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Karmic Relationships VIII
GA 240

14 August 1924, Torquay

Lecture II

I have raised the question: How can we find in earlier earthly lives the explanation of a later incarnation, in the case not only of historical personages but also in that of many a personality unnoticed by history whose influence nevertheless arouses our interest? And to-day, as a foundation for further studies, I shall indicate connections in the incarnations of certain individuals. What I shall put before you is the outcome of a particular kind of spiritual investigation, and with this foundation—which will be given in narrative form to-day—we shall begin to understand how the successive earthly lives of individuals can be discovered.

We will take characteristic personalities whose names I gave as examples in the last lecture. Such personalities make us alive to the fact that spiritual impulses of very different kinds are working in our present civilisation. For well nigh two thousand years Christianity has been spreading in the West and in many colonial territories, influencing civilisation to a greater extent than is imagined. It is true, of course, that really close study may reveal the working of the Christ Impulse in many things where there is at first no evidence of it. But for all that, it cannot be denied that there are elements in our civilisation which seem to have no connection whatever with Christianity. Certain views and customs of life which seem to be utterly at variance with Christianity take root in our civilisation.

The attention of one who calls super-sensible research to his aid in order to discover the deeper reasons for the course taken by the spiritual life of mankind, is drawn to a phenomenon insufficiently studied in connection with the growth of Western civilisation. His attention is drawn to the work of an institution which flourished in the East in the days of Charlemagne in the West. I am referring to that Court in the East whose ruler, surrounded by oriental splendour and magnificence, was Haroun al Raschid, the contemporary of Charlemagne whose achievements in the West fade into insignificance as compared with the brilliance of what was going forth, at the very same time, from the Court of Haroun al Raschid.

All branches of spiritual life had been brought together at this Court in Western Asia. It must be remembered that through the expeditions of Alexander, Greek culture had been carried over to Asia in a form of which only a faint inkling remains to-day. The finest fruits of Greek culture had found their way to Asia, brought thither by the genius of Alexander the Great. And as a result, many centres of learning in the East had adopted conceptions of the world which faithfully preserved the old, while rejecting many elements that in the West were threatening to submerge the old.

Through the expeditions of Alexander the Great, a certain rational and healthy form of mysticism had been carried over to Asia, with the result that men who were more adapted for the kind of philosophical thinking thus introduced, regarded the world as pervaded by the Cosmic Intelligence. Over in Asia in those times a man did not say: “I think this or that out for myself, I have my own, personal intelligence”—but he said: “Everything that is thought is thought by Gods, primarily by the supreme Godhead—the Godhead as conceived by Aristotelianism.” The intelligence in a human being was a drop of the Universal Intelligence manifesting in the individual, so that in head and heart man felt himself to be an integral part of the Universal Intelligence.

Such was the mood-of-soul in those times and it prevailed, still, at the Court of Haroun al Raschid in the 8th and 9th centuries after the founding of Christianity. Nor must it be forgotten that many learned sages had taken refuge in Asia when the Schools of Greek philosophy were exterminated in Europe. Astronomy with a strongly mystical trend, architecture and other forms of art revealing truly creative power, poetry, sciences, directives for practical life—all these things flourished at the Court of Haroun al Raschid. He was a splendour-loving but at the same time a highly gifted organiser and he gathered at his Court the most learned men of his day, men who although they were no longer working as Initiates, still preserved and cultivated in a living way much of the ancient wisdom of the Mysteries.

We will consider more closely one such personality. He was a very wise Counsellor of Haroun al Raschid. His name is of no consequence and has not come down to posterity, but he was a man of great wisdom and in order to understand him we must pay attention to something that may surprise even those who are to some extent conversant with Spiritual Science.

There is a question which may occur to all of you. You may say: Anthroposophy tells us that there were once Initiates, living here or there, possessing far-reaching knowledge and profound wisdom. But since men live again in new earthly lives, why is it that to-day, for example, we do not recognise reincarnated sages of old? This would be an entirely reasonable question.

But one who is aware of the conditions by which earthly life is determined, knows that an individuality whose karma leads him from pre-earthly existence to birth in a particular epoch, must accept the educational facilities which that epoch affords. And so it may well be that although some individual was an Initiate in bygone times, the knowledge he possessed as an Initiate remains in the subconscious realm of the soul; his day-consciousness gives indications of powers of some significance but does not directly reveal what was once in his soul in an earlier incarnation as an Initiate.

This is true of that wise Counsellor of Haroun al Raschid. In very ancient Mysteries he had been an Initiate. He had reincarnated and he lived as a reincarnated Initiate at the Court of Haroun al Raschid; the fruits of his earlier Initiation revealed themselves in a genius for organisation and he was able to administer in a truly masterly way the work of the other learned men at that Court. But he did not make the direct impression of an Initiate. Through his own being and qualities, not merely through the fact of earlier Initiation, he preserved the ancient Initiation-Science—but as I said, he did not actually give the impression of having attained Initiation.

Haroun al Raschid held this wise man in high esteem, entrusting him with the organisation of all the sciences and arts flourishing at the Court. Haroun al Raschid was happy to have this man at his side, feeling tied to him by a deep and sincere friendship.

We will now turn our attention to these two individuals, Haroun al Raschid and his wise Counsellor—remembering that in the 8th and 9th centuries at the Court of Charlemagne in Europe, men of the highest social rank (including Charlemagne himself) were only just beginning to make their first attempts at writing; at the same Court, Eginhart was endeavouring to formulate the early rudiments of grammar. In days when everything in Europe was extremely primitive, over in Asia much brilliant spiritual culture was personified in Haroun al Raschid whom Charlemagne held in great veneration. But this was a kind of culture which knew nothing of Christ nor wished to have anything to do with Christianity; it preserved and cultivated the best elements of Arabism and also kept alive ancient forms of Aristotelian thought—those forms which had not made their way to Europe, for it was chiefly Aristotelian logic and dialectic which had spread so widely in the West and were the principles upon which the work of the Church Fathers and later on that of the Schoolmen was based.

As a result of the achievements of Alexander the Great, it was the more mystical and scientific knowledge imparted by Aristotle that had been cultivated in Asia where it had all come under the influence of the tremendously powerful intelligence of Arabism—which was, however, held to be a revealed, an inspired intelligence.

The existence of Christianity was known to the learned men at the Court of Haroun al Raschid but they regarded it as primitive and elementary in comparison with their own intellectual achievements.

We will now follow the subsequent destinies of these two personalities; Haroun al Raschid and his wise Counsellor. Having worked in the way I have described, they bore with them through the gate of death the impulse to ensure that the kind of thinking, the world-conception cultivated at this Court, should spread in the world.

Let us consider soberly and in all earnestness, what then ensued. Two individualities start out from Asia: the wise Counsellor and his overlord, Haroun al Raschid. For a time after death they remained together. It was to Alexandrianism, to Aristotelianism, that they owed the knowledge they had acquired. But they also absorbed all that in later times had been done to re-cast, to re-model these teachings. Unless it is possible to grasp what is happening in the spiritual world while the events of the physical world take their course on the earth below, we can understand only a tiny fraction of the world.

History gives a picture of what transpired after the epoch of Charlemagne and Haroun al Raschid. But while all that history relates about Asia and Europe was proceeding in the 8th and 9th centuries and on into the late Middle Ages, other most significant happenings were taking place in the spiritual world above. It must not be forgotten that while the physical life below and the spiritual life above flow on, influences from souls passing through their existence between death and rebirth stream down perpetually upon earthly life. Therefore we do right to attach importance to what the discarnate souls yonder in the spiritual world are experiencing and how they are acting in any particular epoch. Human life, above all in its course through history, can never be really comprehensible unless we turn our attention to what is happening behind the scenes of external history, in the spiritual world.

Now it must be remembered that the impressions which men carry with them through the gate of death often differ in a very marked degree from the impressions people have of them during earthly life. And those who cannot throw off preconceptions when they are observing the spiritual life may find it difficult to recognise some particular individuality who in his existence after death is revealed to the eye of the seer. Nevertheless there are means whereby one can learn to perceive phases of spiritual life other than the one immediately following earthly existence. I have spoken of this in the Lecture-Course that is being given here1True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigation. Rudolf Steiner Press, 1969. and I shall have still more to say about the later phases of the life stretching from death to a new birth. We shall then understand more clearly the nature of the paths which enable us to make contact with the so-called Dead.

It is by these same paths that we are able to follow the further destinies of individuals such as Haroun al Raschid and his wise Counsellor. In order to understand later developments in European civilisation it is of the greatest importance to take account of these two individuals, above all of the bond between them in their thought and principles of action. Haroun al Raschid and his Counsellor also bore with them through the gate of death a deep and strong affinity with the individualities of Alexander and Aristotle—who had, of course, preceded them in earthly existence by many centuries—and an intense longing to come into direct contact with them again. Moreover a meeting actually took place, with consequences of far-reaching significance.

For a while, Haroun al Raschid and his Counsellor journeyed onwards together in the super-sensible world, looking down from thence upon happenings in the civilised world further to the West, in Greece, in certain regions North of the Black Sea, and so forth. They looked down upon it all and among the events upon which their gaze fell was one of which much has been said in anthroposophical lectures, namely the 8th General Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in the year 869 A.D.

The effect of this 8th Ecumenical Council upon the development of Western civilisation was incisive and profound, for Trichotomy, the definition of man as body, soul and Spirit, was then declared heretical. It was decreed that true Christians must speak of man as a twofold being, consisting of body and soul only, the soul possessing certain spiritual qualities and forces. The reason why so little inclination to spirituality is to be discerned in Christian civilisation is that acknowledgment of the Spirit was declared heretical by the 8th Ecumenical Council in the year 869.

It was a momentous event, the effects of which have been far too little heeded. The Spirit was done away with: man was to be regarded as consisting only of body and soul. But the shattering experience for one who can observe the spiritual life and above all for one who truly participates in it is that precisely when here on earth in the year 869 A.D. the Spirit was done away with, there took place in the spiritual world above the meeting between the souls of Haroun al Raschid and his wise Counsellor and the souls of Alexander the Great and Aristotle.

In thinking about what follows, you must accustom yourselves to the fact that super-sensible happenings will now be spoken of in Anthroposophy as naturally as we speak of happenings in the physical world. The lives of Alexander the Great and of Aristotle in those particular incarnations marked the culmination of a certain epoch. The impulse which had been given by ancient cultures and had come to expression in Greece was formulated by Aristotle into concepts which in the form of ideas dominated the West and human civilisation in general for long ages of time.

Alexander the Great, the pupil and friend of Aristotle, had with stupendous forcefulness spread the impulses given by Aristotle over wide areas of the then known world. This impulse was still working in Asia in the days of Haroun al Raschid. It had long possessed a centre of brilliant and illustrious learning in Alexandria but at the same time, working through many hidden channels, it had a profound effect upon the whole of oriental culture.

