Spiritual Science as a Foundation for Social Forms
GA 199
8 August 1920, Dornach
Lecture III
Today, I should like to add depth to what has recently been discussed by linking it to an old theme already familiar to many of you. Years ago, I once characterized the totality of the human senses.15Rudolf Steiner: Wisdom of Man, of the Soul, and of the Spirit, GA 115 (New York, Anthroposophic Press, 1971); Human and Cosmic Thought, Human and Cosmic Thought, GA 151 (London, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1967); Kosmische und menschliche Geschichte, Vol. I and II, GA 170/171 (Dornach, Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1964). Not translated. You know that in speaking of the senses one usually lists sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. In more recent times, even some scientists have been driven to refer to other senses that are located, as it were, further within man, a sense of balance, and so on. This whole concept of the human senses lacks coherence, however, and, above all, inner integration. When we focus on the conventionally enumerated senses, we actually are always dealing only with one part of the human sense organization. It is not until twelve senses are taken into consideration that we have completely explored the sensory organization of man. First of all, we wish today to enumerate and to describe briefly these twelve senses.
Since one can begin anywhere with the enumeration and characterization of the senses, let us start, for instance, by considering the sense of sight. First, we will consider its nature in an external way that everyone can substantiate for himself. The sense of sight transmits to us the surface of external corporeality which confronts us in color, brightness or darkness. We might describe these surfaces in a great variety of ways to arrive at what the sense of sight mediates. If we now penetrate through sense perception into the inner being of external corporeality, if, through our sense organization, we convey to ourselves what does not lie on the surface but continues more into the interior of the body, then this must take place through the sense of warmth. Again, drawn more closely to us, linked to us, inclined towards us from the surface of the corporeality, we perceive certain qualities through the sense of taste. It is located, as it were, on the other side of the sense of sight. When you consider colors, brightness and darkness, and when you consider taste, you will realize that what confronts you on the surface of corporeality is something mediated by the sense of sight. What meets you in the interplay with your own organism, what frees itself in a way through sensation from the surface and moves towards you, is mediated by the sense of taste.
Now let us imagine that you go still further into the inner corporeality than is possible through the sense of warmth and that you focus not only on what permeates a body from outside, but on what inwardly pervades it like warmth, that by its very nature is an inner quality of bodies. You strike a metal plate, for example, and hear its sound. You then perceive something of the substantiality of this metal plate, that is, of the inner metallic essence. When you perceive warmth the sense of warmth conveys to you what permeates the bodies as general warmth but certainly is within them; you perceive through the sense of hearing what is already bound up with the inner nature of things. If you go to the other side, you arrive at something that the body in question exercises upon you as an effect, but which is a much more inward quality than what is perceived through the sense of taste. Smelling is, materially speaking, much more inward than tasting. Tasting comes about by bodies just stimulating, as it were, our secretions which then unite themselves superficially with our inner being. Smelling signifies quite an important change in our inner being, and the mucous membrane of the nose is organized in a much more inward way, materially speaking of course, than the organs of taste.
If you penetrate still further into the interior of the outer bodily nature to where the external corporeality becomes more soul-like, you enter then through the sense of hearing into the nature of the metallic element; you arrive at what is, in a way, the soul of the latter, but you penetrate still further, particularly into the external, when you perceive not only with the sense of hearing but with the word sense, the speech sense. It is a total misconception to believe that with the sense of hearing we exhaust the contents of the word sense. One may well hear something but need not grasp the content of the words to the point where they are understood. Even in regard to the organic organization, a difference exists between the mere hearing of sounds and the perception of a word. The hearing of sound is transmitted through the ear; the perception of a word is mediated through other organs that are as much of a physical nature as are those transmitting the sense of hearing. We also penetrate deeper into the essence of something external when we understand it through the word sense than when we merely hear its inner nature through sound.
Mediation through the sense of touch is still more inward, already quite separate from the objects, much more so than is the case with the sense of smell. When you touch objects, you actually perceive only yourself. You touch an object and if it is hard it presses forcibly on you; if it is soft its pressure is only slight. You perceive nothing of the object, however; you sense only the effect upon yourself, the change in yourself. A hard object pushes your organs far back into you. You perceive this resistance as a change in your own organism when you perceive by means of the sense of touch. You see, do you not, that as we move in there with our inner sensing, we are going out of ourselves. With the sense of taste, we are only outside ourselves to a slight degree; with the sense of sight, we are further outside and on the surface of objects. Through the sense of warmth, we already penetrate into the body. We enter into its being even more so with the sense of hearing, and we are poured into its essence through the word sense. By contrast, we penetrate our own interior already somewhat with the sense of taste; this is more the case with the sense of smell and still more with that of touch. Then, if we press still further into our interior, we come upon a sense which is usually no longer mentioned, at least not often. It is a sense by which we differentiate between our standing up or lying down, and through which we perceive when we are standing on our two feet, that we are in a state of balance. This experience of equilibrium is transmitted by the sense of balance. There, we penetrate completely into our interior; we perceive the relationship of our own inner being to the world outside, within which we experience ourselves in a state of equilibrium. We perceive this, however, entirely within our inner being.
When we penetrate further into the external world than we can by means of the word sense, this occurs through the sense of thought. To perceive the thoughts of another being actually requires another sense organ differing from the mere word sense. On the other hand, if we penetrate still further into ourselves we find a sense that inwardly reveals to us whether we are at rest or in movement. We don't only observe whether we are remaining still or moving simply by virtue of the external objects moving past us; through the extension or retraction of our muscles and through the configuration of our body insofar as the latter changes when we move about, we can inwardly perceive to what extent we are in motion, and so forth. This happens through the sense of movement.
When we confront human beings, we not only perceive their thoughts but the ego itself. The ego, too, is not yet perceived when one merely perceives the thoughts. For the same reason that we separate the sense of hearing from that of sight, we must recognize a special ego sense upon entering into the more subtle configuration of the human organization—a sense with which to perceive an “I” or ego. When we penetrate the ego of another person with our perception, we go out of ourselves the most.
When do we enter the most into ourselves? When, within the general feeling of life, we perceive what we always have as our consciousness in the waking condition; when we perceive that we are; when we experience ourselves inwardly; when we sense that we are we. All this is mediated by the life sense.
Here I have written down for you the twelve senses that constitute the complete sensory system. You can readily see from this that a certain number of our senses are directed more toward the outside, adapted more for penetrating the outer world. When we consider this circle (see drawing) the extent of our sense world, we can say: Ego sense, sense of thinking, word sense, sense of hearing, sense of warmth, sense of sight and sense of taste are the outwardly directed senses. On the other hand, where we predominantly perceive ourselves through the things and where we perceive more the effects of things in us, we have the remaining senses: Life sense, sense of movement, sense of balance, and the senses of touch and smell. They form more the sphere of man's inner being. They are senses that open themselves in an inward direction and, through perception of what is within, transmit to us our relationship to the cosmos (see dark blue area in drawing). Thus, when we have the complete system of the senses we can say: We have seven senses that are directed more toward the outside. The seventh sense is already doubtful—the sense of taste that stands right on the boundary between what refers to the external bodies and what they exercise upon us as an effect. The other five senses are senses that show us completely inward processes taking place within us, which are, however, effects of the external world upon us. Today, I should like to add the following to this systematic arrangement of the senses which is familiar to most of you.
You know that when man rises from the ordinary knowledge of the senses to higher knowledge he is able to do that by emerging out of his physical body with his soul-spiritual part. Then the higher forms of cognition appear, namely, Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition. They have already been described in my Occult Science, an Outline and in my book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment.16Rudolf Steiner: Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment, GA 10 (Spring Valley, Anthroposophic Press, 1983). You will easily be able to represent to yourselves, however, that since we have this membering of the senses before us, we are able to arrive at a special characterization of what perception of the higher worlds is. We emerge out of ourselves. But what boundary do we cross over then? If we remain within ourselves, our senses form our boundary. When we emerge out of ourselves, we penetrate outward through the senses. It is, of course, a matter of fact that when our soul-spiritual part leaves the corporeal sheath, it penetrates outward through the senses. We therefore pass through the external senses in an outward direction, through the senses of taste, sight, warmth, hearing, the word sense, the thought and ego senses. We shall see later what we reach when we penetrate inward through the other boundary where the senses open in the inward direction. So we penetrate through the senses to the outside when we leave our bodily boundary, as it were, with our soul-spiritual entity. Here, for example (indicating the drawing), we pass outward by the sense of sight. It signifies that we penetrate outward with our soul-spiritual being by leaving behind our organs of sight. Particularly, when we leave our corporeality through the eyes and move about the world, seeing with our soul eyes, yet leaving the physical eyes behind, we arrive in that region where Imagination holds sway (see drawing).
And when, through initiation, we are actually capable of penetrating through the eye in particular out into the spiritual world, then we attain to pure Imaginations, imaginations that are pictures, so to speak, just as the rainbow is a picture—pure pictorial imaginations weaving and living in the soul-spiritual realm.
When we pass out through the organ of taste, the pictures appear tinged with the last remnants of material existence. We can say that the imaginations are then colored, literally touched here and there with materiality. We do not have pure images as in the rainbow; we get something that is tinged, containing in a kind of image something like a last residue of material substance. We come to ghosts, real specters, when we depart the physical body through the organ of taste.
When one leaves the physical body through the sense of warmth, one also receives pictures that are tinged. The images that are otherwise as pure as the rainbow, for instance, appear so that they affect our soul in a certain way. This is what their tinge now consists of. In case of the organ of taste, the image becomes condensed, so to speak, into something spectral. On the other hand, when we emerge through the sense of warmth, we also attain to imaginations but to a kind that have sympathetic and antipathetic soul effects, affecting us with warmth or coldness of soul. These images, therefore, do not appear passively, as did the others; they appear warm or cold in terms of the soul.
Now when we leave our body through the ear, through the sense of hearing, we come out into the soul-spiritual world and experience Inspiration. Previously, here (indicating the drawing) we experienced imaginations tinged by what affects our soul. When we leave our body through the sense of hearing, we penetrate into the sphere of Inspiration. Although these senses are directed more to the outside, now, when we leave the body, what passes over from the sense of warmth to the sense of hearing penetrates more into our soul-spiritual inner being, for inspirations belong more to the inner nature of soul and spirit than do imaginations. We are closely touched, not only emotionally, but we feel ourselves permeated by inspirations. Just as we feel ourselves permeated corporeally by the air we inhale, so we feel our soul permeated by inspirations when we enter those regions where they are to be found upon leaving the body through the sense of hearing.
The inspirations are once again tinged when we leave the body through the word sense, the sense of speech. It is of particular importance for anyone who acquires a feeling for the sense of speech to become familiar with this organ, which is just as real in the physical organization as is the sense of hearing. When the soul and spirit leave the physical body through this organ, Inspiration is tinged with inner experience, with a feeling of oneness with the foreign being.
When we leave the body through the sense of thinking, we penetrate into the sphere of Intuition. And when we leave the body through the ego sense, the intuitions are tinged by the beingness of the spiritual outer world.
