The Essence of Christianity
GA 68a
27 November 1906, Dusseldorf
22. Esoteric Christianity: The Gospel of St. John and Ancient Mysteries
The time has now come to make known in wider circles that which has been spoken of throughout the history of the evolution of mankind under the name of the Mysteries or Mysticism, the so-called Esoteric Wisdom.
For in the soul of man, behind what comes to the light of day lies a deeper wisdom which has hitherto remained unknown to mankind in general.
Let us be quite clear what it is men have always understood by the term “Mysteries” or the “esoteric.” All that has been brought about in the world through civilisation goes back ultimately to a few great personalities, a few leading individuals. For example, a construction like the Simplon tunnel can be traced back to the mental work of great individuals, who were not themselves directly concerned with the building of the tunnel but who made it possible, by their Intellectual discoveries, for others to build it.
The “practical” man would perhaps be of the opinion that such things are accomplished by an activity that is purely external. It would be the very greatest mistake to accede to such an opinion. Neither the engineers who conceived the plan, nor the workmen who carried it out, are the spiritual originators. If it were not for what is called Higher Mathematics as elaborated by Leibnitz, Newton and others, such works could never be there at all. These thinkers were necessary in order to bring into being what is called “technics.” If we go to the root of the matter, we shall find that such works could never have been achieved, nor any goods have been manufactured, without the soul of the Thinker.
If this is so with regard to the outer materialistic culture, it is true in still greater measure of the spiritual currents that flow through human history.
All the Religion and all the Art that has ever been brought to mankind, all the Justice that has ever borne rule in states, all the order and Morality that has lived among men leads back to great Initiates, leads back to hidden sources of Wisdom. This is what we find when we set out to look for the deeper origin of things.
Consider the works of Art which have succeeded each other through the centuries, and you will find that they can all be traced back to deeper sources. Whether we take a poet like Dante, or a mind and spirit like Goethe's, or a painter such as Raphael, or again some great religious event in history—all moral and religious streams, all art and all science, lead back into the hidden places, where was cultivated in secret that which is known as Mysticism or Esotericism.
And as with all other religions so with Christianity too we find its foundations in the esoteric. It is only an evidence of shortsightedness when the objection is raised, that Christianity is for simple hearts and should speak to the feelings and be comprehensible for all. That is a very shortsighted view. All religions, it is true, ultimately clothe their truths in sentences so full of power and impulse that no soul is too simple to receive them. What emerges finally, however, in this simple form, has its origin in the heights, with the so-called Initiates.
Throughout history there have always been Initiates. In ancient India it was the Rishis who taught a primeval Wisdom. In Persia Zarathustra was the teacher of Wisdom. We look to Greece, to Egypt, to Rome, everywhere we find to begin with, a religion of the people, but standing in the midst of the people are always those who may be called spiritual “Giants,” unknown to mankind by name. These are they who formed themselves into occult brotherhoods. Whosoever wished to be accepted into such a brotherhood had to undergo a strict and severe probation. The probation had no immediate relation to the intellectual life. It was far more a question of a man's wrestling his way through to an inner freedom of character, where feelings and passions had no power with him. Then he had to learn not to misuse his knowledge. Men who had passed through severe trials and tests of this nature became missionaries to the rest of mankind. They were not allowed to have any other feeling or purpose in their heart, save only this—to serve and help mankind. They had to be men who would make real the words—“He who would be first among you, let him be the servant of all”—And in intellectual striving also they must never lag behind but always press on to find the Higher Truths.
Today it is frequently said to one who believes in the possibility of knowing the Spiritual Worlds: But we human beings have boundaries to our knowledge. But inside the Mystery circles it was said: Thou has capabilities which slumber in thee; if thou develop them, then canst thou strive through to a Higher Knowledge.
The development a man was enabled to undergo by the training of his inner talents and capacities was called in the Mystery Centres a Second Birth. It was said that such a one experienced on a higher plane what a man born blind experiences here in the world of the senses when he has undergone an operation and can see. This “operation” on the soul, the re-birth in the Spirit, was performed for the Mystics in the Mysteries.
That which was called in the Mysteries the Kingdom of Heaven, into which the Mystic was led, was not in some other place. The Kingdom of the Spiritual World is here where man is. As many worlds are around us as we have ability to realize and grasp. It was no dry and abstract Wisdom that was received in the Mysteries, but a Wisdom which was at the same time Religion and Art.
In the Mysteries of Greece the spiritual eye of the Mystic was opened. It was shown to him how once in primeval times man had been half animal and how the soul had striven upwards to that stage of humanity upon which he now beheld himself. Three stages were shown to him. He saw first forms as they lived in a very distant evolution of mankind, then forms half animal and half man, and finally perfect human forms. These three types of the evolution of mankind stood before him in the Greek Mysteries and they found their expression in Greek sculpture. There was (1) the Zeus type, with the straight nose and with the eyes rounded out upwards; (2) the type of the God Mercury with woolly hair and snub nose; and (3) the type of the Satyr, with quite different eyes, different nose and different corners to the mouth. These three types stand before us in Greek art as an image of the stages of the evolution of mankind. At another time it was shown to the Mystic how the God himself descended into nature, how he evolved upwards through the mineral kingdom, plant kingdom and animal kingdom to the human kingdom and was then born anew out of the human heart. That was called the descent of the God, his Resurrection and his Ascension. The whole process was represented in the Greek drama. All that was represented in the drama came originally from the Mysteries.
Just as the trunk of the tree divides itself into different branches, so did religion, science and art become divided in the Mysteries. The ancient Mysteries which were celebrated in Greece—the Eleusinian—and the Mysteries of the Egyptian Priest-wisdom were called Mysteries of the Spirit. Those who stood high in these Mysteries as teachers and leaders had attained to the spiritual worlds; they associated with Spirits, they had intercourse with Spiritual Beings. Iamblichus shows us how the Gods descended in the Mysteries. Only after moral purification, and only when the intellect had been made clear and lucid, could one obtain admission into these places of wisdom.
This is how it was in the ancient heathen times, in the times of the Mysteries of the Spirit. Never without the most wonderful enthusiasm and the most inward devotion did the Mystics speak of that which could be experienced in the Mystery-schools. Aristides speaks thus: “I thought I touched the God and felt him near, I myself being at the time in a condition between waking and sleeping. My spirit was light, so as none can describe or realise who has not himself been initiated.” And in another passage he says: “It was as if the Spiritual World flowed and poured around me.” Plutarch says, “He who had received initiation in these Mysteries greeted the Godhead with the greeting of eternity.” Whoever had had this experience was called “re-born.”
We must now say a little about what formed the last act in every such Initiation into the Mysteries of the Spirit.
There had first to be the moral purification and the clarifying of the intellect. Then the pupil must learn to see with the eyes of the Spirit. Behind the consciousness which accompanies us through the waking condition, there is another consciousness. This consciousness does not sink into complete darkness when man falls asleep. Man remains conscious at night, he is there present. But the consciousness which accompanies him from morning until evening, that does not remain. There is however a way of overcoming the unconsciousness man has in sleep; there are methods whereby this end can be attained. By a culture of the soul which brings about certain intimate processes in the innermost being of the soul, man can win through to the possibility of finding new revelations in his dream life; he can experience things which he recognises in another way than with the eyes and ears of the senses. It is immaterial whether a man recognizes the truth in sleep or by day when awake; in either case he must learn to carry over into reality the world which he there experiences. When in this way he has come into the position of being able to see the Spiritual in the whole world, then he has attained the first stage of initiation.
At the second stage he has an experience which is like living in a flowing ocean of colour. At this stage there is a higher initiation; a consciousness is developed wherein is revealed to him a still higher Spiritual world. Today in ordinary life man is not capable of awakening the consciousness which lies behind the physical world.
