The Temple Legend II
GA 93
5 June 1905, Berlin
14. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored IV
(In connection with the Legend of the True Cross, or Golden Legend)
The Allegory of the Lost Word and its Quest in connection with the Whitsuntide Festival
Among the allegories and symbols we wished to discuss in these lectures, there is also the symbol of the so-called Lost Word, which is to be found again. We have spoken about the Temple which was lost and is to be restored; we can all the more appropriately add to that a brief account of the Lost Word and its quest, since this theme has some connection with the symbolic meaning of the Whitsuntide Festival. I did speak about some of the things to be mentioned today, a year ago.1 In his lecture of 23rd May 1904 (lecture 1). But there are some amongst us who may not have heard last year's lecture; so it may not be superfluous to refer to these things again. Moreover, we are in a position to consider such matters annually, and treat them fundamentally and exhaustively; we have added somewhat to our knowledge, so that several things can now perhaps be discussed which could not yet be mentioned last year.
Pentecost is connected with just that symbol which is known both in the Church and in Freemasonry as the symbol of the Lost Word which is to be found again. But with it we touch on Christian mysteries of a real and extraordinary profundity. With it we touch again—and more thoroughly than could be the case last week—upon the purpose and mission of Solomon the Wise, and upon the whole future meaning of Christian truths.
Pentecost is connected with that perception of man's inmost being which was present in early Christianity, but which has been gradually lost in Christianity as it has survived in the various western Churches. Pentecost is the festival which should freshly remind man of his liberation, every year—of what we call the freedom of the human soul.
How has man really come to what we call his freedom—that is to say, to his ability to distinguish between good and evil, and in freedom to do either good or evil? You know that man has passed through a long sequence of evolution before arriving at the stage where he stands today, and that we have passed the mid-point of this evolution. The midpoint of the whole of human evolution lies roughly in the middle of the Atlantean epoch, which preceded our own epoch. Now we have already gone past this mid-point. Because of that we are the first missionaries of the second half [of evolution], the first apostles of an ascending arc: whereas man was in a descending arc until the time of Atlantis, was involved in a kind of descending evolution until he had submerged himself in the uttermost depths of material life. Now he is climbing back again towards spiritual development.
What we human beings did not possess before the midpoint of our earth evolution was freedom of choice between good and evil. Now we cannot talk about good and evil in the subordinate kingdoms of nature. It would be ridiculous to discuss whether a mineral wanted to crystallise or not; it crystallises if the appropriate conditions are present. It would be equally ridiculous to ask whether the lily wants to blossom or not; or to ask the lion to abstain voluntarily from killing and devouring other animals. Only with man, only in our phase of evolution, do we speak about what we call freedom of choice. Only to human beings do we ascribe the capacity to distinguish between good and evil. How man got this capacity is described in the Bible, in the great symbol of the Fall, in the scene of the temptation, where the Devil or Lucifer appears to Eve and persuades her to eat of the Tree of Knowledge. Through that, man obtained free will; with it he began the second part of his evolutionary path. We can no more inquire into freedom, good and evil for man prior to that evolutionary mid-point, than we can for minerals, plants and animals. Something else is connected with that.
In all esoteric [teaching] our contemporary world and everything connected with it signifies the Cosmos of Love. And the Cosmos or Universe of Wisdom preceded this Universe of Love. We want to look at this in a rather deeper meaning.
You know that our earth evolution was cosmologically preceded by the Moon evolution.2 In connection with the following descriptions see the fundamental works of Rudolf Steiner: Cosmic Memory, Rudolf Steiner Publications, New York, 1971, and Occult Science, An Outline, Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1969. A still more distant precursor of our earth was the Sun; earlier still was Saturn. Man has passed through these three evolutionary stages: Saturn, Sun and Moon. Our earth has passed through three cycles already, in which the Saturn development was repeated in the first Round, the Sun development in the second Round, and the Moon development in the third Round. Each of these Rounds commences thus: the planet forms itself as an exceptionally fine substance, as mind-substance. The earth was present as such a substance when it began its fourth Round, that is, the contemporary Cycle. Then it began to reiterate the three previous Rounds: the Saturn Cycle in Arupa, the Sun Cycle in Rupa and the Moon Cycle or Round in the astral. [See diagram at the end of the notes for lecture 10.]
Thus our earth passed once more through earlier material conditions before arriving at its present physical density. Before our present condition, it was astral. We denote the astral Globe as a kind of Cosmos of Wisdom. Each Cosmos or Globe is again divided into seven epochs. Thus we have seven Race-cycles [or Great Epochs] in our present Globe: the Polarian, the Hyperborean, the Lemurian, the Atlantean and now the Aryan Race [or Epoch] in which we live. The sixth and seventh Races are still to come. After that the earth will return to the astral condition. These Race-cycles constitute seven successive periods of our physical evolution on earth. The astral predecessor presents itself to us in like manner, in seven consecutive Periods, corresponding to seven Races. However, it is not quite correct to speak of Races here; the forms which then lived cannot properly be called Races. It stretches the analogy too far, to keep speaking of Races. There were other forms that manifested themselves. In esoteric language these previous astral periods are called the Kingdom of Wisdom, and their forms are called the seven Periods of Wisdom, in which the seven Kings of Wisdom, the seven Kings of the Dynasty of Solomon, were ruling. For in each of these periods lived a being of similar kind to the soul of Solomon, to the soul which incarnated in Solomon. This Cosmos of Wisdom was superseded by the earthly Cosmos proper, the Cosmos of Love.
Now let us be clear about what took place during, the formation of the earth, from our standpoint. As the earth began to form itself, it was still united with the sun and with that which we now call the moon. Together with these two bodies the earth formed a single whole. First of all the sun separated itself from the earth. The whole of earth life thereby became different. At this point death made its entry, somewhat in the form in which we know it in the cell-bearing plants; whereas before there could be no question of death, because there was continuous material life. So long as the plant consists of a single Cell, no decay sets in when the next cell is born. It is different when a whole organism is built up [out of many cells]; this [organism] decays into its parts, and the individual part is no longer the whole living [process]. This kind of death came in for the first time when the sun separated from the earth. The schism between the sexes began in the middle of the Lemurian Race, as a result of the splitting-off of the moon. The separation of the moon brought about the partition of the [being that is both] male and female into [beings that are either] only male or only female. Thus humanity took the shape that it now has in the world.
What then happened during these weighty cosmic events as first the sun and then the moon separated from the earth? If we want to become clear about that, it would be well to point out that at that time the earth was changing from a very thin but already physical matter into something continually getting thicker. The first physical substance was etheric substance, which was present in all human beings on earth, and which was a very fine substance, finer than our gas.
At present we distinguish three forms of matter on our earth—solid, liquid and gaseous bodies, the latter formerly known as air. Moreover we esoterically distinguish four forms of ether: firstly fire [or warmth] ether which makes all bodies capable of being permeated by warmth; secondly, light ether; thirdly, chemical ether, in which atoms are made to mingle according to certain laws of number (the ‘elective affinity’ of atoms); and fourthly the physical or life ether; in all, four kinds of ether bringing life to the earth. Next, the earth, essentially speaking, developed itself in these four types of ether. Then it condensed itself-put of these ethers. This densification took place for the first time during the Lemurian epoch. Before that, one has to think of an etheric earth, which was accessible to quite different forces than is our present physical earth. I wanted to clarify this to you.
When I say that this etheric earth was accessible to quite different forces, then be clear that all living beings, whether plant, animal or man, were indeed accessible to these forces, in their inmost being. The ether is accessible to what is called in esoteric language the ‘Word,’ the ‘Cosmic Word.’ I can also make clear to you how the etheric relates to what we call the ‘Word,’ in a preparation for initiation. As you know, man consists of physical, etheric and astral bodies, and then of the ‘I’ proper. The etheric body becomes visible if one [can bring oneself out of] the physical body. But man as he is today can in no way act upon his physical body; he is unable to move the tiniest blood corpuscle. The physical body is controlled by high cosmic forces; it is higher beings who can exercise power here today—later on man will have this ability. When he is able to control the forces of his own physical body—which the materialist speaks of as nature forces—then man will have become a God. To ascribe these powers to him today would be idolatry, for in truth we have to do with high beings who can influence the physical body.
When man is able to control the substance of fire ether, he will be able to control all that is physical. When he is able to control the physical in man, then he will also be able to control the rest of what is physical as well. This force is designated the Father Force, or simply the ‘Father’—everything through which a being joins with our earth, everything by which that being can control physical matter. When a person can penetrate into the physical body with such Father Forces, that is called Atma; this is how Atma can be assigned to the physical.
The second member of [man's] being is the etheric body, which corresponds to the Son principle, or the Logos, the ‘Word.’ The etheric body can be moved and inwardly shaped by Buddhi, set in vibration by the Son principle, just as the physical [body can be] by Atma.
The third member is the astral body. This we cannot at first control; only very few people at present have any significant control over their astral bodies. We say a man is endowed with Manas, to the extent that man can control his astral body from within.
Man began to work on his astral body during the middle of Lemurian times. If you could have observed a man at the stage he had attained when the Lemurian Race began, that is, when he was bisexual, you would have found that his body was built from elsewhere; but in the middle of Lemurian times, man then began to work on his astral body himself. Everything which man weaves into himself out of his ego, which he does out of duty or by command, to overcome the unwrought appetites and passions, helps to refine the astral body; when it has become completely permeated by the work of man's own ego, then we can no longer call it astral body, it has become Manas. When the whole astral body has been transformed into Manas, man can then begin to work upon his etheric body to transform it into Buddhi. What he weaves in there is nothing else than the individualised Word; Christian esotericism calls this the ‘Son’ or ‘Logos,’ and calls the astral body, when it has become Manas, the ‘Holy Spirit,’ and the physical body that has become Atma, ‘Father.’
