Donate books to help fund our work. Learn more→

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

a project of Steiner Online Library, a public charity

The Temple Legend II
GA 93

15 May 1904, Berlin

11. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored I
(In connection with the Legend of the True Cross, or Golden Legend)

Today we will explain a great allegory, and deal with an object which is known to occult science as the image or teaching of the lost temple which has to be rebuilt. I have explained in earlier lectures 1 e.g., lectures 3 and 5 of 30th September and 4th November 1904. why in occult science one starts from such images; today we shall see what an enormous number of ideas are contained in essence in this image. Thereby I will also have to touch upon a theme which is much misunderstood by those who know little or nothing about theosophy. There are some people who do not understand that theosophy and practical [everyday things] go hand in hand, that they must work together throughout the whole of life. Therefore I shall have to speak about the connection between theosophy and the practical things of life. For, basically, when we take up the theme of the lost temple which has to be rebuilt, we are speaking about everyday work.

I shall, indeed, thereby be in the position of a teacher who prepares his pupils for building a tunnel. The building of a tunnel is something eminently practical. Someone might well say: building a tunnel is simple; one only has to start digging into a hill from one side and to excavate away until one emerges at the other side. Everyone can see that it would be foolish to think in this way. But in other realms of life that is not always perceived. Whoever wishes to build a tunnel must, of course, first of all have a command of higher mathematics. Then he will have to learn how it is to be made, technically. Without practical engineering knowledge, without the art of ascertaining the right level, one would not be able to keep on course in excavating the mountain. Then one must know the basic concepts of geology, of the various rock strata, the direction of the water courses and the metallic lodes in the mountain, and so on.. It would be foolish to think that someone would be able to build a tunnel without all this prior knowledge, or that an ordinary stone mason could construct a whole tunnel.

It would be just as foolish if one were to believe that one could begin building human society from the point of view of ordinary life. However, this folly is perpetrated not merely by many people, but also in countless books. Even one today supposes himself called upon to know and decide how best to reform social life and the state. People who have hardly learnt anything write detailed books about how society should best be shaped, and feel themselves called to found reform movements. Thus there are movements for reform in all spheres of life. But everything done in this way is just the same as if someone were to try to cut a tunnel with hammer and chisel. That is all a result of not knowing that great laws exist which rule the world and spring forth out of the life of the spirit. The real problem of our day consists in this ignorance [of the fact] that there are great laws for the building of the state and of the social organism, just as there are for building a tunnel, and that one must know these laws in order to carry out the most necessary and everyday tasks in the social organism. Just as in building a tunnel, one has to know about the interaction of all the forces of nature, so must anyone wishing to start reforming society know the laws [which interweave between one person and the next] . One must study the effect of one soul on another, and draw near to the spirit. That is why theosophy must lie at the basis of every practical activity in life. Theosophy is the real practical principle of life; and only he who starts from theosophical principles and carries them over into practical life can feel himself called as able to be active in social life.

That is why theosophy should penetrate all spheres of life. Statesmen, social reformers and the like are nothing without a theosophical basis, without theosophical principles. That is why, for those who study these things, all work in this field, everything done today to build up the social structure, is external patchwork and complete chaos. For one who understands the matter, what the social reformer is doing today is like somebody cutting stones and piling them one on top of another in the belief that a house will thereby come into being of its own accord. First of all a plan of the house must be drawn up. It is just the same if one asserts that, in social life, things will take shape of their own accord. One cannot reform society without knowing the laws of theosophy.

This way of thinking, which works according to a plan, is called Freemasonry. The medieval Freemasons, who dealt with and made contracts with the clergy, about how they should build, wanted nothing else than to shape outer life in such a way that—along with the Gothic cathedral—it could become an image of the great spiritual structure of the universe. Take the Gothic cathedral. Though composed of thousands of individual parts, it is built according to a single idea, much more comprehensive than the cathedral itself. To become complete in itself, divine life must flow into it, just as light shines into the church through the multi-coloured windows. And when the medieval priest spoke from the pulpit, so that the divine light shone in his listener's hearts just like the light shining through the coloured panes, then the vibrations set up through the preacher's word were in harmony with the great life of God. And the life of just such a sermon, born out of the life of the spirit, set itself forth in the cathedral itself. In like manner, the whole of outer life should be transformed into the Temple of the Earth, into an image of the whole spiritual structure of the universe.

If we go still further back in time, we find that it is just this way of thinking which was mankind's from the very earliest times. Let me explain what I mean by way of an example. Our epoch is the time of the chaotic interaction of one human being with another. Each individual pursues his own aims. This epoch was preceded by another one, the age of the ancient priestly states. I have often spoken about the cultural epochs of our fifth Great Epoch. The first of these was the ancient Indian epoch, the second, that of the Medes and the Persians, the third, that of the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Egyptians and the Semites, and the fourth was the Graeco-Roman period. We are now in the fifth epoch.

The fourth and fifth cultural epochs were the first ones to be based on the intelligence of men, of individual men.

We have a great monument to the conquest of the old priestly culture by the intelligence of men in art, in the Laocoon.2 In this connection see lecture held in Munich, 14th March 1910, published in: Metamorphoses of the Soul. The Laocoon priest entwined with serpents—the symbol of subtlety—symbolises the conquest, by the civilisation of intelligence, of the old priestly culture, which held other views about truth and wisdom, and about what should happen. It is the overcoming of the third cultural epoch by the fourth. That is represented in still another symbol, in the saga of the Trojan Horse. The intelligence of Odysseus created the Trojan Horse, by means of which the Trojan priestly culture was overthrown.

The development of the old Roman State out of the ancient Trojan priestly culture is described in the saga of Aeneas. The latter was one of the outstanding defenders of Troy, who afterwards came over to Italy. There it was that his descendants laid the foundation of ancient Rome. His son Ascanius founded Alba Longa and history now enumerates fourteen kings up to the time of Numitor and Amulius. Numitor was robbed of his throne by his brother Amulius, his son was killed and his daughter, Rhea Silvia, was made to become a vestal virgin, so that the lineage of Numitor should die out. And when Rhea gave birth to the twins, Romulus and Remus, Amulius ordered them to be thrown in the Tiber. The children were rescued, suckled by a she-wolf, and brought up by the royal shepherd Faustulus.

Now history speaks about seven Roman kings: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tuflus Hostilius, Ancus Martius, Tarquinius Pliscus, Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus.

Following Livy's account 3 Titus Livius (59 B.C.A.D. 17), Roman historian; author of a history of Rome (Annales) from the foundation of the city to the death of Drusus (9 B.C.); of the 142 books of this history, 35 of them and epitomes of most of the rest are extant. it used to be believed that the first seven kings of Rome were real personalities. Today, historians know that these first seven kings never existed.

We are therefore dealing with a saga, but the historians have no inkling of what lies behind it. The basis of the saga is what follows:

The priestly state of Troy founded a colony, the priestly colony of Alba Longa (Alba, an alb, or priest's vestment).4 A white vestment reaching to the feet, worn by the celebrant at Mass over the cassock and having long pointed sleeves. The oldest type of vestment derived from Egyptian and Hebrew times. It was a colony of a priestly state and Amulius belonged to the last priestly dynasty. A junior priestly culture sprang from this, which was then cut off by a civilisation based on cleverness. History tells us no more about this priestly culture. The veil which was spread over the priestly culture of the earliest Roman history, is lifted by theosophy. The seven Roman kings represent nothing else than the seven principles as we know them from theosophy. Just as the human organism consists of seven parts—Sthula-Sharira [physical body], Linga-Sharira [etheric], Kama-Rupa [astral], Kama-Manas [ego], higher Manas [spirit-self], Buddhi [life-spirit] and Atma [spirit-man]—so the social organism was conceived, as it formed itself at the time, as a sequence in seven stages. And only if it was developed according to the law of the number seven, which lies at the base of all nature, was it able to prosper. Thus the rainbow has seven colours; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Likewise there are seven [intervals in the scale]: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on; likewise the atomic weights in chemistry follow the rule of the number seven. And that permeates the whole of creation. Hence it was self-evident to the Guardians of the Ancient Wisdom that the structure of human society must also be regulated by such a law. According to a precisely worked out plan, these seven kings are seven stages, seven [integral] parts. This was the usual way of inaugurating a new epoch in history at that time. A plan was devised, since this was considered a means of preventing any stupidities, and a law was written for it. This plan was actually there at the beginning. Everyone knew that world history was guided according to a fixed plan. Everyone knew: When I am in the third phase of the fourth epoch, I must be guided by this and that. And so, at first, in ancient Rome, one still had a priestly state with a plan at the basis of its culture, which was written down in books, called the Sibylline Books. These are nothing else than the original plan underlying the law of the sevenfold epoch, and they were still consulted when needed in the earliest days of the Roman Empire.

The physical body was taken as a model for the foundations. That is not so unreasonable. Today people are inclined to treat the physical body as something subordinate. People look down on the physical with a kind of disdain. However, that is not justified, because our physical body is our most exalted part. Take a single bone. Take a good look at the upper part of a thigh bone and you will see how wonderfully it is constructed. The best engineer, the greatest technician, could not produce anything so perfect, if he were set the task of attaining the greatest possible strength using the least amount of material. And so the whole human body is constructed in the most perfect way. This physical body is really the most perfect thing imaginable. An anatomist will always speak with the utmost admiration of the human heart, which functions in a wonderful way, even though human beings do little else throughout life than imbibe what is poison for it. Alcohol, tea, coffee and so on attack the heart in the most incredible fashion. But so wonderfully has this organ been built that it can withstand all this into ripe old age.

The physical body, the lowest of the bodies, therefore possesses the greatest perfection. Less perfect, on the other hand, are the higher bodies, which have not yet gained such perfection in their development: the etheric body and the astral body continually offend against our physical body through the attacks of our lust, desires and wishes. Then follows, as the fourth [principle], the real baby [of them all], the human ego, which like a wandering will-o’-the-wisp, must still wait for the future to offer it those rules which will act as a guide for its conduct, just as the physical body has long since had.

