hat - mit Wohlgefallen seinen Blick auf das Opfer. Kain macht auf etwas anderes Anspruch. Er will sich mit den Produkten seines Verstandes an die Gottheit wenden. Das ist etwas, was der Gottheit ganz fremd ist, etwas, was der Mensch in seiner Freiheit sich errungen hat.
Kain ist der zu den Künsten und Wissenschaften strebende Mensch. Zunächst hat das keine Verwandtschaft mit der Gottheit. Eine tiefe Wahrheit ist damit ausgedrückt. Wer im Okkulten Erfahrung hat, der weiß, daß die Künste und Wissenschaften, trotzdem sie die Menschen frei gemacht haben, nicht das waren, was die Menschen zu dem Geistigen geführt hat; sie waren es gerade, was die Menschen weggeführt hat von dem eigentlich Spirituellen. Die Künste sind etwas, was auf dem eigenen Grund und Boden des Menschen, auf dem physischen Plan erwachsen ist. Das kann der Gottheit zunächst nicht wohlgefällig sein. Daraus entspringt der Gegensatz, daß der «Rauch», der Geist, den Gott selbst in die Erde gepflanzt hat, von Abel zur Gottheit emporstrebt, und daß der andere, der «Rauch» von Kain, auf der Erde bleibt. Das Selbständige bleibt auf der Erde, wie der Rauch des Kain.
Das ist auch der Gegensatz zwischen dem Weiblichen und dem Männlichen. Weiblich ist das, was inspiriert ist von dem, was von der Gottheit unmittelbar empfangen wird. Pneuma wird durch die Empfängnis errungen. Das, was Kain zu geben hat, ist menschliche Arbeit auf dem physischen Plan selbst. Das ist der Gegensatz zwischen dem weiblichen und dem männlichen Geist. Diese beiden stehen sich hier ursprünglich gegenüber.
Jeder Mensch ist nicht nur physisch, sondern auch geistig Mann und Weib zugleich; er ist empfangender, sich inspirierenlassender Geist und das das Inspirierte verarbeitende, kombinierende Intellektuelle zugleich. Jetzt trennte sich das - wir brauchen in dem Weiblichen und Männlichen weiterhin nur ein Symbol zu sehen -, jetzt ging das Inspirationsprinzip auf diejenigen über, welche auf dem Standpunkte des Abel waren, auf die, welche Hirten und Priester blieben. Auf die anderen ging das Inspirationsprinzip nicht über; sie wurden dem Weltlichen zugewandte Wissenschafter und Künstler und beschränkten sich rein auf den physischen Plan.
Das hätte nicht stattfinden können, ohne daß auch im Menschen eine Veränderung stattgefunden hat. Als der Mensch noch MannWeib war, da wäre es ihm nicht möglich gewesen, eine Trennung zu bewirken in spirituelle Weisheit und in intellektuelle Wissenschaft. Erst dadurch, daß der Mensch endgültig getrennt wurde in zwei Geschlechter, erst dadurch, daß die Menschheit geteilt wurde durch das Geschlechtliche, wurde das Gehirn auf den Standpunkt gebracht, daß es wirken konnte. Das Gehirn wurde männlich, die tiefere Wesenheit wurde das Weibliche. Der Mensch kann nur produzieren innerhalb seiner physischen Natur. Da bringt er etwas hervor, nämlich Nachkommen. Aber ein Geist, insofern er im Gehirn ist, ist männlich und produktiv auf den physischen Plan beschränkt.1Siehe unter Hinweise. Dafür haben wir in Kain und Abel die repräsentative Darstellung.
