Where and How Does One Find the Spirit?
GA 57
6 May 1909, Berlin
The European Mysteries and Their Initiates
In ancient times a kind of natural clairvoyance was a common heritage of the European peoples.1This translation originally appeared in Anthroposophy: A Quarterly Review. Michaelmas 1929 No 3 Vol. 4. Indeed man's consciousness as it is to-day has evolved from that earlier state of clairvoyant consciousness. With these ancient clairvoyant faculties, man was able to perceive certain connections of his life, and what he so perceived was then expressed in the legends and myths which speak of goblins, elfin-beings, dwarfs and the like. Now these legends and myths are very different in character. They were based on what man was able to see with his clairvoyant faculties, but when we study them we find on the one hand certain resemblances and on the other outstanding differences, simply because the clairvoyant powers of men were by no means the same. There is a much greater similarity in the more important mythological figures—the figures of Gods and Heroes in the sagas. These sagas, too, were the outcome of clairvoyance, but in a different sense. The great mythological figures lead us back to the experiences of those who were Initiates in the ancient Mysteries. It is not easy for our present consciousness to form a true conception of these ancient Mysteries and their Initiates, for the nature of our education and the knowledge resulting therefrom does not conduce to an understanding of the nature of Initiation—far from it! If we were to speak of the nature of the Mysteries and their Initiates in the language of current thought, we should say that the Mysteries are schools for the training of those faculties which enable the soul of man to have actual vision of the spiritual worlds. They are schools, where in a methodical and systematic way, man's soul is so guided and trained that he can finally perceive the higher worlds with spiritual eyes and ears. Although modern scholarship knows little of the Mysteries, they are nevertheless still in existence to-day and are the means whereby man can be led consciously to the spiritual worlds.—And the whole content of Spiritual Science, everything that is communicated in Spiritual Science, is, in its essence, Mystery-wisdom.
The man who so trains his soul that he can perceive in higher worlds, is an Initiate. Through all the ages there have been centres for developing the faculty of fully conscious clairvoyance and the aim of the present lecture is to give a cursory survey of the European Mysteries.
For this purpose we must go back to ancient pre-Christian times and try to visualise what went on in the occult schools of Initiation and how they influenced civilisation and culture in general. You have often heard how man to-day can be led to the Initiates, how his thinking, feeling and willing can be so trained that he can set out on the path leading to the “Mothers.” This is the path which the pupils of all the Mysteries have had to tread in quest of fully conscious clairvoyance.
There were Mysteries of great significance, deeply influencing ancient European civilisation, in various regions of France, Germany and Britain. In all these regions the Mysteries were of a definite and unique kind, and were instituted on the basis of knowledge such as I indicated in my lecture “Isis and Madonna,” namely, that man has a spiritual origin, that his home was once in spiritual worlds whence his spirit and soul have come forth. When a man penetrates more deeply into his soul and rises to a level higher than that of ordinary sense-perception, he still feels, even to-day, that there is within him something that is a last remnant of his being as it was in the spiritual world. To-day, this last remnant—the human soul—is enclosed within the physical body, which in its turn is a densification of the primordial spiritual being. When he has conscious realisation of the spirit and soul within him, man says: ‘Now I know what I once was in my whole being; now I know that I was born out of the womb of worlds, out of the great universe.’ To-day the universe is revealed to human intelligence in everything that is spread out before the senses. But behind all that can be perceived by the senses and grasped by the intellect there is the spiritual universe—the Primordial Father and Mother from whom the soul is born. The body too is born from them but at first in spiritual form. This true form of man is now hidden.
It was known in the ancient European Mysteries that the true being of man is hidden and must be sought in its concealment. The saying went: “Isis is seeking for the Being from whom she proceeded.” To be initiated was to live through all those processes which enable the soul of man once again to behold its true origin and to unfold the faculty which will unite it again with its spiritual origin. Whether in the depths of the sacred oak-groves, or in places adapted for the Mysteries, it was always the same.—The candidate was subjected to certain processes whereby he might be united with his spiritual origin.
All that lies hidden behind the sense-world, as the sun behind the clouds, the hidden spirit, was known in these Mysteries by the name of “Hu.” “Ceridwen” was the seeking soul. And all the rites of Initiation were a means of revealing to the pupil that death is only one of the many processes in life. Death changes nothing at all in the innermost kernel of man's being.—In the Druidic Mysteries (Druid denotes an Initiate of the third degree), the neophyte was put into a condition resembling death; his senses could not function as organs of perception. A man whose only instrument of perception is the physical body or the physical brain has no consciousness in a condition where his senses cease to function. But in Initiation, the senses—feeling, hearing and so on—cease to function, and yet the neophyte is able to experience and observe. The principle which observes was called “Ceridwen”—the soul. And that which comes to meet the soul, as light and sound come to our outer eyes and ears, was called “Hu”—the spiritual world. The Initiate experienced the union between Ceridwen and Hu. Such experiences are described in the myths. When we are told to-day that the ancients paid homage to a God Hu and a Goddess Ceridwen, this is simply another way of describing Initiation. The true myths are always concerned with Initiation. It is empty chatter to say that these myths have an astronomical meaning, that Ceridwen is the moon and Hu the sun, and so on. These myths originated because their creators were conscious of an inner union between the aspiring soul and the spirit of the sun, not the physical sun. The Mysteries of Hu and Ceridwen, then, were those into which men were initiated in the regions of which we are speaking.
More to the North, in Scandinavia and Northern Russia, we find the Trottic Mysteries, founded by the Initiate who is known as Sieg, or Siegfried: Sikke. All the Siegfried myths are to be traced back to this being. These Northern Mysteries are characterised by a principle that is really common to all the Mysteries, but which here for the first time is clearly emphasised. Let me explain this principle by means of a comparison.—Think of the human being as he stands before us in life, with his head, hands, feet and other members. And now, if we imagine him without one of these members, he is no longer a whole man. Think of the most important organs, the heart, the stomach and others. Each one of these organs contributes to human life and serves its needs. The fact that these organs work together makes it possible for a soul to live and develop in the body of man. The soul lives in a physical body which is a unit composed of many members. This suggests that wherever a dwelling place has to be found for a human soul, or for a higher being, single members must be working together, each one of them carrying out their particular functions. And so even in the ancient Northern Mysteries it was realised that something can be accomplished if a number of men are gathered together and each individual is allotted a special and definite task. One man, for instance, may resolve to develop principally the thinking faculty, another the power of feeling, a third the power of will. Sub-divisions are of course also possible.
The Northern Mysteries were based upon the idea that when a number of men, each of whom has his particular task, are gathered together into a whole, an invisible influence will work in them, just as the soul works in a human body. When men come together in this way, each playing his own part, they form a kind of higher organism or body, and thus make it possible for a higher spiritual being to dwell among them. Thus Sieg gathered together a circle of twelve men, each of whom set out to develop the powers of his soul in a particular direction. And then, when they gathered together in their holy sanctuaries, they knew that a higher spiritual being was living among them as the soul lives in a human body, that their souls were members of a higher body. This was the sense in which the “Thirteenth” lived and moved among the Twelve who knew: We are twelve and the Thirteenth lives among us. Or else they chose out a Thirteenth whose function was then, within the circle of the Twelve, to be the connecting link enabling the higher influence to descend. And so the Thirteenth was recognised to be the representative of the Godhead in the sanctuaries of Initiation.
Everything was related to the sacred number three, and for this reason the one who united in himself all the knowledge was known as the representative of the ‘holy Three’ and around him were the twelve, each one with his definite functions, like members of an organism.
And so it was realised that when twelve men united together to develop a power which enabled a higher being to dwell among them, they were rising out of the physical into the spiritual world, rising to their God. They regarded themselves as the twelve attributes, the twelve qualities of the God. This was all reflected in the figures of the twelve Germanic Gods in the Northern sagas. He who desired to become a member of this noble circle was told that he must seek Baldur—in other words, he must seek Initiation. And who is Baldur? Baldur is the Spiritual in man, the principle for which the soul is seeking and which is found in Initiation. Who slew Baldur? Those who killed out the clairvoyant faculties in man, who organised his physical nature, who endowed him with material sight and who could prematurely misuse the forces of physical matter—Loki, the power of Fire, and Hodur the Blind, representing the principle in man's being that is incapable of beholding the spiritual world. This is only a way of describing processes of Initiation. Material existence has made man blind; through Initiation he again finds the path leading to the higher worlds. The trained clairvoyance of the old Initiates was a higher faculty than the innate, natural clairvoyance possessed by all human beings in those days.
The Druidic and Trottic Mysteries were the inspiring source of European civilisation and culture in pre-Christian times. Now the essential feature of European culture, namely, the development of a consciousness of personality, is likewise a danger—a danger likely to be far greater here than in other regions of the earth. Consciousness of personality is a keynote of all European culture. It was present in all Germanic lands, in a much stronger form than in the East where men loved to surrender themselves to Brahman. But this consciousness of personality brought with it the danger that those who were initiated could readily misuse what they learnt in Initiation and turn it into caricature. Initiation gives man control of spiritual forces and those who have learnt to use them can also misuse them. So it came about that the Mysteries of ancient Europe began to degenerate, the unripeness of the Initiates began to give rise to all kinds of atrocities and in many regions they were dreaded by the people. Much that we hear of the Mysteries to-day, although not everything, refers to the period of their decline. In this age we need not, after all, be so very astonished that the Mysteries are so often misunderstood. For if Spiritual Science does not help a man to realise what went on in the Mysteries and he has to rely merely on the tittle-tattle of history written down much later on, his ideas on the subject will be utterly barren. Just think what happens when people are content to draw their information about Spiritual Science from what the outside world has to say about it. They get a fine picture! And if what is being said about Spiritual Science to-day were to live on, it would do far more harm than the fragmentary knowledge of the Mysteries has done.
It would be an attractive study to trace back many things in the sagas and legends of Europe to the Mysteries. We should find a great deal in the Niebelung and Siegfried legends that points back to the ancient Mysteries. But it is difficult to discriminate in such study. The only thing that can reveal whether a certain feature in the legends is simply an improvisation of fancy or leads back to the Mysteries, is actual knowledge and the capacity to trace it back to its real source.
In all these Mysteries, no matter where we look, we find an element of tragedy. Let me put it thus: The Initiate in the ancient Druidic or Trottic Mysteries might indeed be united with Hu or Baldur, but there was something lacking in the spiritual world into which he entered. In more popular parlance, the Initiates would have said: ‘Our Gods are mortal, are doomed to downfall.’—Hence the myth which tells of the Twilight of the Gods. But then came the news of the great Christ Impulse which could work more strongly in Europe than anywhere else—the news that a sublime Spirit, the Christ, had lived in an earthly body among men. And the Initiates realised that all that had hitherto been experienced in the depths of the Mysteries had become historic fact in the Christ Event. In the ancient Mysteries the Initiate had not fully vanquished death.—But now he learnt of the Mystery of Golgotha. This historic Mystery was received with understanding in the European Mysteries—a much deeper understanding than elsewhere. The attitude of the Initiates may be described somewhat as follows: In our Initiation we rose to a divine-spiritual world, yet it was a world pervaded with the forces of mortality. But he who steeps himself with all that is bound up with the mighty impulse brought by the Christ-Being, he who can link himself with Christ, will realise that just as the sun irradiates and quickens the life of the plants, so the Christ Impulse can flow into the human soul and endow the soul with knowledge of eternity and immortality, with knowledge of victory over death. The soul is quickened by a true understanding of Christ.—And it was also known to the Initiates that besides such outer teaching as can be given, there is an inner knowledge, a quest of the soul (Ceridwen) not only for a Hu or a Baldur but for another ‘Baldur,’ for One Who fulfilled the Mystery of Golgotha. The Initiates knew that the soul who experienced this acquired a bigger kind of clairvoyance than was attained through Initiation into the ancient Mysteries.
