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Karmic Relationships, Esoteric Studies III, Entry of the Michael Forces
Entry of the Michael Forces
GA 237

3 August 1924, Dornach

Translator Unknown

You will have seen from the previous lectures, how the souls who out of the depths of their subconscious life feel impelled towards the Anthroposophical Movement, bear this impulse within them through their special relationship to the forces of Michael. We have accordingly considered the working of these Michael-forces throughout the centuries, in order to see what influence the impulses of Michael can have upon the lives of those who stand in any kind of connection with them.

Now the Michael impulses—and this is of great importance for the karma of every single anthroposophist—the Michael impulses are of a kind to enter deeply and intensely into the whole being of man. We know from previous descriptions that the rulership of Michael, if so we may call it, beginning for earthly life at the end of the eighteen-seventies, was preceded by the rulership of Gabriel; and I have described how the rulership of Gabriel is connected with forces that go through the line of physical inheritance—forces related to physical reproduction.

The forces of Michael are the very opposite of this. The rulership of Gabriel is characterised by the fact that his impulses enter strongly into the physical bodily nature of man. Michael, on the other hand, works intensely into the spiritual being of man. You can tell this from the very fact that he is the administrator of the Cosmic Intelligence. But Michael's impulses are strong and powerful. Taking their start from the spiritual, they work through and through the human being. They work into the spiritual, thence into the soul-nature, and thence again into the bodily nature of man. Now in the karmic connections of life, these super-earthly forces are constantly at work. Beings of the higher Hierarchies are working with man and upon him. It is thus that the karma of a man takes shape. And so it is with the Michael-forces. Working as they do upon the whole human being, they work also very strongly into his karma. Gabriel-forces work only very little—I do not say not at all—but very little into the essential karma of a human being. Michael-forces on the other hand work very strongly into his karma.

If, therefore, certain human beings—and this in the last resort applies to you all, my dear friends—if certain human beings are especially connected with the stream of Michael, their individual karmas can only be understood when thought of in connection with the stream of Michael.

Now Michael is a Spirit who stands in a special relationship to the Sun and to all Sun-impulses. This being the case, we shall realise what a profound significance his impulses must have for those who are especially exposed to them. In effect, his forces will work right into the physical organisation. For Michael-men therefore (if we may use this term), we must connect the physical phenomena of health and illness with karma in an even higher degree than for Gabriel- or Raphael-men, or the like. Things in the universe are very complicated; and although Raphael is the Spirit most intimately connected with the art of Healing, nevertheless it is Michael who brings the karma of men nearest of all to health and to disease.

There is another fact in this connection. The Michael-forces not only work in a cosmopolitan sense, but they also work in such a way as to tear a man out of the narrower earthly connections of his life and carry him up on to a spiritual height, where he feels the earthly connections less strongly than others do. At any rate his karma predestines him for this. This again has a profound influence upon the karma of every single man who belongs to the stream of Michael.

You see, in the last third of the 19th century it did really happen that human beings—I will not say of nervous temperament—but human beings intense in soul and spirit, were able to feel the penetration of the Michael-forces into the world. In those who were essentially men of Michael, this penetration of the Michael-forces into the world came to expression in this way: they felt many things, which other men would have passed by more or less indifferently, entering deeply and incisively into their lives.

Above all their karma was such that they had a strong feeling—though they did not understand it clearly—a strong feeling of the battle I described the day before yesterday, the battle between Michael and Ahriman. In the present age, Ahriman can only have a strong influence upon men when their consciousness is diverted in one way or another. The most radical phenomenon is that of a fainting fit, or a diminution of consciousness lasting for a considerable time. In times like this, when a man is overcome by faintness or diminution of consciousness, the Ahriman forces can most effectively approach him. At such times they work their way into him, he is exposed to them. But it was above all in the last third of the 19th century—and especially in the time when the end of the Kali Yuga was approaching, in the very last years of the 19th century,—it was a shattering experience to see behind the scenes of this external, physical world which is spread out before man's senses.

For directly adjoining this outer world there is a world revealing very, very much of those historic processes in which the higher super-sensible Beings enter and play a part.

In the last third of the 19th century, and especially in the last decade, only a thin veil concealed that which we recognise as the dominion of Michael, the great battle of Michael and all the facts connected with him. Since then, Michael himself has been taking part in the battle even in the outer world, and we need a far stronger power to behold what is present supersensibly than was needed before the end of the Kali Yuga, when, as I said, the next adjoining world, where Michael was battling as yet behind the scenes, was severed from our own by a thin veil only.

But Michael insists, as I have told you, that his dominion shall prevail and penetrate at any cost. Michael is a Spirit filled with strength, and he can only make use of thoroughly brave men, men full of inner courage.

Now in the whole nexus that I have described, in the super-sensible School of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, and in the great super-sensible Cult of the beginning of the 19th century, among all the spirits who partake in these things, great numbers of Luciferic figures are all the time playing their part. The Luciferic figures are necessary, necessary in the whole connection of these things. Michael needs the Luciferic spirits, he needs their co-operation to overcome the polar antithesis of Ahriman. Thus the men of Michael are placed into the very midst of the battle—or, if we may not call it so—the surging waves of interplay, of Luciferic impulses and Ahrimanic.

Just at the end of the 19th century these things showed themselves with great clarity and definition. In those years it was by no means rarely that one caught a glimpse, through the veil, as I have called it. Then one saw how intensely Michael was having to battle against Ahriman, and how easy it was for the consciousness of men to be diverted by all manner of Luciferic influences.

You may say: Disturbances of consciousness, attacks of faintness and the like, are nothing out of the ordinary. Outwardly considered they are not, of course; but they can become most significant through that which happens as a consequence,—through that which ensues when the diversion or diminution of consciousness takes place. I will give you an example.

It was once a question of someone being made more intimately acquainted with a certain historic personality. He was to study an historic personality who had lived in the time of the Renaissance and Reformation. I want you to understand me precisely. All the preparations had been made for this man (it was at the end of the eighteen-nineties) to become historically acquainted with a personality who had lived at the time of the Renaissance and Reformation. Indeed, with all the conditions that had gone before, it seemed scarcely possible for anything else to happen, than that he would become familiar with that historic personality in the perfectly ordinary, and if I may call it so, pedantic way of scholarship. But look what happened. Through the refined workings of karma he became incapable of using his consciousness just at the very time when he was to have had this experience. He fell into a kind of sleep from which he could not awaken, and was thus prevented.

Of course in ordinary life one pays little heed to such a thing. Yet it is through happenings like these that we look directly from the earthly into the spiritual world. And if you want an explanation of this fact, then we must say: This man, who was to have become historically acquainted with a certain personality of the time of the Renaissance and Reformation, would undoubtedly have received a very strong impression if he had had this experience. He did not have it; he missed it, he was prevented. But in that very time, the impression which he would have received was transformed. He received it in another form; it was transformed into a peculiar impressionability for the Michael element. He actually received, though unconsciously, a real power of understanding for the Michael element.

I give this somewhat strange example in order to show you by what paths the Michael element was approaching human beings at that time. We could give many examples of this kind. Indeed, human beings to-day would be quite different if such things had not occurred to many individuals. Such things may happen in hundreds of different ways. In the case I have just related, my dear friends, the man actually fell into a kind of sleep. In other cases it happened thus:—Some event that would have led a man away from Michael was prevented by a friend or someone else coming and taking him away to a different place, and his consciousness was veiled around in a most natural and matter-of-fact way. He was prevented from partaking in what was karmically set before him to begin with. It was just in those years that the strongest interferences took place with the ordinary smooth course of karma.

And as a rule in such cases it became evident how deeply these Michael influences work. In many instances one saw that such human beings had been affected not only in soul but even down into the body when their karma had received a jerk of this kind, because Michael needed to enter through the portals of a human consciousness into the earthly world of sense.

It is interesting in the highest degree to see how in the eighteen-nineties men were led into events which were none other than the paths of Michael from the spiritual into the physical world. For you must remember, the entry of Michael into the physical world was taking place in the last third of the 19th century. But it had been prepared for, in the spiritual world, for a long time before—already since the beginning of the eighteen-forties. If I may put it so, Michael and his hosts were drawing ever nearer and nearer, and it became more and more evident that those human beings would now descend, who in their earthly destiny were connected with the task of Michael,—the task of receiving the Intelligence here upon earth again after it had fallen away from the hosts of Michael in the super-sensible world.

Into the midst of all these things, as you will recognise from my presentation of the Mysteries, the Anthroposophical Movement is placed. For the Anthroposophical Movement is connected, as you will see from former lectures, with this whole stream of Michael.

Now I want you to consider in this light the karmic conditions of individual human beings who are led by an inner urge to approach the Anthroposophical Movement. They come, to begin with, from the world. They stand in many connections in the world. There have indeed been many communities in the world's history in which human beings have become united. But there was never a cohesive power of that peculiar quality which the Michael forces engender. Hence a peculiar situation is brought about for those who find their way, from other connections in the world, into the Anthroposophical Society. One can find one's way into other societies too, and could always do so, but one's destiny did not need to be very deeply affected. Into the Anthroposophical Society one cannot come—not at least in a thoroughly sincere way that really moves the soul—without being deeply and fundamentally influenced in one's destiny. This becomes especially clear when we consider these things along a right line of approach.

