The Foundations of Esotericism
GA 93a
4 November 1905, Berlin
Lecture XXX
Today in connection with the previous lecture some aphoristic remarks will follow concerning the different races. First however attention will be drawn to certain things, the reasons for which only appear in a few books.
The so-called laws of nutrition in the various civilisations appear at first to be very arbitrary. This is not so however, they are born out of knowledge and wisdom, but we must strictly bear in mind that our present-day humanity is not at all in a position to be able to follow such matters as we now wish to deal with. They will nevertheless provide a basis for certain laws of social life. Of course no one should believe that one immediately becomes an adept simply by going over to vegetarianism and so on.
Among oriental peoples there is a certain way of practising the art of healing in which the doctors attach the greatest importance to the nourishing of their own physical body.78Later Rudolf Steiner spoke on this subject from many different angles especially to the workmen engaged on the Goetheanum building. See Rudolf Steiner on Nutrition and Health and Illness. In places where the old spiritual life still exists, there are those who have become healers by following a diet consisting exclusively of milk. They are quite clear that because they exclude everything else they gain certain healing forces within themselves, especially in the treatment of so-called mental illnesses. They have their special methods. They know for certain that when they only take milk they then develop quite definite forces.79These are the words according to Mathilde Scholl. Marie Steiner's notes, on the contrary, report that the old healers ‘call up in themselves psychic means of healing mainly for psychic illnesses’.
Let us be clear about the intuition upon which this depends. This profound intuition can be understood in the following way. We know of a definite happening in human evolution. In the middle of the Lemurian Age the original human element divided into an ascending humanity and an animal kingdom. With this is bound up the fact that the forces which the Earth still had when it was united with the Moon also divided and a part of the same separated with the Moon from the Earth.
Let us think of the time when the Earth was still united with the Moon. Man then stood at quite a different stage of development. He already had warm blood, but was not yet divided into two sexes. It was with the separation of the Moon that this division is to be observed, so that when today you look up at the Moon you can say: It is your separation from the Earth that has brought it about that the power of human reproduction has divided into two parts. There was also a time on the Earth in which humanity was directly connected, was merged together with what was animal, and was also nourished by the animal. This kind of nourishment cannot be easily understood by those lacking the power of clairvoyance. We can however form a conception of this when we observe the normal manner of nourishment of mammals, which feed their young with their own milk. With the division of the power of reproduction this kind of nutrition also appeared. Earlier human beings could absorb food substance just as today the lungs take in the air. At that time threads of suction connected man with the whole of Nature around him, somewhat in the manner in which today the embryo is nourished in the body of the mother. This was the old form of nourishment on the Earth. A relic of this is the suckling of mammals, and milk is like the nourishment mankind took in Pre-Lemurian times. It is the old food of the Gods, the first form of nourishment on the Earth. At that time the nature of the Earth was such that everywhere this nourishment could be sucked from it. Thus milk is a product of the first form of human food. When the physical constitution of man was nearer to the divine he sucked milk out of his surroundings. Occultists know how man is connected with Nature.
The taking of milk is a transformation of a primeval form of nourishment. Man's first food was always milk. In the saying: ‘The milk of human kindness,’ this expression is used intentionally. We must ask: How was it originally brought about that milk, as it then was, could be sucked out of the Earth? The Moon forces in the Earth made this possible; like an all-pervading bloodstream they permeated the entire Earth. But when the Moon departed these forces could only be concentrated in special organs of living beings.
The occultist calls milk: the Moon-food. Sons of the Moon are those who nourish themselves on milk. The Moon brought about milk. It has been verified that the Oriental healers, who only live on milk, again absorb the original forces which were on the Earth when milk still flowed in streams. They said: These are the forces which brought mankind into existence. These productive forces must also be health bringing, so we ourselves gain the power to further health, when we only take milk and exclude everything else.
Let us transfer ourselves into the pre-Lemurian Age. Then the condition prevailed when milk was sucked out from the surroundings. A condition arose when milk became the general nourishment for mankind, and then the condition when nourishment was provided by the mother's milk. Before the time when milk was imbibed from Nature, there was an Age in which the Earth was still united with the Sun. There then existed a Sun nourishment. Just as milk has remained over from the Moon, products have also remained over which gained their maturity from the Sun. Everything irradiated with sunlight, blossoms and fruits of the plants, belongs to the Sun. Formerly their growth inclined towards the centre of the Earth when it was united with the Sun. They planted themselves into the Sun with their blossoms. When the Earth separated from the Sun they retained their old character: they again turned their blossoms towards the Sun. Man is the plant in reverse. That part of the plant which grows above the Earth has the same relationship to the Sun as milk has to the Moon, is therefore Sun-food. Side by side with milk nourishment there arose a kind of plant nourishment, namely from the upper parts of the plant. This was the second form of human food.
Thus when the Lemurian Age was approaching its end two human types faced each other: the one kind, the Sons of the Moon, who bred animals and nourished themselves from what the animals produced, from their milk; and a second kind who fed on plants, on the produce of the Earth.
This fact is portrayed in the story of Cain and Abel.80Rudolf Steiner interpreted this allegory in different ways especially in lectures in 1904 and 1905 in connection with the Temple Legend. Die Tempel legende und die Goldene Legende. The only ones translated are Concerning the Temple Lost and Found 15, 22, 29 May, 5 June 1905, (Typescript). Abel is a shepherd, Cain a tiller of the soil; Abel represented the Moon race and Cain the Sun race. This allegory is very profound. Occult teaching reveals this in a somewhat concealed way. That divine being who gave man the possibility of becoming a Moon-being, nourishing himself with the transformed Moon food, was called by the Jewish people ‘Jehovah’. He was the nourishing force of Nature; this flowed towards Abel and he took it from his flocks. It was a falling away from Jehovah when man went over to the Sun-food. This is why Jehovah would not accept Cain's offering, because it was the offering of a Sun-food.
When we go back into the most ancient times we find no nourishment at all except milk, the food which man receives from living animals. This is the first form of nourishment as it still is now in the first weeks of life, and the Eastern healer relates this form of nourishment to the saying: ‘If you do not become as little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ All these things have their significance.
Now we come from the Lemurian to the Atlantean Age, to the peoples who lived in the region of the present Atlantic Ocean. With the Atlanteans something new appears. They began for the first time to eat food that was not taken from what is living, but which came from what was dead. They consumed what had yielded up life. This is a very important transition in human evolution. Through the fact that human beings nourished themselves from the lifeless it became possible to make the transition to ego-hood. This feeding on what is dead is rightly connected with the desire for the ego. Man became independent through eating what is dead. He took the lifeless into himself in various forms, at first in the case of the developing hunting peoples who killed animals. Later, peoples arose who ate, not only what was ripened by the sun, but what ripened below the surface of the earth. This is just as lifeless as the dead animal. Everything living in the lowest part of animal nature, what is saturated with, blood, has turned away from the Moon-force. The Moon-force itself is still in milk, which is connected with the life-process, whereas man absorbs the forces of what is dying when he eats what is dead. Equally dead is that part of the plant that grows below the surface of the Earth, that is not shone upon and warmed through by the life principle of the Sun. Thus there is a correspondence between the root and the blood-saturated body of the animal.
