Donate books to help fund our work. Learn more→

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

a project of Steiner Online Library, a public charity

Festivals of the Seasons

3 April 1915, Dornach

12. The Baldor Myth and the Good Friday Mystery II

The gatherings for the festivals give us an occasion for thinking in common of important and significant problems of the soul and of evolution. It is therefore very fitting that we on the occasion of this sorrowful festival put such thoughts before us as would occur to the individual soul either in meditation or otherwise, but which through such festivals can find a common expression.

Yesterday I pointed out how the entombment of Christ Jesus on Good Friday and the resurrection on Easter morning every year are symbols for something quite specially important both in human and cosmic evolution. These are the days in which the human soul can actually pass through, or at least can feel after, the deepest of its most essential inner experiences. The symbol for the fact that the Christ-Being, or let us say the earthly embodiment of the Christ-Being, rested for three days in the state of death is connected with the deepest mysteries of humanity. And perhaps especially today the friends here assembled should be reminded of an important mystery connected with this symbol.

When we feel in its full significance the symbolic entombment of Jesus Christ, his lying in the grave, his passing through death, when we are thus quickened by the attainments of Spiritual Science, and sink ourselves into the thought of this symbol, then we really experience something in feeling and thinking which is connected with the deepest mysteries of human nature upon Earth. When once our Building1This refers to the Johannes Building, or Goetheanum, at Dornach, Switzerland, later destroyed by fire on New Year’s Eve, 1922. But this wooden statue was saved. is completed, my dear friends, we shall have in a particular spot, carved in wood, the victory of the Christ-Being over Ahriman on the one side, and Lucifer on the other.2This group had not been placed in the Goetheanum when the fire took place, and it has therefore escaped destruction. The Group will represent the full significance of what has taken place in the passing of the Christ-Being through the Mystery of Golgotha in regard to the earthly relationship between Christ, Ahriman and Lucifer. And now we may say, when we let the entombment work most deeply on us with full understanding, there comes before our souls a feeling for the meaning of Christ’s battle against Ahriman and Lucifer. In order to understand this, we must bring before us something which we already know. Allusion has been frequently made to what is present in a preparatory way in the old religions—the death of the god and the resurrection of the god. It is believed that we should conclude from this that the Christ-Event is only a remodelling of the death and resurrection of Adonis. Such assertions, however, only show that an actual understanding of the Christ-Event has not been gained. For this Adonis event or other similar events wherever they are encountered are of such a kind that in them a view is given of natural existence, of life which is repeated every year, the life which is connected with the events of nature and which really belongs to natural phenomena; just as what we described yesterday as the Balder-Event is also fundamentally bound up with the phenomena of nature, with the observations which man in ancient times could make of nature. All pre-Christian religions were fundamentally religions of this kind. The nature of their worship had a connection with what could be perceived by the clairvoyant soul of old in the events of nature and their course. And the Eastern religions have not yet fundamentally got beyond this standpoint. Christianity has really passed beyond it, for Christianity is in the most eminent sense what can be called an historical religion, i.e., a religion in which the chief point is what must be understood from the whole course of human history and human evolution in the Earth-existence.

That the Earth-evolution goes through an ascending and then a descending path—we can from another point of view say men go through a descent and an ascent—and that in the midst, as has often been described, stands the Christ-Event, the Mystery of Golgotha, and that through this event history obtains its real purpose—that is the nature and the true meaning of Christianity. We must now answer the question: What is this course of history, generally speaking, which in the deeds of men, extends like a continuation of nature over the Earth? What is history really? That which happens, which is enacted through the progress of human deeds, human feelings, human thoughts—what is it really? We understand its real existence correctly when, with our soul’s vision intensified through Spiritual Science, we bring before us Christ Jesus resting in the grave on Good Friday. There the real nature of history comes before our souls.

For then we become aware, my dear friends, if only we have increased our soul’s vision through Spiritual Science, that what here on the Earth is history, will at one time be nature, on the cosmic body which will unfold itself as a new embodiment of the Earth. The history of the Earth is the preparation for nature on Jupiter. That which is the course of history presents itself in earthly existence like a prophetic announcement of what upon Jupiter will be natural phenomena. How is that?

Here upon the Earth human life in a physical embodiment passes in such a way that we are planted by birth within this physical earthly existence, that we then go through an ascending development of our physical existence up to the thirties and after that a descending development. In the beginning of this physical earthly existence stands our physical birth, and at the end, what we call physical death. The middle of human existence, about the middle of the thirties, earthly man passes by, unnoticed in his physical embodiment, and if he does not specially take part in the important inner events of his soul existence, no trace is left, at least with the self-knowledge which is present in most cases. That will be quite different when earthly humanity goes through the Jupiter existence. I shall not speak today of how the Jupiter man will enter his physical existence in a way totally different from the physical birth on Earth. I may speak of this at some other time. Man will also pass out of the Jupiter existence quite differently from physical death. But that which corresponds to the middle of life, that which for our earthly existence would fall in the middle of the thirties, that will be important and full of significance for man’s Jupiter existence. I might say that birth and death, at the beginning and end of earthly life, if they could be intermingled, would together produce something corresponding to what will occur in the middle of the Jupiter existence to humanity as it is then developed in the Jupiter world. In the middle of his Jupiter existence, man will have to go through something which you would succeed in obtaining if you could mix together earthly birth and earthly death. But they must be brought together not automatically, but in somewhat the same way as a chemical combination. When oxygen and hydrogen are mixed together, there arises something quite different from either oxygen or hydrogen. So there will be in the middle of the Jupiter existence what is actually a kind of combination of earthly death and earthly birth, but quite different from what might be made idealistically. You see life moves on from stage to stage so that we must imagine, if we wish to go into the Jupiter existence, that an event full of significance occurs to man in the middle of the Jupiter life, an event of the kind I have just characterised. The whole consciousness of man on Jupiter will be, as you know, quite different from earthly consciousness. You need only, in order to make yourselves acquainted with the different stages of human consciousness, read what has been said in the Lucifer Gnosis concerning the different stages of the development of human consciousness from Saturn to Vulcan; and you will then be able to recall that upon Jupiter a kind of higher conscious picture-sight appears, an imaginative consciousness; an imaginative consciousness representing a higher stage than the earthly consciousness. We shall attain to a consciousness the course of which will not be like earthly consciousness, but which will receive impressions from outside in quite a different way from our earthly consciousness. This consciousness will sketch from these impressions, with inner free will, pictures like imaginations somewhat in the same way as an Earth-man perceives something and then sketches it, and then makes a finished picture. So will it be in the Jupiter consciousness, only that Jupiter perception is a different thing from earthly perception; then man will himself seek picture-representations as they arise in earthly existence; then he will, as it were, form something like paintings of that which flows into him as the content of the imaginative consciousness. To attain this imaginative consciousness man will enter the Jupiter existence; and this imaginative consciousness will go through a development just as the earthly consciousness does during childhood. Then the middle of the Jupiter life will come, and in the middle of this Jupiter existence, during a period that can really be symbolised for us by three earthly days, an event of great importance for the Jupiter man will take place. There will come about in the middle of the Jupiter consciousness a short repetition—for it will only last for days—of the earthly consciousness. A feature of the Jupiter life is that the earthly consciousness will be there renewed for a short time, that man will feel himself as an earthly man in the middle of his Jupiter life. When man has gone through his imaginative Jupiter consciousness, a time will come in which he has again only his earthly consciousness, which will then bear a relationship to the Jupiter consciousness, like our present dream-consciousness to our day-consciousness. When man enters into this Jupiter earthly consciousness, into this repetition of his earthly consciousness, then it will be borne in upon him that he would like to have a kind of inner retrospect, a kind of survey of all that he has attained as Earthman, of all that he has won for himself throughout the whole of his past. We shall, as mentioned, only have an earthly consciousness for a short time during our Jupiter life, but during this earthly consciousness we shall feel the need of having an intense retrospective consciousness of our whole human past. The renewal of earthly consciousness will take place for this purpose. And when we look back we shall feel that we must put to ourselves the question: What have you then attained during your whole past? What have you reached through having become an earthly man? This question we must ask ourselves. Just as we eat and sleep upon earth, so shall we be obliged during this renewal of earthly consciousness to ask ourselves: What have you attained from the fact that you became man? We must sum up the result of our whole earthly existence. And because we put this question, because we sum up this result, there will come before the soul in a mighty Jupiter dream vision what we have actually attained. But this Jupiter dream will have as great a reality as all our actual earthly perceptions; it will not come before us as a dream-picture, but it will have all the reality which an earthly human being has who stands before us. And this Being who will then meet us, as the answer to the question which we have had to ask ourselves—do you know who this Being will be? It will be Lucifer, and Lucifer will say: ‘Recognise now that you belong to me through all that you have become in your past.’ And we shall know as surely as when an earthly human being recognises another when he meets him in physical perception—we shall know that it is Lucifer, and that we have worked for him through all that we have wished to become as men. And then we shall recognise the whole meaning and power of Christ, then we shall recognise that we are not capable ourselves of forming any other decision than that of following Lucifer. Only from the fact that the Christ Being appears in the history of the Earth in memory, only in this way shall we know that this Christ Being has entered earthly evolution. We shall know that this Christ Being had gifts for us, which are now coming to realisation during the Jupiter existence. These gifts transform us into real Jupiter beings, and only through them shall we be capable of taking not the path of Lucifer, but the path of the genuinely developing Cosmos. For what will Lucifer want from us? He will say to us: ‘The condition which you are now going through—this repetition of earthly consciousness—has a great significance for you.’

Upon Jupiter it is different from what it is on the Earth. On the Earth, after we have reached the middle of the thirties, in the second half of our life, we act in much the same way in regard to many things as we did earlier. We eat and drink in order to maintain our physical life after the thirty-fifth year just as we did before it. On Jupiter that will be quite different. Upon Jupiter we shall not indeed need to eat and drink in the same way as we have to do in a body on the Earth, but with the Jupiter body belonging to us, we shall be connected in a similar way with the activities of the Jupiter physical world, as we are through eating and drinking with the activities of earthly physical existence. We shall on Jupiter, from the moment of life which we shall have reached, when the earthly consciousness has been renewed, no longer be able to stand in the same relation to our Jupiter surroundings as before. We shall no longer fit into our surroundings. I can make the following comparison: It will be as if upon earth we should in our thirty-fifth year reach such a condition of our stomach, of our organs, that we could no longer breathe the earthly air, that we could no longer bear earthly nourishment. Imagine how it would be if we, in our thirty-fifth year, had to go through such a development of our bodies that though our inner souls would still be perfectly capable of spending years upon Earth, our bodies would be incapable of enduring anything at all which grew upon the Earth. It will be like this on Jupiter, my dear friends—naturally the conditions are different, but it will be similar; we shall no longer be able to be in direct physical touch with Jupiter in the second half of our life there. That will then be emphatically a law of nature on Jupiter. But through the power of this natural law, Lucifer will be able to lead our souls, which will then be still perfectly capable of life, but which will not be able to maintain their bodies for the Jupiter existence—Lucifer will be able to lead our souls with him, unless the Christ can show us that He has amassed treasures in us, in the first half of our life on Jupiter, treasures which now maintain us through the second half of our Jupiter-existence. Upon Jupiter the Christ will not manifest outwardly merely this ethical character which He manifests during earthly existence, but He will be the inner nourisher for the second half of man’s life on Jupiter, and the nourishment will be at the same time of moral significance. He will be able to set us free from Lucifer because He has amassed treasures of nourishment in the first half of life in the Jupiter existence; in this way alone can He set us free from Lucifer. If that did not happen, if Christ could not set us free from Lucifer upon Jupiter, Lucifer would take our souls with him. Our bodies, which would then have no possibility of entering into relation with the Jupiter physical world, would fall away from us, and Lucifer would point out to us: ‘See, I take your soul, but your body falls away from you into the treasure-house of Ahriman. Ahriman will now have that, it will live further with him.’

