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Macrocosm and Microcosm
GA 119

25 March 1910, Vienna

5. The Egyptian Mysteries of Osiris and Isis

A rather difficult task confronts us today but my listeners will be willing to submit to the greater demands made upon them if it is said at the outset that this study will enable us during the next few days to feel firmer ground under our feet. In Spiritual Science, unless we are content to remain with abstractions, we must also listen from time to time to information belonging to the higher regions of spiritual knowledge. It may also be added that our study today will in no way consist of deductions or theoretical inferences, but of matters which have always been known to those who have penetrated more deeply into these subjects. We shall therefore be dealing with knowledge possessed by actual individuals.

We heard yesterday how a man would be able to find his bearings within the inner Organisation of his astral body if he could, on waking, descend consciously into this astral body; and we were able to form an idea of what it means to pass the Lesser Guardian of the Threshold. In point of fact, what was said yesterday was rather hypothetical, for actually in normal life the moment never comes when merely through waking a man can penetrate consciously into his inner being. At most he can prepare himself by mystical deepening for conscious entry into his external bodily sheaths. What this means, and the preparation it entails, will only become clear in the course of these lectures. For normal consciousness it may happen—very occasionally—that a man has such moments of conscious awakening as a result of conditions belonging to his previous incarnations. This can and does happen to certain individuals. They wake up with a certain sense of oppression. This sense of oppression is due to the fact that the inner man, who during sleep felt outspread and free in the Macrocosm, returns again into the prison of his body. There may also be another feeling. Under these abnormal conditions a man feels a better being at the moment of waking than during the course of the day; he feels that there is something within him that he might call his better self. Again the reason for this is that on waking a feeling has remained with him that something has streamed into him during sleep from worlds higher than the world of his own sensory experiences. These are feelings that may arise under abnormal conditions even in ordinary life and what has now been said can be regarded as a confirmation of statements made in the lecture yesterday. Nevertheless it is only the genuine mystic to whom the experience can come in its full intensity.

The question now is whether it is possible to go further. What has been experienced in the way described is the inner side of the astral body, of the spiritual part of man. But it is possible to descend still more deeply, into parts of human nature which manifest in ordinary life in a form less purely spiritual. Nevertheless, their foundations are spiritual, for that is true of everything in the outer world. The question is whether it is possible to descend even further, into the physical body, and whether there is anything between the astral body and the physical body. Yes, as is made clear in anthroposophical literature, between the physical and the astral bodies there is the etheric body, so that in descending to that level we should encounter our etheric body and perhaps also traces of our physical body, which otherwise we see only from without but which we can recognise from within when we penetrate into it consciously.

Generally speaking, however, it is not good, nor is it without danger, to take a further step in mystical deepening beyond those mentioned yesterday. Everything spoken of then can be carried out cautiously by one who has acquired some knowledge of what is contained in the book>Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment or in the second part of Occult Science—an Outline.1Notably Chapter V. Knowledge of Higher Worlds. Concerning Initiation, p. 222 in the 1962-3 edition. Up to this point a man can progress independently. To go further along the path leading into the inner self, however, is not without danger; moreover it cannot be done at all in the way in which a man of the present day likes to acquire his spiritual knowledge. Accordingly a different path to knowledge is chosen in our time.

In modern civilisation it is no longer right to take the path leading to a deeper descent into the inner being without troubling about any other considerations. The fundamental characteristic of spiritual life today is that man subordinates himself to a certain degree only and wishes to tread his path of knowledge in the fullest possible freedom. We shall see that there is a path into the spiritual world which takes this desire into full account: it is the Rosicrucian path of knowledge. This is the true path of modern times. It did not exist in those Mysteries of antiquity where man was initiated into the deeper secrets of existence. There were Mysteries in which a man was simply led past the Lesser Guardian of the Threshold into his own inner being and there were others in which he was led out into the Macrocosm, necessarily in a kind of ecstasy. These were the two most usual paths in ancient times. The path of descent into the inner self was followed especially in those places of Initiation which are called the Mystery Sanctuaries of Osiris and Isis. And now, in order to explain what man can experience by descending into his inner being, we will speak of the experiences undergone by a pupil of the Osiris and Isis Mysteries. As we shall hear in the next lectures, it is possible today to attain the Initiation which brings knowledge of these Mysteries, but the path leading to that Initiation differs from what it once was.

In ancient Egypt something was necessary against which human nature, as it is today, would rebel. It was necessary in those times that at the point when the candidate for Initiation was to penetrate into the higher worlds—or even shortly before—he should not attempt to progress independently along his own path of knowledge but should entrust himself to an initiated teacher, to a Guru—the term used in oriental philosophy. Otherwise the path was too dangerous. As a general rule, even the steps towards mystical deepening described yesterday were undertaken under the guidance of a Guru.

What was the real purpose of this guidance by an initiated teacher? When we descend in the morning into our bodily nature, our soul is received by three Powers which have been called by names take from ancient terminology—the names of Venus, Mercury and Moon. Man can deal by himself with what is generally understood as the Venus influence when he is descending into his inner being. A certain training in humility and selflessness will enable him to hold his own in face of the Venus power. Before setting out on the path into the unknown realm of his own inner being he must suppress all impulses of egoism and self-love and cultivate selflessness. He must make himself into a being who feels love and sympathy, not for his fellow-men only but for all existence. Then, if need be, be can safely surrender himself in his conscious descent to the power known as that of Venus.

But it would be more dangerous if a man were to leave himself unaided at the mercy of the Mercury powers. In the ancient Egyptian Initiation he was therefore under the guidance of a great teacher whose own earlier experiences made him capable of being a leader because he was fully conscious of the way in which these Mercury powers could be controlled. A candidate for Initiation was therefore guided by a Hermes- or Mercury-priest. This entailed strict submission to whatever demands the teacher made upon the pupil. The pupil was compelled to make the resolve to eliminate his own Ego completely, to submit to no impulses of his own and to carry out meticulously what the Hermes-priest instructed him to do. It was essential for the pupil of the Osiris and Isis Mysteries to submit to this domination which would be repugnant to a man of today and to which, moreover, he need not subject himself. Obedience to the teacher through many years was necessary, not merely in the pupil's outer actions, but in those Mysteries he was compelled to entrust himself to the teacher's guidance even in his thoughts and feelings, in order to be able to descend without danger into a deeper level of his own inner being.

The lecture yesterday described what is meant by acquiring knowledge of the inner nature of the astral body. We will now consider what the pupil of the Osiris and Isis Mysteries was able, with the help of his teacher, to experience in connection with the etheric body. The elimination of his Ego caused him to see with the spiritual eyes of the teacher, to see himself through the teacher's eyes, to think the teacher's thoughts and to become a kind of external object to himself. In this way remarkable experiences came to him. They were experiences in which he felt as if his life were going backwards in time, as if his whole being—which he was now seeing with the spiritual eyes of the Hermes-priest—were spreading out and expanding; and simultaneously he felt as if he were going backwards in time into periods preceding his present life. Gradually he came to feel as if he were going back many, many years, a span of time very much longer than his life since birth. During this experience he saw, through the eyes of the initiated priest, first of all himself, and then, far out beyond, many generations whom he felt to be his forefathers. For a certain time the candidate for this Initiation had the feeling that he was moving backwards along the line of his ancestors—not as if he were identical with them, but as if he were hovering above them—moving backwards to a definite point, to a primeval ancestor. Then the impression faded—the impression of seeing earthly figures with whom his existence was in some way related.

The teacher had now to make clear to the candidate what it was that he had actually seen. Only in the following way can this become intelligible.—When we come into existence, having passed through the spiritual world between death and rebirth, we bear within us not only the characteristics derived from our preceding life but also our inherited traits. We are born into a family, into a people, into a race; we bear the inherited qualities of our ancestors. These qualities are not derived from the last incarnation but have been inherited from generation to generation. Now why is it that a man, with his inborn nature, incarnates in a particular family, in a particular people or race? Why, on descending to birth, does he seek out certain definite, inherited characteristics? He would never do so if he had no relation at all to them. In point of fact he was already connected with these attributes long before his birth. If we were to start from a particular individual and go back to his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and so on, we should find—if we were able to follow the line with inner vision—the inherited characteristics through a whole series of generations, as far back as one in particular, where all trace of heredity would vanish. The inherited characteristics are still present in their most attenuated form until finally they are lost altogether.

Just as we see the inherited characteristics finally disappearing, so by starting from an individual we can see how the qualities of the son are most similar to those of the father, rather less similar to those of the grandfather, still less similar to those of the great-grandfather, and so on. In the ancient Egyptian Mysteries of Osiris and Isis the priest led the candidate for Initiation back as far as the ancestor who still possessed characteristics which had been transmitted, through heredity, to the pupil himself. It was revealed to the pupil that man is connected in a certain way with his inherited qualities. Thus he established a relationship, spiritually, with that primeval ancestor from whom some quality in himself was derived. It was also revealed to him that the human being spends a long time preparing for himself in the spiritual world the qualities he is ultimately to inherit. Nor does he merely inherit them; in a certain sense he actually inculcates them into his ancestors. He continues to work through the whole series of generations until finally that physical body can be born towards which he feels drawn. Strange as it may seem, we ourselves have worked out of the spiritual world at the physical bodies of our own forefathers, in order gradually to shape and mould the attributes we finally receive at birth as inherited characteristics.

These things are revealed when a man descends into his own etheric body; it then becomes evident to him that the etheric body has a long history behind it. Long, long before entering existence through birth, he was himself working in the spiritual world at the preparation of the etheric body he now bears. He began to work at this etheric body when the most ancient ancestor from whom he still inherits qualities, came to the Earth. When it is said that man consists of physical body, etheric body, astral body, and so on, this is merely an indication. The only possibility of learning about it in greater precision is to acquaint ourselves with the information given by those who have themselves descended consciously into their bodily sheaths.

Thus man learns to move in the regions through which he passed before entering physical existence. He comes to know a portion of his life before birth, a portion which comprises centuries; for centuries have elapsed since the time when, between his last death and present birth, he began to form the archetype of his etheric body. It was then that there was laid into his blood the first seed of those special characteristics which were progressively elaborated, until the etheric body had reached the point of being able to absorb these characteristics at birth.-That is one side of the experience. What we inherit is a reconstruction, so to speak, of everything we ourselves have had to do previously in the spiritual world in order to be able to enter into physical existence. Therefore the qualities that are concentrated as it were in the present etheric body and were given their stamp through the foregoing centuries, have always been called the “Upper”—meaning the heavenly or spiritual man. This is the technical expression for the fact that by penetrating into his etheric body man learns to know his “upper” nature. The expression “heavenly” or “spiritual” man was also used because it was realised that these attributes had been formed and fashioned from the spiritual world through which the man had passed during the period between his last death and the present birth.

And now as to the other side of the experience.—When the pupil had been led to a certain stage by the priest of Hermes, he was confronted by something that may at first have seemed strange, but was explained by his teacher as a phenomenon that should not be altogether unknown to him. The pupil soon recognised that he was being confronted with something he himself had left behind, something intimately connected with him, though it now faced him as a foreign entity. What was this? We shall understand it best by considering the moment of death in the light of what spiritual investigation discloses. At that moment a man discards his physical body; his Ego and astral body remain—namely, those members of his being which every night pass into the state of sleep—and also, for a short time, what we are now trying to study from within, namely, the etheric body. For a few days after death man lives in these three members of his being. But then the main part of the etheric body passes away from him like a second corpse. It is always said—and I myself have constantly indicated it—that what then departs as a second corpse is dispersed in the etheric world; the man takes with him only an extract, a seed, of it into the life he is now beginning between death and his next birth. What there passes over as a second corpse into the universal ether needs a considerable time to dissolve; and it is the last traces of the dissolving etheric body of his previous life that the candidate for Initiation finds as a foreign entity when he has passed backwards spiritually to the point where he arrives at the last ancestor from whom he has inherited any quality. There he makes contact with the last remnants of his previous etheric body. And now, if he continues the process of Initiation, he must penetrate as it were into this last etheric body of his, which he has left behind. Then he lives backwards through further years—almost, but not quite as long as the period he previously lived through until he encounters his earliest ancestor. The time is in the ratio of five to seven. The man now lives through a time in which he finds, as it were in ever denser form, what confronts him as the last remnant from his past life; as it becomes more and more definitely formed, its resemblance to his last etheric body grows until he finally recognises the form his etheric body had assumed at the moment of his last death. And now, after this form has still further condensed, has more and more assumed human shape, he is face to face with his last death. At that moment, for one who is initiated, there is no longer any doubt that reincarnation is a truth, for he has actually gone back to his last death. Thus we have now come to know what man finds as a remnant of his last earthly life. In spiritual science this has at all times been called the “Lower” or the “earthly” man. The pupil now connected the “Upper” with the “Lower” man; he followed the “Lower” to the point where he reached his last life on Earth.

