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The Easter Festival in the Evolution of the Mysteries
GA 233a

20 April 1924, Dornach

Lecture II

We can say that the original purpose of festivals is to make human beings look up from their dependence upon earthly things to their dependence upon extra-earthly things. The Easter festival in particular can evoke such thoughts. During the last three to five centuries we in the civilized world have undergone a psycho-spiritual development that has made us focus less and less upon our connection with cosmic forces and powers. We have gradually been reduced to contemplating only our relation to earthly forces and powers. Of course, given the means for acquiring knowledge recognized as legitimate today this could scarcely be otherwise. However, if in pre-Christian times or even in the early centuries of Christianity someone who was connected with a Mystery center could have experienced what we moderns call knowledge, and if he were to approach the matter with the state of mind characteristic of those earlier times, he would not at all understand how human beings can live without an awareness of their connection to extra-earthly, cosmic things.

I would now like to sketch various matters that you will find dealt with more thoroughly in this or that lecture cycle. As the present lectures are intended to acquaint us specifically with the Easter idea, I naturally cannot elaborate on every detail, but only touch upon the most important points.

If we go back to certain ancient monotheistic religious systems—for example, to the Hebrew-Judaic system, with which we are most familiar—we naturally find the veneration and worship of one deity. That deity is the one of whom we speak in our Christian conception as the First Person of the Godhead, as God the Father.

Now all the religions in which the concept of the Father-God played a part had a greater or lesser awareness of his connection to the cosmic moon forces, forces that stream down to the earth from the moon; the Mystery priests were particularly aware of this connection. In our time this consciousness of our relationship to the moon has all but disappeared. Perhaps the only place it lives on is in the inspiration of poetic imagination by the forces of the moon, or in medicine in the counting of human embryonic life in ten lunar months. But older world views were clearly aware that the human being, who exists in the spiritual world as a being of spirit and soul, is permeated and strengthened by forces emanating from the moon as he descends into earthly existence.

If we want to know what shapes our living form, to know what lives in us as nutritive and respiratory processes, as overall forces of growth, we must look not to earth forces but rather to cosmic forces. For a consideration of earth forces readily reveals their relation to us. If we did not hold our bodies together with extra-earthly forces, if our bodies did not receive their form from cosmic forces, how could the earth forces alone hold them together? The moment the human body is forsaken by cosmic forces and exposed to merely terrestrial forces, it falls apart, disintegrates, becomes a corpse. Earth forces can only make us into corpses; they cannot shape us. It is to the influence of the moon that we owe the uplifting forces within us, the forces that give us a cohesive, organized form, a form that during life does not succumb to forces that seize and destroy us at our death. It is due to this that throughout our earthly lives we can resist destruction, as indeed it must be resisted.

Although in this way we may say theoretically how the form of our body is dependent upon the forces of the moon, we must also see that these forces, which guide us, so to speak, through birth into a physical existence, were revered by ancient religions as the forces of the divine Father. The ancient Hebrew initiates knew that the moon radiates those forces that lead us into our earthly life and maintain us there. Our physical being is severed from these forces only when we pass through the gate of death.

To look up lovingly to these divine Father forces, to express devotion to them in ritual and prayer, this was the substance of certain ancient monotheistic religions. And these religions were more consistent than you might think. For history completely misrepresents them, basing itself, as it must, merely upon external evidence, not upon what can be observed in spiritual vision.

Religions that focused on the moon and the spiritual beings living in it were really of relatively late origin. The truly primordial religions had in addition to this a clear perception of the sun forces and even, it must be added, of the forces of Saturn. However, with this we are entering into a period of history of which no physical documents survive, one that antedates the foundation of Christianity by many thousands of years. In my Outline of Occult Science I called this period the ancient Indian—partly to have a name for it, but also because it took place in the area we now call India. The civilization following this was the ancient Persian. During these civilizations human beings still developed very differently than they did later, and this is reflected in their religious beliefs.

During the last two thousand years or more, human beings have been developing in such a way that they no longer notice a certain discontinuity in their earthly development, and indeed, the break is really hardly noticeable. Something that takes place in human beings around the thirtieth year today remains largely in the subconscious or the unconscious. However, this was not the case among people who lived eight or nine thousand years before Christ. At that time a person's development was continuous up until about the thirtieth year, when a profound metamorphosis set in, which I shall be quite direct in describing. Although what I have to say might sound somewhat strange, it nevertheless fits the relevant facts.

In those ancient times the following could happen. Let us say that before turning thirty, a man had made the acquaintance of someone much younger, say three or four years younger, who would therefore experience the thirtieth-year metamorphosis much later than the former. Suppose now that the two men had not seen each other for some time and were then reunited. It could happen, and in today's words this sounds indeed strange, that if the younger person were to address the older one, the latter might not recognize him. The metamorphosis would have completely transformed his memory.

Because in these very ancient times people around the age of thirty tended to forget all they had experienced previously, it was the custom in the small communities of the time to record events in young peoples' lives in order to inform them of their earlier experiences after they had passed through the profound transformation. And then, when such people realized they had become different persons in their thirtieth year, that they had to go to the record office—to use a modern expression—in order to learn of their earlier experiences—yes, it really happened this way—then at the same time they were also taught that before their thirtieth year only moon forces had acted upon them, whereas now sun forces were entering into their development.

The sun forces' influence on the human being is entirely different from that of the moon forces. Of course, people today know little of sun forces, for they know only their external, physical effects. They know, for example, that because of sun forces—pardon my bluntness—they sweat, feel hot; they are also no doubt aware of sunbathing and its therapeutic uses, but this is all superficial. The average person nowadays cannot even begin to conceive of the effect that the forces spiritually connected with the sun have upon him.

Julian the Apostate, the last of the pagan Caesars, acquired some knowledge of the sun forces in the dwindling Mysteries, and was murdered on his expedition to Persia because he wanted to make it official again. [Julian the Apostate (Flavius Claudius Julianus), A.D. 331–363. Roman emperor 361–363. ] That is how strong the powers that wanted to exterminate such knowledge in the early Christian centuries were. It is therefore not surprising that no knowledge of such matters has survived.

While the moon forces determine the human being, permeate us with an inner necessity so that we must act according to our instincts, our temperament, our emotions, in a word, our whole physical and etheric nature, the spiritual sun forces free us from this. They dissolve, so to speak, the forces of compulsion, and it is really through their agency that we become free.

In ancient times the influence of the moon and that of the sun were sharply divided. Around the age of thirty people simply became sun people, that is, free, whereas up until then they had been moon people, or unfree. Nowadays these two overlap; even in childhood the sun forces act along with the moon forces, and the moon forces continue to work on us in later years. Thus in our time necessity and freedom intermingle.

As has been said, however, this was not always the case. In the prehistoric times of which we have been speaking, the effects of the moon and the sun upon human life were sharply separated, it was considered pathological when someone failed to experience the metamorphosis, the new beginning in his thirtieth year. By the same token, people spoke of having been born not once, but twice. As humanity began to develop in such a way that the second or solar birth (the first was called the lunar birth) became less noticeable, certain facts, including exercises and cult rituals, began to be applied to initiates in the Mysteries. In this way the initiates experienced something that the rest of mankind no longer did. They were now the twice-born.

The term twice-born that may be found in ancient oriental writings even today no longer carries its original meaning. It would be interesting to ask every orientalist and Sanskrit scholar—I believe our friend Professor Beckh is in our midst, you can ask him how things stand according to his professional studies—whether they think modern scholarship can explain the meaning of this expression clearly and in no uncertain terms. [Professor Hermann Beckh, 1875–1937, orientalist. From 1922 on priest in the Christian Community. ] In fact, any number of formal analyses are available, but the essential meaning remains a mystery. Only those who know it derives from such a reality as I have just described can grasp its true meaning. About such things spiritual observation does, after all, have something to say; and once it has spoken, I would challenge any unprejudiced researcher in a conventional academic discipline to prove that existing documents do not at every step bear it out. Ordinary science will confirm spiritual research, provided things are seen in the right light. But certain things transcending ordinary science must be brought to light since the study of documents cannot lead to a true understanding of human life.

Thus we look back to an ancient time when people spoke of their lunar birth as of a creation by the Father. Regarding their solar birth people understood that in the sun's spiritual rays Christ's power, the power of the Son, is active, and that it sets human beings free. Consider what it does for us. Only through its action can we make something of ourselves in earthly life. Without the liberating forces and impulses of the sun, we would be strictly predestined, at the mercy of an inexorable determinism, and not even the determinism of fate, but merely that of nature.

People in ancient times knew this. To them, the sun was a celestial eye from which the power of Christ streamed forth. They knew that this power released them from the bondage of iron necessity into which the moon forces had placed them at birth and which would otherwise govern their entire lives. The sun forces, the Christ forces looking down upon them through the cosmic eye of the sun, enabled them to make something of themselves in inner freedom, something they could not have become merely by virtue of the moon forces. Thus in the sun forces people saw the possibility of transforming or making something of themselves here on earth.

For completeness' sake I should briefly mention that ancient people also looked to the forces of Saturn, in which they saw all that sustains us when we pass through the portal of death, that is, when we experience the third earthly metamorphosis.

Physical birth—Moon
Second birth—Sun
Third birth—physical death—Saturn

After death the human being is maintained by the Saturn forces that reign at what was in ancient times considered to be the outer limit of our planetary system. These forces support us and carry us out into the spiritual world; they maintain our being's integrity when the third metamorphosis occurs. This was unquestionably the world view of ancient times.

But humanity changes, and the time came when the sun forces' effects were known only in the Mysteries. This knowledge survived longest in the Mysteries' therapeutic sections, because the same forces that give us our freedom, our ability to make something of ourselves—namely, the sun forces, the Christ forces—are also found in certain plants and in other earthly beings and substances, which as a result possess healing properties.

For the most part, however, human beings lost this knowledge of the sun. Although knowledge of our dependence on the moon or Father forces remained with people for a long time, consciousness of our dependence on the sun forces, or we must really say, of our emancipation through those forces, disappeared much earlier. And what we today call forces of nature, which seem to be the sole topic in modern philosophy, are really nothing but a completely abstract version of the moon forces.

One person who still knew the sun forces and was able to let himself be guided by them was the Christ-bearer, Jesus of Nazareth. He had to know them. For, whereas in the old Mysteries the sun forces could be reached only by looking up spiritually to the sun, it was the mission of Jesus of Nazareth to receive these forces in his own body as they streamed down to earth. This I explained yesterday. The essential point, however, is that in his thirtieth year a transformation occurred in Jesus of Nazareth's body. It was the same transformation everyone experienced in primeval times, except that in those times only the rays, so to speak, of the spiritual sun entered into people, whereas here the primordial sun being himself, the Christ, descended into human evolution and dwelled in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. This event central to all earthly life is at the root of the Mystery of Golgotha.

You will be able to understand these things in their full significance if you consider the way Easter was celebrated in the older Mysteries. Easter, one might say, was as yet a human affair, for it was initiation.

Basic initiation consisted of three stages. The very first requirement for initiation was to develop, through exposure to what the Mysteries had to offer, a degree of inner humility we cannot fathom today. Although today people do indeed consider themselves enormously modest with respect to knowledge, anyone who can see through them knows they are truly possessed by arrogance.

Above all, at the outset of initiation the candidate had to believe that he was not yet really human, that this was a goal yet to be achieved. Today it would be asking too much of people at any stage of life that they should not consider themselves human beings. But for initiation this was the very first requirement. The candidate had to know that it was only before descending into an earthly body that he had been a human being, that in pre-earthly existence he had been a human being of soul and spirit, which then entered a physical body provided by a natural mother, by the natural parents. It did not “clothe itself” with the body—for that is an inaccurate expression—rather it permeated itself with a physical body.