Everything will depend upon how our souls in this retrospect, when the earthly consciousness is re-established, can remember the way in which they filled themselves with the Mystery of Golgotha, with the understanding that the Christ Being has entered into human evolution, into the historical evolution of earthly existence. For consider the frightful condition of the Jupiter human soul, which of necessity must hold this retrospect and must say to itself: ‘I have during my time on Earth denied the Christ. I have not wanted to know anything of Christ. I have refused to instruct myself at the right time concerning that Being Who as the Christ, entered into earthly evolution through the Mystery of Golgotha. I can remember nothing that happened on Earth through the Christ.’ If souls can exist in whom all remembrance of the Christ shall be blotted out during the Jupiter existence, because during the earthly life they had never permitted themselves to be penetrated with understanding for the Christ Event, then the dreadful Day of Judgment would come for these souls, that Christ docs not take them with Him in the Jupiter existence in order to nourish and to foster them in the second half of life on Jupiter, but that He points them away with the one hand to where Ahriman takes the remains of the Jupiter physical matter, and with the other hand He points to where Lucifer leads the souls on his path. And if we, with the understanding which Spiritual Science can give us of the Mystery of Golgotha, approach the symbol of Jesus lying in the tomb, if we do not see in it simply an external symbol, but if we unite with this symbol all that we can know concerning the Mystery of Golgotha, and if we have already gained some capacity for seeing that of which Spiritual Science speaks, then there will come before the soul what I have now related to you as a vision of humanity’s future on Jupiter.

In the old places of Initiation the disciples had to seek under the leadership of their Initiates what we have called in the old Mysteries ‘The vision of the Sun at midnight.’ We see the Sun by day physically. The Initiates saw the Sun at midnight through the Earth, though for physical sight the Earth is not transparent. And when they thus saw the Sun at midnight through the Earth, they did not see its physical existence, but instead they saw inscribed on the Sun the Mystery of the Christ, the Sun Spirit. The disciples of the old Initiates saw the Mystery of the Christ, the Sun Spirit, in advance. Theirs was a higher natural sight, a becoming clairvoyant within nature. What the Easter Symbol can represent for us is a becoming clairvoyant within the historical life of earthly humanity, a becoming clairvoyant in this way, that we see how from the fact that we have become free Earth-men, we have actually concluded the agreement with Lucifer and Ahriman, and that the Christ alone can free us from this agreement. What seeing the Sun at midnight meant for the disciples of the old Initiation can for Christians become reverence and adoration in regard to the Good Friday and Holy Saturday Mystery. We have, my dear friends, every reason to concentrate in these days upon the inner tragedy, the justifiable sadness of the deepest inner being of human nature. We could never have become free beings, if we had not entered into such a relationship with Lucifer and Ahriman, as that which is implied in our description of today, if we had not become capable of going the Lucifer way and the Ahriman way. Man can indeed in these days call up before his consciousness the tragic element from the depths of his nature, whilst he says: ‘My freedom would never have come about without the possibility of following Lucifer and Ahriman.’ And this consciousness can rise in him, when he looks at the symbol of the Christ lying in the tomb, Who through that which He accomplished with His deed cancels what had to take place for the sake of human freedom.

The fact that man has not only reason for rejoicing, but also for mourning over his nature, ought to echo through his soul in the days devoted to the solemn remembrance of the entombment. There remain many days of the year on which man can think more of what he has become from the fact that the Earth evolution has not been forsaken, that the Christ, as the Risen Christ, has come to Earth. But that which made this Mystery of Golgotha necessary, that which can live as cosmic mourning in the human soul, all this must discharge itself in these days. And when we have gained a feeling for that which is bound up with the human soul from its history, then in these days we cannot but be sad concerning human evolution—we should rather say, these are days in which we ought to be sad concerning this human development.

And if the feeling is living, then the black garments are justified, which we choose for these days; while red can be the colour that can meet our eyes again, when the days of mourning are over, mourning concerning that which as a deep tragedy is connected with human nature. It would have been altogether unbecoming from the standpoint of Christian art, if yesterday and today red had been predominant. These things too we must learn, but when we have learnt them, we shall feel how outer forms have their deep significance, and are essentially connected with what we can call the union of the human soul with the events of the Cosmos. Is this not expressed, in the fixing of the time of this Easter Festival itself? The time of the Easter Festival is fixed in a cosmic way; the first Sunday after the full moon which follows the beginning of spring, the 21st of March. There above in heaven shall the sign be, according to which the Easter Festival is fixed. A barbaric science has demanded in recent years that Easter should fall every year on the same day. If that is realised, we shall best see how far people wish to depart from a really spiritual life, which cannot be developed without man’s being aware how his soul lives not merely in what is in circulation upon Earth in the receipt and expenditure of money. For in all matters in which this receipt and expenditure of money is the outer symbol, doubtless the fixing of Easter Day would be a convenient thing. But for that which flows into the human soul out of the life of the cosmos, it would be deadening if that barbaric science should triumph, which would fix Easter Sunday and Easter Monday always on the same day of the year, and we should no longer look to the cosmos in order to fix these days.

In such details, we see how humanity is sailing into Ahrimanic materialism. We must have men who through their knowledge of Spiritual Science will for the future have absolute certainty in such matters.

You know, assuredly either from the original which is already much spoiled, or from reproductions and engravings, Michelangelo’s powerful work in the Sistine Chapel in Rome—the ‘Last Judgment.’ When you look at the composition of this work representing the judgment of the world, what must you say—now when you have drawn nearer to Spiritual Science—what is really the picture of the judgment of the world? As I said before, if he who is endowed with the insight Spiritual Science can give, takes his stand before the symbol of the Christ lying in the tomb during Good Friday and Holy Saturday, he will, when he has brought it before his mind’s eye, have before his soul the vision of the Jupiter human beings and the Jupiter existence already described. If he has not brought this vision to sight, nevertheless the thought, which is as legitimate at a certain stage as the sight, will be possible to him.

And imagine, that an artist endowed with all the art of modern painting should be influenced by the symbol of the Mystery of Golgotha, and that he wanted to answer the question pictorially: What appears to me when I turn my eyes away from the symbol of Christ Jesus lying in the tomb? By what I have won through it, let me deepen my gaze into the inner soul, and see what appears to me. The Christ appears to me in his Jupiter splendour, in his future glory, chaining Ahriman by the fetters of Light in the nether world, so that he cannot reach man, and vanquishing Lucifer so that he cannot lead the human soul along his path.

Thus it appears when adapted to what the human soul can mako its own through Spiritual Science. All that can now appear to the human soul in this way, clothed itself for ourselves in earlier incarnations, in the picture of the ‘Last Judgment,’ as Michelangelo painted it upon the wall of the Sistine Chapel. That is only a prophetic glimpse; the correct vision is the one I have just described to you. People who have been taught only through Christian feeling, but not yet through Spiritual Science, have seen what can be discerned in the Good Friday Mystery in the form in which Michelangelo painted in the ‘Last Judgment.’ We, however, live in a time of transition, and the most advanced souls can themselves be the most conscious, even if they have not yet taken up Spiritual Science, of how man in the present time lives in a time of transition, in which we must say: The children of men have lost the understanding for the way in which people saw the ‘Last Judgment,’ as a result of the Good Friday Mystery. But a new understanding must arise, an understanding which will be won through Spiritual Science, as we have described it today, an understanding with which we too are celebrating here at this time the Festival of the Entombment of the Christ Jesus.

I have often spoken in this place of much that Hermann Grimm has so beautifully described. He has in his life of Michelangelo spoken at length concerning the ‘Last Judgment.’ Grimm was unlike the average learned man who describes everything objectively (I emphasise this), for after having made researches into a subject, he entered with the soul, with perception and feeling, fully into the results. Because of this, when he had completed his beautiful treatment of the‘Last Judgment’ in his Life of Michelangelo, he adds the following. ‘It is difficult,’ he says, ‘if not impossible to speak about such matters...’ He meant about what the ‘Last Judgment’ signifies for the human soul. In the time of Michelangelo it was not yet difficult to speak about this, above all not in painting, for Michelangelo has spoken of it in his fresco. And those who at that time were initiated into the mysteries of religion have been able to speak of these things. It has only become difficult through the further evolution of time. Hermann Grimm says: ‘It is difficult, if not impossible to speak about such matters. Our feeling of them lives in a depth which it is not possible to illumine with clear light. We do not yet venture to hold entirely as shadows the pictures which are handed down to us as sacred legacies...’ He says: ‘We do not yet venture in our time to say that what a Michelangelo thought of as really in connection with the life of the human soul and has depicted upon a canvas,—we do not yet dare to say of this, that it is a mere fantasy.’ Deeper spirits like Hermann Grimm do not yet dare. Others who are built more after the type of Ludwig Feuerbach or David Friedrich Strauss may dare to say: ‘That is fantastical,’ or, if they want to express it in a more beautiful modern way, they say: ‘That is a fantasy,’ but they mean that it is fantastical, when they speak of Michelangelo’s works. But other deeper spirits do not yet venture to say this. Hermann Grimm continues: ‘Assuredly we do not yet dare to hold entirely as shadows the pictures which have been handed down to us as sacred legacies. But as I think of the course of spiritual development I feel that these representations must become ever fainter and fainter, and something different must appear in their place which has value as a symbol of the Eternal.’

Hermann Grimm sees that something new must appear, but he seeks in vain in modern civilisation for what is within his reach for this new illumination. And I may say his words have a tragic note: He says: ‘Without symbols, be they visible pictures or thoughts, we cannot rest, however clear it is to us that everything symbolical is only an image, and meaningless indeed for him who contributes nothing to it from his own soul.Thus, as the ‘Last Judgment’ confronts us on the wall of the Sistine chapel, it is no longer an image for us, but a memorial of a fanciful soul-life of a past age, of a strange people, whose thoughts are no longer ours.’

That is a confession in sincerity from the human soul itself, which this spirit had to make, who cannot remain satisfied with saying that we can go on living into all the future, even when we have lost what once came before the soul when it felt the Good Friday Mystery. These are the worlds of a spirit who perceives the old is past, who has insight into the present and who looks around as it were, in vain for something which can take the place of the old. Such a spirit passed through the gate of death, with the following thought: ‘Where, O where, thou soul, thou human soul, who once didst steep thyself in the vision of the Crucified One lying in the tomb, who once didst plunge deeply into thy most holy secrets in the cosmos—where, thou human soul, dost thou find new thoughts and feelings concerning this Mystery? Where dost thou find something which fills thee again when thou dost gaze upon the Crucified One lying in the grave, when thou dost gaze upon the Good Friday Mystery? Where, thou human soul, dost thou find this?’—with these thoughts such a spirit sped through the gate of death.

