Esoteric Christianity and the Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz
GA 130
18 December 1912, Neuchâtel
The Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz
Friends have expressed the wish that I should speak today on the subject of the lecture here a year ago,59a year ago, when it was said: see pages 36 et seq. [27 Sep 1911] when it was said that the initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz took place in very special circumstances in the thirteenth century, and that since then this individuality has worked unceasingly throughout the centuries. Today we shall hear more about the character and the person of Christian Rosenkreutz as we study the great task which devolved upon him at the dawn of the intellectual age in order that provision might be made for the future of humanity.
Anyone who makes his mark in the world as a leading occultist, like Christian Rosenkreutz, has to reckon with the conditions peculiar to his epoch. The intrinsic nature of spiritual life as it is in the present age, developed for the first time when modern natural science came upon the scene with men like Copernicus,60Nicholas Copernicus: 1473 – 1543. Giordano Bruno,61Giordano Bruno: 1548 – 1600. Galileo62Galileo Galilei: 1564 – 1642. and others. Nowadays people are taught about Copernicus in their early schooldays, and the impressions thus received remain with them their whole life long. In earlier times the soul experienced something different. Try to picture to yourselves what a contrast there is between a man of the modern age and one who lived centuries ago. Before the days of Copernicus everyone believed that the earth remains at rest in cosmic space with the sun and the stars revolving around it. The very ground slipped from under men's feet when Copernicus came forward with the doctrine that the earth is moving with tremendous speed through the universe. We should not underestimate the effects of such a revolution in thinking, accompanied as it was by a corresponding change in the life of feeling. All the thoughts and ideas of men were suddenly different from what they had been before the days of Copernicus. And now let us ask: What has occultism to say about this revolution in thinking?
Anyone who asks from the standpoint of occultism what kind of world conception can be derived from the Copernican tenets will have to admit that although these ideas can lead to great achievements in the realm of natural science and in external life, they are incapable of promoting any understanding of the spiritual foundations of the world and the things of the world, for there has never been a worse instrument for understanding the spiritual foundations of the world than the ideas of Copernicus—never in the whole of human evolution. The reason for this is that all these Copernican concepts are inspired by Lucifer. Copernicanism is one of the last attacks, one of the last great attacks made by Lucifer upon the evolution of man. In earlier, pre-Copernican thought, the external world was indeed maya, but much traditional wisdom, much truth concerning the world and the things of the world still survived. Since Copernicus, however, man has maya around him not only in his material perceptions but his concepts and ideas are themselves maya. Men take it for granted nowadays that the sun is firmly fixed in the middle and the planets revolve around it in ellipses. In the near future, however, it will be realised that the view of the world of the stars held by Copernicus is much less correct than the earlier Ptolemaic view.63earlier Ptolemaic view: Claudius Ptolemy, circa 100 to 180 AD., astronomer, mathematician and geographer in Alexandria. The view of the world held by the school of Copernicus and Kepler is very convenient, but as an explanation of the macrocosm it is not the truth.
And so Christian Rosenkreutz, confronted by a world conception which is itself a maya, an illusion, had to come to grips with it. Christian Rosenkreutz had to save occultism in an age when all the concepts of science were themselves maya. In the middle of the sixteenth century, Copernicus' Book of the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres64Copernicus: Book of the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres: De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium Libri VI, Nurnberg 1543. appeared. At the end of the sixteenth century the rosicrucians were faced with the necessity of comprehending the world system by means of occultism, for with its materially-conceived globes in space the Copernican world-system was maya, even as concept. Thus towards the end of the sixteenth century one of those conferences took place of which we heard here a year ago in connection with the initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz himself in the thirteenth century. This occult conference of leading individualities [See ‘East in the Light of the West’, Chapter IX, etc. Rudolf Steiner Publication Co. and Anthroposophic Press, N.Y., 1940.] united Christian Rosenkreutz with those twelve individualities of that earlier time and certain other great individualities concerned with the leadership of humanity. There were present not only personalities in incarnation on the physical plane but also some who were in the spiritual worlds; and the individuality who in the sixth century before Christ had been incarnated as Gautama Buddha also participated.
The occultists of the East rightly believe—for they know it to be the truth—that the Buddha who in his twenty-ninth year rose from the rank of Bodhisattva to that of Buddha, had incarnated then for the last time in a physical body. It is absolutely true that when the individuality of a Bodhisattva becomes a Buddha he no longer appears on the earth in physical incarnation. But this does not mean that he ceases to be active in the affairs of the earth. The Buddha continues to work for the earth, although he is never again present in a physical body but sends down his influence from the spiritual world. The Gloria heard by the shepherds in the fields intimated from the spiritual world that the forces of Buddha were streaming into the astral body of the child Jesus described in the St. Luke Gospel. The words of the Gloria came from Buddha who was working in the astral body of the child Jesus. This wonderful message of peace and love is an integral part of Buddha's contribution to Christianity. But later on too, Buddha influences the deeds of men—not physically but from the spiritual world—and he has co-operated in measures that have been necessary for the sake of progress in the evolution of humanity.
In the seventh and eighth centuries, for example, there was a very important centre of initiation in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, in which the Buddha taught, in his spirit body. In such schools there are those who teach in the physical body; but it is also possible for the more advanced pupils to receive instruction from one who teaches in an ether-body only. And so the Buddha taught those pupils there who were capable of receiving higher knowledge. Among the pupils of the Buddha at that time was one who incarnated again a few centuries later. We are speaking, therefore, of a physical personality who centuries later lived again in a physical body, in Italy, and is known to us as St. Francis of Assisi. The characteristic quality of Francis of Assisi and of the life of his monks—which has so much similarity with that of the disciples of Buddha—is due to the fact that Francis of Assisi himself was a pupil of Buddha.
It is easy to perceive the contrast between the qualities characteristic of men who like Francis of Assisi were striving fervently for the spirit and those engrossed in the world of industry, technical life and the discoveries of modern civilisation. There were many people, including occultists, who suffered deeply at the thought that in the future two separate classes of human beings would inevitably arise. They foresaw the one class wholly given up to the affairs of practical life, convinced that security depends entirely upon the production of foodstuffs, the construction of machines, and so forth; whereas the other class would be composed of men like Francis of Assisi who withdraw altogether from the practical affairs of the world for the sake of spiritual life.
It was a significant moment, therefore, when Christian Rosenkreutz, in the sixteenth century, called together a large group of occultists in preparation for the aforesaid conference, and described to them the two types of human beings that would inevitably arise in the future. First he gathered a large circle of people, later on a smaller one, to present them with this weighty fact. Christian Rosenkreutz held this preparatory meeting a few years beforehand, not because he was in doubt about what would happen, but because he wanted to get the people to contemplate the perspectives of the future. In order to stimulate their thinking he spoke roughly as follows: Let us look at the future of the world. The world is moving fast in the direction of practical activities, industry, railways, and so on. Human beings will become like beasts of burden. And those who do not want this will be, like Francis of Assisi, impractical with regard to life, and they will develop an inner life only. Christian Rosenkreutz made it clear to his listeners that there was no way on earth of preventing the formation of these two classes of men. Despite all that might be done for them between birth and death, nothing could hinder mankind being divided into these two classes. As far as conditions on the earth were concerned it is impossible to find a remedy for the division into classes. Help can only come if a kind of education could be brought about that did not take place between birth and death but between death and a new birth.
Thus the rosicrucians were faced with the task of working from out of the super-sensible world to influence individual human beings. In order to understand what had to take place, we must consider from a particular aspect the life between death and a new birth.