Now just how, over a long period of time, the spirit and soul pervade the physical body—the nervous-sensory system, the rhythmic system, the metabolic-limb system—is something most people are not aware of. What everyone is aware of, what everyone perceives through the senses, is the physical world around us. When spirit and soul have completed their permeation of our physical bodies at adulthood, we can only look to the outside with our eyes, listen with our ears to what is outside us, perceive warmth and cold, roughness and smoothness outside us through our skin; in other words, we perceive only what is outside not what is inside us. We cannot look into ourselves with our eyes: the most we can do is to dissect a human corpse and imagine we are looking into ourselves. But in reality we are not.

Suppose I have a house here before me. It has windows, but I do not look in through them. Instead, I take some tools and, if I am strong enough, I can demolish the house. The individual bricks then lie before me in a heap; they are all that is left of the house. This is the way things are done today; people dissect the human being, cut him up, in order to get to know him. But in this way they do not get to know him; what they get to know this way is not at all a human being. To really know ourselves we must be able, just as today we look out of our eyes, to look in through them, to listen in with our ears, and so on.

All this taken together—eyes, ears, the whole skin as an organ of touch and temperature—was called in the Mysteries the door to the human being. Initiation started from the candidate's realization that he knew nothing about the human being, and that, having no consciousness of himself as human, he could not really claim to be one. He would first have to learn to look in through his senses, in the same way he otherwise looks out.

That was the first stage of initiation in the old Mysteries. And the moment a person learned in this way to look inside himself, he experienced how he had been in pre-earthly existence, for then he knew himself to be a being of spirit and soul.

The initiate thus learned to look in (red) instead of out (yellow), and in so doing became aware of what had entered him as pre-earthly existence through his eyes, ears, skin, and so forth (green—see diagram). Aware now that he had had such an existence, he was told that now he could begin to acquaint himself with what today we would call natural science.

When we learn about natural science today, we are taught to observe the phenomena of nature, to describe them, and so on. But this is analogous to being told upon meeting someone we have known for a long time to forget everything we have ever had in common with that person. Fancy, if you will, a married couple being told upon seeing one another after a long separation to forget everything they had ever been through together. Well, yes, I can imagine that once in a while such a thing might actually be preferable, but life could not be carried on in that way.

Such, however, are exactly the circumstances imposed upon us by our modern system of civilization. We all become acquainted with the kingdoms of nature from their spiritual aspect before we descend to earth. And while today people are encouraged to forget all they learned then about minerals, plants, and animals, the old initiate, in the so-called first Mystery stage, attempted to remember it. He was shown, for example, a quartz crystal, and then everything possible was done to remind him of what he had known about quartz—or about lilies, or roses—before he descended to earth. The knowledge of nature taught in the Mysteries was essentially recognition.

After a candidate had mastered the method of recollecting things viewed in pre-earthly existence, he was admitted to the second stage, which consisted of learning the music, architecture, geometry, surveying, etc., of the time. This was because the second stage comprised everything a person could learn not only by looking inside with his eyes and listening to what is inside him with his ears, but by actually entering into himself. Here the candidate for initiation was told he was entering the Temple Grotto of Man, which was the part of himself physically permeated by the soul-spiritual forces of which he had consisted before descending to life on earth. Into this he penetrated.

The Temple Grotto, he was told, consisted of three chambers. The first was the chamber of thought. There he became acquainted with everything—well, yes, when looked at externally, it is the human head, which is small, but when entered into and viewed from within, it is as big as the world. The candidate came to know himself there as spirit. That was the first chamber. In the second he acquainted himself with feeling; and in the third with willing.

In this way initiates learned how the human being is organized with respect to the organs of thinking, feeling, and willing; they acquainted themselves, that is, with what matters on earth. Knowledge of nature, on the other hand, transcends such merely earthly matters. One acquires it before one even descends to earth. After that, it is simply a question of recalling it. By contrast, no houses are built in the spiritual world with earthly architecture. Similarly, the music that exists in the spiritual world is entirely spiritual; earthly music is merely its projection into the terrestrial air. Surveying is concerned with the dimensions of the earth; both it and geometry are earthly sciences.

It was important for the novice of the second stage to realize that all talk of gaining knowledge by purely earthly means, except as it applies to geometry, architecture, and surveying, is nonsense. He realized that a genuine science of nature must consist of recalling pre-earthly knowledge; however, geometry, architecture, music, and surveying are sciences that can be learned here on earth.

The candidate thus entered into himself and came to know the cosmic human being. This consisted of three chambers, unlike the single earthly organization we encounter by approaching the human being only from the outside.

In the third stage the candidate not only delved down into himself, coming to know himself spiritually, but as spirit he came to know the body as well. Initiates in all the old Mysteries called this level of knowledge “the Portal of Death.” Here one learned what it is like to lay aside the earthly body. There was, however, a difference between actual death and the death experienced in initiation. I will explain in the following lectures why this had to be so; at the moment I only want to point out the facts.

When we die, we discard our physical bodies and are no longer bound to them. We cease to respond to, and are henceforth free from, earth forces. But while we are still connected to our physical bodies, as was the case in the initiations of old, we must achieve by inner exertion something that in death happens of itself, namely, freedom from the body; we must hold ourselves outside the body for a time. Initiation required that one attain strong inner forces of soul, by virtue of which one could remain free from the physical body.

These same forces also provided higher knowledge of matters that could neither be perceived with the senses nor thought with the intellect. They brought human beings into relation with the spiritual world, just as our physical bodies bring us into relation with the physical world. At this point a candidate was far enough advanced to recognize himself as a human being of spirit and soul, as an initiate, while still living on earth. From that time on he experienced the earth as outside himself and could live with the sun rather than with the earth, particularly in the older Mysteries. He knew what he had from the sun, how the sun forces were active in him.

After this third stage followed then the fourth. The fourth stage had an effect that may be explained as follows: When a human being on earth eats, he recognizes, for example, that he is eating cabbage or venison. He can drink various things, and know that first these things are outside, then inside him. He breathes the air; first it is outside, then inside, then outside again. In short, he carries within him earthly forces and substances that also exist outside him. What the Mysteries made clear to the student was that before initiation he had been an earth-bearer, a bearer of cabbage, venison, pork, and so on, but that upon completing the third stage of initiation and experiencing what it is possible to experience when one frees oneself from the body he would no longer be a bearer of cabbage, pork, and veal, but rather of what the sun forces gave him.

In all the Mysteries this spiritual gift of the sun forces was called Christos. Hence the candidate who had gone through the three stages and now felt himself to be a bearer of the sun forces, just as he had been a cabbage-bearer on earth, was called a christophor, a Christ-bearer. This was the term applied to a neophyte of the fourth stage in most of the ancient Mysteries.

In the third stage the candidate had to understand certain things thoroughly, most importantly that his craving for the physical body had to cease during moments of knowledge. He had to understand that the human being, as far as the physical body is concerned, belongs to the earth, but that the earth actually only destroys the physical body and does not build it up. It was at this point that the initiate came to know the upbuilding forces that originate in the cosmos.

He also learned something else. Precisely when he became a christophor, the initiate realized that spiritual forces are at work even in the substances of the earth, albeit in a way imperceptible to earthly senses. Had our modern way of speaking, which is the only one I can use, been comprehensible to people of ancient times, the sense of what the neophyte was told might be expressed as follows: “If you wish to know and understand substance, to see how the different elements combine and separate, you must look to the spiritual forces that permeate matter from the cosmos. You can only do this, however, once you have been initiated into the fourth stage. For only when you are able to perceive by means of forces of the sun-existence will you be able to study chemistry.”

Now in our time it would be thought quite absurd, wouldn't it, to require of candidates for the doctor's degree in pharmacology or chemistry that they experience sun forces in the same way that they do earthly cabbage. In the old days, however, such demands were made. Furthermore, initiates realized that all the forces of ordinary cognition alive in the body can be used only to study geometry, surveying, music, and architecture. They are useless for the study of chemistry.

Chemistry as we know it today deals only with superficial realities, and has done so ever since the old initiation wisdom was lost. In fact, anyone who seeks genuine knowledge must despair at having to learn the official chemistry of today, for it is based wholly upon descriptions, not upon an inner penetration of the subject. If people were open-minded, they would realize that something more is necessary, that a different method of cognition is required, for a true study of chemistry. That this is not realized is simply the result of the cowardice so prevalent today.

When a candidate had passed the fourth stage, he was ready to become an adept in astronomy, which was an even higher stage of initiation. The merely external study of the stars, based on calculations and the like, ancient people considered thoroughly trivial. For the stars are inhabited by spiritual beings, and these beings can be known only after physical observation and even geometry have been left behind, when one can literally live in the universe and know the spiritual nature of the stars. At this stage the candidate became one of the resurrected and could observe the forces of the moon and sun at work, particularly in their effects upon earthly humanity.

Today I have described for you from two sides how Easter was inwardly experienced in the old Mysteries, not in a particular season but at a certain stage of human development. Easter, we have seen, was the inner human being's resurrection out of the physical body into the spiritual universe. Those still cognizant of ancient Mystery wisdom at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha saw that Mystery in this light. They asked themselves: What would have happened to humanity if the Mystery of Golgotha had not taken place?

In ancient times it had been possible to be initiated into the secrets of the cosmos, for even earlier than that it had been a matter of course for people to experience a second birth around their thirtieth year. Memories of this had been preserved, as had the knowledge of the Mystery schools, and thus what had been experienced directly in earlier epochs was kept alive as tradition. At the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, however, this had all been lost or forgotten. Humanity would have fallen into complete decadence had not the power to whom the initiates had raised themselves in becoming christophors descended into Jesus of Nazareth and remained on earth since then, enabling people to unite themselves with it through Christ Jesus.

Easter as we know it today is thus a link in the evolution of the Mysteries, and we can become aware of its true content only by reviving that evolution. In the lectures to come you will be able to get at least an idea of what the ancients experienced in initiation. A new initiate could say to himself: “Initiation has revealed to me how sun and moon, as celestial opposites, work within me. I know now that my physical form—the particular shape of my eyes, nose, indeed of my entire body, inside and out—as well as the fact that this form could grow, and continues to grow through nourishment, is a result of the moon forces. Upon them all necessity depends. But that I can come to life within my physical body as a free human being, that I can alter my character and master myself, this is due to the sun forces, to the Christ forces. These I must awaken within me if I am to achieve through my own efforts a conscious freedom over and above that given me by the sun forces through another kind of necessity.”

From all this one can understand why even today human beings calculate the date of Easter from a particular constellation of sun and moon. All that remains of the old consciousness is an interest in finding the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. That Easter is set on that Sunday indicates, as I shall elaborate tomorrow, that people see in Easter's nature and form something that must be determined from above, that is, from the cosmos.

More than this, however, is necessary. The very content of Easter must be grasped anew, and this can happen only if we examine the old Mysteries. These showed first of all what people could experience if they looked inside themselves, the portal of Man, then when they descended into themselves and came to know the remotest inner recesses of their being, the three-chambered, cosmic human being; when they liberated themselves from the body—the portal of Death; and when they moved freely in the spiritual world, they became christophors.

The Mysteries themselves, of course, began to disappear at the time human freedom started to assert itself, but the time to rediscover them has arrived. The Mysteries must be found anew, and we should be fully conscious that preparations to that end must now be made.

It was with this in mind that the Christmas Conference was held. An earthly sanctuary for the re-founding of the Mysteries is urgently needed. The Anthroposophical Society, as it continues in its development, must lead the way to that re-founding. It will be partly your task, my dear friends, to help this along in the right spirit. But for that you will need to examine the three stages of human life: introspection, self-penetration, and a consciousness one has in outer reality only in death.

As a reminder of what has been said in this hour, I would like us now to carry away and meditate upon the following words:

Stand at the gate of living man;
View in its arch-stones cosmic thoughts.