Here in Europe there was a deep understanding of these things. I have often told you of the great stimulus given to the evolution of man by the Christ Impulse. To understand this, let us think once more of ancient Hebrew consciousness. The ancient Hebrew felt himself one with his “Fathers.” He said to himself: ‘My Ego is enclosed between birth and death, but my blood streams into me from my Father Abraham. The blood in my veins is the expression of my Ego, of my individuality; it is the blood-stream which flows through the generations and is the expression of my God.’—And so the ancient Hebrew felt himself part of one great whole, secure in the blood-stream which passes down through the generations. Christ says: “Before Abraham was, I AM;” and “I and the Father are One.” The Ego of man is linked to a spiritual world by threads which everyone may discover in his own individuality. The Mystery of Golgotha brought to man a realisation of the Ego that is grounded upon itself, albeit the ties of blood are not ignored—the Ego that understands the physical world. Therefore, in the blood which flowed from the wounds of the Redeemer, men saw the expression of the human Ego-principle, and the saying went: “He who quickens this blood within himself will become a true seer.” But the world was not ripe enough to understand the true essence of the Mystery of Golgotha. It was not ripe in the centuries immediately following the Coming of Christ, nor is it to-day. Paul had a vision of the Living Christ in the spiritual world, but, after all, who understands those profound Epistles of one who was an Initiate or speaks with any truth of Paul's disciple, Dionysos the Areopagite?
In the Mysteries of Wales and Britain the teachings of Dionysos were received and the influence of the Christ Mystery so permeated the Druidic and Trottic Mysteries that the Initiates realised in full clarity of consciousness that He whom they had sought as Hu and Baldur, had come to earth as Christ. But they said among themselves that mankind in general was not ripe to understand the mystery of the blood flowing from the Redeemer's wounds, that men were not fit to receive into themselves the blood that runs through all creation.
It was only in small circles of Initiates that this sacred Christ Mystery was preserved. A man who was initiated into this Mystery experienced the overcoming of the Ego that functions in the world of sense. This is how he experienced it.—He asked himself: ‘What has been the manner of my life hitherto? In my quest for truth, I have turned to the things of the outer world. The Initiates of the Christ-Mystery, however, demand that I shall not wait until outer things tell me what is true but that in my soul, without being stimulated by the outer world, I shall seek the invisible.’—This quest of the soul for the highest was called by the outer world in later times: The secret of the Holy Grail. And the Parsifal or Grail legend is simply a form of the Christ Mystery. The Grail is the holy Cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper and in which Joseph of Arimathea caught the blood as it flowed on Golgotha. The Cup was then taken to a holy place and guarded. So long as a man does not ask about the invisible, his lot is that of Parsifal. Only when he asks, does he become an Initiate of the Christ Mystery.
Wolfram von Eschenbach speaks in his poem of the three stages through which the soul of man passes. The first of these is the stage of outer, material perception. The soul is caught up in matter and allows matter to say what is truth. This is the “stupor” (Dumpfheit) of the soul, as Wolfram van Eschenbach expresses it. And then the soul begins to recognise that the outer world offers only illusion. When the soul perceives that the results of science are not answers but only questions, there comes the stage of “doubt” (Zwifel), according to Wolfram von Eschenbach. But then the soul rises to “blessedness” (Saelde, Seligkeit)—to life in the spiritual worlds.—These are the three stages.
The Mysteries which were illuminated by the Christ Impulse have one quite definite feature in common whereby they are raised to a higher level than that of the more ancient Mysteries. Initiation always means that a man attains to a higher kind of sight and that his soul undergoes a higher development. Before he sets out on this path, three faculties live within his soul: thinking, feeling and willing. He has these three soul-powers within him. In ordinary life in the modern world, these three soul-powers are intimately bound together. The Ego of man is interwoven with thinking feeling and willing because before he attains Initiation he has not worked with the powers of the Ego at the development of his higher members. The first step is to purify the feelings, impulses and instincts in the astral body. Out of the purified astral body there rises the “Spirit-Self” or “Manas.” Then man begins to permeate every thought with a definite element of feeling so that each thought may be said to have something ‘cold’ or ‘warm’ about it.—He is transforming his “ether-body” or “life-body.” Out of the transformed ether-body (it is a transformation of feeling), arises “Budhi” or “Life-Spirit.” And finally, he transforms his willing and therewith the physical body itself, into “Atma” or “Spirit-Man.” Thus by transforming his thinking, feeling and willing, man changes his astral body into Spirit-Self or Manas, his ether-body into Life-Spirit or Budhi and finally his physical body into Spirit-Man or Atma. This transformation is the result of the Initiates systematic work upon his soul, whereby he rises to the spiritual worlds. But something very definite happens when the path to Initiation is trodden in full earnest and not light-heartedly. In true Initiation it is as if a man's organisation were divided into three parts, and the Ego reigns as king over the three. Whereas in ordinary circumstances the spheres of thinking, feeling and willing are not clearly separated, when a man sets out on the path of higher development thoughts begin to arise in him which are not immediately tinged with feeling but are permeated with the element of sympathy or antipathy according to the free choice of the Ego. Feeling does not immediately attach itself to a thought, but the man divides, as it were, into three: he is a man of feeling, a man of thinking, a man of will, and the Ego, as king, rules over the three. At a definite stage of Initiation he becomes, in this sense, three men. He feels that by way of his astral body he experiences all those thoughts which are related to the spiritual world; through his ether-body he experiences everything that pervades the spiritual world as the element of feeling; through his physical body he experiences all the will-impulses which flow through the spiritual world. And he realises himself as king within the sacred Three. A man who is not able or ripe enough to bear this separation of his being, will not attain the fruits of Initiation. The sufferings that crowd upon him in his immature state will keep him back. A man who approaches the Holy Grail but is not worthy, will suffer as Amfortas suffered. He can only be redeemed by one who brings the forces of good.—He is freed from his sufferings by Parsifal.
And now let us return once more to what Initiation brings in its train. The seeking soul finds the spiritual world; the soul finds the Holy Grail which has now become the symbol of the spiritual world. Individual Initiates have experienced what is here described. They have gone the way of Parsifal, have become as kings looking down on the three bodies. The Initiate says to himself: ‘I am king over my purified astral body which can only be purified when I strive to emulate Christ.’ He must not hold to any outer link, to anything in the external world, but unite himself in the innermost depths of his soul with the Christ Principle. Everything that binds him with the world of sense must fall away in that supreme moment. Lohengrin is the representative of an Initiate. It is not permitted to ask his name or rank, in other words, what connects him with the world of sense. He who has neither name nor rank, is called a “homeless” man. Such a man is permeated through and through with the Christ Principle. He too looks down on the ether-body which has become Life-Spirit, as upon something that is now separate from the astral body. By this ether-body he is borne upwards to the higher worlds, where the laws of space and time do not hold sway. The symbol of this ether-body and its organs, is the Swan who bears Lohengrin over the sea in a boat (the physical body), over the material world. The physical body is felt to be an instrument.
The soul on earth who experiences a new impulse through Initiation is symbolised in the figure of Elsa von Brabant. This shows us the sense in which the Lohengrin legend—which has many other meanings as well—is a portrayal of Initiation in the Mysteries associated with the Holy Grail. Thus in the eleventh to the thirteenth century, these secrets of the Holy Grail were taught in connection with the Christ Mystery. The Knights of the Grail were the later Initiates. They were confronted in the world with an exoteric Christianity, whereas esoteric Christianity was cultivated in the Mysteries. And in the Mysteries, men sought to find that relation to Christianity whereby, through the outer Christ in the soul, the inner Christ, Who is symbolised by the Dove, was awakened to life.
The whole development of the European Mysteries is expressed in yet another cycle of legends and sagas, but it is difficult to speak of them now. We must wait for another occasion. To-day we will consider how this knowledge found its way into the outer world and made its appearance in a remarkable body of legends. Comparatively little notice has been taken of a legend which was given poetic form by Conrad Fleck in 1230. It is one of the legends of Provence and deals with the Initiation of the Knights of the Grail or the Templars. It speaks of an ancient pair, “Flor” and “Blancheflor.” In modern parlance: the flower with red petals (the rose) and the flower with white petals (the lily). In earlier times it was known that a great many mysteries were contained in this legend, of which it is only possible to-day to speak briefly. It was said: Flor and Blancheflor are souls incarnated in human beings who have lived on earth. According to the legend, these two were the grandparents of Charles the Great. But those who studied the legend more deeply, saw in Charles the Great the figure who, in a certain sense, united esoteric and exoteric Christianity. This is expressed in the coronation of the Emperor. But in the grandparents of Charles the Great, Flor and Blancheflor, lived the rose and the lily—typifying souls who were to preserve in its purity the esoteric Christianity which had been taught by Dionysos the Areopagite and others. The rose—Flor or Flos—symbolised the human soul who has received the impulse of the Ego, of personality, who lets the Spiritual work out of his individuality, who has brought the Ego-force down into the red blood. But the lily was the symbol of the soul who can only remain spiritual when the Ego remains outside. Thus there is a contrast between the rose and the lily. The principle of self-consciousness has entered wholly into the rose, whereas it remains outside the lily. But there was a union between the soul that is within and the soul that as the World-Spirit pervades the universe outside. Flor and Blancheflor symbolise the finding of the World-Soul, the World-Ego, by the human soul or the human Ego. The event recorded in the legend of the Holy Grail is also described in the legend of Flor and Blancheflor. Flor and Blancheflor must not be thought of as outer figures—the lily symbolises the soul which finds its higher Egohood. The union of the lily-soul with the rose-soul was taken to express that principle in man which can link him with the Mystery of Golgotha. Therefore it was said: Over against the forces of European Initiation inaugurated by Charles the Great which were to fuse exoteric and esoteric Christianity, pure esoteric Christianity must be kept alive and continued. But among the Initiates it was said: The same soul who lived in Flos or Flor and of whom the legend tells, was reincarnated in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as the founder of Rosicrucianism, a Mystery-School having as its aim the cultivation of an understanding of the Christ Mystery in a way suited to the new era. Thus esoteric Christianity found refuge in Rosicrucianism. Since the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Rosicrucian Schools have trained the Initiates who are the successors of the ancient European Mysteries and of the School of the Holy Grail. Many things have trickled through into outer life in regard to the Rosicrucian Mysteries, but much that is told is a caricature of the truth. Profound achievements of spiritual life were influenced by the mysterious threads of Rosicrucianism which found their way into civilisation.—So, for instance, there is a connection between Bacon of Verulam's New Atlantis and Rosicrucianism. This work is more than a Utopia. Bacon there tries to lead those who would revive the dim clairvoyant faculties of the old Atlanteans, to higher levels. But associated with the outer Brotherhood of the Rosicrucians is all the charlatanism, quackery and caricature that is unavoidable in our age since the discovery in the art of printing. Since printing was discovered it has been no longer possible, as it was in olden times, to let secrets remain secret. Everything comes out, caricatured and distorted! And the same terrible thing happens to the teachings given in the Anthroposophical Movement. If the Anthroposophical Movement were what it is said to be in entirely ignorant circles, it would be something to be avoided at all costs. But in reality, anthroposophical teachings are nourished to a greater extent than has yet ever been the case, from the wellsprings of the Mysteries. Goethe's greatest poetic achievements were nourished from Rosicrucian sources. It is not without significance that in his poem Die Geheimnisse he speaks of a man who was led to a house and found on its door the sign of the Rose Cross. “Who brought the roses to the Cross?”—Who were these Initiates of the European Mysteries who linked the mysteries of the rose to the mystery of the Cross? How deeply Goethe had penetrated these things is apparent, for instance when he speaks of the twelve gathered around the table—twelve as in the ancient Trottic Mysteries. Oh! Goethe knew all these things. But those who study him to-day, study only the Goethe they are capable of understanding. But although he was only able to speak a mysterious language, the time has now come to speak openly about Initiation. More and more it will become apparent that Spiritual Science does not produce dreamers who are remote from the affairs of the world, but men who are practical and active in life. It brings a new hope and confidence. To modern thinking we shall more and more be able to apply the words spoken by Faust of Wagner, the representative of materialistic thinking: “How ardently be grubs for treasures, and is happy when he finds rain-worms!” Truly, materialism is happy when it finds rain-worms and can prove that in a certain sense they are necessary to the re-organisation of everything that lives and moves upon the earth. But the spirit that flows from the Mysteries makes human thinking so supple and flexible that it can really cope with life. It could not be otherwise, for the meaning of world-evolution itself is contained in the mystery-teachings of Spiritual Science.