What happens here on a small scale within man happens also on a large scale in the world at large. These world secrets were carried out in the mysteries, in initiation; thereby something was done which for most human beings would ordy happen in a distant future. Already, in the Egyptian mysteries one could only be initiated if one hac worked one's way through one's entire astral body, so that the astral body could be completely managed by the ego. Now such a person would stand before the initiating priest: he had no influence on his physical body, nor yet on his etheric body; but his astral body was of his own making. Now it was indicated to him how he could act on his etheric body and on his physical body. The physical body was brought into a lethargic condition—it had to remain in this state for three nights an three days—and during this time the etheric body was raised out of it. And since the initiate had become powerful in respect of the astral body, he could therefore now gain the power to act on the etheric body. He could learn to let what he had in the astral work on the etheric body. Those were the three days of the Entombment and the Resurrection in an etheric body that was completely permeated by what one calls the Holy Spirit. Such an initiate was called a man endowed with the Logos, with the ‘Word’. This ‘Word’ is nothing else than the Wisdom, Manas, which has been worked into the astral body. This wisdom can never enter the etheric body unless the astral body has first been permeated by it.
It was just the same for the earth. Not until the whole earth had been brought this far into the astral, could such an event occur. The condition which the neophyte in the Egyptian mysteries had to be in, corresponds to this time of the Astral Globe which I have spoken of as the immediate precursor of our earth; that is the Globe of Wisdom. All wisdom was worked into it by the cosmic powers. And this transfer of wisdom into the Earth Globe itself made it possible that after the separation of sun and moon from the earth, something could again be incorporated from above, from higher spheres [into the earth] just as this happened on a small scale in the initiation.
Seven times the Astral Globe [stage] of earth [see the chart at the end of the notes to lecture 10] came under the rule of the Wise, after the manner of Solomon. Then the earth clothed itself with an etheric body, and earthly matter was crystallised or formed. The ‘Word’ was laid into that; this Word is thus, as it were, entombed in earthly matter, but it must be resurrected. This is also the beautiful meaning of the myth of the God Dionysus. The Holy Wisdom of our earth's precursor is laid into all the earth beings of our earthly world. Take this as deeply as you are able. Take the human etheric body as every human has it. If you look at it clairvoyantly it has nearly the same form as the physical body. At death man's physical body dissolves, and the etheric body too; the physical body dissolves in the physical world, and the etheric body in the general cosmic ether. But this etheric body has been very elaborately created for man by the wisdom which first implanted it from out of the Astral Globe. This etheric body disperses after death. Only that etheric body which has been built up from within is a living body, that stays eternally. This is the etheric body of the Chela [the candidate for initiation]—and that does not dissolve after death. If you see a modern civilised man die, you may see the etheric body for a while, but then it dissolves. With the Chela it remains. The renunciation of Devachan by the Chela consists in the fact that the Chela stays on the astral plane and there makes use of his etheric body. With ordinary human beings a new etheric body has to be formed at each rebirth; the ability to create a new one is attained in Devachan. The etheric body which the Chela has built up from within will never be lost again; whereas that which is made by cosmic wisdom from elsewhere indeed dissolves itself again. It is the same with the etheric bodies of plants and animals. What is now etheric body still, came to be built up out of cosmic forces which flowed into it out of the Astral Globe [state] of our earth. This wisdom which you find in the astral earth is expressed in the legend of Dionysus.
Now in the Lemurian epoch the denser [state] had to form itself. Then the Father principle had to be worked in. That is the last [principle] to take possession of our earthly matter. What has been worked in, in this way, is deeply hidden in the physical world. First the Holy Spirit worked itself into the astral material. Then the Spirit allied to the astral matter—that is the Son—worked itself into the etheric substance; and then came the Father, who controls physical density. Thus the macrocosm was built up in a threefold progression—Spirit, Son and Father; and man, as he progresses further upwards, goes from the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father. All of this takes place under guidance in the evolution of the earth.
Up to Lemurian times the only evolution was outward. Then this Trinity was drawn into our physical evolution. In the Aryan epoch, what had taken place in an earlier epoch was introduced into man's thinking as religion, making a stage by stage recapitulation.
We are in the fifth Sub-Race of the Aryan Root-Race (the fifth post-Atlantean cultural epoch]. Four other Sub-Races have gone before. The first Sub-Race is that of ancient India. This venerable ancient race was led by the ancient Rishis. We can only form a hazy conception of them. We are acquainted with their religion from the accounts which have come down to us in the Vedas. The teaching of the Rishis was far greater and mightier than our present traditions about it. Only during the third Sub-Race were records made, that are preserved for us in the Vedas. The original religion of the Rishis had great traditions from the divine predecessors of men, the astral initiates of the Dynasty of Solomon. Living in the spirit of the ancient Indian Rishis were archetypal forms; the great intuitions derive intelligence and knowledge not only from the laws of earth, but also from the archetypal forms, who themselves created the said wisdoms. This was the first religion, that of the Holy Spirit.
The second religion was fostered in the Near East; in it the Second Principle [of the Trinity] was revered as a recapitulation of the first time that the Son made His influence felt on earth. The thrusting down of certain beings accompanied the [coming in of] the Son Principle; there is no higher development without other [development] being thrust down into the depths. The mineral, plant and animal kingdoms were thrust down in this way. Whoever develops himself upwards, takes upon himself a tremendous responsibility, that is the great tragedy; the corollary of every saint is that a great number of beings are thrust down. There would be no development if this kind of thrusting down did not take place. A man must continually thrust others down, as he develops himself upwards. That is why all development which takes place out of self-interest is evil and reprehensible; it is only justifiable if done for the development of other beings. Only he who would raise up those who have been thrust down is fit for development. Thus, the evolution which manifested itself on earth and which had already been prepared on other cosmic bodies, the evolution aiming at endowing the etheric body with the Logos, with the Word, has been accompanied by the thrusting down of other beings connected with the earth's development. These [beings] were conceived as adversaries, as Luciferic principle. Thus we have precisely this duality—the principle of Evil accompanying the principle of Good—in the Persian religion. It is good if a man or indeed any being works Manasically into himself; but he is always confronted by evil. Ormuzd and Ahriman are the names for Good and Evil in the Persian religion.
We encounter the third stage with the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the Assyrians and the Egyptians; through [all of] these a recapitulation of the third stage of the Godhead takes place. Thus, from that time onwards, with all peoples, we encounter-the Trinity, the Three-in-Oneness of the Godhead. The second Sub-Race had no Triune Godhead, still less the first. [But] now, in this three-foldness, the ascent is gradually prepared for the whole of humanity. The initiates tread the path in advance ... [Gap ]3 [Gap] A few very inadequately recorded sentences follow this in all texts. In Vegelahn's text it is as follows: ‘Then the astral body was permeated by Manas, Buddhi appeared in the etheric body and the Father-Principle in the physical body. This working went so far that a brain could be formed, up to the point where the being learned to say “I”. That was the case with the Ur-Semites.’
In the first three Sub-Races there was a mirroring in the religious [sphere] of what had been active in macrocosmic processes. Now a new structure is formed: first Wisdom, then Son, then Father. The first gleam of wisdom came during the fourth Sub-Race, through the Semitic people, who arose during the third Sub-Race and continued into the fourth. From them Christianity derives. In the initiates of the Jewish people we find the whole course of past events on earth—all the events that had taken place in the heavenly sphere being repeated in the element of the intellect. Kama-Manas, which we call lower spirit, developed itself there; which has to be endowed with other forces. This endowment, this weft, is Christ Himself, the Word made Flesh, who points to the future Word, by which all human beings will be in a position to control their etheric bodies with their astral bodies, if they so work the Word into the etheric body that it wakens to life therein. The possibility of this development in the future is foreshadowed in the appearance of the Word made Flesh in the fourth Sub-Race. The whole of mankind must have attained control over the etheric, before the Logos can be incarnated in the etheric body. This, as an originating impulse, has proceeded from the Christ incarnated in the Flesh. When man, through the power of the Son, has gone through [this], he will then come to the Father.
Now the ascent must be re-enacted of the stages through which the whole of mankind gradually attains to what was achieved by Christ's appearance in the flesh. In the spirit which developed itself in Judaism, the higher Manas had to be kindled. Therefore, the new era begins with the descent of the Holy Spirit which will lead mankind through to the point in the sixth epoch when the Christ Principle, which is only hinted at in Christianity today, finds its fulfilment. ‘No man cometh to the Father save through Me,’ says the Son. He sent the Spirit to mankind so that it should be prepared for the time in the sixth epoch when Good and Evil will be separated. Man would never have developed this impulse without that other weft, which we have named as the so-called Evil Principle. Man had to receive free will so that his understanding could be called into play in deciding between Good and Evil. This weft of the Spirit's descent is consummated at Pentecost.
Spirit, Son and Father are as though entombed in the earth: the Father in the physical body, the Son in the etheric body and the Spirit in the astral body. However, man has developed his ego and has become self-aware. Now he must learn to work right down into the physical. That will be in the future. At present man is working into his astral body.. The symbol for that is the descent of the Holy Spirit into those who are to become the leaders of humanity. It is something in man which is akin to this Spirit which has taken it up.