In the last act of the Mysteries of the Spirit the pupil was put into a kind of sleep. Care had been taken in the preparation that when the day consciousness sank down, consciousness did not cease. For three days and three nights the man lay in another state of consciousness in the Mystery temple, citizen and participator in another world. Then he was awakened by the Priest. He received a new name. He was an Initiate, he had been “born again.” One could say of the Mysteries of the Spirit: “Blessed are they who have experienced them, blessed are they who now behold in the Mysteries of the Spirit.”
At the time of Christ Jesus, to the Mysteries of the Spirit were added the Mysteries of the Son, and these have been ever since the time of Christ. The Mysteries of the Father—the Mysteries of the Future—are only cultivated in a very small circle. The Mysteries of the Son are cultivated in the Rosicrucian Mystery which is also Christian, for those who require a Christianity that is armed to meet all Wisdom.
Today we will concern ourselves with the Mysteries of the Son, and see how they differ from the ancient heathen Mysteries. If we would grasp what a mighty step forward has been taken by the coming of Christianity, we must learn to understand two important utterances. The one is: “Blessed are they who believe, even when they do not see,” and the other: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” If we comprehend these utterances in all their depth, then we understand the very foundation of Christianity.
Whilst to the world at large Paul spoke in powerful kindling words, he also gave teachings to his intimate pupils which were transmitted first by word of mouth and then in writing, teachings that are connected with the name of Dionysius, who was known as Dionysius “The Areopagite.” We have here to do with something founded by Saint Paul himself, wherein was proclaimed the deepest wisdom. These teachings of Saint Paul were written down for the first time in the sixth century, in the writings of the so-called Pseudo-Dionysius. It is not so much the historical fact, but the content of these documents which is of interest for us.
An esoteric Christianity does exist. This is not admitted in certain circles, with the result that a peculiar place has been assigned to the Saint John Gospel. The Saint John Gospel is looked upon by theologians as a book which emanated out of poetic genius. They have however no understanding for what the Saint John Gospel means.
Whereas the three other evangelists relate the exoteric. Saint John relates what he experiences as an initiated seer, who could look into the Spiritual worlds. The writer of the Saint John Gospel wrote from the point of view of an initiate. Whoever looks upon it as a book that one should read and understand in the same way as one reads and understands any other book knows nothing of the Saint John Gospel. He alone has knowledge of it who can experience it. Most translators do not render the Spirit of it at all.
The first words of this Gospel, rightly translated, sound as follows:
In the primeval beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and with God was the Word.
The same was in the primeval beginning with God.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was the Life and the Life was the Light of men.
And the Light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
The same came for a witness to bear witness of the Light, that all might believe on it.
He was not the Light, but a witness of the Light.
For the true Light which lighteth every man, was to come into the world.
It was in the world, and the world was made by It, but the world knew It not.
It came into each individual man (even into the ‘I’ man It came) but the individual man (the ‘I’ man) did not receive It.
Those who did receive It, through It they could reveal themselves as Children of God.
They who trusted in His Name were not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of human will, but of God.
And the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us and we have heard His Teaching, the Teaching of the only Son of the Father, filled with Grace and Truth.
These words with their mighty content—one should not take them and speculate over them, but rather allow them to work upon one in the same manner as countless human beings have done through the centuries. Early in the morning when the soul was still virginal, they have let these words resound in their soul, up to the passage: “And the Word become Flesh and lived among us ...” as above.
When a man does this day by day, then something shows itself in the soul which gives him new life, he is reborn, he is spiritually transformed. He sees around him a spiritual world of which he had previously no idea.
Everyone who takes the first verses of the Saint John Gospel and lets them work upon him for the education and training of his soul, experiences the Saint John Gospel itself in mighty pictures.
There before his spiritual sight stands John the Baptist, as he baptises the Christ; there he sees the picture of Nicodemus, as he has his conversation with the Christ. He sees how Christ cleanses the Temple, he has before him all the following scenes of the Saint John Gospel, he experiences the “stations” from the thirteenth chapter onwards.
In order for the pupil to receive aright the influence of these words and find the ‘word’ which is proclaimed by the Saint John Gospel, the teacher spoke as follows: “Thou must fill thy soul for weeks at a time with this one feeling. Think of the plant. It is rooted in the dead stone. If it had consciousness, it would have to bow down to the dead stone and say to it: ‘Without thee I could not live; out of thee I drew nourishment and strength: I owe to thee my being, I thank thee.’ The animal would have to speak in similar words to the plant: ‘Without thee I could not live, I incline myself towards thee in thankfulness, because out of thee I draw that which I require for my existence.’ And it is the same with all the kingdom. Man, who has attained to a higher stage of evolution, must also bow down, as the plant to the stone, to those who work for him, and thank them.” He who would become a Christian Initiate must develop this feeling during a period of many weeks—the feeling that he owes gratitude to him who stands beneath him. Then he experiences in the spirit the thirteenth chapter of the Saint John Gospel where this feeling is given sublime and eternal expression by Christ in the Washing of the Feet. Christ means to say: “Without you I could not be, I incline myself to you as the plant to the stone.” As an outer symbol the Initiate experienced at this stage a feeling as if water were flowing around his feet. It continued for a long time.
When he had gone through this, the Christian Mystic could experience the next stage of initiation. For this he must cultivate the power to endure all the storms and stresses of life. Then he experienced a second picture. He saw himself scourged, and could feel in his own body something like pain at certain points. This went on for many weeks. He experienced the scourging.
Now he could rise to the third stage. The teacher said to him: “Thou must cultivate a feeling which can endure that all thou holdest highest should be treated with scorn and derision.” The scorn and derision must be for him nothing, in comparison with his own inner strength and certainty. Then the pupil experienced two symptoms of Christian initiation. He experienced the crowning with thorns; spiritually he saw himself with the crown of thorns and experienced a kind of pain in the head which is the sign of this stage of initiation. Afterwards, as a fourth experience he had to develop the feeling that his body was no more for him than any other object in the world. He carried the body with him only as an instrument. In many Mystery-schools one learned to accustom oneself to speak in the following way: “My body goes through the door,” and so on. In this way the mystic experienced in himself the Crucifixion. He saw himself crucified. The outer symbol was that during the meditation stigmata appeared at the places of the wounds of Christ—in the hands, in the feet and in the right side. This is the blood-trial of the Mystic, the fourth stage of initiation.
After this the pupil rose to the fifth station which is called the mystic death, a sublime experience of a spiritual nature, of which no more than an indication can be given. There are moments for a pupil when the whole of the physical world surrounds him as with a black veil. In these moments he learns to know the origins of evil. This was called the descent into hell. Then came a strange and wonderful feeling as if the whole curtain were torn asunder. The mystic death—followed by the mystic awakening!
The sixth stage is the so-called Laying in the Grave. All that the earth bears must become as precious to man as his own body. The physical body of man could not exist separated from the earth. If it were removed even a few miles from the earth it would wither, as the hand would wither when separated from the body. What my body is for my finger, that the earth is for men. The independence man attributes to himself is an illusion. And just as man is dependent physically on the earth, so is he dependent spiritually on the Spiritual World. When man comes to feel his unity with the whole planet—then is he “laid in the earth,” then does he undergo the “burial.”
Hereon follows the seventh stage, the “Resurrection” and the “Ascension.” Man experiences here the Eternal. This stage does not admit of description. The Egyptian Priests (who were also their Wise Men) did not make use of the symbols of writing to describe such things. The Mysteries must find a way to tell what cannot be expressed in words. Through the power and might, through the magical power of the Saint John Gospel itself, these things can be experienced.