Later another form of food was added which did not exist earlier. Man introduced into his food what was purely mineral, what he took out of the Earth, salt and so on. In his food therefore he passed through the three kingdoms. This is approximately the course which the Atlantean civilisation passed through in regard to nourishment. Firstly came the hunting peoples, then the farming peoples and thirdly the development of mining, which brought to light what is under the Earth.
All these things represent a turning away from the actual force of life or production. The dead animal is separated from life. That part of the plant which is in the soil is also separated from life. Everything of the nature of salt is the dead nature of the mineral kingdom, that remains over from the past.
Now we come to the fifth human race. The drinking of milk and the eating of fruit continued; other things were added as something new. In the Fifth Root-Race the most outstanding addition is what was gained from minerals, that is to say, by means of a chemical process. This is indicated in Genesis. What is it that was gained by means of a chemical process? There is an ascent in evolution, chemistry is applied to plants, to fruit. Out of this wine arose. This did not exist on Atlantis. Therefore the Bible tells us that Noah, the original ancestor of the post-diluvian race, became intoxicated by wine. By means of a mineral-chemical process something was produced from the plant kingdom. Wine then played a special role in the whole of the Fifth Root-Race. All initiates from the beginning of the Fifth Root-Race had taken over their traditions from the time of the Atlantean Race, when there was as yet no wine. The Indian, Persian and Egyptian initiates had no need of wine. What played a part in the sacred rituals was exclusively water.
With the Fifth Root-Race wine made its appearance, in which the mineral treatment of the plant had to play its part. The first three Sub-Races were repetitions of what came earlier. The Fourth Sub-Race was the first to develop the new, which was to appear in the Fifth Root-Race. A certain sacredness was claimed for wine. In this connection cults emerged in which wine played a part (the cult of Dionysos). A wine-god even appeared.
This had gradually been prepared for in the development of humanity. Wine had first made its appearance with the Persians. Here however wine was still something quite secular. Only gradually did it find its way into ritual, into the Dionysos-Cult. The Fourth Sub-Race is the one which first brought forth Christianity and also the one which seven hundred years earlier announced its mission through the Dionysian dramas. These first took wine into the sphere of the cult. This fact was portrayed in the most wonderful way by that evangelist who knew most about Christianity: St. John. He describes at the very beginning the transformation of water into wine, for Christianity came at first for the Fourth Sub-Race of the Fifth Root-Race. A teaching was needed which makes sacred what had to come about on the physical plane. Wine cuts human beings off from everything spiritual. Whoever takes wine cannot attain the spiritual. He can know nothing of Atma, Buddhi and Manas, of what is lasting, of what reincarnates. This had to be. The whole course of human evolution is a descent and a re-ascent. Man had to descend to the lowest point. And it was in order that he should come right down onto the physical plane that the Dionysian Cult made its appearance. The human body had to be prepared for materialism through the Dionysian cult; this was why a religion had to appear that changed water into wine. Formerly wine was strictly forbidden to the priests, they could experience Atma, Buddhi and Manas. Now a religion had to come about which led right down onto the physical plane, otherwise human beings would not have completely descended. This religion which led them downwards had to have an outer manifestation, a manifestation that was turned away from Atma, Buddhi and Manas, from reincarnation, and only drew attention to what was of a general nature. The next thing will be that wine is again turned into water.
If at an earlier time water had not changed into wine, man would not have received everything which is in this earthly vale. At the beginning of St. John's Gospel in the description of the changing of water into wine at the marriage in Cana, we are shown how Christ took into account what was there. But he also reckoned with the future, through the fact that for his part He inaugurated the Sacrament of the Last Supper. The Last Supper is the greatest symbol of the One who began this stream of civilisation with the Fourth Sub-Race. Being indeed the true ‘Son of Man’, who descended to the greatest depths in order to rise again with the greatest power, He had to hold to what was there and show mankind how the physical constitution of the race was connected with His mission. If humanity were to ascend again it was necessary for them to have a symbol leading once more from the dead to the living: Bread and Wine. In the occult sense, bread is what only comes about when the plant has been killed. Again, wine comes about when the plant has been killed, but then further treated with mineral substance. When one bakes the plant one does the same as when one kills the animal. When we draw wine from the plant kingdom in a certain sense we do the same as when we bleed the animal. Bread and wine are there as the symbol of the Fourth Race. What should develop in the future is a further ascent from plant to mineral nourishment. Bread and Wine must again be sacrificed, must be given up. Thus as Christ appeared in the Fourth Sub-Race he pointed to Bread and Wine: ‘This is my Body; this is my Blood.’ Here He wished to create a transition from animal nourishment to plant nourishment, the transition to something higher.
At that time there were two classes of human beings: Firstly those whose nourishment was flesh and blood; these are the pre-Christian people with whom Christ in no way concerned himself. Secondly those who only killed plants, who drew from plants their blood: people who drank wine and ate bread. With these He was still concerned; they are the forerunners of that humanity which will exist in the future.
The significance of the Last Supper is the transition from nourishment taken from the dead animal to nourishment taken from the dead plant. When our Fifth Sub-Race will have reached its end, in the Sixth Sub-Race, the Last Supper will be understood. Even before this it will be possible for the third form of nourishment to begin to make its appearance, the purely mineral. Man himself will then be able to create his nourishment. Now he takes what the Gods have created for him. Later he will advance and will himself prepare in the chemical laboratory the substances he will require.
So you see that all these things arise out of deep intuitions. When with the old Eastern peoples we find all kinds of instructions about what should be eaten, these are not actually laws, but stories: You should not expect the effect of substance to be other than they are.
That which Christ killed, which was actually sacrificed after he had partaken of the Last Supper, is the physical body. This dies. For the whole of humanity this will die. Towards the middle of the Sixth Root-Race, in the last third, there will no longer be a physical body. Then the entire human being will again be etheric. It will pass over into the finer substance. But this will not happen if man himself does not bring it about. For this he must first pass over to the nourishment which he prepares in the laboratory. So that man, in so far as he no longer takes his nourishment from Nature, but gains it from his own wisdom, from the God within him, so far does he also hasten. towards his own deification.
When man begins to nourish himself, the foundation will also be laid for something higher, that is, self-propagation. He will gradually create life for himself out of the mineral world.
This is the great progression of human evolution. What the natural scientist knows today is only a fraction of the great cycle.
