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The Mystery of the Trinity
Part 1: The Mystery of Truth
GA 214

30 July 1922, Dornach

Lecture IV

Once again we want to look back at those principles of initiation described in yesterday's lecture as having been paralyzed by the advancing intellectualization of culture. Looking back we shall see how those people, in whom these older, atavistic principles of initiation were still alive, confronted Christianity. Out of their perceptions they formulated what subsequently became the contents of dogma and, as such, could no longer be understood after about the eighth or ninth century.

We need only to remember that before the mystery of Golgotha the impulse of the true principle of the human self, the I, was essentially missing in human civilization. The human being was, of course, always organized in such a way as to have the I principle within him; furthermore, he or she was created to shape outer and inner being out of the I principle. But only slowly and by degrees did people come to feel and be conscious of the essence and power of the I. Thus we can say that although the human being, even in the times preceding the mystery of Golgotha, consisted of physical body, etheric body, astral body, and the I, human consciousness did not include within it this I being. The I was more or less unconscious. In those olden times people walked on the earth who basically did not live with full consciousness of the I. But it is actually only possible for the I to be active in the human being when the physical body is no longer developing in its full, original freshness. Those human beings who were still unconscious of their I developed their physical bodies in greater freshness than those who had entered into a full consciousness of the I. This arrival of the full consciousness of the I did not occur suddenly; it was taking place both before and after the mystery of Golgotha, but it is clearly perceptible to a spiritual-scientific observation of history.

That which can be maintained in its full freshness in the human physical, etheric, and astral bodies—that can only be maintained as long as something from the divine, spiritual nature is flowing into the human being out of the cosmos. But we could never have become free beings if the I had not appeared on the scene, if the divine-spiritual had not ceased to flow into us in the old sense. Human beings only became free through at the same time achieving mastery of the I within their consciousness. But that was only possible when humanity became involved in the sphere of abstract thoughts. Abstract thoughts are, however, actually the corpses of the spiritual world. I have already pointed this out in these lectures. Just as a corpse is left over from our physical nature when we die on the earth, so too, there remains a corpse left over from the being of soul and spirit that we were in the spiritual world before coming down into the physical world. However, this has only been the case since the human being has been equipped with consciousness of his I. And thoughts, abstract thoughts, represent this corpse. When we become able to take hold of abstract thoughts, we take hold of the corpse of our spiritual and soul being as it was before our descent into the earthly world. But a precondition for our taking hold of the corpse of our spiritual and soul being is that something of the dying and paralyzing principle of death must enter our physical body.

Indeed, the evolution of the human being is such that his nature has changed in the course of his development on earth. The bodies of human beings in olden times were different from those of the newer bodies. The bodies of old were such that within them the human being was unfree, but as he moved about, all the freshness of primal being was manifested in his physical, etheric, and astral activity. Thus one can say that in the civilized world we already live in a period of the evolution of humanity when the body is beginning inwardly to decay. And we attain our freedom precisely through this decaying body, which is the base for our intellectual, abstract thoughts. Through this decaying body the human being has attained all that which a person, as an intellectually imbued scientist, is so proud of today.

Considering this, we must say that before the mystery of Golgotha full consciousness of the self as an I was not yet present in human beings on the earth. Nevertheless, in those times there were a few people who had already developed this full I consciousness, who had developed it through the mystery cults. These people were called initiates. We have already said much concerning what happened to those who underwent initiation in the places of the ancient mysteries, how they ascended to the experience of the fully conscious I at a time when it was the general condition of humankind not yet to have a fully conscious I. But the initiate of old could ascend to this fully conscious I because something entered into him through the sacred enactments in the mysteries, something which had been felt and experienced in all ancient civilizations as the eternal Father in the cosmos. And when the initiate, the mystic, had reached a certain point of his initiation in the ancient mysteries he had an experience that allowed him to say to himself (if we were to imagine such an initiate within the ancient Hebrew civilization): The Father lives in me.

This initiate would characterize what had happened within him through his initiation in the following way: The nature of human beings in general is such that the Father indeed sustains and bears them, but the Father does not enter their consciousness and does not kindle their consciousness to an experience of the I. To ordinary human beings the Father gives only the spirit of breath; he breathes in the human being the breath which is the living soul. But the initiate felt that the living soul that had been breathed into a person was a special spiritual reality, the living Father principle of the cosmos which also entered into the human being. And then when this divine Father principle had entered into such an initiate of the ancient Hebrew world and he had become conscious of it, then he could say, with full justification, what the I meant to him: “I am the I am.” Such a person who went about among ancient peoples and, through the divine Father principle dwelling in him, was qualified to speak the I—which in the entire ancient world was the unutterable name of the Godhead, of the Father God—such a person was seen as the representative of the Father on the Earth. These initiates were called the Fathers who walked among the peoples. They were called Fathers because they represented the divine principle of the Father to other human beings. It was said of them that the divine Father had entered into them in the mysteries. Thus the mysteries were seen as the places within the earthly world where the principle could develop that otherwise only weaves and surges externally through the entire cosmos. Within the mystery centers and through the mystery centers, a tabernacle was built in the human being for the divine Father principle. The human being himself became a tabernacle for the divine Father principle.

Through the mysteries human beings felt the surge of God the Father through the earthly world; and looking out into the cosmos, into the great world beyond, they called it the macrocosm, the great world, inasmuch as they thought of it as permeated by and woven through and through by the divine Father principle. They looked then to the mystery centers, within which a tabernacle had been built for this Father God, within which human beings had themselves become tabernacles of the Father God through initiation; and they called the mysteries, and what a human being had become through the mysteries, the little world, the microcosm. This distinction persisted even into the days of Goethe, for when Goethe became a member of certain lodges he picked up the phrase, “The great world and the little world.” By “great world” he understood the macrocosm and by “little world,” the lodge that was, for him, an image of the “great world.”29Goethe was a member of the secret fraternal order of Free and Accepted Masons. Not restricted to stoneworkers, it retains much of the spirit and code of the medieval mason's guild.

All of this entered into another phase when the mystery of Golgotha was drawing near in the evolution of humanity. Hence, something essentially different had to be considered. During the mystery of Golgotha there were human beings walking on the earth who experienced within themselves something of the independent I. The consciousness of the I had begun to enter into human beings. But at the same time something else began to appear: The human physical body began to be inwardly brittle, to decay. And so at this time, in the middle of earth evolution, human evolution faced a great danger. There was the danger of more and more losing connection with the spiritual world and now there was the danger that the physical body could increasingly decay and fall apart.

To help with this danger the being we know as the Christ resolved to pour himself into Jesus of Nazareth just as the divine Father principle had poured into the initiates in earlier times. This divine Father principle had poured into the initiates. In this way the I was enkindled in, and added to, the physical body, etheric body, and astral body. As I have already said, only those into whom the divine Father had entered were allowed to speak the I, which was itself the unutterable name of God.

But now, in the middle of earth evolution there lived human beings who were beginning to say I of themselves, human beings who had raised the I into consciousness. The Son principle, the Christ principle, now entered into just such a human being, into Jesus of Nazareth. The Christ principle now entered into the I. Whereas in earlier times the Father principle had entered into physical body, etheric body, and astral body, now the Christ principle entered into the human being who had developed himself to that stage further in evolution.

Now remember how I described the human being in the second lecture. I said to you that the plant nullifies within itself physical nature. One might also say that the plant corrupts physical nature. The animal then corrupts the physical and the etheric. And the human being corrupts the physical, the etheric, and the astral. The human being did not corrupt them completely in the period of human development before Golgotha. But thereafter he corrupted them completely as the I really entered fully into our being. Of course, the initiate of the ancient mysteries freed himself entirely from physical body, etheric body, and astral body when he let the divine Father principle flow into him and, already in those days, became an I.

In entering into Jesus of Nazareth, Christ nullified, through his entrance, not only the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body, but also the I, to the extent that it was developed in Jesus of Nazareth at that time. So that in Jesus Christ there dwelt the higher Christ principle, which is related to the I in the same way the I of the human being is related to the astral body.

The Christ event was something that the old initiates, in whom higher faculties of vision had developed, were still just able to perceive. When these ancient initiates observed the human being as he was in their time they found him uniting within himself all the forces of the other beings of nature and, as it were, standing above them uniting them all. They saw how one can find in the human physical body the mineral kingdom, in the human etheric body the plant kingdom, in the human astral body the animal kingdom, and then they saw what is actually human. When tidings of this Christ event, of the approaching event of Golgotha, came to the initiates who had achieved clairvoyant seeing in ancient times, to these Fathers of the peoples, at least to those few who were still present—when these tidings came, these initiates could see a being in Christ in whom still more was contained, in whom not merely had earthly being been elevated to the human level but in whom humanity itself had been elevated to the level of being that is spiritual and divine.

If we bear in mind how there is present in the human being something that lives in the external physical body as an expression of essential humanity then we can understand how these initiates saw more in Christ Jesus than a mere man, how they saw walking around on the earth something that went beyond the human, beyond humanity. These initiates saw Christ Jesus in a special radiance. They saw him covered not only with the color of human flesh but with a special shimmering radiance.

Initiates in ancient times could, of course, see this special shining radiance in their fellow initiates. It was the power of the Father principle that dwelled within them. But now they perceived not only that which lived in the old initiates as the divine Father principle; now they perceived something that radiated forth from Christ Jesus in a special way, because not only had physical body, etheric body, and astral body been nullified in him, but also the I—to the extent that the I could be present in a human being at that time.