Thus, we penetrate more and more into the essence of the spiritual outer world as soon as we leave the body with our soul and spirit. More and more, we become aware that everything surrounding us is in fact the spiritual world. Man, however, is in a sense forced out of the spiritual world. What is behind the senses he only perceives when he leaves the body with his soul-spiritual being. What is perceived, however, is molded by the senses. Intuitions appear through the ego sense and the sense of thinking but only as impressions of intuitions; inspirations appear as impressions through the word sense and sense of hearing; imaginations appear through the sense of warmth and sight and, to a lesser degree, through the sense of taste, but toned down, taken and transformed into the sensory element. Schematically, one could sketch it like this. On the boundary is the perception of the sense world (red). If one emerges with one's soul and spirit, one penetrates into the spiritual world (yellow) through Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition. And what is to be perceived in imaginations, inspirations and intuitions is out there. Yet, as it penetrates us, it turns into our sense world.
You see, there are no atoms out there as materialists imagine. Out there is the world of imaginative, inspired and intuitive elements, and as this world affects us, the impressions of it arise in the outward sense perceptions. From this you realize that when we penetrate through our skin which encloses the sense organs to the outside, as it were, but in the various directions in which the senses are effective, we arrive in the objective soul-spiritual world. Through the senses, which we have recognized as the ones opening to the outside, we penetrate into the external world.
Thus you see that when the human being enters into the outer world through his senses, when he crosses over the threshold—which, as you can see from all this, is quite near—in the direction of the external world, he penetrates into the objective world of soul and spirit. This is what we try to attain through spiritual science, namely to enter into this objective soul-spiritual world. We come into a higher sphere by penetrating through our outer senses into that which is covered for us by a veil within the sense world.
Just as we penetrate outward through the outer senses, what happens when we now penetrate into our inner nature through the inner senses, the life sense, the sense of movement, of balance, of touch and smell? Here, the matter is very different. Let us write down these inner senses once again: Sense of smell, touch, balance, movement and life. In everyday life, we do not actually perceive what occurs in the realm of these senses; it remains subconscious. What we do perceive with these senses is already radiated upward into the soul.
If this is the external spiritual world of Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition (see drawing below, red), it shines its rays, in a manner of speaking, upon our senses. Through these senses, the sensory world is produced and placed before us. The external world of spirit is thus moved inward by one degree. What surrounds these senses, however, what stirs below in the corporeality (orange), is not directly perceived. Just as the objective outer world of spirit is not directly perceived but is perceived only in its condition of being pushed into our senses, so we do not directly perceive all that stirs in our body, but only what is pushed up into the soul region. One perceives the soul effects of these inner senses to a certain extent. You do not perceive the life processes themselves. What you do perceive of the life sense is what of it is expressed in a feeling of inner well-being pervading us in waking consciousness, which is something you are not aware of in sleep, and which is only disturbed when something within hurts us. It is the life sense normally radiating upward as a feeling of comfort that is disturbed through pain in the same way as an external sense is disturbed when a person has a hearing loss. Generally, however, the life sense is experienced in a healthy person as a feeling of being comfortable. This feeling of overall well-being, which is heightened after a good meal, and somewhat lowered by hunger, this undefined inner sense of self is the effect of the life sense that has rayed into the soul.
The sense of movement is expressed in what takes place in us when, through contraction and elongation of our muscles, we perceive whether we are walking or standing still, jumping or dancing. We perceive whether or how we are in motion through this sense of movement. When it is radiated into the soul, this sense results in that feeling of freedom which allows man to sense himself as soul, namely, the experience of one's own free soul element. The fact that you experience yourself as a free soul is due to the effects of the sense of movement. It is due to what streams into your soul from the muscular contractions and elongations, just as inner comfort or discomfort is brought about by the results, the experiences of the life sense flowing into your soul realm.
When the sense of balance streams into the soul, the soul element is already considerably detached. Unless we have just fainted and are completely unconscious, just think how little we actually become aware of how we are placed into the world in a condition of equilibrium. How then do we sense the experiences of the sense of balance which radiate into the soul? That is entirely a soul experience. We feel it as inner tranquility, that inner tranquility which brings it about that when I go from one place to another I do not leave behind the being contained within my body but take it along; it remains, quietly, the same. Thus, I could fly through the air and yet quietly remain the same person. This is what makes us appear to be independent of time. I do not leave myself behind today, I am the same tomorrow. This sense of being independent of the corporeality is the inpouring of the sense of balance into the soul. It is the sensation of experiencing oneself as spirit.
Still less do we perceive the inner processes of the sense of touch which, in fact, we project entirely to the outside. We can sense whether bodies are hard or soft, rough or smooth, made of silk or wool. We project the experiences of touch entirely into external space. What we have in the sense of touch is actually an inner experience, but what takes place within remains completely in the subconscious. Only a shadow of it is present in the properties of the sense of touch ascribed to the objects. The organ of the sense of touch, however, causes us to feel whether the things are silken or woolen, hard or soft, rough or smooth. This, too, sends it effects within. It radiates into the soul, but the human being is not aware of the connection of his soul experiences with what the sense of touch attains in touching, because the two aspects are greatly differentiated—namely, what streams to the soul within and what is experienced on the surface outside. What does, however, stream into the soul is nothing else but being permeated with the feeling of God. Without the sense of touch, man would have no feeling for God. What is felt by the sense of touch as roughness and smoothness, hardness and softness, is the element streaming outward. What is turned back as a soul phenomenon is the condition of permeation with universal cosmic substance, with being as such. It is precisely through the sense of touch that we ascertain the existence of the outer world. When we see something, we do not immediately believe that it is indeed present in space; we are convinced of its spatial existence when the sense of touch can grasp it. What permeates all things and penetrates into us also, what holds and bears all of you—this all-pervading substance of God—enters consciousness and is the inwardly reflected experience of the sense of touch.
You are familiar with the outward radiation of the sense of smell. When the sense of smell radiates its experiences towards man's inner being, however, he no longer takes note of how these inner experiences coincide with the external ones. When a person smells something, it is the extension of his sense of smell to the outside; he projects the images to the external realm. This effect is also projected within; man, however, is aware of it less frequently than of the outward effect. Many people like to smell fragrant things and experience the outward emanation of the sense of smell. There are also people who surrender themselves to what grips the inner being as the effect of the sense of smell so intensely that it not only pervades the human being like the feeling of God, but places itself in him in such a manner that he experiences it as the mystic oneness with God.
5. sense of smell = mystical union with God
4. sense of touch = permeation by the feeling of God
3. sense of balance = inner rest, feeling oneself as spirit
2. sense of movement = experience of one's own free soul nature
1. sense of life = feeling of well-being
Thus you see that if we penetrate to the heart of things as they really are in the world, we must free ourselves from a great deal of sentimental prejudice. Some aspiring mystics will certainly have a funny feeling when they hear what this mystical experience actually represents in relation to the sense world, for it is the experience of the sense of smell sending its effects into the soul's inner being.
There is no need to be alarmed by these things, for we shape all our sensations according to the external, conventional world of semblance, of Maya. And why should one cling to this Maya-conception of the sense of smell, even though the sense of smell is not, to begin with, considered to be a part of the most sublime aspects? Why shouldn't we be able to consider the loftiest aspect of this sense of smell where it becomes the creator of man's inner experiences? Mystics in fact are often inveterate materialists. They condemn matter and wish to ascend above it because it is so lowly. So they raise themselves above it by pleasurably surrendering to the effects of the sense of smell within.
When confirmed mystics of the sensitive kind, such as Mechthild von Magdeburg, Saint Theresa or Saint John of the Cross, describe their inner experiences—and such individuals give quite vivid descriptions—one who possesses a great sensitivity and susceptibility for such matters will “smell” or sense what is going on because of the particular nature of these experiences. The mysticism, even of Meister Eckhart or Johannes Tauler,17Mechthild von Magdeburg: 1207–1290, mystic; St. Theresa, 1515–1582, Spanish saint; Johannes vom Kreuz (Juan de la Cruz): 1542–1591, mystic and theologian, reformer of the Carmelite Order; Meister Eckhart: 1260–1327, Dominican mystic; Johannes Tauler: 1300–1361, student of Meister Eckhart, mystic, Dominican preacher. can be “smelled”—indeed, more adequately—as it can be absorbed sensually through the soul's experience. A person who perceives matters in an occult sense will sense a sweetish aroma within when he considers the descriptions of the mystic experiences, for instance, of Saint Theresa or Mechthild of Magdeburg. When he considers the mysticism of Tauler or Meister Eckhart, he experiences a scent reminiscent of rue, a herb with a tart, but not unpleasant, odor.
In short, the particular and striking thing we discover is that when we move outward through our senses we come into a higher world, an objective spiritual world. When we descend through mysticism, through permeation by the feeling of God, through the inner tranquility of experiencing oneself as spirit, through feeling oneself free in soul, and through inner comfort, then we come to corporeality, to material substance. I have already indicated this to you in these considerations. In terms of Maya, we attain to ever more lowly regions in our inner experience than those we already have in ordinary life. In lifting ourselves outward beyond the senses, we enter into higher regions. This can indeed show you how important it is not to harbor illusions concerning these matters. Above all, we should not delude ourselves into believing that we penetrate into a special kind of spirituality when we descend into our inner being through the mystical sense of union with the divine. No, there we merely descend into what our nose gives us within; and the most beloved mystics offer us something in their descriptions of what they felt within themselves through the sense of smell continuing its effects inwardly.
You can see that when one speaks from beyond the threshold, speaking out of the spiritual world about the affairs of this world, one must speak in words that differ completely from the conceptions about the physical world formed by people from this side. This really should not surprise you, for you ought not to expect the spiritual world beyond the threshold to be a mere duplication of the physical world. Such duplications are experienced in only one instance, namely, when you read the descriptions of the higher worlds given in Islamic esotericism, or those of the Devachan by Mr. Leadbeater,18Charles Webster Leadbeater: 1847–1934, prominent personality of the Theosophical Society. There, with very few changes, you basically come across duplications of this world. People find this very comforting, especially among those who enjoy a certain elegant life style with fine clothes and sufficient satisfaction of their appetites here an the physical plane. One frequently notes that they expect to enter after death into a life style in Devachan that is not unlike the one here, as Mr. Leadbeater does indeed describe it to them. One who has to outline the truths concerning the spiritual worlds is not in this comfortable position. He has to tell you that permeation with the feeling of God leads to the inward projection of smell, and that the mystic actually reveals nothing more to the genuine occultist than the manner in which he smells within. There is no room for sentimentality in an actual observation of the world from the spiritual standpoint. I have mentioned it many times. If one really penetrates into the spiritual world, matters become serious to such a degree that even small things must be given different words from those applied to them here, and that words themselves acquire a completely opposite meaning. To penetrate into the spiritual world does not merely mean describing specters of this physical world. Instead, we have to brace ourselves, for much of what is experienced there is the opposite of the physical world here; above all, it is the reverse of what is pleasant.
