Turning Points Spiritual History
GA 60
16 February 1911, Berlin
II. Hermes and the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt
It is of great importance to Spiritual Science to follow the gradual development of man’s spirit, from epoch to epoch, as it slowly evolves, and pressing ever upward, emerges from the dark shadows of the past. Hence it is that the study of ancient Egyptian culture and spiritual life is of especial moment. This is found to be particularly the case when we endeavour to picture and live in the atmosphere and conditions associated with the latter.
The echoes which reach us from the dim grey vistas of by-gone times seem as full of mystery as is the countenance of the Sphinx itself, which stands so grimly forth as a monument to ancient Egyptian civilization. This mystery becomes intensified as modern external scientific research finds that it is constrained to delve ever deeper and deeper into the remote past, in order to throw light upon later Egyptian culture; regarding which most important documents are extant. Such investigations have found traces of certain things, clearly related to the active cultural life of Egypt, which date back to a period at least 7,000 years before the beginning of the Christian era. Here, then, is one reason why this particular civilization is of such paramount interest, but there is another, namely, present-day man, although living in times of broader and more general enlightenment has nevertheless a feeling, whether acceptable or not, that this ancient culture is in some singular and mysterious manner, connected with his very aims and ideals.
It is indeed significant that a man of such outstanding intellect as Kepler, should, at the very dawn of modern scientific development, have been moved to express the feelings which came over him, while engaged in astronomical research, in words somewhat as follows:—‘During my attempt to discover the manner of the passing of the planets around the sun, I have sought to peer into the deep secrets of the cosmos; the while it has oft-times seemed as if my fancy had led me into the mysterious sanctuaries of the old Egyptians—to touch their most holy vessels, and draw them forth that I might bestow them upon a new world. At such moments the thought has come to me, that only in the future will the true purport and intent of my message be disclosed.’
Here we find one of the greatest scientists of modern times overcome by a sense of such close relation to the ancient Egyptian culture, that he could find no better way of expressing the fundamental concepts underlying his work, than by representing them as a regeneration, naturally differing as to word and form, of the occult doctrines taught to the disciples and followers in the by-gone Egyptian Sanctuaries. It is therefore a matter of the greatest interest to us that we should realize the actual sentiments of these olden Egyptian peoples, in regard to the whole meaning and nature of their civilization.
There is an ancient legend that has been handed down through Greek tradition which is most suggestive, not only of what the Egyptians themselves felt regarding their culture, but also the way in which their civilization was looked upon by the ancients as a whole. We are told that an Egyptian sage once said to Solon:—‘You Greeks are still children, you have never grown up, and all your knowledge has been acquired through your own human observation and senses; you have neither traditions nor doctrines grey with age.’ We first learn what is implied by the expression, ‘doctrines grey with age‘, when the methods of Spiritual Science are employed in an endeavour to throw light upon the nature and significance of Egyptian thought and feeling. But, as has been before stated, when we approach this matter we must bear in mind that during successive periods of man’s development he gradually acquired different forms of consciousness, and that that order of conscious apprehension which is ours to-day, with its scientific method of thought, and through which we realize the outer world in virtue of our senses working in conjunction with reason and intellect, did not always exist. Deep down, underlying all human cognition, there is what we term ‘Evolution’, and evolution affects not only the outer world of form, but also the disposition of man’s soul. It follows, that we can only really understand the events which took place at the ancient centres of culture, when we accept that knowledge which Spiritual Science can alone obtain, from the sources of information at its disposal. We thus learn that in olden times instead of our present intellectual consciousness, there existed a clairvoyant state that differed from our customary normal conscious condition, of which we are cognizant from the moment we awake until we again fall asleep. On the other hand, the ancient clairvoyant state cannot be likened to the insensibility produced by slumber. Hence, the primeval consciousness of prehistoric man should be regarded as an intermediate condition now only faintly apparent, and retained, as one might say, atavistically in the form of an attenuated heritage in the picture world of our dreams.
Now, dreams are for the most part chaotic in character, and therefore meaningless in their relation to ordinary life. But the old clairvoyant consciousness, which also found expression in imagery although often of a somewhat subdued and visionary nature, was nevertheless a truly clairvoyant gift, and its symbolical manifestations had reference, not to our physical world, but to that realm which lies beyond all material things, in other words—the world of spirit. We can say that in reality all clairvoyant consciousness, including the dream-state of primitive man, as well as that acquired to-day through those methods to which we have previously referred, finds expression pictorially and not in concepts and ideas, as is the case with externalized physical consciousness. It is for the possessor of such faculty to interpret the symbols presented in terms of those spiritual realities, which underlie all physical perceptual phenomena.
We have reached a point where we can look back on the evolution of the ancient races, and of a surety say:—Those wondrous visions of by-gone times of which tradition tells us, were not born of childish fantasy and false conception of the works of Nature (this, as I have pointed out, is the wide-spread opinion in the materialistic circles of to-day), but were in truth veritable pictures of the Spirit-World, flashed before the souls of men in that now long distant past.
He who seriously studies the old mythologies and legends, not from the point of view of modern materialistic thought, but with an understanding of the creation and spiritual activities of mankind, will find in these strange stories a certain coherence which harmonizes wonderfully with those cosmic principles that dominate all physical, chemical and biological laws; while there rings throughout the ancient mythological and religious systems a tone of spiritual reality, from which they acquire a true significance.
We must clearly realize that the peoples of the various nations, each according to disposition, temperament and racial or folk-character, formed different conceptions of that vision world in which they conceived higher powers to be actively operating behind the accustomed forces of Nature. Further, that during the gradual course of evolution, mankind passed through many transitionary stages between that of the consciousness of the ancients, and our present-day objective conscious state. As time went on, the power necessary to the old clairvoyance dimmed and the visions faded; one might say—the doors leading to the higher realms were slowly closed, so that the pictures manifested to those whose souls could still peer into the Spirit-World, held ever less and less of spiritual force, until towards the end, only the lowest stages of supersensible activity could be apprehended. Finally, this primeval clairvoyant power died out, in so far as humanity in general was concerned, and man’s vision became limited to that which is of the material world, and to the apprehension of physical concepts and things; from that time on, the study of the interrelation of these factors led, step by step, to the birth of modern science. Thus it came about, that when the old clairvoyant state was past, our present intellectual consciousness gradually developed in diverse ways among the different nations.
The mission of the Egyptian peoples was of a very special nature. All that we know regarding ancient times, even that knowledge attained through modern Egyptian research, if rightly understood, tends but to verify the statements of Spiritual Science regarding the allotted task and true purpose of the Egyptian race. It was ordained that these olden peoples should still be imbued with a sufficiency of that primal power which would enable them to look back into the misty past; when their leaders in virtue of outstanding individualities and highly developed clairvoyant faculties, could gaze far into the mysteries of the Spirit-World. [Spiritual Science asserts that it was in accordance with ‘The Great Eternal Plan‘ that the Egyptians should gain wisdom and understanding from this source, to be a guide and a benefit in the development of mankind.] And we have learnt that it was to this end that this great nation was still permitted to retain a certain measure of that fast-fading clairvoyant power so closely associated with a specific disposition of soul. Although these qualities were, at that time, weak and ever waning in intensity, nevertheless they continued active until a comparatively late period in Egyptian history.
We can therefore make this statement:—The Egyptians, down to less than 1000 years before the Christian era, had actual experience of a mode of vision differing from that with which we are familiar in every-day life, when we merely open our eyes and make use of our intellect; and they knew that through this gift man was enabled to behold the spiritual realms. The later Egyptians, however, were unable to penetrate beyond the nethermost regions as portrayed in their pictorial visions, but they had power to recall those by-gone times in the Golden Age of Egyptian culture, when their priesthood could gaze both far and deeply into the world of spirit.
All knowledge obtained through visions was most carefully guarded and secretly preserved for thousands of years with the greatest piety, thankfulness and religious feeling, especially by the older Egyptians. At a later period, those among the people who still retained somewhat of clairvoyant power, expressed themselves after this fashion:—‘We can yet discern a lower spiritual realm—we know therefore that it is possible for mankind to look upon a Spirit-World; to question this truth would be as sensible as to doubt that we can really see external objects with our eyes.’ Although these later Egyptians were only able to apprehend weak echoes, as it were, of the inferior spiritual levels, nevertheless they felt and divined that in olden times man could indeed penetrate far into the mystic depths of that realm which lies beyond all physical sense perceptions. There is a doctrine grey with age, still preserved in wonderful inscriptions in Temples and upon columns. (It was this doctrine to which the sage referred when he spoke to Solon.) These inscriptions tell us of the broad deep penetration of clairvoyant power in the remote past.
That being to whom the Egyptians attributed all the profundity of their primordial clairvoyant enlightenment they called THE GREAT WISE ONE—THE OLD HERMES. When, at a later period, some other outstanding leader came to revive the ancient wisdom, he also called himself Hermes, according to an old custom prevalent among exalted Egyptian sages, and because his followers believed that in him the primeval wisdom of the old Hermes lived once again. They named the first Hermes,—‘Hermes Trismegistos‘—the Thrice-Great Hermes; but as a matter of fact it was only the Greeks who used the name of Hermes, for among the Egyptians he was known as ‘Thoth‘. In order to understand this being, it is necessary to realize what the Egyptians, under the influence of traditions concerning Thoth, regarded as true and characteristic cosmic mystics.
Such Egyptian beliefs as have come to us, one might say from outside sources, seem very strange indeed. Various Gods, of whom the most important are Osiris and Isis, are represented as not wholly human; oft-times having a human body and an animal head, or again formed of the most varied combinations of manlike and animal shapes. Remarkable religious legends have come down to us regarding this world of the Gods.
Again, the veneration and worship of cats and other animals by this ancient race was most singular, and went to such lengths that certain animals were considered as holy, and held in the greatest reverence, and in them the Egyptians saw something akin to higher beings. It has been said that this veneration for animals was such that when a cat, for instance, which had lived for a long time in one house, died, there was much weeping and lamentation. If an Egyptian observed a dead animal lying by the wayside, he did not dare to go near it, for fear that someone might accuse him of having slain it, in which case he would be liable to severe punishment. Even during the time that Egypt was actually under Roman rule, so it has been said, any Roman who killed a cat went in danger of his life, because such an act produced an uproar among the Egyptians. This veneration of animals appears to us as a most enigmatic part of Egyptian thought and feeling. Again, how extraordinary do the Pyramids, with their quadrilateral bases and triangular sides, seem to modern man; and how mysterious are the sphinxes and all that modern research drags forth from the depths of this ancient civilization and brings to the surface, to add to our knowledge an ever-increasing clarity. The question now arises:—What place did all these strange ideas occupy in the image world of the souls of those olden peoples? What had they to say regarding those things which the Thrice-Great Hermes had taught them, and how did they come by these curious concepts?
We must henceforth accustom ourselves to seek in all legends a deeper meaning, especially in those which are the more important. It is to be assumed that the purpose of some of these legends, is to convey to us in picture form, information regarding certain laws which govern spiritual life, and are set above external laws. As an example we have the fable of the god and goddess, Osiris and Isis. It was Hermes himself who called the Egyptian legends ‘The Wise Counsellors of Osiris‘. In all these fables, Osiris is a being who in the grey dawn of primeval times lived in the region where man now dwells. In the legend Osiris, who is represented as a benefactor of humanity, and under whose wise influence Hermes, or Thoth, gave to the Egyptians their ancient culture, even to the conduct of material life, was said to have an enemy whom the Greeks called Typhon. This enemy, Typhon, waylaid Osiris and slew him, then cut up his body, hid it in a coffin, and threw it into the sea. The goddess Isis, wife and sister of Osiris, sought long her husband who had been thus torn from her by Typhon, or Seth, and when she had at last found him, she gathered together the pieces into which he had been divided, and buried them here and there in various parts of the land, and in these places temples were erected. Later, Isis gave birth to Horos. Now, Horos was also a higher being, and his birth was brought about through spirit influence which descended upon Isis from Osiris, who had meanwhile passed into another world. The mission of Horos was to vanquish Typhon, and in a certain sense re-establish control of the life-current emanating from Osiris, which would continue to flow and influence mankind.
A legend such as this must not be regarded simply as an allegory, nor as a mere symbolism; in order to understand it rightly, we must enter into the whole world of Egyptian feeling and perception. It is far more important to do this than to form abstract concepts and ideas; for by thus opening the mind, we can alone give life to the sentiments and thoughts associated with the ideal forms of Osiris and Isis. Further, it is useless to attempt to explain these two outstanding figures by saying that Osiris represents the Sun, and Isis the Moon, and so forth—thus giving them an astronomical interpretation, as is the custom of the sciences of to-day outside of Spiritual Science—for such a theory leads to the belief that a legend of this nature is a mere symbolical portrayal of certain events connected with the heavens, and this is not true. We must go far back to the primeval feelings of the Egyptians, and from these as a starting-point try to realize the whole peculiar nature of their uplifted vision of the supersensible, and conception of those invisible forces beyond man’s apprehension which underlie the perceptual world. It is the spiritual interrelation of these factors that finds expression in the ideal forms of Osiris and Isis.
The old Egyptians associated these two figures with ideas similar to the following: There is a latent higher spiritual essence in all mankind which did not emanate from that material environment in which it now functions; at the beginning of earth-life it entered into physical bodily existence in condensed form, there slowly to unfold and grow throughout the ages. Man’s human state was preceded by another and more spiritual condition, and it is from this primordial condition from which the human being gradually developed. The Egyptian said:—‘When I look into my soul, I realize that there is within me a longing for spiritual things; a longing for that true spirituality from which I have descended, and I know that certain of the supersensible forces which operate in the region from which I come still live within me, and that the best of these are intimately related to the ultimate source of all superperceptual activity. Thus do I feel within me an Osiris power, which placed me here—a spirit embodied in external human form. In times past, before I came to this state, I lived wholly in a spiritual realm, where my life was confused, dim and instinctive in character. It was ordained that I be clothed with a material body, so that I should experience and behold a physical world, in order that I might develop therein. I know of a verity that in the beginning I have lived a life which compared to this physical perceptual existence, was indeed of the spirit.’
According to ancient Egyptian concepts the primordial forces underlying human evolution were regarded as dual, the one element being termed Osiris, while the other was known as Isis; hence we have an Osiris-Isis duality. When we give ourselves over to inner contemplation and are moved by the feelings and perceptions of the old Egyptians concerning this dualism, we at once find that we are involved in a process of active and suggestive thought, leading to certain conclusions. In order to follow this mental process we have only to consider the manner in which the mind operates when we think of some object, such for instance as a triangle. In this case, active thought must precede the actual conception of the figure. After the soul has been thus engaged in primary contemplation, we then turn our minds passively to the result of our thought concepts, and finally see the fruit of our mental activity pictured in the soul. The act of thinking has the same relation to final thought, as the act of conceiving to the final concept, or activity to the result of activity or its ultimate product. If we contemplate our mental process when we picture the Egyptian past, and are mindful of the mood of these ancient peoples, we realize that they looked upon the relation between Osiris and Isis in a somewhat similar manner to our conception of the order and outcome of thought activity. For instance, we might consider that activity should be regarded as a Male, or Father-Principle, and that therefore the Osiris-Principle must be looked upon as an active Male-Principle, a combative principle, which imbues the soul with thoughts and feelings of potency and vigour.
[We can form an idea of the old Egyptian concept concerning Osiris and Isis from the following considerations]:—In the physical body of man are certain components such as those that are active in the blood and those which are the basis of bone formation. The whole human system owes its being to the interaction of forces and matter, which combine to create and to enter the material form; these elements can be physically recognized, they were, however, at one time dispersed, and spread throughout the universe. A similar idea prevailed among the ancient Egyptians concerning their conception of Osiris-Force, which was conceived as actively pervading the entire cosmos, as Osiris. Even as the elements which form the physical body enter into it, there to combine and become operative, so did those olden peoples picture the Osiris-Force, as descending upon man to flow into his being and inspire within him the power of constructive thought and cognition—the veritable Osiris-Force. On the other hand, the expression Isis-Force was applied to that universal living cosmic influence which flows directly into the thoughts, concepts and ideas of mankind—it was this influence that was termed the Isis-Force. It is in the above manner that we must picture the uplifted vision in the souls of the old Egyptians, and it was thus that they regarded Osiris and Isis.
In that creation which surrounds us during our material existence, the ancient consciousness could find no words wherewith to express concepts such as these; for everything which is about us appeals alone to the senses, and has only meaning and value in a perceptual world, proffering no outer sign suggestive of a superphysical region. In order, therefore, to obtain something in the nature of a written language, which could express all such thoughts as moved the soul strongly, as for instance, when man exclaimed:—‘The Osiris-Isis-Force works within me,’ the ancients reached out to that script which is written in the firmament by the heavenly bodies, and said:—That supersensible power which man feels as Osiris, can be apprehended and expressed in perceptual terms if regarded as that active force emanating from the sun and spread abroad in the great cosmos. The Isis-Force may be pictured as the sun’s rays reflected from the moon which waits upon the sun, so that she may pass on the power of his radiance in the form of Isis-Influence. But until she receives his light the moon is dark—dark as a soul untouched by active uplifting thought. When the old Egyptian said:—‘The sun and the moon that are without reveal to me how I can best express, figuratively, my ideas concerning all that I feel within my soul,’ he knew that there was some hidden bond, in no way fortuitous, between these two heavenly bodies which appear so full of mystery in the vast universe—the light-giving sun and the dark moon every ready to reflect his splendour. And he realized that the light dispersed in space, and that reflected, must bear some unknown but definite relation to those supersensible powers of which he was conscious.
When we look at a clock we cannot see what it is that moves the hands so mysteriously, apparently with the aid of little demons, for all that can be seen is a piece of mechanism; but we know that underlying the whole mechanical structure, is the thought of the original designer, which thought had its origin in the soul of a man; so that in reality the mechanism owes its construction to something spiritual. Now, just as the movements of the hands of a clock are mutually related, and fundamentally dependent upon certain mechanical laws which exist in the universe, and finally upon those that are operative in the soul of a man (as when he speaks of experiencing the influence of the Osiris-Isis-Force), so are the movements of the Sun and Moon interrelated, and these bodies appear to us as indicators on the face of a mighty cosmic clock. The Egyptian did not merely say:—‘The Sun and Moon are to me a perceptual symbol of the relation between Osiris and Isis,’ but he felt and expressed himself thus:—‘That force which gives me life and is within, underlies the mysterious bond existing between the Sun and Moon, and it likewise endowed them with power to send forth light.’
