The Karma of Materialism
GA 176
14 August 1917, Berlin
3. Rhythm in Breathing and Cognition
I spoke last time about the fact that, had evolution run its intended course, earthly man would not have strayed from his appointed place in the cosmic order. This is well known and is imaginatively expressed in various religions in such symbols as that of original sin and the like. Viewed in the light of spiritual science this aspect of mankind's evolution is directly connected with the fact that man's essential nature—that is, earthly man's essential nature—manifests itself through breathing. I indicated last time that the rhythm of the breath, and with it knowledge, cognition, was predestined to be man's most significant experience during his earth-existence. Last time I summarized briefly things spoken about on earlier occasions, namely that the rhythm of breathing is in wonderful harmony with the cosmos. I mentioned how, in a normal human life, the number of days equals the number of breaths drawn in one day. And I pointed to other numerical relationships which give evidence of the harmonious agreement that exists between our microcosmic breathing process and the great cosmic processes within which we are placed.
It can be shown, not only through the findings of spiritual science, but also through external observation, that the rhythm of breathing, more than anything else, shows man to be a microcosm, a little world. Man's breathing copies the processes of the Great World, the macrocosm. However, in regard to man, far too little attention is paid to slight differences, to individual characteristics. The fact is that there are no two people whose breathing is exactly the same, because each individual sounds, as it were, a different chord within the cosmos. However, in man's present earth-existence everything connected with the rhythm of the breath remains unconscious. Only under abnormal conditions or through some illness does the process of breathing become conscious. Our normal consciousness functions at a level above the process of breathing and is, as a consequence, not so closely bound up with the cosmos. If cognition had been based on the rhythm of breathing instead of processes in the brain our whole relation to, and knowledge of, the world would be different. It is because our cognition is dependent on the brain that we were forced out of what should have been our normal relationship with the macrocosm.
This secret of the breath is indicated in religious records, such as the Old Testament, when it says that the Divine Spiritual Being, concerned with the guidance of mankind, breathed into man the breath of life and he became a living soul. In the sense of ancient atavistic clairvoyance this is an absolutely true rendering of the facts. As far as his intellect is concerned man has a different relationship to the cosmos before and after the Mystery of Golgotha. This is because the brain and not the breath became the bodily foundation for knowledge.—In order to deepen our understanding we have considered the Mystery of Golgotha from many aspects; today we shall approach it from yet another.
It is true to say that before man was exposed to the influence of Lucifer, his knowledge, indeed his whole relation to the world, was intended to be different. Knowledge was to have been based on the rhythm of the breath. But before the Mystery of Golgotha, due to the Luciferic influence, the process of cognition developed higher up in man's organism and became related to the head and sense organs instead of to the chest and breathing. This is looking at it purely from the point of view of the body but in this connection the body itself has a deeper significance. The difference in man before and after the Mystery of Golgotha is not likely to be perceived or acknowledged by natural science. For although the difference is considerable it can be ascertained only by subtler means Before the Mystery of Golgotha, as Anthroposophy explains, man had as a matter of course a relationship with spiritual beings in the cosmos, with the beings of the higher Hierarchies. But what was the relationship? Among the beings of the Hierarchies we distinguish to begin with, immediately bordering on the human realm, the Angeloi, the Archangeloi and so on. Therefore the nearest beings to whom we look up, when we turn to the spiritual world are the Angeloi. As human beings we have a relationship to the Angeloi and they in turn feel their relationship to man. It is not a matter of indifference to the Angeloi what kind of relationship they have to man. When we turn our attention to this relationship we can begin to understand the difference in human beings before and after the Mystery of Golgotha.
The remarkable fact is that before the Mystery of Golgotha an intimate relation existed between the activity and being of the Angeloi and the human intellect. One could say that before the Mystery of Golgotha the Angeloi dwelt mainly in man's intellect. Man knew nothing of this but as a consequence he had, though in decreasing strength, atavistic, imaginative clairvoyance. When I said that before the Mystery of Golgotha the Angeloi dwelt in man's intellect, this holds good for his life between birth and death. It was different in man's life between death and new birth. Then the Angeloi, and especially the Angels belonging to individual human beings, dwelt in the memory man had of his sense impressions. They dwelt in pictures of what had surrounded man in the world of the senses on earth. The result was that in his life between death and new birth—before the Mystery of Golgotha—man had a vivid knowledge of what took place on earth. In a sense one could say that the Angeloi carried up to man knowledge of what was happening on earth.
This gives an idea of man's relation to the Angeloi before the Mystery of Golgotha. Afterwards this relationship gradually changed. So what relationship does man have now to the beings of the Hierarchy of the Angeloi? Now it is the case that, although we are not conscious of it, the Angeloi dwell in our sense perceptions between birth and death. When we open our eyes and look around at everything that surrounds us affecting our senses we are not aware that our Angel dwells in the sun rays which penetrate our eyes making objects visible. The beings of the Angeloi live in waves of sound, in the rays of light and color and in other sense perceptions. The reason man does not know he is surrounded by the Angeloi is because he transforms his perceptions into mental pictures and into these the Angeloi do not enter. It has often been emphasized in our lectures that the spiritual world must be visualized all around us and not in some far away cloud-cuckoo-land. The spiritual world is literally everywhere about us and it is possible to explain quite concretely in what sense it surrounds us as in this case in regard to the Angeloi. Yet no consciousness of the Angeloi enters our intellect between birth and death. By contrast man is at present very conscious of his relation with the Angeloi between death and new birth because then the Angeloi dwell in his intellect.
What I have just explained has significant consequences for human life. Let us go back for a moment to man as he was before the Mystery of Golgotha. Then the Angeloi, particularly his own Angel dwelt in his intellect; this made his senses in particular accessible to luciferic powers. In ancient times man's consciousness in general was accessible to luciferic influences. This has changed since the Mystery of Golgotha. As I have just explained the beings of the Hierarchy of the Angeloi who weave and move—borne on rays of light and color and on wings of sound—do not penetrate our intellect. As a consequence our intellect is exposed to the attacks of ahrimanic powers during our life between birth and death. Whereas before the Mystery of Golgotha man was exposed essentially to the attacks of Lucifer; since the Mystery of Golgotha the intellect is particularly exposed to the influence of ahrimanic powers. Their main objective is to stifle man's consciousness of his connection with the spiritual world. All the tendencies to materialism that man develops in his life of thought stem from this direct relationship between his intellect and the attacks of Ahriman. And if the materialistic tendencies, which are fully described in these lectures, have the upper hand in our time, we must not forget that they originate in the confusion which Ahriman strives to promote in the human intellect.
What is the real significance of these things? As already mentioned the process of breathing is subconscious, but that to which I have just referred; i.e. man's connection with the Angeloi, is not conscious either. That however lies above our consciousness. What happens in our breathing lies below our consciousness; what happens within us through the interaction with the spiritual world nearest to us lies above our consciousness. Within this process above our consciousness is actively working the force that entered the world through the Mystery of Golgotha, whereas earlier it was the force of Jehovah that worked in man. If we deepen our insight into the spirit—I say expressly into the spirit—of a writing such as the Book of Job, and realize how graphically it depicts the sway of the Jehovah force in human evolution, it gives us a picture of how the force worked which gave man life through the breath. As described there it worked in the forces of heredity down to the third and fourth generations.
In order to discover the corresponding force at work after the Mystery of Golgotha we must turn to the Christ. Just as the force of Jehovah is related to man's process of breathing so is the force of Christ, indeed the whole Mystery of Golgotha, related to that process I have just described as lying above man's consciousness. One could say that man's breathing has been deprived of consciousness through the luciferic influence. In compensation man is given the possibility to attain that higher consciousness of which I spoke; this will mean for man to unite with the Angeloi through the senses and the intellect. To compensate as it were for that which was taken from him; i.e., cognition through the rhythm of the breath, man is to be given, through the impulse flowing from the Mystery of Golgotha, cognition through a higher consciousness. There were people of deeply religious natures in the Orient who strove, before the Mystery of Golgotha, to bring consciousness into their breathing. To imitate this procedure today is harmful. The aim of the breathing exercises, described in Oriental writings, was to irradiate the process of breathing with consciousness. But in regard to certain higher knowledge man's earthly consciousness is doomed to be powerless. These ancient practices are being imitated today because it is not realized that through Lucifer man has been deprived of the possibility to irradiate his breathing with knowledge.
He is instead, since the Mystery of Golgotha, to attain a connection with the spiritual world through the development of a higher consciousness. If we were able to cognize; i.e. attain knowledge through our breath, then with every inhalation we would be conscious, not of inhaling air, but of taking in the force of Jahve; and with every exhalation we would know we exhaled Jahve. In a similar way man is now to become conscious that the beings of the Hierarchy of the Angeloi approach him and retreat from him rhythmically; that the spiritual world flows towards him and again ebbs away as it were. But man will attain this higher consciousness only if the impulse of the Mystery of Golgotha influences him more and more.
Fundamental issues can sometimes only be characterized by the use of strange words. In order to describe truth one must not shrink from using appropriate terms. Through Lucifer's influence the process of breathing became dulled as I have just described. True, it is meant pictorially, but if rightly understood one will feel the objective reality in the picture. Jahve's original intention was for man to be conscious of Him in every breath drawn into the body and conscious of His withdrawal with every exhalation. But Lucifer became Jahve's opponent and the consciousness, inherent in the force of Jahve, was shut off from man's consciousness. And now comes the point where one perforce must use strange, severe words in order to give a true description: Jahve had to forget human beings, insofar as their life on earth is concerned, because He could not enter their consciousness. It really did happen that the Being from whom the Jahve-force issued and other spiritual beings within the spiritual world forgot man, just as we may forget something. They forgot man, lost him from their consciousness. The consciousness was rekindled through the Mystery of Golgotha. If from primordial times, up to the Mystery of Golgotha, the tragic words were spoken: And the Gods forgot mankind; then since the Mystery of Golgotha we must say: And it is once more the Gods' will, by and by, to remember mankind. For the sake of human beings the Gods gradually will penetrate with their forces just that from which man otherwise would grasp none of the spirit: the wisdom connected with the human brain, the life of ideation connected with the human nervous system. Heaven wishes to behold the earth, to behold from above what is below. The necessary window was opened when the Being of Christ, through the baptism in the Jordan, entered the personality of Jesus. The words: “This is my beloved Son, this day have I begotten him” denotes the fact that what is above will once more behold what is below, that the forces from above can now stream in and out of that which is below, not however through man's breathing but through his thoughts and ideation. The time, since the Mystery of Golgotha, has been essentially a time of preparation. We are now at the turning point when something else must come, than was previously in the working of the Mystery of Golgotha. That we should become aware of this is of immense importance.
Everything that has taken place so far has been in the nature of preparation. Up till now only exceptional individuals have been able—through spiritual knowledge—to draw near the Mystery of Golgotha. The time has come when a greater part of mankind, through spiritual science, must come to understand the Mystery of Golgotha. Why is this so essential?