Dadurch nun, daß diese Spaltung eingetreten ist, ist es gekommen, daß in der Fortpflanzung des Menschengeschlechtes die Nachkommen nicht mehr bloß dem Vorfahren als solchem ähnlich sehen, sondern daß sie sich differenzierten. Ich bitte Sie, sich das Folgende vorzuhalten. Je größere Bedeutung das Sexuelle hat, desto mehr tritt Differenzierung auf. Wenn wir reine ungeschlechtliche Fortpflanzung vor uns hätten, so würden die nächsten Generationen den vorhergehenden ähnlich sehen. Eine Verschiedenheit in der Zeitfolge würde nicht stattfinden. Die Verschiedenheit entsteht nur dadurch, daß Vermischung stattfindet. Und wodurch wurde diese Vermischung möglich gemacht? Dadurch, daß das Männliche sich dem physischen Plane verschrieb. Kain wurde derjenige, welcher den Boden beackerte und veränderte. Diese äußere Verschiedenheit der Generationen wäre nicht in die Menschheit hineingekommen, wenn nicht ein Teil der Menschen heruntergestiegen wäre bis zum physischen Plan. Da war es nicht mehr wie früher, wo die Produktion von den höheren Planen heruntergestiegen ist. Jetzt wurde etwas verwoben in den Menschen dadurch, daß er sich etwas vom Physischen herausholte. Jetzt wird er ein Ebenbild dessen, was er auf dem physischen Plan erworben hat, und der Mensch trägt es hinauf zu den höheren Planen. Das Physische ist das Kainszeichen. Der physische Plan, in seiner Wirkung auf den Menschen, ist ihm als Kainszeichen aufgedrückt.
Jetzt ist der Mensch mit der Erde völlig verbunden, so daß ein Gegensatz zwischen Kain und Abel, ein Gegensatz zwischen Göttersohn und Sohn des physischen Planes ist, wobei die Söhne von Abel-Seth die Göttersöhne, die Söhne Kains die Söhne des physischen Planes darstellen.
Sie werden nun begreifen, daß das Ereignis von Kain und Abel zwischen Adam und Seth hineinfällt. Es ist da ein neues Prinzip in den Menschen eingetreten, das Prinzip der Erblichkeit, der Erbsünde, des der vorhergehenden Generation Unähnlichseins.
Göttersöhne sind aber noch geblieben. Nicht alle Abels sind aus der Welt geschafft. Und nun sehen wir, was auf die Erde gekommen ist dadurch, daß Kain auf die Frage: «Wo ist dein Bruder Abel?» antwortet: «Bin ich denn der Hüter meines Bruders?» — Das hätte früher niemals ein Mensch gesagt. Das sagt nur ein Verstand, der gleichsam wie akustisch[?] auf das Spirituelle reagiert. Jetzt mischt sich das Prinzip des Kampfes, das Prinzip des Gegensatzes in das Prinzip der Liebe; jetzt ist der Egoismus geboren: «Bin ich denn der Hüter meines Bruders?»
Die Abels, die geblieben sind, die waren die Göttersöhne; sie blieben dem Göttlichen verwandt. Aber sie mußten sich jetzt hüten, einzugehen in das Irdische. Und damit begann das Prinzip, das für denjenigen, der sich dem Göttlichen geweiht hat, zum Prinzip der Askese wird. Eine Sünde wird es, wenn er sich verbindet mit denjenigen, welche sich der Erde geweiht haben. Eine Sünde ist es, wenn «die Göttersöhne Gefallen finden an den Töchtern der Menschen aus dem Geschlechte des Kain».
Daraus ging ein Geschlecht hervor, das gewöhnlich in den öffentlichen Büchern des Alten Testamentes nicht einmal erwähnt, sondern nur angedeutet wird: ein Geschlecht, das für physische Augen nicht wahrnehmbar ist. Es wird in der okkulten Sprache «Rakshasas» genannt und ist ähnlich den «Asuras» der Inder. Es sind das teuflische Wesen, die wirklich vorhanden waren und verführend auf die Menschen wirkten, so daß das menschliche Geschlecht selbst herabkam. Diese «Poussade» der Göttersöhne mit den Töchtern der Menschen gab ein Geschlecht, welches besonders verführend wurde für die vierte Unterrasse der Atlantier, die Turanier, und zum Untergange des Menschengeschlechtes führte. Einiges wird hinübergerettet in die neue Welt. Die Sintflut ist die Flut, welche Atlantis vernichtet hat. Die Menschen, die verführt waren von den Rakshasas, waren nach und nach verschwunden.
