The Shaping of the Human Form out of Cosmic and Earthly Forces
GA 202
26 November 1920, Dornach
Translated by Charles Davy
I have often spoken of how man's bodily form is an expression of the course of his entire life. Anyone who understands the human head in the right way can recognise that the special moulding, the special formation of the head is connected with former lives which have been passed through by the human being before he descended to his present life on Earth. And when we consider the limb-organisation, extending it—naturally to cover the organs associated with the limbs, then we have something which, after certain metamorphoses, will underlie the formation beyond death of the future human head. At the same time, however, the human form points to man's connection with the Cosmos. As the human being stands before us today, we can certainly say that the particular formation of his head is a metamorphosis of his previous limb-formation. But the fact of his having any such formation of the head as the one he carries around is the result of his cosmic experiences before he set foot on the Earth. In essentials, the head-formation is an outcome of the Saturn, Sun and Moon evolutions; whereas the limb-man is a starting-point for the Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan evolutions. It is only the breast-man, embracing all that belongs to the present rhythmical system, who is the real man of the Earth. Thus we can say: What we have before us in the human head is formed out of the three preceding planetary embodiments of the Earth; and the starting-point for its subsequent embodiments is all that underlies man's limbs today. As a man goes through life between death and rebirth, he is repeating spiritually his experiences during the ages of Saturn, Sun, Moon. He takes his organism back from its earthly form to what it was as Saturn organism, Sun organism, Moon organism. Similarly; his limb-organism, as fashioned on Earth, will be further organised physically, will go through reorganisation, during the embodiments of Earth as Jupiter, Venus, Vulcan.
These things have, therefore, a human earthly aspect and also a cosmic one. Hence we can study the formation of the human head while keeping in mind the relation of man's essential being to the Cosmos. Now what came about during the Saturn-evolution and the Sun-evolution is certainly rather remote from our study of man; and so we are less able to form an opinion of it from our earthly point of view. On the other hand we can form a vivid idea of what took place during the old Moon-evolution, for this is to a certain extent repeated in the interaction between the Earth and the present Moon, and we can therefore study the human head in relation to that. We then come to certain secrets concerning the formation of the human organism.
Let us imagine—in the form of a diagram—a man standing on the Earth; he is thus not in the centre of the Earth but distant from it by the length of the Earth's radius. And if we draw the human head diagrammatically we can say: As the Moon moves round the Earth, it moves also round man's head. Naturally this is expressed diagrammatically and not in the correct proportions.
Now let us assume the Moon, as full Moon, to be here; then the light it is always said to reflect from the Sun will stream to the man. In this way the light of the Sun has an effect upon the man—and when I speak here of the ‘man’ I am always referring to the human head. On the opposite side we have the new Moon, and no light then reaches the man, who on this side is, as it were, left to himself. Less demand is made upon him by the stimulation of the light from outside; hence he is left more to his own inner development. And if you put the first quarter here and the last quarter there—the waxing Moon and the waning Moon—then from these two directions less stimulation is exercised by the light upon the man than from the direction of the full Moon and more than from that of the new Moon. Moreover in its course round the Earth the Moon travels through the Zodiac. Because of this the light is modified in a certain way—I might perhaps say differentiated, for the moonlight becomes different according to whether it comes from a position behind which there is, for example, the Ram, or from one behind which the Virgin stands. The moonlight is therefore differentiated in accordance with the sign of the Zodiac through which the Moon is passing.
Now imagine the diagram in relation to a relevant point in human development: imagine, that is, that through some course of events there establishes itself in the mother's body the spirit-germ of a human being, coming straight from his development between death and rebirth. During this time the Moon is working on the embryo. Then, you have, as a result of the Moon working in from the Cosmos—in connection naturally with other cosmic bodies—the configuration of the human head in the body of the mother. The configuration of the human head is altogether the work of the Moon.
Perhaps you will say, quite rightly : But surely we have not to assume that it is always the full Moon which sheds its rays on eyes or nose, and that the back of the head, which should depend on inner development and not on the external world, is always exposed to the influence of the new Moon? It is true that this is not unconditionally so. In essentials, however, the full Moon is active on some part of the face, whereas the activity of the new Moon is concentrated on the back of the head. In the body of the mother, too, the child has a special position in relation to the Cosmos. According to how the Moon sheds its rays more or less obliquely on that part of the embryo destined to become the face, the human being will have certain of those gifts bestowed upon him which depend upon the head. He will have different gifts, physically, if the bright moonlight sheds its beams on his mouth rather than upon his eyes. This is connected with a person's talents, in so far as they depend on the Cosmos. But the essential thing to be borne in mind today is that during the embryonic development of the human being the chief influences proceeding from the Moon are those that give form to the human ovum, starting with the formation of the head. For in the human being the head is the first thing to take shape. This is brought about by the Moon—that is, by the movement and activity remaining over from the old Moon and from the other previous embodiments of the Earth. You see here how the head is cosmically connected with the external world; how during the development of the embryo the human being is caught up in that cosmic condition to which the tone is given essentially by the Moon and its activity. This comes about through the movement made by the Moon, through the encirclement of the head by the Moon, which occurs ten times during the human being's embryonic development. Thus the Moon first passes by and works upon the formation of the human face—leaving it then in peace to continue its growing. During this period the Moon retires. When the formation of the face has been in abeyance for some time, the Moon re-appears and gives it a fresh impetus. It does this ten times. And during these ten lunar months the human head is formed rhythmically out of the Cosmos. Thus the human being waits for ten times twenty-eight days in the mother's body, under the influence of cosmic forces mediated through the moon.
Now what really happens here? As a being of soul and spirit a man descends to the personality he has chosen out of the whole Cosmos to be his mother. And from that time the Moon takes over the formation of his head. Were he to remain within the mother's body for twelve lunar months, a quite self-enclosed, circular formation would result. But he remains there for only ten lunar months. Hence something of his development is left incomplete, and after birth all that works in out of the Cosmos is occupied with this. Thus, before birth, ten-twelfths of the cosmic forces work upon the forming of the human head, the remaining two-twelfths being left over for the formative work which continues outside the mother's body—though it actually begins during the embryonic period. In addition to the cosmic forces there are others, and these come from the Earth itself: they do not work on the head but on the limb-system.
If you imagine this, here, to be the Earth (diagram above) and this to be a diagram of man's limb-system, then the forces which in the limbs continue their activity inwardly are essentially earthly, telluric. Into arms and hands, in legs and feet, there play forces of the Earth, and this process, continued inwardly, becomes metabolism. But this inward metabolism is outwardly an interchange of forces. When you move your arm or your leg the movement is not simple; it has to do with the forces of the Earth. When you move your legs in walking you have always to overcome the force of gravity, and what happens results from the interplay between these forces of gravity and the forces working inwardly.
Whereas in metabolism these inward forces enter into interplay with the chemical properties of the Earth-substance, there is an interchange between the forces in arms and legs and the forces of the Earth. These activities are connected with temporal conditions different from those prevailing in the mother's womb. In the mother's body we have ten times twenty-eight days—that is, ten moons or 280 days.
Here we have to do essentially with the course of the day. Where the development of the limb-man is concerned we have to do with the course of the year. We see also how in their earliest stage the human limbs are developed with a continually decreasing rapidity. A man needs actually twenty-eight years for their full development, though this is certainly not so evident during the final seven years as it is up to the age of twenty-one. He needs twenty-eight years to develop his limb-system outside his mother's body, though it is within the mother's body that the development begins.
Just as the man of head is connected with the past and is able to come into being because the relation of the Moon to the Earth recapitulates the past evolutions of Saturn, Sun, Moon, so is the limb-man connected with the Earth, but actually with the preparation for the transformations of Earth into Jupiter, Venus, Vulcan. Hence a human being cannot form his head directly on the Earth, for over this the Earth has no power. It is only because he brings with him the forces from before birth, before conception, and is then sheltered within the mother's body from his earthly environment, with the Cosmos working upon him by way of the Moon—only because of all this can the head come into being as a higher metamorphosis of the limb-man of the previous incarnation. The man of the limb-system, arising as he does under the influence of the Earth, cannot come to completion; he can do nothing for the head. During Earth-evolution he is incapable of what he will be able to do during the Venus-evolution. Just as the stag casts his antlers, the human being will then dispense with his head, and out of the rest of himself develop a different one—certainly an enviable lot for the Venus-man! But this is what actually appears to spiritual vision as the future condition of the human being. Things that are part of reality appear grotesque compared with those having earthly limitations, but reality far outstrips what is accessible to our narrow earthly understanding. We must face the fact that our earthly power of observation gives us merely part of reality, and that when we observe only earthly conditions we really know nothing of the human being.