I wished to place this viewpoint before you today in order to convey to you a more general feeling for what is really required for our age. When one listens to what is being said today in the West (it is somewhat different the farther east one goes), when a thought is interpreted in a Western manner, one frequently hears the following: One cannot express oneself this way in French; one cannot say that in English. The farther West one goes, the more prevalent is this opinion. But what does this opinion imply other than an attachment to the physical, the condition of having already become rigid in the physical as opposed to the real world? Of what consequence are words? What matters is that people go beyond words and arrive at a mutual understanding. Then, however, one must be capable of freeing the words from objects, but not only this, one must even be able to free the subjective feelings acquired in the sense world. If the sense of smell is looked upon as a lowly sense, this is a value judgment arrived at in the sensory world. Likewise, if the inner correlate of it, namely mysticism, is regarded as something nobler, this is also an opinion gained in the sense world. Considered from yonder side of the threshold, the organization of the sense of smell is of extraordinary significance, whereas mysticism, beheld from beyond the threshold, is nothing so sublime. This is because mysticism is in fact a product of the material, physical world, for it represents the manner in which human beings who actually remain materialistic try to penetrate into the spiritual world. They regard everything existing here on the physical plane as nothing but matter. It is all too lowly, too materialistic for them. If they were to penetrate into what does in fact exist outside, they would come directly into the spiritual world, into the realm of the hierarchies. Instead, they sink into their inner being, fumbling about in the pure matter within their own skin. It is true that this appears to them as the higher spirit. But it is not a question of our penetrating mystically into our Body through our soul-spiritual phenomena; rather, it is a matter of penetrating through our material phenomena, the phenomena of the sense world, to the spiritual world, entering the world of the hierarchies, the world of spiritual entities. We shall never arrive at impulses that lead again to an ascent until humanity will accept opinions such as these and permit one to speak in different terms about the world than those of the last four hundred years. Nothing will be gained until our social views are also formulated out of such completely transformed concepts. If we wish to remain in what we have acquired so far, basing our social activity only on that, we shall slide deeper and deeper into decline, into the decline of the Western world.
On what is something like Oswald Spengler's19Oswald Spengler: 1880–1936, The Decline of the West, Munich, 1922. judgment based? It rests on the fact that although he has a brilliant mind, he can think only in terms of the ordinary concepts of the Western world prevalent today. These he analyses and thus figures out—and quite correctly in terms of these concepts—that by the beginning of the third millennium barbarism will have taken the place of our civilization. If one speaks to him of anthroposophy, he turns red in the face, for he cannot stand it. Were he to comprehend what can enter into men through anthroposophy and how it can invigorate them, then he would see that the decline can be prevented only through anthroposophy, that it is the one and only way to come to an ascent again.
Dritter Vortrag
Ich möchte heute einiges von dem in diesen Tagen Besprochenen dadurch vertiefen, daß ich an ein älteres Thema anknüpfe, welches eine Anzahl von Ihnen bereits kennen wird. Ich habe einmal vor Jahren über die Charakteristik der Gesamtsinnenwelt des Menschen gesprochen. Sie wissen ja, daß, wenn man von den Sinnen spricht, man in gebräuchlicher Art den Gesichtssinn, den Gehörsinn, den Geruchssinn, den Geschmackssinn und den Tastsinn aufzählt. In der letzteren Zeit sind allerdings auch einige Wissenschafter veranlaßt worden, von andern, sozusagen mehr nach dem Inneren des Menschen hin gelegenen Sinnen zu sprechen, von einem Gleichgewichtssinn und so weiter. Aber dieser ganzen Anschauung von den menschlichen Sinnen fehlt einerseits der Zusammenhang und fehlt andererseits vor allen Dingen das in sich Geschlossene. Man hat es eigentlich immer nur mit einem Teil der menschlichen Sinnesorganisation zu tun, wenn man die gebräuchlich aufgezählten Sinne ins Auge faßt. Vollständig hat man die Sinnesorganisation des Menschen erst erschöpft, wenn man zwölf Sinne ins Auge faßt. Diese zwölf Sinne wollen wir uns heute einmal zunächst, ich möchte sagen, nur aufzählend und in kurzer Charakteristik vor Augen führen.
Man kann die Aufzählung und Charakteristik der Sinne irgendwo beginnen. Beginnen wir also zum Beispiel damit, daß wir den Sehsinn betrachten. Wir wollen zunächst ganz äußerlich, wie es ein jeder für sich konstatieren kann, die Charakteristik ins Auge fassen (siehe Zeichnung $. 48). Der Sehsinn vermittelt uns die Oberfläche der äußeren Körperlichkeit, die uns farbig, hell, dunkel und so weiter entgegentritt. Wir könnten in der mannigfaltigsten Weise diese Oberfläche beschreiben und würden dann dasjenige haben, was der Sehsinn vermittelt. Dringen wir nun durch die sinnliche Anschauung etwas ins Innere der äußeren Körperlichkeit, vermitteln wir uns durch unsere Sinnesorganisation dasjenige, was nicht an der Oberfläche liegt, sondern was sich mehr ins Innere des Körpers hinein fortsetzt, so muß das durch den Wärmesinn geschehen. Wiederum mehr gegen uns hergezogen, an uns gebunden, von der Oberfläche der Körperlichkeit gegen uns zugeneigt, nehmen wir Eigenschaften wahr durch den Geschmackssinn. Er liegt gewissermaßen auf der andern Seite des Sehsinnes. Wenn Sie Farben, Hell und Dunkel, und wenn Sie den Geschmack ins Auge fassen, dann werden Sie sich sagen: das was an der Oberfläche der Körperlichkeit Ihnen entgegentritt, ist etwas durch den Sehsinn Vermitteltes. Dasjenige, was in der Wechselwirkung mit Ihrem eigenen Organismus Ihnen entgegentritt, was sich gewissermaßen in der Empfindung loslöst von der Oberfläche und gegen Sie zugeht, das vermittelt der Geschmackssinn.
Nun stellen wir uns vor, daß Sie mehr noch in das Innere der Körperlichkeit gehen, als es durch den Wärmesinn möglich ist, daß Sie gewissermaßen nicht nur dasjenige, was die Körperlichkeit von außen durchdringt, aber allerdings im Inneren durchsetzt wie die Wärme, ins Auge fassen, sondern was innere Qualität der Körper durch ihre Wesenheit ist. Zum Beispiel: Sie hören eine metallene Platte, die Sie anschlagen, dann nehmen Sie etwas von der Substantialität dieser metallenen Platte wahr, also von dem inneren Wesen des Metallischen. Während, wenn Sie die Wärme wahrnehmen, Sie durch den Wärmesinn nur dasjenige wahrnehmen, was gewissermaßen als allgemeine Wärme die Körper durchdringt, aber dann allerdings im Inneren ist, so nehmen Sie also durch den Hörsinn dasjenige wahr, was schon mit dem inneren Wesen der Körper zusammenhängt. Gehen Sie jetzt nach der andern Seite, so bekommen Sie etwas, was der Körper auf Sie als Wirkung ausübt, was viel stärker innerlich ist als dasjenige, was wahrgenommen wird durch den Geschmackssinn. Das Riechen ist materiell viel innerlicher als das Schmecken. Das Schmecken geschieht gewissermaßen dadurch, daß die Körper uns nur berühren und dann unsere Absonderungen sich oberflächlich mit unserem Inneren vereinigen; das Riechen, das ist schon eine bedeutsame Veränderung in unserem Inneren, und die Nasenschleimhaut ist etwas, was viel innerlicher organisiert ist — natürlich materiell gemeint — als die Geschmackswerkzeuge.
Wenn Sie dann noch weiter in das Innere des äußeren Körperlichen eindringen, wo das äußere Körperliche schon mehr seelisch wird, dann dringen Sie ein durch den Gehörsinn in das Wesen des Metallischen, bekommen Sie gewissermaßen die Seele des Metallischen, aber Sie dringen noch tiefer, namentlich in das Äußere ein, wenn Sie nicht nur durch den Gehörsinn wahrnehmen, sondern durch den Wortesinn, durch den Sprachsinn. Es ist eine vollständige Verkennung, daß man glaubt, mit dem Gehörsinn sei auch schon dasjenige erschöpft, was der Wortesinn in sich enthält: man könnte hören, aber man brauchte noch nicht den Inhalt der Worte so wahrzunehmen, daß man ihn versteht. Es ist auch in bezug auf die organische Gliederung ein Unterschied vorhanden zwischen dem bloßen Hören des Tones und dem Wortewahrnehmen. Das Hören des Tones ist vermittelt durch das Ohr, das Wortewahrnehmen ist durch andere Organe vermittelt, welche ebenso physischer Natur sind, wie diejenigen, die den Gehörsinn vermitteln. Und wir dringen auch tiefer in das Wesen eines Äußeren ein, wenn wir es verstehen durch den Wortesinn, als wenn wir sein inneres Wesen bloß tonhaft hören.
Noch mehr nach innen gelegen, schon ganz von den Dingen abgesondert, viel mehr noch, als das beim Geruchssinn der Fall ist, ist jene Vermittlung, die wir nennen können die Vermittlung durch den Tastsinn. Wenn Sie Gegenstände betasten, so nehmen Sie ja eigentlich nur sich selber wahr. Sie betasten einen Gegenstand, der Gegenstand drückt in einer gewissen Weise stark auf Sie, weil er hart ist, oder drückt nur wenig auf Sie, weil er weich ist. Sie nehmen aber nichts vom Gegenstande wahr, sondern Sie nehmen nur das wahr, was in Ihnen selber bewirkt wird: die Veränderung in Ihnen selber. Ein harter Gegenstand schiebt Ihnen Ihre Organe weit zurück. Dieses Zurückschieben als eine Veränderung in Ihrem eigenen Organismus nehmen Sie wahr, wenn Sie durch den Tastsinn wahrnehmen. Sie sehen, indem wir uns mit dem Sinneninneren da hineinbewegen, gehen wir aus uns heraus. Wir sind zunächst wenig aus uns heraus beim Geschmackssinn, mehr aus uns heraus sind wir bei der Oberfläche der Körper, bei dem Sehsinn. Wir dringen schon in den Körper ein durch den Wärmesinn, noch mehr dringen wir ein in das Wesen durch den Hörsinn, und schon gar in das Innere des Wesens hineinergossen sind wir durch den Wortesinn. Dagegen dringen wir in unser Inneres hinein, im Geschmackssinn ist schon etwas davon vorhanden, mehr beim Geruchssinn, mehr noch beim Tastsinn. Dann aber, wenn wir noch mehr in unser Inneres eindringen, so tritt in uns ein Sinn auf, welcher eigentlich gewöhnlich schon nicht mehr genannt wird, wenigstens nicht oft genannt wird, ein Sinn, durch den wir unterscheiden, ob wir stehen oder ob wir liegen, durch den wir auch wahrnehmen, wie wir, wenn wir auf unseren zwei Beinen stehen, uns im Gleichgewichte halten. Dieses Sich-im-Gleichgewicht-Fühlen, das wird vermittelt durch den Gleichgewichtssinn. Da dringen wir also schon ganz in unser Inneres ein; wir nehmen die Beziehung unseres Inneren zur Außenwelt wahr, innerhalb welcher wir uns im Gleichgewichte fühlen. Aber wir nehmen das ganz in unserem Inneren wahr.