Such an initiation is the initiation of the Son. It has only been possible since Christ came to earth. The outward Christ who walked in Palestine is related to the inward Christ whom the mystic experiences, as the sun is related to the eye. If there were no eye, then could the sun not be perceived. But the sun produced the eye. Where there is no light, the organ for the light is also lost. The eye was gradually created by the Sun. The eye was created for the light by the light, says Goethe. Whosoever allows the Saint John Gospel to work upon him, develops the inner eye. But, as without the sun the eye would never have come into being, so would spiritual seership never have been there if Christ, the Spiritual Sun, had not walked the earth in person. No Christianity without the personal Christ Jesus: that is the essential and all-important fact.
All other founders of religion could say of themselves: “I am the way and the truth.” All were teachers. Christianity has brought no new teaching. But that is not important. The important thing is that Christians feel themselves bound together with the personal Christ Jesus, as in a family. That is what matters—that He was there, and has lived and has said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
Oriental teachers of religion have exoteric teaching and esoteric, in the same way as Christianity has. Christianity differs from them in that exoteric Christianity is more simple and popular, it speaks to the heart, to the feelings; while esoteric Christianity is essentially deeper than all oriental esoteric. The truth is, the Christian esotericism is the most profound which has ever been brought to mankind.
Christian esotericism was brought to the earth by that very Being Himself with whom one must be united. It is a question of belief in the divinity of Christ. In the ancient Mysteries one had to behold personally during the three days of initiation. What formerly was only present in the Mysteries—that is, in the Mysteries of the Spirit—has in Christianity become an historical fact. The events in Palestine are historical fact and at the same time symbol. Christianity is of such a nature that the simplest heart can grasp it; and yet the wisest man will never outgrow it. For the deepest teachings of Wisdom lie therein.
If we understand the Saint John Gospel as a Book of Life, so that we wish to live with it, and let it come to life within us, then we shall come to know esoteric Christianity. Such esoteric Christianity has always existed, it has always been active wherever Christianity has been able to manifest in a worthy and noble way, wherever Christianity has brought the blessings of culture and civilisation to mankind.
Into all those who had experienced union and fellowship with Christ Jesus there streamed such strength as enabled them to know that life will always gain the victory over death, and that death is never a reality.
Goethe said that the great World Powers invented death in order to have “much life” in the world. Christianity is a proof that there can arise in the soul a consciousness of the fact that Life is continually and always the Victor in the world.
22. Esoterisches Christentum
Es ist heute die Zeit, in der in weiteren Kreisen bekannt werden muss, was man durch die ganze Entwicklungsgeschichte der Menschheit hindurch genannt hat: Mysterien, Mystik, die sogenannte esoterische Weisheit.
All dem, was in dem Geist der Menschheit zutage getreten ist, liegt eine tiefere Weisheit zugrunde, von der die Menschheit im Allgemeinen bisher nicht gewusst hat.
Verständigen wir uns zuerst darüber, was man unter Mysterien, Esoterik immer verstanden hat. Alles, was die Menschenkultur zustande bringt in der Welt, geht zuletzt zurück auf einige große Persönlichkeiten und führende Individualitäten. So ist zum Beispiel eine Anlage wie der Simplon-Tunnel auch zuletzt zurückzuführen auf die Geistesarbeit großer Individualitäten, die zwar nicht direkt bei dem Bau beteiligt waren, aber deren Entdeckungen auf geistigem Gebiet es möglich gemacht haben, dass andere diesen Bau ausführen konnten. Der Praktiker wird zunächst vielleicht die Meinung haben, dass aus rein äußerlicher Betätigung solche Dinge geschaffen worden sind. Es wäre der größte Irrtum, dem man sich hingeben könnte, dies anzunehmen. Nicht jene Ingenieure, die zuerst den Plan gefasst haben, nicht die Arbeiter, die ihn ausgeführt haben, sind die geistigen Urheber dieser Dinge. Gäbe es nicht das, was man höhere Mathematik nennt, wie sie von Leibniz, Newton und so weiter ausgesonnen worden ist, so hätte man niemals diese Arbeiten ausführen können! Alle diese Denker waren notwendig, um das zustande zu bringen, was man materielle Kultur nennt,
Wenn wir auf den Grund der Tatsachen gehen, dann können wir sehen, wie all die Arbeiten und Fabrikationen ohne die Seelen der Denker nie hätten zustande gebracht werden können. Ist das bei der äußeren, materiellen Kultur der Fall, so ist es das noch in ganz anderem Maße bei den geistigen Strömungen.
Was Religion und Kunst je den Menschen gebracht haben, was Staaten regiert hat als Recht und Gerechtigkeit, was als Ordnung, als Sittlichkeit gelebt hat, was Moral ist für die Menschen, alles das führt zurück zu tieferen Initiatoren der Menschheit, zu verborgenen Weisheitsstätten, wenn man den tieferen Ursprung zu suchen unternimmt.
Sehen wir uns die Kunstwerke an, die hinüberleiten über die Jahrhunderte, so finden wir, dass sie zurückführen auf tiefere Quellen. Ob man sich einen Dichter wie Dante, einen Geist wie Goethe, einen Maler wie Raffael oder religiöse Erscheinungen wie die des Christentums vorstellt, sie alle, wie alle moralischen und religiösen Strömungen, Kunst und Wissenschaft, führen in die geheimen Stätten hinein, wo im Verborgenen das gepflegt wurde, was man die Mystik, die Esoterik nennt.
Wie allen Religionen, so liegt auch dem Christentum eine Esoterik zugrunde. Es ist nur kurzsichtig, wenn die Einwendungen gemacht werden, das Christentum sei für «schlichte Herzen», es müsse zu den Gefühlen sprechen und für jeden verständlich sein. Das ist eine kurzsichtige Anschauung.
Alle Religionen kleiden zuletzt ihre Wahrheiten in so impulsive Sätze, dass keine Seele so schlicht sein kann, dass sie nicht zu ihr sprechen. Was aber da in dieser Einfachheit herauskommt, ist aus den Höhen entstanden, bei den sogenannten Eingeweihten. Eingeweihte hat es immer gegeben. Im alten Indien waren es die Rishis, welche eine uralte Weisheit gelehrt haben. In Persien war es Zarathustra, der die Weisheit gelehrt hat. Wir können nach Griechenland, nach Ägypten, nach Rom gehen; überall finden wir eine Volksreligion, aber inmitten all dieser Völker sogenannte Geistesriesen, überall der Menschheit unbekannt dem Namen nach. Sie sind es, die sich zu okkulten Bruderschaften vereinigen. Wer da aufgenommen werden will, der muss strenge Proben ablegen. Die Prüfungen beziehen sich zunächst nicht auf das intellektuelle Leben; es handelte sich vielmehr darum, dass sich der Mensch durchgerungen hatte zu einem freien Charakter, wo nichts, was Gefühl und Leidenschaft ist, durchgeht mit dem Menschen. Dann musste der Mensch sich die Möglichkeit erwerben, sein Wissen niemals zu missbrauchen. Solche durch schwere Proben hindurchgegangene Menschen wurden dann zu Sendboten für die übrige Menschheit. Sie durften keine andere Gesinnung im Herzen tragen, als den Menschen zu dienen, den Menschen zu helfen. Sie mussten solche sein, die das Wort verwirklichen: «Wer der Erste sein will unter euch, der muss aller Diener sein.» (Mk 9,35) Auch im intellektuellen Streben durften sie nie, niemals nachlassen, sich durchzuringen zu den höheren Wahrheiten.
