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Festivals of the Seasons
GA 117

26 December 1909, Berlin

6. The Spirit of Christmas

We have been endeavouring, as Christmas has drawn near, to enter into that spirit which also from the anthroposophical standpoint may be called the true spirit of Christmas. We have been seeking to realise that there is an interpretation of the Christmas Festival, which in a measure enables us to bring the spirit of Christmas to bear on everything of importance that happens to a man during the year. The celebration of the Christmas Festival, in the true anthroposophical spirit, is a matter of the utmost importance to the anthroposophist, especially at the present time. And what else could this mean, this ‘celebration of Christmas in the true anthroposophical spirit,’ but that all the year round we should set before ourselves, in fervency of soul, the endeavour to fulfil our spiritual duty towards the present stage of human evolution; and to this end we must understand the task of humanity in our time and continually enrich our souls through experiences drawn from the spiritual world. This is to be our aim, in order that we may be able, that we may have the right to belong to those whose task it is to accomplish the necessary spiritual work in the next epoch of humanity. Thus the whole year through, we seek to fill our thoughts with what Anthroposophy has to give us, to open our hearts to anthroposophical wisdom. And when the year draws to its close (and even outwardly this season has a symbolical importance, for in the outside world, owing to the limited power of the sun’s rays, an excess of darkness prevails), then, at this Festival time, let us try to understand how we may connect our Christmas Celebration with the anthroposophical year that is past. Let us be continually realising afresh that anthroposophical truth, in its entirety, must be permeated and illumined by that mighty Impulse which we call the Christ-Impulse! If we try in this way to inscribe the anthroposophical truths in our hearts and souls, as the message of Christ Himself, then we can indeed say: At Christmas-time we anthroposophists must develop the spirit of Christmas by allowing all that we have learned during the whole year to be lighted up in our souls by means of deeper feelings, so that new force may be generated in us. We must be able to feel that we not only know something of anthroposophical wisdom, but that it penetrates our soul, our heart, becomes in us an illuminating, glowing force, which enables us during the coming year to fulfil our duty and to carry on our work in any sphere of life in which we may be placed. If we thus seek to transmute the holy truths of the Spirit into holy feelings, into holy force in our souls, then will be born in us, on a higher plane, that which we learn at first by means of the forces of this earthly world. For this reason we ought, ever more and more, to call to mind those occasions upon which one or another of the human family strove to rise to those spiritual realms where the Christ Himself is to be found. The truly Christian poet, Novalis, has already guided us, during this Christmas-time, into these realms of spirit. And again to-day a little of that anthroposophical Christmas spirit just described—the kindling of feeling by means of those rays of warmth—may well be sought in the writings of a truly anthroposophical poet, such as Novalis was. Let us turn to Novalis.

We may perhaps most effectually realise, in the various forms in which Novalis gives us his rarest wisdom, how we may be enabled, through Anthroposophy, to fill life with a new glory. All around us life is rushing by, and our own work forms part of this modern whirl of life. When, through Anthroposophy, we gain the power of bringing wisdom down from the spiritual world, we shall gild the whole of life with the gold of anthroposophical wisdom, however prosaic circumstances may appear. This we must learn. We shall see that life becomes filled with a new glory, if each year we allow the anthroposophical Christmas-spirit to enter into our souls; if we, so to speak, allow Anthroposophy to be re-born within us at Christmas-time, as feeling and perception. We shall then feel how impossible it is, if we want to live here in the ordinary world, to attain, even in small degree, to spiritual perception. There is much to-day which hinders a man from unfolding his wings in order to rise to the spiritual world! Let me tell you briefly something which we may regard to a certain extent as symbolical.

Many of us, who come to Anthroposophy, may say: Ah! everything which it offers to me would be beautiful, would be glorious; it warms my heart and fills my soul with love, but I cannot believe it! I am bound by what I have learned in the outer world, by the prejudices which I have acquired. ‘That is mere idle fancy,’ say these prejudices: ‘These things do not rest on any sure foundation!’ Many a man is thus thrown into bitter doubt. If he could only rise above the prejudices of the outer world, by which he is so beset at the present time, if he could only feel himself free in the pure ether of the spirit, he would know himself to be in touch with spiritual forces, and he would be able to make use of these forces in his daily work. The following little event may serve as an illustration of that attitude of mind, which prevents the ordinary man of the present day from perceiving, without prejudice or hindrance, all that Anthroposophy is able to provide for heart and soul.

There lived a man in the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, the German Count Hardenberg. He had a son, whom we know as Novalis, and we have been able to admit in intimate anthroposophical circles, that the poems and deep wisdom given to the world by this son sprang from a soul which was the reincarnation of significant and powerful personalities, who had accomplished momentous things for the earth. But how was the father, surrounded as he was by the influences of the outer world, to recognise this soul in his son? How could he have even a suspicion of the spirit, which was able to express itself in the soul of this son? He was as unable to free himself from the prejudices of the material world and his connection with the actualities of life around him, as many to-day, who are influenced by the prejudices of our time, are unable to perceive the impelling force of the spiritual wisdom of Anthroposophy. The old Hardenberg would have had to free himself, as it were, from harshness in his misunderstanding of his son; he would have had to rise above a completely material life, before he could feel, within his Moravian Community, anything of a deeply religious spirit—or, as one might perhaps say, ‘A knowledge of the universal spirit as it was understood in the olden days.’ Those traditional, authoritative influences which are operative within such a community were necessary in order that his inmost soul might be affected by that true Christian spirit, which can only be understood when it has received anthroposophical inspiration.

Old Hardenberg had once a remarkable experience of the breath of that Christian spirit, when he and others were assembled in the Moravian Church, and they began to sing one of their hymns. By means of this hymn, the origin of which he did not know, there came to him a breath from the eternal world. He was deeply moved by the hymn beginning:

Without Thee, where should I have ended,
Without Thee, what should I have done?

He perceived something which hitherto he had been unable to perceive! The service came to an end. Old Hardenberg went out and asked some of his fellow-worshippers: ‘Who then is the writer of this glorious poem?’ ‘It was written by your son,’ was the reply. Old Hardenberg, freed from all the associations of the ordinary world, undisturbed by the prejudices of the physical plane, had felt the compelling power of the spiritual life. But his son, as far as his physical body was concerned, had already been in his grave for some months. For this experience only came to old Hardenberg some months after the death of Novalis. Only when his surroundings were such as enabled him for a short time to escape from all his preconceived physical-plane ideas, was he borne upwards into the spiritual heights, and realised their constraining force—that constraining force which we ought to feel, untroubled by all the prejudices of the material world. Let us rise above the materialistic prejudices of the present day! Let us feel the constraining force of the spiritual life, and let power and warmth flow from it into our hearts! If we do this, we shall then fulfil our duty towards the humanity of the present day. Through this illustration, taken from a real experience of Novalis’ father, I wished to lead you into that spirit to which we now want to attain, by means of the strong, anthroposophical forces which lie in the songs of Novalis. (Here follow readings from Novalis’ ‘Spiritual Songs.’)

This time of Festival perhaps makes it easier not only to understand and to know, but to feel and to realise, all that we have been considering, through so many anthroposophical hours, in connection with our Gospels. And we know that a large part of the time which we had at our disposal during this past year, was devoted to this Gospel study. There are still further important deductions to be drawn from our study of the Gospels, and now, in the short lecture to-day, in which we must still think of our Christmas Festival, let us realise what is associated with that Event—the Christ-Event—which should be so vividly before us at Christmas-time.

Consideration of the Christ-Event enables us to estimate very fully the significance and force of the anthroposophical conception of the universe, as it affects the present time, and also the future of humanity. If we allow ourselves to be influenced by the same deep feeling for the Christ-Event, which filled the soul of Novalis, we shall continually be constrained to ask ourselves afresh: ‘How can that mighty impulse, which entered into mankind when Christ was born in Palestine, become more and more a reality to us?’ At the present time we are right in associating Anthroposophy with the Christ-Event. Could we but show how the different streams of human spiritual life, which existed before the time of Christ, were united in the Event of Palestine, we could also show how great a number of people have, at the best, but a dim idea of the Event of Palestine, and how it will only gradually be possible to understand it, in its full power and significance, in the far future, when men come to seek a more spiritual view of life. For however great may be the wisdom gained in the course of the evolution of the earth, this wisdom will only find its deepest fulfilment as it makes itself into an instrument for the understanding of what the Christ-Impulse really is. We are thus faced with the immediate necessity of bringing direct spiritual experience to bear upon the Christ-Event. At the time in which Christ walked on earth in bodily form, humanity received the great and powerful impulse to rise again into the spiritual world, but even now this impulse is only apprehended, in its true form, by those souls who are fitted to receive it. On the other hand, as though to complete the measure of that which must be overcome, humanity has continued to descend more and more deeply into materialism. Man’s whole existence is, in fact, a descent into matter. During the post-Atlantean time also, man has become ever more and more immersed in matter. The Christ-Event signified the impulse which enables men once more to ascend, but this empowering impulse has as yet been but little realised. On the other hand, the descent into matter, even during the time since Christ, has manifested itself ever more and more forcibly, and, as the result of this descent, the whole thinking, feeling, and perception of man have been injuriously affected. To-day we are already living in an age in which materialistic investigation is brought to bear on our understanding of the Christ-Event. And since we are met for serious thought, it is fitting to refer to such a serious matter as this application of materialistic investigation even to the most spiritual event that has ever happened on the earth. We see that the materialistic theology of the present day states on the authority of so-called ‘higher criticism,’ that it is impossible to give any proof of an outward historical Christ, and there are already theologians who say: ‘Higher criticism compels us to admit, that “ historically ” it cannot be proved that, at the beginning of our era, there lived in Palestine One of whom the Gospels proclaim such mighty facts, and from whom such mighty impulses appear to have been poured into the spiritual life of humanity.’ Thus Science to-day, as a result of its methods, seems to feel called upon to do away with the historical Christ. On this account, we need to remember that Spiritual Science, in accordance with its principles, is now being called upon to prove the historical Christ Jesus. The faith of men does not depend upon the truths belonging to any particular branch of learning. Illustration after illustration could be given to prove how threadbare such learning is. But people may spend their lives without perceiving that such proofs exist. Thus also in the future (and this will be the case for a long time to come) an ever-increasing number of people will follow the line of materialistic thought and will be influenced more and more by the belief that the true historical method must needs deny the certainty of an historical Christ Jesus. Science would seem to abolish that for which we are hoping to obtain a new symbol in the light of golden wisdom. The time will surely come, in which Christ will only be known in circles such as this, where through the study of Spiritual Science light is thrown on the words: ‘I am with you al way even to the end of the world,’ and where those who are able to investigate for themselves, through spiritual vision, will know that He, from Whom the Christian impulse has gone forth, is ever to be found in the spiritual world, and that certainty with regard to the Christ-Event is to be obtained from within that spiritual world. Only in circles in which such spiritual truths are acknowledged will it be possible to reach the assurance of that for which this symbol is once more being sought. And the outer world will not accept any proof that the historical, the outer scientific method, is itself built on an uncertain foundation. Certainly those who are able to understand the nature and value of Science to-day know already how threadbare and unfounded its methods are, and therefore how little is proved when those who believe they are proceeding on strictly scientific lines come to the conclusion that history provides no proof that any of the persons, from Christ down to the Apostles, ever lived.

But it will be a long time yet before men free themselves from that belief in authority which does not appear to them to be belief in authority. The worst form of this belief exists at the present time. And men do not perceive that He Who really frees us from belief in authority, is He Who taught man to build in his inmost being on the power of his own Ego. He who has revealed to us what the Ego is capable of taking into itself can also show us how to find the source and the power of truth within our own being. With Christ within, we find truth within; with Christ within, we find the sure foundation for free and independent judgment, a foundation which is deeper than that of authority. But during this hour, when our thoughts are turned to the Christ-Event, let us give our earnest attention, in order that we may realise our calling as anthroposophists. Perhaps I should postpone for future lectures what I now propose to include here, were it not that it will be some time before we meet again. But I want to direct your attention to what the anthroposophist should recognise as one of the most significant signs of the time in which he is living, namely, the impossibility, so to speak, of the scientific methods of the present day. One cannot hope to convince those who wish to believe in the material science which in our time explains away even the historical Christ. But there must be some who, through the teaching of Anthroposophy, understand something of the way in which material science is failing in all departments and how, in the future, spiritual life alone can promote the welfare of mankind.

