The Deed of Christ and the Opposing Spiritual Powers
GA 107
1 January 1909, Berlin
II. Mephistopheles and Earthquakes
The theme of the lecture to-day is of a profoundly occult character, the title—strange as it may seem to begin with—being: “Mephistopheles and Earthquakes”. We shall see that not only does the problem of the figure of Mephistopheles lead us into a deep realm of occultism but that the same applies to the problem of earthquakes if explained from the spiritual point of view. I have already spoken here and in several other places about the interior of the earth and have also referred to the question of earthquakes. We shall now approach the subject of these most tragic happenings on the earth's surface, from yet another side.
The figure of Mephistopheles which will be our starting-point to-day, is familiar to you all from Goethe's Faust. You know that Mephistopheles is a Being—we shall not enter to-day into the question of how far the poetic presentation tallies with the occult facts—a figure who appears in the drama as the seducer and tempter of Faust who, in a certain respect, may be thought of as the representative of man aspiring to reach the heights of existence. In lectures on Goethe I have also indicated what spiritual vistas are revealed in the scene of the “Passage to the Mothers”, where Mephistopheles holds in his hand the key giving access to the dark, nether region where the Mothers dwell. Mephistopheles himself may not enter this region. He merely indicates that in this mysterious realm there is no difference between “below” and “above”:
“Sink then! I might as well say, Mount!
'Tis quite the same.”
We know too that in characterizing this region, Mephistopheles uses the word “Naught”, “Nothingness”. In a certain sense, therefore, he represents the spirit who in this “Naught” would be seeking something that is valueless to him. Faust answers as any true seeker to-day might answer a materialistic thinker: “In thy Naught I hope to find the All”.
Goethean research has made many attempts to find the clue to the figure of Mephistopheles. In other lectures I have said that the explanation of the name Mephistopheles is to be found in the Hebrew language, where “Mephiz” is the word used for one who obstructs, who corrupts, and “topel” for one who lies. We have therefore to think of this name as belonging to a being who brings corruption and hindrances to man and is a spirit of untruth, deception and illusion.
It may occur to those who read the introduction to Faust, the “Prologue in Heaven”, thoughtfully, that it contains words which resound as it were across thousands of years. Goethe has let words spoken between the Lord and Job in the Book of Job re-echo at the beginning of Faust. In the Book of Job we read that Job is a good, upright and pious man and of how the sons of the Lord of Light present themselves before Him. Among them is a certain enemy of the Light. In a conversation between the enemy of the Light and the supreme Lord, this enemy of the Light says that he has “gone to and fro in the earth”, seeking and trying out many things. The Lord asks: “Knowest thou my servant Job?” and the enemy of the Light—for so we will call him—answers the Lord that Job is known to him and that he would assuredly be able to divert him from the Good and bring him to perdition. This spirit has to make two attempts to approach Job and he then lays hold of him through injuring his physical body. He indicates this expressly when he says to the Lord: “Seize his possessions and he will not fall; but touch his bone and his flesh and he will fall!” Who can fail to hear an echo of this in Faust when the Lord calls to Mephistopheles in the “Prologue in Heaven”: “Knowest thou Faust, my servant!” And then, in similar terms, we hear the retort of the spirit who in the Book of Job comes before the Lord, when Mephistopheles asserts that he can lead Faust gently on the way, that he can win him from the paths which lead to the Good. Here, then, we are listening to sounds striking together in unison across the ages.
When you are thinking about the figure of Mephistopheles, you may often have asked yourselves: Who is Mephistopheles, in reality? Grave mistakes are made here, mistakes which admittedly can be corrected only by deeper, occult insight. The name itself suggests that Mephistopheles is associated with the devil, or the idea of the devil, for the word “topel” is the same as “Teufel”—devil. But the other question—and here we come into a realm of serious fallacies which frequently occur in explanations of the figure of Mephistopheles—the other question is: Whether Mephistopheles can be identified with the spirit we know as Lucifer, who during and after the Lemurian epoch approached mankind together with his hosts and entrenched himself as it were in the evolutionary process? The prevailing tendency in Europe is to identify the figure of Mephistopheles as he appears in Goethe's Faust but also in earlier folk-literature (Folk Plays, Puppet Plays and so forth), with Lucifer. Mephistopheles is a familiar character everywhere, and the question is: Are he and his hosts identical with Lucifer and his hosts? In other words: Are the effects of the Mephistophelean influence upon man the same as those of Lucifer?—That is the question before us to-day.
We know when Lucifer approached man. We have studied the course of human evolution on earth through the epoch when the sun with its beings, and subsequently the moon, separated from the earth together with the forces that would have made further development for man impossible. And we have learned that at a time when man was still not ready for his astral body to become independent, Lucifer and his hosts approached him. The effect upon man was twofold. It was towards the end of the Lemurian epoch when, in his astral body, man was actually exposed to the influences issuing from Lucifer. If Lucifer had not approached, man would, it is true, have been protected from certain evils but he would not have attained what must be accounted one of his greatest blessings.
The significance of Lucifer's influence becomes evident when we ask ourselves what would have transpired if since the Lemurian epoch there had been no Luciferic influence, if Lucifer and his hosts had remained separate and apart from man's evolution! Until the middle of the Atlantean epoch man would have evolved as a being who in every impulse of his astral body would have obeyed the influences of certain spiritual Beings of a higher rank than himself; these Beings would have retained their sway over him until the middle of the Atlantean epoch. If that had happened, man's faculties of perception and cognition would not have been directed to the material world until a much later period. During the Lemurian and early Atlantean epochs, no passions, no desires would have arisen from his sense-perceptions; he would have confronted the world of sense as it were in a state of innocence, obedient in his every action to the impulses instilled into him by higher spiritual Beings. The instincts prompting him to action would not have been of exactly the same nature as those of the higher animals to-day, but more spiritual. His every deed on earth would have been prompted, not by mere impulses, but by a kind of spiritual instinct. As things were, under the influence of Lucifer man came earlier to the stage where he said: This delights and attracts me, that is repellent to me! He reached the stage of following his own impulses earlier than would otherwise have been the case; he became an independent being, with a measure of inner freedom. The consequence was that he was detached in a certain way from the spiritual world. To put it concisely, one might say: Without this influence of Lucifer, man would have remained a spiritualized animal—an animal who would gradually have developed a form nobler and more beautiful than could have been developed by man under the influence of Lucifer. Man would have remained far more of an angelic being if Lucifer's influence had not taken effect in the Lemurian epoch; but on the other hand, the higher Beings would have guided him as it were on leading-strings. In the middle of the Atlantean epoch something would have befallen him suddenly: his eyes would have been fully opened, the tapestry of the whole material world of sense would have lain around him—but gazing upon it he would simultaneously have perceived the Divine-Spiritual, a Divine-Spiritual world behind every physical object. If, therefore, in his former state of dependence man had looked back into the bosom of the Divine whence he had proceeded, beholding the Gods of Light sending their radiance into his soul, guiding and leading him, something would have come about for him—this is not a mere picture but corresponds in a high degree with the reality—namely, that the world of sense in its entirety would have been outspread in transparency before him, revealing behind it those other Divine-Spiritual Beings who had taken the place of what had now been lost. One spiritual world would have closed behind him and a new spiritual world opened before him. Man would have remained a child in the hands of higher, Divine-Spiritual Beings; independence would not have been established in the human soul.
It did not happen so, because Lucifer had approached man and made part of the underlying spiritual world invisible to him. The personal instincts, passions and desires which arose in the human astral body spread a cloud of darkness over the spiritual Beings of the world out of which man is born and who would otherwise have remained perpetually visible to him.
Hence in those great centers of the Oracles in ancient Atlantis the Initiates had expressly trained themselves to behold that part of the spiritual world which had been concealed as the result of Lucifer's influence. The aim of all the preparation undergone by the guardians and pupils of the ancient Oracles in the Atlantean Mysteries was to enable them to perceive that part of the spiritual world of light which in consequence of Lucifer's influence upon the astral body of man had withdrawn from his field of vision. And visible too, were those figures seen by man in the various conditions of soul running parallel with initiation, figures which from a world of Light penetrate into our world decked in the raiment provided by the astral world. In the ancient Oracle centers the Atlantean Initiate beheld in the spirit those figures who were in truth spiritual Beings of a higher rank than he—Beings who had not descended into the physical world and who had therefore remained invisible to ordinary sight when man's eyes were opened prematurely. But since Lucifer himself was an opponent of these worlds of Light, it was inevitable that he too should be visible to the initiates; and the hosts of Lucifer were visible to the Atlanteans who in their shadowy, clairvoyant consciousness, in the sleeping state and in conditions midway between sleeping and waking, could be transported into the spiritual world. When part of the world of Light was accessible to these Atlantean men, part of the world opposing the world of Light was also visible; the Luciferic hosts were visible—not Lucifer himself. These noble figures belonging to the world of light were as fascinating and splendid in their astral raiment as those of the opposing world of deception were fearsome and terrible.
Thus it was the influence of Lucifer in the evolution of humanity that made it possible for man to fall into error and evil but also to attain freedom. Had there been no Luciferic influence, the conditions I have been describing to you would have come about in the middle of the Atlantean epoch: the tapestry of the sense-world would have been outspread before man; the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms would have been materially visible to him; also the phenomena of nature and of the heavens, thunder, lightning, clouds, air—all would have been visible to external sight. But behind it all would have been the unmistakable presence of Divine-Spiritual Beings. Because Lucifer's influence had already taken effect in man's astral body, his physical body—at that time still transmutable—had been so prepared ever since the Lemurian epoch and on into the Atlantean, that it could not become the direct instrument for the physical world of sense with the spiritual world visibly behind it. And so man could not immediately behold the physical sense-world in the form in which it would simultaneously have revealed itself to him as a spiritual world. The three lower kingdoms of nature lay around him; the physical world became a veil over the spiritual world. Man could not, nor can he to this day, see directly into the spiritual world.
But because man had passed through this evolution, a different influence was able to assert itself in the middle of the Atlantean epoch—an influence from quite another side and not to be confused with that of Lucifer and his hosts. Although it was Lucifer who first made it possible for man to come under the sway of this other influence, although it was Lucifer who caused the human physical body to become denser than it would otherwise have become, nevertheless it was necessary for yet another influence to approach man in order to bring him completely into the material world of sense, in order to shut him off entirely from the spiritual world so that he was led to the illusion: There is no other world than the world of material existence outspread before me!
From the middle of the Atlantean epoch an opponent quite different in character from Lucifer approached man, namely the Being who casts such mist and darkness around his faculties of perception that he makes no effort nor unfolds any urge to fathom the secrets of the world of sense. If you picture to yourselves that under Lucifer's influence the sense-world became like a veil, through the influence of this second Being the physical world in its totality became like a dense rind, closing off the spiritual world. It was only the Atlantean Initiates who were able, through the preparation they had undergone, to pierce this dense covering of the material, physical world.
The Powers who approached man in order to obscure his vision of the other side of divine existence are brought to our notice for the first time in the teachings given to his followers and pupils by Zarathustra, the great leader of the ancient Persians. The mission of Zarathustra was to instill culture into a people who, unlike the ancient Indians, did not by nature yearn perpetually for the spiritual world. Zarathustra's mission was to impart to his people a culture directed to the world of sense, aiming at mastery of the material world through means dependent upon the efforts and labors of physical man. In the civilization of ancient Persia, therefore, man was less subject to the influence of Lucifer than to the influence of that Being who since the middle of the Atlantean epoch had approached mankind, with the result that many of the Initiates at that time had lapsed into the practice of a form of black magic; having been led astray by this tempter, they misused for the purposes of the physical-material world what was accessible to them from the spiritual world. The mighty influence of the forces of black magic which finally led to the destruction of Atlantis had its origin in the temptations of that Being whom Zarathustra taught his people to know as Ahriman (“Angra Mainyu”), the Being who opposed the God of Light proclaimed by Zarathustra as “Ahura Mazdao”, the “Great Aura”.
These two figures—Lucifer and Ahriman—must be clearly distinguished from each other. For Lucifer is a Being who detached himself from the spiritual hosts of heaven after the separation of the sun, whereas Ahriman had already broken away before the separation of the sun and is an embodiment of quite different powers. The result of Lucifer's influence in the Lemurian epoch was merely the corruption of the faculty, still possessed by man in the Atlantean epoch, to manipulate the forces of air and water. In the book entitled From the Akasha Chronicle you will have read that in Atlantean times the seminal forces in plant and animal were still at man's command and could be drawn forth just as the forces used in the form of steam for propelling machines can be extracted from mineral coal to-day. I have told you that when these forces are drawn forth they are connected in a mysterious way with the nature-forces in wind, weather and the like; and if applied by man for purposes running counter to the divine purposes, these nature-forces are called into action against him.
Here lies the cause of the Atlantean flood and of the devastation wrought by the powers of nature which led to the disappearance of the whole continent of Atlantis. But even before that time, man had lost command over the forces of fire and the power to ally them with certain mysterious forces of the earth. Power over the forces of fire and earth in a certain combination had already been withdrawn from man. But now—through the influence of Ahriman and his accomplices—he again acquired a certain mastery over the forces of fire and earth, with dire consequences. And much that is to be heard about the use of fire in ancient Persia is connected with what I am now telling you. Many forces that are applied in black magic and are connected with it, lead to the result that man lays hold of forces of an entirely different nature and thus gains an influence over fire and earth, with terrible and devastating results. The practice of black magic by the descendants of the Atlanteans in ancient Persia would still have been effective had not the teachings of Zarathustra revealed how Ahriman, as an opposing power, ensnares man and clouds his vision of the spiritual reality behind the world of sense. Thus through Zarathustra and his followers, influence was brought to bear upon a large part of Post-Atlantean civilization; on the one hand men were taught of the workings of the sublime God of Light to whom they may turn, and, on the other, of the malefic power of Ahriman and his hosts.
Ahriman works upon man in countless, infinitely diverse ways.—I have told you that the Event of the Mystery of Golgotha was a moment of supreme importance for the evolution of the world. The Christ appeared in the realm into which man enters after death, where Ahriman's influence was even mightier than in the world around man here on earth between birth and death. In the realm of existence between death and rebirth, Ahriman's influences worked upon man with terrible, overwhelming power. And if nothing else had taken place, utter darkness would gradually have closed in upon man in the ‘realm of Shades’—as it was correctly designated by the ancient Greeks. A condition of complete isolation, leading to the intensification of egoism would have set in between death and rebirth; man would have been born into his new life as a gross and overweening egotist. Hence it is more than a figure of speech to say that after the Event of Golgotha, at the moment when the Blood flowed from the wounds, the Christ appeared in yonder world, in the realm of the Shades, and cast Ahriman into fetters. Although Ahriman's influence remained and is really the origin of all materialistic thinking on the part of man, although this influence can be paralyzed only if men receive into themselves the power emanating from the Mystery of Golgotha, nevertheless they can draw from that Event a power which enables them to find their way once again into the Divine-Spiritual world.
Thus it was to Ahriman that the faculty of human cognition was primarily directed. Ahriman was a Being whose existence was divined by men, a Being of whom they had some knowledge through the culture inaugurated by Zarathustra; and from there the knowledge of Ahriman spread among the other peoples and into their world of ideas. Ahriman with his hosts appears as a figure with the most diverse names among the civilized peoples. And owing to the peculiar conditions obtaining in the souls of the European peoples who had remained farthest in the rear of the migrations from West to East, who had been less affected than the others by what had transpired in the ancient Indian, ancient Persian, Egyptian and even in the Greco-Latin civilizations—owing to these circumstances there prevailed among the European peoples from whom the Fifth Epoch of culture was to be born, an attitude of soul which regarded Ahriman alone as a figure of dread. And while many different names were adopted—as for example, “Mephistopheles” among the Hebrew people—in Europe the figure of Ahriman became the “Devil” in his various forms.
Obviously, therefore, we are gazing here into a concatenation of happenings in the spiritual worlds and many a man who claims to be above medieval superstitions will do well to remember the words in Faust:
“The little folk ne'er scent the Devil
E'en though he have them by the collar”.