The world and “all that therein is” is born out of the spirit; man is born and called to rise to the spirit. Spiritual Science shows us more and more that the spirit lies exhausted in matter, that physical substance is the magic robe of the Spiritual. It is for man living in the material world, to charm the spirit out of this magic robe. The Spiritual finds its resurrection in man, in the human soul that rises above itself.—To enable the soul to find this path is the task of Spiritual Science. Thus does spirit find spirit. And man will realise and understand the spirit more and more as he fashions himself in its image.
Die Europäischen Mysterien und ihre Eingeweihten
Im letzten Vortrag konnte darauf hingewiesen werden, daß in den alten Zeiten der europäischen Entwickelung bei den verschiedenen Völkern eine Art alten, ursprünglichen Hellsehens vorhanden war, und daß sich das gegenwärtige Bewußtsein erst aus diesem früheren Bewußtseinszustande, aus einem alten, hellseherischen Vermögen heraus entwikkelt hat. Es ist darauf hingewiesen worden, wie das, was der alte Hellseher in gewissen Verhältnissen seines Lebens hat wahrnehmen können, einen Niederschlag gefunden hat in den Sagen und Mythen, die von Alpwesen, Elfenwesen, von Zwerg- und Lurenwesen handeln. Diese Sagen und Mythen sind höchst mannigfaltiger Art, und wenn wir Umschau halten könnten nur über das, was an solchen aus alten, hellseherischen Beobachtungen stammenden Mythen und Sagen in Europa sich erhalten hat, so würden zwar gewisse Ähnlichkeiten, gewisse Gleichheiten in allen diesen Überlieferungen vorhanden sein, aber doch auch wieder große Verschiedenheiten, weil das hellseherische Vermögen der einzelnen Menschen sehr verschieden war.
Eine viel größere Übereinstimmung ist schon vorhanden in den großen Mythengebilden, in den großen Gebilden der Götter- und Heldensagen. Auch diese Götter- und Heldensagen führen zurück auf hellseherische Fähigkeiten, nur in anderer Art. Nicht auf die Erlebnisse führen sie zurück, die dem Menschen werden konnten durch natürliche hellseherische Begabung, sondern die großen einheitlichen Sagengebilde, die wir als Mythologie zusammenfassen, führen zurück auf jene Erlebnisse, welche die Eingeweihten in den Mysterien gehabt haben. Es gibt heute wenig Vorbedingungen dazu in unserem Bildungsbewußtsein, um sich einen Begriff zu schaffen von dem, was man Mysterien und Eingeweihte nennt. Denn das, was unsere äußere Bildung, unser äußeres Wissen ausmacht, ist weit entfernt von dem Wesen der Einweihung. Wenn man mit in unserer Zeit gangbaren Begriffen diese beiden charakterisieren wollte, so müßte man sagen: Die Mysterien sind Schulen, in denen Fähigkeiten in der Menschenseele gepflegt werden, durch die die Seele zu eigenem Beobachten in den geistigen Welten geführt wird. Im besonderen sind Mysterien solche Schulen, welche in einer ganz methodischen, systematischen Weise dem Menschen, der reif dazu ist, eine Anleitung geben, daß die Seele so wird, daß er mit geistigen Augen und Ohren die höheren Welten wahrnehmen kann. Obwohl die heutige Bildung wenig weiß von den Mysterien, die es auch heute noch gibt, so sind sie doch vorhanden und führen hinauf in die geistigen Welten. Und all der Inhalt der Geisteswissenschaft, alles das, was in der Geisteswissenschaft mitgeteilt wird, ist im wesentlichen Inhalt der Mysterienweisheit. Wer seine Seele in geeigneter Weise schult, um in höheren Welten Beobachtungen zu machen, der ist ein Eingeweihter. Solche Stätten, in denen man sich die Fähigkeit des vollbewußten Hellsehens aneignet, hat es immer gegeben.
Heute soll ein skizzenhafter Überblick über die europäischen Mysterien gegeben werden. Da müssen wir zurückgehen in uralte Zeiten, die dem Christentum vorangegangen sind, und uns ein Bild zu machen versuchen von dem, was in den Einweihungs- oder Geheimschulen getrieben worden ist und wie sich das der allgemeinen Kultur mitgeteilt hat. Es ist ja oftmals darauf hingewiesen worden, wie heute der Mensch den Weg des Eingeweihten antreten kann, wie Denken, Fühlen und Wollen geschult werden, um den «Gang zu den Müttern» antreten zu können. Diesen Gang zu den Müttern haben die Schüler aller Mysterien anzutreten gehabt.
Wir haben europäische Mysterien gehabt von großer Bedeutung und tiefem Einfluß auf die uralte europäische Kultur in verschiedenen Gegenden Frankreichs, Deutschlands und Britanniens. In allen diesen Gegenden waren sie von ganz bestimmter eigener Art. Den Ausgangspunkt bildete überall eine Erkenntnis, die wir andeuten konnten in dem Vortrag über Isis und Madonna. Da ist darauf hingewiesen worden, daß der Mensch geistigen Ursprung hat, daß er früher in geistigen Welten wohnte, daß des Menschen Geist und Seele herausgeboren sind aus den geistigen Urwelten. Hingewiesen wurde darauf, daß der Mensch jetzt noch bei einem tieferen Blick in die Seele fühlt, daß er, wenn er sich erhebt über die physische Beobachtung, etwas hat, was ein letzter Rest seines einstigen Wesens in der geistigen Welt ist. Heute ist dieser letzte Rest, des Menschen Seele, eingeschlossen in den physischen Leib, der eine Verdichtung der geistigen Urwesenheit ist. Das, was der Mensch da eingeschlossen weiß als seinen Seelengeist, von dem sagt er sich: Das zeigt mir, wie ich einstmals im ganzen war, zeigt, wie ich herausgeboren bin aus dem Weltenschoße, aus dem ganzen Universum. Heute zeigt sich das Universum dem äußeren Verstand in alledem, was sich vor den Sinnen ausbreitet; aber hinter alledem, was die Sinne sehen, was der Verstand begreifen kann, ist das geistige Universum. Das ist der Urvater, die Urmutter, aus denen heraus die Seele geboren ist, die heute noch die Formen bewahrt hat, die damals auch der Leib hatte.
Im Grunde ist auch der Leib aus dem geistigen Universum heraus geboren, auch er hatte einst eine geistige Gestalt. Was den Menschen in seiner wahren Gestalt zeigt, ist heute verborgen. Als einen verborgenen Teil des sichtbaren Menschen sah man auch in diesen alten europäischen Mysterien das Menschenwesen in seiner wahren Gestalt an. Und man sah darin eine Isis, welche sucht nach dem, woraus sie entstanden ist. Einweihung war das Erlebenlassen des Ganzen jener Prozeduren, wodurch des Menschen Seele wieder das schauen konnte, woraus sie geboren ist, das Entwickeln der Fähigkeit der Seele, durch die sie sich wieder vereinigenkann mit dem geistigen Urgrunde. Ob in der Tiefe des heiligen Haines oder in besonders dazu hergerichteten Mysterienstätten, ist gleichgültig; überall wurde der Kandidat in solche Lagen gebracht, durch die er den Anschluß an die geistigen Urgründe des Menschen finden konnte.
Das, was hinter der Sinnenwelt verborgen ist wie die Sonne hinter den Wolkenschleiern, die verborgenen geistigen Wesen nannte man hier «Hu»; «Ceridwen» aber war die suchende Seele. Und alle die Vorgänge der Einweihung waren so, daß dem Schüler gezeigt wurde: Der Tod ist ein Vorgang im Leben wie andere auch. Er ändert nichts am inneren Lebenskern des Menschen. Wo sich die Druidenmysterien dem Namen nach erhalten haben - Druide bedeutet Eingeweihter im dritten Grade -, wurde der Einzuweihende in einen todähnlichen Zustand gebracht, so daß er mit den Sinnen nichts wahrnahm. Sein Verstand schwieg. Wer nur in seinem Leibe lebt und nur mit seinem physischen Verstande wahrnehmen kann, dessen Werkzeug das Gehirn ist, der hat gar kein Bewußtsein in einem solchen Zustande, wo die Sinne schweigen. Das ist eben die Einweihung, daß die Sinne, das Gefühl, Gehör und so weiter schweigen, und daß dennoch, auch wenn das Gehirn schweigt, der Schüler Erlebnisse hat und Beobachtungen macht. Was da in uns Beobachtungen macht, das wurde die Seele, Ceridwen, genannt. Und was ihr entgegenkam wie dem äußeren Auge und Ohre Licht und Ton, die Welt der geistigen Tatsachen, das wurde Hu genannt. Die Ehe zwischen Ceridwen und Hu erlebten die Eingeweihten.
Solche Erlebnisse sind in den Mythen beschrieben. Wenn uns heute erzählt wird, daß die Alten verehrt hätten einen Gott Hu und eine Göttin Ceridwen, so ist das nur eine Umschreibung der Einweihung. Das ist der Grund der wirklichen Mythe. Es ist nur leere Rederei, wenn man sagt, solche Mythen hätten astronomische Bedeutung, Ceridwen sei der Mond und Hu die Sonne. Solche Mythen konnten nur entstehen dadurch, daß man sich bewußt war eines inneren Zusammenhanges zwischen der Seele, die sich erhebt, und dem Geiste der Sonne, nicht der physischen Sonne. Die Mysterien von Hu und Ceridwen, das waren diejenigen, in welche die Menschen in diesen Gegenden hier eingeweiht wurden.