Between birth and death we live on the earth. Between death and a new birth man has a certain connection with the other planets. In my Theosophy you will find Kamaloka described. This sojourn of man in the soul world is a time during which he becomes an inhabitant of the Moon. Then one after the other, he becomes an inhabitant of Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and then an inhabitant of the further expanses of heaven or the cosmos. One is not speaking incorrectly when one says that between two incarnations on the earth lie incarnations on other planets, spiritual incarnations. Man at present is not yet sufficiently developed to remember, whilst in incarnation, his experiences between death and a new birth, but this will become possible in the future. Even though he cannot now remember what he experienced on Mars, for example, he still has Mars forces within him, although he knows nothing about them. One is justified in saying: I am not an earth inhabitant, but the forces within me include something that I acquired on Mars. Let me consider a man who lived on earth after the Copernican world outlook had become common knowledge. Whence did Copernicus, Galileo, Giordano Bruno and others acquire their abilities in this incarnation? Bear in mind that shortly before that, from 1401–1464, the individuality of Copernicus was incarnated as Nicholas of Cusa,65before that, from 1401 – 1464, the individuality of Copernicus was incarnated as Nicholas of Cusa: the relationship of these two individualities was presented in greater detail in the lectures given in 1909, ‘Das Prinzip der spirituellen Oekonomie im Zusammenhang mit Wiederverkoerperungsfragen. Ein Aspekt der geistigen Führung der Menscheit’ (The Principle of Spiritual Economy in Relation to Questions of Reincarnation. An Aspect of the Spiritual Guidance of Mankind), GA 109/111 Dornach, 1965. Nicholas of Cusa: 1401 – 64. Wrote his work ‘De docta ignorantia Libri III’ in 1440. a profound mystic. Think of the completely different mood of his docta ignorantia. How did the forces that made Copernicus so very different from Nicholas of Cusa enter this individuality?
The forces that made him the astronomer he was, came to him from Mars! Similarly, Galileo also received forces from Mars that invested him with the special configuration of a modern natural scientist. Giordano Bruno too, brought his powers with him from Mars, and so it is with the whole of mankind. That people think like Copernicus or Giordano Bruno is due to the Mars forces they acquire between death and a new birth.
But the acquisition of the kind of powers which lead from one triumph to another is due to the fact that Mars had a different influence in those times from what it exercised previously. Mars used to radiate different forces. The Mars culture that human beings experience between death and a new birth went through a great crisis in the earth's fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was as decisive and catastrophic a time on Mars in the fifteenth and sixteenth century as it was on the earth at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. Just as at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha the actual ego of man was born, there was born on Mars that particular tendency which, in man, comes to expression in Copernicanism. When these conditions came into force on Mars, the natural consequence would have been for Mars to continue sending down to earth human beings who only brought Copernican ideas with them, which are really only maya. What we are seeing, then, is the decline of the Mars culture. Previously, Mars had sent forth good forces. But now Mars sent forth more and more forces that would have led men deeper and deeper into maya. The achievements that were inspired by Mars at that time were ingenious and clever, but they were maya all the same.
So you see that in the fifteenth century you could have said Mars' salvation, and the earth's too, depended on the declining culture of Mars receiving a fresh impulse to raise it up again. It was somewhat similar on Mars to what it had been like on the earth before the Mystery of Golgotha, when humanity had fallen from spiritual heights into the depths of materialism, and the Christ Impulse had signified an ascent. In the fifteenth century the necessity had arisen on Mars for the Mars culture to receive an upward impulse. That was the significant question facing Christian Rosenkreutz and his pupils; how this upward impulse could be given to the Mars culture, for the salvation of the earth was also at stake. Rosicrucianism was faced with the mighty task of solving the problem of what had to happen so that, for the earth's sake, the Mars culture should be brought once more onto an ascending path. The beings on Mars were not in a position to know what would bring about their salvation, for the earth was the only place where one could know what the situation on Mars was like. On Mars itself they were unaware of the decline. Therefore it was in order to find a practical solution to this problem that the aforesaid conference met at the end of the sixteenth century. This conference was well prepared by Christian Rosenkreutz in that the closest friend and pupil of Christian Rosenkreutz was Gautama Buddha, living in a spirit body. And it was announced at this conference that the being who incarnated as Gautama Buddha, in the spiritual form he now had since becoming Buddha, would transfer the scene of his activities to Mars. The individuality of Gautama Buddha was as it were sent by Christian Rosenkreutz from the earth to Mars. So Gautama Buddha leaves the scene of his activity and goes to Mars, and in the year 1604 the individuality of Gautama Buddha accomplished for Mars a deed similar to what the Mystery of Golgotha was for the earth. Christian Rosenkreutz had known what the effect of Buddha on Mars would signify for the whole cosmos, what his teachings of Nirvana, of liberation from the earth, would signify on Mars. The teaching of Nirvana was unsuited to a form of culture directed primarily to practical life. Buddha's pupil, Francis of Assisi, was an example of the fact that this teaching produces in its adepts complete remoteness from the world and its affairs. But the content of Buddhism, which was not adapted to the practical life of man between birth and death, was of great importance for the soul between death and a new birth. Christian Rosenkreutz realised that for a certain purification needed on Mars the teachings of Buddha were pre-eminently suitable. The Christ Being, the essence of divine love, had once come down to the earth to a people in many respects alien, and in the seventeenth century Buddha, the prince of peace, went to Mars—the planet of war and conflict—to execute his mission there. The souls on Mars were warlike, torn with strife. Thus Buddha performed a deed of sacrifice similar to the deed performed in the Mystery of Golgotha by the bearer of the essence of divine love. To dwell on Mars as Buddha was a deed of sacrifice offered to the cosmos. He was as it were the lamb offered up in sacrifice on Mars, and to accept this environment of strife was for him a kind of crucifixion. Buddha performed this deed on Mars in the service of Christian Rosenkreutz. Thus do the great beings who guide the world work together not only on the earth but from one planet to another.
Since the mystery of Mars was consummated by Gautama Buddha, human beings have been able, during the period between death and a new birth, to receive from Mars different forces from those emanating during Mars' cultural decline. Not only does a man bring with him into a new birth quite different forces from Mars, but because of the influence exercised by the spiritual deed of Buddha, forces also stream from Mars into men who practise meditation as a means of reaching the spiritual world. When the modern pupil of Spiritual Science meditates in the sense indicated by Christian Rosenkreutz, forces sent to the earth by Buddha as the redeemer of Mars stream to him.
Christian Rosenkreutz is thus revealed to us as the great servant of Christ Jesus; but what Buddha, as the emissary of Christian Rosenkreutz, was destined to contribute to the work of Christ Jesus—this had also to come to the help of the work performed by Christian Rosenkreutz in the service of Christ Jesus. The soul of Gautama Buddha has not again been in physical incarnation on the earth but is utterly dedicated to the work of the Christ impulse. What was the word of peace sent forth from the Buddha to the child Jesus described in the Gospel of St. Luke? ‘Glory in the heights and on the earth—peace!’ And this word of peace, issuing mysteriously from Buddha, resounds from the planet of war and conflict to the soul of men on earth.
Because all these things had transpired it was possible to avert the division of human beings into the two distinct classes, consisting on the one hand of men of the type of Francis of Assisi, and on the other of men who live wholly as materialists. If Buddha had remained in direct and immediate connection with the earth, he would not have been able to concern himself with the ‘practical’ people, and his influence would have made the others into monks like Francis of Assisi. Through the deed of redemption performed by Gautama Buddha on Mars, it is possible for us, when we are passing through the Mars period of existence between death and a new birth, to become followers of Francis of Assisi without causing subsequent deprivation to the earth. Grotesque as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that since the seventeenth century every human being is a buddhist, a franciscan, an immediate follower of Francis of Assisi for a time, whilst he is on Mars. Francis of Assisi has subsequently only had one brief incarnation on earth as a child; and he died in childhood and has not incarnated since. From then onwards he has been connected with the work of Buddha on Mars and is one of his most eminent followers.
We have thus placed before our souls a picture of what came to pass through that great conference at the end of the sixteenth century, which resembles what happened on earth in the thirteenth century when Christian Rosenkreutz gathered his faithful around him. Nothing less was accomplished than that the possibility was given of averting from humanity the threatened separation into two classes, so that men might remain inwardly united. And those who want to develop esoterically despite their absorption in practical life can achieve their goal because the Buddha is working from the sphere of Mars and not from the sphere of the earth. Those forces which help to promote a healthy esoteric life can therefore also be attributed to the work and influence of Buddha.
In my book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment, I have dealt with the methods that are appropriate for meditation today. The essential point is that in rosicrucian training, development is such that the human being is not torn away from the earthly activities demanded of him by his karma. Rosicrucian esoteric development can proceed without causing the slightest disturbance in any situation or occupation in life. Because Christian Rosenkreutz was capable of transferring the work of Buddha from the earth to Mars it has become possible for Buddha also to send his influences into men from outside the earth.