Thus during his Initiation the pupil passed through a cycle leading from his last earthly life to his present earthly life. He united himself in an act of spiritual vision with what he had become in his previous incarnation. In spiritual science this process has always been called a “cycle” and it was originally expressed by the symbol of the snake biting its own tail. This same symbol was used in connection with many happenings, among them for the experience just described, the experience undergone by one who was initiated in the Mysteries of Osiris and Isis.

Obviously, therefore, there is much more to be said about the etheric body than merely stating that it is one member of man's being. The essential nature of the etheric body can only become known by descending into our own inner self; we then come to know the two beings who are united in every man, and we also recognise how karma works. We are then able to explain to ourselves how it happens that we enter existence through birth in a quite definite way. We were obliged as it were to wait from the preceding death until the new birth, until the old etheric body had dissolved; only then could a beginning be made with forming the new one. This makes it evident that in fact a man has not completely got rid of the products of his dissolved etheric body. And by descending into his own inner being he may also find the other part which has actually dissolved, because he has retained an extract of it. If this were not the case it would be impossible for him to find any trace of it again.

When these things are communicated gradually, even in public lectures on Spiritual Science, you will realise how well-founded they are. You are now at the point where you can see the reason for the statement made, even in exoteric lectures, that an extract or essence of the etheric body remains. All these data are the result of spiritual investigation and are based upon the deepest imaginable foundations.

Thus a man has gone back as far as his last death, and in following the process we have heard of certain qualities which one who is entering into deeper forms of mystical experience learns to know through his Initiation. Yesterday we heard of astral qualities—the feeling of infinite gratitude on the one side and, on the other, the feeling of greatly enhanced obligation and responsibility experienced by the mystic in his astral body. Today we have beard of the “Upper” and the “Lower” man, the “Above” and the “Below”, experienced by the mystic when he descends into his etheric body.

The further steps on the path of Initiation then lead the pupil to the point where, after having arrived in his spiritual retrospect at his last death, he can go further and come to know his last earthly life. But again this is by no means an easy matter. Under his teacher's guidance the pupil is once again reminded that he must not go further until he has achieved complete forgetfulness of self; for it is impossible to make real progress as long as there remains any shred of personal self-consciousness of this present incarnation, this present life between birth and death. As long as a man still calls anything his own he cannot attain knowledge of his preceding incarnation. In the ordinary, normal life between birth and death he cannot come to know the being who in the preceding incarnation was a completely different personality. He must be capable of regarding himself as some quite different being—that is the important point—and yet not lose hold of himself when obliged to have this experience. He must be capable of transformation to the degree of being able to feel himself slipping as it were into a quite different bodily sheath. Having attained the degree of selflessness where everything to do with the present incarnation is forgotten, and having utterly given himself up to the teacher, the pupil is then able to pass back through the last incarnation from the death to the birth. Then he experiences, not the things that were seen externally during that last incarnation, but what he made of himself by his endeavours during that life. What the eyes saw, the ears heard and what confronted him in the outer world is experienced in a different way. What is now experienced are the efforts he made in the bygone incarnation with the object of advancing a step forward.

Having re-experienced these efforts the pupil is led back again by the teacher to his present incarnation. The step from the previous to the present incarnation is taken rapidly and then the pupil finds his bearings again. He now has a strange feeling of being two personalities, as if he has brought an additional one with him from the spiritual world into his present personality. This gives rise to the feeling of living in the physical body. A man cannot experience himself in the physical body except by feeling that he has entered it with the fruits of a preceding incarnation.

I have repeatedly reminded you that in normal everyday life a man sees the physical body only from outside. Now for the first time he realises what it means to see the physical body from within. To see himself within his own physical body is only possible in the light of the experiences of his preceding incarnation. But that is not enough; only little can be learned from it about the present physical body. When the teacher has brought the pupil to the point of standing consciously within his own being together with his previous personality, he must take him back once again over the path already followed. The pupil now retraces the path from the penultimate birth to the penultimate death; he undergoes again what he experienced in his “Upper” and “Lower” being, and through the penultimate death reaches back to the penultimate incarnation. A single cycle brings him back to the last incarnation only; thereupon the second cycle must be undertaken, bringing him back to the penultimate incarnation. This gives rise to the feeling of being a third personality who is included in the two preceding personalities.

The cycle can be repeated again and again, until the pupil reaches an epoch lying far, far back in the evolution of the Earth, a far distant age of civilisation. Then he finds that as an earlier personality he was incarnated in preceding epochs of culture, for example in the Greco-Latin epoch; earlier still in the Egyptian, in the ancient Persian, in the ancient Indian, and even further back in the Atlantean and the Lemurian epochs. There is then no more possibility of having such experiences as have been described. A man can follow his own course through every conceivable civilisation and race, right back to the beginning of his earthly evolution, to his very first incarnation on the Earth. Then it is found that all the earlier incarnations continue as forces in what may be called the inmost essence of the physical body. So you see, when it is said in exoteric language that man consists of physical, etheric and astral bodies, this means that he consists of something which, when viewed from within, seems like a number of consecutive incarnations superimposed one above the other. In point of fact, all our incarnations are at work in the inmost nature of our physical body. And when we speak of the etheric body we must bear in mind that, viewed from within, it appears as a cycle running backwards from the present birth to the last death. The qualities and characteristics of the sheaths into which we descend in mystical experience are revealed.

When a man has retraced his course right back to his first incarnation, he experiences a great deal more as well. At this point of his retrospective journey he discovers that in a certain epoch of the Earth's evolution he was in an entirely different environment, that the Earth itself was quite different when he was living in his first incarnation.

When we look out into the world today, three kingdoms of Nature confront us: the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms. We also have these three kingdoms within us. We have within us the animal kingdom because we possess an astral body which in a certain way permeates our external, physical body with force and energy; we have within us the plant kingdom because we possess an etheric or life-body, of which something similar may be said; we have the mineral kingdom within us because we take mineral substances into ourselves and let them pass through our organism. When we ascend far enough into the spiritual world to reach our first incarnation while experiencing the physical body from within, we become aware that at that time the Earth has just reached the point of its development when the mineral kingdom in its present form first came into existence and it was therefore possible for us to pass through our first physical embodiment because we were able to take mineral substance into ourselves.

You may say: Yes, but was this mineral kingdom not in existence earlier than the plant and animal kingdoms? Anyone who thinks correctly will realise that ordinary coal is something that has come from the plant; first it was plantlike and then became mineral. Under conditions different from those of today the plant kingdom could exist before there was a mineral kingdom. The mineral kingdom was a later formation. Under different conditions the plant kingdom was already in existence before there was any mineral kingdom. The mineral kingdom was a product of hardening—hardening of the plant kingdom. And at the time of the formation of the mineral kingdom on our Earth, man had his first earthly incarnation. The mineral kingdom has evolved through long periods of time, during which man has been passing through his earthly incarnations. It was then that he first took the mineral kingdom into himself. Before then his bodily make-up was of a quite different consistency, without mineral substance. For this reason it was at all times said in spiritual science that in its evolution the Earth progressed to the point where the mineral kingdom was formed and at the same time man took the mineral kingdom into himself.

So we see how by descending into his own being deeply enough to have knowledge of his physical body from within, man comes to a point where he emerges, comes forth from, himself. What else could be expected? Through our astral body we are related to the animals, through our etheric body to the plants and through our physical body to the minerals. No wonder that when we descend as far as to the physical body we come upon the mineral kingdom and pass into it. Not indeed into the mineral kingdom as it is now, but as it was at the time when it came into existence in the ancient Lemurian epoch. Our present epoch followed that of Atlantis, and the Lemurian epoch preceded Atlantis. Before the great Atlantean catastrophe the face of the Earth was quite different from what it is today. We lived on a great continent stretching between Europe and Africa on the one side and America on the other. This was the Atlantean epoch. In a still earlier epoch the configuration of the Earth was again different. Human beings-we ourselves in earlier incarnations-lived on a continent stretching between Australia, Africa and Asia. This was ancient Lemuria, the name also used by modern science. That was the time when man passed through his first incarnation and when the mineral kingdom of the Earth took shape. That too was the time when the present Moon in the heavens separated from the Earth.

Thus we have seen that by descending into and acquiring knowledge of our own being through genuine mystical deepening under the guidance of a teacher, we also emerge from ourselves in a certain sense. The path leads us out of ourselves to the Mineral Earth whence we have derived our physical substance.

This is the one path that I wanted to describe to you, the path which could be followed and was indeed followed by many human beings in the ancient Mysteries of Isis and Osiris. It could only be followed under the guidance of a teacher to whom the candidate for Initiation subjected himself entirely. Unless the individual had submitted his Ego entirely to his teacher he would never have been able to tread the path that has been described, for he would have come to know only the very worst sides of his inner being, what he had made of himself through his own self-seeking Ego.

During the next few days we shall describe the other path by speaking of the Northern Mysteries, where man was led, not into himself but out of himself, into the heavens. Then, as well as these two paths which owing to the progressive development of human nature and its consequent insistence on freedom are no longer suitable, we shall study the path that is right for modern humanity: the Rosicrucian path.

It only remains to be said that certain later mystics strove to find help solely in themselves when they had no Guru or teacher to follow so strictly. They were able to find help in a different way and it is interesting that the path they trod can be explained in the light of what has here been described. Think, for example, of Meister Eckhart, the medieval mystic. He was one who had no leader or teacher as did candidates in the ancient Mysteries of Isis and Osiris. The descent into his inner being would have been fraught with great dangers for him had he persisted beyond a certain point in these efforts to achieve inner deepening by his own method. At a certain moment he could scarcely have escaped the claims of his Ego. For the danger on this descent into a man's inner being is that his Ego may assert itself for its own selfish aims. Long speeches may be made about finding the God within. But people who talk in this vein have usually not made much real progress. If they had, they would inevitably discover that the self-seeking Ego asserts itself with terrific force. It may often be found that such people, when following the ordinary conventions of life, are good and decent characters, but directly they practise mystical deepening and ignore influences from outside, their inner self asserts itself. If education has hitherto made them desire to speak the truth it may happen that as soon as their self-seeking Ego asserts its claims, they begin to lie profusely; they become underhand, more intensely selfish than others. Such traits may often be observed in mystics who have been badly guided, who like to speak constantly of the need to find the “higher man” within themselves. In such cases, however, it is not a “higher man” but a being inferior even by conventional standards. It behoves everyone to protect himself from claims made by his own self-seeking Ego. And mystics with good and healthy propensities, such as Meister Eckhart, tried to do so. In the Egyptian Mysteries the candidate for Initiation was guarded in this respect by the priest of Hermes who had taken charge of him. Meister Eckhart had no leader or teacher in that sense of the word; Tauler had one from a certain time in his life onwards. [* See Mysticism at the Dawn of the Modern Age, by Rudolf Steiner. The teacher who came to Tauler was known as the ‘Friend of God from the Oberland.’] By what means did Meister Eckhart protect himself against the claims of his own Ego? Like nearly all medieval Christian mystics who had no actual Guru because the time was approaching when human nature would rebel against it, Eckhart protected himself by inducing a feeling of the greatest intensity: Now you are no longer yourself; you have become a different being; a being other than yourself is thinking, feeling and willing within you. Let your whole self be filled with Christ!—Eckhart made the saying of Paul a reality: ‘Not I, but Christ in me.’ He was one who had experienced this transformation; he had laid aside his own self. He eliminated his Ego and felt himself filled with a different Ego. The word Entwerdung (as the opposite of “becoming”) was a beautiful expression used by medieval mystics. Mystics such as Meister Eckhart, or the writer of the work known as Theologica Deutsch, let a higher man, a being able to quicken and inspire, speak in them. Hence their constant insistence that their aim was to surrender the self entirely to the being they experienced within them.

From this we see how with the approach of the modern age the medieval Christian mystics put in the place of an external Guru, an inner leader: the Christ.

We shall hear in the next lecture what has now to be done in order that a man rooted in the spiritual life of today may find the path enabling him to maintain intact the character and constitution of his soul. We have spoken of the path taken in the Northern Mysteries in order to experience the Macrocosm into which man enters on going to sleep. We shall begin tomorrow by describing the process of going to sleep and then pass on to speak of the macrocosmic spheres into which man finds his way through methods belonging to the modern path of knowledge leading into the higher worlds.

Fünfter Vortrag

Wir stehen heute vor einer verhältnismäßig schwierigen Aufgabe. Die verehrten Zuhörer werden aber die heutigen etwas starken Zumutungen hinnehmen, wenn gleichzeitig gesagt wird, daß wir dann schon in den nächsten Tagen wiederum Terrain gewinnen werden, auf dem wir den Boden mehr unter den Füßen fühlen. Aber wenn man in der Geisteswissenschaft nicht stehenbleiben will bei bloßen Abstraktionen, wenn man sich zu den Wirklichkeiten durchringen will, dann müssen zuweilen schon auch Mitteilungen willig entgegengenommen werden, welche den höheren Gebieten des geistigen Erkennens angehören. Hinzugefügt werden kann noch, daß es sich bei den heutigen Ausführungen durchaus nicht handelt um irgendwelche Deduktionen, um irgendwelche bloß theoretische Ableitungen, sondern daß es sich um Dinge handelt, welche von denen immer gewußt worden sind, welche überhaupt tiefer in diese Dinge eingedrungen sind. Also um Mitteilung von Erkenntnissen bestimmter Menschen wird es sich handeln.