All this had reached a certain culmination. The impulses of ancient spirituality in their manifold forms had converged in Alexandrianism and Aristotelianism. Christianity was born. The Mystery of Golgotha took place—in an age when the individualities of Alexander and Aristotle were not incarnated on the earth but were in the spiritual world, in intimate communion with what we call the dominion of Michael whose earthly rule had also come to its close, for Oriphiel had then succeeded Michael as the ruling Time-Spirit. Centuries had passed since the Mystery of Golgotha. What Alexander and Aristotle had established on earth, the aims to which they had dedicated all their powers, the one in the field of thought, the other giving effect to a great genius for rulership—all this had been at work on the earth below. And from the spiritual world these two souls beheld it flowing on through the centuries, during one of which the Mystery of Golgotha had taken place. They turned their gaze upon all that was being done to spread a knowledge of the Mystery of Golgotha. They saw their work spreading abroad on the earth beneath, spreading too through the activities of individuals like Haroun al Raschid and his Counsellor.

But in the souls of Alexander and Aristotle themselves there was an urge for something completely new, for a new beginning—not a mere continuation of what was already on the earth, but veritably a new beginning. In a certain respect, of course, there would be continuation, for it was not a question of sweeping away the old. But a new and mighty impulse whereby a particular form of Christianity would be instilled into earthly civilisation—it was to the inauguration of this impulse that Alexander and Aristotle dedicated themselves.

When their karma led them down again to incarnation on the earth (—it was before the meeting had taken place with Haroun al Raschid and his Counsellor—) they lived, unknown and unheeded, in a corner of Europe not without importance for Anthroposophy, dying at an early age, but gazing for a brief moment as it were through a window into the civilisation of the West, receiving impressions and impulses but giving none of any significance themselves. That was to come later.

They had returned again into the spiritual world and were in the spiritual world when in the year 869 the 8th Ecumenical Council was held at Constantinople. It was then that the meeting took place in the spiritual world between Aristotle and Alexander on the one side and Haroun al Raschid and his wise Counsellor on the other. It was an exchange of thought and ideas in the super-sensible world, of immense, far-reaching significance. We must realise that exchanges or conferences of this nature in the super-sensible world are of infinitely greater moment than mere discussions in words. When people on the earth sit together in discussion, when words shoot hither and thither without having much effect one way or the other, this is not even a shadowy image of what transpires when great decisions affecting the spiritual life as well, are taken in super-sensible worlds.

Alexander and Aristotle affirmed at that time that what had been established in earlier days must now be guided undeviatingly into the dominion of Michael. For it was known that Michael would again assume his Regency in the 19th century.

At this point we must understand one another. As the evolution of mankind flows onwards, one of the Archangels becomes Regent and exercises earthly rule for a period of three to three-and-a-half centuries. At the time when Aristotelianism was carried by Alexander the Great to Asia and Africa, at the time when the spread of this culture was pervaded by a cosmopolitan, international spirit, Michael was the Ruling Archangel; the spiritual life was under his dominion. The Regency of Michael was followed by that of Oriphiel. Then, until the 14th century A.D., there follow the Rulerships of Anael, Zachariel, Raphael, Samael—each lasting for three to four centuries. Gabriel is Regent from the 15th until the last third of the 19th century, when Michael again assumes dominion. Seven Archangels follow one another. Thus the earthly Rulerships of six other Archangels follow that of Michael, which was in force at the time of Alexander, and Michael assumes dominion again at the end of the 19th century. We ourselves, do we but rightly understand the spiritual life, live under the direct influence of the Michael Rulership.

And so in the century when the meeting with Haroun al Raschid took place, Alexander and Aristotle turned their gaze to the earlier Rulership of Michael under which their work had been carried forward, they turned their gaze to the Mystery of Golgotha which as members of the Michael-community they had experienced from the sphere of the Sun, not from the earth—for at that time Michael's rule on earth was over. Michael and his own, among them Alexander and Aristotle, did not experience the Mystery of Golgotha from the vantage-point of the earth; they did not witness the arrival of Christ on the earth, they witnessed His departure from the Sun. But all that they experienced formed itself into the impulse which remained alive in them—the impulse to ensure that the new Michael Rulership, to which with every fibre of their souls Alexander and Aristotle had pledged their troth, would bring a Christianity not only firmly established but more inward, more profound. The new dominion of Michael was to begin in the year 1879 and last for three to four centuries. This is our own epoch and it behoves Anthroposophists to understand what it means to be living under the Michael Rulership.

Neither Haroun al Raschid nor his Counsellor were willing to accept this—the Counsellor with less emphasis, but fundamentally it was so in his case too. They desired, first and foremost, that the world should be dominated by the impulse that had taken such firm root in Mohammedanism. The participants in this spiritual struggle in the 9th century A.D. confronted each other in resolute, intense opposition—Haroun al Raschid and his Counsellor on the one side and, on the other, the individualities who had lived as Aristotle and Alexander.

The aftermaths of this spiritual struggle worked on in the civilisation of Europe, are indeed working to this day. For what happens in the spiritual world above works down upon and into the affairs of the earth. And the very opposition with which Haroun al Raschid and his wise Counsellor confronted Aristotle and Alexander at that time added strength to the impulse, so that from this meeting two streams went forth—one taking its course in Arabism and one whereby, through the impulses of the Michael Rulership, Aristotelianism was to be led over into Christianity.

After this encounter in the super-sensible world, Haroun al Raschid and his Counsellor continued along a path leading towards the West, watching and observing what was happening below on the earth. From this super-sensible existence, the one (he who had lived as Haroun al Raschid) concerned himself deeply with civilisation in Northern Africa, in Southern. Europe, in Spain, in France. During approximately the same period, the other (he who had been the wise Counsellor) concerned himself with the happenings of the spiritual life more towards the East, in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, and thence through Europe as far as Holland and even England. And at roughly the same time, both were born again in European civilisation.

Now there need not necessarily be external similarity between such reincarnations. It is as a rule quite erroneous to believe that a man who has in him a particular kind of spirituality will be born again with that same spirituality. We must look more deeply into the roots of the human soul if we are to speak truly about repeated earthly lives. So, for example, we may take the famous Pope Gregory VII, the former Abbot Hildebrand—a Pope who worked fervidly for the cause of Catholicism and to whom is due much of the power wielded by the Papacy in the Middle Ages. He was born again in the 19th century as Ernst Haeckel, a bitter opponent of the Papacy. Haeckel is the reborn Abbot Hildebrand, Gregory VII, Gregory the Great. In giving this example my only object is to show that it is the inner, deep-rooted impulses of the soul and not external similarity of thought and outlook that are carried over from one earthly life into another.

And so while the Arabians were still surging across Africa into Spain, it was the natural tendency of Haroun al Raschid and his Counsellor to watch and exercise a protective influence over these campaigns. Outwardly, of course, the spread of Mohammedanism was checked, but its inner characteristics and trends were carried through the spiritual life by both these individualities on their journey between death and rebirth—carried over from the past into the future.

Haroun al Raschid was born again as Bacon of Verulam. His wise Counsellor too was born again, almost at the same time, as Amos Comenius, the educational reformer.

Think of what was brought into the world through Bacon of Verulam who was only outwardly a Christian and who introduced the abstract trend of Arabism into European science; and then think of what Amos Comenius instilled into education—his advocacy of material, concrete realism, his principles of the form in which all teaching matter should be imparted. It is a trend that has no direct connection with Christianity. Although Amos Comenius worked among the Moravian Brothers, what he actually brought into being is to be explained by the fact that in a previous incarnation he stood in the same relationship to the development of the spiritual life of mankind as did the culture flourishing at the Court of Haroun al Raschid.

Think of every line of Bacon's writings, of what lies inherent in the sense-realism, as it is called, of Amos Comenius—it is all a riddle, perplexing, inexplicable. Lord Bacon is a violent opponent of Aristotelianism. His passionate antagonism is so clearly in evidence that one can perceive how deeply this impulse is rooted in his soul. The spiritual investigator who is able to discern and penetrate these things, not only studies Bacon of Verulam and Amos Comenius but also follows their life in the super-sensible world between death and rebirth. In the writings of Bacon of Verulam and Amos Comenius, in the very tone of their writings, in everything about them there is evidence of rebellion against Aristotelianism. How is this to be explained?

The following must be remembered. When Bacon and Amos Comenius returned to earthly life, Alexander and Aristotle had already again been in incarnation during the Middle Ages, at a time when they, for their part, had accomplished- what it was then possible to accomplish for Aristotelianism, moreover when Aristotelianism itself was present in a form very different from that in which it had been cultivated by Haroun al Raschid—who, as I said, is the same individuality as Bacon of Verulam.

Picture to yourselves the whole situation. Think of the meeting—if I may express it so—in the year 869 A.D. and of how under this influence there had taken shape in Haroun al Raschid impulses of soul which now encountered something that had already been partially accomplished on the earth—for Alexander and Aristotle had already been in incarnation and their lives as men on earth in the pre-Christian era had played no part in giving effect to their aim. Realising this, you will understand the nature of the impulses resulting from that meeting in the spiritual world. And from the fact that Bacon and Amos Comenius could now perceive what Alexandrianism and Aristotelianism had become in the world, you will be able to understand the tone pervading their writings—the writings of Bacon especially, but also those of Amos Comenius.

Studied in the true and real way, history, as you see, leads us from the earth to the heavens. Account must be taken of happenings that can only be revealed in the super-sensible world. To understand Bacon of Verulam and Amos Comenius we must follow them backwards, first through the epoch when Aristotelianism was being promulgated by Scholasticism, backwards again to the encounter in the year 869 at the time of the 8th Ecumenical Council and then still further back, to the epoch when Alexandrianism and Aristotelianism were being promoted and cultivated by Haroun al Raschid and his wise Counsellor in the form that was possible in those days. The happenings of life on the earth can only be really comprehensible when account is taken of how the super-sensible world works into the physical world.

This much I wanted to say, in order to show you that the work and influence of certain personalities on earth can only be understood by following and observing their several incarnations.

There is no time to say more about these things to-day and I will therefore bring the lecture to a brief conclusion.

As we study the progress of human civilisation it becomes apparent that through such individualities as Haroun al Raschid and his Counsellor who was subsequently reborn as Amos Comenius, there creeps into the development of Christianity an element that will not merge with Christianity but inclines strongly towards Arabism. Thus in our own time we have on the one side the direct, unbroken line of Christian development and on the other, the penetration of Arabism, first and foremost in abstract science.

What I want particularly to lay on your hearts is the following: Spiritual contemplation of these two streams leads our gaze to many things which have taken place in the super-sensible world, for example to an event like that of the meeting between Alexander, Aristotle, Haroun al Raschid and his wise Counsellor. Impulses kindled by many such events furthered the spread of true Christianity, while other events were the causes of hindrances along its path. But because in the spiritual world the Michael Impulse has taken the course I have indicated to you, there is good hope that in time to come Christianity will receive its real and true form under the sign of the Michael Impulse. For under the sign of the Michael Impulse other exchanges of thought have also taken place in the super-sensible world.