With Saturn we come into the Mineral Age. In the Atlantean Epoch, through consuming what was dead, preparation was made for what was to bring about egoism. From the original Semites up to the Fifth Sub-Race, the human ego was very gradually developed. In the Sixth Sub-Race of the Fifth Root-Race the ‘I’ will again reach a higher stage of development. This means that we stand before a new so-called spiral of existence. The previous spiral began in the time when the original Semites laid the foundation for the present Root-Race.
It is to the original Semite civilisation that we owe everything that has existed up till the present time. But now there begins a new impact with the Slavonic Peoples which will lead into the future. A kind of break with the past will be brought about by a people who will introduce a new impulse into the world. This is working as hidden spirituality out of the Russian peasantry. It will form the second part of the coming spiral. At the present time a certain culture is in process of destruction and a new one is being prepared. It is being prepared in the West and will come to fruition in the East. But the Old must activate the New. Wherever in our time we have new impulses these are germinal, awkward, unskillful. On the contrary the Old is clear-cut, but has a critical, destructive character. It was the Semitic Race which gave birth to the bearers of the Old Culture, who are the bearers of what spirals within the spiral.
All these have something Semitic about them. Examples: Lassalle, Marx. The spiral turns inwards. A continuation from here is not possible. Now a leap must be made as though from one shore to another, to the spirituality of the future culture of the East. This is a completely new impulse.
What belongs to the future is as yet unformed and naturally infiltrated by the old. Haeckel is a man who swims in midstream and is pulled by both spirals. The first part of Haeckel's ‘Weltritsel’ (Riddles of the World)81See lecture 5.10.1905 Three Essays on Haeckel and Karma. is positive, elementary Theosophy: the second part is negative and altogether destructive. This is a double spiral (Wirbel).
We can also observe these contradictions in the Socialism of the East and the West. The Socialism of the West is a Socialism of production; that of the East is a Socialism of consumption. One who orders the social life in the direction of production reckons with possessiveness, with egoism. He who reckons with consumption turns his attention to what others require from him; he bears in mind his fellow men, reckons with brotherhood. The socialism of production—Marx, Lassalle—only bears the worker in mind, in so far as he is the producer. In the East the consumer is placed in the foreground, as for instance with Kropotkin, Bakunin, Herzen. You can see things building up to a climax if you follow Kropotkin. He had an immediate understanding of the principle of helpful interaction in the case of animals. The socialism of the West is entirely built up on strife. Thus do the currents of World evolution play into one another.
XXX
Heute sollen im Anschluß an den letzten Vortrag einige aphoristische Bemerkungen über die Entwickelung der verschiedenen Rassen folgen. Vorher aber soll auf einige Dinge aufmerksam gemacht werden, deren Gründe in nur wenigen Büchern angegeben sind.
Die sogenannten Ernährungsgesetze in den verschiedenen Kulturen scheinen zunächst sehr willkürlich zu sein. Sie sind es aber nicht, sie sind aus Wissen und Weisheit heraus geboren. Wir müssen aber streng Rücksicht darauf nehmen, daß unsere gegenwärtige Menschheit gar nicht imstande ist, solche Dinge befolgen zu können, wie wir sie heute besprechen wollen. Sie werden aber später gewisse Grundlagen abgeben für bestimmte Gesetze des sozialen Lebens. Also niemand darf glauben, daß man gleich Adept wird dadurch, daß man übergeht zum Vegetarismus und so weiter.
Es gibt eine gewisse Pflege der Heilkunde bei orientalischen Völkerschaften, die so betrieben wird, daß die betreffenden Ärzte vor allen Dingen auf die Ernährung ihres eigenen physischen Körpers das größte Gewicht legen. Da wo das alte spirituelle Leben noch besteht, gibt es Menschen, die in der alten Weise Heiler geworden sind dadurch, daß sie sich ausschließlich von Milch nähren. Sie sind sich klar darüber, daß, weil sie alles andere ausschließen, sie in sich dann physisch heilende Kräfte gewinnen, besonders zur Heilung von sogenannten Geisteskrankheiten.* Sie haben ihre besonderen Verrichtungen. Sie wissen ganz genau, wenn sie bloß Milch genießen, daß sie dann bestimmte Kräfte entwickeln.
Wir wollen uns klarmachen, auf welcher Intuition das beruht. Diese tiefe Intuition können wir in folgender Weise verstehen. Wir wissen von einem bestimmten Hergang in der menschlichen Entwickelung. In der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit spaltete sich das ursprünglich Menschliche in ein aufsteigendes Menschliches und ein Tierisches. Damit war verknüpft, daß die Kräfte, die die Erde hatte, als sie noch mit dem Monde vereint war, sich auch gespalten und ein Teil derselben mit dem Monde sich von der Erde getrennt haben.
Denken wir uns die Zeit, in der die Erde noch mit dem Monde vereint war. Da stand der Mensch auf einer ganz anderen Entwickelungsstufe. Er hatte damals schon das warme Blut, war aber noch nicht in zwei Geschlechter gespalten. Mit der Abtrennung des Mondes hat man die Spaltung in zwei Geschlechter zu beobachten, so daß, wenn Sie heute nach dem Monde hinaufblicken, Sie sagen können: Daß du herausgegangen bist aus der Erde, hat bewirkt, daß sich die menschliche Produktionskraft in zwei Teile gespalten hat. - Es gab auch eine Zeit auf der Erde, in der die Menschheit unmittelbar verknüpft war mit dem Tierischen, eingesenkt in das Tierische und sich auch von dem Tierischen ernährte. Diese Art der Ernährung wird schwer verstanden werden von dem, der nicht hellseherische Kräfte hat. Eine Vorstellung davon können wir uns aber bilden, wenn wir die regelmäßige Ernährungsweise der Säugetiere betrachten, die durch ihre eigene Milch ihre Jungen ernähren. Mit der Spaltung der Produktionskraft trat auch diese Art der Ernährung auf. Früher konnten die Menschen den Nahrungsstoff aus der unmittelbaren Umgebung aufnehmen, so wie heute die Lunge die Luft aufnimmt. Der Mensch war damals durch Saugfäden verbunden mit der ganzen ihn umgebenden Natur, so ähnlich wie heute der menschliche Embryo im Leibe der Mutter ernährt wird. Das war die alte Ernährungsform auf der Erde. Ein Rest davon ist das heutige Säugen der Säugetiere, und die Milch ist wie die Nahrung, die der Mensch in der vorlemurischen Zeit genoß, sie ist die alte Götternahrung, die erste Form der Nahrung auf der Erde. Damals war eben die Natur der Erde so, daß diese Nahrung überall herausgesogen werden konnte. So ist die Milch ein Produkt aus der ersten menschlichen Ernährungsform. Als der Mensch im Physischen noch näher dem Göttlichen war, da sog er die Milch aus der Umgebung heraus. Die Okkultisten wissen, wie die Menschen zusammenhängen mit der Natur.