When we develop a social structure, we must have that which will make the foundations firm. Thus the saga allows Romulus, the first Roman king, who represents the first principle, to be raised to heaven as the god Quirinus. The second king, Numa Pompilius, the second principle. embodies social order; he brought laws for ordinary living. The third king, Tullus Hostilius, represents the passions. Under him, the attacks against divine nature begin, causing discord, struggle and war, through which Rome became great. Under the fourth king, Ancus Martius, the arts develop, those things which spring out of Kama-Manas, [the human ego].

Now the four lower principles of man are not able to give birth to the three higher principles, the fifth, sixth andc seventh. This is also symbolised in Roman history. The fifth-Roman king, Tarquinius Priscus, was not engendered out of the Roman organism, but was introduced into Roman culture from the Etruscan culture as something higher. The sixth king, Servius Tullus, represents the sixth member of the human cyclic law, Buddhi. He is able to rule over Kama [the astral body], the physical-sensual counterpart of Buddhi. He represents the canon of the law. The seventh king, Tarquinius Superbus, the most exalted principle, is he who must be overthrown, since it is not possible to maintain the high level, the impulse, of the social system.

We see it demonstrated in Roman history that there must be a plan underlying the building of the state, just as for any other building in the world. That the world is a temple, that social life must be structured and organised, and must have pillars like a temple, and that the great sages must be these pillars—it is this intention which is permeated with the ancient wisdom. That is not a kind of wisdom which is merely learned, but one which has to be built into human society. The seven principles were correctly applied. The only person able to work towards the building up of society is he who has absorbed all this knowledge, all this wisdom, into himself. We would not achieve much as theosophists if we were to restrict ourselves to contemplating how the human being is built up from its different members. No, we are only able to fulfil our task if we carry the principles of theosophy into everyday life. We must learn to put them to use in such a way that every turn of the hand, every movement of a finger, every step we take, bears the impress, is an expression of the spirit. In that case we shall be engaged in building the lost temple.

Along with that, however, goes the fact which I mentioned recently—that we should take into ourselves something of the greatness and all embracing comprehensiveness of the universal laws. Our habits of thought must be permeated by that kind of wisdom which leads from great conceptions into the details—just in the same way as house construction starts from the finished and complete plan and not by laying one stone upon another. This demand must be made if our world is not to turn into chaos. As theosophists we should recognise the fact that law is bound to rule in the world as soon as we realise that every step we make, every action of ours, is like an impression stamped in wax by the spiritual world. Then we shall be engaged in the building of the temple. That is the meaning of the temple building: whatever we set ourselves to do must be in conformity to law.

The knowledge that man has to include himself in the construction of the great world temple has become increasingly forgotten. A person can be born and die today without having any inkling of the fact that laws are working themselves out in us, and that everything we do is governed by the laws of the universe The whole of present-day life is wasted, because people do not know that they have to live according to laws. Therefore the priestly sages of ancient times devised means of rescuing, for the new culture, something of the great laws of the spiritual world. It was, so to speak, a stratagem of the great sages, to have hidden this order and harmony in many branches of life—yes, even so far as in the games which men use for their recreation at the end of the day. In playing cards, in the figures of chess, in the sense of rule by which one plays, we find a hint, if only a faint one, of the order and harmony which I have described. When you sit down with someone to a game of cards, it will not do if you do not know the rules, the manner of playing. And this really conveys a hint of the great laws of the universe. What is known as the sephirot of the Cabbala, what we know as the seven principles in their various forms, that is recognised again in the way in which the cards are laid down, one after the other, in the course of the game. Even in the allurements of playing, the adepts have known how to introduce the great cosmic laws, so that, even in play, people have at least a smack of wisdom. At least for those who can play cards, their present incarnation is not quite wasted. These are secrets, how the great Adepts intervene in the wheel of existence. If one told people to be guided by the great cosmic laws, they would not do so. However, if the laws are introduced unnoticed into things, it is often possible to inject a drop of this attitude into them. If you have this attitude, then you will have a notion of what it is which is symbolised in the mighty allegory of the lost temple.

In the secret societies, among which Freemasonry belongs, something connected with the lost temple and its future reconstruction has been described in the Temple Legend. The Temple Legend is very profound, but even the present-day Freemasons usually have no notion of it. A Freemason isnot even very easy to distinguish from the majority of people, and he does not carry much of importance with him in new life. But if he lets the Temple Legend work upon him, it is a great help. For whoever absorbs the Temple Legend receives something which, in a specific way, shapes his thinking in an orderly fashion. And it [all] depends on ordered thinking. This Temple Legend is as follows:

Once one of the Elohim united with Eve, and out of that Cain was born. Another of the Elohim, Adonai or Jehovah-Yahveh, thereupon created Adam. The latter, for his part, united with Eve, and out of this marriage Abel was born. Adonai caused trouble between those belonging to Cain's family and those belonging to Abel's family, and the result of this was that Cain slew Abel. But out of the renewed union of Adam with Eve the race of Seth was founded.

Thus we have two different races of mankind. The one consists of the original descendants of the Elohim, the sons of Cain, who are called the Sons of Fire. They are those who till the earth and create from inanimate nature and transform it through the arts of man. Enoch, one of the descendants of Cain, taught mankind the art of hewing stone, of building houses, of organising society of founding civilised communities. Another of Cain's descendants was Tubal-Cain, who worked in metal. The architect Hiram-Abiff was descended from the same race.

Abel was a shepherd. He held firmly to what he found, he took the world as it was. There is always this antithesis between people. One sticks to things as they are, the other wants to create new life from the inanimate, through art. Other nations have portrayed the ancestor of these Sons of Fire in the Prometheus saga 5 See lecture 4 of 7th October 1904 in the present volume. It is the Sons of Fire who have to work into the world the wisdom, beauty and goodness from the all-embracing universal thought, in order to transform the world into a temple.

King Solomon was a descendant of the lineage of Abel. He could not build the temple himself; he lacked the art. Hence he appointed the architect Hiram-Abiff, the descendant of the lineage of Cain. Solomon was divinely handsome. When the Queen of Sheba met him, she thought she saw an image of gold and ivory. She came to unite herself with him.

Jehovah is also called the God of created form,6 See lecture of 25th October 1905 in: Foundations of Esotericism, Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1983. the God who turns what is living into a living force, in contrast with that other Elohim who creates by charming life out of what is lifeless. To which of these does the future belong? That is the great question of the Temple Legend. If mankind were to develop under the religion of Jehovah all life would expire in form. In occult science, that is called the Transition to the Eighth Sphere.7 See note 26 to lecture 6 given on 11th November 1904. But the point in time has now arrived when man himself must awaken the dead to life. That will happen through the Sons of Cain, through those who do not rely on the things around them, but are themselves the creators of new forms. The Sons of Cain themselves frame the building of the world.

When the Queen of Sheba saw the temple and asked who the architect was, she was told it was Hiram. And as soon as she saw him, he seemed to her to be the one who was predestined for her. King Solomon now became jealous; and indeed, he entered into league with three apprentices who had failed to achieve their master's degree, in order to undermine Hiram's great masterpiece, the Molten Sea. This great masterpiece was to be made by casting it. Human spirit was to have been united with the metal. Of the three apprentices, one was a Syrian mason, the second was a Phoenician carpenter, and the third was a Hebrew miner. The plot succeeded: the casting was destroyed by pouring water over it. It all blew apart. In despair the architect was about to throw himself into the heat of the flames. Then he heard a voice from the centre of the earth. This came from Cain himself, who called out to him: ‘Take here the hammer of the world's divine wisdom, with which you must put it all right again.’ And Cain gave him the hammer. Now it is the spirit of man which man builds into his astral body, if he is not to let it remain in the condition in which he received it. This is the work which Hiram now had to do. But there was a plot against his life. We shall proceed from there next time.

I wanted to recount the legend up to this point, to show how, in the original occult brotherhoods, the thought lived, that man has a task to fulfil; the task of restructuring the inanimate world, of not being satisfied with what is already there. Wisdom thus becomes deed through its penetration of the inanimate world, so that the world should become a reflection of the original and eternal spirituality.

Wisdom, Beauty, Strength are the three fundamental words of all Freemasonry. So to change the outer world, that it becomes a garment for the spiritual—that is its task. Today, the Freemasons themselves no longer understand this, and believe that man should work on his own ego.8 At this point the texts diverge: according to Seiler it is ‘egoistical’ egos; according to Vegelahn and Reebstein ‘spiritual’ egos, which might have resulted from a mis-hearing or mistake in writing and could have been ‘own’ egos—(geistigen = eigenen). They regard themselves as particularly clever when they say that the working masons of the Middle Ages were not Freemasons. But the working masons were precisely those who have always been Freemasons, because outward structure was to become the replica of the spiritual, of the temple of the world, which is to be constructed out of intuitive wisdom. This is the thought which formerly under lay the great works of architecture, and was carried through into every detail.

I will illustrate by an example the superiority of wisdom over mere intellect. Let us take an old Gothic cathedral, and consider the wonderful acoustics, which cannot be matched today, because this profound knowledge has been lost.

The famous Lake Moeris in Egypt is just such a wonder-work of the human spirit. It was not a natural lake, but was constructed through the intuition of the wise men, so that water could be stored in time of flood, for distribution over the whole country in time of drought. That was a great feat of irrigation.

When man learns to create with the same wisdom with which the divine powers have created Nature and made physical things, then will the temple be built [on earth]. It does not depend upon how many separate things we have the power to create out of our own wisdom; we must however just have the attitude of mind that knows that only by means of wisdom can the temple of humanity be created.