Heute wird vielfach dem gesagt, der an die Möglichkeit glaubt, die geistigen Welten zu erkennen: Wir Menschen haben Grenzen der Erkenntnis. Aber innerhalb des Mysterienkreises sagte man: Du hast Fähigkeiten, die in dir schlummern; wenn du sie entwickelst, dann kannst du zu einer höheren Erkenntnis dich durchringen. Das, wozu die Menschen durch Ausbildung ihrer inneren Anlagen entwickelt wurden in den Mysterienstätten, das nannte man eine zweite Geburt.
Man sagte, ein solcher Mensch erlebt etwas auf einer höheren Stufe wie der Blindgeborene, der operiert wird, hier in der Sinnenwelt erlebt. Diese «Operation der Seele», die Wiedergeburt im Geiste, die wurde vollzogen mit dem Mysten in den Mysterien. Das, was man «die Reiche der Himmel» nannte in den Mysterien, in welche dann der Myste eingeführt wurde, das war nicht etwa an einem anderen Ort. Das Reich der geistigen Welt ist hier um den Menschen herum. So viele Welten sind um uns herum, so viel wir Fähigkeiten haben, um die Welten wahrzunehmen. Nicht eine Weisheit empfing man in den Mysterien, die trocken und abstrakt war, sondern eine Weisheit, die zugleich Religion war, die zugleich Kunst war. In den ältesten Mysterien war die Weisheit zugleich Religion, zugleich Kunst. In allen Mysterien Griechenlands wurde dem Mysten das geistige Auge geöffnet. Es wurde ihm vorgeführt, wie einstmals in Urzeiten der Mensch noch halb Tier war und wie sich die Seele heraufgerungen hat bis zu der Stufe der Menschheit, auf der sich der Mensch selbst erblickte. Drei Stufen führte man ihm vor: Er sah Gestalten, wie sie in einer fernen Menschheitsentwicklung gelebt haben; dann Gestalten, halb Tier, halb Mensch, dann vollkommene menschliche Gestalten. Diese drei Typen der Menschheitsentwicklung traten ihm in den griechischen Mysterien entgegen, und sie fanden ihren Ausdruck in der griechischen Plastik, als Erstes der Zeustypus mit der geraden Nase, Augen mit der Ausrundung nach oben; zweitens: Der Typus des Gottes Merkur, mit dem wolligen Haar und der aufgestülpten Nase; drittens: Der Typus des Satyr mit anderen Augen, anderer Nase und anderen Mundwinkeln. Diese drei Typen treten uns als Abbild der Stufen der Menschheitsentwicklung in der griechischen Kunst entgegen.
Ein anderes Mal wurde dem Mysten gezeigt, wie der Gott selbst herniederstieg in die Natur, wie er sich durch das Gesteinsreich, durch das Pflanzenreich und Tierreich bis hinauf zum Menschenreich hindurch entwickelt hat und dann aus dem menschlichen Herzen neu geboren wird. Man nannte das den Abstieg des Gottes, seine Auferstehung und seine Himmelfahrt.
Dies wurde alles dargestellt im griechischen Drama. Alles, was im Drama dargestellt wurde, ging aus den Mysterien hervor. Wie sich der Stamm trennt in verschiedene Zweige, so trennten sich die Mysterien in Religion, Wissenschaft und Kunst. Die alten Mysterien, die in Griechenland gefeiert wurden, die Eleusinien, die Mysterien der ägyptischen Priesterweisen, die nannte man die Mysterien des Geistes. Die an der Spitze standen als Lehrer und Führer in diesen Mysterien, die hatten sich durchgerungen zu geistigen Welten; sie waren Genossen der Geister selber; sie hatten Verkehr mit den geistigen Wesenheiten. Jamblichus schildert uns, wie die Götter herabsteigen in den Mysterien.
Nur nach sittlicher Läuterung, nach intellektueller Klärung konnte man hineinkommen in diese Stätten der Weisheit. In der alten heidnischen Zeit war es so. Da lebten vorzugsweise die Mysterien des Geistes. Nur mit wunderbarem Enthusiasmus, mit intimster Hingabe sprachen die Mysten von dem, was man in den Mysterienschulen erleben konnte. Aristides spricht davon: «Ich glaubte, den Gott zu berühren, sein Nahen zu fühlen, und ich war dabei zwischen Wachen und Schlafen, mein Geist war ganz leicht, sodass es kein Mensch sagen und begreifen kann, der nicht eingeweiht ist.» Und an anderer Stelle sagt er: «Es war, als ob die geistige Welt mich umrieselte.» Plutarch sagt: «Der die Weihen empfangen hatte in diesen Mysterien, der grüßte die Gottheit mit dem Ewigkeitsgruß.» Denjenigen, der sie durchgemacht hatte, den nannte man einen «Wiedergeborenen».
Wir müssen ein wenig beleuchten, welches der letzte Akt war bei einer jeden Einweihung in die Mysterien des Geistes. Man musste eine moralische Läuterung durchmachen, eine intellektuelle Klärung. Dann musste man das sehen mit den Augen des Geistes. Hinter dem Bewusstsein, das uns im wachen Zustand begleitet, da gibt es ein anderes Bewusstsein. Das Bewusstsein sinkt nicht beim Einschlafen in die vollkommene Finsternis. Der Mensch bleibt des Nachts bewusst; er ist vorhanden. Aber das Bewusstsein, welches ihn vom Morgen bis zum Abend begleitet, das bleibt nicht in der Nacht. Es gibt ein Mittel, dem Menschen die Bewusstlosigkeit zu nehmen. Es gibt Methoden, dies zu erlangen. Durch eine gewisse Seelenkultur, durch Dinge, die sich als intime Vorgänge im Innern der Seele erweisen, kann der Mensch sich die Möglichkeit erringen, dass sein Traumleben ihm neue Offenbarungen bietet, dass er etwas erfährt von Dingen, die man nicht mit sinnlichen Augen und Ohren erkennt. Es ist ganz gleich, ob man die Wahrheit im Schlafe oder am Tage im Wachen erkennt; nur muss der Mensch lernen, die Welt, die er da erlebt, herüberzunehmen in die physische Wirklichkeit. Wenn er dadurch imstande ist, das Geistige in der ganzen Welt zu sehen, dann hat er die erste Stufe der Einweihung erreicht.
Auf der zweiten Stufe erlebt er dann etwas, wie wenn er in einem flutenden Meer von Farben lebte. Da gibt es eine höhere Einweihung, wo ein Bewusstsein entwickelt wird, wo dem Menschen eine noch höhere geistige Welt aufgeht. Der Mensch ist heute im gewöhnlichen Leben nicht imstande, das Bewusstsein, welches hinter der physischen Welt liegt, wachzurufen.
Der letzte Akt der Mysterien des Geistes war der, wo der Mensch in eine Art von Schlafzustand versetzt wurde. Man hatte dafür gesorgt durch die Vorbereitung, dass, wo das Alltagsbewusstsein heruntersank, dort sein Bewusstsein nicht aufhörte. Drei Tage und drei Nächte lag der Mensch in den Mysterientempeln in einem anderen Bewusstseinszustand; der Bürger und Teilnehmer einer anderen Welt. Dann wurde er von dem Priesterweisen wieder erweckt. Er bekam einen neuen Namen. Er war ein Eingeweihter, ein Wiedergeborener. Von den Mysterien des Geistes konnte man sagen: «Selig sind, die sie durchgemacht haben, selig sind, die da schauen!»
Zur Zeit des Christus Jesus kamen zu den Mysterien des Geistes die Mysterien des Sohnes, die es seit der Zeit des Christus gibt. Die Mysterien des Vaters, die Mysterien der Zukunft, werden nur in einem ganz kleinen Kreise gepflegt. Die Mysterien des Sohnes werden gepflegt in den Rosenkreuzer-Schulen. Auch in der neueren Zeit gibt es wieder Mysterien der Rosenkreuzer, die auch christlich sind, für diejenigen, welche ein Christentum brauchen, das aller Weisheit gegenüber gewappnet ist.