Take a human being who is just coming into the Anthroposophical Society, and who until then had certain connections with non-anthroposophists, which he may perhaps still continue to have. The difference between the one who stands within and the one who stands or remains outside, is of far greater significance than in the case of any other communities. There are two kinds of relationships.

Through the fulfilment of all the things I have described, we are living, once and for all, in a time of great, immense decisions. Thus the standing side-by-side to-day of anthroposophists and non-anthroposophists is fraught with great decisions. Either it is a question of the dissolving of old karma for the one who is in the Anthroposophical Society, or it is a question of the weaving of new karma for the one who is outside it. And these are great differences.

Let us assume an anthroposophist stands very near in life to a non-anthroposophist. It may be to begin with that the anthroposophist has old karmic connections to settle with the non-anthroposophist. On the other hand it may be that the non-anthroposophist has to enter into karmic connections with the anthroposophist, for the future. At any rate these are the only two cases I have hitherto been able to observe, though of course they are of many different kinds. There are no intermediates, there are no others beside these two. From this you will see that this is really a time of great decisions, for, if we may describe it so, either non-anthroposophists are being influenced in such a way that they come to the Michael community, or else the influences work in such a way that those who do not belong to the Michael community will be avoided by it. This indeed is the time of great decisions—the great crisis to which the sacred books of all time have referred—for in reality the present age is meant. Such indeed is the peculiar nature of the Michael impulses: they are fraught with great decisions, and they become decisive especially in this our age.

Human beings who in the present incarnation receive the Michael impulses through Anthroposophy, are thereby preparing their whole being in such a way that these Michael impulses enter even into the forces that are otherwise determined merely by the connections of race and nation.

Think how much this means:—Here is a man who stands within some national group. We can see at once, he is a Russian, he is a Frenchman, he is an Englishman, he is a German. We recognise it by his appearance, and we locate him by thinking, as we see him, where can this man belong? We think it a matter of some importance if we can recognise: he is a Turk, he is a Russian, or the like. Now with those who to-day receive Anthroposophy with inner force of soul, with deep impulse and strength of heart—who receive it, therefore, as the deepest force of their life—such distinctions will have no more meaning when next they return to earth. People will say: Where does he come from? He is not of any nation, he is not of any race, he is as though he had grown away from all races and nations.

When the last Michael dominion took place, in the age of Alexander, the point was to spread Grecian culture in a cosmopolitan way, carrying it out in all directions. The campaigns of Alexander were an immense achievement in the equalising of men on earth, I mean in the spreading among them of a common element. But the thing was not yet able to strike so deep, for at that time Michael still administered the Cosmic Intelligence. Now Intelligence is on the earth, now it strikes far deeper, it strikes down even into the earthly element of man. For the first time, the Spiritual is preparing to become a race-creating force. The time will come when one will no longer be able to say: the man looks as if he belonged to this or that country,—he is a Turk, or an Arabian, an Englishman, a Russian or a German,—but one will have to say what will amount to this: ‘In a former life on earth this man felt impelled to turn towards the Spirit in the sense of Michael.’ Thus, that which is influenced by Michael will appear as an immediate, physically creative, physically formative power.

Now this is a thing that takes root deeply, very deeply in the karma of the individual. Hence the strange destiny of those who are sincere anthroposophists, the strange destiny that they are not able to come to terms with the world; they cannot quite master it, and yet at the same time they have to approach the world and enter into it with full earnestness.

I have said that those who stand with full intensity within the Anthroposophical Movement will return at the end of the century, and others will then unite with them, for by this means the salvation of the earth and earthly civilisation from destruction must eventually be settled. This is the mission of the Anthroposophical Movement, which weighs on the one hand so heavily upon one's heart, while on the other hand it moves the heart, uplifts it with enthusiasm. This mission we must understand and see.

It is most necessary for the anthroposophist to know that in this situation as an anthroposophist his karma will be harder to experience than it is for other men. From the very outset those who come into the Anthroposophical Society are predestined to a harder, more difficult experience of karma than other men. And if we try to pass this harder experience by—if we want to experience our karma in a comfortable way—it will surely take vengeance on us in one direction or another. We must be anthroposophists in our experience of karma too. To be true anthroposophists we must be able to observe our own experience of karma with constant wide-awake attention. If we do not, then our comfortable, easy-going experiencing of our karma—or rather our desire to experience it so—will find expression and take vengeance in physical illnesses, physical accidents and the like.

These finer, more intimate connections of life must indeed be seen and observed, for then we shall see many another thing besides. It is the best preparation for true and real spiritual sight, to observe these more intimate connections of life attentively. It is a wrong principle to want to evolve all manner of nebulous, abnormal, visionary states. On the other hand it is immensely right to occupy oneself with all that goes on more finely and intimately in the connections of destiny which we can recognise.

Do we not see how this becomes our karma, my dear friends: we live, or have lived, alongside of human beings who are absolutely prevented, inwardly prevented, from coming near to things anthroposophical. They are prevented, in spite of all that we—I will not say have brought to them of Anthroposophy—but that we might have brought to them if they would only take it. We see this happen, surely. Now this also is among the great decisions of present-day life. For the things that take place in this way will have great karmic significance, both for the one who comes into the Anthroposophical Movement and for the one who remains outside it. It will have extraordinary significance.

Let us imagine that these human beings meet one another again in a future incarnation. We know that what happens to us in future incarnations is already being prepared for in this present. The meeting-again with human beings to whom we are related in the way I have just described, will be such that the usual strangeness between man and man will be essentially enhanced. For Michael works right down into the physical sympathies and antipathies. Now all this is taking place already now in a preparatory way, for every single anthroposophist. It is immensely important for an anthroposophist to study just those karmic relationships which unfold between him and non-anthroposophists. For in this connection things are taking place which reach up into the next kingdom of the Hierarchies. For you must see, there is a counterpart to what I have just described, when I said that the Michael impulses appear as a race-creating force. There is a counterpart to it

Let us take the following karmic instance. Someone is taken hold of in the very highest degree by the impulses of Anthroposophy. He is taken hold of in heart and mind, in soul and spirit. In such a case something will necessarily happen, which, expressed in words, sounds very strange indeed; and yet it is necessary. In such a case the Angel of the man must learn something. This is a thing of untold significance. The destiny of anthroposophists,—the destiny that works itself out between anthroposophists and non-anthroposophists,—casts its waves even into the worlds of the Angeloi. It leads to a parting of the Spirits, even in the world of the Angeloi. The Angel who accompanies the anthroposophist to his next incarnations learns to find his way still more deeply into the spiritual kingdoms than he could do before, while the Angel who belongs to the other man—to the one who cannot enter,—descends. It is in the destiny of the Angeloi that we first perceive how this great separation is taking place. To this, my dear friends, I would now direct your hearts. It is happening now, that the comparatively single and uniform kingdom of the Angeloi is being turned into a twofold kingdom of Angeloi, a kingdom of Angeloi with an upward tendency into the higher worlds, and with a downward tendency into lower worlds.

While the Michael community is being formed here upon earth, we can behold above it the ascending and the descending Angeloi. Looking more deeply into the world to-day, one can perpetually observe these streams, which are such as to stir the heart to its foundations.

Now I have told you that those who come into the anthroposophical life fall into two main groups. There are the ones who still carry into it a knowledge from the old heathen times, and have had little experience of that Christian development which took its course during the Kali Yuga. They have gone on evolving out of the old Pagan sources, and they now grow into the Christianity which is to be a cosmic Christianity once more. They are souls with a Pagan predestination, who in reality are only now growing into Christianity. The others are souls who are a little weary of Paganism, though they do not confess this to themselves. From the outset they grow into the Anthroposophical Movement on account of its Christian character, but they do not enter so deeply into the anthroposophical Cosmology, the anthroposophical Anthropology, and so forth. They enter, rather, into the more abstractly religious side. These two groups are clearly to be distinguished.

Now for the group of a more Pagan predestination it is particularly necessary to take hold of the sustaining forces of Anthroposophy with full intensity of inner life. For this group, it is most necessary to avoid all side-tracks and other considerations, and steer straight forward in the direction of the anthroposophical sustaining forces.

We can only grasp these things when we receive them in our hearts; but they must enter into the hearts of anthroposophists. For only then will a real living-together within the Anthroposophical Society be possible, on a true anthroposophical foundation. When the more Pagan kind of souls, if I may call them so, bring forth their forces, which are in many cases already there in this incarnation deep within their souls, though they will often only come forth with difficulty,—when as I say they do bring forth the forces that are there in them, then there will spread over the whole Anthroposophical Society an atmosphere of steady and courageous progress in the good sense of Michael.

If this is to be so, we must have the courage to look straight into the intense conflict that is taking place, as between the things that Michael must undertake to achieve his great task, and the things that Ahriman is perpetually placing in his way.

Ahriman has already taken hold of certain tendencies in civilisation and placed them in his service. Consider this one fact:—Only since the 15th century has it become most thoroughly possible for man to take hold of the Intelligence. For since that time the Spiritual Soul is present in man, and the Spiritual Soul is man's very own; therefore it can make the Intelligence its very own. Moreover it is only since that time that those things have come to men, which have made them so exceedingly keen—if I may say so—on their own personal Intelligence.