Wir haben gestern gesehen, wie der Mensch sich zurechtfinden könnte innerhalb dessen, was man das Innere seines astralischen Leibes nennt, wenn er beim Aufwachen bewußt untertauchen könnte in diesen seinen astralischen Leib, und wir haben uns einen Begriff verschafft von dem, was es heißt, vorbeizukommen an dem sogenannten kleinen Hüter der Schwelle. Nun ist eigentlich das, was gestern auseinandergesetzt worden ist, ziemlich hypothetisch, denn im normalen Leben tritt ja dieser Moment im Grunde genommen niemals ein, daß der Mensch bewußt hineindringen würde in sein Inneres durch das bloße Aufwachen. Wir haben allerdings gesagt, daß der Mensch sich durch das, was man mystische Versenkung nennt, vorbereiten kann zu einem solchen bewußten Hineinsteigen in seine äußeren Leibeshüllen. Was das heißt, wird sich uns aber erst im Laufe der Vorträge zeigen, und worin diese Vorbereitung besteht, werden wir auch noch hören. Für das normale Bewußtsein liegt höchstens zuweilen das vor, daß der Mensch durch Verhältnisse, die in seinen vorhergehenden Verkörperungen liegen, solche Momente bewußten Aufwachens hat. Das kommt bei einzelnen Menschen vor. Sie wachen so auf, daß sie das Gefühl einer gewissen Beklemmung haben. Dieses Gefühl der Beklemmung rührt davon her, daß der innere Mensch, der während der Nacht im Makrokosmos ausgebreitet war und sich frei fühlte, sozusagen in das Gefängnis seines Leibes wieder zurückgeht. Dann kann auch ein anderes Gefühl beim Aufwachen da sein. Dieses Gefühl könnte man mehr so charakterisieren, daß man sagt, der Mensch fühlt sich, wenn solche abnormen Zustände eintreten, im Momente des Aufwachens besser, als er sich im Laufe des Tages fühlt. Er fühlt, daß in ihm etwas ist, was er seinen besseren Menschen nennen könnte. Das rührt davon her, daß der Mensch beim Aufwachen ein Nachgefühl da hat, daß ihm etwas zugeflossen ist aus Welten heraus, die höher sind als seine eigene Sinneswelt. Das sind solche Gefühle, die sich im normalen Bewußtsein einstellen können und in denen schon im natürlichen Leben eine gewisse Bestätigung des gestern Gesagten gesehen werden kann. Aber im vollen Umfange kann doch nur von dem echten, wahren Mystiker erlebt werden, was beschrieben worden ist.

Es handelt sich nun aber darum, ob man auch weitergehen kann. Denn das, was man da erlebt, was gestern geschildert worden ist, das ist die Innenseite des geistigen Teiles des äußeren Menschen; es ist die Innenseite dessen, was man den astralischen Leib des Menschen nennt. Es fragt sich nun, ob man noch tiefer hinuntersteigen kann zu weniger geistigen Teilen, vielmehr zu solchen Teilen der Menschennatur, die sich im gewöhnlichen Leben weniger geistig darstellen. Sie können deshalb doch in ihren Grundlagen durchaus geistig sein, denn alles, was uns in der äußeren Welt entgegentritt, hat im tieferen Hintergrunde ein Geistiges. Es fragt sich, ob man noch weiter hinuntersteigen kann bis zu dem physischen Leib und ob zwischen dem astralischen Leib, der das zunächst Geistigste ist, und diesem physischen Leib noch etwas anderes liegt. Die anthroposophischen Bücher beschreiben ja dieses andere als den Äther- oder Lebensleib, so daß, wenn wir hinuntersteigen, wir antreffen müßten, nachdem wir uns mit dem astralischen Leib von innen bekannt gemacht haben, den Ätherleib und vielleicht auch irgendwelche Spur unseres physischen Leibes, den wir ja sonst nur von außen ansehen, den wir aber von innen durch ein solches bewußtes Hineintreten in unsere Leiblichkeit doch auch erkennen können.

Nur ist es im allgemeinen nicht gut, es ist nicht gefahrlos, einen Schritt weiterzugehen in bezug auf mystische Vertiefung, als gestern angeführt worden ist. Alles, was gestern angeführt worden ist, kann nur sehr vorsichtig von dem Menschen gemacht werden, der sich eine Kenntnis von dem aneignet, was Sie finden in meiner Schrift: «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» oder in dem zweiten Teile meiner «Geheimwissenschaft», worüber Sie in den nächsten Vorträgen noch hören werden. Soweit kann sich also der Mensch zunächst selber helfen. Aber weiterzugehen auf diesem Wege in das menschliche Innere ist nicht gefahrlos, und in der Weise, wie der Mensch heute gerne seine geistigen Erkenntnisse erwirbt, läßt sich das auch gar nicht machen. Daher werden wir sehen, daß heute ein anderer Erkenntnisweg gewählt wird. Der Weg, tief in das menschliche Innere hinunterzusteigen, ohne sich um etwas anderes zu kümmern, der soll in unserer heutigen Kultur normalerweise nicht mehr beschritten werden. Unser heutiges Geistesleben ist so angelegt, daß der Mensch sich nur bis zu einem gewissen Grade gerne unterordnet, daß er in möglichster Freiheit auch seinen Erkenntnisweg gehen will. Wir werden sehen, daß es auch einen Weg in die geistigen Welten hinein gibt, welcher dieser Eigentümlichkeit der heutigen Menschennatur in vollem Umfange Rechnung trägt, und wir werden diesen Weg, den sogenannten rosenkreuzerischen Erkenntnisweg, als den wahren zeitgemäßen Erkenntnisweg kennenlernen. Aber dieser Erkenntnisweg ist ein Weg der neueren Zeiten. Er war in den Mysterien, das heißt in denjenigen Stätten, in denen der Mensch im Altertum in die tieferen Geheimnisse eingeführt wurde, noch nicht vorhanden. Da gab es solche Mysterien, welche den Menschen einfach vorbeiführten an dem kleinen Hüter der Schwelle und ihn hineinführten in sein eigenes Innere, und solche Mysterien, welche den Menschen hinausführten in die große Welt, so daß er eine Art Ekstase durchzumachen hatte. Diese beiden Wege sind diejenigen, welche vorzugsweise in den alten Zeiten beschritten und durchgemacht worden sind. Der Weg des Hineinsteigens in das eigene Innere wurde am besten, am intensivsten durchgemacht in denjenigen Einweihungsstätten, welche man die ägyptischen Mysterien, die Osiris- und Isismysterien nennt; und wir werden uns heute, um zu schildern, was der Mensch bei diesem Hineinsteigen in sein Inneres erleben kann, ein wenig anzulehnen haben an die Erfahrungen eines Schülers der Isis- und Osirismysterien. Man kann heute, wie wir in den folgenden Vorträgen sehen werden, durchaus jene Einweihung erlangen, die zur vollen Erkenntnis dieser Mysterien führt, aber nicht mehr auf demselben Weg wie im alten Ägypten. Im alten Ägypten war etwas notwendig, wogegen sich die heutige Menschennatur auflehnen würde. Es war nämlich notwendig, daß an dem Punkte, wo der Mensch hineinsteigen sollte in das eigene Innere - oder schon früher -, der Mensch nicht mehr unabhängig durch eigene Erkenntnispfade seine Fortschritte suchte, sondern daß er sich anvertraute dem, was man mit einem Ausdrucke der orientalischen Philosophie einen Guru nennt, einem großen eingeweihten Lehrer. Sonst war der Weg zu gefahrvoll für den Einzelnen. In der Regel war es so, daß schon die Schritte der mystischen Versenkung, welche gestern beschrieben worden sind, unter Anleitung des Guru, des großen eingeweihten Lehrers, gemacht worden sind.

Was hat denn eigentlich die Leitung dieser großen eingeweihten Lehrer für einen Zweck? Wir haben in einem früheren Vortrag gehört, daß, wenn wir des Morgens untertauchen in unsere Leiblichkeit, unsere Seelen von drei Mächten in Empfang genommen werden, die wir bezeichnet haben mit Ausdrücken, die einer alten Terminologie entnommen sind, als Venusmacht, Merkurmacht, Mondmacht. Was man im allgemeinen unter Venusmacht versteht, das ist etwas, was der Mensch noch allein mit sich selber abmachen kann, wenn er in sein eigenes Innere hinuntersteigt. Er kann dadurch fertig werden mit der Venusmacht, daß er eine gewisse Erziehung erhält in Demut und Selbstlosigkeit. Bevor er einen solchen Gang in die unbekannten Welten seines eigenen Inneren unternimmt, muß er alle egoistischen Triebe, die Triebe der Eigenliebe unterdrücken und sich erziehen zur Selbstlosigkeit. Er muß sich zu einem Wesen machen, das Liebe und Mitleid empfindet, nicht nur für seine Mitmenschen, sondern für alles Dasein. Dann kann er sich allenfalls noch jener Macht überlassen, wenn er in seine Leiblichkeit hinuntersteigt, die wir mit dem Ausdruck Venusmächte bezeichnet haben. Aber gefährlicher würde die Sache schon werden, wenn der Mensch sich selber auch denjenigen Mächten überlassen wollte, die wir bezeichnet haben als Merkurmächte. Da wurde er bei den alten ägyptischen Einweihungen geleitet von dem großen Lehrer, welcher durch seine früheren Erlebnisse in einer ganz bewußten Weise diese Merkurmächte handhaben konnte. Von einem Hermes- oder Merkurpriester wurde der Mensch in sein eigenes Innere geführt. Das erforderte allerdings eine strenge Unterwerfung unter alles das, was dieser große Lehrer von dem Schüler forderte. Es erforderte einen solchen Grad von Unterwerfung, daß der Schüler sich entschließen mußte, sein eigenes Ich nunmehr ganz auszuschalten, nichts selber zu wollen, bis in seine Seele hinein nichts selber an eigenen Impulsen zu haben, sondern strenge nur das auszuführen, was ihm der Hermespriester auftrug. Diese Botmäßigkeit, welche dem heutigen Menschen widerstreben würde und der er sich auch nicht mehr zu unterwerfen braucht, mußte sich der Schüler der ägyptischen Mysterien durchaus aneignen. Er mußte durch viele Jahre dem Lehrer folgen nicht nur in bezug auf seine äußeren Taten, er mußte bis in seine Gedanken hinein, bis in seine Gefühlswelt hinein sich der Führung dieses Lehrers anvertrauen, damit er gefahrlos hinuntersteigen konnte in sein eigenes Innere. Jetzt kommen wir zu den Dingen, die viele Menschen erlebt haben, die also erzählt werden aus den Erlebnissen heraus, die der Mensch erlebte an der Hand seines großen Führers, und die man bezeichnen könnte, indem man sagt: Der Mensch lernte eine tiefere Schicht seines eigenen Inneren kennen. Wir haben gestern anschaulich und konkret beschrieben, was es heißt, von innen seinen astralischen Leib kennenzulernen. Jetzt wollen wir einmal einiges von dem erzählen, was an der Hand seines Führers der Einzuweihende in den Isis- und Osirismysterien in bezug auf den Äther- oder Lebensleib des Menschen erlebte. Da wurde der Mensch durch die Ausschaltung seines Ich dazu veranlaßt, daß er mit den geistigen Augen seines Lehrers sah, daß er dachte mit den Gedanken seines Lehrers, daß er sich selber eine Art von Außending wurde und mit den Augen seines Lehrers sich selber ansah. Und da wurde er eingeführt in merkwürdige Erlebnisse, in Erlebnisse, bei denen er das Gefühl hatte, es ginge das Leben der Zeit nach zurück; und gleichzeitig hatte er das Gefühl, als ob sich sein ganzes Wesen, das er jetzt ansah durch die geistigen Augen des Hermespriesters, verbreiterte, wüchse. Er hatte das Gefühl, als ob er in sich selber sich verbreiterte, als ob er hinaufwüchse in Zeiten, die seinem jetzigen Leben vorangegangen sind, als ob er in der Zeitenfolge zurückginge. Und er bekam allmählich das Gefühl, daß er viele, viele Jahre zurückginge, eine Zeitenlänge, die weit länger, vielmal länger war als sein Leben, das er durchlebt hat von seiner Geburt an; also ein weites Zurückgehen in der Zeitenfolge erlebte der Schüler. Und während er dies erlebte, sah er, indem er mit den Augen des eingeweihten Lehrers sah, zunächst sich selber, dann aber sah er weiter hinauf in der Zeitenfolge viele Generationen, von denen er das Gefühl hatte, daß sie seine Vorfahren waren. Es hatte der Einzuweihende eine gewisse Zeit hindurch das Gefühl, daß er die Reihe seiner Vorfahren hinaufwandelte, aber nicht so, daß er etwa in diesen Vorfahren darin wäre, nicht so, als ob er identisch wäre mit seinen Vorfahren, sondern als ob er sozusagen über ihnen schwebte bis zu einem gewissen Punkt, bis zu einem uralten Ahnen hinauf. Dann verlor sich der Eindruck. Es war, als ob er Erdengestalten sähe, auf welche sich sein eigenes Dasein irgendwie bezog.