Many secrets are connected with an understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha. People often ask: How can I find a relationship to Christ? Certainly it is a question that is justified. But anyone with insight will know that it is a question that cannot be answered just like that. Let me make a comparison: we see objects by means of our eyes, but the eyes we do not see. For the eyes to be able to see they must be unable to see themselves. They see mirror images but not themselves. That which does the seeing cannot itself be seen. Since the Mystery of Golgotha man must see the spiritual world through the impulse coming from Christ just as he sees external colors through his eyes. We do not see the eyes through which the colors, etc. are seen, nor do we see the Christ impulse through which we see the spiritual world. This is why the Mystery of Golgotha is veiled in mystery and the history of the event is also veiled. Since the Mystery of Golgotha the historical event associated with it cannot be discovered by historic means. To seek for Christ historically like any other event in history would be like trying to induce the eye to see itself. It is inherent in the Mystery of Golgotha that Christ Jesus cannot be found like Plato, Socrates or any other historical personality, through historical documents. It lies in its very nature that accounts of it are not historical, they were given by human beings who were inspired. Accounts of the Mystery of Golgotha can always be proved not to be historical records in the usual sense. We would become spiritually ill in the course of human evolution in the moment it became possible to include the Mystery of Golgotha among other historical events. Nor in that case would we be able to see it rightly; if we saw it historically it would be like an injured eye seeing itself. A healthy eye sees objects but not itself. If a chip has become embedded in the eye it will see a dark space before it and begin to perceive itself; but that is abnormal perception. Similarly an abnormal perception of the Mystery of Golgotha would come about if it did not have an aspect which externally is imperceptible and therefore enables man to perceive spiritually. This is a secret connected with the Mystery of Golgotha. The remarkable thing is that this strange situation did not exist for man before the Mystery of Golgotha. In ancient times before Christ had descended to the earth man knew, through his atavistic clairvoyance, that Christ was there above in the spiritual world and that He would come. Hence there is remarkable prophetic evidence which shows there were human beings who were conscious, through direct personal experience, of the Christ who was to come. It is a paradox that man could know of Christ as long as He had not yet come to the earth. From the moment He had come man could no longer know of Him in the same way. Just as one experiences the eye when one perceives, so the Christ-event had to be experienced in the time after the Mystery of Golgotha, and not known historically.
It is interesting to see how these things, which I am now explaining in the light of spiritual science, are dealt with in the Gospels. But we must leave that to some other occasion.
Thus it was inevitable that from early on, in the development of Christianity, faith was emphasized rather than knowledge. Christians were not to expect knowledge concerning the Mystery of Golgotha but experience it inwardly through faith. Yet the Mystery of Golgotha is meant to illumine our world of concepts, for ideas born of faith are also concepts, are also our mental pictures. Furthermore, that is the realm in which the impulse from the Mystery of Golgotha meets all the attacks of Ahriman. Our intellect is the arena where the impulse of Christ fights the impulse of Ahriman. Man's evolution, his purely external evolution on earth, will take its course and Ahriman will not be as fettered as he is now. The “Thousand Years” will elapse and man will need a different force, he must have something over and above mere faith with which to establish the Christ impulse in his earthly consciousness. What is this different force?
This different force is spiritual knowledge through which man spiritually should make his own what we call the impulse of Christ. It will enable him to find within himself the strong force with which to protect the Christ impulse in his consciousness against the attacks of Ahriman. The Christ impulse is established in the world and Ahriman cannot abolish it. That is beyond his strength. Ahriman cannot alter the fact that Christ came into the world through the body of Jesus of Nazareth. But what he can do is so to transform the concept, the mental picture of Christ in the human intellect that man experiences a pretense, instead of the Christ impulse. This means he creates a false picture of Christ. Man is exposed to the danger that while he may talk about Christ his intellectual picture of Christ is inspired by Ahriman. Those who are able to review modern cultural developments in their true forms seldom find any accurate picture of Christ in men's mind; more often than not they are distorted by Ahriman. By no means is it always the real Christ whom the adherents of Christianity call Christ. Ahriman clouds and confuses the human intellect in many ways in order to attain his goal, not least in those places where men are apt to seek religious counsel. There one can encounter peculiar views. Suppose one asks a Catholic theologian about his real opinion concerning the Virgin Mary. Certainly most would only give the reply he had been instructed to give, but let us leave that aside. There are some who have developed theological cognition beyond the level of mere instruction. In such cases one invariably finds a strange similarity between the cosmic picture of the heavenly church and the earthly woman Mary. This view comes about because for the Catholic theologian the Virgin Mary is identical with the symbolic woman in the Apocalypse who has the moon beneath her feet, the sun at her breast and the seven stars above her head. Thus, in order to visualize the meaning of the spiritual concept it is transposed into an earthly reality. Certain passages in Catholic writings demonstrate that Catholic theologians still look upon the Virgin Mary as identical with the woman in the sun with the moon at her feet and the stars above her head. Here the spiritual, the cosmic-spiritual is seen completely in terms of the earthly; and in fact the cosmic aspect is disappearing more and more through Ahrimanic influence. Nowhere does it disappear more thoroughly than from man's conception of Christ. There is very little inclination today to acknowledge Christ as the Great Cosmic Spirit who descended from cosmic heights to dwell in the human body of Jesus of Nazareth. Many people have an aversion to admit it; they believe it truly Christian to bring as little as possible of a cosmic aspect into the concept of Christ. This attitude would have been quite impossible for a theologian in the 14th century. This fact may not be demonstrated by history because external history is itself distorted.
Ahriman's whole interest lies in diverting man away from the spiritual, towards the material. What is material is indeed also spiritual but its spirit lies hidden within the earth. Ahriman does need much cunning and the use of many a trick in order to prevent man from seeing any cosmic aspect in the personality of the Christ. Nevertheless one finds descriptions of Christ which are strikingly ahrimanic; they are bereft of everything supersensible and are deliberately made to appear purely human. Particularly in social-democratic literature is this very common; not to mention painters who have done everything possible to eliminate every suggestion of a cosmic quality from their figure of Christ. Some years ago there was an exhibition here in Berlin of paintings of Christ, a whole series of ahrimanic paintings one after the other. And then there are all the self-appointed preachers who officially or unofficially speak in a sectarian manner about the Christ with no awareness that Ahriman has them by the collar and induces them to present his version of the Christ impulse and not one in which the true impulse of Christ is effective.
The true and therefore effective Christ impulse can in our time be presented by no other means than spiritual science. For spiritual science is concerned with spiritual perception which is attained outside the body and therefore where the possibility exists of beholding again the Christ in His true form. As long as one is within the body the eye can indeed behold colors but it cannot behold itself. When one betakes oneself out of the body in spiritual perception one beholds the impulse of Christ through the Christ impulse itself; just as when one sees oneself from the outside one sees the eye. What man can find in spiritual science he cannot find in any historical account to be a description of Christ in His spiritual form. Just as spiritual science can describe a faculty of sight which is on a level higher than that of the eye, so it can describe the Christ impulse through which the spiritual world becomes visible. It is therefore possible to attain insight into the Christ impulse, but insight does not prevent attacks from Ahriman. They must be met with courage. The reason people do not want to know about the concept of Christ attained through spiritual science is because of a subconscious fear that as soon as the Christ impulse is understood it will arouse Ahriman's opposition. How can this ahrimanic opposition be recognized at the present time?
In the future it will take other forms. Today it comes to expression in the fact that we have a natural science and accounts of history both of which are ahrimanic and they consequently present cultural development and historical events their way. The very nature of concepts developed on this basis excludes the Christ impulse. In these concepts Ahriman must inevitably work because he works in man. With concepts such as these it is indeed possible to evolve a philosophy of life which includes a general concept of God but they can never lead to an understanding of Christ. Christ may be spoken of but is not understood. That is the case even in a philosopher like Lotze.12Rudolf Lotze 1817–1881 German Physician and Philosopher And Harnack,13Adolf von Harnack 1851–1930 Professor of Theology having no ideas of his own on the subject, mentions the name of Christ only because it appears in religious documents in the Bible and so on. Other theologians fail to speak of the real Christ for similar reasons. Thus Harnack's Christ has no other attributes than those applicable to a universal Godhead; or he may go to the other extreme and simply describe the man Jesus.
To understand Christ through spiritual science it is necessary to grasp the spiritual-scientific concept of Christ in the full awareness that all external knowledge—whether in the form of natural science or history—far from leading to an understanding of the Christ impulse actually opposes it. This opposition is there in anti-Christians today who, in contrast to mere belief, attempt to apply natural-scientific or historical concepts to the Christ event. It is essential to understand that there has to be an inner opposition because here two worlds are in conflict. We must enter courageously into the conflict between Christ and Ahriman. A comprehensive view of life will accept that the conflict exists and expresses itself for example in the fight between Christ and Ahriman.
I have often said that Lucifer acts in partnership with Ahriman. They work together. They both have great interest in deluding man concerning the necessity of this inner conflict. They therefore go all out to eliminate the realm that opposes them. To this end they conjure up in man's mind ideas such as: “In tune, in harmony with the infinite.” Why do such mental pictures arise in man? They do because he is inwardly too much of a coward to face the conflict and much prefers Lucifer-Ahriman to invent “harmony with the infinite” for him. However it is an attitude that is the equivalent of going through life blindfolded, seeking only appeasement. Modern man shrinks from the many-sided battle to attain spiritual insight; this attitude is bound to call up opposing forces just as they appear when something right, which ought to be furthered is left neglected. It is because man, during recent centuries, has endeavoured to avoid the inner battle between powers which must of necessity oppose one another, that this battle assumes such a terrible form in the external world today. This consequence is as inevitable as the expulsion from Paradise was a consequence of the luciferic temptation. We see man today, in all spheres of life, being satisfied with creating a mere semblance of inner peace for himself. It is an inner peace which has a meaning only between birth and death. In so doing he prevents one side of the inner conflict to come to expression, of course that to which he prevents expression is always the Christ impulse. Thus the natural conflict has to find an outlet some other way. Now, when you find in various publications descriptions of the so-called contradictions supposed to exist in my writings you will now be able to view these with deeper insight and recognize the ahrimanic impulse in them.
Instead of overcoming the forces he necessarily must overcome, by facing them, man tries to avoid the conflict. This has all kinds of adverse effects. If one tries to avoid the conflict it will make its appearance in a different form. Nothing pleasant is prepared by those who strive to do away with the conflict. Working with spiritual science one continuously meets people who, out of their deepest needs, ask: Why is there evil, why is there pain in the world? These questions are often asked in an attempt to grasp how it can be that a good God allows evil to exist. In an attempt to answer such questions one may draw attention to the fact that no one will deny that all the good in the world, all that is excellent and full of wisdom is a manifestation of the Godhead. Thus if it is felt that God's goodness must be vindicated then we already stand on the premise that wisdom is to be ascribed to a good God. But why does a good, wise God allow evil to exist? To this the following may be said: Begin by visualizing a minute pain, let us say you cut yourself and feel a slight pain. Every pain arises when something is exposed to any kind of destruction. It is just that it is not always so obvious how the pain first came about. Let us now imagine that it is not a question of a cut by a knife but that a particularly sensitive spot on the body is exposed to very hot sun rays. This may not at once result in actual blisters but the beginning is there. Therefore a change in the tissue has occurred which is felt as a slight pain. If now the heat of the sun acted more strongly on an even more sensitive spot a greater injury would result. And now imagine that two particularly sensitive places in our head were, aeons ago, exposed to the rays of the sun. Man at that time had not the faculty of sight but the two places in his head became painful whenever the sun rose. At these places the tissue was injured and pain arose in consequence. This process went on for long ages and the healing resulted in the formation of the eyes; they came into being as a result of injury. True as it is that the eyes convey to us the beauty of the world of color so is it also true that they could only come into being through injury caused by the heat of the sun to places particularly sensitive to light.