Now you will comprehend why I said here in this place a few days ago: There are souls who have passed through the gate of death, and who have received a new feeling for what man actually is, when our friend Christian Morgenstern joined their band, and, permeated by the consciousness of the new conception of Christ, bore up the new thoughts concerning the Christevolution and its connection with mankind’s evolution, into the spiritual worlds. The souls who longed after these new thoughts, because they had only been able to carry through their own gate of death thoughts which were meaningless, or picture thoughts of a former age grown pale, these souls found in our friend the comrade who enlightens them. Thus is it after death, even if superficial people can believe that man, when he passes through the gate of death, at once commands a view of all mysteries. He does not do so, for as through the embryonic life man is made ready for life outside the mother’s body, so must man be made ready here in his earthly body for the life between death and a new birth. And for the souls who passed through the gate of death without having received thoughts concerning the Mystery of Golgotha, Christian Morgenstern is a revealer who had come to the spiritual world illumined by what the new Christ announcements can mean for the soul.

Let us in all veneration fill ourselves with such thoughts in these days. Let us take them up in their concreteness, as they enter into our souls in connection with our own Society. And let us seek to understand them in these days which bring closer to our souls the Festivals of Good Friday and Holy Saturday so full of mystery. May they give us the power to understand such things ever more deeply. Let us use what this holy, this tragically holy day may be for us, in order to let the feelings called forth by such an occasion, influence us in the right way, illumining the deepest abyss of all our human existence, as it develops on the earth, and also on those heavenly bodies which will be the re-embodiments of our Earth. Let us seek to allow the Easter image to be in a deep, in a very deep sense indeed, an image, a picture of what is bound up from all eternity with the nature of the human soul and therefore with our own self-knowledge.

Elfter Vortrag

Festliche Gelegenheiten sind diejenigen, in denen die Menschen gemeinsam gedenken können wichtiger, bedeutungsvoller Angelegenheiten der Seele, der Entwickelung. Daher ist es wohl angemessen, daß wir anläßlich dieser Trauerfestestage auch gerade solche Betrachtungen anstellen, die ja in der Meditation oder sonst öfter über die Seele des einzelnen kommen können, die aber, durch solche Festestage veranlaßt, eine gemeinsame Besprechung finden können.

Gestern deutete ich darauf hin, wie ein Zeichen für ein ganz besonders Wichtiges, sowohl in der menschlichen wie in der kosmischen Entwickelung, die Grablegung des Christus Jesus am Karfreitag jedes Jahres ist, und die Auferstehung am Ostersonntag-Morgen. Es sind die Tage, in denen die Menschenseele eigentlich ein Tiefstes ihrer innersten, wesentlichsten Angelegenheiten erleben kann, durchempfinden kann wenigstens. Das Zeichen für die Tatsache, daß die Christus-Wesenheit, oder sagen wir die Verkörperung der Christus-Wesenheit, auf Erden drei Tage lang im Todesdasein ruhte, das hängt ja - wir wissen das aus anderweitigen Betrachtungen - mit dem Tiefsten des Menschenwesens zusammen. Und vielleicht darf gerade heute vor den hier versammelten Freunden an ein gewichtiges Mysterium erinnert werden, das mit diesem Zeichen zusammenhängt.

Wenn man so ganz vollständig empfindet dasjenige, was die symbolische Grablegung des Jesus Christus am Karfreitag bedeutet, was das Liegen im Grabe, das Durchgehen des Christus Jesus durch den Tod bedeutet, wenn man sich so ganz sachgemäß und befruchtet durch die Errungenschaften der Geisteswissenschaft in dieses Symbolum vertieft, dann erlebt man wirklich etwas, zunächst empfindend und denkend, das zusammenhängt mit den tiefsten Geheimnissen der Menschennatur auf Erden. Wir werden, wenn einstmals unser Bau fertig werden sollte, an einer bestimmten Stelle stehen haben - in Holz soll es geschnitzt werden - den Sieg der Christus-Wesenheit über Ahriman auf der einen Seite, über Luzifer auf der anderen Seite. Darstellen soll das dann, was Bedeutungsvolles sich abgespielt hat bei dem Durchgang der ChristusWesenheit durch das Mysterium von Golgatha, in bezug auf das Erdenverhältnis zwischen Christus, Ahriman und Luzifer. Und nun darf gesagt werden: Wenn man so recht, recht tief auf die Seele wirken läßt, aber tief verständnisvoll, das Liegen des Christus Jesus im Grabe, dann ist es, daß an die menschliche Seele herantritt ein Gefühl für die Bedeutung des Christus-Kampfes gegen Ahriman und Luzifer. Um dies zu verstehen, wollen wir uns einiges von dem, was wir schon wissen, vor die Seele rücken. .

Man hat insbesondere in der neueren Zeit immer wieder darauf angespielt, daß ja etwas wie der Tod des Gottes und die Auferstehung des Gottes vorbereitend vorhanden war in den alten Religionen, und man hat geglaubt, daraus schließen zu dürfen, daß das Christus-Ereignis auch nur eine Umbildung sei, eine Umbildung, sagen wir etwa des Sterbens des Adonis und des Auferstehens des Adonis. Man hat aber mit solchen Behauptungen nur gezeigt, daß man ein wirkliches Verständnis des Christus-Ereignisses eben nicht gewonnen hat. Denn dieses Adonis-Ereignis oder andere ähnliche Ereignisse, sie sind überall, wo sie angetroffen werden, so, daß man ihnen ansieht gewissermaßen das natürliche Dasein, das Dasein, das sich jedes Jahr wiederholen kann, das Dasein, das mit den Naturereignissen zusammenhängt und eigentlich in die Naturereignisse hineingehört. So wie dasjenige, was wir gestern als das Baldur-Ereignis beschrieben haben, ja im Grunde auch gebunden ist an die Erscheinung der Natur, die Beobachtungen, welche der alte Mensch in der Natur machen konnte. Alle alten vorchristlichen Religionen waren im Grunde genommen solche Religionen, deren Verehrungswesen zusammenhing mit dem, was die alten hellsichtigen Menschenseelen in den Ereignissen der Natur und ihrem Laufe wahrnehmen konnten. Und die orientalischen Religionen sind im Grunde genommen heute noch nicht über diesen Standpunkt hinausgelangt. Wirklich über diesen Standpunkt hinausgelangt ist das Christentum, denn das Christentum ist im eminentesten Sinne dasjenige, was man nennen kann eine historische Religion, das heißt eine Religion, bei der es ankommt auf das, was verstanden werden muß aus dem ganzen Verlauf der Menschengeschichte und Menschenentwickelung im Erdendasein. Eine Historie, eine Erdengeschichte gibt es eigentlich erst durch das Mysterium von Golgatha.

Daß die Erdenentwickelung des Menschen einen aufsteigenden Weg durchmacht und wiederum einen absteigenden Weg, und in der Mitte, so wie das öfter beschrieben worden ist - man kann es auch umgekehrt sagen, daß die Menschen einen absteigenden Weg durchmachen und wiederum einen aufsteigenden Weg, von einem anderen Gesichtspunkte aus —, in der Mitte das Christus-Ereignis, das Ereignis von Golgatha steht, und daß durch dieses Christus-Ereignis die Geschichte ihren eigentlichen Sinn erhält, das ist das Wesen und die wahre Bedeutung des Christentums. Wir müssen uns nun eine Frage beantworten: Was ist denn überhaupt dieser Geschichtsverlauf, der, ich möchte sagen, wie eine Fortsetzung der Natur aus den Taten der Menschen heraus über die Erdenentwickelung hinläuft? Was ist denn das eigentlich: Geschichte? Was ist denn eigentlich das Geschehen, das sich abspielt durch den Fortgang der menschlichen Taten, der menschlichen Empfindungen, der menschlichen Gedanken, was ist denn das eigentlich? Was das ist, es tritt einem so recht erst vor die Seele, wenn man mit dem durch die Geisteswissenschaft geschärften Seelenblick vor dem im Grabe ruhenden Christus Jesus in den Kar-Tagen steht.

Da tritt einem vor die Seele, was das ist, Geschichte. Denn da wird man gewahr, wenn man nur eben den Seelenblick durch die Geisteswissenschaft sich geschärft hat, daß dasjenige, was hier auf Erden Geschichte ist, einstmals auf dem Weltenkörper, der sich wie eine neue Verkörperung der Erde ausnehmen wird, Natur sein wird. Geschichte der Erde ist Vorbereitung der Natur auf dem Jupiter. Wie eine prophetische Vorherverkündigung desjenigen, was auf dem Jupiter Naturereignisse sein werden, tritt im Erdendasein dasjenige auf, was geschichtliche Ereignisse sind. Wie ist das?

Hier auf der Erde verläuft das menschliche Leben so in physischer Verkörperung, daß wir durch die Geburt hereinverpflanzt werden in dieses physische Erdendasein, daß wir dann bis in die Dreißigerjahre hinein eine aufsteigende Entwickelung und dann eine absteigende Entwickelung unseres physischen Daseins durchmachen. Am Beginn dieses physischen Erdendaseins steht unsere physische Geburt, am Ende dieses physischen Erdendaseins steht unser physischer Tod oder dasjenige, was wir den physischen Tod nennen. Die Mitte des Menschendaseins, ich möchte sagen, etwa die Mitte der Dreißigerjahre, geht ja für den Erdenmenschen in seiner physischen Verkörperung, wenn er nicht besonders teilnimmt an den gewichtigen, wesenhaften inneren Ereignissen des Seelendaseins, mehr oder weniger spurlos, wenigstens für die in den meisten Fällen vorhandene Selbsterkenntnis, mehr oder weniger spurlos vorüber.

Das wird anders sein, wenn die Erdenmenschheit einstmals das Jupiterdasein durchmachen wird; ganz, ganz anders wird das dann sein. Ich will heute nicht davon sprechen - das kann ein anderes Mal geschehen -, auf welche ganz andere Weise als durch eine physische Geburt, wie es im Erdendasein geschieht, der Jupitermensch in sein physisches Dasein treten wird. Und auch aus dem Jupiterdasein hinaus wird der Mensch auf ganz andere Art treten, als die Art des physischen Erdentodes ist. Aber gewissermaßen dasjenige, was entspricht der Mitte des Lebens, was also für unser Erdendasein hereinfallen würde in die Mitte unserer Dreißigerjahre, das wird dann gewichtig, bedeutungsvoll für das Jupiterdasein des Menschen sein. Ich möchte sagen: was Geburt und Tod, wenn man sie durcheinander mischen würde, zusammen sind am Anfang und Ende des Erdenlebens, das würde etwas geben, was in der Mitte des Jupiterdaseins für den dann zu diesem Jupiterdasein entwickelten Menschen eintreten wird. Also denken Sie, der Mensch wird in der Mitte des Jupiterdaseins etwas durchzumachen haben, was Sie herausbekommen würden, wenn Sie die irdische Geburt mit dem irdischen Tod etwa zusammenmischen. Nur müssen Sie sich nicht denken, daß Sie die beiden ohne weiteres so, wie sie sich darstellen als irdische Erscheinung, zusammenmischen können, sondern Geburt und Tod müssen etwa so zusammengebracht werden wie eine chemische Verbindung. Wenn man . Sauerstoff und Wasserstoff, wenn man zwei Gase zusammenmischt, so entsteht etwas, was gar nicht ähnlich ist weder dem Wasserstoff noch dem Sauerstoff, nämlich das Wasser. So wird auch ein Erlebnis sein in der Mitte des Jupiterdaseins, das wirklich eine Art Verbindung ist zwischen irdischem Tod und irdischer Geburt, aber durchaus verschieden von dem, was eine ideelle, eine verstandesmäßige Mischung der beiden Erscheinungen von Geburt und Tod ergeben kann.