Thus in man we have a cosmic being who, it is true, is formed for the main part in the body of the mother; and we have an Earth-being who is formed, configured, differentiated, under the influence of earthly conditions, while the Sun apparently takes its course round the Earth, passing the constellations of the Zodiac on its way. Hence you will recognise in the human being two contrasting conditions, one of a cosmic nature, the other earthly. The cosmic nature works in such a way that the human being would receive from the Cosmos a head that was perfectly round. The face is formed by the sunlight shining upon it by way of the Moon, and when the Sun turns its light away, the basis for the back of the head is created. The spherical form that would have been imparted by the Cosmos is differentiated. Were the kindly Moon not there to give shape to the human head, a human being would be born as an undifferentiated sphere. On the other hand, because the mother is on the Earth, the Earth itself has its effect. The reason why the human being as embryo does not develop only a head is that the Earth is already at work during the time when the head is being given its form. Were he to be subject to the working of the Earth alone, however, and the Cosmos were to have no effect, he would be just a pillar. The human being is at the mercy of these two tendencies—either of being made a pillar, a radius, by the Earth, or of receiving a spherical form from the Cosmos. Circle and radius actually underlie the forming of a human being. The fact that he is not a pillar, that he is not born with feet joined together, with hands joined together, is due to the course of the year being involved, due to winter and summer working in spiritually, indicating the various cosmic relations between the Earth and its surroundings. The difference between winter and summer is like the difference between the new Moon and the full. Just as new Moon and full Moon, in their different ways, determine the nature of the face and of the back of the head, so do those cosmic forces coming to expression in winter and summer, spring and autumn, determine the configuration of our limb-system, so that we have two legs and are not just a pillar. In order that in our head we should not be entirely cosmic, but cosmic toned down by the earthly, and in order that our limb-system should not be entirely of the Earth but something earthly moderated by the cosmic, the yearly course of the Earth is cosmically conditioned. We have therefore a cosmic nature influenced by the earthly and an earthly nature cosmically influenced. Were we not in our cosmic being influenced by the earthly, as man we should be a round ball; were we not, as man of the limb-system, as earthly man, influenced by the Cosmos, we should be a pillar. This combined working of cosmic and earthly is expressed in our human form. No-one understands the human form who has no wish to take into consideration the interplay of Earth and Cosmos. It is wonderful how the human being is an expression of the whole world; an expression of the world of the stars in his form, which is at the same time an image of those forces that stream from the Earth and have a conditioning effect upon him. Imagine man's earthly nature without this cosmic influence: we do not carry this earthly nature within us but it works in us. As a basic influence it streams from the centre-point of the Earth, sending its forces from there. That which makes its appearance in our human strength, working there also as will, has from ancient times been called by a word that might be rendered as ‘strength’ or ‘force’.
The formative influence from the Cosmos, which we have to picture through in the circle underlying especially the form of our head, works in our head without coming to full expression because of being toned down by the earthly element: and this from olden days has been called ‘beauty’. So we see that taken as a whole the influences at work in a human being have a value transcending both the physical and the moral, for they have a value which embraces both. The strength that comes from the Earth and works in us as muscular force is physical and moral at the same time. The beauty shining around us, the beauty underlying our head, appears in our head as the beauty of thoughts, and this, too, is related to both the physical and the moral.
Between these—between, that is, what we are as earthly beings toned down by the Cosmos and what we are as cosmic beings toned down by the earthly—there is the trunk-man. What is this trunk- or torso-man? He is essentially the rhythmic man who causes the cosmic to swing down continually towards the earthly and the earthly to swing up towards the cosmic. We have circling round in us a continuous stream from the limb-system and this finds its way to the head through the breathing, while a stream from the head makes its way through the breathing to the limb system. So that there is always this wave movement, this surging to and fro between limb-system and head. It is brought about by our rhythmic system, working through the heart and lungs and the circulation of the blood. How then does the circulation arise? It comes from the interplay between straight line and circle, receiving its form from the Zodiac and the planets. A force proceeding from the head tends to send the blood round a circular path, while a force from the limb-system tends to keep it in a straight line. From the interaction of these two forces there arises in us, under the impetus of breathing, the particular course followed by the blood. This rhythmical system is the mediator between the cosmic and the earthly in man, so that through it is woven a connecting link in him between the cosmic, or the beautiful, and the strength that is of the Earth. The link thus woven in the trunk-man, understood in terms of soul and spirit, has from ancient times been given the name of ‘wisdom’.
The beauty of the Cosmos projected into the human being is the wisdom living in his thoughts. But the moral force coming from the strength of the Earth by way of heart and soul becomes moral wisdom. In man's rhythmical system, earthly wisdom and cosmic wisdom meet. Man is an expression of the whole Cosmos, and where there is the will to understand this configuration, it can be understood. In so far as man is formed out of cosmic mysteries, he is able to see into them, and can even perceive a certain connection with them in earthly life itself. Consider the cosmic beauty that works into a man by way of his head: there you have the feminine contribution; and you have the male contribution in the force that appears in a man's earthly strength. You are then able to say: In the act of fructification a union is consummated between the cosmic and the terrestrial. There can be no understanding of the nature of man's task on Earth unless we perceive the particular way in which he is formed. For then indeed we see that the head has its form because the earthly forces are at first unable to work on the human being; you see that he brings his pre-natal being into the realm of Earth and that in the mother's body an extra-terrestrial influence works formatively upon him by way of the Moon. Strength or force works from the Earth and forms the limb-system without being able to bring it to completion, so that the limb-system has to pass through death. For the forces in the limb-system have to be spiritualised, imbued with soul. Beyond the Earth, accordingly, between death and a new birth, they develop further by taking on, in soul-spiritual terms, the form of the head. It is only with the help of the Jupiter and Venus forces the head can arise out of the limb-system in this way. Earthly forces are not the determining factor in a man from birth to death. Those that worked previously on Saturn, Sun, Moon have by then become spiritual, and must be developed spiritually between death and rebirth; and that which lies beyond death has to be spiritualised also—then the future can grow out of the past, then man's limb-organisation can become head. We may therefore say : A man dies so that in the spiritual world he can become able to bring to expression the form which, partly toned down by the earthly, can be expressed by virtue of having gone through the conditions of Saturn, Sun and Moon. Here on Earth a man can experience as his limb-system only the earthly nature developed through his rhythmical system. But in his limb-system he is forming the future. This cannot be completed; he has to die and become head again, and the form of his head is prepared at first in pre-earthly spheres. Thus the form of a human being is connected with repeated earth-lives. Because physically he is born as a being who has acquired his form during the conditions on Saturn, Sun and Moon; because he receives from the spiritual world his tendency to express in spherical form his experiences on Saturn, Sun and Moon, his head on Earth—since it is not of the Earth—is continually giving him over to death.
These things which find expression in a man's repeated lives on Earth are intimately connected with cosmic evolution. It is not true that the things we have touched upon today, and shall be going into further tomorrow and the day after, are beyond human understanding. Human beings can understand them, but they have to be investigated through Spiritual Science. Everyone who gives free play to the sound development of thought can understand them. Yet one is always hearing that there can be no immediate understanding of spiritual-scientific matters. if anyone says: ‘These things have been told to me by a spiritual investigator, but I cannot look into them for myself’, it is just as if it were complained that after matriculating a boy could not cope with the differential calculus.—Everyone can learn what Spiritual Science has to say, just as anyone can learn in principle to apply the differential calculus—though the latter is more difficult than the former. It is not true that because we are not clairvoyant we cannot understand these matters. Just as we have no need for clairvoyance to use the differential calculus, we have no need of it to see into the cosmic connection with the external world. We have only to bring sound concepts to bear. The matter is even the reverse of what is so often said. Someone, for; example, may say: One man has a certain conception of the world, another takes a different view : how can one know which is right?—If you are consistent, if you follow up everything, taking note of what has been said, you will find that only one conception is possible. You cannot argue about beauty, wisdom, strength, and what they mean. For each has only one meaning. The fact that the formation of our head has a peripheral character, and that in the rest of us the element of strength is present in radial form these things always have the same meaning. There is nothing here to be discussed, the facts are quite clear. The difficulty in spreading Spiritual Science lies in this—that today here and there some society may organise lectures on Anthroposophy, or perhaps on its social aspect, the Threefold Commonwealth, and people go to hear the lectures, afterwards attending others and still others—without any desire to come to a definite inner decision. They take the content of Spiritual Science as something on a par with that of other movements. But with Spiritual Science this cannot be done though it may be done with other world-conceptions, one being rather better, another worse. They all get a hearing; people, as it were, nibble at them. But that won't do where Spiritual Science is concerned; there one has to make up one's mind, for it goes to the root of things. There is need for that strenuous exertion of the will which leads to decisions; which avoids distractions and is determined to get down to fundamentals. This will not be accomplished by veering between one world-conception and another, nibbling here, nibbling there. Spiritual Science calls for energy and thoroughness and therefore has against it the spirit of the times, all the slovenliness and weakness of the times. It demands a strength and clarity of spirit for which people today have no liking; they find it disturbing, uncongenial. In primeval days men came to these things with instinctive knowledge; and the old documents—which our scholars study without understanding them—are full of indications that their wisdom embraced something like these relationships between man and the Cosmos. Then this faded away. Humanity relapsed into chaos. But from this chaos man must rescue himself through his own will-forces; out of this chaos he must consciously re-discover his connection with the Cosmos—and he can do it. At the beginning of this lecture I told you how the head cannot be understood if its cosmic origin is not taken into account; nor can the limb-man be understood unless his earthly formation is considered. Both find their balance in the breast-man, the rhythmical organisation, which is continually trying to make the straight circular and the circle into a straight line. When you look at the bloodstream you have the straight, and the tendency to make a straight line of the circle, too; how the course of the blood arises depends on the movement of the stars, and so on. The form is connected with the constellations, the movement with the movement of the planets. This has been referred to from other points of view. Now what happens to the human heart and soul when knowledge of this kind is absorbed? We are bound to say that for those who take it in the right way it becomes as clearly evident as the truths of mathematics. These are certainly evident though the higher truths will not be evident to a fifteen-year old boy; and it is the same with the things we have been discussing.
On the other hand these things can have a decisive influence on our feeling and perceiving. Out of this wisdom there arises a feeling for the divine. It is only a knowledge that keeps to the surface of things which can be irreligious, not a knowledge that goes into them deeply. If we look once more at man's connection with the Cosmos, in the starry heavens above all we see beauty as an expression of spiritual entity, and then we become able to imprint the beauty of things on our art. Then in art there will not be merely external nature as seen by the senses, but with this deeply penetrating knowledge we shall in fact reach what Spiritual Science is. And we shall then appreciate something I said in the introductory lecture to this course—how here at the Goetheanum the unity of science, art and religion is sought. What is said by the one from whom the Goetheanum has its name?