Make this little calculation; it embraces huge dimensions, though the greatness of it be only in a spatial sense. Try to make this little calculation, my dear friends. Add up in thought all that is being thought to-day within a single day by all the writers in newspapers over the whole earth, so that newspapers may be produced. Try to imagine the tremendous sum-total of Intelligence that is being chewed out from their pens, put on to paper, printed, and so on. See what an enormous amount of personal Intelligence is flooding through the world. And now go back a few centuries, go back into the 13th century, and see whether such a thing is there at all. It is simply not there, there can be no question of its being there.

But I will give you another task. Imagine in your thought (to-day is Sunday, it is a good opportunity) just imagine how many meetings are being held on political questions from West to East,—we need not go beyond Europe for the moment. Here again, how much personal Intelligence is flooding through the atmosphere of the earth! And now imagine yourself in the 13th century. They managed without the newspapers and without the meetings. None of these things existed. Compare the 13th century with the present time. We may put it thus:—When you transplant yourself into the 13th century you can look out over the world, your vision is clear and unobstructed. There are no editorial offices, no political meetings, none of these. You look through, clear and free. But to-day, as you look over the world, everywhere the waves of personal Intelligence are surging forth. They are there everywhere. You simply cannot penetrate. It is a spiritual air that you could cut with a knife, as in some meeting-rooms where everyone is smoking his pipe or his cigar like a chimney-pot, and you say ‘it is an air that you could cut with a knife.’ So is the spiritual atmosphere to-day.

Such differences must be considered, if we would judge at all truly of the succession of historic epochs. When you read historians like Ranke you see nothing of these things, yet these are the real facts of history.

And all this that has come about since the 13th century, what is it? It is spiritual nourishment for the Ahrimanic Powers. Here in this region, they are first able to make their attacks. Hence the possibilities for Ahriman to take a hand in civilisation have become ever greater and greater. Needless to say. Spirits like Ahriman are not there to incarnate in physical bodies on the earth. Nevertheless, they can work on the earth, not indeed by incarnating but by incorporating themselves for certain spaces of time; when in one man or another there happens what I mentioned before: a diminution or diversion of consciousness. At such moments the human being provides a vehicle, and Ahriman is able,—not indeed to incarnate,—but to incorporate himself and to work out of that human being, with that human being's faculties.

It will be my further task to tell you of this kind of working of the Ahrimanic Powers. I shall have to show, for example, how Ahriman has appeared in the course of modern time even as an author. This will show you what things must be observed to-day by those who would fain observe realities.

Neunter Vortrag

Sie haben wohl aus den vorangehenden Vorträgen gesehen, wie Seelen, die aus den Tiefen ihres Unterbewußtseins herauf den Drang fühlen nach der anthroposophischen Bewegung, dieses in sich tragen durch ihre besondere Beziehung zu den Michael-Kräften. Und wir haben daher die Wirksamkeit dieser Michael-Kräfte durch die verschiedenen Jahrhunderte hindurch betrachtet, um zu sehen, welchen Einfluß diese Michael-Impulse auf das Leben derjenigen haben können, die in irgendeinem Zusammenhange mit ihnen stehen.

Nun sind, und das ist für das Karma jedes einzelnen Anthroposophen von großer Bedeutung, die Michael-Impulse von solcher Art, daß sie tief und intensiv eingreifen in den ganzen Menschen. Wir wissen ja aus den vorangehenden Darstellungen, daß der Herrschaft des Michael, wenn wir es so nennen wollen, die für das Erdenleben am Ende der siebziger Jahre des 19. Jahrhunderts begonnen hat, vorangegangen ist die Herrschaft des Gabriel, und ich habe schon auseinandergesetzt, wie diese Herrschaft des Gabriel zusammenhängt mit Kräften, die durch die physische Fortpflanzung gehen, mit Kräften, die mit der physischen Vererbung zusammenhängen.

Dem gerade entgegengesetzt sind die Kräfte des Michael. Es ist bei der Herrschaft des Gabriel so, daß seine Impulse stark in die physische Körperlichkeit des Menschen hineinwirken. Michael wirkt stark in das geistige Wesen des Menschen hinein. Das können Sie ja schon daraus entnehmen, daß er der Verwalter der Weltenintelligenz ist. Aber Michaels Impulse sind stark, sind kräftig, und sie wirken vom Geistigen aus durch den ganzen Menschen; sie wirken ins Geistige, von da aus ins Seelische und von da aus ins Leibliche des Menschen hinein. Und in den karmischen Zusammenhängen sind ja immer diese überirdischen Kräfte tätig: Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien wirken mit dem Menschen, an dem Menschen; dadurch wird das Karma ausgestaltet. Und so sind die Michael-Kräfte dadurch, daß sie auf den ganzen Menschen wirken, auch Kräfte, die zunächst besonders stark in das Karma des Menschen hineinwirken. Gabriel-Kräfte wirken sehr wenig, nicht etwa gar nicht, aber sehr wenig in das eigentliche Karma des Menschen hinein; Michael-Kräfte wirken stark in das Karma des Menschen hinein.

Wenn daher gewisse Menschen — und das sind Sie im Grunde genommen alle, meine lieben Freunde — mit dieser Michael-Strömung besonders verbunden sind, dann kann eigentlich das Karma dieser einzelnen Menschen nur verstanden werden, wenn es im Zusammenhang gedacht wird mit der Michael-Strömung. Und betrachtet man Michael als einen Geist, der im besonderen Zusammenhang mit der Sonne und allen Sonnenimpulsen steht, dann wird man noch mehr sich klar sein darüber, welche ungeheuer tiefe Bedeutung diese MichaelImpulse eben auf diejenigen Menschen haben, die ihnen besonders ausgesetzt sind; bis in die physische Organisation wirkt das Geistige hinein. Und man muß einfach, mehr als das sonst der Fall ist, physische Erscheinungen in Gesundheit und Krankheit — sagen wir, um einen Ausdruck zu haben, bei den Michael-Menschen - in einem höheren Sinne mit dem Karma zusammenbringen als bei Gabriel-Menschen oder Raphael-Menschen oder dergleichen. Wenn Raphael auch geradezu derjenige Geist ist, der mit der Heilkunst im innigen Zusammenhange steht — die Dinge sind verwickelt im Weltenall -, Michael ist doch der Geist, der das Karma des Menschen am nächsten auch an Gesundheit und Krankheit heranbringt.

Das hängt wiederum damit zusammen, daß die Michael-Kräfte durchaus so wirken, daß sie nicht nur kosmopolitisch wirken, sondern daß sie den Menschen herausreißen aus den engeren irdischen Zusammenhängen und ihn hinauftragen auf eine geistige Höhe, in der er die irdischen Zusammenhänge weniger stark fühlt als andere Menschen; wenigstens ist er durch sein Karma dazu vorbestimmt wiederum etwas, was auf das Karma jedes einzelnen Menschen, der zur Michael-Strömung gehört, einen tiefgehenden Einfluß schon hat.

Sehen Sie, es war ja im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts wirklich so, daß — nicht nervöse, aber geistig und seelisch sensitive — Menschen stark haben verspüren können das Hereindringen der MichaelKräfte in die Welt. Dieses Hereindringen der Michael-Kräfte in die Welt, es äußerte sich bei den eigentlichen Michael-Menschen so, daß sie manches, woran ein anderer Mensch vorübergeht, ganz tief bedeutsam und einschlagend in das Leben empfanden.

Vor allen Dingen war das Karma solcher Menschen so geartet, daß, wenn sie sich auch nicht klar wurden darüber, sie doch jenen Kampf verspürten, den ich vorgestern beschrieben habe als den Kampf zwischen Michael und Ahriman. Ahriman hat ja im heutigen Zeitalter auf die Menschen nur dann einen starken Einfluß, wenn in irgendeiner Weise eine Bewußtseinsablenkung vorhanden ist. Die radikalste Erscheinung ist die, sagen wir, einer Ohnmacht oder einer Bewußtseinstrübung, die länger dauert. In solchen Zeiten, wo der Mensch einer Bewußtseinstrübung verfällt, da können die Ahrimangewalten besonders stark an den Menschen heran. Da wirken sie dann in ihm, da ist er ihnen ausgesetzt. Aber es ist gerade in diesem letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts, namentlich in der Zeit, die schon nahe kam an den Ablauf des Kali Yuga, also in den letzten Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts, tatsächlich erschütternd gewesen, hinter die Szene der äußeren physisch-sinnlichen Welt zu schauen, die da sich ausbreitet vor den menschlichen Sinnen. Unmittelbar daran grenzend ist ja dasjenige, was uns viel zeigt von diesen historischen Vorgängen, in die die höheren, die übersinnlichen Wesen eingreifen.