Again, then, we have heard of one of the spiritual deeds of Christian Rosenkreutz; but to understand these deeds of the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries we must find our way to their esoteric meaning and significance. It would be good if it were generally realised how entirely consistent the progress of theosophy in the West has been since the founding of the Middle European section of the Theosophical Society.66since the founding of the Middle European section of the Theosophical Society: see Rudolf Steiner ‘The Anthroposophical Movement, its History and Life-Conditions in Relation to the Anthroposophical Society; an Occasion for Self-Recollection’, 8 lectures Dornach, June, 1923; London, 1933. Here in Switzerland we have given lecture cycles on the four Gospels.67Here in Switzerland we have given lecture cycles on the four Gospels: ‘Das Johannes-Evangelium’ (The Gospel of St. John), 8 lectures, Basle, November 1907, in ‘Menschheitsentwicklung und Christuserkenntnis’ (Human Evolution and Knowledge of Christ) GA 100 Dornach, 1967; ‘The Gospel of St. Luke’. 10 lectures, Basle, September, 1909, Rudolf Steiner Press London, 1975; ‘The Gospel of St. Matthew’, 12 lectures, Berne, September 1910, Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1965; ‘The Gospel of St. Mark’, 10 lectures, Basle, September, 1912, Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1977. The substance of all these Gospel cycles is potentially contained in my book Christianity as Mystical Fact, written twelve years ago. The book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment describes the Western path of development that is compatible with practical activities of every kind. Today I have indicated that a basic factor in these matters is the mission assigned to Gautama Buddha by Christian Rosenkreutz, for I have spoken of the significant influence which the transference of Buddha to Mars made possible in our solar system. And so stone after stone fits into its proper place in our Western philosophy, for it has been built up consistently and in obedience to principle, and everything that comes later harmonises with what went before. Inner consistency is essential in any world conception if it is to stand upon the ground of truth. And those who are able to draw near to Christian Rosenkreutz see with reverent wonder in what a consistent way he has carried out the great mission entrusted to him, which in our time is the rosicrucian-christian path of development. That the great teacher of Nirvana is now fulfilling a mission outside the earth, on Mars—this too is one of the wise and consistent deeds of Christian Rosenkreutz.
A Concluding Indication
In conclusion, the following brief practical indication will be added for those who aspire to become pupils of Christian Rosenkreutz.
A year ago we heard how the knowledge of having a certain relationship to Christian Rosenkreutz may come to a man involuntarily. It is also possible, however, to put a kind of question to one's own destiny: ‘Can I make myself worthy to become a pupil of Christian Rosenkreutz?’ It can come about in the following way: Try to place before your soul a picture of Christian Rosenkreutz, the great teacher of the modern age, in the midst of the twelve, sending forth Gautama Buddha into the cosmos as his emissary at the beginning of the seventeenth century, thus bringing about a consummation of what came to pass in the sixth century before Christ in the sermon of Benares.68sermon of Benares: Buddha's first sermon after his enlightenment: ‘The eightfold path, the cause of suffering and the alleviation of suffering.’
If this picture, with its whole import, stands vividly before the soul, if a man feels that something streaming from this great and impressive picture wrings from his soul the words: O man, thou art not merely an earthly being; thou art in truth a cosmic being!—then he may believe with quiet confidence: ‘I can aspire to become a pupil of Christian Rosenkreutz.’ This picture of the relationship of Christian Rosenkreutz to Gautama Buddha is a potent and effective meditation.
And I wanted to awaken this aspiration in you as a result of these considerations. For our ideal should always be to take an interest in world happenings and then to find the way, by means of these studies, to carry out our own development into higher worlds.
Die Mission Des Christian Rosenkreutz, Deren Charakter Und Aufgabe. Die Mission Des Gautama Buddha Auf Dem Mars
Meine lieben Freunde!
Unsere Freunde hier haben gewünscht, dass heute eine Betrachtung von mir angeknüpft werde an dasjenige, was wir im vorigen Jahre hier besprochen haben. Wir haben dazumal hervorgehoben, dass die Initiation des Christian Rosenkreutz auf eine ganz besondere Art im dreizehnten Jahrhundert erfolgt ist und dass seither die Individualität des Christian Rosenkreutz immerfort gewirkt hat und immerfort wirkt durch die Jahrhunderte hindurch. Wir wollen heute wiederum etwas von dem Charakter und der Wesenheit von Christian Rosenkreutz kennenlernen, indem wir die große Aufgabe ins Auge fassen, die er hatte in der ersten Morgenröte unserer dem Intellektualismus zugewendeten Zeit, um für die Zukunft der Menschheit zu sorgen.
Derjenige, der wie Christian Rosenkreutz als ein führender Okkultist vor die Welt hintritt, hat zu rechnen mit der Eigentümlichkeit seines Zeitalters. Das Geistesleben, in dem wir jetzt stehen, hat in seinem eigentlichen Charakter doch den Anfang genommen, als die neuere Naturwissenschaft heraufkam mit Kopernikus, Giordano Bruno, Galilei und anderen. Die Menschen der Gegenwart lernen das Weltsystem des Kopernikus schon in der frühen Schulzeit kennen und nehmen die dadurch gewonnenen Eindrücke für das ganze Leben mit. In früheren Zeiten empfand die Seele etwas anderes: Fühlen Sie, welch großer Unterschied besteht zwischen einem Menschen der Gegenwart und einem, der da lebte vor Jahrhunderten. Vor dem Zeitalter des Kopernikus glaubte jede Seele der Erdenmenschen, die Erde ruhe im Weltenraum und die Sonne und die Sterne drehten sich um sie. Der Boden schwand den Menschen unter den Füßen weg, als Kopernikus die Lehre aufstellte, dass die Erde mit riesiger Schnelligkeit unter ihnen sich im Weltall bewegt. Wir dürfen eine solche Revolution des Denkens nicht unterschätzen, die eine entsprechende Umwandlung des Fühlens mit sich brachte. Alle Ideen und Vorstellungen der Menschen wurden anders, als sie vor Kopernikus waren. Wir wollen uns nun die Frage stellen: Was hat der Okkultismus zu dieser Revolution des Denkens zu sagen?
Derjenige, der als Okkultist die Frage aufwirft, wie man mit den modernen Ideen des Kopernikus die Welt begreifen kann, der muss sich sagen: Man kann mit den Ideen des Kopernikus vieles schaffen, was naturwissenschaftlich zu großen Triumphen im äußeren Leben führt, aber nichts begreifen von dem geistigen Untergrund der Welt und der Dinge, denn die kopernikanischen Ideen sind das schlechteste Instrument, das jemals in der Menschheitsentwicklung da war, um die geistigen Untergründe zu begreifen. Dies rührt davon her, dass alle diese Begriffe und Ideen des Kopernikus von Luzifer inspiriert sind. Denn der Kopernikanismus ist eine der letzten Attacken, der letzten großen Angriffe, die Luzifer auf die menschliche Entwicklung gemacht hat. In der älteren, vorkopernikanischen Weltanschauung hatte man außen die Maya; aber man hatte vielfach in dem, was man verstand, was überliefertes Weisheitsgut war, die Wahrheit der Dinge und der Welt. Seit Kopernikus aber hat der Mensch nicht nur in der sinnlichen Anschauung um sich die Maya, sondern die Begriffe und Ideen sind selbst Maya. Heute ist es dem Menschen wie selbstverständlich, dass die Sonne in der Mitte feststeht und die Planeten sich da in Ellipsen herumdrehen. Nicht lange wird es in die Zukunft hinein dauern, und man wird einsehen, dass die Anschauung des Kopernikus von der Sternenwelt viel unrichtiger ist als die vorhergehende des Ptolemäus. Die kopernikanisch-keplersche Weltanschauung ist eine sehr bequeme Weltanschauung. Um aber dasjenige zu erklären, was der Makrokosmos ist, ist sie nicht die Wahrheit.