Ja, sehen Sie, so rückt das Dasein von Stufe zu Stufe weiter, daß wir uns schon, wenn wir zum Jupiterdasein gehen wollen, vorstellen müssen, daß dann für den Jupitermenschen in der Mitte des Jupiterdaseins ein bedeutungsvolles Ereignis eintritt, ein Ereignis von solcher Art, wie ich es eben charakterisiert habe. Es wird, wie Sie ja wissen, das ganze Jupiterbewußtsein des Menschen ein ganz anderes sein als das Erdenbewußtseiin. Sie brauchen, um sich zu unterrichten über die verschiedenen Stufen menschlichen Bewußtseins, nur nachzulesen dasjenige, was in der «Akasha-Chronik» über die verschiedenen Entwickelungsstufen des menschlichen Bewußtseins vom Saturn- bis zum Vulkandasein hin gesagt worden ist, und Sie werden dann sich ins Gedächtnis rufen können, daß auf dem Jupiter eine Art höheren bewußten Bilderschauens eintritt, ein imaginatives Bewußtsein, das eine höhere Bewußtseinsstufe darstellt als das irdische Bewußtsein ist. Hinaufwachsen werden wir also zu einem Bewußtsein, das nicht so verlaufen wird wie das Erdenbewußtsein, sondern das die Eindrücke von außen in ganz anderer Weise empfangen wird als der Erdenmensch, das aber von diesen Eindrücken dann in innerer Willkür sich Bilder wie Imaginationen entwerfen wird, etwa so, wie ich als Erdenmensch etwas wahrnehme und dann entwerfe, aufzeichne. So wird es sein im Jupiterbewußtsein, nur, daß das Jupiterwahrnehmen etwas anderes ist als das Erdenwahrnehmen. Dann wird der Mensch sich selbst Bilder suchen, Bildervorstellungen, wie sie durch das Erdensein entstehen; dann wird er sich gleichsam etwas wie Gemälde bilden desjenigen, was in ihn einfließt als Inhalt des imaginativen Bewußtseins.

Zur Erlangung dieses imaginativen Bewußstseins wird der Mensch das Jupiterdasein betreten. Und dieses imaginative Bewußtsein, das wird, ebenso wie das irdische Bewußtsein durch die Kindheit hindurch eine Entwickelung, eine Entfaltung durchmacht, auch eine Entfaltung, eine Entwickelung durchmachen. Dann wird die Mitte des Jupiterlebens kommen, und in dieser Mitte des Jupiterlebens wird durch einen Zeitraum, der uns wirklich versinnbildlicht werden kann durch drei Erdentage, für den Jupitermenschen Wichtiges eintreten: nämlich es wird eintreten mitten im Jupiterbewußtsein eine Wiederholung, eine kurze Wiederholung - denn nur tagelang dauert die Wiederholung - des Erdenbewußtseins. Also das wird zu diesem Erlebnis des Jupiterlebens gehören, daß das Erdenbewußtsein sich dort für kurze Zeit erneuert, daß der Mensch sich in der Mitte seines Jupiterlebens als Erdenmensch erfühlen wird. Dann, wenn der Mensch also durch sein imaginatives Jupiterbewußtsein gegangen sein wird, wird eintreten eine Zeit, in der er nur sein Erdenbewußtsein wieder hat, das wirklich dann zum Jupiterbewußtsein sich verhalten wird wie unser jetziges Traumbewußtsein zu unserem Tagesbewußstsein.

Wenn der Mensch in dieses Jupiter-Erdenbewußtsein, in diese Wiederholung des Erdenbewußtseins eintreten wird, dann wird es über ihn kommen, daß er wird wollen wie eine Art inneren Resümees halten, wie eine Art Rückschau halten auf all dasjenige, was er sich erworben hat als Erdenmensch, was er sich überhaupt erworben hat durch all seine Vergangenheit hindurch. Wir werden, wie gesagt, nur kurze Zeit ein Erdenbewußtsein haben während eines Jupiterlebens, aber während dieses Erdenbewußtseins werden wir das Bedürfnis empfinden, in intensiver Weise Rückschau zu halten auf unsere ganze menschliche Vergangenheit. Dazu wird es da sein, dieses Erneuern des Erdenbewußtseins. Und wenn wir dann zurückschauen werden, dann wird es uns überkommen, daß wir uns müssen die Fragen stellen: Was hast du eigentlich erreicht durch deine ganze Vergangenheit? Was hast du denn erreicht durch dasjenige, was du als Erdenmensch geworden bist? — Diese Frage wird man sich stellen müssen aus kosmischer Notwendigkeit heraus. So wie man auf der Erde essen und schlafen muß, um zu bestehen, so wird man während dieses Erneuerns des Erdenbewußstseins sich fragen müssen: Was hast du denn dadurch, daß du Mensch geworden bist, erreicht? Wozu bist du ein freier Mensch geworden? — Man wird gleichsam das Ergebnis, die Summe ziehen seines ganzen Erdenseins. Und indem man diese Frage stellt, indem man diese Summe zieht, wird einem in mächtigem Jupitertraume vor die Seele treten, was man dadurch wirklich erreicht hat. Aber dieser Jupitertraum wird eine solche Realität haben wie alle unsere realen Erdenwahrnehmungen. Nicht als ein Traumbild wird es vor uns hintreten, sondern so wird das alles Realität haben, wie der Erdenmensch, der jetzt vor uns tritt, jetzt Realität hat. Und dann wird es sich ereignen, daß eine Gestalt vor uns hintritt, die deutlich die Antwort gibt auf unsere Frage. Und die Wesenheit, die dann vor uns treten wird als die Antwort auf die Frage, die wir uns also haben stellen müssen — wissen Sie, wer diese Wesenheit sein wird? Luzifer wird es sein, und Luzifer wird sagen: Erkenne jetzt, daß du mir gehörst durch all dasjenige, was du als Mensch in deiner Vergangenheit geworden bist. Und man wird sicher wissen - so wie man als Erdenmensch einen anderen Menschen erkennt, wenn er vor einem in die physische Wahrnehmung tritt -, daß das Luzifer ist und daß man für ihn gearbeitet hat durch all dasjenige, was man als Mensch hat werden wollen. Dann wird man die ganze Bedeutung und Kraft des Christus erkennen, denn man wird erkennen, daß man durch sich selbst nicht imstande ist, einen anderen Entschluß zu fassen als den, Luzifer in sein Reich zu folgen.

Nur dadurch, daß aus der Erdengeschichte auftreten wird, eben auch in der Erinnerung, das Christus-Ereignis, die Christus-Wesenheit, dadurch wird man wissen, daß in die Erdenentwickelung diese ChristusWesenheit eingetreten ist, und daß sie uns Gaben zu geben hatte, diese Christus-Wesenheit, die sich uns jetzt, während des Jupiterseins, realisieren, das heißt, in wirkliche Jupiterwesenheit verwandeln, durch die wir allein imstande sein werden, nicht den Weg mit Luzifer zu gehen, sondern eben den Weg des sich regelmäßig entwickelnden Kosmos zu gehen. Denn was wird Luzifer von uns wollen? Was wird er denn dann von uns wollen? Er wird uns sagen: Der Zustand, den du jetzt durchmachst, diese Wiederholung des Erdenbewußtseins, der bedeutet viel für dich. - Denn auf dem Jupiter ist es anders als auf der Erde, ganz anders. Auf der Erde ist es so, daß wir, wenn wir die Mitte der Dreißiger erreicht haben, in der zweiten Hälfte des Lebens in bezug auf manche Dinge genau dasselbe tun, was wir früher getan haben. Wir essen und trinken, um unser physisches Dasein zu erhalten, nach dem fünfunddreißigsten Lebensjahr ebenso wie vor dem fünfunddreißigsten Lebensjahr. Auf dem Jupiter wird das anders sein, ganz anders. Auf dem Jupiter werden wir zwar nicht in derselben Weise zu essen und zu trinken brauchen, wie wir das im Erdenleibe auf der Erde tun müssen, aber man wird in einer ähnlichen Weise mit dem dann zu einem gehörigen Jupiterleibe mit den Wirkungen der Jupiterphysis zusammenhängen, wie man durch Speise und Trank mit den Wirkungen der Erdenphysis zusammenhängt. Man wird von dem Momente des Lebens ab, den man erreicht hat, indem sich das Erdenbewußtsein erneuert hat, nicht mehr in derselben Weise zu der Jupiterumgebung stehen können wie früher. Wenn ich es trivial ausdrücken darf, möchte ich sagen: sie wird nicht mehr anschlagen. Es wird etwa so sein, daß ich den Vergleich brauchen könnte: Wenn das auf der Erde der Fall sein würde, dann würden wir erreichen mit dem fünfunddreißigsten Lebensjahr einen solchen Zustand unseres Magens, unserer Organe, daß wir die Erdenluft dann nicht mehr atmen könnten, die Erdennahrung nicht mehr vertragen würden. Denken Sie, was es wäre, wenn wir im fünfunddreißigsten Jahre eine solche Entwickelung unseres Leibes durchmachen müßten, daß zwar unser Inneres durchaus noch fähig wäre, Erdenjahre durchzumachen, daß aber unser Leib unfähig wäre, irgend etwas, was auf der Erde wächst, zu ertragen. So wird es dann auf dem Jupiter entsprechend sein. Natürlich sind die Verhältnisse ganz andere, aber so wird es sein: Wir werden nicht mehr können in der unmittelbar physischen Berührung mit dem Jupiter sein in unserer zweiten Lebenshälfte des Jupiter. Das wird Naturgesetz sein dann auf dem Jupiter, das wird durchaus Naturgesetz sein dann.

Aber durch die Kraft dieses Naturgesetzes würde Luzifer unsere Seele, die dann durchaus noch lebensfähig sein wird, aber die ihren Leib nicht wird unterhalten können für das Jupiterdasein, mit sich führen können, wenn nicht Christus uns dann zeigen könnte, daß er in der ersten Lebenshälfte des Jupiterdaseins in uns Schätze angesammelt hat, die uns nun erhalten durch die zweite Hälfte unseres Daseins auf dem Jupiter. Auf dem Jupiter wird der Christus durchaus nicht bloß diesen ethischen Charakter nach außen zeigen, den er während des Erdendaseins zeigt, sondern er wird für die zweite Lebenshälfte der Menschen auf dem Jupiter der innere Ernährer sein, und die Ernährung wird zu gleicher Zeit von moralischer Bedeutung sein. Er wird uns allein dadurch, daß er Ernährungsschätze ansammelte in der ersten Lebenshälfte des Jupiterdaseins, von Luzifer befreien können. Würde das nicht geschehen, würde uns der Christus nicht von Luzifer befreien können auf dem Jupiter, so würde Luzifer unsere Seele mitnehmen. Unser Leib, der dann keine Möglichkeit hätte, in eine Beziehung zur Jupiterphysis zu treten, er würde zerfallen, würde abfallen von uns, und Luzifer würde uns zeigen: Siehe da, deine Seele nehme ich, dein Leib aber fällt von dir ab in die Schatzkammer des Ahriman. Der wird ihn nun haben, der wird mit ihm weiterleben.