Nun war ja in diesem letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts, namentlich im letzten Jahrzehnt, nur durch einen dünnen Schleier verborgen, was die Herrschaft, der ganze Kampf, der ganze Tatsachenzusammenhang Michaels ist. Seither ist es so, daß Michael gewissermaßen in der äußeren Welt mitkämpft. Da handelt es sich dann darum, daß man eine viel stärkere Kraft braucht, um das, was übersinnlich da ist, zu schauen, als vor dem Ablauf des Kali Yuga, also im vorigen Jahrhundert noch, wo, wie gesagt, durch einen dünnen Schleier die nächstanstoßende Welt verborgen war, wo Michael noch mehr hinter der Szene kämpfte. Aber Michael besteht ja darauf, wie ich Ihnen gesagt habe, daß unbedingt seine Herrschaft durchdringe. Michael ist ein kräftiger Geist, und Michael kann nur mutvolle Menschen, innerlich mutvolle Menschen vollständig brauchen.

Und in diesen ganzen Zusammenhängen, die ich Ihnen dargestellt habe, in dieser übersinnlichen Lehrschule des 15., 16., 17. Jahrhunderts, in jenem übersinnlichen Kultus im Beginne des 19. Jahrhunderts, da spielen fortwährend unter den Geistern, die daran beteiligt sind, zahlreiche Scharen von notwendigen, für den ganzen Zusammenhang notwendigen luziferischen Gestalten herein. Michael hat nötig luziferische Gestalten, die mitwirken, um den polarischen Gegensatz, um Ahriman zu überwinden. So daß die Michael-Menschen schon hineingestellt sind auch in — da kann man vielleicht nicht sagen einen Kampf, aber in ein Gewoge des Zusammenwirkens zwischen luziferischen Impulsen und ahrimanischen Impulsen. Diese Dinge zeigten sich mit einer großen Bestimmtheit eben gerade gegen das Ende des vorigen Jahrhunderts. Da war es nicht so selten, daß man durch diesen Schleier, wie ich ihn genannt habe, durchschauen konnte. Dann sah man, wie stark Michael zu kämpfen hat gegen Ahriman, und wie leicht es war, durch allerlei luziferische Einflüsse das Bewußtsein abgelenkt zu bekommen.

Sie werden vielleicht sagen: Bewußtseinsablenkungen, Ohnmachten seien ja etwas nicht so Sonderliches. Gewiß, äußerlich angeschaut, sind sie nichts Sonderliches; aber sie werden etwas Bedeutsames durch das, was in ihrer Folge eintritt, was dann kommt, wenn die Bewußtseinsablenkung oder -trübung da ist. Da möchte ich Ihnen ein Beispiel geben.

Es handelte sich einmal darum, jemanden intimer historisch bekanntzumachen mit einer Persönlichkeit. Sie sollte sich einfach beschäftigen damit, sich historisch bekanntzumachen mit einer Persönlichkeit aus der Zeit der Renaissance und Reformation. Also verstehen Sie mich genau: Es handelte sich darum, daß alle Vorbereitungen dazu vorhanden waren, daß ein Mensch — es war am Ende der neunziger Jahre des vorigen Jahrhunderts — auf historischem Wege bekannt werden sollte mit einer Persönlichkeit aus der Zeit der Renaissance und Reformation. Ja, man konnte eigentlich gar nicht begreifen, wie es anders kommen könnte nach alledem, was eben vorlag, als daß dieser Mensch mit jener Persönlichkeit auf einem ganz, ich möchte sagen, pedantisch-philiströsen Wege hätte bekannt werden sollen. Aber siehe da, durch die raffiniertesten Verhältnisse des Karma wurde der Mensch gerade für die Zeit, in der er das erleben sollte, unfähig, sein Bewußtsein zu gebrauchen. Er verfiel in eine Art von Schlaf, aus dem er nicht erwachen konnte. Er wurde verhindert dadurch.

Solche Dinge beachtet man natürlich im gewöhnlichen Leben nicht sehr stark. Aber diese Dinge sind es gerade, durch die man unmittelbar von der Erdenwelt aus hineinschaut in die geistige Welt. Und will man eine Erklärung für diese Tatsache, so muß man sagen: Jene Persönlichkeit, die bekannt werden sollte mit einer Persönlichkeit aus der Zeit der Renaissance und Reformation, hätte zweifellos einen ungeheuer starken persönlichen Eindruck bekommen, wenn sie gerade das, was ich erzähle, mitgemacht hätte. Sie hat es nicht mitgemacht, sie hat es übergangen. Aber diese Persönlichkeit hat in der Zeit dafür umgewandelt bekommen das, was sie da als Eindruck bekommen hätte, in einen besonders starken Eindruck für Michaelisches Element. Sie hat geradezu Verständnis bekommen — wenn auch unbewußt — für Michaelisches Element.

Ich führe dieses etwas paradoxe Beispiel aus dem Grunde an, um Ihnen zu zeigen, auf welchem Wege das Michaelische Element an die Menschen herankam. Und von solchen Beispielen könnte man viele, viele anführen. Die Menschen wären heute ganz anders, wenn nicht bei zahlreichen Menschen solche Dinge vorgekommen wären. Denn diese Dinge können ja auf hunderterlei Weise vorkommen. In dem Fall, den ich Ihnen erzählt habe, war es so, daß der Betreffende eben wirklich in eine Art von Schlafzustand verfiel. In anderen Fällen war die Sache so, daß irgendein Ereignis, welches von Michael abgeführt hätte, dadurch verhindert wurde, daß ein Freund oder irgendein anderer kam und den Betreffenden woanders hinführte und das Bewußtsein des Betreffenden in der natürlichsten, philiströsesten Weise umhüllt wurde, wodurch er verhindert wurde, dasjenige mitzumachen, was ihm eigentlich zunächst karmisch vorbestimmt war. Die schärfsten Eingriffe in den gewöhnlichen glatten Fortgang des Karma geschahen eben gerade in diesen Jahren.

Und in der Regel ist da ersichtlich geworden, wie tief diese MichaelEinflüsse dann gehen. In zahlreichen Fällen stellte sich heraus, daß nicht nur seelisch, sondern bis ins Leibliche hinein affiziert wurden, beeinflußt wurden solche Menschen, die einen solchen Ruck in ihrem Karma dadurch bekommen hatten, daß Michael eben herein mußte durch die Tore menschlicher Bewußtseine in die irdisch-sinnliche Welt.

Es ist im höchsten Grade interessant, zu sehen, wie in den neunziger Jahren Menschen in Ereignisse hereingebracht wurden, die nichts anderes darstellen als die Wege des Michael aus der geistigen Welt herein in die physische Welt. Denn Sie müssen bedenken: Was da im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts als der Einzug des Michael in die physische Welt stattfand, bereitete sich ja in der geistigen Welt schon seit langem vor, schon seit dem Beginn der vierziger Jahre des 19. Jahrhunderts. Ich möchte sagen, Michael und die Seinen kamen immer näher und näher heran, und immer mehr und mehr zeigte sich, daß da Menschen herunterkommen werden, die in ihrem Erdenschicksale mit dem zusammenhängen, was Michael-Aufgabe ist: die Intelligenz hier auf der Erde wiederum zu übernehmen, nachdem sie den Michael-Scharen im Übersinnlichen entfallen war.

In all das - Sie erkennen es schon aus den bisherigen Darstellungen ist ja schließlich die anthroposophische Bewegung hineingestellt. Denn mit dieser ganzen Michael-Strömung hängt sie ja zusammen, wie ersichtlich ist aus der Darstellung, die ich bisher gebracht habe.

Nun betrachten Sie nur einmal, mit diesem Lichte beleuchtet, die karmischen Zusammenhänge einzelner Persönlichkeiten, die durch einen inneren Drang an die anthroposophische Bewegung herankommen. Sie kommen zunächst aus der Welt heraus. Sie stehen ja in Weltenzusammenhängen darinnen. Es hat in der Welt ja wirklich viele Gemeinschaften gegeben, die Menschen in sich vereinigt haben, aber niemals ist die zusammenhaltende Kraft von jener Eigentümlichkeit gewesen, die gerade die Michaelischen Kräfte hervorbringen. Dadurch wird eine besondere Lage geschaffen für denjenigen, der aus dem Weltenzusammenhange heraus seinen Weg in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft findet. Man kann in andere Vereinigungen hineinkommen, konnte immer hineinkommen: es brauchte das Schicksal nicht besonders tief berührt zu werden. In die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft kann man nicht hineinkommen, wenigstens kann man nicht so hineinkommen, daß dieses Hineinkommen ganz ehrlich und die Seele tief ergreifend ist, ohne daß das Schicksal im Wesentlichsten tief beeinflußt ist. Und das wird dann ganz besonders deutlich, wenn man, ich möchte sagen, in der richtigen Visierlinie die Dinge betrachtet.

Nehmen Sie einen Menschen, der eben in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft oder Bewegung hereinkommt, der vorher irgendwelche Zusammenhänge mit Nichtanthroposophen hatte, oder der sie beibehält. Viel bedeutsamer ist diese Differenz zwischen dem, der drinnen steht, und dem, der draußen steht oder draußen bleibt, als eben sonst in irgendwelchen Gemeinschaften. Zwei Arten von Zusammenhängen sind da. Wir leben nun einmal, dadurch, daß das alles, was ich beschrieben habe, erfüllt ist, in einer Zeit ungeheuer großer Entscheidungen, so daß dieses Nebeneinanderstehen von anthroposophischen und nichtanthroposophischen Menschen heute etwas Entscheidungsvolles ist. Entweder handelt es sich um die Auflösung eines alten Karma für denjenigen, der in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft drinnen ist, oder es handelt sich um die Anspinnung eines neuen Karma für den, der nicht drinnen ist. Und das sind große Unterschiede.