Nothing in the way of joy, happiness, blessedness has come about except through pain. To refuse pain and opposition is to refuse beauty, greatness and goodness. Here one enters a domain where one can no longer think as one pleases; here one is subject to what in the Mysteries was called “iron necessity.” True as it is that great harmony exists in the world, true as it is that the present harmony had of necessity to arise through pain, it is equally true that the Christ impulse cannot be attained through painless, sensuous feelings of well-being such as those conveyed by the idea of being “in tune with the infinite.” The Christ impulse can only be reached by courageously facing the conflict that plays itself out in our intellect—or in our consciousness in general—between the Christ impulse and the ahrimanic impulse. It is a conflict we cannot lightheartedly distance ourselves from by saying “without harmony we remain unfulfilled; in order to attain the Christ impulse we must rise above the conflict in our understanding.” This can be seen quite concretely in the most diverse instances. For example someone may strive to understand the world through natural science; as a consequence he fails to find the Christ impulse. He may later learn to understand the world through spiritual science and as a consequence he now does find the Christ impulse. In such a case it is essential to recognize that one is faced with a contradiction, but in the very contradiction there is also agreement. Contrary to the belief of many it is not a question of adhering solely to one or the other science, nor can one be substituted for the other. Rather could they be compared with the right and left ear; both are necessary for proper hearing for the very reason that the hearing in one ear does not coincide with that of the other ear. What matters is not whether two things can be made to agree but in what sense there is harmony between them.
Dritter Vortrag
Ich habe das letzte Mal darauf hingewiesen, wie der Mensch, so wie er als Erdenmensch lebt, im Grunde abgeirrt ist von seiner im normalen Verlauf der Entwickelung liegenden, ich möchte sagen, kosmischen Weltenlage. Daß dies so ist, das ist uns ja hinlänglich bekannt, und ausgedrückt wird es in den verschiedenen Religionen sinnbildlich, imaginativ, in dem Symbolum, das als Erbsünde oder dergleichen herrscht. Für uns, geisteswissenschaftlich betrachtet, hängt das damit zusammen, daß im Grunde genommen des Menschen Urwesen, wenn wir so sagen dürfen, als Erdenmenschen, die Atmungsverrichtungen sind. Deshalb habe ich das letzte Mal darauf hingewiesen, daß der Atmungsrhythmus eigentlich so angesehen werden kann, daß der Mensch während seiner Erdenlaufbahn dazu bestimmt war, das wichtigste Erlebnis — und damit auch zugleich das Erkenntniserlebnis — im Atmungsrhythmus zu haben. Ich habe früher darauf hingewiesen und das letzte Mal die Sache summarisch wiederholt, daß gerade der Atmungsrhythmus in einer wunderbaren Harmonie mit dem ganzen Kosmos steht. Wie in einem normalen Menschenleben unsere Lebenstage in ihrer Zahl den Atemzügen an einem Tage gleichen, darauf und auch auf andere Zahlenverhältnisse habe ich hingewiesen, welche gewissermaßen das harmonische Zusammenstimmen unseres mikrokosmischen Atmungsprozesses mit den großen kosmischen Vorgängen zeigen können, in die unser Leben hineingestellt ist.
Außer den geisteswissenschaftlich erschaubaren Resultaten kann nun schon äußerlich darauf hingewiesen werden, wie eigentlich im menschlichen Atmungsrhythmus etwas ist, wodurch der Mensch noch mehr als durch alles andere ein Mikrokosmos, eine kleine Welt ist. Gerade im Atmen ahmt der Mensch die Vorgänge der großen Welt nach, auch das, was die große Welt mit uns vor hat. Und durchaus wahr ist es: Bei Vorgängen, die kleine Unterschiede haben, beachtet man die Verschiedenheiten nicht sehr genau, man individualisiert nicht; aber in Wahrheit gibt es nicht zwei Menschen, bei denen der Atmungsprozeß völlig gleich verliefe. Alle Menschen sind in bezug auf ihren Atmungsprozeß verschieden, weil jeder Mensch eine anders abgestimmte Saite des Weltenalls ist. Aber was da im Atmungsrhythmus vorgeht, bleibt für den Menschen in seinem jetzigen Erdenzustande unbewußt; oder es wird wenigstens nur in abnormen Zuständen bewußt und nimmt dann die verschiedensten seelisch-krankhaften Erscheinungsformen an. Unser normales Bewußtsein verläuft ja, wie wir wissen, gleichsam oberhalb des Atmungsprozesses; es ist mehr herausgehoben aus dem Makrokosmos. Würden wir statt unseres Gehirnprozesses den Atmungsvorgang zu unserem Erkenntnisprozesse haben, so würden wir in unserem Erkenntnisprozesse ganz anders im Weltenall drinnenstehen. Daß unser Erkenntnisprozeß an das Gehirn gebunden ist, preßt uns gewissermaßen aus dem Zusammenhange heraus, in dem wir sonst normalerweise im Makrokosmos drinnenstehen würden. Wie das Atmungsgeheimnis für den Menschen ein solches ist, darauf haben die religiösen Urkunden, wie ich auch schon angedeutet habe, dadurch hingewiesen, daß sie, wie zum Beispiel die Urkunde des Alten Testaments, aussprechen: Diejenige geistig-göttliche Wesenheit, welche mit der Führung, mit der Leitung des Menschen zu tun habe, habe dem Menschen den Atem eingeblasen, und er sei eine lebendige Seele geworden. Diese Aussage des Alten Testaments ist im Sinne des alten, atavistischen Hellsehens durchaus die Wiedergabe einer wahren Tatsache. Dadurch, daß nun nicht unser Atmungsprozeß die körperliche Grundlage unseres Erkennens darstellt, sondern unser Gehirnprozeß, dadurch war der Mensch mit Bezug auf seinen Intellekt in aller Zeit, die dem Mysterium von Golgatha vorangegangen ist, anders zur Welt gestellt, als er gestellt ist, nachdem das Mysterium von Golgatha geschehen ist. Ich möchte sagen: neben den anderen Pforten, welche sich uns zum Verständnisse des Mysteriums von Golgatha schon aufgetan haben, soll heute eine andere noch betrachtet werden.
Wir können sagen: Eigentlich ist der Erkenntnisprozeß des Menschen, die ganze Stellung des Menschen zur Welt nicht die, welche ihm vor dem luziferischen Einfluß zugedacht war. Denn zugedacht war ihm ein Erkenntnisprozeß, dem der Atmungsrhythmus zugrunde liegt. Dadurch entwickelte sich - nehmen wir die Sache jetzt rein körperlich, aber das Körperliche hat dabei eine tiefere Bedeutung — beim Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha gewissermaßen das Erkennen anstatt an Brust und Atmung gebunden, höher herauf in seinem Organismus, an den Kopf und an die Sinne gebunden.
So äußerlich betrachtet wird die äußere Naturwissenschaft den Unterschied zwischen dem Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha und nach demselben nicht so ohne weiteres einsehen und anerkennen. Aber dieser Unterschied ist, wenn er auch mit feineren Mitteln nur erkannt werden kann, ein außerordentlich großer.
In der Zeit vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha stand der Mensch — wie das aus den verschiedenen Betrachtungen unserer Anthroposophie begreiflich sein kann - selbstverständlich zu geistigen Wesenheiten des Weltenalls, zu den Wesen der höheren Hierarchien in Beziehung. Aber wie? Unter den Wesen der höheren Hierarchien unterscheiden wir zunächst, unmittelbar angrenzend an das Reich der Menschen, die Angeloi, die Archangeloi und so weiter. Die nächsten Wesen also, zu denen wir aufschauen, wenn wir in die geistige Welt aufblicken, sind die Angeloi. Wir stehen als Menschen in Beziehung zu den Angeloi, und die Angeloi wieder fühlen ihre Beziehung zu uns Menschen. Auch für sie ist es nicht gleichgültig, welche Beziehung sie zu dem Menschen haben. Und den Unterschied zwischen dem Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha und nach demselben, können wir uns vor die Seele führen, wenn wir gerade die Beziehung des Menschen zu der Wesenheit der Angeloi ins Auge fassen.
Da ist es sehr merkwürdig, daß vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha eine intime Beziehung bestand zwischen den Angeloi in ihrer ganzen Tätigkeit, in ihrem ganzen Wesen und dem menschlichen Intellekt. Man könnte förmlich sagen: der Hauptwohnsitz der Angeloi war für die Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha der menschliche Intellekt. Die Menschen wußten nichts davon, daß die Angeloi in ihrem Intellekt wohnten; aber die Folge davon, daß sie dort wohnten, war, daß diese Menschen, in abnehmender Stärke allerdings, aber dennoch eines hatten: atavistisches, imaginatives Hellsehen. Was ich eben sagte: die Angeloi wohnten in dem Intellekt der Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha, gilt für das Leben der Menschen zwischen Geburt und Tod. Anders war es in dem Leben der Menschen zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt. Da wohnten die Angeloi, und auch der einzelne der Angeloi, der einzelne Engel, der einem Menschen zugeteilt war, in den Erinnerungen an die Sinnesempfindungen; sie wohnten in den Bildern von dem, was den Menschen auf der Erde sinnlich umgab. Daher war bei den Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha in der Zeit zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt ein lebendiges Wissen von den Vorgängen auf der Erde vorhanden. Gewissermaßen könnte man sagen: Die Angeloi trugen das, was auf der Erde geschah, zu den Menschen hinauf. Ein recht anschauliches Wissen von dem Geschehen auf der Erde entwickelten die Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha in der Zeit zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt.
Da sehen wir hinein in die Beziehung zwischen den Angeloi und dem Menschenwesen in der Zeit vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha wurde das anders; anders, indem natürlich dieses Anderswerden in Entwickelung begriffen ist. Wie ist es nun bei uns, den Menschen, nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha? Wie ist da die Beziehung des Menschen zu den Wesenheiten der Hierarchie der Angeloi?
Bei uns ist es jetzt so, daß — allerdings unbewußt — in unseren sinnlichen Wahrnehmungen im Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod die Angeloi wohnen. Ja, wenn wir unsere Augen aufmachen und hinausschauen in die Welt, die uns umgibt und auf unsere Sinne wirkt, so wissen wir zwar nicht, daß, während der Sonnenstrahl in unser Auge dringt und die Dinge sichtbar werden, auf dem Sonnenstrahl der Ort zu finden ist, auf dem unser Engel wohnt. Aber es ist so: In den Schwingungen des Tones, in den Strahlungen des Lichtes und der Farben, in den anderen Sinneswahrnehmungen lebt die Wesenheit der Angeloi. Nur indem der Mensch die Sinneswahrnehmungen verwandeln muß in Vorstellungen, dringen die Angeloi nicht in das Vorstellungswesen mit ein, und der Mensch weiß nicht, wie er umgeben ist von der Wesenheit der Angeloi. Im allgemeinen sagt man in geisteswissenschaftlichen Vorträgen oftmals, man solle sich die geistige Welt nicht in einem Wolkenkuckucksheim vorstellen, sondern man soll sich vorstellen, daß uns die geistige Welt überall umgibt. Sie umgibt uns tatsächlich überall. Man kann auch konkret hinweisen, wie sie uns umgibt. Hier haben wir den Fall für die Angeloi; doch in unseren Intellekt kommt in der Zeit des Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod das Bewußtsein nicht von dem Angeloi. Dagegen entwickelt der jetzige Mensch ein starkes Bewußtsein von seinem Zusammenhange mit den Wesen der Angeloi in dem Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt; denn da wohnen gewissermaßen die Angeloi in seinem Intellekt.,
Was ich eben auseinandergesetzt habe, hat für das menschliche Leben eine bedeutsame Folge. Nehmen wir noch einmal den Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha; in seinem Intellekt wohnten die Angeloi, der seine besonders. Dadurch war sein Sinnesleben ganz besonders zugänglich den luziferischen Gewalten. Das ganze Bewußtseinsleben des Menschen überhaupt war in der alten Zeit den luziferischen Gewalten zugänglich. Das ist anders geworden seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha. In unseren Intellekt dringen nicht ein, wie ich geschildert habe, die auf den Schwingen des Lichtes und der Farben, auf den Flügeln der Tonschwingungen und so weiter schreitenden Wesenheiten aus der Hierarchie der Angeloi. Dadurch sind wir in der Zeit zwischen Geburt und Tod in unserem Intellekt durchsetzt von den Angriffen der ahrimanischen Mächte. Während sich der Mensch von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha im wesentlichen den Attacken Luzifers ausgesetzt sah, ist der Intellekt ganz besonders seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha den Einflüssen der ahrimanischen Mächte ausgesetzt. Diese haben vor allem das Bestreben, in dem Menschen das Bewußtsein von seinem Zusammenhange mit der geistigen Welt zu erdrücken. Alle die Neigungen, welche der Mensch zum Materialismus entwickelt, in seinen Gedanken entwickelt, kommen in dieser direkten Beziehung auf den Intellekt von den Attacken der ahrimanischen Mächte her. Und wenn die in diesen Betrachtungen genugsam geschilderten materialistischen Zeittendenzen heute die Oberhand haben, so dürfen wir nicht vergessen, daß diese materialistischen Zeittendenzen von den Verwirrungen herrühren, welche Ahriman in dem menschlichen Intellekt anzurichten sich bestrebt.