Mehr im Norden, in Skandinavien und im nördlichen Rußland, finden wir die Drottenmysterien, gegründet von dem ursprünglichen Eingeweihten Sieg, Siegfried oder Sigge. Alle Sagen über Siegfried gehen auf ihn zurück. Gerade in diesen Mysterien sehen wir etwas, was im Grunde allen Mysterien zugrunde liegt, was hier aber zuerst besonders deutlich hervortritt. Wir wollen von einem Vergleich zur eigentlichen Tatsache aufsteigen. Um es uns klarzumachen, gehen wir aus von dem Menschen, wie er uns im Leben entgegentritt, mit Kopf, Händen, Füßen und so weiter. Denken wir eines dieser Glieder weg, so kann der Mensch nicht mehr ein voller, ganzer Mensch sein. Nehmen wir die wichtigsten Glieder: Herz, Magen, die jedes einzeln ein gewisses Teil beitragen zum menschlichen Leben und ihren Dienst tun müssen. Nur durch das Zusammenarbeiten dieser Glieder ist die Möglichkeit gegeben, daß in dem menschlichen Leib eine Seele lebt und sich entwickelt. Die Seele lebt in einem physischen Leibe, der eine Versammlung ist von vielen Gliedern. Daraus gewinnen wir die Anschauung, daß überall da, wo die Menschenseele oder ein höheres Wesen leben soll, einzelne Glieder zusammenwirken müssen, von denen jedes einzelne seinen Dienst tun muß. So finden wir schon in den nordischen Mysterien die Anschauung, daß man innerhalb der Menschenwelt dieses zum Ausdruck bringen kann, daß man eine Versammlung von Menschen bilden kann, so daß jeder einzelne eine gewisse Aufgabe übernimmt. Sagen wir zum Beispiel, ein Mensch übernimmt es, in sich besonders die Denkfähigkeit, ein anderer die Gefühlskraft, ein dritter die Willenskraft auszubilden. Es sind hier auch wieder Unterabteilungen möglich.
Nun ging man davon aus, daß, wenn man einen Kreis von Menschen zusammenbringt, in dem jeder eine besondere Aufgabe übernimmt, und die doch im ganzen zusammenwirken, daß dann unsichtbar in ihnen etwas wirkt wie die Seele im Menschen. Wenn die Menschen sich so versammeln und jeder das Seine tut, dann bilden sie etwas wie einen höheren Organismus, einen höheren Leib, und dadurch machen sie es für ein höheres geistiges Wesen möglich, unter ihnen zu wohnen. Sieg bildete so einen Kreis von zwölf Menschen, von denen jeder auf eine ganz besondere Weise seine Seele entwickelte. Wenn dann diese alle zusammenwirkten, alles zusammenfloß bei ihren heiligen Versammlungen, dann waren sie sich klar, daß unter ihnen eine höhere geistige Wesenheit wohnte, wie die Seele im menschlichen Leibe, daß die Seelen die Glieder sind eines höheren Leibes. Der Dreizehnte wohnte so unter den Zwölf. Sie wußten: Wir sind zwölf, und unter uns wohnt der Dreizehnte. Oder man nahm einen Dreizehnten, der dann im Kreise der Zwölf das Anziehungsband bildete für das, was sich heruntersenken sollte. So war dieser Dreizehnte ein solcher, den man einen Stellvertreter der Gottheit in den Einweihungsstätten nannte. Und weil alles mit der heiligen Dreizahl zusammengebracht wurde, so nannte man den, der das auf die Dreizahl bezügliche Wesen in sich vereinigte, den Vertreter der heiligen Dreizahl, und um ihn herum waren die Zwölf, die ganz bestimmte Funktionen hatten, wie die Glieder eines Organismus.
So war man sich klar: wenn so zwölf Menschen vereinigt waren, die in sich die Kraft entwickelten, ein Höheres unter sich zu haben, dann erhob man sich aus der physischen in die geistige Welt; zu seinem Gott erhob man sich. Sie betrachteten sich als die zwölf Attribute, die zwölf Eigenschaften des Gottes. Das alles bildete sich ab als die zwölf germanischen Götter in den nordischen Göttersagen. Derjenige, der in diesem erlauchten Kreise ein Glied sein wollte, hatte zur Aufgabe das Aufsuchen Baldurs. Das war die Einweihung. Wer war Baldur in Wirklichkeit? Baldur ist dasjenige im Menschen, was sein geistiges Teil ist, was die Seele sucht, was sie findet in der Einweihung, was ihr da entgegentritt. Wer hat Baldur getötet? Die haben Baldur getötet, die das Hellseherische am Menschen getötet haben, die das Physische zusammengefügt haben, die dem Menschen das sinnliche Schauen gegeben haben, die das Physische zu schnell mißbrauchen konnten: Loki, die Feuerkraft, und ihr Ausdruck Hödur, der Blinde, der darstellt die menschliche Sinnlichkeit, die unfähig ist, in das Höhere, in die geistige Welt hineinzuschauen. Das ist der Ausdruck für die Einweihungsprozeduren, die durchgemacht wurden. Die Sinnlichkeit hat den Menschen blind gemacht, durch die Einweihung findet er wieder den Zugang zu den höheren Welten. So haben wir gleichsam sich erhebend über dem allgemeinen Hellsehen das geschulte Hellsehen der Eingeweihten in der alten entsprechenden Form. Druiden- und Drottenmysterien waren das, woraus die europäische Kultur im vorchristlichen Zeitalter hervorgegangen ist.
Freilich, das, was das große Bedeutsame hier ist und was sich hier entwickelt, das Persönlichkeitsbewußtsein, bildet auch eine Gefahr. Es ist hier eine viel größere Gefahr als in anderen Gebieten. Das Persönlichkeitsbewußtsein bildet einen Grundton aller Kultur in Europa. Mehr als im Osten, wo der Mensch sich gerne hingab an Brahman, war in germanischen Landen das Persönlichkeitsbewußtsein vorhanden. Dadurch war die Gefahr naheliegend, daß die, welche eingeweiht wurden, sehr schnell da oder dort das, was ihnen geboten wurde in der Einweihung, mißverstehen, mißbrauchen konnten, daß sie es in Zerrbildern und Karikaturen darstellten. Einweihung führt auch zur Handhabung der geistigen Kräfte. Wer sie gebrauchen lernt, der lernt leicht sie zu mißbrauchen. Daher kam es, daß die Mysterien des alten Europa leicht verfielen, daß die Eingeweihten sich nicht reif erwiesen und Veranlassung von vielfachen Greueln wurden, daß sie der Abscheu des Volkes in vielen Gegenden wurden. Mancherlei, was heute erzählt wird von den Mysterien, bezieht sich auf den Verfall der Mysterien, wenn auch nicht alles. Daß das Mysterienwesen vielfach mißverstanden werden kann, braucht ja den heutigen Menschen gar nicht so sehr in Erstaunen zu setzen. Denn wenn jemand nicht durch die Geisteswissenschaft erfahren kann, was in den Mysterien getrieben wurde, sondern wenn er nur auffangen kann das, was später niedergeschrieben wurde, das weltgeschichtliche Geklatsch und Getratsch, so kann er zu den wüstesten Anschauungen über Mysterienwesen kommen im Verlaufe der Zeiten. Denken Sie nur einmal, wie jemand daran ist, wenn er sich heute unterrichten will über das, was Anthroposophie und anthroposophische Bewegung ist, durch das, was draußen mitgeteilt wird: er würde ein schönes Bild bekommen! Und wenn man das heute darüber Gesagte aufbewahrte, so könnte noch etwas viel Schlimmeres herauskommen als das über die Mysterien Bekannte.
Es wäre eine schöne Aufgabe, mancherlei aus der europäischen Sagenwelt zurückzuführen auf das, was in den Mysterien vorgegangen ist. Wir würden bis in die Nibelungen- und Siegfriedsagen kommen und vieles finden, was auf die alten Mysterien zurückzuführen ist. Aber dazu darf man nicht kombinieren. Das einzige, was Ausschlag geben kann darüber, ob ein Zug hinzuphantasiert ist oder zurückgeht auf die Mysterien, kann eben nur das Wissen um die Mysterien sein und das Verfolgenkönnen dieser Dinge bis zu den Mysterien.
In allen diesen Mysterien, wo wir sie auch untersuchen, waltet ein Zug, den man bezeichnen könnte als einen tragischen Zug. Man könnte ihn etwa so ausdrücken: Der Eingeweihte der alten Druiden- oder Drottenmysterien konnte zwar zur Vereinigung mit Hu oder Baldur kommen, aber diese geistige Welt kam ihm nicht als etwas Höchstes vor. Es mußte darüber noch etwas anderes geben. Oder populär ausgedrückt: Unsere Götter, zu denen wir uns erheben, sind sterblich, sind dem Untergange geweiht. Daher der Mythus von der Götterdämmerung, die tragische Prophezeiung vom Untergange der Götter.
Da hinein fiel der starke Christus-Impuls, der hier stärker wirken konnte als sonstwo, dieKunde, daß ein höchstes Geistiges, das Christus-Prinzip, in einem irdischen Leibe gelebt hat, unter Menschen vorhanden war, daß alles das, was man in den Mysterien erleben kann, historische Tatsache ist in dem Christus-Ereignis. In den alten Mysterien wurde der Eingeweihte nicht vollständig ein Überwinder des Todes. Jetzt aber trat ihm entgegen das große Mysterium von Golgatha. Gerade innerhalb der europäischen Mysterien wurde dieses historische Mysterium mit tiefstem Verständnis aufgenommen,anders als anderswo. Es herrschte da eineStimmung,die etwa folgendermaßen ausgedrückt werden kann. Die Menschen sagten sich: Wenn wir eingeweiht wurden, so war das ein Hinaufleben in eine göttlich-geistige Welt, die aber durchzogen war vom Hauche der Sterblichkeit. — Wer aber sich hineinlebt in das, was man an der Christus-Gestalt, diesem größten Impuls, erleben kann, wer ein Verhältnis zu dem Christusfindet, der kann zu einem solchen Verständniskommen, daß er wissen kann: Ebenso, wie die Sonne die Pflanze durchstrahlt und dadurch das Leben in ihr weckt, so kann der Christus-Impuls in die menschliche Seele fließen. Dadurch nimmt sie Kraft auf, die der Seele Wissen von ihrer Ewigkeit und Unsterblichkeit gibt, Wissen vom Sieg über den Tod. Dadurch, daß sie ein richtiges Verständnis für den Christus bekommt, dadurch wird die Seele belebt. Man sagte sich: Es gibt außer dem, was äußerlich über den Christus gelehrt werden kann, noch ein innerliches Wissen, das Suchen der Seele, der Ceridwen nach einem Hu oder Baldur, aber nach einem anderen Baldur, der das Geheimnis von Golgatha vollbracht hat. - Wenn die Seele das erlebt, so erlangt sie ein höheres Hellsehen als durch die alten Mysterien. Und hier in Europa begriff man gleich ganz tief, was das bedeutet.
Ich habe Ihnen schon öfter dargestellt, welchen Ruck die Menschenentwickelung gemacht hat durch den ChristusImpuls. Gehen wir, um das zu verstehen, noch einmal zurück zu dem alten hebräischen Bewußtsein. Da haben wir noch ein Geborgensein des Ichs, wenn der Mensch sich eins fühlt mit seinen Vätern und Vorvätern, und für den Menschen des Alten Testaments war es ein bedeutsames Gefühl, wenn er sich sagen konnte: Ich bin eins mit meinen Vorfahren. Das, wozu ich «Ich» sagen kann, ich sehe es eingeschlossen zwischen Geburt und Tod; aber ein Blut rinnt herunter vom Vater Abraham bis zu mir. Das Blut, das in meinen Adern rinnt, ist der Ausdruck meines Ichs, meiner eigenen Individualität, der Blutstrom, der durch die Generation geht, ist der Ausdruck meines Gottes. — Und so fühlte er sich geborgen im großen Ganzen, tauchte gerne hinunter in den Blutstrom, der durch die Generationen rinnt.
