The Gospel of St. John
in Relation to the Other Three Gospels
GA 112
30 Jun 1909, Kassel
7. The Baptism with Water and the Baptism with Fire and Spirit
Yesterday's discussion brought us to a comprehension of the real nature of the baptism by John, the Forerunner of Christ Jesus, so that it will now be comparatively easy to understand the difference between this baptism and what we may call the baptism by Christ; and precisely by striving to fathom this difference will the very essence of the Christ-Impulse and its influence in the world become clear and distinct in our minds.
We must first of all remind ourselves that the condition to which people were reduced by the baptism in the Jordan was, after all, an abnormal one as compared with the ordinary, every-day state of consciousness. We learned that the old initiation, for instance, was based upon the withdrawal, in a certain respect, of the etheric body, which normally is firmly joined to the physical body, and that this enabled the astral body to imprint its experiences into the etheric body. Such was the procedure in the old initiation, and an abnormal condition had to supervene in the baptism by John as well. The disciple was submerged in water, resulting in a certain separation of the etheric from the physical body; and thus he could attain to a survey of his life and become aware of the connection of this individual life with the regions of the divine-spiritual world. To make it a little clearer, we can say that when the submersion was successful it produced in the disciple the conviction: I have spirit within me; I am not just a being in this physical-material body; and this spirit within me is one with the spirit underlying all things.—And he knew in addition that the Spirit Whom he thus confronted was the same that Moses had perceived in the fire of the burning bush and in the lightning on Sinai as Jahve, as I am the I AM, as ehjeh asher ehjeh. All this was revealed to him through the baptism by John.
Now, in what way did this sort of consciousness differ from that of an initiate of olden times? The latter perceived, when in the abnormal state I described yesterday, those divine-spiritual beings that had already been connected with the earth before Zarathustra's Ahura Mazdao—the Jahve of Moses—had united with the earth. So what men perceived by means of the ancient wisdom was the old spiritual world out of which man was engendered, in which he still dwelt in the old Atlantean age, and for which the people of ancient India longed: the old Gods. Unknown, however, to the old initiate was the God Who had long remained remote from the earth in order ultimately to appear with deeper effect—He Who throughout long ages influenced the earth only from without and Who then approached it gradually, so that Moses was able to perceive the approach. Not until men were initiated in the Old Testament way did they discern aught of the unity of all that is divine.
Let us consider the frame of mind of an initiate who had not only experienced what the Persian or the later Egyptian Mysteries offered, but who in addition had passed through all that could result from Hebrew occult research. Let us suppose, for example, that such an initiate had also received initiation on Mount Sinai of old, possibly in an incarnation occurring during the ancient Hebrew evolution, or even earlier. There he had been guided to cognition of the old divine world out of which mankind had evolved. Equipped with this primordial wisdom and its capacity for observing the primordial divine world, he came to the Hebrew Mysteries. There he learned what could be put somewhat as follows: The Gods I learned to know in former times were connected with the earth before the Divinity Jahve-Christ came to unite with it; now I know that the first and foremost Spirit among them, the Leading Spirit, is He Who approached the earth only gradually.
Thus an initiate of this sort learned of the identity of his own spiritual world and the world in which the approaching Christ reigns. He did not need the immersion by John the Baptist, but through this act he learned to know the connection between his own individuality—what he was as a personality—and the great Father-Spirit of the world. Only few, to be sure, could achieve this result; indeed, most of them only needed to take the baptism as a symbol, as something that served, so to speak, under the powerful influence of John's teaching, to consolidate their faith in the existence of Jahve-God. But among them were some who in earlier incarnations had developed so far that they were now able to learn to a certain extent from personal observation.—For all that, however, it was an abnormal state to which the human being was reduced by John's baptism.
John baptized with water, with the result that the etheric body was disconnected for a short time from the physical body. But John the Baptist claimed to be the Forerunner of Him Who baptized with fire and with the Holy Spirit. The baptism with fire and with the Holy Spirit came to our earth through Christ. Now, what is the difference between John's baptism with water and Christ's baptism with fire and with the Holy Spirit? That can be understood only by one who has learned the nature of such understanding from its very roots, for even today we are still dependent upon first causes for a comprehension of the Christ. This comprehension will continue to increase, but as yet men can assimilate only just the beginnings.—I ask your patience in following me along this path, begining with the A B C.
First, we must recall that spiritual processes underlie really all physical processes—even those that pertain to the human being. For people of our day this is hard to believe, but in time the world will learn to recognize the fact; and only then will a full understanding of the Christ be reached. Today even those who like to talk about spirit do not seriously believe that everything taking place in man in a physical way is ultimately controlled by spirit. They disbelieve it unconsciously, if I may put it that way, even when they consider themselves idealists. There is a certain American, for example, who systematically assembles facts intended to prove that in abnormal states man attains the ability to ascend to a spiritual world, and thereby he endeavors to establish a certain basis for a variety of phenomena. This American, William James by name, goes to work most exhaustively; but even the best of men are powerless to oppose the influential spirit of the time. They claim not to be materialists, but they are. The philosophy of William James has influenced a number of European scholars; and for this reason we shall point out several grotesque statements of his that will confirm what has just been said. He maintains, among other things, that a man does not weep because he is sad, but is sad because he weeps. Well, hitherto people have always believed that one must first be sad; that is, that a psycho-spiritual process must occur which only then can penetrate the physical principle of the human body. When the tears flow there must be present a psychic process underlying the secretion of the tear fluid.
Even today, when everything of a spiritual nature lies as though buried under a covering of matter and awaits rediscovery by a spiritual conception of the world, there remain processes within us which are a heritage of primeval times when the spiritual workings were more powerful, and which can reveal most significantly the manner in which spirit acts. There are two phenomena to which I like to draw attention in this connection: the sensation of shame, and that of fear, or fright. Let it be said in advance that it would be easy to enumerate all the hypothetical attempts to explain these two kinds of experience; but they do not concern us here, and in connection with any objection of that sort it would be a grave mistake to imagine the spiritual scientist to be unacquainted with these hypotheses. Of the sensation of shame it can be said that when a person is ashamed it is as though he were trying to prevent his environment from seeing something that is taking place in him. Inherent in the sensation of shame is a feeling akin to a wish to conceal something. And what is the physical effect of this psychic experience? It causes him to blush: the blood rushes to his face. This means that under the influence of some psycho-spiritual event, such as a sensation of shame, a transformation, a change, results in the blood circulation. The blood is driven from within outward, toward the periphery. Its course is altered as the result of a psycho-spiritual event—this is a physical fact.
And when a person is frightened his impulse is to protect himself from something he considers threatening: he pales, the blood withdraws from the outer surface. Here again is an external process called forth by a psycho-spiritual one, by fear, fright. Recall here that the blood is the expression of the ego, then ask yourself, What would a man want to do when he sees some peril approaching? He would assemble his forces and consolidate them in the center of his being. The ego, with the intention of making a stand, draws the blood back into the center of its being.
There you have physical processes resulting from psycho-spiritual processes; and similarly, the flow of tears is a physical process brought about by soul and spirit. It is not a case of some mysterious physical influences joining forces and squeezing out the tears, and of the person then becoming sad when he feels the tears flow. That is an example of the way a materialistic view turns the simplest things upside-down. Were we to go into the matter of various ills—even physical ones—which can affect human beings and which are connected with psycho-spiritual processes, we could multiply such instances indefinitely. But what concerns us at the moment is to understand that physical processes are effects of psycho-spiritual processes; and that whenever this does not appear to be the case we must realize that we have simply not yet recognized the underlying psycho-spiritual principle. Present-day man is not at all inclined to recognize this principle offhand. The modern scientist can observe the development of the human being, beginning with the moment of conception, from the very first embryonic stages in the mother's womb, then outside the maternal body; he sees the outer physical form grow and expand. And on the basis of present-day research he concludes that the genesis of a human being starts with the development of the physical form as he sees it at conception: he is averse to considering the fact that spiritual processes underlie the physical ones. He does not believe that back of the physical human embryo there is something spiritual, that this unites with the physical and then develops what derives from a former incarnation.
One who lays store by theory but ignores practical life might here object: Well, it may be possible that some higher form of cognition can discern spirit underlying matter, but we human beings simply cannot recognize it.—That is one attitude. Others say: But we don't want to make the effort which we are told is necessary for attaining to a knowledge of the divine-spiritual! What difference does it make in the world whether we know that or not?—But it is a grave error, a dire superstition, to imagine that in practical life such knowledge is of no consequence. On the contrary, we shall proceed to show as clearly as possible how very much depends upon it.
Suppose we have a man who refuses to consider the idea that a psycho-spiritual principle underlies all that is physical in the human being, who fails to understand, for instance, that the enlargement of a physical liver is the expression of something spiritual. Another man—stimulated by spiritual science, if you like—readily accepts the possibility that by penetrating into the realm of spirit one may arrive first at an inkling, then at faith, and finally at cognition and vision of spirit. Thus we have two men, one of whom rejects spirit, being satisfied with sense observation, while the other follows what we may call the will to achieve cognition of spirit. The one who refuses spiritual enlightenment will grow ever weaker, for he will be letting his spirit starve, wilt, and perish for lack of adequate nourishment which such enlightenment alone can provide. His spirit will lose strength—it cannot gain it; and everything that functions apart from this spirit will gain the upper hand and overpower him. He will become feeble in meeting all that takes place without his agency in his physical and etheric bodies. But the other, he who has the will to cognition, furnishes nourishment for his spirit which consequently gains strength and mastery over all that occurs independently in his etheric and physical bodies.—That is the most important point, and one which we shall presently be able to apply to a prominent case of our own day.
We know that upon entering the world the human being springs from two sources. His physical body is inherited from his ancestors, from his father and mother and their forbears. He inherits certain traits, good or bad, that are simply inherent in the blood, in the line of descent. But in every case of this sort the forces a child brings along from his previous incarnation unite with these inherited qualities. Now, you know that today a great deal is talked about “hereditary tendencies” whenever some disease or other makes its appearance. How this term is abused nowadays—though it is quite justified within a narrow scope! Whenever anything crops up that can be proved to have been an attribute of some ancestor, hereditary tendencies are invoked; and because people know nothing of active spiritual forces derived from the previous incarnation they endow these inherited tendencies with overwhelming power. If they knew that a spiritual factor accompanied us from our previous incarnation they would say, Well and good: we believe absolutely in hereditary tendencies, but we know as well what stems from the previous incarnation in the way of inner, central soul forces, and that if sufficiently strengthened and invigorated these will gain the upper hand over matter—that is, over hereditary tendencies.—And such a man, capable of rising to the cognition of spirit, would continue: No matter how powerfully the inherited tendencies affect me, I shall provide nourishment for the spirit in me; for in this way I shall master them.—But anyone who does not work upon his spiritual nature, upon that which is not inherited, will positively fall a prey to inherited tendencies as a result of such lack of faith; and in this way materialistic superstition will actually bring about a steady increase in their power over us. We shall be engulfed in the quagmire of hereditary tendencies unless we fortify our spirit and, by means of a strong spirit, vanquish each time anew whatever is inherited.
In our time, when the consequences of materialism are so formidable, you must naturally still guard against overestimating the power of spirit. It would be a mistake to object, If that were the case, all anthroposophists would be bursting with health, for they believe in the spirit. Man's position on the earth is not only that of an individual being: he is a part of the whole world; and spirit, like all else, must grow in strength. But once spirit has become debilitated, as at present, it will not at once affect even the most anthroposophical of men—no matter how much nourishment he furnishes the spirit—to such an extent that he can overcome what springs from material sources; yet all the more surely will this tell in his next incarnation, as expressed in his health and strength. Men will grow weaker and weaker unless they believe in the spirit, for otherwise they deliver themselves over to their inherited tendencies. They themselves have effected this weakening of their spirit, because everything here concerned depends upon their attitude toward spirit.