Die Dinge, von denen ich jetzt spreche, was sind sie? Wir haben vorhin gesagt: der Atmungsprozeß ist unterbewußt. Aber das, was ich jetzt meine, dieser Zusammenhang des Menschen mit der Wesenheit der Angeloi, ist auch nicht im Bewußtsein; er liegt über das Bewußtsein hinaus. Was in unserem Atmen vorgeht, liegt unterhalb des Bewußtseins; was durch dieses Zusammenwirken der Geistwelten, des nächststufigen Zusammenwirkens der Geistwelten in uns vorgeht in der Weise, wie ich das jetzt geschildert habe, ist überbewußt. In diesem überbewußten Prozesse wirkt und arbeitet geradeso die Kraft, welche durch das Mysterium von Golgatha in die Welt eingezogen ist, wie vor demselben die Jehova-Kraft in dem Menschen gewirkt hat. Wenn wir uns in den Geist — aber eben in den Geist — einer Schrift vertiefen, wie es zum Beispiel das Buch Hiob ist, und da gewahr werden, wie das Walten der Jehova-Kraft in den menschlichen Entwickelungen dargestellt werden soll — etwas was ja gerade im Buch Hiob ganz besonders stark zutage tritt —, so bekommen wir eine Vorstellung davon, wie diese Jehova-Kraft wirkte, die, wie gesagt, durch den Atmungsprozeß dem Menschen das Leben gegeben hat. Sie wirkte im Vererbungsprozef, wirkte darin so, wie es geschildert wird, bis ins dritte und vierte Glied hinunter. Wollen wir ein Analogon haben für die Zeit nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha, so müssen wir die Christus-Kraft nehmen. So, wie die Jehova-Kraft ihre Beziehung hat zu dem menschlichen Atmungsprozeß, so hat die ChristusKraft, überhaupt das ganze Mysterium von Golgatha, eine Beziehung zu dem, was ich eben geschildert habe, als zu einem überbewußten Vorgang.
Wollen wir gewissermaßen eine Definition über die Sache haben, die wir da mit Bezug auf das Atmen besprochen haben, so könnten wir sagen: Der Atmungsprozeß ist für den Erdenmenschen entkleidet worden der Bewußtheit; die Bewußtheit ist für den Erdenmenschen durch den luziferischen Einfluß ausgelöscht worden. Dafür soll ihm die Möglichkeit eines Hineinlebens in das Überbewußte gegeben werden, in jenes Überbewußte, das ich eben andeutete: des Zusammenseins durch Sinnlichkeit oder Intellekt mit den Wesenheiten der Angeloi. Gewissermaßen als Ausgleich für das, was dem Menschen genommen worden ist: der Erkenntnisprozeß des Atmens, soll ihm gegeben werden der Erkenntnisprozeß des Überbewußten durch den Impuls des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Kraftvolle religiöse Naturen des Orients haben in ihren Gegenden vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha in das Atmen das Bewußtsein hereinbekommen wollen. Dies kann heute nicht nachgemacht werden, denn es würde zum Unheil führen. Aber alles, was wir in orientalischen Schriften der älteren Zeiten finden, um Atemübungen zu machen, läuft darauf hinaus, daß der Atmungsprozeß vom Bewußtsein durchstrahlt werde. Aber für gewisse höchste Dinge ist ja das Bewußtsein des Erdenmenschen doch zur Ohnmacht verurteilt, und wenn heute gewisse Gebräuche alter Zeiten nachgemacht werden, so tun dies die Menschen, weil sie nicht damit rechnen, daß durch Luzifer dem Menschen die völlige Durchleuchtung des Atmungsprozesses mit der Erkenntnis genommen ist. Dafür soll er aber seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha immer mehr und mehr den überbewußten Prozeß des Zusammenhanges mit der geistigen Welt bekommen. Würden wir atmend erkennen, würden wir im Atmen den Erkenntnisprozeß haben, so würde uns bei jedem Einatmen immer bewußt sein, nicht daß wir Luft einatmen, sondern daß wir die Jahve-Kraft in uns hereinnehmen; und bei jedem Ausatmen würden wir wissen, daß wir Jahve ausatmen. In ähnlicher Weise soll dem Menschen bewußt werden, daß die Wesenheiten der Hierarchie der Angeloi gewissermaßen rhythmisch zu ihm auf- und absteigen, daß gewissermaßen die geistige Welt auf und ab flutet. Das kann nur sein, wenn der Impuls des Mysteriums von Golgatha sich immer mehr und mehr unter den Menschen auswirken kann.
Man muß oft merkwürdige Worte gebrauchen, wenn man so recht charakterisieren will, was den Dingen der Welt zugrunde liegt. Wenn man davor zurückschrecken wollte, an entsprechender Stelle das rechte Wort zu gebrauchen, so könnte man doch nicht zur Erkenntnis der Wahrheit kommen. Durch Luzifer ist das eingetreten, was ich eben als Abstumpfung für das Atmen geschildert habe. Gewiß, es ist bildlich gemeint; aber man kann die Objekte hereinstrahlen fühlen in die Vorstellungen, wenn man das Bild richtig deutet. Es bedeutet: Jahve wollte bewußt in einem jeden Atemzug leben, der in des Menschen Leib eindringt, und er wollte sich für den Menschen bewußt zurückziehen bei jedem Ausatmen. Das ging. Luzifer aber wurde sein Gegner. Und das Bewußtsein, welches in der Jahve-Kraft liegt, wurde ausgeschlossen vor dem menschlichen Bewußtsein. Und hier kommt nun das schwere Wort, vor dem man nicht zurückschrecken darf es auszusprechen, wenn man im Sinne einer richtigen Erkenntnis charakterisieren will. Jahve mußte die Menschen vergessen, insofern sie auf der Erde leben; denn in das Bewußtsein, welches sie haben, konnte er nicht hineinschlagen. Es ist wirklich so etwas vorgegangen, daß allmählich die der JahveKraft zugrunde liegende Wesenheit und, bis in die geistige Welt hinauf, die geistigen Wesenheiten so die Menschen vergessen haben, wie wir etwas aus der Seele vergessen. Vergessen, aus dem Bewußtsein verloren haben sie die Menschen! Durch das Mysterium von Golgatha wurde das Bewußtsein wieder entzündet. Und hat man für die Menschen von der Urzeit bis zum Mysterium von Golgatha das tragische Wort zu sprechen: Und die Götter vergaßen der Menschen, — so muß man für die Zeit seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha sagen: Und die Götter wollen sich nach und nach der Menschheit wieder erinnern. — Sie wollen nach und nach mit ihren Kräften gerade in das, wovon der Erdenmensch sonst nicht das Geistige erfassen würde, sie wollen in die Gehirnweisheit, in das menschliche Vorstellungsleben, das an das Nervensystem gebunden ist, auch für den Erdenmenschen hereindringen. Der Himmel will die Erde betrachten, und das Fenster, das er nötig hat, um von oben das Untere zu betrachten, wurde ausgebrochen in der Zeit, als die Christus-Wesenheit bei der Johannestaufe im Jordan in die Jesus-Persönlichkeit eintrat. Und die Worte: «Dieser ist mein vielgeliebter Sohn, ihn habe ich heute gezeugt», deuten darauf hin, daß das Obere das Untere wieder schauen will, daß das Obere in das Untere, jetzt nicht mit den Atemzügen, sondern mit den Gedanken und Vorstellungen — aus- und einströmen kann. Dazu ist im Grunde genommen die Zeit, welche bisher seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha verflossen ist, eine Art von Vorbereitung gewesen, und wir stehen nunmehr an der Wende, wo etwas anderes kommen muß, als bisher in der Wirkungsweise des Mysteriums von Golgatha war. Das ist wichtig, daß wir uns dieses gerade zum Bewußtsein bringen.
Vorbereitung war es, was bisher war. Denn bis dahin haben höchstens einzelne Ausnahmenaturen sich durch Geisteswissenschaft dem Mysterium von Golgatha nähern können. Jetzt aber muß die Zeit eintreten, in welcher für einen größeren Teil der Menschheit insbesondere auch das Mysterium von Golgatha durch die Geisteswissenschaft aufgefaßt werden soll. Warum?
Mit diesem Mysterium von Golgatha und seinem Verständnisse ist manches Geheimnis verbunden. Wie oft kommen die Menschen und fragen: Wie finde ich meine Beziehung zu dem Christus? — Eine gewiß berechtigte Frage. Aber ebenso verständlich ist es demjenigen, der in diese Dinge eingeweiht ist, daß diese Frage nicht so ohne weiteres beantwortet werden kann. Ich möchte dazu etwas als einen Vergleich sagen: Wir sehen die Dinge mit den Augen, aber wir sehen die Augen nicht. Damit die Augen sehen können, können sich die Augen selber nicht sehen; Spiegelbilder nur sehen sie, nicht die Augen selbst. Das, was sieht, wodurch man sieht, das kann nicht selbst gesehen werden. Der Mensch in der Zeit nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha aber muß die geistigen Welten sehen durch den Christus-Impuls, wie wir die äußeren Farben und so weiter durch das Auge sehen. Wie wir aber das Auge nicht selber sehen, so sehen wir auch den Christus-Impuls nicht, weil wir durch ihn die geistige Welt sehen.