Jetzt muß ich etwas sagen, was Ihnen jedenfalls sehr eigenartig erscheinen wird, was aber unendlich wichtig ist zu wissen, was von einer ganz besonderen Bedeutung ist und ein okkultes Geheimnis durch viele Jahrhunderte hindurch war für die Außenwelt, und was für den Verstand der meisten unglaublich erscheinen wird, aber trotzdem wahr ist. Ich kann Ihnen die Versicherung geben, daß jeder Okkultist sich oft überzeugt in dem, was wir die Akasha-Chronik nennen, ob das so ist. Aber es ist so.
Diese Rakshasas sind vorhanden, sie sind wirklich vorhanden gewesen — tätig, aktiv — als Verführer der Menschen. Sie haben gewirkt auf die menschlichen Leidenschaften bis zu dem Zeitpunkte, wo sich in Jesus von Nazareth der Christus inkarnierte und in einer menschlichen Leiblichkeit das Budhiprinzip selbst gegenwärtig geworden ist auf der Erde. Nun mögen Sie das glauben oder nicht: das hat eine kosmische Bedeutung, das hat eine Bedeutung, die hinausreicht über den irdischen Plan. Die Bibel drückt das nicht umsonst so aus: Christus ist in die Vorhölle hinabgestiegen. - Da waren nicht mehr menschliche Wesen, er hatte es mit geistigen Wesen zu tun. Die Wesen der Rakshasas kamen dadurch in einen Zustand der Lähmung und Lethargie. Sie wurden gleichsam im Zaume gehalten, so daß sie unbeweglich wurden. Dies konnten sie nur dadurch werden, daß ihnen von zwei Seiten her entgegengewirkt wurde. Das wäre nicht möglich gewesen, wenn in Jesus von Nazareth nicht zwei Naturen vereinigt gewesen wären: auf der einen Seite der alte Chela, der ganz verbunden war mit dem physischen Plan, der auch auf dem physischen Plane wirken konnte und durch seine Kräfte ihn im Gleichgewicht halten konnte und auf der anderen Seite der Christus selbst, ein reines Geistwesen. Das ist das kosmische Problem, das dem Christentum zugrunde liegt. Es ist damals auf okkultem Felde etwas geschehen; es ist dies die Bannung der Feinde des Menschentums, nachklingend in der Sage des Antichrist, der gefesselt wurde, aber wieder erscheinen wird, wenn ihm nicht das christliche Prinzip in seiner Ursprünglichkeit wieder entgegentritt.
Der ganze Okkultismus des Mittelalters strebte darnach, die Wirkung der Rakshasas nicht heraufkommen zu lassen. Diejenigen, welche auf höheren Planen sehen können, haben schon längst vorhergesehen, daß der Zeitpunkt, wo es geschehen kann, am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts, an der Wende des 19. zum 20. Jahrhundert, eintreten kann. Nostradamus, der in einem Turm arbeitete, der oben offen war, der auch Hilfe in der Pest brachte, war imstande, die Zukunft vorherzusagen. Er schrieb eine Anzahl prophetischer Verse, in denen Sie den Krieg von 1870 und manches über Marie-Antoinette als bereits erfüllte Prophezeiungen nachlesen können. In diesen Centurien des Nostradamus steht auch folgendes (Centurie 10,75): Wenn das 19. Jahrhundert zu Ende sein wird, wird einer der Hermesbrüder von Asien erscheinen und wird die Menschheit wieder vereinen. - Die Theosophische Gesellschaft ist nichts anderes als eine Erfüllung dieser Prophezeiung des Nostradamus. Die Entgegenwirkung gegen die Rakshasas und die ursprünglichen Mysterien wieder aufzurichten, ist ein Bestreben der Theosophischen Gesellschaft.