Dringen wir noch mehr in die äußere Welt hinein, mehr noch, als wir es durch den Wortesinn können, so geschieht das durch den Gedankensinn. Und es gehört, um die Gedanken des anderen Wesens wahrzunehmen, wiederum einfach ein anderes Sinnesorgan dazu, als es der bloße Wortesinn ist. Dagegen, wenn wir noch mehr in unser Inneres hineindringen, dann haben wir einen Sinn, der uns innerlich vermittelt, ob wir in der Ruhe oder ob wir in der Bewegung sind. Wir nehmen nicht nur dadurch, daß die äußeren Gegenstände an uns vorübergehen, wahr, ob wir in Ruhe oder ob wir in Bewegung sind, wir können innerlich an unserer Muskelverlängerung und -verkürzung, an der Konfiguration unseres Leibes, insofern sich diese verändert, wenn wir uns bewegen, wahrnehmen, inwiefern wir bewegt sind und so weiter. Das geschieht durch den Bewegungssinn.
Wenn wir Menschen gegenüberstehen, dann nehmen wir nicht nur ihre Gedanken wahr, sondern wir nehmen auch das Ich selber wahr. Und auch das Ich ist noch nicht wahrgenommen, wenn man bloß die Gedanken wahrnimmt. Gerade aus demselben Grunde, warum wir abgesondert den Hörsinn vom Sehsinn statuieren, müssen wir, wenn wir auf die feineren Gliederungen der menschlichen Organisation eingehen, auch einen besonderen Ichsinn, einen Sinn für die Ich-Wahrnehmung statuieren. Indem wir in das Ich eines andern Menschen wahrnehmend eindringen, gehen wir am meisten aus uns selber heraus.
Wann gehen wir am meisten in uns selber hinein? Nun, wenn wir im allgemeinen Lebensgefühl dasjenige wahrnehmen, was wir im wachen Zustande immer eben als unser Bewußtsein haben, daß wir sind, daß wir uns innerlich erfühlen, daß wir wir sind. Das wird vermittelt durch den Lebenssinn.
Damit habe ich Ihnen die zwölf Sinne, die das vollständige System der Sinnesorgane geben, hingeschrieben. Sie sehen nun ohne weiteres daraus, daß eine gewisse Anzahl von unseren Sinnen gewissermaßen mehr nach außen gerichtet ist, mehr darauf gerichtet ist, in die Außenwelt einzudringen. Wir können, wenn wir das Ganze (siehe Zeichnung) als den Umfang unserer Sinneswelt ansehen, sagen: Ichsinn, Gedankensinn, Wortesinn, Hörsinn, Wärmesinn, Sehsinn, Geschmackssinn, das sind die Sinne, welche mehr nach außen gerichtet sind. Dahingegen, wo wir mehr uns selbst wahrnehmen an den Dingen, wo wir mehr die Wirkungen der Dinge in uns wahrnehmen, da haben wir die andern Sinne: Lebenssinn, Bewegungssinn, Gleichgewichtssinn, Tastsinn, Geruchssinn. Sie bilden mehr das Gebiet des Inneren des Menschen; es sind Sinne, welche sich nach innen öffnen und durch das Wahrnehmen des Inneren uns unser Verhältnis zum Kosmos vermitteln (siehe Zeichnung, schraffiert). So daß also, wenn wir das vollständige System der Sinne haben, wir sagen können: Wir haben sieben mehr nach außen gerichtete Sinne. Der siebente Sinn ist schon zweifelhaft: Der Geschmackssinn steht schon an der Grenze zwischen dem, was die äußeren Körper betrifft und dem, was die äußeren Körper als Wirkung auf uns ausüben. Die andern fünf Sinne sind solche Sinne, welche uns durchaus innere Vorgänge zeigen, die in uns sich abspielen, die aber Wirkungen der Außenwelt auf uns sind. Was ich nun heute an diese Sinnesgliederung, die den meisten von Ihnen bekannt sein wird, anfügen möchte, ist das Folgende.
Sie wissen, wenn der Mensch aufsteigt von der gewöhnlichen Sinneserkenntnis zur höheren Erkenntnis, kann er es dadurch tun, daß er mit seinem Geistig-Seelischen aus seinem physischen Leib heraustritt. Dann treten die höheren Arten des Erkennens auf: Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition. Ich möchte sagen: beschreibend sind Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition ja geschildert in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß» und in meiner Schrift «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?». Aber Sie werden sich leicht vorstellen können, daß wir, gerade wenn wir diese Gliederung der Sinne vor uns haben, zu einer besonderen Charakteristik dessen gelangen können, was Anschauung der höheren Welten ist. Wir dringen aus uns heraus. Über welche Grenze schreiten wir denn da? Wenn wir in uns bleiben, wenn wir in uns stecken, dann sind die Sinne unsere Grenzen; wenn wir aus uns herausdringen, dann dringen wir durch die Sinne nach außen. Es ist ganz, ich möchte sagen, selbstverständlich, daß, wenn unser Geistig-Seelisches die Leibeshülle verläßt, es durch die Sinne nach außen dringt. Wir kommen also durch die äußeren Sinne, durch den Geschmackssinn, den Sehsinn, den Wärmesinn, den Hörsinn, den Wortesinn, den Gedankensinn und den Ichsinn nach außen. Wir werden nachher sehen, wohin wir kommen, wenn wir durch die andere Grenze, wo die Sinne sich nach innen öffnen, nach innen dringen. Also wir dringen durch die Sinne nach außen, indem wir mit unserem Geistig-Seelischen gewissermaßen unsere Leibesgrenze verlassen. Da passieren wir zum Beispiel den Sehsinn nach außen: das heißt, wir dringen mit unserem GeistigSeelischen nach außen, indem wir unsere Sehwerkzeuge zurücklassen. Indem wir uns bewegen in der Welt, mit dem seelischen Auge sehend, aber die physischen Augen zurücklassend, wenn wir also gerade durch das Auge verlassen unsere Leiblichkeit, kommen wir in jene Region hinein, wo die Imagination waltet (siehe Zeichnung Seite 48).
Und wenn wir wirklich imstande sind, durch die Initiation gerade durch das Auge hinauszudringen in die geistige Welt, dann bekommen wir reine Imaginationen, Imaginationen, die, ich möchte sagen, Bilder sind, so wie der Regenbogen ein Bild ist, reine Bildimaginationen, webend und lebend im Seelisch-Geistigen. Noch tingiert mit den letzten Resten materiellen Daseins erscheinen die Bilder, wenn wir durch das Geschmacksorgan nach außen dringen. So daß wir also sagen können: Dringen wir durch das Geschmacksorgan nach außen, so sind die Imaginationen tingiert, also förmlich betupft mit Materialität. Wir bekommen nicht reine duftige Bilder wie beim Regenbogen, sondern wir bekommen etwas, was tingiert ist, was gewissermaßen im Bilde etwas wie einen letzten Rest des Materiellen enthält: wir bekommen Gespenster, richtige Gespenster, wenn wir durch das Geschmacksorgan den physischen Leib verlassen. Verläßt man durch den Wärmesinn den physischen Leib, so bekommt man die Bilder auch tingiert. Die Bilder, die sonst rein sind, ich möchte sagen, wie der Regenbogen, die erscheinen dann so, daß sie uns seelisch in einer gewissen Weise affizieren. Das macht jetzt ihre Tingierung aus. Beim Geschmacksorgan verdichtet sich gleichsam das Bild zum Gespensterhaften. Wenn wir aber durch den Wärmesinn nach außen gehen, bekommen wir allerdings auch Imaginationen, aber Imaginationen, welche seelisch wirken, welche sympathisch, antipathisch wirken, welche seelisch warm oder kalt wirken. Also die Bilder erscheinen nicht in der gleichen Weise gelassen wie die andern, sondern sie erscheinen warm oder kalt, aber seelisch warm oder kalt.
Wenn wir nun durch unser Ohr, durch den Gehörsinn unseren Leib verlassen, dann kommen wir hinaus in die geistig-seelische Welt und erleben die Inspiration. Also hier vorher (in der Zeichnung) erleben wir Imaginationen, tingiert mit seelisch Affizierendem; wenn wir durch den Gehörsinn unseren Leib verlassen, dringen wir in das Gebiet der Inspiration. Während sonst diese Sinne mehr nach außen hin gehen, dringt jetzt das, was da vom Wärmesinn zum Gehörsinn herüberkommt, wenn wir den Leib verlassen, mehr in unser seelisch-geistiges Inneres ein. Denn Inspirationen gehören mehr dem seelisch-geistigen Inneren an als Imaginationen, wir werden mehr berührt, nicht nur affektiv, sondern wir fühlen uns durchdrungen mit Inspirationen, wie wir uns leiblich durchdrungen fühlen mit der Luft, die wir eingeatmet haben, so fühlen wir uns seelisch durchdrungen mit den Inspirationen, in deren Region wir hineingelangen, wenn wir durch den Gehörsinn unseren Leib verlassen.
Wenn wir durch den Wortesinn, durch den Sprachsinn unseren Leib verlassen, dann tingieren sich wiederum die Inspirationen. Das ist etwas, was ganz besonders wichtig ist, daß man kennenlernt dasjenige Organ, das ebenso real da ist in der physischen Organisation, wie der Gehörsinn da ist, wenn man sich ein Gefühl erwirbt zunächst für das, was der Sprachsinn ist. Wenn man durch dieses Organ den physischen Leib mit dem Geistig-Seelischen verläßt, so tingiert sich die Inspiration mit innerlichem Erleben, mit dem Sich-Eins-Fühlen mit dem fremden Wesen.
Wenn wir durch den Gedankensinn unseren Leib verlassen, dann dringen wir in das Gebiet der Intuitionen. Und wenn wir durch den Ichsinn unseren Leib verlassen, dann sind die Intuitionen tingiert mit Wesenhaftem der geistigen Außenwelt.