In the same way as Osiris and Isis were regarded with reference to the Sun and Moon, so were other heavenly bodies looked upon as related to different gods. The ancient Egyptians considered that the positions of the various orbs in space were not merely symbolical of their own supersensible experiences, but likewise of those which tradition told them had been the experiences of seers belonging to the remote past. Further, they saw in the cosmic clock an expression of the activity of those forces, the workings of which they felt in the ultimate depths of the human soul. Thus it came about that this mighty clock, this grand creation of moving orbs, so wondrously interrelated with others that are fixed, was to the Egyptians a revelation of those mysterious spiritual powers which bring about the ever-changing positions of the heavenly bodies, and thus create an universal script, which man must learn to know and to recognize as a means whereby superperceptual power is given perceptual expression.
Such were the feelings and perceptions which had been handed down to the old Egyptians from their ancient seers, regarding a higher spiritual world of the existence of which they were wholly convinced, for they still retained a last remnant of primeval clairvoyant power. These olden peoples said:—‘We human beings had our true origin in an exalted spiritual realm, but we are now descended into a perceptual world, in which manifest material things and physical happenings, nevertheless, we are indeed come from the world of Osiris and of Isis. All that is best and which strives within us, and is fitted to attain to yet higher states of perfection, has of a verity flowed in upon us from Osiris and from Isis, and lives unseen within as active force. Physical man was born of those conditions which are of the external perceptual world, and his material form is but as a garment clothing the Osiris-Isis spirit within.’
Predominant in the souls of the old Egyptians was a profound sentiment concerning primeval wisdom, which filled their whole soul-life. The soul may indeed incline towards abstract notions, particularly the mathematical concepts of natural science, without in any way touching the moral and ethical factors of its life, nor affecting its fate or state of bliss. For instance, there may be discussion and debate relative to electrical and other forces, without the soul being moved to enter upon grave questions concerning man’s ultimate destiny.
On the other hand, we cannot ponder upon feelings and sentiments such as we have described regarding the Spirit-World and the inner relation of the soul’s character to Osiris and Isis, without arousing thoughts involving man’s happiness, his future, and his moral impulses. When the mind is thus occupied, man’s meditations are prone to take this form:—‘There dwells in me a better self, but because of what I am within my physical body, this “better self” is repressed and draws back, it is therefore not at first apparent. An Osiris and an Isis nature are fundamental to me; these, however, belong to a primordial world—to a by-gone golden age—to the holy past; now they are overcome by those forces that have fashioned the human form. But the Osiris-Isis power has entered and persists within that mortal covering which is ever subject to destruction through the external forces of Nature.’
The ‘Legend of Osiris and Isis‘ may be expressed in terms of feeling and sentiment in the following manner:—Osiris, the higher power in man, which is spread throughout cosmic space, is overcome by those forces which bring about utter degeneration in all human nature. Typhon confined the Osiris-Force within the body, as in a coffin formed to receive man’s spiritual counterpart; there the Osiris-Element lies concealed—invisible and unheeded by the outer world. (The name Typhon has linguistic connection with the words—‘Auflösen‘, to dissolve; and ‘Verwesen‘, to decompose.) The Isis-Nature, hidden within the confines of the soul, was always mysterious to the Egyptians. They considered that at some future period its influence would bring mankind back to that state which he enjoyed in the beginning; and that this return would ultimately be brought about through the penetrative force of intellectual power; for they fully recognized that in humanity there is a latent disposition which ever strives to re-endow Osiris with life.
The Isis-Force lies deep within the soul, and its profound purpose is to lead mankind, step by step, away from his present material state, and bring him back once more to Osiris.
It is this Isis-Force which—so long as man does not cling to his physical quality—makes it possible for him (even though he remain outwardly a physical man in a material world) to detach himself from his perceptual nature, and henceforth and for ever more to look upward from within his being to that more exalted Ego, which in the opinion of the most advanced thinkers, lies so mysteriously veiled at the very root of man’s powers of thought and action. This being, not the outer physical one, but the true inner man who has ever the stimulus to strive towards higher spiritual enlightenment, is as it were, the earth-born son of that Osiris who did not go forth into the material world, but remained as if concealed in the realms of the spirit. In their souls, the Egyptians regarded this invisible personality that struggles toward the attainment of a higher self, as Horos—the posthumous son of Osiris. It was thus that these old Egyptians visualized, with a certain feeling of sadness, the Osiris-origin of man; but at the same time they looked inward and said:—‘The soul has still retained something of the Isis-Force which gave birth to Horos, the possessor of that never-ceasing impulse to strive upward towards spiritual heights, and it is there, in that sublimity, that man shall once again find Osiris.’
It is possible for present-day humanity to bring about this mystic meeting in two ways. The Egyptian said:—‘I have come from Osiris, and to Osiris I shall return, and because of my spiritual origin, Horos lies deep within my being and Horos leads me on, back to Osiris—to his Father—who may alone be found in the world of spirit; for he can in no way enter into man’s physical nature; there he is overcome by the powers of Typhon, those external forces which underlie all destruction and decay.’
There are but two paths by which Osiris may be attained, the one is by way of the Portal of Death; the other passes not through the Gateway of Physical Dissolution, for Osiris may be reached through Initiation and the consecration of life to Sacred Service.
Under the title of Christianity as a Mystical Fact, I have gone more fully into this belief. The Egyptian conception was as follows:—When man has passed through the Portal of Death, and after certain necessary preparatory stages have been completed, he comes to Osiris, and being freed from his earthly envelope, there awakes in him a consciousness of actual relationship with that supreme deity; and he realizes that henceforth he will be greeted as Osiris, for this form of salutation is always bestowed upon those who have experienced death and entered into the World of Spirit.
The other pathway which likewise leads back to Osiris, that is to say, into the Spiritual Realms is, as we have already stated, by way of Initiation and Holy Devotion. Such was regarded by the Egyptians as a method through which knowledge might be gained of all that is supersensible and lies concealed in man’s nature, in other words of Isis, or the Isis-Power. We cannot penetrate into the depths of the soul, and thus reach the Isis-Force within, in virtue of mere earthly wisdom born of the experiences of daily life, but nevertheless, we have a means at hand whereby we may break through to this inner power and descend to the true Ego; there to find that this same Ego is ever enshrouded by all that is material in man’s physical disposition. If, indeed, we can but pierce this dark veil, then do we find ourselves at last in the Ego’s veritable spiritual home.
Hence it was that the old Egyptians said:—‘Thou shalt descend into thine own inner being—but first cometh thy physical quality, with all that it may express of that self that is thine, and through this human disposition must thou force a way. When thou regardest the stones, and the justness of their fashion—when thou considerest the plants, the inner life thereof and wonder of their form and when thou lookest upon the animals about thee—there of a verity, in these three Kingdoms of Nature, beholdest thou the outer world as begotten of spiritual and supersensible powers. But when thou standest before man, look not alone upon the outer form, but seek that which is within, where abideth the soul’s strength—even as the Isis-Forces.’ Therefore, in connection with the rites of initiation, there was included certain instruction as to what things should be observed during such time as the soul might remain incarnated.
The experiences of all who have in truth descended into their innermost being, have been fundamentally the same as those which come about at the time of passing, differing only in the manner of their occurrence. [One might say that if this method of approaching the spirit realms be followed, then]—Man must pass through the Portal of Death while he yet lives. He must learn to know that change from the physical to the superphysical outlook, from the material to the spiritual world—in other words, he must acquire knowledge of that metamorphosis which takes place at the time of actual death. And in order that he may obtain such enlightenment, he that would become initiated must take that way which leads him into the very depths of his being, for thus alone may true understanding and experience be attained. When this method is employed, the first real inner experience is connected with the blood, as formed by Nature, and the blood is the physical agent of the Ego, just as the nervous system forms the material medium in connection with [the three ultimate modes of consciousness], Feeling, Willing and Thinking. We have already referred to this matter in a previous lecture.
According to the ancient Egyptians, he who desires to descend into his being in order to realize profound association with the primary material media, must first pass down into his physical-etheric sheath and enter the etheric confines of his soul; he must learn to become independent of that force in his blood upon which he normally relies; he can then give himself up to the workings and the wonder of the blood’s action.
It is essential that man must first thoroughly understand his higher nature in regard to its physical aspect. To do this he must learn to view his material being as a detached and wholly separate object. Now, man can only recognize and be fully conscious of an object, as a specific thing, when external to it; hence he must learn to bring about this relation in respect to himself, if he would indeed comprehend the actuality of his being. It was for this reason that Initiation was directed towards the development of such powers as enabled the Soul-Forces to undergo certain experiences independently of the physical media, or agents. So that finally the aspirant could look down upon such media objectively, in the same way as man’s spiritual element looks down upon the material body after death.
The primary duty of one who would know the Isis-Mysteries was to acquire knowledge concerning his own blood; after which he underwent an experience that can be best described as—‘Drawing nigh unto the Threshold of Death.’ This was the first step in the Isis-Initiation; and he who would take it must have power to regard his blood and his being externally, and pass into that sheath which is the medium of the Isis-Nature. Further, the neophyte was led before two doors—within some Holy Sanctuary—the one was closed, the other open; and as he stood in that place there came before him visions depicting the most intimate experiences of his very life, and he heard a voice saying:—‘It is thus that thou art, so dost thou appear when thou beholdest thy true self pictured in the soul.’ How remarkable are these teachings the echoes of which are still heard after thousands of years have passed, and how wonderfully they harmonize with man’s present-day beliefs, even though they have since received materialistic interpretation.
According to the ancient Egyptian seer—when man takes the initial step and comes upon the world of his inner form he is there confronted by two doors—‘Through two doors shalt thou enter thy blood and thy innermost being.’ The anatomist would say:—‘Through two inlets situated in the valves on either side of the heart.’ [There are two pairs of valves in the heart, one pair on one side and one on the other; in each case when one of these valves is open, in order to let the blood-stream flow into a part of the system, that which is adjacent is closed (Ed.)]. Hence, he who desires to penetrate beneath his outer form must pass through the open door; for the gateway which is closed merely confines the blood to its proper course. We thus find that the results of anatomical investigation are certainly analogous to those born of clairvoyant vision in olden times; and although not so clear and accurate as are the conclusions of the modern anatomist, nevertheless they portray what the clairvoyant consciousness actually apprehended, when it regarded man’s inner form from an external stand-point.
The next step in the Isis-Initiation was what one might term the proving or profound study of Fire, Air and Water. During this period the Initiate gained complete knowledge of the Sheath-Quality of his Isis-Being, of the properties of Fire and how, in a certain form, it flows in the blood, using it as medium, and becomes fluid. He further received instruction concerning the manner in which Oxygen is infiltrated into the system from the air. All this wisdom descended upon him—the understanding of Fire, Air, Water, the warmth of his breath, and the true nature of the fluidity of his blood.
Thus it came about that the aspirant, in virtue of the knowledge he acquired of his Sheath-Quality through his newly-born comprehension of the elements of Fire, Air and Water, became so purified that when his vision at last penetrated beneath the enfolding envelope, he entered into his veritable Isis-Nature. We might say that at this point, the Initiate felt for the first time that he was in contact with his actual being, and that he was able to realize that he was indeed a spiritual entity, no longer limited by his external relation to humanity, and that he truly beheld the wonder of the spiritual realms.
It is a definite law that we can only look upon the sun in the daytime, for at night it lies concealed by matter; but the powers in the spiritual world are never thus veiled to those who have acquired the true gift of sight, for they are best discerned when the physical eyes are closed to all material things. Symbolically, in the sense of the Isis-Initiation, we would say:—‘He who is purified and initiated into the Isis-Mysteries, may discern that spiritual life and power to which the sun owes its origin, even though there be darkness as at midnight, for, metaphorically speaking, he may at all times behold the great orb of day and come face to face with the spirit beings of the superperceptual world.’
Such was the description of the method, or as one might say, the path leading to the Isis-Forces within, and we are told that it could be traversed by all who, during earthly life, would but earnestly seek the deepest forces of the soul. There were, however, yet higher mysteries, The Mysteries of Osiris, in which it was made clear that through the medium of the Isis-Forces, and in virtue of those supersensible primordial spiritual powers to which man owes his origin, he could exalt himself and thus attain to Osiris. In other words, he was initiated into those methods by which the human soul might be so uplifted, that it could at last enter upon the presence of that supreme deity.
When the Egyptians wished to portray the nature and character of the relation between Isis and Osiris, they had recourse to that special script which is written in the firmament by the passage of the Sun and Moon; while in the case of other spiritual powers, reference was made to the movements and interrelations existing between the various stars. Most prominent among the astronomical groups in such portrayals was the Zodiac, with its condition of comparative immobility, and the planets which move across its constellations. It was in the revelations of the Heavens, as manifested in spiritual symbols, that the old Egyptian found the true method of expressing those deep feelings which touched his soul. He knew that no earthly means were competent to indicate clearly the vital purpose of that urgent call to seek the Isis-Forces, that mankind might, through their aid, draw nearer to Osiris. He felt that in order to describe this purpose fittingly, he must reach out and make use of those bright groups of stars that ever shine in the firmament.
Hence we must regard Hermes, The Great Wise One, who according to Egyptian tradition, lived upon the Earth in the dawn of antiquity—and was endowed with the most profound clairvoyant insight concerning man’s relation to the Universe—as having possessed in high degree the power of apprehending and explaining the true nature of the connection between the constellations and the forces of the Spirit-World; and of interpreting the signs portraying events and happenings, as expressed in the language of the stars, in terms of their mysterious interrelations. Now, if in those olden days it was desired to enlighten the people with regard to the nature of the bond existing between Osiris and Isis, this matter was put forward in the form of an exoteric legend; but in the case of the Initiates the subject was treated more explicitly by means of symbolical reference to the light which emanates from the Sun and is reflected by the Moon, and the remarkable conditions governing its changes during the varying phases of the latter. In these phenomena the Egyptians found a practical and genuine analogy, expressive of the sacred link between the Isis-Force within the human soul and that supreme spiritual figure—Osiris.
From the movements of the heavenly bodies and the nature of their interrelations, there originated what we must regard as the very earliest form of written characters. Little as this fact is as yet recognized, we would nevertheless draw attention to the following statement:—If we consider the consonants of the alphabet, we note that they imitate the signs of the Zodiac, in their comparative repose; while the vowels and consonants are connected in a way which may be likened to that relation which the planets and the forces which move them bear to the constellations of the Zodiac as a whole. Hence it would appear that in the beginning, written characters were brought down to earth from the vault of heaven.
The sentiments which moved the ancient Egyptians when their thoughts turned to Hermes were such as we have described, and they realized that his great illumination came from those spiritual powers which called to him out of the heavens, prompting him with counsel concerning that activity which persisted in the souls of mankind. Ay! and more than that—he was instructed even in the deeds of everyday life, and in those directions in which such sciences were needed as Geometry and Surveying, both of which Pythagoras learnt from the Egyptians, who ascribed all this knowledge to the primordial wisdom of Hermes. One might say that ‘The Old Wise One’ saw in the interrelation of all things spread abroad upon the earth a counterpart of that which exists in the firmament, and finds expression in the mystic writings of the stars. It was Hermes—’The Thrice-Blessed‘—who first gave this Stellar Script to the world, and through its aid, and in the dawn of Egyptian life, he instilled into the minds of the people the elements of the science of mathematics, while he adjured them to look up to the heavens, there to seek guidance even regarding mundane matters.
The very life of the Egyptian nation in that olden time was dependent upon the overflowing of the Nile, and the deposits which it swept down from the mountainous country to the South. We can therefore readily understand how absolutely essential it was that there should be a certain pre-knowledge of the date of the coming of flood periods, so that they might anticipate the accompanying changes in natural conditions thus brought about in the course of any particular year. In those early days the Egyptians still reckoned time according to that Stellar Script which was written in the canopy of heaven. When Sirius, the Dog Star, was visible in the Sign of Cancer, they knew that the Sun would shortly enter that part of the Zodiac from whence its rays would shine down upon the earth and conjure forth, as if by magic, that life brought thereto by the deposits of the overflowing Nile. Hence, they looked upon Sirius as ‘The Watcher‘, who gave them warning of what they might expect; and the movements of Sirius formed part of their celestial clock. They gazed upward with thankful hearts, for the timely warnings of their ‘Watcher‘ enabled them to cultivate and to tend their land in such manner that it might best bring forth all things necessary to external life.
When questions of import arose such as the above, these old Egyptian peoples sought enlightenment and guidance from those writings which they saw spread across the firmament; the while they looked back into that dim grey past, when first they learnt that the passage of the stars was in truth an expression as of movements among the parts of some mighty cosmic clock. In Thoth, or Hermes, they recognized that Great Spirit who, according to their ancient traditions, set down the very earliest chronicles concerning cosmic wisdom. From that inspiration which came to him through the wondrous Stellar Script, Hermes conceived the forms underlying the physical alphabet, and through their aid taught mankind the principles of Agriculture, Geometry and Surveying; indeed, he instructed them in all things needful for the conduct of physical life. Now, physical life is nought but the embodiment of that spiritual life so deeply interwoven throughout the cosmos—and it was from the cosmos that the spirit of wisdom descended upon Hermes. It was evident to the Egyptians of that period to which we refer, that the influence of The Great Wise One was still active throughout their civilization, and they felt that this mystic bond was both profound and intimate in character.
The method adopted by the old Egyptians for the purpose of time calculations, and which continued in use for many centuries, was most convenient in operation and lent itself readily to all simple computations of this nature. They regarded the year as made up of exactly 365 days, which they divided into 12 months each of 30 days, thus leaving 5 days over, which were separately included. But modern Astronomy tells us that if this method be employed, then one quarter day every year is not taken into account [the actual difference is 6 hours, 9 min., 9 sec.]. Therefore, the Egyptian year came to an end one quarter day too soon. This difference gradually spread backward through the months until a coincidence was reached at the beginning of a certain year; and such coincidence took place every four times 365 years. Hence, after the lapse of each 1,460 years, the terrestrial time estimate would be for a moment in agreement with astronomical conditions, because at that particular moment the sum of the annual differences would be equivalent to one whole year.