He who has art and science too
Will never lack religion;
But he who does not have them both
Then let him have religion!
That means: Let him have the religion that comes from without; but anyone who possesses the essentials of science and art has religion from within—that is Goethe's conviction.
He who has art and science too
Will never lack religion—
hence those who are striving, in the way referred to, for the unity of religion, art and science, do well to call their Building the ‘Goetheanum’. But to comprehend what has arisen here on this foundation is apparently no task for the superficiality of the age, which looks condescendingly on everything and merely nibbles at one thing after another. Spiritual Science calls for decisions—for decisions that are necessary because the spirit of this science has the will to penetrate into the depths of the world. This must be grasped, too, out of the depths of the human heart.
Erster Vortrag
[ 1 ] Ich habe oft davon gesprochen, wie sich bereits in der menschlichen Gestalt der menschliche Gesamtlebensvorgang ausdrückt. Wer das Haupt, den Kopf des Menschen in der richtigen Weise verstehen kann, der kann erkennen, wie die besondere Bildung, die besondere Gestaltung des Kopfes ein Ergebnis ist von früheren Lebenszusammenhängen, die der Mensch durchgemacht hat, bevor er zu dem gegenwärtigen Erdendasein herabgestiegen ist. Und wenn man ins Auge faßt, was die Gliedmaßenorganisation des Menschen ist, selbstverständlich diese Gliedmaßenorganisation räumlich nach innen fortgesetzt in diejenigen Organe hinein, mit denen die Gliedmaßen örtlich zusammenhängen, dann hat man in dieser Organisation dasjenige, was nach gewissen Metamorphosen, nach gewissen Umbildungen zugrunde liegen wird dem, was menschliche Hauptesbildung sein wird in der Zukunft, die über den Tod hinausliegt. Damit ist aber zu gleicher Zeit auf einen kosmischen Zusammenhang des Menschen hingewiesen. So wie wir den Menschen gegenwärtig vor uns haben, können wir allerdings sagen, daß seine besondere Hauptgestaltung, seine Kopfgestaltung eine Metamorphose ist seiner früheren Gliedmaßenleibgestaltung; aber daß der Mensch überhaupt eine solche Hauptesgestaltung hat, wie er sie eben an sich trägt, das rührt von dem her, was der Mensch kosmisch durchgemacht hat, bevor er die irdische Welt betreten hat. Die Kopfgestaltung, sie ist im wesentlichen ein Ergebnis der Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondentwickelung, und dasjenige, was Gliedmaßenmensch ist, ist wiederum der Ausgangspunkt für Jupiter-, Venus- und VulkanentwickeJung. Nur das, was der Brustmensch ist, was im Wesen des gegenwärtigen rhythmischen Systems liegt, ist eigentlich Erdenmensch. So daß wir folgendes sagen können: Was wir im menschlichen Kopf zunächst vor uns haben, das ist herausgebildet aus den drei vorhergehenden, der Erde vorangehenden planetarischen Verkörperungen. Was den heutigen Gliedmaßen zugrunde liegt, ist Ausgangspunkt für die folgenden planetarischen Verkörperungen der Erde. Und indem der Mensch durchgeht durch das Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt, macht er in einer gewissen Weise wiederum auf geistige Art durch, was er während der Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenzeit durchgemacht hat. Er bildet seinen Erdorganismus zurück zu dem Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondorganismus. Und ebenso wird dasjenige, was auf der Erde als Gliedmaßenorganismus ausgebildet wird, weiter ins Physische hineinorganisiert, umorganisiert während der Jupiter-, Venus und Vulkanverkörperung der Erde.
[ 2 ] Diese Dinge haben also einen menschlich-irdischen Aspekt und einen kosmischen Aspekt. Wir können daher auch die menschliche Hauptesbildung so betrachten, daß wir die Beziehung der menschlichen Wesenheit zum Kosmos ins Auge fassen. Nun liegt allerdings der menschlichen Betrachtung zunächst etwas ferner, was sich während der Saturn- und Sonnenentwickelung zugetragen hat. Es ist dies, was sich da zugetragen hat, weniger noch von irdischem Gesichtspunkte aus zu beurteilen. Dagegen intensiv beurteilen kann man dasjenige, was sich während der alten Mondenentwickelung abgespielt hat, denn das wiederholt sich in einer gewissen Beziehung in den Tatsachen, die sich abspielen zwischen der Erde und dem Monde, dem gegenwärtigen Monde. Daher kann man auch die Beziehung des menschlichen Hauptes zu dem studieren, was sich abspielt zwischen der Erde und dem Monde. Und man kommt auf gewisse Geheimnisse der Menschenbildung dadurch, daß man diese Tatsachen ins Auge faßt. Das kann auf folgende Art geschehen.
[ 3 ] Denken Sie sich einmal schematisch, der Mensch steht auf der Erde; also er befindet sich nicht im Mittelpunkt der Erde, sondern vom Mittelpunkt um den Erdradius entfernt. Und wenn wir dieses schematisch als das menschliche Haupt (siehe Zeichnung Seite 15) auffassen, so können wir sagen: Es bewegt sich wie um die Erde herum, so auch um das menschliche Haupt herum der Mond. Schematisch gezeichnet, selbstverständlich nicht in den Größenverhältnissen, das würde sich schlecht ausnehmen.
[ 4 ] Nehmen Sie nun einmal an, der Mond stünde hier und sei Vollmond, so strahlt das von der Sonne zurückgeworfene Licht, wie man immer sagt, dem Menschen zu. Es wirkt also das Sonnenlicht auf den Menschen. Ich bemerke, wenn ich vom Menschen spreche, meine ich jetzt immer das menschliche Haupt. Auf der entgegengesetzten Seite sei Neumond. Kein Licht trifft den Menschen; der Mensch ist gewissermaßen von dieser Seite her sich selbst überlassen. Er ist weniger in Anspruch genommen durch die äußeren Lichtreize, die auf ihn ausgeübt werden. Er ist daher mehr seiner inneren Entwickelung überlassen. Und wenn Sie hier das erste Viertel, hier das letzte Viertel setzen, zunehmender, abnehmender Mond, so haben Sie immer weniger Lichtreize von beiden Seiten her auf den Menschen ausgeübt als von seiten des Vollmondes, und mehr Reize als von seiten des Neumondes. Außerdem durchläuft ja der Mond, indem er diese Bahn um die Erde beschreibt, den Tierkreis. Dadurch wird das Licht noch in besonderer Weise bestimmt und, ich möchte sagen, differenziert; denn das Mondlicht ist ein anderes, wenn es von einem Orte kommt, hinter dem, sagen wir, der Widder steht, ein anderes, wenn es von einem Orte kommt, hinter dem die Jungfrau steht. Das Mondlicht wird als solches differenziert, je nachdem der Mond an diesem oder jenem Tierkreisbilde vorübergeht.
[ 5 ] Denken Sie sich nun, was ich hier schematisch gezeichnet habe, in der richtigen Zeitlage der menschlichen Entwickelung, das heißt, denken Sie sich, durch irgendwelche Vorgänge setze sich fest in einem mütterlichen Leibe der Geistkeim des Menschen, der zunächst herüberkommt aus der Entwickelung zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Während dieser Zeit wirkt der Mond auf den Keim. Dann haben Sie, zunächst durch die Wirkung des Mondes, natürlich im Zusammenhange mit den anderen Weltenkörpern, vom Kosmos hereinbewirkt die Konfiguration des menschlichen Kopfes im mütterlichen Leibe. Die Konfiguration des menschlichen Kopfes geschieht durchaus vom Monde her.
[ 6 ] Nun werden Sie sagen, und mit Recht: Es ist doch nicht immer anzunehmen, daß just der Vollmond sein Licht auf die Augen oder die Nase strahlt, und daß just auf den Hinterkopf, dessen innere Entwickelung sich überlassen sein soll, nicht der Außenwelt, daß da just diese Stelle dem Neumonde gegenübersteht. Gewiß, das braucht auch nicht unbedingt der Fall zu sein; im wesentlichen ist es schon so, daß irgendwo dem Antlitz gegenüber der Vollmond tätig ist, und irgendwo dem Hinterkopf gegenüber der Neumond tätig ist. Das Kind hat auch eine besondere Stellung im mütterlichen Leibe, und die ist durchaus nach dem Kosmos hin orientiert. Indem nun aber der Mond etwas mehr oder weniger, ich möchte sagen, schief strahlt nach demjenigen Teil des Keimes, der Antlitz werden soll, je nachdem wird der Mensch mit diesen oder jenen inneren Fähigkeiten, soferne diese vom Haupt abhängen, begabt werden. Er wird anders begabt, physisch begabt, wenn zum Beispiel das helle Mondlicht nach seinem Munde hinstrahlt, als wenn es nach seinen Augen hinstrahlt. Das hängt mit den menschlichen Begabungen zusammen, soferne sie vom Kosmos abhängig sind. Aber das Wesentliche, was wir heute ins Auge fassen wollen, ist, daß während der Embryonalentwickelung des Menschen die Einflüsse, die im wesentlichen von dem Monde ausgehen, dasjenige sind, was den menschlichen Keim formt, der von der Kopfesbildung ausgeht, denn das erste, was sich konfiguriert vom Menschen, ist der Kopf. Und das geht vom Monde aus, also von demjenigen, was als alte Mondenbewegung und Wirksamkeit vom alten Monde und überhaupt von den vorangehenden Verkörperungen unserer Erde zurückgeblieben ist. Da sehen Sie den kosmischen Zusammenhang des menschlichen Hauptes mit der Außenwelt. Sie sehen, wie der Mensch während der Embryonalentwickelung in diejenigen kosmischen Zusammenhänge eingespannt ist, für die im wesentlichen der Mond mit seiner Wirksamkeit den Ton angibt. Die Sache geschieht aber so, daß ja der Mond die Bewegung macht, also eigentlich das Haupt umläuft. Er umläuft es zehnmal, während der Mensch die Embryonalentwickelung durchmacht. Es ist also so, daß zunächst der Mond vorüberläuft, das menschliche Antlitz bildet, dann es in Ruhe läßt, es auswachsen läßt. Während der Zeit bewegt er sich rückwärts herum. Nachdem eine Zeitlang die Gesichtsbildung geschlafen hat, erscheint der Mond wiederum, frischt sie auf. Das macht er so zehnmal. Und während dieser zehn Mondmonate wird rhythmisch aus dem Kosmos heraus das menschliche Haupt geformt. So daß wir ein Zehnmal-achtundzwanzig-Tage-Verweilen haben des Menschen im Mutterleibe unter dem Einfluß der durch den Mond vermittelten kosmischen Kräfte.