When, today, we go about the cities, here there is a shoe shop, there a chemist, further on a cheese-monger and a shop selling walking sticks. If just now we do not want anything, why should that concern us? How little does the outward life of such a city reflect what we feel, think and perceive! How very different it was in the Middle Ages. If a person walked through the streets then, he saw the house fronts built in the resident's style, manner and character. Every door knob expressed what the man had lovingly shaped to suit his spirit. Go, for instance, through a town such as Nuremberg: there you will still find the basis of how it used to be. And then, by contrast, take the fashionable abstraction that no longer has anything to do with people. That is the age of materialism and its chaotic productions, to which one has step by step come from an earlier spiritual epoch.

Man was born from a nature which was once so formed by the gods that everything within it fitted the great scheme of the world, the great temple. There was once a time when there was nothing on this earth upon which you could gaze without having to say to oneself: Divine beings have built this temple to the stage in which the human physical body was perfected. Then the higher principles (the psychic forces) [of man's nature] took possession of it, and through this disarray and chaos came into the world. Wishes, desires and emotions brought disarray into the temple of the world. Only when, out of man's own will, law and order once again shall speak in a loftier and more beautiful way than the gods once did in creating Nature, only when man allows the god within him to arise, so that like a god he can build towards the temple—only then will the lost temple be regained.

It would not be right if we were to think that only those who are able to build should do so. No, it depends upon the attitude of mind, even if one knows a great deal. If one has the right direction to one's thinking, and then one engages in social, technical and juristic reform, then one is building the lost temple which is to be rebuilt. But should one start reforms—however well-intended they may be—lacking this attitude of mind, then one is only bringing about more chaos. For the individual stone is useless, if it does not fit into the overall plan [of the building]. Reform the law, religion, or anything else—as long as you only take account of the particular item, without having an understanding of the whole, it only results in a demolition.

Theosophy is thus not just theory, but practice, the most practical thing in the world. It is a fallacy to suppose that theosophists are recluses, not engaged in shaping the world. If we could bring people to engage in social reform from a theosophical basis,9 Rudolf Steiner was working towards establishing a reform of the social life soon after the end of the Great War. See: ‘The Threefold Order of the Body Social.’ RSE 252, 253 and 254. they would achieve much of what they want swiftly and surely. For, without needing to say anything against particular movements, they only lead to fanaticism if pursued in isolation. All separate reform movements—emancipators, abstainers, vegetarians, animal protectors and so forth—are only useful if they all work together. Their ideal can only be properly realised in a great universal movement that leads in unity to the universal world temple.

That is the idea that lies behind the allegory of the lost temple which has to be rebuilt.


Notes from replies to questions

Question: What is the difference between the sons of Cain and the sons of Abel?

Answer: The sons, of Cain are the unripe ones; the sons of Abel are the over-ripe ones. The sons of Abel turn to the higher spheres when they have finished with these incarnations. The sons of Abel are the Solar Pitris [those who underwent their human stage on the Old Sun]; the sons of Cain are the most mature of the Lunar Pitris [those who passed their human stage on the Old Moon].

Question: Why have so many mystical and masonic associations developed?

Answer: All higher work is only to be undertaken in an association. The Knights of the Round Table generally numbered twelve.

Question: Are you acquainted with the work of Albert Schäffle? 10Albert Eberhard Friedrich Schäffle, 1831–1903, sociologist, wrote much on this subject. In another connection Rudolf Steiner mentions his work: Bau und Leben des sozialen Körpers (‘Construction and Life of the Body-Social’), a four volume work published in Tübingen, 1875–78.

Answer: Albert Schäffle wrote a work about sociology, and the account he gives is much more masonic than what emanates from the lodges of Freemasonry.

11. Über Den Verlorenen Und Wiederzuerrichtenden Tempel im Zusammenhang mit der Kreuzesholz- oder Goldenen Legende

Wir werden uns heute mit einer großen Allegorie auseinandersetzen und einen Gegenstand behandeln, der in den Geheimlehren gewöhnlich genannt wird das Bild oder die Lehre von dem verlorengegangenen und wiederzuerbauenden Tempel. In früheren Vorträgen habe ich auseinandergesetzt, warum man in der Geheimlehre ausgeht von solchen Bildern; heute werden wir sehen, welche Unsumme von Vorstellungen durch dieses Bild eine Abkürzung erhalten. Ich werde dabei auch ein Thema berühren müssen, das von seiten derer, die von Theosophie wenig oder gar nichts wissen, sehr mißverstanden wird. Es gibt Leute, welche nicht verstehen, daß Theosophie und Praxis zusammengehören, daß sie das ganze Leben hindurch zusammen wirken müssen. Ich werde also zu sprechen haben von den Beziehungen zwischen der Theosophie und der ganzen Praxis des Lebens. Denn im Grunde genommen müssen wir bei dem Thema von dem verlorengegangenen und wiederaufzurichtenden Tempel von der alltäglichsten Arbeit mitsprechen.

Ich werde dabei allerdings in der Lage eines Professors sein, der seine Schüler für einen Tunnelbau vorbereiten will. Wenn man einen Tunnel bauen will, so ist das ja etwas eminent Praktisches. Es kann wohl jemand sagen, ein Tunnel ist leicht zu bauen. Da fängt man einfach an, auf der einen Seite in den Berg hineinzugraben, meißelt das Loch weiter aus, bis man auf der anderen Seite wieder herauskommt. — Daß so etwas zu glauben eine Torheit wäre, das sieht jeder ein. Nur auf anderen Gebieten des Lebens will man das nicht immer einsehen. Wer einen Tunnel bauen will, muß selbstverständlich zunächst einmal die höhere Mathematik beherrschen. Dann lernt man, wie es technisch zu machen ist. Ohne die praktischen Ingenieurwissenschaften, ohne die Kunst des ganzen Nivellements, würde man nicht imstande sein, eine Richtung beim Hineinbauen in den Berg einzuhalten. Dann muß man die Grundbegriffe der Geologie kennen, die verschiedenen Lagerungen der Gesteine, die Richtung der Wasser- und Metalladern im Berge und so weiter. Es wäre eine Torheit zu glauben, daß man ohne diese Vorkenntnisse einen Tunnel zu bauen in der Lage wäre und daß ein gewöhnlicher Maurer einen ganzen Tunnel bauen könnte.

Eine ebensolche Torheit wäre es, wenn man vom Standpunkt des gewöhnlichen Lebens aus glaubte, an den Bau der menschlichen Gesellschaft herangehen zu können. Diese Torheit wird aber nicht nur von vielen Menschen, sondern auch mit unzähligen Büchern begangen. Jeder glaubt sich heute berufen, zu wissen und bestimmen zu können, wie man die soziale Ordnung, wie man den Staat am besten teformieren könnte. Die kaum etwas gelernt haben, schreiben ausführliche Bücher, wie die beste Gesellschaftsform gestaltet sein soll und fühlen sich dann auch dazu berufen, Reformbewegungen ins Leben zu rufen. So gibt es Reformbewegungen auf allen möglichen Gebieten. Aber alles, was da gemacht wird, ist genau so, wie wenn einer mit Hammer und Meißel einen Tunnel durchstechen wollte. Alles das kommt aus dem Nichtwissen dessen, daß es große Gesetze gibt, welche die Welt beherrschen und aus dem Geistesleben hervorgehen. Das eigentliche Malheur unserer Zeit ist dieses Nichtwissen, daß es für den Bau des menschlichen Staats- und Gesellschaftsorganismus ebenso große Gesetze gibt wie für den Tunnelbau, die man erst kennen muß, um das Nötigste, das Alltäglichste im Gesellschaftsorganismus zu vollbringen. Ebenso wie man beim Tunnelbau erst das Zusammenwirken aller Naturkräfte kennen muß, so muß, wer auch nur daran denken will, mit Sozialreformen anzufangen, die Gesetze des sozialen Zusammenwirkens kennen. Er muß sich beschäftigen mit dem Wirken von Seele auf Seele, und herantreten an den Geist. Daher ist die Theosophie dasjenige, was jeder praktischen Tätigkeit im Leben zugrunde liegen muß. Die Theosophie ist die eigentliche Praxis des Lebens; und erst derjenige, der ausgeht von den theosophischen Prinzipien und von da übergeht in die Praxis des Lebens, kann sich berufen fühlen, im sozialen Leben wirken zu können.

Daher müßte die Theosophie in alle Zweige des Lebens hineindringen. Staatsmänner, Sozialreformer und so weiter sind nichts ohne die theosophischen Grundlagen, ohne die theosophischen Prinzipien. Daher ist heute alle Arbeit auf diesem Gebiete, alles was heutzutage baut am sozialen Körper, äußerstes Stückwerk, vollkommenes Chaos für den, der die Dinge überschaut. Für einen, der die Sache versteht, nimmt sich das, was die Sozialreformer heute tun, so aus, wie wenn einer Steine behaut, sie aufeinanderhäuft und dann glaubt, daß daraus von selbst ein Haus würde. Erst muß einmal ein Plan von dem Haus gemacht sein. Ebenso ist es aber, wenn man behaupten wollte, daß sich die Dinge im sozialen Leben von selber gestalten. Man kann nicht die Gesellschaft reformieren, ohne die Gesetze der Theosophie zu kennen.