It is precisely because man closes his spiritual eyes to this influence that he succumbs to it so completely. Goethe's “Mephistopheles” is none other than the figure of Ahriman and must not be confused with Lucifer. All the errors cropping up here and there in commentaries on Faust originate from this confusion—although it was indeed Lucifer who first paved the way for Ahriman's influence. In studying Ahriman one is therefore led back to an original influence of Lucifer, the nature of which can only become clear after long preparatory efforts have been made to understand this intimate connection.
The subtle difference between the two Beings must not be overlooked. The essential point is that, fundamentally speaking, Lucifer had brought man under the influence of the powers connected with air and water only; whereas it was Ahriman-Mephistopheles who has subjected him to the influence of far more deadly powers and the civilizations immediately to come will see the appearance of many things connected with Ahriman's influence. Through this influence the seeker for the spirit who does not stand upon firm and sure foundations can readily fall prey to the most terrible illusion and deception. For Ahriman is a spirit who sets out to spread deception as to the true nature of the sense-world, especially as an expression of the spiritual world. When a man has a tendency to abnormal, somnambulistic states or through certain wrongful training awakens occult forces whereby egoism is intensified, then Ahriman or Mephistopheles has a ready influence precisely upon these occult forces, an influence that can soon become overwhelmingly powerful. Whereas Lucifer's influence can only bring it about that what confronts a man from the spiritual world (and this applies also to one who is receiving wrongful training) appears to him as an astral form visible to the astral body, the manifestations due to the influence of Ahriman are brought to light in that the evil influences on the physical body press through into the etheric body and then become visible as phantoms.
In the influences of Ahriman, therefore, we have to do with powers of a much lower nature than the influences of Lucifer. Lucifer's influences can never become as evil as the influences of Ahriman and of those Beings who are connected with the powers of fire. The influence of Ahriman or Mephistopheles can bring it about that in order to attain occult knowledge a man is induced, for example, to undertake certain measures with his physical body. The method that consists in the use and misuse of the physical body is the most evil that can possibly be applied for the purpose of acquiring occult powers. It is a fact that in certain school of black magic such practices are taught in abundance. One of the most terrible perversions to which man may be subject occurs when the forces of the physical body are taken as the starting-point for occult training.
It is not possible here to enter into closer detail than the indication that all machinations consisting in any way of a misuse of the forces of the physical body emanate from the influences of Ahriman; and because the effect of this penetrates into man's etheric body, it works as a world of phantoms that is nothing else than the garment of powers which drag man down to a level below that of true manhood. Nearly every ancient civilization—the Indian, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Greco-Latin—had its period of decadence; so too the Mysteries, when the Mystery-traditions were no longer preserved in their purity. During these periods many of those who were either pupils of the Initiates but unable to remain at their level or men to whom the secrets of the Mysteries had been unlawfully betrayed, had fallen into perverse and evil paths. Centers of black magic and its forces originated from these influences and have persisted to this day.
Ahriman is a spirit of lies, a spirit who conjures illusions before men, working together with his confederates in a spiritual world. Ahriman himself is no mirage—far from it! But what is conjured before men's eyes of spirit under his influence—that is mirage, illusion. When a man's desires and passions flow along evil paths and at the same time he lends himself in any way to occult practices, then the occult forces which are awakened penetrate into the etheric body and the most evil powers of corruption appear among the illusory images which may themselves often be majestic, awe-inspiring. Such is the terrible influence of Ahriman upon man.
From what has been said you can gather that through Christ's Coming, Ahriman has been cast into fetters—if this expression may be used—but only, of course, for those who endeavor unceasingly to fathom the Christ-Mystery. And outside the forces streaming from the Christ-Mystery, protection in the world against the influence of Ahriman will steadily diminish. In a certain sense—and many signs proclaim it—our epoch courts these influences of Ahriman. In certain occult teachings the hosts of Ahriman are also called the Asuras. These are of course, the evil Asuras who at a certain time fell away from the evolutionary path of the Asuras who endowed man with personality. It has already been indicated that these are spiritual Beings who detached themselves from the evolution of the earth before the separation of the sun.
Up to now we have been describing merely the terrible influence that Ahriman can exercise upon a certain abnormal process of development, one that proceeds along occult paths. But in a certain respect the whole of mankind came under the influence of Ahriman during the second half of the Atlantean epoch. The whole Post-Atlantean epoch has within it, in a certain sense, the aftermath of Ahriman's influence—in one region of the earth more, in another less. But Ahriman's influence has asserted itself everywhere and all the teachings given to the peoples by the ancient Initiates concerning the Spirits of Light who are the opponents of Ahriman were given primarily in order to draw these peoples away from Ahriman's influence. It was a good, wisely led education of mankind.
But let us not forget that since that time the destiny of Ahriman has been interwoven in a certain sense with the destiny of humanity, and manifold happenings, of which the uninitiated can know nothing, keep the whole karma of humanity in perpetual connection with the karma of Ahriman. To understand what will now be said, we must realize that over and above the karma which belongs to every individual human being, there is at every stage of existence a universal karmic law. All the categories of beings have their karma—the karma of the one differing from that of the other. But karma operates through every realm of existence and there are things in the karma of mankind, in the karma of a people, of a community or other group of human beings, which must be regarded as collective karma, so that in certain circumstances the individual can be drawn into the sway of the collective karma. It will not always be easy for one who cannot penetrate to the root of the matter to discern exactly where the influences of the powers concerned lie in the case of human beings overtaken by such a destiny. An individual within some community may well be entirely guiltless as far as his own karma is concerned; but because he stands within a field of collective karma, calamity may befall him. If, however, he is entirely guiltless, compensation will be made in later incarnations.
In the wider connection we must look not only at the karma of the past but also think of the karma of the future. A terrible fate may befall a whole group of human beings; the reason why just this group should suffer such a destiny is not to be discovered. Someone who might be capable of investigating the karma of an individual will in certain circumstances be unable to find anything at all that could have led to this tragic fate, for the threads of karma are extremely complicated. The cause of such karmic happenings may lie far, far away—but it is connected with these people nevertheless. And it may be that the whole group, while guiltless, has been overtaken by some collective karma which could not overtake those immediately guilty, because circumstances did not make this possible. In such cases the only thing that can be said is this: In the total karma of an individual, everything is ultimately balanced out, including what befalls him without guilt on his part; it is all inscribed in his karma and compensation in the fullest sense will be made in future time.—Therefore in considering the law of karma we must also take into account the karma of the future. Nor must it be forgotten that man is not an isolated being but that every individual has to share jointly in the collective karma of humanity. We must remember, too, that man, together with humanity, is connected with those hierarchies of Beings who have not entered into the physical world and that he is also drawn into the karma of the hierarchies. In the destinies of mankind in the spiritual world a great deal appears the connections of which are not to be sought in the immediate circumstances, but the karmic consequences come to pass inevitably. Since the second half of the Atlantean epoch, Ahriman's karma has been linked with the karma of mankind. Where, then, are the deeds of Ahriman, over and above what is wrought by him in the bodies of men in order to spread phantoms and illusion over the world of sense? Where are these other deeds?
Everything in the world has, as it were, two sides, one pertaining more to man as a spiritual being, the other to what has developed as the kingdoms of nature around him. The earth is the arena of man's existence. To the eye of spirit this earth is revealed as a combination of different layers or strata. The outermost stratum is called the “Mineral Earth” or “Mineral Stratum” because it contains only such substances as are to be found in the ground under our feet. This is the shallowest stratum, relatively speaking. Then begins the “Fluidic Earth”, the material constitution of which is entirely different from that of the “mineral” stratum above it. This second stratum is, as it were, endowed with inner life; and only because the solid, mineral stratum is spread over it are the inner forces of this second stratum held together. If they were released they would instantaneously disperse into cosmic space. This stratum, therefore, lies under tremendous pressure. A third stratum is the “Vapor Earth”. It is not a material vapor such as arises on the earth's surface but in this third stratum the substance itself is imbued with inner forces, comparable only with the passions, the inner urges and impulses of man. Whereas on the earth it is only beings like animals and men who can unfold passions, this third stratum—just as the substances of the earth are permeated by forces of magnetism and warmth—is permeated in a material sense with forces similar to those we know as human and animal passions and impulses. The fourth or “Form Stratum” is so designated because it contains the material and the forces of what are encountered in the mineral part of the earth as entities cast into form. And the characteristic of the fifth stratum, or “Fertility Earth” is that even as material it teems with infinite fertility. If you were to get hold of part of this stratum it would perpetually be sending forth new impulses, new sproutings; rampant fertility is the intrinsic quality of this stratum. Then we come to the sixth stratum, the “Fire Earth”, containing as “substances” within it, forces that can bring about terrible havoc and destruction. It is actually into these forces that the primordial Fire has been banished.
In and from this stratum the realm of Ahriman operates—in a material sense. What manifests in the phenomena of outer nature, in air and water, in cloud formations, in lightning and thunder—all this is, so to speak, a last vestige on the earth's surface, of forces that were already connected with ancient Saturn and separated from the earth together with the sun. By what is working in these forces, the inner fire-forces of the earth are placed in the service of Ahriman. There he has the center of his activity; and whereas his spiritual influences make their way to the souls of men and lead them to error, we see how Ahriman—in a certain respect shackled—has certain foci for his activity in the interior of the earth. Were we to understand the mysterious connections of what has come to pass on the earth under Ahriman's influence and what Ahriman's own karma has become in consequence of this, we should recognize in the quakes and tremors of the earth the connection between such grievous, tragic happenings in nature and the power that holds sway on the earth. These manifestations are something that has remained since ancient times as a reaction on the earth against the good Beings of Light.
Thus forces allied with the Beings who were thrust away from their connection with the earth at the time when the good Beings of light established the beneficent phenomena around the earth-globe, are active, and in a certain sense we can recognize the echoings of these fire-forces which in earlier times were withdrawn from man's control, in what is wrought by fire in such terrible manifestations of nature. Although the karma of Ahriman has been linked with that of humanity since the time of Atlantis, the suggestion should not arise that any guilt is to be attributed to those who are victims of what Ahriman's karma has evoked. Such happenings are connected with the collective karma of humanity in which the individual has also to share. The causes which produce their effects in particular localities as the workings of Ahriman's karma often lie somewhere else entirely. It is however these particular places which afford the necessary opportunity.
There we see a connection which seems to be like a relic of catastrophes undergone by humanity in the far distant past. The power to work upon fire which man had formerly possessed, was withdrawn from him. Hence ancient Lemuria was brought to its destruction by the fire of the passions of men. The same fire that is now below was then above; it receded from the earth's surface and the same fire that issued as a kind of extract from the primordial fire is the inorganic, mineral fire of to-day. So too it was with the forces working through air and water which, again by way of the passions of men, led to the Atlantean catastrophes. These catastrophes were evoked by the collective karma of humanity but a relic has remained and this relic awakens the echoes of those earlier catastrophes. Our volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are nothing else than the echoes of these catastrophes. But it should never so much as occur to anyone to attach an iota of guilt to the victim of such a calamity or to withhold compassion in the fullest measure. It must be absolutely clear to an anthroposophist that the karma of these individuals has nothing to do with the guilt to which the catastrophes are due and it should never occur to him to withhold help from anyone because—to put it trivially—he believes in karma and therefore assumes that this destiny was brought on by the man himself. Karma demands of us that we help human beings because we may be sure that our help means something that is written in their karma and will turn that karma in a more favorable direction. Understanding that is based upon the recognition of karma must necessarily lead to compassion; our compassion for the victims of such catastrophes will be all the greater, for our knowledge tells us that there is a collective karma of humanity from which the individual members have to suffer, that just as such happenings are brought about by humanity as one whole, so too must humanity be answerable for them; we must regard such a destiny as our own and help not only out of a spontaneous impulse but because we know that we are involved in the karma of humanity and share the guilt incurred!
A question was handed to me this morning about earthquake catastrophes. The question runs as follows: “What is the occult explanation of earthquakes? Can they be foreseen? If particular catastrophes can be foreseen, why should it not be possible to give some warning beforehand? Such a warning might possibly be ineffective the first time but certainly not on another occasion.”
You may remember something of what was said at the end of the lecture on the interior of the earth about the possibility of earthquakes. We will not consider that now but enter directly into this question. In reality it has two sides. The one is: Whether from the occult connections which can be discerned, earthquakes can be foreseen? The answer to this is that the knowledge of such matters belongs to the deepest realm of occult science. In respect of a particular event on the earth, an event with roots as deeply laid as those described to-day, and connected with causes extending widely over the earth—in respect of such an event it is absolutely correct to say that even in a particular case an indication of time can be given. It would certainly be possible for the occultist to give such an indication. But the other side of the question is: whether it is permissible for such indications to be given?—For one who confronts the occult secrets from outside it will seem almost a matter of course that the answer will be “Yes!” And yet the truth is that in regard to such events it is actually only twice or three times in any one century—at the very most, twice or three times—that any prediction can be announced from the centers of Initiation. For you must remember that these things are connected with the karma of humanity as a whole and if, for example, they were avoided in one instance they would inevitably occur in some other place and in a different form. The prediction itself would alter nothing. And just think what a terrible encroachment it would be into the karma of the earth as a whole if human measures were adopted to prevent such happenings. The reaction would be so fearful, so violent, that only in very rare and exceptional cases would a high Initiate, foreseeing an earthquake, be able to make use of his knowledge to help himself or those near him. With full knowledge he would have to face his end, as a matter of course! For these things that have been implicit in the karma of humanity for thousands and millions of years cannot be paralyzed by measures adopted during one brief period of evolution.—But there is still more to add.
It has been said already that this very subject is one of the most difficult of all in occult investigation. It is far easier to know something about the astral world, the devachanic world, even about the farthest planets, than about the interior of the earth. Most things one hears are the purest trash, because, as I say, it is one of the most difficult subjects in occultism. The same is true of matters that are connected with these elemental catastrophes. And above all you must realize that clairvoyance is not a matter of just sitting down, inducing a particular condition, and then being able to say what is going on in the whole universe, up to the highest spheres. It is by no means so. To believe any such thing would be as “clever” as to say: “You have the faculty of perception in the physical world; but why was it that when 12 o'clock came and you were sitting in your room, you were neither astonished by nor did you see what happened outside by the River Spree at that hour?” There are hindrances to seership. If the seer in question had gone for a walk at 12 o'clock he would probably have seen what happened. It is not the case that all worlds are immediately disclosed through the mere resolve to induce in oneself the requisite condition. The seer has to find his way to the events and investigate them, and these investigations are of the most difficult kind because the hindrances are greatest.—And perhaps at this point something may be said about these hindrances.
If a man is able to walk about on his two legs, you can deprive him of this faculty not only by amputating his legs but also by shutting him up in a cell; then he can no longer walk about. In the same way there are hindrances to occult investigation and in the domain of which we are speaking they are immensely powerful. I will tell you one of the main hindrances and in doing so introduce you to a mysterious relationship. The greatest hindrance to occult investigation in this domain is constituted by the methods and trend of modern materialistic science. The countless illusions and fallacies accumulating in materialistic science to-day, all the research that is not only futile but is prompted by the vanities of men—these are things which in their effects in the higher worlds make investigation into these manifestations and free vision in the higher world impossible or to say the least, extremely difficult. Free vision is clouded as a result of the materialistic research pursued here on earth. It is by no means easy to get to the root of these things. But only wait for the time when spiritual science has become more widespread and when through its influence the materialistic superstitions prevailing in our world will be swept away! Once the nonsensical analogies and hypotheses leading to all kinds of conjectures about the interior of the earth are cast aside, you will see that when spiritual science has itself been integrated into the karma of humanity, when it finds the way to men's souls and is able from there to overcome the opposing powers and materialistic superstitions, when further research can be made into all that is connected with the bitterest foe of mankind, that Being who fetters man's vision within the world of sense—you will see that it will then be possible, even externally, to influence the karma of humanity in the sense that the dire results of such happenings may be alleviated. The reason why the Initiates must be silent about happenings connected with the great karma of humanity is to be found in the materialistic superstitions of men. Many scientific pursuits are in no way imbued with the Faustian striving for truth but prompted entirely by vanity and ambition. How much scientific research is promoted in the world simply because an individual is seeking for something that will be to his personal advantage! If you sum up all these things you will realize the strength of the force that obstructs vision into the world behind the external phenomena of the material world. Not until this fog has been cleared away will the time come when, in respect of certain mysterious manifestations of nature emanating from the foes of mankind and trespassing deeply into human life, it will be possible for help—and then in no small measure—to be given to mankind. Until that time comes there is no such possibility.