Alles wird davon abhängen, wie unsere Seele dann bei dieser Rückschau, im Wiederherstellen des Erdenbewußtseins, sich zurückerinnern kann an die Art und Weise, wie sie während der Erdenzeit sich erfüllt hat mit dem Geheimnis von Golgatha, sich erfüllt hat mit dem Verständnis davon, daß das Christus-Wesen in die menschliche Entwickelung, in die geschichtliche Entwickelung des Erdendaseins eingetreten ist. Denn denken Sie den furchtbaren Zustand der Jupiter-Menschenseele, die dann die Rückschau halten müßte und sich sagen müßte: Ich habe während meiner Erdenzeit den Christus verleugnet. Ich habe nichts wissen wollen von dem Christus. Ich habe es abgelehnt, zur rechten Zeit mich zu unterrichten über dasjenige, was als das Christus-Wesen durch das Mysterium von Golgatha in die Erdenentwickelung eingetreten ist. Ich kann mich an nichts erinnern, was auf der Erde durch den Christus geschehen ist. - Könnte es Seelen geben, in denen alle Erinnerung an den Christus ausgetilgt sein müßte während des Jupiterdaseins, weil sie während des Erdendaseins sich niemals herbeigelassen haben, sich mit dem Verständnis für das Christus-Ereignis zu durchdringen, dann träte für sie der furchtbare Gerichtstag ein, daß Christus sie dann im Jupiterdasein nicht mit sich nimmt, um sie in der zweiten Hälfte ihres Jupiterdaseins zu ernähren und zu pflegen, sondern daß er sie verweist mit der einen Hand dahin, wo Ahriman die Jupiter-Physisreste nimmt, und mit der anderen Hand dahin, wo Luzifer die Seele auf seine Pfade führt.

Und nun, wenn man mit dem Verständnis, das uns die Geisteswissenschaft von dem Mysterium von Golgatha geben kann, an das Symbolum des im Grabe liegenden Jesus tritt, wenn man nicht bloß ein äußeres Symbolum darin sieht, sondern wenn man verbindet mit diesem Symbolum alles dasjenige, was man wissen kann über das Mysterium von Golgatha, und wenn man sich schon einige Fähigkeiten errungen hat, auch zu schauen dasjenige, wovon die Geisteswissenschaft spricht, dann tritt einem das, was ich Ihnen jetzt erzählt habe, als eine Vision der Menschen-Jupiterzukunft vor das Seelenauge. In den alten Einweihungsstätten haben die Schüler suchen müssen unter der Führung ihrer Eingeweihten dasjenige, was man genannt hat in den alten Mysterien «das Schauen der Sonne um Mitternacht». Physisch schaut man die Sonne bei Tage. Um Mitternacht, durch die Erde durch, schauten die Eingeweihten die Sonne, während für den physischen Blick die Erde undurchsichtig ist. Indem sie also durch die Erde hindurch um Mitternacht die Sonne schauten, war abgestreift von der Sonne ihr physisches Dasein; dafür aber war eingeschrieben in das Sonnendasein das Geheimnis von dem Christus, dem Sonnengeist. Und voraus schauten die Schüler der alten Eingeweihten das Geheimnis von dem Christus, dem Sonnengeist. Es war ein höheres Naturschauen, ein Hellsichtigwerden innerhalb der Natur.

Dasjenige, was uns das Ostersymbolum darstellen kann, ist ein Hellsichtigwerden innerhalb des geschichtlichen Lebens der Erdenmenschheit, ist ein Hellsichtigwerden darüber, daß wir, im Grunde genommen, indem wir freie Erdenmenschen geworden sind, schon den Bund mit Luzifer und Ahriman wirklich geschlossen haben, und daß der Christus uns von diesem Bund allein erlösen kann. Dasselbe, was für die alten Schüler der Eingeweihten bedeutet hat «das Sehen der Sonne um Mitternacht», kann für die Christenmenschen allmählich werden die betende Ehrfurcht gegenüber dem Karfreitag- und Karsamstag-Mysterium. Wir haben allen Grund, an diesem Tage uns zu konzentrieren auf dasjenige, was mit der inneren Tragik, mit der inneren berechtigten Trauer des tiefsten Inneren des Menschenwesens zusammenhängt. Wir hätten als Erdenmenschen niemals freie Wesen werden können, wenn wir nicht in eine solche Beziehung zu Luzifer und Ahriman getreten wären, wie das ‚im Sinne dessen liegt, was heute angegeben worden ist, wenn wir nicht fähig geworden wären, den Luziferweg und den Ahrimanweg zu gehen. Der Mensch kann wohl das Tragische, das auf dem Untergrund seines Wesens ruht, in diesen Tagen sich vor das Bewußtsein rufen, indem er sich sagt: Meine Freiheit wäre niemals möglich geworden ohne die Möglichkeit, Ahriman und Luzifer zu folgen. — Und aufgehen kann ihm dieses Bewußtsein, indem er anschaut das Symbolum des im Grabe ruhenden Christus, der durch dasjenige, was er mit seiner Tat vollbracht hat, wiederum rückgängig macht, was eintreten mußte um der menschlichen Freiheit willen.

Daß Trauer über das Menschenwesen berechtigt ist, daß der Mensch nicht nur Grund zur Fröhlichkeit, sondern auch tiefen, wahren Grund, wesenhaften Grund zur Trauer über sein Wesen hat, das darf durch die Seele raunen in den Tagen, die der Grablegung in festlicher Weise gewidmet sind. Es bleiben ja noch viele Tage des Jahres, in denen der Mensch dann denken darf mehr an dasjenige, was ihm geworden ist. dadurch, daß die Erdenentwickelung nicht verlassen geblieben ist, daß der Christus als ein Auferstehender zum Erdendasein gekommen ist. Aber was notwendig gemacht hat dieses Mysterium von Golgatha, was als eine kosmische Trauer in der menschlichen Seele leben kann, all das darf sich entladen in diesen Tagen. Und wenn man sich ein Gefühl erworben hat für dasjenige, was mit der Menschenseele verbunden ist aus ihrer Geschichte heraus, dann sind diese Tage solche, in denen man traurig werden kann über die menschliche Entwickelung; viel besser würde man noch sagen: in denen man traurig werden darf über diese menschliche Entwickelung.

Und ist dieses Gefühl lebendig, dann ist. gerechtfertigt die schwarze Verkleidung, die wir gerade in diesen Tagen wählen müssen für die Ausschmückung dieses Raumes. Daher war es mir so störend gestern, als aus dem Schwarzen noch herausragte das Rot, das Rot, welches die Farbe sein kann, die unserem Auge wiederum entgegentreten darf dann, wenn die Tage der Trauer vorüber sein dürfen, der Trauer über dasjenige, was als tiefe Tragik mit der menschlichen Wesenheit zusammen‚hängt. Es war durchaus christlich-künstlerisch stillos, daß gestern hier Rotes herausragte. Auch diese Dinge muß man eben lernen; aber hat man sie gelernt, dann wird man schon empfinden, wie die äußeren Formen ihre tiefe Bedeutung haben, und wie sie wesenhaft zusammenhängen mit dem, was man nennen kann das Zusammenwachsen der Menschenseele mit den Ereignissen des Kosmos.

Ist denn dieses nicht ausgedrückt in der Festsetzung dieses Osterfestes selbst? Kosmisch ist der Zeitpunkt des Osterfestes festgesetzt: der erste Sonntag nach dem Vollmond, der auf Frühlingsanfang, auf den 21. März folgt. Da oben am Himmel sollen die Zeichen sein, nach denen das Osterfest festgelegt wird. Barbarische Wissenschaftlichkeit hat in den letzten Jahren die Forderung aufgestellt, daß die Ostertage jedes Jahr gleich, auf dieselben Tage fallen sollen. Wird sich das realisieren, so wird man am besten ersehen, wie weit sich die Menschen entfernen wollen in unserer Zeit von einem wirklich spirituellen Leben, das nicht entwickelt werden kann, ohne daß der Mensch gewahr wird, wie. seine Seele nicht bloß lebt in dem, was auf der Erde zirkuliert so, daß man etwa als äußeres Zeichen für dieses Zirkulieren das Geldeinnehmen und -ausgeben ansehen kann. Denn dieses, wofür das Geldeinnehmen und Geldausgeben das äußere Zeichen ist, dafür wäre allerdings die Festsetzung des Ostertages eine bequeme Sache. Für dasjenige aber, was hineinfluter aus dem Leben des Kosmos in die menschliche Seele, wäre es ertötend, wenn jene barbarische Wissenschaftlichkeit siegen würde, die den Ostersonntag und Ostermontag immer auf den gleichen Tag des Jahres festlegen wollte, und man nicht mehr hinblicken würde auf die kosmische Festsetzung dieser Tage.

An solchen Einzelheiten sieht man, wie die Menschheit hineinsegelt in den ahrimanischen Materialismus. Menschen wird es geben müssen, die durch ihr Bekenntnis zur Geisteswissenschaft in solchen Dingen werden in der Zukunft einigen Bescheid wissen.

Sie kennen ganz gewiß entweder aus dem Original, das ja schon sehr verdorben ist, oder aber aus Nachbildungen und Stichen, Michelangelos gewaltiges Werk in der Sixtinischen Kapelle in Rom, «Das Jüngste Gericht». Wenn Sie dieses Werk, das darstellt das Weltengericht, in seiner Komposition anschauen, was müssen Sie sich sagen - jetzt, da Sie der Geisteswissenschaft nähergetreten sind -, was dieses Bild vom Weltengericht eigentlich ist? Ich sagte vorhin: Demjenigen, der ausgerüstet mit dem, was die Geisteswissenschaft ihm werden kann, vor das Symbolum des im Grabe liegenden Christus am Karfreitag und Karsamstag hintritt, dem kann sich, wenn er es schon zum Schauen gebracht hat, die Vision des vorhin geschilderten Jupitermenschen, des JupiterMenschendaseins, vor die Seele stellen. Wenn er es noch nicht zum Schauen gebracht hat, so wird sich ihm, wenn er fühlend Verständnis der Geisteswissenschaft erlangt, immerhin der Gedanke hinstellen können, der auf einer gewissen Stufe ebenso berechtigt ist wie das Schauen. Das wird der heutigen Zeit entsprechen.

Und denken Sie sich, ein Maler, mit der ganzen malerischen Kunst der Gegenwart ausgerüstet, würde das Symbolum des Mysteriums von Golgatha auf sich wirken lassen und malerisch die Frage beantworten wollen: Was erscheint mir, wenn ich von dem $Symbolum des im Grabe liegenden Christus Jesus ausgehe und mit dem, was ich dadurch gewonnen habe, den Blick in das Innere vertiefe? Was erscheint mir? - Der Christus erscheint mir in seiner Jupiterherrlichkeit, in seiner zukünftigen Herrlichkeit, Ahriman durch die Bande des Lichtes im Unterirdischen fesselnd, so daß er den Menschen nicht erreichen kann, und überwindend den Luzifer, daß er auf seine Pfade nicht führen kann die menschliche Seele.