Diese Gesinnung, welche in Gemäßheit eines Planes arbeitet, nennt man Freimaurerei. Nichts anderes wollten die mittelalterlichen Freimaurer, welche mit der Geistlichkeit verhandelten und Verträge abschlossen, wie man zu bauen hat, nichts anderes wollten sie, als das äußere Leben so zu gestalten, daß es - mit dem gotischen Dom zusammen - ein Abbild des großen geistigen Baues der Welt ist. Nehmen Sie den gotischen Dom. Er zeigt eine Fülle von tausend und abertausend Einzelheiten, ist aber gebaut nach einer Idee, die viel umfassender ist als der Dom an sich. Zur vollen Einheit muß das göttliche Leben hineinströmen, wie das Sonnenlicht durch die farbigen Scheiben in den Raum dringt. Und wenn der mittelalterliche Prediger auf der Kanzel dann so sprach, daß Gotteslicht in die Herzen seiner Zuhörer eindrang, wie das Licht durch die bunten Scheiben in die Kirche dringt, dann standen die Schwingungen, die entstanden durch das Wort des Predigers, im Einklang mit dem großen göttlichen Leben. Und im Dome selbst setzte sich fort das Leben einer solchen Predigt, die aus dem geistigen Leben geboren war. Ebenso sollte das ganze äußere Leben umgestaltet werden zum Tempel der Erde, zum Abbild des ganzen geistigen Baues der Welt.

Wenn wir noch weiter zurückgehen, dann finden wir, daß gerade diese Denk- und Gesinnungsweise die urälteste des Menschengeschlechts ist. Ein Beispiel sei angeführt, um zu zeigen, wie die Gesinnung beschaffen ist, die ich meine. Unsere Zeit ist die Zeit des chaotischen Zusammenwirkens der Menschen. Jeder will, was er im Sinne hat. Dieser Zeit ging eine andere voran, die der alten Priesterstaaten. Ich habe öfters gesprochen von den Unterrassen unserer fünften Wurzelrasse. Die erste war die alte indische Kultur, die zweite die persisch-medische, die dritte die babylonisch-assyrisch-chaldäischägyptisch-semitische, die vierte die griechisch-lateinische. Wir sind jetzt in der fünften.

Erst die vierte und fünfte Unterrasse sind gebaut auf die Klugheit des Menschen, des einzelnen Menschen. Ein großes Denkmal für die Überwindung der alten Priesterkultur durch die Klugheit des einzelnen Menschen haben wir in der Kunst: in der Laokoongruppe. In dem Priester Laokoon, von Schlangen umwunden - die Schlangen als Symbol der Klugheit -, ist dargestellt, wie die Weltklugheitskultur überwindet die alte Priesterkultur, in der man andere Ansichten hatte von Wahrheit und Weisheit und von dem, was geschehen soll. Es war die Überwindung der dritten durch die vierte Unterrasse. Noch in einem anderen Symbol wird das dargestellt: in der Sage vom trojanischen Pferd. Die Klugheit des Odysseus hat das trojanische Pferd gebaut, wodurch die trojanische Priesterkultur gestürzt wurde.

Das Hervorgehen des alten römischen Staates aus der uralten trojanischen Priesterkultur schildert die Sage von Äneas. Dieser war einer der ausgezeichnetsten Verteidiger Trojas, der dann herübergekommen ist nach Italien. Dort wurde von seinen Nachkommen der Grund zum alten Rom gelegt. Sein Sohn Ascanius gründete Alba Longa und es werden nun von der Geschichte vierzehn Könige bis zu Numitor und Amulius aufgeführt. Numitor wird von seinem Bruder Amulius des Thrones beraubt, sein Sohn wird getötet und seine Tochter Rhea Silvia zu einer Priesterin der Vesta bestimmt, damit das Geschlecht des Numitor aussterbe. Und als Rhea Silvia die Zwillinge Romulus und Remus geboren, befiehlt Amulius, sie in den Tiber zu werfen. Die Kinder werden gerettet, von einer Wölfin gesäugt und von dem königlichen Hirten Faustulus auferzogen.

Von sieben Königen Roms wird dann in der Geschichte gesprochen: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Martius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, Tarquinius Superbus.

Diese ersten sieben Könige Roms hatte man früher nach der Darstellung des Livius als reale einzelne Persönlichkeiten angenommen. Heute wissen die Historiker, daß diese sieben Könige niemals existiert haben. Es handelt sich also um eine Sage, aber was dieser zugrunde liegt, davon haben die Geschichtsschreiber keine Ahnung. Die Grundlage der Sage ist folgende:

Der Priesterstaat Troja gründete eine Kolonie, die Priesterkolonie Alba Longa (Alba = Priestergewand). Es war eine Kolonie für einen Priesterstaat und Amulius ist dessen letzte Priesterdynastie. Von da geht eine jüngere Priesterkultur aus, die dann abgelöst wird durch eine Weltklugheitskultur. Die Geschichte meldet nichts mehr von dieser Priesterkultur. Der Schleier, der sich über die Priesterkultur der ersten römischen Geschichte ausbreitet, wird durch die Theosophie gelüftet. Die sieben römischen Könige stellen nichts anderes dar als die sieben Prinzipien, wie wir sie aus der Theosophie kennen. So wie der menschliche Organismus aus den sieben Gliedern besteht — Sthula-Sharira, Linga-Sharira, Kama-Rupa, Kama-Manas, höheres Manas, Buddhi, ‚Atma -, so dachte man sich auch den gesellschaftlichen Organismus, wie er in der Zeit sich aufbaut, in einer siebengliedrigen Folge. Und nur wenn er nach dem Gesetz der Siebenzahl aufgebaut ist, die aller Natur zugrunde liegt, kann er gedeihen. Der Regenbogen hat auch sieben Farben, rot, orange, gelb, violett, grün, blau, indigo. Ebenso sind es sieben Töne: Prim, Sekund, Terz, Quart, Quint und so weiter und auch die Gewichtszahlen der Atome in der Chemie befolgen die Regelmäßigkeit der Siebenzahl. Und das geht durch die ganze Welt. Deshalb war es selbstverständlich für die Hüter der alten Weisheit, daß auch der Bau der menschlichen Gesellschaft nach einem solchen Gesetz geregelt sein müsse. Sieben Etappen, sieben Glieder, sind diese sieben römischen Könige nach einem ganz genauen Plan. So wurdedamals auch nicht anders eine Geschichtsepoche inauguriert. Es wurde ein Plan aufgestellt, weil man das Gegenteil für einen Unsinn gehalten haben würde, und ein Gesetz darüber geschrieben. Dieser Plan war anfangs wirklich da. Jeder wußte es, daß die Weltgeschichte nach einem ganz genauen Plan gerichtet war. Ein jeder wußte: Wenn ich im dritten Abschnitt der vierten Epoche bin, so habe ich mich nach dem und dem zu richten. — So hatte man noch im alten Rom anfangs einen Priesterstaat mit einem Plan als Grundidee der Kultur, der aufgezeichnet war in den Büchern, die man die Sibyllinischen Bücher nennt. Diese sind nichts anderes als der ursprüngliche Plan, welchem das Gesetz der siebengliedrigen Epoche zugrunde liegt, und in dem im Anfange des römischen Reiches noch nachgesehen wurde, wenn es nötig war.

Man nahm als Vorbild zum Grundbau den physischen Körper. Das ist nicht so vernunftlos. Heute ist man geneigt, den physischen Körper als etwas Untergeordnetes zu betrachten. Man sieht mit einer gewissen Verächtlichkeit auf das Physische herunter. Das ist aber nicht berechtigt, denn unser physischer Körper ist das Erhabenste an uns. Nehmen Sie ein einziges Stück Knochen. Betrachten Sie nur einmal richtig einen Oberschenkelknochen, so können Sie sehen, wie wunderbar er zusammengesetzt ist. Der beste Ingenieur, der größte Techniker könnte so etwas Vollkommenes nicht herstellen, wenn ihm dieses Problem gestellt würde, wie mit dem geringsten Materialaufwand die größtmöglichste Tragfähigkeit zu erreichen ist. Und so ist der ganze menschliche Körper in der vollkommensten Weise zusammengesetzt. Dieser physische Körper ist wirklich das Vollkommenste, das man sich denken kann. Der Anatom wird auch immer mit größter Bewunderung vom menschlichen Herzen sprechen, das in wunderbarer Weise funktioniert, obwohl der Mensch sein ganzes Leben lang beinahe weiter nichts tut, als Herzgifte zu sich zu nehmen. Vor allem Alkohol, Tee, Kaffee und so weiter üben in unglaublicher Weise Attacken auf dieses Herz aus. Aber so wunderbar ist dieses Herz gebildet, daß es bis ins hohe Alter hinein dem widerstehen kann.

Der physische Leib, dieser niederste Körper hat also das größte Maß an Vollkommenheit. Unvollkommener dagegen sind die höheren Körper, die es in der Entwickelung der Vollkommenheit noch nicht so weit gebracht haben: der Ätherkörper und der Astralkörper, der fortwährend verstößt gegen unseren physischen Körper durch die Attacken unserer Begierden, Leidenschaften und Wünsche. Dann folgt als viertes das eigentliche Baby, das menschliche Ich, welches als irrendes Irrlicht erst von der Zukunft erwarten muß, in sich solche Gesetze zu bekommen, die ihm eine Richtschnur bieten, wie sie der physische Körper längst schon hat.

Wenn wir nun einen sozialen Bau gliedern, so muß dasjenige da sein, was den Grundbau fest macht. Daher läßt die Sage Romulus, den ersten römischen König, der das erste Prinzip darstellt, als den Gott Quirinus in den Himmel erhoben werden. Der zweite König, Numa Pompilius, das zweite Prinzip, entspricht der gesellschaftlichen Ordnung; er brachte Gesetze für das allgemeine Leben. Der dritte König, Tullus Hostilius, entspricht den Leidenschaften. Unter ihm beginnt das, was die Attacken gegen die göttliche Natur richtet, was Unfrieden, Streit, Krieg hervorruft, wodurch Rom groß wurde. Unter dem vierten König, Ancus Martius, beginnen die Künste, das, was aus Kama-Manas hervorgeht.