Let us now suppose that at a certain time in 1322 B.C. an Egyptian looked up into the heavens, there, at that moment any visible constellation would occupy a definite position in the firmament [which position could be used as a basis of computation]. If we calculate backwards over a period of three times 1,460 years from 1322 B.C., we come to the year 5702 B.C., and it was some time prior to this date to which the Egyptians ascribed the dawn of that primordial Holy Wisdom which came to them in the beginning. They said:—‘In bygone times man’s power of clairvoyance was truly at its highest, but with the passing of each great Sun-Period‘ [of 1,46o years, which brought about the balance of terrestrial reckoning] ‘the divine gift of “clear seeing” gradually faded, until in this fourth stage in which we now live it is weak and ever-failing. Our civilization reaches far into the remoteness of antiquity, where the voice of tradition is all but stilled. In thought we hark back beyond three long Cosmic Periods, to that glorious and distant past when our greatest teacher, his disciples, and his successors, imparted to us the elements of the ancient wisdom which now finds expression—albeit in strangely altered form—in the character of our script, our Mathematics, Geometry, Surveying, our general conduct of life, and also in our study of the heavens. We regard the cosmic adjustment of our human computation, with its convenient factors of twelve times 30 days with five supplementary thereto, as a sign that we are ever subject to correction by the divine powers of the Spirit-World, because through error of thought and reason we have turned away from Osiris and from Isis. We cannot with exactitude measure the year’s length, but when our eyes are raised on high we can gaze into that hidden world from whence those spirit powers that ever guide the courses of the stars, remedy our faults and bring harmony where man has failed to find the truth.’
From the above it is clear that the old Egyptians realized the feebleness of man’s powers of intellect and understanding, so that, even in the case of their Chronology, they sought the aid of those higher spiritual forces and beings beyond the veil. Beings who correct, watch over, and protect mankind during the activities and experiences of earth life, bringing to bear upon these problems the mystic laws of the Great Cosmos. Hermes, or Thoth, was held in greatest veneration as One inspired by the ever vigilant heavenly powers, and in the souls of these ancient peoples this outstanding personality was looked upon, not merely as a great teacher, but as a being who was indeed exalted, and whom they regarded with the most profound feelings of reverence and thankfulness, so that they cried out:—‘All that I have cometh from Thee. Thou went on High in the dim grey dawn of antiquity and Thou hast sent down, by those who were the carriers of Thy traditions, all that flows throughout external civilization, and which is of greatest human service.’ Hence, with reference to the actual Creator of all supersensible forces, and those who watch over them, as well as Osiris and Hermes, or Thoth, the Egyptians felt in their souls not merely that they were imbued with knowledge begotten of wisdom, but they experienced a sentiment in deepest moral sense, of greatest veneration and gratitude.
The graphic descriptions of the past tell us that the wisdom of the ancient Egyptians was permeated throughout with a certain religious quality and mood, particularly noticeable in olden times, but by degrees these characteristics became less and less marked. In those days the people felt all knowledge to be closely associated with holiness, all wisdom with piety and all science with religion. As this attitude waned it gradually decreased in purity of form and expression. A similar change has taken place throughout the evolution of mankind among all those various civilizations whose mission has been to alter the trend of spiritual thought, and lead it in some wholly new direction. When each nation had reached the pinnacle of achievement, and its task was ended, there followed a period of decadence.
The greater part of our knowledge concerning ancient Egyptian culture is connected with an epoch of this nature, and the significance of all that lies beyond is merely a matter of conjecture and supposition. For instance, what is the true meaning of that extraordinary, and to us grotesque, worship of animals in that by-gone age, and of the curious feeling of awe we experience when our thoughts dwell upon the pyramids? The Egyptians themselves tell us that there was an era during which not only mankind, but also beings from the higher spiritual realms descended upon the earth. This was in the beginning before the knowledge and wisdom that was then vouchsafed had truly developed and become active.
If we would indeed know man’s innermost nature, we must not alone regard the outer form, but penetrate to the true self within. All external qualities with which we come in contact are but stages of manifestation which have remained ‘in situ‘, as one might say, and are seen as if representing in powerful, albeit diminutive imagery, ancient principles which are dominant in the three kingdoms of nature. Consider the world of minerals and of rocks—here we find those same relations of form which man has used in the architecture of the pyramids; while the inner forces of plant-life are expressed in the beauty of the Lotus-Flower; and lastly, distributed along that path which culminates in man himself, we find in the brute creation existences which have not attained to the higher level of humanity; they are, as it were, a crystallization of divine forces that have been embodied and scattered abroad in separate and distinct animal shapes.
We can well imagine that the feelings of the old Egyptians gave rise to thoughts of the above nature, when they recognized in animal life a manifestation of the unaltered primordial forces of the gods. For they looked back into the grey past when all earthly things were begotten of divine supersensible powers, and developed under their guidance. From this concept they conjectured that among the creations in Nature’s three kingdoms certain of these higher primal forces, which had lived on unchanged over a long period, had ultimately undergone some intimate modification which had raised them to that higher standard exhibited in the human form. When considering these ancient peoples we must ever have regard for their feelings, perceptions and the necessities of their life. It is from these factors that we can best realize how close was the moral bond between their wisdom and the soul, so that the latter might not swerve from the path of rectitude and morality.
The Egyptians believed, that because of the manner in which the Spirit-World was created and fashioned by the divine supersensible powers, there must be some definite moral relation which extends to the creatures of the animal kingdom. The grotesque and singular modes in which this concept ultimately found expression came about, only, after the final decline of the nation had commenced.
From the study of the later periods of Egyptian culture, it is clear that human frailty and imperfection were unknown in primordial times, for we learn from this source that in the early dawn of Egyptian life civilization was of a high standard, and it was then that man knew and experienced the most intimate divine spiritual revelations. We must not fall into that error, so common in our days, of assuming that all forms of human culture had their inception under the most simple and primitive conditions. In reality it was only after the impulse imparted by those first glorious blessings had waned, and a period of decline set in, that man’s life became crude and uncultured.
Hence, we should not look upon the barbaric tribes merely as peoples in whom intellection is expressed in its most elementary form, but, on the contrary, we must consider the aboriginal races as representative of civilizations which have fallen away from some exalted primordial state. This assertion is not at all to the liking of that branch of science which would have us believe that all culture had its inception under the most elementary conditions, such as those which are still found among the savages of our time. Nevertheless, Spiritual Science affirms, in virtue of knowledge obtained through the medium of its special methods, that the primitive states of mankind are in truth manifestations of long perished civilizations, and that all human life had its inception under cultural conditions directly inspired by divine beings—mentors from the Spirit-World—who descended upon the earth in the dim dawn of antiquity, and over whose deeds is cast a veil impenetrable to external history.
Man has long believed that if we trace life’s course backward through the ages we should in the end arrive at childish conditions, similar to those found among barbaric peoples. It was certainly not expected that in so doing we would find ourselves confronted with noble and exalted concepts and theories. Now, Spiritual Science definitely asserts that if we peer into the past, then, at the beginning of human life we shall not find rudimentary cultural states, but lofty and glorious civilizations, which at some later period fell away from their first high spiritual standard. At this point we might well ask:—‘Does this asservation, as advanced by Spiritual Science, bring it into conflict with the results of modern scientific research—the logical methods of which delve deeply and without prejudice, into all matters that come within the scope of its investigations?‘ Let us see how external science itself replies to this question.
With this object I will give a literal quotation from a recent work by Alfred Jeremias [Licentiate Doctor and Lecturer at the University of Leipzig], entitled The Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient East.1Manual of Biblical Archaeology, 2 Vols. Translated from the second German Edition, by C. L. Beaumont. Edited by the Rev. Canon C. H. W. Johns, Litt.D. Published by Williams and Morgate, 1911. From the text we learn that external science while engaged in the gradual unfoldment of ancient history, has reached back into the remote past, and there found traces of a highly spiritual primeval civilization, whose culture was imbued with the most momentous and intellectual conceptions. It is further emphasized that those cultural states, which we are so accustomed to term barbaric, should in reality be regarded as typical of primordial civilizations that have fallen away from some higher level. The actual quotation to which I have referred is as follows:—
‘The earliest records, as well as the whole ancient civilized life about the Euphrates valley, indicate the existence of a scientific and at the same time religious theoretical conception, which was not merely confined to the occult doctrines of the temple; but in accordance with its precepts, state organizations were regulated and conducted, justice declared and property administered and protected. The more ancient the period to which we can look back, the more absolute does the control exercised by this concept appear. It was only after the downfall of the primal Euphratean civilization that the influence of other powers began to make itself felt.’ 2Der Einfluss Babyloniens auf das Verständnis des Alten Testamentes, von Alfred Jeremias. ‘Die ältesten Urkunden sowie das gesamte euphratensische Kulturleben setzen eine wissenschaftliche und zugleich religiöse Theorie voraus, die nicht etwa nur in den Geheimlehren der Tempel ihr Dasein fristet, sondern nach der die staatlichen Organisationen geregelt sind, nach der Recht gesprochen, das Eigentum verwaltet und geschützt wird. Je höher das Altertum ist, in das wir blacken können, um so Ausschliesslicher herrscht die Theorie; erst mit dem Verfall der alten euphratensischen Kultur kommen andere Mächte zur Geltung.’
From the above excerpt it is clear, that external science has truly made a beginning toward the opening up of new paths that tend to bring harmony and agreement into those matters [so often regarded as controversial] which it is the province of Spiritual Science to bring forward and impress upon our present civilization. In a previous lecture we have drawn attention to a similar progress in connection with the science of Geology. If in the future we continue to advance in like fashion, we shall gradually be compelled to recede ever further and further from that dull and lifeless conception which would have us regard all primordial civilization as primitive and childish in its nature. Then, indeed, shall we be led back to those great personalities of the remote past, who seem to us the more transcendent, because it was their divinely inspired mission to endow a yet clairvoyant people with those priceless blessings which are evident throughout all cultural activity in which we now play our part. Such noble spirits in human form as Zarathustra and Hermes at once claim and rivet our attention. They appear to us so exalted and so glorious, because it was THEY who in the dim dawn of human life gave to mankind those first most potent and uplifting impulses. The old Egyptian sage had this sublime concept in mind when he spoke to Solon concerning ‘doctrines grey with age‘. (Vide p. 86.)
Thus do we honour and revere Hermes, even as we venerate the great Zarathustra. To us he shines forth as one of those grand outstanding individualities—veritable leaders of mankind—the very thought of whom engenders a feeling of enhanced power within, and begets the indubitable conviction through which we know that the Spirit is not merely abroad in the world, but weaves beneath all earthly deeds, and is ever active throughout the evolution of humanity. Then are our lives strengthened, a fuller confidence is in our every action, hopes are assured and destiny stands out the more clearly before us. It is at such times that we exclaim:—‘Those yet to be born will of a surety lift up their hearts to the glorious spirit mentors who were in the beginning, and will seek the verity of their being in the gifts which are of the inner forces of the soul. They shall acknowledge and discern in the ever recurrent impulses which come as an upward urge to mankind the workings of a divine power, and the eternal manifestations of those Great Ones from the Spirit-World.’
Hermes
Wenn es schon für die Geisteswissenschaft an sich eine große Bedeutung hat, zu sehen, wie das geistige Leben der Menschheit von Epoche zu Epoche fortschreitet, langsam sozusagen aus dunklen Tiefen sich an die Oberfläche drängt, so hat die Betrachtung der altägyptischen Kultur und des altägyptischen Geisteslebens, man möchte sagen, noch in ganz hervorragenderem Maße eine solche Bedeutung. In einer doppelten Weise wird diese Bedeutung empfunden, wenn man sich in dieses altägyptische GeistesJeben hineinzuleben versucht.
Zunächst erscheint dasjenige, was zu uns aus grauen Vorzeiten herübertönt, so geheimnisvoll wie das Antlitz der Sphinxe selbst, die wir ja als Denkmäler dieser altägyptischen Kultur haben. Dieses Geheimnisvolle wird dadurch noch erhöht, daß selbst die äußere Forschung in den letzten Zeiten mehr und mehr in immer ältere und ältere Zeiten zurückschreiten mußte, um das Dasein der späteren ägyptischen Kultur, für welche bedeutsamere Dokumente vorhanden sind, erklären zu können. Weite Jahrtausende vor unsere Zeitrechnung hinauf bis ins siebente Jahrtausend mindestens — aber auch noch weiter hinauf — datiert für die äußere Forschung das, was in dem ägyptischen Kulturleben gearbeitet hat. Ist das der eine Grund, warum wir gerade dieser Kultur ein besonderes Interesse zuwenden, so dürfen wir sagen: der andere Grund ist der, daß — man mag wollen oder nicht — für den Menschen der Gegenwart diese Kultur etwas Merkwürdiges dadurch hat, daß dieser Mensch der Gegenwart— ich meine jetzt unsere größere, breitere Gegenwart — das Gefühl hat, diese Kultur habe doch etwas Verwandtes, etwas geheimnisvoll Verwandtes mit dem, was dieser Mensch der Gegenwart selbst will und sich als Ziel setzen mag. Daher erscheint es auch bedeutsam, daß ein so großer Geist, der in der Morgenröte der neueren naturwissenschaftlichen Entwickelung steht, wie Kepler, sein Gefühl über das, was die Naturwissenschaft bis zu ihm und er selbst der Welt zu geben hatte, nicht anders auszudrücken vermochte als in Worten, die etwa so lauten: Mit alledem, was ich zu enthüllen versuchte über den Gang der Planeten um ihre Sonne, habe ich hineinzuschauen versucht in die Geheimnisse des Weltenraumes. Es ist mir oft, als ob ich mit den Ideen von diesen Geheimnissen die heiligen Gefäße der Ägypter in ihren geheimnisvollen Tempelstätten aufgesucht und hinübergetragen hätte in die neuere Zeit. Und daraus entstammt das Gefühl, daß die Nachwelt erst einsehen wird, was mit dem gemeint ist, was ich ihr zu geben habe. — So verwandt fühlte sich einer der größten Geister der modernen Zeit mit der altägyptischen Kultur, daß er den Grundton dessen, was er der Welt geben wollte, nicht besser zu bezeichnen wußte, als daß er ihn als eine Erneuerung dessen darstellte, was — freilich mit anderen Worten und in anderer Art — in den geheimen Lehr- und Kultstätten des alten Ägyptens an die Bekenner und Anhänger geflossen ist. Daher muß es uns im besonderen interessieren, wie diese AÄgypter selber das Wesen und die ganze Art ihrer Kultur empfunden haben.
Es gibt ein bedeutungsvolles Wort, welches uns aus der alten griechischen Überlieferung erhalten ist und das bedeutsam zum Ausdruck bringt, wie nicht nur die Ägypter selber, sondern wie das Altertum diese ägyptische Kultur empfunden hat. Da wird uns überliefert, daß ein ägyptischer Weiser zu Solon gesagt habe: Ihr Griechen bleibt doch ewig Kinder; was ihr wißt, ist entsprungen aus eurem eigenen menschlichen Sinnen und Schauen. Ihr habt nicht alte Überlieferungen. Ihr bleibt Kinder, ihr werdet nicht erwachsen, denn ihr habt keine altersgraue Lehre! — Eine «altersgraue Lehre»: was das bedeutet, erfahren wir erst, wenn geisteswissenschaftlich versucht wird hineinzuleuchten in die ganze Art und Weise des ägyptischen Denkens und Fühlens. Da muß man sich an das erinneren, was schon öfter hier gesagt worden ist: daß die Menschheit in den aufeinanderfolgenden Zeiträumen ihrer Entwickelung eine Entfaltung verschiedener Bewußtseinsformen durchgemacht hat. Das Bewußtsein, in dem wir jetzt leben, diese ganze Art und Weise der Aneignung der Außenwelt durch die Sinne, der Kombination durch den Intellekt und Verstand, diese Art des alltäglichen, auch des wissenschaftlichen Denkens war nicht immer vorhanden, sondern das menschliche Bewußtsein unterliegt erst recht dem, was man mit dem Worte Entwickelung bezeichnet. Es unterliegt dieser Entwickelung nicht nur die äußere Formenwelt, sondern auch die Seelenverfassung des Menschen und das menschliche Bewußtsein selbst. Darauf ist hingewiesen worden, daß wir die alten Kulturstätten der Menschheit nur verstehen können, wenn wir voraussetzen, was die Geisteswissenschaft aus ihren Quellen heraus zu sagen hat: daß in alten Zeiten statt des heutigen intellektuellen Bewußtseins ein altes hellseherisches Bewußtsein vorhanden war, das weder unserem Tagesbewußtsein gleich war, das vom Aufwachen bis zum Einschlafen dauert, noch auch unserer Bewußtlosigkeit im Schlafe vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen. Sondern dieses uralte Bewußtsein der Vormenschheit bestand in einem Zwischenzustand, der nur, man möchte sagen, atavistisch wie in einem verkümmerten Erbstück in der Bilderwelt unserer Träume erhalten ist. Während aber unsere Träume chaotisch sind und so, wie sie im gewöhnlichen Leben sind, nichts zu bedeuten haben, war das alte Bewußtsein, das in Bildern wirkte, aber doch in einer gewissen Weise einen dumpfen, traumhaften Charakter hatte, ein hellseherisches Bewußtsein, dessen Bilder nun nicht auf unsere physische Welt, sondern auf das, was hinter dieser als eine geistige Welt liegt, hindeuteten. Man darf sagen, daß im Grunde genommen alles hellseherische Bewußtsein — sowohl das traumhafte der Vormenschheit wie auch das, welches der Mensch heute durch jene Schulung erreicht, von der hier schon gesprochen worden ist — in Bildern wirkt, nicht in Begriffen und Ideen wie das äußere physische Bewußtsein; und daß die Bilder in der richtigen Weise durch den Träger des Bewußtseins auf die geistigen, spirituellen Realitäten, die hinter den physisch-sinnlichen Erscheinungen stehen, bezogen werden müssen.
So blicken wir im Grunde genommen auf alle alte Volksentwickelung zurück und sagen uns: Was uns da herübertönt in so merkwürdigen Bildern, das ist nicht bloß — wie heute ein materialistisches Bewußtsein im weitesten Kreise glaubt — eine kindliche Ausgestaltung phantastischer Naturanschauungen, sondern eine Summe von Bildern, die zwar in Bildform uns vor die Seele treten, aber in dieser Bildform auf ein wirkliches Anschauen einer geistigen Welt hinweisen. Wer nicht mit einem modernen materialistischen Bewußtsein, sondern mit einem Sinn für Menschenschöpfungen und geistige Menschenwerke sich in die alten My-thologien und Legenden vertieft, für den gewinnen die eigentümlichen Erzählungen dieser Mythologien einen Zusammenhang, der in einer wundersamen Weise mit denjenigen Gesetzen der Welt zusammenstimmt, die höher sind als unsere physikalischen, chemischen, biologischen Gesetze. So durchklingt ein Ton von geistiger Realität die alten Mythologien, die alten Religionssysteme. Sie erhalten dadurch einen Sinn.