Der Milchgenuß ist eine uralte umgewandelte Ernährungsform. Die erste Nahrung war für den Menschen immer die Milch. In dem Ausspruch: Die Milch der frommen Denkungsart - ist diese mit Absicht so genannt.
Wir fragen, was hat das ursprünglich bewirkt, daß die Milch so, wie das damals war, aus der Umgebung herausgesogen wurde? Die Mondkräfte in der Erde haben das möglich gemacht; sie waren wie ein allgemeines Blut der ganzen Erde. Aber als der Mond heraustrat, konnten die Mondkräfte nur noch konzentriert werden auf besondere Organe in den Lebewesen.
Der Okkultist nennt die Milch: die Mondnahrung. Mondsöhne sind diejenigen, die sich von Milch nähren. Der Mond hat die Milch gereift. Es hat sich bewahrheitet, daß die orientalischen Heiler, die nur von Milch leben, die Urkräfte wieder aufnehmen, die auf der Erde waren, als die Milch noch in Strömen auf der Erde floß. Sie sagten sich: Das sind die Kräfte, die den Menschen ins Dasein riefen. Diese hervorbringenden Kräfte müssen auch gesundheitsbringend sein, also eignen wir uns die Macht an, Gesundheit zu fördern, wenn wir nur Milch genießen und alles andere ausschließen.
Versetzen wir uns in die vorlemurische Zeit. Da herrschte also der Zustand, daß die Milch äußerlich aus der Umgebung gesogen wurde. Dann kam ein Zustand, da die Milch allgemeine Menschennahrung wurde, und dann der Zustand, da die Muttermilch genossen wurde. Vor der Zeit, in der die Milch allgemein aus der Natur gesogen wurde, da gab es eine Zeit, in der die Sonne noch mit der Erde verbunden war. Da bestand eine Sonnennahrung. Ebenso wie die Milch vom Monde zurückgeblieben ist, sind auch Produkte zurückgeblieben, die von der Sonne gereift sind. Alles was von der Sonne durchscheint wird, Blüten und Früchte der Pflanzen, gehören zur Sonne. Sie waren früher dem Mittelpunkt der mit der Sonne verbundenen Erde zugeneigt. Sie steckten in der Sonne mit den Blüten. Als sich die Erde von der Sonne trennte, blieben die Pflanzen bei ihrem alten Charakter: sie wendeten ihre Blüten nun wieder der Sonne zu. Der Mensch ist die umgekehrte Pflanze. Was an der Pflanze oberhalb der Erde wächst, verhält sich ebenso zur Sonne wie die Milch zum Monde, ist also Sonnennahrung. Es trat an die Stelle der bloßen Milchnahrung allmählich eine Art von Pflanzennahrung, und zwar von den oberen Teilen der Pflanze. Das war die zweite Art der menschlichen Ernährung.
So standen sich, als die lemurische Zeit zu Ende ging, zwei Geschlechter gegenüber: Ein Geschlecht, die eigentlichen Mondsöhne, welche Tiere züchteten und sich nährten von dem, was die Tiere gaben, von der Milch der Tiere; und ein zweites Geschlecht, das sich von Pflanzen nährte, von dem, was der Boden hergab.
Diese Tatsache wurde dargestellt in der Geschichte von Kain und Abel. Abel ist ein Hirte, Kain ein Ackerbauer; Abel [repräsentiert] das Mond- und Kain das Sonnengeschlecht. Diese Allegorie ist etwas ganz Großartiges. Die Geheimlehre deutet das in etwas versteckter Weise an. Jenes göttliche Wesen, welches den Menschen die Möglichkeit gegeben hat, ein Mondenwesen zu sein, sich aus der umgewandelten Mondnahrung zu ernähren, nannte das jüdische Volk Jehova. Er war die nährende Naturkraft: die fließt dem Abel zu, er nimmt sie aus seinen Herden. Und es war ein Abfall von Jehova, als man zu der Sonnennahrung überging. Darum mochte Jehova das Opfer des Kain nicht, weil es das Opfer einer Sonnennahtung war.
Wenn wir zurückgehen in die ältesten Zeiten, so haben wir überhaupt keine andere Nahrung als die Milch, diejenige Nahrung, die der Mensch von den lebendigen Tieren gewinnt. Das ist die ursprüngliche Nahrung wie noch jetzt in den ersten Wochen, und der morgenländische Heiler bezieht den Spruch: «Wenn ihr nicht werdet wie die Kindlein, könnt ihr nicht in die Himmelreiche kommen», auf diese Ernährungsweise. Alle diese Dinge haben ihre Bedeutung.
Nun kommen wir von der lemurischen Zeit zu der atlantischen Zeit, zu den Völkern, die auf dem Gebiete des heutigen Atlantischen Ozeans wohnten. Bei den Atlantiern kommt etwas auf, was es früher nicht gab: Sie beginnen sich zuerst zu ernähren von dem, was nicht dem Leben entnommen ist, sie ernähren sich von dem Toten. Sie nehmen das in sich auf, was das Leben aufgegeben hat. Das ist ein ganz wichtiger Übergang in der Menschheitsentwickelung. Dadurch, daß die Menschen sich nun von dem Toten ernährten, wurde es möglich, daß zum Egoismus der Übergang gewonnen wurde. Dieses Sich-Ernähren von dem Toten bedeutet den richtigen Zusammenhang mit der Ichsucht. Selbständig wird der Mensch dadurch, daß er das Tote aufnimmt. Der Mensch nimmt nun das Tote in seinen verschiedenen Formen auf: Zunächst in den entstehenden Jägervölkern, die die Tiere töten. Ferner kommen Völker auf, die nicht bloß das an der Sonne Gereifte, sondern das unter der Erde Gereifte zu sich nehmen. Das ist ein ebenso Totes wie das tote Tier. Alles was in des Tieres niederster Natur lebt, was mit Blut getränkt ist, hat sich abgewendet von der Mondkraft. Die Mondkraft ist noch in der Milch, die mit dem Lebensprozeß zusammenhängt. Der Mensch nimmt die absterbenden Teile auf, wenn er das Tote genießt. Ebenso tot ist alles, was von der Pflanze unter der Erde wächst, was nicht durchwärmt und durchglüht ist von dem Lebensprinzip der Sonne. Es entspricht also die Wurzel demjenigen, was bei dem Tiere der mit Blut durchtränkte Körper ist.
Später kam dazu noch eine Nahrung, die es vorher gar nicht gegeben hat. Der Mensch setzte das bloß Mineralische seiner Speise zu, das was er der Erde entnahm, Salz und so weiter. So ging der Mensch in seiner Ernährung durch die drei Reiche. Dies ist ungefähr der Weg, den die atlantische Entwickelung hinsichtlich der Ernähzung durchgemacht hat: Als erstes entstanden Jägervölker, als zweites Ackerbauer, das Kainsgeschlecht, und als drittes entwickelte sich die Bergmannskunst, die zutage fördert, was unter der Erde ist.