Nun können die vier niederen Prinzipien nicht aus sich heraus die höheren, das fünfte, sechste und siebente Prinzip erzeugen. Auch das wird in der römischen Geschichte dargestellt. Der fünfte römische König, Tarquinius Priscus, ist nicht aus dem römischen Gliederbau herausgeboren, sondern als etwas Höheres aus der Kultur der Etrusker in die römische Kultur hineinversetzt. Der sechste König, Servius Tullius, entspricht dem sechsten Gliede des menschlichen Zyklusgesetzes, der Buddhi. Ihm ist es möglich, Kama, das sinnlich-physische Korrelat von Buddhi zu regeln. Er stellt den Gesetzeskanon dar. Der siebente König, Tarquinius Superbus, das erhabenste Prinzip, ist der, welcher fallen muß, weil es nicht möglich ist, die Erhabenheit, den Schwung der gesellschaftlichen Ordnung aufrechtzuerhalten.

In der römischen Geschichte finden wir es ausgedrückt, daß dem Bau des Staates ebenso ein Plan zugrunde liegen muß, wie jedem anderen Bau in der Welt. Daß die Welt ein Tempel ist, daß das gesellschaftliche Leben ebenso gegliedert und organisiert sein muß, auch Säulen haben muß wie ein Tempel und daß die großen Weisen die Säulen dieses Tempels sein müssen: diese Gesinnung ist es, die die uralte Weisheit durchdringt. Das ist keine Weisheit, die man bloß lernt, sondern die man hineinbaut in die menschliche Gesellschaft. Die sieben Prinzipien wurden richtig gehandhabt. Nur wer das ganze Wissen, die ganze Weisheit in sich aufnimmt, kann arbeiten am Bau der Gesellschaft. Wir würden als Theosophen nur wenig leisten, wenn wir es nicht weiter brächten, als den Menschen zu betrachten, wie er sich aus diesen und jenen Gliedern zusammensetzt. Nein, erst dann erfüllen wir unsere Pflicht, wenn wir selbst [im Alltäglichen] ausführen die Prinzipien der Theosophie. Man muß sie handhaben, so daß jeder Handgriff, jede Fingerbewegung, jeder Schritt im Leben Ausdruck, Siegelabdruck des Geistes ist. Dann bauen wir an dem Tempel, der verlorengegangen ist.

Dazu gehört aber, daß man sich bewußt wird dessen, was ich neulich gesagt habe, wie notwendig es ist, von dem Großen und Umfassenden der Weltgesetze etwas in uns aufzunehmen. In unseren Denkgewohnheiten muß leben die Weisheit, die uns von dem Großen in das Einzelne führt, ebenso wie auch beim Hausbau nicht schon ein Stein auf den anderen gesetzt wird, bevor der ganze Plan des Hauses fertig ist. Diese Forderung muß gestellt werden, wenn unsere Welt nicht ein Chaos sein soll. Wir werden als Theosophen erkennen, daß das Gesetz in der Welt herrschen muß, wenn wir erkennen, daß jeder Schritt, jede Handlung ein Siegelabdruck der geistigen Welt ist. Dann bauen wir an dem Tempel. Das ist die Bedeutung des Tempelbaues: was wir uns vornehmen zu tun, muß gesetzmäßig sein.

Immer mehr ist der Menschheit verlorengegangen das Wissen, daß der Mensch sich hineinbauen soll in den großen Weltentempel. Menschen können heutzutage geboren werden und sterben, ohne eine Ahnung davon zu haben, daß sich in uns Gesetze ausleben, daß alles was wir tun, von den Gesetzen der Welt beherrscht wird. Unsere ganze gegenwärtige Zeit ist eine verlorene Zeit, weil die Menschen nicht wissen, daß sie nach Gesetzen zu leben haben. Daher haben die Priesterweisen der alten Zeiten auf Mittel gesonnen, um von den groBen Gesetzen der geistigen Welt etwas hinüberzuretten in die neue Kultur. Es war sozusagen ein Kniff der großen Weisen, daß sie die gesetzmäßige Ordnung in viele Zweige des Lebens hineingeheimnißt haben, ja sogar bis in das Spiel hinein, dessen sich die Menschen bedienen zu ihrer Erholung nach des Tages Last. In den Karten, in den Figuren des Schachspiels und in der Gesetzmäßigkeit, in der man spielt, finden wir einen Abklatsch, wenn auch nur einen schwachen, von dem, was ich die gesetzmäßige Ordnung genannt habe. Wenn Sie sich mit jemandem zum Kartenspiel hinsetzen wollen, so wird es nicht gehen, wenn Sie nicht die Gesetze, die Art und Weise wie man spielt, kennen. Und dieses ist wirklich ein Abklatsch großer Weltgesetze. Was man in der Kabbala die Sephirot nennt, was wir die sieben Prinzipien in ihrer verschiedenen Gestaltung nennen, das finden Sie auch in der Art und Weise, wie die Karten beim Spielen aufeinandergelegt werden müssen. Bis in die Reize des Spiels haben die Weisen die groBen Gesetze hineinzulegen verstanden, damit die Menschen wenigstens spielend einen Abklatsch haben von der Weisheit. Für denjenigen, der wenigstens Karten spielen kann, gehen seine gegenwärtigen Inkarnationen nicht ganz verloren. Das sind so Geheimnisse, wie die großen Weisen in die Räder der Zeitläufe eingreifen. Sagt man den Menschen, daß sie sich nach den großen Gesetzen richten sollen, so tun sie es nicht. Wenn man aber die Gesetze in Dinge hineinlegt, wo sie es gar nicht merken, so kann man manchmal noch einen Tropfen dieser Gesinnung in sie hineingießen. Wenn Sie diese Gesinnung haben, dann bekommen Sie eine Vorstellung davon, was in der großen Allegorie vom verlorenen Tempel symbolisiert ist.

In den geheimen Orden, zu denen auch der Freimaurerorden gehört, hat man in der Tempellegende etwas geschaffen, was mit diesem verlorengegangenen und wiederaufzurichtenden Tempel zusammenhängt. Die Tempellegende ist sehr tief, aber auch die heutigen Freimaurer haben gewöhnlich keine Ahnung davon. Auch ein Freimaurer wird sich heute von der Mehrzahl der Menschen nicht groß unterscheiden; auch er nimmt gewöhnlich nicht sonderlich viel mit in das neue Leben. Aber wenn er die Tempellegende in sich leben läßt, so nützt es schon viel. Denn wer die Tempellegende aufnimmt, nimmt etwas auf, was sein Denken in einer gewissen Weise gesetzmäßig formt. Und auf das gesetzmäßige Denken kommt es an. Diese Tempellegende ist folgende:

Einstmals vermählte sich einer der Elohim mit Eva und daraus ging Kain hervor. Ein anderer Elohim, Adonai oder Jehova-Jahve, schuf darauf den Adam. Dieser vermählte sich seinerseits wieder mit Eva und aus dieser Ehe ging Abel hervor. Adonai stiftete Unfrieden zwischen denen, die zur Familie des Kain, und denen, die zur Familie des Abel gehörten, was zur Folge hatte, daß Kain den Abel erschlug. Aber aus der neuen Verbindung des Adam mit Eva ging das SethGeschlecht hervor.

So haben wir also zweierlei Menschengeschlechter. Die einen sind die ursprünglichen Abkömmlinge des Elohim, die Kainssöhne, man nennt 'sie auch die Söhne des Feuers. Sie sind diejenigen, die die Erde bebauen, aus der unlebendigen Erde heraus schaffen und sie umgestalten durch die Kunst der Menschen. Enoch, einer der Kainsnachkommen, hat den Menschen die Kunst gelehrt, Steine zu behauen, Häuser zu bauen, die Gesellschaft zu organisieren, bürgerliche Gesellschaften zu gründen. Ein anderer der Nachkommen Kains ist Tubal-Kain, der die Metalle bearbeitete. Aus diesem Geschlecht stammte auch der Baumeister Hiram-Abiff.

Abel war ein Viehhirte. Er hielt an dem fest, was er vorfand und nahm die Welt, wie sie war. Das ist immer schon der Gegensatz zwischen den Menschen. Die einen halten an der Welt fest, wie sie ist, die anderen wollen aus dem Unlebendigen ein neues Lebendiges durch die Kunst formen. Andere Völker haben den Ahnherrn dieser Söhne des Feuers in der Prometheussage hingestellt. Die Söhne des Feuers sind es, welche aus den umfassenden Weltgedanken heraus Weisheit, Schönheit und Güte in die Welt hineinbauen sollen, um die Welt zum Tempel zu gestalten.

Der König Salomo war ein Abkömmling aus dem Geschlechte des Abel. Er konnte selbst den Tempel nicht bauen; ihm fehlte die Kunst. Deshalb berief er den Baumeister Hiram-Abiff, den Abkömmling aus dem Geschlechte des Kain. Salomo war von göttlicher Schönheit. Und als die Königin von Saba zu ihm kam, glaubte sie ein Bild von Gold und Elfenbein zu sehen. Sie kam, um sich mit ihm zu vermählen.

Jehova nennt man auch den Gott der Form, den Gott, der das Lebendige zur lebendigen Macht geschaffen hat im Gegensatz zu dem anderen Elohim, der schafft, um aus Leblosem das Lebendige hervorzuzaubern. Wem gehört die Zukunft? — das ist die große Frage der Tempellegende. Würden sich die Menschen nach der Jehova-Religion entwickeln, so würde alles Leben in der Form ersterben. Man nennt das in der okkulten Wissenschaft den Übergang in die achte Sphäre. Jetzt aber ist der Zeitpunkt gekommen, daß der Mensch selbst das Tote zum Leben erwecken muß. Das geschieht durch die Kainssöhne, durch diejenigen, welche sich nicht auf das verlassen, was vorhanden ist, sondern selbst in Formen schaffen. Die Kainssöhne formen selbst am Bau der Welt.