Sie wissen, daß Jesus Christus nach dem Tode noch zehn Jahre auf der Erde geblieben ist. Die «Pistis-Sophia» enthält die tiefsten theosophischen Lehren, sie ist viel tiefer als Sinnetts «Esoterischer Buddhismus». Jesus war immer und immer wieder inkarniert. Ihm fällt die Aufgabe zu, das Mysterienprinzip wieder zu beleben. Dahinter steckt nicht eine kulturgeschichtliche oder physische Tatsache, sondern die Tatsache, die ich Ihnen, als dem Okkultisten wohlbekannt, auseinandergesetzt habe: der Kampf gegen die Rakshasas. Sie sehen, hier liegt ein großes und wichtiges okkultes Geheimnis verborgen.
Sie können mich nun fragen: Warum wird das in allegorischer Form gesagt und nicht in offener Sprache? - Ich muß hier darauf aufmerksam machen, daß diejenigen, welche große Lehrer der Menschheit waren, wie Moses, die indischen Rishis, Hermes, Christus, die ersten christlichen Lehrer, auf dem Standpunkte des Prinzips der Reinkarnation gestanden haben. Und diese allegorische Art der Mitteilung hat einen guten Sinn. Wenn zum Beispiel die Druidenpriester von «Nebelheim», von dem «Riesen Ymir» und so weiter erzählten, so war das natürlich keine Volksdichtung. Der Druidenpriester wußte vielmehr: der Menschengeist, dem ich heute die Märchen einpräge, wird, wenn er sich wieder inkarnieren wird, dazu vorbereitet sein, die Wahrheit in einer vollkommeneren Form zu erfassen. Alle diese Märchen sind unter der Voraussetzung gemacht, daß der Geist sich wieder inkarniert, um dann eben später die Wahrheit um so leichter zu erfassen. Diesen Märchen liegt nicht der Glaube, sondern die Erkenntnis, die Erfahrung der Reinkarnation zugrunde. Sogar die Verleugnung der Reinkarnation - vom dritten Jahrhundert des Christentums an - ist unter der Voraussetzung der Reinkarnation geschehen, weil man die Menschen so recht herunterziehen wollte in Kama-Manas, ungefähr so viel, bis alles Geistige durch die Inkarnation durchgegangen ist. Daher hatte das Christentum 1500 Jahre kein Wissen von der Reinkarnation. Wollten wir die Reinkarnationslehre weiter vorenthalten, so würden wir den Menschen ein zweites Mal diese Kenntnis vorenthalten. Das wäre aber eine große Sünde, eine Versündigung an der Menschheit. Die einmalige Vorenthaltung war aber schon notwendig, denn das eine Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod mußte den Menschen auch wertvoll gemacht werden.
2. The Contrast Between Cain and Abel
Last time, I already pointed out that the story of Cain and Abel conceals a whole host of occult secrets. I would like to point out a few things today, but I must emphasize from the outset that the relationship between Cain and Abel—at least when understood in depth—is an allegory for extraordinarily profound mysteries, and we will only be able to recognize a few things based on the information we have.
If we follow the five books of Moses, we will find many things that point directly to the development of humanity since the Lemurian epoch. The story of Adam and Eve and their descendants, for example, should not be taken at face value. Please bear in mind that we are dealing here, particularly in the five books of Moses, in Enoch, in the Psalms and in some other important chapters of the Gospel, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in some of Paul's epistles and in the Apocalypse, with writings by initiates, so that we must seek an occult core in these writings. This core was discussed everywhere in the occult schools. Anyone who does not read the Bible thoughtlessly — in the higher sense of the word — will notice many things. And I would like to draw your attention to something that is very easy to overlook, but which must be read literally in order to see that nothing here is superfluous and that it is easy to overlook something in the Bible.