Live deep within the human soul;
Feel at its center the birth of worlds.

Think upon man's earthly ending;
Find there renewal of the spirit.



Steh' vor des Menschen Lebenspforte;
Schau an ihrer Stirne Weltenworte.

Leb' in des Menschen Seeleninnern;
Fühl' in seinem Kreise Weltbeginnen.

Denk' an des Menschen Erdenende;
Find' bei ihm die Geisteswende.

Zweiter Vortrag

Man kann schon sagen, daß der ursprüngliche Festesgedanke der ist, den Menschen aufschauen zu machen von seiner Abhängigkeit irdischen Dingen gegenüber zu seiner Abhängigkeit außerirdischen Dingen gegenüber. Und insbesondere ist es das Osterfest, dessen Betrachtung diese Gedanken dem Menschen nahebringen kann. Wir haben ja im Laufe der letzten drei, vier, fünf Jahrhunderte der zivilisierten Welt eine seelisch-geistige Entwickelung durchgemacht, die immer mehr und mehr den Menschen davon abgeleitet hat, seinen Zusammenhang mit den kosmischen Kräften und Mächten ins Auge zu fassen. Der Mensch wurde immer mehr und mehr darauf beschränkt, nur diejenigen Verhältnisse zu betrachten, die zwischen ihm und den irdischen Kräften und Mächten herrschen. Es ist ja auch richtig, daß mit denjenigen Erkenntnismitteln, die man heute als berechtigt anerkennt, andere Verhältnisse gar nicht ins Auge gefaßt werden können. Würde irgend jemand, der in der vorchristlichen Zeit oder auch noch in den ersten Jahrhunderten des Christentums Mysterienstätten nahegestanden hat, unsere heutige Erkenntnis erfahren können, er würde, wenn er mit seiner damaligen Seelenverfassung an die Dinge heranträte, gar nicht verstehen können, wie der Mensch imstande ist, zu leben ohne ein Bewußtsein seines außerirdischen, seines kosmischen Zusammenhanges.

Ich möchte zunächst manches skizzieren, was Sie den genaueren Verhältnissen nach geschildert finden in diesem oder jenem Zyklus. Weil ja diese Vorträge dazu bestimmt sein sollen, gerade den Ostergedanken uns nahezubringen, kann ich natürlich nicht alle Einzelheiten ausführen, ich kann nur andeuten, wie die Dinge sind.

Wenn wir uns zurückversetzen in verschiedene ältere Religionssysteme - wir können ja als Beispiel dasjenige nehmen, welches auch dem modernen Menschen noch am allernächsten liegt: das hebräischjüdische Religionssystem -, da werden wir in gewissen Religionssystemen des Altertums, wenn sie monotheistisch sind, die Verehrung, die Anbetung der einen Gottheit finden. Es ist das diejenige Gottheit, von der wir in christlicher Auffassung als der ersten Person der Gottheit, als dem Vatergotte sprechen.

Nun ist in allen denjenigen Religionen, in denen der Gedanke dieses Vatergottes lebt, mehr oder weniger vorhanden gewesen, ganz vorhanden gewesen sogar bei den Mysterienpriestern, der Zusammenhang dieses Vatergottes mit den kosmischen Mondeskräften, mit alledem, was an Kräften vom Monde auf die Erde herunterstrahlt. Heute ist ja von diesem alten Bewußtsein des Zusammenhanges des Menschen mit den Mondenkräften kaum etwas anderes zurückgeblieben als die Anregung, die das dichterische Gemüt in seiner Phantasie empfindet durch die Mondenkräfte, und das Zählen der Embryonalmonate des Menschen nach zehn Mondenmonaten in der Medizin. Aber in älteren Weltanschauungen war ein deutliches Bewußtsein davon vorhanden, daß der Mensch, wenn er heruntersteigt aus der geistigen Welt, wo er im vorirdischen Dasein als geistig-seelisches Wesen war, zu seinem physischen Dasein, daß er dann durchströmt, durchkraftet wird von den Impulsen, die vom Monde ausgehen. Der Mensch, wenn er auf dasjenige sieht, was ihn lebensvoll gestaltet, was in ihm lebt als Ernährungs-, Atmungsprozeß und so weiter, überhaupt als allgemeine Wachstumskräfte, muß dann nicht auf die Erdenkräfte schauen, sondern er muß schauen auf außerirdische Kräfte. Wenn der Mensch auf die Erdenkräfte schaut, kann er ja gewahr werden, wie diese Erdenkräfte sich zu ihm verhalten. Würden wir unseren Leib nicht zusammenhalten durch äußerirdische Kräfte, würde unserem Leib nicht seine Gestalt gegeben werden eben durch außerirdische Kräfte, was könnten irdische Kräfte dem Zusammenhalt unseres Leibes geben? In dem Augenblicke, wo die außerirdischen Kräfte aus diesem Leib heraußen sind, ist ja dieser Leib ausgesetzt den irdischen Kräften: dann zerfällt er, dann löst er sich auf, dann wird er Leichnam. Die Erdenkräfte können aus dem Menschen nur den Leichnam machen, nicht den Menschen gestalten. Diejenigen Kräfte, die im Menschen leben, so daß sie ihn herausheben aus dem Irdischen, daß er zwischen Geburt und Tod eine in sich zusammenhängende Organisationsgestalt im Irdischen ist, nicht den Kräften verfällt, die mit dem Tode ihn ergreifen und ihn zerstören, daß der Mensch sein ganzes irdisches Leben hindurch Kräfte hat, die gegen diese Zerstörung kämpfen denn sie müssen kämpfen gegen diese Zerstörung -, verdankt er dem Einfluß der Mondgewalt.

Wenn wir auf der einen Seite theoretisch aussprechen können, die Mondenkräfte enthalten die Gestaltung des menschlichen Körpers, so müssen wir auf der anderen Seite sehen, wie alte Religionen diese Kräfte, die sozusagen den Menschen durch seine Geburt ins physische Dasein hereinführten, als die Vaterkräfte, als die Kräfte des göttlichen Vaters verehrten. Und bei den Eingeweihten des alten Hebraismus war ein deutliches Bewußtsein davon vorhanden, daß vom Monde ausstrahlen diejenigen Kräfte, die den Menschen ins Erdendasein hereinführen, die ihn im Erdendasein erhalten und denen er als physischer Mensch sich entreißt, wenn er durch die Pforte des Todes geht.

Gemütvoll diese göttlichen Vaterkräfte liebend, so hinschauend auf diese Vaterkräfte, und das wiederum im Kultus, im Gebet und so weiter auslebend, das war der Inhalt gewisser alter monotheistischer Religionen. Aber konsequenter, als man denkt, waren diese alten monotheistischen Religionen. Diese Dinge werden ja in der Geschichte völlig falsch dargestellt, weil die Geschichte eben nur nach äußeren Dokumenten gehen kann, nicht nach dem, was im geistigen Schauen beobachtet werden kann.

Solche Religionen, die hinschauten auf den Mond, auf dasjenige, was im Mond an geistigen Wesenheiten vorhanden ist, das sind ja eigentlich spätere Religionen. Die ganz ursprünglichen hatten neben dieser Anschauung vom Mond eine deutliche Anschauung von den Sonnenkräften, ja noch, was wir auch hier erwähnen müssen, von den Saturnkräften.

Da kommen wir allerdings in eine geschichtliche Betrachtung hinein, für die es keine äußeren Dokumente mehr gibt, die viele Jahrtausende vor der Begründung des Christentums zurückliegt, da kommen wir in jene Zeit hinein, die ich in meinem «Umriß einer Geheimwissenschaft» als die urindische bezeichnet habe, um eben ein Wort dafür zu haben, weil sie sich auf dem Boden des späteren Indien abspielte -, die spätere Zivilisation ist die urpersische. In diesen Zivilisationen entwickelte sich der Mensch noch ganz anders als später, und von dieser seiner Entwickelung hing dann eben sein religiöses Bekenntnis ab.

Wir Menschen entwickeln uns ja alle schon seit mehr als zwei Jahrtausenden so, daß eigentlich ein Riß in unserer irdischen Entwickelung von uns nicht bemerkt wird, wirklich nicht richtig bemerkt wird. Er ist auch kaum bemerkbar vorhanden. Was mit den Menschen so um das dreißigste Lebensjahr herum innerlich vorgeht, das bleibt ja für den heutigen Menschen zum großen Teil im Unterbewußten, im Unbewußten. Für eine Menschheit, die acht bis neun Jahrtausende vor der Begründung des Christentums lebte, war das ganz anders. Da entwickelte sich der Mensch bis etwa gegen das dreißigste Jahr hin so, daß seine Entwickelung kontinuierlich war. Aber im dreißigsten Lebensjahr trat eine mächtige Metamorphose mit dem Menschen ein. Ich möchte diese Metamorphose ganz radikal aussprechen. Es ist natürlich etwas radikal gesprochen, wie ich es jetzt tun werde; aber es bezeichnet dieses radikale Aussprechen dennoch die Tatsache, mit der man es zu tun hat.

Es konnte in diesen älteren Zeiten das folgende passieren: Ein Mensch hatte Bekanntschaft geschlossen vor seinem dreißigsten Lebensjahr mit irgend jemandem, der viel jünger war als er, vielleicht drei, vier Jahre jünger war als er. Der machte die Metamorphose, die um das dreißigste Jahr herum lag, später durch. Es konnte geschehen, wenn sich diese Menschen längere Zeit nicht gesehen hatten, sich dann begegneten - ich spreche in heutigen Worten, dadurch nimmt es sich noch radikaler aus —, daß derjenige, der die Metamorphose im dreißigsten Lebensjahr durchgemacht hatte, von dem anderen Menschen angesprochen wurde und nicht wußte, wer das ist. So gründlich umgeändert hatte sich sein Gedächtnis.

Und in diesen ältesten Zeiten standen Einrichtungen im Zusammenhange mit den Mysterienschulen, in denen in den kleinen Gemeinden, die damals waren, registriert wurde das Leben der jungen Leute, weil sie selber es vergaßen, weil sie selber einen mächtigen Umschwung in ihrem Leben durchmachten und lernen mußten, was sie im Erdenleben erlebt hatten bis gegen das dreißigste Jahr hin. Und dann, wenn diese Menschen gewahr wurden: ich bin ein ganz anderer geworden im dreißigsten Jahre, ich muß in die «Registratur» gehen - ein moderner Ausdruck natürlich -, um zu erfahren, was ich vorher erlebt habe - ja, es ist so! -, da wurden sie zu gleicher Zeit gewahr durch den Unterricht, den sie bekamen: vor dem dreißigsten Lebensjahr wirkten auf sie die Mondenkräfte ausschließlich; mit dem dreißigsten Lebensjahre traten die Sonnenkräfte in die Entwickelung ihres Erdenlebens ein; und die Sonnenkräfte wirken in ganz anderem Sinne auf den Menschen als die Mondenkräfte. Was kennt der heutige Mensch von den Sonnenkräften! Er kennt nur das äußerliche Physische. Er weiß, daß er - verzeihen Sie - durch die Sonnenkräfte schwitzt, daß es ihm warm wird, er weiß einiges andere, Sonnenbäder und dergleichen gibt es ja heute, er weiß also einiges Therapeutische und so weiter, aber in ganz äußerlicher Weise. Er kann gar nicht ermessen, was diejenigen Kräfte mit ihm tun, die mit der Sonne geistig verbunden sind.