Nor should one imagine it an easy matter to correlate all the conditions here involved. I will give you a grotesque instance of the extent to which a man who judges only by externals may be in error. He might say: There was a man who had been an ardent adherent of the anthroposophical Weltanschauung. Now it is precisely the anthroposophists who maintain that anthroposophy invariably improves the health and even prolongs life. A fine doctrine, that: the man dies at the age of forty-three!—That much people know: the man died at forty-three—they witnessed it. But what is it that they do not know? They do not know when he would have died without anthroposophy. Maybe he would have only lived to be forty: if a man's life span were forty years lacking anthroposophy, it might well reach forty-three with its aid. When anthroposophy will have come to permeate life in general its effects will not fail to become manifest. True, if a man wants to see all its fruits in one life between birth and death he is simply an egotist: he wants everything for his own selfish purposes. But if he attains to anthroposophy for the benefit of mankind he will have it through all his future incarnations.
Thus we see that by influencing his spiritual being, by yielding himself to what really derives from spirit, man can at least provide new strength for his spirit, can make it strong and vigorous. That is what we must understand: it is possible to let ourselves be influenced by spirit and thereby become ever more completely master within ourselves.
Now let us seek the means most efficacious for receiving the influence of spirit in our present stage of evolution. We have already pointed out that spiritual science, by means of spiritual research, nourishes our spirit. We might say, what man can thus receive in the way of spiritual nourishment is as yet but little; but we also understand now that it can keep growing and growing in our subsequent incarnations. This, however, presupposes one condition; and in order to become acquainted with it we will turn to the anthroposophical Weltanschauung itself.
The anthroposophical Weltanschauung teaches us the principles that constitute man in respect of his being; it tells us of what remains invisible in a visible man we confront; and it then shows us how, as regards the core of his being, he passes on from one life to another, how all that he brings along from his last life in the way of soul and spirit is organically introduced into the physical, material elements inherited from his ancestors. Anthroposophy further discloses the way in which mankind has developed on the earth and describes its life in the Atlantean time, the preceding periods, and the post-Atlantean cultural epochs. It tells us of the transformations undergone by the Earth itself: of its earlier embodiment which we called the old Moon phase, of the still earlier Sun phase, the Saturn phase, and so forth. In this way the spiritual-scientific Weltanschauung releases us from our clinging to the merely obvious—what our eyes see, our hands touch, and what our present science investigates—and leads us out into the vast, comprehensive phenomena of the world, but particularly into the super-sensible realm. By doing this it provides man with spiritual nourishment.
Those of you who have accompanied us at all extensively into this anthroposophical Weltanschauung know that during the past seven years we have elaborated the evolution of man more in detail, described more fully the various transformations of the Earth and the life of man in the different cultural stages. It really is possible in our time to give descriptions as subtle and detailed as those presented there; and if the opportunity arises we shall enter more fully into such matters.
There we have a tableau of super-sensible facts that must be painted for the eye of the soul. But there is a certain peculiarity connected with this tableau. Among other things, we learned that our sun split off at a given time, together with the beings destined there to pursue their immediate further development. Now, the Leader of these sun beings is the Christ; and as their Leader He withdrew with the sun when it separated from the earth. For a time He then sent His force down to earth from the sun; but He kept gradually approaching the earth. In Zarathustra's time He could still be seen only as Ahura Mazdao, but Moses perceived Him in the outer elements; and when this Christ force finally appeared on earth, it appeared in a human body, in Jesus of Nazareth.
That is why the anthroposophical Weltanschauung sees the Christ Being as a sort of central point in the whole panorama of reincarnation, of the being of man, of our contemplation of the cosmos, and so forth and so on. And whoever studies this anthroposophical Weltanschauung in its true sense will say to himself: I can contemplate all that, but I can comprehend it only when the whole immense picture focuses at the great central point, at the Christ. I have pictured in different ways the doctrine of reincarnation, of the various human races, of planetary evolution, and so forth; but the Being of Christ is here painted from a single point of view, and this sheds light on all else. It is a picture with a central figure to which everything else is related, and I can fathom the significance and expression of the other figures only if I understand the main figure.
That is the way the anthroposophical Weltanschauung goes about it. We project a great picture of the various phenomena of the spiritual world; but then we concentrate upon the principle figure, upon the Christ, and only then do the details of the picture become intelligible.
All those who have taken part in our spiritual-scientific development will sense the possibility of understanding it all in this way. Spiritual science itself will become more perfect in the future, and our present comprehension of Christ will be superseded by a far loftier one. The power of anthroposophy will thereby continue to grow, but with it will also proceed the development of those who are open to this power; and the mastery of their spirit over their material nature will gain ever greater strength. Burdened as he is with an inherited body such as this is today, a man can call forth only such processes as blushing, paling, and phenomena like laughing and crying, but in time he will gain ever greater power over them: out of his soul he will spiritualize his bodily functions and thus take his place in the outer world as a mighty ruler of soul and spirit. That will be the Christ power, the Christ-Impulse acting through the agency of mankind. And it is the impulse which even today, if sufficiently intensified, can lead to the same results as did the ancient initiation.
The procedure of the old initiation was as follows: The candidate first learned comprehensively all that today we are taught by anthroposophy. That was the preparation for the old initiation. Then the sum of his attainments was directed toward a definite end which was achieved by having him lie in a grave for three and a half days, as though dead. When his etheric body was withdrawn and, in his etheric body, he moved about in the spiritual world, he became a witness to this spiritual world. In order that in the sphere of his etheric forces he might behold the spiritual world, thus achieving initiation, it was necessary at that time to withdraw the etheric body. Formerly these forces were not available in the normal state of waking consciousness: the neophyte had to be reduced to an abnormal condition. But among the forces Christ brought to earth is also this force needed for initiation; and today it is possible to become clairvoyant without the withdrawal of the etheric body.
When a person is sufficiently developed to receive so strong an impulse from the Christ, even for a short time, as to affect the circulation of his blood—this Christ influence expressing itself in a special form of circulation, an influence penetrating even the physical principle—then he is in a position to be initiated within the physical body: the Christ-Impulse has the power to bring this about. Anyone who can become so profoundly absorbed in what occurred as a result of the Event of Palestine and the Mystery of Golgotha as to live completely in it and to see it objectively, see it so spiritually alive that it acts as a force communicating itself even to his circulation, such a man achieves through this experience the same result that was formerly brought about by the withdrawal of the etheric body.
You see, then, that through the Christ impulse something has come to earth which enables the human being to influence the force that causes his blood to pulsate through his body. What is here active is no abnormal event, no submersion in water, but solely the mighty influence of the Christ-Individuality. No physical substance is involved in this baptism—nothing but a spiritual influence: and the ordinary, every-day consciousness undergoes no change. Through the spirit that streams forth as the Christ impulse something flows into the body, something that can otherwise be induced only by way of psycho-physiological development through fire: an inner fire expressing itself in the circulation of the blood. John still baptized by submersion, with the result that the etheric body withdrew and the spiritual world was revealed. But if a man opens his soul to the Christ impulse, this impulse acts in such a way that the experiences of the astral body flow over into the etheric body, and clairvoyance results.
There you have the explanation of the phrase, “to baptize with the spirit and with fire”, and those are the facts concerning the difference between the John baptism and the Christ baptism. The Christ impulse made it possible for a new class of initiates to come into being. Formerly there existed among mankind a mere handful who were disciples of the great teachers and were inducted into the Mysteries. Their etheric body was withdrawn to enable them to become witnesses to the spirit, and then to step forth and proclaim, There is a spiritual world! We have seen it for ourselves. Just as you see the plants and the stones, so we have seen the spiritual world.—Those were the “eye witnesses”; and the neophytes who thus emerged as initiates from the obscurity of the Mysteries proclaimed the gospel of the spirit, though only out of a primeval wisdom.
But while the old initiates guided people back to a wisdom out of which man had originally come forth, Christ opened the way for initiates capable of arriving at a vision of the spiritual world within the confines of the physical body and within the every-day state of consciousness. These new initiates learned through the Christ impulse the same fact that had revealed itself to the old ones, namely, that there is a spiritual world; and then they, in their turn, could proclaim its gospel. What was therefore needed to become an initiate and to proclaim the gospel of the spiritual world in a new sense, in the Christ sense, was that the force which was in the Christ should stream over as an impulse into the disciple, who had then to disseminate it.
When did a Christ initiate of this kind first arise? In all evolution the old must be merged with the new, and thus even Christ had to transform the old initiation into the new one gradually. He had to create a transition, so to speak; He had to take into account certain procedures of the old initiation, but in such a way that everything deriving from the old gods should be suffused by the Christ Being.
Christ undertook the initiation of that disciple who was to communicate to the world the Gospel of the Christ in the most profound way. An initiation of this sort lies concealed behind one of the narratives in the Gospel of St. John, behind the story of Lazarus.
Much has been written about this story of Lazarus—an incredible amount; but only those have comprehended it who have known, either through esoteric schooling or from their own contemplation, what it conceals. For the moment I shall only quote you one characteristic utterance from this story. When Christ Jesus was told that Lazarus lay sick, He replied:
This sickness is not unto death, but that the God may be manifest in him.
His sickness is for the purpose of manifesting the God in him. It was only due to a lack of understanding that the word dóxa, given in the Greek text, was translated with “for the glory of God”. Not for the glory of God was this ordained, but that the God in him might emerge and become manifest. That is the true meaning of this utterance: the divine that is in Christ is to flow over into the individuality of Lazarus; the divine, the Christ Divinity, is to be revealed in and through him.
Only by understanding the resurrection of Lazarus in this sense does it become wholly clear. Do not imagine for a moment, however, that in communicating spiritual-scientific truths it is possible to speak so openly that everything can be made obvious to all and sundry. What is concealed behind a spiritual-scientific fact of that sort is communicated under many a veil of reservation. That is inevitable; for anyone who would attain to an understanding of such a mystery should first work his way through all difficulties appearing in the way, in order to strengthen and invigorate his spirit. And precisely because it is laborious to find his way through the maze of words will he arrive at the underlying spirit.
Recall the passage dealing with the "life" which was supposed to have left Lazarus and which his sisters Martha and Mary longed to have back. Christ Jesus said unto them:
I am the resurrection, and the life
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Life is to reappear in Lazarus. You have but to take everything literally, especially in the Gospels, and you will see what all comes to light. Do not speculate or interpret, but take in its literal meaning the sentence, “I am the resurrection. and the life”. When Christ appears and raises Lazarus, what does He bring to bear? What is it that passes over into Lazarus? It is the Christ impulse, the force flowing forth from the Christ. What Christ gave Lazarus was the life. Indeed, Christ had said, “This sickness is not unto death, but that the God may be manifest in him.” Just as all the old initiates lay as dead for three and a half days, and then the God became manifest in them, so Lazarus lay in a deathlike state for the same period; but Christ Jesus was well aware that with this act the old initiations would come to an end. He knew that this ostensible death led to something higher, to a higher life: that during this period Lazarus had beheld the spiritual world; and because the Leader of this spiritual world is the Christ, Lazarus received into himself the Christ force, the vision of the Christ. Christ pours his force into Lazarus, and Lazarus arises another man.1You will find this subject treated in detail in my book, Christianity as Mystical Fact, where a separate chapter is devoted to an attempt to clarify particularly the Lazarus miracle in the sense of spiritual science.