Nehmen wir an, ein Anthroposoph steht einem Nichtanthroposophen nahe. Dann kann es sich darum handeln, daß der Anthroposoph zunächst alte karmische Zusammenhänge mit dem Nichtanthroposophen abzumachen hat, oder aber es kann sich um das andere handeln, daß der Nichtanthroposoph karmische Zusammenhänge für die Zukunft mit dem Anthroposophen anzuknüpfen hat. Wenigstens sind diese zwei Fälle die einzigen — verschieden gearter natürlich —, die mir beobachtbar waren; dazwischen ist nichts, nichts ist außer diesen Fällen vorhanden. Daraus geht aber hervor, daß es sich wirklich um eine Zeit großer Entscheidungen handelt: daß sozusagen entweder gewirkt wird auf Nichtanthroposophen in dem Sinne, daß sie zur Michael-Gemeinschaft kommen, oder aber daß so gewirkt wird, daß diejenigen, die nicht zur Michael-Gemeinschaft gehören, von ihr gemieden werden. Das ist die Zeit der großen Entscheidungen, jene große Krisis, von der eigentlich die heiligen Bücher aller Zeiten sprechen und die für unser Zeitalter im Grunde gemeint ist. Denn das eben ist das Eigentümliche der Michael-Impulse, daß sie entscheidend sind und daß sie gerade in unserem Zeitalter entscheidend werden. Die Menschen, die in der gegenwärtigen Inkarnation durch die Anthroposophie die Michael-Impulse aufnehmen, sie bereiten ihr ganzes Wesen dadurch, daß sie die Michael-Impulse aufnehmen, so vor, daß das weit hineingeht in diejenigen Kräfte, die sonst bloß durch Rassen- und Volkszusammenhänge bestimmt sind.

Denken Sie einmal, wie stark man davon sprechen kann: Da ist irgendeiner, der in einem Volkszusammenhang drinnensteht. Man kann ihm ansehen, er ist ein Russe, er ist ein Franzose, er ist ein Engländer, er ist ein Deutscher. Man sieht das dem Menschen an, und man logiert die Menschen so, man versetzt sie in eine Stelle, indem man nachdenkt, wenn man sie sieht, wohin sie gehören können. Man wird es für bedeutsam halten, wenn man einem ansieht, er ist ein Türke, er ist ein Russe und so weiter. Bei denen, die heute mit wirklicher innerer Seelenkraft, mit Herzensimpulsivität Anthroposophie aufnehmen als ihre tiefste Lebenskraft, werden solche Unterscheidungen, wenn sie wiederum zur Erde heruntersteigen, keinen Sinn mehr haben. Man wird sagen: Wo ist denn der her? Der ist nicht von einem Volke, der ist nicht von einer Rasse, der ist, wie wenn er aus allen Rassen und Völkern herausgewachsen wäre.

Sehen Sie, als die letzte Michael-Herrschaft war, zur Alexanderzeit, da handelte es sich darum, das Griechentum kosmopolitisch auszubreiten, überall hinzutragen. Ungeheures ist da geschehen durch den Alexanderzug zur Ausgleichung der Menschen, zur Ausbreitung von etwas Gemeinsamem. Aber das konnte noch nicht so tief greifen, weil ja Michael noch die kosmische Intelligenz verwaltete. Jetzt ist Intelligenz auf der Erde. Jetzt wird das tiefgreifend, jetzt greift es auch ein in das Irdische des Menschen. Das Geistige bereitet sich vor, zum ersten Male rassenbildend zu werden. Und die Zeit wird kommen, wo man nicht mehr wird sagen können: Der Mensch schaut so aus, also gehört er dorthin, er ist ein Türke oder Araber oder ein Engländer oder ein Russe oder ein Deutscher; sondern man wird sagen müssen: Der Mensch war in einem früheren Erdenleben dazu gedrängt, sich nach dem Geistigen im Michaelischen Sinne zu wenden. So daß also unmittelbar physisch-schöpferisch, physisch-gestaltend dasjenige auftritt, was von Michael beeinflußt ist.

Das ist aber dann das, was sich tief, tief hineinsetzt in das Karma des einzelnen. Daher dieses Schicksal derjenigen, die ehrliche Anthroposophen sind: nicht recht fertig werden zu können mit der Welt, und doch die Notwendigkeit, ernst, in vollem Ernst an die Welt heranzugehen.

Ich habe angedeutet, wie diejenigen Menschen, die mit völliger Intensität drinnenstehen in der anthroposophischen Bewegung, am Ende des Jahrhunderts wiederkommen werden, daß sich dann andere mit ihnen vereinigen werden, weil dadurch eben jene Rettung der Erde, der Erdenzivilisation vor dem Verfall letztgültig entschieden werden muß. Das ist, ich möchte sagen, die auf der einen Seite herzbedrückende, auf der anderen Seite herzbewegend-begeisternde Mission der anthroposophischen Bewegung. Auf diese Mission muß hingeschaut werden.

Da ist es durchaus notwendig, daß man als Anthroposoph weiß, daß in dieser Lage für den Anthroposophen das Karma schwerer zu erleben ist als für andere Menschen. Zunächst sind diejenigen Menschen, die in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft kommen, geradezu prädestiniert, das Karma schwerer zu erleben als andere Menschen. Und geht man vorbei an diesem schweren Erleben, will man sein Karma bequem erleben, dann rächt sich das eben nach irgendeiner Seite hin. Man muß auch im Karma-Erleben Anthroposoph sein können; man muß aufmerksam hinschauen können auf das Karma-Erleben, um richtig Anthroposoph zu sein. Das bequeme Erleben eines Karma, das Wollen, Karma bequem zu erleben, führt dann gerade dazu, daß es sich rächt in physischer Erkrankung, in physischen Unfällen und dergleichen.

Auf diese feineren Zusammenhänge des Lebens muß eben hingesehen werden; dann sieht man mit diesen intimeren Zusammenhängen manches andere. Und es ist die beste Vorbereitung, um geistig wirklich zu sehen, wenn man auf diese intimeren Zusammenhänge des Lebens hinschaut. Es ist nicht ein richtiges Prinzip, in nebuloser Weise allerlei abnorm visionäre Zustände entwickeln zu wollen. Aber es ist ungeheuer wichtig, sich zu befassen mit dem, was intimer in den Schicksalszusammenhängen, die man beobachten kann, vorgeht.

Sehen wir es denn nicht unser Karma werden, meine lieben Freunde, daß wir neben Menschen leben oder gelebt haben, die innerlich absolut verhindert sind, an das Anthroposophische heranzukommen, innerlich verhindert sind, trotz allem und allem, was ihnen vielleicht von uns an Anthroposophie, ich will nicht sagen, entgegengebracht wird, aber entgegengebracht werden könnte, wenn sie es nur hinnehmen wollten? Das sehen wir doch. Das ist etwas, das durchaus zu der großen Entscheidung des gegenwärtigen Lebens gehört. Und es wird dasjenige, was sich da abspielt, karmisch bedeutsam sowohl für den, der dann in die anthroposophische Bewegung kommt, wie für denjenigen, der draußen bleibt; es wird das außerordentlich bedeutsam.

Denn stellen wir uns nun vor, diese Menschen treffen sich in einer zukünftigen Inkarnation wiederum — was uns in zukünftigen Inkarnationen passiert, bereitet sich ja schon in dieser Inkarnation vor -: dann wird dieses Zusammentreffen gerade mit Menschen, zu denen wir so stehen, wie ich es jetzt charakterisiert habe, so, daß es die sonst vorhandene Fremdheit zwischen den Menschen im wesentlichen steigert. Denn Michael wirkt auch bis in physische Sympathien und Antipathien hinein. Aber das alles spielt sich ja schon jetzt vorbereitend ab, es spielt sich schon jetzt für jeden einzelnen Anthroposophen vorbereitend ab. Daher ist es ungeheuer bedeutsam für den Anthroposophen, gerade diese karmischen Verhältnisse ins Auge zu fassen, die sich zwischen ihm und Nichtanthroposophen abspielen. Da spielen sich nämlich Dinge ab, welche hinaufreichen in das nächste Hierarchienreich. Denn sehen Sie, es gibt ja ein Gegenstück zu dem, was ich geschildert habe: daß sogar rassenbildend die Michael-Impulse auftreten; es gibt ein Gegenstück dazu.