Julian der Apostat, der letzte der heidnischen Cäsaren, hatte in den Nachklängen der Mysterien noch einiges von diesen Kräften der Sonne erfahren. Und da er es wieder geltend machen wollte, wurde er auf dem Zuge nach Persien ermordet. So stark waren die Mächte, die in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten verschwinden machen wollten das Wissen von diesen Dingen. Es ist daher gar kein Wunder, daß eben heute ein Wissen von diesen Dingen nicht errungen werden kann. Während die Mondenkräfte dasjenige im Menschen sind, was den Menschen determiniert, was ihn mit einer inneren Notwendigkeit durchzieht, so daß er handeln muß, wie seine Instinkte, wie sein Temperament, wie seine Emotion, wie überhaupt sein ganzer physisch-ätherischer Leib ist, befreien die geistigen Sonnenkräfte den Menschen von dieser Notwendigkeit. Sie schmelzen sozusagen die Kräfte dieser Notwendigkeit in ihm, und der Mensch wird eigentlich ein freies Wesen durch die Sonnenkräfte. Das war in jenen alten Zeiten in der Entwickelung des Menschen streng voneinander geschieden. Da wurde man eben im dreißigsten Lebensjahr ein Sonnenmensch, ein freier Mensch. Man war bis zum dreißigsten Lebensjahr der Mondenmensch, der unfreie Mensch.

Heute schiebt sich das ineinander. Heute wirken die Sonnenkräfte schon neben den Mondenkräften im kindlichen Alter, und die Mondenkräfte wirken weiter im späteren Alter, so daß heute diese Dinge, Notwendigkeit und Freiheit, durcheinander wirken. Aber so war es ja nicht immer. In den vorgeschichtlichen Zeiten, von denen ich hier rede, war es so, daß die Mondenwirkungen und Sonnenwirkungen im Laufe des Lebens streng voneinander geschieden waren. Und daher sprach man in jenen älteren Zeiten den meisten Menschen gegenüber - denn es wurde als etwas Pathologisches, als etwas Abnormes betrachtet, wenn der Mensch diese Metamorphose, diesen Umschwung seines Lebens im dreißigsten Lebensjahr nicht erlebte -, man sprach davon, daß der Mensch nicht einmal, sondern zweimal geboren wird. Und als die menschliche Entwickelung so weiterschritt, daß diese zweite, die Sonnengeburt des Menschen - die erste nannte man die Mondengeburt — nicht mehr so bemerkbar war, da wendete man dann gewisse Übungen, gewisse Kultushandlungen, überhaupt gewisse Tatsachen auf diejenigen an, die eingeweiht wurden in den Mysterien. Die machten dann dasjenige durch, was für die allgemeine Menschheit nicht mehr da war. Und sie waren die Zweimal-Geborenen.

Wenn man heute den Ausdruck «Zweimal-Geborene» in orientalischen Schriften findet, so ist dieser Ausdruck eben schon ein abgeleiteter. Im Grunde genommen möchte ich wirklich jeden Orientalisten, jeden Sanskritisten fragen - ich glaube, es ist ja auch unser Freund Professor Beckh in unserer Mitte, Sie können ihn fragen, ob die Dinge so sind, auch nach seinen fachlichen Studien -, man kann jeden Sanskritisten fragen, ob aus der heutigen orientalischen Wissenschaft mit klipp und klaren Worten hervorgeholt werden kann, was der Ausdruck «Zweimal-Geborene» seiner Substanz nach bedeute. Gewiß, formale Erklärungen sind massenhaft da, aber was er seiner Substanz nach bedeutet, das weiß man nicht; das können nur diejenigen wissen, welche wissen, daß er auf eine Realität zurückgeht, die ich jetzt eben auseinandergesetzt habe. In diesen Dingen spricht schon einmal die geistige Beobachtung. Und wenn dann die geistige Beobachtung gesprochen hat, dann möchte ich jeden, der das, was nach den Dokumenten vorliegt, was man an äußerer Wissenschaft aufbringen kann, fragen, wenn er unbefangen mit der äußeren Wissenschaft zu Werke geht, ob diese äußere Wissenschaft nicht Stück für Stück dann die geisteswissenschaftlichen Forschungen bestätigt. Das wird sie tun, wenn die Dinge nur im rechten Lichte gesehen werden. Aber es muß auf gewisse Dinge aufmerksam gemacht werden, die jeder Dokumenten-Wissenschaft vorangehen. Denn mit Dokumenten-Wissenschaft versteht man das Leben des Menschen eben nicht.

So blicken wir auf eine ältere Zeit zurück, in der gesprochen wurde von der Mondengeburt des Menschen als der Menschenschöpfung durch den Vater. Bezüglich der Sonnengeburt war man sich klar darüber, daß in den geistigen Sonnenstrahlen wirkt die Kraft des Christus, des Sohnes, und diese Kraft ist die den Menschen befreiende. Denn denken Sie, was bewirkt diese Kraft, die Sonnenkraft? Die Sonnenkraft bewirkt, daß wir als Menschen überhaupt auf der Erde etwas aus uns machen können. Wir würden streng determiniert in eine unabänderliche, nicht Schicksalsnotwendigkeit, sondern Naturnotwendigkeit hineingestellt sein, wenn die befreienden Sonnenkräfte, die die Notwendigkeit zerschmelzenden Impulse, nicht an uns herantreten würden.

Das wußte der Mensch der älteren Weltanschauungen, wenn er zur Sonne hinaufschaute: Dieses Auge der Welt, aus dem die Kraft des Christus hervorstrahlt, dieses Auge der Welt macht, daß ich nicht jener ehernen Notwendigkeit unterworfen bleiben muß, mit der ich aus den Mondenkräften herausgeboren bin, mein ganzes Leben hindurch ein in Notwendigkeit sich entwickelnder Mensch. Diese Sonnenkräfte, diese Christus-Kräfte, welche durch das kosmische Sonnenauge herunterschauen, diese Christus-Kräfte machen es, daß ich während meines Erdenlebens durch meine innere Freiheit etwas aus mir machen kann, was ich nicht gewesen bin durch die Mondenkräfte, da ich ins Erdenleben hereingestellt worden bin.

Dieses Bewußtsein des Menschen, daß er sich umgestalten kann, daß er aus sich etwas machen kann, das ist es, was man in den Sonnenkräften sah.

Ich möchte zur Ergänzung, gewissermaßen nur in Parenthese, anmerken, daß dann zum dritten hingeschaut wurde auf die Saturnkräfte. In den Saturnkräften wurde alles dasjenige gesehen, was den Menschen erhält, wenn er durch die Pforte des Todes geht, also die dritte irdische Metamorphose durchmacht.

Geburt: Mondengeburt,
zweite Geburt: Sonnengeburt,
dritte Geburt: Saturngeburt, Tod, irdischer Tod.

Da wird er erhalten durch die für damals am äußersten Ende des Planetensystems der Erde waltenden Saturnkräfte. Die halten ihn aufrecht, die tragen ihn hinaus in die geistige Welt, die machen aus seiner Wesenheit einen Zusammenhang, wenn die dritte Metamorphose eintritt. Das war durchaus in einer älteren Zeit Weltanschauung.

Aber die Menschheit entwickelt sich eben. So trat eine Zeit ein, in der nur noch in den Mysterien bekannt war, wie die Sonnenkräfte auf den Menschen wirken. Am längsten erhielten sich die Kenntnisse über die Sonnenkräfte in den medizinischen Abteilungen der Mysterien, weil gerade diejenigen Kräfte, die dem Menschen in seiner gewöhnlichen Entwickelung die Freiheit geben, die Möglichkeit geben, aus sich etwas zu machen, weil diese Sonnenkräfte, die Christus-Kräfte, zu gleicher Zeit in vieler Beziehung in gewissen Pflanzen auf der Erde wieder leben, auch in anderen Erdenwesenheiten, Erdendingen leben, und dann in diesen Erdendingen Heilmittel darstellen. Aber es ist im allgemeinen der Menschheit gerade der Zusammenhang mit der Sonne verlorengegangen. Während noch lange das Bewußtsein vorhanden geblieben ist: der Mensch hängt von den Monden-, von den Vaterkräften ab, ging viel früher das Bewußtsein der Abhängigkeit von den Sonnenkräften - eigentlich der Befreiung, müßte man sagen, durch die Sonnenkräfte verloren. Und was wir heute Naturkräfte nennen, wovon wir fast einzig und allein im Weltanschauungsleben sprechen, das sind ja nur die ganz und gar abstrakt gemachten Mondenkräfte.

Aber die Sonnenkräfte, sie hat noch erkannt und sich darnach richten können eben der Träger des Christus, Jesus von Nazareth. Und er mußte sie kennen aus dem Grunde, weil er ja dazu bestimmt war, diese Sonnenkräfte, die man in den alten Mysterien nur durch die Aufschau zur Sonne erreichen konnte, in ihrem Herunterströmen auf die Erde in den eigenen Leib aufzunehmen. Das habe ich ja gestern auseinandergesetzt. Das Wesentliche der Christologie bei der Begründung des Christentums war eben dieses, daß in dem dreißigsten Lebensjahre in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth sich eine Umwandlung vollzogen hat, jene Umwandlung, die in Urzeiten in allen Menschen sich vollzogen hat, nur daß sozusagen in alle Menschen damals der Schein der geistigen Sonne eingezogen ist, während jetzt das Urwesen der Sonne, der Christus selbst, heruntergestiegen ist in die menschliche Entwickelung und Wohnung genommen hat in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth. Das ist eben dasjenige, was dem Mysterium von Golgatha als ein Urereignis des ganzen Erdenlebens zugrunde liegt.

Den vollen Zusammenhang dieser Dinge wird man erblicken, wenn man jetzt hinschaut auf die Art, wie in älteren Mysterien, ich möchte sagen, das damals ganz menschlich vorhandene Osterfest denn es war ja das Osterfest die Initiation, die Einweihung - eigentlich vollzogen worden ist. Die Einweihung ging zunächst durch drei Stufen. Aber das erste Erfordernis, um zur wirklichen Erkenntnis, zur Initiation zu kommen, war ja das, daß der Mensch durch alles, was von seiten der Mysterien an ihn herangebracht wurde, so bescheiden gemacht worden ist, daß sich heute eigentlich niemand eine Vorstellung von dieser inneren Bescheidenheit machen kann. Heute glauben die Menschen schon, daß sie in bezug auf die Erkenntnisse ungeheuer bescheiden seien, während sie für den, der die Dinge durchschaut, noch von einem wahren Hochmut besessen sind.

Vor allen Dingen mußte das über den Menschen beim Ausgangspunkte der Einweihung kommen, daß er sich gar nicht für einen Menschen hielt, daß er sagte: Ich muß erst ein Mensch werden! Heute kann man ja das dem Menschen nicht zumuten, daß er in irgendeinem Zeitpunkte seines Lebens sich für keinen Menschen hält.

Aber das war die allererste Anforderung, sich wirklich für keinen Menschen zu halten und das folgende sich zu sagen: Gewiß, ich war ein Mensch, bevor ich in einen irdischen Leib heruntergestiegen bin; ich war im vorirdischen Dasein ein Mensch geistig-seelisch. - Da ist das Geistig-Seelische in den physischen Leib eingezogen, den es von der Mutter her, von den Eltern her bekommen hat. Da hat es sich nicht umkleidet, das ist ein falscher Ausdruck -, aber durchdrungen mit diesem physischen Leibe. Von der Art und Weise, wie das Geistig-Seelische nun im Laufe einer längeren Zeit durchsetzt das Physische, durchsetzt das Nerven-Sinnessystem, durchsetzt das rhythmische System, durchsetzt das Stoffwechsel-Gliedmaßensystem, von dem haben ja die Menschen kein Bewußtsein. Sie werden gewahr, sie sehen aus ihren Sinnen heraus, sehen die physische Umwelt. Aber was kann denn der Mensch, wenn er nun wirklich dazu gekommen ist, daß er mit seinem Geistig-Seelischen seinen physischen Leib so weit durchdrungen hat, daß er sich nun für einen ganz entwickelten, voll entwickelten erwachsenen Menschen hält? Was kann er dann? Er kann ja nur aus seinen Augen herausschauen, aus seinen Ohren heraushören, mit der Haut heraus wahrnehmen Wärme und Kälte, Rauheit und Glätte: er kann ja nur heraus wahrnehmen, er kann nicht herein wahrnehmen. Er kann durch die Augen nicht in sich hineinschauen, kann höchstens den physischen Leichnam schinden und dann glauben, daß er in sich hineinschaut. Aber da schaut er nicht in Wirklichkeit hinein. Es ist ja kindisch, das zu glauben.