There is one particularly noteworthy word in the St. John Gospel: in the story of the Lazarus mystery it is said that the Lord “loved” Lazarus; and the word is again applied to the disciple “whom the Lord loved”. What does that mean? Only the akashic record can tell us. Who is Lazarus after his resurrection? He is himself the writer of the John Gospel, Lazarus, who had been initiated by Christ. Christ had poured the message of His own being into the being of Lazarus in order that the message of the Fourth Gospel, the Gospel of St. John, might resound through the world as the delineation of the being of Christ. That is why no disciple John is mentioned in this Gospel before the story of Lazarus. But you must read carefully and not be misled by those curious theologians who have discovered that at a certain spot in the Gospel of St. John—namely, in the thirty-fifth verse of the first chapter—the name John is supposed to appear as an indication of the presence of the disciple John. It says there:
Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples
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There is nothing in this passage, nothing whatever, to suggest that the disciple who later is called the one “whom the Lord loved” is meant here. That disciple does not appear in the John Gospel before the resurrection of Lazarus. Why? Because he who remained hidden behind “the disciple whom the Lord loved” was one whom the Lord had already loved previously. He loved him so greatly because He had already recognized him—invisibly, in his soul—as the disciple who was to be awakened and carry the message of the Christ out into the world. That is why the disciple, the apostle, “whom the Lord loved” appears on the scene only beginning with the description of the resurrection of Lazarus. Only then had he become what he was thenceforth. Now the individuality of Lazarus had been so completely transformed that it became the individuality of John in the Christian sense. Thus we see that in its loftiest meaning a baptism through the Christ impulse itself had been performed upon Lazarus: Lazarus became an initiate in the new sense of the word, while at the same time the old form, the old lethargy, had been retained in a certain way and a transition thus created from the old to the new initiation.
This will show you the profundity with which the Gospels reflect spiritual truths that can be brought to light through research, independently of any documents. The spiritual scientist knows that he can find beforehand anything the Gospels contain, without reference to documents. But when he finds again in the John Gospel what he had previously discovered by spiritual means, this Gospel becomes for him a document revealed by Christ Jesus' own initiate. That is why the Gospel of St. John is so profound a work.
Nowadays it is specially emphasized that the other Gospels differ in certain respects from that of St. John. There must be a reason for this; but we shall find it only when we penetrate to the core of the other Gospels as we have now done in the case of St. John. And what we discover by so doing is that the difference could arise only from the fact that the author of the John Gospel was initiated by Christ Jesus Himself. Only because of this was it possible to delineate the Christ impulse as John did. And we must examine in like manner the relation of the other Gospel writers to Christ and discover to what extent they received the baptism by fire and by the spirit. Then only will we find the inner connections between the Gospel of St. John and the other Gospels, and so penetrate ever deeper into the spirit of the New Testament.
Siebenter Vortrag
In unserer gestrigen Betrachtung sind wir so weit gekommen, daß wir verstehen konnten, was eigentlich die Taufe des Vorläufers des Christus Jesus, was die Johannes-Taufe war. Und es wird uns heute verhältnismäßig leicht sein, den Unterschied zu begreifen zwischen dem, was man Christus-Taufe nennen kann, und eben der Johannes-Taufe. Und das ganze Wesen des Christus-Einflusses auf die Welt wird uns gerade dadurch klar und deutlich werden, daß wir uns dieses Wesen der Christus-Taufe, des Christus-Impulses, im Unterschiede zu der Johannes-Taufe auseinandersetzen können.
Wir müssen vor allem darauf hinweisen, daß im Grunde genommen der Zustand, in welchen der Mensch kommen mußte durch die Johannes-Taufe, doch ein abnormer war gegenüber dem gewöhnlichen alltäglichen Bewußtseinszustand des Menschen. Wir haben ja gehört, daß zum Beispiel die alte Einweihung darauf beruhte, daß der Ätherleib des Menschen, der sonst fest mit dem physischen Leib verbunden ist, in gewisser Beziehung herausgehoben wurde aus dem physischen Leib, und daß es dadurch dem astralischen Leib möglich wurde, seine Erlebnisse dem Ätherleib einzudrücken. Das galt für die alte Einweihung. Und auch durch die Johannes-Taufe mußte ein abnormer Zustand eintreten. Der Mensch wurde unter Wasser gebracht. Dadurch wurde der Ätherleib in gewisser Beziehung vom physischen Leibe getrennt, so daß der Mensch zu einer Anschauung seines Lebens kommen konnte und sich der Verbindung dieses individuellen Lebens mit den Reichen der göttlich-geistigen Welt bewußt wurde. Wenn wir etwas deutlicher sein wollen, können wir sagen: Derjenige, der mit Erfolg wieder aus dem Wasser herausgezogen wurde, wußte durch diesen Vorgang: Ich habe ein Geistiges in mir, ich bin nicht nur ein Wesen in diesem physisch-materiellen Leib. Und dieses Geistige in mir hängt zusammen mit dem Geiste, der hinter allen anderen Dingen ist. - Er wußte außerdem, daß dieses Geistige, das ihm da entgegentrat, dasselbe ist, was Moses im Feuer des brennenden Dornbusches und in dem Blitz auf Sinai als Jahve, als «Ich bin der Ich-bin», als «ehjeh asher ehjeh» wahrgenommen hatte. Das alles wußte er durch die Johannes-Taufe.
Wodurch unterschied sich ein solches Bewußtsein von dem eines alten Eingeweihten? Ein alter Eingeweihter, wenn er in jenen abnormen Zustand gebracht wurde, den ich Ihnen gestern geschildert habe, nahm die alten göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten wahr, die auch schon mit der Erde verbunden waren, bevor sich das, was Zarathustra « Ahura Mazdao », was Moses den « Jahve » genannt hat, mit der Erde verband. Die alte geistige Welt also, aus der der Mensch herausgewachsen ist, in der er noch in der alten atlantischen Zeit war, und nach der sich das alte indische Volk sehnte, die alten Götter, sie nahm der Mensch wahr durch die uralte Weisheit. Den Gott aber, der sich eine entsprechend lange Zeit von der Erde ferngehalten hat, um desto wirksamer aufzutreten, der sie lange Zeiten hindurch nur von außen beeinflußte und sich langsam ihr annäherte, so daß Moses diese Annäherung hat wahrnehmen können, diesen Gott kannte der alte Eingeweihte noch nicht. Erst diejenigen Menschen, die im Sinne der alttestamentlichen Einweihung eingeweiht wurden, nahmen etwas von der Einheit alles Göttlichen wahr.
Betrachten wir einmal den Gemütszustand eines Eingeweihten, nicht der persischen oder der späteren ägyptischen Mysterien, sondern eines Eingeweihten, der außerdem auch das durchlebt hatte, was man in der hebräischen Geheimforschung aufnehmen konnte. Nehmen wir an,ein solcher Eingeweihter habe zum Beispiel auch die Einweihung auf dem alten Sinai durchgemacht, sagen wir in einer Inkarnation während der althebräischen Entwickelung oder auch noch früher. Da war er geführt worden zu der Erkenntnis der alten göttlichen Welt, aus der der Mensch herausgewachsen war. Dann trat er mit der uralten Weisheit, mit dieser Beobachtungsgabe für die uralte göttliche Welt in die hebräische Geheimlehre. Da lernte er dann etwa folgendes sagen: Das, was ich früher kennengelernt habe, waren Götter, die mit der Erde verbunden waren, bevor die Gottheit Jahve-Christus sich mit der Erde vereinigt hat. Jetzt aber weiß ich, daß der hauptsächlichste Geist unter ihnen, der führende Geist der ist, der sich erst nach und nach der Erde genähert hat. So lernte ein solcher Eingeweihter die Identität kennen seiner geistigen Welt mit derjenigen geistigen Welt, in der der herannahende Christus herrscht. Derjenige, der ins Wasser untergetaucht wurde durch Johannes, brauchte kein Eingeweihter zu sein; erlernte dadurch aber kennen den Zusammenhang seiner Individualität, was er als Persönlichkeit war, mit dem großen Vatergeist der Welt. Allerdings nur wenige konnten diesen Erfolg haben. Die meisten brauchten ja auch diese Taufe nur als ein Symbolum hinzunehmen, nur als das, was ihnen sozusagen dazu diente, daß sie nun auf Treu und Glauben, unter dem bedeutsamen Einfluß der Lehre des Täufers Johannes, von dem Dasein des Jahve-Gottes überzeugt waren. Es waren aber unter denen, die untergetaucht wurden, solche, die sich in früheren Inkarnationen schon reif gemacht hatten, um einiges aus eigener Beobachtung kennenzulernen. Ein abnormer Zustand jedoch war es, in welchen der Mensch durch die JohannesTaufe versetzt wurde.
Johannes taufte mit Wasser, und das hatte zur Wirkung, daß der Ätherleib für kurze Zeit getrennt wurde vom physischen Leib. Aber Johannes der Täufer wollte der Vorläufer sein dessen, «der da tauft mit dem Feuer und mit dem Geist». Die Taufe mit dem Feuer und mit dem Geist, sie kam durch den Christus auf unsere Erde. Welches ist nun der Unterschied zwischen der Wasser-Taufe des Johannes und der Taufe des Christus mit dem Feuer und dem Geist? Das kann nur derjenige verstehen, der aus den allerersten Anfangsgründen heraus ein solches Verstehen lernt. Denn in bezug auf das Christus-Verständnis sind wir wirklich heute noch auf die Anfänge angewiesen. Immer größer und größer wird dieses Verständnis werden, aber heute kann der Mensch nur die allerersten Anfänge sich zu eigen machen. Haben Sie einmal die Geduld, den Weg des Christus-Verständnisses von dem ABC an mit mir zu beginnen.
Da muß zuerst darauf aufmerksam gemacht werden, daß wirklich hinter allen physischen Vorgängen geistige Vorgänge stehen, auch hinter allen menschlichen physischen Vorgängen. Es wird das dem Menschen der heutigen Zeit recht schwer zu glauben. Das wird die Welt nach und nach lernen, und dann wird sie erst zum vollen Christus-Verständnis kommen. Heute glauben selbst diejenigen, welche vom Geist reden möchten, nicht im Ernst an die Tatsache, daß alles, was im Menschen physisch vorgeht, zuletzt vom Geistigen dirigiert wird. Sie können unbewußt — wenn wir den Ausdruck gebrauchen dürfen - nicht daran glauben, selbst wenn sie Idealisten sein wollen.
Da gibt es zum Beispiel einen Amerikaner, der sammelt sorgfältig die Tatsachen, daß der Mensch in abnormen Zuständen dazu kommt, sich in eine geistige Welt zu erheben, und dadurch sucht er eine gewisse Grundlegung für die verschiedensten Tatsachen zu gewinnen. Dieser Amerikaner, William James, geht am allergründlichsten dabei zu Werke. Aber selbst die besten unter den Menschen können nichts gegen den stark wirkenden Zeitgeist. Sie wollen nicht Matetrialisten sein, sind es aber doch. Diese Philosophie des William James hat auch auf einige europäische Gelehrte einen Einfluß ausgeübt, und deshalb soll auf einige groteske Sätze des William James hingewiesen werden, die das erhärten, was eben gesagt worden ist. Er hat zum Beispiel den Ausspruch getan: Der Mensch weint nicht, weil er traurig ist, sondern er ist traurig, weil er weint! — Die Menschen sind bisher immer der Anschauung gewesen, daß man zuerst traurig sein müsse, das heißt, daß ein geistig-seelischer Vorgang sich abspielen muß, und daß dann erst sich dieser geistige Vorgang hineinpreßt in das Physische des Menschenleibes. Wenn die Träne quillt, so muß ein seelischer Vorgang vorhanden sein, der dem Aussondern des Tränenwassers zugrunde liegt.