[ 7 ] Das, was da geschieht, was ist es denn eigentlich? Nun, der Mensch kommt zunächst als geistig-seelisches Wesen bei derjenigen Persönlichkeit, die er sich aus dem Weltenall als seine Mutter wählt, an. Und nunmehr übernimmt der Mond seine Hauptesbildung. Würde der Mensch zwölf Monate im mütterlichen Leibe verweilen, zwölf Mondenmonate, so würde sich eine ganz abgeschlossene Kreisbildung ergeben. Er verweilt nicht diese zwölf Monate, sondern nur zehn Mondmonate dort. Daher bleibt noch von seiner Entwickelung etwas offen. Damit beschäftigt sich nun alles das, was einwirkt aus dem Kosmos nach der Geburt. Vor der Geburt wirken zehn Zwölftel der kosmischen Kräfte auf die menschliche Hauptesbildung, die übrigen zwei Zwölftel werden der außermütterlichen Bildung überlassen. Aber es beginnt auch schon diese außermütterliche Bildung während der Embryonalzeit. Außer den kosmischen Kräften wirken auf den Menschen noch andere Kräfte, und die gehen jetzt im wesentlichen von der Erde selbst aus. Die wirken nicht auf das Haupt, sondern die wirken auf den Gliedmaßenmenschen. Wenn Sie sich hier die Erde vorstellen und, schematisch gezeichnet, das als den Gliedmaßenmenschen, so sind dieKräfte, welche in diesen Gliedmaßen mit ihrer Fortsetzung nach innen spielen, im wesentlichen irdisch-tellurische. In den Armen und Händen, in den Beinen und Füßen spielen die Kräfte der Erde. Nach innen setzt sich dieses Spiel so fort, daß es zum Stoffwechsel wird. Aber was im Inneren Stoffwechsel ist, ist im Äußeren Kraftwechsel. Wenn Sie die Arme bewegen, wenn Sie die Beine bewegen, so ist die Bewegung nicht etwas so Einfaches, sondern das hat auch mit den Kräften der Erde zu tun. Sie haben immer, wenn Sie die Beine bewegen im Gehen, die Schwerkraft der Erde zu überwinden, und das, was entsteht, ist eine Resultierende zwischen den im Inneren spielenden Kräften und den Kräften der Schwere.
[ 8 ] Während beim Stoffwechsel das, was im Inneren des Menschen arbeitet, eben einen Wechselzustand eingeht mit den chemischen Eigenschaften der Erdsubstanz, geht das, was als Kraft in den Armen und Beinen ist, einen Kraftwechsel ein mit den Kräften der Erde. Was da ausgebildet wird, das hängt nun zusammen mit anderen Zeitverhältnissen als das, was im mütterlichen Leibe vor sich geht. Im mütterlichen Leibe haben wir zehnmal achtundzwanzig Tage, also zehn Monde. Da liegt zugrunde der Tageslauf in einer gewissen Anzahl, der Tageslauf zweihundertachtzigmal. Wir haben es im wesentlichen mit dem Tageslauf zu tun. Bei der Ausbildung des Gliedmaßenmenschen haben wir es mit dem zu tun, was wir als den Jahreslauf bezeichnen können. Daher sehen wir auch, wie die menschlichen Gliedmaßen, in der ersten Zeit der Entwickelung allerdings mitgroßer Geschwindigkeit, dann aber immer langsamer und langsamer voll ausgebildet werden. Eigentlich braucht der Mensch achtundzwanzig Jahre, wovon die letzten sieben Jahre allerdings nicht mehr so sichtbar als die bis zum einundzwanzigsten Jahre sind, um außer dem mütterlichen Leibe — aber es beginnt schon im mütterlichen Leibe — den Gliedmaßenmenschen auszubilden.
[ 9 ] So wie zusammenhängt, was Kopfmensch ist, mit der Vergangenheit und die Entwickelung jetzt stattfinden kann, weil das Verhältnis des Mondes zur Erde diese Vergangenheit von Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondentwickelung wiederholt, so hängt das, was zunächst der Gliedmaßenmensch ist, mit der Erde zusammen, aber mit dem, was eigentlich in der Erdenbildung Vorbereitung zum Jupiter-, Venus- und Vulkanzustand ist. Deshalb kann der Mensch eigentlich sein Haupt nicht so unmittelbar auf der Erde ausbilden. Die Erde ist ohnmächtig gegenüber der Bildung des menschlichen Hauptes. Nur dadurch, daß der Mensch die Kräfte sich mitbringt von vor der Geburt, vor der Empfängnis, und dann im mütterlichen Leibe beschützt wird vor der äußeren Erdenumgebung, der Kosmos durch den Mond auf ihn wirkt, dadurch kann dieser Kopf als eine höhere Metamorphose des Gliedmaßenmenschen der vorigen Inkarnation entstehen. Und der Gliedmaßenmensch, der unter dem Einfluß der Erde entsteht, kann nicht fertig werden durch die Erdbildung. Er kann es nicht zum Kopfe bringen. Der Mensch kann nicht während der Erdenentwickelung, was er können wird während der Venusentwickelung. Wie der Hirsch sein Geweih abwirft, wird er seinen Kopf verlieren; er wird aus seinem übrigen Menschen einen anderen Kopf entwickeln. Allerdings ein beneidenswerter Zustand dieses Venusmenschen! Aber es ist so, daß das etwas ist, was als zukünftiger Zustand durchaus vor dem Menschen erscheint in der geistigen Anschauung. Ja, die Dinge der Wirklichkeit nehmen sich gegenüber den beschränkten Erdendingen grotesk aus, aber das, was Wirklichkeit ist, geht über dasjenige hinaus, was dem beschränkten Erdenverstand zunächst zugänglich ist. Man muß ernst machen damit, daß man innerhalb der bloßen Erdenbeobachtung eben nur einen Teil der Wirklichkeit erhalten kann, daß man eigentlich vom Menschen nichts weiß, wenn man nur die Erdenverhältnisse beobachtet.
[ 10 ] So haben wir im Menschen ein kosmisches Wesen, das allerdings zunächst der Hauptsache nach im mütterlichen Leibe äußerlich herangebildet wird, und ein Erdenwesen, das unter dem Einfluß der Erdenverhältnisse gebildet wird, konfiguriert, differenziert wird, indem scheinbar die Sonne herumgeht um die Erde und dabei wiederum die Sternbilder des Tierkreises passiert. Wenn Sie dasjenige, was wir so besprochen haben, ins Auge fassen, haben Sie eigentlich im Menschen zwei einander entgegengesetzte Zustände: einen kosmischen Zustand, kosmische Wesenheit, und eine Erdenwesenheit. Die kosmische Wesenheit wirkt eigentlich so, daß der Mensch zunächst aus dem Kosmos heraus einen ganz runden Kopf kriegen würde. Nur dadurch, daß ihn einmal das Sonnenlicht durch den Mond anschaut, wird das Antlitz gebildet, dadurch, daß sich das Sonnenlicht abwendet, wird die Grundlage geschaffen für den Hinterkopf. Es wird differenziert, was sich kugelförmig aus dem Kosmos heraus bildet. Wenn der gute Mond nicht wäre und den menschlichen Kopf konfigurieren würde, würde der Mensch als ganz unkonfigurierte Kugel geboren werden. Und andererseits, weil die Mutter auf der Erde ist, wirkt die Erde. Daß der Mensch nicht bloß einen Kopf embryonal entwickelt, rührt davon her, daß die Erde schon während der Hauptesbildung wirkt. Aber sie wirkt so, daß der Mensch, wenn er bloß der Erde unterliegen würde, wenn nicht die kosmische Einwirkung da wäre, er eine Säule werden würde. Der Mensch ist eigentlich eingeschlossen, eingeklemmt zwischen dem Säulewerden, Radiuswerden von der Erde aus und dem Kugelwerden vom Kosmos aus. Der Bildung des Menschen liegt in der Tat Kreis und Radius zugrunde.
[ 11 ] Daß der Mensch keine Säule wird, daß er vor allen Dingen nicht geboren wird mit zusammengewachsenen Füßen und zusammengewachsenen Händen, das rührt davon her, daß ja ein Jahreslauf da ist, daß Winter und Sommer geistig einwirken, was auf verschiedene kosmische Beziehungen der Erde und ihrer Umgebung hinweist. Die Differenzierung, die auftritt zwischen Winter und Sommer, ist ähnlich wie die zwischen Vollmond und Neumond. Wie Voll- und Neumond in ihrer Verschiedenheit Antlitz und Hinterkopf bedingen, so bedingen diejenigen kosmischen Kräfte, die in Winter und Sommer, Frühling und Herbst ausgedrückt sind, daß unsere Gliedmaßen konfiguriert sind, daß wir zwei Beine haben und nicht eine Säule sind. So daß wir im Haupt nicht ganz kosmisch sind, sondern, ich möchte sagen, ein Kosmisches, das irdisch gemildert ist, und daß wir in bezug auf unsere Gliedmaßen nicht ganz irdisch sind, sondern ein Irdisches, das kosmisch gemildert ist. Der Jahreslauf der Erde ist ja kosmisch bedingt. Wir haben also eine kosmische Wesenheit, irdisch beeinflußt, und eine irdische Wesenheit, kosmisch beeinflußt. Wären wir nicht als kosmische Wesen irdisch beeinflußt, so wären wir als Mensch eine Kugel; wären wir nicht als Gliedmaßenmensch, als irdischer Mensch kosmisch beeinflußt, so wären wir eine Säule.