Alle diese Dinge stellen das Abgewendete von der eigentlichen Lebens- oder Produktionskraft dar. Was tot ist im Tier, ist vom Leben abgewendet. Was im Boden ist von der Pflanze, das ist auch vom Leben abgewendet. Alles Salz ist das Tote des Mineralreiches, das was als Rückstand verbleibt.
Nun kommen wir zu der fünften Menschenrasse. Es besteht fort der Milchtrinker neben dem Fruchtesser; die anderen Dinge kommen dazu als etwas Neues. Was in der fünften Wurzelrasse vorzugsweise zutage tritt, das ist das, was mineralisch zunächst gewonnen wird, das heißt durch einen chemischen Prozeß. In der Genesis wird dies angedeutet. Was ist das, was durch den chemischen Prozeß gewonnen wird? Man steigt auf in der Entwickelung, man wendet die Chemie auf die Pflanzen, auf die Frucht an. Daraus entsteht der Wein. Den hat es in der Atlantis nicht gegeben. Daher wird in der Bibel gesagt, daß Noah, der Urvater der neuen nachsintflutlichen Rasse, zunächst berauscht wird durch den Wein. Durch einen mineralisch-chemischen Prozeß wird etwas hergestellt aus dem Pflanzenreich. Der Wein spielt dann in der ganzen fünften Wurzelrasse eine bestimmte Rolle. Alle Initiierten vom Anfang der fünften Wurzelrasse haben ihre Traditionen noch herübergenommen aus der Zeit der atlantischen Rasse, als es noch keinen Wein gab: Die indischen, persischen und ägyptischen Initiierten brauchten keinen Wein. Was bei den heiligen Handlungen eine Rolle spielte, war lediglich Wasser.
Mit der fünften Wurzelrasse kam also der Wein herauf, bei dem die mineralische Behandlung der Pflanze mitwirken muß. Die drei ersten Unterrassen waren Wiederholungen von Früherem. Die vierte Unterrasse entwickelte zuerst das Neue, was mit der fünften Wurzelrasse heraufgekommen war. Sie nahm eine gewisse Heiligkeit für den Wein in Anspruch. Daher treten Kulthandlungen auf, bei denen der Wein eine Rolle spielt (Dionysoskultur). Es entsteht sogar ein Weingott.
Nach und nach hat sich das in der Menschheit vorbereitet. Zunächst tritt die Weinkultur bei den Persern auf. Da ist der Wein aber noch etwas ganz Weltliches. Erst nach und nach findet er auch Eingang im Kultischen, im Dionysoskult. Die vierte Unterrasse ist diejenige, die zuerst das Christentum hervorbringt und auch diejenige, die siebenhundert Jahre vorher ihre Mission ankündigt durch die Dionysosspiele. Sie nehmen zunächst den Wein auf in den Kultus. Diese Tatsache hat in wunderbarer Weise derjenige Evangelist dargestellt, der am meisten vom Christentum gewußt hat: Johannes. Er bespricht gleich anfangs die Verwandlung des Wassers in Wein, denn das Christentum ist zunächst für die vierte Unterrasse der fünften Wurzelrasse gekommen. Eine Lehre brauchte man, welche heiligt, was auf den physischen Plan herauskommen muß. Der Wein schneidet den Menschen von allem Spirituellen ab. Wer Wein genießt, kann nicht zum Spirituellen kommen. Er kann nichts wissen von Atma, Buddhi, Manas, von dem was bleibt, was sich wiederverkörpert. Das mußte sein. Der ganze Gang der Menschheitsentwickelung ist ein absteigender und ein aufsteigender. Der Mensch mußte einmal bis zum tiefsten Punkt herabsteigen. Und damit er ganz auf den physischen Plan herunterkommt, darum tritt der Dionysoskult ein. Der menschliche Körper mußte präpariert werden zum Materialismus durch die Dionysoskultur, deshalb mußte eine Religion auftreten, die das Wasser in Wein verwandelt. Früher herrschte strenges Weinverbot für die Priester; sie konnten Atma, Buddhi, Manas erfahren. Es mußte nun eine Religion geben, die ganz herunterführte auf den physischen Plan, sonst wären die Menschen nicht ganz heruntergestiegen. Diese Religion, die sie da herunterführte, mußte eine äußere Offenbarung haben, eine solche Offenbarung, daß abgesehen wird von Atma, Buddhi und Manas, von der Reinkarnation, und nur den Hinweis auf das Allgemeine hat. Das nächste ist, daß der Wein wieder in Wasser verwandelt wird.
Wenn nicht früher das Wasser in Wein verwandelt worden wäre, so hätte der Mensch nicht alles aufgenommen, was unten im irdischen Tale ist. Im Beginne des Johannes-Evangeliums findet man nun [in der Schilderung der Verwandlung von Wasser in Wein bei der Hochzeit zu Kana] dargestellt, wie Christus gerechnet hat mit demjenigen, was da war. Er rechnete aber auch mit der Zukunft dadurch, daß er seinerseits das Abendmahl einsetzt. Dieses Abendmahl ist das größte Symbol Desjenigen, der seine Kulturströmung mit dieser vierten Unterrasse begonnen hat. Wenn er also der richtige «Menschensohn» war, der am tiefsten heruntergestiegen ist, um am kraftvollsten wieder hinaufzuheben, dann mußte er sich halten an das, was da war und den Menschen zeigen, wie der physische Inhalt der Rasse mit seiner eigentlichen Sendung zusammenhängt. Sollte die Menschheit wieder aufwärtsgehen, so mußte sie ein Symbol haben, welches wiederum vom Toten zum Lebendigen hinführt: Brot und Wein. Brot ist im okkulten Sinne dasjenige, was entsteht, wenn man die Pflanze erst getötet hat. Wein entsteht wiederum dadurch, daß man die Pflanze tötet, sie mineralisch behandelt. Wenn man das Pflanzliche bäckt, tut man dasselbe, wie wenn man das Tier tötet. Wenn wir dem Pflanzenreich Wein entnehmen, tun wir in gewissem Sinne dasselbe, wie wenn wir dem Tiere Blut abzapfen. Brot und Wein liegen da als Symbol der vierten Unterrasse. Was sich in Zukunft entwickeln soll, ist ein weiterer Aufstieg von der Pflanzen- zur mineralischen Nahrung. Brot und Wein müssen wieder geopfert, aufgegeben werden. Insofern also Christus in der vierten Unterrasse erscheint, weist er hin auf Brot und Wein: «Dies ist mein Leib - dies ist mein Blut.» Damit wollte er einen Übergang schaffen von der Tiernahrung zur Pflanzennahrung, den Übergang zu etwas Höherem.