Take the first sentence in the fifth chapter of the first book of Moses: “This is the book of the generations of man. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God: male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them ‘man’ in the days when he created them. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he begot in his likeness, after his image, and called the fruit 'Seth.'”
One must read literally. Adam himself is called a human being par excellence. God created them male and female; not yet sexual, asexual. And how did he create them? In God's likeness.
And furthermore, in the second sentence: “After so many years”—long periods of time are to be imagined here—“Adam begot a son, Seth, in his image.” At the beginning of the Adamic age, we have man in the image of God; at the end of the Adamic age, in the image of Adam, in the image of man. Formerly, man was created in the image of God. Later, he was in the image of Adam.
So in the beginning we have human beings who are all equal to one another, and all are created in the image of the Godhead. They reproduced themselves in a sexless manner. We must be clear that they all still have the same form that they had from the beginning, so that the son resembles the father and the grandson resembles the son. What causes humans to change, to differentiate? How do they become different? It is because two individuals are involved in reproduction. The son or daughter resembles the father on the one hand and the mother on the other.
Now imagine that you had an original godlike race that reproduced not through sexual reproduction but through asexual reproduction: the offspring always looks like the previous generation. There is no mixing. Diversity only appeared when the time of Seth came. But something else happened between the time of Adam and Seth. Namely, before the transition from Adam to Seth, two are born who are again important representatives: Cain and Abel. They stand in between, are transitional products. They were not yet born in the time when the character of sexual reproduction was distinctly present. We can deduce this from the meanings of “Abel” and “Cain.” “Abel” means ‘pneuma’ in Greek and ‘spirit’ in English, and if we take the sexual meaning, it has a decidedly feminine character. ‘Cain,’ on the other hand, means almost literally ‘the male,’ so that in Cain and Abel, the male and the female stand opposite each other. Not yet in the purely organic: on a higher, spiritual level, they tend toward differentiation.
Now I ask you to note this carefully. Originally, humanity was male-female. Later, it was divided into the male and female sexes. We have the masculine, material in Cain, and the feminine, spiritual in Abel-Seth. The differentiation has taken place. This is symbolized in the words: Cain was a tiller of the ground and Abel was a shepherd (Genesis 4:2).
In the most ancient languages, “ground” means the physical plane, and the three states of aggregation of the physical plane are: solid earth, water, and air. “Cain became a farmer” means in its most ancient meaning: he learned to live on the physical plane, he became a human being on the physical plane. That was the character of the masculine. It consisted in his being strong and powerful to work the soil of the physical plane and then return from the physical to the higher planes.
“Abel was a shepherd.” As a shepherd, one takes life as it is offered by the Creator. One does not work the flocks, but merely tends them. Thus he is the representative of that race which does not attain the spirit through the independently working intellect, but receives the spirit as a revelation from the Deity itself, merely tending it. The guardian of the herd, the guardian of what is transplanted onto the earth, that is Abel. The one who works something out for himself is Cain. Cain lays the foundations for playing the zither and other arts (Genesis 4:21,22).
Now comes the contrast between their attitudes toward the deity. Abel receives the spiritual and offers the best, the highest fruit of the spirit, as a sacrifice. God naturally looks with pleasure upon the sacrifice, because it is what he himself has planted on earth. Cain claims something else. He wants to turn to the deity with the products of his intellect. This is something completely foreign to the deity, something that man has achieved in his freedom.
Cain is the man who strives for the arts and sciences. At first glance, this has no connection with the deity. A profound truth is expressed here. Those who have experience in the occult know that, although the arts and sciences have made human beings free, they were not what led human beings to the spiritual; they were precisely what led human beings away from the truly spiritual. The arts are something that has grown on the physical plane, on the ground that belongs to human beings themselves. This cannot initially be pleasing to the deity. From this arises the contrast that the “smoke,” the spirit that God Himself planted in the earth, rises up to the deity from Abel, and that the other, the “smoke” of Cain, remains on the earth. The independent remains on the earth, like the smoke of Cain.