Nun müssen wir uns aber klarmachen, daß die verschiedenen Völker in einer verschiedenartigen Weise je nach Anlage und Temperament, Rasse und Volkscharakter diese Bilderwelt ausbildeten, in welcher sie die höheren, geistigen Kräfte sich vorstellten, die hinter den bloßen Naturkräften stehen. Wir müssen uns auch klar sein, daß in der allmählichen Entwickelung alle möglichen Übergänge vorkommen von diesem alten hellseherischen Bewußtsein bis zu unserem gegenwärtigen Gegenstandsbewußtsein, unserem intellektuellen alltäglichen Bewußtsein. Wir müssen uns ein Abglimmen, ein allmähliches Zurücktreten des alten hellseherischen Bewußtseins denken, müssen uns bei den verschiedenen Völkern denken, wie die Kräfte des alten Hellsehens nach und nach abnehmen, wie sozusagen in den Bildern, die vor die Seelen traten, welche noch hineinschauen konnten in die geistige Welt, immer geringere und geringere geistige Kräfte enthalten waren; wie die höheren Welten allmählich ihre Tore schlossen, bis nur mehr die alleruntersten Stufen des geistigen Wirkens im niederen Hellsehen wahrnehmbar waren. Wir müssen uns auch vorstellen, daß dann für die allgemeine Menschheit das alte Hellsehen überhaupt erlosch, und der Tagesblick auf die um uns liegende physische Welt und auf unsere Vorstellungen von den physischen Dingen beschränkt blieb, was dann, indem wir die physischen Dinge kombinieren, zu unserer heutigen Wissenschaft führte. So entwickelte sich nach und nach, indem das alte Hellsehen allmählich erlosch, in uns das Gegenwartsbewußtsein, und zwar bei den verschiedenen Völkern in einer verschiedenen Weise. Eine ganz besondere war dabei die Mission des ägyptischen Volkes.
Alles, was wir aus älteren Zeiten auch äußerlich wissen, was in unserer Zeit aus neueren Forschungen hinzugekommen ist, zeigt uns, wenn wir sie richtig verstehen, daß es wahr ist, was die Geisteswissenschaft zu behaupten hat: daß es gerade in der Mission des ägyptischen Volkes lag, auf alte Zeiten zurückzublicken, wo die führenden Individualitäten und Persönlichkeiten dieses ägyptischen Volkes durch starke hellseherische Kräfte noch tief hineinschauten in die geistigen Welten. Innerhalb des ägyptischen Volkes war es, wo sich eine gewisse schwächere hellseherische Kraft und eine schwächere Kraft der Seelenverfassung, die mit diesem Hellsehen zusammenhing, bis in späte Zeiten erhalten hat. Daher müssen wir sagen: Die späteren Ägypter — bis herein in die letzten Jahrtausende vor der christlichen Zeitrechnung — wußten aus eigener Erfahrung, daß es ein anderes Anschauen als das des gewöhnlichen Tageslebens gibt, wo man nur die Augen aufmacht und den Verstand zu Hilfe nimmt, und daß dieses andere Anschauen den Menschen in die geistige Welt hineinblicken 1äßt. Aber sie kannten nur die niedrigsten bildhaften Vorstellungen eines Reiches, das man da wahrnehmen konnte, und sie erinnerten sich ihrer alten Zeiten, in welchen ihre Priesterweisen wie in einem goldenen Zeitalter der ägyptischen Kultur tief hineinschauen konnten in die geistige Welt.
Was damals als die Geheimnisse der geistigen Welten geschaut worden war, das war insbesondere bei den älteren Ägyptern mit der denkbar größten Pietät, mit der tiefsten Religiosität und alleräußersten Sorgfalt durch die Jahrtausende hindurch aufbewahrt worden, so daß diejenigen, welche in dem späteren ägyptischen Zeitalter lebten, wenn sie auch noch hineinzuschauen vermochten in die geistigen Welten, sich etwa folgendes sagen konnten: Wir sehen jetzt noch eine niedrige geistige Welt, wir wissen, daß es ein solches Anschauen einer geistigen Welt gibt; das zu bezweifeln wäre ebenso klug, als zu bezweifeln, daß es ein äußeres Anschauen mit den Augen gibt. — Das konnte sich der Ägypter der späteren Zeit sagen. Er hatte zwar nur noch schwache Nachklänge niedriger geistiger Welten, doch er fühlte und ahnte dabei, daß es eine alte Zeit gegeben hat, in welcher man tiefer in das, was hinter dem PhysischSinnlichen liegt, hineinschauen konnte. Und eine altersgraue Lehre, von welcher eben der ägyptische Weise zu Solon sprach, in wundersamen Tempelinschriften und Säulenaufschriften erhalten, gab Kunde von den hellseherischen Kräften in der alten Zeit. Den aber, in welchem die Ägypter sozusagen alle ursprüngliche Größe jener alten hellseherischen Weisheit sahen, nannten sie ihren großen Weisen, den alten Hermes. Als dann in einer späteren Zeit wieder ein Erneuerer der altägyptischen Weisheit kam, nannte er sich — wie im Grunde genommen so viele nach einem alten Brauch der ägyptischen Weisen — wieder Hermes. Und seine Bekenner, weil sie sagten, daß des in urferner Vergangenheit lebenden Hermes Weisheit wieder auflebte, nannten jetzt diesen ersten Hermes den Dreimal Großen: Hermes Trismegistos. Doch im Grunde genommen nannte ihn nur der Grieche Hermes, bei den Ägyptern hatte er den Namen Thoth. Verstehen aber kann man diesen Weisen nur, wenn man begreift, was die Ägypter gerade unter dem Einfluß der Überlieferungen von Hermes oder Thoth als die eigentlichen Weltengeheimnisse betrachteten.
Es mutet uns ganz sonderbar an, was sozusagen äußerlich als ägyptische Glaubensvorstellungen überliefert erscheint. Einzelne Götter, von denen die bedeutsamsten Osiris und Isis sind, erscheinen, wo sie dargestellt werden, nicht einmal in der bildhaften Darstellung völlig menschlich ausgebildet, sondern oft mit menschlichem Leib und Tierkopf und in der mannigfaltigsten Weise aus Menschengestalt und Tiergestalt zusammengefügt. Merkwürdige religiöse Legenden sind uns von dieser Götterwelt überliefert. Ferner ist jener Tierdienst der Ägypter etwas höchst Eigenartiges, die Verehrung der Tiere, der Katzen und anderer, der so weit ging, daß man heilige Tiere anerkannte, die eine tiefe Verehrung genossen, in denen man etwas erblickte wie höhere Wesenheiten. Es wird sogar erzählt, daß diese Verehrung der Tiere bei den Ägyptern so weit gegangen ist, daß Wehklagen angestimmt wurden, wenn zum Beispiel eine Katze, die lange in einem Hause gelebt hatte, gestorben war. Oder wenn ein Ägypter von ferne sah: dort liegt ein totes Tier, so ging er nicht in die Nähe, weil man sonst sagen könnte, er habe das Tier getötet, denn es stand eine harte Strafe darauf. Ja, es ist uns sogar überliefert, daß ein Römer in der Zeit, als Ägypten schon unter der Herrschaft der Römer stand, wegen der Tötung einer Katze geradezu sein Leben gefährdete, weil er dadurch einen Aufruhr unter den Ägyptern hervorgerufen hatte. Dieser Tierdienst erscheint als etwas besonders Rätselhaftes in dem ganzen Zusammenhange des ägyptischen Denkens und Empfindens. Und weiter: Wie sonderbar mutet den modernen Menschen die ragende Pyramide an in ihrer viereckigen Grundform und den dreieckigen Seitenflächen! Wie sonderbar muten die Sphinxe an und alles, was mit immer größerer und größerer Deutlichkeit selbst durch die moderne Forschung aus den Tiefen der ägyptischen Kultur an die Oberfläche unseres Wissens heraufbefördert wird! So fragen wir uns jetzt: Welche Stellung nahm die Vorstellungswelt von all diesem in der Seele des alten Ägypters ein? Was sagte der alte Ägypter, daß ihn Hermes gelehrt habe? Wie kam er zu all diesen Vorstellungen?
Da müssen wir uns nun daran gewöhnen, in Legenden, namentlich in den bedeutungsvolleren, überall sozusagen eine tiefere Weisheit auch anzuerkennen. Wir müssen voraussetzen, daß über gewisse Gesetze des geistigen Lebens — also Gesetze, die höher sind als die äußeren Naturgesetze — diese Legenden in Bildern berichten wollen. Da spricht zum Beispiel die ägyptische Legende von dem Götterpaare Osiris und Isis, und die ägyptische Legende nennt Hermes den weisen Ratgeber des Osiris. In Osiris sieht die Legende ein Wesen, das in grauer Vorzeit auf dem Gebiete gelebt habe, auf dem nunmehr die Menschen leben. Dieser Osiris, der von der Legende dargestellt wird als der Wohltäter der Menschheit, unter dessen weisem Einfluß Hermes oder 'Thoth den Ägyptern ihre alte Kultur gegeben hat bis in das materielle Wesen dieser Kultur hinein, dieser Osiris hatte einen Feind. Denselben nannte der Grieche dann Typhon. Dieser Feind stellte dem Osiris nach, tötete ihn, zerstückelte den Leichnam, verbarg ihn in einem Sarg und warf ihn ins Meer. Die Schwester und Gattin Isis suchte den Osiris, suchte lange nach dem Gatten, der ihr durch 'Typhon oder Seth entrissen worden war, und als sie ihn endlich fand, sammelte sie die Stücke, in die ihn Typhon oder Seth zerstückelt hatte, begrub ihn an verschiedenen Orten des Landes, wo dann Tempel errichtet wurden und gebar wie ein nachgeborenes höheres Wesen den Horus, der also erst entstanden war nach dem Tode des Osiris — nur durch einen geistigen Einfluß, der von dem mittlerweile in eine andere Welt gegangenen Osiris auf die Isis übergegangen war. Und Horus ist nun dazu berufen, Typhon zu besiegen und in einer gewissen Weise die Herrschaft jenes Lebens wieder einzuführen, das — von Osiris ausgehend — in die Menschheit einströmen sollte.
Eine solche Legende muß man nicht bloß allegorisch und symbolisch auslegen, sondern sich ein wenig in die ganze Gefühls- und Empfindungswelt der alten Ägypter hineinbegeben können; denn daraus wird — was wichtiger ist als alle abstrakten Vorstellungen — das Gefühl und die Empfindung gegenüber solchen Gestalten wie Osiris und Isis zunächst lebendig. Es ist nicht gut, wenn man solche Gestalten wie Osiris und Isis dahin auslegen will, daß man in Osiris von vornherein die Sonne, in Isis von vornherein den Mond und dergleichen sieht und so eine astronomische Auslegung gibt, wie das Wort heute von der äußeren Wissenschaft gebraucht wird, wobei man glaubt, es wären bloß gewisse Vorgänge am Himmel durch eine solche Legende versinnlicht. Das ist nicht der Fall. Sondern wir müssen auf uralte Gefühle der Ägypter zurückgehen und uns aus diesen Gefühlen heraus die ganz eigenartige Natur des Aufblickens zu übersinnlichen, unsichtbaren Mächten vorstellen, zu solchen übersinnlichen, unsichtbaren Mächten, welche der Sinneswelt zugrunde liegen und die in ihren gegenseitigen Verhältnissen zunächst in Osiris und Isis charakterisiert sind. Bei diesen beiden Namen empfand der alte Ägypter ungefähr folgendes.
Der Menschheit liegt, sagte er sich, ein Höheres, Geistiges zugrunde. Das ist nicht vom materiellen Dasein ausgegangen, in welchem sie jetzt lebt, sondern sie hat sich zu dem jetzigen physischen Menschendasein sozusagen erst hereinverdichtet, nach und nach hereinentwickelt. Von einem andern Menschendasein mehr geistigerer Art ging die eigentliche Menschheitsentwickelung aus. Blicke ich nun in die eigene Seele, so werde ich mir bewußt, daß in mir etwas liegt, was Sehnsucht nach einem Geistigen, Sehnsucht zugleich nach dem Ursprunge, aus dem ich selber aus dieser geistigen Welt herabgestiegen bin, bedeutet. Die Kräfte, von denen ich herstamme, leben noch in mir selber. Was ich als meine besten übersinnlichen, unsichtbaren Kräfte in mir trage, das ist innig diesen ursprünglichen übersinnlichen Kräften verwandt. Daher fühle ich in mir eine Osiris-Kraft. Sie stellt mir ein übersinnliches Menschenwesen dar, das einstmals in anderen, übersinnlichen Regionen gelebt hat. Wenn es auch dort dumpf, instinktiv gelebt hat, wenn es auch erst mit dem physischen Leib und seinen Werkzeugen hat umkleidet werden müssen, um die physische Welt anzuschauen, so lebte es doch gegenüber diesem physisch-sinnlichen Leben ehedem in einem geistigen Leben.
Die Kräfte, welche der Menschheitsentwickelung ursprünglich zugrunde liegen, müssen nach altägyptischer Anschauung in einer Zweiheit erfaßt werden, in einer solchen Zweiheit, daß man das eine Element derselben mit dem Namen Osiris und das andere mit dem Namen Isis belegt: Osiris-Isis. Wenn wir in uns selber blicken und dabei die Empfindungen, das Gefühl des alten Ägypters gebrauchen, so können wir uns sagen: Wir haben in uns zunächst das aktive Denken. Man braucht sich nur zu erinnern, wie gedacht werden muß, wenn ein Gedanke zuletzt entsteht, wenn wir zum Beispiel den Gedanken eines Dreieckes in uns haben. Da muß das aktive, das tätige Denken vorangehen, um den Gedanken eines Dreieckes zu bilden. Nachdem wir in der Seele tätig waren, können wir uns passiv zu dem Ergebnis unseres Denkens, zu unseren Gedanken und Vorstellungen wenden. Wir sehen zuletzt in unserer Seele die Gebilde unseres aktiven Denkens. Wie nun das Denken zu den Gedanken, wie das Vorstellen zu den Vorstellungen, wie das Tätige zu dem, was aus dem Tätigen wird und zuletzt vor uns steht, so verhält sich Osiris zu Isis. Man möchte auch sagen: Das Tätige erscheint uns wie ein Väterliches, wie ein männliches Prinzip: das Osiris-Prinzip, wie ein Kämpfendes, das dann unsere Seele erfüllt, anfüllt mit Gedanken und Empfindungen. Und wie der Mensch hier steht, sagte sich der alte ÄÄgypter, wie die Stoffe, die in seinem Blut leben oder seine Knochen bilden, nicht immer in seinem Blut und in seinen Knochen waren, sondern draußen im Weltenraume zerstreut vorhanden waren, wie dieser ganze physische Leib ein Zusammenschluß von physisch verfolgbaren Stoffen ist, die hereinwandern in die menschliche Form, während sie vorher draußen im Universum ausgebreitet waren, so ist es mit unserer Denkkraft: sie ist in uns Vorstellungskraft. So wie die Stoffe in unserem Blut einmal drinnen sind in der Menschenform und das andere Mal draußen ausgebreitet sind, so ist die Osiris-Kraft als Denkkraft in uns tätig und ausgebreitet im geistigen Weltall als Osiris, als die das ganze Weltall durchlebende und durchwebende Osiris-Kraft, die ebenso einzieht in den Menschen wie die Stoffe, die dann das Blut und die Knochen im Körperhaften des Menschen zusammensetzen. Und in die Gedanken und Vorstellungen und Begriffe fließen ein die um das Universum webenden und lebenden Isis-Kräfte. So müssen wir uns zunächst den Aufblick in der Seele des alten Ägypters zu Osiris und Isis vorstellen.
Für solche Vorstellungen konnte das alte Bewußtsein keinen Ausdruck finden innerhalb derjenigen Welt, die uns hier auf der Erde in unserer Sinnlichkeit umgibt. Denn alles, was uns hier zunächst umgibt, galt eben als sinnliche Welt, die keine äußeren Sinnbilder darbieten konnte für die übersinnliche Welt. Um nun etwas wie eine Art von Sprache, von schriftlichem Ausdruck für solche Vorstellungen zu gewinnen, welche die Seele mächtig bewegten, wenn sie sich sagte: die Osiris-Isis-Kraft wirkt in mir — griff man hinauf zu der Schrift, welche die Himmelskörper im Weltenraume schreiben. Man sagte: Was man an übersinnlicher Kraft als Osiris empfindet, das kann man sich versinnlicht denken in dem, was als Sonnenlicht von der Sonne ausgeht und den Raum durchwebt und durchlebt als die tätige Lichtkraft. Und in dem, was man als Isis empfindet, kann man das sehen, was uns als reflektiertes, zurückgeworfenes Sonnenlicht vom Monde kommt, der an sich dunkel ist — wie die Seele, wenn nicht das tätige Denken in sie fällt — und auf das Licht der Sonne wartet, um es zurückzuwerfen, wie die Seele auf die Osiris-Kraft wartet, um sie als IsisKraft zurückzuwerfen. Wenn so der alte ÄÄgypter empfand: Draußen sagen mir die Sonne und der Mond, wie ich am besten sinnbildlich denken kann über das, was meine Seele empfindet, — dann wußte er zugleich: Es ist doch kein zufälliger Zusammenhang zwischen dem, was da geheimnisvoll im Raume erscheint als die lichtverbreitende Sonne und der das Sonnenlicht zurückwerfende Mond, sondern was ich da als den Raum durchleuchtend, Licht verbreitend und Licht zurückwerfend sehe, das muß etwas mit den Kräften zu tun haben, die ich als übersinnliche in mir empfinde. — Wie wir in der Uhr nicht etwas sehen, was durch kleine Dämonen seine Zeiger treibt, sondern etwas Mechanisches, so wissen wir doch auch, daß der ganzen Zusammenfügung der Uhr der Gedanke des Uhr-Erfinders zugrunde liegt, der aus der Seele des Menschen gekommene Gedanke, so daß also ein Geistiges den Mechanismus der Uhr geformt hat. So wie die Zeiger einer Uhr zueinander stehen, abhängig voneinander freilich, — und wenn wir in den Raum hinausblicken, durch mechanische Gesetze beherrscht, aber zuletzt doch abhängig von den Gesetzen, die der Mensch in seiner Seele empfindet, wenn er von der Osiris- und Isis-Kraft spricht —, so erschien als Ausdrucksmittel einer gewaltigen Weltenuhr Sonne und Mond. Und der Ägypter sagte sich nicht nur: Sonne und Mond versinnlichen mir die Beziehung zwischen Osiris und Isis, sondern er empfand: Was in mir lebt, das liegt ursprünglich jenem geheimnisvollen Kräfteverhältnis zugrunde, welches das Licht trägt zu Sonne und Mond.