Wenn ich hier ein Haus vor mir habe: das hat Fenster, aber ich schaue nicht hinein, sonder ich nehme, wenn ich stark genug dazu bin, alle möglichen Instrumente und zerschlage das Haus - dann habe ich die einzelnen Ziegel vor mir liegen, und nur diesen Haufen schaue ich mir dann an. So macht man es ja heute. Man zerschindet, man zerstückelt den Menschen, um ihn kennenzulernen, aber da lernt man ihn nicht kennen. Es ist gar nicht der Mensch, den man da kennenlernt. Will man den Menschen kennenlernen, so muß man so, wie man heute aus den Augen herausschaut, nun wieder zurück durch die Augen hineinschauen können, durch die Ohren wiederum zurück hineinhören können. Das alles zusammen - Augen, Ohren, die ganze Haut als Tast- und Wärme-Organ, Geruchsorgan und so weiter —, das nannte man in den alten Mysterien das Tor zum Menschen, die Pforte zum Menschen. Und davon ging überhaupt die Initiation aus, daß irgend jemand klar wurde darüber: Er weiß ja gar nichts vom Menschen; also kann er, da er kein Selbstbewußtsein vom Menschen hat, auch kein Mensch sein. Er muß erst lernen, durch die Sinne hineinzuschauen, wie er sonst nur hinausschaut.

Das war die erste Stufe der Einweihung in älteren Mysterien. Und in dem Augenblicke, wo der Mensch lernte dieses Hineinschauen, in dem Augenblicke erlebte er sich auch im vorirdischen Dasein. Denn da wußte er: Ich bin in meinem Geistig-Seelischen.

Schematisch gezeichnet: Der Mensch schaute also heraus (gelbe Striche nach außen). Statt dessen lernte er hineinschauen (roter Pfeil nach innen). Aber in diesem Hineinschauen wurde er gewahr desjenigen, was eingezogen ist in den Menschen als das vorirdische Dasein (grün), was hineingezogen ist durch Auge, Ohr, Haut und so weiter. Da wurde der Mensch dessen gewahr: Da hatte er sein vor irdisches Dasein. Und jetzt wurde ihm gesagt, nun erst würde er kennenlernen dasjenige, was wir heute Naturwissenschaft nennen würden. Wenn wir heute Naturwissenschaft lernen, wie tun wir das? Wir tun es so, daß wir dazu geführt werden, die Dinge der Natur anzuschauen, zu beschreiben und so weiter. Aber das ist ja so, wie wenn ich einen Menschen lange gekannt hätte, ich ihn wiedersehen soll, und jemand würde mir auferlegen: Du mußt aber alles vergessen, was du mit diesem Menschen gemeinschaftlich gehabt hast, wenn du ihn jetzt wiedersiehst; du darfst dich an gar nichts erinnern, was du mit ihm gemeinschaftlich gehabt hast. - Denken Sie - das ist gar nicht auszudenken -, wenn das zum Beispiel Eheleuten auferlegt würde, daß sie, wenn sie sich irgendeinmal nach längerer Zeit wiederum sehen, alles vergessen, was sie irgendwie miteinander durchgemacht haben! Ja, ich kann mir schon denken, daß es zuweilen auch angenehm sein dürfte; aber das Leben könnte unter solchen Voraussetzungen nicht bestehen. Das aber wird dem modernen Menschen einfach durch die Zivilisationsordnung auferlegt. Denn der Mensch hat die Reiche der Natur kennengelernt, kennengelernt von ihrer geistigen Seite, bevor er heruntergestiegen ist auf die Erde. Während man heute den Menschen dazu anleitet, all das zu vergessen, was er, bevor er heruntergestiegen ist, gelernt hat über Mineralien, über Pflanzen, über Tiere, machte man den alten Eingeweihten in dem sogenannten ersten Mysteriengrad darauf aufmerksam: Du siehst jetzt den Quarz. - Und nun tat man alles, damit er sich erinnere, was er, bevor er heruntergestiegen war, vom Quarz wußte oder was er von der Lilie oder von der Rose wußte. Wiedererkennen war dasjenige, was als Naturwissen beigebracht wurde. Und hatte jemand so Naturlehre gelernt als ein Wiedererkennen dessen, was er angeschaut hatte, bevor er ins irdische Leben heruntergestiegen war, dann wurde er aufgenommen in den zweiten Grad.

Im zweiten Grad lernte man Musik, das, was dazumal Architektur war, was dazumal Geometrie war, Meßkunde und so weiter. Denn was enthielt dieser zweite Grad? Dieser zweite Grad enthielt alles das, was der Mensch dann wahrnimmt, wenn er nun nicht bloß durch die Augen hineinschaut in sich, durch die Ohren hineinhört, sondern wenn er wirklich nun in sich hineinsteigt. Dann sagte man dem Einzuweihenden: Du kommst in die menschliche Tempelgrotte. Diese menschliche Tempelgrotte lernte er kennen. Sie war dasjenige, was physisch durchdrungen wurde von den geistig-seelischen Kräften, aus denen der Mensch bestand, bevor er zum Erdenleben heruntergestiegen war. Da drang er in sich selber nun ein. Drei Kammern hat diese Tempelgrotte, sagte man ihm. Die eine Kammer war die Kammer des Denkens: da lernte man erkennen alles das - ja, wenn man es von außen anschaut, ist es der Kopf. Der ist klein. Wenn man hineinsteigt und ihn von innen anschaut, dann ist er so groß wie die Welt, und dann lernt man sein Geistiges kennen. Das war die erste Kammer, die zweite Kammer war diejenige, wo man das Fühlen kennenlernte. Die dritte Kammer war diejenige, wo man das Wollen kennenlernte. Und da lernte man erkennen, wie der Mensch organisiert ist seinen Denk-, Fühl- und Willensorganen nach, da lernte man erkennen das, was auf Erden Geltung hat.

Naturwissen hat nicht bloß auf Erden Geltung. Naturwissen erwirbt man schon, bevor man auf die Erde heruntersteigt. Hier soll man sich daran erinnern. Häuser werden nicht gebaut drüben in der geistigen Welt wie mit der Erdenarchitektur. Musik ist drüben, aber geistiges Melos. Was irdische Musik ist, das ist herunterprojiziert in die irdische Luft; sie ist eine Projektion der himmlischen Musik, aber wie sie der Mensch erlebt, ist sie irdisch. Ebenso ist es, wenn wir auf der Erde messen. Wir messen den Erdenraum; Meßkunst, Geometrie ist Erdenwissenschaft. Das war wichtig für den im zweiten Grad zu Initiierenden, überhaupt aufmerksam darauf gemacht zu werden, daß ja alles Reden von Erkennen mit bloßen Erdenmitteln, wenn es sich nicht auf die Geometrie, Architektur und Meßkunde bezieht, Unsinn ist. Daß eine wirkliche Naturkunde das wiedererinnerte vorirdische Wissen sein muß, das lernte er erkennen. Und daß für die Erde eben Geometrie, Architektur, Musik, Meßkunde die Wissenschaften sind, die hier gelernt werden können. Da also stieg der Mensch in sich selber hinunter, lernte den dreikammerigen Weltmenschen kennen gegenüber der einen Erdenorganisation, die man sonst kennt, wenn man, ohne in den Menschen hineinzusteigen, den Menschen von außen kennenlernt.

Und im dritten Grad lernte man den Menschen kennen, wenn er nun nicht bloß in sich untertaucht, sich als Geistiges erkennen lernt, sondern wenn dieses Geistige noch den Leib kennenlernt. Daher war dieser dritte Grad in allen alten Mysterien der, den man nennen mußte die Pforte des Todes. Da wurde der Mensch gewahr, wie man ist, wenn man den Erdenleib abgelegt hat. Nur besteht ein Unterschied zwischen diesem wirklichen Sterben und dem Eingeweihtensterben. Warum dieser Unterschied bestehen muß, werde ich noch in den nächsten Vorträgen auseinandersetzen; jetzt will ich nur die Tatsachen hervorheben.

Wenn man wirklich stirbt, legt man seinen physischen Leib ab. Man ist nicht mehr an ihn gebunden und folgt nicht mehr den irdischen Kräften, man ist befreit von ihnen. Wenn man aber noch gebunden ist an seinen physischen Leib, wie es bei der Initiation in alten Zeiten der Fall war, dann muß man das, was man im Tode von selber hat, dieses Freisein vom Leibe, durch innere Kraft erringen, man muß sich für eine gewisse Zeit frei halten. Das war für die Initiation notwendig, diese starken inneren Seelenkräfte zu erringen, durch die man sich in der Seele frei halten konnte von dem physischen Leib. Und diese Kräfte, die einem also die Macht gaben, sich frei zu halten vom irdischen Leib, diese Kräfte, die gaben einem höhere Erkenntnis in bezug auf das, was man durch die Sinne niemals sehen kann, durch den Verstand niemals denken kann. Sie versetzen einen als Mensch in die geistige Welt, wie man durch seinen physischen Leib als Mensch in die physische Welt versetzt ist. Aber dann war man ja so weit, daß man sich als geistig-seelischer Mensch, als Initiierter, schon während des Erdendaseins erkannte. Von da ab war die Erde ein außer dem Menschen befindlicher Stern für den Initiierten, und er konnte vor allen Dingen in den älteren Mysterien mit der Sonne leben statt mit der Erde. Er wußte, was er von der Sonne hatte, wie die Sonnenkräfte in ihm wirkten.

Aus diesem dritten Grad, den ich eben beschrieben habe, folgte dann der vierte. Dieser vierte Grad wirkte etwa in der folgenden Art auf die Einzuweihenden. Wenn man auf der Erde ißt, weiß man, man ißt Kohl, Wildbret, man trinkt alles mögliche: man weiß, das ist jetzt draußen, das ist dann drinnen. Man atmet Luft: die ist erst draußen, dann drinnen, dann wieder draußen. Man steht mit den Erdenkräften so in Verbindung, daß man die Erdenkräfte und Substanzen, die sonst draußen sind, in sich trägt. Du bist, ehe du eingeweiht bist — so machte man dem alten zu Initiierenden klar - ein Erdenträger, ein Kohlträger, ein Wildbretträger, ein Schweinefleischträger und so weiter. Wenn du aber im dritten Grad eingeweiht warst und nun dasjenige dir übermittelt wird, was dir übermittelt werden kann, wenn du frei geworden bist vom Leibe, dann wirst du nicht sein ein Kohlträger, ein Schweinefleischträger, ein Kalbfleischträger, sondern dann wirst du sein ein Träger dessen, was dir die Sonnenkräfte geben. - Und das, was geistig die Sonnenkräfte geben, das nannte man überall in den Mysterien Christos. Daher wurde derjenige, der über die drei Grade hinausgekommen war und sich nun ebenso, wie er sich auf der Erde fühlen konnte als Kohlträger, sich fühlen konnte als ein Träger der Sonnenkräfte, er wurde ein Christophor, ein Christophorus genannt. Das war in den meisten alten Mysterien die Bezeichnung für den, der nun im vierten Grade war.