For this reason not only initiates but also other specially gifted people were able to see Christ Jesus as an especially radiant being. And this was the radically new reality at the time of the mystery of Golgotha—new even to the initiates: that other human beings, though perhaps few in number, who were only endowed with natural powers, not with powers otherwise acquired only in the mysteries, could recognize in Christ Jesus this higher nature.

From this fact came the realization that now, with the mystery of Golgotha, something was supposed to happen that, in earlier times, had taken place only within the mysteries themselves. Something that had formerly taken place only within the mysteries—within the microcosm, the “little world”—had been carried out into the macrocosm, the “great world.” And it is actually the case that, to begin with, the Christ mystery was proclaimed in its clearest and most pure form in the last remaining mystery centers of antiquity. And precisely this proclamation of the mystery of Christ was lost to later civilization in the course of the first four centuries of European evolution. Because in Christ Jesus there lived, not the Father principle alone, but also the Son principle, the old initiates knew that he represented something absolutely unique in earthly development. It was unique in this respect: In the further advance of the earth never again could another mystery of Golgotha appear, never again could such an indwelling of the Son principle in a human being take place, an indwelling such as had occurred in Jesus of Nazareth.

And these initiates knew that Christ had entered into humanity as the healer, as the great healer, as the being who prevents the human body from suffering damage caused by the brittleness which was brought about through the entrance of the I. For what would have happened if Christ had not appeared as the healer? If Christ had not appeared as the healer, then when human beings die, when they lay aside the decaying body, the products of this decay would radiate back into the soul being that the human being unfolds after death. The dead would have been disturbed, tortured, by what the decaying physical body represented in earth existence. These souls who had passed through death would have been forced to see how the earth itself suffers injury when it has to take in a decaying body. And the old initiates knew how those who called themselves Christians in the true sense of the word, who had filled themselves inwardly with the Christ principle, how such men could now look down upon the body taken from them by death, and say: Because we received Christ into ourselves while we were children of the earth we have healed the physical body to the extent that it can be placed into the earth without becoming a principle of decay for the earth itself. What the human being needed in order to become an I had to be healed for the sake of the earth. For in order to become an I he had to have a decaying body; but if this decaying body had persisted the earth would have been harmed. And after death the souls, looking down upon the physical bodies now received by the earth, would have been tormented because they could feel the harm being inflicted upon the earth itself by their decaying physical bodies.

What entered through the mystery of Golgotha was this, that the souls of human beings could say to themselves after they had passed through the gate of death: Yes, we carried this fallen physical body on the earth and we can thank it for the possibility of developing a freer I in our human being. But Christ through his dwelling in Jesus of Nazareth, has healed this physical body so that it is no longer harmful to the earth's existence; and we can calmly look down into earthly existence knowing that after the mystery of Golgotha bad seed is not falling into the earth with the physical body that the human being otherwise needs for the development of the I. And so Christ passed through the mystery of Golgotha in order to heal and sanctify the human physical body for the earth.

But now think what would have happened in the course of earth evolution if things had remained as they were after the Christ event. If things had remained that way then the following could have been said: In ancient times the Father God entered into human beings so they, as souls, could rise up to the I and as initiates could proclaim to others the actual essence of the human being, the being of the I. Then the Son, the Christ, entered into the being of humanity. Those who raise themselves so that Christ can dwell in them rescue their bodies for the earth. Just as through the Father principle, and the indwelling of the Father principle made possible by the mysteries, the human soul nature was rescued—so now the bodily nature of the human being has been saved through the healer, the savior-redeemer, through Christ who went through the mystery of Golgotha.

If this had remained the situation, then those who knew of the redemption of their bodies would have had to bear Christ as the being who is actively working within them, as the being who is even actively working on their bodily nature. And then again human beings could not have become free beings. When inner freedom would have arrived in the fourteenth century A.D., human beings would have evolved so that they could receive the Christ into themselves for the peace of their souls after death, so that their souls would be able to look down upon the earth as I have just described. But they could not have become free. If they had wanted to become good then they would simply have had to let Christ work within them in the same way that the Father worked in ancient times in human beings who were not initiates. In those times human beings became free when the I was developed within them. The initiates became free human beings in ancient times whereas others were unfree, because the Father lived in them beneath their consciousness. If Christians had been beings who were merely conscious of the Christ within them, then whenever they wanted to be good they would have had to extinguish their own I consciousness in order to let Christ awaken within them through the extinguishing of their own I-consciousness. They themselves actually would not have been able to be good; it would only have been Christ in them who was good. Human beings would have had to walk about upon the earth with the Christ dwelling within them, and inasmuch as Christ would have availed himself of the bodies of human beings, the healing of these bodies would have occurred. But the good deeds accomplished by human beings would have been the deeds of Christ, not the deeds of human beings.

That was not the task, the mission, of the divine Son, who had united himself with the evolution of the earth through the mystery of Golgotha. He wanted to live within humanity without clouding the dawning I consciousness of human beings. He did this once—in Jesus, in whom, from the baptism onward, the consciousness of the Son God lived in place of the I consciousness of Jesus. But this was not to happen in the human beings of the times to come. In the people of future times the I was to be able to raise itself to full, clear consciousness, while Christ nevertheless continued to dwell within them.

For this to happen it was necessary for Christ, as such, to disappear from the immediate sight of human beings. Although he remained united with earthly existence, he disappeared from the direct view of human beings. A saying common in the ancient mystery centers became also applicable to him. In the mysteries it was said that when a physically visible being, a being whose existence can be followed by human beings with their perception in the physical world, ceases to be visible—it was said that such a being had “ascended to the heavens,” and passed into those regions where physical visibility no longer exists. And so Christ ascended to heaven and became invisible. In a certain sense he would have retained his visibility if he had dwelled in human beings and eliminated the I, so that they could have become good only because, in reality, the Christ was acting in them.

The kind of vision that enabled the apostles, the disciples, to behold Christ even after his resurrection—that kind of vision disappeared. Christ had ascended to the heavens. But he sent to human beings that divine being who does not extinguish I consciousness. This is the being to whom the human being raises himself, not with earthly perception, but with imperceptible spirit. Christ sent humanity the Holy Spirit.

So actually it is the Holy Spirit who is sent by Christ in order that man might retain his consciousness of self, of his I, while Christ himself lives in the unconsciousness of human beings. Thus, if he realizes in the full sense of the word what his being really is, the human being will say: When I look back to what the ancient initiates knew, then I see that in me lives the Father principle which fills the cosmos and which arose in these initiates and developed the I in them. That is the principle that lives within us before we come down into the physical world. Through the Father principle dwelling in them, the ancient initiates remembered, with complete clarity, the way they had lived before they descended into the physical world. They sought the divine in the realm of being that precedes birth, in the realm of preexistence: Ex deo nascimur.

After the mystery of Golgotha human beings could no longer say, “I behold the Christ.” Otherwise they could not have become good through themselves, only Christ within could have done the good. And the truth could only have been In Christo morimur. The human being could die in Christ, through the principle of death within him he could unite with Christ. But the human being's new consciousness could be awakened through the Holy Spirit, the being sent to him by Christ: Per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus.

There you have the inner connection of the Trinity. This shows you, too, something else that is definitely a part of Christianity. Even without perception of Christ within, a human being can achieve the awakening of the spirit. By sending the Holy Spirit Christ gave humanity the ability to raise itself to an understanding of the spiritual out of the life of intellect itself. Hence it should not be said that the human being cannot grasp the spiritual, the super-sensible, through his own spirit. A man could only justify his inability to understand the spirit if he ignored the Holy Spirit, if he spoke only of the Father God and the Christ God. For those willing to see and read it is also clearly indicated—for it is a revelation in and of itself—that the human being can understand the super-sensible through the spirit dwelling within him, if he only inclines himself to Christ. It is for this reason that we are told that the Holy Spirit appeared at the baptism of Christ. And with the appearance of the Holy Spirit these words resound through the cosmos: “This is my beloved Son; this day I have begotten him.”

The Father is the unbegotten begetter who places the Son into the physical world. But at the same time the Father uses the Holy Spirit in order to tell humanity that in the spirit, the super-sensible is comprehensible, even if this spirit is itself not perceptible but only works inwardly to elevate the merely abstract intellect to the realm of the living. In the spirit the super-sensible can be understood when the corpse of thoughts that we have from our pre-birth existence is raised to life through the Christ dwelling within us. And when Christ sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples—this imparting occurred through the Christ, through the Son. For this reason it was an ancient dogma that the Father is the unbegotten begetter, that the Son is the one begotten by the Father, and that the Holy Spirit is the one imparted to humanity by the Father and the Son. This is not some kind of arbitrarily asserted dogma but rather the wisdom of initiation living in the earliest Christian centuries; only later was it covered over and buried along with the teachings concerning the Trichotomy and the Trinity.

The divine principle working as Christianity within evolving humanity cannot be understood without the Trinity. If, in the place of the Trinity, some other teaching concerning God were to enter, then basically speaking it would not be a fully Christian teaching. One must understand the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit if one would understand the teaching concerning God concretely and in a genuine way.