Damit hängt es zusammen, daß das Mysterium von Golgatha in Geheimnis gehüllt ist, auch historisch in Geheimnis gehüllt. Es sollte dasjenige historische Ereignis für die Nachwelt des Mysteriums von Golgatha werden, das nicht mit historischen Mitteln gefunden werden kann. Das Christus-Leben so in der Geschichte zu suchen, wie man ein anderes historisches Ereignis sucht, das käme ganz dem Triebe gleich, das Auge zu veranlassen, daß es das Auge selbst sähe. Es liegt in der Wesenheit des Mysteriums von Golgatha, daß der Christus Jesus nicht, wie Sokrates, Plato oder eine andere historische Persönlichkeit durch Dokumente gefunden werden kann, wie sonst historische Dokumente sind. Es liegt in der Wesenheit des Mysteriums von Golgatha, daß die Aufzeichnungen über dasselbe nicht historische sind, sondern daß es Aufzeichnungen inspirierter Menschen sind, von denen man immer mit historischen Mitteln den Beweis erbringen kann, sie seien keine eigentlichen historischen Dokumente. Wir würden in der menschheitlichen Entwickelung in dem Augenblicke geistig krank werden, wo das Mysterium von Golgatha in die Reihe der gewöhnlichen historischen Ereignisse eingereiht werden könnte. Wir würden es dann zwar auch noch nicht in der richtigen Weise sehen, aber wir würden es gleichsam so historisch wahrnehmen, wie wir das Auge wahrnehmen, wenn wir es verletzt haben. Das gesunde Auge sieht die Dinge, sieht nicht sich selbst. Hat das Auge einen Splitter in sich, der da bleibend ist, so sieht es einen schwarzen Raum vor sich und fängt an, sich selbst wahrzunehmen; aber das ist ein krankhaftes Wahrnehmen. So würde ein krankhaftes Wahrnehmen des Mysteriums von Golgatha eintreten, wenn der Mensch nicht in diesem Mysterium von Golgatha etwas hätte, was nicht wahrgenommen werden kann; wodurch man wahrnimmt, das hängt zusammen mit dem Geheimnis von Golgatha. Und das Merkwürdige ist das Folgende: Diese eigentümliche Lage wurde für den Menschen erst durch den Eintritt des Mysteriums von Golgatha gebracht. Im alten atavistischen Hellsehen haben die Menschen, solange der Christus oben in der geistigen Welt war, solange er nicht heruntergestiegen war, gewußt: Er ist da, und Er wird kommen. Daher finden wir merkwürdigerweise ein Bewußtsein von dem kommenden Christus aus unmittelbarer, eigener Erfahrung, wie jede andere Erfahrung ist, in der Prophetie. So lange konnten die Menschen von dem Christus wissen, als er, paradox ausgedrückt, noch nicht gekommen war. In dem Augenblicke aber, als er gekommen war, konnten sie nicht mehr auf dieselbe Weise von ihm wissen. Wie man das Auge erlebt, indem man sieht, so mußte unmittelbar in der Zeit nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha das Christus-Ereignis erlebt werden, nicht historisch gewußt werden.
Es ist interessant, auch einmal die Evangelien daraufhin zu prüfen, wie sie die Dinge, die ich jetzt aus der Geisteswissenschaft heraus klarlege, betrachten. Darüber ein anderes Mal.
So wurde es notwendig, daß die christliche Entwickelung, die das Christentum in sich schließen wollte, zunächst sich daraufhin organisierte, den Glauben zu setzen an die Stelle des Wissens, des erlebten Schauens, und zu verlangen, daß man nicht Wissen fordern solle über das Mysterium von Golgatha, sondern Glaubenserlebnisse haben solle. Aber nun denken wir: in unsere Vorstellungswelt herein — denn auch die Glaubensvorstellungen sind als Vorstellungen da - soll das Mysterium von Golgatha leuchten. Da kommt es zusammen mit allen Attacken Ahrimans. Unser Intellekt ist das Feld, auf welchem der Christus-Impuls mit den ahrimanischen Impulsen kämpfend zusammentrifft, und die Entwickelung, die rein äußere Entwickelung des Erdenmenschen wird so verlaufen, daß Ahriman nicht immer so gebunden sein wird. Die tausend Jahre werden ablaufen, und der Mensch muß anderes haben als die naive Kraft, mit der er bisher den ChristusImpuls aufrichtete in seinem Bewußtsein, sagen wir: in seinem Erdenbewußtsein. Der Mensch muß anderes haben. Was ist dieses andere?
Dieses andere ist die Geisteswissenschaft, durch die der Mensch sich spirituell aneignen soll, was wir den Christus-Impuls nennen, damit er in ihm die starke Kraft finde, in seinem Bewußtsein den ChristusImpuls zu schützen gegen die ahrimanischen Attacken. Denn was strebt Ahriman an? Er kann, nachdem nun der Christus-Impuls einmal in der Welt ist, ihn natürlich nicht wegschaffen. So stark ist er nicht. Denn der Christus ist in die Welt hereingetreten durch den Leib des Jesus von Nazareth. Wegschaffen kann er ihn nicht; was er aber kann, das ist, die menschlichen Vorstellungen in dem Intellekt so umzugestalten, daß sie nicht den Christus-Impuls erleben, sondern Masken für den Christus-Impuls, das heißt, daß sich die Menschen falsche Gestaltungen über den Christus aufstellen. Der Gefahr sind die Menschen ausgesetzt, daß sie zwar von dem Christus reden, aber jenes Bild sich von ihm entwerfen, welches Ahriman ihnen in ihrem Intellekt zubereitet. Wer heute die wahren Gestaltungen der menschlichen Geisteskultur-Entwickelung betrachten kann, der findet nicht immer wahre Gestalten da, wo die Gestalten des Christus in Bildern in die menschlichen Bewußtseine aufgenommen werden, sondern er findet heute die von Ahriman verzerrten Bilder des Christus in den menschlichen Vorstellungen. Das ist nicht immer der Christus, was diese oder jene Christus-Anhänger den Christus nennen. Und damit Ahriman seine Ziele erreicht, verdüstert, verwirrt er in vieler Beziehung den menschlichen Intellekt. Er verwirrt ihn auch an denjenigen Stellen, bei denen sich die Menschen oftmals Rat holen. Da kann man dann sehr merkwürdige Erfahrungen machen. Machen Sie die Erfahrungen, die zu machen sind, zum Beispiel wenn man einen katholischen Theologen nach seiner wahren Meinung über die Jungfrau Maria fragt. Gewiß, die meisten werden überhaupt nichts wissen, als was ihnen eingetrichtert ist; aber darauf kommt es nicht an. Einige aber gibt es, die über das Eingetrichterte sich theologische Kenntnisse erworben haben. Bei denen wird man überall einen merkwürdigen Zusammenklang finden zwischen dem Bilde des irdischen Weibes der Maria und dem kosmischen Bilde der himmlischen Kirche, denn für den wirklichen katholischen Theologen ist die Jungfrau Maria eins mit dem Weibe aus dem Symbol der Apokalypse, das den Mond unter den Füßen, die Sonne auf der Brust und über dem Haupt die sieben Sterne hat. Die kosmische Bedeutung ist nicht zu denken, ohne sich auszuleben in einer irdischen Realität. Ich könnte Ihnen aus der katholischen Literatur Schriften bringen, die beweisen, daß jetzt noch katholische Theologen schreiben: Die Jungfrau Maria ist gleich dem Sonnenweibe, das den Mond unter den Füßen und die Sterne über dem Haupte hat. — Also hier besteht durchaus noch der Zusammenhang des Irdischen mit dem Geistigen, mit dem KosmischGeistigen. Aber immer mehr und mehr schwindet das Kosmische durch Ahrimans Gewalt. Und wie schwindet es aus den Christus-VorstelJungen! Wie wenig ist heute Neigung vorhanden, den Christus als den großen kosmischen Geist zu erkennen, der aus kosmischen Höhen heruntergestiegen ist in den irdischen Menschenleib des Jesus von Nazareth, um darinnen zu wohnen! Der Anerkennung dessen sind heute viele Menschen abgeneigt, welche glauben, daß es gerade recht christlich ist, in den Christus-Begriff recht wenig Kosmisches hineinzubringen. Das wäre für einen Theologen des vierzehnten Jahrhunderts noch ganz unmöglich gewesen. Daß die Geschichte dieses nicht darstellt, das beruht nur darauf, daß die Geschichte selbst in vieler Beziehung eine Fälschung ist.
Alles Interesse Ahrimans ist darauf gerichtet, die Menschen von dem Geistigen abzulenken und hinzulenken auf das Materielle, das zwar auch ein Geistiges ist, aber ein in der Erde verborgenes. Und gar mancherlei Finten und Listen gebraucht Ahriman, um die Menschen möglichst davon abzubringen, irgend etwas Kosmisches in die ChristusPersönlichkeit hineinzubringen. Man kann ja heute sogar schon — besonders in sozialdemokratischen Schriften ist das gar nicht selten — ein merkwürdiges ahrimanisches Christus-Bild finden, welches alles Überirdisch-Geistigen entkleidet ist, das nur rein menschlich sein soll, gar nicht zu reden von den Malern, die alles Mögliche getan haben, um das Kosmische aus der Christus-Gestalt herauszuexpedieren. Ich habe vor vielen Jahren hier in Berlin einmal eine Ausstellung von ChristusBildern gesehen, eines neben dem anderen. Ich habe den Katalog heute noch, worin ich mir meine Anmerkungen machte: ein ahrimanisches Christus-Bild neben dem anderen! Und wieviele Wanderapostel, welche heute in dieser oder jener Weise sektierend offiziell oder inoffiziell von dem Christus sprechen, wissen nicht, wie Ahriman ihnen im Nacken sitzt und sie verleitet, sein Bild von dem Christus-Impuls zu zeichnen, und nicht dasjenige, welches im Christus-Impuls selbst wirkt. Aber dieses Bild, das im Christus-Impuls selbst wirkt, kann im Sinne unserer Zeit durch nichts anderes dargestellt werden als durch die Mittel der Geisteswissenschaft. Indem die Geisteswissenschaft von denjenigen Schauungen handelt, welche man hat, wenn man außerhalb des Leibes ist, hat sie wieder die Möglichkeit, das Christus-Bild in seiner wahren Gestalt zu schauen. Solange man im Leibe ist, muß man sagen: Das Auge kann zwar die Farben sehen, aber nicht sich selbst. Wenn Sie sich in der Geistesschau aus dem Leib herausbegeben — wenn Sie sich selbst sehen, sehen Sie das Auge -, so sehen Sie den Christus-Impuls durch den Christus-Impuls. Denn die Geisteswissenschaft kann das ersetzen, was keine Historie geben kann: eine Schilderung des Christus-Begriffes kann sie geben. Wie die Geisteswissenschaft den Menschen dahin bringen kann, über das Auge zu schauen, so kann sie es dahin bringen, über den Christus-Impuls, durch den sonst die geistige Welt gesehen wird, zu sprechen. Dadurch wird es zwar erreicht, daß über den Christus-Impuls Vorstellungen gewonnen werden können, aber die Attacken Ahrimans werden deshalb nicht weggeschafft; ihnen muß man sich vielmehr tapfer und mutig gegenüberstellen. Und daß die Menschen den Christus-Begriff nicht durch Geisteswissenschaft ins Auge fassen wollen, das rührt davon her, daß sie eine unterbewußte Furcht davor haben, daß der Christus-Impuls, sobald er durch Geisteswissenschaft gesehen wird, an den Widerstand Ahrimans stößt. Wie kommt das jetzt, in unserer Zeit, zum Vorschein?
Es wird in vielen Formen noch zum Vorschein kommen. Für unsere Zeit kommt es dadurch zum Vorschein, daß wir auf der einen Seite die ahrimanische Naturwissenschaft und die ahrimanische Geschichte haben, die den Gang der Kulturentwickelung und die Geschichte in ihrer Art darstellen, und daß diese anderseits mit ihren Begriffen — das aber sind diejenigen Begriffe, in denen Ahriman wirken muß, weil in uns Ahriman eben wirkt — den Christus-Impuls ausschließen. Es kann eine Philosophie, wie ich das schon einmal erwähnte, zwar zu einem allgemeinen Gottes-Begriff kommen, aber nie zu einem Christus-Begriff; den kann man aufnehmen, weil er einmal da ist, aber man kann nicht zu ihm kommen. Selbst bei einem Philosophen wie Lotze finden Sie ihn nicht. Und Harnack dürfte gar nicht von dem Christus sprechen, weil innerhalb seines Denkens der Christus-Begriff gar nicht auftritt; er spricht nur deshalb davon, weil er ihn in den Urkunden, in der Bibel und so weiter findet. Und in ähnlicher Weise dürften andere Theologen nicht von Christus sprechen. Daher ist auch das, was Harnack als den Christus schildert, mit keinen anderen Eigenschaften ausgestattet, als mit denen der allgemeinen Gottheit, oder, wenn er wieder nach der anderen Seite schwankt, finden wir bei ihm nur den bloßen Menschen Jesus.
