Social Life
GA 203
23 January 1921, Dornach
Lecture II
I should like to-day to add various things to the considerations of Cosmic and human truths, which we have been studying of late, and I shall want to add several things concerning the sort of truths we discussed in the last lecture, truths connected with the development of mankind in our own age.
How, in order to amplify those things from one side, and another, it will be necessary to-day to insert here and there an observation which may strike you as being personal; but you know that I only make personal observations on the rarest occasions, and when I do, it is always, as to-day, to explain something strongly objective.
We are living at present in an epoch which demands something quite definite from human beings. It demands from everyone what must be called a decision arising from the innermost depths of human nature. It must be considered, and clearly seen that we have now really entered for the first time on the age of human freedom, and the upheavals in intellectual, moral or social spheres, are, after all, nothing but the expression of man being brought into the region of freedom through the deeper forces connected with human development. We have merely to consider the life of individual man or the life of Nations, and to look at them in a quite unprejudiced way, to see what occurs; and then we can say to ourselves that there are to-day innumerable factors, through which each single individual, or whole races, communities and Groups of mankind, are deteriorated either from without or within, factors which leave them unfree. This being carried along by the relationships and events around then, is something which fundamentally lay in the real evolution of humanity; but now man has to emerge from this stage. The future of the Earth will consist in man developing more and more what we have just characterised by saying that, to-day, for the first time, man is faced with such significant decisions.
The fact that man is thus placed before such significant decisions, my dear friends, decisions which have to be made from the innermost depths of man's heart and soul, is expressed in the external course of events. As a rule, however, the great changes which have occurred in all the spheres of political, social, Spiritual and scientific life in the course of the second half of the 19th Century, have been too little observed.
One can notice signs of this transition, both in great and in small things everywhere to-day. Let us take one instance which lies very close to us. You know that amongst the many enemies of our Anthroposophical Movement to-day, are also to be found the Clergy of this Country (Switzerland), and they show quite clearly that behind them stands the power of the Jesuits, and that power appears to have a certain validity just in Switzerland. One has merely to keep in mind what reveals itself to-day in various spheres, to see how this Jesuitical power is amalgamated, for many people, with what they call the external religious education and so on. As regards this Country it may be interesting to bring before our souls an extraordinary document which, because it is so interesting, I have had photographed. This document originated in Switzerland and was produced there in 1847. I will read it to you:—
“Dedicated to the contemporary Army and their brave leaders as a permanent monument, in memory of the 24th November 1847, when the Dominion of the Jesuits passed away from Switzerland. The Almighty has given victory to the just cause. Those days, from the 12th to the 30th November 1847 are therefore unforgettable to every Confederate soldier—those days during which in consequence of resolutions passed on the 20th July and 4th November 1847, the seven Catholic separated States—Lucerne, Uri, Schweiz, Zug, Freiburg, and the Valais, were infested with war, but because of our Army under the command of Heinrich Du-four of Geneva, they had one after another to capitulate. To these days belong some of the most note-worthy events which Swiss history offers. With a relatively slight sacrifice of dead and wounded our clever and war-experienced leader, by his strategical arrangements, was successful, after many conflicts, in freeing those people who were slaves to the tyranny and power of a hypocritical Clergy full of fanaticism; and the inhabitants blinded by their Catholicism, who as enemies faced the Confederate army including the Militia over 80,000 strong. After a few days were entirely conquered, which made it possible to dissolve that Sonderbund and to drive the Jesuits out of Switzerland”
The concluding sentence, which is especially interesting in my opinion runs: “May God's Fatherly protection rule over our Army.”
You see under whose protection at that time the expulsion of the Jesuits was undertaken, and how “God's Fatherly protection” was similarly evoked for the future, that it might always continue to rule over the Swiss people as at the time, when General du-four was successful in ridding Switzerland from the Jesuits. That occurred in 1847.
Now, my dear friends, not these things alone, but many others, have undergone radical transformations in the course of the last half Century, transformations of quite a definite character. Their characteristic is that anyone who gives himself over merely to the sequence of external events, such as have transpired during this epoch, must of necessity come into confusion. The very best way to come into confusion, and to be unable to find a way out of certain knots and tangles, is just to let the external events of the last half- or two-thirds of the last Century work upon us. If a person to-day wishes to find his way aright, a certain orientation which comes entirely from within, a certain impulse, is absolutely necessary. In that chaos, which is the basis of all the confusion into which we fall if we rely solely on external things, all the best strivings of recent times have been entangled. It cannot of course be denied, that our newer age has accomplished many things in various spheres of life; especially in the sphere of technique and the science which is connected with technique, great significant progress has been made. Triumphs have been celebrated, and this praise is thoroughly justified. But if you take the best results, the best scientific and technical conquests of our civilisation, although you will find many things of use, many illuminating things, many things which bring man on materially, you will find nothing either in science or in technique or in any other sphere, or even in that sphere which has brought good to man, nothing which can shine from the outer world into man's soul so that he can get a guiding impulse from those things coming from that external world. Therefore, Spiritual Science had to come, just at this very time, because out of Spiritual Science something must come which is drawn from no external world, but simply from the Spiritual world; and which is so taken up that when it flows into the outer world it represents an impulse which has nothing to do with anything drawn from that outer world itself. It is an impulse carried into the outer world from Spiritual worlds,—and that is what is sought to be given through our Anthroposophical Spiritual Science. In this connection, we are radically misunderstood to-day, and my yesterday's remarks were a kind of explanation of this from a certain aspect. I wanted especially to show that it must not be said of our School-Impulse (which of course is born out of Spiritual Science), or of our practical undertakings, that we carry into them anything of a theoretical view of the world. I tried to show yesterday how far such a statement is from reality. But neither may one say the opposite, and this too is connected with a right understanding of our Anthroposophical Spiritual Science. One may not say the reverse, that, as people usually imagine to-day, any external activity is the result of a theory, of a programme; one must not imagine that what we accomplish—whether in the sphere of pedagogy or practical life—proceeds from any programme such as is usually imagined to-day.
A few days ago, for instance, someone said:—“Well, this peculiar idea regarding the Threefold State, would not have arisen if this Threefold idea had not sprung from Anthroposophy,” and I had to correct such an utterance radically. And here I must add a few personal things, which are meant quite objectively, and have a good deal to do with these matters. I had to say:—“It is really the case that what meets you and others to-day as the Threefold Division of the Social Organism, in so far as it was conceived by me, sprang from no abstract thought, nor from meditating on how the social life could be so arranged that something could come into it of that Utopian character one finds in many writings to-day. It did not arise in this way.” That came to me as the perception of a Spiritual stream, which flowed together naturally in life with other streams, especially with the economic stream. The economic perception arose from its own soil, on the basis of its own life.
A few years ago, I had to explain how this perception of the economic life of our recent times, of the economic necessities arose I had to object then, when I was told that the Drei-Gliederung (Three- foldness) proceeded out of Anthroposophy, just as one can take something out of a programme to-day and put it forward as an impulse. I said:—My boyhood was spent as the son of a railway official. That was in the 60's and 70's, when railways had only half evolved from their embryonic life. The great traffic only came gradually and later, but I shared in just those measures which were taken under the very first arrangements made for railways. I was thus absolutely under the impression of this life of commerce which was then arising, and it was the perception which I got from that, which of course, was later united with something else, that led to my presenting the social life as I had to do, in the sense of the three-fold Social Order.
We have to consider that in the 70's of the last Century, the essential, basic element of the newer evolution, was the transformation of traffic. International commerce developed in this epoch. I myself, in the last years of this inter-national commercial evolution, was under the daily and hourly influence of the details that developed in connection with that world-traffic, and then, in the last third of the 19th Century, or rather in the last quarter of it, came that great turnover, the great transformation, which led from world-intercourse, to world-trading, and economics.
My dear friends, those are two quite different things. It was world-commerce which first led to world-economics. World-trade is but the latest phase of the development of National economics. That which is, in its essentials, prepared in single Countries, has been spread abroad through the world-trade and been carried into other Countries. But nevertheless, there exists a certain individuality as regards the productions of each Country. All this, under the influence of the developing traffic, became different,—the world passed over from world trade to world economics. World-economics can only exist when the raw product is purchased in one Country and then sent to another where it is worked over industrially; so that not only through the trading, but through the economics itself, one Country or land became dependent on another, and thereby economics were spread over many different Countries. This spreading of trade, of commerce, this—what I must call a welding of the world into a common world- sphere in economics, came about for the most part in the last decades of the 19th Century;—and this arose perhaps in its most permeating, penetrating form, in the arrangements made in the European Textile Industries in connection with the Indian and American cotton. In the cotton industry, one could especially experience the transformation of ordinary trade into world- economics. Just at the time when it could be seen how these things were going on, I was for eight years tutor in a house dealing in cotton brought from India and America to Europe, and in this house Cotton-Agents—which means also the manufacturers of such goods,—congregated together. Those people too traded in cotton, and so at that time I was in the midst of the interests connected with these things.
I lived entirely in that centre, never having been one of those who regarded external things as trivial, considering that one should withdraw from external things into a mystic twilight, I was deeply interested, especially when despatches came, which had to be deciphered with a Code. Once there came a dispatch which included the word “wire-puller,” and one had to look up this word, which meant, “such and such a firm wants so many bales of cotton at this or that price.” With the word “wire-puller” one could draw forth things which might have a very significant business importance.
You see, during this epoch I was greatly interested in those patterns which came, samples of American and Indian cotton, cotton piled high up in the office, each with its own little specification, labels on which were written quite interesting things. While I was studying these carefully, (pardon these personal observations, but they are connected with the objective side), I also studied Goethe's “Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily,” and those two things were carried on absolutely side by side, and fundamentally it was from that which flowed to me then out of my study of the “Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily,” that twenty one years later, 3x7 years after, there flowed that which led to my first Mystery Play, “The Portal of Initiation.” I just wanted to bring forward this couple of instances—which I could multiply many times; but you see, I had to explain to that man who came to me saying that my ideas of economic life came from an abstract Anthroposophy, that it was not abstract. Anthroposophy is not abstract, although people say think so. I had to tell that man that I had taken part in the life of commerce. I even wrote hills of lading; even if in addition to the signs which I had to write on the bills of lading, I made many blots, nevertheless I wrote them. I grew up in the middle of that cotton industry and trade, and it was in connection with these things which are in connection with the whole feeling of our present time, out of my perceptions of these, then that my economic ideas arose. They are not mere theories, but are in reality drawn from life itself. I feel that one can only draw such things out of life if one has the good-will really to look at life itself. One must also, of course look at life just where many despise it, if one wishes to get at those things which can be made practical in life and prove themselves as such. Just out of what resulted from the practise of life and from being in the very midst of it, and seeing the confused tangle and knots in it, those things arose later; for among the men I met at that time were some whose destiny still caused them to find the aftereffects of the great crisis in 1873. At this time, one could clearly see their remarkable connections between the World-views and the economic life, which must now be overcome by our mode of thought. The Director of that railway on which my father worked, was at that time a man named Pontout, who was regarded as a small demi-god by the neighbourhood in which I then lived,—Frau Pontout, for what reason I do not know, was always called the Baroness; she was considered an extremely pious woman. They were both really, from a certain point of view, extremely religious people. Pontout then resigned the post of General Director of the Southern Railway and entered a great business undertaking, which stretched its tentacles from France to Serbia; and, because of his piety he was able to carry out a gigantic business in the service, not of course of a World-power, but of those powers in whose service he placed himself, whenever he took the Prayer-book in his hand. Then the whole business smashed, and there arose that famous Pontout-crash, from which at the right moment, a certain clerical community withdrew their fingers, leaving Pontout alone in it. But even at that time one could see a certain philosophy or let us say a certain order of ideas, being carried into financial undertakings; and one could very well learn from that what one ought not to do. Of course, many people could not believe that I thus learned the right way, and that this led to my thinking in a very different way of the connection between Anthroposophy and the “Kommenden Tag” and “Futurum,” than did Pontout of the connection between the Catholic Church and the Serbian bank.