This is also the contrast between the feminine and the masculine. Feminine is that which is inspired by what is received directly from the deity. Pneuma is attained through conception. What Cain has to give is human work on the physical plane itself. This is the contrast between the feminine and masculine spirit. These two are originally opposed to each other here.
Every human being is not only physically but also spiritually male and female at the same time; they are both a receptive spirit that allows itself to be inspired and an intellectual being that processes and combines what has been inspired. Now this separated—we need only see the feminine and masculine as symbols—now the principle of inspiration passed to those who were on Abel's side, to those who remained shepherds and priests. The principle of inspiration did not pass to the others; they became scientists and artists turned toward the world and limited themselves purely to the physical plane.
This could not have happened without a change taking place within human beings. When humans were still male-female, it would not have been possible for them to separate spiritual wisdom and intellectual science. It was only when humans were finally divided into two sexes, only when humanity was divided by gender, that the brain was brought to a point where it could function. The brain became masculine, the deeper essence became feminine. Man can only produce within his physical nature. There he brings forth something, namely offspring. But a spirit, insofar as it is in the brain, is masculine and productive, limited to the physical plane. 1See under References. We have a representative illustration of this in Cain and Abel.
Now, because this division has occurred, it has come about that in the reproduction of the human race, the offspring no longer merely resemble their ancestors as such, but that they have differentiated. I ask you to bear the following in mind. The greater the significance of sexuality, the greater the differentiation. If we had pure asexual reproduction, the next generations would look similar to the previous ones. There would be no difference in the sequence of time. Difference arises only through mixing. And what made this mixing possible? Through the male devoting itself to the physical plane. Cain became the one who tilled and changed the soil. This external difference between the generations would not have entered humanity if a part of humanity had not descended to the physical plane. It was no longer as it had been before, when production descended from the higher planes. Now something was woven into human beings through their taking something from the physical realm. Now they become an image of what they have acquired on the physical plane, and human beings carry this up to the higher planes. The physical is the mark of Cain. The physical plane, in its effect on human beings, is imprinted on them as the mark of Cain.
Now man is completely connected with the earth, so that there is a contrast between Cain and Abel, a contrast between the son of God and the son of the physical plane, whereby the sons of Abel-Seth represent the sons of God, and the sons of Cain represent the sons of the physical plane.
You will now understand that the event of Cain and Abel falls between Adam and Seth. A new principle has entered into human beings, the principle of heredity, of original sin, of dissimilarity to the previous generation.
But the sons of God still remained. Not all of the Abels were eliminated from the world. And now we see what came upon the earth when Cain answered the question, “Where is your brother Abel?” with, “Am I my brother's keeper?” No human being would ever have said that before. Only a mind that reacts to the spiritual as if acoustically would say that. Now the principle of struggle, the principle of opposition, mixes with the principle of love; now egoism is born: “Am I my brother's keeper?”
The Abels who remained were the sons of God; they remained related to the divine. But now they had to be careful not to enter into the earthly realm. And thus began the principle that becomes the principle of asceticism for those who have dedicated themselves to the divine. It becomes a sin when they unite with those who have dedicated themselves to the earth. It is a sin when “the sons of the gods find favor with the daughters of men from the line of Cain.”
From this arose a race that is not even mentioned in the public books of the Old Testament, but only hinted at: a race that is not perceptible to the physical eye. In occult language it is called “Rakshasas” and is similar to the “Asuras” of the Indians. These are the devilish beings that really existed and had a seductive effect on humans, so that the human race itself declined. This “poussade” of the sons of God with the daughters of men gave rise to a race that became particularly seductive for the fourth subrace of the Atlanteans, the Turanians, and led to the downfall of the human race. Some things were saved and carried over into the new world. The Flood is the flood that destroyed Atlantis. The people who had been seduced by the Rakshasas gradually disappeared.