In current events people fail to see the most important point. A lawsuit was recently held in Vienna, in which the whole civilised world was interested. Because this lawsuit was considered of importance, the whole of Europe may be said to have assembled in order to gain information from it, but probably the most important thing which happened there passed unnoticed. And even if this most important point were put into words those, who were not anthroposophically prepared, would regard it as a mere fantasy. A certain professor of history was present, a man famous in Europe, esteemed by the rest of his profession, who had written important words in accordance with the strict methods of historical research—a ‘good dabbler in learning.’ This dabbler in learning became possessed of a series of documents, which had been handed over by one of the southern countries of Europe. These documents were to prove that there had been treachery in the south-east of Austria. Now who could be more fitted, according to present-day ideas, to put the matter to the test than a professor of history? A historian, before all others, ought to be called upon to examine the value of documents. All the beliefs of the world are founded on documents! Truth is determined by the testing of documents and the way in which they are applied and compared. The truth, even about the miracle of Christianity, can be reached in no other way! The historian and investigator into whose hands these documents fell, was also a pupil of the professor of history whom I like to call to mind when I think of my own young days. There were, at that time, two historians; the one carried on his investigations in accordance with the strictest methods of documental research, the other, his colleague, paid less heed to these strict methods and was more concerned in seeing that the candidates knew something of real historical events. Now it happened that the favourite pupil of this investigator of documents was to take his degree. He was examined first in the science of ancient documents, i.e., the science by means of which one learns to establish satisfactorily how to arrive at the truth through outward material means. For instance, he was asked in which Papal Document the dot over the i appeared for the first time. This is, of course, a very important piece of knowledge, and the candidate knew instantly that it was in the time of a certain ‘Innocent’ that the dot over the i first appeared. But the other historian, his colleague, then said: ‘May I now ask something of the candidate who knew so exactly when the dot over the i first appeared?’ ‘Can you tell me, sir, when the Pope, in whose documents the dot over the i first appeared, ascended the Papal throne?’ No, he did not know that. ‘Do you know then, perhaps, when he died?’ No, he did not know that either. ‘Now tell me something else about this Pope.’ He knew nothing! Then said the Professor, whose favourite pupil he was, ‘Really, sir, it seems as if you are very stupid to-day.’ To which the other rejoined, ‘But, my dear colleague, he is your favourite pupil! Who then has made him very stupid?’

The historian in question had not, at that time, proceeded far on the path of learning. But he became an able student of ancient documents, capable of establishing the truth with regard to times far past, by means of historical investigation. So what more suitable person could be found to discover if there were any treachery in the documents which had been handed over to him from a most important quarter? In accordance with the methods of historical research he duly examined them, and in a public article made serious accusations against a number of people. This resulted in a lawsuit, and, during this lawsuit, one of the most important documents was proved to be an altogether clumsy forgery. The whole point lay in the fact that a certain personality ought to have taken the chair at the meeting of a society in a certain town; but on making inquiry, it was ascertained that this man had been elsewhere during the time in question.

We see here the methods of historical research at work on documents dealing with events of the present day and the only result in this case was that these methods were turned to a laughing-stock. The important point to which I alluded is this: not that any man, or men, were condemned, but that the historical, scientific method was completely condemned. And this was the really significant point which a modern lawsuit brought to light. We ought therefore seriously to face the question: What is a method worth, which sets out to decide whether something took place eighteen or nineteen centuries ago, when it is not in the position to discover anything about the plainest modern affairs? Here Science itself was brought to judgment and this is a fact that should be recognised! A science, arising out of the materialistic prejudices of the present day, will always be brought to judgment, if people are so indolent that they accept authorities without knowing what they are. The present day demands that we should know what our authority is. If, with an earnest belief in a spiritual philosophy, we give ourselves to the study of what is known to-day as Science, we shall see how it vanishes, how it proves to be built on sandy foundations and falls to pieces when we really set to work upon it earnestly. But men are not willing to regard the things of the present day from the spiritual standpoint. Men are not conscientious enough (that is, those who are outside anthroposophical life) to judge for themselves as to the character of these methods, which force materialistic, authoritative opinion into the minds of men. Hence for a long time to come, except within the intimate circle of anthroposophical influence, there will be no possibility of perceiving, in its true form, that which is for the highest welfare of mankind. And as Science increasingly questions and does away with that which took place in Palestine and which we symbolically bring to life anew in our hearts every year, then the anthroposophical, spiritual world-movement will provide a place in which the power of the Event in Palestine will shine forth ever more and more clearly and from this centre there will stream forth again into the rest of humanity that life which can only proceed from this Event. What can develop in our souls through a true inner experience of the Event of Palestine?

‘I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’

We may look upon this as the fundamental word of Christ Jesus. That is to say, Christ Jesus lived in Palestine in bodily form at the beginning of our era. Since that time He is to be found in the spiritual world; for He has united Himself with the spiritual atmosphere of the Earth. He became ‘The Spirit of the Earth,’ If we seek Him within the spiritual atmosphere of our Earth, we find Him there. He permeates the whole life of our Earth ever more and more. But what are men to gain through the continual indwelling of the Christ- Spirit? If we want to understand clearly what men are to gain in the future through the dwelling of the Christ-Spirit in their souls, then we must continue what has been already attempted for some time in our anthroposophical movement. What we are doing in this movement has not arisen from any arbitrary spirit—not from any programme drawn up merely by this or that man. Spiritual life is traced back ultimately to those sources which we seek in the individualities whom we call the ‘Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feeling.’ Through them, if we search rightly, we shall find the impulse which will enable us to work as we ought to work, from epoch to epoch, from age to age.

A great impulse has recently come to us from the spiritual world and today, on this solemn Christmas evening, let us refer to this momentous impulse—a direction, so to speak, which has come to us during recent years from the spiritual world. It is through this impulse that our anthropsophical movement here in Central Europe has developed. We might describe this impulse in human words somewhat in the following manner:

‘Look at what is happening in the outer world: the words of the Gospels are becoming more and more misunderstood! They are being explained childishly, they are being tested by outward historical methods. The spiritual investigator must for a time disregard all merely outward history. What is necessary now is that the Gospels should again be understood quite literally, for it is through the literal understanding of them that the real depths of their Wisdom are reached.’

The spiritual world has directed us to become acquainted once more with the literal meaning of the Gospels, to understand what is contained in the actual wording of them. And all that we have attempted in our study of the Gospels of St. John, St. Luke and St. Matthew and which we hope still to attempt in our consideration of the Gospel of St. Mark, has arisen from this impulse, as it developed and took shape. We ought to try once again to understand the Gospels literally! This we are told by those who have given us this impulse from the spiritual world. Such is the ‘coming Christianity,’ the following of this impulse to understand the Gospels in their literalness. And what shall we gain through the literal understanding of the Gospels, through giving heed to the instruction of the Spiritual Powers who have spoken from the astral plane with such clearness as would scarcely be possible a second time in one century? We shall gain what is necessary if we desire to make ourselves into instruments which shall be able to guide the coming era of humanity in the right way, able to direct that which requires guidance and instruction in the world around us.

When we look back on the evolution of mankind in the remote past, we know that the human ego was not yet fully developed. As we trace back the evolution of man, we come to the Group-soul. A certain number of human beings had at that time an Ego-soul in common, just as animals still have a group-soul to-day. We find this in every race. Thus we know that humanity has developed itself from the group-soul consciousness and at the time when Christ came down to our Earth humanity had reached the point in which the old group-souls were beginning to lose their significance. The old group-souls had withdrawn. Every man was now called upon to develop his own individual soul, his true individuality. And who brought that which was to be poured into the individual soul? It was brought by the Christ-Impulse! And the more we fill ourselves with the Christ-Impulse, the richer will our individuality become, so that those truths, which we need to carry over into the future, spring up within the Ego itself. At the present time we are at an important turning-point. Many are asking to-day: What does it mean, that we, anthroposophists, speak of reincarnation, when we have no recollection of any previous life? It is true, we have as yet no such recollection. But I have already pointed out, that if we take a four-year old child and say, ‘This is a human being, but he cannot reckon! that is no proof that human beings are unable to reckon. One must wait until the child has grown old enough to learn; in ten years he will be able to reckon I In the same way the human soul will so mature, that it will be able to remember past incarnations. Whether it will remember correctly or not is another matter.

We are at an important turning-point. In the fourth post-Atlantean period, Christ descended as that Impulse whereby man is enabled to realise his individuality as a self-dependent being. We are now in the fifth Period, the last in which men are unable to recall their former incarnations. In the sixth Period, which will succeed our own, men will have the power to recall the past. Whether they remember correctly depends upon how they receive into their souls to-day the impulse thereto: whether they make themselves capable of remembering in the right way. In the future only those will remember their present existence in the right way, who have taken into themselves the Christ- Impulse, the source of true individuality. On the other hand, those who do not appropriate this source of true individuality will form new group-souls. Look at the impulse there is in men to-day towards the group-soul spirit, although there is no need for it, when they might find instead the sources of truth springing up in their own souls. It is well-known how everybody wants to do as ‘they’, the other people, do. Men do not look for what is to be found in their own souls, but they follow that which leads them into companies and groups and we see them happiest when they can have, not truths which are independent, but those which are held in common with others. Yes, and what is more, people hate individuality and they think that through this hatred of what is individual they can forge the strongest weapon against such wisdom as the anthroposophical. For anthroposophical wisdom must shine forth in the soul of each individual, it cannot be forced upon us by lever and screw, or by means of the rack. All that Anthroposophy says must come to us without the help of any external instrument. We must each one of us appropriate its teachings for himself, without being persuaded through any outward means, because it belongs to the invisible world into which each one must enter through his own power of thought. Through anthroposophical wisdom a man becomes individual. If we receive this wisdom in the true individual way—i.e., permeated by the Christ-Impulse—then there sinks into our souls that which will enable us to recall, in the sixth Period, an individuality, which each man has for himself, which belongs exclusively to himself. On the other hand, the memory of those who to-day are seeking to live in the old group-soul spirit, will be such that the group-soul consciousness will still be present. They will remember their present incarnation in the sixth Period, but they will then see clearly that they made their judgment at that time dependent on the judgment of others. And it will be a fearful chain for a man to be obliged to feel himself as part of a group-soul consciousness.

The prospect of being bound to the group-soul consciousness threatens all those who are unable to receive the Christ-Impulse in our time. When we accept the Christ-Event, that Event which is the message to us of our human individuality, there enters into our souls the possibility of attaining the goal which humanity is to reach in the sixth Period—viz., that we should not look back to a group-soul consciousness, but to an individuality, permeated by the Christ. Thus he who comprehends Christianity in the right way to-day and understands how to inspire and permeate it with the spirit of Anthroposophy, will be enabled to rise to his full height and to be an instrument for work in the sixth Period.