So wie es in bezug auf Osiris und Isis gegenüber Sonne und Mond war, so war es in bezug auf andere Gestirne und Planeten bei den andern Göttern. Die Ägypter sahen in der Stellung der Himmelskörper zunächst Sinnbilder für das, was sie als Übersinnliches erlebten oder was ihnen überliefert war als Erlebnisse der ältesten Hellseher. Sie sahen aber in diesem Ausdruck einer Weltenuhr die Darstellungen derselben Kräfte, die sie zuletzt in der menschlichen Seele empfanden. So wurde die große Weltenuhr mit der Bewegung ihrer Sterne und dem Verhältnis der bewegten Sterne zu den ruhenden Sternen eine Offenbarung der geistigen, übersinnlichen Kräfte, die dahinterstanden, die diese Stellungen hervorgerufen haben und sich in einer universellen Schrift, die man zu verstehen hat, ein Ausdrucksmittel für ihre übersinnlichen Mächte und Kräfte verschafften.
Das sind die Gefühle und Empfindungen gegenüber dieser höheren Welt, welche die alten Ägypter durch Hellseher über jene geistige Welt überliefert erhielten, von der sie wußten, daß sie besteht, weil sie die letzten Nachklänge des alten Hellsehens selbst noch hatten. Nun aber sagten sie sich: Wir Menschen stammen aus dieser geistigen Welt. Aber wir sind hereingestellt in eine Welt der Sinnlichkeit, die uns in den sinnlich-physischen Dingen und im sinnlich-physischen Geschehen gegeben ist. Wir stammen aus der Welt von Osiris und Isis. Was als der beste Teil in uns strebt und höhere Vollkommenheitsstufen erreichen kann als die, welche wir jetzt haben, ist ausgeflossen von Osiris und Isis. Diese leben unsichtbar in uns als Kraft. Was der physische Mensch ist, stammt aus äußeren Verhältnissen, ist der äußeren Welt entnommen, darinnen ist der OsirisIsis-Teil nur eingekleidet.
Eine solche Vorstellung uralter Weisheiten wurde aber in der Seele des alten Ägypters eine diese Seele ganz beherrschende Empfindung, ein ganz umfassendes Gefühl des ägyptischen Seelenlebens. Man kann abstrakte Vorstellungen in die Seele aufnehmen, ohne daß das Moralisch-Ethische des Seelenlebens, oder auch das Schicksalsmäßige, das Glückhafte des Seelenlebens berührt wird; ja, besonders mathematisch-abstrakte Vorstellungen der Naturwissenschaft kann man so aufnehmen, kann über Elektrizität und ähnliche Kräfte debattieren, ohne daß die Seele die Frage nach dem Schicksal an den Menschen stellen muß. Aber man kann nicht die eben charakterisierten Gefühle und Empfindungen über das Hineinschauen in die geistigen Welten und das Sich-verwandt-Denken der tiefsten Seeleneigenschaften mit Osiris und Isis als Gedanken und Ideen fassen, ohne daß die Glücks- und Schicksalsgedanken aufgerührt würden, die moralischen Impulse des Menschen, Ja, die werden aufgerüttelt! Denn da sagt sich der Mensch: Ich trage ein besseres Selbst in mir, aber durch das, was ich im physischen Leibe bin, tritt zunächst dieses bessere Selbst zurück, wird zunächst nicht ganz offenbar. Mir liegt eine Osiris-, eine Isis-Natur zugrunde, aber die gehört den Ursprungswelten, den alten goldenen, heiligen Zeiten an. Für den gegenwärtigen Menschen ist sie durch die Kräfte überwunden worden, die das äußere Physische zum Menschenleib geballt haben und die Osiris- und Isis-Kräfte in den Leib eingekerkert haben, der verweslich ist und der Zerstörung unterliegt wie die äußeren Naturkräfte.
So sehen wir die Legende von Osiris und Isis in Empfindungen umgesetzt. Osiris, des Menschen höhere Kraft, die im Weltenraume ausgebreitet ist, wird von denjenigen Kräften überwunden, welche der Zerstörung in der Menschennatur unterliegen. Von Typhon wird eingekerkert, was als Osiris-Kraft im Menschen lebt. Typhon hängt sogar sprachlich mit dem Worte «auflösen, verwesen» zusammen. Sie wird eingekerkert in das, was wie ein Sarg des geistigen Menschenteiles geformt wird, in welchem — unsichtbar für die äußere Welt — der Osiris-Teil des Menschen verschwindet. Aber es bleibt als ein Geheimnisvolles für die VorstelJungen des alten Ägypters die Seelennatur darin, die für den Menschen die geheimnisvolle Isis-Natur ist. Sie bleibt, um in der Zukunft — und zwar mit Durchdringung der intellektuellen Kraft — das wieder zu erreichen, aus dem der Mensch hervorgegangen ist. So strebt also etwas in dem Menschen Verborgenes darnach, den Osiris wieder zu beleben. Die Isis-Kraft ist in der menschlichen Seele, um den Menschen aus dem, was er gegenwärtig ist, nach und nach wieder zum Osiris hinzuführen. Und diese Isis-Kraft macht es, daß der Mensch, allerdings nicht, solange er physischer Mensch bleibt, sich von der physisch-sinnlichen Natur absondern kann, aber sie macht es, daß der Mensch, ob er zwar ein äußerer, physischer Mensch bleibt und voll in der äußeren, physischen Welt steht, doch in seinem Inneren immerfort den Aufblick hat zu einem höheren Ich, das nach der Anschauung aller bedeutendsten Geister der Menschheit tief verborgen allen menschlichen Kräften zugrunde liegt. Dieser Mensch, der nicht der äußere, physische Mensch ist, sondern der Mensch, der zum geistigen Licht aufzustreben immerfort den Ansporn hat, immer von den verborgenen Isis-Kräften getrieben wird, ist es, der wie der irdische Sohn des nicht in der irdischen Welt aufgegangenen, sondern in den geistigen Welten verborgen gebliebenen Osiris erscheint. Dieser unsichtbare Mensch, der Mensch des Strebens nach dem höheren Selbst, wurde von der ägyptischen Seele als Horus empfunden, als der nachgeborene Sohn des Osiris.
So blickte mit einer gewissen Wehmut der alte Ägypter hin zu dem Osiris-Ursprung, den der Mensch hat, blickte aber zugleich hinein in die Seele und sagte: Die Seele hat noch etwas von der Isis-Kraft erhalten, die selbst den Horus gebiert, der immer den Ansporn hat, hinaufzustreben zu den geistigen Höhen. Und in diesen geistigen Höhen findet der Mensch wieder den Osiris. — Aber in zweifacher Weise ist für den gegenwärtigen Menschen der Osiris wieder zu erreichen. Der Ägypter sagte sich: Ich bin ausgegangen von dem Osiris und wieder kommen soll ich zu dem Osiris. In bezug auf meinen geistigen Ursprung ist Osiris in mir, und Horus leitet mich an, wieder zum Osiris, zu seinem Vater zu kommen. Osiris ist aber nur in der geistigen Welt zu erreichen. Er konnte nicht eingehen in die physische Menschennatur. Dort ist er überwunden worden von den Typhon-Kräften, die der Zerstörung unterliegen, weil sie äußere Naturkräfte sind.
Daher ist der Osiris nur auf zwei Wegen zu erreichen. Der eine Weg ist der, welcher durch die Pforte des Todes geht. Der andere ist der, welcher durch die Pforte desjenigen Todes geht, der nicht zum physischen Sterben führt, sondern zur Initiation, zur Einweihung geht. Daher stellte sich der Ägypter vor, was auch noch weiter ausgeführt ist in meiner Schrift «Das Christentum als mystische Tatsache»: Wenn der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes schreitet, kommt er nach den nötigen vorbereitenden Stadien zum Osiris. Es erwacht in ihm, wenn er von der irdischen Leibeshülle befreit ist und in der geistigen Welt steht, das Bewußtsein seiner Verwandtschaft mit Osiris. Der Tote selber fühlt sich so, daß er in der geistigen Welt nach dem Tode angesprochen werden kann als «Osiris». Jeder wird sozusagen nach dem Tode als Osiris angesprochen. Der andere Weg zum Osiris zurück — der andere Weg in die geistige Welt also — ist der Weg der Einweihung oder Initiation. Diesen stellte sich der ÄÄgypter so vor, daß durch ihn der Mensch das kennenlernt, was zunächst unsichtbar, übersinnlich in der menschlichen Natur vorhanden ist. Das ist Isis oder die Isis-Kraft. Im alltäglichen Erkennen, in dem Wissen, das wir im Alltagsleben haben, dringen wir nicht bis zu den Tiefen unserer Seele, bis zur Isis-Kraft vor. Aber es gibt einen Weg, um bis zur Isis-Kraft vorzudringen, um herunterzusteigen bis zum eigenen Ich, um zu sehen, wie dieses Ich von der physischen Materie umhüllt ist. Geht man diesen Weg, so kommt man dort hinunter, wo das Ich in seiner eigentlichen geistigen Heimat ist. Deshalb sagte sich der alte Ägypter: Du mußt also in dein eigenes Inneres hinuntersteigen. Dort findest du zunächst die physische Menschennatur, insofern sie der Ausdruck des eigentlichen Menschen selbst ist, des Ich. Durch diese physische Menschennatur mußt du hindurchdringen. Die Außenwelt, insofern sie die Schöpfung der geistigen, übersinnlichen Mächte ist, erblickst du in den drei Reichen der Natur: wenn du auf die Steine siehst und auf ihre mathematischen Formen, wenn du auf die Pflanzen siehst und auf ihre merkwürdigen Formen, die von innerem Leben belebt sind, in dem göttlich-geistige Kräfte wirken, und endlich auch im dritten Reich, im Tierreich. Beim Menschen aber darfst du nicht an der äußeren Form stehenbleiben, sondern mußt in das, wo seine Seelenkräfte als Isis-Kräfte leben, untertauchen. — Daher war mit der Einweihung in die Isis-Mysterien das verbunden, was zunächst dem Menschen sich selbst zeigen sollte, wo er schauen sollte, wie er in Stoff eingekleidet ist. Was da geschah, wenn so der Mensch in seine eigene Natur untertauchte, das war dasselbe, was im Grunde genommen im Tode geschieht, nur auf eine andere Weise. Der Mensch mußte durch die Pforte des Todes bei lebendigem Leibe gehen, mußte jenen Übergang vom physischen Schauen zum überphysischen Schauen, von der physischen Welt in die geistige Welt kennenlernen, — jenen Übergang, den der Mensch beim Durchgehen durch den wirklichen Tod durchmacht. Der einzuweihende Mensch mußte diesen Weg im Hinuntersteigen in das eigene Innere durchmachen, mußte kennenlernen, was nur beim Hinuntersteigen in das eigene Innere zu erleben ist. Da kam er zunächst in das körperliche Innere, in die Art und Weise, wie aus der Natur das herausgeformt wird, was physisches Werkzeug ist für das Ich: das Blut.
Wir haben es öfter angeführt: während für das Fühlen, Wollen und Denken das Nervensystem die Werkzeuge bildet, müssen wir das Werkzeug des Ich in dem Blut sehen. Will der Mensch in seine Werkzeuge hinuntersteigen, so muß er — wie der alte Ägypter es sich dachte — hinuntersteigen in seine physisch-ätherische Hülle, in das ÄtherischSeelenhafte, muß lernen, unabhängig zu werden von der Kraft, von der sonst der Mensch in seinem Blute abhängig ist, und muß sich — nachdem er sich von ihr abgesondert hat — in die merkwürdigen Gänge des Blutes selbst hineinbegeben. Der Mensch muß erst seine höhere Natur physisch kennenlernen. Das kann er nur, wenn er sich so kennenJlernen kann, daß er sich wie einen Gegenstand anschaut. Der Mensch kann einen Gegenstand als Objekt nur erkennen, wenn er außerhalb desselben ist. So muß er außer sich sein, um sich zu erkennen. Daher führt die Einweihung zu solchen Kräften, durch welche die Seelenkräfte etwas erleben können, ohne die physischen Werkzeuge zu gebrauchen, so daß der Mensch die physischen Werkzeuge — in ähnlicher Weise wie nach dem Tode der geistige Teil des Menschen auf den physischen Leib herunterschaut — als Objekt vor sich hat. So sollte in den Isis-Mysterien der Mensch zunächst sein Blut kennenlernen.
Da machte der Mensch zunächst etwas durch, was man nicht besser bezeichnen kann als: das Herankommen bis an die Schwelle des Todes. Das war die erste Stufe der Einweihung in die Isis-Mysterien: der Mensch mußte sein Blut, sich selber anschauen als Objekt, mußte untertauchen in die Hülle, die das Werkzeug ist für seine Isis-Natur. Da wurde er in den Einweihungsstätten an zwei Tore geführt, wo in Bildern, die er am eigenen Leibe erlebte, ihm gezeigt wurde: So sieht es aus, wenn du dir das einmal vor die Seele malst, was in deinem Inneren vorgeht. — Zwei Tore zeigten sich ihm da, ein geschlossenes Tor und ein offenes Tor. Und wir müssen sagen: Merkwürdig, diese Lehren, die da aus Jahrtausenden zu uns herüberklingen, wie sie wieder stimmen zu dem, was der Mensch heute auch glaubt, nur daß er es sich heute materialistisch interpretiert. Ich konnte schon bei Gelegenheit des Zarathustra-Vortrages darauf hindeuten. Zwei Tore trifft der Mensch, so sagte der alte ägyptische Hellseher, wenn er in der Unterwelt ist. Durch zwei Tore trittst du in dein Blut und in dein Inneres ein. Der Anatom kann sagen: durch die zwei Eingänge, die in den beidseitigen Klappen des Herzens liegen. Wenn er eindringen wollte durch seinen Leib, so würde er durch das «offene Tor» eindringen. Durch das «geschlossene Tor» wird verhindert, daß der Blutstrom einen unrichtigen Weg nimmt. In dem, was uns anatomisch entgegentritt, sind die Sinnbilder enthalten für das, was — allerdings in hellseherischen Formen und Gebilden — die alten Weisen erlebten, die zwar nicht so unmittelbar wie der moderne Anatom die anatomischen Gebilde vor sich hatten, wohl aber das, was das hellseherische Bewußtsein sieht, wenn es selber auf das Innere von außen hinsieht.
Die nächste Stufe der Isis-Einweihung bestand in dem, was dadurch ausgedrückt wird, daß man sagt: Der Mensch wird geführt durch die Feuer-, Luft- und Wasser-Probe. Das heißt, er lernt ganz kennen die Hüllen-Natur seines Isis-Wesens; er lernt kennen das Feuer, wie es in seinem Blute als Werkzeug durch den Leib fließt und wie es zur Flüssigkeit wird; er lernt weiter kennen, wie die Luft eindringt als Sauerstoff. Feuer, Luft und Wasser: Wärme des Atemlaufes, Flüssigkeit des Blutes lernt der Mensch kennen. Und geläutert wird der Mensch, indem er so seine HüllenNatur kennenlernt durch die Elemente von Feuer, Luft und Wasser; und wenn er so seine Hüllen durchschaut hat, ist er bei seiner Isis-Natur angekommen. Das wird wieder technisch ausgedrückt dadurch, daß man sagt: Nun fühlt sich der Mensch erst zu sich gekommen, daß er sich jetzt als geistige Wesenheit weiß und sich nicht mehr beschränkt weiß auf die Menschheit der äußeren Welt, sondern in die geistige Welt hineinschaut. Denn es ist ein Gesetz, daß wir die physische Sonne nur bei Tage schauen, weil sie uns bei Nacht zugedeckt ist durch die Materie. In der geistigen Welt aber gibt es kein solches Zudecken. Da sieht man die geistigen Mächte gerade dann, wenn die physischen Augen unwirksam sind. Das bezeichnet symbolisch die Isis-Einweihung damit, daß sie sagt: Der Mensch gelangt, wenn er geläutert ist, dazu, die geistigen Wesen von Angesicht zu Angesicht zu schauen: die Sonne um Mitternacht zu schauen. Das heißt: wenn es dunkel und finster ist, ist dennoch das, was als geistiges Leben und als geistige Urkraft der Sonne zugrunde liegt, für den in die Isis-Mysterien Eingeweihten sichtbar.
So wird uns der Weg zu den Isis-Kräften der Seele beschrieben, wie er von denjenigen gegangen werden konnte, die noch im Leben die tiefsten Kräfte der Seele aufsuchten. Dann gab es noch höhere Mysterien, welche die eigentlichen Osiris-Mysterien waren. Da wurde tatsächlich dem Menschen klar, wie man durch die Isis-Kraft sich bei jener Urkraft geistiger, übersinnlicher Art fand, aus welcher der Mensch hervorgegangen ist: bei Osiris - wie Osiris der Menschenseele aufgeht.