So ist es angemessen dem, was die Menschenseele sich aneignen kann durch die Geisteswissenschaft. All dasjenige, was jetzt der Menschenseele so erscheinen kann, es kleidete sich für die Menschen, die vor uns gelebt haben, also für uns selbst in früheren Inkarnationen, in das Bild des Jüngsten Gerichtes, wie es Michelangelo auf die Wand der Sixtinischen Kapelle gemalt hat. Das ist nur ein prophetischer Vorblick; der richtige Blick ist der, den ich Ihnen eben geschildert habe. Menschen, die nur durch das christliche Gefühl unterrichtet wurden, noch nicht durch die Geisteswissenschaft, sie haben dasjenige, was durch das KarfreitagMysterium geschaut werden kann, geschaut in der Form, wie das Jüngste Gericht gemalt worden ist. Wir aber, wir leben in einer Übergangszeit, und die fortgeschrittensten Seelen können sich am meisten bewußt sein, wenn sie noch nicht Geisteswissenschaft aufgenommen haben, wie man in der Gegenwart in einer Übergangszeit lebt, lebt in einer Zeit, der gegenüber man sich sagen muß: $o wie man früher geschaut hat das Jüngste Gericht als Ergebnis des Ostermysteriums, besser noch des Karfreitag-Mysteriums, so haben die Menschenkinder das Verständnis dafür verloren. Aber aufgehen muß ein neues Verständnis, solch ein Verständnis, das durch die Geisteswissenschaft gewonnen wird, wie es geschildert worden ist am heutigen Tage, womit auch wir diesmal hier feiern das Fest der Grablegung des Christus Jesus.

Ich habe öfter hier gesprochen in diesem Raum von mancherlei, was Herman Grimm so schön gesehen hat. Er hat nun in seinem «Leben Michelangelos» ausführlich auch gesprochen über «Das Jüngste Gericht» des Michelangelo in der Sixtinischen Kapelle. Und da er eine Persönlichkeit war, die nicht so war wie die Dutzendgelehrten, die alles - unter Gänsefüßchen sage ich das — «objektiv» schildern, sondern weil er eine Persönlichkeit war, die auch, nachdem sie gründliche Forschungen gemacht hatte, mit der Seele, mit der Empfindung, mit dem Gefühl bei den Ergebnissen der Forschung war, so fügte Herman Grimm, als er in seinem «Leben Michelangelos» vollendet hatte seine schöne Abhandlung über «Das Jüngste Gericht», die folgenden Worte seiner Betrachtung über das Jüngste Gericht bei: «Es ist schwer, wenn nicht unmöglich, über solche Dinge zu reden.» Über dasjenige, meinte er, was im Zusammenhang stehen soll mit dem, was das Jüngste Gericht darstellt für das Wesen der menschlichen Seele. In der Zeit des Michelangelo war es noch nicht schwer, darüber zu reden, vor allem nicht in der Malerei, denn Michelangelo hat ja malerisch darüber gesprochen. Und diejenigen, die dazumal eingeweiht waren in die Mysterien der Religion, haben über diese Dinge sprechen können. Schwer ist es erst geworden durch die Weiterentwickelung der Zeit.

«Es ist schwer, wenn nicht unmöglich, über solche Dinge zu reden. Unser Gefühl darüber wohnt in einer Tiefe, die mit klarem Lichte zu erfüllen nicht gelingen kann. Noch wagen wir freilich nicht, die körperlichen Bilder, die uns als heilige Vermächtnisse überliefert sind, ganz für Schatten zu erklären .. .»

Also er sagt, noch wagen wir es nicht in unserer Zeit, zu sagen: ' Dasjenige, was ein Michelangelo als real mir dem Leben der menschlichen Seele zusammenhängend gedacht und auf die Leinwand gebracht hat, das ist eine bloße Phantasie. Tiefere Geister, wie Herman Grimm, wagen es noch nicht. Andere, die mehr nach dem Typus von Ludwig Feuerbach oder David Friedrich Strauß gebaut sind, die wagen es, zu sagen: Das ist eine Phantasterei - oder, wenn sie es schöner, moderner ausdrücken wollen, sagen sie: Das ist eine Phantasie -, doch sie meinen Phantasterei, wenn sie von Michelangelos Werken sprechen. Aber andere, tiefere Geister, sie wagen es nicht.

«Noch wagen wir freilich nicht, die körperlichen Bilder, die uns als heilige Vermächtnisse überliefert sind, ganz für Schatten zu erklären; aber wie der Gang der geistigen Entwicklung sich mir darstellt: immer blässer müssen diese Vorstellungen werden, und anderes muß an ihre Stelle treten, das als Symbol der ewigen Dinge gilt.»

Er sieht ein, daß anderes an die Stelle treten muß, aber er sucht vergeblich in der Zeitenkultur, die ihm erreichbar ist, nach diesem anderen. Und ich möchte sagen, tragisch klingen seine folgenden Worte:

«Denn ohne Symbole, seien es sichtbare Bilder oder Gedanken, beruhigen wir uns nicht, mag uns auch noch so deutlich werden, daß alles Symbolische nur ein Gleichnis sei: leer für den, der den Inhalt nicht selbst aus der eigenen Seele in sie hineinlegt. So aber wie das Jüngste Gericht an der Wand der Sixtinischen Kapelle steht, ist es für uns kein Gleichnis mehr, sondern ein Denkmal des phantastischen Seelenlebens einer vergangenen Zeit und eines fremden Volkes, deren Gedanken nicht mehr die unseren sind.»

Das ist ein Geständnis, in Aufrichtigkeit von der Menschenseele sich selbst gegeben, wie ein Geist es sich geben mußte, der nicht einfach dabei stehenbleiben kann: Wir können jetzt in alle Zukunft leben, auch wenn wir verloren haben dasjenige, was früher vor die Menschenseele sich hinstellen mußte, wenn sie das Karfreitag-Mysterium empfand. Das sind die Worte eines Geistes, der empfindet, daß das Alte vergangen ist, und der in die Gegenwart schaut; der wie vergeblich sich nach etwas umschaut, was an die Stelle des Alten treten kann.

Solch ein Geist ist in unseren Zeiten durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen mit diesem Gedanken: Wo, wo, du Seele, du Menschenseele, ‘die du einstmals dich im Anblick des im Grabe liegenden Kruzifixus vertieftest in deine heiligsten Geheimnisse im Weltengang - wo, du Menschenseele, findest du dasjenige, was deine neuen Gedanken und Empfindungen über dieses Geheimnis werden müssen? Wo, du Menschenseele, findest du etwas, was wiederum dich ausfüllt, wenn du zu dem im Grabe liegenden Kruzifixus, wenn du auf das Karfreitag-Mysterium hinblickst? Wo, du Menschenseele, findest du das? - Mit diesen Gedanken schreitet ein solcher Geist durch die Todespforte.

Jetzt werden Sie es begreifen, was es bedeutet, wenn ich vor einigen Tagen hier in diesem Raume sagen durfte: Es hat Seelen gegeben, die durch die Todespforte geschritten sind, und die ein Gefühl, ein neues Gefühl von dem, was der Mensch wahrhaftig ist, empfingen, als in ihre Genossenschaft unser Freund Christian Morgenstern getreten ist, mit einem durch Geisteswissenschaft erleuchteten, durchgeistigten Bewußtsein, mit einem deutlichen Bewußtsein alles dessen, was diesen Seelen verlorengegangen war. Durchdrungen von dem Bewußtsein von der neuen Christus-Verkündigung, trug er die neuen Gedanken über die Christus-Entwickelung und ihren Zusammenhang mit der Menschheitsentwickelung hinauf durch die Pforte des Todes in die geistigen Welten. Die Seelen, die sich sehnten nach diesen Gedanken, weil sie durch ihre eigene Pforte des Todes nur dasjenige haben tragen können, was ihnen als Ungedanken oder blaß gewordene Bildgedanken der Vorzeit vor die Seele trat, diese Seelen fanden in unserem Freunde den sie aufklärenden Genossen.

So ist es schon nach dem Tode, wenn auch Oberflächliche glauben können, daß der Mensch, wenn er durch die Pforte des Todes tritt, von selbst alle Geheimnisse überschaut. Das tut er nicht, denn wie er durch das Leben in der Embryonalzeit vorbereitet wird für das Leben außer dem Mutterleibe, so muß er für das Leben, das er verbringt zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt, durch das Leben hier im Erdenleibe vorbereitet werden. Und für die Seelen, die, ohne im Erdenleibe Gedanken über das Mysterium von Golgatha empfangen zu haben, durch die Pforte des Todes geschritten sind, war ein Offenbarer der Mensch, der hinaufkam, seine Seele durchleuchtet von dem, was die neue ChristusVerkündigung der Seele sein kann.

Durchdringen wir uns in aller Ehrfurcht in diesen Tagen des Jahres gerade mit solchen Gedanken. Nehmen wir sie auf in ihrer Konkretheit, wie sie im Zusammenhang mit unserer Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft an unsere Seele herantreten, nehmen wir sie in ihrer Konkretheit in unsere Seele auf, und versuchen wir es in diesen Tagen, von der vor unsere Seele rückenden geheimnisvollen Karfreitag-, Karsamstag-Festlichkeit die Kraft uns geben zu lassen, solche Dinge noch tiefer und immer tiefer zu verstehen. Benützen wir das, was uns diese auch für uns heiligen, tragisch-heiligen Tage sein können, um so recht auf uns wirken zu lassen dasjenige, was gerade bei solchem Anlaß in unserer Seele aufgehen kann, beleuchtend tiefste, tiefste Abgründe unseres ganzen Menschendaseins, wie es sich entwickelt durch die Erde hindurch, aber auch durch diejenigen Himmelskörper hindurch, die Wiederverkörperungen unserer Erde sein werden. Versuchen wir, das Osterereignis sein zu lassen im tiefen, im ganz tiefen Sinne ein Gleichnis, ein Bild desjenigen, was vom Ewigsten mit dem Wesen der Menschenseele - und dadurch mit unserer Selbsterkenntnis zusammenhängt.

Eleventh Lecture

Festive occasions are those in which people can commemorate together important, meaningful matters of the soul and of development. It is therefore fitting that on these days of mourning we should engage in such reflections, which may often arise in meditation or elsewhere concerning the soul of the individual, but which, prompted by such festive days, can find common expression in discussion.

Yesterday I pointed out how the burial of Christ Jesus on Good Friday each year and his resurrection on Easter Sunday morning are signs of something particularly important in both human and cosmic development. These are days when the human soul can actually experience, or at least feel through, the deepest of its innermost, most essential concerns. The sign of the fact that the Christ Being, or let us say the embodiment of the Christ Being, rested on earth for three days in the state of death, is connected, as we know from other considerations, with the deepest core of the human being. And perhaps today, before the friends gathered here, we may recall an important mystery connected with this sign.

When one feels completely what the symbolic burial of Jesus Christ on Good Friday means, what lying in the tomb means, what the passing of Christ Jesus through death means, when one delves into this symbol in a truly appropriate manner, enriched by the achievements of spiritual science, then one really experiences something first through feeling and thinking, that is connected with the deepest mysteries of human nature on earth. When our building is finished, we will have it carved in wood in a certain place: the victory of the Christ being over Ahriman on one side and over Lucifer on the other. This will then represent what happened during the passage of the Christ Being through the Mystery of Golgotha, in relation to the earthly relationship between Christ, Ahriman, and Lucifer. And now it can be said: if one allows the lying of Christ Jesus in the tomb to work deeply, very deeply, but with deep understanding, then a feeling for the significance of Christ's struggle against Ahriman and Lucifer approaches the human soul. In order to understand this, let us bring to mind some of what we already know.