Before the Son could become effective—which was in Hyperborean times—a part of the universal Principle of Spirit had to break away, be thrust down, and wander other paths. This is expressed in the Serpent, the symbol of knowledge, the Luciferic principle. It was this spark from the Spirit which made man into a free being and enabled him to desire the Good out of his own impulse. This Spirit which has come down to man through the great Whitsuntide Festival is akin to that Spirit which was thrust down, which is indeed embodied in Prometheus, which has blown the spark into a flame, so that our ego can make up its mind to follow the Spirit, just as it will later follow the Son and still later the Father. Man was certainly able to become evil, but on the other hand this potentiality for evil was the price of being guided back to the World of Gods from which he originated. That is the connection between Pentecost and the Luciferic principle. Thus the Whitsuntide Festival is also the festival of Prometheus and of freedom.
Now you will understand the connection between the Sons of Cain and the seven Salomonic Kings of pre-earthly times—of whom the King Solomon of the Bible appears as a descendant. Wisdom was first transmitted to man from outside. Later it had to spring up from within. Solomon built the Temple but only with the help of Hiram-Abiff; in association with this Son of Cain he appropriated the arts needed for erecting the Temple. Thus the streams run together again, that were flowing apart [from each other] in the world.
When the sun separated itself from the earth, the Word became entombed in the earth. It will be resurrected again when the earth has advanced as far as the sixth Root Race. Man will raise this Word from the dead, out of the earth; but first the spirit must live in him that will enable the Word to strike a chord in him. This was attained by the apostles at Pentecost. In Light on the Path4 Light on the Path, by Mabel Collins (1851–1927) a theosophical writer acknowledged by Rudolf Steiner by an exegesis to the work in question. (Printed in his: Guidance in Esoteric Training, Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1972). we find the words: ‘Acquire knowledge and you will have speech.’ Speech comes with true knowledge, which descends like the tongues of fire on the apostles at holy Pentecost. When the inner Word comes, that is akin to the holy divine Word, and that sinks down into everything etheric, so as to make it come alive, then man will no longer speak out of himself but out of the divine Spirit. He is then the messenger of the Godhead and proclaims the inner Word of Godhead of his own free will.
Thus did the inner Word become alive in the apostles; thus did it spread its influence outwards from them. They proclaimed the fiery Word and were aware of their role as the messengers of the Godhead. Therefore the Holy Spirit hovered over them in the form of fiery tongues. They prepare humanity to receive the Logos. The great initiate, Christ Jesus, went on in advance. The Holy Spirit followed, fertilising the astral bodies so that they would become ripe for making their etheric bodies immortal. Once this has happened, then the Christ Principle will be drawn into humanity. This is what the initiates too had in mind when they said, somewhat as Heraclitus did: If, in escaping from the earthly,5 Rudolf Steiner here draws his Heraclitus quotation from a work on philosophy by Vincent Knauer. you ascend to free ether, with faith in immortality, you become an immortal spirit, free of death and of the physical.
Every single person will reach this point in the middle of the sixth Root Race. Now, however, man is still vulnerable to death, in that his etheric body has still not attained immortality. Christianity contains the secret of how man can gradually develop himself towards the resurrection of the etheric body. This is where the third great festival is connected with the other two Christian festivals.
I wanted to come to the conclusion here, that the Whitsuntide festival has infinite depths, and to show how man gradually develops a living awareness of the world around him, and that he is related to all the things around him, to everything which happens around him. In the names of the days of the week you will find what has transpired around us set forth.
Man celebrates Pentecost best by making it clear to himself what deep truths have been implanted in this festival by the wise. And to celebrate a festival really means to unite oneself in spirit with the Cosmic Spirit.
14. Über Den Verlorenen Und Wiederzuerrichtenden Tempel im Zusammenhang mit der Kreuzesholz- oder Goldenen Legende
Die Allegorie vom verlorenen und wiederzugewinnenden Wort im Zusammenhang mit dem Pfingstfest
Zu den Allegorien und Symbolen, von denen wir in diesen Stunden sprechen wollten, gehört auch das Sinnbild von dem sogenannten verlorenen und wiederzugewinnenden Wort. Von dem verlorenen und wiederzugewinnenden Tempel haben wir gesprochen. Um so besser werden wir heute daran anknüpfen können eine kurze Betrachtung über das verlorene und wiederzufindende Wort, insofern nämlich dieses Thema ein wenig zusammenhängt mit der sinnbildlichen Bedeutung des Pfingstfestes. Zwar habe ich schon vor einem Jahr manches von den Dingen, die ich heute vorbringen werde, zum Vortrag gebracht. Da aber auch einige unter uns sind, die vielleicht den vorjährigen Vortrag nicht gehört haben, so dürfte es nicht unnötig sein, von neuem auf diese Dinge hinzuweisen, vor allem weil wir imstande sind, jedes Jahr eine solche Angelegenheit zu betrachten und gründlicher und eingehender zu behandeln. Manches, was im Vorjahr nicht möglich gewesen ist zu sagen, ist heute vielleicht möglich, da wir manches hinzugelernt haben.
Das Pfingstfest hängt nämlich mit dem Sinnbild zusammen, das man sowohl in der Kirche wie auch in der Freimaurerei als das Symbol vom verlorenen und wiederzugewinnenden Wort bezeichnet. Damit berühren wir aber christliche Mysterien von einer wirklich außerordentlichen Tiefe. Wir berühren damit noch einmal, und zwar gründlicher als das vor acht Tagen der Fall sein konnte, die Sendung und Mission des weisen Salomo und die ganze zukünftige Bedeutung der christlichen Wahrheit.
Das Pfingstfest hängt zusammen mit der Auffassung des innersten Wesens des Menschen, wie sie auch im ursprünglichen Christentum vorhanden war, die aber dem Christentum, das in den verschiedenen Kirchen des Abendlandes lebt, nach und nach verlorengegangen ist. Das Pfingstfest ist das Fest, welches den Menschen jedes Jahr aufs neue an seine Befreiung, an das, was wir die Freiheit der Menschenseele nennen, erinnern soll.
Wie ist der Mensch in Wirklichkeit zu dem gekommen, was wir seine Freiheit nennen, das heißt, zu seiner Möglichkeit, zwischen Gut und Böse zu unterscheiden, in Freiheit das Gute oder auch das Böse zu vollbringen? Sie wissen, daß der Mensch eine lange Entwickelungsreihe durchgemacht hat, bevor er auf der Stufe angelangt ist, auf der er heute steht, und daß wir die Mitte der Entwickelung überschritten haben. Ungefähr in der Mitte der atlantischen Rasse, die unserer Rasse voranging, liegt auch die Mitte der ganzen menschlichen Entwickelung. Jetzt haben wir diese Mitte bereits überschritten und dadurch sind wir die ersten Missionare der zweiten Hälfte, die ersten Sendboten eines aufsteigenden Bogens. Während die Menschheit bis in die atlantische Zeit hinein auf dem absteigenden Bogen, in einer Art absteigenden Entwickelung begriffen war, bis sie sich am tiefsten hineinversenkte in das materielle Leben, steigt sie jetzt wieder hinauf zur geistigen Entwickelung.
Was wir Menschen vor der Mitte unserer Erdenentwickelung nicht besaßen, war die Wahlfreiheit zwischen Gut und Böse. Bei den untergeordneten Naturreichen können wir auch nicht von Gut und Böse sprechen. Lächerlich wäre es, davon zu sprechen, ob sich das Mineral kristallisieren will oder nicht. Es kristallisiert sich, wenn die Bedingungen dazu vorhanden sind. Lächerlich wäre es auch zu fragen, ob die Lilie blühen will oder nicht, oder auch beim Löwen zu fragen, ob er freiwillig davon absehen will, andere Wesen zu fressen und zu töten. Erst beim Menschen und erst in unserer Entwickelungsphase sprechen wir von dem, was wir Wahlfreiheit nennen. Ein Unterscheidungsvermögen zwischen Gut und Böse schreiben wir nur dem Menschen zu. Und wie der Mensch nun dieses Unterscheidungsvermögen erhielt, das wird in der Bibel dargestellt in dem großen Symbol des Sündenfalles, in dem Verführungsakt, wo der Eva der Teufel oder Luzifer erscheint und sie überredet, von dem Baum der Erkenntnis zu essen. Dadurch ist die Wahlfreiheit über den Menschen gekommen und damit hat er den zweiten Teil seines Entwickelungsweges beschritten. So wenig wie wir beim Mineral, bei der Pflanze und beim Tier nach Gut und Böse fragen können, so wenig können wir beim Menschen vor jener Mitte der Weltentwickelung nach Freiheit, nach Gut und Böse fragen. Damit hängt ein anderes zusammen.
In aller Esoterik wird unsere gegenwärtige Welt und was damit zusammenhängt, als der Kosmos der Liebe bezeichnet. Und diesem Universum der Liebe ist der Kosmos oder das Universum der Weisheit vorangegangen. Das wollen wir in einem etwas tieferen Sinne betrachten.
Sie wissen, kosmologisch ging unserer Erdenentwickelung die Mondenentwickelung voran. Ein noch weiterer Vorfahr unserer Erde war die Sonne, ein noch weiterer der Saturn. Der Mensch hat diese drei Entwickelungsphasen durchgemacht: Saturn, Sonne, Mond. Unsere Erde hat bis jetzt drei Zyklen durchgemacht, in denen sie wiederholt hat in der ersten Runde die Saturnentwickelung, in der zweiten Runde die Sonnenentwickelung und in der dritten Runde die Mondenentwickelung. Eine jede solche Runde beginnt damit, daß der Planet in einer außerordentlich feinen Stofflichkeit, dem Mentalstoff sich entwickelt. In einem solchen Stoff war die Erde vorhanden, als sie ihre vierte Runde, also den gegenwärtigen Zyklus begann. Nun begann sie zunächst wieder die drei vorhergehenden Runden zu wiederholen: den Zyklus Saturn im Arupa, den Zyklus Sonne im Rupa, und dann im Astralen die Mondrunde oder den Mondenzyklus.