Christian Rosenkreutz stand so vor der Tatsache einer Weltanschauung, die selber eine Maya ist, und er hatte Stellung dazu zu nehmen. Christian Rosenkreutz musste den Okkultismus retten zu einer Zeit, in der alle wissenschaftlichen Begriffe selbst eine Maya waren. In der Mitte des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts erschien das grundlegende Werk des Kopernikus über die «Umdrehung der Weltkörper». Am Ende des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts war an die Rosenkreuzer die Notwendigkeit herangetreten, aus dem Okkultismus heraus das Welt-System zu begreifen, da das kopernikanische Weltensystem mit seinen materiell gedachten Kugeln im Raume schon im Begriff Maya war. Gegen Ende des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts fand daher eine jener Konferenzen statt, wie wir sie hier vor einem Jahre kennengelernt haben, als nämlich im dreizehnten Jahrhundert Christian Rosenkreutz selbst eingeweiht wurde. Diese okkulte Konferenz der führenden Individualitäten vereinigte Christian Rosenkreutz mit jenen zwölf Individualitäten von damals und noch einigen anderen bedeutsamen Individualitäten der Menschheitsführung. Es waren dabei anwesend nicht nur Persönlichkeiten, die auf dem physischen Plan inkarniert waren, sondern auch solche, die sich in den geistigen Welten befanden. Anwesend war bei jener Konferenz auch dieselbe Individualität, die im sechsten Jahrhundert vor Christus verkörpert war als der Gautama Buddha.
Die orientalischen Okkultisten glauben mit Recht - denn sie wissen es als eine Wahrheit -—, dass Buddha, der im neunundzwanzigsten Jahre seines Lebens als Gautama Buddha von einem Bodhisattva zu einem Buddha wurde, zum letzten Male damals im physischen Körper inkarniert war. Es ist durchaus richtig, dass die Individualität, die von einem Bodhisattva zu einem Buddha wird, danach nicht mehr in einer physischen Inkarnation auf Erden erscheint. Das ist aber nicht gleichbedeutend mit «nicht mehr tätig sein» für die Erde. Der Buddha ist tätig für die Erde auch für die folgende Zeit, wenn er auch nicht mehr im physischen Leibe auf Erden erscheint, sondern von der geistigen Welt aus seine Tätigkeit ausübt. Das Hineinwirken des Buddha mit seinen Kräften aus der geistigen Welt in den Astralleib des Jesus vom Lukas-Evangelium vernehmen wir in dem Gloria-Gesang, der auch den Hirten auf dem Felde hörbar wurde. Diese Worte rühren her von dem Buddha, der wirksam im Astralleibe des Jesusknaben des Lukas-Evangeliums war. Diese schöne, herrliche Botschaft des Friedens und der Liebe ist tatsächlich ein Ergebnis dessen, was Buddha beigesteuert hat zu dem Christentum. Aber auch später wirkt der Buddha - nicht physisch, aber aus der geistigen Welt- in die Taten der Menschen hinein, und er arbeitete mit an dem, was zu geschehen hatte für den Fortschritt der Menschheitsentwicklung.
Im siebenten und achten Jahrhundert zum Beispiel war in der Nähe des Schwarzen Meeres eine sehr bedeutende Einweihungsschule, in der Buddha im Geistleibe lehrte. In solchen Schulen gibt es Lehrer, die im physischen Leibe lehren; aber für die vorgerückteren Schüler ist es auch möglich, Unterweisungen von einem Lehrer zu bekommen, der nur im ätherischen Leibe lehrt. Und so lehrte dort der Buddha für diejenigen, welche die höheren Erkenntnisse aufzunehmen vermochten. Unter den Schülern des Buddha war damals einer, der dann wenige Jahrhunderte darnach wieder inkarniert wurde. Wir haben es also zu tun mit einer physisch lebenden Persönlichkeit, die Jahrhunderte später wieder im physischen Leibe lebt, in Italien, und die wir als den heiligen Franziskus von Assisi kennen. Die eigentümliche Art des Franz von Assisi, die ja so viel Ähnlichkeit hat, auch in dem Leben seiner Mönche, mit den Schülern des Buddha, ergibt sich aus dem Umstand, dass Franz von Assisi selbst ein Schüler des Buddha war.
Man braucht nur ein wenig den Blick hinzuwenden auf die Eigentümlichkeiten solcher nach dem Geistigen strebenden Menschen wie Franz von Assisi und solcher, die durch die jetzige Kultur in der Industrie, der Technik und den neueren Entdeckungen der Gegenwart stehen. Es gab viele, auch okkulte Persönlichkeiten, die in der Seele viel Leid erlebten, als sie denken mussten, dass es in der Zukunft zwei Arten von Menschen würde geben müssen. Und zwar glaubten sie, die eine Klasse werde ganz dem praktischen Leben zugewandt sein, sie werde in der Erzeugung von Nahrungsmitteln, im Bauen von Maschinen und so weiter ihr Heil sehen, sie werde ganz aufgehen im praktischen Leben. Und die andere Klasse werde diejenige sein, welcher Menschen wie Franz von Assisi angehören, die sich wegen des geistigen Lebens ganz abwenden vom praktischen Leben.
Es war daher ein bedeutungsvoller Augenblick, als zur Vorbereitung jener erwähnten Konferenz Christian Rosenkreutz im sechzehnten Jahrhundert eine Anzahl von Okkultisten, einen größeren Kreis von Menschen zusammenberief, denen er die zwei Arten von Menschen vor Augen stellte, die es in der Zukunft geben müsste. Zuerst berief er einen größeren Kreis, später einen kleineren, um den Menschen dieses Bedeutsame zu sagen. Christian Rosenkreutz hielt diese Vorversammlung eine Anzahl von Jahren vorher, nicht weil es ihm unklar war, was zu geschehen hatte, sondern weil er die Menschen zum Nachdenken bringen wollte über die Perspektive der Zukunft. Er sagte ungefähr Folgendes zur Anregung des Denkens: Man sche hin auf die Zukunft der Welt. Die Welt drängt nach Praxis, nach Industrie, nach Eisenbahnen und so weiter. Die Menschen werden sein wie Lasttiere. Und diejenigen, die das nicht wollen, werden sein wie Franz von Assisi, unpraktisch für das Leben, sie werden nur der inneren Entwicklung leben. - Christian Rosenkreutz machte damals seinen Zuhörern klar, dass es auf Erden kein Mittel gebe, um die Bildung dieser zwei Menschenklassen zu verhindern. Alles, was man für die Menschen tun könne zwischen Geburt und Tod, könne nicht verhindern, dass die Menschen in diese zwei Klassen geteilt würden. Soweit die Verhältnisse auf der Erde in Betracht kommen, ist es unmöglich, Abhilfe zu schaffen für die zwei Klassen von Menschen. Hilfe könne nur kommen, wenn eine Art von Erzichung geschaffen würde, die sich nicht abspiele zwischen Geburt und Tod, sondern zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt.
Bedenken wir also, dass die Rosenkreuzer vor die Aufgabe gestellt waren, zu wirken aus der übersinnlichen Welt in die einzelnen Menschen hinein. Um zu verstehen, was zu geschehen hatte, müssen wir das Leben zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt von einer gewissen Seite her betrachten.
Auf der Erde leben wir zwischen Geburt und Tod. Zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt steht der Mensch in einer gewissen Verbindung mit den anderen Planeten. Sie finden in meiner «Theosophie» beschrieben das Kamaloka. Dieser Aufenthalt des Menschen in der Seelenwelt ist eine Zeit, während welcher der Mensch ein Mondbewohner wird. Dann wird er ein Merkurbewohner, dann ein Venusbewohner, dann ein Sonnen-, Mars-, Jupiter-, Saturnbewohner und dann ein Bewohner des weiteren Himmels- oder Weltenraumes. Man redet nicht unrichtig, wenn man sagt, dass zwischen zwei Inkarnationen auf der Erde Verkörperungen auf anderen Planeten liegen, geistige Verleiblichungen. Der Mensch ist heute noch nicht so weit in seiner Entwicklung, dass er sich in seiner Inkarnation erinnern kann an das, was er erlebt hat zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, aber in der Zukunft wird das möglich sein. Wenn er auch jetzt sich nicht erinnern kann an das, was er zum Beispiel auf dem Mars erlebt hat, so hat er aber doch die Kräfte des Mars in sich, wenn er auch nichts davon weiß. Man kann durchaus sagen: Jetzt bin ich ein Erdenbewohner, aber die Kräfte in mir schließen in sich etwas, was ich mir auf dem Mars angeeignet habe. - Betrachten wir einmal einen Menschen, der auf der Erde lebte, nachdem sich die kopernikanische Weltanschauung ausgebreitet hatte. Woher haben Kopernikus, Galilei, Giordano Bruno und andere die Fähigkeiten in dieser Inkarnation? Bedenken Sie, dass die Individualität des Kopernikus kurz vorher, 1401 bis 1464, in Nikolaus Cusanus, der ein tiefer Mystiker war, verkörpert war. Bedenken Sie seine «Docta ignorantia», wie ganz anders ist da die Seelenverfassung. Wie sind die Kräfte in diese Individualität hineingekommen, die den Kopernikus so ganz anders gemacht haben als den Nikolaus Cusanus? Aus den Kräften des Mars ist das eingeflossen, was ihn dann zu dem Astronomen Kopernikus gemacht hat. So ist es auch bei Galilei, auch er hat Kräfte vom Mars aufgenommen, die ihm die besondere Konfiguration des modernen Naturdenkers verliehen haben. Auch Giordano Bruno hat seine Kräfte vom Mars mitgebracht, und so ist es mit der ganzen Menschheit. Dass die Menschen denken wie Kopernikus oder Giordano Bruno, bekommen sie aus den Kräften des Mars, die sie sich zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt aneignen.