Christus sagt: Bevor der Vater Abraham war, war das «Ich-bin», und er sagt: «Ich und der Vater sind eins.» Unser Ich hat in sich Verbindungsfäden hinauf in eine geistige Welt, die jeder in seiner eigenen Individualität finden kann. Das Ich, das auf sich selbst gestellt ist, trotzdem es nicht leugnet den Zusammenhang durch die Blutsbande, nicht verachtet die Blutsbande, das Verständnis hat für das Physische, dieses Ich kam durch das Mysterium von Golgatha dem Menschen zum Verständnis. Deshalb sah man in dem Blute, das aus den Wunden des Erlösers rinnt, den Ausdruck des allgemeinen Menschen-Ichs, und man sagte sich: Wer dieses Blut in sich lebendig macht, der kommt zum echten Hellsehen. - Aber die Welt war noch nicht reif, um aufzunehmen das, was als das eigentliche Geheimnis von Golgatha gegeben ist. Auch in den folgenden Jahrhunderten nach dem Kommen des Christus war die Welt noch nicht reif und sie ist es selbst heute noch nicht. Den lebendigen Christus in der geistigen Welt erblickte Paulus. Wer versteht heute die tiefen Briefe des Paulus, dieses Eingeweihten, und wer charakterisiert richtig den Schüler des Paulus, Dionysios den Areopagiten? Und doch gab es immer ein Mysterien-Christentum.
In den Mysterien, die ich Ihnen jetzt geschildert habe, in Wales und Britannien, wurde gerade die Lehre des Dionysios aufgenommen. So wurden dann die Druiden- und Drottenmysterien durchtränkt und durchsetzt mit dem Christus-Mysterium. Dadurch kam es ihnen zum vollen Bewußtsein, daß das, was man in Hu und Baldur suchte, in Christus gekommen ist. Aber man sagte sich, daß die Menschen im allgemeinen nicht reif sind, das mit Bewußtsein aufzunehmen, was der Christus gebracht hat: das aus den Wunden des Erlösers rinnende Blut, das durch alle rinnt.
Nur in kleinen Kreisen von Eingeweihten war dies lebendig geblieben als das heilige christliche Geheimnis. Wer aber in dieses Geheimnis eingeweiht wurde, erlebte die Überwindung des gewöhnlichen auf die Sinnenwelt gerichteten Ichs. Aber er erlebte es folgendermaßen. Er fragte sich: Wie habe ich bisher gelebt? Wenn ich die Wahrheit wissen wollte, so bin ich zu den Dingen der Außenwelt gegangen. Als mich aber die Eingeweihten des christlichen Mysteriums übernommen haben, verlangten sie von mir, daß ich nicht warte, bis die Außendinge mir sagen, was wahr ist, sondern daß ich in meiner Seele frage nach dem Unsichtbaren, nicht nur durch die Außenwelt angeregt. — Das Fragen der Seele nach dem Höchsten, das sie finden konnte, wurde in den späteren Zeiten draußen in der Welt genannt «Das Geheimnis vom Heiligen Gral». Und die Gralsage, Parzivalsage, ist nichts anderes als ein Ausdruck des Christus-Mysteriums. Der Gral ist jene heilige Schale, in-der der Christus das Abendmahl genommen hat, in der der Josef von Arimathia aufgefangen hat das Blut des Christus, wie es geflossen ist auf Golgatha. Von einer solchen Schale umschlossen ist das Blut des Christus an einen heiligen Ort gebracht worden. Solange die Menschen nicht fragen nach dem Unsichtbaren, geht es ihnen wie Parzival. Erst als er fragt, wird er ein Eingeweihter des Christus-Mysteriums.
So sehen wir, wie Wolfram von Eschenbach in seine Darstellung hineinverwebt die drei Stufen der Menschenseele, die erst ausgeht von der äußeren sinnlichen Wahrnehmung, wo sie, im Materiellen befangen, sich sagen läßt vom materiellen Geist, was wahr ist. Das ist die Seele in ihrer « Tumbheit», wie Wolfram von Eschenbach sich ausdrückt. Dann erkennt die Seele, wie die Außenwelt nur Illusionen gibt. Wenn die Seele merkt, daß in dem, was die Naturwissenschaft zu geben vermag, nicht Antworten zu finden sind, sondern nur Fragen, so verfällt die Seele in das, was Wolfram von Eschenbach nennt den «Zwifel». Dann aber steigt sie auf zur «Saelde», zur Seligkeit, zum Leben in den geistigen Welten. Das sind die drei Stufen der Seele.
Den Mysterien der späteren Zeit, die vom Christus-Impuls durchleuchtet sind, ist allen ein ganz bestimmter Zug eigen. Dadurch steigen sie herauf über alle alten Mysterien. Alle Einweihung beruht ja darauf, daß der Mensch sich erhebt zu einem höheren Anschauen, zu einer höheren Entwickelung der Seele. Bevor er sich so erhebt, hat er drei Fähigkeiten in seiner Seele: Denken, Fühlen und Wollen. Diese drei Seelenkräfte hat er in sich. So, wie er gewöhnlich lebt in der heutigen Welt, sind diese drei Seelenkräfte in einer innigen Verbindung. Mit seinem Ich ist er hineinverwoben in Denken, Fühlen und Wollen, weil der Mensch, bevor er durch die Einweihung aufsteigt, noch nicht vom Ich aus an der Entwickelung der höheren Leiber gearbeitet hat. Zunächst wird das, was im astralischen Leibe ist, das, was der Mensch an Gefühlen und Empfindungen, an Trieben und Begierden hat, geläutert und gereinigt. Dadurch entsteht das Geistselbst oder «Manas». Dann kommt der Mensch zunächst so weit, daß er jeden Gedanken mit einem bestimmten Gefühlston durchsetzt, daß jeder Gedanke kalt oder warm wird, daß er umwandelt seinen Äther- oder Lebensleib. Das ist die Umwandlung des Fühlens, und es entsteht so die «Buddhi». Dann folgt noch die Umwandlung des Wollens bis in den physischen Leib hinein zu «Atma» oder Geistesmensch. So wandelt der Mensch um sein Denken, Fühlen und Wollen und damit seinen Astralleib zu Manas oder Geistselbst, den Ätherleib zu Buddhi oder Lebensgeist, den physischen Leib zu Atma oder Geistesmensch. Diese Umwandlung ist der Ausdruck für das systematische Arbeiten des Eingeweihten an seiner Seele, wodurch er sich hinaufhebt in die geistigen Welten.
Aber es tritt etwas ganz Bestimmtes ein, wenn die Einweihung in vollem Ernst betrieben wird, nicht als Spielerei. Wird die Einweihung mit Würde gepflogen, so ist es, als ob des Menschen Organisation in drei Teile geschieden würde und das Ich als König über diesen drei Teilen thronte, Während gewöhnlich beim Menschen die Sphären von Denken, Fühlen und Wollen nicht deutlich getrennt sind, ist der Mensch, wenn er sich höher entwickelt, immer mehr imstande, Gedanken zu fassen, die nicht gleich zu Gefühlen gebracht werden, sondern die vom Ich in freier Wahl zu Sympathie und Antipathie gebracht werden. Nicht schließt sich das Gefühl gleich unmittelbar an einen Gedanken an, sondern der Mensch spaltet sich in Gefühlsmensch, Gedankenmensch, Willensmensch. Der Mensch fühlt sich als Ich-König, der thront über einer Dreiheit. In drei Menschen zerfällt er. Das tritt ein auf einer bestimmten Stufe der Einweihung. Er fühlt, daß er durch den Astralleib erlebt alle die Gedanken, die sich auf die geistige Welt beziehen. Durch den Ätherleib erlebt er alles das, was als Gefühle die geistige Welt durchzieht, durch den physischen Leib alles, was als Willensimpulse die geistige Welt durchlebt und durchsetzt. Man sagt: Der Mensch fühlt sich selbst als König innerhalb der heiligen Dreizahl. Aber der, der nicht fähig und reif ist, zu ertragen, daß er also gespalten ist, wird nicht die Früchte der Einweihung haben können. Er wird dadurch, daß ihm Leid über Leid entgegentritt, zurückgehalten von dem, wozu er noch nicht reif ist. Wer unwürdig in die Nähe des Heiligen Grals kommt, wird ein Leidender wie Amfortas und kann nur erlöst werden durch den, der die guten Kräfte in seine Nähe bringt. Er wird befreit durch Parzival.
Gehen wir jetzt wieder zurück zu dem, wie sich das Prinzip der Einweihung ausdrückt. Die suchende Seele findet die geistige Welt, den Heiligen Gral, der jetzt das Symbolum, der Ausdruck für die geistige Welt geworden ist. Was da geschildert wird, das haben einzelne Eingeweihte wirklich erlebt. Sie haben den Weg des Parzival zurückgelegt. Aber da waren sie auch wie jene, die als Könige auf die drei Leiber zurückschauten. Die das erlebten, sagten sich: Ich throne über meinem gereinigten Astralleibe, der aber nur gereinigt, geläutert ist dadurch, daß er nachfolgte dem Christus. Nicht durch irgendeinen äußeren Zusammenhang, nicht an irgend etwas, was mit der Außenwelt verbindet, durfte er hängen, sondern er mußte sich in der innersten Seele verbinden mit dem Christus-Prinzip. Alles, was ihn außen an die Sinnenwelt bindet, mußte in den höchsten Augenblicken, den wahrhaft mystischen Augenblicken, fallen.
Der Repräsentant des Eingeweihten ist Lohengrin. Ihn darf man nicht fragen nach Namen und Stand, das heißt nach dem, was ihn mit der Sinnenwelt verbindet. Einen, der nicht Namen und Stand hat, nennt man einen «heimatlosen Menschen». Er ist durchwebt und durchlebt vom Christus-Prinzip. Er blickt auch auf den Äther- oder Lebensleib, der Lebensgeist geworden ist, herunter als auf etwas, was von dem astralischen Leibe getrennt ist, was gesondert ist. Er ist es, der ihn hinaufträgt in die höheren Welten, wo die Raum- und Zeitgesetze nicht gelten. Dieser Ätherleib und seine Organe entsprechen dem Schwan. Er trägt den Lohengrin über das Meer in einem Kahn, im physischen Leibe, über das Materielle. Den physischen Leib empfindet man als den Kahn. Und die auf der Erde befindliche suchende Seele, die durch die Einweihung ein Neues erfährt, ist symbolisiert durch die Elsa von Brabant. So haben wir hier die Gelegenheit, die Sage von Lohengrin, die _ auch noch viele andereBedeutungen hat, zu charakterisieren als einen Ausdruck der Einweihung innerhalb der Mysterien, die um den Heiligen Gral sich gliedern.
So waren im elften bis dreizehnten Jahrhundert diese Geheimnisse, die gelehrt wurden im Anschluß an das Christus-Mysterium, in dem Mysterium vom Heiligen Gral ausgedrückt. Die Ritter des Heiligen Gral waren die späteren Eingeweihten. Ihnen stand gegenüber das exoterische Christentum, während in den Mysterien immer gepflegt wurde das esoterische Christentum, das ein solches Verhältnis zum Christus suchte, so daß durch den äußeren Christus in der Seele geweckt wurde der innere Christus, der symbolisiert wird durch die Taube.