Wenn nun der Ägypter in einer besonderen Schrift zum Ausdruck bringen wollte, auf seine Weise hinmalen wollte die Art, wie sich Isis zum Osiris verhält, so drückte er es aus durch das Wandeln von Sonne und Mond am Himmel, und die anderen geistigen Mächte durch die Verhältnisse der andern Sterne. Vor allem kam dabei in Betracht der Tierkreis mit seiner verhältnismäßigen Ruhe und was sich an Planeten bewegt über die Tierkreisbilder hin. In allem, was sich darin enthüllte, sah der alte Ägypter die Art, wie er am besten in einer geistigen Schrift zum Ausdruck bringen konnte, was seine Seele bewegte. Er wußte: Von dem, was auf der Erde ist, kann ich nichts nehmen, um auszudrücken, wozu der Mensch berufen ist, wenn er der IsisKraft zum Osiris folgt; das muß, wenn es beschrieben werden soll, aus der Konstellation der Sterne hergeholt werden. — Das führte dazu, daß der große Weise, der in grauer Vorzeit existierend gedacht werden muß, nach Anschauung der Ägypter vor allen Dingen den tiefsten hellseherischen Einblick hatte in dieses eben nur skizzenhaft dargestellte Verhältnis der Menschheit zum Universum, und daß er zum höchsten Ausdruck gebracht hat, was die Konstellation der Sterne war in bezug auf diese geistigen Kräfte und ihr Geschehen und die zwischen ihnen spielenden Tatsachen. In Sternensprache drückte er aus, was geschah. Sollte so zum Beispiel ausgedrückt werden, wie sich Osiris zu Isis verhält, so konnte man es in Form der Legende — exoterisch — dem Volke sagen. Für die, welche dann in die Einweihung geführt wurden, drückte man das genauere Verhältnis aus in dem Verhältnis des von der Sonne ausgehenden, vom Monde zurückgeworfenen und in merkwürdigen Verhältnissen vom Neumonde durch die Viertel zum Vollmonde gehenden Lichtes. Man erblickte darin mit Recht etwas, was ähnlich war dem Verhältnis der Isis-Kraft der menschlichen Seele zu Osiris. Und dann wurde von diesen Verhältnissen am Himmel und ihren Formen hergenommen, was man wirklich als die Urformen der Schrift ansehen kann. Denn so wenig, wie die Menschen dies in der Schrift noch erkennen, so sehr muß man sagen: In den Konsonanten hat man Nachbildungen der Tierkreiszeichen zu erblicken, des verhältnismäßig Ruhenden. Und in dem Verhältnis der Vokale zu den Konsonanten hat man Nachbildungen des Verhältnisses der Planeten und ihrer beweglichen Kräfte zum Tierkreis. Vom Himmel heruntergeholt, muß man sagen, sind die Schriftzeichen.
So empfanden die alten Ägypter gegenüber dem Hermes, dessen Lehrer wiederum waren die Kräfte, die vom Himmel herunter sprachen und das kündeten, was in den Menschenseelen sich auslebt. Ja, mehr noch: Was in den menschlichen Taten, selbst in aller Alltagstätigkeit des Lebens sich auslebt, was in Verrichtungen wie Feldmeßkunst sich auslebt, zu denen notwendig waren mathematische Wissenschaften, Geometrie — die dann Pythagoras von den Ägyptern gelernt hat —, das wurde zurückgeführt von den alten Ägyptern auf die Weisheit des Hermes, der sozusagen in allen irdisch-räumlichen Verhältnissen etwas wie Abbilder der himmlischen Verhältnisse gesehen hat und die himmlischen Verhältnisse in der Sternenschrift dargestellt hat. Die Sternenschrift hat Hermes heruntergetragen in die Mathematik und Geometrie, hat die Ägypter gelehrt, in den Sternen etwas zu finden, was auf der Erde vorgeht. Wir wissen, daß das ganze ägyptische Leben zusammenhing mit den Überschwemmungen des Nils, mit dem, was der Nil aus den Gebirgsgegenden absetzte, die südlich von Ägypten lagen. Wir können aber auch daraus ermessen, wie nötig es war, in einer gewissen Weise vorauszuwissen, wann diese Überschwemmungen des Nils eintreten können, wann die Umgestaltung der natürlichen Verhältnisse im Laufe eines Jahres sich richtig ergeben kann. Ihre Zeitrechnung nahmen die Ägypter auch noch von der Sternenschrift am Himmel. Wenn der Sirius, der Hundsstern, sichtbar wurde in dem Zeichen des Krebses, dann wußten sie: es kommt bald die Sonne in jenes Zeichen, von dem herabgehend ihre Strahlen sozusagen hervorzaubern, was auf dem Erdboden der Nil mit seinen Überschwemmungen bringt. So wußten sie: Sirius ist der Wachsame, er kündigt an, was wir zu erwarten haben. Das war ein Teil ihrer Sternen-Weltenuhr. Um in richtiger Weise das Land zu bebauen und zu beherrschen, was für das äußere Leben nötig war, blickte man dankbar hinauf zum Hundsstern. Und man blickte weiter hinauf, wo in altersgrauen Zeiten die Lehre ihnen gegeben worden ist, daß die Bewegung der Sterne der Ausdruck ist der Weltenuhr.
Für solche und ähnliche Verhältnisse haben sich die Ägypter Rat geholt in der Sternenschrift. In Thoth oder Hermes sahen sie denjenigen Geist, der nach den alten Überlieferungen die urältesten Aufzeichnungen der Weltenweisheit gemacht hat, und der nach dem, was er als Inspiration aus der Sternenschrift heraus empfangen hat, die physischen Buchstaben gebildet hat, der den Menschen den Ackerbau gelehrt, die Geometrie, die Feldmeßkunst gegeben hat — kurz, alles das gelehrt hat, was die Menschen zum physischen Leben brauchen. Alles physische Leben aber ist nichts anderes als der Leib eines geistigen Lebens. Das geistige Leben aber hängt zusammen mit dem ganzen Weltall, und aus diesem heraus war Hermes inspiriert. So erschien bald die ganze Kultur verbunden mit Hermes. Ja, die Ägypter fühlten sich in noch innigerer Weise mit ihm verbunden. Nehmen wir zum Beispiel an, daß ein Ägypter im Jahre 1322 vor unserer Zeitrechnung zum Himmel hinaufsah, so sah er eine ganz besondere Sternkonstellation. Denn die alten Ägypter hatten eine Zeitrechnung, die für die menschlichen Verhältnisse — besonders für das menschliche rechnerische Denken — zunächst bequem war: zwölf Monate zu dreißig Tagen, das gibt — mit fünf Ergänzungstagen — für das Jahr 365 Tage. So hatten sie gerechnet durch die Jahrhunderte hindurch, denn das war sozusagen mathematisch, rechnerisch bequem: ein Jahr war abgelaufen, wenn 365 Tage abgelaufen waren. Da blieb, wie wir aus der gegenwärtigen Astronomie wissen, ein viertel Tag jedesmal unberücksichtigt; das heißt, wenn das ägyptische Jahr zu Ende gerechnet war, so war es um einen viertel Tag zu früh. Wenn Sie es sich ausrechnen, können Sie darauf kommen, daß mit jedem Male das Jahr früher begann: es rückte das Jahr monateweise herein und rückte dann wieder an den Anfang. Das war der Fall nach vier mal 365 Jahren. Nach 1460 Jahren also war jedesmal die Tatsache eingetreten, daß die Himmelsverhältnisse sich wiederum mit der irdischen Rechnung ausgeglichen hatten, indem durch 1460 Jahre hindurch das gesamte Jahr zurückgegangen war. Wenn Sie das dreimal zurückrechnen, von dem Jahre 1322 vor unserer Zeitrechnung angefangen, so kommen Sie hinauf zu der Periode, bis zu welcher die Ägypter ihre uralte heilige Weisheit zurückschrieben, so daß sie sagten: In den alten Zeiten war noch hellstes Hellsehen vorhanden. Mit jedem solchen großen Sonnenjahr, das einen Ausgleich der irdischen Zeitrechnung herbeiführte, hatte die alte hellseherische Kraft um eine Stufe abgenommen. Wir leben jetzt in die vierte Stufe hinein. Unsere Kultur geht schon da hinein, wo wir nur mehr Überlieferungen einer altersgrauen Lehre haben können. Aber wir blicken hinauf durch drei Weltenjahre hindurch zu einer großen Vorzeit, in welcher unser größter Weiser seine Schüler und Nachfolger gelehrt hat, was wir heute — vielfach umgewandelt — in der Schrift haben, in der Mathematik, Geometrie, Feldmeßkunst, in allen übrigen gebräuchlichen Handhabungen unseres Lebens, auch in der Astronomie. Gleichsam sagte sich der alte Ägypter: Uns zeigt unsere menschliche Berechnung, die sich an die bequemen Zahlen von zwölf mal dreißig plus fünf Ergänzungstagen hält, wie uns die göttlich-geistige Welt korrigieren muß. Denn durch das, was wir in unserem Verstande haben, sind wir selbst dem Osiris und der Isis fremd geworden. Wir können nicht genau das Jahr berechnen. Aber wir blicken hinauf in eine verborgene Welt, da korrigieren uns die Mächte, welche die Sterne lenken.
So blickte der alte Ägypter selbst für seine Chronologie als von seiner menschlichen schwachen Kraft aus, die an den Verstand gebunden ist, zu den geistigen Kräften und Wesenheiten auf, die im Verborgenen leben und nach tieferen Gesetzen dasjenige korrigieren, beschützen und bewachen, was die Menschen auf der Erde zu durchleben haben. Und als denjenigen, der von diesen wachsamen Himmelskräften inspiriert wurde, verehrte der alte Ägypter seinen Thoth, seinen Hermes. Daher war diese Individualität für die Seele des alten Ägypters nicht etwa bloß ein großer Lehrer, sondern eine solche Wesenheit, zu der er mit tiefsten Dankgefühlen, tiefster Verehrung hinaufblickte, indem er sich sagte: Alles, was ich habe, habe ich von dir. Du stehst oben in einer altersgrauen Zeit und schicktest durch die, welche die Träger deiner Überlieferungen waren, das herunter, was in die äußere Menschenkultur einfließt und den Menschen zur größten Wohltat wird. Dadurch fühlte sich die Seele des alten Ägypters — sowohl in bezug auf den eigentlichen Urheber der Kräfte wie in bezug auf den Hüter derselben, sowohl für Osiris wie für Hermes oder Thorh — nicht bloß durchzogen von einem Wissen, das in Weisheit beschlossen war, sondern von einem Gefühl, das im tiefsten Sinne ein moralisches war, das ein in tiefste Verehrung, Dankbarkeit gehülltes Gefühl war. Daher zeigen uns die alten Schilderungen, daß alles, was die Ägypter an Weisheit hatten, besonders in den alten Zeiten, später dann immer weniger und weniger, durchzogen war mit einem religiösen Charakter. Es war sogar alles menschliche Wissen mit einem heiligen Gefühl, alle Weisheit stets mit Frömmigkeit, alle Wissenschaft mit Religion verbunden im Sinne der alten Ägypter. Das alles zeigte sich in den späteren Zeiten mehr oder weniger nicht mehr in seiner reinen Gestalt. Denn so wahr es ist, daß die einzelnen Völker in den aufeinanderfolgenden Epochen die Mission haben, das allgemeine Geistige in speziellen Gestalten zur Ausgestaltung zu bringen, so wahr ist es, daß die einzelnen Kulturen, wenn sie ihre Höhe erreicht haben, einer Dekadenz entgegengehen. Und das meiste sogar, was aus der altägyptischen Kultur erhalten ist, stammt schon aus der Verfallszeit, und es kann nur geahnt werden, was dahintersteckt: was uns zum Beispiel an den Pyramiden merkwürdig anmutet, oder was mit dem grotesk erscheinenden Tierdienst gemeint ist. Denn da sagten sich die Ägypter: Der Zeit, in welcher die Weisheit gewirkt hat — nicht in der Zeit, in welcher sie dieselbe überkommen hatten — geht eine andere voran, wo alle Wesen, nicht nur der Mensch, aus göttlich-geistigen Höhen heruntergestiegen sind. Wenn wir des Menschen Innerstes kennenlernen wollen, dürfen wir nicht auf seine äußere Gestalt sehen, sondern da müssen wir hineindringen in das Innere. Was uns außen entgegentritt, sind wie stehengebliebene Stufen der Uroffenbarung. Das zeigt sich wie verdichtet in mächtigen Bildern alter Gesetzmäßigkeit in den drei Reichen der Natur; zunächst in der Welt der Gesteine. Was sich uns da zeigt, sind Gestaltverhältnisse, die wir wieder zum Ausdruck bringen in der Pyramide. Was wir sehen in den Pflanzen an inneren Kräften, das ist etwas, was wir wieder ausgedrückt sehen in der Lotusblume. Und endlich auf dem Wege zum Menschen sehen wir, wie kristallisiert, wie nicht bis zum Menschen heraufgelangt göttliche Kräfte in äußere Formen gegossen, herumgestreut in den einzelnen Tiergestalten.
So ungefähr können wir uns die Empfindungen des alten Ägypters denken, wenn er in den Tieren auf die stehengebliebenen Formen uralter Götterkräfte hinsah. Denn der alte Ägypter sah auf uralte Zeiten zurück, wo aus göttlich-übersinnlichen Kräften alles hervorsproßte, und er vermutete, daß in den Wesen der drei Reiche der Natur göttliche Kräfte stehengeblieben sind, die dann in ihm selbst zur Menschlichkeit sich heraufgestaltet haben. Immer zu dem Gefühl, zu der Empfindung und zu jener Notwendigkeit müssen wir blicken, die uns zeigt, daß solche Weisheit, wie sie bei den alten Ägyptern vorhanden war, durchaus eine Weisheit war, welche die Seelen moralisch ergriff, sie gar nicht ohne Moral lassen konnte. Und durch die Art, wie die gesamte Welt zusammengebracht wurde mit übersinnlichen Kräften, mußte ein moralisches Verhältnis zur Tierwelt entstehen, das sich nur in der ägyptischen Verfallszeit grotesk und sonderbar zum Ausdruck gebracht hat. Denn wenn man auf die spätere ägyptische Kultur sieht, so zeigt sich gerade, daß das Unvollkommene nicht am Ausgangspunkte steht, sondern daß am Ausgangspunkte der ägyptischen Kultur geistige Offenbarungen, Höhen der Kultur stehen. Wir dürfen—was man heute so gern zum Ausgangspunkt der Kulturen nimmt — die primitiven einfachen Zustände nicht den Urzuständen zuschreiben, sondern im Gegenteil den Verfallszeiten, in welchen das große geistige Gut bereits hinuntergesunken, verfallen war. Wenn wir irgendwo Kulturen der Barbarei finden, so sind dies nicht Urkulturen, sondern Verfallskulturen, die von der geistigen Höhe heruntergestiegen sind.
Das ist allerdings wieder etwas, was zum Ärgernis jener Wissenschaft dienen kann, die alle Kulturen so beschreiben möchte, als wenn sie von den urprimitivsten Zuständen ausgegangen wären, von solchen primitivsten Zuständen, wie man sie heute noch bei den Wilden sieht. Aber in den heutigen primitivsten Kulturen hat man Verfallskulturen, und am Beginne der Menschheit stehend hat man Urkulturen, welche unmittelbar aus der geistigen Welt heraus von den führenden geistigen Wesenheiten inspiriert sind, die hinter der äußeren Geschichte stehen. Das sagt die Geisteswissenschaft aus dem, was sie wissen kann. Wiederum können wir fragen: Kommt mit der Wissenschaft von heute, die auf der Höhe der Zeit steht, die Geisteswissenschaft dabei in Kollision, wenn sie behauptet, daß wir, indem wir in der Zeit zurückgehen, nicht zu Verfallskulturen, sondern zu hohen Kulturen kommen, die dann heruntergefallen sind? Wir haben bei dem Vortrag «Was hat die Geologie über Weltentstehung zu sagen?» gezeigt, daß dies in bezug auf die Geologie nicht der Fall ist. Für das, was heute gesagt worden ist, kann ein gleiches behauptet werden. Sie hat lange gedauert, die Zeit, in der man glaubte, daß man von unserer Zeit zu kindlichen, primitiven Zuständen zurückzusehen hat, wie sie heute noch bei den Wilden vorhanden sind, und nicht zu erhabenen Theorien. Wenn wir aber auf die äußeren Forschungen sehen, die klar und ohne Vorurteil den Tatsachen zuleibe gehen, was finden wir da? Ich möchte Ihnen einiges wörtlich mitteilen aus einem neueren Werke «Der Einfluß Babyloniens auf das Verständnis des Alten Testamentes» von Alfred Jeremias, was uns zeigen wird, wie allmählich auch die äußere Forschung zurückgelangt zu einer geistig hochstehenden und von weitsichtigen Theorien durchzogenen Urkultur, und wie man das, was man barbarische Kulturen nennt, als Verfallskulturen ansehen muß. Das sei hier bei diesem neueren Werke besonders hervorgehoben.
«Die ältesten Urkunden sowie das gesamte euphratensische Kulturleben setzen eine wissenschaftliche und zugleich religiöse Theorie voraus, die nicht etwa nur in den Geheimlehren der Tempel ihr Dasein fristet, sondern nach der die staatlichen Organisationen geregelt sind, nach der Recht gesprochen, das Eigentum verwaltet und geschützt wird. Je höher das Altertum ist, in das wir blicken können, um so ausschließlicher herrscht die Theorie; erst mit dem Verfall der alten euphratensischen Kultur kommen andere Mächte zur Geltung.»
Das ist der erste Anfang der äußeren Wissenschaft, die auch hier — wie wir es das letzte Mal für die Geologie zeigen konnten — Wege einschlägt, die mit dem zusammenführen können, was die Geisteswissenschaft in die gegenwärtige Kultur hineinzuführen hat. Wird man auf diesen Wegen weiter fortschreiten, dann wird man immer mehr und mehr von jenem toten Gebilde abkommen, das man an den Ausgangspunkt der menschlichen Kulturen hinstellen möchte als ein primitives, kindliches, und wird zu den großen Individualitäten kommen, die uns um so überragender erscheinen, weil sie einer noch hellseherischen Kultur aus ihren Inspirationen dasjenige zu überliefern hatten, was wir in aller Kulturbetätigung drinnen haben als die größten Wohltaten, deren wir teilhaftig sind. So blicken wir gerade zu denjenigen Geistern der Menschheit hin, die uns — wie Zarathustra, so auch Hermes — deshalb so groß erscheinen, weil sie zuerst die größten Impulse der Menschheit in jener altersgrauen Zeit gegeben haben, von welcher der Weise zu Solon sprach. Wir schauen hinauf zu Hermes oder Thoth und sagen uns: Wie Zarathustra, so steht auch Hermes da als eine derjenigen führenden Individualitäten der Menschheit, gegenüber denen wir, sie anblickend, in uns selber eine Steigerung unserer Kräfte fühlen, wissend, daß der Geist nicht nur in der Welt ist, sondern immerzu hereinströmt in Weltentaten, in Menschheitsentwickelung! Wir fühlen uns so recht in unserem Dasein bekräftigt, in unserem Wirken beglaubigt, in unserer Hoffnung versichert, in unserer Bestimmung als Menschen verstärkt durch den Zusammenhang mit solchen Geistern, von denen wir immer sagen werden: Zu ihnen blicken Nachgeborene und suchen ihr eigenes Dasein in den Gaben ihrer Seelenkräfte und erkennen das eigene Wirken in den ewigen Geisteswerken der durch die Menschheit hin mit mächtigem Impuls wirkenden Geistesführer!