The Gospel itself was no longer understood when Scholasticism decreed that the human being has revelation only in faith, that he cannot reach the super-sensible through his own human knowledge. This decree concerning human knowledge, which was separated off from faith, was itself a sin against Christianity: it was a sin against the proclamation of the Holy Spirit through the Father at the baptism of Jesus and through Jesus himself when he sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Thus within the development of European civilization many sins were committed in what continued to call itself Christianity, many sins were committed against the original impulses of Christianity. Today it is really necessary for humanity to turn back to these original impulses of Christianity. In many ways these original Christian impulses have hardened into dogmas. But if one penetrates into the living spirit then what is essentially true in these dogmas can catch fire. Then they will cease to be dogmas. What is false in the Church is not that it has propagated the dogmas but that it has frozen and crystallized them, has taken them away from the realm of human knowledge. Because human knowledge was limited to only what is in the world of the senses the dogmas had to be crystallized, had to become no longer understandable. For it is an impossibility that faith alone could ever really bring understanding. What must be rescued within humanity is knowledge itself; knowledge must be led back to the super-sensible.

Fundamentally speaking, this challenge reaches to us from Golgotha when we rightly understand it, when we know how, after going through the mystery of Golgotha, Christ sent into humanity, in addition to this divine Father principle, the Holy Spirit. Whoever beholds the cross on Golgotha must at the same time behold the Trinity, for in reality Christ shows and makes manifest the Trinity in all the ways he is interwoven with the earthly evolution of humanity.

This, my dear friends, is what I wanted to bring to you today, which will provide us with the basis for further studies in the future.

Vierter Vortrag

[ 1 ] Noch einmal wollen wir zurückschauen zu dem, wovon ich gestern angedeutet habe, wie es durch die fortschreitende Intellektualisierung der Menschheitskultur abgelähmt worden ist. Wir wollen zurückblikken zu den älteren atavistischen Initiationsprinzipien, wollen dann sehen, wie diejenigen Menschen, welche noch mit diesen Initiationsprinzipien lebten, als Eingeweihte dem Christentum entgegengetreten sind und aus ihren Anschauungen heraus das gebildet haben, was dann später dogmatischer Inhalt geworden ist und als solcher, namentlich nach dem 8., 9. Jahrhundert, eben nicht mehr verstanden werden konnte.

[ 2 ] Wir brauchen uns ja nur daran zu erinnern, daß vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha in der Menschheitszivilisation der Einschlag des eigentlichen menschlichen Ich-Prinzips im wesentlichen fehlte. Der Mensch war zwar immer veranlagt, dieses Ich-Prinzip in sich zu haben. Er war auch dazu geschaffen, sein äußeres und inneres Wesen aus diesem IchPrinzip heraus zu bilden. Aber nur langsam und allmählich kam der Mensch zur Erfühlung und namentlich zum Bewußtsein dessen, was in ihm die Ich-Wesenheit und die Ich-Kraft ist. So daß man sagen kann: Zwar bestand selbstverständlich auch in den Zeiten vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha die menschliche Wesenheit aus physischem Leib, ätherischem Leib, astralischem Leib und Ich, aber die Bewußtheit des Menschen hatte nicht in sich diese Ich-Wesenheit. Die Ich-Wesenheit war mehr oder weniger unbewußt. Im Grunde genommen wandelten in jenen älteren Zeiten Menschen auf der Erde herum, die nicht im Vollbewußtsein ihres Ich lebten. Aber eigentlich ist es nur möglich, daß das Ich sich auswirkt innerhalb der Menschenwesenheit, wenn der Mensch nicht mehr voll, ich möchte sagen, nicht in voller Frische mehr seinen physischen Leib entwickelt. Diejenigen Menschen, welche noch unbewußt ihres Ich waren, haben in größerer Frische ihren physischen Leib entwickelt als jene, welche dann eingetreten sind in das Vollbewußtsein des Ich. Und dieser Eintritt in das Vollbewußtsein des Ich, er fand zwar nicht plötzlich statt, er fand in den Jahrhunderten vor und nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha statt, aber er ist deutlich wahrnehmbar für die geisteswissenschaftliche Geschichtsbetrachtung. Und wir müssen sagen: Das, was der Mensch eigentlich in voller Frische aufrechterhalten kann von seinem physischen Leib und auch von seinem ätherischen und astralischen Leib, das ist nur aufrechtzuerhalten, wenn etwas von der göttlich-geistigen Natur in die menschliche Wesenheit hereinfließt. Solange die Menschen bei Abwesenheit des IchBewußtseins ein atavistisches Hellsehen hatten, floß ja dieses GöttlichGeistige aus dem Kosmos in die Menschen ein. Die Menschen hätten niemals freie Wesen werden können, wenn nicht das Ich dadurch aufgetreten wäre, daß nicht mehr im alten Sinne das Göttlich-Geistige in sie einfloß. Die Menschen wurden nur dadurch freie Wesen, daß sie auch im Bewußtsein ihres Ich mächtig wurden. Das aber war nur möglich, wenn die Menschen allmählich sich hineinentwickelten in das, was die abstrakten Gedanken sind. Die abstrakten Gedanken aber sind eigentlich die Leichname der geistigen Welt. Ich habe ja in diesen Vorträgen schon darauf aufmerksam gemacht: So wie der Leichnam von unserem Physischen übrigbleibt, wenn wir durch den Erdentod hindurchgehen, so bleibt von jener geistig-seelischen Wesenheit, die wir in der geistigen Welt sind, bevor wir heruntersteigen in die physische Welt, auch ein Leichnam übrig. Das ist aber erst so seit der Zeit, seit welcher der Mensch mit dem Bewußtsein seines Ich ausgestattet ist. Und die Gedanken, die abstrakten Gedanken stellen diesen Leichnam dar. Indem wir imstande werden, abstrakte Gedanken in uns zu fassen, fassen wir den Leichnam unseres geistig-seelischen Wesens, wie es war vor dem Herunterstieg in die Erdenwelt. Aber daß wir den Leichnam unseres Geistig-Seelischen fassen, das hat zur Voraussetzung, daß auch etwas vom absterbenden, ablähmenden Prinzip in unseren physischen Leib einzieht.

[ 3 ] Ja, die Entwickelung des Menschen ist schon so, daß seine Natur sich im Laufe seiner Erdenentwickelung geändert hat. Die alten Leiber waren anders, als die neuen Leiber sind. Die alten Leiber waren so, daß der Mensch zwar unfrei in ihnen war, daß er sich aber in einer frischen, in einer durch die eigene physisch-ätherisch-astralische Tätigkeit sich vollziehenden Eigennatur in seinem Leibe bewegte. So daß man sagen kann: Wir leben innerhalb der zivilisierten Welt bereits in einer Periode der Menschheitsentwickelung, wo der Leib beginnt zu zerfallen. Und gerade durch diesen zerfallenden Leib, der die Grundlage ist für die intellektualistischen, das heißt für die abstrakten Gedanken, gewinnen wir unsere Freiheit. Durch diesen verfallenden Leib hat der Mensch alles das errungen, worauf er heute als der intellektualistisch gefärbte Wissenschafter so stolz ist.

[ 4 ] Wenn wir das bedenken, so müssen wir uns sagen: Vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha lebte also auf der Erde in den Menschen selbst noch nicht das volle Ich-Bewußtsein. Aber es gab eben Menschen, welche schon dazumal dieses volle Ich-Bewußtsein entwickelten, welche es entwickelten durch die Mysterienhandlung. Das waren eben die Initiierten oder die Eingeweihten. Wir haben ja schon das Verschiedenste darüber gesprochen, was innerhalb der alten Mysterienstätten mit denen geschah, welche die Einweihung durchmachten und zu diesem vollbewußten Ich hinanstiegen, während es allgemeine Menschennatur war, noch nicht ein vollbewußtes Ich zu haben. Allein, der alte Initiierte konnte zu diesem vollbewußten Ich nur hinaufsteigen dadurch, daß durch die heilige Handlung der Mysterien etwas in ihn einzog, was innerhalb aller alten Kulturen und Zivilisationen als der ewige Vater des Kosmos empfunden worden ist. Und der Myste der alten Mysterien, der Initiierte, hatte dieses Erlebnis, wenn er bei einem bestimmten Punkte seiner Initiation angelangt war, daß er sich sagte: Der Vater lebt in mir.