Es gab damals zwei Menschenklassen: Erstens die, die sich von Fleisch und Blut nährten; das sind die vorchristlichen Menschen, mit denen Christus gar nicht gerechnet hat. Zweitens diejenigen, die nur Pflanzen töten, der Pflanze das Blut abzapfen: die Wein trinken und Brot essen. Mit diesen rechnet er noch; sie sind die Vorboten derjenigen Menschheit, die in der Zukunft sein wird.
Die Bedeutung des Abendmahles ist die, von der Ernährung vom toten Tiere überzugehen zu der Ernährung von der toten Pflanze. Wenn unsere fünfte Unterrasse zu Ende gegangen sein wird, in der sechsten Unterrasse, da wird man das Abendmahl verstehen. Da wird kein Tierisches mehr genossen werden. Bis dahin wird es möglich sein, daß auch die dritte Form der Ernährung eintreten wird, die rein mineralische. Der Mensch kann sich dann selbst die Nahrung schaffen. Er nimmt jetzt das auf, was die Götter für ihn geschaffen haben. Später steigt er auf und wird selbst im chemischen Laboratorium das zubereiten, was er an Nahrungsstoffen braucht.
So sehen Sie, daß alles aus tiefen Intuitionen heraus entsteht. Wenn wir bei den alten Orientalen allerlei Vorschriften finden darüber, was gegessen werden soll, so sind das eigentlich keine Gebote, sondern Erzählungen: Du sollst nicht verlangen, daß Stoffe anders wirken als sie wirken.
Dasjenige, was Christus nachher abtötet, was wirklich geopfert wird, nachdem er das Abendmahl genommen, das ist der physische Leib. Dieser stirbt. Der wird bei dem ganzen Menschengeschlecht sterben. Gegen die Mitte der sechsten Unterrasse, im letzten Drittel, wird es keinen physischen Leib mehr geben. Da wird der ganze Mensch wieder ätherisch sein. Er geht in die feinere Stofflichkeit über. Dies wird aber nicht eintreten, wenn der Mensch es nicht selbst herbeiführt. Dazu muß er erst übergehen zu der Nahrung, die er im Laboratorium selbst zubereitet. So daß der Mensch in demselben Maße, in dem er seine Nahrung nicht mehr der Natur entnimmt, sondern der eigenen Weisheit, dem Gotte im Inneren, er auch der eigenen Vergottung entgegeneilt.
Wenn der Mensch anfangen wird, sich selbst zu ernähren, wird auch der Grund gelegt zu etwas Höherem, nämlich dazu, daß er sich selbst fortpflanzen kann. Er schafft allmählich ein Leben für sich aus der mineralischen Welt.
Das ist der große Gang der menschlichen Entwickelung. Was heute der Naturwissenschafter kennt, ist nur ein kleiner Ausschnitt aus dem großen Kreislauf.
Mit dem Saturn kommen wir in die mineralische Zeit hinein. In der atlantischen Zeit wird durch den Genuß des Toten dasjenige vorbereitet, was den Egoismus hervorbringt. Bis zur fünften Unterrasse, den Ursemiten, wird so ganz langsam das menschliche Ich ausgebildet. In der sechsten Unterrasse der fünften Wurzelrasse wird dieses Ich wieder zu einer höheren Entwickelungsstufe kommen. Das bedeutet, daß wir vor einem neuen sogenannten Wirbel des Daseins stehen. Der jetzige Wirbel hat begonnen in der Zeit, als die Ursemiten den Grund zur jetzigen Wurzelrasse gelegt haben.
Der ursemitischen Kultur verdanken wir alles, was bis jetzt war. Aber jetzt beginnt ein neuer Einschlag mit den slawischen Völkern, der in die Zukunft hineingeht. Es wird von einem Volke zugleich mit einem gewissen Bruch mit der Vergangenheit ein neuer Einschlag in die Welt gebracht. Das arbeitet sich als verborgene Spiritualität aus dem russischen Bauern heraus. Das bildet den zweiten Teil des kommenden Wirbels. Gegenwärtig ist eine gewisse Kultur in der Zersetzung begriffen und ein Neues bereitet sich vor. Im Westen bereitet es sich vor und im Osten wird es sich ausleben. Aber das Alte muß das Neue anregen. Überall, wo wir neue Ansätze haben in unserer Zeit, da ist alles keimhaft, klobig, ungeschickt. Das Alte dagegen ist ausziseliert, hat aber den Charakter der Kritik, der Zersetzung. Aus dem semitischen Zweige werden die Träger der alten Kultur geboren, die die Träger dessen sind, was sich in den Wirbel hineinwirbelt.
Sie haben alle etwas Semitisches an sich. Beispiele: Lassalle, Marx. Das wirbelt sich nun hinein. Eine Fortsetzung von da ist nicht möglich. Es muß nun ein Sprung gemacht werden, wie von einem Ufer zum anderen, zur Spiritualität der künftigen Kultur des Ostens. Das ist ein völlig neuer Ansatz.
Das Künftige ist zunächst klobig und natürlich infiziert vom Alten. Haeckel ist ein Mensch, der mitten im Strome darinnen schwimmt und von beiden Wirbeln mitgerissen wird. Der erste Teil in Haeckels «Welträtsel» ist positive, elementare Theosophie; der zweite Teil ist negativ, alles vernichtend; das ist ein Wirbel.
Man kann die Gegensätze auch beobachten im Sozialismus des Ostens und des Westens. Der Sozialismus des Westens ist ein Sozialismus der Produktion, der Sozialismus des Ostens ist ein Sozialismus der Konsumtion. Wer sozial regelt, was hervorgebracht wird, rechnet mit der Habsucht, dem Egoismus. Wer die Konsumtion regelt, sieht auf das, was die anderen von ihm haben wollen; er sieht auf seine Mitmenschen, rechnet mit der Brüderlichkeit. Der Sozialismus der Produktion - Marx, Lassalle - sieht auf den Arbeiter nur, insofern er Produzent ist. Im Osten wird die Konsumtion in den Vordergrund gestellt, zum Beispiel bei Kropotkin, Bakunin, Herzen. Sie können die Dinge aufeinanderplatzen sehen, wenn Sie Kropotkin verfolgen. Er hat gleich verstanden das Prinzip der gegenseitigen Hilfeleistung bei den Tieren. Der Sozialismus des Westens ist ganz auf Kampf gebaut. So greifen die Strömungen der Weltenentwickelung ineinander.
XXX
Today, following on from the last lecture, I would like to make a few aphoristic remarks about the development of the different races. But first, I would like to draw attention to a few things whose reasons are given in only a few books.
The so-called dietary laws in different cultures seem at first glance to be very arbitrary. However, they are not; they are born of knowledge and wisdom. We must strictly take into account that our present humanity is not at all capable of following such things as we want to discuss today. However, they will later provide certain foundations for specific laws of social life. So no one should believe that one becomes an adept simply by becoming a vegetarian and so on.