Let me add only this. Many personalities have come together in the Anthroposophical Society. They too have their karma which leads back to earlier times and appears in many different forms as we go backwards to the pre-earthly existence and then to earlier incarnations. Among those who come to the Anthroposophical Movement with real sincerity, there are only a few who were not led by their karma to participate in such happenings as I have now been describing to you. In one way or another, those who with deep sincerity feel the urge to enter the Anthroposophical Society are connected with events like the meeting of Alexander and Aristotle with Haroun al Raschid and his wise Counsellor. Something of the kind has determined the karma which then, in the present earthly life, takes the form of a longing to receive the spiritual knowledge that is cultivated in the Anthroposophical Movement.

But something else must here be added. Because of the particular form which the Michael Rulership assumes, there will be many deviations from the laws determining reincarnation in the case of those persons whose karma and connection with the Michael dominion leads them into the Anthroposophical Movement. For they will appear again at the turn of the 20th/21st century—therefore in less than a hundred years—in order to carry to full and culminating effect what as Anthroposophists they are able to do now in the service of Michael's dominion. The urge to be a true Anthroposophist expresses itself in the interest taken in matters of the kind of which we have been speaking—provided the interest is deep and sincere. The very understanding of these things gives rise to the impulse to return to the earth in less than a century in order to give effect to the intent and purpose of Anthroposophy.

I should like you to think deeply about the indications that have been given. In these brief words much may be found that will help you to find your true place in the Anthroposophical Movement and to feel that your membership of this Movement is deeply connected with your karma.

Zweiter Vortrag

Die Frage habe ich aufgeworfen: Wie finden wir für manche historische und auch nichthistorische Persönlichkeit, die aber unser Interesse durch ihre Wirksamkeit in Anspruch nehmen kann, die Erklärung eines späteren Erdenlebens durch die früheren Erdenleben? Und nun möchte ich heute zunächst, um für weitere Betrachtungen die Grundlagen zu schaffen, auf gewisse Zusammenhänge hinweisen, die bestanden in den aufeinanderfolgenden Erdenleben verschiedener Persönlichkeiten. Ich werde heute einmal zunächst dasjenige vor Sie hinstellen, was Ergebnis gewisser geistiger Forschung ist, um dann gerade auf der Grundlage, die heute zunächst erzählend gegeben wird, eine Art von Erkenntnis aufzubauen, wie man dazu kommt, die aufeinanderfolgenden Erdenleben von Persönlichkeiten ins Auge fassen zu können.

Wir wollen einmal eben solche charakteristische Persönlichkeiten nehmen, wie die sind, deren Namen ich das letzte Mal erwähnt habe. Solche Persönlichkeiten machen uns ja zunächst darauf aufmerksam, wie hereinragen in unsere gegenwärtige Zivilisation verschiedene geistige Impulse. Durch fast zwei Jahrtausende - so sagte ich schon in der vorigen Betrachtung — ging über das Abendland und einen großen Teil seines kolonialen Anhangs das Christentum hin, das Christentum, das, mehr als man glaubt, hineingeflossen ist in alle Zivilisationen. Und es ist schon so, daß man vieles von dem, bei dem man nicht sogleich sieht, daß christliche Impulse in ihm leben, dennoch, wenn man es genau studiert, ganz durchsetzt finden wird von durchaus christlichen Impulsen. Aber es ist eben nicht zu leugnen — auch das habe ich schon angedeutet —, daß etwas in unsere Zivilisation hereinragt, was nicht einen unmittelbaren direkten Zusammenhang mit dem Christentum verrät.

Gewisse Anschauungen, auch gewisse Lebenspraktiken, stellen sich herein in unsere Zivilisation, die nicht einen unmittelbaren Zusammenhang mit dem Christentum verraten. Und da sieht sich dann derjenige, der nun aus tieferen inneren Ursachen heraus den Verlauf des geschichtlichen Werdens unseres Geisteslebens begreifen will und die geistige Forschung zu diesem Begreifen zu Hilfe nehmen will, zu einer Erscheinung hingedrängt, die viel zu wenig beachtet wird, wenn von dem Werden der abendländischen Zivilisation gesprochen wird. Er sieht sich gedrängt, hinzuschauen nach jener historischen Erscheinung, die parallel ging dem Auftreten und Wirken Karls des Großen im Abendland. Er sieht sich gedrängt, hinzublicken nach jenem Hof im Morgenland, dem vorstand mit einem, man darf schon sagen, wirklich morgenländischen Glanz Harun al Raschid, der Zeitgenosse Karls des Großen. Alles, was Karl der Große im Abendland geleistet hat, nimmt sich schwach und matt aus gegen den ungeheuren Glanz und die Majestät dessen, was zu gleicher Zeit von dem Hof Harun al Raschids ausgegangen ist.

Man muß nur bedenken, was an Geistesleben zusammengeflossen ist an diesem vorderasiatischen Hof. Wir müssen daran denken, wie in alten Zeiten durch die Alexanderzüge die griechische Kultur in einer Form nach Asien hinübergebracht worden ist, von der man heute nur noch wenig Ahnung hat. Alles, was auf dem Grunde griechischer Kultur gelebt hat, hat in genialer Art Alexander der Große nach Asien hinübergebracht. Und es war an vielen gelehrten Stätten des Ostens durch die Einrichtungen, die durch Alexander den Großen nach Asien hinübergetragen worden sind, eine Lebens- und Weltanschauung üblich, die vieles vom Alten treu bewahrte und vieles ablehnte, was dann im Abendland über das Alte hinflutete.

Vor allen Dingen war eine rationelle, gesunde, wissenschaftliche Mystik durch Alexander den Großen nach Asien hinübergekommen, so daß diejenigen, die sich mehr zu der philosophischen Anschauung bekannten, die so nach Asien hinübergekommen war, überall in der Welt kosmische Intelligenz ausgebreitet sahen. Alles in der Welt ist durchdrungen von kosmischer Intelligenz. In Asien drüben sagte man nicht als Mensch: Ich denke mir etwas aus, ich bin ein intelligentes Wesen -, sondern man sagte sich: Alles, was gedacht wird, denken Götter, denkt vor allen Dingen der einige Gott, der ja schon im Aristotelismus eine Rolle spielte. Das, was die einzelne menschliche Intelligenz ist, das ist ein Tropfen aus der All-Intelligenz und offenbart sich herein in das Wesen des einzelnen, so daß der einzelne sich fühlte, ich möchte sagen, mit seinem Kopf und mit seinem Herzen wie drinnensteckend in der All-Intelligenz. Das war die Stimmung.

Diese Stimmung herrschte auch am Hof Harun al Raschids. Im 8. und 9. nachchristlichen Jahrhundert herrschte sie noch. Und dann waren jene griechischen Gelehrten hinübergekommen, die die Flucht ergreifen mußten, weil die griechische Philosophie in Europa ausgerottet wurde. Vieles war an orientalischer Weisheit geblieben. All das floß zusammen, was dazumal an mystisch starker Astronomie, an gewaltiger, von innerlicher Bildsamkeit durchtränkter Architektur und anderer Kunst, auch Dichtkunst möglich war, was möglich war an anderen Wissenschaften und an praktischen Kundgebungen des Lebens, all das floß zusammen am Hof Harun al Raschids, weil dieser glanzliebende, aber auch in gewisser Beziehung für alles Organisatorische außerordentlich begabte Mensch an seinem Hof diejenigen Menschen versammelte, die in der damaligen Zeit das meiste wußten, die noch vieles bewahrten von alter Mysterienweisheit, die nicht mehr unmittelbar Initiierte waren, aber die vieles bewahrten von alter Mysterienweisheit und noch lebendig lebten in dieser Mysterienweisheit.

Insbesondere war eine Persönlichkeit da, ein sehr weiser Ratgeber Harun al Raschids, den wir etwas näher ins Auge fassen wollen. Sein Name tut nichts zur Sache, der Name ist nicht besonders auf die Nachwelt gekommen. Allein es war eine sehr weise Persönlichkeit. Um sie zu begreifen, muß man auf etwas hinschauen, was gerade die Kenner der Geisteswissenschaft bewundern könnten.

Sehen Sie, meine lieben Freunde, Sie können ja alle eine gewisse Frage aufwerfen. Sie können sagen: Uns erzählt die Geisteswissenschaft, die Anthroposophie, daß es einstmals Eingeweihte gegeben hat. Da und dort waren Eingeweihte. Diese Eingeweihten beherrschten ein umfängliches großes Wissen, eine ungeheure Weisheit. Da aber die Menschen im Leben wiederkehren in wiederholten Erdenleben, wie kommt es dann, daß man zum Beispiel heute nicht bemerkt, daß wiedergekommene alte Initiierte da sind? — Es ist eine berechtigte Frage, die Sie aufwerfen können.

Wer aber die Bedingungen des Erdenlebens kennt, der weiß auch, daß eine Menschenindividualität, die aus vorirdischem Dasein in ein gewisses Zeitalter hinein nach ihrem Karma geboren werden muß, eben die vererbten Eigenschaften auf sich nehmen muß, die man in diesem Zeitalter haben kann, auf sich nehmen muß alles das, was in den vorhandenen Erziehungsmöglichkeiten liegt. Und so kann durchaus für eine Individualität die Sache so liegen, daß sie in alten Zeiten ein Initiierter war, daß aber dasjenige, was sie als Initiierter gewußt hat, für ein bestimmtes Zeitalter im Unterbewußten drunten bleibt und das Oberbewußtsein, das Tagesbewußtsein zwar auch etwas Bedeutsames im Leben zeigt, aber nicht unmittelbar eine Offenbarung dessen ist, was in einem früheren Erdenleben diese Persönlichkeit als Initiierter in ihrer Seele besessen hat.

Solch eine Persönlichkeit war es, die ich meine als weisen Ratgeber Harun al Raschids. Er war in alten Mysterien, in sehr alten Mysterien, ein Eingeweihter. Er war wiedergeboren worden und lebte auch als wiedergeborener Eingeweihter am Hof Harun al Raschids wieder als ein Eingeweihter, dessen früherer Initiationsbesitz als geniale Organisationsgabe, als großartige Verwaltungsgabe für die anderen Wissenschafter, die am Hof Harun al Raschids lebten, sich kundtat; aber den unmittelbaren Eindruck eines Eingeweihten machte er nicht. Er bewahrte durch seine eigene Wesenheit, nicht bloß durch Initiation, die alte Initiatenwissenschaft, aber er machte nicht selber den Eindruck eines Initiierten.

Aber Harun al Raschid hielt sehr viel auf diesen weisen Mann. Er übertrug ihm die Organisation alles dessen, was als Wissenschaften, als Künste am Hof Harun al Raschids glänzte. Er war froh, diesen Mann zu haben, und fühlte sich sozusagen unmittelbar als Freund dieses Mannes.