I am well aware that these questions have been given a turn not always in the mind of the one who asks them. But it is often the fate of occult science to be obliged to formulate the questions in the right way before they can be correctly answered. Again do not take this to mean that the mysterious connection between earthquakes and the karma of humanity is a secret that cannot be investigated. It can be investigated but there are reasons why only the most commonplace aspects of such questions can be presented to the world to-day. Let the knowledge reach mankind through spiritual science that there is a connection between the deeds of men and happenings in nature and then the time will come when these things can be answered in the way the question demands. Spiritual science may pass through many destinies; its influence may even be crippled, remaining within narrow and restricted circles. Nevertheless it will make its way through mankind, will be integrated into the karma of humanity, and then the possibility will be created for individuals themselves to have an effect upon the karma of humanity as a whole.
Zwölfter Vortrag
Heute wollen wir einmal einiges besprechen aus einem tief okkulten Gebiete heraus, und zwar soll für heute unser Thema lauten, so sonderbar das zunächst klingen mag: «Mephistopheles und die Erdbeben der Erde». Wir werden sehen, daß wir nicht bloß mit dem Mephistopheles-Problem in ein tief okkultes Gebiet hineinleuchten, sondern auch gerade mit der Erdbebenfrage, wenn sie vom geistigen Standpunkte aus erörtert werden soll. Es ist ja von mir an den verschiedensten Orten und auch hier bereits über das Innere der Erde gesprochen und damit auch die Erdbebenfrage berührt worden. Wir wollen heute von einer anderen Seite noch die Sache betrachten, und es wird sich dann ja auch ein Zusammenschluß finden zwischen dem, was wir heute zu sagen haben, worinnen namentlich der Vortrag zuletzt gipfein soll, und dem, was schon in den früheren Vorträgen über das Innere der Erde im Hinblick auf diese außerordentlich tragischen Ereignisse unserer Erdoberfläche gesagt worden ist.
Die Gestalt des Mephistopheles, von der wir heute ausgehen wollen, kennen Sie alle ja aus der Goetheschen Faust-Dichtung. Sie wissen, daß die Mephistopheles-Gestalt eine Wesenheit ist. Wir wollen uns heute nicht weiter darauf einlassen, inwiefern die dichterische Umkleidung den okkulten Tatsachen entspricht. Sie wissen, daß uns diese Gestalt in der Goetheschen Faust-Dichtung entgegentritt als der Verführer und der Versucher des Faust, der ja in gewisser Beziehung als der Typus des nach den Höhen des Lebens strebenden Menschen aufgefaßt werden darf, und es ist von mir auch in Goethe-Vorträgen darauf hingewiesen worden, welche geistige Perspektive die Szene von dem «Gang zu den Müttern» eröffnet, wo Mephistopheles den Schlüssel in der Hand hält zur Eröffnung eines Gebietes in dunkle Untergründe hinein, in denen die «Mütter» sitzen. Mephistopheles selbst kann dieses Gebiet nicht betreten. Er weist nur darauf hin, daß es sich um ein Gebiet handelt, wo unten gleich oben ist: «Versinke denn! Ich könnt’ auch sagen: steige!» Beides würde dasselbe bedeuten für dieses geheimnisvolle Gebiet. Wir wissen auch, daß Mephistopheles dieses Gebiet als ein solches bezeichnet, wofür er das Wort Nichts anwendet. Er vertritt also in einer gewissen Weise den Geist, der in dem Nichts ein für ihn Wertloses in diesem Gebiete erblickt. Faust antwortet darauf, wie etwa heute noch der geistig Strebende dem materialistisch Denkenden antworten könnte: «In deinem Nichts hoff' ich das All zu finden!»
Die Goethe-Forschung - es gibt ja eine solche - hat die mannigfaltigsten Anstrengungen gemacht, um diese Gestalt zu enträtseln. Auch in anderen Vorträgen habe ich schon aufmerksam darauf gemacht, daß im Grunde genommen die Auflösung des Namens «Mephistopheles» einfach im Hebräischen zu suchen ist, wo mephiz der Hinderer, der Verderber heißt und tophel der Lügner, so daß wir den Namen aufzufassen haben als geltend für ein Wesen, das sich zusammensetzt aus einem Bringer des Verderbens, der Hindernisse für den Menschen, und auf der anderen Seite aus einem Geist der Unwahrheit, der Täuschung, der Illusion.
Wer die Einleitung des Goetheschen «Faust», den Prolog im Himmel einmal denkend verfolgt, dem wird auffallen können, wie da hineinklingt ein Wort, welches sozusagen über Jahrtausende hin reicht. Goethe hat hineinklingen lassen in den Anfang seines «Faust» die Worte zwischen dem Gotte und dem Hiob aus dem Buche «Hiob». Sie brauchen nur das Buch «Hiob» zu lesen, wie Hiob als ein gerechter, guter und frommer Mann lebt, wie da die Söhne des Gottes des Lichtes sich vor Gott einfinden und sich unter ihnen auch einfindet ein gewisser Feind des Lichtes und wie sich ein Gespräch entspinnt zwischen dem Feind des Lichtes und dem höchsten Gotte, das dahin geht, daß dieser Feind des Lichtes sagt, er habe durch die Lande geschweift und habe Verschiedenes gesucht, Verschiedenes versucht. Da fragt ihn Gott: Kennst du meinen Knecht, den Hiob? Und da sagt der Feind des Lichtes - so wollen wir ihn vorläufig nennen - zu dem Gotte: Er kenne ihn, und er wäre wohl imstande, ihn von dem Pfad des Guten abzubringen, ihn zu verderben. Und Sie wissen ja, wie zweimal dieser Geist versuchen muß, an Hiob heranzukommen, wie er ihm dann dadurch beikommt, daß er seinen äußeren physischen Körper verdirbt. Er bezeichnet das ausdrücklich dadurch, daß er dem Gott gegenüber sagt: Da wird er nicht abfallen, wenn man an seinen Besitz greift, aber wenn man an sein Fleisch greift und an sein Bein, da wird er abfallen! Wer möchte da nicht hineinklingen hören in den Worten des «Faust», wo Gott im Prolog im Himmel dem Mephistopheles die Worte entgegenruft: «Kennst du den Faust? ... Meinen Knecht!» - Und dann hört man förmlich wiederholen die Widerrede des Geistes, der damals, entsprechend dem Buche Hiob, dem Gotte entgegengerreten ist, wenn dieser Mephistopheles sagt: Er könne den Faust seine «Straße sacht führen», er könne ihn abbringen von den Wegen, die in die Welt hineinführen, die man die gute nennt. Also wir hören hier förmlich in einer Harmonie zusammenschlagen die Töne von Jahrtausenden.
Vielleicht haben Sie schon öfters, wenn die Gestalt des Mephistopheles an Sie herangetreten ist, die Frage aufgeworfen: Wer ist denn eigentlich dieser Mephistopheles? Und hier werden schwere Fehler gemacht, die allerdings nur ausgebessert werden können durch eine tiefere okkulte Einsicht. Daß Mephistopheles mit dem Teufel oder mit der Vorstellung des Teufels zusammengebracht werden darf, darauf zielt ja schon der Name; denn das Wort «tophel» ist dasselbe wie «der Teufel». Aber die andere Frage ist diese, und hier kommen wir in ein Gebiet schwerer Irrtümer hinein, die in der Auslegung der Gestalt des Mephistopheles oftmals gemacht werden: Ob Mephistopheles zusammengeworfen werden darf mit dem Geist, den wir als den Luzifer bezeichnen, von dem wir in der Entwicklungsgeschichte der Menschheit oft gesprochen haben, der in der lemurischen Zeit und nachher mit seinen Scharen an die Menschheit herantrat und in gewisser Weise in die menschliche Entwicklung eingriff? Man ist in Europa leicht geneigt, die Gestalt des Mephistopheles, wie sie im Goetheschen «Faust» gilt, wie sie aber in all den verschiedenen Produkten der Volksliteratur gegolten hat, in denen sie schon spielt und die dem Goetheschen «Faust» vorangegangen sind, in den Volksschauspielen, in den Puppenspielen und so weiter, mit dem Luzifer zusammenzuwerfen. Wir treffen da überall die Gestalt des Mephistopheles an, und die Frage ist diese: Sind die Gestalt und die Genossen des Mephistopheles dieselben wie jene Gestalt mit ihren Genossen, die wir als Luzifer kennen? Mit anderen Worten: Ist das, was an den Menschen herantritt durch mephistophelischen Einfluß dasselbe wie das, was an den Menschen herantrat durch luziferischen Einfluß? Die Frage müssen wir uns heute vorlegen.
Wir wissen ja, wann Luzifer an den Menschen herantrat. Wir haben die Entwicklung des Menschen verfolgt auf der Erde durch die Zeit hindurch, in welcher die Sonne mit ihren Wesenheiten sich losgetrennt hat von der Erde und in welcher dann der Mond sich losgetrennt hat von der Erde mit denjenigen Kräften, die es dem Menschen unmöglich gemacht hätten, weiterzukommen. Und wir haben gesehen, daß in einer Zeit, in der der Mensch noch nicht reif war, an seinen astralischen Leib die Selbständigkeit herantreten zu lassen, Luzifer mit seinen Scharen an den Menschen herangetreten ist und dadurch ein Zweifaches an den Menschen herankam. Es war gegen das Ende der lemurischen Zeit, da der Mensch tatsächlich in seinem astralischen Leibe den Einflüssen, die von Luzifer herkamen, ausgesetzt war. Wenn Luzifer nicht an den Menschen herangetreten wäre, so wäre der Mensch bewahrt geblieben vor gewissen Schäden, aber er wäre auch nicht zu dem gekommen, was wir zu den höchsten Gütern der Menschheit zählen müssen.
Wir können uns nun klarmachen, was der Einfluß des Luzifer für eine Bedeutung hat, wenn wir uns fragen, was geschehen wäre, wenn es seit der lemurischen Zeit keinen luziferischen Einfluß gegeben hätte, wenn der Mensch sich so entwickelt hätte, daß Luzifer und die Wesen, die zu ihm gehören, von dem Menschen ferngeblieben wären. Dann hätte sich der Mensch so entwickelt, daß er bis in die Mitte der atlantischen Zeit hinein ein Wesen geblieben wäre, das in allen Impulsen des astralischen Leibes, in allen Motiven des astralischen Leibes gefolgt wäre den Einflüssen gewisser über den Menschen stehender geistiger Wesenheiten, welche durch ihren Einfluß den Menschen geführt hätten bis in die Mitte der atlantischen Zeit hinein. Da würde der Mensch viel, viel später erst sein Wahrnehmungsvermögen, sein Erkenntnisvermögen auf die sinnliche Welt gerichtet haben, so daß den Menschen in der lemurischen Zeit und ersten atlantischen Zeit aus den Sinneswahrnehmungen heraus keine Leidenschaften, keine Begierden erwachsen wären und der Mensch sozusagen unschuldig der Sinneswelt gegenübergestanden hätte und in alledem, was er getan hätte, gefolgt wäre den ihm eingepflanzten Impulsen höherer geistiger Wesenheiten. Es wäre nicht ein Instinkt gewesen, wie der Instinkt der heutigen höheren Tiere, unter dem der Mensch alles unternommen hätte, sondern ein vergeistigter Instinkt. Zu jeder Tat, die er auf der Erde getan hätte, hätten ihn nicht gereizt die bloßen sinnlichen Impulse, sondern etwas geistig Instinktives. So aber ist der Mensch unter dem Einflusse Luzifers früher dazu gekommen, daß er sagte: Dies macht mir Freude, dies zieht mich an, dies stößt mich ab! - Er ist dazu gekommen, früher als sonst seinen eigenen Impulsen zu folgen, ein selbständiges Wesen zu werden, eine gewisse Freiheit in sich zu entwickeln. Eine gewisse Loslösung von der geistigen Welt trat dadurch für den Menschen ein. Man könnte sagen, wenn man sich klar ausdrücken wollte: Ohne diesen Einfluß Luzifers wäre der Mensch ein vergeistigtes Tier geblieben, ein Tier, das sich an Gestalt allmählich entwickelt hätte, sogar in edlerer und schönerer Form, als der Mensch unter dem Einflusse Luzifers sich entwickelt hat. Der Mensch wäre viel engelhafter geblieben, wenn dieser Einfluß Luzifers in der lemurischen Zeit nicht eingetreten wäre. Aber auf der anderen Seite wäre er von den höheren Wesenheiten wie an einem Gängelbande geleitet worden. In der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit wäre wie mit einem Schlage etwas an den Menschen herangetreten: Seine Augen wären voll geöffnet worden, und er hätte um sich gehabt den Teppich der gesamten physisch-sinnlichen Welt; aber er hätte ihn so um sich gesehen, daß er hinter jedem physischen Dinge sogleich ein Göttlich-Geistiges wahrgenommen haben würde, eine Welt göttlich-geistiger Untergründe. Während also der Mensch bis dahin, wenn er rückwärts geschaut hätte in seiner Abhängigkeit in den göttlichen Schoß, aus dem er hervorgegangen war, erblickt hätte die auf ihn einwirkenden, die in seine Seele hineinscheinenden Licht-Gottheiten, die ihn lenken und führen, so würde dann eingetreten sein für den Menschen - es ist das nicht etwa bloß ein Bild, sondern es entspricht das im höheren Grade der Wirklichkeit - das, daß vor ihm ausgebreitet worden wäre die volle deutlich erkennbare Sinneswelt. Aber diese Sinneswelt hätte sich dargestellt wie ein Durchsichtiges, hinter dem erschienen wären die anderen göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten, die an die Stelle dessen getreten wären, was der Mensch hinter sich verloren hätte. Eine geistige Welt hätte sich hinter ihm zugeschlossen, eine neue geistige Welt hätte sich vor ihm eröffnet. Der Mensch wäre ein Kind in der Hand höherer, geistig-göttlicher Wesenheiten geblieben. Die Selbständigkeit hätte sich nicht in die menschliche Seele hineingesenkt.
So ist es eben nicht gekommen, sondern es hat sich erst Luzifer herangemacht an den Menschen, und Luzifer hat sozusagen einen Teil der hinter dem Menschen stehenden geistigen Welt für diesen Menschen unsichtbar gemacht. Denn indem im menschlichen Astralleibe die eigenen Leidenschaften, Instinkte und Begierden auftraten, verfinsterten diese die hinter dem Menschen stehenden, sonst immer sichtbar gebliebenen geistigen Wesenheiten derjenigen Welt, aus der der Mensch herausgeboren ist. Daher war es auch so, daß in jenen großen Orakelstätten, von denen ich das letzte Mal gesprochen habe, die uralten atlantischen Eingeweihten gerade darauf sich vorbereitet hatten, denjenigen Teil der geistigen Welt zu sehen, der durch den Einfluß Luzifers verdeckt worden war. Alle Vorbereitungen der Hüter und Schüler der uralten Orakel der atlantischen Mysterien zielten darauf hin, hineinzusehen in diese lichte geistige Welt, die durch den luziferischen Einfluß auf den menschlichen astralischen Leib sich dem Menschen entzogen hatte. Und da kamen sie auch zum Vorschein, jene Gestalten, die der Mensch beobachtet in den verschiedenen Seelenzuständen, die der Einweihung parallel laufen, die aus einer Lichtwelt in die unsere hineinspielen und die sich dann kleiden in das Kleid, das ihnen die astralische Welt geben kann. Da sah der atlantische Eingeweihte in den alten Orakeln im Geiste jene Gestalten, die ihm mit Recht höhere geistige Wesenheiten waren, die nicht heruntergestiegen waren bis zur physischen Welt und die daher, als der Mensch verfrüht die physische Welt betreten hat, unsichtbar geblieben sind für den gewöhnlichen Blick. Aber es konnte nicht anders sein, als daß auch Luzifer selber, da er sozusagen ein Gegner dieser Lichtwelten war, auch für die Eingeweihten sichtbar wurde. Die Scharen des Luzifer waren überhaupt sichtbar für die atlantischen Menschen, die in ihrem dämmerhaften Hellseherbewußtsein — in Schlafzuständen und in den Zwischenzuständen zwischen Schlaf und Wachen - sich hineinleben konnten in die höhere geistige Welt. Wenn ein Teil der Lichtwelt für diese Menschen zugänglich wurde, so wurde auch ein Teil der gegen die Lichtwelt gerichteten Welt sichtbar; nicht Luzifer selbst, aber die Genossen Luzifers wurden sichtbar. Und so entzückend und großartig die hehren Gestalten der Lichtwelt erschienen in ihren astralischen Farben, so furchtbar und entsetzlich erschienen die Gestalten, die der entgegengesetzten, der verführerischen Welt angehörten.