That then is the question: whether we resolve to look back from our reincarnations in the sixth Period, upon our present ego as a non-individual, lacking in independence, bound up in the group-soul consciousness, or whether we desire to remember an ego, which has laid hold for itself of the source of spirituality in our Earth-evolution, which has laid hold of the great Word. Before all personality existed, before there was anything belonging to humanity upon the earth and ‘before Abraham was, was the I AM.’ That which lives within us is in close union with the Father-Spirit—something is brought to life in us through the understanding of the Christ-Impulse and it is this understanding alone which unites us consciously with the source of the universe. Thus the entering of the Christ-Impulse into our souls signifies the possibility of rising again in the sixth Period as individual beings who look back upon an independent existence. If we allow the Christ, truly understood, to be born within us, we shall be able to awaken the remembrance of this Christ in the sixth post-Atlantean Period. And if in the fifth Period, we celebrate a true Christmas Festival, we shall then be able to celebrate a true Easter Festival in the sixth Period. As the beautiful Christmas hymn sings in our hearts on Christmas night: ‘Unto you is born this day a Saviour, Christ, the Lord,’ so, in looking back to the birth of the Christ in our souls, we shall hear within ourselves the announcement of this true Higher Ego. We shall look back upon this, and shall allow the memory of it to arise as an Easter Festival within ourselves; and then we shall be able to hear the grand and beautiful strains of Easter music: ‘May the Christ arise in us, enkindling and illuminating our own divine individuality.’ In this way the Festivals of Christmas and Easter are linked together in the fifth and sixth Periods of our post-Atlantean epoch—this is how we must learn to understand what we are taught in the Gospels. We have already partially learned and we shall learn still further, how the forces of Buddha, of Zoroaster and those of the old Hebrew race, flowed together in Christianity, and how, as the Gospels also show, they were united in the Person of Jesus Christ. That which has lived and moved in the world in pre-Christian times, must now live in our own individuality: it must be born again, penetrated by the Christ- Impulse. We then celebrate the anthroposophical Christmas Festival in our own souls, the birth of Christ in ourselves. And if we carry this inner knowledge of the Christ through Kamaloka and Devachan and back into a new life on earth and ever again into new earthly existences, until the sixth Period is reached, we shall then remember what we experienced in the fifth Period, and shall thus celebrate in ourselves the Christian Easter Festival.

So, through the Christmas symbol, may that live in us symbolically, which we have been learning of late from the Gospels concerning the Mystery of Christ. So may these lights, now burning before us, incite us to give ourselves up to that impulse, which comes to us from the spiritual world: i.e., to understand the Gospels literally! And we look upon these outward lights as symbols of those lights which must be kindled in our souls and which, if they are kindled through the anthroposophical knowledge of Christ, will still bum in the sixth Period of the post-Atlantean epoch.

Let us feel, just at this Christmas Festival, that it is for us to resolve to become worthy instruments for the future evolution of humanity. Let us feel the full meaning and gravity of this anthroposophical resolve: we are not to be anthroposophists for our own sakes alone; but, taking into consideration what has just been said, we are to be anthroposophists from a sense of duty towards humanity. Let there shine down upon us symbolically from the Christmas-tree, the Light which can fill us with enthusiasm for our spiritual mission to the race. We shall then have understood something of that which can again give us strength in this New Year to become ever more and more familiar with anthroposophical life and anthroposophical wisdom.

Weihnachtsstimmung

Wir haben versucht, in den Tagen vor Weihnachten uns zu jener Stimmung zu erheben, die auch im anthroposophischen Sinne die rechte Weihnachtsstimmung genannt werden kann. Wir versuchten uns damals vor die Seele zu rufen, daß es eine Auslegung des Weihnachtsfestes gibt, die in gewisser Weise die Weihnachtsstimmung anwendbar macht auf alles dasjenige, was Wichtiges im Jahreserlebnis des Menschen vorgeht. Für den Erkenntnissuchenden, insbesondere in unserer Gegenwart, muß es zu den wichtigsten Stimmungen gehören, der Geist-Erkenntnis selber gegenüber sozusagen Weihnacht feiern zu können. Und der Geist-Erkenntnis gegenüber Weihnacht feiern, was könnte es denn anderes heißen, als sich einmal so recht innig, inbrünstig in die Seele rufen, wie wir das Jahr über versuchen, unsere spirituelle Pflicht gegenüber der heutigen Menschheitsentwickelung dadurch zu erfüllen, daß wir verstehen die Aufgabe der Menschheit in unserer Zeit, daß wir unsere Seelen immer reicher und reicher an Inhalt machen, der dem Erlebnis der geistigen Welt entnommen ist, um so zu denjenigen Menschen gehören zu können, gehören zu dürfen, welche die notwendige geistige Arbeit in der nächsten Menschheitsepoche werden zu leisten haben.

So suchen wir denn in unsere Seelen zu senken das ganze Jahr hindurch geisteswissenschaftlichen Gehalt, versuchen einzudringen in die anthroposophische Weisheit. Und wenn dann das Jahr jenem Ende zuneigt, das sich schon äußerlich als ein wichtiges dadurch symbolisiert, daß außen um uns herum durch die geringe Kraft der Sonnenstrahlen ein Übermaß an Finsternis herrscht, dann versuchen wir in dieser Festeszeit zu verstehen, wie wir in bezug auf dieses anthroposophische Jahr unsere Weihnachten feiern können. Versuchen wir uns ja doch immer aufs neue klarzumachen, daß durchdrungen und durchleuchtet sein muß die ganze anthroposophische Wahrheit von jenem mächtigen Impuls, den wir den Christus-Impuls nennen!

Versuchen wir so uns die anthroposophischen Wahrheiten in das Herz einzuschreiben, in die Seele einzuschreiben wie die Botschaft des Christus selber, so dürfen wir wohl sagen, zur Weihnachtszeit sollen wir Anthroposophen Weihnachtsstimmung dadurch entwickeln, daß wir das, was wir das ganze Jahr hindurch in uns aufnehmen, in unserer Seele selber von tieferen Gefühlen durchleuchtet sein lassen so, daß es ganz Kraft wird, und daß wir fühlen können: wir wissen nicht nur etwas von der anthroposophischen Weisheit, sondern sie dringt in unsere Seele, in unser Herz, so daß sie eine lichtdurchdrungene Wärmekraft ist, die uns befähigt, auf allen Gebieten des Lebens, wo immer wir stehen mögen, in dem kommenden Jahr unsere Pflicht zu erfüllen, unsere Arbeit zu verrichten. Wenn wir also versuchen, die heiligen Wahrheiten vom Geiste zu verwandeln in heilige Gefühle, in heilige Kraft in unserer Seele, dann wird in uns auf einer höheren Stufe dasjenige geboren, was wir zunächst mit den Kräften dieser irdischen Welt in uns aufnehmen. Deshalb dürfen wir ja auch wohl um die Weihnachtszeit immer mehr und mehr derjenigen Gelegenheiten gedenken, durch welche dieser oder jener unserer ganzen Menschheit sich hinaufzuerheben versuchte in jene Regionen der Spiritualität, wo der Christus selber zu finden ist. In die Region dieser Gefühle hatte uns bereits zu Weihnachten geleitet unser echt deutschchristlicher Dichter Novalis. Und auch heute darf wohl ein wenig jene Weihnachtsstimmung, wie sie eben angedeutet worden ist — das SichDurchwärmen an jenen Wärmestrahlen -, ausgehen von einem wirklich theosophischen Dichter, wie Novalis es war. Kommen wir auf Novalis, da, wo er seine schönsten Weistümer herrlich poetisch uns gibt, da können wir vielleicht am wärmsten fühlen, wie wir aus der Geist-Erkenntnis die Möglichkeit gewinnen sollen, das Leben mit einem neuen Glanze zu erfüllen.

Draußen braust das Leben an uns vorbei, und unsere eigene Arbeit verbindet sich mit dem heutigen Gebrause des Lebens. Wenn wir innerhalb der Anthroposophie die Möglichkeit gewinnen, Weisheit aus der spirituellen Welt herunterzuholen, so werden wir überall, so prosaisch auch die Gelegenheiten zu sein scheinen, mit dem Golde der anthroposophischen Weisheit das Leben vergolden. Das müssen wir lernen. Dann werden wir schon sehen, wie wir das Leben mit einem neuen Glanze erfüllen, wenn wir jedes Jahr einmal anthroposophische Weihnachtsstimmung in unsere Seele einziehen lassen, wenn wir die Anthroposophie sozusagen als Gefühl und Empfindung zur Weihnachtszeit wiedergeboren werden lassen in uns selbst. Wir werden dann fühlen, wie unmöglich es ist, wenn wir drinnenbleiben wollen in der gewöhnlichen Welt, zu der Spiritualität sich auch nur einigermaßen ahnend hinaufzuerheben. Oh, es gibt der Anlässe viele, die den heutigen Menschen hindern, die Flügel zu entfalten, um hinaufzukommen in die geistige Welt! Symbolisch kann es uns gleichsam sein, was ich Ihnen kurz erzählen will.

Es kann gar mancher von uns an die Geisteswissenschaft herankommen, kann sagen: Ach, das alles, was mir die Geisteswissenschaft bietet, wäre schön, wäre herrlich, das alles macht mein Herz warm, meine Seele liebevoll; aber - ich kann es nicht glauben! Alles, was ich in der äußeren Welt gelernt habe, die Vorurteile, die ich mir angeeignet habe, das hält mich fest, das sagt mir: Dies ist ja doch nur Träumerei, dies ist ja doch nicht auf einen vollen sicheren Grund gebaut! So steht gar mancher im bitteren Zweifel drinnen. Würde er sich herausheben können aus den Vorurteilen der gegenwärtig ihn arg bedrängenden äußeren Welt, würde er frei empfinden können im reinen Äther des Geistes, er würde sehen, daß er die Kraft des Geistigen empfindet, und er würde sie auch heruntertragen in die Arbeit seiner Hände im alltäglichen Leben. Symbolisch für diese Empfindung, die so hindert den Alltagsmenschen, der hineingestellt ist in die Gegenwart, frei und ungehemmt zu empfinden, was die Geisteswissenschaft geben kann für Herz und Seele, symbolisch dafür kann ein kleines Ereignis sein.

Da war ein Mann des 18., 19. Jahrhunderts, der deutsche Adlige Hardenberg. Er hatte einen Sohn, von dem wir gestehen durften im engeren Arbeitskreise, daß er Dichtungen und Weistümer gegeben hat aus einer Seele heraus, welche die Wiederverkörperung war von bedeutsamen, mächtigen Persönlichkeiten, die Wichtiges geleistet hatten für die Erde. Aber stehend unter der Einwirkung der äußeren Welt auf den Menschen, wie sollte denn der Vater diese Seele in diesem Sohne erkennen? Wie sollte er denn ahnen den Geist, der sich losringen konnte aus der Seele dieses Sohnes? Ebensowenig hat er es gekonnt, aus den Vorurteilen der materiellen Welt, des Zusammenlebens mit der physischen Wirklichkeit sich frei zu machen, wie heute viele Menschen wenig rein empfinden können, aus den Vorurteilen unserer Welt heraus, die zwingende Kraft der spirituellen Weisheit der Anthroposophie.

Der alte Hardenberg hatte sich von der ganz rauhen Seite seines Unverstandes gegenüber seinem Sohn sozusagen losgerungen gehabt. Aus dem vollen materiellen Leben hat er sich hinaufgeschwungen, um in seiner Herrnhuter-Gemeinde dennoch einiges zu empfinden von einem tief religiösen Geiste, man könnte etwa sagen von dem Erkennen des Weltengeistes noch in der alten Weise. Dazu aber hatte er es nicht gebracht, die Kraft und Gewalt der Weistümer zu empfinden, die aus der Seele seines Sohnes kamen. Dazu bedurfte es schon der durch lange Zeiten hindurch festgelegten autoritativen Empfindungen, die man innerhalb einer solchen Gemeinde suggestiv fühlen kann, daß er ergriffen wurde in seiner tiefsten Seele von jenem wirklichen christlichen Geist, der nur verstanden werden kann, wenn er vom Hauch der Geist-Erkenntnis durchweht ist.

Der alte Hardenberg fühlte einmal merkwürdig jenen Hauch des Geistes, des christlichen Geistes, als er in seiner Herrnhuter-Gemeinde mit den andern Persönlichkeiten beisammen war und als man ein gemeinschaftliches Lied anstimmte. Durch dieses Lied, dessen Ursprung er nicht kannte, wehte ihn an ein Ewigkeitshauch, und er war tief ergriffen von jenem Lied, das da begann:

Was wär ich ohne dich gewesen?
Was würd ich ohne dich nicht sein?