[ 12 ] Dieses Zusammenwirken von Kosmischem und Irdischem, das ist es, was in unserer menschlichen Form sich ausdrückt. Niemand versteht die menschliche Form, der sie nicht begreifen will aus dem Zusammenwirken der Erde mit dem Kosmos. Es ist ganz wunderbar, wie der Mensch ein Ausdruck ist des ganzen Weltalls, wie er ein Ausdruck ist der Sternenwelt, die sich in seiner Gestalt überall ausdrückt, und wie er zu gleicher Zeit mit dieser Gestalt ein Abbild ist derjenigen Kräfte, die aus der Erde herausströmen und die ihn bedingen. Denken Sie sich einmal die irdische Wesenheit des Menschen unbeeinflußt von der kosmischen Wesenheit. Wir tragen sie so nicht in uns, die irdische Wesenheit, aber sie wirkt in uns, sie ist gleichsam das Zugrundeliegende, das, was aus dem Mittelpunkt der Erde herausstrahlt, was vom Mittelpunkt der Erde heraus erkraftet. Was in unserer menschlichen Kraft erscheint, in unserer menschlichen Kraft auch als Wille wirkt, das nannte man seit alten Zeiten mit einem Worte, das man deutsch aussprechen könnte die «Stärke» oder die «Kraft». Was uns aus dem Kosmos heraus bildet, was wir also durch den Kreis uns vorstellen müssen, was unserer Hauptesbildung hauptsächlich zugrunde liegt, aber nicht zum Ausdrucke kommt, weil es irdisch gemildert ist, nannte man seit alten Zeiten die «Schönheit». Und so sehen Sie, daß im großen aufgefaßt diejenigen Dinge, die im Menschen wirken, auch eine Art über das Physische und über das Moralische hinausgehenden Wert haben, einen Wert, der beides zusammenfaßt, Physisches und Moralisches. Denn die Stärke, die von der Erde ausgeht, die als Kraft in uns wirkt, ist zu gleicher Zeit moralische Kraft und physische Muskelkraft. Diejenige Schönheit, die uns umstrahlt, die unserem Haupte zugrunde liegt, sie ist das, was in unserem Haupte als die Schönheit der Gedanken erscheint, sowohl in physischer Beziehung wie auch in sittlich-moralischer Beziehung.
[ 13 ] Zwischen dem, was wir sind als irdische Wesen, gemildert durch das Kosmische, was wir sind als kosmisches Wesen, gemildert durch das Irdische, zwischen beidem liegt der Rumpfesmensch. Was ist dieser Rumpfesmensch? Er ist im wesentlichen der rhythmische Mensch, der fortwährend das Kosmische nach dem Irdischen hinunterpendeln läßt und das Irdische nach dem Kosmischen heraufpendeln läßt. Wir haben eine fortwährende Kreisströmung in uns, die das, was in den Gliedmaßen liegt, auf dem Umwege durch das Atmen in den Kopf und das, was im Kopfe ist, auf dem Umwege durch das Atmen in die Gliedmaßen führt, so daß ein fortwährender Wellengang, ein Hin- und Herwellen zwischen Kopf und Gliedmaßen entsteht. Was diesen Wellenschlag vermittelt, ist dasjenige, was wir in unserem rhythmischen System, im Lungen- und Herzsystem, im Blutkreislauf in uns haben. Was wird der Blutkreislauf daher sein? Er ist etwas, was eingespannt ist zwischen dem Geradlinigen und dem Kreis, konfiguriert durch Tierkreis, durch Planeten. Was da wirkt, ist so, daß vom Kopfe aus eine Kraft webt, die fortwährend unser Blut kreisförmig leiten will, und von den Gliedmaßen aus fortwährend eine Kraft geht, die unser Blut geradlinig leiten will. Und aus dem Zusammenwirken der Kräfte das fortwährende Umkreis-werden-Wollen der gesamten Blutzirkulation, und die fortwährend zur Geraden werden wollenden Kräfte — daraus entsteht der besondere Blutkreislauf, von der Atmung angeregt, in uns. Dieses rhythmische System vermittelt Kosmisches und Irdisches innerhalb des Menschen, so daß im Menschen ein Band gewoben wird zwischen dem Kosmischen, der Schönheit, und der Erde, der Stärke. Und dieses Band, das da gewoben wird, das im Rumpfesmenschen ist, wird im wesentlichen, geistig-seelisch aufgefaßt, seit alten Zeiten « Weisheit» genannt.
[ 14 ] Die Schönheit des Kosmos in den Menschen hineinprojiziert ist die Weisheit, die in seinen Gedanken lebt. Aber auch die sittliche Kraft, die auf dem Umwege durch das Gemüt von der Stärke der Erde herrührt, wird zur sittlichen Weisheit. Im Menschen begegnen sich irdische und kosmische Weisheit im rhythmischen System. Der Mensch ist ein Ausdruck des ganzen Kosmos, und man kann, wenn man will, diese Konfiguration des Menschen verstehen. Man kann gewissermaßen hineinschauen in die Geheimnisse des Weltenalls, insofern der Mensch aus diesen Geheimnissen heraus gestaltet wird. Ja, man sieht auch — wir haben ja schon von anderen Gesichtspunkten aus nach diesem Punkte hinsehen können - einen gewissen Zusammenhang im irdischen Leben selbst. Nehmen Sie das, was als kosmische Schönheit auf dem Umwege durch das Haupt in den Menschen hineinwirkt, so haben Sie den Beitrag des Weiblichen; nehmen Sie das, was von irdischer Stärke in dem Menschen auftritt, so haben Sie den Beitrag des Männlichen, und Sie können sagen: Im Befruchtungsakt vollzieht sich ein Einigen zwischen dem Kosmischen und dem Terrestrischen. Man kann nicht in das hineinschauen, was Aufgabe des Menschen auf der Erde ist, wenn man nicht in diese besondere Konfiguration des Menschen hineinsieht. Denn wir sehen ja, daß das, was sich als Haupt bildet, sich dadurch bildet, daß eigentlich die Erdenkräfte zunächst gar nicht wirken können auf den Menschen, daß er sein Vorgeburtliches hineinbringt in das Irdische, und daß im Mutterleibe das Außerirdische auf dem Umwege des Mondes menschengestaltend wirkt. Von der Erde wirkt die Stärke oder die Kraft. Sie bildet den Gliedmaßenmenschen. Sie kann ihn nicht bis zu Ende führen, er muß durch den Tod gehen. Die Kräfte, die im Gliedmaßenmenschen liegen, müssen sich vergeistigen, verseelen. Dann gehen sie im Außerirdischen weiter zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt und gestalten sich zunächst geistig-seelisch zur Hauptesbildung um. Auf der Erde hat auf sie dasjenige gewirkt, was sie nicht zu Ende bringen kann, weil aus den menschlichen Gliedmaßen erst das Haupt hervorgehen wird, wenn Jupiter- und Venusbildung vorhanden sein wird. Was also auf der Erde wirkt, das bedingt nicht den Menschen von der Geburt bis zum Tode. Was vorher auf Saturn, Sonne, Mond gewirkt hat, das ist jetzt geistig geworden und muß geistig ausgebildet werden vor der neuen Geburt; und das, was durch den Tod geht, muß wiederum vergeistigt werden, dann kann die Zukunft von der Vergangenheit aufgenommen werden, und dann kann der menschliche Gliedmaßenorganismus wiederum Haupt werden. Man kann also sagen: Der Mensch stirbt, damit er in der geistigen Welt die Fähigkeit erlangt, jene Gestalt, teilweise irdisch gemildert, zum Ausdruck zu bringen, die zum Ausdruck gebracht werden kann vermöge dessen, daß er Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenzustand durchgemacht hat. Hier auf Erden kann er als Gliedmaßenmensch nur durchmachen, was sein rhythmisches System ausbildet, das ist irdisches Wesen. Aber in seinen Gliedmaßen bildet er die Zukunft vor. Sie können nicht zu Ende kommen, der Mensch muß sterben und wiederum zurückkehren zum Kopfe, der zunächst vorgebildet ist im Vorirdischen. So hängt die menschliche Gestalt zusammen mit den wiederholten Erdenleben. Weil der Mensch physisch geboren ist als ein Wesen, das sich aus Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenzustand herausgebildet hat, weil der Mensch, indem er aus der geistigen Welt die Anlagen bekommt, wiederum dasjenige zum Ausdruck zu bringen hat in der Kugelgestalt, was er als Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondzustand durchgemacht hat, bekommt er ein Haupt auf der Erde, das ihn fortwährend tötet, weil es nicht irdisch ist.