Heute noch, wo sozusagen alles Spirituelle unter dem Schleier des Materiellen begraben liegt und erst wiedergefunden werden soll von der spirituellen Weltanschauung, selbst heute noch haben wir Vorgänge in uns, welche Erbstücke einer uralten Zeit sind, wo das Geistige noch mächtiger war, und die uns in bedeutsamer Weise zeigen können, wie das Geistige wirkt. Auf zweierlei mache ich da gewöhnlich aufmerksam: auf das Schamgefühl und auf das Furcht- und Schreckgefühl. Es sei im voraus bemerkt, daß es leicht sein wird, Ihnen alle die hypothetischen Erklärungsversuche für diese beiden Erlebnisarten hier aufzuzählen. Das geht uns aber hier nichts an; und wenn jemand das dagegen einwenden wollte, so soll er nur nicht glauben, daß der Geistesforscher diese Hypothesen nicht auch kennt.
Über das Schamgefühl können wir sagen:'Wenn der Mensch sich schämt, so ist es, wie wenn er bewirken wollte, daß seine Umgebung etwas nicht sieht, was in ihm geschieht, es ist wie etwas verbergen wollen, was im Schamgefühl des Menschen vor sich geht. Und was bewirkt dieses seelische Erlebnis physisch im Menschen? Es treibt die Schamröte ins Gesicht, das Blut steigt ins Gesicht. Was geschieht also unter dem Eindrucke eines seelisch-geistigen Ereignisses, wie es das Schamgefühl ist? Eine Umwandlung, eine andere Zirkulation des Blutes! Das Blut wird von innen nach der Peripherie, nach außen hin getrieben. Das Blut wird in seinem Laufe - das ist eine physikalische Tatsache - geändert durch eine geistig-seelische Tatsache!
Wenn der Mensch erschrickt, so will er sich schützen gegen etwas, was er als bedrohlich ansieht: er wird blaß, das Blut zieht sich zurück von der äußeren Oberfläche. Wiederum haben wir einen äußeren Vorgang, hervorgerufen durch einen geistig-seelischen, durch Furcht und Schreck. Erinnern Sie sich, daß das Blut der Ausdruck des Ich ist. Was wird denn der Mensch wollen, wenn er etwas Bedrohliches herankommen sieht? Er wird eben seine Kräfte zusammennehmen und stark werden lassen im Mittelpunkte seines Wesens. Das Ich, das sich zusammennehmen will, zieht auch dasBlut indenMittelpunktseinesWesenszurück.
Da haben Sie physische Vorgänge als Wirkung von seelisch-geistigen. So ist auch das Quellen der Tränen ein physischer Vorgang, der durch das Seelisch-Geistige bewirkt wird. Es ist nicht so, daß irgendwelche heimlichen physischen Einflüsse da zusammenströmen, die Tränen herauspressen, und daß der Mensch dann, wenn er die Tränen herausgehen fühlt, traurig wird. So stellt die materialistische Anschauung das Allereinfachste auf den Kopf. Wenn wir eingehen würden auf mancherlei, was den Menschen auch an physischen Übeln treffen kann und was zusammenhängt mit geistig-seelischen Vorgängen, dann könnten wir solche Fälle ins Ungeheure vermehren. Aber für uns handelt es sich heute darum, daß wir begreifen: Physische Vorgänge sind Wirkungen geistig-seelischer Vorgänge. Und wo uns ein physischer Vorgang so erscheint, als ob nichts Geistig-Seelisches hinter ihm stünde, müssen wir uns immer klar sein, daß wir eben das Geistig-Seelische noch nicht erkannt haben.
Der Mensch ist heute gar nicht geneigt, das Geistig-Seelische sofort zu erkennen. Der Forscher von heute sieht, wie sich der Mensch vom ersten Moment der Empfängnis an, von den allerersten Keimesstadien an entwickelt, zuerst im Mutterschoße, nachher außerhalb des mütterlichen Leibes. Er sieht heranwachsen die äußere physische Gestalt des Menschen. Und weil er das beobachtet mit den Mitteln der heutigen Forschung, bekommt er die Ansicht, daß der Mensch erst entstehe mit der Entwickelung der physischen Gestalt, wie er es beobachtet bei der Empfängnis, und er ist gar nicht geneigt, darauf einzugehen, daß hinter den physischen Vorgängen noch geistige Vorgänge stehen. Er glaubt nicht, daß hinter dem physischen Menschenkeim noch etwas Geistiges steht und dieses Geistige sich mit dem Physischen verbindet und dasjenige herausarbeitet, was aus einer früheren Verkörperung herstammt. Nun könnte man ja sagen, wenn man nur auf die Theorie und nicht auf die Lebenspraxis etwas geben wollte: Nun ja, mag sein, daß irgendeiner höheren Erkenntnis die Einsicht zugänglich wäre, daß das Geistige hinter dem Physischen steht. Aber wir Menschen können eben das Geistige hinter dem Physischen nicht erkennen! — So sagen die einen. Die anderen sagen: Wir wollen aber nicht die Anstrengungen machen, die uns vorgeschrieben werden, um zu dieser Erkenntnis des Geistig-Göttlichen zu kommen. Was ändert denn das an der Welt, ob wir das erkennen oder nicht! - Es ist aber ein schlimmer Glaube, ja ein schlimmer Aberglaube, wenn man der Meinung ist, daß von einer solchen Erkenntnis nichts in der Lebenspraxis abhänge. Daß eben sehr viel von dieser Erkenntnis in der Lebenspraxis abhängt, das wollen wir uns jetzt möglichst anschaulich machen.
Nehmen wir einen Menschen an, der gar keine Ahnung davon haben will, daß hinter allem Physischen im Menschen ein Seelisch-Geistiges ist, der auch nicht begreift, daß zum Beispiel mit der Vergrößerung einer physischen Leber ein Geistiges ausgedrückt ist. Ein anderer geht willig, durch geisteswissenschaftliche Anregung meinetwillen, darauf ein, daß man durch Eindringen in das Geistige erst zu einer Ahnung, dann zu einem Glauben und zuletzt zu einer Erkenntnis und Beobachtung des Geistigen kommt. Also zwei Menschen hätten wir vor uns: der eine lehnt das Geistige ab, er ist zufrieden mit der sinnlichen Beobachtung der Dinge; der andere nimmt auf, was man nennen kann den Willen zur Erkenntnis des Geistigen. Der Mensch, der nicht willig ist, die geistige Erkenntnis in sich aufzunehmen, wird immer schwächer und schwächer werden, denn er wird dadurch, daß er nicht seinem Geist die nötige Nahrung gibt - und das ist einzig und allein die Erkenntnis -, seinen Geist verhungern, verdorren und verderben lassen. Dann wird der Geist schwach und kann nicht stark werden, und es gewinnt das, was unabhängig ist von diesem Geist, die Oberhand, überwältigt den Menschen. Der Mensch wird schwach gegenüber dem, was in seinem physischen Leib und Ätherleib ohne sein Zutun vorgeht. Der andere aber, der den Willen zur Erkenntnis hat, gibt seinem Geist Nahrung; sein Geist wird stark, und der Geist erlangt die Herrschaft über das, was unabhängig von ihm in seinem Ätherleib und physischen Leib vorgeht. Das ist das Wesentliche. Wir können das gleich auf einen Fall, der in unserer heutigen Zeit eine große Rolle spielt, anwenden.
Wir wissen, daß der Mensch von zwei Seiten her in die Welt tritt. Es vererbt sich sein physischer Leib von seinen Vorfahren, von Vater und Mutter und deren Ahnen. Da ererbt der Mensch von seinen Ahnen gewisse Merkmale guter und schlechter Art, die eben in der Vererbungslinie des Blutes liegen. Aber jedesmal, wenn durch solche Vererbung gewisse Eigenschaften in einem Kind auftreten, vereinigen sich mit diesen Eigenschaften diejenigen Kräfte, die sich das Kind aus seinen vorhergehenden Verkörperungen mitbringt. Nun wissen Sie, daß man heute, wenn bei einem Menschen diese oder jene Krankheit auftritt, sehr viel spricht von «erblichen Anlagen ». Was wird heute fürein Unfug getrieben mit dem in gewissen engeren Grenzen durchaus berechtigten Wort «erbliche Anlage»! Man beruft sich überall da, wo im Menschen dieses oder jenes auftritt und wo man nachweisen kann, daß es in Eigenschaften der Vorfahren besteht, auferbliche Anlagen. Und weilman nichts weiß von geistigen Kräften, die aus der früheren Inkarnation kommen und wirksam sind im Menschen, so glaubt man, daß diese vererbten Anlagen eine überwältigende Stärke haben. Würde man wissen, daß ein Geistiges aus der vorhergehenden Inkarnation kommt, so würde man sich sagen: Schön, wir glauben durchaus an die vererbten Anlagen, aber wir wissen auch, was an inneren zentralen Kräften in der Seele aus einem vorhergehenden Leben stammt. Wenn man es stärkt und kräftigt, gewinnt es die Oberhand über das Materielle, das heißt, über die vererbten Anlagen. - Und ein solcher Mensch, der imstande ist, sich zu einer Erkenntnis des Geistigen aufzuschwingen, würde weiter sagen: Mögen die vererbten Anlagen noch so stark wirken, ich will dem Geistigen in mir Nahrung geben! Dadurch werde ich Sieger über diese vererbten Anlagen. - Wer aber nicht arbeitet an dem Geistigen, an dem, was nicht ererbt ist, der wird geradezu durch diesen Unglauben den vererbten Anlagen zum Opfer fallen.
Und so werden in der Tat durch den materialistischen Aberglauben die vererbten Anlagen immer mehr und mehr Gewalt über den Menschen bekommen. Die Menschen werden versumpfen in den vererbten Anlagen, wenn sie ihren Geist nicht stärken und dadurch immer von neuem dasjenige, was sich vererbt, durch einen starken Geist überwinden. Sie müssen natürlich in unserer Zeit, wo schon so viel geschehen ist durch den Materialismus, die Kräfte des Geistigen noch nicht überschätzen. Sie müssen nicht sagen: Wenn das der Fall wäre, dann müßten ja alle Anthroposophen grundgesunde Leute sein, denn sie glauben an den Geist. - Der Mensch ist nicht, wie er auf der Welt ist, bloß ein Einzelwesen. Der Mensch steht in der ganzen Welt drinnen, und das Geistige muß auch wachsen in seiner Stärke. Wenn aber das Geistige einmal schwach geworden ist, so wird es selbst beim noch so anthroposophischen Menschen, bei dem, der noch so viel Nahrung dem Geiste zuführt, nicht gleich so wirken, daß er über die Dinge, die aus dem Materiellen herkommen, Sieger wird. Aber um so sicherer wird es in der nächsten Inkarnation in seiner Gesundheit und Kraft zum Ausdruck kommen. Die Menschen werden immer schwächer und schwächer werden, wenn sie nicht an den Geist glauben, denn dann liefern sie sich den vererbten Anlagen aus. Sie haben es ja selbst bewirkt, daß das Geistige schwach ist. Es hängt eben alles davon ab, wie sich der Mensch zum Geistigen stellt. Man glaube auch nicht, daß man die Verhältnisse, die dabei im Spiele sind, leicht übersehen kann.
Ich will Ihnen grotesk zum Ausdruck bringen, wie der Mensch sich irren kann, wenn er nur nach dem Äußeren seine Urteile bildet. Da kann einer sagen: Da war ein Mensch, der war ein guter Anhänger der anthroposophischen Weltanschauung. Nun behaupten aber gerade die ‚Anthroposophen, daß die Gesundheit immer erhöht wird durch die anthroposophische Weltanschauung, und daß dadurch sogar das Leben verlängert wird. Schöne Lehre! Der Mensch ist mit dreiundvierzig Jahren gestorben! — Das eine wissen die Menschen, daß der Mann mit dreiundvierzig Jahren gestorben ist, das haben sie gesehen. Was aber wissen die Menschen nicht? Sie wissen nicht, wann der Mann gestorben wäre, wenn er keine Anthroposophie gehabt hätte! Vielleicht wäre der Mensch ohne die Anthroposophie nur vierzig Jahre alt geworden. Wenn eines Menschen Lebensspanne ohne die Anthroposophie biszum vierzigsten Jahre reicht, so kann sie doch mit der Anthroposophie bis zu dreiundvierzig Jahren gehen. Und dadurch, daß Anthroposophie immer mehr in das Leben eindringt, werden sich die Auswirkungen schon im Leben zeigen. Zwar wenn der Mensch in einem Leben zwischen Geburt und 'Tod schon in allem die Wirkungen sehen will, dann ist er eben ein Egoist, dann will er nur alles für seine eigenen egoistischen Zwecke haben. Wenn er sich aber die Anthroposophie für die Menschheit erwirbt, dann hat er sie auch für alle übrigen Inkarnationen, die folgen werden.