Aber dass man solche Kräfte bekommt, die von Triumph zu Triumph führen, rührt davon her, dass der Mars damals anders wirkte als vorher. Früher waren es andere Kräfte, die vom Mars ausgingen. Die Marskultur, die die Menschen durchleben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, hat eine große Krise durchgemacht im fünfzehnten und sechzehnten Jahrhundert der Erde. So einschneidend, so katastrophal war es im fünfzehnten und sechzehnten Jahrhundert auf dem Mars, wie es auf der Erde war zur Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Wie zur Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha das eigentliche Ich des Menschen geboren wurde, so wurde auf dem Mars geboren diejenige Geistesrichtung, die, wenn sie sich dem Menschen einpflanzte, sich zeigt im Kopernikanismus. Nachdem diese Zustände auf dem Mars herrschten, wäre es die ganz natürliche Folge gewesen, dass der Mars immer Menschen auf die Erde geschickt hätte, die nur Ideen wie Kopernikus mitgebracht hätten, die doch eigentlich Maya sind. Wir blicken also auf eine Dekadenz, auf einen Niedergang der Marskultur. Vorher waren es gute Kräfte gewesen, die vom Mars ausgeströmt waren. Jetzt aber strömten von dort immer mehr Kräfte aus, die den Menschen immer tiefer in die Maya hineingeführt hätten. Geistreich zwar waren die Errungenschaften, die vom Mars stammten in jener Zeit, aber doch eben Maya.
Sie sehen also, dass man im fünfzehnten Jahrhundert hat sagen können: Das Heil des Mars und damit der Erde hängt davon ab, dass auf dem Mars die niedergehende Kultur wieder einen Impuls nach aufwärts erhält. So etwa war es auf dem Mars wie auf der Erde bis zum Mysterium von Golgatha, wo die Menschheit von spirituellen Höhen in die Tiefe des Materiellen versunken war und der ChristusImpuls dann einen Aufstieg für sie bedeutete. Auf dem Mars war im fünfzehnten Jahrhundert die Notwendigkeit eingetreten, der Marskultur einen Impuls nach aufwärts zu geben. Das war die große Frage, die vor Christian Rosenkreutz und seinen Schülern stand, wie der Marskultur dieser Impuls zum Aufstieg zu geben sei, denn von der Marskultur hing auch das Heil der Erde ab. Die große Aufgabe stand vor dem Rosenkreuzertum, die Frage zu beantworten: Was hat zu geschehen, dass zum Heile der Erde die Marskultur zu einem Aufstieg gelangt? Die Marswesen hätten gar nicht wissen können, was zu ihrem Heile dienen kann, denn nur auf der Erde konnte man wissen, wie es um den Mars stand. Auf dem Mars empfand man den Niedergang gar nicht. Einer praktischen Antwort wegen trat daher jene Konferenz am Ende des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts zusammen, von der gesprochen wurde. Wohlvorbereitet war diese Konferenz von Christian Rosenkreutz dadurch, dass der intimste Schüler und Freund des Christian Rosenkreutz der im Geistleib lebende Gautama Buddha war. Und bei dieser Konferenz ist verkündet worden, dass die Wesenheit, die einst auf Erden inkarniert war als Gautama Buddha, jetzt, als geistige Wesenheit, wie er war, seitdem er «Buddha» geworden, den Schauplatz seiner Tätigkeit auf den Mars verlegen werde. Gleichsam abgeschickt wurde von der Erde auf den Mars die Individualität des Gautama Buddha durch Christian Rosenkreutz. Gautama Buddha verlässt den Schauplatz seiner Tätigkeit und geht nach dem Mars, und im Jahre 1604 vollbrachte die Individualität des Gautama Buddha eine ähnliche Tat für den Mars, wie das Mysterium von Golgatha für die Erde war.
Christian Rosenkreutz hatte erkannt, was es für das ganze Weltall bedeuten würde, wenn Buddha dort wirkte, und was des Buddha Lehre vom Nirwana, die Lehre, dass sich der Mensch von der Erde loslösen solle, dort auf dem Mars zu bedeuten hätte. Um die auf das Praktische gerichtete Erdenkultur zu fördern, war die Lehre vom Nirwana ungeeignet. Das zeigte sich am Schüler des Buddha, Franz von Assisi, dass diese Lehre ihre Adepten zu weltfremden Menschen macht. Was aber im Buddhismus nicht geeignet war, um das praktische Leben des Menschen zu fördern zwischen Geburt und Tod, das war von hoher Bedeutung für die Förderung seiner Seele zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Das sah Christian Rosenkreutz ein, dass für dasjenige, was auf dem Mars als Läuterung zu geschehen hatte, die Lehre des Buddha das Geeignetste sei. Wie einstmals das göttliche Liebewesen, Christus, auf der Erde weilte in einer Zeit und unter einem Volk, das diesem Liebewesen nicht gerade nahestand, so stieg der Friedensfürst Buddha im siebzehnten Jahrhundert auf den Mars hinauf, wo Krieg und Kampf herrschten, um dort seine Mission zu erfüllen. Dort waren die Seelen vor allem kriegerisch gestimmt. Eine große Opfertat vollzog der Buddha, gleich jener des Trägers des göttlichen Liebewesens im Mysterium von Golgatha. Eine kosmische Opfertat war es, Buddha zu sein auf dem Mars. Dort war er gleichsam das Opferlamm, und man kann cs als eine Art von Kreuzigung für den Buddha bezeichnen, dass er sich hineinversetzen ließ in diese kriegerische Umgebung. Buddha hat diese Tat auf dem Mars vollbracht im Dienste des Christian Rosenkreutz. So wirken zusammen im Weltenall die großen führenden Wesenheiten, nicht nur auf der Erde, sondern von einem Planeten zum andern hin.
Seit jener Zeit, in der das Mysterium des Mars sich vollzogen hat durch Gautama Buddha, nimmt der Mensch vom Mars andere Kräfte auf in der Zeit zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt als früher, zur Zeit des Niederganges der Marskultur. Und nicht nur bringt der Mensch sich ganz andere Kräfte mit vom Mars herein in die neue Geburt, sondern durch den Einfluss, den die geistige Tat des Buddha ausübt, strömen dem Menschen vom Mars auch Kräfte zu, wenn er hier der Meditation obliegt, um in die geistige Welt zu kommen. Wenn der moderne Geistesschüler meditiert in dem von Christian Rosenkreutz angegebenen Sinne, so strömen auch Kräfte herein, die der Buddha als Marserlöser in die Erde hereinschickt.
So erscheint uns Christian Rosenkreutz als der große Diener des Christus Jesus. Aber dem Werke, das Christian Rosenkreutz im Dienste des Christus Jesus zu verrichten hatte, musste zugleich zu Hilfe kommen dasjenige, was der Buddha als der Sendbote des Christian Rosenkreutz zum Werke des Christus Jesus beizutragen hatte. So ist die Seele des Gautama Buddha zwar nicht weiter mehr auf der physischen Erde, aber diese Seele ist ganz zum Helfer geworden des Christus-Impulses. Was ertönte als Friedenswort auf den im Lukas-Evangelium beschriebenen Jesusknaben herab? «Gloria in der Höhe und Friede auf Erden!» Das tönte aus Buddhas Wesen herab, und es tönt dies - geheimnisvoll von Buddha ausgehend - aus dem Planeten des Krieges in die Menschenscelen auf Erden hinein.