Der ganze Fortgang des europäischen Mysterienwesens wird noch in einer anderen Sagenwelt ausgedrückt. Aber es ist sehr schwierig, hier hineinzuleuchten. Es soll später geschehen. Heute wollen wir nur hineinleuchten, indem wir die Spiegelung aufsuchen in dem, was nach außen hindurchsickerte und erschienen ist in einer merkwürdigen Sagenwelt. Es ist eine verhältnismäßig wenig beachtete Sage, die 1230 von Konrad Fleck in dichterische Form gebracht wurde. Sie gehört zu den Sagen und Mythen der Provence, und schließt sich an an die Einweihung der Gralsritter oder Templeisen. Sie redet von einem alten Paar «Flor und Blancheflor». Das bedeutet ungefähr in heutiger Sprache: die Blume mit roten Blättern oder die Rose, und die Blume mit weißen Blättern oder die Lilie. Früher wurde viel mit dieser Sage verbunden. Nur skizzenhaft zusammengedrängt kann das heute gesagt werden. Man sagte sich: Flor und Blancheflor sind Seelen, in Menschen verleiblicht, die schon einmal gelebt haben. Die Sage bringt sie zusammen mit den Großeltern Karls des Großen. In Karl dem Großen aber sahen die, welche mit den Sagen sich intimer beschäftigten, die Gestalt, die in gewisser Weise in Beziehung gebracht hat das innere esoterische mit dem exoterischen Christentum. Das ist in der Kaiserkrönung ausgedrückt. Geht man zu seinen Großeltern zurück, zu Flor und Blancheflor, so lebten in ihnen Rose und Lilie, die rein bewahren sollten das esoterische Christentum, wie es zurückgeht auf Dionysios den Areopagiten. Nun sah man in der Rose, in Flor oder Flos das Symbolum für die menschliche Seele, die den Persönlichkeits-, den Ich-Impuls in sich aufgenommen hat, die das Geistige aus ihrer Individualität wirken läßt, die bis in das rote Blut hinein den Ich-Impuls gebracht hat. In der Lilie aber sah man das Symbolum der Seele, die nur dadurch geistig bleiben kann, daß das Ich außerhalb ihrer bleibt, nur bis an die Grenze herankommt. So sind Rose und Lilie zwei Gegensätze. Rose hat das Selbstbewußtsein ganz in sich, Lilie ganz außer sich. Aber die Vereinigung der Seele, die innerhalb ist, und der Seele, die außen als Weltengeist die Welt belebt, ist dagewesen. Flor und Blancheflor drückt aus das Finden der Weltenseele, des Welten-Ich durch die Menschenseele, das Menschen-Ich.
Das, was später durch die Sage vom Heiligen Gral geschah, ist auch hier durch diese Sage ausgedrückt. Es ist kein äußerliches Paar. In der Lilie ist ausgedrückt die Seele, die ihre höhere Ichheit findet. In der Vereinigung von Lilienseele und Rosenseele wurde das gesehen, was Verbindung finden kann mit dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Daher sagte man sich: Gegenüber der Strömung europäischer Einweihung, die herbeigeführt wird durch Karl den Großen, und durch die zusammengeschmiedet wird exoterisches und esoterisches Christentum, soll lebendig gehalten, soll rein fortgesetzt werden das rein esoterische Christentum. In den Eingeweihtenkreisen sagte man: Dieselbe Seele, die in Flos oder Flor war und die besungen wird in dem Liede, ist wiederverkörpert erschienen im dreizehnten und vierzehnten Jahrhundert zur Begründung einer neuen Mysterienschule, welche in einer neuen, der Neuzeit entsprechenden Weise das Christus-Geheimnis zu pflegen hat, in dem Begründer des Rosenkreuzertums. Da tritt uns das Geheimnis von der Rose schon in einer verhältnismäßig alten Zeit entgegen. Die Sage wird sogar schon versetzt in die Zeit vor Karl dem Großen. Und so flüchtete sich das esoterische Christentum in das Rosenkreuzertum. Das Rosenkreuzertum hat seit dem dreizehnten und vierzehnten Jahrhundert die Eingeweihten herangebildet, welche die Nachfolger deralten europäischen Mysterien und die Nachfolger der Schule vom Heiligen Gral sind.
Mannigfaltiges ist durchgesickert von den Mysterien der Rosenkreuzer. Was aber da erzählt wird, ist vielfach wieder Karikatur dessen, was wahr ist. Tiefe Leistungen des Geisteslebens führen zurück auf das Rosenkreuzertum, von dem immer geheimnisvolle Fäden in die äußere Kultur hineinführen. So besteht zum Beispiel ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Niederschrift der «Nova Atlantis» von Bacon von Verulam und dem Rosenkreuzertum. Bacon hat damit mehr als eine Utopie hingestellt. Er will da auf höhere Stufen hinweisen, die die dumpfen, hellseherischen Fähigkeiten der alten Atlantis wieder aufleben lassen. Was aber daran geknüpft ist von der äußeren Gesellschaft der Rosenkreuzer, das ist jene Scharlatanerie und jenes Quacksalbertum, das Karikaturhafte, das nicht ausbleiben kann in unserer Zeit, seit dem Erfinden der Buchdruckerkunst.
Seitdem ist es nicht mehr möglich, Geheimnis Geheimnis sein zu lassen wie in alten Zeiten. Es kommt auf Reife oder Unreife an, leicht wird alles verzerrt, entstellt. Das kann in ungeheurer Weise geschehen mit den Lehren der anthroposophischen Bewegung! Wenn sie das wäre, was man von ihr sagt in den Kreisen, die nichts wissen von ihr und doch über sie reden, so würde sie etwas zum Davonlaufen sein! In Wahrheit aber ist sie das Element, das genährt wird, mehr als das je geschehen ist, aus den Quellen, die in den Mysterien liegen. Es ist das, was in der Tat die besten Leistungen aller Zeiten zu ihrem Wirken in der Menschheit gebracht hat. Goethes größte dichterische Taten sind genährt aus den Quellen des Rosenkreuzertums. Goethe hat nicht umsonst in den «Geheimnissen» davon gesprochen, daß ein Mensch hingeführt wird zu einem Haus, das mit einem Rosenkreuz geschmückt ist. «Wer hat dem Kreuze Rosen zugesellt?» Wer waren sie, die Eingeweihten der europäischen Mysterien, die das Geheimnis der Rosen zugesellt haben dem Geheimnis des Kreuzes? Wie Goethe in diese Geheimnisse eingedrungen war, zeigt sich auch in dem, daß um den Versammlungstisch zwölf waren, wie schon in den alten Drottenmysterien. Oh, Goethe wußte alle diese Dinge! Aber die heute Goethe studieren, die gleichen dem Goethe, den sie begreifen können. Goethe durfte das nur in geheimnisvoller Weise ausdrücken; aber heute ist die Zeit, um offen zu sprechen über das, was Gegenstand der Einweihung ist. Daß das so sein darf, dieser Tatsache verdanken diese Vorträge ihr Dasein.
Immer mehr wird durch die Anthroposophie die Erkenntniskommen, daß Geisteswissenschaft nicht weltfremde Schwärmer macht, sondern Menschen, die praktisch und tüchtig sind im Leben. Sie gibt ihnen Hoffnung und Zuversicht. Das Denken wird immer mehr so gestaltet werden, daß man davon sagen könnte, was Faust von Wagner sagt, der das materialistische Denken repräsentiert, daß es «mit gier’ger Hand nach Schätzen gräbt, und froh ist, wenn es Regenwürmer findet!» — Wahrhaftig, froh ist der Materialismus, wenn er Regenwürmer findet und nachweisen kann, daß sie in gewisser Weise notwendig sind zur Reorganisation alles dessen, was auf der Erde lebt und webt. Was aber als Geist aus den Mysterien fließt, das macht das menschliche Denken geschmeidig, um sich in alle möglichen Lebenslagen hineinzufinden. Und wie könnte es anders sein, da doch der Sinn der Weltenentwickelung selber in den Geheimnissen der Geisteswissenschaft wiedergegeben wird!
Das war es, was Ihnen in diesen Vorträgen vor die Seele geführt werden sollte: daß der Sinn, der in der Welt selber waltet, wiederkehrt in der Geisteswissenschaft. Wenn das einigermaßen gelungen ist, dann ist das bescheidene Ziel, das ich mir gestellt habe, erreicht.
Es ist hervorgetreten, daß die Welt mit allem, was in ihr lebt, aus dem Geiste heraus geboren ist, und daß der Mensch geboren und berufen ist, zum Geiste sich zu erheben. Geisteswissenschaft zeigt uns immer mehr und mehr, daß im Materiellen der Geist verzaubert ist, daß das Sinnlich-Materielle das Zauberkleid des Geistigen ist. Der Mensch ist dazu berufen, innerhalb des Stofflichen aus diesem Zauberkleid heraus den Geist zu entzaubern. Das Geistige findet seine Auferstehung in dem Menschen, in der über sich selbst sich erhebenden Menschenseele. Aber die Seele den Weg über sich hinaus finden zu lassen, ist Aufgabe der Geisteswissenschaft. So findet Geist den Geist. Der Mensch wird immer mehr den Geist begreifen, indem er sich ihm mehr und mehr ähnlich macht.
The European Mysteries and Their Initiates
In the last lecture, it was pointed out that in the early days of European development, the various peoples possessed a kind of ancient, primitive clairvoyance, and that the present consciousness developed out of this earlier state of consciousness, out of an ancient clairvoyant faculty. It has been pointed out how what the ancient clairvoyant was able to perceive in certain circumstances of his life found expression in the legends and myths dealing with alpine beings, elves, dwarves, and lurens. These legends and myths are extremely diverse, and if we could look around at what has been preserved in Europe of such myths and legends originating from ancient clairvoyant observations, we would find certain similarities, certain parallels in all these traditions, but also great differences, because the clairvoyant abilities of individual people varied greatly.
There is much greater agreement in the great mythological structures, in the great structures of the legends of gods and heroes. These myths of gods and heroes also lead back to clairvoyant abilities, but of a different kind. They do not lead back to experiences that could be had by humans through natural clairvoyant gifts, but rather the great unified mythological structures that we summarize as mythology lead back to those experiences that the initiates had in the mysteries. Today, there are few prerequisites in our educational consciousness for forming a concept of what are called mysteries and initiates. For what constitutes our external education, our external knowledge, is far removed from the essence of initiation. If one wanted to characterize these two concepts in terms that are common in our time, one would have to say: The mysteries are schools in which abilities are cultivated in the human soul through which the soul is led to its own observation in the spiritual worlds. In particular, mysteries are schools that, in a very methodical, systematic way, give guidance to those who are ready for it, so that the soul becomes capable of perceiving the higher worlds with spiritual eyes and ears. Although today's education knows little about the mysteries that still exist today, they are nevertheless present and lead up into the spiritual worlds. And all the content of spiritual science, everything that is communicated in spiritual science, is essentially the content of mystery wisdom. Anyone who trains their soul in the appropriate way to make observations in higher worlds is an initiate. Such places, where one acquires the ability of fully conscious clairvoyance, have always existed.