Diese beiden Persönlichkeiten, Harun al Raschid und seinen weisen Ratgeber, wollen wir nun betrachten, wollen ins Auge fassen, daß im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert der nachchristlichen Zeit in Europa in der christlichen Kultur am Hof Karls des Großen eben begonnen worden war damit, ich möchte sagen, daß die sozial höchststehenden Menschen soeben ihre ersten Schreibversuche machten, ja, daß Karl der Große selber die ersten Schreibversuche machte und Eginhart am Hof Karls des Großen die ersten Versuche machte, das Sprachliche in Grammatik zu bringen. Als da in Europa alles primitiv war, da war drüben in Asien in dem Herrscher, den Karl der Große außerordentlich verehrte, in Harun al Raschid, eine mächtige, blendende Geisteskultur verkörpert, aber eine Geisteskultur, die nichts wußte von Christus, die auch nichts wissen wollte vom Christentum, in der die besten Elemente des Mohammedanismus, die besten Elemente des Arabismus lebten, in der auch alte Formen des Aristotelismus lebten, jene Formen, die gar nicht in Europa sich ausgebreitet hatten, denn in Europa hatte sich mehr die Logik ausgebreitet, die Dialektik des Aristotelismus. Sie wurde von den christlichen Kirchenvätern und später von den Scholastikern verarbeitet.

Drüben in Asien hatte man mehr durch alles das, was Alexander der Große getan hatte, die inneren mystisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse des Aristoteles getrieben. Und das alles hatte man unter dem Einfluß der ungeheuer starken, aber als geoffenbart, als inspiriert genommenen Intelligenz des Arabismus ausgebildet. Es war so am Hof Harun al Raschids, daß man da wußte vom Christentum, daß man aber das Christentum so, wie es in der damaligen Gegenwart war, als primitiv auffaßte gegenüber dem ungeheuren geistigen Glanz, den man selber pflegen konnte.

Gehen wir nun einmal von diesen beiden Persönlichkeiten aus, von Harun al Raschid und seinem weisen Ratgeber, und verfolgen wir das Geschichtliche weiter.


Diese zwei Individualitäten, Harun al Raschid und sein weiser Ratgeber, sie gingen, nachdem sie in der Art tätig waren, wie ich es geschildert habe, durch die Pforte des Todes, indem sie hinauftrugen den starken Impuls, dafür zu sorgen, daß diejenige Empfindungsweise, Weltanschauung, Geistesart, die an diesem Hof gepflegt worden war, weiter in die Welt dringe.

Wollen wir uns nun das, was da geschah, in möglichster Ruhe und in möglichstem Ernst vor die Seele stellen. Wir sehen also von Asien ausgehend zwei Individualitäten: den weisen Ratgeber und Harun al Raschid, seinen Herrscher. Sie gehen eine Weile miteinander. Sie haben das, was sie in ihre Seele aufgenommen haben, dem Alexandrinismus, dem Aristotelismus zu verdanken. Aber sie haben auch alles dasjenige in sich aufgenommen, was in der späteren Zeit in der Umformung des Aristotelismus, des Alexandrinismus geschehen war. Man versteht die Welt wirklich nur zum kleinsten Teile, wenn man nicht ins Auge fassen kann, was in der geistigen Welt geschieht, während hier unten im Erdenleben die gewöhnlichen Ereignisse der physischen Welt vor sich gehen.

Auf das Zeitalter Karls des Großen, Harun al Raschids folgte anderes, was Sie aus der Geschichte kennen. Aber während all das vor sich geht, was die Geschichte erzählt, von Asien, von Europa, für das 9. und 10. Jahrhundert und weiter hinein ins Mittelalter, spielte sich über diesem physischen Leben in der geistigen Welt ein mächtiges anderes Geschehen ab. Und man darf nicht vergessen, wenn das physische Leben hier unten fortfließt (es wird gezeichnet) und das geistige Leben hier oben fortfließt, daß dann von den Seelen, die nicht auf Erden leben, sondern die in dem Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt sind, fortwährend Einflüsse auf das Erdenleben stattfinden. So daß wir also sagen können: Wichtig ist auch, was die in einem solchen Zeitalter, in dem sie nicht auf Erden leben, droben in der geistigen Welt befindlichen Seelen, die zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt sind, erleben und verrichten. Ganz klar und lichtvoll kann einem das Menschenleben erst werden, namentlich in seinem geschichtlichen Verlauf, wenn man auf das hinsieht, was gewissermaßen hinter den Kulissen der äußeren Weltgeschichte in der geistigen Welt vor sich geht.

Ja, die Eindrücke, welche die Seelen durch die Pforte des Todes tragen, unterscheiden sich oftmals außerordentlich stark von den Eindrücken, die diese Seelen hier im Erdenleben gehabt haben. Und für denjenigen, der nicht Unbefangenheit in der Betrachtung des geistigen Lebens hat, ist manchmal ein Erdenmensch, der durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist und sich dann dem geistig beobachtenden Blick zeigt, nicht leicht wieder erkennbar. Aber es gibt eben die geistigen Mittel, durch die man nicht nur jenes geistige Leben verfolgen kann, das sich unmittelbar an das Erdenleben anschließt. Darüber habe ich ja schon in den anderen Vorträgen, die vormittags gehalten worden sind, gesprochen. Ich werde dann weiter sprechen in diesen Vorträgen über den ferneren Verlauf des Lebens zwischen dem ’Iod und einer neuen Geburt; da wird man sehen, wie die Mittel sind, um die sogenannten Toten auch weiter zu verfolgen.

Und eben mit diesen Mitteln kann man dann solche Leben wie das des Harun al Raschid und seines weisen Ratgebers verfolgen. Gerade bei diesen beiden Persönlichkeiten ist es, um ein Verständnis zu eröffnen für spätere Ereignisse in der Zivilisation Europas, außerordentlich wichtig, vor allen Dingen die innige Verbundenheit in der Denkweise, in der Wirkensweise, die Harun al Raschid und sein weiser Ratgeber hatten, zu beachten. Mit den ihnen jahrhundertelang im Erdenleben vorangegangenen Individualitäten Alexander und Aristoteles trugen Harun al Raschid und sein weiser Ratgeber durch die Pforte des Todes eine außerordentlich starke Affinität, eine außerordentlich starke Sehnsucht nach einem Wiedertreffen, nach einem wirklichen Treffen gegenüber Alexander und Aristoteles. Und dieses Sich-wieder-Treffen geschah, und es ist in der Tat von ungeheurer Bedeutung, daß es geschehen ist.

Also Harun al Raschid und sein weiser Ratgeber machten eine Weile in der übersinnlichen Welt ihre Wanderung, indem sie hauptsächlich vom Übersinnlichen herunterschauten auf das, was in der Zivilisation, die weiter gegen Westen hinüber liegt, vor sich ging, auf dasjenige, was in Griechenland und was in einigen Gegenden, die nördlich von dem heutigen Schwarzen Meer liegen, an Zivilisation vor sich ging. Ich möchte sagen, sie schauten auf diese Zivilisation herab, und unter den Ereignissen, auf die da ihr Blick fiel, war dann auch dasjenige, von dem ich in anderem Zusammenhang in anthroposophischen Vorträgen vielfach gesprochen habe: jenes Ereignis, das sich auslebte im Jahre 869 als achtes allgemeines ökumenisches Konzil in Konstantinopel.

Dieses achte ökumenische Konzil in Konstantinopel hat ja eine große Bedeutung für die Zivilisation des Abendlandes, denn da wurde beschlossen, daß die Trichotomie, die Anschauung, daß der Mensch aus Leib, Seele und Geist bestehe, ketzerisch, häretisch sei, daß man nur davon sprechen dürfe — wenn man ein rechter Christ sei -—, daß der Mensch aus zwei Wesenheiten bestünde, aus Körper und Seele, und daß die Seele einige geistige Eigenschaften habe. Deshalb war ja so wenig zu spüren von einer Hinneigung der abendländisch-christlichen Zivilisation zur Spiritualität, zur Geistigkeit, weil die Erkenntnis des Geistes auf dem achten allgemeinen ökumenischen Konzil 869 für ketzerisch erklärt worden ist.

Es war ein bedeutendes, ein einschneidendes Ereignis. Man kann sagen: Damals wurde der Geist abgeschafft, und der Mensch sollte nur aus Leib und Seele bestehen. Man sieht nicht stark genug hin auf ein so einschneidendes, bedeutsames Ereignis. Aber das Erschütternde für den Beobachter des geistigen Lebens und namentlich für den Erleber des geistigen Lebens ist, daß, gerade als hier auf Erden 869 diese Abschaffung des Geistes stattfand, droben in der geistigen Welt die Begegnung Harun al Raschids und seines Ratgebers mit Alexander dem Großen und Aristoteles stattfand, das heißt mit deren Seelen in der geistigen Welt.

Nun müssen Sie das Folgende bedenken, und Sie müssen sich daran gewöhnen, daß nunmehr auf anthroposophischem Felde über die übersinnlichen Ereignisse mit derselben Selbstverständlichkeit gesprochen werden wird wie über die Ereignisse der physischen Welt. Sie müssen bedenken: Das Leben Alexanders des Großen, das Leben des Aristoteles in jener Alexander- und Aristoteles-Inkarnation war ja so, daß es einen gewissen Abschluß bedeutete, daß sozusagen der Impuls, der mit den alten Kulturen gegeben war, der sich dann auf der einen Seite ausgelebt hat in Griechenland, durch Aristoteles in Begriffe gefaßt worden ist, die lange Zeit hindurch als Ideen das Abendland und überhaupt die menschliche Zivilisation beherrschten.

Sie müssen bedenken, daß Alexander der Große, der Zeitgenosse, Schüler und Freund des Aristoteles, mit ungeheurer Kraft den Impuls, der da gegeben war durch den Aristoteles, über einen großen Teil der damals zur Alexanderzeit bekannten Welt verbreitet hat, was dann weitergewirkt hat bis hinein in die Harun-al-Raschid-Zeit in Asien, was lange Zeit in Alexandrien einen glänzenden Mittelpunkt gehabt hat, was aber gleichzeitig durch zahlreiche verborgene Kanäle die ganze orientalische Kultur bestimmend beeinflußt hat.

Damit aber war eine Art von Abschluß gegeben. Zusammengeflossen waren die verschiedenartigsten Impulse alter Geistigkeit im Alexandrinismus und im Aristotelismus. Das Christentum schlug ein. Das Mysterium von Golgatha fand statt. Es fand statt in einer Zeit, als die Individualitäten, die Seelen Alexanders und Aristoteles’ nicht auf der Erde waren, sondern in der geistigen Welt und dort im innigen Verein waren mit dem, was man die Herrschaft des Michael nennt, dessen Herrschaft auf der Erde damals auch abgelaufen war, denn der herrschende Zeitgeist war dazumal Oriphiel. Und weitere Jahrhunderte waren vergangen seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Dasjenige, was Alexander und Aristoteles auf Erden begründet hatten, wofür sie mit ihrem ganzen Sein sich eingesetzt hatten, der eine denkerisch, der andere mit umfassenden intensiven Herrscherkräften, das alles hatte unten auf der Erde gewirkt. Das alles sahen die beiden in der geistigen Welt durch die Jahrhunderte hindurch, die da folgten, in denen ja das Mysterium von Golgatha stattfand; und sie sahen auf alles hin, was dann zur Ausbreitung der Lehre des Mysteriums von Golgatha weiter geschah. Durch alle jene Jahrhunderte hindurch sahen sie unten ihr Werk sich ausbreiten, sich ausbreiten auch durch solche Genies wie Harun al Raschid und seinen weisen Ratgeber.