Heute wollen wir uns beschäftigen mit den Mysterien des Sohnes und sehen, wie sie sich unterscheiden von den alten heidnischen Mysterien. Wenn wir begreifen wollen den ganz gewaltigen Fortschritt, der durch das Christentum geschehen ist, so müssen wir zwei bedeutungsvolle Aussprüche ins Auge fassen und verstehen lernen. Der eine ist: «Selig sind, die da glauben, auch wenn sie nicht schauen.» (Joh 20,29) Und der andere: «Ich bin der Weg, die Wahrheit und das Leben.» (Joh 14,6)
Wer diese Aussprüche in aller Tiefe erfasst, der kann die Grundlage des Christentums verstehen. Während Paulus auf der einen Seite das zündende, gewaltige Wort gefunden hatte für die ganze Welt, hatte er seinen intimen Schülern Lehren gegeben, die zuerst überliefert und dann aufgeschrieben wurden, und die zurückgehen auf den Namen des Dionysius, mit dem Beinamen «der Areopagite». Es handelt sich da um eine Stiftung des heiligen Paulus selber, der die tiefste Weisheit verkündet hat. Zuerst wurden diese Lehren des Paulus aufgezeichnet im 6. Jahrhundert. Das sind die Schriften des sogenannten Pseudo-Dionysius. Weniger das Historische als der Inhalt dieser Schriften interessiert uns.
Es gibt ein esoterisches Christentum. Weil man das in gewissen Kreisen nicht zugeben will, hat man dem Johannesevangelium eine eigentümliche Stellung gegeben. Das Johannesevangelium wird von den Theologen als ein Buch, aus dichterischer Kraft hervorgegangen, angesehen. Sie verstehen aber nicht, was mit dem Johannesevangelium eigentlich gemeint ist. Wo die drei anderen Evangelisten das Exoterische erzählen, da erzählt Johannes, was er erlebt hat als der eingeweihte Seher, der in die geistigen Welten schauen konnte. Vom Gesichtspunkt des Eingeweihten hat der Schreiber des JohannesevangeJiums dieses Evangelium geschrieben.
Wer das Johannesevangelium als ein Buch betrachtet, das man ebenso lesen soll, das man so verstehen soll wie ein anderes Buch, der weiß gar nichts vom Johannesevangelium. Nur der weiß etwas davon, der es erleben kann. Die meisten Übersetzungen geben nicht den Geist des Johannesevangeliums wieder. Die ... /Lücke?] ersten Worte dieses Evangeliums lauten in richtiger Übersetzung (Joh 1,1-14):
1. Im Urbeginne war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und ein Gott war das Wort.
2. Dieses war im Urbeginne bei Gott. 3. Alles ist durch dasselbe geworden, und außer durch dieses ist nichts von dem Entstandenen geworden. 4. In diesem war das Leben, und das Leben war das Licht der Menschen. 5. Und das Licht schien in die Finsternis, aber die Finsternis hat es nicht begriffen. 6. Es ward ein Mensch gesandt von Gott, mit seinem Namen Johannes. 7. Dieser kam zum Zeugnis, auf dass er Zeugnis ablege von dem Licht, auf dass ihm alle glauben sollten. 8. Er war nicht das Licht, sondern ein Zeuge des Lichts. 9. Denn das wahre Licht, das alle Menschen erleuchtet, sollte in die Welt kommen. 10. Es war in der Welt, und die Welt ist durch es geworden, aber die Welt hat es nicht erkannt. 11. In die einzelnen Menschen kam es — bis zu den Ich-Menschen kam es —, aber die einzelnen Menschen — die Ich-Menschen — nahmen es nicht auf. 12. Die es aber aufnahmen, die konnten sich durch es als Gotteskinder offenbaren. 13. Die seinem Namen vertrauten, sind nicht aus Blut, nicht aus dem Willen des Fleisches und nicht aus menschlichem Willen, sondern aus Gott geboren. 14. Und das Wort ward Fleisch und hat unter uns gewohnt und wir haben seine Lehre gehört, die Lehre von dem einzigen Sohne des Vaters, erfüllt von Hingabe und Wahrheit.
Diese Worte mit ihrem monumentalen Inhalt, die soll man nicht so benutzen, dass man über sie grübelt, sondern dass man sie in folgender Weise auf sich wirken lässt, wie zahlreiche Menschen sie durch die Jahrhunderte hindurch benutzt haben: Des Morgens in der Frühe, wenn die Seele noch morgen-jungfräulich war, da ließ man diese Worte in der Seele auftönen bis zu der Stelle: «Und das Wort ward Fleisch und hat unter uns gewohnet» und so weiter (Joh, 1,14; wie oben).
Wenn der Mensch das tut, Tag für Tag, dann zeigt sich in der Seele etwas, was ihm ein neues Leben gibt, eine Wiedergeburt, ihn zu einem geistig Verwandelten macht. Er sieht dann um sich eine geistige Welt, von der er vorher keine Ahnung hatte. Jeder, der also die ersten Worte des Johannesevangeliums als seelenerzieherisches Mittel auf sich wirken lässt, der erlebt das Johannesevangelium selbst in gewaltigen Bildern.
Da steht vor seinem geistigen Schauen Johannes der Täufer, wie er den Christus tauft; da sieht er das Bild des Nikodemus, wie er seine Unterredung mit dem Christus hat. Dann sieht er, wie Christus den Tempel reinigt, und alle die darauf folgenden Szenen des Johannesevangeliums, und er erlebt die Stationen vom 13. Kapitel an.
Um in der richtigen Weise diese Worte auf sich wirken zu lassen, und um das «Wort» zu finden, das durch das Johannesevangelium verkündet wird, sagte der Lehrer dem Schüler Folgendes: Du musst dich ganz erfüllen durch Wochen hindurch mit einem einzigen Gefühl: Denke einmal an die Pflanze. Sie wurzelt im toten Stein. Wenn sie Bewusstsein hätte, so müsste sie sich niederbeugen zum toten Stein und zu ihm sagen: Ohne dich könnte ich nicht leben; aus dir hole ich Nahrung und Kräfte; dir verdanke ich mein Dasein - Dank dir!
Das Tier müsste ebenso zur Pflanze sprechen: Ohne dich könnte ich nicht leben; ich neige mich in Dankbarkeit zur dir, denn aus dir ziehe ich das, was ich zu meinem Leben brauche. — So ist es mit allen Reichen. Der Mensch muss sich, auch auf einer höheren Bildungsstufe angelangt, herabneigen, wie die Pflanze zum Stein, zu denen, die für ihn arbeiten, und ihnen danken. Wer ein christlicher Eingeweihter werden will, der muss durch viele Wochen dies Gefühl in sich entwickeln, dass er Dank schuldet dem, der unter ihm steht. Dann erlebt er geistig das 13. Kapitel des Johannesevangeliums, wo dieses Gefühl monumental dargestellt ist durch Christus bei der Fußwaschung.
Er stellt das dar: «Ohne dass ihr da seid, könnte ich nicht da sein; ich neige mich zu euch wie die Pflanze zu dem Stein.» Als äußeres Symbol erlebte der Eingeweihte bei dieser Stufe ein Gefühl, wie wenn Wasser um seine Füße spülte. Lange Zeit ist dies vorhanden. Wenn er dies durchgemacht hat, kann der christliche Myste durchmachen die nächste Stufe der Einweihung. Dazu musste er das ausbilden, dass er standhalten konnte gegenüber allen Stürmen und Bedrängnissen des Lebens. Dann erlebte er ein zweites Bild. Er sah dann sich selbst gegeißelt und spürte wochenlang am eigenen Leibe etwas wie ein Wehtun an einzelnen Stellen. Dann erlebte er die Geißelung.