In recent times, in particular, it has been repeatedly suggested that something like the death of God and the resurrection of God was already present in the ancient religions, and it has been believed that this allows us to conclude that the Christ event is also only a transformation, a transformation, let us say, of the death of Adonis and the resurrection of Adonis. But such assertions only show that one has not gained a real understanding of the Christ event. For this Adonis event, or other similar events, are everywhere, wherever they are encountered, such that one can see in them, as it were, their natural existence, an existence that can repeat itself every year, an existence that is connected with natural events and actually belongs to natural events. Just as what we described yesterday as the Baldur event is basically also connected with the appearance of nature, with the observations that ancient people were able to make in nature. All ancient pre-Christian religions were basically religions whose worship was connected with what the ancient clairvoyant human souls could perceive in the events of nature and their course. And the Oriental religions have basically not yet progressed beyond this point of view. Christianity has truly gone beyond this point of view, for Christianity is, in the most eminent sense, what can be called a historical religion, that is, a religion in which what must be understood from the entire course of human history and human development in earthly existence is of importance. A history, an earthly history, actually only exists through the mystery of Golgotha.

That the earthly development of human beings follows an ascending path and then a descending path, and in the middle, as has often been described — one can also say the opposite, that human beings follow a descending path and then an ascending path, from another point of view — with the Christ event, the event of Golgotha, standing in the middle, and that through this Christ event history receives its actual meaning, that is the essence and true significance of Christianity. We must now answer a question: What is this course of history, which, I would say, runs like a continuation of nature out of the deeds of human beings through the development of the earth? What is history, really? What is the event that unfolds through the progression of human deeds, human feelings, human thoughts? What is it, really? What it is becomes clear to the soul when one stands before the body of Christ Jesus resting in the tomb during Holy Week, with the soul's vision sharpened by spiritual science.

Then it dawns on you what history is. For then you realize, if you have sharpened your soul's vision through spiritual science, that what is history here on earth will one day be nature on the world body that will appear as a new embodiment of the earth. The history of the earth is nature's preparation for Jupiter. Historical events occur on earth as a prophetic foreshadowing of what will be natural events on Jupiter. How is this possible?

Here on Earth, human life takes place in physical embodiment in such a way that we are implanted into this physical earthly existence through birth, and then, until our thirties, we undergo an ascending development and then a descending development of our physical existence. At the beginning of this physical earthly existence stands our physical birth, and at the end of this physical earthly existence stands our physical death, or what we call physical death. The middle of human existence, I would say around the middle of our thirties, passes more or less without a trace for human beings in their physical embodiment, at least for the self-awareness that exists in most cases, if they do not participate particularly in the significant, essential inner events of soul existence.

This will be different when the human race on Earth once goes through the Jupiter existence; it will be completely, completely different then. I do not want to speak today—that can be done another time—about the completely different way in which the Jupiter human being will enter into physical existence, as opposed to physical birth as it occurs in Earth existence. And human beings will also leave Jupiter in a completely different way than the way of physical death on Earth. But in a sense, what corresponds to the middle of life, what would fall in the middle of our thirties in our earthly existence, will then be important and meaningful for the Jupiter existence of human beings. I would say that if you were to mix birth and death together, what they are at the beginning and end of earthly life would be something that would occur in the middle of the Jupiter existence for the human being who has then developed to this Jupiter existence. So think that human beings will have to go through something in the middle of their Jupiter existence, which you would discover if you mixed earthly birth with earthly death, for example. But you must not think that you can simply mix the two together as they appear as earthly phenomena; rather, birth and death must be brought together in the same way as a chemical compound. If you mix two gases, oxygen and hydrogen, you get something that is not at all similar to either oxygen or hydrogen, namely water. When you mix oxygen and hydrogen, two gases, something is created that is not at all similar to either hydrogen or oxygen, namely water. So it will also be an experience in the middle of the Jupiter existence that is really a kind of connection between earthly death and earthly birth, but quite different from what an ideal, intellectual mixture of the two phenomena of birth and death can produce.

Yes, you see, existence progresses from stage to stage in such a way that when we want to go to Jupiter existence, we must imagine that a significant event occurs for the Jupiter human being in the middle of Jupiter existence, an event of the kind I have just characterized. As you know, the entire Jupiter consciousness of human beings will be completely different from the Earth consciousness. To learn about the various stages of human consciousness, you need only read what has been said in the Akashic Records about the various stages of human consciousness from Saturn to Vulcan, and you will then be able to recall that on Jupiter a kind of higher conscious vision occurs, an imaginative consciousness that represents a higher stage of consciousness than earthly consciousness. We will thus grow up to a consciousness that will not proceed in the same way as earthly consciousness, but will receive impressions from outside in a completely different way than earthly human beings, but will then, out of inner freedom, form images and imaginations from these impressions, much as I, as an earthly human being, perceive something and then form and record it. This is how it will be in Jupiter consciousness, except that Jupiter perception is different from Earth perception. Then human beings will seek images for themselves, pictorial representations such as those that arise through Earth existence; then they will form something like paintings of what flows into them as the content of imaginative consciousness.

In order to attain this imaginative consciousness, human beings will enter into the Jupiter existence. And this imaginative consciousness, just as earthly consciousness undergoes a development, an unfolding, throughout childhood, will also undergo an unfolding, a development. Then the middle of the Jupiter life will come, and in this middle of the Jupiter life, during a period that can really be symbolized for us by three Earth days, something important will happen for the Jupiter human being: namely, in the middle of the Jupiter consciousness there will be a repetition, a brief repetition—for the repetition lasts only a few days—of the Earth consciousness. So it will be part of this experience of Jupiter life that the Earth consciousness is renewed there for a short time, that the human being will feel himself as an Earth human being in the middle of his Jupiter life. Then, when human beings have passed through their imaginative Jupiter consciousness, a time will come when they will only have their Earth consciousness again, which will then really relate to Jupiter consciousness as our present dream consciousness relates to our daytime consciousness.

When human beings enter this Jupiter-Earth consciousness, this repetition of Earth consciousness, they will feel the urge to take a kind of inner summary, to look back on everything they have acquired as Earth beings, everything they have acquired throughout their entire past. As I said, we will only have Earth consciousness for a short time during a Jupiter life, but during this Earth consciousness we will feel the need to look back intensively on our entire human past. This renewal of Earth consciousness will be there for this purpose. And when we then look back, we will be overcome by the need to ask ourselves the questions: What have you actually achieved through your entire past? What have you achieved through what you have become as an earthly human being? — We will have to ask ourselves this question out of cosmic necessity. Just as we must eat and sleep on Earth in order to survive, so during this renewal of Earth consciousness we will have to ask ourselves: What have you achieved by becoming human? Why did you become a free human being? — One will, as it were, draw the conclusion, the sum total of one's entire earthly existence. And in asking this question, in drawing this conclusion, what one has really achieved will appear before one's soul in a powerful Jupiter dream. But this Jupiter dream will have the same reality as all our real earthly perceptions. It will not appear before us as a dream image, but everything will be as real as the earthly human being who now stands before us is real. And then it will happen that a figure will appear before us who will clearly give the answer to our question. And the being who will then appear before us as the answer to the question we have had to ask ourselves — do you know who this being will be? It will be Lucifer, and Lucifer will say: Recognize now that you belong to me through all that you have become as a human being in your past. And one will know with certainty — just as one recognizes another human being when he steps into one's physical perception — that this is Lucifer and that one has worked for him through all that one has wanted to become as a human being. Then one will recognize the whole meaning and power of Christ, for one will recognize that through oneself one is incapable of making any other decision than to follow Lucifer into his kingdom.

Only through the emergence from earthly history, even in memory, of the Christ event, the Christ Being, will one know that this Christ-being entered into the development of the earth, and that it had gifts to give us, this Christ-being, which is now, during the Jupiter existence, becoming real, that is, transforming itself into a real Jupiter-being, through which we alone will be able to walk not the path with Lucifer, but the path of the regularly developing cosmos. For what will Lucifer want from us? What will he want from us then? He will say to us: The state you are now going through, this repetition of earthly consciousness, means a great deal to you. For on Jupiter it is different than on Earth, completely different. On Earth, when we reach the middle of our thirties, in the second half of our lives we do exactly the same things we did before in many respects. We eat and drink to sustain our physical existence, just as we did before the age of thirty-five. On Jupiter, it will be different, very different. On Jupiter, we will not need to eat and drink in the same way as we do in our earthly bodies on Earth, but we will be connected to a proper Jupiter body with the effects of Jupiter's physical nature in a similar way as we are connected to the effects of Earth's physical nature through food and drink. From the moment of life when one has reached the renewal of one's earthly consciousness, one will no longer be able to relate to the Jupiter environment in the same way as before. If I may express it trivially, I would say: it will no longer have any effect. It will be something like this: if this were the case on earth, then by the age of thirty-five we would reach such a state of our stomach and organs that we would no longer be able to breathe the earth's air or tolerate earth food. Think what it would be like if, at the age of thirty-five, we had to undergo such a development of our bodies that, although our inner being would still be capable of living through Earth years, our bodies would be incapable of tolerating anything that grows on Earth. So it will be on Jupiter. Of course, the conditions are completely different, but it will be like this: we will no longer be able to be in direct physical contact with Jupiter in the second half of our life on Jupiter. That will then be a law of nature on Jupiter; it will be a law of nature in every sense of the word.

But through the power of this natural law, Lucifer would be able to take our soul, which will then still be quite capable of life but will not be able to sustain its body for existence on Jupiter, with him, unless Christ could then show us that he has accumulated treasures in us during the first half of our life on Jupiter, which will now sustain us through the second half of our existence on Jupiter. On Jupiter, Christ will by no means merely display outwardly the ethical character he displays during his earthly existence, but he will be the inner nourisher for the second half of human life on Jupiter, and this nourishment will at the same time be of moral significance. He will be able to free us from Lucifer simply by having accumulated treasures of nourishment during the first half of Jupiter's existence. If this did not happen, if Christ could not free us from Lucifer on Jupiter, Lucifer would take our souls with him. Our body, which would then have no possibility of entering into a relationship with the Jupiter physis, would decay, would fall away from us, and Lucifer would show us: Behold, I take your soul, but your body falls away from you into the treasure chamber of Ahriman. He will now have it, he will continue to live with it.

Everything will depend on how our soul, in looking back and restoring its earthly consciousness, can remember how it fulfilled itself during its time on earth with the mystery of Golgotha, how it fulfilled itself with the understanding that the Christ being entered into human evolution, into the historical evolution of earthly existence. For consider the terrible state of the human soul on Jupiter, which will then have to look back and say to itself: During my time on earth, I denied Christ. I wanted to know nothing about Christ. I refused to learn at the right time about what entered into the evolution of the earth as the Christ being through the mystery of Golgotha. I cannot remember anything that happened on earth through Christ. Could there be souls in whom all memory of Christ must have been erased during the Jupiter existence because they never allowed themselves to be imbued with an understanding of the Christ event during their earthly existence? Then the terrible Day of Judgment would come for them, Christ would not take them with him into the Jupiter existence to nourish and care for them during the second half of their Jupiter existence, but would send them with one hand to where Ahriman takes the remnants of the Jupiter physical body, and with the other hand to where Lucifer leads the soul onto his paths.