Etwas fühlte er, was er bisher nicht hatte fühlen können. Und die Feier war zu Ende. Der alte Hardenberg ging hinaus und fragte einige, die Mitteilnehmer waren: Von wem ist denn dieses herrliche Gedicht? — Das ist ja von Ihrem Sohn! — Losgelöst von allem Zusammenhang mit dem Physischen, nicht beirrt durch die Vorurteile des physischen Planes, hatte der alte Hardenberg die zwingende Gewalt des spirituellen Lebens gefühlt. Der Sohn aber war seit einigen Monaten bereits in bezug auf seinen physischen Leib unter der Erde! Denn dieses Erlebnis hatte der alte Hardenberg erst einige Monate nach Novalis’ Tode. Als der alte Hardenberg so imstande war, durch die Umstände für eine kurze Zeit abzustreifen von dem physischen Plan alle die Vorurteile, die sich da ergeben, da wurde er hinaufgetragen in die spirituellen Höhen, wo er ihre zwingende Gewalt fühlte, die zwingende Macht der spirituellen Höhen, welche wir fühlen sollen unbekümmert um alle Vorurteile der materiellen Welt. Lassen wir sie unten, die materialistischen Vorurteile der Gegenwart! Fühlen wir das Zwingende des spirituellen Lebens und lassen wir uns aus demselben Kraft und Wärme in unser Herz fließen! Tun wir das zur rechten Zeit, dann werden wir unsere Pflichten in bezug auf die Menschheit der Gegenwart erfüllen.

Mit diesem Symbolum, das entnommen ist einem wirklichen Erlebnis des Vaters des Novalis, wollte ich Sie hinführen zu der Stimmung, zu der wir uns jetzt erheben wollen durch jene zwingende Gewalt, die in des Novalis Liedern liegt.

Hier trug Marie von Sivers (Marie Steiner) neun «Geistliche Lieder» des Novalis vor.

Es ist vielleicht am leichtesten möglich, gerade innerhalb dieser Festeszeit auch so recht zu fühlen und zu empfinden, nicht nur zu verstehen und zu wissen, dasjenige, was wir so manche Stunde hindurch im Anschluß an unsere Evangelien betrachtet haben. Und der Betrachtung dieser Evangelien war ja ein großer Teil der Zeit gewidmet, die wir für solche Betrachtungen im verflossenen Jahre zur Verfügung hatten. So sei denn heute in dieser kurzen Betrachtung, die sich an unsere Weihnachtsfeier noch anschließen soll, auch mehr hingedeutet auf wichtige Folgerungen, die sich ergeben aus unserer Evangelienbetrachtung: die Zusammenhänge mit jenem Ereignis, das uns insbesondere zur Weihnachtszeit so lebendig vor Augen stehen soll - die Zusammenhänge mit dem Christus-Ereignis.

Wir können an dem Christus-Ereignis nach mancherlei Richtungen die Bedeutung und Gewalt der anthroposophischen Weltanschauung für die Gegenwart und für die Menschheitszukunft ermessen. Wenn wir gegenüber dem Christus-Ereignis eine solche tiefe Empfindung in unserer Seele wirken lassen, wie diejenige des Novalis war, werden wir ja immer aufs neue aufgefordert, uns zu fragen: Wie können wir immer mehr und mehr die Wahrheit dessen empfinden, was als ein gewaltiger Impuls eingezogen ist in die Menschheit, als in Palästina der Christus Jesus geboren worden ist? — Und wir dürfen in unserer Gegenwart gerade die Anthroposophie mit diesem Christus-Ereignis in einen innigen Zusammenhang bringen. Konnten wir doch zeigen, wie die verschiedenen Strömungen des menschlichen Geisteslebens der vorchristlichen Zeit zusammenfließen in dem Ereignis von Palästina. Wir konnten darauf hinweisen, wie dieses Ereignis von Palästina heute von einer großen Anzahl von Menschen höchstens geahnt wird, und wie es nach und nach erst, wenn sich die Menschen in spiritueller Hinsicht vertiefen werden, in seiner ganzen Gewalt und Bedeutung in ferner Zukunft wird begriffen werden können. Denn welche Weisheit man auch wird aufbringen im Laufe der Erdentwickelung: die schönste Vertiefung wird diese Weisheit einmal finden können dadurch, daß sie sich zum Instrument machen wird, um zu begreifen, was der Christus-Impuls eigentlich ist.

Heute stehen wir schon in einer gewissen Beziehung vor der unmittelbaren Notwendigkeit, aus den spirituellen Erlebnissen heraus auf dieses Christus-Ereignis hinzuweisen. Die Menschheit hat zur Zeit, als der Christus in Leibesggstalt auf der Erde wandelte, den großen, gewaltigen Impuls bekommen, hinaufzusteigen wiederum in die geistige Welt. Aber dieser Impuls wirkt doch, noch bis in unsere Zeit hinein, sozusagen als ein Impuls, der gerade nur die geeigneten Seelen in seiner wahren Gestalt ergriffen hat. Dagegen die Menschheit als solche setzte zunächst, wie um das Maß dessen, was überwunden werden soll, voll zu machen, den Weg fort, herunter immer tiefer und tiefer in das materielle Dasein. Es ist ja des Menschen Dasein ein Heruntersteigen in die Materie. Immer tiefer und tiefer stieg der Mensch auch in den nachatlantischen Zeiten in die Materie herunter. Das Christus-Ereignis bedeutet den Kraftimpuls, wiederum hinaufzusteigen. Aber dieser Kraftimpuls ist nur zum geringsten Teil irgendwie erfüllt. Dagegen ist das Heruntersteigen in die Materie auch in der nachchristlichen Zeit immer kräftiger und kräftiger zum irdischen Ereignis geworden, so daß durch das Heruntersteigen in die Materie auch das ganze Denken, Fühlen und Empfinden der Menschen angegriffen worden ist.

Wir stehen heute bereits vor einem Zeitalter, leben in einem Zeitalter, in welchem die materialistische Forschung in die Auffassung des Christus-Ereignisses eingedrungen ist. Und in ernster Stunde geziemt es sich wohl, auf ernste Dinge hinzuweisen, wie das eines ist, daß in unserer Zeit die materialistische Forschung selbst das spirituellste Ereignis ergriffen hat, das über unsere Erde hingezogen ist. Sehen wir doch, wie heute materialistische Theologen nach der sogenannten «historischen Forschung» sagen, daß es unmöglich einen Beweis für einen äußerlichen historischen Christus geben kann! Und Theologen sind es heute bereits, welche sagen: Historische Forschung zwingt selbst zuzugeben, daß geschichtlich sich nicht nachweisen läßt, daß am Beginne unserer Zeitrechnung in Palästina derjenige gelebt hat, von dem so gewaltige Worte uns in den Evangelien verkündet werden, von dem so gewaltige Impulse in das menschliche Geistesleben sich hineinergossen zu haben scheinen!

So scheint heute «Wissenschaft» sich berufen zu fühlen, aus ihren Methoden heraus den historischen Christus hinwegzuwischen aus der Welt. Deshalb darf man sich erinnern, daß Geisteswissenschaft heute gerade beginnt, berufen zu werden, diesen historischen Christus Jesus aus ihren Elementen heraus zu beweisen. Es hängt der Glaube der Menschen nicht ab von den inneren Wahrheiten eines Wissenszweiges. Beweise über Beweise könnte es geben für das Fadenscheinige eines Wissenszweiges. Die Menschen können leben und gar nicht bemerken, daß es solche Beweise gibt. So werden auch in der Zukunft - und die Zeit wird noch lange dauern, wo das der Fall ist - immer mehr und mehr Menschen auf einem Gebiete dem materialistischen Denken entgegengehen und immer mehr und mehr ergriffen werden von dem Glauben, daß die sichere Historische Methode gezwungen ist, abzuleugnen die Gewißheit eines historischen Christus Jesus. Wegzuwischen scheint Wissenschaft dasjenige, wofür wir, wie wir betont haben, ein neues Symbolum im Glanze goldiger Weisheit zu gewinnen hoffen.

Es wird gewiß die Zeit kommen, wo man wissen wird vom Christus nur in Kreisen, wie es dieser ist, wo man sich bekennen wird zur Geisteswissenschaft, durch die man das Wort verstehen wird: «Ich bin bei euch alle Tage bis an das Ende der Welt!», und wo der, welcher hineinzuschauen vermag in die geistige Forschung, wissen wird, daß Derjenige, von dem der Impuls des Christentums ausgegangen ist, immer zu finden ist in der geistigen Welt, und daß aus dieser geistigen Welt heraus die Sicherheit zu gewinnen ist für das Christus-Ereignis. Nur in Kreisen, in denen man sich zu einem solchen spirituellen Bekenntnis hält, wird die Sicherheit für dasjenige zu gewinnen sein, für welches man dieses Symbolum wiederum sucht. Und die Menschen draußen werden sich nicht beweisen lassen, daß die Historische Methode, die äußere wissenschaftliche Methode selber auf einem sumpfigen Boden gebaut ist. Wer freilich heute Wert und Wesen der Wissenschaft zu verstehen vermag, der weiß schon auch aus der Fadenscheinigkeit und aus der Unbegründetheit der Methoden heraus, wie wenig es besagt, wenn heute gerade die, welche streng wissenschaftlich vorzugehen glauben, kommen und sagen: Alle dieGestalten, von dem Christus angefangen bis zu den Aposteln, lassen sich nicht historisch beweisen. - Aber es wird noch lange dauern, bis die Menschen von jenem Autoritätsglauben loskommen, von dem sie meinen, er sei kein Autoritätsglaube. Der schlimmste Autoritätsglaube ist heute vorhanden. Und die Menschen sehen gar nicht ein, daß der wahre Erlöser von dem Autoritätsglauben Derjenige ist, der im tiefsten Innern die Menschen bauen gelehrt hat auf die Kraft des eigenen Ichs. Derjenige, der uns gezeigt hat, was aufgenommen werden soll in dieses Ich, der kann uns auch zeigen, wie wir die Kraft der Wahrheit, wie wir die Quellen der Wahrheit in unserem Innern finden. Mit dem Christus im Innern finden wir Wahrheit im Innern; mit dem Christus im Innern finden wir den sicheren Boden eines freien und unabhängigen Urteils, finden wir den sicheren Boden über alle Autorität hinaus. Aber wir müssen uns gerade aus diesem Christus-Ereignis heraus in ernster Stunde auch ein ernstes Wort gesagt sein lassen, damit wir unseren Beruf als Anthroposophen fühlen lernen.

Vielleicht würde ich die kleine Einfügung, die ich jetzt zu machen gedrängt bin, in den nächsten Vorträgen tun, wenn es nicht längere Zeit dauerte, bis wir uns wiedersehen. Aber ich möchte auf etwas hinweisen, was der Anthroposoph als die tieferen Symptome seiner Zeit einsehen soll, sozusagen das Unmögliche des Wissenschaftstreibens in unserer Zeit. Diejenigen, welche an diese äußere Wissenschaft, die uns heute auch den historischen Christus hinwegdiskutieren will, glauben wollen, die werden ja unbelehrbar sein. Aber es muß doch einige Menschen geben, die aus dem Impuls der Anthroposophie heraus einiges verstehen, wie äußere Wissenschaft auf allen Gebieten sich selber auflöst, und wie allein spirituelles Leben in der Zukunft der Menschheit zum Heile gereichen kann.