These things are all taken from life, my dear friends, and the fact that one can read them from life, that we do not approach life with theoretical dogmas, is just what should come from Anthroposophy, if it be rightly understood. Anthroposophy is distinguished, or should make itself distinct from other World-views, in that it can be selfless; that means that it does not trumpet its dogmas abroad, but simply provides an introduction, by which one can learn to know life itself in all its fullness and breadth. Only in this way can Anthroposophy satisfy the most weighty and important demands and necessities of man's present evolution.
I told you that anyone able to look with open eyes at what happens could see confusion everywhere, that even in what was good there was confusion, and that a person could not help going astray if he simply swam on in what the external world offered. Into that an impulse had to flow from spirit-lands, an impulse which coming from quite a different source, was called upon to give a direction which could not be got from the external world, even though there may be good in it. It is just that which Anthroposophy should bring to expression; just consider what an impulse lies in this age, where in external events everywhere whether in scientific or any other branch of cultural life, or in outer life, these insoluble-knots were being formed. It was just then, that coming out of Spiritual depths, something had to find its way into the world which could give it the right direction.
You must consider how, on the other hand, something else came to humanity. That is the following:—Whenever a person gives himself up to the stream of those insoluble knots, he is tempted not to care to seek for guidance for his own soul, but to give himself over to the confusion of external life, and is then only carried along by the river of confusing external events. I could see to my great sorrow, that human beings under this influence, become less and less independent. On the one hand, they were driven to form an independent judgment of things, but their independent judgment could only form that which then forced itself out of that sphere of chaotic external events, urging them into paths unknown to them. These people wanted to be free, they wanted to be independent, for the demand for freedom lives in the subconscious nature of man. People imagine they are free, but all the time, because freedom means a strong shaking up in one's inner soul, and because they did not want to be shaken up, they gave themselves over to that stream which runs its course in the way I have described. In this way, they come under Ahrimanic influence, which strives for the Spiritual with all kinds of beautiful and well-chosen words which have their roots simply in personal egotism, and a longing to allow this personal egoism to carry them into the social life around them.
It is one of the most important characteristics of the age, that human beings are full of this egotism, so that when they speak of social demands they really mean; how can their egoism best be carried along by social life? They speak of the demands of social life, but all the time they mean egoistic life; they want a social life of such a kind that Egoism can thrive best in it.
Of course, the Three-fold Social-Order could not speak in this way, it cannot speak of a Paradise! It must leave that to the Lenins and Trotzkis etc. The Three-fold-Order can only speak of what is organically possible in the social body, of that which is capable of life, of that which can fulfill itself. To that we must attain; for if we simply picture and strive for illusion we shall certainly not get very far.
We must accustom ourselves, my dear friends, not to consider life from any abstract principle, but to live our life, regarding the details of life with full consciousness, whether they belong apparently to Spiritual or material things. A great transformation has taken place, in that the economic life of the whole world has become a single body, but humanity is not able to understand it, could not bear it. It has been proclaimed, but not inwardly understood. Many things have appeared concerning “World Economics,” but they are all mere phrases, for this perception of the whole economic life as one body has not been inwardly digested. And so it has come about that humanity has been driven into a World-trade, but it has not understood how to adapt life to it, and so has now come to live in such a World where barriers on barriers have been set up to preserve all sorts of impossible national commerces, hemmed in by all kinds of customs, duties, passports and other limitations, by which they hope to preserve in a most terrible way, something for which the time is long past.
All that we experience today is nothing but this result of the misunderstanding of what has arisen because the last third of the 19th and the first two decades of the 20th Century, presented a state of chaos, of the confusing tangles to which one ought not to give oneself up externally, for that is also something which shows itself in the inimical attacks made now on Anthroposophy. These attacks which appear to-day, (both extensively and intensively) are now assuming the most incredible dimensions; and we may say, if we take these things externally, that we can see in the very way these attacks are expressing themselves, the spirit by which they are inspired. For instance, the following has been said of “Steiner's Goetheanum in Dornach”—“We should like anyone who wants to form his own judgment of Dr Steiner's views, to visit that Temple, that image of his spirit, and to see it with their own eyes. For what does this man take himself and others, for whom he chooses to pour the hallucinations, the feverish dream of his brain into concrete, to carve them in wood, and in glass, and to have them painted on the wall?”
Finally, my dear friends, another very extraordinary party has joined the various people, the Chauvinists the extreme Socialists, and especially the leaders of Socialism, and so on. They are not of recent date, one heard of their activities in 1912, 1913, They add quite extraordinary sentences to what I have just read to you:—Somebody writes: “these are only tiny samples of attacks, appearing at present under the Uranus-influence.”
You see that mockery is not lacking, especially shown in the indignation of an opponent filled with hate, from which I will quote. The odd people who now are uniting with those others, are especially Astrologers; and behind these lies a special ruthlessness, (of which many of them are unconscious,) because in this astrology there is something attractive, and one can do much with such things. Some of these are very extraordinary if one brings them into connection. For instance, here is another attack which contains these words:—
“We hold it very necessary to keep an open eye on Rudolf Steiner, that man who supports himself on Judaism, on the most distorted Communistic and idealistic ideas, and who wanted to become the Minister for Culture in Wurttemberg during the revolution.”
Here you see, a man is speaking of my relationship with the Jews and Communists. Let us quote another attack, from the other side. It is good to compare these things, because in the comparison many details come to light. “None of the former religious founders, such as Christ and Buddha, none of the wise men and prophets” (I do not think that I have ever in the remotest degree taken upon myself such a title but the opponents do, as it seems here) “have ever paid such heed to the external; to earthly treasures, palaces, temples. On the contrary, they remained without much property, they instructed human beings without reward, they led them higher Spiritually, and taught them to pray in their own quiet chambers. They perieated and spread their Spiritual ideas and wise teachings without needing the material help of rich financiers.”
Here you see, on the one hand, my relationship with the Catholics and Jesuits; and on the other, with rich financiers. Only one thing is lacking, and that is my relationship with prominent generals. But my dear friends, I know that no one can take it amiss if I emphasise quite especially,—it must be emphasised once, for this must be said—I say it quite expressly, it must be sooner or later investigated whether I have used anybody, whether Communists, financiers or generals, for my own purpose; for I could have dispensed with those people. It must be ascertained whether I came to them or they to me; that is something which must be kept in mind, my dear friends, for a great deal depends on it.
There is another point; when on the one hand we must meet with the statement that “he can only support himself on the basis of the Communists” and so on, and on the other it is asserted that the wise men of old managed to spread their Spiritual teachings without the material help of rich financiers, one can say that rounds very much like the calumnies which appeared in 1909, when it was said that I was an especially dangerous 'Freemason.' That assertion came from the side of the Jesuits; but from the other side the Calumny arose, that I was myself a Jesuit! You see how well these people know me! One ought to reflect whether perhaps, that which it is most necessary of all to keep in mind, whether in the Jew or Communist, or even in the rich financier, “Man” himself has not been overlooked; for to-day it is a question of man and what must be sought in the human in every form; for in the last resort, my dear friends, neither the old party-strata, e.g. Communists “nor the old racial connections such as the Jews, nor even the old ranks of financial advisers signify a great deal to-day, because to-day we must with all our power enter into what is universally human.”
But it would seem, my dear friends, that those who are in Spiritual relation with all kinds of movements except with that which is really able to bring a Spiritual impulse into the present confused state of human evolution, are quite specially filled with Ahrimanic influence, so we may calmly listen to what they say, which runs as follows:
“The starry influence of 1921 will bring on Dr. Rudolf Steiner, as on all other men with similar horoscopes either psychic upheavals, or shatterings! will lead to a deepening of Spiritual effort; or, if the astral influences are not appreciated Spiritually, thy will bring about severe material losses, harm or bodily diseases. And many another person born in February in such critical years may also be even in personal danger, which, of course is clearly visible if one looks into each particular horoscope.”
Now my dear friends, it is not in the least necessary that such things should be said of the Uranus and Saturn-influences;—that it is necessary to master the life of Self, and so on. I have tried to describe to you, for instance, from what depths the Threefold Order of the Social Organism of the “Portal of Initiation” came about, and I myself can remain quite unmoved as regards what comes from the Uranus and Saturn-influences. These are not the things that worry me. The things that worry me are of quite a different nature, and as long as such things as the following play a part, there is good cause for anxiety; although the things connected with it must be seen in quite a different light.
A certain enemy filled with hatred is here quoted as having said the following:—“Spiritual flashes of light, like lightning-flashes are darting towards that wooden mousetrap, such flashes are plentiful; and it will need a certain cleverness and cunning on the part of Steiner, so to work that one day a real flash of light does not strike that Dornach magnificence, and bring it to an untimely end.” Now my dear friends, you see, there is something clearly indicated here, which people want to see occurring on the top of the Dornach Hill, and they could then search for the reason of such threats, in the fact of Uranus being near the Sun. You see, not only are these attacks very numerous, but they are filled with a striking intensity; and above all my dear friends, as far as I am concerned, I must say that where such Uranus influences express themselves, they show that they come from no good side, for in their way of appearing they show whose Spiritual child they really are.
On the other hand, we must be quite clear that if we look beyond the Spiritual flames of fire of which it is said that enough exist already, and turn to the physical flames, then, my dear friends, a waking-anxiety is necessary on the part of those who cling, perhaps with a certain love, to what has come to expression here, and all that is connected with it. It is really necessary to feel anxiety about this, in order to preserve that work which is really carried out here with sacrifice. For, those people who look at this work filled with hate, with a will tending to such a ruthless deed, are to-day sufficiently numerous.
You might say I ought not to read out such things to you; but, my dear friends there can be no question as to that, for these things are well-known amongst other peoples in the world, they take care of that. But that such things should be known to you who feel perhaps differently, at least most of you, the fact that you must be told about such things, I take on myself. For, through that custom which has been widely prevalent in this room, these things might be concealed from you. Unfortunately, many things have thus been concealed. And so a certain wakefulness must flash in on our friends, as to those who are filled with hatred for our Anthroposophical Spiritual Science.