Nun handelte es sich darum, daß der Führer dem Einzuweihenden klar machte, was er da eigentlich gesehen hatte. Wir können uns nur auf folgende Weise begreiflich machen, was er gesehen hatte. Wenn man durch die Geburt ins Dasein schreitet, also mit seinem geistigen Wesen, nachdem man durch die geistige Welt zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt gegangen ist, da trägt man an sich nicht bloß die Eigentümlichkeiten, die man sich aus dem vorhergehenden Leben mitbringt, sondern da trägt man an sich - das weiß ja jeder, der das Leben betrachtet - alles, was man vererbte Eigenschaften nennt. Man wird in eine Familie, in ein Volk, in eine Rasse hineingeboren. Man trägt dadurch dasjenige in sich, was man vererbte Eigenschaften nennt; die Erbstücke seiner Ahnen trägt man in sich. Diese Erbstücke bringt man sich natürlich nicht aus seiner letzten Verkörperung mit, sondern die haben sich heruntervererbt von Generation zu Generation. Nun handelt es sich darum, zu erkennen: Was macht es denn, daß der Mensch mit seinem innersten Wesen sich gerade in einer bestimmten Familie, in einem bestimmten Volke, in einer bestimmten Rasse verkörpert? Was macht es denn, daß er bei seinem Herabsteigen durch die Geburt ganz bestimmte Vererbungsmerkmale aufsucht? - Er würde niemals diese bestimmten Merkmale aufsuchen, wenn er zu ihnen in gar keiner Beziehung stünde. Der Mensch steht in der Tat schon lange vor seiner Geburt in einer Verbindung zu diesen Eigenschaften. Wenn wir ausgehen von einem bestimmten Menschen und hinaufgehen zu seinem Vater, Großvater, Urgroßvater und so weiter, so würden sich, wenn man das wirklich innerlich verfolgen könnte, die Vererbungsmerkmale zeigen durch eine ganz bestimmte Anzahl von Generationen, bis zu einer gewissen Generation hin. Dann verlieren sich diese Vererbungsmerkmale. Das heißt, Sie können eine Reihe von Generationen verfolgen, und Sie werden finden, daß durch sie die Vererbungsmerkmale heruntergehen. Zuletzt sind sie in ihrem verdünntesten Zustande noch vorhanden, dann verlieren sie sich ganz.

So wie wir die Vererbungsmerkmale durch die Generationen nach und nach verschwinden sehen, so können wir finden, wenn wir von einem Menschen ausgehen, wie das, was beim Sohn vorhanden ist, am ähnlichsten ist beim Vater, etwas weniger beim Großvater, beim Urgroßvater noch weniger und so weiter. Nun führte der einzuweihende Isis- und OÖsirispriester tatsächlich den Menschen so weit zurück, bis er zu jenem Ahnen aufstieg, welcher noch Merkmale in sich hatte, die die Kraft der Vererbung bis zu ihm hingebracht haben. Das zeigt uns, daß der Mensch gewisse Beziehungen hat zu dem, was wir seine Vererbungsmerkmale nennen. Es ist in der Tat so, daß wir auf geistige Weise in Beziehung getreten sind zu jenem Ahnen, von dem wir noch etwas ererbt haben, zu jenem Urururahnen, von dem wir noch irgendwelche, wenn auch noch so verdünnte Eigenschaften in uns haben. Ja, es ist in einer gewissen Weise so, daß der Mensch sich lange das vorbereitet, was zuletzt seine vererbten Merkmale sind. Er erbt sie nicht bloß, sondern er gibt sie in einem gewissen Sinne seinen Vorfahren, impft sie ihnen aus der geistigen Welt ein. Er arbeitet durch ganze Generationen hindurch so, daß zuletzt derjenige physische Leib geboren werden kann, zu dem er sich hingezogen fühlt. So sonderbar das klingt, es ist so, daß wir selber gearbeitet haben aus der geistigen Welt an den physischen Leibern unserer Vorfahren, um nach und nach aus der geistigen Welt heraus jene Eigenschaften zu gestalten, welche wir zuletzt als vererbte Merkmale bei der Geburt mitbekommen.

Das ist es, was zunächst sich zeigt, wenn der Mensch in seinen eigenen Äther- oder Lebensleib hinuntergeführt wird. Es zeigt sich ihm, daß dieser Ätherleib, den er jetzt an sich trägt, in der Tat eine lange Geschichte hat, daß er lange von ihm vorbereitet worden ist. Lange, lange bevor er durch diese Geburt ins Dasein treten kann, war von ihm selber in der geistigen Welt gearbeitet worden an dem Äther- oder Lebensleib, den er jetzt trägt. Und er hat angefangen, an diesem Ätherleib zu arbeiten in dem Moment, wo der älteste Vorfahr die physische Erde betreten hat, von dem der Mensch noch vererbte Merkmale bekommen hat. Das ist wahres Erleben von einem Stück unseres Ätherleibes. Damit, daß man aufzählt, der Mensch besteht aus physischem Leib, Äther- oder Lebensleib, astralischem Leib und Ich - damit hat man nur gewisse Hinweise gegeben, gewisse Kernlehren. Wie sich das ausnimmt, was da als unser eigenes Innere hüllenhaft existiert, das kann man nur dadurch kennenlernen, daß man sich bekannt macht mit den Mitteilungen derjenigen, die in dieses menschliche Hüllenwerk selber hinuntergestiegen sind.

So lernt also der Mensch, durch seine eigene Geburt hindurchschreitend, diejenigen Reiche betreten, die er durchwandelt hat, bevor er ins Dasein durch die Geburt getreten ist; so lernt er als Mystiker ein Stück seines Lebens vor der Geburt kennen, ein großes Stück, das Jahrhunderte umfaßt. Denn es sind Jahrhunderte, die er da durchschreitet, bis zu der Zeit, wo er in dem Leben zwischen dem letzten Tod und der jetzigen Geburt angefangen hat, das Urbild seines Ätherleibes zu formen. In dem Augenblick, wo er damit anfing, schoß in das Blut eines physischen Menschen der erste Keim der besonderen Merkmale, die sich immer mehr und mehr ausprägten, bis dieser Ätherleib so weit war, daß er die von ihm selber mitbewirkten Merkmale mit der Geburt übernehmen konnte. Das ist die eine Seite des Erlebten. Was man da erlebt, das ist sozusagen ein Nachkonstruieren alles desjenigen, was man, lange bevor man in dieser Inkarnation durch die Geburt ins Dasein getreten ist, selber in der geistigen Welt hat tun müssen. Was man da gebaut und dann gleichsam zusammengeschoben, zusammengepreßt hat in seinen jetzigen Ätherleib, was sich im Ätherleib kondensiert hat durch Jahrhunderte hindurch, das nannte man das «Obere», den himmlischen oder den geistigen Menschen. So daß der technische Ausdruck existierte: Der Mensch lernt durch das Hineinsteigen in den Äther- oder Lebensleib sein Oberes kennen. -— Man nannte das den himmlischen oder den geistigen Menschen, weil der Mensch empfinden mußte, daß das, was von ihm heruntergestiegen ist, gebildet ist aus dem geistigen Lande heraus.

Wenn der Mensch nun so weit geführt worden war durch den Hermeseingeweihten, dann lernte er etwas anderes kennen. Dann lernte er etwas kennen, was ihm zunächst vielleicht fremd war, was ihm aber durchaus von dem Lehrer erklärt wurde als etwas, was ihm doch nicht so ganz fremd sein durfte. Es wurde ihm gezeigt - und der Schüler lernte alsbald merken, daß das richtig ist -, daß ihm da etwas entgegentritt, was er selber einmal aus seinem eigenen Menschen zurückgelassen hatte, was von ihm hinterblieben war, was mit ihm in innigster Verwandtschaft stand, was ihm aber jetzt wie ein Äußerliches, wie ein Fremdes gegenübertrat. Was ist dies, mit dem sich da der Mensch in einer ganz merkwürdigen Art verband? Wir werden es am besten verstehen, wenn wir von einer Beschreibung des Momentes des Todes ausgehen.

Die Geistesforschung zeigt uns ja, daß im Moment des Todes der Mensch seinen physischen Leib ablegt. Dann bleibt von ihm dasjenige vorhanden, was wir kennengelernt haben als Ich und Astralleib, die jede Nacht während des Schlafzustandes herausgehen, und es bleibt zunächst vorhanden der Äther- oder Lebensleib. Der Mensch lebt nun nach dem Tode einige Zeit, die sich allerdings nur nach Tagen beläuft, in diesen drei Gliedern seiner Wesenheit: in seinem Ich, in seinem astralischen Leib und in seinem Ätherleib. Dann aber geht der wesentlichste Teil seines Ätherleibes wie ein zweiter Leichnam von ihm fort. Es wird immer gesagt - es wurde auch von mir, wie ich glaube, mit Recht angedeutet -, daß dasjenige, was da als zweiter Leichnam abgeht, sich zerstreut in der allgemeinen Ätherwelt, sich auflöst, und der Mensch nur eine Essenz, einen Extrakt, einen Samen mitnimmt in das Leben, das er nun zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt antritt. So wird dieser Vorgang gewöhnlich dargestellt, aber er ist in Wirklichkeit beträchtlich komplizierter. Was sich da auflöst, was da nach und nach wie ein zweiter Leichnam in die allgemeine Ätherwelt übergeht, das braucht zu seiner völligen Auflösung ziemlich lange, und die letzten Spuren dieses sich auflösenden Ätherleibes seines letzten Lebens sind es, die der Einzuweihende jetzt wie ein Fremdes findet, wenn er bei seiner Rückwanderung sich bis zu dem Punkte der Zeitenfolge hinaufentwickelt hat, wo der Mensch angekommen ist bei seinem letzten Ahnen, von dem er noch etwas ererbt hat. Da trifft er zusammen mit den letzten Überbleibseln seines letzten Ätherleibes. Und jetzt, wenn er seine Einweihung fortsetzt, muß der Mensch gleichsam eindringen in diesen seinen letzten Ätherleib, den er zurückgelassen hat, und dann lebt er wiederum rückwärts, fast, aber nicht ganz solange Zeit, wie er früher durchlebt hat bis zu seinem letzten Ahnen hinauf. Die Zeit bis zum ältesten Ahnen verhält sich zu der Zeit, die er jetzt zu durchleben hat, wie sieben zu fünf. Jetzt durchlebt der Mensch eine Zeit, in der er sozusagen immer mehr und mehr verdichtet findet, was er angetroffen hat als die letzten Überbleibsel seines früheren Lebens. Immer ähnlicher und ähnlicher wird das, indem es sich zusammenzieht für sein Wahrnehmen, seinem letzten Äther- oder Lebensleib, bis er zuletzt ankommt bei der Gestalt, die sein Ätherleib gehabt hat in dem Moment, wo er durch seinen letzten Tod gegangen ist. Und jetzt, nachdem die Gestalt sich immer mehr und mehr zusammengezogen hat, steht er vor seinem letzten Tode. In diesem Augenblicke gibt es für den Menschen, der eingeweiht ist, keinen Zweifel mehr, daß die Reinkarnation eine Wahrheit ist, denn er ist zurückgeschritten bis zu seinem letzten Tode. Damit haben wir das Stück kennengelernt, das der Mensch vorfindet als Überbleibsel seines letzten Erdenlebens.

Man hat das, was da der Mensch erlebt als ihm entgegenkommend von seinem letzten Erdenleben, in der Geisteswissenschaft immer bezeichnet als den Erdenmenschen oder als das «Untere». So daß also der Mensch fast in der Mitte seiner Einweihungserlebnisse die Verbindung des Oberen mit dem Unteren durchmachte und dann das Untere so weit zurück verfolgte, daß er bis zu seinem letzten Leben herunterstieg. Damit hat der Mensch während seiner Einweihung einen Kreislauf durchgemacht, indem er, in seinen jetzigen Ätherleib eindringend, bis zu dem Ätherleib seines letzten Lebens kam und dann wiederum zurück bis zu seinem gegenwärtigen Leben. Er hat sich im geistigen Anschauen vereinigt mit dem, was er in einer früheren Inkarnation gewesen ist. So etwas nannte man in der Geisteswissenschaft immer einen Kreislauf und drückte dies durch das Symbolum der sich ringelnden und sich selbst erfassenden Schlange aus. Die Schlange ist ein Symbolum für vieles, auch für die Erlebnisse des in die Isis- und Osirismysterien Einzuweihenden, die eben geschildert worden sind.