[ 5 ] Wenn wir uns etwa vorstellen würden einen solchen Initiierten innerhalb der althebräischen Kultur, so müßten wir sagen: Dieser Initiierte charakterisierte das, was mit ihm selber durch die Initiation geschehen war, in der folgenden Art. Er sagte: Die allgemeine Menschheit hat das als ihr Eigentümliches, daß der Vater sie zwar erhält und trägt, daß aber der Vater nicht in das Bewußtsein einzieht und nicht das Bewußtsein zum Ich entfacht. Der Vater gibt dem gewöhnlichen Menschen lediglich den Geist des Atems; er haucht ihm den Atem ein, und der ist die lebendige Seele. Aber es empfand der Initiierte, daß zu dem, was da als lebendige Seele eingehaucht wurde, ein besonderes Geistiges, das lebendige Vaterprinzip des Kosmos, in dem Menschen einzog. Und dann, wenn in diesem alten Initiierten der hebräischen Welt dieses göttliche Vaterprinzip eingezogen war und der Mensch dessen bewußt geworden war, dann sprach dieser Mensch mit vollem Rechte aus, was bei ihm «Ich» bedeutete: Ich bin der Ich bin. — Und so sah man auch einen solchen Menschen, der unter den alten Völkern herumging und mit Recht durch die Innewohnung des göttlichen Vaterprinzips das Ich aussprechen konnte, das im ganzen Altertum eigentlich der unaussprechliche Name der Gottheit, der Vatergottheit war, so sah man den selber als den Stellvertreter des Vaters auf Erden an. Und man nannte diese Initiierten die Väter, die unter den Völkern herumgingen. Väter nannte man sie, denn sie vertraten das göttliche Vaterprinzip unter den anderen Menschen. Und man sagte von ihnen, daß in sie einzog in den Mysterien der göttliche Vater. Daher sah man die Mysterien als etwas an, in dem sich innerhalb des Irdischen entwickelt, was sonst nur draußen den ganzen Kosmos durchwallt und durchwebt. Innerhalb der Mysterienstätte und dann wiederum durch die Mysterienstätte im Menschen, wurde dem göttlichen Vaterprinzip eine Hütte gebaut. Der Mensch selber wurde zu dieser Hütte des göttlichen Vaterprinzips.

[ 6 ] So empfand man durch die Mysterien das Wallen und Pilgern Gottes des Vaters innerhalb der Erdenwelt, und man sah hinaus in den Kosmos, in die große Welt, und nannte das, insofern man es durchwallt und durchwebt auffaßte von dem göttlichen Vaterprinzip, man nannte es den Makrokosmos, die große Welt. Und man sah dann hin zu der Mysterienstätte, in welcher diesem Vatergotte eine Hütte gebaut war, in welcher initiiert wurden diejenigen, die als Menschen selber die Hütte dieses Vatergottes geworden waren, und man nannte das, was die Mysterien waren, man nannte das, was der Mensch selber war durch die Mysterien: die kleine Welt, den Mikrokosmos. Das ist etwas, was sich noch bis zu Goethe herauf erhalten hat; denn als Goethe Mitglied von Logen wurde, eignete er sich den Sprachgebrauch an «Groß’ und kleine Welt», und er verstand unter der großen Welt eben den Makrokosmos, unter der kleinen Welt die Loge, die ein Abbild der großen Welt für ihn sein soll.

[ 7 ] Das alles kam in ein anderes Stadium, als innerhalb der Menschheitsentwickelung das Mysterium von Golgatha heranrückte. Da handelte es sich um etwas wesentlich anderes. Während dieses Mysteriums von Golgatha waren zuerst diejenigen Menschen auf der Erde wandelnd, welche etwas in sich fühlten von dem selbständigen Ich. Das Ich-Bewußtsein hatte gewissermaßen angefangen einzuziehen in den Menschen. Damit war aber zu gleicher Zeit ein anderes aufgetreten: daß der menschliche physische Leib anfing, innerlich brüchig zu werden, zu zerfallen. Und so stand die Menschheitsentwickelung in dieser Zeit, in der Mitte der Erdenentwickelung, vor einer großen Gefahr, vor der Gefahr, immer mehr und mehr den Zusammenhang zu verlieren mit der geistigen Welt, aber auch vor der Gefahr, daß der physische Leib immer mehr und mehr zerfallen könne.

[ 8 ] Um dem abzuhelfen, beschloß eben jenes Wesen, das wir als den Christus kennen, sich nun so in den Jesus von Nazareth hineinzuergießen, wie sich früher in die Initiierten das göttliche Vaterprinzip hineinergossen hatte. Dieses göttliche Vaterprinzip hatte sich in die Initiierten hineinergossen. Dadurch war in den Initiierten angefacht worden zu dem physischen Leib, zu dem Ätherleib, zu dem astralischen Leib hinzu das Ich. Diejenigen allein, so sagte ich schon, durften das Ich aussprechen, das eigentlich der unaussprechliche Name des Gottes selber war, in die der göttliche Vater eingezogen war.

[ 9 ] Aber jetzt waren Menschen da in der Mitte der Erdenentwickelungszeit, die anfingen, zu sich Ich zu sagen, die das Ich ins Bewußtsein herauf erhoben. In einen solchen Menschen, der da war der Jesus von Nazareth, zog jetzt dasjenige Prinzip ein, welches das Sohnesprinzip ist, das Christus-Prinzip. Dieses Christus-Prinzip trat also ein in das Ich. Während wir früher haben den Einzug des Vaterprinzips in physischen Leib, Ätherleib, astralischen Leib, so haben wir jetzt das Einziehen des Christus-Prinzips in den Menschen, der sich weiter fortentwickelt hatte.

[ 10 ] Nun erinnern Sie sich, wie ich den Menschen in diesen Tagen beschrieben habe. Ich habe Ihnen gesagt: Die Pflanzen vernichten in sich die physische Natur, korrumpieren sie, könnte man sagen; das Tier korrumpiert die physische und die ätherische Natur, und der Mensch korrumpiert die physische, die ätherische und die astralische Natur. Er korrumpierte sie nicht vollständig in der Zeit der Entwickelung der Menschheit vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha; jetzt korrumpierte er sie vollständig, indem sein Ich wirklich einzog in seine Wesenheit. Der Initiierte der alten Mysterien aber, der machte sich völlig frei von physischem Leib, ätherischem Leib, astralischem Leib, indem er das göttliche Vaterprinzip in sich einfließen ließ und schon in jener Zeit ein Ich wurde.

[ 11 ] Indem Christus in den Jesus von Nazareth einzog, vernichtete er aber bei diesem Einzug nun nicht nur den physischen Leib, nicht nur den ätherischen Leib und den astralischen Leib, sondern auch mit das Ich, soweit es in der damaligen Zeit in dem Jesus von Nazareth entwickelt war. So daß also in dem Jesus Christus eben das höhere Christus-Prinzip wohnte, das sich zu dem Ich so verhält wie sonst das Ich des Menschen zum astralischen Leibe.

[ 12 ] Das ist etwas, was gerade noch die alten Initiierten, in denen höhere Fähigkeiten des Schauens entwickelt waren, eben auch schauen konnten. Wenn diese alten Initiierten angeschaut haben den Menschen, wie er nun war in ihrer Zeit, dann haben sie in ihm gefunden, wie der Mensch alle Kräfte der übrigen Naturwesen in sich vereinigte, hinausragte über die übrigen Naturwesen, sie gewissermaßen zusammenfaßte. Sie haben gesehen, wie man wieder finden kann in dem menschlichen physischen Leib das mineralische Reich, in dem menschlichen Ätherleib das Pflanzenreich, in dem menschlichen astralischen Leib das tierische Reich, und dann den eigentlichen Menschen. Indem diese in den älteren Zeiten zum Schauen gebrachten Initiierten, diese Väter der Völker, insofern noch einzelne von ihnen vorhanden waren, jetzt Kunde bekamen von diesem Christus-Ereignis, von dem herannahenden Ereignis von Golgatha, konnten sie eine Wesenheit in dem Christus sehen, in welchem nun mehr enthalten war, in welchem nicht nur die irdischen Wesen bis zum Menschen heraufragten, sondern in welchem der Mensch wiederum hinaufragte zum göttlich-geistigen Sein.

[ 13 ] Wenn als menschlicher Ausdruck im Menschen etwas vorhanden ist, was wir eben kennen als in dem äußeren physischen Leib des Menschen lebend, so werden wir verstehen, wie diese Initiierten in dem Christus Jesus mehr sahen als einen Menschen, wie sie etwas herumwandeln sahen auf der Erde, was über die Menschheit, über die Menschlichkeit hinausragte. Diese Initiierten haben den Christus Jesus eben in einem besonderen Glanze gesehen, nicht nur mit dem menschlichen Inkarnat, sondern mit einem besonderen strahligen Glanze.

[ 14 ] Diesen besonderen strahligen Glanz, den konnten allerdings die alten Initiierten auch an ihren Genossen wahrnehmen: es war die Kraft des Vaterprinzipes, das in den Initiierten wohnte. Aber jetzt ‚nahmen sie nicht nur dasjenige wahr, was in den alten Initiierten als das göttliche Vaterprinzip wohnte, jetzt nahmen sie etwas wahr, was von dem Christus Jesus noch in besonderer Weise ausstrahlte, weil in ihm eben nicht bloß physischer Leib, ätherischer Leib, astralischer Leib vernichtet waren, sondern auch das Ich, soweit es in der damaligen Zeit in einem Menschen vorhanden sein konnte.

[ 15 ] Daher kam es, daß den Christus Jesus als eine besonders strahlende Wesenheit nicht nur die Inititerten schauen konnten, sondern auch andere, hierzu besonders begabte Menschen. Und das war das ungeheuer Neue auch für die Initiierten zur Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha: daß andere Menschen, die nur mit Naturgaben, nicht mit Mysteriengaben ausgestattet waren, wenn es auch nur einzelne waren, eben in dem Christus Jesus die höhere Natur erkannten.