Was man aufnehmen muß, wenn man durch Geisteswissenschaft den Christus erfassen will, ist das geisteswissenschaftliche Bild des Christus mit dem vollen Bewußtsein, daß die äußere Wissenschaft — weder die Naturwissenschaft noch die Geschichte -— zum Christus-Begriff nicht kommen kann, sondern daß sie Widerstand leisten wird, den Widerstand, den heute der antichristliche Mensch, der nur naturwissenschaftlich oder historisch denken will, gegenüber dem Christus-Begriff hat, im Gegensatz zu dem Gläubigen. Und wir müssen uns klar sein: da muß ein innerer Widerstand vorhanden sein, weil da zwei Welten zusammenwirken. Wir müssen mutig in diesen Widerstreit hinein; denn es ist der Widerstreit, der in der richtigen Theologie genugsam geschildert wird als der Widerstreit zwischen Christus und Ahriman. Eine lebendige Weltanschauung muß den Widerspruch in sich aufnehmen; denn der Widerspruch lebt in dem Kampfe zum Beispiel zwischen dem Christus und dem Ahriman.
Ich habe oftmals schon gesagt: Luzifer wirkt als- Genosse des Ahriman. Sie wirken zusammen. Sie haben alles Interesse, den Menschen darüber zu täuschen, daß er den inneren Widerstreit haben soll, und sie haben darum alles Interesse, ihr Gegenreich wegzuschaffen. Daher erfinden sie im menschlichen Gemüt derartige Gedankenkombinationen wie die: In Einklang, in Harmonie mit dem Unendlichen. Warum entstehen solche Vorstellungsgebilde? Sie entstehen, weil die Menschen in ihrer Seele zu feige sind, sich dem Widerstreit gegenüberzustellen, und sich von Luzifer-Ahriman eine Harmonie mit dem Unendlichen erfinden lassen wollen. Es ist Befriedigungsuchen in solch einer Weltanschauung, wie sie in: «In Harmonie mit dem Unendlichen» zum Ausdruck kommt. Befriedigungsuchen in einer solchen Weltanschauung ist aber gleichbedeutend mit einem Sichlegen einer Binde vor die Augen. Heute scheut es der Mensch, nach der Mannigfaltigkeit des Kampfes auf geistigem Gebiete hinzuschauen. Weil stets Gegenkräfte auftreten müssen, wenn etwas an seiner richtigen Stelle außer acht gelassen wird, so treten natürlich auch hier Gegenkräfte auf. Weil sich der Mensch in den letzten Jahrhunderten so vorbereitet hat, daß er den inneren Kampf zwischen Mächten, die kämpfen müssen, sehr scheut, so tritt ihm dieser Kampf heute in einer furchtbaren Weise vor das äußere Auge. Eine solche Folge mußte mit derselben Notwendigkeit eintreten, wie auf die luziferische Verführung die Vertreibung aus dem Paradies eingetreten ist. Überall, auf allen Gebieten sehen wir, wie der heutige Mensch sehr geneigt ist, sich nur eine Scheinruhe zu verschaffen, denn sie hat nur eine Bedeutung zwischen Geburt und Tod. Darum halst er sich den einen Teil des Widerspruches ab. Natürlich ist das dann immer derjenige Teil, der aus dem Christus-Impuls kommt. Der naturgemäße Widerspruch kann so gerade Gegnerschaft finden. Und wenn Sie die verschiedenen Blechdarstellungen der sogenannten Widersprüche in meinen Schriften von so vielen Seiten heute geschildert finden, so haben Sie jetzt auch die Möglichkeit, selbst dieses in einer tieferen Weise zu beleuchten und den ahrimanischen Impuls darin zu sehen.
Die Menschen wollen nicht fertig werden durch ein reales Sichgegenüberstellen mit den Kräften, mit denen man fertig werden muß; sie wollen den Widerstreit aus der Welt schaffen. Dadurch entstehen alle möglichen Dinge. Will man einen solchen Widerstreit aus der Welt schaffen, so muß er auf eine andere Weise zum Vorschein kommen. Das, was angerichtet wird von denjenigen, die den Widerstreit aus der Welt schaffen wollen, ist nicht schön. Es ist fast so, wie es ist — auf geisteswissenschaftlichem Gebiete tätig sein, gibt einem ja immer Gelegenheit, solche Erfahrungen zu machen -, wenn immer wieder und wieder Menschen kommen, die aus tiefstem Bedürfnis heraus die Frage stellen: Warum ist das Übel, ist der Schmerz in der Welt? — Solche Fragen sind leichter zu stellen, als man glaubt; denn die Menschen stellen oft diese Frage, um zu begreifen, wie es mit der guten Gottheit zusammenhängt, daß sie das Übel in der Welt zulasse. Was man zur Beantwortung solcher Fragen tun kann, das ist, die Menschen darauf aufmerksam zu machen, daß sie doch jedenfalls nicht leugnen werden, daß das Gute in der Welt, das Vortreffliche, das Weisheitsvolle ein Göttliches ist. Wollen sie überhaupt die Güte Gottes rechtfertigen, so stehen sie schon auf dem Boden, daß sie das Weisheitsvolle dem guten Gotte zuschreiben. Warum läßt er aber das Übel zu? Ich kann nur immer so sagen: Fangen Sie bei einem atomistischen, bei einem kleinen Schmerz an; Sie ritzen sich und empfinden dadurch einen Schmerz. Jeder Schmerz beruht darauf, daß irgend etwas einer Zerstörung ausgesetzt ist. Es ist nur nicht immer durchsichtig, auf welche Weise der Schmerz entsteht, aber es ist so. Stellen wir uns aber nun vor, daß nicht mit dem Messer geritzt würde, sondern daß wir irgendwo eine besonders empfindliche Stelle hätten und sehr heiße Sonnenstrahlen darauf fielen. So könnte an etwas, wo noch nicht eine Blase ist, aber anfängt eine zu werden, eine Änderung des Gewebes entstehen, und es könnte dort ein kleiner Schmerz sich bemerkbar machen. Könnte stärker, durch eine größere Empfindlichkeit, die Sonnenwärme wirken, so könnte eine größere Verletzung geschehen. Und stellen Sie sich nun vor: an einer Stelle unseres Hauptes waren vor Äonen von Jahren zwei Stellen von besonderer Empfindlichkeit für dieSonnenstrahlen vorhanden. Sehen konnte der Mensch damals noch nicht, aber an jenen zwei Stellen mußten die Sonnenstrahlen jedesmal, wenn die Sonne aufging, ihm wehe tun. Da konnte ihm das Gewebe verletzt werden, und ein Schmerz mußte entstehen. Durch lange Zeiträume mußte dieser Vorgang sich abspielen, und die Ausheilung bestand darin, daß an jenen Stellen aus der Ausheilung die Augen entstanden. Auf dem Grunde der Verletzung entstanden die Augen. Und so wahr wie es ist, daß uns die Augen die Schönheit der Farbenwelt vergegenwärtigen, so wahr ist es, daß die Augen nur auf Grundlage der Verletzungen von besonders lichtempfindlichen Stellen durch die Sonnenwärme entstanden.
Es gibt nichts, was zum Glück, zur Freude, zur Seligkeit entstanden ist, ohne daß es hat entstehen können auf Grundlage des Schmerzes. Und den Schmerz, das Widerstreitende nicht haben wollen, heißt das Schöne, das Große, das Beseligende, das Gute nicht haben wollen. Da dringt man in ein Gebiet ein, wo man nicht mehr denken kann, wie man will, sondern wo man dem unterworfen ist, was in den Mysterien die eherne Notwendigkeit genannt worden ist. So wahr große Harmonie in der Welt ist, so wahr diese jetzige Harmonie auf Grundlage des Schmerzes entstehen mußte, so wahr ist es, daß man nicht aus einer schmerzlosen seelischen Wollust heraus, wie man sie in den Vorstellungskomplexen von «In Harmonie mit dem Unendlichen» empfinden will, den Christus-Impuls erreichen kann, sondern nur indem man sich mutig dem Widerstreit aussetzt, der sich auf dem Boden unseres Intellektes oder unseres Bewußtseins überhaupt zwischen dem Christus-Impuls und den ahrimanischen Impulsen abspielt, über den wir uns nicht leichtsinnig hinwegheben dürfen, indem wir sagen: wenn wir nicht Harmonie haben, sind wir unbefriedigt, müssen wir uns über diesen Widerstreit hinweg nach der Erreichung des Christus-Impulses hin entwickeln. Das tritt in den mannigfaltigen Gebieten ganz im Konkreten auf. Wenn der Mensch heute auf naturwissenschaftliche Weise die Welt begreifen will und dabei nicht den Christus-Impuls finden kann, und wenn er auf der anderen Seite auf geisteswissenschaftliche Weise die Welt begreifen lernt und dabei den Christus-Impuls finden kann, so muß er sich klar sein: widerstreitend ist es, aber gerade in seinem Widerstreit zusammenstimmend. Naturwissenschaft und Geisteswissenschaft sollen nicht eines sein, wie viele glauben, wo es nur auf Naturwissenschaft und nur auf Geisteswissenschaft ankommt. Sie sollen auch nicht so sein, daß man eines über das andere legen kann; sondern sie sollen, wenn man sie übereinanderlegen will, so sein, wie das linke und das rechte Ohr, die auch nicht vollständig zur Deckung gebracht werden können. Nicht darauf, ob zwei Dinge in Übereinstimmung miteinander gebracht werden können, kommt es an, sondern auf die Art des Zusammenstimmens.
Third Lecture
Last time, I pointed out how human beings, as they live on Earth, have basically strayed from their normal course of development, which I would call their cosmic world position. We are well aware that this is the case, and it is expressed in various religions in a symbolic, imaginative way, in the symbol of original sin or something similar. From a spiritual scientific point of view, this is connected with the fact that, if we may say so, the fundamental nature of human beings as earthly human beings is their breathing activity. That is why I pointed out last time that the breathing rhythm can actually be regarded as meaning that human beings were destined, during their earthly career, to have their most important experience — and thus also their experience of knowledge — in the breathing rhythm. I pointed this out earlier and summarized it again last time, that the breathing rhythm is in wonderful harmony with the entire cosmos. I have pointed out how, in a normal human life, the number of days we live is similar to the number of breaths we take in a day, and I have also pointed out other numerical relationships which, in a sense, demonstrate the harmonious coordination of our microcosmic breathing process with the great cosmic processes in which our life is embedded.
In addition to the results that can be seen in spiritual science, it can now also be pointed out externally how something in the human breathing rhythm makes humans even more than anything else a microcosm, a small world. It is precisely in breathing that humans imitate the processes of the greater world, including what the greater world has in store for us. And it is absolutely true: in processes that have small differences, we do not pay much attention to the differences, we do not individualize; but in truth, there are no two people whose breathing process is completely the same. All people are different in terms of their breathing process because each person is a differently tuned string of the universe. But what goes on in the breathing rhythm remains unconscious to humans in their present earthly state; or at least it only becomes conscious in abnormal states and then takes on the most diverse psychologically pathological forms. Our normal consciousness, as we know, proceeds as it were above the breathing process; it is more detached from the macrocosm. If, instead of our brain processes, we had the breathing process as our cognitive process, we would stand in the universe in a completely different way in our cognitive processes. The fact that our cognitive process is bound to the brain pushes us, as it were, out of the context in which we would otherwise normally be situated within the macrocosm. Religious documents, as I have already indicated, have pointed out that the mystery of breathing is such a mystery for human beings by stating, for example, in the Old Testament: The spiritual-divine entity that has to do with the guidance and direction of human beings breathed breath into them, and they became living souls. This statement from the Old Testament is, in the sense of ancient, atavistic clairvoyance, the reproduction of a true fact. Because it is not our breathing process that forms the physical basis of our cognition, but our brain process, human beings, in relation to their intellect, were placed in the world differently in all the time that preceded the Mystery of Golgotha than they are after the Mystery of Golgotha took place. I would like to say that, in addition to the other doors that have already opened to us for understanding the mystery of Golgotha, another should be considered today.