And now, when one approaches the symbol of Jesus lying in the tomb with the understanding that spiritual science can give us of the Mystery of Golgotha, when one sees in it not merely an outward symbol, but connects with this symbol everything that one can know about the Mystery of Golgotha, and when one has already acquired some ability to see what spiritual science speaks of, then what I have now told you appears before the soul's eye as a vision of the future of the human Jupiter. In the ancient initiation centers, under the guidance of their initiates, the disciples had to seek what was called in the ancient mysteries “the gazing at the sun at midnight.” Physically, one sees the sun during the day. At midnight, the initiates looked at the sun through the earth, while the earth is opaque to the physical eye. Thus, by looking at the sun through the earth at midnight, their physical existence was stripped away from the sun; but in return, the mystery of Christ, the sun spirit, was inscribed into the sun's existence. And the disciples of the ancient initiates looked ahead to the mystery of Christ, the sun spirit. It was a higher way of seeing nature, a becoming clairvoyant within nature.

What the Easter symbol can represent for us is a clairvoyance within the historical life of the human race on earth, a clairvoyance about the fact that, in essence, by becoming free human beings on earth, we have already entered into a covenant with Lucifer and Ahriman, and that Christ alone can redeem us from this covenant. What meant “seeing the sun at midnight” for the ancient disciples of the initiates can gradually become for Christians a reverent prayer toward the mystery of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. We have every reason on this day to concentrate on that which is connected with the inner tragedy, with the inner justified sorrow of the deepest core of the human being. As human beings on earth, we could never have become free beings if we had not entered into such a relationship with Lucifer and Ahriman as has been indicated today, if we had not become capable of walking the path of Lucifer and the path of Ahriman. Human beings can indeed bring to consciousness the tragedy that lies at the foundation of their being in these days by saying to themselves: My freedom would never have been possible without the possibility of following Ahriman and Lucifer. — And this awareness can dawn on them when they look at the symbol of Christ resting in the tomb, who, through what he accomplished with his deed, reverses what had to happen for the sake of human freedom.

That grief over the human condition is justified, that human beings have not only reason to be joyful but also deep, true, essential reason to grieve over their nature, this may whisper through the soul during the days solemnly dedicated to the burial. There are still many days left in the year when human beings can think more about what has become of them through the fact that the earth's evolution has not been abandoned, that Christ has come to earth as a resurrected being. But what made this mystery of Golgotha necessary, what can live as a cosmic sorrow in the human soul, all this can be released during these days. And when one has acquired a feeling for what is connected with the human soul from its history, then these days are ones in which one can become sad about human development; it would be even better to say: in which one is allowed to become sad about this human development.

And if this feeling is alive, then the black drapery we have chosen to decorate this room during these days is justified. That is why it disturbed me so much yesterday when the red stood out from the black, the red that can be the color that meets our eyes again when the days of mourning are over, mourning for that which is deeply tragic and connected with the human being. It was completely unchristian and artistically tasteless that red stood out here yesterday. These things must also be learned; but once they have been learned, one will feel how the outer forms have their deep meaning and how they are essentially connected with what can be called the growing together of the human soul with the events of the cosmos.

Is this not expressed in the fixing of Easter itself? The date of Easter is set cosmically: the first Sunday after the full moon following the beginning of spring, March 21. The signs by which Easter is determined are to be found up there in the heavens. In recent years, barbaric scientific thinking has demanded that Easter should fall on the same days every year. If this is realized, it will be easy to see how far people in our time want to distance themselves from a truly spiritual life, which cannot be developed without people becoming aware of how their souls do not merely live in what circulates on earth in such a way that the taking and spending of money can be seen as an outward sign of this circulation. For that for which the taking and spending of money is the outward sign, the fixing of Easter Sunday would indeed be a convenient thing. But for that which floods into the human soul from the life of the cosmos, it would be deadly if that barbaric scientific attitude were to prevail which wants to fix Easter Sunday and Easter Monday on the same day of the year, so that people no longer look to the cosmic determination of these days.

Such details show how humanity is sailing into Ahrimanic materialism. There will have to be people who, through their commitment to spiritual science, will have some knowledge of such things in the future.

You are certainly familiar, either from the original, which is already very damaged, or from reproductions and engravings, with Michelangelo's magnificent work in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, “The Last Judgment.” When you look at this work, which depicts the Last Judgment, in its composition, what do you say to yourself—now that you have come closer to spiritual science—about what this image of the Last Judgment actually is? I said earlier: for those who, equipped with what spiritual science can give them, stand before the symbol of Christ lying in the tomb on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the vision of the Jupiter man described earlier, of the Jupiter human existence, can appear before their soul, if they have already brought it to light. If they have not yet been able to see it, then when they attain a feeling understanding of spiritual science, the thought will at least be able to arise in them, which at a certain stage is just as valid as seeing. That will correspond to the present age.

And imagine a painter, equipped with all the artistic skills of the present day, allowing the symbol of the mystery of Golgotha to work on him and wanting to answer the question in a pictorial form: What appears to me when I start from the symbol of Christ Jesus lying in the tomb and, with what I have gained from this, deepen my gaze into the inner world? What appears to me? - Christ appears to me in his Jupiter glory, in his future glory, binding Ahriman through the bonds of light in the underworld so that he cannot reach human beings, and overcoming Lucifer so that he cannot lead the human soul down his paths.

This is appropriate to what the human soul can acquire through spiritual science. Everything that can now appear to the human soul in this way was clothed for the people who lived before us, that is, for ourselves in previous incarnations, in the image of the Last Judgment as painted by Michelangelo on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. This is only a prophetic foresight; the correct view is the one I have just described to you. People who have been taught only by Christian sentiment, not yet by spiritual science, have seen what can be seen through the mystery of Good Friday in the form in which the Last Judgment has been painted. But we are living in a transitional period, and the most advanced souls, if they have not yet taken up spiritual science, can be most aware of how we are living in the present, in a transitional period, in a time when we must say to ourselves: Just as people used to view the Last Judgment as the result of the Easter mystery, or better still, of the Good Friday mystery, so have human beings lost their understanding of it. But a new understanding must dawn, an understanding gained through spiritual science, as it has been described today, with which we are also celebrating the feast of the burial of Christ Jesus.

I have often spoken here in this room about many things that Herman Grimm saw so beautifully. In his “Life of Michelangelo,” he also spoke at length about Michelangelo's “Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel. And since he was a personality who was not like the dozen scholars who describe everything — I say this in quotation marks — “objectively,” but because he was a personality who, even after conducting thorough research, was with his soul, with his sensibility, with his feeling in the results of his research, Herman Grimm added, when he had completed his beautiful treatise on “The Last Judgment” in his “Life of Michelangelo,” he added the following words to his reflection on the Last Judgment: “It is difficult, if not impossible, to talk about such things.” He meant what is supposed to be connected with what the Last Judgment represents for the essence of the human soul. In Michelangelo's time, it was not yet difficult to talk about it, especially not in painting, because Michelangelo spoke about it pictorially. And those who were initiated into the mysteries of religion at that time were able to talk about these things. It only became difficult with the further development of time.

“It is difficult, if not impossible, to talk about such things. Our feelings about them dwell in a depth that cannot be filled with clear light. We do not yet dare to declare the physical images that have been handed down to us as sacred legacies to be mere shadows...”

So he says that we do not yet dare to say in our time: 'What Michelangelo conceived as real and connected with the life of the human soul and brought to the canvas is mere fantasy. Deeper minds, such as Herman Grimm, do not yet dare to say this. Others, who are more like Ludwig Feuerbach or David Friedrich Strauss, dare to say: 'That is fantasy' – or, if they want to express it more beautifully and modernly, they say: 'That is imagination' – but they mean fantasy when they speak of Michelangelo's works. But other, deeper minds do not dare to do so.”

“We do not yet dare to declare the physical images handed down to us as sacred legacies to be mere shadows; but as the course of spiritual development appears to me, these ideas must become ever paler, and something else must take their place as symbols of eternal things.”

He realizes that something else must take their place, but he searches in vain for this something else in the culture of his time, which is accessible to him. And I would say that his following words sound tragic:

"For without symbols, whether visible images or thoughts, we cannot rest, even if it becomes clear to us that everything symbolic is only a parable: empty for those who do not themselves put the content into it from their own souls. But just as the Last Judgment stands on the wall of the Sistine Chapel, it is no longer a parable for us, but a monument to the fantastic soul life of a bygone era and a foreign people whose thoughts are no longer ours."

This is a confession, given in sincerity by the human soul to itself, as a spirit must give it, which cannot simply remain standing there: We can now live into the future, even if we have lost that which formerly had to stand before the human soul when it experienced the mystery of Good Friday. These are the words of a spirit that feels that the old has passed away and looks to the present; that looks around in vain for something that can take the place of the old.

Such a spirit has passed through the gate of death in our times with this thought: Where, where, you soul, you human soul, “you who once, in the sight of the crucifix lying in the tomb, were absorbed in your most sacred mysteries in the course of the world—where, you human soul, do you find that which must become your new thoughts and feelings about this mystery? Where, human soul, will you find something that will fill you again when you look at the crucifix lying in the tomb, when you look at the mystery of Good Friday? Where, human soul, will you find that? With these thoughts, such a spirit passes through the gate of death.

Now you will understand what I meant when I said here in this room a few days ago: There have been souls who have passed through the gates of death and received a feeling, a new feeling of what man truly is, when our friend Christian Morgenstern entered their company with a consciousness enlightened by spiritual science, imbued with spirit, with a clear awareness of all that these souls had lost. Imbued with the consciousness of the new proclamation of Christ, he carried the new thoughts about the development of Christ and its connection with the development of humanity through the gate of death into the spiritual worlds. The souls who longed for these thoughts, because they could carry through their own gate of death only what came before their souls as unformed thoughts or pale images of the past, found in our friend the comrade who enlightened them.

This is how it is after death, even though superficial people may believe that when a person passes through the gate of death, he automatically sees all secrets. He does not do this, for just as he is prepared during his embryonic life for life outside the womb, so must he be prepared for the life he spends between death and a new birth through his life here in the earthly body. And for those souls who passed through the gate of death without having received thoughts about the mystery of Golgotha in the earthly body, the one who ascended was a revealer, his soul illuminated by what the new Christ proclamation can be for the soul.

Let us permeate ourselves with such thoughts in all reverence during these days of the year. Let us take them in in their concreteness, as they approach our souls in connection with our Anthroposophical Society, let us take them into our souls in their concreteness, and let us try during these days to allow the mysterious Good Friday and Holy Saturday festivities, which are drawing closer to our souls, to give us the strength to understand such things ever more deeply. Let us use what these days, which are also sacred and tragically sacred for us, can be for us to allow what can arise in our souls on such occasions to have its full effect, illuminating the deepest, deepest abysses of our entire human existence as it develops through the earth, but also through those heavenly bodies that will be the reincarnations of our earth. Let us try to allow the Easter event to be, in the deepest, most profound sense, a parable, an image of that which is connected from the most eternal with the essence of the human soul—and thus with our self-knowledge.