[ 16 ] Daraus entstand dann Verständnis dafür, daß jetzt mit dem Mysterium von Golgatha etwas geschehen sollte, was früher im Grunde nur innerhalb der Mysterien selber geschehen war. In die große Welt, in den Makrokosmos war etwas hinausversetzt worden, das früher nur innerhalb des Mikrokosmos, innerhalb der kleinen Welt vor sich gegangen war. Und es ist schon so, daß zunächst innerhalb der letzten Mysterienstätten des Altertums am reinsten, am klarsten das ChristusGeheimnis verkündet worden ist, und daß gerade diese Verkündigung des Christus-Geheimnisses im Laufe der ersten vier Jahrhunderte europäischer Entwickelung für die neuere Zivilisation verlorengegangen ist. Diese alten Initiierten wußten, weil in dem Christus Jesus nun nicht bloß das Vaterprinzip, sondern das Sohnesprinzip lebte, daß der Christus Jesus etwas darstellte, was einzig innerhalb der irdischen Entwickelung ist, einzig insofern, als eben im weiteren Fortgang nicht etwa wieder ein solches Mysterium von Golgatha auftreten könne, nicht wiederum eine solche Innewohnung des Sohnesprinzips in einem Menschen stattfinden könne, wie sie stattgefunden hat in dem Jesus von Nazareth.

[ 17 ] Und es wußten diese Initiierten, daß der Christus in die Menschheit eingetreten ist als der Heiler, als der große Heiler, als derjenige, der verhindert, daß der menschliche Leib Schaden erleidet dadurch, daß er brüchig wird durch das Einziehen des Ich. Denn, was wäre geschehen, wenn der Christus nicht als der Heiler erschienen wäre? Wäre der Christus nicht als der Heiler erschienen, so würden, wenn die Menschen sterben, wenn sie ablegen ihren verfallenden Leib, durch das Ablegen des verfallenden Leibes die Verfallserscheinungen zurückstrahlen in ihr Seelisches, das sie nach dem Tode entfalten. Beunruhigt, gequält würden die Toten durch das, was der verfallende physische Leib im Erdendasein darstellte. Sie würden schauen müssen, diese Seelen, die durch den Tod gegangen sind, wie die Erde selber, dadurch, daß sie einen verfallenden Leib aufnehmen muß, Schaden leidet. Und es wußten die alten Initiierten, wie diejenigen, die sich im rechten Sinne des Wortes Christen nennen, die zu der inneren Erfüllung mit dem Christus-Prinzip durchdringen, wie diese nun so herunterschauen konnten auf ihren Leib, der ihnen genommen war im Tode, daß sie sagen konnten: Durch unsere Innewohnung des Christus, während wir Erdenkinder waren, haben wir diesen physischen Leib soweit geheilt, daß er in die Erde versenkt werden kann, ohne daß er für die Erde selber ein Verfallsprinzip darstellt. An der Erde mußte geheilt werden dasjenige, was der Mensch haben mußte, um ein Ich zu werden. Denn damit er ein Ich werden konnte, mußte er einen verfallenden Körper haben; aber wenn dieser verfallende Körper geblieben wäre, hätte die Erde Schaden genommen. Und die Seelen, wenn sie herunterschauten auf ihren von der Erde aufgenommenen physischen Leib, wären nach dem Tode gequält worden unter dem Einflusse der Empfindung, daß die Erde selber Schaden nähme an diesem verfallenden physischen Leibe.

[ 18 ] Das ist es, was durch das Mysterium von Golgatha eingetreten ist, daß die Menschenseelen nun sich sagen konnten, nachdem sie durch die Pforte des Todes durchgegangen waren: Ja, wir haben ihn getragen auf der Erde, diesen verfallenden physischen Leib; ihm verdanken wir die Möglichkeit, ein freieres Ich in der menschlichen Wesenheit entwickeln zu können. Aber der Christus hat durch sein Innewohnen in dem Jesus von Nazareth geheilt diesen physischen Leib, so daß er dem Erdendasein nicht schädlich ist, so daß wir mit Beruhigung hinunterschauen können in das Erdendasein, wissend, daß nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha nicht ein unrechter Same hineinfällt in dieses Erdendasein durch denjenigen Leib, den der Mensch zum Gebrauche seines Ich nötig hat. Und so ist der Christus durch das Mysterium von Golgatha hindurchgegangen, um den menschlichen physischen Leib für das Erdendasein zu heiligen.

[ 19 ] Nun, wenn es dabei geblieben wäre, was wäre dann im Verlaufe der Erdenentwickelung geschehen? Wenn es dabei geblieben wäre, so hätte gesagt werden können: In alten Zeiten ist der Vatergott eingezogen in die Menschen, damit sie als Seelen zu dem Ich hinaufkommen konnten und den anderen Menschen als Initiierte verkündigen konnten das eigentliche Wesen des Menschen, das Ich-Wesen. Dann ist der Sohn, der Christus, in die Menschenwesenheit eingezogen. Diejenigen, die sich dazu aufschwingen, die Innewohnung des Christus in sich zu bewirken, die retten jetzt dadurch für die Erdenentwickelung ihren Leib. Wie durch das alte Vaterprinzip und seine Innewohnung in der Menschheitsentwickelung durch die Mysterien das Seelische der Menschen gerettet worden ist, so wird das Leibliche der Menschen gerettet durch den Heiler, durch den Heiland, durch den Christus, der durch das Mysterium von Golgatha gegangen ist.

[ 20 ] Aber würde es nur dabei bleiben, so würden diejenigen, die ihren Leib gerettet wissen, sie würden nun den Christus, als die in ihnen wirkende Wesenheit, die in ihnen auch leiblich wirkende Wesenheit, in sich tragen müssen. Und damit könnten die Menschen wieder nicht freie Wesen werden. Die Menschen würden sich, wenn es dabei geblieben wäre — damals, als die Freiheit heraufzog im 14. nachchristlichen Jahrhunderte -, so entwickelt haben, daß sie den Christus hätten in sich aufnehmen können zur Beruhigung ihrer Seelen nach dem Tod, damit diese Seelen so auf die Erde hätten herabschauen können, wie ich es Ihnen jetzt beschrieben habe; aber die Menschen hätten nicht frei werden können. Wenn sie hätten gut werden wollen, dann hätten sie den Christus so in sich wirken lassen müssen, wie im Altertum der Vater gewirkt hatte in den Menschen, die nicht Initiierte waren. Damals sind die Menschen, indem das Ich in ihnen entwickelt wurde, frei geworden. Die Initiierten wurden freie Menschen in alten Zeiten, die anderen waren unfrei, weil der Vater unbewußt in ihnen lebte. Wären nun die Christen des Christus in sich bewußte Wesenheiten gewesen, dann hätten sie jederzeit, wenn sie hätten gut werden wollen, auslöschen müssen ihr Ich-Bewußtsein, um den Christus mit Auslöschung dieses Ich-Bewußtseins in sich zu erwecken. Nicht sie selber hätten gut sein können, sondern lediglich der Christus in ihnen hätte gut sein können. Die Menschen hätten herumwandeln müssen hier auf der Erde, der Christus hätte in ihnen wohnen müssen, und indem der Christus sich bedient hätte der Menschenleiber, hätte die Heilung dieser Menschenleiber stattgefunden. Aber die guten Handlungen, welche die Menschen verrichtet hätten, die wären ChristusHandlungen gewesen, nicht Menschenhandlungen.

[ 21 ] Das war nicht die Aufgabe, die Mission des göttlichen Sohnes, der durch das Mysterium von Golgatha sich mit der Erdenentwickelung verbunden hatte. Er wollte innewohnen der Menschheit, aber er wollte nicht das heraufkommende Ich-Bewußtsein der Menschen trüben. Er hatte das einmal getan in dem Jesus, in dem an der Stelle des Ich-Bewußtseins von der Taufe an das Sohnesbewußtsein lebte. Aber das sollte bei den Menschen der künftigen Zeiten nicht stattfinden. Bei den Menschen der künftigen Zeiten sollte das Ich sich voll bewußt erheben können, und der Christus dennoch innewohnen können diesen Menschen.

[ 22 ] Dazu war notwendig, daß der Christus als solcher vor der unmittelbaren Anschauung der Menschen verschwand, daß er zwar vereinigt blieb mit dem irdischen Dasein, aber vor dem unmittelbaren Anblick der Menschen verschwand. Auf ihn wurde anwendbar derjenige Ausdruck, der ja auch in den alten Initiationsstätten für so etwas üblich war: Wenn ein Wesen, das physisch sichtbar ist, das von den Menschen, die in der physischen Welt ihre Anschauung ha /üO ben, seinem Dasein nach verfolgt werden kann, aufhört sichtbar zu sein, so sagt man, es habe seine Himmelfahrt gehalten. Es ist eben eingetreten in diejenigen Regionen, in denen die physische Sichtbarkeit nicht mehr stattfindet. So hat der Christus seine Himmelfahrt gehalten, so ist er unsichtbar geworden. Denn er hätte in einer gewissen Weise seine volle Sichtbarkeit behalten, wenn er den Menschen innegewohnt und das Ich ausgelöscht hätte, so daß diese nur hätten gut werden können dadurch, daß der Christus eigentlich in ihnen handelnd gewesen wäre.

[ 23 ] Die Art und Weise, wie der Christus noch den Aposteln, den Jüngern auch nach seiner Auferstehung sichtbar war, diese Art und Weise verschwand: Der Christus hielt seine Himmelfahrt. Aber er sandte den Menschen diejenige göttliche Wesenheit, die nun nicht das IchBewußtsein auslöscht, zu der man sich erhebt nicht im Anschauen, sondern gerade im unanschaulichen Geiste. Er sandte den Menschen den Heiligen Geist.