Man sieht an den Zeitereignissen das Wichtigste nicht. Da hat sich in diesen Tagen in Wien ein Prozeß abgespielt, auf den die ganze Welt hingeblickt hat. Ganz Europa war sozusagen durch seine Vertreter versammelt, um sich von diesem Prozeß Kunde bringen zu lassen, weil man ihn für wichtig hielt. Das Wichtigste aber, was sich da abgespielt hat, hat man wahrscheinlich nirgends gesehen. Und diejenigen, welche nicht anthroposophisch vorbereitet sind, würden auch dieses Wichtigste, wenn sie es ausgesprochen hörten, als eine Phantasie empfinden. Da war ein Historiker, ein in Europa berühmter Historiker, der angesehen ist bei seinen Fachgenossen, bei den Geschichtsforschern, und der wichtige Werke nach gegenwärtig streng historischer Methode verfaßt hat, ein «guter Wissenschafter». Dieser Wissenschafter bekam eine Reihe von Dokumenten in die Hand, die überliefert worden sind aus einem der südlicheren Staaten Europas. Diese Dokumente sollten beweisen, daß im Südosten Österreichs Verräterei getrieben worden sei. Wer konnte nun nach dem Urteil der Menschen der Gegenwart mehr berufen sein, da zu prüfen, als ein Historiker? Ein Historiker sollte doch mehr als jemand anderer dazu berufen sein, den Wert von Dokumenten zu prüfen. Beruht doch aller Glaube der Welt auf Dokumenten! Wie man Dokumente verwendet und zusammenstellt, wie man sie prüft, das gibt die Wahrheit. Das soll ja auch einzig und allein die Wahrheit über die Wunder des Christentums geben können!

Dieser Historiker und Geschichtsforscher, der jene Dokumente in die Hand bekam, war allerdings auch ein Schüler jenes Historikers, an den ich mich gern manchmal erinnere, wenn ich an meine eigene Jugendzeit zurückdenke. Da gab es zwei Historiker: der eine ein strenger Geschichtsforscher in bezug auf die strengen Methoden der Urkundenforschung; der andere, sein Kollege, hielt gerade weniger auf diese strengen Methoden, sondern mehr darauf, daß die Kandidaten einiges aus den wirklichen geschichtlichen Vorgängen wußten. So ereignete es sich denn einmal, daß der Lieblingsschüler jenes Urkundenforschers zu dem Doktorat kam. Er wurde geprüft zuerst in der Urkundenlehre, das heißt in der Lehre, durch die man lernt, recht gut festzustellen, wie man zu der Wahrheit kommt durch äußere, materielle Mittel. Er wurde zum Beispiel gefragt, in welcher päpstlichen Urkunde der i-Punkt zuerst vorkommt. Das ist sehr wichtig, daß man das weiß! Und das wußte der Kandidat gleich, daß unter einem gewissen Innozenz zuerst der i-Punkt vorkommt. Aber der andere Historiker, der Kollege, fragte dann: Darf ich jetzt auch den Kandidaten etwas fragen, der so genau gewußt hat, wo der i-Punkt zuerst vorkommt? Sagen Sie, Herr Kandidat, wissen Sie vielleicht auch, wann jener Papst, in dessen Urkunden der i-Punkt zuerst vorkommt, den päpstlichen Stuhl bestiegen hat? - Nein, das wußte er nicht. Wissen Sie dann vielleicht, wann er gestorben ist? - Nein, das wußte er auch nicht. Nun, Herr Kandidat, sagen Sie mir doch etwas anderes noch von diesem Papst! — Er wußte nichts! Da sagte der Professor, dessen Lieblingsschüler er war: Aber Herr Kandidat, es ist ja heute, als ob Ihnen ein Brett vor den Kopf genagelt ist! - Der andere aber sagte: So, Herr Kollege, es ist doch Ihr Lieblingsschüler! Wer hat ihm denn das Brett vor den Kopf genagelt?

Jener Historiker hat dazumal nichts Besonderes gelernt. Aber er wurde ein tüchtiger Urkundenforscher, der mit allen Mitteln der historischen Forschung feststellen kann, was die Wahrheit längst verflossener Zeiten ist. Wie sollte also jemand mehr berufen sein als er, zu untersuchen, was für Verräterei in jenen Dokumenten getrieben worden ist, die ihm von wichtigster Seite übergeben worden waren? Er ging also mit allen Mitteln historischer Forschung daran, zu untersuchen, und klagte in einem öffentlichen Artikel eine ganze Anzahl von Leuten schwerwiegender Handlungen an. Es kam zu einem Prozeß. Und in diesem Prozeß erwies sich eines der allerwichtigsten Dokumente als eine ganz plumpe Fälschung! Es handelte sich darum, daß eine gewisse Persönlichkeit in einer gewissen Stadt einen Verein präsidiert haben sollte; aber durch eine einfache Anfrage hätte man feststellen können, daß dieser Mann in der fraglichen Zeit gerade in Berlin war.

Historische Forschung ist hierbei streng zu Werke gegangen mit Dokumenten, die aus den Tatsachen der Gegenwart genommen sind. Historische Methode hat in diesem Falle nichts zustande gebracht, als daß sie sich hat narren lassen in bezug auf Dokumente der Gegenwart. Das Wichtige, was ich meinte, ist das, daß hier nicht einmal irgendein Mensch oder Menschen vor Gericht gestanden haben, sondern die historische, die wissenschaftliche Methode ist in diesem Falle verurteilt worden, tatsächlich verurteilt worden! Das ist das wichtigste Symptom eines unmittelbar in der Gegenwart sich abspielenden Prozesses.

Da sollte man sich ganz ernsthaft fragen: Was ist eine Methode wert, die sich hermacht, darüber zu entscheiden, ob sich vor achtzehn oder neunzehn Jahrhunderten etwas zugetragen hat, wenn diese Methode nicht imstande ist, über die plumpsten Dinge der Gegenwart irgend etwas ausfindig zu machen? «Wissenschaft» selber saß hier auf der Anklagebank. Das sollte man erkennen! Und eine Wissenschaft, die aus den materialistischen Vorurteilen der Gegenwart hervorgeht, wird immer auf der Anklagebank sitzen, wenn die Menschen zu bequem sind, um auf eine solche Autorität zu halten, welche allein Autorität der Gegenwart sein kann, die sich von jener andern dadurch unterscheidet, daß man weiß, wer sie ist. Bei den andern Autoritäten weiß man nicht mehr, wer sie sind, wer sie ist, die Madame «Wissenschaft».

Gehen Sie einmal mit ernstem Bekenntnis zur spirituellen Weltanschauung dem nach, was man heute Wissenschaft nennt, und Sie werden sehen, wie es zerstiebt, wie es sich erweist als auf einem wirklich sandigen Boden erbaut, als zusammenstürzend, wenn man ernsthaft damit zu Werke geht. Aber die Menschen werden sich nicht dazu bequemen, von dieser Seite aus einmal die Gegenwart zu betrachten. Die Menschen — namentlich die, welche außerhalb des anthroposophischen Lebens stehen - werden nicht die Gewissenhaftigkeit haben, sich einmal anzusehen, wie die Methoden beschaffen sind, welche die materialistischen Gewaltsurteile in die Seelen der Menschen hineindrängen.

Daher wird noch lange keine Möglichkeit gegeben sein als im intimen Kreise anthroposophischen Wirkens, dasjenige in seiner Wahrheit zu sehen, was der Menschheit zum größten Heil ist. Und wenn das, was zu Palästina geschehen ist und was wir symbolisch in unserem Herzen jedes Jahr neu auferstehen lassen, wenn das immer mehr und mehr durch die äußere Wissenschaft geleugnet und hinweggewischt werden sollte: innerhalb der anthroposophischen, der spirituellen Weltenströmung wird es eine Stätte geben, wo die Gewalt des palästinensischen Ereignisses immer heller und heller aufleuchten wird und von wo aus wiederum in die übrige Menschheit hinausströmen wird das Leben, das nur aus diesem Ereignisse kommen kann.

Was kann uns durch ein wirkliches Miterleben des Ereignisses von Palästina in der Seele aufgehen? «Ich bin bei euch alle Tage bis an das Ende der Erdenepoche!» So, könnten wir sagen, ist das Grundwort des Christus Jesus. Das heißt, der Christus Jesus wandelte im Beginne unserer Zeitrechnung in Palästina in Leibesgestalt. Er ist seit jener Zeit zu finden in der geistigen Welt, denn er hat sich seit jener Zeit mit der geistigen Atmosphäre der Erde vereinigt. Er ist der Erdengeist geworden. Wir finden ihn innerhalb der geistigen Atmosphäre unserer Erde, wenn wir ihn da suchen. Er durchdringt immer mehr und mehr alles Leben unserer Erde.

Was aber sollen die Menschen durch diesen sich in ihre Seelen immer mehr und mehr einlebenden Christus-Geist gewinnen? Wollen wir ganz genau verstehen, was die Menschen durch diesen sich in ihre Seelen einlebenden Christus-Geist gewinnen sollen in der Zukunft, dann müssen wir gerade das versuchen, was wir jetzt seit einiger Zeit innerhalb unserer anthroposophischen Bewegung tun. Was wir in der anthroposophischen Bewegung tun, das ist nicht etwa einer Willkür entsprossen, das ist nicht irgendeinem bloß von diesem oder jenem Menschen aufgestellten Programm entsprossen. Spirituelles Leben geht zuletzt zurück auf diejenigen Quellen, die wir bei jenen Individualitäten suchen, welche wir nennen die «Meister der Weisheit und des Zusammenklanges der Empfindungen». Und bei ihnen finden wir die Impulse, wenn wir sie richtig suchen, wie wir von Epoche zu Epoche, von Zeitalter zu Zeitalter wirken sollen.

Es ist ein großer Impuls in der letzten Zeit aus der geistigen Welt zu uns gekommen. Und heute, am feierlichen Weihnachtsabend in unserem Kreise sei hingewiesen auf diesen wichtigen Impuls, sozusagen auf eine Weisung, welche uns im Laufe der letzten Jahre aus der geistigen Welt wie eine Maßnahme des astralischen Planes zugeflossen ist. Und unter diesem Impuls hat sich unsere anthroposophische Bewegung hier in Mitteleuropa entwickelt. Ungefähr in folgender Weise könnten wir diesen Impuls in menschliche Worte kleiden: Siehe hin auf das, was sich in der äußeren Welt zuträgt: die Worte der Evangelien werden immer mehr und mehr mißverstanden! Man deutelt an ihnen herum, man prüft sie mit äußerlichen geschichtlichen Methoden. Alle bloße äußere Geschichte muß eine Zeitlang für den spirituellen Forscher schweigen. Was jetzt notwendig ist, das ist, daß die Evangelien wieder verstanden werden ganz wörtlich, denn in ihrem wörtlichen Verstehen liegt ihr wahrer Weisheitsgrund!

Wir wurden angeleitet aus der geistigen Welt heraus, die Evangelien wörtlich erst wieder kennenzulernen, zu verstehen, was in ihren Worten enthalten ist. Aus diesem Impuls — und aus der Erweiterung und Ausgestaltung dieses Impulses - ging alles hervor, was wir in der Betrachtung des Johannes-Evangeliums, des Lukas-Evangeliums und des Matthäus-Evangeliums versucht haben und was wir bei der Betrachtung des Markus-Evangeliums noch versuchen werden. Wörtlich sollen wir wiederum die Evangelien zu verstehen versuchen! So sagen uns diejenigen, deren Impuls wir aus der geistigen Welt empfangen. Das ist kommendes Christentum: folgen diesem Impuls, die Evangelien in ihrer Wörtlichkeit zu verstehen. Und was wird uns, wenn wir die Evangelien wörtlich verstehen, wenn wir die Weisung der spirituellen Mächte befolgen, die vom astralischen Plan herunter so deutlich geredet haben, wie sie in einem Jahrhundert kaum ein zweites Mal sprechen? Das wird uns, was uns notwendig werden muß, wenn wir uns zum Instrument machen wollen, um die kommende Menschheitsepoche in der richtigen Weise leiten und weisen zu können in bezug auf dasjenige, was eine Leitung und Weisung im Raume braucht.