Als die Königin von Saba den Tempel sieht und frägt, wer der Baumeister sei, sagt man ihr, es sei Hiram. Und als sie ihn dann sieht, erscheint er ihr sogleich als derjenige, der eigentlich für sie bestimmt ist. Nun wird König Salomo eifersüchtig; ja, er verbindet sich mit drei Gesellen, welche unfähig waren, Meister zu werden, um das größte Meisterwerk Hirams, das «Eherne Meer», zu vereiteln. Ein Guß sollte dieses, sein größtes Meisterwerk hervorbringen. Menschlicher Geist sollte sich mit dem Metall verbinden. Von den drei Gesellen war der eine ein syrischer Bauhandwerker, der zweite ein phönizischer Zimmermann und der dritte ein hebräischer Grubenarbeiter. Die Verschwörung gelingt: sie machten den Guß zunichte, indem sie Wasser zugossen. Es sprühte alles auseinander. Aus Verzweiflung will sich nun der Baumeister selbst in die Glut des Feuers stürzen. Da hörte er eine Stimme aus dem Mittelpunkt der Erde. Sie kam von Kain selbst, der ihm zurief: hier habe er den Hammer der göttlichen Weltenweisheit, mit dem könne das Ganze wieder hergestellt werden. Und Kain gab ihm den Hammer. - Der Geist des Menschen ist dasjenige, was der Mensch hineinbaut in den Astralkörper, wenn er ihn nicht so behält, wie er ihn erhalten hat. —- Diesen Bau soll Hiram jetzt aufrichten. Es wird ihm aber nach dem Leben getrachtet. Das wollen wir das nächste Mal weiter ausführen.

Bis hierher wollte ich die Legende führen, um zu zeigen, wie in den ursprünglichen okkulten Bruderschaften der Gedanke lebte, daß der Mensch eine Aufgabe hat; die Aufgabe, die leblose Welt aufzubauen und sich nicht zu begnügen mit dem, was schon da ist. Weisheit ist dadurch, daß sie in die leblose Welt einfloß, zur Tat geworden, damit die Welt ein Abglanz der urewigen Geistigkeit sei.

Weisheit, Schönheit, Stärke sind die drei Grundworte aller Freimaurerei. Die äußere Welt so umzugestalten, daß sie ein Kleid des Geistigen ist, das ist die Aufgabe. Das verstehen heute selbst die Maurer nicht mehr und glauben, daß der Mensch an seinem eigenen Ich arbeiten solle. Sie halten sich für besonders klug, wenn sie sagen, im Mittelalter wären nicht die Werkmaurer die freien Maurer gewesen. Aber gerade die Werkmaurer waren es immer gewesen, denn das äußere Bauwerk sollte ein Abbild des Geistigen werden, des Tempels der Welt, der aus der intuitiven Weisheit aufgebaut werden soll. Dieser Gedanke wurde früher den großen Bauwerken zugrunde gelegt und bis in die Einzelheiten hinein verfolgt.

An einem Beispiel will ich Ihnen die Überlegenheit der Weisheit über den Verstand zeigen. Nehmen wir einen alten gotischen Dom und beachten wir die wunderbare Akustik. Heute kann man sie nicht mehr nachmachen, weil jenes tiefe Wissen darüber verlorengegangen ist.

Der berühmte Mörissee in Ägypten ist ebenso ein Wunderwerk des menschlichen Geistes gewesen. Er war nicht ein natürlicher See, sondern künstlich angelegt nach den Intuitionen der Weisen, damit das Wasser, wenn es reichlich floß, aufgespeichert und bei Wassermangel ins ganze Land gesendet werden konnte. Das war ein Wunderwerk der Kanalisation.

Wenn der Mensch so nach derselben Weisheit schaffen wird, wie die göttlichen Kräfte die Natur geschaffen haben, als sie das Physische in weiser Art aufbauten, dann wird der ’Ternpel aufgebaut. Nicht darauf kommt es an, wieviel wir im einzelnen aus unserer Weisheit heraus zu schaffen vermögen, sondern die Gesinnung müssen wir nur haben, die weiß, daß nur aus der Weisheit der Tempel der Menschheit aufgebaut werden kann.

Wenn wir heute so durch die Städte gehen, dann ist dort ein Schuhladen, daneben eine Apotheke, neben dieser eine Käsehandlung und neben der Käsehandlung ein Geschäft mit Spazierstöcken. Wenn wir uns nicht just etwas kaufen wollen, was geht uns dann das an? — Wie wenig setzt das äußere Leben einer solchen Stadt fort, was wir fühlen, denken und empfinden! Wie ganz anders war dies im Mittelalter. Wenn da der Mensch durch die Straßen ging, sah er die Fassaden der Häuser im Stile der Gesinnung und dem Charakter der Bewohner gebaut. Jedes Türschloß drückte aus, was der Mensch, seinem Geiste entsprechend, in Liebe geformt hatte. Gehen Sie zum Beispiel durch eine Stadt wie Nürnberg: da finden Sie noch den Grundstock dessen, wie es damals war, und dann nehmen Sie im Gegensatz dazu die moderne Abstraktion, die den Menschen nichts mehr angeht. Das ist die materialistische Zeit und ihr chaotisches Schaffen, zu der man allmählich aus einer früheren spiritualistischen Zeit überging.

Der Mensch ist herausgeboren aus einer Natur, an der einst die Götter geformt haben, so daß alles sich in den großen Weltenbau, in den großen Tempel, hineinfügte. Es gab einst eine Zeit, in der Sie kein Stück auf dieser Erde hätten ansehen können, ohne sich sagen zu müssen: Göttliche Wesenheiten haben diesen Tempel gebaut bis zu der Stufe, da der physische Körper des Menschen zu Ende gebaut war. Dann nahmen die höheren Prinzipien (die psychischen Kräfte) von ihm Besitz und dadurch kam die Unordnung, das Chaos in die Welt hinein. Wünsche, Begierden, Leidenschaften haben Unordnung in den Tempel der Welt hineingebracht. Erst wenn aus des Menschen Willen heraus wieder Gesetzmäßigkeit sprechen wird, in einer höheren und schöneren Weise wie einstmals die Götter an der Natur geschaffen haben, erst wenn der Mensch den Gott in sich selbst erstehen lassen wird, so daß er wie ein Gott an dem Tempel bauen kann, dann wird er den verlorengegangenen Tempel wiedergewinnen.

Wenn wir denken würden, daß nur die bauen sollten, die bauen können, so wäre das nicht richtig. Nein, auf die Gesinnung kommt es an, selbst wenn man sehr viel weiß. Hat man aber die Gesinnung, in dieser Richtung zu denken, und geht dann an soziale, an technische und juristische Reformen, dann baut man an dem verlorengegangenen und wiederzuerrichtenden Tempel. Fängt man aber Reformen, und mögen sie noch so gut gemeint sein, ohne diese Gesinnung an, so richtet man nur weiteres Chaos an. Denn der einzelne Stein ist nichts nütze, wenn er nicht in den ganzen Plan hineinpaßt. Reformieren Sie an der Justiz, der Religion oder sonst etwas, solange man nur das Einzelne sieht ohne die Gesinnung zum Ganzen zu haben, ist es nur ein Niederreißen.

Deshalb ist die Theosophie nicht nur Theorie, sondern Praxis, das Allerpraktischste in der Welt. Zu glauben, daß die Theosophen Einsiedler seien, die nicht an der Welt bauen, ist ein Irrtum. Könnten wir es dazu bringen, daß die Menschen an Sozialreformen auf theosophischer Grundlage herangehen, so würden viele rascher und sicherer alles das erreichen, was sie wollen. Denn ohne daß etwas gegen die Einzelbewegungen gesagt werden soll, im einzelnen getrieben fühen sie doch zu nichts anderem als zu Fanatismus. Alle einzelnen Reformbestrebungen — Friedensapostel, Abstinenzler, Vegetarier, Tierschützler und so weiter — nützen erst, wenn sie alle zusammengehen. Ihr Ideal können sie eigentlich nur in einer großen allgemeinen Bewegung haben, die in der Vereinigung zu dem Alltempel führt.

Dies ist die Idee, die der Allegorie vom verlorenen und wiederzuerrichtenden Tempel zugrunde liegt.

Notizen aus der Fragenbeantwortung

Frage: Wie war das mit den Kainssöhnen und Abelsöhnen?

Antwort: Die Kainssöhne sind die unreiferen; die Abelsöhne sind die überreifen. Die Abelsöhne wenden sich zu den höheren Sphären, wenn sie diese Inkarnationen hinter sich haben. Die Abelsöhne sind die Solarpitris; die Kainssöhne sind die reifsten Mondpitris.

Frage: Warum haben sich so viele mystische und maurerische Vereinigungen gebildet?

Antwort: Alle höhere Arbeit ist nur in einer Vereinigung zu leisten. Die Tafelrunde des Artus hat in der Regel zwölf umfaßt.

Frage: Kennen Sie das Werk von Albert Schäffle?

Antwort: Albert Schäffle hat ein Werk über Soziologie geschrieben, und die Darstellung, die er gibt, ist viel freimaurerischer, als das, was aus den Freimaurerlogen hervorgeht.

11. On the Lost and Reconstructed Temple in connection with the Legend of the Holy Cross or Golden Legend

Today we will examine a great allegory and deal with a subject that is usually referred to in the secret teachings as the image or teaching of the lost temple to be rebuilt. In earlier lectures, I have explained why the secret teachings start from such images; today we will see what a vast amount of ideas are abbreviated by this image. In doing so, I will also have to touch on a subject that is greatly misunderstood by those who know little or nothing about theosophy. There are people who do not understand that theosophy and practice belong together, that they must work together throughout life. I will therefore have to speak about the relationship between Theosophy and the whole practice of life. For, when it comes down to it, when we talk about the lost temple that needs to be rebuilt, we must also talk about the most everyday work.