Dadurch aber, dass dies alles geschehen ist, war es möglich, dass die Teilung der Menschen in zwei Klassen vermieden wurde, die Teilung in Menschen wie Franz von Assisi und in solche, die nur im Materialismus aufgehen. Wäre Buddha mit der Erde unmittelbar in Verbindung geblieben, so hätte er um die «praktischen» Menschen sich nicht kümmern können und die andern hätte er zu Mönchen wie Franz von Assisi gemacht. Durch die Erlösertat des Gautama Buddha auf dem Mars ist es möglich geworden, wenn wir einmal in der Zeit zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt durchmachen unsere Entwicklung auf dem Mars, Anhänger des Franz von Assisi zu sein, ohne dass wir der Erde dadurch etwas zu entziehen brauchen. Grotesk klingt es vielleicht, aber richtig ist es, dass jeder Mensch seit dem siebzehnten Jahrhundert innerhalb des Marszustandes Buddhist, Franziskaner, unmittelbarer Folger des Franz von Assisi ist für eine Zeit lang. Franz von Assisi ist seitdem nur einmal als Kind kurz auf der Erde erschienen und in der Kindheit gestorben und war seither nicht mehr verkörpert. Er ist seitdem verbunden mit der Tätigkeit des Buddha und einer der hervorragendsten Folger des Buddha auf dem Mars.
So haben wir uns vor die Seele gestellt alles, was geschehen ist durch jene bedeutsame Konferenz am Ende des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts und was ähnlich ist dem, was im dreizehnten Jahrhundert auf Erden geschah, als Christian Rosenkreutz seine Getreuen um sich vereinigt hatte. Nichts Geringeres ist geschehen, als dass die Möglichkeit gegeben wurde, dem drohenden Auseinanderfallen der Menschheit in zwei Klassen vorzubeugen, sodass die Menschheit vereinigt bleiben konnte. Und jene Menschen, die eine esoterische Entwicklung durchmachen wollen trotz ihres Aufgehens im praktischen Leben, können ihr Ziel dadurch erreichen, dass der Buddha von dem Mars aus wirkt und nicht von der Erde aus. Sodass auch die Kräfte zu einem gesunden esoterischen Leben von der Wirksamkeit des Buddha herrühren.
Wenn der Mensch heute Meditant wird - was das heißt, habe ich schon behandelt in meinem Buche «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» -, so ist es gerade das Wesentliche, dass bei der Rosenkreuzerschulung die Entwicklung so ist, dass der Mensch nicht herausgerissen wird aus der Tätigkeit, die sein Karma auf Erden von ihm verlangt. Rosenkreuzerische esoterische Entwicklung ist vereinbar mit jeder Art von Lebenslage und Beschäftigung. Dadurch, dass Christian Rosenkreutz es verstanden hat, die Tätigkeit des Buddha von der Erde auf den Mars zu verlegen, ist es möglich, dass Buddha auch außerhalb der Erde auf die Menschen richtig einwirken kann.
So haben wir wieder eine der spirituellen Taten des Christian Rosenkreutz kennengelernt und wir müssen uns schon auf den esoterischen Inhalt einlassen, wenn wir seine Taten vom dreizehnten Jahrhundert und die vom sechzehnten Jahrhundert verstehen wollen. Es wäre gut, wenn allgemein begriffen würde, wie unsere abendländische Theosophie konsequent verfuhr seit der Begründung der mitteleuropäischen Sektion der Theosophischen Gesellschaft. Wir haben hier in der Schweiz Vortragszyklen gehabt über die vier Evangelien. Alle die Evangelien-Zyklen sind im Keime enthalten in meiner Schrift «Das Christentum als mystische Tatsache», die vor zwölf Jahren geschrieben worden ist. In dem Buche «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» ist der Weg der abendländischen Entwicklung in der Weise geschildert, wie er bei jeder Art von praktischer Betätigung erlebt werden kann. Heute habe ich Ihnen den Grund dieser Tatsache angegeben in der Mission des Gautama Buddha, die ihm durch Christian Rosenkreutz übertragen wurde, indem ich Ihnen von der Bedeutung gesprochen habe, die seine Entsendung auf den Mars für unser Sonnensystem erhalten hat. So fügt sich und muss sich fügen Baustein auf Baustein in unserer abendländischen Theosophie, die konsequent und folgerichtig aufgebaut worden ist und bei der alles Spätere auch im Einklang mit dem Früheren sein wird. Innere Folgerichtigkeit ist eine der Eigenschaften, die eine Weltanschauung haben muss, wenn sie auf Wahrhaftigkeit aufgebaut sein soll. Und derjenige, der Christian Rosenkreutz nahestehen darf, blickt voll bewundernder Ehrfurcht darauf hin, wie folgerichtig Christian Rosenkreutz selber die große, ihm auferlegte Mission erfüllt hat, die für unsere Zeit als die rosenkreuzerisch-christliche ihm zugewiesen worden ist. Dass der große Lehrer des Nirwana eine Mission außerhalb der Erde auf dem Mars erfüllt, das ist eine der ungeheuren Folgerichtigkeiten, ist eine der Taten des Christian Rosenkreutz.
An diese Betrachtungen sei noch eine kurze praktische angeschlossen. Wer Schüler des Christian Rosenkreutz werden will, beachte Folgendes: Wir haben im vorigen Jahr davon gesprochen, wie man unwillkürlich eine Erkenntnis davon bekommen kann, dass man in einer gewissen Beziehung zu Christian Rosenkreutz stehen kann. Man kann aber auch etwas wie eine Frage an das Schicksal stellen: Kann ich die Eignung erlangen, ein Schüler des Christian Rosenkreutz zu werden? - Es kann auf folgende Weise geschehen: Man versuche, sich das Bild des großen Lehrers der Neuzeit, Christian Rosenkreutz inmitten seiner Zwölf, vor die Seele zu stellen, hinaussendend in den Weltenraum den Gautama Buddha im Beginne des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, in der Konsequenz erfüllend dasjenige, was ungefähr geschehen ist im sechsten Jahrhundert vor Christus durch die Predigt von Benares.
Wenn dieses Bild vor der Seele steht mit seiner ganzen Bedeutung, wenn man fühlt, wie von dem Bilde, das einen erschütternden Eindruck macht, etwas ausgeht, sodass sich aus der Seele die Worte herausringen: O Mensch, du bist nicht bloß ein irdisches, du bist ein kosmisches Wesen! -, dann darf man getrost glauben: Ich kann ein dem Christian Rosenkreutz nachstrebender Schüler werden. - Ein wichtiger Meditationsstoff ist dieses Bild, welches das Verhältnis des Christian Rosenkreutz zu Gautama Buddha schildert.
Und das wollte ich als ein aus dieser Betrachtung resultierendes Streben in Ihren Seelen erwecken. Denn das sollen wir uns immer vorhalten: Wir sollen Interesse haben für die Betrachtung der Welt, dann aber daraus die Mittel gewinnen, durch die wir selbst unsere Entwicklung in die höheren Welten hinein vollziehen können.
The Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz, Its Character and Task. The Mission of Gautama Buddha on Mars
My dear friends!
Our friends here have requested that I follow up today on what we discussed here last year. At that time, we emphasized that the initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz took place in a very special way in the thirteenth century and that since then the individuality of Christian Rosenkreutz has been working continuously and continues to work throughout the centuries. Today we want to learn something more about the character and essence of Christian Rosenkreutz by considering the great task he had in the first dawn of our intellectual age to provide for the future of humanity.