It was not simply by way of a joke yesterday that I said:—“Our enemies are in many respects very different people”;—they will yet show themselves quite different people unless we make an effort to be awake, and guardians of that which has been accomplished, with so much sacrifice and such hard work; because if, as is the case at present, where evil is, there ever so many are awake, it should also be possible that where what we regard as good exists, there also we should be awake. You see, my dear friends it will be ever more important to be true Watchers of that Spiritual treasure of which we must say again to-day in a certain connection, that it is not brought into the world through any subjective idea, but from the observation of life itself; out of the perception of those demands which are taken from the most important human things of our age, and which will become more and more important as we advance into the near future. I want you to pay attention to those people whose Will it is, to destroy what is necessary for man-kind. That Will for destruction is very, very strong in many to-day. May you yourselves then be strong, for that which lies in this Spiritual Movement, and which has brought this Goetheanum into expression has not arisen out of the chaos around us. It is an impulse which has been brought into the chaos. That Bau, whenever one comes near it, will make us feel that it gives strength, and life. Be you therefore true Watchers of what you have apparently chosen as your very own, when you joined this Anthroposophical Spiritual Movement.
Siebenter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Ich möchte heute allerlei anfügen den Betrachtungen, die wir hier in der letzten Zeit gepflogen haben über kosmische, über menschliche Wahrheiten, vorzugsweise aber über Wahrheiten von der Art, wie wir sie auch gestern wiederum angeführt haben, die zusammenhängen mit dem Wesen der Entwickelung der Menschheit in unserer Zeit. Es wird vielleicht, um nach dieser oder jener Seite hin das Vorgebrachte zu ergänzen, heute notwendig sein, da oder dort eine, aber nur scheinbar persönliche Bemerkung einzufügen. Sie wissen, ich mache das ja allerseltenst, aber auch wenn ich es mache, so geschieht es immer nur, wie es auch heute der Fall sein soll, um irgend etwas streng Sachliches damit zu erläutern.
[ 2 ] Wir leben in einer Zeit, welche etwas ganz bestimmtes vom Menschen fordert. Sie fordert vom Menschen, möchte man sagen, eine Entscheidung, welche aus dem Innersten des menschlichen Wesens herauskommt. Es muß durchaus beachtet und eingesehen werden, daß wir in das Zeitalter der menschlichen Freiheit eigentlich erst eintreten. Und dieses Rumoren auf intellektuellem, moralischem, sozialem Gebiete ist nichts anderes als der Ausdruck dafür, daß durch tiefergehende Kräfte der Menschheitsentwickelung diese Menschheit hineingebracht werden soll in die Region der Freiheit.
[ 3 ] Wir brauchen ja nur das eigene Leben oder das Leben der Völker ins Auge zu fassen, unbefangen ins Auge zu fassen, was geschieht, und wir werden uns sagen, daß der Faktoren zahlreiche sind, durch die der einzelne Mensch, durch die ganze Völker, Völkergemeinschaften, Menschengruppen von außen oder auch wohl - aber unfrei — von innen bestimmt werden. Dieses Getragenwerden durch die Verhältnisse, das ist ja das, was im Grunde genommen die eigentliche Entwickelungskraft der Menschheit war. Aber aus dieser Entwickelungskraft muß der Mensch immer mehr und mehr heraus. Und die Erdenzukunft wird darin bestehen, daß der Mensch immer mehr das ausbildet, was man eben heute dadurch charakterisieren muß, daß man sagt: Der Mensch ist zum erstenmal so recht vor bedeutungsvolle Entscheidungen gestellt.
[ 4 ] Dieses «vor bedeutende Entscheidungen Gestelltsein», vor Entscheidungen, die aus dem Innersten der Menschenbrust, des Menschenherzens, der Menschenseele heraus getroffen werden müssen, das drückt sich ja auch in dem äußeren Gang der Ereignisse aus. Man betrachtet eigentlich viel zu wenig die großen Umschwünge, die auf allen Gebieten des politischen, des sozialen, des geistigen, des wissenschaftlichen Lebens im Laufe der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts geschehen sind.
[ 5 ] Sehen Sie, man kann Symptome, die für diesen Umschwung sprechen, im großen und kleinen heute überall bemerken. Nehmen wir ein sehr naheliegendes Beispiel. Sie wissen, daß unter den zahlreichen Feinden, die heute wider die anthroposophische Bewegung vorhanden sind, sich auch die Klerikalen dieses Landes [Schweiz] befinden, die deutlich zeigen, daß jesuitische Macht hinter ihnen steht und daß jesuitische Macht wiederum etwas ist, was in diesem Lande einige Geltung hat. Man braucht nur ins Auge zu fassen, was sich auf verschiedenen Gebieten heute zeigt, und man wird sehen, wie stark diese Macht heute wiederum für viele Menschen verquickt ist mit dem, was sie nennen die äußere Erziehung zum Religiösen hin und so weiter. Gerade für dieses Land könnte es daher interessant sein, sich einmal ein merkwürdiges Dokument vor die Seele zu führen, welches ich mir, weil es gar so interessant ist, habe photographieren lassen. Dieses Dokument stammt aus der Schweiz und wurde in der Schweiz 1847 gegeben. Ich werde es vorlesen:
[ 6 ] «Der eidgenössischen Armee und ihren braven Chefs als bleibendes Denkmal gewidmet zur Gedächtnisfeier des 24. November 1847, da die Jesuitenherrschaft in der Schweiz unterging.
[ 7 ] Der Allmächtige hat der gerechten Sache den Sieg verliehen. Die jedem eidgenössischen Wehrmanne unvergeßlichen Tage vom 12! bis zum 30! November 1847, während welchen die sieben kriegsgerüsteten katholischen Sonderbunds-Stände Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Freiburg und Wallis, infolge der Tagsatzungsbeschlüsse vom 20! Heumonat und 4! Wintermonat 1847 auf allen Seiten von einer imposanten und kampflustigen Armee von 100000 Mann bedroht, mit dem Oberkommandanten, General Wilhelm Heinrich Dufour von Genf, nacheinander kapituliert haben, gehören zu den denkwürdigsten Ereignissen, welche die Schweizergeschichte darbietet. Mit verhältnismäßig sehr geringen Opfern an Toten und Verwundeten gelang es dem klugen und kriegserfahrenen Oberbefehlshaber mittels seiner trefflichen strategischen Anordnungen nach mehreren Gefechten... sich die von einer tyrannischen Regierungsgewalt geknechteten, vom heuchlerischen Klerus fanatisierten und verblendeten katholischen Mitbrüder, welche den eidgenössischen Truppen, mit Inbegriff des Landsturms, über 80000 Mann stark als feindliche Armee gegenüberstanden, binnen wenigen Tagen gänzlich zu unterwerfen, den Sonderbund zu sprengen und die Jesuiten aus der Schweiz zu entfernen.» Und der Schlußsatz, der nach meiner Meinung ganz besonders interessant ist, lautet: «Gottes schützende Vaterhand waltete über dem Heere.»
[ 8 ] Sie sehen, in welchen Schutz dazumal die Vertreibung der Jesuiten gestellt worden ist, und wie man Gottes schützende Vaterhand anrief, daß sie immer so walten möge über dem Schweizervolke, wie sie dazumal gewaltet hat, als es dem General Dufour gelang, die Schweiz von Jesuiten zu säubern. Das war einmal! — 1847.
[ 9 ] Aber nicht nur diese Dinge, auch manche andere haben wesentliche Wandlungen erfahren im Laufe des letzten halben Jahrhunderts. Und diese Wandlungen haben einen ganz bestimmten Charakter. Sie haben den Charakter, daß derjenige, der sich nur verlassen will auf den Erfolg der äußeren Ereignisse, wie sie sich abgespielt haben in dieser Zeit, ganz notwendig in Verwirrung kommen muß. Die beste Art, in Verwirrung zu kommen, nicht herauszufinden aus gewissen Knäueln und Knoten, ist, bloß diese äußeren Ereignisse des letzten halben oder der letzten zwei Drittel des Jahrhunderts auf sich wirken zu lassen. Es bedarf eben, wenn der Mensch seinen Weg heute richtig finden will, einer orientierenden Richtung, die durchaus von innen kommt, eines Impulses. Und in das Chaos hinein, dessen Grund eben die Verwirrung ist, daß man sich nur auf die äußeren Ereignisse verlassen will, sind verschlungen auch die besten Bestrebungen aus der letzten Zeit. Es darf ja natürlich nicht verkannt werden, daß diese neueste Zeit auf den verschiedensten Gebieten des Lebens, namentlich auf dem Gebiet der Technik und dessen, was an Wissenschaft mit der Technik in Verbindung steht, große, bedeutungsvolle Fortschritte erlebt und Triumphe gefeiert hat, und daß nach dieser Richtung hin ein Lob der neuesten Zeit durchaus gerechtfertigt ist. Allein, auch wenn Sie die besten wissenschaftlichen Ausflüsse der neueren Kultur, die besten technischen Errungenschaften, wenn Sie alles das nehmen, was auch als Gutes aus diesem verworrenen Knoten der neuesten Kultur hervorgegangen ist, Sie können darinnen viel Nützliches finden, viel Aufklärendes, vieles von dem, was den Menschen insbesondere in materieller Beziehung bis zu einem gewissen Grade weiterbringen kann; aber Sie können nichts, weder im wissenschaftlichen, weder im technischen noch auf irgendeinem anderen Gebiete, auch auf den Gebieten - ich muß es immer wieder betonen —, die Gutes gebracht haben, finden, was aus der Außenwelt herein so in die menschlichen Seelen leuchten könnte, daß der Mensch selber an diesen von der Außenwelt kommenden Dingen einen Richtimpuls erhalten könnte. Deshalb mußte sich Geisteswissenschaft gerade in diese Zeit hereinstellen, weil aus ihr dasjenige kommen soll, was aus keiner Außenwelt entnommen ist, was nur den geistigen Welten entnommen ist und entnommen ist so, daß, wenn es in die Außenwelt einfließt, eben durchaus einen Impuls darstellt, der nichts zu tun hat mit alldem, was der Außenwelt selbst heute entnommen werden kann. Es ist ein aus den geistigen Welten in diese Außenwelt hineingetragener Impuls, was mit der anthroposophisch orientierten Geisteswissenschaft gegeben werden soll. Nach dieser Richtung wird man ja heute gründlich mißverstanden, und einer Aufklärung nach einer gewissen Seite hin dienten meine gestrigen Auseinandersetzungen. Ich wollte namentlich darauf hinweisen, wie man nicht sagen darf, wir trügen in jenen Schulimpuls, der allerdings herausgeboren ist aus der Geistesschau, oder wir trügen in unsere praktischen Maßnahmen irgend etwas hinein, was nur eine theoretische Weltanschauung wäre. Ich habe gestern gesagt, wie fern die Wirklichkeit von dem ist, was in einer solchen Behauptung liegt. Aber auch das Umgekehrte darf man nicht sagen, und dies hängt wieder zusammen mit einer richtigen Auffassung anthroposophisch orientierter Geisteswissenschaft: Man darf auch nicht sagen, daß so, wie sich die Menschen das heute gewöhnlich vorstellen, irgendeine äußere Betätigung aus einer Theorie kommt, aus einem Programm; man darf sich nicht vorstellen, daß dasjenige, was wir, sei es auf einem solchen Gebiete, wie auf dem der Schule, sei es auf einem Gebiete, wie dem des praktisch-ökonomischen Lebens, gründen, aus irgendeinem Programm hervorginge, so wie man sich heute vorstellt, daß die Dinge aus Programmen hervorgehen.