Unsere Erde machte also frühere materielle Zustände noch einmal durch, ehe sie die jetzige physische Dichtigkeit erreichte. Vor unserem jetzigen Zustand war sie astral. Den astralen Globus bezeichnen wir auch als eine Art Kosmos der Weisheit. Jeder Kosmos (Globus) ist wiederum eingeteilt in sieben Perioden. So haben wir in unserem Globus sieben Rassenzyklen: die polarische, die hyperboräische, die lemurische, die atlantische und dann die arische Rasse, in der wir sind. Die sechste und siebente Rasse werden noch kommen. Dann wird die Erde wieder in den astralen Zustand übergehen. Diese Rassenzyklen stellen sieben aufeinanderfolgende Perioden unserer physischen Entwickelung auf der Erde dar. Ebenso stellt sich uns die astrale Vorgängerin in sieben aufeinanderfolgenden Perioden dar, die diesen sieben Rassen entsprechen. Es ist aber nicht ganz richtig, hier von Rassen zu sprechen. Die Formen, die damals gelebt haben, kann man nicht gut Rassen nennen. Immer von Rassen zu sprechen, geht im Gebrauch der Analogie zu weit. Es waren andere Formen, die sich bildeten. In der esoterischen Sprache nennt man diese vorhergehenden astralen Perioden das Reich der Weisheit, und ihre Formen nennt man die sieben Perioden der Weisheit, in der die sieben Könige der Weisheit, die sieben Könige der Dynastie Salomos geherrscht haben. Denn in jeder dieser Perioden lebte ein Wesen ähnlicher Art, wie die Seele Salomos, wie die Seele es war, die in Salomo inkarniert war. Dieser Kosmos der Weisheit wurde abgelöst von dem eigentlich irdischen Kosmos, dem Kosmos der Liebe.
Nun seien wir uns klar darüber, was nach unserer ganzen Vorstellung während der Erdgestaltung geschah. Als die Erde sich zu gestalten begann, war sie noch vereinigt mit der Sonne und dem, was wir jetzt Mond nennen. Mit diesen zwei Körpern bildete die Erde einen einzigen Körper. Zuerst trennte sich die Sonne von der Erde ab. Dadurch wurde das ganze Leben auf der Erde ein anderes. Während vorher nicht die Rede sein konnte von Tod, weil fortgesetztes materielles Leben da war, trat jetzt der Tod ein. Etwa in der Form, wie wir ihn bei einem aus Zellen zusammengesetzten Pflanzenkörper kennen. Solange die Pflanze aus einer einzigen Zelle besteht, tritt kein Zerfallen ein, wenn das nächste geboren wird. Anders ist es, wenn ein ganzer Organismus zusammengesetzt ist. Dieser zerfällt in seine Teile, und der einzelne Teil ist nicht mehr das ganze Leben. Solch ein Tod trat erstmals ein, als die Sonne sich von der Erde ablöste. Als Folge der Mondablösung entstand die Spaltung der Geschlechter in der Mitte der lemurischen Rasse. Die Abtrennung des Mondes bewirkte die Teilung des Männlich-Weiblichen in nur Männliches und nur Weibliches. Dadurch bekamen die Menschen auch die Gestalt, die sie jetzt in der Welt haben.
Was ist nun während dieser wichtigen kosmischen Ereignisse, als zuerst die Sonne und dann der Mond sich abspalteten, geschehen? Wenn wir uns das einmal klarmachen wollen, wird es gut sein darauf hinzuweisen, daß damals die Erde von einer sehr dünnen, aber schon physischen Materie in eine immer dichtere und dichtere sich verwandelte. Die erste physische Materie, in der alle Menschen auf der Erde vorhanden waren, war Äthermaterie, eine sehr feine Materie, feiner als unser Gas.
Wir unterscheiden auf unserer Erde jetzt drei Stoffarten: die festen, die flüssigen und dann die gasförmigen Körper, die man früher Luft genannt hat. Dann unterscheiden wir esoterisch die vier Ätherarten: erstens den Feueräther, der bewirkt, daß die Körper mit Wärme durchzogen werden können; zweitens den Lichtäther; drittens den chemischen Äther, der bewirkt, daß die Atome sich nach gewissen Zahlengesetzen mischen - die Wahlverwandtschaft der Atome -, und viertens den physischen oder Lebensäther. Vier Ätherarten also, die die Erde beleben. Im wesentlichen hat sich die Erde in diesen Ätherarten zunächst entwickelt. Dann hat sie sich aus diesem Äther heraus verdichtet. Diese Verdichtung geschah erst während der lemurischen Epoche. Vorher hat man es mit der Äthererde zu tun, die noch ganz anderen Kräften zugänglich war als unsere heutige physische Erde. Dies möchte ich Ihnen einmal klarmachen.
Wenn ich sage, daß diese Äthererde verschiedenen Kräften zugänglich war, dann seien Sie sich klar, daß auch alle Wesen, was an Pflanzen, Tieren und Menschen lebte, in ihrem Innersten diesen Kräften zugänglich waren. Der Äther ist dem zugänglich, was wir in der esoterischen Sprache bezeichnen als das «Wort», das «Weltenwort». Ich kann Ihnen auch an einem Vorgange der Einweihung klarmachen, wie der Äther zu dem steht, was wir das «Wort» nennen. Wie Sie wissen, besteht der Mensch aus dem physischen, dem Äther- und Astralleib, und dann aus dem eigentlichen Ich. Der Ätherleib wird sichtbar, wenn man sich den physischen Körper fortsuggeriert. Aber der Mensch vermag, so wie er heute ist, auf seinen physischen Körper gar nicht einzuwirken. Er kann nicht das kleinste Blutkörperchen bewegen. Von hohen kosmischen Kräften wird der physische Körper beherrscht. Heute sind es höhere Wesenheiten, die hier Macht ausüben können; der Mensch wird es später können. Wenn die Menschen die Kräfte ihres eigenen physischen Körpers werden beherrschen können, von denen der Materialist als von Naturkräften spricht, dann wird er ein Gott geworden sein. Ihm heute dieses zuzusprechen, wäre Götzendienst, denn in Wahrheit haben wir es mit hohen Wesenheiten zu tun, die den physischen Körper beeinflussen.
Wenn die Menschen die Feueräthermaterie beherrschen können, können sie alles Physische beherrschen. Wenn sie das menschliche Physische beherrschen, dann können sie auch das übrige Physische beherrschen. Diese Kraft bezeichnet man als Vaterkraft, als den «Vater». Alles also, wodurch eine Wesenheit mit unserer Erde in Zusammenhang steht, wodurch sie die physische Materie beherrschen kann. Wenn ein Mensch bis in den physischen Leib hinein solche Vaterkräfte auszuüben vermag, so bezeichnet man dies als Atma. So wird Atma dem Physischen zugeteilt.
Das zweite Wesensglied ist der Ätherleib, der entspricht dem Sohnesprinzip oder dem Logos, dem «Wort». Wie der physische von ‚Atma, so kann dieser Ätherleib von Buddhi bewegt, innerlich gestaltet, in Vibrationen von dem Sohnesprinzip versetzt werden.
Das dritte Glied ist der Astralleib. Anfangs können wir auch ihn nicht beherrschen, und noch die wenigsten haben heutzutage eine bedeutende Macht über ihren Astralleib. In dem Maße, wie der Mensch von innen heraus den Astralleib beherrschen kann, nennen wir ihn mit Manas begabt.
In der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit begann der Mensch an seinem Astralleib zu arbeiten. Wenn Sie einen Menschen betrachten könnten, der auf der Stufe steht, wo die lemurische Rasse begann, also zweigeschlechtlich, so finden Sie, daß dessen Körper von außen aufgebaut wird. Seit der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit beginnt nun der Mensch selbst an seinem Astralleib zu arbeiten. Alles was der Mensch von seinem Ich aus hineinarbeitet, was er durch Pflichten und Gebote zur Überwindung der rohen Begierden und Leidenschaften tut, trägt bei zur Veredelung des Astralleibes. Wenn er dann ganz durchdrungen sein wird mit der Arbeit des eigenen Ich, dann können wir ihn nicht mehr Astralleib nennen, dann ist er Manas geworden. Wenn der ganze Astralleib in Manas verwandelt ist, kann der Mensch beginnen in den Ätherleib hineinzuarbeiten, ihn in Buddhi zu verwandeln. Was er da hineinarbeitet, ist nichts anderes als das individualisierte Wort, das die christliche Esoterik auch den «Sohn» oder «Logos» nennt. Wenn der Astralleib zu Manas wird, nennt sie dies den «Heiligen Geist», und wenn der physische Leib Atma geworden ist, nennt sie dies «Vater».