So können wir sagen: Es gab innerhalb der Menschheitsentwicklung diesen Einfluß Luzifers, dem der Mensch die Möglichkeit des Irrtums, des Bösen verdankt, dem er aber auch seine Freiheit verdankt. Wäre dieser luziferische Einfluß nicht gekommen, so wäre das, was ich eben vor Ihnen besprochen habe, in der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit eingetreten: Der Teppich der Sinneswelt hätte sich ausgebreitet vor dem Menschen, die Mineralien, die Pflanzenwelt, die Welt der Tiere wären sinnlich sichtbar geworden; die Welt der Naturerscheinungen, Blitz und Donner, Wolken und Luft, die Himmelserscheinungen wären dem äußeren Auge vollständig sichtbar geworden. Aber dahinter wären unverkennbar gestanden die göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten, die auf den Menschen eindringen sollten. Weil vorher der Einfluß Luzifers gewirkt hatte, weil vorher der Mensch in seinem astralischen Leibe diesen Einfluß aufgenommen hatte, deshalb hatte er seit der lemurischen Zeit bis in die atlantische Zeit hinein seinen physischen Leib, der dazumal noch verwandlungsfähig war, so zubereitet, daß dieser physische Leib jetzt das Instrument werden konnte unmittelbar für den Teppich der sinnlich-physischen Welt, der sich hätte so ausbreiten sollen, daß hinter ihm die geistige Welt sichtbar geworden wäre. Und so konnte denn der Mensch die physisch-sinnliche Welt nicht sogleich in der Gestalt sehen, in der sie sich ihm zugleich als eine geistige gezeigt hätte. Da trat an den Menschen heran die Welt der drei Naturreiche, die unter dem Menschen standen. Sie trat heran, die physische Welt, als eine solche, die wie ein Schleier, wie eine dicke Decke unter Umständen sich hinüberlegte über die geistige Welt. So konnte der Mensch nicht durchschauen bis in die geistige Welt; er kann es ja bis heute im Grunde genommen noch nicht.
Dadurch aber, daß der Mensch diese Entwicklung durchgemacht hatte, konnte in der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit ein anderer Einfluß sich geltend machen, ein Einfluß von einer ganz anderen Seite. Und diesen Einfluß, der sich nunmehr geltend machte, dürfen wir nicht verwechseln mit dem Einfluß Luzifers und seiner Genossen. Wenn auch Luzifer den Menschen erst fähig gemacht hat, diesem anderen Einflusse zu unterliegen, wenn auch Luzifer erst den Menschen dazu gebracht hat, daß sein physischer Leib dichter geworden ist, als er sonst geworden wäre, so mußte doch noch ein anderer Einfluß an den Menschen herantreten, um den Menschen der physisch-sinnlichen Welt ganz zuzuführen, um die Welt der geistigen Wesenheiten vor dem Menschen ganz zuzusperren, ganz zuzuschließen, so daß der Mensch zu der Illusion geführt wurde: Es gibt keine andere Welt als die Welt des physisch-sinnlichen Daseins, die sich vor mir ausbreitet! Es trat ein ganz anderer Gegner seit der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit an den Menschen heran, als Luzifer es ist, derjenige Gegner, der sozusagen des Menschen Wahrnehmungsvermögen und Erkenntnisvermögen so umnebelt und umdunkelt, daß der Mensch nicht die Anstrengung macht, nicht die Triebe entwickelt, hinter die Geheimnisse der Sinneswelt zu kommen. Wenn Sie sich vorstellen, daß unter Luzifers Einfluß die Sinneswelt wie ein Schleier geworden wäre, so daß man dann durchaus die geistige Welt dahinter gehabt hätte, so ist durch den Einfluß dieses zweiten Wesens die physische Welt völlig zu einer dicken Rinde geworden, welche sich zuschließt vor der geistigen Welt, so daß wiederum nur die atlantischen Eingeweihten durch ihre Vorbereitungen dazu kommen konnten, diese Decke des Physisch-Sinnlichen zu durchdringen.
Diejenigen Mächte, die sich da an den Menschen heranmachten, um ihm den Ausblick in die andere Seite des göttlichen Daseins zu verfinstern, treten uns zuerst entgegen in den großen Lehren, welche der bedeutungsvolle Führer des uralt persischen Volkes seinen Anhängern und Bekennern gegeben hat, bei Zarathustra. Zarathustra war es, der ja die Mission hatte, einem Volke die Kultur zu geben, das nicht wie das altindische Volk durch seine Naturanlage die Sehnsucht hatte nach der geistigen Welt zurück, sondern Zarathustra hatte die Mission, einem Volke eine Kultur zu geben, dessen Blick auf die Sinneswelt gerichtet war, auf die Eroberung der physisch-sinnlichen Welt mit den Kulturmitteln, die eben nur durch die Anstrengungen des äußeren sinnlich-physischen Menschen hergestellt werden können. Daher trat innerhalb der uralt persischen Kultur weniger der luziferische Einfluß an den Menschen heran als gerade der Einfluß derjenigen Gestalt, die seit der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit an den Menschen herangetreten ist und bewirkt hat, daß dazumal ein großer Teil der Eingeweihten der schwarzen Magie verfallen ist, weil sie durch die Verführung dieses Versuchers dazu gebracht wurden, dasjenige, was ihnen aus der geistigen Welt zugänglich geworden war, zu dem Dienst der physisch-sinnlichen Welt zu mißbrauchen. Jener gewaltige Einfluß schwarzmagischer Kräfte, der zum schließlichen Untergang von Atlantis geführt hat, hat seinen Ursprung in den Versuchungen derjenigen Gestalt, die Zarathustra seinem Volke lehren mußte, als die Gestalt, die dem hellen Lichtgotte entgegenwirkt als Ahriman, Angra mainju, im Gegensatz zu dem Lichtgotte, den Zarathustra als die Große Aura, als Ahura Mazdao verkündete.
Diese zwei Gestalten, Luzifer und Ahriman, müssen wir wohl voneinander unterscheiden. Denn Luzifer ist eine Wesenheit, die sich abgezweigt hat von der Schar geistig-himmlischer Wesenheiten nach der Sonnentrennung, während Ahriman eine Gestalt ist, die sich bereits vor der Sonnentrennung losgelöst hat und ganz andere Mächte in sich vereinigt. Dadurch, daß Luzifer in der lemurischen Zeit auf den Menschen gewirkt hat, wurde dem Menschen nichts anderes verdorben als der Einfluß, den der Mensch noch in der atlantischen Zeit gehabt hat, indem er auf die Luft- und Wasserkräfte wirken konnte. Sie wissen aus meinem Buche «Akasha-Chronik», daß die Menschen in der atlantischen Zeit noch über die Samenkräfte, die in den pflanzlichen und tierischen Naturen sind, verfügten und sie so herausziehen konnten, wie der heutige Mensch aus der Steinkohle die Kräfte herauszieht, die er als Dampfkraft zum Treiben seiner Maschinen verwendet. Und ich habe Ihnen gesagt, wenn diese Kräfte extrahiert werden, herausgezogen werden, dann stehen sie in einem geheimnisvollen Zusammenhange zu den Naturkräften in Wind und Wetter und so weiter; und wenn sie der Mensch verwendet in einer den göttlichen Absichten entgegenstehenden Absicht, dann werden diese Naturkräfte heraufgezogen gegen den Menschen.
Dadurch kam die atlantische Überflutung und diejenigen verheerenden Naturgewalten, die dann den Untergang des ganzen atlantischen Kontinentes bewirkten. Aber der Mensch hat vorher schon nicht mehr eine Verfügung gehabt über die Kräfte des Feuers und der Verbindung dieser Kräfte mit gewissen geheimen Kräften der Erde. Feuer und Erde in einem gewissen Zusammenwirken wurden schon früher eigentlich dem Menschen entzogen. Jetzt aber, durch den Einfluß Ahrimans und seiner Genossen, kam in einer gewissen Weise der Mensch wiederum, und zwar jetzt in verderbenbringender Weise zur Macht über Feuer- und Erdenkräfte. Und manches, was Sie hören über die Verwendung des Feuers im alten Persien, hängt mit dem zusammen, was ich Ihnen jetzt sage: Manche Kräfte, die getrieben werden als schwarze Magie und die damit zusammenhängen und dazu führen, daß der Mensch sich noch über ganz andere Kräfte hermacht und da einen Einfluß gewinnt über Feuer und Erde, können gewaltige, verheerende Wirkungen wachrufen. Schwarze Magie hätte von den Nachkommen der Atlantier selbst noch im alten Persien getrieben werden können, wenn nicht durch die Lehre des Zarathustra darauf hingewiesen worden wäre, wie Ahriman als feindliche Macht auf die Menschen so wirkt, daß er sie umstrickt, sie verdüstert gegenüber dem, was hinter der Sinneswelt als wirkliche geistige Gewalt hervorkommen soll. So sehen wir, daß ein großer Teil der nachatlantischen Kultur - das ging von Zarathustra und seinen Anhängern aus — dadurch beeinflußt wurde, daß dem Menschen klargemacht wurde auf der einen Seite die Wirkung des hehren Lichtgottes, dem sich der Mensch zuwenden kann, und auf der anderen Seite die verderbliche Macht des Ahriman und seiner Genossen.
Dieser Ahriman wirkt durch die mannigfaltigsten Mittel und Wege auf den Menschen ein. Ich habe Sie darauf aufmerksam machen können, daß es ein großer Moment war für die Entwicklung der Welt, als das Ereignis von Golgatha eintrat. Da erschien der Christus in der Welt, die der Mensch nach dem Tode betritt. In dieser Welt war der Einfluß des Ahriman noch viel stärker, als er in der Welt war, die hier auf der Erde zwischen Geburt und Tod zu sehen ist. Gerade in der Welt zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt wirkten mit einer furchtbaren Gewalt und Macht die Einflüsse des Ahriman auf den Menschen. Und wenn nichts anderes eingetreten wäre, so wäre der Mensch zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt in dem Schattenreiche - wie es mit Recht der alte Grieche empfunden hat allmählich verfinstert worden. Eine unendliche Vereinsamung und Zurückführung auf die menschliche Egoität wäre eingetreten in dem Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Und der Mensch würde bei der Wiederverkörperung so in sein Leben hineingeboren werden, daß er zu einem krassen, zu einem furchtbaren Egoisten geworden wäre. So ist es daher mehr als eine bloß bildliche Redeweise, daß nach dem Ereignis von Golgatha, in dem Moment, als auf Golgatha das Blut aus den Wunden rann, der Christus in der jenseitigen Welt, in dem Schattenreiche erschien und Ahriman in Fesseln legte. Wenn auch der Einfluß Ahrimans blieb, und im Grunde auf ihn alle materialistische Denkweise der Menschen zurückzuführen ist, wenn auch dieser Einfluß nur dadurch paralysiert werden kann, daß die Menschen das Ereignis von Golgatha in sich aufnehmen, so ist doch dieses Ereignis das geworden, aus dem die Menschen Kraft saugen, um dadurch wieder hineinzukommen in die geistig-göttliche Welt.
So stieg vor dem Blick der menschlichen Erkenntnis zuerst Ahriman auf. So wurde er etwas, was man ahnte, wovon man etwas wußte durch den Einfluß der Zarathustra-Kultur; und von da aus verbreitete sich die Erkenntnis des Ahriman über die anderen Völker hin und über ihre Kulturvorstellungen. Unter den mannigfaltigsten Namen tritt Ahriman mit seinen Scharen bei den verschiedenen Kulturvölkern auf. Und durch die eigenartigen Verhältnisse, in denen die Seelen der europäischen Völker waren, die am weitesten zurückgeblieben waren auf den Zügen von Westen nach Osten, die am meisten unberührt geblieben waren von dem, was im alten Indien, im alten Persien, in Ägypten, selbst in der griechisch-lateinischen Periode vor sich gegangen war, bei diesen Völkern Europas, unter denen die fünfte Kulturperiode aufleben sollte, da waren Seelenverfassungen vorhanden, daß ihnen besonders die Gestalt des Ahriman als eine furchtbare erschien. Und während diese die verschiedensten Namen angenommen hat - beim hebräischen Volke Mephistopheles genannt wurde -, wurde sie in der europäischen Welt zu der Gestalt des Teufels in seinen verschiedenen Formen.
So sehen wir, wie wir in einen tiefen Zusammenhang der geistigen Welten hineinblicken, und manches Mal, wenn jemand hoch erhaben sich fühlt über den mittelalterlichen Aberglauben, wird man sich wohl auch erinnern an den Ausspruch unseres Faust-Dichters: «Den Teufel spürt das Völkchen nie, und wenn er sie beim Kragen hätte!»
Gerade dadurch, daß der Mensch seine geistigen Augen vor diesem Einfluß verschließt, dadurch verfällt er diesem Einflusse am allermeisten. Der Goethesche Mephistopheles ist nichts anderes als die Gestalt des Ahriman, und wir dürfen sie nicht verwechseln mit der Gestalt des Luzifer. Alle diejenigen Irrtümer, die uns zuweilen in der Erklärung der Goetheschen Faust-Dichtung entgegentreten, sind gerade auf diese Verwechslung zurückzuführen, obwohl natürlich Luzifer erst den Einfluß des Ahriman möglich gemacht hat und man daher, wenn man auf Ahriman sieht, auf einen Ureinfluß Luzifers zurückgeführt wird, der erst vor unsere Seele treten konnte, nachdem wir lange Vorbereitungen dazu gemacht haben, um diesen intimeren Zusammenhang zu erkennen.
Man darf diesen feineren Unterschied nicht übersehen, denn es handelt sich vor allen Dingen darum, daß Luzifer den Menschen im Grunde genommen nur unter den Einfluß derjenigen Gewalten gebracht hat, die mit den Wind- und Wassergewalten zusammenhängen. Dagegen war es Ahriman-Mephistopheles, der den Menschen unter Gewalten gebracht hat, die viel, viel furchtbarer sind, und es wird in den nächsten Kulturen mancherlei auftreten, was man in Zusammenhang zu bringen hat mit dem Einflusse des Ahriman. Für den okkult Strebenden, der nicht auf festem und sicherem Grunde strebt, kann sehr leicht gerade durch den ahrimanischen Einfluß die furchtbarste Illusion, die furchtbarste Täuschung eintreten. Denn in der Tat ist Ahriman ein Geist, der darauf ausgeht, über die wahre Natur der Sinneswelt zu täuschen, zu täuschen nämlich darin, daß sie ein Ausdruck ist der geistigen Welt. Wenn der Mensch nun Veranlagung hat zu abnormen Zuständen, zu somnambulen Zuständen oder durch eine gewisse unrichtige Schulung okkulte Kräfte in sich erweckt und irgend etwas in sich hat, was zur Egoität, zum Egoismus hindrängt, dann hat gerade auf die okkulten Kräfte Ahriman oder Mephistopheles leicht einen Einfluß, einen Einfluß, der leicht ein gewaltiger werden kann. Während Luzifers Einfluß nur dahin gehen kann, daß dasjenige, was sozusagen aus der geistigen Welt - auch bei dem in unrichtiger Schulung sich Befindenden - dem Menschen begegnet, als astralische Gestalt entgegentritt, als eine Gestalt, die für den astralischen Leib sichtbar wird, treten diejenigen Gebilde, die auf den Einfluß Ahrimans zurückzuführen sind, dadurch zutage, daß die schlechten Einflüsse, die auf den physischen Leib ausgeübt werden, sich durchdrükken in den Ätherleib und dann als Phantome sichtbar werden.