Aber für das, was diese beiden Individualitäten — Alexander und Aristoteles — selber waren, für das war durchaus die Forderung nach etwas Neuem da, die Forderung, in einer ganz neuen Weise anzufangen, nicht das fortzusetzen, was auf der Erde war, sondern in einer neuen Weise anzufangen. Dadurch ergibt sich natürlich auch eine Art von Fortsetzung. Es wird nicht das Alte aus der Welt geschafft, aber ein mächtiger neuer Impuls, das Christentum auf eine besondere Weise in die Erdenzivilisation einzuführen, das war es, womit sich Alexander und Aristoteles durchsetzt hatten.

Da sie dann ihr Karma heruntertrug in das Erdenleben, noch bevor dieses Ereignis der Begegnung mit Harun al Raschid stattgefunden hatte, lebten sie eigentlich als unbeachtete, unbekannte, früh hinsterbende Persönlichkeiten in einem allerdings für die Anthroposophie wichtigen Winkel Europas, aber eben, ich möchte sagen, nur wie kurze Zeit durch ein Fenster hereinschauend in die abendländische Zivilisation, Eindrücke, Impulse mitnehmend, aber nicht irgendwie bedeutsame Impulse gebend. Das mußten sie sich aufsparen für später.

Sie waren dann wiederum zurückgegangen. Aber da waren sie in der geistigen Welt, als 869 dieses Ereignis, dieses achte allgemeine ökumenische Konzil auf Erden stattfand. Gerade in diesem Zeitpunkt fand jene Begegnung statt zwischen Aristoteles und Alexander auf der einen Seite, Harun al Raschid und seinem weisen Ratgeber auf der anderen Seite. Es war eine Auseinandersetzung von großer überragender Bedeutung in den übersinnlichen Welten, denn man muß sich vorstellen, daß Auseinandersetzungen in der übersinnlichen Welt nicht nur Diskussionen in Worten sind. Wenn man so die Menschen auf der Erde zusammensitzen und diskutieren sieht, wenn Worte hin- und herschießen, ohne daß sie einander sehr weh tun, so ist das nicht einmal ein schattenhaftes Abbild dessen, was geschieht, wenn in übersinnlichen Welten die großen Entscheidungen auch im geistigen Leben getroffen werden.

Und so war es dazumal, daß Aristoteles und Alexander auf der einen Seite sich dahin geltend machten, daß sie sagten: Was früher begründet worden ist, das muß hineingeleitet werden im strengsten Sinn des Wortes in die Michael-Herrschaft. - Denn man wußte ja, die Michael-Herrschaft der Welt wird wieder beginnen im 19. Jahrhundert.

Verstehen wir uns in diesem Punkt recht, meine lieben Freunde! Die Entwickelung der Menschheit verläuft so, daß immer durch drei bis dreieinhalb Jahrhunderte einer der Erzengel der hauptsächlichste Regent der Erdenzivilisation ist. Zur Zeit, als Alexander der Große die Aristoteles-Kultur nach Asien und Afrika verpflanzt hatte, zu jener Zeit, als mit starkem internationalen Sinn diese Verbreitung der Kultur stattfand, war eine Michael-Herrschaft, das heißt, das geistige Leben wurde beherrscht durch die Macht Michaels. Zur Alexanderzeit war die Michael-Herrschaft auf der Erde. Dann wird die Michael-Herrschaft abgelöst von der Oriphiel-Herrschaft. Es kommt dann die AnaelHerrschaft, die Zachariel-Herrschaft, alles so durch drei bis vier Jahrhunderte gehend, die Raphael-Herrschaft, dann Samael, bis heraufkommend in das Zeitalter des 14. Jahrhunderts. Im 15. bis 18. nachchristlichen Jahrhundert, da kommt die Gabriel-Herrschaft, und im 19. Jahrhundert, im letzten Drittel, tritt wiederum die Michael-Herrschaft ein. Sieben der Erzengel wechseln sich ab. Nachdem auf die Michael-Herrschaft zur Alexanderzeit sechs andere Erzengel gefolgt sind, folgte wiederum am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts die Michael-Herrschaft. Sie ist die herrschende in unserer Zeit. Wir stehen unmittelbar, wenn wir das geistige Leben recht verstehen, unter dem Impuls der Michael-Herrschaft.

So also sahen in diesem Jahrhundert, in dem die Begegnung mit Harun al Raschid stattfand, Alexander und Aristoteles hin auf die alte Michael-Herrschaft, unter der sie gewirkt hatten, sie sahen hin auf das Mysterium von Golgatha, das sie vereint mit der Michael-Gemeinschaft, aber nicht-von der Erde aus, sondern von der Sonnensphäre aus erlebt hatten, denn da war die Michael-Herrschaft zu Ende. Michael und die Seinen, zu denen eben auch Alexander und Aristoteles gehörten, erlebten ja das Mysterium von Golgatha nicht vom Erdengesichtspunkt aus. Sie sahen den Christus nicht ankommen auf Erden; sie sahen ihn Abschied nehmen von der Sonne. Aber all dasjenige, was sie erlebten, gestaltete sich bei ihnen zu jenem Impuls: Unter allen Umständen muß dahin gearbeitet werden, daß die neue Michael-Herrschaft, der Alexander und Aristoteles mit allen Fasern ihrer Seele haben treu bleiben wollen, daß die neue Michael-Herrschaft ein nicht nur tief begründetes, sondern auch ein intensives Christentum bringen sollte. 1879 sollte sie beginnen, drei bis vier Jahrhunderte dauern. Wir leben nun in dem Zeitalter dieser Michael-Herrschaft, und Anthroposophen sollten vor allen Dingen verstehen, was es heißt, in dem Zeitalter dieser Michael-Herrschaft zu leben.

Davon wollte weder Harun al Raschid — eher noch sein weiser Ratgeber, aber eigentlich auch der nicht — etwas hören. Sie wollten vor allen Dingen, daß jene Impulse weltbeherrschend würden, die im Mohammedanismus stark Wurzel gefaßt hatten. Intensiv standen sich gegenüber unter anderen, die teilnahmen an diesem Geisteskampf im 9. nachchristlichen Jahrhundert, stark standen sich gegenüber auf der einen Seite Harun al Raschid und sein Ratgeber, auf der anderen Seite Aristoteles und Alexander, das heißt, die Individualitäten, die in beiden gelebt haben.

Was sich da abspielte als Geisteskampf, das wirkte nach in der europäischen Zivilisation, wirkt bis heute nach. Denn was da oben geschieht, das wirkt auf das Irdische ein. Und gerade aus jenem Widerstand, den Harun al Raschid und sein weiser Ratgeber dazumal gegenüber Aristoteles und Alexander geleistet haben, verstärkte sich in einer gewissen Weise der Impuls, so daß gerade von jener Begegnung ausging das Wirken zweier Strömungen: einer, die im Arabismus verläuft, und einer, die den Aristotelismus und das Alexandertum ins Christentum durch die Impulse der Michael-Herrschaft herüberführt.

Beide, sowohl Harun al Raschid wie sein weiser Ratgeber, setzten den Weg, nachdem sie diese Begegnung durchgemacht hatten, nach dem Westen fort, immerfort beobachtend, was im Erdenleben geschieht. Der einenahm vom übersinnlichen Sein aus intensiv teil an alledem, was im Norden von Afrika, im Süden von Europa, in Spanien, Frankreich sich abspielte. Ungefähr in derselben Zeit war der andere durchgegangen durch alles das, was im östlichen Geistesleben, am Schwarzen Meer, weiter herüber durch die Gegenden Europas bis Holland und auch nach England herüber sich abspielte. Und zur gleichen Zeit kamen diese beiden dann an in der europäischen Kultur, wurden wiedergeboren.

Bei solchem Wiedergeborenwerden brauchte nicht eine äußere Ähnlichkeit zu sein. Man geht in der Regel ganz falsch, wenn man glaubt, daß derjenige, der eine gewisse Geistigkeit hat, mit derselben Geistigkeit wiedergeboren werde. Man muß tiefer gehen, tiefer hineinschauen in die Grundimpulse der menschlichen Seele, wenn man von Wiedergeburten und von wiederholten Erdenleben in der rechten Weise sprechen will. So zum Beispiel hat man einen Papst, den berühmten Gregor VII., der aus dem mitteleuropäischen Mönch Hildebrand hervorgegangen ist, diesen starken, im intensivsten Katholizismus wirkenden Papst, der das Papsttum im Mittelalter besonders groß gemacht hat. Er erschien in Wiedergeburt im 19. Jahrhundert als Ernst Haeckel, der Kämpfer gegen das Papsttum. Haeckel ist der wiedergeborene Abt Hildebrand, Gregor VII. Ich will daran nur zeigen, daß nicht die äußere Ähnlichkeit der Geistesverfassung, sondern die innerlichen seelischen Impulse dasjenige sind, was der Mensch hinüberträgt von einem Erdenleben ins andere.

So wurden auch die beiden, Harun al Raschid und sein weiser Ratgeber, dazu veranlagt, zunächst, als noch die Araberkämpfe hinüberschlugen über Afrika nach Spanien, schützend, protegierend teilzunehmen an diesen Araberzügen. Der Mohammedanismus ging ja dann als äußere Erscheinung zugrunde, aber seine innere Seelenhaftigkeit trugen diese beiden Geister durch das geistige Leben bei ihrem Durchgehen zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt von der Vergangenheit in die Zukunft hinein.

Harun al Raschid wurde wiedergeboren, und er wurde in seinem wiedergeborenen Leben Baco von Verulam. Er erscheint als Baco von Verulam. Sein weiser Ratgeber wird wiedergeboren, er erscheint fast gleichzeitig als Amos Comenius, der Pädagoge.

Sehen Sie sich an, was auf der einen Seite durch Baco von Verulam herauskommt, der ja nur äußerlich ein Christ gewesen ist, der durchaus das Abstrakte des Arabismus in die europäische Wissenschaft hereinbringt, und sehen Sie sich dasjenige an, was in die Pädagogik an äußerer materieller Anschaulichkeit des Unterrichts und der ganzen Behandlung des Unterrichtsstoffes Amos Comenius hineingebracht hat. Es ist ein Element, das direkt nichts mit dem Christentum zu tun hat. Wenn auch Amos Comenius unter den Mährischen Brüdern und so weiter wirkt, das, was er direkt bewirkt hat, das wird auf der einen Seite dadurch beleuchtet, daß er in einem vorigen Leben so zu der ganzen Entwickelung der Menschheit gestanden hat wie die am Hof Harun al Raschids blühende Geisteskultur.