Im dritten Grade mußte man gewisse Dinge begreifen. Vor allen Dingen mußte man in diesem dritten Grade begreifen, daß die Begierde nach dem physischen Leib aufhören muß für die Momente der Erkenntnis, daß eine klare Anschauung darüber da sein muß, daß der Mensch seinem physischen Leibe nach der Erde angehört, aber eigentlich die Erde nur zum Zerstören dieses physischen Leibes hat, nicht zum Aufbauen. Jetzt lernte er erkennen die aufbauenden Kräfte, die aus dem Kosmos stammen. Nun aber lernte er noch etwas kennen. Er lernte kennen, gerade wenn er ein Christophor wurde, daß auch in den Stoffen der Erde geistige Kräfte wirken, die nur nicht sichtbar sind für das irdische Anschauen. Und hätte man in den heutigen Worten zu dem Menschen der damaligen Zeit gesprochen - dem Sinne nach wurde schon zu ihm so gesprochen, aber ich kann Ihnen die Dinge nur mit den heutigen Worten sagen, nicht mit den damaligen -, ihm wäre folgendes klargemacht: Willst du die Stoffeslehre kennen, wie sich die Stoffe verbinden und voneinander trennen, so mußt du auf die geistigen Kräfte, die vom Kosmischen die Stoffe durchdringen, hinschauen. Das kannst du gar nicht, wenn du uneingeweiht bist. Du mußt im vierten Grad eingeweiht sein. Du mußt mit den Kräften des Sonnenseins schauen können, dann kannst du Chemie studieren.

Nun denken Sie sich, wenn man heute einem Pharmazeuten oder einem Chemiker, der Doktor werden will, die Verpflichtung auferlegen würde, er solle erst sich den Kräften der Sonne gegenüber so fühlen, wie er sich dem Kohl der Erde gegenüber fühlt: denken Sie, wie wahnsinnig dies schiene! Aber das waren ja Realitäten. Und dies wurde den Menschen klar: Mit all den Kräften, die im Leibe leben und deren man sich im gewöhnlichen Erkennen bedient, kann man nur Geometrie, Meßkunde, Musik und Architektur studieren. Man kann nicht Chemie studieren mit diesen Kräften. Wenn man heute Chemie studiert, so redet man eben äußerlich. Aber so ist es: Alles Reden von Chemie von der Zeit ab, wo die alte Initiationsweisheit verlorengegangen ist, ist ja ganz äußerlich. Es ist für den, der wirklich erkennen will, sogar zum Verzweifeln, die heutige offizielle Chemie kennen zu müssen, denn sie beruht nur auf Angaben, nicht auf einem innerlichen Durchschauen der Sache. Würden die Menschen unbefangen sein, so würden sie eben sagen: Da ist doch noch etwas anderes notwendig, da muß man anders erkennen können, wenn man Chemie studieren will. Und es ist eben die heutige Feigheit des Erkennens, die den Menschen eingepflanzt wird, die sie nicht zu einem solchen Impuls kommen läßt.

Dann, wenn der Mensch so weit reif war, war er reif, Astronomus zu werden, was ein noch höherer Grad war. Denn die Sterne von außen kennenlernen durch Rechnung und dergleichen, das galt als absolut wesenlos. In den Sternen leben geistige Wesen; die kann man nur erkennen, wenn man das leibliche Anschauen überwunden hat, wenn man aber auch die Geometrie überwunden hat, wenn man tatsächlich im Weltenall leben kann und das Geistige der Sterne kennenlernen kann. Dann aber war der Mensch ein Auferstandener. Dann konnte er wirklich sehen, wie hereinwirkten auch in den irdischen Menschen die Mondenkräfte und die Sonnenkräfte.

So mußte ich Ihnen heute von zwei Seiten her nahelegen, wie in den alten Mysterien - nicht zu einer bestimmten Jahreszeit, sondern in einem bestimmten Entwickelungsgrad des Menschen - innerlich Ostern erlebt wurde: Ostern als das Auferstehen des geistig-seelischen Menschen aus dem physischen Leibe im geistigen Weltenall. So haben diejenigen, die noch von Mysterienwissen etwas gewußt haben zur Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha, dieses Mysterium von Golgatha angeschaut. Sie haben gesagt: Was wäre aus der Menschheit geworden, wenn das Mysterium von Golgatha nicht gekommen wäre? In alten Zeiten gab es die Möglichkeit, eingeweiht zu werden in die Geheimnisse des Kosmos, denn in ganz alten Zeiten erlebte der Mensch wie selbstverständlich seine zweite Geburt um das dreißigste Jahr herum. Dann wenigstens gab es noch Erinnerungen und eine Mysterienschulwissenschaft, die in der Tradition das erhalten hatte, was in älteren Zeiten erlebt wurde.

In der Zeit, als das Mysterium von Golgatha auftrat, da war das alles verweht und vergessen. Da wäre die Menschheit völlig in die Dekadenz gekommen, wenn nicht die Macht, zu der sich die Mysterieneingeweihten erhoben hatten, wenn sie Christophor geworden sind, wenn nicht diese Macht in den Einen, Jesus von Nazareth, heruntergestiegen wäre, so daß sie seither auf der Erde da ist, und der Mensch durch den Christus Jesus mit dieser Kraft verbunden sein kann.

So hängt dasjenige, was heute im Osterfest uns vor Augen tritt, zusammen mit einem Stück Mysteriengeschichte. Man wird eigentlich nur den Inhalt des Osterfestes gewahr, wenn man dieses alte Stück Mysteriengeschichte wieder belebt. Und man wird nun wenigstens in die Nähe kommen - das soll dann der Gegenstand der weiteren Betrachtungen sein -, man wird, wie Sie einsehen können, wenigstens demjenigen nahe kommen, was noch ein alter zu Initiierender erlebt hat. Er konnte sich sagen: Wie Sonne und Mond in mir wirken in ihrem gegenseitigen himmlischen Verhältnisse, dessen bin ich mir durch die Einweihung klar geworden; denn nun weiß ich, daß ich in einer gewissen Weise gestaltet bin als physischer Mensch, daß ich soundso geartete Augen, eine so geartete Nase, eine so geartete ganze Körperform innen und außen habe, daß diese Körperform wachsen konnte, heute noch immer wächst in der Ernährung, das hängt von den Mondenkräften ab. Von ihnen hängt alle Notwendigkeit ab. Daß ich mich als freies inneres Wesen innerhalb meiner Körperlichkeit rühren kann, mich selber umbilden kann, mich in der Hand habe, das hängt von den Sonnenkräften, von den Christus-Kräften ab. Sie muß ich in mir rege machen, wenn ich auch wissentlich das, was sonst die Sonnenkräfte in mir wiederum durch eine Notwendigkeit bewirken müssen, in mir selber erarbeitend gestalten will.

So werden wir auch begreifen, wie heute noch der Mensch hinaufschaut zu Sonne und Mond und aus ihrer gegenseitigen Konstellation die Zeit des Osterfestes bestimmt. Das ist das, was noch übriggeblieben ist, daß man rechnet: Wann ist der erste Sonntag nach dem ersten Vollmond nach der Frühlings-Tagundnachtgleiche? Auf den auf den ersten Vollmond folgenden Sonntag setzt man das Osterfest des Jahres fest, andeutend damit - ich will das morgen dann weiter ausführen -, daß man in der Gestaltung, in der Struktur des Osterfestes etwas sieht, was von oben, vom Kosmos aus bestimmt werden muß.

Aber der Ostergedanke muß wieder erfaßt werden. Er kann nur erfaßt werden, wenn man schaut auf das alte Mysterienwesen, das zunächst den Menschen aufmerksam machte, wie es ist, wenn er in sich hineinschaut: die Pforte des Menschen! - wenn er in sich hineindringt, sich innerlich durchlebt: dreikammeriger Innenmensch! wenn er sich freimacht: Pforte des Todes! - wenn er frei sich in der geistigen Welt bewegt: er wird ein Christophor.

Die Mysterien selbst sind ja zurückgegangen in der Zeit, in der die menschliche freie Entwickelung Platz greifen mußte. Nun ist die Zeit gekommen, in der die Mysterien wieder gefunden werden müssen. Sie müssen wieder gefunden werden. Dessen muß man sich voll bewußt sein, daß heute Anstalten dazu gemacht werden müssen, die Mysterien wieder zu finden.

Aus diesem Bewußtsein heraus ist die Weihnachtstagung gehalten worden, denn es ist eine dringende Notwendigkeit, daß auf der Erde eine Stätte ist, wo wiederum Mysterien begründet werden können. Die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft muß in ihrem weiteren Fortgange der Weg zu den erneuerten Mysterien werden. Das, meine lieben Freunde, wird mit Ihre Aufgabe sein: aus dem rechten Bewußtsein heraus dabei mitzuwirken. Dazu aber wird das Menschenleben betrachtet werden müssen nach seinen drei Etappen: nach derjenigen Etappe, wo man in den Menschen hineinschaut, nach derjenigen Etappe, wo man nach dem Innern des Menschen hineinstrebt, nach der Etappe, wo man im Bewußtsein so wird, wie sonst in äußerer Realität nur im Tode.

Und ich möchte sagen, als Merkzeichen wollen wir von dieser Stunde, die heute gehalten worden ist, die Worte mit hinwegtragen, in unserer Seele wirksam sein lassen:

Steh’ vor des Menschen Lebenspforte:
Schau an ihrer Stirne Weltenworte.

Leb’ in des Menschen Seeleninnern:
Fühl’ in seinem Kreise Weltbeginnen.

Denk’ an des Menschen Erdenende:
Find’ bei ihm die Geisteswende.

(Der Spruch wurde an die Tafel geschrieben):

Steh’ vor des Menschen Lebenspforte:
Schau an ihrer Stirne Weltenworte.

Leb’ in des Menschen Seeleninnern:
Fühl’ in seinem Kreise Weltbeginnen.

Man sieht sonst nicht immer das Weltbeginnen, sondern nur irgend etwas innerhalb der Welt

Denk' an des Menschen Erdenende:
Find' bei ihm die Geisteswende.

Das sei der Extrakt der heutigen Stunde:

Steh’ vor des Menschen Lebenspforte:
Schau an ihrer Stirne Weltenworte.

Leb’ in des Menschen Seeleninnern:
Fühl’ in seinem Kreise Weltbeginnen.

Denk an des Menschen Erdenende:
Find’ bei ihm die Geisteswende.

Second Lecture

It can already be said that the original idea of the feast is to make man look up from his dependence on earthly things to his dependence on extraterrestrial things. And in particular it is Easter, the contemplation of which can bring these thoughts closer to man. In the course of the last three, four or five centuries of the civilized world we have undergone a development of the soul and spirit which has increasingly led man away from considering his connection with cosmic forces and powers. Man became more and more restricted to considering only those relationships that exist between him and the earthly forces and powers. It is also true that other relationships cannot be considered with the means of knowledge that are recognized as legitimate today. If anyone who was close to mystery sites in pre-Christian times or even in the first centuries of Christianity were able to experience our present-day knowledge, he would not be able to understand how man is able to live without an awareness of his extraterrestrial, his cosmic context, if he approached things with the constitution of his soul at that time.

I would first like to outline a few things that you will find described in more detail in this or that cycle. Because these lectures are intended to bring us closer to the Easter idea, I cannot, of course, go into all the details, I can only hint at how things are.

If we go back to various older religious systems - we can take as an example the one that is still closest to modern man: the Hebrew-Jewish religious system - we will find in certain religious systems of antiquity, if they are monotheistic, the veneration, the worship of the one deity. This is the deity that we speak of in the Christian view as the first person of the Godhead, as the Father God.