Nun konnte er zur dritten Stufe aufsteigen. Der Lehrer sagte zu ihm: Du musst in dir ein Gefühl ausbilden, das zu ertragen, dass das, was das Höchste für dich ist, mit Spott und Hohn bedeckt wird. Spott und Hohn durften für ihn nichts sein gegenüber der Festigkeit und Sicherheit seines Innern. Dann erlebte der Schüler zwei Symptome der christlichen Einweihung. Er erlebte die Dornenkrönung; er sah geistig sich selbst mit der Dornenkrone und erlebte eine Art von Kopfschmerz, die das Zeichen ist für diese Einweihungsstufe.
Dann musste er als Viertes in sich das Gefühl entwickeln, dass der Leib nichts anderes für ihn ist als ein anderer Gegenstand der Welt. Dann trug er den Leib nur noch als Instrument mit sich. Man lernt in manchen Mysterienschulen sich angewöhnen zu sagen: Mein Leib geht durch die Tür und so weiter. Darauf erlebte der Myste selbst die Kreuzigung. Er sah sich selbst gekreuzigt. Das äußere Symptom war, dass während der Meditation an den Stellen der Wundmale Christi Stigmata auftraten; an den Händen, Füßen und an der rechten Seite. Das ist die Blutprobe des Mysten, die vierte Stufe der Einweihung.
Darnach stieg er auf zur fünften Station, die man den «mystischen Tod» nennt; ein hohes Erlebnis geistiger Art, auf das nur hingedeutet werden kann; Momente, wo die ganze physische Umwelt ihn umgibt wie ein schwarzer Schleier. Da lernt er kennen alles das, was die Ursachen des Bösen sind. Das nannte man die «Hinabfahrt in die Hölle». Es kam dann ein merkwürdiges Gefühl, wie wenn der ganze Vorhang auseinanderrisse. Das ist der mystische Tod und die mystische Erweckung.
Die sechste Stufe ist die sogenannte «Grablegung». Alles, was die Erde trägt, muss dem Menschen so wertvoll werden wie sein eigener Leib. Der physische Leib des Menschen könnte losgelöst von der Erde nicht existieren. Einige Meilen von der Erde entfernt, würde er verdorren, wie die Hand verdorren würde, wenn man sie vom Körper trennt. Was für meine Finger mein Leib, das ist die Erde für den Menschen. Die Selbstständigkeit, die sich der Mensch beilegt, ist eine Illusion. Wie der Mensch physisch abhängig ist von der Erde, so ist er geistig abhängig von der Geisteswelt. Erst wenn der Mensch sich fühlt als vereinigt mit dem ganzen Planeten, dann ist er in die Erde gelegt, dann erfolgt die Grablegung.
Darauf folgt die siebente Stufe, die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt. Hier erlebt der Mensch das Ewige. Beschreiben lässt sich diese Stufe nicht. Die ägyptischen Priesterweisen bedienten sich nicht der Schriftzeichen, um solche Dinge zu beschreiben. Solch eine Art und Weise muss gefunden werden in den Mysterien, um das zu sagen, was Worte nicht sagen können.
Durch die Gewalt, die Zauberkraft des Johannesevangeliums selbst kann man das Johannesevangelium erleben. Solch eine Einweihung ist die Einweihung des Sohnes. So etwas war erst möglich, nachdem der Christus da — auf Erden — war. Der äußere Christus, der in Palästina gewandelt ist, der verhält sich zu dem inneren Christus, den der Myste erlebt, wie die Sonne sich verhält zum Auge. Gäbe es kein Auge, die Sonne könnte nicht wahrgenommen werden. Aber die Sonne hat das Auge erzeugt. Wo kein Bild ist, geht auch das Organ für das Licht verloren. Das Auge ist nach und nach geschaffen worden durch die Sonne. Das Auge ist für das Licht durch das Licht geschaffen, sagt Goethe.
Wer das Johannesevangelium auf sich wirken lässt, entwickelt das innere Auge. Aber wie nie ohne Sonne ein Auge entstanden wäre, so wäre nie die geistige Sehkraft entstanden, wenn nicht Christus, die geistige Sonne, persönlich auf der Erde gewandelt wäre. Kein Christentum ohne den persönlichen Christus Jesus. Das ist das Wesentliche und Wichtige.
Alle anderen Religionsstifter konnten von sich sagen: «Ich bin der Weg und die Wahrheit.» Lehrer waren alle. Das Christentum hat an Lehren nichts Neues gebracht. Aber darauf kommt es nicht an, sondern darauf, dass sich die Christen wie in einer Familie verbunden fühlen mit dem persönlichen Christus Jesus. Darauf kommt es an, dass er da war und gelebt hat und gesagt: «Ich bin der Weg, die Wahrheit und das Leben.» (Joh 14,6)
Morgenländische Religionslehrer haben eine Exoterik und eine Esoterik, so wie das Christentum. Das Christentum unterscheidet sich von diesen dadurch: Seine Exoterik ist schlichter, volkstümlicher, spricht zum Herzen, zum Gefühl; aber seine Esoterik ist wesentlich tiefer als alle morgenländische Esoterik. In Wahrheit ist die christliche Esoterik das Tiefste, was der Menschheit gebracht worden ist. Die christliche Esoterik hat diejenige Wesenheit, mit der man verbunden sein muss, selbst auf die Erde geführt. Es handelt sich darum, dass man an die Göttlichkeit Christi glaubt. In den alten Mysterien musste man dagegen selbst schauen während der dreitägigen Einweihung.
Historische Tatsache ist im Christentum geworden, was vorher nur in den Mysterien des Geistes vorhanden war. Die Vorgänge in Palästina sind zugleich historische Tatsache und ein Symbolum.
Das Christentum ist so, dass das einfachste und schlichteste Gemüt es begreifen kann; aber auch der Weise wird niemals über das Christentum hinauswachsen. Die tiefsten Weisheitslehren liegen darinnen.
Wenn wir das Johannesevangelium als Lebensbuch verstehen, dass wir mit ihm leben wollen, es in uns aufleben lassen, dann werden wir erkennen das esoterische Christentum. Solches esoterisches Christentum hat es immer gegeben; es hat immer da gewirkt, wo das Christentum seine edle Seite zur Geltung gebracht hat, wo das Christentum die großen Kulturgüter der Menschheit gebracht hat. Allen denen, die die Gemeinsamkeit mit dem Christus Jesus empfunden hatten, denen strömte daraus eine solche Kraft zu, dass sie wussten, dass das Leben über den Tod immerdar siegen wird, dass der Tod niemals eine Wahrheit ist. Goethe hat gesagt, dass die großen Weltenmächte den Tod erfunden haben, um viel Leben in der Welt zu haben. Das Christentum ist ein Beweis, dass ein Bewusstsein in die Seele kommen kann von dem, dass das Leben stets dasjenige ist, was der Sieger in der Welt ist.
22. Esoteric Christianity
Now is the time when what has been called mysteries, mysticism, and esoteric wisdom throughout the entire history of human development must become known to wider circles.
Everything that has come to light in the spirit of humanity is based on a deeper wisdom that humanity in general has not yet known.
Let us first agree on what has always been understood by mysteries and esotericism. Everything that human culture achieves in the world can ultimately be traced back to a few great personalities and leading individuals. For example, a structure such as the Simplon Tunnel can ultimately be traced back to the intellectual work of great individuals who were not directly involved in its construction, but whose discoveries in the intellectual realm made it possible for others to carry out this construction. The practitioner may initially be of the opinion that such things were created through purely external activity. It would be the greatest mistake one could make to assume this. It is not the engineers who first conceived the plan, nor the workers who carried it out, who are the intellectual authors of these things. If it were not for what is called higher mathematics, as conceived by Leibniz, Newton, and so on, these works could never have been carried out! All these thinkers were necessary to bring about what we call material culture.