Today we will give a brief overview of the European mysteries. To do this, we must go back to ancient times before Christianity and try to form a picture of what went on in the initiation or secret schools and how this was communicated to the general culture. It has often been pointed out how people today can embark on the path of the initiate, how thinking, feeling, and willing are trained in order to be able to embark on the “journey to the mothers.” The disciples of all mysteries had to embark on this journey to the mothers.
We have had European mysteries of great significance and profound influence on ancient European culture in various regions of France, Germany, and Britain. In all these regions, they were of a very specific nature. The starting point everywhere was a realization that we were able to hint at in the lecture on Isis and Madonna. It was pointed out there that human beings have a spiritual origin, that they used to dwell in spiritual worlds, that the human spirit and soul were born out of the spiritual primordial worlds. It was pointed out that human beings still feel, when they look deeply into their souls, that when they rise above physical observation, they have something that is a last remnant of their former being in the spiritual world. Today, this last remnant, the human soul, is enclosed in the physical body, which is a condensation of the original spiritual being. What human beings know to be enclosed within them as their soul spirit, they say to themselves: this shows me how I once was in my entirety, shows how I was born out of the womb of the world, out of the whole universe. Today, the universe reveals itself to the outer mind in all that spreads out before the senses; but behind all that the senses see, all that the mind can comprehend, is the spiritual universe. This is the primal father, the primal mother, from whom the soul was born, which still retains the forms that the body also had at that time.
Basically, the body was also born out of the spiritual universe; it too once had a spiritual form. What shows man in his true form is hidden today. In these ancient European mysteries, the human being was also seen in its true form as a hidden part of the visible human being. And in it, one saw an Isis searching for that from which she arose. Initiation was the experience of the whole of those procedures through which the human soul could once again see that from which it was born, the development of the soul's ability to reunite with the spiritual source. Whether in the depths of the sacred grove or in specially prepared mystery sites is irrelevant; everywhere the candidate was placed in situations through which he could find connection with the spiritual origins of the human being.
That which is hidden behind the sensory world, like the sun behind the veils of clouds, the hidden spiritual beings were called “Hu” here; “Ceridwen,” however, was the seeking soul. And all the processes of initiation were such that the student was shown: Death is a process in life like any other. It changes nothing in the inner core of human life. Where the Druid mysteries have been preserved in name — Druid means initiate of the third degree — the initiate was brought into a death-like state so that he perceived nothing with his senses. His mind was silent. Those who live only in their bodies and can only perceive with their physical minds, whose tool is the brain, have no consciousness at all in such a state, where the senses are silent. This is precisely what initiation is: that the senses, feeling, hearing, and so on are silent, and yet, even when the brain is silent, the student has experiences and makes observations. What makes observations within us was called the soul, Ceridwen. And what came to meet her, like light and sound to the outer eye and ear, the world of spiritual facts, was called Hu. The initiates experienced the marriage between Ceridwen and Hu.
Such experiences are described in the myths. When we are told today that the ancients worshipped a god Hu and a goddess Ceridwen, this is only a paraphrase of the initiation. That is the reason for the real myth. It is only empty talk to say that such myths have astronomical significance, that Ceridwen is the moon and Hu the sun. Such myths could only have arisen because people were aware of an inner connection between the soul that rises and the spirit of the sun, not the physical sun. The mysteries of Hu and Ceridwen were those into which people in these regions were initiated.
Further north, in Scandinavia and northern Russia, we find the Drotten mysteries, founded by the original initiate Sieg, Siegfried, or Sigge. All legends about Siegfried can be traced back to him. It is precisely in these mysteries that we see something that is fundamentally underlying all mysteries, but which is particularly evident here. Let us start from a comparison with the actual facts. To make it clear, let us start with the human being as he appears to us in life, with his head, hands, feet, and so on. If we remove one of these limbs, the human being can no longer be a complete, whole human being. Let us take the most important limbs: the heart and the stomach, each of which contributes a certain part to human life and must perform its function. Only through the cooperation of these limbs is it possible for a soul to live and develop in the human body. The soul lives in a physical body, which is a collection of many limbs. From this we gain the insight that wherever the human soul or a higher being is to live, individual members must work together, each of which must perform its service. Thus, we already find in the Nordic mysteries the insight that this can be expressed within the human world, that a gathering of people can be formed so that each individual takes on a certain task. Let us say, for example, that one person takes on the task of developing the ability to think, another the power of feeling, and a third the power of will. Here, too, subdivisions are possible.
Now, it was assumed that when a circle of people is brought together in which each person takes on a special task, yet they all work together as a whole, then something invisible works within them, like the soul in human beings. When people gather in this way and each does their part, they form something like a higher organism, a higher body, and in this way they make it possible for a higher spiritual being to dwell among them. Sieg formed such a circle of twelve people, each of whom developed their soul in a very special way. When they all worked together, when everything flowed together in their sacred gatherings, they were aware that a higher spiritual being dwelled among them, like the soul in the human body, that their souls were the limbs of a higher body. The thirteenth thus dwelt among the twelve. They knew: We are twelve, and among us dwells the thirteenth. Or they took a thirteenth, who then formed the bond of attraction in the circle of the twelve for that which was to descend. Thus, this thirteenth was one whom they called a representative of the deity in the places of initiation. And because everything was brought together with the sacred number three, the one who united within himself the essence related to the number three was called the representative of the sacred number three, and around him were the twelve, who had very specific functions, like the members of an organism.
So it was clear: when twelve people were united who developed within themselves the power to have a higher being among them, then they rose from the physical world to the spiritual world; they rose to their god. They regarded themselves as the twelve attributes, the twelve qualities of God. All this was reflected in the twelve Germanic gods in the Norse myths. Anyone who wanted to be a member of this illustrious circle had the task of seeking out Baldur. That was the initiation. Who was Baldur in reality? Baldur is that part of the human being which is his spiritual part, what the soul seeks, what it finds in initiation, what it encounters there. Who killed Baldur? Those who killed Baldur were those who killed the clairvoyant in human beings, who brought the physical together, who gave human beings sensual vision, who were able to abuse the physical too quickly: Loki, the fire power, and its expression Hödur, the blind man, who represents human sensuality, which is incapable of seeing into the higher, spiritual world. This is the expression of the initiation procedures that were undergone. Sensuality has blinded man, but through initiation he regains access to the higher worlds. Thus we have, as it were, rising above general clairvoyance, the trained clairvoyance of the initiates in the old corresponding form. Druid and Drotten mysteries were what gave rise to European culture in the pre-Christian era.
Of course, what is of great significance here and what is developing here, namely personality consciousness, also poses a danger. The danger is much greater here than in other areas. Personality consciousness forms the basis of all culture in Europe. More than in the East, where people gladly devoted themselves to Brahman, personality consciousness was present in Germanic lands. This meant that there was an obvious danger that those who were initiated could very quickly misunderstand or misuse what was offered to them in the initiation, that they could represent it in distorted images and caricatures. Initiation also leads to the use of spiritual powers. Those who learn to use them easily learn to abuse them. This is why the mysteries of ancient Europe easily fell into decay, why the initiates proved themselves immature and became the cause of many atrocities, why they became the object of the people's abhorrence in many regions. Much of what is told today about the mysteries refers to their decline, though not all of it. The fact that the mysteries can be misunderstood in many ways should not surprise people today. For if someone cannot learn through spiritual science what was done in the mysteries, but can only grasp what was later written down, the world-historical gossip and rumor, then he may arrive at the most barren views of the mysteries in the course of time. Just think what someone today would be like if they wanted to learn about anthroposophy and the anthroposophical movement from what is communicated outside: they would get a wonderful picture! And if what is said about it today were to be preserved, something much worse than what is known about the mysteries could come out of it.
It would be a wonderful task to trace various elements of European mythology back to what took place in the mysteries. We would come to the Nibelungen and Siegfried legends and find much that can be traced back to the ancient mysteries. But one must not combine things. The only thing that can determine whether a feature is imagined or goes back to the mysteries can only be knowledge of the mysteries and the ability to trace these things back to the mysteries.
In all these mysteries, wherever we examine them, there is a trait that could be described as tragic. It could be expressed something like this: the initiate of the ancient Druid or Drotten mysteries could indeed achieve union with Hu or Baldur, but this spiritual world did not appear to him as something supreme. There had to be something else above it. Or to put it in popular terms: our gods, to whom we ascend, are mortal, doomed to destruction. Hence the myth of the twilight of the gods, the tragic prophecy of the downfall of the gods.
This was where the powerful Christ impulse came in, which could have a stronger effect here than anywhere else, the news that a supreme spiritual being, the Christ principle, had lived in an earthly body, had been present among human beings, that everything that can be experienced in the mysteries is historical fact in the Christ event. In the ancient mysteries, the initiate did not completely overcome death. But now the great mystery of Golgotha confronted him. It was precisely within the European mysteries that this historical mystery was received with the deepest understanding, unlike anywhere else. There was a mood that can be expressed something like this. People said to themselves: When we were initiated, it was an ascent into a divine-spiritual world, but one that was permeated by the breath of mortality. — But those who live into what can be experienced in the Christ figure, this greatest impulse, those who find a relationship to Christ, can come to such an understanding that they can know: Just as the sun shines through the plant and thereby awakens life in it, so the Christ impulse can flow into the human soul. Through this, it takes on strength that gives the soul knowledge of its eternity and immortality, knowledge of victory over death. Through gaining a true understanding of Christ, the soul is enlivened. It was said: In addition to what can be taught about Christ externally, there is also an inner knowledge, the search of the soul, of Ceridwen for a Hu or Baldur, but for a different Baldur, who accomplished the mystery of Golgotha. When the soul experiences this, it attains a higher clairvoyance than through the ancient mysteries. And here in Europe, people immediately understood deeply what this meant.
I have often described to you the leap that human development has made through the Christ impulse. To understand this, let us return once more to the ancient Hebrew consciousness. There we still have a sense of security for the ego when people feel at one with their fathers and forefathers, and for the people of the Old Testament it was a significant feeling when they could say to themselves: I am one with my ancestors. What I can call “I” I see enclosed between birth and death; but a bloodline runs down from Father Abraham to me. The blood that flows in my veins is the expression of my self, my own individuality; the bloodstream that runs through the generations is the expression of my God. — And so he felt secure in the great whole, gladly diving down into the bloodstream that flows through the generations.
Christ says: Before the father Abraham was, there was the “I am,” and he says: “I and the Father are one.” Our self has within it connecting threads up into a spiritual world that everyone can find in their own individuality. The self that is dependent on itself, yet does not deny the connection through blood ties, does not despise blood ties, has understanding for the physical, this self came to human understanding through the mystery of Golgotha. That is why the blood flowing from the wounds of the Savior was seen as the expression of the universal human self, and people said to themselves: Whoever makes this blood alive within themselves will attain true clairvoyance. But the world was not yet ready to accept what is given as the true mystery of Golgotha. Even in the centuries following the coming of Christ, the world was not yet ready, and it is still not ready today. Paul saw the living Christ in the spiritual world. Who today understands the profound letters of Paul, this initiate, and who correctly characterizes Paul's disciple, Dionysius the Areopagite? And yet there has always been a mystery Christianity.In the mysteries I have now described to you, in Wales and Britain, the teachings of Dionysius were taken up. Thus the Druid and Drotten mysteries became imbued and permeated with the Christ mystery. Through this, they came to the full realization that what was sought in Hu and Baldur had come in Christ. But it was said that people in general were not ready to consciously accept what Christ had brought: the blood flowing from the wounds of the Savior, flowing through everyone.