Was hier im kleinen mit dem Menschen geschieht, geschah auch im großen mit der Welt draußen. Diese Weltgeheimnisse vollzog man schon in den Mysterien bei der Einweihung, man vollzog so etwas, was die Menschen allgemein erst in einer fernen Zukunft sein werden. Schon in den ägyptischen Mysterien konnte nur der eingeweiht werden, der seinen ganzen Astralleib durchgearbeitet hatte, so daß der Astralleib vollständig von dem Ich aus geleitet werden konnte. Ein solcher Mensch stand so vor dem Einweihungspriester: er hatte keinen Einfluß auf den physischen Leib und auch keinen auf den Ätherleib; aber sein Astralleib war sein eigenes Geschöpf. Nun wurde ihm gezeigt, wie er auf den Äther- und auf den physischen Leib einwirken kann. Der physische Leib wurde in einen lethargischen Zustand versetzt — drei Tage und drei Nächte mußte er in diesem Zustand bleiben -, und während dieser Zeit war der Ätherleib herausgehoben. Und da der Einzuweihende mächtig geworden war in bezug auf den Astralleib, so konnte er nun die Macht gewinnen, auf den Ätherleib einzuwirken. Was er im Astralischen hatte, konnte er lernen in den Ätherleib hineinwirken zu lassen. Das waren die drei Tage der Grablegung und Auferstehung in einem Ätherleib, der ganz und gar durchsetzt ist von dem, was man den Heiligen Geist nennt. Man nannte einen solchen Eingeweihten einen mit dem Logos, dem «Wort» begabten Menschen. Dieses «Wort» ist nichts anderes als die Weisheit, Manas, das in den Astralleib hineingearbeitet ist. Niemals kann die Weisheit in den Ätherleib kommen, wenn nicht vorher der Astralleib damit durchdrungen ist.
Für die Erde war es ebenso. Bevor nicht die ganze Erde im Astralen so weit gebracht war, konnte dieser Vorgang nicht eintreten. Der Zustand, in dem der Einzuweihende sein mußte in den ägyptischen Mysterien, entspricht dieser Zeit des astralen Globus, von dem ich gesprochen habe, daß er der unmittelbare Vorgänger der Erde ist. Das ist der Globus der Weisheit. Da wird von den kosmischen Mächten hineingearbeitet alle Weisheit. Und dieses Hineinversetzen der Weisheit in den Erdglobus selbst, das macht es möglich, daß nach der Spaltung der Sonne und des Mondes von der Erde, von oben, von höheren Sphären wieder etwas hineingearbeitet wird, wie bei der Einweihung im kleinen. So vollzog sich der Prozeß im großen, wie er sich im kleinen bei der Einweihung vollzog.
Siebenmal ist der astrale Erdglobus von den Weisen in der Art des Salomo regiert worden. Dann umgab sich die Erde von außen mit dem Ätherleib und kristallisierte, konstituierte irdische Materie. Da wurde das «Wort» hineingelegt. Dieses Wort ist dann wie begraben in der irdischen Materie, aber es muß wieder auferweckt werden. Dies ist auch der schöne Sinn in dem Mythos von dem Gotte Dionysos. Die heilige Weisheit unseres Erdenvorgängers ist hineingelegt in alle Erdenwesen unserer irdischen Welt. Nehmen Sie dies so tief, als es Ihnen möglich ist. Nehmen Sie den menschlichen Ätherleib, wie ihn jeder Mensch hat. Wenn Sie ihn als Hellseher ansehen, so hat er ungefähr die Form wie der physische Leib. Wenn der Mensch stirbt, löst sich der physische Leib auf und der Ätherleib auch; der physische Körper im Physischen und der Ätherleib im allgemeinen Weltenäther. Dieser Ätherleib ist aber schr kunstvoll gebaut worden für die Menschen von der Weisheit, die ihn vorher hineingesetzt hat vom astralen Globus. Dieser Ätherleib zerstiebt nach dem Tode. Nur der Ätherleib, der von innen aufgebaut ist, der ist ein lebendiger, ein ewig bleibender. Es ist der Ätherleib des Chela, und der löst sich nach dem Tode nicht auf. Wenn Sie den heutigen Kulturmenschen sterben sehen, sehen Sie den Ätherleib noch einige Zeit, dann löst er sich auf. Beim Chela bleibt er. Der Verzicht des Chela auf Devachan besteht darin, daß der Chela sich auf der Astralebene aufhält und dort von seinem Ätherleib Gebrauch macht. Bei gewöhnlichen Menschen muß bei der Wiedergeburt ein neuer Ätherleib geformt werden; daß einer gebaut werden kann, das wird im Devachan erreicht. Der Ätherleib, den sich der Chela von innen heraus aufgebaut hat, geht nicht mehr verloren, wohl aber der von der kosmischen Weisheit von außen aufgebaute, denn der löst sich wieder auf. So ist es auch mit dem Ätherkörper der Pflanzen und Tiere. Was heute noch Ätherleib ist, ist aufgebaut worden aus den kosmischen Kräften, die auf diesem Astralglobus unserer Erde in sie hineingeflossen sind. Diese Weisheit, die Sie in der astralen Erde finden, wird in der Mythe von Dionysos ausgedrückt.
Nun hatte sich in der lemurischen Epoche das Dichtere herauszubilden. Da mußte das Vaterprinzip hineingearbeitet werden. Das ist das letzte, was sich unserer Erdenstofflichkeit bemächtigte. Was da hineingearbeitet ist, ist tief verborgen in der physischen Welt. Zuerst arbeitete sich der Heilige Geist in die Astralmaterie hinein. Dann arbeitete der mit der astralen Materie verbundene Geist in die Äthermaterie hinein, das ist der Sohn; und dann kommt der Vater, der die physische Dichtigkeit beherrscht. So wird in dreifacher Stufe der Makrokosmos aufgebaut: Geist, Sohn und Vater, und der Mensch, indem er sich wieder hinaufarbeitet, geht von dem Geist durch den Sohn zum Vater. Alles das geschieht unter Führung in der Entwickelung auf der Erde.
Bis zur lemurischen Zeit war das einzige die äußere Entwickelung. Da war diese Dreieinigkeit eingezogen in unsere physische Entwickelung. In der arischen Epoche kam in die Vorstellung der Menschen als Religion dasjenige hinein, was sich früher vollzogen hatte und wiederholte sich stufenweise.
Wir sind in der fünften Unterrasse der arischen Wurzelrasse. Vier andere Unterrassen gingen voran. Die erste Unterrasse ist die alte indische. Diese ehrwürdige alte Rasse wurde geführt von den heiligen Rishis. Von denen können wir uns nur eine schwache Vorstellung machen. Von ihrer Religion haben wir Kenntnis aus den Nachrichten, die uns von den Veden überkommen sind. Viel größer und gewaltiger war die Lehre der Rishis als unsere heutige Überlieferung davon. Erst während der dritten Unterrasse sind Aufzeichnungen gemacht worden, die uns in den Veden erhalten sind. Die ursprüngliche Religion der Rishis hatte große Traditionen von den göttlichen Vorfahren der Menschen, den Astralinitiierten der Dynastie Salomos. Die großen Intuitionen, die nicht bloß Kunde und Kenntnis bringen von den Gesetzen der Erde, sondern von den Urbildern, die selbst diese Weisheiten geschaffen haben, diese Urbilder lebten im Geist der alten indischen Rishis. Das war die erste Religion, die des Heiligen Geistes.
Die zweite Religion wurde gepflegt in Vorderasien. Da verehrte man als Wiederholung dessen, als zum ersten Male der Sohn seinen EinfAluß auf die Erde geltend machte, das zweite Prinzip. Da tritt zugleich beim Sohnesprinzip das Herunterstoßen gewisser Wesenheiten auf. Es gibt keine höhere Entwickelung, ohne daß andere heruntergestoßen werden in die Tiefe. Das Mineral-, das Pflanzen- und das Tierreich sind auf diese Weise heruntergestoßen worden. Das ist die große Tragik, daß, wer sich höher entwickelt, eine ungeheuere Verantwortlichkeit auf sich nimmt. Jeder Heilige bedingt, daß eine große Anzahl Wesen heruntergestoßen werden. Wenn ein solches Herunterstoßen nicht stattfände, so gäbe es keine Entwickelung. Damit ein Mensch selbst höher entwickelt wird, muß er fortgesetzt Wesen hinunterstoßen. Darum ist alle Entwickelung schlecht und verwerflich, wenn sie aus Eigennutz geschieht; sie ist nur berechtigt um der Entwickelung der anderen Wesen willen. Nur wer die Hinuntergestoßenen wieder hinaufholen will, ist der Entwickelung fähig. So war jene Entwickelung, die auf der Erde auftrat, und die schon auf anderen Weltkörpern vorbereitet worden war, jene Entwickelung zur Begabung des Ätherleibes mit dem Logos, dem Wort, verknüpft mit dem Herunterstoßen anderer, mit der Erdenentwickelung zusammenhängender Wesen. Diese stellte man sich vor als Widersacher, als luziferisches Prinzip. So haben wir gerade in der persischen Religion diese Zweiheit: neben dem Prinzip des Guten das Prinzip des Bösen auftretend. Arbeitet der Mensch, und überhaupt ein Wesen, manasisch in sich hinein, so ist das ein Gutes. Immer aber stellt sich ihm das Böse entgegen. Ormuzd und Ahriman, das sind die Namen für das Gute und Böse in der persischen Religion.
Die dritte Stufe tritt uns bei den Chaldäern, den Babyloniern, den Assyrern, den Ägyptern entgegen, bei denen geistig eine Wiederholung der dritten Stufe der Gottheit vorhanden ist. Daher tritt uns hier und seit jener Zeit bei allen Völkern die Dreiheit, die Dreieinigkeit der Gottheit entgegen. Die zweite Unterrasse hatte noch keine dreieinige Gottheit, und die erste schon gar nicht. Nun wird in diesem Dreifachen nach und nach der Aufstieg für die ganze Menschheit vorbereitet. Die Eingeweihten machen den Weg vorher ... [Lücke].