If we get to the bottom of the facts, we can see how all the work and fabrications could never have been accomplished without the souls of the thinkers. If this is the case with external, material culture, it is even more so with spiritual currents.
What religion and art have ever brought to humanity, what has governed states as law and justice, what has been lived as order and morality, what morality is for people—all of this leads back to deeper initiators of humanity, to hidden places of wisdom, if one undertakes to search for the deeper origin.
If we look at the works of art that have been passed down through the centuries, we find that they lead back to deeper sources. Whether one imagines a poet like Dante, a spirit like Goethe, a painter like Raphael, or religious phenomena such as those of Christianity, they all, like all moral and religious currents, art and science, lead into the secret places where what is called mysticism and esotericism was cultivated in secret.
Like all religions, Christianity is also based on esotericism. It is short-sighted to argue that Christianity is for “simple hearts,” that it must appeal to the emotions and be understandable to everyone. That is a short-sighted view.
All religions ultimately clothe their truths in such impulsive phrases that no soul can be so simple that they do not speak to it. But what emerges from this simplicity has its origins in the heights, among the so-called initiates. There have always been initiates. In ancient India, it was the rishis who taught ancient wisdom. In Persia, it was Zarathustra who taught wisdom. We can go to Greece, to Egypt, to Rome; everywhere we find a popular religion, but in the midst of all these peoples there are so-called giants of the spirit, unknown to humanity by name. It is they who unite themselves into occult brotherhoods. Anyone who wants to be accepted must pass strict tests. The tests did not initially relate to intellectual life; rather, they were about whether the person had developed a free character, where nothing that is feeling and passion influences the person. Then the person had to acquire the ability to never misuse their knowledge. People who had passed such difficult tests then became messengers for the rest of humanity. They were not allowed to have any other attitude in their hearts than to serve people, to help people. They had to be those who realized the words: “Whoever wants to be first among you must be the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Even in their intellectual pursuits, they were never, ever allowed to slacken in their efforts to attain higher truths.
Today, those who believe in the possibility of perceiving the spiritual worlds are often told: We humans have limits to our knowledge. But within the mystery circle, it was said: You have abilities that lie dormant within you; if you develop them, you can attain a higher level of knowledge. What people developed through training their inner faculties in the mystery centers was called a second birth.
It was said that such a person experiences something on a higher level than what a person born blind experiences here in the sensory world when they undergo surgery. This “operation of the soul,” the rebirth in spirit, was performed with the mystic in the mysteries. What was called “the realms of heaven” in the mysteries, into which the mystic was then introduced, was not in some other place. The realm of the spiritual world is here around human beings. There are as many worlds around us as we have abilities to perceive them. The wisdom received in the mysteries was not dry and abstract, but a wisdom that was at once religion and art. In the oldest mysteries, wisdom was both religion and art. In all the mysteries of Greece, the mystic's spiritual eye was opened. They were shown how, in primeval times, humans were still half animal, and how the soul struggled up to the level of humanity, where humans could see themselves. Three stages were shown to them: they saw figures as they lived in a distant human development; then figures that were half animal, half human; then perfect human figures. These three types of human development appeared to him in the Greek mysteries, and they found expression in Greek sculpture, first in the Zeus type with a straight nose and upward-sloping eyes; second, in the type of the god Mercury, with woolly hair and an upturned nose; and third, in the type of the satyr, with different eyes, a different nose, and different corners of the mouth. These three types appear to us as representations of the stages of human development in Greek art.
On another occasion, the mystic was shown how the god himself descended into nature, how he developed through the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, and the animal kingdom up to the human kingdom, and then was reborn from the human heart. This was called the descent of the god, his resurrection, and his ascension.
All of this was depicted in Greek drama. Everything that was depicted in drama originated from the mysteries. Just as the trunk divides into different branches, so the mysteries divided into religion, science, and art. The ancient mysteries celebrated in Greece, the Eleusinian mysteries, the mysteries of the Egyptian priestly wisdom, were called the mysteries of the spirit. Those who stood at the forefront as teachers and guides in these mysteries had made their way through to spiritual worlds; they were companions of the spirits themselves; they had contact with spiritual beings. Jamblichus describes how the gods descend in the mysteries.
Only after moral purification and intellectual clarification could one enter these places of wisdom. That was how it was in ancient pagan times. The mysteries of the spirit prevailed then. Only with wonderful enthusiasm and the most intimate devotion did the mystics speak of what could be experienced in the mystery schools. Aristides speaks of this: “I believed I was touching God, feeling his presence, and I was between waking and sleeping, my spirit was so light that no one who is not initiated can say or understand it.” And elsewhere he says: “It was as if the spiritual world was sprinkling me.” Plutarch says: “He who had received the consecration in these mysteries greeted the deity with the greeting of eternity.” Those who had gone through it were called “reborn.”
We need to shed some light on what the final act was in every initiation into the mysteries of the spirit. One had to undergo moral purification, intellectual clarification. Then one had to see this with the eyes of the spirit. Behind the consciousness that accompanies us in the waking state, there is another consciousness. Consciousness does not sink into complete darkness when we fall asleep. Human beings remain conscious at night; they are present. But the consciousness that accompanies them from morning to evening does not remain at night. There is a means of removing unconsciousness from human beings. There are methods for achieving this. Through a certain cultivation of the soul, through things that prove to be intimate processes within the soul, human beings can gain the possibility that their dream life will offer them new revelations, that they will learn something about things that cannot be perceived with the physical eyes and ears. It does not matter whether one recognizes the truth in sleep or during the waking day; one must learn to transfer the world one experiences there into physical reality. If one is thereby able to see the spiritual in the whole world, then one has reached the first stage of initiation.
At the second stage, one then experiences something like living in a flooding sea of colors. There is a higher initiation where consciousness is developed, where an even higher spiritual world opens up to the human being. In ordinary life today, human beings are not able to awaken the consciousness that lies behind the physical world.
The final act of the mysteries of the spirit was when the human being was put into a kind of sleep state. Preparations had been made to ensure that when everyday consciousness sank, his consciousness did not cease. For three days and three nights, man lay in the mystery temples in a different state of consciousness; a citizen and participant in another world. Then he was awakened again by the priest-sage. He was given a new name. He was an initiate, a reborn being. Of the mysteries of the spirit, one could say: “Blessed are those who have gone through them, blessed are those who behold them!”
At the time of Christ Jesus, the mysteries of the Son, which have existed since the time of Christ, were added to the mysteries of the spirit. The mysteries of the Father, the mysteries of the future, are cultivated only in a very small circle. The mysteries of the Son are cultivated in the Rosicrucian schools. Even in more recent times, there are again mysteries of the Rosicrucians, which are also Christian, for those who need a Christianity that is armed against all wisdom.
Today we want to deal with the mysteries of the Son and see how they differ from the ancient pagan mysteries. If we want to understand the tremendous progress that has been made through Christianity, we must consider two meaningful sayings and learn to understand them. One is: “Blessed are those who believe, even though they do not see.” (John 20:29) And the other: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
Those who grasp the full depth of these statements can understand the foundation of Christianity. While Paul had found the inspiring, powerful word for the whole world, he had given his close disciples teachings that were first handed down and then written down, and which go back to the name of Dionysius, nicknamed “the Areopagite.” These are the teachings of St. Paul himself, who proclaimed the deepest wisdom. These teachings of Paul were first recorded in the 6th century. These are the writings of the so-called Pseudo-Dionysius. We are less interested in the historical aspects than in the content of these writings.