So sehen wir, daß allerdings mit den Worten «Der Mensch hat einen Ätherleib» die Natur dieses Ätherleibes nicht erschöpft ist. Man lernt seine Natur erst kennen, wenn man in ihn hineinsteigt. Dann lernt man die zwei Menschen kennen, die in jedem Menschen vereinigt sind, man lernt das Karma sozusagen an der Arbeit kennen. Man kann sich dann erklären, wie es kommt, daß man in einer ganz bestimmten Weise durch die Geburt ins Dasein schreitet. Man mußte warten von seinem letzten Tod bis zur neuen Geburt, bis der alte Äther- oder Lebensleib aufgelöst war, und erst dann konnte der Anfang damit gemacht werden, den neuen Ätherleib zu bilden. Aber was ich eben erzählt habe, das zeigt Ihnen, daß der Mensch tatsächlich dasjenige nicht vollständig überwunden hat, was sich als sein alter Ätherleib aufgelöst hat, denn er findet es noch, wenn er in sein eigenes Innere hinuntersteigt. Warum kann er es wiederfinden ? Nun, weil er davon ja eine Essenz, einen Extrakt zurückbehalten hat. Hätte er diesen Extrakt nicht zurückbehalten, dann könnte er auch das Stück seines Äther- oder Lebensleibes, das sich aufgelöst hat, nicht wiederfinden.

So sehen Sie, wie tiefbegründet das ist, was man ja nur nach und nach in geisteswissenschaftlichen Vorträgen erzählen kann. Wenn sonst, auch in exoterischen Vorträgen, gesagt wurde, daß der Mensch nach dem Tode eine Essenz seines Ätherleibes mitnimmt, so ist das keine Abstraktion. Wir stehen jetzt an dem Punkt, wo Sie erkennen können, wo die Geistesforschung das her hat. Alles, was darüber mitgeteilt wird, beruht auf den denkbar tiefsten Gründen, das beruht alles auf geistiger Forschung. Hier haben Sie ein Stück dieser Forschung, hier haben Sie die Beschreibung, wie gesucht werden diese Stücke, die dann in der äußeren Geisteswissenschaft mitgeteilt werden.

So also ist der Mensch angekommen bei seinem letzten Tod, und wir haben damit einige Eigenschaften kennengelernt, die der noch tiefer in sich hineingehende Mystiker kennenlernt durch seine Einweihung an der Hand seines Führers. Haben wir gestern astralische Eigenschaften kennengelernt, die sich uns ergeben als unendlich gesteigertes Gefühl des Dankes auf der einen Seite und als unendlich gesteigertes Gefühl der Verantwortung auf der anderen Seite, als das, was der Mystiker in seinem astralischen Leibe findet, so haben wir heute das kennengelernt, was der Mystiker findet, wenn er in seinen ätherischen oder Lebensleib hineinsteigt: das «Obere» und das «Untere».

Die weiteren Schritte der Einweihung führen den Menschen dann dahin, daß er, nachdem er in seiner geistigen Rückschau bei seinem letzten Tode angekommen ist, weitergehen und sein letztes Leben kennenlernen kann. Aber dieses letzte Leben kennenzulernen, das ist nicht besonders einfach. Da handelt es sich darum, daß jetzt in der Tat der Mensch unter der Anleitung seines Führers nochmals darauf hingewiesen wird, wie er nicht weiterschreiten soll, ohne erst vollständig sich selber aufzugeben, ohne in völliges Selbstvergessen zu verfallen, denn man kann nicht weiterschreiten, wenn man auch nur noch etwas von dem hat, was persönliches Selbstbewußtsein dieser jetzigen Verkörperung, dieses Lebens zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode ist. Solange man noch irgend etwas sein eigen nennt, so lange kann man das nicht kennenlernen, was ja eine andere Persönlichkeit ist: die vorhergehende Inkarnation. Man muß fähig werden, sich für einen anderen halten zu können - das ist das Wichtige -, und muß doch sich nicht verlieren. Verwandlungsfähig muß man also werden bis zu dem Grade, daß man fühlen kann: Man schlüpft in eine ganz andere Leibeshülle hinein. - Dann erst, wenn man es bis zu diesem Grade der Selbstlosigkeit gebracht hat, die ein vollständiges Vergessen ist alles dessen, was in dieser Inkarnation erlebt werden kann, wenn man in dem denkbar stärksten Grade aufgegangen ist in seinem Führer, dann kann man weiterschreiten in die letzte Inkarnation, von dem letzten Tode bis zur vorletzten Geburt. Dann - und das ist jetzt wichtig - erlebt man nicht etwa das, was man in der vorhergehenden Inkarnation in der Welt draußen sinnlich gesehen hat, sondern man erlebt jetzt alles das, was man in der letzten Inkarnation an sich selber gearbeitet hat, was man in der letzten Inkarnation aus sich selber gemacht hat. Was das Auge gesehen, das Ohr gehört hat, was uns überhaupt in der Außenwelt entgegengetreten ist, das erlebt man auf andere Weise. Das aber erlebt man, was man bei seiner letzten Inkarnation bis zu dem letzten Tod aus sich gemacht hat. Man erlebt alle seine Anstrengungen, die man durchgemacht hat, um sich in dieser verflossenen Inkarnation um ein Stück weiterzubringen.

Wenn man dies durchgemacht hat, wenn man diese Arbeit an sich selber durchlebt hat, dann wird man von dem Führer wiederum zurückgeführt zu seiner jetzigen Inkarnation, zu seiner jetzigen Verkörperung. Also der Schritt geht jetzt rasch von der vorhergehenden Inkarnation zur jetzigen Inkarnation, und dann erst findet man sich wiederum. Und jetzt hat man ein eigentümliches Gefühl, das Gefühl, daß man eigentlich aus zwei Persönlichkeiten besteht, daß man sich die eine Persönlichkeit mitgebracht hat, und daß man mit dieser Persönlichkeit in seine jetzige Persönlichkeit hineingefahren ist. Das gibt das Gefühl, in seinem physischen Leib drinnen zu sein. Man kann sich in seinem physischen Leib nicht anders erleben, als durch das Gefühl, daß man sich mit seiner vorhergehenden Inkarnation hineingelebt hat.

Ich habe ja schon wiederholt angedeutet, im gewöhnlichen normalen Leben sieht man den physischen Leib von außen. Jetzt erhält man zuerst einen Begriff, was es heißt, den physischen Leib von innen zu sehen. Man kann nur auf diese Weise in sich selber hineingelangen, daß man auf dem Umweg durch die vorherige Inkarnation geht. Dann steckt man darin und kann seinen eigenen physischen Leib anschauen mit den Augen und Erfahrungen der letzten Inkarnation. Aber das ist noch nicht genug, denn da merkt man noch ganz wenig von seinem jetzigen physischen Leib. Wenn nämlich der Führer den Menschen so weit gebracht hat, daß er einmal das Gefühl gehabt hat, bewußt in sich selber drinnenzustehen mit seiner vorherigen Persönlichkeit, dann muß der Führer den Menschen den ganzen Weg nochmals zurück machen lassen. Jetzt macht er in derselben Weise, wie es beschrieben worden ist, den Weg von der vorletzten Geburt bis zu dem vorletzten Tod durch; er erlebt da wiederum, was er in der Zwischenzeit in der geistigen Welt als oberer und als unterer Mensch durchgemacht hat, und lebt bis zu seiner vorletzten Inkarnation hinauf, erreicht also durch seinen vorletzten Tod seine vorletzte Inkarnation. Wohlgemerkt, man kann durch einen einmaligen Kreislauf nur bis zu seiner vorhergehenden Inkarnation kommen; dann muß man wieder in seinen Leib hinein und kann jetzt einen zweiten Kreislauf machen. Dann kommt man zur vorletzten Inkarnation. Mit dieser kehrt man wiederum zurück in den gegenwärtigen Leib. Jetzt hat man das Gefühl, daß man als drei Persönlichkeiten in seiner jetzigen Persönlichkeit drinnensteckt.

Der Kreislauf kann so oft vollzogen werden, bis sich der Mensch hinaufhebt zu einem Zeitpunkt, der weit zurückliegt in der Erdenentwickelung. Da findet der Mensch, daß er in einer früheren Persönlichkeit verkörpert war in dem vorhergehenden Kulturzeitalter, im griechisch-lateinischen, daß er in einer noch früheren Kultur verkörpert war in der ägyptischen Zeit, in einer noch früheren in der urpersischen Kultur und in einer noch früheren in der altindischen Zeit. Dann lebt er sich weiter hinauf in das, was Sie beschrieben finden als die atlantische Zeit, und noch weiter hinauf bis zur sogenannten lemurischen Zeit. Da hört die Möglichkeit auf, solche Erfahrungen zu machen, wie sie eben beschrieben worden sind. So hat der Mensch tatsächlich die Möglichkeit, sich selbst innerlich so weit zu verfolgen durch alle möglichen Kulturen und Rassen hinauf bis zu dem Beginne seines Erdenwerdens, bis zu seiner ersten irdischen Verkörperung. In dem, was wir das Innere unseres physischen Leibes nennen, stecken eigentlich darin als Kräfte alle unsere früheren Verkörperungen. Was wir heute äußerlich als physischer Leib sind, das hat in sich als Kräfte alle früheren Verkörperungen. Sie sehen, wenn man exoterisch sagt, der Mensch besteht aus einem physischen Leib, aus einem ätherischen oder Lebensleib, aus einem astralischen Leib, so heißt das, der Mensch besteht zunächst aus etwas, was sich von innen gesehen ausnimmt wie ineinandergeschachtelte Verkörperungen. Tatsächlich sind alle unsere Verkörperungen im Inneren unseres physischen Leibes vereinigt am Werke. Und wenn wir sprechen von dem Äther- oder Lebensleib, dann müssen wir eingedenk sein, daß er, von innen angesehen, als ein Kreislauf erscheint, der verfließt, rückwärts laufend, von unserer gegenwärtigen Geburt bis zum letzten Tode. Da zeigen sich die Eigenschaften unserer Hüllen, dessen, was wir an uns haben, in das wir mystisch untertauchen, in das wir hineinsteigen können.

Dann aber, wenn der Mensch so weit zurückgegangen ist, wenn er angekommen ist als Einzuweihender an der Hand des HermesEingeweihten bei seiner ersten Inkarnation, dann erfährt er viel mehr; er erfährt an diesem Punkte seiner Rückwärtswanderung, daß er in einer gewissen Zeit unseres Erdenwerdens, unserer Erdenentwickelung ein ganz anderer war, als er jetzt ist, und daß auch die Umgebung eine ganz andere war, als sie jetzt ist. Die Erde war dazumal ganz anders in der Zeit, in der der Mensch gelebt hat in seiner ersten Inkarnation, in seiner ersten Verkörperung. Wenn wir Jetzt in die Welt hinausschauen, treten uns drei Naturreiche entgegen: das Tierreich, das Pflanzenreich, das Mineralreich. Wir haben im Grunde genommen alle diese drei Reiche in uns, wir haben das tierische, das pflanzliche, das mineralische Reich in uns. Das tierische Reich haben wir dadurch in uns, daß wir einen astralischen Leib haben, der unsern äußeren Leib kraftvoll durchsetzt; das pflanzliche Reich dadurch, daß wir einen ätherischen oder Lebensleib haben, der ein Ähnliches tut. Das mineralische Reich haben wir in uns dadurch, daß wir die Stoffe, die äußerlich im mineralischen Reiche sind, mit uns selbst vereinigen, in uns aufnehmen, sie durch uns durchgehen lassen. Ja, wenn wir so weit hinaufschreiten im Geistigen, daß wir bei dem Erleben des Inneren unseres physischen Leibes bei unserer ersten Inkarnation angekommen sind, dann merken wir, daß die Erde in diesem Zeitpunkt gerade in der Epoche ihrer Entwickelung angekommen war, wo das Mineralreich eben erst entstanden ist in seiner heutigen Form. Daher konnten wir auch unsere erste physische Verkörperung damals bilden, weil wir da zuerst, indem sich das Mineralreich bildete, etwas von diesem Mineralreich in uns aufnehmen konnten. Wir gelangen damit zugleich an den Beginn des mineralischen Reiches auf unserer Erde.

Nun können Sie sagen: Ja, aber war denn dieses mineralische Reich auf unserer Erde nicht eigentlich früher dagewesen als das Pflanzen- und Tierreich? - Wer sozusagen nur so weit denken würde, als seine Nase reicht, der kann das ja glauben. Wer aber ein klein wenig nach Gleichnissen denkt, der wird sich sagen: Ich habe ja schon in der gewöhnlichen Steinkohle etwas, was aus der Pflanze entstand und dann erst mineralisch geworden ist, nachdem es vorher pflanzlich war. - Unter anderen Verhältnissen als den heutigen konnte das Pflanzenreich vor dem mineralischen Reich bestehen. Das mineralische Reich ist erst eine spätere Bildung als das Pflanzenreich. Das Pflanzenreich ist dem mineralischen vorausgegangen. Nicht das Pflanzenreich folgt dem Mineralreich, sondern das Pflanzenreich hat unter anderen Bedingungen schon vorher existiert. Als Verhärtungsprodukt des Pflanzenreiches ist das Mineralreich entstanden. Und in dem Augenblick, wo auf unserer Erde das mineralische Reich sich bildete, in diesem Augenblicke trat der Mensch in seine erste Erdeninkarnation ein. Das Mineralreich hat sich entwickelt durch gewisse lange Zeiträume hindurch. Seit der Entwickelung dieses Mineralreiches machen wir unsere Erdeninkarnationen durch. Dieses Mineralreich haben wir uns also dazumal erst angeeignet. Vorher waren wir in einer anderen Weise als Wesen substantiell, vorher hatten wir noch nicht die Stoffe des Mineralreiches uns eingegliedert, wie wir sie heute als physisch verkörperte Menschen in uns haben. - Deshalb sagte man auch in der Geisteswissenschaft zu allen Zeiten: Unsere Erde ist fortgeschritten in ihrer Entwickelung bis zur Bildung des Mineralreiches, und damit hat sich zugleich der Mensch dieses Mineralreich angeeignet.