Und auf der anderen Seite nehmen Sie jede Zeile Bacons, Lord Bacons, nehmen Sie alles das, was in der sogenannten Anschaulichkeit des Amos Comenius wirkt: Sie haben darinnen ein Rätsel, Sie finden sich nicht zurecht. Man nehme nur diesen Lord Bacon. Es herrscht in ihm ein wahrer Furor in der Bekämpfung des Aristotelismus. In allem ist ein wahrer Furor, von dem man sieht, es geht bis tief in die Seele hinein. Der Geistesforscher, der die Dinge geistig durchschaut und durchleuchtet, der schaut hin auf Baco von Verulam, auf Amos Comenius, verfolgt zurück das Leben aber auch in die übersinnliche Welt hinein, wo der Mensch zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt lebt. Man hat die Schriften des Baco von Verulam vor sich, man hat die Schriften von Amos Comenius vor sich, man findet im Ton, man findet in allem ein Sich-Auflehnen gegen den Aristotelismus. Wie ist das zu erklären?

Man muß nun bedenken: Als Bacon herabkam in sein Erdenleben, als Amos Comenius herabkam in sein Erdenleben, da war ja die Zeit schon wiederum vorüber, wo auch Alexander und auch Aristoteles wieder inkarniert waren in der mittelalterlichen Zivilisation, wo sie ihrerseits schon dasjenige ausgeführt hatten, was für den Aristotelismus zu tun war, wo schon ein anderer Aristotelismus da war als der, den Bacon respektive Harun al Raschid, denn das sind dieselben Persönlichkeiten, ihrerseits gepflegt haben.

Und jetzt stellen Sie sich die ganze Situation vor. Nehmen Sie jenes Interview, wenn ich mich so ausdrücken darf, das 869 stattgefunden hat, bedenken Sie, wie unter diesem Einfluß in Harun al Raschid sich Seelenimpulse ausgebildet haben, die jetzt dasjenige antreffen, was sich auf Erden schon zum Teil verwirklicht hat, weil Alexander und Aristoteles schon wieder da gewesen waren, und weil das, was sie verwirklichen wollten, nicht im Anschluß an das verwirklicht worden ist, was sie als Erdenmenschen in der vorchristlichen Zeit waren. Wenn Sie das bedenken, dann begreifen Sie durchaus jene Seelenimpulse, die sich bildeten bei jener Begegnung. Und aus dem Umstand, daß jetzt Bacon und Amos Comenius sehen konnten, was aus dem Aristotelismus und aus dem Alexandrinismus geworden war, können Sie begreifen, daß jener gewisse Ton in ihren Schriften herrscht, namentlich bei Bacon, aber auch bei Amos Comenius.

Sehen Sie, meine lieben Freunde, wirkliche Geschichtsbetrachtung führt von der Erde zum Himmel hinauf. Man muß die Ereignisse mitnehmen, die sich nur im Übersinnlichen offenbaren können. Wollen Sie Baco von Verulam verstehen, wollen Sie Amos Comenius verstehen, so müssen Sie sie zurück verfolgen bis zu demjenigen zunächst, was sie früher auf Erden waren, müssen also den durch Scholastik verbreiteten Aristotelismus zurück verfolgen bis zu jenem Interview,das um das Jahr 869, zur Zeit des ökumenischen Konzils stattgefunden hat, zurückverfolgen bis dahin,woHarunalRaschid und sein weiser Ratgeber den Aristotelismus und Alexandrinismus pflegten, der eben dazumal gepflegt werden konnte. In diesem Hereinwirken der übersinnlichen Welt in die sinnlich-physische wird erst verständlich, was im Erdenleben sich zuträgt. Das ist es, was ich anführen möchte, um Sie darauf hinzuweisen, wie in der Tat die Verfolgung der wiederholten Erdenleben erst das, was in solchen Persönlichkeiten auf der Erde sich auslebt, verständlich machen kann.


Die Zeit ist zu weit vorgeschritten, um schon heute weiteres auf diesem Gebiet auszuführen, und ich werde nur noch in wenigen Worten andeuten, was die Betrachtungen runden und abschließen soll.

Wenn wir in der Art, wie es eben geschehen ist, den Fortgang der Zivilisation der Menschheit betrachten, so finden wir, daß in die christliche Entwickelung sich gerade durch solche Individualitäten, wie die des Harun al Raschid und desjenigen, der später dann Amos Comenius geworden ist, etwas hereingeschoben hat, was nicht aufgehen will im Christentum, was stark hinneigt zum Arabismus. So haben wir ja in unserer Gegenwart auf der einen Seite, ich möchte sagen, den geradlinigen Fortgang des Christianismus, auf der anderen Seite hereinragend, insbesondere aber in der abstrakten Wissenschaft, den Arabismus.

Was ich Ihnen besonders ans Herz legen möchte, ist dieses: Wenn wir diese beiden Strömungen verfolgen, so finden wir uns gedrängt, wenn wir spirituelle Betrachtungen anstellen, den Blick hinaufzulenken zu allerlei, was auch im Übersinnlichen geschehen ist, wie zum Beispiel zu so etwas wie die Begegnung Aristoteles’-Alexanders, Harun al Raschids und seines weisen Ratgebers. In solcher Art hat sich vieles zugetragen, was dann Impuls geworden ist auf der einen Seite zur Ausbreitung des wahren Christentums, auf der anderen Seite wiederum zum Ausbilden von Hemmnissen, von Widerständen für dieses wahre Christentum. Aber dadurch, daß in der spirituellen Welt die Michael-Entwickelung jenen Verlauf genommen hat, den ich Ihnen angedeutet habe, stellt sich herein eine starke Aussicht und Perspektive für die Zukunft, daß gerade unter dem Zeichen der Michael-Impulse das Christentum seine wahre Gestalt bekommen wird. Denn unter dem Zeichen der Michael-Impulse sind auch im Übersinnlichen die Auseinandersetzungen mit anderen Strömungen gepflogen worden.

Nun möchte ich nur das sagen: In der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft sind mancherlei Persönlichkeiten vereinigt. Auch diese Persönlichkeiten haben ihr Karma, das zurückführt in frühere Zeiten, das in der verschiedensten Weise sich ausnimmt, wenn wir zunächst zu dem Leben zurückgehen, das im Vorirdischen vollbracht worden ist, und dann zurückgehen zu früheren Erdenleben. Es können nur wenige gefunden werden von denen, die ehrlich herankommen an die anthroposophische Bewegung, die nicht beteiligt wären in ihrem Karma an solchen Vorgängen, wie ich sie Ihnen nun geschildert habe. In der einen oder in der anderen Weise sind diejenigen, die in ehrlicher Weise den Drang bekommen, in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft hereinzukommen, verbunden mit dem, was so stattgefunden hat wie die Begegnungen Alexanders und Aristoteles’ mit Harun al Raschid und seinem weisen Ratgeber oder dergleichen. Irgend so etwas hat das Karma bestimmt, das dann so auftritt im gegenwärtigen Erdenleben, daß der Drang entsteht, das Spirituelle in der Weise zu bekommen, wie es gerade in der anthroposophischen Bewegung gepflegt wird.

Mit dem ist aber ein anderes verknüpft. Verknüpft damit ist dieses, daß durch die besondere Gestaltung, die die Michael-Herrschaft annimmt, diejenigen Persönlichkeiten, die jetzt durch ihr Karma in ihrer Verbundenheit mit der Michael-Herrschaft in die anthroposophische Bewegung hereintreten, unter Durchbrechung von mancherlei Wiederverkörperungsgesetzen mit der Wende des 20., 21. Jahrhunderts — also in einer geringeren Anzahl von Jahren, als ein Jahrhundert beträgt wiedererscheinen werden, um dann dasjenige, was sie jetzt tun können im anthroposophischen Dienst der Michael-Herrschaft, zur Kulmination, zum vollen Ausdruck zu bringen. In dem Interesse, das man für solche Dinge haben kann, wie sie heute vorgebracht worden sind, drückt sich, wenn dieses Interesse intensiv genug ist, der innere Drang aus, wirklich Anthroposoph zu sein. Gerade damit aber, daß man diese Dinge versteht, nimmt man auch in sich den Impuls auf, in weniger als einem Jahrhundert schon wieder auf der Erde zu erscheinen, um dasjenige voll zu machen, was Anthroposophie will.

Denken Sie nach, meine lieben Freunde, empfinden Sie die wenigen orientierenden Worte, die ich an die heutige Betrachtung hiermit angeschlossen habe. Sie werden unter Umständen gerade in diesen wenigen Worten vieles finden von dem, was Sie in der richtigen Weise in die anthroposophische Bewegung hineinstellen kann, was Ihnen in der richtigen Weise die Orientierung geben kann, so daß Sie Ihre Zugehörigkeit zu dieser Bewegung tief mit Ihrem Karma verbunden fühlen können.

Second Lecture

I have raised the question: How do we find the explanation of a later life on earth through the earlier lives on earth for some historical and also non-historical personalities, but who can claim our interest through their effectiveness? And now today, in order to lay the foundations for further considerations, I would first like to point out certain connections that existed in the successive earth lives of various personalities. Today I will first of all place before you that which is the result of certain spiritual research, in order to then build up a kind of knowledge, precisely on the basis which is given today in a narrative way, as to how one comes to be able to consider the successive earth lives of personalities.

Let us take such characteristic personalities as those whose names I mentioned last time. Such personalities first of all draw our attention to the way in which various spiritual impulses enter into our present civilization. Through almost two millennia - as I said in the previous reflection - Christianity and a large part of its colonial annex, Christianity which, more than we think, has flowed into all civilizations. And it is true that much of what one does not immediately see as having Christian impulses living in it will nevertheless, if one studies it carefully, be found to be permeated by thoroughly Christian impulses. But it cannot be denied - and I have already indicated this - that something protrudes into our civilization that does not reveal an immediate direct connection with Christianity.

Some views, even certain practices of life, enter our civilization that do not betray a direct connection with Christianity. And then those who want to understand the course of the historical development of our spiritual life from deeper inner causes, and who want to use spiritual research to help them in this understanding, find themselves forced towards a phenomenon that is given far too little attention when we speak of the development of Western civilization. He feels compelled to look at the historical phenomenon that paralleled the appearance and work of Charlemagne in the West. He feels compelled to look to that court in the Orient, which was presided over with, one might say, a truly Oriental splendor by Harun al Rashid, Charlemagne's contemporary. Everything that Charlemagne achieved in the Occident looks weak and feeble compared to the immense splendor and majesty of what emanated from the court of Harun al Rashid at the same time.