Hermes
If it is of great importance for the spiritual sciences to see how the spiritual life of humanity progresses from epoch to epoch, slowly pushing its way to the surface from dark depths, so to speak, then the study of ancient Egyptian culture and spiritual life is, one might say, of even greater importance. This significance is felt in two ways when one tries to immerse oneself in this ancient Egyptian spiritual life.
At first, what echoes down to us from ancient times seems as mysterious as the face of the sphinx itself, which we have as a monument to this ancient Egyptian culture. This mystery is heightened by the fact that even external research in recent times has had to go back further and further into ancient times in order to explain the existence of later Egyptian culture, for which more significant documents are available. External research dates what was at work in Egyptian cultural life back thousands of years before our era, at least to the seventh millennium — but even further back. If that is one reason why we take a special interest in this culture, we may say: the other reason is that — whether we like it or not — this culture has something remarkable about it for people of the present day, in that people of the present day — I mean our larger, broader present — have the feeling that this culture has something familiar, something mysteriously familiar with what people of the present day themselves want and may set as their goal. It therefore seems significant that such a great mind as Kepler, who stood at the dawn of modern scientific development, could express his feelings about what science had to offer the world up to his time, and what he himself had to offer, in no other words than these: With all that I have attempted to reveal about the movement of the planets around their sun, I have tried to look into the secrets of the universe. It often seems to me as if, with the ideas of these secrets, I have sought out the sacred vessels of the Egyptians in their mysterious temples and carried them over into modern times. And from this arises the feeling that posterity will only understand what is meant by what I have to give it. — One of the greatest minds of modern times felt such a kinship with ancient Egyptian culture that he could find no better way to describe the essence of what he wanted to give to the world than to present it as a renewal of what — albeit in different words and in a different way — in the secret teaching and cult sites of ancient Egypt. Therefore, we must be particularly interested in how these Egyptians themselves perceived the essence and the whole nature of their culture.
There is a meaningful word that has been preserved for us from ancient Greek tradition and that significantly expresses how not only the Egyptians themselves, but also antiquity perceived this Egyptian culture. It is said that an Egyptian sage said to Solon: “You Greeks will always remain children; what you know springs from your own human senses and perceptions. You have no ancient traditions. You remain children, you do not grow up, for you have no age-old teachings!” — We only learn what “time-honored teachings” mean when spiritual science attempts to shed light on the entire way of Egyptian thinking and feeling. Here we must remember what has often been said here before: that humanity has undergone a development of different forms of consciousness in the successive periods of its evolution. The consciousness in which we now live, this whole way of appropriating the outside world through the senses, of combining it through the intellect and understanding, this kind of everyday and scientific thinking, has not always existed. Rather, human consciousness is subject to what we call development. Not only the external world of forms is subject to this development, but also the soul constitution of human beings and human consciousness itself. It has been pointed out that we can only understand the ancient cultural sites of humanity if we assume what spiritual science has to say from its sources: that in ancient times, instead of today's intellectual consciousness, there was an ancient clairvoyant consciousness that was neither like our daytime consciousness, which lasts from waking up to falling asleep, nor like our unconsciousness in sleep from falling asleep to waking up. Instead, this ancient consciousness of pre-humanity existed in an intermediate state, which, one might say, is preserved only atavistically, like a stunted heirloom in the imagery of our dreams. But while our dreams are chaotic and, as they are in ordinary life, have no meaning, the ancient consciousness, which worked in images but still had a certain dull, dreamlike character, was a clairvoyant consciousness whose images pointed not to our physical world but to what lies behind it as a spiritual world. It can be said that, basically, all clairvoyant consciousness — both the dreamlike consciousness of pre-humanity and that which human beings attain today through the training already mentioned here — works in images, not in concepts and ideas like the outer physical consciousness; and that the images must be correctly related by the bearer of consciousness to the spiritual realities that lie behind the physical-sensory phenomena.
So we look back at all ancient folk development and say to ourselves: What comes across to us in such remarkable images is not merely — as a materialistic consciousness widely believes today — a childish elaboration of fantastical views of nature, but a sum of images that, although they appear before our soul in pictorial form, point in this pictorial form to a real view of a spiritual world. Those who delve into ancient mythologies and legends not with a modern materialistic consciousness, but with a sense for human creations and spiritual works of humanity, will find that the peculiar narratives of these mythologies acquire a coherence that miraculously corresponds to those laws of the world that are higher than our physical, chemical, and biological laws. Thus, a tone of spiritual reality resonates through the ancient mythologies and religious systems, giving them meaning.
Now we must realize that different peoples developed this world of images in different ways, depending on their disposition and temperament, race, and national character, in which they imagined the higher spiritual forces that stand behind the mere forces of nature. We must also be clear that in the gradual development, all kinds of transitions occur from this ancient clairvoyant consciousness to our present object consciousness, our everyday intellectual consciousness. We must imagine a fading, a gradual retreat of the old clairvoyant consciousness, we must imagine how, among different peoples, the powers of the old clairvoyance gradually diminished, how, so to speak, the images that appeared before the souls who could still see into the spiritual world contained ever lesser and lesser spiritual forces; how the higher worlds gradually closed their gates until only the lowest levels of spiritual activity were perceptible in lower clairvoyance. We must also imagine that then, for humanity in general, the old clairvoyance died out altogether, and daily vision remained limited to the physical world around us and to our ideas about physical things, which then, as we combined physical things, led to our present-day science. Thus, as the old clairvoyance gradually died out, the consciousness of the present developed in us, and in different ways among different peoples. The mission of the Egyptian people was a very special one in this regard.
Everything we know about earlier times, both externally and from recent research, shows us, if we understand it correctly, that what spiritual science claims is true: that it was precisely the mission of the Egyptian people to look back on ancient times, when the leading individuals and personalities of this Egyptian people still looked deeply into the spiritual worlds through strong clairvoyant powers. It was within the Egyptian people that a certain weaker clairvoyant power and a weaker power of the soul state connected with this clairvoyance was preserved until late times. Therefore, we must say that the later Egyptians — up until the last millennia before the Christian era — knew from their own experience that there is a way of seeing other than that of ordinary daily life, where one only opens one's eyes and uses one's intellect, and that this other way of seeing allows human beings to look into the spiritual world. But they knew only the lowest pictorial ideas of a realm that could be perceived there, and they remembered their ancient times, when their priest-wise men, as in a golden age of Egyptian culture, could look deeply into the spiritual world.
What had been seen at that time as the mysteries of the spiritual worlds had been preserved, especially by the older Egyptians, with the greatest possible reverence, the deepest religiosity, and the utmost care throughout the millennia, so that those who lived in the later Egyptian age, even if they were still able to look into the spiritual worlds, could say to themselves something like this: We now see only a low spiritual world; we know that such a view of a spiritual world exists; to doubt this would be as wise as to doubt that there is an external view with the eyes. — That is what the Egyptians of later times could say to themselves. Although they had only faint echoes of lower spiritual worlds, they felt and sensed that there had been an ancient time when it was possible to see more deeply into what lies behind the physical and sensory. And an ancient teaching, of which the Egyptian sage spoke to Solon, preserved in wondrous temple inscriptions and pillar inscriptions, gave testimony to the clairvoyant powers of ancient times. But the one in whom the Egyptians saw, so to speak, all the original greatness of that ancient clairvoyant wisdom, they called their great sage, the ancient Hermes. When, in a later age, another renewer of ancient Egyptian wisdom came, he called himself Hermes again, as so many had done before him, following an ancient custom of the Egyptian sages. And his followers, because they said that the wisdom of Hermes, who lived in the distant past, was revived, now called this first Hermes the Thrice Great: Hermes Trismegistos. But basically, only the Greeks called him Hermes; among the Egyptians, he had the name Thoth. But one can only understand this sage if one comprehends what the Egyptians, under the influence of the traditions of Hermes or Thoth, considered to be the true secrets of the world.
It seems very strange to us what appears to have been handed down, so to speak, as Egyptian beliefs. Individual gods, the most important of which are Osiris and Isis, do not even appear completely human in their pictorial representations, but often with a human body and an animal head, and in the most diverse ways combined from human and animal forms. Strange religious legends have been handed down to us from this world of gods. Furthermore, the Egyptians' worship of animals, cats and others, is something highly peculiar, going so far as to recognize sacred animals that enjoyed deep veneration, in which they saw something like higher beings. It is even said that this worship of animals among the Egyptians went so far that lamentations were sung when, for example, a cat that had lived in a house for a long time died. Or if an Egyptian saw a dead animal from a distance, he would not go near it, because otherwise it could be said that he had killed the animal, which was punishable by severe penalties. Yes, it has even been handed down to us that a Roman, at a time when Egypt was already under Roman rule, actually endangered his life because he had killed a cat, as this caused an uprising among the Egyptians. This worship of animals appears to be something particularly mysterious in the whole context of Egyptian thought and feeling. And further: how strange the towering pyramid appears to modern man with its square base and triangular sides! How strange the sphinxes appear, and everything that is being brought to the surface of our knowledge with ever greater clarity, even by modern research, from the depths of Egyptian culture! So we now ask ourselves: What place did the world of ideas occupy in the soul of the ancient Egyptian? What did the ancient Egyptian say that Hermes had taught him? How did he arrive at all these ideas?
We must now accustom ourselves to recognizing a deeper wisdom in legends, especially in the more meaningful ones. We must assume that these legends seek to convey certain laws of spiritual life — laws that are higher than the external laws of nature — in images. For example, the Egyptian legend speaks of the divine couple Osiris and Isis, and the Egyptian legend names Hermes as the wise advisor to Osiris. The legend sees Osiris as a being who lived in ancient times in the area where humans now live. This Osiris, who is portrayed in the legend as the benefactor of humanity, under whose wise influence Hermes or Thoth gave the Egyptians their ancient culture, right down to the material essence of this culture, this Osiris had an enemy. The Greeks called this enemy Typhon. This enemy pursued Osiris, killed him, dismembered his body, hid it in a coffin, and threw it into the sea. His sister and wife, Isis, searched for Osiris, searching long for the husband who had been snatched from her by Typhon or Seth, and when she finally found him, she gathered the pieces into which Typhon or Seth had dismembered him, buried him in various places throughout the land, where temples were then built, and gave birth to Horus, a higher being born after Osiris' death — only through a spiritual influence that had passed from Osiris, who had meanwhile gone to another world, to Isis. And Horus is now called upon to defeat Typhon and, in a certain sense, to reintroduce the rule of that life which — originating with Osiris — was to flow into humanity.
Such a legend must not be interpreted merely allegorically and symbolically, but one must be able to enter a little into the whole world of feelings and sensations of the ancient Egyptians; for from this — which is more important than all abstract ideas — the feeling and sensation towards such figures as Osiris and Isis first come alive. It is not good to interpret figures such as Osiris and Isis in such a way that one sees Osiris as the sun and Isis as the moon from the outset, and thus gives an astronomical interpretation, as the word is used today by external science, believing that such a legend merely symbolizes certain processes in the heavens. That is not the case. Instead, we must go back to the ancient feelings of the Egyptians and, based on these feelings, imagine the very peculiar nature of looking up to supersensible, invisible powers, to such supersensible, invisible powers that underlie the sensory world and are characterized in their mutual relationships, first of all, in Osiris and Isis. The ancient Egyptians felt approximately the following about these two names.
Humanity, he said to himself, is based on something higher, something spiritual. This did not originate from the material existence in which it now lives, but rather condensed into, so to speak, the current physical human existence, gradually developing into it. The actual development of humanity originated from another human existence of a more spiritual nature. When I now look into my own soul, I become aware that there is something within me that signifies a longing for the spiritual, a longing at the same time for the origin from which I myself descended from this spiritual world. The forces from which I originate still live within me. What I carry within me as my best supersensible, invisible forces is intimately related to these original supersensible forces. Therefore, I feel an Osiris force within me. It represents a supersensible human being who once lived in other, supersensible regions. Even though it lived there in a dull, instinctive way, even though it first had to be clothed in the physical body and its instruments in order to see the physical world, it nevertheless lived in a spiritual life as opposed to this physical-sensory life.
According to ancient Egyptian belief, the forces that originally underlie human development must be understood in terms of a duality, a duality in which one element is given the name Osiris and the other the name Isis: Osiris-Isis. If we look within ourselves and use the sensations and feelings of the ancient Egyptians, we can say to ourselves: First of all, we have active thinking within us. We need only remember how we must think when a thought finally arises, when we have, for example, the thought of a triangle within us. Active, operative thinking must precede the formation of the thought of a triangle. After we have been active in our soul, we can turn passively to the result of our thinking, to our thoughts and ideas. Finally, we see in our soul the formations of our active thinking. Just as thinking relates to thoughts, just as imagining relates to ideas, just as activity relates to what becomes of activity and finally stands before us, so does Osiris relate to Isis. One might also say: activity appears to us as a fatherly, masculine principle: the Osiris principle, like a fighting spirit that then fills our soul with thoughts and feelings. And just as the ancient Egyptians said, just as the substances that live in our blood or form our bones were not always in our blood and bones, but were scattered throughout the universe, just as this entire physical body is a combination of physically traceable substances that migrate into the human form, while they were previously spread out in the universe, so it is with our power of thought: it is imagination within us. Just as the substances in our blood are sometimes inside the human form and sometimes spread out outside, so the Osiris power is active within us as the power of thought and is spread out in the spiritual universe as Osiris, as the Osiris power that permeates and interweaves the entire universe, which enters into human beings just as the substances that then compose the blood and bones in the physical body of human beings do. And the Isis forces that weave and live around the universe flow into thoughts, ideas, and concepts. So we must first imagine the ancient Egyptian's soul looking up to Osiris and Isis.
The ancient consciousness could find no expression for such ideas within the world that surrounds us here on earth in our sensuality. For everything that initially surrounds us here was considered to be the sensual world, which could offer no external symbols for the supersensible world. In order to gain something like a kind of language, a written expression for such ideas, which powerfully moved the soul when it said to itself: the Osiris-Isis force is working in me — one reached up to the writing that the heavenly bodies write in the space of the world. It was said: what one perceives as Osiris in terms of supersensible power can be conceived in a sensual way in what emanates from the sun as sunlight and weaves through space and lives through it as the active power of light. And in what one perceives as Isis, one can see what comes to us as reflected, reflected sunlight from the moon, which is dark in itself — like the soul, when active thinking does not fall into it — and waits for the light of the sun to reflect it back, just as the soul waits for the Osiris power to reflect it back as Isis power. If this is how the ancient Egyptians felt: Outside, the sun and the moon tell me how I can best think symbolically about what my soul feels — then they knew at the same time: There is no coincidental connection between what appears mysteriously in space as the light-spreading sun and the moon reflecting the sunlight, but what I see there as illuminating space, spreading light, and reflecting light must have something to do with the forces that I feel within myself as supernatural. Just as we do not see something in the clock that drives its hands by means of little demons, but rather something mechanical, we also know that the entire construction of the clock is based on the idea of the clock inventor, the idea that came from the soul of man, so that a spiritual being has formed the mechanism of the clock. Just as the hands of a clock are related to each other, dependent on each other, of course — and when we look out into space, governed by mechanical laws, but ultimately dependent on the laws that man feels in his soul when he speaks of the power of Osiris and Isis — so the sun and moon appeared as the means of expression of a mighty world clock. And the Egyptians not only said to themselves: the sun and moon symbolize the relationship between Osiris and Isis, but they also felt: what lives within me is originally based on that mysterious balance of power that carries the light to the sun and moon.
Just as it was with Osiris and Isis in relation to the sun and moon, so it was with other stars and planets in relation to the other gods. The Egyptians initially saw the positions of the heavenly bodies as symbols of what they experienced as supernatural or what had been handed down to them as experiences of the oldest clairvoyants. But they saw in this expression of a world clock the representations of the same forces that they ultimately felt in the human soul. Thus, the great world clock, with the movement of its stars and the relationship of the moving stars to the stationary stars, became a revelation of the spiritual, supernatural forces behind them, which had brought about these positions and provided themselves with a means of expression for their supernatural powers and forces in a universal script that had to be understood.
These are the feelings and sensations towards this higher world, which the ancient Egyptians received through clairvoyants about that spiritual world, which they knew existed because they still had the last echoes of ancient clairvoyance themselves. But now they said to themselves: We humans originate from this spiritual world. But we have been placed in a world of sensuality, which is given to us in sensual-physical things and in sensual-physical events. We originate from the world of Osiris and Isis. What strives as the best part of us and can attain higher levels of perfection than those we now have has flowed out from Osiris and Isis. These live invisibly within us as a force. What the physical human being is comes from external circumstances, is taken from the external world, in which the Osiris-Isis part is only clothed.
Such a conception of ancient wisdom, however, became a feeling that completely dominated the soul of the ancient Egyptian, a feeling that encompassed the whole of Egyptian spiritual life. One can absorb abstract ideas into the soul without touching on the moral and ethical aspects of the soul's life, or even the fateful and fortunate aspects of the soul's life; indeed, one can absorb particularly mathematical and abstract ideas from the natural sciences, one can debate electricity and similar forces, without the soul having to ask the question of fate in relation to human beings. But one cannot grasp the feelings and sensations just described about looking into the spiritual worlds and thinking of the deepest soul characteristics as related to Osiris and Isis as thoughts and ideas without stirring up thoughts of happiness and fate, the moral impulses of human beings. Yes, they are stirred up! For then the human being says to himself: I carry a better self within me, but through what I am in the physical body, this better self initially recedes, does not immediately become fully apparent. I am based on an Osiris, an Isis nature, but that belongs to the worlds of origin, the ancient golden, sacred times. For the present human being, it has been overcome by the forces that have concentrated the outer physical into the human body and imprisoned the Osiris and Isis forces in the body, which is perishable and subject to destruction like the outer forces of nature.