In den drei ersten Unterrassen waren es religiöse Widerspiegelungen dessen, was in den makrokosmischen Vorgängen gewirkt hatte. Nun kommt ein neuer Aufbau: erst Weisheit, dann Sohn und dann Vater. Das Aufleuchten der Weisheit geschah in der vierten Unterrasse, in dem semitischen Volk, das aus der dritten Unterrasse heraus in die vierte hineinwächst, und aus ihm wächst dann das Christentum heraus. Bei den Eingeweihten des jüdischen Volkes finden wir den ganzen Hergang gewesener Vorgänge der Erde, alle Vorgänge, die sich im großen im Überirdischen abgespielt haben, noch einmal wiederholt in dem Elemente des Intellektes. Dort entwickelt sich das, was wir den unteren Geist nennen, Kama-Manas, das wieder mit anderer Kraft begabt werden muß. Diese Begabung, dieser Einschlag ist Christus selbst, das fleischgewordene Wort, das auf das zukünftige Wort hindeutet, wo alle Menschen imstande sein werden, ihren Ätherleib vom Astralleib aus zu beherrschen, wenn sie im Ätherleibe das Wort so bewegen, daß es in ihnen ein lebendiges wird. Die Möglichkeit dieser Entwickelung in der Zukunft ist in der Erscheinung des fleischgewordenen Wortes in der vierten Unterrasse vorausgenommen. Damit der Logos in dem Ätherkörper inkarniert werden kann, muß die ganze Menschheit die Herrschaft über den Äther erlangt haben. Das ist als ein Urimpuls von dem im Fleische inkarnierten Christus ausgegangen. Wenn der Mensch durch die Kraft des Sohnes hindurchgegangen sein wird, dann kommt er zum Vater.
Nun müssen die Stufen wieder hinaufgestiegen werden, durch die nach und nach von der ganzen Menschheit das erreicht wird, was gleichsam bei Christus im Fleisch erschienen war. In dem Geiste, der sich im Judentum entwickelt hat, mußte das höhere Manas entfacht werden. Daher beginnt die neue Ära mit dem Herunterkommen des Heiligen Geistes, der die Menschen dazu führen wird, daß in der sechsten Unterrasse das, was heute in dem Christentum nur angedeutet ist, das Christus-Prinzip, seine Vollendung findet. «Niemand kommt zum Vater denn durch mich», sagt der Sohn. Er sandte der Menschheit den Geist, der sie vorbereiten sollte für die Zeit, wo Gut und Böse sich in der sechsten Unterrasse scheiden werden. Niemals hätte der Mensch diesen Impuls entwickelt, ohne jenen anderen Einschlag, den wir das sogenannte böse Prinzip genannt haben. Der Mensch mußte einen freien Willen bekommen, dann konnte sein Verstand zu einer Entscheidung zwischen Gut und Böse aufgerufen werden. Dieser Einschlag des Herabsteigens des Geistes vollzieht sich am Pfingstfest.
Geist, Sohn und Vater sind in der Erde wie begraben: im physischen Körper der Vater, im Ätherkörper der Sohn und im Astralkörper der Geist. Aber der Mensch hat sein «Ich» ausgebildet, ist selbstbewußt geworden. Nun muß er lernen, herunterzuwirken bis auf das Physische. Das wird in der Zukunft sein. In der gegenwärtigen Zeit arbeitet der Mensch in seinen Astralleib hinein. Das Symbol dafür ist die Ausgießung des Heiligen Geistes in die Köpfe derjenigen, die die Führer der Menschheit sein sollen. Was diesen Geist aufgenommen hat, ist etwas im Menschen, was mit diesem Geist verwandt ist,
Ehe der Sohn wirksam werden konnte — das war in der hyperboräischen Zeit -, mußte von dem allgemeinen Geistprinzip ein Teil abgespalten, heruntergestoßen werden und andere Bahnen wandeln. Das ist in der Schlange ausgedrückt, dem Symbol der Erkenntnis, dem Luzifer-Prinzip. Dieser Funke des Geistes war es, der den Menschen zu einem freien Wesen machte und ihn befähigte, aus eigenem Antrieb das Gute zu wollen. Dieser Geist, der zu den Menschen heruntergekommen ist am großen Pfingstfeste, ist verwandt mit jenem Geist, welcher heruntergestoßen wurde, und der auch im Prometheus verkörpert ist, welcher den Funken wieder angefacht hat, damit unser Ich sich entschließen kann, dem Geiste zu folgen, wie es später dem Sohne und noch später dem Vater folgen wird. Der Mensch konnte zwar böse werden, aber andererseits konnte er nur auf Kosten dessen, daß er böse werden konnte, zur Götterwelt wieder hinaufgeführt werden, aus der er stammt. Das ist der Zusammenhang des Pfingstfestes mit dem luziferischen Prinzip. Daher ist das Pfingstfest auch das Prometheus- und Freiheitsfest.
Jetzt werden Sie auch den Zusammenhang der sieben salomonischen Könige der Vorerde - von denen König Salomo in der Bibel wie der Nachkomme erscheint - mit den Kainssöhnen einsehen. Die Weisheit wurde zuerst der Menschheit von außen überliefert. Dann sollte sie aus dem Inneren quellen. Salomo baute den Tempel, aber nur mit Hilfe des Hiram-Abiff. Mit diesem Kainssohne im Bunde eignete er sich die Künste an, die zum Aufbau des Tempels notwendig sind. So laufen die Strömungen, die getrennt in der Welt gehen, wieder zusammen.
Als die Sonne sich von der Erde abspaltete, wurde das Wort in der Erde begraben. Es wird wieder auferstehen, wenn die Erde bis zur sechsten Wurzelrasse wird vorgeschritten sein. Der Mensch wird dieses Wort aus der Erde auferwecken. Aber in ihm muß vorher der Geist leben, der das Wort in ihm selbst erklingen läßt. Das haben die Apostel beim Pfingstfest errungen. In «Licht auf den Weg» steht: «Erwirb dir das Wissen, und dir wird die Sprache» — die Sprache kommt mit dem echten Wissen, das herunterkommt wie der Feuerfunke auf die Apostel beim heiligen Pfingstfeste. Wenn das innere Wort kommt, das mit dem heiligen, göttlichen Worte Verwandtschaft hat und das sich in alles Ätherische hineinsenkt, um es zu beleben, dann redet der Mensch nicht mehr aus sich selbst, sondern aus dem göttlichen Geiste heraus. Dann ist er Bote der Gottheit und verkündet aus freiem Willen das innere Wort der Gottheit.
So wurde das innere Wort bei den Aposteln lebendig; so wirkte es aus ihnen heraus. Das feurige Wort verkündeten sie und fühlten sich als Boten der Gottheit. Deshalb schwebt der Heilige Geist in Form feuriger Zungen über ihnen. Sie bereiten die Menschheit vor zum Empfang des Logos. Der große Initiierte Christus Jesus ging voran. Der Heilige Geist folgte und befruchtete die Astralkörper, daß sie reif wurden, ihren Ätherleib unsterblich zu machen. Ist dies erreicht, dann ist das Christus-Prinzip in die Menschheit eingezogen. Das meinten auch die Eingeweihten, die etwa wie Heraklit davon sprachen: Wenn du dem Irdischen entflohen, zum freien Äther emporsteigst — im Unsterblichkeitsglauben -, wirst ein unsterblicher Geist du sein, dem Tode - dem Physischen - entronnen.
Ein jeder Mensch wird in der Mitte der sechsten Wurzelrasse diesen Punkt erreichen. Jetzt aber unterliegt er noch dem Tode, weil sein Ätherleib noch nicht Unsterblichkeit erlangt hat. Im Christentum ist das Geheimnis enthalten, wie der Mensch sich nach und nach hinaufentwickeln kann zu der Auferstehung des Ätherleibes. Hier hängt dieses dritte der großen Feste mit den zwei anderen christlichen Festen zusammen,
Ich wollte hier einmal die unendliche Tiefe des Pfingstfestes auseinandersetzen und zeigen, wie der Mensch nach und nach das lebendige Gefühl für die Umwelt bekommt, daß er verwandt ist mit allen Dingen, die um ihn herum sind und mit allem, was um ihn herum vorgeht. In der Benennung der Wochentage finden Sie niedergelegt, was um uns herum vorgegangen ist.
Der Mensch begeht das Pfingstfest am besten, wenn er sich klarmacht, welche tiefen Wahrheiten die Weisen in ein solches Fest wie das Pfingstfest hineingelegt haben. Und ein Fest begehen, heißt eigentlich: Im Geiste sich mit dem Weltengeist verbinden.
14. On the Lost and Restored Temple in Connection with the Legend of the Cross or the Golden Legend
The Allegory of the Lost and Regained Word in Connection with the Feast of Pentecost
Among the allegories and symbols we wanted to discuss in these hours is also the symbol of the so-called lost and regained word. We have spoken of the lost and regained temple. This will enable us to continue today with a brief consideration of the lost and regained word, insofar as this theme is somewhat related to the symbolic meaning of the feast of Pentecost. I already mentioned some of the things I will say today in my lecture a year ago. However, since there are some among us who may not have heard last year's lecture, it may not be unnecessary to refer to these things again, especially since we are able to consider such matters every year and deal with them more thoroughly and in greater depth. Some things that could not be said last year may be possible today, as we have learned a few things.