In doing so, I will be in the position of a professor who wants to prepare his students for tunnel construction. If you want to build a tunnel, that is something eminently practical. Someone might say that a tunnel is easy to build. You simply start digging into the mountain on one side, chisel out the hole until you come out on the other side. Everyone can see that it would be foolish to believe such a thing. But in other areas of life, people do not always want to see this. If you want to build a tunnel, you must first master advanced mathematics. Then you learn how to do it technically. Without practical engineering, without the art of leveling, you would not be able to maintain a direction when digging into the mountain. Then you have to know the basic concepts of geology, the different layers of rock, the direction of water and metal veins in the mountain, and so on. It would be foolish to believe that you could build a tunnel without this prior knowledge and that an ordinary bricklayer could build an entire tunnel.

It would be just as foolish to believe, from the standpoint of ordinary life, that one could approach the construction of human society. This folly is committed not only by many people, but also in countless books. Today, everyone believes they are called upon to know and determine how social order should be established and how the state can best be reformed. Those who have learned hardly anything write detailed books on how the best form of society should be structured and then feel called upon to launch reform movements. Thus, there are reform movements in all possible areas. But everything that is done there is exactly like someone trying to dig a tunnel with a hammer and chisel. All this comes from ignorance of the fact that there are great laws that govern the world and arise from the life of the spirit. The real misfortune of our time is this ignorance that there are laws for the construction of the human state and social organism that are just as great as those for tunnel construction, which must first be known in order to accomplish the most necessary, the most everyday things in the social organism. Just as one must first know the interaction of all natural forces in tunnel construction, so must anyone who even thinks of embarking on social reforms know the laws of social interaction. He must concern himself with the working of soul upon soul and approach the spirit. Therefore, theosophy is what must underlie every practical activity in life. Theosophy is the actual practice of life; and only those who start from theosophical principles and from there move on to the practice of life can feel called upon to work in social life.

Therefore, Theosophy should penetrate all branches of life. Statesmen, social reformers, and so on are nothing without the Theosophical foundations, without the Theosophical principles. That is why all work in this field today, everything that is being built on the social body, is extremely piecemeal, complete chaos for those who have an overview of things. To someone who understands the matter, what social reformers are doing today looks like someone cutting stones, piling them on top of each other, and then believing that a house will automatically arise from them. First, a plan must be made for the house. It is the same when one claims that things in social life take shape by themselves. One cannot reform society without knowing the laws of Theosophy.

This attitude, which works in accordance with a plan, is called Freemasonry. The medieval Freemasons, who negotiated with the clergy and concluded agreements on how to build, wanted nothing else than to shape external life in such a way that it—together with the Gothic cathedral—was a reflection of the great spiritual structure of the world. Take the Gothic cathedral. It displays a wealth of thousands upon thousands of details, but it is built according to an idea that is much more comprehensive than the cathedral itself. To achieve complete unity, divine life must flow into it, just as sunlight penetrates the room through the colored windows. And when the medieval preacher spoke from the pulpit in such a way that God's light penetrated the hearts of his listeners, just as light penetrates the church through the colored windows, then the vibrations created by the preacher's words were in harmony with the great divine life. And in the cathedral itself, the life of such a sermon, born of spiritual life, continued. In the same way, the whole outer life should be transformed into a temple of the earth, into an image of the entire spiritual structure of the world.

If we go back even further, we find that this way of thinking and feeling is the most ancient of the human race. Let me give an example to show what I mean by this way of thinking. Our time is a time of chaotic interaction between people. Everyone wants what they have in mind. This time was preceded by another, that of the ancient priestly states. I have often spoken of the sub-races of our fifth root race. The first was the ancient Indian culture, the second the Persian-Median, the third the Babylonian-Assyrian-Chaldean-Egyptian-Semitic, and the fourth the Greek-Latin. We are now in the fifth.

Only the fourth and fifth sub-races are built on the intelligence of the individual human being. We have a great monument to the overcoming of the old priestly culture through the wisdom of the individual human being in art: in the Laocoön group. In the priest Laocoön, entwined by snakes—the snakes as a symbol of wisdom—it is depicted how worldly wisdom overcomes the old priestly culture, in which people had different views of truth and wisdom and of what should happen. It was the overcoming of the third by the fourth subrace. This is depicted in yet another symbol: in the legend of the Trojan horse. The wisdom of Odysseus built the Trojan horse, which brought down the Trojan priestly culture.

The emergence of the ancient Roman state from the ancient Trojan priestly culture is described in the legend of Aeneas. He was one of the most distinguished defenders of Troy, who then came to Italy. There, his descendants laid the foundations for ancient Rome. His son Ascanius founded Alba Longa, and history lists fourteen kings up to Numitor and Amulius. Numitor is robbed of the throne by his brother Amulius, his son is killed, and his daughter Rhea Silvia is designated a priestess of Vesta so that Numitor's line may die out. And when Rhea Silvia gives birth to the twins Romulus and Remus, Amulius orders them to be thrown into the Tiber. The children are saved, suckled by a she-wolf, and raised by the royal shepherd Faustulus.

The story then tells of seven kings of Rome: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Martius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinius Superbus.

According to Livy's account, these first seven kings of Rome were once believed to have been real individuals. Today, historians know that these seven kings never existed. It is therefore a legend, but historians have no idea what it is based on. The legend is based on the following:

The priestly state of Troy founded a colony, the priestly colony of Alba Longa (Alba = priestly robe). It was a colony for a priestly state, and Amulius was its last priestly dynasty. From there, a younger priestly culture emerged, which was then replaced by a culture of worldly wisdom. History makes no further mention of this priestly culture. The veil that spreads over the priestly culture of early Roman history is lifted by theosophy. The seven Roman kings represent nothing other than the seven principles as we know them from theosophy. Just as the human organism consists of seven members—Sthula-Sharira, Linga-Sharira, Kama-Rupa, Kama-Manas, higher Manas, Buddhi, Atma—so too was the social organism conceived as developing over time in a sevenfold sequence. And only when it is structured according to the law of seven, which underlies all of nature, can it flourish. The rainbow also has seven colors: red, orange, yellow, violet, green, blue, and indigo. Likewise, there are seven tones: prime, second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on, and even the atomic weights in chemistry follow the regularity of the number seven. And this applies throughout the entire world. Therefore, it was self-evident to the guardians of ancient wisdom that the structure of human society must also be governed by such a law. Seven stages, seven links, these seven Roman kings according to a very precise plan. In those days, a historical epoch could not have been inaugurated in any other way. A plan was drawn up because the opposite would have been considered nonsense, and a law was written about it. This plan really existed at the beginning. Everyone knew that world history was governed by a very precise plan. Everyone knew: if I am in the third section of the fourth epoch, then I must act according to this and that. — In ancient Rome, for example, there was initially a priestly state with a plan as the basic idea of culture, which was recorded in books called the Sibylline Books. These are nothing other than the original plan on which the law of the sevenfold epoch is based, and which was still consulted at the beginning of the Roman Empire when necessary.

The physical body was taken as the model for the basic structure. This is not so unreasonable. Today, people tend to regard the physical body as something subordinate. They look down on the physical with a certain contempt. But this is not justified, for our physical body is the most sublime thing about us. Take a single piece of bone. Just look closely at a thigh bone and you can see how wonderfully it is put together. The best engineer, the greatest technician, could not produce anything so perfect if he were asked to achieve the greatest possible load-bearing capacity with the least amount of material. And so the entire human body is composed in the most perfect way. This physical body is truly the most perfect thing imaginable. Anatomists always speak with the greatest admiration of the human heart, which functions in a wonderful way, even though humans spend their entire lives doing little else but consuming substances that are poisonous to the heart. Alcohol, tea, coffee, and so on, in particular, attack the heart in an incredible way. But the heart is so wonderfully constructed that it can withstand this until old age.

The physical body, this lowest body, therefore has the greatest degree of perfection. More imperfect, on the other hand, are the higher bodies, which have not yet reached this stage of perfection in their development: the etheric body and the astral body, which constantly attack our physical body through the attacks of our desires, passions, and wishes. Then comes the fourth, the actual baby, the human I, which, as a wandering will-o'-the-wisp, must first await the future to receive within itself the laws that will provide it with a guiding principle, as the physical body has long since had.

When we structure a social edifice, there must be something that holds the foundation together. That is why the legend has Romulus, the first Roman king, who represents the first principle, raised to heaven as the god Quirinus. The second king, Numa Pompilius, the second principle, corresponds to the social order; he brought laws for general life. The third king, Tullus Hostilius, corresponds to the passions. Under him began that which directs attacks against divine nature, which causes discord, strife, and war, through which Rome became great. Under the fourth king, Ancus Martius, the arts began, that which arises from Kama-Manas.

Now, the four lower principles cannot produce the higher ones, the fifth, sixth, and seventh principles, out of themselves. This is also depicted in Roman history. The fifth Roman king, Tarquinius Priscus, was not born out of the Roman structure, but was transferred into Roman culture as something higher from the culture of the Etruscans. The sixth king, Servius Tullius, corresponds to the sixth member of the human cycle law, the Buddhi. He is able to regulate Kama, the sensual-physical correlate of Buddhi. He represents the canon of law. The seventh king, Tarquinius Superbus, the most exalted principle, is the one who must fall because it is not possible to maintain the sublimity and momentum of the social order.

In Roman history, we find it expressed that the construction of the state must be based on a plan, just like every other construction in the world. That the world is a temple, that social life must be structured and organized in the same way, that it must also have pillars like a temple, and that the great sages must be the pillars of this temple: this is the attitude that permeates ancient wisdom. This is not wisdom that is merely learned, but wisdom that is built into human society. The seven principles were correctly applied. Only those who absorb all knowledge, all wisdom, can work on building society. As theosophists, we would achieve very little if we did not go beyond observing how human beings are composed of this or that limb. No, we only fulfill our duty when we ourselves carry out the principles of theosophy [in everyday life]. We must apply them so that every movement of the hand, every movement of the fingers, every step in life is an expression, a seal of the spirit. Then we are building the temple that has been lost.