Nun sehen wir, daß der Mensch durch die Beeinflussung seines geistigen Wesens, wenn er sich dem hingibt, was wirklich vom Geist kommt, seinem Geiste wenigstens frische Kraft zuführen kann, daß er den Geist stark und kräftig machen kann. Das ist es, was wir verstehen müssen, daß es eine Möglichkeit gibt, sich von dem Geistigen beeinflussen zu lassen und dadurch sich immer mehr zum Herrscher in sich zu machen. Und jetzt suchen wir nach dem Mittel in der Welt, das das wirksamste ist in unserer heutigen Entwickelung, um uns von dem Geiste beeinflussen zu lassen.
Wir hatten in gewisser Beziehung schon darauf hingewiesen, wie die Geisteswissenschaft durch die Mittel der Geistesforschung unserem Geiste Nahrung gibt. Wir können vielleicht sagen: Es ist noch gering, was der Mensch so an geistiger Nahrung aufnimmt, aber wir sehen auch, daß es immer wachsen und wachsen kann in den folgenden Inkarnationen. Aber das geht nur unter einer Voraussetzung, und um diese kennenzulernen, wollen wir uns einmal die anthroposophische Weltanschauung selber ansehen.
Die anthroposophische Weltanschauung lehrt uns, aus welchen Gliedern der Mensch seiner Wesenheit nach besteht. Sie lehrt uns, was an einem vor uns stehenden sichtbaren Menschen unsichtbar vorhanden ist. Sie zeigt uns dann, wie der Mensch von Leben zu Leben geht in seinem Wesenskern, wie in das Physisch-Materielle, das wir von unseren Vorfahren haben, alles das sich eingliedert, was wir uns aus unserem letzten Leben an Seelisch-Geistigem mitbringen. Die Anthroposophie zeigt uns ferner, wie die Menschheit auf der Erde sich entwickelt hat, wie sie durch die atlantische Zeit, durch die vorhergehenden Perioden und durch die nachatlantischen Kulturen gegangen ist. Sie zeigt uns ferner, daß die Erde selber Verwandlungen durchgemacht hat, daß die Erde eine frühere Verkörperung durchgemacht hat in dem, was wir den alten Mondenzustand genannt haben, eine weitere vorher in dem alten Sonnenzustand, in dem Saturnzustand. So führt uns die geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung von dem Haften an dem Allernächsten, was unsere Augen sehen, was unsere Hände greifen, was unsere gegenwärtige Wissenschaft erforscht, hinaus zu den großen umfassenden Tatsachen der Welt und vor allen Dingen ins Übersinnliche hinein. Sie gibt dem Menschen geistige Nahrung, indem sie ihn hinausführt aus dem Sinnlichen. Diejenigen, welche sich mit uns weiter eingelassen haben auf diese anthroposophische Weltanschauung, sie wissen, daß wir seit sieben Jahren im genaueren ausführten das Werden des Menschen, daß wir im genaueren schilderten die Verwandlungsformen der Erde und das Leben des Menschen in den verschiedenen Kulturstufen. So subtil bis in die Einzelheiten können wir heute schon schildern. Und wenn uns dazu die Möglichkeit geboten sein wird, so werden wir noch genauer in die Dinge eindringen. Da haben wir ein Tableau übersinnlicher Tatsachen vor unsere Seele hinzumalen. Aber dieses Tableau hat noch eine Eigentümlichkeit.
Wir zeigten auch, daß sich unsere Sonne in einer gewissen Zeit abspaltete, daß auf die Sonne hinaufgingen die Wesenheiten, die zunächst auf dieser Sonne ihre weitere Entwickelung durchmachen sollten. Der Führer dieser Sonnenwesenheiten ist ja der Christus, und er ist derjenige, der als der Führer der Sonnenwesenheiten hinausgeht mit der Sonne, als diese sich von der Erde abspaltet. Da sendet er zunächst seine K.raft von der Sonne herunter auf die Erde. Aber er kommt immer näher und näher der Erde. Zarathustra muß ihn noch sehen als Ahura Mazdao. Moses sieht ihn schon in den äußeren Elementen. Und als der Christus in dem Jesus von Nazareth auf der Erde erscheint, da tritt diese Christus-Kraft in einem menschlichen Leibe auf. So stellt sich für die anthroposophische Weltanschauung in das ganze Tableau von Wiederverkörperung, vom Wesen des Menschen, Betrachtung des Kosmos und so weiter, das Christus-Wesen hinein wie ein Mittelpunkt. Und wer im richtigen Sinne diese anthroposophische Weltanschauung betrachtet, der sagt sich: Ich kann alles das betrachten, aber verstehen kann ich es erst, wenn für mich das ganze Bild auf den großen Brennpunkt, den Christus, hinzielt. Ich habe verschieden gemalt die Wiederverkörperungslehre, die Lehre von den Menschenrassen, von der Planeten-Entwickelung und so weiter, aber ich habe hier von einem Punkt das Wesen des Christus gemalt, und dadurch wird über alles andere Licht verbreitet. Es ist ein Bild, das eine Hauptfigur hat, und alles andere wird darauf bezogen, und ich verstehe Bedeutung und Ausdruck der anderen Figuren nur, wenn ich die Hauptfigur verstehe.
So ist es mit der anthroposophischen Weltanschauung: Wir entwerfen ein großes Bild über die verschiedenen Tatsachen der geistigen Welt; dann aber sehen wir auf die Hauptfigur, auf den Christus, und dann erst verstehen wir alle die Einzelheiten des Bildes.
Diejenigen, welche unsere Entwickelung in der Geisteswissenschaft mitgemacht haben, sie werden fühlen, wie man alles dadurch verstehen kann. Die Geisteswissenschaft selber wird vollkommener werden in der Zukunft, und das heutige Christus-Verständnis wird abgelöst werden durch ein noch viel höheres Verstehen. Dadurch wird die Kraft der Anthroposophie immer größer und größer werden, dadurch wird sich aber auch der Mensch entwickeln, der diese Kraft der Anthroposophie aufnimmt, und die Herrschaft des Geistigen in ihm über das Materielle wird immer stärker und stärker werden. Weil der Mensch nun einmal seinen heutigen vererbten Körper hat, kann er heute nur solche Vorgänge hervorrufen wie Schamröte, Erblassen und Erscheinungen wie Lachen und Weinen. Aber er wird später immer mehr Macht gewinnen über solche Erscheinungen, und der Mensch wird von seiner Seele aus die Funktionen seines Leibes durchgeistigen und sich so in die Außenwelt hineinstellen als ein mächtiger geistig-seelischer Herrscher. Das wird dann die Christus-Kraft sein. Das ist der Christus-Impuls, der durch die Menschheit wirkt. Das ist der Impuls, der aber auch heute schon, wenn er genügend verstärkt wird, zu dem führen kann, wozu die alte Einweihung geführt hat.
Die alte Einweihung verlief ja in folgender Weise. Der Mensch lernte zuerst in vollem Umfange alles das, was wir heute in der Anthroposophie lernen. Das war die Vorbereitung zu der alten Einweihung. Dann wurde das alles hingeleitet zu einem gewissen Abschluß. Dieser Abschluß wurde dadurch bewirkt, daß der Betreffende dreieinhalb Tage im Grabe ruhte, wie tot war. Wenn dann sein Ätherleib herausgehoben war under in seinem Ätherleib die geistige Welt durchwanderte, wurde er ein Zeuge der geistigen Welt. Es war notwendig, daß für diese Zeit, wo der Mensch zuerst eingeweiht werden sollte in die geistigen Welten, der Ätherleib herausgehoben wurde, damit der Mensch innerhalb der Kräfte des Ätherleibes zur Anschauung der geistigen Welt kam. Diese Kräfte hatte man früher nicht im normalen tagwachen Bewußtseinszustand zur Verfügung, der Mensch mußte in einen abnormen Bewußtseinszustand gebracht werden. Auch für die Einweihung hat der Christus diese Kraft auf die Erde gebracht, denn heute ist es möglich, daß ohne das Heraustreten des Ätherleibes der Mensch hellsehend werden kann.
Wenn der Mensch die Reife erlangt, daß er einen so starken Impuls von dem Christus erhält, daß dieser Christus-Impuls, wenn auch nur für kurze Zeit, in ihm seinen Blutumlauf beeinflussen kann, so daß sich dieser Christus-Einfluß in einem besonderen Blutumlauf ausdrückt, in einem Einfluß bis in das Physische hinein, dann ist der Mensch imstande, eingeweiht zu werden innerhalb des physischen Leibes. Dazu ist der Christus-Impuls imstande. Wer sich wirklich in die Tatsachen, die damals geschehen sind durch das Ereignis von Palästina und durch das Mysterium von Golgatha, versenken kann, so stark, daß er ganz darinnen lebt und sie ihm gegenständlich werden, so daß er das geistig lebendig vor sich sieht, daß es wirkt wie eine Kraft, die sich selbst seinem Blutumlauf mitteilt, der erlangt durch dieses Erlebnis dasselbe, was früher erlangt wurde durch das Heraustreten des Ätherleibes.
So sehen Sie, daß durch den Christus-Impuls etwas in die Welt gekommen ist, wodurch der Mensch wirken kann auf das, was innerlich sein Blut pulsieren macht. Kein abnormes Ereignis, kein Untertauchen im Wasser, sondern einzig und allein der mächtige Einfluß der ChristusIndividualität ist es, was hier wirkt. Es wird nicht getauft mit irgendeiner sinnlichen Materie, sondern es wird getauft mit geistigem Einfluß, ohne daß das gewöhnliche alltägliche Bewußtsein eine Veränderung erleidet. Durch den Geist, der als der Christus-Impuls ausgeströmt ist, strömt in den Leib etwas hinein, was sonst nur auf dem Wege physisch-physiologischer Entwickelung hervorgerufen werden kann: durch Feuer, inneres Feuer, das sich in der Blutzirkulation ausdrückt. Der Johannes tauchte noch die Menschen unter; da trat der Ätherleib heraus, und der Mensch konnte hineinschauen in die geistige Welt. Läßt der Mensch aber den Christus-Impuls wirken, dann wirkt dieser Christus-Impuls so, daß sich die Erlebnisse des astralischen Leibes in den Ätherleib hineingießen und der Mensch hellsehend wird.