There is a certain form of medicine practiced among Oriental peoples in which the doctors concerned place the greatest emphasis on the nutrition of their own physical bodies. Where the old spiritual life still exists, there are people who have become healers in the old way by nourishing themselves exclusively on milk. They are aware that by excluding everything else, they gain physical healing powers, especially for the healing of so-called mental illnesses.* They have their special tasks. They know very well that if they consume only milk, they will develop certain powers.
Let us clarify the intuition on which this is based. We can understand this deep intuition in the following way. We know of a certain process in human development. In the middle of the Lemurian epoch, the original human being split into an ascending human being and an animal. This was linked to the fact that the forces that the Earth had when it was still united with the Moon also split, and part of them separated from the Earth with the Moon.
Let us imagine the time when the Earth was still united with the Moon. Human beings were at a completely different stage of development then. They already had warm blood, but were not yet divided into two sexes. With the separation of the Moon, the division into two sexes can be observed, so that when you look up at the Moon today, you can say: Your departure from the Earth caused the human reproductive power to split into two parts. There was also a time on Earth when humanity was directly connected to the animal world, immersed in the animal world, and also fed on the animal world. This type of nutrition will be difficult to understand for those who do not have clairvoyant powers. However, we can form an idea of it by looking at the regular diet of mammals, which feed their young with their own milk. With the division of productive forces, this type of nutrition also emerged. In the past, humans were able to absorb nutrients from their immediate surroundings, just as the lungs absorb air today. At that time, humans were connected to the whole of nature surrounding them through suction threads, similar to how the human embryo is nourished in the mother's womb today. That was the ancient form of nutrition on Earth. A remnant of this is the suckling of mammals today, and milk is like the food that humans enjoyed in pre-lemurian times; it is the ancient food of the gods, the first form of food on Earth. At that time, the nature of the Earth was such that this food could be sucked out everywhere. Thus, milk is a product of the first human form of nutrition. When humans were still closer to the divine in the physical realm, they sucked milk from their surroundings. Occultists know how humans are connected to nature.
The consumption of milk is an ancient, transformed form of nutrition. Milk was always the first food for humans. In the saying, “the milk of pious thinking,” this is deliberately named as such.
We ask, what originally caused milk to be sucked out of the environment as it was then? The moon forces in the earth made this possible; they were like a general blood for the whole earth. But when the moon came out, the moon forces could only be concentrated on specific organs in living beings.
The occultist calls milk: the food of the moon. Moon sons are those who feed on milk. The moon ripened the milk. It has been proven that Oriental healers, who live only on milk, take up again the primal forces that were on the earth when milk still flowed in streams on the earth. They said to themselves: These are the forces that brought human beings into existence. These creative forces must also be beneficial to health, so we acquire the power to promote health if we only enjoy milk and exclude everything else.
Let us transport ourselves back to pre-Lemurian times. At that time, milk was sucked from the environment. Then came a time when milk became a common food for humans, and then a time when breast milk was enjoyed. Before the time when milk was generally sucked from nature, there was a time when the sun was still connected to the earth. There was sun food. Just as milk remained from the moon, products ripened by the sun also remained. Everything that shines through the sun, the blossoms and fruits of plants, belongs to the sun. They used to be inclined toward the center of the earth connected to the sun. They were stuck in the sun with their blossoms. When the earth separated from the sun, the plants retained their old character: they now turned their blossoms back toward the sun. Man is the reverse of the plant. What grows above ground on the plant behaves in relation to the sun as milk does to the moon, i.e., it is sun food. Gradually, a kind of plant food, namely from the upper parts of the plant, replaced the mere milk food. This was the second type of human nutrition.
Thus, when the Lemurian epoch came to an end, two races stood opposed to each other: one race, the actual sons of the moon, who bred animals and fed on what the animals provided, on the milk of the animals; and a second race, which fed on plants, on what the soil provided.
This fact is depicted in the story of Cain and Abel. Abel is a shepherd, Cain a farmer; Abel [represents] the moon race and Cain the sun race. This allegory is something quite magnificent. The Secret Doctrine hints at this in a somewhat hidden way. The Jewish people called Jehovah the divine being who gave humans the opportunity to be moon beings, to feed on the transformed moon food. He was the nourishing force of nature: it flows to Abel, who takes it from his flocks. And it was a falling away from Jehovah when people switched to the nourishment of the sun. That is why Jehovah did not like Cain's sacrifice, because it was the sacrifice of the nourishment of the sun.
If we go back to the most ancient times, we have no other nourishment at all than milk, the nourishment that humans obtain from living animals. This is the original food, as it still is in the first weeks, and the Eastern healer refers to this diet in the saying, “Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” All these things have their meaning.
Now we come from the Lemurian epoch to the Atlantean epoch, to the peoples who lived in the area of today's Atlantic Ocean. Something arises among the Atlanteans that did not exist before: they begin to feed themselves first of all on what is not taken from life, they feed on the dead. They take in what life has given up. This is a very important transition in human development. Because humans now fed on the dead, it became possible to make the transition to egoism. This feeding on the dead signifies the true connection with selfishness. Humans become independent by taking in the dead. Humans now absorb the dead in its various forms: first in the emerging hunter-gatherer peoples who kill animals. Then come peoples who consume not only what has ripened in the sun, but also what has ripened underground. This is just as dead as the dead animal. Everything that lives in the lowest nature of the animal, everything that is soaked in blood, has turned away from the power of the moon. The power of the moon is still present in milk, which is connected with the life process. When humans consume dead matter, they absorb the dying parts. Everything that grows underground from plants, everything that is not warmed and infused with the life principle of the sun, is equally dead. The root therefore corresponds to what in animals is the blood-soaked body.
Later, a food was added that had not existed before. Humans added the purely mineral elements to their food, what they took from the earth, salt and so on. Thus, humans went through the three realms in their diet. This is roughly the path that Atlantean development took in terms of nutrition: first came the hunter-gatherers, then the farmers, the lineage of Cain, and thirdly, the art of mining developed, bringing to light what is underground.
All these things represent what has been turned away from the actual life or productive force. What is dead in the animal is turned away from life. What is in the soil from the plant is also turned away from life. All salt is the dead of the mineral kingdom, what remains as residue.
Now we come to the fifth human race. The milk drinker continues to exist alongside the fruit eater; the other things are added as something new. What comes to the fore in the fifth root race is what is first obtained from minerals, that is, through a chemical process. This is hinted at in Genesis. What is it that is obtained through the chemical process? One ascends in development, one applies chemistry to plants, to fruit. This produces wine. This did not exist in Atlantis. That is why the Bible says that Noah, the forefather of the new post-Flood race, is first intoxicated by wine. Through a mineral-chemical process, something is produced from the plant kingdom. Wine then plays a certain role throughout the fifth root race. All initiates from the beginning of the fifth root race still carried over their traditions from the time of the Atlantean race, when there was no wine yet: the Indian, Persian, and Egyptian initiates did not need wine. The only thing that played a role in sacred rituals was water.