[ 24 ] So ist eigentlich der Heilige Geist dasjenige, was von dem Christus gesandt werden sollte, damit der Mensch sein Ich-Bewußtsein behalten könne und der Christus dem Menschen unbewußt innewohnen kann. So daß der Mensch, wenn er nun im vollen Sinne des Wortes sich vor die Seele führt, was er eigentlich für ein Wesen ist, sagen muß: Wenn ich zurückblicke zu dem, was die alten Initiierten wußten, so sehe ich, daß in mir lebt das Vaterprinzip, welches den Kosmos erfüllt, welches in diesen alten Initiierten auftrat und bei ihnen das Ich entfaltete. Das ist dasjenige Prinzip, welches mit uns lebte, bevor wir heruntergestiegen sind in die physische Welt. - Durch das Innewohnen dieses Vaterprinzips erinnerten sich die alten Initiierten in vollständiger Klarheit an die Art und Weise, wie sie lebten, bevor sie heruntergestiegen waren in die physische Welt. Da suchten sie das Göttliche in dem Vorgeburtlichen, in dem Präexistenten: Ex deo nascimur.

[ 25 ] Nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha hat für den Menschen nicht bleiben können: «Den Christus schaue ich», denn dann hätte er eben nicht gut werden können durch sich selber, dann hätte nur der Christus in ihm gut sein können. Es konnte nur über den Menschen kommen das: In Christo morimur. Sterben konnte er in den Christus; mit demjenigen, was Todesprinzip in ihm ist, konnte er den Christus vereinigen.

[ 26 ] Aber sein neues Bewußtsein konnte erweckt werden durch die Wesenheit, die der Christus ihm sandte, durch die Wesenheit des Heiligen Geistes: Per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus.

[ 27 ] Sehen Sie, damit haben Sie den Zusammenhang innerhalb der Trinität. Sie haben aber damit zugleich das gegeben, daß es durchaus im Christentum liegt, daß man auch ohne die Anschauung des Christus selber in ihm zu der Auferweckung des Geistes kommen kann. Indem der Christus der Menschheit den Heiligen Geist sandte, hat er sie befähigt dazu, aus dem Intellektuellen heraus selber sich aufzuschwingen zum Begreifen des Geistigen. Es darf daher nicht gesagt werden, der Mensch könne das geistige Übersinnliche nicht durch seinen Geist begreifen; einzig und allein dadurch könnte der Mensch rechtfertigen dieses Nichtbegreifen des Übersinnlichen, daß er den Heiligen Geist ignorierte, daß er nur sprechen würde von dem Vatergott und dem Christus-Gott. Auch im Evangelium ist klar angedeutet für denjenigen, der nur sehen will, der nur lesen will, daß es selber eine Offenbarung ist, daß der Mensch durch den ihm innewohnenden Geist, wenn er sich nur hinneigt zu dem Christus, das Übersinnliche begreifen kann. Deshalb wird uns mitgeteilt, daß bei der Taufe Christi der Heilige Geist erschien. Und im Erscheinen des Heiligen Geistes ertönen die Worte durch den Kosmos: «Dieser ist mein vielgeliebter Sohn, heute habe ich ihn gezeuget.»

[ 28 ] Der Vater ist der ungezeugte Zeugende, der den Sohn hereinstellt in die physische Welt. Aber zu gleicher Zeit bedient sich der Vater des Heiligen Geistes, um mitzuteilen der Menschheit, daß im Geiste erfaßbar ist das Übersinnliche, auch wenn dieser Geist nicht geschaut wird, sondern wenn dieser Geist nur innerlich auch sein abstraktes Geistiges zum Lebendigen hinaufarbeitet, wenn er durch den ihm innewohnenden Christus den Gedankenleichnam, den wir von unserem vorgeburtlichen Dasein haben, zum Leben erweckt.

[ 29 ] Damals war die Mitteilung von dem Heiligen Geist und die Erscheinung des Heiligen Geistes selber bei der Taufe durch den Vater geschehen. Und als der Christus diesen Heiligen Geist den Seinigen geschickt hatte, da geschah diese Mitteilung durch den Christus, durch den Sohn. Daher war es ein altes Dogma, daß der Vater der zeugende Ungezeugte ist, daß der Sohn der von dem Vater Gezeugte ist, daß der Heilige Geist der von dem Vater und dem Sohn an die Menschheit Mitgeteilte ist. Das ist nicht etwa bloß ein willkürlich aufgestelltes Dogma, sondern Initiationsweisheit der ersten christlichen Jahrhunderte, und es ist nur später verschüttet worden, wie überhaupt die Trichotomie und die Trinität verschüttet worden sind.

[ 30 ] Innerhalb der sich entwickelnden Menschheit ist das im Sinne des Christentums wirkende göttliche Prinzip nicht ohne die Trinität zu verstehen, und wenn an die Stelle der Trinität eine andere Gottesmitteilung tritt, dann ist diese im Grunde genommen keine völlig christliche Mitteilung. Man muß den Vater, den Sohn und den Heiligen Geist verstehen, wenn man im Konkreten die Gottesmitteilung im echten Sinne verstehen will.

[ 31 ] Und so war das Evangelium selber nicht mehr verstanden, als innerhalb der Scholastik dekretiert wurde, daß der Mensch nur eine Offenbarung habe im Glauben, daß er aber mit seiner Erkenntnis sich nicht hinaufentwickeln könne bis zum Übersinnlichen. Dieses Dekret über das menschliche Erkennen, das abgegrenzt wurde vom Glauben, es war selber eine Sünde wider das Christentum, es war eine Sünde wider die Verkündigung des Heiligen Geistes durch den Vater bei der Taufe Jesu, und durch den Jesus selber bei der Aussendung des Heiligen Geistes bei dem Pfingstfeste.

[ 32 ] So daß also innerhalb der europäischen Entwickelung in dem, was sich fortwährend Christentum nannte, viel gesündigt worden ist gegen die ursprünglichen christlichen Impulse, und daß heute die Menschheit wirklich nötig hat, wiederum zu diesen ursprünglichen christlichen Impulsen zurückzukehren.

[ 33 ] Diese ursprünglichen christlichen Impulse sind vielfach in den Dogmen verhärtet. Aber wenn man eindringt in den lebendigen Geist, dann wird man wiederum Feuer schlagen aus dem, was Wahrhaftigkeit ist in den Dogmen. Dann werden die Dogmen aufhören, Dogmen zu sein. Das Falsche in der Kirche besteht nicht darin, daß sie die Dogmen fortgepflanzt hat, sondern es besteht darin, daß sie die Dogmen vereist, kristallisiert hat, daß sie sie hinweggenommen hat von der menschlichen Erkenntnis. Indem man die menschliche Erkenntnis beschränkte auf das, was nur die Sinneswelt ist, mußten die Dogmen kristallisiert, mußten die Dogmen verhärtet, mußten die Dogmen unverständlich werden. Denn daß der Glaube jemals wirklich ein Verständnis bringen könne, das ist eine Unmöglichkeit. Was erlöst werden muß innerhalb der Menschheit, das ist die Erkenntnis selber, das ist die Zurückführung der Erkenntnis zum Übersinnlichen.

[ 34 ] Und diese Aufforderung, sie dringt im Grunde genommen zu uns von Golgatha her, wenn wir es richtig verstehen, wenn wir wissen, wie der Christus — nach dem Durchgang durch das Mysterium von Golgatha - zu seinem göttlichen Vaterprinzip hinzu den Geist in die Menschheit sandte. Wer das Kreuz auf Golgatha schaut, der muß zugleich die Trinität schauen, denn der Christus zeigt in Wirklichkeit in seinem ganzen Verwobensein mit der irdischen Menschheitsentwickelung die Trinität.

[ 35 ] Das, meine lieben Freunde, ist es, was ich gerade heute auf Ihre Herzen habe legen wollen, und was uns die Unterlage geben soll für weitere Betrachtungen der nächsten Zeit.

Fourth lecture

[ 1 ] Let us look back once more at what I hinted at yesterday, how it has been stunted by the progressive intellectualization of human culture. Let us look back to the older, atavistic principles of initiation, and then see how those people who still lived according to these principles of initiation, as initiates, opposed Christianity and, out of their views, formed what later became dogmatic content and, as such, could no longer be understood, especially after the 8th and 9th centuries. 9th century, could no longer be understood as such.