So dringen wir immer mehr und mehr in das Wesenhafte der geistigen Außenwelt ein, sobald wir mit unserem Geistig-Seelischen den Leib verlassen, und wir können immer hinweisen darauf, wie eigentlich das, was uns umgibt, die geistige Welt ist. Aber der Mensch ist gewissermaßen herausgedrängt aus der geistigen Welt. Was da hinter den Sinnen ist, nimmt er ja erst wahr, wenn er durch sein Geistig-Seelisches den Leib verläßt. Aber es drückt sich ab durch die Sinne: Es erscheinen uns die Intuitionen durch den Ich- und den Gedankensinn, aber nur die Abdrücke davon; die Inspirationen durch den Wortesinn und den Hörsinn, aber wiederum nur Abdrücke davon; die Imaginationen durch den Wärmesinn und den Sehsinn, und ein wenig durch den Geschmackssinn, aber abgetönt, hereingenommen, ins Sinnliche verwandelt. Schematisch könnte man die Sache so zeichnen: An der Grenze ist die Wahrnehmung der Sinneswelt (siehe Zeichnung, rot); gelangt man hinaus mit dem Geistig-Seelischen, so dringt man in die geistige Welt ein (siehe Zeichnung, gelb) durch Imagination, Inspiration und Intuition. Und das zu Imaginierende, das zu Inspirierende, zu Intuitierende, das ist da draußen. Aber indem es in uns eindringt, wird es zu unserer Sinneswelt. Sie sehen: Atome sind nicht da draußen, wie es sich die Materialisten phantasieren, sondern da draußen ist die Welt des Imaginativen, des Inspirierten, des Intuitiven. Und indem diese Welt auf uns wirkt, entstehen die Abdrücke davon in den äußeren Sinneswahrnehmungen.. Daraus sehen Sie, daß — wenn wir durch unsere Haut, welche die Sinnesorgane umschließt, gewissermaßen nach außen dringen, aber nach den verschiedenen Richtungen hin, in denen die Sinne wirken — wir dann in die objektive geistig-seelische Welt hineingelangen. Da dringen wir durch die Sinne, die wir als nach außen sich öffnend erkannt haben, in die Außenwelt ein.
Sie sehen also, daß der Mensch, wenn er durch seine Sinne in die Außenwelt dringt, wenn er die Schwelle, die, wie Sie daraus ersehen, sehr nahe ist, nach der Außenwelt hin überschreitet, er in die objektiv geistig-seelische Welt hineindringt. Das ist das, was wir durch Geisteswissenschaft zu erreichen versuchen: in diese objektive geistig-seelische Welt einzudringen. Wir kommen zu einem Höheren, indem wir durch unsere äußeren Sinne in dasjenige eindringen, was innerhalb der Sinneswelt durch einen Schleier für uns bedeckt ist.
Wie ist es nun, wenn wir durch die inneren Sinne, den Lebenssinn, den Bewegungssinn, den Gleichgewichtssinn, den Tastsinn, den Geruchssinn in unser Inneres eindringen, wenn wir — ebenso, wie wir durch die äußeren Sinne nach außen dringen — durch diese inneren Sinne in uns eindringen? Da nimmt sich die Sache überhaupt anders aus. Schreiben wir uns noch einmal diese inneren Sinne auf: Geruchssinn, Tastsinn, Gleichgewichtssinn, Bewegungssinn, Lebenssinn. Was da eigentlich in uns vorgeht, das wird da nicht wahrgenommen. Wir nehmen im gewöhnlichen Leben eigentlich das, was im Bereiche dieser Sinne vorgeht, nicht wahr; das bleibt unterbewußt. Dasjenige, was wir im gewöhnlichen Leben durch diese Sinne wahrnehmen, ist schon heraufgestrahlt in das Seelische.
Sehen Sie, wenn das die äußere geistige Welt der Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition ist (siehe Zeichnung S. 54, rot), so strahlt sie gewissermaßen auf unsere Sinne, und durch die Sinne wird vor uns hingestellt, wird die sinnliche Welt eben erzeugt. Da wird also um eine Stufe hereingeschoben die äußere Geistwelt. Was aber diese Sinne umschließt, und was da unten in der Körperlichkeit wühlt (orange), das nimmt man unmittelbar nicht wahr. So wie man unmittelbar nicht wahrnimmt die objektive äußere Geistwelt, sondern nur in ihrer Hereingeschobenheit in unsere Sinne, so nimmt man unmittelbar auch nicht das wahr, was da in unserem Körper wühlt, sondern nur das Heraufgeschobensein in das Seelische. Man nimmt gewissermaßen die seelischen Wirkungen dieser inneren Sinne wahr. Sie nehmen nicht die Vorgänge wahr, welche die Lebensvorgänge sind, sondern Sie nehmen wahr vom Lebenssinn (siehe Zeichnung Seite 48), was Gefühl ist davon, was Sie nicht wahrnehmen, wenn Sie schlafen, was Sie wahrnehmen als innere Behaglichkeit beim Wachen, als das Durchbehaglichtsein, was nur gestört ist, wenn einem irgend etwas weh tut in seinem Inneren. Da ist der Lebenssinn, der sonst als Behaglichkeit heraufstrahlt, so, daß er gestört ist, geradeso wie ein äußerer Sinn gestört ist, wenn man zum Beispiel schlecht hört. Aber im ganzen lebt sich beim gesunden Menschen der Lebenssinn als Behaglichkeit aus. Jenes Durchdrungensein von Behaglichkeit, erhöht nach einer würzigen Mahlzeit, etwas herabgestimmt beim Hunger, dieses allgemeine innerliche Sich-Fühlen, das ist die in die Seele hineingestrahlte Wirkung des Lebenssinnes.
Der Bewegungssinn (siehe Zeichnung Seite 48), dasjenige, das da in uns vorgeht, indem wir durch Verkürzung und Verlängerung unserer Muskeln wahrnehmen, ob wir gehen oder stehen, ob wir springen oder tanzen, also wodurch wir wahrnehmen, ob und wie wir in Bewegung sind, das gibt, in die Seele hineingestrahlt, jenes Freiheitsgefühl des Menschen, das ihn sich als Seele empfinden läßt: Empfindung des eigenen freien Seelischen. Daß Sie sich als eine freie Seele empfinden, das ist die Ausstrahlung des Bewegungssinnes, das ist das Hereinstrahlen der Muskelverkürzungen und Muskelverlängerungen in Ihr Seelisches, so wie die innere Behaglichkeit oder Unbehaglichkeit das Hereinstrahlen der Ergebnisse, der Erfahrungen desLebenssinnes in Ihr Seelisches ist.
Wenn der Gleichgewichtssinn hereinstrahlt in das Seelische, da lösen wir schon sehr stark dieses Seelische los. Denken Sie nur einmal, wie wenig wir darauf aus sind — wenn wir nicht gerade ohnmächtig geworden sind, dann wissen wir nichts davon —, unmittelbar wirklich zu empfinden, daß wir in die Welt im Gleichgewichte hineingestellt sind. Wie empfinden wir denn, in die Seele hineingestrahlt, die Erlebnisse des Gleichgewichtssinnes? Das ist schon ganz seelisch: wir empfinden das als innere Ruhe, als jene innere Ruhe, welche macht, daß, wenn ich von da bis hierher gehe, ich doch nicht zurücklasse den, der da in meinem Körper steckt, sondern ihn mitnehme; der bleibt ruhig derselbe. Und so könnte ich durch die Luft fliegen, ich würde ruhig derselbe bleiben. Das ist dasjenige, was uns unabhängig erscheinen läßt von der Zeit. Ich lasse mich auch heute nicht zurück, sondern ich bin morgen derselbe. Dieses Unabhängigsein von der Körperlichkeit, das ist das Hineinstrahlen des Gleichgewichtssinnes in die Seele. Es ist das Sich-als-GeistFühlen.
Noch weniger nehmen wir wahr die inneren Vorgänge des Tastsinnes. Die projizieren wir ja ganz nach außen. Wir fühlen den Körpern an, ob sie hart oder weich sind, ob sie rauh oder glatt sind, ob sie seidig sind oder wollen; wir projizieren die Erlebnisse des Tastsinnes ganz in den äußeren Raum. Eigentlich ist das, was wir im Tastsinn haben, ein inneres Erlebnis, aber was da innerlich vorgeht, das bleibt ganz im Unbewußten. Davon ist nur ein Schatten vorhanden in den Eigenschaften des Tastsinnes, die wir den Körpern zuschreiben. Aber das Organ des Tastsinnes, das macht, daß wir die Gegenstände seiden oder wollen, hart oder weich, rauh oder glatt fühlen. Das strahlt auch ins Innere herein, das strahlt in die Seele herein; nur merkt der Mensch den Zusammenhang seines seelischen Erlebnisses mit dem, was der äußere Tastsinn ertastet, nicht, weil die Dinge sich sehr differenzieren — was da ins Innere hineinstrahlt und was nach außen hin erlebt wird. Aber dasjenige, was da ins Innere hineinstrahlt, ist nichts anderes als das Durchdrungensein mit dem Gottgefühl. Der Mensch würde, wenn er keinen Tastsinn hätte, das Gottgefühl nicht haben. Was da im Tastsiinn sich als Rauheit und Glätte, Härte und Weichheit erfühlt, das ist das nach außen Strahlende; was sich zurückschlägt in der Seelenerscheinung, das ist das Durchdrungensein mit der allgemeinen Weltsubstantialität, das Durchdrungensein mit dem Sein als solchem. Wir konstatieren das Sein der äußeren Welt gerade durch den Tastsinn. Wir glauben noch nicht, wenn wir irgend etwas sehen, daß es auch im Raume vorhanden ist; wir überzeugen uns, daß es im Raume vorhanden ist, wenn der Tastsinn es ertasten kann. Dasjenige, was alle Dinge durchdringt, was auch in uns hereindringt, was Sie alle hält und trägt, diese alles durchdringende Gottsubstanz kommt ins Bewußtsein und ist, nach innen reflektiert, das Erlebnis des Tastsinnes.
Der Geruchssinn: seine Ausstrahlung nach außen kennen Sie. Wenn der Geruchssinn aber seine Erlebnisse nach innen strahlt, dann merkt der Mensch schon gar nicht mehr, wie diese inneren Erlebnisse mit den äußeren Erlebnissen zusammenfallen. Wenn der Mensch irgend etwas riecht, so ist das die Ausstrahlung seines Geruchssinnes nach außen; er projiziert die Bilder nach außen. Aber diese Wirkung projiziert sich auch nach innen. Der Mensch beachtet sie nur seltener als die Wirkung nach außen. Manche Leute riechen gern wohlriechende Dinge, da beobachten sie die Ausstrahlung des Geruchssinnes nach außen. Aber es gibt auch Leute, die sich dem hingeben, was da als die Wirkung des Geruchssinnes nach innen so intensiv das Innere ergreift, was nicht nur wie das Gottesgefühl den Menschen durchdringt, sondern was sich so hineinsetzt in den Menschen, daß er es als mystisches Einssein mit Gott empfindet.
5. Geruchssinn = mystisches Einssein mit Gott
4. Tastsinn = Durchdrungensein mit dem Gottgefühl
3. Gleichgewichtssinn = innere Ruhe, sich als Geist fühlen
2. Bewegungssinn = Empfindung des eigenen freien Seelischen
1. Lebenssinn = Behaglichkeit
Sie sehen, man muß sich, wenn man die Dinge durchschaut, so wie sie wirklich in der Welt sind, von manchem sentimentalen Vorurteile losmachen. Denn manch einer wird ganz sonderbare Gefühle haben, wenn er Mystiker sein will und nun erfährt, was eigentlich dieses mystische Erlebnis im Verhältnis zur Sinneswelt ist: es ist das in das Innere der Seele einstrahlende Geruchssinn-Erlebnis.