Nun sehen wir daraus wiederum, wie der Mensch, indem er in sich selber hinuntersteigt bis zu der Erkenntnis seines physischen Leibes, an einen Punkt kommt, wo er aus sich selber hinaustritt. Wie sollten wir es denn anders erwarten? Wir wissen, durch unseren Astralleib sind wir den Tieren verwandt, durch unseren Ätherleib den Pflanzen, durch unseren physischen Leib den Mineralien. Kein Wunder, daß, wenn wir bis zum physischen Leib hinuntersteigen, wir an dieser Grenze das Mineralreich als das Äußere antreffen. Wir gehen gleichsam in uns selber hinein und kommen merkwürdigerweise an einen Punkt, wo wir aus uns hinauskommen, in das Mineralreich hinein. Allerdings nicht in jenes Mineralreich, das wir heute um uns herum haben, sondern in dasjenige, wie es war in dem Momente seiner Entstehung auf der Erde in der lemurischen Zeit. Wir unterscheiden unsere jetzige Erdenzeit, welche zurückführt bis zu der Zeit der großen atlantischen Katastrophe, und die noch davorliegende, die lemurische Zeit. Vor der atlantischen Katastrophe war das Antlitz der Erde ganz anders als heute. Es war ein großer Kontinent, auf dem wir lebten, zwischen dem heutigen Europa und Afrika einerseits und Amerika andererseits, der atlantische Kontinent. In einer noch früheren Erdenzeit, da war das Antlitz der Erde wieder anders. Da lebten die Menschen, das heißt wir selber in unserer früheren Inkarnation, auf einem Kontinent, den wir heute auf der Erde suchen müßten zwischen Australien, Afrika und Asien, im alten Lemurien, wie es die heutige Naturwissenschaft ja auch nennt. Dazumal machte der Mensch seine erste Inkarnation durch, und damals entstand das mineralische Reich. Das war auch der Moment, wo sich der Mond, den wir heute im Himmelsraume haben, aus der Erde herausgesondert hat. Früher war unser Mond mit unserer Erde verknüpft. Das sei nur nebenbei gesagt. Wie das erforscht wird, davon werden wir noch in den nächsten Tagen reden.

Damit haben wir gesehen, daß, wenn wir in uns selber hineinsteigen und uns wirklich kennenlernen, wenn wir an der Hand des Führers durch wahrhaft mystisches Erleben uns in uns vertiefen, wir aus uns selber herauskommen. Es führt uns unser Weg aus dem Menschen zur mineralischen Erde hin, zu jener mineralischen Erde, aus der wir uns unsere Erdenstoffe, unsere physische Substanz angeeignet haben.

Das ist der eine Weg, welchen ich Ihnen schildern wollte als den Weg, der durchgemacht werden konnte und durchgemacht worden ist von vielen in den alten Isis- und Osirismysterien. Wie gesagt, er konnte nur durchgemacht werden an der Hand eines Führers, dem man sich im strengsten Sinne unterwarf. Wenn der Mensch sich dazumal nicht mit seinem ganzen Ich dem Führer unterworfen hätte, dann hätte er niemals diese Wege gehen können, die jetzt beschrieben worden sind, sondern er wäre in sein Inneres hineingestiegen und hätte die allerschlimmsten Seiten seines Inneren kennengelernt. Er hätte das kennengelernt, was er durch sein selbstsüchtiges Ich aus sich gemacht hat. Es wird uns obliegen, in den nächsten Tagen den anderen Weg zu schildern, den Weg der nordischen Mysterien, der den Menschen nicht in sich hinein-, sondern aus sich herausführte in die Himmelswelt. Und nachdem wir dann diese zwei Wege kennengelernt haben, welche beide heute nicht gangbar sind wegen der fortgeschrittenen Menschennatur, die frei sein will von einer absoluten Botmäßigkeit, werden wir den Weg kennenlernen, der für die heutige Menschennatur der gangbare, der richtige ist, den sogenannten rosenkreuzerischen Weg.

Erwähnt soll nur noch werden, daß sich gewisse neuere Mystiker zu helfen suchten, wenn sie nicht einen Guru hatten, dem sie sich so streng unterwarfen. Dann wußsten sie sich in einer anderen Weise zu helfen, und es ist interessant zu sehen, wie auch der Weg solcher Mystiker erklärlich wird, wenn man jene Geheimnisse kennt, die eben beschrieben worden sind. Nehmen wir zum Beispiel den Meister Eckhart. Das war ein Mystiker des Mittelalters, welcher einen Führer in dem Sinne, wie es die alten Einzuweihenden der Isis- und Osirismysterien hatten, nicht hatte, sondern sozusagen auf eigene Hand in sein Inneres hinunterstieg. Es wäre für ihn sehr gefährlich geworden, wenn er über den gewissen Punkt hinaus nach seiner eigenen, sich ihm wie natürlich ergebenden inneren Versenkung einfach fortgefahren wäre. Da wäre er kaum davor bewahrt geblieben, daß nicht doch an einem gewissen Punkt aufgetreten wäre der Anspruch des eigenen Ich. Denn das ist gerade die Gefahr bei diesem Versenken in sein eigenes Innere, daß das eigene Ich in selbstsüchtiger Weise sich geltend macht. Man kann natürlich in langen Tiraden davon reden, daß der Mensch in sich selber hinuntersteigen soll und daß er sich so in sich vertiefen kann, daß er den Gottmenschen in sich findet. Aber die, die so reden, sind in der Regel nicht sehr weit gekommen. Wenn sie weit gekommen wären, so würden sie auch gefunden haben, daß, wenn sie sich selbst überlassen bleiben, sich das selbstsüchtige Ich in einer furchtbaren Weise geltend macht. Man konnte es an solchen Mystikern erleben, daß sie, solange sie geleitet waren durch das äußere konventionelle Leben, ganz leidlich anständige Menschen waren; in dem Augenblicke aber, in dem sie sich in ihr Inneres versenken, wo sie also das verlassen, was von außen auf sie wirkt, wo sie ihren inneren Menschen aufsuchen, da kommt dieser innere Mensch auch zur Geltung. Während diese Menschen vorher durch äußere Erziehung veranlaßt worden sind, die Wahrheit zu sagen, kann es vorkommen, daß sie dann, wenn das selbstsüchtige Ich sich geltend macht, anfangen zu lügen, daß sie unaufrichtige Menschen werden, daß sie stärker selbstsüchtige Figenschaften bekommen als andere Menschen im gewöhnlichen Leben. Solche Erfahrungen kann der machen, der übelgeleitete Mystiker beobachtet, die gerne davon reden, daß man sich in sein eigenes Innere versenken solle, um den höheren Menschen zu finden. Man findet gewöhnlich nicht diesen höheren Menschen, sondern man findet seinen allergewöhnlichsten Menschen, der in der Regel dann schlechter ist als der konventionelle Mensch. Vor diesem Anspruch des selbstsüchtigen Ich muß man sich hüten.

Bei den ägyptischen Mysterien wurde der Einzuweihende durch den Hermespriester davor bewahrt, der für ihn die Führung übernommen hat, so daß der Schüler nicht mehr seinem eigenen Ich folgte. Der Meister Eckhart hatte einen solchen Lehrer nicht. Tauler bekam ihn von einem gewissen Zeitpunkt an, aber Eckhart hatte einen solchen Führer nicht. Wodurch schützte er sich aber vor dem eigensüchtigen Anspruch des Ich? Solch eine gesunde Natur, wie Meister Eckhart es war - ebenso wie fast alle die christlichen Mystiker des Mittelalters, welche einen solchen Guru nicht hatten -, schützte sich dadurch, daß er sich ganz durchdrang mit dem Gefühl: Jetzt bist du nicht mehr du selber, jetzt bist du ein anderer geworden; jetzt spricht, fühlt, will nicht mehr das, was du sprichst, fühlst, willst; jetzt lasse dich ganz erfüllen mit dem Christus. - Er machte das Paulinische Wort wahr: «Nicht ich, sondern der Christus in mir.» Dann machte er diese Verwandlung durch. Er entselbstete sich sozusagen. Er gab sein Ich auf und ließ sich erfüllen von einem anderen Ich. «Entwerdenm», der Gegensatz von «werden», ist ein schönes Wort der christlichen Mystiker des Mittelalters. Wie man ein selbständiges Ich «wird», so suchten diese Mystiker zu «entwerden», das heißt ihr Ich ganz aufzugeben und sich ganz zu erfüllen mit einem anderen Ich. Das waren die Mittel gegen die selbstsüchtigen Ansprüche des Ich, zu welchen Mystiker griffen wie Meister Eckhart oder der Mystiker, der der Schreiber der sogenannten «Theologia Deutsch» ist, daß sie nicht aus sich selber sprechen wollten, sondern daß sie einen höheren Menschen, einen Menschen, der den jetzigen Menschen innerlich beleben und inspirieren kann, in sich sprechen lassen konnten. Daher das immer wiederkehrende Betonen dieser Mystiker, daß sie ihr Selbst ganz hingeben wollten dem, was sie innerlich erlebten. So also sehen wir, als die neueren Zeiten herannahten, wie die christlichen Mystiker des Mittelalters, die schon entgegenlebten den Zeiten der modernen Menschheit, den äußeren Guru ersetzten durch einen inneren Guru, durch den Christus. Was nun zu tun ist, damit der Mensch, der im heutigen Geistesleben darinnensteht, seine Wege findet in die geistigen Welten hinein unter Aufrechterhaltung der heutigen Geistes- und Seelenverfassung, das wird sich uns morgen zeigen, wenn wir vorher noch den Weg besprochen haben, der in den nordischen Mysterien unternommen worden ist, um den Makrokosmos kennenzulernen, in den der Mensch hineintritt beim Einschlafen. Wir werden von einer Schilderung des Einschlafens ausgehen und weiter schildern, in welche makrokosmische Sphären die Menschen sich hineinlebten, und dann den Übergang finden zu den neueren Methoden des Erkenntnispfades in die höheren Welten.

Fifth lecture

We are faced with a relatively difficult task today. However, the esteemed audience will accept today's somewhat demanding demands if we say at the same time that we will regain ground in the next few days, where we will feel more solid ground beneath our feet. But if one does not want to remain stuck in mere abstractions in spiritual science, if one wants to work one's way through to realities, then one must sometimes willingly accept statements that belong to the higher realms of spiritual knowledge. It may be added that today's remarks are by no means deductions or mere theoretical inferences, but rather things that have always been known by those who have penetrated more deeply into these matters. They are therefore communications of insights gained by certain individuals.

Yesterday we saw how human beings could find their way within what is called the inner part of their astral body if, upon awakening, they could consciously submerge themselves in this astral body, and we gained an idea of what it means to pass by the so-called little guardian of the threshold. Now, what was discussed yesterday is actually quite hypothetical, because in normal life this moment never really occurs when a person consciously enters their inner being simply by waking up. However, we have said that through what is called mystical contemplation, a person can prepare themselves for such a conscious entry into their outer bodily shells. What this means will become clear to us in the course of these lectures, and we will also hear what this preparation consists of. For normal consciousness, at most, there are times when a person has moments of conscious awakening due to circumstances that lie in their previous incarnations. This happens to some people. They wake up feeling a certain sense of oppression. This feeling of oppression comes from the fact that the inner human being, who was spread out in the macrocosm during the night and felt free, returns, so to speak, to the prison of his body. Then there may also be another feeling upon waking up. This feeling could be characterized more by saying that when such abnormal states occur, the person feels better at the moment of waking up than he does during the course of the day. He feels that there is something within him that he could call his better self. This stems from the fact that when a person wakes up, they have a lingering feeling that something has flowed into them from worlds higher than their own sensory world. These are feelings that can arise in normal consciousness and in which a certain confirmation of what was said yesterday can already be seen in natural life. But only the genuine, true mystic can experience what has been described to its full extent.