[ 2 ] We need only remember that before the Mystery of Golgotha, the impact of the actual human I-principle was essentially absent from human civilization. Human beings were always predisposed to have this I-principle within themselves. They were also created to form their outer and inner being out of this I-principle. But only slowly and gradually did human beings come to feel and, in particular, to become conscious of what the I-being and the I-force are within them. So we can say that even in the times before the Mystery of Golgotha, the human being naturally consisted of a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body, and an ego, but human consciousness did not contain this ego-being. The ego-being was more or less unconscious. Basically, in those older times, people walked around on Earth who did not live in full consciousness of their I. But actually, the ego can only have an effect within human beings when they no longer develop their physical body fully, or rather, when they no longer develop it in its full freshness. Those human beings who were still unconscious of their ego developed their physical body in greater freshness than those who then entered into full consciousness of the ego. And this entry into full consciousness of the ego did not take place suddenly, but rather in the centuries before and after the Mystery of Golgotha, yet it is clearly perceptible to spiritual scientific historical observation. And we must say: What human beings can actually maintain in full freshness of their physical body and also of their etheric and astral bodies can only be maintained if something of the divine-spiritual nature flows into the human being. As long as human beings had atavistic clairvoyance in the absence of ego-consciousness, this divine-spiritual flowed into them from the cosmos. Human beings could never have become free beings if the ego had not come into being, so that the divine-spiritual no longer flowed into them in the old sense. Human beings only became free beings because they also became powerful in their ego consciousness. But this was only possible when human beings gradually developed into what abstract thoughts are. Abstract thoughts, however, are actually the corpses of the spiritual world. I have already pointed this out in these lectures: just as the corpse remains of our physical body when we pass through earthly death, so too does a corpse remain of that spiritual-soul being that we are in the spiritual world before we descend into the physical world. But this has only been the case since the time when human beings were endowed with consciousness of their ego. And thoughts, abstract thoughts, represent this corpse. By becoming capable of grasping abstract thoughts within ourselves, we grasp the corpse of our spiritual-soul being as it was before it descended into the earthly world. But in order for us to grasp the corpse of our spiritual-soul being, it is necessary that something of the dying, withering principle also enter into our physical body.

[ 3 ] Yes, human development is such that human nature has changed in the course of earthly evolution. The old bodies were different from the new bodies. The old bodies were such that although human beings were not free in them, they moved within their bodies in a fresh, natural state that was brought about by their own physical, etheric, and astral activity. So we can say that within the civilized world, we are already living in a period of human development in which the body is beginning to decay. And it is precisely through this decaying body, which is the basis for intellectual, that is, abstract thought, that we gain our freedom. Through this decaying body, human beings have achieved everything of which they are so proud today as intellectual scientists.

[ 4 ] When we consider this, we must say to ourselves: Before the Mystery of Golgotha, the full consciousness of the I did not yet live in human beings on earth. But there were people who had already developed this full consciousness of the I at that time, who developed it through the Mystery work. These were the initiates or the initiated ones. We have already spoken at length about what happened within the ancient mystery centers to those who underwent initiation and ascended to this fully conscious I, while it was still the general human nature not to have a fully conscious I. However, the ancient initiate could only ascend to this fully conscious ego through the sacred act of the mysteries, which brought something into him that had been felt in all ancient cultures and civilizations as the eternal Father of the Cosmos. And the mystic of the ancient mysteries, the initiate, had this experience when he reached a certain point in his initiation, when he said to himself: The Father lives in me.

[ 5 ] If we were to imagine such an initiate within the ancient Hebrew culture, we would have to say: This initiate characterized what had happened to him through initiation in the following way. He said: "General humanity has this as its peculiar characteristic: that the Father sustains and carries it, but that the Father does not enter into consciousness and does not awaken consciousness to the I. The father gives ordinary human beings only the spirit of breath; he breathes life into them, and that is the living soul. But the initiate felt that, in addition to what was breathed into them as the living soul, a special spiritual element, the living father principle of the cosmos, entered into human beings. And then, when this divine father principle had entered into these ancient initiates of the Hebrew world and human beings had become conscious of it, then these human beings spoke with full right what meant “I” to them: I am the I am. — And so one saw such a human being walking among the ancient peoples, who, through the indwelling of the divine Father principle, could rightly pronounce the I, which in all of antiquity was actually the unutterable name of the deity, the Father deity, and one regarded him as the representative of the Father on earth. And these initiates were called the fathers who walked among the peoples. They were called fathers because they represented the divine Father principle among other human beings. And it was said of them that the divine Father entered into them in the mysteries. Therefore, the mysteries were seen as something in which what otherwise only permeates and interweaves the entire cosmos outside develops within the earthly realm. Within the mystery center, and then again through the mystery center in human beings, a dwelling place was built for the divine Father principle. Human beings themselves became this dwelling place of the divine Father principle.

[ 6 ] Thus, through the mysteries, people perceived the surging and pilgrimage of God the Father within the earthly world, and they looked out into the cosmos, into the great world, and called that which they perceived as permeating and interweaving it from the divine Father principle the macrocosm, the great world. And then they looked to the mystery site where a hut had been built for this Father God, in which those who had themselves become the hut of this Father God as human beings were initiated, and they called what the mysteries were, they called what man himself was through the mysteries: the small world, the microcosm. This is something that has been preserved up to Goethe; for when Goethe became a member of lodges, he adopted the usage of “great world” and “small world,” and he understood the great world to be the macrocosm and the small world to be the lodge, which for him was supposed to be a reflection of the great world.

[ 7 ] All this entered a different stage when the mystery of Golgotha approached in the course of human evolution. This was something essentially different. During this mystery of Golgotha, the first people walking on earth were those who felt something of the independent I within themselves. The consciousness of the I had, so to speak, begun to enter into human beings. At the same time, however, something else occurred: the human physical body began to become fragile and disintegrate internally. And so, at this time, in the middle of Earth's evolution, human development faced a great danger: the danger of losing more and more connection with the spiritual world, but also the danger that the physical body could disintegrate more and more.

[ 8 ] To remedy this, the very being we know as Christ decided to pour himself into Jesus of Nazareth, just as the divine Father principle had previously poured itself into the initiates. This divine Father principle had poured into the initiates. This had kindled in the initiates, in addition to the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body, the I. Only those, as I have already said, were allowed to pronounce the I, which was actually the unutterable name of God Himself, into whom the divine Father had entered.

[ 9 ] But now there were people in the middle of the Earth's evolution who began to say “I” to themselves, who raised the “I” into consciousness. Into such a person, who was Jesus of Nazareth, there now entered the principle that is the Son principle, the Christ principle. This Christ principle thus entered into the I. Whereas earlier we had the entry of the Father principle into the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body, we now have the entry of the Christ principle into the human being who had continued to evolve.

[ 10 ] Now remember how I described human beings in those days. I told you: Plants destroy the physical nature within themselves, corrupt it, one might say; animals corrupt the physical and etheric nature, and human beings corrupt the physical, etheric, and astral nature. He did not corrupt them completely during the period of human development before the Mystery of Golgotha; now he corrupted them completely by allowing his ego to truly enter into his being. The initiate of the ancient mysteries, however, freed himself completely from the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body by allowing the divine Father principle to flow into him and thus becoming an ego already at that time.

[ 11 ] When Christ entered into Jesus of Nazareth, he destroyed not only the physical body, not only the etheric body and the astral body, but also the ego, insofar as it had developed in Jesus of Nazareth at that time. Thus, the higher Christ principle dwelt in Jesus Christ, which relates to the ego as the human ego normally relates to the astral body.

[ 12 ] This is something that only the ancient initiates, in whom higher powers of vision had been developed, were able to see. When these ancient initiates looked at human beings as they were in their time, they found in them how human beings united all the forces of the other natural beings within themselves, towered above the other natural beings, and in a sense summarized them. They saw how one can find again in the human physical body the mineral kingdom, in the human etheric body the plant kingdom, in the human astral body the animal kingdom, and then the actual human being. When these initiates of earlier times, these fathers of the peoples, insofar as some of them were still alive, now received news of this Christ event, of the approaching event of Golgotha, they were able to see a being in Christ, in whom was now contained not only the earthly beings rising up to the human being, but in whom the human being in turn rose up to the divine-spiritual being.

[ 13 ] If there is something present in human beings as a human expression, which we know to be living in the outer physical body of human beings, then we will understand how these initiates saw more in Christ Jesus than a human being, how they saw something walking around on earth that towered above humanity, above human nature. These initiates saw Christ Jesus in a special radiance, not only with the human incarnation, but with a special radiant glow.

[ 14 ] The ancient initiates were also able to perceive this special radiant glory in their companions: it was the power of the Father principle dwelling in the initiates. But now they perceived not only what dwelt in the ancient initiates as the divine Father principle, but they also perceived something that radiated from Christ Jesus in a special way, because in him not only the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body had been destroyed, but also the ego, insofar as it could exist in a human being at that time.

[ 15 ] That is why it came about that not only the initiates could see Christ Jesus as a particularly radiant being, but also other people who were especially gifted for this. And this was the tremendous novelty even for the initiates at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha: that other people, who were endowed only with natural gifts and not with mystery gifts, even if they were only a few, recognized the higher nature in Christ Jesus.

[ 16 ] This gave rise to the understanding that something was now to happen with the Mystery of Golgotha that had previously only happened within the mysteries themselves. Something that had previously only taken place within the microcosm, within the small world, had been transferred to the large world, to the macrocosm. And it is indeed the case that the mystery of Christ was first proclaimed in its purest and clearest form in the last mystery centers of antiquity, and that it was precisely this proclamation of the mystery of Christ that was lost to the newer civilization during the first four centuries of European development. These ancient initiates knew that because in Christ Jesus there lived not only the Father principle but also the Son principle, Christ Jesus represented something that is unique within earthly evolution, unique inasmuch as in the further course of events no such mystery of Golgotha could occur again, no such indwelling of the Son principle in a human being could take place again as had taken place in Jesus of Nazareth.