Man braucht vor solchen Dingen nicht zu erschrecken, denn auch unsere Empfindungen bilden wir ja nur in der äußeren konventionellen Scheinwelt, in der Maja. Und warum sollte man denn, wenn man den Geruchssinn nicht gleich als etwas vom Höchsten betrachtet, dieses Majaurteil über den Geruchssinn beibehalten? Warum sollte man denn nicht in der Lage sein, diesen Geruchssinn in seinem höheren Aspekt zu betrachten, wo er der Schöpfer der inneren Erlebnisse des Menschen wird? Ja, die Mystiker sind manchmal arge Materialisten, sie verdammen die Materie, sie wollen sich über die Materie erheben, weil die Materie etwas so Niedriges ist, und sie erheben sich über die Materie, indem sie sich innerlich wohlgefällig den Wirkungen des Geruchssinnes nach innen hingeben.
Wer für solche Dinge eine feinere Empfänglichkeit und Empfindlichkeit hat, der wird gerade bei ausgesprochenen Mystikern sympathischer Art, wie der Mechthild von Magdeburg oder der heiligen Therese oder Johannes vom Kreuz, wenn sie ihre inneren Erlebnisse beschreiben - und solche Persönlichkeiten beschreiben sehr anschaulich -, an der besonderen Art der Erlebnisse die Dinge «riechen». Mystik, auch bei Meister Eckhart oder bei Johannes Tauler, ist ebensogut, ja adäquater zu riechen, als mit Wollust durch die seelische Empfindung einzusaugen. Wenn man zum Beispiel die Beschreibung der mystischen Erlebnisse der heiligen Therese nimmt oder der Mechthild von Magdeburg, so hat man einen süßlichen Geruch in seinem Inneren, wenn man die Dinge okkult versteht. Wenn man die Mystik des Tauler, des Meister Eckhart nimmt, dann hat man so etwas von einem Geruch, wie etwa die Rautepflanze riecht, einen herben, aber nicht unsympathischen Geruch.
Kurz, das Eigentümliche, das Frappierende, das einem da entgegentritt, besteht darin, daß, wenn man sich durch die Sinne nach außen entfernt, man in eine höhere Welt hineinkommt, in eine objektiv geistige Welt. Wenn man hinuntersteigt durch Mystik, durch das Durchdrungensein mit dem Gottgefühl, durch die innere Ruhe des Sich-alsGeist-Fühlen, durch das Sich-seelisch-frei-Fühlen, durch die innere Behaglichkeit: dann kommt man in Körperlichkeit, in Materialität hinein, was ich Ihnen ja schon angedeutet habe in diesen Betrachtungen. Beim inneren Erleben kommt man, majahaft gesprochen, immer in niedrigere Regionen hinein als diejenigen, die man schon im gewöhnlichen Leben hat. Beim äußeren Sich-Erheben über die Sinne kommt man in höhere Regionen hinein. Daraus sehen Sie wohl auch, wie es darauf ankommt, daß man sich über diese Dinge keinen Illusionen hingibt, daß man vor allen Dingen sich nicht der Illusion hingibt, daß man glaubt, man dringe in eine besondere Geistigkeit ein, wenn man durch das mystische SichEinsfühlen mit dem Göttlichen in sein Inneres hineinsteigt. Nein, da steigt man nur in die Ausstrahlungen seiner Nase nach innen hinein. Und diejenigen Mystiker, die am meisten geliebt werden, die geben uns durch ihre Beschreibungen dasjenige, was sie durch die AusstrahJungen der nach innen fortgesetzten Nase in ihrem Inneren fühlen.
Sie sehen: redet man von jenseits der Schwelle, redet man von der geistigen Welt aus über die Angelegenheiten dieser Welt, dann muß man in ganz andern Worten reden, als die Menschen es sich von dieser physischen Welt aus vorstellen. Das sollte Sie eigentlich nicht verwundern, denn Sie brauchen ja nicht erwarten, daß die geistige Welt jenseits der Schwelle eine bloße Doublette dieser physischen Welt hier sei. Solche Doubletten können Sie einzig und allein erleben, wenn Sie die Beschreibungen der höheren Welt in der Esoterik des Islam lesen, oder wenn Sie die Beschreibungen des Devachan vom Herrn Leadbeater lesen. Da haben Sie, nur ein wenig verändert, aber im Grunde genommen Doubletten von dieser Welt. Das ist den Leuten sehr behaglich. Insbesondere bei denen, welche ein gewisses Salonleben in guten Kleidern und bei sonst hinreichenden Gelüstebefriedigungen hier in der physischen Welt führen, kann man es leicht finden, daß sie auch jenen Devachansalon, in dem man sich dann aufhalten kann, wie in einer ähnlichen Weise in den Salons hier, nach ihrem Tode betreten, wie es ihnen ja auch Herr Leadbeater beschreibt. In dieser bequemen Lage ist derjenige nicht, der die Wahrheiten der geistigen Welten beschreiben muß. Der muß Ihnen sagen, daß das Durchdrungensein mit dem Gottgefühl zu der Projektion des Riechens nach innen führt, und daß der Mystiker eigentlich dem wirklichen Okkultisten nichts anderes verrät, als wie er in seinem Inneren riecht. Zur Sentimentalität ist keine Gelegenheit bei wirklicher Betrachtung der Welt von der geistigen Seite aus. Ich habe es oftmals erwähnt: Dringt man wirklich in die geistige Welt hinein, dann beginnt der Ernst in solchem Maße, daß alle Dinge selbst andere Worte bekommen müssen, als sie hier haben, und daß die Worte selbst ganz entgegengesetzte Bedeutung bekommen. In die geistige Welt eindringen, heißt nicht bloß Gespenster der hiesigen Welt beschreiben, sondern man muß sich darauf gefaßt machen, daß man vieles von dem erlebt, was das Gegenteil der physischen Welt hier ist, vor allen Dingen aber das Gegenteil des Angenehmen ist.
Ich wollte Ihnen diesen Gesichtspunkt heute hinstellen, um Ihnen ein mehr allgemeines Gefühl zu vermitteln von dem, was unserer Zeit wirklich notwendig ist. Wenn man hinhorcht auf das, was einem heute vom Westen entgegentönt — im Osten, und je weiter man nach dem Osten hinkommt, ist es etwas anderes —, wenn ein Gedanke in westlicher Form wiedergegeben wird, dann ist es oft so, daß man sagt: so kann man nicht im Französischen sich ausdrücken, so kann man nicht im Englischen sich ausdrücken. Je weiter man nach Westen kommt, desto mehr findet man dieses Urteil. Was bedeutet dieses Urteil aber anderes als das Hängen an dem Physischen, das schon Erstarrtsein in dem Physischen gegenüber der wirklichen Welt? Was kommt es auf Worte an? Es kommt vielmehr darauf an, daß man sich über die Worte hinaus über die Dinge verständigt. Dann aber muß man auch die Worte loslösen können von den Dingen, und man muß nicht nur die Worte loslösen können, sondern man muß sogar die in der Sinneswelt erworbenen subjektiven Empfindungen loslösen können. Wenn man den Geruchssinn als einen niederen Sinn betrachtet, so ist das ein Urteil, gewonnen aus der Sinneswelt. Und wenn man sein inneres Korrelat, die Mystik als ein Höheres betrachtet, so ist das auch ein Urteil aus der Sinneswelt. Von jenseits der Schwelle angesehen, ist die Organisation des Geruchssinnes etwas außerordentlich Bedeutendes, und die Mystik ist nicht etwas so Großartiges, wenn sie von jenseits der Schwelle angesehen wird. Denn die Mystik ist durchaus ein Produkt der materiellen, physischen Welt, sie ist nämlich die Art, wie Menschen in die geistige Welt eindringen wollen, die eigentlich materialistisch bleiben, indem sie das, was hier ist, erst recht als Materie ansehen. Das ist ihnen zu niedrig, zu materialistisch. Würden sie allerdings eindringen in das, was da draußen ist, dann kämen sie gerade in die geistige Welt, in die Hierarchien. Statt dessen aber dringen sie in ihr Inneres: da tappen sie in die volle Materie innerhalb der eigenen Haut hinein! Das kommt ihnen allerdings als der höhere Geist vor. Aber es handelt sich nicht darum, daß wir durch unsere geist-seelischen Phänomene mystisch hinunterdringen in unsere Körper, sondern es handelt sich darum, daß wir durch unsere materiellen Phänomene, durch die Phänomene der Sinneswelt hindurchdringen in die Geistwelt hinein, in die Welt der Hierarchien, in die Welt der geistigen Wesenhaftigkeiten. Nicht eher, als bis die Welt es verträgt, solche Töne anschlagen zu hören, nicht eher, als bis die Welt es verträgt, daß über die Welt ganz anders gesprochen wird als in den letzten vier Jahrhunderten, nicht eher, als bis die Welt es verträgt, daß wir auch unsere sozialen Urteile aus solchen vollständig umgewandelten Begriffen bilden, kommen wir zu Impulsen, die wiederum zu einem Aufgang führen. Wollen wir aber verbleiben in alledem, was wir uns angeeignet haben, und wollen wir daraus unser soziales Tun orientieren, dann segeln wir immer tiefer in den Niedergang hinein, dann geht es hinunter in den Niedergang des Abendlandes.
Worauf beruht so etwas, wie das Urteil Oswald Spenglers? Es beruht darauf, daß er ein sehr genialer Mensch ist, der aber nichts anderes denken kann als die gewöhnlichen Begriffe des Abendlandes, die man jetzt hat. Die analysiert er. Da rechnet er aus — was für diese Begriffe durchaus richtig ist —, daß mit dem Beginn des dritten Jahrtausends an die Stelle unserer Zivilisation die Barbarei getreten sein wird. Wenn man ihm von Anthroposophie redet, bekommt er einen roten Kopf, weil er es nicht ausstehen kann. Würde er verstehen, was durch die Anthroposophie in die Menschheit einziehen kann, wie sie die Menschen beleben kann, dann würde er sehen, daß einzig und allein durch sie der Niedergang abgewendet werden kann, daß man einzig und allein durch sie zu einem Aufstiege kommen kann.
Third Lecture
Today I would like to deepen some of what we have discussed in recent days by returning to an older topic, which some of you will already be familiar with. Years ago, I spoke about the characteristics of the total sensory world of the human being. You know that when we speak of the senses, we usually list the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, the sense of smell, the sense of taste, and the sense of touch. Recently, however, some scientists have been led to speak of other senses that are, so to speak, more internal to the human being, such as a sense of balance and so on. But this whole view of the human senses lacks, on the one hand, a connection and, on the other hand, above all, internal coherence. When we consider the commonly listed senses, we are actually only dealing with a part of the human sensory organization. The sensory organization of the human being is only fully exhausted when we consider twelve senses. Today, we will first list these twelve senses and briefly characterize them.