Anyone who, like Christian Rosenkreutz, steps before the world as a leading occultist must reckon with the peculiarities of his age. The spiritual life in which we now find ourselves began in its true character with the emergence of modern science with Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Galileo, and others. People today learn about the Copernican world system early in their schooling and carry the impressions gained from this with them throughout their lives. In earlier times, the soul felt something different: feel what a great difference there is between a person today and one who lived centuries ago. Before the age of Copernicus, every soul on earth believed that the earth was stationary in space and that the sun and stars revolved around it. The ground disappeared from under people's feet when Copernicus proposed the theory that the earth was moving at tremendous speed in space. We must not underestimate such a revolution in thinking, which brought about a corresponding transformation in feeling. All of people's ideas and conceptions became different from what they were before Copernicus. Let us now ask ourselves the question: What does occultism have to say about this revolution in thinking?
Anyone who, as an occultist, raises the question of how the world can be understood with the modern ideas of Copernicus must say to themselves: With the ideas of Copernicus, one can achieve much that leads to great triumphs in the outer life of science, but one cannot understand anything of the spiritual foundation of the world and of things, for the Copernican ideas are the worst instrument that has ever existed in human evolution for understanding spiritual foundations. This stems from the fact that all of Copernicus' concepts and ideas are inspired by Lucifer. For Copernicanism is one of the last attacks, one of the last great assaults that Lucifer has made on human development. In the older, pre-Copernican worldview, one had the Maya on the outside; but one had, in many ways, in what one understood, in what was handed down as wisdom, the truth of things and of the world. Since Copernicus, however, man has not only the Maya around him in his sensory perception, but the concepts and ideas themselves are Maya. Today, it is taken for granted that the sun is fixed in the center and the planets revolve around it in ellipses. It will not be long before people realize that Copernicus' view of the starry world is much more incorrect than the previous one of Ptolemy. The Copernican-Keplerian worldview is a very convenient worldview. But it is not the truth when it comes to explaining what the macrocosm is.
Christian Rosenkreutz was faced with the fact of a world view that is itself a Maya, and he had to take a stand on it. Christian Rosenkreutz had to save occultism at a time when all scientific concepts were themselves a Maya. In the middle of the sixteenth century, Copernicus' fundamental work on the “revolution of the heavenly bodies” appeared. At the end of the sixteenth century, the Rosicrucians were faced with the necessity of understanding the world system from the perspective of occultism, since the Copernican world system with its materially conceived spheres in space was already in the process of becoming Maya. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, therefore, one of those conferences took place that we learned about here a year ago, when Christian Rosenkreutz himself was initiated in the thirteenth century. This occult conference of leading individuals united Christian Rosenkreutz with those twelve individuals of that time and several other significant individuals who had guided humanity. Present were not only personalities who were incarnated on the physical plane, but also those who were in the spiritual worlds. Also present at that conference was the same individuality who was incarnated in the sixth century BC as Gautama Buddha.
Oriental occultists rightly believe—because they know it to be true—that Buddha, who in the twenty-ninth year of his life became a Buddha from a Bodhisattva as Gautama Buddha, was incarnated in the physical body for the last time at that time. It is entirely correct that the individuality that becomes a Buddha from a Bodhisattva does not appear again in a physical incarnation on earth. However, this is not synonymous with “no longer being active” for the earth. The Buddha is active for the earth even in the time that follows, even though he no longer appears on earth in a physical body, but carries out his activity from the spiritual world. We perceive the Buddha's influence with his powers from the spiritual world into the astral body of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke in the Gloria chant, which was also heard by the shepherds in the field. These words originate from the Buddha, who was active in the astral body of the boy Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. This beautiful, glorious message of peace and love is indeed a result of Buddha's contribution to Christianity. But even later, Buddha continues to work—not physically, but from the spiritual world—in the deeds of human beings, and he cooperated in what had to happen for the progress of human development.
In the seventh and eighth centuries, for example, there was a very important school of initiation near the Black Sea, where Buddha taught in the spirit body. In such schools there are teachers who teach in the physical body; but for the more advanced students it is also possible to receive instruction from a teacher who teaches only in the etheric body. And so the Buddha taught there for those who were able to receive higher knowledge. Among the Buddha's disciples at that time was one who was reincarnated a few centuries later. We are therefore dealing with a physically living personality who, centuries later, lived again in the physical body in Italy, and whom we know as St. Francis of Assisi. The peculiar nature of Francis of Assisi, which bears so much resemblance to the disciples of Buddha, including in the lives of his monks, arises from the fact that Francis of Assisi himself was a disciple of Buddha.
One need only glance at the peculiarities of such spiritually striving people as Francis of Assisi and those who, through the present culture, stand in industry, technology, and the newer discoveries of the present. There were many, including occult personalities, who experienced much suffering in their souls when they had to think that there would have to be two kinds of people in the future. They believed that one class would be entirely devoted to practical life, finding their salvation in the production of food, the construction of machines, and so on, and that they would be completely absorbed in practical life. The other class would be those to whom people like Francis of Assisi belonged, who turned away from practical life entirely because of their spiritual life.
It was therefore a significant moment when, in preparation for the aforementioned conference, Christian Rosenkreutz gathered a number of occultists, a larger circle of people, in the sixteenth century and presented them with the two types of people that would have to exist in the future. First he called together a larger circle, later a smaller one, to tell people about this significant development. Christian Rosenkreutz held this preliminary meeting a number of years in advance, not because he was unclear about what was to happen, but because he wanted to make people think about the prospects for the future. He said something like the following to stimulate thought: Look to the future of the world. The world is pushing for practicality, for industry, for railroads, and so on. People will be like beasts of burden. And those who do not want this will be like Francis of Assisi, impractical for life, living only for inner development. Christian Rosenkreutz made it clear to his listeners at the time that there was no means on earth to prevent the formation of these two classes of people. Nothing that could be done for people between birth and death could prevent them from being divided into these two classes. As far as conditions on earth are concerned, it is impossible to remedy the situation for these two classes of people. Help can only come if a kind of education is created that does not take place between birth and death, but between death and a new birth.
Let us therefore remember that the Rosicrucians were given the task of working from the supersensible world into individual human beings. In order to understand what had to happen, we must look at life between death and a new birth from a certain point of view.
On earth, we live between birth and death. Between death and rebirth, human beings are connected in a certain way with the other planets. You will find a description of Kamaloka in my book Theosophy. This period of human existence in the soul world is a time during which human beings become moon dwellers. Then they become inhabitants of Mercury, then of Venus, then of the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and then inhabitants of the wider heavens or world space. It is not incorrect to say that between two incarnations on Earth there are incarnations on other planets, spiritual embodiments. Human beings today are not yet so far advanced in their development that they can remember what they experienced between death and rebirth, but this will be possible in the future. Even if they cannot remember what they experienced on Mars, for example, they still have the powers of Mars within them, even if they are unaware of them. One can certainly say: Now I am an inhabitant of Earth, but the powers within me contain something that I acquired on Mars. Let us consider a person who lived on Earth after the Copernican worldview had spread. Where did Copernicus, Galileo, Giordano Bruno, and others get their abilities in this incarnation? Consider that the individuality of Copernicus was embodied shortly before, from 1401 to 1464, in Nicholas of Cusa, who was a profound mystic. Consider his “Docta ignorantia” (learned ignorance) and how different the state of mind is there. How did the forces that made Copernicus so different from Nicholas of Cusa enter into this individuality? It was the forces of Mars that flowed into him and made him the astronomer Copernicus. The same is true of Galileo, who also absorbed forces from Mars that gave him the special configuration of a modern natural thinker. Giordano Bruno also brought his forces with him from Mars, and so it is with all of humanity. The fact that people think like Copernicus or Giordano Bruno comes from the forces of Mars, which they acquire between death and rebirth.
But the fact that one acquires such forces, which lead from triumph to triumph, stems from the fact that Mars had a different effect then than it did before. In the past, different forces emanated from Mars. The Martian culture that people experience between death and rebirth underwent a great crisis in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries on Earth. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries on Mars were as drastic and catastrophic as they were on Earth at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. Just as the true self of the human being was born at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, so the spiritual direction that, when implanted in the human being, manifests itself in Copernicanism was born on Mars. After these conditions prevailed on Mars, it would have been a completely natural consequence that Mars would have sent people to Earth who brought with them only ideas like those of Copernicus, which are actually Maya. We are therefore looking at a decadence, a decline of the Martian culture. Previously, good forces had streamed out from Mars. Now, however, more and more forces were streaming out from there that would have led people deeper and deeper into Maya. The achievements that came from Mars at that time were indeed spiritually rich, but they were Maya nonetheless.