Wenn wir zurückblicken in diejenigen Zeiten, in denen die Menschheitsentwickelung sich in uralten Vergangenheiten abgespielt hat, da wissen wir, daß es damals noch nicht so war, daß das menschliche Ich voll ausgebildet gewesen wäre. Der Mensch geht in seiner Entwickelung auf eine Gruppenseele zurück. Wie die Tiere heute noch eine Gruppenseele haben, so war einer gewissen Anzahl von Menschen eine gemeinsame Ich-Seele eigen. Das finden wir bei allen Völkern. Wir wissen also, daß sich die Menschheit herausentwickelt hat aus einer Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit. Und in der Zeit, als der Christus heruntergestiegen ist auf unsere Erde, war die Menschheit an dem Punkt angekommen, wo die alten Gruppenseelen anfingen, ihre Bedeutung zu verlieren. Die alten Gruppenseelen hatten sich zurückgezogen. Jeder Mensch war darauf angewiesen, in sich die individuelle Seele, die eigentliche Ichheit zu entwickeln. Und wer brachte das, was sich in die individuelle Seele hineinergießen sollte? Das brachte der ChristusImpuls! Und je mehr wir uns mit diesem Christus-Impuls erfüllen, desto reicher wird unsere Ichheit, so daß sie in sich selber aufsteigen läßt diejenigen Wahrheiten, welche wir brauchen, um in die Zukunft hineinzuleben.

Jetzt eben sind wir in der Gegenwart an einem wichtigen Wendepunkt angekommen. Gar mancher fragt heute: Was hat es denn für eine Bedeutung, daß wir sprechen von Wiederverkörperung, da man sich doch nicht erinnern kann an die früheren Verkörperungen? Gewiß, man kann es heute nicht. Aber ich habe schon darauf aufmerksam gemacht, wenn man ein vierjähriges Kind bringt und sagt: Das ist ein Mensch; aber er kann nicht rechnen -, so ist das kein Beweis dafür, daß der Mensch nicht rechnen kann. Man soll warten, bis das Kind herangereift ist, um rechnen zu lernen. In zehn Jahren kann es rechnen. So wird des Menschen Seele heranreifen, sich an die früheren Verkörperungen zu erinnern. Ob sie sich richtig erinnern wird, das ist eine zweite Frage.

Jetzt eben stehen wir an einem wichtigen Wendepunkt. Im vierten nachatlantischen Zeitraum ist der Christus heruntergestiegen als der Impuls, womit die Menschen ihre Ichheit als eine in sich gegründete Wesenheit erfühlen können. Jetzt stehen wir in dem fünften Zeitraum, dem letzten, in dem sich die Menschen nicht mehr an ihre früheren Inkarnationen erinnern können. Im sechsten Zeitraum, der dem unsrigen folgen wird, werden sich die Menschen erinnern an ihre früheren Inkarnationen. Ob sie sich richtig erinnern, das hängt davon ab, wie sie heute die Impulse dazu in ihre Seele aufnehmen, ob sie sich fähig machen, sich in der richtigen Weise zu erinnern. Diejenigen allein werden sich in der Zukunft in der richtigen Weise an ihr gegenwärtiges Dasein erinnern, welche den Christus-Impuls aufgenommen haben, den Quell der wahren Ichheit. Dafür werden sich bei denjenigen, welche diesen Quell der wahren Ichheit nicht aufnehmen, neue - Gruppenseelen bilden.

Sehen Sie einmal hin auf die äußere Wirklichkeit: wie die Menschen heute geradezu drängen nach Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit, obwohl sie es nicht müßten, sondern Wahrheitsquellen finden könnten, die ihnen in der eigenen Seele ersprießen. Beobachten Sie, wie jeder alles nur so tun will, wie «man» alles tut. Die Menschen suchen nicht nach dem, was sie allein in ihrer Seele finden können, sondern wir sehen sie danach suchen, was sie in Kategorien, in Gruppen zusammenführt, und wie sie am frohesten sind, wenn sie nicht selbständige Wahrheiten, sondern das haben können, was gleich den andern ist. Ja, man haßt sogar die Individualität, so daß man in diesem Haß gegen das Individuelle die stärksten Waffen zu schmieden glaubt gegen eine solche Weisheit, wie es die anthroposophische ist. Denn anthroposophische Weisheit muß in der Seele eines jeden Menschen erglänzen; sie kann nicht mit Hebeln und mit Schrauben, mit äußerem Experimentieren erzwungen werden. Was von anthroposophischer Seite gesagt wird, das tritt uns nicht mit äußeren Hebeln und Schrauben entgegen. Das müssen wir, weil es der unsichtbaren Welt angehört, in die jeder selbst hineingehen muß mit seinem Denken, uns aneignen, ein jeder für sich, ohne daß wir durch ein äußeres Instrument überzeugt werden. Durch anthroposophische Weisheit werden wir eine Individualität.

Nehmen wir diese anthroposophische Weisheit in der richtigen individuellen Weise auf, in der sie durchdrungen ist von dem ChristusImpuls, dann senkt sich in unsere Seele das, was es uns möglich macht, daß wir uns im sechsten Zeitraum an eine Ichheit erinnern, die jeder für sich selber hat, die in sich geschlossen ist. Dagegen wird die Erinnerung derjenigen, die heute künstliche Gruppenseelen suchen, so sein, daß die Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit wieder da sein wird. Erinnern werden sich die Menschen im sechsten Zeitraum an ihre gegenwärtige Inkarnation; aber dann wird es ihnen klar sein: Du hingest dazumai in deinem Urteil zusammen mit dem Urteil der andern! - Und eine furchtbare Fessel wird es sein für den Menschen, der sich hineingestellt fühlen muß in eine Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit. Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit droht denjenigen, die den Christus-Impuls nicht aufzunehmen vermögen in unserer Zeit. Wenn wir die Botschaft des Christus-Ereignisses, jene Botschaft von der menschlichen Ichheit in uns aufnehmen, dann senkt sich in unsere Seele die Möglichkeit, das Ziel der Menschheit für den sechsten Zeitraum zu erreichen: daß wir nicht zurückblicken in eine Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit, sondern in eine durchchristete Ichheit.

So zieht in denjenigen, der das Christentum heute in der richtigen Weise zu erfassen versteht, zu durchglühen und zu durchströmen versteht mit dem Geiste der Anthroposophie, dasjenige hinein, was notwendig ist, damit er ein voller Mensch sein kann in dem sechsten Zeitraum und ein Instrument sein kann zum richtigen Wirken in jenem Zeitraum.

Das also ist die Frage: Ob wir uns entschließen wollen, zurückzublicken von unseren Wiederverkörperungen im sechsten Zeitraum auf unser Ich in der Gegenwart als unindividuell, als unselbständig, als zusammengeschlossen in Gruppenhaftigkeit, oder ob wir uns erinnern wollen an ein Ich, das den Quell der Geistigkeit in unserer Erdentwickelung selber erfaßt hat, das erfaßt hat das große Wort: Ehe denn alle Persönlichkeit war, ehe etwas war, was sonst von uns auf der Erde leben kann, und «ehe denn ein Abraham war, war das Ich-bin».

Was in uns lebt, schließt sich unmittelbar zusammen mit dem VaterGeist. Was durch das Verständnis des Christus-Impulses in uns aufleben kann, das schließt sich bewußt in uns nur zusammen mit dem Quell der Welt, wenn wir den Christus-Impuls verstehen. So bedeutet der Christus-Impuls, indem er sich in unsere Seele senkt, die Möglichkeit für uns, als eine solche Ich-Wesenheit im sechsten Zeitraume wieder aufzuerstehen, die zurückblickt auf ein Selbständigwerden. Lassen wir den richtig verstandenen Christus in unserem eigenen Innern geboren werden, dann werden wir auferwecken können die Erinnerung an diesen richtig verstandenen Christus in dem sechsten nachatlantischen Zeitraum.

Und wenn wir im fünften Zeitraum ein richtiges Weihnachtsfest feiern, werden wir dafür im sechsten Zeitraum ein richtiges Osterfest feiern können. Wie das schöne Weihnachtslied uns singt in der Christnacht: «Uns ist der Heiland heut erstanden!», so werden wir, indem wir uns zurückerinnern an den in unserer Seele geborenen Christus, in uns selber die Botschaft vernehmen an diese wahre höhere IchWesenheit. Wir werden uns daran zurückerinnern und diese Erinnerung auferstehen lassen als das Osterfest in uns selber; und dann werden wir in uns selber den großen schönen Oster-Orgelton hören können: Der Christus in uns erstehe als befeuernd und erleuchtend unsere eigene göttliche Individualität!

So schließen sich Weihnachtsfest und Osterfest im fünften und sechsten Zeitraum unserer nachatlantischen Zeit zusammen. So sollen wir lernen dasjenige auffassen, was wir aus den Evangelien erfahren. Wir haben schon teilweise gelernt und werden es noch weiter lernen, wie zusammengeströmt sind die Buddha-Strömung, die ZarathustraStrömung und die althebräische Strömung in dem Christentum, wie sie eingezogen sind in dem Sinne, wie es uns die Evangelien auch schildern, in die Persönlichkeit des Christus Jesus. In unserer eigenen Ichheit muß dasjenige Leben gewinnen, was so in der vorchristlichen Zeit in der Welt gewebt und gelebt hat; das muß wiedergeboren werden, durchdrungen von dem Christus-Impuls. Dann feiern wir das anthroposophische Weihnachtsfest in unserer eigenen Seele: die Geburt des Christus in uns. Und wenn wir diesen in uns verstandenen Christus hinübertragen durch Kamaloka und Devachan in ein neues Erdenleben und von dort immer wieder zu einem neuen irdischen Dasein bis in den sechsten Zeitraum hinüber, dann werden wir uns erinnern an das, was wir in unserem fünften Zeitraum erlebt haben und werden das christliche Osterfest in uns selber dann also feiern.

So lebe in uns in dem Weihnachtssymbol dasjenige symbolisch, was wir in den letzten Zeiten aus den Evangelien heraus als das ChristusMysterium in unsere Seele aufgenommen haben. So lassen wir diese Lichter, die hier vor uns brennen, eine Aufforderung an uns sein, jenen Impuls auszuleben, der uns aus der geistigen Welt zukommt: die Evangelien wörtlich zu verstehen! Und diese äußerlich leuchtenden Lichter fassen wir auf als die Sinnbilder derjenigen Lichter, die in unserer Seele entfacht werden sollen und die, wenn sie durch die anthroposophische Christus-Erkenntnis entfacht werden, hinüberbrennen werden in den sechsten Zeitraum der nachatlantischen Zeit.

Fühlt, gerade an diesem Weihnachtsfest, daß es an Euren Seelen ist, sich zu entschließen, in diesem Sinne würdige Werkzeuge zu werden für die Entwickelung der Menschheit in die Zukunft hinein! Fühlt die ganze Schwere und das ganze Gewicht des anthroposophischen Entschlusses: nicht ein jeder für sich sollen wir Anthroposophen sein; sondern indem wir berücksichtigen, was eben gesagt worden ist, sollen wir Anthroposophen sein aus Pflicht zur Menschheit, aus Pflicht zur ganzen Menschheitsaufgabe und Menschheitsmission. Lassen wir uns herunterleuchten vom Weihnachtsbaum symbolisch das Licht, das uns anfeuern kann zu dieser unserer spirituellen Menschheitsmission. Dann haben wir etwas verstanden von dem, was uns wiederum für ein neues Jahr Kraft geben kann, uns immer weiter in das anthroposophische Leben und in die anthroposophischen Weistümer hineinzufinden.

Christmas Spirit

In the days leading up to Christmas, we tried to lift ourselves up to that mood which, in the anthroposophical sense, can be called the true Christmas spirit. We tried to remind ourselves that there is an interpretation of Christmas which, in a certain sense, makes the Christmas spirit applicable to everything that is important in the human experience throughout the year. For those seeking knowledge, especially in our time, one of the most important moods must be to be able to celebrate Christmas, so to speak, in relation to spiritual knowledge itself. And what else could celebrating Christmas in relation to spiritual knowledge mean other than calling out from the depths of our souls, as we try to do throughout the year, that we are fulfilling our spiritual duty to the present development of humanity by understanding the task of humanity in our time, by making our souls ever richer in content which is taken from the experience of the spiritual world, so that we may belong, may be allowed to belong, to those human beings who will have to do the necessary spiritual work in the next epoch of human history.