The feast of Pentecost is connected with the symbol that is referred to in both the Church and Freemasonry as the symbol of the lost and regained word. In doing so, however, we touch upon Christian mysteries of truly extraordinary depth. We touch once again, and more thoroughly than was possible eight days ago, upon the mission and calling of the wise Solomon and the entire future significance of Christian truth.
The feast of Pentecost is connected with the conception of the innermost essence of man as it existed in early Christianity, but which has gradually been lost to Christianity as it lives in the various churches of the West. The feast of Pentecost is the feast which is intended to remind man every year anew of his liberation, of what we call the freedom of the human soul.
How did man actually come to what we call his freedom, that is, his ability to distinguish between good and evil, to do good or evil in freedom? You know that man has undergone a long series of developments before reaching the stage he is at today, and that we have passed the middle of this development. Approximately in the middle of the Atlantean race, which preceded our race, lies also the middle of the entire human development. Now we have already passed this middle point, and thereby we are the first missionaries of the second half, the first messengers of an ascending arc. While humanity was on the descending arc, in a kind of downward development, until it sank deepest into material life in the Atlantean epoch, it is now rising again toward spiritual development.
What we humans did not possess before the middle of our Earth's development was the freedom to choose between good and evil. In the lower realms of nature, we cannot speak of good and evil. It would be ridiculous to ask whether a mineral wants to crystallize or not. It crystallizes when the conditions are right. It would also be ridiculous to ask whether the lily wants to bloom or not, or to ask the lion whether it voluntarily refrains from eating and killing other beings. Only in humans and only in our phase of development do we speak of what we call freedom of choice. We attribute the ability to distinguish between good and evil to human beings alone. And how human beings came to possess this ability is depicted in the Bible in the great symbol of the Fall, in the act of seduction where the devil or Lucifer appears to Eve and persuades her to eat from the tree of knowledge. This gave humans freedom of choice, and with it they embarked on the second part of their path of development. Just as we cannot ask about good and evil in minerals, plants, and animals, we cannot ask about freedom, good, and evil in humans before the middle of world development. This is connected to something else.
In all esotericism, our present world and everything connected with it is described as the cosmos of love. And this universe of love was preceded by the cosmos or universe of wisdom. Let us consider this in a somewhat deeper sense.
You know that, cosmologically speaking, the development of our Earth was preceded by the development of the moon. An even earlier ancestor of our Earth was the sun, and an even earlier one was Saturn. Human beings have gone through these three phases of development: Saturn, Sun, Moon. Our Earth has gone through three cycles so far, repeating the Saturn development in the first round, the Sun development in the second round, and the Moon development in the third round. Each such round begins with the planet developing in an extremely fine substance, the mental substance. The Earth existed in such a substance when it began its fourth round, i.e., the present cycle. Now it began to repeat the three previous rounds: the Saturn cycle in Arupa, the Sun cycle in Rupa, and then in the astral realm the Moon round or Moon cycle.
Our Earth thus passed through earlier material states once again before reaching its present physical density. Before our present state, it was astral. We also refer to the astral globe as a kind of cosmos of wisdom. Each cosmos (globe) is in turn divided into seven periods. Thus, we have seven racial cycles in our globe: the Polar, Hyperborean, Lemurian, Atlantean, and then the Aryan race, in which we are now. The sixth and seventh races are yet to come. Then the Earth will return to the astral state. These racial cycles represent seven successive periods of our physical development on Earth. Similarly, the astral predecessor presents itself to us in seven successive periods corresponding to these seven races. However, it is not entirely correct to speak of races here. The forms that lived at that time cannot really be called races. To always speak of races goes too far in the use of analogy. It was other forms that were formed. In esoteric language, these preceding astral periods are called the realm of wisdom, and their forms are called the seven periods of wisdom, in which the seven kings of wisdom, the seven kings of the dynasty of Solomon, ruled. For in each of these periods there lived a being of a similar nature to the soul of Solomon, as the soul was that incarnated in Solomon. This cosmos of wisdom was replaced by the actual earthly cosmos, the cosmos of love.
Now let us be clear about what happened during the formation of the Earth according to our understanding. When the Earth began to form, it was still united with the Sun and what we now call the Moon. With these two bodies, the Earth formed a single body. First, the Sun separated from the Earth. This changed all life on Earth. Whereas previously there could be no question of death because material life continued, now death came into being. It took the form we know from plant bodies, which are composed of cells. As long as a plant consists of a single cell, no decay occurs when the next one is born. It is different when an entire organism is composed of many cells. It disintegrates into its parts, and the individual part is no longer the whole life. Such death occurred for the first time when the sun separated from the earth. As a result of the separation of the moon, the division of the sexes arose in the middle of the Lemurian race. The separation of the moon caused the division of the male-female into only male and only female. This also gave human beings the form they now have in the world.
What happened during these important cosmic events, when first the sun and then the moon separated? If we want to understand this, it is helpful to point out that at that time the earth was transforming from a very thin but already physical matter into an increasingly dense matter. The first physical matter in which all human beings existed on Earth was etheric matter, a very fine matter, finer than our gas.
We now distinguish between three types of matter on our Earth: solid, liquid, and then gaseous bodies, which used to be called air. Then, esoterically, we distinguish between four types of ether: first, the fire ether, which causes bodies to be permeated with heat; second, the light ether; third, the chemical ether, which causes atoms to mix according to certain numerical laws—the elective affinity of atoms—and fourth, the physical or life ether. So there are four types of ether that animate the earth. Essentially, the earth first developed in these types of ether. Then it condensed out of this ether. This condensation only took place during the Lemurian epoch. Before that, we are dealing with the etheric earth, which was accessible to forces that were completely different from those of our physical earth today. I would like to make this clear to you.
When I say that this etheric earth was accessible to various forces, you must understand that all beings, whether plants, animals, or humans, were also accessible to these forces in their innermost being. The ether is accessible to what we refer to in esoteric language as the “word,” the “world word.” I can also explain to you, using a process of initiation, how the ether relates to what we call the “word.” As you know, human beings consist of the physical, etheric, and astral bodies, and then of the actual I. The etheric body becomes visible when one suggests away the physical body. But human beings, as they are today, are completely unable to influence their physical bodies. They cannot move even the smallest blood cell. The physical body is controlled by higher cosmic forces. Today, it is higher beings that exercise power here; human beings will be able to do so later. When humans are able to control the forces of their own physical body, which materialists refer to as forces of nature, they will have become gods. To attribute this to them today would be idolatry, for in truth we are dealing with higher beings who influence the physical body.
When humans are able to control the fire-etheric matter, they will be able to control everything physical. If they master the human physical, then they can also master the rest of the physical. This power is called the father power, the “father.” Everything, therefore, through which a being is connected to our earth, through which it can master physical matter. When a human being is able to exercise such father powers into the physical body, this is called the Atma. Thus, Atma is assigned to the physical.
The second part of the being is the etheric body, which corresponds to the Son principle or the Logos, the “Word.” Just as the physical body is moved by Atma, so this etheric body can be moved by Buddhi, shaped internally, and set into vibration by the Son principle.
The third member is the astral body. At first, we cannot control it either, and very few people today have any significant power over their astral body. To the extent that a person can control the astral body from within, we say that they are endowed with manas.
In the middle of the Lemurian period, human beings began to work on their astral body. If you could observe a human being at the stage where the Lemurian race began, that is, hermaphroditic, you would find that their body is built from the outside. Since the middle of the Lemurian period, human beings have begun to work on their astral body themselves. Everything that humans work into themselves from their ego, everything they do through duties and commandments to overcome raw desires and passions, contributes to the refinement of the astral body. When they are then completely permeated with the work of their own ego, we can no longer call them astral bodies; they have become manas. When the entire astral body has been transformed into manas, human beings can begin to work on the etheric body, transforming it into buddhi. What he works into it is nothing other than the individualized word, which Christian esotericism also calls the “Son” or “Logos.” When the astral body becomes manas, she calls this the “Holy Spirit,” and when the physical body has become Atma, she calls this “Father.”
What happens here in miniature with the human being also happened on a larger scale with the world outside. These world secrets were already performed in the mysteries during initiation; something was accomplished that human beings in general will only achieve in a distant future. Even in the Egyptian mysteries, only those who had worked through their entire astral body so that it could be completely guided by the I could be initiated. Such a person stood before the initiation priest: they had no influence on the physical body or the etheric body, but their astral body was their own creation. Now he was shown how he could influence the etheric and physical bodies. The physical body was put into a lethargic state — it had to remain in this state for three days and three nights — and during this time the etheric body was lifted out. And since the initiate had become powerful in relation to the astral body, he could now gain the power to influence the etheric body. He could learn to let what he had in the astral body influence the etheric body. These were the three days of burial and resurrection in an etheric body completely permeated by what is called the Holy Spirit. Such an initiate was called a person endowed with the Logos, the “Word.” This “Word” is nothing other than the wisdom, manas, that is worked into the astral body. Wisdom can never enter the etheric body unless the astral body is first permeated with it.
It was the same for the earth. Before the whole earth had reached this stage in the astral, this process could not take place. The state in which the initiate had to be in the Egyptian mysteries corresponds to this period of the astral globe, which I have spoken of as the immediate predecessor of the earth. This is the globe of wisdom. All wisdom is worked into it by the cosmic powers. And this infusion of wisdom into the Earth globe itself makes it possible that after the separation of the sun and moon from the Earth, something is worked into it again from above, from higher spheres, as in the initiation in the small. Thus the process took place in the large as it did in the small during the initiation.