Just think of the intellectual life that flowed together at this Near Eastern court. We must remember how in ancient times Greek culture was brought over to Asia through the Alexander campaigns in a form of which we have little idea today. Everything that lived on the basis of Greek culture was ingeniously brought over to Asia by Alexander the Great. And in many learned places in the East, the institutions brought over to Asia by Alexander the Great resulted in a way of life and worldview that faithfully preserved much of the old and rejected much of what then flooded over the old in the West.

First and foremost, a rational, healthy, scientific mysticism had come over to Asia through Alexander the Great, so that those who professed a more philosophical view, which had thus come over to Asia, saw cosmic intelligence spread everywhere in the world. Everything in the world is permeated by cosmic intelligence. In Asia over there, people did not say as humans: I am thinking something up, I am an intelligent being - but they said to themselves: Everything that is thought is thought by gods, thought above all by the one God who already played a role in Aristotelianism. What the individual human intelligence is, that is a drop from the All-Intelligence and reveals itself into the being of the individual, so that the individual felt, I would like to say, with his head and with his heart as if he were inside the All-Intelligence. That was the mood.

This mood also prevailed at the court of Harun al Rashid. It still prevailed in the 8th and 9th centuries AD. And then those Greek scholars had come over who had to flee because Greek philosophy had been wiped out in Europe. Much oriental wisdom had remained. All the mystically powerful astronomy, the powerful architecture imbued with inner imagery and other art, including poetry, all the other sciences and practical manifestations of life that were possible at that time came together at the court of Harun al Rashid, because this splendor-loving, but also in certain respects extraordinarily gifted for everything organizational, gathered at his court those people who knew the most at that time, who still preserved much of the ancient wisdom of the mysteries, who were no longer direct initiates, but who preserved much of the ancient wisdom of the mysteries and still lived in this wisdom of the mysteries.

There was one person in particular, a very wise advisor to Harun al Rashid, whom we would like to take a closer look at. His name is of no importance; it has not come down to posterity. But he was a very wise personality. In order to understand it, one must look at something that the connoisseurs of spiritual science could admire.

You see, my dear friends, you can all raise a certain question. You can say: Spiritual science, anthroposophy, tells us that there were once initiates. There were initiates here and there. These initiates possessed a vast knowledge, a tremendous wisdom. But since people return in life in repeated earthly lives, how is it that one does not notice today, for example, that there are old initiates who have returned? - It is a legitimate question that you can raise.

But anyone who knows the conditions of earthly life also knows that a human individuality, which has to be born from a pre-earthly existence into a certain age according to its karma, has to take upon itself the inherited qualities that one can have in this age, has to take upon itself everything that lies in the existing educational possibilities. And so the situation may well be for an individuality that it was an initiate in ancient times, but that what it knew as an initiate remains in the subconscious for a certain age and the superconscious, the day-consciousness, also shows something significant in life, but is not a direct revelation of what this personality possessed as an initiate in its soul in a previous life on earth.

I am referring to such a personality as the wise counselor of Harun al Rashid. He was an initiate in ancient mysteries, in very ancient mysteries. He had been reborn and lived again as a reborn initiate at the court of Harun al Rashid as an initiate whose earlier initiatory possession manifested itself as a brilliant gift of organization, as a great administrative gift for the other scholars who lived at the court of Harun al Rashid; but he did not make the immediate impression of an initiate. He preserved the ancient science of initiation through his own being, not merely through initiation, but he did not himself make the impression of an initiate.

But Harun al Rashid thought very highly of this wise man. He entrusted him with the organization of everything that shone as sciences and arts at the court of Harun al Rashid. He was happy to have this man and felt that he was, so to speak, his immediate friend.

We will now look at these two personalities, Harun al Raschid and his wise advisor, and consider the fact that in the 8th and 9th centuries of the post-Christian era in Europe, Christian culture at the court of Charlemagne had just begun, I would like to say, that the socially most advanced people had just made their first attempts at writing, indeed that Charlemagne himself made the first attempts at writing and Eginhart at the court of Charlemagne made the first attempts to bring the linguistic into grammar. When everything was primitive in Europe, over in Asia, the ruler whom Charlemagne greatly admired, Harun al Rashid, embodied a powerful, dazzling intellectual culture, but an intellectual culture that knew nothing of Christ and wanted to know nothing of Christianity, in which the best elements of Mohammedanism, the best elements of Arabism lived, in which old forms of Aristotelianism also lived, forms that had not spread in Europe at all, because logic, the dialectic of Aristotelianism, had spread more in Europe. It was processed by the Christian Church Fathers and later by the Scholastics.

Over there in Asia, the inner mystical and scientific insights of Aristotle were driven more by everything Alexander the Great had done. And all this had been developed under the influence of the immensely strong intelligence of Arabism, which was taken as revealed, as inspired. It was the case at the court of Harun al Rashid that people there knew about Christianity, but that Christianity as it was at that time was perceived as primitive compared to the tremendous spiritual splendor that they themselves were able to cultivate.

Let us now take these two personalities, Harun al Rashid and his wise advisor, as our starting point and continue the historical story.


These two individuals, Harun al Rashid and his wise advisor, after having worked in the way I have described, passed through the gate of death, carrying up the strong impulse to ensure that the way of feeling, worldview and spirituality that had been cultivated at this court would penetrate further into the world.

Let us now visualize what happened there in the calmest and most serious way possible. So we see two individualities starting from Asia: the wise counselor and Harun al Rashid, his ruler. They walk together for a while. They owe what they have absorbed into their souls to Alexandrianism, to Aristotelianism. But they also absorbed everything that happened later in the transformation of Aristotelianism and Alexandrianism. One really only understands the world in the smallest part if one cannot grasp what happens in the spiritual world, while down here in earthly life the ordinary events of the physical world take place.

The age of Charlemagne, Harun al Rashid was followed by other things that you know from history. But while all this was going on, what history tells us about Asia, Europe, the 9th and 10th centuries and further into the Middle Ages, powerful other events were taking place above this physical life in the spiritual world. And one must not forget that when the physical life flows on down here (it is drawn) and the spiritual life flows on up here, that then from the souls who do not live on earth, but who are in the life between death and a new birth, continual influences on earth life take place. So that we can say: It is also important what the souls above in the spiritual world, who are between death and a new birth, experience and accomplish in such an age in which they do not live on earth. Human life can only become quite clear and full of light, especially in its historical course, when one looks at what is going on in the spiritual world behind the scenes, so to speak, of the outer world history.

Yes, the impressions which the souls carry through the gate of death often differ extraordinarily strongly from the impressions which these souls have had here in earth life. And for those who are not impartial in their observation of spiritual life, an earthly person who has passed through the gate of death and then shows himself to the spiritually observing gaze is sometimes not easily recognizable. But there are spiritual means by which one can follow not only that spiritual life which immediately follows earthly life. I have already spoken about this in the other lectures that were given in the morning. I will then speak further in these lectures about the more distant course of life between the 'Iod and a new birth; there you will see what the means are to continue to follow the so-called dead.

And it is precisely with these means that one can then follow such lives as that of Harun al Rashid and his wise counselor. In the case of these two personalities in particular, it is extremely important, in order to gain an understanding of later events in European civilization, to consider above all the close connection in the way of thinking and working that Harun al Rashid and his wise advisor had. Harun al Rashid and his wise advisor carried an extraordinarily strong affinity, an extraordinarily strong longing for a reunion, for a real meeting with Alexander and Aristotle, with the individualities that had preceded them for centuries in earthly life. And this reunion happened, and it is indeed of tremendous significance that it happened.

So Harun al Rashid and his wise advisor wandered for a while in the supersensible world, mainly looking down from the supersensible to what was going on in the civilization further west, to what was going on in Greece and in some areas north of today's Black Sea. I would like to say that they looked down on this civilization, and among the events that caught their eye was the one that I have often spoken about in anthroposophical lectures in other contexts: the event that took place in 869 as the eighth general ecumenical council in Constantinople.

This eighth ecumenical council in Constantinople is of great significance for the civilization of the West, because it was decided that the trichotomy, the view that man consists of body, soul and spirit, is heretical, heretical, that one may only speak - if one is a true Christian - that man consists of two entities, of body and soul, and that the soul has some spiritual qualities. That is why there was so little evidence of an inclination of Western Christian civilization towards spirituality, towards spirituality, because the knowledge of the spirit was declared heretical at the eighth general ecumenical council in 869.

It was a significant, incisive event. One could say that the spirit was abolished at that time and that man was to consist only of body and soul. One does not look strongly enough at such an incisive, significant event. But the shocking thing for the observer of spiritual life and especially for the experiencer of spiritual life is that, just as this abolition of the spirit took place here on earth in 869, the meeting of Harun al Rashid and his counselor with Alexander the Great and Aristotle took place in the spiritual world above, that is, with their souls in the spiritual world.

Now you must consider the following, and you must get used to the fact that now in the anthroposophical field the supersensible events will be spoken of with the same naturalness as the events of the physical world. You must remember that the life of Alexander the Great, the life of Aristotle in that incarnation of Alexander and Aristotle, was such that it meant a certain conclusion, that the impulse, so to speak, which was given with the ancient cultures, which then lived itself out in Greece on the one hand, was expressed by Aristotle in concepts which for a long time dominated the West and human civilization in general as ideas.

You must remember that Alexander the Great, Aristotle's contemporary, pupil and friend, spread the impulse given by Aristotle with tremendous force over a large part of the world known at the time of Alexander, which then continued to have an effect right into the Harun al-Rashid period in Asia, which for a long time had a brilliant center in Alexandria, but which at the same time had a decisive influence on the entire oriental culture through numerous hidden channels.

This, however, was a kind of conclusion. The most diverse impulses of ancient spirituality had flowed together in Alexandrianism and Aristotelianism. Christianity struck. The Mystery of Golgotha took place. It took place at a time when the individualities, the souls of Alexander and Aristotle were not on earth but in the spiritual world and were there in intimate union with what is called the reign of Michael, whose reign on earth had also expired at that time, for the ruling spirit of the time at that time was Oriphiel. And further centuries had passed since the Mystery of Golgotha. That which Alexander and Aristotle had founded on earth, for which they had committed themselves with their whole being, the one intellectually, the other with comprehensive, intensive ruling powers, all this had worked down on earth. The two saw all this in the spiritual world throughout the centuries that followed, during which the Mystery of Golgotha took place; and they looked at everything that then happened to spread the teaching of the Mystery of Golgotha. Throughout all those centuries they saw their work spreading below, spreading also through such geniuses as Harun al Rashid and his wise counselor.

But for what these two individuals - Alexander and Aristotle - were themselves, there was definitely a demand for something new, a demand to start in a completely new way, not to continue what was on earth, but to start in a new way. Of course, this also results in a kind of continuation. The old is not done away with, but a powerful new impulse to introduce Christianity into earthly civilization in a special way, that was what Alexander and Aristotle had prevailed with.