Now in all those religions in which the idea of this Father God lives, the connection of this Father God with the cosmic lunar forces, with all the forces that radiate down from the moon to the earth, has been more or less present, has been completely present even among the mystery priests. Today hardly anything has remained of this ancient consciousness of man's connection with the lunar forces other than the stimulation that the poetic mind feels in its imagination through the lunar forces, and the counting of man's embryonic months according to ten lunar months in medicine. But in older world views there was a clear awareness that man, when he descends from the spiritual world, where he was in his pre-earthly existence as a spiritual-soul being, to his physical existence, that he is then flowed through, is strengthened by the impulses that emanate from the moon. Man, when he looks at that which shapes him full of life, that which lives in him as a process of nourishment, respiration and so on, as general forces of growth in general, must then not look at the earth forces, but he must look at extraterrestrial forces. When man looks at the earthly forces, he can become aware of how these earthly forces relate to him. If we would not hold our body together through external earthly forces, if our body would not be given its form precisely through extraterrestrial forces, what could earthly forces give to the cohesion of our body? The moment the extraterrestrial forces are out of this body, this body is exposed to the earthly forces: then it disintegrates, then it dissolves, then it becomes a corpse. The earthly forces can only make the corpse out of the human being, they cannot shape the human being. Those forces that live in man, so that they lift him out of the earthly, so that he is a coherent organizational form in the earthly between birth and death, does not fall prey to the forces that seize him with death and destroy him, that man has forces throughout his earthly life that fight against this destruction - for they must fight against this destruction - he owes to the influence of the moon power.

If on the one hand we can theoretically say that the lunar forces contain the formation of the human body, then on the other hand we must see how ancient religions worshipped these forces, which, so to speak, brought man into physical existence through his birth, as the father forces, as the forces of the divine Father. And among the initiates of ancient Hebraism there was a clear awareness that those forces radiate from the moon which lead man into earthly existence, which sustain him in earthly existence and from which he snatches himself as a physical man when he passes through the gate of death.

Loving these divine father forces, thus looking towards these father forces, and in turn living this out in worship, prayer and so on, that was the content of certain ancient monotheistic religions. But these old monotheistic religions were more consistent than you might think. These things are completely misrepresented in history because history can only go by external documents, not by what can be observed in spiritual vision.

Such religions, which looked at the moon, at that what is present in the moon of spiritual beings, are actually later religions. In addition to this view of the moon, the very original ones had a clear view of the forces of the sun and, what we must also mention here, of the forces of Saturn.

There, however, we come into a historical consideration for which there are no longer any external documents, which lies many thousands of years before the foundation of Christianity, there we come into that time which I described in my “Outline of a Secret Science” as the primeval Indian, just to have a word for it, because it took place on the soil of the later India - the later civilization is the primeval Persian. In these civilizations, man developed quite differently than later, and his religious beliefs depended on this development.

We humans have been developing for more than two millennia in such a way that we do not actually notice a rift in our earthly development, we really do not notice it properly. It is also barely noticeable. What happens to people around the age of thirty remains for the most part in the subconscious, in the unconscious. For a humanity that lived eight to nine millennia before Christianity was founded, it was quite different. Until about the age of thirty, man developed in such a way that his development was continuous. But in the thirtieth year of life a mighty metamorphosis occurred with man. I would like to express this metamorphosis quite radically. Of course, I am speaking somewhat radically, as I will do now; but this radical expression nevertheless describes the fact that we are dealing with.

The following could happen in those older times: A person had made the acquaintance before the age of thirty of someone who was much younger than he was, perhaps three or four years younger than he was. He later underwent the metamorphosis that took place around the age of thirty. It could happen when these people hadn't seen each other for a long time and then met - I'm speaking in today's words, which makes it seem even more radical - that the person who had gone through the metamorphosis in his thirtieth year was approached by the other person and didn't know who he was. That's how thoroughly his memory had changed.

And in these earliest times, institutions were connected with the Mystery Schools, in which the lives of young people were recorded in the small communities that existed at that time, because they themselves had forgotten, because they themselves had undergone a mighty change in their lives and had to learn what they had experienced in earthly life up to the age of thirty. And then, when these people realized: I have become a completely different person in my thirtieth year, I must go to the “registry” - a modern expression, of course - in order to learn what I have experienced before - yes, it is so! -At the same time they became aware, through the instruction they received, that before the age of thirty the lunar forces had an exclusive effect on them; at the age of thirty the solar forces entered into the development of their earthly life; and the solar forces have a completely different effect on man than the lunar forces. What does man today know of the solar forces! He knows only the external physical. He knows that he sweats - forgive me - through the solar forces, that he gets warm, he knows some other things, sunbaths and the like exist today, so he knows some therapeutic things and so on, but in a completely external way. He cannot even fathom what those forces do to him that are spiritually connected to the sun.

Julian the Apostate, the last of the pagan Caesars, had still experienced some of these powers of the sun in the afterglow of the Mysteries. And because he wanted to make use of it again, he was murdered on his way to Persia. So strong were the powers that wanted to make the knowledge of these things disappear in the first Christian centuries. It is therefore no wonder that knowledge of these things cannot be gained today. While the lunar forces are that in man which determines him, which permeates him with an inner necessity, so that he must act according to his instincts, his temperament, his emotions, his whole physical-etheric body, the spiritual solar forces free man from this necessity. They melt the forces of this necessity in him, so to speak, and man actually becomes a free being through the solar forces. In those ancient times this was strictly separated in the development of man. At the age of thirty one became a sun person, a free person. Until the age of thirty, one was a man of the moon, an unfree man.

Today, the two are intertwined. Today the solar forces are already at work alongside the lunar forces in childhood, and the lunar forces continue to work in later life, so that today these things, necessity and freedom, work in confusion. But it was not always like this. In the prehistoric times of which I am speaking, it was the case that the lunar and solar effects were strictly separated from each other in the course of life. And that is why in those older times it was said to most people - for it was regarded as something pathological, something abnormal, if man did not experience this metamorphosis, this change in his life at the age of thirty - that man is not born once, but twice. And when human development progressed to such an extent that this second, the sun-birth of man - the first was called the moon-birth - was no longer so noticeable, then certain exercises, certain acts of worship, certain facts in general were applied to those who were initiated into the Mysteries. They then went through what was no longer there for humanity in general. And they were the twice-born.

When you find the expression “twice-born” in oriental writings today, this expression is already a derivative one. Basically, I would really like to ask every Orientalist, every Sanskritist - I believe our friend Professor Beckh is also in our midst, you can ask him whether things are like this, also according to his professional studies - you can ask every Sanskritist whether it is possible to bring out from today's Oriental science in clear and plain words what the expression “twice-born” means in its substance. Certainly, there are plenty of formal explanations, but what it means in substance is not known; that can only be known by those who know that it goes back to a reality which I have just explained. In these things spiritual observation already speaks. And when spiritual observation has spoken, then I would like to ask everyone who, according to the documents, can muster what external science is available, if he goes to work with external science in an unbiased way, whether this external science does not then confirm the spiritual scientific research bit by bit. It will do so, if only things are seen in the right light. But attention must be drawn to certain things that precede any documentary science. Because documentary science does not understand the life of man.

So we look back to an older time in which the moon birth of man was spoken of as the creation of man by the Father. With regard to the birth of the sun, it was clearly understood that the power of the Christ, the Son, works in the spiritual rays of the sun, and this power is the power that liberates man. For do you think, what does this power, the solar power, do? The power of the sun ensures that we as human beings can make something of ourselves on earth. We would be strictly determined into an unalterable, not fateful necessity, but natural necessity, if the liberating solar forces, the impulses that melt away necessity, did not approach us.

The man of the older world views knew this when he looked up to the sun: This eye of the world, from which the power of the Christ shines forth, this eye of the world makes that I do not have to remain subject to that iron necessity with which I am born out of the lunar forces, a man developing in necessity throughout my whole life. These solar forces, these Christ-forces, which look down through the cosmic solar eye, these Christ-forces make it possible that during my life on earth I can make something of myself through my inner freedom which I have not been through the lunar forces, since I have been placed into life on earth.

This awareness of man that he can transform himself, that he can make something of himself, that is what was seen in the solar forces.

I would like to add, in a sense only as a parenthesis, that the third thing that was looked at was the forces of Saturn. In the forces of Saturn everything was seen that sustains the human being when he passes through the gate of death, that is, when he undergoes the third earthly metamorphosis.

Birth: moon birth,
second birth: birth of the sun,
third birth: Saturn birth, death, earthly death.

There he is sustained by the forces of Saturn at the far end of the Earth's planetary system. They keep him upright, they carry him out into the spiritual world, they make a connection out of his being when the third metamorphosis occurs. That was definitely the world view in an older time.

But humanity is developing. Thus a time arose when it was only known in the Mysteries how the solar forces affect man. Knowledge of the solar forces was preserved longest in the medical departments of the Mysteries, because precisely those forces which give man freedom in his ordinary development give him the possibility of making something of himself, because these solar forces, the Christ forces, at the same time live again in many respects in certain plants on earth, also live in other earth beings, earth things, and then represent remedies in these earth things. But in general mankind has lost the connection with the sun. While the consciousness remained for a long time: man depends on the moon forces, on the father forces, the consciousness of dependence on the sun forces - actually of liberation, one would have to say, through the sun forces - was lost much earlier. And what we today call the forces of nature, which we speak of almost exclusively in worldview life, are only the entirely abstract lunar forces.

But the solar forces were still recognized and acted upon by the bearer of Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. And he had to know them for the reason that he was destined to receive these solar forces, which in the ancient mysteries could only be attained by looking up to the sun, into his own body as they streamed down to earth. I explained this yesterday. The essence of Christology in the founding of Christianity was precisely this, that in the thirtieth year of life a transformation took place in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, that transformation which took place in all men in primeval times, only that at that time the light of the spiritual sun, so to speak, entered into all men, while now the primal being of the sun, the Christ himself, has descended into human development and has taken up residence in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. This is precisely what underlies the Mystery of Golgotha as a primordial event of all earthly life.

The full context of these things will be seen if we now look at the way in which in older mysteries, I would like to say, the Easter feast that was then quite humanly present - for it was the Easter feast that was the initiation, the initiation - was actually carried out. Initiation initially went through three stages. But the first requirement in order to come to real knowledge, to initiation, was that man was made so humble by everything that was brought to him from the side of the Mysteries that today no one can actually form an idea of this inner humility. Today people already believe that they are tremendously humble in terms of knowledge, while they are still possessed by a true arrogance for those who see through things.

First of all, it must have come over man at the starting point of initiation that he did not consider himself a man at all, that he said: I must first become a man! Today one cannot expect a human being to think that he is not a human being at any point in his life.

But that was the very first requirement, to really consider himself not to be a human being and to say the following to himself: Certainly, I was a human being before I descended into an earthly body; I was a human being spiritually and emotionally in my pre-earthly existence. - There the spiritual-soul moved into the physical body, which it received from the mother, from the parents. It has not clothed itself - that is a wrong expression - but has permeated itself with this physical body. Of the way in which the spiritual-soul now in the course of a long time permeates the physical, permeates the nervous-sensory system, permeates the rhythmic system, permeates the metabolic-limb system, of this people have no consciousness. They become aware, they see out of their senses, they see the physical environment. But what can the human being do when he has really come to the point where he has penetrated his physical body with his spiritual-soul system to such an extent that he now considers himself to be a fully developed, fully mature human being? What can he do then? He can only look out of his eyes, hear out of his ears, perceive warmth and cold, roughness and smoothness with his skin: he can only perceive out, he cannot perceive in. He cannot look into himself through his eyes, he can at most scrub the physical corpse and then believe that he is looking into himself. But he is not really looking into himself. It is childish to believe that.

If I have a house in front of me: it has windows, but I don't look inside, instead, if I am strong enough, I take all kinds of instruments and smash the house - then I have the individual bricks lying in front of me, and I only look at this pile. That's how it's done today. You break people up, you dismember them in order to get to know them, but you don't get to know them. It's not the person you get to know. If you want to get to know the human being, you have to be able to look back in through your eyes, just as you look out through your eyes today, and listen back in through your ears. All this together - eyes, ears, the whole skin as an organ of touch and warmth, an organ of smell and so on - was called the gateway to the human being in the ancient mysteries. And it was from this that the initiation started, that someone became clear about it: He knows nothing of man; therefore, since he has no self-awareness of man, he cannot be a man. He must first learn to look in through the senses, as he otherwise only looks out.