Nehmen wir den Fall, daß das Karma so liegt, daß irgendeine Persönlichkeit nun im allereminentesten Sinne von den anthroposophischen Impulsen ergriffen wird, mit Herz und Sinn, ich möchte sagen, mit Geist und Seele ergriffen wird. Dann, ja dann ist etwas notwendig, was ausgesprochen sonderbar, paradox klingt; aber es ist notwendig: dann muß sein Engel etwas lernen. Und das, sehen Sie, ist etwas ungeheuer Bedeutsames. Das Anthroposophenschicksal, das sich abspielt zwischen Anthroposophen und Nichtanthroposophen, das wirft seine Wellen hinein in die Welt der Angeloi. Das führt bis zu einer Scheidung der Geister in der Welt der Angeloi. Der Angelos, der den Anthroposophen begleitet zu den nächsten Inkarnationen, er lernt tiefer noch sich hineinfinden in die geistigen Reiche, als er das früher konnte. Und der Angelos, der dem anderen angehört, der gar nicht hinein kann, sinkt herunter. Und es zeigt sich zuerst an dem Schicksal der Angeloi, wie die große Scheidung geschieht. Es ist jetzt so — und das ist etwas, meine lieben Freunde, worauf ich Ihre Herzen hinweisen möchte —, daß aus einem verhältnismäßig einheitlichen Reich der Angeloi ein zweigeteiltes Reich der Angeloi entsteht, ein Reich der Angeloi mit einem Zug hinauf in höhere Welten und mit einem Zug hinunter in tiefere Welten. Während sich hier auf der Erde die Bildung der Michael-Gemeinschaft vollzieht, können wir schauen über dem, was sich hier als Michael-Gemeinschaft vollzieht, aufsteigende Angeloi (siehe Zeichnung, gelb), absteigende Angeloi (grün). Man kann eigentlich heute, wenn man tiefer hineinschaut in die Welt, diese Strömungen, die so etwas Herzerschütterndes haben, fortdauernd beobachten.

Nun sagte ich: diejenigen, die ins Anthroposophische hineinkommen, zerfallen im wesentlichen in zwei Gruppen. Die eine Gruppe sind solche, die noch Wissen von dem alten Heidnischen hineintragen, und aus dem Heidnischen heraus, ohne daß sie viel Erfahrung haben von jener christlichen Entwickelung, die noch in der Zeit des Kali Yuga vor sich gegangen ist, sich weiterentwickelt haben und nun hineinwachsen in jenes Christentum, das wieder ein kosmisches Christentum sein soll; also heidnisch prädestinierte Seelen, die eigentlich erst jetzt in das Christentum hineinwachsen. Die andere Gruppe sind solche Seelen, die mehr christentummüde [heidentummüde?] sind, aber das sich nicht gestehen, die von vornherein in die anthroposophische Bewegung wegen des christlichen Charakters hineinwachsen, wobei sie weniger tief hineinwachsen in das, was die anthroposophische Kosmologie, die anthroposophische Anthropologie ist und so weiter, dagegen mehr hereinwachsen in das abstrakt Religiöse. Diese zwei Gruppen sind ja deutlich voneinander unterschieden.

Diejenige Gruppe, welche gewissermaßen noch heidnisch prädestiniert ist, hat die besondere Notwendigkeit, mit aller inneren Intensität die tragenden Kräfte der Anthroposophie zu ergreifen und, sozusagen ohne durch irgendwelche Rücksichten sich ablenken zu lassen, in der Richtung dieser tragenden anthroposophischen Kräfte zu gehen.

Das alles sind ja Dinge, die im Grunde genommen erst recht übergehen müssen in die Herzen; aber sie müssen in die Herzen der Anthroposophen hinein. Dann erst wird ein wirkliches Zusammenleben innerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft auf der Grundlage konkreter Anthroposophie möglich sein. Denn wenn gerade die mehr heidnisch gearteten Seelen ihre Kräfte herausbringen, die so vielfach auf der Grundlage der Seelen heute schon in dieser Inkarnation sitzen, die nur bei manchen so schwer heraus wollen —, wenn sie sie herausbringen, dann wird sich ausbreiten über die ganze Anthroposophische Gesellschaft eine Atmosphäre des Vorwärtsdringens ganz im michaelischen Sinne.

Aber dann muß man den Mut haben, gerade in diesen starken Kampf hineinzuschauen, der sich jetzt abspielt zwischen dem, was Michael zur Bewältigung seiner großen Aufgabe unternehmen muß, und dem, was Ahriman fortwährend dagegenstellt. Ahriman hat ja gewisse Tendenzen in der Zivilisationsentwickelung zunächst ergriffen, sie in seinen Dienst gestellt. Denken Sie doch nur einmal, daß ja das Ergreifen der Intelligenz durch den Menschen erst recht möglich geworden ist seit dem 15. Jahrhundert, seitdem die Bewußtseinsseele im Menschen sitzt; denn die ist menschliches Eigentum, die kann sich die Intelligenz aneignen. Seit jener Zeit ist ja erst das an die Menschen herangekommen, was sie dazu bringt, so ungeheuer zu pochen auf diese persönlich-wirksame Intelligenz.

Versuchen Sie einmal eine kleine Rechnung, die eigentlich etwas furchtbar Großes umfaßt, aber bloß räumlich Großes, versuchen Sie einmal eine kleine Rechnung zu machen, meine lieben Freunde. Summieren Sie so in Gedanken alles das, was heute in einem Tage von allen Zeitungsschreibern, damit die Zeitungen zustande kommen, gedacht wird auf der ganzen Erde. Bitte, überblicken Sie das. Überblicken Sie diese Summe von Intelligenz, die da aus den Federn herausgekaut wird und aufs Papier kommt, dann gedruckt wird und so weiter. Überblicken Sie das, was da für persönliche Intelligenz durch die Welt flutet!

Und jetzt gehen Sie um ein paar Jahrhunderte zurück, gehen Sie ins 13. Jahrhundert zurück und überblicken Sie, ob da überhaupt so etwas da ist. Es ist überhaupt gar nicht da. Es ist gar nicht die Rede davon, daß es da ist.

Aber ich möchte Ihnen noch eine andere Aufgabe geben. Stellen Sie sich so in Gedanken vor — es ist heute Sonntag, es ist besondere Gelegenheit dazu -, wie viele Versammlungen vom Westen bis zum Osten über politische Angelegenheiten, über Europa, wollen wir zunächst nur sagen, abgehalten werden, wieviel da an persönlicher Intelligenz hinflutet in die Atmosphäre der Erde. Stellen Sie sich das 13. Jahrhundert vor: da ist man ohne das ausgekommen, ohne Zeitungen, ohne diese Versammlungen; das alles war nicht da. Sie haben förmlich, wenn Sie sich ins 13. Jahrhundert versetzen, hinschauend über die Welt, einen ganz freien Blick. Da gibt es keine Zeitungsredaktionen, da sind keine politischen Versammlungen. Das alles ist nicht da, Sie schauen frei durch.

Heute schauen Sie hin, überall fluten die persönlichen Intelligenzwellen auf. Die sind da. Sie können gar nicht durch, es ist eine Luft zum Schneiden, im Geistigen. Gerade so, wie in manchen Sälen, wo jeder aus seiner Pfeife oder Zigarre heraus dampft, die Luft zum Schneiden ist, so ist es da im Geistigen mit der Luft.

Solche Unterschiede muß man ins Auge fassen, wenn man die Aufeinanderfolge der Epochen irgendwie beurteilen will. Wenn Sie Geschichtsschreiber lesen wie den Ranke, so merken Sie gar nichts davon, daß es so ist; aber das sind die realen Tatsachen.

Aber all das, was da hereingezogen ist, was ist es denn? Alles das ist geistige Nahrung für die ahrimanischen Mächte. Die haben zunächst die Möglichkeit, gerade auf dieses Gebiet sich zu schlagen. Daher sind immer mächtiger und mächtiger geworden die Möglichkeiten des Eingreifens des Ahriman in die Zivilisation. Solche Geister wie Ahriman sind natürlich nicht dazu da, um im physischen Leibe sich auf der Erde zu verkörpern, aber sie können doch auf Erden wirken; sie können auf der Erde dadurch wirken, daß sie sich zwar nicht inkarnieren, aber inkorporieren nämlich für gewisse Zeiten. Dann, wenn das eintritt, wovon ich gesprochen habe — Trübung des Bewußtseins bei diesem oder jenem Menschen oder Ablenkung des Bewußtseins nur für Zeiten -, bildet der Mensch eine Hülle: Ahriman hat die Möglichkeit, zwar nicht sich zu inkarnieren, aber sich zu inkorporieren, zu wirken mit den Fähigkeiten des Menschen aus dem Menschen heraus.

Es wird meine Aufgabe sein, gerade über dieses Hereinwirken des Ahrimanischen zu sprechen. Und ich möchte dann zeigen, inwiefern zum Beispiel Ahriman sogar als Schriftsteller aufgetreten ist im Laufe der neueren Zeit, um auf das hinzuweisen, was beobachtet werden muß von denjenigen, die heute Realitäten beobachten wollen.

Ninth Lecture

You have probably seen from the previous lectures how souls who feel the urge for the anthroposophical movement from the depths of their subconsciousness carry this within them through their special relationship to the Michael forces. And we have therefore looked at the effectiveness of these Michael forces through the various centuries in order to see what influence these Michael impulses can have on the lives of those who have some connection with them.

Now, and this is of great importance for the karma of each individual anthroposophist, the Michael impulses are of such a nature that they intervene deeply and intensively in the whole human being. We know from the preceding descriptions that the reign of Michael, if we want to call it that, which began for earth life at the end of the seventies of the 19th century, was preceded by the reign of Gabriel, and I have already explained how this reign of Gabriel is connected with forces that go through physical reproduction, with forces that are connected with physical heredity.