Wir haben es also bei dem Einflusse Ahrimans mit noch viel, viel niedrigeren Mächten zu tun als bei dem Einflusse Luzifers. Niemals können die Einflüsse Luzifers so schlimm werden wie die Einflüsse Ahrimans und jener Wesenheiten, die mit den Feuermächten zusammenhängen. Ahrimans oder Mephistopheles’ Einfluß kann es dahin bringen, daß der Mensch, um okkulte Erkenntnisse zu erlangen, dazu geführt wird, sagen wir zum Beispiel Verrichtungen vorzunehmen mit seinem physischen Leibe. Es ist das schlimmste Mittel, das angewendet werden kann, um zu okkulten Kräften zu kommen, das in Verrichtungen und im Mißbrauch des physischen Leibes besteht. In gewissen schwarzmagischen Schulen werden in der Tat solche Verrichtungen in dem ausgiebigsten Maße gelehrt. Es gehört zu den furchtbarsten Verführungen des Menschen, wenn der Ausgangspunkt für okkulte Schulung von den physischen Leibeskräften aus genommen wird.
Es kann hier darauf nicht einmal näher hingewiesen werden, sondern nur darauf, daß alle Machinationen, die irgendwie in einem Mißbrauch der physischen Leibeskräfte bestehen, von den Einflüssen herrühren, die von Ahriman herkommen, und es, weil sich das in des Menschen Ätherleib hineindrängt, wie ein Phantom wirkt, aber wie eine Phantomenwelt, die nichts anderes ist als das Kleid von Mächten, die den Menschen unter das Niveau des Menschen herunterziehen. Fast alle alten Kulturen, die indische, die persische, die ägyptische Kultur, die griechisch-lateinische Kultur haben ihre Dekadenzzeit durchgemacht, in der sie verfallen sind, in der auch die Mysterien verfallen sind, in der man nicht mehr die reinen Überlieferungen der Mysterien bewahrte. In diesen Zeiten sind viele von denen, die entweder Schüler der Eingeweihten waren und doch sich nicht auf ihrer Höhe haben halten können, oder solche Menschen, denen die Geheimnisse auf unrechtmäßige Weise verraten worden waren, nun auf verkehrte und schlechte Wege gekommen. Stätten schwarzmagischer Kräfte gingen von diesen Einflüssen aus und haben sich erhalten bis in unsere Zeit hinein.
Ahriman ist ein Geist der Lüge, der dem Menschen Illusionen vorzaubert, der mit seinen Genossen allerdings in einer geistigen Welt wirkt. Nicht er ist ein Trugbild, o nein! Aber das, was sich unter seinem Einflusse vor des Menschen geistiges Auge gaukelt, das ist ein Trugbild. Wenn des Menschen Wünsche, wenn des Menschen Leidenschaften schlimme Wege gehen und er sich gleichzeitig irgendwie an okkulte Kräfte hingibt, dann drängen sich die okkulten Kräfte, die dadurch herauskommen, in den Ätherleib hinein, und es erscheinen unter den Trugbildern, die manchmal ganz ehrwürdige Gestalten sein können, die verderblichsten, die schlimmsten Mächte. So furchtbar ist der Einfluß des Ahriman auf den Menschen.
Aus dem, was gesagt worden ist, können Sie entnehmen, daß sozusagen gerade durch die Erscheinung des Christus, wenn wir den Ausdruck gebrauchen wollen, Ahriman in Fesseln gelegt worden ist, allerdings nur für diejenigen, die immer mehr versuchen, das Christus-Mysterium zu durchdringen. Und immer weniger wird der Schutz in der Welt sein gegen den Einfluß Ahrimans außerhalb der Kräfte, die von dem Christus-Mysterium ausströmen. In gewisser Weise geht unsere Zeit - und viele Erscheinungen künden das - diesen Einflüssen Ahrimans entgegen. Gewisse Geheimlehren nennen die Scharen des Ahriman auch die Asuras. Es sind natürlich die schlechten Asuras, die aus der Entwicklungsbahn der Asuras, die dem Menschen die Persönlichkeit gegeben haben, in einer gewissen Zeit herausgefallen sind. Darauf ist ja schon hingedeutet, daß es sich um geistige Wesenheiten handelt, die vor der Sonnentrennung sich von der gesamten Entwicklung der Erde abgesondert haben.
Es ist jetzt nur zunächst geschildert worden der furchtbare Einfluß, den auf eine gewisse abnorme Entwicklung, die in okkulten Bahnen gehen kann, Ahriman haben kann. Aber in gewisser Beziehung hat sich ja die ganze Menschheit in der zweiten Hälfte der atlantischen Zeit sozusagen unter den Einfluß Ahrimans begeben. Die ganze nachatlantische Zeit hat in einer gewissen Weise die Nachwirkungen des Einflusses Ahrimans in sich, auf dem einen Gebiete der Erde mehr, auf dem anderen weniger. Aber der Einfluß Ahrimans hat sich überall geltend gemacht, und alles, was in den Lehren der alten Eingeweihten den Völkern gegeben wurde von den dem Ahriman entgegenstehenden Lichtgeistern, das ist im Grunde genommen nur gegeben worden, um allmählich sich dem Einflusse Ahrimans zu entziehen. Das war eine vorbereitende, gut geführte, weise Erziehung der Menschheit.
Vergessen wir aber nicht, daß im Grunde genommen das Schicksal Ahrimans seit jener Zeit mit dem Schicksal der Menschheit in einer gewissen Weise verflochten ist, und die mannigfaltigsten Ereignisse, von denen der Uneingeweihte nichts wissen kann, halten das ganze Karma der Menschheit mit dem Karma Ahrimans in einem fortdauernden Zusammenhang. Wenn wir das, was jetzt gesagt werden soll, verstehen wollen, so müssen wir uns klarmachen, daß es außer dem Karma, das jeder einzelne hat, ein allgemeines karmisches Gesetz gibt auf allen Stufen des Daseins. Alle Wesensarten haben ihr Karma, das Karma des einen Wesens ist so, das der anderen Wesen ist anders. Aber Karma geht durch alle Reiche des Daseins, und es gibt durchaus Dinge im Menschheitskarma, in dem Karma eines Volkes, einer Gesellschaft oder einer anderen Menschheitsgruppe, die wir als ein gemeinschaftliches Karma ansehen müssen, so daß unter Umständen der einzelne mitgerissen werden kann von dem Gesamtkarma. Und es wird für den, der nicht die Dinge durchschauen kann, nicht immer leicht einzusehen sein, wo eigentlich die Einflüsse der Mächte liegen für die Menschen, die von diesem Schicksal getroffen worden sind. Es kann durchaus der einzelne, der in einer Gesamtheit drinnensteht, vermöge seines Einzelkarma ganz unschuldig sein; aber dadurch, daß er in einem Gesamtkarma drinnensteht, kann ein Unglück über ihn hereinbrechen. Wenn er aber ganz unschuldig ist, so wird sich das in späteren Verkörperungen ausgleichen.
Im weiteren Zusammenhang dürfen wir nicht bloß auf das Karma der Vergangenheit sehen, sondern wir müssen auch an das Karma der Zukunft denken. Wir können durchaus sagen, daß es unter Umständen eine ganze Menschengruppe geben kann, und diese Gruppe verfällt einem furchtbaren Schicksal. Da ist nicht erfindlich, warum gerade diese Menschengruppe diesem Schicksal verfallen ist. Jemand, der das Karma des einzelnen Menschen untersuchen könnte, wird unter Umständen nichts finden können, was zu diesem traurigen Schicksal hätte führen können, denn die Zusammenhänge des Karma sind sehr verwickelt. Weit, weit weg vielleicht - aber doch mit ihnen verknüpft - steht das, was erfordert, daß solch ein Karma dieses oder jenes zutage bringt. Und dann kann es sein, daß die ganze Gruppe unschuldig von einem Gesamtkarma getroffen worden ist, während vielleicht die Zunächstschuldigen nicht getroffen werden konnten, weil die Möglichkeit dazu nicht vorhanden war. Dann kann man einzig und allein dieses sagen: In dem Gesamtkarma des einzelnen Menschen gleicht sich alles aus, auch wenn ihm unschuldig dieses ‚oder jenes zustößt; das schreibt sich ein in sein Karma, und es gleicht sich in völligster Weise in der Zukunft alles aus. Also wenn wir auf das Karmagesetz schen, müssen wir auch das Karma der Zukunft in Betracht ziehen. Aber wir müssen eben nicht vergessen, daß der Mensch nicht ein einzelnes, isoliertes Wesen ist, sondern wir haben darauf zu achten, daß jeder einzelne an dem gesamten Menschheitskarma mitzutragen hat. Wir dürfen auch nicht vergessen, daß der Mensch mit der Menschheit zugleich den Hierarchien der nicht in die physische Welt eingetretenen Wesenheiten angehört und daß er auch in das Karma dieser Hierarchien hineingezogen wird. Manches tritt an Menschheitsgeschicken in der physischen Welt auf, dessen Zusammenhang man zunächst nicht sucht bei den Dingen, mit denen das unmittelbar zusammenhängt; die karmischen Folgen treten aber unweigerlich ein. Ahrimans Karma ist verknüpft seit der zweiten Hälfte der atlantischen Zeit mit dem Menschheitskarma. Wo sind denn die Taten Ahrimans, außer dem, was Ahriman wirkt in den menschlichen Leibern, um dem Menschen Illusion und Phantome über die Sinneswelt beizubringen? Wo sind sie denn sonst?
Für alles in der Welt gibt es sozusagen zwei Seiten: eine Seite, die mehr dem Menschen als geistigem Wesen angehört, und andererseits das, was zu dem gehört, was sich als die Naturreiche um den Menschen herum herausgebildet hat. Des Menschen Schauplatz ist die Erde. Für den geistigen Blick stellt sich diese heraus als ein Zusammenhang von verschiedenen Schichten. Wir wissen, daß die äußerste Schicht unserer Erde genannt wird die mineralische Erde oder mineralische Schicht, da sie nur solche Stoffe enthält, wie wir sie unter unseren Füßen finden. Das ist die verhältnismäßig dünnste Schicht. Dann beginnt die weiche Erde. Diese Schicht hat ein ganz anderes materielles Gefüge als die über ihr befindliche mineralische Schicht. Diese zweite Schicht ist sozusagen mit einem inneren Leben begabt; und nur dadurch, daß die feste mineralische Schicht darübergebreitet ist, werden die inneren Kräfte dieser zweiten Schicht zusammengehalten. Denn in dem Augenblicke, wo man sie freilegen würde, würde sie sich zerstreuen in den ganzen Himmelsraum. Sie ist also eine Schicht, die unter einem ungeheuren Drucke liegt. Eine dritte Schicht ist die Dampfschicht. Aber sie ist nicht ein Dampf materieller Art, wie wir ihn auf der Oberfläche unserer Erde haben, sondern in dieser dritten Schicht ist die Substanz selbst mit inneren Kräften begabt, die wir nur vergleichen können mit den menschlichen Leidenschaften, mit den inneren Trieben des Menschen. Während auf der Erde nur Wesen, die so geformte Wesen sind wie Tiere und Menschen, Leidenschaften entwickeln können, ist diese dritte Schicht - aber doch ganz so, wie die Substanzen der Erde von magnetischen und Wärmekräften durchzogen sind — materiell durchzogen von Kräften, die dem gleich sind, was wir als menschliche und tierische Triebe und Leidenschaften kennen. Dann haben wir als vierte Schicht die Formenschicht, die so bezeichnet wird, weil sie das Material und die Kräfte enthält von dem, was uns in dem mineralischen Erdenteil als geformte Wesenheiten entgegentritt. Und die fünfte Schicht, die Fruchterde, hat die Eigentümlichkeit, daß sie als Material selbst von einer unendlichen Fruchtbarkeit ist. Wenn Sie einen Teil dieser Erdenschicht haben würden, so würde sie fortwährend aus sich heraus neue Triebe und Sprossen hervorsprießen lassen; strotzende Fruchtbarkeit ist das Element dieser Schicht. Nach dem kommen wir zu der sechsten Schicht, zu der Feuererde, welche Kräfte als Substanzen in sich enthält, die furchtbar verheerend und zerstörend werden können. Diese Kräfte sind es eigentlich, in welche die Urfeuer hineingebannt worden sind.
In dieser Schicht wirkt materiell im Grunde genommen das Reich des Ahriman und von dieser Schicht aus wirkt es. Was in den äußeren Naturerscheinungen zutage tritt in Luft und Wasser, in Wolkenbildungen, was als Blitz und Donner erscheint, das ist sozusagen ein letzter Rest - aber ein guter Rest - auf der Erdoberfläche von dem, was an Kräften schon mit dem alten Saturn verbunden war und das sich mit der Sonne abgetrennt hat. Von dem, was in diesen Kräften wirkt, sind die inneren Feuerkräfte der Erde in den Dienst des Ahriman gestellt. Da hat er das Zentrum seines Wirkens. Und während seine geistigen Wirkungen in der geschilderten Art zu den Menschenseelen hinziehen und sie zum Irrtum führen, sehen wir, wie er -in einer gewissen Weise gefesselt - im Inneren der Erde gewisse Angriffspunkte seines Wirkens hat. Wenn man die geheimnisvollen Zusammenhänge kennen würde von dem, was auf der Erde unter dem Einflusse Ahrimans geschehen ist, und dem, was dadurch das eigene Karma Ahrimans geworden ist, so würde man in dem Beben der Erde den Zusammenhang erkennen zwischen dem, was als Naturereignisse in so furchtbar trauriger, tragischer Art vor sich geht, und dem, was auf der Erde waltet. Das ist zurückgeblieben seit den alten Zeiten als etwas, was auf der Erde in Reaktion tritt gegen die lichten, die guten Wesenheiten.
So wirken über die Erde hin diese oder jene Kräfte, die mit jenen Wesen verbunden sind, die herausgestoßen worden sind aus dem Zusammenhange mit der Erde zu der Zeit, als die lichten, die guten Wesenheiten die heilsamen Erscheinungen um den Erdkreis herum geführt haben, und wir können in einer gewissen Weise den Nachklang dieser Feuerwirkungen, die dem Menschen früher entzogen worden sind, in dem erkennen, was das Feuer anrichtet in solchen furchtbaren Naturerscheinungen. Wir brauchen uns nicht zu sagen, daß etwa diejenigen, die von dem betroffen werden, was durch Ahrimans Karma hervorgerufen wird - das aber seit der atlantischen Zeit im Zusammenhange steht mit dem Menschheitskarma -, etwa daran irgendwelche Schuld haben. Das hängt zusammen mit dem gesamten Menschheitskarma, an dem auch der einzelne mitzutragen hat. Und ganz woanders liegen oftmals die Ursachen, die dann an bestimmten Stellen als die Wirkungen des Karma Ahrimans zum Austrag kommen, weil gerade diese Stellen die Gelegenheit dazu bieten.