[ 10 ] Mir sagte zum Beispiel vor einigen Tagen jemand: Im Grunde genommen wäre es doch nicht zu dieser besonderen Anschauung der «Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus» gekommen, wenn diese Dreigliederung nicht herausentsprungen wäre aus der Anthroposophie. — Ich mußte einen solchen Ausspruch gründlich berichtigen, denn es ist tatsächlich — und hier muß ich einige persönliche Dinge einfügen, die aber durchaus sachlich gemeint sind, und die mit der Sache sehr viel zu tun haben — das, was Ihnen und anderen heute als «Dreigliederung» entgegentritt, insofern es von mir konzipiert worden ist, ganz und gar nicht aus einem abstrakten Gedanken entsprungen, nicht aus einem Nachdenken darüber, wie das soziale Leben eingerichtet sein soll, damit nun auch irgend etwas herauskäme von jenem utopistischen Charakter, wie man ihn in mancherlei Ausführungen der Gegenwart findet. So ist das nicht geworden. Es ist gewissermaßen bei mir selbst das geistige Anschauen die eine Strömung gewesen, die nur selbstverständlich im Leben zusammenfloß mit den anderen Strömungen; und namentlich die wirtschaftliche Strömung, die wirtschaftliche Anschauung ist durchaus auf dem eigenen Grund und Boden ihres Lebens entstanden.
[ 11 ] Ich habe es ja vor Jahren einmal ausgeführt, woher gerade diese meine Anschauung des wirtschaftlichen Lebens der neueren Zeit, der wirtschaftlichen Notwendigkeiten entsprungen ist. Das mußte ich auch erwidern, als mir gesagt wurde, diese Dreigliederung sei aus der Anthroposophie herausgeholt, gewissermaßen wie man heute abstraktlogisch aus irgendeinem Programm das herausholt, was man dann als Impulse aufstellt. Ich habe ja mein Knabenleben zugebracht als Sohn eines kleinen Eisenbahnbeamten, zu einer Zeit, als in den sechziger, siebziger Jahren die Eisenbahnen sich erst, ich möchte sagen, aus einem halb embryonalen Leben herausentwickelt haben. Zu dem, was dann das große Verkehrswesen geworden ist, ist es ja im Grunde genommen erst später gekommen. Ich nahm teil an all den Maßnahmen, die noch unter dem Einfluß der ersten tonangebenden Eisenbahnbauten standen. Ich stand also unmittelbar unter dem Eindruck des aufstrebenden Verkehrslebens. Diese Anschauung hat sich später mit etwas anderem verbunden, was dazumal dazu geführt hat, das Wirtschaftsleben so vorstellen zu müssen, wie ich es eben vorstellen mußte im Sinne der «Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus».
[ 12 ] Wir müssen bedenken: bis in die siebziger Jahre des vorigen Jahrhunderts hinein war ja das Wesentlichste, das Grundelement der neueren Entwickelung die Umgestaltung des Verkehrs. Der Weltverkehr war das, was sich in dieser Zeit entwickelte. In dieser letzten Zeit des Weltverkehrs, unmittelbar unter dem täglichen, stündlichen Einfluß der Einzelheiten, die sich mit diesem Weltverkehr entwickelten, stand ich dazumal drinnen. Und dann kam im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts, im letzten Viertel eigentlich erst, der große Umschwung, der vom Weltverkehr führte zu der Weltwirtschaft.
[ 13 ] Weltwirtschaft ist etwas anderes als Weltverkehr. Der Weltverkehr hat erst die Weltwirtschaft herbeigeführt. Der Weltverkehr ist nur die letzte Phase der Ausbildung der Nationalwirtschaft. Was im einzelnen Lande bereitet wird, im wesentlichen natürlich, wird durch den Weltverkehr ausgeglichen über die verschiedenen Länder; aber es besteht eine gewisse Individualität der Produktion für die einzelnen Länder. Das ist dann unter dem Einfluß des Verkehrswesens selber anders geworden. Die Welt ging über vom Weltverkehr zur Weltwirtschaft. Und Weltwirtschaft ist erst da, wenn im ausgiebigsten Maße in einem Lande die Rohprodukte eingekauft werden, nach dem anderen Lande verfrachtet und dort industriell verarbeitet werden. Es ist also nicht nur durch den Verkehr, sondern durch die Wirtschaft selber der eine Staat, das eine Land von dem anderen abhängig, so daß gewissermaßen die Wirtschaft selber sich über die verschiedenen Länder ausbreitet. Diese Ausbreitung der Weltwirtschaft, dieses sich gewissermaßen Zusammenschließen der Welt zu einer gemeinsamen Weltwirtschaft, fällt im wesentlichen in die letzten Jahrzehnte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Und es ist, ich möchte sagen, ganz und gar so entstanden, wie es sich am allereindringlichsten gezeigt hat in der Versorgung der europäischen Textilindustrien mit indischer und amerikanischer Baumwolle.
[ 14 ] Gerade die Baumwollindustrie war es, an der man in charakteristischer Weise erleben konnte die Umwandlung des Weltverkehrs in die Weltwirtschaft. Und in der Zeit, in der man noch genau sehen konnte, wie sich das vollzieht, war ich acht Jahre hindurch Erzieher in einem Hause, durch welches eben nur Baumwolle von Indien und Amerika nach Europa verfrachtet worden ist, in welchem nur Baumwollagenten und Fabrikanten von solchen Dingen verkehrten, die aus Baumwolle gearbeitet werden, und man lebte da ganz in den Interessen, die sich über alles das ausspannen, was eben von diesen Dingen kommt. Ich lebte ganz darinnen, weil ich niemals diese äußeren Dinge für gering ansah und etwa sagte, man müsse sich in ein mystisches Halbdunkel zurückziehen vor diesen äußeren Dingen; ich interessierte mich durchaus tief dafür, zumal wenn jene Depeschen ankamen, die man durch Schlüssel übersetzte. Es kam eine Depesche an, darauf stand «Drahtzieher». Dieses «Drahtzieher» mußte man dann aufsuchen im Schlüsselbuch, und das bedeutete: Haus so und so bietet an so und so viele Ballen Baumwolle zu diesem und jenem Preis. - Aus dem Worte «Drahtzieher» zog man alles das heraus, was dann unter Umständen eine sehr bedeutende geschäftliche Unternehmung werden konnte.
[ 15 ] Während dieser Zeit, während ich mich intensiv interessierte für die Muster der amerikanischen und indischen Baumwolle, die da ankamen, die im Kontor wirklich ganz hoch aufgestapelt waren, jedes mit seiner Spezifikation, mit seinem Papierstreifchen, worauf ganz interessante Dinge standen, während ich diese sorgfältig studierte — verzeihen Sie, daß ich eben diese persönliche Bemerkung mache, aber sie hängt mit dem Sachlichen in einer gewissen Weise zusammen -, studierte ich zugleich Goethes «Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie», und das ging vollständig parallel. Und im Grunde genommen lag in dem, was mir dazumal aus dem Studium der «Grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie» zufloß, das, was dann nach dreimal sieben Jahren, nach einundzwanzig Jahren zu meinem ersten Mysterium «Die Pforte der Einweihung» führte.
[ 16 ] Ich wollte nur diese paar Beispiele anführen, ich könnte sie noch durch manche andere vermehren. Aber ich mußte dem Manne, der mir sagte, daß das, was ich über das wirtschaftliche Leben denke, aus einer — wie er natürlich meinte — abstrakten Anthroposophie geflossen sei, erwidern, daß ich durchaus das Verkehrswesen mitgemacht habe, Frachtbriefe geschrieben habe — wie ich noch Tintenkleckse darauf gemacht habe, außer den Zeichen, die ich auf die Frachtbriefe habe schreiben müssen -, daß ich miterlebt habe die Baumwollindustrie und den Baumwollhandel, und daß aus diesen Dingen heraus, die gerade zusammenhängen mit dem ganzen Nerv des Lebens der neueren Zeit, das entstanden ist, was meine wirtschaftlichen Anschauungen sind. Das sind eben keine Theorien, das ist wirklich hervorgeholt aus dem Leben. Und ich habe nur das eine Gefühl, daß man diese Dinge aus dem Leben hervorholen kann, wenn man den guten Willen hat, das Leben wirklich anzuschauen. Man muß das Leben allerdings auch da anschauen, wo es manche verachten, wenn man zu dem kommen will, was wirklich auch Lebenspraxis sein kann, was sich lebenspraktisch ausnehmen kann. Und gerade aus alledem, was sich da ergeben hat aus der Lebenspraxis heraus, aus dem Drinnenstehen in der Lebenspraxis, auch aus dem verworrenen Knoten der Lebenspraxis, konnte man diese Dinge hervorholen. Denn unter denjenigen Menschen, die mir dazumal entgegengetreten sind, standen manche, die noch in ihrem Lebensschicksal die Nachwirkungen der großen Krise vom Jahre 1873 hatten.
[ 17 ] Allerdings, gerade damals zeigten sich jene merkwürdigen Zusammenhänge zwischen Weltanschauung und äußerem wirtschaftlichem Leben, jene Zusammenhänge, die gerade durch unsere Art zu denken über das geistige Leben auf der einen Seite und über das wirtschaftliche auf der anderen Seite, überwunden werden sollen. Direktor jener Bahn, an der mein Vater angestellt war, war dazumal ein Mann namens Bontoux. Jener Bontoux war, ich möchte sagen, ein kleiner Halbgott für die Umgebung, in der ich dazumal lebte. Die Frau Bontoux, die man, ich weiß nicht aus welchem Grunde, nur «die Baronin» nannte, galt als eine außerordentlich fromme Frau, und es waren wirklich von einem gewissen Gesichtspunkt aus außerordentlich fromme Leute, Bontoux verließ dann den Generaldirektorposten der Südbahn, trat in ein Konsortium ein, ein großes Unternehmen, das von Frankreich bis nach Serbien seine Fangarme erstreckte, und seiner «Frömmigkeit» gelang es, riesige Geschäfte zu machen, im Dienste allerdings nicht weltlicher Mächte, sondern jener frommen Mächte, in deren Dienst er sich auch sonst gestellt hatte, wenn er das Gebetbuch in der Hand hatte. - Dann krachte die ganze Sache zusammen, und es entstand der berühmte BontouxKrach, aus dem zur rechten Zeit eine gewisse kirchliche Gemeinschaft ihre Finger herausgezogen hatte und den Bontoux allein hineinsausen ließ. Aber es war dazumal sehr deutlich zu bemerken ein gewisses Hineintragen von Weltanschauungsideen, sagen wir, in finanzielle Unternehmungen, und man konnte da sehr gut lernen, was man nicht tun soll. Allerdings, manche Leute können sich nicht vorstellen, daß man das in der richtigen Weise gelernt hat und daß das dahin geführt hat, daß man sich den Zusammenhang zwischen Anthroposophie und Kommender Tag und Futurum ganz anders denkt, als sich der Bontoux den Zusammenhang gedacht hat der katholischen Kirche mit der Serbischen Bank.