You can see, then, that in the fifteenth century it was possible to say: The salvation of Mars, and thus of the Earth, depends on the declining culture on Mars receiving a new upward impulse. This was the situation on Mars as on Earth until the Mystery of Golgotha, when humanity sank from spiritual heights into the depths of materialism and the Christ impulse brought about its ascent. On Mars, in the fifteenth century, it had become necessary to give the Martian culture an upward impulse. This was the great question facing Christian Rosenkreutz and his disciples: how to give the Martian culture this impulse for ascent, for the salvation of the Earth also depended on the Martian culture. The Rosicrucians were faced with the great task of answering the question: What must happen for the culture of Mars to ascend for the salvation of the Earth? The beings of Mars could not have known what would serve their salvation, for only on Earth could one know the state of Mars. On Mars, the decline was not felt at all. For the sake of a practical answer, the conference mentioned above was convened at the end of the sixteenth century. This conference was well prepared by Christian Rosicrucius, as his closest disciple and friend was Gautama Buddha, who lived in the spirit body. And at this conference it was announced that the being who had once incarnated on Earth as Gautama Buddha would now, as a spiritual being, as he had been since becoming “Buddha,” transfer the scene of his activity to Mars. The individuality of Gautama Buddha was sent from Earth to Mars by Christian Rosenkreutz. Gautama Buddha left the scene of his activity and went to Mars, and in 1604, the individuality of Gautama Buddha accomplished a deed for Mars similar to what the Mystery of Golgotha was for Earth.
Christian Rosenkreutz had recognized what it would mean for the entire universe if Buddha were to work there, and what the Buddha's teaching of nirvana, the teaching that man should detach himself from the earth, would mean there on Mars. The teaching of nirvana was unsuitable for promoting the practical-oriented culture of Earth. This was evident in the Buddha's disciple, Francis of Assisi, who showed that this teaching turned its followers into unworldly people. However, what was unsuitable in Buddhism for promoting the practical life of human beings between birth and death was of great importance for the development of their souls between death and rebirth. Christian Rosenkreutz realized that the teachings of Buddha were best suited for what had to happen on Mars as a purification process. Just as the divine being of love, Christ, once lived on Earth at a time and among a people who were not exactly close to this being of love, so the Prince of Peace, Buddha, ascended to Mars in the seventeenth century, where war and strife reigned, in order to fulfill his mission there. There, the souls were primarily warlike. The Buddha performed a great sacrifice, similar to that of the bearer of the divine being of love in the mystery of Golgotha. It was a cosmic sacrifice to be Buddha on Mars. There he was, as it were, the sacrificial lamb, and one can describe it as a kind of crucifixion for the Buddha that he allowed himself to be placed in this warlike environment. Buddha accomplished this deed on Mars in the service of Christian Rosenkreutz. In this way, the great leading beings work together in the universe, not only on Earth, but from one planet to another.
Since the time when the mystery of Mars was accomplished through Gautama Buddha, human beings have been absorbing different forces from Mars in the period between death and rebirth than they did earlier, at the time of the decline of the Martian culture. And not only does man bring completely different forces with him from Mars into his new birth, but through the influence exerted by the spiritual deed of the Buddha, forces also flow to man from Mars when he is engaged in meditation here in order to enter the spiritual world. When modern spiritual students meditate in the sense indicated by Christian Rosenkreutz, forces also flow in that the Buddha sends to the earth as the redeemer of Mars.
Thus Christian Rosenkreutz appears to us as the great servant of Christ Jesus. But the work that Christian Rosenkreutz had to do in the service of Christ Jesus had to be helped by what Buddha, as the messenger of Christian Rosenkreutz, had to contribute to the work of Christ Jesus. So, although the soul of Gautama Buddha is no longer on the physical earth, this soul has become completely the helper of the Christ impulse. What sounded as a word of peace upon the baby Jesus described in the Gospel of Luke? “Glory in the highest, and peace on earth!” This sounded down from the being of Buddha, and it sounds—mysteriously emanating from Buddha—from the planet of war into the hearts of human beings on earth.
But because all this happened, it was possible to avoid the division of humanity into two classes, the division into people like Francis of Assisi and those who are absorbed only in materialism. If Buddha had remained in direct contact with the earth, he would not have been able to care for the “practical” people, and he would have made the others into monks like Francis of Assisi. Through the redeeming act of Gautama Buddha on Mars, it has become possible, once we have undergone our development on Mars in the time between death and rebirth, to be followers of Francis of Assisi without having to withdraw anything from the earth. It may sound grotesque, but it is true that since the seventeenth century, every human being in the Martian state is a Buddhist, a Franciscan, a direct follower of Francis of Assisi for a time. Since then, Francis of Assisi has appeared only once on Earth as a child, died in childhood, and has not been incarnated since. Since then, he has been connected with the work of the Buddha and is one of the most outstanding followers of the Buddha on Mars.
Thus, we have placed before our souls everything that happened through that significant conference at the end of the sixteenth century and what is similar to what happened on Earth in the thirteenth century when Christian Rosenkreutz gathered his followers around him. Nothing less happened than that the possibility was given to prevent the impending division of humanity into two classes, so that humanity could remain united. And those people who want to undergo esoteric development despite their involvement in practical life can achieve their goal through the Buddha's working from Mars and not from Earth. So that the forces for a healthy esoteric life also come from the Buddha's effectiveness.
When people today become meditators – I have already discussed what this means in my book How to Know Higher Worlds – it is essential that the Rosicrucian training is such that people are not torn away from the activity that their karma on earth requires of them. Rosicrucian esoteric development is compatible with any kind of life situation and occupation. Because Christian Rosicrucian understood how to transfer the activity of the Buddha from Earth to Mars, it is possible for the Buddha to have a proper influence on people even outside of Earth.
Thus we have learned about another of the spiritual deeds of Christian Rosenkreutz, and we must engage with the esoteric content if we want to understand his deeds from the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. It would be good if people generally understood how our Western theosophy has proceeded consistently since the founding of the Central European Section of the Theosophical Society. Here in Switzerland, we have had lecture series on the four Gospels. All the Gospel cycles are contained in embryonic form in my book Christianity as Mystical Fact, which was written twelve years ago. In the book How to Know Higher Realms, the path of Western development is described in such a way that it can be experienced in every kind of practical activity. Today I have given you the reason for this fact in the mission of Gautama Buddha, which was entrusted to him by Christian Rosenkreutz, by speaking to you of the significance that his mission to Mars has acquired for our solar system. Thus, brick by brick, our Western theosophy, which has been built up consistently and logically, fits together and must fit together, and everything that comes later will also be in harmony with what came before. Inner consistency is one of the qualities that a worldview must have if it is to be based on truth. And those who are close to Christian Rosenkreutz look with admiring reverence at how consistently Christian Rosenkreutz himself fulfilled the great mission assigned to him, which was assigned to him for our time as the Rosicrucian-Christian mission. That the great teacher of Nirvana is fulfilling a mission outside the Earth on Mars is one of the tremendous logical consequences, one of the deeds of Christian Rosenkreutz.
Let us add a brief practical consideration to these reflections. Anyone who wishes to become a disciple of Christian Rosenkreutz should note the following: Last year we spoke about how one can involuntarily gain the insight that one may be connected in some way to Christian Rosenkreutz. But one can also ask something like a question of fate: Can I attain the suitability to become a disciple of Christian Rosenkreutz? This can be done in the following way: Try to place before your soul the image of the great teacher of modern times, Christian Rosenkreutz, surrounded by his twelve disciples, sending out into the universe Gautama Buddha at the beginning of the seventeenth century, fulfilling in consequence what happened approximately in the sixth century BC through the sermon at Benares.
When this image stands before your soul with all its meaning, when you feel something emanating from the image that makes a profound impression, so that the words burst forth from your soul: O human being, you are not merely an earthly being, you are a cosmic being! Then one can confidently believe: I can become a disciple striving to emulate Christian Rosenkreutz. This image, which depicts the relationship between Christian Rosenkreutz and Gautama Buddha, is an important subject for meditation.
And that is what I wanted to awaken in your souls as an aspiration resulting from this contemplation. For we should always keep this in mind: We should be interested in contemplating the world, but then use this to gain the means by which we ourselves can accomplish our development into the higher worlds.