[ 15 ] Diese Dinge, die sich im menschlichen wiederholten Erdenleben ausdrücken, sind innig zusammenhängend mit dem, was kosmische Entwickelung ist. Es ist nicht so, daß diese Dinge, die wir heute berührt haben und die wir morgen und übermorgen weiter ausführen wollen, vom Menschen nicht eingesehen werden können. Sie können schon eingesehen werden. Erforscht müssen sie werden durch die Geisteswissenschaft; einsehen kann sie jeder, der seinen gesunden Ideenzusammenhang einfach wirken läßt. Aber man hört doch immer wieder und wiederum, daß der Mensch nicht die Dinge der Geisteswissenschaft unmittelbar einsehen könne. Wenn man sagt: Ja, der Geistesforscher gibt mir diese Dinge, ich kann sie nicht selber einsehen — sagt man im Grunde genommen nichts anderes, als wenn man sagen würde, nachdem man sein Abiturientenexamen gemacht hat, man könne keine Differentialrechnung lösen. Alle Menschen können lernen, was Geisteswissenschaft sagt, wie alle Menschen im Prinzip lernen können, Differentialgleichungen zu lösen; nur ist das letztere schwieriger als das erstere. Es ist nicht so, daß dergleichen Ausreden gelten können, man sei nicht hellsehend, sei nicht Hellseher und sehe deshalb die Dinge nicht ein. Ebensowenig wie man nicht heilsehend zu sein braucht, um Differentialgleichungen zu lösen, ebensowenig braucht man hellsehend zu sein, um solche kosmischen Zusammenhänge mit der Außenwelt zu durchschauen. Man braucht nur die gesunden Begriffe mitzubringen. Aber es ist auch das Entgegengesetzte von dem der Fall, was sehr häufig von den Leuten gesagt wird. Es wird gesagt von dem einen: der hat die, der andere hat jene Weltanschauung, und man kennt sich nicht aus, welche die richtige ist. - Wenn man konsequent ist und alles verfolgt, alles zusammennimmt, was gesagt worden ist, ist alles eindeutig und nicht vieldeutig. Sie können sich nicht streiten über Schönheit, Weisheit und Kraft und deren Bedeutung. Alles ist eindeutig. Daß in unserer Kopfbildung ein Peripherisches, daß in unserem übrigen Menschen das Stärkeelement in Radiusgestalt enthalten ist, diese Dinge sind eindeutig. Da kann man nicht auf dieses oder jenes kommen. Über diese Dinge kann man nicht herumreden; in diesen Dingen kommt man zu ganz bestimmten Ergebnissen. In dieser Tatsache liegt in der Gegenwart das Schwierige in der Ausbreitung der Geisteswissenschaft als solcher, denn heute ist es ja so, daß sich da oder dort dieser oder jener Verein auch einmal über Anthroposophie oder Dreigliederung, die ja nur ein soziales Ergebnis der Geisteswissenschaft ist, Vorträge halten läßt. Die Leute hören es einmal an, nachher hören sie wieder anderes an, und nachher wieder etwas anderes; zu einer wirklichen inneren Entschlußkraft, zu Entscheidungen wollen sie nicht kommen. Sie nehmen das, was Geisteswissenschaft ist, als etwas, was neben anderen Dingen stehen kann. Das geht gegenüber der Geisteswissenschaft nicht. Die anderen Weltanschauungen, die in der Gegenwart auftreten, die können sich das gefallen lassen. Die eine ist ein bißchen besser, die andere schlechter. Man kann sagen: Man hört sich alle diese Dinge an, man nippt da oder dort. -— Gegenüber Geisteswissenschaft geht das nicht. Da muß man sich entscheiden, denn die geht bis in die Fundamente. Da ist wirklich dieses starke Anspannen des Willens nötig, das zu Entscheidungen führt, das sich nicht neben anderes hinstellt, sondern das bis in die Fundamente gehen will. Bis in die Fundamente gehen kann man nicht, wenn man nur hin und her pendelt von einer Weltanschauung zur anderen, überall nur nippt. Geisteswissenschaft fordert ein energisches Durchgreifen. Daher hat Geisteswissenschaft gegen sich den Geist der Zeit, sie hat gegen sich alle Schlappheit und alle Schwächen der Zeit, denn sie fordert helle Geistesstärke, und die will man nicht in der Gegenwart; sie stört einen, ist einem unbequem.
[ 16 ] Der Mensch hat durchaus einmal in der Urzeit aus einem instinktiven Wissen heraus über diese Dinge Gesichtspunkte gehabt, und die alten Schriften, mit denen sich unsere Gelehrsamkeit befaßt, die sie aber nicht versteht, enthalten überall Hinweise darauf, daß in dieser Weisheit durchaus so etwas vorhanden war wie diese Beziehungen des Menschen zum Kosmos. Dann ist diese Weisheit verlorengegangen. Der Mensch wurde zurückgeworfen in das Chaos. Aber aus diesem Chaos muß er sich durch seine eigenen Willenskräfte retten, er muß aus diesem Chaos bewußt seinen Zusammenhang mit dem Kosmos wiederfinden. Und man kann ihn finden. Ich sagte am Anfange der heutigen Betrachtung, man verstehe das Haupt nicht, wenn man es nicht als ein Ergebnis des Kosmos ansehen kann; man versteht den Gliedmaßenmenschen nicht, wenn man ihn nicht ansehen kann als Ergebnis der irdischen Bildung. Und der Ausgleich zwischen beiden ist der Brustmensch, der rhythmische Organismus, der fortwährend die Gerade kreisförmig und den Kreis geradlinig machen will. Wo Sie die Blutbahn ins Auge fassen wollen, will die Gerade entstehen, aber auch den Kreis zur Geraden umformen; wie die Blutbahn entsteht, das hängt zusammen mit den Sternbewegungen und so weiter. Die Form hängt mit der Sternkonstellation, die Bewegung mit planetarischen Bewegungen zusammen. Das ist auch schon erwähnt worden von anderen Gesichtspunkten aus. Aber was wird im menschlichen Gemüte, wenn man solche Erkenntnis aufnimmt? Man kann ja nicht anders, als sagen: Diese Erkenntnisse sind für den, der sie in sich aufnimmt, so durchsichtig wie die mathematischen Wahrheiten. - Mathematische Wahrheiten sind gewiß durchsichtig, aber nicht für jeden fünfzehnjährigen Knaben. Aber diese Dinge sind durchsichtig wie die Mathematik.
[ 17 ] Auf der anderen Seite sind sie so einschneidend in dasjenige, was der Mensch fühlen und empfinden kann. Es entsteht aus dieser Weisheit ein Gefühl des Göttlichen. Nur ein Wissen, das an der Oberfläche bleibt, kann irreligiös sein; ein Wissen, das bis in die Tiefen geht, kann nicht irreligiös sein. Sieht man wieder auf den Zusammenhang des Menschen mit dem Kosmos, bemerkt man vor allen Dingen in dem uns einhüllenden Sternenhimmel die Schönheit als einen Abdruck geistiger Entität, dann kommt man dazu, die Schönheit der Dinge wiederum einzuprägen in die Kunst. Dann lebt in der Kunst nicht bloß die äußere Natur, wie sie sinnlich geschaut wird. Dann wird tatsächlich das erreicht durch eine solche, zu den Fundamenten gehende Wissenschaft, wie es Geisteswissenschaft ist, es wird das erreicht, was ich im ersten einleitenden Eröffnungsvortrag zu unseren Kursen gesagt habe: Gesucht wird hier am Goetheanum die Einheit von Wissenschaft, Kunst und Religion.
[ 18 ] Wie sagt doch derjenige, nach dem das Goetheanum seinen Namen hat:
Wer Wissenschaft und Kunst besitzt,
Hat auch Religion,
Wer jene beiden nicht besitzt,
Der habe Religion.
[ 19 ] Das heißt, von außen! Aber von innen hat sie derjenige, der Wissenschaft und Kunst aus den Fundamenten heraus besitzt — das ist Goethesche Gesinnung.
[ 20 ] Wer Wissenschaft und Kunst besitzt, der hat auch Religion —, daher dürfen diejenigen, welche in der angedeuteten Art die Einheit von Religion, Kunst und Wissenschaft anstreben, die Institution, an der sie sie anstreben, wahrhaftig «Goetheanum» nennen. Aber auch da ist das Einsehen desjenigen, was so begründet hier auftritt, eben, wie es scheint, keine Aufgabe für die Oberflächlichkeit unserer Zeit, die alles nur von oben herab, alles nippend betrachtet. Geisteswissenschaft fordert Entscheidungen. Entscheidungen sind nötig, weil dieser Geist in die Tiefen der Welt eindringen will. Deshalb muß das auch begriffen werden aus den Tiefen des menschlichen Herzens heraus.
First Lecture
[ 1 ] I have often spoken about how the entire human life process is already expressed in the human form. Anyone who can understand the human head in the right way can recognize how the special formation, the special structure of the head, is the result of earlier life circumstances that human beings went through before descending to their present earthly existence. And if we consider the organization of the human limbs, which is of course continued spatially inward into those organs with which the limbs are locally connected, then we have in this organization that which, after certain metamorphoses, after certain transformations, will underlie what will be the formation of the human head in the future, beyond death. At the same time, however, this points to a cosmic connection of the human being. As we see human beings before us at present, we can say that their particular head formation is a metamorphosis of their earlier limb formation; but the fact that human beings have such a head formation at all, as they actually have it, stems from what human beings underwent cosmically before they entered the earthly world. The head structure is essentially a result of the Saturn, Sun, and Moon evolutions, and that which is the limb-man is in turn the starting point for the Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan evolutions. Only what is the chest man, what lies in the essence of the present rhythmic system, is actually the earth man. So we can say that what we see first in the human head has been formed from the three previous planetary embodiments that preceded the earth. What underlies today's limbs is the starting point for the subsequent planetary incarnations of the Earth. And as human beings pass through life between death and a new birth, they in a certain sense repeat in a spiritual way what they went through during the Saturn, Sun, and Moon periods. They transform their Earth organism back into the Saturn, Sun, and Moon organisms. And in the same way, what is formed on Earth as the limb organism is further organized into the physical realm and reorganized during the Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan incarnations of the Earth.