[ 18 ] Diese Dinge sind alle durchaus aus dem Leben abgelesen. Und daß man aus dem Leben ablesen kann, daß man nicht mit theoretischen Dogmen an das Leben herantrete, das ist gerade das, was von richtig verstandener Anthroposophie kommen soll. Anthroposophie unterscheidet sich nämlich von anderen Weltanschauungen dadurch — oder soll sich wenigstens dadurch unterscheiden -, daß sie selbstlos sein kann, das heißt, daß sie nicht überall auf ihre Dogmen trommelt, sondern daß sie tatsächlich die Anleitung gibt, um das Leben in seiner Fülle, in seiner Breite kennenzulernen. Nur dadurch kann sie ja die wichtigsten, die grundwichtigsten Forderungen und Notwendigkeiten gerade der gegenwärtigen menschlichen Entwickelung erfüllen.
[ 19 ] Wer mit offenen Augen sah, was man erleben konnte bei einem wirklichen Hineinschauen in das, was geschah, der sah überall die Verwirrung, der sah, daß selbst in den Guten durchaus die Verwirrung lebte, und daß man verloren sein mußte, wenn man darauf angewiesen war, nur fortzuschwimmen in dem, was die äußere Welt darbot. Dahinein mußte der Impuls aus Geisteslanden fließen, der, ich möchte sagen, aus einem ganz anderen Quellpunkt heraus Richtung zu geben berufen ist dem, was eben von außen her diese Richtung nicht bekommen kann, selbst da nicht, wo das Gute dieses Äußeren lebt.
[ 20 ] Das ist es, was gerade den Beruf anthroposophisch orientierter Geisteswissenschaft zum Ausdruck bringt. Aber man bedenke nur, was für ein Antrieb in dieser Zeit liegt, wo sich die äußeren Ereignisse überall, sei es im wissenschaftlichen, sei es im anderen kulturellen Leben, sei es im äußeren praktischen Leben, zu einem unentwirrbaren Knäuel formen. Man bedenke, was in dieser Zeit an Notwendigkeiten vorliegt, gerade aus geistigen Untergründen heraus etwas zu finden, was in der Welt heute richtunggebend sein kann.
[ 21 ] Man bedenke aber auch, wie auf der anderen Seite aus diesen Dingen heraus noch eine andere Veranlassung für den Menschen kam. Das ist diese: Wenn sich der Mensch nun überläßt dem Strom der unlösbaren Knoten, so kommt er in die Versuchung, seine Führung nicht selbst mit seiner Seele zu besorgen, sondern sich hinzugeben dem verwirrenden Äußeren, sich tragen zu lassen von dem Flusse des verwirrenden Äußeren. — Das hat man sehen können, zum großen Schmerze, wie die Menschen unter diesem Einfluß immer unselbständiger und unselbständiger wurden, wie sie auf der einen Seite den Drang bekamen zum eigenen Urteil, aber als eigenes Urteil dann doch nur das formten, was sich ihnen aus dem verknoteten, chaotischen äußeren Leben auf ihnen unbekannten Wegen eindrängte. Die Menschen möchten selbständig sein, weil nun einmal die Forderung der Freiheit im Unterbewußten der Menschen lebt. Die Menschen bilden sich auch ein, selbständig zu sein, aber sie überlassen sich, weil Selbständigsein, das heißt Freisein, heute ein starkes Aufrütteln des Inneren bedeutet, sie aber dieses Aufrütteln nicht wollen, dem Strom, der eben in der geschilderten Weise abläuft. Da kommen sie in dieser Weise namentlich in ahrimanische Einflüsse hinein, in das, was mit allerlei schönen und schön geprägten Worten nach dem Geistigen hinzielt, was aber doch in nichts anderem wurzelt als in persönlichen Egoismen und in der Sucht, diese persönlichen Egoismen tragen zu lassen von dem sozialen Leben.
[ 22 ] Es ist das wichtigste Charakteristikum der Gegenwart, daß die Menschen im Grunde genommen vollgepfropft sind mit Egoismen, und daß, wenn sie von sozialen Forderungen sprechen, sie eigentlich meinen: Wie wird der Egoismus am besten von der Sozietät getragen? — Im Grunde genommen sprechen die Leute von sozialem Leben und meinen das egoistische Leben. Sie möchten ein solches soziales Leben, daß der Egoismus darinnen am besten gedeihen kann.
[ 23 ] So konnte allerdings nicht die «Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus» reden. Sie konnte nicht von einem Paradiese reden. Das muß sie den Lenins und Trotzkis und so weiter überlassen. Sie kann nur reden von dem, was im Gesellschaftskörper organisch möglich ist, von dem, was lebensfähig ist, von dem, was geschehen kann, was sich vollziehen kann. Und zu dem müssen wir gelangen. Denn wenn wir uns Illusionen vormachen wollen und Illusionen anstreben, so werden wir durchaus nicht weiterkommen können.
[ 24 ] Wir müssen uns angewöhnen, nicht aus einem abstrakten Prinzip heraus das ganze Leben zu betrachten, sondern im Leben aufzugehen, die Einzelheiten des Lebens mit vollem Anteil zu betrachten, gleichgültig ob sie anscheinend ganz geistigen Dingen angehören oder ob sie anscheinend ganz materiellen Dingen angehören. Es hat sich einmal ein großer Umschwung dadurch vollzogen, daß gewissermaßen das Wirtschaftsleben der ganzen Welt ein einziger Körper geworden ist, und die Menschheit konnte das nicht verstehen, konnte es nicht ertragen. Man hat es nur deklamiert, man hat es nicht innerlich verstanden. Gewiß, vieles ist erschienen über Weltwirtschaft, aber das waren alles Phrasen, denn diese Reden von der Weltwirtschaft, dieses Anschauen der Weltwirtschaft ist nicht immer verdaut worden. Und so ist es gekommen, daß die Menschen zunächst in die Weltwirtschaft hineingetrieben worden sind, daß sie aber nicht verstanden haben, das Leben darnach einzurichten, und jetzt in einer Welt leben, die nun Schranken über Schranken aufrichtet, die unmögliche nationale Wirtschaften durch alle möglichen Schranken, Zoll- und Paßschranken in der furchtbarsten Weise konservieren möchte, die also etwas, was im Grunde genommen schon längst nicht mehr da ist, konservieren möchte.
[ 25 ] Das, was wir heute erleben, ist nichts anderes als das Nichtverstehen dessen, was heraufgezogen ist, weil dieses Leben im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts und in den ersten zwei Jahrzehnten des 20. Jahrhunderts im Grunde genommen verwirrende Knoten dargeboten hat, denen man sich äußerlich nicht überlassen durfte. Aus diesem Sich-Hingeben an das Chaos, an die verwirrenden Knoten, entstand schließlich das, was sich so vielfach gerade ausprägt in den Feindseligkeiten gegen Anthroposophie. Diese Feindseligkeiten nehmen ja heute sowohl extensiv, wie namentlich auch intensiv, die unglaublichsten Dimensionen an. Und man kann sagen: Aus dem, was sich der äußeren Welt übergibt in dem angedeuteten negativen Sinne — ich habe ja auch den positiven Sinn hingestellt, der Welt sich zu übergeben, indem man nämlich auch mit den Baumwollballen leben konnte -, aus dem heraus entstehen heute alle die Dinge, die in einer so merkwürdigen Weise auftreten. Kann man denn nicht eigentlich schon, wenn man rein äußerlich die Dinge nimmt, an der ganzen Art und Weise, wie man diese Dinge ausdrückt, ersehen, von welchem Geiste diese Dinge beseelt sind, wenn man da überhaupt von Beseelung sprechen kann? [Es wird vorgelesen:] «Über Steiners Goetheanum in Dornach wurde gesagt: «Der Besuch reute uns aber nicht, und wir möchten jedem, der sich ein Urteil über Dr. Steiner bilden will, raten, diesen Tempel, dieses Abbild seines Geistes, mit eigenen Augen zu sehen. Wofür hält sich dieser Mann und wofür hält er die andern, daß er es wagt, jeden Anfall, jeden Fiebertraum seines Hirns so in Beton gießen, in Holz meißeln, in Glas schleifen und an die Wand malen zu lassen?» »
[ 26 ] Und zuletzt hat sich mit den verschiedensten Leuten, den Chauvinisten, den extremen Sozialisten, namentlich der Führerschaft des Sozialismus und so weiter, mit all denen hat sich ja in der letzten Zeit noch ein merkwürdiges Völkchen verbunden, allerdings, es ist nicht ganz neueren Datums, denn man konnte die Bestrebungen dieses Völkchens auch schon im Jahre 1912, 1913 kennenlernen. An das, was ich Ihnen eben vorgelesen habe, werden nämlich ganz merkwürdige Sätze angeknüpft: «Das sind nur ganz kleine Stichproben gegnerischer Angriffe» — und nun äußert der Verfasser seine Meinung, woher diese gegnerischen Angriffe kommen — «unter der Uranusströmung. Wir sehen, an Hohn und Spott fehlt es schon jetzt nicht. Ganz besonders aber gibt die Warnung eines haßerfüllten Gegners zu denken.»
[ 27 ] Die will ich dann vorlesen. Das Völkchen aber, das sich so mit den anderen verschiedenen Gegnern verbunden hat, ist das der Astrologen, und dahinter liegt eine ganz besondere Ruchlosigkeit — die ja allerdings bei vielen ganz unbewußt ist —, weil man mit diesen Dingen sehr viel machen kann, und weil darin etwas besonders Aufreizendes liegt. Aber sehr sonderbar sind doch die Dinge, wenn man sie nun zusammenstellt. Da findet sich zum Beispiel ein Angriff, der enthält die Worte: «Wir halten es für sehr notwendig, auf Rudolf Steiner ein wachsames Auge zu haben. Der Mann, der auf Judentum, Kommunisten und idealistisch verschrobene Köpfe sich stützend, in Württemberg in der Revolutionszeit Kultusminister werden wollte, gibt seine Partie auf dem politischen Theater unseres engeren Vaterlandes sicherlich nicht verloren.»
[ 28 ] Hier wird also geredet von einer Gemeinschaft mit Judentum und Kommunisten. Halten wir einen anderen Angriff dagegen. Es ist gut, diese Dinge zu vergleichen, denn in der Vergleichung mag sich vielleicht einzelnes ergeben: «Alle bisherigen Religionsstifter wie Christus, Buddha und alle Weisen und Propheten» — ich glaube nicht, daß ich jemals auf solch einen Titel im entferntesten Anspruch gemacht habe, aber die Gegner tun es, wie es scheint — «haben niemals auf Äußeres, auf irdische Schätze, auf Paläste und Tempel viel gegeben, im Gegenteil, sie sind ohne wesentliches Besitztum geblieben, haben ohne äußeren Aufwand die Menschen unterrichtet, geistig höher geführt oder gelehrt, im stillen Kämmerlein zu beten! Sie haben ihre geistigen Ideen und weisen Lehren durchgesetzt, ohne die materielle Hilfe reicher Kommerzienräte zu bedürfen.»