Thus, throughout the year, we seek to sink spiritual scientific content into our souls and try to penetrate anthroposophical wisdom. And when the year draws to a close, symbolized outwardly by the excessive darkness that surrounds us due to the weak power of the sun's rays, we try to understand during this festive season how we can celebrate Christmas in relation to this anthroposophical year. Let us always try to make it clear to ourselves that the whole anthroposophical truth must be permeated and illuminated by that powerful impulse which we call the Christ impulse!

Let us try to inscribe the anthroposophical truths in our hearts, in our souls, like the message of Christ himself, so that we may say that at Christmas time, we anthroposophists should develop a Christmas spirit by allowing what we have taken in throughout the year to be illuminated in our souls by deeper feelings, so that that it becomes pure power, and that we can feel: we do not merely know something about anthroposophical wisdom, but it penetrates our soul, our heart, so that it is a light-filled warmth that enables us to fulfill our duty in all areas of life, wherever we may be, in the coming year, to do our work. So when we try to transform the sacred truths of the spirit into sacred feelings, into sacred power in our souls, then what we initially take in with the forces of this earthly world is born in us on a higher level. That is why, during the Christmas season, we may well remember more and more those occasions through which this or that member of our entire human race attempted to rise up into those regions of spirituality where Christ Himself is to be found. Our genuine German Christian poet Novalis had already led us into the realm of these feelings at Christmas. And even today, a little of that Christmas spirit, as it has just been hinted at—the warming by those rays of heat—may well emanate from a truly theosophical poet such as Novalis. When we come to Novalis, where he gives us his most beautiful revelations in glorious poetry, we can perhaps feel most warmly how we are to gain the possibility of filling life with a new splendor through spiritual knowledge.

Outside, life rushes past us, and our own work connects with the present turmoil of life. If, within anthroposophy, we gain the ability to draw wisdom from the spiritual world, then we will gild life with the gold of anthroposophical wisdom, no matter how prosaic the opportunities may seem. We must learn to do this. Then we will see how we fill life with a new splendor when we allow the anthroposophical Christmas spirit to enter our souls once a year, when we allow anthroposophy to be reborn in ourselves as a feeling and sensation during the Christmas season. We will then feel how impossible it is to remain within the ordinary world, to which spirituality can only rise with the slightest inkling. Oh, there are many things that prevent people today from spreading their wings and rising up into the spiritual world! What I am about to tell you briefly can serve as a symbol of this.

Many of us may approach spiritual science and say: Oh, everything that spiritual science offers me would be wonderful, it would be glorious, it would warm my heart and fill my soul with love; but—I cannot believe it! Everything I have learned in the outer world, the prejudices I have acquired, hold me fast and tell me: This is only a dream, this is not built on a solid foundation! Many people are thus caught up in bitter doubt. If they could lift themselves out of the prejudices of the external world that currently oppresses them so badly, if they could feel freely in the pure ether of the spirit, they would see that they feel the power of the spiritual, and they would also carry it down into the work of their hands in everyday life. A small event can symbolize this feeling, which so hinders everyday people, who are caught up in the present, from feeling freely and uninhibitedly what spiritual science can give to the heart and soul.

There was a man in the 18th or 19th century, the German nobleman Hardenberg. He had a son whom we were able to acknowledge in our close circle of colleagues as having produced poems and writings that came from a soul which was the reincarnation of significant, powerful personalities who had accomplished important things for the earth. But standing under the influence of the outer world on human beings, how could the father recognize this soul in his son? How could he have guessed the spirit that was able to break free from his son's soul? Just as many people today are unable to feel the compelling power of the spiritual wisdom of anthroposophy because of the prejudices of the material world and of living with physical reality, so too was he unable to free himself from the prejudices of our world.

The old Hardenberg had, so to speak, wrested himself free from the very harsh side of his lack of understanding toward his son. He had risen from a life of material abundance to feel something of a deeply religious spirit in his Moravian community, something one might call a recognition of the world spirit in the old way. However, he had not been able to feel the power and force of the mysteries that came from his son's soul. This required the authoritative feelings that had been established over a long period of time and that can be felt suggestively within such a community, so that he was moved in the depths of his soul by that real Christian spirit that can only be understood when it is touched by the breath of spiritual knowledge.

The old Hardenberg once felt strangely that breath of the Spirit, the Christian Spirit, when he was together with the other members of his Herrnhut community and they began to sing a communal song. Through this song, whose origin he did not know, a breath of eternity blew upon him, and he was deeply moved by the song that began:

What would I have been without you?
What would I be without you?

He felt something he had never felt before. And the celebration was over. Old Hardenberg went outside and asked some of those who had participated: “Who wrote this wonderful poem?” “It's by your son!” Detached from all physical connections, unclouded by the prejudices of the physical plane, old Hardenberg had felt the compelling power of spiritual life. But his son had already been dead for several months! For old Hardenberg had this experience only a few months after Novalis' death. When old Hardenberg was thus able, through circumstances, to cast off for a short time all the prejudices that arise from the physical plane, he was carried up into the spiritual heights, where he felt their compelling force, the compelling power of the spiritual heights, which we should feel regardless of all the prejudices of the material world. Let us leave behind the materialistic prejudices of the present! Let us feel the compelling force of spiritual life and let its strength and warmth flow into our hearts! If we do this at the right time, we will fulfill our duties toward the humanity of the present.

With this symbol, taken from a real experience of Novalis' father, I wanted to lead you to the mood to which we now want to rise through the compelling power that lies in Novalis' songs.

Here Marie von Sivers (Marie Steiner) recited nine “Spiritual Songs” by Novalis.

It is perhaps easiest during this festive season to truly feel and sense, not just understand and know, what we have been contemplating for many hours following our Gospel readings. And a large part of the time we had available for such contemplation in the past year was devoted to the Gospel readings. So today, in this brief reflection that is to follow our Christmas celebration, let us point more to the important conclusions that arise from our consideration of the Gospels: the connections with that event that should be so vividly before our eyes, especially at Christmas time — the connections with the Christ event.

We can measure the significance and power of the anthroposophical worldview for the present and for the future of humanity in many ways from the Christ event. If we allow such a deep feeling to work in our souls toward the Christ event as Novalis had, we are always called upon to ask ourselves anew: How can we feel more and more the truth of what entered into humanity as a powerful impulse when Christ Jesus was born in Palestine? — And we can bring anthroposophy into an intimate connection with this Christ event in our present time. We have been able to show how the various currents of human spiritual life in pre-Christian times flowed together in the event in Palestine. We have been able to point out how this event in Palestine is today at best sensed by a large number of people, and how it will only gradually, when people deepen their spiritual understanding, be comprehended in all its power and significance in the distant future. For whatever wisdom may be attained in the course of Earth's development, this wisdom will one day find its most beautiful deepening in becoming an instrument for understanding what the Christ impulse actually is.

Today we already stand in a certain relationship to the immediate necessity of pointing to this Christ event out of our spiritual experiences. At the time when Christ walked on Earth in physical form, humanity received the great, powerful impulse to ascend once again into the spiritual world. But this impulse continues to work into our time, so to speak, as an impulse that has grasped only those souls who are ready for it in its true form. On the other hand, humanity as such initially continued on its path, as if to complete the measure of what was to be overcome, descending ever deeper and deeper into material existence. For human existence is a descent into matter. Even in the post-Atlantean times, human beings descended ever deeper and deeper into matter. The Christ event signifies the impulse of power to ascend again. But this impulse of power has been fulfilled only to a very small extent. On the other hand, the descent into matter has become ever more powerful in the post-Christian era, so that the whole of human thinking, feeling, and sensing has been attacked by this descent into matter.

We are already standing at the threshold of an age, living in an age in which materialistic research has penetrated the understanding of the Christ event. And in this serious hour, it is fitting to point out serious things, such as the fact that in our time, materialistic research has seized upon the most spiritual event that has ever occurred on our earth. Let us see how materialistic theologians today, following so-called “historical research,” say that it is impossible to prove the existence of an external, historical Christ! And it is already theologians today who say: Historical research itself compels us to admit that it cannot be proven historically that at the beginning of our calendar, the person about whom such powerful words are proclaimed in the Gospels, and from whom such powerful impulses seem to have poured into human spiritual life, lived in Palestine!

So today, “science” seems to feel called upon to wipe the historical Christ out of the world using its methods. That is why we must remember that spiritual science today is just beginning to be called upon to prove this historical Christ Jesus from its own elements. People's faith does not depend on the inner truths of a branch of knowledge. There could be proof upon proof of the flimsiness of a branch of knowledge. People can live and not even notice that such evidence exists. So in the future—and the time when this is the case will be long—more and more people in one area will oppose materialistic thinking and become increasingly convinced that the reliable historical method is forced to deny the certainty of a historical Christ Jesus. Science seems to be sweeping away that which, as we have emphasized, we hope to gain as a new symbol in the splendor of golden wisdom.

The time will certainly come when people will know about Christ only in circles such as this, where they will profess spiritual science, through which they will understand the words: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world!” And where those who are able to look into spiritual research will know that the One from whom the impulse of Christianity originated is always to be found in the spiritual world, and that from this spiritual world certainty can be gained for the Christ event. Only in circles where people hold to such a spiritual confession will it be possible to gain certainty for that for which this symbol is sought. And people outside will not allow themselves to be convinced that the historical method, the external scientific method itself, is built on marshy ground. Of course, anyone who is able to understand the value and nature of science today already knows from the flimsiness and groundlessness of the methods how little it means when precisely those who believe they are proceeding strictly scientifically come and say: All the figures, from Christ to the apostles, cannot be proven historically. But it will be a long time before people free themselves from that belief in authority which they think is not a belief in authority. The worst belief in authority exists today. And people do not realize that the true redeemer from the belief in authority is the One who taught people in their deepest inner being to build on the power of their own I. The One who showed us what is to be taken into this I can also show us how to find the power of truth, how to find the sources of truth within ourselves. With Christ within us, we find truth within ourselves; with Christ within us, we find the sure ground of free and independent judgment, we find the sure ground beyond all authority. But it is precisely because of this Christ event that we must allow ourselves to be told a serious word in this serious hour, so that we may learn to feel our profession as anthroposophists.

Perhaps I would make the small addition I now feel compelled to make in the next lectures, if it were not so long before we meet again. But I would like to point out something that anthroposophists should recognize as the deeper symptoms of their time, so to speak, the impossibility of scientific activity in our time. Those who want to believe in this external science, which today wants to argue away the historical Christ, will of course be unteachable. But there must be some people who, out of the impulse of anthroposophy, understand something of how external science is dissolving in all fields, and how spiritual life alone can lead to the salvation of humanity in the future.

The most important things are not visible in the events of the times. A trial has been taking place in Vienna in recent days that has attracted the attention of the whole world. The whole of Europe was gathered there, so to speak, through its representatives, to hear about this trial because it was considered important. But the most important thing that took place there was probably not seen anywhere. And those who are not prepared by anthroposophy would also consider this most important thing to be fantasy if they heard it spoken aloud. There was a historian, a historian famous in Europe, who is respected by his colleagues, by historians, and who has written important works according to current strict historical methods, a “good scientist.” This scientist came into possession of a series of documents that had been handed down from one of the southern states of Europe. These documents were supposed to prove that treason had been committed in southeastern Austria. Who, in the opinion of contemporary people, could be better qualified to examine them than a historian? A historian should be more qualified than anyone else to examine the value of documents. After all, all the beliefs in the world are based on documents! How documents are used and compiled, how they are examined, that is what reveals the truth. That is supposed to be the only way to discover the truth about the miracles of Christianity!