We can say that, in reality, the human process of cognition, the entire position of the human being in relation to the world, is not what was intended for him before the Luciferic influence. For he was intended to have a process of knowledge based on the rhythm of breathing. Through this, if we take the matter purely physically, but the physical has a deeper meaning here, the human being before the mystery of Golgotha developed, so to speak, knowledge that was bound not to the chest and breathing, but higher up in his organism, bound to the head and the senses.
Viewed externally, therefore, external natural science will not readily see and acknowledge the difference between human beings before and after the mystery of Golgotha. But this difference, even if it can only be recognized by more subtle means, is extraordinarily great.
In the time before the Mystery of Golgotha, human beings—as can be understood from the various considerations of our anthroposophy—were naturally related to spiritual beings in the universe, to the beings of the higher hierarchies. But how? Among the beings of the higher hierarchies, we first distinguish, immediately adjacent to the realm of human beings, the angeloi, the archangeloi, and so on. The next beings we look up to when we gaze into the spiritual world are the angeloi. We as human beings are related to the angeloi, and the angeloi in turn feel their relationship to us human beings. It is not indifferent to them what relationship they have to human beings. And we can bring the difference between human beings before the Mystery of Golgotha and after it before our soul when we consider the relationship of human beings to the beings of the angeloi.
It is very remarkable that before the Mystery of Golgotha there was an intimate relationship between the angeloi in all their activity, in their whole being, and the human intellect. One could literally say that the main residence of the Angeloi for human beings before the Mystery of Golgotha was the human intellect. Human beings knew nothing of the fact that the Angeloi dwelt in their intellect; but the consequence of their dwelling there was that these human beings had one thing, albeit in decreasing strength: atavistic, imaginative clairvoyance. What I just said, that the Angeloi lived in the intellect of human beings before the mystery of Golgotha, applies to the life of human beings between birth and death. It was different in the life of human beings between death and a new birth. There the angeloi dwelt, and also the individual angeloi, the individual angels assigned to each human being, in the memories of the sense impressions; they dwelt in the images of what surrounded human beings on earth in the sense world. Therefore, before the Mystery of Golgotha, in the time between death and rebirth, human beings had a living knowledge of the events on earth. In a sense, one could say that the Angeloi carried what happened on earth up to the human beings. Before the Mystery of Golgotha, in the time between death and a new birth, human beings developed a very vivid knowledge of what was happening on earth.
Here we see the relationship between the Angeloi and human beings in the time before the Mystery of Golgotha. After the Mystery of Golgotha, this changed; it changed in the sense that this change is, of course, in the process of development. What is the situation now for us human beings after the Mystery of Golgotha? What is the relationship between human beings and the beings of the Angeloi hierarchy?
Now, it is the case with us that — albeit unconsciously — the angeloi dwell in our sensory perceptions in life between birth and death. Yes, when we open our eyes and look out into the world that surrounds us and affects our senses, we do not know that while the sun's rays penetrate our eyes and make things visible, the place where our angel dwells is to be found on the sun's rays. But it is so: the essence of the angeloi lives in the vibrations of sound, in the rays of light and color, in the other sensory perceptions. Only because human beings must transform their sensory perceptions into ideas do the angeloi not penetrate into the realm of ideas, and human beings do not know how they are surrounded by the essence of the angeloi. In spiritual science lectures, it is often said that one should not imagine the spiritual world as a cloud cuckoo land, but rather that it surrounds us everywhere. It does indeed surround us everywhere. One can also point out concretely how it surrounds us. Here we have the case of the angeloi; but in our intellect, during the period of life between birth and death, consciousness does not come from the angeloi. On the other hand, the present human being develops a strong consciousness of his connection with the beings of the angeloi in the life between death and new birth; for there, in a sense, the angeloi dwell in his intellect.
What I have just explained has a significant consequence for human life. Let us take once again the human being before the Mystery of Golgotha; the angeloi dwelt in his intellect, especially his own. This made his sense life particularly accessible to the Luciferic forces. In ancient times, the entire consciousness life of human beings was accessible to the Luciferic forces. This has changed since the Mystery of Golgotha. As I have described, the beings from the hierarchy of the Angeloi do not penetrate our intellect on the wings of light and colors, on the wings of sound vibrations, and so on. As a result, in the period between birth and death, our intellect is permeated by the attacks of the Ahrimanic forces. Whereas from this point of view, before the Mystery of Golgotha, human beings were essentially exposed to the attacks of Lucifer, since the Mystery of Golgotha the intellect has been particularly exposed to the influences of the Ahrimanic forces. These forces strive above all to suppress in human beings the awareness of their connection with the spiritual world. All the tendencies toward materialism that human beings develop in their thoughts come in this direct relationship to the intellect from the attacks of the Ahrimanic forces. And if the materialistic tendencies of our time, which have been sufficiently described in these considerations, have the upper hand today, we must not forget that these materialistic tendencies arise from the confusion that Ahriman strives to cause in the human intellect.
What are the things I am now talking about? We said earlier that the breathing process is subconscious. But what I now mean, this connection between the human being and the essence of the Angeloi, is also not in consciousness; it lies beyond consciousness. What goes on in our breathing lies beneath consciousness; what goes on in us through this interaction of the spirit worlds, the next level of interaction of the spirit worlds, in the way I have just described, is superconscious. In this superconscious process, the force that entered the world through the Mystery of Golgotha works and acts in exactly the same way as the Jehovah force worked in human beings before that event. When we immerse ourselves in the spirit — but precisely in the spirit — of a piece of writing such as the Book of Job, and become aware of how the working of the Jehovah force is to be represented in human development — something that is particularly evident in the Book of Job — we gain an idea of how this Jehovah force worked, which, as I said, gave life to human beings through the breathing process. It worked in the process of heredity, working in it as described, down to the third and fourth links. If we want to have an analogy for the time after the Mystery of Golgotha, we must take the Christ force. Just as the Jehovah force has its relationship to the human breathing process, so the Christ force, indeed the whole Mystery of Golgotha, has a relationship to what I have just described as a superconscious process.
If we want to have a definition, so to speak, of what we have been discussing in relation to breathing, we could say: The breathing process has been stripped of consciousness for the earthly human being; consciousness has been extinguished for the earthly human being through the influence of Lucifer. In return, they should be given the opportunity to live into the superconscious, into that superconsciousness I just mentioned: being together through sensuality or intellect with the beings of the Angeloi. As a kind of compensation for what has been taken from human beings—the process of cognition through breathing—they are to be given the process of cognition through the superconscious, through the impulse of the Mystery of Golgotha. Powerful religious natures in the East, before the Mystery of Golgotha, sought to bring consciousness into breathing in their regions. This cannot be imitated today, for it would lead to disaster. But everything we find in the ancient Oriental writings about breathing exercises boils down to the breathing process being permeated by consciousness. But for certain highest things, the consciousness of the earthly human being is doomed to powerlessness, and when certain customs of ancient times are imitated today, people do so because they do not realize that Lucifer has taken away from human beings the complete illumination of the breathing process through knowledge. But since the Mystery of Golgotha, he is to receive more and more of the superconscious process of connection with the spiritual world. If we were to recognize while breathing, if we were to have the process of knowledge in our breathing, then with every inhalation we would always be aware not that we are inhaling air, but that we are taking in the Jahve force into ourselves; and with every exhalation we would know that we are exhaling Jahve. In a similar way, human beings should become aware that the beings of the hierarchy of the Angeloi rise and fall rhythmically, as it were, that the spiritual world floods up and down, as it were. This can only be so if the impulse of the Mystery of Golgotha can have more and more effect among human beings.
One must often use strange words if one wants to characterize what lies at the foundation of the things of the world. If one were to shy away from using the right word in the right place, one could not come to the knowledge of the truth. Through Lucifer, what I have just described as a dulling of the breath has come about. Certainly, this is meant figuratively; but one can feel the objects shining into one's imagination if one interprets the image correctly. It means that Yahweh wanted to live consciously in every breath that entered the human body, and he wanted to withdraw consciously from the human being with every exhalation. That was possible. But Lucifer became his opponent. And the consciousness that lies in the Jahve force was excluded from human consciousness. And here comes the difficult word that one must not shy away from uttering if one wants to characterize it in the sense of a correct understanding. Jahve had to forget human beings insofar as they live on earth, for he could not strike into the consciousness they have. Something really happened whereby gradually the essence underlying the power of Yahweh and, up into the spiritual world, the spiritual beings forgot human beings in the same way as we forget something from our soul. Human beings forgot them, lost them from their consciousness! Through the Mystery of Golgotha, consciousness was rekindled. And if one has to speak the tragic words about human beings from primeval times until the Mystery of Golgotha: “And the gods forgot the human beings,” then one must say about the time since the Mystery of Golgotha: “And the gods want to gradually remember humanity again.” They want to gradually penetrate with their powers precisely into that which earthly human beings would otherwise not be able to grasp spiritually; they want to penetrate into the wisdom of the brain, into the human life of imagination that is bound to the nervous system, even for earthly human beings. Heaven wants to look at the earth, and the window it needs to look down from above was broken during the time when the Christ being entered into the Jesus personality at the baptism of John in the Jordan. And the words, “This is my beloved Son, whom I have begotten today,” indicate that the higher wants to see the lower again, that the higher can flow out and in, not with breaths, but with thoughts and ideas. In essence, the time that has passed since the Mystery of Golgotha has been a kind of preparation, and we now stand at a turning point where something different must come than what has been the case up to now in the working of the Mystery of Golgotha. It is important that we bring this to our consciousness.
What has happened so far has been preparation. For until now, only a few exceptional individuals have been able to approach the mystery of Golgotha through spiritual science. But now the time must come when a larger part of humanity will be able to understand the mystery of Golgotha through spiritual science. Why?
Many mysteries are connected with this mystery of Golgotha and its understanding. How often do people come and ask: How can I find my relationship to Christ? — A question that is certainly justified. But it is equally understandable to those who are initiated into these things that this question cannot be answered easily. I would like to offer a comparison: We see things with our eyes, but we do not see our eyes. In order for the eyes to see, they cannot see themselves; they only see mirror images, not the eyes themselves. That which sees, that through which we see, cannot itself be seen. However, in the time after the Mystery of Golgotha, human beings must see the spiritual worlds through the Christ impulse, just as we see external colors and so on through the eye. But just as we do not see the eye itself, we do not see the Christ impulse, because we see the spiritual world through it.
This is connected with the fact that the mystery of Golgotha is shrouded in mystery, even historically. It was meant to become the historical event for posterity of the mystery of Golgotha that cannot be found by historical means. To search for the life of Christ in history as one searches for any other historical event would be tantamount to trying to make the eye see itself. It lies in the nature of the mystery of Golgotha that Christ Jesus cannot be found, like Socrates, Plato, or any other historical figure, through documents as we normally understand them. It is in the nature of the mystery of Golgotha that the records of it are not historical, but are records of inspired people, of whom it can always be proven by historical means that they are not actual historical documents. We would become spiritually ill in human evolution at the moment when the mystery of Golgotha could be classified among ordinary historical events. We would then still not see it in the right way, but we would perceive it as historical, just as we perceive the eye when we have injured it. The healthy eye sees things, it does not see itself. If the eye has a splinter in it that remains there, it sees a black space in front of it and begins to perceive itself; but this is a pathological perception. A pathological perception of the mystery of Golgotha would occur if human beings did not have something in this mystery of Golgotha that cannot be perceived; what enables us to perceive is connected with the mystery of Golgotha. And the strange thing is this: this peculiar situation was brought about for human beings only by the advent of the mystery of Golgotha. In ancient atavistic clairvoyance, as long as Christ was above in the spiritual world, as long as he had not descended, people knew: He is there, and he will come. Therefore, strangely enough, we find an awareness of the coming Christ from immediate, personal experience, like any other experience, in prophecy. People were able to know about Christ as long as He had not yet come, paradoxically speaking. But the moment He came, they could no longer know about Him in the same way. Just as we experience the eye by seeing, so the Christ event had to be experienced directly in the time after the Mystery of Golgotha, not known historically.