Da sehen wir einen Zusammenhang, der allerdings uns wie ein stehengebliebener Rest sonstiger uralter Menschheitskatastrophen erscheint. In der lemurischen Zeit wurde den Menschen die Gewalt entzogen, auf das Feuer zu wirken. Vorher konnte der Mensch auf das Feuer wirken. Daher ist das alte Lemurien zugrunde gegangen durch die Feuerleidenschaften der Menschen. Da war dasselbe Feuer, das jetzt unten ist, oben. Damals ist das Feuer zurückgetreten von der Erdoberfläche; dasselbe Feuer, das wie ein Extrakt aus dem Urfeuer herausgekommen ist, ist das unorganische Feuer, das mineralische Feuer von heute. Ebenso ist es gegangen mit den Kräften, die durch Luft und Wasser gehen und die durch die Leidenschaften der Menschen die Katastrophen von Atlantis herbeigeführt haben. Es war ein Gesamt-Menschheitskarma, das diese atlantischen Katastrophen hervorgerufen hat. Aber es ist ein Rest davon geblieben, und dieser Rest ruft die Nachklänge dieser Katastrophen hervor. Unsere Vulkanausbrüche und unsere Erderschütterungen sind nichts anderes als die Nachklänge dieser Katastrophen. Nur müssen wir in Betracht ziehen, daß niemandem auch nur beifallen dürfte, daß den gerade von einer solchen Katastrophe Betroffenen auch nur irgendein Teil der Schuld beizumessen sei und daß deshalb nicht in vollstem Umfange Mitleid für die dadurch Betroffenen hervorgerufen werden sollte. Das muß sich der Anthroposoph klarmachen, daß das Karma dieser Menschen nichts zu tun hat mit dem, was er tun darf, und daß er etwa einem Menschen nicht helfen dürfte, weil er -trivial gesprochen -an das Karma glaubt, daß der Mensch dieses Schicksal selbst herbeigeführt habe. Das ist es gerade, wozu uns das Karma auffordert: daß wir den Menschen helfen, weil wir sicher sein können, daß unsere Hilfe dann für den Menschen etwas bedeutet, was in sein Karma eingeschrieben wird, und wodurch sein Karma in eine günstigere Richtung kommt. Gerade zum Mitleid muß uns das Durchschauen der Welt führen, das auf Karma begründet ist. So wird uns das Verständnis gegenüber den unglücklich Leidenden und von einer solchen Katastrophe Betroffenen gerade um so mitleidiger machen, denn es besagt, daß es ein Gesamt-Menschheitskarma ist, an dem die einzelnen Menschheitsglieder zu leiden haben, und daß ebenso, wie die ganze Menschheit solche Ereignisse herbeiführt, auch die ganze Menschheit dafür aufzukommen hat, daß wir ein solches Schicksal als unser eigenes anzusehen haben, daß wir nicht einmal helfen, weil wir es freiwillig tun, sondern weil wir wissen: Wir stehen im Menschheitskarma drinnen, und was da verschuldet worden ist, das ist mit von uns verschuldet.
Es ist mir heute morgen eine Frage zugekommen, die sich auf Erdbebenkatastrophen bezieht. Diese Frage lautet:
«Wie sind Erdbebenkatastrophen okkult zu erklären? Sind sie vorherzusehen? Wenn die Katastrophen im einzelnen vorauszusehen wären, warum wäre es dann nicht möglich, vorher in unauffälliger Weise eine Warnung zu geben? Eine solche Warnung würde vielleicht das erstemal nicht gleich etwas nützen, gewiß aber später.»
Unsere älteren Mitglieder werden sich erinnern, was am Schlusse des Vortrages über «Das Innere der Erde» zuweilen gesagt worden ist, was gesagt worden ist über die Möglichkeit auf der Erde sich ereignender Erdbeben. Aber das soll jetzt nicht berücksichtigt werden, sondern es soll auf diese Frage in direkter Weise eingegangen werden. Die Frage besteht im Grunde genommen aus zwei Teilen. Der erste Teil ist der: Ob in einer gewissen Weise aus dem okkulten Zusammenhang, der überschaut werden kann, Erdbeben vorausgesehen werden können? Diese Frage muß dadurch beantwortet werden, daß gesagt wird, daß die Erkenntnis solcher Dinge zu den tiefsten Erkenntnissen des okkulten Wissens überhaupt gehört. Für ein einzelnes auf der Erde eingetretenes Ereignis, das im wesentlichen aus einem so tiefen Grunde heraus eintritt, wie es heute geschildert worden ist, das zusammenhängt mit weit über die Erde sich hinziehenden Ursachen, für ein solches Ereignis ist es im Grunde durchaus richtig, daß auch für solche einzelnen Dinge eine Zeitangabe gemacht werden kann. Der Okkultist hätte durchaus die Möglichkeit, eine solche Zeitangabe zu machen. Nun aber ist die andere Frage diese: Ob solche Angaben gemacht werden können, gemacht werden dürfen? Da wird es in der Tat für den, der den okkulten Geheimnissen äußerlich gegenübersteht, fast selbstverständlich klingen, daß das in einer gewissen Beziehung mit Ja beantwortet werden könnte. Und dennoch, die Sache liegt so, daß in bezug auf solche Ereignisse eigentlich im Grunde genommen nur zwei- bis dreimal in jedem Jahrhundert - im Höchstfalle zwei- bis dreimal - aus den Einweihungsstätten heraus etwas vorhergesagt werden kann. Denn Sie müssen bedenken, daß diese Dinge eben mit dem Menschheitskarma zusammenhängen und daß diese Dinge, wenn sie zum Beispiel auch im einzelnen vermieden würden, dann an einer anderen Stelle in einer anderen Erscheinung hervortreten müßten. Durch das Vorhersagen würde sich an der Tatsache nichts ändern. Und bedenken Sie, in welch furchtbarer Weise in das Karma der ganzen Erde eingegriffen würde, wenn menschliche Maßnahmen getroffen würden gegenüber solchen Ereignissen! In einer furchtbaren Weise würde die Reaktion eintreten, und zwar würde sie so stark eintreten, daß nur in seltenen Ausnahmefällen einer, der ein tiefer Eingeweihter wäre, für sich selbst oder für die, die ihm am nächsten stehen, wenn er eine Erdbebenkatastrophe voraussehen würde, von seinem Wissen einen Gebrauch machen könnte. Wissend würde er untergehen müssen, ganz selbstverständlich. Denn diese Dinge, die durch die Jahrtausende und Jahrmillionen im Menschheitskarma liegen, lassen sich nicht durch Maßnahmen, die innerhalb einer kurzen Menschheitsperiode fallen, paralysieren. Aber es kommt noch etwas anderes hinzu.
Es ist gesagt worden, daß zu den schwierigsten okkulten Untersuchungen gerade dieses Kapitel gehört. Als ich den Vortrag gehalten habe über das «Erdinnere», habe ich schon gesagt, daß es ungeheuer schwierig ist, über das Erdinnere etwas zu wissen, daß es viel leichter ist, über den astralischen Raum, über den devachanischen Raum, selbst über die fernsten Planeten etwas zu wissen als über das Erdinnere, Die meisten Dinge, die über das Erdeninnere zu hören sind, sind eben der reinste Humbug, weil das gerade zu den schwierigsten Dingen des Okkultismus gehört. In dieses Gebiet hinein gehören auch die Dinge, die mit diesen Elementarkatastrophen zusammenhängen. Und vor allen Dingen müssen Sie sich vor Augen halten, daß Hellsehen nicht etwas ist, wo sich irgendeiner hinsetzt und in einen besonderen Zustand kommt und dann sagen kann, was in der ganzen Welt bis in die höchsten Welten hinauf vorgeht. So liegen die Sachen nicht. Wer das glauben würde, der würde ebensosehr gescheit denken wie derjenige, der da sagen würde: Du hast doch die Fähigkeit, in der physischen Welt wahrzunehmen; es ist dir aber doch gar nicht aufgefallen, und du hast das gar nicht gesehen, als die Uhr zwölf war und du hier in dem Zimmer saßest, was um zwölf Uhr draußen an der Spree sich zugetragen hat? - Es gibt doch Hindernisse des Sehens. Wenn der Betreffende um zwölf Uhr draußen gerade spazieren gegangen wäre, dann hätte er vielleicht wohl das betreffende Ereignis wahrgenommen. Es ist nicht so, daß bloß durch den Entschluß, sich in den nötigen Zustand zu versetzen, nun auch alle Welten gleich offenliegen. Auch da muß der Betreffende erst zu den Dingen hingehen und die Dinge untersuchen, und diese Untersuchungen, um die es sich da handelt, gehören zu den schwierigsten Dingen, weil da die größten Hindernisse entgegenstehen. Und hier darf vielleicht gerade über diese Hindernisse gesprochen werden.
Sie können einem Menschen, der die Fähigkeit hat, physisch zu gehen mit seinen beiden Beinen, diese Fähigkeit nicht bloß dadurch nehmen, daß Sie ihm die Beine abschneiden, sondern auch dadurch, daß Sie ihn einsperren; dann kann er nicht herumgehen. Ebenso gibt es auch Hindernisse für okkulte Untersuchungen, und auf dem Gebiete, wovon wir sprechen, gibt es in der Tat gewaltige Hindernisse. Und eines der Haupthindernisse möchte ich Ihnen jetzt anführen. Ich will Sie hinführen auf einen geheimnisvollen Zusammenhang. Das größte Hindernis, das für die okkulten Forschungen auf diesem Gebiete besteht, das ist die gegenwärtige Art und Weise, wie heute materialistisch äußere Wissenschaft getrieben wird. Alles wasan Unsummen von Illusionen, von Irrtümern heute in der materialistischen Wissenschaft aufgehäuft wird, all die unwürdigen Untersuchungen, die gemacht werden und die nicht nur zu nichts führen, sondern eigentlich nur aus der Eitelkeit der Menschen hervorgehen, das sind Dinge, die in ihren Wirkungen in den höheren Welten die Untersuchungen in diesen höheren Welten über solche Erscheinungen, den freien Ausblick geradezu unmöglich machen oder wenigstens sehr schwierig. Der freie Ausblick wird gerade dadurch getrübt, daß hier auf der Erde die materialistische Forschung vorgeht. Diese Dinge kann man gar nicht einmal so ohne weiteres überschauen. Ich möchte sagen: Lassen Sie erst einmal die Zeit kommen, in der die Geisteswissenschaft sich mehr ausbreiten wird und in der durch die Geisteswissenschaft und ihren Einfluß hinweggefegt wird der materialistische Aberglaube unserer Welt! Gerade das sinnlose Kombinieren und Hypothesen-Aufstellen, wobei man alles mögliche dann in das Innere der Erde hineinphantasiert - lassen Sie das alles hinweggefegt sein und Sie werden sehen: Wenn die Geisteswissenschaft sich erst einmal einfügen wird selber als ein Schicksal in das Menschheitskarma, wenn sie die Mittel und Wege finden wird, die Seelen zu ergreifen, und auf diesem Wege die gegnerischen Kräfte, den materialistischen Aberglauben wird besiegen können, wenn das, was mit dem ärgsten Feinde der Menschheit zusammenhängt, der den menschlichen Blick in die Sinneswelt hinein fesselt, weiter erforscht werden kann, dann werden Sie sehen, daß dann auch die Möglichkeit geboten werden wird, auch äußerlich auf das Menschheitskarma zu wirken, indem das Furchtbare solcher Ereignisse abgemildert wird. Suchen Sie in dem materialistischen Aberglauben der Menschen die Gründe, warum die Eingeweihten schweigen müssen über diejenigen Ereignisse, die mit dem großen Menschheitskarma zusammenhängen. Wir sehen einen wissenschaftlichen Betrieb, der vielfach nicht von dem faustischen Streben nach der Wahrheit beherrscht wird, sondern im umfänglichsten Maße mit Eitelkeit und Ehrsucht zusammenhängt. Wie vieles wird an wissenschaftlichen Forschungen dadurch in die Welt gesetzt, weil der einzelne nur etwas sucht für seine eigene Person. Wenn Sie das alles summieren, dann werden Sie sehen, wie stark die Kraft ist, die sich ausbreitet gegen den Ausblick in diejenige Welt, die sich hinter den äußeren sinnlichen Erscheinungen verbirgt. Wenn die Menschheit erst diesen Nebel wegschafft, dann wird die Zeit gekommen sein, in welcher in bezug auf gewisse geheimnisvolle Naturerscheinungen, die von den Feinden der Menschheit ausgehen und tief eingreifen in das menschliche Leben, der Menschheit in einem gewissen Grade umfänglich wird geholfen werden können. Bis dahin ist diese Möglichkeit nicht vorhanden.
Das sind allerdings, wie ich sehr wohl weiß, Richtungen, die diesen Fragen gegeben werden, die nicht gerade immer in der Richtung des Fragestellenden liegen. Aber die Geheimlehre hat da nun einmal das Schicksal, daß sie in manchem erst die Frage auf die richtige Bahn bringen muß, damit die Frage erst richtig gestellt werde, ehe sie richtig beantwortet werden kann. Aber nehmen Sie das auch wiederum nicht so, wie wenn der geheimnisvolle Zusammenhang zwischen den Erdkatastrophen und dem Menschheitskarma nicht in die Geheimnisse hineinfiele, die erforschbar sind. Er fällt hinein und er ist erforschbar. Aber es sind eben Gründe da, daß heute von diesen tiefsten Geheimnissen nur das Allerallgemeinste in die Welt dringen kann. Lassen Sie erst durch die Geisteswissenschaft eine Erkenntnis in die Menschheit kommen davon, daß es möglich ist, daß ihre eigenen Taten zusammenhängen mit den Naturereignissen, dann wird auch die Zeit kommen, in welcher der Menschheit gerade aus dieser Erkenntnis heraus das Verständnis erwächst, daß diese Dinge in einer Frage beantwortet werden können, wie es verlangt wird. Diese Zeit wird kommen. Denn die Geheimwissenschaft kann mancherlei Schicksale durchmachen. Es kann sogar so sein, daß ihr Einfluß lahmgelegt wird, daß ihr Einfluß nur auf einen engsten Kreis beschränkt bleibt. Aber sie wird ihren Weg machen durch die Menschheit, sie wird sich einleben in das Menschheitskarma, und dann wird auch die Möglichkeit geschaffen sein, daß durch die Menschheit selbst auf das Menschheitskarma eingewirkt werden kann.
Twelfth Lecture
Today we want to discuss something from a deeply occult realm, and our topic for today, strange as it may sound at first, will be “Mephistopheles and the Earthquakes of the Earth.” We will see that we are not merely shining a light into a deeply occult realm with the Mephistopheles problem, but also with the question of earthquakes, when it is discussed from a spiritual point of view. I have already spoken in various places, including here, about the interior of the Earth and thus also touched upon the question of earthquakes. Today we want to look at the matter from a different angle, and a connection will then emerge between what we have to say today, which is to culminate in the lecture, and what has already been said in earlier lectures about the inner earth in relation to these extraordinarily tragic events on the surface of our earth.
You are all familiar with the figure of Mephistopheles, from whom we wish to start today, from Goethe's Faust. You know that the figure of Mephistopheles is a being. We do not wish to go into today the extent to which the poetic garb corresponds to occult facts. You know that this figure appears in Goethe's Faust as the seducer and tempter of Faust, who in a certain sense can be understood as the archetype of the human being striving for the heights of life. I have also pointed out in lectures on Goethe what spiritual perspective is opened up by the scene of the “walk to the mothers,” , where Mephistopheles holds the key to a realm of dark depths in which the “mothers” sit. Mephistopheles himself cannot enter this realm. He merely points out that it is a realm where below is the same as above: “Sink then! I could also say: ascend!” Both would mean the same thing for this mysterious realm. We also know that Mephistopheles describes this realm as such, using the word “nothing.” In a certain sense, he represents the spirit that sees in nothingness something worthless in this realm. Faust responds to this as the spiritually seeking person might respond to the materialistic thinker today: “In your nothingness, I hope to find the universe!”
Goethe scholars—yes, there are such people—have made the most diverse efforts to unravel this figure. In other lectures, I have already pointed out that, basically, the meaning of the name “Mephistopheles” is to be found in Hebrew, where mephiz means the hindrance, the corrupter, and tophel means the liar, so that we must understand the name as referring to a being composed of a bringer of corruption, of obstacles for man, and on the other hand of a spirit of untruth, deception, and illusion.