Seven times the astral globe of the Earth was ruled by the wise men in the manner of Solomon. Then the Earth surrounded itself from outside with the etheric body and crystallized, constituting earthly matter. Then the “Word” was placed within it. This Word is then buried in earthly matter, but it must be resurrected again. This is also the beautiful meaning of the myth of the god Dionysus. The sacred wisdom of our earthly predecessor is placed within all earthly beings in our earthly world. Take this in as deeply as you can. Consider the human etheric body, which every human being has. If you view it as a clairvoyant, it has approximately the same shape as the physical body. When a human being dies, the physical body dissolves and so does the etheric body; the physical body dissolves into the physical world and the etheric body dissolves into the general world ether. However, this etheric body has been ingeniously constructed for human beings by the wisdom that previously placed it there from the astral globe. This etheric body disintegrates after death. Only the etheric body that is built up from within is alive and eternal. It is the etheric body of the chela, and it does not dissolve after death. When you see a person of today's culture die, you see the etheric body for some time, then it dissolves. With the chela, it remains. The chela's renunciation of Devachan consists in the fact that the chela remains on the astral plane and makes use of his etheric body there. In ordinary human beings, a new etheric body must be formed at rebirth; the ability to build one is attained in Devachan. The etheric body that the chela has built up from within is no longer lost, but the one built up from outside by cosmic wisdom does dissolve again. The same is true of the etheric bodies of plants and animals. What is still etheric body today has been built up from the cosmic forces that flowed into it on this astral globe of our Earth. This wisdom, which you find in the astral Earth, is expressed in the myth of Dionysus.
Now, in the Lemurian epoch, the denser had to develop. The father principle had to be worked into it. That is the last thing that took hold of our earthly materiality. What has been worked into it is deeply hidden in the physical world. First, the Holy Spirit worked its way into the astral matter. Then the spirit connected with the astral matter worked its way into the etheric matter; this is the Son; and then comes the Father, who rules over physical density. Thus, the macrocosm is built up in three stages: Spirit, Son, and Father, and man, by working his way up again, goes from the Spirit through the Son to the Father. All this happens under guidance in the evolution on Earth.
Until the Lemurian epoch, only external development took place. Then this trinity entered into our physical development. In the Aryan epoch, what had previously taken place entered into the consciousness of human beings as religion and was repeated in stages.
We are in the fifth sub-race of the Aryan root race. Four other sub-races preceded us. The first sub-race is the ancient Indian race. This venerable old race was led by the holy Rishis. We can only form a faint idea of them. We know about their religion from the information handed down to us in the Vedas. The teachings of the Rishis were much greater and more powerful than our present-day tradition. It was only during the third sub-race that records were made which have been preserved for us in the Vedas. The original religion of the Rishis had great traditions from the divine ancestors of mankind, the astral initiates of the dynasty of Solomon. The great intuitions, which bring not only knowledge and understanding of the laws of the earth, but also of the archetypes that created this wisdom itself, lived in the spirit of the ancient Indian Rishis. This was the first religion, that of the Holy Spirit.
The second religion was cultivated in the Near East. There, as a repetition of the first time the Son asserted his influence on Earth, the second principle was revered. At the same time, the Son principle brings about the casting down of certain beings. There is no higher development without others being cast down into the depths. The mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms were cast down in this way. It is the great tragedy that those who develop higher take on an enormous responsibility. Every saint causes a large number of beings to be cast down. If such a pushing down did not take place, there would be no development. In order for a human being to develop higher, he must continually push beings down. That is why all development is bad and reprehensible if it is done out of self-interest; it is only justified for the sake of the development of other beings. Only those who want to lift up those who have been cast down are capable of development. Such was the development that took place on earth, which had already been prepared on other worlds, the development of endowing the etheric body with the Logos, the Word, connected with the casting down of other beings connected with the development of the earth. This was imagined as an adversary, as the Luciferic principle. Thus, in the Persian religion, we find this duality: the principle of good and the principle of evil. When a human being, or any being for that matter, works manasically within themselves, this is good. But evil always opposes them. Ormuzd and Ahriman are the names for good and evil in the Persian religion.
The third stage appears to us in the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians, in whom there is a spiritual repetition of the third stage of the Godhead. That is why, since that time, we encounter the trinity, the triune Godhead, in all peoples. The second subrace did not yet have a triune Godhead, and the first certainly did not. Now, in this triune form, the ascent for the whole of humanity is gradually being prepared. The initiates are paving the way ahead ... [gap].
In the first three sub-races, these were religious reflections of what had been at work in the macrocosmic processes. Now a new structure is emerging: first wisdom, then the Son, and then the Father. The dawning of wisdom took place in the fourth sub-race, in the Semitic people, which grew out of the third sub-race into the fourth, and out of this grew Christianity. Among the initiates of the Jewish people, we find the entire course of events that have taken place on earth, all the events that have taken place in the great super-earthly realm, repeated once again in the element of the intellect. There develops what we call the lower spirit, Kama-Manas, which must be endowed with a different power. This endowment, this impact, is Christ himself, the Word made flesh, pointing to the future Word, when all human beings will be able to control their etheric body from their astral body if they move the Word in their etheric body in such a way that it becomes alive within them. The possibility of this development in the future is anticipated in the appearance of the Word incarnated in the fourth subrace. In order for the Logos to be incarnated in the etheric body, the whole of humanity must have gained dominion over the ether. This emanated as a primal impulse from the Christ incarnated in the flesh. When man has passed through the power of the Son, he comes to the Father.
Now the steps must be climbed again, through which the whole of humanity will gradually attain what appeared, as it were, in Christ in the flesh. In the spirit that developed in Judaism, the higher manas had to be kindled. Therefore, the new era begins with the descent of the Holy Spirit, who will lead people to the point where, in the sixth sub-race, what is only hinted at in Christianity today, the Christ principle, will find its completion. “No one comes to the Father except through me,” says the Son. He sent the Spirit to humanity to prepare it for the time when good and evil would separate in the sixth sub-race. Humanity would never have developed this impulse without that other influence, which we have called the so-called evil principle. Humanity had to be given free will, so that its intellect could be called upon to decide between good and evil. This impact of the descent of the Spirit takes place at Pentecost.
The Spirit, the Son, and the Father are buried in the earth: the Father in the physical body, the Son in the etheric body, and the Spirit in the astral body. But man has developed his “I” and has become self-conscious. Now he must learn to work down to the physical. That will be in the future. In the present time, human beings are working into their astral bodies. The symbol for this is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the minds of those who are to be the leaders of humanity. What has received this spirit is something in human beings that is related to this spirit.
Before the Son could become effective—that was in the Hyperborean age—a part of the general spirit principle had to be split off, cast down, and take other paths. This is expressed in the serpent, the symbol of knowledge, the Lucifer principle. It was this spark of spirit that made human beings free beings and enabled them to will the good of their own accord. This spirit, which descended to humanity at the great feast of Pentecost, is related to the spirit that was cast down and is also embodied in Prometheus, who rekindled the spark so that our ego could decide to follow the spirit, as it would later follow the Son and still later the Father. Man could indeed become evil, but on the other hand, it was only at the cost of becoming evil that he could be led back up to the world of the gods from whence he came. This is the connection between the feast of Pentecost and the Luciferic principle. That is why the feast of Pentecost is also the feast of Prometheus and freedom.
Now you will also understand the connection between the seven Solomonic kings of the pre-earth—of whom King Solomon appears in the Bible as the descendant—and the sons of Cain. Wisdom was first handed down to humanity from outside. Then it was to spring from within. Solomon built the temple, but only with the help of Hiram Abiff. With this son of Cain in his alliance, he acquired the arts necessary for building the temple. Thus, the currents that run separately in the world come together again.
When the sun separated from the earth, the word was buried in the earth. It will rise again when the earth has progressed to the sixth root race. Man will raise this word from the earth. But first the spirit must live in him that allows the word to resound within him. This is what the apostles achieved at Pentecost. In “Light on the Way” it says: “Acquire knowledge, and language will come to you” — language comes with true knowledge, which descends like the spark of fire upon the apostles at the holy feast of Pentecost. When the inner word comes, which is related to the holy, divine word and sinks into everything ethereal to enliven it, then man no longer speaks from himself, but from the divine spirit. Then he is a messenger of the Godhead and proclaims the inner word of the Godhead of his own free will.
Thus the inner word became alive in the apostles; thus it worked out of them. They proclaimed the fiery word and felt themselves to be messengers of the Deity. That is why the Holy Spirit hovers over them in the form of fiery tongues. They prepare humanity to receive the Logos. The great initiate Christ Jesus went before. The Holy Spirit followed and fertilized the astral bodies so that they became ripe to make their etheric body immortal. Once this is achieved, the Christ principle will have entered humanity. This was also the belief of the initiates, who spoke of it in a manner similar to Heraclitus: When you have escaped the earthly realm and ascended to the free ether—in the belief of immortality—you will become an immortal spirit, having escaped death, the physical realm.
Every human being will reach this point in the middle of the sixth root race. But now they are still subject to death because their etheric body has not yet attained immortality. Christianity contains the secret of how human beings can gradually evolve toward the resurrection of the etheric body. This third of the great festivals is connected with the other two Christian festivals.
I wanted to explain here the infinite depth of the feast of Pentecost and show how human beings gradually acquire a living feeling for their environment, that they are related to everything around them and to everything that is happening around them. In the names of the days of the week you will find recorded what has happened around us.
People celebrate Pentecost best when they realize what profound truths the wise men have placed in a festival such as Pentecost. And to celebrate a festival actually means to connect with the world spirit in one's mind.