Hier haben Sie erklärt den Ausdruck «taufen durch den Geist und durch Feuer». Und hier haben Sie den Unterschied zwischen der Johannes-Taufe und der Christus-Taufe, wie er den Tatsachen entspricht, vor Sie hingestellt. So wurde eine Klasse von neuen Eingeweihten möglich gemacht durch den Christus-Impuls. Früher hatten die Menschen einige wenige unter sich, welche die Schüler der großen Lehrer waren und hineingeführt wurden in die Mysterien. Ihnen wurde der Ätherleib herausgeführt, damit sie Zeugen werden konnten von dem Geiste und hinaustreten konnten vor die anderen und sagen konnten: Es gibt eine geistige Welt — wir haben sie selbst gesehen. Wie ihr die Pflanzen und Steine seht, so haben wir die geistige Welt gesehen! - Das waren die «Augenzeugen». Diejenigen, welche so aus den Tiefen der Mysterien heraustreten konnten, verkündigten das Evangelium von dem Geiste, allerdings aus der uralten Weisheit. Während sie die Menschen zu einer Weisheit zurückführten, aus der der Mensch hervorgegangen ist, wurden durch den Christus solche Eingeweihte möglich, die innerhalb des physischen Leibes, innerhalb des alltäglichen Bewußtseins zu der Beobachtung der geistigen Welt kommen konnten. Sie erkannten durch diesen Christus-Impuls dasselbe, was den alten Eingeweihten klar wurde: daß es eine geistige Welt gibt. Und sie konnten nun ihrerseits wieder verkündigen das Evangelium von dieser geistigen Welt. Um also ein Eingeweihter zu werden und das Evangelium von der geistigen Welt im neuen, im Christus-Sinne zu verkündigen, dazu war notwendig, daß die Kraft, die in dem Christus war, überfloß als ein Impuls auf den anderen, der Schüler wurde und der Verkünder dieser Kraft werden sollte. Wann geschah es zum ersten Male, daß solch ein Christus-Eingeweihter entstand?
Immer muß beim Fortschreiten der Entwickelung Altes mit Neuem verbunden werden. So mußte auch der Christus die alte Einweihung langsam in die neue hinüberleiten. Er mußte sozusagen einen Übergang schaffen. Er mußte noch mit gewissen Vorgängen der alten Einweihung rechnen, aber so, daß alles, was von den alten Göttern stammte, durch die Christus-Wesenheit überströmt wurde. Der Christus nahm eine Einweihung vor mit demjenigen seiner Schüler, der dann das Evangelium von dem Christus in der tiefsten Weise der Welt mitteilen sollte. Es verbirgt sich eine solche Einweihung hinter einer Erzählung des JohannesEvangeliums, hinter der Lazarus-Geschichte (II. Kap.).
Es ist viel über diese Lazarus-Geschichte geschrieben worden, unglaublich viel. Aber verstanden haben sie immer nur diejenigen, die gewußt haben aus den esoterischen Schulen und aus der eigenen Beobachtung, was sich dahinter verbirgt. Ich will Ihnen zunächst nur ein charakteristisches Wort aus der Lazarus-Geschichte anführen. Als dem Christus Jesus mitgeteilt wird, daß Lazarus krank liegt, da erwidert er: «Die Krankheit ist nicht zum Tode, sondern daß der Gott in ihm offenbar werde!» Zur Offenbarung des Gottes in ihm ist die Krankheit. Es ist nur durch einen Unverstand in der Übersetzung das Wort δόξα (doxa), das im griechischen Text steht, übersetzt worden mit «zur Ehre Gottes». Nicht zur Ehre Gottes wird es vorgenommen, sondern daß der Gott in ihm wahrnehmbar aus der Verborgenheit hervortrete! Das ist der richtige Sinn dieses Wortes. Das heißt, es soll das Göttliche, das im Christus ist, hinüberfließen in die Individualität des Lazarus, das Göttliche, das Christus-Göttliche sichtbar werden in dem Lazarus, durch den Lazarus.
Wenn wir so die Auferweckung des Lazarus verstehen, wird sie erst vollständig durchsichtig. Glauben Sie allerdings nicht, daß da, wo geisteswissenschaftliche Tatsachen mitgeteilt werden, so oflen gesprochen werden kann, daß jedem gleich alles auf der Hand dargeboten wird. Unter mancherlei Verbrämung und Verhüllung wird das, was sich hinter einer solchen geisteswissenschaftlichen Tatsache verbirgt, mitgeteilt. Das muß so sein. Denn wer zum Begreifen eines solchen Mysteriums kommen will, der soll sich erst durcharbeiten dutch scheinbare Schwierigkeiten, damit sein Geist gestärkt und gekräftigt wird. Und gerade dadurch, daß er Mühe hat, sich durch die Worte hindurchzuwinden, gelangter an den hinter einer solchen Sache stehenden Geist. Denken Sie daran, wie da, als vom «Leben» gesprochen wird, das geschwunden sein soll aus dem Lazarus und das die Schwestern Martha und Maria zurückwünschen, der Christus Jesus erwidert: «Ich bin die Auferstehung und das Leben.» Das Leben soll in dem Lazarus wieder auftreten! Nehmen Sie einmal alles wörtlich, gerade in den Evangelien! Wir werden sehen, was durch ein solches Wörtlich nehmen der Evangelien alles herauskommt. Spintisieren Sie gar nicht, sondern nehmen Sie den Satz wörtlich: «Ich bin die Auferstehung und das Leben!» Was bringt da der Christus, als er erscheinen kann und er den Lazarus auferweckt? Was geht auf Lazarus über? Der Christus-Impuls, die Kraft, die aus dem Christus herausgeflossen ist! Das Leben hat der Christus dem Lazarus gegeben, wie der Christus auch sagte: «Die Krankheit ist nicht zum Tode, sondern damit der Gott in ihm sichtbar werde.» So wie alle alten Eingeweihten dreieinhalb Tage wie tot lagen und dann der Gott in ihnen sichtbar wurde, so lag auch Lazarus dreieinhalb Tage in einem todähnlichen Zustand. Aber der Christus Jesus wußte ganz genau, daß damit die alten Einweihungen ein Ende haben. Er wußte, daß dieser scheinbare Tod zu etwas Höherem führt, zu einem höheren Leben, daß also der Lazarus während dieser Zeit die geistige Welt wahrgenommen hat. Und da der Führer in dieser geistigen Welt der Christus ist, so hat der Lazarus die Christus-Kraft in sich aufgenommen, das Schauen des Christus. — Das Nähere finden Sie darüber in meinem Buche «Das Christentum als mystische Tatsache », wo in einem besonderen Kapitel gerade das Lazarus-Wunder im Sinne der Geisteswissenschaft begreiflich zu machen versucht worden ist. - Der Christus hat seine Kraft gegossen in den Lazarus; Lazarus ersteht als ein Neuer.
Ein Wort ist bemerkenswert im Johannes-Evangelium. Es wird beim Lazarus-Wunder gesagt, daß der Herr den Lazarus «lieb hatte». Das Wort wird dann noch gebraucht für den Jünger, «den der Herr lieb hatte». Was bedeutet das? Das alles enthüllt uns nur die Akasha-Chronik. | Wer ist Lazarus, als er wieder auferstanden ist? Es ist der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums selber, der von dem Christus initiierte Lazarus. Der Christus hat die Botschaft von seiner eigenen Wesenheit in die Lazarus-Wesenheit gegossen, damit dann diese Botschaft des vierten Evangeliums, des Johannes-Evangeliums, hinaustönen kann in die Welt als die Schilderung des Wesens des Christus. Deshalb wird auch im Johannes-Evangelium vor der Lazarus-Geschichte nicht von dem Jünger Johannes gesprochen. Aber lesen Sie genau und lassen Sie sich nicht verführen von jenen sonderbaren Theologen, die da gefunden haben, daß an einer gewissen Stelle des Johannes-Evangeliums, nämlich im 3 5. Vers des ersten Kapitels, der Name Johannes als ein Hinweis auf den Johannes-Jünger bereits vorkommen soll. An dieser Stelle heißt es:
«Des andern Tags stund abermal Johannes und zween seiner Jünger.»
Nichts, aber auch gar nichts weist an dieser Stelle darauf hin, daß irgendwie derjenige, der später der Jünger genannt wird, «den der Herr lieb hatte », hier gemeint ist. Dieser Jünger kommt nicht vor im Johannes-Evangelium bis zu der Stelle, wo Lazarus auferweckt ist. Warum ist das so? Weil derjenige, der sich hinter dem Jünger verbirgt, «den der Herr lieb hatte», derselbe ist, den der Herr schon früher lieb hatte. Er hatte ihn so lieb, weil er ihn unsichtbar, in seiner Seele, schon als seinen Jünger erkannt hatte, der auferweckt werden wird und die Botschaft von dem Christus in die Welt hinaustragen sollte. Deshalb tritt der Jünger, der Apostel, «den der Herr lieb hatte», auch erst auf von der Schilderung der Auferweckung des Lazarus an. Da war er es erst geworden. Da war des Lazarus Individualität so umgeändert, daß sie zur Johannes-Individualität im Sinne des Christentums geworden war. So sehen wir im höchsten Sinne eine Taufe durch den Christus-Impuls selber an Lazarus vollführt: Lazarus ist zum Eingeweihten im neuen Sinne des Wortes geworden, indem noch an den alten Formen, an der Lethargie, in einer gewissen Weise festgehalten worden ist und so ein Übergang geschaffen wurde von der alten zur neuen Einweihung.
Daraus ersehen Sie, wie tief die Evangelien die geistigen Wahrheiten, die unabhängig von allen Urkunden erforscht werden können, wiedergeben. Von allem, was im Evangelium ist, muß der Geistesforscher wissen, daß er es vorher finden kann, unabhängig von jeder Urkunde. Wenn er aber das, was er vorher geistig erforscht hat, in dem JohannesEvangelium wiederfindet, dann wird ihm dieses Evangelium zu einem Dokument, das von dem durch den Christus Jesus selbst Eingeweihten gegeben worden ist. Deshalb ist das Johannes-Evangelium eine so tiefe Schrift.
Von den anderen Evangelisten wird ja heute besonders hervorgehoben, daß sie in manchen Stücken von dem Johannes abweichen. Das muß einen Grund haben. Diesen Grund werden wir aber erst finden, wenn wir in den eigentlichen Grundnerv der anderen Evangelien ebenso eindringen, wie wir es jetzt bei dem Johannes-Evangelium getan haben. Und wenn wir zu dem Grundnerv der einzelnen Evangelien vordringen, dann finden wir, daß der Unterschied nur dadurch entstehen konnte, daß der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums von dem Christus Jesus selber eingeweiht ist. Dadurch ist es möglich geworden, den Christus-Impuls so zu beschreiben, wie ihn der Schreiber des JohannesEvangeliums beschrieben hat. Und ebenso müssen wir das Verhältnis der übrigen Evangelienschreiber zu dem Christus erforschen und sehen, inwiefern sie die Feuer- und die Geistestaufe erhalten haben. Dann werden wir erst die inneren Beziehungen des Johannes-Evangeliums zu den anderen Evangelien finden und so immer tiefer und tiefer in den Geist des Neuen Testamentes eindringen.
Seventh Lecture
In yesterday's lecture, we came to understand what the baptism of the forerunner of Christ Jesus, the baptism of John, actually was. And today it will be relatively easy for us to grasp the difference between what can be called the baptism of Christ and the baptism of John. And the whole nature of Christ's influence on the world will become clear to us precisely because we can understand the nature of Christ's baptism, of the Christ impulse, in contrast to John's baptism.
We must point out above all that the state into which human beings had to come through the baptism of John was, in essence, abnormal compared to the ordinary everyday state of consciousness of human beings. We have heard, for example, that the old initiation was based on the etheric body of the human being, which is otherwise firmly connected to the physical body, being lifted out of the physical body in a certain way, and that this made it possible for the astral body to impress its experiences upon the etheric body. This was true of the old initiation. And the baptism of John also had to bring about an abnormal state. The person was immersed in water. This separated the etheric body from the physical body in a certain way, so that the person could gain insight into their life and become aware of the connection between this individual life and the realms of the divine-spiritual world. To be more precise, we can say that those who were successfully pulled out of the water knew through this process that they had something spiritual within them, that they were not merely beings in physical, material bodies. And this spiritual element within them was connected with the spirit that is behind all other things. He also knew that this spiritual being that appeared before him was the same being that Moses had perceived in the fire of the burning bush and in the lightning on Mount Sinai as Yahweh, as “I am who I am,” as “ehjeh asher ehjeh.” He knew all this through the baptism of John.