The question now is whether it is possible to go further. For what is experienced there, what was described yesterday, is the inner side of the spiritual part of the outer human being; it is the inner side of what is called the astral body of the human being. The question now is whether one can descend even deeper to less spiritual parts, or rather to those parts of human nature that are less spiritual in ordinary life. They can nevertheless be spiritual in their foundations, for everything that confronts us in the outer world has a spiritual background. The question is whether we can descend even further to the physical body and whether there is something else between the astral body, which is initially the most spiritual, and this physical body. Anthroposophical books describe this other thing as the etheric or life body, so that when we descend, after becoming acquainted with the astral body from within, we should encounter the etheric body and perhaps also some trace of our physical body, which we otherwise only see from the outside, but which we can also recognize from within through such a conscious entry into our physicality.

However, it is generally not good, nor is it safe, to go one step further in mystical deepening than was indicated yesterday. Everything that was mentioned yesterday can only be done very cautiously by people who have acquired knowledge from what you will find in my book, How to Know Higher Worlds, or in the second part of my Secret Science, which you will hear about in the next lectures. This is how far people can help themselves initially. But to go further along this path into the human inner life is not without danger, and in the way people today like to acquire their spiritual knowledge, it cannot be done at all. We will therefore see that a different path of knowledge is chosen today. The path of descending deep into the human inner being without concern for anything else should normally no longer be taken in our present culture. Our present spiritual life is so constituted that human beings are only willing to subordinate themselves to a certain degree, that they want to follow their path of knowledge with the greatest possible freedom. We will see that there is also a path into the spiritual worlds that takes full account of this peculiarity of human nature today, and we will come to know this path, the so-called Rosicrucian path of knowledge, as the true path of knowledge for our time. But this path of knowledge is a path of more recent times. It did not yet exist in the mysteries, that is, in those places where people in ancient times were introduced to the deeper secrets. There were mysteries that simply led people past the little guardian of the threshold and into their own inner being, and there were mysteries that led people out into the great world so that they had to go through a kind of ecstasy. These two paths are those that were preferably taken and traversed in ancient times. The path of entering into one's own inner being was best and most intensively traversed in those places of initiation known as the Egyptian mysteries, the mysteries of Osiris and Isis; and today, in order to describe what a person can experience when they go within themselves, we will have to draw a little on the experiences of a student of the mysteries of Isis and Osiris. Today, as we will see in the following lectures, it is entirely possible to attain the initiation that leads to full knowledge of these mysteries, but no longer in the same way as in ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt, something was necessary that would be repugnant to the nature of human beings today. Namely, it was necessary that at the point where the human being was to enter into his own inner being — or even earlier — he no longer sought progress independently through his own paths of knowledge, but entrusted himself to what is called a guru in Eastern philosophy, a great initiated teacher. Otherwise, the path was too dangerous for the individual. As a rule, the steps of mystical contemplation described yesterday were taken under the guidance of the guru, the great initiated teacher.

What is the purpose of the guidance provided by these great initiated teachers? We heard in an earlier lecture that when we immerse ourselves in our physical bodies in the morning, our souls are received by three powers, which we have described using terms taken from ancient terminology: the power of Venus, the power of Mercury, and the power of the Moon. What is generally understood by Venus power is something that human beings can still deal with on their own when they descend into their own inner being. They can come to terms with Venus power by receiving a certain education in humility and selflessness. Before undertaking such a journey into the unknown worlds of his own inner being, he must suppress all selfish impulses, the impulses of self-love, and educate himself to selflessness. He must become a being who feels love and compassion, not only for his fellow human beings, but for all existence. Then, at best, he can still surrender to that power when he descends into his physical body, which we have called the Venus forces. But the matter would become more dangerous if the human being also wanted to surrender himself to those forces which we have called the Mercury forces. In the ancient Egyptian initiations, he was guided by the great teacher who, through his earlier experiences, was able to handle these Mercury powers in a very conscious way. A Hermes or Mercury priest led the human being into his own inner being. This, however, required strict submission to everything that this great teacher demanded of the disciple. It required such a degree of submission that the disciple had to decide to completely shut off his own ego, to want nothing for himself, to have no impulses of his own in his soul, but to carry out strictly only what the Hermes priest instructed him to do. This obedience, which would be repugnant to modern man and to which he no longer needs to submit, had to be acquired by the student of the Egyptian mysteries. For many years, he had to follow the teacher not only in his outward actions, but he had to entrust himself to the guidance of this teacher even in his thoughts and in his emotional world, so that he could safely descend into his own inner being. Now we come to the things that many people have experienced, which are recounted from the experiences that people had at the hand of their great guide, and which could be described by saying that people got to know a deeper layer of their own inner being. Yesterday we described vividly and concretely what it means to get to know one's astral body from within. Now let us tell you something of what the initiate experienced in the Isis and Osiris mysteries, guided by his teacher, in relation to the etheric or life body of the human being. Through the elimination of his ego, the human being was caused to see with the spiritual eyes of his teacher, to think with the thoughts of his teacher, to become a kind of external thing and to look at himself with the eyes of his teacher. And there he was introduced to strange experiences, experiences in which he had the feeling that life was going back in time; and at the same time he had the feeling that his whole being, which he now saw through the spiritual eyes of the Hermes priest, was expanding, growing. He had the feeling that he was expanding within himself, that he was growing upward into times that had preceded his present life, that he was going back in time. And he gradually got the feeling that he was going back many, many years, a period of time that was far longer, many times longer than the life he had lived since his birth; thus the student experienced a long journey back in time. And while he was experiencing this, seeing with the eyes of the initiated teacher, he first saw himself, but then he looked further back in time and saw many generations whom he felt were his ancestors. For a certain time, the initiate had the feeling that he was walking up the line of his ancestors, but not in such a way that he was inside these ancestors, not as if he were identical with his ancestors, but as if he were hovering above them, so to speak, up to a certain point, up to an ancient ancestor. Then the impression disappeared. It was as if he saw earthly figures to which his own existence was somehow related.

Now it was a matter of the guide making clear to the initiate what he had actually seen. We can only understand what he saw in the following way. When one enters into existence through birth, that is, with one's spiritual being, after passing through the spiritual world between death and a new birth, one carries within oneself not only the characteristics that one brings from one's previous life, but also — as everyone who observes life knows — everything that is called inherited characteristics. One is born into a family, into a people, into a race. One thereby carries within oneself what are called inherited characteristics; one carries within oneself the heirlooms of one's ancestors. Of course, one does not bring these heirlooms with oneself from one's last incarnation, but they have been passed down from generation to generation. Now it is a matter of recognizing: What is it that causes the human being, with his innermost being, to incarnate in a particular family, in a particular people, in a particular race? What is it that causes him, in his descent through birth, to seek out very specific hereditary characteristics? He would never seek out these specific characteristics if he had no connection to them whatsoever. In fact, human beings are connected to these characteristics long before they are born. If we start with a particular person and go back to his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and so on, then, if we could really trace this inwardly, the hereditary characteristics would show themselves through a very specific number of generations, up to a certain generation. Then these hereditary characteristics are lost. This means that you can trace a series of generations and you will find that the hereditary characteristics are passed down through them. Finally, they are still present in their most diluted form, then they disappear completely.

Just as we see hereditary characteristics gradually disappearing through the generations, we can find, starting from one person, that what is present in the son is most similar to the father, somewhat less to the grandfather, even less to the great-grandfather, and so on. Now, the Isis and Osiris priests who were to be initiated actually led people back until they reached that ancestor who still had characteristics that had brought the power of heredity down to them. This shows us that human beings have certain relationships with what we call their hereditary characteristics. It is indeed the case that we have entered into a spiritual relationship with that ancestor from whom we have inherited something, with that great-great-great-grandparent from whom we still have some characteristics, however diluted they may be. Yes, in a certain sense, human beings spend a long time preparing what ultimately become their inherited characteristics. They do not merely inherit them, but in a certain sense they give them to their ancestors, implanting them in them from the spiritual world. They work through entire generations so that ultimately the physical body to which they feel drawn can be born. As strange as it sounds, we ourselves have worked from the spiritual world on the physical bodies of our ancestors in order to gradually shape from the spiritual world those characteristics which we ultimately receive as inherited traits at birth.

This is what first becomes apparent when a person is led down into their own etheric or life body. It becomes apparent to him that this etheric body he now carries has indeed a long history, that it has been prepared by him for a long time. Long, long before he could come into existence through this birth, he himself had worked in the spiritual world on the etheric or life body he now carries. And they began to work on this etheric body at the moment when their oldest ancestor, from whom they inherited certain characteristics, first set foot on the physical earth. This is the true experience of a part of our etheric body. By listing that human beings consist of a physical body, an etheric or life body, an astral body, and the I, we have only given certain indications, certain core teachings. How this appears, what exists as our own inner shell, can only be known by becoming acquainted with the communications of those who have descended into this human shell themselves.

Thus, passing through his own birth, man learns to enter those realms which he traversed before he came into existence through birth; thus, as a mystic, he comes to know a part of his life before birth, a large part that spans centuries. For it is centuries that he passes through until the time when, in the life between his last death and his present birth, he began to form the archetype of his etheric body. At the moment when he began to do this, the first germ of the special characteristics shot into the blood of a physical human being, and these characteristics became more and more pronounced until this etheric body was ready to take on the characteristics it had helped to create at birth. That is one side of the experience. What one experiences there is, so to speak, a reconstruction of everything one had to do in the spiritual world long before entering into existence through birth in this incarnation. What one has built up and then, as it were, pushed together and compressed into one's present etheric body, what has condensed in the etheric body over centuries, was called the “higher,” the heavenly or spiritual human being. Thus, the technical expression existed: Man learns to know his higher self by entering into the etheric or life body. This was called the heavenly or spiritual human being, because human beings had to feel that what had descended from them was formed out of the spiritual realm.

When the human being had been guided this far by the Hermetic initiate, he learned something else. He learned something that was perhaps strange to him at first, but which was explained to him by the teacher as something that should not be entirely foreign to him. He was shown—and the student soon realized that this was correct—that something was coming toward him that he himself had once left behind in his own being, something that had remained behind, something that was intimately related to him, but which now appeared to him as something external, something foreign. What is this thing with which the human being connects in such a strange way? We can best understand this if we start with a description of the moment of death.

Spiritual research shows us that at the moment of death, the human being lays down his physical body. What remains of him is what we have come to know as the I and the astral body, which leave the body every night during sleep, and what remains at first is the etheric or life body. After death, the human being lives for some time, which is only a matter of days, in these three parts of their being: in their ego, in their astral body, and in their etheric body. But then the most essential part of their etheric body departs from them like a second corpse. It is always said—and I believe I have indicated this correctly—that what departs as a second corpse disperses into the general etheric world, dissolves, and that the human being takes only an essence, an extract, a seed with him into the life he now begins between death and a new birth. This is how the process is usually described, but in reality it is considerably more complicated. What dissolves, what gradually passes into the general etheric world like a second corpse, takes quite a long time to dissolve completely, and it is the last traces of this dissolving etheric body of his last life that the initiate now finds as something foreign when, on his return journey, he has developed up to the point in the sequence of time where the human being has arrived at his last ancestor, from whom he has still inherited something. There he encounters the last remnants of his last etheric body. And now, as he continues his initiation, the human being must, as it were, penetrate into this last etheric body which he has left behind, and then he lives backward again, almost, but not quite, as long as he lived before, up to his last ancestor. The time up to the oldest ancestor is to the time he now has to live through as seven to five. Now the human being lives through a time in which he finds, as it were, more and more condensed what he has encountered as the last remnants of his former life. This becomes more and more similar as it contracts for his perception, his last etheric or life body, until it finally arrives at the form that his etheric body had at the moment when he passed through his last death. And now, after the form has contracted more and more, they stand before their final death. At this moment, there is no longer any doubt for the initiated human being that reincarnation is a truth, for they have regressed to their last death. We have thus become acquainted with the piece that human beings find as the remnant of their last earthly life.

In spiritual science, what the human being experiences as coming toward him from his last earthly life has always been referred to as the earthly human being or the “lower self.” Thus, almost in the middle of his initiation experiences, the human being went through the connection of the higher with the lower and then traced the lower back so far that he descended to his last life. During his initiation, the human being thus went through a cycle in which, penetrating his present etheric body, he reached the etheric body of his last life and then returned to his present life. In spiritual contemplation, he united himself with what he had been in a previous incarnation. In spiritual science, this was always called a cycle and was expressed by the symbol of the coiling snake grasping itself. The snake is a symbol of many things, including the experiences of those being initiated into the mysteries of Isis and Osiris, which have just been described.

Thus we see that the words “human beings have an etheric body” do not exhaust the nature of this etheric body. One only learns about its nature when one enters into it. Then one learns about the two human beings who are united in every human being; one learns about karma, so to speak, at work. One can then explain how it comes about that one enters into existence in a very specific way through birth. One had to wait from one's last death until the new birth, until the old etheric or life body had dissolved, and only then could the beginning be made to form the new etheric body. But what I have just told you shows that human beings have not completely overcome what has dissolved as their old etheric body, for they still find it when they descend into their own inner being. Why can they find it again? Well, because they have retained an essence, an extract of it. If they had not retained this extract, they would not be able to find the part of their etheric or life body that dissolved.