[ 2 ] These things therefore have a human-earthly aspect and a cosmic aspect. We can therefore also view the formation of the human head in such a way that we consider the relationship of the human being to the cosmos. However, what took place during the Saturn and Sun evolutions is initially somewhat more distant from human observation. What took place there is even less to be judged from an earthly point of view. On the other hand, we can judge intensively what took place during the ancient lunar evolution, because it repeats itself in a certain relationship in the facts that take place between the Earth and the Moon, the present Moon. Therefore, we can also study the relationship of the human head to what takes place between the Earth and the Moon. And by considering these facts, one arrives at certain secrets of human formation. This can be done in the following way.
[ 3 ] Imagine schematically that a human being stands on the Earth; he is not at the center of the Earth, but at a distance from the center equal to the radius of the Earth. And if we schematically conceive of this as the human head (see drawing on page 15), we can say: it moves around the Earth, just as the moon moves around the human head. Schematically drawn, of course, not in proportion, that would look bad.
[ 4 ] Now suppose that the moon is here and it is a full moon. The light reflected from the sun shines, as we always say, toward the human being. The sunlight therefore acts upon the human being. I should point out that when I speak of human beings, I always mean the human head. On the opposite side, let us imagine the new moon. No light reaches human beings; they are, so to speak, left to themselves on this side. They are less affected by the external light stimuli that are exerted on them. He is therefore more left to his own internal development. And if you place the first quarter here and the last quarter here, the waxing and waning moon, you have less and less light stimuli acting on the human being from both sides than from the side of the full moon, and more stimuli than from the side of the new moon. In addition, as the moon describes this orbit around the earth, it passes through the zodiac. This determines the light in a special way and, I would say, differentiates it; for moonlight is different when it comes from a place behind, say, Aries, and different when it comes from a place behind Virgo. Moonlight as such is differentiated depending on whether the moon passes this or that sign of the zodiac.
[ 5 ] Now imagine what I have drawn here schematically in the correct time frame of human development, that is, imagine that through some process the spiritual germ of the human being, which initially comes over from the development between death and a new birth, becomes firmly established in a mother's womb. During this time, the moon acts upon the germ. Then, initially through the influence of the moon, naturally in connection with the other world bodies, the configuration of the human head is brought about from the cosmos in the mother's womb. The configuration of the human head is entirely brought about by the moon.
[ 6 ] Now you will say, and rightly so: It cannot always be assumed that the full moon shines its light on the eyes or the nose, and that the back of the head, whose inner development is supposed to be left to itself, not to the outer world, is precisely opposite the new moon. Certainly, this does not necessarily have to be the case; essentially, it is true that somewhere opposite the face the full moon is active, and somewhere opposite the back of the head the new moon is active. The child also has a special position in the mother's body, and this is definitely oriented toward the cosmos. But now, depending on whether the moon shines more or less, I would say obliquely, toward the part of the germ that is to become the face, the human being will be endowed with these or those inner abilities, insofar as they depend on the head. He will be differently gifted, physically gifted, if, for example, the bright moonlight shines toward his mouth than if it shines toward his eyes. This is related to human gifts, insofar as they depend on the cosmos. But the essential point we want to consider today is that during the embryonic development of the human being, the influences that essentially emanate from the moon are what form the human germ that originates in the formation of the head, for the first thing that takes shape in the human being is the head. And this emanates from the moon, that is, from what has remained as the old moon movement and activity of the old moon and, in general, of the previous incarnations of our earth. Here you see the cosmic connection between the human head and the external world. You see how, during embryonic development, the human being is caught up in those cosmic connections for which the moon, with its activity, essentially sets the tone. But what happens is that the moon makes the movement, that is, it actually revolves around the head. It revolves around it ten times while the human being undergoes embryonic development. So first the moon passes by, forming the human face, then it leaves it alone, allowing it to grow. During this time, it moves backwards. After the formation of the face has been dormant for a while, the moon reappears and refreshes it. It does this ten times. And during these ten lunar months, the human head is rhythmically formed from the cosmos. Thus, we have a ten times twenty-eight day period of the human being's stay in the womb under the influence of the cosmic forces mediated by the moon.
[ 7 ] What is actually happening here? Well, the human being first arrives as a spiritual-soul being at the personality that he chooses from the universe as his mother. And now the moon takes over the formation of his head. If the human being were to remain in the mother's womb for twelve months, twelve lunar months, a completely closed circle would be formed. However, the human being does not remain there for twelve months, but only for ten lunar months. Therefore, something of its development remains open. Everything that influences the human being from the cosmos after birth is concerned with this. Before birth, ten twelfths of the cosmic forces act on the formation of the human head, while the remaining two twelfths are left to extra-maternal formation. But this extra-maternal formation already begins during the embryonic period. In addition to the cosmic forces, other forces also act on the human being, and these now emanate essentially from the earth itself. These do not affect the head, but rather the limbs. If you imagine the Earth here and, schematically drawn, the human limbs, then the forces that play in these limbs with their continuation inward are essentially earthly-telluric. The forces of the earth play in the arms and hands, in the legs and feet. This play continues inwardly, becoming metabolism. But what is metabolism on the inside is a change of forces on the outside. When you move your arms or legs, the movement is not something simple, but has to do with the forces of the earth. Whenever you move your legs while walking, you have to overcome the earth's gravity, and what arises is a resultant between the forces at work within and the forces of gravity.
[ 8 ] While in metabolism what works inside the human being enters into a state of change with the chemical properties of the earth's substance, what is present as force in the arms and legs enters into a change of force with the forces of the earth. What is formed there is now connected with other time relationships than those that occur in the mother's body. In the mother's body, we have ten times twenty-eight days, that is, ten moons. This is based on the course of the day in a certain number, the course of the day two hundred and eighty times. We are essentially dealing with the course of the day. In the development of the limb-bearing human being, we are dealing with what we can call the course of the year. This is why we see how the human limbs are fully developed, initially at great speed, but then more and more slowly. Actually, the human being needs twenty-eight years, the last seven of which, however, are not as visible as the first twenty-one, in order to develop the limb-human being outside the mother's body — but it already begins in the mother's body.
[ 9 ] Just as what the head-human being is is connected with the past and can now develop because the relationship of the moon to the earth repeats this past of Saturn, sun, and moon development, so what the limb-human being is at first is connected with the earth, but with what what is actually in the formation of the Earth in preparation for the Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan stages. That is why the human being cannot actually form his head directly on the Earth. The Earth is powerless in relation to the formation of the human head. Only because humans bring the forces with them from before birth, before conception, and are then protected in the mother's body from the external environment of the Earth, with the cosmos acting on them through the moon, can this head arise as a higher metamorphosis of the limb-human of the previous incarnation. And the limb-man who develops under the influence of the earth cannot be completed through earth formation. He cannot bring it to the head. Man cannot during earth development do what he will be able to do during Venus development. Just as the deer sheds its antlers, he will lose his head; he will develop a different head out of his remaining human being. What an enviable state this Venus man is in! But it is so that this is something which, as a future state, appears quite clearly to the spiritual perception. Yes, the things of reality appear grotesque in comparison with the limited things of the earth, but what is reality goes beyond what is initially accessible to the limited earthly intellect. We must take seriously the fact that within the mere observation of the earth we can only obtain a part of reality, that we actually know nothing about human beings if we only observe earthly conditions.
[ 10 ] Thus, in human beings we have a cosmic being, which is initially formed externally in the mother's womb, and an earthly being, which is formed, configured, and differentiated under the influence of earthly conditions, by means of the apparent movement of the sun around the earth and its passage through the constellations of the zodiac. If you consider what we have discussed, you will see that there are actually two opposing states in human beings: a cosmic state, a cosmic being, and an earthly being. The cosmic being actually works in such a way that human beings would initially develop a completely round head from the cosmos. Only when the sunlight shines through the moon is the face formed, and when the sunlight turns away, the foundation for the back of the head is created. What forms as a sphere out of the cosmos is differentiated. If the good moon did not exist and did not shape the human head, human beings would be born as completely unformed spheres. And on the other hand, because the mother is on the earth, the earth has an effect. The fact that humans do not merely develop an embryonic head stems from the fact that the earth is already at work during the formation of the head. But it works in such a way that if humans were merely subject to the earth, if there were no cosmic influence, they would become pillars. Human beings are actually enclosed, wedged between becoming a pillar, becoming a radius from the Earth, and becoming a sphere from the cosmos. The formation of human beings is indeed based on a circle and a radius.
[ 11 ] The fact that human beings do not become pillars, that they are not born with their feet and hands fused together, stems from the fact that there is a cycle of seasons, that winter and summer have a spiritual influence, which points to various cosmic relationships between the earth and its environment. The differentiation that occurs between winter and summer is similar to that between full moon and new moon. Just as the full moon and new moon in their difference determine the face and back of the head, so the cosmic forces expressed in winter and summer, spring and autumn determine the configuration of our limbs, so that we have two legs and are not a pillar. So that we are not entirely cosmic in our heads, but, I would say, a cosmic being that is moderated by the earth, and that we are not entirely earthly in relation to our limbs, but an earthly being that is moderated by the cosmos. The annual cycle of the earth is, after all, cosmically determined. So we have a cosmic being, influenced by the earth, and an earthly being, influenced by the cosmos. If we were not influenced by the earth as cosmic beings, we would be spheres as human beings; if we were not influenced by the cosmos as beings with limbs, as earthly human beings, we would be pillars.