Thus we see the legend of Osiris and Isis translated into feelings. Osiris, the higher power of the human being, which is spread out in the universe, is overcome by those forces that are subject to destruction in human nature. Typhon imprisons what lives as the Osiris power in the human being. Typhon is even linguistically related to the words “dissolve, decay.” It is imprisoned in what is formed like a coffin of the spiritual part of the human being, in which — invisible to the outer world — the Osiris part of the human being disappears. But the nature of the soul remains a mystery to the imagination of the ancient Egyptians, which for human beings is the mysterious nature of Isis. It remains in order to achieve in the future — with the penetration of intellectual power — that from which the human being emerged. Thus, something hidden within the human being strives to revive Osiris. The power of Isis is in the human soul in order to gradually lead the human being from what he is at present back to Osiris. And this Isis power enables human beings, though not while they remain physical human beings, to separate themselves from physical-sensory nature, but it enables human beings, even though they remain external, physical human beings and stand fully in the external, physical world, yet always looks inward toward a higher self, which, according to the view of all the most significant spirits of humanity, lies deeply hidden at the foundation of all human powers. This human being, who is not the outer, physical human being, but the human being who is constantly spurred on to strive toward spiritual light, who is always driven by the hidden powers of Isis, is the one who appears as the earthly son of Osiris, who did not ascend into the earthly world but remained hidden in the spiritual worlds. This invisible human being, the human being who strives for the higher self, was perceived by the Egyptian soul as Horus, the posthumous son of Osiris.
Thus, with a certain melancholy, the ancient Egyptians looked back to the Osiris origin of the human being, but at the same time looked into the soul and said: The soul has still retained something of the power of Isis, who herself gives birth to Horus, who always has the incentive to strive upward to the spiritual heights. And in these spiritual heights, man finds Osiris again. — But in two ways Osiris can be reached again by modern man. The Egyptians said to themselves: I have come forth from Osiris, and I shall return to Osiris. In relation to my spiritual origin, Osiris is within me, and Horus guides me to return to Osiris, to his father. But Osiris can only be reached in the spiritual world. He could not enter into physical human nature. There he was overcome by the Typhon forces, which are subject to destruction because they are external forces of nature.
Therefore, Osiris can only be reached in two ways. One way is through the gate of death. The other is the one that passes through the gate of death that does not lead to physical death, but to initiation, to consecration. Therefore, the Egyptians imagined, as is further explained in my book Christianity as a Mystical Fact, that when a person passes through the gate of death, he comes to Osiris after the necessary preparatory stages. Once freed from the earthly body and standing in the spiritual world, the consciousness of his kinship with Osiris awakens in him. The dead person himself feels that he can be addressed as “Osiris” in the spiritual world after death. After death, everyone is addressed as Osiris, so to speak. The other path back to Osiris — the other path into the spiritual world — is the path of initiation. The Egyptians imagined this as a way for humans to become acquainted with what is initially invisible and supersensible in human nature. This is Isis or the Isis force. In everyday perception, in the knowledge we have in everyday life, we do not penetrate to the depths of our soul, to the Isis power. But there is a way to penetrate to the Isis power, to descend to one's own self, to see how this self is enveloped by physical matter. If you follow this path, you will descend to where the I is in its true spiritual home. That is why the ancient Egyptians said to themselves: You must therefore descend into your own inner being. There you will first find physical human nature, insofar as it is the expression of the actual human being itself, the I. You must penetrate through this physical human nature. You see the outer world, insofar as it is the creation of spiritual, supersensible powers, in the three realms of nature: when you look at stones and their mathematical forms, when you look at plants and their remarkable forms, which are animated by inner life in which divine spiritual forces are at work, and finally also in the third kingdom, the animal kingdom. In the case of human beings, however, you must not remain at the outer form, but must immerse yourself in that where their soul forces live as Isis forces. — Therefore, initiation into the Isis mysteries was connected with what was first to be revealed to human beings themselves, where they were to see how they are clothed in matter. What happened when human beings immersed themselves in their own nature was the same as what basically happens in death, only in a different way. Human beings had to pass through the gate of death while still alive, had to experience that transition from physical seeing to superphysical seeing, from the physical world to the spiritual world — that transition which human beings undergo when they pass through real death. The person to be initiated had to go through this path by descending into their own inner being, had to experience what can only be experienced by descending into their own inner being. First, they entered the physical interior, the way in which nature forms what is the physical tool for the I: the blood.
We have often mentioned that while the nervous system forms the tools for feeling, willing, and thinking, we must see the tool of the I in the blood. If the human being wants to descend into his tools, he must — as the ancient Egyptians imagined — descend into his physical-etheric shell, into the etheric soul, must learn to become independent of the power on which human beings are otherwise dependent in their blood, and must — after separating himself from it — enter into the strange passages of the blood itself. Human beings must first become physically acquainted with their higher nature. They can only do this if they can get to know themselves in such a way that they view themselves as an object. Human beings can only recognize an object as an object if they are outside of it. So they must be outside of themselves in order to recognize themselves. Therefore, initiation leads to such powers through which the soul forces can experience something without using the physical instruments, so that the human being has the physical instruments before him as an object, in a similar way to how, after death, the spiritual part of the human being looks down on the physical body. Thus, in the Isis mysteries, the human being should first get to know his blood.There, the human being first went through something that can best be described as approaching the threshold of death. That was the first stage of initiation into the Isis mysteries: the human being had to look at his blood, at himself as an object, had to submerge himself in the shell that is the tool for his Isis nature. In the initiation centers, they were led to two gates, where images they experienced firsthand showed them: This is what it looks like when you picture in your mind what is going on inside you. — Two gates appeared before them, a closed gate and an open gate. And we must say: How remarkable are these teachings, which have come down to us from millennia ago, how they correspond to what people believe today, only that today they interpret it in a materialistic way. I was already able to point this out on the occasion of the Zarathustra lecture. The ancient Egyptian clairvoyant said that when a person is in the underworld, they encounter two gates. Through two gates you enter your blood and your inner being. The anatomist can say: through the two entrances located in the valves on both sides of the heart. If he wanted to penetrate through his body, he would enter through the “open gate.” The “closed gate” prevents the bloodstream from taking the wrong path. What we encounter anatomically contains the symbols for what the ancient sages experienced — albeit in clairvoyant forms and structures — who did not have the anatomical structures before them as directly as the modern anatomist, but did have what clairvoyant consciousness sees when it looks at the inner from the outer.
The next stage of the Isis initiation consisted of what is expressed by saying: Man is led through the fire, air, and water trials. This means that he learns to know completely the enveloping nature of his Isis being; he learns to know the fire as it flows through his body as a tool in his blood and how it becomes liquid; he learns further how air enters as oxygen. Fire, air, and water: human beings learn about the warmth of the breath and the fluidity of blood. And human beings are purified by learning about their enveloping nature through the elements of fire, air, and water; and when they have thus seen through their envelopes, they have arrived at their Isis nature. This is again expressed technically by saying: Now man feels that he has come into his own, that he now knows himself to be a spiritual being and no longer feels limited to the humanity of the outer world, but looks into the spiritual world. For it is a law that we only see the physical sun during the day, because at night it is covered by matter. In the spiritual world, however, there is no such covering. There, one sees the spiritual powers precisely when the physical eyes are ineffective. This is symbolically expressed in the Isis initiation, which says: When purified, the human being comes to see the spiritual beings face to face: to see the sun at midnight. This means that when it is dark and gloomy, what underlies the spiritual life and the spiritual primal force of the sun is nevertheless visible to those initiated into the Isis mysteries.
Thus, the path to the Isis forces of the soul is described to us as it could be walked by those who sought the deepest forces of the soul while still alive. Then there were even higher mysteries, which were the actual Osiris mysteries. There, it actually became clear to people how, through the power of Isis, they could find themselves in that primal force of a spiritual, supersensible nature from which human beings emerged: in Osiris — as Osiris dawns on the human soul.
When the Egyptians wanted to express in a special script, to depict in their own way, the relationship between Isis and Osiris, they expressed it through the movement of the sun and moon in the sky, and the other spiritual powers through the relationships of the other stars. Above all, they considered the zodiac with its relative calm and the movement of the planets across the zodiac signs. In everything that was revealed in this, the ancient Egyptians saw the best way to express what moved their souls in a spiritual writing. They knew that they could take nothing from what is on earth to express what human beings are called to do when they follow the power of Isis to Osiris; if it is to be described, it must be drawn from the constellation of the stars. This led to the great sage, who must be thought of as existing in ancient times, having, according to the Egyptians, above all else, the deepest clairvoyant insight into this relationship of humanity to the universe, which has been only sketchily described, and that he expressed in the highest form what the constellation of the stars was in relation to these spiritual forces and their activities and the facts playing out between them. He expressed what was happening in the language of the stars. If, for example, one wanted to express how Osiris relates to Isis, one could tell the people in the form of a legend — exoterically. For those who were then led into initiation, the more precise relationship was expressed in the relationship of the light emanating from the sun, reflected by the moon, and passing in remarkable circumstances from the new moon through the quarters to the full moon. In this, one rightly saw something similar to the relationship of the Isis force of the human soul to Osiris. And then, from these relationships in the sky and their forms, what can truly be regarded as the archetypes of writing was taken. For as little as people still recognize this in writing, it must be said that in the consonants one can see replicas of the signs of the zodiac, of the relatively static. And in the relationship of the vowels to the consonants, one sees replicas of the relationship of the planets and their moving forces to the zodiac. Brought down from heaven, one must say, are the letters of the alphabet.
This is how the ancient Egyptians felt about Hermes, whose teachers in turn were the forces that spoke down from heaven and proclaimed what is lived out in human souls. Yes, even more: what is lived out in human deeds, even in all the everyday activities of life, what is lived out in tasks such as surveying, for which mathematical sciences, geometry — which Pythagoras then learned from the Egyptians — was attributed by the ancient Egyptians to the wisdom of Hermes, who saw, so to speak, something like images of heavenly conditions in all earthly-spatial conditions and represented the heavenly conditions in the writing of the stars. Hermes translated the star script into mathematics and geometry and taught the Egyptians to find in the stars something that was happening on earth. We know that the whole of Egyptian life was connected with the flooding of the Nile, with what the Nile deposited from the mountainous regions south of Egypt. But we can also gauge from this how necessary it was to know in advance, in a certain way, when these floods of the Nile might occur, when the transformation of natural conditions in the course of a year might occur correctly. The Egyptians also took their calendar from the star writing in the sky. When Sirius, the Dog Star, became visible in the sign of Cancer, they knew that the sun would soon enter that sign, from which its rays would, so to speak, conjure up what the Nile would bring to the earth with its floods. So they knew that Sirius was the watchful one, announcing what we could expect. This was part of their stellar world clock. In order to cultivate and rule the land in the right way, which was necessary for their external life, they looked up gratefully to the Dog Star. And they looked further up, where in ancient times they had been taught that the movement of the stars was the expression of the world clock.
For such and similar circumstances, the Egyptians sought advice in the star script. In Thoth or Hermes, they saw the spirit who, according to ancient traditions, made the most ancient records of world wisdom and who, based on what he received as inspiration from the star script, formed the physical letters, taught people agriculture, geometry, and surveying — in short, taught everything that human beings need for physical life. But all physical life is nothing other than the body of a spiritual life. Spiritual life, however, is connected with the entire universe, and it was from this that Hermes drew his inspiration. Thus, the entire culture soon appeared to be connected with Hermes. Indeed, the Egyptians felt even more intimately connected to him. Let us suppose, for example, that an Egyptian in the year 1322 BC looked up at the sky and saw a very special constellation of stars. For the ancient Egyptians had a calendar that was convenient for human circumstances — especially for human mathematical thinking — twelve months of thirty days, which, with five additional days, makes 365 days for the year. This is how they had calculated throughout the centuries, because it was, so to speak, mathematically and computationally convenient: a year had passed when 365 days had passed. As we know from modern astronomy, a quarter of a day was left unaccounted for each time; that is, when the Egyptian year was calculated to be over, it was a quarter of a day too early. If you do the math, you can see that each time the year began earlier: the year moved forward month by month and then returned to the beginning. That was the case after four times 365 years. After 1460 years, therefore, the fact had occurred each time that the celestial conditions had again balanced out with the earthly reckoning, in that the entire year had receded over the course of 1460 years. If you calculate this back three times, starting from the year 1322 BC, you arrive at the period to which the Egyptians traced their ancient sacred wisdom, so that they said: In ancient times, the brightest clairvoyance still existed. With each such great solar year, which brought about a balancing of the earthly calendar, the ancient clairvoyant power had diminished by one degree. We are now living in the fourth degree. Our culture is already entering a stage where we can only have traditions of an ancient teaching. But we look up through three world years to a great past in which our greatest sage taught his disciples and successors what we have today — in many ways transformed — in writing, in mathematics, geometry, surveying, in all other common practices of our lives, and also in astronomy. The ancient Egyptians said to themselves, as it were: Our human calculations, which adhere to the convenient numbers of twelve times thirty plus five additional days, show us how the divine-spiritual world must correct us. For through what we have in our minds, we ourselves have become strangers to Osiris and Isis. We cannot calculate the year exactly. But we look up into a hidden world, where the powers that guide the stars correct us.
Thus, even for his chronology, the ancient Egyptian looked up from his weak human power, which is bound to the mind, to the spiritual powers and beings who live in secret and, according to deeper laws, correct, protect, and guard what human beings on earth have to go through. And as the one who was inspired by these watchful heavenly powers, the ancient Egyptians revered their Thoth, their Hermes. Therefore, for the soul of the ancient Egyptian, this individuality was not merely a great teacher, but a being to whom he looked up with deepest gratitude and reverence, saying to himself: Everything I have, I have from you. You stand above in a time gray with age and sent down through those who were the bearers of your traditions what flows into outer human culture and becomes the greatest benefit to humanity. As a result, the soul of the ancient Egyptian — both in relation to the actual originator of the forces and in relation to their guardian, both for Osiris and for Hermes or Thorh — felt not only imbued with knowledge that was resolved in wisdom, but also with a feeling that was moral in the deepest sense, a feeling shrouded in the deepest reverence and gratitude. Therefore, the ancient descriptions show us that all the wisdom possessed by the Egyptians, especially in ancient times and later less and less, was imbued with a religious character. In fact, all human knowledge was connected with a sacred feeling, all wisdom with piety, and all science with religion in the sense of the ancient Egyptians. In later times, all this more or less disappeared in its pure form. For as true as it is that the individual peoples in successive epochs have the mission of giving shape to the general spiritual in specific forms, it is equally true that the individual cultures, once they have reached their peak, move towards decadence. And most of what has been preserved from ancient Egyptian culture actually dates from the period of decline, and we can only guess at what lies behind it: what strikes us as strange about the pyramids, for example, or what is meant by the seemingly grotesque animal worship. For the Egyptians said to themselves: The time in which wisdom worked — not the time in which they had acquired it — is preceded by another time in which all beings, not only humans, descended from divine-spiritual heights. If we want to get to know the innermost being of a person, we must not look at their outer form, but must penetrate into their inner being. What we encounter on the outside are like stagnant stages of primordial revelation. This is condensed in powerful images of ancient laws in the three realms of nature, beginning with the world of rocks. What we see there are proportions that we express again in the pyramid. What we see in plants in terms of inner forces is something we see expressed again in the lotus flower. And finally, on the way to the human being, we see how divine forces, crystallized, not yet reaching the human being, are cast into outer forms, scattered around in the individual animal forms.
This is roughly how we can imagine the feelings of the ancient Egyptians when they looked at the animals and saw the remaining forms of ancient divine powers. For the ancient Egyptians looked back to ancient times when everything sprang from divine, supernatural forces, and they assumed that divine forces had remained in the beings of the three kingdoms of nature, which then developed into humanity within themselves. We must always look to the feeling, the sensation, and the necessity that shows us that such wisdom, as it existed among the ancient Egyptians, was indeed a wisdom that touched the souls morally and could not leave them without morality. And through the way in which the entire world was brought together with supersensible forces, a moral relationship with the animal world had to arise, which only found grotesque and strange expression in the period of Egyptian decline. For when we look at later Egyptian culture, we see that imperfection is not at its starting point, but that spiritual revelations and cultural heights are at the starting point of Egyptian culture. We must not attribute the primitive, simple conditions that are so often taken as the starting point of cultures to the original conditions, but rather to the periods of decline in which the great spiritual wealth had already sunk and decayed. When we find cultures of barbarism somewhere, these are not primitive cultures, but cultures in decline that have descended from spiritual heights.
This, however, is something that may again serve as a nuisance to those scientists who would like to describe all cultures as if they had originated from the most primitive states, from such primitive states as are still seen today among savages. But in today's most primitive cultures, we have cultures in decline, and at the beginning of humanity, we have primitive cultures that are directly inspired by the leading spiritual beings behind external history. This is what spiritual science says from what it can know. Again, we can ask: Does today's science, which is at the cutting edge, collide with spiritual science when it claims that, as we go back in time, we do not come to cultures in decline, but to high cultures that have then fallen? In the lecture “What does geology have to say about the origin of the world?” we showed that this is not the case with regard to geology. The same can be said for what has been said today. It took a long time to believe that we should look back from our time to childish, primitive states, such as still exist today among savages, and not to sublime theories. But when we look at external research, which approaches the facts clearly and without prejudice, what do we find? I would like to quote you some passages from a recent work “The Influence of Babylonia on the Understanding of the Old Testament” by Alfred Jeremias, which will show us how external research is gradually returning to a spiritually advanced and far-sighted theory of primitive culture, and how what we call barbaric cultures must be regarded as cultures in decline. This should be particularly emphasized here in this recent work.
"The oldest documents, as well as the entire Euphrates cultural life, presuppose a scientific and at the same time religious theory that does not merely exist in the secret teachings of the temples, but according to which state organizations are regulated, justice is administered, and property is managed and protected. The further back we look into antiquity, the more exclusively this theory prevails; it is only with the decline of the ancient Euphrates culture that other powers come to the fore."
This is the first beginning of external science, which here too — as we were able to show last time for geology — takes paths that can be brought together with what spiritual science has to introduce into contemporary culture. If we continue along these paths, we will increasingly depart from that dead construct that we would like to place at the starting point of human cultures as something primitive, childlike, and we will come to the great individualities who appear all the more outstanding to us because they had to pass on from their inspirations to a still clairvoyant culture what we have in all cultural activity as the greatest benefits we share. Thus we look up to those spirits of humanity who — like Zarathustra, and also Hermes — seem so great to us because they were the first to give the greatest impulses to humanity in that ancient time of which the sage spoke to Solon. We look up to Hermes or Thoth and say to ourselves: Like Zarathustra, Hermes also stands as one of those leading individualities of humanity, in whose presence we feel an increase in our own powers, knowing that the spirit is not only in the world, but constantly flows into world events, into the development of humanity! We feel so affirmed in our existence, authenticated in our work, assured in our hope, strengthened in our destiny as human beings through our connection with such spirits, of whom we will always say: Future generations look to them and seek their own existence in the gifts of their soul powers, recognizing their own work in the eternal spiritual works of the spiritual leaders who work through humanity with powerful impulse!