One can begin the enumeration and characterization of the senses anywhere. Let us begin, for example, by considering the sense of sight. We will first look at the characteristics from a purely external point of view, as everyone can observe for themselves (see drawing $. 48). The sense of sight conveys to us the surface of external physicality, which appears to us as colored, light, dark, and so on. We could describe this surface in the most varied ways and would then have what the sense of sight conveys. If we now penetrate something of the inner nature of external physicality through sensory perception, if we convey to ourselves through our sensory organization that which does not lie on the surface but continues further into the interior of the body, this must be done through the sense of warmth. Again, drawn more toward us, bound to us, inclined toward us from the surface of physicality, we perceive qualities through the sense of taste. It lies, so to speak, on the other side of the sense of sight. When you perceive colors, light and dark, and when you take taste into your eyes, you will say to yourself: what meets you on the surface of physicality is something conveyed by the sense of sight. What confronts you in interaction with your own organism, what in a sense detaches itself from the surface in your sensation and moves toward you, is conveyed by the sense of taste.
Now let us imagine that you go even further into the interior of physicality than is possible through the sense of warmth, that you perceive not only what penetrates physicality from the outside but also what permeates it from the inside, like warmth, but also the inner quality of bodies through their essence. For example, when you strike a metal plate, you perceive something of the substantiality of this metal plate, that is, of the inner essence of the metal. Whereas when you perceive heat, you perceive through the sense of heat only that which, in a sense, penetrates the body as general heat, but is then inside it, so that through the sense of hearing you perceive that which is already connected with the inner essence of the body. Now go to the other side, and you will experience something that the body exerts on you as an effect, something that is much stronger internally than what is perceived by the sense of taste. Smelling is materially much more internal than tasting. Tasting happens, in a sense, because bodies merely touch us and then our secretions unite superficially with our inner being; smelling is already a significant change within us, and the nasal mucosa is something that is much more internally organized — in a material sense, of course — than the taste buds.
If you then penetrate further into the inner part of the outer physical body, where the outer physical body becomes more spiritual, then you penetrate through the sense of hearing into the essence of metal, you obtain, so to speak, the soul of metal, but you penetrate even deeper, namely into the outer part, if you perceive not only through the sense of hearing, but through the sense of the word, through the sense of speech. It is a complete misunderstanding to believe that the sense of hearing exhausts what the sense of words contains: one could hear, but one would not yet need to perceive the content of the words in such a way as to understand them. There is also a difference in the organic structure between merely hearing the sound and perceiving the words. Hearing sound is mediated by the ear, while perceiving words is mediated by other organs that are just as physical in nature as those that mediate the sense of hearing. And we also penetrate more deeply into the essence of something external when we understand it through the meaning of words than when we merely hear its inner essence as sound.
Even more inwardly located, already completely separated from things, much more so than is the case with the sense of smell, is that mediation which we can call mediation through the sense of touch. When you touch objects, you are actually only perceiving yourself. You touch an object, and the object presses against you in a certain way, strongly because it is hard, or only slightly because it is soft. But you do not perceive anything of the object; you only perceive what is caused within yourself: the change in yourself. A hard object pushes your organs far back. You perceive this pushing back as a change in your own organism when you perceive it through the sense of touch. You see, by moving inward with the inner senses, we move out of ourselves. We are initially less outside ourselves with the sense of taste, and more outside ourselves with the surface of the body, with the sense of sight. We already penetrate the body through the sense of warmth, we penetrate even more into the essence through the sense of hearing, and we are already completely immersed in the essence through the sense of speech. In contrast, we penetrate into our inner being; something of this is already present in the sense of taste, more in the sense of smell, and even more in the sense of touch. But then, when we penetrate even further into our inner being, a sense arises in us which is not usually mentioned, at least not often, a sense through which we distinguish whether we are standing or lying down, through which we also perceive how we keep our balance when we stand on our two legs. This feeling of being in balance is conveyed by the sense of balance. Here we are already penetrating deep into our inner being; we perceive the relationship between our inner being and the outer world, within which we feel ourselves to be in balance. But we perceive this entirely within ourselves.
If we penetrate even further into the external world, even more than we can through the sense of words, this happens through the sense of thought. And in order to perceive the thoughts of another being, we simply need a different sense organ than the mere sense of words. On the other hand, when we penetrate even further into our inner being, we have a sense that tells us whether we are at rest or in motion. We do not perceive whether we are at rest or in motion merely by the external objects passing by us; we can perceive inwardly, through the lengthening and shortening of our muscles, through the configuration of our body as it changes when we move, to what extent we are moving, and so on. This happens through the sense of movement.
When we face other people, we perceive not only their thoughts, but also the self itself. And even the self is not yet perceived when one merely perceives thoughts. For the same reason that we distinguish the sense of hearing from the sense of sight, we must also distinguish a special sense of the self, a sense of self-perception, when we go into the finer divisions of the human organization. By penetrating into the self of another person through perception, we go out of ourselves the most.
When do we go most into ourselves? Well, when we perceive in our general attitude toward life what we always have as our consciousness in the waking state, that we are, that we feel ourselves inwardly, that we are we. This is mediated by the sense of life.
I have now described the twelve senses that make up the complete system of sensory organs. You can now see clearly that a certain number of our senses are, so to speak, directed more outward, more toward penetrating the external world. If we consider the whole (see drawing) as the scope of our sensory world, we can say: the sense of self, the sense of thought, the sense of speech, the sense of hearing, the sense of warmth, the sense of sight, the sense of taste—these are the senses that are more directed outward. On the other hand, where we perceive ourselves more in things, where we perceive more the effects of things within us, we have the other senses: the sense of life, the sense of movement, the sense of balance, the sense of touch, the sense of smell. These form more the inner realm of the human being; they are senses that open inward and, through the perception of the inner realm, convey our relationship to the cosmos (see drawing, hatched area). So that when we have the complete system of senses, we can say: We have seven senses that are more directed outward. The seventh sense is already doubtful: the sense of taste is already on the borderline between what concerns the external bodies and what the external bodies exert on us as effects. The other five senses are senses that show us internal processes that take place within us, but which are effects of the external world on us. What I would now like to add to this division of the senses, which most of you will be familiar with, is the following.
You know that when human beings ascend from ordinary sensory perception to higher knowledge, they can do so by stepping out of their physical bodies with their spiritual-soul nature. Then the higher forms of cognition appear: imagination, inspiration, intuition. I would say that imagination, inspiration, and intuition are described in my book The Secret Science in Outline and in my work How to Know Higher Worlds. But you can easily imagine that, precisely when we have this division of the senses before us, we can arrive at a special characterization of what perception of the higher worlds is. We penetrate out of ourselves. What boundary do we cross there? When we remain within ourselves, when we are stuck within ourselves, then the senses are our boundaries; when we penetrate out of ourselves, then we penetrate outward through the senses. It is quite natural, I would say, that when our spiritual-soul life leaves the physical shell, it penetrates outward through the senses. We thus come to the outside world through the outer senses, through the sense of taste, the sense of sight, the sense of warmth, the sense of hearing, the sense of speech, the sense of thought, and the sense of I. We will see later where we arrive when we penetrate inward through the other boundary, where the senses open inward. So we penetrate outward through the senses by leaving our physical boundaries, as it were, with our spiritual-soul life. For example, we pass through the sense of sight outward: that is, we penetrate outward with our spiritual-soul life by leaving our organs of sight behind. By moving in the world, seeing with the soul's eye but leaving the physical eyes behind, when we leave our physicality through the eye, we enter the region where imagination reigns (see drawing on page 48).
And when we are truly able, through initiation, to penetrate the spiritual world through the eye, then we receive pure imaginations, imaginations which, I would say, are images, just as the rainbow is an image, pure image imaginations, weaving and living in the soul-spiritual realm. The images still appear tinged with the last remnants of material existence when we penetrate outward through the organ of taste. So we can say that when we penetrate outward through the organ of taste, the imaginations are tinged, literally dabbed with materiality. We do not receive pure, ethereal images as in the rainbow, but something tinged, containing in the image, as it were, a last remnant of the material: we receive ghosts, real ghosts, when we leave the physical body through the sense of taste. If we leave the physical body through the sense of warmth, we also receive tinged images. The images, which are otherwise pure, I would say like the rainbow, then appear in such a way that they affect us emotionally in a certain way. This is what constitutes their tinging. In the taste organ, the image is condensed, as it were, into something ghostly. But when we go outward through the sense of warmth, we also receive imaginations, but imaginations that have a spiritual effect, that are sympathetic or antipathetic, that are spiritually warm or cold. So the images do not appear in the same calm way as the others, but they appear warm or cold, but spiritually warm or cold.
When we now leave our body through our ears, through our sense of hearing, we enter the spiritual-soul world and experience inspiration. So here before (in the drawing) we experience imaginations tinged with something that affects the soul; when we leave our body through our sense of hearing, we enter the realm of inspiration. Whereas these senses usually go more outward, what comes over from the sense of warmth to the sense of hearing when we leave the body now penetrates more into our soul-spiritual interior. For inspirations belong more to the soul-spiritual interior than imaginations; we are more deeply moved, not only emotionally, but we feel permeated with inspirations, just as we feel physically permeated with the air we have breathed in, so we feel spiritually permeated with the inspirations into whose realm we enter when we leave our body through the sense of hearing.
When we leave our body through the sense of words, through the sense of language, the inspirations are again tinged. It is particularly important to become acquainted with the organ that is just as real in the physical organization as the sense of hearing is when one first acquires a feeling for what the sense of language is. When we leave the physical body with the spiritual-soul through this organ, inspiration is tinged with inner experience, with feeling at one with the foreign being.
When we leave our body through the sense of thought, we enter the realm of intuition. And when we leave our body through the sense of self, our intuitions are tinged with the essence of the spiritual world outside.
Thus, as soon as we leave the body with our spiritual-soul life, we penetrate more and more into the essence of the spiritual outer world, and we can always point to how what surrounds us is actually the spiritual world. But human beings are, in a sense, pushed out of the spiritual world. They only perceive what lies beyond the senses when they leave the body through their spiritual-soul life. But it expresses itself through the senses: intuitions appear to us through the sense of the I and the sense of thinking, but only as impressions; inspirations appear through the sense of the word and the sense of hearing, but again only as impressions; imaginations appear through the sense of warmth and the sense of sight, and a little through the sense of taste, but muted, taken in, transformed into the sensual. Schematically, one could draw this as follows: at the boundary is the perception of the sensory world (see drawing, red); if one goes beyond this with the spiritual-soul, one enters the spiritual world (see drawing, yellow) through imagination, inspiration, and intuition. And that which is to be imagined, inspired, intuited, is out there. But as it penetrates us, it becomes our sensory world. You see: atoms are not out there, as materialists imagine, but out there is the world of the imaginative, the inspired, the intuitive. And as this world acts upon us, impressions of it arise in our external sensory perceptions. From this you can see that when we penetrate outward through our skin, which surrounds the sense organs, but in the various directions in which the senses work, we then enter the objective spiritual world. There we penetrate into the outer world through the senses, which we have recognized as opening outward.
You see, then, that when human beings penetrate the outer world through their senses, when they cross the threshold, which, as you can see, is very close, toward the outer world, they enter the objective spiritual-soul world. This is what we try to achieve through spiritual science: to penetrate into this objective spiritual-soul world. We attain something higher by penetrating through our outer senses into that which is veiled from us within the sensory world.