This historian and researcher, who came into possession of these documents, was also a student of a historian whom I sometimes remember fondly when I think back to my own youth. There were two historians: one was a strict historical researcher with regard to the rigorous methods of document research; the other, his colleague, was less concerned with these strict methods and more with ensuring that candidates knew something about actual historical events. So it happened that the favorite student of that document researcher came to do his doctorate. He was first tested in document studies, which is the study of how to determine the truth through external, material means. For example, he was asked in which papal document the dot above the “i” first appeared. It is very important to know this! And the candidate knew immediately that the dot above the “i” first appeared under a certain Innocent. But the other historian, the colleague, then asked: May I now also ask the candidate, who knew so precisely where the dot above the “i” first appeared, a question? Tell me, candidate, do you perhaps also know when the pope whose documents contain the i-dot first appeared ascended to the papal throne? No, he didn't know that. Do you perhaps know when he died? No, he didn't know that either. Well, candidate, tell me something else about this pope! — He didn't know anything! Then the professor, whose favorite student he was, said: But candidate, it's as if you have a board nailed to your forehead today! — But the other said: Come on, colleague, he's your favorite student! Who nailed the board to his forehead?

That historian didn't learn anything special back then. But he became a capable document researcher who can use all the tools of historical research to determine the truth of times long past. So who could be better suited than him to investigate the treachery that went on in those documents that were handed over to him by the most important people? So he set about investigating with all the means of historical research at his disposal and accused a number of people of serious crimes in a public article. A trial ensued. And in this trial, one of the most important documents turned out to be a crude forgery! The case concerned a certain person who was supposed to have presided over an association in a certain city; but a simple inquiry would have revealed that this man was in Berlin at the time in question.

Historical research has been rigorous in this case, using documents taken from the facts of the present. In this case, the historical method achieved nothing except to allow itself to be fooled by contemporary documents. The important point I was making is that it was not even a person or persons who stood trial here, but rather the historical, scientific method itself that was condemned, actually condemned! This is the most important symptom of a trial taking place in the present.

One should ask oneself quite seriously: What is the value of a method that sets out to decide whether something happened eighteen or nineteen centuries ago, when this method is incapable of finding out anything about the most obvious things of the present? “Science” itself sat in the dock here. That should be recognized! And a science that emerges from the materialistic prejudices of the present will always be in the dock when people are too comfortable to hold on to an authority that can only be the authority of the present, which differs from other authorities in that we know who it is. With other authorities, we no longer know who they are, who she is, Madame “Science.”

With a serious commitment to a spiritual worldview, investigate what is called science today, and you will see how it crumbles, how it proves to be built on truly sandy ground, how it collapses when you seriously set to work on it. But people will not bring themselves to look at the present from this perspective. People—especially those who stand outside the anthroposophical life—will not have the conscientiousness to take a look at the methods used to force materialistic judgments into people's souls.

Therefore, for a long time to come, there will be no opportunity except in the intimate circle of anthroposophical activity to see in its truth what is for the greatest good of humanity. And if what has happened in Palestine, and what we symbolically bring to life anew in our hearts every year, should be denied and swept away more and more by outer science, within the anthroposophical, spiritual world stream there will be a place where the violence of the Palestinian event will shine ever brighter and brighter, and from there the life that can only come from this event will flow out again to the rest of humanity.

What can a genuine experience of the events in Palestine awaken in our souls? “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” This, we might say, is the fundamental saying of Christ Jesus. This means that Christ Jesus walked in bodily form in Palestine at the beginning of our era. Since that time, he has been to be found in the spiritual world, for since that time he has united himself with the spiritual atmosphere of the earth. He has become the spirit of the earth. We find him within the spiritual atmosphere of our earth when we seek him there. He permeates more and more all life on our earth.

But what should human beings gain from this Christ spirit that is increasingly taking root in their souls? If we want to understand exactly what human beings are to gain in the future through this Christ Spirit living into their souls, then we must try to do precisely what we have been doing for some time now within our anthroposophical movement. What we do in the anthroposophical movement does not spring from arbitrariness; it does not spring from some program established by this or that individual. Spiritual life ultimately goes back to those sources that we seek in those individualities whom we call the “Masters of Wisdom and Harmony of Feelings.” And in them, if we seek them correctly, we find the impulses for how we should work from epoch to epoch, from age to age.

A great impulse has come to us from the spiritual world in recent times. And today, on this solemn Christmas Eve in our circle, we would like to draw attention to this important impulse, to a kind of instruction that has flowed to us from the spiritual world over the last few years as a measure of the astral plan. And it is under this impulse that our anthroposophical movement has developed here in Central Europe. We could express this impulse in human words in roughly the following way: Look at what is happening in the outer world: the words of the Gospels are being misunderstood more and more! People interpret them in various ways, they examine them with external historical methods. All mere external history must be silent for a time for the spiritual researcher. What is necessary now is that the Gospels be understood again in their literal sense, for their true wisdom lies in their literal understanding!

We were guided from the spiritual world to get to know the Gospels again in their literal sense, to understand what is contained in their words. From this impulse — and from the expansion and development of this impulse — came everything we have attempted in our consideration of the Gospels of John, Luke, and Matthew, and everything we will attempt in our consideration of the Gospel of Mark. We must try again to understand the Gospels literally! This is what those whose impulse we receive from the spiritual world tell us. This is the Christianity of the future: follow this impulse to understand the Gospels literally. And what will happen to us when we understand the Gospels literally, when we follow the instructions of the spiritual powers that have spoken so clearly from the astral plane, as they will hardly speak again in a century? It will become necessary for us if we want to make ourselves instruments for guiding and instructing the coming epoch of humanity in the right way with regard to what guidance and instruction are needed in space.

When we look back to those times when human evolution took place in ancient pasts, we know that it was not yet the case that the human ego was fully developed. In its evolution, the human being goes back to a group soul. Just as animals still have a group soul today, a certain number of human beings had a common ego soul. We find this in all peoples. We therefore know that humanity developed out of a group soul. And at the time when Christ descended to our Earth, humanity had reached the point where the old group souls began to lose their significance. The old group souls had withdrawn. Every human being was dependent on developing the individual soul, the actual self, within themselves. And who brought what was to pour into the individual soul? The Christ impulse brought it! And the more we fill ourselves with this Christ impulse, the richer our self becomes, so that it allows the truths we need to live into the future to rise up within ourselves.

Now we have arrived at an important turning point in the present. Many people today ask: What is the significance of talking about reincarnation, since we cannot remember our previous incarnations? Certainly, we cannot do so today. But I have already pointed out that if you bring a four-year-old child and say, “This is a human being, but he cannot count,” that is no proof that human beings cannot count. You have to wait until the child has matured enough to learn to count. In ten years, it will be able to do arithmetic. In the same way, the human soul will mature to the point of remembering its previous incarnations. Whether it will remember correctly is another question.

We are now at an important turning point. In the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, Christ descended as the impulse enabling human beings to feel their I-ness as an entity founded within themselves. Now we are in the fifth period, the last in which human beings can no longer remember their previous incarnations. In the sixth period, which will follow ours, human beings will remember their previous incarnations. Whether they remember correctly depends on how they take up the impulses for this in their souls today, whether they enable themselves to remember in the right way. In the future, only those who have taken in the Christ impulse, the source of true selfhood, will remember their present existence in the right way. For those who do not take in this source of true selfhood, new group souls will form.

Look at the outer reality: how people today are literally pushing for group soulhood, even though they do not have to, but could find sources of truth springing up in their own souls. Observe how everyone wants to do everything just as “everyone else” does. People do not search for what they can find alone in their souls, but we see them searching for what brings them together in categories, in groups, and how they are happiest when they can have not independent truths, but what is the same as others. Yes, people even hate individuality, so that in this hatred of the individual they believe they can forge the strongest weapons against a wisdom such as that of anthroposophy. For anthroposophical wisdom must shine forth in the soul of every human being; it cannot be forced with levers and screws, with external experimentation. What is said from the anthroposophical point of view does not confront us with external levers and screws. Because it belongs to the invisible world, into which each of us must enter with our own thinking, we must appropriate it for ourselves, each of us individually, without being convinced by an external instrument. Through anthroposophical wisdom we become an individuality.

If we take in this anthroposophical wisdom in the right individual way, in which it is permeated by the Christ impulse, then what enables us to remember in the sixth epoch an individuality that each of us has for ourselves, that is self-contained, will descend into our souls. In contrast, the memory of those who today seek artificial group souls will be such that group soulhood will return. In the sixth epoch, people will remember their present incarnation; but then it will become clear to them: You hung there in your judgment together with the judgment of others! And it will be a terrible bondage for those who feel compelled to place themselves within a group soul. Group soulhood threatens those who are unable to accept the Christ impulse in our time. If we take in the message of the Christ event, that message of human I-ness within us, then the possibility of achieving humanity's goal for the sixth period sinks into our souls: that we do not look back into a group soul, but into a Christ-pervaded I-ness.

Thus, in those who understand Christianity in the right way today, who understand how to let it glow and flow through them with the spirit of anthroposophy, there enters what is necessary for them to be complete human beings in the sixth epoch and to be instruments for working correctly in that epoch.

So this is the question: Do we want to look back from our reincarnations in the sixth epoch to our I in the present as unindividual, as dependent, as united in group consciousness, or do we want to remember an I that has grasped the source of spirituality in our Earth's evolution itself, that has grasped the great word: Before there was any personality, before there was anything else that could live on Earth, and “before there was an Abraham, there was the I am.”

What lives within us is directly connected to the Father Spirit. What can come to life within us through understanding the Christ impulse can only consciously connect with the source of the world if we understand the Christ impulse. Thus, by sinking into our soul, the Christ impulse means the possibility for us to rise again in the sixth epoch as such an I-being, looking back on becoming independent. If we allow the correctly understood Christ to be born in our own inner being, then we will be able to awaken the memory of this correctly understood Christ in the sixth post-Atlantean epoch.

And if we celebrate Christmas correctly in the fifth epoch, we will be able to celebrate Easter correctly in the sixth epoch. As the beautiful Christmas carol sings on Christmas Eve: “Our Savior is risen today!” So, by remembering the Christ born in our souls, we will hear within ourselves the message to this true higher I-being. We will remember this and let this memory rise again as Easter within ourselves; and then we will be able to hear within ourselves the great, beautiful Easter organ tone: Christ within us arises, igniting and illuminating our own divine individuality!

Thus, Christmas and Easter come together in the fifth and sixth periods of our post-Atlantean era. This is how we should learn to understand what we learn from the Gospels. We have already learned in part, and will continue to learn, how the Buddha stream, the Zarathustra stream, and the ancient Hebrew stream flowed together in Christianity, how they were incorporated into the personality of Christ Jesus in the way the Gospels describe. That which was woven and lived in the pre-Christian era must gain life in our own ego; it must be reborn, permeated by the Christ impulse. Then we celebrate the anthroposophical Christmas in our own souls: the birth of Christ within us. And when we carry this Christ, understood within ourselves, through Kamaloka and Devachan into a new earthly life, and from there again and again into a new earthly existence until the sixth epoch, then we will remember what we experienced in our fifth epoch, and we will then celebrate the Christian Easter within ourselves.

So let us live symbolically in the Christmas symbol what we have taken into our souls in recent times from the Gospels as the Christ Mystery. Let these lights burning before us be an invitation to us to live out the impulse that comes to us from the spiritual world: to understand the Gospels literally! And let us understand these outwardly shining lights as symbols of those lights that are to be kindled in our souls and which, when kindled by anthroposophical knowledge of Christ, will burn on into the sixth period of the post-Atlantean era.

Feel, especially at this Christmas, that it is up to your souls to decide to become worthy instruments for the development of humanity into the future! Feel the full weight and significance of the anthroposophical decision: we should not be anthroposophists for ourselves alone; rather, taking into account what has just been said, we should be anthroposophists out of duty to humanity, out of duty to the whole task and mission of humanity. Let us allow the light of the Christmas tree to shine down on us symbolically, a light that can inspire us to fulfill our spiritual mission for humanity. Then we will have understood something of what can give us strength for a new year, strength to find our way ever further into anthroposophical life and into the anthroposophical teachings.