Now I must tell you something that will certainly seem very strange to you, but which is infinitely important to know, which is of very special significance and has been an occult secret for many centuries to the outside world, and which will seem incredible to most people, but is nevertheless true. I can assure you that every occultist is often convinced in what we call the Akashic Records that this is so. But it is so.
These Rakshasas exist, they really existed—active, working—as seducers of human beings. They worked on human passions until the time when Christ incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth and the Buddha principle itself became present on earth in a human body. Now, whether you believe it or not, this has a cosmic significance, a significance that extends beyond the earthly plane. It is not for nothing that the Bible expresses it this way: Christ descended into limbo. There were no longer any human beings there; he was dealing with spiritual beings. The beings of the Rakshasas were thereby brought into a state of paralysis and lethargy. They were, as it were, held in check so that they became immobile. They could only become this way because they were counteracted from two sides. This would not have been possible if two natures had not been united in Jesus of Nazareth: on the one hand, the old chela, who was completely connected to the physical plane, who could also work on the physical plane and keep it in balance through his powers, and on the other hand, Christ himself, a pure spirit being. This is the cosmic problem that lies at the heart of Christianity. Something happened in the occult realm at that time; it was the banishment of the enemies of humanity, echoing in the legend of the Antichrist, who was bound but will reappear unless the Christian principle in its original form confronts him again.
All the occultism of the Middle Ages strove to prevent the influence of the Rakshasas from coming to the fore. Those who can see on higher planes foresaw long ago that the time when this could happen would be at the end of the 19th century, at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Nostradamus, who worked in a tower that was open at the top and who also brought help during the plague, was able to predict the future. He wrote a number of prophetic verses in which you can read about the war of 1870 and many things about Marie Antoinette as prophecies that have already been fulfilled. The following is also written in Nostradamus' Centuries (Century 10,75): When the 19th century comes to an end, one of the Hermes brothers from Asia will appear and reunite humanity. The Theosophical Society is nothing other than the fulfillment of this prophecy of Nostradamus. The Theosophical Society strives to counteract the Rakshasas and reestablish the original mysteries.
You know that Jesus Christ remained on earth for ten years after his death. The “Pistis Sophia” contains the deepest theosophical teachings; it is much deeper than Sinnett's “Esoteric Buddhism.” Jesus was incarnated again and again. It is his task to revive the mystery principle. Behind this lies not a cultural-historical or physical fact, but the fact that I have explained to you, as you, as an occultist, are well aware: the struggle against the Rakshasas. You see, here lies a great and important occult secret.
You may now ask me: Why is this said in allegorical form and not in plain language? I must point out here that those who were great teachers of humanity, such as Moses, the Indian rishis, Hermes, Christ, and the first Christian teachers, stood on the standpoint of the principle of reincarnation. And this allegorical mode of communication has a good meaning. When, for example, the Druid priests of Nebelheim told of the giant Ymir and so on, this was of course not folk poetry. The Druid priest knew that the human spirit, which I am imprinting with fairy tales today, will be prepared to grasp the truth in a more perfect form when it incarnates again. All these fairy tales are based on the premise that the spirit will reincarnate, so that it will be easier to grasp the truth later on. These fairy tales are not based on belief, but on knowledge, on the experience of reincarnation. Even the denial of reincarnation – from the third century of Christianity onwards – took place on the assumption of reincarnation, because people wanted to drag humanity down into Kama-Manas, more or less until everything spiritual had passed through incarnation. That is why Christianity had no knowledge of reincarnation for 1,500 years. If we wanted to continue to withhold the teaching of reincarnation, we would be withholding this knowledge from people a second time. But that would be a great sin, a transgression against humanity. However, the one-time withholding was necessary because the one life between birth and death had to be made valuable to people.