Anyone who thinks about the introduction to Goethe's Faust, the prologue in heaven, will notice how a word resonates there that has been around for thousands of years, so to speak. Goethe let the words between God and Job from the Book of Job resonate at the beginning of his Faust. You only need to read the Book of Job to see how Job lives as a righteous, good, and pious man, how the sons of the God of light appear before God, and among them a certain enemy of light, and how a conversation ensues between the enemy of light and the supreme God, which goes like this that this enemy of the light says he has wandered through the lands and sought various things, tried various things. Then God asks him, “Do you know my servant Job?” And then the enemy of the light—let us call him that for the time being—says to God that he knows him and that he would be well able to lead him astray from the path of goodness and to destroy him. And you know how this spirit has to try twice to get to Job, how he then gets to him by corrupting his outer physical body. He expressly indicates this by saying to God: He will not fall away if you touch his possessions, but if you touch his flesh and his bones, he will fall away! Who would not want to hear echoes of this in the words of Faust, where God calls out to Mephistopheles in the prologue in heaven: “Do you know Faust? ... My servant!” - And then one hears the spirit's reply, which, according to the Book of Job, confronted God when he said to Mephistopheles that he could ‘gently lead’ Faust, that he could turn him away from the paths that lead into the world, which are called good. So here we hear the sounds of millennia literally striking together in harmony.
Perhaps you have often asked yourself, when the figure of Mephistopheles has approached you, the question: Who is this Mephistopheles? And here serious mistakes are made, which can only be corrected by a deeper occult insight. The name itself suggests that Mephistopheles can be associated with the devil or with the idea of the devil, for the word “tophel” is the same as “the devil.” But the other question is this, and here we enter a realm of serious errors that are often made in the interpretation of the figure of Mephistopheles: Can Mephistopheles be equated with the spirit we call Lucifer, whom we have often spoken of in the history of human evolution, who approached humanity in the Lemurian era and afterwards with his hosts and in a certain way intervened in human development? In Europe, people are easily inclined to confuse the figure of Mephistopheles as he appears in Goethe's Faust, but also as he has appeared in all the various products of folk literature that preceded Goethe's Faust, in folk plays, puppet shows, and so on, with Lucifer. We encounter the figure of Mephistopheles everywhere, and the question is this: Are the figure and the companions of Mephistopheles the same as the figure and companions we know as Lucifer? In other words, is what approaches human beings through Mephistophelean influence the same as what approached human beings through Luciferian influence? We must ask ourselves this question today.
We know when Lucifer approached human beings. We have followed the development of human beings on Earth through the period in which the Sun separated itself from the Earth with its beings, and in which the Moon then separated itself from the Earth with those forces that would have made it impossible for human beings to progress. And we have seen that at a time when human beings were not yet ready to allow their astral bodies to become independent, Lucifer approached them with his hosts, and thus a twofold influence came upon them. It was toward the end of the Lemurian epoch that human beings were actually exposed in their astral bodies to the influences coming from Lucifer. If Lucifer had not approached human beings, they would have been spared certain damages, but they would also not have attained what we must count among the highest goods of humanity.
We can now understand the significance of Lucifer's influence when we ask ourselves what would have happened if there had been no Luciferic influence since the Lemurian epoch, if human beings had developed in such a way that Lucifer and the beings belonging to him had remained distant from them. Then human beings would have developed in such a way that, until the middle of the Atlantean epoch, they would have remained beings who, in all the impulses of the astral body, in all the motives of the astral body, would have followed the influences of certain spiritual beings standing above them, who through their influence would have guided human beings until the middle of the Atlantean epoch. Only much, much later would human beings have directed their powers of perception and cognition toward the sensory world, so that in the Lemurian and early Atlantean periods, no passions or desires would have arisen from sensory perceptions, and human beings would have stood, as it were, innocently before the sensory world and, in everything they did, would have followed the impulses implanted in them by higher spiritual beings. It would not have been an instinct like the instinct of today's higher animals, under which humans would have undertaken everything, but a spiritualized instinct. Every action they would have taken on earth would not have been prompted by mere sensory impulses, but by something spiritually instinctive. But under the influence of Lucifer, man came to say: This gives me pleasure, this attracts me, this repels me! He came to follow his own impulses earlier than usual, to become an independent being, to develop a certain freedom within himself. This led to a certain detachment from the spiritual world for humans. To put it clearly, one could say that without this influence of Lucifer, humans would have remained spiritualized animals, animals that would have gradually developed in form, even in a more noble and beautiful form than humans developed under the influence of Lucifer. Human beings would have remained much more angelic if this influence of Lucifer had not occurred during the Lemurian epoch. But on the other hand, they would have been led by higher beings as if on a leash. In the middle of the Atlantean epoch, something would have come upon man as if with a blow: his eyes would have been fully opened, and he would have seen around him the tapestry of the entire physical-sensory world; but he would have seen it in such a way that behind every physical thing he would have immediately perceived a divine-spiritual element, a world of divine-spiritual foundations. So while man, looking back until then into his dependence on the divine womb from which he had emerged, would have seen the light-deities shining into his soul, guiding and leading him, there would then have come into being for man—and this is not merely a picture, but corresponds in a higher degree to reality—that the full, clearly recognizable sensory world would have been spread out before him. But this sensory world would have appeared as something transparent, behind which the other divine-spiritual beings would have appeared, taking the place of what man had lost behind him. A spiritual world would have closed behind him, and a new spiritual world would have opened up before him. Man would have remained a child in the hands of higher, spiritual-divine beings. Independence would not have sunk into the human soul.
This is not how it happened, however. Instead, Lucifer first approached man and, so to speak, made part of the spiritual world behind man invisible to him. For when the human being's own passions, instincts, and desires arose in the human astral body, they darkened the spiritual beings standing behind the human being, beings that had otherwise always remained visible, beings from the world from which the human being was born. That is why, in those great oracle sites I spoke of last time, the ancient Atlantean initiates had prepared themselves precisely to see that part of the spiritual world that had been obscured by Lucifer's influence. All the preparations of the guardians and disciples of the ancient oracles of the Atlantean mysteries were aimed at seeing into this light-filled spiritual world, which had been hidden from human beings by Lucifer's influence on the human astral body. And then they appeared, those figures that humans observe in the various states of the soul that run parallel to initiation, which play into our world from a world of light and then clothe themselves in the garments that the astral world can give them. There, in the ancient oracles, the Atlantean initiate saw in spirit those figures who were rightly higher spiritual beings, who had not descended to the physical world and who therefore, when man prematurely entered the physical world, remained invisible to the ordinary eye. But it could not be otherwise than that Lucifer himself, being, so to speak, an opponent of these worlds of light, also became visible to the initiates. The hosts of Lucifer were generally visible to the Atlantean people, who, in their dim clairvoyant consciousness—in states of sleep and in the intermediate states between sleep and waking—were able to live their way into the higher spiritual world. When part of the world of light became accessible to these people, part of the world opposed to the world of light also became visible; not Lucifer himself, but Lucifer's companions became visible. And as enchanting and magnificent as the noble figures of the world of light appeared in their astral colors, so terrible and appalling were the figures belonging to the opposite, seductive world.
So we can say that within human development there was this influence of Lucifer, to whom man owes the possibility of error and evil, but to whom he also owes his freedom. If this Luciferic influence had not come, what I have just discussed would have occurred in the middle of the Atlantean epoch: The carpet of the sensory world would have spread out before human beings, minerals, the plant world, and the animal world would have become sensually visible; the world of natural phenomena, lightning and thunder, clouds and air, the phenomena of the heavens would have become completely visible to the outer eye. But behind them would have stood unmistakably the divine-spiritual beings who were to penetrate into human beings. Because Lucifer's influence had previously been at work, because human beings had previously absorbed this influence in their astral bodies, they had, from the Lemurian epoch into the Atlantean epoch, prepared their physical bodies, which at that time were still capable of transformation, so that these physical bodies could now become the immediate instrument for the carpet of the sensory-physical world, which should have spread out in such a way that the spiritual world would have become visible behind it. And so human beings could not immediately see the physical-sensory world in the form in which it would have appeared to them at the same time as a spiritual world. Then the world of the three natural kingdoms that stood beneath man came to him. The physical world came to him as something that, like a veil, like a thick blanket, covered the spiritual world under certain circumstances. Thus, man could not see through to the spiritual world; in fact, he still cannot do so today.
But because man had undergone this development, another influence was able to assert itself in the middle of the Atlantean epoch, an influence from a completely different source. And we must not confuse this influence, which now asserted itself, with the influence of Lucifer and his companions. Even though Lucifer first made human beings capable of succumbing to this other influence, even though Lucifer first caused the physical body to become denser than it would otherwise have been, another influence had to come upon human beings in order to lead them completely into the physical-sensory world, to close off the world of spiritual beings completely from human beings, completely shut it off, so that man was led to the illusion: There is no other world than the world of physical-sensory existence that spreads out before me! Since the middle of the Atlantean epoch, a completely different adversary has approached human beings than Lucifer, the adversary who, so to speak, clouds and obscures human perception and cognition to such an extent that human beings do not make the effort or develop the instincts to penetrate the secrets of the sensory world. If you imagine that under Lucifer's influence the sensory world had become like a veil, so that one would then have had the spiritual world behind it, then through the influence of this second being the physical world has become a thick crust that closes itself off from the spiritual world, so that again only the Atlantean initiates, through their preparations, were able to penetrate this covering of the physical-sensory world.
The powers that attacked human beings in order to obscure their view of the other side of divine existence first appear to us in the great teachings that the significant leader of the ancient Persian people gave to his followers and professed believers, in Zarathustra. It was Zarathustra who had the mission of giving culture to a people who, unlike the ancient Indian people, did not have a natural longing for the spiritual world. Zarathustra's mission was to give culture to a people whose gaze was directed toward the sensory world, to the conquest of the physical-sensory world with the cultural means that can only be produced through the efforts of the outer, sensory-physical human being. Therefore, within the ancient Persian culture, it was not so much the Luciferic influence that approached human beings as the influence of that figure who, since the middle of the Atlantean epoch, has approached human beings and caused that at that time a large part of the initiated fell into black magic because they were led by the temptations of this tempter to misuse what had become accessible to them from the spiritual world in the service of the physical-sensory world. That powerful influence of black magical forces, which led to the ultimate downfall of Atlantis, has its origin in the temptations of that figure whom Zarathustra had to teach his people as the figure who opposes the bright God of light as Ahriman, Angra Mainyu, in contrast to the God of light whom Zarathustra proclaimed as the Great Aura, as Ahura Mazdao.
We must distinguish between these two figures, Lucifer and Ahriman. For Lucifer is a being who branched off from the host of spiritual-heavenly beings after the separation of the sun, while Ahriman is a figure who detached himself before the separation of the sun and unites completely different powers within himself. Through Lucifer's influence on human beings during the Lemurian epoch, nothing was corrupted except the influence that human beings still had in the Atlantean epoch, when they were able to influence the forces of air and water. You know from my book “The Akashic Record” that humans in the Atlantean era still had access to the seed forces that are in plant and animal natures and could extract them in the same way that humans today extract the forces from coal that they use as steam power to drive their machines. And I have told you that when these forces are extracted, they stand in a mysterious connection with the forces of nature in wind and weather and so on; and when human beings use them for purposes contrary to the divine intentions, these forces of nature are drawn up against human beings.
This led to the Atlantean flood and those devastating forces of nature that then caused the downfall of the entire Atlantean continent. But even before that, humans no longer had control over the forces of fire and the connection of these forces with certain secret forces of the earth. Fire and earth, in a certain interaction, had already been taken away from humans earlier. Now, however, through the influence of Ahriman and his companions, humans once again gained power over the forces of fire and earth, but now in a destructive way. And much of what you hear about the use of fire in ancient Persia is connected with what I am now telling you: certain forces that are driven as black magic and are connected with it and lead to human beings seizing control of completely different forces and gaining influence over fire and earth can have powerful, devastating effects. Black magic could have been practiced by the descendants of the Atlanteans themselves in ancient Persia, had it not been for the teachings of Zarathustra, which pointed out how Ahriman, as an enemy power, works on human beings in such a way that he entangles them and darkens their view of what is to emerge as real spiritual power behind the sensory world. Thus we see that a large part of post-Atlantean culture — originating with Zarathustra and his followers — was influenced by the fact that people were made aware of the effect of the noble God of Light, to whom human beings can turn, on the one hand, and the destructive power of Ahriman and his companions on the other.
This Ahriman influences human beings in the most diverse ways. I have been able to point out to you that it was a great moment in the development of the world when the event of Golgotha took place. Then Christ appeared in the world that human beings enter after death. In this world, the influence of Ahriman was even stronger than it was in the world we see here on earth between birth and death. It was precisely in the world between death and rebirth that the influences of Ahriman worked with terrible force and power upon human beings. And if nothing else had happened, human beings would have gradually been darkened in the shadow realm between death and rebirth, as the ancient Greeks rightly perceived. An infinite loneliness and reduction to human egoism would have occurred in the life between death and new birth. And when reincarnated, human beings would have been born into life in such a way that they would have become blatant, terrible egoists. It is therefore more than just a figure of speech that after the event of Golgotha, at the moment when the blood flowed from the wounds on Golgotha, Christ appeared in the world beyond, in the shadow realm, and bound Ahriman. Even though Ahriman's influence remained, and even though all materialistic thinking can ultimately be traced back to him, even though this influence can only be paralyzed by people taking the event of Golgotha into themselves, this event has nevertheless become the source from which people draw strength to reenter the spiritual-divine world.
Thus, Ahriman first arose before the eyes of human knowledge. He became something that was sensed, something that was known through the influence of the Zarathustra culture; and from there, knowledge of Ahriman spread to other peoples and their cultural concepts. Ahriman appears with his hosts under the most varied names among the different cultural peoples. And because of the unique circumstances of the souls of the European peoples, who had lagged furthest behind on the journey from West to East, who had remained most untouched by what had happened in ancient India, ancient Persia, Egypt, and even in the Greek-Latin period, among these peoples of Europe, among whom the fifth cultural period was to revive, there were states of soul in which the figure of Ahriman appeared particularly terrifying. And while he took on various names—among the Hebrew people he was called Mephistopheles—in the European world he became the figure of the devil in his various forms.
Thus we see how we are looking into a deep connection between the spiritual worlds, and sometimes, when someone feels highly exalted above medieval superstition, one will probably also remember the saying of our Faust poet: “The little people never feel the devil, even when he has them by the throat!”
It is precisely because human beings close their spiritual eyes to this influence that they fall most easily under its sway. Goethe's Mephistopheles is nothing other than the figure of Ahriman, and we must not confuse him with the figure of Lucifer. All those errors that we sometimes encounter in explanations of Goethe's Faust are precisely due to this confusion, although of course Lucifer first made Ahriman's influence possible, and therefore, when we look at Ahriman, we are led back to a primordial influence of Lucifer, which could only come before our soul after we had made long preparations to recognize this more intimate connection.
This subtle difference must not be overlooked, for it is above all a matter of the fact that Lucifer has basically only brought human beings under the influence of those forces that are connected with the forces of wind and water. In contrast, it was Ahriman-Mephistopheles who brought human beings under forces that are much, much more terrible, and in the next cultures many things will occur that must be brought into connection with the influence of Ahriman. For the occult seeker who does not strive on a firm and secure foundation, the most terrible illusion, the most terrible deception, can very easily arise precisely through the Ahrimanic influence. For Ahriman is indeed a spirit who seeks to deceive about the true nature of the sensory world, namely, to deceive about the fact that it is an expression of the spiritual world. If a person has a predisposition to abnormal states, to somnambulism, or if they have awakened occult powers within themselves through a certain incorrect training, and if they have something within themselves that pushes them toward egoism, then Ahriman or Mephistopheles can easily influence the occult powers, an influence that can easily become powerful. While Lucifer's influence can only go so far as to cause what encounters human beings from the spiritual world — even those who have received incorrect training — to appear as astral forms, as forms that are visible to the astral body, the formations that can be traced back to Ahriman's influence by the fact that the evil influences exerted on the physical body penetrate the etheric body and then become visible as phantoms.