But this requires that we become aware of what I said recently, how necessary it is to take something of the greatness and comprehensiveness of the world laws into ourselves. The wisdom that leads us from the great to the particular must live in our habits of thinking, just as in building a house, one stone is not placed on top of another until the entire plan of the house is complete. This demand must be made if our world is not to be chaos. As theosophists, we will recognize that law must reign in the world when we realize that every step, every action is an imprint of the spiritual world. Then we will build the temple. That is the meaning of temple building: what we set out to do must be lawful.

Humanity has increasingly lost the knowledge that human beings are to build themselves into the great temple of the world. People today can be born and die without having any idea that laws are at work within us, that everything we do is governed by the laws of the world. Our entire present time is a lost time because people do not know that they have to live according to laws. Therefore, the priestly sages of ancient times devised means to carry something of the great laws of the spiritual world over into the new culture. It was, so to speak, a trick of the great sages that they concealed the lawful order in many branches of life, even in games, which people use for recreation after the burdens of the day. In cards, in the pieces of chess, and in the rules of the game, we find a reflection, albeit a faint one, of what I have called the lawful order. If you want to sit down with someone to play cards, it will not work if you do not know the rules, the way the game is played. And this is truly a reflection of the great laws of the world. What is called the Sephirot in Kabbalah, what we call the seven principles in their various forms, can also be found in the way the cards must be laid down when playing. The wise men understood how to incorporate the great laws into the charms of the game so that people could at least have a reflection of wisdom while playing. For those who can at least play cards, their present incarnations are not completely lost. These are secrets of how the great wise men intervene in the wheels of time. If you tell people that they should follow the great laws, they will not do so. But if you put the laws into things where they do not notice them, you can sometimes instill a drop of this attitude in them. If you have this attitude, you will get an idea of what is symbolized in the great allegory of the lost temple.

In the secret orders, to which the Masonic Order also belongs, something has been created in the temple legend that is connected with this lost temple that must be rebuilt. The temple legend is very profound, but even today's Freemasons usually have no idea about it. Even a Freemason today is not very different from the majority of people; he too usually does not take much with him into the new life. But if he allows the temple legend to live within him, it is already of great benefit. For whoever accepts the temple legend takes in something that shapes his thinking in a certain lawful way. And it is lawful thinking that matters. This temple legend is as follows:

Once upon a time, one of the Elohim married Eve, and from this union Cain was born. Another Elohim, Adonai or Jehovah-Yahweh, then created Adam. Adam in turn married Eve, and from this marriage Abel was born. Adonai sowed discord between those who belonged to Cain's family and those who belonged to Abel's family, with the result that Cain killed Abel. But from the new union of Adam and Eve, the Seth lineage came into being.

So we have two kinds of human beings. One are the original descendants of the Elohim, the sons of Cain, also called the sons of fire. They are the ones who cultivate the earth, create out of the lifeless earth, and transform it through the arts of man. Enoch, one of Cain's descendants, taught people the art of cutting stones, building houses, organizing society, and founding civil societies. Another of Cain's descendants is Tubal-Cain, who worked with metals. The master builder Hiram-Abiff also came from this lineage.

Abel was a shepherd. He held fast to what he found and accepted the world as it was. This has always been the contrast between human beings. Some hold fast to the world as it is, while others want to use art to shape something new and living out of the lifeless. Other peoples have placed the ancestor of these sons of fire in the Prometheus myth. It is the sons of fire who are to build wisdom, beauty, and goodness into the world from the comprehensive world idea in order to transform the world into a temple.

King Solomon was a descendant of the line of Abel. He could not build the temple himself; he lacked the art. Therefore, he called upon the master builder Hiram-Abiff, a descendant of the line of Cain. Solomon was of divine beauty. And when the Queen of Sheba came to him, she believed she was seeing an image of gold and ivory. She came to marry him.

Jehovah is also called the God of form, the God who created living beings as living power, in contrast to the other Elohim, who creates in order to conjure living beings out of lifeless matter. To whom does the future belong? — that is the great question of the temple legend. If human beings were to develop according to the religion of Jehovah, all life in form would die. In occult science, this is called the transition to the eighth sphere. But now the time has come when man himself must bring the dead to life. This is done by the sons of Cain, by those who do not rely on what is already there, but create forms themselves. The sons of Cain themselves shape the construction of the world.

When the Queen of Sheba sees the temple and asks who the architect is, she is told that it is Hiram. And when she sees him, he immediately appears to her as the one who is actually destined for her. Now King Solomon becomes jealous; indeed, he joins forces with three journeymen who were incapable of becoming masters in order to thwart Hiram's greatest masterpiece, the “Bronze Sea.” A single casting was to produce this, his greatest masterpiece. Human spirit was to be combined with metal. Of the three journeymen, one was a Syrian builder, the second a Phoenician carpenter, and the third a Hebrew miner. The conspiracy succeeds: they ruin the casting by pouring water into it. Everything sprays apart. In desperation, the master builder now wants to throw himself into the flames. Then he hears a voice from the center of the earth. It comes from Cain himself, who calls out to him: here he has the hammer of divine world wisdom, with which the whole thing can be restored. And Cain gave him the hammer. The spirit of man is that which man builds into the astral body when he does not keep it as he received it. Hiram is now to erect this building. But his life is in danger. We will continue this story next time.

I wanted to take the legend this far to show how the idea lived in the original occult brotherhoods that man has a task: the task of building up the lifeless world and not being satisfied with what already exists. Wisdom, by flowing into the lifeless world, has become action, so that the world may be a reflection of eternal spirituality.

Wisdom, beauty, and strength are the three fundamental words of all Freemasonry. The task is to transform the outer world so that it is a garment of the spiritual. Even the masons no longer understand this today and believe that man should work on his own ego. They consider themselves particularly clever when they say that in the Middle Ages, the master masons were not the free masons. But it was precisely the master masons who had always been the free masons, because the external building was supposed to be a reflection of the spiritual, the temple of the world, which was to be built from intuitive wisdom. This idea was once the basis of great buildings and was pursued down to the smallest detail.

Let me give you an example to show you the superiority of wisdom over reason. Take an old Gothic cathedral and consider its wonderful acoustics. Today, it is impossible to replicate because the deep knowledge required to do so has been lost.

The famous Lake Marmara in Egypt was also a marvel of the human spirit. It was not a natural lake, but was artificially created according to the intuitions of the wise, so that when water flowed abundantly, it could be stored and sent throughout the country when there was a shortage. This was a marvel of canalization.

When human beings create with the same wisdom with which the divine forces created nature when they built the physical world in a wise manner, then the 'Ternpel' will be built. It is not important how much we are able to create from our wisdom in detail, but we must have the attitude that knows that only from wisdom can the temple of humanity be built.

When we walk through cities today, we see a shoe store next to a pharmacy, next to that a cheese shop, and next to the cheese shop a store selling walking sticks. If we don't want to buy anything, what does it matter to us? How little does the outer life of such a city reflect what we feel, think, and sense! How different it was in the Middle Ages. When people walked through the streets, they saw the facades of the houses built in the style of the disposition and character of their inhabitants. Every door lock expressed what people had lovingly created in accordance with their spirit. Take a walk through a city like Nuremberg, for example: there you will still find the foundations of how it used to be, and then contrast that with the modern abstraction that no longer concerns people. This is the materialistic age and its chaotic creativity, into which we gradually transitioned from an earlier spiritualistic age.

Man was born out of a nature that was once shaped by the gods, so that everything fitted into the great structure of the world, into the great temple. There was once a time when you could not look at any part of this earth without saying to yourself: Divine beings built this temple to the point where the physical body of man was completed. Then the higher principles (the psychic forces) took possession of it, and through this disorder and chaos entered the world. Desires, cravings, and passions brought disorder into the temple of the world. Only when the will of man once again speaks through lawfulness, in a higher and more beautiful way than the gods once created nature, only when man allows God to arise within himself so that he can build the temple like a god, will he regain the lost temple.

If we thought that only those who can build should build, that would not be right. No, it is the attitude that matters, even if one knows a great deal. But if one has the attitude to think in this direction and then undertakes social, technical, and legal reforms, then one is building the temple that has been lost and must be rebuilt. But if one begins reforms, however well-intentioned they may be, without this attitude, one only causes further chaos. For the individual stone is of no use if it does not fit into the whole plan. Reform the judiciary, religion, or anything else, as long as one only sees the individual without having the attitude toward the whole, it is only demolition.

That is why theosophy is not just theory, but practice, the most practical thing in the world. To believe that theosophists are hermits who do not build the world is a mistake. If we could get people to approach social reform on a theosophical basis, many would achieve everything they want more quickly and more surely. For without saying anything against individual movements, when pursued in isolation they lead to nothing but fanaticism. All individual reform efforts—peace apostles, teetotalers, vegetarians, animal rights activists, and so on—are only useful when they all work together. They can only truly achieve their ideal in a large general movement that leads to union in the universal temple.

This is the idea underlying the allegory of the lost temple that must be rebuilt.

Notes from the question and answer session

Question: What was that about the sons of Cain and the sons of Abel?

Answer: The sons of Cain are the immature ones; the sons of Abel are the overripe ones. The sons of Abel turn to the higher spheres when they have passed through these incarnations. The sons of Abel are the solar pitris; the sons of Cain are the most mature lunar pitris.

Question: Why have so many mystical and Masonic associations been formed?

Answer: All higher work can only be accomplished in a society. The Round Table of Arthur usually consisted of twelve members.

Question: Are you familiar with the work of Albert Schäffle?

Answer: Albert Schäffle wrote a work on sociology, and his presentation is much more Masonic than what emerges from the Masonic lodges.