The powers of Michael are just the opposite. During the reign of Gabriel, his impulses have a strong effect on the physical body of the human being. Michael works strongly into the spiritual being of man. You can already see this from the fact that he is the administrator of world intelligence. But Michael's impulses are strong, they are powerful, and they work from the spiritual through the whole human being; they work into the spiritual, from there into the spiritual and from there into the physical of the human being. And these supernatural forces are always active in the karmic contexts: Beings of the higher hierarchies work with the human being, on the human being; this is how karma is shaped. And so the Michael-forces, because they work on the whole human being, are also forces that initially have a particularly strong effect on the karma of the human being. Gabriel forces work very little, not not at all, but very little into the actual karma of the human being; Michael forces work strongly into the karma of the human being.

If therefore certain people - and that is basically all of you, my dear friends - are particularly connected with this Michael current, then the karma of these individual people can actually only be understood if it is thought of in connection with the Michael current. And if one considers Michael as a spirit that is particularly connected with the sun and all solar impulses, then one will be even more aware of the tremendously deep significance of these Michael impulses for those people who are particularly exposed to them; the spiritual has an effect right into the physical organization. And one must simply, more than is otherwise the case, bring physical phenomena in health and illness - let us say, to use an expression, with Michael-people - together with karma in a higher sense than with Gabriel-people or Raphael-people or the like. Even if Raphael is the spirit who is intimately connected with the art of healing - things are intricate in the universe - Michael is the spirit who brings the karma of man closest to health and illness.

This is again connected with the fact that the Michael forces work in such a way that they not only have a cosmopolitan effect, but that they tear man out of the narrower earthly connections and carry him up to a spiritual height in which he feels the earthly connections less strongly than other people; at least he is predestined by his karma to do something that already has a profound influence on the karma of every individual person who belongs to the Michael current.

You see, in the last third of the 19th century it really was the case that people - not nervous, but spiritually and mentally sensitive - could strongly feel the penetration of the Michael forces into the world. This penetration of the Michael forces into the world manifested itself in the actual Michael people in such a way that they felt that many things that another person passed by were deeply significant and had an impact on their lives.

Above all, the karma of such people was such that, even if they did not realize it, they still felt the battle that I described the day before yesterday as the battle between Michael and Ahriman. Ahriman only has a strong influence on people in the present age when there is a distraction of consciousness in some way. The most radical manifestation is, let us say, a fainting spell or a clouding of consciousness that lasts longer. At such times, when the human being falls into a clouding of consciousness, the ahrimanic forces can approach the human being particularly strongly. Then they work in him, he is exposed to them. But it was precisely in this last third of the 19th century, especially in the time that came close to the end of the Kali Yuga, i.e. in the last years of the last century, that it was indeed shattering to look behind the scene of the outer physical-sensual world that spreads out before the human senses. Directly adjacent to this is that which shows us much of these historical processes in which the higher, the supersensible beings intervene.

Now in this last third of the 19th century, especially in the last decade, it was only hidden by a thin veil what the dominion, the whole struggle, the whole factual context of Michael is. Since then it has been the case that Michael is, so to speak, fighting in the outer world. This means that one needs a much stronger power to see what is there supersensibly than before the end of the Kali Yuga, that is, in the previous century, when, as I said, the next world was hidden by a thin veil, when Michael fought even more behind the scene. But Michael insists, as I have told you, that his dominion must permeate. Michael is a powerful spirit, and Michael can only fully need courageous people, inwardly courageous people.

And in all these contexts that I have described to you, in this supersensible school of teaching of the 15th, 16th, 17th century, in that supersensible cult at the beginning of the 19th century, numerous hosts of necessary Luciferic figures, necessary for the whole context, continually play in among the spirits who are involved. Michael has necessary Luciferic figures who work together to overcome the polar opposition, to overcome Ahriman. So that the Michael-men are already placed in - one cannot perhaps say a struggle, but in a turmoil of interaction between luciferic impulses and ahrimanic impulses. These things became apparent with great certainty towards the end of the last century. There it was not so rare that one could see through this veil, as I have called it. Then one saw how strongly Michael had to fight against Ahriman, and how easy it was to get the consciousness distracted by all kinds of Luciferian influences.

You may say that distractions of consciousness and fainting are not so strange. Certainly, outwardly seen, they are nothing special; but they become something significant through what occurs in their wake, what comes when the distraction or clouding of consciousness is there. I would like to give you an example.

Once it was a question of making someone more intimately acquainted with a personality. It was simply to familiarize her historically with a personality from the time of the Renaissance and Reformation. So please understand me clearly: all the preparations were in place for a person - it was at the end of the nineties of the last century - to become historically acquainted with a personality from the time of the Renaissance and Reformation. Indeed, one could not really understand how it could be otherwise after all that had just happened than that this person should have become acquainted with that personality in a very, I would say, pedantic-philistine way. But lo and behold, through the most ingenious relations of karma, man became incapable of using his consciousness for the very time in which he was to experience this. He fell into a kind of sleep from which he could not awaken. He was prevented from doing so.

Of course, you don't pay much attention to such things in ordinary life. But it is precisely through these things that one sees directly from the earthly world into the spiritual world. And if you want an explanation for this fact, you have to say: that personality who was to become acquainted with a personality from the time of the Renaissance and Reformation would undoubtedly have received a tremendously strong personal impression if she had experienced precisely what I am telling you. She did not experience it, she ignored it. But this personality transformed what she would have received as an impression into a particularly strong impression of the Michaelic element. It almost gained an understanding - albeit unconsciously - for the Michaelic element.

I give this somewhat paradoxical example in order to show you how the Michaelic element came to people. And many, many such examples could be cited. People would be very different today if such things had not happened to many people. Because these things can happen in hundreds of different ways. In the case I told you about, the person concerned really did fall into a kind of sleep state. In other cases it was the case that some event which would have led away from Michael was prevented by a friend or someone else coming and leading the person concerned somewhere else and the consciousness of the person concerned was enveloped in the most natural, philistine way, whereby he was prevented from taking part in what was actually initially karmically predestined for him. The sharpest interventions in the usual smooth progress of karma happened precisely in these years.

And as a rule it became apparent how deep these Michael influences went. In numerous cases it turned out that people who had received such a jolt in their karma through the fact that Michael had to enter through the gates of human consciousness into the earthly-sensual world were not only affected spiritually, but also into the body.

It is extremely interesting to see how in the nineties people were brought into events that represent nothing other than the ways of Michael from the spiritual world into the physical world. For you must remember that what took place in the last third of the 19th century as the entry of Michael into the physical world had already been preparing in the spiritual world for a long time, since the beginning of the forties of the 19th century. I would like to say that Michael and his followers came closer and closer, and it became more and more apparent that people were coming down who were connected in their earthly destiny with what Michael's task is: to take over the intelligence here on earth again after it had slipped away from the Michael hosts in the supersensible.

After all, the anthroposophical movement is involved in all of this - as you can already see from the previous descriptions. For it is connected with this whole Michael current, as can be seen from the description I have given so far.

Now just consider, illuminated by this light, the karmic connections of individual personalities who come to the anthroposophical movement through an inner urge. At first they come out of the world. After all, they are in world contexts. There really have been many communities in the world that have united people within themselves, but never has the cohesive force been of the peculiarity that the Michaelic forces bring forth. This creates a special situation for those who find their way out of the world context into the Anthroposophical Society. One can enter other associations, has always been able to do so: one's destiny did not need to be touched particularly deeply. One cannot enter the Anthroposophical Society, at least one cannot enter in such a way that this entry is completely honest and deeply touches the soul without the destiny being deeply influenced in the most essential way. And this becomes particularly clear when you look at things, I would say, with the right line of sight.

Take a person who joins the Anthroposophical Society or movement, who previously had some kind of connection with non-anthroposophists, or who retains it. This difference between those who are inside and those who are outside or remain outside is much more significant than in any other community. There are two kinds of connections. Because everything I have described has been fulfilled, we are now living in a time of tremendous decisions, so that this juxtaposition of anthroposophical and non-anthroposophical people today is something full of decisions. It is either a matter of dissolving an old karma for those who are in the Anthroposophical Society, or it is a matter of spinning on a new karma for those who are not. And these are big differences.

Suppose an anthroposophist is close to a non-anthroposophist. Then it may be that the anthroposophist first has to make old karmic connections with the non-anthroposophist, or it may be that the non-anthroposophist has to make karmic connections with the anthroposophist for the future. At least these two cases are the only ones - of different kinds, of course - that I have been able to observe; there is nothing in between, nothing exists apart from these cases. But it is clear from this that it really is a time of great decisions: that either non-anthroposophists are worked upon in the sense that they come to the Michael Community, or that those who do not belong to the Michael Community are avoided by it. This is the time of the great decisions, that great crisis of which the holy books of all times speak and which is basically meant for our age. For that is precisely the peculiarity of Michael's impulses, that they are decisive and that they become decisive precisely in our age. The people who absorb the Michael impulses in the present incarnation through anthroposophy, they prepare their whole being by absorbing the Michael impulses in such a way that this goes far into those forces that are otherwise determined merely by racial and ethnic contexts.