[ 17 ] And these initiates knew that Christ entered humanity as the Healer, as the great Healer, as the one who prevents the human body from suffering harm by becoming fragile through the withdrawal of the ego. For what would have happened if Christ had not appeared as the Healer? If Christ had not appeared as the healer, when people die, when they lay down their decaying bodies, the signs of decay would radiate back into their souls, which unfold after death. The dead would be disturbed and tormented by what the decaying physical body represented during its earthly existence. These souls who have passed through death would have to see how the earth itself suffers damage by having to take on a decaying body. And the ancient initiates knew, as did those who call themselves Christians in the true sense of the word, who penetrate to inner fulfillment with the Christ principle, how these could now look down on their bodies, which had been taken from them in death, and say: Through our indwelling of Christ while we were children of the earth, we have healed this physical body to such an extent that it can be sunk into the earth without representing a principle of decay for the earth itself. That which man had to have in order to become an I had to be healed on the earth. For in order to become an I, he had to have a decaying body; but if this decaying body had remained, the earth would have been damaged. And the souls, when they looked down upon their physical bodies taken up by the earth, would have been tormented after death under the influence of the feeling that the earth itself was being damaged by this decaying physical body.

[ 18 ] This is what happened through the mystery of Golgotha, that human souls could now say to themselves after passing through the gate of death: Yes, we carried him on earth, this decaying physical body; we owe to him the possibility of developing a freer self in human existence. But Christ, through his indwelling in Jesus of Nazareth, healed this physical body so that it is not harmful to earthly existence, so that we can look down upon earthly existence with peace of mind, knowing that after the mystery of Golgotha, no unjust seed falls into this earthly existence through the body that human beings need for the use of their ego. And so Christ passed through the Mystery of Golgotha in order to sanctify the human physical body for earthly existence.

[ 19 ] Now, if it had remained at that, what would have happened in the course of earthly evolution? If it had remained so, it could have been said: In ancient times, the Father God entered into human beings so that they could ascend as souls to the I and proclaim to other human beings as initiates the true nature of the human being, the I-being. Then the Son, the Christ, entered into human existence. Those who rise to the task of bringing about the indwelling of Christ in themselves are now saving their bodies for the evolution of the earth. Just as the soul of human beings was saved through the ancient Father principle and its indwelling in human evolution through the mysteries, so the physical body of human beings is saved through the Healer, through the Savior, through Christ, who passed through the mystery of Golgotha.

[ 20 ] But if it were to remain only at that, those who knew their bodies were saved would now have to carry Christ within themselves as the being working in them, the being working in them physically as well. And then human beings would again be unable to become free beings. If things had remained as they were — back then, when freedom was dawning in the 14th century AD — human beings would have developed in such a way that they could have taken Christ into themselves to calm their souls after death, so that these souls could have looked down upon the earth as I have just described to you; but human beings would not have been able to become free. If they had wanted to become good, they would have had to allow Christ to work within them as the Father had worked in ancient times in people who were not initiated. At that time, people became free as the I developed within them. The initiated became free human beings in ancient times, while the others were unfree because the Father lived unconsciously within them. If the Christians of Christ had been conscious beings within themselves, then whenever they wanted to become good, they would have had to extinguish their ego-consciousness in order to awaken Christ within themselves through the extinguishing of this ego-consciousness. They themselves could not have been good, but only Christ within them could have been good. People would have had to wander around here on earth, Christ would have had to dwell within them, and through Christ's use of human bodies, the healing of these human bodies would have taken place. But the good deeds that people would have done would have been Christ's deeds, not human deeds.

[ 21 ] That was not the task, the mission of the divine Son, who through the mystery of Golgotha had connected himself with the development of the earth. He wanted to dwell within humanity, but he did not want to cloud the emerging ego-consciousness of human beings. He had done this once in Jesus, in whom the consciousness of the Son lived in place of the consciousness of the ego from the moment of baptism. But this was not to happen to the people of future times. In the people of future times, the ego was to be able to rise to full consciousness, and yet Christ was to be able to dwell within these people.

[ 22] For this it was necessary that Christ as such should disappear from the immediate view of human beings, that he should remain united with earthly existence but disappear from the immediate sight of human beings. The expression that was customary in the old initiation centers for such things became applicable to him: When a being that is physically visible, that can be followed in its existence by people who have their perception in the physical world, ceases to be visible, we say that it has ascended into heaven. It has entered those regions where physical visibility no longer exists. Thus Christ ascended into heaven and became invisible. For he would have retained his full visibility in a certain sense if he had remained within human beings and extinguished the ego, so that they could only have become good through Christ actually acting within them.

[ 23 ] The way in which Christ was still visible to the apostles and disciples even after his resurrection disappeared: Christ ascended into heaven. But he sent to human beings that divine essence which does not extinguish the ego-consciousness, to which one rises not in contemplation but precisely in the unperceptible spirit. He sent the Holy Spirit to humanity.

[ 24 ] Thus, the Holy Spirit is actually that which was to be sent by Christ so that human beings could retain their ego consciousness and Christ could dwell unconsciously within them. So that when man, in the full sense of the word, brings before his soul what he actually is, he must say: When I look back to what the ancient initiates knew, I see that the Father principle lives in me, which fills the cosmos, which appeared in these ancient initiates and developed the I in them. This is the principle that lived with us before we descended into the physical world. Through the indwelling of this Father principle, the ancient initiates remembered with complete clarity the way they lived before they descended into the physical world. They sought the divine in the pre-birth, in the pre-existent: Ex deo nascimur.

[ 25 ] After the Mystery of Golgotha, it was no longer possible for human beings to say, “I see Christ,” because then they could not have become good through themselves; only Christ could have been good in them. It could only come through human beings: In Christ we die. He could die in Christ; with that which is the principle of death in him, he could unite Christ.

[ 26 ] But his new consciousness could be awakened through the essence that Christ sent him, through the essence of the Holy Spirit: Per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus.

[ 27 ] You see, this gives you the connection within the Trinity. But at the same time, you have also shown that it is entirely within Christianity that one can attain the resurrection of the spirit even without seeing Christ himself. By sending the Holy Spirit to humanity, Christ enabled them to rise from the intellectual realm to the comprehension of the spiritual. It cannot therefore be said that human beings cannot comprehend the spiritual supersensible through their spirit; the only way human beings could justify this failure to comprehend the supersensible would be by ignoring the Holy Spirit and speaking only of God the Father and Christ the God. Even in the Gospel, it is clearly indicated for those who only want to see, who only want to read, that it is itself a revelation that man, through the spirit inherent in him, can comprehend the supersensible if he only inclines himself toward Christ. That is why we are told that the Holy Spirit appeared at the baptism of Christ. And in the appearance of the Holy Spirit, the words resound through the cosmos: “This is my beloved Son, today I have begotten him.”

[ 28 ] The Father is the unbegotten Begetter who brings the Son into the physical world. But at the same time, the Father uses the Holy Spirit to communicate to humanity that the supersensible can be grasped in the spirit, even if this spirit is not seen, but only when this spirit works inwardly to raise its abstract spiritual nature to the living, when it brings to life, through the Christ dwelling within it, the thought-corpse that we have from our pre-birth existence. to life.

[ 29 ] At that time, the communication of the Holy Spirit and the appearance of the Holy Spirit Himself took place at the baptism by the Father. And when Christ sent this Holy Spirit to His own, this communication took place through Christ, through the Son. Therefore, it was an ancient dogma that the Father is the begetting Unbegotten, that the Son is begotten of the Father, that the Holy Spirit is communicated to humanity by the Father and the Son. This is not merely an arbitrarily established dogma, but initiation wisdom from the first Christian centuries, and it was only later buried, as the trichotomy and the Trinity were buried in general.p>

[ 30 ] Within the developing humanity, the divine principle at work in the sense of Christianity cannot be understood without the Trinity, and if another communication of God takes the place of the Trinity, then this is not, in essence, a completely Christian communication. One must understand the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit if one wants to understand the communication of God in the true sense.

[ 31 ] And so the Gospel itself was no longer understood when it was decreed within scholasticism that man has only one revelation in faith, but that he cannot develop his knowledge up to the supersensible. This decree about human knowledge, which was separated from faith, was itself a sin against Christianity; it was a sin against the proclamation of the Holy Spirit by the Father at the baptism of Jesus, and by Jesus himself at the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

[ 32 ] Thus, within the European development of what has continually called itself Christianity, much has been sinned against the original Christian impulses, and today humanity really needs to return to these original Christian impulses.

[ 33 ] These original Christian impulses have in many ways become hardened in dogma. But if one penetrates into the living spirit, then one will again strike fire from what is truth in the dogmas. Then the dogmas will cease to be dogmas. What is wrong with the Church is not that it has perpetuated dogma, but that it has frozen and crystallized dogma, that it has removed it from human understanding. By limiting human understanding to what is only the sensory world, dogma had to crystallize, dogma had to harden, dogma had to become incomprehensible. For it is impossible that faith can ever really bring understanding. What must be redeemed within humanity is knowledge itself, the return of knowledge to the supersensible.

[ 34 ] And this call, if we understand it correctly, if we know how Christ — after passing through the mystery of Golgotha — sent the Spirit into humanity to join his divine Father principle, comes to us from Golgotha. Anyone who looks at the cross on Golgotha must at the same time see the Trinity, for Christ in reality shows the Trinity in his entire interweaving with the earthly evolution of humanity.

[ 35 ] This, my dear friends, is what I wanted to place on your hearts today, and what should provide the basis for further reflections in the coming days.