With the fifth root race, wine came into being, which requires the mineral treatment of the plant. The first three sub-races were repetitions of earlier ones. The fourth sub-race first developed the new, which had come with the fifth root race. It claimed a certain sanctity for wine. Hence, cult rituals in which wine plays a role (Dionysian culture) appear. A wine god even emerges.
Gradually, this developed in humanity. Wine culture first appeared among the Persians. But there, wine was still something entirely worldly. Only gradually did it find its way into cultic practices, into the cult of Dionysus. The fourth sub-race was the first to produce Christianity and also the one that announced its mission seven hundred years earlier through the Dionysian games. They first incorporated wine into their cult. This fact was wonderfully portrayed by the evangelist who knew most about Christianity: John. Right at the beginning, he discusses the transformation of water into wine, because Christianity first came to the fourth sub-race of the fifth root race. A teaching was needed that sanctified what had to come out on the physical plane. Wine cuts people off from everything spiritual. Those who enjoy wine cannot come to the spiritual. They can know nothing of Atma, Buddhi, Manas, of what remains, of what reincarnates. That had to be so. The whole course of human development is a descending and an ascending one. Humanity had to descend to the lowest point. And in order for it to descend completely to the physical plane, the cult of Dionysus came into being. The human body had to be prepared for materialism through the culture of Dionysus, which is why a religion had to arise that turned water into wine. In earlier times, priests were strictly forbidden to drink wine; they were able to experience Atma, Buddhi, Manas. Now there had to be a religion that led all the way down to the physical plane, otherwise people would not have descended completely. This religion that led them down had to have an outer revelation, a revelation that disregarded Atma, Buddhi, and Manas, reincarnation, and only pointed to the universal. The next thing is that the wine is turned back into water.
If the water had not been turned into wine earlier, man would not have taken in everything that is down in the earthly valley. At the beginning of the Gospel of John, we find [in the description of the transformation of water into wine at the wedding at Cana] how Christ reckoned with what was there. But he also reckoned with the future by instituting the Lord's Supper. This Lord's Supper is the greatest symbol of the One who began his cultural stream with this fourth subrace. So if he was the true “Son of Man” who descended to the lowest depths in order to rise again with the greatest power, then he had to hold on to what was there and show people how the physical content of the race was connected with his actual mission. If humanity was to rise again, it had to have a symbol that would lead from the dead to the living: bread and wine. In the occult sense, bread is what is created when the plant is first killed. Wine, in turn, is created by killing the plant and treating it with minerals. When you bake the plant, you do the same thing as when you kill the animal. When we extract wine from the plant kingdom, we are in a sense doing the same thing as when we draw blood from an animal. Bread and wine are symbols of the fourth sub-race. What is to develop in the future is a further ascent from plant to mineral food. Bread and wine must again be sacrificed, given up. In this respect, when Christ appears in the fourth sub-race, he points to bread and wine: “This is my body—this is my blood.” In this way, he wanted to create a transition from animal food to plant food, a transition to something higher.
At that time, there were two classes of people: first, those who fed on flesh and blood; these were the pre-Christian people, whom Christ did not count on at all. Secondly, those who only kill plants, who draw blood from plants: those who drink wine and eat bread. He still counts on these people; they are the harbingers of the humanity that will be in the future.
The meaning of the Last Supper is to transition from eating dead animals to eating dead plants. When our fifth subrace has come to an end, in the sixth subrace, the Lord's Supper will be understood. No more animal products will be consumed. By then, it will be possible for the third form of nutrition to emerge, the purely mineral one. Humans will then be able to create their own food. They now consume what the gods have created for them. Later, they will ascend and prepare what they need in terms of nutrients in chemical laboratories.
So you see that everything arises from deep intuitions. When we find all kinds of rules among the ancient Orientals about what should be eaten, these are not actually commandments, but stories: You should not demand that substances act differently than they do.
What Christ subsequently kills, what is truly sacrificed after he has taken the Last Supper, is the physical body. This dies. It will die in the entire human race. Towards the middle of the sixth subrace, in the last third, there will be no more physical bodies. Then the whole human being will be ethereal again. It will pass into a finer materiality. However, this will not happen unless humans bring it about themselves. To do this, they must first switch to food that they prepare themselves in the laboratory. In this way, to the same extent that humans no longer take their food from nature, but from their own wisdom, from the God within, they also hasten toward their own deification.
When humans begin to feed themselves, the foundation is also laid for something higher, namely, that they can reproduce themselves. They gradually create a life for themselves from the mineral world.
This is the great course of human development. What natural scientists know today is only a small part of the great cycle.
With Saturn, we enter the mineral age. In the Atlantean age, the consumption of the dead prepares the way for the emergence of egoism. Up to the fifth subrace, the Proto-Semites, the human ego is slowly formed. In the sixth sub-race of the fifth root race, this ego will again reach a higher stage of development. This means that we are facing a new so-called vortex of existence. The current vortex began at the time when the Ur-Semites laid the foundation for the current root race.
We owe everything that has been until now to the Ursemitic culture. But now a new impact is beginning with the Slavic peoples, which will continue into the future. A new impact on the world is being brought about by a people, accompanied by a certain break with the past. This is emerging as a hidden spirituality from the Russian peasantry. This forms the second part of the coming vortex. At present, a certain culture is in a state of decay and something new is preparing itself. It is preparing itself in the West and will play itself out in the East. But the old must stimulate the new. Wherever we have new beginnings in our time, everything is embryonic, clumsy, awkward. The old, on the other hand, is chiseled out, but has the character of criticism, of decay. From the Semitic branch are born the bearers of the old culture, who are the bearers of what whirls into the vortex.
They all have something Semitic about them. Examples: Lassalle, Marx. This is now whirling in. A continuation from there is not possible. A leap must now be made, as from one shore to the other, to the spirituality of the future culture of the East. This is a completely new approach.
The future is initially clumsy and naturally infected by the old. Haeckel is a person who swims in the middle of the stream and is carried away by both whirlpools. The first part of Haeckel's “World Enigma” is positive, elementary theosophy; the second part is negative, destroying everything; that is a whirlpool.
The contrasts can also be observed in the socialism of the East and the West. The socialism of the West is a socialism of production, the socialism of the East is a socialism of consumption. Those who regulate what is produced socially reckon with greed and selfishness. Those who regulate consumption look at what others want from them; they look at their fellow human beings and reckon with brotherhood. The socialism of production—Marx, Lassalle—looks at the worker only insofar as he is a producer. In the East, consumption is placed in the foreground, for example in Kropotkin, Bakunin, Herzen. You can see things coming to a head when you follow Kropotkin. He immediately understood the principle of mutual aid among animals. Western socialism is built entirely on struggle. Thus, the currents of world development intertwine.