[ 12 ] This interaction between the cosmic and the earthly is what is expressed in our human form. No one understands the human form who does not want to understand it from the interaction between the Earth and the cosmos. It is quite wonderful how human beings are an expression of the entire universe, how they are an expression of the starry world, which is expressed everywhere in their form, and how, at the same time, with this form, they are a reflection of the forces that stream out of the earth and condition them. Imagine for a moment the earthly essence of human beings uninfluenced by the cosmic essence. We do not carry this earthly essence within us, but it works within us; it is, as it were, the underlying foundation, that which radiates from the center of the earth, that which emanates from the center of the earth. What appears in our human power, what also works as will in our human power, has been called since ancient times by a word that could be pronounced in German as “Stärke” or “Kraft” (strength or power). What forms us out of the cosmos, what we must therefore imagine through the circle, what mainly underlies the formation of our head, but does not come to expression because it is mitigated by the earth, has been called “beauty” since ancient times. And so you see that, when viewed in a broader sense, those things that work in human beings also have a value that transcends the physical and the moral, a value that unites both the physical and the moral. For the strength that emanates from the earth and works as a force within us is at the same time moral strength and physical muscle power. The beauty that surrounds us, that underlies our head, is what appears in our head as the beauty of thoughts, both in a physical sense and in a moral sense.
[ 13 ] Between what we are as earthly beings, tempered by the cosmic, and what we are as cosmic beings, tempered by the earthly, lies the trunk man. What is this trunk man? He is essentially the rhythmic man who continually allows the cosmic to descend toward the earthly and the earthly to ascend toward the cosmic. We have a continuous circular flow within us that leads what is in the limbs to the head via the breathing process and what is in the head to the limbs via the breathing process, so that a continuous wave motion, a back-and-forth wave between the head and the limbs, arises. What transmits this wave motion is what we have within us in our rhythmic system, in the lung and heart system, in the blood circulation. What, then, is the blood circulation? It is something that is caught between the straight line and the circle, configured by the zodiac, by the planets. What is at work here is that a force weaves from the head, constantly wanting to guide our blood in a circle, and a force constantly goes from the limbs, wanting to guide our blood in a straight line. And from the interaction of these forces, the constant desire of the entire blood circulation to circle, and the forces that constantly want to become straight — this gives rise to the special blood circulation within us, stimulated by breathing. This rhythmic system mediates the cosmic and the earthly within the human being, so that a bond is woven within the human being between the cosmic, beauty, and the earth, strength. And this bond that is woven, that is in the human torso, has been understood in essence, spiritually and soulfully, since ancient times as “wisdom.”
[ 14 ] The beauty of the cosmos projected into human beings is the wisdom that lives in their thoughts. But the moral power that comes indirectly from the strength of the earth through the mind also becomes moral wisdom. In human beings, earthly and cosmic wisdom meet in the rhythmic system. Human beings are an expression of the entire cosmos, and if one wishes, one can understand this configuration of human beings. One can, in a sense, look into the mysteries of the universe, insofar as human beings are shaped by these mysteries. Yes, one also sees—we have already been able to look at this point from other perspectives—a certain connection in earthly life itself. Take what works into human beings as cosmic beauty via the head, and you have the contribution of the feminine; take what appears in human beings as earthly strength, and you have the contribution of the masculine, and you can say: in the act of fertilization, a union takes place between the cosmic and the terrestrial. You cannot look into what is the task of human beings on earth unless you look into this special configuration of the human being. For we see that what forms as the head is formed by the fact that the earthly forces cannot initially act upon the human being, that he brings his pre-birth into the earthly, and that in the womb the extraterrestrial acts in a human-shaping way via the detour of the moon. Strength or power works from the earth. It forms the limb-human being. It cannot bring him to completion; he must go through death. The forces that lie in the limb-human must become spiritualized, soul-filled. Then they continue in the extraterrestrial between death and new birth and initially transform themselves spiritually and soulfully into the formation of the head. On Earth, that which cannot bring them to completion has acted upon them, because the head will only emerge from the human limbs when the formation of Jupiter and Venus is complete. So what acts on Earth does not determine human beings from birth to death. What previously acted on Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon has now become spiritual and must be spiritually developed before the new birth; and what passes through death must in turn be spiritualized, then the future can be taken up by the past, and then the human limb organism can once again become the head. One can therefore say: Man dies so that he may attain in the spiritual world the ability to express that form, partially mitigated by the earth, which can be expressed by virtue of his having passed through the Saturn, Sun, and Moon stages. Here on earth, as a limb-organism, he can only go through what his rhythmic system forms, which is his earthly nature. But in his limbs he forms the future. They cannot come to an end; man must die and return to the head, which is first preformed in the pre-earthly realm. Thus, the human form is connected with repeated earth lives. Because humans are physically born as beings that have developed out of the Saturn, Sun, and Moon states, because humans, in receiving their predispositions from the spiritual world, must in turn express in their spherical form what they have gone through as Saturn, Sun, and Moon states, they receive a head on Earth which continually kills them because it is not earthly.
[ 15 ] These things, which are expressed in human repeated earthly lives, are intimately connected with what cosmic evolution is. It is not the case that these things we have touched upon today and which we want to continue tomorrow and the day after tomorrow cannot be understood by human beings. They can indeed be understood. They must be researched through spiritual science; anyone who simply allows their healthy ideas to work can understand them. But we hear again and again that human beings cannot directly understand the things of spiritual science. When one says, “Yes, the spiritual researcher gives me these things, but I cannot understand them myself,” one is basically saying nothing different than if one were to say, after graduating from high school, that one cannot solve differential equations. All human beings can learn what spiritual science says, just as all human beings can, in principle, learn to solve differential equations; only the latter is more difficult than the former. It is not the case that excuses such as not being clairvoyant or not being a psychic and therefore not being able to see things are valid. Just as one does not need to be a clairvoyant to solve differential equations, one does not need to be clairvoyant to understand such cosmic connections with the outside world. One only needs to bring healthy concepts with one. But the opposite of what people often say is also true. One person says, “He has this worldview, and the other has that worldview, and we don't know which one is right.” If you are consistent and follow everything, take everything that has been said together, everything is clear and unambiguous. You cannot argue about beauty, wisdom, and power and their meaning. Everything is clear. That there is something peripheral in our mental formation, that the element of strength is contained in a radius shape in the rest of our human being, these things are clear. You cannot come to this or that conclusion. You cannot talk around these things; in these things you come to very definite conclusions. This fact is what makes the spread of spiritual science as such so difficult at present, because today it is the case that here and there this or that association will give lectures on anthroposophy or the threefold social order, which is only a social result of spiritual science. People listen to it once, then they listen to something else, and then something else again; they do not want to come to a real inner decision, to make decisions. They take spiritual science as something that can stand alongside other things. That is not possible with spiritual science. The other worldviews that are present today can put up with that. One is a little better, the other worse. One can say: one listens to all these things, one dips into them here and there. — That is not possible with spiritual science. There one must decide, because it goes to the very foundations. There is really a strong tension of the will necessary that leads to decisions, that does not stand alongside other things, but wants to go to the very foundations. You can't go to the very foundations if you just swing back and forth from one worldview to another, just nibbling at everything. Spiritual science demands energetic action. That is why spiritual science has the spirit of the times against it, it has against it all the slackness and all the weaknesses of the times, because it demands clear mental strength, and that is not wanted in the present; it disturbs people, it is uncomfortable for them.
[ 16 ] In primeval times, human beings certainly had insights into these things based on instinctive knowledge, and the ancient writings with which our scholarship is concerned, but which it does not understand, contain everywhere indications that this wisdom certainly included something like these relationships between human beings and the cosmos. Then this wisdom was lost. Man was thrown back into chaos. But he must save himself from this chaos through his own willpower; he must consciously rediscover his connection with the cosmos. And it can be found. I said at the beginning of today's reflection that one cannot understand the head unless one can see it as a result of the cosmos; one cannot understand the limb-man unless one can see him as the result of earthly formation. And the balance between the two is the chest-man, the rhythmic organism, which constantly wants to make the straight line circular and the circle straight. Wherever you look at the bloodstream in the eye, the straight line wants to emerge, but also to transform the circle into a straight line; how the bloodstream emerges is connected with the movements of the stars and so on. The form is connected with the constellations, the movement with planetary movements. This has already been mentioned from other points of view. But what happens in the human mind when one takes in such knowledge? One cannot help but say: these insights are as transparent as mathematical truths to those who take them in. Mathematical truths are certainly transparent, but not to every fifteen-year-old boy. But these things are as transparent as mathematics.
[ 17 ] On the other hand, they are so incisive in what human beings can feel and sense. This wisdom gives rise to a feeling of the divine. Only knowledge that remains on the surface can be irreligious; knowledge that goes into the depths cannot be irreligious. If we look again at the connection between human beings and the cosmos, and notice above all in the starry sky that surrounds us the beauty as an imprint of a spiritual entity, then we come to imprint the beauty of things in art. Then it is not merely the outer nature, as it is seen by the senses, that lives in art. Then, through a science that goes to the foundations, such as spiritual science, what I said in the first introductory lecture to our courses is actually achieved: what is sought here at the Goetheanum is the unity of science, art, and religion.
[ 18 ] As the person after whom the Goetheanum is named says:
He who possesses science and art,
also has religion;
those who do not possess these two things
should have religion.
[ 19 ] That is, from the outside! But from within, it is possessed by those who have science and art from the ground up — that is Goethe's attitude.
[ 20 ] Those who possess science and art also possess religion — therefore, those who strive for the unity of religion, art, and science in the manner indicated may truly call the institution in which they strive for it the “Goetheanum.” But even here, understanding what is so well-founded here is, it seems, no task for the superficiality of our time, which views everything only from above, only in small sips. Spiritual science demands decisions. Decisions are necessary because this spirit wants to penetrate into the depths of the world. That is why it must also be understood from the depths of the human heart.