What happens when we penetrate into our inner being through the inner senses, the sense of life, the sense of movement, the sense of balance, the sense of touch, the sense of smell, when we penetrate into ourselves through these inner senses in the same way that we penetrate into the outside world through the outer senses? The situation is completely different. Let us write down these inner senses again: Sense of smell, sense of touch, sense of balance, sense of movement, sense of life. What is actually going on within us is not perceived there. In ordinary life, we do not actually perceive what is going on in the realm of these senses; it remains subconscious. What we perceive through these senses in ordinary life has already been radiated into the soul.
You see, if this is the outer spiritual world of imagination, inspiration, and intuition (see drawing on p. 54, red), then it radiates, as it were, onto our senses, and through the senses the sensory world is presented to us, is created. So the outer spiritual world is pushed in one step. But what surrounds these senses, and what stirs below in physicality (orange), is not perceived directly. Just as we do not perceive the objective external spiritual world directly, but only in its intrusion into our senses, so we do not perceive directly what stirs in our body, but only its intrusion into the soul. One perceives, so to speak, the soul effects of these inner senses. You do not perceive the processes that are the processes of life, but you perceive from the meaning of life (see drawing on page 48) what feeling is of what you do not perceive when you sleep, what you perceive as inner comfort when you are awake, as the feeling of being comfortable throughout, which is only disturbed when something hurts inside you. There is the meaning of life, which otherwise shines forth as comfort, in such a way that it is disturbed, just as an external sense is disturbed when, for example, one hears poorly. But on the whole, in healthy people, the meaning of life is lived out as comfort. That feeling of being permeated by comfort, heightened after a spicy meal, somewhat diminished when hungry, that general inner feeling of well-being, is the effect of the meaning of life shining into the soul.
The sense of movement (see drawing on page 48), that which goes on within us when we perceive, through the shortening and lengthening of our muscles, whether we are walking or standing, jumping or dancing, in other words, through which we perceive whether and how we are in motion, radiates into the soul and gives us that feeling of freedom which allows us to feel ourselves as souls: the feeling of one's own free soul. That you feel yourself to be a free soul is the radiance of the sense of movement, it is the radiation of the shortening and lengthening of the muscles into your soul, just as inner comfort or discomfort is the radiation of the results, the experiences of the meaning of life into your soul.
When the sense of balance radiates into the soul, we already detach this soul very strongly. Just think how little we are interested in actually feeling that we are placed in the world in a state of balance — unless we have fainted, we know nothing about it. How do we perceive the experiences of the sense of balance shining into our soul? This is entirely spiritual: we perceive it as inner peace, as that inner peace which means that when I walk from here to there, I do not leave behind the person who is in my body, but take them with me; they remain calmly the same. And so I could fly through the air and remain the same. This is what makes us appear independent of time. I do not leave myself behind today, but I am the same tomorrow. This independence from physicality is the radiation of the sense of equilibrium into the soul. It is the feeling of being spirit.
We perceive the inner processes of the sense of touch even less. We project them entirely outward. We feel whether bodies are hard or soft, rough or smooth, silky or woolly; we project the experiences of the sense of touch entirely into external space. Actually, what we have in the sense of touch is an inner experience, but what goes on inside remains completely in the unconscious. Only a shadow of this is present in the properties of the sense of touch that we attribute to bodies. But the organ of the sense of touch is what makes us feel objects as silky or woolly, hard or soft, rough or smooth. This also radiates inward, into the soul; but human beings do not notice the connection between their soul experience and what the external sense of touch perceives, because there is a great differentiation between what radiates inward and what is experienced outwardly. But what radiates inward is nothing other than being permeated with the feeling of God. If humans did not have a sense of touch, they would not have a sense of God. What is felt in the sense of touch as roughness and smoothness, hardness and softness, is what radiates outward; what is reflected back in the soul's appearance is the permeation with the general world substance, the permeation with being as such. We ascertain the existence of the external world precisely through the sense of touch. When we see something, we do not yet believe that it also exists in space; we convince ourselves that it exists in space when the sense of touch can perceive it. That which permeates all things, which also penetrates into us, which holds and carries you all, this all-pervading divine substance comes into consciousness and, reflected inward, is the experience of the sense of touch.
The sense of smell: you are familiar with its outward projection. But when the sense of smell projects its experiences inward, human beings are no longer aware of how these inner experiences coincide with the outer experiences. When a person smells something, it is the outward projection of their sense of smell; they project the images outward. But this effect is also projected inward. People are less aware of this than of the outward effect. Some people like to smell pleasant things, observing the outward projection of their sense of smell. But there are also people who surrender themselves to what the effect of the sense of smell has on the inner being, which not only permeates the human being like the feeling of God, but also settles so deeply within the human being that he experiences it as a mystical oneness with God.
5. Sense of smell = mystical oneness with God
4. Sense of touch = being permeated with the feeling of God
3. Sense of balance = inner peace, feeling like a spirit
2. Sense of movement = feeling one's own free soul
1. Sense of life = comfort
You see, when you see things as they really are in the world, you have to free yourself from many sentimental prejudices. For some people will have very strange feelings when they want to be mystics and then learn what this mystical experience actually is in relation to the sensory world: it is the experience of the sense of smell shining into the inner soul.
There is no need to be alarmed by such things, for we also form our sensations only in the external, conventional world of appearances, in Maya. And why, if one does not immediately regard the sense of smell as something of the highest order, should one maintain this Maya judgment about the sense of smell? Why should we not be able to view this sense of smell in its higher aspect, where it becomes the creator of man's inner experiences? Yes, mystics are sometimes terrible materialists; they condemn matter, they want to rise above matter because matter is something so low, and they rise above matter by complacently indulging in the effects of the sense of smell within themselves.
Those who have a finer receptivity and sensitivity for such things will find it particularly appealing when outspoken mystics of a sympathetic nature, such as Mechthild of Magdeburg, Saint Teresa, or John of the Cross, describe their inner experiences—and such personalities describe them very vividly—and “smell” things in the special nature of their experiences. Mysticism, even in Meister Eckhart or Johannes Tauler, is just as good, indeed more adequate, to smell than to suck in with lust through the soul's sensations. If, for example, one takes the description of the mystical experiences of Saint Teresa or Mechthild of Magdeburg, one has a sweet smell inside oneself if one understands things occultly. If you take the mysticism of Tauler or Meister Eckhart, you get something like the smell of rue, a tart but not unpleasant smell.
In short, the peculiar, striking thing that strikes you is that when you remove yourself from the outside world through your senses, you enter a higher world, an objectively spiritual world. When one descends through mysticism, through being imbued with the feeling of God, through the inner peace of feeling oneself as spirit, through feeling oneself spiritually free, through inner comfort: then one enters into physicality, into materiality, which I have already indicated to you in these reflections. In inner experience, majahically speaking, one always enters regions lower than those one already has in ordinary life. When you rise above the senses externally, you enter higher regions. From this you can also see how important it is not to give in to illusions about these things, above all not to give in to the illusion that you are entering a special spirituality when you descend into your inner being through mystical empathy with the divine. No, one only descends into the radiations of one's own nose. And those mystics who are most loved give us, through their descriptions, what they feel within themselves through the radiations of their nose continuing inward.
You see: when one speaks from beyond the threshold, when one speaks from the spiritual world about the affairs of this world, one must use completely different words than those which people imagine from this physical world. This should not really surprise you, because you cannot expect the spiritual world beyond the threshold to be a mere duplicate of this physical world here. You can only experience such duplicates if you read the descriptions of the higher world in the esoteric teachings of Islam, or if you read the descriptions of Devachan by Mr. Leadbeater. There you have, only slightly altered, but basically duplicates of this world. This is very comforting to people. Especially those who lead a certain salon life in fine clothes and with otherwise sufficient satisfaction of their desires here in the physical world, one can easily find that they also enter that Devachan salon after their death, where they can then stay in a similar way to the salons here, as Mr. Leadbeater describes to them. Those who have to describe the truths of the spiritual worlds are not in this comfortable position. They must tell you that being imbued with the feeling of God leads to the projection of the sense of smell inward, and that the mystic actually reveals nothing to the real occultist except how he smells inside himself. There is no opportunity for sentimentality when one truly contemplates the world from the spiritual side. I have often mentioned that when one truly penetrates into the spiritual world, seriousness begins to such an extent that all things must be given different words than they have here, and that the words themselves take on completely opposite meanings. To penetrate the spiritual world does not mean merely describing the ghosts of the world here, but one must be prepared to experience much that is the opposite of the physical world here, and above all the opposite of what is pleasant.
I wanted to present this point of view to you today in order to give you a more general feeling of what is really necessary in our time. When one listens to what is coming from the West today—in the East, and the further east one goes, it is something else—when a thought is expressed in Western form, one often says: one cannot express oneself like that in French, one cannot express oneself like that in English. The further west one goes, the more one finds this judgment. But what does this judgment mean other than clinging to the physical, already being frozen in the physical in relation to the real world? What do words matter? What matters is that we communicate about things beyond words. But then one must also be able to detach words from things, and one must not only be able to detach words, but one must even be able to detach the subjective sensations acquired in the sensory world. If one regards the sense of smell as a lower sense, this is a judgment derived from the sensory world. And if one regards its inner correlate, mysticism, as higher, that is also a judgment from the sensory world. Viewed from beyond the threshold, the organization of the sense of smell is something extraordinarily significant, and mysticism is not something so great when viewed from beyond the threshold. For mysticism is entirely a product of the material, physical world; it is the way in which people who remain materialistic want to penetrate the spiritual world, seeing what is here as matter. This is too low, too materialistic for them. However, if they were to penetrate into what is out there, they would enter the spiritual world, the hierarchies. Instead, they penetrate into their inner selves, where they grope around in the full matter within their own skin! This, however, seems to them to be the higher spirit. But it is not a matter of mystically descending into our bodies through our spiritual-soul phenomena, but rather of penetrating through our material phenomena, through the phenomena of the sensory world, into the spiritual world, into the world of hierarchies, into the world of spiritual beings. Not until the world is ready to hear such sounds, not until the world is ready to hear the world spoken of in a completely different way than in the last four centuries, not until the world is ready for us to form our social judgments from such completely transformed concepts, will we arrive at impulses that will in turn lead to a new dawn. But if we want to remain in all that we have acquired, and if we want to base our social actions on it, then we will sail ever deeper into decline, and then we will descend into the decline of the Western world.
What is the basis for Oswald Spengler's judgment? It is based on the fact that he is a very brilliant man who, however, cannot think beyond the ordinary concepts of the Western world that we have today. He analyzes them. He calculates—which is entirely correct for these concepts—that with the beginning of the third millennium, barbarism will have replaced our civilization. When you talk to him about anthroposophy, he turns red because he can't stand it. If he understood what anthroposophy can bring to humanity, how it can enliven people, then he would see that it is the only thing that can avert decline, that it is the only thing that can lead to an ascent.