This was the first stage of initiation into older mysteries. And at the moment when man learned to look in, at that moment he also experienced himself in the pre-earthly existence. For then he knew: I am in my spiritual-soul.

Schematically drawn: The human being looked out (yellow lines pointing outwards). Instead, he learned to look inwards (red arrow pointing inwards). But in this looking inwards he became aware of that which had entered the human being as the pre-earthly existence (green), that which had entered through the eye, ear, skin and so on. Then man became aware of it: there he had his pre-earthly existence. And now he was told that only now would he get to know what we would call natural science today. When we learn natural science today, how do we do it? We do it in such a way that we are led to look at the things of nature, to describe them and so on. But that's like if I had known a person for a long time, I was to see him again, and someone would tell me: But you must forget everything you had in common with this person when you see him again; you must not remember anything you had in common with him. - Think - it's unthinkable - if this were imposed on married couples, for example, that when they see each other again after a long time, they forget everything they've been through together! Yes, I can imagine that it might be pleasant at times, but life could not exist under such conditions. But this is simply imposed on modern man by the order of civilization. For man got to know the realms of nature, got to know them from their spiritual side, before he descended to earth. Whereas today man is taught to forget everything he learned about minerals, plants and animals before he descended, the ancient initiate in the so-called first degree of the Mysteries was told: "You now see quartz. - And now everything was done to make him remember what he knew about quartz before he descended, or what he knew about the lily or the rose. Recognition was what was taught as natural knowledge. And if someone had learned natural science as a recognition of what he had looked at before he descended into earthly life, then he was admitted to the second degree.

In the second degree one learned music, what was then architecture, what was then geometry, metrology and so on. Because what did this second degree contain? This second degree contained everything that man then perceives when he does not merely look into himself through his eyes and listen through his ears, but when he really enters into himself. Then the initiate is told: You will enter the human temple grotto. He got to know this human temple grotto. It was that which was physically permeated by the spiritual-soul forces of which the human being consisted before he descended to earthly life. There he now penetrated into himself. He was told that this temple grotto had three chambers. One chamber was the chamber of thought: there he learned to recognize all that - yes, if you look at it from the outside, it is the head. It is small. If you go inside and look at it from the inside, then it is as big as the world, and then you get to know its spiritual side. That was the first chamber, the second chamber was the one where you got to know feeling. The third chamber was where you got to know your will. And there one learned to recognize how man is organized according to his organs of thinking, feeling and will, there one learned to recognize that which has validity on earth.

Natural knowledge is not only valid on earth. One acquires knowledge of nature even before one descends to earth. Here you should remember that. Houses are not built over there in the spiritual world as with earthly architecture. Music is over there, but spiritual melos. What is earthly music is projected down into the earthly air; it is a projection of heavenly music, but as man experiences it, it is earthly. It is the same when we measure on earth. We measure earthly space; the art of measurement, geometry is earthly science. It was important for the initiate in the second degree to be made aware of the fact that all talk of cognition with mere earthly means, if it does not refer to geometry, architecture and metrology, is nonsense. He learned to recognize that a real natural history must be the recollected pre-earthly knowledge. And that for the earth geometry, architecture, music and metrology are the sciences that can be learned here. Thus man descended into himself, learned to know the three-chambered world-man as opposed to the one earth organization, which is otherwise known when, without entering into man, one gets to know man from the outside.

And in the third degree one got to know the human being when he now not only submerges into himself, learns to recognize himself as spiritual, but when this spiritual still gets to know the body. Therefore, in all the ancient mysteries, this third degree was called the gate of death. There man became aware of what he is like when he has laid aside the earthly body. But there is a difference between this real death and the initiatory death. I will explain why this difference must exist in the next lectures; now I just want to emphasize the facts.

When you really die, you lay down your physical body. You are no longer bound to it and no longer follow the earthly forces, you are liberated from them. But if you are still bound to your physical body, as was the case with initiation in ancient times, then you have to gain what you have in death by yourself, this freedom from the body, through inner strength, you have to keep yourself free for a certain time. This was necessary for initiation, to gain these strong inner soul forces through which one could keep oneself free from the physical body in the soul. And these powers, which gave one the power to keep oneself free from the earthly body, these powers gave one higher knowledge with regard to that which one can never see through the senses, can never think through the intellect. They transport you as a human being into the spiritual world, just as you are transported into the physical world through your physical body. But then one was so far that one recognized oneself as a spiritual-soul man, as an initiate, already during one's earthly existence. From then on, the earth was a star outside the human being for the initiate, and he was able to live with the sun instead of the earth, especially in the older mysteries. He knew what he had from the sun, how the solar forces worked in him.

This third degree, which I have just described, was followed by the fourth. This fourth degree had the following effect on those to be initiated. When one eats on earth, one knows, one eats cabbage, venison, one drinks all kinds of things: one knows that this is now outside, this is then inside. You breathe air: it is first outside, then inside, then outside again. You are in contact with the forces of the earth in such a way that you carry within you the earth forces and substances that are otherwise outside. Before you are initiated - as was made clear to the old initiate - you are a carrier of earth, a carrier of cabbage, a carrier of venison, a carrier of pork and so on. But if you were initiated in the third degree and now that which can be transmitted to you is transmitted to you, if you have become free from the body, then you will not be a bearer of cabbage, a bearer of pork, a bearer of veal, but then you will be a bearer of that which the solar forces give you. - And that which the solar forces give spiritually was called Christos everywhere in the Mysteries. Therefore, the one who had gone beyond the three degrees and could now feel himself as a carrier of the solar forces, just as he could feel himself on earth as a coal carrier, was called a Christophor, a Christophorus. In most of the ancient mysteries this was the designation for those who were now in the fourth degree.

In the third degree one had to understand certain things. Above all, in this third degree one had to understand that the desire for the physical body must cease for the moments of realization, that there must be a clear view of the fact that man belongs to the earth according to his physical body, but actually has the earth only for destroying this physical body, not for building it up. Now he learned to recognize the constructive forces that come from the cosmos. But now he learned something else. He learned, just when he became a Christophore, that spiritual forces are also at work in the substances of the earth, but that they are not visible to the earthly eye. And if one had spoken to the man of that time in today's words - in the sense he was already spoken to in this way, but I can only tell you things in today's words, not in those of that time - the following would have been made clear to him: If you want to know the doctrine of matter, how the substances combine and separate from each other, you must look at the spiritual forces that permeate the substances from the cosmic. You cannot do this if you are uninitiated. You must be initiated in the fourth degree. You must be able to look with the forces of being in the sun, then you can study chemistry.

Now imagine if today a pharmacist or a chemist who wants to become a doctor were required to first feel towards the forces of the sun as he feels towards the coal of the earth: think how insane that would seem! But these were realities. And this became clear to people: with all the forces that live in the body and are used in ordinary cognition, one can only study geometry, metrology, music and architecture. You cannot study chemistry with these forces. If you study chemistry today, you are talking externally. But that's the way it is: All talk of chemistry from the time when the old initiatory wisdom was lost is entirely external. For those who really want to recognize, it is even despairing to have to know today's official chemistry, because it is only based on information, not on an inner understanding of the matter. If people were unbiased, they would say: something else is necessary, you have to be able to recognize things differently if you want to study chemistry. And it is precisely today's cowardice of cognition, which is implanted in people, that prevents them from coming to such an impulse.

Then, when man was so far mature, he was ripe to become an astronomer, which was an even higher degree. For to get to know the stars from the outside by calculation and the like was regarded as absolutely insubstantial. Spiritual beings live in the stars; you can only recognize them if you have overcome physical observation, but also if you have overcome geometry, if you can actually live in the universe and get to know the spiritual aspects of the stars. But then man was resurrected. Then he could really see how the powers of the moon and the powers of the sun also worked into the earthly human being.

So today I had to explain to you from two sides how in the ancient mysteries - not at a certain time of year, but in a certain degree of development of man - Easter was experienced inwardly: Easter as the resurrection of the spiritual-soul man from the physical body in the spiritual universe. Thus those who still knew something of mystery knowledge at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha looked at this Mystery of Golgotha. They said: What would have become of mankind if the Mystery of Golgotha had not come? In ancient times there was the possibility of being initiated into the secrets of the cosmos, because in very old times man experienced his second birth around the thirtieth year as a matter of course. Then at least there were still memories and a mystery school science that had preserved in tradition what had been experienced in older times.

At the time when the Mystery of Golgotha occurred, all that had been blown away and forgotten. Mankind would have fallen into complete decadence if the power to which the initiates of the Mystery had risen, if they had not become Christophores, if this power had not descended into the One, Jesus of Nazareth, so that it has been there on earth ever since, and man can be connected with this power through Christ Jesus.

So what we see today in Easter is connected with a piece of mystery history. We only become aware of the content of Easter when we revive this old piece of mystery history. And now we will at least come close to it - this will be the subject of further considerations - as you can see, we will at least come close to what an old initiate experienced. He could say to himself: "How the sun and moon work in me in their mutual celestial relations, I have become clear about this through the initiation; for now I know that I am formed in a certain way as a physical human being, that I have such-and-such eyes, such-and-such a nose, such-and-such a whole body form inside and outside, that this body form could grow, is still growing today in nourishment, that depends on the lunar forces. All necessity depends on them. That I can move as a free inner being within my corporeality, that I can transform myself, that I have myself in my own hands, depends on the solar forces, on the Christ forces. I must make them active in me if I also want to consciously work out in myself what the solar forces must otherwise bring about in me through necessity.

In this way we will also understand how man today still looks up to the sun and moon and determines the time of Easter from their mutual constellation. That is what is still left, that one calculates: When is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox? On the Sunday following the first full moon, the Easter festival of the year is set, indicating - I will explain this further tomorrow - that in the organization, in the structure of the Easter festival, one sees something that must be determined from above, from the cosmos.

But the Easter idea must be grasped again. It can only be grasped if one looks at the old mystery being, which first made man aware of what it is like when he looks into himself: the gate of man! - when he penetrates into himself, lives through himself inwardly: the three-chambered inner man! when he frees himself: the gate of death! - when he moves freely in the spiritual world: he becomes a Christophor.

The Mysteries themselves have receded in the time in which human free development had to take hold. Now the time has come when the Mysteries must be found again. They must be found again. One must be fully aware of this, that today efforts must be made to find the Mysteries again.

It is out of this awareness that the Christmas Conference was held, for it is an urgent necessity that there should be a place on earth where the Mysteries can be re-established. The Anthroposophical Society must in its further progress become the path to the renewed Mysteries. That, my dear friends, will be one of your tasks: to contribute to this from the right consciousness. For this purpose, however, human life will have to be viewed according to its three stages: according to the stage where one looks into the human being, according to the stage where one strives into the inner being of the human being, according to the stage where one becomes in consciousness as otherwise in outer reality only in death.

And I would like to say that we want to carry the words from this lesson, which has been held today, as a marker, and let them be effective in our souls:

Stand before the gate of man's life:
Look at their forehead world words.

Live within the soul of man:
Feel the beginning of the world in his circle.

Think of man's end on earth:
Find with him the turning of the spirit.

(The saying was written on the blackboard):

Stand before the gate of man's life:
Look at their forehead world words.

Live in the inner soul of man:
Feel the beginning of the world in his circle.

Otherwise one does not always see the beginning of the world, but only something within the world

Think of man's end on earth:
Find the spiritual turning point with him.

This is the extract of today's lesson:

Stand before the gate of man's life:
Look at their forehead world words.

Live within the soul of man:
Feel the beginning of the world in his circle.

Think of man's end on earth:
Find with him the turning of the spirit.