Only in small circles of initiates had this remained alive as the sacred Christian mystery. But those who were initiated into this mystery experienced the overcoming of the ordinary ego directed toward the sensory world. But they experienced it in the following way. They asked themselves: How have I lived until now? If I wanted to know the truth, I turned to the things of the outer world. But when the initiates of the Christian mystery took me in, they demanded that I not wait until the outer things told me what was true, but that I ask in my soul for the invisible, not only inspired by the outer world. The soul's search for the highest it could find was later called “The Mystery of the Holy Grail” in the outside world. And the Grail legend, the Parzival legend, is nothing other than an expression of the Christ mystery. The Grail is the holy cup in which Christ took the Last Supper, in which Joseph of Arimathea caught the blood of Christ as it flowed on Golgotha. Enclosed in such a cup, the blood of Christ was brought to a holy place. As long as people do not ask about the invisible, they are like Parzival. Only when he asks does he become an initiate of the Christ mystery.
Thus we see how Wolfram von Eschenbach weaves into his narrative the three stages of the human soul, which first proceeds from external sensory perception, where, caught up in the material world, it allows itself to be told by the material spirit what is true. This is the soul in its “stupidity,” as Wolfram von Eschenbach puts it. Then the soul recognizes that the outside world offers only illusions. When the soul realizes that what natural science has to offer provides no answers, only questions, the soul falls into what Wolfram von Eschenbach calls “doubt.” But then it rises to “Saelde,” to bliss, to life in the spiritual worlds. These are the three stages of the soul.
The mysteries of later times, which are illuminated by the Christ impulse, all have a very specific characteristic. This raises them above all the ancient mysteries. All initiation is based on the human being rising to a higher level of perception, to a higher development of the soul. Before rising in this way, the human being has three faculties in their soul: thinking, feeling, and willing. These three soul forces are within him. In the way he usually lives in today's world, these three soul forces are intimately connected. He is interwoven with his ego in thinking, feeling, and willing, because before he ascends through initiation, he has not yet worked on the development of the higher bodies from the ego. First, what is in the astral body, what the human being has in terms of feelings and sensations, drives and desires, is purified and cleansed. This gives rise to the spirit self or “manas.” Then the human being first reaches the point where he imbues every thought with a certain emotional tone, so that every thought becomes cold or warm, transforming his etheric or life body. This is the transformation of feeling, and thus “Buddhi” arises. Then follows the transformation of the will into the physical body to become “Atma” or spirit man. In this way, the human being transforms his thinking, feeling, and willing, and thus his astral body into Manas or spirit self, his etheric body into Buddhi or life spirit, and his physical body into Atma or spirit man. This transformation is the expression of the initiate's systematic work on his soul, through which he lifts himself up into the spiritual worlds.
But something very specific happens when initiation is pursued in all seriousness, not as a game. If initiation is practiced with dignity, it is as if the human being's organization were divided into three parts, with the I enthroned as king over these three parts. While in humans the spheres of thinking, feeling, and willing are not usually clearly separated, as humans develop higher, they become increasingly able to form thoughts that are not immediately translated into feelings, but are freely chosen by the ego to be translated into sympathy or antipathy. Feeling does not immediately follow a thought, but the human being divides into a feeling person, a thinking person, and a willing person. The human being feels like an ego-king enthroned over a trinity. They are divided into three people. This occurs at a certain stage of initiation. They feel that through the astral body they experience all the thoughts that relate to the spiritual world. Through the etheric body they experience everything that pervades the spiritual world as feelings, and through the physical body everything that lives through and permeates the spiritual world as impulses of will. It is said that the human being feels himself to be king within the holy trinity. But those who are not capable and mature enough to bear this division will not be able to reap the fruits of initiation. They will be held back by suffering upon suffering, by that for which they are not yet mature. Those who come unworthily into the presence of the Holy Grail will suffer like Amfortas and can only be redeemed by those who bring the good forces into their presence. They will be freed by Parzival.
Let us now return to how the principle of initiation is expressed. The seeking soul finds the spiritual world, the Holy Grail, which has now become the symbol, the expression of the spiritual world. What is described there has been truly experienced by individual initiates. They have traveled the path of Parzival. But there they were also like those who, as kings, looked back on the three bodies. Those who experienced this said to themselves: I am enthroned above my purified astral body, which is purified and refined only because it followed Christ. It was not allowed to cling to any external connection, to anything that connects it to the outside world, but had to connect with the Christ principle in the innermost soul. Everything that bound him externally to the sensory world had to fall away in the highest moments, the truly mystical moments.
The representative of the initiate is Lohengrin. One must not ask him his name and status, that is, what connects him to the sensory world. Someone who has no name and no status is called a “homeless person.” He is interwoven with and lived through by the Christ principle. He also looks down on the etheric or life body, which has become the life spirit, as something that is separate from the astral body, something that is distinct. It is this body that carries him up into the higher worlds, where the laws of space and time do not apply. This etheric body and its organs correspond to the swan. It carries Lohengrin across the sea in a boat, in the physical body, across the material world. The physical body is perceived as the boat. And the seeking soul on earth, which experiences something new through initiation, is symbolized by Elsa of Brabant. So here we have the opportunity to characterize the legend of Lohengrin, which also has many other meanings, as an expression of initiation within the mysteries surrounding the Holy Grail.
Thus, in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, these mysteries, which were taught in connection with the Christ mystery, were expressed in the mystery of the Holy Grail. The Knights of the Holy Grail were the later initiates. They were opposed by exoteric Christianity, while esoteric Christianity was always cultivated in the mysteries, seeking such a relationship with Christ that the outer Christ awakened the inner Christ in the soul, symbolized by the dove.
The entire progression of European mystery religion is expressed in another world of legends. But it is very difficult to shed light on this here. That will be done later. Today we will only shed light on it by seeking the reflection in what seeped outwards and appeared in a strange world of legends. It is a relatively little-known legend, which was put into poetic form by Konrad Fleck in 1230. It belongs to the legends and myths of Provence and is connected with the initiation of the Knights of the Grail or Templars. It tells of an old couple, “Flor and Blancheflor.” In today's language, this roughly means: the flower with red petals or the rose, and the flower with white petals or the lily. In the past, much was associated with this legend. Today, only a sketchy summary can be given. It was said that Flor and Blancheflor are souls, embodied in humans, who have lived before. The legend brings them together with the grandparents of Charlemagne. But those who were more intimately involved with the legends saw in Charlemagne the figure who, in a certain way, brought together inner esoteric Christianity with exoteric Christianity. This is expressed in the imperial coronation. If we go back to his grandparents, Flor and Blancheflor, they embodied the rose and the lily, which were supposed to preserve pure esoteric Christianity, as it goes back to Dionysius the Areopagite. Now, the rose, Flor or Flos, was seen as the symbol of the human soul, which has taken in the personality, the ego impulse, which allows the spiritual to work from its individuality, which has brought the ego impulse into the red blood. In the lily, however, people saw the symbol of the soul, which can only remain spiritual if the ego remains outside it, only approaching it to the limit. Thus, the rose and the lily are two opposites. The rose has self-awareness entirely within itself, the lily entirely outside itself. But the union of the soul that is within and the soul that animates the world as the world spirit outside has existed. Flor and Blancheflor express the finding of the world soul, the world ego, through the human soul, the human ego.
What later happened through the legend of the Holy Grail is also expressed here through this legend. It is not an external couple. The lily expresses the soul that finds its higher self. In the union of the lily soul and the rose soul, what can be connected with the mystery of Golgotha was seen. Therefore, it was said: In contrast to the current of European initiation brought about by Charlemagne, which forges together exoteric and esoteric Christianity, purely esoteric Christianity should be kept alive and continued in its pure form. In the circles of the initiated, it was said: The same soul that was in Flos or Flor and is sung about in the song reappeared in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries to found a new mystery school, which was to cultivate the Christ mystery in a new way appropriate to modern times, in the founder of Rosicrucianism. Thus, the mystery of the rose confronts us in relatively ancient times. The legend is even set in the time before Charlemagne. And so esoteric Christianity took refuge in Rosicrucianism. Since the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Rosicrucianism has trained initiates who are the successors of the ancient European mysteries and the successors of the School of the Holy Grail.
Much has leaked out about the mysteries of the Rosicrucians. But what is told is often a caricature of what is true. Profound achievements in spiritual life can be traced back to Rosicrucianism, from which mysterious threads always lead into external culture. For example, there is a connection between the writing of “Nova Atlantis” by Bacon of Verulam and Rosicrucianism. Bacon has presented more than a utopia. He wanted to point to higher levels that would revive the dull, clairvoyant abilities of ancient Atlantis. But what is associated with the external society of the Rosicrucians is the charlatanism and quackery, the caricature that has been inevitable in our time since the invention of printing.
Since then, it has no longer been possible to keep secrets secret as in ancient times. It depends on maturity or immaturity; everything is easily distorted and disfigured. This can happen in a tremendous way with the teachings of the anthroposophical movement! If it were what is said about it in circles that know nothing about it and yet talk about it, it would be something to run away from! In truth, however, it is the element that is nourished, more than ever before, from the sources that lie in the mysteries. It is what has in fact brought about the greatest achievements of all time in its work among humanity. Goethe's greatest poetic deeds are nourished from the sources of Rosicrucianism. It was not for nothing that Goethe spoke in “The Secrets” of a person being led to a house decorated with a rose cross. “Who has added roses to the cross?” Who were they, the initiates of the European mysteries, who added the mystery of the roses to the mystery of the cross? How Goethe penetrated these mysteries is also shown by the fact that there were twelve around the assembly table, as in the ancient Drotten mysteries. Oh, Goethe knew all these things! But those who study Goethe today resemble the Goethe they can understand. Goethe was only allowed to express this in a mysterious way; but today is the time to speak openly about what is the subject of initiation. These lectures owe their existence to the fact that this is allowed to be so.
Anthroposophy is increasingly bringing about the realization that spiritual science does not produce unworldly dreamers, but people who are practical and capable in life. It gives them hope and confidence. Thinking will increasingly be shaped in such a way that one could say of it what Faust says of Wagner, who represents materialistic thinking, that it “digs greedily for treasures and is happy when it finds earthworms!” — Truly, materialism is happy when it finds earthworms and can prove that they are in a certain way necessary for the reorganization of everything that lives and breathes on earth. But what flows as spirit from the mysteries makes human thinking flexible, enabling it to find its way into all possible situations in life. And how could it be otherwise, since the meaning of world evolution itself is reflected in the mysteries of spiritual science!
That was what these lectures were intended to bring to your soul: that the meaning that reigns in the world itself is reflected in spiritual science. If that has been achieved to some extent, then the modest goal I set myself has been reached.
It has become apparent that the world, with everything that lives in it, is born out of the spirit, and that human beings are born and called upon to rise to the spirit. Spiritual science shows us more and more that the spirit is enchanted in the material world, that the sensory-material is the magical garment of the spiritual. Human beings are called to disenchant the spirit from this enchanted garment within the material world. The spiritual finds its resurrection in human beings, in the human soul that rises above itself. But it is the task of spiritual science to enable the soul to find the way beyond itself. Thus spirit finds spirit. Human beings will understand the spirit more and more by becoming more and more like it.