It is interesting to examine the Gospels to see how they view the things I am now clarifying from spiritual science. More on that another time.
Thus it became necessary for the Christian development, which Christianity wanted to encompass, to organize itself first of all to put faith in the place of knowledge, of experiential seeing, and to demand that one should not demand knowledge about the mystery of Golgotha, but should have experiences of faith. But now let us think: the mystery of Golgotha is to shine into our world of ideas — for beliefs are also ideas. There it comes together with all the attacks of Ahriman. Our intellect is the field in which the Christ impulse encounters the Ahrimanic impulses in battle, and the development, the purely external development of the earthly human being, will proceed in such a way that Ahriman will not always be bound in this way. The thousand years will pass, and human beings must have something other than the naive power with which they have hitherto raised the Christ impulse in their consciousness, let us say, in their earthly consciousness. Human beings must have something else. What is this something else?
This other thing is spiritual science, through which human beings are to acquire spiritually what we call the Christ impulse, so that they may find within themselves the strong power to protect the Christ impulse in their consciousness against the attacks of Ahriman. For what is Ahriman striving for? Now that the Christ impulse is in the world, he cannot, of course, remove it. He is not that strong. For Christ entered the world through the body of Jesus of Nazareth. He cannot remove him; but what he can do is to transform human ideas in the intellect in such a way that they do not experience the Christ impulse, but rather masks for the Christ impulse, that is, that people form false ideas about Christ. People are in danger of talking about Christ, but forming an image of him that Ahriman has prepared for them in their intellect. Anyone who can observe the true forms of human spiritual culture today will not always find true forms where the forms of Christ are taken into human consciousness in images, but will instead find images of Christ distorted by Ahriman in human ideas. What these or those followers of Christ call Christ is not always Christ. And in order for Ahriman to achieve his goals, he darkens and confuses the human intellect in many ways. He also confuses it in those places where people often seek advice. This can lead to very strange experiences. Try it for yourself, for example, by asking a Catholic theologian for his true opinion about the Virgin Mary. Most of them will know nothing beyond what they have been taught, but that is not important. There are, however, a few who have acquired theological knowledge beyond what they have been taught. In them, you will find everywhere a strange harmony between the image of the earthly woman Mary and the cosmic image of the heavenly church, for to the real Catholic theologian, the Virgin Mary is one with the woman from the symbol of the Apocalypse, who has the moon under her feet, the sun on her breast, and the seven stars above her head. The cosmic meaning cannot be conceived without being lived out in earthly reality. I could bring you writings from Catholic literature that prove that even now Catholic theologians write: The Virgin Mary is like the woman of the sun, who has the moon under her feet and the stars above her head. — So here there is still a connection between the earthly and the spiritual, between the cosmic and the spiritual. But more and more, the cosmic is disappearing through the power of Ahriman. And how it is disappearing from the ideas about Christ! How little inclination there is today to recognize Christ as the great cosmic spirit who descended from cosmic heights into the earthly human body of Jesus of Nazareth in order to dwell there! Many people today are averse to recognizing this, believing that it is precisely Christian to bring very little of the cosmic into the concept of Christ. This would have been completely impossible for a theologian of the fourteenth century. The fact that history does not show this is only because history itself is in many respects a falsification.
All of Ahriman's interest is directed toward distracting people from the spiritual and directing them toward the material, which is also spiritual, but hidden in the earth. And Ahriman uses all kinds of tricks and stratagems to dissuade people as much as possible from bringing anything cosmic into the Christ personality. Today, one can even find—especially in social democratic writings—a strange Ahrimanic image of Christ that is stripped of everything super-earthly and spiritual and is supposed to be purely human, not to mention the painters who have done everything possible to expel the cosmic from the figure of Christ. Many years ago, here in Berlin, I saw an exhibition of images of Christ, one next to the other. I still have the catalog today, in which I made my notes: one Ahrimanic image of Christ next to another! And how many itinerant apostles, who today speak of Christ in this or that sectarian way, officially or unofficially, do not know how Ahriman sits on their necks and tempts them to draw his image of the Christ impulse, and not the one that works in the Christ impulse itself. But this image, which works in the Christ impulse itself, can be represented in the spirit of our time by nothing other than the means of spiritual science. In that spiritual science deals with the visions one has when one is outside the body, it has once again the possibility of seeing the image of Christ in its true form. As long as we are in the body, we must say: The eye can see colors, but not itself. When you leave the body in spiritual vision—when you see yourself, you see the eye—you see the Christ impulse through the Christ impulse. For spiritual science can replace what no history can give: it can give a description of the concept of Christ. Just as spiritual science can enable people to see beyond the eye, so it can enable them to speak about the Christ impulse through which the spiritual world is otherwise seen. This does indeed enable us to gain ideas about the Christ impulse, but it does not remove the attacks of Ahriman; rather, we must face them bravely and courageously. And the reason why people do not want to grasp the concept of Christ through spiritual science is that they have a subconscious fear that the Christ impulse, as soon as it is seen through spiritual science, will encounter Ahriman's resistance. How does this come to light in our time?
It will come to light in many forms. In our time, it is coming to the fore because, on the one hand, we have Ahrimanic science and Ahrimanic history, which represent the course of cultural development and history in their own way, and, on the other hand, these concepts—which are the concepts in which Ahriman must work because Ahriman is working within us—exclude the Christ impulse. A philosophy, as I have already mentioned, can arrive at a general concept of God, but never at a concept of Christ; one can accept this because it is there, but one cannot arrive at it. Even in a philosopher like Lotze, you will not find it. And Harnack should not speak of Christ at all, because the concept of Christ does not appear in his thinking; he speaks of it only because he finds it in the documents, in the Bible, and so on. And in a similar way, other theologians should not speak of Christ. Therefore, what Harnack describes as Christ is endowed with no other characteristics than those of the general deity, or, when he swings back to the other side, we find in him only the mere human being Jesus.
What must be accepted if one wants to grasp Christ through spiritual science is the spiritual scientific image of Christ with the full awareness that external science — neither natural science nor history — can arrive at the concept of Christ, but that it will resist it, the resistance that today's anti-Christian, who wants to think only in terms of natural science or history, has toward the concept of Christ, in contrast to the believer. And we must be clear: there must be an inner resistance, because two worlds are interacting. We must courageously enter into this conflict, for it is the conflict that is sufficiently described in correct theology as the conflict between Christ and Ahriman. A living worldview must take up the contradiction within itself, for the contradiction lives in the struggle between Christ and Ahriman, for example.
I have often said that Lucifer acts as Ahriman's comrade. They work together. They have every interest in deceiving human beings into thinking that they should have inner conflict, and they therefore have every interest in removing their counter-realm. That is why they invent such combinations of thoughts in the human mind as: in harmony with the infinite. Why do such ideas arise? They arise because people are too cowardly in their souls to face the conflict and want Lucifer-Ahriman to invent harmony with the infinite for them. It is a search for satisfaction in a worldview such as that expressed in “In Harmony with the Infinite.” But seeking satisfaction in such a worldview is tantamount to putting a blindfold over one's eyes. Today, people shy away from looking at the diversity of the struggle in the spiritual realm. Because counterforces must always arise when something in its right place is neglected, counterforces naturally arise here as well. Because people have prepared themselves in recent centuries to shy away from the inner struggle between forces that must fight, this struggle now presents itself to their outer eyes in a terrible way. Such a consequence had to occur with the same necessity as the expulsion from paradise followed the Luciferic temptation. Everywhere, in all areas, we see how modern man is very inclined to seek only a semblance of peace, for it has only meaning between birth and death. That is why he cuts off one part of the contradiction. Naturally, this is always the part that comes from the Christ impulse. The natural contradiction can thus find its direct opposition. And when you find the various representations of the so-called contradictions in my writings described from so many angles today, you now also have the opportunity to illuminate this in a deeper way and to see the Ahrimanic impulse in it.
People do not want to come to terms with the forces they have to deal with by actually confronting them; they want to eliminate conflict from the world. This gives rise to all kinds of things. If you want to eliminate such conflict from the world, it must come to light in another way. What is done by those who want to eliminate conflict from the world is not beautiful. It is almost as if — working in the field of spiritual science always gives one the opportunity to have such experiences — people come again and again out of a deep need and ask the question: Why is there evil, is there pain in the world? Such questions are easier to ask than one might think, for people often ask this question in order to understand how it is connected with the goodness of God that He allows evil in the world. What one can do to answer such questions is to point out to people that they will certainly not deny that the good in the world, the excellent, the wise, is divine. If they want to justify the goodness of God at all, they are already on the ground that they attribute wisdom to the good God. But why does he allow evil? I can only ever say this: start with an atomistic, minor pain; you cut yourself and feel pain as a result. All pain is based on something being subjected to destruction. It is not always clear how the pain arises, but that is how it is. But let us now imagine that instead of cutting ourselves with a knife, we had a particularly sensitive spot on our body and very hot rays of sunshine fell on it. This could cause a change in the tissue where there is not yet a blister, but where one is beginning to form, and a slight pain could be felt there. If the sun's heat were to have a stronger effect due to greater sensitivity, a more serious injury could occur. Now imagine that, eons ago, there were two spots on our head that were particularly sensitive to the sun's rays. Humans could not see at that time, but every time the sun rose, the sun's rays must have hurt them at those two spots. This could have injured the tissue and caused pain. This process must have taken place over long periods of time, and the healing consisted in the eyes developing from the healing process at those points. The eyes developed at the bottom of the injury. And as true as it is that our eyes make us aware of the beauty of the world of colors, it is equally true that the eyes only developed on the basis of injuries to particularly light-sensitive areas caused by the sun's heat.
There is nothing that has come into being for happiness, joy, or bliss without having been able to develop on the basis of pain. And not to want pain, not to want conflict, means not to want beauty, greatness, bliss, or goodness. This leads one into a realm where one can no longer think as one wishes, but where one is subject to what has been called iron necessity in the mysteries. As true as it is that there is great harmony in the world, as true as it is that this present harmony had to arise on the basis of pain, it is equally true that one cannot attain the Christ impulse out of a painless spiritual voluptuousness, as one would like to feel it in the complex ideas of “In Harmony with the Infinite,” but only by courageously exposing oneself to the conflict which takes place on the ground of our intellect or our consciousness between the Christ impulse and the Ahrimanic impulses, which we must not recklessly ignore by saying: if we do not have harmony, we are dissatisfied, we must develop beyond this conflict toward the attainment of the Christ impulse. This occurs in a very concrete way in many different areas. If people today want to understand the world through natural science and cannot find the Christ impulse, and if, on the other hand, they learn to understand the world through spiritual science and can find the Christ impulse, then they must be clear that these two approaches are in conflict, but that it is precisely in their conflict that they agree. Natural science and spiritual science should not be one, as many believe, where only natural science or only spiritual science matters. Nor should they be such that one can be superimposed on the other; rather, if one wants to superimpose them, they should be like the left and right ears, which cannot be brought into complete alignment. It is not a question of whether two things can be brought into agreement with each other, but of the nature of the agreement.