[ 29 ] Also sehen Sie, auf der einen Seite die Gemeinschaft mit den Kommunisten und mit dem Judentum, auf der anderen Seite die Gemeinschaft mit reichen Kommerzienräten. Es fehlt bloß noch die Gemeinschaft mit besonders tonangebenden Generälen! Es muß schon einmal betont werden, da diese Dinge ja gesagt werden müssen, und, wie mir scheint, sie niemand anderes sagt: Ich weiß, daß weder die, die hier als Kommunisten, noch die, welche als Kommerzienräte geschildert werden - auch wenn noch Generäle genannt wären —, es mir alle nicht übelnehmen würden, wenn ich sage, daß durchaus einmal genau untersucht werden müßte, ob ich selber irgend jemanden, sei es von diesen «Kommunisten», sei es von diesen «Kommerzienräten» oder «Generälen», für mich gebraucht hätte? — Ich hätte sie alle entbehren können, und man müßte erst untersuchen, ob ich zu ihnen oder sie zu mir gekommen sind. Das ist, was zunächst einmal ins Auge gefaßt werden müßte, das ist etwas, was doch sehr stark in Betracht kommt.
[ 30 ] Und noch etwas anderes. Wenn nun auf der einen Seite wirklich so gesprochen wird: Rudolf Steiner kann nur auf Judentum, Kommunisten und so weiter sich stützen —, auf der anderen Seite: Die bisherigen Religionsstifter haben ihre geistigen Ideen und weisen Lehren durchgesetzt, ohne der materiellen Hilfe reicher Kommerzienräte zu bedürfen -, so kann man sagen, das klingt so ähnlich, wie 1908 von seiten der Jesuiten die Verleumdung aufgetaucht ist, daß ich ein besonders gefährlicher Freimaurer sei, während auf der anderen Seite die Verleumdung aufgetaucht ist, ich sei selber Jesuit. — So «genau» kennen einen die Leute! Aber man sollte doch einmal nachdenken darüber, ob nicht vielleicht gerade das, was am notwendigsten ist heute ins Auge zu fassen, sowohl im Kommunisten wie im Juden wie auch im reichen Kommerzienrat steckt: der Mensch. Heute kommt es auf den Menschen an, und was gesucht werden muß, ist der Mensch in jeder Form. Denn die alten Parteischablonen, wie Kommunisten, die alten Volkszusammenhänge, wie Juden, und schließlich auch die alten Kommerzienratstitel bedeuten heute nur noch außerordentlich wenig, wo wir mit aller Gewalt hineinkommen müssen ins allgemein Menschliche.
[ 31 ] Aber es scheint, daß diejenigen ganz. besonders ahrimanisch besessen sind, die mit allem möglichen geistverwandt sind, nur nicht mit dem, was nun wirklich einen geistigen Impuls in die heute verworrene Menschheitsentwickelung hineinbringen will. Und so kann man sich schon auch ruhig anhören, wenn gesagt wird: «Planetarische Einflüsse von Saturn und Uranus mögen für den persönlichen Menschen unheilvoll wirken, ihm schwere Sorgen oder Feindseligkeiten bringen — aber — der Mensch wird dadurch gezwungen, sein niedriges Ich-Leben zu beherrschen und zu überwinden und es schließlich reif zu machen für den Menschheitsdienst. Die Gestirnseinflüsse von 1921 werden also Herrn Dr. Rudolf Steiner — wie alle Menschen mit ähnlichem Wurzelhoroskop — entweder seelisch erschüttern, zu erhöhter geistiger Anstrengung, zur Vertiefung und Konzentration zwingen — oder ihnen, falls die astralischen Einflüsse nicht geistig verwertet werden — schwere materielle Schädigungen, schmerzliche Verluste oder körperliche Erkrankungen bringen. — Manche Ende Februar Geborene aus kritischen Jahren können auch in persönliche Gefahr kommen, was stets aus den einzelnen Grundhoroskopen klarer ersichtlich ist.»
[ 32 ] Nun, es ist durchaus nicht nötig, daß aus den Uranus- und Saturneinflüssen gesagt wird, es sei notwendig, das Ich-Leben zu beherrschen und dergleichen; denn ich habe versucht, Ihnen zu schildern, aus welchen Untergründen heraus zum Beispiel die «Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus» und so etwas wie «Die Pforte der Einweihung» entsprungen sind, und ich selbst kann ruhig hinsehen auf alles das, was von Saturn- und Uranuseinflüssen kommt. Das sind nicht die Dinge, die mich besorgt machen. Besorgt machen mich ganz andere Dinge. Und solange das Folgende figuriert, solange kann ja schon einige Besorgtheit bestehen. Aber die Dinge, die daran geknüpft werden, müßten doch in einem anderen Lichte gesehen werden.
[ 33 ] Es wird hier ein besonders haßerfüllter Gegner angeführt, der das Folgende sagt: «Geistige Feuerfunken, die Blitzen gleich nach der hölzernen Mäusefalle [gemeint ist das Goetheanum] zischen, sind also genügend vorhanden, und es wird schon einiger Klugheit Steiners bedürfen,
[ 34 ] Hier ist sehr deutlich auf etwas hingewiesen, was die Welt gerne sehen möchte hier am Dornacher Hügel!
[ 35 ] Und dann findet sich das Völkchen und sucht nach den Gründen, solche drohenden Aussprüche ganz und gar den Wirkungen des Uranus in der Nähe der Sonne und so weiter zuzuschreiben. Also nicht nur an Extensität sind die Angriffe da, sie sind auch von einer merkwürdigen Intensität beseelt. Und vor allen Dingen, was mich betrifft, möchte ich sagen: Wo die Uranuseinflüsse sich so äußern, da zeigen sie wohl, daß sie nicht gerade von guter Seite her kommen können! Da zeigen sie schon durch ihr eigenes Auftreten, wes Geistes Kind sie sind.
[ 36 ] Aber auf der anderen Seite müssen wir uns durchaus klar sein: Wenn über eine Sache aus den «geistigen Feuerfunken», von denen gesagt wird, daß sie «genugsam vorhanden sind», herbeigesehnt wird der «physische Feuerfunke», dann bedarf es des wachsenden Sorgens derjenigen, die vielleicht mit einiger Liebe an dem hängen, was äußerlich hier zustande gekommen ist, und an dem, was damit zusammenhängt. Es ist wirklich nötig, einige Sorge darauf zu verwenden, das Werk, das nun wirklich zusammengetragen ist aus der Arbeit und den Opfern vieler, zu bewahren. Denn derjenigen Leute, die mit ihrem ideellen oder sogar zu einer ruchlosen Tat schreitenden Willen dieses Werk haßerfüllt anschauen, sind heute wirklich genügend viele vorhanden!
[ 37 ] Sie könnten sagen, ich hätte das hier nicht verlesen sollen. — O nein, meine lieben Freunde, davon kann gar nicht die Rede sein! Daß es in der Welt bekannt wird bei den anderen Leuten, dafür werden schon die anderen sorgen. Aber daß es unter Ihnen auch bekannt werde, die Sie vielleicht doch etwas anderes fühlen in solchen Dingen, wenigstens die meisten unter Ihnen, dafür muß ich doch einigermaßen sorgen. Denn es könnte sonst durch die Sitten, die einmal eingerissen sind in weitesten Kreisen gerade dieses Saales, nun unseren Freunden verborgen bleiben. Denn es bleibt ja so vieles leider verborgen. Es soll aber gerade ein wenig in die Wachheit unserer Freunde hineinblitzen, was heute schon sehr intensiv, haßgeballt sich geltend macht gegen das, was anthroposophisch orientierte Geisteswissenschaft will.
[ 38 ] Und es war nicht etwa bloß, um einen Witz zu machen, wenn ich gestern sagen mußte: die Gegner sind in vieler Beziehung andere Kerle; und sie werden sich noch als andere Kerle erweisen, wenn wir nicht auch versuchen, wachsam zu sein, Wächter zu sein desjenigen, was durch viele Opfer und viele Arbeit zustandegebracht worden ist.
[ 39 ] Denn wenn es schon, wie es heute der Fall ist, gelingt, daß das Schlechte so viele Wächter findet, so sollte es doch auch möglich sein, daß dasjenige, was wir doch immerhin als das Gute ansehen müssen, auch seine Wächter fände! Seien Sie treuliche Wächter des Geistesgutes, von dem wir auch heute wiederum aus gewissen Zusammenhängen heraus sagen mußten: Es ist nicht durch irgendeine subjektive Idee allein in die Welt gebracht, es ist aus der Beobachtung des Lebens in diese Welt gebracht, aus der Anschauung der Forderungen, welche menschliche sind, welche die wichtigsten menschlichen Forderungen sind in diesem unserem Zeitalter und die immer wichtiger werden, je mehr wir der nächsten Zukunft entgegengehen. Seien Sie auf alle diejenigen aufmerksam, die dieses der Menschheit notwendige Werk vernichten wollen! Denn dieser Wille zum Vernichten ist heute in vielen ein sehr, sehr starker. Seien Sie selbst stark, denn dasjenige, was in jener geistigen Bewegung lebt, die auch diesen Bau hier zustande gebracht hat, das ist nicht aus dem Chaos heraus entstanden, das ist ein Impuls, der in das Chaos hineingebracht worden ist. Und kommt man ihm nur nahe, dann wird man fühlen: es gibt Kraft, es gibt Leben. Seien Sie Wächter, wahre Wächter desjenigen, was Sie ja gewählt zu haben scheinen zu dem Ihrigen, indem Sie sich hineingestellt haben in diese anthroposophisch orientierte geisteswissenschaftliche Bewegung.
Seventh Lecture
[ 1 ] Today I would like to add a few things to the reflections we have been making here recently about cosmic and human truths, but preferably about truths of the kind we mentioned again yesterday, which are connected with the nature of the development of humanity in our time. In order to supplement what has been said in one direction or another, it may be necessary today to insert here and there a remark that is only seemingly personal. You know that I do this very rarely, but even when I do, it is always, as is the case today, in order to explain something strictly factual.
[ 2 ] We live in a time that demands something very specific from human beings. It demands, one might say, a decision that comes from the innermost core of the human being. It must be recognized and understood that we are only just entering the age of human freedom. And this rumbling in the intellectual, moral, and social spheres is nothing more than an expression of the fact that deeper forces of human development are bringing humanity into the realm of freedom.
[ 3 ] We need only look at our own lives or the lives of other peoples, look impartially at what is happening, and we will tell ourselves that there are numerous factors that determine the individual human being, entire peoples, communities of peoples, groups of human beings, either from outside or, indeed, from within, but not freely. This being carried along by circumstances is, in essence, what has been the real driving force behind the development of humanity. But human beings must increasingly free themselves from this driving force. And the future of the earth will consist in human beings increasingly developing what must be characterized today by saying that, for the first time, human beings are truly faced with meaningful decisions.