There is such a thing as esoteric Christianity. Because certain circles do not want to admit this, the Gospel of John has been given a peculiar status. Theologians regard the Gospel of John as a book that emerged from poetic power. However, they do not understand what the Gospel of John actually means. Where the three other evangelists tell the exoteric, John tells what he experienced as the initiated seer who could see into the spiritual worlds. The writer of the Gospel of John wrote this gospel from the point of view of the initiate.
Anyone who regards the Gospel of John as a book that should be read and understood like any other book knows nothing about the Gospel of John. Only those who can experience it know anything about it. Most translations do not convey the spirit of the Gospel of John. The ... /gap?] first words of this Gospel are correctly translated as follows (John 1:1-14):
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2. This was with God in the beginning.
3. All things were made through it, and without it nothing was made that has been made.
4. In it was life, and the life was the light of men.
5. And the light shone in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it.
6. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. 8. He was not the light, but a witness to the light.
9. For the true light, which enlightens every man, was coming into the world.
10. It was in the world, and the world was made through it, but the world did not recognize it.
11. It came to the individual people—it came to the ego-people—but the individual people—the ego-people—did not receive it.
12. But those who did receive it were able to reveal themselves as children of God through it.
13. Those who trusted in his name were not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we heard his teaching, the teaching of the only Son of the Father, filled with devotion and truth.
These words, with their monumental content, should not be used in such a way that one ponders over them, but rather that one allows them to have an effect on oneself in the following manner, as numerous people have used them throughout the centuries: Early in the morning, when the soul was still morning-virgin, one let these words resound in the soul up to the point: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” and so on (John 1:14; as above).
If a person does this day after day, something appears in the soul that gives them a new life, a rebirth, transforming them spiritually. They then see around them a spiritual world of which they had no idea before. Anyone who allows the first words of the Gospel of John to work on them as a means of educating the soul will experience the Gospel of John itself in powerful images.
John the Baptist stands before his spiritual vision, baptizing Christ; he sees the image of Nicodemus having his conversation with Christ. Then he sees Christ cleansing the temple, and all the scenes that follow in the Gospel of John, and he experiences the stages from chapter 13 onwards.
In order to let these words sink in properly and to find the “word” proclaimed by the Gospel of John, the teacher said the following to the student: You must fill yourself completely with a single feeling for weeks on end: Think of the plant. It is rooted in dead stone. If it had consciousness, it would have to bow down to the dead stone and say to it: Without you I could not live; from you I draw nourishment and strength; I owe my existence to you — thank you!
The animal would also have to say to the plant: Without you I could not live; I bow to you in gratitude, for from you I draw what I need for my life. — So it is with all kingdoms. Even when he has reached a higher level of education, man must bow down, like the plant to the stone, to those who work for him, and thank them. Anyone who wants to become a Christian initiate must develop within themselves, over many weeks, the feeling that they owe gratitude to those below them. Then they will experience spiritually the 13th chapter of the Gospel of John, where this feeling is monumentally represented by Christ washing the feet of his disciples.
He expresses this as follows: “Without you being there, I could not be there; I bow down to you like the plant to the stone.” As an outward symbol, the initiate experienced at this stage a feeling as if water were washing around his feet. This feeling lasts for a long time. Once he has gone through this, the Christian mystic can proceed to the next stage of initiation. To do this, he had to train himself to withstand all the storms and tribulations of life. Then he experienced a second image. He saw himself being scourged and felt something like pain in certain places on his own body for weeks. Then he experienced the scourging.
Now he could ascend to the third stage. The teacher said to him: You must develop within yourself a feeling that can endure that which is highest for you being covered with mockery and scorn. Mockery and scorn were to be nothing to him in comparison with the steadfastness and security of his inner being. Then the disciple experienced two symptoms of Christian initiation. He experienced the crowning with thorns; he saw himself spiritually with the crown of thorns and experienced a kind of headache, which is the sign of this stage of initiation.
Then, as a fourth step, he had to develop within himself the feeling that the body is nothing more for him than another object in the world. Then he carried the body with him only as an instrument. In some mystery schools, one learns to say: My body goes through the door, and so on. Then the mystic himself experienced the crucifixion. He saw himself crucified. The outward symptom was that during meditation, stigmata appeared at the sites of Christ's wounds: on the hands, feet, and right side. This is the blood test of the mystic, the fourth stage of initiation.
After that, he ascended to the fifth station, which is called “mystical death”; a high experience of a spiritual nature that can only be hinted at; moments when the entire physical environment surrounds him like a black veil. There he learns everything that is the cause of evil. This was called the “descent into hell.” Then came a strange feeling, as if the whole curtain were tearing apart. This is mystical death and mystical awakening.
The sixth stage is the so-called “burial.” Everything that the earth carries must become as precious to man as his own body. The physical body of man could not exist detached from the earth. A few miles away from the earth, it would wither away, just as the hand would wither away if it were separated from the body. What my body is to my fingers, the earth is to man. The independence that man attributes to himself is an illusion. Just as humans are physically dependent on the earth, so they are spiritually dependent on the spiritual world. Only when humans feel united with the entire planet are they laid in the earth, and only then does the burial take place.
This is followed by the seventh stage, resurrection and ascension. Here, humans experience the eternal. This stage cannot be described. The Egyptian priestly sages did not use written characters to describe such things. Such a way must be found in the mysteries to say what words cannot say.
Through the power, the magic of the Gospel of John itself, one can experience the Gospel of John. Such an initiation is the initiation of the Son. This was only possible after Christ was there — on earth. The outer Christ, who walked in Palestine, relates to the inner Christ experienced by the mystic as the sun relates to the eye. If there were no eye, the sun could not be perceived. But the sun created the eye. Where there is no image, the organ for light is also lost. The eye was gradually created by the sun. The eye was created for light by light, says Goethe.
Those who allow the Gospel of John to work on them develop the inner eye. But just as an eye would never have come into being without the sun, spiritual vision would never have come into being if Christ, the spiritual sun, had not personally walked on earth. There is no Christianity without the personal Christ Jesus. That is the essential and important thing.
All other founders of religions could say of themselves: “I am the way and the truth.” They were all teachers. Christianity brought nothing new in terms of teachings. But that is not what matters. What matters is that Christians feel connected to the personal Christ Jesus as if they were part of a family. What matters is that he was there and lived and said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Oriental religious teachers have an exoteric and an esoteric aspect, just like Christianity. Christianity differs from them in this respect: its exoteric aspect is simpler, more popular, speaks to the heart, to the emotions; but its esoteric aspect is much deeper than any Oriental esotericism. In truth, Christian esotericism is the deepest thing that has been brought to humanity. Christian esotericism has brought the very essence with which one must be connected to earth itself. It is a matter of believing in the divinity of Christ. In the ancient mysteries, on the other hand, one had to see for oneself during the three-day initiation.
What was previously only present in the mysteries of the spirit has become historical fact in Christianity. The events in Palestine are both historical fact and symbol.
Christianity is such that the simplest and most straightforward mind can comprehend it; but even the wise will never outgrow Christianity. The deepest teachings of wisdom lie within it.
If we understand the Gospel of John as a book of life, if we want to live with it, let it live within us, then we will recognize esoteric Christianity. Such esoteric Christianity has always existed; it has always been at work where Christianity has brought its noble side to bear, where Christianity has brought the great cultural treasures of humanity. All those who felt a connection with Christ Jesus were filled with such power that they knew that life will always triumph over death, that death is never a truth. Goethe said that the great world powers invented death in order to have much life in the world. Christianity is proof that a consciousness can come into the soul that life is always the victor in the world.