Think how strongly one can speak of this: There is someone who is part of a national context. You can see that he is Russian, he is French, he is English, he is German. You can see that in the person, and that's how you log people, you put them in a place by thinking, when you see them, where they can belong. It is considered significant when you see that someone is a Turk, a Russian and so on. For those who today absorb anthroposophy as their deepest life force with real inner soul power, with heart impulsiveness, such distinctions will no longer make sense when they descend to earth again. They will say: Where did he come from? He is not from one people, he is not from one race, he is as if he had grown out of all races and peoples.

You see, when the last Michael reigned, in Alexander's time, the aim was to spread Greekness cosmopolitically, to carry it everywhere. A tremendous amount happened through the Alexander campaign to equalize people, to spread something in common. But this could not yet reach so deeply because Michael was still administering the cosmic intelligence. Now intelligence is on earth. Now it is becoming profound, now it is also intervening in the earthly aspects of human beings. The spiritual is preparing to become race-forming for the first time. And the time will come when it will no longer be possible to say: Man looks like this, therefore he belongs there, he is a Turk or an Arab or an Englishman or a Russian or a German; but one will have to say: In a previous life on earth man was urged to turn towards the spiritual in the Michaelic sense. So that directly physically-creative, physically-forming that which is influenced by Michael appears.

But this is then that which settles deeply, deeply into the karma of the individual. Hence the fate of those who are honest anthroposophists: not being able to come to terms with the world, and yet the need to approach the world seriously, in all seriousness.

I have hinted at how those people who are fully involved in the anthroposophical movement will return at the end of the century, that others will then unite with them, because this is precisely how the salvation of the earth, of earth civilization from decay, must ultimately be decided. This is, I would like to say, the mission of the anthroposophical movement, on the one hand heart-pressing, on the other heart-moving and inspiring. This mission must be looked at.

It is absolutely necessary for anthroposophists to know that in this situation karma is more difficult to experience for anthroposophists than for other people. First of all, those people who come into the Anthroposophical Society are virtually predestined to experience karma more severely than other people. And if you bypass this difficult experience, if you want to experience your karma comfortably, then you will take revenge in some way. One must also be able to be an anthroposophist in the experience of karma; one must be able to look attentively at the experience of karma in order to be a true anthroposophist. The comfortable experience of karma, the desire to experience karma comfortably, then leads precisely to the fact that it takes revenge in physical illness, in physical accidents and the like.

These finer connections of life must be looked at; then one can see many other things with these more intimate connections. And the best preparation for really seeing spiritually is to look at these more intimate connections in life. It is not a correct principle to want to develop all kinds of abnormal visionary states in a nebulous way. But it is tremendously important to deal with what is going on more intimately in the contexts of destiny that we can observe.

Do we not see it becoming our karma, my dear friends, that we live or have lived next to people who are inwardly absolutely prevented from approaching anthroposophy, inwardly prevented, despite everything and everything that is perhaps brought to them by us in anthroposophy, I don't want to say, but could be brought to them if they would only accept it? We can see that. This is something that belongs to the great decision of the present life. And what takes place there becomes karmically significant both for those who then come into the anthroposophical movement and for those who remain outside; it becomes extraordinarily significant.

For let us now imagine that these people meet again in a future incarnation - what happens to us in future incarnations is already being prepared in this incarnation -: then this meeting with people to whom we relate in the way I have now characterized will be such that it essentially increases the otherwise existing strangeness between people. For Michael also has an effect on physical sympathies and antipathies. But all this is already taking place in preparation, it is already taking place in preparation for each individual anthroposophist. It is therefore tremendously important for the anthroposophist to consider the karmic relationships that take place between him and non-anthroposophists. For there are things taking place which reach up into the next hierarchical realm. For you see, there is a counterpart to what I have described: that the Michael impulses even occur in a race-forming way; there is a counterpart to this.

Let us take the case that the karma is such that some personality is now seized in the most essential sense by the anthroposophical impulses, is seized with heart and mind, I would like to say, with spirit and soul. Then, yes, then something is necessary which sounds decidedly strange, paradoxical; but it is necessary: then his angel must learn something. And that, you see, is something tremendously important. The fate of the anthroposophists, which takes place between anthroposophists and non-anthroposophists, throws its waves into the world of the Angeloi. This leads to a separation of spirits in the world of the Angeloi. The Angelos who accompanies the anthroposophist to the next incarnations learns to find his way deeper into the spiritual realms than he could before. And the Angelos who belongs to the other, who cannot enter at all, sinks down. And the fate of the Angeloi is the first to show how the great divorce takes place. It is now so - and this is something, my dear friends, that I would like to point out to your hearts - that out of a relatively unified kingdom of the Angeloi a two-part kingdom of the Angeloi arises, a kingdom of the Angeloi with a pull up into higher worlds and with a pull down into lower worlds. While the formation of the Michael community is taking place here on earth, we can see above what is taking place here as the Michael community, ascending Angeloi (see drawing, yellow), descending Angeloi (green). Today, if you look deeper into the world, you can actually observe these currents, which have something heart-shaking about them, on an ongoing basis.

Now I said: those who come into anthroposophy essentially fall into two groups. The one group are those who still carry knowledge from the old paganism into it, and out of the paganism, without having much experience of that Christian development which still took place in the time of the Kali Yuga, have developed further and are now growing into that Christianity which is again to be a cosmic Christianity; thus pagan predestined souls who are actually only now growing into Christianity. The other group are those souls who are more tired of Christianity [tired of paganism?], but do not confess this to themselves, who grow into the anthroposophical movement from the outset because of its Christian character, whereby they grow less deeply into what anthroposophical cosmology, anthroposophical anthropology and so on is, but grow more into the abstractly religious. These two groups are clearly distinguished from each other.

The group that is to a certain extent still predestined to paganism has the particular need to grasp the supporting forces of anthroposophy with all inner intensity and, without allowing itself to be distracted by any considerations, so to speak, to go in the direction of these supporting anthroposophical forces.

After all, these are all things that basically have to pass into the hearts; but they have to pass into the hearts of anthroposophists. Only then will it be possible to truly live together within the Anthroposophical Society on the basis of concrete anthroposophy. For when precisely the more pagan souls bring out their forces, which in so many cases are already present in this incarnation on the basis of the souls, and which are only so difficult for some to bring out - when they bring them out, then an atmosphere of advancement will spread throughout the whole Anthroposophical Society in the very Michaelic sense.

But then one must have the courage to look into this strong struggle that is now taking place between what Michael must undertake to accomplish his great task and what Ahriman continually opposes. Ahriman has initially seized certain tendencies in the development of civilization and placed them at his service. Just think for a moment that the seizure of intelligence by man has only become possible since the 15th century, since the soul of consciousness has been seated in man; for it is human property, intelligence can appropriate it. It is only since that time that people have been able to acquire what makes them insist so enormously on this personally effective intelligence.

Try doing a small calculation, which actually involves something terribly large, but only spatially large, try doing a small calculation, my dear friends. Add up in your mind everything that is being thought in one day by all the newspaper writers all over the world, so that the newspapers can come into being. Please, survey this. Take stock of this sum of intelligence that is chewed out of the pens and put on paper, then printed and so on. Take an overview of the personal intelligence that is flooding through the world!

And now go back a few centuries, go back to the 13th century and see if there is anything like that at all. It's not there at all. There is no question of it being there at all.

But I would like to give you another task. Imagine in your mind - it is Sunday today, it is a special opportunity - how many meetings are held from the West to the East on political matters, on Europe, let's just say for the moment, how much personal intelligence floods into the atmosphere of the earth. Imagine the 13th century: people got along without that, without newspapers, without these meetings; none of that was there. If you imagine yourself in the 13th century, looking out over the world, you literally have a completely clear view. There are no newspaper editorial offices, there are no political meetings. None of that is there, you look around freely.

Today, if you look, the waves of personal intelligence are flooding in everywhere. They are there. You can't get through, it's an air to cut through, in the spiritual realm. Just as in some halls, where everyone steams out of their pipe or cigar, the air is cutting, so it is with the air in the spiritual realm.

If you want to judge the succession of epochs in any way, you have to bear these differences in mind. If you read historians like Ranke, you will not notice that this is the case; but these are the real facts.

But what is all this that has come in? All this is spiritual nourishment for the Ahrimanic powers. At first they have the opportunity to strike at precisely this area. Therefore, the possibilities of Ahriman's intervention in civilization have become more and more powerful. Such spirits as Ahriman are of course not there to incarnate on earth in the physical body, but they can nevertheless work on earth; they can work on earth by not incarnating, but by incorporating, namely for certain times. Then, when what I have spoken of occurs - clouding of consciousness in this or that person or distraction of consciousness only for periods of time - the human being forms a shell: Ahriman has the possibility, although not to incarnate, but to incorporate himself, to work with the abilities of the human being out of the human being.

It will be my task to speak precisely about this incarnation of the Ahrimanic. And I would then like to show to what extent, for example, Ahriman has even appeared as a writer in the course of modern times in order to point out what must be observed by those who want to observe realities today.