So you see how deeply rooted this is, something that can only be explained gradually in spiritual scientific lectures. When it has been said, even in exoteric lectures, that after death the human being takes an essence of his etheric body with him, this is not an abstraction. We are now at the point where you can see where spiritual research gets this from. Everything that is communicated about this is based on the deepest conceivable reasons; it is all based on spiritual research. Here you have a piece of this research, here you have the description of how these pieces are sought, which are then communicated in outer spiritual science.

So this is how the human being arrives at his final death, and we have thus become acquainted with some characteristics that the mystic who goes even deeper into himself learns through his initiation at the hand of his guide. Yesterday we learned about astral characteristics that present themselves to us as an infinitely heightened feeling of gratitude on the one hand and an infinitely heightened feeling of responsibility on the other, as what the mystic finds in his astral body. Today we have learned what the mystic finds when he enters his etheric or life body: the “upper” and the “lower.”

The further steps of initiation then lead the person to the point where, after arriving at his last death in his spiritual review, he can go on and get to know his last life. But getting to know this last life is not particularly easy. For now, under the guidance of his guide, the human being is once again reminded that he must not proceed without first completely surrendering himself, without falling into complete self-forgetfulness, for one cannot proceed if one still has even the slightest remnant of the personal self-consciousness of this present incarnation, of this life between birth and death. As long as one still calls anything one's own, one cannot get to know what is in fact another personality: the previous incarnation. One must become capable of thinking of oneself as someone else—that is the important thing—and yet not lose oneself. One must therefore become capable of transformation to such a degree that one can feel that one is slipping into a completely different physical shell. Only when one has reached this degree of selflessness, which is a complete forgetting of everything that can be experienced in this incarnation, when one has merged with one's guide to the greatest degree conceivable, can one proceed to the last incarnation, from the last death to the penultimate birth. Then—and this is important—you do not experience what you saw with your senses in the outside world in your previous incarnation, but you now experience everything you worked on in your last incarnation, what you made of yourself in your last incarnation. What the eye has seen, the ear has heard, what has come to us in the outer world, is experienced in a different way. But what one experiences is what one has made of oneself in one's last incarnation up to the last death. One experiences all the efforts one has made to advance a little further in this past incarnation.

Once you have gone through this, once you have lived through this work on yourself, the guide leads you back to your current incarnation, to your current embodiment. So the step now goes quickly from the previous incarnation to the current incarnation, and only then do you find yourself again. And now you have a peculiar feeling, the feeling that you actually consist of two personalities, that you have brought one personality with you and that you have entered your current personality with this personality. This gives you the feeling of being inside your physical body. You cannot experience yourself in your physical body other than through the feeling that you have lived your way into it with your previous incarnation.

I have already indicated repeatedly that in ordinary normal life, one sees the physical body from the outside. Now one first gains an understanding of what it means to see the physical body from the inside. One can only enter into oneself in this way, by taking the detour through the previous incarnation. Then one is inside and can look at one's own physical body with the eyes and experiences of the last incarnation. But that is not enough, because you still notice very little of your present physical body. When the guide has brought the person to the point where they have once had the feeling of consciously standing within themselves with their previous personality, the guide must then let the person retrace the entire path. Now, in the same way as described, they travel from their penultimate birth to their penultimate death; there they experience again what they have gone through in the meantime in the spiritual world as the higher and lower human beings, and live up to their penultimate incarnation, thus reaching their penultimate incarnation through their penultimate death. Mind you, through a single cycle one can only reach one's previous incarnation; then one must return to one's body and can now make a second cycle. Then one comes to the penultimate incarnation. With this one returns again to the present body. Now one has the feeling that one is stuck inside one's present personality as three personalities.

The cycle can be repeated as often as necessary until the person rises to a point far back in the evolution of the earth. There, the person finds that they were embodied in an earlier personality in the previous cultural epoch, in the Greek-Latin era, that they were embodied in an even earlier culture in the Egyptian era, in an even earlier one in the ancient Persian culture, and in an even earlier one in the ancient Indian era. Then they live on in what you find described as the Atlantean era, and even further up to the so-called Lemurian era. There the possibility of having experiences such as those just described ceases. Thus, human beings actually have the possibility of tracing themselves inwardly through all possible cultures and races up to the beginning of their earthly existence, up to their first earthly embodiment. In what we call the inner part of our physical body, all our previous embodiments are actually contained as forces. What we are today as our outer physical body contains within itself as forces all our previous incarnations. You see, when we say exoterically that the human being consists of a physical body, an etheric or life body, and an astral body, this means that the human being consists first of all of something which, seen from within, appears as incarnations nested one within the other. In fact, all our embodiments are united at work within our physical body. And when we speak of the etheric or life body, we must remember that, viewed from within, it appears as a cycle flowing backwards from our present birth to our final death. Here we see the properties of our shells, of what we have around us, into which we mystically immerse ourselves, into which we can enter.

But then, when the human being has gone back far enough, when he has arrived as an initiate at the hand of the Hermes initiate at his first incarnation, then he experiences much more; at this point in his backward journey, he experiences that at a certain time in our earth's becoming, in our earth's development, he was completely different from what he is now, and that the environment was also completely different from what it is now. The earth was completely different at that time when man lived in his first incarnation, in his first embodiment. When we look out into the world now, we encounter three kingdoms of nature: the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, and the mineral kingdom. Basically, we have all three of these kingdoms within us; we have the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms within us. We have the animal kingdom within us because we have an astral body that powerfully permeates our outer body; we have the plant kingdom because we have an etheric or life body that does something similar. We have the mineral kingdom within us because we unite with ourselves the substances that are outwardly in the mineral kingdom, take them into ourselves, and allow them to pass through us. Yes, when we ascend so far in the spiritual realm that we arrive at the experience of the inner life of our physical body during our first incarnation, we realize that at that moment the earth had just reached the epoch of its development when the mineral kingdom had just come into being in its present form. That is why we were able to form our first physical embodiment at that time, because we were first able to take something of the mineral kingdom into ourselves as it was forming. This brings us to the beginning of the mineral kingdom on our Earth.

Now you may say: Yes, but wasn't this mineral kingdom actually on our Earth before the plant and animal kingdoms? If you only think as far as your nose reaches, you can believe that. But if you think a little bit in parables, you will say to yourself: I already have something in ordinary coal that originated from plants and only became mineral after it was previously plant matter. Under conditions different from those of today, the plant kingdom could exist before the mineral kingdom. The mineral kingdom is a later formation than the plant kingdom. The plant kingdom preceded the mineral kingdom. It is not the plant kingdom that follows the mineral kingdom, but the plant kingdom already existed under different conditions. The mineral kingdom arose as a hardening product of the plant kingdom. And at the moment when the mineral kingdom was formed on our earth, at that moment man entered his first incarnation on earth. The mineral kingdom developed over certain long periods of time. Since the development of this mineral kingdom, we have been going through our incarnations on Earth. So we first had to acquire this mineral kingdom. Before that, we existed in a different way as beings; we had not yet integrated the substances of the mineral kingdom into ourselves as we have them today as physically embodied human beings. That is why spiritual science has always said that our earth has progressed in its development to the formation of the mineral kingdom, and that at the same time, human beings have assimilated this mineral kingdom.

Now we see again how human beings, by descending within themselves to the recognition of their physical body, come to a point where they step out of themselves. How could we expect anything else? We know that through our astral body we are related to animals, through our etheric body to plants, and through our physical body to minerals. No wonder that when we descend to the physical body, we encounter the mineral kingdom as the outer world at this boundary. We go, as it were, into ourselves and, strangely enough, come to a point where we step out of ourselves into the mineral kingdom. Not, however, into the mineral kingdom that surrounds us today, but into the mineral kingdom as it was at the moment of its emergence on Earth in the Lemurian epoch. We distinguish between our present Earth time, which goes back to the time of the great Atlantean catastrophe, and the Lemurian time that preceded it. Before the Atlantean catastrophe, the face of the Earth was very different from what it is today. We lived on a large continent, the Atlantean continent, between what is now Europe and Africa on the one hand and America on the other. In an even earlier era, the face of the Earth was different again. At that time, human beings, that is, we ourselves in our earlier incarnations, lived on a continent that we would have to search for today on Earth between Australia, Africa, and Asia, in ancient Lemuria, as modern science also calls it. At that time, human beings underwent their first incarnation, and the mineral kingdom came into being. That was also the moment when the moon that we see in the sky today separated from the Earth. Our moon used to be connected to our Earth. That is just a side note. We will talk about how this has been researched in the next few days.

We have thus seen that when we go within ourselves and really get to know ourselves, when we delve deeper into ourselves through truly mystical experiences guided by a teacher, we come out of ourselves. Our path leads us from the human being to the mineral earth, to that mineral earth from which we have acquired our earthly substances, our physical substance.

This is the one path that I wanted to describe to you as the path that could be taken and has been taken by many in the ancient mysteries of Isis and Osiris. As I said, it could only be taken with the help of a guide to whom one submitted in the strictest sense. If people back then hadn't submitted themselves completely to the guide, they would never have been able to go down the paths that have just been described. Instead, they would have gone inside themselves and gotten to know the worst parts of their inner selves. They would have gotten to know what they had made of themselves through their selfish egos. It will be our task in the next few days to describe the other path, the path of the Nordic mysteries, which did not lead people into themselves but out of themselves into the heavenly world. And after we have become acquainted with these two paths, neither of which are practicable today because of the advanced nature of human beings, who want to be free from absolute obedience, we will learn about the path that is practicable and right for the nature of human beings today, the so-called Rosicrucian path.

It should only be mentioned that certain newer mystics sought help when they did not have a guru to whom they could submit so strictly. They knew how to help themselves in another way, and it is interesting to see how the path of such mystics can be explained when one knows the secrets that have just been described. Take, for example, Meister Eckhart. He was a mystic of the Middle Ages who did not have a guide in the sense that the ancient initiates of the mysteries of Isis and Osiris had, but descended into his own inner being, so to speak, on his own. It would have been very dangerous for him if he had simply continued beyond a certain point in his own inner contemplation, which seemed natural to him. He would hardly have been able to prevent his own ego from asserting itself at a certain point. For that is precisely the danger of sinking into one's own inner self, that one's own ego asserts itself in a selfish way. One can, of course, talk at length about how people should descend into themselves and immerse themselves so deeply that they find the God-man within themselves. But those who talk like this have not usually gotten very far. If they had gotten far, they would have discovered that when left to their own devices, the selfish ego asserts itself in a terrible way. One could see this in mystics who, as long as they were guided by the external conventional life, were quite decent people; but the moment they sank into their inner being, where they left behind what affected them from outside, where they sought their inner man, then this inner man also came to the fore. While these people have previously been conditioned by their external upbringing to tell the truth, it can happen that when the selfish ego asserts itself, they begin to lie, that they become insincere people, that they develop more selfish traits than other people in ordinary life. Such experiences can be had by observing misguided mystics who like to talk about sinking into one's own inner self in order to find the higher human being. Usually, one does not find this higher human being, but rather one's most ordinary human being, who is then usually worse than the conventional human being. One must beware of this demand of the selfish ego.

In the Egyptian mysteries, the initiate was protected from this by the Hermes priest who took charge of him, so that the disciple no longer followed his own ego. Meister Eckhart did not have such a teacher. Tauler got one at a certain point, but Eckhart did not have such a guide. How did he protect himself from the selfish demands of the ego? A healthy nature such as Meister Eckhart's – like almost all Christian mystics of the Middle Ages who did not have such a guru – protected itself by permeating itself completely with the feeling: Now you are no longer yourself, now you have become someone else; now it is no longer what you say, feel, or want that speaks, feels, or wants; now let yourself be completely filled with Christ. He made Paul's words true: “Not I, but Christ in me.” Then he underwent this transformation. He de-individualized himself, so to speak. He gave up his ego and allowed himself to be filled with another ego. “De-becoming,” the opposite of “becoming,” is a beautiful word used by the Christian mystics of the Middle Ages. Just as one “becomes” an independent self, these mystics sought to “unbecome,” that is, to give up their self completely and be completely filled with another self. These were the means used by mystics such as Meister Eckhart or the mystic who wrote the so-called “Theologia Deutsch” to counter the selfish demands of the ego. They did not want to speak from themselves, but wanted to let a higher human being speak through them, a human being who could innerly enliven and inspire the present human being. Hence the repeated emphasis of these mystics that they wanted to surrender their selves completely to what they experienced inwardly. Thus, as modern times approached, we see how the Christian mystics of the Middle Ages, who were already living in anticipation of the times of modern humanity, replaced the external guru with an inner guru, with Christ. What now needs to be done so that human beings, who are caught up in today's spiritual life, can find their way into the spiritual worlds while maintaining their present state of mind and soul, will become clear to us tomorrow, when we have first discussed the path that was taken in the Nordic mysteries to get to know the macrocosm into which human beings enter when they fall asleep. We will start with a description of falling asleep and go on to describe the macrocosmic spheres into which human beings lived themselves, and then find the transition to the newer methods of the path of knowledge into the higher worlds.