How did such consciousness differ from that of an ancient initiate? An ancient initiate, when brought into the abnormal state I described to you yesterday, perceived the ancient divine-spiritual beings that were already connected with the earth before what Zarathustra called “Ahura Mazdao” and Moses called “Yahweh” connected with the earth. The ancient spiritual world from which man grew out of, in which he still lived in the old Atlantean time, and for which the ancient Indian people longed, the ancient gods, man perceived through ancient wisdom. But the God who had kept himself away from the earth for a correspondingly long time in order to be all the more effective, who had influenced it only from outside for long periods of time and slowly approached it, so that Moses was able to perceive this approach, this God was not yet known to the ancient initiates. Only those people who were initiated in the sense of the Old Testament initiation perceived something of the unity of all that is divine.
Let us consider the state of mind of an initiate, not of the Persian or later Egyptian mysteries, but of an initiate who had also experienced what could be absorbed in Hebrew secret research. Let us assume that such an initiate had also undergone the initiation on ancient Sinai, say in an incarnation during the ancient Hebrew development or even earlier. There he had been led to the knowledge of the ancient divine world from which human beings had grown out of. Then, with this ancient wisdom and his ability to observe the ancient divine world, he entered into the Hebrew secret teachings. There he learned to say something like this: What I knew before were gods who were connected to the earth before the deity Yahweh-Christ united with the earth. But now I know that the principal spirit among them, the leading spirit, is the one who only gradually approached the earth. In this way, such an initiate came to know the identity of his spiritual world with the spiritual world in which the approaching Christ reigns. The one who was immersed in water by John did not need to be an initiate; but through this he learned the connection between his individuality, what he was as a personality, and the great Father Spirit of the world. However, only a few were able to achieve this success. Most people only needed to accept this baptism as a symbol, as something that served, so to speak, to convince them, in good faith and under the significant influence of the teachings of John the Baptist, of the existence of the God Yahweh. But among those who were immersed, there were some who had already matured in previous incarnations to learn something from their own observation. However, it was an abnormal state into which man was placed by the baptism of John.
John baptized with water, and this had the effect of separating the etheric body from the physical body for a short time. But John the Baptist wanted to be the forerunner of “him who baptizes with fire and with the Spirit.” The baptism with fire and with the Spirit came to our earth through Christ. What, then, is the difference between John's baptism with water and Christ's baptism with fire and the Spirit? Only those who learn such understanding from the very beginning can understand this. For in regard to the understanding of Christ, we are still really at the beginning today. This understanding will become greater and greater, but today human beings can only grasp the very beginnings. Have the patience to begin with me the path to understanding Christ from the very beginning.
First, it must be pointed out that spiritual processes really lie behind all physical processes, including all human physical processes. This is very difficult for people today to believe. The world will gradually learn this, and only then will it come to a full understanding of Christ. Today, even those who would like to speak of the spirit do not seriously believe that everything that happens physically in human beings is ultimately directed by the spiritual. They cannot consciously believe it, even if they want to be idealists.
There is, for example, an American who carefully collects facts that show that in abnormal states, human beings are able to rise into a spiritual world, and through this he seeks to gain a certain foundation for the most diverse facts. This American, William James, goes about his work in the most thorough manner. But even the best among human beings can do nothing against the powerful spirit of the times. They do not want to be materialists, but they are nonetheless. This philosophy of William James has also influenced some European scholars, and therefore reference should be made to some grotesque statements by William James that confirm what has just been said. For example, he said: Man does not cry because he is sad, but he is sad because he cries! “People have always believed that one must first be sad, that is, that a mental and emotional process must take place, and only then does this mental process press itself into the physical body. When tears flow, there must be an emotional process underlying the secretion of tears.
Even today, when everything spiritual is buried under the veil of the material and must first be rediscovered by a spiritual worldview, even today we still have processes within us that are remnants of an ancient time when the spiritual was still more powerful, and which can show us in a meaningful way how the spiritual works. I usually draw attention to two things: the feeling of shame and the feeling of fear and terror. Let me say in advance that it would be easy to list all the hypothetical explanations for these two types of experience. But that is not our concern here; and if anyone wants to object to this, they should not think that spiritual researchers are not also familiar with these hypotheses.
About the feeling of shame, we can say: 'When a person feels ashamed, it is as if they want to prevent their surroundings from seeing something that is happening within them; it is like wanting to hide something that is going on in the person's sense of shame. And what physical effect does this psychological experience have on the person? It causes a blush to rise to the face, the blood rushes to the face. So what happens under the impression of a mental-spiritual event such as the feeling of shame? A transformation, a different circulation of the blood! The blood is driven from the inside to the periphery, to the outside. The blood is changed in its course—this is a physical fact—by a mental-spiritual fact!
When a person is frightened, they want to protect themselves against something they perceive as threatening: they turn pale, the blood withdraws from the outer surface. Again, we have an external process caused by a mental-spiritual process, by fear and fright. Remember that blood is the expression of the I. What will a person want to do when they see something threatening approaching? They will gather their strength and become strong in the center of their being. The ego, which wants to gather itself, also draws the blood back to the center of its being.
Here you have physical processes as the effect of spiritual-soul processes. In the same way, the welling up of tears is a physical process brought about by spiritual-soul processes. It is not the case that some secret physical influences converge and squeeze out the tears, and that the person then becomes sad when they feel the tears coming. This is how the materialistic view turns the simplest thing upside down. If we were to go into all the various physical ailments that can afflict human beings and which are connected with spiritual-soul processes, we could multiply such cases to an enormous extent. But for us today, it is important to understand that physical processes are the effects of spiritual-soul processes. And where a physical process appears to us as if there were nothing spiritual-soul behind it, we must always be clear that we have not yet recognized the spiritual-soul.
People today are not at all inclined to recognize the spiritual-soul immediately. Today's researcher sees how the human being develops from the first moment of conception, from the very first stages of the germ, first in the womb, then outside the mother's body. He sees the outer physical form of the human being grow. And because he observes this with the means of modern research, he comes to the conclusion that human beings only come into being with the development of the physical form, as he observes at conception, and he is not at all inclined to accept that there are spiritual processes behind the physical processes. He does not believe that there is anything spiritual behind the physical human germ and that this spiritual element connects with the physical and brings out what comes from a previous embodiment. Now, if one wanted to give credence only to theory and not to practical experience, one could say: Well, it may be that some higher knowledge would make it possible to understand that the spiritual stands behind the physical. But we humans cannot recognize the spiritual behind the physical! — So say some. Others say: But we do not want to make the efforts that are prescribed for us in order to attain this knowledge of the spiritual-divine. What difference does it make to the world whether we recognize this or not? But it is a terrible belief, indeed a terrible superstition, to think that nothing in practical life depends on such knowledge. We will now try to show as clearly as possible that very much in practical life depends on this knowledge.
Let us take a person who does not want to have any idea that behind everything physical in human beings there is something spiritual, who also does not understand that, for example, an enlargement of the physical liver expresses something spiritual. Another person, for my sake, willingly accepts, through spiritual scientific inspiration, that it is only by penetrating into the spiritual that one first arrives at an inkling, then at a belief, and finally at a knowledge and observation of the spiritual. So we have two people before us: one rejects the spiritual and is satisfied with the sensory observation of things; the other accepts what can be called the will to know the spiritual. The person who is unwilling to accept spiritual knowledge will become weaker and weaker, because by not giving his spirit the necessary nourishment—which is knowledge alone—he will allow his spirit to starve, wither, and perish. Then the spirit becomes weak and cannot become strong, and that which is independent of this spirit gains the upper hand and overwhelms the human being. The human being becomes weak in relation to what is happening in his physical body and etheric body without his intervention. But the other person, who has the will to gain knowledge, nourishes his spirit; his spirit becomes strong, and the spirit gains control over what goes on independently of him in his etheric body and physical body. That is the essence of the matter. We can apply this immediately to a case that plays a major role in our time.
We know that human beings enter the world from two sides. They inherit their physical body from their ancestors, from their father and mother and their ancestors. From their ancestors, human beings inherit certain characteristics of a good and bad nature, which lie in the bloodline. But every time certain characteristics appear in a child through such inheritance, these characteristics are combined with the forces that the child brings with it from its previous incarnations. Now you know that today, when a person develops this or that disease, there is a lot of talk about “hereditary predisposition.” What nonsense is being made today with the term “hereditary predisposition,” which is certainly justified within certain narrow limits! Wherever this or that occurs in a person and where it can be proven that it consists of characteristics of their ancestors, people refer to hereditary predispositions. And because they know nothing about spiritual forces that come from previous incarnations and are effective in humans, they believe that these inherited predispositions have an overwhelming power. If we knew that something spiritual comes from a previous incarnation, we would say: Fine, we believe in inherited predispositions, but we also know what inner central forces in the soul originate from a previous life. If we strengthen and fortify them, they gain the upper hand over the material, that is, over the inherited predispositions. And such a person, who is capable of rising to a recognition of the spiritual, would go on to say: No matter how strong the inherited predispositions may be, I want to nourish the spiritual within me! In this way I will become victorious over these inherited predispositions. But those who do not work on the spiritual, on that which is not inherited, will fall victim to their inherited predispositions precisely because of this disbelief.
And so, through materialistic superstition, inherited predispositions will indeed gain more and more power over human beings. People will become bogged down in their inherited predispositions if they do not strengthen their spirit and thereby continually overcome what has been inherited through a strong spirit. Of course, in our time, when so much has already happened through materialism, they must not overestimate the powers of the spiritual. You must not say: if that were the case, then all anthroposophists would have to be fundamentally healthy people, because they believe in the spirit. Man is not, as he is in the world, merely an individual being. Man stands within the whole world, and the spiritual must also grow in strength. But once the spiritual has become weak, even in the most anthroposophical person, even in someone who nourishes the spirit with so much, it will not immediately enable them to triumph over the things that come from the material world. But it will all the more surely find expression in their health and strength in their next incarnation. People will become weaker and weaker if they do not believe in the spirit, for then they surrender themselves to their inherited predispositions. They themselves have caused the spiritual to be weak. Everything depends on how people relate to the spiritual. Do not think that the circumstances involved can be easily overlooked.
I will express in a grotesque way how people can err when they form their judgments based solely on outward appearances. Someone might say: There was a person who was a good follower of the anthroposophical worldview. But the anthroposophists themselves claim that health is always improved by the anthroposophical worldview and that it even prolongs life. What a beautiful teaching! The man died at the age of forty-three! People know that the man died at the age of forty-three; they saw that. But what don't people know? They don't know when the man would have died if he hadn't had anthroposophy! Perhaps without anthroposophy, the man would have lived only to the age of forty. If a person's life span without anthroposophy extends to the age of forty, then with anthroposophy it can extend to the age of forty-three. And because anthroposophy is increasingly penetrating life, its effects will already be evident during life. If a person wants to see the effects of everything in one life between birth and death, then they are an egoist, wanting everything for their own selfish purposes. But if they acquire anthroposophy for humanity, then they also have it for all the incarnations that will follow.
Now we see that by influencing his spiritual being, when he surrenders himself to what really comes from the spirit, he can at least supply his spirit with fresh strength, he can make his spirit strong and powerful. This is what we must understand: that there is a possibility of allowing oneself to be influenced by the spiritual and thereby becoming more and more the ruler within oneself. And now we seek the means in the world that is most effective in our present stage of development for allowing ourselves to be influenced by the spirit.
We have already pointed out in a certain sense how spiritual science nourishes our spirit through the means of spiritual research. We can perhaps say that what human beings take in as spiritual nourishment is still small, but we also see that it can grow and grow in subsequent incarnations. But this is only possible under one condition, and in order to understand this condition, let us take a look at the anthroposophical worldview itself.