[ 4 ] This “being faced with important decisions,” decisions that must be made from the innermost depths of the human breast, the human heart, the human soul, is also expressed in the external course of events. We actually pay far too little attention to the great upheavals that have taken place in all areas of political, social, spiritual, and scientific life during the second half of the 19th century.
[ 5 ] Let us take a very obvious example. You know that among the numerous enemies of the anthroposophical movement today are the clerics of this country [Switzerland], who clearly show that Jesuit power is behind them and that Jesuit power is something that has some influence in this country. One need only consider what is happening in various fields today to see how strongly this power is once again intertwined for many people with what they call external education in religion and so on. It could therefore be interesting, especially for this country, to take a look at a remarkable document which I had photographed because I found it so interesting. This document comes from Switzerland and was issued in Switzerland in 1847. I will read it aloud:
[ 6 ] “Dedicated to the Swiss Army and its brave leaders as a lasting memorial to commemorate November 24, 1847, when Jesuit rule in Switzerland came to an end.”
[ 7 ] The Almighty has granted victory to the just cause. The days from November 12 to 30, 1847, will remain unforgettable for every Swiss soldier. During this period, the seven Catholic cantons of Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Fribourg, and Valais, armed for war, were threatened on all sides by an imposing and combative army of 100,000 men under the command of General Wilhelm Heinrich Dufour of Geneva, following the decisions of the Diet of 20 July and 4 November 1847. Winter 1847, threatened on all sides by an imposing and combative army of 100,000 men, capitulated one after the other to the commander-in-chief, General Wilhelm Heinrich Dufour of Geneva, are among the most memorable events in Swiss history. With relatively few casualties, the clever and war-experienced commander-in-chief succeeded, through his excellent strategic orders, after several battles... completely subjugate within a few days the Catholic brothers who had been enslaved by a tyrannical government, fanatized and blinded by the hypocritical clergy, and who faced the federal troops, including the militia, with an enemy army of over 80,000 men, break up the Sonderbund, and remove the Jesuits from Switzerland." And the concluding sentence, which I find particularly interesting, reads: “God's protective fatherly hand was over the army.”
[ 8 ] You can see the protection afforded to the expulsion of the Jesuits at that time, and how God's protective hand was invoked to continue to rule over the Swiss people as it had done when General Dufour succeeded in ridding Switzerland of the Jesuits. That was once! — 1847.
[ 9 ] But not only these things, many others have also undergone significant changes over the last half-century. And these changes have a very specific character. They are such that anyone who relies solely on the success of external events as they have unfolded during this period is bound to end up in confusion. The best way to end up in confusion, to remain entangled in certain knots and tangles, is to simply allow the external events of the last half or two-thirds of the century to affect you. If people want to find the right path today, they need an orienting direction that comes entirely from within, an impulse. And the best efforts of recent times are also entangled in the chaos caused by the confusion that arises from relying solely on external events. Of course, it should not be overlooked that this latest period has seen great and significant progress and celebrated triumphs in various areas of life, particularly in the field of technology and related sciences, and that praise for the latest period is entirely justified in this regard. However, even if you take the best scientific achievements of modern culture, the best technical achievements, if you take everything that has emerged as good from this tangled knot of modern culture, you will find much that is useful, much that is enlightening, much that can advance humanity to a certain degree, especially in material terms; but you will find nothing, neither in science nor in the technical field, nor in any other field, not even in those fields—I must emphasize this again and again—that have brought about good, that could shine into the human soul from the outside world in such a way that human beings themselves could receive a guiding impulse from these things coming from the outside world. That is why spiritual science had to come into being at this particular time, because it is from spiritual science that something must come which is not taken from the external world, but is taken from the spiritual worlds, and taken in such a way that when it flows into the external world, it represents an impulse that has nothing to do with anything that can be taken from the external world itself today. What anthroposophically oriented spiritual science aims to provide is an impulse carried from the spiritual worlds into this outer world. Today, this direction is thoroughly misunderstood, and my discussions yesterday served to clarify this to a certain extent. I wanted to point out in particular that we cannot say that we are bringing into the school impulse, which is indeed born out of spiritual vision, or into our practical measures, anything that would be merely a theoretical worldview. Yesterday I said how far reality is from what is implied in such a statement. But the opposite cannot be said either, and this again has to do with a correct understanding of anthroposophically oriented spiritual science: one cannot say that, as people usually imagine today, any external activity comes from a theory, from a program; one must not imagine that what we establish, whether in a field such as education or in a field such as practical economic life, arises from some program, as people today imagine that things arise from programs.
[ 10 ] For example, someone said to me a few days ago: “Basically, this particular view of the ‘threefold social organism’ would not have come about if it had not sprung from anthroposophy.” I had to thoroughly correct such a statement, because it is actually the case — and here I must insert a few personal remarks, which are meant to be entirely factual and have a great deal to do with the matter — that what you and others today refer to as the “threefold social order” , insofar as it was conceived by me, did not arise at all from an abstract thought, not from thinking about how social life should be organized so that something of the utopian character found in many contemporary expressions might emerge. That is not how it came about. In my case, it was, so to speak, my own spiritual outlook that was the current that flowed together with other currents in life as a matter of course; and the economic current, the economic outlook, arose entirely from the soil of my own life.
[ 11 ] Years ago, I explained where my view of modern economic life and economic necessities originated. I had to respond to this when I was told that this threefold division had been taken from anthroposophy, in the same way that today, in abstract logic, one takes something from a program and then presents it as an impulse. I spent my boyhood as the son of a minor railway official at a time when, in the 1860s and 1870s, the railways were just emerging, I might say, from a semi-embryonic state. What then became the great transport system only came about later, basically. I took part in all the measures that were still under the influence of the first trend-setting railway constructions. So I was directly impressed by the emerging transport system. This view later became linked to something else, which at that time led me to imagine economic life as I had to imagine it in terms of the “threefold social organism.”
[ 12 ] We must remember that until the 1870s, the most important thing, the basic element of recent development, was the transformation of transportation. World transportation was what developed during this period. I was right there in the midst of this final period of global transportation, directly under the daily, hourly influence of the details that developed with it. And then, in the last third of the 19th century, actually only in the last quarter, came the great upheaval that led from global transportation to the global economy.
[ 13 ] The global economy is something different from global transportation. Global transportation first brought about the global economy. World trade is only the final phase in the development of the national economy. What is produced in individual countries, essentially of course, is balanced out by world trade across the various countries; but there is a certain individuality of production for each country. This then changed under the influence of transport itself. The world has moved from world transport to the global economy. And the global economy only exists when raw materials are purchased in one country on a large scale, shipped to another country, and processed there industrially. It is therefore not only through transport, but through the economy itself that one state, one country, is dependent on another, so that, in a sense, the economy itself spreads across different countries. This spread of the world economy, this merging of the world into a common world economy, essentially took place in the last decades of the 19th century. And I would say that it arose entirely as it was most strikingly demonstrated in the supply of Indian and American cotton to the European textile industries.
[ 14 ] It was precisely in the cotton industry that the transformation of world trade into a global economy could be experienced in a characteristic way. And at a time when one could still see exactly how this was happening, I spent eight years as a tutor in a house which was involved exclusively in shipping cotton from India and America to Europe, where only cotton agents and manufacturers of cotton products did business, and where people lived entirely for the interests that extended beyond everything that came from these products. I lived completely immersed in it, because I never considered these external things to be insignificant and never said that one should retreat into a mystical semi-darkness away from these external things; I was deeply interested in them, especially when those dispatches arrived that were translated using a code. A dispatch arrived with the word “wire puller” written on it. This “wire puller” then had to be looked up in the code book, and it meant: House so-and-so offers so-and-so many bales of cotton at such-and-such a price. From the word “wire puller,” one drew out everything that could then, under certain circumstances, become a very important business venture.
[ 15 ] During this time, while I was intensely interested in the patterns of American and Indian cotton that arrived there, which were piled really high in the office, each with its own specifications and a strip of paper on which very interesting things were written, while I studied them carefully—forgive me for making this personal remark, but it is related to the subject matter in a certain way—I was also studying Goethe's “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily,” and the two went completely parallel. And basically, what flowed to me at that time from studying “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily” was what then, after three times seven years, after twenty-one years, led to my first mystery, “The Gate of Initiation.”
[ 16 ] I wanted to give just these few examples, but I could add many others. However, I had to reply to the man who told me that what I thought about economic life flowed from what he naturally considered to be abstract anthroposophy, that I had indeed been involved in transportation, written waybills — I still have ink blots on them, apart from the signs I had to write on the waybills — that I had witnessed the cotton industry and the cotton trade, and that my economic views had arisen from these things, which are closely connected with the whole nerve of modern life. These are not theories, they are really drawn from life. And I have only one feeling, that these things can be drawn from life if one has the good will to really look at life. However, one must also look at life where some despise it if one wants to arrive at what can really be practical life experience, what can be of practical use in life. And it was precisely from all that emerged from practical life, from being immersed in practical life, even from the tangled knot of practical life, that these things could be drawn out. For among those who opposed me at that time were many who were still suffering the aftereffects of the great crisis of 1873 in their lives.
[ 17 ] However, it was precisely at that time that those strange connections between worldview and external economic life became apparent, those connections that are to be overcome precisely by our way of thinking about spiritual life on the one hand and economic life on the other. The director of the railway company where my father was employed at that time was a man named Bontoux. I would say that Bontoux was a minor demigod in the neighborhood where I lived at the time. Mrs. Bontoux, who for some reason was known only as “the baroness,” was considered an exceptionally pious woman, and from a certain point of view, they were indeed exceptionally pious people. Bontoux then left his position as general director of the Southern Railway and joined a consortium, a large company that extended its tentacles from France to Serbia, and his “piety” enabled him to do huge business, not in the service of worldly powers, however, but of those pious powers he had otherwise placed himself at the service of when he had his prayer book in his hand. Then the whole thing collapsed, and the famous Bontoux scandal erupted, from which a certain ecclesiastical community had withdrawn its fingers at the right moment, leaving Bontoux to rush in alone. But at that time, it was very clear that certain worldview ideas were being brought into financial enterprises, so to speak, and one could learn very well what not to do. However, some people cannot imagine that this was learned in the right way and that it led to a completely different understanding of the connection between anthroposophy and the coming day and the future than Bontoux had imagined the connection between the Catholic Church and the Serbian Bank.
[ 18 ] These things are all taken from real life. And the fact that one can learn from life that one should not approach life with theoretical dogmas is precisely what should come from a correctly understood anthroposophy. Anthroposophy differs from other worldviews in that — or at least it should differ in that — it can be selfless, that is, it does not trumpet its dogmas everywhere, but actually provides guidance for getting to know life in its fullness and breadth. Only in this way can it fulfill the most important, the most fundamental demands and necessities of human development at the present time.
[ 19 ] Anyone who saw with open eyes what could be experienced by really looking into what was happening saw confusion everywhere, saw that even in good people confusion was very much alive, and that one had to be lost if one was dependent on just floating along in what the outer world offered. The impulse from the spiritual realms had to flow into this, which, I would say, is called upon to give direction from a completely different source to that which cannot receive this direction from outside, even where the good of this outer world lives.