Because their karma then carried them down into earthly life, even before this event of the encounter with Harun al Raschid had taken place, they actually lived as unnoticed, unknown, early dying personalities in a corner of Europe that was important for anthroposophy, but, I would like to say, only as if looking in through a window into Western civilization for a short time, taking impressions, impulses with them, but not giving any kind of significant impulses. They had to save that for later.

They then went back again. But there they were in the spiritual world when this event, this eighth general ecumenical council, took place on earth in 869. It was precisely at this time that the meeting took place between Aristotle and Alexander on the one side and Harun al Rashid and his wise counselor on the other. It was an argument of great paramount importance in the supersensible worlds, for one must imagine that arguments in the supersensible world are not just discussions in words. When you see people sitting together on earth and discussing like this, when words shoot back and forth without hurting each other very much, this is not even a shadowy image of what happens when the great decisions are also made in the spiritual life in the supersensible worlds.

And so it was at that time that Aristotle and Alexander on the one hand asserted themselves in such a way that they said: What was founded earlier must be led into the Michael rule in the strictest sense of the word. - For they knew that the Michael rule of the world would begin again in the 19th century.

Let us understand each other correctly on this point, my dear friends! The development of mankind proceeds in such a way that one of the archangels is always the main ruler of earth civilization for three to three and a half centuries. At the time when Alexander the Great had transplanted the Aristotelian culture to Asia and Africa, at the time when this spread of culture took place with a strong international sense, there was a Michael rule, that is, the spiritual life was ruled by the power of Michael. At the time of Alexander, the Michael rule was on earth. Then the Michael reign was replaced by the Oriphiel reign. Then came the Anael reign, the Zachariel reign, all of which went on for three to four centuries, the Raphael reign, then Samael, up to the age of the 14th century. In the 15th to 18th century after Christ, there comes the reign of Gabriel, and in the 19th century, in the last third, the reign of Michael occurs again. Seven of the archangels alternate. After the reign of Michael in Alexander's time was followed by six other archangels, the reign of Michael followed again at the end of the 19th century. It is the dominant one in our time. If we understand the spiritual life correctly, we are directly under the impulse of Michael's rule.

So in this century, in which the meeting with Harun al Raschid took place, Alexander and Aristotle looked towards the old Michael rule under which they had worked, they looked towards the Mystery of Golgotha, which they had experienced united with the Michael community, but not from the earth but from the solar sphere, because there the Michael rule had come to an end. Michael and his followers, including Alexander and Aristotle, did not experience the Mystery of Golgotha from an earthly point of view. They did not see the Christ arrive on earth; they saw him depart from the sun. But all that they experienced formed in them the impulse that the new Michael reign, to which Alexander and Aristotle wanted to remain faithful with all the fibers of their souls, must be worked towards under all circumstances, that the new Michael reign should bring not only a deeply founded, but also an intense Christianity. It was to begin in 1879 and last three to four centuries. We are now living in the age of this Michael reign, and anthroposophists should above all understand what it means to live in the age of this Michael reign.

Neither Harun al Rashid - nor his wise counselor, but not really him either - wanted to hear anything about that. Above all, they wanted those impulses that had taken root in Mohammedanism to dominate the world. Among others who took part in this intellectual struggle in the 9th century AD, Harun al Rashid and his advisor on the one hand, and Aristotle and Alexander on the other, that is, the individualities who lived in both, were strongly opposed to each other.

What took place there as a battle of wits had an impact on European civilization and continues to do so today. Because what happens up there has an effect on the earthly. And it was precisely from the resistance that Harun al Rashid and his wise advisor put up to Aristotle and Alexander at that time that the impulse was strengthened in a certain way, so that it was precisely from that encounter that the work of two currents began: one that runs in Arabism and one that carries Aristotelianism and Alexanderism over into Christianity through the impulses of Michael's rule.

Both Harun al Rashid and his wise advisor continued on their way to the West after this encounter, constantly observing what was happening in earthly life. The one took an intensive part in everything that was happening in the north of Africa, in the south of Europe, in Spain and France. At about the same time the other had gone through everything that was happening in the eastern spiritual life, on the Black Sea, further on through the regions of Europe as far as Holland and also over to England. And at the same time these two arrived in European culture and were reborn.

In such a rebirth, there did not need to be an outward resemblance. As a rule one goes quite wrong if one believes that one who has a certain spirituality will be reborn with the same spirituality. One must go deeper, look deeper into the basic impulses of the human soul, if one wants to speak of rebirths and repeated earth lives in the right way. For example, we have a pope, the famous Gregory VII, who emerged from the Central European monk Hildebrand, this strong pope who worked in the most intense Catholicism and who made the papacy particularly great in the Middle Ages. He appeared in Wiedergeburt in the 19th century as Ernst Haeckel, the fighter against the papacy. Haeckel is the reborn Abbot Hildebrand, Gregory VII. I only want to show that it is not the outward similarity of the spiritual constitution, but the inner spiritual impulses that man carries over from one life on earth to another.

So the two of them, Harun al Raschid and his wise advisor, were also predisposed to take part in these Arab campaigns in a protective and patronizing way at first, when the Arab battles were still raging across Africa to Spain. Mohammedanism then perished as an outward manifestation, but its inner soulfulness carried these two spirits through spiritual life as they passed between death and a new birth from the past into the future.

Harun al Rashid was reborn, and he became Baco of Verulam in his reborn life. He appears as Baco of Verulam. His wise counselor is reborn, he appears almost simultaneously as Amos Comenius, the pedagogue.

Look at what comes out on the one hand through Baco of Verulam, who was only outwardly a Christian, who definitely brings the abstract of Arabism into European science, and look at what Amos Comenius brought into pedagogy in terms of the outward material clarity of teaching and the whole treatment of the subject matter. It is an element that has nothing directly to do with Christianity. Even if Amos Comenius had an effect among the Moravian Brethren and so on, what he brought about directly is illuminated on the one hand by the fact that in a previous life he stood by the whole development of humanity in the same way as the spiritual culture that flourished at the court of Harun al Rashid.

And on the other hand, take every line of Bacon, Lord Bacon, take everything that works in the so-called vividness of Amos Comenius: you have a puzzle in it, you cannot find your way around. Just take this Lord Bacon. There is a real furor in him in the fight against Aristotelianism. There is a real furor in everything, and you can see that it goes deep into the soul. The spiritual researcher, who sees through and illuminates things spiritually, looks to Baco of Verulam, to Amos Comenius, traces life but also into the supersensible world, where man lives between death and a new birth. One has the writings of Baco of Verulam before one, one has the writings of Amos Comenius before one, one finds in the tone, one finds in everything a rebellion against Aristotelianism. How can this be explained?

When Bacon descended into his earthly life, when Amos Comenius descended into his earthly life, the time had already passed when Alexander and Aristotle had also reincarnated in medieval civilization, when they had already carried out what was to be done for Aristotelianism, when there was already a different Aristotelianism than the one that Bacon and Harun al Raschid, because these are the same personalities, had cultivated for their part.

And now imagine the whole situation. Take that interview, if I may put it that way, which took place in 869, and consider how, under this influence, soul impulses developed in Harun al Raschid which now encountered that which had already been partially realized on earth, because Alexander and Aristotle had already been there again, and because what they wanted to realize was not realized in connection with what they were as earthlings in pre-Christian times. If you consider this, then you will certainly understand the soul impulses that were formed during that encounter. And from the fact that Bacon and Amos Comenius could now see what had become of Aristotelianism and Alexandrianism, you can understand that that certain tone prevails in their writings, especially in Bacon, but also in Amos Comenius.

You see, my dear friends, real historical observation leads from earth up to heaven. One must take with one the events that can only reveal themselves in the supernatural. If you want to understand Baco of Verulam, if you want to understand Amos Comenius, you must trace them back to what they were earlier on earth, that is, you must trace the Aristotelianism spread by scholasticism back to the interview that took place around the year 869, at the time of the Ecumenical Council, back to where Harunal Rashid and his wise counselor cultivated the Aristotelianism and Alexandrinism that could be cultivated at that time. It is in this influence of the supersensible world on the sensual-physical world that what happens in earthly life first becomes understandable. This is what I would like to point out to you, how in fact the pursuit of repeated earth lives can only make understandable what is lived out in such personalities on earth.


The time is too far advanced to go into further detail in this area today, and I will only indicate in a few words what should round off and conclude these considerations.

If we look at the progress of the civilization of mankind in the way we have just done, we find that through such individuals as Harun al Raschid and the one who later became Amos Comenius, something has crept into the Christian development that does not want to be absorbed into Christianity, something that leans strongly towards Arabism. So in our present day, we have on the one hand, I would say, the straightforward progression of Christianism, and on the other hand, protruding in, especially in abstract science, Arabism.

What I would particularly like to recommend to you is this: When we follow these two currents, we find ourselves compelled, when we make spiritual observations, to turn our gaze upwards to all sorts of things that have also happened in the supernatural, such as the meeting between Aristotle Alexander, Harun al Rashid and his wise counselor. Many things have happened in this way, which then became an impulse on the one hand for the spread of true Christianity, and on the other hand for the formation of obstacles, of resistance to this true Christianity. But because in the spiritual world the development of Michael has taken the course I have indicated to you, there is a strong prospect and perspective for the future that Christianity will take its true form precisely under the sign of Michael's impulses. For it is also under the sign of Michael's impulses that the conflicts with other currents in the supersensible have been cultivated.

Now I would just like to say this: many different personalities are united in the Anthroposophical Society. These personalities also have their karma, which leads back to earlier times, which manifests itself in the most varied ways when we first go back to the life that was accomplished in the pre-earthly world and then go back to earlier earthly lives. Few of those who honestly approach the anthroposophical movement can be found who would not be involved in their karma in such processes as I have now described to you. In one way or another, those who honestly feel the urge to enter the Anthroposophical Society are connected with what has taken place, such as the meetings of Alexander and Aristotle with Harun al Rashid and his wise counselor or the like. Something like this has determined the karma that then arises in the present earthly life in such a way that the urge arises to obtain the spiritual in the way it is cultivated in the anthroposophical movement.

But this is linked to another. Linked with this is the fact that through the special form which the Michael dominion assumes, those personalities who now enter the anthroposophical movement through their karma in their connection with the Michael dominion will reappear at the turn of the 20th, 21st century - that is, in a smaller number of years than a century - breaking through many laws of re-embodiment, in order then to bring to culmination and full expression that which they can now do in the anthroposophical service of the Michael dominion. In the interest that one can have for such things as have been brought forward today, if this interest is intense enough, the inner urge to be truly anthroposophical is expressed. But precisely by understanding these things, one also takes into oneself the impulse to appear on earth again in less than a century in order to accomplish what anthroposophy wants.

Think about it, my dear friends, feel the few words of orientation that I have added to today's reflection. In just these few words you will possibly find much of what can place you in the right way in the anthroposophical movement, what can give you orientation in the right way, so that you can feel your belonging to this movement deeply connected with your karma.