We are therefore dealing with much, much lower powers in the influence of Ahriman than in the influence of Lucifer. The influences of Lucifer can never become as bad as the influences of Ahriman and those beings connected with the forces of fire. The influence of Ahriman or Mephistopheles can lead a person, in order to gain occult knowledge, to perform certain acts with their physical body. The worst means that can be used to attain occult powers is that which consists in acts and in the misuse of the physical body. In certain schools of black magic, such acts are indeed taught to the fullest extent. It is one of the most terrible temptations of man when the starting point for occult training is taken from the physical powers of the body.
It is not possible to go into detail here, but only to point out that all machinations that in any way consist of an abuse of the physical body forces originate from influences that come from Ahriman, and because these forces penetrate the human etheric body, they act like a phantom, but like a phantom world that is nothing more than the garment of forces that pull human beings down below the level of humanity. Almost all ancient cultures, the Indian, Persian, Egyptian, and Greek-Latin cultures, went through a period of decadence in which they fell into decay, in which the mysteries also fell into decay, in which the pure traditions of the mysteries were no longer preserved. In those times, many of those who were either disciples of the initiates but could not maintain their level, or those to whom the secrets had been revealed unlawfully, now went astray and followed evil paths. Places of black magic emanated from these influences and have survived to our time.
Ahriman is a spirit of lies who conjures up illusions for human beings, but who works with his companions in a spiritual world. He is not a mirage, oh no! But what appears before the spiritual eye of human beings under his influence is a mirage. When human desires and passions take a wrong turn and people simultaneously give themselves over to occult forces, the occult forces that emerge from this push their way into the etheric body, and the most destructive and evil powers appear among the illusions, which can sometimes take on very venerable forms. So terrible is the influence of Ahriman on human beings.
From what has been said, you can see that, so to speak, it was precisely through the appearance of Christ, if we want to use that expression, that Ahriman was put in chains, but only for those who are increasingly trying to penetrate the Christ mystery. And there will be less and less protection in the world against the influence of Ahriman outside the forces that flow from the Christ mystery. In a certain sense, our time is moving toward these influences of Ahriman, and many phenomena indicate this. Certain secret teachings also call the hosts of Ahriman the Asuras. These are, of course, the evil Asuras who fell away at a certain point in the evolutionary path of the Asuras who gave human beings their personalities. It has already been pointed out that these are spiritual beings who separated themselves from the entire development of the earth before the separation of the sun.
So far, we have only described the terrible influence that Ahriman can have on a certain abnormal development that can take place in occult channels. But in a certain sense, the whole of humanity in the second half of the Atlantean epoch placed itself under the influence of Ahriman. The entire post-Atlantean epoch has, in a certain way, the after-effects of Ahriman's influence within it, more in some areas of the earth than in others. But Ahriman's influence has made itself felt everywhere, and everything that was given to the peoples in the teachings of the ancient initiates by the light spirits who opposed Ahriman was, in essence, given only to gradually withdraw them from Ahriman's influence. This was a preparatory, well-guided, wise education of humanity.
But let us not forget that, basically, Ahriman's destiny has been intertwined with the destiny of humanity in a certain way since that time, and the most diverse events, of which the uninitiated can know nothing, keep the whole karma of humanity in a continuous connection with the karma of Ahriman. If we want to understand what is now to be said, we must realize that, apart from the karma that each individual has, there is a general karmic law at all stages of existence. All types of beings have their karma; the karma of one being is one way, that of another being is different. But karma passes through all realms of existence, and there are definitely things in human karma, in the karma of a people, a society, or another human group, that we must regard as a collective karma, so that under certain circumstances the individual can be carried away by the overall karma. And for those who cannot see through things, it will not always be easy to understand where the influences of the powers actually lie for the people who have been struck by this fate. It is quite possible that the individual who is part of a whole may be completely innocent by virtue of his individual karma; but because he is part of a collective karma, misfortune may befall him. But if they are completely innocent, this will be compensated for in later incarnations.
In a broader context, we must not look only at the karma of the past, but we must also think of the karma of the future. We can certainly say that, under certain circumstances, there may be a whole group of people who fall victim to a terrible fate. It is impossible to determine why this particular group of people has fallen victim to this fate. Someone who could examine the karma of each individual might not be able to find anything that could have led to this sad fate, because the connections between karma are very complex. Far, far away, perhaps – but still connected to them – lies that which requires that such karma bring this or that to light. And then it may be that the whole group has been innocently struck by a collective karma, while perhaps those who were initially guilty could not be struck because the opportunity did not exist. Then one can only say this: in the overall karma of the individual human being, everything balances out, even if this or that happens to him innocently; it is written into his karma, and everything balances out completely in the future. So when we look at the law of karma, we must also take into account the karma of the future. But we must not forget that human beings are not isolated individuals; we must bear in mind that each individual has a share in the karma of the whole of humanity. Nor must we forget that human beings, together with humanity, belong to the hierarchies of beings that have not entered the physical world, and that they are also drawn into the karma of these hierarchies. Many things occur in the physical world that are not immediately apparent as being connected with the things that are directly related to them; but the karmic consequences inevitably follow. Since the second half of the Atlantean epoch, Ahriman's karma has been linked to the karma of humanity. Where are Ahriman's deeds, apart from what Ahriman does in human bodies to teach people illusions and phantoms about the sensory world? Where else are they?
There are, so to speak, two sides to everything in the world: one side that belongs more to human beings as spiritual beings, and the other side that belongs to what has developed around human beings as the natural kingdoms. The stage of human life is the earth. To the spiritual eye, this appears as a connection between different layers. We know that the outermost layer of our earth is called the mineral earth or mineral layer, because it contains only substances such as those we find under our feet. This is the relatively thinnest layer. Then begins the soft earth. This layer has a completely different material structure than the mineral layer above it. This second layer is, so to speak, endowed with an inner life; and it is only because the solid mineral layer is spread over it that the inner forces of this second layer are held together. For the moment it were exposed, it would scatter throughout the whole space of the heavens. It is therefore a layer that is under tremendous pressure. A third layer is the vapor layer. But it is not vapor of a material nature, as we have it on the surface of our Earth, but in this third layer the substance itself is endowed with inner forces that we can only compare with human passions, with the inner drives of human beings. While on Earth only beings that are formed like animals and humans can develop passions, this third layer—just as the substances of the Earth are permeated by magnetic and thermal forces—is materially permeated by forces that are the same as what we know as human and animal instincts and passions. Then we have the fourth layer, the form layer, so called because it contains the material and forces of what we encounter in the mineral part of the earth as formed beings. And the fifth layer, the fruit earth, has the peculiarity that it is itself a material of infinite fertility. If you had a piece of this layer of earth, it would continually sprout new shoots and sprouts from within itself; exuberant fertility is the element of this layer. After that we come to the sixth layer, the fire earth, which contains forces as substances that can become terribly devastating and destructive. It is actually these forces into which the primordial fires have been banished.
In this layer, the realm of Ahriman is essentially at work, and it is from this layer that it exerts its influence. What appears in the outer phenomena of nature, in air and water, in cloud formations, in lightning and thunder, is, so to speak, a last remnant—but a good remnant—on the surface of the earth of what was already connected with the old Saturn and separated itself from the sun. Of what is active in these forces, the inner fire forces of the earth are placed at the service of Ahriman. There he has the center of his activity. And while his spiritual activities draw toward human souls in the manner described and lead them into error, we see how he has certain points of attack for his activity within the earth, bound in a certain way. If we knew the mysterious connections between what has happened on earth under the influence of Ahriman and what has thereby become Ahriman's own karma, we would recognize in the tremors of the earth the connection between what is happening as natural events in such a terribly sad and tragic way and what is at work on earth. This has remained since ancient times as something that reacts on Earth against the light, the good beings.
Thus, these or those forces connected with those beings who were cast out of their connection with the Earth at the time when the light, the good beings, led the healing phenomena around the Earth, work upon the Earth, And we can recognize in a certain way the echo of these fiery effects, which were previously withdrawn from human beings, in what fire does in such terrible natural phenomena. We need not tell ourselves that those who are affected by what is brought about by Ahriman's karma — which, however, has been connected with the karma of humanity since the Atlantean epoch — are in any way to blame for this. This is connected with the entire karma of humanity, in which each individual also has a share. And the causes often lie elsewhere, which then come to fruition in certain places as the effects of Ahriman's karma, because these places offer the opportunity for this.
Here we see a connection that, however, appears to us as a remnant of other ancient human catastrophes. In the Lemurian era, humans were deprived of the power to influence fire. Before that, humans were able to influence fire. That is why ancient Lemuria was destroyed by the fiery passions of humans. The same fire that is now below was above. At that time, fire receded from the surface of the earth; the same fire that emerged as an extract from the primordial fire is the inorganic fire, the mineral fire of today. The same thing happened to the forces that pass through air and water and that brought about the catastrophes of Atlantis through the passions of human beings. It was the collective karma of humanity that caused these Atlantean catastrophes. But a remnant of this karma remains, and this remnant causes the echoes of these catastrophes. Our volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are nothing more than the echoes of these catastrophes. However, we must bear in mind that no one should applaud the idea that those affected by such a catastrophe are in any way to blame, and that therefore we should not feel complete sympathy for those affected. Anthroposophists must realize that the karma of these people has nothing to do with what they are allowed to do, and that they should not help someone because they believe – to put it trivially – that karma dictates that the person brought this fate upon themselves. This is precisely what karma calls us to do: to help people because we can be sure that our help will mean something to them, that it will be inscribed in their karma and thus move their karma in a more favorable direction. Seeing through the world in this way, based on karma, must lead us precisely to compassion. Thus, understanding those who are unhappy and suffering, and those affected by such a catastrophe, will make us all the more compassionate, because it means that it is the karma of humanity as a whole that the individual members of humanity have to suffer, and that just as the whole of humanity brings about such events, so too must the whole of humanity take responsibility for them. that we must regard such a fate as our own, that we do not even help because we do so voluntarily, but because we know that we are part of the karma of humanity, and what has been caused there is also our fault.
This morning I received a question relating to earthquake disasters. The question is:
“How can earthquake disasters be explained occultly? Can they be foreseen? If the disasters could be foreseen in detail, why would it not be possible to give a warning in an inconspicuous manner beforehand? Such a warning might not be of any use the first time, but it would certainly be useful later.”
Our older members will remember what was said at the end of the lecture on “The Interior of the Earth” about the possibility of earthquakes occurring on Earth. But that should not be taken into account now; instead, we will address this question directly. The question basically consists of two parts. The first part is this: Can earthquakes be foreseen in a certain way from the occult connection that can be observed? This question must be answered by saying that the knowledge of such things belongs to the deepest knowledge of occult science. For a single event that has occurred on Earth, which essentially arises from such a profound cause as has been described today, which is connected with causes extending far beyond the Earth, for such an event it is basically quite correct that a time can also be given for such individual events. The occultist would certainly have the possibility of giving such a time indication. But now the other question is this: Can such indications be given, may they be given? To someone who is unfamiliar with occult secrets, it will indeed sound almost self-evident that this question could be answered in the affirmative in a certain sense. And yet, the fact is that, with regard to such events, only two or three predictions can be made from the centers of initiation in each century—at most two or three. For you must remember that these things are connected with the karma of humanity, and that even if they were avoided in detail, they would have to emerge elsewhere in a different form. Predicting them would not change the facts. And consider how terribly the karma of the whole earth would be interfered with if human measures were taken against such events! The reaction would be terrible, so strong that only in rare cases would a deeply initiated person be able to use his knowledge for himself or those closest to him if he foresaw an earthquake disaster. Knowing this, he would have to perish, quite naturally. For these things, which lie in the karma of humanity through thousands and millions of years, cannot be paralyzed by measures taken within a short period of human existence. But there is something else to consider.
It has been said that this chapter belongs to the most difficult occult investigations. When I gave the lecture on the “inner earth,” I already said that it is extremely difficult to know anything about the earth's interior, that it is much easier to know something about the astral space, about the devachanic space, even about the most distant planets than about the earth's interior. Most of what is heard about the earth's interior is pure humbug, because this is one of the most difficult things in occultism. This area also includes things related to these elemental catastrophes. And above all, you must bear in mind that clairvoyance is not something where someone sits down and enters a special state and can then say what is happening throughout the world, right up to the highest worlds. That is not how things are. Anyone who believes that would be just as clever as someone who said: You have the ability to perceive the physical world, but you didn't notice it, and you didn't see what happened outside on the Spree at twelve o'clock when you were sitting here in this room. There are obstacles to seeing. If the person in question had been out walking at twelve o'clock, he might well have perceived the event in question. It is not the case that simply by deciding to put oneself in the necessary state, all worlds are immediately open. Even then, the person concerned must first go to the things and examine them, and these examinations are among the most difficult things to do because the greatest obstacles stand in the way. And here, perhaps, we can talk about these obstacles.
You cannot take away the ability of a person who is physically capable of walking on his own two legs simply by cutting off his legs; you can also take it away by locking him up, so that he cannot walk around. Similarly, there are obstacles to occult investigations, and in the field we are discussing, there are indeed enormous obstacles. And I would now like to mention one of the main obstacles to you. I want to lead you to a mysterious connection. The greatest obstacle to occult research in this field is the current way in which materialistic external science is conducted today. All the vast amounts of illusions and errors that have been accumulated in materialistic science today, all the unworthy investigations that are carried out and that not only lead to nothing but actually arise from human vanity, are things that, in their effects in the higher worlds, make investigations into such phenomena in these higher worlds, a free view, virtually impossible or at least very difficult. The free view is clouded precisely by the fact that materialistic research is carried out here on earth. These things cannot even be easily understood. I would like to say: Let the time come when spiritual science will spread more widely and when, through spiritual science and its influence, the materialistic superstition of our world will be swept away! Let all the senseless combining and hypothesizing, in which all kinds of things are imagined to be inside the earth, be swept away, and you will see: once spiritual science has become part of the karma of humanity, once it has found the means and ways to reach the souls and, in this way, to defeat the opposing forces, the materialistic superstition, when what is connected with the worst enemy of humanity, which binds the human gaze to the sensory world, can be further researched, then you will see that it will also be possible to influence the karma of humanity externally by mitigating the terrible nature of such events. Look in the materialistic superstition of people for the reasons why the Initiates must remain silent about those events that are connected with the great karma of humanity. We see a scientific enterprise that is often not dominated by the Faustian striving for truth, but is connected to the greatest extent with vanity and ambition. How much scientific research is brought into the world because individuals are only looking for something for themselves? If you add all this up, you will see how strong the force is that spreads against the view of the world that lies hidden behind the outer sensory phenomena. Once humanity has cleared away this fog, the time will come when, with regard to certain mysterious natural phenomena that originate from the enemies of humanity and deeply affect human life, humanity will be able to help itself to a certain extent. Until then, this possibility does not exist.
I am well aware that these are directions given to these questions that do not always correspond to the direction of the questioner. But the secret doctrine has the destiny of first having to put the question on the right track in many cases, so that the question can be asked correctly before it can be answered correctly. But do not take this to mean that the mysterious connection between earthly catastrophes and the karma of humanity does not fall within the realm of secrets that can be researched. It does fall within that realm, and it can be researched. But there are reasons why only the most general aspects of these deepest secrets can penetrate the world today. Let spiritual science first bring to humanity the realization that it is possible that their own deeds are connected with natural events, then the time will come when, precisely out of this realization, humanity will develop the understanding that these things can be answered in a way that is demanded. That time will come. For spiritual science can undergo many vicissitudes. It may even be that its influence will be paralyzed, that its influence will remain limited to a very small circle. But it will make its way through humanity, it will become established in the karma of humanity, and then the possibility will also be created for humanity itself to influence the karma of humanity.