[ 20 ] This is precisely what the anthroposophically oriented spiritual science profession expresses. But just consider what a driving force there is at this time, when external events everywhere, whether in scientific or other cultural life, or in practical life, are forming an inextricable tangle. Consider what is necessary at this time, precisely out of spiritual motives, to find something that can give direction to the world today.
[ 21 ] But consider also how, on the other hand, these things have given rise to another impulse for human beings. This is that: if human beings now surrender themselves to the stream of insoluble knots, they are tempted not to take charge of their own guidance with their souls, but to give themselves over to the confusing external world, to let themselves be carried along by the flow of the confusing external world. — This could be seen, to our great sorrow, in how people under this influence became more and more dependent, how they felt the urge to form their own judgments, but then, as their own judgments, only formed what was forced upon them by the tangled, chaotic outer life in ways unknown to them. People want to be independent because the demand for freedom lives in their subconscious. People also imagine that they are independent, but they surrender themselves because independence, that is, freedom, today means a strong stirring of the inner self, and they do not want this stirring, to the current that flows in the manner described. In this way, they come under Ahrimanic influences, into what aims at the spiritual with all kinds of beautiful and beautifully coined words, but which is rooted in nothing other than personal egoism and the addiction to letting this personal egoism be carried by social life.
[ 22 ] The most important characteristic of the present age is that people are basically full of egoism, and when they speak of social demands, what they really mean is: How can egoism best be supported by society? — Basically, people speak of social life and mean egoistic life. They want a social life in which egoism can flourish best.
[ 23 ] However, the “threefold social organism” could not speak in this way. It could not speak of a paradise. It must leave that to the Lenins and Trotskyites and so on. It can only speak of what is organically possible in the social body, of what is viable, of what can happen, of what can be accomplished. And that is what we must achieve. For if we want to delude ourselves with illusions and strive for illusions, we will certainly not be able to make any progress.
[ 24 ] We must accustom ourselves not to view the whole of life from an abstract principle, but to immerse ourselves in life, to view the details of life with full participation, regardless of whether they appear to belong to entirely spiritual things or to entirely material things. A great upheaval once took place when, in a sense, the economic life of the whole world became a single body, and humanity could not understand it, could not bear it. People merely declaimed about it; they did not understand it inwardly. Certainly, much has been written about the world economy, but it was all empty rhetoric, for this talk about the world economy, this view of the world economy, has not always been digested. And so it has come about that people have been driven into the world economy without understanding how to organize their lives accordingly, and now they live in a world which is now erecting barrier after barrier, which wants to preserve impossible national economies by means of all kinds of barriers, customs and passport barriers in the most terrible way, which therefore wants to preserve something that, in essence, has long since ceased to exist.
[ 25 ] What we are experiencing today is nothing other than a failure to understand what has come about, because life in the last third of the 19th century and in the first two decades of the 20th century presented us with confusing knots that we should not have allowed ourselves to be caught up in. This surrender to chaos, to the confusing knots, ultimately gave rise to what is now so often manifested in hostility toward anthroposophy. Today, this hostility is taking on the most incredible dimensions, both extensively and intensively. And one can say that out of what is surrendered to the outer world in the negative sense I have indicated — I have also pointed out the positive sense of surrendering to the world, namely by being able to live with the cotton balls — out of this, all the things that are occurring in such a strange way are emerging today. If one takes things purely externally, can one not already see from the whole way in which these things are expressed what spirit animates them, if one can speak of animation at all? [It is read aloud:] "The following was said about Steiner's Goetheanum in Dornach: 'However, we did not regret our visit, and we would advise anyone who wants to form an opinion about Dr. Steiner to see this temple, this image of his spirit, with their own eyes. What does this man think he is, and what does he think of others, that he dares to cast every fit, every feverish dream of his brain in concrete, carve it in wood, grind it in glass, and have it painted on the wall?“ ”
[ 26 ] And finally, a strange little group of people has formed, consisting of all sorts of people, the chauvinists, the extreme socialists, namely the leadership of socialism and so on, with all of them, a strange little group has recently joined forces, although it is not entirely new, because the aspirations of this little group could already be seen in 1912 and 1913. The passage I have just read to you is followed by some very strange sentences: “These are only very small samples of hostile attacks” — and now the author expresses his opinion as to where these hostile attacks come from — "under the influence of Uranus. We can see that there is already no shortage of mockery and ridicule. But the warning of a hate-filled opponent gives particular cause for thought."
[ 27 ] I will read them out. The little group that has joined forces with the other various opponents is that of the astrologers, and behind them lies a very special wickedness — which, of course, is completely unconscious in many of them — because one can do a great deal with these things, and because there is something particularly provocative about them. But when you put them all together, they are very strange indeed. For example, there is an attack that contains the words: “We consider it very necessary to keep a watchful eye on Rudolf Steiner. The man who, relying on Judaism, communists, and idealistic eccentrics, wanted to become Minister of Culture in Württemberg during the revolutionary period, has certainly not lost his game on the political stage of our immediate homeland.”
[ 28 ] Here, then, there is talk of a community with Judaism and communists. Let us contrast this with another attack. It is good to compare these things, because in comparison, individual points may emerge: “All previous founders of religions, such as Christ, Buddha, and all sages and prophets” — I do not believe that I have ever claimed such a title in the slightest, but my opponents seem to do so — "have never attached much importance to outward appearances, earthly treasures, palaces, and temples; on the contrary, they have remained without substantial possessions, have taught people without outward expense, have led them to a higher spiritual level, or have taught them to pray in quiet chambers! They have enforced their spiritual ideas and wise teachings without needing the material help of rich commercial councillors."
[ 29 ] So you see, on the one hand there is the community with the communists and with Judaism, and on the other hand there is the community with rich commercial councillors. All that is missing is the community with particularly influential generals! It must be emphasised, since these things have to be said and, as it seems to me, no one else is saying them: I know that neither those who are described here as communists nor those who are described as commercial councilors—even if generals were also mentioned—would hold it against me if I said that it should definitely be investigated whether I myself would have needed anyone, whether from these “communists,” these “commercial councilors,” or these “generals.” I could have done without all of them, and it would first have to be investigated whether I came to them or they came to me. That is what needs to be considered first of all; it is something that must be taken very seriously.
[ 30 ] And something else. If, on the one hand, it is really said that Rudolf Steiner can only rely on Judaism, communists, and so on — and on the other side: The founders of previous religions established their spiritual ideas and wise teachings without needing the material help of rich commercial advisors — then one could say that this sounds similar to the slander that emerged in 1908 from the Jesuits that I was a particularly dangerous Freemason, while on the other hand the slander arose that I myself was a Jesuit. — That's how “well” people know you! But one should think about whether it is not perhaps precisely what is most necessary today to focus on, both in communists and in Jews and in rich commercial councillors: the human being. Today, it is the human being that matters, and what must be sought is the human being in every form. For the old party templates, such as communists, the old ethnic groups, such as Jews, and finally also the old titles of commercial councillors, mean very little today, when we must enter with all our might into the universal human realm.
[ 31 ] But it seems that those who are particularly possessed by Ahriman are those who are kindred spirits with everything except that which really wants to bring a spiritual impulse into the confused development of humanity today. And so one can calmly listen when it is said: "Planetary influences from Saturn and Uranus may have a disastrous effect on the individual human being, bringing him serious worries or hostilities — but — this forces the human being to master and overcome his low ego life and finally make it ripe for the service of humanity. The celestial influences of 1921 will therefore either shake Dr. Rudolf Steiner — like all people with a similar root horoscope — spiritually, forcing him to greater mental effort, deepening and concentration, or, if the astral influences are not spiritually utilized, bring him serious material damage, painful losses, or physical illness. Some people born at the end of February in critical years may also be in personal danger, which is always clearer from the individual basic horoscopes.
[ 32 ] Now, it is by no means necessary to say that the influences of Uranus and Saturn make it necessary to control one's ego life and the like; for I have tried to describe to you the underlying reasons from which, for example, the “threefold social organism” and something like “The Gate of Initiation” arise, and I myself can calmly look at everything that comes from Saturn and Uranus influences. These are not the things that worry me. I am concerned about quite different things. And as long as the following remains in place, some concern may well exist. But the things that are linked to it should be seen in a different light.
[ 33 ] A particularly hateful opponent is quoted here, who says the following: “Spiritual sparks, which flash like lightning after the wooden mousetrap [meaning the Goetheanum], are therefore abundant, and it will take some of Steiner's wisdom to act
[ 34 ] Here, reference is made very clearly to something that the world would like to see here on the Dornach hill!
[ 35 ] And then the little crowd gets together and looks for reasons to attribute such threatening statements entirely to the effects of Uranus near the sun and so on. So it is not only the extent of the attacks that is striking, they are also animated by a strange intensity. And above all, as far as I am concerned, I would like to say: Where the influences of Uranus manifest themselves in this way, they show that they cannot come from a good source! Their very appearance reveals what kind of spirit they are.
[ 36 ] But on the other hand, we must be quite clear: If the “physical spark” is longed for in a matter arising from the “spiritual sparks” which are said to be “sufficiently present,” then there is a growing need for concern on the part of those who perhaps have some love for what has been achieved here outwardly and for what is connected with it. It is really necessary to take some care to preserve the work that has now been truly brought together through the labor and sacrifices of many. For there are indeed enough people today who view this work with hatred, with their idealistic or even wicked will crying out for action!
[ 37 ] You might say that I should not have read this out. — Oh no, my dear friends, that is out of the question! Others will see to it that it becomes known to other people in the world. But I must take some care to ensure that it also becomes known to you, who perhaps feel differently about such things, at least most of you. For otherwise, it might remain hidden from our friends because of the customs that have become established in the widest circles, even in this very hall. For so much unfortunately remains hidden. But what is already asserting itself very intensely and with concentrated hatred against what anthroposophically oriented spiritual science wants should flash a little into the awareness of our friends.
[ 38 ] And it was not merely to make a joke when I had to say yesterday: our opponents are different people in many respects; and they will prove to be different people if we do not also try to be vigilant, to be guardians of what has been achieved through many sacrifices and much work.
[ 39 ] For if, as is the case today, evil succeeds in finding so many guardians, it should also be possible for that which we must nevertheless regard as good to find its guardians! Be faithful guardians of the spiritual heritage, of which we must say again today, based on certain circumstances: It was not brought into the world by some subjective idea alone; it was brought into this world from the observation of life, from the contemplation of the demands that are human, that are the most important human demands in our age and that are becoming more and more important the closer we come to the near future. Be attentive to all those who want to destroy this work that is necessary for humanity! For this will to destroy is very, very strong in many people today. Be strong yourselves, for what lives in the spiritual movement that brought this building into being did not arise out of chaos; it is an impulse that was brought into the chaos. And if you come close to it, you will feel that there is strength, there is life. Be guardians, true guardians of what you seem to have chosen as your own by placing yourselves in this anthroposophically oriented spiritual scientific movement.