The anthroposophical worldview teaches us what members the human being consists of according to its nature. It teaches us what is invisibly present in a visible human being standing before us. It then shows us how human beings pass from life to life in their core being, how everything we bring with us from our last life in terms of soul and spirit is integrated into the physical and material that we have inherited from our ancestors. Anthroposophy also shows us how humanity has developed on Earth, how it has passed through the Atlantean epoch, through the preceding periods, and through the post-Atlantean cultures. It also shows us that the Earth itself has undergone transformations, that the Earth underwent an earlier embodiment in what we have called the old lunar state, and another earlier one in the old solar state, the Saturn state. Thus, the spiritual scientific worldview leads us from what is closest to us, what our eyes see, what our hands grasp, what our present science investigates, to the great, comprehensive facts of the world and, above all, into the supersensible. It gives human beings spiritual nourishment by leading them out of the sensory world. Those who have engaged further with us in this anthroposophical worldview know that for seven years we have been describing in greater detail the development of the human being, the forms of transformation of the earth, and the life of the human being in the various stages of culture. We are already able to describe these things in great detail. And when the opportunity arises, we will delve even deeper into these matters. We have a tableau of supersensible facts to paint before our souls. But this tableau has another peculiarity.
We also showed that our sun split off at a certain point in time, and that the beings who were to undergo their further development on this sun ascended to it. The leader of these solar beings is Christ, and he is the one who goes forth as the leader of the solar beings with the sun when it splits off from the earth. He first sends his power down from the sun to the earth. But he comes closer and closer to the earth. Zarathustra still has to see him as Ahura Mazdao. Moses already sees him in the outer elements. And when Christ appears on Earth in Jesus of Nazareth, this Christ force appears in a human body. Thus, for the anthroposophical worldview, the Christ being fits into the whole tableau of reincarnation, the nature of the human being, the contemplation of the cosmos, and so on, as a center point. And anyone who looks at this anthroposophical worldview in the right sense says to themselves: I can look at all this, but I can only understand it when the whole picture points to the great focal point, the Christ. I have painted the doctrine of reincarnation, the doctrine of the human races, of planetary evolution, and so on, in various ways, but here I have painted the essence of Christ from one point, and through this, light is shed on everything else. It is a picture that has one main figure, and everything else is related to it, and I understand the meaning and expression of the other figures only when I understand the main figure.
This is how it is with the anthroposophical worldview: we sketch a large picture of the various facts of the spiritual world; but then we look at the main figure, at Christ, and only then do we understand all the details of the picture.
Those who have gone through our development in spiritual science will feel how everything can be understood through this. Spiritual science itself will become more perfect in the future, and today's understanding of Christ will be replaced by a much higher understanding. Through this, the power of anthroposophy will become greater and greater, but through this, the human being who takes in this power of anthroposophy will also develop, and the dominion of the spiritual over the material in him will become stronger and stronger. Because human beings have their present inherited bodies, they can only bring about processes such as blushing, turning pale, and phenomena such as laughing and crying. But later they will gain more and more power over such phenomena, and human beings will spiritualize the functions of their bodies from their souls and thus place themselves in the outer world as powerful spiritual and soul rulers. This will then be the Christ force. This is the Christ impulse working through humanity. This is the impulse which, even today, if sufficiently strengthened, can lead to what the old initiation led to.
The old initiation proceeded in the following way. First, the human being learned everything that we learn today in anthroposophy in its entirety. That was the preparation for the old initiation. Then everything was led to a certain conclusion. This conclusion was brought about by the person concerned lying in the grave for three and a half days, as if dead. When his etheric body was then lifted out and the spiritual world passed through his etheric body, he became a witness of the spiritual world. It was necessary that during this time, when human beings were first to be initiated into the spiritual worlds, the etheric body was lifted out so that human beings could come to perceive the spiritual world within the forces of the etheric body. These forces were not available in the normal waking state of consciousness; human beings had to be brought into an abnormal state of consciousness. Christ also brought this power to earth for the purpose of initiation, for today it is possible for human beings to become clairvoyant without the etheric body being lifted out.
When a person reaches the point where they get such a strong impulse from Christ that this Christ impulse can influence their blood circulation, even if only for a short time, so that this Christ influence shows up in a special blood circulation, in an influence that goes into the physical, then the person is able to be initiated within the physical body. The Christ impulse is capable of this. Anyone who can truly immerse themselves in the facts that occurred at that time through the events in Palestine and through the mystery of Golgotha, so strongly that they live completely within them and they become concrete to them, so that they see them spiritually alive before them, working like a force that communicates itself to their blood circulation, they attain through this experience what was formerly attained through the emergence of the etheric body.
Thus you see that through the Christ impulse something has come into the world whereby human beings can work upon what causes their blood to pulsate inwardly. No abnormal event, no immersion in water, but solely the powerful influence of the Christ individuality is at work here. Baptism is not performed with any sensual matter, but with spiritual influence, without the ordinary everyday consciousness undergoing any change. Through the spirit that has streamed forth as the Christ impulse, something flows into the body that can otherwise only be brought about by physical and physiological development: through fire, inner fire, which expresses itself in the blood circulation. John still immersed people in water; then the etheric body emerged, and people could look into the spiritual world. But if people allow the Christ impulse to work, then this Christ impulse works in such a way that the experiences of the astral body pour into the etheric body and people become clairvoyant.
Here you have explained the expression “baptism by the Spirit and by fire.” And here you have presented the difference between the baptism of John and the baptism of Christ, as it corresponds to the facts. Thus, a class of new initiates was made possible through the Christ impulse. In the past, there were a few people among humanity who were disciples of the great teachers and were initiated into the mysteries. Their etheric bodies were brought out so that they could become witnesses of the spirit and step out before others and say: There is a spiritual world — we have seen it ourselves. Just as you see the plants and stones, so we have seen the spiritual world! These were the “eyewitnesses.” Those who were able to step out of the depths of the mysteries proclaimed the gospel of the spirit, but from the ancient wisdom. While they led people back to the wisdom from which human beings emerged, Christ made it possible for such initiates to observe the spiritual world within the physical body, within everyday consciousness. Through this Christ impulse, they recognized the same thing that had become clear to the ancient initiates: that there is a spiritual world. And they were now able to proclaim the gospel of this spiritual world. In order to become an initiate and proclaim the gospel of the spiritual world in the new, Christ-conscious sense, it was necessary for the power that was in Christ to overflow as an impulse to the other, who became the disciple and was to become the proclaimer of this power. When did such a Christ initiate first appear?
As development progresses, the old must always be connected with the new. So Christ also had to slowly lead the old initiation into the new. He had to create a transition, so to speak. He still had to reckon with certain processes of the old initiation, but in such a way that everything that came from the old gods was overflowed by the Christ being. Christ performed an initiation with the one of his disciples who was then to communicate the Gospel of Christ to the world in the deepest way. Such an initiation is hidden behind a narrative in the Gospel of John, behind the story of Lazarus (chapter II).
Much has been written about this story of Lazarus, an incredible amount. But only those who knew from esoteric schools and from their own observation what lies behind it have ever understood it. I will first quote just one characteristic passage from the story of Lazarus. When Christ Jesus is told that Lazarus is sick, he replies: “The sickness is not unto death, but that the God in him may be revealed!” The sickness is for the revelation of God in him. It is only through a misunderstanding in the translation that the word δόξα (doxa), which appears in the Greek text, has been translated as “for the glory of God.” It is not done for the glory of God, but so that God may emerge perceptibly from hiddenness in him! That is the correct meaning of this word. This means that the divine that is in Christ should flow over into the individuality of Lazarus, that the divine, the Christ-divine, should become visible in Lazarus, through Lazarus.
When we understand the raising of Lazarus in this way, it becomes completely transparent. However, do not think that when spiritual scientific facts are communicated, it is possible to speak in such a way that everything is immediately obvious to everyone. What lies behind such spiritual scientific facts is communicated through various embellishments and veils. This must be so. For those who wish to comprehend such a mystery must first work their way through apparent difficulties so that their spirit is strengthened and fortified. And it is precisely through the effort of working their way through the words that they attain the spirit behind such a thing. Think of how, when it is spoken of “life” that is supposed to have departed from Lazarus and which the sisters Martha and Mary wish back, Christ Jesus replies: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Life is to reappear in Lazarus! Take everything literally, especially in the Gospels! We will see what comes out of taking the Gospels so literally. Do not speculate, but take the sentence literally: “I am the resurrection and the life!” What does Christ bring when he appears and raises Lazarus? What passes over to Lazarus? The Christ impulse, the power that flowed out of Christ! Christ gave life to Lazarus, as Christ himself said: “The sickness is not unto death, but that the God in him may be made manifest.” Just as all the ancient initiates lay as if dead for three and a half days and then God became visible in them, so Lazarus lay in a death-like state for three and a half days. But Christ Jesus knew very well that this meant the end of the old initiations. He knew that this apparent death would lead to something higher, to a higher life, and that Lazarus had therefore perceived the spiritual world during this time. And since Christ is the guide in this spiritual world, Lazarus took the power of Christ into himself, the vision of Christ. You can find more details about this in my book Christianity as Mystical Fact, where a special chapter attempts to explain the miracle of Lazarus in terms of spiritual science. Christ poured his power into Lazarus; Lazarus arose as a new man.
One word is noteworthy in the Gospel of John. In the miracle of Lazarus, it is said that the Lord “loved” Lazarus. The word is then used again for the disciple “whom the Lord loved.” What does this mean? Only the Akashic Records reveal this to us. Who is Lazarus when he is resurrected? It is the writer of the Gospel of John himself, Lazarus, who was initiated by Christ. Christ poured the message of his own being into the being of Lazarus so that this message of the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John, could then resound throughout the world as the description of the being of Christ. That is why the Gospel of John does not mention the disciple John before the story of Lazarus. But read carefully and do not be misled by those strange theologians who have found that at a certain point in the Gospel of John, namely in verse 35 of the first chapter, the name John is supposed to appear as a reference to the disciple John. At this point it says:
“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.”
Nothing, absolutely nothing at this point indicates that the one who is later called the disciple, “whom the Lord loved,” is meant here. This disciple does not appear in the Gospel of John until the point where Lazarus is raised from the dead. Why is this so? Because the one who is hidden behind the disciple, “whom the Lord loved,” is the same one whom the Lord had loved before. He loved him so much because he had already recognized him invisibly, in his soul, as his disciple who would be raised from the dead and carry the message of Christ out into the world. That is why the disciple, the apostle, “whom the Lord loved,” only appears after the description of the raising of Lazarus. That was when he first became who he was. That was when Lazarus' individuality was so transformed that it became the individuality of John in the Christian sense. Thus, in the highest sense, we see a baptism performed by the Christ impulse itself on Lazarus: Lazarus became an initiate in the new sense of the word by still clinging in a certain way to the old forms, to lethargy, thus creating a transition from the old to the new initiation.
From this you can see how deeply the Gospels reflect spiritual truths that can be explored independently of all documents. The spiritual researcher must know that he can find everything in the Gospel beforehand, independently of any document. But when he finds what he has previously researched spiritually in the Gospel of John, then this Gospel becomes for him a document that has been given by the one who was initiated by Christ Jesus himself. That is why the Gospel of John is such a profound writing.
Today, it is particularly emphasized that the other evangelists deviate from John in some passages. There must be a reason for this. However, we will only find this reason when we penetrate the actual fundamental nerve of the other Gospels in the same way as we have now done with the Gospel of John. And when we penetrate to the fundamental nerve of the individual Gospels, we find that the difference could only have arisen because the writer of the Gospel of John was initiated by Christ Jesus himself. This made it possible to describe the Christ impulse as the writer of the Gospel of John described it. And in the same way, we must investigate the relationship of the other Gospel writers to Christ and see to what extent they received the baptism of fire and the baptism of the Spirit. Only then will we find the inner relationships of the Gospel of John to the other Gospels and thus penetrate deeper and deeper into the spirit of the New Testament.